Aeneid Contents

Virgil

Aeneid

Translated by John Dryden

Book 3

1 "When Heav'n had overturn'd the Trojan state
2 And Priam's throne, by too severe a fate;
3 When ruin'd Troy became the Grecians' prey,
4 And Ilium's lofty tow'rs in ashes lay;
5 Warn'd by celestial omens, we retreat,
6 To seek in foreign lands a happier seat.
7 Near old Antandros, and at Ida's foot,
8 The timber of the sacred groves we cut,
9 And build our fleet; uncertain yet to find
10 What place the gods for our repose assign'd.
11 Friends daily flock; and scarce the kindly spring
12 Began to clothe the ground, and birds to sing,
13 When old Anchises summon'd all to sea:
14 The crew my father and the Fates obey.
15 With sighs and tears I leave my native shore,
16 And empty fields, where Ilium stood before.
17 My sire, my son, our less and greater gods,
18 All sail at once, and cleave the briny floods.

19 "Against our coast appears a spacious land,
20 Which once the fierce Lycurgus did command,
21 (Thracia the name- the people bold in war;
22 Vast are their fields, and tillage is their care,)
23 A hospitable realm while Fate was kind,
24 With Troy in friendship and religion join'd.
25 I land; with luckless omens then adore
26 Their gods, and draw a line along the shore;
27 I lay the deep foundations of a wall,
28 And Aenos, nam'd from me, the city call.
29 To Dionaean Venus vows are paid,
30 And all the pow'rs that rising labors aid;
31 A bull on Jove's imperial altar laid.
32 Not far, a rising hillock stood in view;
33 Sharp myrtles on the sides, and cornels grew.
34 There, while I went to crop the sylvan scenes,
35 And shade our altar with their leafy greens,
36 I pull'd a plant- with horror I relate
37 A prodigy so strange and full of fate.
38 The rooted fibers rose, and from the wound
39 Black bloody drops distill'd upon the ground.
40 Mute and amaz'd, my hair with terror stood;
41 Fear shrunk my sinews, and congeal'd my blood.
42 Mann'd once again, another plant I try:
43 That other gush'd with the same sanguine dye.
44 Then, fearing guilt for some offense unknown,
45 With pray'rs and vows the Dryads I atone,
46 With all the sisters of the woods, and most
47 The God of Arms, who rules the Thracian coast,
48 That they, or he, these omens would avert,
49 Release our fears, and better signs impart.
50 Clear'd, as I thought, and fully fix'd at length
51 To learn the cause, I tugged with all my strength:
52 I bent my knees against the ground; once more
53 The violated myrtle ran with gore.
54 Scarce dare I tell the sequel: from the womb
55 Of wounded earth, and caverns of the tomb,
56 A groan, as of a troubled ghost, renew'd
57 My fright, and then these dreadful words ensued:
58 'Why dost thou thus my buried body rend?
59 O spare the corpse of thy unhappy friend!
60 Spare to pollute thy pious hands with blood:
61 The tears distil not from the wounded wood;
62 But ev'ry drop this living tree contains
63 Is kindred blood, and ran in Trojan veins.
64 O fly from this unhospitable shore,
65 Warn'd by my fate; for I am Polydore!
66 Here loads of lances, in my blood embrued,
67 Again shoot upward, by my blood renew'd.'

68 "My falt'ring tongue and shiv'ring limbs declare
69 My horror, and in bristles rose my hair.
70 When Troy with Grecian arms was closely pent,
71 Old Priam, fearful of the war's event,
72 This hapless Polydore to Thracia sent:
73 Loaded with gold, he sent his darling, far
74 From noise and tumults, and destructive war,
75 Committed to the faithless tyrant's care;
76 Who, when he saw the pow'r of Troy decline,
77 Forsook the weaker, with the strong to join;
78 Broke ev'ry bond of nature and of truth,
79 And murder'd, for his wealth, the royal youth.
80 O sacred hunger of pernicious gold!
81 What bands of faith can impious lucre hold?
82 Now, when my soul had shaken off her fears,
83 I call my father and the Trojan peers;
84 Relate the prodigies of Heav'n, require
85 What he commands, and their advice desire.
86 All vote to leave that execrable shore,
87 Polluted with the blood of Polydore;
88 But, ere we sail, his fun'ral rites prepare,
89 Then, to his ghost, a tomb and altars rear.
90 In mournful pomp the matrons walk the round,
91 With baleful cypress and blue fillets crown'd,
92 With eyes dejected, and with hair unbound.
93 Then bowls of tepid milk and blood we pour,
94 And thrice invoke the soul of Polydore.

