s: LXXIX. "These hands the firebrands at his feet had cast,


s: And filled with flames his hatches. Sire and son


s: And all their race had perished with the past,


s: And I, too, perished with them. O great Sun,


s: Whose torch reveals whate'er on Earth is done,


s: Juno, who know'st the passion that devours


s: Night-howled in cities; ye avenging Powers,


s: Friends, Furies, Gods that guard Elissa's dying hours!


s: LXXX. "Mark this, compassionate these woes, and bow


s: Curst be his head!--that he escape me now,


s: And touch his haven, and float up to land.


s: If so Jove wills, and fixt his edicts stand,


s: Then, scourged with warfare by a daring race,


s: In vain for succour let him stretch his hand,


s: And see his people perish with disgrace,


s: An exile, torn from home and from his son's embrace.


s: LXXXI. "And when hard peace the traitor stoops to buy,


s: No realm be his, nor happy days in store.


s: Cut off in prime of manhood let him die,


s: This dying curse, this utterance I pour,


s: The latest, with my life-blood,--this my prayer.


s: Them and their children's children evermore


s: This gift--'twill please me best--for Dido's shade prepare.


s: LXXXII. "This heritage be yours; no truce nor trust


s: 'Twixt theirs and ours, no union or accord


s: With fire and steel upon the Dardan horde


s: Mete out the measure of their crimes' reward.


s: Fight, oft as ye are able--sword with sword,


s: Shore with opposing shore, and sea with sea;


s: Fight, Tyrians, all that are, and all that e'er shall be."


s: LXXXIII. So spake the queen, and pondered in her breast


s: How of her loathed life to clip the thread,


s: Then briefly thus Sychaeus' nurse addressed


s: (Her own at Tyre lay buried)--"Haste," she said,


s: "Dear Barce; call my sister; let her head


s: With living water from the lustral bough


s: Be sprinkled. Hither be the victims led,


s: Bring forth the sacred wreath, and bind it on thy brow.


s: LXXXIV. "The sacrifice, prepared for Stygian Jove,


s: The last sad rites, and ease me of my love,


s: And burn the couch whereon the Dardan lay."


s: She spake; the old dame tottering hastes away.


s: Maddening stood Dido at the doom so dread,


s: With bloodshot eyes and trembling with dismay,


s: Her quivering cheeks flecked with the burning red,


s: Pale with approaching death, but yearning to be dead.


s: LXXXV. So bursting through the inner doors she flew


s: And, with wild frenzy, climbed the lofty pyre,


s: Then seized the scabbard he had left, and drew


s: The sword, ne'er given for an end so dire.


s: But when, with eyes still wistful with desire,


s: She viewed the bed that she had known too well,


s: The Ilian raiment and the chief's attire,


s: She paused, then musing, while the teardrops fell,


s: Sank on the fatal couch, and cried a last farewell:


s: LXXXVI. "Dear relics! loved while Fate and Jove were kind,


s: Receive this soul, and free me from my woe.


s: My life is lived; behold, the course assigned


s: My walls, avenged my husband of his foe.


s: Had Dardan ships, alas! not come to bring me teen!"


s: LXXXVII. She paused, and pressed her lips upon the bed.


s: "To die--and unavenged? Yea, let me die!


s: Thus--thus it joys to journey to the dead.


s: Let yon false Dardan with remorseful eye


s: Drink in this bale-fire from the deep, and sigh


s: To bear the omens of my death."--No more


s: She said, but swooned. The servants see her lie,


s: Sunk on the sword; they see the life-blood pour,


s: Reddening her tender hands, the weapon drenched with gore.


s: LXXXVIII. Then through the lofty palace rose a scream,


s: Through the shocked town. The very houses seem


s: To groan, and shrieks, and sobbing and the cries


s: Of wailing women pierce the vaulted skies.


s: 'Twas e'en as though all Carthage or old Tyre


s: Were falling, stormed by ruthless enemies,


s: While over roof and battlement and spire


s: And temples of the Gods rolled on the infuriate fire.


s: LXXXIX. Her sister heard, and through the concourse came,


s: And tore her cheeks and beat her bosom fair,


s: And called upon the dying Queen by name.


s: "Sister! was this thy secret? thine this snare?


s: For me this fraud? For this did I prepare


s: That pyre, those flames and altars? This the end?


s: Ah me, forlorn! what worse remains to bear?


s: Would'st thou in death desert me, and pretend


s: To scorn a sister's care, and shun me as a friend?


s: A moment's pang, and we had ceased to sigh.


s: Reared I this pyre, did I the gods invoke


s: To leave thee thus companionless, to die?


s: Town, princes, people, perished in a day.


s: Bring water; let me close the lightless eye,


s: And bathe those wounds, and kiss those lips of clay,


s: And catch one fluttering breath, if yet, perchance, I may!"


s: Clasps to her breast her sister ere she dies,


s: And stanches with her robe the streaming gore.


s: In vain poor Dido lifts her wearied eyes,


s: The closing eyelids sicken at the skies.


s: Deep gurgles in her breast the deadly wound;


s: Thrice back she sinks. With wandering eyes all round


s: She seeks the light of heaven, and moans when it is found.


s: Of lingering death, sent Iris down with speed.


s: Her struggling soul from clinging limbs to free.


s: For since by Fate, or for her own misdeed


s: She perished not, but, ere the day decreed,


s: Fell in the frenzy of her love's despair,


s: Not yet Proserpina had claimed her meed,


s: And shorn the ringlet of her golden hair,


s: And bade the sacred shade to Stygian realms repair.


s: On saffron wings all glittering with the dew.


s: She flashed from out her rainbow as she flew,


s: Then, hovering overhead, these words outthrew,


s: And loose thee from thy body."--Forth she drew


s: The fatal shears, and clipped the golden hair;


s: The vital heats disperse, and life dissolves in air.


s: Euryalus, by his friend's cunning, gains the first prize, and the


s: AEneas summons Ascanius and his boy-companions to perform the


s: elaborate manoeuvres afterwards celebrated in Rome as the "Trojan


s: (730-810). Ascanius hurries to the scene. Jupiter sends rain and


s: saves all the ships but four (811-855). Nautes advises AEneas to


s: Held on his course, and cleft the watery ways


s: Through billows blackened by the northern wind,


s: Bright with the flames of Dido. Whence the blaze


s: Arose, they knew not; but the pangs they knew


s: When love is passionate, and man betrays,


s: And what a frantic woman scorned can do,


s: And many a sad surmise their boding thoughts pursue.


s: When lo! above them a black cloud, that bore


s: Tempest and Night, frowned iron-dark on high,


s: And the wave, shuddering as the wind swept by,


s: Curled and was darkened. From the stern loud cries


s: This cloudy rack that gathers o'er the skies?


s: What, father Neptune, now, what mischief dost devise?"


s: Then sloped the mainsheet to the wind, and spake:


s: With skies like these, 'twere hopeless. Westward loom


s: The dark clouds mustering, and the changed winds roar


s: Athwart us, and the air is thick with gloom.


s: Vainly we strive to move, and struggle with our doom.


s: Yield we and turn. Not far, methinks, there lies


s: A friendly shore, thy brother Eryx' land,


s: And ports Sicanian, if aright these eyes


s: Then good AEneas: "Long ago, 'tis plain,


s: The winds so willed it. I have seen," he cries,


s: "And marked thee toiling in their teeth in vain.


s: Shift sail and turn the helm. What sweeter shore to gain,


s: And wave-worn mariners, what land more blest


s: Than that where still Acestes lives, to greet


s: His Dardan friends, and in the boon earth's breast


s: My father's bones, Anchises', are at rest?"


s: He spake; at once the Trojans strive to gain


s: The port. Fair breezes, blowing from the West,


s: Swell out the sails. They bound along the main,


s: And soon with gladdening hearts the well-known shore attain.


s: The coming of their friendly ships descries,


s: And hastes to meet them. Roughly is he dight


s: In Libyan bearskin, as in huntsman's guise;


s: A pointed javelin in each hand he plies.


s: The stream-god. Mindful of ancestral ties


s: He hails his weary kinsmen, come once more,


s: And dainty fruits sets forth, and cheers them from his store.


s: AEneas thus the gathered crews addressed:


s: "Twelve months have passed, brave Dardans, since we bore


s: The bones of great Anchises to his rest,


s: And laid his ashes in the ground, and blessed


s: And now once more, if rightly I have guessed,


s: The day is come, which Heaven hath willed to be


s: Sacred for evermore, but ever sad to me.


s: Or caught by tempests on th' AEgean brine,


s: And head with fitting offerings the shrine.


s: By chance unsought, now hither are we led,


s: Yet not, I ween, without the God's design,


s: And greet a friendly port, by favouring breezes sped.


s: Pray we for winds to waft us, and entreat


s: His shade to take these offerings year by year,


s: When gathered to our new-built Troy, we meet


s: In hallowed fanes, his worship to repeat.


s: See, for each ship two head of horned kine


s: Acestes sends, his Trojan friends to greet


s: Bid then the home-gods of the Trojan line,


s: With those our host adores, to grace the feast divine.


s: And bring the sunshine, be a match decreed


s: For Teucrian ships, their swiftness to essay.


s: Next, in the footrace whosoe'er hath speed,


s: Or, glorying in his manhood, claims the meed


s: Or bout with untanned gauntlet, mark and heed,


s: And wait the victor's guerdon. Come ye now;


s: Hush'd be each idle tongue, and garlanded each brow."


s: His mother's myrtle. Helymus is crowned,


s: Ascanius, and the Trojan warriors round.


s: So from the council to the funeral mound


s: He moves, the centre of a circling crowd.


s: Two bowls of wine he pours upon the ground,


s: Two of warm milk, and two of victim's blood,


s: And, scattering purple flowers, invokes the shade aloud.


s: And ashes, vainly rescued! Not with thee


s: The fields Ausonian that the Fates decree,


s: He ceased, when lo, a monstrous serpent, wound


s: In seven huge coils, seven giant spires, they see


s: Glide from the grave, and gently clasp the mound,


s: And 'twixt the altars trail in many a tortuous round.


s: In streaks and glittering patches were ablaze:


s: So doth the rainbow in the clouds unfold


s: A thousand hues against the sun's bright rays.


s: In lengthened train meanwhile the snake went on,


s: 'Twixt cups and bowls weaving its sinuous ways,


s: Then sipped the sacred food, and harming none,


s: The tasted altars left and 'neath the tomb was gone.


s: In doubt if there some Genius of the shrine


s: Two sheep, two dark-backed heifers, and two swine


s: He slays, invoking, as he pours the wine,


s: The ghost, released from Acheron. Glad of soul,


s: Each adds his gift. These slay the sacred Kine,


s: Pile altars, set the cauldrons, heap the coal,


s: And, sitting, hold the spits, and roast the entrails whole.


s: Bright Phaethon drove up a cloudless sky.


s: Rumour and great Acestes' name had drawn


s: The neighbouring folk; shoreward in crowds they hie


s: To see the Trojans, or the games to try.


s: Piled in the lists the presents they behold,


s: Green garlands, tripods, robes of purple dye,


s: The conqueror's palm, bright armour for the bold,


s: And many a talent's weight of silver and of gold.


s: The sports begun. Four galleys from the fleet,


s: The choicest, manned by mariners of fame,


s: And matched in size and urged with ponderous beat


s: Of oar-blades, for the naval contest meet.


s: See, here the Shark comes speeding to her place,


s: Trained is her crew and eager to compete,


s: Brave Mnestheus is her captain, born to grace


s: Italia's land ere long, and found the Memmian race.


s: Three tale of Dardans urge her, stout and strong,


s: To drive her, ruled by Gyas, through the brine.


s: Borne in the monstrous Centaur, next doth come


s: Last, in the dark-blue Scylla ploughs the foam


s: Cloanthus, whence thy house, Cluentius of Rome.


s: A rock, half-hid when wintry waves upleap,


s: And skies are starless, and the North-winds roar,


s: But still and silent, when the calm waves sleep,


s: The seamews' haunt. A bough of ilex here


s: Green-leaved and tall,--a goal, to seamen clear,


s: To seek and, doubling round, their homeward course to steer.


