s: Stricken, I mused indignant on his fate,


s: And dragged my days in solitude and woe,


s: But vowed, if e'er should happier chance invite,


s: My comrade's death with vengeance to requite.


s: My words aroused his wrath; thence evil's earliest blight;


s: To daunt me, scattering in the people's ear


s: Dark hints, and looked for partners of his wrong:


s: Nor rested, till with Calchas' aid, the seer--


s: But why the thankless story should ye hear?


s: Why stay your hand? If Grecians in your sight


s: Are all alike, ye know enough; take here


s: Your vengeance. Dearly will my death delight


s: Ulysses, well the deed will Atreus' sons requite.'


s: And crimes so huge, the story we demand,


s: And falteringly the traitor plays his part.


s: 'Oft, wearied by the war, the Danaans planned


s: To leave--and oh! had they but left--the land.


s: As oft, to daunt them, in the act to fly,


s: Storms lashed the deep, and Southern gales withstand,


s: And louder still, when towered the horse on high


s: With maple timbers, pealed the thunder through the sky.


s: The dismal news: _With blood, a maiden's gore,


s: Ye stilled the winds, when Trojan shores ye sought.


s: With blood again must your return be bought;


s: Full fast the rumour 'mong the people wrought;


s: Cold horror chills us, and aghast we stand;


s: Whom doth Apollo claim, whose death the Fates demand?


s: Drags Calchas forth, and bids the seer unfold


s: The dark and doubtful meaning of the skies.


s: Many e'en then the schemer's crime foretold,


s: Ten days the seer, as shrinking to reply


s: Or name a victim, did the doom withhold;


s: Then, forced by false Ulysses' clamorous cry,


s: Spake the concerted word, and sentenced me to die.


s: Should suffer, glad that one poor wretch should bear


s: The doom that each had dreaded for his own.


s: The fatal day was come; the priests prepare


s: The salted meal, the fillets for my hair.


s: I fled, 'tis true, and saved my life by flight,


s: Waiting till they should sail, if sail, perchance, they might.


s: Or darling boys, or long-lost sire to see,


s: Whom now perchance, the Danaans will demand,


s: Poor souls! for vengeance, and their death decree,


s: To purge my crime, in daring to be free.


s: O by the gods, who know the just and true,


s: By faith unstained,--if any such there be,--


s: Pity a soul that toils with evils all undue.'


s: We spare him. Priam bids the cords unbind,


s: And thus with friendly words the captive cheers;


s: 'Whoe'er thou art, henceforward blot from mind


s: The Greeks, and leave thy miseries behind.


s: Ours shalt thou be; but mark, and tell me now,


s: What means this monster, for what use designed?


s: Who planned the steed, and why? Come, quick, the truth avow.'


s: His hands unshackled to the stars he spread;


s: 'Ye powers inviolate, ever-burning lights!


s: Ye ruthless swords and altars, which I fled,


s: Ye sacred fillets, that adorned my head!


s: Their secrets bare, and wish the Danaans dead.


s: Thou, Troy, preserved, to Sinon faithful stay,


s: If true the tale I tell, if large the price I pay.


s: All trust was stayed. But when Ulysses, fain


s: To weave new crimes, with Tydeus' impious son


s: Dragged the Palladium from her sacred fane,


s: Red hands of slaughter, and her wreaths profane,


s: Hope ebbed and failed them from that fatal day,


s: The Danaans' strength grew weak, the goddess turned away.


s: Scarce stood her image in the camp, when bright


s: With flickering flames her staring eyeballs glared.


s: Salt sweat ran down her; thrice, a wondrous sight!


s: With shield and quivering spear she sprang upright.


s: "Back o'er the deep," cries Calchas; "nevermore


s: Shall Argives hope to quell the Trojan might,


s: Till, homeward borne, new omens ye implore,


s: And win the blessing back, which o'er the waves ye bore."


s: Fresh help from heaven, and hither by surprise


s: Shall come once more, remeasuring the main.


s: Thus Calchas warned them; by his words made wise


s: This steed, for stol'n Palladium, they devise,


s: To soothe the outrag'd goddess. Tall and great,


s: With huge oak-timbers mounting to the skies,


s: They build the monster, lest it pass the gate,


s: And like Palladium stand, the bulwark of the State.


s: Minerva's gift, dire plagues" (which Heaven forestall


s: Or turn on him) "should Priam's realm sustain;


s: But if by Trojan aid it scaled your wall,


s: Proud Asia then should Pelops' sons enthrall,


s: And children rue the folly of the sire."'


s: His arts gave credence, and forced tears withal


s: Snared us, whom Diomede, nor Achilles dire,


s: Nor thousand ships subdued, nor ten years' war could tire.


s: Laocoon, Neptune's priest, by lot ordained,


s: When lo!--the tale I shudder to pursue,--


s: Two monstrous serpents, horrible to view,


s: With coils enormous leaning on the tide,


s: Shoreward, with even stretch, the tranquil sea divide.


s: Their blood-red crests above the surface shine,


s: Their hinder parts along the waters sweep,


s: Trailed in huge coils and many a tortuous twine;


s: Lashed into foam, behind them roars the brine;


s: Now, gliding onward to the beach, ere long


s: They gain the fields, and rolling bloodshot eyne


s: That blaze with fire, the monsters move along,


s: And lick their hissing jaws, and dart a flickering tongue.


s: Glide on and seek Laocoon. First, entwined


s: In stringent folds, his two young sons they seize,


s: With cruel fangs their tortured limbs to grind.


s: Then, as with arms he comes to aid, they bind


s: In giant grasp the father. Twice, behold,


s: Around his waist the horrid volumes wind,


s: Twice round his neck their scaly backs are rolled,


s: High over all their heads and glittering crests unfold.


s: Black gore and slime his sacred wreaths distain.


s: Loud are his moans, as when a wounded bull


s: Shakes from his neck the faltering axe and, fain


s: Glide from their victim, till the shrine they gain,


s: And, coiled beside the goddess, at her feet,


s: Behind her sheltering shield with gathered orbs retreat.


s: And paid fit penalty, whose guilty spear


s: Profaned the steed and pierced the sacred side.


s: 'On with the image to its home,' they cried,


s: 'And pray the Goddess to avert our woe';


s: We breach the walls, and ope the town inside.


s: Fix wheels, and hempen ropes around the neck they throw.


s: Teeming with arms. Boys, maidens joy around


s: To touch the ropes, and raise the festive song.


s: Onward it came, smooth-sliding on the ground,


s: And, beetling, o'er the midmost city frowned.


s: Four times beside the very gate 'twas stayed;


s: Four times within the womb the armour clashed and brayed.


s: And there the ill-omened prodigy install.


s: E'en then--alas! to Trojan ears in vain--


s: Cassandra sang, and told in utterance plain


s: The coming doom. We, sunk in careless joy,


s: Poor souls! with festive garlands deck each fane,


s: The day decreed our last, the dying hours of Troy!


s: The Night, and wrapt in shadow earth and air


s: And Myrmidonian wiles. In silence hushed,


s: The Trojans through the city here and there,


s: Outstretched in sleep, their weary limbs repair.


s: Meanwhile from neighbouring Tenedos once more,


s: Beneath the tranquil moonbeam's friendly care,


s: With ordered ships, along the deep sea-floor,


s: Back came the Argive host, and sought the well-known shore.


s: When Sinon, screened by partial Fate, withdrew


s: The bolts and barriers of the pinewood frame,


s: And from its inmost caverns, bared to view,


s: The fatal horse disgorged the Danaan crew.


s: With joy from out the hollow wood they bound;


s: First, dire Ulysses, with his captains two,


s: Down by a pendent rope come sliding to the ground.


s: Now, stealing forward, on the town they fall,


s: Buried in wine and sleep, the guards o'erbear,


s: And ope the gates; their comrades at the call


s: Pour in and, joining bands, all muster by the wall.


s: First slumber, sweetest that celestials pour.


s: Methought I saw poor Hector, as I slept,


s: All bathed in tears and black with dust and gore,


s: Dragged by the chariot and his swoln feet sore


s: With piercing thongs. Ah me! how sad to view,


s: How changed from him, that Hector, whom of yore


s: Returning with Achilles' spoils we knew,


s: When on the ships of Greece his Phrygian fires he threw.


s: And fresh the wounds, those many wounds, remain,


s: Which erst around his native walls he bore.


s: Then, weeping too, I seem in sorrowing strain


s: 'O light of Troy, our refuge! why and how


s: This long delay? Whence comest thou again,


s: Long-looked-for Hector? How with aching brow,


s: Worn out by toil and death, do we behold thee now!


s: The calmness of thy features? Tell me, why


s: With ghastly wounds do I behold thee scarred?'


s: To such vain quest he cared not to reply,


s: But, heaving from his breast a deep-drawn sigh,


s: 'Fly, Goddess-born! and get thee from the fire!


s: The foes,' he said, 'are on the ramparts. Fly!


s: All Troy is tumbling from her topmost spire.


s: No more can Priam's land, nor Priam's self require.


s: Yea, mine had saved her. To thy guardian care


s: She doth her Gods and ministries consign.


s: Take them, thy future destinies to share,


s: And seek for them another home elsewhere,


s: That mighty city, which for thee and thine


s: O'er traversed ocean shall the Fates prepare.'


s: He spake, and quickly snatched from Vesta's shrine


s: The deathless fire and wreaths and effigy divine.


s: XL. "Meanwhile a mingled murmur through the street


s: Rolls onward,--wails of anguish, shrieks of fear,


s: And though my father's mansion stood secrete,


s: Embowered in foliage, nearer and more near


s: Peals the dire clang of arms, and loud and clear,


s: Borne on fierce echoes that in tumult blend,


s: War-shout and wail come thickening on the ear.


s: And from the sloping roof with eager ears attend.


s: XLI. "Like as a fire, when Southern gusts are rude,


s: Falls on the standing harvest of the plain,


s: Or torrent, hurtling with a mountain flood,


s: Whelms field and oxens' toil and smiling grain,


s: And rolls whole forests headlong to the main,


s: While, weetless of the noise, on neighbouring height,


s: Tranced in mute wonder, stands the listening swain,


s: Then, then I see that Hector's words were right,


s: And all the Danaan wiles are naked to the light.


s: XLII. "And now, Deiphobus, thy halls of pride,


s: Bowed by the flames, come ruining through the air;


s: The broad Sigean reddens with the glare.


s: Then come the clamour and the trumpet's blare.


s: Madly I rush to arms; though vain the fight,


s: To rally a handful and to hold the height:


s: Sweet seems a warrior's death and danger a delight.


s: XLIII. "Lo, Panthus, flying from the Grecian bands,


s: Panthus, the son of Othrys, Phoebus' seer,


s: Bearing the sacred vessels in his hands,


s: And vanquished home-gods, to the door draws near,


s: His grandchild clinging to his side in fear.


s: 'Panthus,' I cry, 'how fares the fight? what tower


s: Still hold we?'--Sighing, he replies ''Tis here,


s: The last, sad day has come, the inevitable hour.


s: XLIV. "'Troy was, and we were Trojans, now, alas!


s: No more, for perished is the Dardan fame.


s: Fierce Jove to Argos biddeth all to pass,


s: And Sinon, puffed with triumph, spreads the flame.


s: Part throng the gates, part block each narrow way;


s: Such hosts Mycenae sends, such thousands to the fray.


s: XLV. "'Athwart the streets stands ready the array


s: Of steel, and bare is every blade and bright.


s: Scarce the first warders of the gates essay


s: To stand and battle in the blinding night.'


s: So spake the son of Othrys, and forthright,


s: My spirit stirred with impulse from on high,


s: I rush to arms amid the flames and fight,


s: Where yells the war-fiend and the warrior's cry,


s: Mixt with the din of strife, mounts upward to the sky.


s: XLVI. "Here warlike Epytus, renowned in fight,


s: And Hypanis and Dymas, matched in might,


s: Join with us, by the glimmering moon descried.


s: Who came to Troy,--Cassandra's love to gain,


s: And now his troop with Priam's hosts allied;


s: Poor youth and heedless! whom in frenzied strain


s: His promised bride had warned, but warned, alas! in vain.


