by Virgil
And on Idalium is my home and shrine:
There let him live, forgetful of renown,
And, deaf to fame, these warlike weeds resign;
Then let fierce Carthage press Ausonia down, 64
For he and his no more shall vex the Tyrian town.
IX . “Ah, what availed to ‘scape the fight and flame,
And drain all dangers of the land and main,
If Teucrians seek on Latin soil to frame
Troy’s towers anew? Far better to remain
There, on their country’s ashes, on the plain
Where Troy once stood. Give, Father, I implore,
To wretched men their native streams again;
Their Xanthus and their Simois restore; 73
There let them toil and faint, as Trojans toiled of yore.”
X . Then, roused with rage, spake Juno: “Wherefore make
My lips break silence and lay bare my woe?
What God or man Æneas forced to take
The sword, and make the Latin King his foe?
Fate to Italia called him: be it so:
Driven by the frenzied prophetess of Troy.
Did we then bid him leave the camp, and throw
His life to fortune, ay, and leave a boy 82
To rule the war, and Tuscan loyalty destroy,
XI . “And harass peaceful nations? Who was there
The God, and whose the tyranny to blame
For fraud like that? Where then was Juno? where
Was cloud-sent Iris? Sooth, ye count it shame
That Latins hedge the new-born Troy with flame,
And Turnus dares his native land possess,
Albeit from Pilumnus’ seed he came,
And nymph Venilia. Is the shame then less, 91
That Troy with foreign yoke should Latin fields oppress,
XII . “And rob their maidens of the love they vow,
And lift, and burn and ravage as they list,
Then plead for peace, with arms upon the prow?
Thy sheltering power Æneas can assist,
And cheat his foemen with an empty mist,
The warrior’s counterfeit. At thy command
Ships change to sea-nymphs, and the flames desist.
And now, that we should stretch a friendly hand, 100
And lend Rutulians aid, an infamy ye brand.
XIII . “Thy chief is absent, absent let him be.
He knows not: let him know not. Do I care?
What is Æneas’ ignorance to me?
Thou hast thy Paphos, and Idalium fair,
And bowers of high Cythera; get thee there.
Why seek for towns with battle in their womb,
And beard a savage foeman in his lair?
Wrought we the wreck, when Ilion sank in gloom, 109
We, or the hands that urged poor Trojans to their doom?
XIV . “Was I the robber, who the war begun,
Whose theft in arms two continents arrayed,
When Europe clashed with Asia? I the one,
Who led the Dardan leman on his raid,
To storm the chamber of the Spartan maid?
Did I with lust the fatal strife sustain,
And fan the feud, and lend the Dardans aid?
Then had thy fears been fitting; now in vain 118
Thy taunts are hurled; too late thou risest to complain.”
XV . So pleaded Juno: the immortals all
On this and that side murmured their assent,
As new-born gales, that tell the coming squall,
Caught in the woods, their mingled moanings vent.
Then thus began the Sire omnipotent,
Who rules the universe, and as he rose,
Hush’d was the hall; Earth shook; the firmament
Was silent; whist was every wind that blows, 127
And o’er the calm deep spread the stillness of repose.
XVI . “Now hearken all, and to my words give heed.
Since naught avails this discord to allay,
And peace is hopeless, let the war proceed.
Trojans, Rutulians — each alike this day
Must carve his hopes and fortune as he may.
Fate, blindness, crooked counsels — whatso’er
Holds Troy in leaguer, equally I weigh
The chance of all, nor would Rutulians spare. 136
For each must toil and try, till Fate the doom declare.”
XVII . He spake, and straightway, to confirm his word,
Invoked his brother, and the Stygian flood,
The pitchy whirlpool, and the banks abhorr’d,
Then bent his brow, and with his awful nod
Made all Olympus tremble at the god.
So ceased the council. From his throne of state,
All golden, he arose, and slowly trod
The courts of Heaven. The powers celestial wait 145
Around their sovereign Lord, and lead him to the gate.
XVIII . Now, fire in hand, and burning to destroy,
The fierce Rutulians still the siege maintain.
Pent in their ramparts stay the sons of Troy,
Hopeless of flight, and line the walls in vain,
A little band, but all that now remain.
Thymoetes, son of Hicetaon bold,
Asius, the son of Imbrasus, the twain
Assaraci, Castor and Thymbris old, 154
These, battling in the van, the desperate strife uphold.
XIX . Next stand the brethren of Sarpedon slain,
Claros and Themon, — braver Lycians none.
There, with a rock’s huge fragment toils amain
Lyrnessian Acmon, famous Clytius’ son,
Menestheus’ brother, nor less fame he won.
Hot fares the combat; from the walls these fling
The stones, and those the javelins. Each one
Toils to defend; these blazing firebrands bring, 163
And fetch the flying shafts, and fit them to the string.
XX . There too, bare-headed, in the midst is seen
Fair Venus’ care, the Dardan youth divine,
Bright as a diamond, or the lustrous sheen
Of gems, that, set in yellow gold, entwine
The neck, or sparkling on the temples shine.