s: The captains, gay with purple and with gold.


s: The crews their brows with poplar garlands twine,


s: And wet with oil their naked shoulders shine.


s: Prone on their oars, and straining from the thwart,


s: With souls astretch, they listen for the sign.


s: Fear stirs the pulse and drains the throbbing heart,


s: Thrilled with the lust of praise, and panting for the start.


s: With cheers. The waves hiss, as the strong arms keep


s: In time, drawn up to finish with a flash;


s: And three-toothed prow and oars, with measured sweep,


s: Tear up the yawning furrows of the deep,


s: Less swiftly, to the chariot yoked atwain,


s: The bounding racers from the base outleap,


s: Less keen the driver, as they scour the plain,


s: Leans o'er the whistling lash, and slacks the streaming rein.


s: Their clamours roll along the land-locked shore,


s: And, echoing, from the beaten hills rebound.


s: First Gyas comes, amid the rout and roar;


s: His crew, but heavier is the load of pine.


s: Next Shark and Centaur struggle to the fore,


s: Now Shark ahead, now Centaur, now in line


s: The long keels, urged abreast, together plough the brine.


s: When Gyas, first o'er half a length of tide


s: Shouts to his helmsman: "Whither to the right?


s: Hug close the cliff, and graze the leftward side.


s: Let others hold the deep." In vain he cried.


s: Menoetes feared the hidden reefs, and bore


s: To seaward. "Whither from thy course so wide?


s: What; swerving still?" the captain shouts once more,


s: "Keep to the shore, I say, Menoetes, to the shore."


s: A narrower compass, grazing as he passed


s: His rival's vessel and the sounding shoal,


s: Then gained safe water, as he turned the goal.


s: Grief fired young Gyas at the sight, and drew


s: Tears from his eyes and anger from his soul.


s: Down from the lofty stern his timorous guide he threw.


s: Captain and helmsman, and his comrades cheers,


s: And wrests the rudder leftward to the land,


s: Slow from the depths Menoetes reappears,


s: Clogged by his clothes, and cumbered with his years.


s: Then, shoreward swimming, climbs with feeble craft


s: The rock, and there sits drying. All with jeers


s: Laughed as he fell and floated; loud they laughed


s: As, sputtering, from his throat he spits the briny draught.


s: Fires the two hindmost. Now they near the mark;


s: Sergestus, leading, takes the inside place.


s: Yet not a length divides them, for the Shark


s: Shoots up halfway and overlaps his bark.


s: Mnestheus, amidships pacing, cheers his crew;


s: "Now, now lean to, and let each arm be stark;


s: Row, mighty Hector's followers, whom I drew


s: From Troy, in Troy's last hour, my comrades tried and true!


s: And billows following billows, as they raved


s: The prize: I strive not to be first--'tis vain.


s: Sweet were the thought--but Neptune rules the race;


s: Let them the palm, whom he has willed, retain.


s: But oh, for shame! to take the hindmost place


s: Win this--to ward that doom, and ban the dire disgrace."


s: The bronze poop reels, so lustily they row,


s: And from beneath them slips the watery floor.


s: The parched lips quiver, as they pant and blow,


s: Sweat pours in rivers from their limbs; when now


s: Chance brings the wished-for honour. Blindly rash,


s: Close to the rocks Sergestus drives his prow.


s: Too close he steals; on jutting crags they dash;


s: The straining oars snap short, the bows with sudden crash


s: With shouts the sailors, clamorous at delay,


s: And snatch the crushed oars from the waves, and bring


s: Sharp poles and steel-tipt boathooks, and essay


s: To thrust the forepart from the rocks away.


s: Brave Mnestheus sees and, glorying in his gain,


s: Invokes the winds. With oarsmen in array


s: His swift bark, urged with many a stalwart strain,


s: Shoots down the sloping tide, and wins the open main.


s: Swift from the crannies of the rock, where clings


s: Her heart's desire, the darlings of her nest,


s: Darts forth and, scared with terror, flaps her wings,


s: Then, gliding smoothly, in the soft air swings,


s: And skims her liquid passage through the skies


s: On pinions motionless. So Mnestheus springs,


s: So springs the Shark; her impulse, as she flies,


s: Cleaving the homeward seas, the wanting wings supplies.


s: His aid, still toiling from the rocks to clear


s: And headway with his shattered oars to gain.


s: Soon huge Chimaera, left with none to steer,


s: Drops off astern, and labours in the rear.


s: Well-nigh is ended, and the goal is near;


s: Him Mnestheus seeks; his crew, with quickened pace


s: And utmost stretch of oars, press forward in the chase.


s: Urge on the follower, and the wild acclaim


s: Rolls up, and wakes the echoes of the skies.


s: These scorn to lose their vantage, stung with shame,


s: Success inspires the hindmost; as they dare,


s: They do; the thought of winning wins the game.


s: With equal honours Chance had crowned the pair,


s: But thus, with outspread hands, Cloanthus breathed a prayer:


s: And with its entrails will I strew the tide,


s: And on your altars make the wine outflow."


s: The Nereids hear, and old Portunus plies


s: His own great hand, to push them as they go.


s: Swifter than arrow to the shore she flies,


s: Swifter than Southern gale, and in the harbour lies.


s: Cloanthus conqueror, and with verdant bay


s: AEneas crowns him. To each crew he shares


s: Three steers and wine, and, to recall the day,


s: Choice honours to the captains next are told,


s: A scarf he gives the victor, rich and gay,


s: Twice-fringed with purple, glorious to behold,


s: Whose Melibaean dye meanders round the gold.


s: Swift-footed, glorying with uplifted spear,


s: So keen the panting of his heart ye hear.


s: Down swoops Jove's armour-bearer, and on high


s: With taloned claws hath trussed him. Vainly here


s: His aged guardians lift their heads and cry;


s: The faithful dogs look up, and fiercely bay the sky.


s: With polished rings and triple chain of gold,


s: Torn by his own hands from Demoleos brave,


s: Beneath high Troy, where Simois swiftly rolled,


s: The warrior's glory and defence, to hold.


s: Phegeus and Sagaris, with all their might,


s: Two stalwart slaves, scarce bore it, fold on fold,


s: That coat of mail, wherein Demoleos dight,


s: Trod down the ranks of Troy, and put his foes to flight.


s: Two cups of silver doth the prince bestow,


s: Rough-chased with imagery of choice design.


s: Each had his prize, and glorying forth they go,


s: With purple ribbons on their brows, when lo!


s: Scarce torn with effort from the rock's embrace,


s: Home comes Sergestus, and in rueful case


s: Drives his dishonoured bark, left hindmost in the race.


s: Some wheel hath crushed, or traveller, passing by,


s: And left sore mangled, on the point to die,


s: In vain his coils would lengthen, fain to fly:


s: He darts, and lifts his hissing throat on high,


s: Defiant, half still writhes upon the ground,


s: Self-twined in tortuous knots, and crippled by the wound:


s: They set the sails, and loose the spreading sheet,


s: And crowd full canvas; and the port is won.


s: His friends brought safely and his ships complete.


s: Twins at her breast, two sons of loveliest hue,


s: And well Minerva's works, the weaving art, she knew.


s: A grassy plain, with waving forests crowned


s: And sloping hills--fit theatre for sport,


s: Where in the middle of the vale was found


s: A circus. Hither comes he, ringed around


s: With thousands, here, amidst them, throned on high


s: In rustic state, he seats him on a mound,


s: And all who in the footrace list to vie,


s: With proffered gifts invites, and tempts their souls to try.


s: XL. In crowds the Teucrians and Sicanians come,


s: And beauty; none with Nisus could compare


s: Here stood Diores, famous for his speed,


s: A prince of Priam's lineage; Salius there,


s: That of Arcadian birth and Tegeaean breed.


s: XLI. Came from Trinacria two champions bold,


s: Whose fame shines dimly, or whose name hath died.


s: Then cries AEneas 'mid the concourse: "Ho!


s: Give heed, for surely shall my word abide,


s: Blithe be your hearts, for none among you--no,


s: Not one of all this crowd--without a gift shall go.


s: XLII. "To each, a common largess, be a pair


s: Of Gnossian javelins and an axe decreed,


s: With haft of silver chasings. Three shall wear


s: Crowns of pale olive. For the victor's need,


s: Adorned with trappings, stands a noble steed.


s: With Thracian arrows, for the next in speed,


s: Clasped with a gem and belted with bright gold.


s: The third this Argive helm, fit recompense, shall hold."


s: XLIII. He spake, and at the signal forth they burst


s: Together, like a storm-cloud, from the base,


s: With eager eyes set goalward. Nisus first


s: Darts off, and, bounding with the South-wind's pace,


s: And swift as winged lightning, leads the race.


s: Next, but the next with many a length between,


s: Comes Salius; then, behind him, third in place,


s: And lo! Diores last, comes flying along the green.


s: XLIV. Heel touching heel, on Helymus he hung,


s: Shoulder to shoulder. But a rood beside,


s: And, slipping past him, foremost he had sprung,


s: And solved a doubt by winning. Side by side,


s: The last lap reached, with many a labouring stride


s: And breathless effort to the post they strain,


s: When lo! chance-tripping where the sward is dyed


s: With slippery blood of oxen newly slain,


s: Down luckless Nisus slides, and sprawls upon the plain.


s: XLV. Stumbling, he felt the tottering knees give way.


s: With shouts of triumph on his lips he falls


s: E'en then, his love remembering, he recalls


s: Then, scrambling up from out the quagmire, flies


s: At Salius. In the dust proud Salius sprawls.


s: Forth darts Euryalus, 'mid cheers and cries,


s: Hailed, through his helping friend, the winner of the prize.


s: XLVI. The second prize to Helymus, the third


s: Falls thus to brave Diores.--Now the heat


s: Was o'er, when Salius with his clamouring stirred


s: Troy's seated elders, furious with defeat,


s: And claimed the prize, as wrested by a cheat.


s: His worth, more winsome in a form so sweet,


s: Lost were his own last prize, if Salius' claim succeeds.


s: XLVII. "Boys," said the good AEneas, "the award


s: Is fixt, and no man shall the palm withhold.


s: Yet be it mine to cheer a friend ill-starred."


s: He spake, and Salius with a gift consoled,


s: A Moorish lion's hide, with claws of gold


s: And shaggy hair. Then Nisus with a frown:


s: "If gifts so great a vanquished man may hold,


s: What prize shall Nisus gain, whose merit earned the crown?


s: XLVIII. "Ay, who had won, had Chance not interfered,


s: And baffled me, like Salius? Look," he said,


s: And pointed to his limbs and forehead, smeared


s: With ordure. Smiling, the good Sire surveyed


s: His piteous plight and raiment disarrayed;


s: Then forth he bade a glittering shield be borne,


s: From Neptune's temple by the Danaans torn.


s: This prize he gives the youth, his prowess to adorn.


s: XLIX. The race was ended, and the gifts assigned,


s: When thus AEneas, as they thronged about,


s: Addressed the crowd: "Now, whosoe'er hath mind


s: His nerve to venture, or whose heart is stout,


s: Step forth, and don the gauntlets and strike out."


s: He spake, and straightway, while the lists they clear,


s: Sets forth the gifts, for him who wins the bout,


s: Gilt-horned and garlanded, a comely steer,


s: A sword and glittering helm, the loser's soul to cheer.


s: L.  At once, amid loud murmurs, to his feet


s: He, by the tomb where mightiest Hector lay,


s: Huge Butes fought, who, glorying in the bay,


s: Called for his match. But Dares heard him, yea,


s: And smote him. Headlong on the sandy plain


s: A lifeless corpse he rolled, and all his boasts were vain.


s: LI. Such Dares towers, and strides into the ring,


s: With head erect, and shoulders broad and bare,


s: And right and left his sinewy arms doth swing,


s: Where is his match? Not one of all will dare


s: To don the gloves. So, deeming none can stand


s: Against him, flushed with triumph, then and there


s: The heifer's horns, he cries in accents of command:


s: LII. "Son of a goddess, if none risks the fray,


s: How long shall Dares guerdonless remain?


