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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/22456-0.txt b/22456-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..98a56d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/22456-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9253 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Aeneid, by Virgil + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: The Aeneid + +Author: Virgil + +Translator: J. W. Mackail + +Release Date: August 29, 2007 [eBook #22456] +[Most recently updated: September 6, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: David Clarke, Lisa Reigel, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AENEID *** + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Numbers in brackets [ ] refer to line numbers in Virgil's + Aeneid. These numbers appeared at the top of each page of text + and have been retained for reference. + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A complete + list follows the text. + + + + + +THE AENEID OF VIRGIL + +Translated into English + +by + +J. W. MACKAIL, M.A. +Fellow Of Balliol College, Oxford + + + + + + + +London +MacMillan and Co. +1885 + +Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh. + + + + +PREFACE + + +There is something grotesque in the idea of a prose translation of a +poet, though the practice is become so common that it has ceased to +provoke a smile or demand an apology. The language of poetry is language +in fusion; that of prose is language fixed and crystallised; and an +attempt to copy the one material in the other must always count on +failure to convey what is, after all, one of the most essential things +in poetry,--its poetical quality. And this is so with Virgil more, +perhaps, than with any other poet; for more, perhaps, than any other +poet Virgil depends on his poetical quality from first to last. Such a +translation can only have the value of a copy of some great painting +executed in mosaic, if indeed a copy in Berlin wool is not a closer +analogy; and even at the best all it can have to say for itself will be +in Virgil's own words, _Experiar sensus; nihil hic nisi carmina desunt._ + +In this translation I have in the main followed the text of Conington +and Nettleship. The more important deviations from this text are +mentioned in the notes; but I have not thought it necessary to give a +complete list of various readings, or to mention any change except where +it might lead to misapprehension. Their notes have also been used by me +throughout. + +Beyond this I have made constant use of the mass of ancient commentary +going under the name of Servius; the most valuable, perhaps, of all, as +it is in many ways the nearest to the poet himself. The explanation +given in it has sometimes been followed against those of the modern +editors. To other commentaries only occasional reference has been made. +The sense that Virgil is his own best interpreter becomes stronger as +one studies him more. + +My thanks are due to Mr. EVELYN ABBOTT, Fellow and Tutor of Balliol, and +to the Rev. H. C. BEECHING, for much valuable suggestion and criticism. + + + + +THE AENEID + + + + +BOOK FIRST + +THE COMING OF AENEAS TO CARTHAGE + + +I sing of arms and the man who of old from the coasts of Troy came, an +exile of fate, to Italy and the shore of Lavinium; hard driven on land +and on the deep by the violence of heaven, for cruel Juno's unforgetful +anger, and hard bestead in war also, ere he might found a city and carry +his gods into Latium; from whom is the Latin race, the lords of Alba, +and the stately city Rome. + +Muse, tell me why, for what attaint of her deity, or in what vexation, +did the Queen of heaven drive one so excellent in goodness to circle +through so many afflictions, to face so many toils? Is anger so fierce +in celestial spirits? + + * * * * * + +There was a city of ancient days that Tyrian settlers dwelt in, +Carthage, over against Italy and the Tiber mouths afar; rich of store, +and mighty in war's fierce pursuits; wherein, they say, alone beyond all +other lands had Juno her seat, and held Samos itself less dear. Here was +her armour, here her chariot; even now, if fate permit, the goddess +strives to nurture it for queen of the nations. Nevertheless she had +heard a race was issuing of the blood of [20-53]Troy, which sometime +should overthrow her Tyrian citadel; from it should come a people, lord +of lands and tyrannous in war, the destroyer of Libya: so rolled the +destinies. Fearful of that, the daughter of Saturn, the old war in her +remembrance that she fought at Troy for her beloved Argos long ago,--nor +had the springs of her anger nor the bitterness of her vexation yet gone +out of mind: deep stored in her soul lies the judgment of Paris, the +insult of her slighted beauty, the hated race and the dignities of +ravished Ganymede; fired with this also, she tossed all over ocean the +Trojan remnant left of the Greek host and merciless Achilles, and held +them afar from Latium; and many a year were they wandering driven of +fate around all the seas. Such work was it to found the Roman people. + +Hardly out of sight of the land of Sicily did they set their sails to +sea, and merrily upturned the salt foam with brazen prow, when Juno, the +undying wound still deep in her heart, thus broke out alone: + +'Am I then to abandon my baffled purpose, powerless to keep the Teucrian +king from Italy? and because fate forbids me? Could Pallas lay the +Argive fleet in ashes, and sink the Argives in the sea, for one man's +guilt, mad Oïlean Ajax? Her hand darted Jove's flying fire from the +clouds, scattered their ships, upturned the seas in tempest; him, his +pierced breast yet breathing forth the flame, she caught in a whirlwind +and impaled on a spike of rock. But I, who move queen among immortals, I +sister and wife of Jove, wage warfare all these years with a single +people; and is there any who still adores Juno's divinity, or will kneel +to lay sacrifice on her altars?' + +Such thoughts inly revolving in her kindled bosom, the goddess reaches +Aeolia, the home of storm-clouds, the land laden with furious southern +gales. Here in a desolate cavern Aeolus keeps under royal dominion and +yokes in [54-85]dungeon fetters the struggling winds and loud storms. +They with mighty moan rage indignant round their mountain barriers. In +his lofty citadel Aeolus sits sceptred, assuages their temper and +soothes their rage; else would they carry with them seas and lands, and +the depth of heaven, and sweep them through space in their flying +course. But, fearful of this, the lord omnipotent hath hidden them in +caverned gloom, and laid a mountain mass high over them, and appointed +them a ruler, who should know by certain law to strain and slacken the +reins at command. To him now Juno spoke thus in suppliant accents: + +'Aeolus--for to thee hath the father of gods and king of men given the +wind that lulls and that lifts the waves--a people mine enemy sails the +Tyrrhene sea, carrying into Italy the conquered gods of their Ilian +home. Rouse thy winds to fury, and overwhelm their sinking vessels, or +drive them asunder and strew ocean with their bodies. Mine are twice +seven nymphs of passing loveliness; her who of them all is most +excellent in beauty, Deïopea, I will unite to thee in wedlock to be +thine for ever; that for this thy service she may fulfil all her years +at thy side, and make thee father of a beautiful race.' + +Aeolus thus returned: 'Thine, O queen, the task to search whereto thou +hast desire; for me it is right to do thy bidding. From thee have I this +poor kingdom, from thee my sceptre and Jove's grace; thou dost grant me +to take my seat at the feasts of the gods, and makest me sovereign over +clouds and storms.' + +Even with these words, turning his spear, he struck the side of the +hollow hill, and the winds, as in banded array, pour where passage is +given them, and cover earth with eddying blasts. East wind and west wind +together, and the gusty south-wester, falling prone on the sea, stir it +up [86-120]from its lowest chambers, and roll vast billows to the +shore. Behind rises shouting of men and whistling of cordage. In a +moment clouds blot sky and daylight from the Teucrians' eyes; black +night broods over the deep. Pole thunders to pole, and the air quivers +with incessant flashes; all menaces them with instant death. Straightway +Aeneas' frame grows unnerved and chill, and stretching either hand to +heaven, he cries thus aloud: 'Ah, thrice and four times happy they who +found their doom under high Troy town before their fathers' faces! Ah, +son of Tydeus, bravest of the Grecian race, that I could not have fallen +on the Ilian plains, and gasped out this my life beneath thine hand! +where under the spear of Aeacides lies fierce Hector, lies mighty +Sarpedon; where Simoïs so often bore beneath his whirling wave shields +and helmets and brave bodies of men.' + +As the cry leaves his lips, a gust of the shrill north strikes full on +the sail and raises the waves up to heaven. The oars are snapped; the +prow swings away and gives her side to the waves; down in a heap comes a +broken mountain of water. These hang on the wave's ridge; to these the +yawning billow shows ground amid the surge, where the sea churns with +sand. Three ships the south wind catches and hurls on hidden rocks, +rocks amid the waves which Italians call the Altars, a vast reef banking +the sea. Three the east forces from the deep into shallows and +quicksands, piteous to see, dashes on shoals and girdles with a +sandbank. One, wherein loyal Orontes and his Lycians rode, before their +lord's eyes a vast sea descending strikes astern. The helmsman is dashed +away and rolled forward headlong; her as she lies the billow sends +spinning thrice round with it, and engulfs in the swift whirl. Scattered +swimmers appear in the vast eddy, armour of men, timbers and Trojan +treasure amid the water. Ere now the stout ship of Ilioneus, ere now of +brave Achates, and she wherein [121-152]Abas rode, and she wherein aged +Aletes, have yielded to the storm; through the shaken fastenings of +their sides they all draw in the deadly water, and their opening seams +give way. + +Meanwhile Neptune discerned with astonishment the loud roaring of the +vexed sea, the tempest let loose from prison, and the still water +boiling up from its depths, and lifting his head calm above the waves, +looked forth across the deep. He sees all ocean strewn with Aeneas' +fleet, the Trojans overwhelmed by the waves and the ruining heaven. +Juno's guile and wrath lay clear to her brother's eye; east wind and +west he calls before him, and thereon speaks thus: + +'Stand you then so sure in your confidence of birth? Careless, O winds, +of my deity, dare you confound sky and earth, and raise so huge a coil? +you whom I--But better to still the aroused waves; for a second sin you +shall pay me another penalty. Speed your flight, and say this to your +king: not to him but to me was allotted the stern trident of ocean +empire. His fastness is on the monstrous rocks where thou and thine, +east wind, dwell: there let Aeolus glory in his palace and reign over +the barred prison of his winds.' + +Thus he speaks, and ere the words are done he soothes the swollen seas, +chases away the gathered clouds, and restores the sunlight. Cymothoë and +Triton together push the ships strongly off the sharp reef; himself he +eases them with his trident, channels the vast quicksands, and assuages +the sea, gliding on light wheels along the water. Even as when oft in a +throng of people strife hath risen, and the base multitude rage in their +minds, and now brands and stones are flying; madness lends arms; then if +perchance they catch sight of one reverend for goodness and service, +they are silent and stand by with attentive ear; he with +[153-190]speech sways their temper and soothes their breasts; even so +hath fallen all the thunder of ocean, when riding forward beneath a +cloudless sky the lord of the sea wheels his coursers and lets his +gliding chariot fly with loosened rein. + +The outworn Aeneadae hasten to run for the nearest shore, and turn to +the coast of Libya. There lies a spot deep withdrawn; an island forms a +harbour with outstretched sides, whereon all the waves break from the +open sea and part into the hollows of the bay. On this side and that +enormous cliffs rise threatening heaven, and twin crags beneath whose +crest the sheltered water lies wide and calm; above hangs a background +of flickering forest, and the dark shade of rustling groves. Beneath the +seaward brow is a rock-hung cavern, within it fresh springs and seats in +the living stone, a haunt of nymphs; where tired ships need no fetters +to hold nor anchor to fasten them with crooked bite. Here with seven +sail gathered of all his company Aeneas enters; and disembarking on the +land of their desire the Trojans gain the chosen beach, and set their +feet dripping with brine upon the shore. At once Achates struck a spark +from the flint and caught the fire on leaves, and laying dry fuel round +kindled it into flame. Then, weary of fortune, they fetch out corn +spoiled by the sea and weapons of corn-dressing, and begin to parch over +the fire and bruise in stones the grain they had rescued. + +Meanwhile Aeneas scales the crag, and seeks the whole view wide over +ocean, if he may see aught of Antheus storm-tossed with his Phrygian +galleys, aught of Capys or of Caïcus' armour high astern. Ship in sight +is none; three stags he espies straying on the shore; behind whole herds +follow, and graze in long train across the valley. Stopping short, he +snatched up a bow and swift arrows, the arms trusty Achates was +carrying; and first the leaders, their stately heads high with branching +antlers, then the common [191-222]herd fall to his hand, as he drives +them with his shafts in a broken crowd through the leafy woods. Nor +stays he till seven great victims are stretched on the sod, fulfilling +the number of his ships. Thence he seeks the harbour and parts them +among all his company. The casks of wine that good Acestes had filled on +the Trinacrian beach, the hero's gift at their departure, he thereafter +shares, and calms with speech their sorrowing hearts: + +'O comrades, for not now nor aforetime are we ignorant of ill, O tried +by heavier fortunes, unto this last likewise will God appoint an end. +The fury of Scylla and the roaring recesses of her crags you have been +anigh; the rocks of the Cyclops you have trodden. Recall your courage, +put dull fear away. This too sometime we shall haply remember with +delight. Through chequered fortunes, through many perilous ways, we +steer for Latium, where destiny points us a quiet home. There the realm +of Troy may rise again unforbidden. Keep heart, and endure till +prosperous fortune come.' + +Such words he utters, and sick with deep distress he feigns hope on his +face, and keeps his anguish hidden deep in his breast. The others set to +the spoil they are to feast upon, tear chine from ribs and lay bare the +flesh; some cut it into pieces and pierce it still quivering with spits; +others plant cauldrons on the beach and feed them with flame. Then they +repair their strength with food, and lying along the grass take their +fill of old wine and fat venison. After hunger is driven from the +banquet, and the board cleared, they talk with lingering regret of their +lost companions, swaying between hope and fear, whether they may believe +them yet alive, or now in their last agony and deaf to mortal call. Most +does good Aeneas inly wail the loss now of valiant Orontes, now of +Amycus, the cruel doom of Lycus, of brave Gyas, and brave Cloanthus. +[223-254]And now they ceased; when from the height of air Jupiter +looked down on the sail-winged sea and outspread lands, the shores and +broad countries, and looking stood on the cope of heaven, and cast down +his eyes on the realm of Libya. To him thus troubled at heart Venus, her +bright eyes brimming with tears, sorrowfully speaks: + +'O thou who dost sway mortal and immortal things with eternal command +and the terror of thy thunderbolt, how can my Aeneas have transgressed +so grievously against thee? how his Trojans? on whom, after so many +deaths outgone, all the world is barred for Italy's sake. From them +sometime in the rolling years the Romans were to arise indeed; from them +were to be rulers who, renewing the blood of Teucer, should hold sea and +land in universal lordship. This thou didst promise: why, O father, is +thy decree reversed? This was my solace for the wretched ruin of sunken +Troy, doom balanced against doom. Now so many woes are spent, and the +same fortune still pursues them; Lord and King, what limit dost thou set +to their agony? Antenor could elude the encircling Achaeans, could +thread in safety the Illyrian bays and inmost realms of the Liburnians, +could climb Timavus' source, whence through nine mouths pours the +bursting tide amid dreary moans of the mountain, and covers the fields +with hoarse waters. Yet here did he set Patavium town, a dwelling-place +for his Teucrians, gave his name to a nation and hung up the armour of +Troy; now settled in peace, he rests and is in quiet. We, thy children, +we whom thou beckonest to the heights of heaven, our fleet miserably +cast away for a single enemy's anger, are betrayed and severed far from +the Italian coasts. Is this the reward of goodness? Is it thus thou dost +restore our throne?' + +Smiling on her with that look which clears sky and [255-289]storms, the +parent of men and gods lightly kissed his daughter's lips; then answered +thus: + +'Spare thy fear, Cytherean; thy people's destiny abides unshaken. Thine +eyes shall see the city Lavinium, their promised home; thou shalt exalt +to the starry heaven thy noble Aeneas; nor is my decree reversed. He +thou lovest (for I will speak, since this care keeps torturing thee, and +will unroll further the secret records of fate) shall wage a great war +in Italy, and crush warrior nations; he shall appoint his people a law +and a city; till the third summer see him reigning in Latium, and three +winters' camps pass over the conquered Rutulians. But the boy Ascanius, +whose surname is now Iülus--Ilus he was while the Ilian state stood +sovereign--thirty great circles of rolling months shall he fulfil in +government; he shall carry the kingdom from its fastness in Lavinium, +and make a strong fortress of Alba the Long. Here the full space of +thrice an hundred years shall the kingdom endure under the race of +Hector's kin, till the royal priestess Ilia from Mars' embrace shall +give birth to a twin progeny. Thence shall Romulus, gay in the tawny +hide of the she-wolf that nursed him, take up their line, and name them +Romans after his own name. I appoint to these neither period nor +boundary of empire: I have given them dominion without end. Nay, harsh +Juno, who in her fear now troubles earth and sea and sky, shall change +to better counsels, and with me shall cherish the lords of the world, +the gowned race of Rome. Thus is it willed. A day will come in the lapse +of cycles, when the house of Assaracus shall lay Phthia and famed +Mycenae in bondage, and reign over conquered Argos. From the fair line +of Troy a Caesar shall arise, who shall limit his empire with ocean, his +glory with the firmament, Julius, inheritor of great Iülus' name. Him +one day, thy care done, thou shalt welcome to heaven loaded +[290-321]with Eastern spoils; to him too shall vows be addressed. Then +shall war cease, and the iron ages soften. Hoar Faith and Vesta, +Quirinus and Remus brothers again, shall deliver statutes. The dreadful +steel-riveted gates of war shall be shut fast; on murderous weapons the +inhuman Fury, his hands bound behind him with an hundred fetters of +brass, shall sit within, shrieking with terrible blood-stained lips.' + +So speaking, he sends Maia's son down from above, that the land and +towers of Carthage, the new town, may receive the Trojans with open +welcome; lest Dido, ignorant of doom, might debar them her land. Flying +through the depth of air on winged oarage, the fleet messenger alights +on the Libyan coasts. At once he does his bidding; at once, for a god +willed it, the Phoenicians allay their haughty temper; the queen above +all takes to herself grace and compassion towards the Teucrians. + +But good Aeneas, nightlong revolving many and many a thing, issues +forth, so soon as bountiful light is given, to explore the strange +country; to what coasts the wind has borne him, who are their habitants, +men or wild beasts, for all he sees is wilderness; this he resolves to +search, and bring back the certainty to his comrades. The fleet he hides +close in embosoming groves beneath a caverned rock, amid shivering +shadow of the woodland; himself, Achates alone following, he strides +forward, clenching in his hand two broad-headed spears. And amid the +forest his mother crossed his way, wearing the face and raiment of a +maiden, the arms of a maiden of Sparta, or like Harpalyce of Thrace when +she tires her coursers and outstrips the winged speed of Hebrus in her +flight. For huntress fashion had she slung the ready bow from her +shoulder, and left her blown tresses free, bared her knee, and knotted +together her garments' flowing folds. 'Ha! my men,' she begins, 'shew me +if [322-355]haply you have seen a sister of mine straying here girt +with quiver and a lynx's dappled fell, or pressing with shouts on the +track of a foaming boar.' + +Thus Venus, and Venus' son answering thus began: + +'Sound nor sight have I had of sister of thine, O maiden unnamed; for +thy face is not mortal, nor thy voice of human tone; O goddess +assuredly! sister of Phoebus perchance, or one of the nymphs' blood? +Be thou gracious, whoso thou art, and lighten this toil of ours; deign +to instruct us beneath what skies, on what coast of the world, we are +thrown. Driven hither by wind and desolate waves, we wander in a strange +land among unknown men. Many a sacrifice shall fall by our hand before +thine altars.' + +Then Venus: 'Nay, to no such offerings do I aspire. Tyrian maidens are +wont ever to wear the quiver, to tie the purple buskin high above their +ankle. Punic is the realm thou seest, Tyrian the people, and the city of +Agenor's kin; but their borders are Libyan, a race unassailable in war. +Dido sways the sceptre, who flying her brother set sail from the Tyrian +town. Long is the tale of crime, long and intricate; but I will briefly +follow its argument. Her husband was Sychaeus, wealthiest in lands of +the Phoenicians, and loved of her with ill-fated passion; to whom with +virgin rites her father had given her maidenhood in wedlock. But the +kingdom of Tyre was in her brother Pygmalion's hands, a monster of guilt +unparalleled. Between these madness came; the unnatural brother, blind +with lust of gold, and reckless of his sister's love, lays Sychaeus low +before the altars with stealthy unsuspected weapon; and for long he hid +the deed, and by many a crafty pretence cheated her love-sickness with +hollow hope. But in slumber came the very ghost of her unburied husband; +lifting up a face pale in wonderful wise, he exposed the merciless +altars and [356-387]his breast stabbed through with steel, and unwove +all the blind web of household guilt. Then he counsels hasty flight out +of the country, and to aid her passage discloses treasures long hidden +underground, an untold mass of silver and gold. Stirred thereby, Dido +gathered a company for flight. All assemble in whom hatred of the tyrant +was relentless or fear keen; they seize on ships that chanced to lie +ready, and load them with the gold. Pygmalion's hoarded wealth is borne +overseas; a woman leads the work. They came at last to the land where +thou wilt descry a city now great, New Carthage, and her rising citadel, +and bought ground, called thence Byrsa, as much as a bull's hide would +encircle. But who, I pray, are you, or from what coasts come, or whither +hold you your way?' + +At her question he, sighing and drawing speech deep from his breast, +thus replied: + +'Ah goddess, should I go on retracing from the fountain head, were time +free to hear the history of our woes, sooner would the evening star lay +day asleep in the closed gates of heaven. Us, as from ancient Troy (if +the name of Troy hath haply passed through your ears) we sailed over +alien seas, the tempest at his own wild will hath driven on the Libyan +coast. I am Aeneas the good, who carry in my fleet the household gods I +rescued from the enemy; my fame is known high in heaven. I seek Italy my +country, my kin of Jove's supreme blood. With twenty sail did I climb +the Phrygian sea; oracular tokens led me on; my goddess mother pointed +the way; scarce seven survive the shattering of wave and wind. Myself +unknown, destitute, driven from Europe and Asia, I wander over the +Libyan wilderness.' + +But staying longer complaint, Venus thus broke in on his half-told +sorrows: + +'Whoso thou art, not hated I think of the immortals [388-420]dost thou +draw the breath of life, who hast reached the Tyrian city. Only go on, +and betake thee hence to the courts of the queen. For I declare to thee +thy comrades are restored, thy fleet driven back into safety by the +shifted northern gales, except my parents were pretenders, and +unavailing the augury they taught me. Behold these twelve swans in +joyous line, whom, stooping from the tract of heaven, the bird of Jove +fluttered over the open sky; now in long train they seem either to take +the ground or already to look down on the ground they took. As they +again disport with clapping wings, and utter their notes as they circle +the sky in company, even so do these ships and crews of thine either lie +fast in harbour or glide under full sail into the harbour mouth. Only go +on, and turn thy steps where the pathway leads thee.' + +Speaking she turned away, and her neck shone roseate, her immortal +tresses breathed the fragrance of deity; her raiment fell flowing down +to her feet, and the godhead was manifest in her tread. He knew her for +his mother, and with this cry pursued her flight: 'Thou also merciless! +Why mockest thou thy son so often in feigned likeness? Why is it +forbidden to clasp hand in hand, to hear and utter true speech?' Thus +reproaching her he bends his steps towards the city. But Venus girt them +in their going with dull mist, and shed round them a deep divine +clothing of cloud, that none might see them, none touch them, or work +delay, or ask wherefore they came. Herself she speeds through the sky to +Paphos, and joyfully revisits her habitation, where the temple and its +hundred altars steam with Sabaean incense, and are fresh with fragrance +of chaplets in her worship. + +They meantime have hasted along where the pathway points, and now were +climbing the hill which hangs enormous over the city, and looks down on +its facing towers. [421-456]Aeneas marvels at the mass of building, +pastoral huts once of old, marvels at the gateways and clatter of the +pavements. The Tyrians are hot at work to trace the walls, to rear the +citadel, and roll up great stones by hand, or to choose a spot for their +dwelling and enclose it with a furrow. They ordain justice and +magistrates, and the august senate. Here some are digging harbours, here +others lay the deep foundations of their theatre, and hew out of the +cliff vast columns, the lofty ornaments of the stage to be: even as bees +when summer is fresh over the flowery country ply their task beneath the +sun, when they lead forth their nation's grown brood, or when they press +the liquid honey and strain their cells with nectarous sweets, or +relieve the loaded incomers, or in banded array drive the idle herd of +drones far from their folds; they swarm over their work, and the odorous +honey smells sweet of thyme. 'Happy they whose city already rises!' +cries Aeneas, looking on the town roofs below. Girt in the cloud he +passes amid them, wonderful to tell, and mingling with the throng is +descried of none. + +In the heart of the town was a grove deep with luxuriant shade, wherein +first the Phoenicians, buffeted by wave and whirlwind, dug up the token +Queen Juno had appointed, the head of a war horse: thereby was their +race to be through all ages illustrious in war and opulent in living. +Here to Juno was Sidonian Dido founding a vast temple, rich with +offerings and the sanctity of her godhead: brazen steps rose on the +threshold, brass clamped the pilasters, doors of brass swung on grating +hinges. First in this grove did a strange chance meet his steps and +allay his fears; first here did Aeneas dare to hope for safety and have +fairer trust in his shattered fortunes. For while he closely scans the +temple that towers above him, while, awaiting the queen, he admires the +fortunate city, the emulous hands and elaborate work of her craftsmen, +he sees ranged in order the [457-491]battles of Ilium, that war whose +fame was already rumoured through all the world, the sons of Atreus and +Priam, and Achilles whom both found pitiless. He stopped and cried +weeping, 'What land is left, Achates, what tract on earth that is not +full of our agony? Behold Priam! Here too is the meed of honour, here +mortal estate touches the soul to tears. Dismiss thy fears; the fame of +this will somehow bring thee salvation.' + +So speaks he, and fills his soul with the painted show, sighing often +the while, and his face wet with a full river of tears. For he saw, how +warring round the Trojan citadel here the Greeks fled, the men of Troy +hard on their rear; here the Phrygians, plumed Achilles in his chariot +pressing their flight. Not far away he knows the snowy canvas of Rhesus' +tents, which, betrayed in their first sleep, the blood-stained son of +Tydeus laid desolate in heaped slaughter, and turns the ruddy steeds +away to the camp ere ever they tasted Trojan fodder or drunk of Xanthus. +Elsewhere Troïlus, his armour flung away in flight--luckless boy, no +match for Achilles to meet!--is borne along by his horses, and thrown +back entangled with his empty chariot, still clutching the reins; his +neck and hair are dragged over the ground, and his reversed spear scores +the dust. Meanwhile the Ilian women went with disordered tresses to +unfriendly Pallas' temple, and bore the votive garment, sadly beating +breast with palm: the goddess turning away held her eyes fast on the +ground. Thrice had Achilles whirled Hector round the walls of Troy, and +was selling the lifeless body for gold; then at last he heaves a loud +and heart-deep groan, as the spoils, as the chariot, as the dear body +met his gaze, and Priam outstretching unarmed hands. Himself too he knew +joining battle with the foremost Achaeans, knew the Eastern ranks and +swart Memnon's armour. Penthesilea leads her crescent-shielded Amazonian +columns in furious heat with [492-524]thousands around her; clasping a +golden belt under her naked breast, the warrior maiden clashes boldly +with men. + +While these marvels meet Dardanian Aeneas' eyes, while he dizzily hangs +rapt in one long gaze, Dido the queen entered the precinct, beautiful +exceedingly, a youthful train thronging round her. Even as on Eurotas' +banks or along the Cynthian ridges Diana wheels the dance, while behind +her a thousand mountain nymphs crowd to left and right; she carries +quiver on shoulder, and as she moves outshines them all in deity; +Latona's heart is thrilled with silent joy; such was Dido, so she +joyously advanced amid the throng, urging on the business of her rising +empire. Then in the gates of the goddess, beneath the central vault of +the temple roof, she took her seat girt with arms and high enthroned. +And now she gave justice and laws to her people, and adjusted or +allotted their taskwork in due portion; when suddenly Aeneas sees +advancing with a great crowd about them Antheus and Sergestus and brave +Cloanthus, and other of his Trojans, whom the black squall had sundered +at sea and borne far away on the coast. Dizzy with the shock of joy and +fear he and Achates together were on fire with eagerness to clasp their +hands; but in confused uncertainty they keep hidden, and clothed in the +sheltering cloud wait to espy what fortune befalls them, where they are +leaving their fleet ashore, why they now come; for they advanced, chosen +men from all the ships, praying for grace, and held on with loud cries +towards the temple. + +After they entered in, and free speech was granted, aged Ilioneus with +placid mien thus began: + +'Queen, to whom Jupiter hath given to found this new city, and lay the +yoke of justice upon haughty tribes, we beseech thee, we wretched +Trojans storm-driven over all [525-559]the seas, stay the dreadful +flames from our ships; spare a guiltless race, and bend a gracious +regard on our fortunes. We are not come to deal slaughter through Libyan +homes, or to drive plundered spoils to the coast. Such violence sits not +in our mind, nor is a conquered people so insolent. There is a place +Greeks name Hesperia, an ancient land, mighty in arms and foison of the +clod; Oenotrian men dwelt therein; now rumour is that a younger race +from their captain's name have called it Italy. Thither lay our course +. . . when Orion rising on us through the cloudrack with sudden surf +bore us on blind shoals, and scattered us afar with his boisterous gales +and whelming brine over waves and trackless reefs. To these your coasts +we a scanty remnant floated up. What race of men, what land how +barbarous soever, allows such a custom for its own? We are debarred the +shelter of the beach; they rise in war, and forbid us to set foot on the +brink of their land. If you slight human kinship and mortal arms, yet +look for gods unforgetful of innocence and guilt. Aeneas was our king, +foremost of men in righteousness, incomparable in goodness as in warlike +arms; whom if fate still preserves, if he draws the breath of heaven and +lies not yet low in dispiteous gloom, fear we have none; nor mayest thou +repent of challenging the contest of service. In Sicilian territory too +is tilth and town, and famed Acestes himself of Trojan blood. Grant us +to draw ashore our storm-shattered fleet, to shape forest trees into +beams and strip them for oars; so, if to Italy we may steer with our +king and comrades found, Italy and Latium shall we gladly seek; but if +salvation is clean gone, if the Libyan gulf holds thee, dear lord of thy +Trojans, and Iülus our hope survives no more, seek we then at least the +straits of Sicily, the open homes whence we sailed hither, and Acestes +for our king.' Thus Ilioneus, and all the Dardanian company +[560-593]murmured assent. . . . Then Dido, with downcast face, briefly +speaks: + +'Cheer your anxious hearts, O Teucrians; put by your care. Hard fortune +in a strange realm forces me to this task, to keep watch and ward on my +wide frontiers. Who can be ignorant of the race of Aeneas' people, who +of Troy town and her men and deeds, or of the great war's consuming +fire? Not so dull are the hearts of our Punic wearing, not so far doth +the sun yoke his steeds from our Tyrian town. Whether your choice be +broad Hesperia, the fields of Saturn's dominion, or Eryx for your +country and Acestes for your king, my escort shall speed you in safety, +my arsenals supply your need. Or will you even find rest here with me +and share my kingdom? The city I establish is yours; draw your ships +ashore; Trojan and Tyrian shall be held by me in even balance. And would +that he your king, that Aeneas were here, storm-driven to this same +haven! But I will send messengers along the coast, and bid them trace +Libya to its limits, if haply he strays shipwrecked in forest or town.' + +Stirred by these words brave Achates and lord Aeneas both ere now burned +to break through the cloud. Achates first accosts Aeneas: 'Goddess-born, +what purpose now rises in thy spirit? Thou seest all is safe, our fleet +and comrades are restored. One only is wanting, whom our eyes saw +whelmed amid the waves; all else is answerable to thy mother's words.' + +Scarce had he spoken when the encircling cloud suddenly parts and melts +into clear air. Aeneas stood discovered in sheen of brilliant light, +like a god in face and shoulders; for his mother's self had shed on her +son the grace of clustered locks, the radiant light of youth, and the +lustre of joyous eyes; as when ivory takes beauty under the artist's +hand, or when silver or Parian stone is inlaid in gold. [594-625]Then +breaking in on all with unexpected speech he thus addresses the queen: + +'I whom you seek am here before you, Aeneas of Troy, snatched from the +Libyan waves. O thou who alone hast pitied Troy's untold agonies, thou +who with us the remnant of the Grecian foe, worn out ere now by every +suffering land and sea can bring, with us in our utter want dost share +thy city and home! to render meet recompense is not possible for us, O +Dido, nor for all who scattered over the wide world are left of our +Dardanian race. The gods grant thee worthy reward, if their deity turn +any regard on goodness, if aught avails justice and conscious purity of +soul. What happy ages bore thee? what mighty parents gave thy virtue +birth? While rivers run into the sea, while the mountain shadows move +across their slopes, while the stars have pasturage in heaven, ever +shall thine honour, thy name and praises endure in the unknown lands +that summon me.' With these words he advances his right hand to dear +Ilioneus, his left to Serestus; then to the rest, brave Gyas and brave +Cloanthus. + +Dido the Sidonian stood astonished, first at the sight of him, then at +his strange fortunes; and these words left her lips: + +'What fate follows thee, goddess-born, through perilous ways? what +violence lands thee on this monstrous coast? Art thou that Aeneas whom +Venus the bountiful bore to Dardanian Anchises by the wave of Phrygian +Simoïs? And well I remember how Teucer came to Sidon, when exiled from +his native land he sought Belus' aid to gain new realms; Belus my father +even then ravaged rich Cyprus and held it under his conquering sway. +From that time forth have I known the fall of the Trojan city, known thy +name and the Pelasgian princes. Their very foe would extol the Teucrians +with highest praises, and boasted himself a branch [626-661]of the +ancient Teucrian stem. Come therefore, O men, and enter our house. Me +too hath a like fortune driven through many a woe, and willed at last to +find my rest in this land. Not ignorant of ill do I learn to succour the +afflicted.' + +With such speech she leads Aeneas into the royal house, and orders +sacrifice in the gods' temples. Therewith she sends his company on +the shore twenty bulls, an hundred great bristly-backed swine, an +hundred fat lambs and their mothers with them, gifts of the day's +gladness. . . . But the palace within is decked with splendour of royal +state, and a banquet made ready amid the halls. The coverings are +curiously wrought in splendid purple; on the tables is massy silver and +deeds of ancestral valour graven in gold, all the long course of history +drawn through many a heroic name from the nation's primal antiquity. + +Aeneas--for a father's affection denied his spirit rest--sends Achates +speeding to his ships, to carry this news to Ascanius, and lead him to +the town: in Ascanius is fixed all the parent's loving care. Presents +likewise he bids him bring saved from the wreck of Ilium, a mantle stiff +with gold embroidery, and a veil with woven border of yellow +acanthus-flower, that once decked Helen of Argos, the marvel of her +mother Leda's giving; Helen had borne them from Mycenae, when she sought +Troy towers and a lawless bridal; the sceptre too that Ilione, Priam's +eldest daughter, once had worn, a beaded necklace, and a double circlet +of jewelled gold. Achates, hasting on his message, bent his way towards +the ships. + +But in the Cytherean's breast new arts, new schemes revolve; if Cupid, +changed in form and feature, may come in sweet Ascanius' room, and his +gifts kindle the queen to madness and set her inmost sense aflame. +Verily she fears the uncertain house, the double-tongued race of Tyre; +[662-698]cruel Juno frets her, and at nightfall her care floods back. +Therefore to winged Love she speaks these words: + +'Son, who art alone my strength and sovereignty, son, who scornest the +mighty father's Typhoïan shafts, to thee I fly for succour, and sue +humbly to thy deity. How Aeneas thy brother is driven about all the +sea-coasts by bitter Juno's malignity, this thou knowest, and hast often +grieved in our grief. Now Dido the Phoenician holds him stayed with soft +words, and I tremble to think how the welcome of Juno's house may issue; +she will not be idle in this supreme turn of fortune. Wherefore I +counsel to prevent her wiles and circle the queen with flame, that, +unalterable by any deity, she may be held fast to me by passionate love +for Aeneas. Take now my thought how to do this. The boy prince, my +chiefest care, makes ready at his dear father's summons to go to the +Sidonian city, carrying gifts that survive the sea and the flames of +Troy. Him will I hide deep asleep in my holy habitation, high on +Cythera's hills or in Idalium, that he may not know nor cross our wiles. +Do thou but for one night feign his form, and, boy as thou art, put on +the familiar face of a boy; so when in festal cheer, amid royal dainties +and Bacchic juice, Dido shall take thee to her lap, shall fold thee in +her clasp and kiss thee close and sweet, thou mayest imbreathe a hidden +fire and unsuspected poison.' + +Love obeys his dear mother's words, lays by his wings, and walks +rejoicingly with Iülus' tread. But Venus pours gentle dew of slumber on +Ascanius' limbs, and lifts him lulled in her lap to the tall Idalian +groves of her deity, where soft amaracus folds him round with the +shadowed sweetness of its odorous blossoms. And now, obedient to her +words, Cupid went merrily in Achates' guiding, with the royal gifts for +the Tyrians. Already at his coming the queen hath sate her down in the +midmost on her golden [699-733]throne under the splendid tapestries; +now lord Aeneas, now too the men of Troy gather, and all recline on the +strewn purple. Servants pour water on their hands, serve corn from +baskets, and bring napkins with close-cut pile. Fifty handmaids are +within, whose task is in their course to keep unfailing store and kindle +the household fire. An hundred others, and as many pages all of like +age, load the board with food and array the wine cups. Therewithal the +Tyrians are gathered full in the wide feasting chamber, and take their +appointed places on the broidered cushions. They marvel at Aeneas' +gifts, marvel at Iülus, at the god's face aflame and forged speech, at +the mantle and veil wrought with yellow acanthus-flower. Above all the +hapless Phoenician, victim to coming doom, cannot satiate her soul, but, +stirred alike by the boy and the gifts, she gazes and takes fire. He, +when hanging clasped on Aeneas' neck he had satisfied all the deluded +parent's love, makes his way to the queen; the queen clings to him with +her eyes and all her soul, and ever and anon fondles him in her lap, ah, +poor Dido! witless how mighty a deity sinks into her breast; but he, +mindful of his mother the Acidalian, begins touch by touch to efface +Sychaeus, and sows the surprise of a living love in the +long-since-unstirred spirit and disaccustomed heart. Soon as the noise +of banquet ceased and the board was cleared, they set down great bowls +and enwreathe the wine. The house is filled with hum of voices eddying +through the spacious chambers; lit lamps hang down by golden chainwork, +and flaming tapers expel the night. Now the queen called for a heavy cup +of jewelled gold, and filled it with pure wine; therewith was the use of +Belus and all of Belus' race: then the hall was silenced. 'Jupiter,' she +cries, 'for thou art reputed lawgiver of hospitality, grant that this be +a joyful day to the Tyrians and the voyagers from Troy, a day to live in +our children's memory. [734-756]Bacchus, the giver of gladness, be with +us, and Juno the bountiful; and you, O Tyrians, be favourable to our +assembly.' She spoke, and poured liquid libation on the board, which +done, she first herself touched it lightly with her lips, then handed it +to Bitias and bade him speed; he valiantly drained the foaming cup, and +flooded him with the brimming gold. The other princes followed. +Long-haired Iopas on his gilded lyre fills the chamber with songs +ancient Atlas taught; he sings of the wandering moon and the sun's +travails; whence is the human race and the brute, whence water and fire; +of Arcturus, the rainy Hyades, and the twin Oxen; why wintry suns make +such haste to dip in ocean, or what delay makes the nights drag +lingeringly. Tyrians and Trojans after them redouble applause. +Therewithal Dido wore the night in changing talk, alas! and drank long +draughts of love, asking many a thing of Priam, many a thing of Hector; +now in what armour the son of the Morning came; now of what fashion were +Diomede's horses; now of mighty Achilles. 'Nay, come,' she cries, 'tell +to us, O guest, from their first beginning the treachery of the +Grecians, thy people's woes, and thine own wanderings; for this is now +the seventh summer that bears thee a wanderer over all the earth and +sea.' + + + + +BOOK SECOND + +THE STORY OF THE SACK OF TROY + + +All were hushed, and sate with steadfast countenance; thereon, high from +his cushioned seat, lord Aeneas thus began: + +'Dreadful, O Queen, is the woe thou bidst me recall, how the Grecians +pitiably overthrew the wealth and lordship of Troy; and I myself saw +these things in all their horror, and I bore great part in them. What +Myrmidon or Dolopian, or soldier of stern Ulysses, could in such a tale +restrain his tears! and now night falls dewy from the steep of heaven, +and the setting stars counsel to slumber. Yet if thy desire be such to +know our calamities, and briefly to hear Troy's last agony, though my +spirit shudders at the remembrance and recoils in pain, I will essay. + +'Broken in war and beaten back by fate, and so many years now slid away, +the Grecian captains build by Pallas' divine craft a horse of +mountainous build, ribbed with sawn fir; they feign it vowed for their +return, and this rumour goes about. Within the blind sides they +stealthily imprison chosen men picked out one by one, and fill the vast +cavern of its womb full with armed soldiery. + +'There lies in sight an island well known in fame, Tenedos, rich of +store while the realm of Priam endured, [23-55]now but a bay and +roadstead treacherous to ships. Hither they launch forth, and hide on +the solitary shore: we fancied they were gone, and had run down the wind +for Mycenae. So all the Teucrian land put her long grief away. The gates +are flung open; men go rejoicingly to see the Doric camp, the deserted +stations and abandoned shore. Here the Dolopian troops were tented, here +cruel Achilles; here their squadrons lay; here the lines were wont to +meet in battle. Some gaze astonished at the deadly gift of Minerva the +Virgin, and wonder at the horse's bulk; and Thymoetes begins to advise +that it be drawn within our walls and set in the citadel, whether in +guile, or that the doom of Troy was even now setting thus. But Capys and +they whose mind was of better counsel, bid us either hurl sheer into the +sea the guileful and sinister gift of Greece, or heap flames beneath to +consume it, or pierce and explore the hollow hiding-place of its womb. +The wavering crowd is torn apart in high dispute. + +'At that, foremost of all and with a great throng about him, Laocoön +runs hotly down from the high citadel, and cries from far: "Ah, wretched +citizens, what height of madness is this? Believe you the foe is gone? +or think you any Grecian gift is free of treachery? is it thus we know +Ulysses? Either Achaeans are hid in this cage of wood, or the engine is +fashioned against our walls to overlook the houses and descend upon the +city; some delusion lurks there: trust not the horse, O Trojans. Be it +what it may, I fear the Grecians even when they offer gifts." Thus +speaking, he hurled his mighty spear with great strength at the +creature's side and the curved framework of the belly: the spear stood +quivering, and the jarred cavern of the womb sounded hollow and uttered +a groan. And had divine ordinance, had a soul not infatuate been with +us, he had moved us to lay violent steel on the Argolic hiding place; +[56-90]and Troy would now stand, and you, tall towers of Priam, yet +abide. + +'Lo, Dardanian shepherds meanwhile dragged clamorously before the King a +man with hands tied behind his back, who to compass this very thing, to +lay Troy open to the Achaeans, had gone to meet their ignorant approach, +confident in spirit and doubly prepared to spin his snares or to meet +assured death. From all sides, in eagerness to see, the people of Troy +run streaming in, and vie in jeers at their prisoner. Know now the +treachery of the Grecians, and from a single crime learn all. . . . For +as he stood amid our gaze confounded, disarmed, and cast his eyes around +the Phrygian columns, "Alas!" he cried, "what land now, what seas may +receive me? or what is the last doom that yet awaits my misery? who have +neither any place among the Grecians, and likewise the Dardanians +clamour in wrath for the forfeit of my blood." At that lament our spirit +was changed, and all assault stayed: we encourage him to speak, and tell +of what blood he is sprung, or what assurance he brings his captors. + +'"In all things assuredly," says he, "O King, befall what may, I will +confess to thee the truth; nor will I deny myself of Argolic birth--this +first--nor, if Fortune hath made Sinon unhappy, shall her malice mould +him to a cheat and a liar. Hath a tale of the name of Palamedes, son of +Belus, haply reached thine ears, and of his glorious rumour and renown; +whom under false evidence the Pelasgians, because he forbade the war, +sent innocent to death by wicked witness; now they bewail him when he +hath left the light;--in his company, being near of blood, my father, +poor as he was, sent me hither to arms from mine earliest years. While +he stood unshaken in royalty and potent in the councils of the kings, we +too wore a name and honour. When by subtle Ulysses' malice (no unknown +tale do I tell) [91-124]he left the upper regions, my shattered life +crept on in darkness and grief, inly indignant at the fate of my +innocent friend. Nor in my madness was I silent: and, should any chance +offer, did I ever return a conqueror to my native Argos, I vowed myself +his avenger, and with my words I stirred his bitter hatred. From this +came the first taint of ill; from this did Ulysses ever threaten me with +fresh charges, from this flung dark sayings among the crowd and sought +confederate arms. Nay, nor did he rest, till by Calchas' service--but +yet why do I vainly unroll the unavailing tale, or why hold you in +delay, if all Achaeans are ranked together in your mind, and it is +enough that I bear the name? Take the vengeance deferred; this the +Ithacan would desire, and the sons of Atreus buy at a great ransom." + +'Then indeed we press on to ask and inquire the cause, witless of +wickedness so great and Pelasgian craft. Tremblingly the false-hearted +one pursues his speech: + +'"Often would the Grecians have taken to flight, leaving Troy behind, +and disbanded in weariness of the long war: and would God they had! as +often the fierce sea-tempest barred their way, and the gale frightened +them from going. Most of all when this horse already stood framed with +beams of maple, storm clouds roared over all the sky. In perplexity we +send Eurypylus to inquire of Phoebus' oracle; and he brings back from +the sanctuary these words of terror: _With blood of a slain maiden, O +Grecians, you appeased the winds when first you came to the Ilian +coasts; with blood must you seek your return, and an Argive life be the +accepted sacrifice._ When that utterance reached the ears of the crowd, +their hearts stood still, and a cold shudder ran through their inmost +sense: for whom is doom purposed? who is claimed of Apollo? At this the +Ithacan with loud clamour drags Calchas the soothsayer forth amidst +them, and demands of him what is this the gods signify. And now many an +one [125-158]foretold me the villain's craft and cruelty, and silently +saw what was to come. Twice five days he is speechless in his tent, and +will not have any one denounced by his lips, or given up to death. +Scarcely at last, at the loud urgence of the Ithacan, he breaks into +speech as was planned, and appoints me for the altar. All consented; and +each one's particular fear was turned, ah me! to my single destruction. +And now the dreadful day was at hand; the rites were being ordered for +me, the salted corn, and the chaplets to wreathe my temples. I broke +away, I confess it, from death; I burst my bonds, and lurked all night +darkling in the sedge of the marshy pool, till they might set their +sails, if haply they should set them. Nor have I any hope more of seeing +my old home nor my sweet children and the father whom I desire. Of them +will they even haply claim vengeance for my flight, and wash away this +crime in their wretched death. By the heavenly powers I beseech thee, +the deities to whom truth is known, by all the faith yet unsullied that +is anywhere left among mortals; pity woes so great; pity an undeserving +sufferer." + +'At these his tears we grant him life, and accord our pity. Priam +himself at once commands his shackles and strait bonds to be undone, and +thus speaks with kindly words: "Whoso thou art, now and henceforth +dismiss and forget the Greeks: thou shalt be ours. And unfold the truth +to this my question: wherefore have they reared this vast size of horse? +who is their counsellor? or what their aim? what propitiation, or what +engine of war is this?" He ended; the other, stored with the treacherous +craft of Pelasgia, lifts to heaven his freed hands. "You, everlasting +fires," he cries, "and your inviolable sanctity be my witness; you, O +altars and accursed swords I fled, and chaplets of the gods I wore as +victim! unblamed may I break the oath of Greek allegiance, unblamed hate +them and bring all to light that they [159-191]conceal; nor am I bound +by any laws of country. Do thou only keep by thy promise, O Troy, and +preserve faith with thy preserver, as my news shall be true, as my +recompense great. + +'"All the hope of Greece, and the confidence in which the war began, +ever centred in Pallas' aid. But since the wicked son of Tydeus, and +Ulysses, forger of crime, made bold to tear the fated Palladium from her +sanctuary, and cut down the sentries on the towered height; since they +grasped the holy image, and dared with bloody hands to touch the maiden +chaplets of the goddess; since then the hope of Greece ebbed and slid +away backwards, their strength was broken, and the mind of the goddess +estranged. Whereof the Tritonian gave token by no uncertain signs. +Scarcely was the image set in the camp; flame shot sparkling from its +lifted eyes, and salt sweat started over its body; thrice, wonderful to +tell, it leapt from the ground with shield and spear quivering. +Immediately Calchas prophesies that the seas must be explored in flight, +nor may Troy towers be overthrown by Argive weapons, except they repeat +their auspices at Argos, and bring back that divine presence they have +borne away with them in the curved ships overseas. And now they have run +down the wind for their native Mycenae, to gather arms and gods to +attend them; they will remeasure ocean and be on you unawares. So +Calchas expounds the omens. This image at his warning they reared in +recompense for the Palladium and the injured deity, to expiate the +horror of sacrilege. Yet Calchas bade them raise it to this vast size +with oaken crossbeams, and build it up to heaven, that it may not find +entry at the gates nor be drawn within the city, nor protect your people +beneath the consecration of old. For if hand of yours should violate +Minerva's offering, then utter destruction (the gods turn rather on +himself his augury!) should be upon Priam's empire and [192-226]the +Phrygian people. But if under your hands it climbed into your city, Asia +should advance in mighty war to the walls of Pelops, and a like fate +awaited our children's children." + +'So by Sinon's wiles and craft and perjury the thing gained belief; and +we were ensnared by treachery and forced tears, we whom neither the son +of Tydeus nor Achilles of Larissa, whom not ten years nor a thousand +ships brought down. + +'Here another sight, greater, alas! and far more terrible meets us, and +alarms our thoughtless senses. Laocoön, allotted priest of Neptune, was +slaying a great bull at the accustomed altars. And lo! from Tenedos, +over the placid depths (I shudder as I recall) two snakes in enormous +coils press down the sea and advance together to the shore; their +breasts rise through the surge, and their blood-red crests overtop the +waves; the rest trails through the main behind and wreathes back in +voluminous curves; the brine gurgles and foams. And now they gained the +fields, while their bloodshot eyes blazed with fire, and their tongues +lapped and flickered in their hissing mouths. We scatter, pallid at the +sight. They in unfaltering train make towards Laocoön. And first the +serpents twine in their double embrace his two little children, and bite +deep in their wretched limbs; then him likewise, as he comes up to help +with arms in his hand, they seize and fasten in their enormous coils; +and now twice clasping his waist, twice encircling his neck with their +scaly bodies, they tower head and neck above him. He at once strains his +hands to tear their knots apart, his fillets spattered with foul black +venom; at once raises to heaven awful cries; as when, bellowing, a bull +shakes the wavering axe from his neck and runs wounded from the altar. +But the two snakes glide away to the high sanctuary and seek the fierce +Tritonian's citadel, [227-261]and take shelter under the goddess' feet +beneath the circle of her shield. Then indeed a strange terror thrills +in all our amazed breasts; and Laocoön, men say, hath fulfilled his +crime's desert, in piercing the consecrated wood and hurling his guilty +spear into its body. All cry out that the image must be drawn to its +home and supplication made to her deity. . . . We sunder the walls, and +lay open the inner city. All set to the work; they fix rolling wheels +under its feet, and tie hempen bands on its neck. The fated engine +climbs our walls, big with arms. Around it boys and unwedded girls chant +hymns and joyfully lay their hand on the rope. It moves up, and glides +menacing into the middle of the town. O native land! O Ilium, house of +gods, and Dardanian city renowned in war! four times in the very gateway +did it come to a stand, and four times armour rang in its womb. Yet we +urge it on, mindless and infatuate, and plant the ill-ominous thing in +our hallowed citadel. Even then Cassandra opens her lips to the coming +doom, lips at a god's bidding never believed by the Trojans. We, the +wretched people, to whom that day was our last, hang the shrines of the +gods with festal boughs throughout the city. Meanwhile the heavens wheel +on, and night rises from the sea, wrapping in her vast shadow earth and +sky and the wiles of the Myrmidons; about the town the Teucrians are +stretched in silence; slumber laps their tired limbs. + +'And now the Argive squadron was sailing in order from Tenedos, and in +the favouring stillness of the quiet moon sought the shores it knew; +when the royal galley ran out a flame, and, protected by the gods' +malign decrees, Sinon stealthily lets loose the imprisoned Grecians from +their barriers of pine; the horse opens and restores them to the air; +and joyfully issuing from the hollow wood, Thessander and Sthenelus the +captains, and terrible Ulysses, [262-295]slide down the dangling rope, +with Acamas and Thoas and Neoptolemus son of Peleus, and Machaon first +of all, and Menelaus, and Epeüs himself the artificer of the treachery. +They sweep down the city buried in drunken sleep; the watchmen are cut +down, and at the open gates they welcome all their comrades, and unite +their confederate bands. + +'It was the time when by the gift of God rest comes stealing first and +sweetest on unhappy men. In slumber, lo! before mine eyes Hector seemed +to stand by, deep in grief and shedding abundant tears; torn by the +chariot, as once of old, and black with gory dust, his swoln feet +pierced with the thongs. Ah me! in what guise was he! how changed from +the Hector who returns from putting on Achilles' spoils, or launching +the fires of Phrygia on the Grecian ships! with ragged beard and tresses +clotted with blood, and all the many wounds upon him that he received +around his ancestral walls. Myself too weeping I seemed to accost him +ere he spoke, and utter forth mournful accents: "O light of Dardania, O +surest hope of the Trojans, what long delay is this hath held thee? from +what borders comest thou, Hector our desire? with what weary eyes we see +thee, after many deaths of thy kin, after divers woes of people and +city! What indignity hath marred thy serene visage? or why discern I +these wounds?" He replies naught, nor regards my idle questioning; but +heavily drawing a heart-deep groan, "Ah, fly, goddess-born," he says, +"and rescue thyself from these flames. The foe holds our walls; from her +high ridges Troy is toppling down. Thy country and Priam ask no more. If +Troy towers might be defended by strength of hand, this hand too had +been their defence. Troy commends to thee her holy things and household +gods; take them to accompany thy fate; seek for them a city, which, +after all the seas have known thy wanderings, thou shalt at last +establish in [296-327]might." So speaks he, and carries forth in his +hands from their inner shrine the chaplets and strength of Vesta, and +the everlasting fire. + +'Meanwhile the city is stirred with mingled agony; and more and more, +though my father Anchises' house lay deep withdrawn and screened by +trees, the noises grow clearer and the clash of armour swells. I shake +myself from sleep and mount over the sloping roof, and stand there with +ears attent: even as when flame catches a corn-field while south winds +are furious, or the racing torrent of a mountain stream sweeps the +fields, sweeps the smiling crops and labours of the oxen, and hurls the +forest with it headlong; the shepherd in witless amaze hears the roar +from the cliff-top. Then indeed proof is clear, and the treachery of the +Grecians opens out. Already the house of Deïphobus hath crashed down in +wide ruin amid the overpowering flames; already our neighbour Ucalegon +is ablaze: the broad Sigean bay is lit with the fire. Cries of men and +blare of trumpets rise up. Madly I seize my arms, nor is there so much +purpose in arms; but my spirit is on fire to gather a band for fighting +and charge for the citadel with my comrades. Fury and wrath drive me +headlong, and I think how noble is death in arms. + +'And lo! Panthus, eluding the Achaean weapons, Panthus son of Othrys, +priest of Phoebus in the citadel, comes hurrying with the sacred vessels +and conquered gods and his little grandchild in his hand, and runs +distractedly towards my gates. "How stands the state, O Panthus? what +stronghold are we to occupy?" Scarcely had I said so, when groaning he +thus returns: "The crowning day is come, the irreversible time of the +Dardanian land. No more are we a Trojan people; Ilium and the great +glory of the Teucrians is no more. Angry Jupiter hath cast all into the +scale of Argos. The Grecians are lords of the burning [328-362]town. +The horse, standing high amid the city, pours forth armed men, and Sinon +scatters fire, insolent in victory. Some are at the wide-flung gates, +all the thousands that ever came from populous Mycenae. Others have +beset the narrow streets with lowered weapons; edge and glittering point +of steel stand drawn, ready for the slaughter; scarcely at the entry do +the guards of the gates essay battle, and hold out in the blind fight." + +'Heaven's will thus declared by the son of Othrys drives me amid flames +and arms, where the baleful Fury calls, and tumult of shouting rises up. +Rhipeus and Epytus, most mighty in arms, join company with me; Hypanis +and Dymas meet us in the moonlight and attach themselves to our side, +and young Coroebus son of Mygdon. In those days it was he had come to +Troy, fired with mad passion for Cassandra, and bore a son's aid to +Priam and the Phrygians: hapless, that he listened not to his raving +bride's counsels. . . . Seeing them close-ranked and daring for battle, +I therewith began thus: "Men, hearts of supreme and useless bravery, if +your desire be fixed to follow one who dares the utmost; you see what is +the fortune of our state: all the gods by whom this empire was upheld +have gone forth, abandoning shrine and altar; your aid comes to a +burning city. Let us die, and rush on their encircling weapons. The +conquered have one safety, to hope for none." + +'So their spirit is heightened to fury. Then, like wolves ravening in a +black fog, whom mad malice of hunger hath driven blindly forth, and +their cubs left behind await with throats unslaked; through the weapons +of the enemy we march to certain death, and hold our way straight into +the town. Night's sheltering shadow flutters dark around us. Who may +unfold in speech that night's horror and death-agony, or measure its +woes in weeping? The [363-397]ancient city falls with her long years of +sovereignty; corpses lie stretched stiff all about the streets and +houses and awful courts of the gods. Nor do Teucrians alone pay forfeit +of their blood; once and again valour returns even in conquered hearts, +and the victorious Grecians fall. Everywhere is cruel agony, everywhere +terror, and the sight of death at every turn. + +'First, with a great troop of Grecians attending him, Androgeus meets +us, taking us in ignorance for an allied band, and opens on us with +friendly words: "Hasten, my men; why idly linger so late? others plunder +and harry the burning citadel; are you but now on your march from the +tall ships?" He spoke, and immediately (for no answer of any assurance +was offered) knew he was fallen among the foe. In amazement, he checked +foot and voice; even as one who struggling through rough briers hath +trodden a snake on the ground unwarned, and suddenly shrinks fluttering +back as it rises in anger and puffs its green throat out; even thus +Androgeus drew away, startled at the sight. We rush in and encircle them +with serried arms, and cut them down dispersedly in their ignorance of +the ground and seizure of panic. Fortune speeds our first labour. And +here Coroebus, flushed with success and spirit, cries: "O comrades, +follow me where fortune points before us the path of safety, and shews +her favour. Let us exchange shields, and accoutre ourselves in Grecian +suits; whether craft or courage, who will ask of an enemy? the foe shall +arm our hands." Thus speaking, he next dons the plumed helmet and +beautifully blazoned shield of Androgeus, and fits the Argive sword to +his side. So does Rhipeus, so Dymas in like wise, and all our men in +delight arm themselves one by one in the fresh spoils. We advance, +mingling with the Grecians, under a protection not our own, and join +many a battle [398-432]with those we meet amid the blind night; many a +Greek we send down to hell. Some scatter to the ships and run for the +safety of the shore; some in craven fear again climb the huge horse, and +hide in the belly they knew. Alas that none may trust at all to +estranged gods! + +'Lo! Cassandra, maiden daughter of Priam, was being dragged with +disordered tresses from the temple and sanctuary of Minerva, straining +to heaven her blazing eyes in vain; her eyes, for fetters locked her +delicate hands. At this sight Coroebus burst forth infuriate, and flung +himself on death amid their columns. We all follow him up, and charge +with massed arms. Here first from the high temple roof we are +overwhelmed with our own people's weapons, and a most pitiful slaughter +begins through the fashion of our armour and the mistaken Greek crests; +then the Grecians, with angry cries at the maiden's rescue, gather from +every side and fall on us; Ajax in all his valour, and the two sons of +Atreus, and the whole Dolopian army: as oft when bursting in whirlwind +West and South clash with adverse blasts, and the East wind exultant on +the coursers of the Dawn; the forests cry, and fierce in foam Nereus +with his trident stirs the seas from their lowest depth. Those too +appear, whom our stratagem routed through the darkness of dim night and +drove all about the town; at once they know the shields and lying +weapons, and mark the alien tone on our lips. We go down, overwhelmed by +numbers. First Coroebus is stretched by Peneleus' hand at the altar of +the goddess armipotent; and Rhipeus falls, the one man who was most +righteous and steadfast in justice among the Teucrians: the gods' ways +are not as ours: Hypanis and Dymas perish, pierced by friendly hands; +nor did all thy goodness, O Panthus, nor Apollo's fillet protect thy +fall. O ashes of Ilium and death flames of my people! you I call to +witness that in your ruin I [433-465]shunned no Grecian weapon or +encounter, and my hand earned my fall, had destiny been thus. We tear +ourselves away, I and Iphitus and Pelias, Iphitus now stricken in age, +Pelias halting too under the wound of Ulysses, called forward by the +clamour to Priam's house. + +'Here indeed the battle is fiercest, as if all the rest of the fighting +were nowhere, and no slaughter but here throughout the city, so do we +descry the war in full fury, the Grecians rushing on the building, and +their shielded column driving up against the beleaguered threshold. +Ladders cling to the walls; and hard by the doors and planted on the +rungs they hold up their shields in the left hand to ward off our +weapons, and with their right clutch the battlements. The Dardanians +tear down turrets and the covering of the house roof against them; with +these for weapons, since they see the end is come, they prepare to +defend themselves even in death's extremity: and hurl down gilded beams, +the stately decorations of their fathers of old. Others with drawn +swords have beset the doorway below and keep it in crowded column. We +renew our courage, to aid the royal dwelling, to support them with our +succour, and swell the force of the conquered. + +'There was a blind doorway giving passage through the range of Priam's +halls by a solitary postern, whereby, while our realm endured, hapless +Andromache would often and often glide unattended to her father-in-law's +house, and carry the boy Astyanax to his grandsire. I issue out on the +sloping height of the ridge, whence wretched Teucrian hands were hurling +their ineffectual weapons. A tower stood on the sheer brink, its roof +ascending high into heaven, whence was wont to be seen all Troy and the +Grecian ships and Achaean camp: attacking it with iron round about, +where the joints of the lofty flooring yielded, we wrench it from its +deep foundations and shake it free; it gives way, and [466-498]suddenly +falls thundering in ruin, crashing wide over the Grecian ranks. But +others swarm up; nor meanwhile do stones nor any sort of missile +slacken. . . . Right before the vestibule and in the front doorway +Pyrrhus moves rejoicingly in the sparkle of arms and gleaming brass: +like as when a snake fed on poisonous herbs, whom chill winter kept hid +and swollen underground, now fresh from his weeds outworn and shining in +youth, wreathes his slippery body into the daylight, his upreared breast +meets the sun, and his triple-cloven tongue flickers in his mouth. With +him huge Periphas, and Automedon the armour-bearer, driver of Achilles' +horses, with him all his Scyrian men climb the roof and hurl flames on +the housetop. Himself among the foremost he grasps a poleaxe, bursts +through the hard doorway, and wrenches the brazen-plated doors from the +hinge; and now he hath cut out a plank from the solid oak and pierced a +vast gaping hole. The house within is open to sight, and the long halls +lie plain; open to sight are the secret chambers of Priam and the kings +of old, and they see armed men standing in front of the doorway. + +'But the inner house is stirred with shrieks and misery and confusion, +and the court echoes deep with women's wailing; the golden stars are +smitten with the din. Affrighted mothers stray about the vast house, and +cling fast to the doors and print them with kisses. With his father's +might Pyrrhus presses on; nor guards nor barriers can hold out. The gate +totters under the hard driven ram, and the doors fall flat, rent from +the hinge. Force makes way; the Greeks burst through the entrance and +pour in, slaughtering the foremost, and filling the space with a wide +stream of soldiers. Not so furiously when a foaming river bursts his +banks and overflows, beating down the opposing dykes with whirling +water, is he borne mounded over the fields, and sweeps herds and +[499-529]pens all about the plains. Myself I saw in the gateway +Neoptolemus mad in slaughter, and the two sons of Atreus, saw Hecuba and +the hundred daughters of her house, and Priam polluting with his blood +the altar fires of his own consecration. The fifty bridal chambers--so +great was the hope of his children's children--their doors magnificent +with spoils of barbaric gold, have sunk in ruin; where the fire fails +the Greeks are in possession. + +'Perchance too thou mayest inquire what was Priam's fate. When he saw +the ruin of his captured city, the gates of his house burst open, and +the enemy amid his innermost chambers, the old man idly fastens round +his aged trembling shoulders his long disused armour, girds on the +unavailing sword, and advances on his death among the thronging foe. + +'Within the palace and under the bare cope of sky was a massive altar, +and hard on the altar an ancient bay tree leaned clasping the household +gods in its shadow. Here Hecuba and her daughters crowded vainly about +the altar-stones, like doves driven headlong by a black tempest, and +crouched clasping the gods' images. And when she saw Priam her lord with +the armour of youth on him, "What spirit of madness, my poor husband," +she cries, "hath stirred thee to gird on these weapons? or whither dost +thou run? Not such the succour nor these the defenders the time +requires: no, were mine own Hector now beside us. Retire, I beseech +thee, hither; this altar will protect us all, or thou wilt share our +death." With these words on her lips she drew the aged man to her, and +set him on the holy seat. + +'And lo, escaped from slaughtering Pyrrhus through the weapons of the +enemy, Polites, one of Priam's children, flies wounded down the long +colonnades and circles the empty halls. Pyrrhus pursues him fiercely +with aimed [530-563]wound, just catching at him, and follows hard on +him with his spear. As at last he issued before his parents' eyes and +faces, he fell, and shed his life in a pool of blood. At this Priam, +although even now fast in the toils of death, yet withheld not nor +spared a wrathful cry: "Ah, for thy crime, for this thy hardihood, may +the gods, if there is goodness in heaven to care for aught such, pay +thee in full thy worthy meed, and return thee the reward that is due! +who hast made me look face to face on my child's murder, and polluted a +father's countenance with death. Ah, not such to a foe was the Achilles +whose parentage thou beliest; but he revered a suppliant's right and +trust, restored to the tomb Hector's pallid corpse, and sent me back to +my realm." Thus the old man spoke, and launched his weak and unwounding +spear, which, recoiling straight from the jarring brass, hung idly from +his shield above the boss. Thereat Pyrrhus: "Thou then shalt tell this, +and go with the message to my sire the son of Peleus: remember to tell +him of my baleful deeds, and the degeneracy of Neoptolemus. Now die." So +saying, he drew him quivering to the very altar, slipping in the pool of +his child's blood, and wound his left hand in his hair, while in his +right the sword flashed out and plunged to the hilt in his side. This +was the end of Priam's fortunes; thus did allotted fate find him, with +burning Troy and her sunken towers before his eyes, once magnificent +lord over so many peoples and lands of Asia. The great corpse lies along +the shore, a head severed from the shoulders and a body without a name. + +'But then an awful terror began to encircle me; I stood in amaze; there +rose before me the likeness of my loved father, as I saw the king, old +as he, sobbing out his life under the ghastly wound; there rose Creüsa +forlorn, my plundered house, and little Iülus' peril. I look back +[564-596]and survey what force is around me. All, outwearied, have +given up and leapt headlong to the ground, or flung themselves +wretchedly into the fire: + +['Yes, and now I only was left; when I espy the daughter of Tyndarus +close in the courts of Vesta, crouching silently in the fane's recesses; +the bright glow of the fires lights my wandering, as my eyes stray all +about. Fearing the Teucrians' anger for the overthrown towers of Troy, +and the Grecians' vengeance and the wrath of the husband she had +abandoned, she, the common Fury of Troy and her native country, had +hidden herself and cowered unseen by the altars. My spirit kindles to +fire, and rises in wrath to avenge my dying land and take repayment for +her crimes. Shall she verily see Sparta and her native Mycenae +unscathed, and depart a queen and triumphant? Shall she see her spousal +and her home, her parents and children, attended by a crowd of Trojan +women and Phrygians to serve her? and Priam have fallen under the sword? +Troy blazed in fire? the shore of Dardania so often soaked with blood? +Not so. For though there is no name or fame in a woman's punishment, nor +honour in the victory, yet shall I have praise in quenching a guilty +life and exacting a just recompense; and it will be good to fill my soul +with the flame of vengeance, and satisfy the ashes of my people. Thus +broke I forth, and advanced infuriate;] + +'----When my mother came visibly before me, clear to sight as never till +then, and shone forth in pure radiance through the night, gracious, +evident in godhead, in shape and stature such as she is wont to appear +to the heavenly people; she caught me by the hand and stayed me, and +pursued thus with roseate lips: + +'"Son, what overmastering pain thus wakes thy wrath? Why ravest thou? or +whither is thy care for us fled? Wilt thou not first look to it, where +thou hast left Anchises, [597-630]thine aged worn father; or if Creüsa +thy wife and the child Ascanius survive? round about whom all the Greek +battalions range; and without my preventing care, the flames ere this +had made them their portion, and the hostile sword drunk their blood. +Not the hated face of the Laconian woman, Tyndarus' daughter; not Paris +is to blame; the gods, the gods in anger overturn this magnificence, and +make Troy topple down. Look, for all the cloud that now veils thy gaze +and dulls mortal vision with damp encircling mist, I will rend from +before thee. Fear thou no commands of thy mother, nor refuse to obey her +counsels. Here, where thou seest sundered piles of masonry and rocks +violently torn from rocks, and smoke eddying mixed with dust, Neptune +with his great trident shakes wall and foundation out of their places, +and upturns all the city from her base. Here Juno in all her terror +holds the Scaean gates at the entry, and, girt with steel, calls her +allied army furiously from their ships. . . . Even now on the citadel's +height, look back! Tritonian Pallas is planted in glittering halo and +Gorgonian terror. Their lord himself pours courage and prosperous +strength on the Grecians, himself stirs the gods against the arms of +Dardania. Haste away, O son, and put an end to the struggle. I will +never desert thee; I will set thee safe in the courts of thy father's +house." + +'She ended, and plunged in the dense blackness of the night. Awful faces +shine forth, and, set against Troy, divine majesties . . . + +'Then indeed I saw all Ilium sinking in flame, and Neptunian Troy +uprooted from her base: even as an ancient ash on the mountain heights, +hacked all about with steel and fast-falling axes, when husbandmen +emulously strain to cut it down: it hangs threateningly, with shaken top +and quivering tresses asway; till gradually, overmastered with +[631-662]wounds, it utters one last groan, and rending itself away, +falls in ruin along the ridge. I descend, and under a god's guidance +clear my way between foe and flame; weapons give ground before me, and +flames retire. + +'And now, when I have reached the courts of my ancestral dwelling, our +home of old, my father, whom it was my first desire to carry high into +the hills, and whom first I sought, declines, now Troy is rooted out, to +prolong his life through the pains of exile. + +'"Ah, you," he cries, "whose blood is at the prime, whose strength +stands firm in native vigour, do you take your flight. . . . Had the +lords of heaven willed to prolong life for me, they should have +preserved this my home. Enough and more is the one desolation we have +seen, survivors of a captured city. Thus, oh thus salute me and depart, +as a body laid out for burial. Mine own hand shall find me death: the +foe will be merciful and seek my spoils: light is the loss of a tomb. +This long time hated of heaven, I uselessly delay the years, since the +father of gods and king of men blasted me with wind of thunder and +scathe of flame." + +'Thus held he on in utterance, and remained obstinate. We press him, +dissolved in tears, my wife Creüsa, Ascanius, all our household, that +our father involve us not all in his ruin, and add his weight to the +sinking scale of doom. He refuses, and keeps seated steadfast in his +purpose. Again I rush to battle, and choose death in my misery. For what +had counsel or chance yet to give? Thoughtest thou my feet, O father, +could retire and abandon thee? and fell so unnatural words from a +parent's lips? "If heaven wills that naught be left of our mighty city, +if this be thy planted purpose, thy pleasure to cast in thyself and +thine to the doom of Troy; for this death indeed the gate is wide, and +even now Pyrrhus will be here newly bathed in Priam's [663-695]blood, +Pyrrhus who slaughters the son before the father's face, the father upon +his altars. For this was it, bountiful mother, thou dost rescue me amid +fire and sword, to see the foe in my inmost chambers, and Ascanius and +my father, Creüsa by their side, hewn down in one another's blood? My +arms, men, bring my arms! the last day calls on the conquered. Return me +to the Greeks; let me revisit and renew the fight. Never to-day shall we +all perish unavenged." + +'Thereat I again gird on my sword, and fitting my left arm into the +clasps of the shield, strode forth of the palace. And lo! my wife clung +round my feet on the threshold, and held little Iülus up to his father's +sight. "If thou goest to die, let us too hurry with thee to the end. But +if thou knowest any hope to place in arms, be this household thy first +defence. To what is little Iülus and thy father, to what am I left who +once was called thy wife?" + +'So she shrieked, and filled all the house with her weeping; when a sign +arises sudden and marvellous to tell. For, between the hands and before +the faces of his sorrowing parents, lo! above Iülus' head there seemed +to stream a light luminous cone, and a flame whose touch hurt not to +flicker in his soft hair and play round his brows. We in a flutter of +affright shook out the blazing hair and quenched the holy fires with +spring water. But lord Anchises joyfully upraised his eyes; and +stretching his hands to heaven: "Jupiter omnipotent," he cries, "if thou +dost relent at any prayers, look on us this once alone; and if our +goodness deserve it, give thine aid hereafter, O lord, and confirm this +thine omen." + +'Scarcely had the aged man spoken thus, when with sudden crash it +thundered on the left, and a star gliding through the dusk shot from +heaven drawing a bright trail of light. We watch it slide over the +palace roof, leaving [696-730]the mark of its pathway, and bury its +brilliance in the wood of Ida; the long drawn track shines, and the +region all about fumes with sulphur. Then conquered indeed my father +rises to address the gods and worship the holy star. "Now, now delay is +done with: I follow, and where you lead, I come. Gods of my fathers, +save my house, save my grandchild. Yours is this omen, and in your deity +Troy stands. I yield, O my son, and refuse not to go in thy company." + +'He ended; and now more loudly the fire roars along the city, and the +burning tides roll nearer. "Up then, beloved father, and lean on my +neck; these shoulders of mine will sustain thee, nor will so dear a +burden weigh me down. Howsoever fortune fall, one and undivided shall be +our peril, one the escape of us twain. Little Iülus shall go along with +me, and my wife follow our steps afar. You of my household, give heed to +what I say. As you leave the city there is a mound and ancient temple of +Ceres lonely on it, and hard by an aged cypress, guarded many years in +ancestral awe: to this resting-place let us gather from diverse +quarters. Thou, O father, take the sacred things and the household gods +of our ancestors in thine hand. For me, just parted from the desperate +battle, with slaughter fresh upon me, to handle them were guilt, until I +wash away in a living stream the soilure. . . ." So spoke I, and spread +over my neck and broad shoulders a tawny lion-skin for covering, and +stoop to my burden. Little Iülus, with his hand fast in mine, keeps +uneven pace after his father. Behind my wife follows. We pass on in the +shadows. And I, lately moved by no weapons launched against me, nor by +the thronging bands of my Grecian foes, am now terrified at every +breath, startled by every noise, thrilling with fear alike for my +companion and my burden. + +'And now I was nearing the gates, and thought I had [731-764]outsped +all the way; when suddenly the crowded trampling of feet came to our +ears, and my father, looking forth into the darkness, cries: "My son, my +son, fly; they draw near. I espy the gleaming shields and the flicker of +brass." At this, in my flurry and confusion, some hostile god bereft me +of my senses. For while I plunge down byways, and swerve from where the +familiar streets ran, Creüsa, alas! whether, torn by fate from her +unhappy husband, she stood still, or did she mistake the way, or sink +down outwearied? I know not; and never again was she given back to our +eyes; nor did I turn to look for my lost one, or cast back a thought, +ere we were come to ancient Ceres' mound and hallowed seat; here at +last, when all gathered, one was missing, vanished from her child's and +her husband's company. What man or god did I spare in frantic +reproaches? or what crueller sight met me in our city's overthrow? I +charge my comrades with Ascanius and lord Anchises, and the gods of +Teucria, hiding them in the winding vale. Myself I regain the city, +girding on my shining armour; fixed to renew every danger, to retrace my +way throughout Troy, and fling myself again on its perils. First of all +I regain the walls and the dim gateway whence my steps had issued; I +scan and follow back my footprints with searching gaze in the night. +Everywhere my spirit shudders, dismayed at the very silence. Thence I +pass on home, if haply her feet (if haply!) had led her thither. The +Grecians had poured in, and filled the palace. The devouring fire goes +rolling before the wind high as the roof; the flames tower over it, and +the heat surges up into the air. I move on, and revisit the citadel and +Priam's dwelling; where now in the spacious porticoes of Juno's +sanctuary, Phoenix and accursed Ulysses, chosen sentries, were guarding +the spoil. Hither from all quarters is flung in masses the treasure of +Troy torn from burning shrines, [765-798]tables of the gods, bowls of +solid gold, and raiment of the captives. Boys and cowering mothers in +long file stand round. . . . Yes, and I dared to cry abroad through the +darkness; I filled the streets with calling, and again and yet again +with vain reiterance cried piteously on Creüsa. As I stormed and sought +her endlessly among the houses of the town, there rose before mine eyes +a melancholy phantom, the ghost of very Creüsa, in likeness larger than +her wont. I was motionless; my hair stood up, and the accents faltered +on my tongue. Then she thus addressed me, and with this speech allayed +my distresses: "What help is there in this mad passion of grief, sweet +my husband? not without divine influence does this come to pass: nor may +it be, nor does the high lord of Olympus allow, that thou shouldest +carry Creüsa hence in thy company. Long shall be thine exile, and weary +spaces of sea must thou furrow through; and thou shalt come to the land +Hesperia, where Lydian Tiber flows with soft current through rich and +populous fields. There prosperity awaits thee, and a kingdom, and a +king's daughter for thy wife. Dispel these tears for thy beloved Creüsa. +Never will I look on the proud homes of the Myrmidons or Dolopians, or +go to be the slave of Greek matrons, I a daughter of Dardania, a +daughter-in-law of Venus the goddess. . . . But the mighty mother of the +gods keeps me in these her borders. And now farewell, and still love thy +child and mine." This speech uttered, while I wept and would have said +many a thing, she left me and retreated into thin air. Thrice there was +I fain to lay mine arms round her neck; thrice the vision I vainly +clasped fled out of my hands, even as the light breezes, or most like to +fluttering sleep. So at last, when night is spent, I revisit my +comrades. + +'And here I find a marvellous great company, newly flocked in, mothers +and men, a people gathered for exile, [799-804]a pitiable crowd. From +all quarters they are assembled, ready in heart and fortune, to +whatsoever land I will conduct them overseas. And now the morning star +rose over the high ridges of Ida, and led on the day; and the Grecians +held the gateways in leaguer, nor was any hope of help given. I +withdrew, and raising my father up, I sought the mountain.' + + + + +BOOK THIRD + +THE STORY OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WANDERING + + +'After heaven's lords pleased to overthrow the state of Asia and Priam's +guiltless people, and proud Ilium fell, and Neptunian Troy smokes all +along the ground, we are driven by divine omens to seek distant places +of exile in waste lands. Right under Antandros and the mountains of +Phrygian Ida we build a fleet, uncertain whither the fates carry us or +where a resting-place is given, and gather the people together. Scarcely +had the first summer set in, when lord Anchises bids us spread our sails +to fortune, and weeping I leave the shores and havens of my country, and +the plains where once was Troy. I sail to sea an exile, with my comrades +and son and the gods of household and state. + +'A land of vast plains lies apart, the home of Mavors, in Thracian +tillage, and sometime under warrior Lycurgus' reign; friendly of old to +Troy, and their gods in alliance while our fortune lasted. Hither I +pass, and on the winding shore I lay under thwarting fates the first +foundations of a city, and from my own name fashion its name, Aeneadae. + +'I was paying sacrifice to my mother, daughter of Dione, and to all the +gods, so to favour the work begun, and slew a shining bull on the shore +to the high lord of [22-54]the heavenly people. Haply there lay a mound +hard at hand, crowned with cornel thickets and bristling dense with +shafts of myrtle. I drew near; and essaying to tear up the green wood +from the soil, that I might cover the altar with leafy boughs, I see a +portent ominous and wonderful to tell. For from the first tree whose +roots are rent away and broken from the ground, drops of black blood +trickle, and gore stains the earth. An icy shudder shakes my limbs, and +my blood curdles chill with terror. Yet from another I go on again to +tear away a tough shoot, fully to fathom its secret; yet from another +black blood follows out of the bark. With many searchings of heart I +prayed the woodland nymphs, and lord Gradivus, who rules in the Getic +fields, to make the sight propitious as was meet and lighten the omen. +But when I assail a third spearshaft with a stronger effort, pulling +with knees pressed against the sand; shall I speak or be silent? from +beneath the mound is heard a pitiable moan, and a voice is uttered to my +ears: "Woe's me, why rendest thou me, Aeneas? spare me at last in the +tomb, spare pollution to thine innocent hands. Troy bore me; not alien +to thee am I, nor this blood that oozes from the stem. Ah, fly the cruel +land, fly the greedy shore! For I am Polydorus; here the iron harvest of +weapons hath covered my pierced body, and shot up in sharp javelins." +Then indeed, borne down with dubious terror, I was motionless, my hair +stood up, and the accents faltered on my tongue. + +'This Polydorus once with great weight of gold had hapless Priam sent in +secret to the nurture of the Thracian king, when now he was losing trust +in the arms of Dardania, and saw his city leaguered round about. The +king, when the Teucrian power was broken and fortune withdrew, following +Agamemnon's estate and triumphant arms, [55-87]severs every bond of +duty; murders Polydorus, and lays strong hands on the gold. O accursed +hunger of gold, to what dost thou not compel human hearts! When the +terror left my senses, I lay the divine tokens before the chosen princes +of the people, with my father at their head, and demand their judgment. +All are of one mind, to leave the guilty land, and abandoning a polluted +home, to let the gales waft our fleets. So we bury Polydorus anew, and +the earth is heaped high over his mound; altars are reared to his ghost, +sad with dusky chaplets and black cypress; and around are the Ilian +women with hair unbound in their fashion. We offer bubbling bowls of +warm milk and cups of consecrated blood, and lay the spirit to rest in +her tomb, and with loud voice utter the last call. + +'Thereupon, so soon as ocean may be trusted, and the winds leave the +seas in quiet, and the soft whispering south wind calls seaward, my +comrades launch their ships and crowd the shores. We put out from +harbour, and lands and towns sink away. There lies in mid sea a holy +land, most dear to the mother of the Nereids and Neptune of Aegae, which +strayed about coast and strand till the Archer god in his affection +chained it fast from high Myconos and Gyaros, and made it lie immoveable +and slight the winds. Hither I steer; and it welcomes my weary crew to +the quiet shelter of a safe haven. We disembark and worship Apollo's +town. Anius the king, king at once of the people and priest of Phoebus, +his brows garlanded with fillets and consecrated laurel, comes to meet +us; he knows Anchises, his friend of old; we clasp hands in welcome, and +enter his palace. I worshipped the god's temple, an ancient pile of +stone. "Lord of Thymbra, give us an enduring dwelling-place; grant a +house and family to thy weary servants, and a city to abide: keep Troy's +second fortress, the remnant left of the Grecians and merciless +Achilles. Whom follow [88-121]we? or whither dost thou bid us go, where +fix our seat? Grant an omen, O lord, and inspire our minds." + +'Scarcely had I spoken thus; suddenly all seemed to shake, all the +courts and laurels of the god, the whole hill to be stirred round about, +and the cauldron to moan in the opening sanctuary. We sink low on the +ground, and a voice is borne to our ears: "Stubborn race of Dardanus, +the same land that bore you by parentage of old shall receive you again +on her bountiful breast. Seek out your ancient mother; hence shall the +house of Aeneas sway all regions, his children's children and they who +shall be born of them." Thus Phoebus; and mingled outcries of great +gladness uprose; all ask, what is that city? whither calls Phoebus our +wandering, and bids us return? Then my father, unrolling the records of +men of old, "Hear, O princes," says he, "and learn your hopes. In mid +ocean lies Crete, the island of high Jove, wherein is mount Ida, the +cradle of our race. An hundred great towns are inhabited in that opulent +realm; from it our forefather Teucer of old, if I recall the tale +aright, sailed to the Rhoetean coasts and chose a place for his kingdom. +Not yet was Ilium nor the towers of Pergama reared; they dwelt in the +valley bottoms. Hence came our Lady, haunter of Cybele, the Corybantic +cymbals and the grove of Ida; hence the rites of inviolate secrecy, and +the lions yoked under the chariot of their mistress. Up then, and let us +follow where divine commandments lead; let us appease the winds, and +seek the realm of Gnosus. Nor is it a far journey away. Only be Jupiter +favourable, the third day shall bring our fleet to anchor on the Cretan +coast." So spoke he, and slew fit sacrifice on the altars, a bull to +Neptune, a bull to thee, fair Apollo, a black sheep to Tempest, a white +to the prosperous West winds. + +'Rumour flies that Idomeneus the captain is driven [122-154]forth of +his father's realm, and the shores of Crete are abandoned, that the +houses are void of foes and the dwellings lie empty to our hand. We +leave the harbour of Ortygia, and fly along the main, by the revel-trod +ridges of Naxos, by green Donusa, Olearos and snow-white Paros, and the +sea-strewn Cyclades, threading the racing channels among the crowded +lands. The seamen's clamour rises in emulous dissonance; each cheers his +comrade: _Seek we Crete and our forefathers._ A wind rising astern +follows us forth on our way, and we glide at last to the ancient +Curetean coast. So I set eagerly to work on the walls of my chosen town, +and call it Pergamea, and exhort my people, joyful at the name, to +cherish their homes and rear the castle buildings. And even now the +ships were drawn up on the dry beach; the people were busy in marriages +and among their new fields; I was giving statutes and homesteads; when +suddenly from a tainted space of sky came, noisome on men's bodies and +pitiable on trees and crops, pestilence and a year of death. They left +their sweet lives or dragged themselves on in misery; Sirius scorched +the fields into barrenness; the herbage grew dry, and the sickly harvest +denied sustenance. My father counsels to remeasure the sea and go again +to Phoebus in his Ortygian oracle, to pray for grace and ask what issue +he ordains to our exhausted state; whence he bids us search for aid to +our woes, whither bend our course. + +'Night fell, and sleep held all things living on the earth. The sacred +images of the gods and the household deities of Phrygia, that I had +borne with me from Troy out of the midst of the burning city, seemed to +stand before mine eyes as I lay sleepless, clear in the broad light +where the full moon poured through the latticed windows; then thus +addressed me, and with this speech allayed my distresses: "What Apollo +hath to tell thee when thou dost [155-188]reach Ortygia, he utters +here, and sends us unsought to thy threshold. We who followed thee and +thine arms when Dardania went down in fire; we who under thee have +traversed on shipboard the swelling sea; we in like wise will exalt to +heaven thy children to be, and give empire to their city. Do thou +prepare a mighty town for a mighty people, nor draw back from the long +wearisome chase. Thou must change thy dwelling. Not to these shores did +the god at Delos counsel thee, or Apollo bid thee find rest in Crete. +There is a region Greeks name Hesperia, an ancient land, mighty in arms +and foison of the clod; Oenotrian men dwell therein; now rumour is that +a younger race have called it Italy after their captain's name. This is +our true dwelling place; hence is Dardanus sprung, and lord Iasius, the +first source of our race. Up, arise, and tell with good cheer to thine +aged parent this plain tale, to seek Corythus and the lands of Ausonia. +Jupiter denies thee the Dictaean fields." + +'Astonished at this vision and divine utterance (nor was that slumber; +but openly I seemed to know their countenances, their veiled hair and +gracious faces, and therewith a cold sweat broke out all over me) I +spring from my bed and raise my voice and upturned hands skyward and pay +pure offering on the hearth. The sacrifice done, I joyfully tell +Anchises, and relate all in order. He recognises the double descent and +twofold parentage, and the later wanderings that had deceived him among +ancient lands. Then he speaks: "O son, hard wrought by the destinies of +Ilium, Cassandra only foretold me this fortune. Now I recall how she +prophesied this was fated to our race, and often cried of Hesperia, +often of an Italian realm. But who was to believe that Teucrians should +come to Hesperian shores? or whom might Cassandra then move by prophecy? +Yield we to Phoebus, and follow the better [189-222]way he counsels." +So says he, and we all rejoicingly obey his speech. This dwelling +likewise we abandon; and leaving some few behind, spread our sails and +run over the waste sea in our hollow wood. + +'After our ships held the high seas, nor any land yet appears, the sky +all round us and all round us the deep, a dusky shower drew up overhead +carrying night and tempest, and the wave shuddered and gloomed. +Straightway the winds upturn the main, and great seas rise; we are +tossed asunder over the dreary gulf. Stormclouds enwrap the day, and +rainy gloom blots out the sky; out of the clouds bursts fire fast upon +fire. Driven from our course, we go wandering on the blind waves. +Palinurus himself professes he cannot tell day from night on the sky, +nor remember the way amid the waters. Three dubious days of blind +darkness we wander on the deep, as many nights without a star. Not till +the fourth day was land at last seen to rise, discovering distant hills +and sending up wreaths of smoke. The sails drop; we swing back to the +oars; without delay the sailors strongly toss up the foam, and sweep +through the green water. The shores of the Strophades first receive me +thus won from the waves, Strophades the Greek name they bear, islands +lying in the great Ionian sea, which boding Celaeno and the other +Harpies inhabit since Phineus' house was shut on them, and they fled in +terror from the board of old. Than these no deadlier portent nor any +fiercer plague of divine wrath hath issued from the Stygian waters; +winged things with maidens' countenance, bellies dropping filth, and +clawed hands and faces ever wan with hunger. . . . + +'When borne hitherward we enter the haven, lo! we see goodly herds of +oxen scattered on the plains, and goats flocking untended over the +grass. We attack them with the sword, and call the gods and Jove himself +to share our [223-258]spoil. Then we build seats on the winding shore +and banquet on the dainty food. But suddenly the Harpies are upon us, +swooping awfully from the mountains, and shaking their wings with loud +clangour, plunder the feast, and defile everything with unclean touch, +spreading a foul smell, and uttering dreadful cries. Again, in a deep +recess under a caverned rock, shut in with waving shadows of woodland, +we array the board and renew the altar fires; again, from their blind +ambush in diverse quarters of the sky, the noisy crowd flutter with +clawed feet around their prey, defiling the feast with their lips. Then +I bid my comrades take up arms, and proclaim war on the accursed race. +Even as I bade they do, range their swords in cover among the grass, and +hide their shields out of sight. So when they swooped clamorously down +along the winding shore, Misenus from his watch-tower on high signals on +the hollow brass; my comrades rush in and essay the strange battle, to +set the stain of steel on the winged horrors of the sea. But they take +no violence on their plumage, nor wounds on their bodies; and soaring +into the firmament with rapid flight, leave their foul traces on the +spoil they had half consumed. Celaeno alone, prophetess of ill, alights +on a towering cliff, and thus breaks forth in deep accents: + +'"War is it for your slaughtered oxen and steers cut down, O children of +Laomedon, war is it you would declare, and drive the guiltless Harpies +from their ancestral kingdom? Take then to heart and fix fast these +words of mine; which the Lord omnipotent foretold to Phoebus, Phoebus +Apollo to me, I eldest born of the Furies reveal to you. Italy is your +goal; wooing the winds you shall go to Italy, and enter her harbours +unhindered. Yet shall you not wall round your ordained city, ere this +murderous outrage on us compel you, in portentous hunger, to eat your +tables with gnawing teeth." + +'She spoke, and winged her way back to the shelter of [259-293]the +wood. But my comrades' blood froze chill with sudden affright; their +spirits fell; and no longer with arms, nay with vows and prayers they +bid me entreat favour, whether these be goddesses, or winged things +ill-ominous and foul. And lord Anchises from the beach calls with +outspread hands on the mighty gods, ordering fit sacrifices: "Gods, +avert their menaces! Gods, turn this woe away, and graciously save the +righteous!" Then he bids pluck the cable from the shore and shake loose +the sheets. Southern winds stretch the sails; we scud over the +foam-flecked waters, whither wind and pilot called our course. Now +wooded Zacynthos appears amid the waves, and Dulichium and Same and +Neritos' sheer rocks. We fly past the cliffs of Ithaca, Laërtes' realm, +and curse the land, fostress of cruel Ulysses. Soon too Mount Leucata's +cloudy peaks are sighted, and Apollo dreaded of sailors. Hither we steer +wearily, and stand in to the little town. The anchor is cast from the +prow; the sterns are grounded on the beach. + +'So at last having attained to land beyond our hopes, we purify +ourselves in Jove's worship, and kindle altars of offering, and make the +Actian shore gay with the games of Ilium. My comrades strip, and, +slippery with oil, exercise their ancestral contests; glad to have got +past so many Argive towns, and held on their flight through the +encircling foe. Meanwhile the sun rounds the great circle of the year, +and icy winter ruffles the waters with Northern gales. I fix against the +doorway a hollow shield of brass, that tall Abas had borne, and mark the +story with a verse: _These arms Aeneas from the conquering Greeks._ Then +I bid leave the harbour and sit down at the thwarts; emulously my +comrades strike the water, and sweep through the seas. Soon we see the +cloud-capped Phaeacian towers sink away, skirt the shores of Epirus, and +enter the Chaonian haven and approach high Buthrotum town. + +[294-328]'Here the rumour of a story beyond belief comes on our ears; +Helenus son of Priam is reigning over Greek towns, master of the bride +and sceptre of Pyrrhus the Aeacid; and Andromache hath again fallen to a +husband of her people. I stood amazed; and my heart kindled with +marvellous desire to accost him and learn of so strange a fortune. I +advance from the harbour, leaving the fleet ashore; just when haply +Andromache, in a grove before the town, by the waters of a feigned +Simoïs, was pouring libation to the dust, and calling Hector's ghost to +a tomb with his name, on an empty turfed green with two altars that she +had consecrated, a wellspring of tears. When she caught sight of me +coming, and saw distractedly the encircling arms of Troy, +terror-stricken at the vision marvellously shewn, her gaze fixed, and +the heat left her frame. She swoons away, and hardly at last speaks +after long interval: "Comest thou then a real face, a real messenger to +me, goddess-born? livest thou? or if sweet light is fled, ah, where is +Hector?" She spoke, and bursting into tears filled all the place with +her crying. Just a few words I force up, and deeply moved gasp out in +broken accents: "I live indeed, I live on through all extremities; doubt +not, for real are the forms thou seest . . . Alas! after such an +husband, what fate receives thy fall? or what worthier fortune revisits +thee? Dost thou, Hector's Andromache, keep bonds of marriage with +Pyrrhus?" She cast down her countenance, and spoke with lowered voice: + +'"O single in happy eminence that maiden daughter of Priam, sentenced to +die under high Troy town at an enemy's grave, who never bore the shame +of the lot, nor came a captive to her victorious master's bed! We, +sailing over alien seas from our burning land, have endured the +haughty youthful pride of Achilles' seed, and borne children in +slavery: he thereafter, wooing Leda's Hermione and a Lacedaemonian +[329-363]marriage, passed me over to Helenus' keeping, a bondwoman to a +bondman. But him Orestes, aflame with passionate desire for his stolen +bride, and driven by the furies of crime, catches unguarded and murders +at his ancestral altars. At Neoptolemus' death a share of his realm fell +to Helenus' hands, who named the plains Chaonian, and called all the +land Chaonia after Chaon of Troy, and built withal a Pergama and this +Ilian citadel on the hills. But to thee how did winds, how fates give +passage? or whose divinity landed thee all unwitting on our coasts? what +of the boy Ascanius? lives he yet, and draws breath, thy darling, whom +Troy's . . . Yet hath the child affection for his lost mother? is he +roused to the valour of old and the spirit of manhood by his father +Aeneas, by his uncle Hector?" + +'Such words she poured forth weeping, and prolonged the vain wail; when +the hero Helenus son of Priam approaches from the town with a great +company, knows us for his kin, and leads us joyfully to his gates, +shedding a many tears at every word. I advance and recognise a little +Troy, and a copy of the great Pergama, and a dry brook with the name of +Xanthus, and clasp a Scaean gateway. Therewithal my Teucrians make +holiday in the friendly town. The king entertained them in his spacious +colonnades; in the central hall they poured goblets of wine in libation, +and held the cups while the feast was served on gold. + +'And now a day and another day hath sped; the breezes woo our sails, and +the canvas blows out to the swelling south. With these words I accost +the prophet, and thus make request: + +'"Son of Troy, interpreter of the gods, whose sense is open to Phoebus' +influences, his tripods and laurels, to stars and tongues of birds and +auguries of prosperous flight, tell me now,--for the voice of revelation +was all favourable to my course, and all divine influence counselled me +to [364-396]seek Italy and explore remote lands; only Celaeno the Harpy +prophesies of strange portents, a horror to tell, and cries out of wrath +and bale and foul hunger,--what perils are the first to shun? or in what +guidance may I overcome these sore labours?" + +'Hereat Helenus, first suing for divine favour with fit sacrifice of +steers, and unbinding from his head the chaplets of consecration, leads +me in his hand to thy courts, O Phoebus, thrilled with the fulness of +the deity, and then utters these prophetic words from his augural lips: + +'"Goddess-born: since there is clear assurance that under high omens +thou dost voyage through the deep; so the king of the gods allots +destiny and unfolds change; this is the circle of ordinance; a few +things out of many I will unfold to thee in speech, that so thou mayest +more safely traverse the seas of thy sojourn, and find rest in the +Ausonian haven; for Helenus is forbidden by the destinies to know, and +by Juno daughter of Saturn to utter more: first of all, the Italy thou +deemest now nigh, and close at hand, unwitting! the harbours thou +wouldst enter, far are they sundered by a long and trackless track +through length of lands. First must the Trinacrian wave clog thine oar, +and thy ships traverse the salt Ausonian plain, by the infernal pools +and Aeaean Circe's isle, ere thou mayest build thy city in safety on a +peaceful land. I will tell thee the token, and do thou keep it close in +thine heart. When in thy perplexity, beside the wave of a sequestered +river, a great sow shall be discovered lying under the oaks on the +brink, with her newborn litter of thirty, couched white on the ground, +her white brood about her teats; that shall be the place of the city, +that the appointed rest from thy toils. Neither shrink thou at the gnawn +tables that await thee; the fates will find a way, and Apollo aid thy +call. These lands moreover, on this nearest border of the Italian shore +[397-432]that our own sea's tide washes, flee thou: evil Greeks dwell +in all their towns. Here the Locrians of Narycos have set their city, +and here Lyctian Idomeneus beset the Sallentine plains with soldiery; +here is the town of the Meliboean captain, Philoctetes' little Petelia +fenced by her wall. Nay, when thy fleets have crossed overseas and lie +at anchor, when now thou rearest altars and payest vows on the beach, +veil thine hair with a purple garment for covering, that no hostile face +at thy divine worship may meet thee amid the holy fires and make void +the omens. This fashion of sacrifice keep thou, thyself and thy +comrades, and let thy children abide in this pure observance. But when +at thy departure the wind hath borne thee to the Sicilian coast, and the +barred straits of Pelorus open out, steer for the left-hand country and +the long circuit of the seas on the left hand; shun the shore and water +on thy right. These lands, they say, of old broke asunder, torn and +upheaved by vast force, when either country was one and undivided; the +ocean burst in between, cutting off with its waves the Hesperian from +the Sicilian coast, and with narrow tide washes tilth and town along the +severance of shore. On the right Scylla keeps guard, on the left +unassuaged Charybdis, who thrice swallows the vast flood sheer down her +swirling gulf, and ever again hurls it upward, lashing the sky with +water. But Scylla lies prisoned in her cavern's blind recesses, +thrusting forth her mouth and drawing ships upon the rocks. In front her +face is human, and her breast fair as a maiden's to the waist down; +behind she is a sea-dragon of monstrous frame, with dolphins' tails +joined on her wolf-girt belly. Better to track the goal of Trinacrian +Pachynus, lingering and wheeling round through long spaces, than once +catch sight of misshapen Scylla deep in her dreary cavern, and of the +rocks that ring to her sea-coloured hounds. Moreover, if +[433-466]Helenus hath aught of foresight or his prophecy of assurance, +if Apollo fills his spirit with the truth, this one thing, goddess-born, +one thing for all will I foretell thee, and again and again repeat my +counsel: to great Juno's deity be thy first prayer and worship; to Juno +utter thy willing vows, and overcome thy mighty mistress with gifts and +supplications; so at last thou shalt leave Trinacria behind, and be sped +in triumph to the Italian borders. When borne hither thou drawest nigh +the Cymaean city, the haunted lakes and rustling woods of Avernus, thou +shalt behold the raving prophetess who deep in the rock chants of fate, +and marks down her words on leaves. What verses she writes down on them, +the maiden sorts into order and shuts behind her in the cave; they stay +in their places unstirred and quit not their rank. But when at the turn +of the hinge the light wind from the doorway stirs them, and disarranges +the delicate foliage, never after does she trouble to capture them as +they flutter about the hollow rock, nor restore their places or join the +verses; men depart without counsel, and hate the Sibyl's dwelling. Here +let no waste in delay be of such account to thee (though thy company +chide, and the passage call thy sails strongly to the deep, and thou +mayest fill out their folds to thy desire) that thou do not approach the +prophetess, and plead with prayers that she herself utter her oracles +and deign to loose the accents from her lips. The nations of Italy and +the wars to come, and the fashion whereby every toil may be avoided or +endured, she shall unfold to thee, and grant her worshipper prosperous +passage. Thus far is our voice allowed to counsel thee: go thy way, and +exalt Troy to heaven by thy deeds." + +'This the seer uttered with friendly lips; then orders gifts to be +carried to my ships, of heavy gold and sawn ivory, and loads the hulls +with massy silver and cauldrons [467-502]of Dodona, a mail coat +triple-woven with hooks of gold, and a helmet splendid with spike and +tressed plumes, the armour of Neoptolemus. My father too hath his gifts. +Horses besides he brings, and grooms . . . fills up the tale of our +oarsmen, and equips my crews with arms. + +'Meanwhile Anchises bade the fleet set their sails, that the fair wind +might meet no delay. Him Phoebus' interpreter accosts with high +courtesy: "Anchises, honoured with the splendour of Venus' espousal, the +gods' charge, twice rescued from the fallen towers of Troy, lo! the land +of Ausonia is before thee: sail thou and seize it. And yet needs must +thou float past it on the sea; far away lies the quarter of Ausonia that +is revealed of Apollo. Go," he continues, "happy in thy son's affection: +why do I run on further, and delay the rising winds in talk?" Andromache +too, sad at this last parting, brings figured raiment with woof of gold, +and a Phrygian scarf for Ascanius, and wearies not in courtesy, loading +him with gifts from the loom. "Take these too," so says she, "my child, +to be memorials to thee of my hands, and testify long hence the love of +Andromache wife of Hector. Take these last gifts of thy kinsfolk, O sole +surviving likeness to me of my own Astyanax! Such was he, in eyes and +hands and features; and now his equal age were growing into manhood like +thine." + +'To them as I departed I spoke with starting tears: "Live happily, as +they do whose fortunes are perfected! We are summoned ever from fate to +fate. For you there is rest in store, and no ocean floor to furrow, no +ever-retreating Ausonian fields to pursue. You see a pictured Xanthus, +and a Troy your own hands have built; with better omens, I pray, and to +be less open to the Greeks. If ever I enter Tiber and Tiber's bordering +fields, and see a city granted to my nation, then of these kindred towns +[503-537]and allied peoples in Epirus and Hesperia, which have the same +Dardanus for founder, and whose story is one, of both will our hearts +make a single Troy. Let that charge await our posterity." + +'We put out to sea, keeping the Ceraunian mountains close at hand, +whence is the shortest passage and seaway to Italy. The sun sets +meanwhile, and the dusky hills grow dim. We choose a place, and fling +ourselves on the lap of earth at the water's edge, and, allotting the +oars, spread ourselves on the dry beach for refreshment: the dew of +slumber falls on our weary limbs. Not yet had Night driven of the Hours +climbed her mid arch; Palinurus rises lightly from his couch, explores +all the winds, and listens to catch a breeze; he marks the +constellations gliding together through the silent sky, Arcturus, the +rainy Hyades and the twin Oxen, and scans Orion in his armour of gold. +When he sees the clear sky quite unbroken, he gives from the stern his +shrill signal; we disencamp and explore the way, and spread the wings of +our sails. And now reddening Dawn had chased away the stars, when we +descry afar dim hills and the low line of Italy. Achates first raises +the cry of _Italy_; and with joyous shouts my comrades salute Italy. +Then lord Anchises enwreathed a great bowl and filled it up with wine; +and called on the gods, standing high astern . . . "Gods sovereign over +sea and land and weather! bring wind to ease our way, and breathe +favourably." The breezes freshen at his prayer, and now the harbour +opens out nearer at hand, and a temple appears on the Fort of Minerva. +My comrades furl the sails and swing the prows to shore. The harbour is +scooped into an arch by the Eastern flood; reefs run out and foam with +the salt spray; itself it lies concealed; turreted walls of rock let +down their arms on either hand, and the temple retreats from the beach. +Here, an inaugural sight, four horses of snowy [538-570]whiteness are +grazing abroad on the grassy plain. And lord Anchises: "War dost thou +carry, land of our sojourn; horses are armed in war, and menace of war +is in this herd. But yet these same beasts are wont in time to enter +harness, and carry yoke and bit in concord; there is hope of peace too," +says he. Then we pray to the holy deity, Pallas of the clangorous arms, +the first to welcome our cheers. And before the altars we veil our heads +in Phrygian garments, and duly, after the counsel Helenus had urged +deepest on us, pay the bidden burnt-sacrifice to Juno of Argos. + +'Without delay, once our vows are fully paid, we round to the arms of +our sailyards and leave the dwellings and menacing fields of the Grecian +people. Next is descried the bay of Tarentum, town, if rumour is true, +of Hercules. Over against it the goddess of Lacinium rears her head, +with the towers of Caulon, and Scylaceum wrecker of ships. Then +Trinacrian Aetna is descried in the distance rising from the waves, and +we hear from afar a great roaring of the sea on beaten rocks, and broken +noises by the shore: the channels boil up, and the surge churns with +sand. And lord Anchises: "Of a surety this is that Charybdis; of these +cliffs, these awful rocks did Helenus prophesy. Out, O comrades, and +rise together to the oars." Even as bidden they do; and first Palinurus +swung the gurgling prow leftward through the water; to the left all our +squadron bent with oar and wind. We are lifted skyward on the crescent +wave, and again sunk deep into the nether world as the water is sucked +away. Thrice amid their rocky caverns the cliffs uttered a cry; thrice +we see the foam flung out, and the stars through a dripping veil. +Meanwhile the wind falls with sundown; and weary and ignorant of the way +we glide on to the Cyclopes' coast. + +'There lies a harbour large and unstirred by the winds' +[571-604]entrance; but nigh it Aetna thunders awfully in wrack, and +ever and again hurls a black cloud into the sky, smoking with boiling +pitch and embers white hot, and heaves balls of flame flickering up to +the stars: ever and again vomits out on high crags from the torn +entrails of the mountain, tosses up masses of molten rock with a groan, +and boils forth from the bottom. Rumour is that this mass weighs down +the body of Enceladus, half-consumed by the thunderbolt, and mighty +Aetna laid over him suspires the flame that bursts from her furnaces; +and so often as he changes his weary side, all Trinacria shudders and +moans, veiling the sky in smoke. That night we spend in cover of the +forest among portentous horrors, and see not from what source the noise +comes. For neither did the stars show their fires, nor was the vault of +constellated sky clear; but vapours blotted heaven, and the moon was +held in a storm-cloud through dead of night. + +'And now the morrow was rising in the early east, and the dewy darkness +rolled away from the sky by Dawn, when sudden out of the forest advances +a human shape strange and unknown, worn with uttermost hunger and +pitiably attired, and stretches entreating hands towards the shore. We +look back. Filthy and wretched, with shaggy beard and a coat pinned +together with thorns, he was yet a Greek, and had been sent of old to +Troy in his father's arms. And he, when he saw afar the Dardanian habits +and armour of Troy, hung back a little in terror at the sight, and +stayed his steps; then ran headlong to the shore with weeping and +prayers: "By the heavens I beseech you, by the heavenly powers and this +luminous sky that gives us breath, take me up, O Trojans, carry me away +to any land soever, and it will be enough. I know I am one out of the +Grecian fleets, I confess I warred against the household gods of Ilium; +for that, if our wrong and guilt is so great, throw [605-639]me +piecemeal on the flood or plunge me in the waste sea. If I do perish, +gladly will I perish at human hands." He ended; and clung clasping our +knees and grovelling at them. We encourage him to tell who he is and of +what blood born, and reveal how Fortune pursues him since then. Lord +Anchises after little delay gives him his hand, and strengthens his +courage by visible pledge. At last, laying aside his terror, he speaks +thus: + +'"I am from an Ithacan home, Achemenides by name, set out for Troy in +luckless Ulysses' company; poor was my father Adamastus, and would God +fortune had stayed thus! Here my comrades abandoned me in the Cyclops' +vast cave, mindless of me while they hurry away from the barbarous +gates. It is a house of gore and blood-stained feasts, dim and huge +within. Himself he is great of stature and knocks at the lofty sky +(gods, take away a curse like this from earth!) to none gracious in +aspect or courteous of speech. He feeds on the flesh and dark blood of +wretched men. I myself saw, when he caught the bodies of two of us with +his great hand, and lying back in the middle of the cave crushed them on +the rock, and the courts splashed and swam with gore; I saw when he +champed the flesh adrip with dark clots of blood, and the warm limbs +quivered under his teeth. Yet not unavenged. Ulysses brooked not this, +nor even in such straits did the Ithacan forget himself. For so soon as +he, gorged with his feast and buried in wine, lay with bent neck +sprawling huge over the cave, in his sleep vomiting gore and gobbets +mixed with wine and blood, we, praying to the great gods and with parts +allotted, pour at once all round him, and pierce with a sharp weapon the +huge eye that lay sunk single under his savage brow, in fashion of an +Argolic shield or the lamp of the moon; and at last we exultingly avenge +the ghosts of our comrades. But fly, O wretched men, fly [640-674]and +pluck the cable from the beach. . . . For even in the shape and stature +of Polyphemus, when he shuts his fleeced flocks and drains their udders +in the cave's covert, an hundred other horrible Cyclopes dwell all about +this shore and stray on the mountain heights. Thrice now does the horned +moon fill out her light, while I linger in life among desolate lairs and +haunts of wild beasts in the woodland, and from a rock survey the giant +Cyclopes and shudder at their cries and echoing feet. The boughs yield a +miserable sustenance, berries and stony sloes, and plants torn up by the +root feed me. Sweeping all the view, I at last espied this fleet +standing in to shore. On it, whatsoever it were, I cast myself; it is +enough to have escaped the accursed tribe. Do you rather, by any death +you will, destroy this life of mine." + +'Scarcely had he spoken thus, when on the mountain top we see +shepherding his flocks a vast moving mass, Polyphemus himself seeking +the shores he knew, a horror ominous, shapeless, huge, bereft of sight. +A pine lopped by his hand guides and steadies his footsteps. His fleeced +sheep attend him, this his single delight and solace in ill. . . . After +he hath touched the deep flood and come to the sea, he washes in it the +blood that oozes from his eye-socket, grinding his teeth with groans; +and now he strides through the sea up to his middle, nor yet does the +wave wet his towering sides. We hurry far away in precipitate flight, +with the suppliant who had so well merited rescue; and silently cut the +cable, and bending forward sweep the sea with emulous oars. He heard, +and turned his steps towards the echoing sound. But when he may in no +wise lay hands on us, nor can fathom the Ionian waves in pursuit, he +raises a vast cry, at which the sea and all his waves shuddered, and the +deep land of Italy was startled, and Aetna's vaulted caverns moaned. But +the tribe of the [675-709]Cyclopes, roused from the high wooded hills, +run to the harbour and fill the shore. We descry the Aetnean brotherhood +standing impotent with scowling eye, their stately heads up to heaven, a +dreadful consistory; even as on a mountain summit stand oaks high in air +or coned cypresses, a high forest of Jove or covert of Diana. Sharp fear +urges us to shake out the sheets in reckless haste, and spread our sails +to the favouring wind. Yet Helenus' commands counsel that our course +keep not the way between Scylla and Charybdis, the very edge of death on +either hand. We are resolved to turn our canvas back. And lo! from the +narrow fastness of Pelorus the North wind comes down and reaches us. I +sail past Pantagias' mouth with its living stone, the Megarian bay, and +low-lying Thapsus. Such names did Achemenides, of luckless Ulysses' +company, point out as he retraced his wanderings along the returning +shores. + +'Stretched in front of a bay of Sicily lies an islet over against +wavebeat Plemyrium; they of old called it Ortygia. Hither Alpheus the +river of Elis, so rumour runs, hath cloven a secret passage beneath the +sea, and now through thy well-head, Arethusa, mingles with the Sicilian +waves. We adore as bidden the great deities of the ground; and thence I +cross the fertile soil of Helorus in the marsh. Next we graze the high +reefs and jutting rocks of Pachynus; and far off appears Camarina, +forbidden for ever by oracles to move, and the Geloan plains, and vast +Gela named after its river. Then Acragas on the steep, once the breeder +of noble horses, displays its massive walls in the distance; and with +granted breeze I leave thee behind, palm-girt Selinus, and thread the +difficult shoals and blind reefs of Lilybaeum. Thereon Drepanum receives +me in its haven and joyless border. Here, so many tempestuous seas +outgone, alas! my father, the solace of every care and chance, Anchises +is [710-718]lost to me. Here thou, dear lord, abandonest me in +weariness, alas! rescued in vain from peril and doom. Not Helenus the +prophet, though he counselled of many a terror, not boding Celaeno +foretold me of this grief. This was the last agony, this the goal of the +long ways; thence it was I had departed when God landed me on your +coasts.' + +Thus lord Aeneas with all attent retold alone the divine doom and the +history of his goings. At last he was hushed, and here in silence made +an end. + + + + +BOOK FOURTH + +THE LOVE OF DIDO, AND HER END + + +But the Queen, long ere now pierced with sore distress, feeds the wound +with her life-blood, and catches the fire unseen. Again and again his +own valiance and his line's renown flood back upon her spirit; look and +accent cling fast in her bosom, and the pain allows not rest or calm to +her limbs. The morrow's dawn bore the torch of Phoebus across the earth, +and had rolled away the dewy darkness from the sky, when, scarce +herself, she thus opens her confidence to her sister: + +'Anna, my sister, such dreams of terror thrill me through! What guest +unknown is this who hath entered our dwelling? How high his mien! how +brave in heart as in arms! I believe it well, with no vain assurance, +his blood is divine. Fear proves the vulgar spirit. Alas, by what +destinies is he driven! what wars outgone he chronicled! Were my mind +not planted, fixed and immoveable, to ally myself to none in wedlock +since my love of old was false to me in the treachery of death; were I +not sick to the heart of bridal torch and chamber, to this temptation +alone I might haply yield. Anna, I will confess it; since Sychaeus mine +husband met his piteous doom, and our household was shattered by a +brother's murder, he only hath [22-55]touched mine heart and stirred +the balance of my soul. I know the prints of the ancient flame. But +rather, I pray, may earth first yawn deep for me, or the Lord omnipotent +hurl me with his thunderbolt into gloom, the pallid gloom and profound +night of Erebus, ere I soil thee, mine honour, or unloose thy laws. He +took my love away who made me one with him long ago; he shall keep it +with him, and guard it in the tomb.' She spoke, and welling tears filled +the bosom of her gown. + +Anna replies: 'O dearer than the daylight to thy sister, wilt thou +waste, sad and alone, all thy length of youth, and know not the +sweetness of motherhood, nor love's bounty? Deemest thou the ashes care +for that, or the ghost within the tomb? Be it so: in days gone by no +wooers bent thy sorrow, not in Libya, not ere then in Tyre; Iarbas was +slighted, and other princes nurtured by the triumphal land of Africa; +wilt thou contend so with a love to thy liking? nor does it cross thy +mind whose are these fields about thy dwelling? On this side are the +Gaetulian towns, a race unconquerable in war; the reinless Numidian +riders and the grim Syrtis hem thee in; on this lies a thirsty tract of +desert, swept by the raiders of Barca. Why speak of the war gathering +from Tyre, and thy brother's menaces? . . . With gods' auspices to my +thinking, and with Juno's favour, hath the Ilian fleet held on hither +before the gale. What a city wilt thou discern here, O sister! what a +realm will rise on such a union! the arms of Troy ranged with ours, what +glory will exalt the Punic state! Do thou only, asking divine favour +with peace-offerings, be bounteous in welcome and draw out reasons for +delay, while the storm rages at sea and Orion is wet, and his ships are +shattered and the sky unvoyageable.' With these words she made the fire +of love flame up in her spirit, put hope in her wavering soul, and let +honour slip away. + +[56-90]First they visit the shrines, and desire grace from altar to +altar; they sacrifice sheep fitly chosen to Ceres the Lawgiver, to +Phoebus and lord Lyaeus, to Juno before all, guardian of the marriage +bond. Dido herself, excellent in beauty, holds the cup in her hand, and +pours libation between the horns of a milk-white cow, or moves in state +to the rich altars before the gods' presences, day by day renewing her +gifts, and gazing athirst into the breasts of cattle laid open to take +counsel from the throbbing entrails. Ah, witless souls of soothsayers! +how may vows or shrines help her madness? all the while the subtle flame +consumes her inly, and deep in her breast the wound is silent and alive. +Stung to misery, Dido wanders in frenzy all down the city, even as an +arrow-stricken deer, whom, far and heedless amid the Cretan woodland, a +shepherd archer hath pierced and left the flying steel in her unaware; +she ranges in flight the Dictaean forest lawns; fast in her side clings +the deadly reed. Now she leads Aeneas with her through the town, and +displays her Sidonian treasure and ordered city; she essays to speak, +and breaks off half-way in utterance. Now, as day wanes, she seeks the +repeated banquet, and again madly pleads to hear the agonies of Ilium, +and again hangs on the teller's lips. Thereafter, when all are gone +their ways, and the dim moon in turn quenches her light, and the setting +stars counsel to sleep, alone in the empty house she mourns, and flings +herself on the couch he left: distant she hears and sees him in the +distance; or enthralled by the look he has of his father, she holds +Ascanius on her lap, if so she may steal the love she may not utter. No +more do the unfinished towers rise, no more do the people exercise in +arms, nor work for safety in war on harbour or bastion; the works hang +broken off, vast looming walls and engines towering into the sky. + +So soon as she perceives her thus fast in the toils, and [91-124]madly +careless of her name, Jove's beloved wife, daughter of Saturn, accosts +Venus thus: + +'Noble indeed is the fame and splendid the spoils you win, thou and that +boy of thine, and mighty the renown of deity, if two gods have +vanquished one woman by treachery. Nor am I so blind to thy terror of +our town, thine old suspicion of the high house of Carthage. But what +shall be the end? or why all this contest now? Nay, rather let us work +an enduring peace and a bridal compact. Thou hast what all thy soul +desired; Dido is on fire with love, and hath caught the madness through +and through. Then rule we this people jointly in equal lordship; allow +her to be a Phrygian husband's slave, and to lay her Tyrians for dowry +in thine hand.' + +To her--for she knew the dissembled purpose of her words, to turn the +Teucrian kingdom away to the coasts of Libya--Venus thus began in +answer: 'Who so mad as to reject these terms, or choose rather to try +the fortune of war with thee? if only when done, as thou sayest, fortune +follow. But I move in uncertainty of Jove's ordinance, whether he will +that Tyrians and wanderers from Troy be one city, or approve the +mingling of peoples and the treaty of union. Thou art his wife, and thy +prayers may essay his soul. Go on; I will follow.' + +Then Queen Juno thus rejoined: 'That task shall be mine. Now, by what +means the present need may be fulfilled, attend and I will explain in +brief. Aeneas and Dido (alas and woe for her!) are to go hunting +together in the woodland when to-morrow's rising sun goes forth and his +rays unveil the world. On them, while the beaters run up and down, and +the lawns are girt with toils, will I pour down a blackening rain-cloud +mingled with hail, and startle all the sky in thunder. Their company +will scatter for shelter in the dim darkness; Dido and the Trojan +captain [125-159]shall take refuge in the same cavern. I will be there, +and if thy goodwill is assured me, I will unite them in wedlock, and +make her wholly his; here shall Hymen be present.' The Cytherean gave +ready assent to her request, and laughed at the wily invention. + +Meanwhile Dawn rises forth of ocean. A chosen company issue from the +gates while the morning star is high; they pour forth with meshed nets, +toils, broad-headed hunting spears, Massylian horsemen and sinewy +sleuth-hounds. At her doorway the chief of Carthage await their queen, +who yet lingers in her chamber, and her horse stands splendid in gold +and purple with clattering feet and jaws champing on the foamy bit. At +last she comes forth amid a great thronging train, girt in a Sidonian +mantle, broidered with needlework; her quiver is of gold, her tresses +knotted into gold, a golden buckle clasps up her crimson gown. +Therewithal the Phrygian train advances with joyous Iülus. Himself first +and foremost of all, Aeneas joins her company and unites his party to +hers: even as Apollo, when he leaves wintry Lycia and the streams of +Xanthus to visit his mother's Delos, and renews the dance, while Cretans +and Dryopes and painted Agathyrsians mingle clamorous about his altars: +himself he treads the Cynthian ridges, and plaits his flowing hair with +soft heavy sprays and entwines it with gold; the arrows rattle on his +shoulder: as lightly as he went Aeneas; such glow and beauty is on his +princely face. When they are come to the mountain heights and pathless +coverts, lo, wild goats driven from the cliff-tops run down the ridge; +in another quarter stags speed over the open plain and gather their +flying column in a cloud of dust as they leave the hills. But the boy +Ascanius is in the valleys, exultant on his fiery horse, and gallops +past one and another, praying that among the unwarlike herds a foaming +boar may issue or a tawny lion descend the hill. + +[160-194]Meanwhile the sky begins to thicken and roar aloud. A +rain-cloud comes down mingled with hail; the Tyrian train and the men of +Troy, and the Dardanian boy of Venus' son scatter in fear, and seek +shelter far over the fields. Streams pour from the hills. Dido and the +Trojan captain take refuge in the same cavern. Primeval Earth and Juno +the bridesmaid give the sign; fires flash out high in air, witnessing +the union, and Nymphs cry aloud on the mountain-top. That day opened the +gate of death and the springs of ill. For now Dido recks not of eye or +tongue, nor sets her heart on love in secret: she calls it marriage, and +with this name veils her fall. + +Straightway Rumour runs through the great cities of Libya,--Rumour, than +whom none other is more swift to mischief; she thrives on restlessness +and gains strength by going: at first small and timorous; soon she lifts +herself on high and paces the ground with head hidden among the clouds. +Her, one saith, Mother Earth, when stung by wrath against the gods, bore +last sister to Coeus and Enceladus, fleet-footed and swift of wing, +ominous, awful, vast; for every feather on her body is a waking eye +beneath, wonderful to tell, and a tongue, and as many loud lips and +straining ears. By night she flits between sky and land, shrilling +through the dusk, and droops not her lids in sweet slumber; in daylight +she sits on guard upon tall towers or the ridge of the house-roof, and +makes great cities afraid; obstinate in perverseness and forgery no less +than messenger of truth. She then exultingly filled the countries with +manifold talk, and blazoned alike what was done and undone: one Aeneas +is come, born of Trojan blood; on him beautiful Dido thinks no shame to +fling herself; now they hold their winter, long-drawn through mutual +caresses, regardless of their realms and enthralled by passionate +dishonour. This the pestilent goddess [195-227]spreads abroad in the +mouths of men, and bends her course right on to King Iarbas, and with +her words fires his spirit and swells his wrath. + +He, the seed of Ammon by a ravished Garamantian Nymph, had built to Jove +in his wide realms an hundred great temples, an hundred altars, and +consecrated the wakeful fire that keeps watch by night before the gods +perpetually, where the soil is fat with blood of beasts and the courts +blossom with pied garlands. And he, distracted and on fire at the bitter +tidings, before his altars, amid the divine presences, often, it is +said, bowed in prayer to Jove with uplifted hands: + +'Jupiter omnipotent, to whom from the broidered cushions of their +banqueting halls the Maurusian people now pour Lenaean offering, lookest +thou on this? or do we shudder vainly when our father hurls the +thunderbolt, and do blind fires in the clouds and idle rumblings appal +our soul? The woman who, wandering in our coasts, planted a small town +on purchased ground, to whom we gave fields by the shore and laws of +settlement, she hath spurned our alliance and taken Aeneas for lord of +her realm. And now that Paris, with his effeminate crew, his chin and +oozy hair swathed in the turban of Maeonia, takes and keeps her; since +to thy temples we bear oblation, and hallow an empty name.' + +In such words he pleaded, clasping the altars; the Lord omnipotent +heard, and cast his eye on the royal city and the lovers forgetful of +their fairer fame. Then he addresses this charge to Mercury: + +'Up and away, O son! call the breezes and slide down them on thy wings: +accost the Dardanian captain who now loiters in Tyrian Carthage and +casts not a look on destined cities; carry down my words through the +fleet air. Not such an one did his mother most beautiful vouch him to +[228-264]us, nor for this twice rescue him from Grecian arms; but he +was to rule an Italy teeming with empire and loud with war, to transmit +the line of Teucer's royal blood, and lay all the world beneath his law. +If such glories kindle him in nowise, and he take no trouble for his own +honour, does a father grudge his Ascanius the towers of Rome? with what +device or in what hope loiters he among a hostile race, and casts not a +glance on his Ausonian children and the fields of Lavinium? Let him set +sail: this is the sum: thereof be thou our messenger.' + +He ended: his son made ready to obey his high command. And first he +laces to his feet the shoes of gold that bear him high winging over seas +or land as fleet as the gale; then takes the rod wherewith he calls wan +souls forth of Orcus, or sends them again to the sad depth of hell, +gives sleep and takes it away and unseals dead eyes; in whose strength +he courses the winds and swims across the tossing clouds. And now in +flight he descries the peak and steep sides of toiling Atlas, whose +crest sustains the sky; Atlas, whose pine-clad head is girt alway with +black clouds and beaten by wind and rain; snow is shed over his +shoulders for covering; rivers tumble over his aged chin; and his rough +beard is stiff with ice. Here the Cyllenian, poised evenly on his wings, +made a first stay; hence he shot himself sheer to the water. Like a bird +that flies low, skirting the sea about the craggy shores of its fishery, +even thus the brood of Cyllene left his mother's father, and flew, +cutting the winds between sky and land, along the sandy Libyan shore. So +soon as his winged feet reached the settlement, he espies Aeneas +founding towers and ordering new dwellings; his sword twinkled with +yellow jasper, and a cloak hung from his shoulders ablaze with Tyrian +sea-purple, a gift that Dido had made costly and shot the warp with thin +gold. Straightway [265-299]he breaks in: 'Layest thou now the +foundations of tall Carthage, and buildest up a fair city in dalliance? +ah, forgetful of thine own kingdom and state! From bright Olympus I +descend to thee at express command of heaven's sovereign, whose deity +sways sky and earth; expressly he bids me carry this charge through the +fleet air: with what device or in what hope dost thou loiter idly on +Libyan lands? if such glories kindle thee in nowise, yet cast an eye on +growing Ascanius, on Iülus thine hope and heir, to whom the kingdom of +Italy and the Roman land are due.' As these words left his lips the +Cyllenian, yet speaking, quitted mortal sight and vanished into thin air +away out of his eyes. + +But Aeneas in truth gazed in dumb amazement, his hair thrilled up, and +the accents faltered on his tongue. He burns to flee away and leave the +pleasant land, aghast at the high warning and divine ordinance. Alas, +what shall he do? how venture to smooth the tale to the frenzied queen? +what prologue shall he find? and this way and that he rapidly throws his +mind, and turns it on all hands in swift change of thought. In his +perplexity this seemed the better counsel; he calls Mnestheus and +Sergestus, and brave Serestus, and bids them silently equip the fleet, +gather their crews on shore, and order their armament, keeping the cause +of the commotion hid; himself meanwhile, since Dido the gracious knows +not nor looks for severance to so strong a love, will essay to approach +her when she may be told most gently, and the way for it be fair. All at +once gladly do as bidden, and obey his command. + +But the Queen--who may delude a lover?--foreknew his devices, and at +once caught the presaging stir. Safety's self was fear; to her likewise +had evil Rumour borne the maddening news that they equip the fleet and +prepare [300-334]for passage. Helpless at heart, she reels aflame with +rage throughout the city, even as the startled Thyiad in her frenzied +triennial orgies, when the holy vessels move forth and the cry of +Bacchus re-echoes, and Cithaeron calls her with nightlong din. Thus at +last she opens out upon Aeneas: + +'And thou didst hope, traitor, to mask the crime, and slip away in +silence from my land? Our love holds thee not, nor the hand thou once +gavest, nor the bitter death that is left for Dido's portion? Nay, under +the wintry star thou labourest on thy fleet, and hastenest to launch +into the deep amid northern gales; ah, cruel! Why, were thy quest not of +alien fields and unknown dwellings, did thine ancient Troy remain, +should Troy be sought in voyages over tossing seas? Fliest thou from me? +me who by these tears and thine own hand beseech thee, since naught +else, alas! have I kept mine own--by our union and the marriage rites +preparing; if I have done thee any grace, or aught of mine hath once +been sweet in thy sight,--pity our sinking house, and if there yet be +room for prayers, put off this purpose of thine. For thy sake Libyan +tribes and Nomad kings are hostile; my Tyrians are estranged; for thy +sake, thine, is mine honour perished, and the former fame, my one title +to the skies. How leavest thou me to die, O my guest? since to this the +name of husband is dwindled down. For what do I wait? till Pygmalion +overthrow his sister's city, or Gaetulian Iarbas lead me to captivity? +At least if before thy flight a child of thine had been clasped in my +arms,--if a tiny Aeneas were playing in my hall, whose face might yet +image thine,--I would not think myself ensnared and deserted utterly.' + +She ended; he by counsel of Jove held his gaze unstirred, and kept his +distress hard down in his heart. At last he briefly answers: + +'Never, O Queen, will I deny that thy goodness hath [335-368]gone high +as thy words can swell the reckoning; nor will my memory of Elissa be +ungracious while I remember myself, and breath sways this body. Little +will I say in this. I never hoped to slip away in stealthy flight; fancy +not that; nor did I ever hold out the marriage torch or enter thus into +alliance. Did fate allow me to guide my life by mine own government, and +calm my sorrows as I would, my first duty were to the Trojan city and +the dear remnant of my kindred; the high house of Priam should abide, +and my hand had set up Troy towers anew for a conquered people. But now +for broad Italy hath Apollo of Grynos bidden me steer, for Italy the +oracles of Lycia. Here is my desire; this is my native country. If thy +Phoenician eyes are stayed on Carthage towers and thy Libyan city, what +wrong is it, I pray, that we Trojans find our rest on Ausonian land? We +too may seek a foreign realm unforbidden. In my sleep, often as the dank +shades of night veil the earth, often as the stars lift their fires, the +troubled phantom of my father Anchises comes in warning and dread; my +boy Ascanius, how I wrong one so dear in cheating him of an Hesperian +kingdom and destined fields. Now even the gods' interpreter, sent +straight from Jove--I call both to witness--hath borne down his commands +through the fleet air. Myself in broad daylight I saw the deity passing +within the walls, and these ears drank his utterance. Cease to madden me +and thyself alike with plaints. Not of my will do I follow Italy. . . .' + +Long ere he ended she gazes on him askance, turning her eyes from side +to side and perusing him with silent glances; then thus wrathfully +speaks: + +'No goddess was thy mother, nor Dardanus founder of thy line, traitor! +but rough Caucasus bore thee on his iron crags, and Hyrcanian tigresses +gave thee suck. For why do I conceal it? For what further outrage do I +wait? [369-400]Hath our weeping cost him a sigh, or a lowered glance? +Hath he broken into tears, or had pity on his lover? Where, where shall +I begin? Now neither doth Queen Juno nor our Saturnian lord regard us +with righteous eyes. Nowhere is trust safe. Cast ashore and destitute I +welcomed him, and madly gave him place and portion in my kingdom; I +found him his lost fleet and drew his crews from death. Alas, the fire +of madness speeds me on. Now prophetic Apollo, now oracles of Lycia, now +the very gods' interpreter sent straight from Jove through the air +carries these rude commands! Truly that is work for the gods, that a +care to vex their peace! I detain thee not, nor gainsay thy words: go, +follow thine Italy down the wind; seek thy realm overseas. Yet midway my +hope is, if righteous gods can do aught at all, thou wilt drain the cup +of vengeance on the rocks, and re-echo calls on Dido's name. In murky +fires I will follow far away, and when chill death hath severed body +from soul, my ghost will haunt thee in every region. Wretch, thou shalt +repay! I will hear; and the rumour of it shall reach me deep in the +under world.' + +Even on these words she breaks off her speech unfinished, and, sick at +heart, escapes out of the air and sweeps round and away out of sight, +leaving him in fear and much hesitance, and with much on his mind to +say. Her women catch her in their arms, and carry her swooning to her +marble chamber and lay her on her bed. + +But good Aeneas, though he would fain soothe and comfort her grief, and +talk away her distress, with many a sigh, and melted in soul by his +great love, yet fulfils the divine commands and returns to his fleet. +Then indeed the Teucrians set to work, and haul down their tall ships +all along the shore. The hulls are oiled and afloat; they carry from the +woodland green boughs for oars and massy logs unhewn, in hot haste to +go. . . . One might descry them shifting [401-433]their quarters and +pouring out of all the town: even as ants, mindful of winter, plunder a +great heap of wheat and store it in their house; a black column advances +on the plain as they carry home their spoil on a narrow track through +the grass. Some shove and strain with their shoulders at big grains, +some marshal the ranks and chastise delay; all the path is aswarm with +work. What then were thy thoughts, O Dido, as thou sawest it? What sighs +didst thou utter, viewing from the fortress roof the broad beach aswarm, +and seeing before thine eyes the whole sea stirred with their noisy din? +Injurious Love, to what dost thou not compel mortal hearts! Again, she +must needs break into tears, again essay entreaty, and bow her spirit +down to love, not to leave aught untried and go to death in vain. + +'Anna, thou seest the bustle that fills the shore. They have gathered +round from every quarter; already their canvas woos the breezes, and the +merry sailors have garlanded the sterns. This great pain, my sister, I +shall have strength to bear, as I have had strength to foresee. Yet this +one thing, Anna, for love and pity's sake--for of thee alone was the +traitor fain, to thee even his secret thoughts were confided, alone thou +knewest his moods and tender fits--go, my sister, and humbly accost the +haughty stranger: I did not take the Grecian oath in Aulis to root out +the race of Troy; I sent no fleet against her fortresses; neither have I +disentombed his father Anchises' ashes and ghost, that he should refuse +my words entrance to his stubborn ears. Whither does he run? let him +grant this grace--alas, the last!--to his lover, and await fair winds +and an easy passage. No more do I pray for the old delusive marriage, +nor that he give up fair Latium and abandon a kingdom. A breathing-space +I ask, to give my madness rest and room, till my very [434-469]fortune +teach my grief submission. This last favour I implore: sister, be +pitiful; grant this to me, and I will restore it in full measure when I +die.' + +So she pleaded, and so her sister carries and recarries the piteous tale +of weeping. But by no weeping is he stirred, inflexible to all the words +he hears. Fate withstands, and lays divine bars on unmoved mortal ears. +Even as when the eddying blasts of northern Alpine winds are emulous to +uproot the secular strength of a mighty oak, it wails on, and the trunk +quivers and the high foliage strews the ground; the tree clings fast on +the rocks, and high as her top soars into heaven, so deep strike her +roots to hell; even thus is the hero buffeted with changeful perpetual +accents, and distress thrills his mighty breast, while his purpose stays +unstirred, and tears fall in vain. + +Then indeed, hapless and dismayed by doom, Dido prays for death, and is +weary of gazing on the arch of heaven. The more to make her fulfil her +purpose and quit the light, she saw, when she laid her gifts on the +altars alight with incense, awful to tell, the holy streams blacken, and +the wine turn as it poured into ghastly blood. Of this sight she spoke +to none--no, not to her sister. Likewise there was within the house a +marble temple of her ancient lord, kept of her in marvellous honour, and +fastened with snowy fleeces and festal boughs. Forth of it she seemed to +hear her husband's voice crying and calling when night was dim upon +earth, and alone on the house-tops the screech-owl often made moan with +funeral note and long-drawn sobbing cry. Therewithal many a warning of +wizards of old terrifies her with appalling presage. In her sleep fierce +Aeneas drives her wildly, and ever she seems being left by herself +alone, ever going uncompanioned on a weary way, and seeking her Tyrians +in a solitary land: even as frantic Pentheus sees the [470-503]arrayed +Furies and a double sun, and Thebes shows herself twofold to his eyes: +or Agamemnonian Orestes, renowned in tragedy, when his mother pursues +him armed with torches and dark serpents, and the Fatal Sisters crouch +avenging in the doorway. + +So when, overcome by her pangs, she caught the madness and resolved to +die, she works out secretly the time and fashion, and accosts her +sorrowing sister with mien hiding her design and hope calm on her brow. + +'I have found a way, mine own--wish me joy, sisterlike--to restore him +to me or release me of my love for him. Hard by the ocean limit and the +set of sun is the extreme Aethiopian land, where ancient Atlas turns on +his shoulders the starred burning axletree of heaven. Out of it hath +been shown to me a priestess of Massylian race, warder of the temple of +the Hesperides, even she who gave the dragon his food, and kept the holy +boughs on the tree, sprinkling clammy honey and slumberous poppy-seed. +She professes with her spells to relax the purposes of whom she will, +but on others to bring passion and pain; to stay the river-waters and +turn the stars backward: she calls up ghosts by night; thou shalt see +earth moaning under foot and mountain-ashes descending from the hills. I +take heaven, sweet, to witness, and thee, mine own darling sister, I do +not willingly arm myself with the arts of magic. Do thou secretly raise +a pyre in the inner court, and let them lay on it the arms that the +accursed one left hanging in our chamber, and all the dress he wore, and +the bridal bed where I fell. It is good to wipe out all the wretch's +traces, and the priestess orders thus.' So speaks she, and is silent, +while pallor overruns her face. Yet Anna deems not her sister veils +death behind these strange rites, and grasps not her wild purpose, nor +fears aught deeper than at Sychaeus' death. So she makes ready as +bidden. . . . + +[504-538]But the Queen, the pyre being built up of piled faggots and +sawn ilex in the inmost of her dwelling, hangs the room with chaplets +and garlands it with funeral boughs: on the pillow she lays the dress he +wore, the sword he left, and an image of him, knowing what was to come. +Altars are reared around, and the priestess, with hair undone, thrice +peals from her lips the hundred gods of Erebus and Chaos, and the +triform Hecate, the triple-faced maidenhood of Diana. Likewise she had +sprinkled pretended waters of Avernus' spring, and rank herbs are sought +mown by moonlight with brazen sickles, dark with milky venom, and sought +is the talisman torn from a horse's forehead at birth ere the dam could +snatch it. . . . Herself, the holy cake in her pure hands, hard by the +altars, with one foot unshod and garments flowing loose, she invokes the +gods ere she die, and the stars that know of doom; then prays to +whatsoever deity looks in righteousness and remembrance on lovers ill +allied. + +Night fell; weary creatures took quiet slumber all over earth, and +woodland and wild waters had sunk to rest; now the stars wheel midway on +their gliding path, now all the country is silent, and beasts and gay +birds that haunt liquid levels of lake or thorny rustic thicket lay +couched asleep under the still night. But not so the distressed +Phoenician, nor does she ever sink asleep or take the night upon eyes or +breast; her pain redoubles, and her love swells to renewed madness, as +she tosses on the strong tide of wrath. Even so she begins, and thus +revolves with her heart alone: + +'See, what do I? Shall I again make trial of mine old wooers that will +scorn me? and stoop to sue for a Numidian marriage among those whom +already over and over I have disdained for husbands? Then shall I follow +the Ilian fleets and the uttermost bidding of the Teucrians? because it +is good to think they were once raised up by my [539-570]succour, or +the grace of mine old kindness is fresh in their remembrance? And how +should they let me, if I would? or take the odious woman on their +haughty ships? art thou ignorant, ah me, even in ruin, and knowest not +yet the forsworn race of Laomedon? And then? shall I accompany the +triumphant sailors, a lonely fugitive? or plunge forth girt with all my +Tyrian train? so hardly severed from Sidon city, shall I again drive +them seaward, and bid them spread their sails to the tempest? Nay die +thou, as thou deservest, and let the steel end thy pain. With thee it +began; overborne by my tears, thou, O my sister, dost load me with this +madness and agony, and layest me open to the enemy. I could not spend a +wild life without stain, far from a bridal chamber, and free from touch +of distress like this! O faith ill kept, that was plighted to Sychaeus' +ashes!' Thus her heart broke in long lamentation. + +Now Aeneas was fixed to go, and now, with all set duly in order, was +taking hasty sleep on his high stern. To him as he slept the god +appeared once again in the same fashion of countenance, and thus seemed +to renew his warning, in all points like to Mercury, voice and hue and +golden hair and limbs gracious in youth. 'Goddess-born, canst thou sleep +on in such danger? and seest not the coming perils that hem thee in, +madman! nor hearest the breezes blowing fair? She, fixed on death, is +revolving craft and crime grimly in her bosom, and swells the changing +surge of wrath. Fliest thou not hence headlong, while headlong flight is +yet possible? Even now wilt thou see ocean weltering with broken +timbers, see the fierce glare of torches and the beach in a riot of +flame, if dawn break on thee yet dallying in this land. Up ho! linger no +more! Woman is ever a fickle and changing thing.' So spoke he, and +melted in the black night. + +[571-603]Then indeed Aeneas, startled by the sudden phantom, leaps out +of slumber and bestirs his crew. 'Haste and awake, O men, and sit down +to the thwarts; shake out sail speedily. A god sent from high heaven, +lo! again spurs us to speed our flight and cut the twisted cables. We +follow thee, holy one of heaven, whoso thou art, and again joyfully obey +thy command. O be favourable; give gracious aid and bring fair sky and +weather.' He spoke, and snatching his sword like lightning from the +sheath, strikes at the hawser with the drawn steel. The same zeal +catches all at once; rushing and tearing they quit the shore; the sea is +hidden under their fleets; strongly they toss up the foam and sweep the +blue water. + +And now Dawn broke, and, leaving the saffron bed of Tithonus, shed her +radiance anew over the world; when the Queen saw from her watch-tower +the first light whitening, and the fleet standing out under squared +sail, and discerned shore and haven empty of all their oarsmen. Thrice +and four times she struck her hand on her lovely breast and rent her +yellow hair: 'God!' she cries, 'shall he go? shall an alien make mock of +our realm? Will they not issue in armed pursuit from all the city, and +some launch ships from the dockyards? Go; bring fire in haste, serve +weapons, swing out the oars! What do I talk? or where am I? what mad +change is on my purpose? Alas, Dido! now thou dost feel thy wickedness; +that had graced thee once, when thou gavest away thy crown. Behold the +faith and hand of him! who, they say, carries his household's ancestral +gods about with him! who stooped his shoulders to a father outworn with +age! Could I not have riven his body in sunder and strewn it on the +waves? and slain with the sword his comrades and his dear Ascanius, and +served him for the banquet at his father's table? But the chance of +battle had been dubious. If it had! whom did I fear [604-635]with my +death upon me? I should have borne firebrands into his camp and filled +his decks with flame, blotted out father and son and race together, and +flung myself atop of all. Sun, whose fires lighten all the works of the +world, and thou, Juno, mediatress and witness of these my distresses, +and Hecate, cried on by night in crossways of cities, and you, fatal +avenging sisters and gods of dying Elissa, hear me now; bend your just +deity to my woes, and listen to our prayers. If it must needs be that +the accursed one touch his haven and float up to land, if thus Jove's +decrees demand, and this is the appointed term,--yet, distressed in war +by an armed and gallant nation, driven homeless from his borders, rent +from Iülus' embrace, let him sue for succour and see death on death +untimely on his people; nor when he hath yielded him to the terms of a +harsh peace, may he have joy of his kingdom or the pleasant light; but +let him fall before his day and without burial on a waste of sand. This +I pray; this and my blood with it I pour for the last utterance. And +you, O Tyrians, hunt his seed with your hatred for all ages to come; +send this guerdon to our ashes. Let no kindness nor truce be between the +nations. Arise out of our dust, O unnamed avenger, to pursue the +Dardanian settlement with firebrand and steel. Now, then, whensoever +strength shall be given, I invoke the enmity of shore to shore, wave to +water, sword to sword; let their battles go down to their children's +children.' + +So speaks she as she kept turning her mind round about, seeking how +soonest to break away from the hateful light. Thereon she speaks briefly +to Barce, nurse of Sychaeus; for a heap of dusky ashes held her own, in +her country of long ago: + +'Sweet nurse, bring Anna my sister hither to me. Bid her haste and +sprinkle river water over her body, and bring [636-667]with her the +beasts ordained for expiation: so let her come: and thou likewise veil +thy brows with a pure chaplet. I would fulfil the rites of Stygian Jove +that I have fitly ordered and begun, so to set the limit to my +distresses and give over to the flames the funeral pyre of the +Dardanian.' + +So speaks she; the old woman went eagerly with quickened pace. But Dido, +fluttered and fierce in her awful purpose, with bloodshot restless gaze, +and spots on her quivering cheeks burning through the pallor of imminent +death, bursts into the inner courts of the house, and mounts in madness +the high funeral pyre, and unsheathes the sword of Dardania, a gift +asked for no use like this. Then after her eyes fell on the Ilian +raiment and the bed she knew, dallying a little with her purpose through +her tears, she sank on the pillow and spoke the last words of all: + +'Dress he wore, sweet while doom and deity allowed! receive my spirit +now, and release me from my distresses. I have lived and fulfilled +Fortune's allotted course; and now shall I go a queenly phantom under +the earth. I have built a renowned city; I have seen my ramparts rise; +by my brother's punishment I have avenged my husband of his enemy; +happy, ah me! and over happy, had but the keels of Dardania never +touched our shores!' She spoke; and burying her face in the pillow, +'Death it will be,' she cries, 'and unavenged; but death be it. Thus, +thus is it good to pass into the dark. Let the pitiless Dardanian's gaze +drink in this fire out at sea, and my death be the omen he carries on +his way.' + +She ceased; and even as she spoke her people see her sunk on the steel, +and blood reeking on the sword and spattered on her hands. A cry rises +in the high halls; Rumour riots down the quaking city. The house +resounds with lamentation and sobbing and bitter crying of women; +[668-700]heaven echoes their loud wails; even as though all Carthage or +ancient Tyre went down as the foe poured in, and the flames rolled +furious over the roofs of house and temple. Swooning at the sound, her +sister runs in a flutter of dismay, with torn face and smitten bosom, +and darts through them all, and calls the dying woman by her name. 'Was +it this, mine own? Was my summons a snare? Was it this thy pyre, ah me, +this thine altar fires meant? How shall I begin my desolate moan? Didst +thou disdain a sister's company in death? Thou shouldst have called me +to share thy doom; in the self-same hour, the self-same pang of steel +had been our portion. Did these very hands build it, did my voice call +on our father's gods, that with thee lying thus I should be away as one +without pity? Thou hast destroyed thyself and me together, O my sister, +and the Sidonian lords and people, and this thy city. Give her wounds +water: I will bathe them and catch on my lips the last breath that haply +yet lingers.' So speaking she had climbed the high steps, and, wailing, +clasped and caressed her half-lifeless sister in her bosom, and stanched +the dark streams of blood with her gown. She, essaying to lift her heavy +eyes, swoons back; the deep-driven wound gurgles in her breast. Thrice +she rose, and strained to lift herself on her elbow; thrice she rolled +back on the pillow, and with wandering eyes sought the light of high +heaven, and moaned as she found it. + +Then Juno omnipotent, pitying her long pain and difficult decease, sent +Iris down from heaven to unloose the struggling life from the body where +it clung. For since neither by fate did she perish, nor as one who had +earned her death, but woefully before her day, and fired by sudden +madness, not yet had Proserpine taken her lock from the golden head, nor +sentenced her to the Stygian under world. So Iris on dewy saffron +pinions flits down through the sky [701-705]athwart the sun in a trail +of a thousand changing dyes, and stopping over her head: 'This hair, +sacred to Dis, I take as bidden, and release thee from that body of +thine.' So speaks she, and cuts it with her hand. And therewith all the +warmth ebbed forth from her, and the life passed away upon the winds. + + + + +BOOK FIFTH + +THE GAMES OF THE FLEET + + +Meanwhile Aeneas and his fleet in unwavering track now held mid passage, +and cleft the waves that blackened under the North, looking back on the +city that even now gleams with hapless Elissa's funeral flame. Why the +broad blaze is lit lies unknown; but the bitter pain of a great love +trampled, and the knowledge of what woman can do in madness, draw the +Teucrians' hearts to gloomy guesses. + +When their ships held the deep, nor any land farther appears, the seas +all round, and all round the sky, a dusky shower drew up overhead, +carrying night and storm, and the wave shuddered and gloomed. Palinurus, +master of the fleet, cries from the high stern: 'Alas, why have these +heavy storm-clouds girt the sky? lord Neptune, what wilt thou?' Then he +bids clear the rigging and bend strongly to the oars, and brings the +sails across the wind, saying thus: + +'Noble Aeneas, not did Jupiter give word and warrant would I hope to +reach Italy under such a sky. The shifting winds roar athwart our +course, and blow stronger out of the black west, and the air thickens +into mist: nor are we fit to force our way on and across. Fortune is the +stronger; let us follow her, and turn our course whither she calls. +[23-55]Not far away, I think, are the faithful shores of thy brother +Eryx, and the Sicilian haven, if only my memory retraces rightly the +stars I watched before.' + +Then good Aeneas: 'Even I ere now discern the winds will have it so, and +thou urgest against them in vain. Turn thou the course of our sailing. +Could any land be welcomer to me, or where I would sooner choose to put +in my weary ships, than this that hath Dardanian Acestes to greet me, +and laps in its embrace lord Anchises' dust?' This said, they steer for +harbour, while the following west wind stretches their sails; the fleet +runs fast down the flood, and at last they land joyfully on the familiar +beach. But Acestes high on a hill-top, amazed at the friendly squadron +approaching from afar, hastens towards them, weaponed and clad in the +shaggy skin of a Libyan she-bear. Him a Trojan mother conceived and bore +to Crimisus river; not forgetful of his parentage, he wishes them joy of +their return, and gladly entertains them on his rustic treasure and +comforts their weariness with his friendly store. So soon as the +morrow's clear daylight had chased the stars out of the east, Aeneas +calls his comrades along the beach together, and from a mounded hillock +speaks: + +'Great people of Dardanus, born of the high blood of gods, the yearly +circle of the months is measured out to fulfilment since we laid the +dust in earth, all that was left of my divine father, and sadly +consecrated our altars. And now the day is at hand (this, O gods, was +your will), which I will ever keep in grief, ever in honour. Did I spend +it an exile on Gaetulian quicksands, did it surprise me on the Argolic +sea or in Mycenae town, yet would I fulfil the yearly vows and annual +ordinance of festival, and pile the altars with their due gifts. Now we +are led hither, to the very dust and ashes of our father, not as I deem +without [56-90]divine purpose and influence, and borne home into the +friendly haven. Up then and let us all gather joyfully to the sacrifice: +pray we for winds, and may he deign that I pay these rites to him year +by year in an established city and consecrated temple. Two head of oxen +Acestes, the seed of Troy, gives to each of your ships by tale: invite +to the feast your own ancestral gods of the household, and those whom +our host Acestes worships. Further, so the ninth Dawn uplift the +gracious day upon men, and her shafts unveil the world, I will ordain +contests for my Trojans; first for swift ships; then whoso excels in the +foot-race, and whoso, confident in strength and skill, comes to shoot +light arrows, or adventures to join battle with gloves of raw hide; let +all be here, and let merit look for the prize and palm. Now all be +hushed, and twine your temples with boughs.' + +So speaks he, and shrouds his brows with his mother's myrtle. So Helymus +does, so Aletes ripe of years, so the boy Ascanius, and the rest of the +people follow. He advances from the assembly to the tomb among a throng +of many thousands that crowd about him; here he pours on the ground in +fit libation two goblets of pure wine, two of new milk, two of +consecrated blood, and flings bright blossoms, saying thus: 'Hail, holy +father, once again; hail, ashes of him I saved in vain, and soul and +shade of my sire! Thou wert not to share the search for Italian borders +and destined fields, nor the dim Ausonian Tiber.' Thus had he spoken; +when from beneath the sanctuary a snake slid out in seven vast coils and +sevenfold slippery spires, quietly circling the grave and gliding from +altar to altar, his green chequered body and the spotted lustre of his +scales ablaze with gold, as the bow in the cloud darts a thousand +changing dyes athwart the sun: Aeneas stood amazed at the sight. At last +he wound [91-126]his long train among the vessels and polished cups, +and tasted the feast, and again leaving the altars where he had fed, +crept harmlessly back beneath the tomb. Doubtful if he shall think it +the Genius of the ground or his father's ministrant, he slays, as is +fit, two sheep of two years old, as many swine and dark-backed steers, +pouring the while cups of wine, and calling on the soul of great +Anchises and the ghost rearisen from Acheron. Therewithal his comrades, +as each hath store, bring gifts to heap joyfully on the altars, and slay +steers in sacrifice: others set cauldrons arow, and, lying along the +grass, heap live embers under spits and roast the flesh. + +The desired day came, and now the ninth Dawn rode up clear and bright +behind Phaëthon's coursers; and the name and renown of illustrious +Acestes had stirred up all the bordering people; their holiday throng +filled the shore, to see Aeneas' men, and some ready to join in contest. +First of all the prizes are laid out to view in the middle of the +racecourse; tripods of sacrifice, green garlands and palms, the reward +of the conquerors, armour and garments dipped in purple, talents of +silver and gold: and from a hillock in the midst the trumpet sounds the +games begun. First is the contest of rowing, and four ships matched in +weight enter, the choice of all the fleet. Mnestheus' keen oarsmen drive +the swift Dragon, Mnestheus the Italian to be, from whose name is the +Memmian family; Gyas the huge bulk of the huge Chimaera, a floating +town, whom her triple-tiered Dardanian crew urge on with oars rising in +threefold rank; Sergestus, from whom the Sergian house holds her name, +sails in the tall Centaur; and in the sea-coloured Scylla Cloanthus, +whence is thy family, Cluentius of Rome. + +Apart in the sea and over against the foaming beach, lies a rock that +the swoln waves beat and drown what time the [127-159]north-western +gales of winter blot out the stars; in calm it rises silent out of the +placid water, flat-topped, and a haunt where cormorants love best to +take the sun. Here lord Aeneas set up a goal of leafy ilex, a mark for +the sailors to know whence to return, where to wheel their long course +round. Then they choose stations by lot, and on the sterns their +captains glitter afar, beautiful in gold and purple; the rest of the +crews are crowned with poplar sprays, and their naked shoulders glisten +wet with oil. They sit down at the thwarts, and their arms are tense on +the oars; at full strain they wait the signal, while throbbing fear and +heightened ambition drain their riotous blood. Then, when the clear +trumpet-note rang, all in a moment leap forward from their line; the +shouts of the sailors strike up to heaven, and the channels are swept +into foam by the arms as they swing backward. They cleave their furrows +together, and all the sea is torn asunder by oars and triple-pointed +prows. Not with speed so headlong do racing pairs whirl the chariots +over the plain, as they rush streaming from the barriers; not so do +their charioteers shake the wavy reins loose over their team, and hang +forward on the whip. All the woodland rings with clapping and shouts of +men that cheer their favourites, and the sheltered beach eddies back +their cries; the noise buffets and re-echoes from the hills. Gyas shoots +out in front of the noisy crowd, and glides foremost along the water; +whom Cloanthus follows next, rowing better, but held back by his +dragging weight of pine. After them, at equal distance, the Dragon and +the Centaur strive to win the foremost room; and now the Dragon has it, +now the vast Centaur outstrips and passes her; now they dart on both +together, their stems in a line, and their keels driving long furrows +through the salt water-ways. And now they drew nigh the rock, and were +hard [160-193]on the goal; when Gyas as he led, winner over half the +flood, cries aloud to Menoetes, the ship's steersman: 'Whither away so +far to the right? This way direct her path; kiss the shore, and let the +oarblade graze the leftward reefs. Others may keep to deep water.' He +spoke; but Menoetes, fearing blind rocks, turns the bow away towards the +open sea. 'Whither wanderest thou away? to the rocks, Menoetes!' again +shouts Gyas to bring him back; and lo! glancing round he sees Cloanthus +passing up behind and keeping nearer. Between Gyas' ship and the echoing +crags he scrapes through inside on his left, flashes past his leader, +and leaving the goal behind is in safe water. Then indeed grief burned +fierce through his strong frame, and tears sprung out on his cheeks; +heedless of his own dignity and his crew's safety, he flings the too +cautious Menoetes sheer into the sea from the high stern, himself +succeeds as guide and master of the helm, and cheers on his men, and +turns his tiller in to shore. But Menoetes, when at last he rose +struggling from the bottom, heavy with advancing years and wet in his +dripping clothes, makes for the top of the crag, and sits down on a dry +rock. The Teucrians laughed out as he fell and as he swam, and laugh to +see him spitting the salt water from his chest. At this a joyful hope +kindled in the two behind, Sergestus and Mnestheus, of catching up Gyas' +wavering course. Sergestus slips forward as he nears the rock, yet not +all in front, nor leading with his length of keel; part is in front, +part pressed by the Dragon's jealous prow. But striding amidships +between his comrades, Mnestheus cheers them on: 'Now, now swing back, +oarsmen who were Hector's comrades, whom I chose to follow me in Troy's +extremity; now put forth the might and courage you showed in Gaetulian +quicksands, amid Ionian seas and Malea's chasing waves. Not the first +[194-227]place do I now seek for Mnestheus, nor strive for victory; +though ah!--yet let them win, O Neptune, to whom thou givest it. But the +shame of coming in last! Win but this, fellow-citizens, and avert that +disaster!' His men bend forward, straining every muscle; the brasswork +of the ship quivers to their mighty strokes, and the ground runs from +under her; limbs and parched lips shake with their rapid panting, and +sweat flows in streams all over them. Mere chance brought the crew the +glory they desired. For while Sergestus drives his prow furiously in +towards the rocks and comes up with too scanty room, alas! he caught on +a rock that ran out; the reef ground, the oars struck and shivered on +the jagged teeth, and the bows crashed and hung. The sailors leap up and +hold her with loud cries, and get out iron-shod poles and sharp-pointed +boathooks, and pick up their broken oars out of the eddies. But +Mnestheus, rejoicing and flushed by his triumph, with oars fast-dipping +and winds at his call, issues into the shelving water and runs down the +open sea. As a pigeon whose house and sweet nestlings are in the rock's +recesses, if suddenly startled from her cavern, wings her flight over +the fields and rushes frightened from her house with loud clapping +pinions; then gliding noiselessly through the air, slides on her liquid +way and moves not her rapid wings; so Mnestheus, so the Dragon under him +swiftly cleaves the last space of sea, so her own speed carries her +flying on. And first Sergestus is left behind, struggling on the steep +rock and shoal water, and shouting in vain for help and learning to race +with broken oars. Next he catches up Gyas and the vast bulk of the +Chimaera; she gives way, without her steersman. And now on the very goal +Cloanthus alone is left; him he pursues and presses hard, straining all +his strength. Then indeed the shouts redouble, as all together eagerly +cheer on the pursuer, and [228-264]the sky echoes their din. These +scorn to lose the honour that is their own, the glory in their grasp, +and would sell life for renown; to these success lends life; power comes +with belief in it. And haply they had carried the prize with prows +abreast, had not Cloanthus, stretching both his open hands over the sea, +poured forth prayers and called the gods to hear his vows: 'Gods who are +sovereign on the sea, over whose waters I run, to your altars on this +beach will I bring a snow-white bull, my vow's glad penalty, and will +cast his entrails into the salt flood and pour liquid wine.' He spoke, +and far beneath the flood maiden Panopea heard him, with all Phorcus' +choir of Nereids, and lord Portunus with his own mighty hand pushed him +on his way. The ship flies to land swifter than the wind or an arrow's +flight, and shoots into the deep harbour. Then the seed of Anchises, +summoning all in order, declares Cloanthus conqueror by herald's outcry, +and dresses his brows in green bay, and gives gifts to each crew, three +bullocks of their choice, and wine, and a large talent of silver to take +away. For their captains he adds special honours; to the winner a scarf +wrought with gold, encircled by a double border of deep Meliboean +purple; woven in it is the kingly boy on leafy Ida, chasing swift stags +with javelin and racing feet, keen and as one panting; him Jove's +swooping armour-bearer hath caught up from Ida in his talons; his aged +guardians stretch their hands vainly upwards, and the barking of hounds +rings fierce into the air. But to him who, next in merit, held the +second place, he gives to wear a corslet triple-woven with hooks of +polished gold, stripped by his own conquering hand from Demoleos under +tall Troy by the swift Simoïs, an ornament and safeguard among arms. +Scarce could the straining shoulders of his servants Phegeus and Sagaris +carry its heavy folds; yet with it on, Demoleos at [265-302]full speed +would chase the scattered Trojans. The third prize he makes twin +cauldrons of brass, and bowls wrought in silver and rough with tracery. +And now all moved away in the pride and wealth of their prizes, their +brows bound with scarlet ribbons; when, hardly torn loose by all his art +from the cruel rock, his oars lost, rowing feebly with a single tier, +Sergestus brought in his ship jeered at and unhonoured. Even as often a +serpent caught on a highway, if a brazen wheel hath gone aslant over him +or a wayfarer left him half dead and mangled with the blow of a heavy +stone, wreathes himself slowly in vain effort to escape, in part +undaunted, his eyes ablaze and his hissing throat lifted high; in part +the disabling wound keeps him coiling in knots and twisting back on his +own body; so the ship kept rowing slowly on, yet hoists sail and under +full sail glides into the harbour mouth. Glad that the ship is saved and +the crew brought back, Aeneas presents Sergestus with his promised +reward. A slave woman is given him not unskilled in Minerva's labours, +Pholoë the Cretan, with twin boys at her breast. + +This contest sped, good Aeneas moved to a grassy plain girt all about +with winding wooded hills, and amid the valley an amphitheatre, whither, +with a concourse of many thousands, the hero advanced and took his seat +on a mound. Here he allures with rewards and offer of prizes those who +will try their hap in the fleet foot-race. Trojans and Sicilians gather +mingling from all sides, Nisus and Euryalus foremost . . . Euryalus in +the flower of youth and famed for beauty, Nisus for pure love of the +boy. Next follows renowned Diores, of Priam's royal line; after him +Salius and Patron together, the one Acarnanian, the other Tegean by +family and of Arcadian blood; next two men of Sicily, Helymus and +Panopes, foresters and attendants on old Acestes; many besides whose +fame is hid in [303-338]obscurity. Then among them all Aeneas spoke +thus: 'Hearken to this, and attend in good cheer. None out of this +number will I let go without a gift. To each will I give two glittering +Gnosian spearheads of polished steel, and an axe chased with silver to +bear away; one and all shall be honoured thus. The three foremost shall +receive prizes, and have pale olive bound about their head. The first +shall have a caparisoned horse as conqueror; the second an Amazonian +quiver filled with arrows of Thrace, girt about by a broad belt of gold, +and on the link of the clasp a polished gem; let the third depart with +this Argolic helmet for recompense.' This said, they take their place, +and the signal once heard, dart over the course and leave the line, +pouring forth like a storm-cloud while they mark the goal. Nisus gets +away first, and shoots out far in front of the throng, fleeter than the +winds or the winged thunderbolt. Next to him, but next by a long gap, +Salius follows; then, left a space behind him, Euryalus third . . . and +Helymus comes after Euryalus; and close behind him, lo! Diores goes +flying, just grazing foot with foot, hard on his shoulder; and if a +longer space were left, he would creep out past him and win the tie. And +now almost in the last space, they began to come up breathless to the +goal, when unfortunate Nisus trips on the slippery blood of the slain +steers, where haply it had spilled over the ground and wetted the green +grass. Here, just in the flush of victory, he lost his feet; they slid +away on the ground they pressed, and he fell forward right among the +ordure and blood of the sacrifice. Yet forgot he not his darling +Euryalus; for rising, he flung himself over the slippery ground in front +of Salius, and he rolled over and lay all along on the hard sand. +Euryalus shoots by, wins and holds the first place his friend gave, and +flies on amid prosperous clapping and cheers. Behind Helymus comes +[339-373]up, and Diores, now third for the palm. At this Salius fills +with loud clamour the whole concourse of the vast theatre, and the lords +who looked on in front, demanding restoration of his defrauded prize. +Euryalus is strong in favour, and beauty in tears, and the merit that +gains grace from so fair a form. Diores supports him, who succeeded to +the palm, so he loudly cries, and bore off the last prize in vain, if +the highest honours be restored to Salius. Then lord Aeneas speaks: 'For +you, O boys, your rewards remain assured, and none alters the prizes' +order: let me be allowed to pity a friend's innocent mischance.' So +speaking, he gives to Salius a vast Gaetulian lion-skin, with shaggy +masses of hair and claws of gold. 'If this,' cries Nisus, 'is the reward +of defeat, and thy pity is stirred for the fallen, what fit recompense +wilt thou give to Nisus? to my excellence the first crown was due, had +not I, like Salius, met Fortune's hostility.' And with the words he +displayed his face and limbs foul with the wet dung. His lord laughed +kindly on him, and bade a shield be brought forth, the workmanship of +Didymaon, torn by him from the hallowed gates of Neptune's Grecian +temple; with this special prize he rewards his excellence. + +Thereafter, when the races are finished and the gifts fulfilled: 'Now,' +he cries, 'come, whoso hath in him valour and ready heart, and lift up +his arms with gauntleted hands.' So speaks he, and sets forth a double +prize of battle; for the conqueror a bullock gilt and garlanded; a sword +and beautiful helmet to console the conquered. Straightway without pause +Dares issues to view in his vast strength, rising amid loud murmurs of +the people; he who alone was wont to meet Paris in combat; he who, at +the mound where princely Hector lies, struck down as he came the vast +bulk upborne by conquering Butes, of Amycus' Bebrycian line, and +stretched him in [374-410]death on the yellow sand. Such was Dares; at +once he raises his head high for battle, displays his broad shoulders, +and stretches and swings his arms right and left, lashing the air with +blows. For him another is required; but none out of all the train durst +approach or put the gloves on his hands. So he takes his stand exultant +before Aeneas' feet, deeming he excelled all in victories; and thereon +without more delay grasps the bull's horn with his left hand, and speaks +thus: 'Goddess-born, if no man dare trust himself to battle, to what +conclusion shall I stand? how long is it seemly to keep me? bid me carry +off thy gifts.' Therewith all the Dardanians murmured assent, and bade +yield him the promised prize. At this aged Acestes spoke sharply to +Entellus, as he sate next him on the green cushion of grass: 'Entellus, +bravest of heroes once of old in vain, wilt thou thus idly let a gift so +great be borne away uncontested? Where now prithee is divine Eryx, thy +master of fruitless fame? where thy renown over all Sicily, and those +spoils hanging in thine house?' Thereat he: 'Desire of glory is not +gone, nor ambition checked by fear; but torpid age dulls my chilly +blood, and my strength of limb is numb and outworn. If I had what once +was mine, if I had now that prime of years, yonder braggart's boast and +confidence, it had taken no prize of goodly bullock to allure me; nor +heed I these gifts.' So he spoke, and on that flung down a pair of +gloves of giant weight, with whose hard hide bound about his wrists +valiant Eryx was wont to come to battle. They stood amazed; so stiff and +grim lay the vast sevenfold oxhide sewed in with lead and iron. Dares +most of all shrinks far back in horror, and the noble son of Anchises +turns round this way and that their vast weight and voluminous folds. +Then the old man spoke thus in deep accents: 'How, had they seen the +gloves [411-444]that were Hercules' own armour, and the fatal fight on +this very beach? These arms thy brother Eryx once wore; thou seest them +yet stained with blood and spattered brains. In them he stood to face +great Alcides; to them was I used while fuller blood supplied me +strength, and envious old age had not yet strewn her snows on either +temple. But if Dares of Troy will have none of these our arms, and good +Aeneas is resolved on it, and my patron Acestes approves, let us make +the battle even. See, I give up the gauntlets of Eryx; dismiss thy +fears; and do thou put off thy Trojan gloves.' So spoke he, and throwing +back the fold of his raiment from his shoulders, he bares the massive +joints and limbs, the great bones and muscles, and stands up huge in the +middle of the ground. Then Anchises' lordly seed brought out equal +gloves and bound the hands of both in matched arms. Straightway each +took his stand on tiptoe, and undauntedly raised his arms high in air. +They lift their heads right back and away out of reach of blows, and +make hand play through hand, inviting attack; the one nimbler of foot +and confident in his youth, the other mighty in mass of limb, but his +knees totter tremulous and slow, and sick panting shakes his vast frame. +Many a mutual blow they deliver in vain, many an one they redouble on +chest and side, sounding hollow and loud: hands play fast about ear and +temple, and jawbones clash under the hard strokes. Old Entellus stands +immoveable and astrain, only parrying hits with body and watchful eye. +The other, as one who casts mounts against some high city or blockades a +hill-fort in arms, tries this and that entrance, and ranges cunningly +over all the ground, and presses many an attack in vain. Entellus rose +and struck clean out with his right downwards; his quick opponent saw +the descending blow before it came, [445-481]and slid his body rapidly +out of its way. Entellus hurled his strength into the air, and all his +heavy mass, overreaching, fell heavily to the earth; as sometime on +Erymanthus or mighty Ida a hollow pine falls torn out by the roots. +Teucrians and men of Sicily rise eagerly; a cry goes up, and Acestes +himself runs forward, and pityingly lifts his friend and birthmate from +the ground. But the hero, not dulled nor dismayed by his mishap, returns +the keener to battle, and grows violent in wrath, while shame and +resolved valour kindle his strength. All afire, he hunts Dares headlong +over the lists, and redoubles his blows now with right hand, now with +left; no breath nor pause; heavy as hailstones rattle on the roof from a +storm-cloud, so thickly shower the blows from both his hands as he +buffets Dares to and fro. Then lord Aeneas allowed not wrath to swell +higher or Entellus to rage out his bitterness, but stopped the fight and +rescued the exhausted Dares, saying thus in soothing words: 'Unhappy! +what height of madness hath seized thy mind? Knowest thou not the +strength is another's and the gods are changed? Yield thou to Heaven.' +And with the words he proclaimed the battle over. But him his faithful +mates lead to the ships dragging his knees feebly, swaying his head from +side to side, and spitting from his mouth clotted blood mingled with +teeth. At summons they bear away the helmet and shield, and leave palm +and bull to Entellus. At this the conqueror, swelling in pride over the +bull, cries: 'Goddess-born, and you, O Trojans! learn thus what my +strength of body was in its prime, and from what a death Dares is saved +by your recall.' He spoke, and stood right opposite in face of the +bullock as it stood by, the prize of battle; then drew back his hand, +and swinging the hard gauntlet sheer down between the horns, smashed the +bones in upon the shattered brain. The ox rolls over, and quivering and +[482-516]lifeless lies along the ground. Above it he utters these deep +accents: 'This life, Eryx, I give to thee, a better payment than Dares' +death; here I lay down my gloves and unconquered skill.' + +Forthwith Aeneas invites all that will to the contest of the swift +arrow, and proclaims the prizes. With his strong hand he uprears the +mast of Serestus' ship, and on a cord crossing it hangs from the +masthead a fluttering pigeon as mark for their steel. They gather, and a +helmet of brass takes the lots as they throw them in. First in rank, and +before them all, amid prosperous cheers, comes out Hippocoön son of +Hyrtacus; and Mnestheus follows on him, but now conqueror in the ship +race, Mnestheus with his chaplet of green olive. Third is Eurytion, thy +brother, O Pandarus, great in renown, thou who of old, when prompted to +shatter the truce, didst hurl the first shaft amid the Achaeans. Last of +all, and at the bottom of the helmet, sank Acestes, he too venturing to +set hand to the task of youth. Then each and all they strongly bend +their bows into a curve and pull shafts from their quivers. And first +the arrow of the son of Hyrtacus, flying through heaven from the +sounding string, whistles through the fleet breezes, and reaches and +sticks fast full in the mast's wood: the mast quivered, and the bird +fluttered her feathers in affright, and the whole ground rang with loud +clapping. Next valiant Mnestheus took his stand with bow bent, aiming +high with levelled eye and arrow; yet could not, unfortunate! hit the +bird herself with his steel, but cut the knotted hempen bands that tied +her foot as she hung from the masthead; she winged her flight into the +dark windy clouds. Then Eurytion, who ere now held the arrow ready on +his bended bow, swiftly called in prayer to his brother, marked the +pigeon as she now went down the empty sky exultant on clapping wings; +and as she passed under a dark cloud, [517-553]struck her: she fell +breathless, and, leaving her life in the aery firmament, slid down +carrying the arrow that pierced her. Acestes alone was over, and the +prize lost; yet he sped his arrow up into the air, to display his lordly +skill and resounding bow. At this a sudden sign meets their eyes, mighty +in augural presage, as the high event taught thereafter, and in late +days boding seers prophesied of the omen. For the flying reed blazed out +amid the swimming clouds, traced its path in flame, and burned away on +the light winds; even as often stars shooting from their sphere draw a +train athwart the sky. Trinacrians and Trojans hung in astonishment, +praying to the heavenly powers; neither did great Aeneas reject the +omen, but embraces glad Acestes and loads him with lavish gifts, +speaking thus: 'Take, my lord: for the high King of heaven by these +signs hath willed thee to draw the lot of peculiar honour. This gift +shalt thou have as from aged Anchises' own hand, a bowl embossed with +figures, that once Cisseus of Thrace gave my father Anchises to bear, in +high token and guerdon of affection.' So speaking, he twines green bay +about his brows, and proclaims Acestes conqueror first before them all. +Nor did gentle Eurytion, though he alone struck the bird down from the +lofty sky, grudge him to be preferred in honour. Next comes for his +prize he who cut the cord; he last, who pierced the mast with his winged +reed. + +But lord Aeneas, ere yet the contest is sped, calls to him Epytides, +guardian and attendant of ungrown Iülus, and thus speaks into his +faithful ear: 'Up and away, and tell Ascanius, if he now holds his band +of boys ready, and their horses arrayed for the charge, to defile his +squadrons to his grandsire's honour in bravery of arms.' So says he, and +himself bids all the crowding throng withdraw from the long racecourse +and leave the lists free. The boys move in before their parents' faces, +glittering in rank on their [554-590]bitted horses; as they go all the +people of Troy and Trinacria murmur and admire. On the hair of them all +rests a garland fitly trimmed; each carries two cornel spear-shafts +tipped with steel; some have polished quivers on their shoulders; above +their breast and round their neck goes a flexible circlet of twisted +gold. Three in number are the troops of riders, and three captains +gallop up and down; following each in equal command rides a glittering +division of twelve boys. One youthful line goes rejoicingly behind +little Priam, renewer of his grandsire's name, thy renowned seed, O +Polites, and destined to people Italy; he rides a Thracian horse dappled +with spots of white, showing white on his pacing pasterns and white on +his high forehead. Second is Atys, from whom the Latin Atii draw their +line, little Atys, boy beloved of the boy Iülus. Last and excellent in +beauty before them all, Iülus rode in on a Sidonian horse that Dido the +bright had given him for token and pledge of love. The rest of them are +mounted on old Acestes' Sicilian horses. . . . The Dardanians greet +their shy entrance with applause, and rejoice at the view, and recognise +the features of their parents of old. When they have ridden merrily +round all the concourse of their gazing friends, Epytides shouts from +afar the signal they await, and sounds his whip. They gallop apart in +equal numbers, and open their files three and three in deploying bands, +and again at the call wheel about and bear down with levelled arms. Next +they start on other charges and other retreats in corresponsive spaces, +and interlink circle with circle, and wage the armed phantom of battle. +And now they bare their backs in flight, now turn their lances to the +charge, now plight peace and ride on side by side. As once of old, they +say, the labyrinth in high Crete had a tangled path between blind walls, +and a thousand ways of doubling treachery, where tokens to follow failed +in the [591-625]maze unmastered and irrecoverable: even in such a track +do the children of Troy entangle their footsteps and weave the game of +flight and battle; like dolphins who, swimming through the wet seas, cut +Carpathian or Libyan. . . . + +This fashion of riding, these games Ascanius first revived, when he girt +Alba the Long about with walls, and taught their celebration to the Old +Latins in the way of his own boyhood, with the youth of Troy about him. +The Albans taught it their children; on from them mighty Rome received +it and kept the ancestral observance; and now it is called Troy, and the +boys the Trojan troop. + +Thus far sped the sacred contests to their holy lord. Just at this +Fortune broke faith and grew estranged. While they pay the due rites to +the tomb with diverse games, Juno, daughter of Saturn, sends Iris down +the sky to the Ilian fleet, and breathes a gale to speed her on, +revolving many a thought, and not yet satiate of the ancient pain. She, +speeding her way along the thousand-coloured bow, runs swiftly, seen of +none, down her maiden path. She discerns the vast concourse, and +traverses the shore, and sees the haven abandoned and the fleet left +alone. But far withdrawn by the solitary verge of the sea the Trojan +women wept their lost Anchises, and as they wept gazed all together on +the fathomless flood. 'Alas! after all those weary waterways, that so +wide a sea is yet to come!' such is the single cry of all. They pray for +a city, sick of the burden of their sea-sorrow. So she darts among them, +not witless to harm, and lays by face and raiment of a goddess: she +becomes Beroë, the aged wife of Tmarian Doryclus, who had once had birth +and name and children, and in this guise goes among the Dardanian +matrons. 'Ah, wretched we,' she cries, 'whom hostile Achaean hands did +not drag to death beneath our native city! ah hapless race, for what +destruction does Fortune hold thee back? The [626-660]seventh summer +now declines since Troy's overthrow, while we pass measuring out by so +many stars the harbourless rocks over every water and land, pursuing all +the while over the vast sea an Italy that flies us, and tossing on the +waves. Here are our brother Eryx' borders, and Acestes' welcome: who +denies us to cast up walls and give our citizens a city? O country, O +household gods vainly rescued from the foe! shall there never be a +Trojan town to tell of? shall I nowhere see a Xanthus and a Simoïs, the +rivers of Hector? Nay, up and join me in burning with fire these +ill-ominous ships. For in sleep the phantom of Cassandra the soothsayer +seemed to give me blazing brands: _Here seek your Troy_, she said; _here +is your home_. Now is the time to do it; nor do these high portents +allow delay. Behold four altars to Neptune; the god himself lends the +firebrand and the nerve.' Speaking thus, at once she strongly seizes the +fiery weapon, and with straining hand whirls it far upreared, and +flings: the souls of the Ilian women are startled and their wits amazed. +At this one of their multitude, and she the eldest, Pyrgo, nurse in the +palace to all Priam's many children: 'This is not Beroë, I tell you, O +mothers; this is not the wife of Doryclus of Rhoeteum. Mark the +lineaments of divine grace and the gleaming eyes, what a breath is hers, +what a countenance, and the sound of her voice and the steps of her +going. I, I time agone left Beroë apart, sick and fretting that she +alone must have no part in this our service, nor pay Anchises his due +sacrifice.' So spoke she. . . . But the matrons at first, dubious and +wavering, gazed on the ships with malignant eyes, between the wretched +longing for the land they trod and the fated realm that summoned them: +when the goddess rose through the sky on poised wings, and in her flight +drew a vast bow beneath the clouds. Then indeed, amazed at the tokens +and driven by madness, they raise a cry and snatch fire from the +[661-694]hearths within; others plunder the altars, and cast on +brushwood boughs and brands. The Fire-god rages with loose rein over +thwarts and oars and hulls of painted fir. Eumelus carries the news of +the burning ships to the grave of Anchises and the ranges of the +theatre; and looking back, their own eyes see the floating cloud of dark +ashes. And in a moment Ascanius, as he rode gaily before his cavalry, +spurred his horse to the disordered camp; nor can his breathless +guardians hold him back. 'What strange madness is this?' he cries; +'whither now hasten you, whither, alas and woe! O citizens? not on the +foe nor on some hostile Argive camp; it is your own hopes you burn. +Behold me, your Ascanius!' and he flung before his feet the empty +helmet, put on when he roused the mimicry of war. Aeneas and the Trojan +train together hurry to the spot. But the women scatter apart in fear +all over the beach, and stealthily seek the woods and the hollow rocks +they find: they loathe their deed and the daylight, and with changed +eyes know their people, and Juno is startled out of their breast. But +not thereby do the flames of the burning lay down their unconquered +strength; under the wet oak the seams are alive, spouting slow coils of +smoke; the creeping heat devours the hulls, and the destroyer takes deep +hold of all: nor does the heroes' strength avail nor the floods they +pour in. Then good Aeneas rent away the raiment from his shoulders and +called the gods to aid, stretching forth his hands: 'Jupiter omnipotent, +if thou hatest not Troy yet wholly to her last man, if thine ancient +pity looks at all on human woes, now, O Lord, grant our fleet to escape +the flame, and rescue from doom the slender Teucrian estate. Or do thou +plunge to death this remnant, if I deserve it, with levelled +thunderbolt, and here with thine own hand smite us down.' Scarce had he +uttered this, when a black tempest rages in streaming showers; earth +trembles [695-726]to the thunder on plain and steep; the water-flood +rushes in torrents from the whole heaven amid black darkness and +volleying blasts of the South. The ships are filled from overhead, the +half-burnt timbers are soaking; till all the heat is quenched, and all +the hulls, but four that are lost, are rescued from destruction. + +But lord Aeneas, dismayed by the bitter mischance, revolved at heart +this way and that his shifting weight of care, whether, forgetting fate, +he should rest in Sicilian fields, or reach forth to the borders of +Italy. Then old Nautes, whom Tritonian Pallas taught like none other, +and made famous in eminence of art--she granted him to reply what the +gods' heavy anger menaced or what the order of fate claimed--he then in +accents of comfort thus speaks to Aeneas: + +'Goddess-born, follow we fate's ebb and flow, whatsoever it shall be; +fortune must be borne to be overcome. Acestes is of thine own divine +Dardanian race; take him, for he is willing, to join thee in common +counsel; deliver to him those who are over, now these ships are lost, +and those who are quite weary of thy fortunes and the great quest. +Choose out the old men stricken in years, and the matrons sick of the +sea, and all that is weak and fearful of peril in thy company. Let this +land give a city to the weary; they shall be allowed to call their town +Acesta by name.' + +Then, indeed, kindled by these words of his aged friend, his spirit is +distracted among all his cares. And now black Night rose chariot-borne, +and held the sky; when the likeness of his father Anchises seemed to +descend from heaven and suddenly utter thus: + +'O son, more dear to me than life once of old while life was yet mine; O +son, hard wrought by the destinies of Ilium! I come hither by Jove's +command, who drove the [727-760]fire from thy fleets, and at last had +pity out of high heaven. Obey thou the fair counsel aged Nautes now +gives. Carry through to Italy thy chosen men and bravest souls; in +Latium must thou war down a people hard and rough in living. Yet ere +then draw thou nigh the nether chambers of Dis, and in the deep tract of +hell come, O son, to meet me. For I am not held in cruel Tartarus among +wailing ghosts, but inhabit Elysium and the sweet societies of the good. +Hither with much blood of dark cattle shall the holy Sibyl lead thee. +Then shalt thou learn of all thy line, and what city is given thee. And +now farewell; dank Night wheels her mid-career, and even now I feel the +stern breath of the panting horses of the East.' He ended, and retreated +like a vapour into thin air. 'Ah, whither hurriest thou?' cries Aeneas; +'whither so fast away? From whom fliest thou? or who withholds thee from +our embrace?' So speaking, he kindles the sleeping embers of the fire, +and with holy meal and laden censer does sacrifice to the tutelar of +Pergama and hoar Vesta's secret shrine. + +Straightway he summons his crews and Acestes first of all, and instructs +them of Jove's command and his beloved father's precepts, and what is +now his fixed mind and purpose. They linger not in counsel, nor does +Acestes decline his bidden duty: they enrol the matrons in their town, +and plant a people there, souls that will have none of glory. The rest +repair the thwarts and replace the ships' timbers that the flames had +gnawed upon, and fit up oars and rigging, little in number, but alive +and valiant for war. Meanwhile Aeneas traces the town with the plough +and allots the homesteads; this he bids be Ilium, and these lands Troy. +Trojan Acestes, rejoicing in his kingdom, appoints a court and gathers +his senators to give them statutes. Next, where the crest of Eryx is +neighbour to the stars, a dwelling is founded to Venus the Idalian; +[761-793]and a priest and breadth of holy wood is attached to Anchises' +grave. + +And now for nine days all the people hath feasted, and offering been +paid at the altars; quiet breezes have smoothed the ocean floor, and the +gathering south wind blows, calling them again to sea. A mighty weeping +arises along the winding shore; a night and a day they linger in mutual +embraces. The very mothers now, the very men to whom once the sight of +the sea seemed cruel and the name intolerable, would go on and endure +the journey's travail to the end. These Aeneas comforts with kindly +words, and commends with tears to his kinsman Acestes' care. Then he +bids slay three steers to Eryx and a she-lamb to the Tempests, and loose +the hawser as is due. Himself, his head bound with stripped leaves of +olive, he stands apart on the prow holding the cup, and casts the +entrails into the salt flood and pours liquid wine. A wind rising astern +follows them forth on their way. Emulously the crews strike the water, +and sweep through the seas. + +But Venus meanwhile, wrought upon with distress, accosts Neptune, and +thus pours forth her heart's complaint: 'Juno's bitter wrath and heart +insatiable compel me, O Neptune, to sink to the uttermost of entreaty: +neither length of days nor any goodness softens her, nor doth Jove's +command and fate itself break her to desistence. It is not enough that +her accursed hatred hath devoured the Phrygian city from among the +people, and exhausted on it the stores of vengeance; still she pursues +this remnant, the bones and ashes of murdered Troy. I pray she know why +her passion is so fierce. Thyself art my witness what a sudden stir she +raised of late on the Libyan waters, flinging all the seas to heaven in +vain reliance on Aeolus' blasts; this she dared in thy realm. . . . +Lo too, driving the Trojan matrons into guilt, she hath foully +[794-826]burned their ships, and forced them, their fleet lost, to +leave the crews to an unknown land. Let the remnant, I beseech thee, +give their sails to thy safe keeping across the seas; let them reach +Laurentine Tiber; if I ask what is permitted, if fate grants them a city +there.' + +Then the son of Saturn, compeller of the ocean deep, uttered thus: 'It +is wholly right, O Cytherean, that thy trust should be in my realm, +whence thou drawest birth; and I have deserved it: often have I allayed +the rage and full fury of sky and sea. Nor less on land, I call Xanthus +and Simoïs to witness, hath been my care of thine Aeneas. When Achilles +pursued the Trojan armies and hurled them breathless on their walls, and +sent many thousands to death,--when the choked rivers groaned and +Xanthus could not find passage or roll out to sea,--then I snatched +Aeneas away in sheltering mist as he met the brave son of Peleus +outmatched in strength and gods, eager as I was to overthrow the walls +of perjured Troy that mine own hands had built. Now too my mind rests +the same; dismiss thy fear. In safety, as thou desirest, shall he reach +the haven of Avernus. One will there be alone whom on the flood thou +shalt lose and require; one life shall be given for many. . . .' + +With these words the goddess' bosom is soothed to joy. Then their lord +yokes his wild horses with gold and fastens the foaming bits, and +letting all the reins run slack in his hand, flies lightly in his +sea-coloured chariot over the ocean surface. The waves sink to rest, and +the swoln water-ways smooth out under the thundering axle; the +storm-clouds scatter from the vast sky. Diverse shapes attend him, +monstrous whales, and Glaucus' aged choir, and Palaemon, son of Ino, the +swift Tritons, and Phorcus with all his army. Thetis and Melite keep the +left, and maiden Panopea, Nesaea and Spio, Thalia and Cymodoce. + +[827-860]At this lord Aeneas' soul is thrilled with soft counterchange +of delight. He bids all the masts be upreared with speed, and the sails +stretched on the yards. Together all set their sheets, and all at once +slacken their canvas to left and again to right; together they brace and +unbrace the yard-arms aloft; prosperous gales waft the fleet along. +First, in front of all, Palinurus steered the close column; the rest +under orders ply their course by his. And now dewy Night had just +reached heaven's mid-cone; the sailors, stretched on their hard benches +under the oars, relaxed their limbs in quiet rest: when Sleep, sliding +lightly down from the starry sky, parted the shadowy air and cleft the +dark, seeking thee, O Palinurus, carrying dreams of bale to thee who +dreamt not of harm, and lit on the high stern, a god in Phorbas' +likeness, dropping this speech from his lips: 'Palinurus son of Iasus, +the very seas bear our fleet along; the breezes breathe steadily; for an +hour rest is given. Lay down thine head, and steal thy worn eyes from +their toil. I myself for a little will take thy duty in thy stead.' To +whom Palinurus, scarcely lifting his eyes, returns: 'Wouldst thou have +me ignorant what the calm face of the brine means, and the waves at +rest? Shall I have faith in this perilous thing? How shall I trust +Aeneas to deceitful breezes, and the placid treachery of sky that hath +so often deceived me?' Such words he uttered, and, clinging fast to the +tiller, slackened hold no whit, and looked up steadily on the stars. Lo! +the god shakes over either temple a bough dripping with Lethean dew and +made slumberous with the might of Styx, and makes his swimming eyes +relax their struggles. Scarcely had sleep begun to slacken his limbs +unaware, when bending down, he flung him sheer into the clear water, +tearing rudder and half the stern away with him, and many a time crying +vainly on his comrades: himself [861-871]he rose on flying wings into +the thin air. None the less does the fleet run safe on its sea path, and +glides on unalarmed in lord Neptune's assurance. Yes, and now they were +sailing in to the cliffs of the Sirens, dangerous once of old and white +with the bones of many a man; and the hoarse rocks echoed afar in the +ceaseless surf; when her lord felt the ship rocking astray for loss of +her helmsman, and himself steered her on over the darkling water, +sighing often the while, and heavy at heart for his friend's mischance. +'Ah too trustful in sky's and sea's serenity, thou shalt lie, O +Palinurus, naked on an alien sand!' + + + + +BOOK SIXTH + +THE VISION OF THE UNDER WORLD + + +So speaks he weeping, and gives his fleet the rein, and at last glides +in to Euboïc Cumae's coast. They turn the prows seaward; the ships +grounded fast on their anchors' teeth, and the curving ships line the +beach. The warrior band leaps forth eagerly on the Hesperian shore; some +seek the seeds of flame hidden in veins of flint, some scour the woods, +the thick coverts of wild beasts, and find and shew the streams. But +good Aeneas seeks the fortress where Apollo sits high enthroned, and the +lone mystery of the awful Sibyl's cavern depth, over whose mind and soul +the prophetic Delian breathes high inspiration and reveals futurity. + +Now they draw nigh the groves of Trivia and the roof of gold. Daedalus, +as the story runs, when in flight from Minos' realm he dared to spread +his fleet wings to the sky, glided on his unwonted way towards the icy +northern star, and at length lit gently on the Chalcidian fastness. +Here, on the first land he retrod, he dedicated his winged oarage to +thee, O Phoebus, in the vast temple he built. On the doors is Androgeus' +death; thereby the children of Cecrops, bidden, ah me! to pay for yearly +ransom seven souls of their sons; the urn stands there, and the lots are +drawn. Right [23-55]opposite the land of Gnosus rises from the sea; on +it is the cruel love of the bull, the disguised stealth of Pasiphaë, and +the mingled breed and double issue of the Minotaur, record of a shameful +passion; on it the famous dwelling's laborious inextricable maze; but +Daedalus, pitying the great love of the princess, himself unlocked the +tangled treachery of the palace, guiding with the clue her lover's blind +footsteps. Thou too hadst no slight part in the work he wrought, O +Icarus, did grief allow. Twice had he essayed to portray thy fate in +gold; twice the father's hands dropped down. Nay, their eyes would scan +all the story in order, were not Achates already returned from his +errand, and with him the priestess of Phoebus and Trivia, Deïphobe +daughter of Glaucus, who thus accosts the king: 'Other than this are the +sights the time demands: now were it well to sacrifice seven unbroken +bullocks of the herd, as many fitly chosen sheep of two years old.' Thus +speaks she to Aeneas; nor do they delay to do her sacred bidding; and +the priestess calls the Teucrians into the lofty shrine. + +A vast cavern is scooped in the side of the Euboïc cliff, whither lead +an hundred wide passages by an hundred gates, whence peal forth as +manifold the responses of the Sibyl. They had reached the threshold, +when the maiden cries: _It is time to enquire thy fate: the god, lo! the +god!_ And even as she spoke thus in the gateway, suddenly countenance +nor colour nor ranged tresses stayed the same; her wild heart heaves +madly in her panting bosom; and she expands to sight, and her voice is +more than mortal, now the god breathes on her in nearer deity. +'Lingerest thou to vow and pray,' she cries, 'Aeneas of Troy? lingerest +thou? for not till then will the vast portals of the spellbound house +swing open.' So spoke she, and sank to silence. A cold shiver ran +through the Teucrians' iron frames, and the king pours heart-deep +supplication: + +[56-89]'Phoebus, who hast ever pitied the sore travail of Troy, who +didst guide the Dardanian shaft from Paris' hand full on the son of +Aeacus, in thy leading have I pierced all these seas that skirt mighty +lands, the Massylian nations far withdrawn, and the fields the Syrtes +fringe; thus far let the fortune of Troy follow us. You too may now +unforbidden spare the nation of Pergama, gods and goddesses to +whomsoever Ilium and the great glory of Dardania did wrong. And thou, O +prophetess most holy, foreknower of the future, grant (for no unearned +realm does my destiny claim) a resting-place in Latium to the Teucrians, +to their wandering gods and the storm-tossed deities of Troy. Then will +I ordain to Phoebus and Trivia a temple of solid marble, and festal days +in Phoebus' name. Thee likewise a mighty sanctuary awaits in our realm. +For here will I place thine oracles and the secrets of destiny uttered +to my people, and consecrate chosen men, O gracious one. Only commit not +thou thy verses to leaves, lest they fly disordered, the sport of +rushing winds; thyself utter them, I beseech thee.' His lips made an end +of utterance. + +But the prophetess, not yet tame to Phoebus' hand, rages fiercely in the +cavern, so she may shake the mighty godhead from her breast; so much the +more does he tire her maddened mouth and subdue her wild breast and +shape her to his pressure. And now the hundred mighty portals of the +house open of their own accord, and bring through the air the answer of +the soothsayer: + +'O past at length with the great perils of the sea! though heavier yet +by land await thee, the Dardanians shall come to the realm of Lavinium; +relieve thy heart of this care; but not so shall they have joy of their +coming. Wars, grim wars I discern, and Tiber afoam with streams of +blood. A Simoïs shall not fail thee, a Xanthus, a Dorian camp; another +Achilles is already found for Latium, he too [90-123]goddess-born; nor +shall Juno's presence ever leave the Teucrians; while thou in thy need, +to what nations or what towns of Italy shalt thou not sue! Again is an +alien bride the source of all that Teucrian woe, again a foreign +marriage-chamber. . . . Yield not thou to distresses, but all the bolder +go forth to meet them, as thy fortune shall allow thee way. The path of +rescue, little as thou deemest it, shall first open from a Grecian +town.' + +In such words the Sibyl of Cumae chants from the shrine her perplexing +terrors, echoing through the cavern truth wrapped in obscurity: so does +Apollo clash the reins and ply the goad in her maddened breast. So soon +as the spasm ceased and the raving lips sank to silence, Aeneas the hero +begins: 'No shape of toil, O maiden, rises strange or sudden on my +sight; all this ere now have I guessed and inly rehearsed in spirit. One +thing I pray; since here is the gate named of the infernal king, and the +darkling marsh of Acheron's overflow, be it given me to go to my beloved +father, to see him face to face; teach thou the way, and open the +consecrated portals. Him on these shoulders I rescued from encircling +flames and a thousand pursuing weapons, and brought him safe from amid +the enemy; he accompanied my way over all the seas, and bore with me all +the threats of ocean and sky, in weakness, beyond his age's strength and +due. Nay, he it was who besought and enjoined me to seek thy grace and +draw nigh thy courts. Have pity, I beseech thee, on son and father, O +gracious one! for thou art all-powerful, nor in vain hath Hecate given +thee rule in the groves of Avernus. If Orpheus could call up his wife's +ghost in the strength of his Thracian lyre and the music of the +strings,--if Pollux redeemed his brother by exchange of death, and +passes and repasses so often,--why make mention of great Theseus, why of +Alcides? I too am of Jove's sovereign race.' + +[124-157]In such words he pleaded and clasped the altars; when the +soothsayer thus began to speak: + +'O sprung of gods' blood, child of Anchises of Troy, easy is the descent +into hell; all night and day the gate of dark Dis stands open; but to +recall thy steps and issue to upper air, this is the task and burden. +Some few of gods' lineage have availed, such as Jupiter's gracious +favour or virtue's ardour hath upborne to heaven. Midway all is muffled +in forest, and the black coils of Cocytus circle it round. Yet if thy +soul is so passionate and so desirous twice to float across the Stygian +lake, twice to see dark Tartarus, and thy pleasure is to plunge into the +mad task, learn what must first be accomplished. Hidden in a shady tree +is a bough with leafage and pliant shoot all of gold, consecrate to +nether Juno, wrapped in the depth of woodland and shut in by dim dusky +vales. But to him only who first hath plucked the golden-tressed +fruitage from the tree is it given to enter the hidden places of the +earth. This hath beautiful Proserpine ordained to be borne to her for +her proper gift. The first torn away, a second fills the place in gold, +and the spray burgeons with even such ore again. So let thine eyes trace +it home, and thine hand pluck it duly when found; for lightly and +unreluctant will it follow if thine is fate's summons; else will no +strength of thine avail to conquer it nor hard steel to cut it away. Yet +again, a friend of thine lies a lifeless corpse, alas! thou knowest it +not, and defiles all the fleet with death, while thou seekest our +counsel and lingerest in our courts. First lay him in his resting-place +and hide him in the tomb; lead thither black cattle; be this first thine +expiation; so at last shalt thou behold the Stygian groves and the realm +untrodden of the living.' She spoke, and her lips shut to silence. + +Aeneas goes forth, and leaves the cavern with fixed eyes and sad +countenance, his soul revolving inly the unseen [158-194]issues. By his +side goes faithful Achates, and plants his footsteps in equal +perplexity. Long they ran on in mutual change of talk; of what lifeless +comrade spoke the soothsayer, of what body for burial? And even as they +came, they see on the dry beach Misenus cut off by untimely death, +Misenus the Aeolid, excelled of none other in stirring men with brazen +breath and kindling battle with his trumpet-note. He had been attendant +on mighty Hector; in Hector's train he waged battle, renowned alike for +bugle and spear: after victorious Achilles robbed him of life the +valiant hero had joined Dardanian Aeneas' company, and followed no +meaner leader. But now, while he makes his hollow shell echo over the +seas, ah fool! and calls the gods to rival his blast, jealous Triton, if +belief is due, had caught him among the rocks and sunk him in the +foaming waves. So all surrounded him with loud murmur and cries, good +Aeneas the foremost. Then weeping they quickly hasten on the Sibyl's +orders, and work hard to pile trees for the altar of burial, and heap it +up into the sky. They move into the ancient forest, the deep coverts of +game; pitch-pines fall flat, ilex rings to the stroke of axes, and ashen +beams and oak are split in clefts with wedges; they roll in huge +mountain-ashes from the hills. Aeneas likewise is first in the work, and +cheers on his crew and arms himself with their weapons. And alone with +his sad heart he ponders it all, gazing on the endless forest, and +utters this prayer: 'If but now that bough of gold would shew itself to +us on the tree in this depth of woodland! since all the soothsayer's +tale of thee, Misenus, was, alas! too truly spoken.' Scarcely had he +said thus, when twin doves haply came flying down the sky, and lit on +the green sod right under his eyes. Then the kingly hero knows them for +his mother's birds, and joyfully prays: 'Ah, be my guides, if way there +be, and direct your aëry passage into the groves [195-230]where the +rich bough overshadows the fertile ground! and thou, O goddess mother, +fail not our wavering fortune.' So spoke he and stayed his steps, +marking what they signify, whither they urge their way. Feeding and +flying they advance at such distance as following eyes could keep them +in view; then, when they came to Avernus' pestilent gorge, they tower +swiftly, and sliding down through the liquid air, choose their seat and +light side by side on a tree, through whose boughs shone out the +contrasting flicker of gold. As in chill mid-winter the woodland is wont +to blossom with the strange leafage of the mistletoe, sown on an alien +tree and wreathing the smooth stems with burgeoning saffron; so on the +shadowy ilex seemed that leafy gold, so the foil tinkled in the light +breeze. Immediately Aeneas seizes it and eagerly breaks off its +resistance, and carries it beneath the Sibyl's roof. + +And therewithal the Teucrians on the beach wept Misenus, and bore the +last rites to the thankless ashes. First they build up a vast pyre of +resinous billets and sawn oak, whose sides they entwine with dark leaves +and plant funereal cypresses in front, and adorn it above with his +shining armour. Some prepare warm water in cauldrons bubbling over the +flames, and wash and anoint the chill body, and make their moan; then, +their weeping done, lay his limbs on the pillow, and spread over it +crimson raiment, the accustomed pall. Some uplift the heavy bier, a +melancholy service, and with averted faces in their ancestral fashion +hold and thrust in the torch. Gifts of frankincense, food, and bowls of +olive oil, are poured and piled upon the fire. After the embers sank in +and the flame died away, they soaked with wine the remnant of thirsty +ashes, and Corynaeus gathered the bones and shut them in an urn of +brass; and he too thrice encircled his comrades with fresh water, and +cleansed them with light spray sprinkled from a [231-267]bough of +fruitful olive, and spoke the last words of all. But good Aeneas heaps a +mighty mounded tomb over him, with his own armour and his oar and +trumpet, beneath a skyey mountain that now is called Misenus after him, +and keeps his name immortal from age to age. + +This done, he hastens to fulfil the Sibyl's ordinance. A deep cave +yawned dreary and vast, shingle-strewn, sheltered by the black lake and +the gloom of the forests; over it no flying things could wing their way +unharmed, such a vapour streamed from the dark gorge and rose into the +overarching sky. Here the priestess first arrays four black-bodied +bullocks and pours wine upon their forehead; and plucking the topmost +hairs from between the horns, lays them on the sacred fire for +first-offering, calling aloud on Hecate, mistress of heaven and hell. +Others lay knives beneath, and catch the warm blood in cups. Aeneas +himself smites with the sword a black-fleeced she-lamb to the mother of +the Eumenides and her mighty sister, and a barren heifer, Proserpine, to +thee. Then he uprears darkling altars to the Stygian king, and lays +whole carcases of bulls upon the flames, pouring fat oil over the +blazing entrails. And lo! about the first rays of sunrise the ground +moaned underfoot, and the woodland ridges began to stir, and dogs seemed +to howl through the dusk as the goddess came. 'Apart, ah keep apart, O +ye unsanctified!' cries the soothsayer; 'retire from all the grove; and +thou, stride on and unsheath thy steel; now is need of courage, O +Aeneas, now of strong resolve.' So much she spoke, and plunged madly +into the cavern's opening; he with unflinching steps keeps pace with his +advancing guide. + +Gods who are sovereign over souls! silent ghosts, and Chaos and +Phlegethon, the wide dumb realm of night! as I have heard, so let me +tell, and according to your will unfold things sunken deep under earth +in gloom. + +[268-303]They went darkling through the dusk beneath the solitary +night, through the empty dwellings and bodiless realm of Dis; even as +one walks in the forest beneath the jealous light of a doubtful moon, +when Jupiter shrouds the sky in shadow and black night blots out the +world. Right in front of the doorway and in the entry of the jaws of +hell Grief and avenging Cares have made their bed; there dwell wan +Sicknesses and gloomy Eld, and Fear, and ill-counselling Hunger, and +loathly Want, shapes terrible to see; and Death and Travail, and thereby +Sleep, Death's kinsman, and the Soul's guilty Joys, and death-dealing +War full in the gateway, and the Furies in their iron cells, and mad +Discord with bloodstained fillets enwreathing her serpent locks. + +Midway an elm, shadowy and high, spreads her boughs and secular arms, +where, one saith, idle Dreams dwell clustering, and cling under every +leaf. And monstrous creatures besides, many and diverse, keep covert at +the gates, Centaurs and twy-shaped Scyllas, and the hundredfold +Briareus, and the beast of Lerna hissing horribly, and the Chimaera +armed with flame, Gorgons and Harpies, and the body of the triform +shade. Here Aeneas snatches at his sword in a sudden flutter of terror, +and turns the naked edge on them as they come; and did not his wise +fellow-passenger remind him that these lives flit thin and unessential +in the hollow mask of body, he would rush on and vainly lash through +phantoms with his steel. + +Hence a road leads to Tartarus and Acheron's wave. Here the dreary pool +swirls thick in muddy eddies and disgorges into Cocytus with its load of +sand. Charon, the dread ferryman, guards these flowing streams, ragged +and awful, his chin covered with untrimmed masses of hoary hair, and his +glassy eyes aflame; his soiled raiment hangs knotted from his shoulders. +Himself he plies the pole and trims the sails of his vessel, the +steel-blue galley with freight [304-336]of dead; stricken now in years, +but a god's old age is lusty and green. Hither all crowded, and rushed +streaming to the bank, matrons and men and high-hearted heroes dead and +done with life, boys and unwedded girls, and children laid young on the +bier before their parents' eyes, multitudinous as leaves fall dropping +in the forests at autumn's earliest frost, or birds swarm landward from +the deep gulf, when the chill of the year routs them overseas and drives +them to sunny lands. They stood pleading for the first passage across, +and stretched forth passionate hands to the farther shore. But the grim +sailor admits now one and now another, while some he pushes back far +apart on the strand. Moved with marvel at the confused throng: 'Say, O +maiden,' cries Aeneas, 'what means this flocking to the river? of what +are the souls so fain? or what difference makes these retire from the +banks, those go with sweeping oars over the leaden waterways?' + +To him the long-lived priestess thus briefly returned: 'Seed of +Anchises, most sure progeny of gods, thou seest the deep pools of +Cocytus and the Stygian marsh, by whose divinity the gods fear to swear +falsely. All this crowd thou discernest is helpless and unsepultured; +Charon is the ferryman; they who ride on the wave found a tomb. Nor is +it given to cross the awful banks and hoarse streams ere the dust hath +found a resting-place. An hundred years they wander here flitting about +the shore; then at last they gain entrance, and revisit the pools so +sorely desired.' + +Anchises' son stood still, and ponderingly stayed his footsteps, pitying +at heart their cruel lot. There he discerns, mournful and unhonoured +dead, Leucaspis and Orontes, captains of the Lycian squadron, whom, as +they sailed together from Troy over gusty seas, the south wind +overwhelmed and wrapped the waters round ship and men. + +[337-369]Lo, there went by Palinurus the steersman, who of late, while +he watched the stars on their Libyan passage, had slipped from the stern +and fallen amid the waves. To him, when he first knew the melancholy +form in that depth of shade, he thus opens speech: 'What god, O +Palinurus, reft thee from us and sank thee amid the seas? forth and +tell. For in this single answer Apollo deceived me, never found false +before, when he prophesied thee safety on ocean and arrival on the +Ausonian coasts. See, is this his promise-keeping?' + +And he: 'Neither did Phoebus on his oracular seat delude thee, O prince, +Anchises' son, nor did any god drown me in the sea. For while I clung to +my appointed charge and governed our course, I pulled the tiller with me +in my fall, and the shock as I slipped wrenched it away. By the rough +seas I swear, fear for myself never wrung me so sore as for thy ship, +lest, the rudder lost and the pilot struck away, those gathering waves +might master it. Three wintry nights in the water the blustering south +drove me over the endless sea; scarcely on the fourth dawn I descried +Italy as I rose on the climbing wave. Little by little I swam shoreward; +already I clung safe; but while, encumbered with my dripping raiment, I +caught with crooked fingers at the jagged needles of mountain rock, the +barbarous people attacked me in arms and ignorantly deemed me a prize. +Now the wave holds me, and the winds toss me on the shore. By heaven's +pleasant light and breezes I beseech thee, by thy father, by Iülus thy +rising hope, rescue me from these distresses, O unconquered one! Either +do thou, for thou canst, cast earth over me and again seek the haven of +Velia; or do thou, if in any wise that may be, if in any wise the +goddess who bore thee shews a way,--for not without divine will do I +deem thou wilt float across these vast rivers and the Stygian +pool,--lend me a pitying [370-403]hand, and bear me over the waves in +thy company, that at least in death I may find a quiet resting-place.' + +Thus he ended, and the soothsayer thus began: 'Whence, O Palinurus, this +fierce longing of thine? Shalt thou without burial behold the Stygian +waters and the awful river of the Furies? Cease to hope prayers may bend +the decrees of heaven. But take my words to thy memory, for comfort in +thy woeful case: far and wide shall the bordering cities be driven by +celestial portents to appease thy dust; they shall rear a tomb, and pay +the tomb a yearly offering, and for evermore shall the place keep +Palinurus' name.' The words soothed away his distress, and for a while +drove grief away from his sorrowing heart; he is glad in the land of his +name. + +So they complete their journey's beginning, and draw nigh the river. +Just then the waterman descried them from the Stygian wave advancing +through the silent woodland and turning their feet towards the bank, and +opens on them in these words of challenge: 'Whoso thou art who marchest +in arms towards our river, forth and say, there as thou art, why thou +comest, and stay thine advance. This is the land of Shadows, of Sleep, +and slumberous Night; no living body may the Stygian hull convey. Nor +truly had I joy of taking Alcides on the lake for passenger, nor Theseus +and Pirithoüs, born of gods though they were and unconquered in might. +He laid fettering hand on the warder of Tartarus, and dragged him +cowering from the throne of my lord the King; they essayed to ravish our +mistress from the bridal chamber of Dis.' Thereto the Amphrysian +soothsayer made brief reply: 'No such plot is here; be not moved; nor do +our weapons offer violence; the huge gatekeeper may bark on for ever in +his cavern and affright the bloodless ghosts; Proserpine may keep her +honour within her uncle's gates. Aeneas of Troy, renowned [404-437]in +goodness as in arms, goes down to meet his father in the deep shades of +Erebus. If the sight of such affection stirs thee in nowise, yet this +bough' (she discovers the bough hidden in her raiment) 'thou must know.' +Then his heaving breast allays its anger, and he says no more; but +marvelling at the awful gift, the fated rod so long unseen, he steers in +his dusky vessel and draws to shore. Next he routs out the souls that +sate on the long benches, and clears the thwarts, while he takes mighty +Aeneas on board. The galley groaned under the weight in all her seams, +and the marsh-water leaked fast in. At length prophetess and prince are +landed unscathed on the ugly ooze and livid sedge. + +This realm rings with the triple-throated baying of vast Cerberus, +couched huge in the cavern opposite; to whom the prophetess, seeing the +serpents already bristling up on his neck, throws a cake made slumberous +with honey and drugged grain. He, with threefold jaws gaping in ravenous +hunger, catches it when thrown, and sinks to earth with monstrous body +outstretched, and sprawling huge over all his den. The warder +overwhelmed, Aeneas makes entrance, and quickly issues from the bank of +the irremeable wave. + +Immediately wailing voices are loud in their ears, the souls of babies +crying on the doorway sill, whom, torn from the breast and portionless +in life's sweetness, a dark day cut off and drowned in bitter death. +Hard by them are those condemned to death on false accusation. Neither +indeed are these dwellings assigned without lot and judgment; Minos +presides and shakes the urn; he summons a council of the silent people, +and inquires of their lives and charges. Next in order have these +mourners their place whose own innocent hands dealt them death, who +flung away their souls in hatred of the day. How fain were they now in +upper air to endure their poverty and [438-472]sore travail! It may not +be; the unlovely pool locks them in her gloomy wave, and Styx pours her +ninefold barrier between. And not far from here are shewn stretching on +every side the Wailing Fields; so they call them by name. Here they whom +pitiless love hath wasted in cruel decay hide among untrodden ways, +shrouded in embosoming myrtle thickets; not death itself ends their +distresses. In this region he discerns Phaedra and Procris and woeful +Eriphyle, shewing on her the wounds of her merciless son, and Evadne and +Pasiphaë; Laodamia goes in their company, and she who was once Caeneus +and a man, now woman, and again returned by fate into her shape of old. +Among whom Dido the Phoenician, fresh from her death-wound, wandered in +the vast forest; by her the Trojan hero stood, and knew the dim form +through the darkness, even as the moon at the month's beginning to him +who sees or thinks he sees her rising through the vapours; he let tears +fall, and spoke to her lovingly and sweet: + +'Alas, Dido! so the news was true that reached me; thou didst perish, +and the sword sealed thy doom! Ah me, was I cause of thy death? By the +stars I swear, by the heavenly powers and all that is sacred beneath the +earth, unwillingly, O queen, I left thy shore. But the gods, at whose +orders now I pass through this shadowy place, this land of mouldering +overgrowth and deep night, the gods' commands drove me forth; nor could +I deem my departure would bring thee pain so great as this. Stay thy +footstep, and withdraw not from our gaze. From whom fliest thou? the +last speech of thee fate ordains me is this.' + +In such words and with starting tears Aeneas soothed the burning and +fierce-eyed soul. She turned away with looks fixed fast on the ground, +stirred no more in countenance by the speech he essays than if she stood +in iron flint or Marpesian stone. At length she started, and fled +wrathfully [473-508]into the shadowy woodland, where Sychaeus, her +ancient husband, responds to her distresses and equals her affection. +Yet Aeneas, dismayed by her cruel doom, follows her far on her way with +pitying tears. + +Thence he pursues his appointed path. And now they trod those utmost +fields where the renowned in war have their haunt apart. Here Tydeus +meets him; here Parthenopaeus, glorious in arms, and the pallid phantom +of Adrastus; here the Dardanians long wept on earth and fallen in the +war; sighing he discerns all their long array, Glaucus and Medon and +Thersilochus, the three children of Antenor, and Polyphoetes, Ceres' +priest, and Idaeus yet charioted, yet grasping his arms. The souls +throng round him to right and left; nor is one look enough; lingering +delighted, they pace by his side and enquire wherefore he is come. But +the princes of the Grecians and Agamemnon's armies, when they see him +glittering in arms through the gloom, hurry terror-stricken away; some +turn backward, as when of old they fled to the ships; some raise their +voice faintly, and gasp out a broken ineffectual cry. + +And here he saw Deïphobus son of Priam, with face cruelly torn, face and +both hands, and ears lopped from his mangled temples, and nostrils +maimed by a shameful wound. Barely he knew the cowering form that hid +its dreadful punishment; then he springs to accost it in familiar +speech: + +'Deïphobus mighty in arms, seed of Teucer's royal blood, whose +wantonness of vengeance was so cruel? who was allowed to use thee thus? +Rumour reached me that on that last night, outwearied with endless +slaughter, thou hadst sunk on the heap of mingled carnage. Then mine own +hand reared an empty tomb on the Rhoetean shore, mine own voice thrice +called aloud upon thy ghost. Thy name and armour keep the spot; thee, O +my friend, I could not see nor lay in the native earth I left.' + +[509-541]Whereto the son of Priam: 'In nothing, O my friend, wert thou +wanting; thou hast paid the full to Deïphobus and the dead man's shade. +But me my fate and the Laconian woman's murderous guilt thus dragged +down to doom; these are the records of her leaving. For how we spent +that last night in delusive gladness thou knowest, and must needs +remember too well. When the fated horse leapt down on the steep towers +of Troy, bearing armed infantry for the burden of its womb, she, in +feigned procession, led round our Phrygian women with Bacchic cries; +herself she upreared a mighty flame amid them, and called the Grecians +out of the fortress height. Then was I fast in mine ill-fated bridal +chamber, deep asleep and outworn with my charge, and lay overwhelmed in +slumber sweet and profound and most like to easeful death. Meanwhile +that crown of wives removes all the arms from my dwelling, and slips out +the faithful sword from beneath my head: she calls Menelaus into the +house and flings wide the gateway: be sure she hoped her lover would +magnify the gift, and so she might quench the fame of her ill deeds of +old. Why do I linger? They burst into the chamber, they and the Aeolid, +counsellor of crime, in their company. Gods, recompense the Greeks even +thus, if with righteous lips I call for vengeance! But come, tell in +turn what hap hath brought thee hither yet alive. Comest thou driven on +ocean wanderings, or by promptings from heaven? or what fortune keeps +thee from rest, that thou shouldst draw nigh these sad sunless +dwellings, this disordered land?' + +In this change of talk Dawn had already crossed heaven's mid axle on her +rose-charioted way; and haply had they thus drawn out all the allotted +time; but the Sibyl made brief warning speech to her companion: 'Night +falls, Aeneas; we waste the hours in weeping. Here is the place where +the road disparts; by this that runs to the right [542-574]under great +Dis' city is our path to Elysium; but the leftward wreaks vengeance on +the wicked and sends them to unrelenting hell.' But Deïphobus: 'Be not +angered, mighty priestess; I will depart, I will refill my place and +return into darkness. Go, glory of our people, go, enjoy a fairer fate +than mine.' Thus much he spoke, and on the word turned away his +footsteps. + +Aeneas looks swiftly back, and sees beneath the cliff on the left hand a +wide city, girt with a triple wall and encircled by a racing river of +boiling flame, Tartarean Phlegethon, that echoes over its rolling rocks. +In front is the gate, huge and pillared with solid adamant, that no +warring force of men nor the very habitants of heaven may avail to +overthrow; it stands up a tower of iron, and Tisiphone sitting girt in +bloodstained pall keeps sleepless watch at the entry by night and day. +Hence moans are heard and fierce lashes resound, with the clank of iron +and dragging chains. Aeneas stopped and hung dismayed at the tumult. +'What shapes of crime are here? declare, O maiden; or what the +punishment that pursues them, and all this upsurging wail?' Then the +soothsayer thus began to speak: 'Illustrious chief of Troy, no pure foot +may tread these guilty courts; but to me Hecate herself, when she gave +me rule over the groves of Avernus, taught how the gods punish, and +guided me through all her realm. Gnosian Rhadamanthus here holds +unrelaxing sway, chastises secret crime revealed, and exacts confession, +wheresoever in the upper world one vainly exultant in stolen guilt hath +till the dusk of death kept clear from the evil he wrought. Straightway +avenging Tisiphone, girt with her scourge, tramples down the shivering +sinners, menaces them with the grim snakes in her left hand, and summons +forth her sisters in merciless train. Then at last the sacred gates are +flung open and grate on the jarring hinge. Markest thou what sentry is +seated in [575-609]the doorway? what shape guards the threshold? More +grim within sits the monstrous Hydra with her fifty black yawning +throats: and Tartarus' self gapes sheer and strikes into the gloom +through twice the space that one looks upward to Olympus and the skyey +heaven. Here Earth's ancient children, the Titans' brood, hurled down by +the thunderbolt, lie wallowing in the abyss. Here likewise I saw the +twin Aloïds, enormous of frame, who essayed with violent hands to pluck +down high heaven and thrust Jove from his upper realm. Likewise I saw +Salmoneus in the cruel payment he gives for mocking Jove's flame and +Olympus' thunders. Borne by four horses and brandishing a torch, he rode +in triumph midway through the populous city of Grecian Elis, and claimed +for himself the worship of deity; madman! who would mimic the +storm-cloud and the inimitable bolt with brass that rang under his +trampling horse-hoofs. But the Lord omnipotent hurled his shaft through +thickening clouds (no firebrand his nor smoky glare of torches) and +dashed him headlong in the fury of the whirlwind. Therewithal Tityos +might be seen, fosterling of Earth the mother of all, whose body +stretches over nine full acres, and a monstrous vulture with crooked +beak eats away the imperishable liver and the entrails that breed in +suffering, and plunges deep into the breast that gives it food and +dwelling; nor is any rest given to the fibres that ever grow anew. Why +tell of the Lapithae, of Ixion and Pirithoüs? over whom a stone hangs +just slipping and just as though it fell; or the high banqueting couches +gleam golden-pillared, and the feast is spread in royal luxury before +their faces; couched hard by, the eldest of the Furies wards the tables +from their touch and rises with torch upreared and thunderous lips. Here +are they who hated their brethren while life endured, or struck a parent +or entangled a client in wrong, or who brooded [610-643]alone over +found treasure and shared it not with their fellows, this the greatest +multitude of all; and they who were slain for adultery, and who followed +unrighteous arms, and feared not to betray their masters' plighted hand. +Imprisoned they await their doom. Seek not to be told that doom, that +fashion of fortune wherein they are sunk. Some roll a vast stone, or +hang outstretched on the spokes of wheels; hapless Theseus sits and +shall sit for ever, and Phlegyas in his misery gives counsel to all and +witnesses aloud through the gloom, _Learn by this warning to do justly +and not to slight the gods._ This man sold his country for gold, and +laid her under a tyrant's sway; he set up and pulled down laws at a +price; this other forced his daughter's bridal chamber and a forbidden +marriage; all dared some monstrous wickedness, and had success in what +they dared. Not had I an hundred tongues, an hundred mouths, and a voice +of iron, could I sum up all the shapes of crime or name over all their +punishments.' + +Thus spoke Phoebus' long-lived priestess; then 'But come now,' she +cries; 'haste on the way and perfect the service begun; let us go +faster; I descry the ramparts cast in Cyclopean furnaces, and in front +the arched gateway where they bid us lay the gifts foreordained.' She +ended, and advancing side by side along the shadowy ways, they pass over +and draw nigh the gates. Aeneas makes entrance, and sprinkling his body +with fresh water, plants the bough full in the gateway. + +Now at length, this fully done, and the service of the goddess +perfected, they came to the happy place, the green pleasances and +blissful seats of the Fortunate Woodlands. Here an ampler air clothes +the meadows in lustrous sheen, and they know their own sun and a +starlight of their own. Some exercise their limbs in tournament on the +greensward, contend in games, and wrestle on the yellow sand. Some +[644-676]dance with beating footfall and lips that sing; with them is +the Thracian priest in sweeping robe, and makes music to their measures +with the notes' sevenfold interval, the notes struck now with his +fingers, now with his ivory rod. Here is Teucer's ancient brood, a +generation excellent in beauty, high-hearted heroes born in happier +years, Ilus and Assaracus, and Dardanus, founder of Troy. Afar he +marvels at the armour and chariots empty of their lords: their spears +stand fixed in the ground, and their unyoked horses pasture at large +over the plain: their life's delight in chariot and armour, their care +in pasturing their sleek horses, follows them in like wise low under +earth. Others, lo! he beholds feasting on the sward to right and left, +and singing in chorus the glad Paean-cry, within a scented laurel-grove +whence Eridanus river surges upward full-volumed through the wood. Here +is the band of them who bore wounds in fighting for their country, and +they who were pure in priesthood while life endured, and the good poets +whose speech abased not Apollo; and they who made life beautiful by the +arts of their invention, and who won by service a memory among men, the +brows of all girt with the snow-white fillet. To their encircling throng +the Sibyl spoke thus, and to Musaeus before them all; for he is midmost +of all the multitude, and stands out head and shoulders among their +upward gaze: + +'Tell, O blissful souls, and thou, poet most gracious, what region, what +place hath Anchises for his own? For his sake are we come, and have +sailed across the wide rivers of Erebus.' + +And to her the hero thus made brief reply: 'None hath a fixed dwelling; +we live in the shady woodlands; soft-swelling banks and meadows fresh +with streams are our habitation. But you, if this be your heart's +desire, scale this ridge, and I will even now set you on an easy +[677-708]pathway.' He spoke, and paced on before them, and from above +shews the shining plains; thereafter they leave the mountain heights. + +But lord Anchises, deep in the green valley, was musing in earnest +survey over the imprisoned souls destined to the daylight above, and +haply reviewing his beloved children and all the tale of his people, +them and their fates and fortunes, their works and ways. And he, when he +saw Aeneas advancing to meet him over the greensward, stretched forth +both hands eagerly, while tears rolled over his cheeks, and his lips +parted in a cry: 'Art thou come at last, and hath thy love, O child of +my desire, conquered the difficult road? Is it granted, O my son, to +gaze on thy face and hear and answer in familiar tones? Thus indeed I +forecast in spirit, counting the days between; nor hath my care misled +me. What lands, what space of seas hast thou traversed to reach me, +through what surge of perils, O my son! How I dreaded the realm of Libya +might work thee harm!' + +And he: 'Thy melancholy phantom, thine, O my father, came before me +often and often, and drove me to steer to these portals. My fleet is +anchored on the Tyrrhenian brine. Give thine hand to clasp, O my father, +give it, and withdraw not from our embrace.' + +So spoke he, his face wet with abundant weeping. Thrice there did he +essay to fling his arms about his neck; thrice the phantom vainly +grasped fled out of his hands even as light wind, and most like to +fluttering sleep. + +Meanwhile Aeneas sees deep withdrawn in the covert of the vale a +woodland and rustling forest thickets, and the river of Lethe that +floats past their peaceful dwellings. Around it flitted nations and +peoples innumerable; even as in the meadows when in clear summer weather +bees settle on the variegated flowers and stream round the snow-white +[709-742]lilies, all the plain is murmurous with their humming. Aeneas +starts at the sudden view, and asks the reason he knows not; what are +those spreading streams, or who are they whose vast train fills the +banks? Then lord Anchises: 'Souls, for whom second bodies are destined +and due, drink at the wave of the Lethean stream the heedless water of +long forgetfulness. These of a truth have I long desired to tell and +shew thee face to face, and number all the generation of thy children, +that so thou mayest the more rejoice with me in finding Italy.'--'O +father, must we think that any souls travel hence into upper air, and +return again to bodily fetters? why this their strange sad longing for +the light?' 'I will tell,' rejoins Anchises, 'nor will I hold thee in +suspense, my son.' And he unfolds all things in order one by one. + +'First of all, heaven and earth and the liquid fields, the shining orb +of the moon and the Titanian star, doth a spirit sustain inly, and a +soul shed abroad in them sways all their members and mingles in the +mighty frame. Thence is the generation of man and beast, the life of +winged things, and the monstrous forms that ocean breeds under his +glittering floor. Those seeds have fiery force and divine birth, so far +as they are not clogged by taint of the body and dulled by earthy frames +and limbs ready to die. Hence is it they fear and desire, sorrow and +rejoice; nor can they pierce the air while barred in the blind darkness +of their prison-house. Nay, and when the last ray of life is gone, not +yet, alas! does all their woe, nor do all the plagues of the body wholly +leave them free; and needs must be that many a long ingrained evil +should take root marvellously deep. Therefore they are schooled in +punishment, and pay all the forfeit of a lifelong ill; some are hung +stretched to the viewless winds; some have the taint of guilt washed out +beneath the dreary deep, or burned away in fire. We [743-777]suffer, +each a several ghost; thereafter we are sent to the broad spaces of +Elysium, some few of us to possess the happy fields; till length of days +completing time's circle takes out the ingrained soilure and leaves +untainted the ethereal sense and pure spiritual flame. All these before +thee, when the wheel of a thousand years hath come fully round, a God +summons in vast train to the river of Lethe, that so they may regain in +forgetfulness the slopes of upper earth, and begin to desire to return +again into the body.' + +Anchises ceased, and leads his son and the Sibyl likewise amid the +assembled murmurous throng, and mounts a hillock whence he might scan +all the long ranks and learn their countenances as they came. + +'Now come, the glory hereafter to follow our Dardanian progeny, the +posterity to abide in our Italian people, illustrious souls and +inheritors of our name to be, these will I rehearse, and instruct thee +of thy destinies. He yonder, seest thou? the warrior leaning on his +pointless spear, holds the nearest place allotted in our groves, and +shall rise first into the air of heaven from the mingling blood of +Italy, Silvius of Alban name, the child of thine age, whom late in thy +length of days thy wife Lavinia shall nurture in the woodland, king and +father of kings; from him in Alba the Long shall our house have +dominion. He next him is Procas, glory of the Trojan race; and Capys and +Numitor; and he who shall renew thy name, Silvius Aeneas, eminent alike +in goodness or in arms, if ever he shall receive his kingdom in Alba. +Men of men! see what strength they display, and wear the civic oak +shading their brows. They shall establish Nomentum and Gabii and Fidena +city, they the Collatine hill-fortress, Pometii and the Fort of Inuus, +Bola and Cora: these shall be names that are now nameless lands. Nay, +Romulus likewise, seed of Mavors, shall join [778-810]his grandsire's +company, from his mother Ilia's nurture and Assaracus' blood. Seest thou +how the twin plumes straighten on his crest, and his father's own +emblazonment already marks him for upper air? Behold, O son! by his +augury shall Rome the renowned fill earth with her empire and heaven +with her pride, and gird about seven fortresses with her single wall, +prosperous mother of men; even as our lady of Berecyntus rides in her +chariot turret-crowned through the Phrygian cities, glad in the gods she +hath borne, clasping an hundred of her children's children, all +habitants of heaven, all dwellers on the upper heights. Hither now bend +thy twin-eyed gaze; behold this people, the Romans that are thine. Here +is Caesar and all Iülus' posterity that shall arise under the mighty +cope of heaven. Here is he, he of whose promise once and again thou +hearest, Caesar Augustus, a god's son, who shall again establish the +ages of gold in Latium over the fields that once were Saturn's realm, +and carry his empire afar to Garamant and Indian, to the land that lies +beyond our stars, beyond the sun's yearlong ways, where Atlas the +sky-bearer wheels on his shoulder the glittering star-spangled pole. +Before his coming even now the kingdoms of the Caspian shudder at +oracular answers, and the Maeotic land and the mouths of sevenfold Nile +flutter in alarm. Nor indeed did Alcides traverse such spaces of earth, +though he pierced the brazen-footed deer, or though he stilled the +Erymanthian woodlands and made Lerna tremble at his bow: nor he who +sways his team with reins of vine, Liber the conqueror, when he drives +his tigers from Nysa's lofty crest. And do we yet hesitate to give +valour scope in deeds, or shrink in fear from setting foot on Ausonian +land? Ah, and who is he apart, marked out with sprays of olive, offering +sacrifice? I know the locks and hoary chin of the king of Rome who shall +establish the infant city in his [811-843]laws, sent from little Cures' +sterile land to the majesty of empire. To him Tullus shall next succeed, +who shall break the peace of his country and stir to arms men rusted +from war and armies now disused to triumphs; and hard on him +over-vaunting Ancus follows, even now too elate in popular breath. Wilt +thou see also the Tarquin kings, and the haughty soul of Brutus the +Avenger, and the fasces regained? He shall first receive a consul's +power and the merciless axes, and when his children would stir fresh +war, the father, for fair freedom's sake, shall summon them to doom. +Unhappy! yet howsoever posterity shall take the deed, love of country +and limitless passion for honour shall prevail. Nay, behold apart the +Decii and the Drusi, Torquatus with his cruel axe, and Camillus +returning with the standards. Yonder souls likewise, whom thou +discernest gleaming in equal arms, at one now, while shut in Night, ah +me! what mutual war, what battle-lines and bloodshed shall they arouse, +so they attain the light of the living! father-in-law descending from +the Alpine barriers and the fortress of the Dweller Alone, son-in-law +facing him with the embattled East. Nay, O my children, harden not your +hearts to such warfare, neither turn upon her own heart the mastering +might of your country; and thou, be thou first to forgive, who drawest +thy descent from heaven; cast down the weapons from thy hand, O blood of +mine. . . . He shall drive his conquering chariot to the Capitoline +height triumphant over Corinth, glorious in Achaean slaughter. He shall +uproot Argos and Agamemnonian Mycenae, and the Aeacid's own heir, the +seed of Achilles mighty in arms, avenging his ancestors in Troy and +Minerva's polluted temple. Who might leave thee, lordly Cato, or thee, +Cossus, to silence? who the Gracchan family, or these two sons of the +Scipios, a double thunderbolt of war, Libya's bale? and Fabricius potent +in poverty, or [844-875]thee, Serranus, sowing in the furrow? Whither +whirl you me all breathless, O Fabii? thou art he, the most mighty, the +one man whose lingering retrieves our State. Others shall beat out the +breathing bronze to softer lines, I believe it well; shall draw living +lineaments from the marble; the cause shall be more eloquent on their +lips; their pencil shall portray the pathways of heaven, and tell the +stars in their arising: be thy charge, O Roman, to rule the nations in +thine empire; this shall be thine art, to lay down the law of peace, to +be merciful to the conquered and beat the haughty down.' + +Thus lord Anchises, and as they marvel, he so pursues: 'Look how +Marcellus the conqueror marches glorious in the splendid spoils, +towering high above them all! He shall stay the Roman State, reeling +beneath the invading shock, shall ride down Carthaginian and insurgent +Gaul, and a third time hang up the captured armour before lord +Quirinus.' + +And at this Aeneas, for he saw going by his side one excellent in beauty +and glittering in arms, but his brow had little cheer, and his eyes +looked down: + +'Who, O my father, is he who thus attends him on his way? son, or other +of his children's princely race? How his comrades murmur around him! how +goodly of presence he is! but dark Night flutters round his head with +melancholy shade.' + +Then lord Anchises with welling tears began: 'O my son, ask not of the +great sorrow of thy people. Him shall fate but shew to earth, and suffer +not to stay further. Too mighty, lords of heaven, did you deem the brood +of Rome, had this your gift been abiding. What moaning of men shall +arise from the Field of Mavors by the imperial city! what a funeral +train shalt thou see, O Tiber, as thou flowest by the new-made grave! +Neither shall the boyhood of any [876-901]of Ilian race raise his Latin +forefathers' hope so high; nor shall the land of Romulus ever boast of +any fosterling like this. Alas his goodness, alas his antique honour, +and right hand invincible in war! none had faced him unscathed in armed +shock, whether he met the foe on foot, or ran his spurs into the flanks +of his foaming horse. Ah me, the pity of thee, O boy! if in any wise +thou breakest the grim bar of fate, thou shalt be Marcellus. Give me +lilies in full hands; let me strew bright blossoms, and these gifts at +least let me lavish on my descendant's soul, and do the unavailing +service.' + +Thus they wander up and down over the whole region of broad vaporous +plains, and scan all the scene. And when Anchises had led his son over +it, each point by each, and kindled his spirit with passion for the +glories on their way, he tells him thereafter of the war he next must +wage, and instructs him of the Laurentine peoples and the city of +Latinus, and in what wise each task may be turned aside or borne. + +There are twin portals of Sleep, whereof the one is fabled of horn, and +by it real shadows are given easy outlet; the other shining white of +polished ivory, but false visions issue upward from the ghostly world. +With these words then Anchises follows forth his son and the Sibyl +together there, and dismisses them by the ivory gate. He pursues his way +to the ships and revisits his comrades; then bears on to Caieta's haven +straight along the shore. The anchor is cast from the prow; the sterns +are grounded on the beach. + + + + +BOOK SEVENTH + +THE LANDING IN LATIUM, AND THE ROLL OF THE ARMIES OF ITALY + + +Thou also, Caieta, nurse of Aeneas, gavest our shores an everlasting +renown in death; and still thine honour haunts thy resting-place, and a +name in broad Hesperia, if that be glory, marks thy dust. But when the +last rites are duly paid, and the mound smoothed over the grave, good +Aeneas, now the high seas are hushed, bears on under sail and leaves his +haven. Breezes blow into the night, and the white moonshine speeds them +on; the sea glitters in her quivering radiance. Soon they skirt the +shores of Circe's land, where the rich daughter of the Sun makes her +untrodden groves echo with ceaseless song; and her stately house glows +nightlong with burning odorous cedarwood, as she runs over her delicate +web with the ringing comb. Hence are heard afar angry cries of lions +chafing at their fetters and roaring in the deep night; bears and +bristly swine rage in their pens, and vast shapes of wolves howl; whom +with her potent herbs the deadly divine Circe had disfashioned, face and +body, into wild beasts from the likeness of men. But lest the good +Trojans might suffer so dread a change, might enter her haven or draw +nigh the ominous shores, Neptune filled [23-55]their sails with +favourable winds, and gave them escape, and bore them past the seething +shallows. + +And now the sea reddened with shafts of light, and high in heaven the +yellow dawn shone rose-charioted; when the winds fell, and every breath +sank suddenly, and the oar-blades toil through the heavy ocean-floor. +And on this Aeneas descries from sea a mighty forest. Midway in it the +pleasant Tiber stream breaks to sea in swirling eddies, laden with +yellow sand. Around and above fowl many in sort, that haunt his banks +and river-channel, solaced heaven with song and flew about the forest. +He orders his crew to bend their course and turn their prows to land, +and glides joyfully into the shady river. + + * * * * * + +Forth now, Erato! and I will unfold who were the kings, what the tides +of circumstance, how it was with ancient Latium when first that foreign +army drew their fleet ashore on Ausonia's coast; I will recall the +preluding of battle. Thou, divine one, inspire thou thy poet. I will +tell of grim wars, tell of embattled lines, of kings whom honour drove +on death, of the Tyrrhenian forces, and all Hesperia enrolled in arms. A +greater history opens before me, a greater work I essay. + +Latinus the King, now growing old, ruled in a long peace over quiet +tilth and town. He, men say, was sprung of Faunus and the nymph Marica +of Laurentum. Faunus' father was Picus; and he boasts himself, Saturn, +thy son; thou art the first source of their blood. Son of his, by divine +ordinance, and male descent was none, cut off in the early spring of +youth. One alone kept the household and its august home, a daughter now +ripe for a husband and of full years for marriage. Many wooed her from +wide Latium and all Ausonia. Fairest and foremost of all [56-93]is +Turnus, of long and lordly ancestry; but boding signs from heaven, many +and terrible, bar the way. Within the palace, in the lofty inner courts, +was a laurel of sacred foliage, guarded in awe through many years, which +lord Latinus, it was said, himself found and dedicated to Phoebus when +first he would build his citadel; and from it gave his settlers their +name, Laurentines. High atop of it, wonderful to tell, bees borne with +loud humming across the liquid air girt it thickly about, and with +interlinked feet hung in a sudden swarm from the leafy bough. +Straightway the prophet cries: 'I see a foreigner draw nigh, an army +from the same quarter seek the same quarter, and reign high in our +fortress.' Furthermore, while maiden Lavinia stands beside her father +feeding the altars with holy fuel, she was seen, oh, horror! to catch +fire in her long tresses, and burn with flickering flame in all her +array, her queenly hair lit up, lit up her jewelled circlet; till, +enwreathed in smoke and lurid light, she scattered fire over all the +palace. That sight was rumoured wonderful and terrible. Herself, they +prophesied, she should be glorious in fame and fortune; but a great war +was foreshadowed for her people. But the King, troubled by the omen, +visits the oracle of his father Faunus the soothsayer, and the groves +deep under Albunea, where, queen of the woods, she echoes from her holy +well, and breathes forth a dim and deadly vapour. Hence do the tribes of +Italy and all the Oenotrian land seek answers in perplexity; hither the +priest bears his gifts, and when he hath lain down and sought slumber +under the silent night on the spread fleeces of slaughtered sheep, sees +many flitting phantoms of wonderful wise, hears manifold voices, and +attains converse of the gods, and hath speech with Acheron and the deep +tract of hell. Here then, likewise seeking an answer, lord Latinus paid +fit sacrifice of an hundred woolly ewes, and [94-127]lay couched on the +strewn fleeces they had worn. Out of the lofty grove a sudden voice was +uttered: 'Seek not, O my child, to unite thy daughter in Latin +espousals, nor trust her to the bridal chambers ready to thine hand; +foreigners shall come to be thy sons, whose blood shall raise our name +to heaven, and the children of whose race shall see, where the circling +sun looks on either ocean, all the rolling world swayed beneath their +feet.' This his father Faunus' answer and counsel given in the silent +night Latinus restrains not in his lips; but wide-flitting Rumour had +already borne it round among the Ausonian cities, when the children of +Laomedon moored their fleet to the grassy slope of the river bank. + +Aeneas, with the foremost of his captains and fair Iülus, lay them down +under the boughs of a high tree and array the feast. They spread wheaten +cakes along the sward under their meats--so Jove on high prompted--and +crown the platter of corn with wilding fruits. Here haply when the rest +was spent, and scantness of food set them to eat their thin bread, and +with hand and venturous teeth do violence to the round cakes fraught +with fate and spare not the flattened squares: _Ha! Are we eating our +tables too?_ cries Iülus jesting, and stops. At once that accent heard +set their toils a limit; and at once as he spoke his father caught it +from his lips and hushed him, in amazement at the omen. Straightway +'Hail, O land!' he cries, 'my destined inheritance! and hail, O +household gods, faithful to your Troy! here is home; this is our native +country. For my father Anchises, now I remember it, bequeathed me this +secret of fate: "When hunger shall drive thee, O son, to consume thy +tables where the feast fails, on the unknown shores whither thou shalt +sail; then, though outwearied, hope for home, and there at last let +thine hand remember to set thy house's foundations and bulwarks." This +was [128-162]the hunger, this the last that awaited us, to set the +promised end to our desolations . . . Up then, and, glad with the first +sunbeam, let us explore and search all abroad from our harbour, what is +the country, who its habitants, where is the town of the nation. Now +pour your cups to Jove, and call in prayer on Anchises our father, +setting the wine again upon the board.' So speaks he, and binding his +brows with a leafy bough, he makes supplication to the Genius of the +ground, and Earth first of deities, and the Nymphs, and the Rivers yet +unknown; then calls on Night and Night's rising signs, and next on Jove +of Ida, and our lady of Phrygia, and on his twain parents, in heaven and +in the under world. At this the Lord omnipotent thrice thundered sharp +from high heaven, and with his own hand shook out for a sign in the sky +a cloud ablaze with luminous shafts of gold. A sudden rumour spreads +among the Trojan array, that the day is come to found their destined +city. Emulously they renew the feast, and, glad at the high omen, array +the flagons and engarland the wine. + +Soon as the morrow bathed the lands in its dawning light, they part to +search out the town, and the borders and shores of the nation: these are +the pools and spring of Numicus; this is the Tiber river; here dwell the +brave Latins. Then the seed of Anchises commands an hundred envoys +chosen of every degree to go to the stately royal city, all with the +wreathed boughs of Pallas, to bear him gifts and desire grace for the +Teucrians. Without delay they hasten on their message, and advance with +swift step. Himself he traces the city walls with a shallow trench, and +builds on it; and in fashion of a camp girdles this first settlement on +the shore with mound and battlements. And now his men had traversed +their way; they espied the towers and steep roofs of the Latins, and +drew near the wall. Before the city boys and men in their early +[163-196]bloom exercise on horseback, and break in their teams on the +dusty ground, or draw ringing bows, or hurl tough javelins from the +shoulder, and contend in running and boxing: when a messenger riding +forward brings news to the ears of the aged King that mighty men are +come thither in unknown raiment. He gives orders to call them within his +house, and takes his seat in the midst on his ancestral throne. His +house, stately and vast, crowned the city, upreared on an hundred +columns, once the palace of Laurentian Picus, amid awful groves of +ancestral sanctity. Here their kings receive the inaugural sceptre, and +have the fasces first raised before them; this temple was their +senate-house; this their sacred banqueting-hall; here, after sacrifice +of rams, the elders were wont to sit down at long tables. Further, there +stood arow in the entry images of the forefathers of old in ancient +cedar, Italus, and lord Sabinus, planter of the vine, still holding in +show the curved pruning-hook, and gray Saturn, and the likeness of Janus +the double-facing, and the rest of their primal kings, and they who had +borne wounds of war in fighting for their country. Armour besides hangs +thickly on the sacred doors, captured chariots and curved axes, +helmet-crests and massy gateway-bars, lances and shields, and beaks torn +from warships. He too sat there, with the divining-rod of Quirinus, girt +in the short augural gown, and carrying on his left arm the sacred +shield, Picus the tamer of horses; he whom Circe, desperate with amorous +desire, smote with her golden rod and turned by her poisons into a bird +with patches of colour on his wings. Of such wise was the temple of the +gods wherein Latinus, sitting on his father's seat, summoned the +Teucrians to his house and presence; and when they entered in, he thus +opened with placid mien: + +'Tell, O Dardanians, for we are not ignorant of your city and race, nor +unheard of do you bend your course [197-228]overseas, what seek you? +what the cause or whereof the need that hath borne you over all these +blue waterways to the Ausonian shore? Whether wandering in your course, +or tempest-driven (such perils manifold on the high seas do sailors +suffer), you have entered the river banks and lie in harbour; shun not +our welcome, and be not ignorant that the Latins are Saturn's people, +whom no laws fetter to justice, upright of their own free will and the +custom of the god of old. And now I remember, though the story is dimmed +with years, thus Auruncan elders told, how Dardanus, born in this our +country, made his way to the towns of Phrygian Ida and to the Thracian +Samos that is now called Samothrace. Here was the home he left, +Tyrrhenian Corythus; now the palace of heaven, glittering with golden +stars, enthrones and adds him to the ranged altars of the gods.' + +He ended; and Ilioneus pursued his speech with these words: + +'King, Faunus' illustrious progeny, neither hath black tempest driven us +with stress of waves to shelter in your lands, nor hath star or shore +misled us on the way we went. Of set purpose and willing mind do we draw +nigh this thy city, outcasts from a realm once the greatest that the sun +looked on as he came from Olympus' utmost border. From Jove hath our +race beginning; in Jove the men of Dardania rejoice as ancestor; our +King himself of Jove's supreme race, Aeneas of Troy, hath sent us to thy +courts. How terrible the tempest that burst from fierce Mycenae over the +plains of Ida, driven by what fate Europe and Asia met in the shock of +two worlds, even he hath heard who is sundered in the utmost land where +the ocean surge recoils, and he whom stretching midmost of the four +zones the zone of the intolerable sun holds in severance. Borne by that +flood over many desolate seas, we crave a scant dwelling [229-261]for +our country's gods, an unmolested landing-place, and the air and water +that are free to all. We shall not disgrace the kingdom; nor will the +rumour of your renown be lightly gone or the grace of all you have done +fade away; nor will Ausonia be sorry to have taken Troy to her breast. +By the fortunes of Aeneas I swear, by that right hand mighty, whether +tried in friendship or in warlike arms, many and many a people and +nation--scorn us not because we advance with hands proffering chaplets +and words of supplication--hath sought us for itself and desired our +alliance; but yours is the land that heaven's high ordinance drove us +forth to find. Hence sprung Dardanus: hither Apollo recalls us, and +pushes us on with imperious orders to Tyrrhenian Tiber and the holy +pools of Numicus' spring. Further, he presents to thee these small +guerdons of our past estate, relics saved from burning Troy. From this +gold did lord Anchises pour libation at the altars; this was Priam's +array when he delivered statutes to the nations assembled in order; the +sceptre, the sacred mitre, the raiment wrought by the women of +Ilium. . . .' + +At these words of Ilioneus Latinus holds his countenance in a steady +gaze, and stays motionless on the floor, casting his intent eyes around. +Nor does the embroidered purple so move the King, nor the sceptre of +Priam, as his daughter's marriage and the bridal chamber absorb him, and +the oracle of ancient Faunus stirs deep in his heart. This is he, the +wanderer from a foreign home, foreshewn of fate for his son, and called +to a realm of equal dominion, whose race should be excellent in valour +and their might overbear all the world. At last he speaks with good +cheer: + +'The gods prosper our undertaking and their own augury! What thou +desirest, Trojan, shall be given; nor do I spurn your gifts. While +Latinus reigns you shall not [262-294]lack foison of rich land nor +Troy's own riches. Only let Aeneas himself come hither, if desire of us +be so strong, if he be in haste to join our friendship and be called our +ally. Let him not shrink in terror from a friendly face. A term of the +peace for me shall be to touch your monarch's hand. Do you now convey in +answer my message to your King. I have a daughter whom the oracles of my +father's shrine and many a celestial token alike forbid me to unite to +one of our own nation; sons shall come, they prophesy, from foreign +coasts, such is the destiny of Latium, whose blood shall exalt our name +to heaven. He it is on whom fate calls; this I think, this I choose, if +there be any truth in my soul's foreshadowing.' + +Thus he speaks, and chooses horses for all the company. Three hundred +stood sleek in their high stalls; for all the Teucrians in order he +straightway commands them to be led forth, fleet-footed, covered with +embroidered purple: golden chains hang drooping over their chests, +golden their housings, and they champ on bits of ruddy gold: for the +absent Aeneas a chariot and pair of chariot horses of celestial breed, +with nostrils breathing flame; of the race of those which subtle Circe +bred by sleight on her father, the bastard issue of a stolen union. With +these gifts and words the Aeneadae ride back from Latinus carrying +peace. + +And lo! the fierce wife of Jove was returning from Inachian Argos, and +held her way along the air, when out of the distant sky, far as from +Sicilian Pachynus, she espied the rejoicing of Aeneas and the Dardanian +fleet. She sees them already house-building, already trusting in the +land, their ships left empty. She stops, shot with sharp pain; then +shaking her head, she pours forth these words: + +'Ah, hated brood, and doom of the Phrygians that thwarts our doom! Could +they perish on the Sigean [295-326]plains? Could they be ensnared when +taken? Did the fires of Troy consume her people? Through the midst of +armies and through the midst of flames they have found their way. But, I +think, my deity lies at last outwearied, or my hatred sleeps and is +satisfied? Nay, it is I who have been fierce to follow them over the +waves when hurled from their country, and on all the seas have crossed +their flight. Against the Teucrians the forces of sky and sea are spent. +What hath availed me Syrtes or Scylla, what desolate Charybdis? they +find shelter in their desired Tiber-bed, careless of ocean and of me. +Mars availed to destroy the giant race of the Lapithae; the very father +of the gods gave over ancient Calydon to Diana's wrath: for forfeit of +what crime in the Lapithae, what in Calydon? But I, Jove's imperial +consort, who have borne, ah me! to leave naught undared, who have +shifted to every device, I am vanquished by Aeneas. If my deity is not +great enough, I will not assuredly falter to seek succour where it may +be; if the powers of heaven are inflexible, I will stir up Acheron. It +may not be to debar him of a Latin realm; well; and Lavinia is destined +his bride unalterably. But it may be yet to defer, to make all this +action linger; but it may be yet to waste away the nation of either +king; at such forfeit of their people may son-in-law and father-in-law +enter into union. Blood of Troy and Rutulia shall be thy dower, O +maiden, and Bellona is the bridesmaid who awaits thee. Nor did Cisseus' +daughter alone conceive a firebrand and travail of bridal flames. Nay, +even such a birth hath Venus of her own, a second Paris, another +balefire for Troy towers reborn.' + +These words uttered, she descends to earth in all her terrors, and calls +dolorous Allecto from the home of the Fatal Sisters in nether gloom, +whose delight is in woeful wars, in wrath and treachery and evil feuds: +hateful to [327-360]lord Pluto himself, hateful and horrible to her +hell-born sisters; into so many faces does she turn, so savage the guise +of each, so thick and black bristles she with vipers. And her Juno spurs +on with words, saying thus: + +'Grant me, virgin born of Night, this thy proper task and service, that +the rumour of our renown may not crumble away, nor the Aeneadae have +power to win Latinus by marriage or beset the borders of Italy. Thou +canst set brothers once united in armed conflict, and overturn families +with hatreds; thou canst launch into houses thy whips and deadly brands; +thine are a thousand names, a thousand devices of injury. Stir up thy +teeming breast, sunder the peace they have joined, and sow seeds of +quarrel; let all at once desire and demand and seize on arms.' + +Thereon Allecto, steeped in Gorgonian venom, first seeks Latium and the +high house of the Laurentine monarch, and silently sits down before +Amata's doors, whom a woman's distress and anger heated to frenzy over +the Teucrians' coming and the marriage of Turnus. At her the goddess +flings a snake out of her dusky tresses, and slips it into her bosom to +her very inmost heart, that she may embroil all her house under its +maddening magic. Sliding between her raiment and smooth breasts, it +coils without touch, and instils its viperous breath unseen; the great +serpent turns into the twisted gold about her neck, turns into the long +ribbon of her chaplet, inweaves her hair, and winds slippery over her +body. And while the gliding infection of the clammy poison begins to +penetrate her sense and run in fire through her frame, nor as yet hath +all her breast caught fire, softly she spoke and in mothers' wonted +wise, with many a tear over her daughter and the Phrygian bridal: + +'Is it to exiles, to Teucrians, that Lavinia is proffered in marriage, O +father? and hast thou no compassion on [361-392]thy daughter and on +thyself? no compassion on her mother, whom with the first northern wind +the treacherous rover will abandon, steering to sea with his maiden +prize? Is it not thus the Phrygian herdsman wound his way to Lacedaemon, +and carried Leda's Helen to the Trojan towns? Where is thy plighted +faith? Where thine ancient care for thy people, and the hand Turnus thy +kinsman hath so often clasped? If one of alien race from the Latins is +sought for our son, if this stands fixed, and thy father Faunus' +commands are heavy upon thee, all the land whose freedom severs it from +our sway is to my mind alien, and of this is the divine word. And +Turnus, if one retrace the earliest source of his line, is born of +Inachus and Acrisius, and of the midmost of Mycenae.' + +When in this vain essay of words she sees Latinus fixed against her, and +the serpent's maddening poison is sunk deep in her vitals and runs +through and through her, then indeed, stung by infinite horrors, hapless +and frenzied, she rages wildly through the endless city. As whilome a +top flying under the twisted whipcord, which boys busy at their play +drive circling wide round an empty hall, runs before the lash and spins +in wide gyrations; the witless ungrown band hang wondering over it and +admire the whirling boxwood; the strokes lend it life: with pace no +slacker is she borne midway through towns and valiant nations. Nay, she +flies into the woodland under feigned Bacchic influence, assumes a +greater guilt, arouses a greater frenzy, and hides her daughter in the +mountain coverts to rob the Teucrians of their bridal and stay the +marriage torches. 