s: XLVII. "So when the bold and compact band I see,


s: 'Brave hearts,' I cry, 'but brave, alas! in vain;


s: Who dare the worst, our present plight is plain.


s: Troy's guardian gods have left her; altar, fane,


s: The town ye aid is burning. Forward, then,


s: To die and mingle in the tumult's blare.


s: Sole hope to vanquished men of safety is despair.'


s: XLVIII. "Then fury spurred their courage, and behold,


s: As ravening wolves, when darkness hides the day,


s: Stung with mad fire of famine uncontrolled,


s: Prowl from their dens, and leave the whelps to stay,


s: With jaws athirst and gaping for the prey.


s: So to sure death, amid the darkness there,


s: Where swords, and spears, and foemen bar the way,


s: Night with her shadowy cone broods o'er the vaulted air.


s: XLIX. "Oh, who hath tears to match our grief withal?


s: What tongue that night of havoc can make known


s: Time-honoured empress and of old renown;


s: And senseless corpses, through the city strown,


s: Choke house and temple. Nor hath vengeance found


s: None save the Trojans; there the victors groan,


s: And valour fires the vanquished. All around


s: Wailings, and wild affright and shapes of death abound.


s: L.  "First of the Greeks approaches, with a crowd,


s: And thus, with friendly summons, cries aloud:


s: 'Haste, comrades, forward; from the fleet ye fare


s: With lagging steps but now, while yonder glare


s: Troy's towers, and others sack and share the spoils?'


s: Then straight--for doubtful was our answer there--


s: He knew him taken in the foemen's toils;


s: Shuddering, he checks his voice, and back his foot recoils.


s: LI. "As one who, in a tangled brake apart,


s: On some lithe snake, unheeded in the briar,


s: Hath trodden heavily, and with backward start


s: Flies, trembling at the head uplift in ire


s: And blue neck, swoln in many a glittering spire.


s: So slinks Androgeus, shuddering with dismay;


s: We, massed in onset, make the foe retire,


s: And slay them, wildered, weetless of the way.


s: Fortune, with favouring smile, assists our first essay.


s: LII. "Flushed with success and eager for the fray,


s: 'Friends,' cries Coroebus, 'forward; let us go


s: Where Fortune newly smiling, points the way.


s: Take we the Danaans' bucklers; with a foe


s: Who asks, if craft or courage guide the blow?


s: Themselves shall arm us.'--Then he takes the crest,


s: Doth Rhipeus, so brave Dymas and the rest;


s: All in the new-won spoils their eager limbs invest.


s: LIII. "Thus we, elate, but not with Heaven our friend,


s: March on and mingle with the Greeks in fight,


s: And many a Danaan to the shades we send,


s: We join with those that meet us. Some in flight


s: Rush diverse to the ships and trusty tide;


s: Some, craven-hearted, in ignoble fright,


s: Make for the horse and, clambering up the side,


s: Deep in the treacherous womb, their well-known refuge, hide.


s: LIV. "Ah! vain to boast, if Heaven refuse to aid!


s: Dragged by her tresses from Minerva's fane,


s: Stretching to heaven her burning eyes in vain,


s: Her eyes, for bonds her tender hands constrain.


s: That sight Coroebus brooked not. Stung with gall


s: And mad with rage, nor fearing to be slain,


s: He plunged amid their columns. One and all,


s: With weapons massed, press on and follow at his call.


s: LV. "Here first with missiles, from a temple's height


s: Hurled by our comrades, we are crushed and slain,


s: And piteous is the slaughter, at the sight


s: Of Argive helms for Argive foes mista'en.


s: Now too, with shouts of fury and disdain


s: To see the maiden rescued, here and there


s: The Danaans gathering round us, charge amain;


s: And all Thessalia's host our scanty band o'erbear.


s: LVI. "So, when the tempest bursting wakes the war,


s: The justling winds in conflict rave and roar,


s: South, West and East upon his orient car,


s: The lashed woods howl, and with his trident hoar


s: Nereus in foam upheaves the watery floor.


s: Those too, whom late we scattered through the town,


s: Tricked in the darkness, reappear once more.


s: At once the falsehood of our guise is known,


s: The shields, the lying arms, the speech of different tone.


s: LVII. "O'erwhelmed with odds, we perish; first of all,


s: Struck down by fierce Peneleus by the fane


s: Next, Rhipeus dies, the justest, but in vain,


s: The noblest soul of all the Trojan train.


s: Heaven deemed him otherwise; then Dymas brave


s: And Hypanis by comrades' hands are slain.


s: Nor e'en Apollo's wreath preserve thee from the grave.


s: LVIII. "Witness, ye ashes of our comrades dear,


s: Ye flames of Troy, that in your hour of woe


s: Nor darts I shunned, nor shock of Danaan spear.


s: If Fate my life had called me to forego,


s: This hand had earned it, forfeit to the foe.


s: Thence forced away, brave Iphitus, and I,


s: Where round the palace rings the war-shout's rallying cry.


s: LIX. "There raged a fight so fierce, as though no fight


s: Raged elsewhere, nor the city streamed with gore.


s: We see the War-God glorying in his might;


s: Their shielded penthouse drives against the door.


s: Close cling their ladders to the walls; these, fain


s: To clutch the doorposts, climb from floor to floor,


s: Their right hands strive the battlements to gain,


s: Their left with lifted shield the arrowy storm sustain.


s: LX. "There, roof and pinnacle the Dardans tear--


s: Death standing near--and hurl them on the foe,


s: Last arms of need, the weapons of despair;


s: And gilded beams and rafters down they throw,


s: These, stationed at the gates, with naked glaive,


s: Shoulder to shoulder, guard the pass below.


s: Hearts leap afresh the royal halls to save,


s: And cheer our vanquished friends and reinspire the brave.


s: LXI. "Behind the palace, unobserved and free,


s: There stood a door, a secret thoroughfare


s: Through Priam's halls. Here poor Andromache


s: While Priam's kingdom flourished and was fair,


s: To greet her husband's parents would repair


s: To Hector's father Hector's son and heir.


s: By this I reached the roof-top, whence in vain


s: The luckless Teucrians hurled their unavailing rain.


s: LXII. "Sheer o'er the highest roof-top to the sky,


s: Skirting the parapet, a watch-tower rose,


s: Whence camp and fleet and city met the eye.


s: Here plying levers, where the flooring shows


s: Weak joists, we heave it over. Down it goes


s: With sudden crash upon the Danaan train,


s: Fast fall the showers of stones, and thick the javelins rain.


s: LXIII. "Just on the threshold of the porch, behold


s: Fierce Pyrrhus stands, in glittering brass bedight:


s: As when a snake, that through the winter's cold


s: Lay swoln and hidden in the ground from sight,


s: Gorged with rank herbs, forth issues to the light,


s: And sleek with shining youth and newly drest,


s: Wreathing its slippery volumes, towers upright


s: And, glorying, to the sunbeam rears its breast,


s: And darts a three-forked tongue, and points a flaming crest.


s: LXIV. "With him, Achilles' charioteer and squire,


s: The Scyrian youth rush up, and flaming fire


s: Hurl to the roof, and thunder at the wall.


s: He in the forefront, tallest of the tall,


s: The brazen portals, made the doorway fall,


s: And wide-mouthed as a window, through the oak,


s: A panelled plank hewn out, a yawning rent he broke.


s: LXV. "Bared stands the inmost palace, and behold,


s: The stately chambers and the courts appear


s: And warders at the door with shield and spear.


s: Moaning and tumult in the house we hear,


s: Wailings of misery, and shouts that smite


s: The golden stars, and women's shrieks of fear,


s: And trembling matrons, hurrying left and right,


s: Cling to and kiss the doors, made frantic by affright.


s: LXVI. "Strong as his father, Pyrrhus onward pushed,


s: Nor bars nor warders can his strength sustain.


s: Down sinks the door, with ceaseless battery crushed.


s: Force wins a footing, and, the foremost slain,


s: In, like a deluge, pours the Danaan train.


s: So when the foaming river, uncontrolled,


s: Bursts through its banks and riots on the plain,


s: From field to field sweeps on with cattle, flock and fold.


s: LXVII. "These eyes saw Pyrrhus, rioting in blood,


s: Saw where among a hundred daughters, stood


s: Pale Hecuba, saw Priam's life-blood stain


s: The fires his hands had hallowed in the fane.


s: And spoil-deckt pillars of barbaric gold,


s: A wreck; where fails the flame, its place the Danaans hold.


s: LXVIII. "Haply the fate of Priam thou would'st know.


s: The palace-gates burst open, and the foe


s: Up sprang the old man and, at danger's call,


s: Braced o'er his trembling shoulders in a breath


s: And drew the useless falchion from its sheath,


s: And on their thronging spears rushed forth to meet his death.


s: LXIX. "Within the palace, open to the day,


s: Its shadowy foliage o'er the home-gods spread.


s: Here, with her hundred daughters, pale with dread,


s: As doves, that from the low'ring storm have fled,


s: And cower for shelter from the pelting rain,


s: Crouch round the silent gods, and cling to them in vain.


s: LXX. "But when in youthful arms came Priam near,


s: 'Ah, hapless lord!' she cries, 'what mad desire


s: Arms thee for battle? Why this sword and spear?


s: And whither art thou hurrying? Times so dire


s: Not such defenders nor such help require.


s: Not e'en, were Hector here, my Hector's aid


s: Could save us. Hither to this shrine retire,


s: And share our safety or our death.'--She said,


s: And to his hallowed seat the aged monarch led.


s: LXXI. "See, now, Polites, one of Priam's sons,


s: Scarce slipt from Pyrrhus' butchery, and lame,


s: Through foes, through darts, along the cloisters runs


s: And empty courtyards. At his heels, aflame


s: With rage, comes Pyrrhus. Lo, in act to aim,


s: Now, now, he clutches him,--a moment more,


s: E'en as before his parent's eyes he came,


s: The long spear reached him. Prostrate on the floor


s: Down falls the hapless youth, and welters in his gore.


s: LXXII. "Then Priam, though hemmed with death on every side,


s: Spared not his utterance, nor his wrath controlled;


s: 'To thee, yea, thee, fierce miscreant,' he cried,


s: 'May Heaven,--if Heaven with righteous eyes behold


s: Nor worthy quittance for thy crime withhold,


s: Whose hand hath made me see my darling slain,


s: And dared with filial blood a father's eyes profane.


s: LXXIII. "'Not so Achilles, whom thy lying tongue


s: Would feign thy father; like a foeman brave,


s: He scorned a suppliant's rights and trust to wrong,


s: And sent me home in safety,--ay, and gave


s: My Hector's lifeless body to the grave.'


s: The old man spoke and, with a feeble throw,


s: At Pyrrhus with a harmless dart he drave.


s: The shield-boss, down it hangs, and foils the purposed blow.


s: LXXIV. "'Go then,' cries Pyrrhus, 'with thy tale of woe


s: To dead Pelides, and thy plaints outpour.


s: These deeds of his degenerate son deplore;


s: Now die!'--So speaking, to the shrine he tore


s: The aged Priam, trembling with affright,


s: And feebly sliding in his son's warm gore.


s: The left hand twists his hoary locks; the right


s: Deep in his side drives home the falchion, bared and bright.


s: LXXV. "Such close had Priam's fortunes; so his days


s: Were finished, such the bitter end he found,


s: Now doomed by Fate with dying eyes to gaze


s: And Pergamus laid level with the ground.


s: Lo, he to whom once Asia bowed the knee,


s: Proud lord of many peoples, far-renowned,


s: A huge and headless trunk, a nameless corpse is he.


s: LXXVI. "Grim horror seized me, and aghast I stood.


s: As there I see the monarch, bathed in blood,


s: Like him in prowess and in age his peer.


s: I look around for comrades; none are near.


s: Some o'er the battlements leapt headlong, some


s: Sank fainting in the flames; the final hour was come.


s: LXXVII. "I stood alone, when lo, in Vesta's fane


s: Bright shone the blaze around me, as in vain


s: I tracked my comrades through the burning town.


s: There, mute, and, as the traitress deemed, unknown,


s: Dreading the Danaan's vengeance, and the sword


s: Of Trojans, wroth for Pergamus o'erthrown,


s: Sat Troy's and Argos' fiend, twice hateful and abhorred.