s: What end of standing? Must I wait all day?


s: Bring the prize hither." Straight the Dardan train


s: Shout for their champion, and his claim sustain.


s: Couched on the green grass, in reproachful strain


s: Thus sternly spake Acestes, fired with pride,


s: And fain, for manhood sake, his younger friend to chide:


s: LIII. "Entellus, once our bravest, but in vain,


s: Can'st _thou_ sit tamely, with the field unfought,


s: And see this braggart glory in his gain?


s: Where is thy god, that Eryx? Hath he taught


s: Thine arm its vaunted cleverness for naught?


s: Thy spoil-hung house, thy roof with prizes fraught?"


s: Fear hath not quenched my fire, nor checked the love of fame.


s: LIV. "But numbing age hath made the blood run cold,


s: And turned my strength to dulness and decay.


s: Had I the youth that stirred these bones of old,


s: The youth _he_ boasts, no need of guerdon, nay,


s: Nor comely steer to tempt me to the fray.


s: Glory I care for, not a gift," he cried,


s: And, rising, hurled into the ring midway


s: Two ponderous gauntlets, stiff with hardened hide;


s: These Eryx wore, these thongs around his wrists he tied.


s: LV. All stood amazed, so huge the weight, so vast,


s: The bull's tough hide. E'en Dares shrank aghast.


s: Forth stepped AEneas, and the gauntlets weighed,


s: And to and fro the ponderous folds he swayed.


s: Then gruffly spake the veteran once more:


s: In arms like these, such gauntlets as he wore,


s: And watched the deadly fight waged here upon the shore!


s: LVI. "These Eryx wore, thy brother, when that day


s: He faced Alcides in the strife;--see now


s: His blood and brains,--with these I dared the fray


s: When better blood gave vigour, nor the snow


s: Of envious eld was sprinkled on my brow.


s: Still, if this Trojan doth these arms decline,


s: Match we the fight. These gauntlets I resign,


s: Put fear away, and doff those Trojan gloves of thine."


s: LVII. So saying, Entellus from his shoulders flung


s: His quilted doublet, and revealed to light


s: The massive joints, the sinews firmly strung,


s: The bones and muscles, and the limbs of might,


s: And, like a giant, stood prepared for fight.


s: Two gloves for either champion, matched in weight,


s: AEneas brings, and binds them firm and tight.


s: Like-armed the rivals stand, on tiptoe for debate.


s: LVIII. Each from the blow the towering head draws back,


s: Fearless, with arms uplifted to the skies.


s: Spars hand through hand, and tempts to the attack,


s: One, nimbler-footed, on his youth relies;


s: Entellus' strength is in his limbs and size.


s: But the knees shake beneath him, and are slow,


s: He heaves for breath; thick pantings come and go,


s: And shake the labouring breast, as hailing blow on blow.


s: LIX. In vain they strive for mastery. Loud sound


s: Their hollow sides; the battered chests ring back,


s: As here and there the whistling strokes pelt round


s: Their ears and temples, and the jaw-bones crack.


s: Firm stands Entellus, though his knees are slack;


s: Still in the same strained posture, he defies,


s: Unmoved, the tempest of his foe's attack.


s: Slip from the purposed stroke, and shun the wished surprise.


s: LX. As one who strives with battery to o'erthrow


s: A high-walled city, or close siege doth lay


s: Against some mountain-stronghold; even so


s: On tiptoe stretched, Entellus, pricked with pride,


s: Puts forth his right hand, with resistless sway


s: Steep from his shoulder. But the foe, quick-ey'd,


s: Foresees the coming blow, and lightly leaps aside.


s: LXI. On empty air Entellus wastes his strength.


s: Down goes the giant, baulked of his design,


s: Fallen like a giant, and lies stretched at length.


s: So, torn from earth, on Ida's height divine


s: Up spring each rival's countrymen. Loud cheers


s: The welkin rend, and, bursting through the line,


s: Forth runs Acestes, and his friend uprears,


s: Pitying his fallen worth and fellowship of years.


s: LXII. Fearless, unshaken, with his soul aflame


s: For vengeance, up Entellus springs again,


s: And conscious valour and the sense of shame


s: Rouse all his strength as, burning with disdain,


s: He drives huge Dares headlong o'er the plain,


s: Now right, now left, keeps pummelling his foe;


s: No stint, no stay; as rattling hailstones rain


s: On roof-tops, so with many a ceaseless blow


s: Each hand in turn he plies, and pounds him to and fro.


s: LXIII. But good AEneas suffered not too far


s: The strife to rage, not let Entellus slake


s: His wrath, but rescued Dares from the war,


s: Sore-spent, and thus in soothing terms bespake,


s: "Poor friend! what madness doth thy mind o'ertake?


s: Feel'st not that more than mortal is his aid?


s: The gods are with him, and thy cause forsake.


s: Yield then to heaven and desist."--He said,


s: And with his voice straightway the deadly strife allayed.


s: LXIV. Then, stirred with pity, the Dardanian throng


s: Their vanquished kinsman from the contest bore.


s: Feeble and helpless, for his wound is sore;


s: And loosened teeth and clots of curdled gore


s: Spout forth, as o'er his shoulders nods each way


s: The drooping head. They lead him to the shore,


s: His gifts, the sword and helmet; but the bay


s: And bull Entellus takes, the victor of the day.


s: LXV. Forth steps the champion, glorying in the prize,


s: Pride in his port, defiance on his brow.


s: "See, Goddess-born; ye Teucrians, mark," he cried,


s: "What strength Entellus in his youth could show;


s: How dire a doom ye warded from his foe."


s: He spake and, standing opposite the bull,


s: Swung back his arm, and, rising to the blow,


s: Betwixt the horns with hardened glove smote full,


s: And back upon the brain drove in the splintered skull.


s: LXVI. Down drops the beast, and on the earth lies low,


s: Quivering but dead. Then o'er him, as he lay,


s: This life, for Dares, I devote this day,


s: Accept it thou who taught'st this arm to wield


s: The gloves of death. Unvanquished in the fray


s: These withered arms their latest offering yield,


s: These gauntlets I resign, and here renounce the field."


s: LXVII. Next cries AEneas to the crowd: "Come now,


s: Whoso hath mind in archer's feats to vie,


s: Step forth, and prove his cunning with the bow":


s: Then sets the prizes: on the beach hard by


s: With stalwart arms he rears a mast on high,


s: Ta'en from Serestus' vessel, and thereto


s: A fluttering pigeon with a string doth tie,


s: Mark for their shafts. Around the rivals drew,


s: And in a brazen helm the gathered lots they threw.


s: LXIII. Out leap the names; cheers hail the first in place,


s: Then Mnestheus, victor in the naval race,


s: Mnestheus, his brows with olive wreath still crowned.


s: Third in the casque Eurytion's lot is found


s: Thy brother, famous Pandarus, whose dart,


s: Hurled at the Danaans, did the truce confound.


s: Last comes Acestes, for with dauntless heart


s: Still in the toils of youth the veteran claims his part.


s: LXIX. Forth step the marksmen, and with bows well-bent,


s: Draw forth their arrows, and their aim prepare.


s: Loud twanged the cord, as first Hippocoon sent


s: His feathered shaft, that through the flowing air


s: Went whistling on, and pierced the mast, and there


s: Stuck fast. The stout tree quivered, and the bird


s: Flapped with her wings in terror and despair,


s: Fluttering for freedom, and around were heard


s: Shouts, as admiring joy the clamorous concourse stirred.


s: LXX. Next him stood Mnestheus, eager for the prize,


s: And straight the bowstring to his breast updrew,


s: Went with the arrow, as he twanged the yew.


s: The bird he missed, but cut the flaxen ties


s: That held the feet, and cleft the knots in two.


s: And forth, exulting, through the windy skies,


s: Into the darkening clouds the loosened captive flies.


s: LXXI. Then, quick as thought, his arrow on the string,


s: Eurytion to his brother breathed a prayer,


s: Marking the pigeon, as she clapped her wing


s: Beneath a cloud, he pierced her. Breathless there


s: She drops; her life is with the stars of air,


s: Yet skyward shoots the veteran, proud to show


s: What skill his hand can boast, the sounding of his bow.


s: LXXII. Sudden a portent was revealed; how great


s: And frightening seers their omens sang too late.


s: Then marked with shining trail its pathway bright,


s: And, wasting, vanished into viewless air.


s: So stars, unfastened from the vault of night,


s: Stream in the firmament with fiery glare,


s: And through the dark fling out a length of glittering hair.


s: LXXIII. Awed stand the men of Sicily and Troy,


s: And pray the gods. AEneas owns the sign,


s: And, heaping gifts, Acestes clasps with joy.


s: "Take, father, take; Jove's auspices divine


s: This bowl, embossed with images of gold,


s: The gift of old Anchises, shall be thine,


s: Which Thracian Cisseus to my sire of old


s: Gave, as a pledge of love, to have it and to hold."


s: LXXIV. So saying, with a garland of green bay


s: He crowned his temples, and the prize conferred,


s: Nor good Eurytion to the choice demurred,


s: Nor grudged to see the veteran's claim preferred,


s: Though his the prowess that the rest surpassed,


s: His shaft the one that struck the soaring bird.


s: The second, he who cut the cord, the last,


s: He who with feathered reed transfixed the tapering mast.


s: LXXV. But good AEneas, ere the games are done,


s: And trusty guardian of his beardless son,


s: Calls to his side, and whispers in his ear:


s: And steeds in readiness, with spear and shield


s: Then, calling to the thronging crowd to yield


s: Free space, he clears the course, and open lies the field.


s: LXXVI. Forth ride the boys, before their fathers' eyes,


s: Reining their steeds. In radiant files they fare,


s: And wondering murmurs from each host arise.


s: All with stript leaves have bound the flowing hair.


s: Two cornel javelins, tipt with steel, they bear,


s: Some, polished quivers; and a pliant chain


s: Of twisted gold around the neck they wear;


s: Three companies--three captains scour the plain.


s: Twelve youths, behind each chief, compose the glittering train.


s: LXXVII. One shouting troop young Priam's lead obeys,


s: Thy son, Polites, from his grandsire hight,


s: And born erelong Italia's fame to raise.


s: A dappled Thracian charger bears the knight,


s: His pasterns flecked and forehead starred with white.


s: Iulus, first in grace and comeliest of his peers.


s: LXXVIII. His a Sidonian charger; Dido fair


s: This pledge and token of her love supplied.


s: Acestes' gift. Their bosoms throb with pride,


s: While Dardans, cheering, welcome as they ride


s: The sires that have been in the sons that are.


s: So, when before their kinsfolk on each side


s: Cracks the loud whip, and shouts the signal, as for war.


s: LXXIX. In equal bands the triple troops divide,


s: Then turn, and rallying, with spears bent low,


s: Charge at the call. Now back again they ride,


s: Wheel round, and weave new courses to and fro,


s: Circling and intercircling. Now in flight


s: They bare their backs, now turning, foe to foe,


s: Level their lances to the charge, now plight


s: The truce, and side by side in friendly league unite.


s: LXXX. E'en as in Crete the Labyrinth of old


s: Between blind walls its secret hid from view,


s: With wildering ways and many a winding fold,


s: Wherein the wanderer, if the tale be true,


s: Roamed unreturning, cheated of the clue:


s: Such tangles weave the Teucrians, as they feign


s: So dolphins, sporting on the watery plain,


s: Cleave the Carpathian waves and distant Libya's main.


s: LXXXI. These feats Ascanius to his people showed,


s: When girdling Alba Longa; there with joy


s: To Alban children from their sires it came,


s: And mighty Rome took up the "game of Troy,"


s: And called the players "Trojans," and the name


s: Lives on, as sons renew the hereditary game.


s: LXXXII. Thus far to blest Anchises they defrayed


s: The funeral rites; when Fortune turned unkind,


s: Forsook her faith. For while the games were played


s: New schemes, to glut her ancient wrath, designed.


s: Down to the Ilian fleet, and breathes a wind


s: Of myriad hues, unseen, the maiden hastes below.