'Hail, Bacchus!' she shrieks and clamours; 'thou only +art worthy of the maiden; for to thee she takes up the lissom wands, +thee she circles in the dance, to thee she trains and consecrates her +tresses.' Rumour flies abroad; and the matrons, their breasts kindled by +the furies, run all at once [393-426]with a single ardour to seek out +strange dwellings. They have left their homes empty, they throw neck and +hair free to the winds; while others fill the air with ringing cries, +girt about with fawnskins, and carrying spears of vine. Amid them the +infuriate queen holds her blazing pine-torch on high, and chants the +wedding of Turnus and her daughter; and rolling her bloodshot gaze, +cries sudden and harsh: 'Hear, O mothers of Latium, wheresoever you be; +if unhappy Amata hath yet any favour in your affection, if care for a +mother's right pierces you, untie the chaplets from your hair, begin the +orgies with me.' Thus, amid woods and wild beasts' solitary places, does +Allecto goad the queen with the encircling Bacchic madness. + +When their frenzy seemed heightened and her first task complete, the +purpose and all the house of Latinus turned upside down, the dolorous +goddess flies on thence, soaring on dusky wing, to the walls of the +gallant Rutulian, the city which Danaë, they say, borne down on the +boisterous south wind, built and planted with Acrision's people. The +place was called Ardea once of old; and still Ardea remains a mighty +name; but its fortune is no more. Here in his high house Turnus now took +rest in the black midnight. Allecto puts off her grim feature and the +body of a Fury; she transforms her face to an aged woman's, and furrows +her brow with ugly wrinkles; she puts on white tresses chaplet-bound, +and entwines them with an olive spray; she becomes aged Calybe, +priestess of Juno's temple, and presents herself before his eyes, +uttering thus: + +'Turnus, wilt thou brook all these toils poured out in vain, and the +conveyance of thy crown to Dardanian settlers? The King denies thee thy +bride and the dower thy blood had earned; and a foreigner is sought for +heir to the kingdom. Forth now, dupe, and face thankless perils; forth, +cut down the Tyrrhenian lines; give the [427-458]Latins peace in thy +protection. This Saturn's omnipotent daughter in very presence commanded +me to pronounce to thee, as thou wert lying in the still night. +Wherefore arise, and make ready with good cheer to arm thy people and +march through thy gates to battle; consume those Phrygian captains that +lie with their painted hulls in the beautiful river. All the force of +heaven orders thee on. Let King Latinus himself know of it, unless he +consents to give thee thy bridal, and abide by his words, when he shall +at last make proof of Turnus' arms.' + +But he, deriding her inspiration, with the words of his mouth thus +answers her again: + +'The fleets ride on the Tiber wave; that news hath not, as thou deemest, +escaped mine ears. Frame not such terrors before me. Neither is Queen +Juno forgetful of us. . . . But thee, O mother, overworn old age, +exhausted and untrue, frets with vain distress, and amid embattled kings +mocks thy presage with false dismay. Thy charge it is to keep the divine +image and temple; war and peace shall be in the hands of men and +warriors.' + +At such words Allecto's wrath blazed out. But amid his utterance a quick +shudder overruns his limbs; his eyes are fixed in horror; so thickly +hiss the snakes of the Fury, so vast her form expands. Then rolling her +fiery eyes, she thrust him back as he would stammer out more, raised two +serpents in her hair, and, sounding her whip, resumed with furious tone: + +'Behold me the overworn! me whom old age, exhausted and untrue, mocks +with false dismay amid embattled kings! Look on this! I am come from the +home of the Dread Sisters: war and death are in my hand. . . .' + +So speaking, she hurled her torch at him, and pierced his breast with +the lurid smoking brand. He breaks from sleep in overpowering fear, his +limbs and body bathed in [459-494]sweat that breaks out all over him; +he shrieks madly for arms, searches for arms on his bed and in his +palace. The passion of the sword rages high, the accursed fury of war, +and wrath over all: even as when flaming sticks are heaped roaring loud +under the sides of a seething cauldron, and the boiling water leaps up; +the river of water within smokes furiously and swells high in +overflowing foam, and now the wave contains itself no longer; the dark +steam flies aloft. So, for the stain of the broken peace, he orders his +chief warriors to march on King Latinus, and bids prepare for battle, to +defend Italy and drive the foe from their borders; himself will suffice +for Trojans and Latins together. When he uttered these words and called +the gods to hear his vows, the Rutulians stir one another up to arms. +One is moved by the splendour of his youthful beauty, one by his royal +ancestry, another by the noble deeds of his hand. + +While Turnus fills the Rutulian minds with valour, Allecto on Stygian +wing hastens towards the Trojans. With fresh wiles she marked the spot +where beautiful Iülus was trapping and coursing game on the bank; here +the infernal maiden suddenly crosses his hounds with the maddening touch +of a familiar scent, and drives them hotly on the stag-hunt. This was +the source and spring of ill, and kindled the country-folk to war. The +stag, beautiful and high-antlered, was stolen from his mother's udder +and bred by Tyrrheus' boys and their father Tyrrheus, master of the +royal herds, and ranger of the plain. Their sister Silvia tamed him to +her rule, and lavished her care on his adornment, twining his antlers +with delicate garlands, and combed his wild coat and washed him in the +clear spring. Tame to her hand, and familiar to his master's table, he +would wander the woods, and, however late the night, return home to the +door he knew. Far astray, he floated idly down the stream, and allayed +his heat on the green bank, when Iülus' [495-528]mad hounds started him +in their hunting; and Ascanius himself, kindled with desire of the chief +honour, aimed a shaft from his bended bow. A present deity suffered not +his hand to stray, and the loud whistling reed came driven through his +belly and flanks. But the wounded beast fled within the familiar roof +and crept moaning to the courtyard, dabbled with blood, and filling all +the house with moans as of one beseeching. Sister Silvia, smiting her +arms with open hands, begins to call for aid, and gathers the hardy +rustics with her cries. They, for a fell destroyer is hidden in the +silent woodland, are there before her expectation, one armed with a +stake hardened in the fire, one with a heavy knotted trunk; what each +one searches and finds, wrath turns into a weapon. Tyrrheus cheers on +his array, panting hard, with his axe caught up in his hand, as he was +haply splitting an oaken log in four clefts with cross-driven wedges. + +But the grim goddess, seizing from her watch-tower the moment of +mischief, seeks the steep farm-roof and sounds the pastoral war-note +from the ridge, straining the infernal cry on her twisted horn; it +spread shuddering over all the woodland, and echoed through the deep +forests: the lake of Trivia heard it afar; Nar river heard it with white +sulphurous water, and the springs of Velinus; and fluttered mothers +clasped their children to their breast. Then, hurrying to the voice of +the terrible trumpet-note, on all sides the wild rustics snatch their +arms and stream in: therewithal the men of Troy pour out from their +camp's open gates to succour Ascanius. The lines are ranged; not now in +rustic strife do they fight with hard trunks or burned stakes; the +two-edged steel sways the fight, the broad cornfields bristle dark with +drawn swords, and brass flashes smitten by the sunlight, and casts a +gleam high into the cloudy air: as when the wind begins to blow and the +flood [529-560]to whiten, gradually the sea lifts his waves higher and +yet higher, then rises from the bottom right into the air. Here in the +front rank young Almo, once Tyrrheus' eldest son, is struck down by a +whistling arrow; for the wound, staying in his throat, cut off in blood +the moist voice's passage and the thin life. Around many a one lies +dead, aged Galaesus among them, slain as he throws himself between them +for a peacemaker, once incomparable in justice and wealth of Ausonian +fields; for him five flocks bleated, a five-fold herd returned from +pasture, and an hundred ploughs upturned the soil. + +But while thus in even battle they fight on the broad plain, the +goddess, her promise fulfilled, when she hath dyed the war in blood, and +mingled death in the first encounter, quits Hesperia, and, glancing +through the sky, addresses Juno in exultant tone: + +'Lo, discord is ripened at thy desire into baleful war: tell them now to +mix in amity and join alliance. Insomuch as I have imbued the Trojans in +Ausonian blood, this likewise will I add, if I have assurance of thy +will. With my rumours I will sweep the bordering towns into war, and +kindle their spirit with furious desire for battle, that from all +quarters help may come; I will sow the land with arms.' + +Then Juno answering: 'Terror and harm is wrought abundantly. The springs +of war are aflow: they fight with arms in their grasp, the arms that +chance first supplied, that fresh blood stains. Let this be the union, +this the bridal that Venus' illustrious progeny and Latinus the King +shall celebrate. Our Lord who reigns on Olympus' summit would not have +thee stray too freely in heaven's upper air. Withdraw thy presence. +Whatsoever future remains in the struggle, that I myself will sway.' + +Such accents uttered the daughter of Saturn; and the [561-594]other +raises her rustling snaky wings and darts away from the high upper air +to Cocytus her home. There is a place midmost of Italy, deep in the +hills, notable and famed of rumour in many a country, the Vale of +Amsanctus; on either hand a wooded ridge, dark with thick foliage, hems +it in, and midway a torrent in swirling eddies shivers and echoes over +the rocks. Here is shewn a ghastly pool, a breathing-hole of the grim +lord of hell, and a vast chasm breaking into Acheron yawns with +pestilential throat. In it the Fury sank, and relieved earth and heaven +of her hateful influence. + +But therewithal the queenly daughter of Saturn puts the last touch to +war. The shepherds pour in full tale from the battlefield into the town, +bearing back their slain, the boy Almo and Galaesus' disfigured face, +and cry on the gods and call on Latinus. Turnus is there, and amid the +heat and outcry at the slaughter redoubles his terrors, crying that +Teucrians are bidden to the kingdom, that a Phrygian race is mingling +its taint with theirs, and he is thrust out of their gates. They too, +the matrons of whose kin, struck by Bacchus, trample in choirs down the +pathless woods--nor is Amata's name a little thing--they too gather +together from all sides and weary themselves with the battle-cry. Omens +and oracles of gods go down before them, and all under malign influence +clamour for awful war. Emulously they surround Latinus' royal house. He +withstands, even as a rock in ocean unremoved, as a rock in ocean when +the great crash comes down, firm in its own mass among many waves +slapping all about: in vain the crags and boulders hiss round it in +foam, and the seaweed on its side is flung up and sucked away. But when +he may in nowise overbear their blind counsel, and all goes at fierce +Juno's beck, with many an appeal to gods and void sky, 'Alas!' he cries, +'we are broken of fate and driven helpless in the [595-626]storm. With +your very blood will you pay the price of this, O wretched men! Thee, O +Turnus, thy crime, thee thine awful punishment shall await; too late +wilt thou address to heaven thy prayers and supplication. For my rest +was won, and my haven full at hand; I am robbed but of a happy death.' +And without further speech he shut himself in the palace, and dropped +the reins of state. + +There was a use in Hesperian Latium, which the Alban towns kept in holy +observance, now Rome keeps, the mistress of the world, when they stir +the War-God to enter battle; whether their hands prepare to carry war +and weeping among Getae or Hyrcanians or Arabs, or to reach to India and +pursue the Dawn, and reclaim their standards from the Parthian. There +are twain gates of War, so runs their name, consecrate in grim Mars' +sanctity and terror. An hundred bolts of brass and masses of everlasting +iron shut them fast, and Janus the guardian never sets foot from their +threshold. There, when the sentence of the Fathers stands fixed for +battle, the Consul, arrayed in the robe of Quirinus and the Gabine +cincture, with his own hand unbars the grating doors, with his own lips +calls battles forth; then all the rest follow on, and the brazen +trumpets blare harsh with consenting breath. With this use then likewise +they bade Latinus proclaim war on the Aeneadae, and unclose the baleful +gates. He withheld his hand, and shrank away averse from the abhorred +service, and hid himself blindly in the dark. Then the Saturnian queen +of heaven glided from the sky, with her own hand thrust open the +lingering gates, and swung sharply back on their hinges the iron-bound +doors of war. Ausonia is ablaze, till then unstirred and immoveable. +Some make ready to march afoot over the plains; some, mounted on tall +horses, ride amain in clouds of dust. All seek out arms; and now they +rub their shields smooth and make their spearheads glitter with +[627-659]fat lard, and grind their axes on the whetstone: rejoicingly +they advance under their standards and hear the trumpet note. Five great +cities set up the anvil and sharpen the sword, strong Atina and proud +Tibur, Ardea and Crustumeri, and turreted Antemnae. They hollow out +head-gear to guard them, and plait wickerwork round shield-bosses; +others forge breastplates of brass or smooth greaves of flexible silver. +To this is come the honour of share and pruning-hook, to this all the +love of the plough: they re-temper their fathers' swords in the furnace. +And now the trumpets blare; the watchword for war passes along. One +snatches a helmet hurriedly from his house, another backs his neighing +horses into the yoke; and arrays himself in shield and mail-coat +triple-linked with gold, and girds on his trusty sword. + +Open now the gates of Helicon, goddesses, and stir the song of the kings +that rose for war, the array that followed each and filled the plains, +the men that even then blossomed, the arms that blazed in Italy the +bountiful land: for you remember, divine ones, and you can recall; to us +but a breath of rumour, scant and slight, is wafted down. + +First from the Tyrrhene coast savage Mezentius, scorner of the gods, +opens the war and arrays his columns. By him is Lausus, his son, +unexcelled in bodily beauty by any save Laurentine Turnus, Lausus tamer +of horses and destroyer of wild beasts; he leads a thousand men who +followed him in vain from Agylla town; worthy to be happier in ancestral +rule, and to have other than Mezentius for father. + +After them beautiful Aventinus, born of beautiful Hercules, displays on +the sward his palm-crowned chariot and victorious horses, and carries on +his shield his father's device, the hundred snakes of the Hydra's +serpent-wreath. Him, in the wood of the hill Aventine, Rhea the +priestess [660-693]bore by stealth into the borders of light, a woman +mingled with a god, after the Tirynthian Conqueror had slain Geryon and +set foot on the fields of Laurentum, and bathed his Iberian oxen in the +Tuscan river. These carry for war javelins and grim stabbing weapons, +and fight with the round shaft and sharp point of the Sabellian pike. +Himself he went on foot swathed in a vast lion skin, shaggy with +bristling terrors, whose white teeth encircled his head; in such wild +dress, the garb of Hercules clasped over his shoulders, he entered the +royal house. + +Next twin brothers leave Tibur town, and the people called by their +brother Tiburtus' name, Catillus and valiant Coras, the Argives, and +advance in the forefront of battle among the throng of spears: as when +two cloud-born Centaurs descend from a lofty mountain peak, leaving +Homole or snowy Othrys in rapid race; the mighty forest yields before +them as they go, and the crashing thickets give them way. + +Nor was the founder of Praeneste city absent, the king who, as every age +hath believed, was born of Vulcan among the pasturing herds, and found +beside the hearth, Caeculus. On him a rustic battalion attends in loose +order, they who dwell in steep Praeneste and the fields of Juno of +Gabii, on the cool Anio and the Hernican rocks dewy with streams; they +whom rich Anagnia, and whom thou, lord Amasenus, pasturest. Not all of +them have armour, nor shields and clattering chariots. The most part +shower bullets of dull lead; some wield in their hand two darts, and +have for head-covering caps of tawny wolfskin; their left foot is bare +wherewith to plant their steps; the other is covered with a boot of raw +hide. + +But Messapus, tamer of horses, the seed of Neptune, whom none might ever +strike down with steel or fire, calls quickly to arms his long unstirred +peoples and bands [694-727]disused to war, and again handles the sword. +These are of the Fescennine ranks and of Aequi Falisci, these of +Soracte's fortresses and the fields of Flavina, and Ciminus' lake and +hill, and the groves of Capena. They marched in even time, singing their +King; as whilome snowy swans among the thin clouds, when they return +from pasturage, and utter resonant notes through their long necks; far +off echoes the river and the smitten Asian fen. . . . Nor would one +think these vast streaming masses were ranks clad in brass; rather that, +high in air, a cloud of hoarse birds from the deep gulf was pressing to +the shore. + +Lo, Clausus of the ancient Sabine blood, leading a great host, a great +host himself; from whom now the Claudian tribe and family is spread +abroad since Rome was shared with the Sabines. Alongside is the broad +battalion of Amiternum, and the Old Latins, and all the force of Eretum +and the Mutuscan oliveyards; they who dwell in Nomentum town, and the +Rosean country by Velinus, who keep the crags of rough Tetrica and Mount +Severus, Casperia and Foruli, and the river of Himella; they who drink +of Tiber and Fabaris, they whom cold Nursia hath sent, and the squadrons +of Horta and the tribes of Latinium; and they whom Allia, the +ill-ominous name, severs with its current; as many as the waves that +roll on the Libyan sea-floor when fierce Orion sets in the wintry surge; +as thick as the ears that ripen in the morning sunlight on the plain of +the Hermus or the yellowing Lycian tilth. Their shields clatter, and +earth is amazed under the trampling of their feet. + +Here Agamemnonian Halaesus, foe of the Trojan name, yokes his chariot +horses, and draws a thousand warlike peoples to Turnus; those who turn +with spades the Massic soil that is glad with wine; whom the elders of +Aurunca sent from their high hills, and the Sidicine low country +[728-761]hard by; and those who leave Cales, and the dweller by the +shallows of Volturnus river, and side by side the rough Saticulan and +the Oscan bands. Polished maces are their weapons, and these it is their +wont to fit with a tough thong; a target covers their left side, and for +close fighting they have crooked swords. + +Nor shalt thou, Oebalus, depart untold of in our verses, who wast borne, +men say, by the nymph Sebethis to Telon, when he grew old in rule over +Capreae the Teleboïc realm: but not so content with his ancestral +fields, his son even then held down in wide sway the Sarrastian peoples +and the meadows watered by Sarnus, and the dwellers in Rufrae and +Batulum, and the fields of Celemnae, and they on whom from her apple +orchards Abella city looks down. Their wont was to hurl lances in +Teutonic fashion; their head covering was stripped bark of the cork +tree, their shield-plates glittering brass, glittering brass their +sword. + +Thee too, Ufens, mountainous Nersae sent forth to battle, of noble fame +and prosperous arms, whose race on the stiff Aequiculan clods is rough +beyond all other, and bred to continual hunting in the woodland; they +till the soil in arms, and it is ever their delight to drive in fresh +spoils and live on plunder. + +Furthermore there came, sent by King Archippus, the priest of the +Marruvian people, dressed with prosperous olive leaves over his helmet, +Umbro excellent in valour, who was wont with charm and touch to sprinkle +slumberous dew on the viper's brood and water-snakes of noisome breath. +Yet he availed not to heal the stroke of the Dardanian spear-point, nor +was the wound of him helped by his sleepy charms and herbs culled on the +Massic hills. Thee the woodland of Angitia, thee Fucinus' glassy wave, +thee the clear pools wept. . . . + +Likewise the seed of Hippolytus marched to war, Virbius [762-796]most +excellent in beauty, sent by his mother Aricia. The groves of Egeria +nursed him round the spongy shore where Diana's altar stands rich and +gracious. For they say in story that Hippolytus, after he fell by his +stepmother's treachery, torn asunder by his frightened horses to fulfil +a father's revenge, came again to the daylight and heaven's upper air, +recalled by Diana's love and the drugs of the Healer. Then the Lord +omnipotent, indignant that any mortal should rise from the nether shades +to the light of life, launched his thunder and hurled down to the +Stygian water the Phoebus-born, the discoverer of such craft and cure. +But Trivia the bountiful hides Hippolytus in a secret habitation, and +sends him away to the nymph Egeria and the woodland's keeping, where, +solitary in Italian forests, he should spend an inglorious life, and +have Virbius for his altered name. Whence also hoofed horses are kept +away from Trivia's temple and consecrated groves, because, affrighted at +the portents of the sea, they overset the chariot and flung him out upon +the shore. Notwithstanding did his son train his ruddy steeds on the +level plain, and sped charioted to war. + +Himself too among the foremost, splendid in beauty of body, Turnus moves +armed and towers a whole head over all. His lofty helmet, triple-tressed +with horse-hair, holds high a Chimaera breathing from her throat Aetnean +fires, raging the more and exasperate with baleful flames, as the battle +and bloodshed grow fiercer. But on his polished shield was emblazoned in +gold Io with uplifted horns, already a heifer and overgrown with hair, a +lofty design, and Argus the maiden's warder, and lord Inachus pouring +his stream from his embossed urn. Behind comes a cloud of infantry, and +shielded columns thicken over all the plains; the Argive men and +Auruncan forces, the Rutulians and old Sicanians, the Sacranian ranks +and Labicians with [797-817]painted shields; they who till thy dells, O +Tiber, and Numicus' sacred shore, and whose ploughshare goes up and down +on the Rutulian hills and the Circaean headland, over whose fields +Jupiter of Anxur watches, and Feronia glad in her greenwood: and where +the marsh of Satura lies black, and cold Ufens winds his way along the +valley-bottoms and sinks into the sea. + +Therewithal came Camilla the Volscian, leading a train of cavalry, +squadrons splendid with brass: a warrior maiden who had never used her +woman's hands to Minerva's distaff or wool-baskets, but hardened to +endure the battle shock and outstrip the winds with racing feet. She +might have flown across the topmost blades of unmown corn and left the +tender ears unhurt as she ran; or sped her way over mid sea upborne by +the swelling flood, nor dipt her swift feet in the water. All the people +pour from house and field, and mothers crowd to wonder and gaze at her +as she goes, in rapturous astonishment at the royal lustre of purple +that drapes her smooth shoulders, at the clasp of gold that intertwines +her tresses, at the Lycian quiver she carries, and the pastoral myrtle +shaft topped with steel. + + + + +BOOK EIGHTH + +THE EMBASSAGE TO EVANDER + + +When Turnus ran up the flag of war on the towers of Laurentum, and the +trumpets blared with harsh music, when he spurred his fiery steeds and +clashed his armour, straightway men's hearts are in tumult; all Latium +at once flutters in banded uprisal, and her warriors rage furiously. +Their chiefs, Messapus, and Ufens, and Mezentius, scorner of the gods, +begin to enrol forces on all sides, and dispeople the wide fields of +husbandmen. Venulus too is sent to the town of mighty Diomede to seek +succour, to instruct him that Teucrians set foot in Latium; that Aeneas +in his fleet invades them with the vanquished gods of his home, and +proclaims himself the King summoned of fate; that many tribes join the +Dardanian, and his name swells high in Latium. What he will rear on +these foundations, what issue of battle he desires, if Fortune attend +him, lies clearer to his own sight than to King Turnus or King Latinus. + +Thus was it in Latium. And the hero of Laomedon's blood, seeing it all, +tosses on a heavy surge of care, and throws his mind rapidly this way +and that, and turns it on all hands in swift change of thought: even as +when the quivering light of water brimming in brass, struck back +[23-56]from the sunlight or the moon's glittering reflection, flickers +abroad over all the room, and now mounts aloft and strikes the high +panelled roof. Night fell, and over all lands weary creatures were fast +in deep slumber, the race of fowl and of cattle; when lord Aeneas, sick +at heart of the dismal warfare, stretched him on the river bank under +the cope of the cold sky, and let sleep, though late, overspread his +limbs. To him the very god of the ground, the pleasant Tiber stream, +seemed to raise his aged form among the poplar boughs; thin lawn veiled +him with its gray covering, and shadowy reeds hid his hair. Thereon he +addressed him thus, and with these words allayed his distresses: + +'O born of the family of the gods, thou who bearest back our Trojan city +from hostile hands, and keepest Troy towers in eternal life; O long +looked for on Laurentine ground and Latin fields! here is thine assured +home, thine home's assured gods. Draw not thou back, nor be alarmed by +menace of war. All the anger and wrath of the gods is passed away . . . +And even now for thine assurance, that thou think not this the idle +fashioning of sleep, a great sow shall be found lying under the oaks on +the shore, with her new-born litter of thirty head: white she couches on +the ground, and the brood about her teats is white. By this token in +thirty revolving years shall Ascanius found a city, Alba of bright name. +My prophecy is sure. Now hearken, and I will briefly instruct thee how +thou mayest unravel and overcome thy present task. An Arcadian people +sprung of Pallas, following in their king Evander's company beneath his +banners, have chosen a place in these coasts, and set a city on the +hills, called Pallanteum after Pallas their forefather. These wage +perpetual war with the Latin race; these do thou take to thy camp's +alliance, and join with them in league. Myself I [57-89]will lead thee +by my banks and straight along my stream, that thou mayest oar thy way +upward against the river. Up and arise, goddess-born, and even with the +setting stars address thy prayers to Juno as is meet, and vanquish her +wrath and menaces with humble vows. To me thou shalt pay a conqueror's +sacrifice. I am he whom thou seest washing the banks with full flood and +severing the rich tilth, glassy Tiber, best beloved by heaven of rivers. +Here is my stately home; my fountain-head is among high cities.' + +Thus spoke the River, and sank in the depth of the pool: night and sleep +left Aeneas. He arises, and, looking towards the radiant sky of the +sunrising, holds up water from the river in fitly-hollowed palms, and +pours to heaven these accents: + +'Nymphs, Laurentine Nymphs, from whom is the generation of rivers, and +thou, O father Tiber, with thine holy flood, receive Aeneas and deign to +save him out of danger. What pool soever holds thy source, who pitiest +our discomforts, from whatsoever soil thou dost spring excellent in +beauty, ever shall my worship, ever my gifts frequent thee, the hornèd +river lord of Hesperian waters. Ah, be thou only by me, and graciously +confirm thy will.' So speaks he, and chooses two galleys from his fleet, +and mans them with rowers, and withal equips a crew with arms. + +And lo! suddenly, ominous and wonderful to tell, the milk-white sow, of +one colour with her white brood, is espied through the forest couched on +the green brink; whom to thee, yes to thee, queenly Juno, good Aeneas +offers in sacrifice, and sets with her offspring before thine altar. All +that night long Tiber assuaged his swelling stream, and silently stayed +his refluent wave, smoothing the surface of his waters to the fashion of +still pool and quiet mere, to spare [90-121]labour to the oar. So they +set out and speed on their way with prosperous cries; the painted fir +slides along the waterway; the waves and unwonted woods marvel at their +far-gleaming shields, and the gay hulls afloat on the river. They +outwear a night and a day in rowing, ascend the long reaches, and pass +under the chequered shadows of the trees, and cut through the green +woodland in the calm water. The fiery sun had climbed midway in the +circle of the sky when they see afar fortress walls and scattered house +roofs, where now the might of Rome hath risen high as heaven; then +Evander held a slender state. Quickly they turn their prows to land and +draw near the town. + +It chanced on that day the Arcadian king paid his accustomed sacrifice +to the great son of Amphitryon and all the gods in a grove before the +city. With him his son Pallas, with him all the chief of his people and +his poor senate were offering incense, and the blood steamed warm at +their altars. When they saw the high ships, saw them glide up between +the shady woodlands and rest on their silent oars, the sudden sight +appals them, and all at once they rise and stop the banquet. Pallas +courageously forbids them to break off the rites; snatching up a spear, +he flies forward, and from a hillock cries afar: 'O men, what cause hath +driven you to explore these unknown ways? or whither do you steer? What +is your kin, whence your habitation? Is it peace or arms you carry +hither?' Then from the lofty stern lord Aeneas thus speaks, stretching +forth in his hand an olive bough of peace-bearing: + +'Thou seest men born of Troy and arms hostile to the Latins, who have +driven us to flight in insolent warfare. We seek Evander; carry this +message, and tell him that chosen men of the Dardanian captains are come +pleading for an armed alliance.' + +Pallas stood amazed at the august name. 'Descend,' [122-154]he cries, +'whoso thou art, and speak with my father face to face, and enter our +home and hospitality.' And giving him the grasp of welcome, he caught +and clung to his hand. Advancing, they enter the grove and leave the +river. Then Aeneas in courteous words addresses the King: + +'Best of the Grecian race, thou whom fortune hath willed that I +supplicate, holding before me boughs dressed in fillets, no fear stayed +me because thou wert a Grecian chief and an Arcadian, or allied by +descent to the twin sons of Atreus. Nay, mine own prowess and the +sanctity of divine oracles, our ancestral kinship, and the fame of thee +that is spread abroad over the earth, have allied me to thee and led me +willingly on the path of fate. Dardanus, who sailed to the Teucrian +land, the first father and founder of the Ilian city, was born, as +Greeks relate, of Electra the Atlantid; Electra's sire is ancient Atlas, +whose shoulder sustains the heavenly spheres. Your father is Mercury, +whom white Maia conceived and bore on the cold summit of Cyllene; but +Maia, if we give any credence to report, is daughter of Atlas, that same +Atlas who bears up the starry heavens; so both our families branch from +a single blood. In this confidence I sent no embassy, I framed no crafty +overtures; myself I have presented mine own person, and come a suppliant +to thy courts. The same Daunian race pursues us and thee in merciless +warfare; we once expelled, they trust nothing will withhold them from +laying all Hesperia wholly beneath their yoke, and holding the seas that +wash it above and below. Accept and return our friendship. We can give +brave hearts in war, high souls and men approved in deeds.' + +Aeneas ended. The other ere now scanned in a long gaze the face and eyes +and all the form of the speaker; then thus briefly returns: + +'How gladly, bravest of the Teucrians, do I hail and [155-188]own thee! +how I recall thy father's words and the very tone and glance of great +Anchises! For I remember how Priam son of Laomedon, when he sought +Salamis on his way to the realm of his sister Hesione, went on to visit +the cold borders of Arcadia. Then early youth clad my cheeks with bloom. +I admired the Teucrian captains, admired their lord, the son of +Laomedon; but Anchises moved high above them all. My heart burned with +youthful passion to accost him and clasp hand in hand; I made my way to +him, and led him eagerly to Pheneus' high town. Departing he gave me an +adorned quiver and Lycian arrows, a scarf inwoven with gold, and a pair +of golden bits that now my Pallas possesses. Therefore my hand is +already joined in the alliance you seek, and soon as to-morrow's dawn +rises again over earth, I will send you away rejoicing in mine aid, and +supply you from my store. Meanwhile, since you are come hither in +friendship, solemnise with us these yearly rites which we may not defer, +and even now learn to be familiar at your comrades' board.' + +This said, he commands the feast and the wine-cups to be replaced whence +they were taken, and with his own hand ranges them on the grassy seat, +and welcomes Aeneas to the place of honour, with a lion's shaggy fell +for cushion and a hospitable chair of maple. Then chosen men with the +priest of the altar in emulous haste bring roasted flesh of bulls, and +pile baskets with the gift of ground corn, and serve the wine. Aeneas +and the men of Troy with him feed on the long chines of oxen and the +entrails of the sacrifice. + +After hunger is driven away and the desire of food stayed, King Evander +speaks: 'No idle superstition that knows not the gods of old hath +ordered these our solemn rites, this customary feast, this altar of +august sanctity; saved from bitter perils, O Trojan guest, do we +worship, and [189-225]most due are the rites we inaugurate. Look now +first on this overhanging cliff of stone, where shattered masses lie +strewn, and the mountain dwelling stands desolate, and rocks are rent +away in vast ruin. Here was a cavern, awful and deep-withdrawn, +impenetrable to the sunbeams, where the monstrous half-human shape of +Cacus had his hold: the ground was ever wet with fresh slaughter, and +pallid faces of men, ghastly with gore, hung nailed on the haughty +doors. This monster was the son of Vulcan, and spouted his black fires +from his mouth as he moved in giant bulk. To us also in our desire time +bore a god's aid and arrival. For princely Alcides the avenger came +glorious in the spoils of triple Geryon slain; this way the Conqueror +drove the huge bulls, and his oxen filled the river valley. But savage +Cacus, infatuate to leave nothing undared or unhandled in craft or +crime, drives four bulls of choice shape away from their pasturage, and +as many heifers of excellent beauty. And these, that there should be no +straightforward footprints, he dragged by the tail into his cavern, the +track of their compelled path reversed, and hid them behind the screen +of rock. No marks were there to lead a seeker to the cavern. Meanwhile +the son of Amphitryon, his herds filled with food, was now breaking up +his pasturage and making ready to go. The oxen low as they depart; all +the woodland is filled with their complaint as they clamorously quit the +hills. One heifer returned the cry, and, lowing from the depth of the +dreary cave, baffled the hope of Cacus from her imprisonment. At this +the grief and choler of Alcides blazed forth dark and infuriate. Seizing +in his hand his club of heavy knotted oak, he seeks with swift pace the +aery mountain steep. Then, as never before, did we see Cacus afraid and +his countenance troubled; he goes flying swifter than the wind and seeks +his cavern; fear wings his feet. As he shut himself in, and, bursting +the [226-260]chains, dropped the vast rock slung in iron by his +father's craft, and blocked the doorway with its pressure, lo! the +Tirynthian came in furious wrath, and, scanning all the entry, turned +his face this way and that and ground his teeth. Thrice, hot with rage, +he circles all Mount Aventine; thrice he assails the rocky portals in +vain; thrice he sinks down outwearied in the valley. There stood a sharp +rock of flint with sides cut sheer away, rising over the cavern's ridge +a vast height to see, fit haunt for foul birds to build on. This--for, +sloping from the ridge, it leaned on the left towards the river--he +loosened, urging it from the right till he tore it loose from its deep +foundations; then suddenly shook it free; with the shock the vast sky +thunders, the banks leap apart, and the amazed river recoils. But the +den, Cacus' huge palace, lay open and revealed, and the depths of gloomy +cavern were made manifest; even as though some force tearing earth apart +should unlock the infernal house, and disclose the pallid realms +abhorred of heaven, and deep down the monstrous gulf be descried where +the ghosts flutter in the streaming daylight. On him then, surprised in +unexpected light, shut in the rock's recesses and howling in strange +fashion, Alcides from above hurls missiles and calls all his arms to +aid, and presses hard on him with boughs and enormous millstones. And +he, for none other escape from peril is left, vomits from his throat +vast jets of smoke, wonderful to tell, and enwreathes his dwelling in +blind gloom, blotting view from the eyes, while in the cave's depth +night thickens with smoke-bursts in a darkness shot with fire. Alcides +broke forth in anger, and with a bound hurled himself sheer amid the +flames, where the smoke rolls billowing and voluminous, and the cloud +surges black through the enormous den. Here, as Cacus in the darkness +spouts forth his idle fires, he grasps and twines tight round him, till +his eyes start out and his throat [261-295]is drained of blood under +the strangling pressure. Straightway the doors are torn open and the +dark house laid plain; the stolen oxen and forsworn plunder are shewn +forth to heaven, and the misshapen carcase dragged forward by the feet. +Men cannot satisfy their soul with gazing on the terrible eyes, the +monstrous face and shaggy bristling chest, and the throat with its +quenched fires. Thenceforth this sacrifice is solemnised, and a younger +race have gladly kept the day; Potitius the inaugurator, and the +Pinarian family, guardians of the rites of Hercules, have set in the +grove this altar, which shall ever be called of us Most Mighty, and +shall be our mightiest evermore. Wherefore arise, O men, and enwreathe +your hair with leafy sprays, and stretch forth the cups in your hands; +call on our common god and pour the glad wine.' He ended; when the +twy-coloured poplar of Hercules hid his shaded hair with pendulous +plaited leaf, and the sacred goblet filled his hand. Speedily all pour +glad libation on the board, and supplicate the gods. + +Meanwhile the evening star draws nigher down the slope of heaven, and +now the priests went forth, Potitius at their head, girt with skins +after their fashion, and bore torches aflame. They renew the banquet, +and bring the grateful gift of a second repast, and heap the altars with +loaded platters. Then the Salii stand round the lit altar-fires to sing, +their brows bound with poplar boughs, one chorus of young men, one of +elders, and extol in song the praises and deeds of Hercules; how first +he strangled in his gripe the twin terrors, the snakes of his +stepmother; how he likewise shattered in war famous cities, Troy and +Oechalia; how under Eurystheus the King he bore the toil of a thousand +labours by Juno's malign decrees. Thine hand, unconquered, slays the +cloud-born double-bodied race, Hylaeus and Pholus, the Cretan monster, +and the huge lion in the hollow Nemean rock. Before thee the Stygian +pools [296-329]shook for fear, before thee the warder of hell, couched +on half-gnawn bones in his blood-stained cavern; to thee not any form +was terrible, not Typhoeus' self towering in arms; thou wast not bereft +of counsel when the snake of Lerna encompassed thee with thronging +heads. Hail, true seed of Jove, deified glory! graciously visit us and +these thy rites with favourable feet. Such are their songs of praise; +they crown all with the cavern of Cacus and its fire-breathing lord. All +the woodland echoes with their clamour, and the hills resound. + +Thence all at once, the sacred rites accomplished, retrace their way to +the city. The age-worn King walked holding Aeneas and his son by his +side for companions on his way, and lightened the road with changing +talk. Aeneas admires and turns his eyes lightly round about, pleased +with the country; and gladly on spot after spot inquires and hears of +the memorials of earlier men. Then King Evander, founder of the fortress +of Rome: + +'In these woodlands dwelt Fauns and Nymphs sprung of the soil, and a +tribe of men born of stocks and hard oak; who had neither law nor grace +of life, nor did they know to yoke bulls or lay up stores or save their +gains, but were nurtured by the forest boughs and the hard living of the +huntsman. Long ago Saturn came from heaven on high in flight before +Jove's arms, an exile from his lost realm. He gathered together the +unruly race scattered on the mountain heights, and gave them statutes, +and chose Latium to be their name, since in these borders he had found a +safe hiding-place. Beneath his reign were the ages named of gold; thus, +in peace and quietness, did he rule the nations; till gradually there +crept in a sunken and stained time, the rage of war, and the lust of +possession. Then came the Ausonian clan and the tribes of Sicania, and +many a time the land of Saturn put away her name. Then were kings, +[330-364]and fierce Thybris with his giant bulk, from whose name we of +Italy afterwards called the Tiber river, when it lost the true name of +old, Albula. Me, cast out from my country and following the utmost +limits of the sea, Fortune the omnipotent and irreversible doom settled +in this region; and my mother the Nymph Carmentis' awful warnings and +Apollo's divine counsel drove me hither.' + +Scarce was this said; next advancing he points out the altar and the +Carmental Gate, which the Romans call anciently by that name in honour +of the Nymph Carmentis, seer and soothsayer, who sang of old the coming +greatness of the Aeneadae and the glory of Pallanteum. Next he points +out the wide grove where valiant Romulus set his sanctuary, and the +Lupercal in the cool hollow of the rock, dedicate to Lycean Pan after +the manner of Parrhasia. Therewithal he shows the holy wood of +Argiletum, and calls the spot to witness as he tells the slaying of his +guest Argus. Hence he leads him to the Tarpeian house, and the Capitol +golden now, of old rough with forest thickets. Even then men trembled +before the wood and rock. 'This grove,' he cries, 'this hill with its +leafy crown, is a god's dwelling, though whose we know not; the +Arcadians believe Jove himself hath been visible, when often he shook +the darkening aegis in his hand and gathered the storm-clouds. Thou +seest these two towns likewise with walls overthrown, relics and +memorials of men of old. This fortress lord Janus built, this Saturn; +the name of this was once Janiculum, of that Saturnia.' + +With such mutual words they drew nigh the house of poor Evander, and saw +scattered herds lowing on the Roman Forum and down the gay Carinae. When +they reached his dwelling, 'This threshold,' he cries, 'Alcides the +Conqueror stooped to cross; in this palace he rested. Dare thou, my +guest, to despise riches; mould thyself to [365-396]like dignity of +godhead, and come not exacting to our poverty.' He spoke, and led tall +Aeneas under the low roof of his narrow dwelling, and laid him on a +couch of stuffed leaves and the skin of a Libyan she-bear. Night falls +and clasps the earth in her dusky wings. + +But Venus, stirred in spirit by no vain mother's alarms, and moved by +the threats and stern uprisal of the Laurentines, addresses herself to +Vulcan, and in her golden bridal chamber begins thus, breathing divine +passion in her speech: + +'While Argolic kings wasted in war the doomed towers of Troy, the +fortress fated to fall in hostile fires, no succour did I require for +her wretched people, no weapons of thine art and aid: nor would I task, +dear my lord, thee or thy toils for naught, though I owed many and many +a debt to the children of Priam, and had often wept the sore labour of +Aeneas. Now by Jove's commands he hath set foot in the Rutulian borders; +I now therefore come with entreaty, and ask armour of the god I worship. +For the son she bore, the tears of Nereus' daughter, of Tithonus' +consort, could melt thine heart. Look what nations are gathering, what +cities bar their gates and sharpen the sword against me for the +desolation of my children.' + +The goddess ended, and, as he hesitates, clasps him round in the soft +embrace of her snowy arms. He suddenly caught the wonted flame, and the +heat known of old pierced him to the heart and overran his melting +frame: even as when, bursting from the thunder peal, a sparkling cleft +of fire shoots through the storm-clouds with dazzling light. His consort +knew, rejoiced in her wiles, and felt her beauty. Then her lord speaks, +enchained by Love the immortal: + +'Why these far-fetched pleas? Whither, O goddess, is thy trust in me +gone? Had like distress been thine, [397-431]even then we might +unblamed have armed thy Trojans, nor did doom nor the Lord omnipotent +forbid Troy to stand, and Priam to survive yet ten other years. And now, +if thou purposest war, and this is thy counsel, whatever charge I can +undertake in my craft, in aught that may be made of iron or molten +electrum, whatever fire and air can do, cease thou to entreat as +doubtful of thy strength.' These words spoken, he clasped his wife in +the desired embrace, and, sinking in her lap, wooed quiet slumber to +overspread his limbs. + +Thereon, so soon as sleep, now in mid-career of waning night, had given +rest and gone; soon as a woman, whose task is to sustain life with her +distaff and the slender labours of the loom, kindles the ashes of her +slumbering fire, her toil encroaching on the night, and sets a long task +of fire-lit spinning to her maidens, that so she may keep her husband's +bed unsullied and nourish her little children,--even so the Lord of +Fire, nor slacker in his hours than she, rises from his soft couch to +the work of his smithy. An island rises by the side of Sicily and +Aeolian Lipare, steep with smoking cliffs, whereunder the vaulted and +thunderous Aetnean caverns are hollowed out for Cyclopean forges, the +strong strokes on the anvils echo in groans, ore of steel hisses in the +vaults, and the fire pants in the furnaces: the house of Vulcan, and +Vulcania the land's name. Hither now the Lord of Fire descends from +heaven's height. In the vast cavern the Cyclopes were forging iron, +Brontes and Steropes and Pyracmon with bared limbs. Shaped in their +hands was a thunderbolt, in part already polished, such as the Father of +Heaven hurls down on earth in multitudes, part yet unfinished. Three +coils of frozen rain, three of watery mist they had enwrought in it, +three of ruddy fire and winged south wind; now they were mingling in +their work the awful splendours, the sound and terror, and the +[432-469]angry pursuing flames. Elsewhere they hurried on a chariot for +Mars with flying wheels, wherewith he stirs up men and cities; and +burnished the golden serpent-scales of the awful aegis, the armour of +wrathful Pallas, and the entwined snakes on the breast of the goddess, +the Gorgon head with severed neck and rolling eyes. 'Away with all!' he +cries: 'stop your tasks unfinished, Cyclopes of Aetna, and attend to +this; a warrior's armour must be made. Now must strength, now quickness +of hand be tried, now all our art lend her guidance. Fling off delay.' +He spoke no more; but they all bent rapidly to the work, allotting their +labours equally. Brass and ore of gold flow in streams, and wounding +steel is molten in the vast furnace. They shape a mighty shield, to +receive singly all the weapons of the Latins, and weld it sevenfold, +circle on circle. Some fill and empty the windy bellows of their blast, +some dip the hissing brass in the trough. They raise their arms mightily +in responsive time, and turn the mass of metal about in the grasp of +their tongs. + +While the lord of Lemnos is busied thus in the borders of Aeolia, +Evander is roused from his low dwelling by the gracious daylight and the +matin songs of birds from the eaves. The old man arises, and draws on +his body raiment, and ties the Tyrrhene shoe latchets about his feet; +then buckles to his side and shoulder his Tegeaean sword, and swathes +himself in a panther skin that droops upon his left. Therewithal two +watch-dogs go before him from the high threshold, and accompany their +master's steps. The hero sought his guest Aeneas in the privacy of his +dwelling, mindful of their talk and his promised bounty. Nor did Aeneas +fail to be astir with the dawn. With the one went his son Pallas, +with the other Achates. They meet and clasp hands, and, sitting down +within the house, at length enjoy unchecked converse. The King begins +thus: . . . + +[470-505]'Princely chief of the Teucrians, in whose lifetime I will +never allow the state or realm of Troy vanquished, our strength is scant +to succour in war for so great a name. On this side the Tuscan river +shuts us in; on that the Rutulian drives us hard, and thunders in arms +about our walls. But I purpose to unite to thee mighty peoples and the +camp of a wealthy realm; an unforeseen chance offers this for thy +salvation. Fate summons thy approach. Not far from here stands fast +Agylla city, an ancient pile of stone, where of old the Lydian race, +eminent in war, settled on the Etruscan ridges. For many years it +flourished, till King Mezentius ruled it with insolent sway and armed +terror. Why should I relate the horrible murders, the savage deeds of +the monarch? May the gods keep them in store for himself and his line! +Nay, he would even link dead bodies to living, fitting hand to hand and +face to face (the torture!), and in the oozy foulness and corruption of +the dreadful embrace so slay them by a lingering death. But at last his +citizens, outwearied by his mad excesses, surround him and his house in +arms, cut down his comrades, and hurl fire on his roof. Amid the +massacre he escaped to the refuge of Rutulian land and the armed defence +of Turnus' friendship. So all Etruria hath risen in righteous fury, and +in immediate battle claim their king for punishment. Over these +thousands will I make thee chief, O Aeneas; for their noisy ships crowd +all the shore, and they bid the standards advance, while the aged +diviner stays them with prophecies: "O chosen men of Maeonia, flower and +strength of them, of old time, whom righteous anger urges on the enemy, +and Mezentius inflames with deserved wrath, to no Italian is it +permitted to hold this great nation in control: choose foreigners to +lead you." At that, terrified by the divine warning, the Etruscan lines +have encamped on the plain; Tarchon himself hath sent ambassadors to me +with the crown [506-539]and sceptre of the kingdom, and offers the +royal attire will I but enter their camp and take the Tyrrhene realm. +But old age, frozen to dulness, and exhausted with length of life, +denies me the load of empire, and my prowess is past its day. I would +urge it on my son, did not the mixture of blood by his Sabellian mother +make this half his native land. Thou, to whose years and race alike the +fates extend their favour, on whom fortune calls, enter thou in, a +leader supreme in bravery over Teucrians and Italians. Mine own Pallas +likewise, our hope and comfort, I will send with thee; let him grow used +to endure warfare and the stern work of battle under thy teaching, to +regard thine actions, and from his earliest years look up to thee. To +him will I give two hundred Arcadian cavalry, the choice of our warlike +strength, and Pallas as many more to thee in his own name.' + +Scarce had he ended; Aeneas, son of Anchises, and trusty Achates gazed +with steadfast face, and, sad at heart, were revolving inly many a +labour, had not the Cytherean sent a sign from the clear sky. For +suddenly a flash and peal comes quivering from heaven, and all seemed in +a moment to totter, and the Tyrrhene trumpet-blast to roar along the +sky. They look up; again and yet again the heavy crash re-echoes. They +see in the serene space of sky armour gleam red through a cloud in the +clear air, and ring clashing out. The others stood in amaze; but the +Trojan hero knew the sound for the promise of his goddess mother; then +he speaks: 'Ask not, O friend, ask not in any wise what fortune this +presage announces; it is I who am summoned of heaven. This sign the +goddess who bore me foretold she would send if war assailed, and would +bring through the air to my succour armour from Vulcan's hands. . . . +Ah, what slaughter awaits the wretched Laurentines! what a price, O +Turnus, wilt thou pay me! how many shields and helmets and brave bodies +of men shalt thou, [540-573]Lord Tiber, roll under thy waves! Let them +call for armed array and break the league!' + +These words uttered, he rises from the high seat, and first wakes with +fresh fire the slumbering altars of Hercules, and gladly draws nigh his +tutelar god of yesternight and the small deities of the household. Alike +Evander, and alike the men of Troy, offer up, as is right, choice sheep +of two years old. Thereafter he goes to the ships and revisits his crew, +of whose company he chooses the foremost in valour to attend him to war; +the rest glide down the water and float idly with the descending stream, +to come with news to Ascanius of his father's state. They give horses to +the Teucrians who seek the fields of Tyrrhenia; a chosen one is brought +for Aeneas, housed in a tawny lion skin that glitters with claws of +gold. Rumour flies suddenly, spreading over the little town, that they +ride in haste to the courts of the Tyrrhene king. Mothers redouble their +prayers in terror, as fear treads closer on peril and the likeness of +the War God looms larger in sight. Then Evander, clasping the hand of +his departing son, clings to him weeping inconsolably, and speaks thus: + +'Oh, if Jupiter would restore me the years that are past, as I was when, +close under Praeneste, I cut down their foremost ranks and burned the +piled shields of the conquered! Then this right hand sent King Erulus +down to hell, though to him at his birth his mother Feronia (awful to +tell) had given three lives and triple arms to wield; thrice must he be +laid low in death; yet then this hand took all his lives and as often +stripped him of his arms. Never should I now, O son, be severed from thy +dear embrace; never had the insolent sword of Mezentius on my borders +dealt so many cruel deaths, widowed the city of so many citizens. But +you, O heavenly powers, and thou, Jupiter, Lord and Governor of Heaven, +have compassion, I pray, on [574-609]the Arcadian king, and hear a +father's prayers. If your deity and decrees keep my Pallas safe for me, +if I live that I may see him and meet him yet, I pray for life; any toil +soever I have patience to endure. But if, O Fortune, thou threatenest +some dread calamity, now, ah now, may I break off a cruel life, while +anxiety still wavers and expectation is in doubt, while thou, dear boy, +my one last delight, art yet clasped in my embrace; let no bitterer +message wound mine ear.' These words the father poured forth at the +final parting; his servants bore him swooning within. + +And now the cavalry had issued from the open gates, Aeneas and trusty +Achates among the foremost, then other of the Trojan princes, Pallas +conspicuous amid the column in scarf and inlaid armour; like the Morning +Star, when, newly washed in the ocean wave, he shews his holy face in +heaven, and melts the darkness away. Fearful mothers stand on the walls +and follow with their eyes the cloud of dust and the squadrons gleaming +in brass. They, where the goal of their way lies nearest, bear through +the brushwood in armed array. Forming in column, they advance noisily, +and the horse hoof shakes the crumbling plain with four-footed +trampling. There is a high grove by the cold river of Caere, widely +revered in ancestral awe; sheltering hills shut it in all about and +girdle the woodland with their dark firs. Rumour is that the old +Pelasgians, who once long ago held the Latin borders, consecrated the +grove and its festal day to Silvanus, god of the tilth and flock. Not +far from it Tarchon and his Tyrrhenians were encamped in a protected +place; and now from the hill-top the tents of all their army might be +seen outspread on the fields. Lord Aeneas and his chosen warriors draw +hither and refresh their weary horses and limbs. + +But Venus the white goddess drew nigh, bearing her gifts through the +clouds of heaven; and when she saw her [610-646]son withdrawn far apart +in the valley's recess by the cold river, cast herself in his way, and +addressed him thus: 'Behold perfected the presents of my husband's +promised craftsmanship: so shalt thou not shun, O my child, soon to +challenge the haughty Laurentines or fiery Turnus to battle.' The +Cytherean spoke, and sought her son's embrace, and laid the armour +glittering under an oak over against him. He, rejoicing in the +magnificence of the goddess' gift, cannot have his fill of turning his +eyes over it piece by piece, and admires and handles between his arms +the helmet, dread with plumes and spouting flame, as when a blue cloud +takes fire in the sunbeams and gleams afar; then the smooth greaves of +electrum and refined gold, the spear, and the shield's ineffable design. +There the Lord of Fire had fashioned the story of Italy and the triumphs +of the Romans, not witless of prophecy or ignorant of the age to be; +there all the race of Ascanius' future seed, and their wars fought one +by one. Likewise had he fashioned the she-wolf couched after the birth +in the green cave of Mars; round her teats the twin boys hung playing, +and fearlessly mouthed their foster-mother; she, with round neck bent +back, stroked them by turns and shaped their bodies with her tongue. +Thereto not far from this he had set Rome and the lawless rape of the +Sabines in the concourse of the theatre when the great Circensian games +were celebrated, and a fresh war suddenly arising between the people of +Romulus and aged Tatius and austere Cures. Next these same kings laid +down their mutual strife and stood armed before Jove's altar with cup in +hand, and joined treaty over a slain sow. Not far from there four-horse +chariots driven apart had torn Mettus asunder (but thou, O Alban, +shouldst have kept by thy words!), and Tullus tore the flesh of the liar +through the forest, his splashed blood dripping from the briars. +Therewithal Porsena commanded [647-681]to admit the exiled Tarquin, and +held the city in the grasp of a strong blockade; the Aeneadae rushed on +the sword for liberty. Him thou couldst espy like one who chafes and +like one who threatens, because Cocles dared to tear down the bridge, +and Cloelia broke her bonds and swam the river. Highest of all Manlius, +warder of the Tarpeian fortress, stood with the temple behind him and +held the high Capitoline; and the thatch of Romulus' palace stood rough +and fresh. And here the silver goose, fluttering in the gilded +colonnades, cried that the Gauls were there on the threshold. The Gauls +were there among the brushwood, hard on the fortress, secure in the +darkness and the dower of shadowy night. Their clustering locks are of +gold, and of gold their attire; their striped cloaks glitter, and their +milk-white necks are entwined with gold. Two Alpine pikes sparkle in the +hand of each, and long shields guard their bodies. Here he had embossed +the dancing Salii and the naked Luperci, the crests wreathed in wool, +and the sacred shields that fell from heaven; in cushioned cars the +virtuous matrons led on their rites through the city. Far hence he adds +the habitations of hell also, the high gates of Dis and the dooms of +guilt; and thee, O Catiline, clinging on the beetling rock, and +shuddering at the faces of the Furies; and far apart the good, and Cato +delivering them statutes. Amidst it all flows wide the likeness of the +swelling sea, wrought in gold, though the foam surged gray upon blue +water; and round about dolphins, in shining silver, swept the seas with +their tails in circle as they cleft the tide. In the centre were visible +the brazen war-fleets of Actium; thou mightest see all Leucate swarm in +embattled array, and the waves gleam with gold. Here Caesar Augustus, +leading Italy to battle with Fathers and People, with gods of household +and of state, stands on the lofty stern; prosperous flames jet round his +brow, and his [682-715]ancestral star dawns overhead. Elsewhere +Agrippa, with favouring winds and gods, proudly leads on his column; on +his brows glitters the prow-girt naval crown, the haughty emblazonment +of the war. Here Antonius with barbarian aid and motley arms, from the +conquered nations of the Dawn and the shore of the southern sea, carries +with him Egypt and the Eastern forces of utmost Bactra, and the shameful +Egyptian woman goes as his consort. All at once rush on, and the whole +ocean is torn into foam by straining oars and triple-pointed prows. They +steer to sea; one might think that the Cyclades were uptorn and floated +on the main, or that lofty mountains clashed with mountains, so mightily +do their crews urge on the turreted ships. Flaming tow and the winged +steel of darts shower thickly from their hands; the fields of ocean +redden with fresh slaughter. Midmost the Queen calls on her squadron +with the timbrel of her country, nor yet casts back a glance on the twin +snakes behind her. Howling Anubis, and gods monstrous and multitudinous, +level their arms against Neptune and Venus and against Minerva; Mars +rages amid the havoc, graven in iron, and the Fatal Sisters hang aloft, +and Discord strides rejoicing with garment rent, and Bellona attends her +with blood-stained scourge. Looking thereon, Actian Apollo above drew +his bow; with the terror of it all Egypt and India, every Arab and +Sabaean, turned back in flight. The Queen herself seemed to call the +winds and spread her sails, and even now let her sheets run slack. Her +the Lord of Fire had fashioned amid the carnage, wan with the shadow of +death, borne along by the waves and the north-west wind; and over +against her the vast bulk of mourning Nile, opening out his folds and +calling with all his raiment the conquered people into his blue lap and +the coverture of his streams. But Caesar rode into the city of Rome in +triple triumph, and dedicated his vowed [716-731]offering to the gods +to stand for ever, three hundred stately shrines all about the city. The +streets were loud with gladness and games and shouting. In all the +temples was a band of matrons, in all were altars, and before the altars +slain steers strewed the ground. Himself he sits on the snowy threshold +of Phoebus the bright, reviews the gifts of the nations and ranges them +on the haughty doors. The conquered tribes move in long line, diverse as +in tongue, so in fashion of dress and armour. Here Mulciber had designed +the Nomad race and the ungirt Africans, here the Leleges and Carians and +archer Gelonians. Euphrates went by now with smoother waves, and the +Morini utmost of men, and the hornèd Rhine, the untamed Dahae, and +Araxes chafing under his bridge. + +These things he admires on the shield of Vulcan, his mother's gift, and +rejoicing in the portraiture of unknown history, lifts on his shoulder +the destined glories of his children. + + + + +BOOK NINTH + +THE SIEGE OF THE TROJAN CAMP + + +And while thus things pass far in the distance, Juno daughter of Saturn +sent Iris down the sky to gallant Turnus, then haply seated in his +forefather Pilumnus' holy forest dell. To him the child of Thaumas spoke +thus with roseate lips: + +'Turnus, what no god had dared promise to thy prayer, behold, is brought +unasked by the circling day. Aeneas hath quitted town and comrades and +fleet to seek Evander's throne and Palatine dwelling-place. Nor is it +enough; he hath pierced to Corythus' utmost cities, and is mustering in +arms a troop of Lydian rustics. Why hesitate? now, now is the time to +call for chariot and horses. Break through all hindrance and seize the +bewildered camp.' + +She spoke, and rose into the sky on poised wings, and flashed under the +clouds in a long flying bow. He knew her, and lifting either hand to +heaven, with this cry pursued her flight: 'Iris, grace of the sky, who +hath driven thee down the clouds to me and borne thee to earth? Whence +is this sudden sheen of weather? I see the sky parting asunder, and the +wandering stars in the firmament. I follow the high omen, whoso thou art +that callest me to arms.' And with these words he drew nigh the wave, +and [23-58]caught up water from its brimming eddy, making many prayers +to the gods and burdening the air with vows. + +And now all the army was advancing on the open plain, rich in horses, +rich in raiment of broidered gold. Messapus rules the foremost ranks, +the sons of Tyrrheus the rear. Turnus commands the centre: even as +Ganges rising high in silence when his seven streams are still, or the +rich flood of Nile when he ebbs from the plains, and is now sunk into +his channel. On this the Teucrians descry a sudden cloud of dark dust +gathering, and the blackness rising on the plain. Caïcus raises a cry +from the mound in front: 'What mass of misty gloom, O citizens, is +rolling hitherward? to arms in haste! serve out weapons, climb the +walls. The enemy approaches, ho!' With mighty clamour the Teucrians pour +in through all the gates and fill the works. For so at his departure +Aeneas the great captain had enjoined; were aught to chance meanwhile, +they should not venture to range their line or trust the plain, but keep +their camp and the safety of the entrenched walls. So, though shame and +wrath beckon them on to battle, they yet bar the gates and do his +bidding, and await the foe armed and in shelter of the towers. Turnus, +who had flown forward in advance of his tardy column, comes up suddenly +to the town with a train of twenty chosen cavalry, borne on a Thracian +horse dappled with white, and covered by a golden helmet with scarlet +plume. 'Who will be with me, my men, to be first on the foe? See!' he +cries; and sends a javelin spinning into the air to open battle, and +advances towering on the plain. His comrades take up the cry, and follow +with dreadful din, wondering at the Teucrians' coward hearts, that they +issue not on even field nor face them in arms, but keep in shelter of +the camp. Hither and thither he rides furiously, tracing the walls, and +seeking entrance where way is none. And as a wolf prowling [59-92]about +some crowded sheepfold, when, beaten sore of winds and rains, he howls +at the pens by midnight; safe beneath their mothers the lambs keep +bleating on; he, savage and insatiate, rages in anger against the flock +he cannot reach, tired by the long-gathering madness for food, and the +throat unslaked with blood: even so the Rutulian, as he gazes on the +walled camp, kindles in anger, and indignation is hot in his iron frame. +By what means may he essay entrance? by what passage hurl the imprisoned +Trojans from the rampart and fling them on the plain? Close under the +flanking camp lay the fleet, fenced about with mounds and the waters of +the river; it he attacks, and calls for fire to his exultant comrades, +and eagerly catches a blazing pine-torch in his hand. Then indeed they +press on, quickened by Turnus' presence, and all the band arm them with +black faggots. The hearth-fires are plundered; the smoky brand trails a +resinous glare, and the Fire-god sends clouds of glowing ashes upward. + +What god, O Muses, guarded the Trojans from the rage of the fire? who +repelled the fierce flame from their ships? Tell it; ancient is the +assurance thereof, but the fame everlasting. What time Aeneas began to +shape his fleet on Phrygian Ida, and prepared to seek the high seas, the +Berecyntian, they say, the very Mother of gods, spoke to high Jove in +these words: 'Grant, O son, to my prayer, what her dearness claims who +bore thee and laid Olympus under thy feet. My pine forest beloved of me +these many years, my grove was on the mountain's crown, whither men bore +my holy things, dim with dusky pine and pillared maples. These, when he +required a fleet, I gave gladly to the Dardanian; now fear wrings me +with sharp distress. Relieve my terrors, and grant a mother's prayers +such power that they may yield to no stress of voyaging or of stormy +gust: be birth on our hills their avail.' + +[93-126]Thus her son in answer, who wheels the starry worlds: 'O +mother, whither callest thou fate? or what dost thou seek for these of +thine? May hulls have the right of immortality that were fashioned by +mortal hand? and may Aeneas traverse perils secure in insecurity? To +what god is power so great given? Nay, but when, their duty done, they +shall lie at last in their Ausonian haven, from all that have outgone +the waves and borne their Dardanian captain to the fields of Laurentum, +will I take their mortal body, and bid them be goddesses of the mighty +deep, even as Doto the Nereïd and Galatea, when they cut the sea that +falls away from their breasts in foam.' He ended; and by his brother's +Stygian streams, by the banks of the pitchy black-boiling chasm he +nodded confirmation, and shook all Olympus with his nod. + +So the promised day was come, and the destinies had fulfilled their due +time, when Turnus' injury stirred the Mother to ward the brands from her +holy ships. First then a strange light flashed on all eyes, and a great +glory from the Dawn seemed to dart over the sky, with the choirs of Ida; +then an awful voice fell through air, filling the Trojan and Rutulian +ranks: 'Disquiet not yourselves, O Teucrians, to guard ships of mine, +neither arm your hands: sooner shall Turnus burn the seas than these +holy pines. You, go free; go, goddesses of the sea; the Mother bids it.' +And immediately each ship breaks the bond that held it, as with dipping +prows they plunge like dolphins deep into the water: from it again (O +wonderful and strange!) they rise with maidens' faces in like number, +and bear out to sea. + +The Rutulians stood dumb: Messapus himself is terror-stricken among his +disordered cavalry; even the stream of Tiber pauses with hoarse murmur, +and recoils from sea. But bold Turnus fails not a whit in confidence; +nay, he [127-158]raises their courage with words, nay, he chides them: +'On the Trojans are these portents aimed; Jupiter himself hath bereft +them of their wonted succour; nor do they abide Rutulian sword and fire. +So are the seas pathless for the Teucrians, nor is there any hope in +flight; they have lost half their world. And we hold the land: in all +their thousands the nations of Italy are under arms. In no wise am I +dismayed by those divine oracles of doom the Phrygians insolently +advance. Fate and Venus are satisfied, in that the Trojans have touched +our fruitful Ausonian fields. I too have my fate in reply to theirs, to +put utterly to the sword the guilty nation who have robbed me of my +bride; not the sons of Atreus alone are touched by that pain, nor may +Mycenae only rise in arms. But to have perished once is enough! To have +sinned once should have been enough, in all but utter hatred of the +whole of womankind. Trust in the sundering rampart, and the hindrance of +their trenches, so little between them and death, gives these their +courage: yet have they not seen Troy town, the work of Neptune's hand, +sink into fire? But you, my chosen, who of you makes ready to breach +their palisade at the sword's point, and join my attack on their +fluttered camp? I have no need of Vulcanian arms, of a thousand ships, +to meet the Teucrians. All Etruria may join on with them in alliance: +nor let them fear the darkness, and the cowardly theft of their +Palladium, and the guards cut down on the fortress height. Nor will we +hide ourselves unseen in a horse's belly; in daylight and unconcealed +are we resolved to girdle their walls with flame. Not with Grecians will +I make them think they have to do, nor a Pelasgic force kept off till +the tenth year by Hector. Now, since the better part of day is spent, +for what remains refresh your bodies, glad that we have done so well, +and expect the order of battle.' + +[159-192]Meanwhile charge is given to Messapus to blockade the gates +with pickets of sentries, and encircle the works with watchfires. Twice +seven are chosen to guard the walls with Rutulian soldiery; but each +leads an hundred men, crimson-plumed and sparkling in gold. They spread +themselves about and keep alternate watch, and, lying along the grass, +drink deep and set brazen bowls atilt. The fires glow, and the sentinels +spend the night awake in games. . . . + +Down on this the Trojans look forth from the rampart, as they hold the +height in arms; withal in fearful haste they try the gates and lay +gangways from bastion to bastion, and bring up missiles. Mnestheus and +valiant Serestus speed the work, whom lord Aeneas appointed, should +misfortune call, to be rulers of the people and governors of the state. +All their battalions, sharing the lot of peril, keep watch along the +walls, and take alternate charge of all that requires defence. + +On guard at the gate was Nisus son of Hyrtacus, most valiant in arms, +whom Ida the huntress had sent in Aeneas' company with fleet javelin and +light arrows; and by his side Euryalus, fairest of all the Aeneadae and +the wearers of Trojan arms, showing on his unshaven boy's face the first +bloom of youth. These two were one in affection, and charged in battle +together; now likewise their common guard kept the gate. Nisus cries: +'Lend the gods this fervour to the soul, Euryalus? or does fatal passion +become a proper god to each? Long ere now my soul is restless to begin +some great deed of arms, and quiet peace delights it not. Thou seest how +confident in fortune the Rutulians stand. Their lights glimmer far +apart; buried in drunken sleep they have sunk to rest; silence stretches +all about. Learn then what doubt, what purpose, now rises in my spirit. +People and senate, they all cry that Aeneas [193-226]be summoned, and +men be sent to carry him tidings. If they promise what I ask in thy +name--for to me the glory of the deed is enough--methinks I can find +beneath yonder hillock a path to the walls of Pallanteum town.' + +Euryalus stood fixed, struck through with high ambition, and therewith +speaks thus to his fervid friend: 'Dost thou shun me then, Nisus, to +share thy company in highest deeds? shall I send thee alone into so +great perils? Not thus did my warrior father Opheltes rear and nurture +me amid the Argive terror and the agony of Troy, nor thus have I borne +myself by thy side while following noble Aeneas to his utmost fate. Here +is a spirit, yes here, that scorns the light of day, that deems lightly +bought at a life's price that honour to which thou dost aspire.' + +To this Nisus: 'Assuredly I had no such fear of thee; no, nor could I; +so may great Jupiter, or whoso looks on earth with equal eyes, restore +me to thee triumphant. But if haply--as thou seest often and often in so +forlorn a hope--if haply chance or deity sweep me to adverse doom, I +would have thee survive; thine age is worthier to live. Be there one to +commit me duly to earth, rescued or ransomed from the battlefield: or, +if fortune deny that, to pay me far away the rites of funeral and the +grace of a tomb. Neither would I bring such pain on thy poor mother, she +who singly of many matrons hath dared to follow her boy to the end, and +slights great Acestes' city.' + +And he: 'In vain dost thou string idle reasons; nor does my purpose +yield or change its place so soon. Let us make haste.' He speaks, and +rouses the watch; they come up, and relieve the guard; quitting their +post, he and Nisus stride on to seek the prince. + +The rest of living things over all lands were soothing their cares in +sleep, and their hearts forgot their pain; the foremost Trojan captains, +a chosen band, held council [227-261]of state upon the kingdom; what +should they do, or who would now be their messenger to Aeneas? They +stand, leaning on their long spears and grasping their shields, in mid +level of the camp. Then Nisus and Euryalus together pray with quick +urgency to be given audience; their matter is weighty and will be worth +the delay. Iülus at once heard their hurried plea, and bade Nisus speak. +Thereon the son of Hyrtacus: 'Hear, O people of Aeneas, with favourable +mind, nor regard our years in what we offer. Sunk in sleep and wine, the +Rutulians are silent; we have stealthily spied the open ground that lies +in the path through the gate next the sea. The line of fires is broken, +and their smoke rises darkly upwards. If you allow us to use the chance +towards seeking Aeneas in Pallanteum town, you will soon descry us here +at hand with the spoils of the great slaughter we have dealt. Nor shall +we miss the way we go; up the dim valleys we have seen the skirts of the +town, and learned all the river in continual hunting.' + +Thereon aged Aletes, sage in counsel: 'Gods of our fathers, under whose +deity Troy ever stands, not wholly yet do you purpose to blot out the +Trojan race, when you have brought us young honour and hearts so sure as +this.' So speaking, he caught both by shoulder and hand, with tears +showering down over face and feature. 'What guerdon shall I deem may be +given you, O men, what recompense for these noble deeds? First and +fairest shall be your reward from the gods and your own conduct; and +Aeneas the good shall speedily repay the rest, and Ascanius' fresh youth +never forget so great a service.'--'Nay,' breaks in Ascanius, 'I whose +sole safety is in my father's return, I adjure thee and him, O Nisus, by +our great household gods, by the tutelar spirit of Assaracus and hoar +Vesta's sanctuary--on your knees I lay all my fortune and trust--recall +my father; [262-296]give him back to sight; all sorrow disappears in +his recovery. I will give a pair of cups my father took in vanquished +Arisba, wrought in silver and rough with tracery, twin tripods, and two +large talents of gold, and an ancient bowl of Sidonian Dido's giving. If +it be indeed our lot to possess Italy and grasp a conquering sceptre, +and to assign the spoil; thou sawest the horse and armour of Turnus as +he went all in gold; that same horse, the shield and the ruddy plume, +will I reserve from partition, thy reward, O Nisus, even from now. My +father will give besides twelve mothers of the choicest beauty, and men +captives, all in their due array; above these, the space of meadow-land +that is now King Latinus' own domain. Thee, O noble boy, whom mine age +follows at a nearer interval, even now I welcome to all my heart, and +embrace as my companion in every fortune. No glory shall be sought for +my state without thee; whether peace or war be in conduct, my chiefest +trust for deed and word shall be in thee.' + +Answering whom Euryalus speaks thus: 'Let but the day never come to +prove me degenerate from this daring valour; fortune may fall prosperous +or adverse. But above all thy gifts, one thing I ask of thee. My poor +mother of Priam's ancient race, whom neither the Ilian land nor King +Acestes' city kept from following me forth, her I now leave in ignorance +of this danger, such as it is, and without a farewell, because--night +and thine hand be witness!--I cannot bear a parent's tears. But thou, I +pray, support her want and relieve her loneliness. Let me take with me +this hope in thee, I shall go more daringly to every fortune.' Deeply +stirred at heart, the Dardanians shed tears, fair Iülus before them all, +as the likeness of his own father's love wrung his soul. Then he speaks +thus: . . . 'Assure thyself all that is due to thy mighty enterprise; +[297-330]for she shall be a mother to me, and only in name fail to be +Creüsa; nor slight is the honour reserved for the mother of such a son. +What chance soever follow this deed, I swear by this head whereby my +father was wont to swear, what I promise to thee on thy prosperous +return shall abide the same for thy mother and kindred.' So speaks he +weeping, and ungirds from his shoulder the sword inlaid with gold, +fashioned with marvellous skill by Lycaon of Gnosus and fitly set in a +sheath of ivory. Mnestheus gives Nisus the shaggy spoils of a lion's +hide; faithful Aletes exchanges his helmet. They advance onward in arms, +and as they go all the company of captains, young and old, speed them to +the gates with vows. Likewise fair Iülus, with a man's thought and a +spirit beyond his years, gave many messages to be carried to his father. +But the breezes shred all asunder and give them unaccomplished to the +clouds. + +They issue and cross the trenches, and through the shadow of night seek +the fatal camp, themselves first to be the death of many a man. All +about they see bodies strewn along the grass in drunken sleep, chariots +atilt on the shore, the men lying among their traces and wheels, with +their armour by them, and their wine. The son of Hyrtacus began thus: +'Euryalus, now for daring hands; all invites them; here lies our way; +see thou that none raise a hand from behind against us, and keep +far-sighted watch. Here will I deal desolation, and make a broad path +for thee to follow.' So speaks he and checks his voice; therewith he +drives his sword at lordly Rhamnes, who haply on carpets heaped high was +drawing the full breath of sleep; a king himself, and King Turnus' +best-beloved augur, but not all his augury could avert his doom. Three +of his household beside him, lying carelessly among their arms, and the +armour-bearer and charioteer of Remus go [331-364]down before him, +caught at the horses' feet. Their drooping necks he severs with the +sword, then beheads their lord likewise and leaves the trunk spouting +blood; the dark warm gore soaks ground and cushions. Therewithal Lamyrus +and Lamus, and beautiful young Serranus, who that night had played long +and late, and lay with the conquering god heavy on every limb; happy, +had he played out the night, and carried his game to day! Even thus an +unfed lion riots through full sheepfolds, for the madness of hunger +urges him, and champs and rends the fleecy flock that are dumb with +fear, and roars with blood-stained mouth. Nor less is the slaughter of +Euryalus; he too rages all aflame; an unnamed multitude go down before +his path, and Fadus and Herbesus and Rhoetus and Abaris, unaware; +Rhoetus awake and seeing all, but he hid in fear behind a great bowl; +right in whose breast, as he rose close by, he plunged the sword all its +length, and drew it back heavy with death. He vomits forth the crimson +life-blood, and throws up wine mixed with blood in the death agony. The +other presses hotly on his stealthy errand, and now bent his way towards +Messapus' comrades, where he saw the last flicker of the fires go down, +and the horses tethered in order cropping the grass; when Nisus briefly +speaks thus, for he saw him carried away by excess of murderous desire; +'Let us stop; for unfriendly daylight draws nigh. Vengeance is sated to +the full; a path is cut through the enemy.' Much they leave behind, +men's armour wrought in solid silver, and bowls therewith, and beautiful +carpets. Euryalus tears away the decorations of Rhamnes and his +sword-belt embossed with gold, a gift which Caedicus, wealthiest of men +of old, sends to Remulus of Tibur when plighting friendship far away; he +on his death-bed gives them to his grandson for his own; after his death +the Rutulians captured them as spoil of war; these he fits on the +shoulders valiant [365-396]in vain, then puts on Messapus' light helmet +with its graceful plumes. They issue from the camp and make for safety. + +Meanwhile an advanced guard of cavalry were on their way from the Latin +city, while the rest of their marshalled battalions linger on the +plains, and bore a reply to King Turnus; three hundred men all under +shield, in Volscens' leading. And now they approached the camp and drew +near the wall, when they descry the two turning away by the pathway to +the left; and in the glimmering darkness of night the forgotten helmet +betrayed Euryalus, glittering as it met the light. It seemed no thing of +chance. Volscens cries aloud from his column: 'Stand, men! why on the +march, or how are you in arms? or whither hold you your way?' They offer +nothing in reply, but quicken their flight into the forest, and throw +themselves on the night. On this side and that the horsemen bar the +familiar crossways, and encircle every outlet with sentinels. The forest +spread wide in tangled thickets and dark ilex; thick growth of briars +choked it all about, and the muffled pathway glimmered in a broken +track. Hampered by the shadowy boughs and his cumbrous spoil, Euryalus +in his fright misses the line of way. Nisus gets clear; and now +unthinkingly he had passed the enemy, and the place afterwards called +Albani from Alba's name; then the deep coverts were of King Latinus' +domain; when he stopped, and looked back in vain for his lost friend. +'Euryalus, unhappy! on what ground have I left thee? or where shall I +follow, again unwinding all the entanglement of the treacherous woodland +way?' Therewith he marks and retraces his footsteps, and wanders down +the silent thickets. He hears the horses, hears the clatter and +signal-notes of the pursuers. Nor had he long to wait, when shouts reach +his ears, and he sees Euryalus, whom even now, in the perplexity of +ground and [397-431]darkness, the whole squadron have borne down in a +sudden rush, and seize in spite of all his vain struggles. What shall he +do? with what force, what arms dare his rescue? or shall he rush on his +doom amid their swords, and find in their wounds a speedy and glorious +death? Quickly he draws back his arm with poised spear, and looking up +to the moon on high, utters this prayer: 'Do thou give present aid to +our enterprise, O Latonian goddess, glory of the stars and guardian of +the woodlands: by all the gifts my father Hyrtacus ever bore for my sake +to thine altars, by all mine own hand hath added from my hunting, or +hung in thy dome, or fixed on thy holy roof, grant me to confound these +masses, and guide my javelin through the air.' He ended, and with all +the force of his body hurls the steel. The flying spear whistles through +the darkness of the night, and comes full on the shield of Sulmo, and +there snaps, and the broken shaft passes on through his heart. Spouting +a warm tide from his breast he rolls over chill in death, and his sides +throb with long-drawn gasps. Hither and thither they gaze round. Lo, he +all the fiercer was poising another weapon high by his ear; while they +hesitate, the spear went whizzing through both Tagus' temples, and +pierced and stuck fast in the warm brain. Volscens is mad with rage, and +nowhere espies the sender of the weapon, nor where to direct his fury. +'Yet meanwhile thy warm blood shalt pay me vengeance for both,' he +cries; and unsheathing his sword, he made at Euryalus. Then indeed +frantic with terror Nisus shrieks out; no longer could he shroud himself +in darkness or endure such agony. 'On me, on me, I am here, I did it, on +me turn your steel, O Rutulians! Mine is all the guilt; he dared not, +no, nor could not; to this heaven I appeal and the stars that know; he +only loved his hapless friend too well.' Such words he was uttering; but +the sword driven hard home is gone [432-464]clean through his ribs and +pierces the white breast. Euryalus rolls over in death, and the blood +runs over his lovely limbs, and his neck sinks and settles on his +shoulder; even as when a lustrous flower cut away by the plough droops +in death, or weary-necked poppies bow down their head if overweighted +with a random shower. But Nisus rushes amidst them, and alone among them +all makes at Volscens, keeps to Volscens alone: round him the foe +cluster, and on this side and that hurl him back: none the less he +presses on, and whirls his sword like lightning, till he plunges it full +in the face of the shrieking Rutulian, and slays his enemy as he dies. +Then, stabbed through and through, he flung himself above his lifeless +friend, and there at last found the quiet sleep of death. + +Happy pair! if my verse is aught of avail, no length of days shall ever +blot you from the memory of time, while the house of Aeneas shall dwell +by the Capitoline's stedfast stone, and the lord of Rome hold +sovereignty. + +The victorious Rutulians, with their spoils and the plunder regained, +bore dead Volscens weeping to the camp. Nor in the camp was the wailing +less, when Rhamnes was found a bloodless corpse, and Serranus and Numa +and all their princes destroyed in a single slaughter. Crowds throng +towards the corpses and the men wounded to death, the ground fresh with +warm slaughter and the swoln runlets of frothing blood. They mutually +recognise the spoils, Messapus' shining helmet and the decorations that +cost such sweat to win back. + +And now Dawn, leaving the saffron bed of Tithonus, scattered over earth +her fresh shafts of early light; now the sunlight streams in, now +daylight unveils the world. Turnus, himself fully armed, awakes his men +to arms, and each leader marshals to battle his brazen lines and whets +their ardour with varying rumours. Nay, pitiable sight! they +[465-499]fix on spear-points and uprear and follow with loud shouts the +heads of Euryalus and Nisus. . . . The Aeneadae stubbornly face them, +lining the left hand wall (for their right is girdled by the river), +hold the deep trenches and stand gloomily on the high towers, stirred +withal by the faces they know, alas, too well, in their dark dripping +gore. Meanwhile Rumour on fluttering wings rushes with the news through +the alarmed town and glides to the ears of Euryalus' mother. But +instantly the warmth leaves her woeful body, the shuttle starts from her +hand and the threads unroll. She darts forth in agony, and with woman's +wailing and torn hair runs distractedly towards the walls and the +foremost columns, recking naught of men, naught of peril or weapons; +thereon she fills the air with her complaint: 'Is it thus I behold thee, +O Euryalus? Couldst thou, the latest solace of mine age, leave me alone +so cruelly? nor when sent into such danger was one last word of thee +allowed thine unhappy mother? Alas, thou liest in a strange land, given +for a prey to the dogs and fowls of Latium! nor was I, thy mother, there +for chief mourner, to lay thee out or close thine eyes or wash thy +wounds, and cover thee with the garment I hastened on for thee whole +nights and days, an anxious old woman taking comfort from the loom. +Whither shall I follow? or what land now holds thy mangled corpse, thy +body torn limb from limb? Is this all of what thou wert that returns to +me, O my son? is it this I have followed by land and sea? Strike me +through of your pity, on me cast all your weapons, Rutulians; make me +the first sacrifice of your steel. Or do thou, mighty lord of heaven, be +merciful, and with thine own weapon hurl this hateful life to the nether +deep, since in no wise else may I break away from life's cruelty.' At +this weeping cry their courage falters, and a sigh of sorrow passes all +along; their strength is benumbed and broken for battle. Her, while +[500-535]her grief kindled, at Ilioneus' and weeping Iülus' bidding +Idaeus and Actor catch up and carry home in their arms. + +But the terrible trumpet-note afar rang on the shrill brass; a shout +follows, and is echoed from the sky. The Volscians hasten up in even +line under their advancing roof of shields, and set to fill up the +trenches and tear down the palisades. Some seek entrance by scaling the +walls with ladders, where the defenders' battle-line is thin, and light +shows through gaps in the ring of men. The Teucrians in return shower +weapons of every sort, and push them down with stiff poles, practised by +long warfare in their ramparts' defence: and fiercely hurl heavy stones, +so be they may break the shielded line; while they, crowded under their +shell, lightly bear all the downpour. But now they fail; for where the +vast mass presses close, the Teucrians roll a huge block tumbling down +that makes a wide gap in the Rutulians and crashes through their +armour-plating. Nor do the bold Rutulians care longer to continue the +blind fight, but strive to clear the rampart with missiles. . . . +Elsewhere in dreadful guise Mezentius brandishes his Etruscan pine and +hurls smoking brands; but Messapus, tamer of horses, seed of Neptune, +tears away the palisading and calls for ladders to the ramparts. + +Thy sisterhood, O Calliope, I pray inspire me while I sing the +destruction spread then and there by Turnus' sword, the deaths dealt +from his hand, and whom each warrior sent down to the under world; and +unroll with me the broad borders of war. + +A tower loomed vast with lofty gangways at a point of vantage; this all +the Italians strove with main strength to storm, and set all their might +and device to overthrow it; the Trojans in return defended it with +stones and hurled showers of darts through the loopholes. Turnus, +leading the attack, threw a blazing torch that caught flaming on the +[536-570]side wall; swoln by the wind, the flame seized the planking +and clung devouring to the standards. Those within, in hurry and +confusion, desire retreat from their distress; in vain; while they +cluster together and fall back to the side free from the destroyer, the +tower sinks prone under the sudden weight with a crash that thunders +through all the sky. Pierced by their own weapons, and impaled on hard +splinters of wood, they come half slain to the ground with the vast mass +behind them. Scarcely do Helenor alone and Lycus struggle out; Helenor +in his early prime, whom a slave woman of Licymnos bore in secret to the +Maeonian king, and sent to Troy in forbidden weapons, lightly armed with +sheathless sword and white unemblazoned shield. And he, when he saw +himself among Turnus' encircling thousands, ranks on this side and ranks +on this of Latins, as a wild beast which, girt with a crowded ring of +hunters, dashes at their weapons, hurls herself unblinded on death, and +comes with a bound upon the spears; even so he rushes to his death amid +the enemy, and presses on where he sees their weapons thickest. But +Lycus, far fleeter of foot, holds by the walls in flight midway among +foes and arms, and strives to catch the coping in his grasp and reach +the hands of his comrades. And Turnus pursuing and aiming as he ran, +thus upbraids him in triumph: 'Didst thou hope, madman, thou mightest +escape our hands?' and catches him as he clings, and tears him and a +great piece of the wall away: as when, with a hare or snowy-bodied swan +in his crooked talons, Jove's armour-bearer soars aloft, or the wolf of +Mars snatches from the folds some lamb sought of his mother with +incessant bleating. On all sides a shout goes up. They advance and fill +the trenches with heaps of earth; some toss glowing brands on the roofs. +Ilioneus strikes down Lucetius with a great fragment of mountain rock +as, carrying fire, he draws [571-606]nigh the gate. Liger slays +Emathion, Asylas Corinaeus, the one skilled with the javelin, the other +with the stealthy arrow from afar. Caeneus slays Ortygius; Turnus +victorious Caeneus; Turnus Itys and Clonius, Dioxippus, and Promolus, +and Sagaris, and Idas where he stood in front of the turret top; Capys +Privernus: him Themillas' spear had first grazed lightly; the madman +threw down his shield to carry his hand to the wound; so the arrow +winged her way, and pinning his hand to his left side, broke into the +lungs with deadly wound. The son of Arcens stood splendid in arms, and +scarf embroidered with needlework and bright with Iberian blue, the +beautiful boy sent by his father Arcens from nurture in the grove of our +Lady about the streams of Symaethus, where Palicus' altar is rich and +gracious. Laying down his spear, Mezentius whirled thrice round his head +the tightened cord of his whistling sling, pierced him full between the +temples with the molten bullet, and stretched him all his length upon +the sand. + +Then, it is said, Ascanius first aimed his flying shaft in war, wont +before to frighten beasts of the chase, and struck down a brave +Numanian, Remulus by name, but lately allied in bridal to Turnus' +younger sister. He advancing before his ranks clamoured things fit and +unfit to tell, and strode along lofty and voluble, his heart lifted up +with his fresh royalty. + +'Take you not shame to be again held leaguered in your ramparts, O +Phrygians twice taken, and to make walls your fence from death? Behold +them who demand in war our wives for theirs! What god, what madness, +hath driven you to Italy? Here are no sons of Atreus nor glozing +Ulysses. A race of hardy breed, we carry our newborn children to the +streams and harden them in the bitter icy water; as boys they spend +wakeful nights over the chase, and tire out the woodland; but in +manhood, [607-639]unwearied by toil and trained to poverty, they subdue +the soil with their mattocks, or shake towns in war. Every age wears +iron, and we goad the flanks of our oxen with reversed spear; nor does +creeping old age weaken our strength of spirit or abate our force. White +hairs bear the weight of the helmet; and it is ever our delight to drive +in fresh spoil and live on our plunder. Yours is embroidered raiment of +saffron and shining sea-purple. Indolence is your pleasure, your delight +the luxurious dance; you wear sleeved tunics and ribboned turbans. O +right Phrygian women, not even Phrygian men! traverse the heights of +Dindymus, where the double-mouthed flute breathes familiar music. The +drums call you, and the Berecyntian boxwood of the mother of Ida; leave +arms to men, and lay down the sword.' + +As he flung forth such words of ill-ominous strain, Ascanius brooked it +not, and aimed an arrow on him from the stretched horse sinew; and as he +drew his arms asunder, first stayed to supplicate Jove in lowly vows: +'Jupiter omnipotent, deign to favour this daring deed. My hands shall +bear yearly gifts to thee in thy temple, and bring to stand before thine +altars a steer with gilded forehead, snow-white, carrying his head high +as his mother's, already pushing with his horn and making the sand fly +up under his feet.' The Father heard and from a clear space of sky +thundered on the left; at once the fated bow rings, the grim-whistling +arrow flies from the tense string, and goes through the head of Remulus, +the steel piercing through from temple to temple. 'Go, mock valour with +insolence of speech! Phrygians twice taken return this answer to +Rutulians.' Thus and no further Ascanius; the Teucrians respond in +cheers, and shout for joy in rising height of courage. Then haply in the +tract of heaven tressed Apollo sate looking down from his cloud on the +[640-673]Ausonian ranks and town, and thus addresses triumphant Iülus: +'Good speed to thy young valour, O boy! this is the way to heaven, child +of gods and parent of gods to be! Rightly shall all wars fated to come +sink to peace beneath the line of Assaracus; nor art thou bounded in a +Troy.' So speaking, he darts from heaven's height, and cleaving the +breezy air, seeks Ascanius. Then he changes the fashion of his +countenance, and becomes aged Butes, armour-bearer of old to Dardanian +Anchises, and the faithful porter of his threshold; thereafter his lord +gave him for Ascanius' attendant. In all points like the old man Apollo +came, voice and colour, white hair, and grimly clashing arms, and speaks +these words to eager Iülus: + +'Be it enough, son of Aeneas, that the Numanian hath fallen unavenged +beneath thine arrows; this first honour great Apollo allows thee, nor +envies the arms that match his own. Further, O boy, let war alone.' Thus +Apollo began, and yet speaking retreated from mortal view, vanishing +into thin air away out of their eyes. The Dardanian princes knew the god +and the arms of deity, and heard the clash of his quiver as he went. So +they restrain Ascanius' keenness for battle by the words of Phoebus' +will; themselves they again close in conflict, and cast their lives into +the perilous breach. Shouts run all along the battlemented walls; +ringing bows are drawn and javelin thongs twisted: all the ground is +strewn with missiles. Shields and hollow helmets ring to blows; the +battle swells fierce; heavy as the shower lashes the ground that sets in +when the Kids are rainy in the West; thick as hail pours down from +storm-clouds on the shallows, when the rough lord of the winds congeals +his watery deluge and breaks up the hollow vapours in the sky. + +Pandarus and Bitias, sprung of Alcanor of Ida, whom woodland Iaera bore +in the grove of Jupiter, grown now [674-709]tall as their ancestral +pines and hills, fling open the gates barred by their captain's order, +and confident in arms, wilfully invite the enemy within the walls. +Themselves within they stand to right and left in front of the towers, +sheathed in iron, the plumes flickering over their stately heads: even +as high in air around the gliding streams, whether on Padus' banks or by +pleasant Athesis, twin oaks rise lifting their unshorn heads into the +sky with high tops asway. The Rutulians pour in when they see the +entrance open. Straightway Quercens and Aquicolus beautiful in arms, and +desperate Tmarus, and Haemon, seed of Mars, either gave back in rout +with all their columns, or in the very gateway laid down their life. +Then the spirits of the combatants swell in rising wrath, and now the +Trojans gather swarming to the spot, and dare to close hand to hand and +to sally farther out. + +News is brought to Turnus the captain, as he rages afar among the routed +foe, that the enemy surges forth into fresh slaughter and flings wide +his gates. He breaks off unfinished, and, fired with immense anger, +rushes towards the haughty brethren at the Dardanian gate. And on +Antiphates first, for first he came, the bastard son of mighty Sarpedon +by a Theban mother, he hurls his javelin and strikes him down; the +Italian cornel flies through the yielding air, and, piercing the gullet, +runs deep into his breast; a frothing tide pours from the dark yawning +wound, and the steel grows warm where it pierces the lung. Then Meropes +and Erymas, then Aphidnus goes down before his hand; then Bitias, +fiery-eyed and exultant, not with a javelin; for not to a javelin had he +given his life; but the loud-whistling pike came hurled with a +thunderbolt's force; neither twofold bull's hide kept it back, nor the +trusty corslet's double scales of gold: his vast limbs sink in a heap; +earth utters a groan, and the great shield clashes [710-745]over him: +even as once and again on the Euboïc shore of Baiae falls a mass of +stone, built up of great blocks and so cast into the sea; thus does it +tumble prone, crashes into the shoal water and sinks deep to rest; the +seas are stirred, and the dark sand eddies up; therewith the depth of +Prochyta quivers at the sound, and the couchant rocks of Inarime, piled +above Typhoeus by Jove's commands. + +On this Mars armipotent raised the spirit and strength of the Latins, +and goaded their hearts to rage, and sent Flight and dark Fear among the +Teucrians. From all quarters they gather, since battle is freely +offered; and the warrior god inspires. . . . Pandarus, at his brother's +fall, sees how fortune stands, what hap rules the day; and swinging the +gate round on its hinge with all his force, pushes it to with his broad +shoulders, leaving many of his own people shut outside the walls in the +desperate conflict, but shutting others in with him as they pour back in +retreat. Madman! who saw not the Rutulian prince burst in amid their +columns, and fairly shut him into the town, like a monstrous tiger among +the silly flocks. At once strange light flashed from his eyes, and his +armour rang terribly; the blood-red plumes flicker on his head, and +lightnings shoot sparkling from his shield. In sudden dismay the +Aeneadae know the hated form and giant limbs. Then tall Pandarus leaps +forward, in burning rage at his brother's death: 'This is not the palace +of Amata's dower,' he cries, 'nor does Ardea enclose Turnus in her +native walls. Thou seest a hostile camp; escape hence is hopeless.' To +him Turnus, smiling and cool: 'Begin with all thy valiance, and close +hand to hand; here too shalt thou tell that a Priam found his Achilles.' +He ended; the other, putting out all his strength, hurls his rough +spear, knotty and unpeeled. The breezes caught it; Juno, daughter of +Saturn, [746-780]made the wound glance off as it came, and the spear +sticks fast in the gate. 'But this weapon that my strong hand whirls, +this thou shalt not escape; for not such is he who sends weapon and +wound.' So speaks he, and rises high on his uplifted sword; the steel +severs the forehead midway right between the temples, and divides the +beardless cheeks with ghastly wound. He crashes down; earth shakes under +the vast weight; dying limbs and brain-spattered armour tumble in a heap +to the ground, and the head, evenly severed, dangles this way and that +from either shoulder. The Trojans scatter and turn in hasty terror; and +had the conqueror forthwith taken thought to burst the bars and let in +his comrades at the gate, that had been the last day of the war and of +the nation. But rage and mad thirst of slaughter drive him like fire on +the foe. . . . First he catches up Phalaris; then Gyges, and hamstrings +him; he plucks away their spears, and hurls them on the backs of the +flying crowd; Juno lends strength and courage. Halys he sends to join +them, and Phegeus, pierced right through the shield; then, as they +ignorantly raised their war-cry on the walls, Alcander and Halius, +Noëmon and Prytanis. Lynceus advanced to meet him, calling up his +comrades; from the rampart the glittering sword sweeps to the left and +catches him; struck off by the one downright blow, head and helmet lay +far away. Next Amycus fell, the deadly huntsman, incomparable in skill +of hand to anoint his arrows and arm their steel with venom; and Clytius +the Aeolid, and Cretheus beloved of the Muses, Cretheus of the Muses' +company, whose delight was ever in songs and harps and stringing of +verses; ever he sang of steeds and armed men and battles. + +At last, hearing of the slaughter of their men, the Teucrian captains, +Mnestheus and gallant Serestus, come up, and see their comrades in +disordered flight and the foe [781-814]let in. And Mnestheus: 'Whither +next, whither press you in flight? what other walls, what farther city +have you yet? Shall one man, and he girt in on all sides, +fellow-citizens, by your entrenchments, thus unchecked deal devastation +throughout our city, and send all our best warriors to the under world? +Have you no pity, no shame, cowards, for your unhappy country, for your +ancient gods, for great Aeneas?' + +Kindled by such words, they take heart and rally in dense array. Little +by little Turnus drew away from the fight towards the river, and the +side encircled by the stream: the more bravely the Teucrians press on +him with loud shouts and thickening masses, even as a band that fall on +a wrathful lion with levelled weapons, but he, frightened back, retires +surly and grim-glaring; and neither does wrath nor courage let him turn +his back, nor can he make head, for all that he desires it, against the +surrounding arms and men. Even thus Turnus draws lingeringly backward, +with unhastened steps, and soul boiling in anger. Nay, twice even then +did he charge amid the enemy, twice drove them in flying rout along the +walls. But all the force of the camp gathers hastily up; nor does Juno, +daughter of Saturn, dare to supply him strength to countervail; for +Jupiter sent Iris down through the aery sky, bearing stern orders to his +sister that Turnus shall withdraw from the high Trojan town. Therefore +neither with shield nor hand can he keep his ground, so overpoweringly +from all sides comes upon him the storm of weapons. About the hollows of +his temples the helmet rings with incessant clash, and the solid brass +is riven beneath the stones; the horsehair crest is rent away; the +shield-boss avails not under the blows; Mnestheus thunders on with his +Trojans, and pours in a storm of spears. All over him the sweat trickles +and pours in swart stream, and no breathing space is given; sick gasps +shake [815-818]his exhausted limbs. Then at last, with a headlong +bound, he leapt fully armed into the river; the river's yellow eddies +opened for him as he came, and the buoyant water brought him up, and, +washing away the slaughter, returned him triumphant to his comrades. + + + + +BOOK TENTH + +THE BATTLE ON THE BEACH + + +Meanwhile the heavenly house omnipotent unfolds her doors, and the +father of gods and king of men calls a council in the starry dwelling; +whence he looks sheer down on the whole earth, the Dardanian camp, and +the peoples of Latium. They sit down within from doorway to doorway: +their lord begins: + +'Lords of heaven, wherefore is your decree turned back, and your minds +thus jealously at strife? I forbade Italy to join battle with the +Teucrians; why this quarrel in face of my injunction? What terror hath +bidden one or another run after arms and tempt the sword? The due time +of battle will arrive, call it not forth, when furious Carthage shall +one day sunder the Alps to hurl ruin full on the towers of Rome. Then +hatred may grapple with hatred, then hostilities be opened; now let them +be, and cheerfully join in the treaty we ordain.' + +Thus Jupiter in brief; but not briefly golden Venus returns in +answer: . . . + +'O Lord, O everlasting Governor of men and things--for what else may we +yet supplicate?--beholdest thou how the Rutulians brave it, and Turnus, +borne charioted through the ranks, proudly sweeps down the tide of +battle? Bar [22-58]and bulwark no longer shelter the Trojans; nay, +within the gates and even on the mounded walls they clash in battle and +make the trenches swim with blood. Aeneas is away and ignorant. Wilt +thou never then let our leaguer be raised? Again a foe overhangs the +walls of infant Troy; and another army, and a second son of Tydeus rises +from Aetolian Arpi against the Trojans. Truly I think my wounds are yet +to come, and I thy child am keeping some mortal weapons idle. If the +Trojans steered for Italy without thy leave and defiant of thy deity, +let them expiate their sin; aid not such with thy succour. But if so +many oracles guided them, given by god and ghost, why may aught now +reverse thine ordinance or write destiny anew? Why should I recall the +fleets burned on the coast of Eryx? why the king of storms, and the +raging winds roused from Aeolia, or Iris driven down the clouds? Now +hell too is stirred (this share of the world was yet untried) and +Allecto suddenly let loose above to riot through the Italian towns. In +no wise am I moved for empire; that was our hope while Fortune stood; +let those conquer whom thou wilt. If thy cruel wife leave no region free +to Teucrians, by the smoking ruins of desolated Troy, O father, I +beseech thee, grant Ascanius unhurt retreat from arms, grant me my +child's life. Aeneas may well be tossed over unknown seas and follow +what path soever fortune open to him; him let me avail to shelter and +withdraw from the turmoil of battle. Amathus is mine, high Paphos and +Cythera, and my house of Idalia; here, far from arms, let him spend an +inglorious life. Bid Carthage in high lordship rule Ausonia; there will +be nothing there to check the Tyrian cities. What help was it for the +Trojans to escape war's doom and thread their flight through Argive +fires, to have exhausted all those perils of sea and desolate lands, +while they seek Latium and the towers of a Troy rebuilt? Were it not +better to have [59-91]clung to the last ashes of their country, and the +ground where once was Troy? Give back, I pray, Xanthus and Simoïs to a +wretched people, and let the Teucrians again, O Lord, circle through the +fates of Ilium.' + +Then Queen Juno, swift and passionate: + +'Why forcest thou me to break long silence and proclaim my hidden pain? +Hath any man or god constrained Aeneas to court war or make armed attack +on King Latinus? In oracular guidance he steered for Italy: be it so: he +whom raving Cassandra sent on his way! Did we urge him to quit the camp +or entrust his life to the winds? to give the issue of war and the +charge of his ramparts to a child? to stir the loyalty of Tyrrhenia or +throw peaceful nations into tumult? What god, what potent cruelty of +ours, hath driven him on his hurt? Where is Juno in this, or Iris sped +down the clouds? It shocks thee that Italians should enring an infant +Troy with flame, and Turnus set foot on his own ancestral soil--he, +grandchild of Pilumnus, son of Venilia the goddess: how, that the dark +brands of Troy assail the Latins? that Trojans subjugate and plunder +fields not their own? how, that they choose their brides and tear +plighted bosom from bosom? that their gestures plead for peace, and +their ships are lined with arms? Thou canst steal thine Aeneas from +Grecian hands, and spread before them a human semblance of mist and +empty air; thou canst turn his fleet into nymphs of like number: is it +dreadful if we retaliate with any aid to the Rutulians? Aeneas is away +and ignorant; away and ignorant let him be. Paphos is thine and Idalium, +thine high Cythera; why meddlest thou with fierce spirits and a city big +with war? Is it we who would overthrow the tottering state of Phrygia? +we? or he who brought the Achaeans down on the hapless Trojans? who made +Europe and Asia bristle up in arms, and whose theft shattered the +alliance? Was it in my guidance the [92-125]adulterous Dardanian broke +into Sparta? or did I send the shafts of passion that kindled war? Then +terror for thy children had graced thee; too late now dost thou rise +with unjust complaints, and reproaches leave thy lips in vain.' + +Thus Juno pleaded; and all the heavenly people murmured in diverse +consent; even as rising gusts murmur when caught in the forests, and +eddy in blind moanings, betraying to sailors the gale's approach. Then +the Lord omnipotent and primal power of the world begins; as he speaks +the high house of the gods and trembling floor of earth sink to silence; +silent is the deep sky, and the breezes are stilled; ocean hushes his +waters into calm. + +'Take then to heart and lay deep these words of mine. Since it may not +be that Ausonians and Teucrians join alliance, and your quarrel finds no +term, to-day, what fortune each wins, what hope each follows, be he +Trojan or Rutulian, I will hold in even poise; whether it be Italy's +fate or Trojan blundering and ill advice that holds the camp in leaguer. +Nor do I acquit the Rutulians. Each as he hath begun shall work out his +destiny. Jupiter is one and king over all; the fates will find their +way.' By his brother's infernal streams, by the banks of the pitchy +black-boiling chasm he signed assent, and made all Olympus quiver at his +nod. Here speaking ended: thereon Jupiter rises from his golden throne, +and the heavenly people surround and escort him to the doorway. + +Meanwhile the Rutulians press round all the gates, dealing grim +slaughter and girdling the walls with flame. But the army of the +Aeneadae are held leaguered within their trenches, with no hope of +retreat. They stand helpless and disconsolate on their high towers, and +their thin ring girdles the walls,--Asius, son of Imbrasus, and +Thymoetes, son of Hicetaon, and the two Assaraci, and Castor, and old +Thymbris together in the front rank: by them Clarus and +[126-160]Themon, both full brothers to Sarpedon, out of high Lycia. +Acmon of Lyrnesus, great as his father Clytius, or his brother +Mnestheus, carries a stone, straining all his vast frame to the huge +mountain fragment. Emulously they keep their guard, these with javelins, +those with stones, and wield fire and fit arrows on the string. Amid +them he, Venus' fittest care, lo! the Dardanian boy, his graceful head +uncovered, shines even as a gem set in red gold on ornament of throat or +head, or even as gleaming ivory cunningly inlaid in boxwood or Orician +terebinth; his tresses lie spread over his milk-white neck, bound by a +flexible circlet of gold. Thee, too, Ismarus, proud nations saw aiming +wounds and arming thy shafts with poison,--thee, of house illustrious in +Maeonia, where the rich tilth is wrought by men's hands, and Pactolus +waters it with gold. There too was Mnestheus, exalted in fame as he who +erewhile had driven Turnus from the ramparts; and Capys, from whom is +drawn the name of the Campanian city. + +They had closed in grim war's mutual conflict; Aeneas, while night was +yet deep, clove the seas. For when, leaving Evander for the Etruscan +camp, he hath audience of the king, and tells the king of his name and +race, and what he asks or offers, instructs him of the arms Mezentius is +winning to his side, and of Turnus' overbearing spirit, reminds him what +is all the certainty of human things, and mingles all with entreaties; +delaying not, Tarchon joins forces and strikes alliance. Then, freed +from the oracle, the Lydian people man their fleet, laid by divine +ordinance in the foreign captain's hand. Aeneas' galley keeps in front, +with the lions of Phrygia fastened on her prow, above them overhanging +Ida, sight most welcome to the Trojan exiles. Here great Aeneas sits +revolving the changing issues of war; and Pallas, clinging on his left +side, asks now [161-195]of the stars and their pathway through the dark +night, now of his fortunes by land and sea. + +Open now the gates of Helicon, goddesses, and stir the song of the band +that come the while with Aeneas from the Tuscan borders, and sail in +armed ships overseas. + +First in the brazen-plated Tiger Massicus cuts the flood; beneath him +are ranked a thousand men who have left Clusium town and the city of +Cosae; their weapons are arrows, and light quivers on the shoulder, and +their deadly bow. With him goes grim Abas, all his train in shining +armour, and a gilded Apollo glittering astern. To him Populonia had +given six hundred of her children, tried in war, but Ilva three hundred, +the island rich in unexhausted mines of steel. Third Asilas, interpreter +between men and gods, master of the entrails of beasts and the stars in +heaven, of speech of birds and ominous lightning flashes, draws a +thousand men after him in serried lines bristling with spears, bidden to +his command from Pisa city, of Alphaean birth on Etruscan soil. Astyr +follows, excellent in beauty, Astyr, confident in his horse and glancing +arms. Three hundred more--all have one heart to follow--come from the +householders of Caere and the fields of Minio, and ancient Pyrgi, and +fever-stricken Graviscae. + +Let me not pass thee by, O Cinyras, bravest in war of Ligurian captains, +and thee, Cupavo, with thy scant company, from whose crest rise the swan +plumes, fault, O Love, of thee and thine, and blazonment of his father's +form. For they tell that Cycnus, in grief for his beloved Phaëthon, +while he sings and soothes his woeful love with music amid the shady +sisterhood of poplar boughs, drew over him the soft plumage of white old +age, and left earth and passed crying through the sky. His son, followed +on shipboard with a band of like age, sweeps the huge Centaur forward +with his oars; he leans over the water, and [196-227]threatens the +waves with a vast rock he holds on high, and furrows the deep seas with +his length of keel. + +He too calls a train from his native coasts, Ocnus, son of prophetic +Manto and the river of Tuscany, who gave thee, O Mantua, ramparts and +his mother's name; Mantua, rich in ancestry, yet not all of one blood, a +threefold race, and under each race four cantons; herself she is the +cantons' head, and her strength is of Tuscan blood. From her likewise +hath Mezentius five hundred in arms against him, whom Mincius, child of +Benacus, draped in gray reeds, led to battle in his advancing pine. +Aulestes moves on heavily, smiting the waves with the swinging forest of +an hundred oars; the channels foam as they sweep the sea-floor. He sails +in the vast Triton, who amazes the blue waterways with his shell, and +swims on with shaggy front, in human show from the flank upward; his +belly ends in a dragon; beneath the monster's breast the wave gurgles +into foam. So many were the chosen princes who went in thirty ships to +aid Troy, and cut the salt plains with brazen prow. + +And now day had faded from the sky, and gracious Phoebe trod mid-heaven +in the chariot of her nightly wandering: Aeneas, for his charge allows +not rest to his limbs, himself sits guiding the tiller and managing the +sails. And lo, in middle course a band of his own fellow-voyagers meets +him, the nymphs whom bountiful Cybele had bidden be gods of the sea, and +turn to nymphs from ships; they swam on in even order, and cleft the +flood, as many as erewhile, brazen-plated prows, had anchored on the +beach. From far they know their king, and wheel their bands about him, +and Cymodocea, their readiest in speech, comes up behind, catching the +stern with her right hand: her back rises out, and her left hand oars +her passage through the silent water. Then she thus [228-261]accosts +her amazed lord: 'Wakest thou, seed of gods, Aeneas? wake, and loosen +the sheets of thy sails. We are thy fleet, Idaean pines from the holy +hill, now nymphs of the sea. When the treacherous Rutulian urged us +headlong with sword and fire, unwillingly we broke thy bonds, and we +search for thee over ocean. This new guise our Lady made for us in pity, +and granted us to be goddesses and spend our life under the waves. But +thy boy Ascanius is held within wall and trench among the Latin weapons +and the rough edge of war. Already the Arcadian cavalry and the brave +Etruscan together hold the appointed ground. Turnus' plan is fixed to +bar their way with his squadrons, that they may not reach the camp. Up +and arise, and ere the coming of the Dawn bid thy crews be called to +arms; and take thou the shield which the Lord of Fire forged for victory +and rimmed about with gold. To-morrow's daylight, if thou deem not my +words vain, shall see Rutulians heaped high in slaughter.' She ended, +and, as she went, pushed the tall ship on with her hand wisely and well; +the ship shoots through the water fleeter than javelin or windswift +arrow. Thereat the rest quicken their speed. The son of Anchises of Troy +is himself deep in bewilderment; yet the omen cheers his courage. Then +looking on the heavenly vault, he briefly prays: 'O gracious upon Ida, +mother of gods, whose delight is in Dindymus and turreted cities and +lions coupled to thy rein, do thou lead me in battle, do thou meetly +prosper thine augury, and draw nigh thy Phrygians, goddess, with +favourable feet.' Thus much he spoke; and meanwhile the broad light of +returning day now began to pour in, and chased away the night. First he +commands his comrades to follow his signals, brace their courage to arms +and prepare for battle. And now his Trojans and his camp are in his +sight as he stands high astern, when next he lifts the [262-296]blazing +shield on his left arm. The Dardanians on the walls raise a shout to the +sky. Hope comes to kindle wrath; they hurl their missiles strongly; even +as under black clouds cranes from the Strymon utter their signal notes +and sail clamouring across the sky, and noisily stream down the gale. +But this seemed marvellous to the Rutulian king and the captains of +Ausonia, till looking back they see the ships steering for the beach, +and all the sea as a single fleet sailing in. His helmet-spike blazes, +flame pours from the cresting plumes, and the golden shield-boss spouts +floods of fire; even as when in transparent night comets glow blood-red +and drear, or the splendour of Sirius, that brings drought and +sicknesses on wretched men, rises and saddens the sky with malignant +beams. + +Yet gallant Turnus in unfailing confidence will prevent them on the +shore and repel their approach to land. 'What your prayers have sought +is given, the sweep of the sword-arm. The god of battles is in the hands +of men. Now remember each his wife and home: now recall the high deeds +of our fathers' honour. Let us challenge meeting at the water's edge, +while they waver and their feet yet slip as they disembark. Fortune aids +daring. . . .' So speaks he, and counsels inly whom he shall lead to +meet them, whom leave in charge of the leaguered walls. + +Meanwhile Aeneas lands his allies by gangways from the high ships. Many +watch the retreat and slack of the sea, and leap boldly into the shoal +water; others slide down the oars. Tarchon, marking the shore where the +shallows do not seethe and plash with broken water, but the sea glides +up and spreads its tide unbroken, suddenly turns his bows to land and +implores his comrades: 'Now, O chosen crew, bend strongly to your oars; +lift your ships, make them go; let the prows cleave this hostile land +and the keel plough [297-330]herself a furrow. I will let my vessel +break up on such harbourage if once she takes the land.' When Tarchon +had spoken in such wise, his comrades rise on their oar-blades and carry +their ships in foam towards the Latin fields, till the prows are fast on +dry land and all the keels are aground unhurt. But not thy galley, +Tarchon; for she dashes on a shoal, and swings long swaying on the cruel +bank, pitching and slapping the flood, then breaks up, and lands her +crew among the waves. Broken oars and floating thwarts entangle them, +and the ebbing wave sucks their feet away. + +Nor does Turnus keep idly dallying, but swiftly hurries his whole array +against the Trojans and ranges it to face the beach. The trumpets blow. +At once Aeneas charges and confounds the rustic squadrons of the Latins, +and slays Theron for omen of battle. The giant advances to challenge +Aeneas; but through sewed plates of brass and tunic rough with gold the +sword plunges in his open side. Next he strikes Lichas, cut from his +mother already dead, and consecrated, Phoebus, to thee, since his +infancy was granted escape from the perilous steel. Near thereby he +struck dead brawny Cisseus and vast Gyas, whose clubs were mowing down +whole files: naught availed them the arms of Hercules and their strength +of hand, nor Melampus their father, ever of Alcides' company while earth +yielded him sore travail. Lo! while Pharus utters weak vaunts the hurled +javelin strikes on his shouting mouth. Thou too, while thou followest +thy new delight, Clytius, whose cheeks are golden with youthful +down--thou, luckless Cydon, struck down by the Dardanian hand, wert +lying past thought, ah pitiable! of the young loves that were ever +thine, did not the close array of thy brethren interpose, the children +of Phorcus, seven in number, and send a sevenfold shower of darts. Some +glance ineffectual from helmet and shield; [331-365]some Venus the +bountiful turned aside as they grazed his body. Aeneas calls to trusty +Achates: 'Give me store of weapons; none that hath been planted in +Grecian body on the plains of Ilium shall my hand hurl at Rutulian in +vain.' Then he catches and throws his great spear; the spear flies +grinding through the brass of Maeon's shield, and breaks through corslet +and through breast. His brother Alcanor runs up and sustains with his +right arm his sinking brother; through his arm the spear passes speeding +straight on its message, and holds its bloody way, and the hand dangles +by the sinews lifeless from the shoulder. Then Numitor, seizing his dead +brother's javelin, aims at Aeneas, but might not fairly pierce him, and +grazed tall Achates on the thigh. Here Clausus of Cures comes confident +in his pride of strength, and with a long reach strikes Dryops under the +chin, and, urging the stiff spear-shaft home, stops the accents of his +speech and his life together, piercing the throat; but he strikes the +earth with his forehead, and vomits clots of blood. Three Thracians +likewise of Boreas' sovereign race, and three sent by their father Idas +from their native Ismarus, fall in divers wise before him. Halesus and +his Auruncan troops hasten thither; Messapus too, seed of Neptune, comes +up charioted. This side and that strive to hurl back the enemy, and +fight hard on the very edge of Ausonia. As when in the depth of air +adverse winds rise in battle with equal spirit and strength; not they, +not clouds nor sea, yield one to another; long the battle is doubtful; +all stands locked in counterpoise: even thus clash the ranks of Troy and +ranks of Latium, foot fast on foot, and man crowded up on man. + +But in another quarter, where a torrent had driven a wide path of +rolling stones and bushes torn away from the banks, Pallas saw his +Arcadians, unaccustomed to move as infantry, giving back before the +Latin pursuit, when the [366-400]roughness of the ground bade them +dismount. This only was left in his strait, to kindle them to valour, +now by entreaties, now by taunts: 'Whither flee you, comrades? by your +deeds of bravery, by your leader Evander's name, by your triumphant +campaigns, and my hope that now rises to rival my father's honour, trust +not to flight. Our swords must hew a way through the enemy. Where yonder +mass of men presses thickest, there your proud country calls you with +Pallas at your head. No gods are they who bear us down; mortals, we feel +the pressure of a mortal foe; we have as many lives and hands as he. Lo, +the deep shuts us in with vast sea barrier; even now land fails our +flight; shall we make ocean or Troy our goal?' + +So speaks he, and bursts amid the serried foe. First Lagus meets him, +drawn thither by malign destiny; him, as he tugs at a ponderous stone, +hurling his spear where the spine ran dissevering the ribs, he pierces +and wrenches out the spear where it stuck fast in the bone. Nor does +Hisbo catch him stooping, for all that he hoped it; for Pallas, as he +rushes unguarded on, furious at his comrade's cruel death, receives him +on his sword and buries it in his distended lungs. Next he attacks +Sthenius, and Anchemolus of Rhoetus' ancient family, who dared to +violate the bridal chamber of his stepmother. You, too, the twins +Larides and Thymber, fell on the Rutulian fields, children of Daucus, +indistinguishable for likeness and a sweet perplexity to your parents. +But now Pallas made cruel difference between you; for thy head, Thymber, +is swept off by Evander's sword; thy right hand, Larides, severed, seeks +its master, and the dying fingers jerk and clutch at the sword. Fired by +his encouragement, and beholding his noble deeds, the Arcadians advance +in wrath and shame to meet the enemy in arms. Then Pallas pierces +Rhoeteus as he flies past in his chariot. This space, this +[401-435]much of respite was given to Ilus; for at Ilus he had aimed +the strong spear from afar, and Rhoeteus intercepts its passage, in +flight from thee, noble Teuthras and Tyres thy brother; he rolls from +the chariot in death, and his heels strike the Rutulian fields. And as +the shepherd, when summer winds have risen to his desire, kindles the +woods dispersedly; on a sudden the mid spaces catch, and a single +flickering line of fire spreads wide over the plain; he sits looking +down on his conquest and the revel of the flames; even so, Pallas, do +thy brave comrades gather close to sustain thee. But warrior Halesus +advances full on them, gathering himself behind his armour; he slays +Ladon, Pheres, Demodocus; his gleaming sword shears off Strymonius' hand +as it rises to his throat; he strikes Thoas on the face with a stone, +and drives the bones asunder in a shattered mass of blood and brains. +Halesus had his father the soothsayer kept hidden in the woodland: when +the old man's glazing eyes sank to death, the Fates laid hand on him and +devoted him to the arms of Evander. Pallas aims at him, first praying +thus: 'Grant now, lord Tiber, to the steel I poise and hurl, a +prosperous way through brawny Halesus' breast; thine oak shall bear +these arms and the dress he wore.' The god heard it; while Halesus +covers Imaon, he leaves, alas! his breast unarmed to the Arcadian's +weapon. Yet at his grievous death Lausus, himself a great arm of the +war, lets not his columns be dismayed; at once he meets and cuts down +Abas, the check and stay of their battle. The men of Arcadia go down +before him; down go the Etruscans, and you, O Teucrians, invincible by +Greece. The armies close, matched in strength and in captains; the rear +ranks crowd in; weapons and hands are locked in the press. Here Pallas +strains and pushes on, here Lausus opposite, nearly matched in age, +excellent in beauty; but fortune [436-467]had denied both return to +their own land. Yet that they should meet face to face the sovereign of +high Olympus allowed not; an early fate awaits them beneath a mightier +foe. + +Meanwhile Turnus' gracious sister bids him take Lausus' room, and his +fleet chariot parts the ranks. When he saw his comrades, 'It is time,' +he cried, 'to stay from battle. I alone must assail Pallas; to me and +none other Pallas is due; I would his father himself were here to see.' +So speaks he, and his Rutulians draw back from a level space at his +bidding. But then as they withdrew, he, wondering at the haughty +command, stands in amaze at Turnus, his eyes scanning the vast frame, +and his fierce glance perusing him from afar. And with these words he +returns the words of the monarch: 'For me, my praise shall even now be +in the lordly spoils I win, or in illustrious death: my father will bear +calmly either lot: away with menaces.' He speaks, and advances into the +level ring. The Arcadians' blood gathers chill about their hearts. +Turnus leaps from his chariot and prepares to close with him. And as a +lion sees from some lofty outlook a bull stand far off on the plain +revolving battle, and flies at him, even such to see is Turnus' coming. +When Pallas deemed him within reach of a spear-throw, he advances, if so +chance may assist the daring of his overmatched strength, and thus cries +into the depth of sky: 'By my father's hospitality and the board whereto +thou camest a wanderer, on thee I call, Alcides; be favourable to my +high emprise; let Turnus even in death discern me stripping his +blood-stained armour, and his swooning eyes endure the sight of his +conqueror.' Alcides heard him, and deep in his heart he stifled a heavy +sigh, and let idle tears fall. Then with kindly words the father accosts +his son: 'Each hath his own appointed day; short and irrecoverable +[468-502]is the span of life for all: but to spread renown by deeds is +the task of valour. Under high Troy town many and many a god's son fell; +nay, mine own child Sarpedon likewise perished. Turnus too his own fate +summons, and his allotted period hath reached the goal.' So speaks he, +and turns his eyes away from the Rutulian fields. But Pallas hurls his +spear with all his strength, and pulls his sword flashing out of the +hollow scabbard. The flying spear lights where the armour rises high +above the shoulder, and, forcing a way through the shield's rim, ceased +not till it drew blood from mighty Turnus. At this Turnus long poises +the spear-shaft with its sharp steel head, and hurls it on Pallas with +these words: _See thou if our weapon have not a keener point._ He ended; +but for all the shield's plating of iron and brass, for all the +bull-hide that covers it round about, the quivering spear-head smashes +it fair through and through, passes the guard of the corslet, and +pierces the breast with a gaping hole. He tears the warm weapon from the +wound; in vain; together and at once life-blood and sense follow it. He +falls heavily on the ground, his armour clashes over him, and his +bloodstained face sinks in death on the hostile soil. And Turnus +standing over him . . .: 'Arcadians,' he cries, 'remember these my +words, and bear them to Evander. I send him back his Pallas as was due. +All the meed of the tomb, all the solace of sepulture, I give freely. +Dearly must he pay his welcome to Aeneas.' And with these words, +planting his left foot on the dead, he tore away the broad heavy +sword-belt engraven with a tale of crime, the array of grooms foully +slain together on their bridal night, and the nuptial chambers dabbled +with blood, which Clonus, son of Eurytus, had wrought richly in gold. +Now Turnus exults in spoiling him of it, and rejoices at his prize. Ah +spirit of man, ignorant of fate and the allotted future, or to keep +bounds when elate with prosperity!--the day will [503-535]come when +Turnus shall desire to have bought Pallas' safety at a great ransom, and +curse the spoils of this fatal day. But with many moans and tears +Pallas' comrades lay him on his shield and bear him away amid their +ranks. O grief and glory and grace of the father to whom thou shalt +return! This one day sent thee first to war, this one day takes thee +away, while yet thou leavest heaped high thy Rutulian dead. + +And now no rumour of the dreadful loss, but a surer messenger flies to +Aeneas, telling him his troops are on the thin edge of doom; it is time +to succour the routed Teucrians. He mows down all that meets him, and +hews a broad path through their columns with furious sword, as he seeks +thee, O Turnus, in thy fresh pride of slaughter. Pallas, Evander, all +flash before his eyes; the board whereto but then he had first come a +wanderer, and the clasped hands. Here four of Sulmo's children, as many +more of Ufens' nurture, are taken by him alive to slaughter in sacrifice +to the shade below, and slake the flames of the pyre with captive blood. +Next he levelled his spear full on Magus from far. He stoops cunningly; +the spear flies quivering over him; and, clasping his knees, he speaks +thus beseechingly: 'By thy father's ghost, by Iülus thy growing hope, I +entreat thee, save this life for a child and a parent. My house is +stately; deep in it lies buried wealth of engraven silver; I have masses +of wrought and unwrought gold. The victory of Troy does not turn on +this, nor will a single life make so great a difference.' He ended; to +him Aeneas thus returns answer: 'All the wealth of silver and gold thou +tellest of, spare thou for thy children. Turnus hath broken off this thy +trafficking in war, even then when Pallas fell. Thus judges the ghost of +my father Anchises, thus Iülus.' So speaking, he grasps his helmet with +his left hand, and, bending back his neck, drives his [536-572]sword up +to the hilt in the suppliant. Hard by is Haemonides, priest of Phoebus +and Trivia, his temples wound with the holy ribboned chaplet, all +glittering in white-robed array. Him he meets and chases down the plain, +and, standing over his fallen foe, slaughters him and wraps him in great +darkness; Serestus gathers the armour and carries it away on his +shoulders, a trophy, King Gradivus, to thee. Caeculus, born of Vulcan's +race, and Umbro, who comes from the Marsian hills, fill up the line. The +Dardanian rushes full on them. His sword had hewn off Anxur's left arm, +with all the circle of the shield--he had uttered brave words and deemed +his prowess would second his vaunts, and perchance with spirit lifted up +had promised himself hoar age and length of years--when Tarquitus in the +pride of his glittering arms met his fiery course, whom the nymph Dryope +had borne to Faunus, haunter of the woodland. Drawing back his spear, he +pins the ponderous shield to the corslet; then, as he vainly pleaded and +would say many a thing, strikes his head to the ground, and, rolling +away the warm body, cries thus over his enemy: 'Lie there now, terrible +one! no mother's love shall lay thee in the sod, or place thy limbs +beneath thine heavy ancestral tomb. To birds of prey shalt thou be left, +or borne down sunk in the eddying water, where hungry fish shall suck +thy wounds.' Next he sweeps on Antaeus and Lucas, the first of Turnus' +train, and brave Numa and tawny-haired Camers, born of noble Volscens, +who was wealthiest in land of the Ausonians, and reigned in silent +Amyclae. Even as Aegaeon, who, men say, had an hundred arms, an hundred +hands, fifty mouths and breasts ablaze with fire, and arrayed against +Jove's thunders as many clashing shields and drawn swords: so Aeneas, +when once his sword's point grew warm, rages victorious over all the +field. Nay, lo! he darts full in face on Niphaeus' four-horse chariot; +before his long strides [573-608]and dreadful cry they turned in terror +and dashed back, throwing out their driver and tearing the chariot down +the beach. Meanwhile the brothers Lucagus and Liger drive up with their +pair of white horses. Lucagus valiantly waves his drawn sword, while his +brother wheels his horses with the rein. Aeneas, wrathful at their mad +onslaught, rushes on them, towering high with levelled spear. To him +Liger . . . 'Not Diomede's horses dost thou discern, nor Achilles' +chariot, nor the plains of Phrygia: now on this soil of ours the war and +thy life shall end together.' Thus fly mad Liger's random words. But not +in words does the Trojan hero frame his reply: for he hurls his javelin +at the foe. As Lucagus spurred on his horses, bending forward over the +whip, with left foot advanced ready for battle, the spear passes through +the lower rim of his shining shield and pierces his left groin, knocks +him out of the chariot, and stretches him in death on the fields. To him +good Aeneas speaks in bitter words: 'Lucagus, no slackness in thy +coursers' flight hath betrayed thee, or vain shadow of the foe turned +them back; thyself thou leapest off the harnessed wheels.' In such wise +he spoke, and caught the horses. His brother, slipping down from the +chariot, pitiably outstretched helpless hands: 'Ah, by the parents who +gave thee birth, great Trojan, spare this life and pity my prayer.' More +he was pleading; but Aeneas: 'Not such were the words thou wert +uttering. Die, and be brother undivided from brother.' With that his +sword's point pierces the breast where the life lies hid. Thus the +Dardanian captain dealt death over the plain, like some raging torrent +stream or black whirlwind. At last the boy Ascanius and his troops burst +through the ineffectual leaguer and issue from the camp. + +Meanwhile Jupiter breaks silence to accost Juno: 'O sister and wife best +beloved, it is Venus, as thou deemedst, [609-639]nor is thy judgment +astray, who sustains the forces of Troy; not their own valour of hand in +war, and untamable spirit and endurance in peril.' To whom Juno +beseechingly: + +'Why, fair my lord, vexest thou one sick at heart and trembling at thy +bitter words? If that force were in my love that once was, and that was +well, never had thine omnipotence denied me leave to withdraw Turnus +from battle and preserve him for his father Daunus in safety. Now let +him perish, and pay forfeit to the Trojans of his innocent blood. Yet he +traces his birth from our name, and Pilumnus was his father in the +fourth generation, and oft and again his bountiful hand hath heaped thy +courts with gifts.' + +To her the king of high heaven thus briefly spoke: 'If thy prayer for +him is delay of present death and respite from his fall, and thou dost +understand that I ordain it thus, remove thy Turnus in flight, and +snatch him from the fate that is upon him. For so much indulgence there +is room. But if any ampler grace mask itself in these thy prayers, and +thou dreamest of change in the whole movement of the war, idle is the +hope thou nursest.' + +And Juno, weeping: 'Ah yet, if thy mind were gracious where thy lips are +stern, and this gift of life might remain confirmed to Turnus! Now his +portion is bitter and guiltless death, or I wander idly from the truth. +Yet, oh that I rather deluded myself with false alarms, and thou who +canst wouldst bend thy course to better counsels.' + +These words uttered, she darted through the air straight from high +heaven, cloud-girt in driving tempest, and sought the Ilian ranks and +camp of Laurentum. Then the goddess, strange and ominous to see, +fashions into the likeness of Aeneas a thin and pithless shade of hollow +mist, decks it with Dardanian weapons, and gives it the mimicry of +shield and divine helmet plume, gives unsubstantial [640-673]words and +senseless utterance, and the mould and motion of his tread: like shapes +rumoured to flit when death is past, or dreams that delude the +slumbering senses. But in front of the battle-ranks the phantom dances +rejoicingly, and with arms and mocking accents provokes the foe. Turnus +hastens up and sends his spear whistling from far on it; it gives back +and turns its footsteps. Then indeed Turnus, when he believed Aeneas +turned and fled from him, and his spirit madly drank in the illusive +hope: 'Whither fliest thou, Aeneas? forsake not thy plighted bridal +chamber. This hand shall give thee the land thou hast sought overseas.' +So clamouring he pursues, and brandishes his drawn sword, and sees not +that his rejoicing is drifting with the winds. The ship lay haply moored +to a high ledge of rock, with ladders run out and gangway ready, wherein +king Osinius sailed from the coasts of Clusium. Here the fluttering +phantom of flying Aeneas darts and hides itself. Nor is Turnus slack to +follow; he overleaps the barriers and springs across the high gangways. +Scarcely had he lighted on the prow; the daughter of Saturn snaps the +hawser, and the ship, parted from her cable, runs out on the ebbing +tide. And him Aeneas seeks for battle and finds not, and sends many a +man that meets him to death. Then the light phantom seeks not yet any +further hiding-place, but, flitting aloft, melts in a dark cloud; and a +blast comes down meanwhile and sweeps Turnus through the seas. He looks +back, witless of his case and thankless for his salvation, and, wailing, +stretches both hands to heaven: 'Father omnipotent, was I so guilty in +thine eyes, and is this the punishment thou hast ordained? Whither am I +borne? whence came I? what flight is this, or in what guise do I return? +Shall I look again on the camp or walls of Laurentum? What of that array +of men who followed me to arms? whom--oh horrible!--I have abandoned all +amid [674-707]a dreadful death; and now I see the stragglers and catch +the groans of those who fall. What do I? or how may earth ever yawn for +me deep enough? Do you rather, O winds, be pitiful, carry my bark on +rock or reef; it is I, Turnus, who desire and implore you; or drive me +on the cruel shoals of the Syrtis, where no Rutulian may follow nor +rumour know my name.' Thus speaking, he wavers in mind this way and +that: maddened by the shame, shall he plunge on his sword's harsh point +and drive it through his side, or fling himself among the waves, and +seek by swimming to gain the winding shore, again to return on the +Trojan arms? Thrice he essayed either way; thrice queenly Juno checked +and restrained him in pity of heart. Cleaving the deep, he floats with +the tide down the flood, and is borne on to his father Daunus' ancient +city. + +But meanwhile at Jove's prompting fiery Mezentius takes his place in the +battle and assails the triumphant Teucrians. The Tyrrhene ranks gather +round him, and all at once in unison shower their darts down on the +hated foe. As a cliff that juts into the waste of waves, meeting the +raging winds and breasting the deep, endures all the threatening force +of sky and sea, itself fixed immovable, so he dashes to earth Hebrus son +of Dolichaon, and with him Latagus, and Palmus as he fled; catching +Latagus full front in the face with a vast fragment of mountain rock, +while Palmus he hamstrings, and leaves him rolling helpless; his armour +he gives Lausus to wear on his shoulders, and the plumes to fix on his +crest. With them fall Evanthes the Phrygian, and Mimas, fellow and +birthmate of Paris; for on one night Theano bore him to his father +Amycus, and the queen, Cisseus' daughter, was delivered of Paris the +firebrand; he sleeps in his fathers' city; Mimas lies a stranger on the +Laurentian coast. And as the boar driven by snapping hounds from the +mountain heights, [708-744]many a year hidden by Vesulus in his pines, +many an one fed in the Laurentian marsh among the reedy forest, once +come among the nets, halts and snorts savagely, with shoulders bristling +up, and none of them dare be wrathful or draw closer, but they shower +from a safe distance their darts and cries; even thus none of those +whose anger is righteous against Mezentius have courage to meet him with +drawn weapon: far off they provoke him with missiles and huge clamour, +and he turns slow and fearless round about, grinding his teeth as he +shakes the spears off his shield. From the bounds of ancient Corythus +Acron the Greek had come, leaving for exile a bride half won. Seeing him +afar dealing confusion amid the ranks, in crimson plumes and his +plighted wife's purple,--as an unpastured lion often ranging the deep +coverts, for madness of hunger urges him, if he haply catches sight of a +timorous roe or high-antlered stag, he gapes hugely for joy, and, with +mane on end, clings crouching over its flesh, his cruel mouth bathed in +reeking gore. . . . so Mezentius darts lightly among the thick of the +enemy. Hapless Acron goes down, and, spurning the dark ground, gasps out +his life, and covers the broken javelin with his blood. But the victor +deigned not to bring down Orodes with the blind wound of his flying +lance as he fled; full face to face he meets him, and engages man with +man, conqueror not by stealth but armed valour. Then, as with planted +foot, he thrust him off the spear: 'O men,' he cries, 'Orodes lies low, +no slight arm of the war.' His comrades shout after him the glad battle +chant. And the dying man: 'Not unavenged nor long, whoso thou art, shalt +thou be glad in victory: thee too an equal fate marks down, and in these +fields thou shalt soon lie.' And smiling on him half wrathfully, +Mezentius: 'Now die thou. But of me let the father of gods and king of +men take counsel.' So saying, he drew the weapon out of his body. +[745-780]Grim rest and iron slumber seal his eyes; his lids close on +everlasting night. Caedicus slays Alcathoüs, Sacrator Hydaspes, Rapo +Parthenius and the grim strength of Orses, Messapus Clonius and +Erichaetes son of Lycaon, the one when his reinless horse stumbling had +flung him to the ground, the other as they met on foot. And Agis the +Lycian advanced only to be struck from horseback by Valerus, brave as +his ancestry; and Thronius by Salius, and Salius by Nealces with +treacherous arrow-shot that stole from far. + +Now the heavy hand of war dealt equal woe and counterchange of death; in +even balance conquerors and conquered slew and fell; nor one nor other +knows of retreat. The gods in Jove's house pity the vain rage of either +and all the agonising of mortals. From one side Venus, from one opposite +Juno, daughter of Saturn, looks on; pale Tisiphone rages among the many +thousand men. But now, brandishing his huge spear, Mezentius strides +glooming over the plain, vast as Orion when, with planted foot, he +cleaves his way through the vast pools of mid-ocean and his shoulder +overtops the waves, or carrying an ancient mountain-ash from the +hilltops, paces the ground and hides his head among the clouds: so moves +Mezentius, huge in arms. Aeneas, espying him in the deep columns, makes +on to meet him. He remains, unterrified, awaiting his noble foe, steady +in his own bulk, and measures with his eye the fair range for a spear. +'This right hand's divinity, and the weapon I poise and hurl, now be +favourable! thee, Lausus, I vow for the live trophy of Aeneas, dressed +in the spoils stripped from the pirate's body.' He ends, and throws the +spear whistling from far; it flies on, glancing from the shield, and +pierces illustrious Antores hard by him sidelong in the flank; Antores, +companion of Hercules, who, sent thither from Argos, had stayed by +Evander, and [781-814]settled in an Italian town. Hapless he goes down +with a wound not his own, and in death gazes on the sky, and Argos is +sweet in his remembrance. Then good Aeneas throws his spear; through the +sheltering circle of threefold brass, through the canvas lining and +fabric of triple-sewn bull-hide it went, and sank deep in his groin; yet +carried not its strength home. Quickly Aeneas, joyful at the sight of +the Tyrrhenian's blood, snatches his sword from his thigh and presses +hotly on his struggling enemy. Lausus saw, and groaned deeply for love +of his dear father, and tears rolled over his face. Here will I not keep +silence of thy hard death-doom and thine excellent deeds (if in any wise +things wrought in the old time may win belief), nor of thyself, O fitly +remembered! He, helpless and trammelled, withdrew backward, the deadly +spear-shaft trailing from his shield. The youth broke forward and +plunged into the fight; and even as Aeneas' hand rose to bring down the +blow, he caught up his point and held him in delay. His comrades follow +up with loud cries, so the father may withdraw in shelter of his son's +shield, while they shower their darts and bear back the enemy with +missiles from a distance. Aeneas wrathfully keeps covered. And as when +storm-clouds pour down in streaming hail, all the ploughmen and +country-folk scatter off the fields, and the wayfarer cowers safe in his +fortress, a stream's bank or deep arch of rock, while the rain falls, +that they may do their day's labour when sunlight reappears; thus under +the circling storm of weapons Aeneas sustains the cloud of war till it +thunders itself all away, and calls on Lausus, on Lausus, with chiding +and menace: 'Whither runnest thou on thy death, with daring beyond thy +strength? thine affection betrays thee into rashness.' But none the less +he leaps madly on; and now wrath rises higher and fiercer in the +Dardanian captain, and the Fates pass Lausus' last [815-849]threads +through their hand; for Aeneas drives the sword strongly right through +him up all its length: the point pierced the light shield that armed his +assailant, and the tunic sewn by his mother with flexible gold: blood +filled his breast, and the life left the body and passed mourning +through the air to the under world. But when Anchises' son saw the look +on the dying face, the face pale in wonderful wise, he sighed deeply in +pity, and reached forth his hand, as the likeness of his own filial +affection flashed across his soul. 'What now shall good Aeneas give +thee, what, O poor boy, for this thy praise, for guerdon of a nature so +noble? Keep for thine own the armour thou didst delight in; and I +restore thee, if that matters aught at all, to the ghosts and ashes of +thy parents. Yet thou shalt have this sad comfort in thy piteous death, +thou fallest by great Aeneas' hand.' Then, chiding his hesitating +comrades, he lifts him from the ground, dabbling the comely-ranged +tresses with blood. + +Meanwhile his father, by the wave of the Tiber river, stanched his wound +with water, and rested his body against a tree-trunk. Hard by his brazen +helmet hangs from the boughs, and the heavy armour lies quietly on the +meadow. Chosen men stand round; he, sick and panting, leans his neck and +lets his beard spread down over his chest. Many a time he asks for +Lausus, and sends many an one to call him back and carry a parent's sad +commands. But Lausus his weeping comrades were bearing lifeless on his +armour, mighty and mightily wounded to death. Afar the soul prophetic of +ill knew their lamentation: he soils his gray hairs plenteously with +dust, and stretches both hands on high, and clings on the dead. 'Was +life's hold on me so sweet, O my son, that I let him I bore receive the +hostile stroke in my room? Am I, thy father, saved by these wounds of +thine, and living by thy death? Alas and woe! [850-885]now at last +exile is bitter! now the wound is driven deep! And I, even I, O my son, +stained thy name with crime, driven in hatred from the throne and +sceptre of my fathers. I owed vengeance to my country and my people's +resentment; might mine own guilty life but have paid it by every form of +death! Now I live, and leave not yet man and day; but I will.' As he +speaks thus he raises himself painfully on his thigh, and though the +violence of the deep wound cripples him, yet unbroken he bids his horse +be brought, his beauty, his comfort, that ever had carried him +victorious out of war, and says these words to the grieving beast: +'Rhoebus, we have lived long, if aught at all lasts long with mortals. +This day wilt thou either bring back in triumph the gory head and spoils +of Aeneas, and we will avenge Lausus' agonies; or if no force opens a +way, thou wilt die with me: for I deem not, bravest, thou wilt deign to +bear an alien rule and a Teucrian lord.' He spoke, and took his welcome +seat on the back he knew, loading both hands with keen javelins, his +head sheathed in glittering brass and shaggy horse-hair plumes. Thus he +galloped in. Through his heart sweep together the vast tides of shame +and mingling madness and grief. And with that he thrice loudly calls +Aeneas. Aeneas knew the call, and makes glad invocation: 'So the father +of gods speed me, so Apollo on high: do thou essay to close hand to +hand. . . .' Thus much he utters, and moves up to meet him with levelled +spear. And he: 'Why seek to frighten me, fierce man, now my son is gone? +this was thy one road to my ruin. We shrink not from death, nor relent +before any of thy gods. Cease; for I come to my death, first carrying +these gifts for thee.' He spoke, and hurled a weapon at his enemy; then +plants another and yet another as he darts round in a wide circle; but +they are stayed on the boss of gold. Thrice he rode wheeling close round +him by the [886-908]left, and sent his weapons strongly in; thrice the +Trojan hero turns round, taking the grim forest on his brazen guard. +Then, weary of lingering in delay on delay, and plucking out spear-head +after spear-head, and hard pressed in the uneven match of battle, with +much counselling of spirit now at last he bursts forth, and sends his +spear at the war-horse between the hollows of the temples. The creature +raises itself erect, beating the air with its feet, throws its rider, +and coming down after him in an entangled mass, slips its shoulder as it +tumbles forward. The cries of Trojans and Latins kindle the sky. Aeneas +rushes up, drawing his sword from the scabbard, and thus above him: +'Where now is gallant Mezentius and all his fierce spirit?' Thereto the +Tyrrhenian, as he came to himself and gazing up drank the air of heaven: +'Bitter foe, why these taunts and menaces of death? Naught forbids my +slaughter; neither on such terms came I to battle, nor did my Lausus +make treaty for this between me and thee. This one thing I beseech thee, +by whatsoever grace a vanquished enemy may claim: allow my body +sepulture. I know I am girt by the bitter hatred of my people. Stay, I +implore, their fury, and grant me and my son union in the tomb.' So +speaks he, and takes the sword in his throat unfalteringly, and the +lifeblood spreads in a wave over his armour. + + + + +BOOK ELEVENTH + +THE COUNCIL OF THE LATINS, AND THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CAMILLA + + +Meanwhile Dawn arose forth of Ocean. Aeneas, though the charge presses +to give a space for burial of his comrades, and his mind is in the +tumult of death, began to pay the gods his vows of victory with the +breaking of the East. He plants on a mound a mighty oak with boughs +lopped away on every hand, and arrays it in the gleaming arms stripped +from Mezentius the captain, a trophy to thee, mighty Lord of War; he +fixes on it the plumes dripping with blood, the broken spears, and the +corslet struck and pierced in twelve places; he ties the shield of brass +on his left hand, and hangs from his neck the ivory sword. Then among +his joyous comrades (for all the throng of his captains girt him close +about) he begins in these words of cheer: + +'The greatest deed is done, O men; be all fear gone for what remains. +These are the spoils of a haughty king, the first-fruits won from him; +my hands have set Mezentius here. Now our way lies to the walls of the +Latin king. Prepare your arms in courage, and let your hopes anticipate +the war; let no ignorant delay hinder or tardy thoughts of fear keep us +back, so soon as heaven grant us to pluck up the standards and lead our +army from the camp. [22-58]Meanwhile let us commit to earth the +unburied bodies of our comrades, since deep in Acheron this honour is +left alone. Go,' says he, 'grace with the last gifts those noble souls +whose blood won us this land for ours; and first let Pallas be sent to +Evander's mourning city, he whose valour failed not when the day of +darkness took him, and the bitter wave of death.' + +So speaks he weeping, and retraces his steps to the door, where aged +Acoetes watched Pallas' lifeless body laid out for burial; once +armour-bearer to Evander in Parrhasia, but now gone forth with darker +omens, appointed attendant to his darling foster-child. Around is the +whole train of servants, with a crowd of Trojans, and the Ilian women +with hair unbound in mourning after their fashion. When Aeneas entered +at the high doorway they beat their breasts and raise a loud wail aloft, +and the palace moans to their grievous lamentation. Himself, when he saw +the pillowed head and fair face of Pallas, and on his smooth breast the +gaping wound of the Ausonian spear-head, speaks thus with welling tears: + +'Did Fortune in her joyous coming,' he cries, 'O luckless boy, grudge +thee the sight of our realm, and a triumphal entry to thy father's +dwelling? Not this promise of thee had I given to Evander thy sire at my +departure, when he embraced me as I went and bade me speed to a wide +empire, and yet warned me in fear that the men were valiant, the people +obstinate in battle. And now he, fast ensnared by empty hope, perchance +offers vows and heaps gifts on his altars; we, a mourning train, go in +hollow honour by his corpse, who now owes no more to aught in heaven. +Unhappy! thou wilt see thy son cruelly slain; is this our triumphal +return awaited? is this my strong assurance? Ah me, what a shield is +lost, mine Iülus, to Ausonia and to thee!' + +[59-96]This lament done, he bids raise the piteous body, and sends a +thousand men chosen from all his army for the last honour of escort, to +mingle in the father's tears; a small comfort in a great sorrow, yet the +unhappy parent's due. Others quickly plait a soft wicker bier of arbutus +rods and oak shoots, and shadow the heaped pillows with a leafy +covering. Here they lay him, high on their rustic strewing; even as some +tender violet or drooping hyacinth-blossom plucked by a maiden's finger, +whose sheen and whose grace is not yet departed, but no more does Earth +the mother feed it or lend it strength. Then Aeneas bore forth two +purple garments stiff with gold, that Sidonian Dido's own hands, happy +over their work, had once wrought for him, and shot the warp with +delicate gold. One of these he sadly folds round him, a last honour, and +veils in its covering the tresses destined to the fire; and heaps up +besides many a Laurentine battle-prize, and bids his spoils pass forth +in long train; with them the horses and arms whereof he had stripped the +enemy, and those, with hands tied behind their back, whom he would send +as nether offering to his ghost, and sprinkle the blood of their slaying +on the flame. Also he bids his captains carry stems dressed in the +armour of the foe, and fix on them the hostile names. Unhappy Acoetes is +led along, outworn with age, he smites his breast and rends his face, +and flings himself forward all along the ground. Likewise they lead +forth the chariot bathed in Rutulian blood; behind goes weeping Aethon +the war-horse, his trappings laid away, and big drops wet his face. +Others bear his spear and helmet, for all else is Turnus' prize. Then +follow in mourning array the Teucrians and all the Tyrrhenians, and the +Arcadians with arms reversed. When the whole long escorting file had +taken its way, Aeneas stopped, and sighing deep, pursued thus: 'Once +again war's dreadful destiny calls us hence to other tears: +[97-129]hail thou for evermore, O princely Pallas, and for evermore +farewell.' And without more words he bent his way to the high walls and +advanced towards his camp. + +And now envoys were there from the Latin city with wreathed boughs of +olive, praying him of his grace to restore the dead that lay strewn by +the sword over the plain, and let them go to their earthy grave: no war +lasts with men conquered and bereft of breath; let this indulgence be +given to men once called friends and fathers of their brides. To them +Aeneas grants leave in kind and courteous wise, spurning not their +prayer, and goes on in these words: 'What spite of fortune, O Latins, +hath entangled you in the toils of war, and made you fly our friendship? +Plead you for peace to the lifeless bodies that the battle-lot hath +slain? I would fain grant it even to the living. Neither have I come but +because destiny had given me this place to dwell in; nor wage I war with +your people; your king it is who hath broken our covenant and preferred +to trust himself to Turnus' arms. Fitter it were Turnus had faced death +to-day. If he will fight out the war and expel the Teucrians, it had +been well to meet me here in arms; so had he lived to whom life were +granted of heaven or his own right hand. Now go, and kindle the fire +beneath your hapless countrymen.' Aeneas ended: they stood dumb in +silence, with faces bent steadfastly in mutual gaze. Then aged Drances, +ever young Turnus' assailant in hatred and accusation, with the words of +his mouth thus answers him again: + +'O Trojan, great in renown, yet greater in arms, with what praises may I +extol thy divine goodness? Shall thy righteousness first wake my wonder, +or thy toils in war? We indeed will gratefully carry these words to our +fathers' city, and, if fortune grant a way, will make thee at one with +King Latinus. Let Turnus seek his own alliances. Nay, [130-163]it will +be our delight to rear the massy walls of destiny and stoop our +shoulders under the stones of Troy.' + +He ended thus, and all with one voice murmured assent. Twelve days' +truce is struck, and in mediation of the peace Teucrians and Latins +stray mingling unharmed on the forest heights. The tall ash echoes to +the axe's strokes; they overturn pines that soar into the sky, and +busily cleave oaken logs and scented cedar with wedges, and drag +mountain-ashes on their groaning waggons. + +And now flying Rumour, harbinger of the heavy woe, fills Evander and +Evander's house and city with the same voice that but now told of Pallas +victorious over Latium. The Arcadians stream to the gates, snatching +funeral torches after their ancient use; the road gleams with the long +line of flame, and parts the fields with a broad pathway of light; the +arriving crowd of Phrygians meets them and mingles in mourning array. +When the matrons saw all the train approach their dwellings they kindle +the town with loud wailing. But no force may withhold Evander; he comes +amid them; the bier is set down; he flings himself on Pallas, and clasps +him with tears and sighs, and scarcely at last does grief leave his +voice's utterance free. 'Other than this, O Pallas! was thy promise to +thy father, that thou wouldst not plunge recklessly into the fury of +battle. I knew well how strong was the fresh pride of arms and the +sweetness of honour in a first battle. Ah, unhappy first-fruits of his +youth and bitter prelude of the war upon our borders! ah, vows and +prayers of mine that no god heard! and thou, pure crown of wifehood, +happy that thou art dead and not spared for this sorrow! But I have +outgone my destiny in living, to stay here the survivor of my child. +Would I had followed the allied arms of Troy, to be overwhelmed by +Rutulian weapons! Would my life had been given, and I and not my Pallas +were borne home in this [164-198]procession! I would not blame you, O +Teucrians, nor our treaty and the friendly hands we clasped: our old age +had that appointed debt to pay. Yet if untimely death awaited my son, it +will be good to think he fell leading the Teucrians into Latium, and +slew his Volscian thousands before he fell. Nay, no other funeral than +this would I deem thy due, my Pallas, than good Aeneas does, than the +mighty Phrygians, than the Tyrrhene captains and all the army of +Tyrrhenia. Great are the trophies they bring on whom thine hand deals +death; thou also, Turnus, wert standing now a great trunk dressed in +arms, had his age and his strength of years equalled thine. But why, +unhappy, do I delay the Trojan arms? Go, and forget not to carry this +message to your king: Thine hand it is that keeps me lingering in a life +that is hateful since Pallas fell, and Turnus is the debt thou seest son +and father claim: for thy virtue and thy fortune this scope alone is +left. I ask not joy in life; I may not; but to carry this to my son deep +in the under world.' + +Meanwhile Dawn had raised her gracious light on weary men, bringing back +task and toil: now lord Aeneas, now Tarchon, have built the pyres on the +winding shore. Hither in ancestral fashion hath each borne the bodies of +his kin; the dark fire is lit beneath, and the vapour hides high heaven +in gloom. Thrice, girt in glittering arms, they have marched about the +blazing piles, thrice compassed on horseback the sad fire of death, and +uttered their wail. Tears fall fast upon earth and armour; cries of men +and blare of trumpets roll skyward. Then some fling on the fire Latin +spoils stripped from the slain, helmets and shapely swords, bridles and +glowing chariot wheels; others familiar gifts, the very shields and +luckless weapons of the dead. Around are slain in sacrifice oxen many in +number, and bristly swine and cattle gathered out of all the country +[199-234]are slaughtered over the flames. Then, crowding the shore, +they gaze on their burning comrades, and guard the embers of the pyres, +and cannot tear themselves away till dewy Night wheels on the +star-spangled glittering sky. + +Therewithal the unhappy Latins far apart build countless pyres and bury +many bodies of men in the ground; and many more they lift and bear away +to the neighbouring country, or send them back to the city; the rest, a +vast heap of undistinguishable slaughter, they burn uncounted and +unhonoured; on all sides the broad fields gleam with crowded rivalry of +fires. The third Dawn had rolled away the chill shadow from the sky; +mournfully they piled high the ashes and mingled bones from the embers, +and heaped a load of warm earth above them. Now in the dwellings of rich +Latinus' city the noise is loudest and most the long wail. Here mothers +and their sons' unhappy brides, here beloved sisters sad-hearted and +orphaned boys curse the disastrous war and Turnus' bridal, and bid him +his own self arm and decide the issue with the sword, since he claims +for himself the first rank and the lordship of Italy. Drances fiercely +embitters their cry, and vouches that Turnus alone is called, alone is +claimed for battle. Yet therewith many a diverse-worded counsel is for +Turnus, and the great name of the queen overshadows him, and he rises +high in renown of trophies fitly won. + +Among their stir, and while confusion is fiercest, lo! to crown all, the +envoys from great Diomede's city bring their gloomy message: nothing is +come of all the toil and labour spent; gifts and gold and strong +entreaties have been of no avail; Latium must seek other arms, or sue +for peace to the Trojan king. For heavy grief King Latinus himself +swoons away. The wrath of heaven and the fresh graves before his eyes +warn him that Aeneas is borne on by fate's evident will. So he sends +imperial summons to [235-269]his high council, the foremost of his +people, and gathers them within his lofty courts. They assemble, and +stream up the crowded streets to the royal dwelling. Latinus, eldest in +years and first in royalty, sits amid them with cheerless brow, and bids +the envoys sent back from the Aetolian city tell the news they bring, +and demands a full and ordered reply. Then tongues are hushed; and +Venulus, obeying his word, thus begins to speak: + +'We have seen, O citizens, Diomede in his Argive camp, and outsped our +way and passed all its dangers, and touched the hand whereunder the land +of Ilium fell. He was founding a town, named Argyripa after his +ancestral people, on the conquered fields of Iapygian Garganus. After we +entered in, and licence of open speech was given, we lay forth our +gifts, we instruct him of our name and country, who are its invaders, +and why we are drawn to Arpi. He heard us, and replied thus with face +unstirred: + +'"O fortunate races, realm of Saturn, Ausonians of old, how doth fortune +vex your quiet and woo you to tempt wars you know not? We that have +drawn sword on the fields of Ilium--I forbear to tell the drains of war +beneath her high walls, the men sunken in yonder Simoïs--have all over +the world paid to the full our punishment and the reward of guilt, a +crew Priam's self might pity; as Minerva's baleful star knows, and the +Euboïc reefs and Caphereus' revenge. From that warfaring driven to alien +shores, Menelaus son of Atreus is in exile far as Proteus' Pillars, +Ulysses hath seen the Cyclopes of Aetna. Shall I make mention of the +realm of Neoptolemus, and Idomeneus' household gods overthrown? or of +the Locrians who dwell on the Libyan beach? Even the lord of Mycenae, +the mighty Achaeans' general, sank on his own threshold edge under his +accursed wife's hand, where the adulterer crouched over conquered Asia. +Aye, or that the gods grudged it me to return to [270-301]my ancestral +altars, to see the bride of my desire, and lovely Calydon! Now likewise +sights of appalling presage pursue me; my comrades, lost to me, have +soared winging into the sky, and flit birds about the rivers--ah me, +dread punishment of my people!--and fill the cliffs with their +melancholy cries. This it was I had to look for even from the time when +I madly assailed celestial limbs with steel, and sullied the hand of +Venus with a wound. Do not, ah, do not urge me to such battles. Neither +have I any war with Troy since her towers are overthrown, nor do I +remember with delight the woes of old. Turn to Aeneas with the gifts you +bear to me from your ancestral borders. We have stood to face his grim +weapons, and met him hand to hand; believe one who hath proved it, how +mightily he rises over his shield, in what a whirlwind he hurls his +spear. Had the land of Ida borne two more like him, Dardanus had marched +to attack the towns of Inachus, and Greece were mourning fate's reverse. +In all our delay before that obstinate Trojan city, it was Hector and +Aeneas whose hand stayed the Grecian victory and bore back its advance +to the tenth year. Both were splendid in courage, both eminent in arms; +Aeneas was first in duty. Let your hands join in treaty as they may; but +beware that your weapons close not with his." + +'Thou hast heard, most gracious king, at once what is the king's answer, +and what his counsel for our great struggle.' + +Scarcely thus the envoys, when a diverse murmur ran through the troubled +lips of the Ausonians; even as, when rocks delay some running river, it +plashes in the barred pool, and the banks murmur nigh to the babbling +wave. So soon as their minds were quieted, and their hurrying lips +hushed, the king, first calling on the gods, begins from his lofty +throne: + +[302-336]'Ere now could I wish, O Latins, we had determined our course +of state, and it had been better thus; not to meet in council at such a +time as now, with the enemy seated before our walls. We wage an +ill-timed war, fellow-citizens, with a divine race, invincible, unbroken +in battle, who brook not even when conquered to drop the sword. If you +had hope in appeal to Aetolian arms, abandon it; though each man's hope +is his own, you discern how narrow a path it is. Beyond that you see +with your eyes and handle with your hands the total ruin of our +fortunes. I blame no one; what valour's utmost could do is done; we have +fought with our whole kingdom's strength. Now I will unfold what I +doubtfully advise and purpose, and with your attention instruct you of +it in brief. There is an ancient land of mine bordering the Tuscan +river, stretching far westward beyond the Sicanian borders. Auruncans +and Rutulians sow on it, work the stiff hills with the ploughshare, and +pasture them where they are roughest. Let all this tract, with a +pine-clad belt of mountain height, pass to the Teucrians in friendship; +let us name fair terms of treaty, and invite them as allies to our +realm; let them settle, if they desire it so, and found a city. But if +they have a mind to try other coasts and another people, and can abide +to leave our soil, let us build twice ten ships of Italian oak, or as +many more as they can man; timber lies at the water's edge for all; let +them assign the number and fashion of the vessels, and we will supply +brass, labour, dockyards. Further, it is our will that an hundred +ambassadors of the highest rank in Latium shall go to bear our words and +ratify the treaty, holding forth in their hands the boughs of peace, and +carrying for gifts weight of gold and ivory, and the chair and striped +robe, our royal array. Give counsel openly, and succour our exhausted +state.' + +Then Drances again, he whose jealous ill-will was [337-370]wrought to +anger and stung with bitterness by Turnus' fame, lavish of wealth and +quick of tongue though his hand was cold in war, held no empty +counsellor and potent in faction--his mother's rank ennobled a lineage +whose paternal source was obscure--rises, and with these words heaps and +heightens their passion: + +'Dark to no man and needing no voice of ours, O gracious king, is that +whereon thou takest counsel. All confess they know how our nation's +fortune sways; but their words are choked. Let him grant freedom of +speech and abate his breath, he by whose disastrous government and +perverse way (I will speak out, though he menace me with arms and death) +we see so many stars of battle gone down and all our city sunk in +mourning; while he, confident in flight, assails the Trojan camp and +makes heaven quail before his arms. Add yet one to those gifts of thine, +to all the riches thou bidst us send or promise to the Dardanians, most +gracious of kings, but one; let no man's passion overbear thee from +giving thine own daughter to an illustrious son and a worthy marriage, +and binding this peace by perpetual treaty. Yet if we are thus +terror-stricken heart and soul, let us implore him in person, in person +plead him of his grace to give way, to restore king and country their +proper right. Why again and again hurlest thou these unhappy citizens on +peril so evident, O source and spring of Latium's woes? In war is no +safety; peace we all implore of thee, O Turnus, and the one pledge that +makes peace inviolable. I the first, I whom thou picturest thine enemy, +as I care not if I am, see, I bow at thy feet. Pity thine allies; +relent, and retire before thy conqueror. Enough have we seen of rout and +death, and desolation over our broad lands. Or if glory stir thee, if +such strength kindle in thy breast, and if a palace so delight thee for +thy dower, be bold, and advance stout-hearted upon the foe. We verily, +that Turnus [371-406]may have his royal bride, must lie scattered on +the plains, worthless lives, a crowd unburied and unwept. Do thou also, +if thou hast aught of might, if the War-god be in thee as in thy +fathers, look him in the face who challenges. . . .' + +At these words Turnus' passion blazed out. He utters a groan, and breaks +forth thus in deep accents: + +'Copious indeed, Drances, and fluent is ever thy speech at the moment +war calls for action; and when the fathers are summoned thou art there +the first. But we need no words to fill our senate-house, safely as thou +wingest them while the mounded walls keep off the enemy, and the +trenches swim not yet with blood. Thunder on in rhetoric, thy wonted +way: accuse thou me of fear, Drances, since thine hand hath heaped so +many Teucrians in slaughter, and thy glorious trophies dot the fields. +Trial is open of what live valour can do; nor indeed is our foe far to +seek; on all sides they surround our walls. Are we going to meet them? +Why linger? Will thy bravery ever be in that windy tongue and those +timorous feet of thine? . . . _My conqueror?_ Shall any justly flout me +as conquered, who sees Tiber swoln fuller with Ilian blood, and all the +house and people of Evander laid low, and the Arcadians stripped of +their armour? Not such did Bitias and huge Pandarus prove me, and the +thousand men whom on one day my conquering hand sent down to hell, shut +as I was in their walls and closed in the enemy's ramparts. _In war is +no safety._ Fool! be thy boding on the Dardanian's head and thine own +fortunes. Go on; cease not to throw all into confusion with thy terrors, +to exalt the strength of a twice vanquished race, and abase the arms of +Latinus before it. Now the princes of the Myrmidons tremble before +Phrygian arms, now Tydeus' son and Achilles of Larissa, and Aufidus +river recoils from the Adriatic wave. Or when the scheming villain +[407-443]pretends to shrink at my abuse, and sharpens calumny by +terror! never shall this hand--keep quiet!--rob thee of such a soul; +with thee let it abide, and dwell in that breast of thine. Now I return +to thee, my lord, and thy weighty resolves. If thou dost repose no +further hope in our arms, if all hath indeed left us, and one repulse +been our utter ruin, and our fortune is beyond recovery, let us plead +for peace and stretch forth unarmed hands. Yet ah! had we aught of our +wonted manhood, his toil beyond all other is blessed and his spirit +eminent, who rather than see it thus, hath fallen prone in death and +once bitten the ground. But if we have yet resources and an army still +unbroken, and cities and peoples of Italy remain for our aid; but if +even the Trojans have won their glory at great cost of blood (they too +have their deaths, and the storm fell equally on all), why do we +shamefully faint even on the threshold? Why does a shudder seize our +limbs before the trumpet sound? Often do the Days and the varying change +of toiling Time restore prosperity; often Fortune in broken visits makes +man her sport and again establishes him. The Aetolian of Arpi will not +help us; but Messapus will, and Tolumnius the fortunate, and the +captains sent by many a nation; nor will fame be scant to follow the +flower of Latium and the Laurentine land. Camilla the Volscian too is +with us, leading her train of cavalry, squadrons splendid in brass. But +if I only am claimed by the Teucrians for combat, if that is your +pleasure, and I am the barrier to the public good, Victory does not so +hate and shun my hands that I should renounce any enterprise for so +great a hope. I shall meet him in courage, did he outmatch great +Achilles and wear arms like his forged by Vulcan's hands. To you and to +my father Latinus I Turnus, unexcelled in bravery by any of old, +consecrate my life. _Aeneas calls on him alone_: let him, I implore: let +not Drances rather appease with his [444-480]life this wrath of heaven, +if such it be, or win the renown of valour.' + +Thus they one with another strove together in uncertainty; Aeneas moved +from his camp to battle. Lo, a messenger rushes spreading confusion +through the royal house, and fills the town with great alarms: the +Teucrians, ranged in battle-line with the Tyrrhene forces, are marching +down by the Tiber river and filling the plain. Immediately spirits are +stirred and hearts shaken and wrath roused in fierce excitement among +the crowd. Hurrying hands grasp at arms; for arms their young men +clamour; the fathers shed tears and mutter gloomily. With that a great +noise rises aloft in diverse contention, even as when flocks of birds +haply settle on a lofty grove, or swans utter their hoarse cry among the +vocal pools on the fish-filled river of Padusa. 'Yes, citizens!' cries +Turnus, seizing his time: 'gather in council and sit praising peace, +while they rush on dominion in arms!' Without more words he sprung up +and issued swiftly from the high halls. 'Thou, Volusus,' he cries, 'bid +the Volscian battalions arm, and lead out the Rutulians. Messapus, and +Coras with thy brother, spread your armed cavalry widely over the plain. +Let a division entrench the city gates and man the towers: the rest of +our array attack with me where I command.' The whole town goes rushing +to the walls; lord Latinus himself, dismayed by the woeful emergency, +quits the council and puts off his high designs, and chides himself +sorely for not having given Aeneas unasked welcome, and made him son and +bulwark of the city. Some entrench the gates, or bring up supply of +stones and poles. The hoarse clarion utters the ensanguined note of war. +A motley ring of boys and matrons girdle the walls. Therewithal the +queen with a crowd of mothers ascends bearing gifts to Pallas' towered +temple, and by her side goes maiden Lavinia, source of all that woe, +[481-514]her beautiful eyes cast down. The mothers enter in, and while +the temple steams with their incense, pour from the high doorway their +mournful cry: 'Maiden armipotent, Tritonian, sovereign of war, break +with thine hand the spear of the Phrygian plunderer, hurl him prone to +earth and dash him down beneath our lofty gates.' Turnus arrays himself +in hot haste for battle, and even now hath done on his sparkling +breastplate with its flickering scales of brass, and clasped his golden +greaves, his brows yet bare and his sword buckled to his side; he runs +down from the fortress height glittering in gold, and exultantly +anticipates the foe. Thus when a horse snaps his tether, and, free at +last, rushes from the stalls and gains the open plain, he either darts +towards the pastures of the herded mares, or bathing, as is his wont, in +the familiar river waters, dashes out and neighs with neck stretched +high, glorying, and his mane tosses over collar and shoulder. Camilla +with her Volscian array meets him face to face in the gateway; the +princess leaps from her horse, and all her squadron at her example slide +from horseback to the ground. Then she speaks thus: + +'Turnus, if bravery hath any just self-confidence, I dare and promise to +engage Aeneas' cavalry, and advance to meet the Tyrrhene horse. Permit +my hand to try war's first perils: do thou on foot keep by the walls and +guard the city.' + +To this Turnus, with eyes fixed on the terrible maiden: 'O maiden flower +of Italy, how may I essay to express, how to prove my gratitude? But +now, since that spirit of thine excels all praise, share thou the toil +with me. Aeneas, as the report of the scouts I sent assures, hath sent +on his light-armed horse to annoy us and scour the plains; himself he +marches on the city across the lonely ridge of the mountain steep. I am +arranging a stratagem of [515-550]war in his pathway on the wooded +slope, to block a gorge on the highroad with armed troops. Do thou +receive and join battle with the Tyrrhene cavalry; with thee shall be +gallant Messapus, the Latin squadrons, and Tiburtus' division: do thou +likewise assume a captain's charge.' + +So speaks he, and with like words heartens Messapus and the allied +captains to battle, and advances towards the enemy. There is a sweeping +curve of glen, made for ambushes and devices of arms. Dark thick foliage +hems it in on either hand, and into it a bare footpath leads by a narrow +gorge and difficult entrance. Right above it on the watch-towers of the +hill-top lies an unexpected level, hidden away in shelter, whether one +would charge from right and left or stand on the ridge and roll down +heavy stones. Hither he passes by a line of way he knew, and, seizing +his ground, occupies the treacherous woods. + +Meanwhile in the heavenly dwellings Latona's daughter addressed fleet +Opis, one of her maiden fellowship and sacred band, and sadly uttered +these accents: 'Camilla moves to fierce war, O maiden, and vainly girds +on our arms, dear as she is beyond others to me. For her love of Diana +is not newly born, nor her spirit stirred by sudden affection. Driven +from his kingdom through jealousy of his haughty power, Metabus left +ancient Privernum town, and bore his infant with him in his flight +through war and battle, the companion of his exile, and called her by +her mother Casmilla's name, with a little change, Camilla. Carrying her +before him on his breast, he sought a long ridge of lonely woodland; on +all sides angry weapons pressed on him, and Volscian soldiery spread +hurrying round about. Lo, in mid flight swoln Amasenus ran foaming with +banks abrim, so heavily had the clouds burst in rain. He would swim it; +but love of the infant holds him back in alarm for so dear a burden. +Inly revolving [551-586]all, he settled reluctantly on a sudden +resolve: the great spear that the warrior haply carried in his stout +hand, of hard-knotted and seasoned oak, to it he ties his daughter +swathed in cork-tree bark of the woodland, and binds her balanced round +the middle of the spear; poising it in his great right hand he thus +cries aloft: "Gracious one, haunter of the woodland, maiden daughter of +Latona, a father devotes this babe to thy service; thine is this weapon +she holds, thine infant suppliant, flying through the air from her +enemies. Accept her, I implore, O goddess, for thine own, whom now I +entrust to the chance of air." He spoke, and drawing back his arm, darts +the spinning spear-shaft: the waters roar: over the racing river poor +Camilla shoots on the whistling weapon. But Metabus, as a strong band +now presses nigher, plunges into the river, and triumphantly pulls spear +and girl, his gift to Trivia, from the grassy turf. No cities ever +received him within house or rampart, nor had his savagery submitted to +it; he led his life on the lonely pastoral hills. Here he nursed his +daughter in the underwood among tangled coverts, on the milk of a wild +brood-mare's teats, squeezing the udder into her tender lips. And so +soon as the baby stood and went straight on her feet, he armed her hands +with a sharp javelin, and hung quiver and bow from her little shoulders. +Instead of gold to clasp her tresses, instead of the long skirted gown, +a tiger's spoils hang down her back. Even then her tender hand hurled +childish darts, and whirled about her head the twisted thong of her +sling, and struck down the crane from Strymon or the milk-white swan. +Many a mother among Tyrrhenian towns destined her for their sons in +vain; content with Diana alone, she keeps unsoiled for ever the love of +her darts and maidenhood. Would she had not plunged thus into warfare +and provoked the Trojans by attack! so were she now dear to me and one +of my [587-620]company. But since bitter doom is upon her, up, glide +from heaven, O Nymph, and seek the Latin borders, where under evil omen +they join in baleful battle. Take these, and draw from the quiver an +avenging shaft; by it shall he pay me forfeit of his blood, whoso, +Trojan or Italian alike, shall sully her sacred body with a wound. +Thereafter will I in a sheltering cloud bear body and armour of the +hapless girl unspoiled to the tomb, and lay them in her native land.' +She spoke; but the other sped lightly down the aery sky, girt about with +dark whirlwind on her echoing way. + +But meanwhile the Trojan force nears the walls, with the Etruscan +captains and their whole cavalry arrayed in ordered squadrons. Their +horses' trampling hoofs thunder on all the field, as, swerving this way +and that, they chafe at the reins' pressure; the iron field bristles +wide with spears, and the plain is aflame with uplifted arms. Likewise +Messapus and the Latin horse, and Coras and his brother, and maiden +Camilla's squadron, come forth against them on the plain, and draw back +their hands and level the flickering points of their long lances, in a +fire of neighing horses and advancing men. And now each had drawn within +javelin-cast of each, and drew up; with a sudden shout they dart forth, +and urge on their furious horses; from all sides at once weapons shower +thick like snow, and veil the sky with their shadow. In a moment +Tyrrhenus and fiery Aconteus charge violently with crossing spears, and +are the first to fall; they go down with a heavy crash, and their beasts +break and shatter chest upon chest. Aconteus, hurled off like a +thunderbolt or some mass slung from an engine, is dashed away, and +scatters his life in air. Immediately the lines waver, and the Latins +wheeling about throw their shields behind them and turn their horses +towards the town. The Trojans pursue; Asilas heads and leads on +[621-653]their squadrons. And now they drew nigh the gates, and again +the Latins raise a shout and wheel their supple necks about; the +pursuers fly, and gallop right back with loosened rein: as when the sea, +running up in ebb and flow, now rushes shoreward and strikes over the +cliffs in a wave of foam, drenching the edge of the sand in its curving +sweep; now runs swirling back, and the surge sucks the rolling stones +away. Twice the Tuscans turn and drive the Rutulians towards the town; +twice they are repelled, and look back behind them from cover of their +shields. But when now meeting in a third encounter, the lines are locked +together all their length, and man singles out his man; then indeed, +amid groans of the dying, deep in blood roll armour and bodies, and +horses half slain mixed up with slaughtered men. The battle swells +fierce. Orsilochus hurled his spear at the horse of Remulus, whom +himself he shrank to meet, and left the steel in it under the ear; at +the stroke the charger rears madly, and, mastered by the wound, lifts +his chest and flings up his legs: the rider is thrown and rolls over on +the ground. Catillus strikes down Iollas, and Herminius mighty in +courage, mighty in limbs and arms, bareheaded, tawny-haired, +bare-shouldered; undismayed by wounds, he leaves his vast body open +against arms. Through his broad shoulders the quivering spear runs +piercing him through, and doubles him up with pain. Everywhere the dark +blood flows; they deal death with the sword in battle, and seek a noble +death by wounds. + +But amid the slaughter Camilla rages, a quivered Amazon, with one side +stripped for battle, and now sends tough javelins showering from her +hand, now snatches the strong battle-axe in her unwearying grasp; the +golden bow, the armour of Diana, clashes on her shoulders; and even when +forced backward in retreat, she turns in flight and [654-691]aims darts +from her bow. But around her are her chosen comrades, maiden Larina, +Tulla, Tarpeia brandishing an axe inlaid with bronze, girls of Italy, +whom Camilla the bright chose for her own escort, good at service in +peace and war: even as Thracian Amazons when the streams of Thermodon +clash beneath them as they go to war in painted arms, whether around +Hippolyte, or while martial Penthesilea returns in her chariot, and the +crescent-shielded columns of women dance with loud confused cry. Whom +first, whom last, fierce maiden, does thy dart strike down? First +Euneus, son of Clytius; for as he meets her the long fir shaft crashes +through his open breast. He falls spouting streams of blood, and bites +the gory ground, and dying writhes himself upon his wound. Then Liris +and Pagasus above him; who fall headlong and together, the one thrown as +he reins up his horse stabbed under him, the other while he runs forward +and stretches his unarmed hand to stay his fall. To these she joins +Amastrus, son of Hippotas, and follows from far with her spear Tereus +and Harpalycus and Demophoön and Chromis: and as many darts as the +maiden sends whirling from her hand, so many Phrygians fall. Ornytus the +hunter rides near in strange arms on his Iapygian horse, his broad +warrior's shoulders swathed in the hide stripped from a bullock, his +head covered by a wolf's wide-grinning mouth and white-tusked jaws; a +rustic pike arms his hand; himself he moves amid the squadrons a full +head over all. Catching him up (for that was easy amid the rout), she +runs him through, and thus cries above her enemy: 'Thou wert hunting +wild beasts in the forest, thoughtest thou, Tyrrhenian? the day is come +for a woman's arms to refute thy words. Yet no light fame shalt thou +carry to thy fathers' ghosts, to have fallen under the weapon of +Camilla.' Next Orsilochus and Butes, the two mightiest of mould among +the Teucrians; Butes she pierces in the [692-725]back with her +spear-point between corslet and helmet, where the neck shews as he sits, +and the shield hangs from his left shoulder; Orsilochus she flies, and +darting in a wide circle, slips into the inner ring and pursues her +pursuer; then rising her full height, she drives the strong axe deep +through armour and bone, as he pleads and makes much entreaty; warm +brain from the wound splashes his face. One met her thus and hung +startled by the sudden sight, the warrior son of Aunus haunter of the +Apennine, not the meanest in Liguria while fate allowed him to deceive. +And he, when he discerns that no fleetness of foot may now save him from +battle or turn the princess from pursuit, essays to wind a subtle device +of treachery, and thus begins: 'How hast thou glory, if a woman trust in +her horse's strength? Debar retreat; trust thyself to level ground at +close quarters with me, and prepare to fight on foot. Soon wilt thou +know how windy boasting brings one to harm.' He spoke; but she, furious +and stung with fiery indignation, hands her horse to an attendant, and +takes her stand in equal arms on foot and undismayed, with naked sword +and shield unemblazoned. But he, thinking his craft had won the day, +himself flies off on the instant, and turning his rein, darts off in +flight, pricking his beast to speed with iron-armed heel. 'False +Ligurian, in vain elated in thy pride! for naught hast thou attempted +thy slippery native arts, nor will thy craft bring thee home unhurt to +treacherous Aunus.' So speaks the maiden, and with running feet swift as +fire crosses his horse, and catching the bridle, meets him in front and +takes her vengeance in her enemy's blood: as lightly as the falcon, bird +of bale, swoops down from aloft on a pigeon high in a cloud, and pounces +on and holds her, and disembowels her with taloned feet, while blood and +torn feathers flutter down the sky. + +But the creator of men and gods sits high on Olympus' [726-759]summit +watching this, not with eyes unseeing: he kindles Tyrrhenian Tarchon to +the fierce battle, and sharply goads him on to wrath. So Tarchon gallops +amid the slaughter where his squadrons retreat, and urges his troops in +changing tones, calling man on man by name, and rallies the fliers to +fight. 'What terror, what utter cowardice hath fallen on your spirits, O +never to be stung to shame, O slack alway? a woman drives you in +disorder and routs our ranks! Why wear we steel? for what are these idle +weapons in our hands? Yet not slack in Venus' service and wars by night, +or, when the curving flute proclaims Bacchus' revels, to look forward to +the feast and the cups on the loaded board (this your passion, this your +desire!) till the soothsayer pronounce the offering favourable, and the +fatted victim invite you to the deep groves.' So speaking, he spurs his +horse into the midmost, ready himself to die, and bears violently down +full on Venulus; and tearing him from horseback, grasps his enemy and +carries him away with him on the saddle-bow by main force. A cry rises +up, and all the Latins turn their eyes. Tarchon flies like fire over the +plain, carrying the armed man, and breaks off the steel head from his +own spear and searches the uncovered places, trying where he may deal +the mortal blow; the other struggling against him keeps his hand off his +throat, and strongly parries his attack. And, as when a golden eagle +snatches and soars with a serpent in his clutch, and his feet are fast +in it, and his talons cling; but the wounded snake writhes in coiling +spires, and its scales rise and roughen, and its mouth hisses as it +towers upward; the bird none the less attacks his struggling prize with +crooked beak, while his vans beat the air: even so Tarchon carries +Tiburtus out of the ranks, triumphant in his prize. Following their +captain's example and issue the men of Maeonia charge in. Then Arruns, +due to his [760-796]doom, circles in advance of fleet Camilla with +artful javelin, and tries how fortune may be easiest. Where the maiden +darts furious amid the ranks, there Arruns slips up and silently tracks +her footsteps; where she returns victorious and retires from amid the +enemy, there he stealthily bends his rapid reins. Here he approaches, +and here again he approaches, and strays all round and about, and +untiringly shakes his certain spear. Haply Chloreus, sacred to Cybele +and once her priest, glittered afar, splendid in Phrygian armour; a skin +feathered with brazen scales and clasped with gold clothed the horse +that foamed under his spur; himself he shone in foreign blue and +scarlet, with fleet Gortynian shafts and a Lycian horn; a golden bow was +on his shoulder, and the soothsayer's helmet was of gold; red gold +knotted up his yellow scarf with its rustling lawny folds; his tunics +and barbarian trousers were wrought in needlework. Him, whether that she +might nail armour of Troy on her temples, or herself move in captive +gold, the maiden pursued in blind chase alone of all the battle +conflict, and down the whole line, reckless and fired by a woman's +passion for spoils and plunder: when at last out of his ambush Arruns +chooses his time and darts his javelin, praying thus aloud to heaven: +'Apollo, most high of gods, holy Soracte's warder, to whom we beyond all +do worship, for whom the blaze of the pinewood heap is fed, where we thy +worshippers in pious faith print our steps amid the deep embers of the +fire, grant, O Lord omnipotent, that our arms wipe off this disgrace. I +seek not the dress the maiden wore, nor trophy or any spoil of victory; +other deeds shall bring me praise; let but this dread scourge fall +stricken beneath my wound, I will return inglorious to my native towns.' +Phoebus heard, and inly granted half his vow to prosper, half he shred +into the flying breezes. To surprise and strike down Camilla in sudden +death, this he [797-831]yielded to his prayer; that his high home might +see his return he gave not, and a gust swept off his accents on the +gale. So, when the spear sped from his hand hurtled through the air, all +the Volscians marked it well and turned their eyes on the queen; and she +alone knew not wind or sound of the weapon on its aery path, till the +spear passed home and sank where her breast met it, and, driven deep, +drank her maiden blood. Her companions run hastily up and catch their +sinking mistress. Arruns takes to flight more alarmed than all, in +mingled fear and exultation, and no longer dares to trust his spear or +face the maiden's weapons. And as the wolf, some shepherd or great +bullock slain, plunges at once among the trackless mountain heights ere +hostile darts are in pursuit, and knows how reckless he hath been, and +drooping his tail lays it quivering under his belly, and seeks the +woods; even so does Arruns withdraw from sight in dismay, and, satisfied +to escape, mingles in the throng of arms. The dying woman pulls at the +weapon with her hand; but the iron head is fixed deep in the wound up +between the rib-bones. She swoons away with loss of blood; chilling in +death her eyes swoon away; the once lustrous colour leaves her face. +Then gasping, she thus accosts Acca, one of her birthmates, who alone +before all was true to Camilla, with whom her cares were divided; and +even so she speaks: 'Thus far, Acca my sister, have I availed; now the +bitter wound overmasters me, and all about me darkens in haze. Haste +away, and carry to Turnus my last message; to take my place in battle, +and repel the Trojans from the town. And now goodbye.' Even with the +words she dropped the reins and slid to ground unconscious. Then the +unnerving chill overspread her, her neck slackened, her head sank +overpowered by death, and her arms fell, and with a moan the life fled +indignant into the dark. Then indeed an [832-867]infinite cry rises and +smites the golden stars; the battle grows bloodier now Camilla is down; +at once in serried rants all the Teucrian forces pour in, with the +Tyrrhene captains and Evander's Arcadian squadrons. + +But Opis, Trivia's sentinel, long ere now sits high on the hill-tops, +gazing on the battle undismayed. And when afar amid the din of angry men +she espied Camilla done woefully to death, she sighed and uttered forth +a deep cry: 'Ah too, too cruel, O maiden, the forfeit thou hast paid for +daring armed attack on the Teucrians! and nothing hath availed thee thy +lonely following of Diana in the woodlands, nor wearing our quiver on +thy shoulder. Yet thy Queen hath not left thee unhonoured now thy latter +end is come; nor will this thy death be unnamed among the nations, nor +shalt thou bear the fame of one unavenged; for whosoever hath sullied +thy body with a wound shall pay death for due.' Under the mountain +height was a great earthen mound, tomb of Dercennus, a Laurentine king +of old, shrouded in shadowy ilex. Hither the goddess most beautiful +first swoops down, and marks Arruns from the mounded height. As she saw +him glittering in arms and idly exultant: 'Why,' she cries, 'wanderest +thou away? hitherward direct thy steps; come hither to thy doom, to +receive thy fit reward for Camilla. Shalt thou die, and by Diana's +weapons?' The Thracian spoke, and slid out a fleet arrow from her gilded +quiver, and stretched it level on the bow, and drew it far, till the +curving tips met one another, and now her hands touched in counterpoise, +the left the steel edge, the string in the right her breast. At once and +in a moment Arruns heard the whistle of the dart and the resounding air, +as the steel sank in his body. His comrades leave him forgotten on the +unknown dust of the plain, moaning his last and gasping his life away; +Opis wings her flight to the skyey heaven. + +[868-901]At once the light squadron of Camilla retreat now they have +lost their mistress; the Rutulians retreat in confusion, brave Atinas +retreats. Scattered captains and thinned companies make for safety, and +turn their horses backward to the town. Nor does any avail to make stand +against the swarming death-dealing Teucrians, or bear their shock in +arms; but their unstrung bows droop on their shoulders, and the +four-footed galloping horse-hoof shakes the crumbling plain. The eddying +dust rolls up thick and black towards the walls, and on the watch-towers +mothers beat their breasts and the cries of women rise up to heaven. On +such as first in the rout broke in at the open gates the mingling +hostile throng follows hard; nor do they escape death, alas! but in the +very gateway, within their native city and amid their sheltering homes, +they are pierced through and gasp out their life. Some shut the gates, +and dare not open to their pleading comrades nor receive them in the +town; and a most pitiful slaughter begins between armed men who guard +the entry and others who rush upon their arms. Barred out before their +weeping parents' eyes and faces, some, swept on by the rout, roll +headlong into the trenches; some, blindly rushing with loosened rein, +batter at the gates and stiffly-bolted doorway. The very mothers from +the walls in eager heat (true love of country points the way, when they +see Camilla) dart weapons with shaking hand, and eagerly make hard +stocks of wood and fire-hardened poles serve for steel, and burn to die +among the foremost for their city's sake. + +Meanwhile among the forests the terrible news pours in on Turnus, and +Acca brings him news of the mighty invasion; the Volscian lines are +destroyed; Camilla is fallen; the enemy thicken and press on, and have +swept all before them down the tide of battle. Raging he leaves the +hills he had beset--Jove's stern will ordains it [902-915]so--and quits +the rough woodland. Scarcely had he marched out of sight and gained the +plain when lord Aeneas enters the open defiles, surmounts the ridge, and +issues from the dim forest. So both advance swiftly to the town with all +their columns, no long march apart, and at once Aeneas descried afar the +plains all smoking with dust, and saw the Laurentine columns, and Turnus +knew Aeneas terrible in arms, and heard the advancing feet and the +neighing of the horses. And straightway would they join battle and essay +the conflict, but that ruddy Phoebus even now dips his weary coursers in +the Iberian flood, and night draws on over the fading day. They encamp +before the city, and draw their trenches round the walls. + + + + +BOOK TWELFTH + +THE SLAYING OF TURNUS + + +When Turnus sees the Latins broken and fainting in the thwart issue of +war, his promise claimed for fulfilment, and men's eyes pointed on him, +his own spirit rises in unappeasable flame. As the lion in Phoenician +fields, his breast heavily wounded by the huntsmen, at last starts into +arms, and shakes out the shaggy masses from his exultant neck, and +undismayed snaps the brigand's planted weapon, roaring with +blood-stained mouth; even so Turnus kindles and swells in passion. Then +he thus addresses the king, and so furiously begins: + +'Turnus stops not the way; there is no excuse for the coward Aeneadae to +take back their words or renounce their compact. I join battle; bring +the holy things, my lord, and swear the treaty. Either this hand shall +hurl to hell the Dardanian who skulks from Asia, and the Latins sit and +see my single sword wipe out the nation's reproach; or let him rule his +conquest, and Lavinia pass to his espousal.' + +To him Latinus calmly replied: 'O excellent young man! the more thy hot +valour abounds, the more intently must I counsel, and weigh fearfully +what may befall. Thou hast thy father Daunus' realm, hast many towns +taken by [23-55]thine hand, nor is Latinus lacking in gold and +goodwill. There are other maidens unwedded in Latium and Laurentine +fields, and of no mean birth. Let me unfold this hard saying in all +sincerity: and do thou drink it into thy soul. I might not ally my +daughter to any of her old wooers; such was the universal oracle of gods +and men. Overborne by love for thee, overborne by kinship of blood and +my weeping wife's complaint, I broke all fetters, I severed the maiden +from her promised husband, I took up unrighteous arms. Since then, +Turnus, thou seest what calamities, what wars pursue me, what woes +thyself before all dost suffer. Twice vanquished in pitched battle, we +scarce guard in our city walls the hopes of Italy: the streams of Tiber +yet run warm with our blood, and our bones whiten the boundless plain. +Why fall I away again and again? what madness bends my purpose? if I am +ready to take them into alliance after Turnus' destruction, why do I not +rather bar the strife while he lives? What will thy Rutulian kinsmen, +will all Italy say, if thy death--Fortune make void the word!--comes by +my betrayal, while thou suest for our daughter in marriage? Cast a +glance on war's changing fortune; pity thine aged father, who now far +away sits sad in his native Ardea.' + +In nowise do the words bend Turnus' passion: he rages the more fiercely, +and sickens of the cure. So soon as he found speech he thus made +utterance: + +'The care thou hast for me, most gracious lord, for me lay down, I +implore thee, and let me purchase honour with death. Our hand too rains +weapons, our steel is strong; and our wounds too draw blood. The goddess +his mother will be far from him to cover his flight, woman-like, in a +cloud and an empty phantom's hiding.' + +But the queen, dismayed by the new terms of battle, wept, and clung to +her fiery son as one ready to die: [56-89]'Turnus, by these tears, by +Amata's regard, if that touches thee at all--thou art now the one hope, +the repose of mine unhappy age; in thine hand is Latinus' honour and +empire, on thee is the weight of all our sinking house--one thing I +beseech thee; forbear to join battle with the Teucrians. What fate +soever awaits thee in the strife thou seekest, it awaits me, Turnus, +too: with thee will I leave the hateful light, nor shall my captive eyes +see Aeneas my daughter's lord.' Lavinia tearfully heard her mother's +words with cheeks all aflame, as deep blushes set her face on fire and +ran hotly over it. Even as Indian ivory, if one stain it with sanguine +dye, or where white lilies are red with many a rose amid: such colour +came on the maiden's face. Love throws him into tumult, and stays his +countenance on the girl: he burns fiercer for arms, and briefly answers +Amata: + +'Do not, I pray thee, do not weep for me, neither pursue me thus +ominously as I go to the stern shock of war. Turnus is not free to dally +with death. Thou, Idmon, bear my message to the Phrygian monarch in this +harsh wording: So soon as to-morrow's Dawn rises in the sky blushing on +her crimson wheels, let him not loose Teucrian or Rutulian: let Teucrian +and Rutulian arms have rest, and our blood decide the war; on that field +let Lavinia be sought in marriage.' + +These words uttered, withdrawing swiftly homeward, he orders out his +horses, and rejoicingly beholds them snorting before his face: those +that Orithyia's self gave to grace Pilumnus, such as would excel the +snows in whiteness and the gales in speed. The eager charioteers stand +round and pat their chests with clapping hollowed hands, and comb their +tressed manes. Himself next he girds on his shoulders the corslet stiff +with gold and pale mountain-bronze, and buckles on the sword and shield +and scarlet-plumed [90-124]helmet-spikes: that sword the divine Lord of +Fire had himself forged for his father Daunus and dipped glowing in the +Stygian wave. Next, where it stood amid his dwelling leaning on a massy +pillar, he strongly seizes his stout spear, the spoil of Actor the +Auruncan, and brandishes it quivering, and cries aloud: 'Now, O spear +that never hast failed at my call, now the time is come; thee princely +Actor once, thee Turnus now wields in his grasp. Grant this strong hand +to strike down the effeminate Phrygian, to rend and shatter the corslet, +and defile in dust the locks curled with hot iron and wet with myrrh.' +Thus madly he runs on: sparkles leap out from all his blazing face, and +his keen eyes flash fire: even as the bull when before his first fight +he bellows awfully, and drives against a tree's trunk to make trial of +his angry horns, and buffets the air with blows or scatters the sand in +prelude of battle. + +And therewithal Aeneas, terrible in his mother's armour, kindles for +warfare and awakes into wrath, rejoicing that offer of treaty stays the +war. Comforting his comrades and sorrowing Iülus' fear, he instructs +them of destiny, and bids bear answer of assurance to King Latinus, and +name the laws of peace. + +Scarcely did the morrow shed on the mountain-tops the beams of risen +day, as the horses of the sun begin to rise from the deep flood and +breathe light from their lifted nostrils; Rutulian and Teucrian men +measured out and made ready a field of battle under the great city's +ramparts, and midway in it hearth-fires and grassy altars to the gods of +both peoples; while others bore spring water and fire, draped in +priestly dress and their brows bound with grass of the field. The +Ausonian army issue forth, and crowd through the gates in streaming +serried columns. On this side all the Trojan and Tyrrhenian host pour in +diverse armament, girt with iron even as though the harsh battle-strife +[125-158]called them forth. Therewith amid their thousands the captains +dart up and down, splendid in gold and purple, Mnestheus, seed of +Assaracus, and brave Asilas, and Messapus, tamer of horses, brood of +Neptune: then each on signal given retired to his own ground; they plant +their spears in the earth and lean their shields against them. Mothers +in eager abandonment, and the unarmed crowd and feeble elders beset +towers and house-roofs, or stand at the lofty gates. + +But Juno, on the summit that is now called the Alban--then the mountain +had neither name nor fame or honour--looked forth from the hill and +surveyed the plain and double lines of Laurentine and Trojan, and +Latinus' town. Straightway spoke she thus to Turnus' sister, goddess to +goddess, lady of pools and noisy rivers: such worship did Jupiter the +high king of air consecrate to her for her stolen virginity: + +'Nymph, grace of rivers, best beloved of our soul, thou knowest how out +of all the Latin women that ever rose to high-hearted Jove's thankless +bed, thee only have I preferred and gladly given part and place in +heaven. Learn thy woe, that thou blame not me for it, Juturna. Where +fortune seemed to allow and the Destinies granted Latinus' estate to +prosper, I shielded Turnus and thy city. Now I see him joining battle +with unequal fates, and the day of doom and deadly force draws nigh. +Mine eyes cannot look on this battle and treaty: thou, if thou darest +aught of more present help for the brother of thy blood, go on; it +befits thee. Haply relief shall follow misery.' + +Scarcely thus: when Juturna's eyes overbrimmed with tears, and thrice +and again she smote her hand on her gracious breast. 'This is not time +for tears,' cries Juno, daughter of Saturn: 'hasten and snatch thy +brother, if it may be, from his death; or do thou waken war, and make +[159-191]the treaty abortive. I encourage thee to dare.' With such +urgence she left her, doubting and dismayed, and grievously wounded in +soul. + +Meanwhile the kings go forth; Latinus in mighty pomp rides in his +four-horse chariot; twelve gilded rays go glittering round his brows, +symbol of the Sun his ancestor; Turnus moves behind a white pair, +clenching in his hand two broad-headed spears. On this side lord Aeneas, +fount of the Roman race, ablaze in starlike shield and celestial arms, +and close by Ascanius, second hope of mighty Rome, issue from the camp; +and the priest, in spotless raiment, hath brought the young of a bristly +sow and an unshorn sheep of two years old, and set his beasts by the +blazing altars. They, turning their eyes towards the sunrising, scatter +salted corn from their hands and clip the beasts with steel over the +temples, and pour cups on the altars. Then Aeneas the good, with sword +drawn, thus makes invocation: + +'Be the Sun now witness, and this Earth to my call, for whose sake I +have borne to suffer so sore travail, and the Lord omnipotent, and thou +his wife, at last, divine daughter of Saturn, at last I pray more +favourable; and thou, mighty Mavors, who wieldest all warfare in +lordship beneath thy sway; and on the Springs and Rivers I call, and the +Dread of high heaven, and the divinities of the blue seas: if haply +victory fall to Turnus the Ausonian, the vanquished make covenant to +withdraw to Evander's city; Iülus shall quit the soil; nor ever +hereafter shall the Aeneadae return in arms to renew warfare, or attack +this realm with the sword. But if Victory grant battle to us and ours +(as I think the rather, and so the rather may the gods seal their will), +I will not bid Italy obey my Teucrians, nor do I claim the realm for +mine; let both nations, unconquered, join treaty for ever under equal +law. Gods [192-225]and worship shall be of my giving: my father Latinus +shall bear the sword, and have a father's prescribed command. For me my +Teucrians shall establish a city, and Lavinia give the town her name.' + +Thus Aeneas first: thereon Latinus thus follows: + +'By these same I swear, O Aeneas, by Earth, Sea, Sky, and the twin brood +of Latona and Janus the double-facing, and the might of nether gods and +grim Pluto's shrine; this let our Father hear, who seals treaties with +his thunderbolt. I touch the altars, I take to witness the fires and the +gods between us; no time shall break this peace and truce in Italy, +howsoever fortune fall; nor shall any force turn my will aside, not if +it dissolve land into water in turmoil of deluge, or melt heaven in +hell: so surely as this sceptre' (for haply he bore a sceptre in his +hand) 'shall never burgeon into thin leafage and shady shoot, since once +in the forest cut down right to the stem it lost its mother, and the +steel lopped away its tressed arms: a tree of old: now the craftsman's +hand hath bound it in adornment of brass and given it to our Latin +fathers' bearing.' + +With such words they sealed mutual treaty midway in sight of the +princes. Then they duly slay the consecrated beasts over the flames, and +tear out their live entrails, and pile the altars with laden chargers. + +But long ere this the Rutulians deemed the battle unequal, and their +hearts are stirred in changeful motion; and now the more, as they +discern nigher that in ill-matched strength . . . . heightened by +Turnus, as advancing with noiseless pace he humbly worships at the altar +with downcast eye, by his wasted cheeks and the pallor on his youthful +frame. Soon as Juturna his sister saw this talk spread, and the people's +mind waver in uncertainty, into the mid ranks, in feigned form of +Camertus--his family was high in long ancestry, and his father's name +[226-260]for valour renowned, and himself most valiant in arms--into +the mid ranks she glides, not ignorant of her task, and scatters diverse +rumours, saying thus: 'Shame, O Rutulians! shall we set one life in the +breach for so many such as these? are we unequal in numbers or bravery? +See, Troy and Arcadia is all they bring, and those fate-bound bands that +Etruria hurls on Turnus. Scarce is there an enemy to meet every other +man of ours. He indeed will ascend to the gods for whose altars he +devotes himself, and move living in the lips of men: we, our country +lost, shall bow to the haughty rigour of our lords, if we now sit +slackly on the field.' + +By such words the soldiers' counsel was kindled yet higher and higher, +and a murmur crept through their columns; the very Laurentines, the very +Latins are changed; and they who but now hoped for rest from battle and +rescue of fortune now desire arms and pray the treaty were undone, and +pity Turnus' cruel lot. To this Juturna adds a yet stronger impulse, and +high in heaven shews a sign more potent than any to confuse Italian +souls with delusive augury. For on the crimsoned sky Jove's tawny bird +flew chasing, in a screaming crowd, fowl of the shore that winged their +column; then suddenly stooping to the water, pounces on a noble swan +with merciless crooked talons. The startled Italians watch, while all +the birds together clamorously wheel round from flight, wonderful to +see, and dim the sky with their pinions, and in thickening cloud urge +their foe through air, till, conquered by their attack and his heavy +prey, he yielded and dropped it from his talons into the river, and +winged his way deep into the clouds. Then indeed the Rutulians +clamorously greet the omen, and their hands flash out. And Tolumnius the +augur cries before them all: 'This it was, this, that my vows often have +sought; I welcome and know a deity; [261-294]follow me, follow, snatch +up the sword, O hapless people whom the greedy alien frightens with his +arms like silly birds, and with strong hand ravages your shores. He too +will take to flight, and spread his sails afar over ocean. Do you with +one heart close up your squadrons, and defend in battle your lost king.' +He spoke, and darting forward, hurled a weapon full on the enemy; the +whistling cornel-shaft sings, and unerringly cleaves the air. At once +and with it a vast shout goes up, and all their rows are amazed, and +their hearts hotly stirred. The spear flies on; where haply stood +opposite in ninefold brotherhood all the beautiful sons of one faithful +Tyrrhene wife, borne of her to Gylippus the Arcadian, one of them, +midway where the sewn belt rubs on the flank and the clasp bites the +fastenings of the side, one of them, excellent in beauty and glittering +in arms, it pierces clean through the ribs and stretches on the yellow +sand. But of his banded brethren, their courage fired by grief, some +grasp and draw their swords, some snatch weapons to throw, and rush +blindly forward. The Laurentine columns rush forth against them; again +from the other side Trojans and Agyllines and Arcadians in painted +armour flood thickly in: so hath one passion seized all to make decision +by the sword. They pull the altars to pieces; through all the air goes a +thick storm of weapons, and faster falls the iron rain. Bowls and +hearth-fires are carried off; Latinus himself retreats, bearing the +outraged gods of the broken treaty. The others harness their chariots, +or vault upon their horses and come up with swords drawn. Messapus, +eager to shatter the treaty, rides menacingly down on Aulestes the +Tyrrhenian, a king in a king's array. Retreating hastily, and tripped on +the altars that meet him behind, the hapless man goes down on his head +and shoulders. But Messapus flies up with wrathful spear, and strikes +him, as he pleads sore, a deep downward [295-330]blow from horseback +with his beam-like spear, saying thus: _That for him: the high gods take +this better victim._ The Italians crowd in and strip his warm limbs. +Corynaeus seizes a charred brand from the altar, and meeting Ebysus as +he advances to strike, darts the flame in his face; his heavy beard +flamed up, and gave out a scorched smell. Following up his enemy's +confusion, the other seizes him with his left hand by the hair, and +bears him to earth with a thrust of his planted knee, and there drives +the unyielding sword into his side. Podalirius pursues and overhangs +with naked sword the shepherd Alsus as he rushes amid the foremost line +of weapons; Alsus swings back his axe, and severs brow and chin full in +front, wetting his armour all over with spattered blood. Grim rest and +iron slumber seal his eyes; his lids close on everlasting night. + +But good Aeneas, his head bared, kept stretching his unarmed hand and +calling loudly to his men: 'Whither run you? What is this strife that so +spreads and swells? Ah, restrain your wrath! truce is already stricken, +and all its laws ordained; mine alone is the right of battle. Leave me +alone, and my hand shall confirm the treaty; these rites already make +Turnus mine.' Amid these accents, amid words like these, lo! a whistling +arrow winged its way to him, sped from what hand or driven by what god, +none knows, or what chance or deity brought such honour to the +Rutulians; the renown of the high deed was buried, nor did any boast to +have dealt Aeneas' wound. Turnus, when he saw Aeneas retreating from the +ranks and his captains in dismay, burns hot with sudden hope. At once he +calls for his horses and armour, and with a bound leaps proudly into his +chariot and handles the reins. He darts on, dealing many a brave man's +body to death; many an one he rolls half-slain, or crushes whole files +under his chariot, or seizes and showers spears on the fugitives. As +[331-364]when by the streams of icy Hebrus Mavors kindles to bloodshed +and clashes on his shield, and stirs war and speeds his furious +coursers; they outwing south winds and west on the open plain; utmost +Thrace groans under their hoof-beats; and around in the god's train rush +the faces of dark Terror, and Wraths and Ambushes; even so amid the +battle Turnus briskly lashes on his reeking horses, trampling on the +foes that lie piteously slain; the galloping hoof scatters bloody dew, +and spurns mingled gore and sand. And now hath he dealt Sthenelus to +death, and Thamyrus and Pholus, him and him at close quarters, the other +from afar; from afar both the sons of Imbrasus, Glaucus and Lades, whom +Imbrasus himself had nurtured in Lycia and equipped in equal arms, +whether to meet hand to hand or to outstrip the winds on horseback. +Elsewhere Eumedes advances amid the fray, ancient Dolon's brood, +illustrious in war, renewing his grandfather's name, his father's +courage and strength of hand, who of old dared to claim Pelides' chariot +as his price if he went to spy out the Grecian camp; to him the son of +Tydeus told out another price for his venture, and he dreams no more of +Achilles' horses. Him Turnus descried far on the open plain, and first +following him with light javelin through long space of air, stops his +double-harnessed horses and leaps from the chariot, and descends on his +fallen half-lifeless foe, and, planting his foot on his neck, wrests the +blade out of his hand and dyes its glitter deep in his throat, adding +these words withal: 'Behold, thou liest, Trojan, meting out those +Hesperian fields thou didst seek in war. Such guerdon is theirs who dare +to tempt my sword; thus do they found their city.' Then with a +spear-cast he sends Asbutes to follow him, and Chloreus and Sybaris, +Dares and Thersilochus, and Thymoetes fallen flung over his horse's +neck. And as when [365-398]the Edonian North wind's wrath roars on the +deep Aegean, and the wave follows it shoreward; where the blast comes +down, the clouds race over the sky; so, wheresoever Turnus cleaves his +way, columns retreat and lines turn and run; his own speed bears him on, +and his flying plume tosses as his chariot meets the breeze. Phegeus +brooked not his proud approach; he faced the chariot, and caught and +twisted away in his right hand the mouths of his horses, spurred into +speed and foaming on the bit. Dragged along and hanging by the yoke he +is left uncovered; the broad lance-head reaches him, pins and pierces +the double-woven breastplate, and lightly wounds the surface of his +body. Yet turning, he advanced on the enemy behind his shield, and +sought succour in the naked point; when the wheel running forward on its +swift axle struck him headlong and flung him to ground, and Turnus' +sword following it smote off his head between the helmet-rim and the +upper border of the breastplate, and left the body on the sand. + +And while Turnus thus victoriously deals death over the plains, +Mnestheus meantime and faithful Achates, and Ascanius by their side, set +down Aeneas in the camp, dabbled with blood and leaning every other step +on his long spear. He storms, and tries hard to pull out the dart where +the reed had broken, and calls for the nearest way of remedy, to cut +open the wound with broad blade, and tear apart the weapon's +lurking-place, and so send him back to battle. And now Iapix son of +Iasus came, beloved beyond others of Phoebus, to whom once of old, +smitten with sharp desire, Apollo gladly offered his own arts and gifts, +augury and the lyre and swift arrows: he, to lengthen out the destiny of +a parent given over to die, chose rather to know the potency of herbs +and the practice of healing, and deal in a silent art unrenowned. Aeneas +stood chafing bitterly, propped on his vast spear, mourning +[399-435]Iülus and a great crowd of men around, unstirred by their +tears. The aged man, with garment drawn back and girt about him in +Paeonian fashion, makes many a hurried effort with healing hand and the +potent herbs of Phoebus, all in vain; in vain his hand solicits the +arrow-head, and his pincers' grasp pulls at the steel. Fortune leads him +forward in nowise; Apollo aids not with counsel; and more and more the +fierce clash swells over the plains, and the havoc draws nigher on. +Already they see the sky a mass of dust, the cavalry approaching, and +shafts falling thickly amid the camp; the dismal cry uprises of warriors +fighting and falling under the War-god's heavy hand. At this, stirred +deep by her son's cruel pain, Venus his mother plucked from Cretan Ida a +stalk of dittamy with downy leaves and bright-tressed flowers, the plant +not unknown to wild goats when winged arrows are fast in their body. +This Venus bore down, her shape girt in a dim halo; this she steeps with +secret healing in the river-water poured out and sparkling abrim, and +sprinkles life-giving juice of ambrosia and scented balm. With that +water aged Iapix washed the wound, unwitting; and suddenly, lo! all the +pain left his body, all the blood in the deep wound was stanched. And +now following his hand the arrow fell out with no force, and strength +returned afresh as of old. 'Hasten! arms for him quickly! why stand +you?' cries Iapix aloud, and begins to kindle their courage against the +enemy; 'this comes not by human resource or schooling of art, nor does +my hand save thee, Aeneas: a higher god is at work, and sends thee back +to higher deeds.' He, eager for battle, had already clasped on the +greaves of gold right and left, and scorning delay, brandishes his +spear. When the shield is adjusted by his side and the corslet on his +back, he clasps Ascanius in his armed embrace, and lightly kissing him +through the helmet, cries: 'Learn of me, O boy, valour [436-470]and +toil indeed, fortune of others. Now mine hand shall give thee defence in +war, and lead thee to great reward: do thou, when hereafter thine age +ripens to fulness, keep this in remembrance, and as thou recallest the +pattern of thy kindred, let thy spirit rise to thy father Aeneas, thine +uncle Hector.' + +These words uttered, he issued towering from the gates, brandishing his +mighty spear: with him in serried column rush Antheus and Mnestheus, and +all the throng streams forth of the camp. The field drifts with blinding +dust, and the startled earth trembles under the tramp of feet. From his +earthworks opposite Turnus saw and the Ausonians saw them come, and an +icy shudder ran deep through their frame; first and before all the +Latins Juturna heard and knew the sound, and in terror fled away. He +flies on, and hurries his dark column over the open plain. As when in +fierce weather a storm-cloud moves over mid sea to land, with presaging +heart, ah me, the hapless husbandmen shudder from afar; it will deal +havoc to their trees and destruction to their crops, and make a broad +path of ruin; the winds fly before it, and bear its roar to the beach; +so the Rhoetean captain drives his army full on the foe; one and all +they close up in wedges, and mass their serried ranks. Thymbraeus smites +massive Osiris with the sword, Mnestheus slays Arcetius, Achates Epulo, +Gyas Ufens: Tolumnius the augur himself goes down, he who had hurled the +first weapon against the foe. Their cry rises to heaven, and in turn the +routed Rutulians give backward in flight over the dusty fields. Himself +he deigns not to cut down the fugitives, nor pursue such as meet him +fair on foot or approach in arms: Turnus alone he tracks and searches in +the thick haze, alone calls him to conflict. Then panic-stricken the +warrior maiden flings Turnus' charioteer out over his reins, and leaving +him far where he slips from the [471-504]chariot-pole, herself succeeds +and turns the wavy reins, tones and limbs and armour all of Metiscus' +wearing. As when a black swallow flits through some rich lord's spacious +house, and circles in flight the lofty halls, gathering her tiny food +for sustenance to her twittering nestlings, and now swoops down the +spacious colonnades, now round the wet ponds; in like wise dart +Juturna's horses amid the enemy, and her fleet chariot passes flying +over all the field. And now here and now here she displays her +triumphant brother, nor yet allows him to close, but flies far and away. +None the less does Aeneas thread the circling maze to meet him, and +tracks his man, and with loud cry cries on him through the scattered +ranks. Often as he cast eyes on his enemy and essayed to outrun the +speed of the flying-footed horses, so often Juturna wheeled her team +away. Alas, what can he do? Vainly he tosses on the ebb and flow, and in +his spirit diverse cares make conflicting call; when Messapus, who haply +bore in his left hand two tough spear-shafts topped with steel, runs +lightly up and aims and hurls one of them upon him with unerring stroke. +Aeneas stood still, and gathered himself behind his armour, sinking on +bended knee; yet the rushing spear bore off his helmet-spike, and dashed +the helmet-plume from the crest. Then indeed his wrath swells; and +forced to it by their treachery, while chariot and horses disappear, he +calls Jove oft and again to witness, and the altars of the violated +treaty, and now at last plunges amid their lines. Sweeping terrible down +the tide of battle he wakens fierce indiscriminate carnage, and flings +loose all the reins of wrath. + +What god may now unfold for me in verse so many woes, so many diverse +slaughters and death of captains whom now Turnus, now again the Trojan +hero, drives over all the field? Was it well, O God, that nations +destined to everlasting peace should clash in so vast a shock? Aeneas +[505-540]meets Sucro the Rutulian; the combat stayed the first rush of +the Teucrians, but delayed them not long; he catches him on the side, +and, when fate comes quickest, drives the harsh sword clean through the +ribs where they fence the breast. Turnus brings down Amycus from +horseback with his brother Diores, and meets them on foot; him he +strikes with his long spear as he comes, him with his sword-point, and +hangs both severed heads on his chariot and carries them off dripping +with blood. The one sends to death Talos and Tanaïs and brave Cethegus, +three at one meeting, and gloomy Onites, of Echionian name, and Peridia +the mother that bore him; the other those brethren sent from Lycia and +Apollo's fields, and Menoetes the Arcadian, him who loathed warfare in +vain; who once had his art and humble home about the river-fisheries of +Lerna, and knew not the courts of the great, but his father was tenant +of the land he tilled. And as fires kindled dispersedly in a dry forest +and rustling laurel-thickets, or foaming rivers where they leap swift +and loud from high hills, and speed to sea each in his own path of +havoc; as fiercely the two, Aeneas and Turnus, dash amid the battle; +now, now wrath surges within them, and unconquerable hearts are torn; +now in all their might they rush upon wounds. The one dashes Murranus +down and stretches him on the soil with a vast whirling mass of rock, as +he cries the names of his fathers and forefathers of old, a whole line +drawn through Latin kings; under traces and yoke the wheels spurned him, +and the fast-beating hoofs of his rushing horses trample down their +forgotten lord. The other meets Hyllus rushing on in gigantic pride, and +hurls his weapon at his gold-bound temples; the spear pierced through +the helmet and stood fast in the brain. Neither did thy right hand save +thee from Turnus, O Cretheus, bravest of the Greeks; nor did his gods +shield Cupencus when Aeneas came; he gave his [541-575]breast full to +the steel, nor, alas! was the brazen shield's delay aught of avail. Thee +likewise, Aeolus, the Laurentine plains saw sink backward and cover a +wide space of earth; thou fallest, whom Argive battalions could not lay +low, nor Achilles the destroyer of Priam's realm. Here was thy goal of +death; thine high house was under Ida, at Lyrnesus thine high house, on +Laurentine soil thy tomb. The whole battle-lines gather up, all Latium +and all Dardania, Mnestheus and valiant Serestus, with Messapus, tamer +of horses, and brave Asilas, the Tuscan battalion and Evander's Arcadian +squadrons; man by man they struggle with all their might; no rest nor +pause in the vast strain of conflict. + +At this Aeneas' mother most beautiful inspired him to advance on the +walls, directing his columns on the town and dismaying the Latins with +sudden and swift disaster. As in search for Turnus he bent his glance +this way and that round the separate ranks, he descries the city free +from all this warfare, unpunished and unstirred. Straightway he kindles +at the view of a greater battle; he summons Mnestheus and Sergestus and +brave Serestus his captains, and mounts a hillock; there the rest of the +Teucrian army gathers thickly, still grasping shield and spear. Standing +on the high mound amid them, he speaks: 'Be there no delay to my words; +Jupiter is with us; neither let any be slower to move that the design is +sudden. This city to-day, the source of war, the royal seat of Latinus, +unless they yield them to receive our yoke and obey their conquerors, +will I raze to ground, and lay her smoking roofs level with the dust. +Must I wait forsooth till Turnus please to stoop to combat, and choose +again to face his conqueror? This, O citizens, is the fountain-head and +crown of the accursed war. Bring brands speedily, and reclaim the treaty +in fire.' He ended; all with spirit alike emulous form a wedge and +advance in serried masses to the walls. Ladders are run [576-611]up, +and fire leaps sudden to sight. Some rush to the separate gates, and cut +down the guards of the entry, others hurl their steel and darken the sky +with weapons. Aeneas himself among the foremost, upstretching his hand +to the city walls, loudly reproaches Latinus, and takes the gods to +witness that he is again forced into battle, that twice now do the +Italians choose warfare and break a second treaty. Discord rises among +the alarmed citizens: some bid unbar the town and fling wide their gates +to the Dardanians, and pull the king himself towards the ramparts; +others bring arms and hasten to defend the walls: as when a shepherd +tracks bees to their retreat in a recessed rock, and fills it with +stinging smoke, they within run uneasily up and down their waxen +fortress, and hum louder in rising wrath; the smell rolls in darkness +along their dwelling, and a blind murmur echoes within the rock as the +smoke issues to the empty air. + +This fortune likewise befell the despairing Latins, this woe shook the +whole city to her base. The queen espies from her roof the enemy's +approach, the walls scaled and firebrands flying on the houses; and +nowhere Rutulian ranks, none of Turnus' columns to meet them; alas! she +deems him destroyed in the shock of battle, and, distracted by sudden +anguish, shrieks that she is the source of guilt, the spring of ill, and +with many a mad utterance of frenzied grief rends her purple attire with +dying hand, and ties from a lofty beam the ghastly noose of death. And +when the unhappy Latin women knew this calamity, first her daughter +Lavinia tears her flower-like tresses and roseate cheeks, and all the +train around her madden in her suit; the wide palace echoes to their +wailing, and from it the sorrowful rumour spreads abroad throughout the +town. All hearts sink; Latinus goes with torn raiment, in dismay at his +wife's doom and his city's downfall, defiling his hoary hair with +soilure of sprinkled dust. + +[614-648]Meanwhile on the skirts of the field Turnus chases scattered +stragglers, ever slacker to battle, ever less and less exultant in his +coursers' victorious speed. The confused cry came to him borne in blind +terror down the breeze, and his startled ears caught the echoing tumult +and disastrous murmur of the town. 'Ah me! what agony shakes the city? +or what is this cry that fleets so loud from the distant town?' So +speaks he, and distractedly checks the reins. And to him his sister, as +changed into his charioteer Metiscus' likeness she swayed horses and +chariot-reins, thus rejoined: 'This way, Turnus, let us pursue the brood +of Troy, where victory opens her nearest way; there are others whose +hands can protect their dwellings. Aeneas falls fiercer on the Italians, +and closes in conflict; let our hand too deal pitiless death on his +Teucrians. Neither in tale of dead nor in glory of battle shalt thou +retire outdone.' Thereat Turnus: . . . + +'Ah my sister, long ere now I knew thee, when first thine arts shattered +the treaty, and thou didst mingle in the strife; and now thy godhead +conceals itself in vain. But who hath bidden thee descend from heaven to +bear this sore travail? was it that thou mightest see thy hapless +brother cruelly slain? for what do I, or what fortune yet gives promise +of safety? Before my very eyes, calling aloud on me, I saw Murranus, +than whom none other is left me more dear, sink huge to earth, borne +down by as huge a wound. Hapless Ufens is fallen, not to see our shame; +corpse and armour are in Teucrian hands. The destruction of their +households, this was the one thing yet lacking; shall I suffer it? Shall +my hand not refute Drances' jeers? shall I turn my back, and this land +see Turnus a fugitive? Is Death all so bitter? Do you, O Shades, be +gracious to me, since the powers of heaven are estranged; to you shall I +go down, a pure spirit and [649-681]ignorant of your blame, never once +unworthy of my mighty fathers of old.' + +Scarce had he spoken thus; lo! Saces, borne flying on his foaming horse +through the thickest of the foe, an arrow-wound right in his face, +darts, beseeching Turnus by his name. 'Turnus, in thee is our last +safety; pity thy people. Aeneas thunders in arms, and threatens to +overthrow and hurl to destruction the high Italian fortress; and already +firebrands are flying on our roofs. On thee, on thee the Latins turn +their gazing eyes; King Latinus himself mutters in doubt, whom he is to +call his sons, to whom he shall incline in union. Moreover the queen, +thy surest stay, hath fallen by her own hand and in dismay fled the +light. Alone in front of the gates Messapus and valiant Atinas sustain +the battle-line. Round about them to right and left the armies stand +locked and the iron field shivers with naked points; thou wheelest thy +chariot on the sward alone.' At the distracting picture of his fortune +Turnus froze in horror and stood in dumb gaze; together in his heart +sweep the vast mingling tides of shame and maddened grief, and love +stung to frenzy and resolved valour. So soon as the darkness cleared and +light returned to his soul, he fiercely turned his blazing eyeballs +towards the ramparts, and gazed back from his wheels on the great city. +And lo! a spire of flame wreathing through the floors wavered up skyward +and held a turret fast, a turret that he himself had reared of mortised +planks and set on rollers and laid with high gangways. 'Now, O my +sister, now fate prevails: cease to hinder; let us follow where deity +and stern fortune call. I am resolved to face Aeneas, resolved to bear +what bitterness there is in death; nor shalt thou longer see me shamed, +sister of mine. Let me be mad, I pray thee, with this madness before the +end.' He spoke, and leapt swiftly from his chariot to the field, and +darting through weapons [682-718]and through enemies, leaves his +sorrowing sister, and bursts in rapid course amid their columns. And as +when a rock rushes headlong from some mountain peak, torn away by the +blast, or if the rushing rain washes it away, or the stealing years +loosen its ancient hold; the reckless mountain mass goes sheer and +impetuous, and leaps along the ground, hurling with it forests and herds +and men; thus through the scattering columns Turnus rushes to the city +walls, where the earth is wettest with bloodshed and the air sings with +spears; and beckons with his hand, and thus begins aloud: 'Forbear now, +O Rutulians, and you, Latins, stay your weapons. Whatsoever fortune is +left is mine: I singly must expiate the treaty for you all, and make +decision with the sword.' All drew aside and left him room. + +But lord Aeneas, hearing Turnus' name, abandons the walls, abandons the +fortress height, and in exultant joy flings aside all hindrance, breaks +off all work, and clashes his armour terribly, vast as Athos, or as +Eryx, or as the lord of Apennine when he roars with his tossing ilex +woods and rears his snowy crest rejoicing into air. Now indeed Rutulians +and Trojans and all Italy turned in emulous gaze, and they who held the +high city, and they whose ram was battering the foundations of the wall, +and unarmed their shoulders. Latinus himself stands in amaze at the +mighty men, born in distant quarters of the world, met and making +decision with the sword. And they, in the empty level field that cleared +for them, darted swiftly forward, and hurling their spears from far, +close in battle shock with clangour of brazen shields. Earth utters a +moan; the sword-strokes fall thick and fast, chance and valour joining +in one. And as in broad Sila or high on Taburnus, when two bulls rush to +deadly battle forehead to forehead, the herdsmen retire in terror, all +the herd stands dumb in dismay, and the heifers murmur in doubt which +shall be [719-752]lord in the woodland, which all the cattle must +follow; they violently deal many a mutual wound, and gore with their +stubborn horns, bathing their necks and shoulders in abundant blood; all +the woodland moans back their bellowing: even thus Aeneas of Troy and +the Daunian hero rush together shield to shield; the mighty crash fills +the sky. Jupiter himself holds up the two scales in even balance, and +lays in them the different fates of both, trying which shall pay forfeit +of the strife, whose weight shall sink in death. Turnus darts out, +thinking it secure, and rises with his whole reach of body on his +uplifted sword; then strikes; Trojans and Latins cry out in excitement, +and both armies strain their gaze. But the treacherous sword shivers, +and in mid stroke deserts its eager lord. If flight aid him not now! He +flies swifter than the wind, when once he descries a strange hilt in his +weaponless hand. Rumour is that in his headlong hurry, when mounting +behind his yoked horses to begin the battle, he left his father's sword +behind and caught up his charioteer Metiscus' weapon; and that served +him long, while Teucrian stragglers turned their backs; when it met the +divine Vulcanian armour, the mortal blade like brittle ice snapped in +the stroke; the shards lie glittering upon the yellow sand. So in +distracted flight Turnus darts afar over the plain, and now this way and +now that crosses in wavering circles; for on all hands the Teucrians +locked him in crowded ring, and the dreary marsh on this side, on this +the steep city ramparts hem him in. + +Therewith Aeneas pursues, though ever and anon his knees, disabled by +the arrow, hinder and stay his speed; and foot hard on foot presses +hotly on his hurrying enemy: as when a hunter courses with a fleet +barking hound some stag caught in a river-loop or girt by the +crimson-feathered toils, and he, in terror of the snares and the high +river-bank, [753-786]darts back and forward in a thousand ways; but the +keen Umbrian clings agape, and just catches at him, and as though he +caught him snaps his jaws while the baffled teeth close on vacancy. Then +indeed a cry goes up, and banks and pools answer round about, and all +the sky echoes the din. He, even as he flies, chides all his Rutulians, +calling each by name, and shrieks for the sword he knew. But Aeneas +denounces death and instant doom if one of them draw nigh, and doubles +their terror with threats of their city's destruction, and though +wounded presses on. Five circles they cover at full speed, and unwind as +many this way and that; for not light nor slight is the prize they seek, +but Turnus' very lifeblood is at issue. Here there haply had stood a +bitter-leaved wild olive, sacred to Faunus, a tree worshipped by +mariners of old; on it, when rescued from the waves, they were wont to +fix their gifts to the god of Laurentum and hang their votive raiment; +but the Teucrians, unregarding, had cleared away the sacred stem, that +they might meet on unimpeded lists. Here stood Aeneas' spear; hither +borne by its own speed it was held fast stuck in the tough root. The +Dardanian stooped over it, and would wrench away the steel, to follow +with the weapon him whom he could not catch in running. Then indeed +Turnus cries in frantic terror: 'Faunus, have pity, I beseech thee! and +thou, most gracious Earth, keep thy hold on the steel, as I ever have +kept your worship, and the Aeneadae again have polluted it in war.' He +spoke, and called the god to aid in vows that fell not fruitless. For +all Aeneas' strength, his long struggling and delay over the tough stem +availed not to unclose the hard grip of the wood. While he strains and +pulls hard, the Daunian goddess, changing once more into the charioteer +Metiscus' likeness, runs forward and passes her brother his sword. But +Venus, indignant that the [787-818]Nymph might be so bold, drew nigh +and wrenched away the spear where it stuck deep in the root. Erect in +fresh courage and arms, he with his faithful sword, he towering fierce +over his spear, they face one another panting in the battle shock. + +Meanwhile the King of Heaven's omnipotence accosts Juno as she gazes on +the battle from a sunlit cloud. 'What yet shall be the end, O wife? what +remains at the last? Heaven claims Aeneas as his country's god, thou +thyself knowest and avowest to know, and fate lifts him to the stars. +With what device or in what hope hangest thou chill in cloudland? Was it +well that a deity should be sullied by a mortal's wound? or that the +lost sword--for what without thee could Juturna avail?--should be +restored to Turnus and swell the force of the vanquished? Forbear now, I +pray, and bend to our entreaties; let not the pain thus devour thee in +silence, and distress so often flood back on me from thy sweet lips. The +end is come. Thou hast had power to hunt the Trojans over land or wave, +to kindle accursed war, to put the house in mourning, and plunge the +bridal in grief: further attempt I forbid thee.' Thus Jupiter began: +thus the goddess, daughter of Saturn, returned with looks cast down: + +'Even because this thy will, great Jupiter, is known to me for thine, +have I left, though loth, Turnus alone on earth; nor else wouldst thou +see me now, alone on this skyey seat, enduring good and bad; but girt in +flame I were standing by their very lines, and dragging the Teucrians +into the deadly battle. I counselled Juturna, I confess it, to succour +her hapless brother, and for his life's sake favoured a greater daring; +yet not the arrow-shot, not the bending of the bow, I swear by the +merciless well-head of the Stygian spring, the single ordained dread of +the gods in heaven. And now I retire, and leave the battle in loathing. +[819-854]This thing I beseech thee, that is bound by no fatal law, for +Latium and for the majesty of thy kindred. When now they shall plight +peace with prosperous marriages (be it so!), when now they shall join in +laws and treaties, bid thou not the native Latins change their name of +old, nor become Trojans and take the Teucrian name, or change their +language, or alter their attire: let Latium be, let Alban kings endure +through ages, let Italian valour be potent in the race of Rome. Troy is +fallen; let her and her name lie where they fell.' + +To her smilingly the designer of men and things: + +'Jove's own sister thou art, and second seed of Saturn, such surge of +wrath tosses within thy breast! But come, allay this madness so vainly +stirred. I give thee thy will, and yield thee ungrudged victory. Ausonia +shall keep her native speech and usage, and as her name is, it shall be. +The Trojans shall sink mingling into their blood; I will add their +sacred law and ritual, and make all Latins and of a single speech. Hence +shall spring a race of tempered Ausonian blood, whom thou shalt see +outdo men and gods in duty; nor shall any nation so observe thy +worship.' To this Juno assented, and in gladness withdrew her purpose; +meanwhile she quits her cloud, and retires out of the sky. + +This done, the Father revolves inly another counsel, and prepares to +separate Juturna from her brother's arms. Twin monsters there are, +called the Dirae by their name, whom with infernal Megaera the dead of +night bore at one single birth, and wreathed them in like serpent coils, +and clothed them in windy wings. They appear at Jove's throne and in the +courts of the grim king, and quicken the terrors of wretched men +whensoever the lord of heaven deals sicknesses and dreadful death, or +sends terror of war upon guilty cities. One of these Jupiter sent +swiftly down from heaven's height, and bade her meet Juturna for a +[855-888]sign. She wings her way, and darts in a whirlwind to earth. +Even as an arrow through a cloud, darting from the string when Parthian +hath poisoned it with bitter gall, Parthian or Cydonian, and sped the +immedicable shaft, leaps through the swift shadow whistling and unknown; +so sprung and swept to earth the daughter of Night. When she espies the +Ilian ranks and Turnus' columns, suddenly shrinking to the shape of a +small bird that often sits late by night on tombs or ruinous roofs, and +vexes the darkness with her cry, in such change of likeness the monster +shrilly passes and repasses before Turnus' face, and her wings beat +restlessly on his shield. A strange numbing terror unnerves his limbs, +his hair thrills up, and the accents falter on his tongue. But when his +hapless sister knew afar the whistling wings of the Fury, Juturna +unbinds and tears her tresses, with rent face and smitten bosom. 'How, O +Turnus, can thine own sister help thee now? or what more is there if I +break not under this? What art of mine can lengthen out thy day? can I +contend with this ominous thing? Now, now I quit the field. Dismay not +my terrors, disastrous birds; I know these beating wings, and the sound +of death, nor do I miss high-hearted Jove's haughty ordinance. Is this +his repayment for my maidenhood? what good is his gift of life for ever? +why have I forfeited a mortal's lot? Now assuredly could I make all this +pain cease, and go with my unhappy brother side by side into the dark. +Alas mine immortality! will aught of mine be sweet to me without thee, +my brother? Ah, how may Earth yawn deep enough for me, and plunge my +godhead in the under world!' + +So spoke she, and wrapping her head in her gray vesture, the goddess +moaning sore sank in the river depth. + +But Aeneas presses on, brandishing his vast tree-like spear, and +fiercely speaks thus: 'What more delay is there [889-924]now? or why, +Turnus, dost thou yet shrink away? Not in speed of foot, in grim arms, +hand to hand, must be the conflict. Transform thyself as thou wilt, and +collect what strength of courage or skill is thine; pray that thou +mayest wing thy flight to the stars on high, or that sheltering earth +may shut thee in.' The other, shaking his head: 'Thy fierce words dismay +me not, insolent! the gods dismay me, and Jupiter's enmity.' And no more +said, his eyes light on a vast stone, a stone ancient and vast that +haply lay upon the plain, set for a landmark to divide contested fields: +scarcely might twelve chosen men lift it on their shoulders, of such +frame as now earth brings to birth: then the hero caught it up with +trembling hand and whirled it at the foe, rising higher and quickening +his speed. But he knows not his own self running nor going nor lifting +his hands or moving the mighty stone; his knees totter, his blood +freezes cold; the very stone he hurls, spinning through the empty void, +neither wholly reached its distance nor carried its blow home. And as in +sleep, when nightly rest weighs down our languorous eyes, we seem vainly +to will to run eagerly on, and sink faint amidst our struggles; the +tongue is powerless, the familiar strength fails the body, nor will +words or utterance follow: so the disastrous goddess brings to naught +all Turnus' valour as he presses on. His heart wavers in shifting +emotion; he gazes on his Rutulians and on the city, and falters in +terror, and shudders at the imminent spear; neither sees he whither he +may escape nor how rush violently on the enemy, and nowhere his chariot +or his sister at the reins. As he wavers Aeneas poises the deadly +weapon, and, marking his chance, hurls it in from afar with all his +strength of body. Never with such a roar are stones hurled from some +engine on ramparts, nor does the thunder burst in so loud a peal. +Carrying grim death with it, the spear flies in fashion of some dark +whirlwind, and [925-952]opens the rim of the corslet and the utmost +circles of the sevenfold shield. Right through the thigh it passes +hurtling on; under the blow Turnus falls huge to earth with his leg +doubled under him. The Rutulians start up with a groan, and all the hill +echoes round about, and the width of high woodland returns their cry. +Lifting up beseechingly his humbled eyes and suppliant hand: 'I have +deserved it,' he says, 'nor do I ask for mercy; use thy fortune. If an +unhappy parent's distress may at all touch thee, this I pray; even such +a father was Anchises to thee; pity Daunus' old age, and restore to my +kindred which thou wilt, me or my body bereft of day. Thou art +conqueror, and Ausonia hath seen me stretch conquered hands. Lavinia is +thine in marriage; press not thy hatred farther.' + +Aeneas stood wrathful in arms, with rolling eyes, and lowered his hand; +and now and now yet more the speech began to bend him to waver: when +high on his shoulder appeared the sword-belt with the shining bosses +that he knew, the luckless belt of the boy Pallas, whom Turnus had +struck down with mastering wound, and wore on his shoulders the fatal +ornament. The other, as his eyes drank in the plundered record of his +fierce grief, kindles to fury, and cries terrible in anger: 'Mayest +thou, thou clad in the spoils of my dearest, escape mine hands? Pallas +it is, Pallas who now strikes the sacrifice, and exacts vengeance in thy +guilty blood.' So saying, he fiercely plunges the steel full in his +breast. But his limbs grow slack and chill, and the life with a moan +flies indignantly into the dark. + + +THE END. + + + + +NOTES + + +BOOK FIRST + +l. 123--_Accipiunt inimicum imbrem._ Inimica non tantum hostilia sed +perniciosa.--Serv. on ix. 315. The word often has this latter sense in +Virgil. + +l. 396--_Aut capere aut captas iam despectare videntur._ Henry seems +unquestionably right in explaining _captas despectare_ of the swans +rising and hovering over the place where they had settled, this action +being more fully expressed in the next two lines. The parallelism +between ll. 396 and 400 exists, but it is inverted, _capere_ +corresponding to _subit_, _captas despectare_ to _tenet_. + +l. 427--_lata theatris_ with the balance of MS. authority. + +l. 550--_Arvaque_ after Med. and Pal.; _armaque_ Con. + +l. 636--_Munera laetitiamque die_ ('ut multi legunt,' says Serv.), +though it has little MS. authority, has been adopted because it is +strongly probable on internal grounds, as giving a basis for the other +two readings, _dei_ and _dii_. + +l. 722--_The long-since-unstirred spirit._ + + And weep afresh love's long-since-cancell'd woe. + SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet XXX. + +l. 726--_dependent lychni laquearibus aureis._ Serv. on viii. 25, +_summique ferit laquearia tecti_, says 'multi lacuaria legunt. nam lacus +dicuntur: unde est . . . lacunar. non enim a laqueis dicitur.' As Prof. +Nettleship has pointed out, this seems to indicate that there are two +words, _laquear_ from _laqueus_, meaning chain or network, and _lacuar_ +or _lacunar_ from _lacus_, meaning sunk work. + + +BOOK SECOND + +l. 30--_Classibus hic locus._ Ad equites referre debemus.--Serv. Cf. +also vii. 716. + +l. 76--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 234--_moenia pandimus urbis._ Moenia cetera urbis tecta vel aedes +accipiendum.--Serv. This is the sense which the word generally has in +Virgil: it is often used in contrast with _muri_, or as a synonym of +_urbs_; and in most cases _city_ is its nearest English equivalent. + +l. 381--_caerula colla tumentem._ Caerulum est viride cum nigro.--Serv. +on vii. 198. Cf. iii. 208, where it is used of the colour of the sea +after a storm. + +l. 616--_nimbo effulgens._ est fulgidum lumen quo deorum capita +cinguntur. sic etiam pingi solet.--Serv. Cf. xii. 416. + + +BOOK THIRD + +l. 127--_freta concita terris_ with all the best MSS.; _consita_ Con. + +l. 152--_qua se Plena per insertas fundebat Luna fenestras._ The usual +explanation, which makes _insertas_ an epithet transferred by a sort of +hypallage from _Luna_ to _fenestras_, is extremely violent, and makes +the word little more than a repetition of _se fundebat_. Servius +mentions two other interpretations; _non seratas, quasi inseratas_, and +_clatratas_; the last has been adopted in the translation. + +In the passage of Lucretius (ii. 114) which Virgil has imitated here, + + Contemplator enim cum solis lumina . . . + Inserti fundunt radii per opaca domorum, + +it is possible that _clatris_ may be the lost word. + +l. 684-- + + _Contra iussa monent Heleni, Scyllam atque Charybdim + Inter, utramque viam leti discrimine parvo + Ni teneant cursus._ + +In this difficult passage it is probably best to take _cursus_ as the +subject to teneant (_cursus teneant_, id est agantur.--Serv. Cf. also l. +454 above, _quamvis vi cursus in altum Vela vocet_), _viam_ being either +the direct object of _teneant_, or in loose apposition to _Scyllam atque +Charybdim_. + +l. 708--_tempestatibus actis_ with Rom. and Pal.; _actus_ Con. after +Med. + + +BOOK FOURTH + + Totus hic liber . . . in consiliis et subtilitatibus est. + nam paene comicus stilus est. nec mirum, ubi de amore + tractatur.--Serv. + +l. 273--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 528--Omitted with the best MSS. + + +BOOK FIFTH + +l. 595--_iuduntque per undas_, omitted with the preponderance of MS. +authority. + + +BOOK SIXTH + +l. 242--Omitted with the balance of MS. authority. + +l. 806--_virtutem extendere factis_ with Med.; _virtute extendere vires_ +Con. + + +BOOK EIGHTH + +l. 46--Omitted with the majority of the best MSS. + +l. 383--_Arma rogo. Genetrix nato te filia Nerei_. + + _Arma rogo._ hic distinguendum, ut cui petat non dicat, sed + relinquat intellegi . . . _Genetrix nato te filia Nerei._ hoc + est, soles hoc praestare matribus.--Serv. + + +BOOK NINTH + +l. 29--Omitted with all the best MSS. + +l. 122--Omitted with all the best MSS. + +l. 281-- + + _Me nulla dies tam fortibus ausis + Dissimilem arguerit tantum, Fortuna secunda + Aut adversa cadat._ + +With some hesitation I have adopted this reading as the one open to +least objection, though the balance of authority is decidedly in favour +of _haud adversa_. For the position of _tantum_ cf. Ecl. x. 46, +according to the 'subtilior explicatio' now generally adopted. + +l. 412-- + + _Et venit adversi in tergum Sulmonis ibique + Frangitur, et fisso transit praecordia ligno._ + +The phrase _in tergum_ occurs twice elsewhere: ix. 764--meaning 'on the +back'; and xi. 653--meaning 'backward'; and in x. 718 the uncertainty +about the order of the lines makes it possible that _tergo decutit +hastas_ was meant to refer to the boar, not to Mezentius. But the +passages quoted by the editors there shew that the word might be used in +the sense of 'shield'; and this being so we are scarcely justified in +reading _aversi_ against all the good MSS. + +l. 529--Omitted with most MSS. + + +BOOK TENTH + +l. 278--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 754--_Insidiis, iaculo et longe fallente sagitta._ The MS. authority +is decidedly in favour of this, the more difficult reading; and the +hendiadys is not more violent than those in Georg. ii. 192, Aen. iii. +223. + + +BOOK TWELFTH + +l. 218--_Tum magis, ut propius cernunt non viribus aequis._ + +With Ribbeck I believe that there is a gap in the sense here, and have +marked one in the translation. + +l. 520--_Limina_ with Med. _Munera_ Con. + +ll. 612, 613--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 751--_Venator cursu canis et latratibus instat._ I take _cursu canis_ +as equivalent to _currente cane_, as in i. 324, _spumantis apri cursum +clamore prementem_. + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +The following words appear with and without a hyphen. Spelling has been +left as in the original. + + blood-stained bloodstained + hill-tops hilltops + horse-hair horsehair + life-blood lifeblood + new-born newborn + spear-shaft spearshaft + water-ways waterways + +The following words are spelled in multiple ways. Spelling has been left +as in the original. + + aery aëry + horned hornèd + Nereids Nereïd + Pergama Pergamea + +The following corrections have made to the text: + + page 173--'[quotation mark missing in original]Nymphs, + Laurentine Nymphs + + page 202--in name fail to be Creüsa[original has Crëusa] + + page 207--Rumour on fluttering[original has flutttering] wings + + page 285--the Rhoetean[original has Rhoeteian] captain drives + his army + +The first occurrence of Phoebus was rendered with an oe ligature in the +original. + +Ellipses match the original. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AENEID *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Aeneid</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Virgil</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: J. W. Mackail</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 29, 2007 [eBook #22456]<br /> +[Most recently updated: September 6, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: David Clarke, Lisa Reigel, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AENEID ***</div> + +<div class="mynote"> +<p>Transcriber's Note:<br /> +<br /> +Numbers in the left margin refer to line numbers in +Virgil's Aeneid. These numbers appeared at the top of each page of text +and have been retained for reference.</p> + +<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A complete list +follows the text.</p> +</div> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<p class="gap"> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> + +<h3>THE</h3> + +<h1>AENEID OF VIRGIL</h1> + +<p class="gap"> </p> +<h3>TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH</h3> + +<p class="smgap"> </p> +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2>J. W. MACKAIL, M.A.</h2> +<h4>FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD</h4> + +<p class="gap"> </p> +<h4>London</h4> +<h3>MACMILLAN AND CO.</h3> +<h4>1885</h4> + + + +<p class="smgap"> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> +<h4><i>Printed by</i> <span class="smcap">R. & R. Clark</span>, <i>Edinburgh</i>.</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>There is something grotesque in the idea of a prose translation of a +poet, though the practice is become so common that it has ceased to +provoke a smile or demand an apology. The language of poetry is language +in fusion; that of prose is language fixed and crystallised; and an +attempt to copy the one material in the other must always count on +failure to convey what is, after all, one of the most essential things +in poetry,—its poetical quality. And this is so with Virgil more, +perhaps, than with any other poet; for more, perhaps, than any other +poet Virgil depends on his poetical quality from first to last. Such a +translation can only have the value of a copy of some great painting +executed in mosaic, if indeed a copy in Berlin wool is not a closer +analogy; and even at the best all it can have to say for itself will be +in Virgil's own words, <i>Experiar sensus; nihil hic nisi carmina desunt.</i></p> + +<p>In this translation I have in the main followed the text of Conington +and Nettleship. The more important deviations from this text are +mentioned in the notes; but I have not thought it necessary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span>to give a +complete list of various readings, or to mention any change except where +it might lead to misapprehension. Their notes have also been used by me +throughout.</p> + +<p>Beyond this I have made constant use of the mass of ancient commentary +going under the name of Servius; the most valuable, perhaps, of all, as +it is in many ways the nearest to the poet himself. The explanation +given in it has sometimes been followed against those of the modern +editors. To other commentaries only occasional reference has been made. +The sense that Virgil is his own best interpreter becomes stronger as +one studies him more.</p> + +<p>My thanks are due to Mr. <span class="smcap">Evelyn Abbott</span>, Fellow and Tutor of Balliol, and +to the Rev. <span class="smcap">H. C. Beeching</span>, for much valuable suggestion and criticism.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table summary="Table of Contents" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0"> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE</a><br /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#BOOK_FIRST">BOOK FIRST</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Coming of Aeneas to Carthage</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#BOOK_SECOND">BOOK SECOND</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Story of the Sack of Troy</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#BOOK_THIRD">BOOK THIRD</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Story of the Seven Years' Wandering</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#BOOK_FOURTH">BOOK FOURTH</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Love of Dido, and Her End</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#BOOK_FIFTH">BOOK FIFTH</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Games of the Fleet</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#BOOK_SIXTH">BOOK SIXTH</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Vision of the Under World</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#BOOK_SEVENTH">BOOK SEVENTH</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Landing in Latium, and the Roll of the Armies of Italy</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#BOOK_EIGHTH">BOOK EIGHTH</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Embassage to Evander</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#BOOK_NINTH">BOOK NINTH</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Siege of the Trojan Camp</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#BOOK_TENTH">BOOK TENTH</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Battle on the Beach</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft" style="padding-right: 1.5em"><a href="#BOOK_ELEVENTH">BOOK ELEVENTH</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Council of the Latins, and the Life and Death of Camilla</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#BOOK_TWELFTH">BOOK TWELFTH</a><br /></td> + <td class="tdleft">The Slaying of Turnus</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft"><a href="#NOTES">NOTES</a><br /></td> +</tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h1>THE AENEID</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BOOK_FIRST" id="BOOK_FIRST"></a>BOOK FIRST</h2> + +<h3>THE COMING OF AENEAS TO CARTHAGE</h3> + + +<p>I sing of arms and the man who of old from the coasts of Troy came, an +exile of fate, to Italy and the shore of Lavinium; hard driven on land +and on the deep by the violence of heaven, for cruel Juno's unforgetful +anger, and hard bestead in war also, ere he might found a city and carry +his gods into Latium; from whom is the Latin race, the lords of Alba, +and the stately city Rome.</p> + +<p>Muse, tell me why, for what attaint of her deity, or in what vexation, +did the Queen of heaven drive one so excellent in goodness to circle +through so many afflictions, to face so many toils? Is anger so fierce +in celestial spirits?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>There was a city of ancient days that Tyrian settlers dwelt in, +Carthage, over against Italy and the Tiber mouths afar; rich of store, +and mighty in war's fierce pursuits; wherein, they say, alone beyond all +other lands had Juno her seat, and held Samos itself less dear. Here was +her armour, here her chariot; even now, if fate permit, the goddess +strives to nurture it for queen of the nations. Nevertheless she had +heard a race was issuing of the blood of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span><span class="linenum">[20-53]</span>Troy, which sometime +should overthrow her Tyrian citadel; from it should come a people, lord +of lands and tyrannous in war, the destroyer of Libya: so rolled the +destinies. Fearful of that, the daughter of Saturn, the old war in her +remembrance that she fought at Troy for her beloved Argos long ago,—nor +had the springs of her anger nor the bitterness of her vexation yet gone +out of mind: deep stored in her soul lies the judgment of Paris, the +insult of her slighted beauty, the hated race and the dignities of +ravished Ganymede; fired with this also, she tossed all over ocean the +Trojan remnant left of the Greek host and merciless Achilles, and held +them afar from Latium; and many a year were they wandering driven of +fate around all the seas. Such work was it to found the Roman people.</p> + +<p>Hardly out of sight of the land of Sicily did they set their sails to +sea, and merrily upturned the salt foam with brazen prow, when Juno, the +undying wound still deep in her heart, thus broke out alone:</p> + +<p>'Am I then to abandon my baffled purpose, powerless to keep the Teucrian +king from Italy? and because fate forbids me? Could Pallas lay the +Argive fleet in ashes, and sink the Argives in the sea, for one man's +guilt, mad Oïlean Ajax? Her hand darted Jove's flying fire from the +clouds, scattered their ships, upturned the seas in tempest; him, his +pierced breast yet breathing forth the flame, she caught in a whirlwind +and impaled on a spike of rock. But I, who move queen among immortals, I +sister and wife of Jove, wage warfare all these years with a single +people; and is there any who still adores Juno's divinity, or will kneel +to lay sacrifice on her altars?'