s: LXXVIII. "Then, fired with passion and revenge, I burn


s: To quit Troy's downfall and exact the fee


s: Such crimes deserve. Sooth, then, shall _she_ return


s: Home, husband, sons and parents, safe and free,


s: With Ilian wives and Phrygians in her train,


s: A queen, in pride of triumph? Shall this be,


s: And Troy have blazed and Priam's self been slain,


s: And Trojan blood so oft have soaked the Dardan plain?


s: LXXIX. "Not so; though glory wait not on the act;


s: Though poor the praise, and barren be the gain,


s: Yet praised hereafter shall his name remain,


s: Who purges earth of such a monstrous stain.


s: Sweet is the punishment, where just the pain,


s: Sweet the fierce ardour of revenge to cloy,


s: And slake with Dardan blood the funeral flames of Troy.


s: LXXX. "So mused I, blind with anger, when in light


s: My mother dawned irradiate on the night,


s: Confessed a Goddess, such her form, and mien


s: With her right hand she grasped me from above,


s: And thus with roseate lips: 'O son, what mean


s: These transports? Say, what bitter grief doth move


s: Thy soul to rage untamed? Where vanished is thy love?


s: LXXXI. "'Wilt thou not see, if yet thy sire survive,


s: Worn out with age, amid the war's alarms?


s: And young Ascanius? for around thee swarms


s: The foe, and but for my protecting arms,


s: Fierce sword or flame had swept them all away.


s: Not oft-blamed Paris, nor the hateful charms


s: Of Helen; Heaven, unpitying Heaven to-day


s: Hath razed the Trojan towers and reft the Dardan sway.


s: LXXXII. "'Look now, for I will clear the mists that shroud


s: Thy mortal gaze, and from the visual ray


s: Purge the gross covering of this circling cloud.


s: Thou heed, and fear not, whatsoe'er I say,


s: Nor scorn thy mother's counsels to obey.


s: Here, where thou seest the riven piles o'erthrown,


s: Mixt dust and smoke, rock torn from rock away,


s: Great Neptune's trident shakes the bulwarks down,


s: And from its lowest base uproots the trembling town.


s: LXXXIII. "'Here, girt with steel, the foremost in the fight,


s: Fierce Juno stands, the Scaean gates before,


s: Calls up her federate forces from the shore.


s: See, on the citadel, all grim with gore,


s: Red-robed, and with the Gorgon shield aglow,


s: Tritonian Pallas bids the conflict roar.


s: E'en Jove with strength reanimates the foe,


s: And stirs the powers of heaven to work the Dardan's woe.


s: LXXXIV. "'Haste, son, and fly; the fruitless toil give o'er.


s: I will not leave thee, but assist thy flight,


s: And set thee safely at thy father's door.'


s: She spake, and vanished in the gloom of night.


s: Dread shapes and forms terrific loomed in sight,


s: And hostile deities, whose faces frowned


s: Destruction. Then, amid the lurid light,


s: I see Troy sinking in the flames around,


s: And mighty Neptune's walls laid level with the ground.


s: LXXXV. "So, when an aged ash on mountain tall


s: Stout woodmen strive, with many a rival blow,


s: To rend from earth; awhile it threats to fall,


s: With quivering locks and nodding head; now slow


s: It sinks and, with a dying groan lies low,


s: And spreads its ruin on the mountain side.


s: Through foe, through fire, the goddess for my guide.


s: Harmless the darts give way, the sloping flames divide.


s: LXXXVI. "But when Anchises' ancient home I gain,


s: My father,--he, whom first, with loving care,


s: I sought and, heedful of my mother, fain


s: In safety to the neighbouring hills would bear,


s: Disdains Troy's ashes to outlive and wear


s: His days in banishment: 'Fly ye, who may,


s: Whom age hath chilled not, nor the years impair.


s: For me, had Heaven decreed a longer day,


s: Heaven too had spared these walls, nor left my home a prey.


s: LXXXVII. "'Enough and more, to live when Ilion fell,


s: And once to see Troy captured. Leave me, pray,


s: And bid me, as a shrouded corpse, farewell.


s: For death--this hand will find for me the way,


s: Or foes who spoil will pity me and slay.


s: Loathed have I lived and useless, since the day


s: When man's great monarch and the God's dread sire


s: Breathed his avenging blast and scathed me with his fire.'


s: LXXXVIII. "So spake he, on his purpose firmly bent.


s: We--wife, child, family and I--with prayer


s: Nor doom us all the common wreck to share,


s: And urge the ruin that the Fates prepare.


s: He heeds not--stirs not. Then again I fly


s: What other choice was left, what other chance to try?


s: LXXXIX. "'What, _I_ to leave thee helpless, and to flee?


s: O father! could'st thou fancy it? Could e'er


s: If Heaven of such a city naught should spare,


s: And thou be pleased that thou and thine should share


s: The common wreck, that way to death is plain.


s: Wide stands the door; soon Pyrrhus will be there,


s: Red with the blood of Priam; he hath slain


s: The son before his sire, the father in the fane.


s: Each foully butchered in the other's gore,


s: And Danaans dealing slaughter at the door?


s: Arms--bring me arms! Troy's dying moments call


s: The vanquished. Give me to the Greeks. Once more


s: Let me revive the battle; ne'er shall all


s: Die unrevenged this day, nor tamely meet their fall.'


s: And forth had soon into the battle hied,


s: And reached Iulus to his sire and cried:


s: 'If death thou seekest, take me at thy side


s: Thy death to share, but if, expert in strife,


s: Thou hop'st in arms, here guard us and abide.


s: Thy father's, yea, and mine, once called, alas! thy wife.'


s: Filled all the palace with her sobs and cries,


s: When lo! a portent, wondrous to declare.


s: For while, 'twixt sorrowing parents' hands and eyes,


s: Stood young Iulus, wildered with surprise,


s: Up from the summit of his fair, young head


s: A tuft was seen of flickering flame to rise.


s: Gently and harmless to the touch it spread


s: Around his tender brows, and on his temples fed.


s: Shaking the tresses of his burning hair.


s: But gladly sire Anchises hails the sign,


s: And gazing upward through the starlit air,


s: His hands and voice together lifts in prayer:


s: A suppliant move thee, hearken and incline


s: This once, and aid us now and ratify thy sign.'


s: A sky-dropt star athwart the darkness flashed,


s: Trailing its torchfire with a stream of light.


s: We mark the dazzling meteor in its flight


s: Glide o'er the roof, till, vanished from our eyes,


s: It hides in Ida's forest, shining bright


s: And furrowing out a pathway through the skies,


s: And round us far and wide the sulphurous fumes arise.


s: And briefly to the Gods addressed his prayer,


s: 'Now, now,' he cries, 'no tarrying; wheresoe'er


s: Ye point the path, I follow and am there.


s: My home, preserve my grandchild; for your care


s: Lead on, my son, I yield and follow on thy way.'


s: The roar, the crackle and the fiery glow


s: Of conflagration, rolling floods of flame.


s: 'Quick, father, mount my shoulders; let us go.


s: That toil shall never tire me. Come whatso


s: The Fates shall bring us, both alike shall share


s: Keep thou, my wife, aloof, and follow as we fare.


s: Outside the city is a mound, where, dear


s: There meet we. Father, in thy charge remain


s: Troy's gods; for me, red-handed with the smear


s: Of blood, and fresh from slaughter, 'twere profane


s: To touch them, ere the stream hath cleansed me of the stain.'


s: And round them fling a lion's tawny hide,


s: Then lift the load. His little hand in mine,


s: Through shadowy ways; and I who rushing spear


s: And thronging foes but lately had defied,


s: Now fear each sound, each whisper of the air,


s: Trembling for him I lead, and for the charge I bear.


s: Of trampling feet, and, peering through the night,


s: My father cries, 'Fly, son, the Greeks are near;


s: They come, I see the glint of shield and spear,


s: Fierce foes in front and flashing arms behind.'


s: Then trembling seized me and, amidst my fear,


s: What power I know not, but some power unkind


s: Confused my wandering wits, and robbed me of my mind.


s: The beaten track, ah! woe and well away!


s: I know not, nor have seen her since that day,


s: Nor sought, nor missed her, till in Ceres' fane


s: We met at length, and mustered our array.


s: There she alone was wanting of our train,


s: And husband, son and friends all looked for her in vain!


s: Of gods or men? What sadder sight elsewhere


s: Had Troy, now whelmed in utter wreck, to show?


s: Troy's gods commending to my comrades' care,


s: I hide them in a winding vale from view,


s: Then, sheathed again in shining arms, prepare


s: Once more to scour the city through and through,


s: Resolved to brave all risks, all ventures to renew.


s: Whence first I issued, backward through the night


s: My studied steps retracing. Horror waits


s: Around; the very silence breeds affright.


s: Then homeward turn, if haply in her flight,


s: If, haply, thither she had strayed; but ere


s: I came, behold, the Danaans, loud in fight,


s: Swarmed through the halls; roof-high the fiery glare,


s: Fanned by the wind, mounts up; the loud blast roars in air.


s: Armed, in the vacant courts, by Juno's fane,


s: Phoenix and curst Ulysses watched the prey.


s: There, torn from many a burning temple, lay


s: Troy's wealth; the tripods of the Gods were there,


s: Piled in huge heaps, and raiment snatched away,


s: And golden bowls, and dames with streaming hair


s: And tender boys stand round, and tremble with despair.


s: Rousing the streets, and call and call anew


s: From house to house in frenzy as I flew,


s: Aghast I stood, tongue-tied, with stiffening hair.


s: Then she addressed me thus, and comforted my care.


s: Sweet husband, thus to sorrow and repine?


s: Naught happens here but as the Gods ordain.


s: That thou should'st take Creusa. Seas remain


s: To plough, long years of exile must be thine,


s: Ere thou at length Hesperia's land shalt gain,


s: Where Lydian Tiber glides through many a peopled plain.


s: And royal marriage shall thy portion be.


s: Weep not for lov'd Creusa, weep not; ne'er


s: I, who my lineage from the Dardans tell,


s: Here with the mother of the Gods I dwell.


s: Farewell, and guard in love our common child. Farewell!'


s: To answer, wondering at the words she said,


s: When lo, the shadowy spirit, as I turned,


s: Thrice round the neck with longing I essayed


s: Thrice, vainly clasped, the visionary shade


s: Mocked me embracing, and was lost to sight,


s: Swift as a winged wind or slumber of the night.


s: Gathered for exile. From each side they shoaled,


s: My steps to follow, where the Fates command.


s: Greeks swarmed at every entrance; help at hand


s: Seemed none. I yield, and, hurrying from the fight,


s: Take up my helpless sire, and climb the mountain height."


s: Cassandra had in other days been mocked for prophesying that Troy


s: And Asia's power and Priam's race renowned


s: Neptunian Troy lies smouldering on the ground,


s: In desert lands, to diverse exile bound,


s: Celestial portents bid us forth to fare;


s: Where Ida's heights above Antandros frowned,


s: A fleet we build, and gather crews, unware


s: Which way the Fates will lead, what home is ours and where.


s: To spread our canvas and to trust to Fate.


s: Weeping, I leave my native port, the land,


s: The fields where once the Trojan towers did stand,


s: And, homeless, launch upon the boundless brine,


s: Heart-broken outcast, with an exiled band,


s: Comrades, and son, and household gods divine,


s: And the great Gods of Troy, the guardians of our line.


s: The land of Mars, by Thracians tilled and sown,


s: Where stern Lycurgus whilom held his reign;


s: Her home-gods leagued in union with our own,


s: While Fortune smiled. Hither, with fates malign,


s: I steer, and landing for our purposed town


s: The walls along the winding shore design,


s: And coin for them a name 'AEneadae' from mine.


s: The work to favour, and a sleek, white steer


s: To Heaven's high King was slaughtering on the shore.


s: With cornel shrubs and many a prickly spear


s: Of myrtle crowned, it chanced a mound was near.


s: Thither I drew, and strove with eager hold


s: A green-leaved sapling from the soil to tear,


s: To shade with boughs the altars, when behold


s: A portent, weird to see and wondrous to unfold!


s: Black drops distilled, and stained the earth with gore.


