Obscurely let him rest; his right resign
To promised empire, and his Julian line.
Then Carthage may th' Ausonian towns destroy,

80

Nor fear the race of a rejected boy.

What profits it my son, to 'scape the fire,

Arm'd with his gods, and loaded with his sire ;

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To pass the perils of the seas and wind;

Evade the Greeks, and leave the war behind;

To reach th' Italian shores; if, after all,

Our second Pergamus is doom'd to fall?
Much better had he curb'd his high desires,

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And hover'd o'er his ill-extinguish'd fires.

To Simoïs banks the fugitives restore,

And give them back to war, and all the woes be

fore.'

Deep indignation swell'd Saturnia's heart: 'And must I own, she said, 'my secret smart- 95 What with more decence were in silence kept, And, but for this unjust reproach, had slept ?

Did god or man your fav'rite son advise,
With war unhoped the Latians to surprise ?

By fate, you boast, and by the gods' decree,

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He left his native land for Italy ;

Confess the truth; by mad Cassandra, more
Than heav'n, inspired, he sought a foreign shore.

Did I persuade to trust his second Troy

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To the raw conduct of a beardless boy,
With walls unfinish'd, which himself forsakes,
And through the waves a wand'ring voyage takes?

When have I urged him meanly to demand

The Tuscan aid, and arm a quiet land ?

Did I or Iris give this mad advice ?

110

Or made the fool himself the fatal choice?

You think it hard, the Latians should destroy

With swords your Trojans, and with fires your Troy!

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Hard and unjust indeed, for men to draw
Their native air, nor take a foreign law !
That Turnus is permitted still to live,
To whom his birth a god and goddess give!
But yet 'tis just and lawful for your line
To drive their fields, and force with fraud to join;
Realms, not your own, among your clans divide, 120
And from the bridegroom tear the promised bride;

Petition, while you public arms prepare;
Pretend a peace, and yet provoke a war!
'Twas given to you your darling son to shroud,
To draw the dastard from the fighting crowd,
And, for a man, obtend an empty cloud.
From flaming fleets you turn'd the fire away,
And changed the ships to daughters of the sea.
But 'tis my crime-the queen of heav'n offends,
If she presume to save her suff'ring friends!
Your son, not knowing what his foes decree,
You say, is absent: absent let him be.
Yours is Cythera, yours the Cyprian tow'rs,
The soft recesses and the sacred bow'rs.
Why do you then these needless arms prepare,
And thus provoke a people prone to war?
Did I with fire the Trojan town deface,
Or hinder from return your exiled race?
Was I the cause of mischief, or the man,

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130

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Whose lawless lust the fatal war began?

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Think on whose faith th' adult'rous youth relied;
Who promised, who procured, the Spartan bride ?
When all th' united states of Greece combined

To purge the world of the perfidious kind;
Then was your time to fear the Trojan fate :-

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Your quarrels and complaints are now too late.'

Thus Juno. Murmurs rise, with mix'd applause, Just as they favor or dislike the cause,

So winds, when yet unfledged in woods they lie,
In whispers first their tender voices try,
Then issue on the main with bellowing rage,
And storms to trembling mariners presage.

150

Then thus to both replied th' imperial god, Who shakes heaven's axles with his awful nod. (When he begins, the silent senate stand, With rev'rence list'ning to the dread command: The clouds dispel: the winds their breath restrain ; And the hush'd waves lie flatted on the main.)

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'Celestials! your attentive ears incline!

Since,' said the god, 'the Trojans must not join 160
In wish'd alliance with the Latian line-
Since endless jarrings and immortal hate
Tend but to discompose our happy state-
The war henceforward be resign'd to fate:
Each to his proper fortune stand or fall:

165

Equal and unconcern'd I look on all.

Rutulians, Trojans, are the same to me;
And both shall draw the lots their fates decree.

Let these assault, if Fortune be their friend;
And, if she favors those, let those defend :-
The Fates will find their way.' The thund'rer said;
And shook the sacred honors of his head,

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Attesting Styx, th' inviolable flood,

And the black regions of his brother god.

Trembled the poles of heav'n; and earth confess'd the

nod.

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This end the sessions had: the senate rise,
And to his palace wait their sov'reign through the

skies.

Meantime, intent upon their siege, the foes

Within their walls the Trojan host inclose:

They wound, they kill, they watch at ev'ry gate; 180 Renew the fires, and urge their happy fate.

Th' Æneans wish in vain their wonted chief,

Hopeless of flight, more hopeless of relief.
Thin on the tow'rs they stand; and ev'n those few,
A feeble, fainting, and dejected crew.
Yet in the face of danger some there stood :
The two bold brothers of Sarpedon's blood,
Asius, and Acmon: both th' Assaraci;

185

Young Hæmon, and, though young, resolved to

die.

With these were Clarus and Thymœtes join'd;
Thymbris and Castor, both of Lycian kind.
From Acmon's hands a rolling stone there came,
So large, it half deserved a mountain's name!

190

Strong-sinew'd was the youth, and big of bone:
His brother Mnestheus could not more have done, 195
Or the great father of th' intrepid son.

Some firebrands throw, some flights of arrows send; And some with darts, and some with stones, defend.

Amid the press appears the beauteous boy,
The care of Venus, and the hope of Troy.
His lovely face unarm'd, his head was bare ;
In ringlets o'er his shoulders hung his hair.
His forehead circled with a diadem;

200

Distinguish'd from the crowd, he shines a gem,
Enchased in gold, or polish'd ivory set,
Amidst the meaner foil of sable jet.

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Nor Ismarus was wanting to the war, Directing pointed arrows from afar, And death with poison arm'd-in Lydia born, Where plenteous harvests the fat fields adorn; Where proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands, And leaves a rich manure of golden sands. There Capys, author of the Capuan name, And there was Mnestheus, too, increased in fame, Since Turnus from the camp he cast with shame. 215

Thus mortal war was waged on either side.

Meantime the hero cuts the nightly tide;
For, anxious, from Evander when he went,
He sought the Tyrrhene camp, and Tarchon's tent;

Exposed the cause of coming to the chief;
His name and country told, and ask'd relief;
Proposed the terms; his own small strength declared :
What vengeance proud Mezentius had prepared;

220

What Turnus, bold and violent, design'd;
Then show'd the slipp'ry state of humankind,
And fickle fortune; warn'd him to beware,
And to his wholesome counsel added pray'r.
Tarchon, without delay, the treaty signs,
And to the Trojan troops the Tuscan joins.

225

They soon set sail; nor now the Fates withstand;

Their forces trusted with a foreign hand.
Æneas leads; upon his stern appear
Two lions carved, which rising Ida bear-
Ida, to wand'ring Trojans ever dear.
Under their grateful shade Æneas sate,
Revolving war's events, and various fate.
His left young Pallas kept, fix'd to his side,
And oft of winds inquired, and of the tide :
Oft of the stars, and of their wat'ry way;
And what he suffer'd both by land and sea.
Now, sacred sisters, open all your spring!
The Tuscan leaders, and their army, sing,
Which follow'd great Æneas to the war:
Their arms, their numbers, and their names, declare.

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235

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A thousand youths brave Massicus obey, Borne in the Tiger through the foaming sea; From Clusium brought, and Cosa, by his care: For arms, light quivers, bows and shafts, they bear. Fierce Abas next: his men bright armor wore :

245

His stern Apollo's golden statue bore.

250