Virgil's Æneid. Book
VII
translated by John Dryden.
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THE SEVENTH BOOK OF THE AENEIS
THE ARGUMENT.-- King Latinus
entertains AEneas, and promises him his only daughter, Lavinia, the heiress
of his crown. Turnus, being in love with her, favor'd by her mother, and
stirr'd up by Juno and Alecto, breaks the treaty
which was made, and engages in his quarrel Mezentius, Camilla, Messapus,
and many others of the neighboring princes; whose forces, and the names
of their commanders, are here particularly
related.
AND
thou, O matron of immortal fame,
Here dying, to the shore hast left
thy name;
Cajeta still the place is call'd
from thee,
The nurse of great AEneas' infancy.
Here rest thy bones in rich Hesperia's
plains;
Thy name ('t is all a ghost can
have) remains.
Now, when the prince her
fun'ral rites had paid,
He plow'd the Tyrrhene seas with
sails display'd.
From land a gentle breeze arose
by night,
Serenely shone the stars, the moon
was bright,
And the sea trembled with her silver
light.
Now near the shelves of Circe's
shores they run,
(Circe the rich, the daughter of
the Sun,)
A dang'rous coast: the goddess wastes
her days
In joyous songs; the rocks resound
her lays:
In spinning, or the loom, she spends
the night,
And cedar brands supply her father's
light.
From hence were heard, rebellowing
to the main,
The roars of lions that refuse the
chain,
The grunts of bristled boars, and
groans of bears,
And herds of howling wolves that
stun the sailors' ears.
These from their caverns, at the
close of night,
Fill the sad isle with horror and
affright.
Darkling they mourn their fate,
whom Circe's pow'r,
(That watch'd the moon and planetary
hour,)
With words and wicked herbs from
humankind
Had alter'd, and in brutal shapes
confin'd.
Which monsters lest the Trojans'
pious host
Should bear, or touch upon th' inchanted
coast,
Propitious Neptune steer'd their
course by night
With rising gales that sped their
happy flight.
Supplied with these, they skim the
sounding shore,
And hear the swelling surges vainly
roar.
Now, when the rosy morn began to
rise,
And wav'd her saffron streamer thro'
the skies;
When Thetis blush'd in purple not
her own,
And from her face the breathing
winds were blown,
A sudden silence sate upon the sea,
And sweeping oars, with struggling,
urge their way.
The Trojan, from the main,
beheld a wood,
Which thick with shades and a brown
horror stood:
Betwixt the trees the Tiber took
his course,
With whirlpools dimpled; and with
downward force,
That drove the sand along, he took
his way,
And roll'd his yellow billows to
the sea.
About him, and above, and round
the wood,
The birds that haunt the borders
of his flood,
That bath'd within, or basked upon
his side,
To tuneful songs their narrow throats
applied.
The captain gives command; the joyful
train
Glide thro' the gloomy shade, and
leave the main.
Now, Erato, thy poet's mind
inspire,
And fill his soul with thy celestial
fire!
Relate what Latium was; her ancient
kings;
Declare the past and present state
of things,
When first the Trojan fleet Ausonia
sought,
And how the rivals lov'd, and how
they fought.
These are my theme, and how the
war began,
And how concluded by the godlike
man:
For I shall sing of battles, blood,
and rage,
Which princes and their people did
engage;
And haughty souls, that, mov'd with
mutual hate,
In fighting fields pursued and found
their fate;
That rous'd the Tyrrhene realm with
loud alarms,
And peaceful Italy involv'd in arms.
A larger scene of action is display'd;
And, rising hence, a greater work
is weigh'd.
Latinus, old and mild, had
long possess'd
The Latin scepter, and his people
blest:
His father Faunus; a Laurentian
dame
His mother; fair Marica was her
name.
But Faunus came from Picus: Picus
drew
His birth from Saturn, if records
be true.
Thus King Latinus, in the third
degree,
Had Saturn author of his family.
But this old peaceful prince, as
Heav'n decreed,
Was blest with no male issue to
succeed:
His sons in blooming youth were
snatch'd by fate;
One only daughter heir'd the royal
state.
Fir'd with her love, and with ambition
led,
The neighb'ring princes court her
nuptial bed.
Among the crowd, but far above the
rest,
Young Turnus to the beauteous maid
address'd.
Turnus, for high descent and graceful
mien,
Was first, and favor'd by the Latian
queen;
With him she strove to join Lavinia's
hand,
But dire portents the purpos'd match
withstand.
Deep in the palace, of long
growth, there stood
A laurel's trunk, a venerable wood;
Where rites divine were paid; whose
holy hair
Was kept and cut with superstitious
care.
This plant Latinus, when his town
he wall'd,
Then found, and from the tree Laurentum
call'd;
And last, in honor of his new abode,
He vow'd the laurel to the laurel's
god.
It happen'd once (a boding prodigy!)
A swarm of bees, that cut the liquid
sky,
(Unknown from whence they took their
airy flight,)
Upon the topmost branch in clouds
alight;
There with their clasping feet together
clung,
And a long cluster from the laurel
hung.
An ancient augur prophesied from
hence:
"Behold on Latian shores a foreign
prince!
From the same parts of heav'n his
navy stands,
To the same parts on earth; his
army lands;
The town he conquers, and the tow'r
commands."
Yet more, when fair Lavinia
fed the fire
Before the gods, and stood beside
her sire,
(Strange to relate!) the flames,
involv'd in smoke
Of incense, from the sacred altar
broke,
Caught her dishevel'd hair and rich
attire;
Her crown and jewels crackled in
the fire:
From thence the fuming trail began
to spread
And lambent glories danc'd about
her head.
This new portent the seer with wonder
views,
Then pausing, thus his prophecy
renews:
"The nymph, who scatters flaming
fires around,
Shall shine with honor, shall herself
be crown'd;
But, caus'd by her irrevocable fate,
War shall the country waste, and
change the state.'
Latinus, frighted with this
dire ostent,
For counsel to his father Faunus
went,
And sought the shades renown'd for
prophecy
Which near Albunea's sulph'rous
fountain lie.
To these the Latian and the Sabine
land
Fly, when distress'd, and thence
relief demand.
The priest on skins of off'rings
takes his ease,
And nightly visions in his slumber
sees;
A swarm of thin aerial shapes appears,
And, flutt'ring round his temples,
deafs his ears:
These he consults, the future fates
to know,
From pow'rs above, and from the
fiends below.