s: Cold horror shook me, in my veins the blood


s: Was chilled, and curdled with affright. Once more


s: Once more, persisting, I resolved in mind


s: With inmost search the causes to explore


s: And probe the mystery that lurked behind;


s: Dark drops of blood once more come trickling from the rind.


s: And Mars, the guardian of the Thracian plain,


s: And bless the dreadful vision. Then again


s: A third tall shaft I grasp, with sinewy strain


s: And firm knees pressed against the sandy ground;


s: When O! shall tongue make utterance or refrain?


s: Forth from below a dismal, groaning sound


s: Heaves, and a piteous voice is wafted from the mound:


s: Thy guiltless hands, but let the dead repose.


s: From Troy, no alien to thy race, I came.


s: O, fly this greedy shore, these cruel foes!


s: Bristling with pointed javelins.'--Mute with fear,


s: Perplext, aghast I stood, and upright rose my hair.


s: To Thracia's King in secret had consigned


s: With store of gold, when, girt with siege, he saw


s: Troy's towers, and trust in Dardan arms resigned.


s: But when our fortune and our hopes declined,


s: The treacherous King the conqueror's cause professed,


s: And, false to faith, to friendship and to kind,


s: Slew Polydorus, and his wealth possessed.


s: Curst greed of gold, what crimes thy tyrant power attest!


s: Then to choice friends the vision I declare.


s: All vote to sail, and quit the shore accurst.


s: So to his shade, with funeral rites, we rear


s: A mound, and altars to the dead prepare,


s: Wreathed with dark cypress. Round them, as of yore,


s: Pace Troy's sad matrons, with their streaming hair.


s: Warm milk from bowls, and holy blood we pour,


s: And thrice with loud farewell the peaceful shade deplore.


s: And South-winds chide, and Ocean smiles serene,


s: We crowd the beach, and launch, and town and shore


s: Fade from our view. Amid the waves is seen


s: Which, floating once, Apollo fixed between


s: For man's resort, unmoved the blustering winds to brave.


s: Worn out, find welcome in a sheltered bay,


s: And, landing, hail Apollo's town with prayer.


s: King Anius here, enwreath'd with laurel spray,


s: The priest of Phoebus meets us on the way;


s: And joining hands in fellowship, each fain


s: To show a friendly heart the palace-halls we gain.


s: I worship: 'Grant, Thymbrean lord divine,


s: And harken. Save these Dardans sore-distrest,


s: The remnant of Achilles' wrath. Some sign


s: Vouchsafe us, whom to follow? where to rest?


s: Steal into Trojan hearts, and make thy power confessed.'


s: Shook, and a trembling seized the temple door.


s: The mountain heaves, and from the opening shrine


s: Loud moans the tripod. Prostrate on the floor


s: We hear a voice; 'Brave hearts, the land that bore


s: Your sires shall nurse their Dardan sons again.


s: Seek out your ancient mother; from her shore


s: Through all the world the AEneian house shall reign,


s: And sons of sons unborn the lasting line sustain.'


s: Ask what the walls that Phoebus hath designed?


s: Then spake my sire, revolving in his mind


s: 'Chieftains, give ear, and learn your hopes and mine;


s: Jove's island lies, amid the deep enshrined,


s: Crete, hundred-towned, a land of corn and wine,


s: Where Ida's mountain stands, the cradle of our line.


s: Old Teucer, to Rhoeteum crossed the flood,


s: And for his future kingdom chose a site.


s: Nor yet proud Ilion nor her towers had stood;


s: Thence Corybantian cymbals clashed and brayed


s: And lions, yoked in pomp, their sovereign's car conveyed.


s: The Gnosian kingdoms, and the winds entreat.


s: Short is the way, nor distant lies the land.


s: If Jove be present and assist our fleet,


s: The third day lands us on the shores of Crete.'


s: So spake he and on altars, reared aright,


s: Due victims offered, and libations meet;


s: To tempest a black lamb, to Western winds a white.


s: Expelled his kingdom; that the shore lies clear


s: Of foes, and homes are ready to our hand.


s: Ortygia's port we leave, and skim the mere;


s: With trees, and Paros' snowy cliffs we steer.


s: Far-scattered shine the Cyclades renowned,


s: And clustering isles thick-sown in many a glittering sound.


s: 'Crete and our fathers,' rings for all to hear


s: The cry of oarsmen. Through the deep we fly;


s: Behind us sings the stern breeze loud and clear.


s: So to the shores of ancient Crete we steer.


s: There in glad haste I trace the wished-for town,


s: And call the walls 'Pergamea,' and cheer


s: My comrades, glorying in the name well-known,


s: The castled keep to raise, and guard the loved hearth-stone.


s: To till new settlements, while I to each


s: Due law dispense and dwelling place supply,


s: Rank vapours, gathering, on my comrades seize,


s: And a foul pestilence creeps down from high


s: On mortal limbs and standing crops and trees,


s: A season black with death, and pregnant with disease.


s: Fierce Sirius scorched the fields, and herbs and grain


s: Were parched, and food the wasting crops denied.


s: Once more Anchises bids us cross the main


s: By prayer to pardon and advise, what end


s: What fate hereafter shall our steps attend?


s: What rest for toil-worn men, and whitherward to wend?


s: When lo! the figures of our gods, the same


s: Whom erst from falling Ilion o'er the deep


s: I brought, scarce rescued from the midmost flame,


s: Before me, sleepless for my country's shame,


s: Stood plain, in plenteousness of light confessed,


s: Where streaming through the sunken lattice came


s: The moon's full splendour, and their speech addressed,


s: And I in heart took comfort, hearing their behest.


s: Would sing, unasked he sends us to proclaim.


s: We who have followed o'er the billowy brine


s: Thee and thine arms, since Ilion sank in flame,


s: Will raise thy children to the stars, and name


s: Thy walls imperial. Thou build them meet


s: For heroes. Shrink not from thy journey's aim,


s: Though long the way. Not here thy destined seat,


s: So saith the Delian god, not thine the shores of Crete.


s: An ancient land, which Greeks Hesperia name;


s: Her soil is fruitful and her people brave.


s: Th' OEnotrians held it once, by later fame


s: The name Italia from their chief they claim.


s: Thence sprang great Dardanus; there lies thy seat;


s: Thence sire Iasius and the Trojans came.


s: Rise, and thy parent with these tidings greet,


s: To seek Ausonian shores, for Jove denies thee Crete.'


s: ('Twas no mere dream; their very looks I knew,


s: I saw the fillets round their temples twine,


s: And clammy sweat did all my limbs bedew)


s: Forthwith, upstarting, from the couch I flew,


s: And hands and voice together raised in prayer,


s: Pleased with the rites fulfilled, and all the tale declare.


s: The double sires, and owns himself misled


s: By modern error 'twixt two ancient lands.


s: 'O son, long trained in Ilian fates,' he said,


s: This chance Cassandra, she alone, displayed.


s: She called us. Ah! who listened or obeyed?


s: Who dreamed that Teucrians should Hesperia gain?


s: Yield we to Phoebus now, nor wisdom's words disdain.'


s: And leaving here a handful on the shore,


s: Spread sail and scour with hollow keel the foam.


s: The fleet was on mid ocean; land no more


s: A storm-cloud, black as heaven itself, that bore


s: Dark night and wintry tempest in its womb,


s: And all the waves grew rough and shuddered with the gloom.


s: Dispersed we welter on the gulfs. Damp night


s: Has snatched with rain the heaven from our eyes,


s: And storm-mists in a mantle wrapt the light.


s: Flash after flash, and for a moment bright,


s: Quick lightnings rend the welkin. Driven astray


s: We wander, robbed of reckoning, reft of sight.


s: No difference now between the night and day


s: E'en Palinurus sees, nor recollects the way.


s: As many nights, when not a star is seen,


s: At last the fourth glad daybreak clears the scene,


s: And rising land, and opening uplands green,


s: And rolling smoke at distance greet the view.


s: No longer tarrying; to our oars we lean.


s: Down drop the sails; in order ranged, each crew


s: Flings up the foam to heaven, and sweeps the sparkling blue.


s: So called in Greece, where dwells, with Harpies, dire


s: Since, forced from Phineus' palace to retire,


s: They fled their former banquet. Heavenly ire


s: Ne'er sent a pest more loathsome; ne'er were seen


s: Worse plagues to issue from the Stygian mire--


s: Birds maiden-faced, but trailing filth obscene,


s: With taloned hands and looks for ever pale and lean.


s: And goats untended browse the pastures fair.


s: We, sword in hand, make onset, and invite


s: The gods and Jove himself the spoil to share,


s: And piling couches, banquet on the fare.


s: When straight, down-swooping from the hills meanwhile


s: The Harpies flap their clanging wings, and tear


s: The food, and all with filthy touch defile,


s: And, mixt with screams, uprose a sickening stench and vile.


s: Where circling trees a rustling shade supply,


s: The boards are spread, the altars blaze anew.


s: Dark-ambushed, round the clamorous Harpies fly


s: With taloned claws, and taste and taint the prey.


s: The loathsome brood to battle. They obey,


s: And swords and bucklers hide amid the grass away.


s: Misenus from his outlook sounds the fray.


s: All to the strange encounter, sword in hand,


s: Rush forth, these miscreants of the deep to slay.


s: No wounds they take, no weapon wins its way.


s: Swiftly they soar, all leaving, ere they go,


s: Their filthy traces on the half-gorged prey.


s: One perched, Celaeno, on a rock, and lo,


s: Thus croaked the dismal seer her prophecy of woe.


s: War do ye bring, our cattle stol'n and slain?


s: Mark then my words and in your breasts retain.


s: I now to thee and thine, the Furies' Queen, unfold.


s: Shall reach Italia, and her ports attain.


s: But ne'er the town, by Destiny assigned,


s: Your walls shall gird, till famine's pangs constrain


s: To gnaw your boards, in quittance for our slain.'


s: So spake the Fiend, and backward to the wood


s: Soared on the wing. Cold horror froze each vein.


s: Aghast and shuddering my comrades stood;


s: Down sank at once each heart, and terror chilled the blood.


s: We sue, and pardon of these powers implore,


s: Obscene and dire; and lifting on the shore


s: His hands, Anchises doth the gods adore.


s: 'O Heaven!' he cries, 'avert these threats; be kind


s: And stay the curse, and vex with plagues no more


s: A pious folk,' then bids the crews unbind


s: The stern-ropes, loose the sheets and spread them to the wind.


s: Where breeze and pilot drive us through the deep.


s: Soon, crowned with woods, Zacynthos we espy,


s: Dulichium, Same and the rock-bound steep


s: Laertes' realms, and curse the land that bred


s: Soon, where Leucate lifts her cloud-capt head,


s: Looms forth Apollo's fane, the seaman's name of dread.


s: The sterns ashore and anchor in the bay,


s: Saved beyond hope and glad the land is won,


s: And lustral rites, with blazing altars, pay


s: To Jove, and make the shores of Actium gay


s: With Ilian games, as, like our sires, we strip


s: And oil our sinews for the wrestler's play.


s: Proud, thus escaping from the foemen's grip,


s: Past all the Argive towns, through swarming Greeks, to slip.


s: And wintry North-winds vex the waves once more.


s: The brazen shield which once great Abas bore,


s: And mark the deed in writing on the door,


s: _'AEneas these from conquering Greeks hath ta'en';_


s: Then bid my comrades quit the port and shore,


s: And man the benches. They with rival strain


s: And slanting oar-blades sweep the levels of the main.


s: Strange news we hear: A Trojan Greeks obey,


s: Has yielded to a Trojan lord. Straightway


s: I burn to greet them, and the tale explore,


s: And from the harbour haste, and leave the ships and shore.


s: XL. "Within a grove Andromache that day,


s: Her offerings chanced at Hector's grave to pay,


s: A turf-built cenotaph, with altars twain,


s: Source of her tears and sacred to the slain--


s: And called his shade. Distracted with amaze


s: She marked me, as the Trojan arms shone plain.


s: Heat leaves her frame; she stiffens with the gaze,


s: She swoons--and scarce at length these faltering words essays:


s: XLI. "'Real, then, real is thy face, and true


s: Thy tidings? Liv'st thou, child of heavenly seed?