</p> + +<p>Such thoughts inly revolving in her kindled bosom, the goddess reaches +Aeolia, the home of storm-clouds, the land laden with furious southern +gales. Here in a desolate cavern Aeolus keeps under royal dominion and +yokes in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span><span class="linenum">[54-85]</span>dungeon fetters the struggling winds and loud storms. +They with mighty moan rage indignant round their mountain barriers. In +his lofty citadel Aeolus sits sceptred, assuages their temper and +soothes their rage; else would they carry with them seas and lands, and +the depth of heaven, and sweep them through space in their flying +course. But, fearful of this, the lord omnipotent hath hidden them in +caverned gloom, and laid a mountain mass high over them, and appointed +them a ruler, who should know by certain law to strain and slacken the +reins at command. To him now Juno spoke thus in suppliant accents:</p> + +<p>'Aeolus—for to thee hath the father of gods and king of men given the +wind that lulls and that lifts the waves—a people mine enemy sails the +Tyrrhene sea, carrying into Italy the conquered gods of their Ilian +home. Rouse thy winds to fury, and overwhelm their sinking vessels, or +drive them asunder and strew ocean with their bodies. Mine are twice +seven nymphs of passing loveliness; her who of them all is most +excellent in beauty, Deïopea, I will unite to thee in wedlock to be +thine for ever; that for this thy service she may fulfil all her years +at thy side, and make thee father of a beautiful race.'</p> + +<p>Aeolus thus returned: 'Thine, O queen, the task to search whereto thou +hast desire; for me it is right to do thy bidding. From thee have I this +poor kingdom, from thee my sceptre and Jove's grace; thou dost grant me +to take my seat at the feasts of the gods, and makest me sovereign over +clouds and storms.'</p> + +<p>Even with these words, turning his spear, he struck the side of the +hollow hill, and the winds, as in banded array, pour where passage is +given them, and cover earth with eddying blasts. East wind and west wind +together, and the gusty south-wester, falling prone on the sea, stir it +up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span><span class="linenum">[86-120]</span>from its lowest chambers, and roll vast billows to the +shore. Behind rises shouting of men and whistling of cordage. In a +moment clouds blot sky and daylight from the Teucrians' eyes; black +night broods over the deep. Pole thunders to pole, and the air quivers +with incessant flashes; all menaces them with instant death. Straightway +Aeneas' frame grows unnerved and chill, and stretching either hand to +heaven, he cries thus aloud: 'Ah, thrice and four times happy they who +found their doom under high Troy town before their fathers' faces! Ah, +son of Tydeus, bravest of the Grecian race, that I could not have fallen +on the Ilian plains, and gasped out this my life beneath thine hand! +where under the spear of Aeacides lies fierce Hector, lies mighty +Sarpedon; where Simoïs so often bore beneath his whirling wave shields +and helmets and brave bodies of men.'</p> + +<p>As the cry leaves his lips, a gust of the shrill north strikes full on +the sail and raises the waves up to heaven. The oars are snapped; the +prow swings away and gives her side to the waves; down in a heap comes a +broken mountain of water. These hang on the wave's ridge; to these the +yawning billow shows ground amid the surge, where the sea churns with +sand. Three ships the south wind catches and hurls on hidden rocks, +rocks amid the waves which Italians call the Altars, a vast reef banking +the sea. Three the east forces from the deep into shallows and +quicksands, piteous to see, dashes on shoals and girdles with a +sandbank. One, wherein loyal Orontes and his Lycians rode, before their +lord's eyes a vast sea descending strikes astern. The helmsman is dashed +away and rolled forward headlong; her as she lies the billow sends +spinning thrice round with it, and engulfs in the swift whirl. Scattered +swimmers appear in the vast eddy, armour of men, timbers and Trojan +treasure amid the water. Ere now the stout ship of Ilioneus, ere now of +brave Achates, and she wherein <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span><span class="linenum">[121-152]</span>Abas rode, and she wherein aged +Aletes, have yielded to the storm; through the shaken fastenings of +their sides they all draw in the deadly water, and their opening seams +give way.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Neptune discerned with astonishment the loud roaring of the +vexed sea, the tempest let loose from prison, and the still water +boiling up from its depths, and lifting his head calm above the waves, +looked forth across the deep. He sees all ocean strewn with Aeneas' +fleet, the Trojans overwhelmed by the waves and the ruining heaven. +Juno's guile and wrath lay clear to her brother's eye; east wind and +west he calls before him, and thereon speaks thus:</p> + +<p>'Stand you then so sure in your confidence of birth? Careless, O winds, +of my deity, dare you confound sky and earth, and raise so huge a coil? +you whom I—But better to still the aroused waves; for a second sin you +shall pay me another penalty. Speed your flight, and say this to your +king: not to him but to me was allotted the stern trident of ocean +empire. His fastness is on the monstrous rocks where thou and thine, +east wind, dwell: there let Aeolus glory in his palace and reign over +the barred prison of his winds.'</p> + +<p>Thus he speaks, and ere the words are done he soothes the swollen seas, +chases away the gathered clouds, and restores the sunlight. Cymothoë and +Triton together push the ships strongly off the sharp reef; himself he +eases them with his trident, channels the vast quicksands, and assuages +the sea, gliding on light wheels along the water. Even as when oft in a +throng of people strife hath risen, and the base multitude rage in their +minds, and now brands and stones are flying; madness lends arms; then if +perchance they catch sight of one reverend for goodness and service, +they are silent and stand by with attentive ear; he with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span><span class="linenum">[153-190]</span>speech sways their temper and soothes their breasts; even so +hath fallen all the thunder of ocean, when riding forward beneath a +cloudless sky the lord of the sea wheels his coursers and lets his +gliding chariot fly with loosened rein.</p> + +<p>The outworn Aeneadae hasten to run for the nearest shore, and turn to +the coast of Libya. There lies a spot deep withdrawn; an island forms a +harbour with outstretched sides, whereon all the waves break from the +open sea and part into the hollows of the bay. On this side and that +enormous cliffs rise threatening heaven, and twin crags beneath whose +crest the sheltered water lies wide and calm; above hangs a background +of flickering forest, and the dark shade of rustling groves. Beneath the +seaward brow is a rock-hung cavern, within it fresh springs and seats in +the living stone, a haunt of nymphs; where tired ships need no fetters +to hold nor anchor to fasten them with crooked bite. Here with seven +sail gathered of all his company Aeneas enters; and disembarking on the +land of their desire the Trojans gain the chosen beach, and set their +feet dripping with brine upon the shore. At once Achates struck a spark +from the flint and caught the fire on leaves, and laying dry fuel round +kindled it into flame. Then, weary of fortune, they fetch out corn +spoiled by the sea and weapons of corn-dressing, and begin to parch over +the fire and bruise in stones the grain they had rescued.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Aeneas scales the crag, and seeks the whole view wide over +ocean, if he may see aught of Antheus storm-tossed with his Phrygian +galleys, aught of Capys or of Caïcus' armour high astern. Ship in sight +is none; three stags he espies straying on the shore; behind whole herds +follow, and graze in long train across the valley. Stopping short, he +snatched up a bow and swift arrows, the arms trusty Achates was +carrying; and first the leaders, their stately heads high with branching +antlers, then the common <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span><span class="linenum">[191-222]</span>herd fall to his hand, as he drives +them with his shafts in a broken crowd through the leafy woods. Nor +stays he till seven great victims are stretched on the sod, fulfilling +the number of his ships. Thence he seeks the harbour and parts them +among all his company. The casks of wine that good Acestes had filled on +the Trinacrian beach, the hero's gift at their departure, he thereafter +shares, and calms with speech their sorrowing hearts:</p> + +<p>'O comrades, for not now nor aforetime are we ignorant of ill, O tried +by heavier fortunes, unto this last likewise will God appoint an end. +The fury of Scylla and the roaring recesses of her crags you have been +anigh; the rocks of the Cyclops you have trodden. Recall your courage, +put dull fear away. This too sometime we shall haply remember with +delight. Through chequered fortunes, through many perilous ways, we +steer for Latium, where destiny points us a quiet home. There the realm +of Troy may rise again unforbidden. Keep heart, and endure till +prosperous fortune come.'</p> + +<p>Such words he utters, and sick with deep distress he feigns hope on his +face, and keeps his anguish hidden deep in his breast. The others set to +the spoil they are to feast upon, tear chine from ribs and lay bare the +flesh; some cut it into pieces and pierce it still quivering with spits; +others plant cauldrons on the beach and feed them with flame. Then they +repair their strength with food, and lying along the grass take their +fill of old wine and fat venison. After hunger is driven from the +banquet, and the board cleared, they talk with lingering regret of their +lost companions, swaying between hope and fear, whether they may believe +them yet alive, or now in their last agony and deaf to mortal call. Most +does good Aeneas inly wail the loss now of valiant Orontes, now of +Amycus, the cruel doom of Lycus, of brave Gyas, and brave Cloanthus. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span><span class="linenum">[223-254]</span>And now they ceased; when from the height of air Jupiter +looked down on the sail-winged sea and outspread lands, the shores and +broad countries, and looking stood on the cope of heaven, and cast down +his eyes on the realm of Libya. To him thus troubled at heart Venus, her +bright eyes brimming with tears, sorrowfully speaks:</p> + +<p>'O thou who dost sway mortal and immortal things with eternal command +and the terror of thy thunderbolt, how can my Aeneas have transgressed +so grievously against thee? how his Trojans? on whom, after so many +deaths outgone, all the world is barred for Italy's sake. From them +sometime in the rolling years the Romans were to arise indeed; from them +were to be rulers who, renewing the blood of Teucer, should hold sea and +land in universal lordship. This thou didst promise: why, O father, is +thy decree reversed? This was my solace for the wretched ruin of sunken +Troy, doom balanced against doom. Now so many woes are spent, and the +same fortune still pursues them; Lord and King, what limit dost thou set +to their agony? Antenor could elude the encircling Achaeans, could +thread in safety the Illyrian bays and inmost realms of the Liburnians, +could climb Timavus' source, whence through nine mouths pours the +bursting tide amid dreary moans of the mountain, and covers the fields +with hoarse waters. Yet here did he set Patavium town, a dwelling-place +for his Teucrians, gave his name to a nation and hung up the armour of +Troy; now settled in peace, he rests and is in quiet. We, thy children, +we whom thou beckonest to the heights of heaven, our fleet miserably +cast away for a single enemy's anger, are betrayed and severed far from +the Italian coasts. Is this the reward of goodness? Is it thus thou dost +restore our throne?'</p> + +<p>Smiling on her with that look which clears sky and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span><span class="linenum">[255-289]</span>storms, the +parent of men and gods lightly kissed his daughter's lips; then answered +thus:</p> + +<p>'Spare thy fear, Cytherean; thy people's destiny abides unshaken. Thine +eyes shall see the city Lavinium, their promised home; thou shalt exalt +to the starry heaven thy noble Aeneas; nor is my decree reversed. He +thou lovest (for I will speak, since this care keeps torturing thee, and +will unroll further the secret records of fate) shall wage a great war +in Italy, and crush warrior nations; he shall appoint his people a law +and a city; till the third summer see him reigning in Latium, and three +winters' camps pass over the conquered Rutulians. But the boy Ascanius, +whose surname is now Iülus—Ilus he was while the Ilian state stood +sovereign—thirty great circles of rolling months shall he fulfil in +government; he shall carry the kingdom from its fastness in Lavinium, +and make a strong fortress of Alba the Long. Here the full space of +thrice an hundred years shall the kingdom endure under the race of +Hector's kin, till the royal priestess Ilia from Mars' embrace shall +give birth to a twin progeny. Thence shall Romulus, gay in the tawny +hide of the she-wolf that nursed him, take up their line, and name them +Romans after his own name. I appoint to these neither period nor +boundary of empire: I have given them dominion without end. Nay, harsh +Juno, who in her fear now troubles earth and sea and sky, shall change +to better counsels, and with me shall cherish the lords of the world, +the gowned race of Rome. Thus is it willed. A day will come in the lapse +of cycles, when the house of Assaracus shall lay Phthia and famed +Mycenae in bondage, and reign over conquered Argos. From the fair line +of Troy a Caesar shall arise, who shall limit his empire with ocean, his +glory with the firmament, Julius, inheritor of great Iülus' name. Him +one day, thy care done, thou shalt welcome to heaven loaded +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span><span class="linenum">[290-321]</span>with Eastern spoils; to him too shall vows be addressed. Then +shall war cease, and the iron ages soften. Hoar Faith and Vesta, +Quirinus and Remus brothers again, shall deliver statutes. The dreadful +steel-riveted gates of war shall be shut fast; on murderous weapons the +inhuman Fury, his hands bound behind him with an hundred fetters of +brass, shall sit within, shrieking with terrible blood-stained lips.'</p> + +<p>So speaking, he sends Maia's son down from above, that the land and +towers of Carthage, the new town, may receive the Trojans with open +welcome; lest Dido, ignorant of doom, might debar them her land. Flying +through the depth of air on winged oarage, the fleet messenger alights +on the Libyan coasts. At once he does his bidding; at once, for a god +willed it, the Phoenicians allay their haughty temper; the queen above +all takes to herself grace and compassion towards the Teucrians.</p> + +<p>But good Aeneas, nightlong revolving many and many a thing, issues +forth, so soon as bountiful light is given, to explore the strange +country; to what coasts the wind has borne him, who are their habitants, +men or wild beasts, for all he sees is wilderness; this he resolves to +search, and bring back the certainty to his comrades. The fleet he hides +close in embosoming groves beneath a caverned rock, amid shivering +shadow of the woodland; himself, Achates alone following, he strides +forward, clenching in his hand two broad-headed spears. And amid the +forest his mother crossed his way, wearing the face and raiment of a +maiden, the arms of a maiden of Sparta, or like Harpalyce of Thrace when +she tires her coursers and outstrips the winged speed of Hebrus in her +flight. For huntress fashion had she slung the ready bow from her +shoulder, and left her blown tresses free, bared her knee, and knotted +together her garments' flowing folds. 'Ha! my men,' she begins, 'shew me +if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span><span class="linenum">[322-355]</span>haply you have seen a sister of mine straying here girt +with quiver and a lynx's dappled fell, or pressing with shouts on the +track of a foaming boar.'</p> + +<p>Thus Venus, and Venus' son answering thus began:</p> + +<p>'Sound nor sight have I had of sister of thine, O maiden unnamed; for +thy face is not mortal, nor thy voice of human tone; O goddess +assuredly! sister of Phoebus perchance, or one of the nymphs' blood? +Be thou gracious, whoso thou art, and lighten this toil of ours; deign +to instruct us beneath what skies, on what coast of the world, we are +thrown. Driven hither by wind and desolate waves, we wander in a strange +land among unknown men. Many a sacrifice shall fall by our hand before +thine altars.'</p> + +<p>Then Venus: 'Nay, to no such offerings do I aspire. Tyrian maidens are +wont ever to wear the quiver, to tie the purple buskin high above their +ankle. Punic is the realm thou seest, Tyrian the people, and the city of +Agenor's kin; but their borders are Libyan, a race unassailable in war. +Dido sways the sceptre, who flying her brother set sail from the Tyrian +town. Long is the tale of crime, long and intricate; but I will briefly +follow its argument. Her husband was Sychaeus, wealthiest in lands of +the Phoenicians, and loved of her with ill-fated passion; to whom with +virgin rites her father had given her maidenhood in wedlock. But the +kingdom of Tyre was in her brother Pygmalion's hands, a monster of guilt +unparalleled. Between these madness came; the unnatural brother, blind +with lust of gold, and reckless of his sister's love, lays Sychaeus low +before the altars with stealthy unsuspected weapon; and for long he hid +the deed, and by many a crafty pretence cheated her love-sickness with +hollow hope. But in slumber came the very ghost of her unburied husband; +lifting up a face pale in wonderful wise, he exposed the merciless +altars and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span><span class="linenum">[356-387]</span>his breast stabbed through with steel, and unwove +all the blind web of household guilt. Then he counsels hasty flight out +of the country, and to aid her passage discloses treasures long hidden +underground, an untold mass of silver and gold. Stirred thereby, Dido +gathered a company for flight. All assemble in whom hatred of the tyrant +was relentless or fear keen; they seize on ships that chanced to lie +ready, and load them with the gold. Pygmalion's hoarded wealth is borne +overseas; a woman leads the work. They came at last to the land where +thou wilt descry a city now great, New Carthage, and her rising citadel, +and bought ground, called thence Byrsa, as much as a bull's hide would +encircle. But who, I pray, are you, or from what coasts come, or whither +hold you your way?'</p> + +<p>At her question he, sighing and drawing speech deep from his breast, +thus replied:</p> + +<p>'Ah goddess, should I go on retracing from the fountain head, were time +free to hear the history of our woes, sooner would the evening star lay +day asleep in the closed gates of heaven. Us, as from ancient Troy (if +the name of Troy hath haply passed through your ears) we sailed over +alien seas, the tempest at his own wild will hath driven on the Libyan +coast. I am Aeneas the good, who carry in my fleet the household gods I +rescued from the enemy; my fame is known high in heaven. I seek Italy my +country, my kin of Jove's supreme blood. With twenty sail did I climb +the Phrygian sea; oracular tokens led me on; my goddess mother pointed +the way; scarce seven survive the shattering of wave and wind. Myself +unknown, destitute, driven from Europe and Asia, I wander over the +Libyan wilderness.'</p> + +<p>But staying longer complaint, Venus thus broke in on his half-told +sorrows:</p> + +<p>'Whoso thou art, not hated I think of the immortals <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span><span class="linenum">[388-420]</span>dost thou +draw the breath of life, who hast reached the Tyrian city. Only go on, +and betake thee hence to the courts of the queen. For I declare to thee +thy comrades are restored, thy fleet driven back into safety by the +shifted northern gales, except my parents were pretenders, and +unavailing the augury they taught me. Behold these twelve swans in +joyous line, whom, stooping from the tract of heaven, the bird of Jove +fluttered over the open sky; now in long train they seem either to take +the ground or already to look down on the ground they took. As they +again disport with clapping wings, and utter their notes as they circle +the sky in company, even so do these ships and crews of thine either lie +fast in harbour or glide under full sail into the harbour mouth. Only go +on, and turn thy steps where the pathway leads thee.'</p> + +<p>Speaking she turned away, and her neck shone roseate, her immortal +tresses breathed the fragrance of deity; her raiment fell flowing down +to her feet, and the godhead was manifest in her tread. He knew her for +his mother, and with this cry pursued her flight: 'Thou also merciless! +Why mockest thou thy son so often in feigned likeness? Why is it +forbidden to clasp hand in hand, to hear and utter true speech?' Thus +reproaching her he bends his steps towards the city. But Venus girt them +in their going with dull mist, and shed round them a deep divine +clothing of cloud, that none might see them, none touch them, or work +delay, or ask wherefore they came. Herself she speeds through the sky to +Paphos, and joyfully revisits her habitation, where the temple and its +hundred altars steam with Sabaean incense, and are fresh with fragrance +of chaplets in her worship.</p> + +<p>They meantime have hasted along where the pathway points, and now were +climbing the hill which hangs enormous over the city, and looks down on +its facing towers. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span><span class="linenum">[421-456]</span>Aeneas marvels at the mass of building, +pastoral huts once of old, marvels at the gateways and clatter of the +pavements. The Tyrians are hot at work to trace the walls, to rear the +citadel, and roll up great stones by hand, or to choose a spot for their +dwelling and enclose it with a furrow. They ordain justice and +magistrates, and the august senate. Here some are digging harbours, here +others lay the deep foundations of their theatre, and hew out of the +cliff vast columns, the lofty ornaments of the stage to be: even as bees +when summer is fresh over the flowery country ply their task beneath the +sun, when they lead forth their nation's grown brood, or when they press +the liquid honey and strain their cells with nectarous sweets, or +relieve the loaded incomers, or in banded array drive the idle herd of +drones far from their folds; they swarm over their work, and the odorous +honey smells sweet of thyme. 'Happy they whose city already rises!' +cries Aeneas, looking on the town roofs below. Girt in the cloud he +passes amid them, wonderful to tell, and mingling with the throng is +descried of none.</p> + +<p>In the heart of the town was a grove deep with luxuriant shade, wherein +first the Phoenicians, buffeted by wave and whirlwind, dug up the token +Queen Juno had appointed, the head of a war horse: thereby was their +race to be through all ages illustrious in war and opulent in living. +Here to Juno was Sidonian Dido founding a vast temple, rich with +offerings and the sanctity of her godhead: brazen steps rose on the +threshold, brass clamped the pilasters, doors of brass swung on grating +hinges. First in this grove did a strange chance meet his steps and +allay his fears; first here did Aeneas dare to hope for safety and have +fairer trust in his shattered fortunes. For while he closely scans the +temple that towers above him, while, awaiting the queen, he admires the +fortunate city, the emulous hands and elaborate work of her craftsmen, +he sees ranged in order the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span><span class="linenum">[457-491]</span>battles of Ilium, that war whose +fame was already rumoured through all the world, the sons of Atreus and +Priam, and Achilles whom both found pitiless. He stopped and cried +weeping, 'What land is left, Achates, what tract on earth that is not +full of our agony? Behold Priam! Here too is the meed of honour, here +mortal estate touches the soul to tears. Dismiss thy fears; the fame of +this will somehow bring thee salvation.'</p> + +<p>So speaks he, and fills his soul with the painted show, sighing often +the while, and his face wet with a full river of tears. For he saw, how +warring round the Trojan citadel here the Greeks fled, the men of Troy +hard on their rear; here the Phrygians, plumed Achilles in his chariot +pressing their flight. Not far away he knows the snowy canvas of Rhesus' +tents, which, betrayed in their first sleep, the blood-stained son of +Tydeus laid desolate in heaped slaughter, and turns the ruddy steeds +away to the camp ere ever they tasted Trojan fodder or drunk of Xanthus. +Elsewhere Troïlus, his armour flung away in flight—luckless boy, no +match for Achilles to meet!—is borne along by his horses, and thrown +back entangled with his empty chariot, still clutching the reins; his +neck and hair are dragged over the ground, and his reversed spear scores +the dust. Meanwhile the Ilian women went with disordered tresses to +unfriendly Pallas' temple, and bore the votive garment, sadly beating +breast with palm: the goddess turning away held her eyes fast on the +ground. Thrice had Achilles whirled Hector round the walls of Troy, and +was selling the lifeless body for gold; then at last he heaves a loud +and heart-deep groan, as the spoils, as the chariot, as the dear body +met his gaze, and Priam outstretching unarmed hands. Himself too he knew +joining battle with the foremost Achaeans, knew the Eastern ranks and +swart Memnon's armour. Penthesilea leads her crescent-shielded Amazonian +columns in furious heat with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span><span class="linenum">[492-524]</span>thousands around her; clasping a +golden belt under her naked breast, the warrior maiden clashes boldly +with men.</p> + +<p>While these marvels meet Dardanian Aeneas' eyes, while he dizzily hangs +rapt in one long gaze, Dido the queen entered the precinct, beautiful +exceedingly, a youthful train thronging round her. Even as on Eurotas' +banks or along the Cynthian ridges Diana wheels the dance, while behind +her a thousand mountain nymphs crowd to left and right; she carries +quiver on shoulder, and as she moves outshines them all in deity; +Latona's heart is thrilled with silent joy; such was Dido, so she +joyously advanced amid the throng, urging on the business of her rising +empire. Then in the gates of the goddess, beneath the central vault of +the temple roof, she took her seat girt with arms and high enthroned. +And now she gave justice and laws to her people, and adjusted or +allotted their taskwork in due portion; when suddenly Aeneas sees +advancing with a great crowd about them Antheus and Sergestus and brave +Cloanthus, and other of his Trojans, whom the black squall had sundered +at sea and borne far away on the coast. Dizzy with the shock of joy and +fear he and Achates together were on fire with eagerness to clasp their +hands; but in confused uncertainty they keep hidden, and clothed in the +sheltering cloud wait to espy what fortune befalls them, where they are +leaving their fleet ashore, why they now come; for they advanced, chosen +men from all the ships, praying for grace, and held on with loud cries +towards the temple.</p> + +<p>After they entered in, and free speech was granted, aged Ilioneus with +placid mien thus began:</p> + +<p>'Queen, to whom Jupiter hath given to found this new city, and lay the +yoke of justice upon haughty tribes, we beseech thee, we wretched +Trojans storm-driven over all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span><span class="linenum">[525-559]</span>the seas, stay the dreadful +flames from our ships; spare a guiltless race, and bend a gracious +regard on our fortunes. We are not come to deal slaughter through Libyan +homes, or to drive plundered spoils to the coast. Such violence sits not +in our mind, nor is a conquered people so insolent. There is a place +Greeks name Hesperia, an ancient land, mighty in arms and foison of the +clod; Oenotrian men dwelt therein; now rumour is that a younger race +from their captain's name have called it Italy. Thither lay our course +. . . when Orion rising on us through the cloudrack with sudden surf bore +us on blind shoals, and scattered us afar with his boisterous gales and +whelming brine over waves and trackless reefs. To these your coasts we a +scanty remnant floated up. What race of men, what land how barbarous +soever, allows such a custom for its own? We are debarred the shelter of +the beach; they rise in war, and forbid us to set foot on the brink of +their land. If you slight human kinship and mortal arms, yet look for +gods unforgetful of innocence and guilt. Aeneas was our king, foremost +of men in righteousness, incomparable in goodness as in warlike arms; +whom if fate still preserves, if he draws the breath of heaven and lies +not yet low in dispiteous gloom, fear we have none; nor mayest thou +repent of challenging the contest of service. In Sicilian territory too +is tilth and town, and famed Acestes himself of Trojan blood. Grant us +to draw ashore our storm-shattered fleet, to shape forest trees into +beams and strip them for oars; so, if to Italy we may steer with our +king and comrades found, Italy and Latium shall we gladly seek; but if +salvation is clean gone, if the Libyan gulf holds thee, dear lord of thy +Trojans, and Iülus our hope survives no more, seek we then at least the +straits of Sicily, the open homes whence we sailed hither, and Acestes +for our king.' Thus Ilioneus, and all the Dardanian company +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span><span class="linenum">[560-593]</span>murmured assent. . . . Then Dido, with downcast face, briefly +speaks:</p> + +<p>'Cheer your anxious hearts, O Teucrians; put by your care. Hard fortune +in a strange realm forces me to this task, to keep watch and ward on my +wide frontiers. Who can be ignorant of the race of Aeneas' people, who +of Troy town and her men and deeds, or of the great war's consuming +fire? Not so dull are the hearts of our Punic wearing, not so far doth +the sun yoke his steeds from our Tyrian town. Whether your choice be +broad Hesperia, the fields of Saturn's dominion, or Eryx for your +country and Acestes for your king, my escort shall speed you in safety, +my arsenals supply your need. Or will you even find rest here with me +and share my kingdom? The city I establish is yours; draw your ships +ashore; Trojan and Tyrian shall be held by me in even balance. And would +that he your king, that Aeneas were here, storm-driven to this same +haven! But I will send messengers along the coast, and bid them trace +Libya to its limits, if haply he strays shipwrecked in forest or town.'</p> + +<p>Stirred by these words brave Achates and lord Aeneas both ere now burned +to break through the cloud. Achates first accosts Aeneas: 'Goddess-born, +what purpose now rises in thy spirit? Thou seest all is safe, our fleet +and comrades are restored. One only is wanting, whom our eyes saw +whelmed amid the waves; all else is answerable to thy mother's words.'</p> + +<p>Scarce had he spoken when the encircling cloud suddenly parts and melts +into clear air. Aeneas stood discovered in sheen of brilliant light, +like a god in face and shoulders; for his mother's self had shed on her +son the grace of clustered locks, the radiant light of youth, and the +lustre of joyous eyes; as when ivory takes beauty under the artist's +hand, or when silver or Parian stone is inlaid in gold. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span><span class="linenum">[594-625]</span>Then +breaking in on all with unexpected speech he thus addresses the queen:</p> + +<p>'I whom you seek am here before you, Aeneas of Troy, snatched from the +Libyan waves. O thou who alone hast pitied Troy's untold agonies, thou +who with us the remnant of the Grecian foe, worn out ere now by every +suffering land and sea can bring, with us in our utter want dost share +thy city and home! to render meet recompense is not possible for us, O +Dido, nor for all who scattered over the wide world are left of our +Dardanian race. The gods grant thee worthy reward, if their deity turn +any regard on goodness, if aught avails justice and conscious purity of +soul. What happy ages bore thee? what mighty parents gave thy virtue +birth? While rivers run into the sea, while the mountain shadows move +across their slopes, while the stars have pasturage in heaven, ever +shall thine honour, thy name and praises endure in the unknown lands +that summon me.' With these words he advances his right hand to dear +Ilioneus, his left to Serestus; then to the rest, brave Gyas and brave +Cloanthus.</p> + +<p>Dido the Sidonian stood astonished, first at the sight of him, then at +his strange fortunes; and these words left her lips:</p> + +<p>'What fate follows thee, goddess-born, through perilous ways? what +violence lands thee on this monstrous coast? Art thou that Aeneas whom +Venus the bountiful bore to Dardanian Anchises by the wave of Phrygian +Simoïs? And well I remember how Teucer came to Sidon, when exiled from +his native land he sought Belus' aid to gain new realms; Belus my father +even then ravaged rich Cyprus and held it under his conquering sway. +From that time forth have I known the fall of the Trojan city, known thy +name and the Pelasgian princes. Their very foe would extol the Teucrians +with highest praises, and boasted himself a branch <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span><span class="linenum">[626-661]</span>of the +ancient Teucrian stem. Come therefore, O men, and enter our house. Me +too hath a like fortune driven through many a woe, and willed at last to +find my rest in this land. Not ignorant of ill do I learn to succour the +afflicted.'</p> + +<p>With such speech she leads Aeneas into the royal house, and orders +sacrifice in the gods' temples. Therewith she sends his company on the +shore twenty bulls, an hundred great bristly-backed swine, an hundred +fat lambs and their mothers with them, gifts of the day's gladness. . . . +But the palace within is decked with splendour of royal state, and a +banquet made ready amid the halls. The coverings are curiously wrought +in splendid purple; on the tables is massy silver and deeds of ancestral +valour graven in gold, all the long course of history drawn through many +a heroic name from the nation's primal antiquity.</p> + +<p>Aeneas—for a father's affection denied his spirit rest—sends Achates +speeding to his ships, to carry this news to Ascanius, and lead him to +the town: in Ascanius is fixed all the parent's loving care. Presents +likewise he bids him bring saved from the wreck of Ilium, a mantle stiff +with gold embroidery, and a veil with woven border of yellow +acanthus-flower, that once decked Helen of Argos, the marvel of her +mother Leda's giving; Helen had borne them from Mycenae, when she sought +Troy towers and a lawless bridal; the sceptre too that Ilione, Priam's +eldest daughter, once had worn, a beaded necklace, and a double circlet +of jewelled gold. Achates, hasting on his message, bent his way towards +the ships.</p> + +<p>But in the Cytherean's breast new arts, new schemes revolve; if Cupid, +changed in form and feature, may come in sweet Ascanius' room, and his +gifts kindle the queen to madness and set her inmost sense aflame. +Verily she fears the uncertain house, the double-tongued race of Tyre; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span><span class="linenum">[662-698]</span>cruel Juno frets her, and at nightfall her care floods back. +Therefore to winged Love she speaks these words:</p> + +<p>'Son, who art alone my strength and sovereignty, son, who scornest the +mighty father's Typhoïan shafts, to thee I fly for succour, and sue +humbly to thy deity. How Aeneas thy brother is driven about all the +sea-coasts by bitter Juno's malignity, this thou knowest, and hast often +grieved in our grief. Now Dido the Phoenician holds him stayed with soft +words, and I tremble to think how the welcome of Juno's house may issue; +she will not be idle in this supreme turn of fortune. Wherefore I +counsel to prevent her wiles and circle the queen with flame, that, +unalterable by any deity, she may be held fast to me by passionate love +for Aeneas. Take now my thought how to do this. The boy prince, my +chiefest care, makes ready at his dear father's summons to go to the +Sidonian city, carrying gifts that survive the sea and the flames of +Troy. Him will I hide deep asleep in my holy habitation, high on +Cythera's hills or in Idalium, that he may not know nor cross our wiles. +Do thou but for one night feign his form, and, boy as thou art, put on +the familiar face of a boy; so when in festal cheer, amid royal dainties +and Bacchic juice, Dido shall take thee to her lap, shall fold thee in +her clasp and kiss thee close and sweet, thou mayest imbreathe a hidden +fire and unsuspected poison.'</p> + +<p>Love obeys his dear mother's words, lays by his wings, and walks +rejoicingly with Iülus' tread. But Venus pours gentle dew of slumber on +Ascanius' limbs, and lifts him lulled in her lap to the tall Idalian +groves of her deity, where soft amaracus folds him round with the +shadowed sweetness of its odorous blossoms. And now, obedient to her +words, Cupid went merrily in Achates' guiding, with the royal gifts for +the Tyrians. Already at his coming the queen hath sate her down in the +midmost on her golden <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span><span class="linenum">[699-733]</span>throne under the splendid tapestries; +now lord Aeneas, now too the men of Troy gather, and all recline on the +strewn purple. Servants pour water on their hands, serve corn from +baskets, and bring napkins with close-cut pile. Fifty handmaids are +within, whose task is in their course to keep unfailing store and kindle +the household fire. An hundred others, and as many pages all of like +age, load the board with food and array the wine cups. Therewithal the +Tyrians are gathered full in the wide feasting chamber, and take their +appointed places on the broidered cushions. They marvel at Aeneas' +gifts, marvel at Iülus, at the god's face aflame and forged speech, at +the mantle and veil wrought with yellow acanthus-flower. Above all the +hapless Phoenician, victim to coming doom, cannot satiate her soul, but, +stirred alike by the boy and the gifts, she gazes and takes fire. He, +when hanging clasped on Aeneas' neck he had satisfied all the deluded +parent's love, makes his way to the queen; the queen clings to him with +her eyes and all her soul, and ever and anon fondles him in her lap, ah, +poor Dido! witless how mighty a deity sinks into her breast; but he, +mindful of his mother the Acidalian, begins touch by touch to efface +Sychaeus, and sows the surprise of a living love in the +long-since-unstirred spirit and disaccustomed heart. Soon as the noise +of banquet ceased and the board was cleared, they set down great bowls +and enwreathe the wine. The house is filled with hum of voices eddying +through the spacious chambers; lit lamps hang down by golden chainwork, +and flaming tapers expel the night. Now the queen called for a heavy cup +of jewelled gold, and filled it with pure wine; therewith was the use of +Belus and all of Belus' race: then the hall was silenced. 'Jupiter,' she +cries, 'for thou art reputed lawgiver of hospitality, grant that this be +a joyful day to the Tyrians and the voyagers from Troy, a day to live in +our children's memory. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span><span class="linenum">[734-756]</span>Bacchus, the giver of gladness, be with +us, and Juno the bountiful; and you, O Tyrians, be favourable to our +assembly.' She spoke, and poured liquid libation on the board, which +done, she first herself touched it lightly with her lips, then handed it +to Bitias and bade him speed; he valiantly drained the foaming cup, and +flooded him with the brimming gold. The other princes followed. +Long-haired Iopas on his gilded lyre fills the chamber with songs +ancient Atlas taught; he sings of the wandering moon and the sun's +travails; whence is the human race and the brute, whence water and fire; +of Arcturus, the rainy Hyades, and the twin Oxen; why wintry suns make +such haste to dip in ocean, or what delay makes the nights drag +lingeringly. Tyrians and Trojans after them redouble applause. +Therewithal Dido wore the night in changing talk, alas! and drank long +draughts of love, asking many a thing of Priam, many a thing of Hector; +now in what armour the son of the Morning came; now of what fashion were +Diomede's horses; now of mighty Achilles. 'Nay, come,' she cries, 'tell +to us, O guest, from their first beginning the treachery of the +Grecians, thy people's woes, and thine own wanderings; for this is now +the seventh summer that bears thee a wanderer over all the earth and +sea.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BOOK_SECOND" id="BOOK_SECOND"></a>BOOK SECOND</h2> + +<h3>THE STORY OF THE SACK OF TROY</h3> + + +<p>All were hushed, and sate with steadfast countenance; thereon, high from +his cushioned seat, lord Aeneas thus began:</p> + +<p>'Dreadful, O Queen, is the woe thou bidst me recall, how the Grecians +pitiably overthrew the wealth and lordship of Troy; and I myself saw +these things in all their horror, and I bore great part in them. What +Myrmidon or Dolopian, or soldier of stern Ulysses, could in such a tale +restrain his tears! and now night falls dewy from the steep of heaven, +and the setting stars counsel to slumber. Yet if thy desire be such to +know our calamities, and briefly to hear Troy's last agony, though my +spirit shudders at the remembrance and recoils in pain, I will essay.</p> + +<p>'Broken in war and beaten back by fate, and so many years now slid away, +the Grecian captains build by Pallas' divine craft a horse of +mountainous build, ribbed with sawn fir; they feign it vowed for their +return, and this rumour goes about. Within the blind sides they +stealthily imprison chosen men picked out one by one, and fill the vast +cavern of its womb full with armed soldiery.</p> + +<p>'There lies in sight an island well known in fame, Tenedos, rich of +store while the realm of Priam endured, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span><span class="linenum">[23-55]</span>now but a bay and +roadstead treacherous to ships. Hither they launch forth, and hide on +the solitary shore: we fancied they were gone, and had run down the wind +for Mycenae. So all the Teucrian land put her long grief away. The gates +are flung open; men go rejoicingly to see the Doric camp, the deserted +stations and abandoned shore. Here the Dolopian troops were tented, here +cruel Achilles; here their squadrons lay; here the lines were wont to +meet in battle. Some gaze astonished at the deadly gift of Minerva the +Virgin, and wonder at the horse's bulk; and Thymoetes begins to advise +that it be drawn within our walls and set in the citadel, whether in +guile, or that the doom of Troy was even now setting thus. But Capys and +they whose mind was of better counsel, bid us either hurl sheer into the +sea the guileful and sinister gift of Greece, or heap flames beneath to +consume it, or pierce and explore the hollow hiding-place of its womb. +The wavering crowd is torn apart in high dispute.</p> + +<p>'At that, foremost of all and with a great throng about him, Laocoön +runs hotly down from the high citadel, and cries from far: "Ah, wretched +citizens, what height of madness is this? Believe you the foe is gone? +or think you any Grecian gift is free of treachery? is it thus we know +Ulysses? Either Achaeans are hid in this cage of wood, or the engine is +fashioned against our walls to overlook the houses and descend upon the +city; some delusion lurks there: trust not the horse, O Trojans. Be it +what it may, I fear the Grecians even when they offer gifts." Thus +speaking, he hurled his mighty spear with great strength at the +creature's side and the curved framework of the belly: the spear stood +quivering, and the jarred cavern of the womb sounded hollow and uttered +a groan. And had divine ordinance, had a soul not infatuate been with +us, he had moved us to lay violent steel on the Argolic hiding place; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span><span class="linenum">[56-90]</span>and Troy would now stand, and you, tall towers of Priam, yet +abide.</p> + +<p>'Lo, Dardanian shepherds meanwhile dragged clamorously before the King a +man with hands tied behind his back, who to compass this very thing, to +lay Troy open to the Achaeans, had gone to meet their ignorant approach, +confident in spirit and doubly prepared to spin his snares or to meet +assured death. From all sides, in eagerness to see, the people of Troy +run streaming in, and vie in jeers at their prisoner. Know now the +treachery of the Grecians, and from a single crime learn all. . . . For as +he stood amid our gaze confounded, disarmed, and cast his eyes around +the Phrygian columns, "Alas!" he cried, "what land now, what seas may +receive me? or what is the last doom that yet awaits my misery? who have +neither any place among the Grecians, and likewise the Dardanians +clamour in wrath for the forfeit of my blood." At that lament our spirit +was changed, and all assault stayed: we encourage him to speak, and tell +of what blood he is sprung, or what assurance he brings his captors.</p> + +<p>'"In all things assuredly," says he, "O King, befall what may, I will +confess to thee the truth; nor will I deny myself of Argolic birth—this +first—nor, if Fortune hath made Sinon unhappy, shall her malice mould +him to a cheat and a liar. Hath a tale of the name of Palamedes, son of +Belus, haply reached thine ears, and of his glorious rumour and renown; +whom under false evidence the Pelasgians, because he forbade the war, +sent innocent to death by wicked witness; now they bewail him when he +hath left the light;—in his company, being near of blood, my father, +poor as he was, sent me hither to arms from mine earliest years. While +he stood unshaken in royalty and potent in the councils of the kings, we +too wore a name and honour. When by subtle Ulysses' malice (no unknown +tale do I tell) <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span><span class="linenum">[91-124]</span>he left the upper regions, my shattered life +crept on in darkness and grief, inly indignant at the fate of my +innocent friend. Nor in my madness was I silent: and, should any chance +offer, did I ever return a conqueror to my native Argos, I vowed myself +his avenger, and with my words I stirred his bitter hatred. From this +came the first taint of ill; from this did Ulysses ever threaten me with +fresh charges, from this flung dark sayings among the crowd and sought +confederate arms. Nay, nor did he rest, till by Calchas' service—but +yet why do I vainly unroll the unavailing tale, or why hold you in +delay, if all Achaeans are ranked together in your mind, and it is +enough that I bear the name? Take the vengeance deferred; this the +Ithacan would desire, and the sons of Atreus buy at a great ransom."</p> + +<p>'Then indeed we press on to ask and inquire the cause, witless of +wickedness so great and Pelasgian craft. Tremblingly the false-hearted +one pursues his speech:</p> + +<p>'"Often would the Grecians have taken to flight, leaving Troy behind, +and disbanded in weariness of the long war: and would God they had! as +often the fierce sea-tempest barred their way, and the gale frightened +them from going. Most of all when this horse already stood framed with +beams of maple, storm clouds roared over all the sky. In perplexity we +send Eurypylus to inquire of Phoebus' oracle; and he brings back from +the sanctuary these words of terror: <i>With blood of a slain maiden, O +Grecians, you appeased the winds when first you came to the Ilian +coasts; with blood must you seek your return, and an Argive life be the +accepted sacrifice.</i> When that utterance reached the ears of the crowd, +their hearts stood still, and a cold shudder ran through their inmost +sense: for whom is doom purposed? who is claimed of Apollo? At this the +Ithacan with loud clamour drags Calchas the soothsayer forth amidst +them, and demands of him what is this the gods signify. And now many an +one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span><span class="linenum">[125-158]</span>foretold me the villain's craft and cruelty, and silently +saw what was to come. Twice five days he is speechless in his tent, and +will not have any one denounced by his lips, or given up to death. +Scarcely at last, at the loud urgence of the Ithacan, he breaks into +speech as was planned, and appoints me for the altar. All consented; and +each one's particular fear was turned, ah me! to my single destruction. +And now the dreadful day was at hand; the rites were being ordered for +me, the salted corn, and the chaplets to wreathe my temples. I broke +away, I confess it, from death; I burst my bonds, and lurked all night +darkling in the sedge of the marshy pool, till they might set their +sails, if haply they should set them. Nor have I any hope more of seeing +my old home nor my sweet children and the father whom I desire. Of them +will they even haply claim vengeance for my flight, and wash away this +crime in their wretched death. By the heavenly powers I beseech thee, +the deities to whom truth is known, by all the faith yet unsullied that +is anywhere left among mortals; pity woes so great; pity an undeserving +sufferer."</p> + +<p>'At these his tears we grant him life, and accord our pity. Priam +himself at once commands his shackles and strait bonds to be undone, and +thus speaks with kindly words: "Whoso thou art, now and henceforth +dismiss and forget the Greeks: thou shalt be ours. And unfold the truth +to this my question: wherefore have they reared this vast size of horse? +who is their counsellor? or what their aim? what propitiation, or what +engine of war is this?" He ended; the other, stored with the treacherous +craft of Pelasgia, lifts to heaven his freed hands. "You, everlasting +fires," he cries, "and your inviolable sanctity be my witness; you, O +altars and accursed swords I fled, and chaplets of the gods I wore as +victim! unblamed may I break the oath of Greek allegiance, unblamed hate +them and bring all to light that they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span><span class="linenum">[159-191]</span>conceal; nor am I bound +by any laws of country. Do thou only keep by thy promise, O Troy, and +preserve faith with thy preserver, as my news shall be true, as my +recompense great.</p> + +<p>'"All the hope of Greece, and the confidence in which the war began, +ever centred in Pallas' aid. But since the wicked son of Tydeus, and +Ulysses, forger of crime, made bold to tear the fated Palladium from her +sanctuary, and cut down the sentries on the towered height; since they +grasped the holy image, and dared with bloody hands to touch the maiden +chaplets of the goddess; since then the hope of Greece ebbed and slid +away backwards, their strength was broken, and the mind of the goddess +estranged. Whereof the Tritonian gave token by no uncertain signs. +Scarcely was the image set in the camp; flame shot sparkling from its +lifted eyes, and salt sweat started over its body; thrice, wonderful to +tell, it leapt from the ground with shield and spear quivering. +Immediately Calchas prophesies that the seas must be explored in flight, +nor may Troy towers be overthrown by Argive weapons, except they repeat +their auspices at Argos, and bring back that divine presence they have +borne away with them in the curved ships overseas. And now they have run +down the wind for their native Mycenae, to gather arms and gods to +attend them; they will remeasure ocean and be on you unawares. So +Calchas expounds the omens. This image at his warning they reared in +recompense for the Palladium and the injured deity, to expiate the +horror of sacrilege. Yet Calchas bade them raise it to this vast size +with oaken crossbeams, and build it up to heaven, that it may not find +entry at the gates nor be drawn within the city, nor protect your people +beneath the consecration of old. For if hand of yours should violate +Minerva's offering, then utter destruction (the gods turn rather on +himself his augury!) should be upon Priam's empire and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span><span class="linenum">[192-226]</span>the +Phrygian people. But if under your hands it climbed into your city, Asia +should advance in mighty war to the walls of Pelops, and a like fate +awaited our children's children."</p> + +<p>'So by Sinon's wiles and craft and perjury the thing gained belief; and +we were ensnared by treachery and forced tears, we whom neither the son +of Tydeus nor Achilles of Larissa, whom not ten years nor a thousand +ships brought down.</p> + +<p>'Here another sight, greater, alas! and far more terrible meets us, and +alarms our thoughtless senses. Laocoön, allotted priest of Neptune, was +slaying a great bull at the accustomed altars. And lo! from Tenedos, +over the placid depths (I shudder as I recall) two snakes in enormous +coils press down the sea and advance together to the shore; their +breasts rise through the surge, and their blood-red crests overtop the +waves; the rest trails through the main behind and wreathes back in +voluminous curves; the brine gurgles and foams. And now they gained the +fields, while their bloodshot eyes blazed with fire, and their tongues +lapped and flickered in their hissing mouths. We scatter, pallid at the +sight. They in unfaltering train make towards Laocoön. And first the +serpents twine in their double embrace his two little children, and bite +deep in their wretched limbs; then him likewise, as he comes up to help +with arms in his hand, they seize and fasten in their enormous coils; +and now twice clasping his waist, twice encircling his neck with their +scaly bodies, they tower head and neck above him. He at once strains his +hands to tear their knots apart, his fillets spattered with foul black +venom; at once raises to heaven awful cries; as when, bellowing, a bull +shakes the wavering axe from his neck and runs wounded from the altar. +But the two snakes glide away to the high sanctuary and seek the fierce +Tritonian's citadel, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span><span class="linenum">[227-261]</span>and take shelter under the goddess' feet +beneath the circle of her shield. Then indeed a strange terror thrills +in all our amazed breasts; and Laocoön, men say, hath fulfilled his +crime's desert, in piercing the consecrated wood and hurling his guilty +spear into its body. All cry out that the image must be drawn to its +home and supplication made to her deity. . . . We sunder the walls, and lay +open the inner city. All set to the work; they fix rolling wheels under +its feet, and tie hempen bands on its neck. The fated engine climbs our +walls, big with arms. Around it boys and unwedded girls chant hymns and +joyfully lay their hand on the rope. It moves up, and glides menacing +into the middle of the town. O native land! O Ilium, house of gods, and +Dardanian city renowned in war! four times in the very gateway did it +come to a stand, and four times armour rang in its womb. Yet we urge it +on, mindless and infatuate, and plant the ill-ominous thing in our +hallowed citadel. Even then Cassandra opens her lips to the coming doom, +lips at a god's bidding never believed by the Trojans. We, the wretched +people, to whom that day was our last, hang the shrines of the gods with +festal boughs throughout the city. Meanwhile the heavens wheel on, and +night rises from the sea, wrapping in her vast shadow earth and sky and +the wiles of the Myrmidons; about the town the Teucrians are stretched +in silence; slumber laps their tired limbs.</p> + +<p>'And now the Argive squadron was sailing in order from Tenedos, and in +the favouring stillness of the quiet moon sought the shores it knew; +when the royal galley ran out a flame, and, protected by the gods' +malign decrees, Sinon stealthily lets loose the imprisoned Grecians from +their barriers of pine; the horse opens and restores them to the air; +and joyfully issuing from the hollow wood, Thessander and Sthenelus the +captains, and terrible Ulysses, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span><span class="linenum">[262-295]</span>slide down the dangling rope, +with Acamas and Thoas and Neoptolemus son of Peleus, and Machaon first +of all, and Menelaus, and Epeüs himself the artificer of the treachery. +They sweep down the city buried in drunken sleep; the watchmen are cut +down, and at the open gates they welcome all their comrades, and unite +their confederate bands.</p> + +<p>'It was the time when by the gift of God rest comes stealing first and +sweetest on unhappy men. In slumber, lo! before mine eyes Hector seemed +to stand by, deep in grief and shedding abundant tears; torn by the +chariot, as once of old, and black with gory dust, his swoln feet +pierced with the thongs. Ah me! in what guise was he! how changed from +the Hector who returns from putting on Achilles' spoils, or launching +the fires of Phrygia on the Grecian ships! with ragged beard and tresses +clotted with blood, and all the many wounds upon him that he received +around his ancestral walls. Myself too weeping I seemed to accost him +ere he spoke, and utter forth mournful accents: "O light of Dardania, O +surest hope of the Trojans, what long delay is this hath held thee? from +what borders comest thou, Hector our desire? with what weary eyes we see +thee, after many deaths of thy kin, after divers woes of people and +city! What indignity hath marred thy serene visage? or why discern I +these wounds?" He replies naught, nor regards my idle questioning; but +heavily drawing a heart-deep groan, "Ah, fly, goddess-born," he says, +"and rescue thyself from these flames. The foe holds our walls; from her +high ridges Troy is toppling down. Thy country and Priam ask no more. If +Troy towers might be defended by strength of hand, this hand too had +been their defence. Troy commends to thee her holy things and household +gods; take them to accompany thy fate; seek for them a city, which, +after all the seas have known thy wanderings, thou shalt at last +establish in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span><span class="linenum">[296-327]</span>might." So speaks he, and carries forth in his +hands from their inner shrine the chaplets and strength of Vesta, and +the everlasting fire.</p> + +<p>'Meanwhile the city is stirred with mingled agony; and more and more, +though my father Anchises' house lay deep withdrawn and screened by +trees, the noises grow clearer and the clash of armour swells. I shake +myself from sleep and mount over the sloping roof, and stand there with +ears attent: even as when flame catches a corn-field while south winds +are furious, or the racing torrent of a mountain stream sweeps the +fields, sweeps the smiling crops and labours of the oxen, and hurls the +forest with it headlong; the shepherd in witless amaze hears the roar +from the cliff-top. Then indeed proof is clear, and the treachery of the +Grecians opens out. Already the house of Deïphobus hath crashed down in +wide ruin amid the overpowering flames; already our neighbour Ucalegon +is ablaze: the broad Sigean bay is lit with the fire. Cries of men and +blare of trumpets rise up. Madly I seize my arms, nor is there so much +purpose in arms; but my spirit is on fire to gather a band for fighting +and charge for the citadel with my comrades. Fury and wrath drive me +headlong, and I think how noble is death in arms.</p> + +<p>'And lo! Panthus, eluding the Achaean weapons, Panthus son of Othrys, +priest of Phoebus in the citadel, comes hurrying with the sacred vessels +and conquered gods and his little grandchild in his hand, and runs +distractedly towards my gates. "How stands the state, O Panthus? what +stronghold are we to occupy?" Scarcely had I said so, when groaning he +thus returns: "The crowning day is come, the irreversible time of the +Dardanian land. No more are we a Trojan people; Ilium and the great +glory of the Teucrians is no more. Angry Jupiter hath cast all into the +scale of Argos. The Grecians are lords of the burning <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span><span class="linenum">[328-362]</span>town. +The horse, standing high amid the city, pours forth armed men, and Sinon +scatters fire, insolent in victory. Some are at the wide-flung gates, +all the thousands that ever came from populous Mycenae. Others have +beset the narrow streets with lowered weapons; edge and glittering point +of steel stand drawn, ready for the slaughter; scarcely at the entry do +the guards of the gates essay battle, and hold out in the blind fight."</p> + +<p>'Heaven's will thus declared by the son of Othrys drives me amid flames +and arms, where the baleful Fury calls, and tumult of shouting rises up. +Rhipeus and Epytus, most mighty in arms, join company with me; Hypanis +and Dymas meet us in the moonlight and attach themselves to our side, +and young Coroebus son of Mygdon. In those days it was he had come to +Troy, fired with mad passion for Cassandra, and bore a son's aid to +Priam and the Phrygians: hapless, that he listened not to his raving +bride's counsels. . . . Seeing them close-ranked and daring for battle, I +therewith began thus: "Men, hearts of supreme and useless bravery, if +your desire be fixed to follow one who dares the utmost; you see what is +the fortune of our state: all the gods by whom this empire was upheld +have gone forth, abandoning shrine and altar; your aid comes to a +burning city. Let us die, and rush on their encircling weapons. The +conquered have one safety, to hope for none."</p> + +<p>'So their spirit is heightened to fury. Then, like wolves ravening in a +black fog, whom mad malice of hunger hath driven blindly forth, and +their cubs left behind await with throats unslaked; through the weapons +of the enemy we march to certain death, and hold our way straight into +the town. Night's sheltering shadow flutters dark around us. Who may +unfold in speech that night's horror and death-agony, or measure its +woes in weeping? The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span><span class="linenum">[363-397]</span>ancient city falls with her long years of +sovereignty; corpses lie stretched stiff all about the streets and +houses and awful courts of the gods. Nor do Teucrians alone pay forfeit +of their blood; once and again valour returns even in conquered hearts, +and the victorious Grecians fall. Everywhere is cruel agony, everywhere +terror, and the sight of death at every turn.</p> + +<p>'First, with a great troop of Grecians attending him, Androgeus meets +us, taking us in ignorance for an allied band, and opens on us with +friendly words: "Hasten, my men; why idly linger so late? others plunder +and harry the burning citadel; are you but now on your march from the +tall ships?" He spoke, and immediately (for no answer of any assurance +was offered) knew he was fallen among the foe. In amazement, he checked +foot and voice; even as one who struggling through rough briers hath +trodden a snake on the ground unwarned, and suddenly shrinks fluttering +back as it rises in anger and puffs its green throat out; even thus +Androgeus drew away, startled at the sight. We rush in and encircle them +with serried arms, and cut them down dispersedly in their ignorance of +the ground and seizure of panic. Fortune speeds our first labour. And +here Coroebus, flushed with success and spirit, cries: "O comrades, +follow me where fortune points before us the path of safety, and shews +her favour. Let us exchange shields, and accoutre ourselves in Grecian +suits; whether craft or courage, who will ask of an enemy? the foe shall +arm our hands." Thus speaking, he next dons the plumed helmet and +beautifully blazoned shield of Androgeus, and fits the Argive sword to +his side. So does Rhipeus, so Dymas in like wise, and all our men in +delight arm themselves one by one in the fresh spoils. We advance, +mingling with the Grecians, under a protection not our own, and join +many a battle <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span><span class="linenum">[398-432]</span>with those we meet amid the blind night; many a +Greek we send down to hell. Some scatter to the ships and run for the +safety of the shore; some in craven fear again climb the huge horse, and +hide in the belly they knew. Alas that none may trust at all to +estranged gods!</p> + +<p>'Lo! Cassandra, maiden daughter of Priam, was being dragged with +disordered tresses from the temple and sanctuary of Minerva, straining +to heaven her blazing eyes in vain; her eyes, for fetters locked her +delicate hands. At this sight Coroebus burst forth infuriate, and flung +himself on death amid their columns. We all follow him up, and charge +with massed arms. Here first from the high temple roof we are +overwhelmed with our own people's weapons, and a most pitiful slaughter +begins through the fashion of our armour and the mistaken Greek crests; +then the Grecians, with angry cries at the maiden's rescue, gather from +every side and fall on us; Ajax in all his valour, and the two sons of +Atreus, and the whole Dolopian army: as oft when bursting in whirlwind +West and South clash with adverse blasts, and the East wind exultant on +the coursers of the Dawn; the forests cry, and fierce in foam Nereus +with his trident stirs the seas from their lowest depth. Those too +appear, whom our stratagem routed through the darkness of dim night and +drove all about the town; at once they know the shields and lying +weapons, and mark the alien tone on our lips. We go down, overwhelmed by +numbers. First Coroebus is stretched by Peneleus' hand at the altar of +the goddess armipotent; and Rhipeus falls, the one man who was most +righteous and steadfast in justice among the Teucrians: the gods' ways +are not as ours: Hypanis and Dymas perish, pierced by friendly hands; +nor did all thy goodness, O Panthus, nor Apollo's fillet protect thy +fall. O ashes of Ilium and death flames of my people! you I call to +witness that in your ruin I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span><span class="linenum">[433-465]</span>shunned no Grecian weapon or +encounter, and my hand earned my fall, had destiny been thus. We tear +ourselves away, I and Iphitus and Pelias, Iphitus now stricken in age, +Pelias halting too under the wound of Ulysses, called forward by the +clamour to Priam's house.</p> + +<p>'Here indeed the battle is fiercest, as if all the rest of the fighting +were nowhere, and no slaughter but here throughout the city, so do we +descry the war in full fury, the Grecians rushing on the building, and +their shielded column driving up against the beleaguered threshold. +Ladders cling to the walls; and hard by the doors and planted on the +rungs they hold up their shields in the left hand to ward off our +weapons, and with their right clutch the battlements. The Dardanians +tear down turrets and the covering of the house roof against them; with +these for weapons, since they see the end is come, they prepare to +defend themselves even in death's extremity: and hurl down gilded beams, +the stately decorations of their fathers of old. Others with drawn +swords have beset the doorway below and keep it in crowded column. We +renew our courage, to aid the royal dwelling, to support them with our +succour, and swell the force of the conquered.</p> + +<p>'There was a blind doorway giving passage through the range of Priam's +halls by a solitary postern, whereby, while our realm endured, hapless +Andromache would often and often glide unattended to her father-in-law's +house, and carry the boy Astyanax to his grandsire. I issue out on the +sloping height of the ridge, whence wretched Teucrian hands were hurling +their ineffectual weapons. A tower stood on the sheer brink, its roof +ascending high into heaven, whence was wont to be seen all Troy and the +Grecian ships and Achaean camp: attacking it with iron round about, +where the joints of the lofty flooring yielded, we wrench it from its +deep foundations and shake it free; it gives way, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span><span class="linenum">[466-498]</span>suddenly +falls thundering in ruin, crashing wide over the Grecian ranks. But +others swarm up; nor meanwhile do stones nor any sort of missile +slacken. . . . Right before the vestibule and in the front doorway Pyrrhus +moves rejoicingly in the sparkle of arms and gleaming brass: like as +when a snake fed on poisonous herbs, whom chill winter kept hid and +swollen underground, now fresh from his weeds outworn and shining in +youth, wreathes his slippery body into the daylight, his upreared breast +meets the sun, and his triple-cloven tongue flickers in his mouth. With +him huge Periphas, and Automedon the armour-bearer, driver of Achilles' +horses, with him all his Scyrian men climb the roof and hurl flames on +the housetop. Himself among the foremost he grasps a poleaxe, bursts +through the hard doorway, and wrenches the brazen-plated doors from the +hinge; and now he hath cut out a plank from the solid oak and pierced a +vast gaping hole. The house within is open to sight, and the long halls +lie plain; open to sight are the secret chambers of Priam and the kings +of old, and they see armed men standing in front of the doorway.</p> + +<p>'But the inner house is stirred with shrieks and misery and confusion, +and the court echoes deep with women's wailing; the golden stars are +smitten with the din. Affrighted mothers stray about the vast house, and +cling fast to the doors and print them with kisses. With his father's +might Pyrrhus presses on; nor guards nor barriers can hold out. The gate +totters under the hard driven ram, and the doors fall flat, rent from +the hinge. Force makes way; the Greeks burst through the entrance and +pour in, slaughtering the foremost, and filling the space with a wide +stream of soldiers. Not so furiously when a foaming river bursts his +banks and overflows, beating down the opposing dykes with whirling +water, is he borne mounded over the fields, and sweeps herds and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span><span class="linenum">[499-529]</span>pens all about the plains. Myself I saw in the gateway +Neoptolemus mad in slaughter, and the two sons of Atreus, saw Hecuba and +the hundred daughters of her house, and Priam polluting with his blood +the altar fires of his own consecration. The fifty bridal chambers—so +great was the hope of his children's children—their doors magnificent +with spoils of barbaric gold, have sunk in ruin; where the fire fails +the Greeks are in possession.</p> + +<p>'Perchance too thou mayest inquire what was Priam's fate. When he saw +the ruin of his captured city, the gates of his house burst open, and +the enemy amid his innermost chambers, the old man idly fastens round +his aged trembling shoulders his long disused armour, girds on the +unavailing sword, and advances on his death among the thronging foe.</p> + +<p>'Within the palace and under the bare cope of sky was a massive altar, +and hard on the altar an ancient bay tree leaned clasping the household +gods in its shadow. Here Hecuba and her daughters crowded vainly about +the altar-stones, like doves driven headlong by a black tempest, and +crouched clasping the gods' images. And when she saw Priam her lord with +the armour of youth on him, "What spirit of madness, my poor husband," +she cries, "hath stirred thee to gird on these weapons? or whither dost +thou run? Not such the succour nor these the defenders the time +requires: no, were mine own Hector now beside us. Retire, I beseech +thee, hither; this altar will protect us all, or thou wilt share our +death." With these words on her lips she drew the aged man to her, and +set him on the holy seat.</p> + +<p>'And lo, escaped from slaughtering Pyrrhus through the weapons of the +enemy, Polites, one of Priam's children, flies wounded down the long +colonnades and circles the empty halls. Pyrrhus pursues him fiercely +with aimed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span><span class="linenum">[530-563]</span>wound, just catching at him, and follows hard on +him with his spear. As at last he issued before his parents' eyes and +faces, he fell, and shed his life in a pool of blood. At this Priam, +although even now fast in the toils of death, yet withheld not nor +spared a wrathful cry: "Ah, for thy crime, for this thy hardihood, may +the gods, if there is goodness in heaven to care for aught such, pay +thee in full thy worthy meed, and return thee the reward that is due! +who hast made me look face to face on my child's murder, and polluted a +father's countenance with death. Ah, not such to a foe was the Achilles +whose parentage thou beliest; but he revered a suppliant's right and +trust, restored to the tomb Hector's pallid corpse, and sent me back to +my realm." Thus the old man spoke, and launched his weak and unwounding +spear, which, recoiling straight from the jarring brass, hung idly from +his shield above the boss. Thereat Pyrrhus: "Thou then shalt tell this, +and go with the message to my sire the son of Peleus: remember to tell +him of my baleful deeds, and the degeneracy of Neoptolemus. Now die." So +saying, he drew him quivering to the very altar, slipping in the pool of +his child's blood, and wound his left hand in his hair, while in his +right the sword flashed out and plunged to the hilt in his side. This +was the end of Priam's fortunes; thus did allotted fate find him, with +burning Troy and her sunken towers before his eyes, once magnificent +lord over so many peoples and lands of Asia. The great corpse lies along +the shore, a head severed from the shoulders and a body without a name.</p> + +<p>'But then an awful terror began to encircle me; I stood in amaze; there +rose before me the likeness of my loved father, as I saw the king, old +as he, sobbing out his life under the ghastly wound; there rose Creüsa +forlorn, my plundered house, and little Iülus' peril. I look back +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span><span class="linenum">[564-596]</span>and survey what force is around me. All, outwearied, have +given up and leapt headlong to the ground, or flung themselves +wretchedly into the fire:</p> + +<p>['Yes, and now I only was left; when I espy the daughter of Tyndarus +close in the courts of Vesta, crouching silently in the fane's recesses; +the bright glow of the fires lights my wandering, as my eyes stray all +about. Fearing the Teucrians' anger for the overthrown towers of Troy, +and the Grecians' vengeance and the wrath of the husband she had +abandoned, she, the common Fury of Troy and her native country, had +hidden herself and cowered unseen by the altars. My spirit kindles to +fire, and rises in wrath to avenge my dying land and take repayment for +her crimes. Shall she verily see Sparta and her native Mycenae +unscathed, and depart a queen and triumphant? Shall she see her spousal +and her home, her parents and children, attended by a crowd of Trojan +women and Phrygians to serve her? and Priam have fallen under the sword? +Troy blazed in fire? the shore of Dardania so often soaked with blood? +Not so. For though there is no name or fame in a woman's punishment, nor +honour in the victory, yet shall I have praise in quenching a guilty +life and exacting a just recompense; and it will be good to fill my soul +with the flame of vengeance, and satisfy the ashes of my people. Thus +broke I forth, and advanced infuriate;]</p> + +<p>'——When my mother came visibly before me, clear to sight as never till +then, and shone forth in pure radiance through the night, gracious, +evident in godhead, in shape and stature such as she is wont to appear +to the heavenly people; she caught me by the hand and stayed me, and +pursued thus with roseate lips:</p> + +<p>'"Son, what overmastering pain thus wakes thy wrath? Why ravest thou? or +whither is thy care for us fled? Wilt thou not first look to it, where +thou hast left Anchises, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span><span class="linenum">[597-630]</span>thine aged worn father; or if Creüsa +thy wife and the child Ascanius survive? round about whom all the Greek +battalions range; and without my preventing care, the flames ere this +had made them their portion, and the hostile sword drunk their blood. +Not the hated face of the Laconian woman, Tyndarus' daughter; not Paris +is to blame; the gods, the gods in anger overturn this magnificence, and +make Troy topple down. Look, for all the cloud that now veils thy gaze +and dulls mortal vision with damp encircling mist, I will rend from +before thee. Fear thou no commands of thy mother, nor refuse to obey her +counsels. Here, where thou seest sundered piles of masonry and rocks +violently torn from rocks, and smoke eddying mixed with dust, Neptune +with his great trident shakes wall and foundation out of their places, +and upturns all the city from her base. Here Juno in all her terror +holds the Scaean gates at the entry, and, girt with steel, calls her +allied army furiously from their ships. . . . Even now on the citadel's +height, look back! Tritonian Pallas is planted in glittering halo and +Gorgonian terror. Their lord himself pours courage and prosperous +strength on the Grecians, himself stirs the gods against the arms of +Dardania. Haste away, O son, and put an end to the struggle. I will +never desert thee; I will set thee safe in the courts of thy father's +house."</p> + +<p>'She ended, and plunged in the dense blackness of the night. Awful faces +shine forth, and, set against Troy, divine majesties . . .</p> + +<p>'Then indeed I saw all Ilium sinking in flame, and Neptunian Troy +uprooted from her base: even as an ancient ash on the mountain heights, +hacked all about with steel and fast-falling axes, when husbandmen +emulously strain to cut it down: it hangs threateningly, with shaken top +and quivering tresses asway; till gradually, overmastered with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span><span class="linenum">[631-662]</span>wounds, it utters one last groan, and rending itself away, +falls in ruin along the ridge. I descend, and under a god's guidance +clear my way between foe and flame; weapons give ground before me, and +flames retire.</p> + +<p>'And now, when I have reached the courts of my ancestral dwelling, our +home of old, my father, whom it was my first desire to carry high into +the hills, and whom first I sought, declines, now Troy is rooted out, to +prolong his life through the pains of exile.</p> + +<p>'"Ah, you," he cries, "whose blood is at the prime, whose strength +stands firm in native vigour, do you take your flight. . . . Had the lords +of heaven willed to prolong life for me, they should have preserved this +my home. Enough and more is the one desolation we have seen, survivors +of a captured city. Thus, oh thus salute me and depart, as a body laid +out for burial. Mine own hand shall find me death: the foe will be +merciful and seek my spoils: light is the loss of a tomb. This long time +hated of heaven, I uselessly delay the years, since the father of gods +and king of men blasted me with wind of thunder and scathe of flame."</p> + +<p>'Thus held he on in utterance, and remained obstinate. We press him, +dissolved in tears, my wife Creüsa, Ascanius, all our household, that +our father involve us not all in his ruin, and add his weight to the +sinking scale of doom. He refuses, and keeps seated steadfast in his +purpose. Again I rush to battle, and choose death in my misery. For what +had counsel or chance yet to give? Thoughtest thou my feet, O father, +could retire and abandon thee? and fell so unnatural words from a +parent's lips? "If heaven wills that naught be left of our mighty city, +if this be thy planted purpose, thy pleasure to cast in thyself and +thine to the doom of Troy; for this death indeed the gate is wide, and +even now Pyrrhus will be here newly bathed in Priam's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span><span class="linenum">[663-695]</span>blood, +Pyrrhus who slaughters the son before the father's face, the father upon +his altars. For this was it, bountiful mother, thou dost rescue me amid +fire and sword, to see the foe in my inmost chambers, and Ascanius and +my father, Creüsa by their side, hewn down in one another's blood? My +arms, men, bring my arms! the last day calls on the conquered. Return me +to the Greeks; let me revisit and renew the fight. Never to-day shall we +all perish unavenged."</p> + +<p>'Thereat I again gird on my sword, and fitting my left arm into the +clasps of the shield, strode forth of the palace. And lo! my wife clung +round my feet on the threshold, and held little Iülus up to his father's +sight. "If thou goest to die, let us too hurry with thee to the end. But +if thou knowest any hope to place in arms, be this household thy first +defence. To what is little Iülus and thy father, to what am I left who +once was called thy wife?"</p> + +<p>'So she shrieked, and filled all the house with her weeping; when a sign +arises sudden and marvellous to tell. For, between the hands and before +the faces of his sorrowing parents, lo! above Iülus' head there seemed +to stream a light luminous cone, and a flame whose touch hurt not to +flicker in his soft hair and play round his brows. We in a flutter of +affright shook out the blazing hair and quenched the holy fires with +spring water. But lord Anchises joyfully upraised his eyes; and +stretching his hands to heaven: "Jupiter omnipotent," he cries, "if thou +dost relent at any prayers, look on us this once alone; and if our +goodness deserve it, give thine aid hereafter, O lord, and confirm this +thine omen."</p> + +<p>'Scarcely had the aged man spoken thus, when with sudden crash it +thundered on the left, and a star gliding through the dusk shot from +heaven drawing a bright trail of light. We watch it slide over the +palace roof, leaving <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span><span class="linenum">[696-730]</span>the mark of its pathway, and bury its +brilliance in the wood of Ida; the long drawn track shines, and the +region all about fumes with sulphur. Then conquered indeed my father +rises to address the gods and worship the holy star. "Now, now delay is +done with: I follow, and where you lead, I come. Gods of my fathers, +save my house, save my grandchild. Yours is this omen, and in your deity +Troy stands. I yield, O my son, and refuse not to go in thy company."</p> + +<p>'He ended; and now more loudly the fire roars along the city, and the +burning tides roll nearer. "Up then, beloved father, and lean on my +neck; these shoulders of mine will sustain thee, nor will so dear a +burden weigh me down. Howsoever fortune fall, one and undivided shall be +our peril, one the escape of us twain. Little Iülus shall go along with +me, and my wife follow our steps afar. You of my household, give heed to +what I say. As you leave the city there is a mound and ancient temple of +Ceres lonely on it, and hard by an aged cypress, guarded many years in +ancestral awe: to this resting-place let us gather from diverse +quarters. Thou, O father, take the sacred things and the household gods +of our ancestors in thine hand. For me, just parted from the desperate +battle, with slaughter fresh upon me, to handle them were guilt, until I +wash away in a living stream the soilure. . . ." So spoke I, and spread +over my neck and broad shoulders a tawny lion-skin for covering, and +stoop to my burden. Little Iülus, with his hand fast in mine, keeps +uneven pace after his father. Behind my wife follows. We pass on in the +shadows. And I, lately moved by no weapons launched against me, nor by +the thronging bands of my Grecian foes, am now terrified at every +breath, startled by every noise, thrilling with fear alike for my +companion and my burden.</p> + +<p>'And now I was nearing the gates, and thought I had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span><span class="linenum">[731-764]</span>outsped +all the way; when suddenly the crowded trampling of feet came to our +ears, and my father, looking forth into the darkness, cries: "My son, my +son, fly; they draw near. I espy the gleaming shields and the flicker of +brass." At this, in my flurry and confusion, some hostile god bereft me +of my senses. For while I plunge down byways, and swerve from where the +familiar streets ran, Creüsa, alas! whether, torn by fate from her +unhappy husband, she stood still, or did she mistake the way, or sink +down outwearied? I know not; and never again was she given back to our +eyes; nor did I turn to look for my lost one, or cast back a thought, +ere we were come to ancient Ceres' mound and hallowed seat; here at +last, when all gathered, one was missing, vanished from her child's and +her husband's company. What man or god did I spare in frantic +reproaches? or what crueller sight met me in our city's overthrow? I +charge my comrades with Ascanius and lord Anchises, and the gods of +Teucria, hiding them in the winding vale. Myself I regain the city, +girding on my shining armour; fixed to renew every danger, to retrace my +way throughout Troy, and fling myself again on its perils. First of all +I regain the walls and the dim gateway whence my steps had issued; I +scan and follow back my footprints with searching gaze in the night. +Everywhere my spirit shudders, dismayed at the very silence. Thence I +pass on home, if haply her feet (if haply!) had led her thither. The +Grecians had poured in, and filled the palace. The devouring fire goes +rolling before the wind high as the roof; the flames tower over it, and +the heat surges up into the air. I move on, and revisit the citadel and +Priam's dwelling; where now in the spacious porticoes of Juno's +sanctuary, Phoenix and accursed Ulysses, chosen sentries, were guarding +the spoil. Hither from all quarters is flung in masses the treasure of +Troy torn from burning shrines, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span><span class="linenum">[765-798]</span>tables of the gods, bowls of +solid gold, and raiment of the captives. Boys and cowering mothers in +long file stand round. . . . Yes, and I dared to cry abroad through the +darkness; I filled the streets with calling, and again and yet again +with vain reiterance cried piteously on Creüsa. As I stormed and sought +her endlessly among the houses of the town, there rose before mine eyes +a melancholy phantom, the ghost of very Creüsa, in likeness larger than +her wont. I was motionless; my hair stood up, and the accents faltered +on my tongue. Then she thus addressed me, and with this speech allayed +my distresses: "What help is there in this mad passion of grief, sweet +my husband? not without divine influence does this come to pass: nor may +it be, nor does the high lord of Olympus allow, that thou shouldest +carry Creüsa hence in thy company. Long shall be thine exile, and weary +spaces of sea must thou furrow through; and thou shalt come to the land +Hesperia, where Lydian Tiber flows with soft current through rich and +populous fields. There prosperity awaits thee, and a kingdom, and a +king's daughter for thy wife. Dispel these tears for thy beloved Creüsa. +Never will I look on the proud homes of the Myrmidons or Dolopians, or +go to be the slave of Greek matrons, I a daughter of Dardania, a +daughter-in-law of Venus the goddess. . . . But the mighty mother of the +gods keeps me in these her borders. And now farewell, and still love thy +child and mine." This speech uttered, while I wept and would have said +many a thing, she left me and retreated into thin air. Thrice there was +I fain to lay mine arms round her neck; thrice the vision I vainly +clasped fled out of my hands, even as the light breezes, or most like to +fluttering sleep. So at last, when night is spent, I revisit my +comrades.</p> + +<p>'And here I find a marvellous great company, newly flocked in, mothers +and men, a people gathered for exile, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span><span class="linenum">[799-804]</span>a pitiable crowd. From +all quarters they are assembled, ready in heart and fortune, to +whatsoever land I will conduct them overseas. And now the morning star +rose over the high ridges of Ida, and led on the day; and the Grecians +held the gateways in leaguer, nor was any hope of help given. I +withdrew, and raising my father up, I sought the mountain.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BOOK_THIRD" id="BOOK_THIRD"></a>BOOK THIRD</h2> + +<h3>THE STORY OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WANDERING</h3> + + +<p>'After heaven's lords pleased to overthrow the state of Asia and Priam's +guiltless people, and proud Ilium fell, and Neptunian Troy smokes all +along the ground, we are driven by divine omens to seek distant places +of exile in waste lands. Right under Antandros and the mountains of +Phrygian Ida we build a fleet, uncertain whither the fates carry us or +where a resting-place is given, and gather the people together. Scarcely +had the first summer set in, when lord Anchises bids us spread our sails +to fortune, and weeping I leave the shores and havens of my country, and +the plains where once was Troy. I sail to sea an exile, with my comrades +and son and the gods of household and state.</p> + +<p>'A land of vast plains lies apart, the home of Mavors, in Thracian +tillage, and sometime under warrior Lycurgus' reign; friendly of old to +Troy, and their gods in alliance while our fortune lasted. Hither I +pass, and on the winding shore I lay under thwarting fates the first +foundations of a city, and from my own name fashion its name, Aeneadae.</p> + +<p>'I was paying sacrifice to my mother, daughter of Dione, and to all the +gods, so to favour the work begun, and slew a shining bull on the shore +to the high lord of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span><span class="linenum">[22-54]</span>the heavenly people. Haply there lay a mound +hard at hand, crowned with cornel thickets and bristling dense with +shafts of myrtle. I drew near; and essaying to tear up the green wood +from the soil, that I might cover the altar with leafy boughs, I see a +portent ominous and wonderful to tell. For from the first tree whose +roots are rent away and broken from the ground, drops of black blood +trickle, and gore stains the earth. An icy shudder shakes my limbs, and +my blood curdles chill with terror. Yet from another I go on again to +tear away a tough shoot, fully to fathom its secret; yet from another +black blood follows out of the bark. With many searchings of heart I +prayed the woodland nymphs, and lord Gradivus, who rules in the Getic +fields, to make the sight propitious as was meet and lighten the omen. +But when I assail a third spearshaft with a stronger effort, pulling +with knees pressed against the sand; shall I speak or be silent? from +beneath the mound is heard a pitiable moan, and a voice is uttered to my +ears: "Woe's me, why rendest thou me, Aeneas? spare me at last in the +tomb, spare pollution to thine innocent hands. Troy bore me; not alien +to thee am I, nor this blood that oozes from the stem. Ah, fly the cruel +land, fly the greedy shore! For I am Polydorus; here the iron harvest of +weapons hath covered my pierced body, and shot up in sharp javelins." +Then indeed, borne down with dubious terror, I was motionless, my hair +stood up, and the accents faltered on my tongue.</p> + +<p>'This Polydorus once with great weight of gold had hapless Priam sent in +secret to the nurture of the Thracian king, when now he was losing trust +in the arms of Dardania, and saw his city leaguered round about. The +king, when the Teucrian power was broken and fortune withdrew, following +Agamemnon's estate and triumphant arms, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span><span class="linenum">[55-87]</span>severs every bond of +duty; murders Polydorus, and lays strong hands on the gold. O accursed +hunger of gold, to what dost thou not compel human hearts! When the +terror left my senses, I lay the divine tokens before the chosen princes +of the people, with my father at their head, and demand their judgment. +All are of one mind, to leave the guilty land, and abandoning a polluted +home, to let the gales waft our fleets. So we bury Polydorus anew, and +the earth is heaped high over his mound; altars are reared to his ghost, +sad with dusky chaplets and black cypress; and around are the Ilian +women with hair unbound in their fashion. We offer bubbling bowls of +warm milk and cups of consecrated blood, and lay the spirit to rest in +her tomb, and with loud voice utter the last call.</p> + +<p>'Thereupon, so soon as ocean may be trusted, and the winds leave the +seas in quiet, and the soft whispering south wind calls seaward, my +comrades launch their ships and crowd the shores. We put out from +harbour, and lands and towns sink away. There lies in mid sea a holy +land, most dear to the mother of the Nereids and Neptune of Aegae, which +strayed about coast and strand till the Archer god in his affection +chained it fast from high Myconos and Gyaros, and made it lie immoveable +and slight the winds. Hither I steer; and it welcomes my weary crew to +the quiet shelter of a safe haven. We disembark and worship Apollo's +town. Anius the king, king at once of the people and priest of Phoebus, +his brows garlanded with fillets and consecrated laurel, comes to meet +us; he knows Anchises, his friend of old; we clasp hands in welcome, and +enter his palace. I worshipped the god's temple, an ancient pile of +stone. "Lord of Thymbra, give us an enduring dwelling-place; grant a +house and family to thy weary servants, and a city to abide: keep Troy's +second fortress, the remnant left of the Grecians and merciless +Achilles. Whom follow <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span><span class="linenum">[88-121]</span>we? or whither dost thou bid us go, where +fix our seat? Grant an omen, O lord, and inspire our minds."</p> + +<p>'Scarcely had I spoken thus; suddenly all seemed to shake, all the +courts and laurels of the god, the whole hill to be stirred round about, +and the cauldron to moan in the opening sanctuary. We sink low on the +ground, and a voice is borne to our ears: "Stubborn race of Dardanus, +the same land that bore you by parentage of old shall receive you again +on her bountiful breast. Seek out your ancient mother; hence shall the +house of Aeneas sway all regions, his children's children and they who +shall be born of them." Thus Phoebus; and mingled outcries of great +gladness uprose; all ask, what is that city? whither calls Phoebus our +wandering, and bids us return? Then my father, unrolling the records of +men of old, "Hear, O princes," says he, "and learn your hopes. In mid +ocean lies Crete, the island of high Jove, wherein is mount Ida, the +cradle of our race. An hundred great towns are inhabited in that opulent +realm; from it our forefather Teucer of old, if I recall the tale +aright, sailed to the Rhoetean coasts and chose a place for his kingdom. +Not yet was Ilium nor the towers of Pergama reared; they dwelt in the +valley bottoms. Hence came our Lady, haunter of Cybele, the Corybantic +cymbals and the grove of Ida; hence the rites of inviolate secrecy, and +the lions yoked under the chariot of their mistress. Up then, and let us +follow where divine commandments lead; let us appease the winds, and +seek the realm of Gnosus. Nor is it a far journey away. Only be Jupiter +favourable, the third day shall bring our fleet to anchor on the Cretan +coast." So spoke he, and slew fit sacrifice on the altars, a bull to +Neptune, a bull to thee, fair Apollo, a black sheep to Tempest, a white +to the prosperous West winds.</p> + +<p>'Rumour flies that Idomeneus the captain is driven <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span><span class="linenum">[122-154]</span>forth of +his father's realm, and the shores of Crete are abandoned, that the +houses are void of foes and the dwellings lie empty to our hand. We +leave the harbour of Ortygia, and fly along the main, by the revel-trod +ridges of Naxos, by green Donusa, Olearos and snow-white Paros, and the +sea-strewn Cyclades, threading the racing channels among the crowded +lands. The seamen's clamour rises in emulous dissonance; each cheers his +comrade: <i>Seek we Crete and our forefathers.</i> A wind rising astern +follows us forth on our way, and we glide at last to the ancient +Curetean coast. So I set eagerly to work on the walls of my chosen town, +and call it Pergamea, and exhort my people, joyful at the name, to +cherish their homes and rear the castle buildings. And even now the +ships were drawn up on the dry beach; the people were busy in marriages +and among their new fields; I was giving statutes and homesteads; when +suddenly from a tainted space of sky came, noisome on men's bodies and +pitiable on trees and crops, pestilence and a year of death. They left +their sweet lives or dragged themselves on in misery; Sirius scorched +the fields into barrenness; the herbage grew dry, and the sickly harvest +denied sustenance. My father counsels to remeasure the sea and go again +to Phoebus in his Ortygian oracle, to pray for grace and ask what issue +he ordains to our exhausted state; whence he bids us search for aid to +our woes, whither bend our course.</p> + +<p>'Night fell, and sleep held all things living on the earth. The sacred +images of the gods and the household deities of Phrygia, that I had +borne with me from Troy out of the midst of the burning city, seemed to +stand before mine eyes as I lay sleepless, clear in the broad light +where the full moon poured through the latticed windows; then thus +addressed me, and with this speech allayed my distresses: "What Apollo +hath to tell thee when thou dost <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span><span class="linenum">[155-188]</span>reach Ortygia, he utters +here, and sends us unsought to thy threshold. We who followed thee and +thine arms when Dardania went down in fire; we who under thee have +traversed on shipboard the swelling sea; we in like wise will exalt to +heaven thy children to be, and give empire to their city. Do thou +prepare a mighty town for a mighty people, nor draw back from the long +wearisome chase. Thou must change thy dwelling. Not to these shores did +the god at Delos counsel thee, or Apollo bid thee find rest in Crete. +There is a region Greeks name Hesperia, an ancient land, mighty in arms +and foison of the clod; Oenotrian men dwell therein; now rumour is that +a younger race have called it Italy after their captain's name. This is +our true dwelling place; hence is Dardanus sprung, and lord Iasius, the +first source of our race. Up, arise, and tell with good cheer to thine +aged parent this plain tale, to seek Corythus and the lands of Ausonia. +Jupiter denies thee the Dictaean fields."</p> + +<p>'Astonished at this vision and divine utterance (nor was that slumber; +but openly I seemed to know their countenances, their veiled hair and +gracious faces, and therewith a cold sweat broke out all over me) I +spring from my bed and raise my voice and upturned hands skyward and pay +pure offering on the hearth. The sacrifice done, I joyfully tell +Anchises, and relate all in order. He recognises the double descent and +twofold parentage, and the later wanderings that had deceived him among +ancient lands. Then he speaks: "O son, hard wrought by the destinies of +Ilium, Cassandra only foretold me this fortune. Now I recall how she +prophesied this was fated to our race, and often cried of Hesperia, +often of an Italian realm. But who was to believe that Teucrians should +come to Hesperian shores? or whom might Cassandra then move by prophecy? +Yield we to Phoebus, and follow the better <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span><span class="linenum">[189-222]</span>way he counsels." +So says he, and we all rejoicingly obey his speech. This dwelling +likewise we abandon; and leaving some few behind, spread our sails and +run over the waste sea in our hollow wood.</p> + +<p>'After our ships held the high seas, nor any land yet appears, the sky +all round us and all round us the deep, a dusky shower drew up overhead +carrying night and tempest, and the wave shuddered and gloomed. +Straightway the winds upturn the main, and great seas rise; we are +tossed asunder over the dreary gulf. Stormclouds enwrap the day, and +rainy gloom blots out the sky; out of the clouds bursts fire fast upon +fire. Driven from our course, we go wandering on the blind waves. +Palinurus himself professes he cannot tell day from night on the sky, +nor remember the way amid the waters. Three dubious days of blind +darkness we wander on the deep, as many nights without a star. Not till +the fourth day was land at last seen to rise, discovering distant hills +and sending up wreaths of smoke. The sails drop; we swing back to the +oars; without delay the sailors strongly toss up the foam, and sweep +through the green water. The shores of the Strophades first receive me +thus won from the waves, Strophades the Greek name they bear, islands +lying in the great Ionian sea, which boding Celaeno and the other +Harpies inhabit since Phineus' house was shut on them, and they fled in +terror from the board of old. Than these no deadlier portent nor any +fiercer plague of divine wrath hath issued from the Stygian waters; +winged things with maidens' countenance, bellies dropping filth, and +clawed hands and faces ever wan with hunger. . . .</p> + +<p>'When borne hitherward we enter the haven, lo! we see goodly herds of +oxen scattered on the plains, and goats flocking untended over the +grass. We attack them with the sword, and call the gods and Jove himself +to share our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span><span class="linenum">[223-258]</span>spoil. Then we build seats on the winding shore +and banquet on the dainty food. But suddenly the Harpies are upon us, +swooping awfully from the mountains, and shaking their wings with loud +clangour, plunder the feast, and defile everything with unclean touch, +spreading a foul smell, and uttering dreadful cries. Again, in a deep +recess under a caverned rock, shut in with waving shadows of woodland, +we array the board and renew the altar fires; again, from their blind +ambush in diverse quarters of the sky, the noisy crowd flutter with +clawed feet around their prey, defiling the feast with their lips. Then +I bid my comrades take up arms, and proclaim war on the accursed race. +Even as I bade they do, range their swords in cover among the grass, and +hide their shields out of sight. So when they swooped clamorously down +along the winding shore, Misenus from his watch-tower on high signals on +the hollow brass; my comrades rush in and essay the strange battle, to +set the stain of steel on the winged horrors of the sea. But they take +no violence on their plumage, nor wounds on their bodies; and soaring +into the firmament with rapid flight, leave their foul traces on the +spoil they had half consumed. Celaeno alone, prophetess of ill, alights +on a towering cliff, and thus breaks forth in deep accents:</p> + +<p>'"War is it for your slaughtered oxen and steers cut down, O children of +Laomedon, war is it you would declare, and drive the guiltless Harpies +from their ancestral kingdom? Take then to heart and fix fast these +words of mine; which the Lord omnipotent foretold to Phoebus, Phoebus +Apollo to me, I eldest born of the Furies reveal to you. Italy is your +goal; wooing the winds you shall go to Italy, and enter her harbours +unhindered. Yet shall you not wall round your ordained city, ere this +murderous outrage on us compel you, in portentous hunger, to eat your +tables with gnawing teeth."</p> + +<p>'She spoke, and winged her way back to the shelter of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span><span class="linenum">[259-293]</span>the +wood. But my comrades' blood froze chill with sudden affright; their +spirits fell; and no longer with arms, nay with vows and prayers they +bid me entreat favour, whether these be goddesses, or winged things +ill-ominous and foul. And lord Anchises from the beach calls with +outspread hands on the mighty gods, ordering fit sacrifices: "Gods, +avert their menaces! Gods, turn this woe away, and graciously save the +righteous!" Then he bids pluck the cable from the shore and shake loose +the sheets. Southern winds stretch the sails; we scud over the +foam-flecked waters, whither wind and pilot called our course. Now +wooded Zacynthos appears amid the waves, and Dulichium and Same and +Neritos' sheer rocks. We fly past the cliffs of Ithaca, Laërtes' realm, +and curse the land, fostress of cruel Ulysses. Soon too Mount Leucata's +cloudy peaks are sighted, and Apollo dreaded of sailors. Hither we steer +wearily, and stand in to the little town. The anchor is cast from the +prow; the sterns are grounded on the beach.</p> + +<p>'So at last having attained to land beyond our hopes, we purify +ourselves in Jove's worship, and kindle altars of offering, and make the +Actian shore gay with the games of Ilium. My comrades strip, and, +slippery with oil, exercise their ancestral contests; glad to have got +past so many Argive towns, and held on their flight through the +encircling foe. Meanwhile the sun rounds the great circle of the year, +and icy winter ruffles the waters with Northern gales. I fix against the +doorway a hollow shield of brass, that tall Abas had borne, and mark the +story with a verse: <i>These arms Aeneas from the conquering Greeks.</i> Then +I bid leave the harbour and sit down at the thwarts; emulously my +comrades strike the water, and sweep through the seas. Soon we see the +cloud-capped Phaeacian towers sink away, skirt the shores of Epirus, and +enter the Chaonian haven and approach high Buthrotum town.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[294-328]</span>'Here the rumour of a story beyond belief comes on our ears; +Helenus son of Priam is reigning over Greek towns, master of the bride +and sceptre of Pyrrhus the Aeacid; and Andromache hath again fallen to a +husband of her people. I stood amazed; and my heart kindled with +marvellous desire to accost him and learn of so strange a fortune. I +advance from the harbour, leaving the fleet ashore; just when haply +Andromache, in a grove before the town, by the waters of a feigned +Simoïs, was pouring libation to the dust, and calling Hector's ghost to +a tomb with his name, on an empty turfed green with two altars that she +had consecrated, a wellspring of tears. When she caught sight of me +coming, and saw distractedly the encircling arms of Troy, +terror-stricken at the vision marvellously shewn, her gaze fixed, and +the heat left her frame. She swoons away, and hardly at last speaks +after long interval: "Comest thou then a real face, a real messenger to +me, goddess-born? livest thou? or if sweet light is fled, ah, where is +Hector?" She spoke, and bursting into tears filled all the place with +her crying. Just a few words I force up, and deeply moved gasp out in +broken accents: "I live indeed, I live on through all extremities; doubt +not, for real are the forms thou seest . . . Alas! after such an husband, +what fate receives thy fall? or what worthier fortune revisits thee? +Dost thou, Hector's Andromache, keep bonds of marriage with Pyrrhus?" +She cast down her countenance, and spoke with lowered voice:</p> + +<p>'"O single in happy eminence that maiden daughter of Priam, sentenced to +die under high Troy town at an enemy's grave, who never bore the shame +of the lot, nor came a captive to her victorious master's bed! We, +sailing over alien seas from our burning land, have endured the haughty +youthful pride of Achilles' seed, and borne children in slavery: he +thereafter, wooing Leda's Hermione and a Lacedaemonian +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span><span class="linenum">[329-363]</span>marriage, passed me over to Helenus' keeping, a bondwoman to a +bondman. But him Orestes, aflame with passionate desire for his stolen +bride, and driven by the furies of crime, catches unguarded and murders +at his ancestral altars. At Neoptolemus' death a share of his realm fell +to Helenus' hands, who named the plains Chaonian, and called all the +land Chaonia after Chaon of Troy, and built withal a Pergama and this +Ilian citadel on the hills. But to thee how did winds, how fates give +passage? or whose divinity landed thee all unwitting on our coasts? what +of the boy Ascanius? lives he yet, and draws breath, thy darling, whom +Troy's . . . Yet hath the child affection for his lost mother? is he +roused to the valour of old and the spirit of manhood by his father +Aeneas, by his uncle Hector?"</p> + +<p>'Such words she poured forth weeping, and prolonged the vain wail; when +the hero Helenus son of Priam approaches from the town with a great +company, knows us for his kin, and leads us joyfully to his gates, +shedding a many tears at every word. I advance and recognise a little +Troy, and a copy of the great Pergama, and a dry brook with the name of +Xanthus, and clasp a Scaean gateway. Therewithal my Teucrians make +holiday in the friendly town. The king entertained them in his spacious +colonnades; in the central hall they poured goblets of wine in libation, +and held the cups while the feast was served on gold.</p> + +<p>'And now a day and another day hath sped; the breezes woo our sails, and +the canvas blows out to the swelling south. With these words I accost +the prophet, and thus make request:</p> + +<p>'"Son of Troy, interpreter of the gods, whose sense is open to Phoebus' +influences, his tripods and laurels, to stars and tongues of birds and +auguries of prosperous flight, tell me now,—for the voice of revelation +was all favourable to my course, and all divine influence counselled me +to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span><span class="linenum">[364-396]</span>seek Italy and explore remote lands; only Celaeno the Harpy +prophesies of strange portents, a horror to tell, and cries out of wrath +and bale and foul hunger,—what perils are the first to shun? or in what +guidance may I overcome these sore labours?"</p> + +<p>'Hereat Helenus, first suing for divine favour with fit sacrifice of +steers, and unbinding from his head the chaplets of consecration, leads +me in his hand to thy courts, O Phoebus, thrilled with the fulness of +the deity, and then utters these prophetic words from his augural lips:</p> + +<p>'"Goddess-born: since there is clear assurance that under high omens +thou dost voyage through the deep; so the king of the gods allots +destiny and unfolds change; this is the circle of ordinance; a few +things out of many I will unfold to thee in speech, that so thou mayest +more safely traverse the seas of thy sojourn, and find rest in the +Ausonian haven; for Helenus is forbidden by the destinies to know, and +by Juno daughter of Saturn to utter more: first of all, the Italy thou +deemest now nigh, and close at hand, unwitting! the harbours thou +wouldst enter, far are they sundered by a long and trackless track +through length of lands. First must the Trinacrian wave clog thine oar, +and thy ships traverse the salt Ausonian plain, by the infernal pools +and Aeaean Circe's isle, ere thou mayest build thy city in safety on a +peaceful land. I will tell thee the token, and do thou keep it close in +thine heart. When in thy perplexity, beside the wave of a sequestered +river, a great sow shall be discovered lying under the oaks on the +brink, with her newborn litter of thirty, couched white on the ground, +her white brood about her teats; that shall be the place of the city, +that the appointed rest from thy toils. Neither shrink thou at the gnawn +tables that await thee; the fates will find a way, and Apollo aid thy +call. These lands moreover, on this nearest border of the Italian shore +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span><span class="linenum">[397-432]</span>that our own sea's tide washes, flee thou: evil Greeks dwell +in all their towns. Here the Locrians of Narycos have set their city, +and here Lyctian Idomeneus beset the Sallentine plains with soldiery; +here is the town of the Meliboean captain, Philoctetes' little Petelia +fenced by her wall. Nay, when thy fleets have crossed overseas and lie +at anchor, when now thou rearest altars and payest vows on the beach, +veil thine hair with a purple garment for covering, that no hostile face +at thy divine worship may meet thee amid the holy fires and make void +the omens. This fashion of sacrifice keep thou, thyself and thy +comrades, and let thy children abide in this pure observance. But when +at thy departure the wind hath borne thee to the Sicilian coast, and the +barred straits of Pelorus open out, steer for the left-hand country and +the long circuit of the seas on the left hand; shun the shore and water +on thy right. These lands, they say, of old broke asunder, torn and +upheaved by vast force, when either country was one and undivided; the +ocean burst in between, cutting off with its waves the Hesperian from +the Sicilian coast, and with narrow tide washes tilth and town along the +severance of shore. On the right Scylla keeps guard, on the left +unassuaged Charybdis, who thrice swallows the vast flood sheer down her +swirling gulf, and ever again hurls it upward, lashing the sky with +water. But Scylla lies prisoned in her cavern's blind recesses, +thrusting forth her mouth and drawing ships upon the rocks. In front her +face is human, and her breast fair as a maiden's to the waist down; +behind she is a sea-dragon of monstrous frame, with dolphins' tails +joined on her wolf-girt belly. Better to track the goal of Trinacrian +Pachynus, lingering and wheeling round through long spaces, than once +catch sight of misshapen Scylla deep in her dreary cavern, and of the +rocks that ring to her sea-coloured hounds. Moreover, if +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span><span class="linenum">[433-466]</span>Helenus hath aught of foresight or his prophecy of assurance, +if Apollo fills his spirit with the truth, this one thing, goddess-born, +one thing for all will I foretell thee, and again and again repeat my +counsel: to great Juno's deity be thy first prayer and worship; to Juno +utter thy willing vows, and overcome thy mighty mistress with gifts and +supplications; so at last thou shalt leave Trinacria behind, and be sped +in triumph to the Italian borders. When borne hither thou drawest nigh +the Cymaean city, the haunted lakes and rustling woods of Avernus, thou +shalt behold the raving prophetess who deep in the rock chants of fate, +and marks down her words on leaves. What verses she writes down on them, +the maiden sorts into order and shuts behind her in the cave; they stay +in their places unstirred and quit not their rank. But when at the turn +of the hinge the light wind from the doorway stirs them, and disarranges +the delicate foliage, never after does she trouble to capture them as +they flutter about the hollow rock, nor restore their places or join the +verses; men depart without counsel, and hate the Sibyl's dwelling. Here +let no waste in delay be of such account to thee (though thy company +chide, and the passage call thy sails strongly to the deep, and thou +mayest fill out their folds to thy desire) that thou do not approach the +prophetess, and plead with prayers that she herself utter her oracles +and deign to loose the accents from her lips. The nations of Italy and +the wars to come, and the fashion whereby every toil may be avoided or +endured, she shall unfold to thee, and grant her worshipper prosperous +passage. Thus far is our voice allowed to counsel thee: go thy way, and +exalt Troy to heaven by thy deeds."</p> + +<p>'This the seer uttered with friendly lips; then orders gifts to be +carried to my ships, of heavy gold and sawn ivory, and loads the hulls +with massy silver and cauldrons <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span><span class="linenum">[467-502]</span>of Dodona, a mail coat +triple-woven with hooks of gold, and a helmet splendid with spike and +tressed plumes, the armour of Neoptolemus. My father too hath his gifts. +Horses besides he brings, and grooms . . . fills up the tale of our +oarsmen, and equips my crews with arms.</p> + +<p>'Meanwhile Anchises bade the fleet set their sails, that the fair wind +might meet no delay. Him Phoebus' interpreter accosts with high +courtesy: "Anchises, honoured with the splendour of Venus' espousal, the +gods' charge, twice rescued from the fallen towers of Troy, lo! the land +of Ausonia is before thee: sail thou and seize it. And yet needs must +thou float past it on the sea; far away lies the quarter of Ausonia that +is revealed of Apollo. Go," he continues, "happy in thy son's affection: +why do I run on further, and delay the rising winds in talk?" Andromache +too, sad at this last parting, brings figured raiment with woof of gold, +and a Phrygian scarf for Ascanius, and wearies not in courtesy, loading +him with gifts from the loom. "Take these too," so says she, "my child, +to be memorials to thee of my hands, and testify long hence the love of +Andromache wife of Hector. Take these last gifts of thy kinsfolk, O sole +surviving likeness to me of my own Astyanax! Such was he, in eyes and +hands and features; and now his equal age were growing into manhood like +thine."</p> + +<p>'To them as I departed I spoke with starting tears: "Live happily, as +they do whose fortunes are perfected! We are summoned ever from fate to +fate. For you there is rest in store, and no ocean floor to furrow, no +ever-retreating Ausonian fields to pursue. You see a pictured Xanthus, +and a Troy your own hands have built; with better omens, I pray, and to +be less open to the Greeks. If ever I enter Tiber and Tiber's bordering +fields, and see a city granted to my nation, then of these kindred towns +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span><span class="linenum">[503-537]</span>and allied peoples in Epirus and Hesperia, which have the same +Dardanus for founder, and whose story is one, of both will our hearts +make a single Troy. Let that charge await our posterity."</p> + +<p>'We put out to sea, keeping the Ceraunian mountains close at hand, +whence is the shortest passage and seaway to Italy. The sun sets +meanwhile, and the dusky hills grow dim. We choose a place, and fling +ourselves on the lap of earth at the water's edge, and, allotting the +oars, spread ourselves on the dry beach for refreshment: the dew of +slumber falls on our weary limbs. Not yet had Night driven of the Hours +climbed her mid arch; Palinurus rises lightly from his couch, explores +all the winds, and listens to catch a breeze; he marks the +constellations gliding together through the silent sky, Arcturus, the +rainy Hyades and the twin Oxen, and scans Orion in his armour of gold. +When he sees the clear sky quite unbroken, he gives from the stern his +shrill signal; we disencamp and explore the way, and spread the wings of +our sails. And now reddening Dawn had chased away the stars, when we +descry afar dim hills and the low line of Italy. Achates first raises +the cry of <i>Italy</i>; and with joyous shouts my comrades salute Italy. +Then lord Anchises enwreathed a great bowl and filled it up with wine; +and called on the gods, standing high astern . . . "Gods sovereign over +sea and land and weather! bring wind to ease our way, and breathe +favourably." The breezes freshen at his prayer, and now the harbour +opens out nearer at hand, and a temple appears on the Fort of Minerva. +My comrades furl the sails and swing the prows to shore. The harbour is +scooped into an arch by the Eastern flood; reefs run out and foam with +the salt spray; itself it lies concealed; turreted walls of rock let +down their arms on either hand, and the temple retreats from the beach. +Here, an inaugural sight, four horses of snowy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span><span class="linenum">[538-570]</span>whiteness are +grazing abroad on the grassy plain. And lord Anchises: "War dost thou +carry, land of our sojourn; horses are armed in war, and menace of war +is in this herd. But yet these same beasts are wont in time to enter +harness, and carry yoke and bit in concord; there is hope of peace too," +says he. Then we pray to the holy deity, Pallas of the clangorous arms, +the first to welcome our cheers. And before the altars we veil our heads +in Phrygian garments, and duly, after the counsel Helenus had urged +deepest on us, pay the bidden burnt-sacrifice to Juno of Argos.</p> + +<p>'Without delay, once our vows are fully paid, we round to the arms of +our sailyards and leave the dwellings and menacing fields of the Grecian +people. Next is descried the bay of Tarentum, town, if rumour is true, +of Hercules. Over against it the goddess of Lacinium rears her head, +with the towers of Caulon, and Scylaceum wrecker of ships. Then +Trinacrian Aetna is descried in the distance rising from the waves, and +we hear from afar a great roaring of the sea on beaten rocks, and broken +noises by the shore: the channels boil up, and the surge churns with +sand. And lord Anchises: "Of a surety this is that Charybdis; of these +cliffs, these awful rocks did Helenus prophesy. Out, O comrades, and +rise together to the oars." Even as bidden they do; and first Palinurus +swung the gurgling prow leftward through the water; to the left all our +squadron bent with oar and wind. We are lifted skyward on the crescent +wave, and again sunk deep into the nether world as the water is sucked +away. Thrice amid their rocky caverns the cliffs uttered a cry; thrice +we see the foam flung out, and the stars through a dripping veil. +Meanwhile the wind falls with sundown; and weary and ignorant of the way +we glide on to the Cyclopes' coast.</p> + +<p>'There lies a harbour large and unstirred by the winds' +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span><span class="linenum">[571-604]</span>entrance; but nigh it Aetna thunders awfully in wrack, and +ever and again hurls a black cloud into the sky, smoking with boiling +pitch and embers white hot, and heaves balls of flame flickering up to +the stars: ever and again vomits out on high crags from the torn +entrails of the mountain, tosses up masses of molten rock with a groan, +and boils forth from the bottom. Rumour is that this mass weighs down +the body of Enceladus, half-consumed by the thunderbolt, and mighty +Aetna laid over him suspires the flame that bursts from her furnaces; +and so often as he changes his weary side, all Trinacria shudders and +moans, veiling the sky in smoke. That night we spend in cover of the +forest among portentous horrors, and see not from what source the noise +comes. For neither did the stars show their fires, nor was the vault of +constellated sky clear; but vapours blotted heaven, and the moon was +held in a storm-cloud through dead of night.</p> + +<p>'And now the morrow was rising in the early east, and the dewy darkness +rolled away from the sky by Dawn, when sudden out of the forest advances +a human shape strange and unknown, worn with uttermost hunger and +pitiably attired, and stretches entreating hands towards the shore. We +look back. Filthy and wretched, with shaggy beard and a coat pinned +together with thorns, he was yet a Greek, and had been sent of old to +Troy in his father's arms. And he, when he saw afar the Dardanian habits +and armour of Troy, hung back a little in terror at the sight, and +stayed his steps; then ran headlong to the shore with weeping and +prayers: "By the heavens I beseech you, by the heavenly powers and this +luminous sky that gives us breath, take me up, O Trojans, carry me away +to any land soever, and it will be enough. I know I am one out of the +Grecian fleets, I confess I warred against the household gods of Ilium; +for that, if our wrong and guilt is so great, throw <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span><span class="linenum">[605-639]</span>me +piecemeal on the flood or plunge me in the waste sea. If I do perish, +gladly will I perish at human hands." He ended; and clung clasping our +knees and grovelling at them. We encourage him to tell who he is and of +what blood born, and reveal how Fortune pursues him since then. Lord +Anchises after little delay gives him his hand, and strengthens his +courage by visible pledge. At last, laying aside his terror, he speaks +thus:</p> + +<p>'"I am from an Ithacan home, Achemenides by name, set out for Troy in +luckless Ulysses' company; poor was my father Adamastus, and would God +fortune had stayed thus! Here my comrades abandoned me in the Cyclops' +vast cave, mindless of me while they hurry away from the barbarous +gates. It is a house of gore and blood-stained feasts, dim and huge +within. Himself he is great of stature and knocks at the lofty sky +(gods, take away a curse like this from earth!) to none gracious in +aspect or courteous of speech. He feeds on the flesh and dark blood of +wretched men. I myself saw, when he caught the bodies of two of us with +his great hand, and lying back in the middle of the cave crushed them on +the rock, and the courts splashed and swam with gore; I saw when he +champed the flesh adrip with dark clots of blood, and the warm limbs +quivered under his teeth. Yet not unavenged. Ulysses brooked not this, +nor even in such straits did the Ithacan forget himself. For so soon as +he, gorged with his feast and buried in wine, lay with bent neck +sprawling huge over the cave, in his sleep vomiting gore and gobbets +mixed with wine and blood, we, praying to the great gods and with parts +allotted, pour at once all round him, and pierce with a sharp weapon the +huge eye that lay sunk single under his savage brow, in fashion of an +Argolic shield or the lamp of the moon; and at last we exultingly avenge +the ghosts of our comrades. But fly, O wretched men, fly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span><span class="linenum">[640-674]</span>and +pluck the cable from the beach. . . . For even in the shape and stature of +Polyphemus, when he shuts his fleeced flocks and drains their udders in +the cave's covert, an hundred other horrible Cyclopes dwell all about +this shore and stray on the mountain heights. Thrice now does the horned +moon fill out her light, while I linger in life among desolate lairs and +haunts of wild beasts in the woodland, and from a rock survey the giant +Cyclopes and shudder at their cries and echoing feet. The boughs yield a +miserable sustenance, berries and stony sloes, and plants torn up by the +root feed me. Sweeping all the view, I at last espied this fleet +standing in to shore. On it, whatsoever it were, I cast myself; it is +enough to have escaped the accursed tribe. Do you rather, by any death +you will, destroy this life of mine."</p> + +<p>'Scarcely had he spoken thus, when on the mountain top we see +shepherding his flocks a vast moving mass, Polyphemus himself seeking +the shores he knew, a horror ominous, shapeless, huge, bereft of sight. +A pine lopped by his hand guides and steadies his footsteps. His fleeced +sheep attend him, this his single delight and solace in ill. . . . After he +hath touched the deep flood and come to the sea, he washes in it the +blood that oozes from his eye-socket, grinding his teeth with groans; +and now he strides through the sea up to his middle, nor yet does the +wave wet his towering sides. We hurry far away in precipitate flight, +with the suppliant who had so well merited rescue; and silently cut the +cable, and bending forward sweep the sea with emulous oars. He heard, +and turned his steps towards the echoing sound. But when he may in no +wise lay hands on us, nor can fathom the Ionian waves in pursuit, he +raises a vast cry, at which the sea and all his waves shuddered, and the +deep land of Italy was startled, and Aetna's vaulted caverns moaned. But +the tribe of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span><span class="linenum">[675-709]</span>Cyclopes, roused from the high wooded hills, +run to the harbour and fill the shore. We descry the Aetnean brotherhood +standing impotent with scowling eye, their stately heads up to heaven, a +dreadful consistory; even as on a mountain summit stand oaks high in air +or coned cypresses, a high forest of Jove or covert of Diana. Sharp fear +urges us to shake out the sheets in reckless haste, and spread our sails +to the favouring wind. Yet Helenus' commands counsel that our course +keep not the way between Scylla and Charybdis, the very edge of death on +either hand. We are resolved to turn our canvas back. And lo! from the +narrow fastness of Pelorus the North wind comes down and reaches us. I +sail past Pantagias' mouth with its living stone, the Megarian bay, and +low-lying Thapsus. Such names did Achemenides, of luckless Ulysses' +company, point out as he retraced his wanderings along the returning +shores.</p> + +<p>'Stretched in front of a bay of Sicily lies an islet over against +wavebeat Plemyrium; they of old called it Ortygia. Hither Alpheus the +river of Elis, so rumour runs, hath cloven a secret passage beneath the +sea, and now through thy well-head, Arethusa, mingles with the Sicilian +waves. We adore as bidden the great deities of the ground; and thence I +cross the fertile soil of Helorus in the marsh. Next we graze the high +reefs and jutting rocks of Pachynus; and far off appears Camarina, +forbidden for ever by oracles to move, and the Geloan plains, and vast +Gela named after its river. Then Acragas on the steep, once the breeder +of noble horses, displays its massive walls in the distance; and with +granted breeze I leave thee behind, palm-girt Selinus, and thread the +difficult shoals and blind reefs of Lilybaeum. Thereon Drepanum receives +me in its haven and joyless border. Here, so many tempestuous seas +outgone, alas! my father, the solace of every care and chance, Anchises +is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span><span class="linenum">[710-718]</span>lost to me. Here thou, dear lord, abandonest me in +weariness, alas! rescued in vain from peril and doom. Not Helenus the +prophet, though he counselled of many a terror, not boding Celaeno +foretold me of this grief. This was the last agony, this the goal of the +long ways; thence it was I had departed when God landed me on your +coasts.'</p> + +<p>Thus lord Aeneas with all attent retold alone the divine doom and the +history of his goings. At last he was hushed, and here in silence made +an end.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BOOK_FOURTH" id="BOOK_FOURTH"></a>BOOK FOURTH</h2> + +<h3>THE LOVE OF DIDO, AND HER END</h3> + + +<p>But the Queen, long ere now pierced with sore distress, feeds the wound +with her life-blood, and catches the fire unseen. Again and again his +own valiance and his line's renown flood back upon her spirit; look and +accent cling fast in her bosom, and the pain allows not rest or calm to +her limbs. The morrow's dawn bore the torch of Phoebus across the earth, +and had rolled away the dewy darkness from the sky, when, scarce +herself, she thus opens her confidence to her sister:</p> + +<p>'Anna, my sister, such dreams of terror thrill me through! What guest +unknown is this who hath entered our dwelling? How high his mien! how +brave in heart as in arms! I believe it well, with no vain assurance, +his blood is divine. Fear proves the vulgar spirit. Alas, by what +destinies is he driven! what wars outgone he chronicled! Were my mind +not planted, fixed and immoveable, to ally myself to none in wedlock +since my love of old was false to me in the treachery of death; were I +not sick to the heart of bridal torch and chamber, to this temptation +alone I might haply yield. Anna, I will confess it; since Sychaeus mine +husband met his piteous doom, and our household was shattered by a +brother's murder, he only hath <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span><span class="linenum">[22-55]</span>touched mine heart and stirred +the balance of my soul. I know the prints of the ancient flame. But +rather, I pray, may earth first yawn deep for me, or the Lord omnipotent +hurl me with his thunderbolt into gloom, the pallid gloom and profound +night of Erebus, ere I soil thee, mine honour, or unloose thy laws. He +took my love away who made me one with him long ago; he shall keep it +with him, and guard it in the tomb.' She spoke, and welling tears filled +the bosom of her gown.</p> + +<p>Anna replies: 'O dearer than the daylight to thy sister, wilt thou +waste, sad and alone, all thy length of youth, and know not the +sweetness of motherhood, nor love's bounty? Deemest thou the ashes care +for that, or the ghost within the tomb? Be it so: in days gone by no +wooers bent thy sorrow, not in Libya, not ere then in Tyre; Iarbas was +slighted, and other princes nurtured by the triumphal land of Africa; +wilt thou contend so with a love to thy liking? nor does it cross thy +mind whose are these fields about thy dwelling? On this side are the +Gaetulian towns, a race unconquerable in war; the reinless Numidian +riders and the grim Syrtis hem thee in; on this lies a thirsty tract of +desert, swept by the raiders of Barca. Why speak of the war gathering +from Tyre, and thy brother's menaces? . . . With gods' auspices to my +thinking, and with Juno's favour, hath the Ilian fleet held on hither +before the gale. What a city wilt thou discern here, O sister! what a +realm will rise on such a union! the arms of Troy ranged with ours, what +glory will exalt the Punic state! Do thou only, asking divine favour +with peace-offerings, be bounteous in welcome and draw out reasons for +delay, while the storm rages at sea and Orion is wet, and his ships are +shattered and the sky unvoyageable.' With these words she made the fire +of love flame up in her spirit, put hope in her wavering soul, and let +honour slip away.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[56-90]</span>First they visit the shrines, and desire grace from altar to +altar; they sacrifice sheep fitly chosen to Ceres the Lawgiver, to +Phoebus and lord Lyaeus, to Juno before all, guardian of the marriage +bond. Dido herself, excellent in beauty, holds the cup in her hand, and +pours libation between the horns of a milk-white cow, or moves in state +to the rich altars before the gods' presences, day by day renewing her +gifts, and gazing athirst into the breasts of cattle laid open to take +counsel from the throbbing entrails. Ah, witless souls of soothsayers! +how may vows or shrines help her madness? all the while the subtle flame +consumes her inly, and deep in her breast the wound is silent and alive. +Stung to misery, Dido wanders in frenzy all down the city, even as an +arrow-stricken deer, whom, far and heedless amid the Cretan woodland, a +shepherd archer hath pierced and left the flying steel in her unaware; +she ranges in flight the Dictaean forest lawns; fast in her side clings +the deadly reed. Now she leads Aeneas with her through the town, and +displays her Sidonian treasure and ordered city; she essays to speak, +and breaks off half-way in utterance. Now, as day wanes, she seeks the +repeated banquet, and again madly pleads to hear the agonies of Ilium, +and again hangs on the teller's lips. Thereafter, when all are gone +their ways, and the dim moon in turn quenches her light, and the setting +stars counsel to sleep, alone in the empty house she mourns, and flings +herself on the couch he left: distant she hears and sees him in the +distance; or enthralled by the look he has of his father, she holds +Ascanius on her lap, if so she may steal the love she may not utter. No +more do the unfinished towers rise, no more do the people exercise in +arms, nor work for safety in war on harbour or bastion; the works hang +broken off, vast looming walls and engines towering into the sky.</p> + +<p>So soon as she perceives her thus fast in the toils, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span><span class="linenum">[91-124]</span>madly +careless of her name, Jove's beloved wife, daughter of Saturn, accosts +Venus thus:</p> + +<p>'Noble indeed is the fame and splendid the spoils you win, thou and that +boy of thine, and mighty the renown of deity, if two gods have +vanquished one woman by treachery. Nor am I so blind to thy terror of +our town, thine old suspicion of the high house of Carthage. But what +shall be the end? or why all this contest now? Nay, rather let us work +an enduring peace and a bridal compact. Thou hast what all thy soul +desired; Dido is on fire with love, and hath caught the madness through +and through. Then rule we this people jointly in equal lordship; allow +her to be a Phrygian husband's slave, and to lay her Tyrians for dowry +in thine hand.'</p> + +<p>To her—for she knew the dissembled purpose of her words, to turn the +Teucrian kingdom away to the coasts of Libya—Venus thus began in +answer: 'Who so mad as to reject these terms, or choose rather to try +the fortune of war with thee? if only when done, as thou sayest, fortune +follow. But I move in uncertainty of Jove's ordinance, whether he will +that Tyrians and wanderers from Troy be one city, or approve the +mingling of peoples and the treaty of union. Thou art his wife, and thy +prayers may essay his soul. Go on; I will follow.'</p> + +<p>Then Queen Juno thus rejoined: 'That task shall be mine. Now, by what +means the present need may be fulfilled, attend and I will explain in +brief. Aeneas and Dido (alas and woe for her!) are to go hunting +together in the woodland when to-morrow's rising sun goes forth and his +rays unveil the world. On them, while the beaters run up and down, and +the lawns are girt with toils, will I pour down a blackening rain-cloud +mingled with hail, and startle all the sky in thunder. Their company +will scatter for shelter in the dim darkness; Dido and the Trojan +captain <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span><span class="linenum">[125-159]</span>shall take refuge in the same cavern. I will be there, +and if thy goodwill is assured me, I will unite them in wedlock, and +make her wholly his; here shall Hymen be present.' The Cytherean gave +ready assent to her request, and laughed at the wily invention.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Dawn rises forth of ocean. A chosen company issue from the +gates while the morning star is high; they pour forth with meshed nets, +toils, broad-headed hunting spears, Massylian horsemen and sinewy +sleuth-hounds. At her doorway the chief of Carthage await their queen, +who yet lingers in her chamber, and her horse stands splendid in gold +and purple with clattering feet and jaws champing on the foamy bit. At +last she comes forth amid a great thronging train, girt in a Sidonian +mantle, broidered with needlework; her quiver is of gold, her tresses +knotted into gold, a golden buckle clasps up her crimson gown. +Therewithal the Phrygian train advances with joyous Iülus. Himself first +and foremost of all, Aeneas joins her company and unites his party to +hers: even as Apollo, when he leaves wintry Lycia and the streams of +Xanthus to visit his mother's Delos, and renews the dance, while Cretans +and Dryopes and painted Agathyrsians mingle clamorous about his altars: +himself he treads the Cynthian ridges, and plaits his flowing hair with +soft heavy sprays and entwines it with gold; the arrows rattle on his +shoulder: as lightly as he went Aeneas; such glow and beauty is on his +princely face. When they are come to the mountain heights and pathless +coverts, lo, wild goats driven from the cliff-tops run down the ridge; +in another quarter stags speed over the open plain and gather their +flying column in a cloud of dust as they leave the hills. But the boy +Ascanius is in the valleys, exultant on his fiery horse, and gallops +past one and another, praying that among the unwarlike herds a foaming +boar may issue or a tawny lion descend the hill.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[160-194]</span>Meanwhile the sky begins to thicken and roar aloud. A +rain-cloud comes down mingled with hail; the Tyrian train and the men of +Troy, and the Dardanian boy of Venus' son scatter in fear, and seek +shelter far over the fields. Streams pour from the hills. Dido and the +Trojan captain take refuge in the same cavern. Primeval Earth and Juno +the bridesmaid give the sign; fires flash out high in air, witnessing +the union, and Nymphs cry aloud on the mountain-top. That day opened the +gate of death and the springs of ill. For now Dido recks not of eye or +tongue, nor sets her heart on love in secret: she calls it marriage, and +with this name veils her fall.</p> + +<p>Straightway Rumour runs through the great cities of Libya,—Rumour, than +whom none other is more swift to mischief; she thrives on restlessness +and gains strength by going: at first small and timorous; soon she lifts +herself on high and paces the ground with head hidden among the clouds. +Her, one saith, Mother Earth, when stung by wrath against the gods, bore +last sister to Coeus and Enceladus, fleet-footed and swift of wing, +ominous, awful, vast; for every feather on her body is a waking eye +beneath, wonderful to tell, and a tongue, and as many loud lips and +straining ears. By night she flits between sky and land, shrilling +through the dusk, and droops not her lids in sweet slumber; in daylight +she sits on guard upon tall towers or the ridge of the house-roof, and +makes great cities afraid; obstinate in perverseness and forgery no less +than messenger of truth. She then exultingly filled the countries with +manifold talk, and blazoned alike what was done and undone: one Aeneas +is come, born of Trojan blood; on him beautiful Dido thinks no shame to +fling herself; now they hold their winter, long-drawn through mutual +caresses, regardless of their realms and enthralled by passionate +dishonour. This the pestilent goddess <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span><span class="linenum">[195-227]</span>spreads abroad in the +mouths of men, and bends her course right on to King Iarbas, and with +her words fires his spirit and swells his wrath.</p> + +<p>He, the seed of Ammon by a ravished Garamantian Nymph, had built to Jove +in his wide realms an hundred great temples, an hundred altars, and +consecrated the wakeful fire that keeps watch by night before the gods +perpetually, where the soil is fat with blood of beasts and the courts +blossom with pied garlands. And he, distracted and on fire at the bitter +tidings, before his altars, amid the divine presences, often, it is +said, bowed in prayer to Jove with uplifted hands:</p> + +<p>'Jupiter omnipotent, to whom from the broidered cushions of their +banqueting halls the Maurusian people now pour Lenaean offering, lookest +thou on this? or do we shudder vainly when our father hurls the +thunderbolt, and do blind fires in the clouds and idle rumblings appal +our soul? The woman who, wandering in our coasts, planted a small town +on purchased ground, to whom we gave fields by the shore and laws of +settlement, she hath spurned our alliance and taken Aeneas for lord of +her realm. And now that Paris, with his effeminate crew, his chin and +oozy hair swathed in the turban of Maeonia, takes and keeps her; since +to thy temples we bear oblation, and hallow an empty name.'</p> + +<p>In such words he pleaded, clasping the altars; the Lord omnipotent +heard, and cast his eye on the royal city and the lovers forgetful of +their fairer fame. Then he addresses this charge to Mercury:</p> + +<p>'Up and away, O son! call the breezes and slide down them on thy wings: +accost the Dardanian captain who now loiters in Tyrian Carthage and +casts not a look on destined cities; carry down my words through the +fleet air. Not such an one did his mother most beautiful vouch him to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span><span class="linenum">[228-264]</span>us, nor for this twice rescue him from Grecian arms; but he +was to rule an Italy teeming with empire and loud with war, to transmit +the line of Teucer's royal blood, and lay all the world beneath his law. +If such glories kindle him in nowise, and he take no trouble for his own +honour, does a father grudge his Ascanius the towers of Rome? with what +device or in what hope loiters he among a hostile race, and casts not a +glance on his Ausonian children and the fields of Lavinium? Let him set +sail: this is the sum: thereof be thou our messenger.'</p> + +<p>He ended: his son made ready to obey his high command. And first he +laces to his feet the shoes of gold that bear him high winging over seas +or land as fleet as the gale; then takes the rod wherewith he calls wan +souls forth of Orcus, or sends them again to the sad depth of hell, +gives sleep and takes it away and unseals dead eyes; in whose strength +he courses the winds and swims across the tossing clouds. And now in +flight he descries the peak and steep sides of toiling Atlas, whose +crest sustains the sky; Atlas, whose pine-clad head is girt alway with +black clouds and beaten by wind and rain; snow is shed over his +shoulders for covering; rivers tumble over his aged chin; and his rough +beard is stiff with ice. Here the Cyllenian, poised evenly on his wings, +made a first stay; hence he shot himself sheer to the water. Like a bird +that flies low, skirting the sea about the craggy shores of its fishery, +even thus the brood of Cyllene left his mother's father, and flew, +cutting the winds between sky and land, along the sandy Libyan shore. So +soon as his winged feet reached the settlement, he espies Aeneas +founding towers and ordering new dwellings; his sword twinkled with +yellow jasper, and a cloak hung from his shoulders ablaze with Tyrian +sea-purple, a gift that Dido had made costly and shot the warp with thin +gold. Straightway <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span><span class="linenum">[265-299]</span>he breaks in: 'Layest thou now the +foundations of tall Carthage, and buildest up a fair city in dalliance? +ah, forgetful of thine own kingdom and state! From bright Olympus I +descend to thee at express command of heaven's sovereign, whose deity +sways sky and earth; expressly he bids me carry this charge through the +fleet air: with what device or in what hope dost thou loiter idly on +Libyan lands? if such glories kindle thee in nowise, yet cast an eye on +growing Ascanius, on Iülus thine hope and heir, to whom the kingdom of +Italy and the Roman land are due.' As these words left his lips the +Cyllenian, yet speaking, quitted mortal sight and vanished into thin air +away out of his eyes.</p> + +<p>But Aeneas in truth gazed in dumb amazement, his hair thrilled up, and +the accents faltered on his tongue. He burns to flee away and leave the +pleasant land, aghast at the high warning and divine ordinance. Alas, +what shall he do? how venture to smooth the tale to the frenzied queen? +what prologue shall he find? and this way and that he rapidly throws his +mind, and turns it on all hands in swift change of thought. In his +perplexity this seemed the better counsel; he calls Mnestheus and +Sergestus, and brave Serestus, and bids them silently equip the fleet, +gather their crews on shore, and order their armament, keeping the cause +of the commotion hid; himself meanwhile, since Dido the gracious knows +not nor looks for severance to so strong a love, will essay to approach +her when she may be told most gently, and the way for it be fair. All at +once gladly do as bidden, and obey his command.</p> + +<p>But the Queen—who may delude a lover?—foreknew his devices, and at +once caught the presaging stir. Safety's self was fear; to her likewise +had evil Rumour borne the maddening news that they equip the fleet and +prepare <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span><span class="linenum">[300-334]</span>for passage. Helpless at heart, she reels aflame with +rage throughout the city, even as the startled Thyiad in her frenzied +triennial orgies, when the holy vessels move forth and the cry of +Bacchus re-echoes, and Cithaeron calls her with nightlong din. Thus at +last she opens out upon Aeneas:</p> + +<p>'And thou didst hope, traitor, to mask the crime, and slip away in +silence from my land? Our love holds thee not, nor the hand thou once +gavest, nor the bitter death that is left for Dido's portion? Nay, under +the wintry star thou labourest on thy fleet, and hastenest to launch +into the deep amid northern gales; ah, cruel! Why, were thy quest not of +alien fields and unknown dwellings, did thine ancient Troy remain, +should Troy be sought in voyages over tossing seas? Fliest thou from me? +me who by these tears and thine own hand beseech thee, since naught +else, alas! have I kept mine own—by our union and the marriage rites +preparing; if I have done thee any grace, or aught of mine hath once +been sweet in thy sight,—pity our sinking house, and if there yet be +room for prayers, put off this purpose of thine. For thy sake Libyan +tribes and Nomad kings are hostile; my Tyrians are estranged; for thy +sake, thine, is mine honour perished, and the former fame, my one title +to the skies. How leavest thou me to die, O my guest? since to this the +name of husband is dwindled down. For what do I wait? till Pygmalion +overthrow his sister's city, or Gaetulian Iarbas lead me to captivity? +At least if before thy flight a child of thine had been clasped in my +arms,—if a tiny Aeneas were playing in my hall, whose face might yet +image thine,—I would not think myself ensnared and deserted utterly.'</p> + +<p>She ended; he by counsel of Jove held his gaze unstirred, and kept his +distress hard down in his heart. At last he briefly answers:</p> + +<p>'Never, O Queen, will I deny that thy goodness hath <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span><span class="linenum">[335-368]</span>gone high +as thy words can swell the reckoning; nor will my memory of Elissa be +ungracious while I remember myself, and breath sways this body. Little +will I say in this. I never hoped to slip away in stealthy flight; fancy +not that; nor did I ever hold out the marriage torch or enter thus into +alliance. Did fate allow me to guide my life by mine own government, and +calm my sorrows as I would, my first duty were to the Trojan city and +the dear remnant of my kindred; the high house of Priam should abide, +and my hand had set up Troy towers anew for a conquered people. But now +for broad Italy hath Apollo of Grynos bidden me steer, for Italy the +oracles of Lycia. Here is my desire; this is my native country. If thy +Phoenician eyes are stayed on Carthage towers and thy Libyan city, what +wrong is it, I pray, that we Trojans find our rest on Ausonian land? We +too may seek a foreign realm unforbidden. In my sleep, often as the dank +shades of night veil the earth, often as the stars lift their fires, the +troubled phantom of my father Anchises comes in warning and dread; my +boy Ascanius, how I wrong one so dear in cheating him of an Hesperian +kingdom and destined fields. Now even the gods' interpreter, sent +straight from Jove—I call both to witness—hath borne down his commands +through the fleet air. Myself in broad daylight I saw the deity passing +within the walls, and these ears drank his utterance. Cease to madden me +and thyself alike with plaints. Not of my will do I follow Italy. . . .'</p> + +<p>Long ere he ended she gazes on him askance, turning her eyes from side +to side and perusing him with silent glances; then thus wrathfully +speaks:</p> + +<p>'No goddess was thy mother, nor Dardanus founder of thy line, traitor! +but rough Caucasus bore thee on his iron crags, and Hyrcanian tigresses +gave thee suck. For why do I conceal it? For what further outrage do I +wait? <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span><span class="linenum">[369-400]</span>Hath our weeping cost him a sigh, or a lowered glance? +Hath he broken into tears, or had pity on his lover? Where, where shall +I begin? Now neither doth Queen Juno nor our Saturnian lord regard us +with righteous eyes. Nowhere is trust safe. Cast ashore and destitute I +welcomed him, and madly gave him place and portion in my kingdom; I +found him his lost fleet and drew his crews from death. Alas, the fire +of madness speeds me on. Now prophetic Apollo, now oracles of Lycia, now +the very gods' interpreter sent straight from Jove through the air +carries these rude commands! Truly that is work for the gods, that a +care to vex their peace! I detain thee not, nor gainsay thy words: go, +follow thine Italy down the wind; seek thy realm overseas. Yet midway my +hope is, if righteous gods can do aught at all, thou wilt drain the cup +of vengeance on the rocks, and re-echo calls on Dido's name. In murky +fires I will follow far away, and when chill death hath severed body +from soul, my ghost will haunt thee in every region. Wretch, thou shalt +repay! I will hear; and the rumour of it shall reach me deep in the +under world.'</p> + +<p>Even on these words she breaks off her speech unfinished, and, sick at +heart, escapes out of the air and sweeps round and away out of sight, +leaving him in fear and much hesitance, and with much on his mind to +say. Her women catch her in their arms, and carry her swooning to her +marble chamber and lay her on her bed.</p> + +<p>But good Aeneas, though he would fain soothe and comfort her grief, and +talk away her distress, with many a sigh, and melted in soul by his +great love, yet fulfils the divine commands and returns to his fleet. +Then indeed the Teucrians set to work, and haul down their tall ships +all along the shore. The hulls are oiled and afloat; they carry from the +woodland green boughs for oars and massy logs unhewn, in hot haste to +go. . . . One might descry them shifting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span><span class="linenum">[401-433]</span>their quarters and +pouring out of all the town: even as ants, mindful of winter, plunder a +great heap of wheat and store it in their house; a black column advances +on the plain as they carry home their spoil on a narrow track through +the grass. Some shove and strain with their shoulders at big grains, +some marshal the ranks and chastise delay; all the path is aswarm with +work. What then were thy thoughts, O Dido, as thou sawest it? What sighs +didst thou utter, viewing from the fortress roof the broad beach aswarm, +and seeing before thine eyes the whole sea stirred with their noisy din? +Injurious Love, to what dost thou not compel mortal hearts! Again, she +must needs break into tears, again essay entreaty, and bow her spirit +down to love, not to leave aught untried and go to death in vain.</p> + +<p>'Anna, thou seest the bustle that fills the shore. They have gathered +round from every quarter; already their canvas woos the breezes, and the +merry sailors have garlanded the sterns. This great pain, my sister, I +shall have strength to bear, as I have had strength to foresee. Yet this +one thing, Anna, for love and pity's sake—for of thee alone was the +traitor fain, to thee even his secret thoughts were confided, alone thou +knewest his moods and tender fits—go, my sister, and humbly accost the +haughty stranger: I did not take the Grecian oath in Aulis to root out +the race of Troy; I sent no fleet against her fortresses; neither have I +disentombed his father Anchises' ashes and ghost, that he should refuse +my words entrance to his stubborn ears. Whither does he run? let him +grant this grace—alas, the last!—to his lover, and await fair winds +and an easy passage. No more do I pray for the old delusive marriage, +nor that he give up fair Latium and abandon a kingdom. A breathing-space +I ask, to give my madness rest and room, till my very <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span><span class="linenum">[434-469]</span>fortune +teach my grief submission. This last favour I implore: sister, be +pitiful; grant this to me, and I will restore it in full measure when I +die.'</p> + +<p>So she pleaded, and so her sister carries and recarries the piteous tale +of weeping. But by no weeping is he stirred, inflexible to all the words +he hears. Fate withstands, and lays divine bars on unmoved mortal ears. +Even as when the eddying blasts of northern Alpine winds are emulous to +uproot the secular strength of a mighty oak, it wails on, and the trunk +quivers and the high foliage strews the ground; the tree clings fast on +the rocks, and high as her top soars into heaven, so deep strike her +roots to hell; even thus is the hero buffeted with changeful perpetual +accents, and distress thrills his mighty breast, while his purpose stays +unstirred, and tears fall in vain.</p> + +<p>Then indeed, hapless and dismayed by doom, Dido prays for death, and is +weary of gazing on the arch of heaven. The more to make her fulfil her +purpose and quit the light, she saw, when she laid her gifts on the +altars alight with incense, awful to tell, the holy streams blacken, and +the wine turn as it poured into ghastly blood. Of this sight she spoke +to none—no, not to her sister. Likewise there was within the house a +marble temple of her ancient lord, kept of her in marvellous honour, and +fastened with snowy fleeces and festal boughs. Forth of it she seemed to +hear her husband's voice crying and calling when night was dim upon +earth, and alone on the house-tops the screech-owl often made moan with +funeral note and long-drawn sobbing cry. Therewithal many a warning of +wizards of old terrifies her with appalling presage. In her sleep fierce +Aeneas drives her wildly, and ever she seems being left by herself +alone, ever going uncompanioned on a weary way, and seeking her Tyrians +in a solitary land: even as frantic Pentheus sees the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span><span class="linenum">[470-503]</span>arrayed +Furies and a double sun, and Thebes shows herself twofold to his eyes: +or Agamemnonian Orestes, renowned in tragedy, when his mother pursues +him armed with torches and dark serpents, and the Fatal Sisters crouch +avenging in the doorway.</p> + +<p>So when, overcome by her pangs, she caught the madness and resolved to +die, she works out secretly the time and fashion, and accosts her +sorrowing sister with mien hiding her design and hope calm on her brow.</p> + +<p>'I have found a way, mine own—wish me joy, sisterlike—to restore him +to me or release me of my love for him. Hard by the ocean limit and the +set of sun is the extreme Aethiopian land, where ancient Atlas turns on +his shoulders the starred burning axletree of heaven. Out of it hath +been shown to me a priestess of Massylian race, warder of the temple of +the Hesperides, even she who gave the dragon his food, and kept the holy +boughs on the tree, sprinkling clammy honey and slumberous poppy-seed. +She professes with her spells to relax the purposes of whom she will, +but on others to bring passion and pain; to stay the river-waters and +turn the stars backward: she calls up ghosts by night; thou shalt see +earth moaning under foot and mountain-ashes descending from the hills. I +take heaven, sweet, to witness, and thee, mine own darling sister, I do +not willingly arm myself with the arts of magic. Do thou secretly raise +a pyre in the inner court, and let them lay on it the arms that the +accursed one left hanging in our chamber, and all the dress he wore, and +the bridal bed where I fell. It is good to wipe out all the wretch's +traces, and the priestess orders thus.' So speaks she, and is silent, +while pallor overruns her face. Yet Anna deems not her sister veils +death behind these strange rites, and grasps not her wild purpose, nor +fears aught deeper than at Sychaeus' death. So she makes ready as +bidden. . . .</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span><span class="linenum">[504-538]</span>But the Queen, the pyre being built up of piled faggots and +sawn ilex in the inmost of her dwelling, hangs the room with chaplets +and garlands it with funeral boughs: on the pillow she lays the dress he +wore, the sword he left, and an image of him, knowing what was to come. +Altars are reared around, and the priestess, with hair undone, thrice +peals from her lips the hundred gods of Erebus and Chaos, and the +triform Hecate, the triple-faced maidenhood of Diana. Likewise she had +sprinkled pretended waters of Avernus' spring, and rank herbs are sought +mown by moonlight with brazen sickles, dark with milky venom, and sought +is the talisman torn from a horse's forehead at birth ere the dam could +snatch it. . . . Herself, the holy cake in her pure hands, hard by the +altars, with one foot unshod and garments flowing loose, she invokes the +gods ere she die, and the stars that know of doom; then prays to +whatsoever deity looks in righteousness and remembrance on lovers ill +allied.</p> + +<p>Night fell; weary creatures took quiet slumber all over earth, and +woodland and wild waters had sunk to rest; now the stars wheel midway on +their gliding path, now all the country is silent, and beasts and gay +birds that haunt liquid levels of lake or thorny rustic thicket lay +couched asleep under the still night. But not so the distressed +Phoenician, nor does she ever sink asleep or take the night upon eyes or +breast; her pain redoubles, and her love swells to renewed madness, as +she tosses on the strong tide of wrath. Even so she begins, and thus +revolves with her heart alone:</p> + +<p>'See, what do I? Shall I again make trial of mine old wooers that will +scorn me? and stoop to sue for a Numidian marriage among those whom +already over and over I have disdained for husbands? Then shall I follow +the Ilian fleets and the uttermost bidding of the Teucrians? because it +is good to think they were once raised up by my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span><span class="linenum">[539-570]</span>succour, or +the grace of mine old kindness is fresh in their remembrance? And how +should they let me, if I would? or take the odious woman on their +haughty ships? art thou ignorant, ah me, even in ruin, and knowest not +yet the forsworn race of Laomedon? And then? shall I accompany the +triumphant sailors, a lonely fugitive? or plunge forth girt with all my +Tyrian train? so hardly severed from Sidon city, shall I again drive +them seaward, and bid them spread their sails to the tempest? Nay die +thou, as thou deservest, and let the steel end thy pain. With thee it +began; overborne by my tears, thou, O my sister, dost load me with this +madness and agony, and layest me open to the enemy. I could not spend a +wild life without stain, far from a bridal chamber, and free from touch +of distress like this! O faith ill kept, that was plighted to Sychaeus' +ashes!' Thus her heart broke in long lamentation.</p> + +<p>Now Aeneas was fixed to go, and now, with all set duly in order, was +taking hasty sleep on his high stern. To him as he slept the god +appeared once again in the same fashion of countenance, and thus seemed +to renew his warning, in all points like to Mercury, voice and hue and +golden hair and limbs gracious in youth. 'Goddess-born, canst thou sleep +on in such danger? and seest not the coming perils that hem thee in, +madman! nor hearest the breezes blowing fair? She, fixed on death, is +revolving craft and crime grimly in her bosom, and swells the changing +surge of wrath. Fliest thou not hence headlong, while headlong flight is +yet possible? Even now wilt thou see ocean weltering with broken +timbers, see the fierce glare of torches and the beach in a riot of +flame, if dawn break on thee yet dallying in this land. Up ho! linger no +more! Woman is ever a fickle and changing thing.' So spoke he, and +melted in the black night.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[571-603]</span>Then indeed Aeneas, startled by the sudden phantom, leaps out +of slumber and bestirs his crew. 'Haste and awake, O men, and sit down +to the thwarts; shake out sail speedily. A god sent from high heaven, +lo! again spurs us to speed our flight and cut the twisted cables. We +follow thee, holy one of heaven, whoso thou art, and again joyfully obey +thy command. O be favourable; give gracious aid and bring fair sky and +weather.' He spoke, and snatching his sword like lightning from the +sheath, strikes at the hawser with the drawn steel. The same zeal +catches all at once; rushing and tearing they quit the shore; the sea is +hidden under their fleets; strongly they toss up the foam and sweep the +blue water.</p> + +<p>And now Dawn broke, and, leaving the saffron bed of Tithonus, shed her +radiance anew over the world; when the Queen saw from her watch-tower +the first light whitening, and the fleet standing out under squared +sail, and discerned shore and haven empty of all their oarsmen. Thrice +and four times she struck her hand on her lovely breast and rent her +yellow hair: 'God!' she cries, 'shall he go? shall an alien make mock of +our realm? Will they not issue in armed pursuit from all the city, and +some launch ships from the dockyards? Go; bring fire in haste, serve +weapons, swing out the oars! What do I talk? or where am I? what mad +change is on my purpose? Alas, Dido! now thou dost feel thy wickedness; +that had graced thee once, when thou gavest away thy crown. Behold the +faith and hand of him! who, they say, carries his household's ancestral +gods about with him! who stooped his shoulders to a father outworn with +age! Could I not have riven his body in sunder and strewn it on the +waves? and slain with the sword his comrades and his dear Ascanius, and +served him for the banquet at his father's table? But the chance of +battle had been dubious. If it had! whom did I fear <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span><span class="linenum">[604-635]</span>with my +death upon me? I should have borne firebrands into his camp and filled +his decks with flame, blotted out father and son and race together, and +flung myself atop of all. Sun, whose fires lighten all the works of the +world, and thou, Juno, mediatress and witness of these my distresses, +and Hecate, cried on by night in crossways of cities, and you, fatal +avenging sisters and gods of dying Elissa, hear me now; bend your just +deity to my woes, and listen to our prayers. If it must needs be that +the accursed one touch his haven and float up to land, if thus Jove's +decrees demand, and this is the appointed term,—yet, distressed in war +by an armed and gallant nation, driven homeless from his borders, rent +from Iülus' embrace, let him sue for succour and see death on death +untimely on his people; nor when he hath yielded him to the terms of a +harsh peace, may he have joy of his kingdom or the pleasant light; but +let him fall before his day and without burial on a waste of sand. This +I pray; this and my blood with it I pour for the last utterance. And +you, O Tyrians, hunt his seed with your hatred for all ages to come; +send this guerdon to our ashes. Let no kindness nor truce be between the +nations. Arise out of our dust, O unnamed avenger, to pursue the +Dardanian settlement with firebrand and steel. Now, then, whensoever +strength shall be given, I invoke the enmity of shore to shore, wave to +water, sword to sword; let their battles go down to their children's +children.'</p> + +<p>So speaks she as she kept turning her mind round about, seeking how +soonest to break away from the hateful light. Thereon she speaks briefly +to Barce, nurse of Sychaeus; for a heap of dusky ashes held her own, in +her country of long ago:</p> + +<p>'Sweet nurse, bring Anna my sister hither to me. Bid her haste and +sprinkle river water over her body, and bring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span><span class="linenum">[636-667]</span>with her the +beasts ordained for expiation: so let her come: and thou likewise veil +thy brows with a pure chaplet. I would fulfil the rites of Stygian Jove +that I have fitly ordered and begun, so to set the limit to my +distresses and give over to the flames the funeral pyre of the +Dardanian.'</p> + +<p>So speaks she; the old woman went eagerly with quickened pace. But Dido, +fluttered and fierce in her awful purpose, with bloodshot restless gaze, +and spots on her quivering cheeks burning through the pallor of imminent +death, bursts into the inner courts of the house, and mounts in madness +the high funeral pyre, and unsheathes the sword of Dardania, a gift +asked for no use like this. Then after her eyes fell on the Ilian +raiment and the bed she knew, dallying a little with her purpose through +her tears, she sank on the pillow and spoke the last words of all:</p> + +<p>'Dress he wore, sweet while doom and deity allowed! receive my spirit +now, and release me from my distresses. I have lived and fulfilled +Fortune's allotted course; and now shall I go a queenly phantom under +the earth. I have built a renowned city; I have seen my ramparts rise; +by my brother's punishment I have avenged my husband of his enemy; +happy, ah me! and over happy, had but the keels of Dardania never +touched our shores!' She spoke; and burying her face in the pillow, +'Death it will be,' she cries, 'and unavenged; but death be it. Thus, +thus is it good to pass into the dark. Let the pitiless Dardanian's gaze +drink in this fire out at sea, and my death be the omen he carries on +his way.'</p> + +<p>She ceased; and even as she spoke her people see her sunk on the steel, +and blood reeking on the sword and spattered on her hands. A cry rises +in the high halls; Rumour riots down the quaking city. The house +resounds with lamentation and sobbing and bitter crying of women; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span><span class="linenum">[668-700]</span>heaven echoes their loud wails; even as though all Carthage or +ancient Tyre went down as the foe poured in, and the flames rolled +furious over the roofs of house and temple. Swooning at the sound, her +sister runs in a flutter of dismay, with torn face and smitten bosom, +and darts through them all, and calls the dying woman by her name. 'Was +it this, mine own? Was my summons a snare? Was it this thy pyre, ah me, +this thine altar fires meant? How shall I begin my desolate moan? Didst +thou disdain a sister's company in death? Thou shouldst have called me +to share thy doom; in the self-same hour, the self-same pang of steel +had been our portion. Did these very hands build it, did my voice call +on our father's gods, that with thee lying thus I should be away as one +without pity? Thou hast destroyed thyself and me together, O my sister, +and the Sidonian lords and people, and this thy city. Give her wounds +water: I will bathe them and catch on my lips the last breath that haply +yet lingers.' So speaking she had climbed the high steps, and, wailing, +clasped and caressed her half-lifeless sister in her bosom, and stanched +the dark streams of blood with her gown. She, essaying to lift her heavy +eyes, swoons back; the deep-driven wound gurgles in her breast. Thrice +she rose, and strained to lift herself on her elbow; thrice she rolled +back on the pillow, and with wandering eyes sought the light of high +heaven, and moaned as she found it.</p> + +<p>Then Juno omnipotent, pitying her long pain and difficult decease, sent +Iris down from heaven to unloose the struggling life from the body where +it clung. For since neither by fate did she perish, nor as one who had +earned her death, but woefully before her day, and fired by sudden +madness, not yet had Proserpine taken her lock from the golden head, nor +sentenced her to the Stygian under world. So Iris on dewy saffron +pinions flits down through the sky <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span><span class="linenum">[701-705]</span>athwart the sun in a trail +of a thousand changing dyes, and stopping over her head: 'This hair, +sacred to Dis, I take as bidden, and release thee from that body of +thine.' So speaks she, and cuts it with her hand. And therewith all the +warmth ebbed forth from her, and the life passed away upon the winds.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BOOK_FIFTH" id="BOOK_FIFTH"></a>BOOK FIFTH</h2> + +<h3>THE GAMES OF THE FLEET</h3> + + +<p>Meanwhile Aeneas and his fleet in unwavering track now held mid passage, +and cleft the waves that blackened under the North, looking back on the +city that even now gleams with hapless Elissa's funeral flame. Why the +broad blaze is lit lies unknown; but the bitter pain of a great love +trampled, and the knowledge of what woman can do in madness, draw the +Teucrians' hearts to gloomy guesses.</p> + +<p>When their ships held the deep, nor any land farther appears, the seas +all round, and all round the sky, a dusky shower drew up overhead, +carrying night and storm, and the wave shuddered and gloomed. Palinurus, +master of the fleet, cries from the high stern: 'Alas, why have these +heavy storm-clouds girt the sky? lord Neptune, what wilt thou?' Then he +bids clear the rigging and bend strongly to the oars, and brings the +sails across the wind, saying thus:</p> + +<p>'Noble Aeneas, not did Jupiter give word and warrant would I hope to +reach Italy under such a sky. The shifting winds roar athwart our +course, and blow stronger out of the black west, and the air thickens +into mist: nor are we fit to force our way on and across. Fortune is the +stronger; let us follow her, and turn our course whither she calls. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span><span class="linenum">[23-55]</span>Not far away, I think, are the faithful shores of thy brother +Eryx, and the Sicilian haven, if only my memory retraces rightly the +stars I watched before.'</p> + +<p>Then good Aeneas: 'Even I ere now discern the winds will have it so, and +thou urgest against them in vain. Turn thou the course of our sailing. +Could any land be welcomer to me, or where I would sooner choose to put +in my weary ships, than this that hath Dardanian Acestes to greet me, +and laps in its embrace lord Anchises' dust?' This said, they steer for +harbour, while the following west wind stretches their sails; the fleet +runs fast down the flood, and at last they land joyfully on the familiar +beach. But Acestes high on a hill-top, amazed at the friendly squadron +approaching from afar, hastens towards them, weaponed and clad in the +shaggy skin of a Libyan she-bear. Him a Trojan mother conceived and bore +to Crimisus river; not forgetful of his parentage, he wishes them joy of +their return, and gladly entertains them on his rustic treasure and +comforts their weariness with his friendly store. So soon as the +morrow's clear daylight had chased the stars out of the east, Aeneas +calls his comrades along the beach together, and from a mounded hillock +speaks:</p> + +<p>'Great people of Dardanus, born of the high blood of gods, the yearly +circle of the months is measured out to fulfilment since we laid the +dust in earth, all that was left of my divine father, and sadly +consecrated our altars. And now the day is at hand (this, O gods, was +your will), which I will ever keep in grief, ever in honour. Did I spend +it an exile on Gaetulian quicksands, did it surprise me on the Argolic +sea or in Mycenae town, yet would I fulfil the yearly vows and annual +ordinance of festival, and pile the altars with their due gifts. Now we +are led hither, to the very dust and ashes of our father, not as I deem +without <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span><span class="linenum">[56-90]</span>divine purpose and influence, and borne home into the +friendly haven. Up then and let us all gather joyfully to the sacrifice: +pray we for winds, and may he deign that I pay these rites to him year +by year in an established city and consecrated temple. Two head of oxen +Acestes, the seed of Troy, gives to each of your ships by tale: invite +to the feast your own ancestral gods of the household, and those whom +our host Acestes worships. Further, so the ninth Dawn uplift the +gracious day upon men, and her shafts unveil the world, I will ordain +contests for my Trojans; first for swift ships; then whoso excels in the +foot-race, and whoso, confident in strength and skill, comes to shoot +light arrows, or adventures to join battle with gloves of raw hide; let +all be here, and let merit look for the prize and palm. Now all be +hushed, and twine your temples with boughs.'</p> + +<p>So speaks he, and shrouds his brows with his mother's myrtle. So Helymus +does, so Aletes ripe of years, so the boy Ascanius, and the rest of the +people follow. He advances from the assembly to the tomb among a throng +of many thousands that crowd about him; here he pours on the ground in +fit libation two goblets of pure wine, two of new milk, two of +consecrated blood, and flings bright blossoms, saying thus: 'Hail, holy +father, once again; hail, ashes of him I saved in vain, and soul and +shade of my sire! Thou wert not to share the search for Italian borders +and destined fields, nor the dim Ausonian Tiber.' Thus had he spoken; +when from beneath the sanctuary a snake slid out in seven vast coils and +sevenfold slippery spires, quietly circling the grave and gliding from +altar to altar, his green chequered body and the spotted lustre of his +scales ablaze with gold, as the bow in the cloud darts a thousand +changing dyes athwart the sun: Aeneas stood amazed at the sight. At last +he wound <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span><span class="linenum">[91-126]</span>his long train among the vessels and polished cups, +and tasted the feast, and again leaving the altars where he had fed, +crept harmlessly back beneath the tomb. Doubtful if he shall think it +the Genius of the ground or his father's ministrant, he slays, as is +fit, two sheep of two years old, as many swine and dark-backed steers, +pouring the while cups of wine, and calling on the soul of great +Anchises and the ghost rearisen from Acheron. Therewithal his comrades, +as each hath store, bring gifts to heap joyfully on the altars, and slay +steers in sacrifice: others set cauldrons arow, and, lying along the +grass, heap live embers under spits and roast the flesh.</p> + +<p>The desired day came, and now the ninth Dawn rode up clear and bright +behind Phaëthon's coursers; and the name and renown of illustrious +Acestes had stirred up all the bordering people; their holiday throng +filled the shore, to see Aeneas' men, and some ready to join in contest. +First of all the prizes are laid out to view in the middle of the +racecourse; tripods of sacrifice, green garlands and palms, the reward +of the conquerors, armour and garments dipped in purple, talents of +silver and gold: and from a hillock in the midst the trumpet sounds the +games begun. First is the contest of rowing, and four ships matched in +weight enter, the choice of all the fleet. Mnestheus' keen oarsmen drive +the swift Dragon, Mnestheus the Italian to be, from whose name is the +Memmian family; Gyas the huge bulk of the huge Chimaera, a floating +town, whom her triple-tiered Dardanian crew urge on with oars rising in +threefold rank; Sergestus, from whom the Sergian house holds her name, +sails in the tall Centaur; and in the sea-coloured Scylla Cloanthus, +whence is thy family, Cluentius of Rome.</p> + +<p>Apart in the sea and over against the foaming beach, lies a rock that +the swoln waves beat and drown what time the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span><span class="linenum">[127-159]</span>north-western +gales of winter blot out the stars; in calm it rises silent out of the +placid water, flat-topped, and a haunt where cormorants love best to +take the sun. Here lord Aeneas set up a goal of leafy ilex, a mark for +the sailors to know whence to return, where to wheel their long course +round. Then they choose stations by lot, and on the sterns their +captains glitter afar, beautiful in gold and purple; the rest of the +crews are crowned with poplar sprays, and their naked shoulders glisten +wet with oil. They sit down at the thwarts, and their arms are tense on +the oars; at full strain they wait the signal, while throbbing fear and +heightened ambition drain their riotous blood. Then, when the clear +trumpet-note rang, all in a moment leap forward from their line; the +shouts of the sailors strike up to heaven, and the channels are swept +into foam by the arms as they swing backward. They cleave their furrows +together, and all the sea is torn asunder by oars and triple-pointed +prows. Not with speed so headlong do racing pairs whirl the chariots +over the plain, as they rush streaming from the barriers; not so do +their charioteers shake the wavy reins loose over their team, and hang +forward on the whip. All the woodland rings with clapping and shouts of +men that cheer their favourites, and the sheltered beach eddies back +their cries; the noise buffets and re-echoes from the hills. Gyas shoots +out in front of the noisy crowd, and glides foremost along the water; +whom Cloanthus follows next, rowing better, but held back by his +dragging weight of pine. After them, at equal distance, the Dragon and +the Centaur strive to win the foremost room; and now the Dragon has it, +now the vast Centaur outstrips and passes her; now they dart on both +together, their stems in a line, and their keels driving long furrows +through the salt water-ways. And now they drew nigh the rock, and were +hard <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span><span class="linenum">[160-193]</span>on the goal; when Gyas as he led, winner over half the +flood, cries aloud to Menoetes, the ship's steersman: 'Whither away so +far to the right? This way direct her path; kiss the shore, and let the +oarblade graze the leftward reefs. Others may keep to deep water.' He +spoke; but Menoetes, fearing blind rocks, turns the bow away towards the +open sea. 'Whither wanderest thou away? to the rocks, Menoetes!' again +shouts Gyas to bring him back; and lo! glancing round he sees Cloanthus +passing up behind and keeping nearer. Between Gyas' ship and the echoing +crags he scrapes through inside on his left, flashes past his leader, +and leaving the goal behind is in safe water. Then indeed grief burned +fierce through his strong frame, and tears sprung out on his cheeks; +heedless of his own dignity and his crew's safety, he flings the too +cautious Menoetes sheer into the sea from the high stern, himself +succeeds as guide and master of the helm, and cheers on his men, and +turns his tiller in to shore. But Menoetes, when at last he rose +struggling from the bottom, heavy with advancing years and wet in his +dripping clothes, makes for the top of the crag, and sits down on a dry +rock. The Teucrians laughed out as he fell and as he swam, and laugh to +see him spitting the salt water from his chest. At this a joyful hope +kindled in the two behind, Sergestus and Mnestheus, of catching up Gyas' +wavering course. Sergestus slips forward as he nears the rock, yet not +all in front, nor leading with his length of keel; part is in front, +part pressed by the Dragon's jealous prow. But striding amidships +between his comrades, Mnestheus cheers them on: 'Now, now swing back, +oarsmen who were Hector's comrades, whom I chose to follow me in Troy's +extremity; now put forth the might and courage you showed in Gaetulian +quicksands, amid Ionian seas and Malea's chasing waves. Not the first +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span><span class="linenum">[194-227]</span>place do I now seek for Mnestheus, nor strive for victory; +though ah!—yet let them win, O Neptune, to whom thou givest it. But the +shame of coming in last! Win but this, fellow-citizens, and avert that +disaster!' His men bend forward, straining every muscle; the brasswork +of the ship quivers to their mighty strokes, and the ground runs from +under her; limbs and parched lips shake with their rapid panting, and +sweat flows in streams all over them. Mere chance brought the crew the +glory they desired. For while Sergestus drives his prow furiously in +towards the rocks and comes up with too scanty room, alas! he caught on +a rock that ran out; the reef ground, the oars struck and shivered on +the jagged teeth, and the bows crashed and hung. The sailors leap up and +hold her with loud cries, and get out iron-shod poles and sharp-pointed +boathooks, and pick up their broken oars out of the eddies. But +Mnestheus, rejoicing and flushed by his triumph, with oars fast-dipping +and winds at his call, issues into the shelving water and runs down the +open sea. As a pigeon whose house and sweet nestlings are in the rock's +recesses, if suddenly startled from her cavern, wings her flight over +the fields and rushes frightened from her house with loud clapping +pinions; then gliding noiselessly through the air, slides on her liquid +way and moves not her rapid wings; so Mnestheus, so the Dragon under him +swiftly cleaves the last space of sea, so her own speed carries her +flying on. And first Sergestus is left behind, struggling on the steep +rock and shoal water, and shouting in vain for help and learning to race +with broken oars. Next he catches up Gyas and the vast bulk of the +Chimaera; she gives way, without her steersman. And now on the very goal +Cloanthus alone is left; him he pursues and presses hard, straining all +his strength. Then indeed the shouts redouble, as all together eagerly +cheer on the pursuer, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span><span class="linenum">[228-264]</span>the sky echoes their din. These +scorn to lose the honour that is their own, the glory in their grasp, +and would sell life for renown; to these success lends life; power comes +with belief in it. And haply they had carried the prize with prows +abreast, had not Cloanthus, stretching both his open hands over the sea, +poured forth prayers and called the gods to hear his vows: 'Gods who are +sovereign on the sea, over whose waters I run, to your altars on this +beach will I bring a snow-white bull, my vow's glad penalty, and will +cast his entrails into the salt flood and pour liquid wine.' He spoke, +and far beneath the flood maiden Panopea heard him, with all Phorcus' +choir of Nereids, and lord Portunus with his own mighty hand pushed him +on his way. The ship flies to land swifter than the wind or an arrow's +flight, and shoots into the deep harbour. Then the seed of Anchises, +summoning all in order, declares Cloanthus conqueror by herald's outcry, +and dresses his brows in green bay, and gives gifts to each crew, three +bullocks of their choice, and wine, and a large talent of silver to take +away. For their captains he adds special honours; to the winner a scarf +wrought with gold, encircled by a double border of deep Meliboean +purple; woven in it is the kingly boy on leafy Ida, chasing swift stags +with javelin and racing feet, keen and as one panting; him Jove's +swooping armour-bearer hath caught up from Ida in his talons; his aged +guardians stretch their hands vainly upwards, and the barking of hounds +rings fierce into the air. But to him who, next in merit, held the +second place, he gives to wear a corslet triple-woven with hooks of +polished gold, stripped by his own conquering hand from Demoleos under +tall Troy by the swift Simoïs, an ornament and safeguard among arms. +Scarce could the straining shoulders of his servants Phegeus and Sagaris +carry its heavy folds; yet with it on, Demoleos at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span><span class="linenum">[265-302]</span>full speed +would chase the scattered Trojans. The third prize he makes twin +cauldrons of brass, and bowls wrought in silver and rough with tracery. +And now all moved away in the pride and wealth of their prizes, their +brows bound with scarlet ribbons; when, hardly torn loose by all his art +from the cruel rock, his oars lost, rowing feebly with a single tier, +Sergestus brought in his ship jeered at and unhonoured. Even as often a +serpent caught on a highway, if a brazen wheel hath gone aslant over him +or a wayfarer left him half dead and mangled with the blow of a heavy +stone, wreathes himself slowly in vain effort to escape, in part +undaunted, his eyes ablaze and his hissing throat lifted high; in part +the disabling wound keeps him coiling in knots and twisting back on his +own body; so the ship kept rowing slowly on, yet hoists sail and under +full sail glides into the harbour mouth. Glad that the ship is saved and +the crew brought back, Aeneas presents Sergestus with his promised +reward. A slave woman is given him not unskilled in Minerva's labours, +Pholoë the Cretan, with twin boys at her breast.</p> + +<p>This contest sped, good Aeneas moved to a grassy plain girt all about +with winding wooded hills, and amid the valley an amphitheatre, whither, +with a concourse of many thousands, the hero advanced and took his seat +on a mound. Here he allures with rewards and offer of prizes those who +will try their hap in the fleet foot-race. Trojans and Sicilians gather +mingling from all sides, Nisus and Euryalus foremost . . . Euryalus in the +flower of youth and famed for beauty, Nisus for pure love of the boy. +Next follows renowned Diores, of Priam's royal line; after him Salius +and Patron together, the one Acarnanian, the other Tegean by family and +of Arcadian blood; next two men of Sicily, Helymus and Panopes, +foresters and attendants on old Acestes; many besides whose fame is hid +in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span><span class="linenum">[303-338]</span>obscurity. Then among them all Aeneas spoke thus: 'Hearken +to this, and attend in good cheer. None out of this number will I let go +without a gift. To each will I give two glittering Gnosian spearheads of +polished steel, and an axe chased with silver to bear away; one and all +shall be honoured thus. The three foremost shall receive prizes, and +have pale olive bound about their head. The first shall have a +caparisoned horse as conqueror; the second an Amazonian quiver filled +with arrows of Thrace, girt about by a broad belt of gold, and on the +link of the clasp a polished gem; let the third depart with this Argolic +helmet for recompense.' This said, they take their place, and the signal +once heard, dart over the course and leave the line, pouring forth like +a storm-cloud while they mark the goal. Nisus gets away first, and +shoots out far in front of the throng, fleeter than the winds or the +winged thunderbolt. Next to him, but next by a long gap, Salius follows; +then, left a space behind him, Euryalus third . . . and Helymus comes +after Euryalus; and close behind him, lo! Diores goes flying, just +grazing foot with foot, hard on his shoulder; and if a longer space were +left, he would creep out past him and win the tie. And now almost in the +last space, they began to come up breathless to the goal, when +unfortunate Nisus trips on the slippery blood of the slain steers, where +haply it had spilled over the ground and wetted the green grass. Here, +just in the flush of victory, he lost his feet; they slid away on the +ground they pressed, and he fell forward right among the ordure and +blood of the sacrifice. Yet forgot he not his darling Euryalus; for +rising, he flung himself over the slippery ground in front of Salius, +and he rolled over and lay all along on the hard sand. Euryalus shoots +by, wins and holds the first place his friend gave, and flies on amid +prosperous clapping and cheers. Behind Helymus comes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span><span class="linenum">[339-373]</span>up, and +Diores, now third for the palm. At this Salius fills with loud clamour +the whole concourse of the vast theatre, and the lords who looked on in +front, demanding restoration of his defrauded prize. Euryalus is strong +in favour, and beauty in tears, and the merit that gains grace from so +fair a form. Diores supports him, who succeeded to the palm, so he +loudly cries, and bore off the last prize in vain, if the highest +honours be restored to Salius. Then lord Aeneas speaks: 'For you, O +boys, your rewards remain assured, and none alters the prizes' order: +let me be allowed to pity a friend's innocent mischance.' So speaking, +he gives to Salius a vast Gaetulian lion-skin, with shaggy masses of +hair and claws of gold. 'If this,' cries Nisus, 'is the reward of +defeat, and thy pity is stirred for the fallen, what fit recompense wilt +thou give to Nisus? to my excellence the first crown was due, had not I, +like Salius, met Fortune's hostility.' And with the words he displayed +his face and limbs foul with the wet dung. His lord laughed kindly on +him, and bade a shield be brought forth, the workmanship of Didymaon, +torn by him from the hallowed gates of Neptune's Grecian temple; with +this special prize he rewards his excellence.</p> + +<p>Thereafter, when the races are finished and the gifts fulfilled: 'Now,' +he cries, 'come, whoso hath in him valour and ready heart, and lift up +his arms with gauntleted hands.' So speaks he, and sets forth a double +prize of battle; for the conqueror a bullock gilt and garlanded; a sword +and beautiful helmet to console the conquered. Straightway without pause +Dares issues to view in his vast strength, rising amid loud murmurs of +the people; he who alone was wont to meet Paris in combat; he who, at +the mound where princely Hector lies, struck down as he came the vast +bulk upborne by conquering Butes, of Amycus' Bebrycian line, and +stretched him in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span><span class="linenum">[374-410]</span>death on the yellow sand. Such was Dares; at +once he raises his head high for battle, displays his broad shoulders, +and stretches and swings his arms right and left, lashing the air with +blows. For him another is required; but none out of all the train durst +approach or put the gloves on his hands. So he takes his stand exultant +before Aeneas' feet, deeming he excelled all in victories; and thereon +without more delay grasps the bull's horn with his left hand, and speaks +thus: 'Goddess-born, if no man dare trust himself to battle, to what +conclusion shall I stand? how long is it seemly to keep me? bid me carry +off thy gifts.' Therewith all the Dardanians murmured assent, and bade +yield him the promised prize. At this aged Acestes spoke sharply to +Entellus, as he sate next him on the green cushion of grass: 'Entellus, +bravest of heroes once of old in vain, wilt thou thus idly let a gift so +great be borne away uncontested? Where now prithee is divine Eryx, thy +master of fruitless fame? where thy renown over all Sicily, and those +spoils hanging in thine house?' Thereat he: 'Desire of glory is not +gone, nor ambition checked by fear; but torpid age dulls my chilly +blood, and my strength of limb is numb and outworn. If I had what once +was mine, if I had now that prime of years, yonder braggart's boast and +confidence, it had taken no prize of goodly bullock to allure me; nor +heed I these gifts.' So he spoke, and on that flung down a pair of +gloves of giant weight, with whose hard hide bound about his wrists +valiant Eryx was wont to come to battle. They stood amazed; so stiff and +grim lay the vast sevenfold oxhide sewed in with lead and iron. Dares +most of all shrinks far back in horror, and the noble son of Anchises +turns round this way and that their vast weight and voluminous folds. +Then the old man spoke thus in deep accents: 'How, had they seen the +gloves <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span><span class="linenum">[411-444]</span>that were Hercules' own armour, and the fatal fight on +this very beach? These arms thy brother Eryx once wore; thou seest them +yet stained with blood and spattered brains. In them he stood to face +great Alcides; to them was I used while fuller blood supplied me +strength, and envious old age had not yet strewn her snows on either +temple. But if Dares of Troy will have none of these our arms, and good +Aeneas is resolved on it, and my patron Acestes approves, let us make +the battle even. See, I give up the gauntlets of Eryx; dismiss thy +fears; and do thou put off thy Trojan gloves.' So spoke he, and throwing +back the fold of his raiment from his shoulders, he bares the massive +joints and limbs, the great bones and muscles, and stands up huge in the +middle of the ground. Then Anchises' lordly seed brought out equal +gloves and bound the hands of both in matched arms. Straightway each +took his stand on tiptoe, and undauntedly raised his arms high in air. +They lift their heads right back and away out of reach of blows, and +make hand play through hand, inviting attack; the one nimbler of foot +and confident in his youth, the other mighty in mass of limb, but his +knees totter tremulous and slow, and sick panting shakes his vast frame. +Many a mutual blow they deliver in vain, many an one they redouble on +chest and side, sounding hollow and loud: hands play fast about ear and +temple, and jawbones clash under the hard strokes. Old Entellus stands +immoveable and astrain, only parrying hits with body and watchful eye. +The other, as one who casts mounts against some high city or blockades a +hill-fort in arms, tries this and that entrance, and ranges cunningly +over all the ground, and presses many an attack in vain. Entellus rose +and struck clean out with his right downwards; his quick opponent saw +the descending blow before it came, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span><span class="linenum">[445-481]</span>and slid his body rapidly +out of its way. Entellus hurled his strength into the air, and all his +heavy mass, overreaching, fell heavily to the earth; as sometime on +Erymanthus or mighty Ida a hollow pine falls torn out by the roots. +Teucrians and men of Sicily rise eagerly; a cry goes up, and Acestes +himself runs forward, and pityingly lifts his friend and birthmate from +the ground. But the hero, not dulled nor dismayed by his mishap, returns +the keener to battle, and grows violent in wrath, while shame and +resolved valour kindle his strength. All afire, he hunts Dares headlong +over the lists, and redoubles his blows now with right hand, now with +left; no breath nor pause; heavy as hailstones rattle on the roof from a +storm-cloud, so thickly shower the blows from both his hands as he +buffets Dares to and fro. Then lord Aeneas allowed not wrath to swell +higher or Entellus to rage out his bitterness, but stopped the fight and +rescued the exhausted Dares, saying thus in soothing words: 'Unhappy! +what height of madness hath seized thy mind? Knowest thou not the +strength is another's and the gods are changed? Yield thou to Heaven.' +And with the words he proclaimed the battle over. But him his faithful +mates lead to the ships dragging his knees feebly, swaying his head from +side to side, and spitting from his mouth clotted blood mingled with +teeth. At summons they bear away the helmet and shield, and leave palm +and bull to Entellus. At this the conqueror, swelling in pride over the +bull, cries: 'Goddess-born, and you, O Trojans! learn thus what my +strength of body was in its prime, and from what a death Dares is saved +by your recall.' He spoke, and stood right opposite in face of the +bullock as it stood by, the prize of battle; then drew back his hand, +and swinging the hard gauntlet sheer down between the horns, smashed the +bones in upon the shattered brain. The ox rolls over, and quivering and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span><span class="linenum">[482-516]</span>lifeless lies along the ground. Above it he utters these deep +accents: 'This life, Eryx, I give to thee, a better payment than Dares' +death; here I lay down my gloves and unconquered skill.'</p> + +<p>Forthwith Aeneas invites all that will to the contest of the swift +arrow, and proclaims the prizes. With his strong hand he uprears the +mast of Serestus' ship, and on a cord crossing it hangs from the +masthead a fluttering pigeon as mark for their steel. They gather, and a +helmet of brass takes the lots as they throw them in. First in rank, and +before them all, amid prosperous cheers, comes out Hippocoön son of +Hyrtacus; and Mnestheus follows on him, but now conqueror in the ship +race, Mnestheus with his chaplet of green olive. Third is Eurytion, thy +brother, O Pandarus, great in renown, thou who of old, when prompted to +shatter the truce, didst hurl the first shaft amid the Achaeans. Last of +all, and at the bottom of the helmet, sank Acestes, he too venturing to +set hand to the task of youth. Then each and all they strongly bend +their bows into a curve and pull shafts from their quivers. And first +the arrow of the son of Hyrtacus, flying through heaven from the +sounding string, whistles through the fleet breezes, and reaches and +sticks fast full in the mast's wood: the mast quivered, and the bird +fluttered her feathers in affright, and the whole ground rang with loud +clapping. Next valiant Mnestheus took his stand with bow bent, aiming +high with levelled eye and arrow; yet could not, unfortunate! hit the +bird herself with his steel, but cut the knotted hempen bands that tied +her foot as she hung from the masthead; she winged her flight into the +dark windy clouds. Then Eurytion, who ere now held the arrow ready on +his bended bow, swiftly called in prayer to his brother, marked the +pigeon as she now went down the empty sky exultant on clapping wings; +and as she passed under a dark cloud, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span><span class="linenum">[517-553]</span>struck her: she fell +breathless, and, leaving her life in the aery firmament, slid down +carrying the arrow that pierced her. Acestes alone was over, and the +prize lost; yet he sped his arrow up into the air, to display his lordly +skill and resounding bow. At this a sudden sign meets their eyes, mighty +in augural presage, as the high event taught thereafter, and in late +days boding seers prophesied of the omen. For the flying reed blazed out +amid the swimming clouds, traced its path in flame, and burned away on +the light winds; even as often stars shooting from their sphere draw a +train athwart the sky. Trinacrians and Trojans hung in astonishment, +praying to the heavenly powers; neither did great Aeneas reject the +omen, but embraces glad Acestes and loads him with lavish gifts, +speaking thus: 'Take, my lord: for the high King of heaven by these +signs hath willed thee to draw the lot of peculiar honour. This gift +shalt thou have as from aged Anchises' own hand, a bowl embossed with +figures, that once Cisseus of Thrace gave my father Anchises to bear, in +high token and guerdon of affection.' So speaking, he twines green bay +about his brows, and proclaims Acestes conqueror first before them all. +Nor did gentle Eurytion, though he alone struck the bird down from the +lofty sky, grudge him to be preferred in honour. Next comes for his +prize he who cut the cord; he last, who pierced the mast with his winged +reed.</p> + +<p>But lord Aeneas, ere yet the contest is sped, calls to him Epytides, +guardian and attendant of ungrown Iülus, and thus speaks into his +faithful ear: 'Up and away, and tell Ascanius, if he now holds his band +of boys ready, and their horses arrayed for the charge, to defile his +squadrons to his grandsire's honour in bravery of arms.' So says he, and +himself bids all the crowding throng withdraw from the long racecourse +and leave the lists free. The boys move in before their parents' faces, +glittering in rank on their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span><span class="linenum">[554-590]</span>bitted horses; as they go all the +people of Troy and Trinacria murmur and admire. On the hair of them all +rests a garland fitly trimmed; each carries two cornel spear-shafts +tipped with steel; some have polished quivers on their shoulders; above +their breast and round their neck goes a flexible circlet of twisted +gold. Three in number are the troops of riders, and three captains +gallop up and down; following each in equal command rides a glittering +division of twelve boys. One youthful line goes rejoicingly behind +little Priam, renewer of his grandsire's name, thy renowned seed, O +Polites, and destined to people Italy; he rides a Thracian horse dappled +with spots of white, showing white on his pacing pasterns and white on +his high forehead. Second is Atys, from whom the Latin Atii draw their +line, little Atys, boy beloved of the boy Iülus. Last and excellent in +beauty before them all, Iülus rode in on a Sidonian horse that Dido the +bright had given him for token and pledge of love. The rest of them are +mounted on old Acestes' Sicilian horses. . . . The Dardanians greet their +shy entrance with applause, and rejoice at the view, and recognise the +features of their parents of old. When they have ridden merrily round +all the concourse of their gazing friends, Epytides shouts from afar the +signal they await, and sounds his whip. They gallop apart in equal +numbers, and open their files three and three in deploying bands, and +again at the call wheel about and bear down with levelled arms. Next +they start on other charges and other retreats in corresponsive spaces, +and interlink circle with circle, and wage the armed phantom of battle. +And now they bare their backs in flight, now turn their lances to the +charge, now plight peace and ride on side by side. As once of old, they +say, the labyrinth in high Crete had a tangled path between blind walls, +and a thousand ways of doubling treachery, where tokens to follow failed +in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span><span class="linenum">[591-625]</span>maze unmastered and irrecoverable: even in such a track +do the children of Troy entangle their footsteps and weave the game of +flight and battle; like dolphins who, swimming through the wet seas, cut +Carpathian or Libyan. . . .</p> + +<p>This fashion of riding, these games Ascanius first revived, when he girt +Alba the Long about with walls, and taught their celebration to the Old +Latins in the way of his own boyhood, with the youth of Troy about him. +The Albans taught it their children; on from them mighty Rome received +it and kept the ancestral observance; and now it is called Troy, and the +boys the Trojan troop.</p> + +<p>Thus far sped the sacred contests to their holy lord. Just at this +Fortune broke faith and grew estranged. While they pay the due rites to +the tomb with diverse games, Juno, daughter of Saturn, sends Iris down +the sky to the Ilian fleet, and breathes a gale to speed her on, +revolving many a thought, and not yet satiate of the ancient pain. She, +speeding her way along the thousand-coloured bow, runs swiftly, seen of +none, down her maiden path. She discerns the vast concourse, and +traverses the shore, and sees the haven abandoned and the fleet left +alone. But far withdrawn by the solitary verge of the sea the Trojan +women wept their lost Anchises, and as they wept gazed all together on +the fathomless flood. 'Alas! after all those weary waterways, that so +wide a sea is yet to come!' such is the single cry of all. They pray for +a city, sick of the burden of their sea-sorrow. So she darts among them, +not witless to harm, and lays by face and raiment of a goddess: she +becomes Beroë, the aged wife of Tmarian Doryclus, who had once had birth +and name and children, and in this guise goes among the Dardanian +matrons. 'Ah, wretched we,' she cries, 'whom hostile Achaean hands did +not drag to death beneath our native city! ah hapless race, for what +destruction does Fortune hold thee back? The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span><span class="linenum">[626-660]</span>seventh summer +now declines since Troy's overthrow, while we pass measuring out by so +many stars the harbourless rocks over every water and land, pursuing all +the while over the vast sea an Italy that flies us, and tossing on the +waves. Here are our brother Eryx' borders, and Acestes' welcome: who +denies us to cast up walls and give our citizens a city? O country, O +household gods vainly rescued from the foe! shall there never be a +Trojan town to tell of? shall I nowhere see a Xanthus and a Simoïs, the +rivers of Hector? Nay, up and join me in burning with fire these +ill-ominous ships. For in sleep the phantom of Cassandra the soothsayer +seemed to give me blazing brands: <i>Here seek your Troy</i>, she said; <i>here +is your home</i>. Now is the time to do it; nor do these high portents +allow delay. Behold four altars to Neptune; the god himself lends the +firebrand and the nerve.' Speaking thus, at once she strongly seizes the +fiery weapon, and with straining hand whirls it far upreared, and +flings: the souls of the Ilian women are startled and their wits amazed. +At this one of their multitude, and she the eldest, Pyrgo, nurse in the +palace to all Priam's many children: 'This is not Beroë, I tell you, O +mothers; this is not the wife of Doryclus of Rhoeteum. Mark the +lineaments of divine grace and the gleaming eyes, what a breath is hers, +what a countenance, and the sound of her voice and the steps of her +going. I, I time agone left Beroë apart, sick and fretting that she +alone must have no part in this our service, nor pay Anchises his due +sacrifice.' So spoke she. . . . But the matrons at first, dubious and +wavering, gazed on the ships with malignant eyes, between the wretched +longing for the land they trod and the fated realm that summoned them: +when the goddess rose through the sky on poised wings, and in her flight +drew a vast bow beneath the clouds. Then indeed, amazed at the tokens +and driven by madness, they raise a cry and snatch fire from the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span><span class="linenum">[661-694]</span>hearths within; others plunder the altars, and cast on +brushwood boughs and brands. The Fire-god rages with loose rein over +thwarts and oars and hulls of painted fir. Eumelus carries the news of +the burning ships to the grave of Anchises and the ranges of the +theatre; and looking back, their own eyes see the floating cloud of dark +ashes. And in a moment Ascanius, as he rode gaily before his cavalry, +spurred his horse to the disordered camp; nor can his breathless +guardians hold him back. 'What strange madness is this?' he cries; +'whither now hasten you, whither, alas and woe! O citizens? not on the +foe nor on some hostile Argive camp; it is your own hopes you burn. +Behold me, your Ascanius!' and he flung before his feet the empty +helmet, put on when he roused the mimicry of war. Aeneas and the Trojan +train together hurry to the spot. But the women scatter apart in fear +all over the beach, and stealthily seek the woods and the hollow rocks +they find: they loathe their deed and the daylight, and with changed +eyes know their people, and Juno is startled out of their breast. But +not thereby do the flames of the burning lay down their unconquered +strength; under the wet oak the seams are alive, spouting slow coils of +smoke; the creeping heat devours the hulls, and the destroyer takes deep +hold of all: nor does the heroes' strength avail nor the floods they +pour in. Then good Aeneas rent away the raiment from his shoulders and +called the gods to aid, stretching forth his hands: 'Jupiter omnipotent, +if thou hatest not Troy yet wholly to her last man, if thine ancient +pity looks at all on human woes, now, O Lord, grant our fleet to escape +the flame, and rescue from doom the slender Teucrian estate. Or do thou +plunge to death this remnant, if I deserve it, with levelled +thunderbolt, and here with thine own hand smite us down.' Scarce had he +uttered this, when a black tempest rages in streaming showers; earth +trembles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span><span class="linenum">[695-726]</span>to the thunder on plain and steep; the water-flood +rushes in torrents from the whole heaven amid black darkness and +volleying blasts of the South. The ships are filled from overhead, the +half-burnt timbers are soaking; till all the heat is quenched, and all +the hulls, but four that are lost, are rescued from destruction.</p> + +<p>But lord Aeneas, dismayed by the bitter mischance, revolved at heart +this way and that his shifting weight of care, whether, forgetting fate, +he should rest in Sicilian fields, or reach forth to the borders of +Italy. Then old Nautes, whom Tritonian Pallas taught like none other, +and made famous in eminence of art—she granted him to reply what the +gods' heavy anger menaced or what the order of fate claimed—he then in +accents of comfort thus speaks to Aeneas:</p> + +<p>'Goddess-born, follow we fate's ebb and flow, whatsoever it shall be; +fortune must be borne to be overcome. Acestes is of thine own divine +Dardanian race; take him, for he is willing, to join thee in common +counsel; deliver to him those who are over, now these ships are lost, +and those who are quite weary of thy fortunes and the great quest. +Choose out the old men stricken in years, and the matrons sick of the +sea, and all that is weak and fearful of peril in thy company. Let this +land give a city to the weary; they shall be allowed to call their town +Acesta by name.'</p> + +<p>Then, indeed, kindled by these words of his aged friend, his spirit is +distracted among all his cares. And now black Night rose chariot-borne, +and held the sky; when the likeness of his father Anchises seemed to +descend from heaven and suddenly utter thus:</p> + +<p>'O son, more dear to me than life once of old while life was yet mine; O +son, hard wrought by the destinies of Ilium! I come hither by Jove's +command, who drove the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span><span class="linenum">[727-760]</span>fire from thy fleets, and at last had +pity out of high heaven. Obey thou the fair counsel aged Nautes now +gives. Carry through to Italy thy chosen men and bravest souls; in +Latium must thou war down a people hard and rough in living. Yet ere +then draw thou nigh the nether chambers of Dis, and in the deep tract of +hell come, O son, to meet me. For I am not held in cruel Tartarus among +wailing ghosts, but inhabit Elysium and the sweet societies of the good. +Hither with much blood of dark cattle shall the holy Sibyl lead thee. +Then shalt thou learn of all thy line, and what city is given thee. And +now farewell; dank Night wheels her mid-career, and even now I feel the +stern breath of the panting horses of the East.' He ended, and retreated +like a vapour into thin air. 'Ah, whither hurriest thou?' cries Aeneas; +'whither so fast away? From whom fliest thou? or who withholds thee from +our embrace?' So speaking, he kindles the sleeping embers of the fire, +and with holy meal and laden censer does sacrifice to the tutelar of +Pergama and hoar Vesta's secret shrine.</p> + +<p>Straightway he summons his crews and Acestes first of all, and instructs +them of Jove's command and his beloved father's precepts, and what is +now his fixed mind and purpose. They linger not in counsel, nor does +Acestes decline his bidden duty: they enrol the matrons in their town, +and plant a people there, souls that will have none of glory. The rest +repair the thwarts and replace the ships' timbers that the flames had +gnawed upon, and fit up oars and rigging, little in number, but alive +and valiant for war. Meanwhile Aeneas traces the town with the plough +and allots the homesteads; this he bids be Ilium, and these lands Troy. +Trojan Acestes, rejoicing in his kingdom, appoints a court and gathers +his senators to give them statutes. Next, where the crest of Eryx is +neighbour to the stars, a dwelling is founded to Venus the Idalian; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span><span class="linenum">[761-793]</span>and a priest and breadth of holy wood is attached to Anchises' +grave.</p> + +<p>And now for nine days all the people hath feasted, and offering been +paid at the altars; quiet breezes have smoothed the ocean floor, and the +gathering south wind blows, calling them again to sea. A mighty weeping +arises along the winding shore; a night and a day they linger in mutual +embraces. The very mothers now, the very men to whom once the sight of +the sea seemed cruel and the name intolerable, would go on and endure +the journey's travail to the end. These Aeneas comforts with kindly +words, and commends with tears to his kinsman Acestes' care. Then he +bids slay three steers to Eryx and a she-lamb to the Tempests, and loose +the hawser as is due. Himself, his head bound with stripped leaves of +olive, he stands apart on the prow holding the cup, and casts the +entrails into the salt flood and pours liquid wine. A wind rising astern +follows them forth on their way. Emulously the crews strike the water, +and sweep through the seas.</p> + +<p>But Venus meanwhile, wrought upon with distress, accosts Neptune, and +thus pours forth her heart's complaint: 'Juno's bitter wrath and heart +insatiable compel me, O Neptune, to sink to the uttermost of entreaty: +neither length of days nor any goodness softens her, nor doth Jove's +command and fate itself break her to desistence. It is not enough that +her accursed hatred hath devoured the Phrygian city from among the +people, and exhausted on it the stores of vengeance; still she pursues +this remnant, the bones and ashes of murdered Troy. I pray she know why +her passion is so fierce. Thyself art my witness what a sudden stir she +raised of late on the Libyan waters, flinging all the seas to heaven in +vain reliance on Aeolus' blasts; this she dared in thy realm. . . . Lo too, +driving the Trojan matrons into guilt, she hath foully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span><span class="linenum">[794-826]</span>burned +their ships, and forced them, their fleet lost, to leave the crews to an +unknown land. Let the remnant, I beseech thee, give their sails to thy +safe keeping across the seas; let them reach Laurentine Tiber; if I ask +what is permitted, if fate grants them a city there.'</p> + +<p>Then the son of Saturn, compeller of the ocean deep, uttered thus: 'It +is wholly right, O Cytherean, that thy trust should be in my realm, +whence thou drawest birth; and I have deserved it: often have I allayed +the rage and full fury of sky and sea. Nor less on land, I call Xanthus +and Simoïs to witness, hath been my care of thine Aeneas. When Achilles +pursued the Trojan armies and hurled them breathless on their walls, and +sent many thousands to death,—when the choked rivers groaned and +Xanthus could not find passage or roll out to sea,—then I snatched +Aeneas away in sheltering mist as he met the brave son of Peleus +outmatched in strength and gods, eager as I was to overthrow the walls +of perjured Troy that mine own hands had built. Now too my mind rests +the same; dismiss thy fear. In safety, as thou desirest, shall he reach +the haven of Avernus. One will there be alone whom on the flood thou +shalt lose and require; one life shall be given for many. . . .'</p> + +<p>With these words the goddess' bosom is soothed to joy. Then their lord +yokes his wild horses with gold and fastens the foaming bits, and +letting all the reins run slack in his hand, flies lightly in his +sea-coloured chariot over the ocean surface. The waves sink to rest, and +the swoln water-ways smooth out under the thundering axle; the +storm-clouds scatter from the vast sky. Diverse shapes attend him, +monstrous whales, and Glaucus' aged choir, and Palaemon, son of Ino, the +swift Tritons, and Phorcus with all his army. Thetis and Melite keep the +left, and maiden Panopea, Nesaea and Spio, Thalia and Cymodoce.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[827-860]</span>At this lord Aeneas' soul is thrilled with soft counterchange +of delight. He bids all the masts be upreared with speed, and the sails +stretched on the yards. Together all set their sheets, and all at once +slacken their canvas to left and again to right; together they brace and +unbrace the yard-arms aloft; prosperous gales waft the fleet along. +First, in front of all, Palinurus steered the close column; the rest +under orders ply their course by his. And now dewy Night had just +reached heaven's mid-cone; the sailors, stretched on their hard benches +under the oars, relaxed their limbs in quiet rest: when Sleep, sliding +lightly down from the starry sky, parted the shadowy air and cleft the +dark, seeking thee, O Palinurus, carrying dreams of bale to thee who +dreamt not of harm, and lit on the high stern, a god in Phorbas' +likeness, dropping this speech from his lips: 'Palinurus son of Iasus, +the very seas bear our fleet along; the breezes breathe steadily; for an +hour rest is given. Lay down thine head, and steal thy worn eyes from +their toil. I myself for a little will take thy duty in thy stead.' To +whom Palinurus, scarcely lifting his eyes, returns: 'Wouldst thou have +me ignorant what the calm face of the brine means, and the waves at +rest? Shall I have faith in this perilous thing? How shall I trust +Aeneas to deceitful breezes, and the placid treachery of sky that hath +so often deceived me?' Such words he uttered, and, clinging fast to the +tiller, slackened hold no whit, and looked up steadily on the stars. Lo! +the god shakes over either temple a bough dripping with Lethean dew and +made slumberous with the might of Styx, and makes his swimming eyes +relax their struggles. Scarcely had sleep begun to slacken his limbs +unaware, when bending down, he flung him sheer into the clear water, +tearing rudder and half the stern away with him, and many a time crying +vainly on his comrades: himself <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span><span class="linenum">[861-871]</span>he rose on flying wings into +the thin air. None the less does the fleet run safe on its sea path, and +glides on unalarmed in lord Neptune's assurance. Yes, and now they were +sailing in to the cliffs of the Sirens, dangerous once of old and white +with the bones of many a man; and the hoarse rocks echoed afar in the +ceaseless surf; when her lord felt the ship rocking astray for loss of +her helmsman, and himself steered her on over the darkling water, +sighing often the while, and heavy at heart for his friend's mischance. +'Ah too trustful in sky's and sea's serenity, thou shalt lie, O +Palinurus, naked on an alien sand!'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BOOK_SIXTH" id="BOOK_SIXTH"></a>BOOK SIXTH</h2> + +<h3>THE VISION OF THE UNDER WORLD</h3> + + +<p>So speaks he weeping, and gives his fleet the rein, and at last glides +in to Euboïc Cumae's coast. They turn the prows seaward; the ships +grounded fast on their anchors' teeth, and the curving ships line the +beach. The warrior band leaps forth eagerly on the Hesperian shore; some +seek the seeds of flame hidden in veins of flint, some scour the woods, +the thick coverts of wild beasts, and find and shew the streams. But +good Aeneas seeks the fortress where Apollo sits high enthroned, and the +lone mystery of the awful Sibyl's cavern depth, over whose mind and soul +the prophetic Delian breathes high inspiration and reveals futurity.</p> + +<p>Now they draw nigh the groves of Trivia and the roof of gold. Daedalus, +as the story runs, when in flight from Minos' realm he dared to spread +his fleet wings to the sky, glided on his unwonted way towards the icy +northern star, and at length lit gently on the Chalcidian fastness. +Here, on the first land he retrod, he dedicated his winged oarage to +thee, O Phoebus, in the vast temple he built. On the doors is Androgeus' +death; thereby the children of Cecrops, bidden, ah me! to pay for yearly +ransom seven souls of their sons; the urn stands there, and the lots are +drawn. Right <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span><span class="linenum">[23-55]</span>opposite the land of Gnosus rises from the sea; on +it is the cruel love of the bull, the disguised stealth of Pasiphaë, and +the mingled breed and double issue of the Minotaur, record of a shameful +passion; on it the famous dwelling's laborious inextricable maze; but +Daedalus, pitying the great love of the princess, himself unlocked the +tangled treachery of the palace, guiding with the clue her lover's blind +footsteps. Thou too hadst no slight part in the work he wrought, O +Icarus, did grief allow. Twice had he essayed to portray thy fate in +gold; twice the father's hands dropped down. Nay, their eyes would scan +all the story in order, were not Achates already returned from his +errand, and with him the priestess of Phoebus and Trivia, Deïphobe +daughter of Glaucus, who thus accosts the king: 'Other than this are the +sights the time demands: now were it well to sacrifice seven unbroken +bullocks of the herd, as many fitly chosen sheep of two years old.' Thus +speaks she to Aeneas; nor do they delay to do her sacred bidding; and +the priestess calls the Teucrians into the lofty shrine.</p> + +<p>A vast cavern is scooped in the side of the Euboïc cliff, whither lead +an hundred wide passages by an hundred gates, whence peal forth as +manifold the responses of the Sibyl. They had reached the threshold, +when the maiden cries: <i>It is time to enquire thy fate: the god, lo! the +god!</i> And even as she spoke thus in the gateway, suddenly countenance +nor colour nor ranged tresses stayed the same; her wild heart heaves +madly in her panting bosom; and she expands to sight, and her voice is +more than mortal, now the god breathes on her in nearer deity. +'Lingerest thou to vow and pray,' she cries, 'Aeneas of Troy? lingerest +thou? for not till then will the vast portals of the spellbound house +swing open.' So spoke she, and sank to silence. A cold shiver ran +through the Teucrians' iron frames, and the king pours heart-deep +supplication:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[56-89]</span>'Phoebus, who hast ever pitied the sore travail of Troy, who +didst guide the Dardanian shaft from Paris' hand full on the son of +Aeacus, in thy leading have I pierced all these seas that skirt mighty +lands, the Massylian nations far withdrawn, and the fields the Syrtes +fringe; thus far let the fortune of Troy follow us. You too may now +unforbidden spare the nation of Pergama, gods and goddesses to +whomsoever Ilium and the great glory of Dardania did wrong. And thou, O +prophetess most holy, foreknower of the future, grant (for no unearned +realm does my destiny claim) a resting-place in Latium to the Teucrians, +to their wandering gods and the storm-tossed deities of Troy. Then will +I ordain to Phoebus and Trivia a temple of solid marble, and festal days +in Phoebus' name. Thee likewise a mighty sanctuary awaits in our realm. +For here will I place thine oracles and the secrets of destiny uttered +to my people, and consecrate chosen men, O gracious one. Only commit not +thou thy verses to leaves, lest they fly disordered, the sport of +rushing winds; thyself utter them, I beseech thee.' His lips made an end +of utterance.</p> + +<p>But the prophetess, not yet tame to Phoebus' hand, rages fiercely in the +cavern, so she may shake the mighty godhead from her breast; so much the +more does he tire her maddened mouth and subdue her wild breast and +shape her to his pressure. And now the hundred mighty portals of the +house open of their own accord, and bring through the air the answer of +the soothsayer:</p> + +<p>'O past at length with the great perils of the sea! though heavier yet +by land await thee, the Dardanians shall come to the realm of Lavinium; +relieve thy heart of this care; but not so shall they have joy of their +coming. Wars, grim wars I discern, and Tiber afoam with streams of +blood. A Simoïs shall not fail thee, a Xanthus, a Dorian camp; another +Achilles is already found for Latium, he too <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span><span class="linenum">[90-123]</span>goddess-born; nor +shall Juno's presence ever leave the Teucrians; while thou in thy need, +to what nations or what towns of Italy shalt thou not sue! Again is an +alien bride the source of all that Teucrian woe, again a foreign +marriage-chamber. . . . Yield not thou to distresses, but all the bolder go +forth to meet them, as thy fortune shall allow thee way. The path of +rescue, little as thou deemest it, shall first open from a Grecian +town.'</p> + +<p>In such words the Sibyl of Cumae chants from the shrine her perplexing +terrors, echoing through the cavern truth wrapped in obscurity: so does +Apollo clash the reins and ply the goad in her maddened breast. So soon +as the spasm ceased and the raving lips sank to silence, Aeneas the hero +begins: 'No shape of toil, O maiden, rises strange or sudden on my +sight; all this ere now have I guessed and inly rehearsed in spirit. One +thing I pray; since here is the gate named of the infernal king, and the +darkling marsh of Acheron's overflow, be it given me to go to my beloved +father, to see him face to face; teach thou the way, and open the +consecrated portals. Him on these shoulders I rescued from encircling +flames and a thousand pursuing weapons, and brought him safe from amid +the enemy; he accompanied my way over all the seas, and bore with me all +the threats of ocean and sky, in weakness, beyond his age's strength and +due. Nay, he it was who besought and enjoined me to seek thy grace and +draw nigh thy courts. Have pity, I beseech thee, on son and father, O +gracious one! for thou art all-powerful, nor in vain hath Hecate given +thee rule in the groves of Avernus. If Orpheus could call up his wife's +ghost in the strength of his Thracian lyre and the music of the +strings,—if Pollux redeemed his brother by exchange of death, and +passes and repasses so often,—why make mention of great Theseus, why of +Alcides? I too am of Jove's sovereign race.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[124-157]</span>In such words he pleaded and clasped the altars; when the +soothsayer thus began to speak:</p> + +<p>'O sprung of gods' blood, child of Anchises of Troy, easy is the descent +into hell; all night and day the gate of dark Dis stands open; but to +recall thy steps and issue to upper air, this is the task and burden. +Some few of gods' lineage have availed, such as Jupiter's gracious +favour or virtue's ardour hath upborne to heaven. Midway all is muffled +in forest, and the black coils of Cocytus circle it round. Yet if thy +soul is so passionate and so desirous twice to float across the Stygian +lake, twice to see dark Tartarus, and thy pleasure is to plunge into the +mad task, learn what must first be accomplished. Hidden in a shady tree +is a bough with leafage and pliant shoot all of gold, consecrate to +nether Juno, wrapped in the depth of woodland and shut in by dim dusky +vales. But to him only who first hath plucked the golden-tressed +fruitage from the tree is it given to enter the hidden places of the +earth. This hath beautiful Proserpine ordained to be borne to her for +her proper gift. The first torn away, a second fills the place in gold, +and the spray burgeons with even such ore again. So let thine eyes trace +it home, and thine hand pluck it duly when found; for lightly and +unreluctant will it follow if thine is fate's summons; else will no +strength of thine avail to conquer it nor hard steel to cut it away. Yet +again, a friend of thine lies a lifeless corpse, alas! thou knowest it +not, and defiles all the fleet with death, while thou seekest our +counsel and lingerest in our courts. First lay him in his resting-place +and hide him in the tomb; lead thither black cattle; be this first thine +expiation; so at last shalt thou behold the Stygian groves and the realm +untrodden of the living.' She spoke, and her lips shut to silence.</p> + +<p>Aeneas goes forth, and leaves the cavern with fixed eyes and sad +countenance, his soul revolving inly the unseen <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span><span class="linenum">[158-194]</span>issues. By his +side goes faithful Achates, and plants his footsteps in equal +perplexity. Long they ran on in mutual change of talk; of what lifeless +comrade spoke the soothsayer, of what body for burial? And even as they +came, they see on the dry beach Misenus cut off by untimely death, +Misenus the Aeolid, excelled of none other in stirring men with brazen +breath and kindling battle with his trumpet-note. He had been attendant +on mighty Hector; in Hector's train he waged battle, renowned alike for +bugle and spear: after victorious Achilles robbed him of life the +valiant hero had joined Dardanian Aeneas' company, and followed no +meaner leader. But now, while he makes his hollow shell echo over the +seas, ah fool! and calls the gods to rival his blast, jealous Triton, if +belief is due, had caught him among the rocks and sunk him in the +foaming waves. So all surrounded him with loud murmur and cries, good +Aeneas the foremost. Then weeping they quickly hasten on the Sibyl's +orders, and work hard to pile trees for the altar of burial, and heap it +up into the sky. They move into the ancient forest, the deep coverts of +game; pitch-pines fall flat, ilex rings to the stroke of axes, and ashen +beams and oak are split in clefts with wedges; they roll in huge +mountain-ashes from the hills. Aeneas likewise is first in the work, and +cheers on his crew and arms himself with their weapons. And alone with +his sad heart he ponders it all, gazing on the endless forest, and +utters this prayer: 'If but now that bough of gold would shew itself to +us on the tree in this depth of woodland! since all the soothsayer's +tale of thee, Misenus, was, alas! too truly spoken.' Scarcely had he +said thus, when twin doves haply came flying down the sky, and lit on +the green sod right under his eyes. Then the kingly hero knows them for +his mother's birds, and joyfully prays: 'Ah, be my guides, if way there +be, and direct your aëry passage into the groves <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span><span class="linenum">[195-230]</span>where the +rich bough overshadows the fertile ground! and thou, O goddess mother, +fail not our wavering fortune.' So spoke he and stayed his steps, +marking what they signify, whither they urge their way. Feeding and +flying they advance at such distance as following eyes could keep them +in view; then, when they came to Avernus' pestilent gorge, they tower +swiftly, and sliding down through the liquid air, choose their seat and +light side by side on a tree, through whose boughs shone out the +contrasting flicker of gold. As in chill mid-winter the woodland is wont +to blossom with the strange leafage of the mistletoe, sown on an alien +tree and wreathing the smooth stems with burgeoning saffron; so on the +shadowy ilex seemed that leafy gold, so the foil tinkled in the light +breeze. Immediately Aeneas seizes it and eagerly breaks off its +resistance, and carries it beneath the Sibyl's roof.</p> + +<p>And therewithal the Teucrians on the beach wept Misenus, and bore the +last rites to the thankless ashes. First they build up a vast pyre of +resinous billets and sawn oak, whose sides they entwine with dark leaves +and plant funereal cypresses in front, and adorn it above with his +shining armour. Some prepare warm water in cauldrons bubbling over the +flames, and wash and anoint the chill body, and make their moan; then, +their weeping done, lay his limbs on the pillow, and spread over it +crimson raiment, the accustomed pall. Some uplift the heavy bier, a +melancholy service, and with averted faces in their ancestral fashion +hold and thrust in the torch. Gifts of frankincense, food, and bowls of +olive oil, are poured and piled upon the fire. After the embers sank in +and the flame died away, they soaked with wine the remnant of thirsty +ashes, and Corynaeus gathered the bones and shut them in an urn of +brass; and he too thrice encircled his comrades with fresh water, and +cleansed them with light spray sprinkled from a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span><span class="linenum">[231-267]</span>bough of +fruitful olive, and spoke the last words of all. But good Aeneas heaps a +mighty mounded tomb over him, with his own armour and his oar and +trumpet, beneath a skyey mountain that now is called Misenus after him, +and keeps his name immortal from age to age.</p> + +<p>This done, he hastens to fulfil the Sibyl's ordinance. A deep cave +yawned dreary and vast, shingle-strewn, sheltered by the black lake and +the gloom of the forests; over it no flying things could wing their way +unharmed, such a vapour streamed from the dark gorge and rose into the +overarching sky. Here the priestess first arrays four black-bodied +bullocks and pours wine upon their forehead; and plucking the topmost +hairs from between the horns, lays them on the sacred fire for +first-offering, calling aloud on Hecate, mistress of heaven and hell. +Others lay knives beneath, and catch the warm blood in cups. Aeneas +himself smites with the sword a black-fleeced she-lamb to the mother of +the Eumenides and her mighty sister, and a barren heifer, Proserpine, to +thee. Then he uprears darkling altars to the Stygian king, and lays +whole carcases of bulls upon the flames, pouring fat oil over the +blazing entrails. And lo! about the first rays of sunrise the ground +moaned underfoot, and the woodland ridges began to stir, and dogs seemed +to howl through the dusk as the goddess came. 'Apart, ah keep apart, O +ye unsanctified!' cries the soothsayer; 'retire from all the grove; and +thou, stride on and unsheath thy steel; now is need of courage, O +Aeneas, now of strong resolve.' So much she spoke, and plunged madly +into the cavern's opening; he with unflinching steps keeps pace with his +advancing guide.</p> + +<p>Gods who are sovereign over souls! silent ghosts, and Chaos and +Phlegethon, the wide dumb realm of night! as I have heard, so let me +tell, and according to your will unfold things sunken deep under earth +in gloom.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[268-303]</span>They went darkling through the dusk beneath the solitary +night, through the empty dwellings and bodiless realm of Dis; even as +one walks in the forest beneath the jealous light of a doubtful moon, +when Jupiter shrouds the sky in shadow and black night blots out the +world. Right in front of the doorway and in the entry of the jaws of +hell Grief and avenging Cares have made their bed; there dwell wan +Sicknesses and gloomy Eld, and Fear, and ill-counselling Hunger, and +loathly Want, shapes terrible to see; and Death and Travail, and thereby +Sleep, Death's kinsman, and the Soul's guilty Joys, and death-dealing +War full in the gateway, and the Furies in their iron cells, and mad +Discord with bloodstained fillets enwreathing her serpent locks.</p> + +<p>Midway an elm, shadowy and high, spreads her boughs and secular arms, +where, one saith, idle Dreams dwell clustering, and cling under every +leaf. And monstrous creatures besides, many and diverse, keep covert at +the gates, Centaurs and twy-shaped Scyllas, and the hundredfold +Briareus, and the beast of Lerna hissing horribly, and the Chimaera +armed with flame, Gorgons and Harpies, and the body of the triform +shade. Here Aeneas snatches at his sword in a sudden flutter of terror, +and turns the naked edge on them as they come; and did not his wise +fellow-passenger remind him that these lives flit thin and unessential +in the hollow mask of body, he would rush on and vainly lash through +phantoms with his steel.</p> + +<p>Hence a road leads to Tartarus and Acheron's wave. Here the dreary pool +swirls thick in muddy eddies and disgorges into Cocytus with its load of +sand. Charon, the dread ferryman, guards these flowing streams, ragged +and awful, his chin covered with untrimmed masses of hoary hair, and his +glassy eyes aflame; his soiled raiment hangs knotted from his shoulders. +Himself he plies the pole and trims the sails of his vessel, the +steel-blue galley with freight <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span><span class="linenum">[304-336]</span>of dead; stricken now in years, +but a god's old age is lusty and green. Hither all crowded, and rushed +streaming to the bank, matrons and men and high-hearted heroes dead and +done with life, boys and unwedded girls, and children laid young on the +bier before their parents' eyes, multitudinous as leaves fall dropping +in the forests at autumn's earliest frost, or birds swarm landward from +the deep gulf, when the chill of the year routs them overseas and drives +them to sunny lands. They stood pleading for the first passage across, +and stretched forth passionate hands to the farther shore. But the grim +sailor admits now one and now another, while some he pushes back far +apart on the strand. Moved with marvel at the confused throng: 'Say, O +maiden,' cries Aeneas, 'what means this flocking to the river? of what +are the souls so fain? or what difference makes these retire from the +banks, those go with sweeping oars over the leaden waterways?'</p> + +<p>To him the long-lived priestess thus briefly returned: 'Seed of +Anchises, most sure progeny of gods, thou seest the deep pools of +Cocytus and the Stygian marsh, by whose divinity the gods fear to swear +falsely. All this crowd thou discernest is helpless and unsepultured; +Charon is the ferryman; they who ride on the wave found a tomb. Nor is +it given to cross the awful banks and hoarse streams ere the dust hath +found a resting-place. An hundred years they wander here flitting about +the shore; then at last they gain entrance, and revisit the pools so +sorely desired.'</p> + +<p>Anchises' son stood still, and ponderingly stayed his footsteps, pitying +at heart their cruel lot. There he discerns, mournful and unhonoured +dead, Leucaspis and Orontes, captains of the Lycian squadron, whom, as +they sailed together from Troy over gusty seas, the south wind +overwhelmed and wrapped the waters round ship and men.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[337-369]</span>Lo, there went by Palinurus the steersman, who of late, while +he watched the stars on their Libyan passage, had slipped from the stern +and fallen amid the waves. To him, when he first knew the melancholy +form in that depth of shade, he thus opens speech: 'What god, O +Palinurus, reft thee from us and sank thee amid the seas? forth and +tell. For in this single answer Apollo deceived me, never found false +before, when he prophesied thee safety on ocean and arrival on the +Ausonian coasts. See, is this his promise-keeping?'</p> + +<p>And he: 'Neither did Phoebus on his oracular seat delude thee, O prince, +Anchises' son, nor did any god drown me in the sea. For while I clung to +my appointed charge and governed our course, I pulled the tiller with me +in my fall, and the shock as I slipped wrenched it away. By the rough +seas I swear, fear for myself never wrung me so sore as for thy ship, +lest, the rudder lost and the pilot struck away, those gathering waves +might master it. Three wintry nights in the water the blustering south +drove me over the endless sea; scarcely on the fourth dawn I descried +Italy as I rose on the climbing wave. Little by little I swam shoreward; +already I clung safe; but while, encumbered with my dripping raiment, I +caught with crooked fingers at the jagged needles of mountain rock, the +barbarous people attacked me in arms and ignorantly deemed me a prize. +Now the wave holds me, and the winds toss me on the shore. By heaven's +pleasant light and breezes I beseech thee, by thy father, by Iülus thy +rising hope, rescue me from these distresses, O unconquered one! Either +do thou, for thou canst, cast earth over me and again seek the haven of +Velia; or do thou, if in any wise that may be, if in any wise the +goddess who bore thee shews a way,—for not without divine will do I +deem thou wilt float across these vast rivers and the Stygian +pool,—lend me a pitying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span><span class="linenum">[370-403]</span>hand, and bear me over the waves in +thy company, that at least in death I may find a quiet resting-place.'</p> + +<p>Thus he ended, and the soothsayer thus began: 'Whence, O Palinurus, this +fierce longing of thine? Shalt thou without burial behold the Stygian +waters and the awful river of the Furies? Cease to hope prayers may bend +the decrees of heaven. But take my words to thy memory, for comfort in +thy woeful case: far and wide shall the bordering cities be driven by +celestial portents to appease thy dust; they shall rear a tomb, and pay +the tomb a yearly offering, and for evermore shall the place keep +Palinurus' name.' The words soothed away his distress, and for a while +drove grief away from his sorrowing heart; he is glad in the land of his +name.</p> + +<p>So they complete their journey's beginning, and draw nigh the river. +Just then the waterman descried them from the Stygian wave advancing +through the silent woodland and turning their feet towards the bank, and +opens on them in these words of challenge: 'Whoso thou art who marchest +in arms towards our river, forth and say, there as thou art, why thou +comest, and stay thine advance. This is the land of Shadows, of Sleep, +and slumberous Night; no living body may the Stygian hull convey. Nor +truly had I joy of taking Alcides on the lake for passenger, nor Theseus +and Pirithoüs, born of gods though they were and unconquered in might. +He laid fettering hand on the warder of Tartarus, and dragged him +cowering from the throne of my lord the King; they essayed to ravish our +mistress from the bridal chamber of Dis.' Thereto the Amphrysian +soothsayer made brief reply: 'No such plot is here; be not moved; nor do +our weapons offer violence; the huge gatekeeper may bark on for ever in +his cavern and affright the bloodless ghosts; Proserpine may keep her +honour within her uncle's gates. Aeneas of Troy, renowned <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span><span class="linenum">[404-437]</span>in +goodness as in arms, goes down to meet his father in the deep shades of +Erebus. If the sight of such affection stirs thee in nowise, yet this +bough' (she discovers the bough hidden in her raiment) 'thou must know.' +Then his heaving breast allays its anger, and he says no more; but +marvelling at the awful gift, the fated rod so long unseen, he steers in +his dusky vessel and draws to shore. Next he routs out the souls that +sate on the long benches, and clears the thwarts, while he takes mighty +Aeneas on board. The galley groaned under the weight in all her seams, +and the marsh-water leaked fast in. At length prophetess and prince are +landed unscathed on the ugly ooze and livid sedge.</p> + +<p>This realm rings with the triple-throated baying of vast Cerberus, +couched huge in the cavern opposite; to whom the prophetess, seeing the +serpents already bristling up on his neck, throws a cake made slumberous +with honey and drugged grain. He, with threefold jaws gaping in ravenous +hunger, catches it when thrown, and sinks to earth with monstrous body +outstretched, and sprawling huge over all his den. The warder +overwhelmed, Aeneas makes entrance, and quickly issues from the bank of +the irremeable wave.</p> + +<p>Immediately wailing voices are loud in their ears, the souls of babies +crying on the doorway sill, whom, torn from the breast and portionless +in life's sweetness, a dark day cut off and drowned in bitter death. +Hard by them are those condemned to death on false accusation. Neither +indeed are these dwellings assigned without lot and judgment; Minos +presides and shakes the urn; he summons a council of the silent people, +and inquires of their lives and charges. Next in order have these +mourners their place whose own innocent hands dealt them death, who +flung away their souls in hatred of the day. How fain were they now in +upper air to endure their poverty and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span><span class="linenum">[438-472]</span>sore travail! It may not +be; the unlovely pool locks them in her gloomy wave, and Styx pours her +ninefold barrier between. And not far from here are shewn stretching on +every side the Wailing Fields; so they call them by name. Here they whom +pitiless love hath wasted in cruel decay hide among untrodden ways, +shrouded in embosoming myrtle thickets; not death itself ends their +distresses. In this region he discerns Phaedra and Procris and woeful +Eriphyle, shewing on her the wounds of her merciless son, and Evadne and +Pasiphaë; Laodamia goes in their company, and she who was once Caeneus +and a man, now woman, and again returned by fate into her shape of old. +Among whom Dido the Phoenician, fresh from her death-wound, wandered in +the vast forest; by her the Trojan hero stood, and knew the dim form +through the darkness, even as the moon at the month's beginning to him +who sees or thinks he sees her rising through the vapours; he let tears +fall, and spoke to her lovingly and sweet:</p> + +<p>'Alas, Dido! so the news was true that reached me; thou didst perish, +and the sword sealed thy doom! Ah me, was I cause of thy death? By the +stars I swear, by the heavenly powers and all that is sacred beneath the +earth, unwillingly, O queen, I left thy shore. But the gods, at whose +orders now I pass through this shadowy place, this land of mouldering +overgrowth and deep night, the gods' commands drove me forth; nor could +I deem my departure would bring thee pain so great as this. Stay thy +footstep, and withdraw not from our gaze. From whom fliest thou? the +last speech of thee fate ordains me is this.'</p> + +<p>In such words and with starting tears Aeneas soothed the burning and +fierce-eyed soul. She turned away with looks fixed fast on the ground, +stirred no more in countenance by the speech he essays than if she stood +in iron flint or Marpesian stone. At length she started, and fled +wrathfully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span><span class="linenum">[473-508]</span>into the shadowy woodland, where Sychaeus, her +ancient husband, responds to her distresses and equals her affection. +Yet Aeneas, dismayed by her cruel doom, follows her far on her way with +pitying tears.</p> + +<p>Thence he pursues his appointed path. And now they trod those utmost +fields where the renowned in war have their haunt apart. Here Tydeus +meets him; here Parthenopaeus, glorious in arms, and the pallid phantom +of Adrastus; here the Dardanians long wept on earth and fallen in the +war; sighing he discerns all their long array, Glaucus and Medon and +Thersilochus, the three children of Antenor, and Polyphoetes, Ceres' +priest, and Idaeus yet charioted, yet grasping his arms. The souls +throng round him to right and left; nor is one look enough; lingering +delighted, they pace by his side and enquire wherefore he is come. But +the princes of the Grecians and Agamemnon's armies, when they see him +glittering in arms through the gloom, hurry terror-stricken away; some +turn backward, as when of old they fled to the ships; some raise their +voice faintly, and gasp out a broken ineffectual cry.</p> + +<p>And here he saw Deïphobus son of Priam, with face cruelly torn, face and +both hands, and ears lopped from his mangled temples, and nostrils +maimed by a shameful wound. Barely he knew the cowering form that hid +its dreadful punishment; then he springs to accost it in familiar +speech:</p> + +<p>'Deïphobus mighty in arms, seed of Teucer's royal blood, whose +wantonness of vengeance was so cruel? who was allowed to use thee thus? +Rumour reached me that on that last night, outwearied with endless +slaughter, thou hadst sunk on the heap of mingled carnage. Then mine own +hand reared an empty tomb on the Rhoetean shore, mine own voice thrice +called aloud upon thy ghost. Thy name and armour keep the spot; thee, O +my friend, I could not see nor lay in the native earth I left.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[509-541]</span>Whereto the son of Priam: 'In nothing, O my friend, wert thou +wanting; thou hast paid the full to Deïphobus and the dead man's shade. +But me my fate and the Laconian woman's murderous guilt thus dragged +down to doom; these are the records of her leaving. For how we spent +that last night in delusive gladness thou knowest, and must needs +remember too well. When the fated horse leapt down on the steep towers +of Troy, bearing armed infantry for the burden of its womb, she, in +feigned procession, led round our Phrygian women with Bacchic cries; +herself she upreared a mighty flame amid them, and called the Grecians +out of the fortress height. Then was I fast in mine ill-fated bridal +chamber, deep asleep and outworn with my charge, and lay overwhelmed in +slumber sweet and profound and most like to easeful death. Meanwhile +that crown of wives removes all the arms from my dwelling, and slips out +the faithful sword from beneath my head: she calls Menelaus into the +house and flings wide the gateway: be sure she hoped her lover would +magnify the gift, and so she might quench the fame of her ill deeds of +old. Why do I linger? They burst into the chamber, they and the Aeolid, +counsellor of crime, in their company. Gods, recompense the Greeks even +thus, if with righteous lips I call for vengeance! But come, tell in +turn what hap hath brought thee hither yet alive. Comest thou driven on +ocean wanderings, or by promptings from heaven? or what fortune keeps +thee from rest, that thou shouldst draw nigh these sad sunless +dwellings, this disordered land?'</p> + +<p>In this change of talk Dawn had already crossed heaven's mid axle on her +rose-charioted way; and haply had they thus drawn out all the allotted +time; but the Sibyl made brief warning speech to her companion: 'Night +falls, Aeneas; we waste the hours in weeping. Here is the place where +the road disparts; by this that runs to the right <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span><span class="linenum">[542-574]</span>under great +Dis' city is our path to Elysium; but the leftward wreaks vengeance on +the wicked and sends them to unrelenting hell.' But Deïphobus: 'Be not +angered, mighty priestess; I will depart, I will refill my place and +return into darkness. Go, glory of our people, go, enjoy a fairer fate +than mine.' Thus much he spoke, and on the word turned away his +footsteps.</p> + +<p>Aeneas looks swiftly back, and sees beneath the cliff on the left hand a +wide city, girt with a triple wall and encircled by a racing river of +boiling flame, Tartarean Phlegethon, that echoes over its rolling rocks. +In front is the gate, huge and pillared with solid adamant, that no +warring force of men nor the very habitants of heaven may avail to +overthrow; it stands up a tower of iron, and Tisiphone sitting girt in +bloodstained pall keeps sleepless watch at the entry by night and day. +Hence moans are heard and fierce lashes resound, with the clank of iron +and dragging chains. Aeneas stopped and hung dismayed at the tumult. +'What shapes of crime are here? declare, O maiden; or what the +punishment that pursues them, and all this upsurging wail?' Then the +soothsayer thus began to speak: 'Illustrious chief of Troy, no pure foot +may tread these guilty courts; but to me Hecate herself, when she gave +me rule over the groves of Avernus, taught how the gods punish, and +guided me through all her realm. Gnosian Rhadamanthus here holds +unrelaxing sway, chastises secret crime revealed, and exacts confession, +wheresoever in the upper world one vainly exultant in stolen guilt hath +till the dusk of death kept clear from the evil he wrought. Straightway +avenging Tisiphone, girt with her scourge, tramples down the shivering +sinners, menaces them with the grim snakes in her left hand, and summons +forth her sisters in merciless train. Then at last the sacred gates are +flung open and grate on the jarring hinge. Markest thou what sentry is +seated in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span><span class="linenum">[575-609]</span>the doorway? what shape guards the threshold? More +grim within sits the monstrous Hydra with her fifty black yawning +throats: and Tartarus' self gapes sheer and strikes into the gloom +through twice the space that one looks upward to Olympus and the skyey +heaven. Here Earth's ancient children, the Titans' brood, hurled down by +the thunderbolt, lie wallowing in the abyss. Here likewise I saw the +twin Aloïds, enormous of frame, who essayed with violent hands to pluck +down high heaven and thrust Jove from his upper realm. Likewise I saw +Salmoneus in the cruel payment he gives for mocking Jove's flame and +Olympus' thunders. Borne by four horses and brandishing a torch, he rode +in triumph midway through the populous city of Grecian Elis, and claimed +for himself the worship of deity; madman! who would mimic the +storm-cloud and the inimitable bolt with brass that rang under his +trampling horse-hoofs. But the Lord omnipotent hurled his shaft through +thickening clouds (no firebrand his nor smoky glare of torches) and +dashed him headlong in the fury of the whirlwind. Therewithal Tityos +might be seen, fosterling of Earth the mother of all, whose body +stretches over nine full acres, and a monstrous vulture with crooked +beak eats away the imperishable liver and the entrails that breed in +suffering, and plunges deep into the breast that gives it food and +dwelling; nor is any rest given to the fibres that ever grow anew. Why +tell of the Lapithae, of Ixion and Pirithoüs? over whom a stone hangs +just slipping and just as though it fell; or the high banqueting couches +gleam golden-pillared, and the feast is spread in royal luxury before +their faces; couched hard by, the eldest of the Furies wards the tables +from their touch and rises with torch upreared and thunderous lips. Here +are they who hated their brethren while life endured, or struck a parent +or entangled a client in wrong, or who brooded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span><span class="linenum">[610-643]</span>alone over +found treasure and shared it not with their fellows, this the greatest +multitude of all; and they who were slain for adultery, and who followed +unrighteous arms, and feared not to betray their masters' plighted hand. +Imprisoned they await their doom. Seek not to be told that doom, that +fashion of fortune wherein they are sunk. Some roll a vast stone, or +hang outstretched on the spokes of wheels; hapless Theseus sits and +shall sit for ever, and Phlegyas in his misery gives counsel to all and +witnesses aloud through the gloom, <i>Learn by this warning to do justly +and not to slight the gods.</i> This man sold his country for gold, and +laid her under a tyrant's sway; he set up and pulled down laws at a +price; this other forced his daughter's bridal chamber and a forbidden +marriage; all dared some monstrous wickedness, and had success in what +they dared. Not had I an hundred tongues, an hundred mouths, and a voice +of iron, could I sum up all the shapes of crime or name over all their +punishments.'</p> + +<p>Thus spoke Phoebus' long-lived priestess; then 'But come now,' she +cries; 'haste on the way and perfect the service begun; let us go +faster; I descry the ramparts cast in Cyclopean furnaces, and in front +the arched gateway where they bid us lay the gifts foreordained.' She +ended, and advancing side by side along the shadowy ways, they pass over +and draw nigh the gates. Aeneas makes entrance, and sprinkling his body +with fresh water, plants the bough full in the gateway.</p> + +<p>Now at length, this fully done, and the service of the goddess +perfected, they came to the happy place, the green pleasances and +blissful seats of the Fortunate Woodlands. Here an ampler air clothes +the meadows in lustrous sheen, and they know their own sun and a +starlight of their own. Some exercise their limbs in tournament on the +greensward, contend in games, and wrestle on the yellow sand. Some +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span><span class="linenum">[644-676]</span>dance with beating footfall and lips that sing; with them is +the Thracian priest in sweeping robe, and makes music to their measures +with the notes' sevenfold interval, the notes struck now with his +fingers, now with his ivory rod. Here is Teucer's ancient brood, a +generation excellent in beauty, high-hearted heroes born in happier +years, Ilus and Assaracus, and Dardanus, founder of Troy. Afar he +marvels at the armour and chariots empty of their lords: their spears +stand fixed in the ground, and their unyoked horses pasture at large +over the plain: their life's delight in chariot and armour, their care +in pasturing their sleek horses, follows them in like wise low under +earth. Others, lo! he beholds feasting on the sward to right and left, +and singing in chorus the glad Paean-cry, within a scented laurel-grove +whence Eridanus river surges upward full-volumed through the wood. Here +is the band of them who bore wounds in fighting for their country, and +they who were pure in priesthood while life endured, and the good poets +whose speech abased not Apollo; and they who made life beautiful by the +arts of their invention, and who won by service a memory among men, the +brows of all girt with the snow-white fillet. To their encircling throng +the Sibyl spoke thus, and to Musaeus before them all; for he is midmost +of all the multitude, and stands out head and shoulders among their +upward gaze:</p> + +<p>'Tell, O blissful souls, and thou, poet most gracious, what region, what +place hath Anchises for his own? For his sake are we come, and have +sailed across the wide rivers of Erebus.'</p> + +<p>And to her the hero thus made brief reply: 'None hath a fixed dwelling; +we live in the shady woodlands; soft-swelling banks and meadows fresh +with streams are our habitation. But you, if this be your heart's +desire, scale this ridge, and I will even now set you on an easy +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span><span class="linenum">[677-708]</span>pathway.' He spoke, and paced on before them, and from above +shews the shining plains; thereafter they leave the mountain heights.</p> + +<p>But lord Anchises, deep in the green valley, was musing in earnest +survey over the imprisoned souls destined to the daylight above, and +haply reviewing his beloved children and all the tale of his people, +them and their fates and fortunes, their works and ways. And he, when he +saw Aeneas advancing to meet him over the greensward, stretched forth +both hands eagerly, while tears rolled over his cheeks, and his lips +parted in a cry: 'Art thou come at last, and hath thy love, O child of +my desire, conquered the difficult road? Is it granted, O my son, to +gaze on thy face and hear and answer in familiar tones? Thus indeed I +forecast in spirit, counting the days between; nor hath my care misled +me. What lands, what space of seas hast thou traversed to reach me, +through what surge of perils, O my son! How I dreaded the realm of Libya +might work thee harm!'</p> + +<p>And he: 'Thy melancholy phantom, thine, O my father, came before me +often and often, and drove me to steer to these portals. My fleet is +anchored on the Tyrrhenian brine. Give thine hand to clasp, O my father, +give it, and withdraw not from our embrace.'</p> + +<p>So spoke he, his face wet with abundant weeping. Thrice there did he +essay to fling his arms about his neck; thrice the phantom vainly +grasped fled out of his hands even as light wind, and most like to +fluttering sleep.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Aeneas sees deep withdrawn in the covert of the vale a +woodland and rustling forest thickets, and the river of Lethe that +floats past their peaceful dwellings. Around it flitted nations and +peoples innumerable; even as in the meadows when in clear summer weather +bees settle on the variegated flowers and stream round the snow-white +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span><span class="linenum">[709-742]</span>lilies, all the plain is murmurous with their humming. Aeneas +starts at the sudden view, and asks the reason he knows not; what are +those spreading streams, or who are they whose vast train fills the +banks? Then lord Anchises: 'Souls, for whom second bodies are destined +and due, drink at the wave of the Lethean stream the heedless water of +long forgetfulness. These of a truth have I long desired to tell and +shew thee face to face, and number all the generation of thy children, +that so thou mayest the more rejoice with me in finding Italy.'—'O +father, must we think that any souls travel hence into upper air, and +return again to bodily fetters? why this their strange sad longing for +the light?' 'I will tell,' rejoins Anchises, 'nor will I hold thee in +suspense, my son.' And he unfolds all things in order one by one.</p> + +<p>'First of all, heaven and earth and the liquid fields, the shining orb +of the moon and the Titanian star, doth a spirit sustain inly, and a +soul shed abroad in them sways all their members and mingles in the +mighty frame. Thence is the generation of man and beast, the life of +winged things, and the monstrous forms that ocean breeds under his +glittering floor. Those seeds have fiery force and divine birth, so far +as they are not clogged by taint of the body and dulled by earthy frames +and limbs ready to die. Hence is it they fear and desire, sorrow and +rejoice; nor can they pierce the air while barred in the blind darkness +of their prison-house. Nay, and when the last ray of life is gone, not +yet, alas! does all their woe, nor do all the plagues of the body wholly +leave them free; and needs must be that many a long ingrained evil +should take root marvellously deep. Therefore they are schooled in +punishment, and pay all the forfeit of a lifelong ill; some are hung +stretched to the viewless winds; some have the taint of guilt washed out +beneath the dreary deep, or burned away in fire. We <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span><span class="linenum">[743-777]</span>suffer, +each a several ghost; thereafter we are sent to the broad spaces of +Elysium, some few of us to possess the happy fields; till length of days +completing time's circle takes out the ingrained soilure and leaves +untainted the ethereal sense and pure spiritual flame. All these before +thee, when the wheel of a thousand years hath come fully round, a God +summons in vast train to the river of Lethe, that so they may regain in +forgetfulness the slopes of upper earth, and begin to desire to return +again into the body.'</p> + +<p>Anchises ceased, and leads his son and the Sibyl likewise amid the +assembled murmurous throng, and mounts a hillock whence he might scan +all the long ranks and learn their countenances as they came.</p> + +<p>'Now come, the glory hereafter to follow our Dardanian progeny, the +posterity to abide in our Italian people, illustrious souls and +inheritors of our name to be, these will I rehearse, and instruct thee +of thy destinies. He yonder, seest thou? the warrior leaning on his +pointless spear, holds the nearest place allotted in our groves, and +shall rise first into the air of heaven from the mingling blood of +Italy, Silvius of Alban name, the child of thine age, whom late in thy +length of days thy wife Lavinia shall nurture in the woodland, king and +father of kings; from him in Alba the Long shall our house have +dominion. He next him is Procas, glory of the Trojan race; and Capys and +Numitor; and he who shall renew thy name, Silvius Aeneas, eminent alike +in goodness or in arms, if ever he shall receive his kingdom in Alba. +Men of men! see what strength they display, and wear the civic oak +shading their brows. They shall establish Nomentum and Gabii and Fidena +city, they the Collatine hill-fortress, Pometii and the Fort of Inuus, +Bola and Cora: these shall be names that are now nameless lands. Nay, +Romulus likewise, seed of Mavors, shall join <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span><span class="linenum">[778-810]</span>his grandsire's +company, from his mother Ilia's nurture and Assaracus' blood. Seest thou +how the twin plumes straighten on his crest, and his father's own +emblazonment already marks him for upper air? Behold, O son! by his +augury shall Rome the renowned fill earth with her empire and heaven +with her pride, and gird about seven fortresses with her single wall, +prosperous mother of men; even as our lady of Berecyntus rides in her +chariot turret-crowned through the Phrygian cities, glad in the gods she +hath borne, clasping an hundred of her children's children, all +habitants of heaven, all dwellers on the upper heights. Hither now bend +thy twin-eyed gaze; behold this people, the Romans that are thine. Here +is Caesar and all Iülus' posterity that shall arise under the mighty +cope of heaven. Here is he, he of whose promise once and again thou +hearest, Caesar Augustus, a god's son, who shall again establish the +ages of gold in Latium over the fields that once were Saturn's realm, +and carry his empire afar to Garamant and Indian, to the land that lies +beyond our stars, beyond the sun's yearlong ways, where Atlas the +sky-bearer wheels on his shoulder the glittering star-spangled pole. +Before his coming even now the kingdoms of the Caspian shudder at +oracular answers, and the Maeotic land and the mouths of sevenfold Nile +flutter in alarm. Nor indeed did Alcides traverse such spaces of earth, +though he pierced the brazen-footed deer, or though he stilled the +Erymanthian woodlands and made Lerna tremble at his bow: nor he who +sways his team with reins of vine, Liber the conqueror, when he drives +his tigers from Nysa's lofty crest. And do we yet hesitate to give +valour scope in deeds, or shrink in fear from setting foot on Ausonian +land? Ah, and who is he apart, marked out with sprays of olive, offering +sacrifice? I know the locks and hoary chin of the king of Rome who shall +establish the infant city in his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span><span class="linenum">[811-843]</span>laws, sent from little Cures' +sterile land to the majesty of empire. To him Tullus shall next succeed, +who shall break the peace of his country and stir to arms men rusted +from war and armies now disused to triumphs; and hard on him +over-vaunting Ancus follows, even now too elate in popular breath. Wilt +thou see also the Tarquin kings, and the haughty soul of Brutus the +Avenger, and the fasces regained? He shall first receive a consul's +power and the merciless axes, and when his children would stir fresh +war, the father, for fair freedom's sake, shall summon them to doom. +Unhappy! yet howsoever posterity shall take the deed, love of country +and limitless passion for honour shall prevail. Nay, behold apart the +Decii and the Drusi, Torquatus with his cruel axe, and Camillus +returning with the standards. Yonder souls likewise, whom thou +discernest gleaming in equal arms, at one now, while shut in Night, ah +me! what mutual war, what battle-lines and bloodshed shall they arouse, +so they attain the light of the living! father-in-law descending from +the Alpine barriers and the fortress of the Dweller Alone, son-in-law +facing him with the embattled East. Nay, O my children, harden not your +hearts to such warfare, neither turn upon her own heart the mastering +might of your country; and thou, be thou first to forgive, who drawest +thy descent from heaven; cast down the weapons from thy hand, O blood of +mine. . . . He shall drive his conquering chariot to the Capitoline height +triumphant over Corinth, glorious in Achaean slaughter. He shall uproot +Argos and Agamemnonian Mycenae, and the Aeacid's own heir, the seed of +Achilles mighty in arms, avenging his ancestors in Troy and Minerva's +polluted temple. Who might leave thee, lordly Cato, or thee, Cossus, to +silence? who the Gracchan family, or these two sons of the Scipios, a +double thunderbolt of war, Libya's bale? and Fabricius potent in +poverty, or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span><span class="linenum">[844-875]</span>thee, Serranus, sowing in the furrow? Whither +whirl you me all breathless, O Fabii? thou art he, the most mighty, the +one man whose lingering retrieves our State. Others shall beat out the +breathing bronze to softer lines, I believe it well; shall draw living +lineaments from the marble; the cause shall be more eloquent on their +lips; their pencil shall portray the pathways of heaven, and tell the +stars in their arising: be thy charge, O Roman, to rule the nations in +thine empire; this shall be thine art, to lay down the law of peace, to +be merciful to the conquered and beat the haughty down.'</p> + +<p>Thus lord Anchises, and as they marvel, he so pursues: 'Look how +Marcellus the conqueror marches glorious in the splendid spoils, +towering high above them all! He shall stay the Roman State, reeling +beneath the invading shock, shall ride down Carthaginian and insurgent +Gaul, and a third time hang up the captured armour before lord +Quirinus.'</p> + +<p>And at this Aeneas, for he saw going by his side one excellent in beauty +and glittering in arms, but his brow had little cheer, and his eyes +looked down:</p> + +<p>'Who, O my father, is he who thus attends him on his way? son, or other +of his children's princely race? How his comrades murmur around him! how +goodly of presence he is! but dark Night flutters round his head with +melancholy shade.'</p> + +<p>Then lord Anchises with welling tears began: 'O my son, ask not of the +great sorrow of thy people. Him shall fate but shew to earth, and suffer +not to stay further. Too mighty, lords of heaven, did you deem the brood +of Rome, had this your gift been abiding. What moaning of men shall +arise from the Field of Mavors by the imperial city! what a funeral +train shalt thou see, O Tiber, as thou flowest by the new-made grave! +Neither shall the boyhood of any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span><span class="linenum">[876-901]</span>of Ilian race raise his Latin +forefathers' hope so high; nor shall the land of Romulus ever boast of +any fosterling like this. Alas his goodness, alas his antique honour, +and right hand invincible in war! none had faced him unscathed in armed +shock, whether he met the foe on foot, or ran his spurs into the flanks +of his foaming horse. Ah me, the pity of thee, O boy! if in any wise +thou breakest the grim bar of fate, thou shalt be Marcellus. Give me +lilies in full hands; let me strew bright blossoms, and these gifts at +least let me lavish on my descendant's soul, and do the unavailing +service.'</p> + +<p>Thus they wander up and down over the whole region of broad vaporous +plains, and scan all the scene. And when Anchises had led his son over +it, each point by each, and kindled his spirit with passion for the +glories on their way, he tells him thereafter of the war he next must +wage, and instructs him of the Laurentine peoples and the city of +Latinus, and in what wise each task may be turned aside or borne.</p> + +<p>There are twin portals of Sleep, whereof the one is fabled of horn, and +by it real shadows are given easy outlet; the other shining white of +polished ivory, but false visions issue upward from the ghostly world. +With these words then Anchises follows forth his son and the Sibyl +together there, and dismisses them by the ivory gate. He pursues his way +to the ships and revisits his comrades; then bears on to Caieta's haven +straight along the shore. The anchor is cast from the prow; the sterns +are grounded on the beach.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BOOK_SEVENTH" id="BOOK_SEVENTH"></a>BOOK SEVENTH</h2> + +<h3>THE LANDING IN LATIUM, AND THE ROLL OF THE ARMIES OF ITALY</h3> + + +<p>Thou also, Caieta, nurse of Aeneas, gavest our shores an everlasting +renown in death; and still thine honour haunts thy resting-place, and a +name in broad Hesperia, if that be glory, marks thy dust. But when the +last rites are duly paid, and the mound smoothed over the grave, good +Aeneas, now the high seas are hushed, bears on under sail and leaves his +haven. Breezes blow into the night, and the white moonshine speeds them +on; the sea glitters in her quivering radiance. Soon they skirt the +shores of Circe's land, where the rich daughter of the Sun makes her +untrodden groves echo with ceaseless song; and her stately house glows +nightlong with burning odorous cedarwood, as she runs over her delicate +web with the ringing comb. Hence are heard afar angry cries of lions +chafing at their fetters and roaring in the deep night; bears and +bristly swine rage in their pens, and vast shapes of wolves howl; whom +with her potent herbs the deadly divine Circe had disfashioned, face and +body, into wild beasts from the likeness of men. But lest the good +Trojans might suffer so dread a change, might enter her haven or draw +nigh the ominous shores, Neptune filled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span><span class="linenum">[23-55]</span>their sails with +favourable winds, and gave them escape, and bore them past the seething +shallows.</p> + +<p>And now the sea reddened with shafts of light, and high in heaven the +yellow dawn shone rose-charioted; when the winds fell, and every breath +sank suddenly, and the oar-blades toil through the heavy ocean-floor. +And on this Aeneas descries from sea a mighty forest. Midway in it the +pleasant Tiber stream breaks to sea in swirling eddies, laden with +yellow sand. Around and above fowl many in sort, that haunt his banks +and river-channel, solaced heaven with song and flew about the forest. +He orders his crew to bend their course and turn their prows to land, +and glides joyfully into the shady river.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Forth now, Erato! and I will unfold who were the kings, what the tides +of circumstance, how it was with ancient Latium when first that foreign +army drew their fleet ashore on Ausonia's coast; I will recall the +preluding of battle. Thou, divine one, inspire thou thy poet. I will +tell of grim wars, tell of embattled lines, of kings whom honour drove +on death, of the Tyrrhenian forces, and all Hesperia enrolled in arms. A +greater history opens before me, a greater work I essay.</p> + +<p>Latinus the King, now growing old, ruled in a long peace over quiet +tilth and town. He, men say, was sprung of Faunus and the nymph Marica +of Laurentum. Faunus' father was Picus; and he boasts himself, Saturn, +thy son; thou art the first source of their blood. Son of his, by divine +ordinance, and male descent was none, cut off in the early spring of +youth. One alone kept the household and its august home, a daughter now +ripe for a husband and of full years for marriage. Many wooed her from +wide Latium and all Ausonia. Fairest and foremost of all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span><span class="linenum">[56-93]</span>is +Turnus, of long and lordly ancestry; but boding signs from heaven, many +and terrible, bar the way. Within the palace, in the lofty inner courts, +was a laurel of sacred foliage, guarded in awe through many years, which +lord Latinus, it was said, himself found and dedicated to Phoebus when +first he would build his citadel; and from it gave his settlers their +name, Laurentines. High atop of it, wonderful to tell, bees borne with +loud humming across the liquid air girt it thickly about, and with +interlinked feet hung in a sudden swarm from the leafy bough. +Straightway the prophet cries: 'I see a foreigner draw nigh, an army +from the same quarter seek the same quarter, and reign high in our +fortress.' Furthermore, while maiden Lavinia stands beside her father +feeding the altars with holy fuel, she was seen, oh, horror! to catch +fire in her long tresses, and burn with flickering flame in all her +array, her queenly hair lit up, lit up her jewelled circlet; till, +enwreathed in smoke and lurid light, she scattered fire over all the +palace. That sight was rumoured wonderful and terrible. Herself, they +prophesied, she should be glorious in fame and fortune; but a great war +was foreshadowed for her people. But the King, troubled by the omen, +visits the oracle of his father Faunus the soothsayer, and the groves +deep under Albunea, where, queen of the woods, she echoes from her holy +well, and breathes forth a dim and deadly vapour. Hence do the tribes of +Italy and all the Oenotrian land seek answers in perplexity; hither the +priest bears his gifts, and when he hath lain down and sought slumber +under the silent night on the spread fleeces of slaughtered sheep, sees +many flitting phantoms of wonderful wise, hears manifold voices, and +attains converse of the gods, and hath speech with Acheron and the deep +tract of hell. Here then, likewise seeking an answer, lord Latinus paid +fit sacrifice of an hundred woolly ewes, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span><span class="linenum">[94-127]</span>lay couched on the +strewn fleeces they had worn. Out of the lofty grove a sudden voice was +uttered: 'Seek not, O my child, to unite thy daughter in Latin +espousals, nor trust her to the bridal chambers ready to thine hand; +foreigners shall come to be thy sons, whose blood shall raise our name +to heaven, and the children of whose race shall see, where the circling +sun looks on either ocean, all the rolling world swayed beneath their +feet.' This his father Faunus' answer and counsel given in the silent +night Latinus restrains not in his lips; but wide-flitting Rumour had +already borne it round among the Ausonian cities, when the children of +Laomedon moored their fleet to the grassy slope of the river bank.</p> + +<p>Aeneas, with the foremost of his captains and fair Iülus, lay them down +under the boughs of a high tree and array the feast. They spread wheaten +cakes along the sward under their meats—so Jove on high prompted—and +crown the platter of corn with wilding fruits. Here haply when the rest +was spent, and scantness of food set them to eat their thin bread, and +with hand and venturous teeth do violence to the round cakes fraught +with fate and spare not the flattened squares: <i>Ha! Are we eating our +tables too?</i> cries Iülus jesting, and stops. At once that accent heard +set their toils a limit; and at once as he spoke his father caught it +from his lips and hushed him, in amazement at the omen. Straightway +'Hail, O land!' he cries, 'my destined inheritance! and hail, O +household gods, faithful to your Troy! here is home; this is our native +country. For my father Anchises, now I remember it, bequeathed me this +secret of fate: "When hunger shall drive thee, O son, to consume thy +tables where the feast fails, on the unknown shores whither thou shalt +sail; then, though outwearied, hope for home, and there at last let +thine hand remember to set thy house's foundations and bulwarks." This +was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span><span class="linenum">[128-162]</span>the hunger, this the last that awaited us, to set the +promised end to our desolations . . . Up then, and, glad with the first +sunbeam, let us explore and search all abroad from our harbour, what is +the country, who its habitants, where is the town of the nation. Now +pour your cups to Jove, and call in prayer on Anchises our father, +setting the wine again upon the board.' So speaks he, and binding his +brows with a leafy bough, he makes supplication to the Genius of the +ground, and Earth first of deities, and the Nymphs, and the Rivers yet +unknown; then calls on Night and Night's rising signs, and next on Jove +of Ida, and our lady of Phrygia, and on his twain parents, in heaven and +in the under world. At this the Lord omnipotent thrice thundered sharp +from high heaven, and with his own hand shook out for a sign in the sky +a cloud ablaze with luminous shafts of gold. A sudden rumour spreads +among the Trojan array, that the day is come to found their destined +city. Emulously they renew the feast, and, glad at the high omen, array +the flagons and engarland the wine.