s: LXXXIII. She eyes the concourse, marks the ships unmanned,


s: And sees the empty harbour and the shore.


s: The Trojan dames sat sorrowful, and o'er


s: The deep sea gazed, and, gazing, evermore


s: Wept for the Sire. "Ah, woe! the fields of foam!


s: The waste of waters for the wearied oar!


s: A rest for sea-worn souls, for weary 'tis to roam!"


s: LXXXIV. So, not unversed in mischief, from the skies


s: Amidst the gathered matrons down she came,


s: With rank, and children and a noble name.


s: So changed in semblance, the celestial guest


s: Mixed with the Dardan dames, and thus the crowd addressed:


s: LXXXV. "Oh, born to sorrow! whom th' Achaian foe


s: Dragged not to death, when Ilion was o'erthrown!


s: Since Ilion fell, seven summers nigh have flown,


s: Past cheerless rocks, and under stars unknown,


s: Italia's shores we grasp, and welter on the main!


s: LXXXVI. "'Tis Eryx' land, Acestes is our host.


s: What hinders for the homeless here to gain


s: O fatherland! O home-gods saved in vain,


s: Our Hector's streams? ne'er hear the name of Troy?


s: Up! let devouring flames these ill-starred ships destroy!


s: LXXXVII. "Methought in sleep, Cassandra's ghost came near,


s: With torches in her hands, and bade me seize


s: The flaming firebrands, and exclaimed: 'See, here


s: Thy Troy, the home that destiny decrees!


s: The hour is ripe; such prodigies as these


s: Brook not delay. Lo! here to Neptune rise


s: Four altars. He, the Sovereign of the seas,


s: Himself the firebrands and the will supplies.'"


s: Then straight, with arm drawn back, and fury in her eyes,


s: LXXXVIII. She waved a torch, and hurled it. Dazed with fear,


s: The women trembled as she tossed the flame.


s: Then one who nursed through many a bygone year


s: The sons of Priam--Pyrgo was the dame,--


s: Immortal birth her sparkling eyes proclaim.


s: What breathing beauty! what celestial sheen!


s: Mark her majestic voice, and more than mortal mien!


s: LXXXIX. "Myself but now left Beroe, worn out


s: With sickness, grieving in her heart to miss


s: These funeral honours to our Sire."--In doubt


s: They waver, and with eyes that bode amiss


s: Look towards the vessels and the blue abyss


s: Of ocean, torn in spirit 'twixt the love


s: Of realms that shall be and the land that is.


s: And with her rainbow vast the cloudy drift she clove.


s: And driven by madness, forth the matrons fare


s: With shouts and shrieks. The houses they invade,


s: And living embers from the hearthstones tear,


s: With impious hands these strip the altars bare,


s: And boughs, and leaves and lighted brands they cast


s: In heaps, and fuel for the flames prepare.


s: O'er bench and oar, from painted keel to mast,


s: The Fire-god raves at will, and rides upon the blast.


s: Swift posts Eumelus. To the tomb he hies


s: Back look the Trojans, and with awe-struck eyes


s: See the dark ash-cloud floating through the skies.


s: And, as his troop Ascanius joyed to lead


s: In mimic fight, so keen, when danger cries,


s: First to the wildered camp he spurs his steed;


s: And breathless guardians fail to stay his headlong speed.


s: "What mean ye now? No camp of Argive foe,


s: _Your_ hopes ye doom to perish in the flames.


s: He flung the helmet, that adorned his brow


s: When mimic fight he marshalled. Hurrying came


s: The shore lies bare; this way and that each dame


s: Slinks to the woods and caves, if aught can hide her shame.


s: Sobered, they know their countrymen at last,


s: And Juno's power is shaken from each breast.


s: Not so the flames; with gathered strength and fast


s: Onward still swept the unconquerable blast.


s: Forth puffed between the timbers, drenched in vain,


s: The smoke-jets from the smouldering tow. Down passed


s: Nor floods nor heroes' strength the mastering flames restrain.


s: His robe, and heavenward stretched his hands in prayer;


s: "Great Jove! if spares thy vengeance to pursue


s: Troy's children to the uttermost, if e'er


s: The toils of mortals move thy ancient care,


s: Preserve this feeble remnant, and command


s: These flames from further havoc to forbear;


s: Else, if my deeds deserve it, bare thine hand,


s: Launch thine avenging bolt, and slay me as I stand."


s: Of thunder shakes the mountains and the plain.


s: Black storm-clouds from the thickening South sweep o'er


s: The darkened heavens, and down a deluge pour.


s: Drenched are the decks; the timbers, charr'd with heat,


s: Are soaked and smoulder, till the fire no more


s: Raves, and the flames are conquered, and the fleet,


s: Save four alone, survives the fiery plague complete.


s: This way and that, still doubtful to remain


s: In fields Sicilian, mindless of the Fates,


s: In prescient utterance his response unrolled,


s: And thus with cheerful words the anxious chief consoled:


s: 'Tis ours to follow. Who the best can bear,


s: Best conquers Fortune, be the doom what may.


s: A friend thou hast, Acestes; bid him share


s: Give him the lost ships' crews, and whosoe'er


s: Is faint or feeble, to his charge consign,


s: Old men and sea-sick dames, who glory's quest decline.


s: And build their walls, and, if our host assent,


s: Such counsel cheered him, but his breast is rent


s: And now black Night, upon her course midway,


s: With ebon car had climbed the steep ascent,


s: When, gliding down before him as he lay,


s: His father's phantom stood, and speaking, seemed to say:


s: My son, by Troy's hard destinies sore tried,


s: Hither I come at Jove's command, who deigned


s: Thy burning ships to save, and pitying-eyed


s: Beholds thy sorrows. Hear then, nor deride


s: The grey-haired Nautes, for his words are good.


s: Choice youths, the bravest, for thy quest provide.


s: And rough the Latin race, and hard to be subdued.


s: And through Avernus tread the dark domain


s: Sad shades of sin and never-ending pain,


s: Join with the just in fellowship. Now heed:


s: There the chaste Sibyl, if with victims slain,


s: Black sheep, ye seek her, shall thy footsteps lead,


s: And show thy destined walls and progeny decreed.


s: Wheels on her course, and from the Orient sky


s: Fierce beats the breathing of the steeds of Day."


s: "Ah, whither," cried AEneas, "wilt thou fly?


s: Who tears thee hence? Where hurriest thou again?"


s: So saying, he wakes the embers ere they die.


s: And offering frankincense and sacred grain,


s: Troy's household gods adores, and hoary Vesta's fane.


s: Jove's will, his father's counsel and his own.


s: All vote assent, nor doth his host refuse.


s: No tarrying now; they write the matrons down,


s: And all who faint or care not for renown


s: They leave behind,--the idlers of each crew,


s: But willing settlers in the new-planned town.


s: These the charred timbers and the thwarts renew,


s: Shape oars and fit the ropes; a gallant band, but few.


s: And, homes allotting, gives each place a name,


s: Here Troy, there Ilion. Pleased to wear the crown,


s: Rear'd high on Eryx, to the stars ascends


s: A grove's far sacred shade his hallowed dust defends.


s: Smooth lies the deep, and Southern winds invite


s: Loud rise the sounds of sorrow, day and night,


s: Where friends, clasped close in lingering undelight,


s: Weep at the thought of parting. Matrons, ay,


s: And men, who lately shuddered at the sight,


s: And loathed the name of Ocean, scorn to stay,


s: And willing hearts now brave the long, laborious way.


s: Leaves to their King, then, parting, gives command


s: A lamb to slay to tempest, and three steers


s: Flings forth the entrails, and outpours the wine,


s: And, crowned with olive chaplet, takes his stand.


s: Up-springs the favouring stern breeze, as in line


s: With emulous sweep of oars, they brush the level brine.


s: Spake thus to Neptune, and her grief confessed:


s: The quenchless malice, that consumes her breast,


s: Constrains me thus to urge a suppliant's quest;


s: And stoop, with humbled majesty, to sue.


s: Nor time, nor Fate can soften or subdue,


s: Still doth immortal hate the Phrygian race pursue.


s: And wear their remnant with remorseless pain,


s: Needs must she trample on the dust of Troy.


s: She best, forsooth, her fury can explain.


s: But thou,--thou know'st how on the Libyan main,--


s: Thine eyes beheld it from thy throne on high,--


s: Lately she stirred the tumult, and in vain


s: Armed with AEolian tempests, sea and sky


s: Mixed in rebellious wrath, thy sceptre to defy.


s: Her rage hath filled the matrons, fired the fleet,


s: And left these crews upon an alien shore,


s: Reft of their friends, and baffled of retreat.


s: Safe in thy guidance let them sail the main,


s: And scatheless reach their promised walls, and greet


s: If what I ask be just, and so the Fates ordain."


s: To look for safety to my realm, that gave


s: Thee birth; and well have I deserved thy trust,


s: Who oft have stilled the raging wind and wave;


s: Nor less on land have interposed, to save--


s: Thy darling son, when back Achilles drave


s: Troy's breathless host, and rivers, choked with slain,


s: Groaned, ay, and Xanthus scarce could struggle to the main.


s: When, wroth with perjured Ilion, I sought


s: To raze the walls these very hands had wrought.


s: Fear not; unaltered doth my will remain.


s: Safe shall he be into this haven brought.


s: One in the deep thy son shall look for, but in vain."


s: His steeds with golden harness yoked amain.


s: The bridle and the foaming bit he placed,


s: To curb their fury, and outflung the rein.


s: Lightly he flies along the watery plain,


s: Borne in his azure chariot. Far and nigh


s: Beneath his thundering wheels the heaving main


s: Sinks, and the waves are tranquil, and on high


s: Through flying storm-drift shines the immeasurable sky.


s: His followers--monsters of enormous chine,


s: Sea-shouldering whales, and Glaucus' aged troop,


s: Swift Tritons, born to gambol in the brine,


s: Joy stole in gentle counterchange. He hails


s: The crews, and biddeth them the masts uprear,


s: And stretch the sheets. All, tacking, loose the brails


s: Larboard or starboard, and let go the sails,


s: And square or sideways to the breeze incline


s: The lofty sailyards. Welcome blow the gales


s: The rest his course obey, and follow at his sign.


s: Each slumbering mariner his limbs unbends,


s: Stretched by his oar, along the bench at rest,


s: When lo! false Sleep his feathery wings extends.


s: Parting the scattered shadows. Down he bears


s: Delusive dreams, and cunning words pretends,


s: As now, in Phorbas' likeness he appears,


s: Perched on the lofty stern, and whispers in his ears:


s: Bears thee along; behind thee breathes apace


s: The stern breeze, and the hour invites repose.


s: Rest now, and cheat thy wearied eyes a space,


s: Myself will take the rudder in thy place."


s: "Nay," quoth the pilot, with half-lifted eyes,


s: "Shall I put faith in ocean's treacherous face,


s: And trust AEneas to the flattering skies,


s: I, whom their smiles oft fooled, but folly hath made wise?"


s: Relaxed, nor ever from the stars withdrew


s: His steadfast eyes, still watchful when behold!


s: A slumberous bough the god revealed to view,


s: Thrice dipt in Styx, and drenched with Lethe's dew.


s: Then, lightly sprinkling, o'er the pilot's brows


s: The drowsy dewdrops from the leaves he threw.


s: Dim grow his eyes; the languor of repose


s: Steals o'er his faltering sense, the lingering eyelids close.


s: Down weighed the god, and in the rolling main


s: Dashed him headforemost, clutching, as he fell,


s: Stern timbers torn, and rudder rent in twain,


s: And calling oft his comrades, but in vain.


s: This done, his wings he balanced, and away


s: Soared skyward. Natheless o'er the broad sea-plain


s: The ships sail on; safe lies the watery way,


s: For Neptune's plighted words the seamen's cares allay.


s: White with men's bones, and hear the surf-beat side


s: Roar with hoarse thunder. Here the Sire, who saw


s: The ship was labouring, and had lost her guide,


s: Straight seized the helm, and steered her through the tide,


s: While, grieved in heart, with many a groan and sigh,


s: He mourned for Palinurus. "Ah," he cried,


s: "For faith reposed on flattering sea and sky,


s: Left on an unknown shore, thy naked corpse must lie!"