Here, for the gods' advice, Latinus
flies,
Off'ring a hundred sheep for sacrifice:
Their woolly fleeces, as the rites
requir'd,
He laid beneath him, and to rest
retir'd.
No sooner were his eyes in slumber
bound,
When, from above, a more than mortal
sound
Invades his ears; and thus the vision
spoke:
"Seek not, my seed, in Latian bands
to yoke
Our fair Lavinia, nor the gods provoke.
A foreign son upon thy shore descends,
Whose martial fame from pole to
pole extends.
His race, in arms and arts of peace
renown'd,
Not Latium shall contain, nor Europe
bound:
'T is theirs whate'er the sun surveys
around.'
These answers, in the silent night
receiv'd,
The king himself divulg'd, the land
believ'd:
The fame thro' all the neighb'ring
nations flew,
When now the Trojan navy was in
view.
Beneath a shady tree, the
hero spread
His table on the turf, with cakes
of bread;
And, with his chiefs, on forest
fruits he fed.
They sate; and, (not without the
god's command,)
Their homely fare dispatch'd, the
hungry band
Invade their trenchers next, and
soon devour,
To mend the scanty meal, their cakes
of flour.
Ascanius this observ'd, and smiling
said:
"See, we devour the plates on which
we fed."
The speech had omen, that the Trojan
race
Should find repose, and this the
time and place.
AEneas took the word, and thus replies,
Confessing fate with wonder in his
eyes:
"All hail, O earth! all hail, my
household gods!
Behold the destin'd place of your
abodes!
For thus Anchises prophesied of
old,
And this our fatal place of rest
foretold:
'When, on a foreign shore, instead
of meat,
By famine forc'd, your trenchers
you shall eat,
Then ease your weary Trojans will
attend,
And the long labors of your voyage
end.
Remember on that happy coast to
build,
And with a trench inclose the fruitful
field.'
This was that famine, this the fatal
place
Which ends the wand'ring of our
exil'd race.
Then, on to-morrow's dawn, your
care employ,
To search the land, and where the
cities lie,
And what the men; but give this
day to joy.
Now pour to Jove; and, after Jove
is blest,
Call great Anchises to the genial
feast:
Crown high the goblets with a cheerful
draught;
Enjoy the present hour; adjourn
the future thought."
Thus having said, the hero
bound his brows
With leafy branches, then perform'd
his vows;
Adoring first the genius of the
place,
Then Earth, the mother of the heav'nly
race,
The nymphs, and native godheads
yet unknown,
And Night, and all the stars that
gild her sable throne,
And ancient Cybel, and Idaean Jove,
And last his sire below, and mother
queen above.
Then heav'n's high monarch thunder'd
thrice aloud,
And thrice he shook aloft a golden
cloud.
Soon thro' the joyful camp a rumor
flew,
The time was come their city to
renew.
Then ev'ry brow with cheerful green
is crown'd,
The feasts are doubled, and the
bowls go round.
When next the rosy morn disclos'd
the day,
The scouts to sev'ral parts divide
their way,
To learn the natives' names, their
towns explore,
The coasts and trendings of the
crooked shore:
Here Tiber flows, and here Numicus
stands;
Here warlike Latins hold the happy
lands.
The pious chief, who sought by peaceful
ways
To found his empire, and his town
to raise,
A hundred youths from all his train
selects,
And to the Latian court their course
directs,
(The spacious palace where their
prince resides,)
And all their heads with wreaths
of olive hides.
They go commission'd to require
a peace,
And carry presents to procure access.
Thus while they speed their pace,
the prince designs
His new-elected seat, and draws
the lines.
The Trojans round the place a rampire
cast,
And palisades about the trenches
plac'd.
Meantime the train, proceeding
on their way,
From far the town and lofty tow'rs
survey;
At length approach the walls. Without
the gate,
They see the boys and Latian youth
debate
The martial prizes on the dusty
plain:
Some drive the cars, and some the
coursers rein;
Some bend the stubborn bow for victory,
And some with darts their active
sinews try.
A posting messenger, dispatch'd
from hence,
Of this fair troop advis'd their
aged prince,
That foreign men of mighty stature
came;
Uncouth their habit, and unknown
their name.
The king ordains their entrance,
and ascends
His regal seat, surrounded by his
friends.
The palace built by Picus,
vast and proud,
Supported by a hundred pillars stood,
And round incompass'd with a rising
wood.
The pile o'erlook'd the town, and
drew the sight;
Surpris'd at once with reverence
and delight.
There kings receiv'd the marks of
sov'reign pow'r;
In state the monarchs march'd; the
lictors bore
Their awful axes and the rods before.
Here the tribunal stood, the house
of pray'r,
And here the sacred senators repair;
All at large tables, in long order
set,
A ram their off'ring, and a ram
their meat.
Above the portal, carv'd in cedar
wood,
Plac'd in their ranks, their godlike
grandsires stood;
Old Saturn, with his crooked scythe,
on high;
And Italus, that led the colony;
And ancient Janus, with his double
face,
And bunch of keys, the porter of
the place.
There good Sabinus, planter of the
vines,
On a short pruning hook his head
reclines,
And studiously surveys his gen'rous
wines;
Then warlike kings, who for their
country fought,
And honorable wounds from battle
brought.
Around the posts hung helmets, darts,
and spears,
And captive chariots, axes, shields,
and bars,
And broken beaks of ships, the trophies
of their wars.
Above the rest, as chief of all
the band,
Was Picus plac'd, a buckler in his
hand;
His other wav'd a long divining
wand.
Girt in his Gabin gown the hero
sate,
Yet could not with his art avoid
his fate:
For Circe long had lov'd the youth
in vain,
Till love, refus'd, converted to
disdain:
Then, mixing pow'rful herbs, with
magic art,
She chang'd his form, who could
not change his heart;
Constrain'd him in a bird, and made
him fly,
With party-color'd plumes, a chatt'ring
pie.
In this high temple, on a
chair of state,
The seat of audience, old Latinus
sate;
Then gave admission to the Trojan
train;
And thus with pleasing accents he
began:
"Tell me, ye Trojans, for that name
you own,
Nor is your course upon our coasts
unknown--
Say what you seek, and whither were
you bound:
Were you by stress of weather cast
aground?