</p> + +<p>Soon as the morrow bathed the lands in its dawning light, they part to +search out the town, and the borders and shores of the nation: these are +the pools and spring of Numicus; this is the Tiber river; here dwell the +brave Latins. Then the seed of Anchises commands an hundred envoys +chosen of every degree to go to the stately royal city, all with the +wreathed boughs of Pallas, to bear him gifts and desire grace for the +Teucrians. Without delay they hasten on their message, and advance with +swift step. Himself he traces the city walls with a shallow trench, and +builds on it; and in fashion of a camp girdles this first settlement on +the shore with mound and battlements. And now his men had traversed +their way; they espied the towers and steep roofs of the Latins, and +drew near the wall. Before the city boys and men in their early +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span><span class="linenum">[163-196]</span>bloom exercise on horseback, and break in their teams on the +dusty ground, or draw ringing bows, or hurl tough javelins from the +shoulder, and contend in running and boxing: when a messenger riding +forward brings news to the ears of the aged King that mighty men are +come thither in unknown raiment. He gives orders to call them within his +house, and takes his seat in the midst on his ancestral throne. His +house, stately and vast, crowned the city, upreared on an hundred +columns, once the palace of Laurentian Picus, amid awful groves of +ancestral sanctity. Here their kings receive the inaugural sceptre, and +have the fasces first raised before them; this temple was their +senate-house; this their sacred banqueting-hall; here, after sacrifice +of rams, the elders were wont to sit down at long tables. Further, there +stood arow in the entry images of the forefathers of old in ancient +cedar, Italus, and lord Sabinus, planter of the vine, still holding in +show the curved pruning-hook, and gray Saturn, and the likeness of Janus +the double-facing, and the rest of their primal kings, and they who had +borne wounds of war in fighting for their country. Armour besides hangs +thickly on the sacred doors, captured chariots and curved axes, +helmet-crests and massy gateway-bars, lances and shields, and beaks torn +from warships. He too sat there, with the divining-rod of Quirinus, girt +in the short augural gown, and carrying on his left arm the sacred +shield, Picus the tamer of horses; he whom Circe, desperate with amorous +desire, smote with her golden rod and turned by her poisons into a bird +with patches of colour on his wings. Of such wise was the temple of the +gods wherein Latinus, sitting on his father's seat, summoned the +Teucrians to his house and presence; and when they entered in, he thus +opened with placid mien:</p> + +<p>'Tell, O Dardanians, for we are not ignorant of your city and race, nor +unheard of do you bend your course <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span><span class="linenum">[197-228]</span>overseas, what seek you? +what the cause or whereof the need that hath borne you over all these +blue waterways to the Ausonian shore? Whether wandering in your course, +or tempest-driven (such perils manifold on the high seas do sailors +suffer), you have entered the river banks and lie in harbour; shun not +our welcome, and be not ignorant that the Latins are Saturn's people, +whom no laws fetter to justice, upright of their own free will and the +custom of the god of old. And now I remember, though the story is dimmed +with years, thus Auruncan elders told, how Dardanus, born in this our +country, made his way to the towns of Phrygian Ida and to the Thracian +Samos that is now called Samothrace. Here was the home he left, +Tyrrhenian Corythus; now the palace of heaven, glittering with golden +stars, enthrones and adds him to the ranged altars of the gods.'</p> + +<p>He ended; and Ilioneus pursued his speech with these words:</p> + +<p>'King, Faunus' illustrious progeny, neither hath black tempest driven us +with stress of waves to shelter in your lands, nor hath star or shore +misled us on the way we went. Of set purpose and willing mind do we draw +nigh this thy city, outcasts from a realm once the greatest that the sun +looked on as he came from Olympus' utmost border. From Jove hath our +race beginning; in Jove the men of Dardania rejoice as ancestor; our +King himself of Jove's supreme race, Aeneas of Troy, hath sent us to thy +courts. How terrible the tempest that burst from fierce Mycenae over the +plains of Ida, driven by what fate Europe and Asia met in the shock of +two worlds, even he hath heard who is sundered in the utmost land where +the ocean surge recoils, and he whom stretching midmost of the four +zones the zone of the intolerable sun holds in severance. Borne by that +flood over many desolate seas, we crave a scant dwelling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span><span class="linenum">[229-261]</span>for +our country's gods, an unmolested landing-place, and the air and water +that are free to all. We shall not disgrace the kingdom; nor will the +rumour of your renown be lightly gone or the grace of all you have done +fade away; nor will Ausonia be sorry to have taken Troy to her breast. +By the fortunes of Aeneas I swear, by that right hand mighty, whether +tried in friendship or in warlike arms, many and many a people and +nation—scorn us not because we advance with hands proffering chaplets +and words of supplication—hath sought us for itself and desired our +alliance; but yours is the land that heaven's high ordinance drove us +forth to find. Hence sprung Dardanus: hither Apollo recalls us, and +pushes us on with imperious orders to Tyrrhenian Tiber and the holy +pools of Numicus' spring. Further, he presents to thee these small +guerdons of our past estate, relics saved from burning Troy. From this +gold did lord Anchises pour libation at the altars; this was Priam's +array when he delivered statutes to the nations assembled in order; the +sceptre, the sacred mitre, the raiment wrought by the women of +Ilium. . . .'</p> + +<p>At these words of Ilioneus Latinus holds his countenance in a steady +gaze, and stays motionless on the floor, casting his intent eyes around. +Nor does the embroidered purple so move the King, nor the sceptre of +Priam, as his daughter's marriage and the bridal chamber absorb him, and +the oracle of ancient Faunus stirs deep in his heart. This is he, the +wanderer from a foreign home, foreshewn of fate for his son, and called +to a realm of equal dominion, whose race should be excellent in valour +and their might overbear all the world. At last he speaks with good +cheer:</p> + +<p>'The gods prosper our undertaking and their own augury! What thou +desirest, Trojan, shall be given; nor do I spurn your gifts. While +Latinus reigns you shall not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span><span class="linenum">[262-294]</span>lack foison of rich land nor +Troy's own riches. Only let Aeneas himself come hither, if desire of us +be so strong, if he be in haste to join our friendship and be called our +ally. Let him not shrink in terror from a friendly face. A term of the +peace for me shall be to touch your monarch's hand. Do you now convey in +answer my message to your King. I have a daughter whom the oracles of my +father's shrine and many a celestial token alike forbid me to unite to +one of our own nation; sons shall come, they prophesy, from foreign +coasts, such is the destiny of Latium, whose blood shall exalt our name +to heaven. He it is on whom fate calls; this I think, this I choose, if +there be any truth in my soul's foreshadowing.'</p> + +<p>Thus he speaks, and chooses horses for all the company. Three hundred +stood sleek in their high stalls; for all the Teucrians in order he +straightway commands them to be led forth, fleet-footed, covered with +embroidered purple: golden chains hang drooping over their chests, +golden their housings, and they champ on bits of ruddy gold: for the +absent Aeneas a chariot and pair of chariot horses of celestial breed, +with nostrils breathing flame; of the race of those which subtle Circe +bred by sleight on her father, the bastard issue of a stolen union. With +these gifts and words the Aeneadae ride back from Latinus carrying +peace.</p> + +<p>And lo! the fierce wife of Jove was returning from Inachian Argos, and +held her way along the air, when out of the distant sky, far as from +Sicilian Pachynus, she espied the rejoicing of Aeneas and the Dardanian +fleet. She sees them already house-building, already trusting in the +land, their ships left empty. She stops, shot with sharp pain; then +shaking her head, she pours forth these words:</p> + +<p>'Ah, hated brood, and doom of the Phrygians that thwarts our doom! Could +they perish on the Sigean <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span><span class="linenum">[295-326]</span>plains? Could they be ensnared when +taken? Did the fires of Troy consume her people? Through the midst of +armies and through the midst of flames they have found their way. But, I +think, my deity lies at last outwearied, or my hatred sleeps and is +satisfied? Nay, it is I who have been fierce to follow them over the +waves when hurled from their country, and on all the seas have crossed +their flight. Against the Teucrians the forces of sky and sea are spent. +What hath availed me Syrtes or Scylla, what desolate Charybdis? they +find shelter in their desired Tiber-bed, careless of ocean and of me. +Mars availed to destroy the giant race of the Lapithae; the very father +of the gods gave over ancient Calydon to Diana's wrath: for forfeit of +what crime in the Lapithae, what in Calydon? But I, Jove's imperial +consort, who have borne, ah me! to leave naught undared, who have +shifted to every device, I am vanquished by Aeneas. If my deity is not +great enough, I will not assuredly falter to seek succour where it may +be; if the powers of heaven are inflexible, I will stir up Acheron. It +may not be to debar him of a Latin realm; well; and Lavinia is destined +his bride unalterably. But it may be yet to defer, to make all this +action linger; but it may be yet to waste away the nation of either +king; at such forfeit of their people may son-in-law and father-in-law +enter into union. Blood of Troy and Rutulia shall be thy dower, O +maiden, and Bellona is the bridesmaid who awaits thee. Nor did Cisseus' +daughter alone conceive a firebrand and travail of bridal flames. Nay, +even such a birth hath Venus of her own, a second Paris, another +balefire for Troy towers reborn.'</p> + +<p>These words uttered, she descends to earth in all her terrors, and calls +dolorous Allecto from the home of the Fatal Sisters in nether gloom, +whose delight is in woeful wars, in wrath and treachery and evil feuds: +hateful to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span><span class="linenum">[327-360]</span>lord Pluto himself, hateful and horrible to her +hell-born sisters; into so many faces does she turn, so savage the guise +of each, so thick and black bristles she with vipers. And her Juno spurs +on with words, saying thus:</p> + +<p>'Grant me, virgin born of Night, this thy proper task and service, that +the rumour of our renown may not crumble away, nor the Aeneadae have +power to win Latinus by marriage or beset the borders of Italy. Thou +canst set brothers once united in armed conflict, and overturn families +with hatreds; thou canst launch into houses thy whips and deadly brands; +thine are a thousand names, a thousand devices of injury. Stir up thy +teeming breast, sunder the peace they have joined, and sow seeds of +quarrel; let all at once desire and demand and seize on arms.'</p> + +<p>Thereon Allecto, steeped in Gorgonian venom, first seeks Latium and the +high house of the Laurentine monarch, and silently sits down before +Amata's doors, whom a woman's distress and anger heated to frenzy over +the Teucrians' coming and the marriage of Turnus. At her the goddess +flings a snake out of her dusky tresses, and slips it into her bosom to +her very inmost heart, that she may embroil all her house under its +maddening magic. Sliding between her raiment and smooth breasts, it +coils without touch, and instils its viperous breath unseen; the great +serpent turns into the twisted gold about her neck, turns into the long +ribbon of her chaplet, inweaves her hair, and winds slippery over her +body. And while the gliding infection of the clammy poison begins to +penetrate her sense and run in fire through her frame, nor as yet hath +all her breast caught fire, softly she spoke and in mothers' wonted +wise, with many a tear over her daughter and the Phrygian bridal:</p> + +<p>'Is it to exiles, to Teucrians, that Lavinia is proffered in marriage, O +father? and hast thou no compassion on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span><span class="linenum">[361-392]</span>thy daughter and on +thyself? no compassion on her mother, whom with the first northern wind +the treacherous rover will abandon, steering to sea with his maiden +prize? Is it not thus the Phrygian herdsman wound his way to Lacedaemon, +and carried Leda's Helen to the Trojan towns? Where is thy plighted +faith? Where thine ancient care for thy people, and the hand Turnus thy +kinsman hath so often clasped? If one of alien race from the Latins is +sought for our son, if this stands fixed, and thy father Faunus' +commands are heavy upon thee, all the land whose freedom severs it from +our sway is to my mind alien, and of this is the divine word. And +Turnus, if one retrace the earliest source of his line, is born of +Inachus and Acrisius, and of the midmost of Mycenae.'</p> + +<p>When in this vain essay of words she sees Latinus fixed against her, and +the serpent's maddening poison is sunk deep in her vitals and runs +through and through her, then indeed, stung by infinite horrors, hapless +and frenzied, she rages wildly through the endless city. As whilome a +top flying under the twisted whipcord, which boys busy at their play +drive circling wide round an empty hall, runs before the lash and spins +in wide gyrations; the witless ungrown band hang wondering over it and +admire the whirling boxwood; the strokes lend it life: with pace no +slacker is she borne midway through towns and valiant nations. Nay, she +flies into the woodland under feigned Bacchic influence, assumes a +greater guilt, arouses a greater frenzy, and hides her daughter in the +mountain coverts to rob the Teucrians of their bridal and stay the +marriage torches. 'Hail, Bacchus!' she shrieks and clamours; 'thou only +art worthy of the maiden; for to thee she takes up the lissom wands, +thee she circles in the dance, to thee she trains and consecrates her +tresses.' Rumour flies abroad; and the matrons, their breasts kindled by +the furies, run all at once <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span><span class="linenum">[393-426]</span>with a single ardour to seek out +strange dwellings. They have left their homes empty, they throw neck and +hair free to the winds; while others fill the air with ringing cries, +girt about with fawnskins, and carrying spears of vine. Amid them the +infuriate queen holds her blazing pine-torch on high, and chants the +wedding of Turnus and her daughter; and rolling her bloodshot gaze, +cries sudden and harsh: 'Hear, O mothers of Latium, wheresoever you be; +if unhappy Amata hath yet any favour in your affection, if care for a +mother's right pierces you, untie the chaplets from your hair, begin the +orgies with me.' Thus, amid woods and wild beasts' solitary places, does +Allecto goad the queen with the encircling Bacchic madness.</p> + +<p>When their frenzy seemed heightened and her first task complete, the +purpose and all the house of Latinus turned upside down, the dolorous +goddess flies on thence, soaring on dusky wing, to the walls of the +gallant Rutulian, the city which Danaë, they say, borne down on the +boisterous south wind, built and planted with Acrision's people. The +place was called Ardea once of old; and still Ardea remains a mighty +name; but its fortune is no more. Here in his high house Turnus now took +rest in the black midnight. Allecto puts off her grim feature and the +body of a Fury; she transforms her face to an aged woman's, and furrows +her brow with ugly wrinkles; she puts on white tresses chaplet-bound, +and entwines them with an olive spray; she becomes aged Calybe, +priestess of Juno's temple, and presents herself before his eyes, +uttering thus:</p> + +<p>'Turnus, wilt thou brook all these toils poured out in vain, and the +conveyance of thy crown to Dardanian settlers? The King denies thee thy +bride and the dower thy blood had earned; and a foreigner is sought for +heir to the kingdom. Forth now, dupe, and face thankless perils; forth, +cut down the Tyrrhenian lines; give the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span><span class="linenum">[427-458]</span>Latins peace in thy +protection. This Saturn's omnipotent daughter in very presence commanded +me to pronounce to thee, as thou wert lying in the still night. +Wherefore arise, and make ready with good cheer to arm thy people and +march through thy gates to battle; consume those Phrygian captains that +lie with their painted hulls in the beautiful river. All the force of +heaven orders thee on. Let King Latinus himself know of it, unless he +consents to give thee thy bridal, and abide by his words, when he shall +at last make proof of Turnus' arms.'</p> + +<p>But he, deriding her inspiration, with the words of his mouth thus +answers her again:</p> + +<p>'The fleets ride on the Tiber wave; that news hath not, as thou deemest, +escaped mine ears. Frame not such terrors before me. Neither is Queen +Juno forgetful of us. . . . But thee, O mother, overworn old age, exhausted +and untrue, frets with vain distress, and amid embattled kings mocks thy +presage with false dismay. Thy charge it is to keep the divine image and +temple; war and peace shall be in the hands of men and warriors.'</p> + +<p>At such words Allecto's wrath blazed out. But amid his utterance a quick +shudder overruns his limbs; his eyes are fixed in horror; so thickly +hiss the snakes of the Fury, so vast her form expands. Then rolling her +fiery eyes, she thrust him back as he would stammer out more, raised two +serpents in her hair, and, sounding her whip, resumed with furious tone:</p> + +<p>'Behold me the overworn! me whom old age, exhausted and untrue, mocks +with false dismay amid embattled kings! Look on this! I am come from the +home of the Dread Sisters: war and death are in my hand. . . .'</p> + +<p>So speaking, she hurled her torch at him, and pierced his breast with +the lurid smoking brand. He breaks from sleep in overpowering fear, his +limbs and body bathed in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span><span class="linenum">[459-494]</span>sweat that breaks out all over him; +he shrieks madly for arms, searches for arms on his bed and in his +palace. The passion of the sword rages high, the accursed fury of war, +and wrath over all: even as when flaming sticks are heaped roaring loud +under the sides of a seething cauldron, and the boiling water leaps up; +the river of water within smokes furiously and swells high in +overflowing foam, and now the wave contains itself no longer; the dark +steam flies aloft. So, for the stain of the broken peace, he orders his +chief warriors to march on King Latinus, and bids prepare for battle, to +defend Italy and drive the foe from their borders; himself will suffice +for Trojans and Latins together. When he uttered these words and called +the gods to hear his vows, the Rutulians stir one another up to arms. +One is moved by the splendour of his youthful beauty, one by his royal +ancestry, another by the noble deeds of his hand.</p> + +<p>While Turnus fills the Rutulian minds with valour, Allecto on Stygian +wing hastens towards the Trojans. With fresh wiles she marked the spot +where beautiful Iülus was trapping and coursing game on the bank; here +the infernal maiden suddenly crosses his hounds with the maddening touch +of a familiar scent, and drives them hotly on the stag-hunt. This was +the source and spring of ill, and kindled the country-folk to war. The +stag, beautiful and high-antlered, was stolen from his mother's udder +and bred by Tyrrheus' boys and their father Tyrrheus, master of the +royal herds, and ranger of the plain. Their sister Silvia tamed him to +her rule, and lavished her care on his adornment, twining his antlers +with delicate garlands, and combed his wild coat and washed him in the +clear spring. Tame to her hand, and familiar to his master's table, he +would wander the woods, and, however late the night, return home to the +door he knew. Far astray, he floated idly down the stream, and allayed +his heat on the green bank, when Iülus' <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span><span class="linenum">[495-528]</span>mad hounds started him +in their hunting; and Ascanius himself, kindled with desire of the chief +honour, aimed a shaft from his bended bow. A present deity suffered not +his hand to stray, and the loud whistling reed came driven through his +belly and flanks. But the wounded beast fled within the familiar roof +and crept moaning to the courtyard, dabbled with blood, and filling all +the house with moans as of one beseeching. Sister Silvia, smiting her +arms with open hands, begins to call for aid, and gathers the hardy +rustics with her cries. They, for a fell destroyer is hidden in the +silent woodland, are there before her expectation, one armed with a +stake hardened in the fire, one with a heavy knotted trunk; what each +one searches and finds, wrath turns into a weapon. Tyrrheus cheers on +his array, panting hard, with his axe caught up in his hand, as he was +haply splitting an oaken log in four clefts with cross-driven wedges.</p> + +<p>But the grim goddess, seizing from her watch-tower the moment of +mischief, seeks the steep farm-roof and sounds the pastoral war-note +from the ridge, straining the infernal cry on her twisted horn; it +spread shuddering over all the woodland, and echoed through the deep +forests: the lake of Trivia heard it afar; Nar river heard it with white +sulphurous water, and the springs of Velinus; and fluttered mothers +clasped their children to their breast. Then, hurrying to the voice of +the terrible trumpet-note, on all sides the wild rustics snatch their +arms and stream in: therewithal the men of Troy pour out from their +camp's open gates to succour Ascanius. The lines are ranged; not now in +rustic strife do they fight with hard trunks or burned stakes; the +two-edged steel sways the fight, the broad cornfields bristle dark with +drawn swords, and brass flashes smitten by the sunlight, and casts a +gleam high into the cloudy air: as when the wind begins to blow and the +flood <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span><span class="linenum">[529-560]</span>to whiten, gradually the sea lifts his waves higher and +yet higher, then rises from the bottom right into the air. Here in the +front rank young Almo, once Tyrrheus' eldest son, is struck down by a +whistling arrow; for the wound, staying in his throat, cut off in blood +the moist voice's passage and the thin life. Around many a one lies +dead, aged Galaesus among them, slain as he throws himself between them +for a peacemaker, once incomparable in justice and wealth of Ausonian +fields; for him five flocks bleated, a five-fold herd returned from +pasture, and an hundred ploughs upturned the soil.</p> + +<p>But while thus in even battle they fight on the broad plain, the +goddess, her promise fulfilled, when she hath dyed the war in blood, and +mingled death in the first encounter, quits Hesperia, and, glancing +through the sky, addresses Juno in exultant tone:</p> + +<p>'Lo, discord is ripened at thy desire into baleful war: tell them now to +mix in amity and join alliance. Insomuch as I have imbued the Trojans in +Ausonian blood, this likewise will I add, if I have assurance of thy +will. With my rumours I will sweep the bordering towns into war, and +kindle their spirit with furious desire for battle, that from all +quarters help may come; I will sow the land with arms.'</p> + +<p>Then Juno answering: 'Terror and harm is wrought abundantly. The springs +of war are aflow: they fight with arms in their grasp, the arms that +chance first supplied, that fresh blood stains. Let this be the union, +this the bridal that Venus' illustrious progeny and Latinus the King +shall celebrate. Our Lord who reigns on Olympus' summit would not have +thee stray too freely in heaven's upper air. Withdraw thy presence. +Whatsoever future remains in the struggle, that I myself will sway.'</p> + +<p>Such accents uttered the daughter of Saturn; and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span><span class="linenum">[561-594]</span>other +raises her rustling snaky wings and darts away from the high upper air +to Cocytus her home. There is a place midmost of Italy, deep in the +hills, notable and famed of rumour in many a country, the Vale of +Amsanctus; on either hand a wooded ridge, dark with thick foliage, hems +it in, and midway a torrent in swirling eddies shivers and echoes over +the rocks. Here is shewn a ghastly pool, a breathing-hole of the grim +lord of hell, and a vast chasm breaking into Acheron yawns with +pestilential throat. In it the Fury sank, and relieved earth and heaven +of her hateful influence.</p> + +<p>But therewithal the queenly daughter of Saturn puts the last touch to +war. The shepherds pour in full tale from the battlefield into the town, +bearing back their slain, the boy Almo and Galaesus' disfigured face, +and cry on the gods and call on Latinus. Turnus is there, and amid the +heat and outcry at the slaughter redoubles his terrors, crying that +Teucrians are bidden to the kingdom, that a Phrygian race is mingling +its taint with theirs, and he is thrust out of their gates. They too, +the matrons of whose kin, struck by Bacchus, trample in choirs down the +pathless woods—nor is Amata's name a little thing—they too gather +together from all sides and weary themselves with the battle-cry. Omens +and oracles of gods go down before them, and all under malign influence +clamour for awful war. Emulously they surround Latinus' royal house. He +withstands, even as a rock in ocean unremoved, as a rock in ocean when +the great crash comes down, firm in its own mass among many waves +slapping all about: in vain the crags and boulders hiss round it in +foam, and the seaweed on its side is flung up and sucked away. But when +he may in nowise overbear their blind counsel, and all goes at fierce +Juno's beck, with many an appeal to gods and void sky, 'Alas!' he cries, +'we are broken of fate and driven helpless in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span><span class="linenum">[595-626]</span>storm. With +your very blood will you pay the price of this, O wretched men! Thee, O +Turnus, thy crime, thee thine awful punishment shall await; too late +wilt thou address to heaven thy prayers and supplication. For my rest +was won, and my haven full at hand; I am robbed but of a happy death.' +And without further speech he shut himself in the palace, and dropped +the reins of state.</p> + +<p>There was a use in Hesperian Latium, which the Alban towns kept in holy +observance, now Rome keeps, the mistress of the world, when they stir +the War-God to enter battle; whether their hands prepare to carry war +and weeping among Getae or Hyrcanians or Arabs, or to reach to India and +pursue the Dawn, and reclaim their standards from the Parthian. There +are twain gates of War, so runs their name, consecrate in grim Mars' +sanctity and terror. An hundred bolts of brass and masses of everlasting +iron shut them fast, and Janus the guardian never sets foot from their +threshold. There, when the sentence of the Fathers stands fixed for +battle, the Consul, arrayed in the robe of Quirinus and the Gabine +cincture, with his own hand unbars the grating doors, with his own lips +calls battles forth; then all the rest follow on, and the brazen +trumpets blare harsh with consenting breath. With this use then likewise +they bade Latinus proclaim war on the Aeneadae, and unclose the baleful +gates. He withheld his hand, and shrank away averse from the abhorred +service, and hid himself blindly in the dark. Then the Saturnian queen +of heaven glided from the sky, with her own hand thrust open the +lingering gates, and swung sharply back on their hinges the iron-bound +doors of war. Ausonia is ablaze, till then unstirred and immoveable. +Some make ready to march afoot over the plains; some, mounted on tall +horses, ride amain in clouds of dust. All seek out arms; and now they +rub their shields smooth and make their spearheads glitter with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span><span class="linenum">[627-659]</span>fat lard, and grind their axes on the whetstone: rejoicingly +they advance under their standards and hear the trumpet note. Five great +cities set up the anvil and sharpen the sword, strong Atina and proud +Tibur, Ardea and Crustumeri, and turreted Antemnae. They hollow out +head-gear to guard them, and plait wickerwork round shield-bosses; +others forge breastplates of brass or smooth greaves of flexible silver. +To this is come the honour of share and pruning-hook, to this all the +love of the plough: they re-temper their fathers' swords in the furnace. +And now the trumpets blare; the watchword for war passes along. One +snatches a helmet hurriedly from his house, another backs his neighing +horses into the yoke; and arrays himself in shield and mail-coat +triple-linked with gold, and girds on his trusty sword.</p> + +<p>Open now the gates of Helicon, goddesses, and stir the song of the kings +that rose for war, the array that followed each and filled the plains, +the men that even then blossomed, the arms that blazed in Italy the +bountiful land: for you remember, divine ones, and you can recall; to us +but a breath of rumour, scant and slight, is wafted down.</p> + +<p>First from the Tyrrhene coast savage Mezentius, scorner of the gods, +opens the war and arrays his columns. By him is Lausus, his son, +unexcelled in bodily beauty by any save Laurentine Turnus, Lausus tamer +of horses and destroyer of wild beasts; he leads a thousand men who +followed him in vain from Agylla town; worthy to be happier in ancestral +rule, and to have other than Mezentius for father.</p> + +<p>After them beautiful Aventinus, born of beautiful Hercules, displays on +the sward his palm-crowned chariot and victorious horses, and carries on +his shield his father's device, the hundred snakes of the Hydra's +serpent-wreath. Him, in the wood of the hill Aventine, Rhea the +priestess <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span><span class="linenum">[660-693]</span>bore by stealth into the borders of light, a woman +mingled with a god, after the Tirynthian Conqueror had slain Geryon and +set foot on the fields of Laurentum, and bathed his Iberian oxen in the +Tuscan river. These carry for war javelins and grim stabbing weapons, +and fight with the round shaft and sharp point of the Sabellian pike. +Himself he went on foot swathed in a vast lion skin, shaggy with +bristling terrors, whose white teeth encircled his head; in such wild +dress, the garb of Hercules clasped over his shoulders, he entered the +royal house.</p> + +<p>Next twin brothers leave Tibur town, and the people called by their +brother Tiburtus' name, Catillus and valiant Coras, the Argives, and +advance in the forefront of battle among the throng of spears: as when +two cloud-born Centaurs descend from a lofty mountain peak, leaving +Homole or snowy Othrys in rapid race; the mighty forest yields before +them as they go, and the crashing thickets give them way.</p> + +<p>Nor was the founder of Praeneste city absent, the king who, as every age +hath believed, was born of Vulcan among the pasturing herds, and found +beside the hearth, Caeculus. On him a rustic battalion attends in loose +order, they who dwell in steep Praeneste and the fields of Juno of +Gabii, on the cool Anio and the Hernican rocks dewy with streams; they +whom rich Anagnia, and whom thou, lord Amasenus, pasturest. Not all of +them have armour, nor shields and clattering chariots. The most part +shower bullets of dull lead; some wield in their hand two darts, and +have for head-covering caps of tawny wolfskin; their left foot is bare +wherewith to plant their steps; the other is covered with a boot of raw +hide.</p> + +<p>But Messapus, tamer of horses, the seed of Neptune, whom none might ever +strike down with steel or fire, calls quickly to arms his long unstirred +peoples and bands <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span><span class="linenum">[694-727]</span>disused to war, and again handles the sword. +These are of the Fescennine ranks and of Aequi Falisci, these of +Soracte's fortresses and the fields of Flavina, and Ciminus' lake and +hill, and the groves of Capena. They marched in even time, singing their +King; as whilome snowy swans among the thin clouds, when they return +from pasturage, and utter resonant notes through their long necks; far +off echoes the river and the smitten Asian fen. . . . Nor would one think +these vast streaming masses were ranks clad in brass; rather that, high +in air, a cloud of hoarse birds from the deep gulf was pressing to the +shore.</p> + +<p>Lo, Clausus of the ancient Sabine blood, leading a great host, a great +host himself; from whom now the Claudian tribe and family is spread +abroad since Rome was shared with the Sabines. Alongside is the broad +battalion of Amiternum, and the Old Latins, and all the force of Eretum +and the Mutuscan oliveyards; they who dwell in Nomentum town, and the +Rosean country by Velinus, who keep the crags of rough Tetrica and Mount +Severus, Casperia and Foruli, and the river of Himella; they who drink +of Tiber and Fabaris, they whom cold Nursia hath sent, and the squadrons +of Horta and the tribes of Latinium; and they whom Allia, the +ill-ominous name, severs with its current; as many as the waves that +roll on the Libyan sea-floor when fierce Orion sets in the wintry surge; +as thick as the ears that ripen in the morning sunlight on the plain of +the Hermus or the yellowing Lycian tilth. Their shields clatter, and +earth is amazed under the trampling of their feet.</p> + +<p>Here Agamemnonian Halaesus, foe of the Trojan name, yokes his chariot +horses, and draws a thousand warlike peoples to Turnus; those who turn +with spades the Massic soil that is glad with wine; whom the elders of +Aurunca sent from their high hills, and the Sidicine low country +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span><span class="linenum">[728-761]</span>hard by; and those who leave Cales, and the dweller by the +shallows of Volturnus river, and side by side the rough Saticulan and +the Oscan bands. Polished maces are their weapons, and these it is their +wont to fit with a tough thong; a target covers their left side, and for +close fighting they have crooked swords.</p> + +<p>Nor shalt thou, Oebalus, depart untold of in our verses, who wast borne, +men say, by the nymph Sebethis to Telon, when he grew old in rule over +Capreae the Teleboïc realm: but not so content with his ancestral +fields, his son even then held down in wide sway the Sarrastian peoples +and the meadows watered by Sarnus, and the dwellers in Rufrae and +Batulum, and the fields of Celemnae, and they on whom from her apple +orchards Abella city looks down. Their wont was to hurl lances in +Teutonic fashion; their head covering was stripped bark of the cork +tree, their shield-plates glittering brass, glittering brass their +sword.</p> + +<p>Thee too, Ufens, mountainous Nersae sent forth to battle, of noble fame +and prosperous arms, whose race on the stiff Aequiculan clods is rough +beyond all other, and bred to continual hunting in the woodland; they +till the soil in arms, and it is ever their delight to drive in fresh +spoils and live on plunder.</p> + +<p>Furthermore there came, sent by King Archippus, the priest of the +Marruvian people, dressed with prosperous olive leaves over his helmet, +Umbro excellent in valour, who was wont with charm and touch to sprinkle +slumberous dew on the viper's brood and water-snakes of noisome breath. +Yet he availed not to heal the stroke of the Dardanian spear-point, nor +was the wound of him helped by his sleepy charms and herbs culled on the +Massic hills. Thee the woodland of Angitia, thee Fucinus' glassy wave, +thee the clear pools wept. . . .</p> + +<p>Likewise the seed of Hippolytus marched to war, Virbius <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span><span class="linenum">[762-796]</span>most +excellent in beauty, sent by his mother Aricia. The groves of Egeria +nursed him round the spongy shore where Diana's altar stands rich and +gracious. For they say in story that Hippolytus, after he fell by his +stepmother's treachery, torn asunder by his frightened horses to fulfil +a father's revenge, came again to the daylight and heaven's upper air, +recalled by Diana's love and the drugs of the Healer. Then the Lord +omnipotent, indignant that any mortal should rise from the nether shades +to the light of life, launched his thunder and hurled down to the +Stygian water the Phoebus-born, the discoverer of such craft and cure. +But Trivia the bountiful hides Hippolytus in a secret habitation, and +sends him away to the nymph Egeria and the woodland's keeping, where, +solitary in Italian forests, he should spend an inglorious life, and +have Virbius for his altered name. Whence also hoofed horses are kept +away from Trivia's temple and consecrated groves, because, affrighted at +the portents of the sea, they overset the chariot and flung him out upon +the shore. Notwithstanding did his son train his ruddy steeds on the +level plain, and sped charioted to war.</p> + +<p>Himself too among the foremost, splendid in beauty of body, Turnus moves +armed and towers a whole head over all. His lofty helmet, triple-tressed +with horse-hair, holds high a Chimaera breathing from her throat Aetnean +fires, raging the more and exasperate with baleful flames, as the battle +and bloodshed grow fiercer. But on his polished shield was emblazoned in +gold Io with uplifted horns, already a heifer and overgrown with hair, a +lofty design, and Argus the maiden's warder, and lord Inachus pouring +his stream from his embossed urn. Behind comes a cloud of infantry, and +shielded columns thicken over all the plains; the Argive men and +Auruncan forces, the Rutulians and old Sicanians, the Sacranian ranks +and Labicians with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span><span class="linenum">[797-817]</span>painted shields; they who till thy dells, O +Tiber, and Numicus' sacred shore, and whose ploughshare goes up and down +on the Rutulian hills and the Circaean headland, over whose fields +Jupiter of Anxur watches, and Feronia glad in her greenwood: and where +the marsh of Satura lies black, and cold Ufens winds his way along the +valley-bottoms and sinks into the sea.</p> + +<p>Therewithal came Camilla the Volscian, leading a train of cavalry, +squadrons splendid with brass: a warrior maiden who had never used her +woman's hands to Minerva's distaff or wool-baskets, but hardened to +endure the battle shock and outstrip the winds with racing feet. She +might have flown across the topmost blades of unmown corn and left the +tender ears unhurt as she ran; or sped her way over mid sea upborne by +the swelling flood, nor dipt her swift feet in the water. All the people +pour from house and field, and mothers crowd to wonder and gaze at her +as she goes, in rapturous astonishment at the royal lustre of purple +that drapes her smooth shoulders, at the clasp of gold that intertwines +her tresses, at the Lycian quiver she carries, and the pastoral myrtle +shaft topped with steel.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BOOK_EIGHTH" id="BOOK_EIGHTH"></a>BOOK EIGHTH</h2> + +<h3>THE EMBASSAGE TO EVANDER</h3> + + +<p>When Turnus ran up the flag of war on the towers of Laurentum, and the +trumpets blared with harsh music, when he spurred his fiery steeds and +clashed his armour, straightway men's hearts are in tumult; all Latium +at once flutters in banded uprisal, and her warriors rage furiously. +Their chiefs, Messapus, and Ufens, and Mezentius, scorner of the gods, +begin to enrol forces on all sides, and dispeople the wide fields of +husbandmen. Venulus too is sent to the town of mighty Diomede to seek +succour, to instruct him that Teucrians set foot in Latium; that Aeneas +in his fleet invades them with the vanquished gods of his home, and +proclaims himself the King summoned of fate; that many tribes join the +Dardanian, and his name swells high in Latium. What he will rear on +these foundations, what issue of battle he desires, if Fortune attend +him, lies clearer to his own sight than to King Turnus or King Latinus.</p> + +<p>Thus was it in Latium. And the hero of Laomedon's blood, seeing it all, +tosses on a heavy surge of care, and throws his mind rapidly this way +and that, and turns it on all hands in swift change of thought: even as +when the quivering light of water brimming in brass, struck back +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span><span class="linenum">[23-56]</span>from the sunlight or the moon's glittering reflection, flickers +abroad over all the room, and now mounts aloft and strikes the high +panelled roof. Night fell, and over all lands weary creatures were fast +in deep slumber, the race of fowl and of cattle; when lord Aeneas, sick +at heart of the dismal warfare, stretched him on the river bank under +the cope of the cold sky, and let sleep, though late, overspread his +limbs. To him the very god of the ground, the pleasant Tiber stream, +seemed to raise his aged form among the poplar boughs; thin lawn veiled +him with its gray covering, and shadowy reeds hid his hair. Thereon he +addressed him thus, and with these words allayed his distresses:</p> + +<p>'O born of the family of the gods, thou who bearest back our Trojan city +from hostile hands, and keepest Troy towers in eternal life; O long +looked for on Laurentine ground and Latin fields! here is thine assured +home, thine home's assured gods. Draw not thou back, nor be alarmed by +menace of war. All the anger and wrath of the gods is passed away . . . +And even now for thine assurance, that thou think not this the idle +fashioning of sleep, a great sow shall be found lying under the oaks on +the shore, with her new-born litter of thirty head: white she couches on +the ground, and the brood about her teats is white. By this token in +thirty revolving years shall Ascanius found a city, Alba of bright name. +My prophecy is sure. Now hearken, and I will briefly instruct thee how +thou mayest unravel and overcome thy present task. An Arcadian people +sprung of Pallas, following in their king Evander's company beneath his +banners, have chosen a place in these coasts, and set a city on the +hills, called Pallanteum after Pallas their forefather. These wage +perpetual war with the Latin race; these do thou take to thy camp's +alliance, and join with them in league. Myself I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span><span class="linenum">[57-89]</span>will lead thee +by my banks and straight along my stream, that thou mayest oar thy way +upward against the river. Up and arise, goddess-born, and even with the +setting stars address thy prayers to Juno as is meet, and vanquish her +wrath and menaces with humble vows. To me thou shalt pay a conqueror's +sacrifice. I am he whom thou seest washing the banks with full flood and +severing the rich tilth, glassy Tiber, best beloved by heaven of rivers. +Here is my stately home; my fountain-head is among high cities.'</p> + +<p>Thus spoke the River, and sank in the depth of the pool: night and sleep +left Aeneas. He arises, and, looking towards the radiant sky of the +sunrising, holds up water from the river in fitly-hollowed palms, and +pours to heaven these accents:</p> + +<p>'Nymphs, Laurentine Nymphs, from whom is the generation of rivers, and +thou, O father Tiber, with thine holy flood, receive Aeneas and deign to +save him out of danger. What pool soever holds thy source, who pitiest +our discomforts, from whatsoever soil thou dost spring excellent in +beauty, ever shall my worship, ever my gifts frequent thee, the hornèd +river lord of Hesperian waters. Ah, be thou only by me, and graciously +confirm thy will.' So speaks he, and chooses two galleys from his fleet, +and mans them with rowers, and withal equips a crew with arms.</p> + +<p>And lo! suddenly, ominous and wonderful to tell, the milk-white sow, of +one colour with her white brood, is espied through the forest couched on +the green brink; whom to thee, yes to thee, queenly Juno, good Aeneas +offers in sacrifice, and sets with her offspring before thine altar. All +that night long Tiber assuaged his swelling stream, and silently stayed +his refluent wave, smoothing the surface of his waters to the fashion of +still pool and quiet mere, to spare <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span><span class="linenum">[90-121]</span>labour to the oar. So they +set out and speed on their way with prosperous cries; the painted fir +slides along the waterway; the waves and unwonted woods marvel at their +far-gleaming shields, and the gay hulls afloat on the river. They +outwear a night and a day in rowing, ascend the long reaches, and pass +under the chequered shadows of the trees, and cut through the green +woodland in the calm water. The fiery sun had climbed midway in the +circle of the sky when they see afar fortress walls and scattered house +roofs, where now the might of Rome hath risen high as heaven; then +Evander held a slender state. Quickly they turn their prows to land and +draw near the town.</p> + +<p>It chanced on that day the Arcadian king paid his accustomed sacrifice +to the great son of Amphitryon and all the gods in a grove before the +city. With him his son Pallas, with him all the chief of his people and +his poor senate were offering incense, and the blood steamed warm at +their altars. When they saw the high ships, saw them glide up between +the shady woodlands and rest on their silent oars, the sudden sight +appals them, and all at once they rise and stop the banquet. Pallas +courageously forbids them to break off the rites; snatching up a spear, +he flies forward, and from a hillock cries afar: 'O men, what cause hath +driven you to explore these unknown ways? or whither do you steer? What +is your kin, whence your habitation? Is it peace or arms you carry +hither?' Then from the lofty stern lord Aeneas thus speaks, stretching +forth in his hand an olive bough of peace-bearing:</p> + +<p>'Thou seest men born of Troy and arms hostile to the Latins, who have +driven us to flight in insolent warfare. We seek Evander; carry this +message, and tell him that chosen men of the Dardanian captains are come +pleading for an armed alliance.'</p> + +<p>Pallas stood amazed at the august name. 'Descend,' <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span><span class="linenum">[122-154]</span>he cries, +'whoso thou art, and speak with my father face to face, and enter our +home and hospitality.' And giving him the grasp of welcome, he caught +and clung to his hand. Advancing, they enter the grove and leave the +river. Then Aeneas in courteous words addresses the King:</p> + +<p>'Best of the Grecian race, thou whom fortune hath willed that I +supplicate, holding before me boughs dressed in fillets, no fear stayed +me because thou wert a Grecian chief and an Arcadian, or allied by +descent to the twin sons of Atreus. Nay, mine own prowess and the +sanctity of divine oracles, our ancestral kinship, and the fame of thee +that is spread abroad over the earth, have allied me to thee and led me +willingly on the path of fate. Dardanus, who sailed to the Teucrian +land, the first father and founder of the Ilian city, was born, as +Greeks relate, of Electra the Atlantid; Electra's sire is ancient Atlas, +whose shoulder sustains the heavenly spheres. Your father is Mercury, +whom white Maia conceived and bore on the cold summit of Cyllene; but +Maia, if we give any credence to report, is daughter of Atlas, that same +Atlas who bears up the starry heavens; so both our families branch from +a single blood. In this confidence I sent no embassy, I framed no crafty +overtures; myself I have presented mine own person, and come a suppliant +to thy courts. The same Daunian race pursues us and thee in merciless +warfare; we once expelled, they trust nothing will withhold them from +laying all Hesperia wholly beneath their yoke, and holding the seas that +wash it above and below. Accept and return our friendship. We can give +brave hearts in war, high souls and men approved in deeds.'</p> + +<p>Aeneas ended. The other ere now scanned in a long gaze the face and eyes +and all the form of the speaker; then thus briefly returns:</p> + +<p>'How gladly, bravest of the Teucrians, do I hail and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span><span class="linenum">[155-188]</span>own thee! +how I recall thy father's words and the very tone and glance of great +Anchises! For I remember how Priam son of Laomedon, when he sought +Salamis on his way to the realm of his sister Hesione, went on to visit +the cold borders of Arcadia. Then early youth clad my cheeks with bloom. +I admired the Teucrian captains, admired their lord, the son of +Laomedon; but Anchises moved high above them all. My heart burned with +youthful passion to accost him and clasp hand in hand; I made my way to +him, and led him eagerly to Pheneus' high town. Departing he gave me an +adorned quiver and Lycian arrows, a scarf inwoven with gold, and a pair +of golden bits that now my Pallas possesses. Therefore my hand is +already joined in the alliance you seek, and soon as to-morrow's dawn +rises again over earth, I will send you away rejoicing in mine aid, and +supply you from my store. Meanwhile, since you are come hither in +friendship, solemnise with us these yearly rites which we may not defer, +and even now learn to be familiar at your comrades' board.'</p> + +<p>This said, he commands the feast and the wine-cups to be replaced whence +they were taken, and with his own hand ranges them on the grassy seat, +and welcomes Aeneas to the place of honour, with a lion's shaggy fell +for cushion and a hospitable chair of maple. Then chosen men with the +priest of the altar in emulous haste bring roasted flesh of bulls, and +pile baskets with the gift of ground corn, and serve the wine. Aeneas +and the men of Troy with him feed on the long chines of oxen and the +entrails of the sacrifice.</p> + +<p>After hunger is driven away and the desire of food stayed, King Evander +speaks: 'No idle superstition that knows not the gods of old hath +ordered these our solemn rites, this customary feast, this altar of +august sanctity; saved from bitter perils, O Trojan guest, do we +worship, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span><span class="linenum">[189-225]</span>most due are the rites we inaugurate. Look now +first on this overhanging cliff of stone, where shattered masses lie +strewn, and the mountain dwelling stands desolate, and rocks are rent +away in vast ruin. Here was a cavern, awful and deep-withdrawn, +impenetrable to the sunbeams, where the monstrous half-human shape of +Cacus had his hold: the ground was ever wet with fresh slaughter, and +pallid faces of men, ghastly with gore, hung nailed on the haughty +doors. This monster was the son of Vulcan, and spouted his black fires +from his mouth as he moved in giant bulk. To us also in our desire time +bore a god's aid and arrival. For princely Alcides the avenger came +glorious in the spoils of triple Geryon slain; this way the Conqueror +drove the huge bulls, and his oxen filled the river valley. But savage +Cacus, infatuate to leave nothing undared or unhandled in craft or +crime, drives four bulls of choice shape away from their pasturage, and +as many heifers of excellent beauty. And these, that there should be no +straightforward footprints, he dragged by the tail into his cavern, the +track of their compelled path reversed, and hid them behind the screen +of rock. No marks were there to lead a seeker to the cavern. Meanwhile +the son of Amphitryon, his herds filled with food, was now breaking up +his pasturage and making ready to go. The oxen low as they depart; all +the woodland is filled with their complaint as they clamorously quit the +hills. One heifer returned the cry, and, lowing from the depth of the +dreary cave, baffled the hope of Cacus from her imprisonment. At this +the grief and choler of Alcides blazed forth dark and infuriate. Seizing +in his hand his club of heavy knotted oak, he seeks with swift pace the +aery mountain steep. Then, as never before, did we see Cacus afraid and +his countenance troubled; he goes flying swifter than the wind and seeks +his cavern; fear wings his feet. As he shut himself in, and, bursting +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span><span class="linenum">[226-260]</span>chains, dropped the vast rock slung in iron by his +father's craft, and blocked the doorway with its pressure, lo! the +Tirynthian came in furious wrath, and, scanning all the entry, turned +his face this way and that and ground his teeth. Thrice, hot with rage, +he circles all Mount Aventine; thrice he assails the rocky portals in +vain; thrice he sinks down outwearied in the valley. There stood a sharp +rock of flint with sides cut sheer away, rising over the cavern's ridge +a vast height to see, fit haunt for foul birds to build on. This—for, +sloping from the ridge, it leaned on the left towards the river—he +loosened, urging it from the right till he tore it loose from its deep +foundations; then suddenly shook it free; with the shock the vast sky +thunders, the banks leap apart, and the amazed river recoils. But the +den, Cacus' huge palace, lay open and revealed, and the depths of gloomy +cavern were made manifest; even as though some force tearing earth apart +should unlock the infernal house, and disclose the pallid realms +abhorred of heaven, and deep down the monstrous gulf be descried where +the ghosts flutter in the streaming daylight. On him then, surprised in +unexpected light, shut in the rock's recesses and howling in strange +fashion, Alcides from above hurls missiles and calls all his arms to +aid, and presses hard on him with boughs and enormous millstones. And +he, for none other escape from peril is left, vomits from his throat +vast jets of smoke, wonderful to tell, and enwreathes his dwelling in +blind gloom, blotting view from the eyes, while in the cave's depth +night thickens with smoke-bursts in a darkness shot with fire. Alcides +broke forth in anger, and with a bound hurled himself sheer amid the +flames, where the smoke rolls billowing and voluminous, and the cloud +surges black through the enormous den. Here, as Cacus in the darkness +spouts forth his idle fires, he grasps and twines tight round him, till +his eyes start out and his throat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span><span class="linenum">[261-295]</span>is drained of blood under +the strangling pressure. Straightway the doors are torn open and the +dark house laid plain; the stolen oxen and forsworn plunder are shewn +forth to heaven, and the misshapen carcase dragged forward by the feet. +Men cannot satisfy their soul with gazing on the terrible eyes, the +monstrous face and shaggy bristling chest, and the throat with its +quenched fires. Thenceforth this sacrifice is solemnised, and a younger +race have gladly kept the day; Potitius the inaugurator, and the +Pinarian family, guardians of the rites of Hercules, have set in the +grove this altar, which shall ever be called of us Most Mighty, and +shall be our mightiest evermore. Wherefore arise, O men, and enwreathe +your hair with leafy sprays, and stretch forth the cups in your hands; +call on our common god and pour the glad wine.' He ended; when the +twy-coloured poplar of Hercules hid his shaded hair with pendulous +plaited leaf, and the sacred goblet filled his hand. Speedily all pour +glad libation on the board, and supplicate the gods.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the evening star draws nigher down the slope of heaven, and +now the priests went forth, Potitius at their head, girt with skins +after their fashion, and bore torches aflame. They renew the banquet, +and bring the grateful gift of a second repast, and heap the altars with +loaded platters. Then the Salii stand round the lit altar-fires to sing, +their brows bound with poplar boughs, one chorus of young men, one of +elders, and extol in song the praises and deeds of Hercules; how first +he strangled in his gripe the twin terrors, the snakes of his +stepmother; how he likewise shattered in war famous cities, Troy and +Oechalia; how under Eurystheus the King he bore the toil of a thousand +labours by Juno's malign decrees. Thine hand, unconquered, slays the +cloud-born double-bodied race, Hylaeus and Pholus, the Cretan monster, +and the huge lion in the hollow Nemean rock. Before thee the Stygian +pools <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span><span class="linenum">[296-329]</span>shook for fear, before thee the warder of hell, couched +on half-gnawn bones in his blood-stained cavern; to thee not any form +was terrible, not Typhoeus' self towering in arms; thou wast not bereft +of counsel when the snake of Lerna encompassed thee with thronging +heads. Hail, true seed of Jove, deified glory! graciously visit us and +these thy rites with favourable feet. Such are their songs of praise; +they crown all with the cavern of Cacus and its fire-breathing lord. All +the woodland echoes with their clamour, and the hills resound.</p> + +<p>Thence all at once, the sacred rites accomplished, retrace their way to +the city. The age-worn King walked holding Aeneas and his son by his +side for companions on his way, and lightened the road with changing +talk. Aeneas admires and turns his eyes lightly round about, pleased +with the country; and gladly on spot after spot inquires and hears of +the memorials of earlier men. Then King Evander, founder of the fortress +of Rome:</p> + +<p>'In these woodlands dwelt Fauns and Nymphs sprung of the soil, and a +tribe of men born of stocks and hard oak; who had neither law nor grace +of life, nor did they know to yoke bulls or lay up stores or save their +gains, but were nurtured by the forest boughs and the hard living of the +huntsman. Long ago Saturn came from heaven on high in flight before +Jove's arms, an exile from his lost realm. He gathered together the +unruly race scattered on the mountain heights, and gave them statutes, +and chose Latium to be their name, since in these borders he had found a +safe hiding-place. Beneath his reign were the ages named of gold; thus, +in peace and quietness, did he rule the nations; till gradually there +crept in a sunken and stained time, the rage of war, and the lust of +possession. Then came the Ausonian clan and the tribes of Sicania, and +many a time the land of Saturn put away her name. Then were kings, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span><span class="linenum">[330-364]</span>and fierce Thybris with his giant bulk, from whose name we of +Italy afterwards called the Tiber river, when it lost the true name of +old, Albula. Me, cast out from my country and following the utmost +limits of the sea, Fortune the omnipotent and irreversible doom settled +in this region; and my mother the Nymph Carmentis' awful warnings and +Apollo's divine counsel drove me hither.'</p> + +<p>Scarce was this said; next advancing he points out the altar and the +Carmental Gate, which the Romans call anciently by that name in honour +of the Nymph Carmentis, seer and soothsayer, who sang of old the coming +greatness of the Aeneadae and the glory of Pallanteum. Next he points +out the wide grove where valiant Romulus set his sanctuary, and the +Lupercal in the cool hollow of the rock, dedicate to Lycean Pan after +the manner of Parrhasia. Therewithal he shows the holy wood of +Argiletum, and calls the spot to witness as he tells the slaying of his +guest Argus. Hence he leads him to the Tarpeian house, and the Capitol +golden now, of old rough with forest thickets. Even then men trembled +before the wood and rock. 'This grove,' he cries, 'this hill with its +leafy crown, is a god's dwelling, though whose we know not; the +Arcadians believe Jove himself hath been visible, when often he shook +the darkening aegis in his hand and gathered the storm-clouds. Thou +seest these two towns likewise with walls overthrown, relics and +memorials of men of old. This fortress lord Janus built, this Saturn; +the name of this was once Janiculum, of that Saturnia.'</p> + +<p>With such mutual words they drew nigh the house of poor Evander, and saw +scattered herds lowing on the Roman Forum and down the gay Carinae. When +they reached his dwelling, 'This threshold,' he cries, 'Alcides the +Conqueror stooped to cross; in this palace he rested. Dare thou, my +guest, to despise riches; mould thyself to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span><span class="linenum">[365-396]</span>like dignity of +godhead, and come not exacting to our poverty.' He spoke, and led tall +Aeneas under the low roof of his narrow dwelling, and laid him on a +couch of stuffed leaves and the skin of a Libyan she-bear. Night falls +and clasps the earth in her dusky wings.</p> + +<p>But Venus, stirred in spirit by no vain mother's alarms, and moved by +the threats and stern uprisal of the Laurentines, addresses herself to +Vulcan, and in her golden bridal chamber begins thus, breathing divine +passion in her speech:</p> + +<p>'While Argolic kings wasted in war the doomed towers of Troy, the +fortress fated to fall in hostile fires, no succour did I require for +her wretched people, no weapons of thine art and aid: nor would I task, +dear my lord, thee or thy toils for naught, though I owed many and many +a debt to the children of Priam, and had often wept the sore labour of +Aeneas. Now by Jove's commands he hath set foot in the Rutulian borders; +I now therefore come with entreaty, and ask armour of the god I worship. +For the son she bore, the tears of Nereus' daughter, of Tithonus' +consort, could melt thine heart. Look what nations are gathering, what +cities bar their gates and sharpen the sword against me for the +desolation of my children.'</p> + +<p>The goddess ended, and, as he hesitates, clasps him round in the soft +embrace of her snowy arms. He suddenly caught the wonted flame, and the +heat known of old pierced him to the heart and overran his melting +frame: even as when, bursting from the thunder peal, a sparkling cleft +of fire shoots through the storm-clouds with dazzling light. His consort +knew, rejoiced in her wiles, and felt her beauty. Then her lord speaks, +enchained by Love the immortal:</p> + +<p>'Why these far-fetched pleas? Whither, O goddess, is thy trust in me +gone? Had like distress been thine, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span><span class="linenum">[397-431]</span>even then we might +unblamed have armed thy Trojans, nor did doom nor the Lord omnipotent +forbid Troy to stand, and Priam to survive yet ten other years. And now, +if thou purposest war, and this is thy counsel, whatever charge I can +undertake in my craft, in aught that may be made of iron or molten +electrum, whatever fire and air can do, cease thou to entreat as +doubtful of thy strength.' These words spoken, he clasped his wife in +the desired embrace, and, sinking in her lap, wooed quiet slumber to +overspread his limbs.</p> + +<p>Thereon, so soon as sleep, now in mid-career of waning night, had given +rest and gone; soon as a woman, whose task is to sustain life with her +distaff and the slender labours of the loom, kindles the ashes of her +slumbering fire, her toil encroaching on the night, and sets a long task +of fire-lit spinning to her maidens, that so she may keep her husband's +bed unsullied and nourish her little children,—even so the Lord of +Fire, nor slacker in his hours than she, rises from his soft couch to +the work of his smithy. An island rises by the side of Sicily and +Aeolian Lipare, steep with smoking cliffs, whereunder the vaulted and +thunderous Aetnean caverns are hollowed out for Cyclopean forges, the +strong strokes on the anvils echo in groans, ore of steel hisses in the +vaults, and the fire pants in the furnaces: the house of Vulcan, and +Vulcania the land's name. Hither now the Lord of Fire descends from +heaven's height. In the vast cavern the Cyclopes were forging iron, +Brontes and Steropes and Pyracmon with bared limbs. Shaped in their +hands was a thunderbolt, in part already polished, such as the Father of +Heaven hurls down on earth in multitudes, part yet unfinished. Three +coils of frozen rain, three of watery mist they had enwrought in it, +three of ruddy fire and winged south wind; now they were mingling in +their work the awful splendours, the sound and terror, and the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span><span class="linenum">[432-469]</span>angry pursuing flames. Elsewhere they hurried on a chariot for +Mars with flying wheels, wherewith he stirs up men and cities; and +burnished the golden serpent-scales of the awful aegis, the armour of +wrathful Pallas, and the entwined snakes on the breast of the goddess, +the Gorgon head with severed neck and rolling eyes. 'Away with all!' he +cries: 'stop your tasks unfinished, Cyclopes of Aetna, and attend to +this; a warrior's armour must be made. Now must strength, now quickness +of hand be tried, now all our art lend her guidance. Fling off delay.' +He spoke no more; but they all bent rapidly to the work, allotting their +labours equally. Brass and ore of gold flow in streams, and wounding +steel is molten in the vast furnace. They shape a mighty shield, to +receive singly all the weapons of the Latins, and weld it sevenfold, +circle on circle. Some fill and empty the windy bellows of their blast, +some dip the hissing brass in the trough. They raise their arms mightily +in responsive time, and turn the mass of metal about in the grasp of +their tongs.</p> + +<p>While the lord of Lemnos is busied thus in the borders of Aeolia, +Evander is roused from his low dwelling by the gracious daylight and the +matin songs of birds from the eaves. The old man arises, and draws on +his body raiment, and ties the Tyrrhene shoe latchets about his feet; +then buckles to his side and shoulder his Tegeaean sword, and swathes +himself in a panther skin that droops upon his left. Therewithal two +watch-dogs go before him from the high threshold, and accompany their +master's steps. The hero sought his guest Aeneas in the privacy of his +dwelling, mindful of their talk and his promised bounty. Nor did Aeneas +fail to be astir with the dawn. With the one went his son Pallas, with +the other Achates. They meet and clasp hands, and, sitting down within +the house, at length enjoy unchecked converse. The King begins thus: . . .</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[470-505]</span>'Princely chief of the Teucrians, in whose lifetime I will +never allow the state or realm of Troy vanquished, our strength is scant +to succour in war for so great a name. On this side the Tuscan river +shuts us in; on that the Rutulian drives us hard, and thunders in arms +about our walls. But I purpose to unite to thee mighty peoples and the +camp of a wealthy realm; an unforeseen chance offers this for thy +salvation. Fate summons thy approach. Not far from here stands fast +Agylla city, an ancient pile of stone, where of old the Lydian race, +eminent in war, settled on the Etruscan ridges. For many years it +flourished, till King Mezentius ruled it with insolent sway and armed +terror. Why should I relate the horrible murders, the savage deeds of +the monarch? May the gods keep them in store for himself and his line! +Nay, he would even link dead bodies to living, fitting hand to hand and +face to face (the torture!), and in the oozy foulness and corruption of +the dreadful embrace so slay them by a lingering death. But at last his +citizens, outwearied by his mad excesses, surround him and his house in +arms, cut down his comrades, and hurl fire on his roof. Amid the +massacre he escaped to the refuge of Rutulian land and the armed defence +of Turnus' friendship. So all Etruria hath risen in righteous fury, and +in immediate battle claim their king for punishment. Over these +thousands will I make thee chief, O Aeneas; for their noisy ships crowd +all the shore, and they bid the standards advance, while the aged +diviner stays them with prophecies: "O chosen men of Maeonia, flower and +strength of them, of old time, whom righteous anger urges on the enemy, +and Mezentius inflames with deserved wrath, to no Italian is it +permitted to hold this great nation in control: choose foreigners to +lead you." At that, terrified by the divine warning, the Etruscan lines +have encamped on the plain; Tarchon himself hath sent ambassadors to me +with the crown <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span><span class="linenum">[506-539]</span>and sceptre of the kingdom, and offers the +royal attire will I but enter their camp and take the Tyrrhene realm. +But old age, frozen to dulness, and exhausted with length of life, +denies me the load of empire, and my prowess is past its day. I would +urge it on my son, did not the mixture of blood by his Sabellian mother +make this half his native land. Thou, to whose years and race alike the +fates extend their favour, on whom fortune calls, enter thou in, a +leader supreme in bravery over Teucrians and Italians. Mine own Pallas +likewise, our hope and comfort, I will send with thee; let him grow used +to endure warfare and the stern work of battle under thy teaching, to +regard thine actions, and from his earliest years look up to thee. To +him will I give two hundred Arcadian cavalry, the choice of our warlike +strength, and Pallas as many more to thee in his own name.'</p> + +<p>Scarce had he ended; Aeneas, son of Anchises, and trusty Achates gazed +with steadfast face, and, sad at heart, were revolving inly many a +labour, had not the Cytherean sent a sign from the clear sky. For +suddenly a flash and peal comes quivering from heaven, and all seemed in +a moment to totter, and the Tyrrhene trumpet-blast to roar along the +sky. They look up; again and yet again the heavy crash re-echoes. They +see in the serene space of sky armour gleam red through a cloud in the +clear air, and ring clashing out. The others stood in amaze; but the +Trojan hero knew the sound for the promise of his goddess mother; then +he speaks: 'Ask not, O friend, ask not in any wise what fortune this +presage announces; it is I who am summoned of heaven. This sign the +goddess who bore me foretold she would send if war assailed, and would +bring through the air to my succour armour from Vulcan's hands. . . . Ah, +what slaughter awaits the wretched Laurentines! what a price, O Turnus, +wilt thou pay me! how many shields and helmets and brave bodies of men +shalt thou, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span><span class="linenum">[540-573]</span>Lord Tiber, roll under thy waves! Let them call +for armed array and break the league!'</p> + +<p>These words uttered, he rises from the high seat, and first wakes with +fresh fire the slumbering altars of Hercules, and gladly draws nigh his +tutelar god of yesternight and the small deities of the household. Alike +Evander, and alike the men of Troy, offer up, as is right, choice sheep +of two years old. Thereafter he goes to the ships and revisits his crew, +of whose company he chooses the foremost in valour to attend him to war; +the rest glide down the water and float idly with the descending stream, +to come with news to Ascanius of his father's state. They give horses to +the Teucrians who seek the fields of Tyrrhenia; a chosen one is brought +for Aeneas, housed in a tawny lion skin that glitters with claws of +gold. Rumour flies suddenly, spreading over the little town, that they +ride in haste to the courts of the Tyrrhene king. Mothers redouble their +prayers in terror, as fear treads closer on peril and the likeness of +the War God looms larger in sight. Then Evander, clasping the hand of +his departing son, clings to him weeping inconsolably, and speaks thus:</p> + +<p>'Oh, if Jupiter would restore me the years that are past, as I was when, +close under Praeneste, I cut down their foremost ranks and burned the +piled shields of the conquered! Then this right hand sent King Erulus +down to hell, though to him at his birth his mother Feronia (awful to +tell) had given three lives and triple arms to wield; thrice must he be +laid low in death; yet then this hand took all his lives and as often +stripped him of his arms. Never should I now, O son, be severed from thy +dear embrace; never had the insolent sword of Mezentius on my borders +dealt so many cruel deaths, widowed the city of so many citizens. But +you, O heavenly powers, and thou, Jupiter, Lord and Governor of Heaven, +have compassion, I pray, on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span><span class="linenum">[574-609]</span>the Arcadian king, and hear a +father's prayers. If your deity and decrees keep my Pallas safe for me, +if I live that I may see him and meet him yet, I pray for life; any toil +soever I have patience to endure. But if, O Fortune, thou threatenest +some dread calamity, now, ah now, may I break off a cruel life, while +anxiety still wavers and expectation is in doubt, while thou, dear boy, +my one last delight, art yet clasped in my embrace; let no bitterer +message wound mine ear.' These words the father poured forth at the +final parting; his servants bore him swooning within.</p> + +<p>And now the cavalry had issued from the open gates, Aeneas and trusty +Achates among the foremost, then other of the Trojan princes, Pallas +conspicuous amid the column in scarf and inlaid armour; like the Morning +Star, when, newly washed in the ocean wave, he shews his holy face in +heaven, and melts the darkness away. Fearful mothers stand on the walls +and follow with their eyes the cloud of dust and the squadrons gleaming +in brass. They, where the goal of their way lies nearest, bear through +the brushwood in armed array. Forming in column, they advance noisily, +and the horse hoof shakes the crumbling plain with four-footed +trampling. There is a high grove by the cold river of Caere, widely +revered in ancestral awe; sheltering hills shut it in all about and +girdle the woodland with their dark firs. Rumour is that the old +Pelasgians, who once long ago held the Latin borders, consecrated the +grove and its festal day to Silvanus, god of the tilth and flock. Not +far from it Tarchon and his Tyrrhenians were encamped in a protected +place; and now from the hill-top the tents of all their army might be +seen outspread on the fields. Lord Aeneas and his chosen warriors draw +hither and refresh their weary horses and limbs.</p> + +<p>But Venus the white goddess drew nigh, bearing her gifts through the +clouds of heaven; and when she saw her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span><span class="linenum">[610-646]</span>son withdrawn far apart +in the valley's recess by the cold river, cast herself in his way, and +addressed him thus: 'Behold perfected the presents of my husband's +promised craftsmanship: so shalt thou not shun, O my child, soon to +challenge the haughty Laurentines or fiery Turnus to battle.' The +Cytherean spoke, and sought her son's embrace, and laid the armour +glittering under an oak over against him. He, rejoicing in the +magnificence of the goddess' gift, cannot have his fill of turning his +eyes over it piece by piece, and admires and handles between his arms +the helmet, dread with plumes and spouting flame, as when a blue cloud +takes fire in the sunbeams and gleams afar; then the smooth greaves of +electrum and refined gold, the spear, and the shield's ineffable design. +There the Lord of Fire had fashioned the story of Italy and the triumphs +of the Romans, not witless of prophecy or ignorant of the age to be; +there all the race of Ascanius' future seed, and their wars fought one +by one. Likewise had he fashioned the she-wolf couched after the birth +in the green cave of Mars; round her teats the twin boys hung playing, +and fearlessly mouthed their foster-mother; she, with round neck bent +back, stroked them by turns and shaped their bodies with her tongue. +Thereto not far from this he had set Rome and the lawless rape of the +Sabines in the concourse of the theatre when the great Circensian games +were celebrated, and a fresh war suddenly arising between the people of +Romulus and aged Tatius and austere Cures. Next these same kings laid +down their mutual strife and stood armed before Jove's altar with cup in +hand, and joined treaty over a slain sow. Not far from there four-horse +chariots driven apart had torn Mettus asunder (but thou, O Alban, +shouldst have kept by thy words!), and Tullus tore the flesh of the liar +through the forest, his splashed blood dripping from the briars. +Therewithal Porsena commanded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span><span class="linenum">[647-681]</span>to admit the exiled Tarquin, and +held the city in the grasp of a strong blockade; the Aeneadae rushed on +the sword for liberty. Him thou couldst espy like one who chafes and +like one who threatens, because Cocles dared to tear down the bridge, +and Cloelia broke her bonds and swam the river. Highest of all Manlius, +warder of the Tarpeian fortress, stood with the temple behind him and +held the high Capitoline; and the thatch of Romulus' palace stood rough +and fresh. And here the silver goose, fluttering in the gilded +colonnades, cried that the Gauls were there on the threshold. The Gauls +were there among the brushwood, hard on the fortress, secure in the +darkness and the dower of shadowy night. Their clustering locks are of +gold, and of gold their attire; their striped cloaks glitter, and their +milk-white necks are entwined with gold. Two Alpine pikes sparkle in the +hand of each, and long shields guard their bodies. Here he had embossed +the dancing Salii and the naked Luperci, the crests wreathed in wool, +and the sacred shields that fell from heaven; in cushioned cars the +virtuous matrons led on their rites through the city. Far hence he adds +the habitations of hell also, the high gates of Dis and the dooms of +guilt; and thee, O Catiline, clinging on the beetling rock, and +shuddering at the faces of the Furies; and far apart the good, and Cato +delivering them statutes. Amidst it all flows wide the likeness of the +swelling sea, wrought in gold, though the foam surged gray upon blue +water; and round about dolphins, in shining silver, swept the seas with +their tails in circle as they cleft the tide. In the centre were visible +the brazen war-fleets of Actium; thou mightest see all Leucate swarm in +embattled array, and the waves gleam with gold. Here Caesar Augustus, +leading Italy to battle with Fathers and People, with gods of household +and of state, stands on the lofty stern; prosperous flames jet round his +brow, and his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span><span class="linenum">[682-715]</span>ancestral star dawns overhead. Elsewhere +Agrippa, with favouring winds and gods, proudly leads on his column; on +his brows glitters the prow-girt naval crown, the haughty emblazonment +of the war. Here Antonius with barbarian aid and motley arms, from the +conquered nations of the Dawn and the shore of the southern sea, carries +with him Egypt and the Eastern forces of utmost Bactra, and the shameful +Egyptian woman goes as his consort. All at once rush on, and the whole +ocean is torn into foam by straining oars and triple-pointed prows. They +steer to sea; one might think that the Cyclades were uptorn and floated +on the main, or that lofty mountains clashed with mountains, so mightily +do their crews urge on the turreted ships. Flaming tow and the winged +steel of darts shower thickly from their hands; the fields of ocean +redden with fresh slaughter. Midmost the Queen calls on her squadron +with the timbrel of her country, nor yet casts back a glance on the twin +snakes behind her. Howling Anubis, and gods monstrous and multitudinous, +level their arms against Neptune and Venus and against Minerva; Mars +rages amid the havoc, graven in iron, and the Fatal Sisters hang aloft, +and Discord strides rejoicing with garment rent, and Bellona attends her +with blood-stained scourge. Looking thereon, Actian Apollo above drew +his bow; with the terror of it all Egypt and India, every Arab and +Sabaean, turned back in flight. The Queen herself seemed to call the +winds and spread her sails, and even now let her sheets run slack. Her +the Lord of Fire had fashioned amid the carnage, wan with the shadow of +death, borne along by the waves and the north-west wind; and over +against her the vast bulk of mourning Nile, opening out his folds and +calling with all his raiment the conquered people into his blue lap and +the coverture of his streams. But Caesar rode into the city of Rome in +triple triumph, and dedicated his vowed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span><span class="linenum">[716-731]</span>offering to the gods +to stand for ever, three hundred stately shrines all about the city. The +streets were loud with gladness and games and shouting. In all the +temples was a band of matrons, in all were altars, and before the altars +slain steers strewed the ground. Himself he sits on the snowy threshold +of Phoebus the bright, reviews the gifts of the nations and ranges them +on the haughty doors. The conquered tribes move in long line, diverse as +in tongue, so in fashion of dress and armour. Here Mulciber had designed +the Nomad race and the ungirt Africans, here the Leleges and Carians and +archer Gelonians. Euphrates went by now with smoother waves, and the +Morini utmost of men, and the hornèd Rhine, the untamed Dahae, and +Araxes chafing under his bridge.</p> + +<p>These things he admires on the shield of Vulcan, his mother's gift, and +rejoicing in the portraiture of unknown history, lifts on his shoulder +the destined glories of his children.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BOOK_NINTH" id="BOOK_NINTH"></a>BOOK NINTH</h2> + +<h3>THE SIEGE OF THE TROJAN CAMP</h3> + + +<p>And while thus things pass far in the distance, Juno daughter of Saturn +sent Iris down the sky to gallant Turnus, then haply seated in his +forefather Pilumnus' holy forest dell. To him the child of Thaumas spoke +thus with roseate lips:</p> + +<p>'Turnus, what no god had dared promise to thy prayer, behold, is brought +unasked by the circling day. Aeneas hath quitted town and comrades and +fleet to seek Evander's throne and Palatine dwelling-place. Nor is it +enough; he hath pierced to Corythus' utmost cities, and is mustering in +arms a troop of Lydian rustics. Why hesitate? now, now is the time to +call for chariot and horses. Break through all hindrance and seize the +bewildered camp.'</p> + +<p>She spoke, and rose into the sky on poised wings, and flashed under the +clouds in a long flying bow. He knew her, and lifting either hand to +heaven, with this cry pursued her flight: 'Iris, grace of the sky, who +hath driven thee down the clouds to me and borne thee to earth? Whence +is this sudden sheen of weather? I see the sky parting asunder, and the +wandering stars in the firmament. I follow the high omen, whoso thou art +that callest me to arms.' And with these words he drew nigh the wave, +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span><span class="linenum">[23-58]</span>caught up water from its brimming eddy, making many prayers +to the gods and burdening the air with vows.</p> + +<p>And now all the army was advancing on the open plain, rich in horses, +rich in raiment of broidered gold. Messapus rules the foremost ranks, +the sons of Tyrrheus the rear. Turnus commands the centre: even as +Ganges rising high in silence when his seven streams are still, or the +rich flood of Nile when he ebbs from the plains, and is now sunk into +his channel. On this the Teucrians descry a sudden cloud of dark dust +gathering, and the blackness rising on the plain. Caïcus raises a cry +from the mound in front: 'What mass of misty gloom, O citizens, is +rolling hitherward? to arms in haste! serve out weapons, climb the +walls. The enemy approaches, ho!' With mighty clamour the Teucrians pour +in through all the gates and fill the works. For so at his departure +Aeneas the great captain had enjoined; were aught to chance meanwhile, +they should not venture to range their line or trust the plain, but keep +their camp and the safety of the entrenched walls. So, though shame and +wrath beckon them on to battle, they yet bar the gates and do his +bidding, and await the foe armed and in shelter of the towers. Turnus, +who had flown forward in advance of his tardy column, comes up suddenly +to the town with a train of twenty chosen cavalry, borne on a Thracian +horse dappled with white, and covered by a golden helmet with scarlet +plume. 'Who will be with me, my men, to be first on the foe? See!' he +cries; and sends a javelin spinning into the air to open battle, and +advances towering on the plain. His comrades take up the cry, and follow +with dreadful din, wondering at the Teucrians' coward hearts, that they +issue not on even field nor face them in arms, but keep in shelter of +the camp. Hither and thither he rides furiously, tracing the walls, and +seeking entrance where way is none. And as a wolf prowling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span><span class="linenum">[59-92]</span>about +some crowded sheepfold, when, beaten sore of winds and rains, he howls +at the pens by midnight; safe beneath their mothers the lambs keep +bleating on; he, savage and insatiate, rages in anger against the flock +he cannot reach, tired by the long-gathering madness for food, and the +throat unslaked with blood: even so the Rutulian, as he gazes on the +walled camp, kindles in anger, and indignation is hot in his iron frame. +By what means may he essay entrance? by what passage hurl the imprisoned +Trojans from the rampart and fling them on the plain? Close under the +flanking camp lay the fleet, fenced about with mounds and the waters of +the river; it he attacks, and calls for fire to his exultant comrades, +and eagerly catches a blazing pine-torch in his hand. Then indeed they +press on, quickened by Turnus' presence, and all the band arm them with +black faggots. The hearth-fires are plundered; the smoky brand trails a +resinous glare, and the Fire-god sends clouds of glowing ashes upward.</p> + +<p>What god, O Muses, guarded the Trojans from the rage of the fire? who +repelled the fierce flame from their ships? Tell it; ancient is the +assurance thereof, but the fame everlasting. What time Aeneas began to +shape his fleet on Phrygian Ida, and prepared to seek the high seas, the +Berecyntian, they say, the very Mother of gods, spoke to high Jove in +these words: 'Grant, O son, to my prayer, what her dearness claims who +bore thee and laid Olympus under thy feet. My pine forest beloved of me +these many years, my grove was on the mountain's crown, whither men bore +my holy things, dim with dusky pine and pillared maples. These, when he +required a fleet, I gave gladly to the Dardanian; now fear wrings me +with sharp distress. Relieve my terrors, and grant a mother's prayers +such power that they may yield to no stress of voyaging or of stormy +gust: be birth on our hills their avail.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[93-126]</span>Thus her son in answer, who wheels the starry worlds: 'O +mother, whither callest thou fate? or what dost thou seek for these of +thine? May hulls have the right of immortality that were fashioned by +mortal hand? and may Aeneas traverse perils secure in insecurity? To +what god is power so great given? Nay, but when, their duty done, they +shall lie at last in their Ausonian haven, from all that have outgone +the waves and borne their Dardanian captain to the fields of Laurentum, +will I take their mortal body, and bid them be goddesses of the mighty +deep, even as Doto the Nereïd and Galatea, when they cut the sea that +falls away from their breasts in foam.' He ended; and by his brother's +Stygian streams, by the banks of the pitchy black-boiling chasm he +nodded confirmation, and shook all Olympus with his nod.</p> + +<p>So the promised day was come, and the destinies had fulfilled their due +time, when Turnus' injury stirred the Mother to ward the brands from her +holy ships. First then a strange light flashed on all eyes, and a great +glory from the Dawn seemed to dart over the sky, with the choirs of Ida; +then an awful voice fell through air, filling the Trojan and Rutulian +ranks: 'Disquiet not yourselves, O Teucrians, to guard ships of mine, +neither arm your hands: sooner shall Turnus burn the seas than these +holy pines. You, go free; go, goddesses of the sea; the Mother bids it.' +And immediately each ship breaks the bond that held it, as with dipping +prows they plunge like dolphins deep into the water: from it again (O +wonderful and strange!) they rise with maidens' faces in like number, +and bear out to sea.</p> + +<p>The Rutulians stood dumb: Messapus himself is terror-stricken among his +disordered cavalry; even the stream of Tiber pauses with hoarse murmur, +and recoils from sea. But bold Turnus fails not a whit in confidence; +nay, he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span><span class="linenum">[127-158]</span>raises their courage with words, nay, he chides them: +'On the Trojans are these portents aimed; Jupiter himself hath bereft +them of their wonted succour; nor do they abide Rutulian sword and fire. +So are the seas pathless for the Teucrians, nor is there any hope in +flight; they have lost half their world. And we hold the land: in all +their thousands the nations of Italy are under arms. In no wise am I +dismayed by those divine oracles of doom the Phrygians insolently +advance. Fate and Venus are satisfied, in that the Trojans have touched +our fruitful Ausonian fields. I too have my fate in reply to theirs, to +put utterly to the sword the guilty nation who have robbed me of my +bride; not the sons of Atreus alone are touched by that pain, nor may +Mycenae only rise in arms. But to have perished once is enough! To have +sinned once should have been enough, in all but utter hatred of the +whole of womankind. Trust in the sundering rampart, and the hindrance of +their trenches, so little between them and death, gives these their +courage: yet have they not seen Troy town, the work of Neptune's hand, +sink into fire? But you, my chosen, who of you makes ready to breach +their palisade at the sword's point, and join my attack on their +fluttered camp? I have no need of Vulcanian arms, of a thousand ships, +to meet the Teucrians. All Etruria may join on with them in alliance: +nor let them fear the darkness, and the cowardly theft of their +Palladium, and the guards cut down on the fortress height. Nor will we +hide ourselves unseen in a horse's belly; in daylight and unconcealed +are we resolved to girdle their walls with flame. Not with Grecians will +I make them think they have to do, nor a Pelasgic force kept off till +the tenth year by Hector. Now, since the better part of day is spent, +for what remains refresh your bodies, glad that we have done so well, +and expect the order of battle.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[159-192]</span>Meanwhile charge is given to Messapus to blockade the gates +with pickets of sentries, and encircle the works with watchfires. Twice +seven are chosen to guard the walls with Rutulian soldiery; but each +leads an hundred men, crimson-plumed and sparkling in gold. They spread +themselves about and keep alternate watch, and, lying along the grass, +drink deep and set brazen bowls atilt. The fires glow, and the sentinels +spend the night awake in games. . . .</p> + +<p>Down on this the Trojans look forth from the rampart, as they hold the +height in arms; withal in fearful haste they try the gates and lay +gangways from bastion to bastion, and bring up missiles. Mnestheus and +valiant Serestus speed the work, whom lord Aeneas appointed, should +misfortune call, to be rulers of the people and governors of the state. +All their battalions, sharing the lot of peril, keep watch along the +walls, and take alternate charge of all that requires defence.</p> + +<p>On guard at the gate was Nisus son of Hyrtacus, most valiant in arms, +whom Ida the huntress had sent in Aeneas' company with fleet javelin and +light arrows; and by his side Euryalus, fairest of all the Aeneadae and +the wearers of Trojan arms, showing on his unshaven boy's face the first +bloom of youth. These two were one in affection, and charged in battle +together; now likewise their common guard kept the gate. Nisus cries: +'Lend the gods this fervour to the soul, Euryalus? or does fatal passion +become a proper god to each? Long ere now my soul is restless to begin +some great deed of arms, and quiet peace delights it not. Thou seest how +confident in fortune the Rutulians stand. Their lights glimmer far +apart; buried in drunken sleep they have sunk to rest; silence stretches +all about. Learn then what doubt, what purpose, now rises in my spirit. +People and senate, they all cry that Aeneas <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span><span class="linenum">[193-226]</span>be summoned, and +men be sent to carry him tidings. If they promise what I ask in thy +name—for to me the glory of the deed is enough—methinks I can find +beneath yonder hillock a path to the walls of Pallanteum town.'</p> + +<p>Euryalus stood fixed, struck through with high ambition, and therewith +speaks thus to his fervid friend: 'Dost thou shun me then, Nisus, to +share thy company in highest deeds? shall I send thee alone into so +great perils? Not thus did my warrior father Opheltes rear and nurture +me amid the Argive terror and the agony of Troy, nor thus have I borne +myself by thy side while following noble Aeneas to his utmost fate. Here +is a spirit, yes here, that scorns the light of day, that deems lightly +bought at a life's price that honour to which thou dost aspire.'</p> + +<p>To this Nisus: 'Assuredly I had no such fear of thee; no, nor could I; +so may great Jupiter, or whoso looks on earth with equal eyes, restore +me to thee triumphant. But if haply—as thou seest often and often in so +forlorn a hope—if haply chance or deity sweep me to adverse doom, I +would have thee survive; thine age is worthier to live. Be there one to +commit me duly to earth, rescued or ransomed from the battlefield: or, +if fortune deny that, to pay me far away the rites of funeral and the +grace of a tomb. Neither would I bring such pain on thy poor mother, she +who singly of many matrons hath dared to follow her boy to the end, and +slights great Acestes' city.'</p> + +<p>And he: 'In vain dost thou string idle reasons; nor does my purpose +yield or change its place so soon. Let us make haste.' He speaks, and +rouses the watch; they come up, and relieve the guard; quitting their +post, he and Nisus stride on to seek the prince.</p> + +<p>The rest of living things over all lands were soothing their cares in +sleep, and their hearts forgot their pain; the foremost Trojan captains, +a chosen band, held council <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span><span class="linenum">[227-261]</span>of state upon the kingdom; what +should they do, or who would now be their messenger to Aeneas? They +stand, leaning on their long spears and grasping their shields, in mid +level of the camp. Then Nisus and Euryalus together pray with quick +urgency to be given audience; their matter is weighty and will be worth +the delay. Iülus at once heard their hurried plea, and bade Nisus speak. +Thereon the son of Hyrtacus: 'Hear, O people of Aeneas, with favourable +mind, nor regard our years in what we offer. Sunk in sleep and wine, the +Rutulians are silent; we have stealthily spied the open ground that lies +in the path through the gate next the sea. The line of fires is broken, +and their smoke rises darkly upwards. If you allow us to use the chance +towards seeking Aeneas in Pallanteum town, you will soon descry us here +at hand with the spoils of the great slaughter we have dealt. Nor shall +we miss the way we go; up the dim valleys we have seen the skirts of the +town, and learned all the river in continual hunting.'</p> + +<p>Thereon aged Aletes, sage in counsel: 'Gods of our fathers, under whose +deity Troy ever stands, not wholly yet do you purpose to blot out the +Trojan race, when you have brought us young honour and hearts so sure as +this.' So speaking, he caught both by shoulder and hand, with tears +showering down over face and feature. 'What guerdon shall I deem may be +given you, O men, what recompense for these noble deeds? First and +fairest shall be your reward from the gods and your own conduct; and +Aeneas the good shall speedily repay the rest, and Ascanius' fresh youth +never forget so great a service.'—'Nay,' breaks in Ascanius, 'I whose +sole safety is in my father's return, I adjure thee and him, O Nisus, by +our great household gods, by the tutelar spirit of Assaracus and hoar +Vesta's sanctuary—on your knees I lay all my fortune and trust—recall +my father; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span><span class="linenum">[262-296]</span>give him back to sight; all sorrow disappears in +his recovery. I will give a pair of cups my father took in vanquished +Arisba, wrought in silver and rough with tracery, twin tripods, and two +large talents of gold, and an ancient bowl of Sidonian Dido's giving. If +it be indeed our lot to possess Italy and grasp a conquering sceptre, +and to assign the spoil; thou sawest the horse and armour of Turnus as +he went all in gold; that same horse, the shield and the ruddy plume, +will I reserve from partition, thy reward, O Nisus, even from now. My +father will give besides twelve mothers of the choicest beauty, and men +captives, all in their due array; above these, the space of meadow-land +that is now King Latinus' own domain. Thee, O noble boy, whom mine age +follows at a nearer interval, even now I welcome to all my heart, and +embrace as my companion in every fortune. No glory shall be sought for +my state without thee; whether peace or war be in conduct, my chiefest +trust for deed and word shall be in thee.'</p> + +<p>Answering whom Euryalus speaks thus: 'Let but the day never come to +prove me degenerate from this daring valour; fortune may fall prosperous +or adverse. But above all thy gifts, one thing I ask of thee. My poor +mother of Priam's ancient race, whom neither the Ilian land nor King +Acestes' city kept from following me forth, her I now leave in ignorance +of this danger, such as it is, and without a farewell, because—night +and thine hand be witness!—I cannot bear a parent's tears. But thou, I +pray, support her want and relieve her loneliness. Let me take with me +this hope in thee, I shall go more daringly to every fortune.' Deeply +stirred at heart, the Dardanians shed tears, fair Iülus before them all, +as the likeness of his own father's love wrung his soul. Then he speaks +thus: . . . 'Assure thyself all that is due to thy mighty enterprise; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span><span class="linenum">[297-330]</span>for she shall be a mother to me, and only in name fail to be +Creüsa; nor slight is the honour reserved for the mother of such a son. +What chance soever follow this deed, I swear by this head whereby my +father was wont to swear, what I promise to thee on thy prosperous +return shall abide the same for thy mother and kindred.' So speaks he +weeping, and ungirds from his shoulder the sword inlaid with gold, +fashioned with marvellous skill by Lycaon of Gnosus and fitly set in a +sheath of ivory. Mnestheus gives Nisus the shaggy spoils of a lion's +hide; faithful Aletes exchanges his helmet. They advance onward in arms, +and as they go all the company of captains, young and old, speed them to +the gates with vows. Likewise fair Iülus, with a man's thought and a +spirit beyond his years, gave many messages to be carried to his father. +But the breezes shred all asunder and give them unaccomplished to the +clouds.</p> + +<p>They issue and cross the trenches, and through the shadow of night seek +the fatal camp, themselves first to be the death of many a man. All +about they see bodies strewn along the grass in drunken sleep, chariots +atilt on the shore, the men lying among their traces and wheels, with +their armour by them, and their wine. The son of Hyrtacus began thus: +'Euryalus, now for daring hands; all invites them; here lies our way; +see thou that none raise a hand from behind against us, and keep +far-sighted watch. Here will I deal desolation, and make a broad path +for thee to follow.' So speaks he and checks his voice; therewith he +drives his sword at lordly Rhamnes, who haply on carpets heaped high was +drawing the full breath of sleep; a king himself, and King Turnus' +best-beloved augur, but not all his augury could avert his doom. Three +of his household beside him, lying carelessly among their arms, and the +armour-bearer and charioteer of Remus go <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span><span class="linenum">[331-364]</span>down before him, +caught at the horses' feet. Their drooping necks he severs with the +sword, then beheads their lord likewise and leaves the trunk spouting +blood; the dark warm gore soaks ground and cushions. Therewithal Lamyrus +and Lamus, and beautiful young Serranus, who that night had played long +and late, and lay with the conquering god heavy on every limb; happy, +had he played out the night, and carried his game to day! Even thus an +unfed lion riots through full sheepfolds, for the madness of hunger +urges him, and champs and rends the fleecy flock that are dumb with +fear, and roars with blood-stained mouth. Nor less is the slaughter of +Euryalus; he too rages all aflame; an unnamed multitude go down before +his path, and Fadus and Herbesus and Rhoetus and Abaris, unaware; +Rhoetus awake and seeing all, but he hid in fear behind a great bowl; +right in whose breast, as he rose close by, he plunged the sword all its +length, and drew it back heavy with death. He vomits forth the crimson +life-blood, and throws up wine mixed with blood in the death agony. The +other presses hotly on his stealthy errand, and now bent his way towards +Messapus' comrades, where he saw the last flicker of the fires go down, +and the horses tethered in order cropping the grass; when Nisus briefly +speaks thus, for he saw him carried away by excess of murderous desire; +'Let us stop; for unfriendly daylight draws nigh. Vengeance is sated to +the full; a path is cut through the enemy.' Much they leave behind, +men's armour wrought in solid silver, and bowls therewith, and beautiful +carpets. Euryalus tears away the decorations of Rhamnes and his +sword-belt embossed with gold, a gift which Caedicus, wealthiest of men +of old, sends to Remulus of Tibur when plighting friendship far away; he +on his death-bed gives them to his grandson for his own; after his death +the Rutulians captured them as spoil of war; these he fits on the +shoulders valiant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span><span class="linenum">[365-396]</span>in vain, then puts on Messapus' light helmet +with its graceful plumes. They issue from the camp and make for safety.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile an advanced guard of cavalry were on their way from the Latin +city, while the rest of their marshalled battalions linger on the +plains, and bore a reply to King Turnus; three hundred men all under +shield, in Volscens' leading. And now they approached the camp and drew +near the wall, when they descry the two turning away by the pathway to +the left; and in the glimmering darkness of night the forgotten helmet +betrayed Euryalus, glittering as it met the light. It seemed no thing of +chance. Volscens cries aloud from his column: 'Stand, men! why on the +march, or how are you in arms? or whither hold you your way?' They offer +nothing in reply, but quicken their flight into the forest, and throw +themselves on the night. On this side and that the horsemen bar the +familiar crossways, and encircle every outlet with sentinels. The forest +spread wide in tangled thickets and dark ilex; thick growth of briars +choked it all about, and the muffled pathway glimmered in a broken +track. Hampered by the shadowy boughs and his cumbrous spoil, Euryalus +in his fright misses the line of way. Nisus gets clear; and now +unthinkingly he had passed the enemy, and the place afterwards called +Albani from Alba's name; then the deep coverts were of King Latinus' +domain; when he stopped, and looked back in vain for his lost friend. +'Euryalus, unhappy! on what ground have I left thee? or where shall I +follow, again unwinding all the entanglement of the treacherous woodland +way?' Therewith he marks and retraces his footsteps, and wanders down +the silent thickets. He hears the horses, hears the clatter and +signal-notes of the pursuers. Nor had he long to wait, when shouts reach +his ears, and he sees Euryalus, whom even now, in the perplexity of +ground and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span><span class="linenum">[397-431]</span>darkness, the whole squadron have borne down in a +sudden rush, and seize in spite of all his vain struggles. What shall he +do? with what force, what arms dare his rescue? or shall he rush on his +doom amid their swords, and find in their wounds a speedy and glorious +death? Quickly he draws back his arm with poised spear, and looking up +to the moon on high, utters this prayer: 'Do thou give present aid to +our enterprise, O Latonian goddess, glory of the stars and guardian of +the woodlands: by all the gifts my father Hyrtacus ever bore for my sake +to thine altars, by all mine own hand hath added from my hunting, or +hung in thy dome, or fixed on thy holy roof, grant me to confound these +masses, and guide my javelin through the air.' He ended, and with all +the force of his body hurls the steel. The flying spear whistles through +the darkness of the night, and comes full on the shield of Sulmo, and +there snaps, and the broken shaft passes on through his heart. Spouting +a warm tide from his breast he rolls over chill in death, and his sides +throb with long-drawn gasps. Hither and thither they gaze round. Lo, he +all the fiercer was poising another weapon high by his ear; while they +hesitate, the spear went whizzing through both Tagus' temples, and +pierced and stuck fast in the warm brain. Volscens is mad with rage, and +nowhere espies the sender of the weapon, nor where to direct his fury. +'Yet meanwhile thy warm blood shalt pay me vengeance for both,' he +cries; and unsheathing his sword, he made at Euryalus. Then indeed +frantic with terror Nisus shrieks out; no longer could he shroud himself +in darkness or endure such agony. 'On me, on me, I am here, I did it, on +me turn your steel, O Rutulians! Mine is all the guilt; he dared not, +no, nor could not; to this heaven I appeal and the stars that know; he +only loved his hapless friend too well.' Such words he was uttering; but +the sword driven hard home is gone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span><span class="linenum">[432-464]</span>clean through his ribs and +pierces the white breast. Euryalus rolls over in death, and the blood +runs over his lovely limbs, and his neck sinks and settles on his +shoulder; even as when a lustrous flower cut away by the plough droops +in death, or weary-necked poppies bow down their head if overweighted +with a random shower. But Nisus rushes amidst them, and alone among them +all makes at Volscens, keeps to Volscens alone: round him the foe +cluster, and on this side and that hurl him back: none the less he +presses on, and whirls his sword like lightning, till he plunges it full +in the face of the shrieking Rutulian, and slays his enemy as he dies. +Then, stabbed through and through, he flung himself above his lifeless +friend, and there at last found the quiet sleep of death.</p> + +<p>Happy pair! if my verse is aught of avail, no length of days shall ever +blot you from the memory of time, while the house of Aeneas shall dwell +by the Capitoline's stedfast stone, and the lord of Rome hold +sovereignty.</p> + +<p>The victorious Rutulians, with their spoils and the plunder regained, +bore dead Volscens weeping to the camp. Nor in the camp was the wailing +less, when Rhamnes was found a bloodless corpse, and Serranus and Numa +and all their princes destroyed in a single slaughter. Crowds throng +towards the corpses and the men wounded to death, the ground fresh with +warm slaughter and the swoln runlets of frothing blood. They mutually +recognise the spoils, Messapus' shining helmet and the decorations that +cost such sweat to win back.</p> + +<p>And now Dawn, leaving the saffron bed of Tithonus, scattered over earth +her fresh shafts of early light; now the sunlight streams in, now +daylight unveils the world. Turnus, himself fully armed, awakes his men +to arms, and each leader marshals to battle his brazen lines and whets +their ardour with varying rumours. Nay, pitiable sight! they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span><span class="linenum">[465-499]</span>fix on spear-points and uprear and follow with loud shouts the +heads of Euryalus and Nisus. . . . The Aeneadae stubbornly face them, +lining the left hand wall (for their right is girdled by the river), +hold the deep trenches and stand gloomily on the high towers, stirred +withal by the faces they know, alas, too well, in their dark dripping +gore. Meanwhile Rumour on fluttering wings rushes with the news through +the alarmed town and glides to the ears of Euryalus' mother. But +instantly the warmth leaves her woeful body, the shuttle starts from her +hand and the threads unroll. She darts forth in agony, and with woman's +wailing and torn hair runs distractedly towards the walls and the +foremost columns, recking naught of men, naught of peril or weapons; +thereon she fills the air with her complaint: 'Is it thus I behold thee, +O Euryalus? Couldst thou, the latest solace of mine age, leave me alone +so cruelly? nor when sent into such danger was one last word of thee +allowed thine unhappy mother? Alas, thou liest in a strange land, given +for a prey to the dogs and fowls of Latium! nor was I, thy mother, there +for chief mourner, to lay thee out or close thine eyes or wash thy +wounds, and cover thee with the garment I hastened on for thee whole +nights and days, an anxious old woman taking comfort from the loom. +Whither shall I follow? or what land now holds thy mangled corpse, thy +body torn limb from limb? Is this all of what thou wert that returns to +me, O my son? is it this I have followed by land and sea? Strike me +through of your pity, on me cast all your weapons, Rutulians; make me +the first sacrifice of your steel. Or do thou, mighty lord of heaven, be +merciful, and with thine own weapon hurl this hateful life to the nether +deep, since in no wise else may I break away from life's cruelty.' At +this weeping cry their courage falters, and a sigh of sorrow passes all +along; their strength is benumbed and broken for battle. Her, while +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span><span class="linenum">[500-535]</span>her grief kindled, at Ilioneus' and weeping Iülus' bidding +Idaeus and Actor catch up and carry home in their arms.</p> + +<p>But the terrible trumpet-note afar rang on the shrill brass; a shout +follows, and is echoed from the sky. The Volscians hasten up in even +line under their advancing roof of shields, and set to fill up the +trenches and tear down the palisades. Some seek entrance by scaling the +walls with ladders, where the defenders' battle-line is thin, and light +shows through gaps in the ring of men. The Teucrians in return shower +weapons of every sort, and push them down with stiff poles, practised by +long warfare in their ramparts' defence: and fiercely hurl heavy stones, +so be they may break the shielded line; while they, crowded under their +shell, lightly bear all the downpour. But now they fail; for where the +vast mass presses close, the Teucrians roll a huge block tumbling down +that makes a wide gap in the Rutulians and crashes through their +armour-plating. Nor do the bold Rutulians care longer to continue the +blind fight, but strive to clear the rampart with missiles. . . . Elsewhere +in dreadful guise Mezentius brandishes his Etruscan pine and hurls +smoking brands; but Messapus, tamer of horses, seed of Neptune, tears +away the palisading and calls for ladders to the ramparts.</p> + +<p>Thy sisterhood, O Calliope, I pray inspire me while I sing the +destruction spread then and there by Turnus' sword, the deaths dealt +from his hand, and whom each warrior sent down to the under world; and +unroll with me the broad borders of war.</p> + +<p>A tower loomed vast with lofty gangways at a point of vantage; this all +the Italians strove with main strength to storm, and set all their might +and device to overthrow it; the Trojans in return defended it with +stones and hurled showers of darts through the loopholes. Turnus, +leading the attack, threw a blazing torch that caught flaming on the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span><span class="linenum">[536-570]</span>side wall; swoln by the wind, the flame seized the planking +and clung devouring to the standards. Those within, in hurry and +confusion, desire retreat from their distress; in vain; while they +cluster together and fall back to the side free from the destroyer, the +tower sinks prone under the sudden weight with a crash that thunders +through all the sky. Pierced by their own weapons, and impaled on hard +splinters of wood, they come half slain to the ground with the vast mass +behind them. Scarcely do Helenor alone and Lycus struggle out; Helenor +in his early prime, whom a slave woman of Licymnos bore in secret to the +Maeonian king, and sent to Troy in forbidden weapons, lightly armed with +sheathless sword and white unemblazoned shield. And he, when he saw +himself among Turnus' encircling thousands, ranks on this side and ranks +on this of Latins, as a wild beast which, girt with a crowded ring of +hunters, dashes at their weapons, hurls herself unblinded on death, and +comes with a bound upon the spears; even so he rushes to his death amid +the enemy, and presses on where he sees their weapons thickest. But +Lycus, far fleeter of foot, holds by the walls in flight midway among +foes and arms, and strives to catch the coping in his grasp and reach +the hands of his comrades. And Turnus pursuing and aiming as he ran, +thus upbraids him in triumph: 'Didst thou hope, madman, thou mightest +escape our hands?' and catches him as he clings, and tears him and a +great piece of the wall away: as when, with a hare or snowy-bodied swan +in his crooked talons, Jove's armour-bearer soars aloft, or the wolf of +Mars snatches from the folds some lamb sought of his mother with +incessant bleating. On all sides a shout goes up. They advance and fill +the trenches with heaps of earth; some toss glowing brands on the roofs. +Ilioneus strikes down Lucetius with a great fragment of mountain rock +as, carrying fire, he draws <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span><span class="linenum">[571-606]</span>nigh the gate. Liger slays +Emathion, Asylas Corinaeus, the one skilled with the javelin, the other +with the stealthy arrow from afar. Caeneus slays Ortygius; Turnus +victorious Caeneus; Turnus Itys and Clonius, Dioxippus, and Promolus, +and Sagaris, and Idas where he stood in front of the turret top; Capys +Privernus: him Themillas' spear had first grazed lightly; the madman +threw down his shield to carry his hand to the wound; so the arrow +winged her way, and pinning his hand to his left side, broke into the +lungs with deadly wound. The son of Arcens stood splendid in arms, and +scarf embroidered with needlework and bright with Iberian blue, the +beautiful boy sent by his father Arcens from nurture in the grove of our +Lady about the streams of Symaethus, where Palicus' altar is rich and +gracious. Laying down his spear, Mezentius whirled thrice round his head +the tightened cord of his whistling sling, pierced him full between the +temples with the molten bullet, and stretched him all his length upon +the sand.</p> + +<p>Then, it is said, Ascanius first aimed his flying shaft in war, wont +before to frighten beasts of the chase, and struck down a brave +Numanian, Remulus by name, but lately allied in bridal to Turnus' +younger sister. He advancing before his ranks clamoured things fit and +unfit to tell, and strode along lofty and voluble, his heart lifted up +with his fresh royalty.</p> + +<p>'Take you not shame to be again held leaguered in your ramparts, O +Phrygians twice taken, and to make walls your fence from death? Behold +them who demand in war our wives for theirs! What god, what madness, +hath driven you to Italy? Here are no sons of Atreus nor glozing +Ulysses. A race of hardy breed, we carry our newborn children to the +streams and harden them in the bitter icy water; as boys they spend +wakeful nights over the chase, and tire out the woodland; but in +manhood, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span><span class="linenum">[607-639]</span>unwearied by toil and trained to poverty, they subdue +the soil with their mattocks, or shake towns in war. Every age wears +iron, and we goad the flanks of our oxen with reversed spear; nor does +creeping old age weaken our strength of spirit or abate our force. White +hairs bear the weight of the helmet; and it is ever our delight to drive +in fresh spoil and live on our plunder. Yours is embroidered raiment of +saffron and shining sea-purple. Indolence is your pleasure, your delight +the luxurious dance; you wear sleeved tunics and ribboned turbans. O +right Phrygian women, not even Phrygian men! traverse the heights of +Dindymus, where the double-mouthed flute breathes familiar music. The +drums call you, and the Berecyntian boxwood of the mother of Ida; leave +arms to men, and lay down the sword.'</p> + +<p>As he flung forth such words of ill-ominous strain, Ascanius brooked it +not, and aimed an arrow on him from the stretched horse sinew; and as he +drew his arms asunder, first stayed to supplicate Jove in lowly vows: +'Jupiter omnipotent, deign to favour this daring deed. My hands shall +bear yearly gifts to thee in thy temple, and bring to stand before thine +altars a steer with gilded forehead, snow-white, carrying his head high +as his mother's, already pushing with his horn and making the sand fly +up under his feet.' The Father heard and from a clear space of sky +thundered on the left; at once the fated bow rings, the grim-whistling +arrow flies from the tense string, and goes through the head of Remulus, +the steel piercing through from temple to temple. 'Go, mock valour with +insolence of speech! Phrygians twice taken return this answer to +Rutulians.' Thus and no further Ascanius; the Teucrians respond in +cheers, and shout for joy in rising height of courage. Then haply in the +tract of heaven tressed Apollo sate looking down from his cloud on the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span><span class="linenum">[640-673]</span>Ausonian ranks and town, and thus addresses triumphant Iülus: +'Good speed to thy young valour, O boy! this is the way to heaven, child +of gods and parent of gods to be! Rightly shall all wars fated to come +sink to peace beneath the line of Assaracus; nor art thou bounded in a +Troy.' So speaking, he darts from heaven's height, and cleaving the +breezy air, seeks Ascanius. Then he changes the fashion of his +countenance, and becomes aged Butes, armour-bearer of old to Dardanian +Anchises, and the faithful porter of his threshold; thereafter his lord +gave him for Ascanius' attendant. In all points like the old man Apollo +came, voice and colour, white hair, and grimly clashing arms, and speaks +these words to eager Iülus:</p> + +<p>'Be it enough, son of Aeneas, that the Numanian hath fallen unavenged +beneath thine arrows; this first honour great Apollo allows thee, nor +envies the arms that match his own. Further, O boy, let war alone.' Thus +Apollo began, and yet speaking retreated from mortal view, vanishing +into thin air away out of their eyes. The Dardanian princes knew the god +and the arms of deity, and heard the clash of his quiver as he went. So +they restrain Ascanius' keenness for battle by the words of Phoebus' +will; themselves they again close in conflict, and cast their lives into +the perilous breach. Shouts run all along the battlemented walls; +ringing bows are drawn and javelin thongs twisted: all the ground is +strewn with missiles. Shields and hollow helmets ring to blows; the +battle swells fierce; heavy as the shower lashes the ground that sets in +when the Kids are rainy in the West; thick as hail pours down from +storm-clouds on the shallows, when the rough lord of the winds congeals +his watery deluge and breaks up the hollow vapours in the sky.</p> + +<p>Pandarus and Bitias, sprung of Alcanor of Ida, whom woodland Iaera bore +in the grove of Jupiter, grown now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span><span class="linenum">[674-709]</span>tall as their ancestral +pines and hills, fling open the gates barred by their captain's order, +and confident in arms, wilfully invite the enemy within the walls. +Themselves within they stand to right and left in front of the towers, +sheathed in iron, the plumes flickering over their stately heads: even +as high in air around the gliding streams, whether on Padus' banks or by +pleasant Athesis, twin oaks rise lifting their unshorn heads into the +sky with high tops asway. The Rutulians pour in when they see the +entrance open. Straightway Quercens and Aquicolus beautiful in arms, and +desperate Tmarus, and Haemon, seed of Mars, either gave back in rout +with all their columns, or in the very gateway laid down their life. +Then the spirits of the combatants swell in rising wrath, and now the +Trojans gather swarming to the spot, and dare to close hand to hand and +to sally farther out.</p> + +<p>News is brought to Turnus the captain, as he rages afar among the routed +foe, that the enemy surges forth into fresh slaughter and flings wide +his gates. He breaks off unfinished, and, fired with immense anger, +rushes towards the haughty brethren at the Dardanian gate. And on +Antiphates first, for first he came, the bastard son of mighty Sarpedon +by a Theban mother, he hurls his javelin and strikes him down; the +Italian cornel flies through the yielding air, and, piercing the gullet, +runs deep into his breast; a frothing tide pours from the dark yawning +wound, and the steel grows warm where it pierces the lung. Then Meropes +and Erymas, then Aphidnus goes down before his hand; then Bitias, +fiery-eyed and exultant, not with a javelin; for not to a javelin had he +given his life; but the loud-whistling pike came hurled with a +thunderbolt's force; neither twofold bull's hide kept it back, nor the +trusty corslet's double scales of gold: his vast limbs sink in a heap; +earth utters a groan, and the great shield clashes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span><span class="linenum">[710-745]</span>over him: +even as once and again on the Euboïc shore of Baiae falls a mass of +stone, built up of great blocks and so cast into the sea; thus does it +tumble prone, crashes into the shoal water and sinks deep to rest; the +seas are stirred, and the dark sand eddies up; therewith the depth of +Prochyta quivers at the sound, and the couchant rocks of Inarime, piled +above Typhoeus by Jove's commands.</p> + +<p>On this Mars armipotent raised the spirit and strength of the Latins, +and goaded their hearts to rage, and sent Flight and dark Fear among the +Teucrians. From all quarters they gather, since battle is freely +offered; and the warrior god inspires. . . . Pandarus, at his brother's +fall, sees how fortune stands, what hap rules the day; and swinging the +gate round on its hinge with all his force, pushes it to with his broad +shoulders, leaving many of his own people shut outside the walls in the +desperate conflict, but shutting others in with him as they pour back in +retreat. Madman! who saw not the Rutulian prince burst in amid their +columns, and fairly shut him into the town, like a monstrous tiger among +the silly flocks. At once strange light flashed from his eyes, and his +armour rang terribly; the blood-red plumes flicker on his head, and +lightnings shoot sparkling from his shield. In sudden dismay the +Aeneadae know the hated form and giant limbs. Then tall Pandarus leaps +forward, in burning rage at his brother's death: 'This is not the palace +of Amata's dower,' he cries, 'nor does Ardea enclose Turnus in her +native walls. Thou seest a hostile camp; escape hence is hopeless.' To +him Turnus, smiling and cool: 'Begin with all thy valiance, and close +hand to hand; here too shalt thou tell that a Priam found his Achilles.' +He ended; the other, putting out all his strength, hurls his rough +spear, knotty and unpeeled. The breezes caught it; Juno, daughter of +Saturn, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span><span class="linenum">[746-780]</span>made the wound glance off as it came, and the spear +sticks fast in the gate. 'But this weapon that my strong hand whirls, +this thou shalt not escape; for not such is he who sends weapon and +wound.' So speaks he, and rises high on his uplifted sword; the steel +severs the forehead midway right between the temples, and divides the +beardless cheeks with ghastly wound. He crashes down; earth shakes under +the vast weight; dying limbs and brain-spattered armour tumble in a heap +to the ground, and the head, evenly severed, dangles this way and that +from either shoulder. The Trojans scatter and turn in hasty terror; and +had the conqueror forthwith taken thought to burst the bars and let in +his comrades at the gate, that had been the last day of the war and of +the nation. But rage and mad thirst of slaughter drive him like fire on +the foe. . . . First he catches up Phalaris; then Gyges, and hamstrings +him; he plucks away their spears, and hurls them on the backs of the +flying crowd; Juno lends strength and courage. Halys he sends to join +them, and Phegeus, pierced right through the shield; then, as they +ignorantly raised their war-cry on the walls, Alcander and Halius, +Noëmon and Prytanis. Lynceus advanced to meet him, calling up his +comrades; from the rampart the glittering sword sweeps to the left and +catches him; struck off by the one downright blow, head and helmet lay +far away. Next Amycus fell, the deadly huntsman, incomparable in skill +of hand to anoint his arrows and arm their steel with venom; and Clytius +the Aeolid, and Cretheus beloved of the Muses, Cretheus of the Muses' +company, whose delight was ever in songs and harps and stringing of +verses; ever he sang of steeds and armed men and battles.</p> + +<p>At last, hearing of the slaughter of their men, the Teucrian captains, +Mnestheus and gallant Serestus, come up, and see their comrades in +disordered flight and the foe <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span><span class="linenum">[781-814]</span>let in. And Mnestheus: 'Whither +next, whither press you in flight? what other walls, what farther city +have you yet? Shall one man, and he girt in on all sides, +fellow-citizens, by your entrenchments, thus unchecked deal devastation +throughout our city, and send all our best warriors to the under world? +Have you no pity, no shame, cowards, for your unhappy country, for your +ancient gods, for great Aeneas?'</p> + +<p>Kindled by such words, they take heart and rally in dense array. Little +by little Turnus drew away from the fight towards the river, and the +side encircled by the stream: the more bravely the Teucrians press on +him with loud shouts and thickening masses, even as a band that fall on +a wrathful lion with levelled weapons, but he, frightened back, retires +surly and grim-glaring; and neither does wrath nor courage let him turn +his back, nor can he make head, for all that he desires it, against the +surrounding arms and men. Even thus Turnus draws lingeringly backward, +with unhastened steps, and soul boiling in anger. Nay, twice even then +did he charge amid the enemy, twice drove them in flying rout along the +walls. But all the force of the camp gathers hastily up; nor does Juno, +daughter of Saturn, dare to supply him strength to countervail; for +Jupiter sent Iris down through the aery sky, bearing stern orders to his +sister that Turnus shall withdraw from the high Trojan town. Therefore +neither with shield nor hand can he keep his ground, so overpoweringly +from all sides comes upon him the storm of weapons. About the hollows of +his temples the helmet rings with incessant clash, and the solid brass +is riven beneath the stones; the horsehair crest is rent away; the +shield-boss avails not under the blows; Mnestheus thunders on with his +Trojans, and pours in a storm of spears. All over him the sweat trickles +and pours in swart stream, and no breathing space is given; sick gasps +shake <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span><span class="linenum">[815-818]</span>his exhausted limbs. Then at last, with a headlong +bound, he leapt fully armed into the river; the river's yellow eddies +opened for him as he came, and the buoyant water brought him up, and, +washing away the slaughter, returned him triumphant to his comrades.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BOOK_TENTH" id="BOOK_TENTH"></a>BOOK TENTH</h2> + +<h3>THE BATTLE ON THE BEACH</h3> + + +<p>Meanwhile the heavenly house omnipotent unfolds her doors, and the +father of gods and king of men calls a council in the starry dwelling; +whence he looks sheer down on the whole earth, the Dardanian camp, and +the peoples of Latium. They sit down within from doorway to doorway: +their lord begins:</p> + +<p>'Lords of heaven, wherefore is your decree turned back, and your minds +thus jealously at strife? I forbade Italy to join battle with the +Teucrians; why this quarrel in face of my injunction? What terror hath +bidden one or another run after arms and tempt the sword? The due time +of battle will arrive, call it not forth, when furious Carthage shall +one day sunder the Alps to hurl ruin full on the towers of Rome. Then +hatred may grapple with hatred, then hostilities be opened; now let them +be, and cheerfully join in the treaty we ordain.'</p> + +<p>Thus Jupiter in brief; but not briefly golden Venus returns in answer: +. . .</p> + +<p>'O Lord, O everlasting Governor of men and things—for what else may we +yet supplicate?—beholdest thou how the Rutulians brave it, and Turnus, +borne charioted through the ranks, proudly sweeps down the tide of +battle? Bar <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span><span class="linenum">[22-58]</span>and bulwark no longer shelter the Trojans; nay, +within the gates and even on the mounded walls they clash in battle and +make the trenches swim with blood. Aeneas is away and ignorant. Wilt +thou never then let our leaguer be raised? Again a foe overhangs the +walls of infant Troy; and another army, and a second son of Tydeus rises +from Aetolian Arpi against the Trojans. Truly I think my wounds are yet +to come, and I thy child am keeping some mortal weapons idle. If the +Trojans steered for Italy without thy leave and defiant of thy deity, +let them expiate their sin; aid not such with thy succour. But if so +many oracles guided them, given by god and ghost, why may aught now +reverse thine ordinance or write destiny anew? Why should I recall the +fleets burned on the coast of Eryx? why the king of storms, and the +raging winds roused from Aeolia, or Iris driven down the clouds? Now +hell too is stirred (this share of the world was yet untried) and +Allecto suddenly let loose above to riot through the Italian towns. In +no wise am I moved for empire; that was our hope while Fortune stood; +let those conquer whom thou wilt. If thy cruel wife leave no region free +to Teucrians, by the smoking ruins of desolated Troy, O father, I +beseech thee, grant Ascanius unhurt retreat from arms, grant me my +child's life. Aeneas may well be tossed over unknown seas and follow +what path soever fortune open to him; him let me avail to shelter and +withdraw from the turmoil of battle. Amathus is mine, high Paphos and +Cythera, and my house of Idalia; here, far from arms, let him spend an +inglorious life. Bid Carthage in high lordship rule Ausonia; there will +be nothing there to check the Tyrian cities. What help was it for the +Trojans to escape war's doom and thread their flight through Argive +fires, to have exhausted all those perils of sea and desolate lands, +while they seek Latium and the towers of a Troy rebuilt? Were it not +better to have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span><span class="linenum">[59-91]</span>clung to the last ashes of their country, and the +ground where once was Troy? Give back, I pray, Xanthus and Simoïs to a +wretched people, and let the Teucrians again, O Lord, circle through the +fates of Ilium.'</p> + +<p>Then Queen Juno, swift and passionate:</p> + +<p>'Why forcest thou me to break long silence and proclaim my hidden pain? +Hath any man or god constrained Aeneas to court war or make armed attack +on King Latinus? In oracular guidance he steered for Italy: be it so: he +whom raving Cassandra sent on his way! Did we urge him to quit the camp +or entrust his life to the winds? to give the issue of war and the +charge of his ramparts to a child? to stir the loyalty of Tyrrhenia or +throw peaceful nations into tumult? What god, what potent cruelty of +ours, hath driven him on his hurt? Where is Juno in this, or Iris sped +down the clouds? It shocks thee that Italians should enring an infant +Troy with flame, and Turnus set foot on his own ancestral soil—he, +grandchild of Pilumnus, son of Venilia the goddess: how, that the dark +brands of Troy assail the Latins? that Trojans subjugate and plunder +fields not their own? how, that they choose their brides and tear +plighted bosom from bosom? that their gestures plead for peace, and +their ships are lined with arms? Thou canst steal thine Aeneas from +Grecian hands, and spread before them a human semblance of mist and +empty air; thou canst turn his fleet into nymphs of like number: is it +dreadful if we retaliate with any aid to the Rutulians? Aeneas is away +and ignorant; away and ignorant let him be. Paphos is thine and Idalium, +thine high Cythera; why meddlest thou with fierce spirits and a city big +with war? Is it we who would overthrow the tottering state of Phrygia? +we? or he who brought the Achaeans down on the hapless Trojans? who made +Europe and Asia bristle up in arms, and whose theft shattered the +alliance? Was it in my guidance the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span><span class="linenum">[92-125]</span>adulterous Dardanian broke +into Sparta? or did I send the shafts of passion that kindled war? Then +terror for thy children had graced thee; too late now dost thou rise +with unjust complaints, and reproaches leave thy lips in vain.'</p> + +<p>Thus Juno pleaded; and all the heavenly people murmured in diverse +consent; even as rising gusts murmur when caught in the forests, and +eddy in blind moanings, betraying to sailors the gale's approach. Then +the Lord omnipotent and primal power of the world begins; as he speaks +the high house of the gods and trembling floor of earth sink to silence; +silent is the deep sky, and the breezes are stilled; ocean hushes his +waters into calm.</p> + +<p>'Take then to heart and lay deep these words of mine. Since it may not +be that Ausonians and Teucrians join alliance, and your quarrel finds no +term, to-day, what fortune each wins, what hope each follows, be he +Trojan or Rutulian, I will hold in even poise; whether it be Italy's +fate or Trojan blundering and ill advice that holds the camp in leaguer. +Nor do I acquit the Rutulians. Each as he hath begun shall work out his +destiny. Jupiter is one and king over all; the fates will find their +way.' By his brother's infernal streams, by the banks of the pitchy +black-boiling chasm he signed assent, and made all Olympus quiver at his +nod. Here speaking ended: thereon Jupiter rises from his golden throne, +and the heavenly people surround and escort him to the doorway.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Rutulians press round all the gates, dealing grim +slaughter and girdling the walls with flame. But the army of the +Aeneadae are held leaguered within their trenches, with no hope of +retreat. They stand helpless and disconsolate on their high towers, and +their thin ring girdles the walls,—Asius, son of Imbrasus, and +Thymoetes, son of Hicetaon, and the two Assaraci, and Castor, and old +Thymbris together in the front rank: by them Clarus and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span><span class="linenum">[126-160]</span>Themon, both full brothers to Sarpedon, out of high Lycia. +Acmon of Lyrnesus, great as his father Clytius, or his brother +Mnestheus, carries a stone, straining all his vast frame to the huge +mountain fragment. Emulously they keep their guard, these with javelins, +those with stones, and wield fire and fit arrows on the string. Amid +them he, Venus' fittest care, lo! the Dardanian boy, his graceful head +uncovered, shines even as a gem set in red gold on ornament of throat or +head, or even as gleaming ivory cunningly inlaid in boxwood or Orician +terebinth; his tresses lie spread over his milk-white neck, bound by a +flexible circlet of gold. Thee, too, Ismarus, proud nations saw aiming +wounds and arming thy shafts with poison,—thee, of house illustrious in +Maeonia, where the rich tilth is wrought by men's hands, and Pactolus +waters it with gold. There too was Mnestheus, exalted in fame as he who +erewhile had driven Turnus from the ramparts; and Capys, from whom is +drawn the name of the Campanian city.</p> + +<p>They had closed in grim war's mutual conflict; Aeneas, while night was +yet deep, clove the seas. For when, leaving Evander for the Etruscan +camp, he hath audience of the king, and tells the king of his name and +race, and what he asks or offers, instructs him of the arms Mezentius is +winning to his side, and of Turnus' overbearing spirit, reminds him what +is all the certainty of human things, and mingles all with entreaties; +delaying not, Tarchon joins forces and strikes alliance. Then, freed +from the oracle, the Lydian people man their fleet, laid by divine +ordinance in the foreign captain's hand. Aeneas' galley keeps in front, +with the lions of Phrygia fastened on her prow, above them overhanging +Ida, sight most welcome to the Trojan exiles. Here great Aeneas sits +revolving the changing issues of war; and Pallas, clinging on his left +side, asks now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span><span class="linenum">[161-195]</span>of the stars and their pathway through the dark +night, now of his fortunes by land and sea.</p> + +<p>Open now the gates of Helicon, goddesses, and stir the song of the band +that come the while with Aeneas from the Tuscan borders, and sail in +armed ships overseas.</p> + +<p>First in the brazen-plated Tiger Massicus cuts the flood; beneath him +are ranked a thousand men who have left Clusium town and the city of +Cosae; their weapons are arrows, and light quivers on the shoulder, and +their deadly bow. With him goes grim Abas, all his train in shining +armour, and a gilded Apollo glittering astern. To him Populonia had +given six hundred of her children, tried in war, but Ilva three hundred, +the island rich in unexhausted mines of steel. Third Asilas, interpreter +between men and gods, master of the entrails of beasts and the stars in +heaven, of speech of birds and ominous lightning flashes, draws a +thousand men after him in serried lines bristling with spears, bidden to +his command from Pisa city, of Alphaean birth on Etruscan soil. Astyr +follows, excellent in beauty, Astyr, confident in his horse and glancing +arms. Three hundred more—all have one heart to follow—come from the +householders of Caere and the fields of Minio, and ancient Pyrgi, and +fever-stricken Graviscae.</p> + +<p>Let me not pass thee by, O Cinyras, bravest in war of Ligurian captains, +and thee, Cupavo, with thy scant company, from whose crest rise the swan +plumes, fault, O Love, of thee and thine, and blazonment of his father's +form. For they tell that Cycnus, in grief for his beloved Phaëthon, +while he sings and soothes his woeful love with music amid the shady +sisterhood of poplar boughs, drew over him the soft plumage of white old +age, and left earth and passed crying through the sky. His son, followed +on shipboard with a band of like age, sweeps the huge Centaur forward +with his oars; he leans over the water, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span><span class="linenum">[196-227]</span>threatens the +waves with a vast rock he holds on high, and furrows the deep seas with +his length of keel.</p> + +<p>He too calls a train from his native coasts, Ocnus, son of prophetic +Manto and the river of Tuscany, who gave thee, O Mantua, ramparts and +his mother's name; Mantua, rich in ancestry, yet not all of one blood, a +threefold race, and under each race four cantons; herself she is the +cantons' head, and her strength is of Tuscan blood. From her likewise +hath Mezentius five hundred in arms against him, whom Mincius, child of +Benacus, draped in gray reeds, led to battle in his advancing pine. +Aulestes moves on heavily, smiting the waves with the swinging forest of +an hundred oars; the channels foam as they sweep the sea-floor. He sails +in the vast Triton, who amazes the blue waterways with his shell, and +swims on with shaggy front, in human show from the flank upward; his +belly ends in a dragon; beneath the monster's breast the wave gurgles +into foam. So many were the chosen princes who went in thirty ships to +aid Troy, and cut the salt plains with brazen prow.</p> + +<p>And now day had faded from the sky, and gracious Phoebe trod mid-heaven +in the chariot of her nightly wandering: Aeneas, for his charge allows +not rest to his limbs, himself sits guiding the tiller and managing the +sails. And lo, in middle course a band of his own fellow-voyagers meets +him, the nymphs whom bountiful Cybele had bidden be gods of the sea, and +turn to nymphs from ships; they swam on in even order, and cleft the +flood, as many as erewhile, brazen-plated prows, had anchored on the +beach. From far they know their king, and wheel their bands about him, +and Cymodocea, their readiest in speech, comes up behind, catching the +stern with her right hand: her back rises out, and her left hand oars +her passage through the silent water. Then she thus <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span><span class="linenum">[228-261]</span>accosts +her amazed lord: 'Wakest thou, seed of gods, Aeneas? wake, and loosen +the sheets of thy sails. We are thy fleet, Idaean pines from the holy +hill, now nymphs of the sea. When the treacherous Rutulian urged us +headlong with sword and fire, unwillingly we broke thy bonds, and we +search for thee over ocean. This new guise our Lady made for us in pity, +and granted us to be goddesses and spend our life under the waves. But +thy boy Ascanius is held within wall and trench among the Latin weapons +and the rough edge of war. Already the Arcadian cavalry and the brave +Etruscan together hold the appointed ground. Turnus' plan is fixed to +bar their way with his squadrons, that they may not reach the camp. Up +and arise, and ere the coming of the Dawn bid thy crews be called to +arms; and take thou the shield which the Lord of Fire forged for victory +and rimmed about with gold. To-morrow's daylight, if thou deem not my +words vain, shall see Rutulians heaped high in slaughter.' She ended, +and, as she went, pushed the tall ship on with her hand wisely and well; +the ship shoots through the water fleeter than javelin or windswift +arrow. Thereat the rest quicken their speed. The son of Anchises of Troy +is himself deep in bewilderment; yet the omen cheers his courage. Then +looking on the heavenly vault, he briefly prays: 'O gracious upon Ida, +mother of gods, whose delight is in Dindymus and turreted cities and +lions coupled to thy rein, do thou lead me in battle, do thou meetly +prosper thine augury, and draw nigh thy Phrygians, goddess, with +favourable feet.' Thus much he spoke; and meanwhile the broad light of +returning day now began to pour in, and chased away the night. First he +commands his comrades to follow his signals, brace their courage to arms +and prepare for battle. And now his Trojans and his camp are in his +sight as he stands high astern, when next he lifts the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span><span class="linenum">[262-296]</span>blazing +shield on his left arm. The Dardanians on the walls raise a shout to the +sky. Hope comes to kindle wrath; they hurl their missiles strongly; even +as under black clouds cranes from the Strymon utter their signal notes +and sail clamouring across the sky, and noisily stream down the gale. +But this seemed marvellous to the Rutulian king and the captains of +Ausonia, till looking back they see the ships steering for the beach, +and all the sea as a single fleet sailing in. His helmet-spike blazes, +flame pours from the cresting plumes, and the golden shield-boss spouts +floods of fire; even as when in transparent night comets glow blood-red +and drear, or the splendour of Sirius, that brings drought and +sicknesses on wretched men, rises and saddens the sky with malignant +beams.</p> + +<p>Yet gallant Turnus in unfailing confidence will prevent them on the +shore and repel their approach to land. 'What your prayers have sought +is given, the sweep of the sword-arm. The god of battles is in the hands +of men. Now remember each his wife and home: now recall the high deeds +of our fathers' honour. Let us challenge meeting at the water's edge, +while they waver and their feet yet slip as they disembark. Fortune aids +daring. . . .' So speaks he, and counsels inly whom he shall lead to meet +them, whom leave in charge of the leaguered walls.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Aeneas lands his allies by gangways from the high ships. Many +watch the retreat and slack of the sea, and leap boldly into the shoal +water; others slide down the oars. Tarchon, marking the shore where the +shallows do not seethe and plash with broken water, but the sea glides +up and spreads its tide unbroken, suddenly turns his bows to land and +implores his comrades: 'Now, O chosen crew, bend strongly to your oars; +lift your ships, make them go; let the prows cleave this hostile land +and the keel plough <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span><span class="linenum">[297-330]</span>herself a furrow. I will let my vessel +break up on such harbourage if once she takes the land.' When Tarchon +had spoken in such wise, his comrades rise on their oar-blades and carry +their ships in foam towards the Latin fields, till the prows are fast on +dry land and all the keels are aground unhurt. But not thy galley, +Tarchon; for she dashes on a shoal, and swings long swaying on the cruel +bank, pitching and slapping the flood, then breaks up, and lands her +crew among the waves. Broken oars and floating thwarts entangle them, +and the ebbing wave sucks their feet away.</p> + +<p>Nor does Turnus keep idly dallying, but swiftly hurries his whole array +against the Trojans and ranges it to face the beach. The trumpets blow. +At once Aeneas charges and confounds the rustic squadrons of the Latins, +and slays Theron for omen of battle. The giant advances to challenge +Aeneas; but through sewed plates of brass and tunic rough with gold the +sword plunges in his open side. Next he strikes Lichas, cut from his +mother already dead, and consecrated, Phoebus, to thee, since his +infancy was granted escape from the perilous steel. Near thereby he +struck dead brawny Cisseus and vast Gyas, whose clubs were mowing down +whole files: naught availed them the arms of Hercules and their strength +of hand, nor Melampus their father, ever of Alcides' company while earth +yielded him sore travail. Lo! while Pharus utters weak vaunts the hurled +javelin strikes on his shouting mouth. Thou too, while thou followest +thy new delight, Clytius, whose cheeks are golden with youthful +down—thou, luckless Cydon, struck down by the Dardanian hand, wert +lying past thought, ah pitiable! of the young loves that were ever +thine, did not the close array of thy brethren interpose, the children +of Phorcus, seven in number, and send a sevenfold shower of darts. Some +glance ineffectual from helmet and shield; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span><span class="linenum">[331-365]</span>some Venus the +bountiful turned aside as they grazed his body. Aeneas calls to trusty +Achates: 'Give me store of weapons; none that hath been planted in +Grecian body on the plains of Ilium shall my hand hurl at Rutulian in +vain.' Then he catches and throws his great spear; the spear flies +grinding through the brass of Maeon's shield, and breaks through corslet +and through breast. His brother Alcanor runs up and sustains with his +right arm his sinking brother; through his arm the spear passes speeding +straight on its message, and holds its bloody way, and the hand dangles +by the sinews lifeless from the shoulder. Then Numitor, seizing his dead +brother's javelin, aims at Aeneas, but might not fairly pierce him, and +grazed tall Achates on the thigh. Here Clausus of Cures comes confident +in his pride of strength, and with a long reach strikes Dryops under the +chin, and, urging the stiff spear-shaft home, stops the accents of his +speech and his life together, piercing the throat; but he strikes the +earth with his forehead, and vomits clots of blood. Three Thracians +likewise of Boreas' sovereign race, and three sent by their father Idas +from their native Ismarus, fall in divers wise before him. Halesus and +his Auruncan troops hasten thither; Messapus too, seed of Neptune, comes +up charioted. This side and that strive to hurl back the enemy, and +fight hard on the very edge of Ausonia. As when in the depth of air +adverse winds rise in battle with equal spirit and strength; not they, +not clouds nor sea, yield one to another; long the battle is doubtful; +all stands locked in counterpoise: even thus clash the ranks of Troy and +ranks of Latium, foot fast on foot, and man crowded up on man.</p> + +<p>But in another quarter, where a torrent had driven a wide path of +rolling stones and bushes torn away from the banks, Pallas saw his +Arcadians, unaccustomed to move as infantry, giving back before the +Latin pursuit, when the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span><span class="linenum">[366-400]</span>roughness of the ground bade them +dismount. This only was left in his strait, to kindle them to valour, +now by entreaties, now by taunts: 'Whither flee you, comrades? by your +deeds of bravery, by your leader Evander's name, by your triumphant +campaigns, and my hope that now rises to rival my father's honour, trust +not to flight. Our swords must hew a way through the enemy. Where yonder +mass of men presses thickest, there your proud country calls you with +Pallas at your head. No gods are they who bear us down; mortals, we feel +the pressure of a mortal foe; we have as many lives and hands as he. Lo, +the deep shuts us in with vast sea barrier; even now land fails our +flight; shall we make ocean or Troy our goal?'</p> + +<p>So speaks he, and bursts amid the serried foe. First Lagus meets him, +drawn thither by malign destiny; him, as he tugs at a ponderous stone, +hurling his spear where the spine ran dissevering the ribs, he pierces +and wrenches out the spear where it stuck fast in the bone. Nor does +Hisbo catch him stooping, for all that he hoped it; for Pallas, as he +rushes unguarded on, furious at his comrade's cruel death, receives him +on his sword and buries it in his distended lungs. Next he attacks +Sthenius, and Anchemolus of Rhoetus' ancient family, who dared to +violate the bridal chamber of his stepmother. You, too, the twins +Larides and Thymber, fell on the Rutulian fields, children of Daucus, +indistinguishable for likeness and a sweet perplexity to your parents. +But now Pallas made cruel difference between you; for thy head, Thymber, +is swept off by Evander's sword; thy right hand, Larides, severed, seeks +its master, and the dying fingers jerk and clutch at the sword. Fired by +his encouragement, and beholding his noble deeds, the Arcadians advance +in wrath and shame to meet the enemy in arms. Then Pallas pierces +Rhoeteus as he flies past in his chariot. This space, this +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span><span class="linenum">[401-435]</span>much of respite was given to Ilus; for at Ilus he had aimed +the strong spear from afar, and Rhoeteus intercepts its passage, in +flight from thee, noble Teuthras and Tyres thy brother; he rolls from +the chariot in death, and his heels strike the Rutulian fields. And as +the shepherd, when summer winds have risen to his desire, kindles the +woods dispersedly; on a sudden the mid spaces catch, and a single +flickering line of fire spreads wide over the plain; he sits looking +down on his conquest and the revel of the flames; even so, Pallas, do +thy brave comrades gather close to sustain thee. But warrior Halesus +advances full on them, gathering himself behind his armour; he slays +Ladon, Pheres, Demodocus; his gleaming sword shears off Strymonius' hand +as it rises to his throat; he strikes Thoas on the face with a stone, +and drives the bones asunder in a shattered mass of blood and brains. +Halesus had his father the soothsayer kept hidden in the woodland: when +the old man's glazing eyes sank to death, the Fates laid hand on him and +devoted him to the arms of Evander. Pallas aims at him, first praying +thus: 'Grant now, lord Tiber, to the steel I poise and hurl, a +prosperous way through brawny Halesus' breast; thine oak shall bear +these arms and the dress he wore.' The god heard it; while Halesus +covers Imaon, he leaves, alas! his breast unarmed to the Arcadian's +weapon. Yet at his grievous death Lausus, himself a great arm of the +war, lets not his columns be dismayed; at once he meets and cuts down +Abas, the check and stay of their battle. The men of Arcadia go down +before him; down go the Etruscans, and you, O Teucrians, invincible by +Greece. The armies close, matched in strength and in captains; the rear +ranks crowd in; weapons and hands are locked in the press. Here Pallas +strains and pushes on, here Lausus opposite, nearly matched in age, +excellent in beauty; but fortune <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span><span class="linenum">[436-467]</span>had denied both return to +their own land. Yet that they should meet face to face the sovereign of +high Olympus allowed not; an early fate awaits them beneath a mightier +foe.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Turnus' gracious sister bids him take Lausus' room, and his +fleet chariot parts the ranks. When he saw his comrades, 'It is time,' +he cried, 'to stay from battle. I alone must assail Pallas; to me and +none other Pallas is due; I would his father himself were here to see.' +So speaks he, and his Rutulians draw back from a level space at his +bidding. But then as they withdrew, he, wondering at the haughty +command, stands in amaze at Turnus, his eyes scanning the vast frame, +and his fierce glance perusing him from afar. And with these words he +returns the words of the monarch: 'For me, my praise shall even now be +in the lordly spoils I win, or in illustrious death: my father will bear +calmly either lot: away with menaces.' He speaks, and advances into the +level ring. The Arcadians' blood gathers chill about their hearts. +Turnus leaps from his chariot and prepares to close with him. And as a +lion sees from some lofty outlook a bull stand far off on the plain +revolving battle, and flies at him, even such to see is Turnus' coming. +When Pallas deemed him within reach of a spear-throw, he advances, if so +chance may assist the daring of his overmatched strength, and thus cries +into the depth of sky: 'By my father's hospitality and the board whereto +thou camest a wanderer, on thee I call, Alcides; be favourable to my +high emprise; let Turnus even in death discern me stripping his +blood-stained armour, and his swooning eyes endure the sight of his +conqueror.' Alcides heard him, and deep in his heart he stifled a heavy +sigh, and let idle tears fall. Then with kindly words the father accosts +his son: 'Each hath his own appointed day; short and irrecoverable +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span><span class="linenum">[468-502]</span>is the span of life for all: but to spread renown by deeds is +the task of valour. Under high Troy town many and many a god's son fell; +nay, mine own child Sarpedon likewise perished. Turnus too his own fate +summons, and his allotted period hath reached the goal.' So speaks he, +and turns his eyes away from the Rutulian fields. But Pallas hurls his +spear with all his strength, and pulls his sword flashing out of the +hollow scabbard. The flying spear lights where the armour rises high +above the shoulder, and, forcing a way through the shield's rim, ceased +not till it drew blood from mighty Turnus. At this Turnus long poises +the spear-shaft with its sharp steel head, and hurls it on Pallas with +these words: <i>See thou if our weapon have not a keener point.</i> He ended; +but for all the shield's plating of iron and brass, for all the +bull-hide that covers it round about, the quivering spear-head smashes +it fair through and through, passes the guard of the corslet, and +pierces the breast with a gaping hole. He tears the warm weapon from the +wound; in vain; together and at once life-blood and sense follow it. He +falls heavily on the ground, his armour clashes over him, and his +bloodstained face sinks in death on the hostile soil. And Turnus +standing over him . . .: 'Arcadians,' he cries, 'remember these my words, +and bear them to Evander. I send him back his Pallas as was due. All the +meed of the tomb, all the solace of sepulture, I give freely. Dearly +must he pay his welcome to Aeneas.' And with these words, planting his +left foot on the dead, he tore away the broad heavy sword-belt engraven +with a tale of crime, the array of grooms foully slain together on their +bridal night, and the nuptial chambers dabbled with blood, which Clonus, +son of Eurytus, had wrought richly in gold. Now Turnus exults in +spoiling him of it, and rejoices at his prize. Ah spirit of man, +ignorant of fate and the allotted future, or to keep bounds when elate +with prosperity!—the day will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span><span class="linenum">[503-535]</span>come when Turnus shall desire +to have bought Pallas' safety at a great ransom, and curse the spoils of +this fatal day. But with many moans and tears Pallas' comrades lay him +on his shield and bear him away amid their ranks. O grief and glory and +grace of the father to whom thou shalt return! This one day sent thee +first to war, this one day takes thee away, while yet thou leavest +heaped high thy Rutulian dead.</p> + +<p>And now no rumour of the dreadful loss, but a surer messenger flies to +Aeneas, telling him his troops are on the thin edge of doom; it is time +to succour the routed Teucrians. He mows down all that meets him, and +hews a broad path through their columns with furious sword, as he seeks +thee, O Turnus, in thy fresh pride of slaughter. Pallas, Evander, all +flash before his eyes; the board whereto but then he had first come a +wanderer, and the clasped hands. Here four of Sulmo's children, as many +more of Ufens' nurture, are taken by him alive to slaughter in sacrifice +to the shade below, and slake the flames of the pyre with captive blood. +Next he levelled his spear full on Magus from far. He stoops cunningly; +the spear flies quivering over him; and, clasping his knees, he speaks +thus beseechingly: 'By thy father's ghost, by Iülus thy growing hope, I +entreat thee, save this life for a child and a parent. My house is +stately; deep in it lies buried wealth of engraven silver; I have masses +of wrought and unwrought gold. The victory of Troy does not turn on +this, nor will a single life make so great a difference.' He ended; to +him Aeneas thus returns answer: 'All the wealth of silver and gold thou +tellest of, spare thou for thy children. Turnus hath broken off this thy +trafficking in war, even then when Pallas fell. Thus judges the ghost of +my father Anchises, thus Iülus.' So speaking, he grasps his helmet with +his left hand, and, bending back his neck, drives his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span><span class="linenum">[536-572]</span>sword up +to the hilt in the suppliant. Hard by is Haemonides, priest of Phoebus +and Trivia, his temples wound with the holy ribboned chaplet, all +glittering in white-robed array. Him he meets and chases down the plain, +and, standing over his fallen foe, slaughters him and wraps him in great +darkness; Serestus gathers the armour and carries it away on his +shoulders, a trophy, King Gradivus, to thee. Caeculus, born of Vulcan's +race, and Umbro, who comes from the Marsian hills, fill up the line. The +Dardanian rushes full on them. His sword had hewn off Anxur's left arm, +with all the circle of the shield—he had uttered brave words and deemed +his prowess would second his vaunts, and perchance with spirit lifted up +had promised himself hoar age and length of years—when Tarquitus in the +pride of his glittering arms met his fiery course, whom the nymph Dryope +had borne to Faunus, haunter of the woodland. Drawing back his spear, he +pins the ponderous shield to the corslet; then, as he vainly pleaded and +would say many a thing, strikes his head to the ground, and, rolling +away the warm body, cries thus over his enemy: 'Lie there now, terrible +one! no mother's love shall lay thee in the sod, or place thy limbs +beneath thine heavy ancestral tomb. To birds of prey shalt thou be left, +or borne down sunk in the eddying water, where hungry fish shall suck +thy wounds.' Next he sweeps on Antaeus and Lucas, the first of Turnus' +train, and brave Numa and tawny-haired Camers, born of noble Volscens, +who was wealthiest in land of the Ausonians, and reigned in silent +Amyclae. Even as Aegaeon, who, men say, had an hundred arms, an hundred +hands, fifty mouths and breasts ablaze with fire, and arrayed against +Jove's thunders as many clashing shields and drawn swords: so Aeneas, +when once his sword's point grew warm, rages victorious over all the +field. Nay, lo! he darts full in face on Niphaeus' four-horse chariot; +before his long strides <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span><span class="linenum">[573-608]</span>and dreadful cry they turned in terror +and dashed back, throwing out their driver and tearing the chariot down +the beach. Meanwhile the brothers Lucagus and Liger drive up with their +pair of white horses. Lucagus valiantly waves his drawn sword, while his +brother wheels his horses with the rein. Aeneas, wrathful at their mad +onslaught, rushes on them, towering high with levelled spear. To him +Liger . . . 'Not Diomede's horses dost thou discern, nor Achilles' +chariot, nor the plains of Phrygia: now on this soil of ours the war and +thy life shall end together.' Thus fly mad Liger's random words. But not +in words does the Trojan hero frame his reply: for he hurls his javelin +at the foe. As Lucagus spurred on his horses, bending forward over the +whip, with left foot advanced ready for battle, the spear passes through +the lower rim of his shining shield and pierces his left groin, knocks +him out of the chariot, and stretches him in death on the fields. To him +good Aeneas speaks in bitter words: 'Lucagus, no slackness in thy +coursers' flight hath betrayed thee, or vain shadow of the foe turned +them back; thyself thou leapest off the harnessed wheels.' In such wise +he spoke, and caught the horses. His brother, slipping down from the +chariot, pitiably outstretched helpless hands: 'Ah, by the parents who +gave thee birth, great Trojan, spare this life and pity my prayer.' More +he was pleading; but Aeneas: 'Not such were the words thou wert +uttering. Die, and be brother undivided from brother.' With that his +sword's point pierces the breast where the life lies hid. Thus the +Dardanian captain dealt death over the plain, like some raging torrent +stream or black whirlwind. At last the boy Ascanius and his troops burst +through the ineffectual leaguer and issue from the camp.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Jupiter breaks silence to accost Juno: 'O sister and wife best +beloved, it is Venus, as thou deemedst, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span><span class="linenum">[609-639]</span>nor is thy judgment +astray, who sustains the forces of Troy; not their own valour of hand in +war, and untamable spirit and endurance in peril.' To whom Juno +beseechingly:</p> + +<p>'Why, fair my lord, vexest thou one sick at heart and trembling at thy +bitter words? If that force were in my love that once was, and that was +well, never had thine omnipotence denied me leave to withdraw Turnus +from battle and preserve him for his father Daunus in safety. Now let +him perish, and pay forfeit to the Trojans of his innocent blood. Yet he +traces his birth from our name, and Pilumnus was his father in the +fourth generation, and oft and again his bountiful hand hath heaped thy +courts with gifts.'</p> + +<p>To her the king of high heaven thus briefly spoke: 'If thy prayer for +him is delay of present death and respite from his fall, and thou dost +understand that I ordain it thus, remove thy Turnus in flight, and +snatch him from the fate that is upon him. For so much indulgence there +is room. But if any ampler grace mask itself in these thy prayers, and +thou dreamest of change in the whole movement of the war, idle is the +hope thou nursest.'</p> + +<p>And Juno, weeping: 'Ah yet, if thy mind were gracious where thy lips are +stern, and this gift of life might remain confirmed to Turnus! Now his +portion is bitter and guiltless death, or I wander idly from the truth. +Yet, oh that I rather deluded myself with false alarms, and thou who +canst wouldst bend thy course to better counsels.'</p> + +<p>These words uttered, she darted through the air straight from high +heaven, cloud-girt in driving tempest, and sought the Ilian ranks and +camp of Laurentum. Then the goddess, strange and ominous to see, +fashions into the likeness of Aeneas a thin and pithless shade of hollow +mist, decks it with Dardanian weapons, and gives it the mimicry of +shield and divine helmet plume, gives unsubstantial <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span><span class="linenum">[640-673]</span>words and +senseless utterance, and the mould and motion of his tread: like shapes +rumoured to flit when death is past, or dreams that delude the +slumbering senses. But in front of the battle-ranks the phantom dances +rejoicingly, and with arms and mocking accents provokes the foe. Turnus +hastens up and sends his spear whistling from far on it; it gives back +and turns its footsteps. Then indeed Turnus, when he believed Aeneas +turned and fled from him, and his spirit madly drank in the illusive +hope: 'Whither fliest thou, Aeneas? forsake not thy plighted bridal +chamber. This hand shall give thee the land thou hast sought overseas.' +So clamouring he pursues, and brandishes his drawn sword, and sees not +that his rejoicing is drifting with the winds. The ship lay haply moored +to a high ledge of rock, with ladders run out and gangway ready, wherein +king Osinius sailed from the coasts of Clusium. Here the fluttering +phantom of flying Aeneas darts and hides itself. Nor is Turnus slack to +follow; he overleaps the barriers and springs across the high gangways. +Scarcely had he lighted on the prow; the daughter of Saturn snaps the +hawser, and the ship, parted from her cable, runs out on the ebbing +tide. And him Aeneas seeks for battle and finds not, and sends many a +man that meets him to death. Then the light phantom seeks not yet any +further hiding-place, but, flitting aloft, melts in a dark cloud; and a +blast comes down meanwhile and sweeps Turnus through the seas. He looks +back, witless of his case and thankless for his salvation, and, wailing, +stretches both hands to heaven: 'Father omnipotent, was I so guilty in +thine eyes, and is this the punishment thou hast ordained? Whither am I +borne? whence came I? what flight is this, or in what guise do I return? +Shall I look again on the camp or walls of Laurentum? What of that array +of men who followed me to arms? whom—oh horrible!—I have abandoned all +amid <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span><span class="linenum">[674-707]</span>a dreadful death; and now I see the stragglers and catch +the groans of those who fall. What do I? or how may earth ever yawn for +me deep enough? Do you rather, O winds, be pitiful, carry my bark on +rock or reef; it is I, Turnus, who desire and implore you; or drive me +on the cruel shoals of the Syrtis, where no Rutulian may follow nor +rumour know my name.' Thus speaking, he wavers in mind this way and +that: maddened by the shame, shall he plunge on his sword's harsh point +and drive it through his side, or fling himself among the waves, and +seek by swimming to gain the winding shore, again to return on the +Trojan arms? Thrice he essayed either way; thrice queenly Juno checked +and restrained him in pity of heart. Cleaving the deep, he floats with +the tide down the flood, and is borne on to his father Daunus' ancient +city.</p> + +<p>But meanwhile at Jove's prompting fiery Mezentius takes his place in the +battle and assails the triumphant Teucrians. The Tyrrhene ranks gather +round him, and all at once in unison shower their darts down on the +hated foe. As a cliff that juts into the waste of waves, meeting the +raging winds and breasting the deep, endures all the threatening force +of sky and sea, itself fixed immovable, so he dashes to earth Hebrus son +of Dolichaon, and with him Latagus, and Palmus as he fled; catching +Latagus full front in the face with a vast fragment of mountain rock, +while Palmus he hamstrings, and leaves him rolling helpless; his armour +he gives Lausus to wear on his shoulders, and the plumes to fix on his +crest. With them fall Evanthes the Phrygian, and Mimas, fellow and +birthmate of Paris; for on one night Theano bore him to his father +Amycus, and the queen, Cisseus' daughter, was delivered of Paris the +firebrand; he sleeps in his fathers' city; Mimas lies a stranger on the +Laurentian coast. And as the boar driven by snapping hounds from the +mountain heights, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span><span class="linenum">[708-744]</span>many a year hidden by Vesulus in his pines, +many an one fed in the Laurentian marsh among the reedy forest, once +come among the nets, halts and snorts savagely, with shoulders bristling +up, and none of them dare be wrathful or draw closer, but they shower +from a safe distance their darts and cries; even thus none of those +whose anger is righteous against Mezentius have courage to meet him with +drawn weapon: far off they provoke him with missiles and huge clamour, +and he turns slow and fearless round about, grinding his teeth as he +shakes the spears off his shield. From the bounds of ancient Corythus +Acron the Greek had come, leaving for exile a bride half won. Seeing him +afar dealing confusion amid the ranks, in crimson plumes and his +plighted wife's purple,—as an unpastured lion often ranging the deep +coverts, for madness of hunger urges him, if he haply catches sight of a +timorous roe or high-antlered stag, he gapes hugely for joy, and, with +mane on end, clings crouching over its flesh, his cruel mouth bathed in +reeking gore. . . . so Mezentius darts lightly among the thick of the +enemy. Hapless Acron goes down, and, spurning the dark ground, gasps out +his life, and covers the broken javelin with his blood. But the victor +deigned not to bring down Orodes with the blind wound of his flying +lance as he fled; full face to face he meets him, and engages man with +man, conqueror not by stealth but armed valour. Then, as with planted +foot, he thrust him off the spear: 'O men,' he cries, 'Orodes lies low, +no slight arm of the war.' His comrades shout after him the glad battle +chant. And the dying man: 'Not unavenged nor long, whoso thou art, shalt +thou be glad in victory: thee too an equal fate marks down, and in these +fields thou shalt soon lie.' And smiling on him half wrathfully, +Mezentius: 'Now die thou. But of me let the father of gods and king of +men take counsel.' So saying, he drew the weapon out of his body. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span><span class="linenum">[745-780]</span>Grim rest and iron slumber seal his eyes; his lids close on +everlasting night. Caedicus slays Alcathoüs, Sacrator Hydaspes, Rapo +Parthenius and the grim strength of Orses, Messapus Clonius and +Erichaetes son of Lycaon, the one when his reinless horse stumbling had +flung him to the ground, the other as they met on foot. And Agis the +Lycian advanced only to be struck from horseback by Valerus, brave as +his ancestry; and Thronius by Salius, and Salius by Nealces with +treacherous arrow-shot that stole from far.</p> + +<p>Now the heavy hand of war dealt equal woe and counterchange of death; in +even balance conquerors and conquered slew and fell; nor one nor other +knows of retreat. The gods in Jove's house pity the vain rage of either +and all the agonising of mortals. From one side Venus, from one opposite +Juno, daughter of Saturn, looks on; pale Tisiphone rages among the many +thousand men. But now, brandishing his huge spear, Mezentius strides +glooming over the plain, vast as Orion when, with planted foot, he +cleaves his way through the vast pools of mid-ocean and his shoulder +overtops the waves, or carrying an ancient mountain-ash from the +hilltops, paces the ground and hides his head among the clouds: so moves +Mezentius, huge in arms. Aeneas, espying him in the deep columns, makes +on to meet him. He remains, unterrified, awaiting his noble foe, steady +in his own bulk, and measures with his eye the fair range for a spear. +'This right hand's divinity, and the weapon I poise and hurl, now be +favourable! thee, Lausus, I vow for the live trophy of Aeneas, dressed +in the spoils stripped from the pirate's body.' He ends, and throws the +spear whistling from far; it flies on, glancing from the shield, and +pierces illustrious Antores hard by him sidelong in the flank; Antores, +companion of Hercules, who, sent thither from Argos, had stayed by +Evander, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span><span class="linenum">[781-814]</span>settled in an Italian town. Hapless he goes down +with a wound not his own, and in death gazes on the sky, and Argos is +sweet in his remembrance. Then good Aeneas throws his spear; through the +sheltering circle of threefold brass, through the canvas lining and +fabric of triple-sewn bull-hide it went, and sank deep in his groin; yet +carried not its strength home. Quickly Aeneas, joyful at the sight of +the Tyrrhenian's blood, snatches his sword from his thigh and presses +hotly on his struggling enemy. Lausus saw, and groaned deeply for love +of his dear father, and tears rolled over his face. Here will I not keep +silence of thy hard death-doom and thine excellent deeds (if in any wise +things wrought in the old time may win belief), nor of thyself, O fitly +remembered! He, helpless and trammelled, withdrew backward, the deadly +spear-shaft trailing from his shield. The youth broke forward and +plunged into the fight; and even as Aeneas' hand rose to bring down the +blow, he caught up his point and held him in delay. His comrades follow +up with loud cries, so the father may withdraw in shelter of his son's +shield, while they shower their darts and bear back the enemy with +missiles from a distance. Aeneas wrathfully keeps covered. And as when +storm-clouds pour down in streaming hail, all the ploughmen and +country-folk scatter off the fields, and the wayfarer cowers safe in his +fortress, a stream's bank or deep arch of rock, while the rain falls, +that they may do their day's labour when sunlight reappears; thus under +the circling storm of weapons Aeneas sustains the cloud of war till it +thunders itself all away, and calls on Lausus, on Lausus, with chiding +and menace: 'Whither runnest thou on thy death, with daring beyond thy +strength? thine affection betrays thee into rashness.' But none the less +he leaps madly on; and now wrath rises higher and fiercer in the +Dardanian captain, and the Fates pass Lausus' last <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span><span class="linenum">[815-849]</span>threads +through their hand; for Aeneas drives the sword strongly right through +him up all its length: the point pierced the light shield that armed his +assailant, and the tunic sewn by his mother with flexible gold: blood +filled his breast, and the life left the body and passed mourning +through the air to the under world. But when Anchises' son saw the look +on the dying face, the face pale in wonderful wise, he sighed deeply in +pity, and reached forth his hand, as the likeness of his own filial +affection flashed across his soul. 'What now shall good Aeneas give +thee, what, O poor boy, for this thy praise, for guerdon of a nature so +noble? Keep for thine own the armour thou didst delight in; and I +restore thee, if that matters aught at all, to the ghosts and ashes of +thy parents. Yet thou shalt have this sad comfort in thy piteous death, +thou fallest by great Aeneas' hand.' Then, chiding his hesitating +comrades, he lifts him from the ground, dabbling the comely-ranged +tresses with blood.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile his father, by the wave of the Tiber river, stanched his wound +with water, and rested his body against a tree-trunk. Hard by his brazen +helmet hangs from the boughs, and the heavy armour lies quietly on the +meadow. Chosen men stand round; he, sick and panting, leans his neck and +lets his beard spread down over his chest. Many a time he asks for +Lausus, and sends many an one to call him back and carry a parent's sad +commands. But Lausus his weeping comrades were bearing lifeless on his +armour, mighty and mightily wounded to death. Afar the soul prophetic of +ill knew their lamentation: he soils his gray hairs plenteously with +dust, and stretches both hands on high, and clings on the dead. 'Was +life's hold on me so sweet, O my son, that I let him I bore receive the +hostile stroke in my room? Am I, thy father, saved by these wounds of +thine, and living by thy death? Alas and woe! <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span><span class="linenum">[850-885]</span>now at last +exile is bitter! now the wound is driven deep! And I, even I, O my son, +stained thy name with crime, driven in hatred from the throne and +sceptre of my fathers. I owed vengeance to my country and my people's +resentment; might mine own guilty life but have paid it by every form of +death! Now I live, and leave not yet man and day; but I will.' As he +speaks thus he raises himself painfully on his thigh, and though the +violence of the deep wound cripples him, yet unbroken he bids his horse +be brought, his beauty, his comfort, that ever had carried him +victorious out of war, and says these words to the grieving beast: +'Rhoebus, we have lived long, if aught at all lasts long with mortals. +This day wilt thou either bring back in triumph the gory head and spoils +of Aeneas, and we will avenge Lausus' agonies; or if no force opens a +way, thou wilt die with me: for I deem not, bravest, thou wilt deign to +bear an alien rule and a Teucrian lord.' He spoke, and took his welcome +seat on the back he knew, loading both hands with keen javelins, his +head sheathed in glittering brass and shaggy horse-hair plumes. Thus he +galloped in. Through his heart sweep together the vast tides of shame +and mingling madness and grief. And with that he thrice loudly calls +Aeneas. Aeneas knew the call, and makes glad invocation: 'So the father +of gods speed me, so Apollo on high: do thou essay to close hand to +hand. . . .' Thus much he utters, and moves up to meet him with levelled +spear. And he: 'Why seek to frighten me, fierce man, now my son is gone? +this was thy one road to my ruin. We shrink not from death, nor relent +before any of thy gods. Cease; for I come to my death, first carrying +these gifts for thee.' He spoke, and hurled a weapon at his enemy; then +plants another and yet another as he darts round in a wide circle; but +they are stayed on the boss of gold. Thrice he rode wheeling close round +him by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span><span class="linenum">[886-908]</span>left, and sent his weapons strongly in; thrice the +Trojan hero turns round, taking the grim forest on his brazen guard. +Then, weary of lingering in delay on delay, and plucking out spear-head +after spear-head, and hard pressed in the uneven match of battle, with +much counselling of spirit now at last he bursts forth, and sends his +spear at the war-horse between the hollows of the temples. The creature +raises itself erect, beating the air with its feet, throws its rider, +and coming down after him in an entangled mass, slips its shoulder as it +tumbles forward. The cries of Trojans and Latins kindle the sky. Aeneas +rushes up, drawing his sword from the scabbard, and thus above him: +'Where now is gallant Mezentius and all his fierce spirit?' Thereto the +Tyrrhenian, as he came to himself and gazing up drank the air of heaven: +'Bitter foe, why these taunts and menaces of death? Naught forbids my +slaughter; neither on such terms came I to battle, nor did my Lausus +make treaty for this between me and thee. This one thing I beseech thee, +by whatsoever grace a vanquished enemy may claim: allow my body +sepulture. I know I am girt by the bitter hatred of my people. Stay, I +implore, their fury, and grant me and my son union in the tomb.' So +speaks he, and takes the sword in his throat unfalteringly, and the +lifeblood spreads in a wave over his armour.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BOOK_ELEVENTH" id="BOOK_ELEVENTH"></a>BOOK ELEVENTH</h2> + +<h3>THE COUNCIL OF THE LATINS, AND THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CAMILLA</h3> + + +<p>Meanwhile Dawn arose forth of Ocean. Aeneas, though the charge presses +to give a space for burial of his comrades, and his mind is in the +tumult of death, began to pay the gods his vows of victory with the +breaking of the East. He plants on a mound a mighty oak with boughs +lopped away on every hand, and arrays it in the gleaming arms stripped +from Mezentius the captain, a trophy to thee, mighty Lord of War; he +fixes on it the plumes dripping with blood, the broken spears, and the +corslet struck and pierced in twelve places; he ties the shield of brass +on his left hand, and hangs from his neck the ivory sword. Then among +his joyous comrades (for all the throng of his captains girt him close +about) he begins in these words of cheer:</p> + +<p>'The greatest deed is done, O men; be all fear gone for what remains. +These are the spoils of a haughty king, the first-fruits won from him; +my hands have set Mezentius here. Now our way lies to the walls of the +Latin king. Prepare your arms in courage, and let your hopes anticipate +the war; let no ignorant delay hinder or tardy thoughts of fear keep us +back, so soon as heaven grant us to pluck up the standards and lead our +army from the camp. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span><span class="linenum">[22-58]</span>Meanwhile let us commit to earth the +unburied bodies of our comrades, since deep in Acheron this honour is +left alone. Go,' says he, 'grace with the last gifts those noble souls +whose blood won us this land for ours; and first let Pallas be sent to +Evander's mourning city, he whose valour failed not when the day of +darkness took him, and the bitter wave of death.'</p> + +<p>So speaks he weeping, and retraces his steps to the door, where aged +Acoetes watched Pallas' lifeless body laid out for burial; once +armour-bearer to Evander in Parrhasia, but now gone forth with darker +omens, appointed attendant to his darling foster-child. Around is the +whole train of servants, with a crowd of Trojans, and the Ilian women +with hair unbound in mourning after their fashion. When Aeneas entered +at the high doorway they beat their breasts and raise a loud wail aloft, +and the palace moans to their grievous lamentation. Himself, when he saw +the pillowed head and fair face of Pallas, and on his smooth breast the +gaping wound of the Ausonian spear-head, speaks thus with welling tears:</p> + +<p>'Did Fortune in her joyous coming,' he cries, 'O luckless boy, grudge +thee the sight of our realm, and a triumphal entry to thy father's +dwelling? Not this promise of thee had I given to Evander thy sire at my +departure, when he embraced me as I went and bade me speed to a wide +empire, and yet warned me in fear that the men were valiant, the people +obstinate in battle. And now he, fast ensnared by empty hope, perchance +offers vows and heaps gifts on his altars; we, a mourning train, go in +hollow honour by his corpse, who now owes no more to aught in heaven. +Unhappy! thou wilt see thy son cruelly slain; is this our triumphal +return awaited? is this my strong assurance? Ah me, what a shield is +lost, mine Iülus, to Ausonia and to thee!'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[59-96]</span>This lament done, he bids raise the piteous body, and sends a +thousand men chosen from all his army for the last honour of escort, to +mingle in the father's tears; a small comfort in a great sorrow, yet the +unhappy parent's due. Others quickly plait a soft wicker bier of arbutus +rods and oak shoots, and shadow the heaped pillows with a leafy +covering. Here they lay him, high on their rustic strewing; even as some +tender violet or drooping hyacinth-blossom plucked by a maiden's finger, +whose sheen and whose grace is not yet departed, but no more does Earth +the mother feed it or lend it strength. Then Aeneas bore forth two +purple garments stiff with gold, that Sidonian Dido's own hands, happy +over their work, had once wrought for him, and shot the warp with +delicate gold. One of these he sadly folds round him, a last honour, and +veils in its covering the tresses destined to the fire; and heaps up +besides many a Laurentine battle-prize, and bids his spoils pass forth +in long train; with them the horses and arms whereof he had stripped the +enemy, and those, with hands tied behind their back, whom he would send +as nether offering to his ghost, and sprinkle the blood of their slaying +on the flame. Also he bids his captains carry stems dressed in the +armour of the foe, and fix on them the hostile names. Unhappy Acoetes is +led along, outworn with age, he smites his breast and rends his face, +and flings himself forward all along the ground. Likewise they lead +forth the chariot bathed in Rutulian blood; behind goes weeping Aethon +the war-horse, his trappings laid away, and big drops wet his face. +Others bear his spear and helmet, for all else is Turnus' prize. Then +follow in mourning array the Teucrians and all the Tyrrhenians, and the +Arcadians with arms reversed. When the whole long escorting file had +taken its way, Aeneas stopped, and sighing deep, pursued thus: 'Once +again war's dreadful destiny calls us hence to other tears: +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span><span class="linenum">[97-129]</span>hail thou for evermore, O princely Pallas, and for evermore +farewell.' And without more words he bent his way to the high walls and +advanced towards his camp.</p> + +<p>And now envoys were there from the Latin city with wreathed boughs of +olive, praying him of his grace to restore the dead that lay strewn by +the sword over the plain, and let them go to their earthy grave: no war +lasts with men conquered and bereft of breath; let this indulgence be +given to men once called friends and fathers of their brides. To them +Aeneas grants leave in kind and courteous wise, spurning not their +prayer, and goes on in these words: 'What spite of fortune, O Latins, +hath entangled you in the toils of war, and made you fly our friendship? +Plead you for peace to the lifeless bodies that the battle-lot hath +slain? I would fain grant it even to the living. Neither have I come but +because destiny had given me this place to dwell in; nor wage I war with +your people; your king it is who hath broken our covenant and preferred +to trust himself to Turnus' arms. Fitter it were Turnus had faced death +to-day. If he will fight out the war and expel the Teucrians, it had +been well to meet me here in arms; so had he lived to whom life were +granted of heaven or his own right hand. Now go, and kindle the fire +beneath your hapless countrymen.' Aeneas ended: they stood dumb in +silence, with faces bent steadfastly in mutual gaze. Then aged Drances, +ever young Turnus' assailant in hatred and accusation, with the words of +his mouth thus answers him again:</p> + +<p>'O Trojan, great in renown, yet greater in arms, with what praises may I +extol thy divine goodness? Shall thy righteousness first wake my wonder, +or thy toils in war? We indeed will gratefully carry these words to our +fathers' city, and, if fortune grant a way, will make thee at one with +King Latinus. Let Turnus seek his own alliances. Nay, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span><span class="linenum">[130-163]</span>it will +be our delight to rear the massy walls of destiny and stoop our +shoulders under the stones of Troy.'</p> + +<p>He ended thus, and all with one voice murmured assent. Twelve days' +truce is struck, and in mediation of the peace Teucrians and Latins +stray mingling unharmed on the forest heights. The tall ash echoes to +the axe's strokes; they overturn pines that soar into the sky, and +busily cleave oaken logs and scented cedar with wedges, and drag +mountain-ashes on their groaning waggons.</p> + +<p>And now flying Rumour, harbinger of the heavy woe, fills Evander and +Evander's house and city with the same voice that but now told of Pallas +victorious over Latium. The Arcadians stream to the gates, snatching +funeral torches after their ancient use; the road gleams with the long +line of flame, and parts the fields with a broad pathway of light; the +arriving crowd of Phrygians meets them and mingles in mourning array. +When the matrons saw all the train approach their dwellings they kindle +the town with loud wailing. But no force may withhold Evander; he comes +amid them; the bier is set down; he flings himself on Pallas, and clasps +him with tears and sighs, and scarcely at last does grief leave his +voice's utterance free. 'Other than this, O Pallas! was thy promise to +thy father, that thou wouldst not plunge recklessly into the fury of +battle. I knew well how strong was the fresh pride of arms and the +sweetness of honour in a first battle. Ah, unhappy first-fruits of his +youth and bitter prelude of the war upon our borders! ah, vows and +prayers of mine that no god heard! and thou, pure crown of wifehood, +happy that thou art dead and not spared for this sorrow! But I have +outgone my destiny in living, to stay here the survivor of my child. +Would I had followed the allied arms of Troy, to be overwhelmed by +Rutulian weapons! Would my life had been given, and I and not my Pallas +were borne home in this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span><span class="linenum">[164-198]</span>procession! I would not blame you, O +Teucrians, nor our treaty and the friendly hands we clasped: our old age +had that appointed debt to pay. Yet if untimely death awaited my son, it +will be good to think he fell leading the Teucrians into Latium, and +slew his Volscian thousands before he fell. Nay, no other funeral than +this would I deem thy due, my Pallas, than good Aeneas does, than the +mighty Phrygians, than the Tyrrhene captains and all the army of +Tyrrhenia. Great are the trophies they bring on whom thine hand deals +death; thou also, Turnus, wert standing now a great trunk dressed in +arms, had his age and his strength of years equalled thine. But why, +unhappy, do I delay the Trojan arms? Go, and forget not to carry this +message to your king: Thine hand it is that keeps me lingering in a life +that is hateful since Pallas fell, and Turnus is the debt thou seest son +and father claim: for thy virtue and thy fortune this scope alone is +left. I ask not joy in life; I may not; but to carry this to my son deep +in the under world.'</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Dawn had raised her gracious light on weary men, bringing back +task and toil: now lord Aeneas, now Tarchon, have built the pyres on the +winding shore. Hither in ancestral fashion hath each borne the bodies of +his kin; the dark fire is lit beneath, and the vapour hides high heaven +in gloom. Thrice, girt in glittering arms, they have marched about the +blazing piles, thrice compassed on horseback the sad fire of death, and +uttered their wail. Tears fall fast upon earth and armour; cries of men +and blare of trumpets roll skyward. Then some fling on the fire Latin +spoils stripped from the slain, helmets and shapely swords, bridles and +glowing chariot wheels; others familiar gifts, the very shields and +luckless weapons of the dead. Around are slain in sacrifice oxen many in +number, and bristly swine and cattle gathered out of all the country +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span><span class="linenum">[199-234]</span>are slaughtered over the flames. Then, crowding the shore, +they gaze on their burning comrades, and guard the embers of the pyres, +and cannot tear themselves away till dewy Night wheels on the +star-spangled glittering sky.</p> + +<p>Therewithal the unhappy Latins far apart build countless pyres and bury +many bodies of men in the ground; and many more they lift and bear away +to the neighbouring country, or send them back to the city; the rest, a +vast heap of undistinguishable slaughter, they burn uncounted and +unhonoured; on all sides the broad fields gleam with crowded rivalry of +fires. The third Dawn had rolled away the chill shadow from the sky; +mournfully they piled high the ashes and mingled bones from the embers, +and heaped a load of warm earth above them. Now in the dwellings of rich +Latinus' city the noise is loudest and most the long wail. Here mothers +and their sons' unhappy brides, here beloved sisters sad-hearted and +orphaned boys curse the disastrous war and Turnus' bridal, and bid him +his own self arm and decide the issue with the sword, since he claims +for himself the first rank and the lordship of Italy. Drances fiercely +embitters their cry, and vouches that Turnus alone is called, alone is +claimed for battle. Yet therewith many a diverse-worded counsel is for +Turnus, and the great name of the queen overshadows him, and he rises +high in renown of trophies fitly won.</p> + +<p>Among their stir, and while confusion is fiercest, lo! to crown all, the +envoys from great Diomede's city bring their gloomy message: nothing is +come of all the toil and labour spent; gifts and gold and strong +entreaties have been of no avail; Latium must seek other arms, or sue +for peace to the Trojan king. For heavy grief King Latinus himself +swoons away. The wrath of heaven and the fresh graves before his eyes +warn him that Aeneas is borne on by fate's evident will. So he sends +imperial summons to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span><span class="linenum">[235-269]</span>his high council, the foremost of his +people, and gathers them within his lofty courts. They assemble, and +stream up the crowded streets to the royal dwelling. Latinus, eldest in +years and first in royalty, sits amid them with cheerless brow, and bids +the envoys sent back from the Aetolian city tell the news they bring, +and demands a full and ordered reply. Then tongues are hushed; and +Venulus, obeying his word, thus begins to speak:</p> + +<p>'We have seen, O citizens, Diomede in his Argive camp, and outsped our +way and passed all its dangers, and touched the hand whereunder the land +of Ilium fell. He was founding a town, named Argyripa after his +ancestral people, on the conquered fields of Iapygian Garganus. After we +entered in, and licence of open speech was given, we lay forth our +gifts, we instruct him of our name and country, who are its invaders, +and why we are drawn to Arpi. He heard us, and replied thus with face +unstirred:</p> + +<p>'"O fortunate races, realm of Saturn, Ausonians of old, how doth fortune +vex your quiet and woo you to tempt wars you know not? We that have +drawn sword on the fields of Ilium—I forbear to tell the drains of war +beneath her high walls, the men sunken in yonder Simoïs—have all over +the world paid to the full our punishment and the reward of guilt, a +crew Priam's self might pity; as Minerva's baleful star knows, and the +Euboïc reefs and Caphereus' revenge. From that warfaring driven to alien +shores, Menelaus son of Atreus is in exile far as Proteus' Pillars, +Ulysses hath seen the Cyclopes of Aetna. Shall I make mention of the +realm of Neoptolemus, and Idomeneus' household gods overthrown? or of +the Locrians who dwell on the Libyan beach? Even the lord of Mycenae, +the mighty Achaeans' general, sank on his own threshold edge under his +accursed wife's hand, where the adulterer crouched over conquered Asia. +Aye, or that the gods grudged it me to return to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span><span class="linenum">[270-301]</span>my ancestral +altars, to see the bride of my desire, and lovely Calydon! Now likewise +sights of appalling presage pursue me; my comrades, lost to me, have +soared winging into the sky, and flit birds about the rivers—ah me, +dread punishment of my people!—and fill the cliffs with their +melancholy cries. This it was I had to look for even from the time when +I madly assailed celestial limbs with steel, and sullied the hand of +Venus with a wound. Do not, ah, do not urge me to such battles. Neither +have I any war with Troy since her towers are overthrown, nor do I +remember with delight the woes of old. Turn to Aeneas with the gifts you +bear to me from your ancestral borders. We have stood to face his grim +weapons, and met him hand to hand; believe one who hath proved it, how +mightily he rises over his shield, in what a whirlwind he hurls his +spear. Had the land of Ida borne two more like him, Dardanus had marched +to attack the towns of Inachus, and Greece were mourning fate's reverse. +In all our delay before that obstinate Trojan city, it was Hector and +Aeneas whose hand stayed the Grecian victory and bore back its advance +to the tenth year. Both were splendid in courage, both eminent in arms; +Aeneas was first in duty. Let your hands join in treaty as they may; but +beware that your weapons close not with his."</p> + +<p>'Thou hast heard, most gracious king, at once what is the king's answer, +and what his counsel for our great struggle.'</p> + +<p>Scarcely thus the envoys, when a diverse murmur ran through the troubled +lips of the Ausonians; even as, when rocks delay some running river, it +plashes in the barred pool, and the banks murmur nigh to the babbling +wave. So soon as their minds were quieted, and their hurrying lips +hushed, the king, first calling on the gods, begins from his lofty +throne:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[302-336]</span>'Ere now could I wish, O Latins, we had determined our course +of state, and it had been better thus; not to meet in council at such a +time as now, with the enemy seated before our walls. We wage an +ill-timed war, fellow-citizens, with a divine race, invincible, unbroken +in battle, who brook not even when conquered to drop the sword. If you +had hope in appeal to Aetolian arms, abandon it; though each man's hope +is his own, you discern how narrow a path it is. Beyond that you see +with your eyes and handle with your hands the total ruin of our +fortunes. I blame no one; what valour's utmost could do is done; we have +fought with our whole kingdom's strength. Now I will unfold what I +doubtfully advise and purpose, and with your attention instruct you of +it in brief. There is an ancient land of mine bordering the Tuscan +river, stretching far westward beyond the Sicanian borders. Auruncans +and Rutulians sow on it, work the stiff hills with the ploughshare, and +pasture them where they are roughest. Let all this tract, with a +pine-clad belt of mountain height, pass to the Teucrians in friendship; +let us name fair terms of treaty, and invite them as allies to our +realm; let them settle, if they desire it so, and found a city. But if +they have a mind to try other coasts and another people, and can abide +to leave our soil, let us build twice ten ships of Italian oak, or as +many more as they can man; timber lies at the water's edge for all; let +them assign the number and fashion of the vessels, and we will supply +brass, labour, dockyards. Further, it is our will that an hundred +ambassadors of the highest rank in Latium shall go to bear our words and +ratify the treaty, holding forth in their hands the boughs of peace, and +carrying for gifts weight of gold and ivory, and the chair and striped +robe, our royal array. Give counsel openly, and succour our exhausted +state.'</p> + +<p>Then Drances again, he whose jealous ill-will was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span><span class="linenum">[337-370]</span>wrought to +anger and stung with bitterness by Turnus' fame, lavish of wealth and +quick of tongue though his hand was cold in war, held no empty +counsellor and potent in faction—his mother's rank ennobled a lineage +whose paternal source was obscure—rises, and with these words heaps and +heightens their passion:</p> + +<p>'Dark to no man and needing no voice of ours, O gracious king, is that +whereon thou takest counsel. All confess they know how our nation's +fortune sways; but their words are choked. Let him grant freedom of +speech and abate his breath, he by whose disastrous government and +perverse way (I will speak out, though he menace me with arms and death) +we see so many stars of battle gone down and all our city sunk in +mourning; while he, confident in flight, assails the Trojan camp and +makes heaven quail before his arms. Add yet one to those gifts of thine, +to all the riches thou bidst us send or promise to the Dardanians, most +gracious of kings, but one; let no man's passion overbear thee from +giving thine own daughter to an illustrious son and a worthy marriage, +and binding this peace by perpetual treaty. Yet if we are thus +terror-stricken heart and soul, let us implore him in person, in person +plead him of his grace to give way, to restore king and country their +proper right. Why again and again hurlest thou these unhappy citizens on +peril so evident, O source and spring of Latium's woes? In war is no +safety; peace we all implore of thee, O Turnus, and the one pledge that +makes peace inviolable. I the first, I whom thou picturest thine enemy, +as I care not if I am, see, I bow at thy feet. Pity thine allies; +relent, and retire before thy conqueror. Enough have we seen of rout and +death, and desolation over our broad lands. Or if glory stir thee, if +such strength kindle in thy breast, and if a palace so delight thee for +thy dower, be bold, and advance stout-hearted upon the foe. We verily, +that Turnus <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span><span class="linenum">[371-406]</span>may have his royal bride, must lie scattered on +the plains, worthless lives, a crowd unburied and unwept. Do thou also, +if thou hast aught of might, if the War-god be in thee as in thy +fathers, look him in the face who challenges. . . .'</p> + +<p>At these words Turnus' passion blazed out. He utters a groan, and breaks +forth thus in deep accents:</p> + +<p>'Copious indeed, Drances, and fluent is ever thy speech at the moment +war calls for action; and when the fathers are summoned thou art there +the first. But we need no words to fill our senate-house, safely as thou +wingest them while the mounded walls keep off the enemy, and the +trenches swim not yet with blood. Thunder on in rhetoric, thy wonted +way: accuse thou me of fear, Drances, since thine hand hath heaped so +many Teucrians in slaughter, and thy glorious trophies dot the fields. +Trial is open of what live valour can do; nor indeed is our foe far to +seek; on all sides they surround our walls. Are we going to meet them? +Why linger? Will thy bravery ever be in that windy tongue and those +timorous feet of thine? . . . <i>My conqueror?</i> Shall any justly flout me as +conquered, who sees Tiber swoln fuller with Ilian blood, and all the +house and people of Evander laid low, and the Arcadians stripped of +their armour? Not such did Bitias and huge Pandarus prove me, and the +thousand men whom on one day my conquering hand sent down to hell, shut +as I was in their walls and closed in the enemy's ramparts. <i>In war is +no safety.</i> Fool! be thy boding on the Dardanian's head and thine own +fortunes. Go on; cease not to throw all into confusion with thy terrors, +to exalt the strength of a twice vanquished race, and abase the arms of +Latinus before it. Now the princes of the Myrmidons tremble before +Phrygian arms, now Tydeus' son and Achilles of Larissa, and Aufidus +river recoils from the Adriatic wave. Or when the scheming villain +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span><span class="linenum">[407-443]</span>pretends to shrink at my abuse, and sharpens calumny by +terror! never shall this hand—keep quiet!—rob thee of such a soul; +with thee let it abide, and dwell in that breast of thine. Now I return +to thee, my lord, and thy weighty resolves. If thou dost repose no +further hope in our arms, if all hath indeed left us, and one repulse +been our utter ruin, and our fortune is beyond recovery, let us plead +for peace and stretch forth unarmed hands. Yet ah! had we aught of our +wonted manhood, his toil beyond all other is blessed and his spirit +eminent, who rather than see it thus, hath fallen prone in death and +once bitten the ground. But if we have yet resources and an army still +unbroken, and cities and peoples of Italy remain for our aid; but if +even the Trojans have won their glory at great cost of blood (they too +have their deaths, and the storm fell equally on all), why do we +shamefully faint even on the threshold? Why does a shudder seize our +limbs before the trumpet sound? Often do the Days and the varying change +of toiling Time restore prosperity; often Fortune in broken visits makes +man her sport and again establishes him. The Aetolian of Arpi will not +help us; but Messapus will, and Tolumnius the fortunate, and the +captains sent by many a nation; nor will fame be scant to follow the +flower of Latium and the Laurentine land. Camilla the Volscian too is +with us, leading her train of cavalry, squadrons splendid in brass. But +if I only am claimed by the Teucrians for combat, if that is your +pleasure, and I am the barrier to the public good, Victory does not so +hate and shun my hands that I should renounce any enterprise for so +great a hope. I shall meet him in courage, did he outmatch great +Achilles and wear arms like his forged by Vulcan's hands. To you and to +my father Latinus I Turnus, unexcelled in bravery by any of old, +consecrate my life. <i>Aeneas calls on him alone</i>: let him, I implore: let +not Drances rather appease with his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span><span class="linenum">[444-480]</span>life this wrath of heaven, +if such it be, or win the renown of valour.'</p> + +<p>Thus they one with another strove together in uncertainty; Aeneas moved +from his camp to battle. Lo, a messenger rushes spreading confusion +through the royal house, and fills the town with great alarms: the +Teucrians, ranged in battle-line with the Tyrrhene forces, are marching +down by the Tiber river and filling the plain. Immediately spirits are +stirred and hearts shaken and wrath roused in fierce excitement among +the crowd. Hurrying hands grasp at arms; for arms their young men +clamour; the fathers shed tears and mutter gloomily. With that a great +noise rises aloft in diverse contention, even as when flocks of birds +haply settle on a lofty grove, or swans utter their hoarse cry among the +vocal pools on the fish-filled river of Padusa. 'Yes, citizens!' cries +Turnus, seizing his time: 'gather in council and sit praising peace, +while they rush on dominion in arms!' Without more words he sprung up +and issued swiftly from the high halls. 'Thou, Volusus,' he cries, 'bid +the Volscian battalions arm, and lead out the Rutulians. Messapus, and +Coras with thy brother, spread your armed cavalry widely over the plain. +Let a division entrench the city gates and man the towers: the rest of +our array attack with me where I command.' The whole town goes rushing +to the walls; lord Latinus himself, dismayed by the woeful emergency, +quits the council and puts off his high designs, and chides himself +sorely for not having given Aeneas unasked welcome, and made him son and +bulwark of the city. Some entrench the gates, or bring up supply of +stones and poles. The hoarse clarion utters the ensanguined note of war. +A motley ring of boys and matrons girdle the walls. Therewithal the +queen with a crowd of mothers ascends bearing gifts to Pallas' towered +temple, and by her side goes maiden Lavinia, source of all that woe, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span><span class="linenum">[481-514]</span>her beautiful eyes cast down. The mothers enter in, and while +the temple steams with their incense, pour from the high doorway their +mournful cry: 'Maiden armipotent, Tritonian, sovereign of war, break +with thine hand the spear of the Phrygian plunderer, hurl him prone to +earth and dash him down beneath our lofty gates.' Turnus arrays himself +in hot haste for battle, and even now hath done on his sparkling +breastplate with its flickering scales of brass, and clasped his golden +greaves, his brows yet bare and his sword buckled to his side; he runs +down from the fortress height glittering in gold, and exultantly +anticipates the foe. Thus when a horse snaps his tether, and, free at +last, rushes from the stalls and gains the open plain, he either darts +towards the pastures of the herded mares, or bathing, as is his wont, in +the familiar river waters, dashes out and neighs with neck stretched +high, glorying, and his mane tosses over collar and shoulder. Camilla +with her Volscian array meets him face to face in the gateway; the +princess leaps from her horse, and all her squadron at her example slide +from horseback to the ground. Then she speaks thus:</p> + +<p>'Turnus, if bravery hath any just self-confidence, I dare and promise to +engage Aeneas' cavalry, and advance to meet the Tyrrhene horse. Permit +my hand to try war's first perils: do thou on foot keep by the walls and +guard the city.'</p> + +<p>To this Turnus, with eyes fixed on the terrible maiden: 'O maiden flower +of Italy, how may I essay to express, how to prove my gratitude? But +now, since that spirit of thine excels all praise, share thou the toil +with me. Aeneas, as the report of the scouts I sent assures, hath sent +on his light-armed horse to annoy us and scour the plains; himself he +marches on the city across the lonely ridge of the mountain steep. I am +arranging a stratagem of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span><span class="linenum">[515-550]</span>war in his pathway on the wooded +slope, to block a gorge on the highroad with armed troops. Do thou +receive and join battle with the Tyrrhene cavalry; with thee shall be +gallant Messapus, the Latin squadrons, and Tiburtus' division: do thou +likewise assume a captain's charge.'</p> + +<p>So speaks he, and with like words heartens Messapus and the allied +captains to battle, and advances towards the enemy. There is a sweeping +curve of glen, made for ambushes and devices of arms. Dark thick foliage +hems it in on either hand, and into it a bare footpath leads by a narrow +gorge and difficult entrance. Right above it on the watch-towers of the +hill-top lies an unexpected level, hidden away in shelter, whether one +would charge from right and left or stand on the ridge and roll down +heavy stones. Hither he passes by a line of way he knew, and, seizing +his ground, occupies the treacherous woods.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile in the heavenly dwellings Latona's daughter addressed fleet +Opis, one of her maiden fellowship and sacred band, and sadly uttered +these accents: 'Camilla moves to fierce war, O maiden, and vainly girds +on our arms, dear as she is beyond others to me. For her love of Diana +is not newly born, nor her spirit stirred by sudden affection. Driven +from his kingdom through jealousy of his haughty power, Metabus left +ancient Privernum town, and bore his infant with him in his flight +through war and battle, the companion of his exile, and called her by +her mother Casmilla's name, with a little change, Camilla. Carrying her +before him on his breast, he sought a long ridge of lonely woodland; on +all sides angry weapons pressed on him, and Volscian soldiery spread +hurrying round about. Lo, in mid flight swoln Amasenus ran foaming with +banks abrim, so heavily had the clouds burst in rain. He would swim it; +but love of the infant holds him back in alarm for so dear a burden. +Inly revolving <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span><span class="linenum">[551-586]</span>all, he settled reluctantly on a sudden +resolve: the great spear that the warrior haply carried in his stout +hand, of hard-knotted and seasoned oak, to it he ties his daughter +swathed in cork-tree bark of the woodland, and binds her balanced round +the middle of the spear; poising it in his great right hand he thus +cries aloft: "Gracious one, haunter of the woodland, maiden daughter of +Latona, a father devotes this babe to thy service; thine is this weapon +she holds, thine infant suppliant, flying through the air from her +enemies. Accept her, I implore, O goddess, for thine own, whom now I +entrust to the chance of air." He spoke, and drawing back his arm, darts +the spinning spear-shaft: the waters roar: over the racing river poor +Camilla shoots on the whistling weapon. But Metabus, as a strong band +now presses nigher, plunges into the river, and triumphantly pulls spear +and girl, his gift to Trivia, from the grassy turf. No cities ever +received him within house or rampart, nor had his savagery submitted to +it; he led his life on the lonely pastoral hills. Here he nursed his +daughter in the underwood among tangled coverts, on the milk of a wild +brood-mare's teats, squeezing the udder into her tender lips. And so +soon as the baby stood and went straight on her feet, he armed her hands +with a sharp javelin, and hung quiver and bow from her little shoulders. +Instead of gold to clasp her tresses, instead of the long skirted gown, +a tiger's spoils hang down her back. Even then her tender hand hurled +childish darts, and whirled about her head the twisted thong of her +sling, and struck down the crane from Strymon or the milk-white swan. +Many a mother among Tyrrhenian towns destined her for their sons in +vain; content with Diana alone, she keeps unsoiled for ever the love of +her darts and maidenhood. Would she had not plunged thus into warfare +and provoked the Trojans by attack! so were she now dear to me and one +of my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span><span class="linenum">[587-620]</span>company. But since bitter doom is upon her, up, glide +from heaven, O Nymph, and seek the Latin borders, where under evil omen +they join in baleful battle. Take these, and draw from the quiver an +avenging shaft; by it shall he pay me forfeit of his blood, whoso, +Trojan or Italian alike, shall sully her sacred body with a wound. +Thereafter will I in a sheltering cloud bear body and armour of the +hapless girl unspoiled to the tomb, and lay them in her native land.' +She spoke; but the other sped lightly down the aery sky, girt about with +dark whirlwind on her echoing way.</p> + +<p>But meanwhile the Trojan force nears the walls, with the Etruscan +captains and their whole cavalry arrayed in ordered squadrons. Their +horses' trampling hoofs thunder on all the field, as, swerving this way +and that, they chafe at the reins' pressure; the iron field bristles +wide with spears, and the plain is aflame with uplifted arms. Likewise +Messapus and the Latin horse, and Coras and his brother, and maiden +Camilla's squadron, come forth against them on the plain, and draw back +their hands and level the flickering points of their long lances, in a +fire of neighing horses and advancing men. And now each had drawn within +javelin-cast of each, and drew up; with a sudden shout they dart forth, +and urge on their furious horses; from all sides at once weapons shower +thick like snow, and veil the sky with their shadow. In a moment +Tyrrhenus and fiery Aconteus charge violently with crossing spears, and +are the first to fall; they go down with a heavy crash, and their beasts +break and shatter chest upon chest. Aconteus, hurled off like a +thunderbolt or some mass slung from an engine, is dashed away, and +scatters his life in air. Immediately the lines waver, and the Latins +wheeling about throw their shields behind them and turn their horses +towards the town. The Trojans pursue; Asilas heads and leads on +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span><span class="linenum">[621-653]</span>their squadrons. And now they drew nigh the gates, and again +the Latins raise a shout and wheel their supple necks about; the +pursuers fly, and gallop right back with loosened rein: as when the sea, +running up in ebb and flow, now rushes shoreward and strikes over the +cliffs in a wave of foam, drenching the edge of the sand in its curving +sweep; now runs swirling back, and the surge sucks the rolling stones +away. Twice the Tuscans turn and drive the Rutulians towards the town; +twice they are repelled, and look back behind them from cover of their +shields. But when now meeting in a third encounter, the lines are locked +together all their length, and man singles out his man; then indeed, +amid groans of the dying, deep in blood roll armour and bodies, and +horses half slain mixed up with slaughtered men. The battle swells +fierce. Orsilochus hurled his spear at the horse of Remulus, whom +himself he shrank to meet, and left the steel in it under the ear; at +the stroke the charger rears madly, and, mastered by the wound, lifts +his chest and flings up his legs: the rider is thrown and rolls over on +the ground. Catillus strikes down Iollas, and Herminius mighty in +courage, mighty in limbs and arms, bareheaded, tawny-haired, +bare-shouldered; undismayed by wounds, he leaves his vast body open +against arms. Through his broad shoulders the quivering spear runs +piercing him through, and doubles him up with pain. Everywhere the dark +blood flows; they deal death with the sword in battle, and seek a noble +death by wounds.</p> + +<p>But amid the slaughter Camilla rages, a quivered Amazon, with one side +stripped for battle, and now sends tough javelins showering from her +hand, now snatches the strong battle-axe in her unwearying grasp; the +golden bow, the armour of Diana, clashes on her shoulders; and even when +forced backward in retreat, she turns in flight and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span><span class="linenum">[654-691]</span>aims darts +from her bow. But around her are her chosen comrades, maiden Larina, +Tulla, Tarpeia brandishing an axe inlaid with bronze, girls of Italy, +whom Camilla the bright chose for her own escort, good at service in +peace and war: even as Thracian Amazons when the streams of Thermodon +clash beneath them as they go to war in painted arms, whether around +Hippolyte, or while martial Penthesilea returns in her chariot, and the +crescent-shielded columns of women dance with loud confused cry. Whom +first, whom last, fierce maiden, does thy dart strike down? First +Euneus, son of Clytius; for as he meets her the long fir shaft crashes +through his open breast. He falls spouting streams of blood, and bites +the gory ground, and dying writhes himself upon his wound. Then Liris +and Pagasus above him; who fall headlong and together, the one thrown as +he reins up his horse stabbed under him, the other while he runs forward +and stretches his unarmed hand to stay his fall. To these she joins +Amastrus, son of Hippotas, and follows from far with her spear Tereus +and Harpalycus and Demophoön and Chromis: and as many darts as the +maiden sends whirling from her hand, so many Phrygians fall. Ornytus the +hunter rides near in strange arms on his Iapygian horse, his broad +warrior's shoulders swathed in the hide stripped from a bullock, his +head covered by a wolf's wide-grinning mouth and white-tusked jaws; a +rustic pike arms his hand; himself he moves amid the squadrons a full +head over all. Catching him up (for that was easy amid the rout), she +runs him through, and thus cries above her enemy: 'Thou wert hunting +wild beasts in the forest, thoughtest thou, Tyrrhenian? the day is come +for a woman's arms to refute thy words. Yet no light fame shalt thou +carry to thy fathers' ghosts, to have fallen under the weapon of +Camilla.' Next Orsilochus and Butes, the two mightiest of mould among +the Teucrians; Butes she pierces in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span><span class="linenum">[692-725]</span>back with her +spear-point between corslet and helmet, where the neck shews as he sits, +and the shield hangs from his left shoulder; Orsilochus she flies, and +darting in a wide circle, slips into the inner ring and pursues her +pursuer; then rising her full height, she drives the strong axe deep +through armour and bone, as he pleads and makes much entreaty; warm +brain from the wound splashes his face. One met her thus and hung +startled by the sudden sight, the warrior son of Aunus haunter of the +Apennine, not the meanest in Liguria while fate allowed him to deceive. +And he, when he discerns that no fleetness of foot may now save him from +battle or turn the princess from pursuit, essays to wind a subtle device +of treachery, and thus begins: 'How hast thou glory, if a woman trust in +her horse's strength? Debar retreat; trust thyself to level ground at +close quarters with me, and prepare to fight on foot. Soon wilt thou +know how windy boasting brings one to harm.' He spoke; but she, furious +and stung with fiery indignation, hands her horse to an attendant, and +takes her stand in equal arms on foot and undismayed, with naked sword +and shield unemblazoned. But he, thinking his craft had won the day, +himself flies off on the instant, and turning his rein, darts off in +flight, pricking his beast to speed with iron-armed heel. 'False +Ligurian, in vain elated in thy pride! for naught hast thou attempted +thy slippery native arts, nor will thy craft bring thee home unhurt to +treacherous Aunus.' So speaks the maiden, and with running feet swift as +fire crosses his horse, and catching the bridle, meets him in front and +takes her vengeance in her enemy's blood: as lightly as the falcon, bird +of bale, swoops down from aloft on a pigeon high in a cloud, and pounces +on and holds her, and disembowels her with taloned feet, while blood and +torn feathers flutter down the sky.</p> + +<p>But the creator of men and gods sits high on Olympus' <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span><span class="linenum">[726-759]</span>summit +watching this, not with eyes unseeing: he kindles Tyrrhenian Tarchon to +the fierce battle, and sharply goads him on to wrath. So Tarchon gallops +amid the slaughter where his squadrons retreat, and urges his troops in +changing tones, calling man on man by name, and rallies the fliers to +fight. 'What terror, what utter cowardice hath fallen on your spirits, O +never to be stung to shame, O slack alway? a woman drives you in +disorder and routs our ranks! Why wear we steel? for what are these idle +weapons in our hands? Yet not slack in Venus' service and wars by night, +or, when the curving flute proclaims Bacchus' revels, to look forward to +the feast and the cups on the loaded board (this your passion, this your +desire!) till the soothsayer pronounce the offering favourable, and the +fatted victim invite you to the deep groves.' So speaking, he spurs his +horse into the midmost, ready himself to die, and bears violently down +full on Venulus; and tearing him from horseback, grasps his enemy and +carries him away with him on the saddle-bow by main force. A cry rises +up, and all the Latins turn their eyes. Tarchon flies like fire over the +plain, carrying the armed man, and breaks off the steel head from his +own spear and searches the uncovered places, trying where he may deal +the mortal blow; the other struggling against him keeps his hand off his +throat, and strongly parries his attack. And, as when a golden eagle +snatches and soars with a serpent in his clutch, and his feet are fast +in it, and his talons cling; but the wounded snake writhes in coiling +spires, and its scales rise and roughen, and its mouth hisses as it +towers upward; the bird none the less attacks his struggling prize with +crooked beak, while his vans beat the air: even so Tarchon carries +Tiburtus out of the ranks, triumphant in his prize. Following their +captain's example and issue the men of Maeonia charge in. Then Arruns, +due to his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span><span class="linenum">[760-796]</span>doom, circles in advance of fleet Camilla with +artful javelin, and tries how fortune may be easiest. Where the maiden +darts furious amid the ranks, there Arruns slips up and silently tracks +her footsteps; where she returns victorious and retires from amid the +enemy, there he stealthily bends his rapid reins. Here he approaches, +and here again he approaches, and strays all round and about, and +untiringly shakes his certain spear. Haply Chloreus, sacred to Cybele +and once her priest, glittered afar, splendid in Phrygian armour; a skin +feathered with brazen scales and clasped with gold clothed the horse +that foamed under his spur; himself he shone in foreign blue and +scarlet, with fleet Gortynian shafts and a Lycian horn; a golden bow was +on his shoulder, and the soothsayer's helmet was of gold; red gold +knotted up his yellow scarf with its rustling lawny folds; his tunics +and barbarian trousers were wrought in needlework. Him, whether that she +might nail armour of Troy on her temples, or herself move in captive +gold, the maiden pursued in blind chase alone of all the battle +conflict, and down the whole line, reckless and fired by a woman's +passion for spoils and plunder: when at last out of his ambush Arruns +chooses his time and darts his javelin, praying thus aloud to heaven: +'Apollo, most high of gods, holy Soracte's warder, to whom we beyond all +do worship, for whom the blaze of the pinewood heap is fed, where we thy +worshippers in pious faith print our steps amid the deep embers of the +fire, grant, O Lord omnipotent, that our arms wipe off this disgrace. I +seek not the dress the maiden wore, nor trophy or any spoil of victory; +other deeds shall bring me praise; let but this dread scourge fall +stricken beneath my wound, I will return inglorious to my native towns.' +Phoebus heard, and inly granted half his vow to prosper, half he shred +into the flying breezes. To surprise and strike down Camilla in sudden +death, this he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span><span class="linenum">[797-831]</span>yielded to his prayer; that his high home might +see his return he gave not, and a gust swept off his accents on the +gale. So, when the spear sped from his hand hurtled through the air, all +the Volscians marked it well and turned their eyes on the queen; and she +alone knew not wind or sound of the weapon on its aery path, till the +spear passed home and sank where her breast met it, and, driven deep, +drank her maiden blood. Her companions run hastily up and catch their +sinking mistress. Arruns takes to flight more alarmed than all, in +mingled fear and exultation, and no longer dares to trust his spear or +face the maiden's weapons. And as the wolf, some shepherd or great +bullock slain, plunges at once among the trackless mountain heights ere +hostile darts are in pursuit, and knows how reckless he hath been, and +drooping his tail lays it quivering under his belly, and seeks the +woods; even so does Arruns withdraw from sight in dismay, and, satisfied +to escape, mingles in the throng of arms. The dying woman pulls at the +weapon with her hand; but the iron head is fixed deep in the wound up +between the rib-bones. She swoons away with loss of blood; chilling in +death her eyes swoon away; the once lustrous colour leaves her face. +Then gasping, she thus accosts Acca, one of her birthmates, who alone +before all was true to Camilla, with whom her cares were divided; and +even so she speaks: 'Thus far, Acca my sister, have I availed; now the +bitter wound overmasters me, and all about me darkens in haze. Haste +away, and carry to Turnus my last message; to take my place in battle, +and repel the Trojans from the town. And now goodbye.' Even with the +words she dropped the reins and slid to ground unconscious. Then the +unnerving chill overspread her, her neck slackened, her head sank +overpowered by death, and her arms fell, and with a moan the life fled +indignant into the dark. Then indeed an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span><span class="linenum">[832-867]</span>infinite cry rises and +smites the golden stars; the battle grows bloodier now Camilla is down; +at once in serried rants all the Teucrian forces pour in, with the +Tyrrhene captains and Evander's Arcadian squadrons.</p> + +<p>But Opis, Trivia's sentinel, long ere now sits high on the hill-tops, +gazing on the battle undismayed. And when afar amid the din of angry men +she espied Camilla done woefully to death, she sighed and uttered forth +a deep cry: 'Ah too, too cruel, O maiden, the forfeit thou hast paid for +daring armed attack on the Teucrians! and nothing hath availed thee thy +lonely following of Diana in the woodlands, nor wearing our quiver on +thy shoulder. Yet thy Queen hath not left thee unhonoured now thy latter +end is come; nor will this thy death be unnamed among the nations, nor +shalt thou bear the fame of one unavenged; for whosoever hath sullied +thy body with a wound shall pay death for due.' Under the mountain +height was a great earthen mound, tomb of Dercennus, a Laurentine king +of old, shrouded in shadowy ilex. Hither the goddess most beautiful +first swoops down, and marks Arruns from the mounded height. As she saw +him glittering in arms and idly exultant: 'Why,' she cries, 'wanderest +thou away? hitherward direct thy steps; come hither to thy doom, to +receive thy fit reward for Camilla. Shalt thou die, and by Diana's +weapons?' The Thracian spoke, and slid out a fleet arrow from her gilded +quiver, and stretched it level on the bow, and drew it far, till the +curving tips met one another, and now her hands touched in counterpoise, +the left the steel edge, the string in the right her breast. At once and +in a moment Arruns heard the whistle of the dart and the resounding air, +as the steel sank in his body. His comrades leave him forgotten on the +unknown dust of the plain, moaning his last and gasping his life away; +Opis wings her flight to the skyey heaven.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[868-901]</span>At once the light squadron of Camilla retreat now they have +lost their mistress; the Rutulians retreat in confusion, brave Atinas +retreats. Scattered captains and thinned companies make for safety, and +turn their horses backward to the town. Nor does any avail to make stand +against the swarming death-dealing Teucrians, or bear their shock in +arms; but their unstrung bows droop on their shoulders, and the +four-footed galloping horse-hoof shakes the crumbling plain. The eddying +dust rolls up thick and black towards the walls, and on the watch-towers +mothers beat their breasts and the cries of women rise up to heaven. On +such as first in the rout broke in at the open gates the mingling +hostile throng follows hard; nor do they escape death, alas! but in the +very gateway, within their native city and amid their sheltering homes, +they are pierced through and gasp out their life. Some shut the gates, +and dare not open to their pleading comrades nor receive them in the +town; and a most pitiful slaughter begins between armed men who guard +the entry and others who rush upon their arms. Barred out before their +weeping parents' eyes and faces, some, swept on by the rout, roll +headlong into the trenches; some, blindly rushing with loosened rein, +batter at the gates and stiffly-bolted doorway. The very mothers from +the walls in eager heat (true love of country points the way, when they +see Camilla) dart weapons with shaking hand, and eagerly make hard +stocks of wood and fire-hardened poles serve for steel, and burn to die +among the foremost for their city's sake.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile among the forests the terrible news pours in on Turnus, and +Acca brings him news of the mighty invasion; the Volscian lines are +destroyed; Camilla is fallen; the enemy thicken and press on, and have +swept all before them down the tide of battle. Raging he leaves the +hills he had beset—Jove's stern will ordains it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span><span class="linenum">[902-915]</span>so—and quits +the rough woodland. Scarcely had he marched out of sight and gained the +plain when lord Aeneas enters the open defiles, surmounts the ridge, and +issues from the dim forest. So both advance swiftly to the town with all +their columns, no long march apart, and at once Aeneas descried afar the +plains all smoking with dust, and saw the Laurentine columns, and Turnus +knew Aeneas terrible in arms, and heard the advancing feet and the +neighing of the horses. And straightway would they join battle and essay +the conflict, but that ruddy Phoebus even now dips his weary coursers in +the Iberian flood, and night draws on over the fading day. They encamp +before the city, and draw their trenches round the walls.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BOOK_TWELFTH" id="BOOK_TWELFTH"></a>BOOK TWELFTH</h2> + +<h3>THE SLAYING OF TURNUS</h3> + + +<p>When Turnus sees the Latins broken and fainting in the thwart issue of +war, his promise claimed for fulfilment, and men's eyes pointed on him, +his own spirit rises in unappeasable flame. As the lion in Phoenician +fields, his breast heavily wounded by the huntsmen, at last starts into +arms, and shakes out the shaggy masses from his exultant neck, and +undismayed snaps the brigand's planted weapon, roaring with +blood-stained mouth; even so Turnus kindles and swells in passion. Then +he thus addresses the king, and so furiously begins:</p> + +<p>'Turnus stops not the way; there is no excuse for the coward Aeneadae to +take back their words or renounce their compact. I join battle; bring +the holy things, my lord, and swear the treaty. Either this hand shall +hurl to hell the Dardanian who skulks from Asia, and the Latins sit and +see my single sword wipe out the nation's reproach; or let him rule his +conquest, and Lavinia pass to his espousal.'</p> + +<p>To him Latinus calmly replied: 'O excellent young man! the more thy hot +valour abounds, the more intently must I counsel, and weigh fearfully +what may befall. Thou hast thy father Daunus' realm, hast many towns +taken by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span><span class="linenum">[23-55]</span>thine hand, nor is Latinus lacking in gold and +goodwill. There are other maidens unwedded in Latium and Laurentine +fields, and of no mean birth. Let me unfold this hard saying in all +sincerity: and do thou drink it into thy soul. I might not ally my +daughter to any of her old wooers; such was the universal oracle of gods +and men. Overborne by love for thee, overborne by kinship of blood and +my weeping wife's complaint, I broke all fetters, I severed the maiden +from her promised husband, I took up unrighteous arms. Since then, +Turnus, thou seest what calamities, what wars pursue me, what woes +thyself before all dost suffer. Twice vanquished in pitched battle, we +scarce guard in our city walls the hopes of Italy: the streams of Tiber +yet run warm with our blood, and our bones whiten the boundless plain. +Why fall I away again and again? what madness bends my purpose? if I am +ready to take them into alliance after Turnus' destruction, why do I not +rather bar the strife while he lives? What will thy Rutulian kinsmen, +will all Italy say, if thy death—Fortune make void the word!—comes by +my betrayal, while thou suest for our daughter in marriage? Cast a +glance on war's changing fortune; pity thine aged father, who now far +away sits sad in his native Ardea.'</p> + +<p>In nowise do the words bend Turnus' passion: he rages the more fiercely, +and sickens of the cure. So soon as he found speech he thus made +utterance:</p> + +<p>'The care thou hast for me, most gracious lord, for me lay down, I +implore thee, and let me purchase honour with death. Our hand too rains +weapons, our steel is strong; and our wounds too draw blood. The goddess +his mother will be far from him to cover his flight, woman-like, in a +cloud and an empty phantom's hiding.'</p> + +<p>But the queen, dismayed by the new terms of battle, wept, and clung to +her fiery son as one ready to die: <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span><span class="linenum">[56-89]</span>'Turnus, by these tears, by +Amata's regard, if that touches thee at all—thou art now the one hope, +the repose of mine unhappy age; in thine hand is Latinus' honour and +empire, on thee is the weight of all our sinking house—one thing I +beseech thee; forbear to join battle with the Teucrians. What fate +soever awaits thee in the strife thou seekest, it awaits me, Turnus, +too: with thee will I leave the hateful light, nor shall my captive eyes +see Aeneas my daughter's lord.' Lavinia tearfully heard her mother's +words with cheeks all aflame, as deep blushes set her face on fire and +ran hotly over it. Even as Indian ivory, if one stain it with sanguine +dye, or where white lilies are red with many a rose amid: such colour +came on the maiden's face. Love throws him into tumult, and stays his +countenance on the girl: he burns fiercer for arms, and briefly answers +Amata:</p> + +<p>'Do not, I pray thee, do not weep for me, neither pursue me thus +ominously as I go to the stern shock of war. Turnus is not free to dally +with death. Thou, Idmon, bear my message to the Phrygian monarch in this +harsh wording: So soon as to-morrow's Dawn rises in the sky blushing on +her crimson wheels, let him not loose Teucrian or Rutulian: let Teucrian +and Rutulian arms have rest, and our blood decide the war; on that field +let Lavinia be sought in marriage.'</p> + +<p>These words uttered, withdrawing swiftly homeward, he orders out his +horses, and rejoicingly beholds them snorting before his face: those +that Orithyia's self gave to grace Pilumnus, such as would excel the +snows in whiteness and the gales in speed. The eager charioteers stand +round and pat their chests with clapping hollowed hands, and comb their +tressed manes. Himself next he girds on his shoulders the corslet stiff +with gold and pale mountain-bronze, and buckles on the sword and shield +and scarlet-plumed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span><span class="linenum">[90-124]</span>helmet-spikes: that sword the divine Lord of +Fire had himself forged for his father Daunus and dipped glowing in the +Stygian wave. Next, where it stood amid his dwelling leaning on a massy +pillar, he strongly seizes his stout spear, the spoil of Actor the +Auruncan, and brandishes it quivering, and cries aloud: 'Now, O spear +that never hast failed at my call, now the time is come; thee princely +Actor once, thee Turnus now wields in his grasp. Grant this strong hand +to strike down the effeminate Phrygian, to rend and shatter the corslet, +and defile in dust the locks curled with hot iron and wet with myrrh.' +Thus madly he runs on: sparkles leap out from all his blazing face, and +his keen eyes flash fire: even as the bull when before his first fight +he bellows awfully, and drives against a tree's trunk to make trial of +his angry horns, and buffets the air with blows or scatters the sand in +prelude of battle.</p> + +<p>And therewithal Aeneas, terrible in his mother's armour, kindles for +warfare and awakes into wrath, rejoicing that offer of treaty stays the +war. Comforting his comrades and sorrowing Iülus' fear, he instructs +them of destiny, and bids bear answer of assurance to King Latinus, and +name the laws of peace.</p> + +<p>Scarcely did the morrow shed on the mountain-tops the beams of risen +day, as the horses of the sun begin to rise from the deep flood and +breathe light from their lifted nostrils; Rutulian and Teucrian men +measured out and made ready a field of battle under the great city's +ramparts, and midway in it hearth-fires and grassy altars to the gods of +both peoples; while others bore spring water and fire, draped in +priestly dress and their brows bound with grass of the field. The +Ausonian army issue forth, and crowd through the gates in streaming +serried columns. On this side all the Trojan and Tyrrhenian host pour in +diverse armament, girt with iron even as though the harsh battle-strife +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span><span class="linenum">[125-158]</span>called them forth. Therewith amid their thousands the captains +dart up and down, splendid in gold and purple, Mnestheus, seed of +Assaracus, and brave Asilas, and Messapus, tamer of horses, brood of +Neptune: then each on signal given retired to his own ground; they plant +their spears in the earth and lean their shields against them. Mothers +in eager abandonment, and the unarmed crowd and feeble elders beset +towers and house-roofs, or stand at the lofty gates.</p> + +<p>But Juno, on the summit that is now called the Alban—then the mountain +had neither name nor fame or honour—looked forth from the hill and +surveyed the plain and double lines of Laurentine and Trojan, and +Latinus' town. Straightway spoke she thus to Turnus' sister, goddess to +goddess, lady of pools and noisy rivers: such worship did Jupiter the +high king of air consecrate to her for her stolen virginity:</p> + +<p>'Nymph, grace of rivers, best beloved of our soul, thou knowest how out +of all the Latin women that ever rose to high-hearted Jove's thankless +bed, thee only have I preferred and gladly given part and place in +heaven. Learn thy woe, that thou blame not me for it, Juturna. Where +fortune seemed to allow and the Destinies granted Latinus' estate to +prosper, I shielded Turnus and thy city. Now I see him joining battle +with unequal fates, and the day of doom and deadly force draws nigh. +Mine eyes cannot look on this battle and treaty: thou, if thou darest +aught of more present help for the brother of thy blood, go on; it +befits thee. Haply relief shall follow misery.'</p> + +<p>Scarcely thus: when Juturna's eyes overbrimmed with tears, and thrice +and again she smote her hand on her gracious breast. 'This is not time +for tears,' cries Juno, daughter of Saturn: 'hasten and snatch thy +brother, if it may be, from his death; or do thou waken war, and make +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span><span class="linenum">[159-191]</span>the treaty abortive. I encourage thee to dare.' With such +urgence she left her, doubting and dismayed, and grievously wounded in +soul.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the kings go forth; Latinus in mighty pomp rides in his +four-horse chariot; twelve gilded rays go glittering round his brows, +symbol of the Sun his ancestor; Turnus moves behind a white pair, +clenching in his hand two broad-headed spears. On this side lord Aeneas, +fount of the Roman race, ablaze in starlike shield and celestial arms, +and close by Ascanius, second hope of mighty Rome, issue from the camp; +and the priest, in spotless raiment, hath brought the young of a bristly +sow and an unshorn sheep of two years old, and set his beasts by the +blazing altars. They, turning their eyes towards the sunrising, scatter +salted corn from their hands and clip the beasts with steel over the +temples, and pour cups on the altars. Then Aeneas the good, with sword +drawn, thus makes invocation:</p> + +<p>'Be the Sun now witness, and this Earth to my call, for whose sake I +have borne to suffer so sore travail, and the Lord omnipotent, and thou +his wife, at last, divine daughter of Saturn, at last I pray more +favourable; and thou, mighty Mavors, who wieldest all warfare in +lordship beneath thy sway; and on the Springs and Rivers I call, and the +Dread of high heaven, and the divinities of the blue seas: if haply +victory fall to Turnus the Ausonian, the vanquished make covenant to +withdraw to Evander's city; Iülus shall quit the soil; nor ever +hereafter shall the Aeneadae return in arms to renew warfare, or attack +this realm with the sword. But if Victory grant battle to us and ours +(as I think the rather, and so the rather may the gods seal their will), +I will not bid Italy obey my Teucrians, nor do I claim the realm for +mine; let both nations, unconquered, join treaty for ever under equal +law. Gods <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span><span class="linenum">[192-225]</span>and worship shall be of my giving: my father Latinus +shall bear the sword, and have a father's prescribed command. For me my +Teucrians shall establish a city, and Lavinia give the town her name.'</p> + +<p>Thus Aeneas first: thereon Latinus thus follows:</p> + +<p>'By these same I swear, O Aeneas, by Earth, Sea, Sky, and the twin brood +of Latona and Janus the double-facing, and the might of nether gods and +grim Pluto's shrine; this let our Father hear, who seals treaties with +his thunderbolt. I touch the altars, I take to witness the fires and the +gods between us; no time shall break this peace and truce in Italy, +howsoever fortune fall; nor shall any force turn my will aside, not if +it dissolve land into water in turmoil of deluge, or melt heaven in +hell: so surely as this sceptre' (for haply he bore a sceptre in his +hand) 'shall never burgeon into thin leafage and shady shoot, since once +in the forest cut down right to the stem it lost its mother, and the +steel lopped away its tressed arms: a tree of old: now the craftsman's +hand hath bound it in adornment of brass and given it to our Latin +fathers' bearing.'</p> + +<p>With such words they sealed mutual treaty midway in sight of the +princes. Then they duly slay the consecrated beasts over the flames, and +tear out their live entrails, and pile the altars with laden chargers.</p> + +<p>But long ere this the Rutulians deemed the battle unequal, and their +hearts are stirred in changeful motion; and now the more, as they +discern nigher that in ill-matched strength . . . . heightened by Turnus, as +advancing with noiseless pace he humbly worships at the altar with +downcast eye, by his wasted cheeks and the pallor on his youthful frame. +Soon as Juturna his sister saw this talk spread, and the people's mind +waver in uncertainty, into the mid ranks, in feigned form of +Camertus—his family was high in long ancestry, and his father's name +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span><span class="linenum">[226-260]</span>for valour renowned, and himself most valiant in arms—into +the mid ranks she glides, not ignorant of her task, and scatters diverse +rumours, saying thus: 'Shame, O Rutulians! shall we set one life in the +breach for so many such as these? are we unequal in numbers or bravery? +See, Troy and Arcadia is all they bring, and those fate-bound bands that +Etruria hurls on Turnus. Scarce is there an enemy to meet every other +man of ours. He indeed will ascend to the gods for whose altars he +devotes himself, and move living in the lips of men: we, our country +lost, shall bow to the haughty rigour of our lords, if we now sit +slackly on the field.'</p> + +<p>By such words the soldiers' counsel was kindled yet higher and higher, +and a murmur crept through their columns; the very Laurentines, the very +Latins are changed; and they who but now hoped for rest from battle and +rescue of fortune now desire arms and pray the treaty were undone, and +pity Turnus' cruel lot. To this Juturna adds a yet stronger impulse, and +high in heaven shews a sign more potent than any to confuse Italian +souls with delusive augury. For on the crimsoned sky Jove's tawny bird +flew chasing, in a screaming crowd, fowl of the shore that winged their +column; then suddenly stooping to the water, pounces on a noble swan +with merciless crooked talons. The startled Italians watch, while all +the birds together clamorously wheel round from flight, wonderful to +see, and dim the sky with their pinions, and in thickening cloud urge +their foe through air, till, conquered by their attack and his heavy +prey, he yielded and dropped it from his talons into the river, and +winged his way deep into the clouds. Then indeed the Rutulians +clamorously greet the omen, and their hands flash out. And Tolumnius the +augur cries before them all: 'This it was, this, that my vows often have +sought; I welcome and know a deity; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span><span class="linenum">[261-294]</span>follow me, follow, snatch +up the sword, O hapless people whom the greedy alien frightens with his +arms like silly birds, and with strong hand ravages your shores. He too +will take to flight, and spread his sails afar over ocean. Do you with +one heart close up your squadrons, and defend in battle your lost king.' +He spoke, and darting forward, hurled a weapon full on the enemy; the +whistling cornel-shaft sings, and unerringly cleaves the air. At once +and with it a vast shout goes up, and all their rows are amazed, and +their hearts hotly stirred. The spear flies on; where haply stood +opposite in ninefold brotherhood all the beautiful sons of one faithful +Tyrrhene wife, borne of her to Gylippus the Arcadian, one of them, +midway where the sewn belt rubs on the flank and the clasp bites the +fastenings of the side, one of them, excellent in beauty and glittering +in arms, it pierces clean through the ribs and stretches on the yellow +sand. But of his banded brethren, their courage fired by grief, some +grasp and draw their swords, some snatch weapons to throw, and rush +blindly forward. The Laurentine columns rush forth against them; again +from the other side Trojans and Agyllines and Arcadians in painted +armour flood thickly in: so hath one passion seized all to make decision +by the sword. They pull the altars to pieces; through all the air goes a +thick storm of weapons, and faster falls the iron rain. Bowls and +hearth-fires are carried off; Latinus himself retreats, bearing the +outraged gods of the broken treaty. The others harness their chariots, +or vault upon their horses and come up with swords drawn. Messapus, +eager to shatter the treaty, rides menacingly down on Aulestes the +Tyrrhenian, a king in a king's array. Retreating hastily, and tripped on +the altars that meet him behind, the hapless man goes down on his head +and shoulders. But Messapus flies up with wrathful spear, and strikes +him, as he pleads sore, a deep downward <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span><span class="linenum">[295-330]</span>blow from horseback +with his beam-like spear, saying thus: <i>That for him: the high gods take +this better victim.</i> The Italians crowd in and strip his warm limbs. +Corynaeus seizes a charred brand from the altar, and meeting Ebysus as +he advances to strike, darts the flame in his face; his heavy beard +flamed up, and gave out a scorched smell. Following up his enemy's +confusion, the other seizes him with his left hand by the hair, and +bears him to earth with a thrust of his planted knee, and there drives +the unyielding sword into his side. Podalirius pursues and overhangs +with naked sword the shepherd Alsus as he rushes amid the foremost line +of weapons; Alsus swings back his axe, and severs brow and chin full in +front, wetting his armour all over with spattered blood. Grim rest and +iron slumber seal his eyes; his lids close on everlasting night.</p> + +<p>But good Aeneas, his head bared, kept stretching his unarmed hand and +calling loudly to his men: 'Whither run you? What is this strife that so +spreads and swells? Ah, restrain your wrath! truce is already stricken, +and all its laws ordained; mine alone is the right of battle. Leave me +alone, and my hand shall confirm the treaty; these rites already make +Turnus mine.' Amid these accents, amid words like these, lo! a whistling +arrow winged its way to him, sped from what hand or driven by what god, +none knows, or what chance or deity brought such honour to the +Rutulians; the renown of the high deed was buried, nor did any boast to +have dealt Aeneas' wound. Turnus, when he saw Aeneas retreating from the +ranks and his captains in dismay, burns hot with sudden hope. At once he +calls for his horses and armour, and with a bound leaps proudly into his +chariot and handles the reins. He darts on, dealing many a brave man's +body to death; many an one he rolls half-slain, or crushes whole files +under his chariot, or seizes and showers spears on the fugitives. As +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span><span class="linenum">[331-364]</span>when by the streams of icy Hebrus Mavors kindles to bloodshed +and clashes on his shield, and stirs war and speeds his furious +coursers; they outwing south winds and west on the open plain; utmost +Thrace groans under their hoof-beats; and around in the god's train rush +the faces of dark Terror, and Wraths and Ambushes; even so amid the +battle Turnus briskly lashes on his reeking horses, trampling on the +foes that lie piteously slain; the galloping hoof scatters bloody dew, +and spurns mingled gore and sand. And now hath he dealt Sthenelus to +death, and Thamyrus and Pholus, him and him at close quarters, the other +from afar; from afar both the sons of Imbrasus, Glaucus and Lades, whom +Imbrasus himself had nurtured in Lycia and equipped in equal arms, +whether to meet hand to hand or to outstrip the winds on horseback. +Elsewhere Eumedes advances amid the fray, ancient Dolon's brood, +illustrious in war, renewing his grandfather's name, his father's +courage and strength of hand, who of old dared to claim Pelides' chariot +as his price if he went to spy out the Grecian camp; to him the son of +Tydeus told out another price for his venture, and he dreams no more of +Achilles' horses. Him Turnus descried far on the open plain, and first +following him with light javelin through long space of air, stops his +double-harnessed horses and leaps from the chariot, and descends on his +fallen half-lifeless foe, and, planting his foot on his neck, wrests the +blade out of his hand and dyes its glitter deep in his throat, adding +these words withal: 'Behold, thou liest, Trojan, meting out those +Hesperian fields thou didst seek in war. Such guerdon is theirs who dare +to tempt my sword; thus do they found their city.' Then with a +spear-cast he sends Asbutes to follow him, and Chloreus and Sybaris, +Dares and Thersilochus, and Thymoetes fallen flung over his horse's +neck. And as when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span><span class="linenum">[365-398]</span>the Edonian North wind's wrath roars on the +deep Aegean, and the wave follows it shoreward; where the blast comes +down, the clouds race over the sky; so, wheresoever Turnus cleaves his +way, columns retreat and lines turn and run; his own speed bears him on, +and his flying plume tosses as his chariot meets the breeze. Phegeus +brooked not his proud approach; he faced the chariot, and caught and +twisted away in his right hand the mouths of his horses, spurred into +speed and foaming on the bit. Dragged along and hanging by the yoke he +is left uncovered; the broad lance-head reaches him, pins and pierces +the double-woven breastplate, and lightly wounds the surface of his +body. Yet turning, he advanced on the enemy behind his shield, and +sought succour in the naked point; when the wheel running forward on its +swift axle struck him headlong and flung him to ground, and Turnus' +sword following it smote off his head between the helmet-rim and the +upper border of the breastplate, and left the body on the sand.</p> + +<p>And while Turnus thus victoriously deals death over the plains, +Mnestheus meantime and faithful Achates, and Ascanius by their side, set +down Aeneas in the camp, dabbled with blood and leaning every other step +on his long spear. He storms, and tries hard to pull out the dart where +the reed had broken, and calls for the nearest way of remedy, to cut +open the wound with broad blade, and tear apart the weapon's +lurking-place, and so send him back to battle. And now Iapix son of +Iasus came, beloved beyond others of Phoebus, to whom once of old, +smitten with sharp desire, Apollo gladly offered his own arts and gifts, +augury and the lyre and swift arrows: he, to lengthen out the destiny of +a parent given over to die, chose rather to know the potency of herbs +and the practice of healing, and deal in a silent art unrenowned. Aeneas +stood chafing bitterly, propped on his vast spear, mourning +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span><span class="linenum">[399-435]</span>Iülus and a great crowd of men around, unstirred by their +tears. The aged man, with garment drawn back and girt about him in +Paeonian fashion, makes many a hurried effort with healing hand and the +potent herbs of Phoebus, all in vain; in vain his hand solicits the +arrow-head, and his pincers' grasp pulls at the steel. Fortune leads him +forward in nowise; Apollo aids not with counsel; and more and more the +fierce clash swells over the plains, and the havoc draws nigher on. +Already they see the sky a mass of dust, the cavalry approaching, and +shafts falling thickly amid the camp; the dismal cry uprises of warriors +fighting and falling under the War-god's heavy hand. At this, stirred +deep by her son's cruel pain, Venus his mother plucked from Cretan Ida a +stalk of dittamy with downy leaves and bright-tressed flowers, the plant +not unknown to wild goats when winged arrows are fast in their body. +This Venus bore down, her shape girt in a dim halo; this she steeps with +secret healing in the river-water poured out and sparkling abrim, and +sprinkles life-giving juice of ambrosia and scented balm. With that +water aged Iapix washed the wound, unwitting; and suddenly, lo! all the +pain left his body, all the blood in the deep wound was stanched. And +now following his hand the arrow fell out with no force, and strength +returned afresh as of old. 'Hasten! arms for him quickly! why stand +you?' cries Iapix aloud, and begins to kindle their courage against the +enemy; 'this comes not by human resource or schooling of art, nor does +my hand save thee, Aeneas: a higher god is at work, and sends thee back +to higher deeds.' He, eager for battle, had already clasped on the +greaves of gold right and left, and scorning delay, brandishes his +spear. When the shield is adjusted by his side and the corslet on his +back, he clasps Ascanius in his armed embrace, and lightly kissing him +through the helmet, cries: 'Learn of me, O boy, valour <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span><span class="linenum">[436-470]</span>and +toil indeed, fortune of others. Now mine hand shall give thee defence in +war, and lead thee to great reward: do thou, when hereafter thine age +ripens to fulness, keep this in remembrance, and as thou recallest the +pattern of thy kindred, let thy spirit rise to thy father Aeneas, thine +uncle Hector.'</p> + +<p>These words uttered, he issued towering from the gates, brandishing his +mighty spear: with him in serried column rush Antheus and Mnestheus, and +all the throng streams forth of the camp. The field drifts with blinding +dust, and the startled earth trembles under the tramp of feet. From his +earthworks opposite Turnus saw and the Ausonians saw them come, and an +icy shudder ran deep through their frame; first and before all the +Latins Juturna heard and knew the sound, and in terror fled away. He +flies on, and hurries his dark column over the open plain. As when in +fierce weather a storm-cloud moves over mid sea to land, with presaging +heart, ah me, the hapless husbandmen shudder from afar; it will deal +havoc to their trees and destruction to their crops, and make a broad +path of ruin; the winds fly before it, and bear its roar to the beach; +so the Rhoetean captain drives his army full on the foe; one and all +they close up in wedges, and mass their serried ranks. Thymbraeus smites +massive Osiris with the sword, Mnestheus slays Arcetius, Achates Epulo, +Gyas Ufens: Tolumnius the augur himself goes down, he who had hurled the +first weapon against the foe. Their cry rises to heaven, and in turn the +routed Rutulians give backward in flight over the dusty fields. Himself +he deigns not to cut down the fugitives, nor pursue such as meet him +fair on foot or approach in arms: Turnus alone he tracks and searches in +the thick haze, alone calls him to conflict. Then panic-stricken the +warrior maiden flings Turnus' charioteer out over his reins, and leaving +him far where he slips from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span><span class="linenum">[471-504]</span>chariot-pole, herself succeeds +and turns the wavy reins, tones and limbs and armour all of Metiscus' +wearing. As when a black swallow flits through some rich lord's spacious +house, and circles in flight the lofty halls, gathering her tiny food +for sustenance to her twittering nestlings, and now swoops down the +spacious colonnades, now round the wet ponds; in like wise dart +Juturna's horses amid the enemy, and her fleet chariot passes flying +over all the field. And now here and now here she displays her +triumphant brother, nor yet allows him to close, but flies far and away. +None the less does Aeneas thread the circling maze to meet him, and +tracks his man, and with loud cry cries on him through the scattered +ranks. Often as he cast eyes on his enemy and essayed to outrun the +speed of the flying-footed horses, so often Juturna wheeled her team +away. Alas, what can he do? Vainly he tosses on the ebb and flow, and in +his spirit diverse cares make conflicting call; when Messapus, who haply +bore in his left hand two tough spear-shafts topped with steel, runs +lightly up and aims and hurls one of them upon him with unerring stroke. +Aeneas stood still, and gathered himself behind his armour, sinking on +bended knee; yet the rushing spear bore off his helmet-spike, and dashed +the helmet-plume from the crest. Then indeed his wrath swells; and +forced to it by their treachery, while chariot and horses disappear, he +calls Jove oft and again to witness, and the altars of the violated +treaty, and now at last plunges amid their lines. Sweeping terrible down +the tide of battle he wakens fierce indiscriminate carnage, and flings +loose all the reins of wrath.</p> + +<p>What god may now unfold for me in verse so many woes, so many diverse +slaughters and death of captains whom now Turnus, now again the Trojan +hero, drives over all the field? Was it well, O God, that nations +destined to everlasting peace should clash in so vast a shock? Aeneas +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span><span class="linenum">[505-540]</span>meets Sucro the Rutulian; the combat stayed the first rush of +the Teucrians, but delayed them not long; he catches him on the side, +and, when fate comes quickest, drives the harsh sword clean through the +ribs where they fence the breast. Turnus brings down Amycus from +horseback with his brother Diores, and meets them on foot; him he +strikes with his long spear as he comes, him with his sword-point, and +hangs both severed heads on his chariot and carries them off dripping +with blood. The one sends to death Talos and Tanaïs and brave Cethegus, +three at one meeting, and gloomy Onites, of Echionian name, and Peridia +the mother that bore him; the other those brethren sent from Lycia and +Apollo's fields, and Menoetes the Arcadian, him who loathed warfare in +vain; who once had his art and humble home about the river-fisheries of +Lerna, and knew not the courts of the great, but his father was tenant +of the land he tilled. And as fires kindled dispersedly in a dry forest +and rustling laurel-thickets, or foaming rivers where they leap swift +and loud from high hills, and speed to sea each in his own path of +havoc; as fiercely the two, Aeneas and Turnus, dash amid the battle; +now, now wrath surges within them, and unconquerable hearts are torn; +now in all their might they rush upon wounds. The one dashes Murranus +down and stretches him on the soil with a vast whirling mass of rock, as +he cries the names of his fathers and forefathers of old, a whole line +drawn through Latin kings; under traces and yoke the wheels spurned him, +and the fast-beating hoofs of his rushing horses trample down their +forgotten lord. The other meets Hyllus rushing on in gigantic pride, and +hurls his weapon at his gold-bound temples; the spear pierced through +the helmet and stood fast in the brain. Neither did thy right hand save +thee from Turnus, O Cretheus, bravest of the Greeks; nor did his gods +shield Cupencus when Aeneas came; he gave his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span><span class="linenum">[541-575]</span>breast full to +the steel, nor, alas! was the brazen shield's delay aught of avail. Thee +likewise, Aeolus, the Laurentine plains saw sink backward and cover a +wide space of earth; thou fallest, whom Argive battalions could not lay +low, nor Achilles the destroyer of Priam's realm. Here was thy goal of +death; thine high house was under Ida, at Lyrnesus thine high house, on +Laurentine soil thy tomb. The whole battle-lines gather up, all Latium +and all Dardania, Mnestheus and valiant Serestus, with Messapus, tamer +of horses, and brave Asilas, the Tuscan battalion and Evander's Arcadian +squadrons; man by man they struggle with all their might; no rest nor +pause in the vast strain of conflict.</p> + +<p>At this Aeneas' mother most beautiful inspired him to advance on the +walls, directing his columns on the town and dismaying the Latins with +sudden and swift disaster. As in search for Turnus he bent his glance +this way and that round the separate ranks, he descries the city free +from all this warfare, unpunished and unstirred. Straightway he kindles +at the view of a greater battle; he summons Mnestheus and Sergestus and +brave Serestus his captains, and mounts a hillock; there the rest of the +Teucrian army gathers thickly, still grasping shield and spear. Standing +on the high mound amid them, he speaks: 'Be there no delay to my words; +Jupiter is with us; neither let any be slower to move that the design is +sudden. This city to-day, the source of war, the royal seat of Latinus, +unless they yield them to receive our yoke and obey their conquerors, +will I raze to ground, and lay her smoking roofs level with the dust. +Must I wait forsooth till Turnus please to stoop to combat, and choose +again to face his conqueror? This, O citizens, is the fountain-head and +crown of the accursed war. Bring brands speedily, and reclaim the treaty +in fire.' He ended; all with spirit alike emulous form a wedge and +advance in serried masses to the walls. Ladders are run <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span><span class="linenum">[576-611]</span>up, +and fire leaps sudden to sight. Some rush to the separate gates, and cut +down the guards of the entry, others hurl their steel and darken the sky +with weapons. Aeneas himself among the foremost, upstretching his hand +to the city walls, loudly reproaches Latinus, and takes the gods to +witness that he is again forced into battle, that twice now do the +Italians choose warfare and break a second treaty. Discord rises among +the alarmed citizens: some bid unbar the town and fling wide their gates +to the Dardanians, and pull the king himself towards the ramparts; +others bring arms and hasten to defend the walls: as when a shepherd +tracks bees to their retreat in a recessed rock, and fills it with +stinging smoke, they within run uneasily up and down their waxen +fortress, and hum louder in rising wrath; the smell rolls in darkness +along their dwelling, and a blind murmur echoes within the rock as the +smoke issues to the empty air.</p> + +<p>This fortune likewise befell the despairing Latins, this woe shook the +whole city to her base. The queen espies from her roof the enemy's +approach, the walls scaled and firebrands flying on the houses; and +nowhere Rutulian ranks, none of Turnus' columns to meet them; alas! she +deems him destroyed in the shock of battle, and, distracted by sudden +anguish, shrieks that she is the source of guilt, the spring of ill, and +with many a mad utterance of frenzied grief rends her purple attire with +dying hand, and ties from a lofty beam the ghastly noose of death. And +when the unhappy Latin women knew this calamity, first her daughter +Lavinia tears her flower-like tresses and roseate cheeks, and all the +train around her madden in her suit; the wide palace echoes to their +wailing, and from it the sorrowful rumour spreads abroad throughout the +town. All hearts sink; Latinus goes with torn raiment, in dismay at his +wife's doom and his city's downfall, defiling his hoary hair with +soilure of sprinkled dust.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p><p><span class="linenum">[614-648]</span>Meanwhile on the skirts of the field Turnus chases scattered +stragglers, ever slacker to battle, ever less and less exultant in his +coursers' victorious speed. The confused cry came to him borne in blind +terror down the breeze, and his startled ears caught the echoing tumult +and disastrous murmur of the town. 'Ah me! what agony shakes the city? +or what is this cry that fleets so loud from the distant town?' So +speaks he, and distractedly checks the reins. And to him his sister, as +changed into his charioteer Metiscus' likeness she swayed horses and +chariot-reins, thus rejoined: 'This way, Turnus, let us pursue the brood +of Troy, where victory opens her nearest way; there are others whose +hands can protect their dwellings. Aeneas falls fiercer on the Italians, +and closes in conflict; let our hand too deal pitiless death on his +Teucrians. Neither in tale of dead nor in glory of battle shalt thou +retire outdone.' Thereat Turnus: . . .</p> + +<p>'Ah my sister, long ere now I knew thee, when first thine arts shattered +the treaty, and thou didst mingle in the strife; and now thy godhead +conceals itself in vain. But who hath bidden thee descend from heaven to +bear this sore travail? was it that thou mightest see thy hapless +brother cruelly slain? for what do I, or what fortune yet gives promise +of safety? Before my very eyes, calling aloud on me, I saw Murranus, +than whom none other is left me more dear, sink huge to earth, borne +down by as huge a wound. Hapless Ufens is fallen, not to see our shame; +corpse and armour are in Teucrian hands. The destruction of their +households, this was the one thing yet lacking; shall I suffer it? Shall +my hand not refute Drances' jeers? shall I turn my back, and this land +see Turnus a fugitive? Is Death all so bitter? Do you, O Shades, be +gracious to me, since the powers of heaven are estranged; to you shall I +go down, a pure spirit and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span><span class="linenum">[649-681]</span>ignorant of your blame, never once +unworthy of my mighty fathers of old.'</p> + +<p>Scarce had he spoken thus; lo! Saces, borne flying on his foaming horse +through the thickest of the foe, an arrow-wound right in his face, +darts, beseeching Turnus by his name. 'Turnus, in thee is our last +safety; pity thy people. Aeneas thunders in arms, and threatens to +overthrow and hurl to destruction the high Italian fortress; and already +firebrands are flying on our roofs. On thee, on thee the Latins turn +their gazing eyes; King Latinus himself mutters in doubt, whom he is to +call his sons, to whom he shall incline in union. Moreover the queen, +thy surest stay, hath fallen by her own hand and in dismay fled the +light. Alone in front of the gates Messapus and valiant Atinas sustain +the battle-line. Round about them to right and left the armies stand +locked and the iron field shivers with naked points; thou wheelest thy +chariot on the sward alone.' At the distracting picture of his fortune +Turnus froze in horror and stood in dumb gaze; together in his heart +sweep the vast mingling tides of shame and maddened grief, and love +stung to frenzy and resolved valour. So soon as the darkness cleared and +light returned to his soul, he fiercely turned his blazing eyeballs +towards the ramparts, and gazed back from his wheels on the great city. +And lo! a spire of flame wreathing through the floors wavered up skyward +and held a turret fast, a turret that he himself had reared of mortised +planks and set on rollers and laid with high gangways. 'Now, O my +sister, now fate prevails: cease to hinder; let us follow where deity +and stern fortune call. I am resolved to face Aeneas, resolved to bear +what bitterness there is in death; nor shalt thou longer see me shamed, +sister of mine. Let me be mad, I pray thee, with this madness before the +end.' He spoke, and leapt swiftly from his chariot to the field, and +darting through weapons <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span><span class="linenum">[682-718]</span>and through enemies, leaves his +sorrowing sister, and bursts in rapid course amid their columns. And as +when a rock rushes headlong from some mountain peak, torn away by the +blast, or if the rushing rain washes it away, or the stealing years +loosen its ancient hold; the reckless mountain mass goes sheer and +impetuous, and leaps along the ground, hurling with it forests and herds +and men; thus through the scattering columns Turnus rushes to the city +walls, where the earth is wettest with bloodshed and the air sings with +spears; and beckons with his hand, and thus begins aloud: 'Forbear now, +O Rutulians, and you, Latins, stay your weapons. Whatsoever fortune is +left is mine: I singly must expiate the treaty for you all, and make +decision with the sword.' All drew aside and left him room.</p> + +<p>But lord Aeneas, hearing Turnus' name, abandons the walls, abandons the +fortress height, and in exultant joy flings aside all hindrance, breaks +off all work, and clashes his armour terribly, vast as Athos, or as +Eryx, or as the lord of Apennine when he roars with his tossing ilex +woods and rears his snowy crest rejoicing into air. Now indeed Rutulians +and Trojans and all Italy turned in emulous gaze, and they who held the +high city, and they whose ram was battering the foundations of the wall, +and unarmed their shoulders. Latinus himself stands in amaze at the +mighty men, born in distant quarters of the world, met and making +decision with the sword. And they, in the empty level field that cleared +for them, darted swiftly forward, and hurling their spears from far, +close in battle shock with clangour of brazen shields. Earth utters a +moan; the sword-strokes fall thick and fast, chance and valour joining +in one. And as in broad Sila or high on Taburnus, when two bulls rush to +deadly battle forehead to forehead, the herdsmen retire in terror, all +the herd stands dumb in dismay, and the heifers murmur in doubt which +shall be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span><span class="linenum">[719-752]</span>lord in the woodland, which all the cattle must +follow; they violently deal many a mutual wound, and gore with their +stubborn horns, bathing their necks and shoulders in abundant blood; all +the woodland moans back their bellowing: even thus Aeneas of Troy and +the Daunian hero rush together shield to shield; the mighty crash fills +the sky. Jupiter himself holds up the two scales in even balance, and +lays in them the different fates of both, trying which shall pay forfeit +of the strife, whose weight shall sink in death. Turnus darts out, +thinking it secure, and rises with his whole reach of body on his +uplifted sword; then strikes; Trojans and Latins cry out in excitement, +and both armies strain their gaze. But the treacherous sword shivers, +and in mid stroke deserts its eager lord. If flight aid him not now! He +flies swifter than the wind, when once he descries a strange hilt in his +weaponless hand. Rumour is that in his headlong hurry, when mounting +behind his yoked horses to begin the battle, he left his father's sword +behind and caught up his charioteer Metiscus' weapon; and that served +him long, while Teucrian stragglers turned their backs; when it met the +divine Vulcanian armour, the mortal blade like brittle ice snapped in +the stroke; the shards lie glittering upon the yellow sand. So in +distracted flight Turnus darts afar over the plain, and now this way and +now that crosses in wavering circles; for on all hands the Teucrians +locked him in crowded ring, and the dreary marsh on this side, on this +the steep city ramparts hem him in.</p> + +<p>Therewith Aeneas pursues, though ever and anon his knees, disabled by +the arrow, hinder and stay his speed; and foot hard on foot presses +hotly on his hurrying enemy: as when a hunter courses with a fleet +barking hound some stag caught in a river-loop or girt by the +crimson-feathered toils, and he, in terror of the snares and the high +river-bank, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span><span class="linenum">[753-786]</span>darts back and forward in a thousand ways; but the +keen Umbrian clings agape, and just catches at him, and as though he +caught him snaps his jaws while the baffled teeth close on vacancy. Then +indeed a cry goes up, and banks and pools answer round about, and all +the sky echoes the din. He, even as he flies, chides all his Rutulians, +calling each by name, and shrieks for the sword he knew. But Aeneas +denounces death and instant doom if one of them draw nigh, and doubles +their terror with threats of their city's destruction, and though +wounded presses on. Five circles they cover at full speed, and unwind as +many this way and that; for not light nor slight is the prize they seek, +but Turnus' very lifeblood is at issue. Here there haply had stood a +bitter-leaved wild olive, sacred to Faunus, a tree worshipped by +mariners of old; on it, when rescued from the waves, they were wont to +fix their gifts to the god of Laurentum and hang their votive raiment; +but the Teucrians, unregarding, had cleared away the sacred stem, that +they might meet on unimpeded lists. Here stood Aeneas' spear; hither +borne by its own speed it was held fast stuck in the tough root. The +Dardanian stooped over it, and would wrench away the steel, to follow +with the weapon him whom he could not catch in running. Then indeed +Turnus cries in frantic terror: 'Faunus, have pity, I beseech thee! and +thou, most gracious Earth, keep thy hold on the steel, as I ever have +kept your worship, and the Aeneadae again have polluted it in war.' He +spoke, and called the god to aid in vows that fell not fruitless. For +all Aeneas' strength, his long struggling and delay over the tough stem +availed not to unclose the hard grip of the wood. While he strains and +pulls hard, the Daunian goddess, changing once more into the charioteer +Metiscus' likeness, runs forward and passes her brother his sword. But +Venus, indignant that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span><span class="linenum">[787-818]</span>Nymph might be so bold, drew nigh +and wrenched away the spear where it stuck deep in the root. Erect in +fresh courage and arms, he with his faithful sword, he towering fierce +over his spear, they face one another panting in the battle shock.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the King of Heaven's omnipotence accosts Juno as she gazes on +the battle from a sunlit cloud. 'What yet shall be the end, O wife? what +remains at the last? Heaven claims Aeneas as his country's god, thou +thyself knowest and avowest to know, and fate lifts him to the stars. +With what device or in what hope hangest thou chill in cloudland? Was it +well that a deity should be sullied by a mortal's wound? or that the +lost sword—for what without thee could Juturna avail?—should be +restored to Turnus and swell the force of the vanquished? Forbear now, I +pray, and bend to our entreaties; let not the pain thus devour thee in +silence, and distress so often flood back on me from thy sweet lips. The +end is come. Thou hast had power to hunt the Trojans over land or wave, +to kindle accursed war, to put the house in mourning, and plunge the +bridal in grief: further attempt I forbid thee.' Thus Jupiter began: +thus the goddess, daughter of Saturn, returned with looks cast down:</p> + +<p>'Even because this thy will, great Jupiter, is known to me for thine, +have I left, though loth, Turnus alone on earth; nor else wouldst thou +see me now, alone on this skyey seat, enduring good and bad; but girt in +flame I were standing by their very lines, and dragging the Teucrians +into the deadly battle. I counselled Juturna, I confess it, to succour +her hapless brother, and for his life's sake favoured a greater daring; +yet not the arrow-shot, not the bending of the bow, I swear by the +merciless well-head of the Stygian spring, the single ordained dread of +the gods in heaven. And now I retire, and leave the battle in loathing. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span><span class="linenum">[819-854]</span>This thing I beseech thee, that is bound by no fatal law, for +Latium and for the majesty of thy kindred. When now they shall plight +peace with prosperous marriages (be it so!), when now they shall join in +laws and treaties, bid thou not the native Latins change their name of +old, nor become Trojans and take the Teucrian name, or change their +language, or alter their attire: let Latium be, let Alban kings endure +through ages, let Italian valour be potent in the race of Rome. Troy is +fallen; let her and her name lie where they fell.'</p> + +<p>To her smilingly the designer of men and things:</p> + +<p>'Jove's own sister thou art, and second seed of Saturn, such surge of +wrath tosses within thy breast! But come, allay this madness so vainly +stirred. I give thee thy will, and yield thee ungrudged victory. Ausonia +shall keep her native speech and usage, and as her name is, it shall be. +The Trojans shall sink mingling into their blood; I will add their +sacred law and ritual, and make all Latins and of a single speech. Hence +shall spring a race of tempered Ausonian blood, whom thou shalt see +outdo men and gods in duty; nor shall any nation so observe thy +worship.' To this Juno assented, and in gladness withdrew her purpose; +meanwhile she quits her cloud, and retires out of the sky.