s: "dreadful faces" that guard the outskirts of Hell. Charon's ferry


s: suicides, of children, of lovers, and experience Dido's disdain


s: approach to Tartarus, describing by the way its rulers and its


s: horrors. Finally, they reach Elysium and gain entrance (645-757).


s: meeting between father and son (758-828). Anchises explains the


s: And glides at length to the Euboean strand


s: Of Cumae. There, with prows towards the main,


s: Safe-fastened by the biting anchors, stand


s: The vessels, and the round sterns line the land.


s: Forth on the shore, in eager haste to claim


s: Hesperia's welcome, leaps a youthful band.


s: These search the flint-stones for the seeds of flame,


s: Those point to new-found streams, or scour the woods for game.


s: And the vast cave where, hidden far from sight


s: Dwells the dread Sibyl, whom the Delian seer


s: The things to come.--So now, approaching near


s: Through Trivia's grove, the temple they behold,


s: And entering, see the roof all glittering with gold.


s: On rapid wings, from Minos' realms in flight,


s: Trusted the sky, and to the frosty North


s: Swam his strange way, till on the tower-girt height


s: Here, touching first the wished-for land again,


s: To thee, great Phoebus, and thy guardian might,


s: He vowed, and bade as offerings to remain,


s: The oarage of his wings, and built a stately fane.


s: There stand the sons of Cecrops, doomed each year


s: The lots are drawn; the fatal urn is near.


s: Here, o'er the deep the Gnossian fields appear,


s: The bull--the cruel passion--the embrace


s: Stol'n from Pasiphae--all the tale is here;


s: The Minotaur, half human, beast in face,


s: Record of nameless lust, and token of disgrace.


s: With tangled maze, too intricate to tread,


s: But that, in pity for the queen's great love,


s: Her lover's blinded footsteps with a thread.


s: There, too, had sorrow not the wish denied,


s: Thy name and fame, poor Icarus, were read.


s: Twice in the gold to carve thy fate he tried,


s: And twice the father's hands dropped faltering to his side.


s: But now, returning from his quest, comes near


s: "Not this," she cries, "the time for tarrying here


s: For shows like these. Go, hither bring with speed


s: Seven ewes, the choicest, and with each a steer


s: Unyoked, in honour of the God to bleed."


s: So to the Chief she spake, and straight his followers heed.


s: A huge cave hollowed in the mountain's side,--


s: The priestess calls the Teucrians. Thither lead


s: A hundred doors, a hundred entries wide,


s: Peal forth, the Sibyl answering. So they


s: Had reached the threshold, when the maiden cried,


s: "Now 'tis the time to seek the fates and pray;


s: Behold, behold the God!" and standing there, straightway,


s: Her hair disordered, and her heart distrest


s: Swells with wild frenzy. Larger now she seems,


s: Her voice not mortal, as her heaving breast


s: Pants, with the approaching Deity possest.


s: "Pray, Trojan," peals her warning utterance, "pray!


s: Cease not, AEneas, nor withhold thy quest,


s: Ne'er shall its yawning doors the spell-bound house display."


s: The sturdy Trojans. From his inmost heart


s: Thus prayed the King: "O Phoebus, wont to view


s: With pity Troy's sore travail; thou, whose art


s: How oft, thou guiding, have I tracked the main


s: Round mighty lands, to earth's remotest part


s: Massylian tribes and Libya's sandy plain:


s: Scarce now the flying shores of Italy we gain.


s: Ye, too, at length, your anger may abate


s: And deign the race of Pergamus to spare,


s: O Gods and Goddesses, who viewed with hate


s: Troy and the glories of the Dardan state.


s: And thou, dread mistress of prophetic lore,


s: Grant us--I ask but what is due by Fate,


s: Our promised realms--that on the Latian shore


s: Troy's sons and wandering gods may find a home once more.


s: Thee, too, hereafter in our realms await


s: Shrines of the stateliest, for thy name is dear.


s: There safe shall rest the mystic words of Fate,


s: And chosen priests shall guard the oracles of state.


s: Thy verse, lest fragments of the mystic scroll


s: Fly, tost abroad, the playthings of the wind.


s: He ceased; the seer, impatient of control,


s: Strives, like a frenzied Bacchant, in her cell,


s: To shake the mighty deity from her soul.


s: So much the more, her raging heart to quell,


s: He tires the foaming mouth, and shapes her to his spell.


s: Self-opening suddenly, revealed the fane,


s: And through the air the Sibyl's answer bore:


s: "O freed from Ocean's perils, but in vain,


s: Doubt not; Troy's sons shall reach Lavinium's shore,


s: And rule in Latium; so the Fates ordain.


s: Yet shall they rue their coming. Woes in store,


s: Wars, savage wars, I see, and Tiber foam with gore.


s: And Doric tents; Achilles, goddess-born,


s: Shall rise anew, nor Jove's relentless Queen


s: Shall cease to vex the Teucrians night and morn.


s: Then oft shalt thou, sore straitened and forlorn,


s: To grant thee shelter from the foemen's scorn.


s: Shall bring the old, old woes, the ancient feud restore.


s: Hope, where unlooked for, comes thy toils to crown,


s: Thy road to safety from a Grecian town."


s: So sang the Sibyl from her echoing fane,


s: And, wrapping truth in mystery, made known


s: The dark enigmas of her frenzied strain.


s: So Phoebus plied the goad, and shook the maddening rein.


s: Can danger startle, nor strange shape of ill.


s: All have I seen and throughly conned before.


s: One boon I beg,--since yonder are the door


s: Of Pluto, and the gloomy lakes, they tell,


s: Teach me the way, and ope the sacred gates of hell.


s: Safe through the thickest of the flames and foe.


s: He, partner of my travels, loved to share


s: The threats of ocean and the storms of air,


s: Though weak, yet strong beyond the lot of age.


s: 'Twas he who bade me, with prevailing prayer,


s: Approach thee humbly, and thy care engage,


s: Pity the sire and son, and Trojan hearts assuage.


s: Hath set thee o'er Avernus' groves to reign.


s: If Orpheus from the shades his bride up-brought,


s: Trusting his Thracian harp and sounding strain,


s: If Pollux could from Pluto's drear domain


s: Why Theseus? I, as they, Jove's ancestry can claim."


s: When thus the prophetess: "O Trojan Knight,


s: The gate of Dis stands open day and night.


s: But upward thence thy journey to retrace,


s: There lies the labour; 'tis a task of might,


s: By few achieved, and those of heavenly race,


s: Whom shining worth extolled or Jove hath deigned to grace.


s: And black Cocytus girds the drear abode.


s: Yet, if such passion hath thy soul possessed,


s: And madly twice to cross the Stygian flood,


s: And visit twice black Tartarus, mark the way


s: With golden stem and foliage, lurks a spray,


s: And trees and darksome dales surrounding shroud the day.


s: That golden growth, the gift of Pluto's queen,


s: And show the passport she decreed to bear.


s: One plucked, another in its place is seen,


s: As bright and burgeoning with golden green.


s: Search then aloft, and when thou see'st the spray,


s: Reach forth and pluck it; willingly, I ween,


s: If Fate shall call thee, 'twill thy touch obey;


s: Else steel nor strength of arm shall rend the prize away.


s: Thy friend's dead body, and pollutes the shore.


s: While thou the Fates art asking to advise,


s: And lingering here, a suppliant, at our door.


s: Nay, first thy comrade to his home restore,


s: And build a tomb, and bring black cattle; they


s: The stain shall expiate; so the Stygian shore


s: Shalt thou behold, and tread the sunless way,


s: Which living feet ne'er trod, and mounted to the day."


s: With down-dropt eyes and melancholy mien,


s: What lifeless comrade could the priestess mean?


s: Whom to be buried? When before their eyes,


s: Stretched on the barren beach the dead Misenus lies,


s: None better knew with brazen blast to light


s: The flames of war, and wake the warrior's pride.


s: Once Hector's co-mate, proud at Hector's side


s: To wind the clarion and the sword to wield.


s: When, stricken by Achilles, Hector died,


s: Loth to a meaner lord his fealty to yield.


s: And made the waves his hollow shell resound,


s: Him Triton, jealous--if the tale be true--


s: Caught unaware, and in the surges drowned


s: Among the rocks.--There now the corpse they found.


s: Rose from the Trojans, as they gazed around.


s: Then, filled with tears, the Sibyl's task they ply,


s: And rear a wood-built pile and altar to the sky.


s: The wild-beasts' lair. The holm-oak rings amain,


s: Smit with the axe, the pitchy pine falls low,


s: Sharp wedges cleave the beechen core in twain,


s: The mountain ash comes rolling to the plain.


s: Foremost himself, accoutred as the rest,


s: AEneas cheered them, toiling with his train;


s: Then, musing sadly, and with pensive breast,


s: Gazed on the boundless grove, and thus his prayer addressed:


s: With golden bough; since true, alas, too true,


s: Misenus, hath the priestess sung of thee!"


s: He spake, when, lighting on the sward, down flew


s: Two doves. With joy his mother's birds he knew,


s: "Lead on, blest guides, along the air," he prayed,


s: "If way there be, the precious bough to view,


s: Whose golden leaves the teeming soil o'ershade;


s: O mother, solve my doubts, nor stint the needed aid."


s: What signs they give, and whitherward their flight.


s: Awhile they fly, awhile they stop to feed,


s: Then, fluttering, keep within the range of sight,


s: Till, coming where Avernus, dark as night,


s: Gapes, with rank vapours from its depths uprolled,


s: Aloft they soar, and through the liquid height


s: Dart to the tree, where, wondrous to behold,


s: The varying green sets forth the glitter of the gold.


s: To bloom afresh with foliage newly green,


s: And round the tapering boles its arms to throw,


s: The oak's dark boughs the golden leaves display,


s: Quickly AEneas plucks the lingering spray,


s: And to the Sibyl bears the welcome gift away.


s: And honours to the thankless dust assign.


s: A stately pyre they build upon the shore,


s: Rich with oak-timbers and the resinous pine,


s: And sombre foliage in the sides entwine.


s: In front, the cypress marks the fatal soil,


s: Above, they leave the warrior's arms to shine.


s: These heat the water, till the caldrons boil,


s: And wash the stiffened limbs, and fill the wounds with oil.


s: They lay him on the bed, and o'er him throw


s: His purple robes. These lift the massive bier;


s: Those, as of yore--sad ministry of woe--


s: With eyes averted, hold the torch below.


s: Oil, spice and viands, in promiscuous heap,


s: They pour and pile upon the fire; and now,


s: The embers crumbling and the flames asleep,


s: With draughts of ruddy wine the thirsty ash they steep.


s: Enshrined the bones, upgathered in a caul,


s: And bearing round pure water, thrice in turn


s: From olive branch the lustral dew lets fall,


s: And, sprinkling, speaks the latest words of all.


s: Crowned with his oar and trumpet, 'neath a tall


s: And airy cliff, which still Misenus' name


s: Preserves, and ages keep his everlasting fame.


s: The Sibyl's hest.--There was a monstrous cave,


s: Rough, shingly, yawning wide-mouthed to the day,


s: Sheltered from access by the lake's dark wave


s: And shadowing forests, gloomy as the grave.


s: O'er that dread space no flying thing could ply


s: Its wings unjeopardied (whence Grecians gave


s: The name "Aornos"), such a stench on high


s: Rose from the poisonous jaws, and filled the vaulted sky.


s: Commands them, forth to sacrifice are led.


s: Over their brows she pours the sacred wine,


s: Then plucks the hairs that sprouted on the head


s: And burns them, as the first-fruits to the dead,


s: In Heaven and Erebus is owned with dread.


s: These stab the victims in the throat, and drain


s: In bowls the steaming blood that gushes from the slain.


s: The Furies' mother and her sister dread,


s: The bulls' whole bodies on the flames he laid,


s: And fat oil on the broiling entrails shed,


s: When lo! as Morn her opening beams displayed,


s: Loud rumblings shook the ground, the wooded hill-tops swayed,


s: The Goddess near. "Back, back, unhallowed crew,


s: And quit the grove!" the prophetess exclaimed,


s: "Thou, bare thy blade, and take the road in view.