So gleams the ivory, inlaid with care
In chest of terebinth, or boxwood scrine;
And o’er his milk-white neck and shoulders fair, 172
Twined with the pliant gold, streams down the warrior’s hair.
XXI . There, too, brave Ismarus, the nations see,
Scattering the poisoned arrows from thy hands;
A gallant knight, and born of high degree
In far Mæonia, where his golden sands
Pactolus rolls along the fruitful lands.
There he, whom yesterday the voice of fame
Raised to the stars, the valiant Mnestheus stands,
Who drove fierce Turnus from the camp with shame; 181
There, Capys, he who gave the Capuan town its name.
XXII . Thus all day long both armies toiled and fought.
And now, at midnight, o’er the deep sea fares
Æneas. By Evander sent, he sought
The Tuscan camp. To Tarchon he declares
His name and race, the aid he asks and bears,
The friends Mezentius gathers to the fray,
And Turnus’ violence; then warns, with prayers,
Of Fortune’s fickleness. No more delay: 190
Brave Tarchon joins his power, and strikes a league straightway.
XXIII . So, free of Fate, Heaven’s mandate they obey,
And Lydians, with a foreign leader, plough
The deep; Æneas’ vessel leads the way.
Sweet Ida forms the figure-head; below,
The Phrygian lions ramp upon the prow.
Here sits Æneas, thoughtful, on the stern,
For war’s dark chances cloud the chieftain’s b
row.
There, on his left, sits Pallas, and in turn 199
Now cons the stars, now seeks the wanderer’s woes to learn.
XXIV . Now open Helicon; unlock the springs,
Ye Goddesses. Strike up the noble stave,
And sing what hosts from Tuscan shores he brings,
What ships he arms, and how they cross the wave.
First, Massicus with brazen Tiger clave
The watery plain. With him from Clusium go,
And Cosæ’s town, a hundred, tried and brave;
Deft archers, well the deadly craft they know. 208
Light from their shoulders hang the quiver and the bow.
XXV . With blazoned troops came Abas, gaunt and grim.
Golden Apollo on the stern he bore.
Six hundred Populonia gave to him,
All trained to battle, and three hundred more
Sent Ilva, rich in unexhausted ore.
Third came Asylas, who the voice divine
Expounds to man, and kens, with prescient lore,
The starry sky, the hearts of slaughtered kine, 217
The voices of the birds, the lightning’s warning sign.
XXVI . A thousand from Alphæus’ Tuscan town
Of Pisa, with him to the war proceed,
In bristling ranks, all spearmen of renown.
Next, Astur — comeliest Astur — clad in weed
Of divers hues, and glorying in his steed:
Three hundred men from ancient Pyrgos fare,
From Cære’s home, from Minio’s fruitful mead,
And they who breathe Gravisca’s tainted air. 226
One purpose fills them all, to follow and to dare.
XXVII . Nor would I leave thee, Cinyras, untold,
Liguria’s chief, nor, though a few were thine,
Cupavo. Emblem of his sire of old,
The swan’s white feathers on his helmet shine,
Thy fault, O Love. When Cycnus, left to pine
For Phaëthon, the poplar shades among,
Soothed his sad passion with the Muse divine,
Old age with hoary plumage round him clung; 235
Starward he soared from earth and, soaring up, still sung.
XXVIII . Now comes his son, with his Ligurian bands,
Oaring their bark. A Centaur from the prow
Looms o’er the waves a-tiptoe, with his hands
A vast rock heaving, as in act to throw;
The long keel ploughs the furrowed deep below.
Next, from his home the gallant Ocnus came,
The son of Manto, who the Fates doth know,
Brave child of Tiber. He his mother’s name 244
And walls to Mantua gave, — great Mantua, rich in fame,
XXIX . And rich in heroes, though diversely bred.
Three separate stems four-fold the state compose,
Herself, of Tuscan origin, the head.
Five hundred warriors, all Mezentius’ foes,
And armed for vengeance, from her walls arose.
Mincius in front, veiled in his sedges grey
(Fair stream, whose birth from sire Benacus flows),
Shines on the poop, and seaward points the way; 253
Swift speeds the bark of pine, with foemen for the fray.
XXX . Last, huge Aulestes, rising with his row
Of hundred oarsmen, beats the watery lea.
The lashed deeps boil; big Triton from the prow
Sounds his loud shell, that frights the sky-blue sea.
Waist-high, a man with human face is he;
All else, a fish; beneath his savage breast
The white foam roars before him. — Such to see,
Such, and so numerous was the host that pressed, 262
Borne in their thirty ships, to succour Troy distrest.
XXXI . Daylight had failed; to mid Olympus’ gate
Bright Phoebe drove her nightly-wandering wain.
Tiller in hand, the good Æneas sate
And trimmed the sails, while trouble tossed his brain.
When lo! around him thronged the Sea-nymphs’ train,
Whom kind Cybele changed from ships of wood
To rule, as goddesses, the watery main.
As many as late, with brazen beaks, had stood 271
Linked to the shore, now swim in even line the flood.