</p> + +<p>This done, the Father revolves inly another counsel, and prepares to +separate Juturna from her brother's arms. Twin monsters there are, +called the Dirae by their name, whom with infernal Megaera the dead of +night bore at one single birth, and wreathed them in like serpent coils, +and clothed them in windy wings. They appear at Jove's throne and in the +courts of the grim king, and quicken the terrors of wretched men +whensoever the lord of heaven deals sicknesses and dreadful death, or +sends terror of war upon guilty cities. One of these Jupiter sent +swiftly down from heaven's height, and bade her meet Juturna for a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span><span class="linenum">[855-888]</span>sign. She wings her way, and darts in a whirlwind to earth. +Even as an arrow through a cloud, darting from the string when Parthian +hath poisoned it with bitter gall, Parthian or Cydonian, and sped the +immedicable shaft, leaps through the swift shadow whistling and unknown; +so sprung and swept to earth the daughter of Night. When she espies the +Ilian ranks and Turnus' columns, suddenly shrinking to the shape of a +small bird that often sits late by night on tombs or ruinous roofs, and +vexes the darkness with her cry, in such change of likeness the monster +shrilly passes and repasses before Turnus' face, and her wings beat +restlessly on his shield. A strange numbing terror unnerves his limbs, +his hair thrills up, and the accents falter on his tongue. But when his +hapless sister knew afar the whistling wings of the Fury, Juturna +unbinds and tears her tresses, with rent face and smitten bosom. 'How, O +Turnus, can thine own sister help thee now? or what more is there if I +break not under this? What art of mine can lengthen out thy day? can I +contend with this ominous thing? Now, now I quit the field. Dismay not +my terrors, disastrous birds; I know these beating wings, and the sound +of death, nor do I miss high-hearted Jove's haughty ordinance. Is this +his repayment for my maidenhood? what good is his gift of life for ever? +why have I forfeited a mortal's lot? Now assuredly could I make all this +pain cease, and go with my unhappy brother side by side into the dark. +Alas mine immortality! will aught of mine be sweet to me without thee, +my brother? Ah, how may Earth yawn deep enough for me, and plunge my +godhead in the under world!'</p> + +<p>So spoke she, and wrapping her head in her gray vesture, the goddess +moaning sore sank in the river depth.</p> + +<p>But Aeneas presses on, brandishing his vast tree-like spear, and +fiercely speaks thus: 'What more delay is there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span><span class="linenum">[889-924]</span>now? or why, +Turnus, dost thou yet shrink away? Not in speed of foot, in grim arms, +hand to hand, must be the conflict. Transform thyself as thou wilt, and +collect what strength of courage or skill is thine; pray that thou +mayest wing thy flight to the stars on high, or that sheltering earth +may shut thee in.' The other, shaking his head: 'Thy fierce words dismay +me not, insolent! the gods dismay me, and Jupiter's enmity.' And no more +said, his eyes light on a vast stone, a stone ancient and vast that +haply lay upon the plain, set for a landmark to divide contested fields: +scarcely might twelve chosen men lift it on their shoulders, of such +frame as now earth brings to birth: then the hero caught it up with +trembling hand and whirled it at the foe, rising higher and quickening +his speed. But he knows not his own self running nor going nor lifting +his hands or moving the mighty stone; his knees totter, his blood +freezes cold; the very stone he hurls, spinning through the empty void, +neither wholly reached its distance nor carried its blow home. And as in +sleep, when nightly rest weighs down our languorous eyes, we seem vainly +to will to run eagerly on, and sink faint amidst our struggles; the +tongue is powerless, the familiar strength fails the body, nor will +words or utterance follow: so the disastrous goddess brings to naught +all Turnus' valour as he presses on. His heart wavers in shifting +emotion; he gazes on his Rutulians and on the city, and falters in +terror, and shudders at the imminent spear; neither sees he whither he +may escape nor how rush violently on the enemy, and nowhere his chariot +or his sister at the reins. As he wavers Aeneas poises the deadly +weapon, and, marking his chance, hurls it in from afar with all his +strength of body. Never with such a roar are stones hurled from some +engine on ramparts, nor does the thunder burst in so loud a peal. +Carrying grim death with it, the spear flies in fashion of some dark +whirlwind, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span><span class="linenum">[925-952]</span>opens the rim of the corslet and the utmost +circles of the sevenfold shield. Right through the thigh it passes +hurtling on; under the blow Turnus falls huge to earth with his leg +doubled under him. The Rutulians start up with a groan, and all the hill +echoes round about, and the width of high woodland returns their cry. +Lifting up beseechingly his humbled eyes and suppliant hand: 'I have +deserved it,' he says, 'nor do I ask for mercy; use thy fortune. If an +unhappy parent's distress may at all touch thee, this I pray; even such +a father was Anchises to thee; pity Daunus' old age, and restore to my +kindred which thou wilt, me or my body bereft of day. Thou art +conqueror, and Ausonia hath seen me stretch conquered hands. Lavinia is +thine in marriage; press not thy hatred farther.'</p> + +<p>Aeneas stood wrathful in arms, with rolling eyes, and lowered his hand; +and now and now yet more the speech began to bend him to waver: when +high on his shoulder appeared the sword-belt with the shining bosses +that he knew, the luckless belt of the boy Pallas, whom Turnus had +struck down with mastering wound, and wore on his shoulders the fatal +ornament. The other, as his eyes drank in the plundered record of his +fierce grief, kindles to fury, and cries terrible in anger: 'Mayest +thou, thou clad in the spoils of my dearest, escape mine hands? Pallas +it is, Pallas who now strikes the sacrifice, and exacts vengeance in thy +guilty blood.' So saying, he fiercely plunges the steel full in his +breast. But his limbs grow slack and chill, and the life with a moan +flies indignantly into the dark.</p> + +<p class="sectctr">THE END.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="NOTES" id="NOTES"></a>NOTES</h2> + + +<p class="sectctr"><span class="smcap">Book First</span></p> + +<p>l. 123—<i>Accipiunt inimicum imbrem.</i> Inimica non tantum hostilia sed +perniciosa.—Serv. on ix. 315. The word often has this latter sense in +Virgil.</p> + +<p>l. 396—<i>Aut capere aut captas iam despectare videntur.</i> Henry seems +unquestionably right in explaining <i>captas despectare</i> of the swans +rising and hovering over the place where they had settled, this action +being more fully expressed in the next two lines. The parallelism +between ll. 396 and 400 exists, but it is inverted, <i>capere</i> +corresponding to <i>subit</i>, <i>captas despectare</i> to <i>tenet</i>.</p> + +<p>l. 427—<i>lata theatris</i> with the balance of MS. authority.</p> + +<p>l. 550—<i>Arvaque</i> after Med. and Pal.; <i>armaque</i> Con.</p> + +<p>l. 636—<i>Munera laetitiamque die</i> ('ut multi legunt,' says Serv.), +though it has little MS. authority, has been adopted because it is +strongly probable on internal grounds, as giving a basis for the other +two readings, <i>dei</i> and <i>dii</i>.</p> + +<p>l. 722—<i>The long-since-unstirred spirit.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And weep afresh love's long-since-cancell'd woe.</span><br /> +<span class="i11"><span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>, Sonnet XXX.</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>l. 726—<i>dependent lychni laquearibus aureis.</i> Serv. on viii. 25, +<i>summique ferit laquearia tecti</i>, says 'multi lacuaria legunt. nam lacus +dicuntur: unde est . . . lacunar. non enim a laqueis dicitur.' As Prof. +Nettleship has pointed out, this seems to indicate that there are two +words, <i>laquear</i> from <i>laqueus</i>, meaning chain or network, and <i>lacuar</i> +or <i>lacunar</i> from <i>lacus</i>, meaning sunk work.</p> + + +<p class="sectctr"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span><span class="smcap">Book Second</span></p> + +<p>l. 30—<i>Classibus hic locus.</i> Ad equites referre debemus.—Serv. Cf. +also vii. 716.</p> + +<p>l. 76—Omitted with the best MSS.</p> + +<p>l. 234—<i>moenia pandimus urbis.</i> Moenia cetera urbis tecta vel aedes +accipiendum.—Serv. This is the sense which the word generally has in +Virgil: it is often used in contrast with <i>muri</i>, or as a synonym of +<i>urbs</i>; and in most cases <i>city</i> is its nearest English equivalent.</p> + +<p>l. 381—<i>caerula colla tumentem.</i> Caerulum est viride cum nigro.—Serv. +on vii. 198. Cf. iii. 208, where it is used of the colour of the sea +after a storm.</p> + +<p>l. 616—<i>nimbo effulgens.</i> est fulgidum lumen quo deorum capita +cinguntur. sic etiam pingi solet.—Serv. Cf. xii. 416.</p> + + +<p class="sectctr"><span class="smcap">Book Third</span></p> + +<p>l. 127—<i>freta concita terris</i> with all the best MSS.; <i>consita</i> Con.</p> + +<p>l. 152—<i>qua se Plena per insertas fundebat Luna fenestras.</i> The usual +explanation, which makes <i>insertas</i> an epithet transferred by a sort of +hypallage from <i>Luna</i> to <i>fenestras</i>, is extremely violent, and makes +the word little more than a repetition of <i>se fundebat</i>. Servius +mentions two other interpretations; <i>non seratas, quasi inseratas</i>, and +<i>clatratas</i>; the last has been adopted in the translation.</p> + +<p>In the passage of Lucretius (ii. 114) which Virgil has imitated here,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Contemplator enim cum solis lumina . . .</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Inserti fundunt radii per opaca domorum,</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>it is possible that <i>clatris</i> may be the lost word.</p> + +<p>l. 684—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Contra iussa monent Heleni, Scyllam atque Charybdim</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Inter, utramque viam leti discrimine parvo</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Ni teneant cursus.</i></span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>In this difficult passage it is probably best to take <i>cursus</i> as the +subject to teneant (<i>cursus teneant</i>, id est agantur.—Serv. Cf. also l. +454 above, <i>quamvis vi cursus in altum Vela vocet</i>), <i>viam</i> being either +the direct object of <i>teneant</i>, or in loose apposition to <i>Scyllam atque +Charybdim</i>.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span></p><p>l. 708—<i>tempestatibus actis</i> with Rom. and Pal.; <i>actus</i> Con. after +Med.</p> + + +<p class="sectctr"><span class="smcap">Book Fourth</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Totus hic liber . . . in consiliis et subtilitatibus est. nam +paene comicus stilus est. nec mirum, ubi de amore +tractatur.—Serv.</p></div> + +<p>l. 273—Omitted with the best MSS.</p> + +<p>l. 528—Omitted with the best MSS.</p> + + +<p class="sectctr"><span class="smcap">Book Fifth</span></p> + +<p>l. 595—<i>iuduntque per undas</i>, omitted with the preponderance of MS. +authority.</p> + + +<p class="sectctr"><span class="smcap">Book Sixth</span></p> + +<p>l. 242—Omitted with the balance of MS. authority.</p> + +<p>l. 806—<i>virtutem extendere factis</i> with Med.; <i>virtute extendere vires</i> +Con.</p> + + +<p class="sectctr"><span class="smcap">Book Eighth</span></p> + +<p>l. 46—Omitted with the majority of the best MSS.</p> + +<p>l. 383—<i>Arma rogo. Genetrix nato te filia Nerei</i>.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Arma rogo.</i> hic distinguendum, ut cui petat non dicat, sed +relinquat intellegi . . . <i>Genetrix nato te filia Nerei.</i> hoc +est, soles hoc praestare matribus.—Serv.</p></div> + + +<p class="sectctr"><span class="smcap">Book Ninth</span></p> + +<p>l. 29—Omitted with all the best MSS.</p> + +<p>l. 122—Omitted with all the best MSS.</p> + +<p>l. 281—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3half"><i>Me nulla dies tam fortibus ausis</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Dissimilem arguerit tantum, Fortuna secunda</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Aut adversa cadat.</i></span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>With some hesitation I have adopted this reading as the one open to +least objection, though the balance of authority is decidedly in favour +of <i>haud adversa</i>. For the position of <i>tantum</i> cf. Ecl. x. 46, +according to the 'subtilior explicatio' now generally adopted.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p><p>l. 412—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Et venit adversi in tergum Sulmonis ibique</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Frangitur, et fisso transit praecordia ligno.</i></span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>The phrase <i>in tergum</i> occurs twice elsewhere: ix. 764—meaning 'on the +back'; and xi. 653—meaning 'backward'; and in x. 718 the uncertainty +about the order of the lines makes it possible that <i>tergo decutit +hastas</i> was meant to refer to the boar, not to Mezentius. But the +passages quoted by the editors there shew that the word might be used in +the sense of 'shield'; and this being so we are scarcely justified in +reading <i>aversi</i> against all the good MSS.</p> + +<p>l. 529—Omitted with most MSS.</p> + + +<p class="sectctr"><span class="smcap">Book Tenth</span></p> + +<p>l. 278—Omitted with the best MSS.</p> + +<p>l. 754—<i>Insidiis, iaculo et longe fallente sagitta.</i> The MS. authority +is decidedly in favour of this, the more difficult reading; and the +hendiadys is not more violent than those in Georg. ii. 192, Aen. iii. +223.</p> + + +<p class="sectctr"><span class="smcap">Book Twelfth</span></p> + +<p>l. 218—<i>Tum magis, ut propius cernunt non viribus aequis.</i></p> + +<p>With Ribbeck I believe that there is a gap in the sense here, and have +marked one in the translation.</p> + +<p>l. 520—<i>Limina</i> with Med. <i>Munera</i> Con.</p> + +<p>ll. 612, 613—Omitted with the best MSS.</p> + +<p>l. 751—<i>Venator cursu canis et latratibus instat.</i> I take <i>cursu canis</i> +as equivalent to <i>currente cane</i>, as in i. 324, <i>spumantis apri cursum +clamore prementem</i>.</p> + + +<p class="sectctr"><i>Printed by</i> <span class="smcap">R. & R. Clark</span>, <i>Edinburgh</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="notebox"> +<h2>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES</h2> + + +<p>Transcriber added the Table of Contents.</p> + +<p>The following words appear with and without a hyphen. Spelling has been +left as in the original.</p> + +<table style="margin-left: 10%" summary="variant hyphenation" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft" style="padding-right: 2em;">blood-stained</td> + <td class="tdleft">bloodstained</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">hill-tops</td> + <td class="tdleft">hilltops</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">horse-hair</td> + <td class="tdleft">horsehair</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">life-blood</td> + <td class="tdleft">lifeblood</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">new-born</td> + <td class="tdleft">newborn</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">spear-shaft</td> + <td class="tdleft">spearshaft</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">water-ways</td> + <td class="tdleft">waterways</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>The following words are spelled in multiple ways. Spelling has been left +as in the original.</p> + +<table style="margin-left: 10%" summary="variant spelling" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">aery</td> + <td class="tdleft">aëry</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">horned</td> + <td class="tdleft">hornèd</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Nereids</td> + <td class="tdleft">Nereïd</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft" style="padding-right: 4em;">Pergama</td> + <td class="tdleft">Pergamea</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>The following corrections have made to the text:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>page 173—'[quotation mark missing in original]Nymphs, +Laurentine Nymphs</p> + +<p>page 202—in name fail to be Creüsa[original has Crëusa]</p> + +<p>page 207—Rumour on fluttering[original has flutttering] wings</p> + +<p>page 285—the Rhoetean[original has Rhoeteian] captain drives +his army</p></div> + +<p>The first occurrence of Phoebus was rendered with an oe ligature in the +original.</p> + +<p>Ellipses match the original.</p> + +<p>Page 300 is blank in the original.</p> +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AENEID ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fae6b86 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #22456 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22456) diff --git a/old/22456-8.txt b/old/22456-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b68047b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/22456-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9269 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Aeneid of Virgil, by Virgil, Translated +by J. W. Mackail + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Aeneid of Virgil + + +Author: Virgil + + + +Release Date: August 29, 2007 [eBook #22456] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AENEID OF VIRGIL*** + + +E-text prepared by David Clarke, Lisa Reigel, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Numbers in brackets [ ] refer to line numbers in Virgil's + Aeneid. These numbers appeared at the top of each page of text + and have been retained for reference. + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A complete + list follows the text. + + + + + +THE AENEID OF VIRGIL + +Translated into English + +by + +J. W. MACKAIL, M.A. +Fellow Of Balliol College, Oxford + + + + + + + +London +MacMillan and Co. +1885 + +Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh. + + + + +PREFACE + + +There is something grotesque in the idea of a prose translation of a +poet, though the practice is become so common that it has ceased to +provoke a smile or demand an apology. The language of poetry is language +in fusion; that of prose is language fixed and crystallised; and an +attempt to copy the one material in the other must always count on +failure to convey what is, after all, one of the most essential things +in poetry,--its poetical quality. And this is so with Virgil more, +perhaps, than with any other poet; for more, perhaps, than any other +poet Virgil depends on his poetical quality from first to last. Such a +translation can only have the value of a copy of some great painting +executed in mosaic, if indeed a copy in Berlin wool is not a closer +analogy; and even at the best all it can have to say for itself will be +in Virgil's own words, _Experiar sensus; nihil hic nisi carmina desunt._ + +In this translation I have in the main followed the text of Conington +and Nettleship. The more important deviations from this text are +mentioned in the notes; but I have not thought it necessary to give a +complete list of various readings, or to mention any change except where +it might lead to misapprehension. Their notes have also been used by me +throughout. + +Beyond this I have made constant use of the mass of ancient commentary +going under the name of Servius; the most valuable, perhaps, of all, as +it is in many ways the nearest to the poet himself. The explanation +given in it has sometimes been followed against those of the modern +editors. To other commentaries only occasional reference has been made. +The sense that Virgil is his own best interpreter becomes stronger as +one studies him more. + +My thanks are due to Mr. EVELYN ABBOTT, Fellow and Tutor of Balliol, and +to the Rev. H. C. BEECHING, for much valuable suggestion and criticism. + + + + +THE AENEID + + + + +BOOK FIRST + +THE COMING OF AENEAS TO CARTHAGE + + +I sing of arms and the man who of old from the coasts of Troy came, an +exile of fate, to Italy and the shore of Lavinium; hard driven on land +and on the deep by the violence of heaven, for cruel Juno's unforgetful +anger, and hard bestead in war also, ere he might found a city and carry +his gods into Latium; from whom is the Latin race, the lords of Alba, +and the stately city Rome. + +Muse, tell me why, for what attaint of her deity, or in what vexation, +did the Queen of heaven drive one so excellent in goodness to circle +through so many afflictions, to face so many toils? Is anger so fierce +in celestial spirits? + + * * * * * + +There was a city of ancient days that Tyrian settlers dwelt in, +Carthage, over against Italy and the Tiber mouths afar; rich of store, +and mighty in war's fierce pursuits; wherein, they say, alone beyond all +other lands had Juno her seat, and held Samos itself less dear. Here was +her armour, here her chariot; even now, if fate permit, the goddess +strives to nurture it for queen of the nations. Nevertheless she had +heard a race was issuing of the blood of [20-53]Troy, which sometime +should overthrow her Tyrian citadel; from it should come a people, lord +of lands and tyrannous in war, the destroyer of Libya: so rolled the +destinies. Fearful of that, the daughter of Saturn, the old war in her +remembrance that she fought at Troy for her beloved Argos long ago,--nor +had the springs of her anger nor the bitterness of her vexation yet gone +out of mind: deep stored in her soul lies the judgment of Paris, the +insult of her slighted beauty, the hated race and the dignities of +ravished Ganymede; fired with this also, she tossed all over ocean the +Trojan remnant left of the Greek host and merciless Achilles, and held +them afar from Latium; and many a year were they wandering driven of +fate around all the seas. Such work was it to found the Roman people. + +Hardly out of sight of the land of Sicily did they set their sails to +sea, and merrily upturned the salt foam with brazen prow, when Juno, the +undying wound still deep in her heart, thus broke out alone: + +'Am I then to abandon my baffled purpose, powerless to keep the Teucrian +king from Italy? and because fate forbids me? Could Pallas lay the +Argive fleet in ashes, and sink the Argives in the sea, for one man's +guilt, mad Oïlean Ajax? Her hand darted Jove's flying fire from the +clouds, scattered their ships, upturned the seas in tempest; him, his +pierced breast yet breathing forth the flame, she caught in a whirlwind +and impaled on a spike of rock. But I, who move queen among immortals, I +sister and wife of Jove, wage warfare all these years with a single +people; and is there any who still adores Juno's divinity, or will kneel +to lay sacrifice on her altars?' + +Such thoughts inly revolving in her kindled bosom, the goddess reaches +Aeolia, the home of storm-clouds, the land laden with furious southern +gales. Here in a desolate cavern Aeolus keeps under royal dominion and +yokes in [54-85]dungeon fetters the struggling winds and loud storms. +They with mighty moan rage indignant round their mountain barriers. In +his lofty citadel Aeolus sits sceptred, assuages their temper and +soothes their rage; else would they carry with them seas and lands, and +the depth of heaven, and sweep them through space in their flying +course. But, fearful of this, the lord omnipotent hath hidden them in +caverned gloom, and laid a mountain mass high over them, and appointed +them a ruler, who should know by certain law to strain and slacken the +reins at command. To him now Juno spoke thus in suppliant accents: + +'Aeolus--for to thee hath the father of gods and king of men given the +wind that lulls and that lifts the waves--a people mine enemy sails the +Tyrrhene sea, carrying into Italy the conquered gods of their Ilian +home. Rouse thy winds to fury, and overwhelm their sinking vessels, or +drive them asunder and strew ocean with their bodies. Mine are twice +seven nymphs of passing loveliness; her who of them all is most +excellent in beauty, Deïopea, I will unite to thee in wedlock to be +thine for ever; that for this thy service she may fulfil all her years +at thy side, and make thee father of a beautiful race.' + +Aeolus thus returned: 'Thine, O queen, the task to search whereto thou +hast desire; for me it is right to do thy bidding. From thee have I this +poor kingdom, from thee my sceptre and Jove's grace; thou dost grant me +to take my seat at the feasts of the gods, and makest me sovereign over +clouds and storms.' + +Even with these words, turning his spear, he struck the side of the +hollow hill, and the winds, as in banded array, pour where passage is +given them, and cover earth with eddying blasts. East wind and west wind +together, and the gusty south-wester, falling prone on the sea, stir it +up [86-120]from its lowest chambers, and roll vast billows to the +shore. Behind rises shouting of men and whistling of cordage. In a +moment clouds blot sky and daylight from the Teucrians' eyes; black +night broods over the deep. Pole thunders to pole, and the air quivers +with incessant flashes; all menaces them with instant death. Straightway +Aeneas' frame grows unnerved and chill, and stretching either hand to +heaven, he cries thus aloud: 'Ah, thrice and four times happy they who +found their doom under high Troy town before their fathers' faces! Ah, +son of Tydeus, bravest of the Grecian race, that I could not have fallen +on the Ilian plains, and gasped out this my life beneath thine hand! +where under the spear of Aeacides lies fierce Hector, lies mighty +Sarpedon; where Simoïs so often bore beneath his whirling wave shields +and helmets and brave bodies of men.' + +As the cry leaves his lips, a gust of the shrill north strikes full on +the sail and raises the waves up to heaven. The oars are snapped; the +prow swings away and gives her side to the waves; down in a heap comes a +broken mountain of water. These hang on the wave's ridge; to these the +yawning billow shows ground amid the surge, where the sea churns with +sand. Three ships the south wind catches and hurls on hidden rocks, +rocks amid the waves which Italians call the Altars, a vast reef banking +the sea. Three the east forces from the deep into shallows and +quicksands, piteous to see, dashes on shoals and girdles with a +sandbank. One, wherein loyal Orontes and his Lycians rode, before their +lord's eyes a vast sea descending strikes astern. The helmsman is dashed +away and rolled forward headlong; her as she lies the billow sends +spinning thrice round with it, and engulfs in the swift whirl. Scattered +swimmers appear in the vast eddy, armour of men, timbers and Trojan +treasure amid the water. Ere now the stout ship of Ilioneus, ere now of +brave Achates, and she wherein [121-152]Abas rode, and she wherein aged +Aletes, have yielded to the storm; through the shaken fastenings of +their sides they all draw in the deadly water, and their opening seams +give way. + +Meanwhile Neptune discerned with astonishment the loud roaring of the +vexed sea, the tempest let loose from prison, and the still water +boiling up from its depths, and lifting his head calm above the waves, +looked forth across the deep. He sees all ocean strewn with Aeneas' +fleet, the Trojans overwhelmed by the waves and the ruining heaven. +Juno's guile and wrath lay clear to her brother's eye; east wind and +west he calls before him, and thereon speaks thus: + +'Stand you then so sure in your confidence of birth? Careless, O winds, +of my deity, dare you confound sky and earth, and raise so huge a coil? +you whom I--But better to still the aroused waves; for a second sin you +shall pay me another penalty. Speed your flight, and say this to your +king: not to him but to me was allotted the stern trident of ocean +empire. His fastness is on the monstrous rocks where thou and thine, +east wind, dwell: there let Aeolus glory in his palace and reign over +the barred prison of his winds.' + +Thus he speaks, and ere the words are done he soothes the swollen seas, +chases away the gathered clouds, and restores the sunlight. Cymothoë and +Triton together push the ships strongly off the sharp reef; himself he +eases them with his trident, channels the vast quicksands, and assuages +the sea, gliding on light wheels along the water. Even as when oft in a +throng of people strife hath risen, and the base multitude rage in their +minds, and now brands and stones are flying; madness lends arms; then if +perchance they catch sight of one reverend for goodness and service, +they are silent and stand by with attentive ear; he with +[153-190]speech sways their temper and soothes their breasts; even so +hath fallen all the thunder of ocean, when riding forward beneath a +cloudless sky the lord of the sea wheels his coursers and lets his +gliding chariot fly with loosened rein. + +The outworn Aeneadae hasten to run for the nearest shore, and turn to +the coast of Libya. There lies a spot deep withdrawn; an island forms a +harbour with outstretched sides, whereon all the waves break from the +open sea and part into the hollows of the bay. On this side and that +enormous cliffs rise threatening heaven, and twin crags beneath whose +crest the sheltered water lies wide and calm; above hangs a background +of flickering forest, and the dark shade of rustling groves. Beneath the +seaward brow is a rock-hung cavern, within it fresh springs and seats in +the living stone, a haunt of nymphs; where tired ships need no fetters +to hold nor anchor to fasten them with crooked bite. Here with seven +sail gathered of all his company Aeneas enters; and disembarking on the +land of their desire the Trojans gain the chosen beach, and set their +feet dripping with brine upon the shore. At once Achates struck a spark +from the flint and caught the fire on leaves, and laying dry fuel round +kindled it into flame. Then, weary of fortune, they fetch out corn +spoiled by the sea and weapons of corn-dressing, and begin to parch over +the fire and bruise in stones the grain they had rescued. + +Meanwhile Aeneas scales the crag, and seeks the whole view wide over +ocean, if he may see aught of Antheus storm-tossed with his Phrygian +galleys, aught of Capys or of Caïcus' armour high astern. Ship in sight +is none; three stags he espies straying on the shore; behind whole herds +follow, and graze in long train across the valley. Stopping short, he +snatched up a bow and swift arrows, the arms trusty Achates was +carrying; and first the leaders, their stately heads high with branching +antlers, then the common [191-222]herd fall to his hand, as he drives +them with his shafts in a broken crowd through the leafy woods. Nor +stays he till seven great victims are stretched on the sod, fulfilling +the number of his ships. Thence he seeks the harbour and parts them +among all his company. The casks of wine that good Acestes had filled on +the Trinacrian beach, the hero's gift at their departure, he thereafter +shares, and calms with speech their sorrowing hearts: + +'O comrades, for not now nor aforetime are we ignorant of ill, O tried +by heavier fortunes, unto this last likewise will God appoint an end. +The fury of Scylla and the roaring recesses of her crags you have been +anigh; the rocks of the Cyclops you have trodden. Recall your courage, +put dull fear away. This too sometime we shall haply remember with +delight. Through chequered fortunes, through many perilous ways, we +steer for Latium, where destiny points us a quiet home. There the realm +of Troy may rise again unforbidden. Keep heart, and endure till +prosperous fortune come.' + +Such words he utters, and sick with deep distress he feigns hope on his +face, and keeps his anguish hidden deep in his breast. The others set to +the spoil they are to feast upon, tear chine from ribs and lay bare the +flesh; some cut it into pieces and pierce it still quivering with spits; +others plant cauldrons on the beach and feed them with flame. Then they +repair their strength with food, and lying along the grass take their +fill of old wine and fat venison. After hunger is driven from the +banquet, and the board cleared, they talk with lingering regret of their +lost companions, swaying between hope and fear, whether they may believe +them yet alive, or now in their last agony and deaf to mortal call. Most +does good Aeneas inly wail the loss now of valiant Orontes, now of +Amycus, the cruel doom of Lycus, of brave Gyas, and brave Cloanthus. +[223-254]And now they ceased; when from the height of air Jupiter +looked down on the sail-winged sea and outspread lands, the shores and +broad countries, and looking stood on the cope of heaven, and cast down +his eyes on the realm of Libya. To him thus troubled at heart Venus, her +bright eyes brimming with tears, sorrowfully speaks: + +'O thou who dost sway mortal and immortal things with eternal command +and the terror of thy thunderbolt, how can my Aeneas have transgressed +so grievously against thee? how his Trojans? on whom, after so many +deaths outgone, all the world is barred for Italy's sake. From them +sometime in the rolling years the Romans were to arise indeed; from them +were to be rulers who, renewing the blood of Teucer, should hold sea and +land in universal lordship. This thou didst promise: why, O father, is +thy decree reversed? This was my solace for the wretched ruin of sunken +Troy, doom balanced against doom. Now so many woes are spent, and the +same fortune still pursues them; Lord and King, what limit dost thou set +to their agony? Antenor could elude the encircling Achaeans, could +thread in safety the Illyrian bays and inmost realms of the Liburnians, +could climb Timavus' source, whence through nine mouths pours the +bursting tide amid dreary moans of the mountain, and covers the fields +with hoarse waters. Yet here did he set Patavium town, a dwelling-place +for his Teucrians, gave his name to a nation and hung up the armour of +Troy; now settled in peace, he rests and is in quiet. We, thy children, +we whom thou beckonest to the heights of heaven, our fleet miserably +cast away for a single enemy's anger, are betrayed and severed far from +the Italian coasts. Is this the reward of goodness? Is it thus thou dost +restore our throne?' + +Smiling on her with that look which clears sky and [255-289]storms, the +parent of men and gods lightly kissed his daughter's lips; then answered +thus: + +'Spare thy fear, Cytherean; thy people's destiny abides unshaken. Thine +eyes shall see the city Lavinium, their promised home; thou shalt exalt +to the starry heaven thy noble Aeneas; nor is my decree reversed. He +thou lovest (for I will speak, since this care keeps torturing thee, and +will unroll further the secret records of fate) shall wage a great war +in Italy, and crush warrior nations; he shall appoint his people a law +and a city; till the third summer see him reigning in Latium, and three +winters' camps pass over the conquered Rutulians. But the boy Ascanius, +whose surname is now Iülus--Ilus he was while the Ilian state stood +sovereign--thirty great circles of rolling months shall he fulfil in +government; he shall carry the kingdom from its fastness in Lavinium, +and make a strong fortress of Alba the Long. Here the full space of +thrice an hundred years shall the kingdom endure under the race of +Hector's kin, till the royal priestess Ilia from Mars' embrace shall +give birth to a twin progeny. Thence shall Romulus, gay in the tawny +hide of the she-wolf that nursed him, take up their line, and name them +Romans after his own name. I appoint to these neither period nor +boundary of empire: I have given them dominion without end. Nay, harsh +Juno, who in her fear now troubles earth and sea and sky, shall change +to better counsels, and with me shall cherish the lords of the world, +the gowned race of Rome. Thus is it willed. A day will come in the lapse +of cycles, when the house of Assaracus shall lay Phthia and famed +Mycenae in bondage, and reign over conquered Argos. From the fair line +of Troy a Caesar shall arise, who shall limit his empire with ocean, his +glory with the firmament, Julius, inheritor of great Iülus' name. Him +one day, thy care done, thou shalt welcome to heaven loaded +[290-321]with Eastern spoils; to him too shall vows be addressed. Then +shall war cease, and the iron ages soften. Hoar Faith and Vesta, +Quirinus and Remus brothers again, shall deliver statutes. The dreadful +steel-riveted gates of war shall be shut fast; on murderous weapons the +inhuman Fury, his hands bound behind him with an hundred fetters of +brass, shall sit within, shrieking with terrible blood-stained lips.' + +So speaking, he sends Maia's son down from above, that the land and +towers of Carthage, the new town, may receive the Trojans with open +welcome; lest Dido, ignorant of doom, might debar them her land. Flying +through the depth of air on winged oarage, the fleet messenger alights +on the Libyan coasts. At once he does his bidding; at once, for a god +willed it, the Phoenicians allay their haughty temper; the queen above +all takes to herself grace and compassion towards the Teucrians. + +But good Aeneas, nightlong revolving many and many a thing, issues +forth, so soon as bountiful light is given, to explore the strange +country; to what coasts the wind has borne him, who are their habitants, +men or wild beasts, for all he sees is wilderness; this he resolves to +search, and bring back the certainty to his comrades. The fleet he hides +close in embosoming groves beneath a caverned rock, amid shivering +shadow of the woodland; himself, Achates alone following, he strides +forward, clenching in his hand two broad-headed spears. And amid the +forest his mother crossed his way, wearing the face and raiment of a +maiden, the arms of a maiden of Sparta, or like Harpalyce of Thrace when +she tires her coursers and outstrips the winged speed of Hebrus in her +flight. For huntress fashion had she slung the ready bow from her +shoulder, and left her blown tresses free, bared her knee, and knotted +together her garments' flowing folds. 'Ha! my men,' she begins, 'shew me +if [322-355]haply you have seen a sister of mine straying here girt +with quiver and a lynx's dappled fell, or pressing with shouts on the +track of a foaming boar.' + +Thus Venus, and Venus' son answering thus began: + +'Sound nor sight have I had of sister of thine, O maiden unnamed; for +thy face is not mortal, nor thy voice of human tone; O goddess +assuredly! sister of Phoebus perchance, or one of the nymphs' blood? +Be thou gracious, whoso thou art, and lighten this toil of ours; deign +to instruct us beneath what skies, on what coast of the world, we are +thrown. Driven hither by wind and desolate waves, we wander in a strange +land among unknown men. Many a sacrifice shall fall by our hand before +thine altars.' + +Then Venus: 'Nay, to no such offerings do I aspire. Tyrian maidens are +wont ever to wear the quiver, to tie the purple buskin high above their +ankle. Punic is the realm thou seest, Tyrian the people, and the city of +Agenor's kin; but their borders are Libyan, a race unassailable in war. +Dido sways the sceptre, who flying her brother set sail from the Tyrian +town. Long is the tale of crime, long and intricate; but I will briefly +follow its argument. Her husband was Sychaeus, wealthiest in lands of +the Phoenicians, and loved of her with ill-fated passion; to whom with +virgin rites her father had given her maidenhood in wedlock. But the +kingdom of Tyre was in her brother Pygmalion's hands, a monster of guilt +unparalleled. Between these madness came; the unnatural brother, blind +with lust of gold, and reckless of his sister's love, lays Sychaeus low +before the altars with stealthy unsuspected weapon; and for long he hid +the deed, and by many a crafty pretence cheated her love-sickness with +hollow hope. But in slumber came the very ghost of her unburied husband; +lifting up a face pale in wonderful wise, he exposed the merciless +altars and [356-387]his breast stabbed through with steel, and unwove +all the blind web of household guilt. Then he counsels hasty flight out +of the country, and to aid her passage discloses treasures long hidden +underground, an untold mass of silver and gold. Stirred thereby, Dido +gathered a company for flight. All assemble in whom hatred of the tyrant +was relentless or fear keen; they seize on ships that chanced to lie +ready, and load them with the gold. Pygmalion's hoarded wealth is borne +overseas; a woman leads the work. They came at last to the land where +thou wilt descry a city now great, New Carthage, and her rising citadel, +and bought ground, called thence Byrsa, as much as a bull's hide would +encircle. But who, I pray, are you, or from what coasts come, or whither +hold you your way?' + +At her question he, sighing and drawing speech deep from his breast, +thus replied: + +'Ah goddess, should I go on retracing from the fountain head, were time +free to hear the history of our woes, sooner would the evening star lay +day asleep in the closed gates of heaven. Us, as from ancient Troy (if +the name of Troy hath haply passed through your ears) we sailed over +alien seas, the tempest at his own wild will hath driven on the Libyan +coast. I am Aeneas the good, who carry in my fleet the household gods I +rescued from the enemy; my fame is known high in heaven. I seek Italy my +country, my kin of Jove's supreme blood. With twenty sail did I climb +the Phrygian sea; oracular tokens led me on; my goddess mother pointed +the way; scarce seven survive the shattering of wave and wind. Myself +unknown, destitute, driven from Europe and Asia, I wander over the +Libyan wilderness.' + +But staying longer complaint, Venus thus broke in on his half-told +sorrows: + +'Whoso thou art, not hated I think of the immortals [388-420]dost thou +draw the breath of life, who hast reached the Tyrian city. Only go on, +and betake thee hence to the courts of the queen. For I declare to thee +thy comrades are restored, thy fleet driven back into safety by the +shifted northern gales, except my parents were pretenders, and +unavailing the augury they taught me. Behold these twelve swans in +joyous line, whom, stooping from the tract of heaven, the bird of Jove +fluttered over the open sky; now in long train they seem either to take +the ground or already to look down on the ground they took. As they +again disport with clapping wings, and utter their notes as they circle +the sky in company, even so do these ships and crews of thine either lie +fast in harbour or glide under full sail into the harbour mouth. Only go +on, and turn thy steps where the pathway leads thee.' + +Speaking she turned away, and her neck shone roseate, her immortal +tresses breathed the fragrance of deity; her raiment fell flowing down +to her feet, and the godhead was manifest in her tread. He knew her for +his mother, and with this cry pursued her flight: 'Thou also merciless! +Why mockest thou thy son so often in feigned likeness? Why is it +forbidden to clasp hand in hand, to hear and utter true speech?' Thus +reproaching her he bends his steps towards the city. But Venus girt them +in their going with dull mist, and shed round them a deep divine +clothing of cloud, that none might see them, none touch them, or work +delay, or ask wherefore they came. Herself she speeds through the sky to +Paphos, and joyfully revisits her habitation, where the temple and its +hundred altars steam with Sabaean incense, and are fresh with fragrance +of chaplets in her worship. + +They meantime have hasted along where the pathway points, and now were +climbing the hill which hangs enormous over the city, and looks down on +its facing towers. [421-456]Aeneas marvels at the mass of building, +pastoral huts once of old, marvels at the gateways and clatter of the +pavements. The Tyrians are hot at work to trace the walls, to rear the +citadel, and roll up great stones by hand, or to choose a spot for their +dwelling and enclose it with a furrow. They ordain justice and +magistrates, and the august senate. Here some are digging harbours, here +others lay the deep foundations of their theatre, and hew out of the +cliff vast columns, the lofty ornaments of the stage to be: even as bees +when summer is fresh over the flowery country ply their task beneath the +sun, when they lead forth their nation's grown brood, or when they press +the liquid honey and strain their cells with nectarous sweets, or +relieve the loaded incomers, or in banded array drive the idle herd of +drones far from their folds; they swarm over their work, and the odorous +honey smells sweet of thyme. 'Happy they whose city already rises!' +cries Aeneas, looking on the town roofs below. Girt in the cloud he +passes amid them, wonderful to tell, and mingling with the throng is +descried of none. + +In the heart of the town was a grove deep with luxuriant shade, wherein +first the Phoenicians, buffeted by wave and whirlwind, dug up the token +Queen Juno had appointed, the head of a war horse: thereby was their +race to be through all ages illustrious in war and opulent in living. +Here to Juno was Sidonian Dido founding a vast temple, rich with +offerings and the sanctity of her godhead: brazen steps rose on the +threshold, brass clamped the pilasters, doors of brass swung on grating +hinges. First in this grove did a strange chance meet his steps and +allay his fears; first here did Aeneas dare to hope for safety and have +fairer trust in his shattered fortunes. For while he closely scans the +temple that towers above him, while, awaiting the queen, he admires the +fortunate city, the emulous hands and elaborate work of her craftsmen, +he sees ranged in order the [457-491]battles of Ilium, that war whose +fame was already rumoured through all the world, the sons of Atreus and +Priam, and Achilles whom both found pitiless. He stopped and cried +weeping, 'What land is left, Achates, what tract on earth that is not +full of our agony? Behold Priam! Here too is the meed of honour, here +mortal estate touches the soul to tears. Dismiss thy fears; the fame of +this will somehow bring thee salvation.' + +So speaks he, and fills his soul with the painted show, sighing often +the while, and his face wet with a full river of tears. For he saw, how +warring round the Trojan citadel here the Greeks fled, the men of Troy +hard on their rear; here the Phrygians, plumed Achilles in his chariot +pressing their flight. Not far away he knows the snowy canvas of Rhesus' +tents, which, betrayed in their first sleep, the blood-stained son of +Tydeus laid desolate in heaped slaughter, and turns the ruddy steeds +away to the camp ere ever they tasted Trojan fodder or drunk of Xanthus. +Elsewhere Troïlus, his armour flung away in flight--luckless boy, no +match for Achilles to meet!--is borne along by his horses, and thrown +back entangled with his empty chariot, still clutching the reins; his +neck and hair are dragged over the ground, and his reversed spear scores +the dust. Meanwhile the Ilian women went with disordered tresses to +unfriendly Pallas' temple, and bore the votive garment, sadly beating +breast with palm: the goddess turning away held her eyes fast on the +ground. Thrice had Achilles whirled Hector round the walls of Troy, and +was selling the lifeless body for gold; then at last he heaves a loud +and heart-deep groan, as the spoils, as the chariot, as the dear body +met his gaze, and Priam outstretching unarmed hands. Himself too he knew +joining battle with the foremost Achaeans, knew the Eastern ranks and +swart Memnon's armour. Penthesilea leads her crescent-shielded Amazonian +columns in furious heat with [492-524]thousands around her; clasping a +golden belt under her naked breast, the warrior maiden clashes boldly +with men. + +While these marvels meet Dardanian Aeneas' eyes, while he dizzily hangs +rapt in one long gaze, Dido the queen entered the precinct, beautiful +exceedingly, a youthful train thronging round her. Even as on Eurotas' +banks or along the Cynthian ridges Diana wheels the dance, while behind +her a thousand mountain nymphs crowd to left and right; she carries +quiver on shoulder, and as she moves outshines them all in deity; +Latona's heart is thrilled with silent joy; such was Dido, so she +joyously advanced amid the throng, urging on the business of her rising +empire. Then in the gates of the goddess, beneath the central vault of +the temple roof, she took her seat girt with arms and high enthroned. +And now she gave justice and laws to her people, and adjusted or +allotted their taskwork in due portion; when suddenly Aeneas sees +advancing with a great crowd about them Antheus and Sergestus and brave +Cloanthus, and other of his Trojans, whom the black squall had sundered +at sea and borne far away on the coast. Dizzy with the shock of joy and +fear he and Achates together were on fire with eagerness to clasp their +hands; but in confused uncertainty they keep hidden, and clothed in the +sheltering cloud wait to espy what fortune befalls them, where they are +leaving their fleet ashore, why they now come; for they advanced, chosen +men from all the ships, praying for grace, and held on with loud cries +towards the temple. + +After they entered in, and free speech was granted, aged Ilioneus with +placid mien thus began: + +'Queen, to whom Jupiter hath given to found this new city, and lay the +yoke of justice upon haughty tribes, we beseech thee, we wretched +Trojans storm-driven over all [525-559]the seas, stay the dreadful +flames from our ships; spare a guiltless race, and bend a gracious +regard on our fortunes. We are not come to deal slaughter through Libyan +homes, or to drive plundered spoils to the coast. Such violence sits not +in our mind, nor is a conquered people so insolent. There is a place +Greeks name Hesperia, an ancient land, mighty in arms and foison of the +clod; Oenotrian men dwelt therein; now rumour is that a younger race +from their captain's name have called it Italy. Thither lay our course +. . . when Orion rising on us through the cloudrack with sudden surf +bore us on blind shoals, and scattered us afar with his boisterous gales +and whelming brine over waves and trackless reefs. To these your coasts +we a scanty remnant floated up. What race of men, what land how +barbarous soever, allows such a custom for its own? We are debarred the +shelter of the beach; they rise in war, and forbid us to set foot on the +brink of their land. If you slight human kinship and mortal arms, yet +look for gods unforgetful of innocence and guilt. Aeneas was our king, +foremost of men in righteousness, incomparable in goodness as in warlike +arms; whom if fate still preserves, if he draws the breath of heaven and +lies not yet low in dispiteous gloom, fear we have none; nor mayest thou +repent of challenging the contest of service. In Sicilian territory too +is tilth and town, and famed Acestes himself of Trojan blood. Grant us +to draw ashore our storm-shattered fleet, to shape forest trees into +beams and strip them for oars; so, if to Italy we may steer with our +king and comrades found, Italy and Latium shall we gladly seek; but if +salvation is clean gone, if the Libyan gulf holds thee, dear lord of thy +Trojans, and Iülus our hope survives no more, seek we then at least the +straits of Sicily, the open homes whence we sailed hither, and Acestes +for our king.' Thus Ilioneus, and all the Dardanian company +[560-593]murmured assent. . . . Then Dido, with downcast face, briefly +speaks: + +'Cheer your anxious hearts, O Teucrians; put by your care. Hard fortune +in a strange realm forces me to this task, to keep watch and ward on my +wide frontiers. Who can be ignorant of the race of Aeneas' people, who +of Troy town and her men and deeds, or of the great war's consuming +fire? Not so dull are the hearts of our Punic wearing, not so far doth +the sun yoke his steeds from our Tyrian town. Whether your choice be +broad Hesperia, the fields of Saturn's dominion, or Eryx for your +country and Acestes for your king, my escort shall speed you in safety, +my arsenals supply your need. Or will you even find rest here with me +and share my kingdom? The city I establish is yours; draw your ships +ashore; Trojan and Tyrian shall be held by me in even balance. And would +that he your king, that Aeneas were here, storm-driven to this same +haven! But I will send messengers along the coast, and bid them trace +Libya to its limits, if haply he strays shipwrecked in forest or town.' + +Stirred by these words brave Achates and lord Aeneas both ere now burned +to break through the cloud. Achates first accosts Aeneas: 'Goddess-born, +what purpose now rises in thy spirit? Thou seest all is safe, our fleet +and comrades are restored. One only is wanting, whom our eyes saw +whelmed amid the waves; all else is answerable to thy mother's words.' + +Scarce had he spoken when the encircling cloud suddenly parts and melts +into clear air. Aeneas stood discovered in sheen of brilliant light, +like a god in face and shoulders; for his mother's self had shed on her +son the grace of clustered locks, the radiant light of youth, and the +lustre of joyous eyes; as when ivory takes beauty under the artist's +hand, or when silver or Parian stone is inlaid in gold. [594-625]Then +breaking in on all with unexpected speech he thus addresses the queen: + +'I whom you seek am here before you, Aeneas of Troy, snatched from the +Libyan waves. O thou who alone hast pitied Troy's untold agonies, thou +who with us the remnant of the Grecian foe, worn out ere now by every +suffering land and sea can bring, with us in our utter want dost share +thy city and home! to render meet recompense is not possible for us, O +Dido, nor for all who scattered over the wide world are left of our +Dardanian race. The gods grant thee worthy reward, if their deity turn +any regard on goodness, if aught avails justice and conscious purity of +soul. What happy ages bore thee? what mighty parents gave thy virtue +birth? While rivers run into the sea, while the mountain shadows move +across their slopes, while the stars have pasturage in heaven, ever +shall thine honour, thy name and praises endure in the unknown lands +that summon me.' With these words he advances his right hand to dear +Ilioneus, his left to Serestus; then to the rest, brave Gyas and brave +Cloanthus. + +Dido the Sidonian stood astonished, first at the sight of him, then at +his strange fortunes; and these words left her lips: + +'What fate follows thee, goddess-born, through perilous ways? what +violence lands thee on this monstrous coast? Art thou that Aeneas whom +Venus the bountiful bore to Dardanian Anchises by the wave of Phrygian +Simoïs? And well I remember how Teucer came to Sidon, when exiled from +his native land he sought Belus' aid to gain new realms; Belus my father +even then ravaged rich Cyprus and held it under his conquering sway. +From that time forth have I known the fall of the Trojan city, known thy +name and the Pelasgian princes. Their very foe would extol the Teucrians +with highest praises, and boasted himself a branch [626-661]of the +ancient Teucrian stem. Come therefore, O men, and enter our house. Me +too hath a like fortune driven through many a woe, and willed at last to +find my rest in this land. Not ignorant of ill do I learn to succour the +afflicted.' + +With such speech she leads Aeneas into the royal house, and orders +sacrifice in the gods' temples. Therewith she sends his company on +the shore twenty bulls, an hundred great bristly-backed swine, an +hundred fat lambs and their mothers with them, gifts of the day's +gladness. . . . But the palace within is decked with splendour of royal +state, and a banquet made ready amid the halls. The coverings are +curiously wrought in splendid purple; on the tables is massy silver and +deeds of ancestral valour graven in gold, all the long course of history +drawn through many a heroic name from the nation's primal antiquity. + +Aeneas--for a father's affection denied his spirit rest--sends Achates +speeding to his ships, to carry this news to Ascanius, and lead him to +the town: in Ascanius is fixed all the parent's loving care. Presents +likewise he bids him bring saved from the wreck of Ilium, a mantle stiff +with gold embroidery, and a veil with woven border of yellow +acanthus-flower, that once decked Helen of Argos, the marvel of her +mother Leda's giving; Helen had borne them from Mycenae, when she sought +Troy towers and a lawless bridal; the sceptre too that Ilione, Priam's +eldest daughter, once had worn, a beaded necklace, and a double circlet +of jewelled gold. Achates, hasting on his message, bent his way towards +the ships. + +But in the Cytherean's breast new arts, new schemes revolve; if Cupid, +changed in form and feature, may come in sweet Ascanius' room, and his +gifts kindle the queen to madness and set her inmost sense aflame. +Verily she fears the uncertain house, the double-tongued race of Tyre; +[662-698]cruel Juno frets her, and at nightfall her care floods back. +Therefore to winged Love she speaks these words: + +'Son, who art alone my strength and sovereignty, son, who scornest the +mighty father's Typhoïan shafts, to thee I fly for succour, and sue +humbly to thy deity. How Aeneas thy brother is driven about all the +sea-coasts by bitter Juno's malignity, this thou knowest, and hast often +grieved in our grief. Now Dido the Phoenician holds him stayed with soft +words, and I tremble to think how the welcome of Juno's house may issue; +she will not be idle in this supreme turn of fortune. Wherefore I +counsel to prevent her wiles and circle the queen with flame, that, +unalterable by any deity, she may be held fast to me by passionate love +for Aeneas. Take now my thought how to do this. The boy prince, my +chiefest care, makes ready at his dear father's summons to go to the +Sidonian city, carrying gifts that survive the sea and the flames of +Troy. Him will I hide deep asleep in my holy habitation, high on +Cythera's hills or in Idalium, that he may not know nor cross our wiles. +Do thou but for one night feign his form, and, boy as thou art, put on +the familiar face of a boy; so when in festal cheer, amid royal dainties +and Bacchic juice, Dido shall take thee to her lap, shall fold thee in +her clasp and kiss thee close and sweet, thou mayest imbreathe a hidden +fire and unsuspected poison.' + +Love obeys his dear mother's words, lays by his wings, and walks +rejoicingly with Iülus' tread. But Venus pours gentle dew of slumber on +Ascanius' limbs, and lifts him lulled in her lap to the tall Idalian +groves of her deity, where soft amaracus folds him round with the +shadowed sweetness of its odorous blossoms. And now, obedient to her +words, Cupid went merrily in Achates' guiding, with the royal gifts for +the Tyrians. Already at his coming the queen hath sate her down in the +midmost on her golden [699-733]throne under the splendid tapestries; +now lord Aeneas, now too the men of Troy gather, and all recline on the +strewn purple. Servants pour water on their hands, serve corn from +baskets, and bring napkins with close-cut pile. Fifty handmaids are +within, whose task is in their course to keep unfailing store and kindle +the household fire. An hundred others, and as many pages all of like +age, load the board with food and array the wine cups. Therewithal the +Tyrians are gathered full in the wide feasting chamber, and take their +appointed places on the broidered cushions. They marvel at Aeneas' +gifts, marvel at Iülus, at the god's face aflame and forged speech, at +the mantle and veil wrought with yellow acanthus-flower. Above all the +hapless Phoenician, victim to coming doom, cannot satiate her soul, but, +stirred alike by the boy and the gifts, she gazes and takes fire. He, +when hanging clasped on Aeneas' neck he had satisfied all the deluded +parent's love, makes his way to the queen; the queen clings to him with +her eyes and all her soul, and ever and anon fondles him in her lap, ah, +poor Dido! witless how mighty a deity sinks into her breast; but he, +mindful of his mother the Acidalian, begins touch by touch to efface +Sychaeus, and sows the surprise of a living love in the +long-since-unstirred spirit and disaccustomed heart. Soon as the noise +of banquet ceased and the board was cleared, they set down great bowls +and enwreathe the wine. The house is filled with hum of voices eddying +through the spacious chambers; lit lamps hang down by golden chainwork, +and flaming tapers expel the night. Now the queen called for a heavy cup +of jewelled gold, and filled it with pure wine; therewith was the use of +Belus and all of Belus' race: then the hall was silenced. 'Jupiter,' she +cries, 'for thou art reputed lawgiver of hospitality, grant that this be +a joyful day to the Tyrians and the voyagers from Troy, a day to live in +our children's memory. [734-756]Bacchus, the giver of gladness, be with +us, and Juno the bountiful; and you, O Tyrians, be favourable to our +assembly.' She spoke, and poured liquid libation on the board, which +done, she first herself touched it lightly with her lips, then handed it +to Bitias and bade him speed; he valiantly drained the foaming cup, and +flooded him with the brimming gold. The other princes followed. +Long-haired Iopas on his gilded lyre fills the chamber with songs +ancient Atlas taught; he sings of the wandering moon and the sun's +travails; whence is the human race and the brute, whence water and fire; +of Arcturus, the rainy Hyades, and the twin Oxen; why wintry suns make +such haste to dip in ocean, or what delay makes the nights drag +lingeringly. Tyrians and Trojans after them redouble applause. +Therewithal Dido wore the night in changing talk, alas! and drank long +draughts of love, asking many a thing of Priam, many a thing of Hector; +now in what armour the son of the Morning came; now of what fashion were +Diomede's horses; now of mighty Achilles. 'Nay, come,' she cries, 'tell +to us, O guest, from their first beginning the treachery of the +Grecians, thy people's woes, and thine own wanderings; for this is now +the seventh summer that bears thee a wanderer over all the earth and +sea.' + + + + +BOOK SECOND + +THE STORY OF THE SACK OF TROY + + +All were hushed, and sate with steadfast countenance; thereon, high from +his cushioned seat, lord Aeneas thus began: + +'Dreadful, O Queen, is the woe thou bidst me recall, how the Grecians +pitiably overthrew the wealth and lordship of Troy; and I myself saw +these things in all their horror, and I bore great part in them. What +Myrmidon or Dolopian, or soldier of stern Ulysses, could in such a tale +restrain his tears! and now night falls dewy from the steep of heaven, +and the setting stars counsel to slumber. Yet if thy desire be such to +know our calamities, and briefly to hear Troy's last agony, though my +spirit shudders at the remembrance and recoils in pain, I will essay. + +'Broken in war and beaten back by fate, and so many years now slid away, +the Grecian captains build by Pallas' divine craft a horse of +mountainous build, ribbed with sawn fir; they feign it vowed for their +return, and this rumour goes about. Within the blind sides they +stealthily imprison chosen men picked out one by one, and fill the vast +cavern of its womb full with armed soldiery. + +'There lies in sight an island well known in fame, Tenedos, rich of +store while the realm of Priam endured, [23-55]now but a bay and +roadstead treacherous to ships. Hither they launch forth, and hide on +the solitary shore: we fancied they were gone, and had run down the wind +for Mycenae. So all the Teucrian land put her long grief away. The gates +are flung open; men go rejoicingly to see the Doric camp, the deserted +stations and abandoned shore. Here the Dolopian troops were tented, here +cruel Achilles; here their squadrons lay; here the lines were wont to +meet in battle. Some gaze astonished at the deadly gift of Minerva the +Virgin, and wonder at the horse's bulk; and Thymoetes begins to advise +that it be drawn within our walls and set in the citadel, whether in +guile, or that the doom of Troy was even now setting thus. But Capys and +they whose mind was of better counsel, bid us either hurl sheer into the +sea the guileful and sinister gift of Greece, or heap flames beneath to +consume it, or pierce and explore the hollow hiding-place of its womb. +The wavering crowd is torn apart in high dispute. + +'At that, foremost of all and with a great throng about him, Laocoön +runs hotly down from the high citadel, and cries from far: "Ah, wretched +citizens, what height of madness is this? Believe you the foe is gone? +or think you any Grecian gift is free of treachery? is it thus we know +Ulysses? Either Achaeans are hid in this cage of wood, or the engine is +fashioned against our walls to overlook the houses and descend upon the +city; some delusion lurks there: trust not the horse, O Trojans. Be it +what it may, I fear the Grecians even when they offer gifts." Thus +speaking, he hurled his mighty spear with great strength at the +creature's side and the curved framework of the belly: the spear stood +quivering, and the jarred cavern of the womb sounded hollow and uttered +a groan. And had divine ordinance, had a soul not infatuate been with +us, he had moved us to lay violent steel on the Argolic hiding place; +[56-90]and Troy would now stand, and you, tall towers of Priam, yet +abide. + +'Lo, Dardanian shepherds meanwhile dragged clamorously before the King a +man with hands tied behind his back, who to compass this very thing, to +lay Troy open to the Achaeans, had gone to meet their ignorant approach, +confident in spirit and doubly prepared to spin his snares or to meet +assured death. From all sides, in eagerness to see, the people of Troy +run streaming in, and vie in jeers at their prisoner. Know now the +treachery of the Grecians, and from a single crime learn all. . . . For +as he stood amid our gaze confounded, disarmed, and cast his eyes around +the Phrygian columns, "Alas!" he cried, "what land now, what seas may +receive me? or what is the last doom that yet awaits my misery? who have +neither any place among the Grecians, and likewise the Dardanians +clamour in wrath for the forfeit of my blood." At that lament our spirit +was changed, and all assault stayed: we encourage him to speak, and tell +of what blood he is sprung, or what assurance he brings his captors. + +'"In all things assuredly," says he, "O King, befall what may, I will +confess to thee the truth; nor will I deny myself of Argolic birth--this +first--nor, if Fortune hath made Sinon unhappy, shall her malice mould +him to a cheat and a liar. Hath a tale of the name of Palamedes, son of +Belus, haply reached thine ears, and of his glorious rumour and renown; +whom under false evidence the Pelasgians, because he forbade the war, +sent innocent to death by wicked witness; now they bewail him when he +hath left the light;--in his company, being near of blood, my father, +poor as he was, sent me hither to arms from mine earliest years. While +he stood unshaken in royalty and potent in the councils of the kings, we +too wore a name and honour. When by subtle Ulysses' malice (no unknown +tale do I tell) [91-124]he left the upper regions, my shattered life +crept on in darkness and grief, inly indignant at the fate of my +innocent friend. Nor in my madness was I silent: and, should any chance +offer, did I ever return a conqueror to my native Argos, I vowed myself +his avenger, and with my words I stirred his bitter hatred. From this +came the first taint of ill; from this did Ulysses ever threaten me with +fresh charges, from this flung dark sayings among the crowd and sought +confederate arms. Nay, nor did he rest, till by Calchas' service--but +yet why do I vainly unroll the unavailing tale, or why hold you in +delay, if all Achaeans are ranked together in your mind, and it is +enough that I bear the name? Take the vengeance deferred; this the +Ithacan would desire, and the sons of Atreus buy at a great ransom." + +'Then indeed we press on to ask and inquire the cause, witless of +wickedness so great and Pelasgian craft. Tremblingly the false-hearted +one pursues his speech: + +'"Often would the Grecians have taken to flight, leaving Troy behind, +and disbanded in weariness of the long war: and would God they had! as +often the fierce sea-tempest barred their way, and the gale frightened +them from going. Most of all when this horse already stood framed with +beams of maple, storm clouds roared over all the sky. In perplexity we +send Eurypylus to inquire of Phoebus' oracle; and he brings back from +the sanctuary these words of terror: _With blood of a slain maiden, O +Grecians, you appeased the winds when first you came to the Ilian +coasts; with blood must you seek your return, and an Argive life be the +accepted sacrifice._ When that utterance reached the ears of the crowd, +their hearts stood still, and a cold shudder ran through their inmost +sense: for whom is doom purposed? who is claimed of Apollo? At this the +Ithacan with loud clamour drags Calchas the soothsayer forth amidst +them, and demands of him what is this the gods signify. And now many an +one [125-158]foretold me the villain's craft and cruelty, and silently +saw what was to come. Twice five days he is speechless in his tent, and +will not have any one denounced by his lips, or given up to death. +Scarcely at last, at the loud urgence of the Ithacan, he breaks into +speech as was planned, and appoints me for the altar. All consented; and +each one's particular fear was turned, ah me! to my single destruction. +And now the dreadful day was at hand; the rites were being ordered for +me, the salted corn, and the chaplets to wreathe my temples. I broke +away, I confess it, from death; I burst my bonds, and lurked all night +darkling in the sedge of the marshy pool, till they might set their +sails, if haply they should set them. Nor have I any hope more of seeing +my old home nor my sweet children and the father whom I desire. Of them +will they even haply claim vengeance for my flight, and wash away this +crime in their wretched death. By the heavenly powers I beseech thee, +the deities to whom truth is known, by all the faith yet unsullied that +is anywhere left among mortals; pity woes so great; pity an undeserving +sufferer." + +'At these his tears we grant him life, and accord our pity. Priam +himself at once commands his shackles and strait bonds to be undone, and +thus speaks with kindly words: "Whoso thou art, now and henceforth +dismiss and forget the Greeks: thou shalt be ours. And unfold the truth +to this my question: wherefore have they reared this vast size of horse? +who is their counsellor? or what their aim? what propitiation, or what +engine of war is this?" He ended; the other, stored with the treacherous +craft of Pelasgia, lifts to heaven his freed hands. "You, everlasting +fires," he cries, "and your inviolable sanctity be my witness; you, O +altars and accursed swords I fled, and chaplets of the gods I wore as +victim! unblamed may I break the oath of Greek allegiance, unblamed hate +them and bring all to light that they [159-191]conceal; nor am I bound +by any laws of country. Do thou only keep by thy promise, O Troy, and +preserve faith with thy preserver, as my news shall be true, as my +recompense great. + +'"All the hope of Greece, and the confidence in which the war began, +ever centred in Pallas' aid. But since the wicked son of Tydeus, and +Ulysses, forger of crime, made bold to tear the fated Palladium from her +sanctuary, and cut down the sentries on the towered height; since they +grasped the holy image, and dared with bloody hands to touch the maiden +chaplets of the goddess; since then the hope of Greece ebbed and slid +away backwards, their strength was broken, and the mind of the goddess +estranged. Whereof the Tritonian gave token by no uncertain signs. +Scarcely was the image set in the camp; flame shot sparkling from its +lifted eyes, and salt sweat started over its body; thrice, wonderful to +tell, it leapt from the ground with shield and spear quivering. +Immediately Calchas prophesies that the seas must be explored in flight, +nor may Troy towers be overthrown by Argive weapons, except they repeat +their auspices at Argos, and bring back that divine presence they have +borne away with them in the curved ships overseas. And now they have run +down the wind for their native Mycenae, to gather arms and gods to +attend them; they will remeasure ocean and be on you unawares. So +Calchas expounds the omens. This image at his warning they reared in +recompense for the Palladium and the injured deity, to expiate the +horror of sacrilege. Yet Calchas bade them raise it to this vast size +with oaken crossbeams, and build it up to heaven, that it may not find +entry at the gates nor be drawn within the city, nor protect your people +beneath the consecration of old. For if hand of yours should violate +Minerva's offering, then utter destruction (the gods turn rather on +himself his augury!) should be upon Priam's empire and [192-226]the +Phrygian people. But if under your hands it climbed into your city, Asia +should advance in mighty war to the walls of Pelops, and a like fate +awaited our children's children." + +'So by Sinon's wiles and craft and perjury the thing gained belief; and +we were ensnared by treachery and forced tears, we whom neither the son +of Tydeus nor Achilles of Larissa, whom not ten years nor a thousand +ships brought down. + +'Here another sight, greater, alas! and far more terrible meets us, and +alarms our thoughtless senses. Laocoön, allotted priest of Neptune, was +slaying a great bull at the accustomed altars. And lo! from Tenedos, +over the placid depths (I shudder as I recall) two snakes in enormous +coils press down the sea and advance together to the shore; their +breasts rise through the surge, and their blood-red crests overtop the +waves; the rest trails through the main behind and wreathes back in +voluminous curves; the brine gurgles and foams. And now they gained the +fields, while their bloodshot eyes blazed with fire, and their tongues +lapped and flickered in their hissing mouths. We scatter, pallid at the +sight. They in unfaltering train make towards Laocoön. And first the +serpents twine in their double embrace his two little children, and bite +deep in their wretched limbs; then him likewise, as he comes up to help +with arms in his hand, they seize and fasten in their enormous coils; +and now twice clasping his waist, twice encircling his neck with their +scaly bodies, they tower head and neck above him. He at once strains his +hands to tear their knots apart, his fillets spattered with foul black +venom; at once raises to heaven awful cries; as when, bellowing, a bull +shakes the wavering axe from his neck and runs wounded from the altar. +But the two snakes glide away to the high sanctuary and seek the fierce +Tritonian's citadel, [227-261]and take shelter under the goddess' feet +beneath the circle of her shield. Then indeed a strange terror thrills +in all our amazed breasts; and Laocoön, men say, hath fulfilled his +crime's desert, in piercing the consecrated wood and hurling his guilty +spear into its body. All cry out that the image must be drawn to its +home and supplication made to her deity. . . . We sunder the walls, and +lay open the inner city. All set to the work; they fix rolling wheels +under its feet, and tie hempen bands on its neck. The fated engine +climbs our walls, big with arms. Around it boys and unwedded girls chant +hymns and joyfully lay their hand on the rope. It moves up, and glides +menacing into the middle of the town. O native land! O Ilium, house of +gods, and Dardanian city renowned in war! four times in the very gateway +did it come to a stand, and four times armour rang in its womb. Yet we +urge it on, mindless and infatuate, and plant the ill-ominous thing in +our hallowed citadel. Even then Cassandra opens her lips to the coming +doom, lips at a god's bidding never believed by the Trojans. We, the +wretched people, to whom that day was our last, hang the shrines of the +gods with festal boughs throughout the city. Meanwhile the heavens wheel +on, and night rises from the sea, wrapping in her vast shadow earth and +sky and the wiles of the Myrmidons; about the town the Teucrians are +stretched in silence; slumber laps their tired limbs. + +'And now the Argive squadron was sailing in order from Tenedos, and in +the favouring stillness of the quiet moon sought the shores it knew; +when the royal galley ran out a flame, and, protected by the gods' +malign decrees, Sinon stealthily lets loose the imprisoned Grecians from +their barriers of pine; the horse opens and restores them to the air; +and joyfully issuing from the hollow wood, Thessander and Sthenelus the +captains, and terrible Ulysses, [262-295]slide down the dangling rope, +with Acamas and Thoas and Neoptolemus son of Peleus, and Machaon first +of all, and Menelaus, and Epeüs himself the artificer of the treachery. +They sweep down the city buried in drunken sleep; the watchmen are cut +down, and at the open gates they welcome all their comrades, and unite +their confederate bands. + +'It was the time when by the gift of God rest comes stealing first and +sweetest on unhappy men. In slumber, lo! before mine eyes Hector seemed +to stand by, deep in grief and shedding abundant tears; torn by the +chariot, as once of old, and black with gory dust, his swoln feet +pierced with the thongs. Ah me! in what guise was he! how changed from +the Hector who returns from putting on Achilles' spoils, or launching +the fires of Phrygia on the Grecian ships! with ragged beard and tresses +clotted with blood, and all the many wounds upon him that he received +around his ancestral walls. Myself too weeping I seemed to accost him +ere he spoke, and utter forth mournful accents: "O light of Dardania, O +surest hope of the Trojans, what long delay is this hath held thee? from +what borders comest thou, Hector our desire? with what weary eyes we see +thee, after many deaths of thy kin, after divers woes of people and +city! What indignity hath marred thy serene visage? or why discern I +these wounds?" He replies naught, nor regards my idle questioning; but +heavily drawing a heart-deep groan, "Ah, fly, goddess-born," he says, +"and rescue thyself from these flames. The foe holds our walls; from her +high ridges Troy is toppling down. Thy country and Priam ask no more. If +Troy towers might be defended by strength of hand, this hand too had +been their defence. Troy commends to thee her holy things and household +gods; take them to accompany thy fate; seek for them a city, which, +after all the seas have known thy wanderings, thou shalt at last +establish in [296-327]might." So speaks he, and carries forth in his +hands from their inner shrine the chaplets and strength of Vesta, and +the everlasting fire. + +'Meanwhile the city is stirred with mingled agony; and more and more, +though my father Anchises' house lay deep withdrawn and screened by +trees, the noises grow clearer and the clash of armour swells. I shake +myself from sleep and mount over the sloping roof, and stand there with +ears attent: even as when flame catches a corn-field while south winds +are furious, or the racing torrent of a mountain stream sweeps the +fields, sweeps the smiling crops and labours of the oxen, and hurls the +forest with it headlong; the shepherd in witless amaze hears the roar +from the cliff-top. Then indeed proof is clear, and the treachery of the +Grecians opens out. Already the house of Deïphobus hath crashed down in +wide ruin amid the overpowering flames; already our neighbour Ucalegon +is ablaze: the broad Sigean bay is lit with the fire. Cries of men and +blare of trumpets rise up. Madly I seize my arms, nor is there so much +purpose in arms; but my spirit is on fire to gather a band for fighting +and charge for the citadel with my comrades. Fury and wrath drive me +headlong, and I think how noble is death in arms. + +'And lo! Panthus, eluding the Achaean weapons, Panthus son of Othrys, +priest of Phoebus in the citadel, comes hurrying with the sacred vessels +and conquered gods and his little grandchild in his hand, and runs +distractedly towards my gates. "How stands the state, O Panthus? what +stronghold are we to occupy?" Scarcely had I said so, when groaning he +thus returns: "The crowning day is come, the irreversible time of the +Dardanian land. No more are we a Trojan people; Ilium and the great +glory of the Teucrians is no more. Angry Jupiter hath cast all into the +scale of Argos. The Grecians are lords of the burning [328-362]town. +The horse, standing high amid the city, pours forth armed men, and Sinon +scatters fire, insolent in victory. Some are at the wide-flung gates, +all the thousands that ever came from populous Mycenae. Others have +beset the narrow streets with lowered weapons; edge and glittering point +of steel stand drawn, ready for the slaughter; scarcely at the entry do +the guards of the gates essay battle, and hold out in the blind fight." + +'Heaven's will thus declared by the son of Othrys drives me amid flames +and arms, where the baleful Fury calls, and tumult of shouting rises up. +Rhipeus and Epytus, most mighty in arms, join company with me; Hypanis +and Dymas meet us in the moonlight and attach themselves to our side, +and young Coroebus son of Mygdon. In those days it was he had come to +Troy, fired with mad passion for Cassandra, and bore a son's aid to +Priam and the Phrygians: hapless, that he listened not to his raving +bride's counsels. . . . Seeing them close-ranked and daring for battle, +I therewith began thus: "Men, hearts of supreme and useless bravery, if +your desire be fixed to follow one who dares the utmost; you see what is +the fortune of our state: all the gods by whom this empire was upheld +have gone forth, abandoning shrine and altar; your aid comes to a +burning city. Let us die, and rush on their encircling weapons. The +conquered have one safety, to hope for none." + +'So their spirit is heightened to fury. Then, like wolves ravening in a +black fog, whom mad malice of hunger hath driven blindly forth, and +their cubs left behind await with throats unslaked; through the weapons +of the enemy we march to certain death, and hold our way straight into +the town. Night's sheltering shadow flutters dark around us. Who may +unfold in speech that night's horror and death-agony, or measure its +woes in weeping? The [363-397]ancient city falls with her long years of +sovereignty; corpses lie stretched stiff all about the streets and +houses and awful courts of the gods. Nor do Teucrians alone pay forfeit +of their blood; once and again valour returns even in conquered hearts, +and the victorious Grecians fall. Everywhere is cruel agony, everywhere +terror, and the sight of death at every turn. + +'First, with a great troop of Grecians attending him, Androgeus meets +us, taking us in ignorance for an allied band, and opens on us with +friendly words: "Hasten, my men; why idly linger so late? others plunder +and harry the burning citadel; are you but now on your march from the +tall ships?" He spoke, and immediately (for no answer of any assurance +was offered) knew he was fallen among the foe. In amazement, he checked +foot and voice; even as one who struggling through rough briers hath +trodden a snake on the ground unwarned, and suddenly shrinks fluttering +back as it rises in anger and puffs its green throat out; even thus +Androgeus drew away, startled at the sight. We rush in and encircle them +with serried arms, and cut them down dispersedly in their ignorance of +the ground and seizure of panic. Fortune speeds our first labour. And +here Coroebus, flushed with success and spirit, cries: "O comrades, +follow me where fortune points before us the path of safety, and shews +her favour. Let us exchange shields, and accoutre ourselves in Grecian +suits; whether craft or courage, who will ask of an enemy? the foe shall +arm our hands." Thus speaking, he next dons the plumed helmet and +beautifully blazoned shield of Androgeus, and fits the Argive sword to +his side. So does Rhipeus, so Dymas in like wise, and all our men in +delight arm themselves one by one in the fresh spoils. We advance, +mingling with the Grecians, under a protection not our own, and join +many a battle [398-432]with those we meet amid the blind night; many a +Greek we send down to hell. Some scatter to the ships and run for the +safety of the shore; some in craven fear again climb the huge horse, and +hide in the belly they knew. Alas that none may trust at all to +estranged gods! + +'Lo! Cassandra, maiden daughter of Priam, was being dragged with +disordered tresses from the temple and sanctuary of Minerva, straining +to heaven her blazing eyes in vain; her eyes, for fetters locked her +delicate hands. At this sight Coroebus burst forth infuriate, and flung +himself on death amid their columns. We all follow him up, and charge +with massed arms. Here first from the high temple roof we are +overwhelmed with our own people's weapons, and a most pitiful slaughter +begins through the fashion of our armour and the mistaken Greek crests; +then the Grecians, with angry cries at the maiden's rescue, gather from +every side and fall on us; Ajax in all his valour, and the two sons of +Atreus, and the whole Dolopian army: as oft when bursting in whirlwind +West and South clash with adverse blasts, and the East wind exultant on +the coursers of the Dawn; the forests cry, and fierce in foam Nereus +with his trident stirs the seas from their lowest depth. Those too +appear, whom our stratagem routed through the darkness of dim night and +drove all about the town; at once they know the shields and lying +weapons, and mark the alien tone on our lips. We go down, overwhelmed by +numbers. First Coroebus is stretched by Peneleus' hand at the altar of +the goddess armipotent; and Rhipeus falls, the one man who was most +righteous and steadfast in justice among the Teucrians: the gods' ways +are not as ours: Hypanis and Dymas perish, pierced by friendly hands; +nor did all thy goodness, O Panthus, nor Apollo's fillet protect thy +fall. O ashes of Ilium and death flames of my people! you I call to +witness that in your ruin I [433-465]shunned no Grecian weapon or +encounter, and my hand earned my fall, had destiny been thus. We tear +ourselves away, I and Iphitus and Pelias, Iphitus now stricken in age, +Pelias halting too under the wound of Ulysses, called forward by the +clamour to Priam's house. + +'Here indeed the battle is fiercest, as if all the rest of the fighting +were nowhere, and no slaughter but here throughout the city, so do we +descry the war in full fury, the Grecians rushing on the building, and +their shielded column driving up against the beleaguered threshold. +Ladders cling to the walls; and hard by the doors and planted on the +rungs they hold up their shields in the left hand to ward off our +weapons, and with their right clutch the battlements. The Dardanians +tear down turrets and the covering of the house roof against them; with +these for weapons, since they see the end is come, they prepare to +defend themselves even in death's extremity: and hurl down gilded beams, +the stately decorations of their fathers of old. Others with drawn +swords have beset the doorway below and keep it in crowded column. We +renew our courage, to aid the royal dwelling, to support them with our +succour, and swell the force of the conquered. + +'There was a blind doorway giving passage through the range of Priam's +halls by a solitary postern, whereby, while our realm endured, hapless +Andromache would often and often glide unattended to her father-in-law's +house, and carry the boy Astyanax to his grandsire. I issue out on the +sloping height of the ridge, whence wretched Teucrian hands were hurling +their ineffectual weapons. A tower stood on the sheer brink, its roof +ascending high into heaven, whence was wont to be seen all Troy and the +Grecian ships and Achaean camp: attacking it with iron round about, +where the joints of the lofty flooring yielded, we wrench it from its +deep foundations and shake it free; it gives way, and [466-498]suddenly +falls thundering in ruin, crashing wide over the Grecian ranks. But +others swarm up; nor meanwhile do stones nor any sort of missile +slacken. . . . Right before the vestibule and in the front doorway +Pyrrhus moves rejoicingly in the sparkle of arms and gleaming brass: +like as when a snake fed on poisonous herbs, whom chill winter kept hid +and swollen underground, now fresh from his weeds outworn and shining in +youth, wreathes his slippery body into the daylight, his upreared breast +meets the sun, and his triple-cloven tongue flickers in his mouth. With +him huge Periphas, and Automedon the armour-bearer, driver of Achilles' +horses, with him all his Scyrian men climb the roof and hurl flames on +the housetop. Himself among the foremost he grasps a poleaxe, bursts +through the hard doorway, and wrenches the brazen-plated doors from the +hinge; and now he hath cut out a plank from the solid oak and pierced a +vast gaping hole. The house within is open to sight, and the long halls +lie plain; open to sight are the secret chambers of Priam and the kings +of old, and they see armed men standing in front of the doorway. + +'But the inner house is stirred with shrieks and misery and confusion, +and the court echoes deep with women's wailing; the golden stars are +smitten with the din. Affrighted mothers stray about the vast house, and +cling fast to the doors and print them with kisses. With his father's +might Pyrrhus presses on; nor guards nor barriers can hold out. The gate +totters under the hard driven ram, and the doors fall flat, rent from +the hinge. Force makes way; the Greeks burst through the entrance and +pour in, slaughtering the foremost, and filling the space with a wide +stream of soldiers. Not so furiously when a foaming river bursts his +banks and overflows, beating down the opposing dykes with whirling +water, is he borne mounded over the fields, and sweeps herds and +[499-529]pens all about the plains. Myself I saw in the gateway +Neoptolemus mad in slaughter, and the two sons of Atreus, saw Hecuba and +the hundred daughters of her house, and Priam polluting with his blood +the altar fires of his own consecration. The fifty bridal chambers--so +great was the hope of his children's children--their doors magnificent +with spoils of barbaric gold, have sunk in ruin; where the fire fails +the Greeks are in possession. + +'Perchance too thou mayest inquire what was Priam's fate. When he saw +the ruin of his captured city, the gates of his house burst open, and +the enemy amid his innermost chambers, the old man idly fastens round +his aged trembling shoulders his long disused armour, girds on the +unavailing sword, and advances on his death among the thronging foe. + +'Within the palace and under the bare cope of sky was a massive altar, +and hard on the altar an ancient bay tree leaned clasping the household +gods in its shadow. Here Hecuba and her daughters crowded vainly about +the altar-stones, like doves driven headlong by a black tempest, and +crouched clasping the gods' images. And when she saw Priam her lord with +the armour of youth on him, "What spirit of madness, my poor husband," +she cries, "hath stirred thee to gird on these weapons? or whither dost +thou run? Not such the succour nor these the defenders the time +requires: no, were mine own Hector now beside us. Retire, I beseech +thee, hither; this altar will protect us all, or thou wilt share our +death." With these words on her lips she drew the aged man to her, and +set him on the holy seat. + +'And lo, escaped from slaughtering Pyrrhus through the weapons of the +enemy, Polites, one of Priam's children, flies wounded down the long +colonnades and circles the empty halls. Pyrrhus pursues him fiercely +with aimed [530-563]wound, just catching at him, and follows hard on +him with his spear. As at last he issued before his parents' eyes and +faces, he fell, and shed his life in a pool of blood. At this Priam, +although even now fast in the toils of death, yet withheld not nor +spared a wrathful cry: "Ah, for thy crime, for this thy hardihood, may +the gods, if there is goodness in heaven to care for aught such, pay +thee in full thy worthy meed, and return thee the reward that is due! +who hast made me look face to face on my child's murder, and polluted a +father's countenance with death. Ah, not such to a foe was the Achilles +whose parentage thou beliest; but he revered a suppliant's right and +trust, restored to the tomb Hector's pallid corpse, and sent me back to +my realm." Thus the old man spoke, and launched his weak and unwounding +spear, which, recoiling straight from the jarring brass, hung idly from +his shield above the boss. Thereat Pyrrhus: "Thou then shalt tell this, +and go with the message to my sire the son of Peleus: remember to tell +him of my baleful deeds, and the degeneracy of Neoptolemus. Now die." So +saying, he drew him quivering to the very altar, slipping in the pool of +his child's blood, and wound his left hand in his hair, while in his +right the sword flashed out and plunged to the hilt in his side. This +was the end of Priam's fortunes; thus did allotted fate find him, with +burning Troy and her sunken towers before his eyes, once magnificent +lord over so many peoples and lands of Asia. The great corpse lies along +the shore, a head severed from the shoulders and a body without a name. + +'But then an awful terror began to encircle me; I stood in amaze; there +rose before me the likeness of my loved father, as I saw the king, old +as he, sobbing out his life under the ghastly wound; there rose Creüsa +forlorn, my plundered house, and little Iülus' peril. I look back +[564-596]and survey what force is around me. All, outwearied, have +given up and leapt headlong to the ground, or flung themselves +wretchedly into the fire: + +['Yes, and now I only was left; when I espy the daughter of Tyndarus +close in the courts of Vesta, crouching silently in the fane's recesses; +the bright glow of the fires lights my wandering, as my eyes stray all +about. Fearing the Teucrians' anger for the overthrown towers of Troy, +and the Grecians' vengeance and the wrath of the husband she had +abandoned, she, the common Fury of Troy and her native country, had +hidden herself and cowered unseen by the altars. My spirit kindles to +fire, and rises in wrath to avenge my dying land and take repayment for +her crimes. Shall she verily see Sparta and her native Mycenae +unscathed, and depart a queen and triumphant? Shall she see her spousal +and her home, her parents and children, attended by a crowd of Trojan +women and Phrygians to serve her? and Priam have fallen under the sword? +Troy blazed in fire? the shore of Dardania so often soaked with blood? +Not so. For though there is no name or fame in a woman's punishment, nor +honour in the victory, yet shall I have praise in quenching a guilty +life and exacting a just recompense; and it will be good to fill my soul +with the flame of vengeance, and satisfy the ashes of my people. Thus +broke I forth, and advanced infuriate;] + +'----When my mother came visibly before me, clear to sight as never till +then, and shone forth in pure radiance through the night, gracious, +evident in godhead, in shape and stature such as she is wont to appear +to the heavenly people; she caught me by the hand and stayed me, and +pursued thus with roseate lips: + +'"Son, what overmastering pain thus wakes thy wrath? Why ravest thou? or +whither is thy care for us fled? Wilt thou not first look to it, where +thou hast left Anchises, [597-630]thine aged worn father; or if Creüsa +thy wife and the child Ascanius survive? round about whom all the Greek +battalions range; and without my preventing care, the flames ere this +had made them their portion, and the hostile sword drunk their blood. +Not the hated face of the Laconian woman, Tyndarus' daughter; not Paris +is to blame; the gods, the gods in anger overturn this magnificence, and +make Troy topple down. Look, for all the cloud that now veils thy gaze +and dulls mortal vision with damp encircling mist, I will rend from +before thee. Fear thou no commands of thy mother, nor refuse to obey her +counsels. Here, where thou seest sundered piles of masonry and rocks +violently torn from rocks, and smoke eddying mixed with dust, Neptune +with his great trident shakes wall and foundation out of their places, +and upturns all the city from her base. Here Juno in all her terror +holds the Scaean gates at the entry, and, girt with steel, calls her +allied army furiously from their ships. . . . Even now on the citadel's +height, look back! Tritonian Pallas is planted in glittering halo and +Gorgonian terror. Their lord himself pours courage and prosperous +strength on the Grecians, himself stirs the gods against the arms of +Dardania. Haste away, O son, and put an end to the struggle. I will +never desert thee; I will set thee safe in the courts of thy father's +house." + +'She ended, and plunged in the dense blackness of the night. Awful faces +shine forth, and, set against Troy, divine majesties . . . + +'Then indeed I saw all Ilium sinking in flame, and Neptunian Troy +uprooted from her base: even as an ancient ash on the mountain heights, +hacked all about with steel and fast-falling axes, when husbandmen +emulously strain to cut it down: it hangs threateningly, with shaken top +and quivering tresses asway; till gradually, overmastered with +[631-662]wounds, it utters one last groan, and rending itself away, +falls in ruin along the ridge. I descend, and under a god's guidance +clear my way between foe and flame; weapons give ground before me, and +flames retire. + +'And now, when I have reached the courts of my ancestral dwelling, our +home of old, my father, whom it was my first desire to carry high into +the hills, and whom first I sought, declines, now Troy is rooted out, to +prolong his life through the pains of exile. + +'"Ah, you," he cries, "whose blood is at the prime, whose strength +stands firm in native vigour, do you take your flight. . . . Had the +lords of heaven willed to prolong life for me, they should have +preserved this my home. Enough and more is the one desolation we have +seen, survivors of a captured city. Thus, oh thus salute me and depart, +as a body laid out for burial. Mine own hand shall find me death: the +foe will be merciful and seek my spoils: light is the loss of a tomb. +This long time hated of heaven, I uselessly delay the years, since the +father of gods and king of men blasted me with wind of thunder and +scathe of flame." + +'Thus held he on in utterance, and remained obstinate. We press him, +dissolved in tears, my wife Creüsa, Ascanius, all our household, that +our father involve us not all in his ruin, and add his weight to the +sinking scale of doom. He refuses, and keeps seated steadfast in his +purpose. Again I rush to battle, and choose death in my misery. For what +had counsel or chance yet to give? Thoughtest thou my feet, O father, +could retire and abandon thee? and fell so unnatural words from a +parent's lips? "If heaven wills that naught be left of our mighty city, +if this be thy planted purpose, thy pleasure to cast in thyself and +thine to the doom of Troy; for this death indeed the gate is wide, and +even now Pyrrhus will be here newly bathed in Priam's [663-695]blood, +Pyrrhus who slaughters the son before the father's face, the father upon +his altars. For this was it, bountiful mother, thou dost rescue me amid +fire and sword, to see the foe in my inmost chambers, and Ascanius and +my father, Creüsa by their side, hewn down in one another's blood? My +arms, men, bring my arms! the last day calls on the conquered. Return me +to the Greeks; let me revisit and renew the fight. Never to-day shall we +all perish unavenged." + +'Thereat I again gird on my sword, and fitting my left arm into the +clasps of the shield, strode forth of the palace. And lo! my wife clung +round my feet on the threshold, and held little Iülus up to his father's +sight. "If thou goest to die, let us too hurry with thee to the end. But +if thou knowest any hope to place in arms, be this household thy first +defence. To what is little Iülus and thy father, to what am I left who +once was called thy wife?" + +'So she shrieked, and filled all the house with her weeping; when a sign +arises sudden and marvellous to tell. For, between the hands and before +the faces of his sorrowing parents, lo! above Iülus' head there seemed +to stream a light luminous cone, and a flame whose touch hurt not to +flicker in his soft hair and play round his brows. We in a flutter of +affright shook out the blazing hair and quenched the holy fires with +spring water. But lord Anchises joyfully upraised his eyes; and +stretching his hands to heaven: "Jupiter omnipotent," he cries, "if thou +dost relent at any prayers, look on us this once alone; and if our +goodness deserve it, give thine aid hereafter, O lord, and confirm this +thine omen." + +'Scarcely had the aged man spoken thus, when with sudden crash it +thundered on the left, and a star gliding through the dusk shot from +heaven drawing a bright trail of light. We watch it slide over the +palace roof, leaving [696-730]the mark of its pathway, and bury its +brilliance in the wood of Ida; the long drawn track shines, and the +region all about fumes with sulphur. Then conquered indeed my father +rises to address the gods and worship the holy star. "Now, now delay is +done with: I follow, and where you lead, I come. Gods of my fathers, +save my house, save my grandchild. Yours is this omen, and in your deity +Troy stands. I yield, O my son, and refuse not to go in thy company." + +'He ended; and now more loudly the fire roars along the city, and the +burning tides roll nearer. "Up then, beloved father, and lean on my +neck; these shoulders of mine will sustain thee, nor will so dear a +burden weigh me down. Howsoever fortune fall, one and undivided shall be +our peril, one the escape of us twain. Little Iülus shall go along with +me, and my wife follow our steps afar. You of my household, give heed to +what I say. As you leave the city there is a mound and ancient temple of +Ceres lonely on it, and hard by an aged cypress, guarded many years in +ancestral awe: to this resting-place let us gather from diverse +quarters. Thou, O father, take the sacred things and the household gods +of our ancestors in thine hand. For me, just parted from the desperate +battle, with slaughter fresh upon me, to handle them were guilt, until I +wash away in a living stream the soilure. . . ." So spoke I, and spread +over my neck and broad shoulders a tawny lion-skin for covering, and +stoop to my burden. Little Iülus, with his hand fast in mine, keeps +uneven pace after his father. Behind my wife follows. We pass on in the +shadows. And I, lately moved by no weapons launched against me, nor by +the thronging bands of my Grecian foes, am now terrified at every +breath, startled by every noise, thrilling with fear alike for my +companion and my burden. + +'And now I was nearing the gates, and thought I had [731-764]outsped +all the way; when suddenly the crowded trampling of feet came to our +ears, and my father, looking forth into the darkness, cries: "My son, my +son, fly; they draw near. I espy the gleaming shields and the flicker of +brass." At this, in my flurry and confusion, some hostile god bereft me +of my senses. For while I plunge down byways, and swerve from where the +familiar streets ran, Creüsa, alas! whether, torn by fate from her +unhappy husband, she stood still, or did she mistake the way, or sink +down outwearied? I know not; and never again was she given back to our +eyes; nor did I turn to look for my lost one, or cast back a thought, +ere we were come to ancient Ceres' mound and hallowed seat; here at +last, when all gathered, one was missing, vanished from her child's and +her husband's company. What man or god did I spare in frantic +reproaches? or what crueller sight met me in our city's overthrow? I +charge my comrades with Ascanius and lord Anchises, and the gods of +Teucria, hiding them in the winding vale. Myself I regain the city, +girding on my shining armour; fixed to renew every danger, to retrace my +way throughout Troy, and fling myself again on its perils. First of all +I regain the walls and the dim gateway whence my steps had issued; I +scan and follow back my footprints with searching gaze in the night. +Everywhere my spirit shudders, dismayed at the very silence. Thence I +pass on home, if haply her feet (if haply!) had led her thither. The +Grecians had poured in, and filled the palace. The devouring fire goes +rolling before the wind high as the roof; the flames tower over it, and +the heat surges up into the air. I move on, and revisit the citadel and +Priam's dwelling; where now in the spacious porticoes of Juno's +sanctuary, Phoenix and accursed Ulysses, chosen sentries, were guarding +the spoil. Hither from all quarters is flung in masses the treasure of +Troy torn from burning shrines, [765-798]tables of the gods, bowls of +solid gold, and raiment of the captives. Boys and cowering mothers in +long file stand round. . . . Yes, and I dared to cry abroad through the +darkness; I filled the streets with calling, and again and yet again +with vain reiterance cried piteously on Creüsa. As I stormed and sought +her endlessly among the houses of the town, there rose before mine eyes +a melancholy phantom, the ghost of very Creüsa, in likeness larger than +her wont. I was motionless; my hair stood up, and the accents faltered +on my tongue. Then she thus addressed me, and with this speech allayed +my distresses: "What help is there in this mad passion of grief, sweet +my husband? not without divine influence does this come to pass: nor may +it be, nor does the high lord of Olympus allow, that thou shouldest +carry Creüsa hence in thy company. Long shall be thine exile, and weary +spaces of sea must thou furrow through; and thou shalt come to the land +Hesperia, where Lydian Tiber flows with soft current through rich and +populous fields. There prosperity awaits thee, and a kingdom, and a +king's daughter for thy wife. Dispel these tears for thy beloved Creüsa. +Never will I look on the proud homes of the Myrmidons or Dolopians, or +go to be the slave of Greek matrons, I a daughter of Dardania, a +daughter-in-law of Venus the goddess. . . . But the mighty mother of the +gods keeps me in these her borders. And now farewell, and still love thy +child and mine." This speech uttered, while I wept and would have said +many a thing, she left me and retreated into thin air. Thrice there was +I fain to lay mine arms round her neck; thrice the vision I vainly +clasped fled out of my hands, even as the light breezes, or most like to +fluttering sleep. So at last, when night is spent, I revisit my +comrades. + +'And here I find a marvellous great company, newly flocked in, mothers +and men, a people gathered for exile, [799-804]a pitiable crowd. From +all quarters they are assembled, ready in heart and fortune, to +whatsoever land I will conduct them overseas. And now the morning star +rose over the high ridges of Ida, and led on the day; and the Grecians +held the gateways in leaguer, nor was any hope of help given. I +withdrew, and raising my father up, I sought the mountain.' + + + + +BOOK THIRD + +THE STORY OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WANDERING + + +'After heaven's lords pleased to overthrow the state of Asia and Priam's +guiltless people, and proud Ilium fell, and Neptunian Troy smokes all +along the ground, we are driven by divine omens to seek distant places +of exile in waste lands. Right under Antandros and the mountains of +Phrygian Ida we build a fleet, uncertain whither the fates carry us or +where a resting-place is given, and gather the people together. Scarcely +had the first summer set in, when lord Anchises bids us spread our sails +to fortune, and weeping I leave the shores and havens of my country, and +the plains where once was Troy. I sail to sea an exile, with my comrades +and son and the gods of household and state. + +'A land of vast plains lies apart, the home of Mavors, in Thracian +tillage, and sometime under warrior Lycurgus' reign; friendly of old to +Troy, and their gods in alliance while our fortune lasted. Hither I +pass, and on the winding shore I lay under thwarting fates the first +foundations of a city, and from my own name fashion its name, Aeneadae. + +'I was paying sacrifice to my mother, daughter of Dione, and to all the +gods, so to favour the work begun, and slew a shining bull on the shore +to the high lord of [22-54]the heavenly people. Haply there lay a mound +hard at hand, crowned with cornel thickets and bristling dense with +shafts of myrtle. I drew near; and essaying to tear up the green wood +from the soil, that I might cover the altar with leafy boughs, I see a +portent ominous and wonderful to tell. For from the first tree whose +roots are rent away and broken from the ground, drops of black blood +trickle, and gore stains the earth. An icy shudder shakes my limbs, and +my blood curdles chill with terror. Yet from another I go on again to +tear away a tough shoot, fully to fathom its secret; yet from another +black blood follows out of the bark. With many searchings of heart I +prayed the woodland nymphs, and lord Gradivus, who rules in the Getic +fields, to make the sight propitious as was meet and lighten the omen. +But when I assail a third spearshaft with a stronger effort, pulling +with knees pressed against the sand; shall I speak or be silent? from +beneath the mound is heard a pitiable moan, and a voice is uttered to my +ears: "Woe's me, why rendest thou me, Aeneas? spare me at last in the +tomb, spare pollution to thine innocent hands. Troy bore me; not alien +to thee am I, nor this blood that oozes from the stem. Ah, fly the cruel +land, fly the greedy shore! For I am Polydorus; here the iron harvest of +weapons hath covered my pierced body, and shot up in sharp javelins." +Then indeed, borne down with dubious terror, I was motionless, my hair +stood up, and the accents faltered on my tongue. + +'This Polydorus once with great weight of gold had hapless Priam sent in +secret to the nurture of the Thracian king, when now he was losing trust +in the arms of Dardania, and saw his city leaguered round about. The +king, when the Teucrian power was broken and fortune withdrew, following +Agamemnon's estate and triumphant arms, [55-87]severs every bond of +duty; murders Polydorus, and lays strong hands on the gold. O accursed +hunger of gold, to what dost thou not compel human hearts! When the +terror left my senses, I lay the divine tokens before the chosen princes +of the people, with my father at their head, and demand their judgment. +All are of one mind, to leave the guilty land, and abandoning a polluted +home, to let the gales waft our fleets. So we bury Polydorus anew, and +the earth is heaped high over his mound; altars are reared to his ghost, +sad with dusky chaplets and black cypress; and around are the Ilian +women with hair unbound in their fashion. We offer bubbling bowls of +warm milk and cups of consecrated blood, and lay the spirit to rest in +her tomb, and with loud voice utter the last call. + +'Thereupon, so soon as ocean may be trusted, and the winds leave the +seas in quiet, and the soft whispering south wind calls seaward, my +comrades launch their ships and crowd the shores. We put out from +harbour, and lands and towns sink away. There lies in mid sea a holy +land, most dear to the mother of the Nereids and Neptune of Aegae, which +strayed about coast and strand till the Archer god in his affection +chained it fast from high Myconos and Gyaros, and made it lie immoveable +and slight the winds. Hither I steer; and it welcomes my weary crew to +the quiet shelter of a safe haven. We disembark and worship Apollo's +town. Anius the king, king at once of the people and priest of Phoebus, +his brows garlanded with fillets and consecrated laurel, comes to meet +us; he knows Anchises, his friend of old; we clasp hands in welcome, and +enter his palace. I worshipped the god's temple, an ancient pile of +stone. "Lord of Thymbra, give us an enduring dwelling-place; grant a +house and family to thy weary servants, and a city to abide: keep Troy's +second fortress, the remnant left of the Grecians and merciless +Achilles. Whom follow [88-121]we? or whither dost thou bid us go, where +fix our seat? Grant an omen, O lord, and inspire our minds." + +'Scarcely had I spoken thus; suddenly all seemed to shake, all the +courts and laurels of the god, the whole hill to be stirred round about, +and the cauldron to moan in the opening sanctuary. We sink low on the +ground, and a voice is borne to our ears: "Stubborn race of Dardanus, +the same land that bore you by parentage of old shall receive you again +on her bountiful breast. Seek out your ancient mother; hence shall the +house of Aeneas sway all regions, his children's children and they who +shall be born of them." Thus Phoebus; and mingled outcries of great +gladness uprose; all ask, what is that city? whither calls Phoebus our +wandering, and bids us return? Then my father, unrolling the records of +men of old, "Hear, O princes," says he, "and learn your hopes. In mid +ocean lies Crete, the island of high Jove, wherein is mount Ida, the +cradle of our race. An hundred great towns are inhabited in that opulent +realm; from it our forefather Teucer of old, if I recall the tale +aright, sailed to the Rhoetean coasts and chose a place for his kingdom. +Not yet was Ilium nor the towers of Pergama reared; they dwelt in the +valley bottoms. Hence came our Lady, haunter of Cybele, the Corybantic +cymbals and the grove of Ida; hence the rites of inviolate secrecy, and +the lions yoked under the chariot of their mistress. Up then, and let us +follow where divine commandments lead; let us appease the winds, and +seek the realm of Gnosus. Nor is it a far journey away. Only be Jupiter +favourable, the third day shall bring our fleet to anchor on the Cretan +coast." So spoke he, and slew fit sacrifice on the altars, a bull to +Neptune, a bull to thee, fair Apollo, a black sheep to Tempest, a white +to the prosperous West winds. + +'Rumour flies that Idomeneus the captain is driven [122-154]forth of +his father's realm, and the shores of Crete are abandoned, that the +houses are void of foes and the dwellings lie empty to our hand. We +leave the harbour of Ortygia, and fly along the main, by the revel-trod +ridges of Naxos, by green Donusa, Olearos and snow-white Paros, and the +sea-strewn Cyclades, threading the racing channels among the crowded +lands. The seamen's clamour rises in emulous dissonance; each cheers his +comrade: _Seek we Crete and our forefathers._ A wind rising astern +follows us forth on our way, and we glide at last to the ancient +Curetean coast. So I set eagerly to work on the walls of my chosen town, +and call it Pergamea, and exhort my people, joyful at the name, to +cherish their homes and rear the castle buildings. And even now the +ships were drawn up on the dry beach; the people were busy in marriages +and among their new fields; I was giving statutes and homesteads; when +suddenly from a tainted space of sky came, noisome on men's bodies and +pitiable on trees and crops, pestilence and a year of death. They left +their sweet lives or dragged themselves on in misery; Sirius scorched +the fields into barrenness; the herbage grew dry, and the sickly harvest +denied sustenance. My father counsels to remeasure the sea and go again +to Phoebus in his Ortygian oracle, to pray for grace and ask what issue +he ordains to our exhausted state; whence he bids us search for aid to +our woes, whither bend our course. + +'Night fell, and sleep held all things living on the earth. The sacred +images of the gods and the household deities of Phrygia, that I had +borne with me from Troy out of the midst of the burning city, seemed to +stand before mine eyes as I lay sleepless, clear in the broad light +where the full moon poured through the latticed windows; then thus +addressed me, and with this speech allayed my distresses: "What Apollo +hath to tell thee when thou dost [155-188]reach Ortygia, he utters +here, and sends us unsought to thy threshold. We who followed thee and +thine arms when Dardania went down in fire; we who under thee have +traversed on shipboard the swelling sea; we in like wise will exalt to +heaven thy children to be, and give empire to their city. Do thou +prepare a mighty town for a mighty people, nor draw back from the long +wearisome chase. Thou must change thy dwelling. Not to these shores did +the god at Delos counsel thee, or Apollo bid thee find rest in Crete. +There is a region Greeks name Hesperia, an ancient land, mighty in arms +and foison of the clod; Oenotrian men dwell therein; now rumour is that +a younger race have called it Italy after their captain's name. This is +our true dwelling place; hence is Dardanus sprung, and lord Iasius, the +first source of our race. Up, arise, and tell with good cheer to thine +aged parent this plain tale, to seek Corythus and the lands of Ausonia. +Jupiter denies thee the Dictaean fields." + +'Astonished at this vision and divine utterance (nor was that slumber; +but openly I seemed to know their countenances, their veiled hair and +gracious faces, and therewith a cold sweat broke out all over me) I +spring from my bed and raise my voice and upturned hands skyward and pay +pure offering on the hearth. The sacrifice done, I joyfully tell +Anchises, and relate all in order. He recognises the double descent and +twofold parentage, and the later wanderings that had deceived him among +ancient lands. Then he speaks: "O son, hard wrought by the destinies of +Ilium, Cassandra only foretold me this fortune. Now I recall how she +prophesied this was fated to our race, and often cried of Hesperia, +often of an Italian realm. But who was to believe that Teucrians should +come to Hesperian shores? or whom might Cassandra then move by prophecy? +Yield we to Phoebus, and follow the better [189-222]way he counsels." +So says he, and we all rejoicingly obey his speech. This dwelling +likewise we abandon; and leaving some few behind, spread our sails and +run over the waste sea in our hollow wood. + +'After our ships held the high seas, nor any land yet appears, the sky +all round us and all round us the deep, a dusky shower drew up overhead +carrying night and tempest, and the wave shuddered and gloomed. +Straightway the winds upturn the main, and great seas rise; we are +tossed asunder over the dreary gulf. Stormclouds enwrap the day, and +rainy gloom blots out the sky; out of the clouds bursts fire fast upon +fire. Driven from our course, we go wandering on the blind waves. +Palinurus himself professes he cannot tell day from night on the sky, +nor remember the way amid the waters. Three dubious days of blind +darkness we wander on the deep, as many nights without a star. Not till +the fourth day was land at last seen to rise, discovering distant hills +and sending up wreaths of smoke. The sails drop; we swing back to the +oars; without delay the sailors strongly toss up the foam, and sweep +through the green water. The shores of the Strophades first receive me +thus won from the waves, Strophades the Greek name they bear, islands +lying in the great Ionian sea, which boding Celaeno and the other +Harpies inhabit since Phineus' house was shut on them, and they fled in +terror from the board of old. Than these no deadlier portent nor any +fiercer plague of divine wrath hath issued from the Stygian waters; +winged things with maidens' countenance, bellies dropping filth, and +clawed hands and faces ever wan with hunger. . . . + +'When borne hitherward we enter the haven, lo! we see goodly herds of +oxen scattered on the plains, and goats flocking untended over the +grass. We attack them with the sword, and call the gods and Jove himself +to share our [223-258]spoil. Then we build seats on the winding shore +and banquet on the dainty food. But suddenly the Harpies are upon us, +swooping awfully from the mountains, and shaking their wings with loud +clangour, plunder the feast, and defile everything with unclean touch, +spreading a foul smell, and uttering dreadful cries. Again, in a deep +recess under a caverned rock, shut in with waving shadows of woodland, +we array the board and renew the altar fires; again, from their blind +ambush in diverse quarters of the sky, the noisy crowd flutter with +clawed feet around their prey, defiling the feast with their lips. Then +I bid my comrades take up arms, and proclaim war on the accursed race. +Even as I bade they do, range their swords in cover among the grass, and +hide their shields out of sight. So when they swooped clamorously down +along the winding shore, Misenus from his watch-tower on high signals on +the hollow brass; my comrades rush in and essay the strange battle, to +set the stain of steel on the winged horrors of the sea. But they take +no violence on their plumage, nor wounds on their bodies; and soaring +into the firmament with rapid flight, leave their foul traces on the +spoil they had half consumed. Celaeno alone, prophetess of ill, alights +on a towering cliff, and thus breaks forth in deep accents: + +'"War is it for your slaughtered oxen and steers cut down, O children of +Laomedon, war is it you would declare, and drive the guiltless Harpies +from their ancestral kingdom? Take then to heart and fix fast these +words of mine; which the Lord omnipotent foretold to Phoebus, Phoebus +Apollo to me, I eldest born of the Furies reveal to you. Italy is your +goal; wooing the winds you shall go to Italy, and enter her harbours +unhindered. Yet shall you not wall round your ordained city, ere this +murderous outrage on us compel you, in portentous hunger, to eat your +tables with gnawing teeth." + +'She spoke, and winged her way back to the shelter of [259-293]the +wood. But my comrades' blood froze chill with sudden affright; their +spirits fell; and no longer with arms, nay with vows and prayers they +bid me entreat favour, whether these be goddesses, or winged things +ill-ominous and foul. And lord Anchises from the beach calls with +outspread hands on the mighty gods, ordering fit sacrifices: "Gods, +avert their menaces! Gods, turn this woe away, and graciously save the +righteous!" Then he bids pluck the cable from the shore and shake loose +the sheets. Southern winds stretch the sails; we scud over the +foam-flecked waters, whither wind and pilot called our course. Now +wooded Zacynthos appears amid the waves, and Dulichium and Same and +Neritos' sheer rocks. We fly past the cliffs of Ithaca, Laërtes' realm, +and curse the land, fostress of cruel Ulysses. Soon too Mount Leucata's +cloudy peaks are sighted, and Apollo dreaded of sailors. Hither we steer +wearily, and stand in to the little town. The anchor is cast from the +prow; the sterns are grounded on the beach. + +'So at last having attained to land beyond our hopes, we purify +ourselves in Jove's worship, and kindle altars of offering, and make the +Actian shore gay with the games of Ilium. My comrades strip, and, +slippery with oil, exercise their ancestral contests; glad to have got +past so many Argive towns, and held on their flight through the +encircling foe. Meanwhile the sun rounds the great circle of the year, +and icy winter ruffles the waters with Northern gales. I fix against the +doorway a hollow shield of brass, that tall Abas had borne, and mark the +story with a verse: _These arms Aeneas from the conquering Greeks._ Then +I bid leave the harbour and sit down at the thwarts; emulously my +comrades strike the water, and sweep through the seas. Soon we see the +cloud-capped Phaeacian towers sink away, skirt the shores of Epirus, and +enter the Chaonian haven and approach high Buthrotum town. + +[294-328]'Here the rumour of a story beyond belief comes on our ears; +Helenus son of Priam is reigning over Greek towns, master of the bride +and sceptre of Pyrrhus the Aeacid; and Andromache hath again fallen to a +husband of her people. I stood amazed; and my heart kindled with +marvellous desire to accost him and learn of so strange a fortune. I +advance from the harbour, leaving the fleet ashore; just when haply +Andromache, in a grove before the town, by the waters of a feigned +Simoïs, was pouring libation to the dust, and calling Hector's ghost to +a tomb with his name, on an empty turfed green with two altars that she +had consecrated, a wellspring of tears. When she caught sight of me +coming, and saw distractedly the encircling arms of Troy, +terror-stricken at the vision marvellously shewn, her gaze fixed, and +the heat left her frame. She swoons away, and hardly at last speaks +after long interval: "Comest thou then a real face, a real messenger to +me, goddess-born? livest thou? or if sweet light is fled, ah, where is +Hector?" She spoke, and bursting into tears filled all the place with +her crying. Just a few words I force up, and deeply moved gasp out in +broken accents: "I live indeed, I live on through all extremities; doubt +not, for real are the forms thou seest . . . Alas! after such an +husband, what fate receives thy fall? or what worthier fortune revisits +thee? Dost thou, Hector's Andromache, keep bonds of marriage with +Pyrrhus?" She cast down her countenance, and spoke with lowered voice: + +'"O single in happy eminence that maiden daughter of Priam, sentenced to +die under high Troy town at an enemy's grave, who never bore the shame +of the lot, nor came a captive to her victorious master's bed! We, +sailing over alien seas from our burning land, have endured the +haughty youthful pride of Achilles' seed, and borne children in +slavery: he thereafter, wooing Leda's Hermione and a Lacedaemonian +[329-363]marriage, passed me over to Helenus' keeping, a bondwoman to a +bondman. But him Orestes, aflame with passionate desire for his stolen +bride, and driven by the furies of crime, catches unguarded and murders +at his ancestral altars. At Neoptolemus' death a share of his realm fell +to Helenus' hands, who named the plains Chaonian, and called all the +land Chaonia after Chaon of Troy, and built withal a Pergama and this +Ilian citadel on the hills. But to thee how did winds, how fates give +passage? or whose divinity landed thee all unwitting on our coasts? what +of the boy Ascanius? lives he yet, and draws breath, thy darling, whom +Troy's . . . Yet hath the child affection for his lost mother? is he +roused to the valour of old and the spirit of manhood by his father +Aeneas, by his uncle Hector?" + +'Such words she poured forth weeping, and prolonged the vain wail; when +the hero Helenus son of Priam approaches from the town with a great +company, knows us for his kin, and leads us joyfully to his gates, +shedding a many tears at every word. I advance and recognise a little +Troy, and a copy of the great Pergama, and a dry brook with the name of +Xanthus, and clasp a Scaean gateway. Therewithal my Teucrians make +holiday in the friendly town. The king entertained them in his spacious +colonnades; in the central hall they poured goblets of wine in libation, +and held the cups while the feast was served on gold. + +'And now a day and another day hath sped; the breezes woo our sails, and +the canvas blows out to the swelling south. With these words I accost +the prophet, and thus make request: + +'"Son of Troy, interpreter of the gods, whose sense is open to Phoebus' +influences, his tripods and laurels, to stars and tongues of birds and +auguries of prosperous flight, tell me now,--for the voice of revelation +was all favourable to my course, and all divine influence counselled me +to [364-396]seek Italy and explore remote lands; only Celaeno the Harpy +prophesies of strange portents, a horror to tell, and cries out of wrath +and bale and foul hunger,--what perils are the first to shun? or in what +guidance may I overcome these sore labours?" + +'Hereat Helenus, first suing for divine favour with fit sacrifice of +steers, and unbinding from his head the chaplets of consecration, leads +me in his hand to thy courts, O Phoebus, thrilled with the fulness of +the deity, and then utters these prophetic words from his augural lips: + +'"Goddess-born: since there is clear assurance that under high omens +thou dost voyage through the deep; so the king of the gods allots +destiny and unfolds change; this is the circle of ordinance; a few +things out of many I will unfold to thee in speech, that so thou mayest +more safely traverse the seas of thy sojourn, and find rest in the +Ausonian haven; for Helenus is forbidden by the destinies to know, and +by Juno daughter of Saturn to utter more: first of all, the Italy thou +deemest now nigh, and close at hand, unwitting! the harbours thou +wouldst enter, far are they sundered by a long and trackless track +through length of lands. First must the Trinacrian wave clog thine oar, +and thy ships traverse the salt Ausonian plain, by the infernal pools +and Aeaean Circe's isle, ere thou mayest build thy city in safety on a +peaceful land. I will tell thee the token, and do thou keep it close in +thine heart. When in thy perplexity, beside the wave of a sequestered +river, a great sow shall be discovered lying under the oaks on the +brink, with her newborn litter of thirty, couched white on the ground, +her white brood about her teats; that shall be the place of the city, +that the appointed rest from thy toils. Neither shrink thou at the gnawn +tables that await thee; the fates will find a way, and Apollo aid thy +call. These lands moreover, on this nearest border of the Italian shore +[397-432]that our own sea's tide washes, flee thou: evil Greeks dwell +in all their towns. Here the Locrians of Narycos have set their city, +and here Lyctian Idomeneus beset the Sallentine plains with soldiery; +here is the town of the Meliboean captain, Philoctetes' little Petelia +fenced by her wall. Nay, when thy fleets have crossed overseas and lie +at anchor, when now thou rearest altars and payest vows on the beach, +veil thine hair with a purple garment for covering, that no hostile face +at thy divine worship may meet thee amid the holy fires and make void +the omens. This fashion of sacrifice keep thou, thyself and thy +comrades, and let thy children abide in this pure observance. But when +at thy departure the wind hath borne thee to the Sicilian coast, and the +barred straits of Pelorus open out, steer for the left-hand country and +the long circuit of the seas on the left hand; shun the shore and water +on thy right. These lands, they say, of old broke asunder, torn and +upheaved by vast force, when either country was one and undivided; the +ocean burst in between, cutting off with its waves the Hesperian from +the Sicilian coast, and with narrow tide washes tilth and town along the +severance of shore. On the right Scylla keeps guard, on the left +unassuaged Charybdis, who thrice swallows the vast flood sheer down her +swirling gulf, and ever again hurls it upward, lashing the sky with +water. But Scylla lies prisoned in her cavern's blind recesses, +thrusting forth her mouth and drawing ships upon the rocks. In front her +face is human, and her breast fair as a maiden's to the waist down; +behind she is a sea-dragon of monstrous frame, with dolphins' tails +joined on her wolf-girt belly. Better to track the goal of Trinacrian +Pachynus, lingering and wheeling round through long spaces, than once +catch sight of misshapen Scylla deep in her dreary cavern, and of the +rocks that ring to her sea-coloured hounds. Moreover, if +[433-466]Helenus hath aught of foresight or his prophecy of assurance, +if Apollo fills his spirit with the truth, this one thing, goddess-born, +one thing for all will I foretell thee, and again and again repeat my +counsel: to great Juno's deity be thy first prayer and worship; to Juno +utter thy willing vows, and overcome thy mighty mistress with gifts and +supplications; so at last thou shalt leave Trinacria behind, and be sped +in triumph to the Italian borders. When borne hither thou drawest nigh +the Cymaean city, the haunted lakes and rustling woods of Avernus, thou +shalt behold the raving prophetess who deep in the rock chants of fate, +and marks down her words on leaves. What verses she writes down on them, +the maiden sorts into order and shuts behind her in the cave; they stay +in their places unstirred and quit not their rank. But when at the turn +of the hinge the light wind from the doorway stirs them, and disarranges +the delicate foliage, never after does she trouble to capture them as +they flutter about the hollow rock, nor restore their places or join the +verses; men depart without counsel, and hate the Sibyl's dwelling. Here +let no waste in delay be of such account to thee (though thy company +chide, and the passage call thy sails strongly to the deep, and thou +mayest fill out their folds to thy desire) that thou do not approach the +prophetess, and plead with prayers that she herself utter her oracles +and deign to loose the accents from her lips. The nations of Italy and +the wars to come, and the fashion whereby every toil may be avoided or +endured, she shall unfold to thee, and grant her worshipper prosperous +passage. Thus far is our voice allowed to counsel thee: go thy way, and +exalt Troy to heaven by thy deeds." + +'This the seer uttered with friendly lips; then orders gifts to be +carried to my ships, of heavy gold and sawn ivory, and loads the hulls +with massy silver and cauldrons [467-502]of Dodona, a mail coat +triple-woven with hooks of gold, and a helmet splendid with spike and +tressed plumes, the armour of Neoptolemus. My father too hath his gifts. +Horses besides he brings, and grooms . . . fills up the tale of our +oarsmen, and equips my crews with arms. + +'Meanwhile Anchises bade the fleet set their sails, that the fair wind +might meet no delay. Him Phoebus' interpreter accosts with high +courtesy: "Anchises, honoured with the splendour of Venus' espousal, the +gods' charge, twice rescued from the fallen towers of Troy, lo! the land +of Ausonia is before thee: sail thou and seize it. And yet needs must +thou float past it on the sea; far away lies the quarter of Ausonia that +is revealed of Apollo. Go," he continues, "happy in thy son's affection: +why do I run on further, and delay the rising winds in talk?" Andromache +too, sad at this last parting, brings figured raiment with woof of gold, +and a Phrygian scarf for Ascanius, and wearies not in courtesy, loading +him with gifts from the loom. "Take these too," so says she, "my child, +to be memorials to thee of my hands, and testify long hence the love of +Andromache wife of Hector. Take these last gifts of thy kinsfolk, O sole +surviving likeness to me of my own Astyanax! Such was he, in eyes and +hands and features; and now his equal age were growing into manhood like +thine." + +'To them as I departed I spoke with starting tears: "Live happily, as +they do whose fortunes are perfected! We are summoned ever from fate to +fate. For you there is rest in store, and no ocean floor to furrow, no +ever-retreating Ausonian fields to pursue. You see a pictured Xanthus, +and a Troy your own hands have built; with better omens, I pray, and to +be less open to the Greeks. If ever I enter Tiber and Tiber's bordering +fields, and see a city granted to my nation, then of these kindred towns +[503-537]and allied peoples in Epirus and Hesperia, which have the same +Dardanus for founder, and whose story is one, of both will our hearts +make a single Troy. Let that charge await our posterity." + +'We put out to sea, keeping the Ceraunian mountains close at hand, +whence is the shortest passage and seaway to Italy. The sun sets +meanwhile, and the dusky hills grow dim. We choose a place, and fling +ourselves on the lap of earth at the water's edge, and, allotting the +oars, spread ourselves on the dry beach for refreshment: the dew of +slumber falls on our weary limbs. Not yet had Night driven of the Hours +climbed her mid arch; Palinurus rises lightly from his couch, explores +all the winds, and listens to catch a breeze; he marks the +constellations gliding together through the silent sky, Arcturus, the +rainy Hyades and the twin Oxen, and scans Orion in his armour of gold. +When he sees the clear sky quite unbroken, he gives from the stern his +shrill signal; we disencamp and explore the way, and spread the wings of +our sails. And now reddening Dawn had chased away the stars, when we +descry afar dim hills and the low line of Italy. Achates first raises +the cry of _Italy_; and with joyous shouts my comrades salute Italy. +Then lord Anchises enwreathed a great bowl and filled it up with wine; +and called on the gods, standing high astern . . . "Gods sovereign over +sea and land and weather! bring wind to ease our way, and breathe +favourably." The breezes freshen at his prayer, and now the harbour +opens out nearer at hand, and a temple appears on the Fort of Minerva. +My comrades furl the sails and swing the prows to shore. The harbour is +scooped into an arch by the Eastern flood; reefs run out and foam with +the salt spray; itself it lies concealed; turreted walls of rock let +down their arms on either hand, and the temple retreats from the beach. +Here, an inaugural sight, four horses of snowy [538-570]whiteness are +grazing abroad on the grassy plain. And lord Anchises: "War dost thou +carry, land of our sojourn; horses are armed in war, and menace of war +is in this herd. But yet these same beasts are wont in time to enter +harness, and carry yoke and bit in concord; there is hope of peace too," +says he. Then we pray to the holy deity, Pallas of the clangorous arms, +the first to welcome our cheers. And before the altars we veil our heads +in Phrygian garments, and duly, after the counsel Helenus had urged +deepest on us, pay the bidden burnt-sacrifice to Juno of Argos. + +'Without delay, once our vows are fully paid, we round to the arms of +our sailyards and leave the dwellings and menacing fields of the Grecian +people. Next is descried the bay of Tarentum, town, if rumour is true, +of Hercules. Over against it the goddess of Lacinium rears her head, +with the towers of Caulon, and Scylaceum wrecker of ships. Then +Trinacrian Aetna is descried in the distance rising from the waves, and +we hear from afar a great roaring of the sea on beaten rocks, and broken +noises by the shore: the channels boil up, and the surge churns with +sand. And lord Anchises: "Of a surety this is that Charybdis; of these +cliffs, these awful rocks did Helenus prophesy. Out, O comrades, and +rise together to the oars." Even as bidden they do; and first Palinurus +swung the gurgling prow leftward through the water; to the left all our +squadron bent with oar and wind. We are lifted skyward on the crescent +wave, and again sunk deep into the nether world as the water is sucked +away. Thrice amid their rocky caverns the cliffs uttered a cry; thrice +we see the foam flung out, and the stars through a dripping veil. +Meanwhile the wind falls with sundown; and weary and ignorant of the way +we glide on to the Cyclopes' coast. + +'There lies a harbour large and unstirred by the winds' +[571-604]entrance; but nigh it Aetna thunders awfully in wrack, and +ever and again hurls a black cloud into the sky, smoking with boiling +pitch and embers white hot, and heaves balls of flame flickering up to +the stars: ever and again vomits out on high crags from the torn +entrails of the mountain, tosses up masses of molten rock with a groan, +and boils forth from the bottom. Rumour is that this mass weighs down +the body of Enceladus, half-consumed by the thunderbolt, and mighty +Aetna laid over him suspires the flame that bursts from her furnaces; +and so often as he changes his weary side, all Trinacria shudders and +moans, veiling the sky in smoke. That night we spend in cover of the +forest among portentous horrors, and see not from what source the noise +comes. For neither did the stars show their fires, nor was the vault of +constellated sky clear; but vapours blotted heaven, and the moon was +held in a storm-cloud through dead of night. + +'And now the morrow was rising in the early east, and the dewy darkness +rolled away from the sky by Dawn, when sudden out of the forest advances +a human shape strange and unknown, worn with uttermost hunger and +pitiably attired, and stretches entreating hands towards the shore. We +look back. Filthy and wretched, with shaggy beard and a coat pinned +together with thorns, he was yet a Greek, and had been sent of old to +Troy in his father's arms. And he, when he saw afar the Dardanian habits +and armour of Troy, hung back a little in terror at the sight, and +stayed his steps; then ran headlong to the shore with weeping and +prayers: "By the heavens I beseech you, by the heavenly powers and this +luminous sky that gives us breath, take me up, O Trojans, carry me away +to any land soever, and it will be enough. I know I am one out of the +Grecian fleets, I confess I warred against the household gods of Ilium; +for that, if our wrong and guilt is so great, throw [605-639]me +piecemeal on the flood or plunge me in the waste sea. If I do perish, +gladly will I perish at human hands." He ended; and clung clasping our +knees and grovelling at them. We encourage him to tell who he is and of +what blood born, and reveal how Fortune pursues him since then. Lord +Anchises after little delay gives him his hand, and strengthens his +courage by visible pledge. At last, laying aside his terror, he speaks +thus: + +'"I am from an Ithacan home, Achemenides by name, set out for Troy in +luckless Ulysses' company; poor was my father Adamastus, and would God +fortune had stayed thus! Here my comrades abandoned me in the Cyclops' +vast cave, mindless of me while they hurry away from the barbarous +gates. It is a house of gore and blood-stained feasts, dim and huge +within. Himself he is great of stature and knocks at the lofty sky +(gods, take away a curse like this from earth!) to none gracious in +aspect or courteous of speech. He feeds on the flesh and dark blood of +wretched men. I myself saw, when he caught the bodies of two of us with +his great hand, and lying back in the middle of the cave crushed them on +the rock, and the courts splashed and swam with gore; I saw when he +champed the flesh adrip with dark clots of blood, and the warm limbs +quivered under his teeth. Yet not unavenged. Ulysses brooked not this, +nor even in such straits did the Ithacan forget himself. For so soon as +he, gorged with his feast and buried in wine, lay with bent neck +sprawling huge over the cave, in his sleep vomiting gore and gobbets +mixed with wine and blood, we, praying to the great gods and with parts +allotted, pour at once all round him, and pierce with a sharp weapon the +huge eye that lay sunk single under his savage brow, in fashion of an +Argolic shield or the lamp of the moon; and at last we exultingly avenge +the ghosts of our comrades. But fly, O wretched men, fly [640-674]and +pluck the cable from the beach. . . . For even in the shape and stature +of Polyphemus, when he shuts his fleeced flocks and drains their udders +in the cave's covert, an hundred other horrible Cyclopes dwell all about +this shore and stray on the mountain heights. Thrice now does the horned +moon fill out her light, while I linger in life among desolate lairs and +haunts of wild beasts in the woodland, and from a rock survey the giant +Cyclopes and shudder at their cries and echoing feet. The boughs yield a +miserable sustenance, berries and stony sloes, and plants torn up by the +root feed me. Sweeping all the view, I at last espied this fleet +standing in to shore. On it, whatsoever it were, I cast myself; it is +enough to have escaped the accursed tribe. Do you rather, by any death +you will, destroy this life of mine." + +'Scarcely had he spoken thus, when on the mountain top we see +shepherding his flocks a vast moving mass, Polyphemus himself seeking +the shores he knew, a horror ominous, shapeless, huge, bereft of sight. +A pine lopped by his hand guides and steadies his footsteps. His fleeced +sheep attend him, this his single delight and solace in ill. . . . After +he hath touched the deep flood and come to the sea, he washes in it the +blood that oozes from his eye-socket, grinding his teeth with groans; +and now he strides through the sea up to his middle, nor yet does the +wave wet his towering sides. We hurry far away in precipitate flight, +with the suppliant who had so well merited rescue; and silently cut the +cable, and bending forward sweep the sea with emulous oars. He heard, +and turned his steps towards the echoing sound. But when he may in no +wise lay hands on us, nor can fathom the Ionian waves in pursuit, he +raises a vast cry, at which the sea and all his waves shuddered, and the +deep land of Italy was startled, and Aetna's vaulted caverns moaned. But +the tribe of the [675-709]Cyclopes, roused from the high wooded hills, +run to the harbour and fill the shore. We descry the Aetnean brotherhood +standing impotent with scowling eye, their stately heads up to heaven, a +dreadful consistory; even as on a mountain summit stand oaks high in air +or coned cypresses, a high forest of Jove or covert of Diana. Sharp fear +urges us to shake out the sheets in reckless haste, and spread our sails +to the favouring wind. Yet Helenus' commands counsel that our course +keep not the way between Scylla and Charybdis, the very edge of death on +either hand. We are resolved to turn our canvas back. And lo! from the +narrow fastness of Pelorus the North wind comes down and reaches us. I +sail past Pantagias' mouth with its living stone, the Megarian bay, and +low-lying Thapsus. Such names did Achemenides, of luckless Ulysses' +company, point out as he retraced his wanderings along the returning +shores. + +'Stretched in front of a bay of Sicily lies an islet over against +wavebeat Plemyrium; they of old called it Ortygia. Hither Alpheus the +river of Elis, so rumour runs, hath cloven a secret passage beneath the +sea, and now through thy well-head, Arethusa, mingles with the Sicilian +waves. We adore as bidden the great deities of the ground; and thence I +cross the fertile soil of Helorus in the marsh. Next we graze the high +reefs and jutting rocks of Pachynus; and far off appears Camarina, +forbidden for ever by oracles to move, and the Geloan plains, and vast +Gela named after its river. Then Acragas on the steep, once the breeder +of noble horses, displays its massive walls in the distance; and with +granted breeze I leave thee behind, palm-girt Selinus, and thread the +difficult shoals and blind reefs of Lilybaeum. Thereon Drepanum receives +me in its haven and joyless border. Here, so many tempestuous seas +outgone, alas! my father, the solace of every care and chance, Anchises +is [710-718]lost to me. Here thou, dear lord, abandonest me in +weariness, alas! rescued in vain from peril and doom. Not Helenus the +prophet, though he counselled of many a terror, not boding Celaeno +foretold me of this grief. This was the last agony, this the goal of the +long ways; thence it was I had departed when God landed me on your +coasts.' + +Thus lord Aeneas with all attent retold alone the divine doom and the +history of his goings. At last he was hushed, and here in silence made +an end. + + + + +BOOK FOURTH + +THE LOVE OF DIDO, AND HER END + + +But the Queen, long ere now pierced with sore distress, feeds the wound +with her life-blood, and catches the fire unseen. Again and again his +own valiance and his line's renown flood back upon her spirit; look and +accent cling fast in her bosom, and the pain allows not rest or calm to +her limbs. The morrow's dawn bore the torch of Phoebus across the earth, +and had rolled away the dewy darkness from the sky, when, scarce +herself, she thus opens her confidence to her sister: + +'Anna, my sister, such dreams of terror thrill me through! What guest +unknown is this who hath entered our dwelling? How high his mien! how +brave in heart as in arms! I believe it well, with no vain assurance, +his blood is divine. Fear proves the vulgar spirit. Alas, by what +destinies is he driven! what wars outgone he chronicled! Were my mind +not planted, fixed and immoveable, to ally myself to none in wedlock +since my love of old was false to me in the treachery of death; were I +not sick to the heart of bridal torch and chamber, to this temptation +alone I might haply yield. Anna, I will confess it; since Sychaeus mine +husband met his piteous doom, and our household was shattered by a +brother's murder, he only hath [22-55]touched mine heart and stirred +the balance of my soul. I know the prints of the ancient flame. But +rather, I pray, may earth first yawn deep for me, or the Lord omnipotent +hurl me with his thunderbolt into gloom, the pallid gloom and profound +night of Erebus, ere I soil thee, mine honour, or unloose thy laws. He +took my love away who made me one with him long ago; he shall keep it +with him, and guard it in the tomb.' She spoke, and welling tears filled +the bosom of her gown. + +Anna replies: 'O dearer than the daylight to thy sister, wilt thou +waste, sad and alone, all thy length of youth, and know not the +sweetness of motherhood, nor love's bounty? Deemest thou the ashes care +for that, or the ghost within the tomb? Be it so: in days gone by no +wooers bent thy sorrow, not in Libya, not ere then in Tyre; Iarbas was +slighted, and other princes nurtured by the triumphal land of Africa; +wilt thou contend so with a love to thy liking? nor does it cross thy +mind whose are these fields about thy dwelling? On this side are the +Gaetulian towns, a race unconquerable in war; the reinless Numidian +riders and the grim Syrtis hem thee in; on this lies a thirsty tract of +desert, swept by the raiders of Barca. Why speak of the war gathering +from Tyre, and thy brother's menaces? . . . With gods' auspices to my +thinking, and with Juno's favour, hath the Ilian fleet held on hither +before the gale. What a city wilt thou discern here, O sister! what a +realm will rise on such a union! the arms of Troy ranged with ours, what +glory will exalt the Punic state! Do thou only, asking divine favour +with peace-offerings, be bounteous in welcome and draw out reasons for +delay, while the storm rages at sea and Orion is wet, and his ships are +shattered and the sky unvoyageable.' With these words she made the fire +of love flame up in her spirit, put hope in her wavering soul, and let +honour slip away. + +[56-90]First they visit the shrines, and desire grace from altar to +altar; they sacrifice sheep fitly chosen to Ceres the Lawgiver, to +Phoebus and lord Lyaeus, to Juno before all, guardian of the marriage +bond. Dido herself, excellent in beauty, holds the cup in her hand, and +pours libation between the horns of a milk-white cow, or moves in state +to the rich altars before the gods' presences, day by day renewing her +gifts, and gazing athirst into the breasts of cattle laid open to take +counsel from the throbbing entrails. Ah, witless souls of soothsayers! +how may vows or shrines help her madness? all the while the subtle flame +consumes her inly, and deep in her breast the wound is silent and alive. +Stung to misery, Dido wanders in frenzy all down the city, even as an +arrow-stricken deer, whom, far and heedless amid the Cretan woodland, a +shepherd archer hath pierced and left the flying steel in her unaware; +she ranges in flight the Dictaean forest lawns; fast in her side clings +the deadly reed. Now she leads Aeneas with her through the town, and +displays her Sidonian treasure and ordered city; she essays to speak, +and breaks off half-way in utterance. Now, as day wanes, she seeks the +repeated banquet, and again madly pleads to hear the agonies of Ilium, +and again hangs on the teller's lips. Thereafter, when all are gone +their ways, and the dim moon in turn quenches her light, and the setting +stars counsel to sleep, alone in the empty house she mourns, and flings +herself on the couch he left: distant she hears and sees him in the +distance; or enthralled by the look he has of his father, she holds +Ascanius on her lap, if so she may steal the love she may not utter. No +more do the unfinished towers rise, no more do the people exercise in +arms, nor work for safety in war on harbour or bastion; the works hang +broken off, vast looming walls and engines towering into the sky. + +So soon as she perceives her thus fast in the toils, and [91-124]madly +careless of her name, Jove's beloved wife, daughter of Saturn, accosts +Venus thus: + +'Noble indeed is the fame and splendid the spoils you win, thou and that +boy of thine, and mighty the renown of deity, if two gods have +vanquished one woman by treachery. Nor am I so blind to thy terror of +our town, thine old suspicion of the high house of Carthage. But what +shall be the end? or why all this contest now? Nay, rather let us work +an enduring peace and a bridal compact. Thou hast what all thy soul +desired; Dido is on fire with love, and hath caught the madness through +and through. Then rule we this people jointly in equal lordship; allow +her to be a Phrygian husband's slave, and to lay her Tyrians for dowry +in thine hand.' + +To her--for she knew the dissembled purpose of her words, to turn the +Teucrian kingdom away to the coasts of Libya--Venus thus began in +answer: 'Who so mad as to reject these terms, or choose rather to try +the fortune of war with thee? if only when done, as thou sayest, fortune +follow. But I move in uncertainty of Jove's ordinance, whether he will +that Tyrians and wanderers from Troy be one city, or approve the +mingling of peoples and the treaty of union. Thou art his wife, and thy +prayers may essay his soul. Go on; I will follow.' + +Then Queen Juno thus rejoined: 'That task shall be mine. Now, by what +means the present need may be fulfilled, attend and I will explain in +brief. Aeneas and Dido (alas and woe for her!) are to go hunting +together in the woodland when to-morrow's rising sun goes forth and his +rays unveil the world. On them, while the beaters run up and down, and +the lawns are girt with toils, will I pour down a blackening rain-cloud +mingled with hail, and startle all the sky in thunder. Their company +will scatter for shelter in the dim darkness; Dido and the Trojan +captain [125-159]shall take refuge in the same cavern. I will be there, +and if thy goodwill is assured me, I will unite them in wedlock, and +make her wholly his; here shall Hymen be present.' The Cytherean gave +ready assent to her request, and laughed at the wily invention. + +Meanwhile Dawn rises forth of ocean. A chosen company issue from the +gates while the morning star is high; they pour forth with meshed nets, +toils, broad-headed hunting spears, Massylian horsemen and sinewy +sleuth-hounds. At her doorway the chief of Carthage await their queen, +who yet lingers in her chamber, and her horse stands splendid in gold +and purple with clattering feet and jaws champing on the foamy bit. At +last she comes forth amid a great thronging train, girt in a Sidonian +mantle, broidered with needlework; her quiver is of gold, her tresses +knotted into gold, a golden buckle clasps up her crimson gown. +Therewithal the Phrygian train advances with joyous Iülus. Himself first +and foremost of all, Aeneas joins her company and unites his party to +hers: even as Apollo, when he leaves wintry Lycia and the streams of +Xanthus to visit his mother's Delos, and renews the dance, while Cretans +and Dryopes and painted Agathyrsians mingle clamorous about his altars: +himself he treads the Cynthian ridges, and plaits his flowing hair with +soft heavy sprays and entwines it with gold; the arrows rattle on his +shoulder: as lightly as he went Aeneas; such glow and beauty is on his +princely face. When they are come to the mountain heights and pathless +coverts, lo, wild goats driven from the cliff-tops run down the ridge; +in another quarter stags speed over the open plain and gather their +flying column in a cloud of dust as they leave the hills. But the boy +Ascanius is in the valleys, exultant on his fiery horse, and gallops +past one and another, praying that among the unwarlike herds a foaming +boar may issue or a tawny lion descend the hill. + +[160-194]Meanwhile the sky begins to thicken and roar aloud. A +rain-cloud comes down mingled with hail; the Tyrian train and the men of +Troy, and the Dardanian boy of Venus' son scatter in fear, and seek +shelter far over the fields. Streams pour from the hills. Dido and the +Trojan captain take refuge in the same cavern. Primeval Earth and Juno +the bridesmaid give the sign; fires flash out high in air, witnessing +the union, and Nymphs cry aloud on the mountain-top. That day opened the +gate of death and the springs of ill. For now Dido recks not of eye or +tongue, nor sets her heart on love in secret: she calls it marriage, and +with this name veils her fall. + +Straightway Rumour runs through the great cities of Libya,--Rumour, than +whom none other is more swift to mischief; she thrives on restlessness +and gains strength by going: at first small and timorous; soon she lifts +herself on high and paces the ground with head hidden among the clouds. +Her, one saith, Mother Earth, when stung by wrath against the gods, bore +last sister to Coeus and Enceladus, fleet-footed and swift of wing, +ominous, awful, vast; for every feather on her body is a waking eye +beneath, wonderful to tell, and a tongue, and as many loud lips and +straining ears. By night she flits between sky and land, shrilling +through the dusk, and droops not her lids in sweet slumber; in daylight +she sits on guard upon tall towers or the ridge of the house-roof, and +makes great cities afraid; obstinate in perverseness and forgery no less +than messenger of truth. She then exultingly filled the countries with +manifold talk, and blazoned alike what was done and undone: one Aeneas +is come, born of Trojan blood; on him beautiful Dido thinks no shame to +fling herself; now they hold their winter, long-drawn through mutual +caresses, regardless of their realms and enthralled by passionate +dishonour. This the pestilent goddess [195-227]spreads abroad in the +mouths of men, and bends her course right on to King Iarbas, and with +her words fires his spirit and swells his wrath. + +He, the seed of Ammon by a ravished Garamantian Nymph, had built to Jove +in his wide realms an hundred great temples, an hundred altars, and +consecrated the wakeful fire that keeps watch by night before the gods +perpetually, where the soil is fat with blood of beasts and the courts +blossom with pied garlands. And he, distracted and on fire at the bitter +tidings, before his altars, amid the divine presences, often, it is +said, bowed in prayer to Jove with uplifted hands: + +'Jupiter omnipotent, to whom from the broidered cushions of their +banqueting halls the Maurusian people now pour Lenaean offering, lookest +thou on this? or do we shudder vainly when our father hurls the +thunderbolt, and do blind fires in the clouds and idle rumblings appal +our soul? The woman who, wandering in our coasts, planted a small town +on purchased ground, to whom we gave fields by the shore and laws of +settlement, she hath spurned our alliance and taken Aeneas for lord of +her realm. And now that Paris, with his effeminate crew, his chin and +oozy hair swathed in the turban of Maeonia, takes and keeps her; since +to thy temples we bear oblation, and hallow an empty name.' + +In such words he pleaded, clasping the altars; the Lord omnipotent +heard, and cast his eye on the royal city and the lovers forgetful of +their fairer fame. Then he addresses this charge to Mercury: + +'Up and away, O son! call the breezes and slide down them on thy wings: +accost the Dardanian captain who now loiters in Tyrian Carthage and +casts not a look on destined cities; carry down my words through the +fleet air. Not such an one did his mother most beautiful vouch him to +[228-264]us, nor for this twice rescue him from Grecian arms; but he +was to rule an Italy teeming with empire and loud with war, to transmit +the line of Teucer's royal blood, and lay all the world beneath his law. +If such glories kindle him in nowise, and he take no trouble for his own +honour, does a father grudge his Ascanius the towers of Rome? with what +device or in what hope loiters he among a hostile race, and casts not a +glance on his Ausonian children and the fields of Lavinium? Let him set +sail: this is the sum: thereof be thou our messenger.' + +He ended: his son made ready to obey his high command. And first he +laces to his feet the shoes of gold that bear him high winging over seas +or land as fleet as the gale; then takes the rod wherewith he calls wan +souls forth of Orcus, or sends them again to the sad depth of hell, +gives sleep and takes it away and unseals dead eyes; in whose strength +he courses the winds and swims across the tossing clouds. And now in +flight he descries the peak and steep sides of toiling Atlas, whose +crest sustains the sky; Atlas, whose pine-clad head is girt alway with +black clouds and beaten by wind and rain; snow is shed over his +shoulders for covering; rivers tumble over his aged chin; and his rough +beard is stiff with ice. Here the Cyllenian, poised evenly on his wings, +made a first stay; hence he shot himself sheer to the water. Like a bird +that flies low, skirting the sea about the craggy shores of its fishery, +even thus the brood of Cyllene left his mother's father, and flew, +cutting the winds between sky and land, along the sandy Libyan shore. So +soon as his winged feet reached the settlement, he espies Aeneas +founding towers and ordering new dwellings; his sword twinkled with +yellow jasper, and a cloak hung from his shoulders ablaze with Tyrian +sea-purple, a gift that Dido had made costly and shot the warp with thin +gold. Straightway [265-299]he breaks in: 'Layest thou now the +foundations of tall Carthage, and buildest up a fair city in dalliance? +ah, forgetful of thine own kingdom and state! From bright Olympus I +descend to thee at express command of heaven's sovereign, whose deity +sways sky and earth; expressly he bids me carry this charge through the +fleet air: with what device or in what hope dost thou loiter idly on +Libyan lands? if such glories kindle thee in nowise, yet cast an eye on +growing Ascanius, on Iülus thine hope and heir, to whom the kingdom of +Italy and the Roman land are due.' As these words left his lips the +Cyllenian, yet speaking, quitted mortal sight and vanished into thin air +away out of his eyes. + +But Aeneas in truth gazed in dumb amazement, his hair thrilled up, and +the accents faltered on his tongue. He burns to flee away and leave the +pleasant land, aghast at the high warning and divine ordinance. Alas, +what shall he do? how venture to smooth the tale to the frenzied queen? +what prologue shall he find? and this way and that he rapidly throws his +mind, and turns it on all hands in swift change of thought. In his +perplexity this seemed the better counsel; he calls Mnestheus and +Sergestus, and brave Serestus, and bids them silently equip the fleet, +gather their crews on shore, and order their armament, keeping the cause +of the commotion hid; himself meanwhile, since Dido the gracious knows +not nor looks for severance to so strong a love, will essay to approach +her when she may be told most gently, and the way for it be fair. All at +once gladly do as bidden, and obey his command. + +But the Queen--who may delude a lover?--foreknew his devices, and at +once caught the presaging stir. Safety's self was fear; to her likewise +had evil Rumour borne the maddening news that they equip the fleet and +prepare [300-334]for passage. Helpless at heart, she reels aflame with +rage throughout the city, even as the startled Thyiad in her frenzied +triennial orgies, when the holy vessels move forth and the cry of +Bacchus re-echoes, and Cithaeron calls her with nightlong din. Thus at +last she opens out upon Aeneas: + +'And thou didst hope, traitor, to mask the crime, and slip away in +silence from my land? Our love holds thee not, nor the hand thou once +gavest, nor the bitter death that is left for Dido's portion? Nay, under +the wintry star thou labourest on thy fleet, and hastenest to launch +into the deep amid northern gales; ah, cruel! Why, were thy quest not of +alien fields and unknown dwellings, did thine ancient Troy remain, +should Troy be sought in voyages over tossing seas? Fliest thou from me? +me who by these tears and thine own hand beseech thee, since naught +else, alas! have I kept mine own--by our union and the marriage rites +preparing; if I have done thee any grace, or aught of mine hath once +been sweet in thy sight,--pity our sinking house, and if there yet be +room for prayers, put off this purpose of thine. For thy sake Libyan +tribes and Nomad kings are hostile; my Tyrians are estranged; for thy +sake, thine, is mine honour perished, and the former fame, my one title +to the skies. How leavest thou me to die, O my guest? since to this the +name of husband is dwindled down. For what do I wait? till Pygmalion +overthrow his sister's city, or Gaetulian Iarbas lead me to captivity? +At least if before thy flight a child of thine had been clasped in my +arms,--if a tiny Aeneas were playing in my hall, whose face might yet +image thine,--I would not think myself ensnared and deserted utterly.' + +She ended; he by counsel of Jove held his gaze unstirred, and kept his +distress hard down in his heart. At last he briefly answers: + +'Never, O Queen, will I deny that thy goodness hath [335-368]gone high +as thy words can swell the reckoning; nor will my memory of Elissa be +ungracious while I remember myself, and breath sways this body. Little +will I say in this. I never hoped to slip away in stealthy flight; fancy +not that; nor did I ever hold out the marriage torch or enter thus into +alliance. Did fate allow me to guide my life by mine own government, and +calm my sorrows as I would, my first duty were to the Trojan city and +the dear remnant of my kindred; the high house of Priam should abide, +and my hand had set up Troy towers anew for a conquered people. But now +for broad Italy hath Apollo of Grynos bidden me steer, for Italy the +oracles of Lycia. Here is my desire; this is my native country. If thy +Phoenician eyes are stayed on Carthage towers and thy Libyan city, what +wrong is it, I pray, that we Trojans find our rest on Ausonian land? We +too may seek a foreign realm unforbidden. In my sleep, often as the dank +shades of night veil the earth, often as the stars lift their fires, the +troubled phantom of my father Anchises comes in warning and dread; my +boy Ascanius, how I wrong one so dear in cheating him of an Hesperian +kingdom and destined fields. Now even the gods' interpreter, sent +straight from Jove--I call both to witness--hath borne down his commands +through the fleet air. Myself in broad daylight I saw the deity passing +within the walls, and these ears drank his utterance. Cease to madden me +and thyself alike with plaints. Not of my will do I follow Italy. . . .' + +Long ere he ended she gazes on him askance, turning her eyes from side +to side and perusing him with silent glances; then thus wrathfully +speaks: + +'No goddess was thy mother, nor Dardanus founder of thy line, traitor! +but rough Caucasus bore thee on his iron crags, and Hyrcanian tigresses +gave thee suck. For why do I conceal it? For what further outrage do I +wait? [369-400]Hath our weeping cost him a sigh, or a lowered glance? +Hath he broken into tears, or had pity on his lover? Where, where shall +I begin? Now neither doth Queen Juno nor our Saturnian lord regard us +with righteous eyes. Nowhere is trust safe. Cast ashore and destitute I +welcomed him, and madly gave him place and portion in my kingdom; I +found him his lost fleet and drew his crews from death. Alas, the fire +of madness speeds me on. Now prophetic Apollo, now oracles of Lycia, now +the very gods' interpreter sent straight from Jove through the air +carries these rude commands! Truly that is work for the gods, that a +care to vex their peace! I detain thee not, nor gainsay thy words: go, +follow thine Italy down the wind; seek thy realm overseas. Yet midway my +hope is, if righteous gods can do aught at all, thou wilt drain the cup +of vengeance on the rocks, and re-echo calls on Dido's name. In murky +fires I will follow far away, and when chill death hath severed body +from soul, my ghost will haunt thee in every region. Wretch, thou shalt +repay! I will hear; and the rumour of it shall reach me deep in the +under world.' + +Even on these words she breaks off her speech unfinished, and, sick at +heart, escapes out of the air and sweeps round and away out of sight, +leaving him in fear and much hesitance, and with much on his mind to +say. Her women catch her in their arms, and carry her swooning to her +marble chamber and lay her on her bed. + +But good Aeneas, though he would fain soothe and comfort her grief, and +talk away her distress, with many a sigh, and melted in soul by his +great love, yet fulfils the divine commands and returns to his fleet. +Then indeed the Teucrians set to work, and haul down their tall ships +all along the shore. The hulls are oiled and afloat; they carry from the +woodland green boughs for oars and massy logs unhewn, in hot haste to +go. . . . One might descry them shifting [401-433]their quarters and +pouring out of all the town: even as ants, mindful of winter, plunder a +great heap of wheat and store it in their house; a black column advances +on the plain as they carry home their spoil on a narrow track through +the grass. Some shove and strain with their shoulders at big grains, +some marshal the ranks and chastise delay; all the path is aswarm with +work. What then were thy thoughts, O Dido, as thou sawest it? What sighs +didst thou utter, viewing from the fortress roof the broad beach aswarm, +and seeing before thine eyes the whole sea stirred with their noisy din? +Injurious Love, to what dost thou not compel mortal hearts! Again, she +must needs break into tears, again essay entreaty, and bow her spirit +down to love, not to leave aught untried and go to death in vain. + +'Anna, thou seest the bustle that fills the shore. They have gathered +round from every quarter; already their canvas woos the breezes, and the +merry sailors have garlanded the sterns. This great pain, my sister, I +shall have strength to bear, as I have had strength to foresee. Yet this +one thing, Anna, for love and pity's sake--for of thee alone was the +traitor fain, to thee even his secret thoughts were confided, alone thou +knewest his moods and tender fits--go, my sister, and humbly accost the +haughty stranger: I did not take the Grecian oath in Aulis to root out +the race of Troy; I sent no fleet against her fortresses; neither have I +disentombed his father Anchises' ashes and ghost, that he should refuse +my words entrance to his stubborn ears. Whither does he run? let him +grant this grace--alas, the last!--to his lover, and await fair winds +and an easy passage. No more do I pray for the old delusive marriage, +nor that he give up fair Latium and abandon a kingdom. A breathing-space +I ask, to give my madness rest and room, till my very [434-469]fortune +teach my grief submission. This last favour I implore: sister, be +pitiful; grant this to me, and I will restore it in full measure when I +die.' + +So she pleaded, and so her sister carries and recarries the piteous tale +of weeping. But by no weeping is he stirred, inflexible to all the words +he hears. Fate withstands, and lays divine bars on unmoved mortal ears. +Even as when the eddying blasts of northern Alpine winds are emulous to +uproot the secular strength of a mighty oak, it wails on, and the trunk +quivers and the high foliage strews the ground; the tree clings fast on +the rocks, and high as her top soars into heaven, so deep strike her +roots to hell; even thus is the hero buffeted with changeful perpetual +accents, and distress thrills his mighty breast, while his purpose stays +unstirred, and tears fall in vain. + +Then indeed, hapless and dismayed by doom, Dido prays for death, and is +weary of gazing on the arch of heaven. The more to make her fulfil her +purpose and quit the light, she saw, when she laid her gifts on the +altars alight with incense, awful to tell, the holy streams blacken, and +the wine turn as it poured into ghastly blood. Of this sight she spoke +to none--no, not to her sister. Likewise there was within the house a +marble temple of her ancient lord, kept of her in marvellous honour, and +fastened with snowy fleeces and festal boughs. Forth of it she seemed to +hear her husband's voice crying and calling when night was dim upon +earth, and alone on the house-tops the screech-owl often made moan with +funeral note and long-drawn sobbing cry. Therewithal many a warning of +wizards of old terrifies her with appalling presage. In her sleep fierce +Aeneas drives her wildly, and ever she seems being left by herself +alone, ever going uncompanioned on a weary way, and seeking her Tyrians +in a solitary land: even as frantic Pentheus sees the [470-503]arrayed +Furies and a double sun, and Thebes shows herself twofold to his eyes: +or Agamemnonian Orestes, renowned in tragedy, when his mother pursues +him armed with torches and dark serpents, and the Fatal Sisters crouch +avenging in the doorway. + +So when, overcome by her pangs, she caught the madness and resolved to +die, she works out secretly the time and fashion, and accosts her +sorrowing sister with mien hiding her design and hope calm on her brow. + +'I have found a way, mine own--wish me joy, sisterlike--to restore him +to me or release me of my love for him. Hard by the ocean limit and the +set of sun is the extreme Aethiopian land, where ancient Atlas turns on +his shoulders the starred burning axletree of heaven. Out of it hath +been shown to me a priestess of Massylian race, warder of the temple of +the Hesperides, even she who gave the dragon his food, and kept the holy +boughs on the tree, sprinkling clammy honey and slumberous poppy-seed. +She professes with her spells to relax the purposes of whom she will, +but on others to bring passion and pain; to stay the river-waters and +turn the stars backward: she calls up ghosts by night; thou shalt see +earth moaning under foot and mountain-ashes descending from the hills. I +take heaven, sweet, to witness, and thee, mine own darling sister, I do +not willingly arm myself with the arts of magic. Do thou secretly raise +a pyre in the inner court, and let them lay on it the arms that the +accursed one left hanging in our chamber, and all the dress he wore, and +the bridal bed where I fell. It is good to wipe out all the wretch's +traces, and the priestess orders thus.' So speaks she, and is silent, +while pallor overruns her face. Yet Anna deems not her sister veils +death behind these strange rites, and grasps not her wild purpose, nor +fears aught deeper than at Sychaeus' death. So she makes ready as +bidden. . . . + +[504-538]But the Queen, the pyre being built up of piled faggots and +sawn ilex in the inmost of her dwelling, hangs the room with chaplets +and garlands it with funeral boughs: on the pillow she lays the dress he +wore, the sword he left, and an image of him, knowing what was to come. +Altars are reared around, and the priestess, with hair undone, thrice +peals from her lips the hundred gods of Erebus and Chaos, and the +triform Hecate, the triple-faced maidenhood of Diana. Likewise she had +sprinkled pretended waters of Avernus' spring, and rank herbs are sought +mown by moonlight with brazen sickles, dark with milky venom, and sought +is the talisman torn from a horse's forehead at birth ere the dam could +snatch it. . . . Herself, the holy cake in her pure hands, hard by the +altars, with one foot unshod and garments flowing loose, she invokes the +gods ere she die, and the stars that know of doom; then prays to +whatsoever deity looks in righteousness and remembrance on lovers ill +allied. + +Night fell; weary creatures took quiet slumber all over earth, and +woodland and wild waters had sunk to rest; now the stars wheel midway on +their gliding path, now all the country is silent, and beasts and gay +birds that haunt liquid levels of lake or thorny rustic thicket lay +couched asleep under the still night. But not so the distressed +Phoenician, nor does she ever sink asleep or take the night upon eyes or +breast; her pain redoubles, and her love swells to renewed madness, as +she tosses on the strong tide of wrath. Even so she begins, and thus +revolves with her heart alone: + +'See, what do I? Shall I again make trial of mine old wooers that will +scorn me? and stoop to sue for a Numidian marriage among those whom +already over and over I have disdained for husbands? Then shall I follow +the Ilian fleets and the uttermost bidding of the Teucrians? because it +is good to think they were once raised up by my [539-570]succour, or +the grace of mine old kindness is fresh in their remembrance? And how +should they let me, if I would? or take the odious woman on their +haughty ships? art thou ignorant, ah me, even in ruin, and knowest not +yet the forsworn race of Laomedon? And then? shall I accompany the +triumphant sailors, a lonely fugitive? or plunge forth girt with all my +Tyrian train? so hardly severed from Sidon city, shall I again drive +them seaward, and bid them spread their sails to the tempest? Nay die +thou, as thou deservest, and let the steel end thy pain. With thee it +began; overborne by my tears, thou, O my sister, dost load me with this +madness and agony, and layest me open to the enemy. I could not spend a +wild life without stain, far from a bridal chamber, and free from touch +of distress like this! O faith ill kept, that was plighted to Sychaeus' +ashes!' Thus her heart broke in long lamentation. + +Now Aeneas was fixed to go, and now, with all set duly in order, was +taking hasty sleep on his high stern. To him as he slept the god +appeared once again in the same fashion of countenance, and thus seemed +to renew his warning, in all points like to Mercury, voice and hue and +golden hair and limbs gracious in youth. 'Goddess-born, canst thou sleep +on in such danger? and seest not the coming perils that hem thee in, +madman! nor hearest the breezes blowing fair? She, fixed on death, is +revolving craft and crime grimly in her bosom, and swells the changing +surge of wrath. Fliest thou not hence headlong, while headlong flight is +yet possible? Even now wilt thou see ocean weltering with broken +timbers, see the fierce glare of torches and the beach in a riot of +flame, if dawn break on thee yet dallying in this land. Up ho! linger no +more! Woman is ever a fickle and changing thing.' So spoke he, and +melted in the black night. + +[571-603]Then indeed Aeneas, startled by the sudden phantom, leaps out +of slumber and bestirs his crew. 'Haste and awake, O men, and sit down +to the thwarts; shake out sail speedily. A god sent from high heaven, +lo! again spurs us to speed our flight and cut the twisted cables. We +follow thee, holy one of heaven, whoso thou art, and again joyfully obey +thy command. O be favourable; give gracious aid and bring fair sky and +weather.' He spoke, and snatching his sword like lightning from the +sheath, strikes at the hawser with the drawn steel. The same zeal +catches all at once; rushing and tearing they quit the shore; the sea is +hidden under their fleets; strongly they toss up the foam and sweep the +blue water. + +And now Dawn broke, and, leaving the saffron bed of Tithonus, shed her +radiance anew over the world; when the Queen saw from her watch-tower +the first light whitening, and the fleet standing out under squared +sail, and discerned shore and haven empty of all their oarsmen. Thrice +and four times she struck her hand on her lovely breast and rent her +yellow hair: 'God!' she cries, 'shall he go? shall an alien make mock of +our realm? Will they not issue in armed pursuit from all the city, and +some launch ships from the dockyards? Go; bring fire in haste, serve +weapons, swing out the oars! What do I talk? or where am I? what mad +change is on my purpose? Alas, Dido! now thou dost feel thy wickedness; +that had graced thee once, when thou gavest away thy crown. Behold the +faith and hand of him! who, they say, carries his household's ancestral +gods about with him! who stooped his shoulders to a father outworn with +age! Could I not have riven his body in sunder and strewn it on the +waves? and slain with the sword his comrades and his dear Ascanius, and +served him for the banquet at his father's table? But the chance of +battle had been dubious. If it had! whom did I fear [604-635]with my +death upon me? I should have borne firebrands into his camp and filled +his decks with flame, blotted out father and son and race together, and +flung myself atop of all. Sun, whose fires lighten all the works of the +world, and thou, Juno, mediatress and witness of these my distresses, +and Hecate, cried on by night in crossways of cities, and you, fatal +avenging sisters and gods of dying Elissa, hear me now; bend your just +deity to my woes, and listen to our prayers. If it must needs be that +the accursed one touch his haven and float up to land, if thus Jove's +decrees demand, and this is the appointed term,--yet, distressed in war +by an armed and gallant nation, driven homeless from his borders, rent +from Iülus' embrace, let him sue for succour and see death on death +untimely on his people; nor when he hath yielded him to the terms of a +harsh peace, may he have joy of his kingdom or the pleasant light; but +let him fall before his day and without burial on a waste of sand. This +I pray; this and my blood with it I pour for the last utterance. And +you, O Tyrians, hunt his seed with your hatred for all ages to come; +send this guerdon to our ashes. Let no kindness nor truce be between the +nations. Arise out of our dust, O unnamed avenger, to pursue the +Dardanian settlement with firebrand and steel. Now, then, whensoever +strength shall be given, I invoke the enmity of shore to shore, wave to +water, sword to sword; let their battles go down to their children's +children.' + +So speaks she as she kept turning her mind round about, seeking how +soonest to break away from the hateful light. Thereon she speaks briefly +to Barce, nurse of Sychaeus; for a heap of dusky ashes held her own, in +her country of long ago: + +'Sweet nurse, bring Anna my sister hither to me. Bid her haste and +sprinkle river water over her body, and bring [636-667]with her the +beasts ordained for expiation: so let her come: and thou likewise veil +thy brows with a pure chaplet. I would fulfil the rites of Stygian Jove +that I have fitly ordered and begun, so to set the limit to my +distresses and give over to the flames the funeral pyre of the +Dardanian.' + +So speaks she; the old woman went eagerly with quickened pace. But Dido, +fluttered and fierce in her awful purpose, with bloodshot restless gaze, +and spots on her quivering cheeks burning through the pallor of imminent +death, bursts into the inner courts of the house, and mounts in madness +the high funeral pyre, and unsheathes the sword of Dardania, a gift +asked for no use like this. Then after her eyes fell on the Ilian +raiment and the bed she knew, dallying a little with her purpose through +her tears, she sank on the pillow and spoke the last words of all: + +'Dress he wore, sweet while doom and deity allowed! receive my spirit +now, and release me from my distresses. I have lived and fulfilled +Fortune's allotted course; and now shall I go a queenly phantom under +the earth. I have built a renowned city; I have seen my ramparts rise; +by my brother's punishment I have avenged my husband of his enemy; +happy, ah me! and over happy, had but the keels of Dardania never +touched our shores!' She spoke; and burying her face in the pillow, +'Death it will be,' she cries, 'and unavenged; but death be it. Thus, +thus is it good to pass into the dark. Let the pitiless Dardanian's gaze +drink in this fire out at sea, and my death be the omen he carries on +his way.' + +She ceased; and even as she spoke her people see her sunk on the steel, +and blood reeking on the sword and spattered on her hands. A cry rises +in the high halls; Rumour riots down the quaking city. The house +resounds with lamentation and sobbing and bitter crying of women; +[668-700]heaven echoes their loud wails; even as though all Carthage or +ancient Tyre went down as the foe poured in, and the flames rolled +furious over the roofs of house and temple. Swooning at the sound, her +sister runs in a flutter of dismay, with torn face and smitten bosom, +and darts through them all, and calls the dying woman by her name. 'Was +it this, mine own? Was my summons a snare? Was it this thy pyre, ah me, +this thine altar fires meant? How shall I begin my desolate moan? Didst +thou disdain a sister's company in death? Thou shouldst have called me +to share thy doom; in the self-same hour, the self-same pang of steel +had been our portion. Did these very hands build it, did my voice call +on our father's gods, that with thee lying thus I should be away as one +without pity? Thou hast destroyed thyself and me together, O my sister, +and the Sidonian lords and people, and this thy city. Give her wounds +water: I will bathe them and catch on my lips the last breath that haply +yet lingers.' So speaking she had climbed the high steps, and, wailing, +clasped and caressed her half-lifeless sister in her bosom, and stanched +the dark streams of blood with her gown. She, essaying to lift her heavy +eyes, swoons back; the deep-driven wound gurgles in her breast. Thrice +she rose, and strained to lift herself on her elbow; thrice she rolled +back on the pillow, and with wandering eyes sought the light of high +heaven, and moaned as she found it. + +Then Juno omnipotent, pitying her long pain and difficult decease, sent +Iris down from heaven to unloose the struggling life from the body where +it clung. For since neither by fate did she perish, nor as one who had +earned her death, but woefully before her day, and fired by sudden +madness, not yet had Proserpine taken her lock from the golden head, nor +sentenced her to the Stygian under world. So Iris on dewy saffron +pinions flits down through the sky [701-705]athwart the sun in a trail +of a thousand changing dyes, and stopping over her head: 'This hair, +sacred to Dis, I take as bidden, and release thee from that body of +thine.' So speaks she, and cuts it with her hand. And therewith all the +warmth ebbed forth from her, and the life passed away upon the winds. + + + + +BOOK FIFTH + +THE GAMES OF THE FLEET + + +Meanwhile Aeneas and his fleet in unwavering track now held mid passage, +and cleft the waves that blackened under the North, looking back on the +city that even now gleams with hapless Elissa's funeral flame. Why the +broad blaze is lit lies unknown; but the bitter pain of a great love +trampled, and the knowledge of what woman can do in madness, draw the +Teucrians' hearts to gloomy guesses. + +When their ships held the deep, nor any land farther appears, the seas +all round, and all round the sky, a dusky shower drew up overhead, +carrying night and storm, and the wave shuddered and gloomed. Palinurus, +master of the fleet, cries from the high stern: 'Alas, why have these +heavy storm-clouds girt the sky? lord Neptune, what wilt thou?' Then he +bids clear the rigging and bend strongly to the oars, and brings the +sails across the wind, saying thus: + +'Noble Aeneas, not did Jupiter give word and warrant would I hope to +reach Italy under such a sky. The shifting winds roar athwart our +course, and blow stronger out of the black west, and the air thickens +into mist: nor are we fit to force our way on and across. Fortune is the +stronger; let us follow her, and turn our course whither she calls. +[23-55]Not far away, I think, are the faithful shores of thy brother +Eryx, and the Sicilian haven, if only my memory retraces rightly the +stars I watched before.' + +Then good Aeneas: 'Even I ere now discern the winds will have it so, and +thou urgest against them in vain. Turn thou the course of our sailing. +Could any land be welcomer to me, or where I would sooner choose to put +in my weary ships, than this that hath Dardanian Acestes to greet me, +and laps in its embrace lord Anchises' dust?' This said, they steer for +harbour, while the following west wind stretches their sails; the fleet +runs fast down the flood, and at last they land joyfully on the familiar +beach. But Acestes high on a hill-top, amazed at the friendly squadron +approaching from afar, hastens towards them, weaponed and clad in the +shaggy skin of a Libyan she-bear. Him a Trojan mother conceived and bore +to Crimisus river; not forgetful of his parentage, he wishes them joy of +their return, and gladly entertains them on his rustic treasure and +comforts their weariness with his friendly store. So soon as the +morrow's clear daylight had chased the stars out of the east, Aeneas +calls his comrades along the beach together, and from a mounded hillock +speaks: + +'Great people of Dardanus, born of the high blood of gods, the yearly +circle of the months is measured out to fulfilment since we laid the +dust in earth, all that was left of my divine father, and sadly +consecrated our altars. And now the day is at hand (this, O gods, was +your will), which I will ever keep in grief, ever in honour. Did I spend +it an exile on Gaetulian quicksands, did it surprise me on the Argolic +sea or in Mycenae town, yet would I fulfil the yearly vows and annual +ordinance of festival, and pile the altars with their due gifts. Now we +are led hither, to the very dust and ashes of our father, not as I deem +without [56-90]divine purpose and influence, and borne home into the +friendly haven. Up then and let us all gather joyfully to the sacrifice: +pray we for winds, and may he deign that I pay these rites to him year +by year in an established city and consecrated temple. Two head of oxen +Acestes, the seed of Troy, gives to each of your ships by tale: invite +to the feast your own ancestral gods of the household, and those whom +our host Acestes worships. Further, so the ninth Dawn uplift the +gracious day upon men, and her shafts unveil the world, I will ordain +contests for my Trojans; first for swift ships; then whoso excels in the +foot-race, and whoso, confident in strength and skill, comes to shoot +light arrows, or adventures to join battle with gloves of raw hide; let +all be here, and let merit look for the prize and palm. Now all be +hushed, and twine your temples with boughs.' + +So speaks he, and shrouds his brows with his mother's myrtle. So Helymus +does, so Aletes ripe of years, so the boy Ascanius, and the rest of the +people follow. He advances from the assembly to the tomb among a throng +of many thousands that crowd about him; here he pours on the ground in +fit libation two goblets of pure wine, two of new milk, two of +consecrated blood, and flings bright blossoms, saying thus: 'Hail, holy +father, once again; hail, ashes of him I saved in vain, and soul and +shade of my sire! Thou wert not to share the search for Italian borders +and destined fields, nor the dim Ausonian Tiber.' Thus had he spoken; +when from beneath the sanctuary a snake slid out in seven vast coils and +sevenfold slippery spires, quietly circling the grave and gliding from +altar to altar, his green chequered body and the spotted lustre of his +scales ablaze with gold, as the bow in the cloud darts a thousand +changing dyes athwart the sun: Aeneas stood amazed at the sight. At last +he wound [91-126]his long train among the vessels and polished cups, +and tasted the feast, and again leaving the altars where he had fed, +crept harmlessly back beneath the tomb. Doubtful if he shall think it +the Genius of the ground or his father's ministrant, he slays, as is +fit, two sheep of two years old, as many swine and dark-backed steers, +pouring the while cups of wine, and calling on the soul of great +Anchises and the ghost rearisen from Acheron. Therewithal his comrades, +as each hath store, bring gifts to heap joyfully on the altars, and slay +steers in sacrifice: others set cauldrons arow, and, lying along the +grass, heap live embers under spits and roast the flesh. + +The desired day came, and now the ninth Dawn rode up clear and bright +behind Phaëthon's coursers; and the name and renown of illustrious +Acestes had stirred up all the bordering people; their holiday throng +filled the shore, to see Aeneas' men, and some ready to join in contest. +First of all the prizes are laid out to view in the middle of the +racecourse; tripods of sacrifice, green garlands and palms, the reward +of the conquerors, armour and garments dipped in purple, talents of +silver and gold: and from a hillock in the midst the trumpet sounds the +games begun. First is the contest of rowing, and four ships matched in +weight enter, the choice of all the fleet. Mnestheus' keen oarsmen drive +the swift Dragon, Mnestheus the Italian to be, from whose name is the +Memmian family; Gyas the huge bulk of the huge Chimaera, a floating +town, whom her triple-tiered Dardanian crew urge on with oars rising in +threefold rank; Sergestus, from whom the Sergian house holds her name, +sails in the tall Centaur; and in the sea-coloured Scylla Cloanthus, +whence is thy family, Cluentius of Rome. + +Apart in the sea and over against the foaming beach, lies a rock that +the swoln waves beat and drown what time the [127-159]north-western +gales of winter blot out the stars; in calm it rises silent out of the +placid water, flat-topped, and a haunt where cormorants love best to +take the sun. Here lord Aeneas set up a goal of leafy ilex, a mark for +the sailors to know whence to return, where to wheel their long course +round. Then they choose stations by lot, and on the sterns their +captains glitter afar, beautiful in gold and purple; the rest of the +crews are crowned with poplar sprays, and their naked shoulders glisten +wet with oil. They sit down at the thwarts, and their arms are tense on +the oars; at full strain they wait the signal, while throbbing fear and +heightened ambition drain their riotous blood. Then, when the clear +trumpet-note rang, all in a moment leap forward from their line; the +shouts of the sailors strike up to heaven, and the channels are swept +into foam by the arms as they swing backward. They cleave their furrows +together, and all the sea is torn asunder by oars and triple-pointed +prows. Not with speed so headlong do racing pairs whirl the chariots +over the plain, as they rush streaming from the barriers; not so do +their charioteers shake the wavy reins loose over their team, and hang +forward on the whip. All the woodland rings with clapping and shouts of +men that cheer their favourites, and the sheltered beach eddies back +their cries; the noise buffets and re-echoes from the hills. Gyas shoots +out in front of the noisy crowd, and glides foremost along the water; +whom Cloanthus follows next, rowing better, but held back by his +dragging weight of pine. After them, at equal distance, the Dragon and +the Centaur strive to win the foremost room; and now the Dragon has it, +now the vast Centaur outstrips and passes her; now they dart on both +together, their stems in a line, and their keels driving long furrows +through the salt water-ways. And now they drew nigh the rock, and were +hard [160-193]on the goal; when Gyas as he led, winner over half the +flood, cries aloud to Menoetes, the ship's steersman: 'Whither away so +far to the right? This way direct her path; kiss the shore, and let the +oarblade graze the leftward reefs. Others may keep to deep water.' He +spoke; but Menoetes, fearing blind rocks, turns the bow away towards the +open sea. 'Whither wanderest thou away? to the rocks, Menoetes!' again +shouts Gyas to bring him back; and lo! glancing round he sees Cloanthus +passing up behind and keeping nearer. Between Gyas' ship and the echoing +crags he scrapes through inside on his left, flashes past his leader, +and leaving the goal behind is in safe water. Then indeed grief burned +fierce through his strong frame, and tears sprung out on his cheeks; +heedless of his own dignity and his crew's safety, he flings the too +cautious Menoetes sheer into the sea from the high stern, himself +succeeds as guide and master of the helm, and cheers on his men, and +turns his tiller in to shore. But Menoetes, when at last he rose +struggling from the bottom, heavy with advancing years and wet in his +dripping clothes, makes for the top of the crag, and sits down on a dry +rock. The Teucrians laughed out as he fell and as he swam, and laugh to +see him spitting the salt water from his chest. At this a joyful hope +kindled in the two behind, Sergestus and Mnestheus, of catching up Gyas' +wavering course. Sergestus slips forward as he nears the rock, yet not +all in front, nor leading with his length of keel; part is in front, +part pressed by the Dragon's jealous prow. But striding amidships +between his comrades, Mnestheus cheers them on: 'Now, now swing back, +oarsmen who were Hector's comrades, whom I chose to follow me in Troy's +extremity; now put forth the might and courage you showed in Gaetulian +quicksands, amid Ionian seas and Malea's chasing waves. Not the first +[194-227]place do I now seek for Mnestheus, nor strive for victory; +though ah!--yet let them win, O Neptune, to whom thou givest it. But the +shame of coming in last! Win but this, fellow-citizens, and avert that +disaster!' His men bend forward, straining every muscle; the brasswork +of the ship quivers to their mighty strokes, and the ground runs from +under her; limbs and parched lips shake with their rapid panting, and +sweat flows in streams all over them. Mere chance brought the crew the +glory they desired. For while Sergestus drives his prow furiously in +towards the rocks and comes up with too scanty room, alas! he caught on +a rock that ran out; the reef ground, the oars struck and shivered on +the jagged teeth, and the bows crashed and hung. The sailors leap up and +hold her with loud cries, and get out iron-shod poles and sharp-pointed +boathooks, and pick up their broken oars out of the eddies. But +Mnestheus, rejoicing and flushed by his triumph, with oars fast-dipping +and winds at his call, issues into the shelving water and runs down the +open sea. As a pigeon whose house and sweet nestlings are in the rock's +recesses, if suddenly startled from her cavern, wings her flight over +the fields and rushes frightened from her house with loud clapping +pinions; then gliding noiselessly through the air, slides on her liquid +way and moves not her rapid wings; so Mnestheus, so the Dragon under him +swiftly cleaves the last space of sea, so her own speed carries her +flying on. And first Sergestus is left behind, struggling on the steep +rock and shoal water, and shouting in vain for help and learning to race +with broken oars. Next he catches up Gyas and the vast bulk of the +Chimaera; she gives way, without her steersman. And now on the very goal +Cloanthus alone is left; him he pursues and presses hard, straining all +his strength. Then indeed the shouts redouble, as all together eagerly +cheer on the pursuer, and [228-264]the sky echoes their din. These +scorn to lose the honour that is their own, the glory in their grasp, +and would sell life for renown; to these success lends life; power comes +with belief in it. And haply they had carried the prize with prows +abreast, had not Cloanthus, stretching both his open hands over the sea, +poured forth prayers and called the gods to hear his vows: 'Gods who are +sovereign on the sea, over whose waters I run, to your altars on this +beach will I bring a snow-white bull, my vow's glad penalty, and will +cast his entrails into the salt flood and pour liquid wine.' He spoke, +and far beneath the flood maiden Panopea heard him, with all Phorcus' +choir of Nereids, and lord Portunus with his own mighty hand pushed him +on his way. The ship flies to land swifter than the wind or an arrow's +flight, and shoots into the deep harbour. Then the seed of Anchises, +summoning all in order, declares Cloanthus conqueror by herald's outcry, +and dresses his brows in green bay, and gives gifts to each crew, three +bullocks of their choice, and wine, and a large talent of silver to take +away. For their captains he adds special honours; to the winner a scarf +wrought with gold, encircled by a double border of deep Meliboean +purple; woven in it is the kingly boy on leafy Ida, chasing swift stags +with javelin and racing feet, keen and as one panting; him Jove's +swooping armour-bearer hath caught up from Ida in his talons; his aged +guardians stretch their hands vainly upwards, and the barking of hounds +rings fierce into the air. But to him who, next in merit, held the +second place, he gives to wear a corslet triple-woven with hooks of +polished gold, stripped by his own conquering hand from Demoleos under +tall Troy by the swift Simoïs, an ornament and safeguard among arms. +Scarce could the straining shoulders of his servants Phegeus and Sagaris +carry its heavy folds; yet with it on, Demoleos at [265-302]full speed +would chase the scattered Trojans. The third prize he makes twin +cauldrons of brass, and bowls wrought in silver and rough with tracery. +And now all moved away in the pride and wealth of their prizes, their +brows bound with scarlet ribbons; when, hardly torn loose by all his art +from the cruel rock, his oars lost, rowing feebly with a single tier, +Sergestus brought in his ship jeered at and unhonoured. Even as often a +serpent caught on a highway, if a brazen wheel hath gone aslant over him +or a wayfarer left him half dead and mangled with the blow of a heavy +stone, wreathes himself slowly in vain effort to escape, in part +undaunted, his eyes ablaze and his hissing throat lifted high; in part +the disabling wound keeps him coiling in knots and twisting back on his +own body; so the ship kept rowing slowly on, yet hoists sail and under +full sail glides into the harbour mouth. Glad that the ship is saved and +the crew brought back, Aeneas presents Sergestus with his promised +reward. A slave woman is given him not unskilled in Minerva's labours, +Pholoë the Cretan, with twin boys at her breast. + +This contest sped, good Aeneas moved to a grassy plain girt all about +with winding wooded hills, and amid the valley an amphitheatre, whither, +with a concourse of many thousands, the hero advanced and took his seat +on a mound. Here he allures with rewards and offer of prizes those who +will try their hap in the fleet foot-race. Trojans and Sicilians gather +mingling from all sides, Nisus and Euryalus foremost . . . Euryalus in +the flower of youth and famed for beauty, Nisus for pure love of the +boy. Next follows renowned Diores, of Priam's royal line; after him +Salius and Patron together, the one Acarnanian, the other Tegean by +family and of Arcadian blood; next two men of Sicily, Helymus and +Panopes, foresters and attendants on old Acestes; many besides whose +fame is hid in [303-338]obscurity. Then among them all Aeneas spoke +thus: 'Hearken to this, and attend in good cheer. None out of this +number will I let go without a gift. To each will I give two glittering +Gnosian spearheads of polished steel, and an axe chased with silver to +bear away; one and all shall be honoured thus. The three foremost shall +receive prizes, and have pale olive bound about their head. The first +shall have a caparisoned horse as conqueror; the second an Amazonian +quiver filled with arrows of Thrace, girt about by a broad belt of gold, +and on the link of the clasp a polished gem; let the third depart with +this Argolic helmet for recompense.' This said, they take their place, +and the signal once heard, dart over the course and leave the line, +pouring forth like a storm-cloud while they mark the goal. Nisus gets +away first, and shoots out far in front of the throng, fleeter than the +winds or the winged thunderbolt. Next to him, but next by a long gap, +Salius follows; then, left a space behind him, Euryalus third . . . and +Helymus comes after Euryalus; and close behind him, lo! Diores goes +flying, just grazing foot with foot, hard on his shoulder; and if a +longer space were left, he would creep out past him and win the tie. And +now almost in the last space, they began to come up breathless to the +goal, when unfortunate Nisus trips on the slippery blood of the slain +steers, where haply it had spilled over the ground and wetted the green +grass. Here, just in the flush of victory, he lost his feet; they slid +away on the ground they pressed, and he fell forward right among the +ordure and blood of the sacrifice. Yet forgot he not his darling +Euryalus; for rising, he flung himself over the slippery ground in front +of Salius, and he rolled over and lay all along on the hard sand. +Euryalus shoots by, wins and holds the first place his friend gave, and +flies on amid prosperous clapping and cheers. Behind Helymus comes +[339-373]up, and Diores, now third for the palm. At this Salius fills +with loud clamour the whole concourse of the vast theatre, and the lords +who looked on in front, demanding restoration of his defrauded prize. +Euryalus is strong in favour, and beauty in tears, and the merit that +gains grace from so fair a form. Diores supports him, who succeeded to +the palm, so he loudly cries, and bore off the last prize in vain, if +the highest honours be restored to Salius. Then lord Aeneas speaks: 'For +you, O boys, your rewards remain assured, and none alters the prizes' +order: let me be allowed to pity a friend's innocent mischance.' So +speaking, he gives to Salius a vast Gaetulian lion-skin, with shaggy +masses of hair and claws of gold. 'If this,' cries Nisus, 'is the reward +of defeat, and thy pity is stirred for the fallen, what fit recompense +wilt thou give to Nisus? to my excellence the first crown was due, had +not I, like Salius, met Fortune's hostility.' And with the words he +displayed his face and limbs foul with the wet dung. His lord laughed +kindly on him, and bade a shield be brought forth, the workmanship of +Didymaon, torn by him from the hallowed gates of Neptune's Grecian +temple; with this special prize he rewards his excellence. + +Thereafter, when the races are finished and the gifts fulfilled: 'Now,' +he cries, 'come, whoso hath in him valour and ready heart, and lift up +his arms with gauntleted hands.' So speaks he, and sets forth a double +prize of battle; for the conqueror a bullock gilt and garlanded; a sword +and beautiful helmet to console the conquered. Straightway without pause +Dares issues to view in his vast strength, rising amid loud murmurs of +the people; he who alone was wont to meet Paris in combat; he who, at +the mound where princely Hector lies, struck down as he came the vast +bulk upborne by conquering Butes, of Amycus' Bebrycian line, and +stretched him in [374-410]death on the yellow sand. Such was Dares; at +once he raises his head high for battle, displays his broad shoulders, +and stretches and swings his arms right and left, lashing the air with +blows. For him another is required; but none out of all the train durst +approach or put the gloves on his hands. So he takes his stand exultant +before Aeneas' feet, deeming he excelled all in victories; and thereon +without more delay grasps the bull's horn with his left hand, and speaks +thus: 'Goddess-born, if no man dare trust himself to battle, to what +conclusion shall I stand? how long is it seemly to keep me? bid me carry +off thy gifts.' Therewith all the Dardanians murmured assent, and bade +yield him the promised prize. At this aged Acestes spoke sharply to +Entellus, as he sate next him on the green cushion of grass: 'Entellus, +bravest of heroes once of old in vain, wilt thou thus idly let a gift so +great be borne away uncontested? Where now prithee is divine Eryx, thy +master of fruitless fame? where thy renown over all Sicily, and those +spoils hanging in thine house?' Thereat he: 'Desire of glory is not +gone, nor ambition checked by fear; but torpid age dulls my chilly +blood, and my strength of limb is numb and outworn. If I had what once +was mine, if I had now that prime of years, yonder braggart's boast and +confidence, it had taken no prize of goodly bullock to allure me; nor +heed I these gifts.' So he spoke, and on that flung down a pair of +gloves of giant weight, with whose hard hide bound about his wrists +valiant Eryx was wont to come to battle. They stood amazed; so stiff and +grim lay the vast sevenfold oxhide sewed in with lead and iron. Dares +most of all shrinks far back in horror, and the noble son of Anchises +turns round this way and that their vast weight and voluminous folds. +Then the old man spoke thus in deep accents: 'How, had they seen the +gloves [411-444]that were Hercules' own armour, and the fatal fight on +this very beach? These arms thy brother Eryx once wore; thou seest them +yet stained with blood and spattered brains. In them he stood to face +great Alcides; to them was I used while fuller blood supplied me +strength, and envious old age had not yet strewn her snows on either +temple. But if Dares of Troy will have none of these our arms, and good +Aeneas is resolved on it, and my patron Acestes approves, let us make +the battle even. See, I give up the gauntlets of Eryx; dismiss thy +fears; and do thou put off thy Trojan gloves.' So spoke he, and throwing +back the fold of his raiment from his shoulders, he bares the massive +joints and limbs, the great bones and muscles, and stands up huge in the +middle of the ground. Then Anchises' lordly seed brought out equal +gloves and bound the hands of both in matched arms. Straightway each +took his stand on tiptoe, and undauntedly raised his arms high in air. +They lift their heads right back and away out of reach of blows, and +make hand play through hand, inviting attack; the one nimbler of foot +and confident in his youth, the other mighty in mass of limb, but his +knees totter tremulous and slow, and sick panting shakes his vast frame. +Many a mutual blow they deliver in vain, many an one they redouble on +chest and side, sounding hollow and loud: hands play fast about ear and +temple, and jawbones clash under the hard strokes. Old Entellus stands +immoveable and astrain, only parrying hits with body and watchful eye. +The other, as one who casts mounts against some high city or blockades a +hill-fort in arms, tries this and that entrance, and ranges cunningly +over all the ground, and presses many an attack in vain. Entellus rose +and struck clean out with his right downwards; his quick opponent saw +the descending blow before it came, [445-481]and slid his body rapidly +out of its way. Entellus hurled his strength into the air, and all his +heavy mass, overreaching, fell heavily to the earth; as sometime on +Erymanthus or mighty Ida a hollow pine falls torn out by the roots. +Teucrians and men of Sicily rise eagerly; a cry goes up, and Acestes +himself runs forward, and pityingly lifts his friend and birthmate from +the ground. But the hero, not dulled nor dismayed by his mishap, returns +the keener to battle, and grows violent in wrath, while shame and +resolved valour kindle his strength. All afire, he hunts Dares headlong +over the lists, and redoubles his blows now with right hand, now with +left; no breath nor pause; heavy as hailstones rattle on the roof from a +storm-cloud, so thickly shower the blows from both his hands as he +buffets Dares to and fro. Then lord Aeneas allowed not wrath to swell +higher or Entellus to rage out his bitterness, but stopped the fight and +rescued the exhausted Dares, saying thus in soothing words: 'Unhappy! +what height of madness hath seized thy mind? Knowest thou not the +strength is another's and the gods are changed? Yield thou to Heaven.' +And with the words he proclaimed the battle over. But him his faithful +mates lead to the ships dragging his knees feebly, swaying his head from +side to side, and spitting from his mouth clotted blood mingled with +teeth. At summons they bear away the helmet and shield, and leave palm +and bull to Entellus. At this the conqueror, swelling in pride over the +bull, cries: 'Goddess-born, and you, O Trojans! learn thus what my +strength of body was in its prime, and from what a death Dares is saved +by your recall.' He spoke, and stood right opposite in face of the +bullock as it stood by, the prize of battle; then drew back his hand, +and swinging the hard gauntlet sheer down between the horns, smashed the +bones in upon the shattered brain. The ox rolls over, and quivering and +[482-516]lifeless lies along the ground. Above it he utters these deep +accents: 'This life, Eryx, I give to thee, a better payment than Dares' +death; here I lay down my gloves and unconquered skill.' + +Forthwith Aeneas invites all that will to the contest of the swift +arrow, and proclaims the prizes. With his strong hand he uprears the +mast of Serestus' ship, and on a cord crossing it hangs from the +masthead a fluttering pigeon as mark for their steel. They gather, and a +helmet of brass takes the lots as they throw them in. First in rank, and +before them all, amid prosperous cheers, comes out Hippocoön son of +Hyrtacus; and Mnestheus follows on him, but now conqueror in the ship +race, Mnestheus with his chaplet of green olive. Third is Eurytion, thy +brother, O Pandarus, great in renown, thou who of old, when prompted to +shatter the truce, didst hurl the first shaft amid the Achaeans. Last of +all, and at the bottom of the helmet, sank Acestes, he too venturing to +set hand to the task of youth. Then each and all they strongly bend +their bows into a curve and pull shafts from their quivers. And first +the arrow of the son of Hyrtacus, flying through heaven from the +sounding string, whistles through the fleet breezes, and reaches and +sticks fast full in the mast's wood: the mast quivered, and the bird +fluttered her feathers in affright, and the whole ground rang with loud +clapping. Next valiant Mnestheus took his stand with bow bent, aiming +high with levelled eye and arrow; yet could not, unfortunate! hit the +bird herself with his steel, but cut the knotted hempen bands that tied +her foot as she hung from the masthead; she winged her flight into the +dark windy clouds. Then Eurytion, who ere now held the arrow ready on +his bended bow, swiftly called in prayer to his brother, marked the +pigeon as she now went down the empty sky exultant on clapping wings; +and as she passed under a dark cloud, [517-553]struck her: she fell +breathless, and, leaving her life in the aery firmament, slid down +carrying the arrow that pierced her. Acestes alone was over, and the +prize lost; yet he sped his arrow up into the air, to display his lordly +skill and resounding bow. At this a sudden sign meets their eyes, mighty +in augural presage, as the high event taught thereafter, and in late +days boding seers prophesied of the omen. For the flying reed blazed out +amid the swimming clouds, traced its path in flame, and burned away on +the light winds; even as often stars shooting from their sphere draw a +train athwart the sky. Trinacrians and Trojans hung in astonishment, +praying to the heavenly powers; neither did great Aeneas reject the +omen, but embraces glad Acestes and loads him with lavish gifts, +speaking thus: 'Take, my lord: for the high King of heaven by these +signs hath willed thee to draw the lot of peculiar honour. This gift +shalt thou have as from aged Anchises' own hand, a bowl embossed with +figures, that once Cisseus of Thrace gave my father Anchises to bear, in +high token and guerdon of affection.' So speaking, he twines green bay +about his brows, and proclaims Acestes conqueror first before them all. +Nor did gentle Eurytion, though he alone struck the bird down from the +lofty sky, grudge him to be preferred in honour. Next comes for his +prize he who cut the cord; he last, who pierced the mast with his winged +reed. + +But lord Aeneas, ere yet the contest is sped, calls to him Epytides, +guardian and attendant of ungrown Iülus, and thus speaks into his +faithful ear: 'Up and away, and tell Ascanius, if he now holds his band +of boys ready, and their horses arrayed for the charge, to defile his +squadrons to his grandsire's honour in bravery of arms.' So says he, and +himself bids all the crowding throng withdraw from the long racecourse +and leave the lists free. The boys move in before their parents' faces, +glittering in rank on their [554-590]bitted horses; as they go all the +people of Troy and Trinacria murmur and admire. On the hair of them all +rests a garland fitly trimmed; each carries two cornel spear-shafts +tipped with steel; some have polished quivers on their shoulders; above +their breast and round their neck goes a flexible circlet of twisted +gold. Three in number are the troops of riders, and three captains +gallop up and down; following each in equal command rides a glittering +division of twelve boys. One youthful line goes rejoicingly behind +little Priam, renewer of his grandsire's name, thy renowned seed, O +Polites, and destined to people Italy; he rides a Thracian horse dappled +with spots of white, showing white on his pacing pasterns and white on +his high forehead. Second is Atys, from whom the Latin Atii draw their +line, little Atys, boy beloved of the boy Iülus. Last and excellent in +beauty before them all, Iülus rode in on a Sidonian horse that Dido the +bright had given him for token and pledge of love. The rest of them are +mounted on old Acestes' Sicilian horses. . . . The Dardanians greet +their shy entrance with applause, and rejoice at the view, and recognise +the features of their parents of old. When they have ridden merrily +round all the concourse of their gazing friends, Epytides shouts from +afar the signal they await, and sounds his whip. They gallop apart in +equal numbers, and open their files three and three in deploying bands, +and again at the call wheel about and bear down with levelled arms. Next +they start on other charges and other retreats in corresponsive spaces, +and interlink circle with circle, and wage the armed phantom of battle. +And now they bare their backs in flight, now turn their lances to the +charge, now plight peace and ride on side by side. As once of old, they +say, the labyrinth in high Crete had a tangled path between blind walls, +and a thousand ways of doubling treachery, where tokens to follow failed +in the [591-625]maze unmastered and irrecoverable: even in such a track +do the children of Troy entangle their footsteps and weave the game of +flight and battle; like dolphins who, swimming through the wet seas, cut +Carpathian or Libyan. . . . + +This fashion of riding, these games Ascanius first revived, when he girt +Alba the Long about with walls, and taught their celebration to the Old +Latins in the way of his own boyhood, with the youth of Troy about him. +The Albans taught it their children; on from them mighty Rome received +it and kept the ancestral observance; and now it is called Troy, and the +boys the Trojan troop. + +Thus far sped the sacred contests to their holy lord. Just at this +Fortune broke faith and grew estranged. While they pay the due rites to +the tomb with diverse games, Juno, daughter of Saturn, sends Iris down +the sky to the Ilian fleet, and breathes a gale to speed her on, +revolving many a thought, and not yet satiate of the ancient pain. She, +speeding her way along the thousand-coloured bow, runs swiftly, seen of +none, down her maiden path. She discerns the vast concourse, and +traverses the shore, and sees the haven abandoned and the fleet left +alone. But far withdrawn by the solitary verge of the sea the Trojan +women wept their lost Anchises, and as they wept gazed all together on +the fathomless flood. 'Alas! after all those weary waterways, that so +wide a sea is yet to come!' such is the single cry of all. They pray for +a city, sick of the burden of their sea-sorrow. So she darts among them, +not witless to harm, and lays by face and raiment of a goddess: she +becomes Beroë, the aged wife of Tmarian Doryclus, who had once had birth +and name and children, and in this guise goes among the Dardanian +matrons. 'Ah, wretched we,' she cries, 'whom hostile Achaean hands did +not drag to death beneath our native city! ah hapless race, for what +destruction does Fortune hold thee back? The [626-660]seventh summer +now declines since Troy's overthrow, while we pass measuring out by so +many stars the harbourless rocks over every water and land, pursuing all +the while over the vast sea an Italy that flies us, and tossing on the +waves. Here are our brother Eryx' borders, and Acestes' welcome: who +denies us to cast up walls and give our citizens a city? O country, O +household gods vainly rescued from the foe! shall there never be a +Trojan town to tell of? shall I nowhere see a Xanthus and a Simoïs, the +rivers of Hector? Nay, up and join me in burning with fire these +ill-ominous ships. For in sleep the phantom of Cassandra the soothsayer +seemed to give me blazing brands: _Here seek your Troy_, she said; _here +is your home_. Now is the time to do it; nor do these high portents +allow delay. Behold four altars to Neptune; the god himself lends the +firebrand and the nerve.' Speaking thus, at once she strongly seizes the +fiery weapon, and with straining hand whirls it far upreared, and +flings: the souls of the Ilian women are startled and their wits amazed. +At this one of their multitude, and she the eldest, Pyrgo, nurse in the +palace to all Priam's many children: 'This is not Beroë, I tell you, O +mothers; this is not the wife of Doryclus of Rhoeteum. Mark the +lineaments of divine grace and the gleaming eyes, what a breath is hers, +what a countenance, and the sound of her voice and the steps of her +going. I, I time agone left Beroë apart, sick and fretting that she +alone must have no part in this our service, nor pay Anchises his due +sacrifice.' So spoke she. . . . But the matrons at first, dubious and +wavering, gazed on the ships with malignant eyes, between the wretched +longing for the land they trod and the fated realm that summoned them: +when the goddess rose through the sky on poised wings, and in her flight +drew a vast bow beneath the clouds. Then indeed, amazed at the tokens +and driven by madness, they raise a cry and snatch fire from the +[661-694]hearths within; others plunder the altars, and cast on +brushwood boughs and brands. The Fire-god rages with loose rein over +thwarts and oars and hulls of painted fir. Eumelus carries the news of +the burning ships to the grave of Anchises and the ranges of the +theatre; and looking back, their own eyes see the floating cloud of dark +ashes. And in a moment Ascanius, as he rode gaily before his cavalry, +spurred his horse to the disordered camp; nor can his breathless +guardians hold him back. 'What strange madness is this?' he cries; +'whither now hasten you, whither, alas and woe! O citizens? not on the +foe nor on some hostile Argive camp; it is your own hopes you burn. +Behold me, your Ascanius!' and he flung before his feet the empty +helmet, put on when he roused the mimicry of war. Aeneas and the Trojan +train together hurry to the spot. But the women scatter apart in fear +all over the beach, and stealthily seek the woods and the hollow rocks +they find: they loathe their deed and the daylight, and with changed +eyes know their people, and Juno is startled out of their breast. But +not thereby do the flames of the burning lay down their unconquered +strength; under the wet oak the seams are alive, spouting slow coils of +smoke; the creeping heat devours the hulls, and the destroyer takes deep +hold of all: nor does the heroes' strength avail nor the floods they +pour in. Then good Aeneas rent away the raiment from his shoulders and +called the gods to aid, stretching forth his hands: 'Jupiter omnipotent, +if thou hatest not Troy yet wholly to her last man, if thine ancient +pity looks at all on human woes, now, O Lord, grant our fleet to escape +the flame, and rescue from doom the slender Teucrian estate. Or do thou +plunge to death this remnant, if I deserve it, with levelled +thunderbolt, and here with thine own hand smite us down.' Scarce had he +uttered this, when a black tempest rages in streaming showers; earth +trembles [695-726]to the thunder on plain and steep; the water-flood +rushes in torrents from the whole heaven amid black darkness and +volleying blasts of the South. The ships are filled from overhead, the +half-burnt timbers are soaking; till all the heat is quenched, and all +the hulls, but four that are lost, are rescued from destruction. + +But lord Aeneas, dismayed by the bitter mischance, revolved at heart +this way and that his shifting weight of care, whether, forgetting fate, +he should rest in Sicilian fields, or reach forth to the borders of +Italy. Then old Nautes, whom Tritonian Pallas taught like none other, +and made famous in eminence of art--she granted him to reply what the +gods' heavy anger menaced or what the order of fate claimed--he then in +accents of comfort thus speaks to Aeneas: + +'Goddess-born, follow we fate's ebb and flow, whatsoever it shall be; +fortune must be borne to be overcome. Acestes is of thine own divine +Dardanian race; take him, for he is willing, to join thee in common +counsel; deliver to him those who are over, now these ships are lost, +and those who are quite weary of thy fortunes and the great quest. +Choose out the old men stricken in years, and the matrons sick of the +sea, and all that is weak and fearful of peril in thy company. Let this +land give a city to the weary; they shall be allowed to call their town +Acesta by name.' + +Then, indeed, kindled by these words of his aged friend, his spirit is +distracted among all his cares. And now black Night rose chariot-borne, +and held the sky; when the likeness of his father Anchises seemed to +descend from heaven and suddenly utter thus: + +'O son, more dear to me than life once of old while life was yet mine; O +son, hard wrought by the destinies of Ilium! I come hither by Jove's +command, who drove the [727-760]fire from thy fleets, and at last had +pity out of high heaven. Obey thou the fair counsel aged Nautes now +gives. Carry through to Italy thy chosen men and bravest souls; in +Latium must thou war down a people hard and rough in living. Yet ere +then draw thou nigh the nether chambers of Dis, and in the deep tract of +hell come, O son, to meet me. For I am not held in cruel Tartarus among +wailing ghosts, but inhabit Elysium and the sweet societies of the good. +Hither with much blood of dark cattle shall the holy Sibyl lead thee. +Then shalt thou learn of all thy line, and what city is given thee. And +now farewell; dank Night wheels her mid-career, and even now I feel the +stern breath of the panting horses of the East.' He ended, and retreated +like a vapour into thin air. 'Ah, whither hurriest thou?' cries Aeneas; +'whither so fast away? From whom fliest thou? or who withholds thee from +our embrace?' So speaking, he kindles the sleeping embers of the fire, +and with holy meal and laden censer does sacrifice to the tutelar of +Pergama and hoar Vesta's secret shrine. + +Straightway he summons his crews and Acestes first of all, and instructs +them of Jove's command and his beloved father's precepts, and what is +now his fixed mind and purpose. They linger not in counsel, nor does +Acestes decline his bidden duty: they enrol the matrons in their town, +and plant a people there, souls that will have none of glory. The rest +repair the thwarts and replace the ships' timbers that the flames had +gnawed upon, and fit up oars and rigging, little in number, but alive +and valiant for war. Meanwhile Aeneas traces the town with the plough +and allots the homesteads; this he bids be Ilium, and these lands Troy. +Trojan Acestes, rejoicing in his kingdom, appoints a court and gathers +his senators to give them statutes. Next, where the crest of Eryx is +neighbour to the stars, a dwelling is founded to Venus the Idalian; +[761-793]and a priest and breadth of holy wood is attached to Anchises' +grave. + +And now for nine days all the people hath feasted, and offering been +paid at the altars; quiet breezes have smoothed the ocean floor, and the +gathering south wind blows, calling them again to sea. A mighty weeping +arises along the winding shore; a night and a day they linger in mutual +embraces. The very mothers now, the very men to whom once the sight of +the sea seemed cruel and the name intolerable, would go on and endure +the journey's travail to the end. These Aeneas comforts with kindly +words, and commends with tears to his kinsman Acestes' care. Then he +bids slay three steers to Eryx and a she-lamb to the Tempests, and loose +the hawser as is due. Himself, his head bound with stripped leaves of +olive, he stands apart on the prow holding the cup, and casts the +entrails into the salt flood and pours liquid wine. A wind rising astern +follows them forth on their way. Emulously the crews strike the water, +and sweep through the seas. + +But Venus meanwhile, wrought upon with distress, accosts Neptune, and +thus pours forth her heart's complaint: 'Juno's bitter wrath and heart +insatiable compel me, O Neptune, to sink to the uttermost of entreaty: +neither length of days nor any goodness softens her, nor doth Jove's +command and fate itself break her to desistence. It is not enough that +her accursed hatred hath devoured the Phrygian city from among the +people, and exhausted on it the stores of vengeance; still she pursues +this remnant, the bones and ashes of murdered Troy. I pray she know why +her passion is so fierce. Thyself art my witness what a sudden stir she +raised of late on the Libyan waters, flinging all the seas to heaven in +vain reliance on Aeolus' blasts; this she dared in thy realm. . . . +Lo too, driving the Trojan matrons into guilt, she hath foully +[794-826]burned their ships, and forced them, their fleet lost, to +leave the crews to an unknown land. Let the remnant, I beseech thee, +give their sails to thy safe keeping across the seas; let them reach +Laurentine Tiber; if I ask what is permitted, if fate grants them a city +there.' + +Then the son of Saturn, compeller of the ocean deep, uttered thus: 'It +is wholly right, O Cytherean, that thy trust should be in my realm, +whence thou drawest birth; and I have deserved it: often have I allayed +the rage and full fury of sky and sea. Nor less on land, I call Xanthus +and Simoïs to witness, hath been my care of thine Aeneas. When Achilles +pursued the Trojan armies and hurled them breathless on their walls, and +sent many thousands to death,--when the choked rivers groaned and +Xanthus could not find passage or roll out to sea,--then I snatched +Aeneas away in sheltering mist as he met the brave son of Peleus +outmatched in strength and gods, eager as I was to overthrow the walls +of perjured Troy that mine own hands had built. Now too my mind rests +the same; dismiss thy fear. In safety, as thou desirest, shall he reach +the haven of Avernus. One will there be alone whom on the flood thou +shalt lose and require; one life shall be given for many. . . .' + +With these words the goddess' bosom is soothed to joy. Then their lord +yokes his wild horses with gold and fastens the foaming bits, and +letting all the reins run slack in his hand, flies lightly in his +sea-coloured chariot over the ocean surface. The waves sink to rest, and +the swoln water-ways smooth out under the thundering axle; the +storm-clouds scatter from the vast sky. Diverse shapes attend him, +monstrous whales, and Glaucus' aged choir, and Palaemon, son of Ino, the +swift Tritons, and Phorcus with all his army. Thetis and Melite keep the +left, and maiden Panopea, Nesaea and Spio, Thalia and Cymodoce. + +[827-860]At this lord Aeneas' soul is thrilled with soft counterchange +of delight. He bids all the masts be upreared with speed, and the sails +stretched on the yards. Together all set their sheets, and all at once +slacken their canvas to left and again to right; together they brace and +unbrace the yard-arms aloft; prosperous gales waft the fleet along. +First, in front of all, Palinurus steered the close column; the rest +under orders ply their course by his. And now dewy Night had just +reached heaven's mid-cone; the sailors, stretched on their hard benches +under the oars, relaxed their limbs in quiet rest: when Sleep, sliding +lightly down from the starry sky, parted the shadowy air and cleft the +dark, seeking thee, O Palinurus, carrying dreams of bale to thee who +dreamt not of harm, and lit on the high stern, a god in Phorbas' +likeness, dropping this speech from his lips: 'Palinurus son of Iasus, +the very seas bear our fleet along; the breezes breathe steadily; for an +hour rest is given. Lay down thine head, and steal thy worn eyes from +their toil. I myself for a little will take thy duty in thy stead.' To +whom Palinurus, scarcely lifting his eyes, returns: 'Wouldst thou have +me ignorant what the calm face of the brine means, and the waves at +rest? Shall I have faith in this perilous thing? How shall I trust +Aeneas to deceitful breezes, and the placid treachery of sky that hath +so often deceived me?' Such words he uttered, and, clinging fast to the +tiller, slackened hold no whit, and looked up steadily on the stars. Lo! +the god shakes over either temple a bough dripping with Lethean dew and +made slumberous with the might of Styx, and makes his swimming eyes +relax their struggles. Scarcely had sleep begun to slacken his limbs +unaware, when bending down, he flung him sheer into the clear water, +tearing rudder and half the stern away with him, and many a time crying +vainly on his comrades: himself [861-871]he rose on flying wings into +the thin air. None the less does the fleet run safe on its sea path, and +glides on unalarmed in lord Neptune's assurance. Yes, and now they were +sailing in to the cliffs of the Sirens, dangerous once of old and white +with the bones of many a man; and the hoarse rocks echoed afar in the +ceaseless surf; when her lord felt the ship rocking astray for loss of +her helmsman, and himself steered her on over the darkling water, +sighing often the while, and heavy at heart for his friend's mischance. +'Ah too trustful in sky's and sea's serenity, thou shalt lie, O +Palinurus, naked on an alien sand!' + + + + +BOOK SIXTH + +THE VISION OF THE UNDER WORLD + + +So speaks he weeping, and gives his fleet the rein, and at last glides +in to Euboïc Cumae's coast. They turn the prows seaward; the ships +grounded fast on their anchors' teeth, and the curving ships line the +beach. The warrior band leaps forth eagerly on the Hesperian shore; some +seek the seeds of flame hidden in veins of flint, some scour the woods, +the thick coverts of wild beasts, and find and shew the streams. But +good Aeneas seeks the fortress where Apollo sits high enthroned, and the +lone mystery of the awful Sibyl's cavern depth, over whose mind and soul +the prophetic Delian breathes high inspiration and reveals futurity. + +Now they draw nigh the groves of Trivia and the roof of gold. Daedalus, +as the story runs, when in flight from Minos' realm he dared to spread +his fleet wings to the sky, glided on his unwonted way towards the icy +northern star, and at length lit gently on the Chalcidian fastness. +Here, on the first land he retrod, he dedicated his winged oarage to +thee, O Phoebus, in the vast temple he built. On the doors is Androgeus' +death; thereby the children of Cecrops, bidden, ah me! to pay for yearly +ransom seven souls of their sons; the urn stands there, and the lots are +drawn. Right [23-55]opposite the land of Gnosus rises from the sea; on +it is the cruel love of the bull, the disguised stealth of Pasiphaë, and +the mingled breed and double issue of the Minotaur, record of a shameful +passion; on it the famous dwelling's laborious inextricable maze; but +Daedalus, pitying the great love of the princess, himself unlocked the +tangled treachery of the palace, guiding with the clue her lover's blind +footsteps. Thou too hadst no slight part in the work he wrought, O +Icarus, did grief allow. Twice had he essayed to portray thy fate in +gold; twice the father's hands dropped down. Nay, their eyes would scan +all the story in order, were not Achates already returned from his +errand, and with him the priestess of Phoebus and Trivia, Deïphobe +daughter of Glaucus, who thus accosts the king: 'Other than this are the +sights the time demands: now were it well to sacrifice seven unbroken +bullocks of the herd, as many fitly chosen sheep of two years old.' Thus +speaks she to Aeneas; nor do they delay to do her sacred bidding; and +the priestess calls the Teucrians into the lofty shrine. + +A vast cavern is scooped in the side of the Euboïc cliff, whither lead +an hundred wide passages by an hundred gates, whence peal forth as +manifold the responses of the Sibyl. They had reached the threshold, +when the maiden cries: _It is time to enquire thy fate: the god, lo! the +god!_ And even as she spoke thus in the gateway, suddenly countenance +nor colour nor ranged tresses stayed the same; her wild heart heaves +madly in her panting bosom; and she expands to sight, and her voice is +more than mortal, now the god breathes on her in nearer deity. +'Lingerest thou to vow and pray,' she cries, 'Aeneas of Troy? lingerest +thou? for not till then will the vast portals of the spellbound house +swing open.' So spoke she, and sank to silence. A cold shiver ran +through the Teucrians' iron frames, and the king pours heart-deep +supplication: + +[56-89]'Phoebus, who hast ever pitied the sore travail of Troy, who +didst guide the Dardanian shaft from Paris' hand full on the son of +Aeacus, in thy leading have I pierced all these seas that skirt mighty +lands, the Massylian nations far withdrawn, and the fields the Syrtes +fringe; thus far let the fortune of Troy follow us. You too may now +unforbidden spare the nation of Pergama, gods and goddesses to +whomsoever Ilium and the great glory of Dardania did wrong. And thou, O +prophetess most holy, foreknower of the future, grant (for no unearned +realm does my destiny claim) a resting-place in Latium to the Teucrians, +to their wandering gods and the storm-tossed deities of Troy. Then will +I ordain to Phoebus and Trivia a temple of solid marble, and festal days +in Phoebus' name. Thee likewise a mighty sanctuary awaits in our realm. +For here will I place thine oracles and the secrets of destiny uttered +to my people, and consecrate chosen men, O gracious one. Only commit not +thou thy verses to leaves, lest they fly disordered, the sport of +rushing winds; thyself utter them, I beseech thee.' His lips made an end +of utterance. + +But the prophetess, not yet tame to Phoebus' hand, rages fiercely in the +cavern, so she may shake the mighty godhead from her breast; so much the +more does he tire her maddened mouth and subdue her wild breast and +shape her to his pressure. And now the hundred mighty portals of the +house open of their own accord, and bring through the air the answer of +the soothsayer: + +'O past at length with the great perils of the sea! though heavier yet +by land await thee, the Dardanians shall come to the realm of Lavinium; +relieve thy heart of this care; but not so shall they have joy of their +coming. Wars, grim wars I discern, and Tiber afoam with streams of +blood. A Simoïs shall not fail thee, a Xanthus, a Dorian camp; another +Achilles is already found for Latium, he too [90-123]goddess-born; nor +shall Juno's presence ever leave the Teucrians; while thou in thy need, +to what nations or what towns of Italy shalt thou not sue! Again is an +alien bride the source of all that Teucrian woe, again a foreign +marriage-chamber. . . . Yield not thou to distresses, but all the bolder +go forth to meet them, as thy fortune shall allow thee way. The path of +rescue, little as thou deemest it, shall first open from a Grecian +town.' + +In such words the Sibyl of Cumae chants from the shrine her perplexing +terrors, echoing through the cavern truth wrapped in obscurity: so does +Apollo clash the reins and ply the goad in her maddened breast. So soon +as the spasm ceased and the raving lips sank to silence, Aeneas the hero +begins: 'No shape of toil, O maiden, rises strange or sudden on my +sight; all this ere now have I guessed and inly rehearsed in spirit. One +thing I pray; since here is the gate named of the infernal king, and the +darkling marsh of Acheron's overflow, be it given me to go to my beloved +father, to see him face to face; teach thou the way, and open the +consecrated portals. Him on these shoulders I rescued from encircling +flames and a thousand pursuing weapons, and brought him safe from amid +the enemy; he accompanied my way over all the seas, and bore with me all +the threats of ocean and sky, in weakness, beyond his age's strength and +due. Nay, he it was who besought and enjoined me to seek thy grace and +draw nigh thy courts. Have pity, I beseech thee, on son and father, O +gracious one! for thou art all-powerful, nor in vain hath Hecate given +thee rule in the groves of Avernus. If Orpheus could call up his wife's +ghost in the strength of his Thracian lyre and the music of the +strings,--if Pollux redeemed his brother by exchange of death, and +passes and repasses so often,--why make mention of great Theseus, why of +Alcides? I too am of Jove's sovereign race.' + +[124-157]In such words he pleaded and clasped the altars; when the +soothsayer thus began to speak: + +'O sprung of gods' blood, child of Anchises of Troy, easy is the descent +into hell; all night and day the gate of dark Dis stands open; but to +recall thy steps and issue to upper air, this is the task and burden. +Some few of gods' lineage have availed, such as Jupiter's gracious +favour or virtue's ardour hath upborne to heaven. Midway all is muffled +in forest, and the black coils of Cocytus circle it round. Yet if thy +soul is so passionate and so desirous twice to float across the Stygian +lake, twice to see dark Tartarus, and thy pleasure is to plunge into the +mad task, learn what must first be accomplished. Hidden in a shady tree +is a bough with leafage and pliant shoot all of gold, consecrate to +nether Juno, wrapped in the depth of woodland and shut in by dim dusky +vales. But to him only who first hath plucked the golden-tressed +fruitage from the tree is it given to enter the hidden places of the +earth. This hath beautiful Proserpine ordained to be borne to her for +her proper gift. The first torn away, a second fills the place in gold, +and the spray burgeons with even such ore again. So let thine eyes trace +it home, and thine hand pluck it duly when found; for lightly and +unreluctant will it follow if thine is fate's summons; else will no +strength of thine avail to conquer it nor hard steel to cut it away. Yet +again, a friend of thine lies a lifeless corpse, alas! thou knowest it +not, and defiles all the fleet with death, while thou seekest our +counsel and lingerest in our courts. First lay him in his resting-place +and hide him in the tomb; lead thither black cattle; be this first thine +expiation; so at last shalt thou behold the Stygian groves and the realm +untrodden of the living.' She spoke, and her lips shut to silence. + +Aeneas goes forth, and leaves the cavern with fixed eyes and sad +countenance, his soul revolving inly the unseen [158-194]issues. By his +side goes faithful Achates, and plants his footsteps in equal +perplexity. Long they ran on in mutual change of talk; of what lifeless +comrade spoke the soothsayer, of what body for burial? And even as they +came, they see on the dry beach Misenus cut off by untimely death, +Misenus the Aeolid, excelled of none other in stirring men with brazen +breath and kindling battle with his trumpet-note. He had been attendant +on mighty Hector; in Hector's train he waged battle, renowned alike for +bugle and spear: after victorious Achilles robbed him of life the +valiant hero had joined Dardanian Aeneas' company, and followed no +meaner leader. But now, while he makes his hollow shell echo over the +seas, ah fool! and calls the gods to rival his blast, jealous Triton, if +belief is due, had caught him among the rocks and sunk him in the +foaming waves. So all surrounded him with loud murmur and cries, good +Aeneas the foremost. Then weeping they quickly hasten on the Sibyl's +orders, and work hard to pile trees for the altar of burial, and heap it +up into the sky. They move into the ancient forest, the deep coverts of +game; pitch-pines fall flat, ilex rings to the stroke of axes, and ashen +beams and oak are split in clefts with wedges; they roll in huge +mountain-ashes from the hills. Aeneas likewise is first in the work, and +cheers on his crew and arms himself with their weapons. And alone with +his sad heart he ponders it all, gazing on the endless forest, and +utters this prayer: 'If but now that bough of gold would shew itself to +us on the tree in this depth of woodland! since all the soothsayer's +tale of thee, Misenus, was, alas! too truly spoken.' Scarcely had he +said thus, when twin doves haply came flying down the sky, and lit on +the green sod right under his eyes. Then the kingly hero knows them for +his mother's birds, and joyfully prays: 'Ah, be my guides, if way there +be, and direct your aëry passage into the groves [195-230]where the +rich bough overshadows the fertile ground! and thou, O goddess mother, +fail not our wavering fortune.' So spoke he and stayed his steps, +marking what they signify, whither they urge their way. Feeding and +flying they advance at such distance as following eyes could keep them +in view; then, when they came to Avernus' pestilent gorge, they tower +swiftly, and sliding down through the liquid air, choose their seat and +light side by side on a tree, through whose boughs shone out the +contrasting flicker of gold. As in chill mid-winter the woodland is wont +to blossom with the strange leafage of the mistletoe, sown on an alien +tree and wreathing the smooth stems with burgeoning saffron; so on the +shadowy ilex seemed that leafy gold, so the foil tinkled in the light +breeze. Immediately Aeneas seizes it and eagerly breaks off its +resistance, and carries it beneath the Sibyl's roof. + +And therewithal the Teucrians on the beach wept Misenus, and bore the +last rites to the thankless ashes. First they build up a vast pyre of +resinous billets and sawn oak, whose sides they entwine with dark leaves +and plant funereal cypresses in front, and adorn it above with his +shining armour. Some prepare warm water in cauldrons bubbling over the +flames, and wash and anoint the chill body, and make their moan; then, +their weeping done, lay his limbs on the pillow, and spread over it +crimson raiment, the accustomed pall. Some uplift the heavy bier, a +melancholy service, and with averted faces in their ancestral fashion +hold and thrust in the torch. Gifts of frankincense, food, and bowls of +olive oil, are poured and piled upon the fire. After the embers sank in +and the flame died away, they soaked with wine the remnant of thirsty +ashes, and Corynaeus gathered the bones and shut them in an urn of +brass; and he too thrice encircled his comrades with fresh water, and +cleansed them with light spray sprinkled from a [231-267]bough of +fruitful olive, and spoke the last words of all. But good Aeneas heaps a +mighty mounded tomb over him, with his own armour and his oar and +trumpet, beneath a skyey mountain that now is called Misenus after him, +and keeps his name immortal from age to age. + +This done, he hastens to fulfil the Sibyl's ordinance. A deep cave +yawned dreary and vast, shingle-strewn, sheltered by the black lake and +the gloom of the forests; over it no flying things could wing their way +unharmed, such a vapour streamed from the dark gorge and rose into the +overarching sky. Here the priestess first arrays four black-bodied +bullocks and pours wine upon their forehead; and plucking the topmost +hairs from between the horns, lays them on the sacred fire for +first-offering, calling aloud on Hecate, mistress of heaven and hell. +Others lay knives beneath, and catch the warm blood in cups. Aeneas +himself smites with the sword a black-fleeced she-lamb to the mother of +the Eumenides and her mighty sister, and a barren heifer, Proserpine, to +thee. Then he uprears darkling altars to the Stygian king, and lays +whole carcases of bulls upon the flames, pouring fat oil over the +blazing entrails. And lo! about the first rays of sunrise the ground +moaned underfoot, and the woodland ridges began to stir, and dogs seemed +to howl through the dusk as the goddess came. 'Apart, ah keep apart, O +ye unsanctified!' cries the soothsayer; 'retire from all the grove; and +thou, stride on and unsheath thy steel; now is need of courage, O +Aeneas, now of strong resolve.' So much she spoke, and plunged madly +into the cavern's opening; he with unflinching steps keeps pace with his +advancing guide. + +Gods who are sovereign over souls! silent ghosts, and Chaos and +Phlegethon, the wide dumb realm of night! as I have heard, so let me +tell, and according to your will unfold things sunken deep under earth +in gloom. + +[268-303]They went darkling through the dusk beneath the solitary +night, through the empty dwellings and bodiless realm of Dis; even as +one walks in the forest beneath the jealous light of a doubtful moon, +when Jupiter shrouds the sky in shadow and black night blots out the +world. Right in front of the doorway and in the entry of the jaws of +hell Grief and avenging Cares have made their bed; there dwell wan +Sicknesses and gloomy Eld, and Fear, and ill-counselling Hunger, and +loathly Want, shapes terrible to see; and Death and Travail, and thereby +Sleep, Death's kinsman, and the Soul's guilty Joys, and death-dealing +War full in the gateway, and the Furies in their iron cells, and mad +Discord with bloodstained fillets enwreathing her serpent locks. + +Midway an elm, shadowy and high, spreads her boughs and secular arms, +where, one saith, idle Dreams dwell clustering, and cling under every +leaf. And monstrous creatures besides, many and diverse, keep covert at +the gates, Centaurs and twy-shaped Scyllas, and the hundredfold +Briareus, and the beast of Lerna hissing horribly, and the Chimaera +armed with flame, Gorgons and Harpies, and the body of the triform +shade. Here Aeneas snatches at his sword in a sudden flutter of terror, +and turns the naked edge on them as they come; and did not his wise +fellow-passenger remind him that these lives flit thin and unessential +in the hollow mask of body, he would rush on and vainly lash through +phantoms with his steel. + +Hence a road leads to Tartarus and Acheron's wave. Here the dreary pool +swirls thick in muddy eddies and disgorges into Cocytus with its load of +sand. Charon, the dread ferryman, guards these flowing streams, ragged +and awful, his chin covered with untrimmed masses of hoary hair, and his +glassy eyes aflame; his soiled raiment hangs knotted from his shoulders. +Himself he plies the pole and trims the sails of his vessel, the +steel-blue galley with freight [304-336]of dead; stricken now in years, +but a god's old age is lusty and green. Hither all crowded, and rushed +streaming to the bank, matrons and men and high-hearted heroes dead and +done with life, boys and unwedded girls, and children laid young on the +bier before their parents' eyes, multitudinous as leaves fall dropping +in the forests at autumn's earliest frost, or birds swarm landward from +the deep gulf, when the chill of the year routs them overseas and drives +them to sunny lands. They stood pleading for the first passage across, +and stretched forth passionate hands to the farther shore. But the grim +sailor admits now one and now another, while some he pushes back far +apart on the strand. Moved with marvel at the confused throng: 'Say, O +maiden,' cries Aeneas, 'what means this flocking to the river? of what +are the souls so fain? or what difference makes these retire from the +banks, those go with sweeping oars over the leaden waterways?' + +To him the long-lived priestess thus briefly returned: 'Seed of +Anchises, most sure progeny of gods, thou seest the deep pools of +Cocytus and the Stygian marsh, by whose divinity the gods fear to swear +falsely. All this crowd thou discernest is helpless and unsepultured; +Charon is the ferryman; they who ride on the wave found a tomb. Nor is +it given to cross the awful banks and hoarse streams ere the dust hath +found a resting-place. An hundred years they wander here flitting about +the shore; then at last they gain entrance, and revisit the pools so +sorely desired.' + +Anchises' son stood still, and ponderingly stayed his footsteps, pitying +at heart their cruel lot. There he discerns, mournful and unhonoured +dead, Leucaspis and Orontes, captains of the Lycian squadron, whom, as +they sailed together from Troy over gusty seas, the south wind +overwhelmed and wrapped the waters round ship and men. + +[337-369]Lo, there went by Palinurus the steersman, who of late, while +he watched the stars on their Libyan passage, had slipped from the stern +and fallen amid the waves. To him, when he first knew the melancholy +form in that depth of shade, he thus opens speech: 'What god, O +Palinurus, reft thee from us and sank thee amid the seas? forth and +tell. For in this single answer Apollo deceived me, never found false +before, when he prophesied thee safety on ocean and arrival on the +Ausonian coasts. See, is this his promise-keeping?' + +And he: 'Neither did Phoebus on his oracular seat delude thee, O prince, +Anchises' son, nor did any god drown me in the sea. For while I clung to +my appointed charge and governed our course, I pulled the tiller with me +in my fall, and the shock as I slipped wrenched it away. By the rough +seas I swear, fear for myself never wrung me so sore as for thy ship, +lest, the rudder lost and the pilot struck away, those gathering waves +might master it. Three wintry nights in the water the blustering south +drove me over the endless sea; scarcely on the fourth dawn I descried +Italy as I rose on the climbing wave. Little by little I swam shoreward; +already I clung safe; but while, encumbered with my dripping raiment, I +caught with crooked fingers at the jagged needles of mountain rock, the +barbarous people attacked me in arms and ignorantly deemed me a prize. +Now the wave holds me, and the winds toss me on the shore. By heaven's +pleasant light and breezes I beseech thee, by thy father, by Iülus thy +rising hope, rescue me from these distresses, O unconquered one! Either +do thou, for thou canst, cast earth over me and again seek the haven of +Velia; or do thou, if in any wise that may be, if in any wise the +goddess who bore thee shews a way,--for not without divine will do I +deem thou wilt float across these vast rivers and the Stygian +pool,--lend me a pitying [370-403]hand, and bear me over the waves in +thy company, that at least in death I may find a quiet resting-place.' + +Thus he ended, and the soothsayer thus began: 'Whence, O Palinurus, this +fierce longing of thine? Shalt thou without burial behold the Stygian +waters and the awful river of the Furies? Cease to hope prayers may bend +the decrees of heaven. But take my words to thy memory, for comfort in +thy woeful case: far and wide shall the bordering cities be driven by +celestial portents to appease thy dust; they shall rear a tomb, and pay +the tomb a yearly offering, and for evermore shall the place keep +Palinurus' name.' The words soothed away his distress, and for a while +drove grief away from his sorrowing heart; he is glad in the land of his +name. + +So they complete their journey's beginning, and draw nigh the river. +Just then the waterman descried them from the Stygian wave advancing +through the silent woodland and turning their feet towards the bank, and +opens on them in these words of challenge: 'Whoso thou art who marchest +in arms towards our river, forth and say, there as thou art, why thou +comest, and stay thine advance. This is the land of Shadows, of Sleep, +and slumberous Night; no living body may the Stygian hull convey. Nor +truly had I joy of taking Alcides on the lake for passenger, nor Theseus +and Pirithoüs, born of gods though they were and unconquered in might. +He laid fettering hand on the warder of Tartarus, and dragged him +cowering from the throne of my lord the King; they essayed to ravish our +mistress from the bridal chamber of Dis.' Thereto the Amphrysian +soothsayer made brief reply: 'No such plot is here; be not moved; nor do +our weapons offer violence; the huge gatekeeper may bark on for ever in +his cavern and affright the bloodless ghosts; Proserpine may keep her +honour within her uncle's gates. Aeneas of Troy, renowned [404-437]in +goodness as in arms, goes down to meet his father in the deep shades of +Erebus. If the sight of such affection stirs thee in nowise, yet this +bough' (she discovers the bough hidden in her raiment) 'thou must know.' +Then his heaving breast allays its anger, and he says no more; but +marvelling at the awful gift, the fated rod so long unseen, he steers in +his dusky vessel and draws to shore. Next he routs out the souls that +sate on the long benches, and clears the thwarts, while he takes mighty +Aeneas on board. The galley groaned under the weight in all her seams, +and the marsh-water leaked fast in. At length prophetess and prince are +landed unscathed on the ugly ooze and livid sedge. + +This realm rings with the triple-throated baying of vast Cerberus, +couched huge in the cavern opposite; to whom the prophetess, seeing the +serpents already bristling up on his neck, throws a cake made slumberous +with honey and drugged grain. He, with threefold jaws gaping in ravenous +hunger, catches it when thrown, and sinks to earth with monstrous body +outstretched, and sprawling huge over all his den. The warder +overwhelmed, Aeneas makes entrance, and quickly issues from the bank of +the irremeable wave. + +Immediately wailing voices are loud in their ears, the souls of babies +crying on the doorway sill, whom, torn from the breast and portionless +in life's sweetness, a dark day cut off and drowned in bitter death. +Hard by them are those condemned to death on false accusation. Neither +indeed are these dwellings assigned without lot and judgment; Minos +presides and shakes the urn; he summons a council of the silent people, +and inquires of their lives and charges. Next in order have these +mourners their place whose own innocent hands dealt them death, who +flung away their souls in hatred of the day. How fain were they now in +upper air to endure their poverty and [438-472]sore travail! It may not +be; the unlovely pool locks them in her gloomy wave, and Styx pours her +ninefold barrier between. And not far from here are shewn stretching on +every side the Wailing Fields; so they call them by name. Here they whom +pitiless love hath wasted in cruel decay hide among untrodden ways, +shrouded in embosoming myrtle thickets; not death itself ends their +distresses. In this region he discerns Phaedra and Procris and woeful +Eriphyle, shewing on her the wounds of her merciless son, and Evadne and +Pasiphaë; Laodamia goes in their company, and she who was once Caeneus +and a man, now woman, and again returned by fate into her shape of old. +Among whom Dido the Phoenician, fresh from her death-wound, wandered in +the vast forest; by her the Trojan hero stood, and knew the dim form +through the darkness, even as the moon at the month's beginning to him +who sees or thinks he sees her rising through the vapours; he let tears +fall, and spoke to her lovingly and sweet: + +'Alas, Dido! so the news was true that reached me; thou didst perish, +and the sword sealed thy doom! Ah me, was I cause of thy death? By the +stars I swear, by the heavenly powers and all that is sacred beneath the +earth, unwillingly, O queen, I left thy shore. But the gods, at whose +orders now I pass through this shadowy place, this land of mouldering +overgrowth and deep night, the gods' commands drove me forth; nor could +I deem my departure would bring thee pain so great as this. Stay thy +footstep, and withdraw not from our gaze. From whom fliest thou? the +last speech of thee fate ordains me is this.' + +In such words and with starting tears Aeneas soothed the burning and +fierce-eyed soul. She turned away with looks fixed fast on the ground, +stirred no more in countenance by the speech he essays than if she stood +in iron flint or Marpesian stone. At length she started, and fled +wrathfully [473-508]into the shadowy woodland, where Sychaeus, her +ancient husband, responds to her distresses and equals her affection. +Yet Aeneas, dismayed by her cruel doom, follows her far on her way with +pitying tears. + +Thence he pursues his appointed path. And now they trod those utmost +fields where the renowned in war have their haunt apart. Here Tydeus +meets him; here Parthenopaeus, glorious in arms, and the pallid phantom +of Adrastus; here the Dardanians long wept on earth and fallen in the +war; sighing he discerns all their long array, Glaucus and Medon and +Thersilochus, the three children of Antenor, and Polyphoetes, Ceres' +priest, and Idaeus yet charioted, yet grasping his arms. The souls +throng round him to right and left; nor is one look enough; lingering +delighted, they pace by his side and enquire wherefore he is come. But +the princes of the Grecians and Agamemnon's armies, when they see him +glittering in arms through the gloom, hurry terror-stricken away; some +turn backward, as when of old they fled to the ships; some raise their +voice faintly, and gasp out a broken ineffectual cry. + +And here he saw Deïphobus son of Priam, with face cruelly torn, face and +both hands, and ears lopped from his mangled temples, and nostrils +maimed by a shameful wound. Barely he knew the cowering form that hid +its dreadful punishment; then he springs to accost it in familiar +speech: + +'Deïphobus mighty in arms, seed of Teucer's royal blood, whose +wantonness of vengeance was so cruel? who was allowed to use thee thus? +Rumour reached me that on that last night, outwearied with endless +slaughter, thou hadst sunk on the heap of mingled carnage. Then mine own +hand reared an empty tomb on the Rhoetean shore, mine own voice thrice +called aloud upon thy ghost. Thy name and armour keep the spot; thee, O +my friend, I could not see nor lay in the native earth I left.' + +[509-541]Whereto the son of Priam: 'In nothing, O my friend, wert thou +wanting; thou hast paid the full to Deïphobus and the dead man's shade. +But me my fate and the Laconian woman's murderous guilt thus dragged +down to doom; these are the records of her leaving. For how we spent +that last night in delusive gladness thou knowest, and must needs +remember too well. When the fated horse leapt down on the steep towers +of Troy, bearing armed infantry for the burden of its womb, she, in +feigned procession, led round our Phrygian women with Bacchic cries; +herself she upreared a mighty flame amid them, and called the Grecians +out of the fortress height. Then was I fast in mine ill-fated bridal +chamber, deep asleep and outworn with my charge, and lay overwhelmed in +slumber sweet and profound and most like to easeful death. Meanwhile +that crown of wives removes all the arms from my dwelling, and slips out +the faithful sword from beneath my head: she calls Menelaus into the +house and flings wide the gateway: be sure she hoped her lover would +magnify the gift, and so she might quench the fame of her ill deeds of +old. Why do I linger? They burst into the chamber, they and the Aeolid, +counsellor of crime, in their company. Gods, recompense the Greeks even +thus, if with righteous lips I call for vengeance! But come, tell in +turn what hap hath brought thee hither yet alive. Comest thou driven on +ocean wanderings, or by promptings from heaven? or what fortune keeps +thee from rest, that thou shouldst draw nigh these sad sunless +dwellings, this disordered land?' + +In this change of talk Dawn had already crossed heaven's mid axle on her +rose-charioted way; and haply had they thus drawn out all the allotted +time; but the Sibyl made brief warning speech to her companion: 'Night +falls, Aeneas; we waste the hours in weeping. Here is the place where +the road disparts; by this that runs to the right [542-574]under great +Dis' city is our path to Elysium; but the leftward wreaks vengeance on +the wicked and sends them to unrelenting hell.' But Deïphobus: 'Be not +angered, mighty priestess; I will depart, I will refill my place and +return into darkness. Go, glory of our people, go, enjoy a fairer fate +than mine.' Thus much he spoke, and on the word turned away his +footsteps. + +Aeneas looks swiftly back, and sees beneath the cliff on the left hand a +wide city, girt with a triple wall and encircled by a racing river of +boiling flame, Tartarean Phlegethon, that echoes over its rolling rocks. +In front is the gate, huge and pillared with solid adamant, that no +warring force of men nor the very habitants of heaven may avail to +overthrow; it stands up a tower of iron, and Tisiphone sitting girt in +bloodstained pall keeps sleepless watch at the entry by night and day. +Hence moans are heard and fierce lashes resound, with the clank of iron +and dragging chains. Aeneas stopped and hung dismayed at the tumult. +'What shapes of crime are here? declare, O maiden; or what the +punishment that pursues them, and all this upsurging wail?' Then the +soothsayer thus began to speak: 'Illustrious chief of Troy, no pure foot +may tread these guilty courts; but to me Hecate herself, when she gave +me rule over the groves of Avernus, taught how the gods punish, and +guided me through all her realm. Gnosian Rhadamanthus here holds +unrelaxing sway, chastises secret crime revealed, and exacts confession, +wheresoever in the upper world one vainly exultant in stolen guilt hath +till the dusk of death kept clear from the evil he wrought. Straightway +avenging Tisiphone, girt with her scourge, tramples down the shivering +sinners, menaces them with the grim snakes in her left hand, and summons +forth her sisters in merciless train. Then at last the sacred gates are +flung open and grate on the jarring hinge. Markest thou what sentry is +seated in [575-609]the doorway? what shape guards the threshold? More +grim within sits the monstrous Hydra with her fifty black yawning +throats: and Tartarus' self gapes sheer and strikes into the gloom +through twice the space that one looks upward to Olympus and the skyey +heaven. Here Earth's ancient children, the Titans' brood, hurled down by +the thunderbolt, lie wallowing in the abyss. Here likewise I saw the +twin Aloïds, enormous of frame, who essayed with violent hands to pluck +down high heaven and thrust Jove from his upper realm. Likewise I saw +Salmoneus in the cruel payment he gives for mocking Jove's flame and +Olympus' thunders. Borne by four horses and brandishing a torch, he rode +in triumph midway through the populous city of Grecian Elis, and claimed +for himself the worship of deity; madman! who would mimic the +storm-cloud and the inimitable bolt with brass that rang under his +trampling horse-hoofs. But the Lord omnipotent hurled his shaft through +thickening clouds (no firebrand his nor smoky glare of torches) and +dashed him headlong in the fury of the whirlwind. Therewithal Tityos +might be seen, fosterling of Earth the mother of all, whose body +stretches over nine full acres, and a monstrous vulture with crooked +beak eats away the imperishable liver and the entrails that breed in +suffering, and plunges deep into the breast that gives it food and +dwelling; nor is any rest given to the fibres that ever grow anew. Why +tell of the Lapithae, of Ixion and Pirithoüs? over whom a stone hangs +just slipping and just as though it fell; or the high banqueting couches +gleam golden-pillared, and the feast is spread in royal luxury before +their faces; couched hard by, the eldest of the Furies wards the tables +from their touch and rises with torch upreared and thunderous lips. Here +are they who hated their brethren while life endured, or struck a parent +or entangled a client in wrong, or who brooded [610-643]alone over +found treasure and shared it not with their fellows, this the greatest +multitude of all; and they who were slain for adultery, and who followed +unrighteous arms, and feared not to betray their masters' plighted hand. +Imprisoned they await their doom. Seek not to be told that doom, that +fashion of fortune wherein they are sunk. Some roll a vast stone, or +hang outstretched on the spokes of wheels; hapless Theseus sits and +shall sit for ever, and Phlegyas in his misery gives counsel to all and +witnesses aloud through the gloom, _Learn by this warning to do justly +and not to slight the gods._ This man sold his country for gold, and +laid her under a tyrant's sway; he set up and pulled down laws at a +price; this other forced his daughter's bridal chamber and a forbidden +marriage; all dared some monstrous wickedness, and had success in what +they dared. Not had I an hundred tongues, an hundred mouths, and a voice +of iron, could I sum up all the shapes of crime or name over all their +punishments.' + +Thus spoke Phoebus' long-lived priestess; then 'But come now,' she +cries; 'haste on the way and perfect the service begun; let us go +faster; I descry the ramparts cast in Cyclopean furnaces, and in front +the arched gateway where they bid us lay the gifts foreordained.' She +ended, and advancing side by side along the shadowy ways, they pass over +and draw nigh the gates. Aeneas makes entrance, and sprinkling his body +with fresh water, plants the bough full in the gateway. + +Now at length, this fully done, and the service of the goddess +perfected, they came to the happy place, the green pleasances and +blissful seats of the Fortunate Woodlands. Here an ampler air clothes +the meadows in lustrous sheen, and they know their own sun and a +starlight of their own. Some exercise their limbs in tournament on the +greensward, contend in games, and wrestle on the yellow sand. Some +[644-676]dance with beating footfall and lips that sing; with them is +the Thracian priest in sweeping robe, and makes music to their measures +with the notes' sevenfold interval, the notes struck now with his +fingers, now with his ivory rod. Here is Teucer's ancient brood, a +generation excellent in beauty, high-hearted heroes born in happier +years, Ilus and Assaracus, and Dardanus, founder of Troy. Afar he +marvels at the armour and chariots empty of their lords: their spears +stand fixed in the ground, and their unyoked horses pasture at large +over the plain: their life's delight in chariot and armour, their care +in pasturing their sleek horses, follows them in like wise low under +earth. Others, lo! he beholds feasting on the sward to right and left, +and singing in chorus the glad Paean-cry, within a scented laurel-grove +whence Eridanus river surges upward full-volumed through the wood. Here +is the band of them who bore wounds in fighting for their country, and +they who were pure in priesthood while life endured, and the good poets +whose speech abased not Apollo; and they who made life beautiful by the +arts of their invention, and who won by service a memory among men, the +brows of all girt with the snow-white fillet. To their encircling throng +the Sibyl spoke thus, and to Musaeus before them all; for he is midmost +of all the multitude, and stands out head and shoulders among their +upward gaze: + +'Tell, O blissful souls, and thou, poet most gracious, what region, what +place hath Anchises for his own? For his sake are we come, and have +sailed across the wide rivers of Erebus.' + +And to her the hero thus made brief reply: 'None hath a fixed dwelling; +we live in the shady woodlands; soft-swelling banks and meadows fresh +with streams are our habitation. But you, if this be your heart's +desire, scale this ridge, and I will even now set you on an easy +[677-708]pathway.' He spoke, and paced on before them, and from above +shews the shining plains; thereafter they leave the mountain heights. + +But lord Anchises, deep in the green valley, was musing in earnest +survey over the imprisoned souls destined to the daylight above, and +haply reviewing his beloved children and all the tale of his people, +them and their fates and fortunes, their works and ways. And he, when he +saw Aeneas advancing to meet him over the greensward, stretched forth +both hands eagerly, while tears rolled over his cheeks, and his lips +parted in a cry: 'Art thou come at last, and hath thy love, O child of +my desire, conquered the difficult road? Is it granted, O my son, to +gaze on thy face and hear and answer in familiar tones? Thus indeed I +forecast in spirit, counting the days between; nor hath my care misled +me. What lands, what space of seas hast thou traversed to reach me, +through what surge of perils, O my son! How I dreaded the realm of Libya +might work thee harm!' + +And he: 'Thy melancholy phantom, thine, O my father, came before me +often and often, and drove me to steer to these portals. My fleet is +anchored on the Tyrrhenian brine. Give thine hand to clasp, O my father, +give it, and withdraw not from our embrace.' + +So spoke he, his face wet with abundant weeping. Thrice there did he +essay to fling his arms about his neck; thrice the phantom vainly +grasped fled out of his hands even as light wind, and most like to +fluttering sleep. + +Meanwhile Aeneas sees deep withdrawn in the covert of the vale a +woodland and rustling forest thickets, and the river of Lethe that +floats past their peaceful dwellings. Around it flitted nations and +peoples innumerable; even as in the meadows when in clear summer weather +bees settle on the variegated flowers and stream round the snow-white +[709-742]lilies, all the plain is murmurous with their humming. Aeneas +starts at the sudden view, and asks the reason he knows not; what are +those spreading streams, or who are they whose vast train fills the +banks? Then lord Anchises: 'Souls, for whom second bodies are destined +and due, drink at the wave of the Lethean stream the heedless water of +long forgetfulness. These of a truth have I long desired to tell and +shew thee face to face, and number all the generation of thy children, +that so thou mayest the more rejoice with me in finding Italy.'--'O +father, must we think that any souls travel hence into upper air, and +return again to bodily fetters? why this their strange sad longing for +the light?' 'I will tell,' rejoins Anchises, 'nor will I hold thee in +suspense, my son.' And he unfolds all things in order one by one. + +'First of all, heaven and earth and the liquid fields, the shining orb +of the moon and the Titanian star, doth a spirit sustain inly, and a +soul shed abroad in them sways all their members and mingles in the +mighty frame. Thence is the generation of man and beast, the life of +winged things, and the monstrous forms that ocean breeds under his +glittering floor. Those seeds have fiery force and divine birth, so far +as they are not clogged by taint of the body and dulled by earthy frames +and limbs ready to die. Hence is it they fear and desire, sorrow and +rejoice; nor can they pierce the air while barred in the blind darkness +of their prison-house. Nay, and when the last ray of life is gone, not +yet, alas! does all their woe, nor do all the plagues of the body wholly +leave them free; and needs must be that many a long ingrained evil +should take root marvellously deep. Therefore they are schooled in +punishment, and pay all the forfeit of a lifelong ill; some are hung +stretched to the viewless winds; some have the taint of guilt washed out +beneath the dreary deep, or burned away in fire. We [743-777]suffer, +each a several ghost; thereafter we are sent to the broad spaces of +Elysium, some few of us to possess the happy fields; till length of days +completing time's circle takes out the ingrained soilure and leaves +untainted the ethereal sense and pure spiritual flame. All these before +thee, when the wheel of a thousand years hath come fully round, a God +summons in vast train to the river of Lethe, that so they may regain in +forgetfulness the slopes of upper earth, and begin to desire to return +again into the body.' + +Anchises ceased, and leads his son and the Sibyl likewise amid the +assembled murmurous throng, and mounts a hillock whence he might scan +all the long ranks and learn their countenances as they came. + +'Now come, the glory hereafter to follow our Dardanian progeny, the +posterity to abide in our Italian people, illustrious souls and +inheritors of our name to be, these will I rehearse, and instruct thee +of thy destinies. He yonder, seest thou? the warrior leaning on his +pointless spear, holds the nearest place allotted in our groves, and +shall rise first into the air of heaven from the mingling blood of +Italy, Silvius of Alban name, the child of thine age, whom late in thy +length of days thy wife Lavinia shall nurture in the woodland, king and +father of kings; from him in Alba the Long shall our house have +dominion. He next him is Procas, glory of the Trojan race; and Capys and +Numitor; and he who shall renew thy name, Silvius Aeneas, eminent alike +in goodness or in arms, if ever he shall receive his kingdom in Alba. +Men of men! see what strength they display, and wear the civic oak +shading their brows. They shall establish Nomentum and Gabii and Fidena +city, they the Collatine hill-fortress, Pometii and the Fort of Inuus, +Bola and Cora: these shall be names that are now nameless lands. Nay, +Romulus likewise, seed of Mavors, shall join [778-810]his grandsire's +company, from his mother Ilia's nurture and Assaracus' blood. Seest thou +how the twin plumes straighten on his crest, and his father's own +emblazonment already marks him for upper air? Behold, O son! by his +augury shall Rome the renowned fill earth with her empire and heaven +with her pride, and gird about seven fortresses with her single wall, +prosperous mother of men; even as our lady of Berecyntus rides in her +chariot turret-crowned through the Phrygian cities, glad in the gods she +hath borne, clasping an hundred of her children's children, all +habitants of heaven, all dwellers on the upper heights. Hither now bend +thy twin-eyed gaze; behold this people, the Romans that are thine. Here +is Caesar and all Iülus' posterity that shall arise under the mighty +cope of heaven. Here is he, he of whose promise once and again thou +hearest, Caesar Augustus, a god's son, who shall again establish the +ages of gold in Latium over the fields that once were Saturn's realm, +and carry his empire afar to Garamant and Indian, to the land that lies +beyond our stars, beyond the sun's yearlong ways, where Atlas the +sky-bearer wheels on his shoulder the glittering star-spangled pole. +Before his coming even now the kingdoms of the Caspian shudder at +oracular answers, and the Maeotic land and the mouths of sevenfold Nile +flutter in alarm. Nor indeed did Alcides traverse such spaces of earth, +though he pierced the brazen-footed deer, or though he stilled the +Erymanthian woodlands and made Lerna tremble at his bow: nor he who +sways his team with reins of vine, Liber the conqueror, when he drives +his tigers from Nysa's lofty crest. And do we yet hesitate to give +valour scope in deeds, or shrink in fear from setting foot on Ausonian +land? Ah, and who is he apart, marked out with sprays of olive, offering +sacrifice? I know the locks and hoary chin of the king of Rome who shall +establish the infant city in his [811-843]laws, sent from little Cures' +sterile land to the majesty of empire. To him Tullus shall next succeed, +who shall break the peace of his country and stir to arms men rusted +from war and armies now disused to triumphs; and hard on him +over-vaunting Ancus follows, even now too elate in popular breath. Wilt +thou see also the Tarquin kings, and the haughty soul of Brutus the +Avenger, and the fasces regained? He shall first receive a consul's +power and the merciless axes, and when his children would stir fresh +war, the father, for fair freedom's sake, shall summon them to doom. +Unhappy! yet howsoever posterity shall take the deed, love of country +and limitless passion for honour shall prevail. Nay, behold apart the +Decii and the Drusi, Torquatus with his cruel axe, and Camillus +returning with the standards. Yonder souls likewise, whom thou +discernest gleaming in equal arms, at one now, while shut in Night, ah +me! what mutual war, what battle-lines and bloodshed shall they arouse, +so they attain the light of the living! father-in-law descending from +the Alpine barriers and the fortress of the Dweller Alone, son-in-law +facing him with the embattled East. Nay, O my children, harden not your +hearts to such warfare, neither turn upon her own heart the mastering +might of your country; and thou, be thou first to forgive, who drawest +thy descent from heaven; cast down the weapons from thy hand, O blood of +mine. . . . He shall drive his conquering chariot to the Capitoline +height triumphant over Corinth, glorious in Achaean slaughter. He shall +uproot Argos and Agamemnonian Mycenae, and the Aeacid's own heir, the +seed of Achilles mighty in arms, avenging his ancestors in Troy and +Minerva's polluted temple. Who might leave thee, lordly Cato, or thee, +Cossus, to silence? who the Gracchan family, or these two sons of the +Scipios, a double thunderbolt of war, Libya's bale? and Fabricius potent +in poverty, or [844-875]thee, Serranus, sowing in the furrow? Whither +whirl you me all breathless, O Fabii? thou art he, the most mighty, the +one man whose lingering retrieves our State. Others shall beat out the +breathing bronze to softer lines, I believe it well; shall draw living +lineaments from the marble; the cause shall be more eloquent on their +lips; their pencil shall portray the pathways of heaven, and tell the +stars in their arising: be thy charge, O Roman, to rule the nations in +thine empire; this shall be thine art, to lay down the law of peace, to +be merciful to the conquered and beat the haughty down.' + +Thus lord Anchises, and as they marvel, he so pursues: 'Look how +Marcellus the conqueror marches glorious in the splendid spoils, +towering high above them all! He shall stay the Roman State, reeling +beneath the invading shock, shall ride down Carthaginian and insurgent +Gaul, and a third time hang up the captured armour before lord +Quirinus.' + +And at this Aeneas, for he saw going by his side one excellent in beauty +and glittering in arms, but his brow had little cheer, and his eyes +looked down: + +'Who, O my father, is he who thus attends him on his way? son, or other +of his children's princely race? How his comrades murmur around him! how +goodly of presence he is! but dark Night flutters round his head with +melancholy shade.' + +Then lord Anchises with welling tears began: 'O my son, ask not of the +great sorrow of thy people. Him shall fate but shew to earth, and suffer +not to stay further. Too mighty, lords of heaven, did you deem the brood +of Rome, had this your gift been abiding. What moaning of men shall +arise from the Field of Mavors by the imperial city! what a funeral +train shalt thou see, O Tiber, as thou flowest by the new-made grave! +Neither shall the boyhood of any [876-901]of Ilian race raise his Latin +forefathers' hope so high; nor shall the land of Romulus ever boast of +any fosterling like this. Alas his goodness, alas his antique honour, +and right hand invincible in war! none had faced him unscathed in armed +shock, whether he met the foe on foot, or ran his spurs into the flanks +of his foaming horse. Ah me, the pity of thee, O boy! if in any wise +thou breakest the grim bar of fate, thou shalt be Marcellus. Give me +lilies in full hands; let me strew bright blossoms, and these gifts at +least let me lavish on my descendant's soul, and do the unavailing +service.' + +Thus they wander up and down over the whole region of broad vaporous +plains, and scan all the scene. And when Anchises had led his son over +it, each point by each, and kindled his spirit with passion for the +glories on their way, he tells him thereafter of the war he next must +wage, and instructs him of the Laurentine peoples and the city of +Latinus, and in what wise each task may be turned aside or borne. + +There are twin portals of Sleep, whereof the one is fabled of horn, and +by it real shadows are given easy outlet; the other shining white of +polished ivory, but false visions issue upward from the ghostly world. +With these words then Anchises follows forth his son and the Sibyl +together there, and dismisses them by the ivory gate. He pursues his way +to the ships and revisits his comrades; then bears on to Caieta's haven +straight along the shore. The anchor is cast from the prow; the sterns +are grounded on the beach. + + + + +BOOK SEVENTH + +THE LANDING IN LATIUM, AND THE ROLL OF THE ARMIES OF ITALY + + +Thou also, Caieta, nurse of Aeneas, gavest our shores an everlasting +renown in death; and still thine honour haunts thy resting-place, and a +name in broad Hesperia, if that be glory, marks thy dust. But when the +last rites are duly paid, and the mound smoothed over the grave, good +Aeneas, now the high seas are hushed, bears on under sail and leaves his +haven. Breezes blow into the night, and the white moonshine speeds them +on; the sea glitters in her quivering radiance. Soon they skirt the +shores of Circe's land, where the rich daughter of the Sun makes her +untrodden groves echo with ceaseless song; and her stately house glows +nightlong with burning odorous cedarwood, as she runs over her delicate +web with the ringing comb. Hence are heard afar angry cries of lions +chafing at their fetters and roaring in the deep night; bears and +bristly swine rage in their pens, and vast shapes of wolves howl; whom +with her potent herbs the deadly divine Circe had disfashioned, face and +body, into wild beasts from the likeness of men. But lest the good +Trojans might suffer so dread a change, might enter her haven or draw +nigh the ominous shores, Neptune filled [23-55]their sails with +favourable winds, and gave them escape, and bore them past the seething +shallows. + +And now the sea reddened with shafts of light, and high in heaven the +yellow dawn shone rose-charioted; when the winds fell, and every breath +sank suddenly, and the oar-blades toil through the heavy ocean-floor. +And on this Aeneas descries from sea a mighty forest. Midway in it the +pleasant Tiber stream breaks to sea in swirling eddies, laden with +yellow sand. Around and above fowl many in sort, that haunt his banks +and river-channel, solaced heaven with song and flew about the forest. +He orders his crew to bend their course and turn their prows to land, +and glides joyfully into the shady river. + + * * * * * + +Forth now, Erato! and I will unfold who were the kings, what the tides +of circumstance, how it was with ancient Latium when first that foreign +army drew their fleet ashore on Ausonia's coast; I will recall the +preluding of battle. Thou, divine one, inspire thou thy poet. I will +tell of grim wars, tell of embattled lines, of kings whom honour drove +on death, of the Tyrrhenian forces, and all Hesperia enrolled in arms. A +greater history opens before me, a greater work I essay. + +Latinus the King, now growing old, ruled in a long peace over quiet +tilth and town. He, men say, was sprung of Faunus and the nymph Marica +of Laurentum. Faunus' father was Picus; and he boasts himself, Saturn, +thy son; thou art the first source of their blood. Son of his, by divine +ordinance, and male descent was none, cut off in the early spring of +youth. One alone kept the household and its august home, a daughter now +ripe for a husband and of full years for marriage. Many wooed her from +wide Latium and all Ausonia. Fairest and foremost of all [56-93]is +Turnus, of long and lordly ancestry; but boding signs from heaven, many +and terrible, bar the way. Within the palace, in the lofty inner courts, +was a laurel of sacred foliage, guarded in awe through many years, which +lord Latinus, it was said, himself found and dedicated to Phoebus when +first he would build his citadel; and from it gave his settlers their +name, Laurentines. High atop of it, wonderful to tell, bees borne with +loud humming across the liquid air girt it thickly about, and with +interlinked feet hung in a sudden swarm from the leafy bough. +Straightway the prophet cries: 'I see a foreigner draw nigh, an army +from the same quarter seek the same quarter, and reign high in our +fortress.' Furthermore, while maiden Lavinia stands beside her father +feeding the altars with holy fuel, she was seen, oh, horror! to catch +fire in her long tresses, and burn with flickering flame in all her +array, her queenly hair lit up, lit up her jewelled circlet; till, +enwreathed in smoke and lurid light, she scattered fire over all the +palace. That sight was rumoured wonderful and terrible. Herself, they +prophesied, she should be glorious in fame and fortune; but a great war +was foreshadowed for her people. But the King, troubled by the omen, +visits the oracle of his father Faunus the soothsayer, and the groves +deep under Albunea, where, queen of the woods, she echoes from her holy +well, and breathes forth a dim and deadly vapour. Hence do the tribes of +Italy and all the Oenotrian land seek answers in perplexity; hither the +priest bears his gifts, and when he hath lain down and sought slumber +under the silent night on the spread fleeces of slaughtered sheep, sees +many flitting phantoms of wonderful wise, hears manifold voices, and +attains converse of the gods, and hath speech with Acheron and the deep +tract of hell. Here then, likewise seeking an answer, lord Latinus paid +fit sacrifice of an hundred woolly ewes, and [94-127]lay couched on the +strewn fleeces they had worn. Out of the lofty grove a sudden voice was +uttered: 'Seek not, O my child, to unite thy daughter in Latin +espousals, nor trust her to the bridal chambers ready to thine hand; +foreigners shall come to be thy sons, whose blood shall raise our name +to heaven, and the children of whose race shall see, where the circling +sun looks on either ocean, all the rolling world swayed beneath their +feet.' This his father Faunus' answer and counsel given in the silent +night Latinus restrains not in his lips; but wide-flitting Rumour had +already borne it round among the Ausonian cities, when the children of +Laomedon moored their fleet to the grassy slope of the river bank. + +Aeneas, with the foremost of his captains and fair Iülus, lay them down +under the boughs of a high tree and array the feast. They spread wheaten +cakes along the sward under their meats--so Jove on high prompted--and +crown the platter of corn with wilding fruits. Here haply when the rest +was spent, and scantness of food set them to eat their thin bread, and +with hand and venturous teeth do violence to the round cakes fraught +with fate and spare not the flattened squares: _Ha! Are we eating our +tables too?