95 "Now, when the raging storms no longer reign,
96 But southern gales invite us to the main,
97 We launch our vessels, with a prosp'rous wind,
98 And leave the cities and the shores behind.

99 "An island in th' Aegaean main appears;
100 Neptune and wat'ry Doris claim it theirs.
101 It floated once, till Phoebus fix'd the sides
102 To rooted earth, and now it braves the tides.
103 Here, borne by friendly winds, we come ashore,
104 With needful ease our weary limbs restore,
105 And the Sun's temple and his town adore.

106 "Anius, the priest and king, with laurel crown'd,
107 His hoary locks with purple fillets bound,
108 Who saw my sire the Delian shore ascend,
109 Came forth with eager haste to meet his friend;
110 Invites him to his palace; and, in sign
111 Of ancient love, their plighted hands they join.
112 Then to the temple of the god I went,
113 And thus, before the shrine, my vows present:
114 'Give, O Thymbraeus, give a resting place
115 To the sad relics of the Trojan race;
116 A seat secure, a region of their own,
117 A lasting empire, and a happier town.
118 Where shall we fix? where shall our labors end?
119 Whom shall we follow, and what fate attend?
120 Let not my pray'rs a doubtful answer find;
121 But in clear auguries unveil thy mind.'
122 Scarce had I said: he shook the holy ground,
123 The laurels, and the lofty hills around;
124 And from the tripos rush'd a bellowing sound.
125 Prostrate we fell; confess'd the present god,
126 Who gave this answer from his dark abode:
127 'Undaunted youths, go, seek that mother earth
128 From which your ancestors derive their birth.
129 The soil that sent you forth, her ancient race
130 In her old bosom shall again embrace.
131 Thro' the wide world th' Aeneian house shall reign,
132 And children's children shall the crown sustain.'
133 Thus Phoebus did our future fates disclose:
134 A mighty tumult, mix'd with joy, arose.

135 "All are concern'd to know what place the god
136 Assign'd, and where determin'd our abode.
137 My father, long revolving in his mind
138 The race and lineage of the Trojan kind,
139 Thus answer'd their demands: 'Ye princes, hear
140 Your pleasing fortune, and dispel your fear.
141 The fruitful isle of Crete, well known to fame,
142 Sacred of old to Jove's imperial name,
143 In the mid ocean lies, with large command,
144 And on its plains a hundred cities stand.
145 Another Ida rises there, and we
146 From thence derive our Trojan ancestry.
147 From thence, as 't is divulg'd by certain fame,
148 To the Rhoetean shores old Teucrus came;
149 There fix'd, and there the seat of empire chose,
150 Ere Ilium and the Trojan tow'rs arose.
151 In humble vales they built their soft abodes,
152 Till Cybele, the mother of the gods,
153 With tinkling cymbals charm'd th' Idaean woods,
154 She secret rites and ceremonies taught,
155 And to the yoke the savage lions brought.
156 Let us the land which Heav'n appoints, explore;
157 Appease the winds, and seek the Gnossian shore.
158 If Jove assists the passage of our fleet,
159 The third propitious dawn discovers Crete.'
160 Thus having said, the sacrifices, laid
161 On smoking altars, to the gods he paid:
162 A bull, to Neptune an oblation due,
163 Another bull to bright Apollo slew;
164 A milk-white ewe, the western winds to please,
165 And one coal-black, to calm the stormy seas.
166 Ere this, a flying rumor had been spread
167 That fierce Idomeneus from Crete was fled,
168 Expell'd and exil'd; that the coast was free
169 From foreign or domestic enemy.