s: If dead, then where is Hector?' Tears ensue,


s: And wailing, shrill as though her heart would bleed.


s: Then I, with stammering accents, intercede,


s: And, sore perplext, these broken words outthrow


s: To calm her transport, 'Yea, alive, indeed,--


s: Doubt not, thou see'st the truth, no shape of empty show.


s: XLII. "'Alas! what lot is thine? What worthy fate


s: Hath caught thee, fallen from a spouse so high?


s: Of Pyrrhus?' Then with lowly downcast eye


s: She dropped her voice, and softly made reply.


s: 'Ah! happy maid of Priam, doomed instead


s: A captive thrall, like me, to grace a conqueror's bed.


s: XLIII. "'I, torn from burning Troy o'er many a wave,


s: Endured the lust of Pyrrhus and his pride,


s: And knew a mother's travail as his slave.


s: Me, joined in bed and bondage, he allied


s: To Helenus. But mad with love's despair,


s: And stung with Furies for his spouse denied,


s: At length Orestes caught the wretch unware,


s: E'en by his father's shrine, and smote him then and there.


s: XLIV. "'The tyrant dead, a portion of his reign


s: And on these heights rebuilds the Trojan walls.


s: But thou--what chance, or god, or stormy squalls


s: Have driven thee here unweeting?--and the boy


s: His parents' darling, and their only joy?


s: Breathes he the vital air, whom unto thee now Troy--


s: XLV. "'Still grieves he for his mother? Doth the name


s: Of sire or uncle make his young heart glow


s: For deeds of valour and ancestral fame?'


s: And poured her sorrow to the winds, when lo,


s: In sight comes Helenus, with fair array,


s: And hails his friends, and hastening to bestow


s: Glad welcome, toward his palace leads the way;


s: But tears and broken words his mingled thoughts betray.


s: Nor less kind welcome doth the rest await.


s: The monarch, mindful of his sire of old,


s: Receives the Teucrians in his courts of state.


s: They in the hall, the viands piled on gold,


s: Pledging the God of wine, their brimming cups uphold.


s: XLVII. "One day and now another passed; the gale


s: Sings in the shrouds, and calls us to depart,


s: 'Troy-born interpreter of Heaven! whose art


s: The signs of Phoebus' pleasure can impart;


s: Thou know'st the tripod and the Clarian bay,


s: The stars, the voices of the birds, that dart


s: On wings with omens laden, speak and say,--


s: Since fate and all the gods foretell a prosperous way.


s: XLVIII. "'And point to far Italia,--One alone,


s: Celaeno, sings of famine foul and dread,


s: What perils first to shun? what path to tread,


s: To win deliverance from such toils?' This said,


s: I ceased, and Helenus with slaughtered kine


s: Implores the god, and from his sacred head


s: Unbinds the wreath, and leads me to the shrine,


s: Awed by Apollo's power, and chants the doom divine:


s: XLIX. "'O Goddess-born, high auspices are thine,


s: And heaven's plain omens guide thee o'er the main.


s: Assorts the chances, and the Fates ordain.


s: How best o'er foreign seas to urge thy keel


s: The rest from Helenus the Fates conceal,


s: And Juno's envious power forbids me to reveal.


s: L.  "'Learn then, Italia, that thou deem'st so near,


s: And thither dream'st of lightly passing o'er,


s: Long leagues divide, and many a pathless mere.


s: First must Trinacrian waters bend the oar,


s: Ausonian waves thy vessels must explore,


s: First must thou view the nether world, where flows


s: The home of Circe, ere, at rest from woes,


s: Thou build the promised walls, and win the wished repose.


s: LI. "'These tokens bear, and in thy memory store.


s: When, musing sad and pensive, thou hast found


s: Beside an oak-fringed river, on the shore,


s: Milk-white as she, her litter, mark the ground,


s: That spot shall see thy promised town; for there


s: Thy toils are ended, and thy rest is crowned.


s: Fear not this famine--'tis an empty scare;


s: The Fates will find a way, and Phoebus hear thy prayer.


s: LII. "'As for yon shore and that Italian coast,


s: Washed, where the land lies nearest, by our main,


s: Shun them; their cities hold a hostile host.


s: There Troy's old foes, the evil Argives, reign,


s: There fierce Idomeneus from Crete brought o'er


s: His troops to vex the Sallentinian plain;


s: There, girt with walls and guarded by the power


s: Of Philoctetes, stands Petelia's tiny tower.


s: LIII. "'Nay, when thy vessels, ranged upon her shore,


s: Rest from the deep, and on the beach ye light


s: Veil then thy locks, with purple hood bedight,


s: And shroud thy visage from a foeman's sight,


s: Lest hostile presence, 'mid the flames divine,


s: Break in, and mar the omen and the rite.


s: This pious use keep sacred, thou and thine,


s: The sons of sons unborn, and all the Trojan line.


s: LIV. "'When, wafted to Sicilia, dawns in sight


s: Pelorus' channel, keep the leftward shore,


s: Though long the circuit, and avoid the right.


s: These lands, 'tis said, one continent of yore


s: (Such change can ages work) an earthquake tore


s: And now, where leapt the parted lands in twain,


s: The narrow tide pours through, 'twixt severed town and plain.


s: LV. "'Here Scylla, leftward sits Charybdis fell,


s: Who, yawning thrice, her lowest depths laid bare,


s: Sucks the vast billows in her throat's dark hell,


s: Then starward spouts the refluent surge in air.


s: Here Scylla, gaping from her gloomy lair,


s: The passing vessels on the rocks doth hale;


s: And human face; below, a monstrous whale,


s: Down from whose wolf-like womb hangs many a dolphin's tail.


s: LVI. "'Far better round Pachynus' point to steer,


s: Though long the course, and tedious the delay,


s: Than once dread Scylla to behold, or hear


s: The rocks rebellow with her hell-hounds' bay.


s: This more, besides, I charge thee to obey,


s: And mighty Phoebus hath inspired me true,


s: These warning words I urge, and oft will urge anew:


s: LVII. "'Seek Juno first; great Juno's power adore;


s: With suppliant gifts the potent queen constrain,


s: And winds shall waft thee to Italia's shore.


s: There, when at Cumae landing from the main,


s: Avernus' lakes and sounding woods ye gain,


s: Thyself shalt see, within her rock-hewn shrine,


s: The frenzied prophetess, whose mystic strain


s: Expounds the Fates, to leaves of trees consign


s: The notes and names that mark the oracles divine.


s: LVIII. "'Whate'er the maiden on those leaves doth trace,


s: In rows she sorts, and in the cave doth store.


s: There rest they, nor their sequence change, nor place,


s: Save when, by chance, on grating hinge the door


s: Swings open, and a light breath sweeps the floor,


s: Or rougher blasts the tender leaves disperse.


s: Loose then they flutter, for she recks no more


s: To call them back, and rearrange the verse;


s: Untaught the votaries leave, the Sibyl's cave to curse.


s: LIX. "'But linger thou, nor count thy lingering vain,


s: Though comrades chide, and breezes woo the fleet.


s: Approach the prophetess; with prayer unchain


s: Her voice to speak. She shall the tale repeat


s: What toils to shun, what dangers to despise,--


s: And make the triumph of thy quest complete.


s: Thou hast whate'er 'tis lawful to advise;


s: Go, and with deathless deeds raise Ilion to the skies.'


s: LX. "So spake the seer, and shipward bids his friends


s: Rich gifts convey, and store them in the hold.


s: Gold, silver plate, carved ivory he sends,


s: With massive caldrons of Dodona's mould;


s: A coat of mail, with triple chain of gold,


s: And shining helm, with cone and flowing crest,


s: The arms of Pyrrhus, glorious to behold.


s: Nor lacks my sire his presents; for the rest


s: Steeds, guides and arms he finds, and oarsmen of the best.


s: LXI. "Then to Anchises, as he bids us spread


s: The sails, with reverence speaks Apollo's seer,


s: 'Far-famed Anchises, honoured with the bed


s: Of haughty Venus, Heaven's peculiar care,


s: Twice saved from Troy! behold Ausonia there,


s: Steer towards her coasts, yet skirt them; far away


s: That region lies, which Phoebus doth prepare.


s: Blest in thy son's devotion, take thy way.


s: Why should more words of mine the rising South delay?'


s: LXII. "Nor less Andromache, sore grieved to part,


s: Rich raiment fetches, wrought with golden thread,


s: And Phrygian scarf, and still with bounteous heart


s: Loads him with broideries. 'Take these,' she said,


s: Thy kin's last gifts, my handiwork, to show


s: How Hector's widow loved the son she bred.


s: Such eyes had he, such very looks as thou,


s: Such hands, and oh! like thine his age were ripening now!'


s: LXIII. "With gushing tears I bid the pair farewell.


s: Live happy ye, whose destinies are o'er;


s: We still must wander where the Fates compel.


s: Reared by your hands, old Ilion to restore,


s: Nor tempt, like ours, the Greeks to ravage and destroy.


s: LXIV. "'If ever Tiber and the fields I see


s: Washed by her waves, ere mingling with the brine,


s: And build the city which the Fates decree,


s: Then kindred towns and neighbouring folk shall join,


s: And linked thenceforth in sorrow and in joy,


s: With Dardanus the founder of each line,--


s: Two nations, one in heart, shall make another Troy.'


s: LXV. "On fly the barks o'er ocean. Near us frown


s: Ceraunia's rocks, whence shortest lies the way


s: And darkness gathers on the mountains grey.


s: A few as guardians of the oars we choose,


s: Then stretched at random on the beach we lay


s: Our limbs to rest, and on the toil-worn crews


s: Sleep steals in silence down, and sheds her kindly dews.


s: LXVI. "Nor yet had Night climbed heaven, when up from sleep


s: Starts Palinurus, and with listening ear


s: Catches the breeze. He marks the stars, that keep


s: Their courses, gliding through the silent sphere,


s: He sees the firmament all calm and clear,


s: And from the stern gives signal. We obey,


s: And shifting camp, set sail and tempt the doubtful way.


s: LXVII. "The stars were chased, and blushing rose the day.


s: Dimly, at distance through the misty shroud


s: A massive goblet with a wreath, and vowed


s: Libations to the gods, and poured the wine


s: And on the lofty stern invoked the powers divine:


s: LXVIII. "'Great gods, whom Earth and Sea and Storms obey,


s: Breathe fair, and waft us smoothly o'er the main.'


s: Fresh blows the breeze, and broader grows the bay,


s: And on the cliffs is seen Minerva's fane.


s: We furl the sails, and shoreward row amain.


s: Eastward the harbour arches, scarce descried.


s: Two jutting rocks, by billows lashed in vain,


s: Stretch out their arms the narrow mouth to hide.


s: Far back the temple stands, and seems to shun the tide.


s: LXIX. "Lo, here, first omen offered to our eyes,


s: Four snow-white steeds are grazing on the plain.


s: ''Tis war thou bringest us,' Anchises cries,


s: 'Strange land! For war the mettled steed they train,


s: And war these threaten. Yet in time again


s: These beasts are wont in harness to obey,


s: And bear the yoke, as guided by the rein.


s: Peace yet is hopeful.' So our vows we pay


s: To Pallas, famed in arms, whose welcome cheered the way.


s: LXX. "Veiled at her shrines in Phrygian hood we stand,


s: Burnt-offerings pay, as pious rites demand.


s: This done, the sailyards to the wind we veer,


s: And leave the Grecians and the land of fear.


s: Lo, there Tarentum's harbour and the town,


s: Lacinium's queen and Caulon's towers are known,


s: And Scylaceum's rocks, with shattered ships bestrown.


s: LXXI. "Far off is seen, above the billowy mere,


s: And the loud burst of breakers on the shore;


s: High from the shallows leap the surges hoar,


s: Charybdis!' cries Anchises, ''tis the shore,


s: The dreaded rocks that Helenus foretold.


s: Row, comrades, for dear life, and let the oars catch hold.'


s: LXXII. "He spake, 'twas done; and Palinurus first


s: Turns the prow leftward: to the left we ply


s: With oars and sail, and shun the rocks accurst.


s: Now curls the wave, and lifts us to the sky,


s: Now sinks and, plunging in the gulf we lie.


s: Thrice roar the caverned shore-cliffs, thrice the spray


s: Whirls up and wets the dewy stars on high.