_ cries Iülus jesting, and stops. At once that accent heard +set their toils a limit; and at once as he spoke his father caught it +from his lips and hushed him, in amazement at the omen. Straightway +'Hail, O land!' he cries, 'my destined inheritance! and hail, O +household gods, faithful to your Troy! here is home; this is our native +country. For my father Anchises, now I remember it, bequeathed me this +secret of fate: "When hunger shall drive thee, O son, to consume thy +tables where the feast fails, on the unknown shores whither thou shalt +sail; then, though outwearied, hope for home, and there at last let +thine hand remember to set thy house's foundations and bulwarks." This +was [128-162]the hunger, this the last that awaited us, to set the +promised end to our desolations . . . Up then, and, glad with the first +sunbeam, let us explore and search all abroad from our harbour, what is +the country, who its habitants, where is the town of the nation. Now +pour your cups to Jove, and call in prayer on Anchises our father, +setting the wine again upon the board.' So speaks he, and binding his +brows with a leafy bough, he makes supplication to the Genius of the +ground, and Earth first of deities, and the Nymphs, and the Rivers yet +unknown; then calls on Night and Night's rising signs, and next on Jove +of Ida, and our lady of Phrygia, and on his twain parents, in heaven and +in the under world. At this the Lord omnipotent thrice thundered sharp +from high heaven, and with his own hand shook out for a sign in the sky +a cloud ablaze with luminous shafts of gold. A sudden rumour spreads +among the Trojan array, that the day is come to found their destined +city. Emulously they renew the feast, and, glad at the high omen, array +the flagons and engarland the wine. + +Soon as the morrow bathed the lands in its dawning light, they part to +search out the town, and the borders and shores of the nation: these are +the pools and spring of Numicus; this is the Tiber river; here dwell the +brave Latins. Then the seed of Anchises commands an hundred envoys +chosen of every degree to go to the stately royal city, all with the +wreathed boughs of Pallas, to bear him gifts and desire grace for the +Teucrians. Without delay they hasten on their message, and advance with +swift step. Himself he traces the city walls with a shallow trench, and +builds on it; and in fashion of a camp girdles this first settlement on +the shore with mound and battlements. And now his men had traversed +their way; they espied the towers and steep roofs of the Latins, and +drew near the wall. Before the city boys and men in their early +[163-196]bloom exercise on horseback, and break in their teams on the +dusty ground, or draw ringing bows, or hurl tough javelins from the +shoulder, and contend in running and boxing: when a messenger riding +forward brings news to the ears of the aged King that mighty men are +come thither in unknown raiment. He gives orders to call them within his +house, and takes his seat in the midst on his ancestral throne. His +house, stately and vast, crowned the city, upreared on an hundred +columns, once the palace of Laurentian Picus, amid awful groves of +ancestral sanctity. Here their kings receive the inaugural sceptre, and +have the fasces first raised before them; this temple was their +senate-house; this their sacred banqueting-hall; here, after sacrifice +of rams, the elders were wont to sit down at long tables. Further, there +stood arow in the entry images of the forefathers of old in ancient +cedar, Italus, and lord Sabinus, planter of the vine, still holding in +show the curved pruning-hook, and gray Saturn, and the likeness of Janus +the double-facing, and the rest of their primal kings, and they who had +borne wounds of war in fighting for their country. Armour besides hangs +thickly on the sacred doors, captured chariots and curved axes, +helmet-crests and massy gateway-bars, lances and shields, and beaks torn +from warships. He too sat there, with the divining-rod of Quirinus, girt +in the short augural gown, and carrying on his left arm the sacred +shield, Picus the tamer of horses; he whom Circe, desperate with amorous +desire, smote with her golden rod and turned by her poisons into a bird +with patches of colour on his wings. Of such wise was the temple of the +gods wherein Latinus, sitting on his father's seat, summoned the +Teucrians to his house and presence; and when they entered in, he thus +opened with placid mien: + +'Tell, O Dardanians, for we are not ignorant of your city and race, nor +unheard of do you bend your course [197-228]overseas, what seek you? +what the cause or whereof the need that hath borne you over all these +blue waterways to the Ausonian shore? Whether wandering in your course, +or tempest-driven (such perils manifold on the high seas do sailors +suffer), you have entered the river banks and lie in harbour; shun not +our welcome, and be not ignorant that the Latins are Saturn's people, +whom no laws fetter to justice, upright of their own free will and the +custom of the god of old. And now I remember, though the story is dimmed +with years, thus Auruncan elders told, how Dardanus, born in this our +country, made his way to the towns of Phrygian Ida and to the Thracian +Samos that is now called Samothrace. Here was the home he left, +Tyrrhenian Corythus; now the palace of heaven, glittering with golden +stars, enthrones and adds him to the ranged altars of the gods.' + +He ended; and Ilioneus pursued his speech with these words: + +'King, Faunus' illustrious progeny, neither hath black tempest driven us +with stress of waves to shelter in your lands, nor hath star or shore +misled us on the way we went. Of set purpose and willing mind do we draw +nigh this thy city, outcasts from a realm once the greatest that the sun +looked on as he came from Olympus' utmost border. From Jove hath our +race beginning; in Jove the men of Dardania rejoice as ancestor; our +King himself of Jove's supreme race, Aeneas of Troy, hath sent us to thy +courts. How terrible the tempest that burst from fierce Mycenae over the +plains of Ida, driven by what fate Europe and Asia met in the shock of +two worlds, even he hath heard who is sundered in the utmost land where +the ocean surge recoils, and he whom stretching midmost of the four +zones the zone of the intolerable sun holds in severance. Borne by that +flood over many desolate seas, we crave a scant dwelling [229-261]for +our country's gods, an unmolested landing-place, and the air and water +that are free to all. We shall not disgrace the kingdom; nor will the +rumour of your renown be lightly gone or the grace of all you have done +fade away; nor will Ausonia be sorry to have taken Troy to her breast. +By the fortunes of Aeneas I swear, by that right hand mighty, whether +tried in friendship or in warlike arms, many and many a people and +nation--scorn us not because we advance with hands proffering chaplets +and words of supplication--hath sought us for itself and desired our +alliance; but yours is the land that heaven's high ordinance drove us +forth to find. Hence sprung Dardanus: hither Apollo recalls us, and +pushes us on with imperious orders to Tyrrhenian Tiber and the holy +pools of Numicus' spring. Further, he presents to thee these small +guerdons of our past estate, relics saved from burning Troy. From this +gold did lord Anchises pour libation at the altars; this was Priam's +array when he delivered statutes to the nations assembled in order; the +sceptre, the sacred mitre, the raiment wrought by the women of +Ilium. . . .' + +At these words of Ilioneus Latinus holds his countenance in a steady +gaze, and stays motionless on the floor, casting his intent eyes around. +Nor does the embroidered purple so move the King, nor the sceptre of +Priam, as his daughter's marriage and the bridal chamber absorb him, and +the oracle of ancient Faunus stirs deep in his heart. This is he, the +wanderer from a foreign home, foreshewn of fate for his son, and called +to a realm of equal dominion, whose race should be excellent in valour +and their might overbear all the world. At last he speaks with good +cheer: + +'The gods prosper our undertaking and their own augury! What thou +desirest, Trojan, shall be given; nor do I spurn your gifts. While +Latinus reigns you shall not [262-294]lack foison of rich land nor +Troy's own riches. Only let Aeneas himself come hither, if desire of us +be so strong, if he be in haste to join our friendship and be called our +ally. Let him not shrink in terror from a friendly face. A term of the +peace for me shall be to touch your monarch's hand. Do you now convey in +answer my message to your King. I have a daughter whom the oracles of my +father's shrine and many a celestial token alike forbid me to unite to +one of our own nation; sons shall come, they prophesy, from foreign +coasts, such is the destiny of Latium, whose blood shall exalt our name +to heaven. He it is on whom fate calls; this I think, this I choose, if +there be any truth in my soul's foreshadowing.' + +Thus he speaks, and chooses horses for all the company. Three hundred +stood sleek in their high stalls; for all the Teucrians in order he +straightway commands them to be led forth, fleet-footed, covered with +embroidered purple: golden chains hang drooping over their chests, +golden their housings, and they champ on bits of ruddy gold: for the +absent Aeneas a chariot and pair of chariot horses of celestial breed, +with nostrils breathing flame; of the race of those which subtle Circe +bred by sleight on her father, the bastard issue of a stolen union. With +these gifts and words the Aeneadae ride back from Latinus carrying +peace. + +And lo! the fierce wife of Jove was returning from Inachian Argos, and +held her way along the air, when out of the distant sky, far as from +Sicilian Pachynus, she espied the rejoicing of Aeneas and the Dardanian +fleet. She sees them already house-building, already trusting in the +land, their ships left empty. She stops, shot with sharp pain; then +shaking her head, she pours forth these words: + +'Ah, hated brood, and doom of the Phrygians that thwarts our doom! Could +they perish on the Sigean [295-326]plains? Could they be ensnared when +taken? Did the fires of Troy consume her people? Through the midst of +armies and through the midst of flames they have found their way. But, I +think, my deity lies at last outwearied, or my hatred sleeps and is +satisfied? Nay, it is I who have been fierce to follow them over the +waves when hurled from their country, and on all the seas have crossed +their flight. Against the Teucrians the forces of sky and sea are spent. +What hath availed me Syrtes or Scylla, what desolate Charybdis? they +find shelter in their desired Tiber-bed, careless of ocean and of me. +Mars availed to destroy the giant race of the Lapithae; the very father +of the gods gave over ancient Calydon to Diana's wrath: for forfeit of +what crime in the Lapithae, what in Calydon? But I, Jove's imperial +consort, who have borne, ah me! to leave naught undared, who have +shifted to every device, I am vanquished by Aeneas. If my deity is not +great enough, I will not assuredly falter to seek succour where it may +be; if the powers of heaven are inflexible, I will stir up Acheron. It +may not be to debar him of a Latin realm; well; and Lavinia is destined +his bride unalterably. But it may be yet to defer, to make all this +action linger; but it may be yet to waste away the nation of either +king; at such forfeit of their people may son-in-law and father-in-law +enter into union. Blood of Troy and Rutulia shall be thy dower, O +maiden, and Bellona is the bridesmaid who awaits thee. Nor did Cisseus' +daughter alone conceive a firebrand and travail of bridal flames. Nay, +even such a birth hath Venus of her own, a second Paris, another +balefire for Troy towers reborn.' + +These words uttered, she descends to earth in all her terrors, and calls +dolorous Allecto from the home of the Fatal Sisters in nether gloom, +whose delight is in woeful wars, in wrath and treachery and evil feuds: +hateful to [327-360]lord Pluto himself, hateful and horrible to her +hell-born sisters; into so many faces does she turn, so savage the guise +of each, so thick and black bristles she with vipers. And her Juno spurs +on with words, saying thus: + +'Grant me, virgin born of Night, this thy proper task and service, that +the rumour of our renown may not crumble away, nor the Aeneadae have +power to win Latinus by marriage or beset the borders of Italy. Thou +canst set brothers once united in armed conflict, and overturn families +with hatreds; thou canst launch into houses thy whips and deadly brands; +thine are a thousand names, a thousand devices of injury. Stir up thy +teeming breast, sunder the peace they have joined, and sow seeds of +quarrel; let all at once desire and demand and seize on arms.' + +Thereon Allecto, steeped in Gorgonian venom, first seeks Latium and the +high house of the Laurentine monarch, and silently sits down before +Amata's doors, whom a woman's distress and anger heated to frenzy over +the Teucrians' coming and the marriage of Turnus. At her the goddess +flings a snake out of her dusky tresses, and slips it into her bosom to +her very inmost heart, that she may embroil all her house under its +maddening magic. Sliding between her raiment and smooth breasts, it +coils without touch, and instils its viperous breath unseen; the great +serpent turns into the twisted gold about her neck, turns into the long +ribbon of her chaplet, inweaves her hair, and winds slippery over her +body. And while the gliding infection of the clammy poison begins to +penetrate her sense and run in fire through her frame, nor as yet hath +all her breast caught fire, softly she spoke and in mothers' wonted +wise, with many a tear over her daughter and the Phrygian bridal: + +'Is it to exiles, to Teucrians, that Lavinia is proffered in marriage, O +father? and hast thou no compassion on [361-392]thy daughter and on +thyself? no compassion on her mother, whom with the first northern wind +the treacherous rover will abandon, steering to sea with his maiden +prize? Is it not thus the Phrygian herdsman wound his way to Lacedaemon, +and carried Leda's Helen to the Trojan towns? Where is thy plighted +faith? Where thine ancient care for thy people, and the hand Turnus thy +kinsman hath so often clasped? If one of alien race from the Latins is +sought for our son, if this stands fixed, and thy father Faunus' +commands are heavy upon thee, all the land whose freedom severs it from +our sway is to my mind alien, and of this is the divine word. And +Turnus, if one retrace the earliest source of his line, is born of +Inachus and Acrisius, and of the midmost of Mycenae.' + +When in this vain essay of words she sees Latinus fixed against her, and +the serpent's maddening poison is sunk deep in her vitals and runs +through and through her, then indeed, stung by infinite horrors, hapless +and frenzied, she rages wildly through the endless city. As whilome a +top flying under the twisted whipcord, which boys busy at their play +drive circling wide round an empty hall, runs before the lash and spins +in wide gyrations; the witless ungrown band hang wondering over it and +admire the whirling boxwood; the strokes lend it life: with pace no +slacker is she borne midway through towns and valiant nations. Nay, she +flies into the woodland under feigned Bacchic influence, assumes a +greater guilt, arouses a greater frenzy, and hides her daughter in the +mountain coverts to rob the Teucrians of their bridal and stay the +marriage torches. 'Hail, Bacchus!' she shrieks and clamours; 'thou only +art worthy of the maiden; for to thee she takes up the lissom wands, +thee she circles in the dance, to thee she trains and consecrates her +tresses.' Rumour flies abroad; and the matrons, their breasts kindled by +the furies, run all at once [393-426]with a single ardour to seek out +strange dwellings. They have left their homes empty, they throw neck and +hair free to the winds; while others fill the air with ringing cries, +girt about with fawnskins, and carrying spears of vine. Amid them the +infuriate queen holds her blazing pine-torch on high, and chants the +wedding of Turnus and her daughter; and rolling her bloodshot gaze, +cries sudden and harsh: 'Hear, O mothers of Latium, wheresoever you be; +if unhappy Amata hath yet any favour in your affection, if care for a +mother's right pierces you, untie the chaplets from your hair, begin the +orgies with me.' Thus, amid woods and wild beasts' solitary places, does +Allecto goad the queen with the encircling Bacchic madness. + +When their frenzy seemed heightened and her first task complete, the +purpose and all the house of Latinus turned upside down, the dolorous +goddess flies on thence, soaring on dusky wing, to the walls of the +gallant Rutulian, the city which Danaë, they say, borne down on the +boisterous south wind, built and planted with Acrision's people. The +place was called Ardea once of old; and still Ardea remains a mighty +name; but its fortune is no more. Here in his high house Turnus now took +rest in the black midnight. Allecto puts off her grim feature and the +body of a Fury; she transforms her face to an aged woman's, and furrows +her brow with ugly wrinkles; she puts on white tresses chaplet-bound, +and entwines them with an olive spray; she becomes aged Calybe, +priestess of Juno's temple, and presents herself before his eyes, +uttering thus: + +'Turnus, wilt thou brook all these toils poured out in vain, and the +conveyance of thy crown to Dardanian settlers? The King denies thee thy +bride and the dower thy blood had earned; and a foreigner is sought for +heir to the kingdom. Forth now, dupe, and face thankless perils; forth, +cut down the Tyrrhenian lines; give the [427-458]Latins peace in thy +protection. This Saturn's omnipotent daughter in very presence commanded +me to pronounce to thee, as thou wert lying in the still night. +Wherefore arise, and make ready with good cheer to arm thy people and +march through thy gates to battle; consume those Phrygian captains that +lie with their painted hulls in the beautiful river. All the force of +heaven orders thee on. Let King Latinus himself know of it, unless he +consents to give thee thy bridal, and abide by his words, when he shall +at last make proof of Turnus' arms.' + +But he, deriding her inspiration, with the words of his mouth thus +answers her again: + +'The fleets ride on the Tiber wave; that news hath not, as thou deemest, +escaped mine ears. Frame not such terrors before me. Neither is Queen +Juno forgetful of us. . . . But thee, O mother, overworn old age, +exhausted and untrue, frets with vain distress, and amid embattled kings +mocks thy presage with false dismay. Thy charge it is to keep the divine +image and temple; war and peace shall be in the hands of men and +warriors.' + +At such words Allecto's wrath blazed out. But amid his utterance a quick +shudder overruns his limbs; his eyes are fixed in horror; so thickly +hiss the snakes of the Fury, so vast her form expands. Then rolling her +fiery eyes, she thrust him back as he would stammer out more, raised two +serpents in her hair, and, sounding her whip, resumed with furious tone: + +'Behold me the overworn! me whom old age, exhausted and untrue, mocks +with false dismay amid embattled kings! Look on this! I am come from the +home of the Dread Sisters: war and death are in my hand. . . .' + +So speaking, she hurled her torch at him, and pierced his breast with +the lurid smoking brand. He breaks from sleep in overpowering fear, his +limbs and body bathed in [459-494]sweat that breaks out all over him; +he shrieks madly for arms, searches for arms on his bed and in his +palace. The passion of the sword rages high, the accursed fury of war, +and wrath over all: even as when flaming sticks are heaped roaring loud +under the sides of a seething cauldron, and the boiling water leaps up; +the river of water within smokes furiously and swells high in +overflowing foam, and now the wave contains itself no longer; the dark +steam flies aloft. So, for the stain of the broken peace, he orders his +chief warriors to march on King Latinus, and bids prepare for battle, to +defend Italy and drive the foe from their borders; himself will suffice +for Trojans and Latins together. When he uttered these words and called +the gods to hear his vows, the Rutulians stir one another up to arms. +One is moved by the splendour of his youthful beauty, one by his royal +ancestry, another by the noble deeds of his hand. + +While Turnus fills the Rutulian minds with valour, Allecto on Stygian +wing hastens towards the Trojans. With fresh wiles she marked the spot +where beautiful Iülus was trapping and coursing game on the bank; here +the infernal maiden suddenly crosses his hounds with the maddening touch +of a familiar scent, and drives them hotly on the stag-hunt. This was +the source and spring of ill, and kindled the country-folk to war. The +stag, beautiful and high-antlered, was stolen from his mother's udder +and bred by Tyrrheus' boys and their father Tyrrheus, master of the +royal herds, and ranger of the plain. Their sister Silvia tamed him to +her rule, and lavished her care on his adornment, twining his antlers +with delicate garlands, and combed his wild coat and washed him in the +clear spring. Tame to her hand, and familiar to his master's table, he +would wander the woods, and, however late the night, return home to the +door he knew. Far astray, he floated idly down the stream, and allayed +his heat on the green bank, when Iülus' [495-528]mad hounds started him +in their hunting; and Ascanius himself, kindled with desire of the chief +honour, aimed a shaft from his bended bow. A present deity suffered not +his hand to stray, and the loud whistling reed came driven through his +belly and flanks. But the wounded beast fled within the familiar roof +and crept moaning to the courtyard, dabbled with blood, and filling all +the house with moans as of one beseeching. Sister Silvia, smiting her +arms with open hands, begins to call for aid, and gathers the hardy +rustics with her cries. They, for a fell destroyer is hidden in the +silent woodland, are there before her expectation, one armed with a +stake hardened in the fire, one with a heavy knotted trunk; what each +one searches and finds, wrath turns into a weapon. Tyrrheus cheers on +his array, panting hard, with his axe caught up in his hand, as he was +haply splitting an oaken log in four clefts with cross-driven wedges. + +But the grim goddess, seizing from her watch-tower the moment of +mischief, seeks the steep farm-roof and sounds the pastoral war-note +from the ridge, straining the infernal cry on her twisted horn; it +spread shuddering over all the woodland, and echoed through the deep +forests: the lake of Trivia heard it afar; Nar river heard it with white +sulphurous water, and the springs of Velinus; and fluttered mothers +clasped their children to their breast. Then, hurrying to the voice of +the terrible trumpet-note, on all sides the wild rustics snatch their +arms and stream in: therewithal the men of Troy pour out from their +camp's open gates to succour Ascanius. The lines are ranged; not now in +rustic strife do they fight with hard trunks or burned stakes; the +two-edged steel sways the fight, the broad cornfields bristle dark with +drawn swords, and brass flashes smitten by the sunlight, and casts a +gleam high into the cloudy air: as when the wind begins to blow and the +flood [529-560]to whiten, gradually the sea lifts his waves higher and +yet higher, then rises from the bottom right into the air. Here in the +front rank young Almo, once Tyrrheus' eldest son, is struck down by a +whistling arrow; for the wound, staying in his throat, cut off in blood +the moist voice's passage and the thin life. Around many a one lies +dead, aged Galaesus among them, slain as he throws himself between them +for a peacemaker, once incomparable in justice and wealth of Ausonian +fields; for him five flocks bleated, a five-fold herd returned from +pasture, and an hundred ploughs upturned the soil. + +But while thus in even battle they fight on the broad plain, the +goddess, her promise fulfilled, when she hath dyed the war in blood, and +mingled death in the first encounter, quits Hesperia, and, glancing +through the sky, addresses Juno in exultant tone: + +'Lo, discord is ripened at thy desire into baleful war: tell them now to +mix in amity and join alliance. Insomuch as I have imbued the Trojans in +Ausonian blood, this likewise will I add, if I have assurance of thy +will. With my rumours I will sweep the bordering towns into war, and +kindle their spirit with furious desire for battle, that from all +quarters help may come; I will sow the land with arms.' + +Then Juno answering: 'Terror and harm is wrought abundantly. The springs +of war are aflow: they fight with arms in their grasp, the arms that +chance first supplied, that fresh blood stains. Let this be the union, +this the bridal that Venus' illustrious progeny and Latinus the King +shall celebrate. Our Lord who reigns on Olympus' summit would not have +thee stray too freely in heaven's upper air. Withdraw thy presence. +Whatsoever future remains in the struggle, that I myself will sway.' + +Such accents uttered the daughter of Saturn; and the [561-594]other +raises her rustling snaky wings and darts away from the high upper air +to Cocytus her home. There is a place midmost of Italy, deep in the +hills, notable and famed of rumour in many a country, the Vale of +Amsanctus; on either hand a wooded ridge, dark with thick foliage, hems +it in, and midway a torrent in swirling eddies shivers and echoes over +the rocks. Here is shewn a ghastly pool, a breathing-hole of the grim +lord of hell, and a vast chasm breaking into Acheron yawns with +pestilential throat. In it the Fury sank, and relieved earth and heaven +of her hateful influence. + +But therewithal the queenly daughter of Saturn puts the last touch to +war. The shepherds pour in full tale from the battlefield into the town, +bearing back their slain, the boy Almo and Galaesus' disfigured face, +and cry on the gods and call on Latinus. Turnus is there, and amid the +heat and outcry at the slaughter redoubles his terrors, crying that +Teucrians are bidden to the kingdom, that a Phrygian race is mingling +its taint with theirs, and he is thrust out of their gates. They too, +the matrons of whose kin, struck by Bacchus, trample in choirs down the +pathless woods--nor is Amata's name a little thing--they too gather +together from all sides and weary themselves with the battle-cry. Omens +and oracles of gods go down before them, and all under malign influence +clamour for awful war. Emulously they surround Latinus' royal house. He +withstands, even as a rock in ocean unremoved, as a rock in ocean when +the great crash comes down, firm in its own mass among many waves +slapping all about: in vain the crags and boulders hiss round it in +foam, and the seaweed on its side is flung up and sucked away. But when +he may in nowise overbear their blind counsel, and all goes at fierce +Juno's beck, with many an appeal to gods and void sky, 'Alas!' he cries, +'we are broken of fate and driven helpless in the [595-626]storm. With +your very blood will you pay the price of this, O wretched men! Thee, O +Turnus, thy crime, thee thine awful punishment shall await; too late +wilt thou address to heaven thy prayers and supplication. For my rest +was won, and my haven full at hand; I am robbed but of a happy death.' +And without further speech he shut himself in the palace, and dropped +the reins of state. + +There was a use in Hesperian Latium, which the Alban towns kept in holy +observance, now Rome keeps, the mistress of the world, when they stir +the War-God to enter battle; whether their hands prepare to carry war +and weeping among Getae or Hyrcanians or Arabs, or to reach to India and +pursue the Dawn, and reclaim their standards from the Parthian. There +are twain gates of War, so runs their name, consecrate in grim Mars' +sanctity and terror. An hundred bolts of brass and masses of everlasting +iron shut them fast, and Janus the guardian never sets foot from their +threshold. There, when the sentence of the Fathers stands fixed for +battle, the Consul, arrayed in the robe of Quirinus and the Gabine +cincture, with his own hand unbars the grating doors, with his own lips +calls battles forth; then all the rest follow on, and the brazen +trumpets blare harsh with consenting breath. With this use then likewise +they bade Latinus proclaim war on the Aeneadae, and unclose the baleful +gates. He withheld his hand, and shrank away averse from the abhorred +service, and hid himself blindly in the dark. Then the Saturnian queen +of heaven glided from the sky, with her own hand thrust open the +lingering gates, and swung sharply back on their hinges the iron-bound +doors of war. Ausonia is ablaze, till then unstirred and immoveable. +Some make ready to march afoot over the plains; some, mounted on tall +horses, ride amain in clouds of dust. All seek out arms; and now they +rub their shields smooth and make their spearheads glitter with +[627-659]fat lard, and grind their axes on the whetstone: rejoicingly +they advance under their standards and hear the trumpet note. Five great +cities set up the anvil and sharpen the sword, strong Atina and proud +Tibur, Ardea and Crustumeri, and turreted Antemnae. They hollow out +head-gear to guard them, and plait wickerwork round shield-bosses; +others forge breastplates of brass or smooth greaves of flexible silver. +To this is come the honour of share and pruning-hook, to this all the +love of the plough: they re-temper their fathers' swords in the furnace. +And now the trumpets blare; the watchword for war passes along. One +snatches a helmet hurriedly from his house, another backs his neighing +horses into the yoke; and arrays himself in shield and mail-coat +triple-linked with gold, and girds on his trusty sword. + +Open now the gates of Helicon, goddesses, and stir the song of the kings +that rose for war, the array that followed each and filled the plains, +the men that even then blossomed, the arms that blazed in Italy the +bountiful land: for you remember, divine ones, and you can recall; to us +but a breath of rumour, scant and slight, is wafted down. + +First from the Tyrrhene coast savage Mezentius, scorner of the gods, +opens the war and arrays his columns. By him is Lausus, his son, +unexcelled in bodily beauty by any save Laurentine Turnus, Lausus tamer +of horses and destroyer of wild beasts; he leads a thousand men who +followed him in vain from Agylla town; worthy to be happier in ancestral +rule, and to have other than Mezentius for father. + +After them beautiful Aventinus, born of beautiful Hercules, displays on +the sward his palm-crowned chariot and victorious horses, and carries on +his shield his father's device, the hundred snakes of the Hydra's +serpent-wreath. Him, in the wood of the hill Aventine, Rhea the +priestess [660-693]bore by stealth into the borders of light, a woman +mingled with a god, after the Tirynthian Conqueror had slain Geryon and +set foot on the fields of Laurentum, and bathed his Iberian oxen in the +Tuscan river. These carry for war javelins and grim stabbing weapons, +and fight with the round shaft and sharp point of the Sabellian pike. +Himself he went on foot swathed in a vast lion skin, shaggy with +bristling terrors, whose white teeth encircled his head; in such wild +dress, the garb of Hercules clasped over his shoulders, he entered the +royal house. + +Next twin brothers leave Tibur town, and the people called by their +brother Tiburtus' name, Catillus and valiant Coras, the Argives, and +advance in the forefront of battle among the throng of spears: as when +two cloud-born Centaurs descend from a lofty mountain peak, leaving +Homole or snowy Othrys in rapid race; the mighty forest yields before +them as they go, and the crashing thickets give them way. + +Nor was the founder of Praeneste city absent, the king who, as every age +hath believed, was born of Vulcan among the pasturing herds, and found +beside the hearth, Caeculus. On him a rustic battalion attends in loose +order, they who dwell in steep Praeneste and the fields of Juno of +Gabii, on the cool Anio and the Hernican rocks dewy with streams; they +whom rich Anagnia, and whom thou, lord Amasenus, pasturest. Not all of +them have armour, nor shields and clattering chariots. The most part +shower bullets of dull lead; some wield in their hand two darts, and +have for head-covering caps of tawny wolfskin; their left foot is bare +wherewith to plant their steps; the other is covered with a boot of raw +hide. + +But Messapus, tamer of horses, the seed of Neptune, whom none might ever +strike down with steel or fire, calls quickly to arms his long unstirred +peoples and bands [694-727]disused to war, and again handles the sword. +These are of the Fescennine ranks and of Aequi Falisci, these of +Soracte's fortresses and the fields of Flavina, and Ciminus' lake and +hill, and the groves of Capena. They marched in even time, singing their +King; as whilome snowy swans among the thin clouds, when they return +from pasturage, and utter resonant notes through their long necks; far +off echoes the river and the smitten Asian fen. . . . Nor would one +think these vast streaming masses were ranks clad in brass; rather that, +high in air, a cloud of hoarse birds from the deep gulf was pressing to +the shore. + +Lo, Clausus of the ancient Sabine blood, leading a great host, a great +host himself; from whom now the Claudian tribe and family is spread +abroad since Rome was shared with the Sabines. Alongside is the broad +battalion of Amiternum, and the Old Latins, and all the force of Eretum +and the Mutuscan oliveyards; they who dwell in Nomentum town, and the +Rosean country by Velinus, who keep the crags of rough Tetrica and Mount +Severus, Casperia and Foruli, and the river of Himella; they who drink +of Tiber and Fabaris, they whom cold Nursia hath sent, and the squadrons +of Horta and the tribes of Latinium; and they whom Allia, the +ill-ominous name, severs with its current; as many as the waves that +roll on the Libyan sea-floor when fierce Orion sets in the wintry surge; +as thick as the ears that ripen in the morning sunlight on the plain of +the Hermus or the yellowing Lycian tilth. Their shields clatter, and +earth is amazed under the trampling of their feet. + +Here Agamemnonian Halaesus, foe of the Trojan name, yokes his chariot +horses, and draws a thousand warlike peoples to Turnus; those who turn +with spades the Massic soil that is glad with wine; whom the elders of +Aurunca sent from their high hills, and the Sidicine low country +[728-761]hard by; and those who leave Cales, and the dweller by the +shallows of Volturnus river, and side by side the rough Saticulan and +the Oscan bands. Polished maces are their weapons, and these it is their +wont to fit with a tough thong; a target covers their left side, and for +close fighting they have crooked swords. + +Nor shalt thou, Oebalus, depart untold of in our verses, who wast borne, +men say, by the nymph Sebethis to Telon, when he grew old in rule over +Capreae the Teleboïc realm: but not so content with his ancestral +fields, his son even then held down in wide sway the Sarrastian peoples +and the meadows watered by Sarnus, and the dwellers in Rufrae and +Batulum, and the fields of Celemnae, and they on whom from her apple +orchards Abella city looks down. Their wont was to hurl lances in +Teutonic fashion; their head covering was stripped bark of the cork +tree, their shield-plates glittering brass, glittering brass their +sword. + +Thee too, Ufens, mountainous Nersae sent forth to battle, of noble fame +and prosperous arms, whose race on the stiff Aequiculan clods is rough +beyond all other, and bred to continual hunting in the woodland; they +till the soil in arms, and it is ever their delight to drive in fresh +spoils and live on plunder. + +Furthermore there came, sent by King Archippus, the priest of the +Marruvian people, dressed with prosperous olive leaves over his helmet, +Umbro excellent in valour, who was wont with charm and touch to sprinkle +slumberous dew on the viper's brood and water-snakes of noisome breath. +Yet he availed not to heal the stroke of the Dardanian spear-point, nor +was the wound of him helped by his sleepy charms and herbs culled on the +Massic hills. Thee the woodland of Angitia, thee Fucinus' glassy wave, +thee the clear pools wept. . . . + +Likewise the seed of Hippolytus marched to war, Virbius [762-796]most +excellent in beauty, sent by his mother Aricia. The groves of Egeria +nursed him round the spongy shore where Diana's altar stands rich and +gracious. For they say in story that Hippolytus, after he fell by his +stepmother's treachery, torn asunder by his frightened horses to fulfil +a father's revenge, came again to the daylight and heaven's upper air, +recalled by Diana's love and the drugs of the Healer. Then the Lord +omnipotent, indignant that any mortal should rise from the nether shades +to the light of life, launched his thunder and hurled down to the +Stygian water the Phoebus-born, the discoverer of such craft and cure. +But Trivia the bountiful hides Hippolytus in a secret habitation, and +sends him away to the nymph Egeria and the woodland's keeping, where, +solitary in Italian forests, he should spend an inglorious life, and +have Virbius for his altered name. Whence also hoofed horses are kept +away from Trivia's temple and consecrated groves, because, affrighted at +the portents of the sea, they overset the chariot and flung him out upon +the shore. Notwithstanding did his son train his ruddy steeds on the +level plain, and sped charioted to war. + +Himself too among the foremost, splendid in beauty of body, Turnus moves +armed and towers a whole head over all. His lofty helmet, triple-tressed +with horse-hair, holds high a Chimaera breathing from her throat Aetnean +fires, raging the more and exasperate with baleful flames, as the battle +and bloodshed grow fiercer. But on his polished shield was emblazoned in +gold Io with uplifted horns, already a heifer and overgrown with hair, a +lofty design, and Argus the maiden's warder, and lord Inachus pouring +his stream from his embossed urn. Behind comes a cloud of infantry, and +shielded columns thicken over all the plains; the Argive men and +Auruncan forces, the Rutulians and old Sicanians, the Sacranian ranks +and Labicians with [797-817]painted shields; they who till thy dells, O +Tiber, and Numicus' sacred shore, and whose ploughshare goes up and down +on the Rutulian hills and the Circaean headland, over whose fields +Jupiter of Anxur watches, and Feronia glad in her greenwood: and where +the marsh of Satura lies black, and cold Ufens winds his way along the +valley-bottoms and sinks into the sea. + +Therewithal came Camilla the Volscian, leading a train of cavalry, +squadrons splendid with brass: a warrior maiden who had never used her +woman's hands to Minerva's distaff or wool-baskets, but hardened to +endure the battle shock and outstrip the winds with racing feet. She +might have flown across the topmost blades of unmown corn and left the +tender ears unhurt as she ran; or sped her way over mid sea upborne by +the swelling flood, nor dipt her swift feet in the water. All the people +pour from house and field, and mothers crowd to wonder and gaze at her +as she goes, in rapturous astonishment at the royal lustre of purple +that drapes her smooth shoulders, at the clasp of gold that intertwines +her tresses, at the Lycian quiver she carries, and the pastoral myrtle +shaft topped with steel. + + + + +BOOK EIGHTH + +THE EMBASSAGE TO EVANDER + + +When Turnus ran up the flag of war on the towers of Laurentum, and the +trumpets blared with harsh music, when he spurred his fiery steeds and +clashed his armour, straightway men's hearts are in tumult; all Latium +at once flutters in banded uprisal, and her warriors rage furiously. +Their chiefs, Messapus, and Ufens, and Mezentius, scorner of the gods, +begin to enrol forces on all sides, and dispeople the wide fields of +husbandmen. Venulus too is sent to the town of mighty Diomede to seek +succour, to instruct him that Teucrians set foot in Latium; that Aeneas +in his fleet invades them with the vanquished gods of his home, and +proclaims himself the King summoned of fate; that many tribes join the +Dardanian, and his name swells high in Latium. What he will rear on +these foundations, what issue of battle he desires, if Fortune attend +him, lies clearer to his own sight than to King Turnus or King Latinus. + +Thus was it in Latium. And the hero of Laomedon's blood, seeing it all, +tosses on a heavy surge of care, and throws his mind rapidly this way +and that, and turns it on all hands in swift change of thought: even as +when the quivering light of water brimming in brass, struck back +[23-56]from the sunlight or the moon's glittering reflection, flickers +abroad over all the room, and now mounts aloft and strikes the high +panelled roof. Night fell, and over all lands weary creatures were fast +in deep slumber, the race of fowl and of cattle; when lord Aeneas, sick +at heart of the dismal warfare, stretched him on the river bank under +the cope of the cold sky, and let sleep, though late, overspread his +limbs. To him the very god of the ground, the pleasant Tiber stream, +seemed to raise his aged form among the poplar boughs; thin lawn veiled +him with its gray covering, and shadowy reeds hid his hair. Thereon he +addressed him thus, and with these words allayed his distresses: + +'O born of the family of the gods, thou who bearest back our Trojan city +from hostile hands, and keepest Troy towers in eternal life; O long +looked for on Laurentine ground and Latin fields! here is thine assured +home, thine home's assured gods. Draw not thou back, nor be alarmed by +menace of war. All the anger and wrath of the gods is passed away . . . +And even now for thine assurance, that thou think not this the idle +fashioning of sleep, a great sow shall be found lying under the oaks on +the shore, with her new-born litter of thirty head: white she couches on +the ground, and the brood about her teats is white. By this token in +thirty revolving years shall Ascanius found a city, Alba of bright name. +My prophecy is sure. Now hearken, and I will briefly instruct thee how +thou mayest unravel and overcome thy present task. An Arcadian people +sprung of Pallas, following in their king Evander's company beneath his +banners, have chosen a place in these coasts, and set a city on the +hills, called Pallanteum after Pallas their forefather. These wage +perpetual war with the Latin race; these do thou take to thy camp's +alliance, and join with them in league. Myself I [57-89]will lead thee +by my banks and straight along my stream, that thou mayest oar thy way +upward against the river. Up and arise, goddess-born, and even with the +setting stars address thy prayers to Juno as is meet, and vanquish her +wrath and menaces with humble vows. To me thou shalt pay a conqueror's +sacrifice. I am he whom thou seest washing the banks with full flood and +severing the rich tilth, glassy Tiber, best beloved by heaven of rivers. +Here is my stately home; my fountain-head is among high cities.' + +Thus spoke the River, and sank in the depth of the pool: night and sleep +left Aeneas. He arises, and, looking towards the radiant sky of the +sunrising, holds up water from the river in fitly-hollowed palms, and +pours to heaven these accents: + +'Nymphs, Laurentine Nymphs, from whom is the generation of rivers, and +thou, O father Tiber, with thine holy flood, receive Aeneas and deign to +save him out of danger. What pool soever holds thy source, who pitiest +our discomforts, from whatsoever soil thou dost spring excellent in +beauty, ever shall my worship, ever my gifts frequent thee, the hornèd +river lord of Hesperian waters. Ah, be thou only by me, and graciously +confirm thy will.' So speaks he, and chooses two galleys from his fleet, +and mans them with rowers, and withal equips a crew with arms. + +And lo! suddenly, ominous and wonderful to tell, the milk-white sow, of +one colour with her white brood, is espied through the forest couched on +the green brink; whom to thee, yes to thee, queenly Juno, good Aeneas +offers in sacrifice, and sets with her offspring before thine altar. All +that night long Tiber assuaged his swelling stream, and silently stayed +his refluent wave, smoothing the surface of his waters to the fashion of +still pool and quiet mere, to spare [90-121]labour to the oar. So they +set out and speed on their way with prosperous cries; the painted fir +slides along the waterway; the waves and unwonted woods marvel at their +far-gleaming shields, and the gay hulls afloat on the river. They +outwear a night and a day in rowing, ascend the long reaches, and pass +under the chequered shadows of the trees, and cut through the green +woodland in the calm water. The fiery sun had climbed midway in the +circle of the sky when they see afar fortress walls and scattered house +roofs, where now the might of Rome hath risen high as heaven; then +Evander held a slender state. Quickly they turn their prows to land and +draw near the town. + +It chanced on that day the Arcadian king paid his accustomed sacrifice +to the great son of Amphitryon and all the gods in a grove before the +city. With him his son Pallas, with him all the chief of his people and +his poor senate were offering incense, and the blood steamed warm at +their altars. When they saw the high ships, saw them glide up between +the shady woodlands and rest on their silent oars, the sudden sight +appals them, and all at once they rise and stop the banquet. Pallas +courageously forbids them to break off the rites; snatching up a spear, +he flies forward, and from a hillock cries afar: 'O men, what cause hath +driven you to explore these unknown ways? or whither do you steer? What +is your kin, whence your habitation? Is it peace or arms you carry +hither?' Then from the lofty stern lord Aeneas thus speaks, stretching +forth in his hand an olive bough of peace-bearing: + +'Thou seest men born of Troy and arms hostile to the Latins, who have +driven us to flight in insolent warfare. We seek Evander; carry this +message, and tell him that chosen men of the Dardanian captains are come +pleading for an armed alliance.' + +Pallas stood amazed at the august name. 'Descend,' [122-154]he cries, +'whoso thou art, and speak with my father face to face, and enter our +home and hospitality.' And giving him the grasp of welcome, he caught +and clung to his hand. Advancing, they enter the grove and leave the +river. Then Aeneas in courteous words addresses the King: + +'Best of the Grecian race, thou whom fortune hath willed that I +supplicate, holding before me boughs dressed in fillets, no fear stayed +me because thou wert a Grecian chief and an Arcadian, or allied by +descent to the twin sons of Atreus. Nay, mine own prowess and the +sanctity of divine oracles, our ancestral kinship, and the fame of thee +that is spread abroad over the earth, have allied me to thee and led me +willingly on the path of fate. Dardanus, who sailed to the Teucrian +land, the first father and founder of the Ilian city, was born, as +Greeks relate, of Electra the Atlantid; Electra's sire is ancient Atlas, +whose shoulder sustains the heavenly spheres. Your father is Mercury, +whom white Maia conceived and bore on the cold summit of Cyllene; but +Maia, if we give any credence to report, is daughter of Atlas, that same +Atlas who bears up the starry heavens; so both our families branch from +a single blood. In this confidence I sent no embassy, I framed no crafty +overtures; myself I have presented mine own person, and come a suppliant +to thy courts. The same Daunian race pursues us and thee in merciless +warfare; we once expelled, they trust nothing will withhold them from +laying all Hesperia wholly beneath their yoke, and holding the seas that +wash it above and below. Accept and return our friendship. We can give +brave hearts in war, high souls and men approved in deeds.' + +Aeneas ended. The other ere now scanned in a long gaze the face and eyes +and all the form of the speaker; then thus briefly returns: + +'How gladly, bravest of the Teucrians, do I hail and [155-188]own thee! +how I recall thy father's words and the very tone and glance of great +Anchises! For I remember how Priam son of Laomedon, when he sought +Salamis on his way to the realm of his sister Hesione, went on to visit +the cold borders of Arcadia. Then early youth clad my cheeks with bloom. +I admired the Teucrian captains, admired their lord, the son of +Laomedon; but Anchises moved high above them all. My heart burned with +youthful passion to accost him and clasp hand in hand; I made my way to +him, and led him eagerly to Pheneus' high town. Departing he gave me an +adorned quiver and Lycian arrows, a scarf inwoven with gold, and a pair +of golden bits that now my Pallas possesses. Therefore my hand is +already joined in the alliance you seek, and soon as to-morrow's dawn +rises again over earth, I will send you away rejoicing in mine aid, and +supply you from my store. Meanwhile, since you are come hither in +friendship, solemnise with us these yearly rites which we may not defer, +and even now learn to be familiar at your comrades' board.' + +This said, he commands the feast and the wine-cups to be replaced whence +they were taken, and with his own hand ranges them on the grassy seat, +and welcomes Aeneas to the place of honour, with a lion's shaggy fell +for cushion and a hospitable chair of maple. Then chosen men with the +priest of the altar in emulous haste bring roasted flesh of bulls, and +pile baskets with the gift of ground corn, and serve the wine. Aeneas +and the men of Troy with him feed on the long chines of oxen and the +entrails of the sacrifice. + +After hunger is driven away and the desire of food stayed, King Evander +speaks: 'No idle superstition that knows not the gods of old hath +ordered these our solemn rites, this customary feast, this altar of +august sanctity; saved from bitter perils, O Trojan guest, do we +worship, and [189-225]most due are the rites we inaugurate. Look now +first on this overhanging cliff of stone, where shattered masses lie +strewn, and the mountain dwelling stands desolate, and rocks are rent +away in vast ruin. Here was a cavern, awful and deep-withdrawn, +impenetrable to the sunbeams, where the monstrous half-human shape of +Cacus had his hold: the ground was ever wet with fresh slaughter, and +pallid faces of men, ghastly with gore, hung nailed on the haughty +doors. This monster was the son of Vulcan, and spouted his black fires +from his mouth as he moved in giant bulk. To us also in our desire time +bore a god's aid and arrival. For princely Alcides the avenger came +glorious in the spoils of triple Geryon slain; this way the Conqueror +drove the huge bulls, and his oxen filled the river valley. But savage +Cacus, infatuate to leave nothing undared or unhandled in craft or +crime, drives four bulls of choice shape away from their pasturage, and +as many heifers of excellent beauty. And these, that there should be no +straightforward footprints, he dragged by the tail into his cavern, the +track of their compelled path reversed, and hid them behind the screen +of rock. No marks were there to lead a seeker to the cavern. Meanwhile +the son of Amphitryon, his herds filled with food, was now breaking up +his pasturage and making ready to go. The oxen low as they depart; all +the woodland is filled with their complaint as they clamorously quit the +hills. One heifer returned the cry, and, lowing from the depth of the +dreary cave, baffled the hope of Cacus from her imprisonment. At this +the grief and choler of Alcides blazed forth dark and infuriate. Seizing +in his hand his club of heavy knotted oak, he seeks with swift pace the +aery mountain steep. Then, as never before, did we see Cacus afraid and +his countenance troubled; he goes flying swifter than the wind and seeks +his cavern; fear wings his feet. As he shut himself in, and, bursting +the [226-260]chains, dropped the vast rock slung in iron by his +father's craft, and blocked the doorway with its pressure, lo! the +Tirynthian came in furious wrath, and, scanning all the entry, turned +his face this way and that and ground his teeth. Thrice, hot with rage, +he circles all Mount Aventine; thrice he assails the rocky portals in +vain; thrice he sinks down outwearied in the valley. There stood a sharp +rock of flint with sides cut sheer away, rising over the cavern's ridge +a vast height to see, fit haunt for foul birds to build on. This--for, +sloping from the ridge, it leaned on the left towards the river--he +loosened, urging it from the right till he tore it loose from its deep +foundations; then suddenly shook it free; with the shock the vast sky +thunders, the banks leap apart, and the amazed river recoils. But the +den, Cacus' huge palace, lay open and revealed, and the depths of gloomy +cavern were made manifest; even as though some force tearing earth apart +should unlock the infernal house, and disclose the pallid realms +abhorred of heaven, and deep down the monstrous gulf be descried where +the ghosts flutter in the streaming daylight. On him then, surprised in +unexpected light, shut in the rock's recesses and howling in strange +fashion, Alcides from above hurls missiles and calls all his arms to +aid, and presses hard on him with boughs and enormous millstones. And +he, for none other escape from peril is left, vomits from his throat +vast jets of smoke, wonderful to tell, and enwreathes his dwelling in +blind gloom, blotting view from the eyes, while in the cave's depth +night thickens with smoke-bursts in a darkness shot with fire. Alcides +broke forth in anger, and with a bound hurled himself sheer amid the +flames, where the smoke rolls billowing and voluminous, and the cloud +surges black through the enormous den. Here, as Cacus in the darkness +spouts forth his idle fires, he grasps and twines tight round him, till +his eyes start out and his throat [261-295]is drained of blood under +the strangling pressure. Straightway the doors are torn open and the +dark house laid plain; the stolen oxen and forsworn plunder are shewn +forth to heaven, and the misshapen carcase dragged forward by the feet. +Men cannot satisfy their soul with gazing on the terrible eyes, the +monstrous face and shaggy bristling chest, and the throat with its +quenched fires. Thenceforth this sacrifice is solemnised, and a younger +race have gladly kept the day; Potitius the inaugurator, and the +Pinarian family, guardians of the rites of Hercules, have set in the +grove this altar, which shall ever be called of us Most Mighty, and +shall be our mightiest evermore. Wherefore arise, O men, and enwreathe +your hair with leafy sprays, and stretch forth the cups in your hands; +call on our common god and pour the glad wine.' He ended; when the +twy-coloured poplar of Hercules hid his shaded hair with pendulous +plaited leaf, and the sacred goblet filled his hand. Speedily all pour +glad libation on the board, and supplicate the gods. + +Meanwhile the evening star draws nigher down the slope of heaven, and +now the priests went forth, Potitius at their head, girt with skins +after their fashion, and bore torches aflame. They renew the banquet, +and bring the grateful gift of a second repast, and heap the altars with +loaded platters. Then the Salii stand round the lit altar-fires to sing, +their brows bound with poplar boughs, one chorus of young men, one of +elders, and extol in song the praises and deeds of Hercules; how first +he strangled in his gripe the twin terrors, the snakes of his +stepmother; how he likewise shattered in war famous cities, Troy and +Oechalia; how under Eurystheus the King he bore the toil of a thousand +labours by Juno's malign decrees. Thine hand, unconquered, slays the +cloud-born double-bodied race, Hylaeus and Pholus, the Cretan monster, +and the huge lion in the hollow Nemean rock. Before thee the Stygian +pools [296-329]shook for fear, before thee the warder of hell, couched +on half-gnawn bones in his blood-stained cavern; to thee not any form +was terrible, not Typhoeus' self towering in arms; thou wast not bereft +of counsel when the snake of Lerna encompassed thee with thronging +heads. Hail, true seed of Jove, deified glory! graciously visit us and +these thy rites with favourable feet. Such are their songs of praise; +they crown all with the cavern of Cacus and its fire-breathing lord. All +the woodland echoes with their clamour, and the hills resound. + +Thence all at once, the sacred rites accomplished, retrace their way to +the city. The age-worn King walked holding Aeneas and his son by his +side for companions on his way, and lightened the road with changing +talk. Aeneas admires and turns his eyes lightly round about, pleased +with the country; and gladly on spot after spot inquires and hears of +the memorials of earlier men. Then King Evander, founder of the fortress +of Rome: + +'In these woodlands dwelt Fauns and Nymphs sprung of the soil, and a +tribe of men born of stocks and hard oak; who had neither law nor grace +of life, nor did they know to yoke bulls or lay up stores or save their +gains, but were nurtured by the forest boughs and the hard living of the +huntsman. Long ago Saturn came from heaven on high in flight before +Jove's arms, an exile from his lost realm. He gathered together the +unruly race scattered on the mountain heights, and gave them statutes, +and chose Latium to be their name, since in these borders he had found a +safe hiding-place. Beneath his reign were the ages named of gold; thus, +in peace and quietness, did he rule the nations; till gradually there +crept in a sunken and stained time, the rage of war, and the lust of +possession. Then came the Ausonian clan and the tribes of Sicania, and +many a time the land of Saturn put away her name. Then were kings, +[330-364]and fierce Thybris with his giant bulk, from whose name we of +Italy afterwards called the Tiber river, when it lost the true name of +old, Albula. Me, cast out from my country and following the utmost +limits of the sea, Fortune the omnipotent and irreversible doom settled +in this region; and my mother the Nymph Carmentis' awful warnings and +Apollo's divine counsel drove me hither.' + +Scarce was this said; next advancing he points out the altar and the +Carmental Gate, which the Romans call anciently by that name in honour +of the Nymph Carmentis, seer and soothsayer, who sang of old the coming +greatness of the Aeneadae and the glory of Pallanteum. Next he points +out the wide grove where valiant Romulus set his sanctuary, and the +Lupercal in the cool hollow of the rock, dedicate to Lycean Pan after +the manner of Parrhasia. Therewithal he shows the holy wood of +Argiletum, and calls the spot to witness as he tells the slaying of his +guest Argus. Hence he leads him to the Tarpeian house, and the Capitol +golden now, of old rough with forest thickets. Even then men trembled +before the wood and rock. 'This grove,' he cries, 'this hill with its +leafy crown, is a god's dwelling, though whose we know not; the +Arcadians believe Jove himself hath been visible, when often he shook +the darkening aegis in his hand and gathered the storm-clouds. Thou +seest these two towns likewise with walls overthrown, relics and +memorials of men of old. This fortress lord Janus built, this Saturn; +the name of this was once Janiculum, of that Saturnia.' + +With such mutual words they drew nigh the house of poor Evander, and saw +scattered herds lowing on the Roman Forum and down the gay Carinae. When +they reached his dwelling, 'This threshold,' he cries, 'Alcides the +Conqueror stooped to cross; in this palace he rested. Dare thou, my +guest, to despise riches; mould thyself to [365-396]like dignity of +godhead, and come not exacting to our poverty.' He spoke, and led tall +Aeneas under the low roof of his narrow dwelling, and laid him on a +couch of stuffed leaves and the skin of a Libyan she-bear. Night falls +and clasps the earth in her dusky wings. + +But Venus, stirred in spirit by no vain mother's alarms, and moved by +the threats and stern uprisal of the Laurentines, addresses herself to +Vulcan, and in her golden bridal chamber begins thus, breathing divine +passion in her speech: + +'While Argolic kings wasted in war the doomed towers of Troy, the +fortress fated to fall in hostile fires, no succour did I require for +her wretched people, no weapons of thine art and aid: nor would I task, +dear my lord, thee or thy toils for naught, though I owed many and many +a debt to the children of Priam, and had often wept the sore labour of +Aeneas. Now by Jove's commands he hath set foot in the Rutulian borders; +I now therefore come with entreaty, and ask armour of the god I worship. +For the son she bore, the tears of Nereus' daughter, of Tithonus' +consort, could melt thine heart. Look what nations are gathering, what +cities bar their gates and sharpen the sword against me for the +desolation of my children.' + +The goddess ended, and, as he hesitates, clasps him round in the soft +embrace of her snowy arms. He suddenly caught the wonted flame, and the +heat known of old pierced him to the heart and overran his melting +frame: even as when, bursting from the thunder peal, a sparkling cleft +of fire shoots through the storm-clouds with dazzling light. His consort +knew, rejoiced in her wiles, and felt her beauty. Then her lord speaks, +enchained by Love the immortal: + +'Why these far-fetched pleas? Whither, O goddess, is thy trust in me +gone? Had like distress been thine, [397-431]even then we might +unblamed have armed thy Trojans, nor did doom nor the Lord omnipotent +forbid Troy to stand, and Priam to survive yet ten other years. And now, +if thou purposest war, and this is thy counsel, whatever charge I can +undertake in my craft, in aught that may be made of iron or molten +electrum, whatever fire and air can do, cease thou to entreat as +doubtful of thy strength.' These words spoken, he clasped his wife in +the desired embrace, and, sinking in her lap, wooed quiet slumber to +overspread his limbs. + +Thereon, so soon as sleep, now in mid-career of waning night, had given +rest and gone; soon as a woman, whose task is to sustain life with her +distaff and the slender labours of the loom, kindles the ashes of her +slumbering fire, her toil encroaching on the night, and sets a long task +of fire-lit spinning to her maidens, that so she may keep her husband's +bed unsullied and nourish her little children,--even so the Lord of +Fire, nor slacker in his hours than she, rises from his soft couch to +the work of his smithy. An island rises by the side of Sicily and +Aeolian Lipare, steep with smoking cliffs, whereunder the vaulted and +thunderous Aetnean caverns are hollowed out for Cyclopean forges, the +strong strokes on the anvils echo in groans, ore of steel hisses in the +vaults, and the fire pants in the furnaces: the house of Vulcan, and +Vulcania the land's name. Hither now the Lord of Fire descends from +heaven's height. In the vast cavern the Cyclopes were forging iron, +Brontes and Steropes and Pyracmon with bared limbs. Shaped in their +hands was a thunderbolt, in part already polished, such as the Father of +Heaven hurls down on earth in multitudes, part yet unfinished. Three +coils of frozen rain, three of watery mist they had enwrought in it, +three of ruddy fire and winged south wind; now they were mingling in +their work the awful splendours, the sound and terror, and the +[432-469]angry pursuing flames. Elsewhere they hurried on a chariot for +Mars with flying wheels, wherewith he stirs up men and cities; and +burnished the golden serpent-scales of the awful aegis, the armour of +wrathful Pallas, and the entwined snakes on the breast of the goddess, +the Gorgon head with severed neck and rolling eyes. 'Away with all!' he +cries: 'stop your tasks unfinished, Cyclopes of Aetna, and attend to +this; a warrior's armour must be made. Now must strength, now quickness +of hand be tried, now all our art lend her guidance. Fling off delay.' +He spoke no more; but they all bent rapidly to the work, allotting their +labours equally. Brass and ore of gold flow in streams, and wounding +steel is molten in the vast furnace. They shape a mighty shield, to +receive singly all the weapons of the Latins, and weld it sevenfold, +circle on circle. Some fill and empty the windy bellows of their blast, +some dip the hissing brass in the trough. They raise their arms mightily +in responsive time, and turn the mass of metal about in the grasp of +their tongs. + +While the lord of Lemnos is busied thus in the borders of Aeolia, +Evander is roused from his low dwelling by the gracious daylight and the +matin songs of birds from the eaves. The old man arises, and draws on +his body raiment, and ties the Tyrrhene shoe latchets about his feet; +then buckles to his side and shoulder his Tegeaean sword, and swathes +himself in a panther skin that droops upon his left. Therewithal two +watch-dogs go before him from the high threshold, and accompany their +master's steps. The hero sought his guest Aeneas in the privacy of his +dwelling, mindful of their talk and his promised bounty. Nor did Aeneas +fail to be astir with the dawn. With the one went his son Pallas, +with the other Achates. They meet and clasp hands, and, sitting down +within the house, at length enjoy unchecked converse. The King begins +thus: . . . + +[470-505]'Princely chief of the Teucrians, in whose lifetime I will +never allow the state or realm of Troy vanquished, our strength is scant +to succour in war for so great a name. On this side the Tuscan river +shuts us in; on that the Rutulian drives us hard, and thunders in arms +about our walls. But I purpose to unite to thee mighty peoples and the +camp of a wealthy realm; an unforeseen chance offers this for thy +salvation. Fate summons thy approach. Not far from here stands fast +Agylla city, an ancient pile of stone, where of old the Lydian race, +eminent in war, settled on the Etruscan ridges. For many years it +flourished, till King Mezentius ruled it with insolent sway and armed +terror. Why should I relate the horrible murders, the savage deeds of +the monarch? May the gods keep them in store for himself and his line! +Nay, he would even link dead bodies to living, fitting hand to hand and +face to face (the torture!), and in the oozy foulness and corruption of +the dreadful embrace so slay them by a lingering death. But at last his +citizens, outwearied by his mad excesses, surround him and his house in +arms, cut down his comrades, and hurl fire on his roof. Amid the +massacre he escaped to the refuge of Rutulian land and the armed defence +of Turnus' friendship. So all Etruria hath risen in righteous fury, and +in immediate battle claim their king for punishment. Over these +thousands will I make thee chief, O Aeneas; for their noisy ships crowd +all the shore, and they bid the standards advance, while the aged +diviner stays them with prophecies: "O chosen men of Maeonia, flower and +strength of them, of old time, whom righteous anger urges on the enemy, +and Mezentius inflames with deserved wrath, to no Italian is it +permitted to hold this great nation in control: choose foreigners to +lead you." At that, terrified by the divine warning, the Etruscan lines +have encamped on the plain; Tarchon himself hath sent ambassadors to me +with the crown [506-539]and sceptre of the kingdom, and offers the +royal attire will I but enter their camp and take the Tyrrhene realm. +But old age, frozen to dulness, and exhausted with length of life, +denies me the load of empire, and my prowess is past its day. I would +urge it on my son, did not the mixture of blood by his Sabellian mother +make this half his native land. Thou, to whose years and race alike the +fates extend their favour, on whom fortune calls, enter thou in, a +leader supreme in bravery over Teucrians and Italians. Mine own Pallas +likewise, our hope and comfort, I will send with thee; let him grow used +to endure warfare and the stern work of battle under thy teaching, to +regard thine actions, and from his earliest years look up to thee. To +him will I give two hundred Arcadian cavalry, the choice of our warlike +strength, and Pallas as many more to thee in his own name.' + +Scarce had he ended; Aeneas, son of Anchises, and trusty Achates gazed +with steadfast face, and, sad at heart, were revolving inly many a +labour, had not the Cytherean sent a sign from the clear sky. For +suddenly a flash and peal comes quivering from heaven, and all seemed in +a moment to totter, and the Tyrrhene trumpet-blast to roar along the +sky. They look up; again and yet again the heavy crash re-echoes. They +see in the serene space of sky armour gleam red through a cloud in the +clear air, and ring clashing out. The others stood in amaze; but the +Trojan hero knew the sound for the promise of his goddess mother; then +he speaks: 'Ask not, O friend, ask not in any wise what fortune this +presage announces; it is I who am summoned of heaven. This sign the +goddess who bore me foretold she would send if war assailed, and would +bring through the air to my succour armour from Vulcan's hands. . . . +Ah, what slaughter awaits the wretched Laurentines! what a price, O +Turnus, wilt thou pay me! how many shields and helmets and brave bodies +of men shalt thou, [540-573]Lord Tiber, roll under thy waves! Let them +call for armed array and break the league!' + +These words uttered, he rises from the high seat, and first wakes with +fresh fire the slumbering altars of Hercules, and gladly draws nigh his +tutelar god of yesternight and the small deities of the household. Alike +Evander, and alike the men of Troy, offer up, as is right, choice sheep +of two years old. Thereafter he goes to the ships and revisits his crew, +of whose company he chooses the foremost in valour to attend him to war; +the rest glide down the water and float idly with the descending stream, +to come with news to Ascanius of his father's state. They give horses to +the Teucrians who seek the fields of Tyrrhenia; a chosen one is brought +for Aeneas, housed in a tawny lion skin that glitters with claws of +gold. Rumour flies suddenly, spreading over the little town, that they +ride in haste to the courts of the Tyrrhene king. Mothers redouble their +prayers in terror, as fear treads closer on peril and the likeness of +the War God looms larger in sight. Then Evander, clasping the hand of +his departing son, clings to him weeping inconsolably, and speaks thus: + +'Oh, if Jupiter would restore me the years that are past, as I was when, +close under Praeneste, I cut down their foremost ranks and burned the +piled shields of the conquered! Then this right hand sent King Erulus +down to hell, though to him at his birth his mother Feronia (awful to +tell) had given three lives and triple arms to wield; thrice must he be +laid low in death; yet then this hand took all his lives and as often +stripped him of his arms. Never should I now, O son, be severed from thy +dear embrace; never had the insolent sword of Mezentius on my borders +dealt so many cruel deaths, widowed the city of so many citizens. But +you, O heavenly powers, and thou, Jupiter, Lord and Governor of Heaven, +have compassion, I pray, on [574-609]the Arcadian king, and hear a +father's prayers. If your deity and decrees keep my Pallas safe for me, +if I live that I may see him and meet him yet, I pray for life; any toil +soever I have patience to endure. But if, O Fortune, thou threatenest +some dread calamity, now, ah now, may I break off a cruel life, while +anxiety still wavers and expectation is in doubt, while thou, dear boy, +my one last delight, art yet clasped in my embrace; let no bitterer +message wound mine ear.' These words the father poured forth at the +final parting; his servants bore him swooning within. + +And now the cavalry had issued from the open gates, Aeneas and trusty +Achates among the foremost, then other of the Trojan princes, Pallas +conspicuous amid the column in scarf and inlaid armour; like the Morning +Star, when, newly washed in the ocean wave, he shews his holy face in +heaven, and melts the darkness away. Fearful mothers stand on the walls +and follow with their eyes the cloud of dust and the squadrons gleaming +in brass. They, where the goal of their way lies nearest, bear through +the brushwood in armed array. Forming in column, they advance noisily, +and the horse hoof shakes the crumbling plain with four-footed +trampling. There is a high grove by the cold river of Caere, widely +revered in ancestral awe; sheltering hills shut it in all about and +girdle the woodland with their dark firs. Rumour is that the old +Pelasgians, who once long ago held the Latin borders, consecrated the +grove and its festal day to Silvanus, god of the tilth and flock. Not +far from it Tarchon and his Tyrrhenians were encamped in a protected +place; and now from the hill-top the tents of all their army might be +seen outspread on the fields. Lord Aeneas and his chosen warriors draw +hither and refresh their weary horses and limbs. + +But Venus the white goddess drew nigh, bearing her gifts through the +clouds of heaven; and when she saw her [610-646]son withdrawn far apart +in the valley's recess by the cold river, cast herself in his way, and +addressed him thus: 'Behold perfected the presents of my husband's +promised craftsmanship: so shalt thou not shun, O my child, soon to +challenge the haughty Laurentines or fiery Turnus to battle.' The +Cytherean spoke, and sought her son's embrace, and laid the armour +glittering under an oak over against him. He, rejoicing in the +magnificence of the goddess' gift, cannot have his fill of turning his +eyes over it piece by piece, and admires and handles between his arms +the helmet, dread with plumes and spouting flame, as when a blue cloud +takes fire in the sunbeams and gleams afar; then the smooth greaves of +electrum and refined gold, the spear, and the shield's ineffable design. +There the Lord of Fire had fashioned the story of Italy and the triumphs +of the Romans, not witless of prophecy or ignorant of the age to be; +there all the race of Ascanius' future seed, and their wars fought one +by one. Likewise had he fashioned the she-wolf couched after the birth +in the green cave of Mars; round her teats the twin boys hung playing, +and fearlessly mouthed their foster-mother; she, with round neck bent +back, stroked them by turns and shaped their bodies with her tongue. +Thereto not far from this he had set Rome and the lawless rape of the +Sabines in the concourse of the theatre when the great Circensian games +were celebrated, and a fresh war suddenly arising between the people of +Romulus and aged Tatius and austere Cures. Next these same kings laid +down their mutual strife and stood armed before Jove's altar with cup in +hand, and joined treaty over a slain sow. Not far from there four-horse +chariots driven apart had torn Mettus asunder (but thou, O Alban, +shouldst have kept by thy words!), and Tullus tore the flesh of the liar +through the forest, his splashed blood dripping from the briars. +Therewithal Porsena commanded [647-681]to admit the exiled Tarquin, and +held the city in the grasp of a strong blockade; the Aeneadae rushed on +the sword for liberty. Him thou couldst espy like one who chafes and +like one who threatens, because Cocles dared to tear down the bridge, +and Cloelia broke her bonds and swam the river. Highest of all Manlius, +warder of the Tarpeian fortress, stood with the temple behind him and +held the high Capitoline; and the thatch of Romulus' palace stood rough +and fresh. And here the silver goose, fluttering in the gilded +colonnades, cried that the Gauls were there on the threshold. The Gauls +were there among the brushwood, hard on the fortress, secure in the +darkness and the dower of shadowy night. Their clustering locks are of +gold, and of gold their attire; their striped cloaks glitter, and their +milk-white necks are entwined with gold. Two Alpine pikes sparkle in the +hand of each, and long shields guard their bodies. Here he had embossed +the dancing Salii and the naked Luperci, the crests wreathed in wool, +and the sacred shields that fell from heaven; in cushioned cars the +virtuous matrons led on their rites through the city. Far hence he adds +the habitations of hell also, the high gates of Dis and the dooms of +guilt; and thee, O Catiline, clinging on the beetling rock, and +shuddering at the faces of the Furies; and far apart the good, and Cato +delivering them statutes. Amidst it all flows wide the likeness of the +swelling sea, wrought in gold, though the foam surged gray upon blue +water; and round about dolphins, in shining silver, swept the seas with +their tails in circle as they cleft the tide. In the centre were visible +the brazen war-fleets of Actium; thou mightest see all Leucate swarm in +embattled array, and the waves gleam with gold. Here Caesar Augustus, +leading Italy to battle with Fathers and People, with gods of household +and of state, stands on the lofty stern; prosperous flames jet round his +brow, and his [682-715]ancestral star dawns overhead. Elsewhere +Agrippa, with favouring winds and gods, proudly leads on his column; on +his brows glitters the prow-girt naval crown, the haughty emblazonment +of the war. Here Antonius with barbarian aid and motley arms, from the +conquered nations of the Dawn and the shore of the southern sea, carries +with him Egypt and the Eastern forces of utmost Bactra, and the shameful +Egyptian woman goes as his consort. All at once rush on, and the whole +ocean is torn into foam by straining oars and triple-pointed prows. They +steer to sea; one might think that the Cyclades were uptorn and floated +on the main, or that lofty mountains clashed with mountains, so mightily +do their crews urge on the turreted ships. Flaming tow and the winged +steel of darts shower thickly from their hands; the fields of ocean +redden with fresh slaughter. Midmost the Queen calls on her squadron +with the timbrel of her country, nor yet casts back a glance on the twin +snakes behind her. Howling Anubis, and gods monstrous and multitudinous, +level their arms against Neptune and Venus and against Minerva; Mars +rages amid the havoc, graven in iron, and the Fatal Sisters hang aloft, +and Discord strides rejoicing with garment rent, and Bellona attends her +with blood-stained scourge. Looking thereon, Actian Apollo above drew +his bow; with the terror of it all Egypt and India, every Arab and +Sabaean, turned back in flight. The Queen herself seemed to call the +winds and spread her sails, and even now let her sheets run slack. Her +the Lord of Fire had fashioned amid the carnage, wan with the shadow of +death, borne along by the waves and the north-west wind; and over +against her the vast bulk of mourning Nile, opening out his folds and +calling with all his raiment the conquered people into his blue lap and +the coverture of his streams. But Caesar rode into the city of Rome in +triple triumph, and dedicated his vowed [716-731]offering to the gods +to stand for ever, three hundred stately shrines all about the city. The +streets were loud with gladness and games and shouting. In all the +temples was a band of matrons, in all were altars, and before the altars +slain steers strewed the ground. Himself he sits on the snowy threshold +of Phoebus the bright, reviews the gifts of the nations and ranges them +on the haughty doors. The conquered tribes move in long line, diverse as +in tongue, so in fashion of dress and armour. Here Mulciber had designed +the Nomad race and the ungirt Africans, here the Leleges and Carians and +archer Gelonians. Euphrates went by now with smoother waves, and the +Morini utmost of men, and the hornèd Rhine, the untamed Dahae, and +Araxes chafing under his bridge. + +These things he admires on the shield of Vulcan, his mother's gift, and +rejoicing in the portraiture of unknown history, lifts on his shoulder +the destined glories of his children. + + + + +BOOK NINTH + +THE SIEGE OF THE TROJAN CAMP + + +And while thus things pass far in the distance, Juno daughter of Saturn +sent Iris down the sky to gallant Turnus, then haply seated in his +forefather Pilumnus' holy forest dell. To him the child of Thaumas spoke +thus with roseate lips: + +'Turnus, what no god had dared promise to thy prayer, behold, is brought +unasked by the circling day. Aeneas hath quitted town and comrades and +fleet to seek Evander's throne and Palatine dwelling-place. Nor is it +enough; he hath pierced to Corythus' utmost cities, and is mustering in +arms a troop of Lydian rustics. Why hesitate? now, now is the time to +call for chariot and horses. Break through all hindrance and seize the +bewildered camp.' + +She spoke, and rose into the sky on poised wings, and flashed under the +clouds in a long flying bow. He knew her, and lifting either hand to +heaven, with this cry pursued her flight: 'Iris, grace of the sky, who +hath driven thee down the clouds to me and borne thee to earth? Whence +is this sudden sheen of weather? I see the sky parting asunder, and the +wandering stars in the firmament. I follow the high omen, whoso thou art +that callest me to arms.' And with these words he drew nigh the wave, +and [23-58]caught up water from its brimming eddy, making many prayers +to the gods and burdening the air with vows. + +And now all the army was advancing on the open plain, rich in horses, +rich in raiment of broidered gold. Messapus rules the foremost ranks, +the sons of Tyrrheus the rear. Turnus commands the centre: even as +Ganges rising high in silence when his seven streams are still, or the +rich flood of Nile when he ebbs from the plains, and is now sunk into +his channel. On this the Teucrians descry a sudden cloud of dark dust +gathering, and the blackness rising on the plain. Caïcus raises a cry +from the mound in front: 'What mass of misty gloom, O citizens, is +rolling hitherward? to arms in haste! serve out weapons, climb the +walls. The enemy approaches, ho!' With mighty clamour the Teucrians pour +in through all the gates and fill the works. For so at his departure +Aeneas the great captain had enjoined; were aught to chance meanwhile, +they should not venture to range their line or trust the plain, but keep +their camp and the safety of the entrenched walls. So, though shame and +wrath beckon them on to battle, they yet bar the gates and do his +bidding, and await the foe armed and in shelter of the towers. Turnus, +who had flown forward in advance of his tardy column, comes up suddenly +to the town with a train of twenty chosen cavalry, borne on a Thracian +horse dappled with white, and covered by a golden helmet with scarlet +plume. 'Who will be with me, my men, to be first on the foe? See!' he +cries; and sends a javelin spinning into the air to open battle, and +advances towering on the plain. His comrades take up the cry, and follow +with dreadful din, wondering at the Teucrians' coward hearts, that they +issue not on even field nor face them in arms, but keep in shelter of +the camp. Hither and thither he rides furiously, tracing the walls, and +seeking entrance where way is none. And as a wolf prowling [59-92]about +some crowded sheepfold, when, beaten sore of winds and rains, he howls +at the pens by midnight; safe beneath their mothers the lambs keep +bleating on; he, savage and insatiate, rages in anger against the flock +he cannot reach, tired by the long-gathering madness for food, and the +throat unslaked with blood: even so the Rutulian, as he gazes on the +walled camp, kindles in anger, and indignation is hot in his iron frame. +By what means may he essay entrance? by what passage hurl the imprisoned +Trojans from the rampart and fling them on the plain? Close under the +flanking camp lay the fleet, fenced about with mounds and the waters of +the river; it he attacks, and calls for fire to his exultant comrades, +and eagerly catches a blazing pine-torch in his hand. Then indeed they +press on, quickened by Turnus' presence, and all the band arm them with +black faggots. The hearth-fires are plundered; the smoky brand trails a +resinous glare, and the Fire-god sends clouds of glowing ashes upward. + +What god, O Muses, guarded the Trojans from the rage of the fire? who +repelled the fierce flame from their ships? Tell it; ancient is the +assurance thereof, but the fame everlasting. What time Aeneas began to +shape his fleet on Phrygian Ida, and prepared to seek the high seas, the +Berecyntian, they say, the very Mother of gods, spoke to high Jove in +these words: 'Grant, O son, to my prayer, what her dearness claims who +bore thee and laid Olympus under thy feet. My pine forest beloved of me +these many years, my grove was on the mountain's crown, whither men bore +my holy things, dim with dusky pine and pillared maples. These, when he +required a fleet, I gave gladly to the Dardanian; now fear wrings me +with sharp distress. Relieve my terrors, and grant a mother's prayers +such power that they may yield to no stress of voyaging or of stormy +gust: be birth on our hills their avail.' + +[93-126]Thus her son in answer, who wheels the starry worlds: 'O +mother, whither callest thou fate? or what dost thou seek for these of +thine? May hulls have the right of immortality that were fashioned by +mortal hand? and may Aeneas traverse perils secure in insecurity? To +what god is power so great given? Nay, but when, their duty done, they +shall lie at last in their Ausonian haven, from all that have outgone +the waves and borne their Dardanian captain to the fields of Laurentum, +will I take their mortal body, and bid them be goddesses of the mighty +deep, even as Doto the Nereïd and Galatea, when they cut the sea that +falls away from their breasts in foam.' He ended; and by his brother's +Stygian streams, by the banks of the pitchy black-boiling chasm he +nodded confirmation, and shook all Olympus with his nod. + +So the promised day was come, and the destinies had fulfilled their due +time, when Turnus' injury stirred the Mother to ward the brands from her +holy ships. First then a strange light flashed on all eyes, and a great +glory from the Dawn seemed to dart over the sky, with the choirs of Ida; +then an awful voice fell through air, filling the Trojan and Rutulian +ranks: 'Disquiet not yourselves, O Teucrians, to guard ships of mine, +neither arm your hands: sooner shall Turnus burn the seas than these +holy pines. You, go free; go, goddesses of the sea; the Mother bids it.' +And immediately each ship breaks the bond that held it, as with dipping +prows they plunge like dolphins deep into the water: from it again (O +wonderful and strange!) they rise with maidens' faces in like number, +and bear out to sea. + +The Rutulians stood dumb: Messapus himself is terror-stricken among his +disordered cavalry; even the stream of Tiber pauses with hoarse murmur, +and recoils from sea. But bold Turnus fails not a whit in confidence; +nay, he [127-158]raises their courage with words, nay, he chides them: +'On the Trojans are these portents aimed; Jupiter himself hath bereft +them of their wonted succour; nor do they abide Rutulian sword and fire. +So are the seas pathless for the Teucrians, nor is there any hope in +flight; they have lost half their world. And we hold the land: in all +their thousands the nations of Italy are under arms. In no wise am I +dismayed by those divine oracles of doom the Phrygians insolently +advance. Fate and Venus are satisfied, in that the Trojans have touched +our fruitful Ausonian fields. I too have my fate in reply to theirs, to +put utterly to the sword the guilty nation who have robbed me of my +bride; not the sons of Atreus alone are touched by that pain, nor may +Mycenae only rise in arms. But to have perished once is enough! To have +sinned once should have been enough, in all but utter hatred of the +whole of womankind. Trust in the sundering rampart, and the hindrance of +their trenches, so little between them and death, gives these their +courage: yet have they not seen Troy town, the work of Neptune's hand, +sink into fire? But you, my chosen, who of you makes ready to breach +their palisade at the sword's point, and join my attack on their +fluttered camp? I have no need of Vulcanian arms, of a thousand ships, +to meet the Teucrians. All Etruria may join on with them in alliance: +nor let them fear the darkness, and the cowardly theft of their +Palladium, and the guards cut down on the fortress height. Nor will we +hide ourselves unseen in a horse's belly; in daylight and unconcealed +are we resolved to girdle their walls with flame. Not with Grecians will +I make them think they have to do, nor a Pelasgic force kept off till +the tenth year by Hector. Now, since the better part of day is spent, +for what remains refresh your bodies, glad that we have done so well, +and expect the order of battle.' + +[159-192]Meanwhile charge is given to Messapus to blockade the gates +with pickets of sentries, and encircle the works with watchfires. Twice +seven are chosen to guard the walls with Rutulian soldiery; but each +leads an hundred men, crimson-plumed and sparkling in gold. They spread +themselves about and keep alternate watch, and, lying along the grass, +drink deep and set brazen bowls atilt. The fires glow, and the sentinels +spend the night awake in games. . . . + +Down on this the Trojans look forth from the rampart, as they hold the +height in arms; withal in fearful haste they try the gates and lay +gangways from bastion to bastion, and bring up missiles. Mnestheus and +valiant Serestus speed the work, whom lord Aeneas appointed, should +misfortune call, to be rulers of the people and governors of the state. +All their battalions, sharing the lot of peril, keep watch along the +walls, and take alternate charge of all that requires defence. + +On guard at the gate was Nisus son of Hyrtacus, most valiant in arms, +whom Ida the huntress had sent in Aeneas' company with fleet javelin and +light arrows; and by his side Euryalus, fairest of all the Aeneadae and +the wearers of Trojan arms, showing on his unshaven boy's face the first +bloom of youth. These two were one in affection, and charged in battle +together; now likewise their common guard kept the gate. Nisus cries: +'Lend the gods this fervour to the soul, Euryalus? or does fatal passion +become a proper god to each? Long ere now my soul is restless to begin +some great deed of arms, and quiet peace delights it not. Thou seest how +confident in fortune the Rutulians stand. Their lights glimmer far +apart; buried in drunken sleep they have sunk to rest; silence stretches +all about. Learn then what doubt, what purpose, now rises in my spirit. +People and senate, they all cry that Aeneas [193-226]be summoned, and +men be sent to carry him tidings. If they promise what I ask in thy +name--for to me the glory of the deed is enough--methinks I can find +beneath yonder hillock a path to the walls of Pallanteum town.' + +Euryalus stood fixed, struck through with high ambition, and therewith +speaks thus to his fervid friend: 'Dost thou shun me then, Nisus, to +share thy company in highest deeds? shall I send thee alone into so +great perils? Not thus did my warrior father Opheltes rear and nurture +me amid the Argive terror and the agony of Troy, nor thus have I borne +myself by thy side while following noble Aeneas to his utmost fate. Here +is a spirit, yes here, that scorns the light of day, that deems lightly +bought at a life's price that honour to which thou dost aspire.' + +To this Nisus: 'Assuredly I had no such fear of thee; no, nor could I; +so may great Jupiter, or whoso looks on earth with equal eyes, restore +me to thee triumphant. But if haply--as thou seest often and often in so +forlorn a hope--if haply chance or deity sweep me to adverse doom, I +would have thee survive; thine age is worthier to live. Be there one to +commit me duly to earth, rescued or ransomed from the battlefield: or, +if fortune deny that, to pay me far away the rites of funeral and the +grace of a tomb. Neither would I bring such pain on thy poor mother, she +who singly of many matrons hath dared to follow her boy to the end, and +slights great Acestes' city.' + +And he: 'In vain dost thou string idle reasons; nor does my purpose +yield or change its place so soon. Let us make haste.' He speaks, and +rouses the watch; they come up, and relieve the guard; quitting their +post, he and Nisus stride on to seek the prince. + +The rest of living things over all lands were soothing their cares in +sleep, and their hearts forgot their pain; the foremost Trojan captains, +a chosen band, held council [227-261]of state upon the kingdom; what +should they do, or who would now be their messenger to Aeneas? They +stand, leaning on their long spears and grasping their shields, in mid +level of the camp. Then Nisus and Euryalus together pray with quick +urgency to be given audience; their matter is weighty and will be worth +the delay. Iülus at once heard their hurried plea, and bade Nisus speak. +Thereon the son of Hyrtacus: 'Hear, O people of Aeneas, with favourable +mind, nor regard our years in what we offer. Sunk in sleep and wine, the +Rutulians are silent; we have stealthily spied the open ground that lies +in the path through the gate next the sea. The line of fires is broken, +and their smoke rises darkly upwards. If you allow us to use the chance +towards seeking Aeneas in Pallanteum town, you will soon descry us here +at hand with the spoils of the great slaughter we have dealt. Nor shall +we miss the way we go; up the dim valleys we have seen the skirts of the +town, and learned all the river in continual hunting.' + +Thereon aged Aletes, sage in counsel: 'Gods of our fathers, under whose +deity Troy ever stands, not wholly yet do you purpose to blot out the +Trojan race, when you have brought us young honour and hearts so sure as +this.' So speaking, he caught both by shoulder and hand, with tears +showering down over face and feature. 'What guerdon shall I deem may be +given you, O men, what recompense for these noble deeds? First and +fairest shall be your reward from the gods and your own conduct; and +Aeneas the good shall speedily repay the rest, and Ascanius' fresh youth +never forget so great a service.'--'Nay,' breaks in Ascanius, 'I whose +sole safety is in my father's return, I adjure thee and him, O Nisus, by +our great household gods, by the tutelar spirit of Assaracus and hoar +Vesta's sanctuary--on your knees I lay all my fortune and trust--recall +my father; [262-296]give him back to sight; all sorrow disappears in +his recovery. I will give a pair of cups my father took in vanquished +Arisba, wrought in silver and rough with tracery, twin tripods, and two +large talents of gold, and an ancient bowl of Sidonian Dido's giving. If +it be indeed our lot to possess Italy and grasp a conquering sceptre, +and to assign the spoil; thou sawest the horse and armour of Turnus as +he went all in gold; that same horse, the shield and the ruddy plume, +will I reserve from partition, thy reward, O Nisus, even from now. My +father will give besides twelve mothers of the choicest beauty, and men +captives, all in their due array; above these, the space of meadow-land +that is now King Latinus' own domain. Thee, O noble boy, whom mine age +follows at a nearer interval, even now I welcome to all my heart, and +embrace as my companion in every fortune. No glory shall be sought for +my state without thee; whether peace or war be in conduct, my chiefest +trust for deed and word shall be in thee.' + +Answering whom Euryalus speaks thus: 'Let but the day never come to +prove me degenerate from this daring valour; fortune may fall prosperous +or adverse. But above all thy gifts, one thing I ask of thee. My poor +mother of Priam's ancient race, whom neither the Ilian land nor King +Acestes' city kept from following me forth, her I now leave in ignorance +of this danger, such as it is, and without a farewell, because--night +and thine hand be witness!--I cannot bear a parent's tears. But thou, I +pray, support her want and relieve her loneliness. Let me take with me +this hope in thee, I shall go more daringly to every fortune.' Deeply +stirred at heart, the Dardanians shed tears, fair Iülus before them all, +as the likeness of his own father's love wrung his soul. Then he speaks +thus: . . . 'Assure thyself all that is due to thy mighty enterprise; +[297-330]for she shall be a mother to me, and only in name fail to be +Creüsa; nor slight is the honour reserved for the mother of such a son. +What chance soever follow this deed, I swear by this head whereby my +father was wont to swear, what I promise to thee on thy prosperous +return shall abide the same for thy mother and kindred.' So speaks he +weeping, and ungirds from his shoulder the sword inlaid with gold, +fashioned with marvellous skill by Lycaon of Gnosus and fitly set in a +sheath of ivory. Mnestheus gives Nisus the shaggy spoils of a lion's +hide; faithful Aletes exchanges his helmet. They advance onward in arms, +and as they go all the company of captains, young and old, speed them to +the gates with vows. Likewise fair Iülus, with a man's thought and a +spirit beyond his years, gave many messages to be carried to his father. +But the breezes shred all asunder and give them unaccomplished to the +clouds. + +They issue and cross the trenches, and through the shadow of night seek +the fatal camp, themselves first to be the death of many a man. All +about they see bodies strewn along the grass in drunken sleep, chariots +atilt on the shore, the men lying among their traces and wheels, with +their armour by them, and their wine. The son of Hyrtacus began thus: +'Euryalus, now for daring hands; all invites them; here lies our way; +see thou that none raise a hand from behind against us, and keep +far-sighted watch. Here will I deal desolation, and make a broad path +for thee to follow.' So speaks he and checks his voice; therewith he +drives his sword at lordly Rhamnes, who haply on carpets heaped high was +drawing the full breath of sleep; a king himself, and King Turnus' +best-beloved augur, but not all his augury could avert his doom. Three +of his household beside him, lying carelessly among their arms, and the +armour-bearer and charioteer of Remus go [331-364]down before him, +caught at the horses' feet. Their drooping necks he severs with the +sword, then beheads their lord likewise and leaves the trunk spouting +blood; the dark warm gore soaks ground and cushions. Therewithal Lamyrus +and Lamus, and beautiful young Serranus, who that night had played long +and late, and lay with the conquering god heavy on every limb; happy, +had he played out the night, and carried his game to day! Even thus an +unfed lion riots through full sheepfolds, for the madness of hunger +urges him, and champs and rends the fleecy flock that are dumb with +fear, and roars with blood-stained mouth. Nor less is the slaughter of +Euryalus; he too rages all aflame; an unnamed multitude go down before +his path, and Fadus and Herbesus and Rhoetus and Abaris, unaware; +Rhoetus awake and seeing all, but he hid in fear behind a great bowl; +right in whose breast, as he rose close by, he plunged the sword all its +length, and drew it back heavy with death. He vomits forth the crimson +life-blood, and throws up wine mixed with blood in the death agony. The +other presses hotly on his stealthy errand, and now bent his way towards +Messapus' comrades, where he saw the last flicker of the fires go down, +and the horses tethered in order cropping the grass; when Nisus briefly +speaks thus, for he saw him carried away by excess of murderous desire; +'Let us stop; for unfriendly daylight draws nigh. Vengeance is sated to +the full; a path is cut through the enemy.' Much they leave behind, +men's armour wrought in solid silver, and bowls therewith, and beautiful +carpets. Euryalus tears away the decorations of Rhamnes and his +sword-belt embossed with gold, a gift which Caedicus, wealthiest of men +of old, sends to Remulus of Tibur when plighting friendship far away; he +on his death-bed gives them to his grandson for his own; after his death +the Rutulians captured them as spoil of war; these he fits on the +shoulders valiant [365-396]in vain, then puts on Messapus' light helmet +with its graceful plumes. They issue from the camp and make for safety. + +Meanwhile an advanced guard of cavalry were on their way from the Latin +city, while the rest of their marshalled battalions linger on the +plains, and bore a reply to King Turnus; three hundred men all under +shield, in Volscens' leading. And now they approached the camp and drew +near the wall, when they descry the two turning away by the pathway to +the left; and in the glimmering darkness of night the forgotten helmet +betrayed Euryalus, glittering as it met the light. It seemed no thing of +chance. Volscens cries aloud from his column: 'Stand, men! why on the +march, or how are you in arms? or whither hold you your way?' They offer +nothing in reply, but quicken their flight into the forest, and throw +themselves on the night. On this side and that the horsemen bar the +familiar crossways, and encircle every outlet with sentinels. The forest +spread wide in tangled thickets and dark ilex; thick growth of briars +choked it all about, and the muffled pathway glimmered in a broken +track. Hampered by the shadowy boughs and his cumbrous spoil, Euryalus +in his fright misses the line of way. Nisus gets clear; and now +unthinkingly he had passed the enemy, and the place afterwards called +Albani from Alba's name; then the deep coverts were of King Latinus' +domain; when he stopped, and looked back in vain for his lost friend. +'Euryalus, unhappy! on what ground have I left thee? or where shall I +follow, again unwinding all the entanglement of the treacherous woodland +way?' Therewith he marks and retraces his footsteps, and wanders down +the silent thickets. He hears the horses, hears the clatter and +signal-notes of the pursuers. Nor had he long to wait, when shouts reach +his ears, and he sees Euryalus, whom even now, in the perplexity of +ground and [397-431]darkness, the whole squadron have borne down in a +sudden rush, and seize in spite of all his vain struggles. What shall he +do? with what force, what arms dare his rescue? or shall he rush on his +doom amid their swords, and find in their wounds a speedy and glorious +death? Quickly he draws back his arm with poised spear, and looking up +to the moon on high, utters this prayer: 'Do thou give present aid to +our enterprise, O Latonian goddess, glory of the stars and guardian of +the woodlands: by all the gifts my father Hyrtacus ever bore for my sake +to thine altars, by all mine own hand hath added from my hunting, or +hung in thy dome, or fixed on thy holy roof, grant me to confound these +masses, and guide my javelin through the air.' He ended, and with all +the force of his body hurls the steel. The flying spear whistles through +the darkness of the night, and comes full on the shield of Sulmo, and +there snaps, and the broken shaft passes on through his heart. Spouting +a warm tide from his breast he rolls over chill in death, and his sides +throb with long-drawn gasps. Hither and thither they gaze round. Lo, he +all the fiercer was poising another weapon high by his ear; while they +hesitate, the spear went whizzing through both Tagus' temples, and +pierced and stuck fast in the warm brain. Volscens is mad with rage, and +nowhere espies the sender of the weapon, nor where to direct his fury. +'Yet meanwhile thy warm blood shalt pay me vengeance for both,' he +cries; and unsheathing his sword, he made at Euryalus. Then indeed +frantic with terror Nisus shrieks out; no longer could he shroud himself +in darkness or endure such agony. 'On me, on me, I am here, I did it, on +me turn your steel, O Rutulians! Mine is all the guilt; he dared not, +no, nor could not; to this heaven I appeal and the stars that know; he +only loved his hapless friend too well.' Such words he was uttering; but +the sword driven hard home is gone [432-464]clean through his ribs and +pierces the white breast. Euryalus rolls over in death, and the blood +runs over his lovely limbs, and his neck sinks and settles on his +shoulder; even as when a lustrous flower cut away by the plough droops +in death, or weary-necked poppies bow down their head if overweighted +with a random shower. But Nisus rushes amidst them, and alone among them +all makes at Volscens, keeps to Volscens alone: round him the foe +cluster, and on this side and that hurl him back: none the less he +presses on, and whirls his sword like lightning, till he plunges it full +in the face of the shrieking Rutulian, and slays his enemy as he dies. +Then, stabbed through and through, he flung himself above his lifeless +friend, and there at last found the quiet sleep of death. + +Happy pair! if my verse is aught of avail, no length of days shall ever +blot you from the memory of time, while the house of Aeneas shall dwell +by the Capitoline's stedfast stone, and the lord of Rome hold +sovereignty. + +The victorious Rutulians, with their spoils and the plunder regained, +bore dead Volscens weeping to the camp. Nor in the camp was the wailing +less, when Rhamnes was found a bloodless corpse, and Serranus and Numa +and all their princes destroyed in a single slaughter. Crowds throng +towards the corpses and the men wounded to death, the ground fresh with +warm slaughter and the swoln runlets of frothing blood. They mutually +recognise the spoils, Messapus' shining helmet and the decorations that +cost such sweat to win back. + +And now Dawn, leaving the saffron bed of Tithonus, scattered over earth +her fresh shafts of early light; now the sunlight streams in, now +daylight unveils the world. Turnus, himself fully armed, awakes his men +to arms, and each leader marshals to battle his brazen lines and whets +their ardour with varying rumours. Nay, pitiable sight! they +[465-499]fix on spear-points and uprear and follow with loud shouts the +heads of Euryalus and Nisus. . . . The Aeneadae stubbornly face them, +lining the left hand wall (for their right is girdled by the river), +hold the deep trenches and stand gloomily on the high towers, stirred +withal by the faces they know, alas, too well, in their dark dripping +gore. Meanwhile Rumour on fluttering wings rushes with the news through +the alarmed town and glides to the ears of Euryalus' mother. But +instantly the warmth leaves her woeful body, the shuttle starts from her +hand and the threads unroll. She darts forth in agony, and with woman's +wailing and torn hair runs distractedly towards the walls and the +foremost columns, recking naught of men, naught of peril or weapons; +thereon she fills the air with her complaint: 'Is it thus I behold thee, +O Euryalus? Couldst thou, the latest solace of mine age, leave me alone +so cruelly? nor when sent into such danger was one last word of thee +allowed thine unhappy mother? Alas, thou liest in a strange land, given +for a prey to the dogs and fowls of Latium! nor was I, thy mother, there +for chief mourner, to lay thee out or close thine eyes or wash thy +wounds, and cover thee with the garment I hastened on for thee whole +nights and days, an anxious old woman taking comfort from the loom. +Whither shall I follow? or what land now holds thy mangled corpse, thy +body torn limb from limb? Is this all of what thou wert that returns to +me, O my son? is it this I have followed by land and sea? Strike me +through of your pity, on me cast all your weapons, Rutulians; make me +the first sacrifice of your steel. Or do thou, mighty lord of heaven, be +merciful, and with thine own weapon hurl this hateful life to the nether +deep, since in no wise else may I break away from life's cruelty.' At +this weeping cry their courage falters, and a sigh of sorrow passes all +along; their strength is benumbed and broken for battle. Her, while +[500-535]her grief kindled, at Ilioneus' and weeping Iülus' bidding +Idaeus and Actor catch up and carry home in their arms. + +But the terrible trumpet-note afar rang on the shrill brass; a shout +follows, and is echoed from the sky. The Volscians hasten up in even +line under their advancing roof of shields, and set to fill up the +trenches and tear down the palisades. Some seek entrance by scaling the +walls with ladders, where the defenders' battle-line is thin, and light +shows through gaps in the ring of men. The Teucrians in return shower +weapons of every sort, and push them down with stiff poles, practised by +long warfare in their ramparts' defence: and fiercely hurl heavy stones, +so be they may break the shielded line; while they, crowded under their +shell, lightly bear all the downpour. But now they fail; for where the +vast mass presses close, the Teucrians roll a huge block tumbling down +that makes a wide gap in the Rutulians and crashes through their +armour-plating. Nor do the bold Rutulians care longer to continue the +blind fight, but strive to clear the rampart with missiles. . . . +Elsewhere in dreadful guise Mezentius brandishes his Etruscan pine and +hurls smoking brands; but Messapus, tamer of horses, seed of Neptune, +tears away the palisading and calls for ladders to the ramparts. + +Thy sisterhood, O Calliope, I pray inspire me while I sing the +destruction spread then and there by Turnus' sword, the deaths dealt +from his hand, and whom each warrior sent down to the under world; and +unroll with me the broad borders of war. + +A tower loomed vast with lofty gangways at a point of vantage; this all +the Italians strove with main strength to storm, and set all their might +and device to overthrow it; the Trojans in return defended it with +stones and hurled showers of darts through the loopholes. Turnus, +leading the attack, threw a blazing torch that caught flaming on the +[536-570]side wall; swoln by the wind, the flame seized the planking +and clung devouring to the standards. Those within, in hurry and +confusion, desire retreat from their distress; in vain; while they +cluster together and fall back to the side free from the destroyer, the +tower sinks prone under the sudden weight with a crash that thunders +through all the sky. Pierced by their own weapons, and impaled on hard +splinters of wood, they come half slain to the ground with the vast mass +behind them. Scarcely do Helenor alone and Lycus struggle out; Helenor +in his early prime, whom a slave woman of Licymnos bore in secret to the +Maeonian king, and sent to Troy in forbidden weapons, lightly armed with +sheathless sword and white unemblazoned shield. And he, when he saw +himself among Turnus' encircling thousands, ranks on this side and ranks +on this of Latins, as a wild beast which, girt with a crowded ring of +hunters, dashes at their weapons, hurls herself unblinded on death, and +comes with a bound upon the spears; even so he rushes to his death amid +the enemy, and presses on where he sees their weapons thickest. But +Lycus, far fleeter of foot, holds by the walls in flight midway among +foes and arms, and strives to catch the coping in his grasp and reach +the hands of his comrades. And Turnus pursuing and aiming as he ran, +thus upbraids him in triumph: 'Didst thou hope, madman, thou mightest +escape our hands?' and catches him as he clings, and tears him and a +great piece of the wall away: as when, with a hare or snowy-bodied swan +in his crooked talons, Jove's armour-bearer soars aloft, or the wolf of +Mars snatches from the folds some lamb sought of his mother with +incessant bleating. On all sides a shout goes up. They advance and fill +the trenches with heaps of earth; some toss glowing brands on the roofs. +Ilioneus strikes down Lucetius with a great fragment of mountain rock +as, carrying fire, he draws [571-606]nigh the gate. Liger slays +Emathion, Asylas Corinaeus, the one skilled with the javelin, the other +with the stealthy arrow from afar. Caeneus slays Ortygius; Turnus +victorious Caeneus; Turnus Itys and Clonius, Dioxippus, and Promolus, +and Sagaris, and Idas where he stood in front of the turret top; Capys +Privernus: him Themillas' spear had first grazed lightly; the madman +threw down his shield to carry his hand to the wound; so the arrow +winged her way, and pinning his hand to his left side, broke into the +lungs with deadly wound. The son of Arcens stood splendid in arms, and +scarf embroidered with needlework and bright with Iberian blue, the +beautiful boy sent by his father Arcens from nurture in the grove of our +Lady about the streams of Symaethus, where Palicus' altar is rich and +gracious. Laying down his spear, Mezentius whirled thrice round his head +the tightened cord of his whistling sling, pierced him full between the +temples with the molten bullet, and stretched him all his length upon +the sand. + +Then, it is said, Ascanius first aimed his flying shaft in war, wont +before to frighten beasts of the chase, and struck down a brave +Numanian, Remulus by name, but lately allied in bridal to Turnus' +younger sister. He advancing before his ranks clamoured things fit and +unfit to tell, and strode along lofty and voluble, his heart lifted up +with his fresh royalty. + +'Take you not shame to be again held leaguered in your ramparts, O +Phrygians twice taken, and to make walls your fence from death? Behold +them who demand in war our wives for theirs! What god, what madness, +hath driven you to Italy? Here are no sons of Atreus nor glozing +Ulysses. A race of hardy breed, we carry our newborn children to the +streams and harden them in the bitter icy water; as boys they spend +wakeful nights over the chase, and tire out the woodland; but in +manhood, [607-639]unwearied by toil and trained to poverty, they subdue +the soil with their mattocks, or shake towns in war. Every age wears +iron, and we goad the flanks of our oxen with reversed spear; nor does +creeping old age weaken our strength of spirit or abate our force. White +hairs bear the weight of the helmet; and it is ever our delight to drive +in fresh spoil and live on our plunder. Yours is embroidered raiment of +saffron and shining sea-purple. Indolence is your pleasure, your delight +the luxurious dance; you wear sleeved tunics and ribboned turbans. O +right Phrygian women, not even Phrygian men! traverse the heights of +Dindymus, where the double-mouthed flute breathes familiar music. The +drums call you, and the Berecyntian boxwood of the mother of Ida; leave +arms to men, and lay down the sword.' + +As he flung forth such words of ill-ominous strain, Ascanius brooked it +not, and aimed an arrow on him from the stretched horse sinew; and as he +drew his arms asunder, first stayed to supplicate Jove in lowly vows: +'Jupiter omnipotent, deign to favour this daring deed. My hands shall +bear yearly gifts to thee in thy temple, and bring to stand before thine +altars a steer with gilded forehead, snow-white, carrying his head high +as his mother's, already pushing with his horn and making the sand fly +up under his feet.' The Father heard and from a clear space of sky +thundered on the left; at once the fated bow rings, the grim-whistling +arrow flies from the tense string, and goes through the head of Remulus, +the steel piercing through from temple to temple. 'Go, mock valour with +insolence of speech! Phrygians twice taken return this answer to +Rutulians.' Thus and no further Ascanius; the Teucrians respond in +cheers, and shout for joy in rising height of courage. Then haply in the +tract of heaven tressed Apollo sate looking down from his cloud on the +[640-673]Ausonian ranks and town, and thus addresses triumphant Iülus: +'Good speed to thy young valour, O boy! this is the way to heaven, child +of gods and parent of gods to be! Rightly shall all wars fated to come +sink to peace beneath the line of Assaracus; nor art thou bounded in a +Troy.' So speaking, he darts from heaven's height, and cleaving the +breezy air, seeks Ascanius. Then he changes the fashion of his +countenance, and becomes aged Butes, armour-bearer of old to Dardanian +Anchises, and the faithful porter of his threshold; thereafter his lord +gave him for Ascanius' attendant. In all points like the old man Apollo +came, voice and colour, white hair, and grimly clashing arms, and speaks +these words to eager Iülus: + +'Be it enough, son of Aeneas, that the Numanian hath fallen unavenged +beneath thine arrows; this first honour great Apollo allows thee, nor +envies the arms that match his own. Further, O boy, let war alone.' Thus +Apollo began, and yet speaking retreated from mortal view, vanishing +into thin air away out of their eyes. The Dardanian princes knew the god +and the arms of deity, and heard the clash of his quiver as he went. So +they restrain Ascanius' keenness for battle by the words of Phoebus' +will; themselves they again close in conflict, and cast their lives into +the perilous breach. Shouts run all along the battlemented walls; +ringing bows are drawn and javelin thongs twisted: all the ground is +strewn with missiles. Shields and hollow helmets ring to blows; the +battle swells fierce; heavy as the shower lashes the ground that sets in +when the Kids are rainy in the West; thick as hail pours down from +storm-clouds on the shallows, when the rough lord of the winds congeals +his watery deluge and breaks up the hollow vapours in the sky. + +Pandarus and Bitias, sprung of Alcanor of Ida, whom woodland Iaera bore +in the grove of Jupiter, grown now [674-709]tall as their ancestral +pines and hills, fling open the gates barred by their captain's order, +and confident in arms, wilfully invite the enemy within the walls. +Themselves within they stand to right and left in front of the towers, +sheathed in iron, the plumes flickering over their stately heads: even +as high in air around the gliding streams, whether on Padus' banks or by +pleasant Athesis, twin oaks rise lifting their unshorn heads into the +sky with high tops asway. The Rutulians pour in when they see the +entrance open. Straightway Quercens and Aquicolus beautiful in arms, and +desperate Tmarus, and Haemon, seed of Mars, either gave back in rout +with all their columns, or in the very gateway laid down their life. +Then the spirits of the combatants swell in rising wrath, and now the +Trojans gather swarming to the spot, and dare to close hand to hand and +to sally farther out. + +News is brought to Turnus the captain, as he rages afar among the routed +foe, that the enemy surges forth into fresh slaughter and flings wide +his gates. He breaks off unfinished, and, fired with immense anger, +rushes towards the haughty brethren at the Dardanian gate. And on +Antiphates first, for first he came, the bastard son of mighty Sarpedon +by a Theban mother, he hurls his javelin and strikes him down; the +Italian cornel flies through the yielding air, and, piercing the gullet, +runs deep into his breast; a frothing tide pours from the dark yawning +wound, and the steel grows warm where it pierces the lung. Then Meropes +and Erymas, then Aphidnus goes down before his hand; then Bitias, +fiery-eyed and exultant, not with a javelin; for not to a javelin had he +given his life; but the loud-whistling pike came hurled with a +thunderbolt's force; neither twofold bull's hide kept it back, nor the +trusty corslet's double scales of gold: his vast limbs sink in a heap; +earth utters a groan, and the great shield clashes [710-745]over him: +even as once and again on the Euboïc shore of Baiae falls a mass of +stone, built up of great blocks and so cast into the sea; thus does it +tumble prone, crashes into the shoal water and sinks deep to rest; the +seas are stirred, and the dark sand eddies up; therewith the depth of +Prochyta quivers at the sound, and the couchant rocks of Inarime, piled +above Typhoeus by Jove's commands. + +On this Mars armipotent raised the spirit and strength of the Latins, +and goaded their hearts to rage, and sent Flight and dark Fear among the +Teucrians. From all quarters they gather, since battle is freely +offered; and the warrior god inspires. . . . Pandarus, at his brother's +fall, sees how fortune stands, what hap rules the day; and swinging the +gate round on its hinge with all his force, pushes it to with his broad +shoulders, leaving many of his own people shut outside the walls in the +desperate conflict, but shutting others in with him as they pour back in +retreat. Madman! who saw not the Rutulian prince burst in amid their +columns, and fairly shut him into the town, like a monstrous tiger among +the silly flocks. At once strange light flashed from his eyes, and his +armour rang terribly; the blood-red plumes flicker on his head, and +lightnings shoot sparkling from his shield. In sudden dismay the +Aeneadae know the hated form and giant limbs. Then tall Pandarus leaps +forward, in burning rage at his brother's death: 'This is not the palace +of Amata's dower,' he cries, 'nor does Ardea enclose Turnus in her +native walls. Thou seest a hostile camp; escape hence is hopeless.' To +him Turnus, smiling and cool: 'Begin with all thy valiance, and close +hand to hand; here too shalt thou tell that a Priam found his Achilles.' +He ended; the other, putting out all his strength, hurls his rough +spear, knotty and unpeeled. The breezes caught it; Juno, daughter of +Saturn, [746-780]made the wound glance off as it came, and the spear +sticks fast in the gate. 'But this weapon that my strong hand whirls, +this thou shalt not escape; for not such is he who sends weapon and +wound.' So speaks he, and rises high on his uplifted sword; the steel +severs the forehead midway right between the temples, and divides the +beardless cheeks with ghastly wound. He crashes down; earth shakes under +the vast weight; dying limbs and brain-spattered armour tumble in a heap +to the ground, and the head, evenly severed, dangles this way and that +from either shoulder. The Trojans scatter and turn in hasty terror; and +had the conqueror forthwith taken thought to burst the bars and let in +his comrades at the gate, that had been the last day of the war and of +the nation. But rage and mad thirst of slaughter drive him like fire on +the foe. . . . First he catches up Phalaris; then Gyges, and hamstrings +him; he plucks away their spears, and hurls them on the backs of the +flying crowd; Juno lends strength and courage. Halys he sends to join +them, and Phegeus, pierced right through the shield; then, as they +ignorantly raised their war-cry on the walls, Alcander and Halius, +Noëmon and Prytanis. Lynceus advanced to meet him, calling up his +comrades; from the rampart the glittering sword sweeps to the left and +catches him; struck off by the one downright blow, head and helmet lay +far away. Next Amycus fell, the deadly huntsman, incomparable in skill +of hand to anoint his arrows and arm their steel with venom; and Clytius +the Aeolid, and Cretheus beloved of the Muses, Cretheus of the Muses' +company, whose delight was ever in songs and harps and stringing of +verses; ever he sang of steeds and armed men and battles. + +At last, hearing of the slaughter of their men, the Teucrian captains, +Mnestheus and gallant Serestus, come up, and see their comrades in +disordered flight and the foe [781-814]let in. And Mnestheus: 'Whither +next, whither press you in flight? what other walls, what farther city +have you yet? Shall one man, and he girt in on all sides, +fellow-citizens, by your entrenchments, thus unchecked deal devastation +throughout our city, and send all our best warriors to the under world? +Have you no pity, no shame, cowards, for your unhappy country, for your +ancient gods, for great Aeneas?' + +Kindled by such words, they take heart and rally in dense array. Little +by little Turnus drew away from the fight towards the river, and the +side encircled by the stream: the more bravely the Teucrians press on +him with loud shouts and thickening masses, even as a band that fall on +a wrathful lion with levelled weapons, but he, frightened back, retires +surly and grim-glaring; and neither does wrath nor courage let him turn +his back, nor can he make head, for all that he desires it, against the +surrounding arms and men. Even thus Turnus draws lingeringly backward, +with unhastened steps, and soul boiling in anger. Nay, twice even then +did he charge amid the enemy, twice drove them in flying rout along the +walls. But all the force of the camp gathers hastily up; nor does Juno, +daughter of Saturn, dare to supply him strength to countervail; for +Jupiter sent Iris down through the aery sky, bearing stern orders to his +sister that Turnus shall withdraw from the high Trojan town. Therefore +neither with shield nor hand can he keep his ground, so overpoweringly +from all sides comes upon him the storm of weapons. About the hollows of +his temples the helmet rings with incessant clash, and the solid brass +is riven beneath the stones; the horsehair crest is rent away; the +shield-boss avails not under the blows; Mnestheus thunders on with his +Trojans, and pours in a storm of spears. All over him the sweat trickles +and pours in swart stream, and no breathing space is given; sick gasps +shake [815-818]his exhausted limbs. Then at last, with a headlong +bound, he leapt fully armed into the river; the river's yellow eddies +opened for him as he came, and the buoyant water brought him up, and, +washing away the slaughter, returned him triumphant to his comrades. + + + + +BOOK TENTH + +THE BATTLE ON THE BEACH + + +Meanwhile the heavenly house omnipotent unfolds her doors, and the +father of gods and king of men calls a council in the starry dwelling; +whence he looks sheer down on the whole earth, the Dardanian camp, and +the peoples of Latium. They sit down within from doorway to doorway: +their lord begins: + +'Lords of heaven, wherefore is your decree turned back, and your minds +thus jealously at strife? I forbade Italy to join battle with the +Teucrians; why this quarrel in face of my injunction? What terror hath +bidden one or another run after arms and tempt the sword? The due time +of battle will arrive, call it not forth, when furious Carthage shall +one day sunder the Alps to hurl ruin full on the towers of Rome. Then +hatred may grapple with hatred, then hostilities be opened; now let them +be, and cheerfully join in the treaty we ordain.' + +Thus Jupiter in brief; but not briefly golden Venus returns in +answer: . . . + +'O Lord, O everlasting Governor of men and things--for what else may we +yet supplicate?--beholdest thou how the Rutulians brave it, and Turnus, +borne charioted through the ranks, proudly sweeps down the tide of +battle? Bar [22-58]and bulwark no longer shelter the Trojans; nay, +within the gates and even on the mounded walls they clash in battle and +make the trenches swim with blood. Aeneas is away and ignorant. Wilt +thou never then let our leaguer be raised? Again a foe overhangs the +walls of infant Troy; and another army, and a second son of Tydeus rises +from Aetolian Arpi against the Trojans. Truly I think my wounds are yet +to come, and I thy child am keeping some mortal weapons idle. If the +Trojans steered for Italy without thy leave and defiant of thy deity, +let them expiate their sin; aid not such with thy succour. But if so +many oracles guided them, given by god and ghost, why may aught now +reverse thine ordinance or write destiny anew? Why should I recall the +fleets burned on the coast of Eryx? why the king of storms, and the +raging winds roused from Aeolia, or Iris driven down the clouds? Now +hell too is stirred (this share of the world was yet untried) and +Allecto suddenly let loose above to riot through the Italian towns. In +no wise am I moved for empire; that was our hope while Fortune stood; +let those conquer whom thou wilt. If thy cruel wife leave no region free +to Teucrians, by the smoking ruins of desolated Troy, O father, I +beseech thee, grant Ascanius unhurt retreat from arms, grant me my +child's life. Aeneas may well be tossed over unknown seas and follow +what path soever fortune open to him; him let me avail to shelter and +withdraw from the turmoil of battle. Amathus is mine, high Paphos and +Cythera, and my house of Idalia; here, far from arms, let him spend an +inglorious life. Bid Carthage in high lordship rule Ausonia; there will +be nothing there to check the Tyrian cities. What help was it for the +Trojans to escape war's doom and thread their flight through Argive +fires, to have exhausted all those perils of sea and desolate lands, +while they seek Latium and the towers of a Troy rebuilt? Were it not +better to have [59-91]clung to the last ashes of their country, and the +ground where once was Troy? Give back, I pray, Xanthus and Simoïs to a +wretched people, and let the Teucrians again, O Lord, circle through the +fates of Ilium.' + +Then Queen Juno, swift and passionate: + +'Why forcest thou me to break long silence and proclaim my hidden pain? +Hath any man or god constrained Aeneas to court war or make armed attack +on King Latinus? In oracular guidance he steered for Italy: be it so: he +whom raving Cassandra sent on his way! Did we urge him to quit the camp +or entrust his life to the winds? to give the issue of war and the +charge of his ramparts to a child? to stir the loyalty of Tyrrhenia or +throw peaceful nations into tumult? What god, what potent cruelty of +ours, hath driven him on his hurt? Where is Juno in this, or Iris sped +down the clouds? It shocks thee that Italians should enring an infant +Troy with flame, and Turnus set foot on his own ancestral soil--he, +grandchild of Pilumnus, son of Venilia the goddess: how, that the dark +brands of Troy assail the Latins? that Trojans subjugate and plunder +fields not their own? how, that they choose their brides and tear +plighted bosom from bosom? that their gestures plead for peace, and +their ships are lined with arms? Thou canst steal thine Aeneas from +Grecian hands, and spread before them a human semblance of mist and +empty air; thou canst turn his fleet into nymphs of like number: is it +dreadful if we retaliate with any aid to the Rutulians? Aeneas is away +and ignorant; away and ignorant let him be. Paphos is thine and Idalium, +thine high Cythera; why meddlest thou with fierce spirits and a city big +with war? Is it we who would overthrow the tottering state of Phrygia? +we? or he who brought the Achaeans down on the hapless Trojans? who made +Europe and Asia bristle up in arms, and whose theft shattered the +alliance? Was it in my guidance the [92-125]adulterous Dardanian broke +into Sparta? or did I send the shafts of passion that kindled war? Then +terror for thy children had graced thee; too late now dost thou rise +with unjust complaints, and reproaches leave thy lips in vain.' + +Thus Juno pleaded; and all the heavenly people murmured in diverse +consent; even as rising gusts murmur when caught in the forests, and +eddy in blind moanings, betraying to sailors the gale's approach. Then +the Lord omnipotent and primal power of the world begins; as he speaks +the high house of the gods and trembling floor of earth sink to silence; +silent is the deep sky, and the breezes are stilled; ocean hushes his +waters into calm. + +'Take then to heart and lay deep these words of mine. Since it may not +be that Ausonians and Teucrians join alliance, and your quarrel finds no +term, to-day, what fortune each wins, what hope each follows, be he +Trojan or Rutulian, I will hold in even poise; whether it be Italy's +fate or Trojan blundering and ill advice that holds the camp in leaguer. +Nor do I acquit the Rutulians. Each as he hath begun shall work out his +destiny. Jupiter is one and king over all; the fates will find their +way.' By his brother's infernal streams, by the banks of the pitchy +black-boiling chasm he signed assent, and made all Olympus quiver at his +nod. Here speaking ended: thereon Jupiter rises from his golden throne, +and the heavenly people surround and escort him to the doorway. + +Meanwhile the Rutulians press round all the gates, dealing grim +slaughter and girdling the walls with flame. But the army of the +Aeneadae are held leaguered within their trenches, with no hope of +retreat. They stand helpless and disconsolate on their high towers, and +their thin ring girdles the walls,--Asius, son of Imbrasus, and +Thymoetes, son of Hicetaon, and the two Assaraci, and Castor, and old +Thymbris together in the front rank: by them Clarus and +[126-160]Themon, both full brothers to Sarpedon, out of high Lycia. +Acmon of Lyrnesus, great as his father Clytius, or his brother +Mnestheus, carries a stone, straining all his vast frame to the huge +mountain fragment. Emulously they keep their guard, these with javelins, +those with stones, and wield fire and fit arrows on the string. Amid +them he, Venus' fittest care, lo! the Dardanian boy, his graceful head +uncovered, shines even as a gem set in red gold on ornament of throat or +head, or even as gleaming ivory cunningly inlaid in boxwood or Orician +terebinth; his tresses lie spread over his milk-white neck, bound by a +flexible circlet of gold. Thee, too, Ismarus, proud nations saw aiming +wounds and arming thy shafts with poison,--thee, of house illustrious in +Maeonia, where the rich tilth is wrought by men's hands, and Pactolus +waters it with gold. There too was Mnestheus, exalted in fame as he who +erewhile had driven Turnus from the ramparts; and Capys, from whom is +drawn the name of the Campanian city. + +They had closed in grim war's mutual conflict; Aeneas, while night was +yet deep, clove the seas. For when, leaving Evander for the Etruscan +camp, he hath audience of the king, and tells the king of his name and +race, and what he asks or offers, instructs him of the arms Mezentius is +winning to his side, and of Turnus' overbearing spirit, reminds him what +is all the certainty of human things, and mingles all with entreaties; +delaying not, Tarchon joins forces and strikes alliance. Then, freed +from the oracle, the Lydian people man their fleet, laid by divine +ordinance in the foreign captain's hand. Aeneas' galley keeps in front, +with the lions of Phrygia fastened on her prow, above them overhanging +Ida, sight most welcome to the Trojan exiles. Here great Aeneas sits +revolving the changing issues of war; and Pallas, clinging on his left +side, asks now [161-195]of the stars and their pathway through the dark +night, now of his fortunes by land and sea. + +Open now the gates of Helicon, goddesses, and stir the song of the band +that come the while with Aeneas from the Tuscan borders, and sail in +armed ships overseas. + +First in the brazen-plated Tiger Massicus cuts the flood; beneath him +are ranked a thousand men who have left Clusium town and the city of +Cosae; their weapons are arrows, and light quivers on the shoulder, and +their deadly bow. With him goes grim Abas, all his train in shining +armour, and a gilded Apollo glittering astern. To him Populonia had +given six hundred of her children, tried in war, but Ilva three hundred, +the island rich in unexhausted mines of steel. Third Asilas, interpreter +between men and gods, master of the entrails of beasts and the stars in +heaven, of speech of birds and ominous lightning flashes, draws a +thousand men after him in serried lines bristling with spears, bidden to +his command from Pisa city, of Alphaean birth on Etruscan soil. Astyr +follows, excellent in beauty, Astyr, confident in his horse and glancing +arms. Three hundred more--all have one heart to follow--come from the +householders of Caere and the fields of Minio, and ancient Pyrgi, and +fever-stricken Graviscae. + +Let me not pass thee by, O Cinyras, bravest in war of Ligurian captains, +and thee, Cupavo, with thy scant company, from whose crest rise the swan +plumes, fault, O Love, of thee and thine, and blazonment of his father's +form. For they tell that Cycnus, in grief for his beloved Phaëthon, +while he sings and soothes his woeful love with music amid the shady +sisterhood of poplar boughs, drew over him the soft plumage of white old +age, and left earth and passed crying through the sky. His son, followed +on shipboard with a band of like age, sweeps the huge Centaur forward +with his oars; he leans over the water, and [196-227]threatens the +waves with a vast rock he holds on high, and furrows the deep seas with +his length of keel. + +He too calls a train from his native coasts, Ocnus, son of prophetic +Manto and the river of Tuscany, who gave thee, O Mantua, ramparts and +his mother's name; Mantua, rich in ancestry, yet not all of one blood, a +threefold race, and under each race four cantons; herself she is the +cantons' head, and her strength is of Tuscan blood. From her likewise +hath Mezentius five hundred in arms against him, whom Mincius, child of +Benacus, draped in gray reeds, led to battle in his advancing pine. +Aulestes moves on heavily, smiting the waves with the swinging forest of +an hundred oars; the channels foam as they sweep the sea-floor. He sails +in the vast Triton, who amazes the blue waterways with his shell, and +swims on with shaggy front, in human show from the flank upward; his +belly ends in a dragon; beneath the monster's breast the wave gurgles +into foam. So many were the chosen princes who went in thirty ships to +aid Troy, and cut the salt plains with brazen prow. + +And now day had faded from the sky, and gracious Phoebe trod mid-heaven +in the chariot of her nightly wandering: Aeneas, for his charge allows +not rest to his limbs, himself sits guiding the tiller and managing the +sails. And lo, in middle course a band of his own fellow-voyagers meets +him, the nymphs whom bountiful Cybele had bidden be gods of the sea, and +turn to nymphs from ships; they swam on in even order, and cleft the +flood, as many as erewhile, brazen-plated prows, had anchored on the +beach. From far they know their king, and wheel their bands about him, +and Cymodocea, their readiest in speech, comes up behind, catching the +stern with her right hand: her back rises out, and her left hand oars +her passage through the silent water. Then she thus [228-261]accosts +her amazed lord: 'Wakest thou, seed of gods, Aeneas? wake, and loosen +the sheets of thy sails. We are thy fleet, Idaean pines from the holy +hill, now nymphs of the sea. When the treacherous Rutulian urged us +headlong with sword and fire, unwillingly we broke thy bonds, and we +search for thee over ocean. This new guise our Lady made for us in pity, +and granted us to be goddesses and spend our life under the waves. But +thy boy Ascanius is held within wall and trench among the Latin weapons +and the rough edge of war. Already the Arcadian cavalry and the brave +Etruscan together hold the appointed ground. Turnus' plan is fixed to +bar their way with his squadrons, that they may not reach the camp. Up +and arise, and ere the coming of the Dawn bid thy crews be called to +arms; and take thou the shield which the Lord of Fire forged for victory +and rimmed about with gold. To-morrow's daylight, if thou deem not my +words vain, shall see Rutulians heaped high in slaughter.' She ended, +and, as she went, pushed the tall ship on with her hand wisely and well; +the ship shoots through the water fleeter than javelin or windswift +arrow. Thereat the rest quicken their speed. The son of Anchises of Troy +is himself deep in bewilderment; yet the omen cheers his courage. Then +looking on the heavenly vault, he briefly prays: 'O gracious upon Ida, +mother of gods, whose delight is in Dindymus and turreted cities and +lions coupled to thy rein, do thou lead me in battle, do thou meetly +prosper thine augury, and draw nigh thy Phrygians, goddess, with +favourable feet.' Thus much he spoke; and meanwhile the broad light of +returning day now began to pour in, and chased away the night. First he +commands his comrades to follow his signals, brace their courage to arms +and prepare for battle. And now his Trojans and his camp are in his +sight as he stands high astern, when next he lifts the [262-296]blazing +shield on his left arm. The Dardanians on the walls raise a shout to the +sky. Hope comes to kindle wrath; they hurl their missiles strongly; even +as under black clouds cranes from the Strymon utter their signal notes +and sail clamouring across the sky, and noisily stream down the gale. +But this seemed marvellous to the Rutulian king and the captains of +Ausonia, till looking back they see the ships steering for the beach, +and all the sea as a single fleet sailing in. His helmet-spike blazes, +flame pours from the cresting plumes, and the golden shield-boss spouts +floods of fire; even as when in transparent night comets glow blood-red +and drear, or the splendour of Sirius, that brings drought and +sicknesses on wretched men, rises and saddens the sky with malignant +beams. + +Yet gallant Turnus in unfailing confidence will prevent them on the +shore and repel their approach to land. 'What your prayers have sought +is given, the sweep of the sword-arm. The god of battles is in the hands +of men. Now remember each his wife and home: now recall the high deeds +of our fathers' honour. Let us challenge meeting at the water's edge, +while they waver and their feet yet slip as they disembark. Fortune aids +daring. . . .' So speaks he, and counsels inly whom he shall lead to +meet them, whom leave in charge of the leaguered walls. + +Meanwhile Aeneas lands his allies by gangways from the high ships. Many +watch the retreat and slack of the sea, and leap boldly into the shoal +water; others slide down the oars. Tarchon, marking the shore where the +shallows do not seethe and plash with broken water, but the sea glides +up and spreads its tide unbroken, suddenly turns his bows to land and +implores his comrades: 'Now, O chosen crew, bend strongly to your oars; +lift your ships, make them go; let the prows cleave this hostile land +and the keel plough [297-330]herself a furrow. I will let my vessel +break up on such harbourage if once she takes the land.' When Tarchon +had spoken in such wise, his comrades rise on their oar-blades and carry +their ships in foam towards the Latin fields, till the prows are fast on +dry land and all the keels are aground unhurt. But not thy galley, +Tarchon; for she dashes on a shoal, and swings long swaying on the cruel +bank, pitching and slapping the flood, then breaks up, and lands her +crew among the waves. Broken oars and floating thwarts entangle them, +and the ebbing wave sucks their feet away. + +Nor does Turnus keep idly dallying, but swiftly hurries his whole array +against the Trojans and ranges it to face the beach. The trumpets blow. +At once Aeneas charges and confounds the rustic squadrons of the Latins, +and slays Theron for omen of battle. The giant advances to challenge +Aeneas; but through sewed plates of brass and tunic rough with gold the +sword plunges in his open side. Next he strikes Lichas, cut from his +mother already dead, and consecrated, Phoebus, to thee, since his +infancy was granted escape from the perilous steel. Near thereby he +struck dead brawny Cisseus and vast Gyas, whose clubs were mowing down +whole files: naught availed them the arms of Hercules and their strength +of hand, nor Melampus their father, ever of Alcides' company while earth +yielded him sore travail. Lo! while Pharus utters weak vaunts the hurled +javelin strikes on his shouting mouth. Thou too, while thou followest +thy new delight, Clytius, whose cheeks are golden with youthful +down--thou, luckless Cydon, struck down by the Dardanian hand, wert +lying past thought, ah pitiable! of the young loves that were ever +thine, did not the close array of thy brethren interpose, the children +of Phorcus, seven in number, and send a sevenfold shower of darts. Some +glance ineffectual from helmet and shield; [331-365]some Venus the +bountiful turned aside as they grazed his body. Aeneas calls to trusty +Achates: 'Give me store of weapons; none that hath been planted in +Grecian body on the plains of Ilium shall my hand hurl at Rutulian in +vain.' Then he catches and throws his great spear; the spear flies +grinding through the brass of Maeon's shield, and breaks through corslet +and through breast. His brother Alcanor runs up and sustains with his +right arm his sinking brother; through his arm the spear passes speeding +straight on its message, and holds its bloody way, and the hand dangles +by the sinews lifeless from the shoulder. Then Numitor, seizing his dead +brother's javelin, aims at Aeneas, but might not fairly pierce him, and +grazed tall Achates on the thigh. Here Clausus of Cures comes confident +in his pride of strength, and with a long reach strikes Dryops under the +chin, and, urging the stiff spear-shaft home, stops the accents of his +speech and his life together, piercing the throat; but he strikes the +earth with his forehead, and vomits clots of blood. Three Thracians +likewise of Boreas' sovereign race, and three sent by their father Idas +from their native Ismarus, fall in divers wise before him. Halesus and +his Auruncan troops hasten thither; Messapus too, seed of Neptune, comes +up charioted. This side and that strive to hurl back the enemy, and +fight hard on the very edge of Ausonia. As when in the depth of air +adverse winds rise in battle with equal spirit and strength; not they, +not clouds nor sea, yield one to another; long the battle is doubtful; +all stands locked in counterpoise: even thus clash the ranks of Troy and +ranks of Latium, foot fast on foot, and man crowded up on man. + +But in another quarter, where a torrent had driven a wide path of +rolling stones and bushes torn away from the banks, Pallas saw his +Arcadians, unaccustomed to move as infantry, giving back before the +Latin pursuit, when the [366-400]roughness of the ground bade them +dismount. This only was left in his strait, to kindle them to valour, +now by entreaties, now by taunts: 'Whither flee you, comrades? by your +deeds of bravery, by your leader Evander's name, by your triumphant +campaigns, and my hope that now rises to rival my father's honour, trust +not to flight. Our swords must hew a way through the enemy. Where yonder +mass of men presses thickest, there your proud country calls you with +Pallas at your head. No gods are they who bear us down; mortals, we feel +the pressure of a mortal foe; we have as many lives and hands as he. Lo, +the deep shuts us in with vast sea barrier; even now land fails our +flight; shall we make ocean or Troy our goal?' + +So speaks he, and bursts amid the serried foe. First Lagus meets him, +drawn thither by malign destiny; him, as he tugs at a ponderous stone, +hurling his spear where the spine ran dissevering the ribs, he pierces +and wrenches out the spear where it stuck fast in the bone. Nor does +Hisbo catch him stooping, for all that he hoped it; for Pallas, as he +rushes unguarded on, furious at his comrade's cruel death, receives him +on his sword and buries it in his distended lungs. Next he attacks +Sthenius, and Anchemolus of Rhoetus' ancient family, who dared to +violate the bridal chamber of his stepmother. You, too, the twins +Larides and Thymber, fell on the Rutulian fields, children of Daucus, +indistinguishable for likeness and a sweet perplexity to your parents. +But now Pallas made cruel difference between you; for thy head, Thymber, +is swept off by Evander's sword; thy right hand, Larides, severed, seeks +its master, and the dying fingers jerk and clutch at the sword. Fired by +his encouragement, and beholding his noble deeds, the Arcadians advance +in wrath and shame to meet the enemy in arms. Then Pallas pierces +Rhoeteus as he flies past in his chariot. This space, this +[401-435]much of respite was given to Ilus; for at Ilus he had aimed +the strong spear from afar, and Rhoeteus intercepts its passage, in +flight from thee, noble Teuthras and Tyres thy brother; he rolls from +the chariot in death, and his heels strike the Rutulian fields. And as +the shepherd, when summer winds have risen to his desire, kindles the +woods dispersedly; on a sudden the mid spaces catch, and a single +flickering line of fire spreads wide over the plain; he sits looking +down on his conquest and the revel of the flames; even so, Pallas, do +thy brave comrades gather close to sustain thee. But warrior Halesus +advances full on them, gathering himself behind his armour; he slays +Ladon, Pheres, Demodocus; his gleaming sword shears off Strymonius' hand +as it rises to his throat; he strikes Thoas on the face with a stone, +and drives the bones asunder in a shattered mass of blood and brains. +Halesus had his father the soothsayer kept hidden in the woodland: when +the old man's glazing eyes sank to death, the Fates laid hand on him and +devoted him to the arms of Evander. Pallas aims at him, first praying +thus: 'Grant now, lord Tiber, to the steel I poise and hurl, a +prosperous way through brawny Halesus' breast; thine oak shall bear +these arms and the dress he wore.' The god heard it; while Halesus +covers Imaon, he leaves, alas! his breast unarmed to the Arcadian's +weapon. Yet at his grievous death Lausus, himself a great arm of the +war, lets not his columns be dismayed; at once he meets and cuts down +Abas, the check and stay of their battle. The men of Arcadia go down +before him; down go the Etruscans, and you, O Teucrians, invincible by +Greece. The armies close, matched in strength and in captains; the rear +ranks crowd in; weapons and hands are locked in the press. Here Pallas +strains and pushes on, here Lausus opposite, nearly matched in age, +excellent in beauty; but fortune [436-467]had denied both return to +their own land. Yet that they should meet face to face the sovereign of +high Olympus allowed not; an early fate awaits them beneath a mightier +foe. + +Meanwhile Turnus' gracious sister bids him take Lausus' room, and his +fleet chariot parts the ranks. When he saw his comrades, 'It is time,' +he cried, 'to stay from battle. I alone must assail Pallas; to me and +none other Pallas is due; I would his father himself were here to see.' +So speaks he, and his Rutulians draw back from a level space at his +bidding. But then as they withdrew, he, wondering at the haughty +command, stands in amaze at Turnus, his eyes scanning the vast frame, +and his fierce glance perusing him from afar. And with these words he +returns the words of the monarch: 'For me, my praise shall even now be +in the lordly spoils I win, or in illustrious death: my father will bear +calmly either lot: away with menaces.' He speaks, and advances into the +level ring. The Arcadians' blood gathers chill about their hearts. +Turnus leaps from his chariot and prepares to close with him. And as a +lion sees from some lofty outlook a bull stand far off on the plain +revolving battle, and flies at him, even such to see is Turnus' coming. +When Pallas deemed him within reach of a spear-throw, he advances, if so +chance may assist the daring of his overmatched strength, and thus cries +into the depth of sky: 'By my father's hospitality and the board whereto +thou camest a wanderer, on thee I call, Alcides; be favourable to my +high emprise; let Turnus even in death discern me stripping his +blood-stained armour, and his swooning eyes endure the sight of his +conqueror.' Alcides heard him, and deep in his heart he stifled a heavy +sigh, and let idle tears fall. Then with kindly words the father accosts +his son: 'Each hath his own appointed day; short and irrecoverable +[468-502]is the span of life for all: but to spread renown by deeds is +the task of valour. Under high Troy town many and many a god's son fell; +nay, mine own child Sarpedon likewise perished. Turnus too his own fate +summons, and his allotted period hath reached the goal.' So speaks he, +and turns his eyes away from the Rutulian fields. But Pallas hurls his +spear with all his strength, and pulls his sword flashing out of the +hollow scabbard. The flying spear lights where the armour rises high +above the shoulder, and, forcing a way through the shield's rim, ceased +not till it drew blood from mighty Turnus. At this Turnus long poises +the spear-shaft with its sharp steel head, and hurls it on Pallas with +these words: _See thou if our weapon have not a keener point._ He ended; +but for all the shield's plating of iron and brass, for all the +bull-hide that covers it round about, the quivering spear-head smashes +it fair through and through, passes the guard of the corslet, and +pierces the breast with a gaping hole. He tears the warm weapon from the +wound; in vain; together and at once life-blood and sense follow it. He +falls heavily on the ground, his armour clashes over him, and his +bloodstained face sinks in death on the hostile soil. And Turnus +standing over him . . .: 'Arcadians,' he cries, 'remember these my +words, and bear them to Evander. I send him back his Pallas as was due. +All the meed of the tomb, all the solace of sepulture, I give freely. +Dearly must he pay his welcome to Aeneas.' And with these words, +planting his left foot on the dead, he tore away the broad heavy +sword-belt engraven with a tale of crime, the array of grooms foully +slain together on their bridal night, and the nuptial chambers dabbled +with blood, which Clonus, son of Eurytus, had wrought richly in gold. +Now Turnus exults in spoiling him of it, and rejoices at his prize. Ah +spirit of man, ignorant of fate and the allotted future, or to keep +bounds when elate with prosperity!--the day will [503-535]come when +Turnus shall desire to have bought Pallas' safety at a great ransom, and +curse the spoils of this fatal day. But with many moans and tears +Pallas' comrades lay him on his shield and bear him away amid their +ranks. O grief and glory and grace of the father to whom thou shalt +return! This one day sent thee first to war, this one day takes thee +away, while yet thou leavest heaped high thy Rutulian dead. + +And now no rumour of the dreadful loss, but a surer messenger flies to +Aeneas, telling him his troops are on the thin edge of doom; it is time +to succour the routed Teucrians. He mows down all that meets him, and +hews a broad path through their columns with furious sword, as he seeks +thee, O Turnus, in thy fresh pride of slaughter. Pallas, Evander, all +flash before his eyes; the board whereto but then he had first come a +wanderer, and the clasped hands. Here four of Sulmo's children, as many +more of Ufens' nurture, are taken by him alive to slaughter in sacrifice +to the shade below, and slake the flames of the pyre with captive blood. +Next he levelled his spear full on Magus from far. He stoops cunningly; +the spear flies quivering over him; and, clasping his knees, he speaks +thus beseechingly: 'By thy father's ghost, by Iülus thy growing hope, I +entreat thee, save this life for a child and a parent. My house is +stately; deep in it lies buried wealth of engraven silver; I have masses +of wrought and unwrought gold. The victory of Troy does not turn on +this, nor will a single life make so great a difference.' He ended; to +him Aeneas thus returns answer: 'All the wealth of silver and gold thou +tellest of, spare thou for thy children. Turnus hath broken off this thy +trafficking in war, even then when Pallas fell. Thus judges the ghost of +my father Anchises, thus Iülus.' So speaking, he grasps his helmet with +his left hand, and, bending back his neck, drives his [536-572]sword up +to the hilt in the suppliant. Hard by is Haemonides, priest of Phoebus +and Trivia, his temples wound with the holy ribboned chaplet, all +glittering in white-robed array. Him he meets and chases down the plain, +and, standing over his fallen foe, slaughters him and wraps him in great +darkness; Serestus gathers the armour and carries it away on his +shoulders, a trophy, King Gradivus, to thee. Caeculus, born of Vulcan's +race, and Umbro, who comes from the Marsian hills, fill up the line. The +Dardanian rushes full on them. His sword had hewn off Anxur's left arm, +with all the circle of the shield--he had uttered brave words and deemed +his prowess would second his vaunts, and perchance with spirit lifted up +had promised himself hoar age and length of years--when Tarquitus in the +pride of his glittering arms met his fiery course, whom the nymph Dryope +had borne to Faunus, haunter of the woodland. Drawing back his spear, he +pins the ponderous shield to the corslet; then, as he vainly pleaded and +would say many a thing, strikes his head to the ground, and, rolling +away the warm body, cries thus over his enemy: 'Lie there now, terrible +one! no mother's love shall lay thee in the sod, or place thy limbs +beneath thine heavy ancestral tomb. To birds of prey shalt thou be left, +or borne down sunk in the eddying water, where hungry fish shall suck +thy wounds.' Next he sweeps on Antaeus and Lucas, the first of Turnus' +train, and brave Numa and tawny-haired Camers, born of noble Volscens, +who was wealthiest in land of the Ausonians, and reigned in silent +Amyclae. Even as Aegaeon, who, men say, had an hundred arms, an hundred +hands, fifty mouths and breasts ablaze with fire, and arrayed against +Jove's thunders as many clashing shields and drawn swords: so Aeneas, +when once his sword's point grew warm, rages victorious over all the +field. Nay, lo! he darts full in face on Niphaeus' four-horse chariot; +before his long strides [573-608]and dreadful cry they turned in terror +and dashed back, throwing out their driver and tearing the chariot down +the beach. Meanwhile the brothers Lucagus and Liger drive up with their +pair of white horses. Lucagus valiantly waves his drawn sword, while his +brother wheels his horses with the rein. Aeneas, wrathful at their mad +onslaught, rushes on them, towering high with levelled spear. To him +Liger . . . 'Not Diomede's horses dost thou discern, nor Achilles' +chariot, nor the plains of Phrygia: now on this soil of ours the war and +thy life shall end together.' Thus fly mad Liger's random words. But not +in words does the Trojan hero frame his reply: for he hurls his javelin +at the foe. As Lucagus spurred on his horses, bending forward over the +whip, with left foot advanced ready for battle, the spear passes through +the lower rim of his shining shield and pierces his left groin, knocks +him out of the chariot, and stretches him in death on the fields. To him +good Aeneas speaks in bitter words: 'Lucagus, no slackness in thy +coursers' flight hath betrayed thee, or vain shadow of the foe turned +them back; thyself thou leapest off the harnessed wheels.' In such wise +he spoke, and caught the horses. His brother, slipping down from the +chariot, pitiably outstretched helpless hands: 'Ah, by the parents who +gave thee birth, great Trojan, spare this life and pity my prayer.' More +he was pleading; but Aeneas: 'Not such were the words thou wert +uttering. Die, and be brother undivided from brother.' With that his +sword's point pierces the breast where the life lies hid. Thus the +Dardanian captain dealt death over the plain, like some raging torrent +stream or black whirlwind. At last the boy Ascanius and his troops burst +through the ineffectual leaguer and issue from the camp. + +Meanwhile Jupiter breaks silence to accost Juno: 'O sister and wife best +beloved, it is Venus, as thou deemedst, [609-639]nor is thy judgment +astray, who sustains the forces of Troy; not their own valour of hand in +war, and untamable spirit and endurance in peril.' To whom Juno +beseechingly: + +'Why, fair my lord, vexest thou one sick at heart and trembling at thy +bitter words? If that force were in my love that once was, and that was +well, never had thine omnipotence denied me leave to withdraw Turnus +from battle and preserve him for his father Daunus in safety. Now let +him perish, and pay forfeit to the Trojans of his innocent blood. Yet he +traces his birth from our name, and Pilumnus was his father in the +fourth generation, and oft and again his bountiful hand hath heaped thy +courts with gifts.' + +To her the king of high heaven thus briefly spoke: 'If thy prayer for +him is delay of present death and respite from his fall, and thou dost +understand that I ordain it thus, remove thy Turnus in flight, and +snatch him from the fate that is upon him. For so much indulgence there +is room. But if any ampler grace mask itself in these thy prayers, and +thou dreamest of change in the whole movement of the war, idle is the +hope thou nursest.' + +And Juno, weeping: 'Ah yet, if thy mind were gracious where thy lips are +stern, and this gift of life might remain confirmed to Turnus! Now his +portion is bitter and guiltless death, or I wander idly from the truth. +Yet, oh that I rather deluded myself with false alarms, and thou who +canst wouldst bend thy course to better counsels.' + +These words uttered, she darted through the air straight from high +heaven, cloud-girt in driving tempest, and sought the Ilian ranks and +camp of Laurentum. Then the goddess, strange and ominous to see, +fashions into the likeness of Aeneas a thin and pithless shade of hollow +mist, decks it with Dardanian weapons, and gives it the mimicry of +shield and divine helmet plume, gives unsubstantial [640-673]words and +senseless utterance, and the mould and motion of his tread: like shapes +rumoured to flit when death is past, or dreams that delude the +slumbering senses. But in front of the battle-ranks the phantom dances +rejoicingly, and with arms and mocking accents provokes the foe. Turnus +hastens up and sends his spear whistling from far on it; it gives back +and turns its footsteps. Then indeed Turnus, when he believed Aeneas +turned and fled from him, and his spirit madly drank in the illusive +hope: 'Whither fliest thou, Aeneas? forsake not thy plighted bridal +chamber. This hand shall give thee the land thou hast sought overseas.' +So clamouring he pursues, and brandishes his drawn sword, and sees not +that his rejoicing is drifting with the winds. The ship lay haply moored +to a high ledge of rock, with ladders run out and gangway ready, wherein +king Osinius sailed from the coasts of Clusium. Here the fluttering +phantom of flying Aeneas darts and hides itself. Nor is Turnus slack to +follow; he overleaps the barriers and springs across the high gangways. +Scarcely had he lighted on the prow; the daughter of Saturn snaps the +hawser, and the ship, parted from her cable, runs out on the ebbing +tide. And him Aeneas seeks for battle and finds not, and sends many a +man that meets him to death. Then the light phantom seeks not yet any +further hiding-place, but, flitting aloft, melts in a dark cloud; and a +blast comes down meanwhile and sweeps Turnus through the seas. He looks +back, witless of his case and thankless for his salvation, and, wailing, +stretches both hands to heaven: 'Father omnipotent, was I so guilty in +thine eyes, and is this the punishment thou hast ordained? Whither am I +borne? whence came I? what flight is this, or in what guise do I return? +Shall I look again on the camp or walls of Laurentum? What of that array +of men who followed me to arms? whom--oh horrible!--I have abandoned all +amid [674-707]a dreadful death; and now I see the stragglers and catch +the groans of those who fall. What do I? or how may earth ever yawn for +me deep enough? Do you rather, O winds, be pitiful, carry my bark on +rock or reef; it is I, Turnus, who desire and implore you; or drive me +on the cruel shoals of the Syrtis, where no Rutulian may follow nor +rumour know my name.' Thus speaking, he wavers in mind this way and +that: maddened by the shame, shall he plunge on his sword's harsh point +and drive it through his side, or fling himself among the waves, and +seek by swimming to gain the winding shore, again to return on the +Trojan arms? Thrice he essayed either way; thrice queenly Juno checked +and restrained him in pity of heart. Cleaving the deep, he floats with +the tide down the flood, and is borne on to his father Daunus' ancient +city. + +But meanwhile at Jove's prompting fiery Mezentius takes his place in the +battle and assails the triumphant Teucrians. The Tyrrhene ranks gather +round him, and all at once in unison shower their darts down on the +hated foe. As a cliff that juts into the waste of waves, meeting the +raging winds and breasting the deep, endures all the threatening force +of sky and sea, itself fixed immovable, so he dashes to earth Hebrus son +of Dolichaon, and with him Latagus, and Palmus as he fled; catching +Latagus full front in the face with a vast fragment of mountain rock, +while Palmus he hamstrings, and leaves him rolling helpless; his armour +he gives Lausus to wear on his shoulders, and the plumes to fix on his +crest. With them fall Evanthes the Phrygian, and Mimas, fellow and +birthmate of Paris; for on one night Theano bore him to his father +Amycus, and the queen, Cisseus' daughter, was delivered of Paris the +firebrand; he sleeps in his fathers' city; Mimas lies a stranger on the +Laurentian coast. And as the boar driven by snapping hounds from the +mountain heights, [708-744]many a year hidden by Vesulus in his pines, +many an one fed in the Laurentian marsh among the reedy forest, once +come among the nets, halts and snorts savagely, with shoulders bristling +up, and none of them dare be wrathful or draw closer, but they shower +from a safe distance their darts and cries; even thus none of those +whose anger is righteous against Mezentius have courage to meet him with +drawn weapon: far off they provoke him with missiles and huge clamour, +and he turns slow and fearless round about, grinding his teeth as he +shakes the spears off his shield. From the bounds of ancient Corythus +Acron the Greek had come, leaving for exile a bride half won. Seeing him +afar dealing confusion amid the ranks, in crimson plumes and his +plighted wife's purple,--as an unpastured lion often ranging the deep +coverts, for madness of hunger urges him, if he haply catches sight of a +timorous roe or high-antlered stag, he gapes hugely for joy, and, with +mane on end, clings crouching over its flesh, his cruel mouth bathed in +reeking gore. . . . so Mezentius darts lightly among the thick of the +enemy. Hapless Acron goes down, and, spurning the dark ground, gasps out +his life, and covers the broken javelin with his blood. But the victor +deigned not to bring down Orodes with the blind wound of his flying +lance as he fled; full face to face he meets him, and engages man with +man, conqueror not by stealth but armed valour. Then, as with planted +foot, he thrust him off the spear: 'O men,' he cries, 'Orodes lies low, +no slight arm of the war.' His comrades shout after him the glad battle +chant. And the dying man: 'Not unavenged nor long, whoso thou art, shalt +thou be glad in victory: thee too an equal fate marks down, and in these +fields thou shalt soon lie.' And smiling on him half wrathfully, +Mezentius: 'Now die thou. But of me let the father of gods and king of +men take counsel.' So saying, he drew the weapon out of his body. +[745-780]Grim rest and iron slumber seal his eyes; his lids close on +everlasting night. Caedicus slays Alcathoüs, Sacrator Hydaspes, Rapo +Parthenius and the grim strength of Orses, Messapus Clonius and +Erichaetes son of Lycaon, the one when his reinless horse stumbling had +flung him to the ground, the other as they met on foot. And Agis the +Lycian advanced only to be struck from horseback by Valerus, brave as +his ancestry; and Thronius by Salius, and Salius by Nealces with +treacherous arrow-shot that stole from far. + +Now the heavy hand of war dealt equal woe and counterchange of death; in +even balance conquerors and conquered slew and fell; nor one nor other +knows of retreat. The gods in Jove's house pity the vain rage of either +and all the agonising of mortals. From one side Venus, from one opposite +Juno, daughter of Saturn, looks on; pale Tisiphone rages among the many +thousand men. But now, brandishing his huge spear, Mezentius strides +glooming over the plain, vast as Orion when, with planted foot, he +cleaves his way through the vast pools of mid-ocean and his shoulder +overtops the waves, or carrying an ancient mountain-ash from the +hilltops, paces the ground and hides his head among the clouds: so moves +Mezentius, huge in arms. Aeneas, espying him in the deep columns, makes +on to meet him. He remains, unterrified, awaiting his noble foe, steady +in his own bulk, and measures with his eye the fair range for a spear. +'This right hand's divinity, and the weapon I poise and hurl, now be +favourable! thee, Lausus, I vow for the live trophy of Aeneas, dressed +in the spoils stripped from the pirate's body.' He ends, and throws the +spear whistling from far; it flies on, glancing from the shield, and +pierces illustrious Antores hard by him sidelong in the flank; Antores, +companion of Hercules, who, sent thither from Argos, had stayed by +Evander, and [781-814]settled in an Italian town. Hapless he goes down +with a wound not his own, and in death gazes on the sky, and Argos is +sweet in his remembrance. Then good Aeneas throws his spear; through the +sheltering circle of threefold brass, through the canvas lining and +fabric of triple-sewn bull-hide it went, and sank deep in his groin; yet +carried not its strength home. Quickly Aeneas, joyful at the sight of +the Tyrrhenian's blood, snatches his sword from his thigh and presses +hotly on his struggling enemy. Lausus saw, and groaned deeply for love +of his dear father, and tears rolled over his face. Here will I not keep +silence of thy hard death-doom and thine excellent deeds (if in any wise +things wrought in the old time may win belief), nor of thyself, O fitly +remembered! He, helpless and trammelled, withdrew backward, the deadly +spear-shaft trailing from his shield. The youth broke forward and +plunged into the fight; and even as Aeneas' hand rose to bring down the +blow, he caught up his point and held him in delay. His comrades follow +up with loud cries, so the father may withdraw in shelter of his son's +shield, while they shower their darts and bear back the enemy with +missiles from a distance. Aeneas wrathfully keeps covered. And as when +storm-clouds pour down in streaming hail, all the ploughmen and +country-folk scatter off the fields, and the wayfarer cowers safe in his +fortress, a stream's bank or deep arch of rock, while the rain falls, +that they may do their day's labour when sunlight reappears; thus under +the circling storm of weapons Aeneas sustains the cloud of war till it +thunders itself all away, and calls on Lausus, on Lausus, with chiding +and menace: 'Whither runnest thou on thy death, with daring beyond thy +strength? thine affection betrays thee into rashness.' But none the less +he leaps madly on; and now wrath rises higher and fiercer in the +Dardanian captain, and the Fates pass Lausus' last [815-849]threads +through their hand; for Aeneas drives the sword strongly right through +him up all its length: the point pierced the light shield that armed his +assailant, and the tunic sewn by his mother with flexible gold: blood +filled his breast, and the life left the body and passed mourning +through the air to the under world. But when Anchises' son saw the look +on the dying face, the face pale in wonderful wise, he sighed deeply in +pity, and reached forth his hand, as the likeness of his own filial +affection flashed across his soul. 'What now shall good Aeneas give +thee, what, O poor boy, for this thy praise, for guerdon of a nature so +noble? Keep for thine own the armour thou didst delight in; and I +restore thee, if that matters aught at all, to the ghosts and ashes of +thy parents. Yet thou shalt have this sad comfort in thy piteous death, +thou fallest by great Aeneas' hand.' Then, chiding his hesitating +comrades, he lifts him from the ground, dabbling the comely-ranged +tresses with blood. + +Meanwhile his father, by the wave of the Tiber river, stanched his wound +with water, and rested his body against a tree-trunk. Hard by his brazen +helmet hangs from the boughs, and the heavy armour lies quietly on the +meadow. Chosen men stand round; he, sick and panting, leans his neck and +lets his beard spread down over his chest. Many a time he asks for +Lausus, and sends many an one to call him back and carry a parent's sad +commands. But Lausus his weeping comrades were bearing lifeless on his +armour, mighty and mightily wounded to death. Afar the soul prophetic of +ill knew their lamentation: he soils his gray hairs plenteously with +dust, and stretches both hands on high, and clings on the dead. 'Was +life's hold on me so sweet, O my son, that I let him I bore receive the +hostile stroke in my room? Am I, thy father, saved by these wounds of +thine, and living by thy death? Alas and woe! [850-885]now at last +exile is bitter! now the wound is driven deep! And I, even I, O my son, +stained thy name with crime, driven in hatred from the throne and +sceptre of my fathers. I owed vengeance to my country and my people's +resentment; might mine own guilty life but have paid it by every form of +death! Now I live, and leave not yet man and day; but I will.' As he +speaks thus he raises himself painfully on his thigh, and though the +violence of the deep wound cripples him, yet unbroken he bids his horse +be brought, his beauty, his comfort, that ever had carried him +victorious out of war, and says these words to the grieving beast: +'Rhoebus, we have lived long, if aught at all lasts long with mortals. +This day wilt thou either bring back in triumph the gory head and spoils +of Aeneas, and we will avenge Lausus' agonies; or if no force opens a +way, thou wilt die with me: for I deem not, bravest, thou wilt deign to +bear an alien rule and a Teucrian lord.' He spoke, and took his welcome +seat on the back he knew, loading both hands with keen javelins, his +head sheathed in glittering brass and shaggy horse-hair plumes. Thus he +galloped in. Through his heart sweep together the vast tides of shame +and mingling madness and grief. And with that he thrice loudly calls +Aeneas. Aeneas knew the call, and makes glad invocation: 'So the father +of gods speed me, so Apollo on high: do thou essay to close hand to +hand. . . .' Thus much he utters, and moves up to meet him with levelled +spear. And he: 'Why seek to frighten me, fierce man, now my son is gone? +this was thy one road to my ruin. We shrink not from death, nor relent +before any of thy gods. Cease; for I come to my death, first carrying +these gifts for thee.' He spoke, and hurled a weapon at his enemy; then +plants another and yet another as he darts round in a wide circle; but +they are stayed on the boss of gold. Thrice he rode wheeling close round +him by the [886-908]left, and sent his weapons strongly in; thrice the +Trojan hero turns round, taking the grim forest on his brazen guard. +Then, weary of lingering in delay on delay, and plucking out spear-head +after spear-head, and hard pressed in the uneven match of battle, with +much counselling of spirit now at last he bursts forth, and sends his +spear at the war-horse between the hollows of the temples. The creature +raises itself erect, beating the air with its feet, throws its rider, +and coming down after him in an entangled mass, slips its shoulder as it +tumbles forward. The cries of Trojans and Latins kindle the sky. Aeneas +rushes up, drawing his sword from the scabbard, and thus above him: +'Where now is gallant Mezentius and all his fierce spirit?' Thereto the +Tyrrhenian, as he came to himself and gazing up drank the air of heaven: +'Bitter foe, why these taunts and menaces of death? Naught forbids my +slaughter; neither on such terms came I to battle, nor did my Lausus +make treaty for this between me and thee. This one thing I beseech thee, +by whatsoever grace a vanquished enemy may claim: allow my body +sepulture. I know I am girt by the bitter hatred of my people. Stay, I +implore, their fury, and grant me and my son union in the tomb.' So +speaks he, and takes the sword in his throat unfalteringly, and the +lifeblood spreads in a wave over his armour. + + + + +BOOK ELEVENTH + +THE COUNCIL OF THE LATINS, AND THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CAMILLA + + +Meanwhile Dawn arose forth of Ocean. Aeneas, though the charge presses +to give a space for burial of his comrades, and his mind is in the +tumult of death, began to pay the gods his vows of victory with the +breaking of the East. He plants on a mound a mighty oak with boughs +lopped away on every hand, and arrays it in the gleaming arms stripped +from Mezentius the captain, a trophy to thee, mighty Lord of War; he +fixes on it the plumes dripping with blood, the broken spears, and the +corslet struck and pierced in twelve places; he ties the shield of brass +on his left hand, and hangs from his neck the ivory sword. Then among +his joyous comrades (for all the throng of his captains girt him close +about) he begins in these words of cheer: + +'The greatest deed is done, O men; be all fear gone for what remains. +These are the spoils of a haughty king, the first-fruits won from him; +my hands have set Mezentius here. Now our way lies to the walls of the +Latin king. Prepare your arms in courage, and let your hopes anticipate +the war; let no ignorant delay hinder or tardy thoughts of fear keep us +back, so soon as heaven grant us to pluck up the standards and lead our +army from the camp. [22-58]Meanwhile let us commit to earth the +unburied bodies of our comrades, since deep in Acheron this honour is +left alone. Go,' says he, 'grace with the last gifts those noble souls +whose blood won us this land for ours; and first let Pallas be sent to +Evander's mourning city, he whose valour failed not when the day of +darkness took him, and the bitter wave of death.' + +So speaks he weeping, and retraces his steps to the door, where aged +Acoetes watched Pallas' lifeless body laid out for burial; once +armour-bearer to Evander in Parrhasia, but now gone forth with darker +omens, appointed attendant to his darling foster-child. Around is the +whole train of servants, with a crowd of Trojans, and the Ilian women +with hair unbound in mourning after their fashion. When Aeneas entered +at the high doorway they beat their breasts and raise a loud wail aloft, +and the palace moans to their grievous lamentation. Himself, when he saw +the pillowed head and fair face of Pallas, and on his smooth breast the +gaping wound of the Ausonian spear-head, speaks thus with welling tears: + +'Did Fortune in her joyous coming,' he cries, 'O luckless boy, grudge +thee the sight of our realm, and a triumphal entry to thy father's +dwelling? Not this promise of thee had I given to Evander thy sire at my +departure, when he embraced me as I went and bade me speed to a wide +empire, and yet warned me in fear that the men were valiant, the people +obstinate in battle. And now he, fast ensnared by empty hope, perchance +offers vows and heaps gifts on his altars; we, a mourning train, go in +hollow honour by his corpse, who now owes no more to aught in heaven. +Unhappy! thou wilt see thy son cruelly slain; is this our triumphal +return awaited? is this my strong assurance? Ah me, what a shield is +lost, mine Iülus, to Ausonia and to thee!' + +[59-96]This lament done, he bids raise the piteous body, and sends a +thousand men chosen from all his army for the last honour of escort, to +mingle in the father's tears; a small comfort in a great sorrow, yet the +unhappy parent's due. Others quickly plait a soft wicker bier of arbutus +rods and oak shoots, and shadow the heaped pillows with a leafy +covering. Here they lay him, high on their rustic strewing; even as some +tender violet or drooping hyacinth-blossom plucked by a maiden's finger, +whose sheen and whose grace is not yet departed, but no more does Earth +the mother feed it or lend it strength. Then Aeneas bore forth two +purple garments stiff with gold, that Sidonian Dido's own hands, happy +over their work, had once wrought for him, and shot the warp with +delicate gold. One of these he sadly folds round him, a last honour, and +veils in its covering the tresses destined to the fire; and heaps up +besides many a Laurentine battle-prize, and bids his spoils pass forth +in long train; with them the horses and arms whereof he had stripped the +enemy, and those, with hands tied behind their back, whom he would send +as nether offering to his ghost, and sprinkle the blood of their slaying +on the flame. Also he bids his captains carry stems dressed in the +armour of the foe, and fix on them the hostile names. Unhappy Acoetes is +led along, outworn with age, he smites his breast and rends his face, +and flings himself forward all along the ground. Likewise they lead +forth the chariot bathed in Rutulian blood; behind goes weeping Aethon +the war-horse, his trappings laid away, and big drops wet his face. +Others bear his spear and helmet, for all else is Turnus' prize. Then +follow in mourning array the Teucrians and all the Tyrrhenians, and the +Arcadians with arms reversed. When the whole long escorting file had +taken its way, Aeneas stopped, and sighing deep, pursued thus: 'Once +again war's dreadful destiny calls us hence to other tears: +[97-129]hail thou for evermore, O princely Pallas, and for evermore +farewell.' And without more words he bent his way to the high walls and +advanced towards his camp. + +And now envoys were there from the Latin city with wreathed boughs of +olive, praying him of his grace to restore the dead that lay strewn by +the sword over the plain, and let them go to their earthy grave: no war +lasts with men conquered and bereft of breath; let this indulgence be +given to men once called friends and fathers of their brides. To them +Aeneas grants leave in kind and courteous wise, spurning not their +prayer, and goes on in these words: 'What spite of fortune, O Latins, +hath entangled you in the toils of war, and made you fly our friendship? +Plead you for peace to the lifeless bodies that the battle-lot hath +slain? I would fain grant it even to the living. Neither have I come but +because destiny had given me this place to dwell in; nor wage I war with +your people; your king it is who hath broken our covenant and preferred +to trust himself to Turnus' arms. Fitter it were Turnus had faced death +to-day. If he will fight out the war and expel the Teucrians, it had +been well to meet me here in arms; so had he lived to whom life were +granted of heaven or his own right hand. Now go, and kindle the fire +beneath your hapless countrymen.' Aeneas ended: they stood dumb in +silence, with faces bent steadfastly in mutual gaze. Then aged Drances, +ever young Turnus' assailant in hatred and accusation, with the words of +his mouth thus answers him again: + +'O Trojan, great in renown, yet greater in arms, with what praises may I +extol thy divine goodness? Shall thy righteousness first wake my wonder, +or thy toils in war? We indeed will gratefully carry these words to our +fathers' city, and, if fortune grant a way, will make thee at one with +King Latinus. Let Turnus seek his own alliances. Nay, [130-163]it will +be our delight to rear the massy walls of destiny and stoop our +shoulders under the stones of Troy.' + +He ended thus, and all with one voice murmured assent. Twelve days' +truce is struck, and in mediation of the peace Teucrians and Latins +stray mingling unharmed on the forest heights. The tall ash echoes to +the axe's strokes; they overturn pines that soar into the sky, and +busily cleave oaken logs and scented cedar with wedges, and drag +mountain-ashes on their groaning waggons. + +And now flying Rumour, harbinger of the heavy woe, fills Evander and +Evander's house and city with the same voice that but now told of Pallas +victorious over Latium. The Arcadians stream to the gates, snatching +funeral torches after their ancient use; the road gleams with the long +line of flame, and parts the fields with a broad pathway of light; the +arriving crowd of Phrygians meets them and mingles in mourning array. +When the matrons saw all the train approach their dwellings they kindle +the town with loud wailing. But no force may withhold Evander; he comes +amid them; the bier is set down; he flings himself on Pallas, and clasps +him with tears and sighs, and scarcely at last does grief leave his +voice's utterance free. 'Other than this, O Pallas! was thy promise to +thy father, that thou wouldst not plunge recklessly into the fury of +battle. I knew well how strong was the fresh pride of arms and the +sweetness of honour in a first battle. Ah, unhappy first-fruits of his +youth and bitter prelude of the war upon our borders! ah, vows and +prayers of mine that no god heard! and thou, pure crown of wifehood, +happy that thou art dead and not spared for this sorrow! But I have +outgone my destiny in living, to stay here the survivor of my child. +Would I had followed the allied arms of Troy, to be overwhelmed by +Rutulian weapons! Would my life had been given, and I and not my Pallas +were borne home in this [164-198]procession! I would not blame you, O +Teucrians, nor our treaty and the friendly hands we clasped: our old age +had that appointed debt to pay. Yet if untimely death awaited my son, it +will be good to think he fell leading the Teucrians into Latium, and +slew his Volscian thousands before he fell. Nay, no other funeral than +this would I deem thy due, my Pallas, than good Aeneas does, than the +mighty Phrygians, than the Tyrrhene captains and all the army of +Tyrrhenia. Great are the trophies they bring on whom thine hand deals +death; thou also, Turnus, wert standing now a great trunk dressed in +arms, had his age and his strength of years equalled thine. But why, +unhappy, do I delay the Trojan arms? Go, and forget not to carry this +message to your king: Thine hand it is that keeps me lingering in a life +that is hateful since Pallas fell, and Turnus is the debt thou seest son +and father claim: for thy virtue and thy fortune this scope alone is +left. I ask not joy in life; I may not; but to carry this to my son deep +in the under world.' + +Meanwhile Dawn had raised her gracious light on weary men, bringing back +task and toil: now lord Aeneas, how Tarchon, have built the pyres on the +winding shore. Hither in ancestral fashion hath each borne the bodies of +his kin; the dark fire is lit beneath, and the vapour hides high heaven +in gloom. Thrice, girt in glittering arms, they have marched about the +blazing piles, thrice compassed on horseback the sad fire of death, and +uttered their wail. Tears fall fast upon earth and armour; cries of men +and blare of trumpets roll skyward. Then some fling on the fire Latin +spoils stripped from the slain, helmets and shapely swords, bridles and +glowing chariot wheels; others familiar gifts, the very shields and +luckless weapons of the dead. Around are slain in sacrifice oxen many in +number, and bristly swine and cattle gathered out of all the country +[199-234]are slaughtered over the flames. Then, crowding the shore, +they gaze on their burning comrades, and guard the embers of the pyres, +and cannot tear themselves away till dewy Night wheels on the +star-spangled glittering sky. + +Therewithal the unhappy Latins far apart build countless pyres and bury +many bodies of men in the ground; and many more they lift and bear away +to the neighbouring country, or send them back to the city; the rest, a +vast heap of undistinguishable slaughter, they burn uncounted and +unhonoured; on all sides the broad fields gleam with crowded rivalry of +fires. The third Dawn had rolled away the chill shadow from the sky; +mournfully they piled high the ashes and mingled bones from the embers, +and heaped a load of warm earth above them. Now in the dwellings of rich +Latinus' city the noise is loudest and most the long wail. Here mothers +and their sons' unhappy brides, here beloved sisters sad-hearted and +orphaned boys curse the disastrous war and Turnus' bridal, and bid him +his own self arm and decide the issue with the sword, since he claims +for himself the first rank and the lordship of Italy. Drances fiercely +embitters their cry, and vouches that Turnus alone is called, alone is +claimed for battle. Yet therewith many a diverse-worded counsel is for +Turnus, and the great name of the queen overshadows him, and he rises +high in renown of trophies fitly won. + +Among their stir, and while confusion is fiercest, lo! to crown all, the +envoys from great Diomede's city bring their gloomy message: nothing is +come of all the toil and labour spent; gifts and gold and strong +entreaties have been of no avail; Latium must seek other arms, or sue +for peace to the Trojan king. For heavy grief King Latinus himself +swoons away. The wrath of heaven and the fresh graves before his eyes +warn him that Aeneas is borne on by fate's evident will. So he sends +imperial summons to [235-269]his high council, the foremost of his +people, and gathers them within his lofty courts. They assemble, and +stream up the crowded streets to the royal dwelling. Latinus, eldest in +years and first in royalty, sits amid them with cheerless brow, and bids +the envoys sent back from the Aetolian city tell the news they bring, +and demands a full and ordered reply. Then tongues are hushed; and +Venulus, obeying his word, thus begins to speak: + +'We have seen, O citizens, Diomede in his Argive camp, and outsped our +way and passed all its dangers, and touched the hand whereunder the land +of Ilium fell. He was founding a town, named Argyripa after his +ancestral people, on the conquered fields of Iapygian Garganus. After we +entered in, and licence of open speech was given, we lay forth our +gifts, we instruct him of our name and country, who are its invaders, +and why we are drawn to Arpi. He heard us, and replied thus with face +unstirred: + +'"O fortunate races, realm of Saturn, Ausonians of old, how doth fortune +vex your quiet and woo you to tempt wars you know not? We that have +drawn sword on the fields of Ilium--I forbear to tell the drains of war +beneath her high walls, the men sunken in yonder Simoïs--have all over +the world paid to the full our punishment and the reward of guilt, a +crew Priam's self might pity; as Minerva's baleful star knows, and the +Euboïc reefs and Caphereus' revenge. From that warfaring driven to alien +shores, Menelaus son of Atreus is in exile far as Proteus' Pillars, +Ulysses hath seen the Cyclopes of Aetna. Shall I make mention of the +realm of Neoptolemus, and Idomeneus' household gods overthrown? or of +the Locrians who dwell on the Libyan beach? Even the lord of Mycenae, +the mighty Achaeans' general, sank on his own threshold edge under his +accursed wife's hand, where the adulterer crouched over conquered Asia. +Aye, or that the gods grudged it me to return to [270-301]my ancestral +altars, to see the bride of my desire, and lovely Calydon! Now likewise +sights of appalling presage pursue me; my comrades, lost to me, have +soared winging into the sky, and flit birds about the rivers--ah me, +dread punishment of my people!--and fill the cliffs with their +melancholy cries. This it was I had to look for even from the time when +I madly assailed celestial limbs with steel, and sullied the hand of +Venus with a wound. Do not, ah, do not urge me to such battles. Neither +have I any war with Troy since her towers are overthrown, nor do I +remember with delight the woes of old. Turn to Aeneas with the gifts you +bear to me from your ancestral borders. We have stood to face his grim +weapons, and met him hand to hand; believe one who hath proved it, how +mightily he rises over his shield, in what a whirlwind he hurls his +spear. Had the land of Ida borne two more like him, Dardanus had marched +to attack the towns of Inachus, and Greece were mourning fate's reverse. +In all our delay before that obstinate Trojan city, it was Hector and +Aeneas whose hand stayed the Grecian victory and bore back its advance +to the tenth year. Both were splendid in courage, both eminent in arms; +Aeneas was first in duty. Let your hands join in treaty as they may; but +beware that your weapons close not with his." + +'Thou hast heard, most gracious king, at once what is the king's answer, +and what his counsel for our great struggle.' + +Scarcely thus the envoys, when a diverse murmur ran through the troubled +lips of the Ausonians; even as, when rocks delay some running river, it +plashes in the barred pool, and the banks murmur nigh to the babbling +wave. So soon as their minds were quieted, and their hurrying lips +hushed, the king, first calling on the gods, begins from his lofty +throne: + +[302-336]'Ere now could I wish, O Latins, we had determined our course +of state, and it had been better thus; not to meet in council at such a +time as now, with the enemy seated before our walls. We wage an +ill-timed war, fellow-citizens, with a divine race, invincible, unbroken +in battle, who brook not even when conquered to drop the sword. If you +had hope in appeal to Aetolian arms, abandon it; though each man's hope +is his own, you discern how narrow a path it is. Beyond that you see +with your eyes and handle with your hands the total ruin of our +fortunes. I blame no one; what valour's utmost could do is done; we have +fought with our whole kingdom's strength. Now I will unfold what I +doubtfully advise and purpose, and with your attention instruct you of +it in brief. There is an ancient land of mine bordering the Tuscan +river, stretching far westward beyond the Sicanian borders. Auruncans +and Rutulians sow on it, work the stiff hills with the ploughshare, and +pasture them where they are roughest. Let all this tract, with a +pine-clad belt of mountain height, pass to the Teucrians in friendship; +let us name fair terms of treaty, and invite them as allies to our +realm; let them settle, if they desire it so, and found a city. But if +they have a mind to try other coasts and another people, and can abide +to leave our soil, let us build twice ten ships of Italian oak, or as +many more as they can man; timber lies at the water's edge for all; let +them assign the number and fashion of the vessels, and we will supply +brass, labour, dockyards. Further, it is our will that an hundred +ambassadors of the highest rank in Latium shall go to bear our words and +ratify the treaty, holding forth in their hands the boughs of peace, and +carrying for gifts weight of gold and ivory, and the chair and striped +robe, our royal array. Give counsel openly, and succour our exhausted +state.' + +Then Drances again, he whose jealous ill-will was [337-370]wrought to +anger and stung with bitterness by Turnus' fame, lavish of wealth and +quick of tongue though his hand was cold in war, held no empty +counsellor and potent in faction--his mother's rank ennobled a lineage +whose paternal source was obscure--rises, and with these words heaps and +heightens their passion: + +'Dark to no man and needing no voice of ours, O gracious king, is that +whereon thou takest counsel. All confess they know how our nation's +fortune sways; but their words are choked. Let him grant freedom of +speech and abate his breath, he by whose disastrous government and +perverse way (I will speak out, though he menace me with arms and death) +we see so many stars of battle gone down and all our city sunk in +mourning; while he, confident in flight, assails the Trojan camp and +makes heaven quail before his arms. Add yet one to those gifts of thine, +to all the riches thou bidst us send or promise to the Dardanians, most +gracious of kings, but one; let no man's passion overbear thee from +giving thine own daughter to an illustrious son and a worthy marriage, +and binding this peace by perpetual treaty. Yet if we are thus +terror-stricken heart and soul, let us implore him in person, in person +plead him of his grace to give way, to restore king and country their +proper right. Why again and again hurlest thou these unhappy citizens on +peril so evident, O source and spring of Latium's woes? In war is no +safety; peace we all implore of thee, O Turnus, and the one pledge that +makes peace inviolable. I the first, I whom thou picturest thine enemy, +as I care not if I am, see, I bow at thy feet. Pity thine allies; +relent, and retire before thy conqueror. Enough have we seen of rout and +death, and desolation over our broad lands. Or if glory stir thee, if +such strength kindle in thy breast, and if a palace so delight thee for +thy dower, be bold, and advance stout-hearted upon the foe. We verily, +that Turnus [371-406]may have his royal bride, must lie scattered on +the plains, worthless lives, a crowd unburied and unwept. Do thou also, +if thou hast aught of might, if the War-god be in thee as in thy +fathers, look him in the face who challenges. . . .' + +At these words Turnus' passion blazed out. He utters a groan, and breaks +forth thus in deep accents: + +'Copious indeed, Drances, and fluent is ever thy speech at the moment +war calls for action; and when the fathers are summoned thou art there +the first. But we need no words to fill our senate-house, safely as thou +wingest them while the mounded walls keep off the enemy, and the +trenches swim not yet with blood. Thunder on in rhetoric, thy wonted +way: accuse thou me of fear, Drances, since thine hand hath heaped so +many Teucrians in slaughter, and thy glorious trophies dot the fields. +Trial is open of what live valour can do; nor indeed is our foe far to +seek; on all sides they surround our walls. Are we going to meet them? +Why linger? Will thy bravery ever be in that windy tongue and those +timorous feet of thine? . . . _My conqueror?_ Shall any justly flout me +as conquered, who sees Tiber swoln fuller with Ilian blood, and all the +house and people of Evander laid low, and the Arcadians stripped of +their armour? Not such did Bitias and huge Pandarus prove me, and the +thousand men whom on one day my conquering hand sent down to hell, shut +as I was in their walls and closed in the enemy's ramparts. _In war is +no safety._ Fool! be thy boding on the Dardanian's head and thine own +fortunes. Go on; cease not to throw all into confusion with thy terrors, +to exalt the strength of a twice vanquished race, and abase the arms of +Latinus before it. Now the princes of the Myrmidons tremble before +Phrygian arms, now Tydeus' son and Achilles of Larissa, and Aufidus +river recoils from the Adriatic wave. Or when the scheming villain +[407-443]pretends to shrink at my abuse, and sharpens calumny by +terror! never shall this hand--keep quiet!--rob thee of such a soul; +with thee let it abide, and dwell in that breast of thine. Now I return +to thee, my lord, and thy weighty resolves. If thou dost repose no +further hope in our arms, if all hath indeed left us, and one repulse +been our utter ruin, and our fortune is beyond recovery, let us plead +for peace and stretch forth unarmed hands. Yet ah! had we aught of our +wonted manhood, his toil beyond all other is blessed and his spirit +eminent, who rather than see it thus, hath fallen prone in death and +once bitten the ground. But if we have yet resources and an army still +unbroken, and cities and peoples of Italy remain for our aid; but if +even the Trojans have won their glory at great cost of blood (they too +have their deaths, and the storm fell equally on all), why do we +shamefully faint even on the threshold? Why does a shudder seize our +limbs before the trumpet sound? Often do the Days and the varying change +of toiling Time restore prosperity; often Fortune in broken visits makes +man her sport and again establishes him. The Aetolian of Arpi will not +help us; but Messapus will, and Tolumnius the fortunate, and the +captains sent by many a nation; nor will fame be scant to follow the +flower of Latium and the Laurentine land. Camilla the Volscian too is +with us, leading her train of cavalry, squadrons splendid in brass. But +if I only am claimed by the Teucrians for combat, if that is your +pleasure, and I am the barrier to the public good, Victory does not so +hate and shun my hands that I should renounce any enterprise for so +great a hope. I shall meet him in courage, did he outmatch great +Achilles and wear arms like his forged by Vulcan's hands. To you and to +my father Latinus I Turnus, unexcelled in bravery by any of old, +consecrate my life. _Aeneas calls on him alone_: let him, I implore: let +not Drances rather appease with his [444-480]life this wrath of heaven, +if such it be, or win the renown of valour.' + +Thus they one with another strove together in uncertainty; Aeneas moved +from his camp to battle. Lo, a messenger rushes spreading confusion +through the royal house, and fills the town with great alarms: the +Teucrians, ranged in battle-line with the Tyrrhene forces, are marching +down by the Tiber river and filling the plain. Immediately spirits are +stirred and hearts shaken and wrath roused in fierce excitement among +the crowd. Hurrying hands grasp at arms; for arms their young men +clamour; the fathers shed tears and mutter gloomily. With that a great +noise rises aloft in diverse contention, even as when flocks of birds +haply settle on a lofty grove, or swans utter their hoarse cry among the +vocal pools on the fish-filled river of Padusa. 'Yes, citizens!' cries +Turnus, seizing his time: 'gather in council and sit praising peace, +while they rush on dominion in arms!' Without more words he sprung up +and issued swiftly from the high halls. 'Thou, Volusus,' he cries, 'bid +the Volscian battalions arm, and lead out the Rutulians. Messapus, and +Coras with thy brother, spread your armed cavalry widely over the plain. +Let a division entrench the city gates and man the towers: the rest of +our array attack with me where I command.' The whole town goes rushing +to the walls; lord Latinus himself, dismayed by the woeful emergency, +quits the council and puts off his high designs, and chides himself +sorely for not having given Aeneas unasked welcome, and made him son and +bulwark of the city. Some entrench the gates, or bring up supply of +stones and poles. The hoarse clarion utters the ensanguined note of war. +A motley ring of boys and matrons girdle the walls. Therewithal the +queen with a crowd of mothers ascends bearing gifts to Pallas' towered +temple, and by her side goes maiden Lavinia, source of all that woe, +[481-514]her beautiful eyes cast down. The mothers enter in, and while +the temple steams with their incense, pour from the high doorway their +mournful cry: 'Maiden armipotent, Tritonian, sovereign of war, break +with thine hand the spear of the Phrygian plunderer, hurl him prone to +earth and dash him down beneath our lofty gates.' Turnus arrays himself +in hot haste for battle, and even now hath done on his sparkling +breastplate with its flickering scales of brass, and clasped his golden +greaves, his brows yet bare and his sword buckled to his side; he runs +down from the fortress height glittering in gold, and exultantly +anticipates the foe. Thus when a horse snaps his tether, and, free at +last, rushes from the stalls and gains the open plain, he either darts +towards the pastures of the herded mares, or bathing, as is his wont, in +the familiar river waters, dashes out and neighs with neck stretched +high, glorying, and his mane tosses over collar and shoulder. Camilla +with her Volscian array meets him face to face in the gateway; the +princess leaps from her horse, and all her squadron at her example slide +from horseback to the ground. Then she speaks thus: + +'Turnus, if bravery hath any just self-confidence, I dare and promise to +engage Aeneas' cavalry, and advance to meet the Tyrrhene horse. Permit +my hand to try war's first perils: do thou on foot keep by the walls and +guard the city.' + +To this Turnus, with eyes fixed on the terrible maiden: 'O maiden flower +of Italy, how may I essay to express, how to prove my gratitude? But +now, since that spirit of thine excels all praise, share thou the toil +with me. Aeneas, as the report of the scouts I sent assures, hath sent +on his light-armed horse to annoy us and scour the plains; himself he +marches on the city across the lonely ridge of the mountain steep. I am +arranging a stratagem of [515-550]war in his pathway on the wooded +slope, to block a gorge on the highroad with armed troops. Do thou +receive and join battle with the Tyrrhene cavalry; with thee shall be +gallant Messapus, the Latin squadrons, and Tiburtus' division: do thou +likewise assume a captain's charge.' + +So speaks he, and with like words heartens Messapus and the allied +captains to battle, and advances towards the enemy. There is a sweeping +curve of glen, made for ambushes and devices of arms. Dark thick foliage +hems it in on either hand, and into it a bare footpath leads by a narrow +gorge and difficult entrance. Right above it on the watch-towers of the +hill-top lies an unexpected level, hidden away in shelter, whether one +would charge from right and left or stand on the ridge and roll down +heavy stones. Hither he passes by a line of way he knew, and, seizing +his ground, occupies the treacherous woods. + +Meanwhile in the heavenly dwellings Latona's daughter addressed fleet +Opis, one of her maiden fellowship and sacred band, and sadly uttered +these accents: 'Camilla moves to fierce war, O maiden, and vainly girds +on our arms, dear as she is beyond others to me. For her love of Diana +is not newly born, nor her spirit stirred by sudden affection. Driven +from his kingdom through jealousy of his haughty power, Metabus left +ancient Privernum town, and bore his infant with him in his flight +through war and battle, the companion of his exile, and called her by +her mother Casmilla's name, with a little change, Camilla. Carrying her +before him on his breast, he sought a long ridge of lonely woodland; on +all sides angry weapons pressed on him, and Volscian soldiery spread +hurrying round about. Lo, in mid flight swoln Amasenus ran foaming with +banks abrim, so heavily had the clouds burst in rain. He would swim it; +but love of the infant holds him back in alarm for so dear a burden. +Inly revolving [551-586]all, he settled reluctantly on a sudden +resolve: the great spear that the warrior haply carried in his stout +hand, of hard-knotted and seasoned oak, to it he ties his daughter +swathed in cork-tree bark of the woodland, and binds her balanced round +the middle of the spear; poising it in his great right hand he thus +cries aloft: "Gracious one, haunter of the woodland, maiden daughter of +Latona, a father devotes this babe to thy service; thine is this weapon +she holds, thine infant suppliant, flying through the air from her +enemies. Accept her, I implore, O goddess, for thine own, whom now I +entrust to the chance of air." He spoke, and drawing back his arm, darts +the spinning spear-shaft: the waters roar: over the racing river poor +Camilla shoots on the whistling weapon. But Metabus, as a strong band +now presses nigher, plunges into the river, and triumphantly pulls spear +and girl, his gift to Trivia, from the grassy turf. No cities ever +received him within house or rampart, nor had his savagery submitted to +it; he led his life on the lonely pastoral hills. Here he nursed his +daughter in the underwood among tangled coverts, on the milk of a wild +brood-mare's teats, squeezing the udder into her tender lips. And so +soon as the baby stood and went straight on her feet, he armed her hands +with a sharp javelin, and hung quiver and bow from her little shoulders. +Instead of gold to clasp her tresses, instead of the long skirted gown, +a tiger's spoils hang down her back. Even then her tender hand hurled +childish darts, and whirled about her head the twisted thong of her +sling, and struck down the crane from Strymon or the milk-white swan. +Many a mother among Tyrrhenian towns destined her for their sons in +vain; content with Diana alone, she keeps unsoiled for ever the love of +her darts and maidenhood. Would she had not plunged thus into warfare +and provoked the Trojans by attack! so were she now dear to me and one +of my [587-620]company. But since bitter doom is upon her, up, glide +from heaven, O Nymph, and seek the Latin borders, where under evil omen +they join in baleful battle. Take these, and draw from the quiver an +avenging shaft; by it shall he pay me forfeit of his blood, whoso, +Trojan or Italian alike, shall sully her sacred body with a wound. +Thereafter will I in a sheltering cloud bear body and armour of the +hapless girl unspoiled to the tomb, and lay them in her native land.' +She spoke; but the other sped lightly down the aery sky, girt about with +dark whirlwind on her echoing way. + +But meanwhile the Trojan force nears the walls, with the Etruscan +captains and their whole cavalry arrayed in ordered squadrons. Their +horses' trampling hoofs thunder on all the field, as, swerving this way +and that, they chafe at the reins' pressure; the iron field bristles +wide with spears, and the plain is aflame with uplifted arms. Likewise +Messapus and the Latin horse, and Coras and his brother, and maiden +Camilla's squadron, come forth against them on the plain, and draw back +their hands and level the flickering points of their long lances, in a +fire of neighing horses and advancing men. And now each had drawn within +javelin-cast of each, and drew up; with a sudden shout they dart forth, +and urge on their furious horses; from all sides at once weapons shower +thick like snow, and veil the sky with their shadow. In a moment +Tyrrhenus and fiery Aconteus charge violently with crossing spears, and +are the first to fall; they go down with a heavy crash, and their beasts +break and shatter chest upon chest. Aconteus, hurled off like a +thunderbolt or some mass slung from an engine, is dashed away, and +scatters his life in air. Immediately the lines waver, and the Latins +wheeling about throw their shields behind them and turn their horses +towards the town. The Trojans pursue; Asilas heads and leads on +[621-653]their squadrons. And now they drew nigh the gates, and again +the Latins raise a shout and wheel their supple necks about; the +pursuers fly, and gallop right back with loosened rein: as when the sea, +running up in ebb and flow, now rushes shoreward and strikes over the +cliffs in a wave of foam, drenching the edge of the sand in its curving +sweep; now runs swirling back, and the surge sucks the rolling stones +away. Twice the Tuscans turn and drive the Rutulians towards the town; +twice they are repelled, and look back behind them from cover of their +shields. But when now meeting in a third encounter, the lines are locked +together all their length, and man singles out his man; then indeed, +amid groans of the dying, deep in blood roll armour and bodies, and +horses half slain mixed up with slaughtered men. The battle swells +fierce. Orsilochus hurled his spear at the horse of Remulus, whom +himself he shrank to meet, and left the steel in it under the ear; at +the stroke the charger rears madly, and, mastered by the wound, lifts +his chest and flings up his legs: the rider is thrown and rolls over on +the ground. Catillus strikes down Iollas, and Herminius mighty in +courage, mighty in limbs and arms, bareheaded, tawny-haired, +bare-shouldered; undismayed by wounds, he leaves his vast body open +against arms. Through his broad shoulders the quivering spear runs +piercing him through, and doubles him up with pain. Everywhere the dark +blood flows; they deal death with the sword in battle, and seek a noble +death by wounds. + +But amid the slaughter Camilla rages, a quivered Amazon, with one side +stripped for battle, and now sends tough javelins showering from her +hand, now snatches the strong battle-axe in her unwearying grasp; the +golden bow, the armour of Diana, clashes on her shoulders; and even when +forced backward in retreat, she turns in flight and [654-691]aims darts +from her bow. But around her are her chosen comrades, maiden Larina, +Tulla, Tarpeia brandishing an axe inlaid with bronze, girls of Italy, +whom Camilla the bright chose for her own escort, good at service in +peace and war: even as Thracian Amazons when the streams of Thermodon +clash beneath them as they go to war in painted arms, whether around +Hippolyte, or while martial Penthesilea returns in her chariot, and the +crescent-shielded columns of women dance with loud confused cry. Whom +first, whom last, fierce maiden, does thy dart strike down? First +Euneus, son of Clytius; for as he meets her the long fir shaft crashes +through his open breast. He falls spouting streams of blood, and bites +the gory ground, and dying writhes himself upon his wound. Then Liris +and Pagasus above him; who fall headlong and together, the one thrown as +he reins up his horse stabbed under him, the other while he runs forward +and stretches his unarmed hand to stay his fall. To these she joins +Amastrus, son of Hippotas, and follows from far with her spear Tereus +and Harpalycus and Demophoön and Chromis: and as many darts as the +maiden sends whirling from her hand, so many Phrygians fall. Ornytus the +hunter rides near in strange arms on his Iapygian horse, his broad +warrior's shoulders swathed in the hide stripped from a bullock, his +head covered by a wolf's wide-grinning mouth and white-tusked jaws; a +rustic pike arms his hand; himself he moves amid the squadrons a full +head over all. Catching him up (for that was easy amid the rout), she +runs him through, and thus cries above her enemy: 'Thou wert hunting +wild beasts in the forest, thoughtest thou, Tyrrhenian? the day is come +for a woman's arms to refute thy words. Yet no light fame shalt thou +carry to thy fathers' ghosts, to have fallen under the weapon of +Camilla.' Next Orsilochus and Butes, the two mightiest of mould among +the Teucrians; Butes she pierces in the [692-725]back with her +spear-point between corslet and helmet, where the neck shews as he sits, +and the shield hangs from his left shoulder; Orsilochus she flies, and +darting in a wide circle, slips into the inner ring and pursues her +pursuer; then rising her full height, she drives the strong axe deep +through armour and bone, as he pleads and makes much entreaty; warm +brain from the wound splashes his face. One met her thus and hung +startled by the sudden sight, the warrior son of Aunus haunter of the +Apennine, not the meanest in Liguria while fate allowed him to deceive. +And he, when he discerns that no fleetness of foot may now save him from +battle or turn the princess from pursuit, essays to wind a subtle device +of treachery, and thus begins: 'How hast thou glory, if a woman trust in +her horse's strength? Debar retreat; trust thyself to level ground at +close quarters with me, and prepare to fight on foot. Soon wilt thou +know how windy boasting brings one to harm.' He spoke; but she, furious +and stung with fiery indignation, hands her horse to an attendant, and +takes her stand in equal arms on foot and undismayed, with naked sword +and shield unemblazoned. But he, thinking his craft had won the day, +himself flies off on the instant, and turning his rein, darts off in +flight, pricking his beast to speed with iron-armed heel. 'False +Ligurian, in vain elated in thy pride! for naught hast thou attempted +thy slippery native arts, nor will thy craft bring thee home unhurt to +treacherous Aunus.' So speaks the maiden, and with running feet swift as +fire crosses his horse, and catching the bridle, meets him in front and +takes her vengeance in her enemy's blood: as lightly as the falcon, bird +of bale, swoops down from aloft on a pigeon high in a cloud, and pounces +on and holds her, and disembowels her with taloned feet, while blood and +torn feathers flutter down the sky. + +But the creator of men and gods sits high on Olympus' [726-759]summit +watching this, not with eyes unseeing: he kindles Tyrrhenian Tarchon to +the fierce battle, and sharply goads him on to wrath. So Tarchon gallops +amid the slaughter where his squadrons retreat, and urges his troops in +changing tones, calling man on man by name, and rallies the fliers to +fight. 'What terror, what utter cowardice hath fallen on your spirits, O +never to be stung to shame, O slack alway? a woman drives you in +disorder and routs our ranks! Why wear we steel? for what are these idle +weapons in our hands? Yet not slack in Venus' service and wars by night, +or, when the curving flute proclaims Bacchus' revels, to look forward to +the feast and the cups on the loaded board (this your passion, this your +desire!) till the soothsayer pronounce the offering favourable, and the +fatted victim invite you to the deep groves.' So speaking, he spurs his +horse into the midmost, ready himself to die, and bears violently down +full on Venulus; and tearing him from horseback, grasps his enemy and +carries him away with him on the saddle-bow by main force. A cry rises +up, and all the Latins turn their eyes. Tarchon flies like fire over the +plain, carrying the armed man, and breaks off the steel head from his +own spear and searches the uncovered places, trying where he may deal +the mortal blow; the other struggling against him keeps his hand off his +throat, and strongly parries his attack. And, as when a golden eagle +snatches and soars with a serpent in his clutch, and his feet are fast +in it, and his talons cling; but the wounded snake writhes in coiling +spires, and its scales rise and roughen, and its mouth hisses as it +towers upward; the bird none the less attacks his struggling prize with +crooked beak, while his vans beat the air: even so Tarchon carries +Tiburtus out of the ranks, triumphant in his prize. Following their +captain's example and issue the men of Maeonia charge in. Then Arruns, +due to his [760-796]doom, circles in advance of fleet Camilla with +artful javelin, and tries how fortune may be easiest. Where the maiden +darts furious amid the ranks, there Arruns slips up and silently tracks +her footsteps; where she returns victorious and retires from amid the +enemy, there he stealthily bends his rapid reins. Here he approaches, +and here again he approaches, and strays all round and about, and +untiringly shakes his certain spear. Haply Chloreus, sacred to Cybele +and once her priest, glittered afar, splendid in Phrygian armour; a skin +feathered with brazen scales and clasped with gold clothed the horse +that foamed under his spur; himself he shone in foreign blue and +scarlet, with fleet Gortynian shafts and a Lycian horn; a golden bow was +on his shoulder, and the soothsayer's helmet was of gold; red gold +knotted up his yellow scarf with its rustling lawny folds; his tunics +and barbarian trousers were wrought in needlework. Him, whether that she +might nail armour of Troy on her temples, or herself move in captive +gold, the maiden pursued in blind chase alone of all the battle +conflict, and down the whole line, reckless and fired by a woman's +passion for spoils and plunder: when at last out of his ambush Arruns +chooses his time and darts his javelin, praying thus aloud to heaven: +'Apollo, most high of gods, holy Soracte's warder, to whom we beyond all +do worship, for whom the blaze of the pinewood heap is fed, where we thy +worshippers in pious faith print our steps amid the deep embers of the +fire, grant, O Lord omnipotent, that our arms wipe off this disgrace. I +seek not the dress the maiden wore, nor trophy or any spoil of victory; +other deeds shall bring me praise; let but this dread scourge fall +stricken beneath my wound, I will return inglorious to my native towns.' +Phoebus heard, and inly granted half his vow to prosper, half he shred +into the flying breezes. To surprise and strike down Camilla in sudden +death, this he [797-831]yielded to his prayer; that his high home might +see his return he gave not, and a gust swept off his accents on the +gale. So, when the spear sped from his hand hurtled through the air, all +the Volscians marked it well and turned their eyes on the queen; and she +alone knew not wind or sound of the weapon on its aery path, till the +spear passed home and sank where her breast met it, and, driven deep, +drank her maiden blood. Her companions run hastily up and catch their +sinking mistress. Arruns takes to flight more alarmed than all, in +mingled fear and exultation, and no longer dares to trust his spear or +face the maiden's weapons. And as the wolf, some shepherd or great +bullock slain, plunges at once among the trackless mountain heights ere +hostile darts are in pursuit, and knows how reckless he hath been, and +drooping his tail lays it quivering under his belly, and seeks the +woods; even so does Arruns withdraw from sight in dismay, and, satisfied +to escape, mingles in the throng of arms. The dying woman pulls at the +weapon with her hand; but the iron head is fixed deep in the wound up +between the rib-bones. She swoons away with loss of blood; chilling in +death her eyes swoon away; the once lustrous colour leaves her face. +Then gasping, she thus accosts Acca, one of her birthmates, who alone +before all was true to Camilla, with whom her cares were divided; and +even so she speaks: 'Thus far, Acca my sister, have I availed; now the +bitter wound overmasters me, and all about me darkens in haze. Haste +away, and carry to Turnus my last message; to take my place in battle, +and repel the Trojans from the town. And now goodbye.' Even with the +words she dropped the reins and slid to ground unconscious. Then the +unnerving chill overspread her, her neck slackened, her head sank +overpowered by death, and her arms fell, and with a moan the life fled +indignant into the dark. Then indeed an [832-867]infinite cry rises and +smites the golden stars; the battle grows bloodier now Camilla is down; +at once in serried rants all the Teucrian forces pour in, with the +Tyrrhene captains and Evander's Arcadian squadrons. + +But Opis, Trivia's sentinel, long ere now sits high on the hill-tops, +gazing on the battle undismayed. And when afar amid the din of angry men +she espied Camilla done woefully to death, she sighed and uttered forth +a deep cry: 'Ah too, too cruel, O maiden, the forfeit thou hast paid for +daring armed attack on the Teucrians! and nothing hath availed thee thy +lonely following of Diana in the woodlands, nor wearing our quiver on +thy shoulder. Yet thy Queen hath not left thee unhonoured now thy latter +end is come; nor will this thy death be unnamed among the nations, nor +shalt thou bear the fame of one unavenged; for whosoever hath sullied +thy body with a wound shall pay death for due.' Under the mountain +height was a great earthen mound, tomb of Dercennus, a Laurentine king +of old, shrouded in shadowy ilex. Hither the goddess most beautiful +first swoops down, and marks Arruns from the mounded height. As she saw +him glittering in arms and idly exultant: 'Why,' she cries, 'wanderest +thou away? hitherward direct thy steps; come hither to thy doom, to +receive thy fit reward for Camilla. Shalt thou die, and by Diana's +weapons?' The Thracian spoke, and slid out a fleet arrow from her gilded +quiver, and stretched it level on the bow, and drew it far, till the +curving tips met one another, and now her hands touched in counterpoise, +the left the steel edge, the string in the right her breast. At once and +in a moment Arruns heard the whistle of the dart and the resounding air, +as the steel sank in his body. His comrades leave him forgotten on the +unknown dust of the plain, moaning his last and gasping his life away; +Opis wings her flight to the skyey heaven. + +[868-901]At once the light squadron of Camilla retreat now they have +lost their mistress; the Rutulians retreat in confusion, brave Atinas +retreats. Scattered captains and thinned companies make for safety, and +turn their horses backward to the town. Nor does any avail to make stand +against the swarming death-dealing Teucrians, or bear their shock in +arms; but their unstrung bows droop on their shoulders, and the +four-footed galloping horse-hoof shakes the crumbling plain. The eddying +dust rolls up thick and black towards the walls, and on the watch-towers +mothers beat their breasts and the cries of women rise up to heaven. On +such as first in the rout broke in at the open gates the mingling +hostile throng follows hard; nor do they escape death, alas! but in the +very gateway, within their native city and amid their sheltering homes, +they are pierced through and gasp out their life. Some shut the gates, +and dare not open to their pleading comrades nor receive them in the +town; and a most pitiful slaughter begins between armed men who guard +the entry and others who rush upon their arms. Barred out before their +weeping parents' eyes and faces, some, swept on by the rout, roll +headlong into the trenches; some, blindly rushing with loosened rein, +batter at the gates and stiffly-bolted doorway. The very mothers from +the walls in eager heat (true love of country points the way, when they +see Camilla) dart weapons with shaking hand, and eagerly make hard +stocks of wood and fire-hardened poles serve for steel, and burn to die +among the foremost for their city's sake. + +Meanwhile among the forests the terrible news pours in on Turnus, and +Acca brings him news of the mighty invasion; the Volscian lines are +destroyed; Camilla is fallen; the enemy thicken and press on, and have +swept all before them down the tide of battle. Raging he leaves the +hills he had beset--Jove's stern will ordains it [902-915]so--and quits +the rough woodland. Scarcely had he marched out of sight and gained the +plain when lord Aeneas enters the open defiles, surmounts the ridge, and +issues from the dim forest. So both advance swiftly to the town with all +their columns, no long march apart, and at once Aeneas descried afar the +plains all smoking with dust, and saw the Laurentine columns, and Turnus +knew Aeneas terrible in arms, and heard the advancing feet and the +neighing of the horses. And straightway would they join battle and essay +the conflict, but that ruddy Phoebus even now dips his weary coursers in +the Iberian flood, and night draws on over the fading day. They encamp +before the city, and draw their trenches round the walls. + + + + +BOOK TWELFTH + +THE SLAYING OF TURNUS + + +When Turnus sees the Latins broken and fainting in the thwart issue of +war, his promise claimed for fulfilment, and men's eyes pointed on him, +his own spirit rises in unappeasable flame. As the lion in Phoenician +fields, his breast heavily wounded by the huntsmen, at last starts into +arms, and shakes out the shaggy masses from his exultant neck, and +undismayed snaps the brigand's planted weapon, roaring with +blood-stained mouth; even so Turnus kindles and swells in passion. Then +he thus addresses the king, and so furiously begins: + +'Turnus stops not the way; there is no excuse for the coward Aeneadae to +take back their words or renounce their compact. I join battle; bring +the holy things, my lord, and swear the treaty. Either this hand shall +hurl to hell the Dardanian who skulks from Asia, and the Latins sit and +see my single sword wipe out the nation's reproach; or let him rule his +conquest, and Lavinia pass to his espousal.' + +To him Latinus calmly replied: 'O excellent young man! the more thy hot +valour abounds, the more intently must I counsel, and weigh fearfully +what may befall. Thou hast thy father Daunus' realm, hast many towns +taken by [23-55]thine hand, nor is Latinus lacking in gold and +goodwill. There are other maidens unwedded in Latium and Laurentine +fields, and of no mean birth. Let me unfold this hard saying in all +sincerity: and do thou drink it into thy soul. I might not ally my +daughter to any of her old wooers; such was the universal oracle of gods +and men. Overborne by love for thee, overborne by kinship of blood and +my weeping wife's complaint, I broke all fetters, I severed the maiden +from her promised husband, I took up unrighteous arms. Since then, +Turnus, thou seest what calamities, what wars pursue me, what woes +thyself before all dost suffer. Twice vanquished in pitched battle, we +scarce guard in our city walls the hopes of Italy: the streams of Tiber +yet run warm with our blood, and our bones whiten the boundless plain. +Why fall I away again and again? what madness bends my purpose? if I am +ready to take them into alliance after Turnus' destruction, why do I not +rather bar the strife while he lives? What will thy Rutulian kinsmen, +will all Italy say, if thy death--Fortune make void the word!--comes by +my betrayal, while thou suest for our daughter in marriage? Cast a +glance on war's changing fortune; pity thine aged father, who now far +away sits sad in his native Ardea.' + +In nowise do the words bend Turnus' passion: he rages the more fiercely, +and sickens of the cure. So soon as he found speech he thus made +utterance: + +'The care thou hast for me, most gracious lord, for me lay down, I +implore thee, and let me purchase honour with death. Our hand too rains +weapons, our steel is strong; and our wounds too draw blood. The goddess +his mother will be far from him to cover his flight, woman-like, in a +cloud and an empty phantom's hiding.' + +But the queen, dismayed by the new terms of battle, wept, and clung to +her fiery son as one ready to die: [56-89]'Turnus, by these tears, by +Amata's regard, if that touches thee at all--thou art now the one hope, +the repose of mine unhappy age; in thine hand is Latinus' honour and +empire, on thee is the weight of all our sinking house--one thing I +beseech thee; forbear to join battle with the Teucrians. What fate +soever awaits thee in the strife thou seekest, it awaits me, Turnus, +too: with thee will I leave the hateful light, nor shall my captive eyes +see Aeneas my daughter's lord.' Lavinia tearfully heard her mother's +words with cheeks all aflame, as deep blushes set her face on fire and +ran hotly over it. Even as Indian ivory, if one stain it with sanguine +dye, or where white lilies are red with many a rose amid: such colour +came on the maiden's face. Love throws him into tumult, and stays his +countenance on the girl: he burns fiercer for arms, and briefly answers +Amata: + +'Do not, I pray thee, do not weep for me, neither pursue me thus +ominously as I go to the stern shock of war. Turnus is not free to dally +with death. Thou, Idmon, bear my message to the Phrygian monarch in this +harsh wording: So soon as to-morrow's Dawn rises in the sky blushing on +her crimson wheels, let him not loose Teucrian or Rutulian: let Teucrian +and Rutulian arms have rest, and our blood decide the war; on that field +let Lavinia be sought in marriage.' + +These words uttered, withdrawing swiftly homeward, he orders out his +horses, and rejoicingly beholds them snorting before his face: those +that Orithyia's self gave to grace Pilumnus, such as would excel the +snows in whiteness and the gales in speed. The eager charioteers stand +round and pat their chests with clapping hollowed hands, and comb their +tressed manes. Himself next he girds on his shoulders the corslet stiff +with gold and pale mountain-bronze, and buckles on the sword and shield +and scarlet-plumed [90-124]helmet-spikes: that sword the divine Lord of +Fire had himself forged for his father Daunus and dipped glowing in the +Stygian wave. Next, where it stood amid his dwelling leaning on a massy +pillar, he strongly seizes his stout spear, the spoil of Actor the +Auruncan, and brandishes it quivering, and cries aloud: 'Now, O spear +that never hast failed at my call, now the time is come; thee princely +Actor once, thee Turnus now wields in his grasp. Grant this strong hand +to strike down the effeminate Phrygian, to rend and shatter the corslet, +and defile in dust the locks curled with hot iron and wet with myrrh.' +Thus madly he runs on: sparkles leap out from all his blazing face, and +his keen eyes flash fire: even as the bull when before his first fight +he bellows awfully, and drives against a tree's trunk to make trial of +his angry horns, and buffets the air with blows or scatters the sand in +prelude of battle. + +And therewithal Aeneas, terrible in his mother's armour, kindles for +warfare and awakes into wrath, rejoicing that offer of treaty stays the +war. Comforting his comrades and sorrowing Iülus' fear, he instructs +them of destiny, and bids bear answer of assurance to King Latinus, and +name the laws of peace. + +Scarcely did the morrow shed on the mountain-tops the beams of risen +day, as the horses of the sun begin to rise from the deep flood and +breathe light from their lifted nostrils; Rutulian and Teucrian men +measured out and made ready a field of battle under the great city's +ramparts, and midway in it hearth-fires and grassy altars to the gods of +both peoples; while others bore spring water and fire, draped in +priestly dress and their brows bound with grass of the field. The +Ausonian army issue forth, and crowd through the gates in streaming +serried columns. On this side all the Trojan and Tyrrhenian host pour in +diverse armament, girt with iron even as though the harsh battle-strife +[125-158]called them forth. Therewith amid their thousands the captains +dart up and down, splendid in gold and purple, Mnestheus, seed of +Assaracus, and brave Asilas, and Messapus, tamer of horses, brood of +Neptune: then each on signal given retired to his own ground; they plant +their spears in the earth and lean their shields against them. Mothers +in eager abandonment, and the unarmed crowd and feeble elders beset +towers and house-roofs, or stand at the lofty gates. + +But Juno, on the summit that is now called the Alban--then the mountain +had neither name nor fame or honour--looked forth from the hill and +surveyed the plain and double lines of Laurentine and Trojan, and +Latinus' town. Straightway spoke she thus to Turnus' sister, goddess to +goddess, lady of pools and noisy rivers: such worship did Jupiter the +high king of air consecrate to her for her stolen virginity: + +'Nymph, grace of rivers, best beloved of our soul, thou knowest how out +of all the Latin women that ever rose to high-hearted Jove's thankless +bed, thee only have I preferred and gladly given part and place in +heaven. Learn thy woe, that thou blame not me for it, Juturna. Where +fortune seemed to allow and the Destinies granted Latinus' estate to +prosper, I shielded Turnus and thy city. Now I see him joining battle +with unequal fates, and the day of doom and deadly force draws nigh. +Mine eyes cannot look on this battle and treaty: thou, if thou darest +aught of more present help for the brother of thy blood, go on; it +befits thee. Haply relief shall follow misery.' + +Scarcely thus: when Juturna's eyes overbrimmed with tears, and thrice +and again she smote her hand on her gracious breast. 'This is not time +for tears,' cries Juno, daughter of Saturn: 'hasten and snatch thy +brother, if it may be, from his death; or do thou waken war, and make +[159-191]the treaty abortive. I encourage thee to dare.' With such +urgence she left her, doubting and dismayed, and grievously wounded in +soul. + +Meanwhile the kings go forth; Latinus in mighty pomp rides in his +four-horse chariot; twelve gilded rays go glittering round his brows, +symbol of the Sun his ancestor; Turnus moves behind a white pair, +clenching in his hand two broad-headed spears. On this side lord Aeneas, +fount of the Roman race, ablaze in starlike shield and celestial arms, +and close by Ascanius, second hope of mighty Rome, issue from the camp; +and the priest, in spotless raiment, hath brought the young of a bristly +sow and an unshorn sheep of two years old, and set his beasts by the +blazing altars. They, turning their eyes towards the sunrising, scatter +salted corn from their hands and clip the beasts with steel over the +temples, and pour cups on the altars. Then Aeneas the good, with sword +drawn, thus makes invocation: + +'Be the Sun now witness, and this Earth to my call, for whose sake I +have borne to suffer so sore travail, and the Lord omnipotent, and thou +his wife, at last, divine daughter of Saturn, at last I pray more +favourable; and thou, mighty Mavors, who wieldest all warfare in +lordship beneath thy sway; and on the Springs and Rivers I call, and the +Dread of high heaven, and the divinities of the blue seas: if haply +victory fall to Turnus the Ausonian, the vanquished make covenant to +withdraw to Evander's city; Iülus shall quit the soil; nor ever +hereafter shall the Aeneadae return in arms to renew warfare, or attack +this realm with the sword. But if Victory grant battle to us and ours +(as I think the rather, and so the rather may the gods seal their will), +I will not bid Italy obey my Teucrians, nor do I claim the realm for +mine; let both nations, unconquered, join treaty for ever under equal +law. Gods [192-225]and worship shall be of my giving: my father Latinus +shall bear the sword, and have a father's prescribed command. For me my +Teucrians shall establish a city, and Lavinia give the town her name.' + +Thus Aeneas first: thereon Latinus thus follows: + +'By these same I swear, O Aeneas, by Earth, Sea, Sky, and the twin brood +of Latona and Janus the double-facing, and the might of nether gods and +grim Pluto's shrine; this let our Father hear, who seals treaties with +his thunderbolt. I touch the altars, I take to witness the fires and the +gods between us; no time shall break this peace and truce in Italy, +howsoever fortune fall; nor shall any force turn my will aside, not if +it dissolve land into water in turmoil of deluge, or melt heaven in +hell: so surely as this sceptre' (for haply he bore a sceptre in his +hand) 'shall never burgeon into thin leafage and shady shoot, since once +in the forest cut down right to the stem it lost its mother, and the +steel lopped away its tressed arms: a tree of old: now the craftsman's +hand hath bound it in adornment of brass and given it to our Latin +fathers' bearing.' + +With such words they sealed mutual treaty midway in sight of the +princes. Then they duly slay the consecrated beasts over the flames, and +tear out their live entrails, and pile the altars with laden chargers. + +But long ere this the Rutulians deemed the battle unequal, and their +hearts are stirred in changeful motion; and now the more, as they +discern nigher that in ill-matched strength . . . . heightened by +Turnus, as advancing with noiseless pace he humbly worships at the altar +with downcast eye, by his wasted cheeks and the pallor on his youthful +frame. Soon as Juturna his sister saw this talk spread, and the people's +mind waver in uncertainty, into the mid ranks, in feigned form of +Camertus--his family was high in long ancestry, and his father's name +[226-260]for valour renowned, and himself most valiant in arms--into +the mid ranks she glides, not ignorant of her task, and scatters diverse +rumours, saying thus: 'Shame, O Rutulians! shall we set one life in the +breach for so many such as these? are we unequal in numbers or bravery? +See, Troy and Arcadia is all they bring, and those fate-bound bands that +Etruria hurls on Turnus. Scarce is there an enemy to meet every other +man of ours. He indeed will ascend to the gods for whose altars he +devotes himself, and move living in the lips of men: we, our country +lost, shall bow to the haughty rigour of our lords, if we now sit +slackly on the field.' + +By such words the soldiers' counsel was kindled yet higher and higher, +and a murmur crept through their columns; the very Laurentines, the very +Latins are changed; and they who but now hoped for rest from battle and +rescue of fortune now desire arms and pray the treaty were undone, and +pity Turnus' cruel lot. To this Juturna adds a yet stronger impulse, and +high in heaven shews a sign more potent than any to confuse Italian +souls with delusive augury. For on the crimsoned sky Jove's tawny bird +flew chasing, in a screaming crowd, fowl of the shore that winged their +column; then suddenly stooping to the water, pounces on a noble swan +with merciless crooked talons. The startled Italians watch, while all +the birds together clamorously wheel round from flight, wonderful to +see, and dim the sky with their pinions, and in thickening cloud urge +their foe through air, till, conquered by their attack and his heavy +prey, he yielded and dropped it from his talons into the river, and +winged his way deep into the clouds. Then indeed the Rutulians +clamorously greet the omen, and their hands flash out. And Tolumnius the +augur cries before them all: 'This it was, this, that my vows often have +sought; I welcome and know a deity; [261-294]follow me, follow, snatch +up the sword, O hapless people whom the greedy alien frightens with his +arms like silly birds, and with strong hand ravages your shores. He too +will take to flight, and spread his sails afar over ocean. Do you with +one heart close up your squadrons, and defend in battle your lost king.' +He spoke, and darting forward, hurled a weapon full on the enemy; the +whistling cornel-shaft sings, and unerringly cleaves the air. At once +and with it a vast shout goes up, and all their rows are amazed, and +their hearts hotly stirred. The spear flies on; where haply stood +opposite in ninefold brotherhood all the beautiful sons of one faithful +Tyrrhene wife, borne of her to Gylippus the Arcadian, one of them, +midway where the sewn belt rubs on the flank and the clasp bites the +fastenings of the side, one of them, excellent in beauty and glittering +in arms, it pierces clean through the ribs and stretches on the yellow +sand. But of his banded brethren, their courage fired by grief, some +grasp and draw their swords, some snatch weapons to throw, and rush +blindly forward. The Laurentine columns rush forth against them; again +from the other side Trojans and Agyllines and Arcadians in painted +armour flood thickly in: so hath one passion seized all to make decision +by the sword. They pull the altars to pieces; through all the air goes a +thick storm of weapons, and faster falls the iron rain. Bowls and +hearth-fires are carried off; Latinus himself retreats, bearing the +outraged gods of the broken treaty. The others harness their chariots, +or vault upon their horses and come up with swords drawn. Messapus, +eager to shatter the treaty, rides menacingly down on Aulestes the +Tyrrhenian, a king in a king's array. Retreating hastily, and tripped on +the altars that meet him behind, the hapless man goes down on his head +and shoulders. But Messapus flies up with wrathful spear, and strikes +him, as he pleads sore, a deep downward [295-330]blow from horseback +with his beam-like spear, saying thus: _That for him: the high gods take +this better victim._ The Italians crowd in and strip his warm limbs. +Corynaeus seizes a charred brand from the altar, and meeting Ebysus as +he advances to strike, darts the flame in his face; his heavy beard +flamed up, and gave out a scorched smell. Following up his enemy's +confusion, the other seizes him with his left hand by the hair, and +bears him to earth with a thrust of his planted knee, and there drives +the unyielding sword into his side. Podalirius pursues and overhangs +with naked sword the shepherd Alsus as he rushes amid the foremost line +of weapons; Alsus swings back his axe, and severs brow and chin full in +front, wetting his armour all over with spattered blood. Grim rest and +iron slumber seal his eyes; his lids close on everlasting night. + +But good Aeneas, his head bared, kept stretching his unarmed hand and +calling loudly to his men: 'Whither run you? What is this strife that so +spreads and swells? Ah, restrain your wrath! truce is already stricken, +and all its laws ordained; mine alone is the right of battle. Leave me +alone, and my hand shall confirm the treaty; these rites already make +Turnus mine.' Amid these accents, amid words like these, lo! a whistling +arrow winged its way to him, sped from what hand or driven by what god, +none knows, or what chance or deity brought such honour to the +Rutulians; the renown of the high deed was buried, nor did any boast to +have dealt Aeneas' wound. Turnus, when he saw Aeneas retreating from the +ranks and his captains in dismay, burns hot with sudden hope. At once he +calls for his horses and armour, and with a bound leaps proudly into his +chariot and handles the reins. He darts on, dealing many a brave man's +body to death; many an one he rolls half-slain, or crushes whole files +under his chariot, or seizes and showers spears on the fugitives. As +[331-364]when by the streams of icy Hebrus Mavors kindles to bloodshed +and clashes on his shield, and stirs war and speeds his furious +coursers; they outwing south winds and west on the open plain; utmost +Thrace groans under their hoof-beats; and around in the god's train rush +the faces of dark Terror, and Wraths and Ambushes; even so amid the +battle Turnus briskly lashes on his reeking horses, trampling on the +foes that lie piteously slain; the galloping hoof scatters bloody dew, +and spurns mingled gore and sand. And now hath he dealt Sthenelus to +death, and Thamyrus and Pholus, him and him at close quarters, the other +from afar; from afar both the sons of Imbrasus, Glaucus and Lades, whom +Imbrasus himself had nurtured in Lycia and equipped in equal arms, +whether to meet hand to hand or to outstrip the winds on horseback. +Elsewhere Eumedes advances amid the fray, ancient Dolon's brood, +illustrious in war, renewing his grandfather's name, his father's +courage and strength of hand, who of old dared to claim Pelides' chariot +as his price if he went to spy out the Grecian camp; to him the son of +Tydeus told out another price for his venture, and he dreams no more of +Achilles' horses. Him Turnus descried far on the open plain, and first +following him with light javelin through long space of air, stops his +double-harnessed horses and leaps from the chariot, and descends on his +fallen half-lifeless foe, and, planting his foot on his neck, wrests the +blade out of his hand and dyes its glitter deep in his throat, adding +these words withal: 'Behold, thou liest, Trojan, meting out those +Hesperian fields thou didst seek in war. Such guerdon is theirs who dare +to tempt my sword; thus do they found their city.' Then with a +spear-cast he sends Asbutes to follow him, and Chloreus and Sybaris, +Dares and Thersilochus, and Thymoetes fallen flung over his horse's +neck. And as when [365-398]the Edonian North wind's wrath roars on the +deep Aegean, and the wave follows it shoreward; where the blast comes +down, the clouds race over the sky; so, wheresoever Turnus cleaves his +way, columns retreat and lines turn and run; his own speed bears him on, +and his flying plume tosses as his chariot meets the breeze. Phegeus +brooked not his proud approach; he faced the chariot, and caught and +twisted away in his right hand the mouths of his horses, spurred into +speed and foaming on the bit. Dragged along and hanging by the yoke he +is left uncovered; the broad lance-head reaches him, pins and pierces +the double-woven breastplate, and lightly wounds the surface of his +body. Yet turning, he advanced on the enemy behind his shield, and +sought succour in the naked point; when the wheel running forward on its +swift axle struck him headlong and flung him to ground, and Turnus' +sword following it smote off his head between the helmet-rim and the +upper border of the breastplate, and left the body on the sand. + +And while Turnus thus victoriously deals death over the plains, +Mnestheus meantime and faithful Achates, and Ascanius by their side, set +down Aeneas in the camp, dabbled with blood and leaning every other step +on his long spear. He storms, and tries hard to pull out the dart where +the reed had broken, and calls for the nearest way of remedy, to cut +open the wound with broad blade, and tear apart the weapon's +lurking-place, and so send him back to battle. And now Iapix son of +Iasus came, beloved beyond others of Phoebus, to whom once of old, +smitten with sharp desire, Apollo gladly offered his own arts and gifts, +augury and the lyre and swift arrows: he, to lengthen out the destiny of +a parent given over to die, chose rather to know the potency of herbs +and the practice of healing, and deal in a silent art unrenowned. Aeneas +stood chafing bitterly, propped on his vast spear, mourning +[399-435]Iülus and a great crowd of men around, unstirred by their +tears. The aged man, with garment drawn back and girt about him in +Paeonian fashion, makes many a hurried effort with healing hand and the +potent herbs of Phoebus, all in vain; in vain his hand solicits the +arrow-head, and his pincers' grasp pulls at the steel. Fortune leads him +forward in nowise; Apollo aids not with counsel; and more and more the +fierce clash swells over the plains, and the havoc draws nigher on. +Already they see the sky a mass of dust, the cavalry approaching, and +shafts falling thickly amid the camp; the dismal cry uprises of warriors +fighting and falling under the War-god's heavy hand. At this, stirred +deep by her son's cruel pain, Venus his mother plucked from Cretan Ida a +stalk of dittamy with downy leaves and bright-tressed flowers, the plant +not unknown to wild goats when winged arrows are fast in their body. +This Venus bore down, her shape girt in a dim halo; this she steeps with +secret healing in the river-water poured out and sparkling abrim, and +sprinkles life-giving juice of ambrosia and scented balm. With that +water aged Iapix washed the wound, unwitting; and suddenly, lo! all the +pain left his body, all the blood in the deep wound was stanched. And +now following his hand the arrow fell out with no force, and strength +returned afresh as of old. 'Hasten! arms for him quickly! why stand +you?' cries Iapix aloud, and begins to kindle their courage against the +enemy; 'this comes not by human resource or schooling of art, nor does +my hand save thee, Aeneas: a higher god is at work, and sends thee back +to higher deeds.' He, eager for battle, had already clasped on the +greaves of gold right and left, and scorning delay, brandishes his +spear. When the shield is adjusted by his side and the corslet on his +back, he clasps Ascanius in his armed embrace, and lightly kissing him +through the helmet, cries: 'Learn of me, O boy, valour [436-470]and +toil indeed, fortune of others. Now mine hand shall give thee defence in +war, and lead thee to great reward: do thou, when hereafter thine age +ripens to fulness, keep this in remembrance, and as thou recallest the +pattern of thy kindred, let thy spirit rise to thy father Aeneas, thine +uncle Hector.' + +These words uttered, he issued towering from the gates, brandishing his +mighty spear: with him in serried column rush Antheus and Mnestheus, and +all the throng streams forth of the camp. The field drifts with blinding +dust, and the startled earth trembles under the tramp of feet. From his +earthworks opposite Turnus saw and the Ausonians saw them come, and an +icy shudder ran deep through their frame; first and before all the +Latins Juturna heard and knew the sound, and in terror fled away. He +flies on, and hurries his dark column over the open plain. As when in +fierce weather a storm-cloud moves over mid sea to land, with presaging +heart, ah me, the hapless husbandmen shudder from afar; it will deal +havoc to their trees and destruction to their crops, and make a broad +path of ruin; the winds fly before it, and bear its roar to the beach; +so the Rhoetean captain drives his army full on the foe; one and all +they close up in wedges, and mass their serried ranks. Thymbraeus smites +massive Osiris with the sword, Mnestheus slays Arcetius, Achates Epulo, +Gyas Ufens: Tolumnius the augur himself goes down, he who had hurled the +first weapon against the foe. Their cry rises to heaven, and in turn the +routed Rutulians give backward in flight over the dusty fields. Himself +he deigns not to cut down the fugitives, nor pursue such as meet him +fair on foot or approach in arms: Turnus alone he tracks and searches in +the thick haze, alone calls him to conflict. Then panic-stricken the +warrior maiden flings Turnus' charioteer out over his reins, and leaving +him far where he slips from the [471-504]chariot-pole, herself succeeds +and turns the wavy reins, tones and limbs and armour all of Metiscus' +wearing. As when a black swallow flits through some rich lord's spacious +house, and circles in flight the lofty halls, gathering her tiny food +for sustenance to her twittering nestlings, and now swoops down the +spacious colonnades, now round the wet ponds; in like wise dart +Juturna's horses amid the enemy, and her fleet chariot passes flying +over all the field. And now here and now here she displays her +triumphant brother, nor yet allows him to close, but flies far and away. +None the less does Aeneas thread the circling maze to meet him, and +tracks his man, and with loud cry cries on him through the scattered +ranks. Often as he cast eyes on his enemy and essayed to outrun the +speed of the flying-footed horses, so often Juturna wheeled her team +away. Alas, what can he do? Vainly he tosses on the ebb and flow, and in +his spirit diverse cares make conflicting call; when Messapus, who haply +bore in his left hand two tough spear-shafts topped with steel, runs +lightly up and aims and hurls one of them upon him with unerring stroke. +Aeneas stood still, and gathered himself behind his armour, sinking on +bended knee; yet the rushing spear bore off his helmet-spike, and dashed +the helmet-plume from the crest. Then indeed his wrath swells; and +forced to it by their treachery, while chariot and horses disappear, he +calls Jove oft and again to witness, and the altars of the violated +treaty, and now at last plunges amid their lines. Sweeping terrible down +the tide of battle he wakens fierce indiscriminate carnage, and flings +loose all the reins of wrath. + +What god may now unfold for me in verse so many woes, so many diverse +slaughters and death of captains whom now Turnus, now again the Trojan +hero, drives over all the field? Was it well, O God, that nations +destined to everlasting peace should clash in so vast a shock? Aeneas +[505-540]meets Sucro the Rutulian; the combat stayed the first rush of +the Teucrians, but delayed them not long; he catches him on the side, +and, when fate comes quickest, drives the harsh sword clean through the +ribs where they fence the breast. Turnus brings down Amycus from +horseback with his brother Diores, and meets them on foot; him he +strikes with his long spear as he comes, him with his sword-point, and +hangs both severed heads on his chariot and carries them off dripping +with blood. The one sends to death Talos and Tanaïs and brave Cethegus, +three at one meeting, and gloomy Onites, of Echionian name, and Peridia +the mother that bore him; the other those brethren sent from Lycia and +Apollo's fields, and Menoetes the Arcadian, him who loathed warfare in +vain; who once had his art and humble home about the river-fisheries of +Lerna, and knew not the courts of the great, but his father was tenant +of the land he tilled. And as fires kindled dispersedly in a dry forest +and rustling laurel-thickets, or foaming rivers where they leap swift +and loud from high hills, and speed to sea each in his own path of +havoc; as fiercely the two, Aeneas and Turnus, dash amid the battle; +now, now wrath surges within them, and unconquerable hearts are torn; +now in all their might they rush upon wounds. The one dashes Murranus +down and stretches him on the soil with a vast whirling mass of rock, as +he cries the names of his fathers and forefathers of old, a whole line +drawn through Latin kings; under traces and yoke the wheels spurned him, +and the fast-beating hoofs of his rushing horses trample down their +forgotten lord. The other meets Hyllus rushing on in gigantic pride, and +hurls his weapon at his gold-bound temples; the spear pierced through +the helmet and stood fast in the brain. Neither did thy right hand save +thee from Turnus, O Cretheus, bravest of the Greeks; nor did his gods +shield Cupencus when Aeneas came; he gave his [541-575]breast full to +the steel, nor, alas! was the brazen shield's delay aught of avail. Thee +likewise, Aeolus, the Laurentine plains saw sink backward and cover a +wide space of earth; thou fallest, whom Argive battalions could not lay +low, nor Achilles the destroyer of Priam's realm. Here was thy goal of +death; thine high house was under Ida, at Lyrnesus thine high house, on +Laurentine soil thy tomb. The whole battle-lines gather up, all Latium +and all Dardania, Mnestheus and valiant Serestus, with Messapus, tamer +of horses, and brave Asilas, the Tuscan battalion and Evander's Arcadian +squadrons; man by man they struggle with all their might; no rest nor +pause in the vast strain of conflict. + +At this Aeneas' mother most beautiful inspired him to advance on the +walls, directing his columns on the town and dismaying the Latins with +sudden and swift disaster. As in search for Turnus he bent his glance +this way and that round the separate ranks, he descries the city free +from all this warfare, unpunished and unstirred. Straightway he kindles +at the view of a greater battle; he summons Mnestheus and Sergestus and +brave Serestus his captains, and mounts a hillock; there the rest of the +Teucrian army gathers thickly, still grasping shield and spear. Standing +on the high mound amid them, he speaks: 'Be there no delay to my words; +Jupiter is with us; neither let any be slower to move that the design is +sudden. This city to-day, the source of war, the royal seat of Latinus, +unless they yield them to receive our yoke and obey their conquerors, +will I raze to ground, and lay her smoking roofs level with the dust. +Must I wait forsooth till Turnus please to stoop to combat, and choose +again to face his conqueror? This, O citizens, is the fountain-head and +crown of the accursed war. Bring brands speedily, and reclaim the treaty +in fire.' He ended; all with spirit alike emulous form a wedge and +advance in serried masses to the walls. Ladders are run [576-611]up, +and fire leaps sudden to sight. Some rush to the separate gates, and cut +down the guards of the entry, others hurl their steel and darken the sky +with weapons. Aeneas himself among the foremost, upstretching his hand +to the city walls, loudly reproaches Latinus, and takes the gods to +witness that he is again forced into battle, that twice now do the +Italians choose warfare and break a second treaty. Discord rises among +the alarmed citizens: some bid unbar the town and fling wide their gates +to the Dardanians, and pull the king himself towards the ramparts; +others bring arms and hasten to defend the walls: as when a shepherd +tracks bees to their retreat in a recessed rock, and fills it with +stinging smoke, they within run uneasily up and down their waxen +fortress, and hum louder in rising wrath; the smell rolls in darkness +along their dwelling, and a blind murmur echoes within the rock as the +smoke issues to the empty air. + +This fortune likewise befell the despairing Latins, this woe shook the +whole city to her base. The queen espies from her roof the enemy's +approach, the walls scaled and firebrands flying on the houses; and +nowhere Rutulian ranks, none of Turnus' columns to meet them; alas! she +deems him destroyed in the shock of battle, and, distracted by sudden +anguish, shrieks that she is the source of guilt, the spring of ill, and +with many a mad utterance of frenzied grief rends her purple attire with +dying hand, and ties from a lofty beam the ghastly noose of death. And +when the unhappy Latin women knew this calamity, first her daughter +Lavinia tears her flower-like tresses and roseate cheeks, and all the +train around her madden in her suit; the wide palace echoes to their +wailing, and from it the sorrowful rumour spreads abroad throughout the +town. All hearts sink; Latinus goes with torn raiment, in dismay at his +wife's doom and his city's downfall, defiling his hoary hair with +soilure of sprinkled dust. + +[614-648]Meanwhile on the skirts of the field Turnus chases scattered +stragglers, ever slacker to battle, ever less and less exultant in his +coursers' victorious speed. The confused cry came to him borne in blind +terror down the breeze, and his startled ears caught the echoing tumult +and disastrous murmur of the town. 'Ah me! what agony shakes the city? +or what is this cry that fleets so loud from the distant town?' So +speaks he, and distractedly checks the reins. And to him his sister, as +changed into his charioteer Metiscus' likeness she swayed horses and +chariot-reins, thus rejoined: 'This way, Turnus, let us pursue the brood +of Troy, where victory opens her nearest way; there are others whose +hands can protect their dwellings. Aeneas falls fiercer on the Italians, +and closes in conflict; let our hand too deal pitiless death on his +Teucrians. Neither in tale of dead nor in glory of battle shalt thou +retire outdone.' Thereat Turnus: . . . + +'Ah my sister, long ere now I knew thee, when first thine arts shattered +the treaty, and thou didst mingle in the strife; and now thy godhead +conceals itself in vain. But who hath bidden thee descend from heaven to +bear this sore travail? was it that thou mightest see thy hapless +brother cruelly slain? for what do I, or what fortune yet gives promise +of safety? Before my very eyes, calling aloud on me, I saw Murranus, +than whom none other is left me more dear, sink huge to earth, borne +down by as huge a wound. Hapless Ufens is fallen, not to see our shame; +corpse and armour are in Teucrian hands. The destruction of their +households, this was the one thing yet lacking; shall I suffer it? Shall +my hand not refute Drances' jeers? shall I turn my back, and this land +see Turnus a fugitive? Is Death all so bitter? Do you, O Shades, be +gracious to me, since the powers of heaven are estranged; to you shall I +go down, a pure spirit and [649-681]ignorant of your blame, never once +unworthy of my mighty fathers of old.' + +Scarce had he spoken thus; lo! Saces, borne flying on his foaming horse +through the thickest of the foe, an arrow-wound right in his face, +darts, beseeching Turnus by his name. 'Turnus, in thee is our last +safety; pity thy people. Aeneas thunders in arms, and threatens to +overthrow and hurl to destruction the high Italian fortress; and already +firebrands are flying on our roofs. On thee, on thee the Latins turn +their gazing eyes; King Latinus himself mutters in doubt, whom he is to +call his sons, to whom he shall incline in union. Moreover the queen, +thy surest stay, hath fallen by her own hand and in dismay fled the +light. Alone in front of the gates Messapus and valiant Atinas sustain +the battle-line. Round about them to right and left the armies stand +locked and the iron field shivers with naked points; thou wheelest thy +chariot on the sward alone.' At the distracting picture of his fortune +Turnus froze in horror and stood in dumb gaze; together in his heart +sweep the vast mingling tides of shame and maddened grief, and love +stung to frenzy and resolved valour. So soon as the darkness cleared and +light returned to his soul, he fiercely turned his blazing eyeballs +towards the ramparts, and gazed back from his wheels on the great city. +And lo! a spire of flame wreathing through the floors wavered up skyward +and held a turret fast, a turret that he himself had reared of mortised +planks and set on rollers and laid with high gangways. 'Now, O my +sister, now fate prevails: cease to hinder; let us follow where deity +and stern fortune call. I am resolved to face Aeneas, resolved to bear +what bitterness there is in death; nor shalt thou longer see me shamed, +sister of mine. Let me be mad, I pray thee, with this madness before the +end.' He spoke, and leapt swiftly from his chariot to the field, and +darting through weapons [682-718]and through enemies, leaves his +sorrowing sister, and bursts in rapid course amid their columns. And as +when a rock rushes headlong from some mountain peak, torn away by the +blast, or if the rushing rain washes it away, or the stealing years +loosen its ancient hold; the reckless mountain mass goes sheer and +impetuous, and leaps along the ground, hurling with it forests and herds +and men; thus through the scattering columns Turnus rushes to the city +walls, where the earth is wettest with bloodshed and the air sings with +spears; and beckons with his hand, and thus begins aloud: 'Forbear now, +O Rutulians, and you, Latins, stay your weapons. Whatsoever fortune is +left is mine: I singly must expiate the treaty for you all, and make +decision with the sword.' All drew aside and left him room. + +But lord Aeneas, hearing Turnus' name, abandons the walls, abandons the +fortress height, and in exultant joy flings aside all hindrance, breaks +off all work, and clashes his armour terribly, vast as Athos, or as +Eryx, or as the lord of Apennine when he roars with his tossing ilex +woods and rears his snowy crest rejoicing into air. Now indeed Rutulians +and Trojans and all Italy turned in emulous gaze, and they who held the +high city, and they whose ram was battering the foundations of the wall, +and unarmed their shoulders. Latinus himself stands in amaze at the +mighty men, born in distant quarters of the world, met and making +decision with the sword. And they, in the empty level field that cleared +for them, darted swiftly forward, and hurling their spears from far, +close in battle shock with clangour of brazen shields. Earth utters a +moan; the sword-strokes fall thick and fast, chance and valour joining +in one. And as in broad Sila or high on Taburnus, when two bulls rush to +deadly battle forehead to forehead, the herdsmen retire in terror, all +the herd stands dumb in dismay, and the heifers murmur in doubt which +shall be [719-752]lord in the woodland, which all the cattle must +follow; they violently deal many a mutual wound, and gore with their +stubborn horns, bathing their necks and shoulders in abundant blood; all +the woodland moans back their bellowing: even thus Aeneas of Troy and +the Daunian hero rush together shield to shield; the mighty crash fills +the sky. Jupiter himself holds up the two scales in even balance, and +lays in them the different fates of both, trying which shall pay forfeit +of the strife, whose weight shall sink in death. Turnus darts out, +thinking it secure, and rises with his whole reach of body on his +uplifted sword; then strikes; Trojans and Latins cry out in excitement, +and both armies strain their gaze. But the treacherous sword shivers, +and in mid stroke deserts its eager lord. If flight aid him not now! He +flies swifter than the wind, when once he descries a strange hilt in his +weaponless hand. Rumour is that in his headlong hurry, when mounting +behind his yoked horses to begin the battle, he left his father's sword +behind and caught up his charioteer Metiscus' weapon; and that served +him long, while Teucrian stragglers turned their backs; when it met the +divine Vulcanian armour, the mortal blade like brittle ice snapped in +the stroke; the shards lie glittering upon the yellow sand. So in +distracted flight Turnus darts afar over the plain, and now this way and +now that crosses in wavering circles; for on all hands the Teucrians +locked him in crowded ring, and the dreary marsh on this side, on this +the steep city ramparts hem him in. + +Therewith Aeneas pursues, though ever and anon his knees, disabled by +the arrow, hinder and stay his speed; and foot hard on foot presses +hotly on his hurrying enemy: as when a hunter courses with a fleet +barking hound some stag caught in a river-loop or girt by the +crimson-feathered toils, and he, in terror of the snares and the high +river-bank, [753-786]darts back and forward in a thousand ways; but the +keen Umbrian clings agape, and just catches at him, and as though he +caught him snaps his jaws while the baffled teeth close on vacancy. Then +indeed a cry goes up, and banks and pools answer round about, and all +the sky echoes the din. He, even as he flies, chides all his Rutulians, +calling each by name, and shrieks for the sword he knew. But Aeneas +denounces death and instant doom if one of them draw nigh, and doubles +their terror with threats of their city's destruction, and though +wounded presses on. Five circles they cover at full speed, and unwind as +many this way and that; for not light nor slight is the prize they seek, +but Turnus' very lifeblood is at issue. Here there haply had stood a +bitter-leaved wild olive, sacred to Faunus, a tree worshipped by +mariners of old; on it, when rescued from the waves, they were wont to +fix their gifts to the god of Laurentum and hang their votive raiment; +but the Teucrians, unregarding, had cleared away the sacred stem, that +they might meet on unimpeded lists. Here stood Aeneas' spear; hither +borne by its own speed it was held fast stuck in the tough root. The +Dardanian stooped over it, and would wrench away the steel, to follow +with the weapon him whom he could not catch in running. Then indeed +Turnus cries in frantic terror: 'Faunus, have pity, I beseech thee! and +thou, most gracious Earth, keep thy hold on the steel, as I ever have +kept your worship, and the Aeneadae again have polluted it in war.' He +spoke, and called the god to aid in vows that fell not fruitless. For +all Aeneas' strength, his long struggling and delay over the tough stem +availed not to unclose the hard grip of the wood. While he strains and +pulls hard, the Daunian goddess, changing once more into the charioteer +Metiscus' likeness, runs forward and passes her brother his sword. But +Venus, indignant that the [787-818]Nymph might be so bold, drew nigh +and wrenched away the spear where it stuck deep in the root. Erect in +fresh courage and arms, he with his faithful sword, he towering fierce +over his spear, they face one another panting in the battle shock. + +Meanwhile the King of Heaven's omnipotence accosts Juno as she gazes on +the battle from a sunlit cloud. 'What yet shall be the end, O wife? what +remains at the last? Heaven claims Aeneas as his country's god, thou +thyself knowest and avowest to know, and fate lifts him to the stars. +With what device or in what hope hangest thou chill in cloudland? Was it +well that a deity should be sullied by a mortal's wound? or that the +lost sword--for what without thee could Juturna avail?--should be +restored to Turnus and swell the force of the vanquished? Forbear now, I +pray, and bend to our entreaties; let not the pain thus devour thee in +silence, and distress so often flood back on me from thy sweet lips. The +end is come. Thou hast had power to hunt the Trojans over land or wave, +to kindle accursed war, to put the house in mourning, and plunge the +bridal in grief: further attempt I forbid thee.' Thus Jupiter began: +thus the goddess, daughter of Saturn, returned with looks cast down: + +'Even because this thy will, great Jupiter, is known to me for thine, +have I left, though loth, Turnus alone on earth; nor else wouldst thou +see me now, alone on this skyey seat, enduring good and bad; but girt in +flame I were standing by their very lines, and dragging the Teucrians +into the deadly battle. I counselled Juturna, I confess it, to succour +her hapless brother, and for his life's sake favoured a greater daring; +yet not the arrow-shot, not the bending of the bow, I swear by the +merciless well-head of the Stygian spring, the single ordained dread of +the gods in heaven. And now I retire, and leave the battle in loathing. +[819-854]This thing I beseech thee, that is bound by no fatal law, for +Latium and for the majesty of thy kindred. When now they shall plight +peace with prosperous marriages (be it so!), when now they shall join in +laws and treaties, bid thou not the native Latins change their name of +old, nor become Trojans and take the Teucrian name, or change their +language, or alter their attire: let Latium be, let Alban kings endure +through ages, let Italian valour be potent in the race of Rome. Troy is +fallen; let her and her name lie where they fell.' + +To her smilingly the designer of men and things: + +'Jove's own sister thou art, and second seed of Saturn, such surge of +wrath tosses within thy breast! But come, allay this madness so vainly +stirred. I give thee thy will, and yield thee ungrudged victory. Ausonia +shall keep her native speech and usage, and as her name is, it shall be. +The Trojans shall sink mingling into their blood; I will add their +sacred law and ritual, and make all Latins and of a single speech. Hence +shall spring a race of tempered Ausonian blood, whom thou shalt see +outdo men and gods in duty; nor shall any nation so observe thy +worship.' To this Juno assented, and in gladness withdrew her purpose; +meanwhile she quits her cloud, and retires out of the sky. + +This done, the Father revolves inly another counsel, and prepares to +separate Juturna from her brother's arms. Twin monsters there are, +called the Dirae by their name, whom with infernal Megaera the dead of +night bore at one single birth, and wreathed them in like serpent coils, +and clothed them in windy wings. They appear at Jove's throne and in the +courts of the grim king, and quicken the terrors of wretched men +whensoever the lord of heaven deals sicknesses and dreadful death, or +sends terror of war upon guilty cities. One of these Jupiter sent +swiftly down from heaven's height, and bade her meet Juturna for a +[855-888]sign. She wings her way, and darts in a whirlwind to earth. +Even as an arrow through a cloud, darting from the string when Parthian +hath poisoned it with bitter gall, Parthian or Cydonian, and sped the +immedicable shaft, leaps through the swift shadow whistling and unknown; +so sprung and swept to earth the daughter of Night. When she espies the +Ilian ranks and Turnus' columns, suddenly shrinking to the shape of a +small bird that often sits late by night on tombs or ruinous roofs, and +vexes the darkness with her cry, in such change of likeness the monster +shrilly passes and repasses before Turnus' face, and her wings beat +restlessly on his shield. A strange numbing terror unnerves his limbs, +his hair thrills up, and the accents falter on his tongue. But when his +hapless sister knew afar the whistling wings of the Fury, Juturna +unbinds and tears her tresses, with rent face and smitten bosom. 'How, O +Turnus, can thine own sister help thee now? or what more is there if I +break not under this? What art of mine can lengthen out thy day? can I +contend with this ominous thing? Now, now I quit the field. Dismay not +my terrors, disastrous birds; I know these beating wings, and the sound +of death, nor do I miss high-hearted Jove's haughty ordinance. Is this +his repayment for my maidenhood? what good is his gift of life for ever? +why have I forfeited a mortal's lot? Now assuredly could I make all this +pain cease, and go with my unhappy brother side by side into the dark. +Alas mine immortality! will aught of mine be sweet to me without thee, +my brother? Ah, how may Earth yawn deep enough for me, and plunge my +godhead in the under world!' + +So spoke she, and wrapping her head in her gray vesture, the goddess +moaning sore sank in the river depth. + +But Aeneas presses on, brandishing his vast tree-like spear, and +fiercely speaks thus: 'What more delay is there [889-924]now? or why, +Turnus, dost thou yet shrink away? Not in speed of foot, in grim arms, +hand to hand, must be the conflict. Transform thyself as thou wilt, and +collect what strength of courage or skill is thine; pray that thou +mayest wing thy flight to the stars on high, or that sheltering earth +may shut thee in.' The other, shaking his head: 'Thy fierce words dismay +me not, insolent! the gods dismay me, and Jupiter's enmity.' And no more +said, his eyes light on a vast stone, a stone ancient and vast that +haply lay upon the plain, set for a landmark to divide contested fields: +scarcely might twelve chosen men lift it on their shoulders, of such +frame as now earth brings to birth: then the hero caught it up with +trembling hand and whirled it at the foe, rising higher and quickening +his speed. But he knows not his own self running nor going nor lifting +his hands or moving the mighty stone; his knees totter, his blood +freezes cold; the very stone he hurls, spinning through the empty void, +neither wholly reached its distance nor carried its blow home. And as in +sleep, when nightly rest weighs down our languorous eyes, we seem vainly +to will to run eagerly on, and sink faint amidst our struggles; the +tongue is powerless, the familiar strength fails the body, nor will +words or utterance follow: so the disastrous goddess brings to naught +all Turnus' valour as he presses on. His heart wavers in shifting +emotion; he gazes on his Rutulians and on the city, and falters in +terror, and shudders at the imminent spear; neither sees he whither he +may escape nor how rush violently on the enemy, and nowhere his chariot +or his sister at the reins. As he wavers Aeneas poises the deadly +weapon, and, marking his chance, hurls it in from afar with all his +strength of body. Never with such a roar are stones hurled from some +engine on ramparts, nor does the thunder burst in so loud a peal. +Carrying grim death with it, the spear flies in fashion of some dark +whirlwind, and [925-952]opens the rim of the corslet and the utmost +circles of the sevenfold shield. Right through the thigh it passes +hurtling on; under the blow Turnus falls huge to earth with his leg +doubled under him. The Rutulians start up with a groan, and all the hill +echoes round about, and the width of high woodland returns their cry. +Lifting up beseechingly his humbled eyes and suppliant hand: 'I have +deserved it,' he says, 'nor do I ask for mercy; use thy fortune. If an +unhappy parent's distress may at all touch thee, this I pray; even such +a father was Anchises to thee; pity Daunus' old age, and restore to my +kindred which thou wilt, me or my body bereft of day. Thou art +conqueror, and Ausonia hath seen me stretch conquered hands. Lavinia is +thine in marriage; press not thy hatred farther.' + +Aeneas stood wrathful in arms, with rolling eyes, and lowered his hand; +and now and now yet more the speech began to bend him to waver: when +high on his shoulder appeared the sword-belt with the shining bosses +that he knew, the luckless belt of the boy Pallas, whom Turnus had +struck down with mastering wound, and wore on his shoulders the fatal +ornament. The other, as his eyes drank in the plundered record of his +fierce grief, kindles to fury, and cries terrible in anger: 'Mayest +thou, thou clad in the spoils of my dearest, escape mine hands? Pallas +it is, Pallas who now strikes the sacrifice, and exacts vengeance in thy +guilty blood.' So saying, he fiercely plunges the steel full in his +breast. But his limbs grow slack and chill, and the life with a moan +flies indignantly into the dark. + + +THE END. + + + + +NOTES + + +BOOK FIRST + +l. 123--_Accipiunt inimicum imbrem._ Inimica non tantum hostilia sed +perniciosa.