(Such dangers as on seas are often
seen,
And oft befall to miserable men,)
Or come, your shipping in our ports
to lay,
Spent and disabled in so long a
way?
Say what you want: the Latians you
shall find
Not forc'd to goodness, but by will
inclin'd;
For, since the time of Saturn's
holy reign,
His hospitable customs we retain.
I call to mind (but time the tale
has worn)
Th' Arunci told, that Dardanus,
tho' born
On Latian plains, yet sought the
Phrygian shore,
And Samothracia, Samos call'd before.
From Tuscan Coritum he claim'd his
birth;
But after, when exempt from mortal
earth,
From thence ascended to his kindred
skies,
A god, and, as a god, augments their
sacrifice."
He said. Ilioneus made this
reply:
"O king, of Faunus' royal family!
Nor wintry winds to Latium forc'd
our way,
Nor did the stars our wand'ring
course betray.
Willing we sought your shores; and,
hither bound,
The port, so long desir'd, at length
we found;
From our sweet homes and ancient
realms expell'd;
Great as the greatest that the sun
beheld.
The god began our line, who rules
above;
And, as our race, our king descends
from Jove:
And hither are we come, by his command,
To crave admission in your happy
land.
How dire a tempest, from Mycenae
pour'd,
Our plains, our temples, and our
town devour'd;
What was the waste of war, what
fierce alarms
Shook Asia's crown with European
arms;
Ev'n such have heard, if any such
there be,
Whose earth is bounded by the frozen
sea;
And such as, born beneath the burning
sky
And sultry sun, betwixt the tropics
lie.
From that dire deluge, thro' the
wat'ry waste,
Such length of years, such various
perils past,
At last escap'd, to Latium we repair,
To beg what you without your want
may spare:
The common water, and the common
air;
Sheds which ourselves will build,
and mean abodes,
Fit to receive and serve our banish'd
gods.
Nor our admission shall your realm
disgrace,
Nor length of time our gratitude
efface.
Besides, what endless honor you
shall gain,
To save and shelter Troy's unhappy
train!
Now, by my sov'reign, and his fate,
I swear,
Renown'd for faith in peace, for
force in war;
Oft our alliance other lands desir'd,
And, what we seek of you, of us
requir'd.
Despite not then, that in our hands
we bear
These holy boughs, and sue with
words of pray'r.
Fate and the gods, by their supreme
command,
Have doom'd our ships to seek the
Latian land.
To these abodes our fleet Apollo
sends;
Here Dardanus was born, and hither
tends;
Where Tuscan Tiber rolls with rapid
force,
And where Numicus opes his holy
source.
Besides, our prince presents, with
his request,
Some small remains of what his sire
possess'd.
This golden charger, snatch'd from
burning Troy,
Anchises did in sacrifice employ;
This royal robe and this tiara wore
Old Priam, and this golden scepter
bore
In full assemblies, and in solemn
games;
These purple vests were weav'd by
Dardan dames."
Thus while he spoke, Latinus
roll'd around
His eyes, and fix'd a while upon
the ground.
Intent he seem'd, and anxious in
his breast;
Not by the scepter mov'd, or kingly
vest,
But pond'ring future things of wondrous
weight;
Succession, empire, and his daughter's
fate.
On these he mus'd within his thoughtful
mind,
And then revolv'd what Faunus had
divin'd.
This was the foreign prince, by
fate decreed
To share his scepter, and Lavinia's
bed;
This was the race that sure portents
foreshew
To sway the world, and land and
sea subdue.
At length he rais'd his cheerful
head, and spoke:
"The pow'rs," said he, "the pow'rs
we both invoke,
To you, and yours, and mine, propitious
be,
And firm our purpose with their
augury!
Have what you ask; your presents
I receive;
Land, where and when you please,
with ample leave;
Partake and use my kingdom as your
own;
All shall be yours, while I command
the crown:
And, if my wish'd alliance please
your king,
Tell him he should not send the
peace, but bring.
Then let him not a friend's embraces
fear;
The peace is made when I behold
him here.
Besides this answer, tell my royal
guest,
I add to his commands my own request:
One only daughter heirs my crown
and state,
Whom not our oracles, nor Heav'n,
nor fate,
Nor frequent prodigies, permit to
join
With any native of th' Ausonian
line.
A foreign son-in-law shall come
from far
(Such is our doom), a chief renown'd
in war,
Whose race shall bear aloft the
Latian name,
And thro' the conquer'd world diffuse
our fame.
Himself to be the man the fates
require,
I firmly judge, and, what I judge,
desire."
He said, and then on each
bestow'd a steed.
Three hundred horses, in high stables
fed,
Stood ready, shining all, and smoothly
dress'd:
Of these he chose the fairest and
the best,
To mount the Trojan troop. At his
command
The steeds caparison'd with purple
stand,
With golden trappings, glorious
to behold,
And champ betwixt their teeth the
foaming gold.
Then to his absent guest the king
decreed
A pair of coursers born of heav'nly
breed,
Who from their nostrils breath'd
ethereal fire;
Whom Circe stole from her celestial
sire,
By substituting mares produc'd on
earth,
Whose wombs conceiv'd a more than
mortal birth.
These draw the chariot which Latinus
sends,
And the rich present to the prince
commends.
Sublime on stately steeds the Trojans
borne,
To their expecting lord with peace
return.
But jealous Juno, from Pachynus'
height,
As she from Argos took her airy
flight,
Beheld with envious eyes this hateful
sight.
She saw the Trojan and his joyful
train
Descend upon the shore, desert the
main,
Design a town, and, with unhop'd
success,
Th' embassadors return with promis'd
peace.
Then, pierc'd with pain, she shook
her haughty head,
Sigh'd from her inward soul, and
thus she said:
"O hated offspring of my Phrygian
foes!
O fates of Troy, which Juno's fates
oppose!
Could they not fall unpitied on
the plain,
But slain revive, and, taken, scape
again?
When execrable Troy in ashes lay,
Thro' fires and swords and seas
they forc'd their way.
Then vanquish'd Juno must in vain
contend,
Her rage disarm'd, her empire at
an end.
Breathless and tir'd, is all my
fury spent?
Or does my glutted spleen at length
relent?
As if 't were little from their
town to chase,
I thro' the seas pursued their exil'd
race;
Ingag'd the heav'ns, oppos'd the
stormy main;
But billows roar'd, and tempests
rag'd in vain.