s: Thus tired we drift, as sinks the wind and day,


s: Unto the Cyclops' shore, all weetless of the way.


s: LXXIII. "It was a spacious harbour, sheltered deep


s: From access of the winds, but looming vast


s: With awful ravage, AEtna's neighbouring steep


s: Thundered aloud, and, dark with clouds, upcast


s: Smoke and red cinders in a whirlwind's blast.


s: Live balls of flame, with showers of sparks, upflew


s: And licked the stars, and in combustion massed,


s: Torn rocks, her ragged entrails, molten new,


s: The rumbling mount belched forth from out the boiling stew.


s: LXXIV. "Here, while from AEtna's furnaces the flame


s: Bursts forth, Enceladus, 'tis said, doth lie,


s: Scorched by the lightning. As his wearied frame


s: He shifts, Trinacria, trembling at the cry


s: Moans through her shores, and smoke involves the sky.


s: There all night long, screened by the woods, we hear


s: The dreadful sounds, and know not whence nor why,


s: For stars are none, nor planet gilds the sphere;


s: Night holds the moon in clouds, and heaven is dark and drear.


s: LXXV. "Now rose the Day-star from the East, and cleared


s: The mists, that melted with advancing Morn,


s: When suddenly from out the woods appeared


s: An uncouth form, a creature wan and worn,


s: Scarce like a man, in piteous plight forlorn.


s: Suppliant his hands he stretches to the shore;


s: We turn and look on tatters tagged with thorn,


s: Dire squalor and a length of beard,--what more,


s: A Greek, to Troy erewhile in native arms sent o'er.


s: LXXVI. "He scared to see the Dardan garb once more


s: And Trojan arms, stood faltering with dismay,


s: Then rushed, with prayer and weeping, to the shore.


s: 'O, by the stars, and by the Gods, I pray,


s: And life's pure breath, this light of genial day,


s: Take me, O Teucrians; wheresoe'er ye go,


s: And came to Trojan homes and Ilion as a foe.


s: LXXVII. "'For that, if that be such a crime to you,


s: And drown me in the deep. If death be due,


s: 'Twere sweet of death by human hands to taste.'


s: He cried, and, grovelling, our knees embraced,


s: And, clasping, clung to us. We bid him stand


s: And tell his birth and trouble; and in haste


s: Himself the sire Anchises pledged his hand,


s: And he at length took heart, and answered our demand.


s: LXXVIII. "'My name is Achemenides. I come


s: Me here my thoughtless comrades, hurrying fast


s: To quit the cruel threshold and be free,


s: Leave in the Cyclops' cavern. Dark and vast


s: That house of slaughtered men, and many a foul repast.


s: LXXIX. "'Himself so tall, he strikes the lofty skies


s: (O gods, rid earth of such a monstrous brood!),


s: None dare with speech accost, nor mortal eyes


s: Behold him. Human entrails are his food.


s: Myself have seen him, gorged with brains and blood,


s: Pluck forth two comrades, in his cave bent back,


s: And dash them till the threshold swam with blood,


s: Then crunch the gobbets in his teeth, while black


s: With gore the limbs still quivered, and the bones did crack:


s: LXXX. "'Not unavenged; nor brave Ulysses deigned


s: To brook such outrage. In that hour of tyne


s: When, gorged with food, and belching gore and wine,


s: With drooping neck, the giant snored supine,


s: Then, closing round him, to the gods we pray,


s: Each at his station, as the lots assign,


s: And where, beneath the frowning forehead, lay,


s: Huge as an Argive shield, or like the lamp of day,


s: LXXXI. "'His one great orb, deep in the monster's head


s: We drive the pointed weapon, joy'd at last


s: To wreak such vengeance for our comrades dead.


s: Your cables from the shore. Such and so vast


s: As Polyphemus, when the cave's huge door


s: Shuts on his flocks, and for his night's repast


s: He milks them, lo! a hundred Cyclops more


s: Roam on the lofty hills, and range the winding shore.


s: LXXXII. "'Now thrice the Moon hath filled her horns with light,


s: And still in woods and lonely dens I lie,


s: And see the Cyclops stalk from height to height,


s: And hear their tramp, and tremble at their cry.


s: My food--hard berries that the boughs supply,


s: And roots of grass. Thus wandering, as I scanned


s: I saw your ships first bearing to the land,


s: And vowed, whoe'er ye proved, the strangers' slave to stand.


s: LXXXIII. "'Enough, these monsters to escape; O take


s: My life, and tear me as you will from day,


s: Rather than these devour me!'--Scarce he spake,


s: When from the mountains to the well-known bay,


s: Huge, hideous, horrible in shape and show,


s: And visionless. A pine-trunk serves to stay


s: And guide his footsteps, and around him go


s: The sheep, his only joy and solace of his woe.


s: LXXXIV. "Down came the giant, wading in the main,


s: And rinsed his gory socket from the tide,


s: Gnashing his teeth and moaning in his pain.


s: On through the deep he stalks with awful stride,


s: So tall, the billows scarcely wet his side.


s: Forthwith our flight we hasten, prickt with fear,


s: On board--'twas due--we let the suppliant hide,


s: Then, mute and breathless, cut the stern-ropes clear,


s: Bend to the emulous oar, and sweep the whitening mere.


s: LXXXV. "He heard, and turned his footsteps to the sound.


s: Short of its mark the huge arm idly fell


s: Outstretched, and swifter than his stride he found


s: The Ionian waves. Then rose a monstrous yell;


s: All Ocean shudders and her waves upswell;


s: And AEtna groans through many a winding cell,


s: And trooping to the call the Cyclops pour


s: From wood and lofty hill, and crowding fill the shore.


s: LXXXVI. "We see them scowling impotent, the band


s: An awful conclave! Tall as oaks they stand,


s: Or cone-clad guardians of Diana's grove.


s: To shake the canvas to the winds, and rove


s: Who past those fatal rocks had warned us not to steer,


s: LXXXVII. "Where Scylla here, and there Charybdis lies,


s: And death lurks double. Backward we essay


s: Our course, when lo, from out Pelorus flies


s: The North-Wind, sent to waft us on our way.


s: We pass the place where, mingling with the spray,


s: Through narrow rocks Pantagia's stream outflows;


s: Of Megara. These shores the suppliant shows,


s: Known from the time he shared his wandering chieftain's woes.


s: LXXXVIII. "Far-stretcht against Plemmyrium's wave-beat shore


s: Now called Ortygia--'twas its name of yore.


s: Mounts, a Sicilian fountain, to the day.


s: Here we with prayer, obedient to the seer,


s: Invoke the guardian gods to whom the place is dear.


s: LXXXIX. "Thence past Helorus' marish speeds the bark,


s: Where fat and fruitful shines the meadowy lea.


s: We graze the cliffs and jutting rocks, that mark


s: Fixt there for ever by the fates' decree;


s: Then Gela's town (the river gave the name)


s: And Gela's plains, far-stretching from the sea,


s: And distant towers and lofty walls proclaim


s: Steep Acragas, once known for generous steeds of fame.


s: Palmy Selinus, and the treacherous strand


s: And take the shelter of her joyless land,


s: Here, tost so long o'er many a storm-lashed main,


s: We lose the stay and comfort of our band,


s: Here thou, best father, leav'st me to my pain,


s: Thou, saved from countless risks, but saved, alas, in vain.


s: Warned us to think such sorrow was in store,


s: My wanderings ended, and my toils were o'er,


s: And thence a God hath led me to your shore."


s: Thus, while mute wonder did the rest compose,


s: And told his fates, his wanderings and his woes;


s: Then ceased at length his speech, and sought the wished repose.


s: consummated. Dido yields (145-198). Description of Rumour, who


s: comfort her, he hastens his preparations for departure (411-468).


s: The Queen was wasting with the secret flame,


s: The cruel wound was feeding on her veins.


s: Came the chief's valour and his country's fame.


s: His looks, his words still lingered in her breast,


s: Deep-fixt. And now the dewy Dawn upcame,


s: And chased the shadows, when her love's unrest


s: Thus to her sister's soul responsive she confessed:


s: What stranger guest is this? like whom in face?


s: How proud in portance, how expert in arms!


s: What warlike exploits did his lips retrace.


s: Were not my purpose steadfast, ne'er to wed,


s: Since love first played me false, and mocked me with the dead,


s: This once, perchance, I had been frail again.


s: A brother's murder rent a home in twain,


s: He, he alone my stubborn will could tame,


s: And stir the balance of my soul. Too plain


s: I know the traces of the long-quenched flame;


s: The sparks of love revive, rekindled, but the same.


s: Hurl me with lightning to the Shades amain,


s: Pale shades of Erebus and abysmal Night,


s: Nay, he whose love first linked us long ago,


s: Took all my love, and he shall still retain


s: And guard it with him in the grave below."


s: She spake, and o'er her lap the gushing tears outflow.


s: Nor care sweet sons, fair Venus' gifts to know?


s: Think'st thou such grief concerns the shades below?


s: What though no husband, Libyan or of Tyre,


s: Could bend a heart made desolate; what though


s: And Africa's proud chiefs, why quench a pleasing fire?


s: Numidians, reinless as the steeds they ride,


s: And cheerless Syrtis hold thee in embrace;


s: There fierce Barcaeans and a sandy space


s: Wasted by drought. Why tell of wars from Tyre,


s: A brother's threats? Well know I Juno's grace


s: And heaven's propitious auspices conspire


s: To find for Trojans here the home of their desire.


s: What realm shall rise, with such a wondrous pair


s: When Teucrian arms join fellowship with ours,


s: What glory shall the Punic state upbear!


s: Pray thou to heaven and, having gained thy prayer,


s: Indulge thy welcome, and thy guest entreat


s: To tarry. Bid him winter's storms beware;


s: Still shattered, and the skies for mariners unmeet."


s: Hope scattered scruples, and her doubts gave way,


s: And loosed were all the lingering ties of shame.


s: First to the fane the sisters haste away,


s: And there for peace at every shrine they pray,


s: And chosen ewes, as ancient rites ordain,


s: And most to Juno's power, who guards the nuptial chain.


s: O'er a white heifer's forehead pours the wine,


s: Or by the Gods' rich altars takes her stand,


s: And piles the gifts, and o'er the slaughtered kine


s: Pores, from the quivering heartstrings to divine


s: The doom of Fate. Blind seers, alas! what art


s: To calm her frenzy, now hath vow or shrine?


s: Deep in her marrow feeds the tender smart,


s: Unseen, the silent wound is festering in her heart.


s: Some swain hath pierced amid the woods of Crete,


s: And left, unware, the flying steel to stay,


s: While through the forests and the lawns his prey


s: Roams, with the death-bolt clinging to her side.


s: Her walls and wealth, the dowry of his bride;


s: Oft she essays to speak, so oft the utterance died.


s: She seeks the feast, again would fain give ear


s: To Troy's sad tale and, ravished with delight,


s: Hangs on his lips; and when the hall is clear,


s: And the moon sinks, and drowsy stars appear,


s: Alone she mourns, clings to the couch he pressed,


s: Him absent sees, his absent voice doth hear,


s: Now, fain to cheat her utter love's unrest,


s: Clasps for his sire's sweet sake Ascanius to her breast.


s: Nor ports nor bulwarks for defence prepare.


s: And lofty scaffolding that threats the sky.


s: With love so tameless, as would dare defy


s: The shame that whispers in a woman's breast,


s: Forthwith the queen of Jove fair Venus thus addressed:


s: Thou and thy boy,--vast worship and renown!


s: Two gods by fraud one woman have undone.


s: But well I know ye fear the rising town,


s: The homes of Carthage offered for your own.


s: When shall this end? or why a feud so dire?


s: Let lasting peace and plighted wedlock crown


s: The compact. See, thou hast thy heart's desire,


s: Poor Dido burns with love, her blood is turned to fire.


s: These folks as one. Let Tyrian Dido bear


s: A Phrygian's yoke, and Tyrians be her dower."


s: Then Venus, for she marked the Libyan snare


s: To snatch Italia's lordship, "Who would care


s: To spurn such offer, or with thee contend,


s: Should fortune follow on a scheme so fair?


s: The sons of Tyre and Troy in common league to blend.