s: Now, Trojan, for a stalwart heart and true;


s: Firmness and steadiness!" No more she cried,


s: Fired with new frenzy. He, with fearless stride,


s: Treads on the Sibyl's heels, rejoicing in his guide.


s: Chaos and Phlegethon, wide realms of night,


s: What ear hath heard, permit the tongue to tell,


s: High matter, veiled in darkness, to indite.--


s: On through the gloomy shade, in darkling plight,


s: Through Pluto's solitary halls they stray,


s: As travellers, whom the Moon's unkindly light


s: Baffles in woods, when, on a lonely way,


s: Jove shrouds the heavens, and night has turned the world to grey.


s: Grief spreads her pillow, with remorseful Care.


s: There sad Old Age and pale Diseases dwell,


s: And misconceiving Famine, Want and Fear,


s: Terrific shapes, and Death and Toil appear.


s: Death's kinsman, Sleep, and Joys of sinful kind,


s: And deadly War crouch opposite, and here


s: And Strife, her viperous locks with gory fillets twined.


s: The shadows of its aged arms. There dwell


s: False Dreams and, nestling, to the foliage cling,


s: And monstrous shapes, too numerous to tell,


s: Keep covert, stabled in the porch of Hell.


s: Huge Centaurs, two-formed Scyllas, fierce and fell,


s: Harpies, the triple Shade, Chimaera fenced with fire.


s: XL. At once AEneas, stirred by sudden fear,


s: Clutches his sword, and points the naked blade


s: To affront them. Then, but that the Heaven-taught seer


s: Warned him that each was but an empty shade,


s: A shapeless soul, vain onset he had made,


s: And slashed the shadows. So he checked his hand,


s: And past the gateway in the gloom they strayed


s: Through Tartarus to Acheron's dark strand,


s: Where thick the whirlpool boils, and voids the seething sand


s: XLI. Into the deep Cocytus. Charon there,


s: Grim ferryman, stands sentry. Mean his guise,


s: And like a flaming furnace stare his eyes.


s: Hung in a loop around his shoulders lies


s: And, pole in hand, across the water plies


s: His steel-grey shallop with the corpses pale,


s: Old, but a god's old age has left him green and hale.


s: XLII. There shoreward rushed a multitude, the shades


s: Of noble heroes, numbered with the dead,


s: Boys, husbands, mothers and unwedded maids,


s: Sons on the pile before their parents spread,


s: As leaves in number, which the trees have shed


s: When Autumn's frosts begin to chill the air,


s: Or birds, that from the wintry blasts have fled


s: So thick the foremost stand, and, stretching hands of prayer,


s: XLIII. Plead for a passage. Now the boatman stern


s: Takes these, now those, then thrusts the rest away,


s: And vainly for the distant bank they yearn.


s: Then spake AEneas, for with strange dismay


s: He viewed the tumult, "Prithee, maiden, say


s: What means this thronging to the river-side?


s: What seek the souls? Why separate, do they


s: Turn back, while others sweep the leaden tide?


s: Who parts the shades, what doom the difference can decide?"


s: XLIV. Thereto in brief the aged priestess spake:


s: "Son of Anchises, and the god's true heir,


s: Thou see'st Cocytus and the Stygian lake,


s: These are the needy, who a burial crave;


s: Across the flood, the buried; none that wave


s: Can traverse, ere his bones have rested in the grave.


s: XLV. "A hundred years they wander in the cold


s: Around these shores, till at the destined date


s: The wished-for pools, admitted, they behold."


s: And, thoughtful, pondered their unequal fate.


s: Leucaspis there, and Lycia's chief he viewed,


s: Orontes, joyless, tombless, whom of late,


s: Sea-tost from Troy, the blustering South pursued,


s: And ship and crew at once whelmed in the rolling flood.


s: XLVI. There paced in sorrow Palinurus' ghost,


s: Who, lately from the Libyan shore their guide,


s: Watching the stars, headforemost from his post


s: Had fallen, and perished in the wildering tide.


s: Him, known, but dimly in the gloom descried,


s: Of all the gods hath torn thee from our side?


s: This once hath answered false, and mocked with hopes undue.


s: XLVII. "Safe--so he sang--should'st thou escape the sea,


s: And scatheless to Ausonia's coast attain.


s: Lo, this, his plighted promise!"--"Nay," said he,


s: For while I ruled the rudder, charged to keep


s: Our course, and steered thee o'er the billowy plain,


s: Sudden, I slipped, and, falling prone and steep,


s: Snapped with sheer force the helm, and dragged it to the deep.


s: XLVIII. "Naught--let the rough seas witness--but for thee


s: I feared, lest rudderless, her pilot lost,


s: Your ship should fail in such a towering sea.


s: Three wintry nights, nipt with the chilling frost,


s: And on the fourth dawn from a wave at last


s: I swam, and clutching at the rock, held fast,


s: Cumbered with dripping clothes, and deemed the worst o'erpast.


s: XLIX. "When lo! the savage folk, with sword and stave,


s: Set on me, weening to have found rich prey.


s: And now my bones lie weltering on the wave,


s: Now on strange shores winds blow them far away.


s: By heaven's sweet breath and light of gladsome day,


s: Sail back to Velia's port, great conqueror, and there


s: L.  "Strew earth upon me, for the task is light;


s: Some path--for never in the god's despite


s: O'er these dread waters would'st thou dare to go,


s: Reach forth thy hand, and bear me to my rest,


s: Dead with the dead to ease me of my woe."


s: He spake, and him the prophetess addressed:


s: "O Palinurus! whence so impious a request?


s: LI. "Think'st thou the Stygian waters to explore


s: And reach unbidden yon relentless shore?


s: Hope not by prayer to bend the Fates' decree,


s: The neighbouring towns, and people far and near,


s: Compelled by prodigies, thy ghost shall free,


s: And load thy tomb with offerings year by year,


s: And Palinurus' name for aye the place shall bear."


s: LII. These words relieved his heaviness; joy came


s: Upon his saddened spirit, pleased to hear


s: The well-known land remembered by his name.


s: Thus on they journey, and the stream draw near;


s: Whom when the Stygian boatman saw appear,


s: As shoreward through the silent grove they stray,


s: With stern rebuke he challenged them: "Beware;


s: Stand off; approach not, but your purpose say;


s: What brought you here, whoe'er ye come in armed array?


s: LIII. "Here Shades inhabit,--Sleep and drowsy Night,--


s: I may not steer the living to yon shore.


s: Small joy was mine, when, in the gods' despite,


s: Than men in prowess, nor of mortal clay.


s: One tried to seize Hell's guardian, and before


s: Our monarch's throne to chain the trembling prey;


s: These from her lord's own bed to drag the queen to day."


s: LIV. Briefly the seer Amphrysian spake again:


s: "No guile these arms intend, nor open fight;


s: Fear not; still may the monster in his den


s: With endless howl the bloodless ghosts affright,


s: And chaste Proserpine guard her uncle's right.


s: Duteous and brave, his father's shade to view,


s: Of love so great is powerless to subdue,


s: Mark this,"--and from her vest the fateful gift she drew.


s: LV. Down fell his wrath: the venerable bough,


s: So long unseen, with wonderment he eyed;


s: Then, shoreward turning with his cold-blue prow,


s: From bench and gangway thrusts the shades aside,


s: And takes the great AEneas and his guide.


s: The stitched bark, groaning with the load it bore,


s: Gapes at each seam, and drinks the plenteous tide,


s: Till Prince and Prophetess, borne safely o'er,


s: Stand on the dank, grey ooze and grim, unsightly shore.


s: LVI. Crouched in a fronting cave, huge Cerberus wakes


s: These kingdoms with his three-mouthed bark. His head


s: The priestess marked, all bristling now with snakes,


s: And flung a sop of honied drugs and bread.


s: He, famine-stung, with triple jaws dispread,


s: The morsel snaps, then prone along the cave


s: Lies stretched on earth, with loosened limbs, as dead.


s: The sentry lulled, AEneas, blithe and brave,


s: Seizes the pass, and leaves the irremeable wave.


s: LVII. Loud shrieks are heard, and wails of the distrest,


s: The souls of babes, that on the threshold cry,


s: Reft of sweet life, and ravished from the breast,


s: And early plunged in bitter death. Hard by


s: Are those, whom slanderous charges doomed to die.


s: Not without judgment these abodes they win.


s: Here, urn in hand, dread Minos sits to try


s: The silent court, and learns each several life and sin.


s: LVIII. And next are those, who, hateful of the day,


s: With guiltless hands their sorrowing lives have ta'en,


s: Would they endure their poverty and pain!


s: It may not be. The Fates their doom decide


s: Past hope, and bind them to this sad domain.


s: Dark round them rolls the sea, unlovely tide;


s: Ninefold the waves of Styx those dreary realms divide.


s: LIX. Not far off stretch the Mourning Meads, where those


s: Whom cruel Love hath wasted with despair,


s: In myrtle groves and alleys hide their woes,


s: Nor Death itself relieves them of their care.


s: Baring the breast by filial hands imbrued,


s: And Caeneus, maid, then man, and now a maid renewed.


s: LX. There through the wood Phoenician Dido strayed,


s: Fresh from her wound. Whom when AEneas knew,


s: Scarce seen, though near, amid the doubtful shade,


s: As one who views, or only seems to view,


s: The clouded moon rise when the month is new,


s: Fondly he spake, while tears were in his eye:


s: "Ah, hapless Dido! then the news was true


s: That thou had'st sought the bitter end. Was I,


s: Alas! the cause of death? O by the starry sky,


s: LXI. "By Gods above, by faith, if aught, below,


s: Through these dark Shades, this realm of deepest Night,


s: These wastes of squalor, 'twas their word of might


s: That drove me forth; nor could I dream such woe


s: Was thine at my departing. Stay thy flight.


s: Whom dost thou fly? O, whither wilt thou go?


s: One word--the last, sad word--one parting look bestow!"


s: LXII. So strove AEneas, weeping, to appease


s: Her wrathful spirit. She, with down-fixt eyes


s: Turns from him, scowling, heedless of his pleas,


s: And hard as flint or marble, nor replies.


s: Then, starting, to the shadowy grove she flies,


s: Where dead Sychaeus, her old lord, renews


s: His love with hers, and sorrows with her sighs.


s: Touched by her fate, the Dardan hero views,


s: And far with tearful gaze the melting shade pursues.


s: LXIII. Thus onward to the furthest fields they strayed,


s: The haunts of heroes here doth Tydeus fare,


s: And fallen in war. Sighing, he sees them there,


s: Antenor's sons, three brethren past compare,


s: And brave Idaeus, still grasping the sword and rein.


s: LXIV. All throng around, nor rest content to claim


s: One look, but linger with delight, and fain


s: Would pace beside, and question why he came.


s: But when the Greeks and Agamemnon's train


s: Beheld the hero, and his arms shone plain,


s: Huge terror shook them, and some turned to fly,


s: As erst they scattered to their ships; some strain


s: Their husky voice, and raise a feeble cry.


s: The warshout mocks their throats, the gibbering accents die.


s: LXV. There, too, he sees great Priam's son, the famed


s: A mangled shape, his visage marred and maimed.


s: His ravaged face the ruthless steel had torn,--


s: Face, nose and ears--and both his hands were shorn.


s: Him, cowering back, and striving to disown


s: The shameful tokens of his foemen's scorn,


s: Scarcely AEneas knew, then, soon as known,


s: Thus, unaccosted, hailed in old, familiar tone:


s: LXVI. "O brave Deiphobus, great Teucer's seed!


s: Whose heart had will, whose cruel hand had might


s: To wreak such punishment? Fame told, indeed,


s: That, tired with slaughter, thou had'st sunk that night


s: On heaps of mingled carnage in the fight.


s: Then on the shore I reared an empty mound,


s: And called (thy name and armour mark the site)


s: Thy shade. Thyself, dear comrade, ne'er was found.


s: Vain was my parting wish to lay thee in the ground."