What have my Scyllas and my Syrtes
done,
When these they overpass, and those
they shun?
On Tiber's shores they land, secure
of fate,
Triumphant o'er the storms and Juno's
hate.
Mars could in mutual blood the Centaurs
bathe,
And Jove himself gave way to Cynthia's
wrath,
Who sent the tusky boar to Calydon;
(What great offense had either people
done?)
But I, the consort of the Thunderer,
Have wag'd a long and unsuccessful
war,
With various arts and arms in vain
have toil'd,
And by a mortal man at length am
foil'd.
If native pow'r prevail not, shall
I doubt
To seek for needful succor from
without?
If Jove and Heav'n my just desires
deny,
Hell shall the pow'r of Heav'n and
Jove supply.
Grant that the Fates have firm'd,
by their decree,
The Trojan race to reign in Italy;
At least I can defer the nuptial
day,
And with protracted wars the peace
delay:
With blood the dear alliance shall
be bought,
And both the people near destruction
brought;
So shall the son-in-law and father
join,
With ruin, war, and waste of either
line.
O fatal maid, thy marriage is endow'd
With Phrygian, Latian, and Rutulian
blood!
Bellona leads thee to thy lover's
hand;
Another queen brings forth another
brand,
To burn with foreign fires another
land!
A second Paris, diff'ring but in
name,
Shall fire his country with a second
flame."
Thus having said, she sinks
beneath the ground,
With furious haste, and shoots the
Stygian sound,
To rouse Alecto from th' infernal
seat
Of her dire sisters, and their dark
retreat.
This Fury, fit for her intent, she
chose;
One who delights in wars and human
woes.
Ev'n Pluto hates his own misshapen
race;
Her sister Furies fly her hideous
face;
So frightful are the forms the monster
takes,
So fierce the hissings of her speckled
snakes.
Her Juno finds, and thus inflames
her spite:
"O virgin daughter of eternal Night,
Give me this once thy labor, to
sustain
My right, and execute my just disdain.
Let not the Trojans, with a feign'd
pretense
Of proffer'd peace, delude the Latian
prince.
Expel from Italy that odious name,
And let not Juno suffer in her fame.
'T is thine to ruin realms, o'erturn
a state,
Betwixt the dearest friends to raise
debate,
And kindle kindred blood to mutual
hate.
Thy hand o'er towns the fun'ral
torch displays,
And forms a thousand ills ten thousand
ways.
Now shake, from out thy fruitful
breast, the seeds
Of envy, discord, and of cruel deeds:
Confound the peace establish'd,
and prepare
Their souls to hatred, and their
hands to war."
Smear'd as she was with black
Gorgonian blood,
The Fury sprang above the Stygian
flood;
And on her wicker wings, sublime
thro' night,
She to the Latian palace took her
flight:
There sought the queen's apartment,
stood before
The peaceful threshold, and besieg'd
the door.
Restless Amata lay, her swelling
breast
Fir'd with disdain for Turnus dispossess'd,
And the new nuptials of the Trojan
guest.
From her black bloody locks the
Fury shakes
Her darling plague, the fav'rite
of her snakes;
With her full force she threw the
pois'nous dart,
And fix'd it deep within Amata's
heart,
That, thus envenom'd, she might
kindle rage,
And sacrifice to strife her house
and husband's age.
Unseen, unfelt, the fiery serpent
skims
Betwixt her linen and her naked
limbs;
His baleful breath inspiring, as
he glides,
Now like a chain around her neck
he rides,
Now like a fillet to her head repairs,
And with his circling volumes folds
her hairs.
At first the silent venom slid with
ease,
And seiz'd her cooler senses by
degrees;
Then, ere th' infected mass was
fir'd too far,
In plaintive accents she began the
war,
And thus bespoke her husband: "Shall,"
she said,
"A wand'ring prince enjoy Lavinia's
bed?
If nature plead not in a parent's
heart,
Pity my tears, and pity her desert.
I know, my dearest lord, the time
will come,
You would, in vain, reverse your
cruel doom;
The faithless pirate soon will set
to sea,
And bear the royal virgin far away!
A guest like him, a Trojan guest
before,
In shew of friendship sought the
Spartan shore,
And ravish'd Helen from her husband
bore.
Think on a king's inviolable word;
And think on Turnus, her once plighted
lord:
To this false foreigner you give
your throne,
And wrong a friend, a kinsman, and
a son.
Resume your ancient care; and, if
the god
Your sire, and you, resolve on foreign
blood,
Know all are foreign, in a larger
sense,
Not born your subjects, or deriv'd
from hence.
Then, if the line of Turnus you
retrace,
He springs from Inachus of Argive
race."
But when she saw her reasons
idly spent,
And could not move him from his
fix'd intent,
She flew to rage; for now the snake
possess'd
Her vital parts, and poison'd all
her breast;
She raves, she runs with a distracted
pace,
And fills with horrid howls the
public place.
And, as young striplings whip the
top for sport,
On the smooth pavement of an empty
court;
The wooden engine flies and whirls
about,
Admir'd, with clamors, of the beardless
rout;
They lash aloud; each other they
provoke,
And lend their little souls at ev'ry
stroke:
Thus fares the queen; and thus her
fury blows
Amidst the crowd, and kindles as
she goes.
Nor yet content, she strains her
malice more,
And adds new ills to those contriv'd
before:
She flies the town, and, mixing
with a throng
Of madding matrons, bears the bride
along,
Wand'ring thro' woods and wilds,
and devious ways,
And with these arts the Trojan match
delays.
She feign'd the rites of Bacchus;
cried aloud,
And to the buxom god the virgin
vow'd.
"Evoe! O Bacchus!" thus began the
song;
And "Evoe!" answer'd all the female
throng.
"O virgin! worthy thee alone!" she
cried;
"O worthy thee alone!" the crew
replied.
"For thee she feeds her hair, she
leads thy dance,
And with thy winding ivy wreathes
her lance."
Like fury seiz'd the rest; the progress
known,
All seek the mountains, and forsake
the town:
All, clad in skins of beasts, the
jav'lin bear,
Give to the wanton winds their flowing
hair,
And shrieks and shoutings rend the
suff'ring air.