s: By prayer the counsels of his breast. Lead thou,


s: "Be mine that task. Now briefly will I show


s: What means our purpose shall achieve, and how.


s: And Titan's rays unveil the world below,


s: Forth ride AEneas and the love-sick Queen,


s: With followers to the chase, to scour the woodland green.


s: Their feathered nets, thick sleet-storms will I shower


s: And rend all heaven with thunder. Here and there


s: The rest shall fly, and in the darkness cower.


s: One cave shall screen both lovers in that hour.


s: There will I be, if thou approve, meanwhile


s: And make her his in wedlock. Hymen's power


s: Shall seal the rite."--Not adverse, with a smile


s: Sweet Venus nods assent, and gladdens at the guile.


s: At daybreak, issuing from the gates is seen


s: A chosen train, with nets and steel-tipt spears


s: And wide-meshed toils; and sleuth-hounds, staunch and keen,


s: Mixed with Massylian riders, scour the green.


s: The princes, waiting for the lingering Queen.


s: Her steed, with gold and purple housings fit,


s: Impatient paws the ground, and champs the foaming bit.


s: Wrapped in a purpled scarf of Tyrian grain.


s: Confine her hair; a golden clasp doth hold


s: Her purple cloak. Behind her throng amain


s: The Trojans, with Iulus, blithe and bold,


s: And good AEneas, with the rest, as fain,


s: Joins in, and steps along, the comeliest of the train.


s: Around his shrines Dryopians, sons of Crete,


s: And tattooed Agathyrsians shouting meet.


s: He, on high Cynthus moving, binds around


s: His flowing locks the foliage soft and sweet,


s: And braids with gold: his arms behind him sound,


s: So firm AEneas strode, such grace his features crowned.


s: Lo! from the rocks dislodged, the goats in fear


s: Bound o'er the crags. In dust-clouds o'er the plain


s: Down from the mountains rush the frightened deer.


s: On mettled steed the boy, in wild career,


s: Outrides them, glorying in the chase. No more


s: He heeds such timid prey, but longs to hear


s: Forth from the lofty hills, and front the foaming boar.


s: And, mixt with hail, in torrents comes the rain.


s: Scar'd, o'er the fields to diverse shelter fly


s: Troy's sons, Ascanius, and the Tyrian train.


s: Down from the hills the deluge pours amain.


s: One cave protects the pair. Earth gives the sign,


s: With Juno, mistress of the nuptial chain.


s: And heaven bears witness, and the lightnings shine,


s: And from the crags above shriek out the Nymphs divine.


s: Then first disaster did the gods ordain,


s: And death and woe were destined to begin.


s: Nor shame nor scandal now the Queen restrain,


s: No more she meditates to hide the stain,


s: Marriage she calls it, but the fraud is plain,


s: And pretexts weaves, and with a specious name


s: Attempts to veil her guilt, and sanctify her shame.


s: Fame, far the swiftest of all mischiefs bred;


s: Speed gives her force; she strengthens as she flies.


s: Small first through fear, she lifts a loftier head,


s: Her forehead in the clouds, on earth her tread.


s: Brought forth, in anger with the gods, 'tis said,


s: Swift-winged, swift-footed, of enormous girth,


s: Huge, horrible, deformed, a giantess from birth.


s: Strange sight! peep forth so many watchful eyes,


s: So many mouths and tattling tongues resound,


s: By night with shrieks 'twixt heaven and earth she flies,


s: Nor suffers sleep her eyelids to subdue;


s: By day, the terror of great towns, she spies


s: From towers and housetops, perched aloft in view,


s: Fond of the false and foul, yet herald of the true.


s: Of truth and falsehood, through the crowd she sped;


s: A Dardan guest, whom Dido deigns to wed.


s: Now, lapt in dalliance and with ease o'erfed,


s: All winter long they revel in their shame,


s: Lost to their kingdoms. Such the tale she spread;


s: And wrath on wrath upheaped, and fanned his soul to flame.


s: He built to Jove, the father of his race,


s: And lit the sacred fires, that sleepless shine,


s: The Gods' eternal watches. Slaughtered kine


s: Smoke on the teeming pavement, garlands fair


s: Of various hues the stately porch entwine.


s: Before the gods he kneels, and pours a suppliant's prayer.


s: On broidered couch, the votive wine-cup drain,


s: See'st thou or, Father, are thy bolts but blind,


s: Mere noise thy thunder, and thy lightnings vain?


s: This woman here, who, wandering on the main,


s: Bought leave to build and govern as her own


s: Her puny town, and till the sandy plain,


s: Our proffered love hath ventured to disown,


s: And takes a Trojan lord, AEneas, to her throne.


s: With perfumed locks and bonnet, and his crew


s: Of men half-women, gloats upon the prize,


s: While vainly at thy so-called shrines we sue,


s: He prayed and clasped the altar. His request


s: Jove heard, and to the city bent his view,


s: And lost to shame, and thus Cyllenius he addressed:


s: To Carthage. Call the Dardan chief away,


s: Who, deaf to Fate, his destined walls doth slight.


s: This mandate through the wafting air convey,


s: Not such fair Venus did her son pourtray,


s: Nor twice for _this_ from Grecian swords reclaim


s: And fierce for war, and spread the Teucrian name


s: Through Teucer's sons, and laws to conquered earth proclaim.


s: His soul to win such greatness, if indeed


s: He takes no trouble for his own fair fame,


s: What schemes he now? what hope the chief constrains


s: Go, bid him sail; enough; that word the sum contains."


s: His golden sandals, that aloft in flight


s: O'er sea and shore upbear him with the blast,


s: Then takes his rod--the rod of mystic might,


s: That calls from Hell or plunges into night


s: The pallid ghosts, gives sleep or bids it fly,


s: And lifts the dead man's eyelids to the light.


s: Armed with that rod, he rules the clouds on high,


s: And drives the scattered gales, and sails the stormy sky.


s: Round his pine-covered forehead, wild and bleak,


s: The dark clouds settle and the storm-winds shriek.


s: His shoulders glisten with the mantling snow,


s: Dark roll the torrents down his aged cheek,


s: Seamed with the wintry ravage, and below,


s: Stiff with the gathered ice his hoary beard doth show.


s: Then downward shot, and in the salt sea spray


s: Dipped like a sea-gull, who, in quest of food,


s: Searches the teeming shore-cliffs for his prey,


s: And scours the rocks and skims along the bay.


s: So swiftly now, between the earth and skies,


s: Cyllene's god on cleaving pinions plies,


s: As o'er the Libyan sands along the wind he flies.


s: Planning new towers and many a stately street.


s: A sword-hilt, starred with jasper, graced his side,


s: A scarf, gold-broidered by the queen, and dyed


s: With Tyrian hues, was o'er his shoulders thrown.


s: "What, thou--wilt thou build Carthage?" Hermes cried,


s: And dote on Tyrian realms, and disregard thine own?


s: Sends me from heaven his mandate to proclaim.


s: What scheme is thine? what hope allures thine eyes,


s: Nowise can move thee, nor thy soul inflame,


s: Think of thy young Ascanius; see with shame


s: His rising promise, scarce to manhood grown,


s: Hope of the Roman race, and heir of Latium's throne."


s: Fear stifled speech and stiffened all his hair.


s: Fain would he fly, and quit the tempting land,


s: Surprised and startled by the god's command.


s: Ah! what to do? what opening can he find


s: To break the news, the infuriate Queen withstand?


s: This way and that dividing his swift mind,


s: All means in turns he tries, and wavers like the wind.


s: Collect the crews in silence, arm the fleet


s: And hide the purport of these counsels new,


s: Himself, since Dido dreams not of deceit,


s: Nor thinks such passion can be frail or fleet,


s: Some tender moment for soft speeches meet,


s: And wit shall find, and cunning smooth the way.


s: With joy the captains hear, and hasten to obey.


s: Could guess the fraud, the coming change descry,


s: And in the midst of safety feared a snare.


s: Of mustering crews. Poor Dido, crazed thereby,


s: Raves like a Thyiad, when the frenzied rout


s: And "Bacchus! Bacchus" through the night they shout.


s: At length the chief she finds, and thus her wrath breaks out:


s: False wretch! and cloak such treason with a lie?


s: Can neither love, nor this my plighted hand,


s: Nor dying Dido keep thee? Must thou fly,


s: When North-winds howl, and wintry waves are high?


s: Not lands unknown, beneath an alien sky,


s: If Troy were standing, as in ancient day,


s: Would'st thou for Troy's own sake this angry deep essay?


s: XL. "_Me_ dost thou fly? O, by these tears, thy hand


s: Late pledged, since madness leaves me naught beside,


s: But lovers' vows and wedlock's sacred band,


s: Scarce knit and now too soon to be untied;


s: If aught were pleasing in a new-won bride,


s: If sweet the memory of our marriage day,


s: O by these prayers--if place for prayer abide--


s: Pity a falling house, now hastening to decay.


s: XLI. "For thee the Libyans and each Nomad lord


s: Hate me, and Tyrians would their queen disown.


s: And that chaste fame has perished, which alone


s: Perchance had raised me to a starry throne.


s: O think with whom thou leav'st me to thy fate,


s: Dear guest, no longer as a husband known.


s: Why stay I? till Pygmalion waste my state,


s: Or on Iarbas' wheels, a captive queen, to wait?


s: XLII. "Ah! if at least, ere thou had'st sailed away,


s: Some babe, the token of thy love, were born,


s: Like thee at least in look, I should not mourn


s: She paused, but he, at Jove's command, his eyes


s: Keeps still unmoved, and, though with anguish torn,


s: Strives with his love, nor suffers it to rise,


s: But checks his heaving heart, and thus at length replies:


s: XLIII. "Never, dear Queen, will I disown the debt,


s: Thy love's deserts, too countless to repeat,


s: While memory shall last, or pulses beat.


s: Few words are mine, for fewest words are meet.


s: Think not I meant--the very thought were shame--


s: Thief-like to veil my going with deceit.


s: Nor talked of ties like that, or wedlock's sacred flame.


s: XLIV. "Did Fate but let me shape my life at will,


s: And rest at pleasure, Ilion, first of all,


s: And Troy's sweet relics would I cling to still,


s: Once more should cheer the vanquished for their fall.


s: The Lycian lots, and so the Fates declare.


s: There lies the land I love, my destined home is there.


s: XLV. "If thee, Tyre-born, a Libyan town detain,


s: What grudge to Troy Ausonia's land denies?


s: We too may seek a foreign realm to gain.


s: Me, oft as Night's damp shadows from the skies


s: Have shrouded Earth, and fiery stars arise,


s: My sire Anchises' troubled ghost in sleep


s: Upbraids and scares, and ever louder cries


s: The wrong, that on Ascanius' head I heap,


s: Whom from Hesperia's plains, his destined realms, I keep.


s: XLVI. "Now, too, Jove's messenger himself comes down--


s: Bear witness both--I heard the voice divine,


s: Cease then to vex me, nor thyself repine.


s: Heaven's will to Latium summons me, not mine."


s: Him, speaking thus and pleading but in vain,


s: She viewed askance, rolling her restless eyne,


s: Then scanned him o'er, long silent, in disdain,


s: And thus at length broke out, and gave her wrath the rein.


s: XLVII. "False traitor! Goddess never gave thee birth,


s: Thy limbs were fashioned in the womb of Earth,


s: Hyrcanian tigresses thy childhood nursed.


s: Why fawn and feign? what more have I to fear,


s: What more to wait for, having known the worst?


s: Moved he those eyes? dropped he a single tear


s: Sighed he with me, or spake a lover's heart to cheer?


s: XLVIII. "What first? what last? Nor Juno, nay, nor Jove


s: With equal eyes beholds the wrongs I bear.


s: Faithless is earth, and false is Heaven above.


s: I took him in, an outcast, and bade spare,


s: His ships and wandering comrades, let him share


s: My home, and made him partner of my reign.


s: Now Phoebus calls him, now the Lycian fane,


s: Now Jove's own herald brings the dreadful news too plain:


s: XLIX. "Fit task for Gods; such cares disturb their ease.


s: Go, seek thy Latin lordship o'er the seas.