s: LXVII. "Not thine the fault"; Deiphobus replied,


s: "Thy debt is rendered; thou hast dealt aright.


s: Fate, and the baseness of a Spartan bride


s: Wrought this; behold the tokens of her spite.


s: Thou know'st--too well must thou recall--that night


s: Passed in vain pleasure and delusive joy,


s: What time the fierce Steed, with a bound of might,


s: Big with armed warriors, eager to destroy,


s: Leaped o'er the wall, and scaled the citadel of Troy.


s: LXVIII. "Feigning mock orgies, round the town she led


s: Troy's dames, with shrieks that rent the midnight air,


s: And, armed with blazing cresset, at their head


s: Bright from the watch-tower made the signal flare,


s: That called the Danaan foemen from their lair.


s: I, sunk in sleep, the fatal couch had pressed,


s: Worn out with watching, and weighed down with care,


s: And, calm and deep, Death's image, gentle Rest


s: Crept o'er the wearied limbs, and stilled the troubled breast.


s: LXIX. "Meanwhile, all arms the traitress, as I slept,


s: Stole from the house, and from beneath my head


s: She took the trusty falchion, that I kept


s: To guard the chamber and the bridal bed.


s: Then, creeping to the door, with stealthy tread,


s: She lifts the latch, and beckons from within


s: And from the past wipe out the scandal of old sin.


s: LXX. "O noble wife! But why the tale prolong?


s: Few words were best; my chamber they invade,


s: Heaven! be these horrors on the Greeks repaid,


s: If pious lips for just revenge have prayed.


s: But thou, make answer, and in turn explain


s: What brought thee, living, to these realms of shade?


s: By heaven's command, or wandering o'er the main,


s: Com'st thou to view these shores, this sunless, sad domain?"


s: LXXI. So they in converse haply had the day


s: Consumed, when, rosy-charioted, the Morn


s: O'erpassed mid heaven on her ethereal way,


s: And thus the Sibyl doth the Dardan warn:


s: "Night lowers apace; we linger but to mourn.


s: Here part the roads; beyond the walls of Dis


s: _There_ lies for us Elysium; leftward borne


s: Thou comest to Tartarus, in whose drear abyss


s: Poor sinners purge with pains the lives they lived amiss."


s: LXXII. "Spare, priestess," cried Deiphobus, "thy wrath;


s: I will depart, and fill the tale, and hide


s: In darkness. Thou, with happier fates, go forth,


s: Our glory."--Sudden, from the Dardan's side


s: Broad bastions, girt with triple wall, that frowned


s: Beneath a rock to leftward, and the tide


s: Of torrent Phlegethon, that flamed around,


s: And made the beaten rocks rebellow with the sound.


s: LXXIII. In front, a massive gateway threats the sky,


s: All force, divine or human. Night and day,


s: Girt up with bloody garments. From within


s: Loud groans are heard, and wailings of dismay,


s: The whistling scourge, the fetter's clank and din,


s: Shrieks, as of tortured fiends, and all the sounds of sin.


s: LXXIV. Aghast, AEneas listens to the cries.


s: "O maid," he asks, "what crimes are theirs? What pain


s: Do they endure? what wailings rend the skies?"


s: Then she: "Famed Trojan, this accursed domain


s: None chaste may enter; so the Fates ordain.


s: Led me through all the region, fain to show


s: The tortures of the gods, the various forms of woe.


s: LXXV. "Here Cretan Rhadamanthus, strict and stern,


s: His kingdom holds. Each trespass, now confessed,


s: He hears and punishes; each tells in turn


s: The sin, with idle triumph long suppressed,


s: Till death has bared the secrets of the breast.


s: Swift at the guilty, as he stands and quakes,


s: Leaps fierce Tisiphone, for vengeance prest,


s: And calls her sisters; o'er the wretch she shakes


s: The torturing scourge aloft, and waves the twisted snakes.


s: LXXVI. "Then, opening slow, on horrid hinges grate


s: The doors accursed. See'st thou what sentinel


s: Sits in the porch? What presence guards the gate?


s: Know, that within, still fiercer and more fell,


s: Wide-yawning with her fifty throats, doth dwell


s: Abrupt and sheer, beneath the ghosts in Hell,


s: Gapes twice as deep, as o'er the earth on high


s: Towers up the Olympian steep, the summit of the sky.


s: LXXVII. "There roll the Titans, born of ancient Earth,


s: Hurled to the bottom by the lightning's blast.


s: There lie--twin monsters of enormous girth--


s: Their impious hands, and strove with daring vast


s: To disenthrone the Thunderer. There, again,


s: Who sought the flames of Jove with mimic art to feign,


s: LXXVIII. "And mocked Olympian thunder. Torch in hand,


s: Drawn by four steeds, through Elis' streets he came,


s: A conqueror, borne in triumph through the land.


s: And, waving high the firebrand, dared to claim


s: The God's own homage and a godlike name.


s: Blind fool and vain! to think with brazen clash


s: And hollow tramp of horn-hoofed steeds, to frame


s: The dread Storm's counterfeit, the thunder's crash,


s: The matchless bolts of Jove, the inimitable flash.


s: LXXIX. "But lo! his bolt, no smoky torch of pine,


s: The Sire omnipotent through darkness sped,


s: And hurled him headlong with the blast divine.


s: There, too, lay Tityos, nine roods outspread,


s: Nursling of earth. Hook-beaked, a vulture dread,


s: Pecking the deathless liver, plied his quest,


s: And probed the entrails and the heart, that bred


s: Immortal pain, and burrowed in his breast.


s: The torturing growth goes on, the fibres never rest.


s: LXXX. "Why now those ancient Lapithae recall,


s: The black rock frowns, and ever threats to fall.


s: On golden pillars shine the couches bright,


s: And royal feasts their longing eyes invite.


s: Warns from the banquet, with uplifted hand,


s: And thunders in their ears, and waves a flaming brand.


s: LXXXI. "Those, who with hate a brother's love repaid,


s: Or drove a parent outcast from their door,


s: Or, weaving fraud, their client's trust betrayed;


s: Those, who--the most in number--brooded o'er


s: Their gold, nor gave to kinsmen of their store;


s: Those, who for foul adultery were slain,


s: Who followed treason's banner, or forswore


s: Their plighted oath to masters, here remain,


s: And, pent in dungeons deep, await their doom of pain.


s: LXXXII. "Ask not what pain; what fortune or what fate


s: O'erwhelmed them, nor their torments seek to know.


s: These roll uphill a rock's enormous weight,


s: Those, hung on wheels, are racked with endless woe.


s: Sad Theseus sits, and through the darkness cries


s: 'Learn to be good; take warning and be wise;


s: Learn to revere the gods, nor heaven's commands despise.'


s: LXXXIII. "There stands the traitor, who his country sold,


s: A tyrant's bondage for his land prepared;


s: Made laws, unmade them, for a bribe of gold.


s: With lawless lust a daughter's shame he shared;


s: All dared huge crimes, and compassed what they dared.


s: Ne'er had a hundred mouths, if such were mine,


s: Nor hundred tongues their endless sins declared,


s: Nor iron voice their torments could define,


s: Or tell what doom to each the avenging gods assign.


s: LXXXIV. "But haste we," adds the Sibyl; "onward hold


s: The way before thee, and thy task pursue.


s: Yon walls and fronting archway, full in view.


s: Leave there thy gift and pay the God his due."


s: She spake, and thither through the dark they paced,


s: And reached the gateway. He, with lustral dew


s: Self-sprinkled, seized the entrance, and in haste


s: High o'er the fronting door the fateful offering placed.


s: LXXXV. These dues performed, they reach the realms of rest,


s: Fortunate groves, where happy souls repair,


s: And lawns of green, the dwellings of the blest.


s: Invest the meadows. Sun and stars are there,


s: Known but to them. There rival athletes train


s: Their practised limbs, and feats of strength compare.


s: These run and wrestle on the sandy plain,


s: Those tread the measured dance, and join the song's sweet strain.


s: LXXXVI. In flowing robes the Thracian minstrel sings,


s: Sweetly responsive to the seven-toned lyre;


s: Fingers and quill alternate wakes the strings.


s: Here Teucer's race, and many an ancient sire,


s: Chieftains of nobler days and martial fire,


s: Who founded Troy, the rapturous strains admire,


s: And arms afar and shadowy cars they see,


s: And lances fixt in earth, and coursers grazing free.


s: LXXXVII. The love of arms and chariots, the care


s: Their glossy steeds to pasture and to train,


s: That pleased them living, still attends them there:


s: These, stretched at ease, lie feasting on the plain;


s: There, choral companies, in gladsome strain,


s: Chant the loud Paean, in a grove of bay,


s: Rich in sweet scents, whence hurrying to the main,


s: Rolls from below through woods majestic to the day.


s: LXXXVIII. There, the slain patriot, and the spotless sage,


s: There he, whose arts improved a rugged age,


s: And those who, labouring for their country's good,


s: Lived long-remembered,--all, in eager mood,


s: Crowned with white fillets, round the Sibyl pressed;


s: With ample shoulders towering o'er the rest,


s: When thus the listening crowd the prophetess addressed:


s: LXXXIX. "Tell, happy souls; and thou, great poet, tell


s: Where--in what place--Anchises doth abide,


s: For whom we came and crossed the streams of Hell."


s: "Fixt home hath no one; by the streamlet's side,


s: Or in dark groves, or dewy meads we stray,


s: Where living waters through the pastures glide.


s: Mount, if ye list, and I will point the way,


s: Yon summit, and beneath the shining fields survey."


s: The sire Anchises scanned, with fond delight,


s: The prisoned souls, who waited for the day.


s: Their shape, their mien his studious eyes survey;


s: Their fates and fortunes he reviews with pride,


s: And counts his future offspring in array.


s: Aloud, with tearful eyes and outspread hands, he cried:


s: Thrice welcome, braved the perils of the way?


s: Sweet converse as of old? 'Tis come, the day


s: I longed and looked for, pondering the delay,


s: How tost with perils do I greet thee? yea,


s: What wanderings thine on every land and main!


s: What dangers did I dread from Libya's tempting reign!"


s: "Oft-haunting, drove me to this distant place.


s: Give me thy hand, nor shun a son's embrace."


s: So spake the son, and o'er his cheeks apace


s: Rolled down soft tears, of sadness and delight.


s: Thrice he essayed the phantom to embrace;


s: Thrice, vainly clasped, it melted from his sight,


s: Swift as the winged wind, or vision of the night.


s: A grove, and brakes that rustle in the breeze,


s: And Lethe, gliding through the peaceful vale.


s: Peoples and tribes, all hovering round, he sees,


s: Hum round the flowerets of the field, to drain


s: The fair, white lilies of their sweets; so these


s: The gibbering ghosts disperse, and murmur o'er the plain.


s: What streams are yonder? what the crowd so great,


s: That filled the river's margin? Then the Sire


s: Anchises answered: "They are souls, that wait


s: For other bodies, promised them by Fate.


s: They lose the memory of their former state,


s: And from the silent waters, as they flow,


s: Drink the oblivious draught, and all their cares forego.


s: Italia's sons, that thou might'st joy with me


s: To hail the new-found country of our race."


s: That souls sublime, so happy and so free,


s: So madly long they for the light?" Then he:


s: "Learn, son, and listen, nor in doubt remain."


s: And thus in ordered speech the mystery made plain:


s: The Moon's bright globe and planets of the pole,


s: One mind, infused through every part, sustains;


s: Quickens, unites and mingles with the whole.


s: Hence man proceeds, and beasts, and birds of air,


s: Save what corruption clogs, and earthly limbs impair.


s: Nor can the soul, in darkness and in chains,


s: Assert the skies, and claim celestial birth.


s: Of fleshly grossness, and corporeal stains,


s: Since much must needs by long concretion grow


s: Inherent. Therefore are they racked with pains,


s: And schooled in all the discipline of woe;


s: Each pays for ancient sin with punishment below.


s: Some purge in fire or flood the deep decay


s: Our ghostly penance; thence, the few who may,


s: Till long, long years, when our allotted time


s: Hath run its orbit, wear the stains away,


s: And leave the aetherial sense, and spark sublime,


s: Cleansed from the dross of earth, and cankering rust of crime.