The queen herself, inspir'd with
rage divine,
Shook high above her head a flaming
pine;
Then roll'd her haggard eyes around
the throng,
And sung, in Turnus' name, the nuptial
song:
"Io, ye Latian dames! if any here
Hold your unhappy queen, Amata,
dear;
If there be here," she said, "who
dare maintain
My right, nor think the name of
mother vain;
Unbind your fillets, loose your
flowing hair,
And orgies and nocturnal rites prepare."
Amata's breast the Fury thus
invades,
And fires with rage, amid the sylvan
shades;
Then, when she found her venom spread
so far,
The royal house embroil'd in civil
war,
Rais'd on her dusky wings, she cleaves
the skies,
And seeks the palace where young
Turnus lies.
His town, as fame reports, was built
of old
By Danae, pregnant with almighty
gold,
Who fled her father's rage, and,
with a train
Of following Argives, thro' the
stormy main,
Driv'n by the southern blasts, was
fated here to reign.
'T was Ardua once; now Ardea's name
it bears;
Once a fair city, now consum'd with
years.
Here, in his lofty palace, Turnus
lay,
Betwixt the confines of the night
and day,
Secure in sleep. The Fury laid aside
Her looks and limbs, and with new
methods tried
The foulness of th' infernal form
to hide.
Propp'd on a staff, she takes a
trembling mien:
Her face is furrow'd, and her front
obscene;
Deep-dinted wrinkles on her cheek
she draws;
Sunk are her eyes, and toothless
are her jaws;
Her hoary hair with holy fillets
bound,
Her temples with an olive wreath
are crown'd.
Old Chalybe, who kept the sacred
fane
Of Juno, now she seem'd, and thus
began,
Appearing in a dream, to rouse the
careless man:
"Shall Turnus then such endless
toil sustain
In fighting fields, and conquer
towns in vain?
Win, for a Trojan head to wear the
prize,
Usurp thy crown, enjoy thy victories?
The bride and scepter which thy
blood has bought,
The king transfers; and foreign
heirs are sought.
Go now, deluded man, and seek again
New toils, new dangers, on the dusty
plain.
Repel the Tuscan foes; their city
seize;
Protect the Latians in luxurious
ease.
This dream all-pow'rful Juno sends;
I bear
Her mighty mandates, and her words
you hear.
Haste; arm your Ardeans; issue to
the plain;
With fate to friend, assault the
Trojan train:
Their thoughtless chiefs, their
painted ships, that lie
In Tiber's mouth, with fire and
sword destroy.
The Latian king, unless he shall
submit,
Own his old promise, and his new
forget--
Let him, in arms, the pow'r of Turnus
prove,
And learn to fear whom he disdains
to love.
For such is Heav'n's command." The
youthful prince
With scorn replied, and made this
bold defense:
"You tell me, mother, what I knew
before:
The Phrygian fleet is landed on
the shore.
I neither fear nor will provoke
the war;
My fate is Juno's most peculiar
care.
But time has made you dote, and
vainly tell
Of arms imagin'd in your lonely
cell.
Go; be the temple and the gods your
care;
Permit to men the thought of peace
and war."
These haughty words Alecto's
rage provoke,
And frighted Turnus trembled as
she spoke.
Her eyes grow stiffen'd, and with
sulphur burn;
Her hideous looks and hellish form
return;
Her curling snakes with hissings
fill the place,
And open all the furies of her face:
Then, darting fire from her malignant
eyes,
She cast him backward as he strove
to rise,
And, ling'ring, sought to frame
some new replies.
High on her head she rears two twisted
snakes,
Her chains she rattles, and her
whip she shakes;
And, churning bloody foam, thus
loudly speaks:
"Behold whom time has made to dote,
and tell
Of arms imagin'd in her lonely cell!
Behold the Fates' infernal minister!
War, death, destruction, in my hand
I bear."
Thus having said, her smold'ring
torch, impress'd
With her full force, she plung'd
into his breast.
Aghast he wak'd; and, starting from
his bed,
Cold sweat, in clammy drops, his
limbs o'erspread.
"Arms! arms!" he cries: "my sword
and shield prepare!"
He breathes defiance, blood, and
mortal war.
So, when with crackling flames a
caldron fries,
The bubbling waters from the bottom
rise:
Above the brims they force their
fiery way;
Black vapors climb aloft, and cloud
the day.
The peace polluted thus,
a chosen band
He first commissions to the Latian
land,
In threat'ning embassy; then rais'd
the rest,
To meet in arms th' intruding Trojan
guest,
To force the foes from the Lavinian
shore,
And Italy's indanger'd peace restore.
Himself alone an equal match he
boasts,
To fight the Phrygian and Ausonian
hosts.
The gods invok'd, the Rutuli prepare
Their arms, and warn each other
to the war.
His beauty these, and those his
blooming age,
The rest his house and his own fame
ingage.
While Turnus urges thus his
enterprise,
The Stygian Fury to the Trojans
flies;
New frauds invents, and takes a
steepy stand,
Which overlooks the vale with wide
command;
Where fair Ascanius and his youthful
train,
With horns and hounds, a hunting
match ordain,
And pitch their toils around the
shady plain.
The Fury fires the pack; they snuff,
they vent,
And feed their hungry nostrils with
the scent.
'Twas of a well-grown stag, whose
antlers rise
High o'er his front; his beams invade
the skies.
From this light cause th' infernal
maid prepares
The country churls to mischief,
hate, and wars.
The stately beast the two
Tyrrhidae bred,
Snatch'd from his dams, and the
tame youngling fed.
Their father Tyrrheus did his fodder
bring,
Tyrrheus, chief ranger to the Latian
king:
Their sister Silvia cherish'd with
her care
The little wanton, and did wreaths
prepare
To hang his budding horns, with
ribbons tied
His tender neck, and comb'd his
silken hide,
And bath'd his body. Patient of
command
In time he grew, and, growing us'd
to hand,
He waited at his master's board
for food;
Then sought his salvage kindred
in the wood,
Where grazing all the day, at night
he came
To his known lodgings, and his country
dame.
This household beast, that
us'd the woodland grounds,
Was view'd at first by the young
hero's hounds,
As down the stream he swam, to seek
retreat
In the cool waters, and to quench
his heat.
Ascanius young, and eager of his
game,
Soon bent his bow, uncertain in
his aim;
But the dire fiend the fatal arrow
guides,
Which pierc'd his bowels thro' his
panting sides.
The bleeding creature issues from
the floods,
Possess'd with fear, and seeks his
known abodes,
His old familiar hearth and household
gods.