--Serv. on ix. 315. The word often has this latter sense in +Virgil. + +l. 396--_Aut capere aut captas iam despectare videntur._ Henry seems +unquestionably right in explaining _captas despectare_ of the swans +rising and hovering over the place where they had settled, this action +being more fully expressed in the next two lines. The parallelism +between ll. 396 and 400 exists, but it is inverted, _capere_ +corresponding to _subit_, _captas despectare_ to _tenet_. + +l. 427--_lata theatris_ with the balance of MS. authority. + +l. 550--_Arvaque_ after Med. and Pal.; _armaque_ Con. + +l. 636--_Munera laetitiamque die_ ('ut multi legunt,' says Serv.), +though it has little MS. authority, has been adopted because it is +strongly probable on internal grounds, as giving a basis for the other +two readings, _dei_ and _dii_. + +l. 722--_The long-since-unstirred spirit._ + + And weep afresh love's long-since-cancell'd woe. + SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet XXX. + +l. 726--_dependent lychni laquearibus aureis._ Serv. on viii. 25, +_summique ferit laquearia tecti_, says 'multi lacuaria legunt. nam lacus +dicuntur: unde est . . . lacunar. non enim a laqueis dicitur.' As Prof. +Nettleship has pointed out, this seems to indicate that there are two +words, _laquear_ from _laqueus_, meaning chain or network, and _lacuar_ +or _lacunar_ from _lacus_, meaning sunk work. + + +BOOK SECOND + +l. 30--_Classibus hic locus._ Ad equites referre debemus.--Serv. Cf. +also vii. 716. + +l. 76--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 234--_moenia pandimus urbis._ Moenia cetera urbis tecta vel aedes +accipiendum.--Serv. This is the sense which the word generally has in +Virgil: it is often used in contrast with _muri_, or as a synonym of +_urbs_; and in most cases _city_ is its nearest English equivalent. + +l. 381--_caerula colla tumentem._ Caerulum est viride cum nigro.--Serv. +on vii. 198. Cf. iii. 208, where it is used of the colour of the sea +after a storm. + +l. 616--_nimbo effulgens._ est fulgidum lumen quo deorum capita +cinguntur. sic etiam pingi solet.--Serv. Cf. xii. 416. + + +BOOK THIRD + +l. 127--_freta concita terris_ with all the best MSS.; _consita_ Con. + +l. 152--_qua se Plena per insertas fundebat Luna fenestras._ The usual +explanation, which makes _insertas_ an epithet transferred by a sort of +hypallage from _Luna_ to _fenestras_, is extremely violent, and makes +the word little more than a repetition of _se fundebat_. Servius +mentions two other interpretations; _non seratas, quasi inseratas_, and +_clatratas_; the last has been adopted in the translation. + +In the passage of Lucretius (ii. 114) which Virgil has imitated here, + + Contemplator enim cum solis lumina . . . + Inserti fundunt radii per opaca domorum, + +it is possible that _clatris_ may be the lost word. + +l. 684-- + + _Contra iussa monent Heleni, Scyllam atque Charybdim + Inter, utramque viam leti discrimine parvo + Ni teneant cursus._ + +In this difficult passage it is probably best to take _cursus_ as the +subject to teneant (_cursus teneant_, id est agantur.--Serv. Cf. also l. +454 above, _quamvis vi cursus in altum Vela vocet_), _viam_ being either +the direct object of _teneant_, or in loose apposition to _Scyllam atque +Charybdim_. + +l. 708--_tempestatibus actis_ with Rom. and Pal.; _actus_ Con. after +Med. + + +BOOK FOURTH + + Totus hic liber . . . in consiliis et subtilitatibus est. + nam paene comicus stilus est. nec mirum, ubi de amore + tractatur.--Serv. + +l. 273--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 528--Omitted with the best MSS. + + +BOOK FIFTH + +l. 595--_iuduntque per undas_, omitted with the preponderance of MS. +authority. + + +BOOK SIXTH + +l. 242--Omitted with the balance of MS. authority. + +l. 806--_virtutem extendere factis_ with Med.; _virtute extendere vires_ +Con. + + +BOOK EIGHTH + +l. 46--Omitted with the majority of the best MSS. + +l. 383--_Arma rogo. Genetrix nato te filia Nerei_. + + _Arma rogo._ hic distinguendum, ut cui petat non dicat, sed + relinquat intellegi . . . _Genetrix nato te filia Nerei._ hoc + est, soles hoc praestare matribus.--Serv. + + +BOOK NINTH + +l. 29--Omitted with all the best MSS. + +l. 122--Omitted with all the best MSS. + +l. 281-- + + _Me nulla dies tam fortibus ausis + Dissimilem arguerit tantum, Fortuna secunda + Aut adversa cadat._ + +With some hesitation I have adopted this reading as the one open to +least objection, though the balance of authority is decidedly in favour +of _haud adversa_. For the position of _tantum_ cf. Ecl. x. 46, +according to the 'subtilior explicatio' now generally adopted. + +l. 412-- + + _Et venit adversi in tergum Sulmonis ibique + Frangitur, et fisso transit praecordia ligno._ + +The phrase _in tergum_ occurs twice elsewhere: ix. 764--meaning 'on the +back'; and xi. 653--meaning 'backward'; and in x. 718 the uncertainty +about the order of the lines makes it possible that _tergo decutit +hastas_ was meant to refer to the boar, not to Mezentius. But the +passages quoted by the editors there shew that the word might be used in +the sense of 'shield'; and this being so we are scarcely justified in +reading _aversi_ against all the good MSS. + +l. 529--Omitted with most MSS. + + +BOOK TENTH + +l. 278--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 754--_Insidiis, iaculo et longe fallente sagitta._ The MS. authority +is decidedly in favour of this, the more difficult reading; and the +hendiadys is not more violent than those in Georg. ii. 192, Aen. iii. +223. + + +BOOK TWELFTH + +l. 218--_Tum magis, ut propius cernunt non viribus aequis._ + +With Ribbeck I believe that there is a gap in the sense here, and have +marked one in the translation. + +l. 520--_Limina_ with Med. _Munera_ Con. + +ll. 612, 613--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 751--_Venator cursu canis et latratibus instat._ I take _cursu canis_ +as equivalent to _currente cane_, as in i. 324, _spumantis apri cursum +clamore prementem_. + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +The following words appear with and without a hyphen. Spelling has been +left as in the original. + + blood-stained bloodstained + hill-tops hilltops + horse-hair horsehair + life-blood lifeblood + new-born newborn + spear-shaft spearshaft + water-ways waterways + +The following words are spelled in multiple ways. Spelling has been left +as in the original. + + aery aëry + horned hornèd + Nereids Nereïd + Pergama Pergamea + +The following corrections have made to the text: + + page 173--'[quotation mark missing in original]Nymphs, + Laurentine Nymphs + + page 202--in name fail to be Creüsa[original has Crëusa] + + page 207--Rumour on fluttering[original has flutttering] wings + + page 285--the Rhoetean[original has Rhoeteian] captain drives + his army + +The first occurrence of Phoebus was rendered with an oe ligature in the +original. + +Ellipses match the original. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AENEID OF VIRGIL*** + + +******* This file should be named 22456-8.txt or 22456-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/4/5/22456 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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eBook, The Aeneid of Virgil, by Virgil, Translated +by J. W. Mackail + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Aeneid of Virgil + + +Author: Virgil + + + +Release Date: August 29, 2007 [eBook #22456] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AENEID OF VIRGIL*** + + +E-text prepared by David Clarke, Lisa Reigel, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Numbers in brackets [ ] refer to line numbers in Virgil's + Aeneid. These numbers appeared at the top of each page of text + and have been retained for reference. + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A complete + list follows the text. + + + + + +THE AENEID OF VIRGIL + +Translated into English + +by + +J. W. MACKAIL, M.A. +Fellow Of Balliol College, Oxford + + + + + + + +London +MacMillan and Co. +1885 + +Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh. + + + + +PREFACE + + +There is something grotesque in the idea of a prose translation of a +poet, though the practice is become so common that it has ceased to +provoke a smile or demand an apology. The language of poetry is language +in fusion; that of prose is language fixed and crystallised; and an +attempt to copy the one material in the other must always count on +failure to convey what is, after all, one of the most essential things +in poetry,--its poetical quality. And this is so with Virgil more, +perhaps, than with any other poet; for more, perhaps, than any other +poet Virgil depends on his poetical quality from first to last. Such a +translation can only have the value of a copy of some great painting +executed in mosaic, if indeed a copy in Berlin wool is not a closer +analogy; and even at the best all it can have to say for itself will be +in Virgil's own words, _Experiar sensus; nihil hic nisi carmina desunt._ + +In this translation I have in the main followed the text of Conington +and Nettleship. The more important deviations from this text are +mentioned in the notes; but I have not thought it necessary to give a +complete list of various readings, or to mention any change except where +it might lead to misapprehension. Their notes have also been used by me +throughout. + +Beyond this I have made constant use of the mass of ancient commentary +going under the name of Servius; the most valuable, perhaps, of all, as +it is in many ways the nearest to the poet himself. The explanation +given in it has sometimes been followed against those of the modern +editors. To other commentaries only occasional reference has been made. +The sense that Virgil is his own best interpreter becomes stronger as +one studies him more. + +My thanks are due to Mr. EVELYN ABBOTT, Fellow and Tutor of Balliol, and +to the Rev. H. C. BEECHING, for much valuable suggestion and criticism. + + + + +THE AENEID + + + + +BOOK FIRST + +THE COMING OF AENEAS TO CARTHAGE + + +I sing of arms and the man who of old from the coasts of Troy came, an +exile of fate, to Italy and the shore of Lavinium; hard driven on land +and on the deep by the violence of heaven, for cruel Juno's unforgetful +anger, and hard bestead in war also, ere he might found a city and carry +his gods into Latium; from whom is the Latin race, the lords of Alba, +and the stately city Rome. + +Muse, tell me why, for what attaint of her deity, or in what vexation, +did the Queen of heaven drive one so excellent in goodness to circle +through so many afflictions, to face so many toils? Is anger so fierce +in celestial spirits? + + * * * * * + +There was a city of ancient days that Tyrian settlers dwelt in, +Carthage, over against Italy and the Tiber mouths afar; rich of store, +and mighty in war's fierce pursuits; wherein, they say, alone beyond all +other lands had Juno her seat, and held Samos itself less dear. Here was +her armour, here her chariot; even now, if fate permit, the goddess +strives to nurture it for queen of the nations. Nevertheless she had +heard a race was issuing of the blood of [20-53]Troy, which sometime +should overthrow her Tyrian citadel; from it should come a people, lord +of lands and tyrannous in war, the destroyer of Libya: so rolled the +destinies. Fearful of that, the daughter of Saturn, the old war in her +remembrance that she fought at Troy for her beloved Argos long ago,--nor +had the springs of her anger nor the bitterness of her vexation yet gone +out of mind: deep stored in her soul lies the judgment of Paris, the +insult of her slighted beauty, the hated race and the dignities of +ravished Ganymede; fired with this also, she tossed all over ocean the +Trojan remnant left of the Greek host and merciless Achilles, and held +them afar from Latium; and many a year were they wandering driven of +fate around all the seas. Such work was it to found the Roman people. + +Hardly out of sight of the land of Sicily did they set their sails to +sea, and merrily upturned the salt foam with brazen prow, when Juno, the +undying wound still deep in her heart, thus broke out alone: + +'Am I then to abandon my baffled purpose, powerless to keep the Teucrian +king from Italy? and because fate forbids me? Could Pallas lay the +Argive fleet in ashes, and sink the Argives in the sea, for one man's +guilt, mad Oilean Ajax? Her hand darted Jove's flying fire from the +clouds, scattered their ships, upturned the seas in tempest; him, his +pierced breast yet breathing forth the flame, she caught in a whirlwind +and impaled on a spike of rock. But I, who move queen among immortals, I +sister and wife of Jove, wage warfare all these years with a single +people; and is there any who still adores Juno's divinity, or will kneel +to lay sacrifice on her altars?' + +Such thoughts inly revolving in her kindled bosom, the goddess reaches +Aeolia, the home of storm-clouds, the land laden with furious southern +gales. Here in a desolate cavern Aeolus keeps under royal dominion and +yokes in [54-85]dungeon fetters the struggling winds and loud storms. +They with mighty moan rage indignant round their mountain barriers. In +his lofty citadel Aeolus sits sceptred, assuages their temper and +soothes their rage; else would they carry with them seas and lands, and +the depth of heaven, and sweep them through space in their flying +course. But, fearful of this, the lord omnipotent hath hidden them in +caverned gloom, and laid a mountain mass high over them, and appointed +them a ruler, who should know by certain law to strain and slacken the +reins at command. To him now Juno spoke thus in suppliant accents: + +'Aeolus--for to thee hath the father of gods and king of men given the +wind that lulls and that lifts the waves--a people mine enemy sails the +Tyrrhene sea, carrying into Italy the conquered gods of their Ilian +home. Rouse thy winds to fury, and overwhelm their sinking vessels, or +drive them asunder and strew ocean with their bodies. Mine are twice +seven nymphs of passing loveliness; her who of them all is most +excellent in beauty, Deiopea, I will unite to thee in wedlock to be +thine for ever; that for this thy service she may fulfil all her years +at thy side, and make thee father of a beautiful race.' + +Aeolus thus returned: 'Thine, O queen, the task to search whereto thou +hast desire; for me it is right to do thy bidding. From thee have I this +poor kingdom, from thee my sceptre and Jove's grace; thou dost grant me +to take my seat at the feasts of the gods, and makest me sovereign over +clouds and storms.' + +Even with these words, turning his spear, he struck the side of the +hollow hill, and the winds, as in banded array, pour where passage is +given them, and cover earth with eddying blasts. East wind and west wind +together, and the gusty south-wester, falling prone on the sea, stir it +up [86-120]from its lowest chambers, and roll vast billows to the +shore. Behind rises shouting of men and whistling of cordage. In a +moment clouds blot sky and daylight from the Teucrians' eyes; black +night broods over the deep. Pole thunders to pole, and the air quivers +with incessant flashes; all menaces them with instant death. Straightway +Aeneas' frame grows unnerved and chill, and stretching either hand to +heaven, he cries thus aloud: 'Ah, thrice and four times happy they who +found their doom under high Troy town before their fathers' faces! Ah, +son of Tydeus, bravest of the Grecian race, that I could not have fallen +on the Ilian plains, and gasped out this my life beneath thine hand! +where under the spear of Aeacides lies fierce Hector, lies mighty +Sarpedon; where Simois so often bore beneath his whirling wave shields +and helmets and brave bodies of men.' + +As the cry leaves his lips, a gust of the shrill north strikes full on +the sail and raises the waves up to heaven. The oars are snapped; the +prow swings away and gives her side to the waves; down in a heap comes a +broken mountain of water. These hang on the wave's ridge; to these the +yawning billow shows ground amid the surge, where the sea churns with +sand. Three ships the south wind catches and hurls on hidden rocks, +rocks amid the waves which Italians call the Altars, a vast reef banking +the sea. Three the east forces from the deep into shallows and +quicksands, piteous to see, dashes on shoals and girdles with a +sandbank. One, wherein loyal Orontes and his Lycians rode, before their +lord's eyes a vast sea descending strikes astern. The helmsman is dashed +away and rolled forward headlong; her as she lies the billow sends +spinning thrice round with it, and engulfs in the swift whirl. Scattered +swimmers appear in the vast eddy, armour of men, timbers and Trojan +treasure amid the water. Ere now the stout ship of Ilioneus, ere now of +brave Achates, and she wherein [121-152]Abas rode, and she wherein aged +Aletes, have yielded to the storm; through the shaken fastenings of +their sides they all draw in the deadly water, and their opening seams +give way. + +Meanwhile Neptune discerned with astonishment the loud roaring of the +vexed sea, the tempest let loose from prison, and the still water +boiling up from its depths, and lifting his head calm above the waves, +looked forth across the deep. He sees all ocean strewn with Aeneas' +fleet, the Trojans overwhelmed by the waves and the ruining heaven. +Juno's guile and wrath lay clear to her brother's eye; east wind and +west he calls before him, and thereon speaks thus: + +'Stand you then so sure in your confidence of birth? Careless, O winds, +of my deity, dare you confound sky and earth, and raise so huge a coil? +you whom I--But better to still the aroused waves; for a second sin you +shall pay me another penalty. Speed your flight, and say this to your +king: not to him but to me was allotted the stern trident of ocean +empire. His fastness is on the monstrous rocks where thou and thine, +east wind, dwell: there let Aeolus glory in his palace and reign over +the barred prison of his winds.' + +Thus he speaks, and ere the words are done he soothes the swollen seas, +chases away the gathered clouds, and restores the sunlight. Cymothoe and +Triton together push the ships strongly off the sharp reef; himself he +eases them with his trident, channels the vast quicksands, and assuages +the sea, gliding on light wheels along the water. Even as when oft in a +throng of people strife hath risen, and the base multitude rage in their +minds, and now brands and stones are flying; madness lends arms; then if +perchance they catch sight of one reverend for goodness and service, +they are silent and stand by with attentive ear; he with +[153-190]speech sways their temper and soothes their breasts; even so +hath fallen all the thunder of ocean, when riding forward beneath a +cloudless sky the lord of the sea wheels his coursers and lets his +gliding chariot fly with loosened rein. + +The outworn Aeneadae hasten to run for the nearest shore, and turn to +the coast of Libya. There lies a spot deep withdrawn; an island forms a +harbour with outstretched sides, whereon all the waves break from the +open sea and part into the hollows of the bay. On this side and that +enormous cliffs rise threatening heaven, and twin crags beneath whose +crest the sheltered water lies wide and calm; above hangs a background +of flickering forest, and the dark shade of rustling groves. Beneath the +seaward brow is a rock-hung cavern, within it fresh springs and seats in +the living stone, a haunt of nymphs; where tired ships need no fetters +to hold nor anchor to fasten them with crooked bite. Here with seven +sail gathered of all his company Aeneas enters; and disembarking on the +land of their desire the Trojans gain the chosen beach, and set their +feet dripping with brine upon the shore. At once Achates struck a spark +from the flint and caught the fire on leaves, and laying dry fuel round +kindled it into flame. Then, weary of fortune, they fetch out corn +spoiled by the sea and weapons of corn-dressing, and begin to parch over +the fire and bruise in stones the grain they had rescued. + +Meanwhile Aeneas scales the crag, and seeks the whole view wide over +ocean, if he may see aught of Antheus storm-tossed with his Phrygian +galleys, aught of Capys or of Caicus' armour high astern. Ship in sight +is none; three stags he espies straying on the shore; behind whole herds +follow, and graze in long train across the valley. Stopping short, he +snatched up a bow and swift arrows, the arms trusty Achates was +carrying; and first the leaders, their stately heads high with branching +antlers, then the common [191-222]herd fall to his hand, as he drives +them with his shafts in a broken crowd through the leafy woods. Nor +stays he till seven great victims are stretched on the sod, fulfilling +the number of his ships. Thence he seeks the harbour and parts them +among all his company. The casks of wine that good Acestes had filled on +the Trinacrian beach, the hero's gift at their departure, he thereafter +shares, and calms with speech their sorrowing hearts: + +'O comrades, for not now nor aforetime are we ignorant of ill, O tried +by heavier fortunes, unto this last likewise will God appoint an end. +The fury of Scylla and the roaring recesses of her crags you have been +anigh; the rocks of the Cyclops you have trodden. Recall your courage, +put dull fear away. This too sometime we shall haply remember with +delight. Through chequered fortunes, through many perilous ways, we +steer for Latium, where destiny points us a quiet home. There the realm +of Troy may rise again unforbidden. Keep heart, and endure till +prosperous fortune come.' + +Such words he utters, and sick with deep distress he feigns hope on his +face, and keeps his anguish hidden deep in his breast. The others set to +the spoil they are to feast upon, tear chine from ribs and lay bare the +flesh; some cut it into pieces and pierce it still quivering with spits; +others plant cauldrons on the beach and feed them with flame. Then they +repair their strength with food, and lying along the grass take their +fill of old wine and fat venison. After hunger is driven from the +banquet, and the board cleared, they talk with lingering regret of their +lost companions, swaying between hope and fear, whether they may believe +them yet alive, or now in their last agony and deaf to mortal call. Most +does good Aeneas inly wail the loss now of valiant Orontes, now of +Amycus, the cruel doom of Lycus, of brave Gyas, and brave Cloanthus. +[223-254]And now they ceased; when from the height of air Jupiter +looked down on the sail-winged sea and outspread lands, the shores and +broad countries, and looking stood on the cope of heaven, and cast down +his eyes on the realm of Libya. To him thus troubled at heart Venus, her +bright eyes brimming with tears, sorrowfully speaks: + +'O thou who dost sway mortal and immortal things with eternal command +and the terror of thy thunderbolt, how can my Aeneas have transgressed +so grievously against thee? how his Trojans? on whom, after so many +deaths outgone, all the world is barred for Italy's sake. From them +sometime in the rolling years the Romans were to arise indeed; from them +were to be rulers who, renewing the blood of Teucer, should hold sea and +land in universal lordship. This thou didst promise: why, O father, is +thy decree reversed? This was my solace for the wretched ruin of sunken +Troy, doom balanced against doom. Now so many woes are spent, and the +same fortune still pursues them; Lord and King, what limit dost thou set +to their agony? Antenor could elude the encircling Achaeans, could +thread in safety the Illyrian bays and inmost realms of the Liburnians, +could climb Timavus' source, whence through nine mouths pours the +bursting tide amid dreary moans of the mountain, and covers the fields +with hoarse waters. Yet here did he set Patavium town, a dwelling-place +for his Teucrians, gave his name to a nation and hung up the armour of +Troy; now settled in peace, he rests and is in quiet. We, thy children, +we whom thou beckonest to the heights of heaven, our fleet miserably +cast away for a single enemy's anger, are betrayed and severed far from +the Italian coasts. Is this the reward of goodness? Is it thus thou dost +restore our throne?' + +Smiling on her with that look which clears sky and [255-289]storms, the +parent of men and gods lightly kissed his daughter's lips; then answered +thus: + +'Spare thy fear, Cytherean; thy people's destiny abides unshaken. Thine +eyes shall see the city Lavinium, their promised home; thou shalt exalt +to the starry heaven thy noble Aeneas; nor is my decree reversed. He +thou lovest (for I will speak, since this care keeps torturing thee, and +will unroll further the secret records of fate) shall wage a great war +in Italy, and crush warrior nations; he shall appoint his people a law +and a city; till the third summer see him reigning in Latium, and three +winters' camps pass over the conquered Rutulians. But the boy Ascanius, +whose surname is now Iuelus--Ilus he was while the Ilian state stood +sovereign--thirty great circles of rolling months shall he fulfil in +government; he shall carry the kingdom from its fastness in Lavinium, +and make a strong fortress of Alba the Long. Here the full space of +thrice an hundred years shall the kingdom endure under the race of +Hector's kin, till the royal priestess Ilia from Mars' embrace shall +give birth to a twin progeny. Thence shall Romulus, gay in the tawny +hide of the she-wolf that nursed him, take up their line, and name them +Romans after his own name. I appoint to these neither period nor +boundary of empire: I have given them dominion without end. Nay, harsh +Juno, who in her fear now troubles earth and sea and sky, shall change +to better counsels, and with me shall cherish the lords of the world, +the gowned race of Rome. Thus is it willed. A day will come in the lapse +of cycles, when the house of Assaracus shall lay Phthia and famed +Mycenae in bondage, and reign over conquered Argos. From the fair line +of Troy a Caesar shall arise, who shall limit his empire with ocean, his +glory with the firmament, Julius, inheritor of great Iuelus' name. Him +one day, thy care done, thou shalt welcome to heaven loaded +[290-321]with Eastern spoils; to him too shall vows be addressed. Then +shall war cease, and the iron ages soften. Hoar Faith and Vesta, +Quirinus and Remus brothers again, shall deliver statutes. The dreadful +steel-riveted gates of war shall be shut fast; on murderous weapons the +inhuman Fury, his hands bound behind him with an hundred fetters of +brass, shall sit within, shrieking with terrible blood-stained lips.' + +So speaking, he sends Maia's son down from above, that the land and +towers of Carthage, the new town, may receive the Trojans with open +welcome; lest Dido, ignorant of doom, might debar them her land. Flying +through the depth of air on winged oarage, the fleet messenger alights +on the Libyan coasts. At once he does his bidding; at once, for a god +willed it, the Phoenicians allay their haughty temper; the queen above +all takes to herself grace and compassion towards the Teucrians. + +But good Aeneas, nightlong revolving many and many a thing, issues +forth, so soon as bountiful light is given, to explore the strange +country; to what coasts the wind has borne him, who are their habitants, +men or wild beasts, for all he sees is wilderness; this he resolves to +search, and bring back the certainty to his comrades. The fleet he hides +close in embosoming groves beneath a caverned rock, amid shivering +shadow of the woodland; himself, Achates alone following, he strides +forward, clenching in his hand two broad-headed spears. And amid the +forest his mother crossed his way, wearing the face and raiment of a +maiden, the arms of a maiden of Sparta, or like Harpalyce of Thrace when +she tires her coursers and outstrips the winged speed of Hebrus in her +flight. For huntress fashion had she slung the ready bow from her +shoulder, and left her blown tresses free, bared her knee, and knotted +together her garments' flowing folds. 'Ha! my men,' she begins, 'shew me +if [322-355]haply you have seen a sister of mine straying here girt +with quiver and a lynx's dappled fell, or pressing with shouts on the +track of a foaming boar.' + +Thus Venus, and Venus' son answering thus began: + +'Sound nor sight have I had of sister of thine, O maiden unnamed; for +thy face is not mortal, nor thy voice of human tone; O goddess +assuredly! sister of Phoebus perchance, or one of the nymphs' blood? +Be thou gracious, whoso thou art, and lighten this toil of ours; deign +to instruct us beneath what skies, on what coast of the world, we are +thrown. Driven hither by wind and desolate waves, we wander in a strange +land among unknown men. Many a sacrifice shall fall by our hand before +thine altars.' + +Then Venus: 'Nay, to no such offerings do I aspire. Tyrian maidens are +wont ever to wear the quiver, to tie the purple buskin high above their +ankle. Punic is the realm thou seest, Tyrian the people, and the city of +Agenor's kin; but their borders are Libyan, a race unassailable in war. +Dido sways the sceptre, who flying her brother set sail from the Tyrian +town. Long is the tale of crime, long and intricate; but I will briefly +follow its argument. Her husband was Sychaeus, wealthiest in lands of +the Phoenicians, and loved of her with ill-fated passion; to whom with +virgin rites her father had given her maidenhood in wedlock. But the +kingdom of Tyre was in her brother Pygmalion's hands, a monster of guilt +unparalleled. Between these madness came; the unnatural brother, blind +with lust of gold, and reckless of his sister's love, lays Sychaeus low +before the altars with stealthy unsuspected weapon; and for long he hid +the deed, and by many a crafty pretence cheated her love-sickness with +hollow hope. But in slumber came the very ghost of her unburied husband; +lifting up a face pale in wonderful wise, he exposed the merciless +altars and [356-387]his breast stabbed through with steel, and unwove +all the blind web of household guilt. Then he counsels hasty flight out +of the country, and to aid her passage discloses treasures long hidden +underground, an untold mass of silver and gold. Stirred thereby, Dido +gathered a company for flight. All assemble in whom hatred of the tyrant +was relentless or fear keen; they seize on ships that chanced to lie +ready, and load them with the gold. Pygmalion's hoarded wealth is borne +overseas; a woman leads the work. They came at last to the land where +thou wilt descry a city now great, New Carthage, and her rising citadel, +and bought ground, called thence Byrsa, as much as a bull's hide would +encircle. But who, I pray, are you, or from what coasts come, or whither +hold you your way?' + +At her question he, sighing and drawing speech deep from his breast, +thus replied: + +'Ah goddess, should I go on retracing from the fountain head, were time +free to hear the history of our woes, sooner would the evening star lay +day asleep in the closed gates of heaven. Us, as from ancient Troy (if +the name of Troy hath haply passed through your ears) we sailed over +alien seas, the tempest at his own wild will hath driven on the Libyan +coast. I am Aeneas the good, who carry in my fleet the household gods I +rescued from the enemy; my fame is known high in heaven. I seek Italy my +country, my kin of Jove's supreme blood. With twenty sail did I climb +the Phrygian sea; oracular tokens led me on; my goddess mother pointed +the way; scarce seven survive the shattering of wave and wind. Myself +unknown, destitute, driven from Europe and Asia, I wander over the +Libyan wilderness.' + +But staying longer complaint, Venus thus broke in on his half-told +sorrows: + +'Whoso thou art, not hated I think of the immortals [388-420]dost thou +draw the breath of life, who hast reached the Tyrian city. Only go on, +and betake thee hence to the courts of the queen. For I declare to thee +thy comrades are restored, thy fleet driven back into safety by the +shifted northern gales, except my parents were pretenders, and +unavailing the augury they taught me. Behold these twelve swans in +joyous line, whom, stooping from the tract of heaven, the bird of Jove +fluttered over the open sky; now in long train they seem either to take +the ground or already to look down on the ground they took. As they +again disport with clapping wings, and utter their notes as they circle +the sky in company, even so do these ships and crews of thine either lie +fast in harbour or glide under full sail into the harbour mouth. Only go +on, and turn thy steps where the pathway leads thee.' + +Speaking she turned away, and her neck shone roseate, her immortal +tresses breathed the fragrance of deity; her raiment fell flowing down +to her feet, and the godhead was manifest in her tread. He knew her for +his mother, and with this cry pursued her flight: 'Thou also merciless! +Why mockest thou thy son so often in feigned likeness? Why is it +forbidden to clasp hand in hand, to hear and utter true speech?' Thus +reproaching her he bends his steps towards the city. But Venus girt them +in their going with dull mist, and shed round them a deep divine +clothing of cloud, that none might see them, none touch them, or work +delay, or ask wherefore they came. Herself she speeds through the sky to +Paphos, and joyfully revisits her habitation, where the temple and its +hundred altars steam with Sabaean incense, and are fresh with fragrance +of chaplets in her worship. + +They meantime have hasted along where the pathway points, and now were +climbing the hill which hangs enormous over the city, and looks down on +its facing towers. [421-456]Aeneas marvels at the mass of building, +pastoral huts once of old, marvels at the gateways and clatter of the +pavements. The Tyrians are hot at work to trace the walls, to rear the +citadel, and roll up great stones by hand, or to choose a spot for their +dwelling and enclose it with a furrow. They ordain justice and +magistrates, and the august senate. Here some are digging harbours, here +others lay the deep foundations of their theatre, and hew out of the +cliff vast columns, the lofty ornaments of the stage to be: even as bees +when summer is fresh over the flowery country ply their task beneath the +sun, when they lead forth their nation's grown brood, or when they press +the liquid honey and strain their cells with nectarous sweets, or +relieve the loaded incomers, or in banded array drive the idle herd of +drones far from their folds; they swarm over their work, and the odorous +honey smells sweet of thyme. 'Happy they whose city already rises!' +cries Aeneas, looking on the town roofs below. Girt in the cloud he +passes amid them, wonderful to tell, and mingling with the throng is +descried of none. + +In the heart of the town was a grove deep with luxuriant shade, wherein +first the Phoenicians, buffeted by wave and whirlwind, dug up the token +Queen Juno had appointed, the head of a war horse: thereby was their +race to be through all ages illustrious in war and opulent in living. +Here to Juno was Sidonian Dido founding a vast temple, rich with +offerings and the sanctity of her godhead: brazen steps rose on the +threshold, brass clamped the pilasters, doors of brass swung on grating +hinges. First in this grove did a strange chance meet his steps and +allay his fears; first here did Aeneas dare to hope for safety and have +fairer trust in his shattered fortunes. For while he closely scans the +temple that towers above him, while, awaiting the queen, he admires the +fortunate city, the emulous hands and elaborate work of her craftsmen, +he sees ranged in order the [457-491]battles of Ilium, that war whose +fame was already rumoured through all the world, the sons of Atreus and +Priam, and Achilles whom both found pitiless. He stopped and cried +weeping, 'What land is left, Achates, what tract on earth that is not +full of our agony? Behold Priam! Here too is the meed of honour, here +mortal estate touches the soul to tears. Dismiss thy fears; the fame of +this will somehow bring thee salvation.' + +So speaks he, and fills his soul with the painted show, sighing often +the while, and his face wet with a full river of tears. For he saw, how +warring round the Trojan citadel here the Greeks fled, the men of Troy +hard on their rear; here the Phrygians, plumed Achilles in his chariot +pressing their flight. Not far away he knows the snowy canvas of Rhesus' +tents, which, betrayed in their first sleep, the blood-stained son of +Tydeus laid desolate in heaped slaughter, and turns the ruddy steeds +away to the camp ere ever they tasted Trojan fodder or drunk of Xanthus. +Elsewhere Troilus, his armour flung away in flight--luckless boy, no +match for Achilles to meet!--is borne along by his horses, and thrown +back entangled with his empty chariot, still clutching the reins; his +neck and hair are dragged over the ground, and his reversed spear scores +the dust. Meanwhile the Ilian women went with disordered tresses to +unfriendly Pallas' temple, and bore the votive garment, sadly beating +breast with palm: the goddess turning away held her eyes fast on the +ground. Thrice had Achilles whirled Hector round the walls of Troy, and +was selling the lifeless body for gold; then at last he heaves a loud +and heart-deep groan, as the spoils, as the chariot, as the dear body +met his gaze, and Priam outstretching unarmed hands. Himself too he knew +joining battle with the foremost Achaeans, knew the Eastern ranks and +swart Memnon's armour. Penthesilea leads her crescent-shielded Amazonian +columns in furious heat with [492-524]thousands around her; clasping a +golden belt under her naked breast, the warrior maiden clashes boldly +with men. + +While these marvels meet Dardanian Aeneas' eyes, while he dizzily hangs +rapt in one long gaze, Dido the queen entered the precinct, beautiful +exceedingly, a youthful train thronging round her. Even as on Eurotas' +banks or along the Cynthian ridges Diana wheels the dance, while behind +her a thousand mountain nymphs crowd to left and right; she carries +quiver on shoulder, and as she moves outshines them all in deity; +Latona's heart is thrilled with silent joy; such was Dido, so she +joyously advanced amid the throng, urging on the business of her rising +empire. Then in the gates of the goddess, beneath the central vault of +the temple roof, she took her seat girt with arms and high enthroned. +And now she gave justice and laws to her people, and adjusted or +allotted their taskwork in due portion; when suddenly Aeneas sees +advancing with a great crowd about them Antheus and Sergestus and brave +Cloanthus, and other of his Trojans, whom the black squall had sundered +at sea and borne far away on the coast. Dizzy with the shock of joy and +fear he and Achates together were on fire with eagerness to clasp their +hands; but in confused uncertainty they keep hidden, and clothed in the +sheltering cloud wait to espy what fortune befalls them, where they are +leaving their fleet ashore, why they now come; for they advanced, chosen +men from all the ships, praying for grace, and held on with loud cries +towards the temple. + +After they entered in, and free speech was granted, aged Ilioneus with +placid mien thus began: + +'Queen, to whom Jupiter hath given to found this new city, and lay the +yoke of justice upon haughty tribes, we beseech thee, we wretched +Trojans storm-driven over all [525-559]the seas, stay the dreadful +flames from our ships; spare a guiltless race, and bend a gracious +regard on our fortunes. We are not come to deal slaughter through Libyan +homes, or to drive plundered spoils to the coast. Such violence sits not +in our mind, nor is a conquered people so insolent. There is a place +Greeks name Hesperia, an ancient land, mighty in arms and foison of the +clod; Oenotrian men dwelt therein; now rumour is that a younger race +from their captain's name have called it Italy. Thither lay our course +. . . when Orion rising on us through the cloudrack with sudden surf +bore us on blind shoals, and scattered us afar with his boisterous gales +and whelming brine over waves and trackless reefs. To these your coasts +we a scanty remnant floated up. What race of men, what land how +barbarous soever, allows such a custom for its own? We are debarred the +shelter of the beach; they rise in war, and forbid us to set foot on the +brink of their land. If you slight human kinship and mortal arms, yet +look for gods unforgetful of innocence and guilt. Aeneas was our king, +foremost of men in righteousness, incomparable in goodness as in warlike +arms; whom if fate still preserves, if he draws the breath of heaven and +lies not yet low in dispiteous gloom, fear we have none; nor mayest thou +repent of challenging the contest of service. In Sicilian territory too +is tilth and town, and famed Acestes himself of Trojan blood. Grant us +to draw ashore our storm-shattered fleet, to shape forest trees into +beams and strip them for oars; so, if to Italy we may steer with our +king and comrades found, Italy and Latium shall we gladly seek; but if +salvation is clean gone, if the Libyan gulf holds thee, dear lord of thy +Trojans, and Iuelus our hope survives no more, seek we then at least the +straits of Sicily, the open homes whence we sailed hither, and Acestes +for our king.' Thus Ilioneus, and all the Dardanian company +[560-593]murmured assent. . . . Then Dido, with downcast face, briefly +speaks: + +'Cheer your anxious hearts, O Teucrians; put by your care. Hard fortune +in a strange realm forces me to this task, to keep watch and ward on my +wide frontiers. Who can be ignorant of the race of Aeneas' people, who +of Troy town and her men and deeds, or of the great war's consuming +fire? Not so dull are the hearts of our Punic wearing, not so far doth +the sun yoke his steeds from our Tyrian town. Whether your choice be +broad Hesperia, the fields of Saturn's dominion, or Eryx for your +country and Acestes for your king, my escort shall speed you in safety, +my arsenals supply your need. Or will you even find rest here with me +and share my kingdom? The city I establish is yours; draw your ships +ashore; Trojan and Tyrian shall be held by me in even balance. And would +that he your king, that Aeneas were here, storm-driven to this same +haven! But I will send messengers along the coast, and bid them trace +Libya to its limits, if haply he strays shipwrecked in forest or town.' + +Stirred by these words brave Achates and lord Aeneas both ere now burned +to break through the cloud. Achates first accosts Aeneas: 'Goddess-born, +what purpose now rises in thy spirit? Thou seest all is safe, our fleet +and comrades are restored. One only is wanting, whom our eyes saw +whelmed amid the waves; all else is answerable to thy mother's words.' + +Scarce had he spoken when the encircling cloud suddenly parts and melts +into clear air. Aeneas stood discovered in sheen of brilliant light, +like a god in face and shoulders; for his mother's self had shed on her +son the grace of clustered locks, the radiant light of youth, and the +lustre of joyous eyes; as when ivory takes beauty under the artist's +hand, or when silver or Parian stone is inlaid in gold. [594-625]Then +breaking in on all with unexpected speech he thus addresses the queen: + +'I whom you seek am here before you, Aeneas of Troy, snatched from the +Libyan waves. O thou who alone hast pitied Troy's untold agonies, thou +who with us the remnant of the Grecian foe, worn out ere now by every +suffering land and sea can bring, with us in our utter want dost share +thy city and home! to render meet recompense is not possible for us, O +Dido, nor for all who scattered over the wide world are left of our +Dardanian race. The gods grant thee worthy reward, if their deity turn +any regard on goodness, if aught avails justice and conscious purity of +soul. What happy ages bore thee? what mighty parents gave thy virtue +birth? While rivers run into the sea, while the mountain shadows move +across their slopes, while the stars have pasturage in heaven, ever +shall thine honour, thy name and praises endure in the unknown lands +that summon me.' With these words he advances his right hand to dear +Ilioneus, his left to Serestus; then to the rest, brave Gyas and brave +Cloanthus. + +Dido the Sidonian stood astonished, first at the sight of him, then at +his strange fortunes; and these words left her lips: + +'What fate follows thee, goddess-born, through perilous ways? what +violence lands thee on this monstrous coast? Art thou that Aeneas whom +Venus the bountiful bore to Dardanian Anchises by the wave of Phrygian +Simois? And well I remember how Teucer came to Sidon, when exiled from +his native land he sought Belus' aid to gain new realms; Belus my father +even then ravaged rich Cyprus and held it under his conquering sway. +From that time forth have I known the fall of the Trojan city, known thy +name and the Pelasgian princes. Their very foe would extol the Teucrians +with highest praises, and boasted himself a branch [626-661]of the +ancient Teucrian stem. Come therefore, O men, and enter our house. Me +too hath a like fortune driven through many a woe, and willed at last to +find my rest in this land. Not ignorant of ill do I learn to succour the +afflicted.' + +With such speech she leads Aeneas into the royal house, and orders +sacrifice in the gods' temples. Therewith she sends his company on +the shore twenty bulls, an hundred great bristly-backed swine, an +hundred fat lambs and their mothers with them, gifts of the day's +gladness. . . . But the palace within is decked with splendour of royal +state, and a banquet made ready amid the halls. The coverings are +curiously wrought in splendid purple; on the tables is massy silver and +deeds of ancestral valour graven in gold, all the long course of history +drawn through many a heroic name from the nation's primal antiquity. + +Aeneas--for a father's affection denied his spirit rest--sends Achates +speeding to his ships, to carry this news to Ascanius, and lead him to +the town: in Ascanius is fixed all the parent's loving care. Presents +likewise he bids him bring saved from the wreck of Ilium, a mantle stiff +with gold embroidery, and a veil with woven border of yellow +acanthus-flower, that once decked Helen of Argos, the marvel of her +mother Leda's giving; Helen had borne them from Mycenae, when she sought +Troy towers and a lawless bridal; the sceptre too that Ilione, Priam's +eldest daughter, once had worn, a beaded necklace, and a double circlet +of jewelled gold. Achates, hasting on his message, bent his way towards +the ships. + +But in the Cytherean's breast new arts, new schemes revolve; if Cupid, +changed in form and feature, may come in sweet Ascanius' room, and his +gifts kindle the queen to madness and set her inmost sense aflame. +Verily she fears the uncertain house, the double-tongued race of Tyre; +[662-698]cruel Juno frets her, and at nightfall her care floods back. +Therefore to winged Love she speaks these words: + +'Son, who art alone my strength and sovereignty, son, who scornest the +mighty father's Typhoian shafts, to thee I fly for succour, and sue +humbly to thy deity. How Aeneas thy brother is driven about all the +sea-coasts by bitter Juno's malignity, this thou knowest, and hast often +grieved in our grief. Now Dido the Phoenician holds him stayed with soft +words, and I tremble to think how the welcome of Juno's house may issue; +she will not be idle in this supreme turn of fortune. Wherefore I +counsel to prevent her wiles and circle the queen with flame, that, +unalterable by any deity, she may be held fast to me by passionate love +for Aeneas. Take now my thought how to do this. The boy prince, my +chiefest care, makes ready at his dear father's summons to go to the +Sidonian city, carrying gifts that survive the sea and the flames of +Troy. Him will I hide deep asleep in my holy habitation, high on +Cythera's hills or in Idalium, that he may not know nor cross our wiles. +Do thou but for one night feign his form, and, boy as thou art, put on +the familiar face of a boy; so when in festal cheer, amid royal dainties +and Bacchic juice, Dido shall take thee to her lap, shall fold thee in +her clasp and kiss thee close and sweet, thou mayest imbreathe a hidden +fire and unsuspected poison.' + +Love obeys his dear mother's words, lays by his wings, and walks +rejoicingly with Iuelus' tread. But Venus pours gentle dew of slumber on +Ascanius' limbs, and lifts him lulled in her lap to the tall Idalian +groves of her deity, where soft amaracus folds him round with the +shadowed sweetness of its odorous blossoms. And now, obedient to her +words, Cupid went merrily in Achates' guiding, with the royal gifts for +the Tyrians. Already at his coming the queen hath sate her down in the +midmost on her golden [699-733]throne under the splendid tapestries; +now lord Aeneas, now too the men of Troy gather, and all recline on the +strewn purple. Servants pour water on their hands, serve corn from +baskets, and bring napkins with close-cut pile. Fifty handmaids are +within, whose task is in their course to keep unfailing store and kindle +the household fire. An hundred others, and as many pages all of like +age, load the board with food and array the wine cups. Therewithal the +Tyrians are gathered full in the wide feasting chamber, and take their +appointed places on the broidered cushions. They marvel at Aeneas' +gifts, marvel at Iuelus, at the god's face aflame and forged speech, at +the mantle and veil wrought with yellow acanthus-flower. Above all the +hapless Phoenician, victim to coming doom, cannot satiate her soul, but, +stirred alike by the boy and the gifts, she gazes and takes fire. He, +when hanging clasped on Aeneas' neck he had satisfied all the deluded +parent's love, makes his way to the queen; the queen clings to him with +her eyes and all her soul, and ever and anon fondles him in her lap, ah, +poor Dido! witless how mighty a deity sinks into her breast; but he, +mindful of his mother the Acidalian, begins touch by touch to efface +Sychaeus, and sows the surprise of a living love in the +long-since-unstirred spirit and disaccustomed heart. Soon as the noise +of banquet ceased and the board was cleared, they set down great bowls +and enwreathe the wine. The house is filled with hum of voices eddying +through the spacious chambers; lit lamps hang down by golden chainwork, +and flaming tapers expel the night. Now the queen called for a heavy cup +of jewelled gold, and filled it with pure wine; therewith was the use of +Belus and all of Belus' race: then the hall was silenced. 'Jupiter,' she +cries, 'for thou art reputed lawgiver of hospitality, grant that this be +a joyful day to the Tyrians and the voyagers from Troy, a day to live in +our children's memory. [734-756]Bacchus, the giver of gladness, be with +us, and Juno the bountiful; and you, O Tyrians, be favourable to our +assembly.' She spoke, and poured liquid libation on the board, which +done, she first herself touched it lightly with her lips, then handed it +to Bitias and bade him speed; he valiantly drained the foaming cup, and +flooded him with the brimming gold. The other princes followed. +Long-haired Iopas on his gilded lyre fills the chamber with songs +ancient Atlas taught; he sings of the wandering moon and the sun's +travails; whence is the human race and the brute, whence water and fire; +of Arcturus, the rainy Hyades, and the twin Oxen; why wintry suns make +such haste to dip in ocean, or what delay makes the nights drag +lingeringly. Tyrians and Trojans after them redouble applause. +Therewithal Dido wore the night in changing talk, alas! and drank long +draughts of love, asking many a thing of Priam, many a thing of Hector; +now in what armour the son of the Morning came; now of what fashion were +Diomede's horses; now of mighty Achilles. 'Nay, come,' she cries, 'tell +to us, O guest, from their first beginning the treachery of the +Grecians, thy people's woes, and thine own wanderings; for this is now +the seventh summer that bears thee a wanderer over all the earth and +sea.' + + + + +BOOK SECOND + +THE STORY OF THE SACK OF TROY + + +All were hushed, and sate with steadfast countenance; thereon, high from +his cushioned seat, lord Aeneas thus began: + +'Dreadful, O Queen, is the woe thou bidst me recall, how the Grecians +pitiably overthrew the wealth and lordship of Troy; and I myself saw +these things in all their horror, and I bore great part in them. What +Myrmidon or Dolopian, or soldier of stern Ulysses, could in such a tale +restrain his tears! and now night falls dewy from the steep of heaven, +and the setting stars counsel to slumber. Yet if thy desire be such to +know our calamities, and briefly to hear Troy's last agony, though my +spirit shudders at the remembrance and recoils in pain, I will essay. + +'Broken in war and beaten back by fate, and so many years now slid away, +the Grecian captains build by Pallas' divine craft a horse of +mountainous build, ribbed with sawn fir; they feign it vowed for their +return, and this rumour goes about. Within the blind sides they +stealthily imprison chosen men picked out one by one, and fill the vast +cavern of its womb full with armed soldiery. + +'There lies in sight an island well known in fame, Tenedos, rich of +store while the realm of Priam endured, [23-55]now but a bay and +roadstead treacherous to ships. Hither they launch forth, and hide on +the solitary shore: we fancied they were gone, and had run down the wind +for Mycenae. So all the Teucrian land put her long grief away. The gates +are flung open; men go rejoicingly to see the Doric camp, the deserted +stations and abandoned shore. Here the Dolopian troops were tented, here +cruel Achilles; here their squadrons lay; here the lines were wont to +meet in battle. Some gaze astonished at the deadly gift of Minerva the +Virgin, and wonder at the horse's bulk; and Thymoetes begins to advise +that it be drawn within our walls and set in the citadel, whether in +guile, or that the doom of Troy was even now setting thus. But Capys and +they whose mind was of better counsel, bid us either hurl sheer into the +sea the guileful and sinister gift of Greece, or heap flames beneath to +consume it, or pierce and explore the hollow hiding-place of its womb. +The wavering crowd is torn apart in high dispute. + +'At that, foremost of all and with a great throng about him, Laocoon +runs hotly down from the high citadel, and cries from far: "Ah, wretched +citizens, what height of madness is this? Believe you the foe is gone? +or think you any Grecian gift is free of treachery? is it thus we know +Ulysses? Either Achaeans are hid in this cage of wood, or the engine is +fashioned against our walls to overlook the houses and descend upon the +city; some delusion lurks there: trust not the horse, O Trojans. Be it +what it may, I fear the Grecians even when they offer gifts." Thus +speaking, he hurled his mighty spear with great strength at the +creature's side and the curved framework of the belly: the spear stood +quivering, and the jarred cavern of the womb sounded hollow and uttered +a groan. And had divine ordinance, had a soul not infatuate been with +us, he had moved us to lay violent steel on the Argolic hiding place; +[56-90]and Troy would now stand, and you, tall towers of Priam, yet +abide. + +'Lo, Dardanian shepherds meanwhile dragged clamorously before the King a +man with hands tied behind his back, who to compass this very thing, to +lay Troy open to the Achaeans, had gone to meet their ignorant approach, +confident in spirit and doubly prepared to spin his snares or to meet +assured death. From all sides, in eagerness to see, the people of Troy +run streaming in, and vie in jeers at their prisoner. Know now the +treachery of the Grecians, and from a single crime learn all. . . . For +as he stood amid our gaze confounded, disarmed, and cast his eyes around +the Phrygian columns, "Alas!" he cried, "what land now, what seas may +receive me? or what is the last doom that yet awaits my misery? who have +neither any place among the Grecians, and likewise the Dardanians +clamour in wrath for the forfeit of my blood." At that lament our spirit +was changed, and all assault stayed: we encourage him to speak, and tell +of what blood he is sprung, or what assurance he brings his captors. + +'"In all things assuredly," says he, "O King, befall what may, I will +confess to thee the truth; nor will I deny myself of Argolic birth--this +first--nor, if Fortune hath made Sinon unhappy, shall her malice mould +him to a cheat and a liar. Hath a tale of the name of Palamedes, son of +Belus, haply reached thine ears, and of his glorious rumour and renown; +whom under false evidence the Pelasgians, because he forbade the war, +sent innocent to death by wicked witness; now they bewail him when he +hath left the light;--in his company, being near of blood, my father, +poor as he was, sent me hither to arms from mine earliest years. While +he stood unshaken in royalty and potent in the councils of the kings, we +too wore a name and honour. When by subtle Ulysses' malice (no unknown +tale do I tell) [91-124]he left the upper regions, my shattered life +crept on in darkness and grief, inly indignant at the fate of my +innocent friend. Nor in my madness was I silent: and, should any chance +offer, did I ever return a conqueror to my native Argos, I vowed myself +his avenger, and with my words I stirred his bitter hatred. From this +came the first taint of ill; from this did Ulysses ever threaten me with +fresh charges, from this flung dark sayings among the crowd and sought +confederate arms. Nay, nor did he rest, till by Calchas' service--but +yet why do I vainly unroll the unavailing tale, or why hold you in +delay, if all Achaeans are ranked together in your mind, and it is +enough that I bear the name? Take the vengeance deferred; this the +Ithacan would desire, and the sons of Atreus buy at a great ransom." + +'Then indeed we press on to ask and inquire the cause, witless of +wickedness so great and Pelasgian craft. Tremblingly the false-hearted +one pursues his speech: + +'"Often would the Grecians have taken to flight, leaving Troy behind, +and disbanded in weariness of the long war: and would God they had! as +often the fierce sea-tempest barred their way, and the gale frightened +them from going. Most of all when this horse already stood framed with +beams of maple, storm clouds roared over all the sky. In perplexity we +send Eurypylus to inquire of Phoebus' oracle; and he brings back from +the sanctuary these words of terror: _With blood of a slain maiden, O +Grecians, you appeased the winds when first you came to the Ilian +coasts; with blood must you seek your return, and an Argive life be the +accepted sacrifice._ When that utterance reached the ears of the crowd, +their hearts stood still, and a cold shudder ran through their inmost +sense: for whom is doom purposed? who is claimed of Apollo? At this the +Ithacan with loud clamour drags Calchas the soothsayer forth amidst +them, and demands of him what is this the gods signify. And now many an +one [125-158]foretold me the villain's craft and cruelty, and silently +saw what was to come. Twice five days he is speechless in his tent, and +will not have any one denounced by his lips, or given up to death. +Scarcely at last, at the loud urgence of the Ithacan, he breaks into +speech as was planned, and appoints me for the altar. All consented; and +each one's particular fear was turned, ah me! to my single destruction. +And now the dreadful day was at hand; the rites were being ordered for +me, the salted corn, and the chaplets to wreathe my temples. I broke +away, I confess it, from death; I burst my bonds, and lurked all night +darkling in the sedge of the marshy pool, till they might set their +sails, if haply they should set them. Nor have I any hope more of seeing +my old home nor my sweet children and the father whom I desire. Of them +will they even haply claim vengeance for my flight, and wash away this +crime in their wretched death. By the heavenly powers I beseech thee, +the deities to whom truth is known, by all the faith yet unsullied that +is anywhere left among mortals; pity woes so great; pity an undeserving +sufferer." + +'At these his tears we grant him life, and accord our pity. Priam +himself at once commands his shackles and strait bonds to be undone, and +thus speaks with kindly words: "Whoso thou art, now and henceforth +dismiss and forget the Greeks: thou shalt be ours. And unfold the truth +to this my question: wherefore have they reared this vast size of horse? +who is their counsellor? or what their aim? what propitiation, or what +engine of war is this?" He ended; the other, stored with the treacherous +craft of Pelasgia, lifts to heaven his freed hands. "You, everlasting +fires," he cries, "and your inviolable sanctity be my witness; you, O +altars and accursed swords I fled, and chaplets of the gods I wore as +victim! unblamed may I break the oath of Greek allegiance, unblamed hate +them and bring all to light that they [159-191]conceal; nor am I bound +by any laws of country. Do thou only keep by thy promise, O Troy, and +preserve faith with thy preserver, as my news shall be true, as my +recompense great. + +'"All the hope of Greece, and the confidence in which the war began, +ever centred in Pallas' aid. But since the wicked son of Tydeus, and +Ulysses, forger of crime, made bold to tear the fated Palladium from her +sanctuary, and cut down the sentries on the towered height; since they +grasped the holy image, and dared with bloody hands to touch the maiden +chaplets of the goddess; since then the hope of Greece ebbed and slid +away backwards, their strength was broken, and the mind of the goddess +estranged. Whereof the Tritonian gave token by no uncertain signs. +Scarcely was the image set in the camp; flame shot sparkling from its +lifted eyes, and salt sweat started over its body; thrice, wonderful to +tell, it leapt from the ground with shield and spear quivering. +Immediately Calchas prophesies that the seas must be explored in flight, +nor may Troy towers be overthrown by Argive weapons, except they repeat +their auspices at Argos, and bring back that divine presence they have +borne away with them in the curved ships overseas. And now they have run +down the wind for their native Mycenae, to gather arms and gods to +attend them; they will remeasure ocean and be on you unawares. So +Calchas expounds the omens. This image at his warning they reared in +recompense for the Palladium and the injured deity, to expiate the +horror of sacrilege. Yet Calchas bade them raise it to this vast size +with oaken crossbeams, and build it up to heaven, that it may not find +entry at the gates nor be drawn within the city, nor protect your people +beneath the consecration of old. For if hand of yours should violate +Minerva's offering, then utter destruction (the gods turn rather on +himself his augury!) should be upon Priam's empire and [192-226]the +Phrygian people. But if under your hands it climbed into your city, Asia +should advance in mighty war to the walls of Pelops, and a like fate +awaited our children's children." + +'So by Sinon's wiles and craft and perjury the thing gained belief; and +we were ensnared by treachery and forced tears, we whom neither the son +of Tydeus nor Achilles of Larissa, whom not ten years nor a thousand +ships brought down. + +'Here another sight, greater, alas! and far more terrible meets us, and +alarms our thoughtless senses. Laocoon, allotted priest of Neptune, was +slaying a great bull at the accustomed altars. And lo! from Tenedos, +over the placid depths (I shudder as I recall) two snakes in enormous +coils press down the sea and advance together to the shore; their +breasts rise through the surge, and their blood-red crests overtop the +waves; the rest trails through the main behind and wreathes back in +voluminous curves; the brine gurgles and foams. And now they gained the +fields, while their bloodshot eyes blazed with fire, and their tongues +lapped and flickered in their hissing mouths. We scatter, pallid at the +sight. They in unfaltering train make towards Laocoon. And first the +serpents twine in their double embrace his two little children, and bite +deep in their wretched limbs; then him likewise, as he comes up to help +with arms in his hand, they seize and fasten in their enormous coils; +and now twice clasping his waist, twice encircling his neck with their +scaly bodies, they tower head and neck above him. He at once strains his +hands to tear their knots apart, his fillets spattered with foul black +venom; at once raises to heaven awful cries; as when, bellowing, a bull +shakes the wavering axe from his neck and runs wounded from the altar. +But the two snakes glide away to the high sanctuary and seek the fierce +Tritonian's citadel, [227-261]and take shelter under the goddess' feet +beneath the circle of her shield. Then indeed a strange terror thrills +in all our amazed breasts; and Laocoon, men say, hath fulfilled his +crime's desert, in piercing the consecrated wood and hurling his guilty +spear into its body. All cry out that the image must be drawn to its +home and supplication made to her deity. . . . We sunder the walls, and +lay open the inner city. All set to the work; they fix rolling wheels +under its feet, and tie hempen bands on its neck. The fated engine +climbs our walls, big with arms. Around it boys and unwedded girls chant +hymns and joyfully lay their hand on the rope. It moves up, and glides +menacing into the middle of the town. O native land! O Ilium, house of +gods, and Dardanian city renowned in war! four times in the very gateway +did it come to a stand, and four times armour rang in its womb. Yet we +urge it on, mindless and infatuate, and plant the ill-ominous thing in +our hallowed citadel. Even then Cassandra opens her lips to the coming +doom, lips at a god's bidding never believed by the Trojans. We, the +wretched people, to whom that day was our last, hang the shrines of the +gods with festal boughs throughout the city. Meanwhile the heavens wheel +on, and night rises from the sea, wrapping in her vast shadow earth and +sky and the wiles of the Myrmidons; about the town the Teucrians are +stretched in silence; slumber laps their tired limbs. + +'And now the Argive squadron was sailing in order from Tenedos, and in +the favouring stillness of the quiet moon sought the shores it knew; +when the royal galley ran out a flame, and, protected by the gods' +malign decrees, Sinon stealthily lets loose the imprisoned Grecians from +their barriers of pine; the horse opens and restores them to the air; +and joyfully issuing from the hollow wood, Thessander and Sthenelus the +captains, and terrible Ulysses, [262-295]slide down the dangling rope, +with Acamas and Thoas and Neoptolemus son of Peleus, and Machaon first +of all, and Menelaus, and Epeues himself the artificer of the treachery. +They sweep down the city buried in drunken sleep; the watchmen are cut +down, and at the open gates they welcome all their comrades, and unite +their confederate bands. + +'It was the time when by the gift of God rest comes stealing first and +sweetest on unhappy men. In slumber, lo! before mine eyes Hector seemed +to stand by, deep in grief and shedding abundant tears; torn by the +chariot, as once of old, and black with gory dust, his swoln feet +pierced with the thongs. Ah me! in what guise was he! how changed from +the Hector who returns from putting on Achilles' spoils, or launching +the fires of Phrygia on the Grecian ships! with ragged beard and tresses +clotted with blood, and all the many wounds upon him that he received +around his ancestral walls. Myself too weeping I seemed to accost him +ere he spoke, and utter forth mournful accents: "O light of Dardania, O +surest hope of the Trojans, what long delay is this hath held thee? from +what borders comest thou, Hector our desire? with what weary eyes we see +thee, after many deaths of thy kin, after divers woes of people and +city! What indignity hath marred thy serene visage? or why discern I +these wounds?" He replies naught, nor regards my idle questioning; but +heavily drawing a heart-deep groan, "Ah, fly, goddess-born," he says, +"and rescue thyself from these flames. The foe holds our walls; from her +high ridges Troy is toppling down. Thy country and Priam ask no more. If +Troy towers might be defended by strength of hand, this hand too had +been their defence. Troy commends to thee her holy things and household +gods; take them to accompany thy fate; seek for them a city, which, +after all the seas have known thy wanderings, thou shalt at last +establish in [296-327]might." So speaks he, and carries forth in his +hands from their inner shrine the chaplets and strength of Vesta, and +the everlasting fire. + +'Meanwhile the city is stirred with mingled agony; and more and more, +though my father Anchises' house lay deep withdrawn and screened by +trees, the noises grow clearer and the clash of armour swells. I shake +myself from sleep and mount over the sloping roof, and stand there with +ears attent: even as when flame catches a corn-field while south winds +are furious, or the racing torrent of a mountain stream sweeps the +fields, sweeps the smiling crops and labours of the oxen, and hurls the +forest with it headlong; the shepherd in witless amaze hears the roar +from the cliff-top. Then indeed proof is clear, and the treachery of the +Grecians opens out. Already the house of Deiphobus hath crashed down in +wide ruin amid the overpowering flames; already our neighbour Ucalegon +is ablaze: the broad Sigean bay is lit with the fire. Cries of men and +blare of trumpets rise up. Madly I seize my arms, nor is there so much +purpose in arms; but my spirit is on fire to gather a band for fighting +and charge for the citadel with my comrades. Fury and wrath drive me +headlong, and I think how noble is death in arms. + +'And lo! Panthus, eluding the Achaean weapons, Panthus son of Othrys, +priest of Phoebus in the citadel, comes hurrying with the sacred vessels +and conquered gods and his little grandchild in his hand, and runs +distractedly towards my gates. "How stands the state, O Panthus? what +stronghold are we to occupy?" Scarcely had I said so, when groaning he +thus returns: "The crowning day is come, the irreversible time of the +Dardanian land. No more are we a Trojan people; Ilium and the great +glory of the Teucrians is no more. Angry Jupiter hath cast all into the +scale of Argos. The Grecians are lords of the burning [328-362]town. +The horse, standing high amid the city, pours forth armed men, and Sinon +scatters fire, insolent in victory. Some are at the wide-flung gates, +all the thousands that ever came from populous Mycenae. Others have +beset the narrow streets with lowered weapons; edge and glittering point +of steel stand drawn, ready for the slaughter; scarcely at the entry do +the guards of the gates essay battle, and hold out in the blind fight." + +'Heaven's will thus declared by the son of Othrys drives me amid flames +and arms, where the baleful Fury calls, and tumult of shouting rises up. +Rhipeus and Epytus, most mighty in arms, join company with me; Hypanis +and Dymas meet us in the moonlight and attach themselves to our side, +and young Coroebus son of Mygdon. In those days it was he had come to +Troy, fired with mad passion for Cassandra, and bore a son's aid to +Priam and the Phrygians: hapless, that he listened not to his raving +bride's counsels. . . . Seeing them close-ranked and daring for battle, +I therewith began thus: "Men, hearts of supreme and useless bravery, if +your desire be fixed to follow one who dares the utmost; you see what is +the fortune of our state: all the gods by whom this empire was upheld +have gone forth, abandoning shrine and altar; your aid comes to a +burning city. Let us die, and rush on their encircling weapons. The +conquered have one safety, to hope for none." + +'So their spirit is heightened to fury. Then, like wolves ravening in a +black fog, whom mad malice of hunger hath driven blindly forth, and +their cubs left behind await with throats unslaked; through the weapons +of the enemy we march to certain death, and hold our way straight into +the town. Night's sheltering shadow flutters dark around us. Who may +unfold in speech that night's horror and death-agony, or measure its +woes in weeping? The [363-397]ancient city falls with her long years of +sovereignty; corpses lie stretched stiff all about the streets and +houses and awful courts of the gods. Nor do Teucrians alone pay forfeit +of their blood; once and again valour returns even in conquered hearts, +and the victorious Grecians fall. Everywhere is cruel agony, everywhere +terror, and the sight of death at every turn. + +'First, with a great troop of Grecians attending him, Androgeus meets +us, taking us in ignorance for an allied band, and opens on us with +friendly words: "Hasten, my men; why idly linger so late? others plunder +and harry the burning citadel; are you but now on your march from the +tall ships?" He spoke, and immediately (for no answer of any assurance +was offered) knew he was fallen among the foe. In amazement, he checked +foot and voice; even as one who struggling through rough briers hath +trodden a snake on the ground unwarned, and suddenly shrinks fluttering +back as it rises in anger and puffs its green throat out; even thus +Androgeus drew away, startled at the sight. We rush in and encircle them +with serried arms, and cut them down dispersedly in their ignorance of +the ground and seizure of panic. Fortune speeds our first labour. And +here Coroebus, flushed with success and spirit, cries: "O comrades, +follow me where fortune points before us the path of safety, and shews +her favour. Let us exchange shields, and accoutre ourselves in Grecian +suits; whether craft or courage, who will ask of an enemy? the foe shall +arm our hands." Thus speaking, he next dons the plumed helmet and +beautifully blazoned shield of Androgeus, and fits the Argive sword to +his side. So does Rhipeus, so Dymas in like wise, and all our men in +delight arm themselves one by one in the fresh spoils. We advance, +mingling with the Grecians, under a protection not our own, and join +many a battle [398-432]with those we meet amid the blind night; many a +Greek we send down to hell. Some scatter to the ships and run for the +safety of the shore; some in craven fear again climb the huge horse, and +hide in the belly they knew. Alas that none may trust at all to +estranged gods! + +'Lo! Cassandra, maiden daughter of Priam, was being dragged with +disordered tresses from the temple and sanctuary of Minerva, straining +to heaven her blazing eyes in vain; her eyes, for fetters locked her +delicate hands. At this sight Coroebus burst forth infuriate, and flung +himself on death amid their columns. We all follow him up, and charge +with massed arms. Here first from the high temple roof we are +overwhelmed with our own people's weapons, and a most pitiful slaughter +begins through the fashion of our armour and the mistaken Greek crests; +then the Grecians, with angry cries at the maiden's rescue, gather from +every side and fall on us; Ajax in all his valour, and the two sons of +Atreus, and the whole Dolopian army: as oft when bursting in whirlwind +West and South clash with adverse blasts, and the East wind exultant on +the coursers of the Dawn; the forests cry, and fierce in foam Nereus +with his trident stirs the seas from their lowest depth. Those too +appear, whom our stratagem routed through the darkness of dim night and +drove all about the town; at once they know the shields and lying +weapons, and mark the alien tone on our lips. We go down, overwhelmed by +numbers. First Coroebus is stretched by Peneleus' hand at the altar of +the goddess armipotent; and Rhipeus falls, the one man who was most +righteous and steadfast in justice among the Teucrians: the gods' ways +are not as ours: Hypanis and Dymas perish, pierced by friendly hands; +nor did all thy goodness, O Panthus, nor Apollo's fillet protect thy +fall. O ashes of Ilium and death flames of my people! you I call to +witness that in your ruin I [433-465]shunned no Grecian weapon or +encounter, and my hand earned my fall, had destiny been thus. We tear +ourselves away, I and Iphitus and Pelias, Iphitus now stricken in age, +Pelias halting too under the wound of Ulysses, called forward by the +clamour to Priam's house. + +'Here indeed the battle is fiercest, as if all the rest of the fighting +were nowhere, and no slaughter but here throughout the city, so do we +descry the war in full fury, the Grecians rushing on the building, and +their shielded column driving up against the beleaguered threshold. +Ladders cling to the walls; and hard by the doors and planted on the +rungs they hold up their shields in the left hand to ward off our +weapons, and with their right clutch the battlements. The Dardanians +tear down turrets and the covering of the house roof against them; with +these for weapons, since they see the end is come, they prepare to +defend themselves even in death's extremity: and hurl down gilded beams, +the stately decorations of their fathers of old. Others with drawn +swords have beset the doorway below and keep it in crowded column. We +renew our courage, to aid the royal dwelling, to support them with our +succour, and swell the force of the conquered. + +'There was a blind doorway giving passage through the range of Priam's +halls by a solitary postern, whereby, while our realm endured, hapless +Andromache would often and often glide unattended to her father-in-law's +house, and carry the boy Astyanax to his grandsire. I issue out on the +sloping height of the ridge, whence wretched Teucrian hands were hurling +their ineffectual weapons. A tower stood on the sheer brink, its roof +ascending high into heaven, whence was wont to be seen all Troy and the +Grecian ships and Achaean camp: attacking it with iron round about, +where the joints of the lofty flooring yielded, we wrench it from its +deep foundations and shake it free; it gives way, and [466-498]suddenly +falls thundering in ruin, crashing wide over the Grecian ranks. But +others swarm up; nor meanwhile do stones nor any sort of missile +slacken. . . . Right before the vestibule and in the front doorway +Pyrrhus moves rejoicingly in the sparkle of arms and gleaming brass: +like as when a snake fed on poisonous herbs, whom chill winter kept hid +and swollen underground, now fresh from his weeds outworn and shining in +youth, wreathes his slippery body into the daylight, his upreared breast +meets the sun, and his triple-cloven tongue flickers in his mouth. With +him huge Periphas, and Automedon the armour-bearer, driver of Achilles' +horses, with him all his Scyrian men climb the roof and hurl flames on +the housetop. Himself among the foremost he grasps a poleaxe, bursts +through the hard doorway, and wrenches the brazen-plated doors from the +hinge; and now he hath cut out a plank from the solid oak and pierced a +vast gaping hole. The house within is open to sight, and the long halls +lie plain; open to sight are the secret chambers of Priam and the kings +of old, and they see armed men standing in front of the doorway. + +'But the inner house is stirred with shrieks and misery and confusion, +and the court echoes deep with women's wailing; the golden stars are +smitten with the din. Affrighted mothers stray about the vast house, and +cling fast to the doors and print them with kisses. With his father's +might Pyrrhus presses on; nor guards nor barriers can hold out. The gate +totters under the hard driven ram, and the doors fall flat, rent from +the hinge. Force makes way; the Greeks burst through the entrance and +pour in, slaughtering the foremost, and filling the space with a wide +stream of soldiers. Not so furiously when a foaming river bursts his +banks and overflows, beating down the opposing dykes with whirling +water, is he borne mounded over the fields, and sweeps herds and +[499-529]pens all about the plains. Myself I saw in the gateway +Neoptolemus mad in slaughter, and the two sons of Atreus, saw Hecuba and +the hundred daughters of her house, and Priam polluting with his blood +the altar fires of his own consecration. The fifty bridal chambers--so +great was the hope of his children's children--their doors magnificent +with spoils of barbaric gold, have sunk in ruin; where the fire fails +the Greeks are in possession. + +'Perchance too thou mayest inquire what was Priam's fate. When he saw +the ruin of his captured city, the gates of his house burst open, and +the enemy amid his innermost chambers, the old man idly fastens round +his aged trembling shoulders his long disused armour, girds on the +unavailing sword, and advances on his death among the thronging foe. + +'Within the palace and under the bare cope of sky was a massive altar, +and hard on the altar an ancient bay tree leaned clasping the household +gods in its shadow. Here Hecuba and her daughters crowded vainly about +the altar-stones, like doves driven headlong by a black tempest, and +crouched clasping the gods' images. And when she saw Priam her lord with +the armour of youth on him, "What spirit of madness, my poor husband," +she cries, "hath stirred thee to gird on these weapons? or whither dost +thou run? Not such the succour nor these the defenders the time +requires: no, were mine own Hector now beside us. Retire, I beseech +thee, hither; this altar will protect us all, or thou wilt share our +death." With these words on her lips she drew the aged man to her, and +set him on the holy seat. + +'And lo, escaped from slaughtering Pyrrhus through the weapons of the +enemy, Polites, one of Priam's children, flies wounded down the long +colonnades and circles the empty halls. Pyrrhus pursues him fiercely +with aimed [530-563]wound, just catching at him, and follows hard on +him with his spear. As at last he issued before his parents' eyes and +faces, he fell, and shed his life in a pool of blood. At this Priam, +although even now fast in the toils of death, yet withheld not nor +spared a wrathful cry: "Ah, for thy crime, for this thy hardihood, may +the gods, if there is goodness in heaven to care for aught such, pay +thee in full thy worthy meed, and return thee the reward that is due! +who hast made me look face to face on my child's murder, and polluted a +father's countenance with death. Ah, not such to a foe was the Achilles +whose parentage thou beliest; but he revered a suppliant's right and +trust, restored to the tomb Hector's pallid corpse, and sent me back to +my realm." Thus the old man spoke, and launched his weak and unwounding +spear, which, recoiling straight from the jarring brass, hung idly from +his shield above the boss. Thereat Pyrrhus: "Thou then shalt tell this, +and go with the message to my sire the son of Peleus: remember to tell +him of my baleful deeds, and the degeneracy of Neoptolemus. Now die." So +saying, he drew him quivering to the very altar, slipping in the pool of +his child's blood, and wound his left hand in his hair, while in his +right the sword flashed out and plunged to the hilt in his side. This +was the end of Priam's fortunes; thus did allotted fate find him, with +burning Troy and her sunken towers before his eyes, once magnificent +lord over so many peoples and lands of Asia. The great corpse lies along +the shore, a head severed from the shoulders and a body without a name. + +'But then an awful terror began to encircle me; I stood in amaze; there +rose before me the likeness of my loved father, as I saw the king, old +as he, sobbing out his life under the ghastly wound; there rose Creuesa +forlorn, my plundered house, and little Iuelus' peril. I look back +[564-596]and survey what force is around me. All, outwearied, have +given up and leapt headlong to the ground, or flung themselves +wretchedly into the fire: + +['Yes, and now I only was left; when I espy the daughter of Tyndarus +close in the courts of Vesta, crouching silently in the fane's recesses; +the bright glow of the fires lights my wandering, as my eyes stray all +about. Fearing the Teucrians' anger for the overthrown towers of Troy, +and the Grecians' vengeance and the wrath of the husband she had +abandoned, she, the common Fury of Troy and her native country, had +hidden herself and cowered unseen by the altars. My spirit kindles to +fire, and rises in wrath to avenge my dying land and take repayment for +her crimes. Shall she verily see Sparta and her native Mycenae +unscathed, and depart a queen and triumphant? Shall she see her spousal +and her home, her parents and children, attended by a crowd of Trojan +women and Phrygians to serve her? and Priam have fallen under the sword? +Troy blazed in fire? the shore of Dardania so often soaked with blood? +Not so. For though there is no name or fame in a woman's punishment, nor +honour in the victory, yet shall I have praise in quenching a guilty +life and exacting a just recompense; and it will be good to fill my soul +with the flame of vengeance, and satisfy the ashes of my people. Thus +broke I forth, and advanced infuriate;] + +'----When my mother came visibly before me, clear to sight as never till +then, and shone forth in pure radiance through the night, gracious, +evident in godhead, in shape and stature such as she is wont to appear +to the heavenly people; she caught me by the hand and stayed me, and +pursued thus with roseate lips: + +'"Son, what overmastering pain thus wakes thy wrath? Why ravest thou? or +whither is thy care for us fled? Wilt thou not first look to it, where +thou hast left Anchises, [597-630]thine aged worn father; or if Creuesa +thy wife and the child Ascanius survive? round about whom all the Greek +battalions range; and without my preventing care, the flames ere this +had made them their portion, and the hostile sword drunk their blood. +Not the hated face of the Laconian woman, Tyndarus' daughter; not Paris +is to blame; the gods, the gods in anger overturn this magnificence, and +make Troy topple down. Look, for all the cloud that now veils thy gaze +and dulls mortal vision with damp encircling mist, I will rend from +before thee. Fear thou no commands of thy mother, nor refuse to obey her +counsels. Here, where thou seest sundered piles of masonry and rocks +violently torn from rocks, and smoke eddying mixed with dust, Neptune +with his great trident shakes wall and foundation out of their places, +and upturns all the city from her base. Here Juno in all her terror +holds the Scaean gates at the entry, and, girt with steel, calls her +allied army furiously from their ships. . . . Even now on the citadel's +height, look back! Tritonian Pallas is planted in glittering halo and +Gorgonian terror. Their lord himself pours courage and prosperous +strength on the Grecians, himself stirs the gods against the arms of +Dardania. Haste away, O son, and put an end to the struggle. I will +never desert thee; I will set thee safe in the courts of thy father's +house." + +'She ended, and plunged in the dense blackness of the night. Awful faces +shine forth, and, set against Troy, divine majesties . . . + +'Then indeed I saw all Ilium sinking in flame, and Neptunian Troy +uprooted from her base: even as an ancient ash on the mountain heights, +hacked all about with steel and fast-falling axes, when husbandmen +emulously strain to cut it down: it hangs threateningly, with shaken top +and quivering tresses asway; till gradually, overmastered with +[631-662]wounds, it utters one last groan, and rending itself away, +falls in ruin along the ridge. I descend, and under a god's guidance +clear my way between foe and flame; weapons give ground before me, and +flames retire. + +'And now, when I have reached the courts of my ancestral dwelling, our +home of old, my father, whom it was my first desire to carry high into +the hills, and whom first I sought, declines, now Troy is rooted out, to +prolong his life through the pains of exile. + +'"Ah, you," he cries, "whose blood is at the prime, whose strength +stands firm in native vigour, do you take your flight. . . . Had the +lords of heaven willed to prolong life for me, they should have +preserved this my home. Enough and more is the one desolation we have +seen, survivors of a captured city. Thus, oh thus salute me and depart, +as a body laid out for burial. Mine own hand shall find me death: the +foe will be merciful and seek my spoils: light is the loss of a tomb. +This long time hated of heaven, I uselessly delay the years, since the +father of gods and king of men blasted me with wind of thunder and +scathe of flame." + +'Thus held he on in utterance, and remained obstinate. We press him, +dissolved in tears, my wife Creuesa, Ascanius, all our household, that +our father involve us not all in his ruin, and add his weight to the +sinking scale of doom. He refuses, and keeps seated steadfast in his +purpose. Again I rush to battle, and choose death in my misery. For what +had counsel or chance yet to give? Thoughtest thou my feet, O father, +could retire and abandon thee? and fell so unnatural words from a +parent's lips? "If heaven wills that naught be left of our mighty city, +if this be thy planted purpose, thy pleasure to cast in thyself and +thine to the doom of Troy; for this death indeed the gate is wide, and +even now Pyrrhus will be here newly bathed in Priam's [663-695]blood, +Pyrrhus who slaughters the son before the father's face, the father upon +his altars. For this was it, bountiful mother, thou dost rescue me amid +fire and sword, to see the foe in my inmost chambers, and Ascanius and +my father, Creuesa by their side, hewn down in one another's blood? My +arms, men, bring my arms! the last day calls on the conquered. Return me +to the Greeks; let me revisit and renew the fight. Never to-day shall we +all perish unavenged." + +'Thereat I again gird on my sword, and fitting my left arm into the +clasps of the shield, strode forth of the palace. And lo! my wife clung +round my feet on the threshold, and held little Iuelus up to his father's +sight. "If thou goest to die, let us too hurry with thee to the end. But +if thou knowest any hope to place in arms, be this household thy first +defence. To what is little Iuelus and thy father, to what am I left who +once was called thy wife?" + +'So she shrieked, and filled all the house with her weeping; when a sign +arises sudden and marvellous to tell. For, between the hands and before +the faces of his sorrowing parents, lo! above Iuelus' head there seemed +to stream a light luminous cone, and a flame whose touch hurt not to +flicker in his soft hair and play round his brows. We in a flutter of +affright shook out the blazing hair and quenched the holy fires with +spring water. But lord Anchises joyfully upraised his eyes; and +stretching his hands to heaven: "Jupiter omnipotent," he cries, "if thou +dost relent at any prayers, look on us this once alone; and if our +goodness deserve it, give thine aid hereafter, O lord, and confirm this +thine omen." + +'Scarcely had the aged man spoken thus, when with sudden crash it +thundered on the left, and a star gliding through the dusk shot from +heaven drawing a bright trail of light. We watch it slide over the +palace roof, leaving [696-730]the mark of its pathway, and bury its +brilliance in the wood of Ida; the long drawn track shines, and the +region all about fumes with sulphur. Then conquered indeed my father +rises to address the gods and worship the holy star. "Now, now delay is +done with: I follow, and where you lead, I come. Gods of my fathers, +save my house, save my grandchild. Yours is this omen, and in your deity +Troy stands. I yield, O my son, and refuse not to go in thy company." + +'He ended; and now more loudly the fire roars along the city, and the +burning tides roll nearer. "Up then, beloved father, and lean on my +neck; these shoulders of mine will sustain thee, nor will so dear a +burden weigh me down. Howsoever fortune fall, one and undivided shall be +our peril, one the escape of us twain. Little Iuelus shall go along with +me, and my wife follow our steps afar. You of my household, give heed to +what I say. As you leave the city there is a mound and ancient temple of +Ceres lonely on it, and hard by an aged cypress, guarded many years in +ancestral awe: to this resting-place let us gather from diverse +quarters. Thou, O father, take the sacred things and the household gods +of our ancestors in thine hand. For me, just parted from the desperate +battle, with slaughter fresh upon me, to handle them were guilt, until I +wash away in a living stream the soilure. . . ." So spoke I, and spread +over my neck and broad shoulders a tawny lion-skin for covering, and +stoop to my burden. Little Iuelus, with his hand fast in mine, keeps +uneven pace after his father. Behind my wife follows. We pass on in the +shadows. And I, lately moved by no weapons launched against me, nor by +the thronging bands of my Grecian foes, am now terrified at every +breath, startled by every noise, thrilling with fear alike for my +companion and my burden. + +'And now I was nearing the gates, and thought I had [731-764]outsped +all the way; when suddenly the crowded trampling of feet came to our +ears, and my father, looking forth into the darkness, cries: "My son, my +son, fly; they draw near. I espy the gleaming shields and the flicker of +brass." At this, in my flurry and confusion, some hostile god bereft me +of my senses. For while I plunge down byways, and swerve from where the +familiar streets ran, Creuesa, alas! whether, torn by fate from her +unhappy husband, she stood still, or did she mistake the way, or sink +down outwearied? I know not; and never again was she given back to our +eyes; nor did I turn to look for my lost one, or cast back a thought, +ere we were come to ancient Ceres' mound and hallowed seat; here at +last, when all gathered, one was missing, vanished from her child's and +her husband's company. What man or god did I spare in frantic +reproaches? or what crueller sight met me in our city's overthrow? I +charge my comrades with Ascanius and lord Anchises, and the gods of +Teucria, hiding them in the winding vale. Myself I regain the city, +girding on my shining armour; fixed to renew every danger, to retrace my +way throughout Troy, and fling myself again on its perils. First of all +I regain the walls and the dim gateway whence my steps had issued; I +scan and follow back my footprints with searching gaze in the night. +Everywhere my spirit shudders, dismayed at the very silence. Thence I +pass on home, if haply her feet (if haply!) had led her thither. The +Grecians had poured in, and filled the palace. The devouring fire goes +rolling before the wind high as the roof; the flames tower over it, and +the heat surges up into the air. I move on, and revisit the citadel and +Priam's dwelling; where now in the spacious porticoes of Juno's +sanctuary, Phoenix and accursed Ulysses, chosen sentries, were guarding +the spoil. Hither from all quarters is flung in masses the treasure of +Troy torn from burning shrines, [765-798]tables of the gods, bowls of +solid gold, and raiment of the captives. Boys and cowering mothers in +long file stand round. . . . Yes, and I dared to cry abroad through the +darkness; I filled the streets with calling, and again and yet again +with vain reiterance cried piteously on Creuesa. As I stormed and sought +her endlessly among the houses of the town, there rose before mine eyes +a melancholy phantom, the ghost of very Creuesa, in likeness larger than +her wont. I was motionless; my hair stood up, and the accents faltered +on my tongue. Then she thus addressed me, and with this speech allayed +my distresses: "What help is there in this mad passion of grief, sweet +my husband? not without divine influence does this come to pass: nor may +it be, nor does the high lord of Olympus allow, that thou shouldest +carry Creuesa hence in thy company. Long shall be thine exile, and weary +spaces of sea must thou furrow through; and thou shalt come to the land +Hesperia, where Lydian Tiber flows with soft current through rich and +populous fields. There prosperity awaits thee, and a kingdom, and a +king's daughter for thy wife. Dispel these tears for thy beloved Creuesa. +Never will I look on the proud homes of the Myrmidons or Dolopians, or +go to be the slave of Greek matrons, I a daughter of Dardania, a +daughter-in-law of Venus the goddess. . . . But the mighty mother of the +gods keeps me in these her borders. And now farewell, and still love thy +child and mine." This speech uttered, while I wept and would have said +many a thing, she left me and retreated into thin air. Thrice there was +I fain to lay mine arms round her neck; thrice the vision I vainly +clasped fled out of my hands, even as the light breezes, or most like to +fluttering sleep. So at last, when night is spent, I revisit my +comrades. + +'And here I find a marvellous great company, newly flocked in, mothers +and men, a people gathered for exile, [799-804]a pitiable crowd. From +all quarters they are assembled, ready in heart and fortune, to +whatsoever land I will conduct them overseas. And now the morning star +rose over the high ridges of Ida, and led on the day; and the Grecians +held the gateways in leaguer, nor was any hope of help given. I +withdrew, and raising my father up, I sought the mountain.' + + + + +BOOK THIRD + +THE STORY OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WANDERING + + +'After heaven's lords pleased to overthrow the state of Asia and Priam's +guiltless people, and proud Ilium fell, and Neptunian Troy smokes all +along the ground, we are driven by divine omens to seek distant places +of exile in waste lands. Right under Antandros and the mountains of +Phrygian Ida we build a fleet, uncertain whither the fates carry us or +where a resting-place is given, and gather the people together. Scarcely +had the first summer set in, when lord Anchises bids us spread our sails +to fortune, and weeping I leave the shores and havens of my country, and +the plains where once was Troy. I sail to sea an exile, with my comrades +and son and the gods of household and state. + +'A land of vast plains lies apart, the home of Mavors, in Thracian +tillage, and sometime under warrior Lycurgus' reign; friendly of old to +Troy, and their gods in alliance while our fortune lasted. Hither I +pass, and on the winding shore I lay under thwarting fates the first +foundations of a city, and from my own name fashion its name, Aeneadae. + +'I was paying sacrifice to my mother, daughter of Dione, and to all the +gods, so to favour the work begun, and slew a shining bull on the shore +to the high lord of [22-54]the heavenly people. Haply there lay a mound +hard at hand, crowned with cornel thickets and bristling dense with +shafts of myrtle. I drew near; and essaying to tear up the green wood +from the soil, that I might cover the altar with leafy boughs, I see a +portent ominous and wonderful to tell. For from the first tree whose +roots are rent away and broken from the ground, drops of black blood +trickle, and gore stains the earth. An icy shudder shakes my limbs, and +my blood curdles chill with terror. Yet from another I go on again to +tear away a tough shoot, fully to fathom its secret; yet from another +black blood follows out of the bark. With many searchings of heart I +prayed the woodland nymphs, and lord Gradivus, who rules in the Getic +fields, to make the sight propitious as was meet and lighten the omen. +But when I assail a third spearshaft with a stronger effort, pulling +with knees pressed against the sand; shall I speak or be silent? from +beneath the mound is heard a pitiable moan, and a voice is uttered to my +ears: "Woe's me, why rendest thou me, Aeneas? spare me at last in the +tomb, spare pollution to thine innocent hands. Troy bore me; not alien +to thee am I, nor this blood that oozes from the stem. Ah, fly the cruel +land, fly the greedy shore! For I am Polydorus; here the iron harvest of +weapons hath covered my pierced body, and shot up in sharp javelins." +Then indeed, borne down with dubious terror, I was motionless, my hair +stood up, and the accents faltered on my tongue. + +'This Polydorus once with great weight of gold had hapless Priam sent in +secret to the nurture of the Thracian king, when now he was losing trust +in the arms of Dardania, and saw his city leaguered round about. The +king, when the Teucrian power was broken and fortune withdrew, following +Agamemnon's estate and triumphant arms, [55-87]severs every bond of +duty; murders Polydorus, and lays strong hands on the gold. O accursed +hunger of gold, to what dost thou not compel human hearts! When the +terror left my senses, I lay the divine tokens before the chosen princes +of the people, with my father at their head, and demand their judgment. +All are of one mind, to leave the guilty land, and abandoning a polluted +home, to let the gales waft our fleets. So we bury Polydorus anew, and +the earth is heaped high over his mound; altars are reared to his ghost, +sad with dusky chaplets and black cypress; and around are the Ilian +women with hair unbound in their fashion. We offer bubbling bowls of +warm milk and cups of consecrated blood, and lay the spirit to rest in +her tomb, and with loud voice utter the last call. + +'Thereupon, so soon as ocean may be trusted, and the winds leave the +seas in quiet, and the soft whispering south wind calls seaward, my +comrades launch their ships and crowd the shores. We put out from +harbour, and lands and towns sink away. There lies in mid sea a holy +land, most dear to the mother of the Nereids and Neptune of Aegae, which +strayed about coast and strand till the Archer god in his affection +chained it fast from high Myconos and Gyaros, and made it lie immoveable +and slight the winds. Hither I steer; and it welcomes my weary crew to +the quiet shelter of a safe haven. We disembark and worship Apollo's +town. Anius the king, king at once of the people and priest of Phoebus, +his brows garlanded with fillets and consecrated laurel, comes to meet +us; he knows Anchises, his friend of old; we clasp hands in welcome, and +enter his palace. I worshipped the god's temple, an ancient pile of +stone. "Lord of Thymbra, give us an enduring dwelling-place; grant a +house and family to thy weary servants, and a city to abide: keep Troy's +second fortress, the remnant left of the Grecians and merciless +Achilles. Whom follow [88-121]we? or whither dost thou bid us go, where +fix our seat? Grant an omen, O lord, and inspire our minds." + +'Scarcely had I spoken thus; suddenly all seemed to shake, all the +courts and laurels of the god, the whole hill to be stirred round about, +and the cauldron to moan in the opening sanctuary. We sink low on the +ground, and a voice is borne to our ears: "Stubborn race of Dardanus, +the same land that bore you by parentage of old shall receive you again +on her bountiful breast. Seek out your ancient mother; hence shall the +house of Aeneas sway all regions, his children's children and they who +shall be born of them." Thus Phoebus; and mingled outcries of great +gladness uprose; all ask, what is that city? whither calls Phoebus our +wandering, and bids us return? Then my father, unrolling the records of +men of old, "Hear, O princes," says he, "and learn your hopes. In mid +ocean lies Crete, the island of high Jove, wherein is mount Ida, the +cradle of our race. An hundred great towns are inhabited in that opulent +realm; from it our forefather Teucer of old, if I recall the tale +aright, sailed to the Rhoetean coasts and chose a place for his kingdom. +Not yet was Ilium nor the towers of Pergama reared; they dwelt in the +valley bottoms. Hence came our Lady, haunter of Cybele, the Corybantic +cymbals and the grove of Ida; hence the rites of inviolate secrecy, and +the lions yoked under the chariot of their mistress. Up then, and let us +follow where divine commandments lead; let us appease the winds, and +seek the realm of Gnosus. Nor is it a far journey away. Only be Jupiter +favourable, the third day shall bring our fleet to anchor on the Cretan +coast." So spoke he, and slew fit sacrifice on the altars, a bull to +Neptune, a bull to thee, fair Apollo, a black sheep to Tempest, a white +to the prosperous West winds. + +'Rumour flies that Idomeneus the captain is driven [122-154]forth of +his father's realm, and the shores of Crete are abandoned, that the +houses are void of foes and the dwellings lie empty to our hand. We +leave the harbour of Ortygia, and fly along the main, by the revel-trod +ridges of Naxos, by green Donusa, Olearos and snow-white Paros, and the +sea-strewn Cyclades, threading the racing channels among the crowded +lands. The seamen's clamour rises in emulous dissonance; each cheers his +comrade: _Seek we Crete and our forefathers._ A wind rising astern +follows us forth on our way, and we glide at last to the ancient +Curetean coast. So I set eagerly to work on the walls of my chosen town, +and call it Pergamea, and exhort my people, joyful at the name, to +cherish their homes and rear the castle buildings. And even now the +ships were drawn up on the dry beach; the people were busy in marriages +and among their new fields; I was giving statutes and homesteads; when +suddenly from a tainted space of sky came, noisome on men's bodies and +pitiable on trees and crops, pestilence and a year of death. They left +their sweet lives or dragged themselves on in misery; Sirius scorched +the fields into barrenness; the herbage grew dry, and the sickly harvest +denied sustenance. My father counsels to remeasure the sea and go again +to Phoebus in his Ortygian oracle, to pray for grace and ask what issue +he ordains to our exhausted state; whence he bids us search for aid to +our woes, whither bend our course. + +'Night fell, and sleep held all things living on the earth. The sacred +images of the gods and the household deities of Phrygia, that I had +borne with me from Troy out of the midst of the burning city, seemed to +stand before mine eyes as I lay sleepless, clear in the broad light +where the full moon poured through the latticed windows; then thus +addressed me, and with this speech allayed my distresses: "What Apollo +hath to tell thee when thou dost [155-188]reach Ortygia, he utters +here, and sends us unsought to thy threshold. We who followed thee and +thine arms when Dardania went down in fire; we who under thee have +traversed on shipboard the swelling sea; we in like wise will exalt to +heaven thy children to be, and give empire to their city. Do thou +prepare a mighty town for a mighty people, nor draw back from the long +wearisome chase. Thou must change thy dwelling. Not to these shores did +the god at Delos counsel thee, or Apollo bid thee find rest in Crete. +There is a region Greeks name Hesperia, an ancient land, mighty in arms +and foison of the clod; Oenotrian men dwell therein; now rumour is that +a younger race have called it Italy after their captain's name. This is +our true dwelling place; hence is Dardanus sprung, and lord Iasius, the +first source of our race. Up, arise, and tell with good cheer to thine +aged parent this plain tale, to seek Corythus and the lands of Ausonia. +Jupiter denies thee the Dictaean fields." + +'Astonished at this vision and divine utterance (nor was that slumber; +but openly I seemed to know their countenances, their veiled hair and +gracious faces, and therewith a cold sweat broke out all over me) I +spring from my bed and raise my voice and upturned hands skyward and pay +pure offering on the hearth. The sacrifice done, I joyfully tell +Anchises, and relate all in order. He recognises the double descent and +twofold parentage, and the later wanderings that had deceived him among +ancient lands. Then he speaks: "O son, hard wrought by the destinies of +Ilium, Cassandra only foretold me this fortune. Now I recall how she +prophesied this was fated to our race, and often cried of Hesperia, +often of an Italian realm. But who was to believe that Teucrians should +come to Hesperian shores? or whom might Cassandra then move by prophecy? +Yield we to Phoebus, and follow the better [189-222]way he counsels." +So says he, and we all rejoicingly obey his speech. This dwelling +likewise we abandon; and leaving some few behind, spread our sails and +run over the waste sea in our hollow wood. + +'After our ships held the high seas, nor any land yet appears, the sky +all round us and all round us the deep, a dusky shower drew up overhead +carrying night and tempest, and the wave shuddered and gloomed. +Straightway the winds upturn the main, and great seas rise; we are +tossed asunder over the dreary gulf. Stormclouds enwrap the day, and +rainy gloom blots out the sky; out of the clouds bursts fire fast upon +fire. Driven from our course, we go wandering on the blind waves. +Palinurus himself professes he cannot tell day from night on the sky, +nor remember the way amid the waters. Three dubious days of blind +darkness we wander on the deep, as many nights without a star. Not till +the fourth day was land at last seen to rise, discovering distant hills +and sending up wreaths of smoke. The sails drop; we swing back to the +oars; without delay the sailors strongly toss up the foam, and sweep +through the green water. The shores of the Strophades first receive me +thus won from the waves, Strophades the Greek name they bear, islands +lying in the great Ionian sea, which boding Celaeno and the other +Harpies inhabit since Phineus' house was shut on them, and they fled in +terror from the board of old. Than these no deadlier portent nor any +fiercer plague of divine wrath hath issued from the Stygian waters; +winged things with maidens' countenance, bellies dropping filth, and +clawed hands and faces ever wan with hunger. . . . + +'When borne hitherward we enter the haven, lo! we see goodly herds of +oxen scattered on the plains, and goats flocking untended over the +grass. We attack them with the sword, and call the gods and Jove himself +to share our [223-258]spoil. Then we build seats on the winding shore +and banquet on the dainty food. But suddenly the Harpies are upon us, +swooping awfully from the mountains, and shaking their wings with loud +clangour, plunder the feast, and defile everything with unclean touch, +spreading a foul smell, and uttering dreadful cries. Again, in a deep +recess under a caverned rock, shut in with waving shadows of woodland, +we array the board and renew the altar fires; again, from their blind +ambush in diverse quarters of the sky, the noisy crowd flutter with +clawed feet around their prey, defiling the feast with their lips. Then +I bid my comrades take up arms, and proclaim war on the accursed race. +Even as I bade they do, range their swords in cover among the grass, and +hide their shields out of sight. So when they swooped clamorously down +along the winding shore, Misenus from his watch-tower on high signals on +the hollow brass; my comrades rush in and essay the strange battle, to +set the stain of steel on the winged horrors of the sea. But they take +no violence on their plumage, nor wounds on their bodies; and soaring +into the firmament with rapid flight, leave their foul traces on the +spoil they had half consumed. Celaeno alone, prophetess of ill, alights +on a towering cliff, and thus breaks forth in deep accents: + +'"War is it for your slaughtered oxen and steers cut down, O children of +Laomedon, war is it you would declare, and drive the guiltless Harpies +from their ancestral kingdom? Take then to heart and fix fast these +words of mine; which the Lord omnipotent foretold to Phoebus, Phoebus +Apollo to me, I eldest born of the Furies reveal to you. Italy is your +goal; wooing the winds you shall go to Italy, and enter her harbours +unhindered. Yet shall you not wall round your ordained city, ere this +murderous outrage on us compel you, in portentous hunger, to eat your +tables with gnawing teeth." + +'She spoke, and winged her way back to the shelter of [259-293]the +wood. But my comrades' blood froze chill with sudden affright; their +spirits fell; and no longer with arms, nay with vows and prayers they +bid me entreat favour, whether these be goddesses, or winged things +ill-ominous and foul. And lord Anchises from the beach calls with +outspread hands on the mighty gods, ordering fit sacrifices: "Gods, +avert their menaces! Gods, turn this woe away, and graciously save the +righteous!" Then he bids pluck the cable from the shore and shake loose +the sheets. Southern winds stretch the sails; we scud over the +foam-flecked waters, whither wind and pilot called our course. Now +wooded Zacynthos appears amid the waves, and Dulichium and Same and +Neritos' sheer rocks. We fly past the cliffs of Ithaca, Laertes' realm, +and curse the land, fostress of cruel Ulysses. Soon too Mount Leucata's +cloudy peaks are sighted, and Apollo dreaded of sailors. Hither we steer +wearily, and stand in to the little town. The anchor is cast from the +prow; the sterns are grounded on the beach. + +'So at last having attained to land beyond our hopes, we purify +ourselves in Jove's worship, and kindle altars of offering, and make the +Actian shore gay with the games of Ilium. My comrades strip, and, +slippery with oil, exercise their ancestral contests; glad to have got +past so many Argive towns, and held on their flight through the +encircling foe. Meanwhile the sun rounds the great circle of the year, +and icy winter ruffles the waters with Northern gales. I fix against the +doorway a hollow shield of brass, that tall Abas had borne, and mark the +story with a verse: _These arms Aeneas from the conquering Greeks._ Then +I bid leave the harbour and sit down at the thwarts; emulously my +comrades strike the water, and sweep through the seas. Soon we see the +cloud-capped Phaeacian towers sink away, skirt the shores of Epirus, and +enter the Chaonian haven and approach high Buthrotum town. + +[294-328]'Here the rumour of a story beyond belief comes on our ears; +Helenus son of Priam is reigning over Greek towns, master of the bride +and sceptre of Pyrrhus the Aeacid; and Andromache hath again fallen to a +husband of her people. I stood amazed; and my heart kindled with +marvellous desire to accost him and learn of so strange a fortune. I +advance from the harbour, leaving the fleet ashore; just when haply +Andromache, in a grove before the town, by the waters of a feigned +Simois, was pouring libation to the dust, and calling Hector's ghost to +a tomb with his name, on an empty turfed green with two altars that she +had consecrated, a wellspring of tears. When she caught sight of me +coming, and saw distractedly the encircling arms of Troy, +terror-stricken at the vision marvellously shewn, her gaze fixed, and +the heat left her frame. She swoons away, and hardly at last speaks +after long interval: "Comest thou then a real face, a real messenger to +me, goddess-born? livest thou? or if sweet light is fled, ah, where is +Hector?" She spoke, and bursting into tears filled all the place with +her crying. Just a few words I force up, and deeply moved gasp out in +broken accents: "I live indeed, I live on through all extremities; doubt +not, for real are the forms thou seest . . . Alas! after such an +husband, what fate receives thy fall? or what worthier fortune revisits +thee? Dost thou, Hector's Andromache, keep bonds of marriage with +Pyrrhus?" She cast down her countenance, and spoke with lowered voice: + +'"O single in happy eminence that maiden daughter of Priam, sentenced to +die under high Troy town at an enemy's grave, who never bore the shame +of the lot, nor came a captive to her victorious master's bed! We, +sailing over alien seas from our burning land, have endured the +haughty youthful pride of Achilles' seed, and borne children in +slavery: he thereafter, wooing Leda's Hermione and a Lacedaemonian +[329-363]marriage, passed me over to Helenus' keeping, a bondwoman to a +bondman. But him Orestes, aflame with passionate desire for his stolen +bride, and driven by the furies of crime, catches unguarded and murders +at his ancestral altars. At Neoptolemus' death a share of his realm fell +to Helenus' hands, who named the plains Chaonian, and called all the +land Chaonia after Chaon of Troy, and built withal a Pergama and this +Ilian citadel on the hills. But to thee how did winds, how fates give +passage? or whose divinity landed thee all unwitting on our coasts? what +of the boy Ascanius? lives he yet, and draws breath, thy darling, whom +Troy's . . . Yet hath the child affection for his lost mother? is he +roused to the valour of old and the spirit of manhood by his father +Aeneas, by his uncle Hector?" + +'Such words she poured forth weeping, and prolonged the vain wail; when +the hero Helenus son of Priam approaches from the town with a great +company, knows us for his kin, and leads us joyfully to his gates, +shedding a many tears at every word. I advance and recognise a little +Troy, and a copy of the great Pergama, and a dry brook with the name of +Xanthus, and clasp a Scaean gateway. Therewithal my Teucrians make +holiday in the friendly town. The king entertained them in his spacious +colonnades; in the central hall they poured goblets of wine in libation, +and held the cups while the feast was served on gold. + +'And now a day and another day hath sped; the breezes woo our sails, and +the canvas blows out to the swelling south. With these words I accost +the prophet, and thus make request: + +'"Son of Troy, interpreter of the gods, whose sense is open to Phoebus' +influences, his tripods and laurels, to stars and tongues of birds and +auguries of prosperous flight, tell me now,--for the voice of revelation +was all favourable to my course, and all divine influence counselled me +to [364-396]seek Italy and explore remote lands; only Celaeno the Harpy +prophesies of strange portents, a horror to tell, and cries out of wrath +and bale and foul hunger,--what perils are the first to shun? or in what +guidance may I overcome these sore labours?" + +'Hereat Helenus, first suing for divine favour with fit sacrifice of +steers, and unbinding from his head the chaplets of consecration, leads +me in his hand to thy courts, O Phoebus, thrilled with the fulness of +the deity, and then utters these prophetic words from his augural lips: + +'"Goddess-born: since there is clear assurance that under high omens +thou dost voyage through the deep; so the king of the gods allots +destiny and unfolds change; this is the circle of ordinance; a few +things out of many I will unfold to thee in speech, that so thou mayest +more safely traverse the seas of thy sojourn, and find rest in the +Ausonian haven; for Helenus is forbidden by the destinies to know, and +by Juno daughter of Saturn to utter more: first of all, the Italy thou +deemest now nigh, and close at hand, unwitting! the harbours thou +wouldst enter, far are they sundered by a long and trackless track +through length of lands. First must the Trinacrian wave clog thine oar, +and thy ships traverse the salt Ausonian plain, by the infernal pools +and Aeaean Circe's isle, ere thou mayest build thy city in safety on a +peaceful land. I will tell thee the token, and do thou keep it close in +thine heart. When in thy perplexity, beside the wave of a sequestered +river, a great sow shall be discovered lying under the oaks on the +brink, with her newborn litter of thirty, couched white on the ground, +her white brood about her teats; that shall be the place of the city, +that the appointed rest from thy toils. Neither shrink thou at the gnawn +tables that await thee; the fates will find a way, and Apollo aid thy +call. These lands moreover, on this nearest border of the Italian shore +[397-432]that our own sea's tide washes, flee thou: evil Greeks dwell +in all their towns. Here the Locrians of Narycos have set their city, +and here Lyctian Idomeneus beset the Sallentine plains with soldiery; +here is the town of the Meliboean captain, Philoctetes' little Petelia +fenced by her wall. Nay, when thy fleets have crossed overseas and lie +at anchor, when now thou rearest altars and payest vows on the beach, +veil thine hair with a purple garment for covering, that no hostile face +at thy divine worship may meet thee amid the holy fires and make void +the omens. This fashion of sacrifice keep thou, thyself and thy +comrades, and let thy children abide in this pure observance. But when +at thy departure the wind hath borne thee to the Sicilian coast, and the +barred straits of Pelorus open out, steer for the left-hand country and +the long circuit of the seas on the left hand; shun the shore and water +on thy right. These lands, they say, of old broke asunder, torn and +upheaved by vast force, when either country was one and undivided; the +ocean burst in between, cutting off with its waves the Hesperian from +the Sicilian coast, and with narrow tide washes tilth and town along the +severance of shore. On the right Scylla keeps guard, on the left +unassuaged Charybdis, who thrice swallows the vast flood sheer down her +swirling gulf, and ever again hurls it upward, lashing the sky with +water. But Scylla lies prisoned in her cavern's blind recesses, +thrusting forth her mouth and drawing ships upon the rocks. In front her +face is human, and her breast fair as a maiden's to the waist down; +behind she is a sea-dragon of monstrous frame, with dolphins' tails +joined on her wolf-girt belly. Better to track the goal of Trinacrian +Pachynus, lingering and wheeling round through long spaces, than once +catch sight of misshapen Scylla deep in her dreary cavern, and of the +rocks that ring to her sea-coloured hounds. Moreover, if +[433-466]Helenus hath aught of foresight or his prophecy of assurance, +if Apollo fills his spirit with the truth, this one thing, goddess-born, +one thing for all will I foretell thee, and again and again repeat my +counsel: to great Juno's deity be thy first prayer and worship; to Juno +utter thy willing vows, and overcome thy mighty mistress with gifts and +supplications; so at last thou shalt leave Trinacria behind, and be sped +in triumph to the Italian borders. When borne hither thou drawest nigh +the Cymaean city, the haunted lakes and rustling woods of Avernus, thou +shalt behold the raving prophetess who deep in the rock chants of fate, +and marks down her words on leaves. What verses she writes down on them, +the maiden sorts into order and shuts behind her in the cave; they stay +in their places unstirred and quit not their rank. But when at the turn +of the hinge the light wind from the doorway stirs them, and disarranges +the delicate foliage, never after does she trouble to capture them as +they flutter about the hollow rock, nor restore their places or join the +verses; men depart without counsel, and hate the Sibyl's dwelling. Here +let no waste in delay be of such account to thee (though thy company +chide, and the passage call thy sails strongly to the deep, and thou +mayest fill out their folds to thy desire) that thou do not approach the +prophetess, and plead with prayers that she herself utter her oracles +and deign to loose the accents from her lips. The nations of Italy and +the wars to come, and the fashion whereby every toil may be avoided or +endured, she shall unfold to thee, and grant her worshipper prosperous +passage. Thus far is our voice allowed to counsel thee: go thy way, and +exalt Troy to heaven by thy deeds." + +'This the seer uttered with friendly lips; then orders gifts to be +carried to my ships, of heavy gold and sawn ivory, and loads the hulls +with massy silver and cauldrons [467-502]of Dodona, a mail coat +triple-woven with hooks of gold, and a helmet splendid with spike and +tressed plumes, the armour of Neoptolemus. My father too hath his gifts. +Horses besides he brings, and grooms . . . fills up the tale of our +oarsmen, and equips my crews with arms. + +'Meanwhile Anchises bade the fleet set their sails, that the fair wind +might meet no delay. Him Phoebus' interpreter accosts with high +courtesy: "Anchises, honoured with the splendour of Venus' espousal, the +gods' charge, twice rescued from the fallen towers of Troy, lo! the land +of Ausonia is before thee: sail thou and seize it. And yet needs must +thou float past it on the sea; far away lies the quarter of Ausonia that +is revealed of Apollo. Go," he continues, "happy in thy son's affection: +why do I run on further, and delay the rising winds in talk?" Andromache +too, sad at this last parting, brings figured raiment with woof of gold, +and a Phrygian scarf for Ascanius, and wearies not in courtesy, loading +him with gifts from the loom. "Take these too," so says she, "my child, +to be memorials to thee of my hands, and testify long hence the love of +Andromache wife of Hector. Take these last gifts of thy kinsfolk, O sole +surviving likeness to me of my own Astyanax! Such was he, in eyes and +hands and features; and now his equal age were growing into manhood like +thine." + +'To them as I departed I spoke with starting tears: "Live happily, as +they do whose fortunes are perfected! We are summoned ever from fate to +fate. For you there is rest in store, and no ocean floor to furrow, no +ever-retreating Ausonian fields to pursue. You see a pictured Xanthus, +and a Troy your own hands have built; with better omens, I pray, and to +be less open to the Greeks. If ever I enter Tiber and Tiber's bordering +fields, and see a city granted to my nation, then of these kindred towns +[503-537]and allied peoples in Epirus and Hesperia, which have the same +Dardanus for founder, and whose story is one, of both will our hearts +make a single Troy. Let that charge await our posterity." + +'We put out to sea, keeping the Ceraunian mountains close at hand, +whence is the shortest passage and seaway to Italy. The sun sets +meanwhile, and the dusky hills grow dim. We choose a place, and fling +ourselves on the lap of earth at the water's edge, and, allotting the +oars, spread ourselves on the dry beach for refreshment: the dew of +slumber falls on our weary limbs. Not yet had Night driven of the Hours +climbed her mid arch; Palinurus rises lightly from his couch, explores +all the winds, and listens to catch a breeze; he marks the +constellations gliding together through the silent sky, Arcturus, the +rainy Hyades and the twin Oxen, and scans Orion in his armour of gold. +When he sees the clear sky quite unbroken, he gives from the stern his +shrill signal; we disencamp and explore the way, and spread the wings of +our sails. And now reddening Dawn had chased away the stars, when we +descry afar dim hills and the low line of Italy. Achates first raises +the cry of _Italy_; and with joyous shouts my comrades salute Italy. +Then lord Anchises enwreathed a great bowl and filled it up with wine; +and called on the gods, standing high astern . . . "Gods sovereign over +sea and land and weather! bring wind to ease our way, and breathe +favourably." The breezes freshen at his prayer, and now the harbour +opens out nearer at hand, and a temple appears on the Fort of Minerva. +My comrades furl the sails and swing the prows to shore. The harbour is +scooped into an arch by the Eastern flood; reefs run out and foam with +the salt spray; itself it lies concealed; turreted walls of rock let +down their arms on either hand, and the temple retreats from the beach. +Here, an inaugural sight, four horses of snowy [538-570]whiteness are +grazing abroad on the grassy plain. And lord Anchises: "War dost thou +carry, land of our sojourn; horses are armed in war, and menace of war +is in this herd. But yet these same beasts are wont in time to enter +harness, and carry yoke and bit in concord; there is hope of peace too," +says he. Then we pray to the holy deity, Pallas of the clangorous arms, +the first to welcome our cheers. And before the altars we veil our heads +in Phrygian garments, and duly, after the counsel Helenus had urged +deepest on us, pay the bidden burnt-sacrifice to Juno of Argos. + +'Without delay, once our vows are fully paid, we round to the arms of +our sailyards and leave the dwellings and menacing fields of the Grecian +people. Next is descried the bay of Tarentum, town, if rumour is true, +of Hercules. Over against it the goddess of Lacinium rears her head, +with the towers of Caulon, and Scylaceum wrecker of ships. Then +Trinacrian Aetna is descried in the distance rising from the waves, and +we hear from afar a great roaring of the sea on beaten rocks, and broken +noises by the shore: the channels boil up, and the surge churns with +sand. And lord Anchises: "Of a surety this is that Charybdis; of these +cliffs, these awful rocks did Helenus prophesy. Out, O comrades, and +rise together to the oars." Even as bidden they do; and first Palinurus +swung the gurgling prow leftward through the water; to the left all our +squadron bent with oar and wind. We are lifted skyward on the crescent +wave, and again sunk deep into the nether world as the water is sucked +away. Thrice amid their rocky caverns the cliffs uttered a cry; thrice +we see the foam flung out, and the stars through a dripping veil. +Meanwhile the wind falls with sundown; and weary and ignorant of the way +we glide on to the Cyclopes' coast. + +'There lies a harbour large and unstirred by the winds' +[571-604]entrance; but nigh it Aetna thunders awfully in wrack, and +ever and again hurls a black cloud into the sky, smoking with boiling +pitch and embers white hot, and heaves balls of flame flickering up to +the stars: ever and again vomits out on high crags from the torn +entrails of the mountain, tosses up masses of molten rock with a groan, +and boils forth from the bottom. Rumour is that this mass weighs down +the body of Enceladus, half-consumed by the thunderbolt, and mighty +Aetna laid over him suspires the flame that bursts from her furnaces; +and so often as he changes his weary side, all Trinacria shudders and +moans, veiling the sky in smoke. That night we spend in cover of the +forest among portentous horrors, and see not from what source the noise +comes. For neither did the stars show their fires, nor was the vault of +constellated sky clear; but vapours blotted heaven, and the moon was +held in a storm-cloud through dead of night. + +'And now the morrow was rising in the early east, and the dewy darkness +rolled away from the sky by Dawn, when sudden out of the forest advances +a human shape strange and unknown, worn with uttermost hunger and +pitiably attired, and stretches entreating hands towards the shore. We +look back. Filthy and wretched, with shaggy beard and a coat pinned +together with thorns, he was yet a Greek, and had been sent of old to +Troy in his father's arms. And he, when he saw afar the Dardanian habits +and armour of Troy, hung back a little in terror at the sight, and +stayed his steps; then ran headlong to the shore with weeping and +prayers: "By the heavens I beseech you, by the heavenly powers and this +luminous sky that gives us breath, take me up, O Trojans, carry me away +to any land soever, and it will be enough. I know I am one out of the +Grecian fleets, I confess I warred against the household gods of Ilium; +for that, if our wrong and guilt is so great, throw [605-639]me +piecemeal on the flood or plunge me in the waste sea. If I do perish, +gladly will I perish at human hands." He ended; and clung clasping our +knees and grovelling at them. We encourage him to tell who he is and of +what blood born, and reveal how Fortune pursues him since then. Lord +Anchises after little delay gives him his hand, and strengthens his +courage by visible pledge. At last, laying aside his terror, he speaks +thus: + +'"I am from an Ithacan home, Achemenides by name, set out for Troy in +luckless Ulysses' company; poor was my father Adamastus, and would God +fortune had stayed thus! Here my comrades abandoned me in the Cyclops' +vast cave, mindless of me while they hurry away from the barbarous +gates. It is a house of gore and blood-stained feasts, dim and huge +within. Himself he is great of stature and knocks at the lofty sky +(gods, take away a curse like this from earth!) to none gracious in +aspect or courteous of speech. He feeds on the flesh and dark blood of +wretched men. I myself saw, when he caught the bodies of two of us with +his great hand, and lying back in the middle of the cave crushed them on +the rock, and the courts splashed and swam with gore; I saw when he +champed the flesh adrip with dark clots of blood, and the warm limbs +quivered under his teeth. Yet not unavenged. Ulysses brooked not this, +nor even in such straits did the Ithacan forget himself. For so soon as +he, gorged with his feast and buried in wine, lay with bent neck +sprawling huge over the cave, in his sleep vomiting gore and gobbets +mixed with wine and blood, we, praying to the great gods and with parts +allotted, pour at once all round him, and pierce with a sharp weapon the +huge eye that lay sunk single under his savage brow, in fashion of an +Argolic shield or the lamp of the moon; and at last we exultingly avenge +the ghosts of our comrades. But fly, O wretched men, fly [640-674]and +pluck the cable from the beach. . . . For even in the shape and stature +of Polyphemus, when he shuts his fleeced flocks and drains their udders +in the cave's covert, an hundred other horrible Cyclopes dwell all about +this shore and stray on the mountain heights. Thrice now does the horned +moon fill out her light, while I linger in life among desolate lairs and +haunts of wild beasts in the woodland, and from a rock survey the giant +Cyclopes and shudder at their cries and echoing feet. The boughs yield a +miserable sustenance, berries and stony sloes, and plants torn up by the +root feed me. Sweeping all the view, I at last espied this fleet +standing in to shore. On it, whatsoever it were, I cast myself; it is +enough to have escaped the accursed tribe. Do you rather, by any death +you will, destroy this life of mine." + +'Scarcely had he spoken thus, when on the mountain top we see +shepherding his flocks a vast moving mass, Polyphemus himself seeking +the shores he knew, a horror ominous, shapeless, huge, bereft of sight. +A pine lopped by his hand guides and steadies his footsteps. His fleeced +sheep attend him, this his single delight and solace in ill. . . . After +he hath touched the deep flood and come to the sea, he washes in it the +blood that oozes from his eye-socket, grinding his teeth with groans; +and now he strides through the sea up to his middle, nor yet does the +wave wet his towering sides. We hurry far away in precipitate flight, +with the suppliant who had so well merited rescue; and silently cut the +cable, and bending forward sweep the sea with emulous oars. He heard, +and turned his steps towards the echoing sound. But when he may in no +wise lay hands on us, nor can fathom the Ionian waves in pursuit, he +raises a vast cry, at which the sea and all his waves shuddered, and the +deep land of Italy was startled, and Aetna's vaulted caverns moaned. But +the tribe of the [675-709]Cyclopes, roused from the high wooded hills, +run to the harbour and fill the shore. We descry the Aetnean brotherhood +standing impotent with scowling eye, their stately heads up to heaven, a +dreadful consistory; even as on a mountain summit stand oaks high in air +or coned cypresses, a high forest of Jove or covert of Diana. Sharp fear +urges us to shake out the sheets in reckless haste, and spread our sails +to the favouring wind. Yet Helenus' commands counsel that our course +keep not the way between Scylla and Charybdis, the very edge of death on +either hand. We are resolved to turn our canvas back. And lo! from the +narrow fastness of Pelorus the North wind comes down and reaches us. I +sail past Pantagias' mouth with its living stone, the Megarian bay, and +low-lying Thapsus. Such names did Achemenides, of luckless Ulysses' +company, point out as he retraced his wanderings along the returning +shores. + +'Stretched in front of a bay of Sicily lies an islet over against +wavebeat Plemyrium; they of old called it Ortygia. Hither Alpheus the +river of Elis, so rumour runs, hath cloven a secret passage beneath the +sea, and now through thy well-head, Arethusa, mingles with the Sicilian +waves. We adore as bidden the great deities of the ground; and thence I +cross the fertile soil of Helorus in the marsh. Next we graze the high +reefs and jutting rocks of Pachynus; and far off appears Camarina, +forbidden for ever by oracles to move, and the Geloan plains, and vast +Gela named after its river. Then Acragas on the steep, once the breeder +of noble horses, displays its massive walls in the distance; and with +granted breeze I leave thee behind, palm-girt Selinus, and thread the +difficult shoals and blind reefs of Lilybaeum. Thereon Drepanum receives +me in its haven and joyless border. Here, so many tempestuous seas +outgone, alas! my father, the solace of every care and chance, Anchises +is [710-718]lost to me. Here thou, dear lord, abandonest me in +weariness, alas! rescued in vain from peril and doom. Not Helenus the +prophet, though he counselled of many a terror, not boding Celaeno +foretold me of this grief. This was the last agony, this the goal of the +long ways; thence it was I had departed when God landed me on your +coasts.' + +Thus lord Aeneas with all attent retold alone the divine doom and the +history of his goings. At last he was hushed, and here in silence made +an end. + + + + +BOOK FOURTH + +THE LOVE OF DIDO, AND HER END + + +But the Queen, long ere now pierced with sore distress, feeds the wound +with her life-blood, and catches the fire unseen. Again and again his +own valiance and his line's renown flood back upon her spirit; look and +accent cling fast in her bosom, and the pain allows not rest or calm to +her limbs. The morrow's dawn bore the torch of Phoebus across the earth, +and had rolled away the dewy darkness from the sky, when, scarce +herself, she thus opens her confidence to her sister: + +'Anna, my sister, such dreams of terror thrill me through! What guest +unknown is this who hath entered our dwelling? How high his mien! how +brave in heart as in arms! I believe it well, with no vain assurance, +his blood is divine. Fear proves the vulgar spirit. Alas, by what +destinies is he driven! what wars outgone he chronicled! Were my mind +not planted, fixed and immoveable, to ally myself to none in wedlock +since my love of old was false to me in the treachery of death; were I +not sick to the heart of bridal torch and chamber, to this temptation +alone I might haply yield. Anna, I will confess it; since Sychaeus mine +husband met his piteous doom, and our household was shattered by a +brother's murder, he only hath [22-55]touched mine heart and stirred +the balance of my soul. I know the prints of the ancient flame. But +rather, I pray, may earth first yawn deep for me, or the Lord omnipotent +hurl me with his thunderbolt into gloom, the pallid gloom and profound +night of Erebus, ere I soil thee, mine honour, or unloose thy laws. He +took my love away who made me one with him long ago; he shall keep it +with him, and guard it in the tomb.' She spoke, and welling tears filled +the bosom of her gown. + +Anna replies: 'O dearer than the daylight to thy sister, wilt thou +waste, sad and alone, all thy length of youth, and know not the +sweetness of motherhood, nor love's bounty? Deemest thou the ashes care +for that, or the ghost within the tomb? Be it so: in days gone by no +wooers bent thy sorrow, not in Libya, not ere then in Tyre; Iarbas was +slighted, and other princes nurtured by the triumphal land of Africa; +wilt thou contend so with a love to thy liking? nor does it cross thy +mind whose are these fields about thy dwelling? On this side are the +Gaetulian towns, a race unconquerable in war; the reinless Numidian +riders and the grim Syrtis hem thee in; on this lies a thirsty tract of +desert, swept by the raiders of Barca. Why speak of the war gathering +from Tyre, and thy brother's menaces? . . . With gods' auspices to my +thinking, and with Juno's favour, hath the Ilian fleet held on hither +before the gale. What a city wilt thou discern here, O sister! what a +realm will rise on such a union! the arms of Troy ranged with ours, what +glory will exalt the Punic state! Do thou only, asking divine favour +with peace-offerings, be bounteous in welcome and draw out reasons for +delay, while the storm rages at sea and Orion is wet, and his ships are +shattered and the sky unvoyageable.' With these words she made the fire +of love flame up in her spirit, put hope in her wavering soul, and let +honour slip away. + +[56-90]First they visit the shrines, and desire grace from altar to +altar; they sacrifice sheep fitly chosen to Ceres the Lawgiver, to +Phoebus and lord Lyaeus, to Juno before all, guardian of the marriage +bond. Dido herself, excellent in beauty, holds the cup in her hand, and +pours libation between the horns of a milk-white cow, or moves in state +to the rich altars before the gods' presences, day by day renewing her +gifts, and gazing athirst into the breasts of cattle laid open to take +counsel from the throbbing entrails. Ah, witless souls of soothsayers! +how may vows or shrines help her madness? all the while the subtle flame +consumes her inly, and deep in her breast the wound is silent and alive. +Stung to misery, Dido wanders in frenzy all down the city, even as an +arrow-stricken deer, whom, far and heedless amid the Cretan woodland, a +shepherd archer hath pierced and left the flying steel in her unaware; +she ranges in flight the Dictaean forest lawns; fast in her side clings +the deadly reed. Now she leads Aeneas with her through the town, and +displays her Sidonian treasure and ordered city; she essays to speak, +and breaks off half-way in utterance. Now, as day wanes, she seeks the +repeated banquet, and again madly pleads to hear the agonies of Ilium, +and again hangs on the teller's lips. Thereafter, when all are gone +their ways, and the dim moon in turn quenches her light, and the setting +stars counsel to sleep, alone in the empty house she mourns, and flings +herself on the couch he left: distant she hears and sees him in the +distance; or enthralled by the look he has of his father, she holds +Ascanius on her lap, if so she may steal the love she may not utter. No +more do the unfinished towers rise, no more do the people exercise in +arms, nor work for safety in war on harbour or bastion; the works hang +broken off, vast looming walls and engines towering into the sky. + +So soon as she perceives her thus fast in the toils, and [91-124]madly +careless of her name, Jove's beloved wife, daughter of Saturn, accosts +Venus thus: + +'Noble indeed is the fame and splendid the spoils you win, thou and that +boy of thine, and mighty the renown of deity, if two gods have +vanquished one woman by treachery. Nor am I so blind to thy terror of +our town, thine old suspicion of the high house of Carthage. But what +shall be the end? or why all this contest now? Nay, rather let us work +an enduring peace and a bridal compact. Thou hast what all thy soul +desired; Dido is on fire with love, and hath caught the madness through +and through. Then rule we this people jointly in equal lordship; allow +her to be a Phrygian husband's slave, and to lay her Tyrians for dowry +in thine hand.' + +To her--for she knew the dissembled purpose of her words, to turn the +Teucrian kingdom away to the coasts of Libya--Venus thus began in +answer: 'Who so mad as to reject these terms, or choose rather to try +the fortune of war with thee? if only when done, as thou sayest, fortune +follow. But I move in uncertainty of Jove's ordinance, whether he will +that Tyrians and wanderers from Troy be one city, or approve the +mingling of peoples and the treaty of union. Thou art his wife, and thy +prayers may essay his soul. Go on; I will follow.' + +Then Queen Juno thus rejoined: 'That task shall be mine. Now, by what +means the present need may be fulfilled, attend and I will explain in +brief. Aeneas and Dido (alas and woe for her!) are to go hunting +together in the woodland when to-morrow's rising sun goes forth and his +rays unveil the world. On them, while the beaters run up and down, and +the lawns are girt with toils, will I pour down a blackening rain-cloud +mingled with hail, and startle all the sky in thunder. Their company +will scatter for shelter in the dim darkness; Dido and the Trojan +captain [125-159]shall take refuge in the same cavern. I will be there, +and if thy goodwill is assured me, I will unite them in wedlock, and +make her wholly his; here shall Hymen be present.' The Cytherean gave +ready assent to her request, and laughed at the wily invention. + +Meanwhile Dawn rises forth of ocean. A chosen company issue from the +gates while the morning star is high; they pour forth with meshed nets, +toils, broad-headed hunting spears, Massylian horsemen and sinewy +sleuth-hounds. At her doorway the chief of Carthage await their queen, +who yet lingers in her chamber, and her horse stands splendid in gold +and purple with clattering feet and jaws champing on the foamy bit. At +last she comes forth amid a great thronging train, girt in a Sidonian +mantle, broidered with needlework; her quiver is of gold, her tresses +knotted into gold, a golden buckle clasps up her crimson gown. +Therewithal the Phrygian train advances with joyous Iuelus. Himself first +and foremost of all, Aeneas joins her company and unites his party to +hers: even as Apollo, when he leaves wintry Lycia and the streams of +Xanthus to visit his mother's Delos, and renews the dance, while Cretans +and Dryopes and painted Agathyrsians mingle clamorous about his altars: +himself he treads the Cynthian ridges, and plaits his flowing hair with +soft heavy sprays and entwines it with gold; the arrows rattle on his +shoulder: as lightly as he went Aeneas; such glow and beauty is on his +princely face. When they are come to the mountain heights and pathless +coverts, lo, wild goats driven from the cliff-tops run down the ridge; +in another quarter stags speed over the open plain and gather their +flying column in a cloud of dust as they leave the hills. But the boy +Ascanius is in the valleys, exultant on his fiery horse, and gallops +past one and another, praying that among the unwarlike herds a foaming +boar may issue or a tawny lion descend the hill. + +[160-194]Meanwhile the sky begins to thicken and roar aloud. A +rain-cloud comes down mingled with hail; the Tyrian train and the men of +Troy, and the Dardanian boy of Venus' son scatter in fear, and seek +shelter far over the fields. Streams pour from the hills. Dido and the +Trojan captain take refuge in the same cavern. Primeval Earth and Juno +the bridesmaid give the sign; fires flash out high in air, witnessing +the union, and Nymphs cry aloud on the mountain-top. That day opened the +gate of death and the springs of ill. For now Dido recks not of eye or +tongue, nor sets her heart on love in secret: she calls it marriage, and +with this name veils her fall. + +Straightway Rumour runs through the great cities of Libya,--Rumour, than +whom none other is more swift to mischief; she thrives on restlessness +and gains strength by going: at first small and timorous; soon she lifts +herself on high and paces the ground with head hidden among the clouds. +Her, one saith, Mother Earth, when stung by wrath against the gods, bore +last sister to Coeus and Enceladus, fleet-footed and swift of wing, +ominous, awful, vast; for every feather on her body is a waking eye +beneath, wonderful to tell, and a tongue, and as many loud lips and +straining ears. By night she flits between sky and land, shrilling +through the dusk, and droops not her lids in sweet slumber; in daylight +she sits on guard upon tall towers or the ridge of the house-roof, and +makes great cities afraid; obstinate in perverseness and forgery no less +than messenger of truth. She then exultingly filled the countries with +manifold talk, and blazoned alike what was done and undone: one Aeneas +is come, born of Trojan blood; on him beautiful Dido thinks no shame to +fling herself; now they hold their winter, long-drawn through mutual +caresses, regardless of their realms and enthralled by passionate +dishonour. This the pestilent goddess [195-227]spreads abroad in the +mouths of men, and bends her course right on to King Iarbas, and with +her words fires his spirit and swells his wrath. + +He, the seed of Ammon by a ravished Garamantian Nymph, had built to Jove +in his wide realms an hundred great temples, an hundred altars, and +consecrated the wakeful fire that keeps watch by night before the gods +perpetually, where the soil is fat with blood of beasts and the courts +blossom with pied garlands. And he, distracted and on fire at the bitter +tidings, before his altars, amid the divine presences, often, it is +said, bowed in prayer to Jove with uplifted hands: + +'Jupiter omnipotent, to whom from the broidered cushions of their +banqueting halls the Maurusian people now pour Lenaean offering, lookest +thou on this? or do we shudder vainly when our father hurls the +thunderbolt, and do blind fires in the clouds and idle rumblings appal +our soul? The woman who, wandering in our coasts, planted a small town +on purchased ground, to whom we gave fields by the shore and laws of +settlement, she hath spurned our alliance and taken Aeneas for lord of +her realm. And now that Paris, with his effeminate crew, his chin and +oozy hair swathed in the turban of Maeonia, takes and keeps her; since +to thy temples we bear oblation, and hallow an empty name.' + +In such words he pleaded, clasping the altars; the Lord omnipotent +heard, and cast his eye on the royal city and the lovers forgetful of +their fairer fame. Then he addresses this charge to Mercury: + +'Up and away, O son! call the breezes and slide down them on thy wings: +accost the Dardanian captain who now loiters in Tyrian Carthage and +casts not a look on destined cities; carry down my words through the +fleet air. Not such an one did his mother most beautiful vouch him to +[228-264]us, nor for this twice rescue him from Grecian arms; but he +was to rule an Italy teeming with empire and loud with war, to transmit +the line of Teucer's royal blood, and lay all the world beneath his law. +If such glories kindle him in nowise, and he take no trouble for his own +honour, does a father grudge his Ascanius the towers of Rome? with what +device or in what hope loiters he among a hostile race, and casts not a +glance on his Ausonian children and the fields of Lavinium? Let him set +sail: this is the sum: thereof be thou our messenger.' + +He ended: his son made ready to obey his high command. And first he +laces to his feet the shoes of gold that bear him high winging over seas +or land as fleet as the gale; then takes the rod wherewith he calls wan +souls forth of Orcus, or sends them again to the sad depth of hell, +gives sleep and takes it away and unseals dead eyes; in whose strength +he courses the winds and swims across the tossing clouds. And now in +flight he descries the peak and steep sides of toiling Atlas, whose +crest sustains the sky; Atlas, whose pine-clad head is girt alway with +black clouds and beaten by wind and rain; snow is shed over his +shoulders for covering; rivers tumble over his aged chin; and his rough +beard is stiff with ice. Here the Cyllenian, poised evenly on his wings, +made a first stay; hence he shot himself sheer to the water. Like a bird +that flies low, skirting the sea about the craggy shores of its fishery, +even thus the brood of Cyllene left his mother's father, and flew, +cutting the winds between sky and land, along the sandy Libyan shore. So +soon as his winged feet reached the settlement, he espies Aeneas +founding towers and ordering new dwellings; his sword twinkled with +yellow jasper, and a cloak hung from his shoulders ablaze with Tyrian +sea-purple, a gift that Dido had made costly and shot the warp with thin +gold. Straightway [265-299]he breaks in: 'Layest thou now the +foundations of tall Carthage, and buildest up a fair city in dalliance? +ah, forgetful of thine own kingdom and state! From bright Olympus I +descend to thee at express command of heaven's sovereign, whose deity +sways sky and earth; expressly he bids me carry this charge through the +fleet air: with what device or in what hope dost thou loiter idly on +Libyan lands? if such glories kindle thee in nowise, yet cast an eye on +growing Ascanius, on Iuelus thine hope and heir, to whom the kingdom of +Italy and the Roman land are due.' As these words left his lips the +Cyllenian, yet speaking, quitted mortal sight and vanished into thin air +away out of his eyes. + +But Aeneas in truth gazed in dumb amazement, his hair thrilled up, and +the accents faltered on his tongue. He burns to flee away and leave the +pleasant land, aghast at the high warning and divine ordinance. Alas, +what shall he do? how venture to smooth the tale to the frenzied queen? +what prologue shall he find? and this way and that he rapidly throws his +mind, and turns it on all hands in swift change of thought. In his +perplexity this seemed the better counsel; he calls Mnestheus and +Sergestus, and brave Serestus, and bids them silently equip the fleet, +gather their crews on shore, and order their armament, keeping the cause +of the commotion hid; himself meanwhile, since Dido the gracious knows +not nor looks for severance to so strong a love, will essay to approach +her when she may be told most gently, and the way for it be fair. All at +once gladly do as bidden, and obey his command. + +But the Queen--who may delude a lover?--foreknew his devices, and at +once caught the presaging stir. Safety's self was fear; to her likewise +had evil Rumour borne the maddening news that they equip the fleet and +prepare [300-334]for passage. Helpless at heart, she reels aflame with +rage throughout the city, even as the startled Thyiad in her frenzied +triennial orgies, when the holy vessels move forth and the cry of +Bacchus re-echoes, and Cithaeron calls her with nightlong din. Thus at +last she opens out upon Aeneas: + +'And thou didst hope, traitor, to mask the crime, and slip away in +silence from my land? Our love holds thee not, nor the hand thou once +gavest, nor the bitter death that is left for Dido's portion? Nay, under +the wintry star thou labourest on thy fleet, and hastenest to launch +into the deep amid northern gales; ah, cruel! Why, were thy quest not of +alien fields and unknown dwellings, did thine ancient Troy remain, +should Troy be sought in voyages over tossing seas? Fliest thou from me? +me who by these tears and thine own hand beseech thee, since naught +else, alas! have I kept mine own--by our union and the marriage rites +preparing; if I have done thee any grace, or aught of mine hath once +been sweet in thy sight,--pity our sinking house, and if there yet be +room for prayers, put off this purpose of thine. For thy sake Libyan +tribes and Nomad kings are hostile; my Tyrians are estranged; for thy +sake, thine, is mine honour perished, and the former fame, my one title +to the skies. How leavest thou me to die, O my guest? since to this the +name of husband is dwindled down. For what do I wait? till Pygmalion +overthrow his sister's city, or Gaetulian Iarbas lead me to captivity? +At least if before thy flight a child of thine had been clasped in my +arms,--if a tiny Aeneas were playing in my hall, whose face might yet +image thine,--I would not think myself ensnared and deserted utterly.' + +She ended; he by counsel of Jove held his gaze unstirred, and kept his +distress hard down in his heart. At last he briefly answers: + +'Never, O Queen, will I deny that thy goodness hath [335-368]gone high +as thy words can swell the reckoning; nor will my memory of Elissa be +ungracious while I remember myself, and breath sways this body. Little +will I say in this. I never hoped to slip away in stealthy flight; fancy +not that; nor did I ever hold out the marriage torch or enter thus into +alliance. Did fate allow me to guide my life by mine own government, and +calm my sorrows as I would, my first duty were to the Trojan city and +the dear remnant of my kindred; the high house of Priam should abide, +and my hand had set up Troy towers anew for a conquered people. But now +for broad Italy hath Apollo of Grynos bidden me steer, for Italy the +oracles of Lycia. Here is my desire; this is my native country. If thy +Phoenician eyes are stayed on Carthage towers and thy Libyan city, what +wrong is it, I pray, that we Trojans find our rest on Ausonian land? We +too may seek a foreign realm unforbidden. In my sleep, often as the dank +shades of night veil the earth, often as the stars lift their fires, the +troubled phantom of my father Anchises comes in warning and dread; my +boy Ascanius, how I wrong one so dear in cheating him of an Hesperian +kingdom and destined fields. Now even the gods' interpreter, sent +straight from Jove--I call both to witness--hath borne down his commands +through the fleet air. Myself in broad daylight I saw the deity passing +within the walls, and these ears drank his utterance. Cease to madden me +and thyself alike with plaints. Not of my will do I follow Italy. . . .' + +Long ere he ended she gazes on him askance, turning her eyes from side +to side and perusing him with silent glances; then thus wrathfully +speaks: + +'No goddess was thy mother, nor Dardanus founder of thy line, traitor! +but rough Caucasus bore thee on his iron crags, and Hyrcanian tigresses +gave thee suck. For why do I conceal it? For what further outrage do I +wait? [369-400]Hath our weeping cost him a sigh, or a lowered glance? +Hath he broken into tears, or had pity on his lover? Where, where shall +I begin? Now neither doth Queen Juno nor our Saturnian lord regard us +with righteous eyes. Nowhere is trust safe. Cast ashore and destitute I +welcomed him, and madly gave him place and portion in my kingdom; I +found him his lost fleet and drew his crews from death. Alas, the fire +of madness speeds me on. Now prophetic Apollo, now oracles of Lycia, now +the very gods' interpreter sent straight from Jove through the air +carries these rude commands! Truly that is work for the gods, that a +care to vex their peace! I detain thee not, nor gainsay thy words: go, +follow thine Italy down the wind; seek thy realm overseas. Yet midway my +hope is, if righteous gods can do aught at all, thou wilt drain the cup +of vengeance on the rocks, and re-echo calls on Dido's name. In murky +fires I will follow far away, and when chill death hath severed body +from soul, my ghost will haunt thee in every region. Wretch, thou shalt +repay! I will hear; and the rumour of it shall reach me deep in the +under world.' + +Even on these words she breaks off her speech unfinished, and, sick at +heart, escapes out of the air and sweeps round and away out of sight, +leaving him in fear and much hesitance, and with much on his mind to +say. Her women catch her in their arms, and carry her swooning to her +marble chamber and lay her on her bed. + +But good Aeneas, though he would fain soothe and comfort her grief, and +talk away her distress, with many a sigh, and melted in soul by his +great love, yet fulfils the divine commands and returns to his fleet. +Then indeed the Teucrians set to work, and haul down their tall ships +all along the shore. The hulls are oiled and afloat; they carry from the +woodland green boughs for oars and massy logs unhewn, in hot haste to +go. . . . One might descry them shifting [401-433]their quarters and +pouring out of all the town: even as ants, mindful of winter, plunder a +great heap of wheat and store it in their house; a black column advances +on the plain as they carry home their spoil on a narrow track through +the grass. Some shove and strain with their shoulders at big grains, +some marshal the ranks and chastise delay; all the path is aswarm with +work. What then were thy thoughts, O Dido, as thou sawest it? What sighs +didst thou utter, viewing from the fortress roof the broad beach aswarm, +and seeing before thine eyes the whole sea stirred with their noisy din? +Injurious Love, to what dost thou not compel mortal hearts! Again, she +must needs break into tears, again essay entreaty, and bow her spirit +down to love, not to leave aught untried and go to death in vain. + +'Anna, thou seest the bustle that fills the shore. They have gathered +round from every quarter; already their canvas woos the breezes, and the +merry sailors have garlanded the sterns. This great pain, my sister, I +shall have strength to bear, as I have had strength to foresee. Yet this +one thing, Anna, for love and pity's sake--for of thee alone was the +traitor fain, to thee even his secret thoughts were confided, alone thou +knewest his moods and tender fits--go, my sister, and humbly accost the +haughty stranger: I did not take the Grecian oath in Aulis to root out +the race of Troy; I sent no fleet against her fortresses; neither have I +disentombed his father Anchises' ashes and ghost, that he should refuse +my words entrance to his stubborn ears. Whither does he run? let him +grant this grace--alas, the last!--to his lover, and await fair winds +and an easy passage. No more do I pray for the old delusive marriage, +nor that he give up fair Latium and abandon a kingdom. A breathing-space +I ask, to give my madness rest and room, till my very [434-469]fortune +teach my grief submission. This last favour I implore: sister, be +pitiful; grant this to me, and I will restore it in full measure when I +die.' + +So she pleaded, and so her sister carries and recarries the piteous tale +of weeping. But by no weeping is he stirred, inflexible to all the words +he hears. Fate withstands, and lays divine bars on unmoved mortal ears. +Even as when the eddying blasts of northern Alpine winds are emulous to +uproot the secular strength of a mighty oak, it wails on, and the trunk +quivers and the high foliage strews the ground; the tree clings fast on +the rocks, and high as her top soars into heaven, so deep strike her +roots to hell; even thus is the hero buffeted with changeful perpetual +accents, and distress thrills his mighty breast, while his purpose stays +unstirred, and tears fall in vain. + +Then indeed, hapless and dismayed by doom, Dido prays for death, and is +weary of gazing on the arch of heaven. The more to make her fulfil her +purpose and quit the light, she saw, when she laid her gifts on the +altars alight with incense, awful to tell, the holy streams blacken, and +the wine turn as it poured into ghastly blood. Of this sight she spoke +to none--no, not to her sister. Likewise there was within the house a +marble temple of her ancient lord, kept of her in marvellous honour, and +fastened with snowy fleeces and festal boughs. Forth of it she seemed to +hear her husband's voice crying and calling when night was dim upon +earth, and alone on the house-tops the screech-owl often made moan with +funeral note and long-drawn sobbing cry. Therewithal many a warning of +wizards of old terrifies her with appalling presage. In her sleep fierce +Aeneas drives her wildly, and ever she seems being left by herself +alone, ever going uncompanioned on a weary way, and seeking her Tyrians +in a solitary land: even as frantic Pentheus sees the [470-503]arrayed +Furies and a double sun, and Thebes shows herself twofold to his eyes: +or Agamemnonian Orestes, renowned in tragedy, when his mother pursues +him armed with torches and dark serpents, and the Fatal Sisters crouch +avenging in the doorway. + +So when, overcome by her pangs, she caught the madness and resolved to +die, she works out secretly the time and fashion, and accosts her +sorrowing sister with mien hiding her design and hope calm on her brow. + +'I have found a way, mine own--wish me joy, sisterlike--to restore him +to me or release me of my love for him. Hard by the ocean limit and the +set of sun is the extreme Aethiopian land, where ancient Atlas turns on +his shoulders the starred burning axletree of heaven. Out of it hath +been shown to me a priestess of Massylian race, warder of the temple of +the Hesperides, even she who gave the dragon his food, and kept the holy +boughs on the tree, sprinkling clammy honey and slumberous poppy-seed. +She professes with her spells to relax the purposes of whom she will, +but on others to bring passion and pain; to stay the river-waters and +turn the stars backward: she calls up ghosts by night; thou shalt see +earth moaning under foot and mountain-ashes descending from the hills. I +take heaven, sweet, to witness, and thee, mine own darling sister, I do +not willingly arm myself with the arts of magic. Do thou secretly raise +a pyre in the inner court, and let them lay on it the arms that the +accursed one left hanging in our chamber, and all the dress he wore, and +the bridal bed where I fell. It is good to wipe out all the wretch's +traces, and the priestess orders thus.' So speaks she, and is silent, +while pallor overruns her face. Yet Anna deems not her sister veils +death behind these strange rites, and grasps not her wild purpose, nor +fears aught deeper than at Sychaeus' death. So she makes ready as +bidden. . . . + +[504-538]But the Queen, the pyre being built up of piled faggots and +sawn ilex in the inmost of her dwelling, hangs the room with chaplets +and garlands it with funeral boughs: on the pillow she lays the dress he +wore, the sword he left, and an image of him, knowing what was to come. +Altars are reared around, and the priestess, with hair undone, thrice +peals from her lips the hundred gods of Erebus and Chaos, and the +triform Hecate, the triple-faced maidenhood of Diana. Likewise she had +sprinkled pretended waters of Avernus' spring, and rank herbs are sought +mown by moonlight with brazen sickles, dark with milky venom, and sought +is the talisman torn from a horse's forehead at birth ere the dam could +snatch it. . . . Herself, the holy cake in her pure hands, hard by the +altars, with one foot unshod and garments flowing loose, she invokes the +gods ere she die, and the stars that know of doom; then prays to +whatsoever deity looks in righteousness and remembrance on lovers ill +allied. + +Night fell; weary creatures took quiet slumber all over earth, and +woodland and wild waters had sunk to rest; now the stars wheel midway on +their gliding path, now all the country is silent, and beasts and gay +birds that haunt liquid levels of lake or thorny rustic thicket lay +couched asleep under the still night. But not so the distressed +Phoenician, nor does she ever sink asleep or take the night upon eyes or +breast; her pain redoubles, and her love swells to renewed madness, as +she tosses on the strong tide of wrath. Even so she begins, and thus +revolves with her heart alone: + +'See, what do I? Shall I again make trial of mine old wooers that will +scorn me? and stoop to sue for a Numidian marriage among those whom +already over and over I have disdained for husbands? Then shall I follow +the Ilian fleets and the uttermost bidding of the Teucrians? because it +is good to think they were once raised up by my [539-570]succour, or +the grace of mine old kindness is fresh in their remembrance? And how +should they let me, if I would? or take the odious woman on their +haughty ships? art thou ignorant, ah me, even in ruin, and knowest not +yet the forsworn race of Laomedon? And then? shall I accompany the +triumphant sailors, a lonely fugitive? or plunge forth girt with all my +Tyrian train? so hardly severed from Sidon city, shall I again drive +them seaward, and bid them spread their sails to the tempest? Nay die +thou, as thou deservest, and let the steel end thy pain. With thee it +began; overborne by my tears, thou, O my sister, dost load me with this +madness and agony, and layest me open to the enemy. I could not spend a +wild life without stain, far from a bridal chamber, and free from touch +of distress like this! O faith ill kept, that was plighted to Sychaeus' +ashes!' Thus her heart broke in long lamentation. + +Now Aeneas was fixed to go, and now, with all set duly in order, was +taking hasty sleep on his high stern. To him as he slept the god +appeared once again in the same fashion of countenance, and thus seemed +to renew his warning, in all points like to Mercury, voice and hue and +golden hair and limbs gracious in youth. 'Goddess-born, canst thou sleep +on in such danger? and seest not the coming perils that hem thee in, +madman! nor hearest the breezes blowing fair? She, fixed on death, is +revolving craft and crime grimly in her bosom, and swells the changing +surge of wrath. Fliest thou not hence headlong, while headlong flight is +yet possible? Even now wilt thou see ocean weltering with broken +timbers, see the fierce glare of torches and the beach in a riot of +flame, if dawn break on thee yet dallying in this land. Up ho! linger no +more! Woman is ever a fickle and changing thing.' So spoke he, and +melted in the black night. + +[571-603]Then indeed Aeneas, startled by the sudden phantom, leaps out +of slumber and bestirs his crew. 'Haste and awake, O men, and sit down +to the thwarts; shake out sail speedily. A god sent from high heaven, +lo! again spurs us to speed our flight and cut the twisted cables. We +follow thee, holy one of heaven, whoso thou art, and again joyfully obey +thy command. O be favourable; give gracious aid and bring fair sky and +weather.' He spoke, and snatching his sword like lightning from the +sheath, strikes at the hawser with the drawn steel. The same zeal +catches all at once; rushing and tearing they quit the shore; the sea is +hidden under their fleets; strongly they toss up the foam and sweep the +blue water. + +And now Dawn broke, and, leaving the saffron bed of Tithonus, shed her +radiance anew over the world; when the Queen saw from her watch-tower +the first light whitening, and the fleet standing out under squared +sail, and discerned shore and haven empty of all their oarsmen. Thrice +and four times she struck her hand on her lovely breast and rent her +yellow hair: 'God!' she cries, 'shall he go? shall an alien make mock of +our realm? Will they not issue in armed pursuit from all the city, and +some launch ships from the dockyards? Go; bring fire in haste, serve +weapons, swing out the oars! What do I talk? or where am I? what mad +change is on my purpose? Alas, Dido! now thou dost feel thy wickedness; +that had graced thee once, when thou gavest away thy crown. Behold the +faith and hand of him! who, they say, carries his household's ancestral +gods about with him! who stooped his shoulders to a father outworn with +age! Could I not have riven his body in sunder and strewn it on the +waves? and slain with the sword his comrades and his dear Ascanius, and +served him for the banquet at his father's table? But the chance of +battle had been dubious. If it had! whom did I fear [604-635]with my +death upon me? I should have borne firebrands into his camp and filled +his decks with flame, blotted out father and son and race together, and +flung myself atop of all. Sun, whose fires lighten all the works of the +world, and thou, Juno, mediatress and witness of these my distresses, +and Hecate, cried on by night in crossways of cities, and you, fatal +avenging sisters and gods of dying Elissa, hear me now; bend your just +deity to my woes, and listen to our prayers. If it must needs be that +the accursed one touch his haven and float up to land, if thus Jove's +decrees demand, and this is the appointed term,--yet, distressed in war +by an armed and gallant nation, driven homeless from his borders, rent +from Iuelus' embrace, let him sue for succour and see death on death +untimely on his people; nor when he hath yielded him to the terms of a +harsh peace, may he have joy of his kingdom or the pleasant light; but +let him fall before his day and without burial on a waste of sand. This +I pray; this and my blood with it I pour for the last utterance. And +you, O Tyrians, hunt his seed with your hatred for all ages to come; +send this guerdon to our ashes. Let no kindness nor truce be between the +nations. Arise out of our dust, O unnamed avenger, to pursue the +Dardanian settlement with firebrand and steel. Now, then, whensoever +strength shall be given, I invoke the enmity of shore to shore, wave to +water, sword to sword; let their battles go down to their children's +children.' + +So speaks she as she kept turning her mind round about, seeking how +soonest to break away from the hateful light. Thereon she speaks briefly +to Barce, nurse of Sychaeus; for a heap of dusky ashes held her own, in +her country of long ago: + +'Sweet nurse, bring Anna my sister hither to me. Bid her haste and +sprinkle river water over her body, and bring [636-667]with her the +beasts ordained for expiation: so let her come: and thou likewise veil +thy brows with a pure chaplet. I would fulfil the rites of Stygian Jove +that I have fitly ordered and begun, so to set the limit to my +distresses and give over to the flames the funeral pyre of the +Dardanian.' + +So speaks she; the old woman went eagerly with quickened pace. But Dido, +fluttered and fierce in her awful purpose, with bloodshot restless gaze, +and spots on her quivering cheeks burning through the pallor of imminent +death, bursts into the inner courts of the house, and mounts in madness +the high funeral pyre, and unsheathes the sword of Dardania, a gift +asked for no use like this. Then after her eyes fell on the Ilian +raiment and the bed she knew, dallying a little with her purpose through +her tears, she sank on the pillow and spoke the last words of all: + +'Dress he wore, sweet while doom and deity allowed! receive my spirit +now, and release me from my distresses. I have lived and fulfilled +Fortune's allotted course; and now shall I go a queenly phantom under +the earth. I have built a renowned city; I have seen my ramparts rise; +by my brother's punishment I have avenged my husband of his enemy; +happy, ah me! and over happy, had but the keels of Dardania never +touched our shores!' She spoke; and burying her face in the pillow, +'Death it will be,' she cries, 'and unavenged; but death be it. Thus, +thus is it good to pass into the dark. Let the pitiless Dardanian's gaze +drink in this fire out at sea, and my death be the omen he carries on +his way.' + +She ceased; and even as she spoke her people see her sunk on the steel, +and blood reeking on the sword and spattered on her hands. A cry rises +in the high halls; Rumour riots down the quaking city. The house +resounds with lamentation and sobbing and bitter crying of women; +[668-700]heaven echoes their loud wails; even as though all Carthage or +ancient Tyre went down as the foe poured in, and the flames rolled +furious over the roofs of house and temple. Swooning at the sound, her +sister runs in a flutter of dismay, with torn face and smitten bosom, +and darts through them all, and calls the dying woman by her name. 'Was +it this, mine own? Was my summons a snare? Was it this thy pyre, ah me, +this thine altar fires meant? How shall I begin my desolate moan? Didst +thou disdain a sister's company in death? Thou shouldst have called me +to share thy doom; in the self-same hour, the self-same pang of steel +had been our portion. Did these very hands build it, did my voice call +on our father's gods, that with thee lying thus I should be away as one +without pity? Thou hast destroyed thyself and me together, O my sister, +and the Sidonian lords and people, and this thy city. Give her wounds +water: I will bathe them and catch on my lips the last breath that haply +yet lingers.' So speaking she had climbed the high steps, and, wailing, +clasped and caressed her half-lifeless sister in her bosom, and stanched +the dark streams of blood with her gown. She, essaying to lift her heavy +eyes, swoons back; the deep-driven wound gurgles in her breast. Thrice +she rose, and strained to lift herself on her elbow; thrice she rolled +back on the pillow, and with wandering eyes sought the light of high +heaven, and moaned as she found it. + +Then Juno omnipotent, pitying her long pain and difficult decease, sent +Iris down from heaven to unloose the struggling life from the body where +it clung. For since neither by fate did she perish, nor as one who had +earned her death, but woefully before her day, and fired by sudden +madness, not yet had Proserpine taken her lock from the golden head, nor +sentenced her to the Stygian under world. So Iris on dewy saffron +pinions flits down through the sky [701-705]athwart the sun in a trail +of a thousand changing dyes, and stopping over her head: 'This hair, +sacred to Dis, I take as bidden, and release thee from that body of +thine.' So speaks she, and cuts it with her hand. And therewith all the +warmth ebbed forth from her, and the life passed away upon the winds. + + + + +BOOK FIFTH + +THE GAMES OF THE FLEET + + +Meanwhile Aeneas and his fleet in unwavering track now held mid passage, +and cleft the waves that blackened under the North, looking back on the +city that even now gleams with hapless Elissa's funeral flame. Why the +broad blaze is lit lies unknown; but the bitter pain of a great love +trampled, and the knowledge of what woman can do in madness, draw the +Teucrians' hearts to gloomy guesses. + +When their ships held the deep, nor any land farther appears, the seas +all round, and all round the sky, a dusky shower drew up overhead, +carrying night and storm, and the wave shuddered and gloomed. Palinurus, +master of the fleet, cries from the high stern: 'Alas, why have these +heavy storm-clouds girt the sky? lord Neptune, what wilt thou?' Then he +bids clear the rigging and bend strongly to the oars, and brings the +sails across the wind, saying thus: + +'Noble Aeneas, not did Jupiter give word and warrant would I hope to +reach Italy under such a sky. The shifting winds roar athwart our +course, and blow stronger out of the black west, and the air thickens +into mist: nor are we fit to force our way on and across. Fortune is the +stronger; let us follow her, and turn our course whither she calls. +[23-55]Not far away, I think, are the faithful shores of thy brother +Eryx, and the Sicilian haven, if only my memory retraces rightly the +stars I watched before.' + +Then good Aeneas: 'Even I ere now discern the winds will have it so, and +thou urgest against them in vain. Turn thou the course of our sailing. +Could any land be welcomer to me, or where I would sooner choose to put +in my weary ships, than this that hath Dardanian Acestes to greet me, +and laps in its embrace lord Anchises' dust?' This said, they steer for +harbour, while the following west wind stretches their sails; the fleet +runs fast down the flood, and at last they land joyfully on the familiar +beach. But Acestes high on a hill-top, amazed at the friendly squadron +approaching from afar, hastens towards them, weaponed and clad in the +shaggy skin of a Libyan she-bear. Him a Trojan mother conceived and bore +to Crimisus river; not forgetful of his parentage, he wishes them joy of +their return, and gladly entertains them on his rustic treasure and +comforts their weariness with his friendly store. So soon as the +morrow's clear daylight had chased the stars out of the east, Aeneas +calls his comrades along the beach together, and from a mounded hillock +speaks: + +'Great people of Dardanus, born of the high blood of gods, the yearly +circle of the months is measured out to fulfilment since we laid the +dust in earth, all that was left of my divine father, and sadly +consecrated our altars. And now the day is at hand (this, O gods, was +your will), which I will ever keep in grief, ever in honour. Did I spend +it an exile on Gaetulian quicksands, did it surprise me on the Argolic +sea or in Mycenae town, yet would I fulfil the yearly vows and annual +ordinance of festival, and pile the altars with their due gifts. Now we +are led hither, to the very dust and ashes of our father, not as I deem +without [56-90]divine purpose and influence, and borne home into the +friendly haven. Up then and let us all gather joyfully to the sacrifice: +pray we for winds, and may he deign that I pay these rites to him year +by year in an established city and consecrated temple. Two head of oxen +Acestes, the seed of Troy, gives to each of your ships by tale: invite +to the feast your own ancestral gods of the household, and those whom +our host Acestes worships. Further, so the ninth Dawn uplift the +gracious day upon men, and her shafts unveil the world, I will ordain +contests for my Trojans; first for swift ships; then whoso excels in the +foot-race, and whoso, confident in strength and skill, comes to shoot +light arrows, or adventures to join battle with gloves of raw hide; let +all be here, and let merit look for the prize and palm. Now all be +hushed, and twine your temples with boughs.' + +So speaks he, and shrouds his brows with his mother's myrtle. So Helymus +does, so Aletes ripe of years, so the boy Ascanius, and the rest of the +people follow. He advances from the assembly to the tomb among a throng +of many thousands that crowd about him; here he pours on the ground in +fit libation two goblets of pure wine, two of new milk, two of +consecrated blood, and flings bright blossoms, saying thus: 'Hail, holy +father, once again; hail, ashes of him I saved in vain, and soul and +shade of my sire! Thou wert not to share the search for Italian borders +and destined fields, nor the dim Ausonian Tiber.' Thus had he spoken; +when from beneath the sanctuary a snake slid out in seven vast coils and +sevenfold slippery spires, quietly circling the grave and gliding from +altar to altar, his green chequered body and the spotted lustre of his +scales ablaze with gold, as the bow in the cloud darts a thousand +changing dyes athwart the sun: Aeneas stood amazed at the sight. At last +he wound [91-126]his long train among the vessels and polished cups, +and tasted the feast, and again leaving the altars where he had fed, +crept harmlessly back beneath the tomb. Doubtful if he shall think it +the Genius of the ground or his father's ministrant, he slays, as is +fit, two sheep of two years old, as many swine and dark-backed steers, +pouring the while cups of wine, and calling on the soul of great +Anchises and the ghost rearisen from Acheron. Therewithal his comrades, +as each hath store, bring gifts to heap joyfully on the altars, and slay +steers in sacrifice: others set cauldrons arow, and, lying along the +grass, heap live embers under spits and roast the flesh. + +The desired day came, and now the ninth Dawn rode up clear and bright +behind Phaethon's coursers; and the name and renown of illustrious +Acestes had stirred up all the bordering people; their holiday throng +filled the shore, to see Aeneas' men, and some ready to join in contest. +First of all the prizes are laid out to view in the middle of the +racecourse; tripods of sacrifice, green garlands and palms, the reward +of the conquerors, armour and garments dipped in purple, talents of +silver and gold: and from a hillock in the midst the trumpet sounds the +games begun. First is the contest of rowing, and four ships matched in +weight enter, the choice of all the fleet. Mnestheus' keen oarsmen drive +the swift Dragon, Mnestheus the Italian to be, from whose name is the +Memmian family; Gyas the huge bulk of the huge Chimaera, a floating +town, whom her triple-tiered Dardanian crew urge on with oars rising in +threefold rank; Sergestus, from whom the Sergian house holds her name, +sails in the tall Centaur; and in the sea-coloured Scylla Cloanthus, +whence is thy family, Cluentius of Rome. + +Apart in the sea and over against the foaming beach, lies a rock that +the swoln waves beat and drown what time the [127-159]north-western +gales of winter blot out the stars; in calm it rises silent out of the +placid water, flat-topped, and a haunt where cormorants love best to +take the sun. Here lord Aeneas set up a goal of leafy ilex, a mark for +the sailors to know whence to return, where to wheel their long course +round. Then they choose stations by lot, and on the sterns their +captains glitter afar, beautiful in gold and purple; the rest of the +crews are crowned with poplar sprays, and their naked shoulders glisten +wet with oil. They sit down at the thwarts, and their arms are tense on +the oars; at full strain they wait the signal, while throbbing fear and +heightened ambition drain their riotous blood. Then, when the clear +trumpet-note rang, all in a moment leap forward from their line; the +shouts of the sailors strike up to heaven, and the channels are swept +into foam by the arms as they swing backward. They cleave their furrows +together, and all the sea is torn asunder by oars and triple-pointed +prows. Not with speed so headlong do racing pairs whirl the chariots +over the plain, as they rush streaming from the barriers; not so do +their charioteers shake the wavy reins loose over their team, and hang +forward on the whip. All the woodland rings with clapping and shouts of +men that cheer their favourites, and the sheltered beach eddies back +their cries; the noise buffets and re-echoes from the hills. Gyas shoots +out in front of the noisy crowd, and glides foremost along the water; +whom Cloanthus follows next, rowing better, but held back by his +dragging weight of pine. After them, at equal distance, the Dragon and +the Centaur strive to win the foremost room; and now the Dragon has it, +now the vast Centaur outstrips and passes her; now they dart on both +together, their stems in a line, and their keels driving long furrows +through the salt water-ways. And now they drew nigh the rock, and were +hard [160-193]on the goal; when Gyas as he led, winner over half the +flood, cries aloud to Menoetes, the ship's steersman: 'Whither away so +far to the right? This way direct her path; kiss the shore, and let the +oarblade graze the leftward reefs. Others may keep to deep water.' He +spoke; but Menoetes, fearing blind rocks, turns the bow away towards the +open sea. 'Whither wanderest thou away? to the rocks, Menoetes!' again +shouts Gyas to bring him back; and lo! glancing round he sees Cloanthus +passing up behind and keeping nearer. Between Gyas' ship and the echoing +crags he scrapes through inside on his left, flashes past his leader, +and leaving the goal behind is in safe water. Then indeed grief burned +fierce through his strong frame, and tears sprung out on his cheeks; +heedless of his own dignity and his crew's safety, he flings the too +cautious Menoetes sheer into the sea from the high stern, himself +succeeds as guide and master of the helm, and cheers on his men, and +turns his tiller in to shore. But Menoetes, when at last he rose +struggling from the bottom, heavy with advancing years and wet in his +dripping clothes, makes for the top of the crag, and sits down on a dry +rock. The Teucrians laughed out as he fell and as he swam, and laugh to +see him spitting the salt water from his chest. At this a joyful hope +kindled in the two behind, Sergestus and Mnestheus, of catching up Gyas' +wavering course. Sergestus slips forward as he nears the rock, yet not +all in front, nor leading with his length of keel; part is in front, +part pressed by the Dragon's jealous prow. But striding amidships +between his comrades, Mnestheus cheers them on: 'Now, now swing back, +oarsmen who were Hector's comrades, whom I chose to follow me in Troy's +extremity; now put forth the might and courage you showed in Gaetulian +quicksands, amid Ionian seas and Malea's chasing waves. Not the first +[194-227]place do I now seek for Mnestheus, nor strive for victory; +though ah!--yet let them win, O Neptune, to whom thou givest it. But the +shame of coming in last! Win but this, fellow-citizens, and avert that +disaster!' His men bend forward, straining every muscle; the brasswork +of the ship quivers to their mighty strokes, and the ground runs from +under her; limbs and parched lips shake with their rapid panting, and +sweat flows in streams all over them. Mere chance brought the crew the +glory they desired. For while Sergestus drives his prow furiously in +towards the rocks and comes up with too scanty room, alas! he caught on +a rock that ran out; the reef ground, the oars struck and shivered on +the jagged teeth, and the bows crashed and hung. The sailors leap up and +hold her with loud cries, and get out iron-shod poles and sharp-pointed +boathooks, and pick up their broken oars out of the eddies. But +Mnestheus, rejoicing and flushed by his triumph, with oars fast-dipping +and winds at his call, issues into the shelving water and runs down the +open sea. As a pigeon whose house and sweet nestlings are in the rock's +recesses, if suddenly startled from her cavern, wings her flight over +the fields and rushes frightened from her house with loud clapping +pinions; then gliding noiselessly through the air, slides on her liquid +way and moves not her rapid wings; so Mnestheus, so the Dragon under him +swiftly cleaves the last space of sea, so her own speed carries her +flying on. And first Sergestus is left behind, struggling on the steep +rock and shoal water, and shouting in vain for help and learning to race +with broken oars. Next he catches up Gyas and the vast bulk of the +Chimaera; she gives way, without her steersman. And now on the very goal +Cloanthus alone is left; him he pursues and presses hard, straining all +his strength. Then indeed the shouts redouble, as all together eagerly +cheer on the pursuer, and [228-264]the sky echoes their din. These +scorn to lose the honour that is their own, the glory in their grasp, +and would sell life for renown; to these success lends life; power comes +with belief in it. And haply they had carried the prize with prows +abreast, had not Cloanthus, stretching both his open hands over the sea, +poured forth prayers and called the gods to hear his vows: 'Gods who are +sovereign on the sea, over whose waters I run, to your altars on this +beach will I bring a snow-white bull, my vow's glad penalty, and will +cast his entrails into the salt flood and pour liquid wine.' He spoke, +and far beneath the flood maiden Panopea heard him, with all Phorcus' +choir of Nereids, and lord Portunus with his own mighty hand pushed him +on his way. The ship flies to land swifter than the wind or an arrow's +flight, and shoots into the deep harbour. Then the seed of Anchises, +summoning all in order, declares Cloanthus conqueror by herald's outcry, +and dresses his brows in green bay, and gives gifts to each crew, three +bullocks of their choice, and wine, and a large talent of silver to take +away. For their captains he adds special honours; to the winner a scarf +wrought with gold, encircled by a double border of deep Meliboean +purple; woven in it is the kingly boy on leafy Ida, chasing swift stags +with javelin and racing feet, keen and as one panting; him Jove's +swooping armour-bearer hath caught up from Ida in his talons; his aged +guardians stretch their hands vainly upwards, and the barking of hounds +rings fierce into the air. But to him who, next in merit, held the +second place, he gives to wear a corslet triple-woven with hooks of +polished gold, stripped by his own conquering hand from Demoleos under +tall Troy by the swift Simois, an ornament and safeguard among arms. +Scarce could the straining shoulders of his servants Phegeus and Sagaris +carry its heavy folds; yet with it on, Demoleos at [265-302]full speed +would chase the scattered Trojans. The third prize he makes twin +cauldrons of brass, and bowls wrought in silver and rough with tracery. +And now all moved away in the pride and wealth of their prizes, their +brows bound with scarlet ribbons; when, hardly torn loose by all his art +from the cruel rock, his oars lost, rowing feebly with a single tier, +Sergestus brought in his ship jeered at and unhonoured. Even as often a +serpent caught on a highway, if a brazen wheel hath gone aslant over him +or a wayfarer left him half dead and mangled with the blow of a heavy +stone, wreathes himself slowly in vain effort to escape, in part +undaunted, his eyes ablaze and his hissing throat lifted high; in part +the disabling wound keeps him coiling in knots and twisting back on his +own body; so the ship kept rowing slowly on, yet hoists sail and under +full sail glides into the harbour mouth. Glad that the ship is saved and +the crew brought back, Aeneas presents Sergestus with his promised +reward. A slave woman is given him not unskilled in Minerva's labours, +Pholoe the Cretan, with twin boys at her breast. + +This contest sped, good Aeneas moved to a grassy plain girt all about +with winding wooded hills, and amid the valley an amphitheatre, whither, +with a concourse of many thousands, the hero advanced and took his seat +on a mound. Here he allures with rewards and offer of prizes those who +will try their hap in the fleet foot-race. Trojans and Sicilians gather +mingling from all sides, Nisus and Euryalus foremost . . . Euryalus in +the flower of youth and famed for beauty, Nisus for pure love of the +boy. Next follows renowned Diores, of Priam's royal line; after him +Salius and Patron together, the one Acarnanian, the other Tegean by +family and of Arcadian blood; next two men of Sicily, Helymus and +Panopes, foresters and attendants on old Acestes; many besides whose +fame is hid in [303-338]obscurity. Then among them all Aeneas spoke +thus: 'Hearken to this, and attend in good cheer. None out of this +number will I let go without a gift. To each will I give two glittering +Gnosian spearheads of polished steel, and an axe chased with silver to +bear away; one and all shall be honoured thus. The three foremost shall +receive prizes, and have pale olive bound about their head. The first +shall have a caparisoned horse as conqueror; the second an Amazonian +quiver filled with arrows of Thrace, girt about by a broad belt of gold, +and on the link of the clasp a polished gem; let the third depart with +this Argolic helmet for recompense.' This said, they take their place, +and the signal once heard, dart over the course and leave the line, +pouring forth like a storm-cloud while they mark the goal. Nisus gets +away first, and shoots out far in front of the throng, fleeter than the +winds or the winged thunderbolt. Next to him, but next by a long gap, +Salius follows; then, left a space behind him, Euryalus third . . . and +Helymus comes after Euryalus; and close behind him, lo! Diores goes +flying, just grazing foot with foot, hard on his shoulder; and if a +longer space were left, he would creep out past him and win the tie. And +now almost in the last space, they began to come up breathless to the +goal, when unfortunate Nisus trips on the slippery blood of the slain +steers, where haply it had spilled over the ground and wetted the green +grass. Here, just in the flush of victory, he lost his feet; they slid +away on the ground they pressed, and he fell forward right among the +ordure and blood of the sacrifice. Yet forgot he not his darling +Euryalus; for rising, he flung himself over the slippery ground in front +of Salius, and he rolled over and lay all along on the hard sand. +Euryalus shoots by, wins and holds the first place his friend gave, and +flies on amid prosperous clapping and cheers. Behind Helymus comes +[339-373]up, and Diores, now third for the palm. At this Salius fills +with loud clamour the whole concourse of the vast theatre, and the lords +who looked on in front, demanding restoration of his defrauded prize. +Euryalus is strong in favour, and beauty in tears, and the merit that +gains grace from so fair a form. Diores supports him, who succeeded to +the palm, so he loudly cries, and bore off the last prize in vain, if +the highest honours be restored to Salius. Then lord Aeneas speaks: 'For +you, O boys, your rewards remain assured, and none alters the prizes' +order: let me be allowed to pity a friend's innocent mischance.' So +speaking, he gives to Salius a vast Gaetulian lion-skin, with shaggy +masses of hair and claws of gold. 'If this,' cries Nisus, 'is the reward +of defeat, and thy pity is stirred for the fallen, what fit recompense +wilt thou give to Nisus? to my excellence the first crown was due, had +not I, like Salius, met Fortune's hostility.' And with the words he +displayed his face and limbs foul with the wet dung. His lord laughed +kindly on him, and bade a shield be brought forth, the workmanship of +Didymaon, torn by him from the hallowed gates of Neptune's Grecian +temple; with this special prize he rewards his excellence. + +Thereafter, when the races are finished and the gifts fulfilled: 'Now,' +he cries, 'come, whoso hath in him valour and ready heart, and lift up +his arms with gauntleted hands.' So speaks he, and sets forth a double +prize of battle; for the conqueror a bullock gilt and garlanded; a sword +and beautiful helmet to console the conquered. Straightway without pause +Dares issues to view in his vast strength, rising amid loud murmurs of +the people; he who alone was wont to meet Paris in combat; he who, at +the mound where princely Hector lies, struck down as he came the vast +bulk upborne by conquering Butes, of Amycus' Bebrycian line, and +stretched him in [374-410]death on the yellow sand. Such was Dares; at +once he raises his head high for battle, displays his broad shoulders, +and stretches and swings his arms right and left, lashing the air with +blows. For him another is required; but none out of all the train durst +approach or put the gloves on his hands. So he takes his stand exultant +before Aeneas' feet, deeming he excelled all in victories; and thereon +without more delay grasps the bull's horn with his left hand, and speaks +thus: 'Goddess-born, if no man dare trust himself to battle, to what +conclusion shall I stand? how long is it seemly to keep me? bid me carry +off thy gifts.' Therewith all the Dardanians murmured assent, and bade +yield him the promised prize. At this aged Acestes spoke sharply to +Entellus, as he sate next him on the green cushion of grass: 'Entellus, +bravest of heroes once of old in vain, wilt thou thus idly let a gift so +great be borne away uncontested? Where now prithee is divine Eryx, thy +master of fruitless fame? where thy renown over all Sicily, and those +spoils hanging in thine house?' Thereat he: 'Desire of glory is not +gone, nor ambition checked by fear; but torpid age dulls my chilly +blood, and my strength of limb is numb and outworn. If I had what once +was mine, if I had now that prime of years, yonder braggart's boast and +confidence, it had taken no prize of goodly bullock to allure me; nor +heed I these gifts.' So he spoke, and on that flung down a pair of +gloves of giant weight, with whose hard hide bound about his wrists +valiant Eryx was wont to come to battle. They stood amazed; so stiff and +grim lay the vast sevenfold oxhide sewed in with lead and iron. Dares +most of all shrinks far back in horror, and the noble son of Anchises +turns round this way and that their vast weight and voluminous folds. +Then the old man spoke thus in deep accents: 'How, had they seen the +gloves [411-444]that were Hercules' own armour, and the fatal fight on +this very beach? These arms thy brother Eryx once wore; thou seest them +yet stained with blood and spattered brains. In them he stood to face +great Alcides; to them was I used while fuller blood supplied me +strength, and envious old age had not yet strewn her snows on either +temple. But if Dares of Troy will have none of these our arms, and good +Aeneas is resolved on it, and my patron Acestes approves, let us make +the battle even. See, I give up the gauntlets of Eryx; dismiss thy +fears; and do thou put off thy Trojan gloves.' So spoke he, and throwing +back the fold of his raiment from his shoulders, he bares the massive +joints and limbs, the great bones and muscles, and stands up huge in the +middle of the ground. Then Anchises' lordly seed brought out equal +gloves and bound the hands of both in matched arms. Straightway each +took his stand on tiptoe, and undauntedly raised his arms high in air. +They lift their heads right back and away out of reach of blows, and +make hand play through hand, inviting attack; the one nimbler of foot +and confident in his youth, the other mighty in mass of limb, but his +knees totter tremulous and slow, and sick panting shakes his vast frame. +Many a mutual blow they deliver in vain, many an one they redouble on +chest and side, sounding hollow and loud: hands play fast about ear and +temple, and jawbones clash under the hard strokes. Old Entellus stands +immoveable and astrain, only parrying hits with body and watchful eye. +The other, as one who casts mounts against some high city or blockades a +hill-fort in arms, tries this and that entrance, and ranges cunningly +over all the ground, and presses many an attack in vain. Entellus rose +and struck clean out with his right downwards; his quick opponent saw +the descending blow before it came, [445-481]and slid his body rapidly +out of its way. Entellus hurled his strength into the air, and all his +heavy mass, overreaching, fell heavily to the earth; as sometime on +Erymanthus or mighty Ida a hollow pine falls torn out by the roots. +Teucrians and men of Sicily rise eagerly; a cry goes up, and Acestes +himself runs forward, and pityingly lifts his friend and birthmate from +the ground. But the hero, not dulled nor dismayed by his mishap, returns +the keener to battle, and grows violent in wrath, while shame and +resolved valour kindle his strength. All afire, he hunts Dares headlong +over the lists, and redoubles his blows now with right hand, now with +left; no breath nor pause; heavy as hailstones rattle on the roof from a +storm-cloud, so thickly shower the blows from both his hands as he +buffets Dares to and fro. Then lord Aeneas allowed not wrath to swell +higher or Entellus to rage out his bitterness, but stopped the fight and +rescued the exhausted Dares, saying thus in soothing words: 'Unhappy! +what height of madness hath seized thy mind? Knowest thou not the +strength is another's and the gods are changed? Yield thou to Heaven.' +And with the words he proclaimed the battle over. But him his faithful +mates lead to the ships dragging his knees feebly, swaying his head from +side to side, and spitting from his mouth clotted blood mingled with +teeth. At summons they bear away the helmet and shield, and leave palm +and bull to Entellus. At this the conqueror, swelling in pride over the +bull, cries: 'Goddess-born, and you, O Trojans! learn thus what my +strength of body was in its prime, and from what a death Dares is saved +by your recall.' He spoke, and stood right opposite in face of the +bullock as it stood by, the prize of battle; then drew back his hand, +and swinging the hard gauntlet sheer down between the horns, smashed the +bones in upon the shattered brain. The ox rolls over, and quivering and +[482-516]lifeless lies along the ground. Above it he utters these deep +accents: 'This life, Eryx, I give to thee, a better payment than Dares' +death; here I lay down my gloves and unconquered skill.' + +Forthwith Aeneas invites all that will to the contest of the swift +arrow, and proclaims the prizes. With his strong hand he uprears the +mast of Serestus' ship, and on a cord crossing it hangs from the +masthead a fluttering pigeon as mark for their steel. They gather, and a +helmet of brass takes the lots as they throw them in. First in rank, and +before them all, amid prosperous cheers, comes out Hippocoon son of +Hyrtacus; and Mnestheus follows on him, but now conqueror in the ship +race, Mnestheus with his chaplet of green olive. Third is Eurytion, thy +brother, O Pandarus, great in renown, thou who of old, when prompted to +shatter the truce, didst hurl the first shaft amid the Achaeans. Last of +all, and at the bottom of the helmet, sank Acestes, he too venturing to +set hand to the task of youth. Then each and all they strongly bend +their bows into a curve and pull shafts from their quivers. And first +the arrow of the son of Hyrtacus, flying through heaven from the +sounding string, whistles through the fleet breezes, and reaches and +sticks fast full in the mast's wood: the mast quivered, and the bird +fluttered her feathers in affright, and the whole ground rang with loud +clapping. Next valiant Mnestheus took his stand with bow bent, aiming +high with levelled eye and arrow; yet could not, unfortunate! hit the +bird herself with his steel, but cut the knotted hempen bands that tied +her foot as she hung from the masthead; she winged her flight into the +dark windy clouds. Then Eurytion, who ere now held the arrow ready on +his bended bow, swiftly called in prayer to his brother, marked the +pigeon as she now went down the empty sky exultant on clapping wings; +and as she passed under a dark cloud, [517-553]struck her: she fell +breathless, and, leaving her life in the aery firmament, slid down +carrying the arrow that pierced her. Acestes alone was over, and the +prize lost; yet he sped his arrow up into the air, to display his lordly +skill and resounding bow. At this a sudden sign meets their eyes, mighty +in augural presage, as the high event taught thereafter, and in late +days boding seers prophesied of the omen. For the flying reed blazed out +amid the swimming clouds, traced its path in flame, and burned away on +the light winds; even as often stars shooting from their sphere draw a +train athwart the sky. Trinacrians and Trojans hung in astonishment, +praying to the heavenly powers; neither did great Aeneas reject the +omen, but embraces glad Acestes and loads him with lavish gifts, +speaking thus: 'Take, my lord: for the high King of heaven by these +signs hath willed thee to draw the lot of peculiar honour. This gift +shalt thou have as from aged Anchises' own hand, a bowl embossed with +figures, that once Cisseus of Thrace gave my father Anchises to bear, in +high token and guerdon of affection.' So speaking, he twines green bay +about his brows, and proclaims Acestes conqueror first before them all. +Nor did gentle Eurytion, though he alone struck the bird down from the +lofty sky, grudge him to be preferred in honour. Next comes for his +prize he who cut the cord; he last, who pierced the mast with his winged +reed. + +But lord Aeneas, ere yet the contest is sped, calls to him Epytides, +guardian and attendant of ungrown Iuelus, and thus speaks into his +faithful ear: 'Up and away, and tell Ascanius, if he now holds his band +of boys ready, and their horses arrayed for the charge, to defile his +squadrons to his grandsire's honour in bravery of arms.' So says he, and +himself bids all the crowding throng withdraw from the long racecourse +and leave the lists free. The boys move in before their parents' faces, +glittering in rank on their [554-590]bitted horses; as they go all the +people of Troy and Trinacria murmur and admire. On the hair of them all +rests a garland fitly trimmed; each carries two cornel spear-shafts +tipped with steel; some have polished quivers on their shoulders; above +their breast and round their neck goes a flexible circlet of twisted +gold. Three in number are the troops of riders, and three captains +gallop up and down; following each in equal command rides a glittering +division of twelve boys. One youthful line goes rejoicingly behind +little Priam, renewer of his grandsire's name, thy renowned seed, O +Polites, and destined to people Italy; he rides a Thracian horse dappled +with spots of white, showing white on his pacing pasterns and white on +his high forehead. Second is Atys, from whom the Latin Atii draw their +line, little Atys, boy beloved of the boy Iuelus. Last and excellent in +beauty before them all, Iuelus rode in on a Sidonian horse that Dido the +bright had given him for token and pledge of love. The rest of them are +mounted on old Acestes' Sicilian horses. . . . The Dardanians greet +their shy entrance with applause, and rejoice at the view, and recognise +the features of their parents of old. When they have ridden merrily +round all the concourse of their gazing friends, Epytides shouts from +afar the signal they await, and sounds his whip. They gallop apart in +equal numbers, and open their files three and three in deploying bands, +and again at the call wheel about and bear down with levelled arms. Next +they start on other charges and other retreats in corresponsive spaces, +and interlink circle with circle, and wage the armed phantom of battle. +And now they bare their backs in flight, now turn their lances to the +charge, now plight peace and ride on side by side. As once of old, they +say, the labyrinth in high Crete had a tangled path between blind walls, +and a thousand ways of doubling treachery, where tokens to follow failed +in the [591-625]maze unmastered and irrecoverable: even in such a track +do the children of Troy entangle their footsteps and weave the game of +flight and battle; like dolphins who, swimming through the wet seas, cut +Carpathian or Libyan. . . . + +This fashion of riding, these games Ascanius first revived, when he girt +Alba the Long about with walls, and taught their celebration to the Old +Latins in the way of his own boyhood, with the youth of Troy about him. +The Albans taught it their children; on from them mighty Rome received +it and kept the ancestral observance; and now it is called Troy, and the +boys the Trojan troop. + +Thus far sped the sacred contests to their holy lord. Just at this +Fortune broke faith and grew estranged. While they pay the due rites to +the tomb with diverse games, Juno, daughter of Saturn, sends Iris down +the sky to the Ilian fleet, and breathes a gale to speed her on, +revolving many a thought, and not yet satiate of the ancient pain. She, +speeding her way along the thousand-coloured bow, runs swiftly, seen of +none, down her maiden path. She discerns the vast concourse, and +traverses the shore, and sees the haven abandoned and the fleet left +alone. But far withdrawn by the solitary verge of the sea the Trojan +women wept their lost Anchises, and as they wept gazed all together on +the fathomless flood. 'Alas! after all those weary waterways, that so +wide a sea is yet to come!' such is the single cry of all. They pray for +a city, sick of the burden of their sea-sorrow. So she darts among them, +not witless to harm, and lays by face and raiment of a goddess: she +becomes Beroe, the aged wife of Tmarian Doryclus, who had once had birth +and name and children, and in this guise goes among the Dardanian +matrons. 'Ah, wretched we,' she cries, 'whom hostile Achaean hands did +not drag to death beneath our native city! ah hapless race, for what +destruction does Fortune hold thee back? The [626-660]seventh summer +now declines since Troy's overthrow, while we pass measuring out by so +many stars the harbourless rocks over every water and land, pursuing all +the while over the vast sea an Italy that flies us, and tossing on the +waves. Here are our brother Eryx' borders, and Acestes' welcome: who +denies us to cast up walls and give our citizens a city? O country, O +household gods vainly rescued from the foe! shall there never be a +Trojan town to tell of? shall I nowhere see a Xanthus and a Simois, the +rivers of Hector? Nay, up and join me in burning with fire these +ill-ominous ships. For in sleep the phantom of Cassandra the soothsayer +seemed to give me blazing brands: _Here seek your Troy_, she said; _here +is your home_. Now is the time to do it; nor do these high portents +allow delay. Behold four altars to Neptune; the god himself lends the +firebrand and the nerve.' Speaking thus, at once she strongly seizes the +fiery weapon, and with straining hand whirls it far upreared, and +flings: the souls of the Ilian women are startled and their wits amazed. +At this one of their multitude, and she the eldest, Pyrgo, nurse in the +palace to all Priam's many children: 'This is not Beroe, I tell you, O +mothers; this is not the wife of Doryclus of Rhoeteum. Mark the +lineaments of divine grace and the gleaming eyes, what a breath is hers, +what a countenance, and the sound of her voice and the steps of her +going. I, I time agone left Beroe apart, sick and fretting that she +alone must have no part in this our service, nor pay Anchises his due +sacrifice.' So spoke she. . . . But the matrons at first, dubious and +wavering, gazed on the ships with malignant eyes, between the wretched +longing for the land they trod and the fated realm that summoned them: +when the goddess rose through the sky on poised wings, and in her flight +drew a vast bow beneath the clouds. Then indeed, amazed at the tokens +and driven by madness, they raise a cry and snatch fire from the +[661-694]hearths within; others plunder the altars, and cast on +brushwood boughs and brands. The Fire-god rages with loose rein over +thwarts and oars and hulls of painted fir. Eumelus carries the news of +the burning ships to the grave of Anchises and the ranges of the +theatre; and looking back, their own eyes see the floating cloud of dark +ashes. And in a moment Ascanius, as he rode gaily before his cavalry, +spurred his horse to the disordered camp; nor can his breathless +guardians hold him back. 'What strange madness is this?' he cries; +'whither now hasten you, whither, alas and woe! O citizens? not on the +foe nor on some hostile Argive camp; it is your own hopes you burn. +Behold me, your Ascanius!' and he flung before his feet the empty +helmet, put on when he roused the mimicry of war. Aeneas and the Trojan +train together hurry to the spot. But the women scatter apart in fear +all over the beach, and stealthily seek the woods and the hollow rocks +they find: they loathe their deed and the daylight, and with changed +eyes know their people, and Juno is startled out of their breast. But +not thereby do the flames of the burning lay down their unconquered +strength; under the wet oak the seams are alive, spouting slow coils of +smoke; the creeping heat devours the hulls, and the destroyer takes deep +hold of all: nor does the heroes' strength avail nor the floods they +pour in. Then good Aeneas rent away the raiment from his shoulders and +called the gods to aid, stretching forth his hands: 'Jupiter omnipotent, +if thou hatest not Troy yet wholly to her last man, if thine ancient +pity looks at all on human woes, now, O Lord, grant our fleet to escape +the flame, and rescue from doom the slender Teucrian estate. Or do thou +plunge to death this remnant, if I deserve it, with levelled +thunderbolt, and here with thine own hand smite us down.' Scarce had he +uttered this, when a black tempest rages in streaming showers; earth +trembles [695-726]to the thunder on plain and steep; the water-flood +rushes in torrents from the whole heaven amid black darkness and +volleying blasts of the South. The ships are filled from overhead, the +half-burnt timbers are soaking; till all the heat is quenched, and all +the hulls, but four that are lost, are rescued from destruction. + +But lord Aeneas, dismayed by the bitter mischance, revolved at heart +this way and that his shifting weight of care, whether, forgetting fate, +he should rest in Sicilian fields, or reach forth to the borders of +Italy. Then old Nautes, whom Tritonian Pallas taught like none other, +and made famous in eminence of art--she granted him to reply what the +gods' heavy anger menaced or what the order of fate claimed--he then in +accents of comfort thus speaks to Aeneas: + +'Goddess-born, follow we fate's ebb and flow, whatsoever it shall be; +fortune must be borne to be overcome. Acestes is of thine own divine +Dardanian race; take him, for he is willing, to join thee in common +counsel; deliver to him those who are over, now these ships are lost, +and those who are quite weary of thy fortunes and the great quest. +Choose out the old men stricken in years, and the matrons sick of the +sea, and all that is weak and fearful of peril in thy company. Let this +land give a city to the weary; they shall be allowed to call their town +Acesta by name.' + +Then, indeed, kindled by these words of his aged friend, his spirit is +distracted among all his cares. And now black Night rose chariot-borne, +and held the sky; when the likeness of his father Anchises seemed to +descend from heaven and suddenly utter thus: + +'O son, more dear to me than life once of old while life was yet mine; O +son, hard wrought by the destinies of Ilium! I come hither by Jove's +command, who drove the [727-760]fire from thy fleets, and at last had +pity out of high heaven. Obey thou the fair counsel aged Nautes now +gives. Carry through to Italy thy chosen men and bravest souls; in +Latium must thou war down a people hard and rough in living. Yet ere +then draw thou nigh the nether chambers of Dis, and in the deep tract of +hell come, O son, to meet me. For I am not held in cruel Tartarus among +wailing ghosts, but inhabit Elysium and the sweet societies of the good. +Hither with much blood of dark cattle shall the holy Sibyl lead thee. +Then shalt thou learn of all thy line, and what city is given thee. And +now farewell; dank Night wheels her mid-career, and even now I feel the +stern breath of the panting horses of the East.' He ended, and retreated +like a vapour into thin air. 'Ah, whither hurriest thou?' cries Aeneas; +'whither so fast away? From whom fliest thou? or who withholds thee from +our embrace?' So speaking, he kindles the sleeping embers of the fire, +and with holy meal and laden censer does sacrifice to the tutelar of +Pergama and hoar Vesta's secret shrine. + +Straightway he summons his crews and Acestes first of all, and instructs +them of Jove's command and his beloved father's precepts, and what is +now his fixed mind and purpose. They linger not in counsel, nor does +Acestes decline his bidden duty: they enrol the matrons in their town, +and plant a people there, souls that will have none of glory. The rest +repair the thwarts and replace the ships' timbers that the flames had +gnawed upon, and fit up oars and rigging, little in number, but alive +and valiant for war. Meanwhile Aeneas traces the town with the plough +and allots the homesteads; this he bids be Ilium, and these lands Troy. +Trojan Acestes, rejoicing in his kingdom, appoints a court and gathers +his senators to give them statutes. Next, where the crest of Eryx is +neighbour to the stars, a dwelling is founded to Venus the Idalian; +[761-793]and a priest and breadth of holy wood is attached to Anchises' +grave. + +And now for nine days all the people hath feasted, and offering been +paid at the altars; quiet breezes have smoothed the ocean floor, and the +gathering south wind blows, calling them again to sea. A mighty weeping +arises along the winding shore; a night and a day they linger in mutual +embraces. The very mothers now, the very men to whom once the sight of +the sea seemed cruel and the name intolerable, would go on and endure +the journey's travail to the end. These Aeneas comforts with kindly +words, and commends with tears to his kinsman Acestes' care. Then he +bids slay three steers to Eryx and a she-lamb to the Tempests, and loose +the hawser as is due. Himself, his head bound with stripped leaves of +olive, he stands apart on the prow holding the cup, and casts the +entrails into the salt flood and pours liquid wine. A wind rising astern +follows them forth on their way. Emulously the crews strike the water, +and sweep through the seas. + +But Venus meanwhile, wrought upon with distress, accosts Neptune, and +thus pours forth her heart's complaint: 'Juno's bitter wrath and heart +insatiable compel me, O Neptune, to sink to the uttermost of entreaty: +neither length of days nor any goodness softens her, nor doth Jove's +command and fate itself break her to desistence. It is not enough that +her accursed hatred hath devoured the Phrygian city from among the +people, and exhausted on it the stores of vengeance; still she pursues +this remnant, the bones and ashes of murdered Troy. I pray she know why +her passion is so fierce. Thyself art my witness what a sudden stir she +raised of late on the Libyan waters, flinging all the seas to heaven in +vain reliance on Aeolus' blasts; this she dared in thy realm. . . . +Lo too, driving the Trojan matrons into guilt, she hath foully +[794-826]burned their ships, and forced them, their fleet lost, to +leave the crews to an unknown land. Let the remnant, I beseech thee, +give their sails to thy safe keeping across the seas; let them reach +Laurentine Tiber; if I ask what is permitted, if fate grants them a city +there.' + +Then the son of Saturn, compeller of the ocean deep, uttered thus: 'It +is wholly right, O Cytherean, that thy trust should be in my realm, +whence thou drawest birth; and I have deserved it: often have I allayed +the rage and full fury of sky and sea. Nor less on land, I call Xanthus +and Simois to witness, hath been my care of thine Aeneas. When Achilles +pursued the Trojan armies and hurled them breathless on their walls, and +sent many thousands to death,--when the choked rivers groaned and +Xanthus could not find passage or roll out to sea,--then I snatched +Aeneas away in sheltering mist as he met the brave son of Peleus +outmatched in strength and gods, eager as I was to overthrow the walls +of perjured Troy that mine own hands had built. Now too my mind rests +the same; dismiss thy fear. In safety, as thou desirest, shall he reach +the haven of Avernus. One will there be alone whom on the flood thou +shalt lose and require; one life shall be given for many. . . .' + +With these words the goddess' bosom is soothed to joy. Then their lord +yokes his wild horses with gold and fastens the foaming bits, and +letting all the reins run slack in his hand, flies lightly in his +sea-coloured chariot over the ocean surface. The waves sink to rest, and +the swoln water-ways smooth out under the thundering axle; the +storm-clouds scatter from the vast sky. Diverse shapes attend him, +monstrous whales, and Glaucus' aged choir, and Palaemon, son of Ino, the +swift Tritons, and Phorcus with all his army. Thetis and Melite keep the +left, and maiden Panopea, Nesaea and Spio, Thalia and Cymodoce. + +[827-860]At this lord Aeneas' soul is thrilled with soft counterchange +of delight. He bids all the masts be upreared with speed, and the sails +stretched on the yards. Together all set their sheets, and all at once +slacken their canvas to left and again to right; together they brace and +unbrace the yard-arms aloft; prosperous gales waft the fleet along. +First, in front of all, Palinurus steered the close column; the rest +under orders ply their course by his. And now dewy Night had just +reached heaven's mid-cone; the sailors, stretched on their hard benches +under the oars, relaxed their limbs in quiet rest: when Sleep, sliding +lightly down from the starry sky, parted the shadowy air and cleft the +dark, seeking thee, O Palinurus, carrying dreams of bale to thee who +dreamt not of harm, and lit on the high stern, a god in Phorbas' +likeness, dropping this speech from his lips: 'Palinurus son of Iasus, +the very seas bear our fleet along; the breezes breathe steadily; for an +hour rest is given. Lay down thine head, and steal thy worn eyes from +their toil. I myself for a little will take thy duty in thy stead.' To +whom Palinurus, scarcely lifting his eyes, returns: 'Wouldst thou have +me ignorant what the calm face of the brine means, and the waves at +rest? Shall I have faith in this perilous thing? How shall I trust +Aeneas to deceitful breezes, and the placid treachery of sky that hath +so often deceived me?' Such words he uttered, and, clinging fast to the +tiller, slackened hold no whit, and looked up steadily on the stars. Lo! +the god shakes over either temple a bough dripping with Lethean dew and +made slumberous with the might of Styx, and makes his swimming eyes +relax their struggles. Scarcely had sleep begun to slacken his limbs +unaware, when bending down, he flung him sheer into the clear water, +tearing rudder and half the stern away with him, and many a time crying +vainly on his comrades: himself [861-871]he rose on flying wings into +the thin air. None the less does the fleet run safe on its sea path, and +glides on unalarmed in lord Neptune's assurance. Yes, and now they were +sailing in to the cliffs of the Sirens, dangerous once of old and white +with the bones of many a man; and the hoarse rocks echoed afar in the +ceaseless surf; when her lord felt the ship rocking astray for loss of +her helmsman, and himself steered her on over the darkling water, +sighing often the while, and heavy at heart for his friend's mischance. +'Ah too trustful in sky's and sea's serenity, thou shalt lie, O +Palinurus, naked on an alien sand!' + + + + +BOOK SIXTH + +THE VISION OF THE UNDER WORLD + + +So speaks he weeping, and gives his fleet the rein, and at last glides +in to Euboic Cumae's coast. They turn the prows seaward; the ships +grounded fast on their anchors' teeth, and the curving ships line the +beach. The warrior band leaps forth eagerly on the Hesperian shore; some +seek the seeds of flame hidden in veins of flint, some scour the woods, +the thick coverts of wild beasts, and find and shew the streams. But +good Aeneas seeks the fortress where Apollo sits high enthroned, and the +lone mystery of the awful Sibyl's cavern depth, over whose mind and soul +the prophetic Delian breathes high inspiration and reveals futurity. + +Now they draw nigh the groves of Trivia and the roof of gold. Daedalus, +as the story runs, when in flight from Minos' realm he dared to spread +his fleet wings to the sky, glided on his unwonted way towards the icy +northern star, and at length lit gently on the Chalcidian fastness. +Here, on the first land he retrod, he dedicated his winged oarage to +thee, O Phoebus, in the vast temple he built. On the doors is Androgeus' +death; thereby the children of Cecrops, bidden, ah me! to pay for yearly +ransom seven souls of their sons; the urn stands there, and the lots are +drawn. Right [23-55]opposite the land of Gnosus rises from the sea; on +it is the cruel love of the bull, the disguised stealth of Pasiphae, and +the mingled breed and double issue of the Minotaur, record of a shameful +passion; on it the famous dwelling's laborious inextricable maze; but +Daedalus, pitying the great love of the princess, himself unlocked the +tangled treachery of the palace, guiding with the clue her lover's blind +footsteps. Thou too hadst no slight part in the work he wrought, O +Icarus, did grief allow. Twice had he essayed to portray thy fate in +gold; twice the father's hands dropped down. Nay, their eyes would scan +all the story in order, were not Achates already returned from his +errand, and with him the priestess of Phoebus and Trivia, Deiphobe +daughter of Glaucus, who thus accosts the king: 'Other than this are the +sights the time demands: now were it well to sacrifice seven unbroken +bullocks of the herd, as many fitly chosen sheep of two years old.' Thus +speaks she to Aeneas; nor do they delay to do her sacred bidding; and +the priestess calls the Teucrians into the lofty shrine. + +A vast cavern is scooped in the side of the Euboic cliff, whither lead +an hundred wide passages by an hundred gates, whence peal forth as +manifold the responses of the Sibyl. They had reached the threshold, +when the maiden cries: _It is time to enquire thy fate: the god, lo! the +god!_ And even as she spoke thus in the gateway, suddenly countenance +nor colour nor ranged tresses stayed the same; her wild heart heaves +madly in her panting bosom; and she expands to sight, and her voice is +more than mortal, now the god breathes on her in nearer deity. +'Lingerest thou to vow and pray,' she cries, 'Aeneas of Troy? lingerest +thou? for not till then will the vast portals of the spellbound house +swing open.' So spoke she, and sank to silence. A cold shiver ran +through the Teucrians' iron frames, and the king pours heart-deep +supplication: + +[56-89]'Phoebus, who hast ever pitied the sore travail of Troy, who +didst guide the Dardanian shaft from Paris' hand full on the son of +Aeacus, in thy leading have I pierced all these seas that skirt mighty +lands, the Massylian nations far withdrawn, and the fields the Syrtes +fringe; thus far let the fortune of Troy follow us. You too may now +unforbidden spare the nation of Pergama, gods and goddesses to +whomsoever Ilium and the great glory of Dardania did wrong. And thou, O +prophetess most holy, foreknower of the future, grant (for no unearned +realm does my destiny claim) a resting-place in Latium to the Teucrians, +to their wandering gods and the storm-tossed deities of Troy. Then will +I ordain to Phoebus and Trivia a temple of solid marble, and festal days +in Phoebus' name. Thee likewise a mighty sanctuary awaits in our realm. +For here will I place thine oracles and the secrets of destiny uttered +to my people, and consecrate chosen men, O gracious one. Only commit not +thou thy verses to leaves, lest they fly disordered, the sport of +rushing winds; thyself utter them, I beseech thee.' His lips made an end +of utterance. + +But the prophetess, not yet tame to Phoebus' hand, rages fiercely in the +cavern, so she may shake the mighty godhead from her breast; so much the +more does he tire her maddened mouth and subdue her wild breast and +shape her to his pressure. And now the hundred mighty portals of the +house open of their own accord, and bring through the air the answer of +the soothsayer: + +'O past at length with the great perils of the sea! though heavier yet +by land await thee, the Dardanians shall come to the realm of Lavinium; +relieve thy heart of this care; but not so shall they have joy of their +coming. Wars, grim wars I discern, and Tiber afoam with streams of +blood. A Simois shall not fail thee, a Xanthus, a Dorian camp; another +Achilles is already found for Latium, he too [90-123]goddess-born; nor +shall Juno's presence ever leave the Teucrians; while thou in thy need, +to what nations or what towns of Italy shalt thou not sue! Again is an +alien bride the source of all that Teucrian woe, again a foreign +marriage-chamber. . . . Yield not thou to distresses, but all the bolder +go forth to meet them, as thy fortune shall allow thee way. The path of +rescue, little as thou deemest it, shall first open from a Grecian +town.' + +In such words the Sibyl of Cumae chants from the shrine her perplexing +terrors, echoing through the cavern truth wrapped in obscurity: so does +Apollo clash the reins and ply the goad in her maddened breast. So soon +as the spasm ceased and the raving lips sank to silence, Aeneas the hero +begins: 'No shape of toil, O maiden, rises strange or sudden on my +sight; all this ere now have I guessed and inly rehearsed in spirit. One +thing I pray; since here is the gate named of the infernal king, and the +darkling marsh of Acheron's overflow, be it given me to go to my beloved +father, to see him face to face; teach thou the way, and open the +consecrated portals. Him on these shoulders I rescued from encircling +flames and a thousand pursuing weapons, and brought him safe from amid +the enemy; he accompanied my way over all the seas, and bore with me all +the threats of ocean and sky, in weakness, beyond his age's strength and +due. Nay, he it was who besought and enjoined me to seek thy grace and +draw nigh thy courts. Have pity, I beseech thee, on son and father, O +gracious one! for thou art all-powerful, nor in vain hath Hecate given +thee rule in the groves of Avernus. If Orpheus could call up his wife's +ghost in the strength of his Thracian lyre and the music of the +strings,--if Pollux redeemed his brother by exchange of death, and +passes and repasses so often,--why make mention of great Theseus, why of +Alcides? I too am of Jove's sovereign race.' + +[124-157]In such words he pleaded and clasped the altars; when the +soothsayer thus began to speak: + +'O sprung of gods' blood, child of Anchises of Troy, easy is the descent +into hell; all night and day the gate of dark Dis stands open; but to +recall thy steps and issue to upper air, this is the task and burden. +Some few of gods' lineage have availed, such as Jupiter's gracious +favour or virtue's ardour hath upborne to heaven. Midway all is muffled +in forest, and the black coils of Cocytus circle it round. Yet if thy +soul is so passionate and so desirous twice to float across the Stygian +lake, twice to see dark Tartarus, and thy pleasure is to plunge into the +mad task, learn what must first be accomplished. Hidden in a shady tree +is a bough with leafage and pliant shoot all of gold, consecrate to +nether Juno, wrapped in the depth of woodland and shut in by dim dusky +vales. But to him only who first hath plucked the golden-tressed +fruitage from the tree is it given to enter the hidden places of the +earth. This hath beautiful Proserpine ordained to be borne to her for +her proper gift. The first torn away, a second fills the place in gold, +and the spray burgeons with even such ore again. So let thine eyes trace +it home, and thine hand pluck it duly when found; for lightly and +unreluctant will it follow if thine is fate's summons; else will no +strength of thine avail to conquer it nor hard steel to cut it away. Yet +again, a friend of thine lies a lifeless corpse, alas! thou knowest it +not, and defiles all the fleet with death, while thou seekest our +counsel and lingerest in our courts. First lay him in his resting-place +and hide him in the tomb; lead thither black cattle; be this first thine +expiation; so at last shalt thou behold the Stygian groves and the realm +untrodden of the living.' She spoke, and her lips shut to silence. + +Aeneas goes forth, and leaves the cavern with fixed eyes and sad +countenance, his soul revolving inly the unseen [158-194]issues. By his +side goes faithful Achates, and plants his footsteps in equal +perplexity. Long they ran on in mutual change of talk; of what lifeless +comrade spoke the soothsayer, of what body for burial? And even as they +came, they see on the dry beach Misenus cut off by untimely death, +Misenus the Aeolid, excelled of none other in stirring men with brazen +breath and kindling battle with his trumpet-note. He had been attendant +on mighty Hector; in Hector's train he waged battle, renowned alike for +bugle and spear: after victorious Achilles robbed him of life the +valiant hero had joined Dardanian Aeneas' company, and followed no +meaner leader. But now, while he makes his hollow shell echo over the +seas, ah fool! and calls the gods to rival his blast, jealous Triton, if +belief is due, had caught him among the rocks and sunk him in the +foaming waves. So all surrounded him with loud murmur and cries, good +Aeneas the foremost. Then weeping they quickly hasten on the Sibyl's +orders, and work hard to pile trees for the altar of burial, and heap it +up into the sky. They move into the ancient forest, the deep coverts of +game; pitch-pines fall flat, ilex rings to the stroke of axes, and ashen +beams and oak are split in clefts with wedges; they roll in huge +mountain-ashes from the hills. Aeneas likewise is first in the work, and +cheers on his crew and arms himself with their weapons. And alone with +his sad heart he ponders it all, gazing on the endless forest, and +utters this prayer: 'If but now that bough of gold would shew itself to +us on the tree in this depth of woodland! since all the soothsayer's +tale of thee, Misenus, was, alas! too truly spoken.' Scarcely had he +said thus, when twin doves haply came flying down the sky, and lit on +the green sod right under his eyes. Then the kingly hero knows them for +his mother's birds, and joyfully prays: 'Ah, be my guides, if way there +be, and direct your aery passage into the groves [195-230]where the +rich bough overshadows the fertile ground! and thou, O goddess mother, +fail not our wavering fortune.' So spoke he and stayed his steps, +marking what they signify, whither they urge their way. Feeding and +flying they advance at such distance as following eyes could keep them +in view; then, when they came to Avernus' pestilent gorge, they tower +swiftly, and sliding down through the liquid air, choose their seat and +light side by side on a tree, through whose boughs shone out the +contrasting flicker of gold. As in chill mid-winter the woodland is wont +to blossom with the strange leafage of the mistletoe, sown on an alien +tree and wreathing the smooth stems with burgeoning saffron; so on the +shadowy ilex seemed that leafy gold, so the foil tinkled in the light +breeze. Immediately Aeneas seizes it and eagerly breaks off its +resistance, and carries it beneath the Sibyl's roof. + +And therewithal the Teucrians on the beach wept Misenus, and bore the +last rites to the thankless ashes. First they build up a vast pyre of +resinous billets and sawn oak, whose sides they entwine with dark leaves +and plant funereal cypresses in front, and adorn it above with his +shining armour. Some prepare warm water in cauldrons bubbling over the +flames, and wash and anoint the chill body, and make their moan; then, +their weeping done, lay his limbs on the pillow, and spread over it +crimson raiment, the accustomed pall. Some uplift the heavy bier, a +melancholy service, and with averted faces in their ancestral fashion +hold and thrust in the torch. Gifts of frankincense, food, and bowls of +olive oil, are poured and piled upon the fire. After the embers sank in +and the flame died away, they soaked with wine the remnant of thirsty +ashes, and Corynaeus gathered the bones and shut them in an urn of +brass; and he too thrice encircled his comrades with fresh water, and +cleansed them with light spray sprinkled from a [231-267]bough of +fruitful olive, and spoke the last words of all. But good Aeneas heaps a +mighty mounded tomb over him, with his own armour and his oar and +trumpet, beneath a skyey mountain that now is called Misenus after him, +and keeps his name immortal from age to age. + +This done, he hastens to fulfil the Sibyl's ordinance. A deep cave +yawned dreary and vast, shingle-strewn, sheltered by the black lake and +the gloom of the forests; over it no flying things could wing their way +unharmed, such a vapour streamed from the dark gorge and rose into the +overarching sky. Here the priestess first arrays four black-bodied +bullocks and pours wine upon their forehead; and plucking the topmost +hairs from between the horns, lays them on the sacred fire for +first-offering, calling aloud on Hecate, mistress of heaven and hell. +Others lay knives beneath, and catch the warm blood in cups. Aeneas +himself smites with the sword a black-fleeced she-lamb to the mother of +the Eumenides and her mighty sister, and a barren heifer, Proserpine, to +thee. Then he uprears darkling altars to the Stygian king, and lays +whole carcases of bulls upon the flames, pouring fat oil over the +blazing entrails. And lo! about the first rays of sunrise the ground +moaned underfoot, and the woodland ridges began to stir, and dogs seemed +to howl through the dusk as the goddess came. 'Apart, ah keep apart, O +ye unsanctified!' cries the soothsayer; 'retire from all the grove; and +thou, stride on and unsheath thy steel; now is need of courage, O +Aeneas, now of strong resolve.' So much she spoke, and plunged madly +into the cavern's opening; he with unflinching steps keeps pace with his +advancing guide. + +Gods who are sovereign over souls! silent ghosts, and Chaos and +Phlegethon, the wide dumb realm of night! as I have heard, so let me +tell, and according to your will unfold things sunken deep under earth +in gloom. + +[268-303]They went darkling through the dusk beneath the solitary +night, through the empty dwellings and bodiless realm of Dis; even as +one walks in the forest beneath the jealous light of a doubtful moon, +when Jupiter shrouds the sky in shadow and black night blots out the +world. Right in front of the doorway and in the entry of the jaws of +hell Grief and avenging Cares have made their bed; there dwell wan +Sicknesses and gloomy Eld, and Fear, and ill-counselling Hunger, and +loathly Want, shapes terrible to see; and Death and Travail, and thereby +Sleep, Death's kinsman, and the Soul's guilty Joys, and death-dealing +War full in the gateway, and the Furies in their iron cells, and mad +Discord with bloodstained fillets enwreathing her serpent locks. + +Midway an elm, shadowy and high, spreads her boughs and secular arms, +where, one saith, idle Dreams dwell clustering, and cling under every +leaf. And monstrous creatures besides, many and diverse, keep covert at +the gates, Centaurs and twy-shaped Scyllas, and the hundredfold +Briareus, and the beast of Lerna hissing horribly, and the Chimaera +armed with flame, Gorgons and Harpies, and the body of the triform +shade. Here Aeneas snatches at his sword in a sudden flutter of terror, +and turns the naked edge on them as they come; and did not his wise +fellow-passenger remind him that these lives flit thin and unessential +in the hollow mask of body, he would rush on and vainly lash through +phantoms with his steel. + +Hence a road leads to Tartarus and Acheron's wave. Here the dreary pool +swirls thick in muddy eddies and disgorges into Cocytus with its load of +sand. Charon, the dread ferryman, guards these flowing streams, ragged +and awful, his chin covered with untrimmed masses of hoary hair, and his +glassy eyes aflame; his soiled raiment hangs knotted from his shoulders. +Himself he plies the pole and trims the sails of his vessel, the +steel-blue galley with freight [304-336]of dead; stricken now in years, +but a god's old age is lusty and green. Hither all crowded, and rushed +streaming to the bank, matrons and men and high-hearted heroes dead and +done with life, boys and unwedded girls, and children laid young on the +bier before their parents' eyes, multitudinous as leaves fall dropping +in the forests at autumn's earliest frost, or birds swarm landward from +the deep gulf, when the chill of the year routs them overseas and drives +them to sunny lands. They stood pleading for the first passage across, +and stretched forth passionate hands to the farther shore. But the grim +sailor admits now one and now another, while some he pushes back far +apart on the strand. Moved with marvel at the confused throng: 'Say, O +maiden,' cries Aeneas, 'what means this flocking to the river? of what +are the souls so fain? or what difference makes these retire from the +banks, those go with sweeping oars over the leaden waterways?' + +To him the long-lived priestess thus briefly returned: 'Seed of +Anchises, most sure progeny of gods, thou seest the deep pools of +Cocytus and the Stygian marsh, by whose divinity the gods fear to swear +falsely. All this crowd thou discernest is helpless and unsepultured; +Charon is the ferryman; they who ride on the wave found a tomb. Nor is +it given to cross the awful banks and hoarse streams ere the dust hath +found a resting-place. An hundred years they wander here flitting about +the shore; then at last they gain entrance, and revisit the pools so +sorely desired.' + +Anchises' son stood still, and ponderingly stayed his footsteps, pitying +at heart their cruel lot. There he discerns, mournful and unhonoured +dead, Leucaspis and Orontes, captains of the Lycian squadron, whom, as +they sailed together from Troy over gusty seas, the south wind +overwhelmed and wrapped the waters round ship and men. + +[337-369]Lo, there went by Palinurus the steersman, who of late, while +he watched the stars on their Libyan passage, had slipped from the stern +and fallen amid the waves. To him, when he first knew the melancholy +form in that depth of shade, he thus opens speech: 'What god, O +Palinurus, reft thee from us and sank thee amid the seas? forth and +tell. For in this single answer Apollo deceived me, never found false +before, when he prophesied thee safety on ocean and arrival on the +Ausonian coasts. See, is this his promise-keeping?' + +And he: 'Neither did Phoebus on his oracular seat delude thee, O prince, +Anchises' son, nor did any god drown me in the sea. For while I clung to +my appointed charge and governed our course, I pulled the tiller with me +in my fall, and the shock as I slipped wrenched it away. By the rough +seas I swear, fear for myself never wrung me so sore as for thy ship, +lest, the rudder lost and the pilot struck away, those gathering waves +might master it. Three wintry nights in the water the blustering south +drove me over the endless sea; scarcely on the fourth dawn I descried +Italy as I rose on the climbing wave. Little by little I swam shoreward; +already I clung safe; but while, encumbered with my dripping raiment, I +caught with crooked fingers at the jagged needles of mountain rock, the +barbarous people attacked me in arms and ignorantly deemed me a prize. +Now the wave holds me, and the winds toss me on the shore. By heaven's +pleasant light and breezes I beseech thee, by thy father, by Iuelus thy +rising hope, rescue me from these distresses, O unconquered one! Either +do thou, for thou canst, cast earth over me and again seek the haven of +Velia; or do thou, if in any wise that may be, if in any wise the +goddess who bore thee shews a way,--for not without divine will do I +deem thou wilt float across these vast rivers and the Stygian +pool,--lend me a pitying [370-403]hand, and bear me over the waves in +thy company, that at least in death I may find a quiet resting-place.' + +Thus he ended, and the soothsayer thus began: 'Whence, O Palinurus, this +fierce longing of thine? Shalt thou without burial behold the Stygian +waters and the awful river of the Furies? Cease to hope prayers may bend +the decrees of heaven. But take my words to thy memory, for comfort in +thy woeful case: far and wide shall the bordering cities be driven by +celestial portents to appease thy dust; they shall rear a tomb, and pay +the tomb a yearly offering, and for evermore shall the place keep +Palinurus' name.' The words soothed away his distress, and for a while +drove grief away from his sorrowing heart; he is glad in the land of his +name. + +So they complete their journey's beginning, and draw nigh the river. +Just then the waterman descried them from the Stygian wave advancing +through the silent woodland and turning their feet towards the bank, and +opens on them in these words of challenge: 'Whoso thou art who marchest +in arms towards our river, forth and say, there as thou art, why thou +comest, and stay thine advance. This is the land of Shadows, of Sleep, +and slumberous Night; no living body may the Stygian hull convey. Nor +truly had I joy of taking Alcides on the lake for passenger, nor Theseus +and Pirithoues, born of gods though they were and unconquered in might. +He laid fettering hand on the warder of Tartarus, and dragged him +cowering from the throne of my lord the King; they essayed to ravish our +mistress from the bridal chamber of Dis.' Thereto the Amphrysian +soothsayer made brief reply: 'No such plot is here; be not moved; nor do +our weapons offer violence; the huge gatekeeper may bark on for ever in +his cavern and affright the bloodless ghosts; Proserpine may keep her +honour within her uncle's gates. Aeneas of Troy, renowned [404-437]in +goodness as in arms, goes down to meet his father in the deep shades of +Erebus. If the sight of such affection stirs thee in nowise, yet this +bough' (she discovers the bough hidden in her raiment) 'thou must know.' +Then his heaving breast allays its anger, and he says no more; but +marvelling at the awful gift, the fated rod so long unseen, he steers in +his dusky vessel and draws to shore. Next he routs out the souls that +sate on the long benches, and clears the thwarts, while he takes mighty +Aeneas on board. The galley groaned under the weight in all her seams, +and the marsh-water leaked fast in. At length prophetess and prince are +landed unscathed on the ugly ooze and livid sedge. + +This realm rings with the triple-throated baying of vast Cerberus, +couched huge in the cavern opposite; to whom the prophetess, seeing the +serpents already bristling up on his neck, throws a cake made slumberous +with honey and drugged grain. He, with threefold jaws gaping in ravenous +hunger, catches it when thrown, and sinks to earth with monstrous body +outstretched, and sprawling huge over all his den. The warder +overwhelmed, Aeneas makes entrance, and quickly issues from the bank of +the irremeable wave. + +Immediately wailing voices are loud in their ears, the souls of babies +crying on the doorway sill, whom, torn from the breast and portionless +in life's sweetness, a dark day cut off and drowned in bitter death. +Hard by them are those condemned to death on false accusation. Neither +indeed are these dwellings assigned without lot and judgment; Minos +presides and shakes the urn; he summons a council of the silent people, +and inquires of their lives and charges. Next in order have these +mourners their place whose own innocent hands dealt them death, who +flung away their souls in hatred of the day. How fain were they now in +upper air to endure their poverty and [438-472]sore travail! It may not +be; the unlovely pool locks them in her gloomy wave, and Styx pours her +ninefold barrier between. And not far from here are shewn stretching on +every side the Wailing Fields; so they call them by name. Here they whom +pitiless love hath wasted in cruel decay hide among untrodden ways, +shrouded in embosoming myrtle thickets; not death itself ends their +distresses. In this region he discerns Phaedra and Procris and woeful +Eriphyle, shewing on her the wounds of her merciless son, and Evadne and +Pasiphae; Laodamia goes in their company, and she who was once Caeneus +and a man, now woman, and again returned by fate into her shape of old. +Among whom Dido the Phoenician, fresh from her death-wound, wandered in +the vast forest; by her the Trojan hero stood, and knew the dim form +through the darkness, even as the moon at the month's beginning to him +who sees or thinks he sees her rising through the vapours; he let tears +fall, and spoke to her lovingly and sweet: + +'Alas, Dido! so the news was true that reached me; thou didst perish, +and the sword sealed thy doom! Ah me, was I cause of thy death? By the +stars I swear, by the heavenly powers and all that is sacred beneath the +earth, unwillingly, O queen, I left thy shore. But the gods, at whose +orders now I pass through this shadowy place, this land of mouldering +overgrowth and deep night, the gods' commands drove me forth; nor could +I deem my departure would bring thee pain so great as this. Stay thy +footstep, and withdraw not from our gaze. From whom fliest thou? the +last speech of thee fate ordains me is this.' + +In such words and with starting tears Aeneas soothed the burning and +fierce-eyed soul. She turned away with looks fixed fast on the ground, +stirred no more in countenance by the speech he essays than if she stood +in iron flint or Marpesian stone. At length she started, and fled +wrathfully [473-508]into the shadowy woodland, where Sychaeus, her +ancient husband, responds to her distresses and equals her affection. +Yet Aeneas, dismayed by her cruel doom, follows her far on her way with +pitying tears. + +Thence he pursues his appointed path. And now they trod those utmost +fields where the renowned in war have their haunt apart. Here Tydeus +meets him; here Parthenopaeus, glorious in arms, and the pallid phantom +of Adrastus; here the Dardanians long wept on earth and fallen in the +war; sighing he discerns all their long array, Glaucus and Medon and +Thersilochus, the three children of Antenor, and Polyphoetes, Ceres' +priest, and Idaeus yet charioted, yet grasping his arms. The souls +throng round him to right and left; nor is one look enough; lingering +delighted, they pace by his side and enquire wherefore he is come. But +the princes of the Grecians and Agamemnon's armies, when they see him +glittering in arms through the gloom, hurry terror-stricken away; some +turn backward, as when of old they fled to the ships; some raise their +voice faintly, and gasp out a broken ineffectual cry. + +And here he saw Deiphobus son of Priam, with face cruelly torn, face and +both hands, and ears lopped from his mangled temples, and nostrils +maimed by a shameful wound. Barely he knew the cowering form that hid +its dreadful punishment; then he springs to accost it in familiar +speech: + +'Deiphobus mighty in arms, seed of Teucer's royal blood, whose +wantonness of vengeance was so cruel? who was allowed to use thee thus? +Rumour reached me that on that last night, outwearied with endless +slaughter, thou hadst sunk on the heap of mingled carnage. Then mine own +hand reared an empty tomb on the Rhoetean shore, mine own voice thrice +called aloud upon thy ghost. Thy name and armour keep the spot; thee, O +my friend, I could not see nor lay in the native earth I left.' + +[509-541]Whereto the son of Priam: 'In nothing, O my friend, wert thou +wanting; thou hast paid the full to Deiphobus and the dead man's shade. +But me my fate and the Laconian woman's murderous guilt thus dragged +down to doom; these are the records of her leaving. For how we spent +that last night in delusive gladness thou knowest, and must needs +remember too well. When the fated horse leapt down on the steep towers +of Troy, bearing armed infantry for the burden of its womb, she, in +feigned procession, led round our Phrygian women with Bacchic cries; +herself she upreared a mighty flame amid them, and called the Grecians +out of the fortress height. Then was I fast in mine ill-fated bridal +chamber, deep asleep and outworn with my charge, and lay overwhelmed in +slumber sweet and profound and most like to easeful death. Meanwhile +that crown of wives removes all the arms from my dwelling, and slips out +the faithful sword from beneath my head: she calls Menelaus into the +house and flings wide the gateway: be sure she hoped her lover would +magnify the gift, and so she might quench the fame of her ill deeds of +old. Why do I linger? They burst into the chamber, they and the Aeolid, +counsellor of crime, in their company. Gods, recompense the Greeks even +thus, if with righteous lips I call for vengeance! But come, tell in +turn what hap hath brought thee hither yet alive. Comest thou driven on +ocean wanderings, or by promptings from heaven? or what fortune keeps +thee from rest, that thou shouldst draw nigh these sad sunless +dwellings, this disordered land?' + +In this change of talk Dawn had already crossed heaven's mid axle on her +rose-charioted way; and haply had they thus drawn out all the allotted +time; but the Sibyl made brief warning speech to her companion: 'Night +falls, Aeneas; we waste the hours in weeping. Here is the place where +the road disparts; by this that runs to the right [542-574]under great +Dis' city is our path to Elysium; but the leftward wreaks vengeance on +the wicked and sends them to unrelenting hell.' But Deiphobus: 'Be not +angered, mighty priestess; I will depart, I will refill my place and +return into darkness. Go, glory of our people, go, enjoy a fairer fate +than mine.' Thus much he spoke, and on the word turned away his +footsteps. + +Aeneas looks swiftly back, and sees beneath the cliff on the left hand a +wide city, girt with a triple wall and encircled by a racing river of +boiling flame, Tartarean Phlegethon, that echoes over its rolling rocks. +In front is the gate, huge and pillared with solid adamant, that no +warring force of men nor the very habitants of heaven may avail to +overthrow; it stands up a tower of iron, and Tisiphone sitting girt in +bloodstained pall keeps sleepless watch at the entry by night and day. +Hence moans are heard and fierce lashes resound, with the clank of iron +and dragging chains. Aeneas stopped and hung dismayed at the tumult. +'What shapes of crime are here? declare, O maiden; or what the +punishment that pursues them, and all this upsurging wail?' Then the +soothsayer thus began to speak: 'Illustrious chief of Troy, no pure foot +may tread these guilty courts; but to me Hecate herself, when she gave +me rule over the groves of Avernus, taught how the gods punish, and +guided me through all her realm. Gnosian Rhadamanthus here holds +unrelaxing sway, chastises secret crime revealed, and exacts confession, +wheresoever in the upper world one vainly exultant in stolen guilt hath +till the dusk of death kept clear from the evil he wrought. Straightway +avenging Tisiphone, girt with her scourge, tramples down the shivering +sinners, menaces them with the grim snakes in her left hand, and summons +forth her sisters in merciless train. Then at last the sacred gates are +flung open and grate on the jarring hinge. Markest thou what sentry is +seated in [575-609]the doorway? what shape guards the threshold? More +grim within sits the monstrous Hydra with her fifty black yawning +throats: and Tartarus' self gapes sheer and strikes into the gloom +through twice the space that one looks upward to Olympus and the skyey +heaven. Here Earth's ancient children, the Titans' brood, hurled down by +the thunderbolt, lie wallowing in the abyss. Here likewise I saw the +twin Aloids, enormous of frame, who essayed with violent hands to pluck +down high heaven and thrust Jove from his upper realm. Likewise I saw +Salmoneus in the cruel payment he gives for mocking Jove's flame and +Olympus' thunders. Borne by four horses and brandishing a torch, he rode +in triumph midway through the populous city of Grecian Elis, and claimed +for himself the worship of deity; madman! who would mimic the +storm-cloud and the inimitable bolt with brass that rang under his +trampling horse-hoofs. But the Lord omnipotent hurled his shaft through +thickening clouds (no firebrand his nor smoky glare of torches) and +dashed him headlong in the fury of the whirlwind. Therewithal Tityos +might be seen, fosterling of Earth the mother of all, whose body +stretches over nine full acres, and a monstrous vulture with crooked +beak eats away the imperishable liver and the entrails that breed in +suffering, and plunges deep into the breast that gives it food and +dwelling; nor is any rest given to the fibres that ever grow anew. Why +tell of the Lapithae, of Ixion and Pirithoues? over whom a stone hangs +just slipping and just as though it fell; or the high banqueting couches +gleam golden-pillared, and the feast is spread in royal luxury before +their faces; couched hard by, the eldest of the Furies wards the tables +from their touch and rises with torch upreared and thunderous lips. Here +are they who hated their brethren while life endured, or struck a parent +or entangled a client in wrong, or who brooded [610-643]alone over +found treasure and shared it not with their fellows, this the greatest +multitude of all; and they who were slain for adultery, and who followed +unrighteous arms, and feared not to betray their masters' plighted hand. +Imprisoned they await their doom. Seek not to be told that doom, that +fashion of fortune wherein they are sunk. Some roll a vast stone, or +hang outstretched on the spokes of wheels; hapless Theseus sits and +shall sit for ever, and Phlegyas in his misery gives counsel to all and +witnesses aloud through the gloom, _Learn by this warning to do justly +and not to slight the gods._ This man sold his country for gold, and +laid her under a tyrant's sway; he set up and pulled down laws at a +price; this other forced his daughter's bridal chamber and a forbidden +marriage; all dared some monstrous wickedness, and had success in what +they dared. Not had I an hundred tongues, an hundred mouths, and a voice +of iron, could I sum up all the shapes of crime or name over all their +punishments.' + +Thus spoke Phoebus' long-lived priestess; then 'But come now,' she +cries; 'haste on the way and perfect the service begun; let us go +faster; I descry the ramparts cast in Cyclopean furnaces, and in front +the arched gateway where they bid us lay the gifts foreordained.' She +ended, and advancing side by side along the shadowy ways, they pass over +and draw nigh the gates. Aeneas makes entrance, and sprinkling his body +with fresh water, plants the bough full in the gateway. + +Now at length, this fully done, and the service of the goddess +perfected, they came to the happy place, the green pleasances and +blissful seats of the Fortunate Woodlands. Here an ampler air clothes +the meadows in lustrous sheen, and they know their own sun and a +starlight of their own. Some exercise their limbs in tournament on the +greensward, contend in games, and wrestle on the yellow sand. Some +[644-676]dance with beating footfall and lips that sing; with them is +the Thracian priest in sweeping robe, and makes music to their measures +with the notes' sevenfold interval, the notes struck now with his +fingers, now with his ivory rod. Here is Teucer's ancient brood, a +generation excellent in beauty, high-hearted heroes born in happier +years, Ilus and Assaracus, and Dardanus, founder of Troy. Afar he +marvels at the armour and chariots empty of their lords: their spears +stand fixed in the ground, and their unyoked horses pasture at large +over the plain: their life's delight in chariot and armour, their care +in pasturing their sleek horses, follows them in like wise low under +earth. Others, lo! he beholds feasting on the sward to right and left, +and singing in chorus the glad Paean-cry, within a scented laurel-grove +whence Eridanus river surges upward full-volumed through the wood. Here +is the band of them who bore wounds in fighting for their country, and +they who were pure in priesthood while life endured, and the good poets +whose speech abased not Apollo; and they who made life beautiful by the +arts of their invention, and who won by service a memory among men, the +brows of all girt with the snow-white fillet. To their encircling throng +the Sibyl spoke thus, and to Musaeus before them all; for he is midmost +of all the multitude, and stands out head and shoulders among their +upward gaze: + +'Tell, O blissful souls, and thou, poet most gracious, what region, what +place hath Anchises for his own? For his sake are we come, and have +sailed across the wide rivers of Erebus.' + +And to her the hero thus made brief reply: 'None hath a fixed dwelling; +we live in the shady woodlands; soft-swelling banks and meadows fresh +with streams are our habitation. But you, if this be your heart's +desire, scale this ridge, and I will even now set you on an easy +[677-708]pathway.' He spoke, and paced on before them, and from above +shews the shining plains; thereafter they leave the mountain heights. + +But lord Anchises, deep in the green valley, was musing in earnest +survey over the imprisoned souls destined to the daylight above, and +haply reviewing his beloved children and all the tale of his people, +them and their fates and fortunes, their works and ways. And he, when he +saw Aeneas advancing to meet him over the greensward, stretched forth +both hands eagerly, while tears rolled over his cheeks, and his lips +parted in a cry: 'Art thou come at last, and hath thy love, O child of +my desire, conquered the difficult road? Is it granted, O my son, to +gaze on thy face and hear and answer in familiar tones? Thus indeed I +forecast in spirit, counting the days between; nor hath my care misled +me. What lands, what space of seas hast thou traversed to reach me, +through what surge of perils, O my son! How I dreaded the realm of Libya +might work thee harm!' + +And he: 'Thy melancholy phantom, thine, O my father, came before me +often and often, and drove me to steer to these portals. My fleet is +anchored on the Tyrrhenian brine. Give thine hand to clasp, O my father, +give it, and withdraw not from our embrace.' + +So spoke he, his face wet with abundant weeping. Thrice there did he +essay to fling his arms about his neck; thrice the phantom vainly +grasped fled out of his hands even as light wind, and most like to +fluttering sleep. + +Meanwhile Aeneas sees deep withdrawn in the covert of the vale a +woodland and rustling forest thickets, and the river of Lethe that +floats past their peaceful dwellings. Around it flitted nations and +peoples innumerable; even as in the meadows when in clear summer weather +bees settle on the variegated flowers and stream round the snow-white +[709-742]lilies, all the plain is murmurous with their humming. Aeneas +starts at the sudden view, and asks the reason he knows not; what are +those spreading streams, or who are they whose vast train fills the +banks? Then lord Anchises: 'Souls, for whom second bodies are destined +and due, drink at the wave of the Lethean stream the heedless water of +long forgetfulness. These of a truth have I long desired to tell and +shew thee face to face, and number all the generation of thy children, +that so thou mayest the more rejoice with me in finding Italy.'--'O +father, must we think that any souls travel hence into upper air, and +return again to bodily fetters? why this their strange sad longing for +the light?' 'I will tell,' rejoins Anchises, 'nor will I hold thee in +suspense, my son.' And he unfolds all things in order one by one. + +'First of all, heaven and earth and the liquid fields, the shining orb +of the moon and the Titanian star, doth a spirit sustain inly, and a +soul shed abroad in them sways all their members and mingles in the +mighty frame. Thence is the generation of man and beast, the life of +winged things, and the monstrous forms that ocean breeds under his +glittering floor. Those seeds have fiery force and divine birth, so far +as they are not clogged by taint of the body and dulled by earthy frames +and limbs ready to die. Hence is it they fear and desire, sorrow and +rejoice; nor can they pierce the air while barred in the blind darkness +of their prison-house. Nay, and when the last ray of life is gone, not +yet, alas! does all their woe, nor do all the plagues of the body wholly +leave them free; and needs must be that many a long ingrained evil +should take root marvellously deep. Therefore they are schooled in +punishment, and pay all the forfeit of a lifelong ill; some are hung +stretched to the viewless winds; some have the taint of guilt washed out +beneath the dreary deep, or burned away in fire. We [743-777]suffer, +each a several ghost; thereafter we are sent to the broad spaces of +Elysium, some few of us to possess the happy fields; till length of days +completing time's circle takes out the ingrained soilure and leaves +untainted the ethereal sense and pure spiritual flame. All these before +thee, when the wheel of a thousand years hath come fully round, a God +summons in vast train to the river of Lethe, that so they may regain in +forgetfulness the slopes of upper earth, and begin to desire to return +again into the body.' + +Anchises ceased, and leads his son and the Sibyl likewise amid the +assembled murmurous throng, and mounts a hillock whence he might scan +all the long ranks and learn their countenances as they came. + +'Now come, the glory hereafter to follow our Dardanian progeny, the +posterity to abide in our Italian people, illustrious souls and +inheritors of our name to be, these will I rehearse, and instruct thee +of thy destinies. He yonder, seest thou? the warrior leaning on his +pointless spear, holds the nearest place allotted in our groves, and +shall rise first into the air of heaven from the mingling blood of +Italy, Silvius of Alban name, the child of thine age, whom late in thy +length of days thy wife Lavinia shall nurture in the woodland, king and +father of kings; from him in Alba the Long shall our house have +dominion. He next him is Procas, glory of the Trojan race; and Capys and +Numitor; and he who shall renew thy name, Silvius Aeneas, eminent alike +in goodness or in arms, if ever he shall receive his kingdom in Alba. +Men of men! see what strength they display, and wear the civic oak +shading their brows. They shall establish Nomentum and Gabii and Fidena +city, they the Collatine hill-fortress, Pometii and the Fort of Inuus, +Bola and Cora: these shall be names that are now nameless lands. Nay, +Romulus likewise, seed of Mavors, shall join [778-810]his grandsire's +company, from his mother Ilia's nurture and Assaracus' blood. Seest thou +how the twin plumes straighten on his crest, and his father's own +emblazonment already marks him for upper air? Behold, O son! by his +augury shall Rome the renowned fill earth with her empire and heaven +with her pride, and gird about seven fortresses with her single wall, +prosperous mother of men; even as our lady of Berecyntus rides in her +chariot turret-crowned through the Phrygian cities, glad in the gods she +hath borne, clasping an hundred of her children's children, all +habitants of heaven, all dwellers on the upper heights. Hither now bend +thy twin-eyed gaze; behold this people, the Romans that are thine. Here +is Caesar and all Iuelus' posterity that shall arise under the mighty +cope of heaven. Here is he, he of whose promise once and again thou +hearest, Caesar Augustus, a god's son, who shall again establish the +ages of gold in Latium over the fields that once were Saturn's realm, +and carry his empire afar to Garamant and Indian, to the land that lies +beyond our stars, beyond the sun's yearlong ways, where Atlas the +sky-bearer wheels on his shoulder the glittering star-spangled pole. +Before his coming even now the kingdoms of the Caspian shudder at +oracular answers, and the Maeotic land and the mouths of sevenfold Nile +flutter in alarm. Nor indeed did Alcides traverse such spaces of earth, +though he pierced the brazen-footed deer, or though he stilled the +Erymanthian woodlands and made Lerna tremble at his bow: nor he who +sways his team with reins of vine, Liber the conqueror, when he drives +his tigers from Nysa's lofty crest. And do we yet hesitate to give +valour scope in deeds, or shrink in fear from setting foot on Ausonian +land? Ah, and who is he apart, marked out with sprays of olive, offering +sacrifice? I know the locks and hoary chin of the king of Rome who shall +establish the infant city in his [811-843]laws, sent from little Cures' +sterile land to the majesty of empire. To him Tullus shall next succeed, +who shall break the peace of his country and stir to arms men rusted +from war and armies now disused to triumphs; and hard on him +over-vaunting Ancus follows, even now too elate in popular breath. Wilt +thou see also the Tarquin kings, and the haughty soul of Brutus the +Avenger, and the fasces regained? He shall first receive a consul's +power and the merciless axes, and when his children would stir fresh +war, the father, for fair freedom's sake, shall summon them to doom. +Unhappy! yet howsoever posterity shall take the deed, love of country +and limitless passion for honour shall prevail. Nay, behold apart the +Decii and the Drusi, Torquatus with his cruel axe, and Camillus +returning with the standards. Yonder souls likewise, whom thou +discernest gleaming in equal arms, at one now, while shut in Night, ah +me! what mutual war, what battle-lines and bloodshed shall they arouse, +so they attain the light of the living! father-in-law descending from +the Alpine barriers and the fortress of the Dweller Alone, son-in-law +facing him with the embattled East. Nay, O my children, harden not your +hearts to such warfare, neither turn upon her own heart the mastering +might of your country; and thou, be thou first to forgive, who drawest +thy descent from heaven; cast down the weapons from thy hand, O blood of +mine. . . . He shall drive his conquering chariot to the Capitoline +height triumphant over Corinth, glorious in Achaean slaughter. He shall +uproot Argos and Agamemnonian Mycenae, and the Aeacid's own heir, the +seed of Achilles mighty in arms, avenging his ancestors in Troy and +Minerva's polluted temple. Who might leave thee, lordly Cato, or thee, +Cossus, to silence? who the Gracchan family, or these two sons of the +Scipios, a double thunderbolt of war, Libya's bale? and Fabricius potent +in poverty, or [844-875]thee, Serranus, sowing in the furrow? Whither +whirl you me all breathless, O Fabii? thou art he, the most mighty, the +one man whose lingering retrieves our State. Others shall beat out the +breathing bronze to softer lines, I believe it well; shall draw living +lineaments from the marble; the cause shall be more eloquent on their +lips; their pencil shall portray the pathways of heaven, and tell the +stars in their arising: be thy charge, O Roman, to rule the nations in +thine empire; this shall be thine art, to lay down the law of peace, to +be merciful to the conquered and beat the haughty down.' + +Thus lord Anchises, and as they marvel, he so pursues: 'Look how +Marcellus the conqueror marches glorious in the splendid spoils, +towering high above them all! He shall stay the Roman State, reeling +beneath the invading shock, shall ride down Carthaginian and insurgent +Gaul, and a third time hang up the captured armour before lord +Quirinus.' + +And at this Aeneas, for he saw going by his side one excellent in beauty +and glittering in arms, but his brow had little cheer, and his eyes +looked down: + +'Who, O my father, is he who thus attends him on his way? son, or other +of his children's princely race? How his comrades murmur around him! how +goodly of presence he is! but dark Night flutters round his head with +melancholy shade.' + +Then lord Anchises with welling tears began: 'O my son, ask not of the +great sorrow of thy people. Him shall fate but shew to earth, and suffer +not to stay further. Too mighty, lords of heaven, did you deem the brood +of Rome, had this your gift been abiding. What moaning of men shall +arise from the Field of Mavors by the imperial city! what a funeral +train shalt thou see, O Tiber, as thou flowest by the new-made grave! +Neither shall the boyhood of any [876-901]of Ilian race raise his Latin +forefathers' hope so high; nor shall the land of Romulus ever boast of +any fosterling like this. Alas his goodness, alas his antique honour, +and right hand invincible in war! none had faced him unscathed in armed +shock, whether he met the foe on foot, or ran his spurs into the flanks +of his foaming horse. Ah me, the pity of thee, O boy! if in any wise +thou breakest the grim bar of fate, thou shalt be Marcellus. Give me +lilies in full hands; let me strew bright blossoms, and these gifts at +least let me lavish on my descendant's soul, and do the unavailing +service.' + +Thus they wander up and down over the whole region of broad vaporous +plains, and scan all the scene. And when Anchises had led his son over +it, each point by each, and kindled his spirit with passion for the +glories on their way, he tells him thereafter of the war he next must +wage, and instructs him of the Laurentine peoples and the city of +Latinus, and in what wise each task may be turned aside or borne. + +There are twin portals of Sleep, whereof the one is fabled of horn, and +by it real shadows are given easy outlet; the other shining white of +polished ivory, but false visions issue upward from the ghostly world. +With these words then Anchises follows forth his son and the Sibyl +together there, and dismisses them by the ivory gate. He pursues his way +to the ships and revisits his comrades; then bears on to Caieta's haven +straight along the shore. The anchor is cast from the prow; the sterns +are grounded on the beach. + + + + +BOOK SEVENTH + +THE LANDING IN LATIUM, AND THE ROLL OF THE ARMIES OF ITALY + + +Thou also, Caieta, nurse of Aeneas, gavest our shores an everlasting +renown in death; and still thine honour haunts thy resting-place, and a +name in broad Hesperia, if that be glory, marks thy dust. But when the +last rites are duly paid, and the mound smoothed over the grave, good +Aeneas, now the high seas are hushed, bears on under sail and leaves his +haven. Breezes blow into the night, and the white moonshine speeds them +on; the sea glitters in her quivering radiance. Soon they skirt the +shores of Circe's land, where the rich daughter of the Sun makes her +untrodden groves echo with ceaseless song; and her stately house glows +nightlong with burning odorous cedarwood, as she runs over her delicate +web with the ringing comb. Hence are heard afar angry cries of lions +chafing at their fetters and roaring in the deep night; bears and +bristly swine rage in their pens, and vast shapes of wolves howl; whom +with her potent herbs the deadly divine Circe had disfashioned, face and +body, into wild beasts from the likeness of men. But lest the good +Trojans might suffer so dread a change, might enter her haven or draw +nigh the ominous shores, Neptune filled [23-55]their sails with +favourable winds, and gave them escape, and bore them past the seething +shallows. + +And now the sea reddened with shafts of light, and high in heaven the +yellow dawn shone rose-charioted; when the winds fell, and every breath +sank suddenly, and the oar-blades toil through the heavy ocean-floor. +And on this Aeneas descries from sea a mighty forest. Midway in it the +pleasant Tiber stream breaks to sea in swirling eddies, laden with +yellow sand. Around and above fowl many in sort, that haunt his banks +and river-channel, solaced heaven with song and flew about the forest. +He orders his crew to bend their course and turn their prows to land, +and glides joyfully into the shady river. + + * * * * * + +Forth now, Erato! and I will unfold who were the kings, what the tides +of circumstance, how it was with ancient Latium when first that foreign +army drew their fleet ashore on Ausonia's coast; I will recall the +preluding of battle. Thou, divine one, inspire thou thy poet. I will +tell of grim wars, tell of embattled lines, of kings whom honour drove +on death, of the Tyrrhenian forces, and all Hesperia enrolled in arms. A +greater history opens before me, a greater work I essay. + +Latinus the King, now growing old, ruled in a long peace over quiet +tilth and town. He, men say, was sprung of Faunus and the nymph Marica +of Laurentum. Faunus' father was Picus; and he boasts himself, Saturn, +thy son; thou art the first source of their blood. Son of his, by divine +ordinance, and male descent was none, cut off in the early spring of +youth. One alone kept the household and its august home, a daughter now +ripe for a husband and of full years for marriage. Many wooed her from +wide Latium and all Ausonia. Fairest and foremost of all [56-93]is +Turnus, of long and lordly ancestry; but boding signs from heaven, many +and terrible, bar the way. Within the palace, in the lofty inner courts, +was a laurel of sacred foliage, guarded in awe through many years, which +lord Latinus, it was said, himself found and dedicated to Phoebus when +first he would build his citadel; and from it gave his settlers their +name, Laurentines. High atop of it, wonderful to tell, bees borne with +loud humming across the liquid air girt it thickly about, and with +interlinked feet hung in a sudden swarm from the leafy bough. +Straightway the prophet cries: 'I see a foreigner draw nigh, an army +from the same quarter seek the same quarter, and reign high in our +fortress.' Furthermore, while maiden Lavinia stands beside her father +feeding the altars with holy fuel, she was seen, oh, horror! to catch +fire in her long tresses, and burn with flickering flame in all her +array, her queenly hair lit up, lit up her jewelled circlet; till, +enwreathed in smoke and lurid light, she scattered fire over all the +palace. That sight was rumoured wonderful and terrible. Herself, they +prophesied, she should be glorious in fame and fortune; but a great war +was foreshadowed for her people. But the King, troubled by the omen, +visits the oracle of his father Faunus the soothsayer, and the groves +deep under Albunea, where, queen of the woods, she echoes from her holy +well, and breathes forth a dim and deadly vapour. Hence do the tribes of +Italy and all the Oenotrian land seek answers in perplexity; hither the +priest bears his gifts, and when he hath lain down and sought slumber +under the silent night on the spread fleeces of slaughtered sheep, sees +many flitting phantoms of wonderful wise, hears manifold voices, and +attains converse of the gods, and hath speech with Acheron and the deep +tract of hell. Here then, likewise seeking an answer, lord Latinus paid +fit sacrifice of an hundred woolly ewes, and [94-127]lay couched on the +strewn fleeces they had worn. Out of the lofty grove a sudden voice was +uttered: 'Seek not, O my child, to unite thy daughter in Latin +espousals, nor trust her to the bridal chambers ready to thine hand; +foreigners shall come to be thy sons, whose blood shall raise our name +to heaven, and the children of whose race shall see, where the circling +sun looks on either ocean, all the rolling world swayed beneath their +feet.' This his father Faunus' answer and counsel given in the silent +night Latinus restrains not in his lips; but wide-flitting Rumour had +already borne it round among the Ausonian cities, when the children of +Laomedon moored their fleet to the grassy slope of the river bank. + +Aeneas, with the foremost of his captains and fair Iuelus, lay them down +under the boughs of a high tree and array the feast. They spread wheaten +cakes along the sward under their meats--so Jove on high prompted--and +crown the platter of corn with wilding fruits. Here haply when the rest +was spent, and scantness of food set them to eat their thin bread, and +with hand and venturous teeth do violence to the round cakes fraught +with fate and spare not the flattened squares: _Ha! Are we eating our +tables too?