s: Called by the God, to Lethe's waves repair;


s: There, reft of memory, to yearn once more


s: So spake Anchises, and the priestess fair


s: Leads, with his son, the murmuring shades among,


s: Where thickest crowd the multitude, and there


s: They mount a hillock, and survey the throng,


s: And scan the pale procession, as it winds along.


s: What noble grandsons shall Italia grace,


s: Proud spirits, heirs of our illustrious name,


s: And learn the fates and future of thy race.


s: See yon fair youth, now leaning--mark his face--


s: To stand the nearest to the light in place,


s: He first shall rise, of mixt Italian breed,


s: Silvius, an Alban name, the youngest of thy seed.


s: Thy spouse Lavinia in the woods shall rear,


s: And he, whose surname shall revive thine own.


s: If e'er, by Fate's decree, he mount the Alban throne.


s: Behold the wreaths of civic oak they wear.


s: First founders these of many a glorious town,


s: They on the mountain pinnacles shall rear


s: Albeit inglorious now, for nameless is the ground.


s: Offspring of Mars and Ilia, and the line


s: The double crest upon his helm, the sign,


s: Stamped by his sire, to mark his birth divine.


s: Henceforth, beneath his auspices, shall rise


s: That Rome, whose glories through the world shall shine;


s: Far as wide earth's remotest boundary lies,


s: Her empire shall extend her genius to the skies.


s: Seven citadels her girdling wall contain,


s: Thrice blest, beyond all cities, in a race


s: So, with a hundred grandsons in her train,


s: Thrice blest, the Mother of the Gods, whose shrine


s: Is Berecynthus, rides the Phrygian plain,


s: Tower-crowned, the queen of an immortal line,


s: All habitants of heaven, and all of seed divine.


s: Waiting their destined advent to the skies.


s: This, this is he--long promised, oft foretold--


s: God-born himself, in Latium shall restore,


s: And rule the land, that Saturn ruled of old,


s: And spread afar his empire and his power


s: To Garamantian tribes, and India's distant shore.


s: Where Atlas bears the starry-spangled sky.


s: E'en now the realms of Caspia shuddering hear


s: And Nile's seven mouths are troubled, as in fear


s: She shrinks reluctant to the deep, such dread


s: Hath seized the wondering world, so far his fame hath spread.


s: O'erpassed, though he the brass-hoofed hind laid low,


s: And forth from Erymanthus drove the boar,


s: And startled Lerna's forest with his bow;


s: Nor he, the Wine-God, who in conquering show,


s: With vine-wreathed reins, and tigers to his car,


s: Rides down from Nysa to the plains below.


s: Our prowess, and shall fear Ausonian fields debar?


s: The sacred vessels? By his long, grey hair


s: And grizzled beard I know the Roman King,


s: Whom Fate from lowly Cures calls to bear


s: In peace the fabric of our laws to frame.


s: Now, Tullus comes, new triumphs to prepare,


s: And wake the folk to arm from idlesse fame,


s: And Ancus courts e'en now the popular acclaim.


s: Great Brutus, the Avenger, proud to tear


s: The people's fasces from the tyrant's hands.


s: First Consul, he the dreaded axe shall bear,


s: The patriot-father, who for freedom fair


s: Shall call his own rebellious sons to bleed.


s: 'Tis country's love prevails, and glory's quenchless greed.


s: And stern Torquatus with his axe, and lo!


s: The Roman standards, rescued from the foe.


s: See, too, yon pair, well-matched in equal show


s: Of radiant arms, and, while obscured in night,


s: Firm knit in friendly fellowship; but oh!


s: How dire the feud, what hosts shall arm for fight,


s: What streams of carnage flow, if e'er they reach the light!


s: The father; there, with Easterns in array,


s: The daughter's husband. O my sons! be friends;


s: Cease from the strife; forbear the unnatural fray,


s: Nor turn Rome's prowess to her own decay;


s: And thou, the foremost of our blood, be first


s: And cease for lawless victories to thirst,


s: Thou of Olympian birth, and sheath the sword, accurst.


s: Decked with the spoils of many a Grecian foe.


s: His car shall climb the Capitol. See, too,


s: The man who lofty Argos shall o'erthrow,


s: Sprung from Achilles, to requite the woe


s: Wrought on old Ilion, and avenge with joy


s: Minerva's outraged fane, and slaughtered sires of Troy.


s: Twin thunderbolts of battle, and the bane


s: Of Libya? Who would fail to tell of thee,


s: O spare my breath, ye Fabii; thou art he


s: Called Maximus, their Greatest thou indeed,


s: Sole saviour, whose delay averts the hour of need.


s: From marble, plead their causes at the law


s: More deftly, trace the motions of the skies


s: With learned rod, and tell the stars that rise.


s: Thou, Roman, rule, and o'er the world proclaim


s: The ways of peace. Be these thy victories,


s: To spare the vanquished and the proud to tame.


s: These are imperial arts, and worthy of thy name."


s: "Behold," he cried "Marcellus, see him stride,


s: Proud of the spoils that tell a nation's praise.


s: See how he towers, with all a conqueror's pride.


s: His arm shall stem the tumult and the tide


s: Of foreign hordes, and save the land from stain.


s: 'Tis he shall crush the rebel Gaul, and ride


s: Through Punic ranks, and in Quirinus' fane


s: Hang up the thrice-won spoils, in triumph for the slain."


s: Of glittering arms; yet downcast was his eye,


s: Joyless and damp his face; "O father, say,


s: His son? or scion of his stock renowned?


s: What peerless excellence his looks display!


s: What stir, what whispers in the crowd around!


s: But gloomy Night's sad shades his youthful brows surround."


s: Thy children's mighty sorrow. Him shall Fate


s: Just show to earth, but suffer not to stay.


s: Too potent Heaven had deemed the Roman state,


s: Were gifts like this as permanent as great.


s: Ah! what laments, what groanings of the brave


s: Shall fill the field of Mars! What funeral state


s: Shall Tiber see, as past the recent grave


s: Slowly and sad he winds his melancholy wave!


s: Shall raise the hopes of Latin sires so high.


s: Ne'er shall the land of Romulus henceforth


s: O hand unconquered! None had hoped to bide


s: When, foot to foot, the murderous sword he plied,


s: Or dug with iron heel his foaming charger's side.


s: And burst Fate's cruel bondage, Rome shall know


s: Go, fill your hands with lilies; let me strow


s: The purple blossoms where he lies below.


s: These gifts, at least, in sorrow will I lay,


s: To grace my kinsman's spirit, thus--but oh!


s: Alas, how vainly!--to the thankless clay


s: These unavailing dues, these empty offerings pay."


s: One with the gleam of polished ivory bright,


s: Whence only lying visions leave the night.


s: Through this Anchises, talking by the way,


s: Sends forth the son and Sibyl to the light.


s: Back hastes AEneas to his friends, and they


s: Straight to Caieta steer, and anchor in her bay.


s: (172-342). Juno, the evil genius of Troy, again intervenes and


s: summons to her aid the demon Alecto (341-410), who excites first


s: AEneas' nurse, hast given a deathless fame,


s: E'en now thine honour guards it, as of yore,


s: Still doth thy tomb in great Hesperia frame


s: And raised a mound, and now, as evening came,


s: Sails forth; the faint winds whisper to the night;


s: Clear shines the Moon, and tips the trembling waves with light.


s: The Sun's rich daughter, wakes with melodies


s: The groves that none may enter. There each night,


s: As nimbly through the slender warp she plies


s: The whistling shuttle, through her chambers rise


s: The flames of odorous cedar. Thence the roar


s: Of lions, raging at their chains, the cries


s: Of bears close-caged, and many a bristly boar,


s: The yells of monstrous wolves at midnight fill the shore.


s: Had stripped of man's similitude, to wear


s: But kindly Neptune, with protecting care,


s: A doom so vile, such prodigies as these,


s: Lest, borne perchance into the bay, they near


s: The baneful shore, fills out with favouring breeze


s: The sails, and speeds their flight across the boiling seas.


s: Aurora, bright with saffron, brought the day.


s: Down drop the winds, the Zephyrs cease to sigh,


s: And not a breath is stirring in the sky,


s: A mighty grove outspread, a forest thick with trees.


s: Fair-flowing Tiber, eddying swift and strong,


s: Breaks to the main. Around them and above,


s: Gay-plumaged fowl, that to the stream belong,


s: And love the channel and the banks to throng,


s: Now skim the flood, now fly from bough to bough,


s: And charm the air with their melodious song.


s: Shoreward AEneas bids them turn the prow,


s: And up the shady stream with joyous hearts they row.


s: What deeds were wrought, what rulers lived and died,


s: When strangers landed on Ausonia's shore,


s: And trace the rising of the war's dark tide.


s: Fierce feuds I sing--O Goddess, be my guide,--


s: Tyrrhenian hosts, the battle's armed array,


s: Proud kings who fought and perished in their pride,


s: A larger theme unfolds, and loftier is the lay.


s: Bore him to Faunus, who, as tales relate,


s: Derived through Picus his Saturnian seed.


s: Remained, a daughter, so the Fates decreed,


s: To mind his palace and to heir his throne


s: Ripe now for marriage rites, to nuptial age full-grown.


s: Her suitor now, the comeliest of the train,


s: Was Turnus, sprung from an illustrious strain.


s: Fair seemed his suit, for kindly was the maid,


s: And dearly the queen loved him, and was fain


s: His hopes to further, but the Fates gainsayed,


s: And boding signs from Heaven the purposed match delayed.


s: There stood an ancient laurel. 'Twas the same


s: That sire Latinus, when the walls he reared,


s: Found there, and vowed to Phoebus, and the name


s: "Laurentines" thence his settlers taught to claim.


s: Here suddenly--behold a wondrous thing!--


s: Borne with loud buzzing through the air, down came


s: A swarm of bees. Around the top they cling,


s: And from a leafy branch in linked clusters swing.


s: "A stranger! see their swarming hosts conspire


s: To lord it o'er Laurentum; see them near."


s: He spake, but lo! while, standing by her sire,


s: The chaste Lavinia feeds the sacred fire,


s: The flames, O horror! on her locks lay hold:


s: Her beauteous head-dress and her rich attire,


s: Blaze, and the crackling flames her regal robe enfold.


s: With yellow flames, through all the house she fled,


s: Scattering a shower of sparkles. Sore affright


s: And wonder seized them, as the seer with dread


s: Explained the vision; 'twas a sign, he said,


s: That bright and glorious in the rolls of Fate


s: Her fame should flourish and her name be spread,


s: But dark should lour the fortunes of the state,


s: Whelmed in a mighty war and sunk in evil strait.


s: And seeks the grove, beneath Albunea's crest,


s: And sacred spring, which, echoing from the ground,


s: Leaps up and flings its sulphurous fumes around.


s: Here, craving counsel when in doubtful plight,


s: Italians and OEnotria's tribes are found.


s: Here, when the priest, his offerings paid aright,


s: On skins of slaughtered beasts, in stillness of the night,


s: Weird shapes, and many a wondrous voice doth hear,


s: Deep converse there with Acheron. 'Twas here


s: Latinus sought for answer from the seer.


s: He slew, then rested, with expectant ear,


s: Stretched on their fleeces, when, at noon of night,


s: The purposed bridal. Lo! a foreign guest


s: Is coming, born to raise thee as thine heir,


s: And sons of sons shall see their power confessed


s: From sea to sea, from farthest East to West."


s: These words, in stillness of the night's noon-tide,


s: Latinus hears, nor locks them in his breast.


s: Ausonia's towns have heard them far and wide,


s: Or ere by Tiber's banks the Dardan fleet doth ride.


s: Troy's chief and captains and Iulus fair,


s: And wheaten platters for their meal supply


s: ('Twas Jove's command), the wilding fruits to bear.


s: When lack of food has forced them now to tear


s: The tiny cakes, and tooth and hand with zest


s: The fateful circles desecrate, nor spare


s: The sacred squares upon the rounds impressed,