He falls; he fills the house with
heavy groans,
Implores their pity, and his pain
bemoans.
Young Silvia beats her breast, and
cries aloud
For succor from the clownish neighborhood:
The churls assemble; for the fiend,
who lay
In the close woody covert, urg'd
their way.
One with a brand yet burning from
the flame,
Arm'd with a knotty club another
came:
Whate'er they catch or find, without
their care,
Their fury makes an instrument of
war.
Tyrrheus, the foster father of the
beast,
Then clench'd a hatchet in his horny
fist,
But held his hand from the descending
stroke,
And left his wedge within the cloven
oak,
To whet their courage and their
rage provoke.
And now the goddess, exercis'd in
ill,
Who watch'd an hour to work her
impious will,
Ascends the roof, and to her crooked
horn,
Such as was then by Latian shepherds
borne,
Adds all her breath: the rocks and
woods around,
And mountains, tremble at th' infernal
sound.
The sacred lake of Trivia from afar,
The Veline fountains, and sulphureous
Nar,
Shake at the baleful blast, the
signal of the war.
Young mothers wildly stare, with
fear possess'd,
And strain their helpless infants
to their breast.
The clowns, a boist'rous,
rude, ungovern'd crew,
With furious haste to the loud summons
flew.
The pow'rs of Troy, then issuing
on the plain,
With fresh recruits their youthful
chief sustain:
Not theirs a raw and unexperienc'd
train,
But a firm body of embattled men.
At first, while fortune favor'd
neither side,
The fight with clubs and burning
brands was tried;
But now, both parties reinforc'd,
the fields
Are bright with flaming swords and
brazen shields.
A shining harvest either host displays,
And shoots against the sun with
equal rays.
Thus, when a black-brow'd gust begins
to rise,
White foam at first on the curl'd
ocean fries;
Then roars the main, the billows
mount the skies;
Till, by the fury of the storm full
blown,
The muddy bottom o'er the clouds
is thrown.
First Almon falls, old Tyrrheus'
eldest care,
Pierc'd with an arrow from the distant
war:
Fix'd in his throat the flying weapon
stood,
And stopp'd his breath, and drank
his vital blood
Huge heaps of slain around the body
rise:
Among the rest, the rich Galesus
lies;
A good old man, while peace he preach'd
in vain,
Amidst the madness of th' unruly
train:
Five herds, five bleating flocks,
his pastures fill'd;
His lands a hundred yoke of oxen
till'd.
Thus, while in equal scales
their fortune stood
The Fury bath'd them in each other's
blood;
Then, having fix'd the fight, exulting
flies,
And bears fulfill'd her promise
to the skies.
To Juno thus she speaks: "Behold!
't is done,
The blood already drawn, the war
begun;
The discord is complete; nor can
they cease
The dire debate, nor you command
the peace.
Now, since the Latian and the Trojan
brood
Have tasted vengeance and the sweets
of blood;
Speak, and my pow'r shall add this
office more:
The neighb'ring nations of th' Ausonian
shore
Shall hear the dreadful rumor, from
afar,
Of arm'd invasion, and embrace the
war."
Then Juno thus: "The grateful work
is done,
The seeds of discord sow'd, the
war begun;
Frauds, fears, and fury have possess'd
the state,
And fix'd the causes of a lasting
hate.
A bloody Hymen shall th' alliance
join
Betwixt the Trojan and Ausonian
line:
But thou with speed to night and
hell repair;
For not the gods, nor angry Jove,
will bear
Thy lawless wand'ring walks in upper
air.
Leave what remains to me." Saturnia
said:
The sullen fiend her sounding wings
display'd,
Unwilling left the light, and sought
the nether shade.
In midst of Italy, well known
to fame,
There lies a lake (Amsanctus is
the name)
Below the lofty mounts: on either
side
Thick forests the forbidden entrance
hide.
Full in the center of the sacred
wood
An arm arises of the Stygian flood,
Which, breaking from beneath with
bellowing sound,
Whirls the black waves and rattling
stones around.
Here Pluto pants for breath from
out his cell,
And opens wide the grinning jaws
of hell.
To this infernal lake the Fury flies;
Here hides her hated head, and frees
the lab'ring skies.
Saturnian Juno now, with
double care,
Attends the fatal process of the
war.
The clowns, return'd, from battle
bear the slain,
Implore the gods, and to their king
complain.
The corps of Almon and the rest
are shown;
Shrieks, clamors, murmurs, fill
the frighted town.
Ambitious Turnus in the press appears,
And, aggravating crimes, augments
their fears;
Proclaims his private injuries aloud,
A solemn promise made, and disavow'd;
A foreign son is sought, and a mix'd
mungril brood.
Then they, whose mothers, frantic
with their fear,
In woods and wilds the flags of
Bacchus bear,
And lead his dances with dishevel'd
hair,
Increase the clamor, and the war
demand,
(Such was Amata's interest in the
land,)
Against the public sanctions of
the peace,
Against all omens of their ill success.
With fates averse, the rout in arms
resort,
To force their monarch, and insult
the court.
But, like a rock unmov'd, a rock
that braves
The raging tempest and the rising
waves--
Propp'd on himself he stands; his
solid sides
Wash off the seaweeds, and the sounding
tides--
So stood the pious prince, unmov'd,
and long
Sustain'd the madness of the noisy
throng.
But, when he found that Juno's pow'r
prevail'd,
And all the methods of cool counsel
fail'd,
He calls the gods to witness their
offense,
Disclaims the war, asserts his innocence.
"Hurried by fate," he cries, "and
borne before
A furious wind, we leave the faithful
shore.
O more than madmen! you yourselves
shall bear
The guilt of blood and sacrilegious
war:
Thou, Turnus, shalt atone it by
thy fate,
And pray to Heav'n for peace, but
pray too late.
For me, my stormy voyage at an end,
I to the port of death securely
tend.
The fun'ral pomp which to your kings
you pay,
Is all I want, and all you take
away."
He said no more, but, in his walls
confin'd,
Shut out the woes which he too well
divin'd;
Nor with the rising storm would
vainly strive,
But left the helm, and let the vessel
drive.
A solemn custom was observ'd
of old,
Which Latium held, and now the Romans
hold,
Their standard when in fighting
fields they rear
Against the fierce Hyrcanians, or
declare
The Scythian, Indian, or Arabian
war;
Or from the boasting Parthians would
regain
Their eagles, lost in Carrhae's
bloody plain.