XXXII . Far off, their king the goddesses beheld
And danced around him joyously, and lo,
Cymodocea, who in speech excelled,
Clings to the stern; breast-high the nymph doth show;
Her left hand oars the placid deep below.
Then, “Watchest thou, Æneas, child divine?
Watch on,” she cries, “and let the canvas go.
Behold us, sea-nymphs, once a grove of pine 280
On Ida’s sacred crest, the Trojans’ ships and thine.
XXXIII . “When on us late the false Rutulian pressed
With sword and flame, perforce, sweet life to save,
We broke our chains, and wander in thy quest.
Our shape the Mother, pitying, changed and gave
Immortal life, to spend beneath the wave.
Thy son, he stays in Latin leaguer pent;
Arcadian horsemen, with the Tuscans brave,
Hold tryst to aid. His troops hath Turnus sent, 289
Charged, with opposing arms, their succour to prevent.
XXXIV . “Now rise, and when to-morrow’s dawn shall shine,
Bid forth thy followers to arms. Be bold,
And take this shield, the Fire-King’s gift divine,
Invincible, immortal, rimm’d with gold.
Next morn — so truly as the word is told —
Huge heaps of dead Rutulian foes shall view.”
She spake; her hand, departing, loosed its hold,
And pushed the vessel; well the way she knew; 298
Swift as a dart it flies; the rest its flight pursue.
XXXV . Wondering, Æneas pauses in amaze,
Yet hails the sign, and gladdens at the sight,
And, gazing on the vaulted skies, he prays,
“Mother of Heaven, whom Dindymus’ famed height,
And tower-girt towns, and lions yoked delight,
Assist the Phrygians, and direct the fray.
Kind Goddess, prosper us, and speed aright
This augury.” He ended, and the day 307
Returning, climbed the sky, and chased the night away.
XXXVI . Forthwith he calls his comrades to arise
And take fresh heart, and for the fight prepare.
Now, from the stern, the Dardans he espies,
Hemmed in their camp. Aloft his hands upbear
The burning shield. With shouts his Dardans tear
Heaven’s concave. Hope with fury fires their veins.
Fast fly their darts, as when through darkened air
With clang and clamour the Strymonian cranes 316
Stream forth, the signal given, from winter’s winds and rains.
XXXVII . Then lost in wonderment, the foemen stand,
Till, looking round, they see the watery ways
A sea of ships, all crowding to the land,
The flaming crest, the helmet all ablaze,
The golden shield-boss, with its lightning rays.
As when a comet, bright with blazing hair,
Its blood-red beams athwart the night displays,
Or Sirius, rising, with its baleful glare 325
Brings pestilence and drought, and saddens all the air.
XXXVIII . Yet quails not Turnus; still his hopes are high
To seize the shore, and keep them from the land.
Now cheering, and now chiding, rings his cry
“Lo, here— ’tis here, the battle ye demand.
Up, crush them; war is in the warrior’s hand.
Think of your fathers and their deeds of old,
Your homes, your wives. Forestall
them on the strand,
Now, while they totter, while the foot’s faint hold 334
Slips on the shelving beach. Fair Fortune aids the bold.”
XXXIX . So saying, he ponders inly, whom to choose
To mind the siege, and whom the foe to meet.
By planks meanwhile Æneas lands his crews.
Some wait until the languid waves retreat,
Then, leaping, to the shallows trust their feet;
Some vault with oars. Brave Tarchon marks, quick-eyed,
A sheltered spot, where neither surf doth beat,
Nor breakers roar, but smooth the waters glide, 343
And up the sloping shore unbroken swells the tide.
XL . Here suddenly he bids them turn the prow,
And shouts aloud, “Now, now, my chosen band,
Lean to your oars; strive lustily and row.
Lift the keel onward, till it cleaves the strand,
And ploughs its furrow in the foeman’s land.
Let the bark break, with such a haven here
What harm, if once upon the shore we stand?”
So Tarchon spake; his comrades, with a cheer, 352
Rise on the smooth-shaved thwarts, and sweep the foaming mere.
XLI . So, one by one, they gain the land, and, whole
And scatheless, on the Latin shore abide.
All safe but Tarchon. Dashed upon a shoal,
Long on a rock’s unequal ridge astride,
In doubtful balance swayed from side to side,
His vessel hangs, and back the waves doth beat,
Then breaks, and leaves them tangled in the tide
‘Twixt planks and oars, while, ebbing to retreat, 361
The shrinking waves draw back, and wash them from their feet.
XLII . Nor loiters Turnus; eager to attack,
Along the shore he marshals his array,
To meet the foe, and drive the Teucrians back.
The trumpet sounds: the Latin churls straightway
Æneas routs, first omen of the day,
Huge Theron slain, their mightiest, who in pride
Of strength, rushed forth and dared him to the fray.
Through quilted brass the Dardan sword he plied, 370
Through tunic stiff with gold, and pierced th’ unguarded side.
XLIII . Lichas he smites, who vowed his infant life,