s: May Heaven--if Heaven be righteous--make thee pay


s: Thy forfeit, left on ocean's rocks to pray


s: With sulphurous flames, and vex thee far away.


s: My ghost in death shall haunt thee. I shall know


s: Thy punishment, false wretch, and hail the news below."


s: L.  Abrupt she ceased and, sickening with despair,


s: Turns from his gaze, and shuns the light of day,


s: And leaves the Dardan, faltering in his fear,


s: And thinking of a thousand things to say.


s: Back to her marble couch the maids convey


s: The fainting Queen. The pious Prince, though fain


s: Sighing full sore, and racked with inward pain,


s: Bows to the God's behest, and hastens to the main.


s: LI. Stirred by his presence, at their chief's command,


s: The Trojan mariners, with might and main,


s: Bend to the work. Along the shelving strand


s: They launch tall ships that long had idle lain.


s: The tarred keel joys the waters to regain.


s: Timbers unshaped and many a green-leaved oar


s: They fetch from out the forest, glad and fain


s: To speed their flight, and hurrying to the shore


s: Forth from the town-gates fast the mustering Trojans pour.


s: LII. As ants that, mindful of the cold to come,


s: Lay waste a mighty heap of garnered grain,


s: And store the golden treasure in their home:


s: Back through the grass, with plunder, o'er the plain


s: In narrow column troops the sable train:


s: Their tiny shoulders heave, with restless moil,


s: The cumbrous atomies; these scourge amain


s: The loiterers in the rear, and guard the spoil.


s: Hot fares the busy work; the pathway glows with toil.


s: LIII. What, hapless Dido, were thy feelings then?


s: What groans were thine, from out thy tower to view


s: The ships prepared, the shores astir with men,


s: The turmoil'd deep, the shouting of each crew!


s: Again, perforce, she weeps for him; again


s: She stoops to try persuasion, and to sue,


s: And yields, a suppliant, to her love's sweet pain,


s: Lest aught remain untried, and Dido die in vain.


s: LIV. "Look yonder, look, dear Anna! all around


s: They crowd the shore their canvas wooes the wind!


s: Behold the poops with festal garlands crown'd.


s: If I could bear this prospect, I shall find


s: Strength still to suffer, and a soul resign'd.


s: For thee alone he tells his inmost mind,


s: To thee alone unperjur'd; thou can'st guess


s: The means of soft approach, the seasons of address;


s: LV. "Go, sister, meekly tell the haughty foe,


s: Not I at Aulis with the Greeks did swear


s: To smite the Trojans and their towers o'erthrow,


s: Nor sought his father's ashes to uptear.


s: Whom shuns he? wherefore would he spurn my prayer?


s: Till flight is easy, and the winds breathe fair.


s: Not now for wedlock's broken vows I pray,


s: Nor bid him lose for me fair Latium and his sway.


s: LVI. "I ask but time--a respite and reprieve--


s: Till fortune teach my baffled love to grieve.


s: Grant, sister, this, the latest grace I pray,


s: And Death with interest shall the debt repay."


s: Her piteous plea. But Fate hath barred the way:


s: Deaf stands AEneas to her prayers and tears:


s: Jove, unrelenting Jove, hath stopped his gentle ears.


s: LVII. E'en as when Northern Alpine blasts contend


s: This side and that to lay an oak-tree low,


s: Aged but strong: the branches creak and bend,


s: And leaves thick-falling all the ground bestrow:


s: The trunk clings firmly to the rock below:


s: High as it rears its weather-beaten crest,


s: Beset with prayers, the hero stands distrest;


s: So vain are Anna's tears, so moveless is his breast.


s: LVIII. Then--then unhappy Dido prays to die,


s: And steel her purpose. As, in act to pay


s: Her gifts, with incense at the shrine she kneels,


s: To loathsome gore the sacred wine congeals.


s: Not e'en to Anna's self this vision she reveals.


s: LIX. Nay more; within the precincts of her house


s: There stood a marble shrine, with garlands bright


s: And snow-white fleeces, sacred to her spouse.


s: Hence, oft as darkness shrouds the world from sight,


s: Voices she hears, and accents of affright,


s: As though Sychaeus told aloud his wrong,


s: Hears from the roof-top, through the livelong night,


s: The solitary screech-owl's funeral song,


s: Wailing an endless dirge, the dismal notes prolong.


s: LX. Dim warnings, given by many an ancient seer,


s: Affright her. Ever wandering, ever lost,


s: In dreams she sees the fierce AEneas near,


s: And seeks her Tyrians on a lonely coast.


s: So raving Pentheus sees the Furies' host,


s: Twin suns and double Thebes. So, mad with Fate,


s: Blood-stained Orestes flees his mother's ghost,


s: Armed with black snakes and firebrands; at the gate


s: The avenging Fiends, close-crouched, the murderer await.


s: LXI. So now, possessed with Furies, the poor queen,


s: O'ercome with grief and resolute to die,


s: Smiles on her brow, her purpose to belie,


s: And hope dissembled sparkles in her eye.


s: "Dear Anna," thus she hails with cheerful tone


s: And joy with me. Indulgent Heaven hath shown


s: A way to gain his love, or rid me of my own.


s: LXII. "Near Ocean's limits and the sunset, lies


s: Where mighty Atlas turns the spangled skies.


s: There a Massylian priestess I have found,


s: The warder of the Hesperian fane renowned.


s: 'Twas hers to feed the dragon, hers to keep


s: The golden fruit, and guard the sacred ground,


s: The dragon's food in honied drugs to steep,


s: And mix the poppy drowse, that soothes the soul to sleep.


s: LXIII. "What souls she listeth, with her charms she claims


s: To free from passion, or with pains to smite


s: The love-sick heart; the planets all she tames,


s: And stays the rivers; and her voice of might


s: Calls forth the spirits from the realms of night.


s: Thyself the rumbling of the ground shalt hear,


s: And see the tall ash tumble from the height.


s: O, by the Gods, by thy sweet self I swear,


s: Loth am I, sister dear, these magic arms to wear.


s: LXIV. "Thou privily within the courtyard frame


s: Heap on it, and the fatal couch of shame.


s: All relics of the wretch are doomed to fire;


s: So bids the priestess, and her charms require."


s: She ended, pale as death, and Anna plied


s: Her task, not dreaming of a rage so dire.


s: Nought worse she fears than when Sychaeus died,


s: Nor recks that these strange rites her purposed death could hide.


s: LXV. Now rose the pile within the courtyard's space,


s: Herself the Queen with garlands decked the place,


s: And funeral chaplets in the sides entwined.


s: Above, his robes, the sword he left behind,


s: And, last, his image on the couch she laid,


s: Foreknowing all, and while the altars shined


s: With blazing offerings, the enchantress-maid,


s: Frenzied, with thundering voice and tresses disarrayed,


s: LXVI. Summons her gods--three hundred powers divine,


s: Then water, feigned of dark Avernus' stream,


s: She sprinkles round. Rank herbs are sought, that teem


s: With poisonous juice, and plants at midnight shorn


s: With brazen sickles by the Moon's pale beam,


s: And from the forehead of a foal new-born,


s: Ere by the dam devoured, love's talisman is torn.


s: LXVII. Herself, the queen, before the altar stands,


s: One foot unsandalled, and her flowing vest


s: Loosed from its cincture. In her stainless hands


s: The sacrificial cake she holds; her breast


s: Heaves, with approaching agony oppressed.


s: She calls the conscious planets as they move,


s: She calls the stars, her purpose to attest,


s: Mindful of lovers' wrongs, and just to injured love.


s: LXVIII. 'Twas night; on earth all creatures were asleep:


s: Midway the stars moved silent through the sphere;


s: Hushed were the forest and the angry deep,


s: And hushed was every field, and far and near


s: Reigned stillness, and the night spread calm and clear.


s: The flocks, the birds, with painted plumage gay,


s: That haunt the copse, or dwell in brake and brere,


s: Or skim the liquid lakes--all silent lay,


s: Lapt in oblivion sweet, forgetful of the day.


s: LXIX. Not so unhappy Dido; no sweet peace


s: Dissolves her cares; her wakeful eyes and breast


s: Drink not the dewy night; her pains increase,


s: And love, with warring passions unsuppressed,


s: Swells up, and stirs the tumult of unrest.


s: "What, then," she sadly ponders, "shall I do?


s: And beg the Nomad lords their oft-scorned vows renew?


s: LXX. "Or with the fleet of Ilion shall I sail,


s: As though they count past kindness of avail,


s: Or dream that aught of gratitude be due?


s: Grant that I wished it, of these lordings who


s: Would take me, humbled and a thing of scorn?


s: Know'st thou not yet, O lost one and forlorn,


s: Troy's perjured race still shows Laomedon forsworn?


s: LXXI. "What, fly alone, and join their shouting crew?


s: Or launch, and chase them with my Tyrian train


s: Scarce torn from Tyre? Nay--die and take thy due;


s: The sword alone can ease thee of thy pain.


s: Sister, 'twas thy weak pity wrought this bane,


s: Swayed by my tears, and gave me to the foe.


s: Ah! had I lived unloving, void of stain,


s: Free as the beasts, nor meddled with this woe,


s: Nor wronged with broken vows Sychaeus' shade below!"


s: LXXII. So wailed the Queen. AEneas, fixt in mind,


s: All things prepared, his voyage to pursue,


s: Snatched a brief slumber, on the deck reclined,


s: The God, and seemed his warning to renew.


s: So sweet his voice, so radiant was his hue,


s: Such loveliness of limb and youthful mould,


s: Such cheeks of ruddiest bloom, and locks of burnished gold.


s: LXXIII. "O goddess-born AEneas, can'st thou sleep,


s: Nor see the dangers that around thee lie,


s: Nor hear the Zephyrs whispering to the deep.


s: Dark crimes the Queen is plotting, bent to die


s: And tost with varying passions. Haste thee--fly,


s: While flight is open. Morn shall see the bay


s: Swarm with their ships, and all the shore and sky


s: Red with fierce firebrands and the flames. Away!


s: Changeful is woman's mood, and varying with the day."


s: LXXIV. He spake and, mixing with the night, withdrew.


s: Up starts AEneas from his sleep, so sore


s: The vision scared him, and awakes his crew.


s: "Quick, comrades, man the benches! ply the oar!


s: Comes down to urge us, chiding our delay,


s: And bids us cut our cables from the shore.


s: Dread Power divine, we follow on thy way,


s: Gladly, whoe'er thou art, thy summons we obey.


s: LXXV. "Be near us now, and O, vouchsafe thine aid,


s: And bid fair stars their kindly beams afford


s: To light our pathway through the deep." He prayed,


s: And from the scabbard snatched his flaming sword,


s: And, swift as lightning, cleft the twisted cord.


s: Fired by their chief, like ardour fills the crew,


s: They scour, they scud and, hurrying, crowd on board.


s: Bare lies the beach; ships hide the sea from view,


s: And strong arms lash the foam and sweep the sparkling blue.


s: LXXVI. Now rose Aurora from the saffron bed


s: Sprinkled the earth. Forth looks the Queen in dread,


s: And from her watch-tower marks the twilight grey


s: Glow with the shimmering whiteness of the day,


s: The harbour shipless and the shore all bare,


s: The fleet with full-squared canvas under weigh.


s: Then thrice and four times, frantic with despair,


s: She beats her beauteous breast, and rends her golden hair.


s: LXXVII. "Ah! Jove, shall he escape me? Shall he mock


s: My queenship? He, an alien, flout my sway?


s: Will no one arm and chase them, or undock


s: The ships? Bring fire; get weapons, quick! Away!


s: Swing out the oars! Ah me! what do I say?


s: Where am I? O, what madness turns my brain?


s: Poor Dido, hath thy folly found its prey?


s: Thy sins, alas! they sting thee, but in vain.


s: They should have done so then, when yielding him thy reign.


s: LXXVIII. "Lo, there his honour and the faith he swore,


s: Who takes Troy's gods the partners of his flight,


s: And erst from Troy his aged parent bore.


s: O, had I torn him piecemeal, as I might,


s: And strewn him on the waves, and slain outright


s: His friends, and for the father's banquet spread


s: The murdered boy! But doubtful were the fight.


s: Grant that it had been, whom should Dido dread,


s: What fear had death for me, self-destined to be dead?