Two gates of steel (the name of
Mars they bear,
And still are worship'd with religious
fear)
Before his temple stand: the dire
abode,
And the fear'd issues of the furious
god,
Are fenc'd with brazen bolts; without
the gates,
The wary guardian Janus doubly waits.
Then, when the sacred senate votes
the wars,
The Roman consul their decree declares,
And in his robes the sounding gates
unbars.
The youth in military shouts arise,
And the loud trumpets break the
yielding skies.
These rites, of old by sov'reign
princes us'd,
Were the king's office; but the
king refus'd,
Deaf to their cries, nor would the
gates unbar
Of sacred peace, or loose th' imprison'd
war;
But hid his head, and, safe from
loud alarms,
Abhorr'd the wicked ministry of
arms.
Then heav'n's imperious queen shot
down from high:
At her approach the brazen hinges
fly;
The gates are forc'd, and ev'ry
falling bar;
And, like a tempest, issues out
the war.
The peaceful cities of th'
Ausonian shore,
Lull'd in their ease, and undisturb'd
before,
Are all on fire; and some, with
studious care,
Their restiff steeds in sandy plains
prepare;
Some their soft limbs in painful
marches try,
And war is all their wish, and arms
the gen'ral cry.
Part scour the rusty shields with
seam; and part
New grind the blunted ax, and point
the dart:
With joy they view the waving ensigns
fly,
And hear the trumpet's clangor pierce
the sky.
Five cities forge their arms: th'
Atinian pow'rs,
Antemnae, Tibur with her lofty tow'rs,
Ardea the proud, the Crustumerian
town:
All these of old were places of
renown.
Some hammer helmets for the fighting
field;
Some twine young sallows to support
the shield;
The croslet some, and some the cuishes
mold,
With silver plated, and with ductile
gold.
The rustic honors of the scythe
and share
Give place to swords and plumes,
the pride of war.
Old fauchions are new temper'd in
the fires;
The sounding trumpet ev'ry soul
inspires.
The word is giv'n; with eager speed
they lace
The shining headpiece, and the shield
embrace.
The neighing steeds are to the chariot
tied;
The trusty weapon sits on ev'ry
side.
And now the mighty labor
is begun--
Ye Muses, open all your Helicon.
Sing you the chiefs that sway'd
th' Ausonian land,
Their arms, and armies under their
command;
What warriors in our ancient clime
were bred;
What soldiers follow'd, and what
heroes led.
For well you know, and can record
alone,
What fame to future times conveys
but darkly down.
Mezentius first appear'd
upon the plain:
Scorn sate upon his brows, and sour
disdain,
Defying earth and heav'n. Etruria
lost,
He brings to Turnus' aid his baffled
host.
The charming Lausus, full of youthful
fire,
Rode in the rank, and next his sullen
sire;
To Turnus only second in the grace
Of manly mien, and features of the
face.
A skilful horseman, and a huntsman
bred,
With fates averse a thousand men
he led:
His sire unworthy of so brave a
son;
Himself well worthy of a happier
throne.
Next Aventinus drives his
chariot round
The Latian plains, with palms and
laurels crown'd.
Proud of his steeds, he smokes along
the field;
His father's hydra fills his ample
shield:
A hundred serpents hiss about the
brims;
The son of Hercules he justly seems
By his broad shoulders and gigantic
limbs;
Of heav'nly part, and part of earthly
blood,
A mortal woman mixing with a god.
For strong Alcides, after he had
slain
The triple Geryon, drove from conquer'd
Spain
His captive herds; and, thence in
triumph led,
On Tuscan Tiber's flow'ry banks
they fed.
Then on Mount Aventine the son of
Jove
The priestess Rhea found, and forc'd
to love.
For arms, his men long piles and
jav'lins bore;
And poles with pointed steel their
foes in battle gore.
Like Hercules himself his son appears,
In salvage pomp; a lion's hide he
wears;
About his shoulders hangs the shaggy
skin;
The teeth and gaping jaws severely
grin.
Thus, like the god his father, homely
dress'd,
He strides into the hall, a horrid
guest.
Then two twin brothers from
fair Tibur came,
(Which from their brother Tiburs
took the name,)
Fierce Coras and Catillus, void
of fear:
Arm'd Argive horse they led, and
in the front appear.
Like cloud-born Centaurs, from the
mountain's height
With rapid course descending to
the fight;
They rush along; the rattling woods
give way;
The branches bend before their sweepy
sway.
Nor was Praeneste's founder
wanting there,
Whom fame reports the son of Mulciber:
Found in the fire, and foster'd
in the plains,
A shepherd and a king at once he
reigns,
And leads to Turnus' aid his country
swains.
His own Praeneste sends a chosen
band,
With those who plow Saturnia's Gabine
land;
Besides the succor which cold Anien
yields,
The rocks of Hernicus, and dewy
fields,
Anagnia fat, and Father Amasene--
A num'rous rout, but all of naked
men:
Nor arms they wear, nor swords and
bucklers wield,
Nor drive the chariot thro' the
dusty field,
But whirl from leathern slings huge
balls of lead,
And spoils of yellow wolves adorn
their head;
The left foot naked, when they march
to fight,
But in a bull's raw hide they sheathe
the right.
Messapus next, (great Neptune
was his sire,)
Secure of steel, and fated from
the fire,
In pomp appears, and with his ardor
warms
A heartless train, unexercis'd in
arms:
The just Faliscans he to battle
brings,
And those who live where Lake Ciminia
springs;
And where Feronia's grove and temple
stands,
Who till Fescennian or Flavinian
lands.
All these in order march, and marching
sing
The warlike actions of their sea-born
king;
Like a long team of snowy swans
on high,
Which clap their wings, and cleave
the liquid sky,
When, homeward from their wat'ry
pastures borne,
They sing, and Asia's lakes their
notes return.
Not one who heard their music from
afar,
Would think these troops an army
train'd to war,
But flocks of fowl, that, when the
tempests roar,
With their hoarse gabbling seek
the silent shore.
Then Clausus came, who led
a num'rous band
Of troops embodied from the Sabine
land,
And, in himself alone, an army brought.
'T was he, the noble Claudian race
begot,
The Claudian race, ordain'd, in
times to come,
To share the greatness of imperial
Rome.