_ cries Iuelus jesting, and stops. At once that accent heard +set their toils a limit; and at once as he spoke his father caught it +from his lips and hushed him, in amazement at the omen. Straightway +'Hail, O land!' he cries, 'my destined inheritance! and hail, O +household gods, faithful to your Troy! here is home; this is our native +country. For my father Anchises, now I remember it, bequeathed me this +secret of fate: "When hunger shall drive thee, O son, to consume thy +tables where the feast fails, on the unknown shores whither thou shalt +sail; then, though outwearied, hope for home, and there at last let +thine hand remember to set thy house's foundations and bulwarks." This +was [128-162]the hunger, this the last that awaited us, to set the +promised end to our desolations . . . Up then, and, glad with the first +sunbeam, let us explore and search all abroad from our harbour, what is +the country, who its habitants, where is the town of the nation. Now +pour your cups to Jove, and call in prayer on Anchises our father, +setting the wine again upon the board.' So speaks he, and binding his +brows with a leafy bough, he makes supplication to the Genius of the +ground, and Earth first of deities, and the Nymphs, and the Rivers yet +unknown; then calls on Night and Night's rising signs, and next on Jove +of Ida, and our lady of Phrygia, and on his twain parents, in heaven and +in the under world. At this the Lord omnipotent thrice thundered sharp +from high heaven, and with his own hand shook out for a sign in the sky +a cloud ablaze with luminous shafts of gold. A sudden rumour spreads +among the Trojan array, that the day is come to found their destined +city. Emulously they renew the feast, and, glad at the high omen, array +the flagons and engarland the wine. + +Soon as the morrow bathed the lands in its dawning light, they part to +search out the town, and the borders and shores of the nation: these are +the pools and spring of Numicus; this is the Tiber river; here dwell the +brave Latins. Then the seed of Anchises commands an hundred envoys +chosen of every degree to go to the stately royal city, all with the +wreathed boughs of Pallas, to bear him gifts and desire grace for the +Teucrians. Without delay they hasten on their message, and advance with +swift step. Himself he traces the city walls with a shallow trench, and +builds on it; and in fashion of a camp girdles this first settlement on +the shore with mound and battlements. And now his men had traversed +their way; they espied the towers and steep roofs of the Latins, and +drew near the wall. Before the city boys and men in their early +[163-196]bloom exercise on horseback, and break in their teams on the +dusty ground, or draw ringing bows, or hurl tough javelins from the +shoulder, and contend in running and boxing: when a messenger riding +forward brings news to the ears of the aged King that mighty men are +come thither in unknown raiment. He gives orders to call them within his +house, and takes his seat in the midst on his ancestral throne. His +house, stately and vast, crowned the city, upreared on an hundred +columns, once the palace of Laurentian Picus, amid awful groves of +ancestral sanctity. Here their kings receive the inaugural sceptre, and +have the fasces first raised before them; this temple was their +senate-house; this their sacred banqueting-hall; here, after sacrifice +of rams, the elders were wont to sit down at long tables. Further, there +stood arow in the entry images of the forefathers of old in ancient +cedar, Italus, and lord Sabinus, planter of the vine, still holding in +show the curved pruning-hook, and gray Saturn, and the likeness of Janus +the double-facing, and the rest of their primal kings, and they who had +borne wounds of war in fighting for their country. Armour besides hangs +thickly on the sacred doors, captured chariots and curved axes, +helmet-crests and massy gateway-bars, lances and shields, and beaks torn +from warships. He too sat there, with the divining-rod of Quirinus, girt +in the short augural gown, and carrying on his left arm the sacred +shield, Picus the tamer of horses; he whom Circe, desperate with amorous +desire, smote with her golden rod and turned by her poisons into a bird +with patches of colour on his wings. Of such wise was the temple of the +gods wherein Latinus, sitting on his father's seat, summoned the +Teucrians to his house and presence; and when they entered in, he thus +opened with placid mien: + +'Tell, O Dardanians, for we are not ignorant of your city and race, nor +unheard of do you bend your course [197-228]overseas, what seek you? +what the cause or whereof the need that hath borne you over all these +blue waterways to the Ausonian shore? Whether wandering in your course, +or tempest-driven (such perils manifold on the high seas do sailors +suffer), you have entered the river banks and lie in harbour; shun not +our welcome, and be not ignorant that the Latins are Saturn's people, +whom no laws fetter to justice, upright of their own free will and the +custom of the god of old. And now I remember, though the story is dimmed +with years, thus Auruncan elders told, how Dardanus, born in this our +country, made his way to the towns of Phrygian Ida and to the Thracian +Samos that is now called Samothrace. Here was the home he left, +Tyrrhenian Corythus; now the palace of heaven, glittering with golden +stars, enthrones and adds him to the ranged altars of the gods.' + +He ended; and Ilioneus pursued his speech with these words: + +'King, Faunus' illustrious progeny, neither hath black tempest driven us +with stress of waves to shelter in your lands, nor hath star or shore +misled us on the way we went. Of set purpose and willing mind do we draw +nigh this thy city, outcasts from a realm once the greatest that the sun +looked on as he came from Olympus' utmost border. From Jove hath our +race beginning; in Jove the men of Dardania rejoice as ancestor; our +King himself of Jove's supreme race, Aeneas of Troy, hath sent us to thy +courts. How terrible the tempest that burst from fierce Mycenae over the +plains of Ida, driven by what fate Europe and Asia met in the shock of +two worlds, even he hath heard who is sundered in the utmost land where +the ocean surge recoils, and he whom stretching midmost of the four +zones the zone of the intolerable sun holds in severance. Borne by that +flood over many desolate seas, we crave a scant dwelling [229-261]for +our country's gods, an unmolested landing-place, and the air and water +that are free to all. We shall not disgrace the kingdom; nor will the +rumour of your renown be lightly gone or the grace of all you have done +fade away; nor will Ausonia be sorry to have taken Troy to her breast. +By the fortunes of Aeneas I swear, by that right hand mighty, whether +tried in friendship or in warlike arms, many and many a people and +nation--scorn us not because we advance with hands proffering chaplets +and words of supplication--hath sought us for itself and desired our +alliance; but yours is the land that heaven's high ordinance drove us +forth to find. Hence sprung Dardanus: hither Apollo recalls us, and +pushes us on with imperious orders to Tyrrhenian Tiber and the holy +pools of Numicus' spring. Further, he presents to thee these small +guerdons of our past estate, relics saved from burning Troy. From this +gold did lord Anchises pour libation at the altars; this was Priam's +array when he delivered statutes to the nations assembled in order; the +sceptre, the sacred mitre, the raiment wrought by the women of +Ilium. . . .' + +At these words of Ilioneus Latinus holds his countenance in a steady +gaze, and stays motionless on the floor, casting his intent eyes around. +Nor does the embroidered purple so move the King, nor the sceptre of +Priam, as his daughter's marriage and the bridal chamber absorb him, and +the oracle of ancient Faunus stirs deep in his heart. This is he, the +wanderer from a foreign home, foreshewn of fate for his son, and called +to a realm of equal dominion, whose race should be excellent in valour +and their might overbear all the world. At last he speaks with good +cheer: + +'The gods prosper our undertaking and their own augury! What thou +desirest, Trojan, shall be given; nor do I spurn your gifts. While +Latinus reigns you shall not [262-294]lack foison of rich land nor +Troy's own riches. Only let Aeneas himself come hither, if desire of us +be so strong, if he be in haste to join our friendship and be called our +ally. Let him not shrink in terror from a friendly face. A term of the +peace for me shall be to touch your monarch's hand. Do you now convey in +answer my message to your King. I have a daughter whom the oracles of my +father's shrine and many a celestial token alike forbid me to unite to +one of our own nation; sons shall come, they prophesy, from foreign +coasts, such is the destiny of Latium, whose blood shall exalt our name +to heaven. He it is on whom fate calls; this I think, this I choose, if +there be any truth in my soul's foreshadowing.' + +Thus he speaks, and chooses horses for all the company. Three hundred +stood sleek in their high stalls; for all the Teucrians in order he +straightway commands them to be led forth, fleet-footed, covered with +embroidered purple: golden chains hang drooping over their chests, +golden their housings, and they champ on bits of ruddy gold: for the +absent Aeneas a chariot and pair of chariot horses of celestial breed, +with nostrils breathing flame; of the race of those which subtle Circe +bred by sleight on her father, the bastard issue of a stolen union. With +these gifts and words the Aeneadae ride back from Latinus carrying +peace. + +And lo! the fierce wife of Jove was returning from Inachian Argos, and +held her way along the air, when out of the distant sky, far as from +Sicilian Pachynus, she espied the rejoicing of Aeneas and the Dardanian +fleet. She sees them already house-building, already trusting in the +land, their ships left empty. She stops, shot with sharp pain; then +shaking her head, she pours forth these words: + +'Ah, hated brood, and doom of the Phrygians that thwarts our doom! Could +they perish on the Sigean [295-326]plains? Could they be ensnared when +taken? Did the fires of Troy consume her people? Through the midst of +armies and through the midst of flames they have found their way. But, I +think, my deity lies at last outwearied, or my hatred sleeps and is +satisfied? Nay, it is I who have been fierce to follow them over the +waves when hurled from their country, and on all the seas have crossed +their flight. Against the Teucrians the forces of sky and sea are spent. +What hath availed me Syrtes or Scylla, what desolate Charybdis? they +find shelter in their desired Tiber-bed, careless of ocean and of me. +Mars availed to destroy the giant race of the Lapithae; the very father +of the gods gave over ancient Calydon to Diana's wrath: for forfeit of +what crime in the Lapithae, what in Calydon? But I, Jove's imperial +consort, who have borne, ah me! to leave naught undared, who have +shifted to every device, I am vanquished by Aeneas. If my deity is not +great enough, I will not assuredly falter to seek succour where it may +be; if the powers of heaven are inflexible, I will stir up Acheron. It +may not be to debar him of a Latin realm; well; and Lavinia is destined +his bride unalterably. But it may be yet to defer, to make all this +action linger; but it may be yet to waste away the nation of either +king; at such forfeit of their people may son-in-law and father-in-law +enter into union. Blood of Troy and Rutulia shall be thy dower, O +maiden, and Bellona is the bridesmaid who awaits thee. Nor did Cisseus' +daughter alone conceive a firebrand and travail of bridal flames. Nay, +even such a birth hath Venus of her own, a second Paris, another +balefire for Troy towers reborn.' + +These words uttered, she descends to earth in all her terrors, and calls +dolorous Allecto from the home of the Fatal Sisters in nether gloom, +whose delight is in woeful wars, in wrath and treachery and evil feuds: +hateful to [327-360]lord Pluto himself, hateful and horrible to her +hell-born sisters; into so many faces does she turn, so savage the guise +of each, so thick and black bristles she with vipers. And her Juno spurs +on with words, saying thus: + +'Grant me, virgin born of Night, this thy proper task and service, that +the rumour of our renown may not crumble away, nor the Aeneadae have +power to win Latinus by marriage or beset the borders of Italy. Thou +canst set brothers once united in armed conflict, and overturn families +with hatreds; thou canst launch into houses thy whips and deadly brands; +thine are a thousand names, a thousand devices of injury. Stir up thy +teeming breast, sunder the peace they have joined, and sow seeds of +quarrel; let all at once desire and demand and seize on arms.' + +Thereon Allecto, steeped in Gorgonian venom, first seeks Latium and the +high house of the Laurentine monarch, and silently sits down before +Amata's doors, whom a woman's distress and anger heated to frenzy over +the Teucrians' coming and the marriage of Turnus. At her the goddess +flings a snake out of her dusky tresses, and slips it into her bosom to +her very inmost heart, that she may embroil all her house under its +maddening magic. Sliding between her raiment and smooth breasts, it +coils without touch, and instils its viperous breath unseen; the great +serpent turns into the twisted gold about her neck, turns into the long +ribbon of her chaplet, inweaves her hair, and winds slippery over her +body. And while the gliding infection of the clammy poison begins to +penetrate her sense and run in fire through her frame, nor as yet hath +all her breast caught fire, softly she spoke and in mothers' wonted +wise, with many a tear over her daughter and the Phrygian bridal: + +'Is it to exiles, to Teucrians, that Lavinia is proffered in marriage, O +father? and hast thou no compassion on [361-392]thy daughter and on +thyself? no compassion on her mother, whom with the first northern wind +the treacherous rover will abandon, steering to sea with his maiden +prize? Is it not thus the Phrygian herdsman wound his way to Lacedaemon, +and carried Leda's Helen to the Trojan towns? Where is thy plighted +faith? Where thine ancient care for thy people, and the hand Turnus thy +kinsman hath so often clasped? If one of alien race from the Latins is +sought for our son, if this stands fixed, and thy father Faunus' +commands are heavy upon thee, all the land whose freedom severs it from +our sway is to my mind alien, and of this is the divine word. And +Turnus, if one retrace the earliest source of his line, is born of +Inachus and Acrisius, and of the midmost of Mycenae.' + +When in this vain essay of words she sees Latinus fixed against her, and +the serpent's maddening poison is sunk deep in her vitals and runs +through and through her, then indeed, stung by infinite horrors, hapless +and frenzied, she rages wildly through the endless city. As whilome a +top flying under the twisted whipcord, which boys busy at their play +drive circling wide round an empty hall, runs before the lash and spins +in wide gyrations; the witless ungrown band hang wondering over it and +admire the whirling boxwood; the strokes lend it life: with pace no +slacker is she borne midway through towns and valiant nations. Nay, she +flies into the woodland under feigned Bacchic influence, assumes a +greater guilt, arouses a greater frenzy, and hides her daughter in the +mountain coverts to rob the Teucrians of their bridal and stay the +marriage torches. 'Hail, Bacchus!' she shrieks and clamours; 'thou only +art worthy of the maiden; for to thee she takes up the lissom wands, +thee she circles in the dance, to thee she trains and consecrates her +tresses.' Rumour flies abroad; and the matrons, their breasts kindled by +the furies, run all at once [393-426]with a single ardour to seek out +strange dwellings. They have left their homes empty, they throw neck and +hair free to the winds; while others fill the air with ringing cries, +girt about with fawnskins, and carrying spears of vine. Amid them the +infuriate queen holds her blazing pine-torch on high, and chants the +wedding of Turnus and her daughter; and rolling her bloodshot gaze, +cries sudden and harsh: 'Hear, O mothers of Latium, wheresoever you be; +if unhappy Amata hath yet any favour in your affection, if care for a +mother's right pierces you, untie the chaplets from your hair, begin the +orgies with me.' Thus, amid woods and wild beasts' solitary places, does +Allecto goad the queen with the encircling Bacchic madness. + +When their frenzy seemed heightened and her first task complete, the +purpose and all the house of Latinus turned upside down, the dolorous +goddess flies on thence, soaring on dusky wing, to the walls of the +gallant Rutulian, the city which Danae, they say, borne down on the +boisterous south wind, built and planted with Acrision's people. The +place was called Ardea once of old; and still Ardea remains a mighty +name; but its fortune is no more. Here in his high house Turnus now took +rest in the black midnight. Allecto puts off her grim feature and the +body of a Fury; she transforms her face to an aged woman's, and furrows +her brow with ugly wrinkles; she puts on white tresses chaplet-bound, +and entwines them with an olive spray; she becomes aged Calybe, +priestess of Juno's temple, and presents herself before his eyes, +uttering thus: + +'Turnus, wilt thou brook all these toils poured out in vain, and the +conveyance of thy crown to Dardanian settlers? The King denies thee thy +bride and the dower thy blood had earned; and a foreigner is sought for +heir to the kingdom. Forth now, dupe, and face thankless perils; forth, +cut down the Tyrrhenian lines; give the [427-458]Latins peace in thy +protection. This Saturn's omnipotent daughter in very presence commanded +me to pronounce to thee, as thou wert lying in the still night. +Wherefore arise, and make ready with good cheer to arm thy people and +march through thy gates to battle; consume those Phrygian captains that +lie with their painted hulls in the beautiful river. All the force of +heaven orders thee on. Let King Latinus himself know of it, unless he +consents to give thee thy bridal, and abide by his words, when he shall +at last make proof of Turnus' arms.' + +But he, deriding her inspiration, with the words of his mouth thus +answers her again: + +'The fleets ride on the Tiber wave; that news hath not, as thou deemest, +escaped mine ears. Frame not such terrors before me. Neither is Queen +Juno forgetful of us. . . . But thee, O mother, overworn old age, +exhausted and untrue, frets with vain distress, and amid embattled kings +mocks thy presage with false dismay. Thy charge it is to keep the divine +image and temple; war and peace shall be in the hands of men and +warriors.' + +At such words Allecto's wrath blazed out. But amid his utterance a quick +shudder overruns his limbs; his eyes are fixed in horror; so thickly +hiss the snakes of the Fury, so vast her form expands. Then rolling her +fiery eyes, she thrust him back as he would stammer out more, raised two +serpents in her hair, and, sounding her whip, resumed with furious tone: + +'Behold me the overworn! me whom old age, exhausted and untrue, mocks +with false dismay amid embattled kings! Look on this! I am come from the +home of the Dread Sisters: war and death are in my hand. . . .' + +So speaking, she hurled her torch at him, and pierced his breast with +the lurid smoking brand. He breaks from sleep in overpowering fear, his +limbs and body bathed in [459-494]sweat that breaks out all over him; +he shrieks madly for arms, searches for arms on his bed and in his +palace. The passion of the sword rages high, the accursed fury of war, +and wrath over all: even as when flaming sticks are heaped roaring loud +under the sides of a seething cauldron, and the boiling water leaps up; +the river of water within smokes furiously and swells high in +overflowing foam, and now the wave contains itself no longer; the dark +steam flies aloft. So, for the stain of the broken peace, he orders his +chief warriors to march on King Latinus, and bids prepare for battle, to +defend Italy and drive the foe from their borders; himself will suffice +for Trojans and Latins together. When he uttered these words and called +the gods to hear his vows, the Rutulians stir one another up to arms. +One is moved by the splendour of his youthful beauty, one by his royal +ancestry, another by the noble deeds of his hand. + +While Turnus fills the Rutulian minds with valour, Allecto on Stygian +wing hastens towards the Trojans. With fresh wiles she marked the spot +where beautiful Iuelus was trapping and coursing game on the bank; here +the infernal maiden suddenly crosses his hounds with the maddening touch +of a familiar scent, and drives them hotly on the stag-hunt. This was +the source and spring of ill, and kindled the country-folk to war. The +stag, beautiful and high-antlered, was stolen from his mother's udder +and bred by Tyrrheus' boys and their father Tyrrheus, master of the +royal herds, and ranger of the plain. Their sister Silvia tamed him to +her rule, and lavished her care on his adornment, twining his antlers +with delicate garlands, and combed his wild coat and washed him in the +clear spring. Tame to her hand, and familiar to his master's table, he +would wander the woods, and, however late the night, return home to the +door he knew. Far astray, he floated idly down the stream, and allayed +his heat on the green bank, when Iuelus' [495-528]mad hounds started him +in their hunting; and Ascanius himself, kindled with desire of the chief +honour, aimed a shaft from his bended bow. A present deity suffered not +his hand to stray, and the loud whistling reed came driven through his +belly and flanks. But the wounded beast fled within the familiar roof +and crept moaning to the courtyard, dabbled with blood, and filling all +the house with moans as of one beseeching. Sister Silvia, smiting her +arms with open hands, begins to call for aid, and gathers the hardy +rustics with her cries. They, for a fell destroyer is hidden in the +silent woodland, are there before her expectation, one armed with a +stake hardened in the fire, one with a heavy knotted trunk; what each +one searches and finds, wrath turns into a weapon. Tyrrheus cheers on +his array, panting hard, with his axe caught up in his hand, as he was +haply splitting an oaken log in four clefts with cross-driven wedges. + +But the grim goddess, seizing from her watch-tower the moment of +mischief, seeks the steep farm-roof and sounds the pastoral war-note +from the ridge, straining the infernal cry on her twisted horn; it +spread shuddering over all the woodland, and echoed through the deep +forests: the lake of Trivia heard it afar; Nar river heard it with white +sulphurous water, and the springs of Velinus; and fluttered mothers +clasped their children to their breast. Then, hurrying to the voice of +the terrible trumpet-note, on all sides the wild rustics snatch their +arms and stream in: therewithal the men of Troy pour out from their +camp's open gates to succour Ascanius. The lines are ranged; not now in +rustic strife do they fight with hard trunks or burned stakes; the +two-edged steel sways the fight, the broad cornfields bristle dark with +drawn swords, and brass flashes smitten by the sunlight, and casts a +gleam high into the cloudy air: as when the wind begins to blow and the +flood [529-560]to whiten, gradually the sea lifts his waves higher and +yet higher, then rises from the bottom right into the air. Here in the +front rank young Almo, once Tyrrheus' eldest son, is struck down by a +whistling arrow; for the wound, staying in his throat, cut off in blood +the moist voice's passage and the thin life. Around many a one lies +dead, aged Galaesus among them, slain as he throws himself between them +for a peacemaker, once incomparable in justice and wealth of Ausonian +fields; for him five flocks bleated, a five-fold herd returned from +pasture, and an hundred ploughs upturned the soil. + +But while thus in even battle they fight on the broad plain, the +goddess, her promise fulfilled, when she hath dyed the war in blood, and +mingled death in the first encounter, quits Hesperia, and, glancing +through the sky, addresses Juno in exultant tone: + +'Lo, discord is ripened at thy desire into baleful war: tell them now to +mix in amity and join alliance. Insomuch as I have imbued the Trojans in +Ausonian blood, this likewise will I add, if I have assurance of thy +will. With my rumours I will sweep the bordering towns into war, and +kindle their spirit with furious desire for battle, that from all +quarters help may come; I will sow the land with arms.' + +Then Juno answering: 'Terror and harm is wrought abundantly. The springs +of war are aflow: they fight with arms in their grasp, the arms that +chance first supplied, that fresh blood stains. Let this be the union, +this the bridal that Venus' illustrious progeny and Latinus the King +shall celebrate. Our Lord who reigns on Olympus' summit would not have +thee stray too freely in heaven's upper air. Withdraw thy presence. +Whatsoever future remains in the struggle, that I myself will sway.' + +Such accents uttered the daughter of Saturn; and the [561-594]other +raises her rustling snaky wings and darts away from the high upper air +to Cocytus her home. There is a place midmost of Italy, deep in the +hills, notable and famed of rumour in many a country, the Vale of +Amsanctus; on either hand a wooded ridge, dark with thick foliage, hems +it in, and midway a torrent in swirling eddies shivers and echoes over +the rocks. Here is shewn a ghastly pool, a breathing-hole of the grim +lord of hell, and a vast chasm breaking into Acheron yawns with +pestilential throat. In it the Fury sank, and relieved earth and heaven +of her hateful influence. + +But therewithal the queenly daughter of Saturn puts the last touch to +war. The shepherds pour in full tale from the battlefield into the town, +bearing back their slain, the boy Almo and Galaesus' disfigured face, +and cry on the gods and call on Latinus. Turnus is there, and amid the +heat and outcry at the slaughter redoubles his terrors, crying that +Teucrians are bidden to the kingdom, that a Phrygian race is mingling +its taint with theirs, and he is thrust out of their gates. They too, +the matrons of whose kin, struck by Bacchus, trample in choirs down the +pathless woods--nor is Amata's name a little thing--they too gather +together from all sides and weary themselves with the battle-cry. Omens +and oracles of gods go down before them, and all under malign influence +clamour for awful war. Emulously they surround Latinus' royal house. He +withstands, even as a rock in ocean unremoved, as a rock in ocean when +the great crash comes down, firm in its own mass among many waves +slapping all about: in vain the crags and boulders hiss round it in +foam, and the seaweed on its side is flung up and sucked away. But when +he may in nowise overbear their blind counsel, and all goes at fierce +Juno's beck, with many an appeal to gods and void sky, 'Alas!' he cries, +'we are broken of fate and driven helpless in the [595-626]storm. With +your very blood will you pay the price of this, O wretched men! Thee, O +Turnus, thy crime, thee thine awful punishment shall await; too late +wilt thou address to heaven thy prayers and supplication. For my rest +was won, and my haven full at hand; I am robbed but of a happy death.' +And without further speech he shut himself in the palace, and dropped +the reins of state. + +There was a use in Hesperian Latium, which the Alban towns kept in holy +observance, now Rome keeps, the mistress of the world, when they stir +the War-God to enter battle; whether their hands prepare to carry war +and weeping among Getae or Hyrcanians or Arabs, or to reach to India and +pursue the Dawn, and reclaim their standards from the Parthian. There +are twain gates of War, so runs their name, consecrate in grim Mars' +sanctity and terror. An hundred bolts of brass and masses of everlasting +iron shut them fast, and Janus the guardian never sets foot from their +threshold. There, when the sentence of the Fathers stands fixed for +battle, the Consul, arrayed in the robe of Quirinus and the Gabine +cincture, with his own hand unbars the grating doors, with his own lips +calls battles forth; then all the rest follow on, and the brazen +trumpets blare harsh with consenting breath. With this use then likewise +they bade Latinus proclaim war on the Aeneadae, and unclose the baleful +gates. He withheld his hand, and shrank away averse from the abhorred +service, and hid himself blindly in the dark. Then the Saturnian queen +of heaven glided from the sky, with her own hand thrust open the +lingering gates, and swung sharply back on their hinges the iron-bound +doors of war. Ausonia is ablaze, till then unstirred and immoveable. +Some make ready to march afoot over the plains; some, mounted on tall +horses, ride amain in clouds of dust. All seek out arms; and now they +rub their shields smooth and make their spearheads glitter with +[627-659]fat lard, and grind their axes on the whetstone: rejoicingly +they advance under their standards and hear the trumpet note. Five great +cities set up the anvil and sharpen the sword, strong Atina and proud +Tibur, Ardea and Crustumeri, and turreted Antemnae. They hollow out +head-gear to guard them, and plait wickerwork round shield-bosses; +others forge breastplates of brass or smooth greaves of flexible silver. +To this is come the honour of share and pruning-hook, to this all the +love of the plough: they re-temper their fathers' swords in the furnace. +And now the trumpets blare; the watchword for war passes along. One +snatches a helmet hurriedly from his house, another backs his neighing +horses into the yoke; and arrays himself in shield and mail-coat +triple-linked with gold, and girds on his trusty sword. + +Open now the gates of Helicon, goddesses, and stir the song of the kings +that rose for war, the array that followed each and filled the plains, +the men that even then blossomed, the arms that blazed in Italy the +bountiful land: for you remember, divine ones, and you can recall; to us +but a breath of rumour, scant and slight, is wafted down. + +First from the Tyrrhene coast savage Mezentius, scorner of the gods, +opens the war and arrays his columns. By him is Lausus, his son, +unexcelled in bodily beauty by any save Laurentine Turnus, Lausus tamer +of horses and destroyer of wild beasts; he leads a thousand men who +followed him in vain from Agylla town; worthy to be happier in ancestral +rule, and to have other than Mezentius for father. + +After them beautiful Aventinus, born of beautiful Hercules, displays on +the sward his palm-crowned chariot and victorious horses, and carries on +his shield his father's device, the hundred snakes of the Hydra's +serpent-wreath. Him, in the wood of the hill Aventine, Rhea the +priestess [660-693]bore by stealth into the borders of light, a woman +mingled with a god, after the Tirynthian Conqueror had slain Geryon and +set foot on the fields of Laurentum, and bathed his Iberian oxen in the +Tuscan river. These carry for war javelins and grim stabbing weapons, +and fight with the round shaft and sharp point of the Sabellian pike. +Himself he went on foot swathed in a vast lion skin, shaggy with +bristling terrors, whose white teeth encircled his head; in such wild +dress, the garb of Hercules clasped over his shoulders, he entered the +royal house. + +Next twin brothers leave Tibur town, and the people called by their +brother Tiburtus' name, Catillus and valiant Coras, the Argives, and +advance in the forefront of battle among the throng of spears: as when +two cloud-born Centaurs descend from a lofty mountain peak, leaving +Homole or snowy Othrys in rapid race; the mighty forest yields before +them as they go, and the crashing thickets give them way. + +Nor was the founder of Praeneste city absent, the king who, as every age +hath believed, was born of Vulcan among the pasturing herds, and found +beside the hearth, Caeculus. On him a rustic battalion attends in loose +order, they who dwell in steep Praeneste and the fields of Juno of +Gabii, on the cool Anio and the Hernican rocks dewy with streams; they +whom rich Anagnia, and whom thou, lord Amasenus, pasturest. Not all of +them have armour, nor shields and clattering chariots. The most part +shower bullets of dull lead; some wield in their hand two darts, and +have for head-covering caps of tawny wolfskin; their left foot is bare +wherewith to plant their steps; the other is covered with a boot of raw +hide. + +But Messapus, tamer of horses, the seed of Neptune, whom none might ever +strike down with steel or fire, calls quickly to arms his long unstirred +peoples and bands [694-727]disused to war, and again handles the sword. +These are of the Fescennine ranks and of Aequi Falisci, these of +Soracte's fortresses and the fields of Flavina, and Ciminus' lake and +hill, and the groves of Capena. They marched in even time, singing their +King; as whilome snowy swans among the thin clouds, when they return +from pasturage, and utter resonant notes through their long necks; far +off echoes the river and the smitten Asian fen. . . . Nor would one +think these vast streaming masses were ranks clad in brass; rather that, +high in air, a cloud of hoarse birds from the deep gulf was pressing to +the shore. + +Lo, Clausus of the ancient Sabine blood, leading a great host, a great +host himself; from whom now the Claudian tribe and family is spread +abroad since Rome was shared with the Sabines. Alongside is the broad +battalion of Amiternum, and the Old Latins, and all the force of Eretum +and the Mutuscan oliveyards; they who dwell in Nomentum town, and the +Rosean country by Velinus, who keep the crags of rough Tetrica and Mount +Severus, Casperia and Foruli, and the river of Himella; they who drink +of Tiber and Fabaris, they whom cold Nursia hath sent, and the squadrons +of Horta and the tribes of Latinium; and they whom Allia, the +ill-ominous name, severs with its current; as many as the waves that +roll on the Libyan sea-floor when fierce Orion sets in the wintry surge; +as thick as the ears that ripen in the morning sunlight on the plain of +the Hermus or the yellowing Lycian tilth. Their shields clatter, and +earth is amazed under the trampling of their feet. + +Here Agamemnonian Halaesus, foe of the Trojan name, yokes his chariot +horses, and draws a thousand warlike peoples to Turnus; those who turn +with spades the Massic soil that is glad with wine; whom the elders of +Aurunca sent from their high hills, and the Sidicine low country +[728-761]hard by; and those who leave Cales, and the dweller by the +shallows of Volturnus river, and side by side the rough Saticulan and +the Oscan bands. Polished maces are their weapons, and these it is their +wont to fit with a tough thong; a target covers their left side, and for +close fighting they have crooked swords. + +Nor shalt thou, Oebalus, depart untold of in our verses, who wast borne, +men say, by the nymph Sebethis to Telon, when he grew old in rule over +Capreae the Teleboic realm: but not so content with his ancestral +fields, his son even then held down in wide sway the Sarrastian peoples +and the meadows watered by Sarnus, and the dwellers in Rufrae and +Batulum, and the fields of Celemnae, and they on whom from her apple +orchards Abella city looks down. Their wont was to hurl lances in +Teutonic fashion; their head covering was stripped bark of the cork +tree, their shield-plates glittering brass, glittering brass their +sword. + +Thee too, Ufens, mountainous Nersae sent forth to battle, of noble fame +and prosperous arms, whose race on the stiff Aequiculan clods is rough +beyond all other, and bred to continual hunting in the woodland; they +till the soil in arms, and it is ever their delight to drive in fresh +spoils and live on plunder. + +Furthermore there came, sent by King Archippus, the priest of the +Marruvian people, dressed with prosperous olive leaves over his helmet, +Umbro excellent in valour, who was wont with charm and touch to sprinkle +slumberous dew on the viper's brood and water-snakes of noisome breath. +Yet he availed not to heal the stroke of the Dardanian spear-point, nor +was the wound of him helped by his sleepy charms and herbs culled on the +Massic hills. Thee the woodland of Angitia, thee Fucinus' glassy wave, +thee the clear pools wept. . . . + +Likewise the seed of Hippolytus marched to war, Virbius [762-796]most +excellent in beauty, sent by his mother Aricia. The groves of Egeria +nursed him round the spongy shore where Diana's altar stands rich and +gracious. For they say in story that Hippolytus, after he fell by his +stepmother's treachery, torn asunder by his frightened horses to fulfil +a father's revenge, came again to the daylight and heaven's upper air, +recalled by Diana's love and the drugs of the Healer. Then the Lord +omnipotent, indignant that any mortal should rise from the nether shades +to the light of life, launched his thunder and hurled down to the +Stygian water the Phoebus-born, the discoverer of such craft and cure. +But Trivia the bountiful hides Hippolytus in a secret habitation, and +sends him away to the nymph Egeria and the woodland's keeping, where, +solitary in Italian forests, he should spend an inglorious life, and +have Virbius for his altered name. Whence also hoofed horses are kept +away from Trivia's temple and consecrated groves, because, affrighted at +the portents of the sea, they overset the chariot and flung him out upon +the shore. Notwithstanding did his son train his ruddy steeds on the +level plain, and sped charioted to war. + +Himself too among the foremost, splendid in beauty of body, Turnus moves +armed and towers a whole head over all. His lofty helmet, triple-tressed +with horse-hair, holds high a Chimaera breathing from her throat Aetnean +fires, raging the more and exasperate with baleful flames, as the battle +and bloodshed grow fiercer. But on his polished shield was emblazoned in +gold Io with uplifted horns, already a heifer and overgrown with hair, a +lofty design, and Argus the maiden's warder, and lord Inachus pouring +his stream from his embossed urn. Behind comes a cloud of infantry, and +shielded columns thicken over all the plains; the Argive men and +Auruncan forces, the Rutulians and old Sicanians, the Sacranian ranks +and Labicians with [797-817]painted shields; they who till thy dells, O +Tiber, and Numicus' sacred shore, and whose ploughshare goes up and down +on the Rutulian hills and the Circaean headland, over whose fields +Jupiter of Anxur watches, and Feronia glad in her greenwood: and where +the marsh of Satura lies black, and cold Ufens winds his way along the +valley-bottoms and sinks into the sea. + +Therewithal came Camilla the Volscian, leading a train of cavalry, +squadrons splendid with brass: a warrior maiden who had never used her +woman's hands to Minerva's distaff or wool-baskets, but hardened to +endure the battle shock and outstrip the winds with racing feet. She +might have flown across the topmost blades of unmown corn and left the +tender ears unhurt as she ran; or sped her way over mid sea upborne by +the swelling flood, nor dipt her swift feet in the water. All the people +pour from house and field, and mothers crowd to wonder and gaze at her +as she goes, in rapturous astonishment at the royal lustre of purple +that drapes her smooth shoulders, at the clasp of gold that intertwines +her tresses, at the Lycian quiver she carries, and the pastoral myrtle +shaft topped with steel. + + + + +BOOK EIGHTH + +THE EMBASSAGE TO EVANDER + + +When Turnus ran up the flag of war on the towers of Laurentum, and the +trumpets blared with harsh music, when he spurred his fiery steeds and +clashed his armour, straightway men's hearts are in tumult; all Latium +at once flutters in banded uprisal, and her warriors rage furiously. +Their chiefs, Messapus, and Ufens, and Mezentius, scorner of the gods, +begin to enrol forces on all sides, and dispeople the wide fields of +husbandmen. Venulus too is sent to the town of mighty Diomede to seek +succour, to instruct him that Teucrians set foot in Latium; that Aeneas +in his fleet invades them with the vanquished gods of his home, and +proclaims himself the King summoned of fate; that many tribes join the +Dardanian, and his name swells high in Latium. What he will rear on +these foundations, what issue of battle he desires, if Fortune attend +him, lies clearer to his own sight than to King Turnus or King Latinus. + +Thus was it in Latium. And the hero of Laomedon's blood, seeing it all, +tosses on a heavy surge of care, and throws his mind rapidly this way +and that, and turns it on all hands in swift change of thought: even as +when the quivering light of water brimming in brass, struck back +[23-56]from the sunlight or the moon's glittering reflection, flickers +abroad over all the room, and now mounts aloft and strikes the high +panelled roof. Night fell, and over all lands weary creatures were fast +in deep slumber, the race of fowl and of cattle; when lord Aeneas, sick +at heart of the dismal warfare, stretched him on the river bank under +the cope of the cold sky, and let sleep, though late, overspread his +limbs. To him the very god of the ground, the pleasant Tiber stream, +seemed to raise his aged form among the poplar boughs; thin lawn veiled +him with its gray covering, and shadowy reeds hid his hair. Thereon he +addressed him thus, and with these words allayed his distresses: + +'O born of the family of the gods, thou who bearest back our Trojan city +from hostile hands, and keepest Troy towers in eternal life; O long +looked for on Laurentine ground and Latin fields! here is thine assured +home, thine home's assured gods. Draw not thou back, nor be alarmed by +menace of war. All the anger and wrath of the gods is passed away . . . +And even now for thine assurance, that thou think not this the idle +fashioning of sleep, a great sow shall be found lying under the oaks on +the shore, with her new-born litter of thirty head: white she couches on +the ground, and the brood about her teats is white. By this token in +thirty revolving years shall Ascanius found a city, Alba of bright name. +My prophecy is sure. Now hearken, and I will briefly instruct thee how +thou mayest unravel and overcome thy present task. An Arcadian people +sprung of Pallas, following in their king Evander's company beneath his +banners, have chosen a place in these coasts, and set a city on the +hills, called Pallanteum after Pallas their forefather. These wage +perpetual war with the Latin race; these do thou take to thy camp's +alliance, and join with them in league. Myself I [57-89]will lead thee +by my banks and straight along my stream, that thou mayest oar thy way +upward against the river. Up and arise, goddess-born, and even with the +setting stars address thy prayers to Juno as is meet, and vanquish her +wrath and menaces with humble vows. To me thou shalt pay a conqueror's +sacrifice. I am he whom thou seest washing the banks with full flood and +severing the rich tilth, glassy Tiber, best beloved by heaven of rivers. +Here is my stately home; my fountain-head is among high cities.' + +Thus spoke the River, and sank in the depth of the pool: night and sleep +left Aeneas. He arises, and, looking towards the radiant sky of the +sunrising, holds up water from the river in fitly-hollowed palms, and +pours to heaven these accents: + +'Nymphs, Laurentine Nymphs, from whom is the generation of rivers, and +thou, O father Tiber, with thine holy flood, receive Aeneas and deign to +save him out of danger. What pool soever holds thy source, who pitiest +our discomforts, from whatsoever soil thou dost spring excellent in +beauty, ever shall my worship, ever my gifts frequent thee, the horned +river lord of Hesperian waters. Ah, be thou only by me, and graciously +confirm thy will.' So speaks he, and chooses two galleys from his fleet, +and mans them with rowers, and withal equips a crew with arms. + +And lo! suddenly, ominous and wonderful to tell, the milk-white sow, of +one colour with her white brood, is espied through the forest couched on +the green brink; whom to thee, yes to thee, queenly Juno, good Aeneas +offers in sacrifice, and sets with her offspring before thine altar. All +that night long Tiber assuaged his swelling stream, and silently stayed +his refluent wave, smoothing the surface of his waters to the fashion of +still pool and quiet mere, to spare [90-121]labour to the oar. So they +set out and speed on their way with prosperous cries; the painted fir +slides along the waterway; the waves and unwonted woods marvel at their +far-gleaming shields, and the gay hulls afloat on the river. They +outwear a night and a day in rowing, ascend the long reaches, and pass +under the chequered shadows of the trees, and cut through the green +woodland in the calm water. The fiery sun had climbed midway in the +circle of the sky when they see afar fortress walls and scattered house +roofs, where now the might of Rome hath risen high as heaven; then +Evander held a slender state. Quickly they turn their prows to land and +draw near the town. + +It chanced on that day the Arcadian king paid his accustomed sacrifice +to the great son of Amphitryon and all the gods in a grove before the +city. With him his son Pallas, with him all the chief of his people and +his poor senate were offering incense, and the blood steamed warm at +their altars. When they saw the high ships, saw them glide up between +the shady woodlands and rest on their silent oars, the sudden sight +appals them, and all at once they rise and stop the banquet. Pallas +courageously forbids them to break off the rites; snatching up a spear, +he flies forward, and from a hillock cries afar: 'O men, what cause hath +driven you to explore these unknown ways? or whither do you steer? What +is your kin, whence your habitation? Is it peace or arms you carry +hither?' Then from the lofty stern lord Aeneas thus speaks, stretching +forth in his hand an olive bough of peace-bearing: + +'Thou seest men born of Troy and arms hostile to the Latins, who have +driven us to flight in insolent warfare. We seek Evander; carry this +message, and tell him that chosen men of the Dardanian captains are come +pleading for an armed alliance.' + +Pallas stood amazed at the august name. 'Descend,' [122-154]he cries, +'whoso thou art, and speak with my father face to face, and enter our +home and hospitality.' And giving him the grasp of welcome, he caught +and clung to his hand. Advancing, they enter the grove and leave the +river. Then Aeneas in courteous words addresses the King: + +'Best of the Grecian race, thou whom fortune hath willed that I +supplicate, holding before me boughs dressed in fillets, no fear stayed +me because thou wert a Grecian chief and an Arcadian, or allied by +descent to the twin sons of Atreus. Nay, mine own prowess and the +sanctity of divine oracles, our ancestral kinship, and the fame of thee +that is spread abroad over the earth, have allied me to thee and led me +willingly on the path of fate. Dardanus, who sailed to the Teucrian +land, the first father and founder of the Ilian city, was born, as +Greeks relate, of Electra the Atlantid; Electra's sire is ancient Atlas, +whose shoulder sustains the heavenly spheres. Your father is Mercury, +whom white Maia conceived and bore on the cold summit of Cyllene; but +Maia, if we give any credence to report, is daughter of Atlas, that same +Atlas who bears up the starry heavens; so both our families branch from +a single blood. In this confidence I sent no embassy, I framed no crafty +overtures; myself I have presented mine own person, and come a suppliant +to thy courts. The same Daunian race pursues us and thee in merciless +warfare; we once expelled, they trust nothing will withhold them from +laying all Hesperia wholly beneath their yoke, and holding the seas that +wash it above and below. Accept and return our friendship. We can give +brave hearts in war, high souls and men approved in deeds.' + +Aeneas ended. The other ere now scanned in a long gaze the face and eyes +and all the form of the speaker; then thus briefly returns: + +'How gladly, bravest of the Teucrians, do I hail and [155-188]own thee! +how I recall thy father's words and the very tone and glance of great +Anchises! For I remember how Priam son of Laomedon, when he sought +Salamis on his way to the realm of his sister Hesione, went on to visit +the cold borders of Arcadia. Then early youth clad my cheeks with bloom. +I admired the Teucrian captains, admired their lord, the son of +Laomedon; but Anchises moved high above them all. My heart burned with +youthful passion to accost him and clasp hand in hand; I made my way to +him, and led him eagerly to Pheneus' high town. Departing he gave me an +adorned quiver and Lycian arrows, a scarf inwoven with gold, and a pair +of golden bits that now my Pallas possesses. Therefore my hand is +already joined in the alliance you seek, and soon as to-morrow's dawn +rises again over earth, I will send you away rejoicing in mine aid, and +supply you from my store. Meanwhile, since you are come hither in +friendship, solemnise with us these yearly rites which we may not defer, +and even now learn to be familiar at your comrades' board.' + +This said, he commands the feast and the wine-cups to be replaced whence +they were taken, and with his own hand ranges them on the grassy seat, +and welcomes Aeneas to the place of honour, with a lion's shaggy fell +for cushion and a hospitable chair of maple. Then chosen men with the +priest of the altar in emulous haste bring roasted flesh of bulls, and +pile baskets with the gift of ground corn, and serve the wine. Aeneas +and the men of Troy with him feed on the long chines of oxen and the +entrails of the sacrifice. + +After hunger is driven away and the desire of food stayed, King Evander +speaks: 'No idle superstition that knows not the gods of old hath +ordered these our solemn rites, this customary feast, this altar of +august sanctity; saved from bitter perils, O Trojan guest, do we +worship, and [189-225]most due are the rites we inaugurate. Look now +first on this overhanging cliff of stone, where shattered masses lie +strewn, and the mountain dwelling stands desolate, and rocks are rent +away in vast ruin. Here was a cavern, awful and deep-withdrawn, +impenetrable to the sunbeams, where the monstrous half-human shape of +Cacus had his hold: the ground was ever wet with fresh slaughter, and +pallid faces of men, ghastly with gore, hung nailed on the haughty +doors. This monster was the son of Vulcan, and spouted his black fires +from his mouth as he moved in giant bulk. To us also in our desire time +bore a god's aid and arrival. For princely Alcides the avenger came +glorious in the spoils of triple Geryon slain; this way the Conqueror +drove the huge bulls, and his oxen filled the river valley. But savage +Cacus, infatuate to leave nothing undared or unhandled in craft or +crime, drives four bulls of choice shape away from their pasturage, and +as many heifers of excellent beauty. And these, that there should be no +straightforward footprints, he dragged by the tail into his cavern, the +track of their compelled path reversed, and hid them behind the screen +of rock. No marks were there to lead a seeker to the cavern. Meanwhile +the son of Amphitryon, his herds filled with food, was now breaking up +his pasturage and making ready to go. The oxen low as they depart; all +the woodland is filled with their complaint as they clamorously quit the +hills. One heifer returned the cry, and, lowing from the depth of the +dreary cave, baffled the hope of Cacus from her imprisonment. At this +the grief and choler of Alcides blazed forth dark and infuriate. Seizing +in his hand his club of heavy knotted oak, he seeks with swift pace the +aery mountain steep. Then, as never before, did we see Cacus afraid and +his countenance troubled; he goes flying swifter than the wind and seeks +his cavern; fear wings his feet. As he shut himself in, and, bursting +the [226-260]chains, dropped the vast rock slung in iron by his +father's craft, and blocked the doorway with its pressure, lo! the +Tirynthian came in furious wrath, and, scanning all the entry, turned +his face this way and that and ground his teeth. Thrice, hot with rage, +he circles all Mount Aventine; thrice he assails the rocky portals in +vain; thrice he sinks down outwearied in the valley. There stood a sharp +rock of flint with sides cut sheer away, rising over the cavern's ridge +a vast height to see, fit haunt for foul birds to build on. This--for, +sloping from the ridge, it leaned on the left towards the river--he +loosened, urging it from the right till he tore it loose from its deep +foundations; then suddenly shook it free; with the shock the vast sky +thunders, the banks leap apart, and the amazed river recoils. But the +den, Cacus' huge palace, lay open and revealed, and the depths of gloomy +cavern were made manifest; even as though some force tearing earth apart +should unlock the infernal house, and disclose the pallid realms +abhorred of heaven, and deep down the monstrous gulf be descried where +the ghosts flutter in the streaming daylight. On him then, surprised in +unexpected light, shut in the rock's recesses and howling in strange +fashion, Alcides from above hurls missiles and calls all his arms to +aid, and presses hard on him with boughs and enormous millstones. And +he, for none other escape from peril is left, vomits from his throat +vast jets of smoke, wonderful to tell, and enwreathes his dwelling in +blind gloom, blotting view from the eyes, while in the cave's depth +night thickens with smoke-bursts in a darkness shot with fire. Alcides +broke forth in anger, and with a bound hurled himself sheer amid the +flames, where the smoke rolls billowing and voluminous, and the cloud +surges black through the enormous den. Here, as Cacus in the darkness +spouts forth his idle fires, he grasps and twines tight round him, till +his eyes start out and his throat [261-295]is drained of blood under +the strangling pressure. Straightway the doors are torn open and the +dark house laid plain; the stolen oxen and forsworn plunder are shewn +forth to heaven, and the misshapen carcase dragged forward by the feet. +Men cannot satisfy their soul with gazing on the terrible eyes, the +monstrous face and shaggy bristling chest, and the throat with its +quenched fires. Thenceforth this sacrifice is solemnised, and a younger +race have gladly kept the day; Potitius the inaugurator, and the +Pinarian family, guardians of the rites of Hercules, have set in the +grove this altar, which shall ever be called of us Most Mighty, and +shall be our mightiest evermore. Wherefore arise, O men, and enwreathe +your hair with leafy sprays, and stretch forth the cups in your hands; +call on our common god and pour the glad wine.' He ended; when the +twy-coloured poplar of Hercules hid his shaded hair with pendulous +plaited leaf, and the sacred goblet filled his hand. Speedily all pour +glad libation on the board, and supplicate the gods. + +Meanwhile the evening star draws nigher down the slope of heaven, and +now the priests went forth, Potitius at their head, girt with skins +after their fashion, and bore torches aflame. They renew the banquet, +and bring the grateful gift of a second repast, and heap the altars with +loaded platters. Then the Salii stand round the lit altar-fires to sing, +their brows bound with poplar boughs, one chorus of young men, one of +elders, and extol in song the praises and deeds of Hercules; how first +he strangled in his gripe the twin terrors, the snakes of his +stepmother; how he likewise shattered in war famous cities, Troy and +Oechalia; how under Eurystheus the King he bore the toil of a thousand +labours by Juno's malign decrees. Thine hand, unconquered, slays the +cloud-born double-bodied race, Hylaeus and Pholus, the Cretan monster, +and the huge lion in the hollow Nemean rock. Before thee the Stygian +pools [296-329]shook for fear, before thee the warder of hell, couched +on half-gnawn bones in his blood-stained cavern; to thee not any form +was terrible, not Typhoeus' self towering in arms; thou wast not bereft +of counsel when the snake of Lerna encompassed thee with thronging +heads. Hail, true seed of Jove, deified glory! graciously visit us and +these thy rites with favourable feet. Such are their songs of praise; +they crown all with the cavern of Cacus and its fire-breathing lord. All +the woodland echoes with their clamour, and the hills resound. + +Thence all at once, the sacred rites accomplished, retrace their way to +the city. The age-worn King walked holding Aeneas and his son by his +side for companions on his way, and lightened the road with changing +talk. Aeneas admires and turns his eyes lightly round about, pleased +with the country; and gladly on spot after spot inquires and hears of +the memorials of earlier men. Then King Evander, founder of the fortress +of Rome: + +'In these woodlands dwelt Fauns and Nymphs sprung of the soil, and a +tribe of men born of stocks and hard oak; who had neither law nor grace +of life, nor did they know to yoke bulls or lay up stores or save their +gains, but were nurtured by the forest boughs and the hard living of the +huntsman. Long ago Saturn came from heaven on high in flight before +Jove's arms, an exile from his lost realm. He gathered together the +unruly race scattered on the mountain heights, and gave them statutes, +and chose Latium to be their name, since in these borders he had found a +safe hiding-place. Beneath his reign were the ages named of gold; thus, +in peace and quietness, did he rule the nations; till gradually there +crept in a sunken and stained time, the rage of war, and the lust of +possession. Then came the Ausonian clan and the tribes of Sicania, and +many a time the land of Saturn put away her name. Then were kings, +[330-364]and fierce Thybris with his giant bulk, from whose name we of +Italy afterwards called the Tiber river, when it lost the true name of +old, Albula. Me, cast out from my country and following the utmost +limits of the sea, Fortune the omnipotent and irreversible doom settled +in this region; and my mother the Nymph Carmentis' awful warnings and +Apollo's divine counsel drove me hither.' + +Scarce was this said; next advancing he points out the altar and the +Carmental Gate, which the Romans call anciently by that name in honour +of the Nymph Carmentis, seer and soothsayer, who sang of old the coming +greatness of the Aeneadae and the glory of Pallanteum. Next he points +out the wide grove where valiant Romulus set his sanctuary, and the +Lupercal in the cool hollow of the rock, dedicate to Lycean Pan after +the manner of Parrhasia. Therewithal he shows the holy wood of +Argiletum, and calls the spot to witness as he tells the slaying of his +guest Argus. Hence he leads him to the Tarpeian house, and the Capitol +golden now, of old rough with forest thickets. Even then men trembled +before the wood and rock. 'This grove,' he cries, 'this hill with its +leafy crown, is a god's dwelling, though whose we know not; the +Arcadians believe Jove himself hath been visible, when often he shook +the darkening aegis in his hand and gathered the storm-clouds. Thou +seest these two towns likewise with walls overthrown, relics and +memorials of men of old. This fortress lord Janus built, this Saturn; +the name of this was once Janiculum, of that Saturnia.' + +With such mutual words they drew nigh the house of poor Evander, and saw +scattered herds lowing on the Roman Forum and down the gay Carinae. When +they reached his dwelling, 'This threshold,' he cries, 'Alcides the +Conqueror stooped to cross; in this palace he rested. Dare thou, my +guest, to despise riches; mould thyself to [365-396]like dignity of +godhead, and come not exacting to our poverty.' He spoke, and led tall +Aeneas under the low roof of his narrow dwelling, and laid him on a +couch of stuffed leaves and the skin of a Libyan she-bear. Night falls +and clasps the earth in her dusky wings. + +But Venus, stirred in spirit by no vain mother's alarms, and moved by +the threats and stern uprisal of the Laurentines, addresses herself to +Vulcan, and in her golden bridal chamber begins thus, breathing divine +passion in her speech: + +'While Argolic kings wasted in war the doomed towers of Troy, the +fortress fated to fall in hostile fires, no succour did I require for +her wretched people, no weapons of thine art and aid: nor would I task, +dear my lord, thee or thy toils for naught, though I owed many and many +a debt to the children of Priam, and had often wept the sore labour of +Aeneas. Now by Jove's commands he hath set foot in the Rutulian borders; +I now therefore come with entreaty, and ask armour of the god I worship. +For the son she bore, the tears of Nereus' daughter, of Tithonus' +consort, could melt thine heart. Look what nations are gathering, what +cities bar their gates and sharpen the sword against me for the +desolation of my children.' + +The goddess ended, and, as he hesitates, clasps him round in the soft +embrace of her snowy arms. He suddenly caught the wonted flame, and the +heat known of old pierced him to the heart and overran his melting +frame: even as when, bursting from the thunder peal, a sparkling cleft +of fire shoots through the storm-clouds with dazzling light. His consort +knew, rejoiced in her wiles, and felt her beauty. Then her lord speaks, +enchained by Love the immortal: + +'Why these far-fetched pleas? Whither, O goddess, is thy trust in me +gone? Had like distress been thine, [397-431]even then we might +unblamed have armed thy Trojans, nor did doom nor the Lord omnipotent +forbid Troy to stand, and Priam to survive yet ten other years. And now, +if thou purposest war, and this is thy counsel, whatever charge I can +undertake in my craft, in aught that may be made of iron or molten +electrum, whatever fire and air can do, cease thou to entreat as +doubtful of thy strength.' These words spoken, he clasped his wife in +the desired embrace, and, sinking in her lap, wooed quiet slumber to +overspread his limbs. + +Thereon, so soon as sleep, now in mid-career of waning night, had given +rest and gone; soon as a woman, whose task is to sustain life with her +distaff and the slender labours of the loom, kindles the ashes of her +slumbering fire, her toil encroaching on the night, and sets a long task +of fire-lit spinning to her maidens, that so she may keep her husband's +bed unsullied and nourish her little children,--even so the Lord of +Fire, nor slacker in his hours than she, rises from his soft couch to +the work of his smithy. An island rises by the side of Sicily and +Aeolian Lipare, steep with smoking cliffs, whereunder the vaulted and +thunderous Aetnean caverns are hollowed out for Cyclopean forges, the +strong strokes on the anvils echo in groans, ore of steel hisses in the +vaults, and the fire pants in the furnaces: the house of Vulcan, and +Vulcania the land's name. Hither now the Lord of Fire descends from +heaven's height. In the vast cavern the Cyclopes were forging iron, +Brontes and Steropes and Pyracmon with bared limbs. Shaped in their +hands was a thunderbolt, in part already polished, such as the Father of +Heaven hurls down on earth in multitudes, part yet unfinished. Three +coils of frozen rain, three of watery mist they had enwrought in it, +three of ruddy fire and winged south wind; now they were mingling in +their work the awful splendours, the sound and terror, and the +[432-469]angry pursuing flames. Elsewhere they hurried on a chariot for +Mars with flying wheels, wherewith he stirs up men and cities; and +burnished the golden serpent-scales of the awful aegis, the armour of +wrathful Pallas, and the entwined snakes on the breast of the goddess, +the Gorgon head with severed neck and rolling eyes. 'Away with all!' he +cries: 'stop your tasks unfinished, Cyclopes of Aetna, and attend to +this; a warrior's armour must be made. Now must strength, now quickness +of hand be tried, now all our art lend her guidance. Fling off delay.' +He spoke no more; but they all bent rapidly to the work, allotting their +labours equally. Brass and ore of gold flow in streams, and wounding +steel is molten in the vast furnace. They shape a mighty shield, to +receive singly all the weapons of the Latins, and weld it sevenfold, +circle on circle. Some fill and empty the windy bellows of their blast, +some dip the hissing brass in the trough. They raise their arms mightily +in responsive time, and turn the mass of metal about in the grasp of +their tongs. + +While the lord of Lemnos is busied thus in the borders of Aeolia, +Evander is roused from his low dwelling by the gracious daylight and the +matin songs of birds from the eaves. The old man arises, and draws on +his body raiment, and ties the Tyrrhene shoe latchets about his feet; +then buckles to his side and shoulder his Tegeaean sword, and swathes +himself in a panther skin that droops upon his left. Therewithal two +watch-dogs go before him from the high threshold, and accompany their +master's steps. The hero sought his guest Aeneas in the privacy of his +dwelling, mindful of their talk and his promised bounty. Nor did Aeneas +fail to be astir with the dawn. With the one went his son Pallas, +with the other Achates. They meet and clasp hands, and, sitting down +within the house, at length enjoy unchecked converse. The King begins +thus: . . . + +[470-505]'Princely chief of the Teucrians, in whose lifetime I will +never allow the state or realm of Troy vanquished, our strength is scant +to succour in war for so great a name. On this side the Tuscan river +shuts us in; on that the Rutulian drives us hard, and thunders in arms +about our walls. But I purpose to unite to thee mighty peoples and the +camp of a wealthy realm; an unforeseen chance offers this for thy +salvation. Fate summons thy approach. Not far from here stands fast +Agylla city, an ancient pile of stone, where of old the Lydian race, +eminent in war, settled on the Etruscan ridges. For many years it +flourished, till King Mezentius ruled it with insolent sway and armed +terror. Why should I relate the horrible murders, the savage deeds of +the monarch? May the gods keep them in store for himself and his line! +Nay, he would even link dead bodies to living, fitting hand to hand and +face to face (the torture!), and in the oozy foulness and corruption of +the dreadful embrace so slay them by a lingering death. But at last his +citizens, outwearied by his mad excesses, surround him and his house in +arms, cut down his comrades, and hurl fire on his roof. Amid the +massacre he escaped to the refuge of Rutulian land and the armed defence +of Turnus' friendship. So all Etruria hath risen in righteous fury, and +in immediate battle claim their king for punishment. Over these +thousands will I make thee chief, O Aeneas; for their noisy ships crowd +all the shore, and they bid the standards advance, while the aged +diviner stays them with prophecies: "O chosen men of Maeonia, flower and +strength of them, of old time, whom righteous anger urges on the enemy, +and Mezentius inflames with deserved wrath, to no Italian is it +permitted to hold this great nation in control: choose foreigners to +lead you." At that, terrified by the divine warning, the Etruscan lines +have encamped on the plain; Tarchon himself hath sent ambassadors to me +with the crown [506-539]and sceptre of the kingdom, and offers the +royal attire will I but enter their camp and take the Tyrrhene realm. +But old age, frozen to dulness, and exhausted with length of life, +denies me the load of empire, and my prowess is past its day. I would +urge it on my son, did not the mixture of blood by his Sabellian mother +make this half his native land. Thou, to whose years and race alike the +fates extend their favour, on whom fortune calls, enter thou in, a +leader supreme in bravery over Teucrians and Italians. Mine own Pallas +likewise, our hope and comfort, I will send with thee; let him grow used +to endure warfare and the stern work of battle under thy teaching, to +regard thine actions, and from his earliest years look up to thee. To +him will I give two hundred Arcadian cavalry, the choice of our warlike +strength, and Pallas as many more to thee in his own name.' + +Scarce had he ended; Aeneas, son of Anchises, and trusty Achates gazed +with steadfast face, and, sad at heart, were revolving inly many a +labour, had not the Cytherean sent a sign from the clear sky. For +suddenly a flash and peal comes quivering from heaven, and all seemed in +a moment to totter, and the Tyrrhene trumpet-blast to roar along the +sky. They look up; again and yet again the heavy crash re-echoes. They +see in the serene space of sky armour gleam red through a cloud in the +clear air, and ring clashing out. The others stood in amaze; but the +Trojan hero knew the sound for the promise of his goddess mother; then +he speaks: 'Ask not, O friend, ask not in any wise what fortune this +presage announces; it is I who am summoned of heaven. This sign the +goddess who bore me foretold she would send if war assailed, and would +bring through the air to my succour armour from Vulcan's hands. . . . +Ah, what slaughter awaits the wretched Laurentines! what a price, O +Turnus, wilt thou pay me! how many shields and helmets and brave bodies +of men shalt thou, [540-573]Lord Tiber, roll under thy waves! Let them +call for armed array and break the league!' + +These words uttered, he rises from the high seat, and first wakes with +fresh fire the slumbering altars of Hercules, and gladly draws nigh his +tutelar god of yesternight and the small deities of the household. Alike +Evander, and alike the men of Troy, offer up, as is right, choice sheep +of two years old. Thereafter he goes to the ships and revisits his crew, +of whose company he chooses the foremost in valour to attend him to war; +the rest glide down the water and float idly with the descending stream, +to come with news to Ascanius of his father's state. They give horses to +the Teucrians who seek the fields of Tyrrhenia; a chosen one is brought +for Aeneas, housed in a tawny lion skin that glitters with claws of +gold. Rumour flies suddenly, spreading over the little town, that they +ride in haste to the courts of the Tyrrhene king. Mothers redouble their +prayers in terror, as fear treads closer on peril and the likeness of +the War God looms larger in sight. Then Evander, clasping the hand of +his departing son, clings to him weeping inconsolably, and speaks thus: + +'Oh, if Jupiter would restore me the years that are past, as I was when, +close under Praeneste, I cut down their foremost ranks and burned the +piled shields of the conquered! Then this right hand sent King Erulus +down to hell, though to him at his birth his mother Feronia (awful to +tell) had given three lives and triple arms to wield; thrice must he be +laid low in death; yet then this hand took all his lives and as often +stripped him of his arms. Never should I now, O son, be severed from thy +dear embrace; never had the insolent sword of Mezentius on my borders +dealt so many cruel deaths, widowed the city of so many citizens. But +you, O heavenly powers, and thou, Jupiter, Lord and Governor of Heaven, +have compassion, I pray, on [574-609]the Arcadian king, and hear a +father's prayers. If your deity and decrees keep my Pallas safe for me, +if I live that I may see him and meet him yet, I pray for life; any toil +soever I have patience to endure. But if, O Fortune, thou threatenest +some dread calamity, now, ah now, may I break off a cruel life, while +anxiety still wavers and expectation is in doubt, while thou, dear boy, +my one last delight, art yet clasped in my embrace; let no bitterer +message wound mine ear.' These words the father poured forth at the +final parting; his servants bore him swooning within. + +And now the cavalry had issued from the open gates, Aeneas and trusty +Achates among the foremost, then other of the Trojan princes, Pallas +conspicuous amid the column in scarf and inlaid armour; like the Morning +Star, when, newly washed in the ocean wave, he shews his holy face in +heaven, and melts the darkness away. Fearful mothers stand on the walls +and follow with their eyes the cloud of dust and the squadrons gleaming +in brass. They, where the goal of their way lies nearest, bear through +the brushwood in armed array. Forming in column, they advance noisily, +and the horse hoof shakes the crumbling plain with four-footed +trampling. There is a high grove by the cold river of Caere, widely +revered in ancestral awe; sheltering hills shut it in all about and +girdle the woodland with their dark firs. Rumour is that the old +Pelasgians, who once long ago held the Latin borders, consecrated the +grove and its festal day to Silvanus, god of the tilth and flock. Not +far from it Tarchon and his Tyrrhenians were encamped in a protected +place; and now from the hill-top the tents of all their army might be +seen outspread on the fields. Lord Aeneas and his chosen warriors draw +hither and refresh their weary horses and limbs. + +But Venus the white goddess drew nigh, bearing her gifts through the +clouds of heaven; and when she saw her [610-646]son withdrawn far apart +in the valley's recess by the cold river, cast herself in his way, and +addressed him thus: 'Behold perfected the presents of my husband's +promised craftsmanship: so shalt thou not shun, O my child, soon to +challenge the haughty Laurentines or fiery Turnus to battle.' The +Cytherean spoke, and sought her son's embrace, and laid the armour +glittering under an oak over against him. He, rejoicing in the +magnificence of the goddess' gift, cannot have his fill of turning his +eyes over it piece by piece, and admires and handles between his arms +the helmet, dread with plumes and spouting flame, as when a blue cloud +takes fire in the sunbeams and gleams afar; then the smooth greaves of +electrum and refined gold, the spear, and the shield's ineffable design. +There the Lord of Fire had fashioned the story of Italy and the triumphs +of the Romans, not witless of prophecy or ignorant of the age to be; +there all the race of Ascanius' future seed, and their wars fought one +by one. Likewise had he fashioned the she-wolf couched after the birth +in the green cave of Mars; round her teats the twin boys hung playing, +and fearlessly mouthed their foster-mother; she, with round neck bent +back, stroked them by turns and shaped their bodies with her tongue. +Thereto not far from this he had set Rome and the lawless rape of the +Sabines in the concourse of the theatre when the great Circensian games +were celebrated, and a fresh war suddenly arising between the people of +Romulus and aged Tatius and austere Cures. Next these same kings laid +down their mutual strife and stood armed before Jove's altar with cup in +hand, and joined treaty over a slain sow. Not far from there four-horse +chariots driven apart had torn Mettus asunder (but thou, O Alban, +shouldst have kept by thy words!), and Tullus tore the flesh of the liar +through the forest, his splashed blood dripping from the briars. +Therewithal Porsena commanded [647-681]to admit the exiled Tarquin, and +held the city in the grasp of a strong blockade; the Aeneadae rushed on +the sword for liberty. Him thou couldst espy like one who chafes and +like one who threatens, because Cocles dared to tear down the bridge, +and Cloelia broke her bonds and swam the river. Highest of all Manlius, +warder of the Tarpeian fortress, stood with the temple behind him and +held the high Capitoline; and the thatch of Romulus' palace stood rough +and fresh. And here the silver goose, fluttering in the gilded +colonnades, cried that the Gauls were there on the threshold. The Gauls +were there among the brushwood, hard on the fortress, secure in the +darkness and the dower of shadowy night. Their clustering locks are of +gold, and of gold their attire; their striped cloaks glitter, and their +milk-white necks are entwined with gold. Two Alpine pikes sparkle in the +hand of each, and long shields guard their bodies. Here he had embossed +the dancing Salii and the naked Luperci, the crests wreathed in wool, +and the sacred shields that fell from heaven; in cushioned cars the +virtuous matrons led on their rites through the city. Far hence he adds +the habitations of hell also, the high gates of Dis and the dooms of +guilt; and thee, O Catiline, clinging on the beetling rock, and +shuddering at the faces of the Furies; and far apart the good, and Cato +delivering them statutes. Amidst it all flows wide the likeness of the +swelling sea, wrought in gold, though the foam surged gray upon blue +water; and round about dolphins, in shining silver, swept the seas with +their tails in circle as they cleft the tide. In the centre were visible +the brazen war-fleets of Actium; thou mightest see all Leucate swarm in +embattled array, and the waves gleam with gold. Here Caesar Augustus, +leading Italy to battle with Fathers and People, with gods of household +and of state, stands on the lofty stern; prosperous flames jet round his +brow, and his [682-715]ancestral star dawns overhead. Elsewhere +Agrippa, with favouring winds and gods, proudly leads on his column; on +his brows glitters the prow-girt naval crown, the haughty emblazonment +of the war. Here Antonius with barbarian aid and motley arms, from the +conquered nations of the Dawn and the shore of the southern sea, carries +with him Egypt and the Eastern forces of utmost Bactra, and the shameful +Egyptian woman goes as his consort. All at once rush on, and the whole +ocean is torn into foam by straining oars and triple-pointed prows. They +steer to sea; one might think that the Cyclades were uptorn and floated +on the main, or that lofty mountains clashed with mountains, so mightily +do their crews urge on the turreted ships. Flaming tow and the winged +steel of darts shower thickly from their hands; the fields of ocean +redden with fresh slaughter. Midmost the Queen calls on her squadron +with the timbrel of her country, nor yet casts back a glance on the twin +snakes behind her. Howling Anubis, and gods monstrous and multitudinous, +level their arms against Neptune and Venus and against Minerva; Mars +rages amid the havoc, graven in iron, and the Fatal Sisters hang aloft, +and Discord strides rejoicing with garment rent, and Bellona attends her +with blood-stained scourge. Looking thereon, Actian Apollo above drew +his bow; with the terror of it all Egypt and India, every Arab and +Sabaean, turned back in flight. The Queen herself seemed to call the +winds and spread her sails, and even now let her sheets run slack. Her +the Lord of Fire had fashioned amid the carnage, wan with the shadow of +death, borne along by the waves and the north-west wind; and over +against her the vast bulk of mourning Nile, opening out his folds and +calling with all his raiment the conquered people into his blue lap and +the coverture of his streams. But Caesar rode into the city of Rome in +triple triumph, and dedicated his vowed [716-731]offering to the gods +to stand for ever, three hundred stately shrines all about the city. The +streets were loud with gladness and games and shouting. In all the +temples was a band of matrons, in all were altars, and before the altars +slain steers strewed the ground. Himself he sits on the snowy threshold +of Phoebus the bright, reviews the gifts of the nations and ranges them +on the haughty doors. The conquered tribes move in long line, diverse as +in tongue, so in fashion of dress and armour. Here Mulciber had designed +the Nomad race and the ungirt Africans, here the Leleges and Carians and +archer Gelonians. Euphrates went by now with smoother waves, and the +Morini utmost of men, and the horned Rhine, the untamed Dahae, and +Araxes chafing under his bridge. + +These things he admires on the shield of Vulcan, his mother's gift, and +rejoicing in the portraiture of unknown history, lifts on his shoulder +the destined glories of his children. + + + + +BOOK NINTH + +THE SIEGE OF THE TROJAN CAMP + + +And while thus things pass far in the distance, Juno daughter of Saturn +sent Iris down the sky to gallant Turnus, then haply seated in his +forefather Pilumnus' holy forest dell. To him the child of Thaumas spoke +thus with roseate lips: + +'Turnus, what no god had dared promise to thy prayer, behold, is brought +unasked by the circling day. Aeneas hath quitted town and comrades and +fleet to seek Evander's throne and Palatine dwelling-place. Nor is it +enough; he hath pierced to Corythus' utmost cities, and is mustering in +arms a troop of Lydian rustics. Why hesitate? now, now is the time to +call for chariot and horses. Break through all hindrance and seize the +bewildered camp.' + +She spoke, and rose into the sky on poised wings, and flashed under the +clouds in a long flying bow. He knew her, and lifting either hand to +heaven, with this cry pursued her flight: 'Iris, grace of the sky, who +hath driven thee down the clouds to me and borne thee to earth? Whence +is this sudden sheen of weather? I see the sky parting asunder, and the +wandering stars in the firmament. I follow the high omen, whoso thou art +that callest me to arms.' And with these words he drew nigh the wave, +and [23-58]caught up water from its brimming eddy, making many prayers +to the gods and burdening the air with vows. + +And now all the army was advancing on the open plain, rich in horses, +rich in raiment of broidered gold. Messapus rules the foremost ranks, +the sons of Tyrrheus the rear. Turnus commands the centre: even as +Ganges rising high in silence when his seven streams are still, or the +rich flood of Nile when he ebbs from the plains, and is now sunk into +his channel. On this the Teucrians descry a sudden cloud of dark dust +gathering, and the blackness rising on the plain. Caicus raises a cry +from the mound in front: 'What mass of misty gloom, O citizens, is +rolling hitherward? to arms in haste! serve out weapons, climb the +walls. The enemy approaches, ho!' With mighty clamour the Teucrians pour +in through all the gates and fill the works. For so at his departure +Aeneas the great captain had enjoined; were aught to chance meanwhile, +they should not venture to range their line or trust the plain, but keep +their camp and the safety of the entrenched walls. So, though shame and +wrath beckon them on to battle, they yet bar the gates and do his +bidding, and await the foe armed and in shelter of the towers. Turnus, +who had flown forward in advance of his tardy column, comes up suddenly +to the town with a train of twenty chosen cavalry, borne on a Thracian +horse dappled with white, and covered by a golden helmet with scarlet +plume. 'Who will be with me, my men, to be first on the foe? See!' he +cries; and sends a javelin spinning into the air to open battle, and +advances towering on the plain. His comrades take up the cry, and follow +with dreadful din, wondering at the Teucrians' coward hearts, that they +issue not on even field nor face them in arms, but keep in shelter of +the camp. Hither and thither he rides furiously, tracing the walls, and +seeking entrance where way is none. And as a wolf prowling [59-92]about +some crowded sheepfold, when, beaten sore of winds and rains, he howls +at the pens by midnight; safe beneath their mothers the lambs keep +bleating on; he, savage and insatiate, rages in anger against the flock +he cannot reach, tired by the long-gathering madness for food, and the +throat unslaked with blood: even so the Rutulian, as he gazes on the +walled camp, kindles in anger, and indignation is hot in his iron frame. +By what means may he essay entrance? by what passage hurl the imprisoned +Trojans from the rampart and fling them on the plain? Close under the +flanking camp lay the fleet, fenced about with mounds and the waters of +the river; it he attacks, and calls for fire to his exultant comrades, +and eagerly catches a blazing pine-torch in his hand. Then indeed they +press on, quickened by Turnus' presence, and all the band arm them with +black faggots. The hearth-fires are plundered; the smoky brand trails a +resinous glare, and the Fire-god sends clouds of glowing ashes upward. + +What god, O Muses, guarded the Trojans from the rage of the fire? who +repelled the fierce flame from their ships? Tell it; ancient is the +assurance thereof, but the fame everlasting. What time Aeneas began to +shape his fleet on Phrygian Ida, and prepared to seek the high seas, the +Berecyntian, they say, the very Mother of gods, spoke to high Jove in +these words: 'Grant, O son, to my prayer, what her dearness claims who +bore thee and laid Olympus under thy feet. My pine forest beloved of me +these many years, my grove was on the mountain's crown, whither men bore +my holy things, dim with dusky pine and pillared maples. These, when he +required a fleet, I gave gladly to the Dardanian; now fear wrings me +with sharp distress. Relieve my terrors, and grant a mother's prayers +such power that they may yield to no stress of voyaging or of stormy +gust: be birth on our hills their avail.' + +[93-126]Thus her son in answer, who wheels the starry worlds: 'O +mother, whither callest thou fate? or what dost thou seek for these of +thine? May hulls have the right of immortality that were fashioned by +mortal hand? and may Aeneas traverse perils secure in insecurity? To +what god is power so great given? Nay, but when, their duty done, they +shall lie at last in their Ausonian haven, from all that have outgone +the waves and borne their Dardanian captain to the fields of Laurentum, +will I take their mortal body, and bid them be goddesses of the mighty +deep, even as Doto the Nereid and Galatea, when they cut the sea that +falls away from their breasts in foam.' He ended; and by his brother's +Stygian streams, by the banks of the pitchy black-boiling chasm he +nodded confirmation, and shook all Olympus with his nod. + +So the promised day was come, and the destinies had fulfilled their due +time, when Turnus' injury stirred the Mother to ward the brands from her +holy ships. First then a strange light flashed on all eyes, and a great +glory from the Dawn seemed to dart over the sky, with the choirs of Ida; +then an awful voice fell through air, filling the Trojan and Rutulian +ranks: 'Disquiet not yourselves, O Teucrians, to guard ships of mine, +neither arm your hands: sooner shall Turnus burn the seas than these +holy pines. You, go free; go, goddesses of the sea; the Mother bids it.' +And immediately each ship breaks the bond that held it, as with dipping +prows they plunge like dolphins deep into the water: from it again (O +wonderful and strange!) they rise with maidens' faces in like number, +and bear out to sea. + +The Rutulians stood dumb: Messapus himself is terror-stricken among his +disordered cavalry; even the stream of Tiber pauses with hoarse murmur, +and recoils from sea. But bold Turnus fails not a whit in confidence; +nay, he [127-158]raises their courage with words, nay, he chides them: +'On the Trojans are these portents aimed; Jupiter himself hath bereft +them of their wonted succour; nor do they abide Rutulian sword and fire. +So are the seas pathless for the Teucrians, nor is there any hope in +flight; they have lost half their world. And we hold the land: in all +their thousands the nations of Italy are under arms. In no wise am I +dismayed by those divine oracles of doom the Phrygians insolently +advance. Fate and Venus are satisfied, in that the Trojans have touched +our fruitful Ausonian fields. I too have my fate in reply to theirs, to +put utterly to the sword the guilty nation who have robbed me of my +bride; not the sons of Atreus alone are touched by that pain, nor may +Mycenae only rise in arms. But to have perished once is enough! To have +sinned once should have been enough, in all but utter hatred of the +whole of womankind. Trust in the sundering rampart, and the hindrance of +their trenches, so little between them and death, gives these their +courage: yet have they not seen Troy town, the work of Neptune's hand, +sink into fire? But you, my chosen, who of you makes ready to breach +their palisade at the sword's point, and join my attack on their +fluttered camp? I have no need of Vulcanian arms, of a thousand ships, +to meet the Teucrians. All Etruria may join on with them in alliance: +nor let them fear the darkness, and the cowardly theft of their +Palladium, and the guards cut down on the fortress height. Nor will we +hide ourselves unseen in a horse's belly; in daylight and unconcealed +are we resolved to girdle their walls with flame. Not with Grecians will +I make them think they have to do, nor a Pelasgic force kept off till +the tenth year by Hector. Now, since the better part of day is spent, +for what remains refresh your bodies, glad that we have done so well, +and expect the order of battle.' + +[159-192]Meanwhile charge is given to Messapus to blockade the gates +with pickets of sentries, and encircle the works with watchfires. Twice +seven are chosen to guard the walls with Rutulian soldiery; but each +leads an hundred men, crimson-plumed and sparkling in gold. They spread +themselves about and keep alternate watch, and, lying along the grass, +drink deep and set brazen bowls atilt. The fires glow, and the sentinels +spend the night awake in games. . . . + +Down on this the Trojans look forth from the rampart, as they hold the +height in arms; withal in fearful haste they try the gates and lay +gangways from bastion to bastion, and bring up missiles. Mnestheus and +valiant Serestus speed the work, whom lord Aeneas appointed, should +misfortune call, to be rulers of the people and governors of the state. +All their battalions, sharing the lot of peril, keep watch along the +walls, and take alternate charge of all that requires defence. + +On guard at the gate was Nisus son of Hyrtacus, most valiant in arms, +whom Ida the huntress had sent in Aeneas' company with fleet javelin and +light arrows; and by his side Euryalus, fairest of all the Aeneadae and +the wearers of Trojan arms, showing on his unshaven boy's face the first +bloom of youth. These two were one in affection, and charged in battle +together; now likewise their common guard kept the gate. Nisus cries: +'Lend the gods this fervour to the soul, Euryalus? or does fatal passion +become a proper god to each? Long ere now my soul is restless to begin +some great deed of arms, and quiet peace delights it not. Thou seest how +confident in fortune the Rutulians stand. Their lights glimmer far +apart; buried in drunken sleep they have sunk to rest; silence stretches +all about. Learn then what doubt, what purpose, now rises in my spirit. +People and senate, they all cry that Aeneas [193-226]be summoned, and +men be sent to carry him tidings. If they promise what I ask in thy +name--for to me the glory of the deed is enough--methinks I can find +beneath yonder hillock a path to the walls of Pallanteum town.' + +Euryalus stood fixed, struck through with high ambition, and therewith +speaks thus to his fervid friend: 'Dost thou shun me then, Nisus, to +share thy company in highest deeds? shall I send thee alone into so +great perils? Not thus did my warrior father Opheltes rear and nurture +me amid the Argive terror and the agony of Troy, nor thus have I borne +myself by thy side while following noble Aeneas to his utmost fate. Here +is a spirit, yes here, that scorns the light of day, that deems lightly +bought at a life's price that honour to which thou dost aspire.' + +To this Nisus: 'Assuredly I had no such fear of thee; no, nor could I; +so may great Jupiter, or whoso looks on earth with equal eyes, restore +me to thee triumphant. But if haply--as thou seest often and often in so +forlorn a hope--if haply chance or deity sweep me to adverse doom, I +would have thee survive; thine age is worthier to live. Be there one to +commit me duly to earth, rescued or ransomed from the battlefield: or, +if fortune deny that, to pay me far away the rites of funeral and the +grace of a tomb. Neither would I bring such pain on thy poor mother, she +who singly of many matrons hath dared to follow her boy to the end, and +slights great Acestes' city.' + +And he: 'In vain dost thou string idle reasons; nor does my purpose +yield or change its place so soon. Let us make haste.' He speaks, and +rouses the watch; they come up, and relieve the guard; quitting their +post, he and Nisus stride on to seek the prince. + +The rest of living things over all lands were soothing their cares in +sleep, and their hearts forgot their pain; the foremost Trojan captains, +a chosen band, held council [227-261]of state upon the kingdom; what +should they do, or who would now be their messenger to Aeneas? They +stand, leaning on their long spears and grasping their shields, in mid +level of the camp. Then Nisus and Euryalus together pray with quick +urgency to be given audience; their matter is weighty and will be worth +the delay. Iuelus at once heard their hurried plea, and bade Nisus speak. +Thereon the son of Hyrtacus: 'Hear, O people of Aeneas, with favourable +mind, nor regard our years in what we offer. Sunk in sleep and wine, the +Rutulians are silent; we have stealthily spied the open ground that lies +in the path through the gate next the sea. The line of fires is broken, +and their smoke rises darkly upwards. If you allow us to use the chance +towards seeking Aeneas in Pallanteum town, you will soon descry us here +at hand with the spoils of the great slaughter we have dealt. Nor shall +we miss the way we go; up the dim valleys we have seen the skirts of the +town, and learned all the river in continual hunting.' + +Thereon aged Aletes, sage in counsel: 'Gods of our fathers, under whose +deity Troy ever stands, not wholly yet do you purpose to blot out the +Trojan race, when you have brought us young honour and hearts so sure as +this.' So speaking, he caught both by shoulder and hand, with tears +showering down over face and feature. 'What guerdon shall I deem may be +given you, O men, what recompense for these noble deeds? First and +fairest shall be your reward from the gods and your own conduct; and +Aeneas the good shall speedily repay the rest, and Ascanius' fresh youth +never forget so great a service.'--'Nay,' breaks in Ascanius, 'I whose +sole safety is in my father's return, I adjure thee and him, O Nisus, by +our great household gods, by the tutelar spirit of Assaracus and hoar +Vesta's sanctuary--on your knees I lay all my fortune and trust--recall +my father; [262-296]give him back to sight; all sorrow disappears in +his recovery. I will give a pair of cups my father took in vanquished +Arisba, wrought in silver and rough with tracery, twin tripods, and two +large talents of gold, and an ancient bowl of Sidonian Dido's giving. If +it be indeed our lot to possess Italy and grasp a conquering sceptre, +and to assign the spoil; thou sawest the horse and armour of Turnus as +he went all in gold; that same horse, the shield and the ruddy plume, +will I reserve from partition, thy reward, O Nisus, even from now. My +father will give besides twelve mothers of the choicest beauty, and men +captives, all in their due array; above these, the space of meadow-land +that is now King Latinus' own domain. Thee, O noble boy, whom mine age +follows at a nearer interval, even now I welcome to all my heart, and +embrace as my companion in every fortune. No glory shall be sought for +my state without thee; whether peace or war be in conduct, my chiefest +trust for deed and word shall be in thee.' + +Answering whom Euryalus speaks thus: 'Let but the day never come to +prove me degenerate from this daring valour; fortune may fall prosperous +or adverse. But above all thy gifts, one thing I ask of thee. My poor +mother of Priam's ancient race, whom neither the Ilian land nor King +Acestes' city kept from following me forth, her I now leave in ignorance +of this danger, such as it is, and without a farewell, because--night +and thine hand be witness!--I cannot bear a parent's tears. But thou, I +pray, support her want and relieve her loneliness. Let me take with me +this hope in thee, I shall go more daringly to every fortune.' Deeply +stirred at heart, the Dardanians shed tears, fair Iuelus before them all, +as the likeness of his own father's love wrung his soul. Then he speaks +thus: . . . 'Assure thyself all that is due to thy mighty enterprise; +[297-330]for she shall be a mother to me, and only in name fail to be +Creuesa; nor slight is the honour reserved for the mother of such a son. +What chance soever follow this deed, I swear by this head whereby my +father was wont to swear, what I promise to thee on thy prosperous +return shall abide the same for thy mother and kindred.' So speaks he +weeping, and ungirds from his shoulder the sword inlaid with gold, +fashioned with marvellous skill by Lycaon of Gnosus and fitly set in a +sheath of ivory. Mnestheus gives Nisus the shaggy spoils of a lion's +hide; faithful Aletes exchanges his helmet. They advance onward in arms, +and as they go all the company of captains, young and old, speed them to +the gates with vows. Likewise fair Iuelus, with a man's thought and a +spirit beyond his years, gave many messages to be carried to his father. +But the breezes shred all asunder and give them unaccomplished to the +clouds. + +They issue and cross the trenches, and through the shadow of night seek +the fatal camp, themselves first to be the death of many a man. All +about they see bodies strewn along the grass in drunken sleep, chariots +atilt on the shore, the men lying among their traces and wheels, with +their armour by them, and their wine. The son of Hyrtacus began thus: +'Euryalus, now for daring hands; all invites them; here lies our way; +see thou that none raise a hand from behind against us, and keep +far-sighted watch. Here will I deal desolation, and make a broad path +for thee to follow.' So speaks he and checks his voice; therewith he +drives his sword at lordly Rhamnes, who haply on carpets heaped high was +drawing the full breath of sleep; a king himself, and King Turnus' +best-beloved augur, but not all his augury could avert his doom. Three +of his household beside him, lying carelessly among their arms, and the +armour-bearer and charioteer of Remus go [331-364]down before him, +caught at the horses' feet. Their drooping necks he severs with the +sword, then beheads their lord likewise and leaves the trunk spouting +blood; the dark warm gore soaks ground and cushions. Therewithal Lamyrus +and Lamus, and beautiful young Serranus, who that night had played long +and late, and lay with the conquering god heavy on every limb; happy, +had he played out the night, and carried his game to day! Even thus an +unfed lion riots through full sheepfolds, for the madness of hunger +urges him, and champs and rends the fleecy flock that are dumb with +fear, and roars with blood-stained mouth. Nor less is the slaughter of +Euryalus; he too rages all aflame; an unnamed multitude go down before +his path, and Fadus and Herbesus and Rhoetus and Abaris, unaware; +Rhoetus awake and seeing all, but he hid in fear behind a great bowl; +right in whose breast, as he rose close by, he plunged the sword all its +length, and drew it back heavy with death. He vomits forth the crimson +life-blood, and throws up wine mixed with blood in the death agony. The +other presses hotly on his stealthy errand, and now bent his way towards +Messapus' comrades, where he saw the last flicker of the fires go down, +and the horses tethered in order cropping the grass; when Nisus briefly +speaks thus, for he saw him carried away by excess of murderous desire; +'Let us stop; for unfriendly daylight draws nigh. Vengeance is sated to +the full; a path is cut through the enemy.' Much they leave behind, +men's armour wrought in solid silver, and bowls therewith, and beautiful +carpets. Euryalus tears away the decorations of Rhamnes and his +sword-belt embossed with gold, a gift which Caedicus, wealthiest of men +of old, sends to Remulus of Tibur when plighting friendship far away; he +on his death-bed gives them to his grandson for his own; after his death +the Rutulians captured them as spoil of war; these he fits on the +shoulders valiant [365-396]in vain, then puts on Messapus' light helmet +with its graceful plumes. They issue from the camp and make for safety. + +Meanwhile an advanced guard of cavalry were on their way from the Latin +city, while the rest of their marshalled battalions linger on the +plains, and bore a reply to King Turnus; three hundred men all under +shield, in Volscens' leading. And now they approached the camp and drew +near the wall, when they descry the two turning away by the pathway to +the left; and in the glimmering darkness of night the forgotten helmet +betrayed Euryalus, glittering as it met the light. It seemed no thing of +chance. Volscens cries aloud from his column: 'Stand, men! why on the +march, or how are you in arms? or whither hold you your way?' They offer +nothing in reply, but quicken their flight into the forest, and throw +themselves on the night. On this side and that the horsemen bar the +familiar crossways, and encircle every outlet with sentinels. The forest +spread wide in tangled thickets and dark ilex; thick growth of briars +choked it all about, and the muffled pathway glimmered in a broken +track. Hampered by the shadowy boughs and his cumbrous spoil, Euryalus +in his fright misses the line of way. Nisus gets clear; and now +unthinkingly he had passed the enemy, and the place afterwards called +Albani from Alba's name; then the deep coverts were of King Latinus' +domain; when he stopped, and looked back in vain for his lost friend. +'Euryalus, unhappy! on what ground have I left thee? or where shall I +follow, again unwinding all the entanglement of the treacherous woodland +way?' Therewith he marks and retraces his footsteps, and wanders down +the silent thickets. He hears the horses, hears the clatter and +signal-notes of the pursuers. Nor had he long to wait, when shouts reach +his ears, and he sees Euryalus, whom even now, in the perplexity of +ground and [397-431]darkness, the whole squadron have borne down in a +sudden rush, and seize in spite of all his vain struggles. What shall he +do? with what force, what arms dare his rescue? or shall he rush on his +doom amid their swords, and find in their wounds a speedy and glorious +death? Quickly he draws back his arm with poised spear, and looking up +to the moon on high, utters this prayer: 'Do thou give present aid to +our enterprise, O Latonian goddess, glory of the stars and guardian of +the woodlands: by all the gifts my father Hyrtacus ever bore for my sake +to thine altars, by all mine own hand hath added from my hunting, or +hung in thy dome, or fixed on thy holy roof, grant me to confound these +masses, and guide my javelin through the air.' He ended, and with all +the force of his body hurls the steel. The flying spear whistles through +the darkness of the night, and comes full on the shield of Sulmo, and +there snaps, and the broken shaft passes on through his heart. Spouting +a warm tide from his breast he rolls over chill in death, and his sides +throb with long-drawn gasps. Hither and thither they gaze round. Lo, he +all the fiercer was poising another weapon high by his ear; while they +hesitate, the spear went whizzing through both Tagus' temples, and +pierced and stuck fast in the warm brain. Volscens is mad with rage, and +nowhere espies the sender of the weapon, nor where to direct his fury. +'Yet meanwhile thy warm blood shalt pay me vengeance for both,' he +cries; and unsheathing his sword, he made at Euryalus. Then indeed +frantic with terror Nisus shrieks out; no longer could he shroud himself +in darkness or endure such agony. 'On me, on me, I am here, I did it, on +me turn your steel, O Rutulians! Mine is all the guilt; he dared not, +no, nor could not; to this heaven I appeal and the stars that know; he +only loved his hapless friend too well.' Such words he was uttering; but +the sword driven hard home is gone [432-464]clean through his ribs and +pierces the white breast. Euryalus rolls over in death, and the blood +runs over his lovely limbs, and his neck sinks and settles on his +shoulder; even as when a lustrous flower cut away by the plough droops +in death, or weary-necked poppies bow down their head if overweighted +with a random shower. But Nisus rushes amidst them, and alone among them +all makes at Volscens, keeps to Volscens alone: round him the foe +cluster, and on this side and that hurl him back: none the less he +presses on, and whirls his sword like lightning, till he plunges it full +in the face of the shrieking Rutulian, and slays his enemy as he dies. +Then, stabbed through and through, he flung himself above his lifeless +friend, and there at last found the quiet sleep of death. + +Happy pair! if my verse is aught of avail, no length of days shall ever +blot you from the memory of time, while the house of Aeneas shall dwell +by the Capitoline's stedfast stone, and the lord of Rome hold +sovereignty. + +The victorious Rutulians, with their spoils and the plunder regained, +bore dead Volscens weeping to the camp. Nor in the camp was the wailing +less, when Rhamnes was found a bloodless corpse, and Serranus and Numa +and all their princes destroyed in a single slaughter. Crowds throng +towards the corpses and the men wounded to death, the ground fresh with +warm slaughter and the swoln runlets of frothing blood. They mutually +recognise the spoils, Messapus' shining helmet and the decorations that +cost such sweat to win back. + +And now Dawn, leaving the saffron bed of Tithonus, scattered over earth +her fresh shafts of early light; now the sunlight streams in, now +daylight unveils the world. Turnus, himself fully armed, awakes his men +to arms, and each leader marshals to battle his brazen lines and whets +their ardour with varying rumours. Nay, pitiable sight! they +[465-499]fix on spear-points and uprear and follow with loud shouts the +heads of Euryalus and Nisus. . . . The Aeneadae stubbornly face them, +lining the left hand wall (for their right is girdled by the river), +hold the deep trenches and stand gloomily on the high towers, stirred +withal by the faces they know, alas, too well, in their dark dripping +gore. Meanwhile Rumour on fluttering wings rushes with the news through +the alarmed town and glides to the ears of Euryalus' mother. But +instantly the warmth leaves her woeful body, the shuttle starts from her +hand and the threads unroll. She darts forth in agony, and with woman's +wailing and torn hair runs distractedly towards the walls and the +foremost columns, recking naught of men, naught of peril or weapons; +thereon she fills the air with her complaint: 'Is it thus I behold thee, +O Euryalus? Couldst thou, the latest solace of mine age, leave me alone +so cruelly? nor when sent into such danger was one last word of thee +allowed thine unhappy mother? Alas, thou liest in a strange land, given +for a prey to the dogs and fowls of Latium! nor was I, thy mother, there +for chief mourner, to lay thee out or close thine eyes or wash thy +wounds, and cover thee with the garment I hastened on for thee whole +nights and days, an anxious old woman taking comfort from the loom. +Whither shall I follow? or what land now holds thy mangled corpse, thy +body torn limb from limb? Is this all of what thou wert that returns to +me, O my son? is it this I have followed by land and sea? Strike me +through of your pity, on me cast all your weapons, Rutulians; make me +the first sacrifice of your steel. Or do thou, mighty lord of heaven, be +merciful, and with thine own weapon hurl this hateful life to the nether +deep, since in no wise else may I break away from life's cruelty.' At +this weeping cry their courage falters, and a sigh of sorrow passes all +along; their strength is benumbed and broken for battle. Her, while +[500-535]her grief kindled, at Ilioneus' and weeping Iuelus' bidding +Idaeus and Actor catch up and carry home in their arms. + +But the terrible trumpet-note afar rang on the shrill brass; a shout +follows, and is echoed from the sky. The Volscians hasten up in even +line under their advancing roof of shields, and set to fill up the +trenches and tear down the palisades. Some seek entrance by scaling the +walls with ladders, where the defenders' battle-line is thin, and light +shows through gaps in the ring of men. The Teucrians in return shower +weapons of every sort, and push them down with stiff poles, practised by +long warfare in their ramparts' defence: and fiercely hurl heavy stones, +so be they may break the shielded line; while they, crowded under their +shell, lightly bear all the downpour. But now they fail; for where the +vast mass presses close, the Teucrians roll a huge block tumbling down +that makes a wide gap in the Rutulians and crashes through their +armour-plating. Nor do the bold Rutulians care longer to continue the +blind fight, but strive to clear the rampart with missiles. . . . +Elsewhere in dreadful guise Mezentius brandishes his Etruscan pine and +hurls smoking brands; but Messapus, tamer of horses, seed of Neptune, +tears away the palisading and calls for ladders to the ramparts. + +Thy sisterhood, O Calliope, I pray inspire me while I sing the +destruction spread then and there by Turnus' sword, the deaths dealt +from his hand, and whom each warrior sent down to the under world; and +unroll with me the broad borders of war. + +A tower loomed vast with lofty gangways at a point of vantage; this all +the Italians strove with main strength to storm, and set all their might +and device to overthrow it; the Trojans in return defended it with +stones and hurled showers of darts through the loopholes. Turnus, +leading the attack, threw a blazing torch that caught flaming on the +[536-570]side wall; swoln by the wind, the flame seized the planking +and clung devouring to the standards. Those within, in hurry and +confusion, desire retreat from their distress; in vain; while they +cluster together and fall back to the side free from the destroyer, the +tower sinks prone under the sudden weight with a crash that thunders +through all the sky. Pierced by their own weapons, and impaled on hard +splinters of wood, they come half slain to the ground with the vast mass +behind them. Scarcely do Helenor alone and Lycus struggle out; Helenor +in his early prime, whom a slave woman of Licymnos bore in secret to the +Maeonian king, and sent to Troy in forbidden weapons, lightly armed with +sheathless sword and white unemblazoned shield. And he, when he saw +himself among Turnus' encircling thousands, ranks on this side and ranks +on this of Latins, as a wild beast which, girt with a crowded ring of +hunters, dashes at their weapons, hurls herself unblinded on death, and +comes with a bound upon the spears; even so he rushes to his death amid +the enemy, and presses on where he sees their weapons thickest. But +Lycus, far fleeter of foot, holds by the walls in flight midway among +foes and arms, and strives to catch the coping in his grasp and reach +the hands of his comrades. And Turnus pursuing and aiming as he ran, +thus upbraids him in triumph: 'Didst thou hope, madman, thou mightest +escape our hands?' and catches him as he clings, and tears him and a +great piece of the wall away: as when, with a hare or snowy-bodied swan +in his crooked talons, Jove's armour-bearer soars aloft, or the wolf of +Mars snatches from the folds some lamb sought of his mother with +incessant bleating. On all sides a shout goes up. They advance and fill +the trenches with heaps of earth; some toss glowing brands on the roofs. +Ilioneus strikes down Lucetius with a great fragment of mountain rock +as, carrying fire, he draws [571-606]nigh the gate. Liger slays +Emathion, Asylas Corinaeus, the one skilled with the javelin, the other +with the stealthy arrow from afar. Caeneus slays Ortygius; Turnus +victorious Caeneus; Turnus Itys and Clonius, Dioxippus, and Promolus, +and Sagaris, and Idas where he stood in front of the turret top; Capys +Privernus: him Themillas' spear had first grazed lightly; the madman +threw down his shield to carry his hand to the wound; so the arrow +winged her way, and pinning his hand to his left side, broke into the +lungs with deadly wound. The son of Arcens stood splendid in arms, and +scarf embroidered with needlework and bright with Iberian blue, the +beautiful boy sent by his father Arcens from nurture in the grove of our +Lady about the streams of Symaethus, where Palicus' altar is rich and +gracious. Laying down his spear, Mezentius whirled thrice round his head +the tightened cord of his whistling sling, pierced him full between the +temples with the molten bullet, and stretched him all his length upon +the sand. + +Then, it is said, Ascanius first aimed his flying shaft in war, wont +before to frighten beasts of the chase, and struck down a brave +Numanian, Remulus by name, but lately allied in bridal to Turnus' +younger sister. He advancing before his ranks clamoured things fit and +unfit to tell, and strode along lofty and voluble, his heart lifted up +with his fresh royalty. + +'Take you not shame to be again held leaguered in your ramparts, O +Phrygians twice taken, and to make walls your fence from death? Behold +them who demand in war our wives for theirs! What god, what madness, +hath driven you to Italy? Here are no sons of Atreus nor glozing +Ulysses. A race of hardy breed, we carry our newborn children to the +streams and harden them in the bitter icy water; as boys they spend +wakeful nights over the chase, and tire out the woodland; but in +manhood, [607-639]unwearied by toil and trained to poverty, they subdue +the soil with their mattocks, or shake towns in war. Every age wears +iron, and we goad the flanks of our oxen with reversed spear; nor does +creeping old age weaken our strength of spirit or abate our force. White +hairs bear the weight of the helmet; and it is ever our delight to drive +in fresh spoil and live on our plunder. Yours is embroidered raiment of +saffron and shining sea-purple. Indolence is your pleasure, your delight +the luxurious dance; you wear sleeved tunics and ribboned turbans. O +right Phrygian women, not even Phrygian men! traverse the heights of +Dindymus, where the double-mouthed flute breathes familiar music. The +drums call you, and the Berecyntian boxwood of the mother of Ida; leave +arms to men, and lay down the sword.' + +As he flung forth such words of ill-ominous strain, Ascanius brooked it +not, and aimed an arrow on him from the stretched horse sinew; and as he +drew his arms asunder, first stayed to supplicate Jove in lowly vows: +'Jupiter omnipotent, deign to favour this daring deed. My hands shall +bear yearly gifts to thee in thy temple, and bring to stand before thine +altars a steer with gilded forehead, snow-white, carrying his head high +as his mother's, already pushing with his horn and making the sand fly +up under his feet.' The Father heard and from a clear space of sky +thundered on the left; at once the fated bow rings, the grim-whistling +arrow flies from the tense string, and goes through the head of Remulus, +the steel piercing through from temple to temple. 'Go, mock valour with +insolence of speech! Phrygians twice taken return this answer to +Rutulians.' Thus and no further Ascanius; the Teucrians respond in +cheers, and shout for joy in rising height of courage. Then haply in the +tract of heaven tressed Apollo sate looking down from his cloud on the +[640-673]Ausonian ranks and town, and thus addresses triumphant Iuelus: +'Good speed to thy young valour, O boy! this is the way to heaven, child +of gods and parent of gods to be! Rightly shall all wars fated to come +sink to peace beneath the line of Assaracus; nor art thou bounded in a +Troy.' So speaking, he darts from heaven's height, and cleaving the +breezy air, seeks Ascanius. Then he changes the fashion of his +countenance, and becomes aged Butes, armour-bearer of old to Dardanian +Anchises, and the faithful porter of his threshold; thereafter his lord +gave him for Ascanius' attendant. In all points like the old man Apollo +came, voice and colour, white hair, and grimly clashing arms, and speaks +these words to eager Iuelus: + +'Be it enough, son of Aeneas, that the Numanian hath fallen unavenged +beneath thine arrows; this first honour great Apollo allows thee, nor +envies the arms that match his own. Further, O boy, let war alone.' Thus +Apollo began, and yet speaking retreated from mortal view, vanishing +into thin air away out of their eyes. The Dardanian princes knew the god +and the arms of deity, and heard the clash of his quiver as he went. So +they restrain Ascanius' keenness for battle by the words of Phoebus' +will; themselves they again close in conflict, and cast their lives into +the perilous breach. Shouts run all along the battlemented walls; +ringing bows are drawn and javelin thongs twisted: all the ground is +strewn with missiles. Shields and hollow helmets ring to blows; the +battle swells fierce; heavy as the shower lashes the ground that sets in +when the Kids are rainy in the West; thick as hail pours down from +storm-clouds on the shallows, when the rough lord of the winds congeals +his watery deluge and breaks up the hollow vapours in the sky. + +Pandarus and Bitias, sprung of Alcanor of Ida, whom woodland Iaera bore +in the grove of Jupiter, grown now [674-709]tall as their ancestral +pines and hills, fling open the gates barred by their captain's order, +and confident in arms, wilfully invite the enemy within the walls. +Themselves within they stand to right and left in front of the towers, +sheathed in iron, the plumes flickering over their stately heads: even +as high in air around the gliding streams, whether on Padus' banks or by +pleasant Athesis, twin oaks rise lifting their unshorn heads into the +sky with high tops asway. The Rutulians pour in when they see the +entrance open. Straightway Quercens and Aquicolus beautiful in arms, and +desperate Tmarus, and Haemon, seed of Mars, either gave back in rout +with all their columns, or in the very gateway laid down their life. +Then the spirits of the combatants swell in rising wrath, and now the +Trojans gather swarming to the spot, and dare to close hand to hand and +to sally farther out. + +News is brought to Turnus the captain, as he rages afar among the routed +foe, that the enemy surges forth into fresh slaughter and flings wide +his gates. He breaks off unfinished, and, fired with immense anger, +rushes towards the haughty brethren at the Dardanian gate. And on +Antiphates first, for first he came, the bastard son of mighty Sarpedon +by a Theban mother, he hurls his javelin and strikes him down; the +Italian cornel flies through the yielding air, and, piercing the gullet, +runs deep into his breast; a frothing tide pours from the dark yawning +wound, and the steel grows warm where it pierces the lung. Then Meropes +and Erymas, then Aphidnus goes down before his hand; then Bitias, +fiery-eyed and exultant, not with a javelin; for not to a javelin had he +given his life; but the loud-whistling pike came hurled with a +thunderbolt's force; neither twofold bull's hide kept it back, nor the +trusty corslet's double scales of gold: his vast limbs sink in a heap; +earth utters a groan, and the great shield clashes [710-745]over him: +even as once and again on the Euboic shore of Baiae falls a mass of +stone, built up of great blocks and so cast into the sea; thus does it +tumble prone, crashes into the shoal water and sinks deep to rest; the +seas are stirred, and the dark sand eddies up; therewith the depth of +Prochyta quivers at the sound, and the couchant rocks of Inarime, piled +above Typhoeus by Jove's commands. + +On this Mars armipotent raised the spirit and strength of the Latins, +and goaded their hearts to rage, and sent Flight and dark Fear among the +Teucrians. From all quarters they gather, since battle is freely +offered; and the warrior god inspires. . . . Pandarus, at his brother's +fall, sees how fortune stands, what hap rules the day; and swinging the +gate round on its hinge with all his force, pushes it to with his broad +shoulders, leaving many of his own people shut outside the walls in the +desperate conflict, but shutting others in with him as they pour back in +retreat. Madman! who saw not the Rutulian prince burst in amid their +columns, and fairly shut him into the town, like a monstrous tiger among +the silly flocks. At once strange light flashed from his eyes, and his +armour rang terribly; the blood-red plumes flicker on his head, and +lightnings shoot sparkling from his shield. In sudden dismay the +Aeneadae know the hated form and giant limbs. Then tall Pandarus leaps +forward, in burning rage at his brother's death: 'This is not the palace +of Amata's dower,' he cries, 'nor does Ardea enclose Turnus in her +native walls. Thou seest a hostile camp; escape hence is hopeless.' To +him Turnus, smiling and cool: 'Begin with all thy valiance, and close +hand to hand; here too shalt thou tell that a Priam found his Achilles.' +He ended; the other, putting out all his strength, hurls his rough +spear, knotty and unpeeled. The breezes caught it; Juno, daughter of +Saturn, [746-780]made the wound glance off as it came, and the spear +sticks fast in the gate. 'But this weapon that my strong hand whirls, +this thou shalt not escape; for not such is he who sends weapon and +wound.' So speaks he, and rises high on his uplifted sword; the steel +severs the forehead midway right between the temples, and divides the +beardless cheeks with ghastly wound. He crashes down; earth shakes under +the vast weight; dying limbs and brain-spattered armour tumble in a heap +to the ground, and the head, evenly severed, dangles this way and that +from either shoulder. The Trojans scatter and turn in hasty terror; and +had the conqueror forthwith taken thought to burst the bars and let in +his comrades at the gate, that had been the last day of the war and of +the nation. But rage and mad thirst of slaughter drive him like fire on +the foe. . . . First he catches up Phalaris; then Gyges, and hamstrings +him; he plucks away their spears, and hurls them on the backs of the +flying crowd; Juno lends strength and courage. Halys he sends to join +them, and Phegeus, pierced right through the shield; then, as they +ignorantly raised their war-cry on the walls, Alcander and Halius, +Noemon and Prytanis. Lynceus advanced to meet him, calling up his +comrades; from the rampart the glittering sword sweeps to the left and +catches him; struck off by the one downright blow, head and helmet lay +far away. Next Amycus fell, the deadly huntsman, incomparable in skill +of hand to anoint his arrows and arm their steel with venom; and Clytius +the Aeolid, and Cretheus beloved of the Muses, Cretheus of the Muses' +company, whose delight was ever in songs and harps and stringing of +verses; ever he sang of steeds and armed men and battles. + +At last, hearing of the slaughter of their men, the Teucrian captains, +Mnestheus and gallant Serestus, come up, and see their comrades in +disordered flight and the foe [781-814]let in. And Mnestheus: 'Whither +next, whither press you in flight? what other walls, what farther city +have you yet? Shall one man, and he girt in on all sides, +fellow-citizens, by your entrenchments, thus unchecked deal devastation +throughout our city, and send all our best warriors to the under world? +Have you no pity, no shame, cowards, for your unhappy country, for your +ancient gods, for great Aeneas?' + +Kindled by such words, they take heart and rally in dense array. Little +by little Turnus drew away from the fight towards the river, and the +side encircled by the stream: the more bravely the Teucrians press on +him with loud shouts and thickening masses, even as a band that fall on +a wrathful lion with levelled weapons, but he, frightened back, retires +surly and grim-glaring; and neither does wrath nor courage let him turn +his back, nor can he make head, for all that he desires it, against the +surrounding arms and men. Even thus Turnus draws lingeringly backward, +with unhastened steps, and soul boiling in anger. Nay, twice even then +did he charge amid the enemy, twice drove them in flying rout along the +walls. But all the force of the camp gathers hastily up; nor does Juno, +daughter of Saturn, dare to supply him strength to countervail; for +Jupiter sent Iris down through the aery sky, bearing stern orders to his +sister that Turnus shall withdraw from the high Trojan town. Therefore +neither with shield nor hand can he keep his ground, so overpoweringly +from all sides comes upon him the storm of weapons. About the hollows of +his temples the helmet rings with incessant clash, and the solid brass +is riven beneath the stones; the horsehair crest is rent away; the +shield-boss avails not under the blows; Mnestheus thunders on with his +Trojans, and pours in a storm of spears. All over him the sweat trickles +and pours in swart stream, and no breathing space is given; sick gasps +shake [815-818]his exhausted limbs. Then at last, with a headlong +bound, he leapt fully armed into the river; the river's yellow eddies +opened for him as he came, and the buoyant water brought him up, and, +washing away the slaughter, returned him triumphant to his comrades. + + + + +BOOK TENTH + +THE BATTLE ON THE BEACH + + +Meanwhile the heavenly house omnipotent unfolds her doors, and the +father of gods and king of men calls a council in the starry dwelling; +whence he looks sheer down on the whole earth, the Dardanian camp, and +the peoples of Latium. They sit down within from doorway to doorway: +their lord begins: + +'Lords of heaven, wherefore is your decree turned back, and your minds +thus jealously at strife? I forbade Italy to join battle with the +Teucrians; why this quarrel in face of my injunction? What terror hath +bidden one or another run after arms and tempt the sword? The due time +of battle will arrive, call it not forth, when furious Carthage shall +one day sunder the Alps to hurl ruin full on the towers of Rome. Then +hatred may grapple with hatred, then hostilities be opened; now let them +be, and cheerfully join in the treaty we ordain.' + +Thus Jupiter in brief; but not briefly golden Venus returns in +answer: . . . + +'O Lord, O everlasting Governor of men and things--for what else may we +yet supplicate?--beholdest thou how the Rutulians brave it, and Turnus, +borne charioted through the ranks, proudly sweeps down the tide of +battle? Bar [22-58]and bulwark no longer shelter the Trojans; nay, +within the gates and even on the mounded walls they clash in battle and +make the trenches swim with blood. Aeneas is away and ignorant. Wilt +thou never then let our leaguer be raised? Again a foe overhangs the +walls of infant Troy; and another army, and a second son of Tydeus rises +from Aetolian Arpi against the Trojans. Truly I think my wounds are yet +to come, and I thy child am keeping some mortal weapons idle. If the +Trojans steered for Italy without thy leave and defiant of thy deity, +let them expiate their sin; aid not such with thy succour. But if so +many oracles guided them, given by god and ghost, why may aught now +reverse thine ordinance or write destiny anew? Why should I recall the +fleets burned on the coast of Eryx? why the king of storms, and the +raging winds roused from Aeolia, or Iris driven down the clouds? Now +hell too is stirred (this share of the world was yet untried) and +Allecto suddenly let loose above to riot through the Italian towns. In +no wise am I moved for empire; that was our hope while Fortune stood; +let those conquer whom thou wilt. If thy cruel wife leave no region free +to Teucrians, by the smoking ruins of desolated Troy, O father, I +beseech thee, grant Ascanius unhurt retreat from arms, grant me my +child's life. Aeneas may well be tossed over unknown seas and follow +what path soever fortune open to him; him let me avail to shelter and +withdraw from the turmoil of battle. Amathus is mine, high Paphos and +Cythera, and my house of Idalia; here, far from arms, let him spend an +inglorious life. Bid Carthage in high lordship rule Ausonia; there will +be nothing there to check the Tyrian cities. What help was it for the +Trojans to escape war's doom and thread their flight through Argive +fires, to have exhausted all those perils of sea and desolate lands, +while they seek Latium and the towers of a Troy rebuilt? Were it not +better to have [59-91]clung to the last ashes of their country, and the +ground where once was Troy? Give back, I pray, Xanthus and Simois to a +wretched people, and let the Teucrians again, O Lord, circle through the +fates of Ilium.' + +Then Queen Juno, swift and passionate: + +'Why forcest thou me to break long silence and proclaim my hidden pain? +Hath any man or god constrained Aeneas to court war or make armed attack +on King Latinus? In oracular guidance he steered for Italy: be it so: he +whom raving Cassandra sent on his way! Did we urge him to quit the camp +or entrust his life to the winds? to give the issue of war and the +charge of his ramparts to a child? to stir the loyalty of Tyrrhenia or +throw peaceful nations into tumult? What god, what potent cruelty of +ours, hath driven him on his hurt? Where is Juno in this, or Iris sped +down the clouds? It shocks thee that Italians should enring an infant +Troy with flame, and Turnus set foot on his own ancestral soil--he, +grandchild of Pilumnus, son of Venilia the goddess: how, that the dark +brands of Troy assail the Latins? that Trojans subjugate and plunder +fields not their own? how, that they choose their brides and tear +plighted bosom from bosom? that their gestures plead for peace, and +their ships are lined with arms? Thou canst steal thine Aeneas from +Grecian hands, and spread before them a human semblance of mist and +empty air; thou canst turn his fleet into nymphs of like number: is it +dreadful if we retaliate with any aid to the Rutulians? Aeneas is away +and ignorant; away and ignorant let him be. Paphos is thine and Idalium, +thine high Cythera; why meddlest thou with fierce spirits and a city big +with war? Is it we who would overthrow the tottering state of Phrygia? +we? or he who brought the Achaeans down on the hapless Trojans? who made +Europe and Asia bristle up in arms, and whose theft shattered the +alliance? Was it in my guidance the [92-125]adulterous Dardanian broke +into Sparta? or did I send the shafts of passion that kindled war? Then +terror for thy children had graced thee; too late now dost thou rise +with unjust complaints, and reproaches leave thy lips in vain.' + +Thus Juno pleaded; and all the heavenly people murmured in diverse +consent; even as rising gusts murmur when caught in the forests, and +eddy in blind moanings, betraying to sailors the gale's approach. Then +the Lord omnipotent and primal power of the world begins; as he speaks +the high house of the gods and trembling floor of earth sink to silence; +silent is the deep sky, and the breezes are stilled; ocean hushes his +waters into calm. + +'Take then to heart and lay deep these words of mine. Since it may not +be that Ausonians and Teucrians join alliance, and your quarrel finds no +term, to-day, what fortune each wins, what hope each follows, be he +Trojan or Rutulian, I will hold in even poise; whether it be Italy's +fate or Trojan blundering and ill advice that holds the camp in leaguer. +Nor do I acquit the Rutulians. Each as he hath begun shall work out his +destiny. Jupiter is one and king over all; the fates will find their +way.' By his brother's infernal streams, by the banks of the pitchy +black-boiling chasm he signed assent, and made all Olympus quiver at his +nod. Here speaking ended: thereon Jupiter rises from his golden throne, +and the heavenly people surround and escort him to the doorway. + +Meanwhile the Rutulians press round all the gates, dealing grim +slaughter and girdling the walls with flame. But the army of the +Aeneadae are held leaguered within their trenches, with no hope of +retreat. They stand helpless and disconsolate on their high towers, and +their thin ring girdles the walls,--Asius, son of Imbrasus, and +Thymoetes, son of Hicetaon, and the two Assaraci, and Castor, and old +Thymbris together in the front rank: by them Clarus and +[126-160]Themon, both full brothers to Sarpedon, out of high Lycia. +Acmon of Lyrnesus, great as his father Clytius, or his brother +Mnestheus, carries a stone, straining all his vast frame to the huge +mountain fragment. Emulously they keep their guard, these with javelins, +those with stones, and wield fire and fit arrows on the string. Amid +them he, Venus' fittest care, lo! the Dardanian boy, his graceful head +uncovered, shines even as a gem set in red gold on ornament of throat or +head, or even as gleaming ivory cunningly inlaid in boxwood or Orician +terebinth; his tresses lie spread over his milk-white neck, bound by a +flexible circlet of gold. Thee, too, Ismarus, proud nations saw aiming +wounds and arming thy shafts with poison,--thee, of house illustrious in +Maeonia, where the rich tilth is wrought by men's hands, and Pactolus +waters it with gold. There too was Mnestheus, exalted in fame as he who +erewhile had driven Turnus from the ramparts; and Capys, from whom is +drawn the name of the Campanian city. + +They had closed in grim war's mutual conflict; Aeneas, while night was +yet deep, clove the seas. For when, leaving Evander for the Etruscan +camp, he hath audience of the king, and tells the king of his name and +race, and what he asks or offers, instructs him of the arms Mezentius is +winning to his side, and of Turnus' overbearing spirit, reminds him what +is all the certainty of human things, and mingles all with entreaties; +delaying not, Tarchon joins forces and strikes alliance. Then, freed +from the oracle, the Lydian people man their fleet, laid by divine +ordinance in the foreign captain's hand. Aeneas' galley keeps in front, +with the lions of Phrygia fastened on her prow, above them overhanging +Ida, sight most welcome to the Trojan exiles. Here great Aeneas sits +revolving the changing issues of war; and Pallas, clinging on his left +side, asks now [161-195]of the stars and their pathway through the dark +night, now of his fortunes by land and sea. + +Open now the gates of Helicon, goddesses, and stir the song of the band +that come the while with Aeneas from the Tuscan borders, and sail in +armed ships overseas. + +First in the brazen-plated Tiger Massicus cuts the flood; beneath him +are ranked a thousand men who have left Clusium town and the city of +Cosae; their weapons are arrows, and light quivers on the shoulder, and +their deadly bow. With him goes grim Abas, all his train in shining +armour, and a gilded Apollo glittering astern. To him Populonia had +given six hundred of her children, tried in war, but Ilva three hundred, +the island rich in unexhausted mines of steel. Third Asilas, interpreter +between men and gods, master of the entrails of beasts and the stars in +heaven, of speech of birds and ominous lightning flashes, draws a +thousand men after him in serried lines bristling with spears, bidden to +his command from Pisa city, of Alphaean birth on Etruscan soil. Astyr +follows, excellent in beauty, Astyr, confident in his horse and glancing +arms. Three hundred more--all have one heart to follow--come from the +householders of Caere and the fields of Minio, and ancient Pyrgi, and +fever-stricken Graviscae. + +Let me not pass thee by, O Cinyras, bravest in war of Ligurian captains, +and thee, Cupavo, with thy scant company, from whose crest rise the swan +plumes, fault, O Love, of thee and thine, and blazonment of his father's +form. For they tell that Cycnus, in grief for his beloved Phaethon, +while he sings and soothes his woeful love with music amid the shady +sisterhood of poplar boughs, drew over him the soft plumage of white old +age, and left earth and passed crying through the sky. His son, followed +on shipboard with a band of like age, sweeps the huge Centaur forward +with his oars; he leans over the water, and [196-227]threatens the +waves with a vast rock he holds on high, and furrows the deep seas with +his length of keel. + +He too calls a train from his native coasts, Ocnus, son of prophetic +Manto and the river of Tuscany, who gave thee, O Mantua, ramparts and +his mother's name; Mantua, rich in ancestry, yet not all of one blood, a +threefold race, and under each race four cantons; herself she is the +cantons' head, and her strength is of Tuscan blood. From her likewise +hath Mezentius five hundred in arms against him, whom Mincius, child of +Benacus, draped in gray reeds, led to battle in his advancing pine. +Aulestes moves on heavily, smiting the waves with the swinging forest of +an hundred oars; the channels foam as they sweep the sea-floor. He sails +in the vast Triton, who amazes the blue waterways with his shell, and +swims on with shaggy front, in human show from the flank upward; his +belly ends in a dragon; beneath the monster's breast the wave gurgles +into foam. So many were the chosen princes who went in thirty ships to +aid Troy, and cut the salt plains with brazen prow. + +And now day had faded from the sky, and gracious Phoebe trod mid-heaven +in the chariot of her nightly wandering: Aeneas, for his charge allows +not rest to his limbs, himself sits guiding the tiller and managing the +sails. And lo, in middle course a band of his own fellow-voyagers meets +him, the nymphs whom bountiful Cybele had bidden be gods of the sea, and +turn to nymphs from ships; they swam on in even order, and cleft the +flood, as many as erewhile, brazen-plated prows, had anchored on the +beach. From far they know their king, and wheel their bands about him, +and Cymodocea, their readiest in speech, comes up behind, catching the +stern with her right hand: her back rises out, and her left hand oars +her passage through the silent water. Then she thus [228-261]accosts +her amazed lord: 'Wakest thou, seed of gods, Aeneas? wake, and loosen +the sheets of thy sails. We are thy fleet, Idaean pines from the holy +hill, now nymphs of the sea. When the treacherous Rutulian urged us +headlong with sword and fire, unwillingly we broke thy bonds, and we +search for thee over ocean. This new guise our Lady made for us in pity, +and granted us to be goddesses and spend our life under the waves. But +thy boy Ascanius is held within wall and trench among the Latin weapons +and the rough edge of war. Already the Arcadian cavalry and the brave +Etruscan together hold the appointed ground. Turnus' plan is fixed to +bar their way with his squadrons, that they may not reach the camp. Up +and arise, and ere the coming of the Dawn bid thy crews be called to +arms; and take thou the shield which the Lord of Fire forged for victory +and rimmed about with gold. To-morrow's daylight, if thou deem not my +words vain, shall see Rutulians heaped high in slaughter.' She ended, +and, as she went, pushed the tall ship on with her hand wisely and well; +the ship shoots through the water fleeter than javelin or windswift +arrow. Thereat the rest quicken their speed. The son of Anchises of Troy +is himself deep in bewilderment; yet the omen cheers his courage. Then +looking on the heavenly vault, he briefly prays: 'O gracious upon Ida, +mother of gods, whose delight is in Dindymus and turreted cities and +lions coupled to thy rein, do thou lead me in battle, do thou meetly +prosper thine augury, and draw nigh thy Phrygians, goddess, with +favourable feet.' Thus much he spoke; and meanwhile the broad light of +returning day now began to pour in, and chased away the night. First he +commands his comrades to follow his signals, brace their courage to arms +and prepare for battle. And now his Trojans and his camp are in his +sight as he stands high astern, when next he lifts the [262-296]blazing +shield on his left arm. The Dardanians on the walls raise a shout to the +sky. Hope comes to kindle wrath; they hurl their missiles strongly; even +as under black clouds cranes from the Strymon utter their signal notes +and sail clamouring across the sky, and noisily stream down the gale. +But this seemed marvellous to the Rutulian king and the captains of +Ausonia, till looking back they see the ships steering for the beach, +and all the sea as a single fleet sailing in. His helmet-spike blazes, +flame pours from the cresting plumes, and the golden shield-boss spouts +floods of fire; even as when in transparent night comets glow blood-red +and drear, or the splendour of Sirius, that brings drought and +sicknesses on wretched men, rises and saddens the sky with malignant +beams. + +Yet gallant Turnus in unfailing confidence will prevent them on the +shore and repel their approach to land. 'What your prayers have sought +is given, the sweep of the sword-arm. The god of battles is in the hands +of men. Now remember each his wife and home: now recall the high deeds +of our fathers' honour. Let us challenge meeting at the water's edge, +while they waver and their feet yet slip as they disembark. Fortune aids +daring. . . .' So speaks he, and counsels inly whom he shall lead to +meet them, whom leave in charge of the leaguered walls. + +Meanwhile Aeneas lands his allies by gangways from the high ships. Many +watch the retreat and slack of the sea, and leap boldly into the shoal +water; others slide down the oars. Tarchon, marking the shore where the +shallows do not seethe and plash with broken water, but the sea glides +up and spreads its tide unbroken, suddenly turns his bows to land and +implores his comrades: 'Now, O chosen crew, bend strongly to your oars; +lift your ships, make them go; let the prows cleave this hostile land +and the keel plough [297-330]herself a furrow. I will let my vessel +break up on such harbourage if once she takes the land.' When Tarchon +had spoken in such wise, his comrades rise on their oar-blades and carry +their ships in foam towards the Latin fields, till the prows are fast on +dry land and all the keels are aground unhurt. But not thy galley, +Tarchon; for she dashes on a shoal, and swings long swaying on the cruel +bank, pitching and slapping the flood, then breaks up, and lands her +crew among the waves. Broken oars and floating thwarts entangle them, +and the ebbing wave sucks their feet away. + +Nor does Turnus keep idly dallying, but swiftly hurries his whole array +against the Trojans and ranges it to face the beach. The trumpets blow. +At once Aeneas charges and confounds the rustic squadrons of the Latins, +and slays Theron for omen of battle. The giant advances to challenge +Aeneas; but through sewed plates of brass and tunic rough with gold the +sword plunges in his open side. Next he strikes Lichas, cut from his +mother already dead, and consecrated, Phoebus, to thee, since his +infancy was granted escape from the perilous steel. Near thereby he +struck dead brawny Cisseus and vast Gyas, whose clubs were mowing down +whole files: naught availed them the arms of Hercules and their strength +of hand, nor Melampus their father, ever of Alcides' company while earth +yielded him sore travail. Lo! while Pharus utters weak vaunts the hurled +javelin strikes on his shouting mouth. Thou too, while thou followest +thy new delight, Clytius, whose cheeks are golden with youthful +down--thou, luckless Cydon, struck down by the Dardanian hand, wert +lying past thought, ah pitiable! of the young loves that were ever +thine, did not the close array of thy brethren interpose, the children +of Phorcus, seven in number, and send a sevenfold shower of darts. Some +glance ineffectual from helmet and shield; [331-365]some Venus the +bountiful turned aside as they grazed his body. Aeneas calls to trusty +Achates: 'Give me store of weapons; none that hath been planted in +Grecian body on the plains of Ilium shall my hand hurl at Rutulian in +vain.' Then he catches and throws his great spear; the spear flies +grinding through the brass of Maeon's shield, and breaks through corslet +and through breast. His brother Alcanor runs up and sustains with his +right arm his sinking brother; through his arm the spear passes speeding +straight on its message, and holds its bloody way, and the hand dangles +by the sinews lifeless from the shoulder. Then Numitor, seizing his dead +brother's javelin, aims at Aeneas, but might not fairly pierce him, and +grazed tall Achates on the thigh. Here Clausus of Cures comes confident +in his pride of strength, and with a long reach strikes Dryops under the +chin, and, urging the stiff spear-shaft home, stops the accents of his +speech and his life together, piercing the throat; but he strikes the +earth with his forehead, and vomits clots of blood. Three Thracians +likewise of Boreas' sovereign race, and three sent by their father Idas +from their native Ismarus, fall in divers wise before him. Halesus and +his Auruncan troops hasten thither; Messapus too, seed of Neptune, comes +up charioted. This side and that strive to hurl back the enemy, and +fight hard on the very edge of Ausonia. As when in the depth of air +adverse winds rise in battle with equal spirit and strength; not they, +not clouds nor sea, yield one to another; long the battle is doubtful; +all stands locked in counterpoise: even thus clash the ranks of Troy and +ranks of Latium, foot fast on foot, and man crowded up on man. + +But in another quarter, where a torrent had driven a wide path of +rolling stones and bushes torn away from the banks, Pallas saw his +Arcadians, unaccustomed to move as infantry, giving back before the +Latin pursuit, when the [366-400]roughness of the ground bade them +dismount. This only was left in his strait, to kindle them to valour, +now by entreaties, now by taunts: 'Whither flee you, comrades? by your +deeds of bravery, by your leader Evander's name, by your triumphant +campaigns, and my hope that now rises to rival my father's honour, trust +not to flight. Our swords must hew a way through the enemy. Where yonder +mass of men presses thickest, there your proud country calls you with +Pallas at your head. No gods are they who bear us down; mortals, we feel +the pressure of a mortal foe; we have as many lives and hands as he. Lo, +the deep shuts us in with vast sea barrier; even now land fails our +flight; shall we make ocean or Troy our goal?' + +So speaks he, and bursts amid the serried foe. First Lagus meets him, +drawn thither by malign destiny; him, as he tugs at a ponderous stone, +hurling his spear where the spine ran dissevering the ribs, he pierces +and wrenches out the spear where it stuck fast in the bone. Nor does +Hisbo catch him stooping, for all that he hoped it; for Pallas, as he +rushes unguarded on, furious at his comrade's cruel death, receives him +on his sword and buries it in his distended lungs. Next he attacks +Sthenius, and Anchemolus of Rhoetus' ancient family, who dared to +violate the bridal chamber of his stepmother. You, too, the twins +Larides and Thymber, fell on the Rutulian fields, children of Daucus, +indistinguishable for likeness and a sweet perplexity to your parents. +But now Pallas made cruel difference between you; for thy head, Thymber, +is swept off by Evander's sword; thy right hand, Larides, severed, seeks +its master, and the dying fingers jerk and clutch at the sword. Fired by +his encouragement, and beholding his noble deeds, the Arcadians advance +in wrath and shame to meet the enemy in arms. Then Pallas pierces +Rhoeteus as he flies past in his chariot. This space, this +[401-435]much of respite was given to Ilus; for at Ilus he had aimed +the strong spear from afar, and Rhoeteus intercepts its passage, in +flight from thee, noble Teuthras and Tyres thy brother; he rolls from +the chariot in death, and his heels strike the Rutulian fields. And as +the shepherd, when summer winds have risen to his desire, kindles the +woods dispersedly; on a sudden the mid spaces catch, and a single +flickering line of fire spreads wide over the plain; he sits looking +down on his conquest and the revel of the flames; even so, Pallas, do +thy brave comrades gather close to sustain thee. But warrior Halesus +advances full on them, gathering himself behind his armour; he slays +Ladon, Pheres, Demodocus; his gleaming sword shears off Strymonius' hand +as it rises to his throat; he strikes Thoas on the face with a stone, +and drives the bones asunder in a shattered mass of blood and brains. +Halesus had his father the soothsayer kept hidden in the woodland: when +the old man's glazing eyes sank to death, the Fates laid hand on him and +devoted him to the arms of Evander. Pallas aims at him, first praying +thus: 'Grant now, lord Tiber, to the steel I poise and hurl, a +prosperous way through brawny Halesus' breast; thine oak shall bear +these arms and the dress he wore.' The god heard it; while Halesus +covers Imaon, he leaves, alas! his breast unarmed to the Arcadian's +weapon. Yet at his grievous death Lausus, himself a great arm of the +war, lets not his columns be dismayed; at once he meets and cuts down +Abas, the check and stay of their battle. The men of Arcadia go down +before him; down go the Etruscans, and you, O Teucrians, invincible by +Greece. The armies close, matched in strength and in captains; the rear +ranks crowd in; weapons and hands are locked in the press. Here Pallas +strains and pushes on, here Lausus opposite, nearly matched in age, +excellent in beauty; but fortune [436-467]had denied both return to +their own land. Yet that they should meet face to face the sovereign of +high Olympus allowed not; an early fate awaits them beneath a mightier +foe. + +Meanwhile Turnus' gracious sister bids him take Lausus' room, and his +fleet chariot parts the ranks. When he saw his comrades, 'It is time,' +he cried, 'to stay from battle. I alone must assail Pallas; to me and +none other Pallas is due; I would his father himself were here to see.' +So speaks he, and his Rutulians draw back from a level space at his +bidding. But then as they withdrew, he, wondering at the haughty +command, stands in amaze at Turnus, his eyes scanning the vast frame, +and his fierce glance perusing him from afar. And with these words he +returns the words of the monarch: 'For me, my praise shall even now be +in the lordly spoils I win, or in illustrious death: my father will bear +calmly either lot: away with menaces.' He speaks, and advances into the +level ring. The Arcadians' blood gathers chill about their hearts. +Turnus leaps from his chariot and prepares to close with him. And as a +lion sees from some lofty outlook a bull stand far off on the plain +revolving battle, and flies at him, even such to see is Turnus' coming. +When Pallas deemed him within reach of a spear-throw, he advances, if so +chance may assist the daring of his overmatched strength, and thus cries +into the depth of sky: 'By my father's hospitality and the board whereto +thou camest a wanderer, on thee I call, Alcides; be favourable to my +high emprise; let Turnus even in death discern me stripping his +blood-stained armour, and his swooning eyes endure the sight of his +conqueror.' Alcides heard him, and deep in his heart he stifled a heavy +sigh, and let idle tears fall. Then with kindly words the father accosts +his son: 'Each hath his own appointed day; short and irrecoverable +[468-502]is the span of life for all: but to spread renown by deeds is +the task of valour. Under high Troy town many and many a god's son fell; +nay, mine own child Sarpedon likewise perished. Turnus too his own fate +summons, and his allotted period hath reached the goal.' So speaks he, +and turns his eyes away from the Rutulian fields. But Pallas hurls his +spear with all his strength, and pulls his sword flashing out of the +hollow scabbard. The flying spear lights where the armour rises high +above the shoulder, and, forcing a way through the shield's rim, ceased +not till it drew blood from mighty Turnus. At this Turnus long poises +the spear-shaft with its sharp steel head, and hurls it on Pallas with +these words: _See thou if our weapon have not a keener point._ He ended; +but for all the shield's plating of iron and brass, for all the +bull-hide that covers it round about, the quivering spear-head smashes +it fair through and through, passes the guard of the corslet, and +pierces the breast with a gaping hole. He tears the warm weapon from the +wound; in vain; together and at once life-blood and sense follow it. He +falls heavily on the ground, his armour clashes over him, and his +bloodstained face sinks in death on the hostile soil. And Turnus +standing over him . . .: 'Arcadians,' he cries, 'remember these my +words, and bear them to Evander. I send him back his Pallas as was due. +All the meed of the tomb, all the solace of sepulture, I give freely. +Dearly must he pay his welcome to Aeneas.' And with these words, +planting his left foot on the dead, he tore away the broad heavy +sword-belt engraven with a tale of crime, the array of grooms foully +slain together on their bridal night, and the nuptial chambers dabbled +with blood, which Clonus, son of Eurytus, had wrought richly in gold. +Now Turnus exults in spoiling him of it, and rejoices at his prize. Ah +spirit of man, ignorant of fate and the allotted future, or to keep +bounds when elate with prosperity!--the day will [503-535]come when +Turnus shall desire to have bought Pallas' safety at a great ransom, and +curse the spoils of this fatal day. But with many moans and tears +Pallas' comrades lay him on his shield and bear him away amid their +ranks. O grief and glory and grace of the father to whom thou shalt +return! This one day sent thee first to war, this one day takes thee +away, while yet thou leavest heaped high thy Rutulian dead. + +And now no rumour of the dreadful loss, but a surer messenger flies to +Aeneas, telling him his troops are on the thin edge of doom; it is time +to succour the routed Teucrians. He mows down all that meets him, and +hews a broad path through their columns with furious sword, as he seeks +thee, O Turnus, in thy fresh pride of slaughter. Pallas, Evander, all +flash before his eyes; the board whereto but then he had first come a +wanderer, and the clasped hands. Here four of Sulmo's children, as many +more of Ufens' nurture, are taken by him alive to slaughter in sacrifice +to the shade below, and slake the flames of the pyre with captive blood. +Next he levelled his spear full on Magus from far. He stoops cunningly; +the spear flies quivering over him; and, clasping his knees, he speaks +thus beseechingly: 'By thy father's ghost, by Iuelus thy growing hope, I +entreat thee, save this life for a child and a parent. My house is +stately; deep in it lies buried wealth of engraven silver; I have masses +of wrought and unwrought gold. The victory of Troy does not turn on +this, nor will a single life make so great a difference.' He ended; to +him Aeneas thus returns answer: 'All the wealth of silver and gold thou +tellest of, spare thou for thy children. Turnus hath broken off this thy +trafficking in war, even then when Pallas fell. Thus judges the ghost of +my father Anchises, thus Iuelus.' So speaking, he grasps his helmet with +his left hand, and, bending back his neck, drives his [536-572]sword up +to the hilt in the suppliant. Hard by is Haemonides, priest of Phoebus +and Trivia, his temples wound with the holy ribboned chaplet, all +glittering in white-robed array. Him he meets and chases down the plain, +and, standing over his fallen foe, slaughters him and wraps him in great +darkness; Serestus gathers the armour and carries it away on his +shoulders, a trophy, King Gradivus, to thee. Caeculus, born of Vulcan's +race, and Umbro, who comes from the Marsian hills, fill up the line. The +Dardanian rushes full on them. His sword had hewn off Anxur's left arm, +with all the circle of the shield--he had uttered brave words and deemed +his prowess would second his vaunts, and perchance with spirit lifted up +had promised himself hoar age and length of years--when Tarquitus in the +pride of his glittering arms met his fiery course, whom the nymph Dryope +had borne to Faunus, haunter of the woodland. Drawing back his spear, he +pins the ponderous shield to the corslet; then, as he vainly pleaded and +would say many a thing, strikes his head to the ground, and, rolling +away the warm body, cries thus over his enemy: 'Lie there now, terrible +one! no mother's love shall lay thee in the sod, or place thy limbs +beneath thine heavy ancestral tomb. To birds of prey shalt thou be left, +or borne down sunk in the eddying water, where hungry fish shall suck +thy wounds.' Next he sweeps on Antaeus and Lucas, the first of Turnus' +train, and brave Numa and tawny-haired Camers, born of noble Volscens, +who was wealthiest in land of the Ausonians, and reigned in silent +Amyclae. Even as Aegaeon, who, men say, had an hundred arms, an hundred +hands, fifty mouths and breasts ablaze with fire, and arrayed against +Jove's thunders as many clashing shields and drawn swords: so Aeneas, +when once his sword's point grew warm, rages victorious over all the +field. Nay, lo! he darts full in face on Niphaeus' four-horse chariot; +before his long strides [573-608]and dreadful cry they turned in terror +and dashed back, throwing out their driver and tearing the chariot down +the beach. Meanwhile the brothers Lucagus and Liger drive up with their +pair of white horses. Lucagus valiantly waves his drawn sword, while his +brother wheels his horses with the rein. Aeneas, wrathful at their mad +onslaught, rushes on them, towering high with levelled spear. To him +Liger . . . 'Not Diomede's horses dost thou discern, nor Achilles' +chariot, nor the plains of Phrygia: now on this soil of ours the war and +thy life shall end together.' Thus fly mad Liger's random words. But not +in words does the Trojan hero frame his reply: for he hurls his javelin +at the foe. As Lucagus spurred on his horses, bending forward over the +whip, with left foot advanced ready for battle, the spear passes through +the lower rim of his shining shield and pierces his left groin, knocks +him out of the chariot, and stretches him in death on the fields. To him +good Aeneas speaks in bitter words: 'Lucagus, no slackness in thy +coursers' flight hath betrayed thee, or vain shadow of the foe turned +them back; thyself thou leapest off the harnessed wheels.' In such wise +he spoke, and caught the horses. His brother, slipping down from the +chariot, pitiably outstretched helpless hands: 'Ah, by the parents who +gave thee birth, great Trojan, spare this life and pity my prayer.' More +he was pleading; but Aeneas: 'Not such were the words thou wert +uttering. Die, and be brother undivided from brother.' With that his +sword's point pierces the breast where the life lies hid. Thus the +Dardanian captain dealt death over the plain, like some raging torrent +stream or black whirlwind. At last the boy Ascanius and his troops burst +through the ineffectual leaguer and issue from the camp. + +Meanwhile Jupiter breaks silence to accost Juno: 'O sister and wife best +beloved, it is Venus, as thou deemedst, [609-639]nor is thy judgment +astray, who sustains the forces of Troy; not their own valour of hand in +war, and untamable spirit and endurance in peril.' To whom Juno +beseechingly: + +'Why, fair my lord, vexest thou one sick at heart and trembling at thy +bitter words? If that force were in my love that once was, and that was +well, never had thine omnipotence denied me leave to withdraw Turnus +from battle and preserve him for his father Daunus in safety. Now let +him perish, and pay forfeit to the Trojans of his innocent blood. Yet he +traces his birth from our name, and Pilumnus was his father in the +fourth generation, and oft and again his bountiful hand hath heaped thy +courts with gifts.' + +To her the king of high heaven thus briefly spoke: 'If thy prayer for +him is delay of present death and respite from his fall, and thou dost +understand that I ordain it thus, remove thy Turnus in flight, and +snatch him from the fate that is upon him. For so much indulgence there +is room. But if any ampler grace mask itself in these thy prayers, and +thou dreamest of change in the whole movement of the war, idle is the +hope thou nursest.' + +And Juno, weeping: 'Ah yet, if thy mind were gracious where thy lips are +stern, and this gift of life might remain confirmed to Turnus! Now his +portion is bitter and guiltless death, or I wander idly from the truth. +Yet, oh that I rather deluded myself with false alarms, and thou who +canst wouldst bend thy course to better counsels.' + +These words uttered, she darted through the air straight from high +heaven, cloud-girt in driving tempest, and sought the Ilian ranks and +camp of Laurentum. Then the goddess, strange and ominous to see, +fashions into the likeness of Aeneas a thin and pithless shade of hollow +mist, decks it with Dardanian weapons, and gives it the mimicry of +shield and divine helmet plume, gives unsubstantial [640-673]words and +senseless utterance, and the mould and motion of his tread: like shapes +rumoured to flit when death is past, or dreams that delude the +slumbering senses. But in front of the battle-ranks the phantom dances +rejoicingly, and with arms and mocking accents provokes the foe. Turnus +hastens up and sends his spear whistling from far on it; it gives back +and turns its footsteps. Then indeed Turnus, when he believed Aeneas +turned and fled from him, and his spirit madly drank in the illusive +hope: 'Whither fliest thou, Aeneas? forsake not thy plighted bridal +chamber. This hand shall give thee the land thou hast sought overseas.' +So clamouring he pursues, and brandishes his drawn sword, and sees not +that his rejoicing is drifting with the winds. The ship lay haply moored +to a high ledge of rock, with ladders run out and gangway ready, wherein +king Osinius sailed from the coasts of Clusium. Here the fluttering +phantom of flying Aeneas darts and hides itself. Nor is Turnus slack to +follow; he overleaps the barriers and springs across the high gangways. +Scarcely had he lighted on the prow; the daughter of Saturn snaps the +hawser, and the ship, parted from her cable, runs out on the ebbing +tide. And him Aeneas seeks for battle and finds not, and sends many a +man that meets him to death. Then the light phantom seeks not yet any +further hiding-place, but, flitting aloft, melts in a dark cloud; and a +blast comes down meanwhile and sweeps Turnus through the seas. He looks +back, witless of his case and thankless for his salvation, and, wailing, +stretches both hands to heaven: 'Father omnipotent, was I so guilty in +thine eyes, and is this the punishment thou hast ordained? Whither am I +borne? whence came I? what flight is this, or in what guise do I return? +Shall I look again on the camp or walls of Laurentum? What of that array +of men who followed me to arms? whom--oh horrible!--I have abandoned all +amid [674-707]a dreadful death; and now I see the stragglers and catch +the groans of those who fall. What do I? or how may earth ever yawn for +me deep enough? Do you rather, O winds, be pitiful, carry my bark on +rock or reef; it is I, Turnus, who desire and implore you; or drive me +on the cruel shoals of the Syrtis, where no Rutulian may follow nor +rumour know my name.' Thus speaking, he wavers in mind this way and +that: maddened by the shame, shall he plunge on his sword's harsh point +and drive it through his side, or fling himself among the waves, and +seek by swimming to gain the winding shore, again to return on the +Trojan arms? Thrice he essayed either way; thrice queenly Juno checked +and restrained him in pity of heart. Cleaving the deep, he floats with +the tide down the flood, and is borne on to his father Daunus' ancient +city. + +But meanwhile at Jove's prompting fiery Mezentius takes his place in the +battle and assails the triumphant Teucrians. The Tyrrhene ranks gather +round him, and all at once in unison shower their darts down on the +hated foe. As a cliff that juts into the waste of waves, meeting the +raging winds and breasting the deep, endures all the threatening force +of sky and sea, itself fixed immovable, so he dashes to earth Hebrus son +of Dolichaon, and with him Latagus, and Palmus as he fled; catching +Latagus full front in the face with a vast fragment of mountain rock, +while Palmus he hamstrings, and leaves him rolling helpless; his armour +he gives Lausus to wear on his shoulders, and the plumes to fix on his +crest. With them fall Evanthes the Phrygian, and Mimas, fellow and +birthmate of Paris; for on one night Theano bore him to his father +Amycus, and the queen, Cisseus' daughter, was delivered of Paris the +firebrand; he sleeps in his fathers' city; Mimas lies a stranger on the +Laurentian coast. And as the boar driven by snapping hounds from the +mountain heights, [708-744]many a year hidden by Vesulus in his pines, +many an one fed in the Laurentian marsh among the reedy forest, once +come among the nets, halts and snorts savagely, with shoulders bristling +up, and none of them dare be wrathful or draw closer, but they shower +from a safe distance their darts and cries; even thus none of those +whose anger is righteous against Mezentius have courage to meet him with +drawn weapon: far off they provoke him with missiles and huge clamour, +and he turns slow and fearless round about, grinding his teeth as he +shakes the spears off his shield. From the bounds of ancient Corythus +Acron the Greek had come, leaving for exile a bride half won. Seeing him +afar dealing confusion amid the ranks, in crimson plumes and his +plighted wife's purple,--as an unpastured lion often ranging the deep +coverts, for madness of hunger urges him, if he haply catches sight of a +timorous roe or high-antlered stag, he gapes hugely for joy, and, with +mane on end, clings crouching over its flesh, his cruel mouth bathed in +reeking gore. . . . so Mezentius darts lightly among the thick of the +enemy. Hapless Acron goes down, and, spurning the dark ground, gasps out +his life, and covers the broken javelin with his blood. But the victor +deigned not to bring down Orodes with the blind wound of his flying +lance as he fled; full face to face he meets him, and engages man with +man, conqueror not by stealth but armed valour. Then, as with planted +foot, he thrust him off the spear: 'O men,' he cries, 'Orodes lies low, +no slight arm of the war.' His comrades shout after him the glad battle +chant. And the dying man: 'Not unavenged nor long, whoso thou art, shalt +thou be glad in victory: thee too an equal fate marks down, and in these +fields thou shalt soon lie.' And smiling on him half wrathfully, +Mezentius: 'Now die thou. But of me let the father of gods and king of +men take counsel.' So saying, he drew the weapon out of his body. +[745-780]Grim rest and iron slumber seal his eyes; his lids close on +everlasting night. Caedicus slays Alcathoues, Sacrator Hydaspes, Rapo +Parthenius and the grim strength of Orses, Messapus Clonius and +Erichaetes son of Lycaon, the one when his reinless horse stumbling had +flung him to the ground, the other as they met on foot. And Agis the +Lycian advanced only to be struck from horseback by Valerus, brave as +his ancestry; and Thronius by Salius, and Salius by Nealces with +treacherous arrow-shot that stole from far. + +Now the heavy hand of war dealt equal woe and counterchange of death; in +even balance conquerors and conquered slew and fell; nor one nor other +knows of retreat. The gods in Jove's house pity the vain rage of either +and all the agonising of mortals. From one side Venus, from one opposite +Juno, daughter of Saturn, looks on; pale Tisiphone rages among the many +thousand men. But now, brandishing his huge spear, Mezentius strides +glooming over the plain, vast as Orion when, with planted foot, he +cleaves his way through the vast pools of mid-ocean and his shoulder +overtops the waves, or carrying an ancient mountain-ash from the +hilltops, paces the ground and hides his head among the clouds: so moves +Mezentius, huge in arms. Aeneas, espying him in the deep columns, makes +on to meet him. He remains, unterrified, awaiting his noble foe, steady +in his own bulk, and measures with his eye the fair range for a spear. +'This right hand's divinity, and the weapon I poise and hurl, now be +favourable! thee, Lausus, I vow for the live trophy of Aeneas, dressed +in the spoils stripped from the pirate's body.' He ends, and throws the +spear whistling from far; it flies on, glancing from the shield, and +pierces illustrious Antores hard by him sidelong in the flank; Antores, +companion of Hercules, who, sent thither from Argos, had stayed by +Evander, and [781-814]settled in an Italian town. Hapless he goes down +with a wound not his own, and in death gazes on the sky, and Argos is +sweet in his remembrance. Then good Aeneas throws his spear; through the +sheltering circle of threefold brass, through the canvas lining and +fabric of triple-sewn bull-hide it went, and sank deep in his groin; yet +carried not its strength home. Quickly Aeneas, joyful at the sight of +the Tyrrhenian's blood, snatches his sword from his thigh and presses +hotly on his struggling enemy. Lausus saw, and groaned deeply for love +of his dear father, and tears rolled over his face. Here will I not keep +silence of thy hard death-doom and thine excellent deeds (if in any wise +things wrought in the old time may win belief), nor of thyself, O fitly +remembered! He, helpless and trammelled, withdrew backward, the deadly +spear-shaft trailing from his shield. The youth broke forward and +plunged into the fight; and even as Aeneas' hand rose to bring down the +blow, he caught up his point and held him in delay. His comrades follow +up with loud cries, so the father may withdraw in shelter of his son's +shield, while they shower their darts and bear back the enemy with +missiles from a distance. Aeneas wrathfully keeps covered. And as when +storm-clouds pour down in streaming hail, all the ploughmen and +country-folk scatter off the fields, and the wayfarer cowers safe in his +fortress, a stream's bank or deep arch of rock, while the rain falls, +that they may do their day's labour when sunlight reappears; thus under +the circling storm of weapons Aeneas sustains the cloud of war till it +thunders itself all away, and calls on Lausus, on Lausus, with chiding +and menace: 'Whither runnest thou on thy death, with daring beyond thy +strength? thine affection betrays thee into rashness.' But none the less +he leaps madly on; and now wrath rises higher and fiercer in the +Dardanian captain, and the Fates pass Lausus' last [815-849]threads +through their hand; for Aeneas drives the sword strongly right through +him up all its length: the point pierced the light shield that armed his +assailant, and the tunic sewn by his mother with flexible gold: blood +filled his breast, and the life left the body and passed mourning +through the air to the under world. But when Anchises' son saw the look +on the dying face, the face pale in wonderful wise, he sighed deeply in +pity, and reached forth his hand, as the likeness of his own filial +affection flashed across his soul. 'What now shall good Aeneas give +thee, what, O poor boy, for this thy praise, for guerdon of a nature so +noble? Keep for thine own the armour thou didst delight in; and I +restore thee, if that matters aught at all, to the ghosts and ashes of +thy parents. Yet thou shalt have this sad comfort in thy piteous death, +thou fallest by great Aeneas' hand.' Then, chiding his hesitating +comrades, he lifts him from the ground, dabbling the comely-ranged +tresses with blood. + +Meanwhile his father, by the wave of the Tiber river, stanched his wound +with water, and rested his body against a tree-trunk. Hard by his brazen +helmet hangs from the boughs, and the heavy armour lies quietly on the +meadow. Chosen men stand round; he, sick and panting, leans his neck and +lets his beard spread down over his chest. Many a time he asks for +Lausus, and sends many an one to call him back and carry a parent's sad +commands. But Lausus his weeping comrades were bearing lifeless on his +armour, mighty and mightily wounded to death. Afar the soul prophetic of +ill knew their lamentation: he soils his gray hairs plenteously with +dust, and stretches both hands on high, and clings on the dead. 'Was +life's hold on me so sweet, O my son, that I let him I bore receive the +hostile stroke in my room? Am I, thy father, saved by these wounds of +thine, and living by thy death? Alas and woe! [850-885]now at last +exile is bitter! now the wound is driven deep! And I, even I, O my son, +stained thy name with crime, driven in hatred from the throne and +sceptre of my fathers. I owed vengeance to my country and my people's +resentment; might mine own guilty life but have paid it by every form of +death! Now I live, and leave not yet man and day; but I will.' As he +speaks thus he raises himself painfully on his thigh, and though the +violence of the deep wound cripples him, yet unbroken he bids his horse +be brought, his beauty, his comfort, that ever had carried him +victorious out of war, and says these words to the grieving beast: +'Rhoebus, we have lived long, if aught at all lasts long with mortals. +This day wilt thou either bring back in triumph the gory head and spoils +of Aeneas, and we will avenge Lausus' agonies; or if no force opens a +way, thou wilt die with me: for I deem not, bravest, thou wilt deign to +bear an alien rule and a Teucrian lord.' He spoke, and took his welcome +seat on the back he knew, loading both hands with keen javelins, his +head sheathed in glittering brass and shaggy horse-hair plumes. Thus he +galloped in. Through his heart sweep together the vast tides of shame +and mingling madness and grief. And with that he thrice loudly calls +Aeneas. Aeneas knew the call, and makes glad invocation: 'So the father +of gods speed me, so Apollo on high: do thou essay to close hand to +hand. . . .' Thus much he utters, and moves up to meet him with levelled +spear. And he: 'Why seek to frighten me, fierce man, now my son is gone? +this was thy one road to my ruin. We shrink not from death, nor relent +before any of thy gods. Cease; for I come to my death, first carrying +these gifts for thee.' He spoke, and hurled a weapon at his enemy; then +plants another and yet another as he darts round in a wide circle; but +they are stayed on the boss of gold. Thrice he rode wheeling close round +him by the [886-908]left, and sent his weapons strongly in; thrice the +Trojan hero turns round, taking the grim forest on his brazen guard. +Then, weary of lingering in delay on delay, and plucking out spear-head +after spear-head, and hard pressed in the uneven match of battle, with +much counselling of spirit now at last he bursts forth, and sends his +spear at the war-horse between the hollows of the temples. The creature +raises itself erect, beating the air with its feet, throws its rider, +and coming down after him in an entangled mass, slips its shoulder as it +tumbles forward. The cries of Trojans and Latins kindle the sky. Aeneas +rushes up, drawing his sword from the scabbard, and thus above him: +'Where now is gallant Mezentius and all his fierce spirit?' Thereto the +Tyrrhenian, as he came to himself and gazing up drank the air of heaven: +'Bitter foe, why these taunts and menaces of death? Naught forbids my +slaughter; neither on such terms came I to battle, nor did my Lausus +make treaty for this between me and thee. This one thing I beseech thee, +by whatsoever grace a vanquished enemy may claim: allow my body +sepulture. I know I am girt by the bitter hatred of my people. Stay, I +implore, their fury, and grant me and my son union in the tomb.' So +speaks he, and takes the sword in his throat unfalteringly, and the +lifeblood spreads in a wave over his armour. + + + + +BOOK ELEVENTH + +THE COUNCIL OF THE LATINS, AND THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CAMILLA + + +Meanwhile Dawn arose forth of Ocean. Aeneas, though the charge presses +to give a space for burial of his comrades, and his mind is in the +tumult of death, began to pay the gods his vows of victory with the +breaking of the East. He plants on a mound a mighty oak with boughs +lopped away on every hand, and arrays it in the gleaming arms stripped +from Mezentius the captain, a trophy to thee, mighty Lord of War; he +fixes on it the plumes dripping with blood, the broken spears, and the +corslet struck and pierced in twelve places; he ties the shield of brass +on his left hand, and hangs from his neck the ivory sword. Then among +his joyous comrades (for all the throng of his captains girt him close +about) he begins in these words of cheer: + +'The greatest deed is done, O men; be all fear gone for what remains. +These are the spoils of a haughty king, the first-fruits won from him; +my hands have set Mezentius here. Now our way lies to the walls of the +Latin king. Prepare your arms in courage, and let your hopes anticipate +the war; let no ignorant delay hinder or tardy thoughts of fear keep us +back, so soon as heaven grant us to pluck up the standards and lead our +army from the camp. [22-58]Meanwhile let us commit to earth the +unburied bodies of our comrades, since deep in Acheron this honour is +left alone. Go,' says he, 'grace with the last gifts those noble souls +whose blood won us this land for ours; and first let Pallas be sent to +Evander's mourning city, he whose valour failed not when the day of +darkness took him, and the bitter wave of death.' + +So speaks he weeping, and retraces his steps to the door, where aged +Acoetes watched Pallas' lifeless body laid out for burial; once +armour-bearer to Evander in Parrhasia, but now gone forth with darker +omens, appointed attendant to his darling foster-child. Around is the +whole train of servants, with a crowd of Trojans, and the Ilian women +with hair unbound in mourning after their fashion. When Aeneas entered +at the high doorway they beat their breasts and raise a loud wail aloft, +and the palace moans to their grievous lamentation. Himself, when he saw +the pillowed head and fair face of Pallas, and on his smooth breast the +gaping wound of the Ausonian spear-head, speaks thus with welling tears: + +'Did Fortune in her joyous coming,' he cries, 'O luckless boy, grudge +thee the sight of our realm, and a triumphal entry to thy father's +dwelling? Not this promise of thee had I given to Evander thy sire at my +departure, when he embraced me as I went and bade me speed to a wide +empire, and yet warned me in fear that the men were valiant, the people +obstinate in battle. And now he, fast ensnared by empty hope, perchance +offers vows and heaps gifts on his altars; we, a mourning train, go in +hollow honour by his corpse, who now owes no more to aught in heaven. +Unhappy! thou wilt see thy son cruelly slain; is this our triumphal +return awaited? is this my strong assurance? Ah me, what a shield is +lost, mine Iuelus, to Ausonia and to thee!' + +[59-96]This lament done, he bids raise the piteous body, and sends a +thousand men chosen from all his army for the last honour of escort, to +mingle in the father's tears; a small comfort in a great sorrow, yet the +unhappy parent's due. Others quickly plait a soft wicker bier of arbutus +rods and oak shoots, and shadow the heaped pillows with a leafy +covering. Here they lay him, high on their rustic strewing; even as some +tender violet or drooping hyacinth-blossom plucked by a maiden's finger, +whose sheen and whose grace is not yet departed, but no more does Earth +the mother feed it or lend it strength. Then Aeneas bore forth two +purple garments stiff with gold, that Sidonian Dido's own hands, happy +over their work, had once wrought for him, and shot the warp with +delicate gold. One of these he sadly folds round him, a last honour, and +veils in its covering the tresses destined to the fire; and heaps up +besides many a Laurentine battle-prize, and bids his spoils pass forth +in long train; with them the horses and arms whereof he had stripped the +enemy, and those, with hands tied behind their back, whom he would send +as nether offering to his ghost, and sprinkle the blood of their slaying +on the flame. Also he bids his captains carry stems dressed in the +armour of the foe, and fix on them the hostile names. Unhappy Acoetes is +led along, outworn with age, he smites his breast and rends his face, +and flings himself forward all along the ground. Likewise they lead +forth the chariot bathed in Rutulian blood; behind goes weeping Aethon +the war-horse, his trappings laid away, and big drops wet his face. +Others bear his spear and helmet, for all else is Turnus' prize. Then +follow in mourning array the Teucrians and all the Tyrrhenians, and the +Arcadians with arms reversed. When the whole long escorting file had +taken its way, Aeneas stopped, and sighing deep, pursued thus: 'Once +again war's dreadful destiny calls us hence to other tears: +[97-129]hail thou for evermore, O princely Pallas, and for evermore +farewell.' And without more words he bent his way to the high walls and +advanced towards his camp. + +And now envoys were there from the Latin city with wreathed boughs of +olive, praying him of his grace to restore the dead that lay strewn by +the sword over the plain, and let them go to their earthy grave: no war +lasts with men conquered and bereft of breath; let this indulgence be +given to men once called friends and fathers of their brides. To them +Aeneas grants leave in kind and courteous wise, spurning not their +prayer, and goes on in these words: 'What spite of fortune, O Latins, +hath entangled you in the toils of war, and made you fly our friendship? +Plead you for peace to the lifeless bodies that the battle-lot hath +slain? I would fain grant it even to the living. Neither have I come but +because destiny had given me this place to dwell in; nor wage I war with +your people; your king it is who hath broken our covenant and preferred +to trust himself to Turnus' arms. Fitter it were Turnus had faced death +to-day. If he will fight out the war and expel the Teucrians, it had +been well to meet me here in arms; so had he lived to whom life were +granted of heaven or his own right hand. Now go, and kindle the fire +beneath your hapless countrymen.' Aeneas ended: they stood dumb in +silence, with faces bent steadfastly in mutual gaze. Then aged Drances, +ever young Turnus' assailant in hatred and accusation, with the words of +his mouth thus answers him again: + +'O Trojan, great in renown, yet greater in arms, with what praises may I +extol thy divine goodness? Shall thy righteousness first wake my wonder, +or thy toils in war? We indeed will gratefully carry these words to our +fathers' city, and, if fortune grant a way, will make thee at one with +King Latinus. Let Turnus seek his own alliances. Nay, [130-163]it will +be our delight to rear the massy walls of destiny and stoop our +shoulders under the stones of Troy.' + +He ended thus, and all with one voice murmured assent. Twelve days' +truce is struck, and in mediation of the peace Teucrians and Latins +stray mingling unharmed on the forest heights. The tall ash echoes to +the axe's strokes; they overturn pines that soar into the sky, and +busily cleave oaken logs and scented cedar with wedges, and drag +mountain-ashes on their groaning waggons. + +And now flying Rumour, harbinger of the heavy woe, fills Evander and +Evander's house and city with the same voice that but now told of Pallas +victorious over Latium. The Arcadians stream to the gates, snatching +funeral torches after their ancient use; the road gleams with the long +line of flame, and parts the fields with a broad pathway of light; the +arriving crowd of Phrygians meets them and mingles in mourning array. +When the matrons saw all the train approach their dwellings they kindle +the town with loud wailing. But no force may withhold Evander; he comes +amid them; the bier is set down; he flings himself on Pallas, and clasps +him with tears and sighs, and scarcely at last does grief leave his +voice's utterance free. 'Other than this, O Pallas! was thy promise to +thy father, that thou wouldst not plunge recklessly into the fury of +battle. I knew well how strong was the fresh pride of arms and the +sweetness of honour in a first battle. Ah, unhappy first-fruits of his +youth and bitter prelude of the war upon our borders! ah, vows and +prayers of mine that no god heard! and thou, pure crown of wifehood, +happy that thou art dead and not spared for this sorrow! But I have +outgone my destiny in living, to stay here the survivor of my child. +Would I had followed the allied arms of Troy, to be overwhelmed by +Rutulian weapons! Would my life had been given, and I and not my Pallas +were borne home in this [164-198]procession! I would not blame you, O +Teucrians, nor our treaty and the friendly hands we clasped: our old age +had that appointed debt to pay. Yet if untimely death awaited my son, it +will be good to think he fell leading the Teucrians into Latium, and +slew his Volscian thousands before he fell. Nay, no other funeral than +this would I deem thy due, my Pallas, than good Aeneas does, than the +mighty Phrygians, than the Tyrrhene captains and all the army of +Tyrrhenia. Great are the trophies they bring on whom thine hand deals +death; thou also, Turnus, wert standing now a great trunk dressed in +arms, had his age and his strength of years equalled thine. But why, +unhappy, do I delay the Trojan arms? Go, and forget not to carry this +message to your king: Thine hand it is that keeps me lingering in a life +that is hateful since Pallas fell, and Turnus is the debt thou seest son +and father claim: for thy virtue and thy fortune this scope alone is +left. I ask not joy in life; I may not; but to carry this to my son deep +in the under world.' + +Meanwhile Dawn had raised her gracious light on weary men, bringing back +task and toil: now lord Aeneas, how Tarchon, have built the pyres on the +winding shore. Hither in ancestral fashion hath each borne the bodies of +his kin; the dark fire is lit beneath, and the vapour hides high heaven +in gloom. Thrice, girt in glittering arms, they have marched about the +blazing piles, thrice compassed on horseback the sad fire of death, and +uttered their wail. Tears fall fast upon earth and armour; cries of men +and blare of trumpets roll skyward. Then some fling on the fire Latin +spoils stripped from the slain, helmets and shapely swords, bridles and +glowing chariot wheels; others familiar gifts, the very shields and +luckless weapons of the dead. Around are slain in sacrifice oxen many in +number, and bristly swine and cattle gathered out of all the country +[199-234]are slaughtered over the flames. Then, crowding the shore, +they gaze on their burning comrades, and guard the embers of the pyres, +and cannot tear themselves away till dewy Night wheels on the +star-spangled glittering sky. + +Therewithal the unhappy Latins far apart build countless pyres and bury +many bodies of men in the ground; and many more they lift and bear away +to the neighbouring country, or send them back to the city; the rest, a +vast heap of undistinguishable slaughter, they burn uncounted and +unhonoured; on all sides the broad fields gleam with crowded rivalry of +fires. The third Dawn had rolled away the chill shadow from the sky; +mournfully they piled high the ashes and mingled bones from the embers, +and heaped a load of warm earth above them. Now in the dwellings of rich +Latinus' city the noise is loudest and most the long wail. Here mothers +and their sons' unhappy brides, here beloved sisters sad-hearted and +orphaned boys curse the disastrous war and Turnus' bridal, and bid him +his own self arm and decide the issue with the sword, since he claims +for himself the first rank and the lordship of Italy. Drances fiercely +embitters their cry, and vouches that Turnus alone is called, alone is +claimed for battle. Yet therewith many a diverse-worded counsel is for +Turnus, and the great name of the queen overshadows him, and he rises +high in renown of trophies fitly won. + +Among their stir, and while confusion is fiercest, lo! to crown all, the +envoys from great Diomede's city bring their gloomy message: nothing is +come of all the toil and labour spent; gifts and gold and strong +entreaties have been of no avail; Latium must seek other arms, or sue +for peace to the Trojan king. For heavy grief King Latinus himself +swoons away. The wrath of heaven and the fresh graves before his eyes +warn him that Aeneas is borne on by fate's evident will. So he sends +imperial summons to [235-269]his high council, the foremost of his +people, and gathers them within his lofty courts. They assemble, and +stream up the crowded streets to the royal dwelling. Latinus, eldest in +years and first in royalty, sits amid them with cheerless brow, and bids +the envoys sent back from the Aetolian city tell the news they bring, +and demands a full and ordered reply. Then tongues are hushed; and +Venulus, obeying his word, thus begins to speak: + +'We have seen, O citizens, Diomede in his Argive camp, and outsped our +way and passed all its dangers, and touched the hand whereunder the land +of Ilium fell. He was founding a town, named Argyripa after his +ancestral people, on the conquered fields of Iapygian Garganus. After we +entered in, and licence of open speech was given, we lay forth our +gifts, we instruct him of our name and country, who are its invaders, +and why we are drawn to Arpi. He heard us, and replied thus with face +unstirred: + +'"O fortunate races, realm of Saturn, Ausonians of old, how doth fortune +vex your quiet and woo you to tempt wars you know not? We that have +drawn sword on the fields of Ilium--I forbear to tell the drains of war +beneath her high walls, the men sunken in yonder Simois--have all over +the world paid to the full our punishment and the reward of guilt, a +crew Priam's self might pity; as Minerva's baleful star knows, and the +Euboic reefs and Caphereus' revenge. From that warfaring driven to alien +shores, Menelaus son of Atreus is in exile far as Proteus' Pillars, +Ulysses hath seen the Cyclopes of Aetna. Shall I make mention of the +realm of Neoptolemus, and Idomeneus' household gods overthrown? or of +the Locrians who dwell on the Libyan beach? Even the lord of Mycenae, +the mighty Achaeans' general, sank on his own threshold edge under his +accursed wife's hand, where the adulterer crouched over conquered Asia. +Aye, or that the gods grudged it me to return to [270-301]my ancestral +altars, to see the bride of my desire, and lovely Calydon! Now likewise +sights of appalling presage pursue me; my comrades, lost to me, have +soared winging into the sky, and flit birds about the rivers--ah me, +dread punishment of my people!--and fill the cliffs with their +melancholy cries. This it was I had to look for even from the time when +I madly assailed celestial limbs with steel, and sullied the hand of +Venus with a wound. Do not, ah, do not urge me to such battles. Neither +have I any war with Troy since her towers are overthrown, nor do I +remember with delight the woes of old. Turn to Aeneas with the gifts you +bear to me from your ancestral borders. We have stood to face his grim +weapons, and met him hand to hand; believe one who hath proved it, how +mightily he rises over his shield, in what a whirlwind he hurls his +spear. Had the land of Ida borne two more like him, Dardanus had marched +to attack the towns of Inachus, and Greece were mourning fate's reverse. +In all our delay before that obstinate Trojan city, it was Hector and +Aeneas whose hand stayed the Grecian victory and bore back its advance +to the tenth year. Both were splendid in courage, both eminent in arms; +Aeneas was first in duty. Let your hands join in treaty as they may; but +beware that your weapons close not with his." + +'Thou hast heard, most gracious king, at once what is the king's answer, +and what his counsel for our great struggle.' + +Scarcely thus the envoys, when a diverse murmur ran through the troubled +lips of the Ausonians; even as, when rocks delay some running river, it +plashes in the barred pool, and the banks murmur nigh to the babbling +wave. So soon as their minds were quieted, and their hurrying lips +hushed, the king, first calling on the gods, begins from his lofty +throne: + +[302-336]'Ere now could I wish, O Latins, we had determined our course +of state, and it had been better thus; not to meet in council at such a +time as now, with the enemy seated before our walls. We wage an +ill-timed war, fellow-citizens, with a divine race, invincible, unbroken +in battle, who brook not even when conquered to drop the sword. If you +had hope in appeal to Aetolian arms, abandon it; though each man's hope +is his own, you discern how narrow a path it is. Beyond that you see +with your eyes and handle with your hands the total ruin of our +fortunes. I blame no one; what valour's utmost could do is done; we have +fought with our whole kingdom's strength. Now I will unfold what I +doubtfully advise and purpose, and with your attention instruct you of +it in brief. There is an ancient land of mine bordering the Tuscan +river, stretching far westward beyond the Sicanian borders. Auruncans +and Rutulians sow on it, work the stiff hills with the ploughshare, and +pasture them where they are roughest. Let all this tract, with a +pine-clad belt of mountain height, pass to the Teucrians in friendship; +let us name fair terms of treaty, and invite them as allies to our +realm; let them settle, if they desire it so, and found a city. But if +they have a mind to try other coasts and another people, and can abide +to leave our soil, let us build twice ten ships of Italian oak, or as +many more as they can man; timber lies at the water's edge for all; let +them assign the number and fashion of the vessels, and we will supply +brass, labour, dockyards. Further, it is our will that an hundred +ambassadors of the highest rank in Latium shall go to bear our words and +ratify the treaty, holding forth in their hands the boughs of peace, and +carrying for gifts weight of gold and ivory, and the chair and striped +robe, our royal array. Give counsel openly, and succour our exhausted +state.' + +Then Drances again, he whose jealous ill-will was [337-370]wrought to +anger and stung with bitterness by Turnus' fame, lavish of wealth and +quick of tongue though his hand was cold in war, held no empty +counsellor and potent in faction--his mother's rank ennobled a lineage +whose paternal source was obscure--rises, and with these words heaps and +heightens their passion: + +'Dark to no man and needing no voice of ours, O gracious king, is that +whereon thou takest counsel. All confess they know how our nation's +fortune sways; but their words are choked. Let him grant freedom of +speech and abate his breath, he by whose disastrous government and +perverse way (I will speak out, though he menace me with arms and death) +we see so many stars of battle gone down and all our city sunk in +mourning; while he, confident in flight, assails the Trojan camp and +makes heaven quail before his arms. Add yet one to those gifts of thine, +to all the riches thou bidst us send or promise to the Dardanians, most +gracious of kings, but one; let no man's passion overbear thee from +giving thine own daughter to an illustrious son and a worthy marriage, +and binding this peace by perpetual treaty. Yet if we are thus +terror-stricken heart and soul, let us implore him in person, in person +plead him of his grace to give way, to restore king and country their +proper right. Why again and again hurlest thou these unhappy citizens on +peril so evident, O source and spring of Latium's woes? In war is no +safety; peace we all implore of thee, O Turnus, and the one pledge that +makes peace inviolable. I the first, I whom thou picturest thine enemy, +as I care not if I am, see, I bow at thy feet. Pity thine allies; +relent, and retire before thy conqueror. Enough have we seen of rout and +death, and desolation over our broad lands. Or if glory stir thee, if +such strength kindle in thy breast, and if a palace so delight thee for +thy dower, be bold, and advance stout-hearted upon the foe. We verily, +that Turnus [371-406]may have his royal bride, must lie scattered on +the plains, worthless lives, a crowd unburied and unwept. Do thou also, +if thou hast aught of might, if the War-god be in thee as in thy +fathers, look him in the face who challenges. . . .' + +At these words Turnus' passion blazed out. He utters a groan, and breaks +forth thus in deep accents: + +'Copious indeed, Drances, and fluent is ever thy speech at the moment +war calls for action; and when the fathers are summoned thou art there +the first. But we need no words to fill our senate-house, safely as thou +wingest them while the mounded walls keep off the enemy, and the +trenches swim not yet with blood. Thunder on in rhetoric, thy wonted +way: accuse thou me of fear, Drances, since thine hand hath heaped so +many Teucrians in slaughter, and thy glorious trophies dot the fields. +Trial is open of what live valour can do; nor indeed is our foe far to +seek; on all sides they surround our walls. Are we going to meet them? +Why linger? Will thy bravery ever be in that windy tongue and those +timorous feet of thine? . . . _My conqueror?_ Shall any justly flout me +as conquered, who sees Tiber swoln fuller with Ilian blood, and all the +house and people of Evander laid low, and the Arcadians stripped of +their armour? Not such did Bitias and huge Pandarus prove me, and the +thousand men whom on one day my conquering hand sent down to hell, shut +as I was in their walls and closed in the enemy's ramparts. _In war is +no safety._ Fool! be thy boding on the Dardanian's head and thine own +fortunes. Go on; cease not to throw all into confusion with thy terrors, +to exalt the strength of a twice vanquished race, and abase the arms of +Latinus before it. Now the princes of the Myrmidons tremble before +Phrygian arms, now Tydeus' son and Achilles of Larissa, and Aufidus +river recoils from the Adriatic wave. Or when the scheming villain +[407-443]pretends to shrink at my abuse, and sharpens calumny by +terror! never shall this hand--keep quiet!--rob thee of such a soul; +with thee let it abide, and dwell in that breast of thine. Now I return +to thee, my lord, and thy weighty resolves. If thou dost repose no +further hope in our arms, if all hath indeed left us, and one repulse +been our utter ruin, and our fortune is beyond recovery, let us plead +for peace and stretch forth unarmed hands. Yet ah! had we aught of our +wonted manhood, his toil beyond all other is blessed and his spirit +eminent, who rather than see it thus, hath fallen prone in death and +once bitten the ground. But if we have yet resources and an army still +unbroken, and cities and peoples of Italy remain for our aid; but if +even the Trojans have won their glory at great cost of blood (they too +have their deaths, and the storm fell equally on all), why do we +shamefully faint even on the threshold? Why does a shudder seize our +limbs before the trumpet sound? Often do the Days and the varying change +of toiling Time restore prosperity; often Fortune in broken visits makes +man her sport and again establishes him. The Aetolian of Arpi will not +help us; but Messapus will, and Tolumnius the fortunate, and the +captains sent by many a nation; nor will fame be scant to follow the +flower of Latium and the Laurentine land. Camilla the Volscian too is +with us, leading her train of cavalry, squadrons splendid in brass. But +if I only am claimed by the Teucrians for combat, if that is your +pleasure, and I am the barrier to the public good, Victory does not so +hate and shun my hands that I should renounce any enterprise for so +great a hope. I shall meet him in courage, did he outmatch great +Achilles and wear arms like his forged by Vulcan's hands. To you and to +my father Latinus I Turnus, unexcelled in bravery by any of old, +consecrate my life. _Aeneas calls on him alone_: let him, I implore: let +not Drances rather appease with his [444-480]life this wrath of heaven, +if such it be, or win the renown of valour.' + +Thus they one with another strove together in uncertainty; Aeneas moved +from his camp to battle. Lo, a messenger rushes spreading confusion +through the royal house, and fills the town with great alarms: the +Teucrians, ranged in battle-line with the Tyrrhene forces, are marching +down by the Tiber river and filling the plain. Immediately spirits are +stirred and hearts shaken and wrath roused in fierce excitement among +the crowd. Hurrying hands grasp at arms; for arms their young men +clamour; the fathers shed tears and mutter gloomily. With that a great +noise rises aloft in diverse contention, even as when flocks of birds +haply settle on a lofty grove, or swans utter their hoarse cry among the +vocal pools on the fish-filled river of Padusa. 'Yes, citizens!' cries +Turnus, seizing his time: 'gather in council and sit praising peace, +while they rush on dominion in arms!' Without more words he sprung up +and issued swiftly from the high halls. 'Thou, Volusus,' he cries, 'bid +the Volscian battalions arm, and lead out the Rutulians. Messapus, and +Coras with thy brother, spread your armed cavalry widely over the plain. +Let a division entrench the city gates and man the towers: the rest of +our array attack with me where I command.' The whole town goes rushing +to the walls; lord Latinus himself, dismayed by the woeful emergency, +quits the council and puts off his high designs, and chides himself +sorely for not having given Aeneas unasked welcome, and made him son and +bulwark of the city. Some entrench the gates, or bring up supply of +stones and poles. The hoarse clarion utters the ensanguined note of war. +A motley ring of boys and matrons girdle the walls. Therewithal the +queen with a crowd of mothers ascends bearing gifts to Pallas' towered +temple, and by her side goes maiden Lavinia, source of all that woe, +[481-514]her beautiful eyes cast down. The mothers enter in, and while +the temple steams with their incense, pour from the high doorway their +mournful cry: 'Maiden armipotent, Tritonian, sovereign of war, break +with thine hand the spear of the Phrygian plunderer, hurl him prone to +earth and dash him down beneath our lofty gates.' Turnus arrays himself +in hot haste for battle, and even now hath done on his sparkling +breastplate with its flickering scales of brass, and clasped his golden +greaves, his brows yet bare and his sword buckled to his side; he runs +down from the fortress height glittering in gold, and exultantly +anticipates the foe. Thus when a horse snaps his tether, and, free at +last, rushes from the stalls and gains the open plain, he either darts +towards the pastures of the herded mares, or bathing, as is his wont, in +the familiar river waters, dashes out and neighs with neck stretched +high, glorying, and his mane tosses over collar and shoulder. Camilla +with her Volscian array meets him face to face in the gateway; the +princess leaps from her horse, and all her squadron at her example slide +from horseback to the ground. Then she speaks thus: + +'Turnus, if bravery hath any just self-confidence, I dare and promise to +engage Aeneas' cavalry, and advance to meet the Tyrrhene horse. Permit +my hand to try war's first perils: do thou on foot keep by the walls and +guard the city.' + +To this Turnus, with eyes fixed on the terrible maiden: 'O maiden flower +of Italy, how may I essay to express, how to prove my gratitude? But +now, since that spirit of thine excels all praise, share thou the toil +with me. Aeneas, as the report of the scouts I sent assures, hath sent +on his light-armed horse to annoy us and scour the plains; himself he +marches on the city across the lonely ridge of the mountain steep. I am +arranging a stratagem of [515-550]war in his pathway on the wooded +slope, to block a gorge on the highroad with armed troops. Do thou +receive and join battle with the Tyrrhene cavalry; with thee shall be +gallant Messapus, the Latin squadrons, and Tiburtus' division: do thou +likewise assume a captain's charge.' + +So speaks he, and with like words heartens Messapus and the allied +captains to battle, and advances towards the enemy. There is a sweeping +curve of glen, made for ambushes and devices of arms. Dark thick foliage +hems it in on either hand, and into it a bare footpath leads by a narrow +gorge and difficult entrance. Right above it on the watch-towers of the +hill-top lies an unexpected level, hidden away in shelter, whether one +would charge from right and left or stand on the ridge and roll down +heavy stones. Hither he passes by a line of way he knew, and, seizing +his ground, occupies the treacherous woods. + +Meanwhile in the heavenly dwellings Latona's daughter addressed fleet +Opis, one of her maiden fellowship and sacred band, and sadly uttered +these accents: 'Camilla moves to fierce war, O maiden, and vainly girds +on our arms, dear as she is beyond others to me. For her love of Diana +is not newly born, nor her spirit stirred by sudden affection. Driven +from his kingdom through jealousy of his haughty power, Metabus left +ancient Privernum town, and bore his infant with him in his flight +through war and battle, the companion of his exile, and called her by +her mother Casmilla's name, with a little change, Camilla. Carrying her +before him on his breast, he sought a long ridge of lonely woodland; on +all sides angry weapons pressed on him, and Volscian soldiery spread +hurrying round about. Lo, in mid flight swoln Amasenus ran foaming with +banks abrim, so heavily had the clouds burst in rain. He would swim it; +but love of the infant holds him back in alarm for so dear a burden. +Inly revolving [551-586]all, he settled reluctantly on a sudden +resolve: the great spear that the warrior haply carried in his stout +hand, of hard-knotted and seasoned oak, to it he ties his daughter +swathed in cork-tree bark of the woodland, and binds her balanced round +the middle of the spear; poising it in his great right hand he thus +cries aloft: "Gracious one, haunter of the woodland, maiden daughter of +Latona, a father devotes this babe to thy service; thine is this weapon +she holds, thine infant suppliant, flying through the air from her +enemies. Accept her, I implore, O goddess, for thine own, whom now I +entrust to the chance of air." He spoke, and drawing back his arm, darts +the spinning spear-shaft: the waters roar: over the racing river poor +Camilla shoots on the whistling weapon. But Metabus, as a strong band +now presses nigher, plunges into the river, and triumphantly pulls spear +and girl, his gift to Trivia, from the grassy turf. No cities ever +received him within house or rampart, nor had his savagery submitted to +it; he led his life on the lonely pastoral hills. Here he nursed his +daughter in the underwood among tangled coverts, on the milk of a wild +brood-mare's teats, squeezing the udder into her tender lips. And so +soon as the baby stood and went straight on her feet, he armed her hands +with a sharp javelin, and hung quiver and bow from her little shoulders. +Instead of gold to clasp her tresses, instead of the long skirted gown, +a tiger's spoils hang down her back. Even then her tender hand hurled +childish darts, and whirled about her head the twisted thong of her +sling, and struck down the crane from Strymon or the milk-white swan. +Many a mother among Tyrrhenian towns destined her for their sons in +vain; content with Diana alone, she keeps unsoiled for ever the love of +her darts and maidenhood. Would she had not plunged thus into warfare +and provoked the Trojans by attack! so were she now dear to me and one +of my [587-620]company. But since bitter doom is upon her, up, glide +from heaven, O Nymph, and seek the Latin borders, where under evil omen +they join in baleful battle. Take these, and draw from the quiver an +avenging shaft; by it shall he pay me forfeit of his blood, whoso, +Trojan or Italian alike, shall sully her sacred body with a wound. +Thereafter will I in a sheltering cloud bear body and armour of the +hapless girl unspoiled to the tomb, and lay them in her native land.' +She spoke; but the other sped lightly down the aery sky, girt about with +dark whirlwind on her echoing way. + +But meanwhile the Trojan force nears the walls, with the Etruscan +captains and their whole cavalry arrayed in ordered squadrons. Their +horses' trampling hoofs thunder on all the field, as, swerving this way +and that, they chafe at the reins' pressure; the iron field bristles +wide with spears, and the plain is aflame with uplifted arms. Likewise +Messapus and the Latin horse, and Coras and his brother, and maiden +Camilla's squadron, come forth against them on the plain, and draw back +their hands and level the flickering points of their long lances, in a +fire of neighing horses and advancing men. And now each had drawn within +javelin-cast of each, and drew up; with a sudden shout they dart forth, +and urge on their furious horses; from all sides at once weapons shower +thick like snow, and veil the sky with their shadow. In a moment +Tyrrhenus and fiery Aconteus charge violently with crossing spears, and +are the first to fall; they go down with a heavy crash, and their beasts +break and shatter chest upon chest. Aconteus, hurled off like a +thunderbolt or some mass slung from an engine, is dashed away, and +scatters his life in air. Immediately the lines waver, and the Latins +wheeling about throw their shields behind them and turn their horses +towards the town. The Trojans pursue; Asilas heads and leads on +[621-653]their squadrons. And now they drew nigh the gates, and again +the Latins raise a shout and wheel their supple necks about; the +pursuers fly, and gallop right back with loosened rein: as when the sea, +running up in ebb and flow, now rushes shoreward and strikes over the +cliffs in a wave of foam, drenching the edge of the sand in its curving +sweep; now runs swirling back, and the surge sucks the rolling stones +away. Twice the Tuscans turn and drive the Rutulians towards the town; +twice they are repelled, and look back behind them from cover of their +shields. But when now meeting in a third encounter, the lines are locked +together all their length, and man singles out his man; then indeed, +amid groans of the dying, deep in blood roll armour and bodies, and +horses half slain mixed up with slaughtered men. The battle swells +fierce. Orsilochus hurled his spear at the horse of Remulus, whom +himself he shrank to meet, and left the steel in it under the ear; at +the stroke the charger rears madly, and, mastered by the wound, lifts +his chest and flings up his legs: the rider is thrown and rolls over on +the ground. Catillus strikes down Iollas, and Herminius mighty in +courage, mighty in limbs and arms, bareheaded, tawny-haired, +bare-shouldered; undismayed by wounds, he leaves his vast body open +against arms. Through his broad shoulders the quivering spear runs +piercing him through, and doubles him up with pain. Everywhere the dark +blood flows; they deal death with the sword in battle, and seek a noble +death by wounds. + +But amid the slaughter Camilla rages, a quivered Amazon, with one side +stripped for battle, and now sends tough javelins showering from her +hand, now snatches the strong battle-axe in her unwearying grasp; the +golden bow, the armour of Diana, clashes on her shoulders; and even when +forced backward in retreat, she turns in flight and [654-691]aims darts +from her bow. But around her are her chosen comrades, maiden Larina, +Tulla, Tarpeia brandishing an axe inlaid with bronze, girls of Italy, +whom Camilla the bright chose for her own escort, good at service in +peace and war: even as Thracian Amazons when the streams of Thermodon +clash beneath them as they go to war in painted arms, whether around +Hippolyte, or while martial Penthesilea returns in her chariot, and the +crescent-shielded columns of women dance with loud confused cry. Whom +first, whom last, fierce maiden, does thy dart strike down? First +Euneus, son of Clytius; for as he meets her the long fir shaft crashes +through his open breast. He falls spouting streams of blood, and bites +the gory ground, and dying writhes himself upon his wound. Then Liris +and Pagasus above him; who fall headlong and together, the one thrown as +he reins up his horse stabbed under him, the other while he runs forward +and stretches his unarmed hand to stay his fall. To these she joins +Amastrus, son of Hippotas, and follows from far with her spear Tereus +and Harpalycus and Demophoon and Chromis: and as many darts as the +maiden sends whirling from her hand, so many Phrygians fall. Ornytus the +hunter rides near in strange arms on his Iapygian horse, his broad +warrior's shoulders swathed in the hide stripped from a bullock, his +head covered by a wolf's wide-grinning mouth and white-tusked jaws; a +rustic pike arms his hand; himself he moves amid the squadrons a full +head over all. Catching him up (for that was easy amid the rout), she +runs him through, and thus cries above her enemy: 'Thou wert hunting +wild beasts in the forest, thoughtest thou, Tyrrhenian? the day is come +for a woman's arms to refute thy words. Yet no light fame shalt thou +carry to thy fathers' ghosts, to have fallen under the weapon of +Camilla.' Next Orsilochus and Butes, the two mightiest of mould among +the Teucrians; Butes she pierces in the [692-725]back with her +spear-point between corslet and helmet, where the neck shews as he sits, +and the shield hangs from his left shoulder; Orsilochus she flies, and +darting in a wide circle, slips into the inner ring and pursues her +pursuer; then rising her full height, she drives the strong axe deep +through armour and bone, as he pleads and makes much entreaty; warm +brain from the wound splashes his face. One met her thus and hung +startled by the sudden sight, the warrior son of Aunus haunter of the +Apennine, not the meanest in Liguria while fate allowed him to deceive. +And he, when he discerns that no fleetness of foot may now save him from +battle or turn the princess from pursuit, essays to wind a subtle device +of treachery, and thus begins: 'How hast thou glory, if a woman trust in +her horse's strength? Debar retreat; trust thyself to level ground at +close quarters with me, and prepare to fight on foot. Soon wilt thou +know how windy boasting brings one to harm.' He spoke; but she, furious +and stung with fiery indignation, hands her horse to an attendant, and +takes her stand in equal arms on foot and undismayed, with naked sword +and shield unemblazoned. But he, thinking his craft had won the day, +himself flies off on the instant, and turning his rein, darts off in +flight, pricking his beast to speed with iron-armed heel. 'False +Ligurian, in vain elated in thy pride! for naught hast thou attempted +thy slippery native arts, nor will thy craft bring thee home unhurt to +treacherous Aunus.' So speaks the maiden, and with running feet swift as +fire crosses his horse, and catching the bridle, meets him in front and +takes her vengeance in her enemy's blood: as lightly as the falcon, bird +of bale, swoops down from aloft on a pigeon high in a cloud, and pounces +on and holds her, and disembowels her with taloned feet, while blood and +torn feathers flutter down the sky. + +But the creator of men and gods sits high on Olympus' [726-759]summit +watching this, not with eyes unseeing: he kindles Tyrrhenian Tarchon to +the fierce battle, and sharply goads him on to wrath. So Tarchon gallops +amid the slaughter where his squadrons retreat, and urges his troops in +changing tones, calling man on man by name, and rallies the fliers to +fight. 'What terror, what utter cowardice hath fallen on your spirits, O +never to be stung to shame, O slack alway? a woman drives you in +disorder and routs our ranks! Why wear we steel? for what are these idle +weapons in our hands? Yet not slack in Venus' service and wars by night, +or, when the curving flute proclaims Bacchus' revels, to look forward to +the feast and the cups on the loaded board (this your passion, this your +desire!) till the soothsayer pronounce the offering favourable, and the +fatted victim invite you to the deep groves.' So speaking, he spurs his +horse into the midmost, ready himself to die, and bears violently down +full on Venulus; and tearing him from horseback, grasps his enemy and +carries him away with him on the saddle-bow by main force. A cry rises +up, and all the Latins turn their eyes. Tarchon flies like fire over the +plain, carrying the armed man, and breaks off the steel head from his +own spear and searches the uncovered places, trying where he may deal +the mortal blow; the other struggling against him keeps his hand off his +throat, and strongly parries his attack. And, as when a golden eagle +snatches and soars with a serpent in his clutch, and his feet are fast +in it, and his talons cling; but the wounded snake writhes in coiling +spires, and its scales rise and roughen, and its mouth hisses as it +towers upward; the bird none the less attacks his struggling prize with +crooked beak, while his vans beat the air: even so Tarchon carries +Tiburtus out of the ranks, triumphant in his prize. Following their +captain's example and issue the men of Maeonia charge in. Then Arruns, +due to his [760-796]doom, circles in advance of fleet Camilla with +artful javelin, and tries how fortune may be easiest. Where the maiden +darts furious amid the ranks, there Arruns slips up and silently tracks +her footsteps; where she returns victorious and retires from amid the +enemy, there he stealthily bends his rapid reins. Here he approaches, +and here again he approaches, and strays all round and about, and +untiringly shakes his certain spear. Haply Chloreus, sacred to Cybele +and once her priest, glittered afar, splendid in Phrygian armour; a skin +feathered with brazen scales and clasped with gold clothed the horse +that foamed under his spur; himself he shone in foreign blue and +scarlet, with fleet Gortynian shafts and a Lycian horn; a golden bow was +on his shoulder, and the soothsayer's helmet was of gold; red gold +knotted up his yellow scarf with its rustling lawny folds; his tunics +and barbarian trousers were wrought in needlework. Him, whether that she +might nail armour of Troy on her temples, or herself move in captive +gold, the maiden pursued in blind chase alone of all the battle +conflict, and down the whole line, reckless and fired by a woman's +passion for spoils and plunder: when at last out of his ambush Arruns +chooses his time and darts his javelin, praying thus aloud to heaven: +'Apollo, most high of gods, holy Soracte's warder, to whom we beyond all +do worship, for whom the blaze of the pinewood heap is fed, where we thy +worshippers in pious faith print our steps amid the deep embers of the +fire, grant, O Lord omnipotent, that our arms wipe off this disgrace. I +seek not the dress the maiden wore, nor trophy or any spoil of victory; +other deeds shall bring me praise; let but this dread scourge fall +stricken beneath my wound, I will return inglorious to my native towns.' +Phoebus heard, and inly granted half his vow to prosper, half he shred +into the flying breezes. To surprise and strike down Camilla in sudden +death, this he [797-831]yielded to his prayer; that his high home might +see his return he gave not, and a gust swept off his accents on the +gale. So, when the spear sped from his hand hurtled through the air, all +the Volscians marked it well and turned their eyes on the queen; and she +alone knew not wind or sound of the weapon on its aery path, till the +spear passed home and sank where her breast met it, and, driven deep, +drank her maiden blood. Her companions run hastily up and catch their +sinking mistress. Arruns takes to flight more alarmed than all, in +mingled fear and exultation, and no longer dares to trust his spear or +face the maiden's weapons. And as the wolf, some shepherd or great +bullock slain, plunges at once among the trackless mountain heights ere +hostile darts are in pursuit, and knows how reckless he hath been, and +drooping his tail lays it quivering under his belly, and seeks the +woods; even so does Arruns withdraw from sight in dismay, and, satisfied +to escape, mingles in the throng of arms. The dying woman pulls at the +weapon with her hand; but the iron head is fixed deep in the wound up +between the rib-bones. She swoons away with loss of blood; chilling in +death her eyes swoon away; the once lustrous colour leaves her face. +Then gasping, she thus accosts Acca, one of her birthmates, who alone +before all was true to Camilla, with whom her cares were divided; and +even so she speaks: 'Thus far, Acca my sister, have I availed; now the +bitter wound overmasters me, and all about me darkens in haze. Haste +away, and carry to Turnus my last message; to take my place in battle, +and repel the Trojans from the town. And now goodbye.' Even with the +words she dropped the reins and slid to ground unconscious. Then the +unnerving chill overspread her, her neck slackened, her head sank +overpowered by death, and her arms fell, and with a moan the life fled +indignant into the dark. Then indeed an [832-867]infinite cry rises and +smites the golden stars; the battle grows bloodier now Camilla is down; +at once in serried rants all the Teucrian forces pour in, with the +Tyrrhene captains and Evander's Arcadian squadrons. + +But Opis, Trivia's sentinel, long ere now sits high on the hill-tops, +gazing on the battle undismayed. And when afar amid the din of angry men +she espied Camilla done woefully to death, she sighed and uttered forth +a deep cry: 'Ah too, too cruel, O maiden, the forfeit thou hast paid for +daring armed attack on the Teucrians! and nothing hath availed thee thy +lonely following of Diana in the woodlands, nor wearing our quiver on +thy shoulder. Yet thy Queen hath not left thee unhonoured now thy latter +end is come; nor will this thy death be unnamed among the nations, nor +shalt thou bear the fame of one unavenged; for whosoever hath sullied +thy body with a wound shall pay death for due.' Under the mountain +height was a great earthen mound, tomb of Dercennus, a Laurentine king +of old, shrouded in shadowy ilex. Hither the goddess most beautiful +first swoops down, and marks Arruns from the mounded height. As she saw +him glittering in arms and idly exultant: 'Why,' she cries, 'wanderest +thou away? hitherward direct thy steps; come hither to thy doom, to +receive thy fit reward for Camilla. Shalt thou die, and by Diana's +weapons?' The Thracian spoke, and slid out a fleet arrow from her gilded +quiver, and stretched it level on the bow, and drew it far, till the +curving tips met one another, and now her hands touched in counterpoise, +the left the steel edge, the string in the right her breast. At once and +in a moment Arruns heard the whistle of the dart and the resounding air, +as the steel sank in his body. His comrades leave him forgotten on the +unknown dust of the plain, moaning his last and gasping his life away; +Opis wings her flight to the skyey heaven. + +[868-901]At once the light squadron of Camilla retreat now they have +lost their mistress; the Rutulians retreat in confusion, brave Atinas +retreats. Scattered captains and thinned companies make for safety, and +turn their horses backward to the town. Nor does any avail to make stand +against the swarming death-dealing Teucrians, or bear their shock in +arms; but their unstrung bows droop on their shoulders, and the +four-footed galloping horse-hoof shakes the crumbling plain. The eddying +dust rolls up thick and black towards the walls, and on the watch-towers +mothers beat their breasts and the cries of women rise up to heaven. On +such as first in the rout broke in at the open gates the mingling +hostile throng follows hard; nor do they escape death, alas! but in the +very gateway, within their native city and amid their sheltering homes, +they are pierced through and gasp out their life. Some shut the gates, +and dare not open to their pleading comrades nor receive them in the +town; and a most pitiful slaughter begins between armed men who guard +the entry and others who rush upon their arms. Barred out before their +weeping parents' eyes and faces, some, swept on by the rout, roll +headlong into the trenches; some, blindly rushing with loosened rein, +batter at the gates and stiffly-bolted doorway. The very mothers from +the walls in eager heat (true love of country points the way, when they +see Camilla) dart weapons with shaking hand, and eagerly make hard +stocks of wood and fire-hardened poles serve for steel, and burn to die +among the foremost for their city's sake. + +Meanwhile among the forests the terrible news pours in on Turnus, and +Acca brings him news of the mighty invasion; the Volscian lines are +destroyed; Camilla is fallen; the enemy thicken and press on, and have +swept all before them down the tide of battle. Raging he leaves the +hills he had beset--Jove's stern will ordains it [902-915]so--and quits +the rough woodland. Scarcely had he marched out of sight and gained the +plain when lord Aeneas enters the open defiles, surmounts the ridge, and +issues from the dim forest. So both advance swiftly to the town with all +their columns, no long march apart, and at once Aeneas descried afar the +plains all smoking with dust, and saw the Laurentine columns, and Turnus +knew Aeneas terrible in arms, and heard the advancing feet and the +neighing of the horses. And straightway would they join battle and essay +the conflict, but that ruddy Phoebus even now dips his weary coursers in +the Iberian flood, and night draws on over the fading day. They encamp +before the city, and draw their trenches round the walls. + + + + +BOOK TWELFTH + +THE SLAYING OF TURNUS + + +When Turnus sees the Latins broken and fainting in the thwart issue of +war, his promise claimed for fulfilment, and men's eyes pointed on him, +his own spirit rises in unappeasable flame. As the lion in Phoenician +fields, his breast heavily wounded by the huntsmen, at last starts into +arms, and shakes out the shaggy masses from his exultant neck, and +undismayed snaps the brigand's planted weapon, roaring with +blood-stained mouth; even so Turnus kindles and swells in passion. Then +he thus addresses the king, and so furiously begins: + +'Turnus stops not the way; there is no excuse for the coward Aeneadae to +take back their words or renounce their compact. I join battle; bring +the holy things, my lord, and swear the treaty. Either this hand shall +hurl to hell the Dardanian who skulks from Asia, and the Latins sit and +see my single sword wipe out the nation's reproach; or let him rule his +conquest, and Lavinia pass to his espousal.' + +To him Latinus calmly replied: 'O excellent young man! the more thy hot +valour abounds, the more intently must I counsel, and weigh fearfully +what may befall. Thou hast thy father Daunus' realm, hast many towns +taken by [23-55]thine hand, nor is Latinus lacking in gold and +goodwill. There are other maidens unwedded in Latium and Laurentine +fields, and of no mean birth. Let me unfold this hard saying in all +sincerity: and do thou drink it into thy soul. I might not ally my +daughter to any of her old wooers; such was the universal oracle of gods +and men. Overborne by love for thee, overborne by kinship of blood and +my weeping wife's complaint, I broke all fetters, I severed the maiden +from her promised husband, I took up unrighteous arms. Since then, +Turnus, thou seest what calamities, what wars pursue me, what woes +thyself before all dost suffer. Twice vanquished in pitched battle, we +scarce guard in our city walls the hopes of Italy: the streams of Tiber +yet run warm with our blood, and our bones whiten the boundless plain. +Why fall I away again and again? what madness bends my purpose? if I am +ready to take them into alliance after Turnus' destruction, why do I not +rather bar the strife while he lives? What will thy Rutulian kinsmen, +will all Italy say, if thy death--Fortune make void the word!--comes by +my betrayal, while thou suest for our daughter in marriage? Cast a +glance on war's changing fortune; pity thine aged father, who now far +away sits sad in his native Ardea.' + +In nowise do the words bend Turnus' passion: he rages the more fiercely, +and sickens of the cure. So soon as he found speech he thus made +utterance: + +'The care thou hast for me, most gracious lord, for me lay down, I +implore thee, and let me purchase honour with death. Our hand too rains +weapons, our steel is strong; and our wounds too draw blood. The goddess +his mother will be far from him to cover his flight, woman-like, in a +cloud and an empty phantom's hiding.' + +But the queen, dismayed by the new terms of battle, wept, and clung to +her fiery son as one ready to die: [56-89]'Turnus, by these tears, by +Amata's regard, if that touches thee at all--thou art now the one hope, +the repose of mine unhappy age; in thine hand is Latinus' honour and +empire, on thee is the weight of all our sinking house--one thing I +beseech thee; forbear to join battle with the Teucrians. What fate +soever awaits thee in the strife thou seekest, it awaits me, Turnus, +too: with thee will I leave the hateful light, nor shall my captive eyes +see Aeneas my daughter's lord.' Lavinia tearfully heard her mother's +words with cheeks all aflame, as deep blushes set her face on fire and +ran hotly over it. Even as Indian ivory, if one stain it with sanguine +dye, or where white lilies are red with many a rose amid: such colour +came on the maiden's face. Love throws him into tumult, and stays his +countenance on the girl: he burns fiercer for arms, and briefly answers +Amata: + +'Do not, I pray thee, do not weep for me, neither pursue me thus +ominously as I go to the stern shock of war. Turnus is not free to dally +with death. Thou, Idmon, bear my message to the Phrygian monarch in this +harsh wording: So soon as to-morrow's Dawn rises in the sky blushing on +her crimson wheels, let him not loose Teucrian or Rutulian: let Teucrian +and Rutulian arms have rest, and our blood decide the war; on that field +let Lavinia be sought in marriage.' + +These words uttered, withdrawing swiftly homeward, he orders out his +horses, and rejoicingly beholds them snorting before his face: those +that Orithyia's self gave to grace Pilumnus, such as would excel the +snows in whiteness and the gales in speed. The eager charioteers stand +round and pat their chests with clapping hollowed hands, and comb their +tressed manes. Himself next he girds on his shoulders the corslet stiff +with gold and pale mountain-bronze, and buckles on the sword and shield +and scarlet-plumed [90-124]helmet-spikes: that sword the divine Lord of +Fire had himself forged for his father Daunus and dipped glowing in the +Stygian wave. Next, where it stood amid his dwelling leaning on a massy +pillar, he strongly seizes his stout spear, the spoil of Actor the +Auruncan, and brandishes it quivering, and cries aloud: 'Now, O spear +that never hast failed at my call, now the time is come; thee princely +Actor once, thee Turnus now wields in his grasp. Grant this strong hand +to strike down the effeminate Phrygian, to rend and shatter the corslet, +and defile in dust the locks curled with hot iron and wet with myrrh.' +Thus madly he runs on: sparkles leap out from all his blazing face, and +his keen eyes flash fire: even as the bull when before his first fight +he bellows awfully, and drives against a tree's trunk to make trial of +his angry horns, and buffets the air with blows or scatters the sand in +prelude of battle. + +And therewithal Aeneas, terrible in his mother's armour, kindles for +warfare and awakes into wrath, rejoicing that offer of treaty stays the +war. Comforting his comrades and sorrowing Iuelus' fear, he instructs +them of destiny, and bids bear answer of assurance to King Latinus, and +name the laws of peace. + +Scarcely did the morrow shed on the mountain-tops the beams of risen +day, as the horses of the sun begin to rise from the deep flood and +breathe light from their lifted nostrils; Rutulian and Teucrian men +measured out and made ready a field of battle under the great city's +ramparts, and midway in it hearth-fires and grassy altars to the gods of +both peoples; while others bore spring water and fire, draped in +priestly dress and their brows bound with grass of the field. The +Ausonian army issue forth, and crowd through the gates in streaming +serried columns. On this side all the Trojan and Tyrrhenian host pour in +diverse armament, girt with iron even as though the harsh battle-strife +[125-158]called them forth. Therewith amid their thousands the captains +dart up and down, splendid in gold and purple, Mnestheus, seed of +Assaracus, and brave Asilas, and Messapus, tamer of horses, brood of +Neptune: then each on signal given retired to his own ground; they plant +their spears in the earth and lean their shields against them. Mothers +in eager abandonment, and the unarmed crowd and feeble elders beset +towers and house-roofs, or stand at the lofty gates. + +But Juno, on the summit that is now called the Alban--then the mountain +had neither name nor fame or honour--looked forth from the hill and +surveyed the plain and double lines of Laurentine and Trojan, and +Latinus' town. Straightway spoke she thus to Turnus' sister, goddess to +goddess, lady of pools and noisy rivers: such worship did Jupiter the +high king of air consecrate to her for her stolen virginity: + +'Nymph, grace of rivers, best beloved of our soul, thou knowest how out +of all the Latin women that ever rose to high-hearted Jove's thankless +bed, thee only have I preferred and gladly given part and place in +heaven. Learn thy woe, that thou blame not me for it, Juturna. Where +fortune seemed to allow and the Destinies granted Latinus' estate to +prosper, I shielded Turnus and thy city. Now I see him joining battle +with unequal fates, and the day of doom and deadly force draws nigh. +Mine eyes cannot look on this battle and treaty: thou, if thou darest +aught of more present help for the brother of thy blood, go on; it +befits thee. Haply relief shall follow misery.' + +Scarcely thus: when Juturna's eyes overbrimmed with tears, and thrice +and again she smote her hand on her gracious breast. 'This is not time +for tears,' cries Juno, daughter of Saturn: 'hasten and snatch thy +brother, if it may be, from his death; or do thou waken war, and make +[159-191]the treaty abortive. I encourage thee to dare.' With such +urgence she left her, doubting and dismayed, and grievously wounded in +soul. + +Meanwhile the kings go forth; Latinus in mighty pomp rides in his +four-horse chariot; twelve gilded rays go glittering round his brows, +symbol of the Sun his ancestor; Turnus moves behind a white pair, +clenching in his hand two broad-headed spears. On this side lord Aeneas, +fount of the Roman race, ablaze in starlike shield and celestial arms, +and close by Ascanius, second hope of mighty Rome, issue from the camp; +and the priest, in spotless raiment, hath brought the young of a bristly +sow and an unshorn sheep of two years old, and set his beasts by the +blazing altars. They, turning their eyes towards the sunrising, scatter +salted corn from their hands and clip the beasts with steel over the +temples, and pour cups on the altars. Then Aeneas the good, with sword +drawn, thus makes invocation: + +'Be the Sun now witness, and this Earth to my call, for whose sake I +have borne to suffer so sore travail, and the Lord omnipotent, and thou +his wife, at last, divine daughter of Saturn, at last I pray more +favourable; and thou, mighty Mavors, who wieldest all warfare in +lordship beneath thy sway; and on the Springs and Rivers I call, and the +Dread of high heaven, and the divinities of the blue seas: if haply +victory fall to Turnus the Ausonian, the vanquished make covenant to +withdraw to Evander's city; Iuelus shall quit the soil; nor ever +hereafter shall the Aeneadae return in arms to renew warfare, or attack +this realm with the sword. But if Victory grant battle to us and ours +(as I think the rather, and so the rather may the gods seal their will), +I will not bid Italy obey my Teucrians, nor do I claim the realm for +mine; let both nations, unconquered, join treaty for ever under equal +law. Gods [192-225]and worship shall be of my giving: my father Latinus +shall bear the sword, and have a father's prescribed command. For me my +Teucrians shall establish a city, and Lavinia give the town her name.' + +Thus Aeneas first: thereon Latinus thus follows: + +'By these same I swear, O Aeneas, by Earth, Sea, Sky, and the twin brood +of Latona and Janus the double-facing, and the might of nether gods and +grim Pluto's shrine; this let our Father hear, who seals treaties with +his thunderbolt. I touch the altars, I take to witness the fires and the +gods between us; no time shall break this peace and truce in Italy, +howsoever fortune fall; nor shall any force turn my will aside, not if +it dissolve land into water in turmoil of deluge, or melt heaven in +hell: so surely as this sceptre' (for haply he bore a sceptre in his +hand) 'shall never burgeon into thin leafage and shady shoot, since once +in the forest cut down right to the stem it lost its mother, and the +steel lopped away its tressed arms: a tree of old: now the craftsman's +hand hath bound it in adornment of brass and given it to our Latin +fathers' bearing.' + +With such words they sealed mutual treaty midway in sight of the +princes. Then they duly slay the consecrated beasts over the flames, and +tear out their live entrails, and pile the altars with laden chargers. + +But long ere this the Rutulians deemed the battle unequal, and their +hearts are stirred in changeful motion; and now the more, as they +discern nigher that in ill-matched strength . . . . heightened by +Turnus, as advancing with noiseless pace he humbly worships at the altar +with downcast eye, by his wasted cheeks and the pallor on his youthful +frame. Soon as Juturna his sister saw this talk spread, and the people's +mind waver in uncertainty, into the mid ranks, in feigned form of +Camertus--his family was high in long ancestry, and his father's name +[226-260]for valour renowned, and himself most valiant in arms--into +the mid ranks she glides, not ignorant of her task, and scatters diverse +rumours, saying thus: 'Shame, O Rutulians! shall we set one life in the +breach for so many such as these? are we unequal in numbers or bravery? +See, Troy and Arcadia is all they bring, and those fate-bound bands that +Etruria hurls on Turnus. Scarce is there an enemy to meet every other +man of ours. He indeed will ascend to the gods for whose altars he +devotes himself, and move living in the lips of men: we, our country +lost, shall bow to the haughty rigour of our lords, if we now sit +slackly on the field.' + +By such words the soldiers' counsel was kindled yet higher and higher, +and a murmur crept through their columns; the very Laurentines, the very +Latins are changed; and they who but now hoped for rest from battle and +rescue of fortune now desire arms and pray the treaty were undone, and +pity Turnus' cruel lot. To this Juturna adds a yet stronger impulse, and +high in heaven shews a sign more potent than any to confuse Italian +souls with delusive augury. For on the crimsoned sky Jove's tawny bird +flew chasing, in a screaming crowd, fowl of the shore that winged their +column; then suddenly stooping to the water, pounces on a noble swan +with merciless crooked talons. The startled Italians watch, while all +the birds together clamorously wheel round from flight, wonderful to +see, and dim the sky with their pinions, and in thickening cloud urge +their foe through air, till, conquered by their attack and his heavy +prey, he yielded and dropped it from his talons into the river, and +winged his way deep into the clouds. Then indeed the Rutulians +clamorously greet the omen, and their hands flash out. And Tolumnius the +augur cries before them all: 'This it was, this, that my vows often have +sought; I welcome and know a deity; [261-294]follow me, follow, snatch +up the sword, O hapless people whom the greedy alien frightens with his +arms like silly birds, and with strong hand ravages your shores. He too +will take to flight, and spread his sails afar over ocean. Do you with +one heart close up your squadrons, and defend in battle your lost king.' +He spoke, and darting forward, hurled a weapon full on the enemy; the +whistling cornel-shaft sings, and unerringly cleaves the air. At once +and with it a vast shout goes up, and all their rows are amazed, and +their hearts hotly stirred. The spear flies on; where haply stood +opposite in ninefold brotherhood all the beautiful sons of one faithful +Tyrrhene wife, borne of her to Gylippus the Arcadian, one of them, +midway where the sewn belt rubs on the flank and the clasp bites the +fastenings of the side, one of them, excellent in beauty and glittering +in arms, it pierces clean through the ribs and stretches on the yellow +sand. But of his banded brethren, their courage fired by grief, some +grasp and draw their swords, some snatch weapons to throw, and rush +blindly forward. The Laurentine columns rush forth against them; again +from the other side Trojans and Agyllines and Arcadians in painted +armour flood thickly in: so hath one passion seized all to make decision +by the sword. They pull the altars to pieces; through all the air goes a +thick storm of weapons, and faster falls the iron rain. Bowls and +hearth-fires are carried off; Latinus himself retreats, bearing the +outraged gods of the broken treaty. The others harness their chariots, +or vault upon their horses and come up with swords drawn. Messapus, +eager to shatter the treaty, rides menacingly down on Aulestes the +Tyrrhenian, a king in a king's array. Retreating hastily, and tripped on +the altars that meet him behind, the hapless man goes down on his head +and shoulders. But Messapus flies up with wrathful spear, and strikes +him, as he pleads sore, a deep downward [295-330]blow from horseback +with his beam-like spear, saying thus: _That for him: the high gods take +this better victim._ The Italians crowd in and strip his warm limbs. +Corynaeus seizes a charred brand from the altar, and meeting Ebysus as +he advances to strike, darts the flame in his face; his heavy beard +flamed up, and gave out a scorched smell. Following up his enemy's +confusion, the other seizes him with his left hand by the hair, and +bears him to earth with a thrust of his planted knee, and there drives +the unyielding sword into his side. Podalirius pursues and overhangs +with naked sword the shepherd Alsus as he rushes amid the foremost line +of weapons; Alsus swings back his axe, and severs brow and chin full in +front, wetting his armour all over with spattered blood. Grim rest and +iron slumber seal his eyes; his lids close on everlasting night. + +But good Aeneas, his head bared, kept stretching his unarmed hand and +calling loudly to his men: 'Whither run you? What is this strife that so +spreads and swells? Ah, restrain your wrath! truce is already stricken, +and all its laws ordained; mine alone is the right of battle. Leave me +alone, and my hand shall confirm the treaty; these rites already make +Turnus mine.' Amid these accents, amid words like these, lo! a whistling +arrow winged its way to him, sped from what hand or driven by what god, +none knows, or what chance or deity brought such honour to the +Rutulians; the renown of the high deed was buried, nor did any boast to +have dealt Aeneas' wound. Turnus, when he saw Aeneas retreating from the +ranks and his captains in dismay, burns hot with sudden hope. At once he +calls for his horses and armour, and with a bound leaps proudly into his +chariot and handles the reins. He darts on, dealing many a brave man's +body to death; many an one he rolls half-slain, or crushes whole files +under his chariot, or seizes and showers spears on the fugitives. As +[331-364]when by the streams of icy Hebrus Mavors kindles to bloodshed +and clashes on his shield, and stirs war and speeds his furious +coursers; they outwing south winds and west on the open plain; utmost +Thrace groans under their hoof-beats; and around in the god's train rush +the faces of dark Terror, and Wraths and Ambushes; even so amid the +battle Turnus briskly lashes on his reeking horses, trampling on the +foes that lie piteously slain; the galloping hoof scatters bloody dew, +and spurns mingled gore and sand. And now hath he dealt Sthenelus to +death, and Thamyrus and Pholus, him and him at close quarters, the other +from afar; from afar both the sons of Imbrasus, Glaucus and Lades, whom +Imbrasus himself had nurtured in Lycia and equipped in equal arms, +whether to meet hand to hand or to outstrip the winds on horseback. +Elsewhere Eumedes advances amid the fray, ancient Dolon's brood, +illustrious in war, renewing his grandfather's name, his father's +courage and strength of hand, who of old dared to claim Pelides' chariot +as his price if he went to spy out the Grecian camp; to him the son of +Tydeus told out another price for his venture, and he dreams no more of +Achilles' horses. Him Turnus descried far on the open plain, and first +following him with light javelin through long space of air, stops his +double-harnessed horses and leaps from the chariot, and descends on his +fallen half-lifeless foe, and, planting his foot on his neck, wrests the +blade out of his hand and dyes its glitter deep in his throat, adding +these words withal: 'Behold, thou liest, Trojan, meting out those +Hesperian fields thou didst seek in war. Such guerdon is theirs who dare +to tempt my sword; thus do they found their city.' Then with a +spear-cast he sends Asbutes to follow him, and Chloreus and Sybaris, +Dares and Thersilochus, and Thymoetes fallen flung over his horse's +neck. And as when [365-398]the Edonian North wind's wrath roars on the +deep Aegean, and the wave follows it shoreward; where the blast comes +down, the clouds race over the sky; so, wheresoever Turnus cleaves his +way, columns retreat and lines turn and run; his own speed bears him on, +and his flying plume tosses as his chariot meets the breeze. Phegeus +brooked not his proud approach; he faced the chariot, and caught and +twisted away in his right hand the mouths of his horses, spurred into +speed and foaming on the bit. Dragged along and hanging by the yoke he +is left uncovered; the broad lance-head reaches him, pins and pierces +the double-woven breastplate, and lightly wounds the surface of his +body. Yet turning, he advanced on the enemy behind his shield, and +sought succour in the naked point; when the wheel running forward on its +swift axle struck him headlong and flung him to ground, and Turnus' +sword following it smote off his head between the helmet-rim and the +upper border of the breastplate, and left the body on the sand. + +And while Turnus thus victoriously deals death over the plains, +Mnestheus meantime and faithful Achates, and Ascanius by their side, set +down Aeneas in the camp, dabbled with blood and leaning every other step +on his long spear. He storms, and tries hard to pull out the dart where +the reed had broken, and calls for the nearest way of remedy, to cut +open the wound with broad blade, and tear apart the weapon's +lurking-place, and so send him back to battle. And now Iapix son of +Iasus came, beloved beyond others of Phoebus, to whom once of old, +smitten with sharp desire, Apollo gladly offered his own arts and gifts, +augury and the lyre and swift arrows: he, to lengthen out the destiny of +a parent given over to die, chose rather to know the potency of herbs +and the practice of healing, and deal in a silent art unrenowned. Aeneas +stood chafing bitterly, propped on his vast spear, mourning +[399-435]Iuelus and a great crowd of men around, unstirred by their +tears. The aged man, with garment drawn back and girt about him in +Paeonian fashion, makes many a hurried effort with healing hand and the +potent herbs of Phoebus, all in vain; in vain his hand solicits the +arrow-head, and his pincers' grasp pulls at the steel. Fortune leads him +forward in nowise; Apollo aids not with counsel; and more and more the +fierce clash swells over the plains, and the havoc draws nigher on. +Already they see the sky a mass of dust, the cavalry approaching, and +shafts falling thickly amid the camp; the dismal cry uprises of warriors +fighting and falling under the War-god's heavy hand. At this, stirred +deep by her son's cruel pain, Venus his mother plucked from Cretan Ida a +stalk of dittamy with downy leaves and bright-tressed flowers, the plant +not unknown to wild goats when winged arrows are fast in their body. +This Venus bore down, her shape girt in a dim halo; this she steeps with +secret healing in the river-water poured out and sparkling abrim, and +sprinkles life-giving juice of ambrosia and scented balm. With that +water aged Iapix washed the wound, unwitting; and suddenly, lo! all the +pain left his body, all the blood in the deep wound was stanched. And +now following his hand the arrow fell out with no force, and strength +returned afresh as of old. 'Hasten! arms for him quickly! why stand +you?' cries Iapix aloud, and begins to kindle their courage against the +enemy; 'this comes not by human resource or schooling of art, nor does +my hand save thee, Aeneas: a higher god is at work, and sends thee back +to higher deeds.' He, eager for battle, had already clasped on the +greaves of gold right and left, and scorning delay, brandishes his +spear. When the shield is adjusted by his side and the corslet on his +back, he clasps Ascanius in his armed embrace, and lightly kissing him +through the helmet, cries: 'Learn of me, O boy, valour [436-470]and +toil indeed, fortune of others. Now mine hand shall give thee defence in +war, and lead thee to great reward: do thou, when hereafter thine age +ripens to fulness, keep this in remembrance, and as thou recallest the +pattern of thy kindred, let thy spirit rise to thy father Aeneas, thine +uncle Hector.' + +These words uttered, he issued towering from the gates, brandishing his +mighty spear: with him in serried column rush Antheus and Mnestheus, and +all the throng streams forth of the camp. The field drifts with blinding +dust, and the startled earth trembles under the tramp of feet. From his +earthworks opposite Turnus saw and the Ausonians saw them come, and an +icy shudder ran deep through their frame; first and before all the +Latins Juturna heard and knew the sound, and in terror fled away. He +flies on, and hurries his dark column over the open plain. As when in +fierce weather a storm-cloud moves over mid sea to land, with presaging +heart, ah me, the hapless husbandmen shudder from afar; it will deal +havoc to their trees and destruction to their crops, and make a broad +path of ruin; the winds fly before it, and bear its roar to the beach; +so the Rhoetean captain drives his army full on the foe; one and all +they close up in wedges, and mass their serried ranks. Thymbraeus smites +massive Osiris with the sword, Mnestheus slays Arcetius, Achates Epulo, +Gyas Ufens: Tolumnius the augur himself goes down, he who had hurled the +first weapon against the foe. Their cry rises to heaven, and in turn the +routed Rutulians give backward in flight over the dusty fields. Himself +he deigns not to cut down the fugitives, nor pursue such as meet him +fair on foot or approach in arms: Turnus alone he tracks and searches in +the thick haze, alone calls him to conflict. Then panic-stricken the +warrior maiden flings Turnus' charioteer out over his reins, and leaving +him far where he slips from the [471-504]chariot-pole, herself succeeds +and turns the wavy reins, tones and limbs and armour all of Metiscus' +wearing. As when a black swallow flits through some rich lord's spacious +house, and circles in flight the lofty halls, gathering her tiny food +for sustenance to her twittering nestlings, and now swoops down the +spacious colonnades, now round the wet ponds; in like wise dart +Juturna's horses amid the enemy, and her fleet chariot passes flying +over all the field. And now here and now here she displays her +triumphant brother, nor yet allows him to close, but flies far and away. +None the less does Aeneas thread the circling maze to meet him, and +tracks his man, and with loud cry cries on him through the scattered +ranks. Often as he cast eyes on his enemy and essayed to outrun the +speed of the flying-footed horses, so often Juturna wheeled her team +away. Alas, what can he do? Vainly he tosses on the ebb and flow, and in +his spirit diverse cares make conflicting call; when Messapus, who haply +bore in his left hand two tough spear-shafts topped with steel, runs +lightly up and aims and hurls one of them upon him with unerring stroke. +Aeneas stood still, and gathered himself behind his armour, sinking on +bended knee; yet the rushing spear bore off his helmet-spike, and dashed +the helmet-plume from the crest. Then indeed his wrath swells; and +forced to it by their treachery, while chariot and horses disappear, he +calls Jove oft and again to witness, and the altars of the violated +treaty, and now at last plunges amid their lines. Sweeping terrible down +the tide of battle he wakens fierce indiscriminate carnage, and flings +loose all the reins of wrath. + +What god may now unfold for me in verse so many woes, so many diverse +slaughters and death of captains whom now Turnus, now again the Trojan +hero, drives over all the field? Was it well, O God, that nations +destined to everlasting peace should clash in so vast a shock? Aeneas +[505-540]meets Sucro the Rutulian; the combat stayed the first rush of +the Teucrians, but delayed them not long; he catches him on the side, +and, when fate comes quickest, drives the harsh sword clean through the +ribs where they fence the breast. Turnus brings down Amycus from +horseback with his brother Diores, and meets them on foot; him he +strikes with his long spear as he comes, him with his sword-point, and +hangs both severed heads on his chariot and carries them off dripping +with blood. The one sends to death Talos and Tanais and brave Cethegus, +three at one meeting, and gloomy Onites, of Echionian name, and Peridia +the mother that bore him; the other those brethren sent from Lycia and +Apollo's fields, and Menoetes the Arcadian, him who loathed warfare in +vain; who once had his art and humble home about the river-fisheries of +Lerna, and knew not the courts of the great, but his father was tenant +of the land he tilled. And as fires kindled dispersedly in a dry forest +and rustling laurel-thickets, or foaming rivers where they leap swift +and loud from high hills, and speed to sea each in his own path of +havoc; as fiercely the two, Aeneas and Turnus, dash amid the battle; +now, now wrath surges within them, and unconquerable hearts are torn; +now in all their might they rush upon wounds. The one dashes Murranus +down and stretches him on the soil with a vast whirling mass of rock, as +he cries the names of his fathers and forefathers of old, a whole line +drawn through Latin kings; under traces and yoke the wheels spurned him, +and the fast-beating hoofs of his rushing horses trample down their +forgotten lord. The other meets Hyllus rushing on in gigantic pride, and +hurls his weapon at his gold-bound temples; the spear pierced through +the helmet and stood fast in the brain. Neither did thy right hand save +thee from Turnus, O Cretheus, bravest of the Greeks; nor did his gods +shield Cupencus when Aeneas came; he gave his [541-575]breast full to +the steel, nor, alas! was the brazen shield's delay aught of avail. Thee +likewise, Aeolus, the Laurentine plains saw sink backward and cover a +wide space of earth; thou fallest, whom Argive battalions could not lay +low, nor Achilles the destroyer of Priam's realm. Here was thy goal of +death; thine high house was under Ida, at Lyrnesus thine high house, on +Laurentine soil thy tomb. The whole battle-lines gather up, all Latium +and all Dardania, Mnestheus and valiant Serestus, with Messapus, tamer +of horses, and brave Asilas, the Tuscan battalion and Evander's Arcadian +squadrons; man by man they struggle with all their might; no rest nor +pause in the vast strain of conflict. + +At this Aeneas' mother most beautiful inspired him to advance on the +walls, directing his columns on the town and dismaying the Latins with +sudden and swift disaster. As in search for Turnus he bent his glance +this way and that round the separate ranks, he descries the city free +from all this warfare, unpunished and unstirred. Straightway he kindles +at the view of a greater battle; he summons Mnestheus and Sergestus and +brave Serestus his captains, and mounts a hillock; there the rest of the +Teucrian army gathers thickly, still grasping shield and spear. Standing +on the high mound amid them, he speaks: 'Be there no delay to my words; +Jupiter is with us; neither let any be slower to move that the design is +sudden. This city to-day, the source of war, the royal seat of Latinus, +unless they yield them to receive our yoke and obey their conquerors, +will I raze to ground, and lay her smoking roofs level with the dust. +Must I wait forsooth till Turnus please to stoop to combat, and choose +again to face his conqueror? This, O citizens, is the fountain-head and +crown of the accursed war. Bring brands speedily, and reclaim the treaty +in fire.' He ended; all with spirit alike emulous form a wedge and +advance in serried masses to the walls. Ladders are run [576-611]up, +and fire leaps sudden to sight. Some rush to the separate gates, and cut +down the guards of the entry, others hurl their steel and darken the sky +with weapons. Aeneas himself among the foremost, upstretching his hand +to the city walls, loudly reproaches Latinus, and takes the gods to +witness that he is again forced into battle, that twice now do the +Italians choose warfare and break a second treaty. Discord rises among +the alarmed citizens: some bid unbar the town and fling wide their gates +to the Dardanians, and pull the king himself towards the ramparts; +others bring arms and hasten to defend the walls: as when a shepherd +tracks bees to their retreat in a recessed rock, and fills it with +stinging smoke, they within run uneasily up and down their waxen +fortress, and hum louder in rising wrath; the smell rolls in darkness +along their dwelling, and a blind murmur echoes within the rock as the +smoke issues to the empty air. + +This fortune likewise befell the despairing Latins, this woe shook the +whole city to her base. The queen espies from her roof the enemy's +approach, the walls scaled and firebrands flying on the houses; and +nowhere Rutulian ranks, none of Turnus' columns to meet them; alas! she +deems him destroyed in the shock of battle, and, distracted by sudden +anguish, shrieks that she is the source of guilt, the spring of ill, and +with many a mad utterance of frenzied grief rends her purple attire with +dying hand, and ties from a lofty beam the ghastly noose of death. And +when the unhappy Latin women knew this calamity, first her daughter +Lavinia tears her flower-like tresses and roseate cheeks, and all the +train around her madden in her suit; the wide palace echoes to their +wailing, and from it the sorrowful rumour spreads abroad throughout the +town. All hearts sink; Latinus goes with torn raiment, in dismay at his +wife's doom and his city's downfall, defiling his hoary hair with +soilure of sprinkled dust. + +[614-648]Meanwhile on the skirts of the field Turnus chases scattered +stragglers, ever slacker to battle, ever less and less exultant in his +coursers' victorious speed. The confused cry came to him borne in blind +terror down the breeze, and his startled ears caught the echoing tumult +and disastrous murmur of the town. 'Ah me! what agony shakes the city? +or what is this cry that fleets so loud from the distant town?' So +speaks he, and distractedly checks the reins. And to him his sister, as +changed into his charioteer Metiscus' likeness she swayed horses and +chariot-reins, thus rejoined: 'This way, Turnus, let us pursue the brood +of Troy, where victory opens her nearest way; there are others whose +hands can protect their dwellings. Aeneas falls fiercer on the Italians, +and closes in conflict; let our hand too deal pitiless death on his +Teucrians. Neither in tale of dead nor in glory of battle shalt thou +retire outdone.' Thereat Turnus: . . . + +'Ah my sister, long ere now I knew thee, when first thine arts shattered +the treaty, and thou didst mingle in the strife; and now thy godhead +conceals itself in vain. But who hath bidden thee descend from heaven to +bear this sore travail? was it that thou mightest see thy hapless +brother cruelly slain? for what do I, or what fortune yet gives promise +of safety? Before my very eyes, calling aloud on me, I saw Murranus, +than whom none other is left me more dear, sink huge to earth, borne +down by as huge a wound. Hapless Ufens is fallen, not to see our shame; +corpse and armour are in Teucrian hands. The destruction of their +households, this was the one thing yet lacking; shall I suffer it? Shall +my hand not refute Drances' jeers? shall I turn my back, and this land +see Turnus a fugitive? Is Death all so bitter? Do you, O Shades, be +gracious to me, since the powers of heaven are estranged; to you shall I +go down, a pure spirit and [649-681]ignorant of your blame, never once +unworthy of my mighty fathers of old.' + +Scarce had he spoken thus; lo! Saces, borne flying on his foaming horse +through the thickest of the foe, an arrow-wound right in his face, +darts, beseeching Turnus by his name. 'Turnus, in thee is our last +safety; pity thy people. Aeneas thunders in arms, and threatens to +overthrow and hurl to destruction the high Italian fortress; and already +firebrands are flying on our roofs. On thee, on thee the Latins turn +their gazing eyes; King Latinus himself mutters in doubt, whom he is to +call his sons, to whom he shall incline in union. Moreover the queen, +thy surest stay, hath fallen by her own hand and in dismay fled the +light. Alone in front of the gates Messapus and valiant Atinas sustain +the battle-line. Round about them to right and left the armies stand +locked and the iron field shivers with naked points; thou wheelest thy +chariot on the sward alone.' At the distracting picture of his fortune +Turnus froze in horror and stood in dumb gaze; together in his heart +sweep the vast mingling tides of shame and maddened grief, and love +stung to frenzy and resolved valour. So soon as the darkness cleared and +light returned to his soul, he fiercely turned his blazing eyeballs +towards the ramparts, and gazed back from his wheels on the great city. +And lo! a spire of flame wreathing through the floors wavered up skyward +and held a turret fast, a turret that he himself had reared of mortised +planks and set on rollers and laid with high gangways. 'Now, O my +sister, now fate prevails: cease to hinder; let us follow where deity +and stern fortune call. I am resolved to face Aeneas, resolved to bear +what bitterness there is in death; nor shalt thou longer see me shamed, +sister of mine. Let me be mad, I pray thee, with this madness before the +end.' He spoke, and leapt swiftly from his chariot to the field, and +darting through weapons [682-718]and through enemies, leaves his +sorrowing sister, and bursts in rapid course amid their columns. And as +when a rock rushes headlong from some mountain peak, torn away by the +blast, or if the rushing rain washes it away, or the stealing years +loosen its ancient hold; the reckless mountain mass goes sheer and +impetuous, and leaps along the ground, hurling with it forests and herds +and men; thus through the scattering columns Turnus rushes to the city +walls, where the earth is wettest with bloodshed and the air sings with +spears; and beckons with his hand, and thus begins aloud: 'Forbear now, +O Rutulians, and you, Latins, stay your weapons. Whatsoever fortune is +left is mine: I singly must expiate the treaty for you all, and make +decision with the sword.' All drew aside and left him room. + +But lord Aeneas, hearing Turnus' name, abandons the walls, abandons the +fortress height, and in exultant joy flings aside all hindrance, breaks +off all work, and clashes his armour terribly, vast as Athos, or as +Eryx, or as the lord of Apennine when he roars with his tossing ilex +woods and rears his snowy crest rejoicing into air. Now indeed Rutulians +and Trojans and all Italy turned in emulous gaze, and they who held the +high city, and they whose ram was battering the foundations of the wall, +and unarmed their shoulders. Latinus himself stands in amaze at the +mighty men, born in distant quarters of the world, met and making +decision with the sword. And they, in the empty level field that cleared +for them, darted swiftly forward, and hurling their spears from far, +close in battle shock with clangour of brazen shields. Earth utters a +moan; the sword-strokes fall thick and fast, chance and valour joining +in one. And as in broad Sila or high on Taburnus, when two bulls rush to +deadly battle forehead to forehead, the herdsmen retire in terror, all +the herd stands dumb in dismay, and the heifers murmur in doubt which +shall be [719-752]lord in the woodland, which all the cattle must +follow; they violently deal many a mutual wound, and gore with their +stubborn horns, bathing their necks and shoulders in abundant blood; all +the woodland moans back their bellowing: even thus Aeneas of Troy and +the Daunian hero rush together shield to shield; the mighty crash fills +the sky. Jupiter himself holds up the two scales in even balance, and +lays in them the different fates of both, trying which shall pay forfeit +of the strife, whose weight shall sink in death. Turnus darts out, +thinking it secure, and rises with his whole reach of body on his +uplifted sword; then strikes; Trojans and Latins cry out in excitement, +and both armies strain their gaze. But the treacherous sword shivers, +and in mid stroke deserts its eager lord. If flight aid him not now! He +flies swifter than the wind, when once he descries a strange hilt in his +weaponless hand. Rumour is that in his headlong hurry, when mounting +behind his yoked horses to begin the battle, he left his father's sword +behind and caught up his charioteer Metiscus' weapon; and that served +him long, while Teucrian stragglers turned their backs; when it met the +divine Vulcanian armour, the mortal blade like brittle ice snapped in +the stroke; the shards lie glittering upon the yellow sand. So in +distracted flight Turnus darts afar over the plain, and now this way and +now that crosses in wavering circles; for on all hands the Teucrians +locked him in crowded ring, and the dreary marsh on this side, on this +the steep city ramparts hem him in. + +Therewith Aeneas pursues, though ever and anon his knees, disabled by +the arrow, hinder and stay his speed; and foot hard on foot presses +hotly on his hurrying enemy: as when a hunter courses with a fleet +barking hound some stag caught in a river-loop or girt by the +crimson-feathered toils, and he, in terror of the snares and the high +river-bank, [753-786]darts back and forward in a thousand ways; but the +keen Umbrian clings agape, and just catches at him, and as though he +caught him snaps his jaws while the baffled teeth close on vacancy. Then +indeed a cry goes up, and banks and pools answer round about, and all +the sky echoes the din. He, even as he flies, chides all his Rutulians, +calling each by name, and shrieks for the sword he knew. But Aeneas +denounces death and instant doom if one of them draw nigh, and doubles +their terror with threats of their city's destruction, and though +wounded presses on. Five circles they cover at full speed, and unwind as +many this way and that; for not light nor slight is the prize they seek, +but Turnus' very lifeblood is at issue. Here there haply had stood a +bitter-leaved wild olive, sacred to Faunus, a tree worshipped by +mariners of old; on it, when rescued from the waves, they were wont to +fix their gifts to the god of Laurentum and hang their votive raiment; +but the Teucrians, unregarding, had cleared away the sacred stem, that +they might meet on unimpeded lists. Here stood Aeneas' spear; hither +borne by its own speed it was held fast stuck in the tough root. The +Dardanian stooped over it, and would wrench away the steel, to follow +with the weapon him whom he could not catch in running. Then indeed +Turnus cries in frantic terror: 'Faunus, have pity, I beseech thee! and +thou, most gracious Earth, keep thy hold on the steel, as I ever have +kept your worship, and the Aeneadae again have polluted it in war.' He +spoke, and called the god to aid in vows that fell not fruitless. For +all Aeneas' strength, his long struggling and delay over the tough stem +availed not to unclose the hard grip of the wood. While he strains and +pulls hard, the Daunian goddess, changing once more into the charioteer +Metiscus' likeness, runs forward and passes her brother his sword. But +Venus, indignant that the [787-818]Nymph might be so bold, drew nigh +and wrenched away the spear where it stuck deep in the root. Erect in +fresh courage and arms, he with his faithful sword, he towering fierce +over his spear, they face one another panting in the battle shock. + +Meanwhile the King of Heaven's omnipotence accosts Juno as she gazes on +the battle from a sunlit cloud. 'What yet shall be the end, O wife? what +remains at the last? Heaven claims Aeneas as his country's god, thou +thyself knowest and avowest to know, and fate lifts him to the stars. +With what device or in what hope hangest thou chill in cloudland? Was it +well that a deity should be sullied by a mortal's wound? or that the +lost sword--for what without thee could Juturna avail?--should be +restored to Turnus and swell the force of the vanquished? Forbear now, I +pray, and bend to our entreaties; let not the pain thus devour thee in +silence, and distress so often flood back on me from thy sweet lips. The +end is come. Thou hast had power to hunt the Trojans over land or wave, +to kindle accursed war, to put the house in mourning, and plunge the +bridal in grief: further attempt I forbid thee.' Thus Jupiter began: +thus the goddess, daughter of Saturn, returned with looks cast down: + +'Even because this thy will, great Jupiter, is known to me for thine, +have I left, though loth, Turnus alone on earth; nor else wouldst thou +see me now, alone on this skyey seat, enduring good and bad; but girt in +flame I were standing by their very lines, and dragging the Teucrians +into the deadly battle. I counselled Juturna, I confess it, to succour +her hapless brother, and for his life's sake favoured a greater daring; +yet not the arrow-shot, not the bending of the bow, I swear by the +merciless well-head of the Stygian spring, the single ordained dread of +the gods in heaven. And now I retire, and leave the battle in loathing. +[819-854]This thing I beseech thee, that is bound by no fatal law, for +Latium and for the majesty of thy kindred. When now they shall plight +peace with prosperous marriages (be it so!), when now they shall join in +laws and treaties, bid thou not the native Latins change their name of +old, nor become Trojans and take the Teucrian name, or change their +language, or alter their attire: let Latium be, let Alban kings endure +through ages, let Italian valour be potent in the race of Rome. Troy is +fallen; let her and her name lie where they fell.' + +To her smilingly the designer of men and things: + +'Jove's own sister thou art, and second seed of Saturn, such surge of +wrath tosses within thy breast! But come, allay this madness so vainly +stirred. I give thee thy will, and yield thee ungrudged victory. Ausonia +shall keep her native speech and usage, and as her name is, it shall be. +The Trojans shall sink mingling into their blood; I will add their +sacred law and ritual, and make all Latins and of a single speech. Hence +shall spring a race of tempered Ausonian blood, whom thou shalt see +outdo men and gods in duty; nor shall any nation so observe thy +worship.' To this Juno assented, and in gladness withdrew her purpose; +meanwhile she quits her cloud, and retires out of the sky. + +This done, the Father revolves inly another counsel, and prepares to +separate Juturna from her brother's arms. Twin monsters there are, +called the Dirae by their name, whom with infernal Megaera the dead of +night bore at one single birth, and wreathed them in like serpent coils, +and clothed them in windy wings. They appear at Jove's throne and in the +courts of the grim king, and quicken the terrors of wretched men +whensoever the lord of heaven deals sicknesses and dreadful death, or +sends terror of war upon guilty cities. One of these Jupiter sent +swiftly down from heaven's height, and bade her meet Juturna for a +[855-888]sign. She wings her way, and darts in a whirlwind to earth. +Even as an arrow through a cloud, darting from the string when Parthian +hath poisoned it with bitter gall, Parthian or Cydonian, and sped the +immedicable shaft, leaps through the swift shadow whistling and unknown; +so sprung and swept to earth the daughter of Night. When she espies the +Ilian ranks and Turnus' columns, suddenly shrinking to the shape of a +small bird that often sits late by night on tombs or ruinous roofs, and +vexes the darkness with her cry, in such change of likeness the monster +shrilly passes and repasses before Turnus' face, and her wings beat +restlessly on his shield. A strange numbing terror unnerves his limbs, +his hair thrills up, and the accents falter on his tongue. But when his +hapless sister knew afar the whistling wings of the Fury, Juturna +unbinds and tears her tresses, with rent face and smitten bosom. 'How, O +Turnus, can thine own sister help thee now? or what more is there if I +break not under this? What art of mine can lengthen out thy day? can I +contend with this ominous thing? Now, now I quit the field. Dismay not +my terrors, disastrous birds; I know these beating wings, and the sound +of death, nor do I miss high-hearted Jove's haughty ordinance. Is this +his repayment for my maidenhood? what good is his gift of life for ever? +why have I forfeited a mortal's lot? Now assuredly could I make all this +pain cease, and go with my unhappy brother side by side into the dark. +Alas mine immortality! will aught of mine be sweet to me without thee, +my brother? Ah, how may Earth yawn deep enough for me, and plunge my +godhead in the under world!' + +So spoke she, and wrapping her head in her gray vesture, the goddess +moaning sore sank in the river depth. + +But Aeneas presses on, brandishing his vast tree-like spear, and +fiercely speaks thus: 'What more delay is there [889-924]now? or why, +Turnus, dost thou yet shrink away? Not in speed of foot, in grim arms, +hand to hand, must be the conflict. Transform thyself as thou wilt, and +collect what strength of courage or skill is thine; pray that thou +mayest wing thy flight to the stars on high, or that sheltering earth +may shut thee in.' The other, shaking his head: 'Thy fierce words dismay +me not, insolent! the gods dismay me, and Jupiter's enmity.' And no more +said, his eyes light on a vast stone, a stone ancient and vast that +haply lay upon the plain, set for a landmark to divide contested fields: +scarcely might twelve chosen men lift it on their shoulders, of such +frame as now earth brings to birth: then the hero caught it up with +trembling hand and whirled it at the foe, rising higher and quickening +his speed. But he knows not his own self running nor going nor lifting +his hands or moving the mighty stone; his knees totter, his blood +freezes cold; the very stone he hurls, spinning through the empty void, +neither wholly reached its distance nor carried its blow home. And as in +sleep, when nightly rest weighs down our languorous eyes, we seem vainly +to will to run eagerly on, and sink faint amidst our struggles; the +tongue is powerless, the familiar strength fails the body, nor will +words or utterance follow: so the disastrous goddess brings to naught +all Turnus' valour as he presses on. His heart wavers in shifting +emotion; he gazes on his Rutulians and on the city, and falters in +terror, and shudders at the imminent spear; neither sees he whither he +may escape nor how rush violently on the enemy, and nowhere his chariot +or his sister at the reins. As he wavers Aeneas poises the deadly +weapon, and, marking his chance, hurls it in from afar with all his +strength of body. Never with such a roar are stones hurled from some +engine on ramparts, nor does the thunder burst in so loud a peal. +Carrying grim death with it, the spear flies in fashion of some dark +whirlwind, and [925-952]opens the rim of the corslet and the utmost +circles of the sevenfold shield. Right through the thigh it passes +hurtling on; under the blow Turnus falls huge to earth with his leg +doubled under him. The Rutulians start up with a groan, and all the hill +echoes round about, and the width of high woodland returns their cry. +Lifting up beseechingly his humbled eyes and suppliant hand: 'I have +deserved it,' he says, 'nor do I ask for mercy; use thy fortune. If an +unhappy parent's distress may at all touch thee, this I pray; even such +a father was Anchises to thee; pity Daunus' old age, and restore to my +kindred which thou wilt, me or my body bereft of day. Thou art +conqueror, and Ausonia hath seen me stretch conquered hands. Lavinia is +thine in marriage; press not thy hatred farther.' + +Aeneas stood wrathful in arms, with rolling eyes, and lowered his hand; +and now and now yet more the speech began to bend him to waver: when +high on his shoulder appeared the sword-belt with the shining bosses +that he knew, the luckless belt of the boy Pallas, whom Turnus had +struck down with mastering wound, and wore on his shoulders the fatal +ornament. The other, as his eyes drank in the plundered record of his +fierce grief, kindles to fury, and cries terrible in anger: 'Mayest +thou, thou clad in the spoils of my dearest, escape mine hands? Pallas +it is, Pallas who now strikes the sacrifice, and exacts vengeance in thy +guilty blood.' So saying, he fiercely plunges the steel full in his +breast. But his limbs grow slack and chill, and the life with a moan +flies indignantly into the dark. + + +THE END. + + + + +NOTES + + +BOOK FIRST + +l. 123--_Accipiunt inimicum imbrem._ Inimica non tantum hostilia sed +perniciosa.--Serv. on ix. 315. The word often has this latter sense in +Virgil. + +l. 396--_Aut capere aut captas iam despectare videntur._ Henry seems +unquestionably right in explaining _captas despectare_ of the swans +rising and hovering over the place where they had settled, this action +being more fully expressed in the next two lines. The parallelism +between ll. 396 and 400 exists, but it is inverted, _capere_ +corresponding to _subit_, _captas despectare_ to _tenet_. + +l. 427--_lata theatris_ with the balance of MS. authority. + +l. 550--_Arvaque_ after Med. and Pal.; _armaque_ Con. + +l. 636--_Munera laetitiamque die_ ('ut multi legunt,' says Serv.), +though it has little MS. authority, has been adopted because it is +strongly probable on internal grounds, as giving a basis for the other +two readings, _dei_ and _dii_. + +l. 722--_The long-since-unstirred spirit._ + + And weep afresh love's long-since-cancell'd woe. + SHAKESPEARE, Sonnet XXX. + +l. 726--_dependent lychni laquearibus aureis._ Serv. on viii. 25, +_summique ferit laquearia tecti_, says 'multi lacuaria legunt. nam lacus +dicuntur: unde est . . . lacunar. non enim a laqueis dicitur.' As Prof. +Nettleship has pointed out, this seems to indicate that there are two +words, _laquear_ from _laqueus_, meaning chain or network, and _lacuar_ +or _lacunar_ from _lacus_, meaning sunk work. + + +BOOK SECOND + +l. 30--_Classibus hic locus._ Ad equites referre debemus.--Serv. Cf. +also vii. 716. + +l. 76--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 234--_moenia pandimus urbis._ Moenia cetera urbis tecta vel aedes +accipiendum.--Serv. This is the sense which the word generally has in +Virgil: it is often used in contrast with _muri_, or as a synonym of +_urbs_; and in most cases _city_ is its nearest English equivalent. + +l. 381--_caerula colla tumentem._ Caerulum est viride cum nigro.--Serv. +on vii. 198. Cf. iii. 208, where it is used of the colour of the sea +after a storm. + +l. 616--_nimbo effulgens._ est fulgidum lumen quo deorum capita +cinguntur. sic etiam pingi solet.--Serv. Cf. xii. 416. + + +BOOK THIRD + +l. 127--_freta concita terris_ with all the best MSS.; _consita_ Con. + +l. 152--_qua se Plena per insertas fundebat Luna fenestras._ The usual +explanation, which makes _insertas_ an epithet transferred by a sort of +hypallage from _Luna_ to _fenestras_, is extremely violent, and makes +the word little more than a repetition of _se fundebat_. Servius +mentions two other interpretations; _non seratas, quasi inseratas_, and +_clatratas_; the last has been adopted in the translation. + +In the passage of Lucretius (ii. 114) which Virgil has imitated here, + + Contemplator enim cum solis lumina . . . + Inserti fundunt radii per opaca domorum, + +it is possible that _clatris_ may be the lost word. + +l. 684-- + + _Contra iussa monent Heleni, Scyllam atque Charybdim + Inter, utramque viam leti discrimine parvo + Ni teneant cursus._ + +In this difficult passage it is probably best to take _cursus_ as the +subject to teneant (_cursus teneant_, id est agantur.--Serv. Cf. also l. +454 above, _quamvis vi cursus in altum Vela vocet_), _viam_ being either +the direct object of _teneant_, or in loose apposition to _Scyllam atque +Charybdim_. + +l. 708--_tempestatibus actis_ with Rom. and Pal.; _actus_ Con. after +Med. + + +BOOK FOURTH + + Totus hic liber . . . in consiliis et subtilitatibus est. + nam paene comicus stilus est. nec mirum, ubi de amore + tractatur.--Serv. + +l. 273--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 528--Omitted with the best MSS. + + +BOOK FIFTH + +l. 595--_iuduntque per undas_, omitted with the preponderance of MS. +authority. + + +BOOK SIXTH + +l. 242--Omitted with the balance of MS. authority. + +l. 806--_virtutem extendere factis_ with Med.; _virtute extendere vires_ +Con. + + +BOOK EIGHTH + +l. 46--Omitted with the majority of the best MSS. + +l. 383--_Arma rogo. Genetrix nato te filia Nerei_. + + _Arma rogo._ hic distinguendum, ut cui petat non dicat, sed + relinquat intellegi . . . _Genetrix nato te filia Nerei._ hoc + est, soles hoc praestare matribus.--Serv. + + +BOOK NINTH + +l. 29--Omitted with all the best MSS. + +l. 122--Omitted with all the best MSS. + +l. 281-- + + _Me nulla dies tam fortibus ausis + Dissimilem arguerit tantum, Fortuna secunda + Aut adversa cadat._ + +With some hesitation I have adopted this reading as the one open to +least objection, though the balance of authority is decidedly in favour +of _haud adversa_. For the position of _tantum_ cf. Ecl. x. 46, +according to the 'subtilior explicatio' now generally adopted. + +l. 412-- + + _Et venit adversi in tergum Sulmonis ibique + Frangitur, et fisso transit praecordia ligno._ + +The phrase _in tergum_ occurs twice elsewhere: ix. 764--meaning 'on the +back'; and xi. 653--meaning 'backward'; and in x. 718 the uncertainty +about the order of the lines makes it possible that _tergo decutit +hastas_ was meant to refer to the boar, not to Mezentius. But the +passages quoted by the editors there shew that the word might be used in +the sense of 'shield'; and this being so we are scarcely justified in +reading _aversi_ against all the good MSS. + +l. 529--Omitted with most MSS. + + +BOOK TENTH + +l. 278--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 754--_Insidiis, iaculo et longe fallente sagitta._ The MS. authority +is decidedly in favour of this, the more difficult reading; and the +hendiadys is not more violent than those in Georg. ii. 192, Aen. iii. +223. + + +BOOK TWELFTH + +l. 218--_Tum magis, ut propius cernunt non viribus aequis._ + +With Ribbeck I believe that there is a gap in the sense here, and have +marked one in the translation. + +l. 520--_Limina_ with Med. _Munera_ Con. + +ll. 612, 613--Omitted with the best MSS. + +l. 751--_Venator cursu canis et latratibus instat._ I take _cursu canis_ +as equivalent to _currente cane_, as in i. 324, _spumantis apri cursum +clamore prementem_. + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +The following words appear with and without a hyphen. Spelling has been +left as in the original. + + blood-stained bloodstained + hill-tops hilltops + horse-hair horsehair + life-blood lifeblood + new-born newborn + spear-shaft spearshaft + water-ways waterways + +The following words are spelled in multiple ways. Spelling has been left +as in the original. + + aery aery + horned horned + Nereids Nereid + Pergama Pergamea + +The following corrections have made to the text: + + page 173--'[quotation mark missing in original]Nymphs, + Laurentine Nymphs + + page 202--in name fail to be Creuesa[original has Creusa] + + page 207--Rumour on fluttering[original has flutttering] wings + + page 285--the Rhoetean[original has Rhoeteian] captain drives + his army + +The first occurrence of Phoebus was rendered with an oe ligature in the +original. + +Ellipses match the original. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AENEID OF VIRGIL*** + + +******* This file should be named 22456.txt or 22456.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/4/5/22456 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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