He led the Cures forth, of old renown,
Mutuscans from their olive-bearing
town,
And all th' Eretian pow'rs; besides
a band
That follow'd from Velinum's dewy
land,
And Amiternian troops, of mighty
fame,
And mountaineers, that from Severus
came,
And from the craggy cliffs of Tetrica,
And those where yellow Tiber takes
his way,
And where Himella's wanton waters
play.
Casperia sends her arms, with those
that lie
By Fabaris, and fruitful Foruli:
The warlike aids of Horta next appear,
And the cold Nursians come to close
the rear,
Mix'd with the natives born of Latine
blood,
Whom Allia washes with her fatal
flood.
Not thicker billows beat the Libyan
main,
When pale Orion sets in wintry rain;
Nor thicker harvests on rich Hermus
rise,
Or Lycian fields, when Phoebus burns
the skies,
Than stand these troops: their bucklers
ring around;
Their trampling turns the turf,
and shakes the solid ground.
High in his chariot then
Halesus came,
A foe by birth to Troy's unhappy
name:
From Agamemnon born--to Turnus'
aid
A thousand men the youthful hero
led,
Who till the Massic soil, for wine
renown'd,
And fierce Auruncans from their
hilly ground,
And those who live by Sidicinian
shores,
And where with shoaly fords Vulturnus
roars,
Cales' and Osca's old inhabitants,
And rough Saticulans, inur'd to
wants:
Light demi-lances from afar they
throw,
Fasten'd with leathern thongs, to
gall the foe.
Short crooked swords in closer fight
they wear;
And on their warding arm light bucklers
bear.
Nor OEbalus, shalt thou be
left unsung,
From nymph Semethis and old Telon
sprung,
Who then in Teleboan Capri reign'd;
But that short isle th' ambitious
youth disdain'd,
And o'er Campania stretch'd his
ample sway,
Where swelling Sarnus seeks the
Tyrrhene sea;
O'er Batulum, and where Abella sees,
From her high tow'rs, the harvest
of her trees.
And these (as was the Teuton use
of old)
Wield brazen swords, and brazen
bucklers hold;
Sling weighty stones, when from
afar they fight;
Their casques are cork, a covering
thick and light.
Next these in rank, the warlike
Ufens went,
And led the mountain troops that
Nursia sent.
The rude Equicolae his rule obey'd;
Hunting their sport, and plund'ring
was their trade.
In arms they plow'd, to battle still
prepar'd:
Their soil was barren, and their
hearts were hard.
Umbro the priest the proud Marrubians
led,
By King Archippus sent to Turnus'
aid,
And peaceful olives crown'd his
hoary head.
His wand and holy words, the viper's
rage,
And venom'd wounds of serpents could
assuage.
He, when he pleas'd with powerful
juice to steep
Their temples, shut their eyes in
pleasing sleep.
But vain were Marsian herbs, and
magic art,
To cure the wound giv'n by the Dardan
dart:
Yet his untimely fate th' Angitian
woods
In sighs remurmur'd to the Fucine
floods.
The son of fam'd Hippolytus
was there,
Fam'd as his sire, and, as his mother,
fair;
Whom in Egerian groves Aricia bore,
And nurs'd his youth along the marshy
shore,
Where great Diana's peaceful altars
flame,
In fruitful fields; and Virbius
was his name.
Hippolytus, as old records have
said,
Was by his stepdam sought to share
her bed;
But, when no female arts his mind
could move,
She turn'd to furious hate her impious
love.
Torn by wild horses on the sandy
shore,
Another's crimes th' unhappy hunter
bore,
Glutting his father's eyes with
guiltless gore.
But chaste Diana, who his death
deplor'd,
With AEsculapian herbs his life
restor'd.
Then Jove, who saw from high, with
just disdain,
The dead inspir'd with vital breath
again,
Struck to the center, with his flaming
dart,
Th' unhappy founder of the godlike
art.
But Trivia kept in secret shades
alone
Her care, Hippolytus, to fate unknown;
And call'd him Virbius in th' Egerian
grove,
Where then he liv'd obscure, but
safe from Jove.
For this, from Trivia's temple and
her wood
Are coursers driv'n, who shed their
master's blood,
Affrighted by the monsters of the
flood.
His son, the second Virbius, yet
retain'd
His father's art, and warrior steeds
he rein'd.
Amid the troops, and like
the leading god,
High o'er the rest in arms the graceful
Turnus rode:
A triple pile of plumes his crest
adorn'd,
On which with belching flames Chimaera
burn'd:
The more the kindled combat rises
high'r,
The more with fury burns the blazing
fire.
Fair Io grac'd his shield; but Io
now
With horns exalted stands, and seems
to low--
A noble charge! Her keeper by her
side,
To watch her walks, his hundred
eyes applied;
And on the brims her sire, the wat'ry
god,
Roll'd from a silver urn his crystal
flood.
A cloud of foot succeeds, and fills
the fields
With swords, and pointed spears,
and clatt'ring shields;
Of Argives, and of old Sicanian
bands,
And those who plow the rich Rutulian
lands;
Auruncan youth, and those Sacrana
yields,
And the proud Labicans, with painted
shields,
And those who near Numician streams
reside.
And those whom Tiber's holy forests
hide,
Or Circe's hills from the main land
divide;
Where Ufens glides along the lowly
lands,
Or the black water of Pomptina stands.
Last, from the Volscians
fair Camilla came,
And led her warlike troops, a warrior
dame;
Unbred to spinning, in the loom
unskill'd,
She chose the nobler Pallas of the
field.
Mix'd with the first, the fierce
virago fought,
Sustain'd the toils of arms, the
danger sought,
Outstripp'd the winds in speed upon
the plain,
Flew o'er the fields, nor hurt the
bearded grain:
She swept the seas, and, as she
skimm'd along,
Her flying feet unbath'd on billows
hung.
Men, boys, and women, stupid with
surprise,
Where'er she passes, fix their wond'ring
eyes:
Longing they look, and, gaping at
the sight,
Devour her o'er and o'er with vast
delight;
Her purple habit sits with such
a grace
On her smooth shoulders, and so
suits her face;
Her head with ringlets of her hair
is crown'd,
And in a golden caul the curls are
bound.
She shakes her myrtle jav'lin; and,
behind,
Her Lycian quiver dances in the
wind.
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