170 "We leave the Delian ports, and put to sea;
171 By Naxos, fam'd for vintage, make our way;
172 Then green Donysa pass; and sail in sight
173 Of Paros' isle, with marble quarries white.
174 We pass the scatter'd isles of Cyclades,
175 That, scarce distinguish'd, seem to stud the seas.
176 The shouts of sailors double near the shores;
177 They stretch their canvas, and they ply their oars.
178 'All hands aloft! for Crete! for Crete!' they cry,
179 And swiftly thro' the foamy billows fly.
180 Full on the promis'd land at length we bore,
181 With joy descending on the Cretan shore.
182 With eager haste a rising town I frame,
183 Which from the Trojan Pergamus I name:
184 The name itself was grateful; I exhort
185 To found their houses, and erect a fort.
186 Our ships are haul'd upon the yellow strand;
187 The youth begin to till the labor'd land;
188 And I myself new marriages promote,
189 Give laws, and dwellings I divide by lot;
190 When rising vapors choke the wholesome air,
191 And blasts of noisome winds corrupt the year;
192 The trees devouring caterpillars burn;
193 Parch'd was the grass, and blighted was the corn:
194 Nor 'scape the beasts; for Sirius, from on high,
195 With pestilential heat infects the sky:
196 My men- some fall, the rest in fevers fry.
197 Again my father bids me seek the shore
198 Of sacred Delos, and the god implore,
199 To learn what end of woes we might expect,
200 And to what clime our weary course direct.

201 "'T was night, when ev'ry creature, void of cares,
202 The common gift of balmy slumber shares:
203 The statues of my gods (for such they seem'd),
204 Those gods whom I from flaming Troy redeem'd,
205 Before me stood, majestically bright,
206 Full in the beams of Phoebe's ent'ring light.
207 Then thus they spoke, and eas'd my troubled mind:
208 'What from the Delian god thou go'st to find,
209 He tells thee here, and sends us to relate.
210 Those pow'rs are we, companions of thy fate,
211 Who from the burning town by thee were brought,
212 Thy fortune follow'd, and thy safety wrought.
213 Thro' seas and lands as we thy steps attend,
214 So shall our care thy glorious race befriend.
215 An ample realm for thee thy fates ordain,
216 A town that o'er the conquer'd world shall reign.
217 Thou, mighty walls for mighty nations build;
218 Nor let thy weary mind to labors yield:
219 But change thy seat; for not the Delian god,
220 Nor we, have giv'n thee Crete for our abode.
221 A land there is, Hesperia call'd of old,
222 (The soil is fruitful, and the natives bold-
223 Th' Oenotrians held it once,) by later fame
224 Now call'd Italia, from the leader's name.
225 lasius there and Dardanus were born;
226 From thence we came, and thither must return.
227 Rise, and thy sire with these glad tidings greet.
228 Search Italy; for Jove denies thee Crete.'

229 "Astonish'd at their voices and their sight,
230 (Nor were they dreams, but visions of the night;
231 I saw, I knew their faces, and descried,
232 In perfect view, their hair with fillets tied;)
233 I started from my couch; a clammy sweat
234 On all my limbs and shiv'ring body sate.
235 To heav'n I lift my hands with pious haste,
236 And sacred incense in the flames I cast.
237 Thus to the gods their perfect honors done,
238 More cheerful, to my good old sire I run,
239 And tell the pleasing news. In little space
240 He found his error of the double race;
241 Not, as before he deem'd, deriv'd from Crete;
242 No more deluded by the doubtful seat:
243 Then said: 'O son, turmoil'd in Trojan fate!
244 Such things as these Cassandra did relate.
245 This day revives within my mind what she
246 Foretold of Troy renew'd in Italy,
247 And Latian lands; but who could then have thought
248 That Phrygian gods to Latium should be brought,
249 Or who believ'd what mad Cassandra taught?
250 Now let us go where Phoebus leads the way.'

251 "He said; and we with glad consent obey,
252 Forsake the seat, and, leaving few behind,
253 We spread our sails before the willing wind.
254 Now from the sight of land our galleys move,
255 With only seas around and skies above;
256 When o'er our heads descends a burst of rain,
257 And night with sable clouds involves the main;
258 The ruffling winds the foamy billows raise;
259 The scatter'd fleet is forc'd to sev'ral ways;
260 The face of heav'n is ravish'd from our eyes,
261 And in redoubled peals the roaring thunder flies.
262 Cast from our course, we wander in the dark.
263 No stars to guide, no point of land to mark.
264 Ev'n Palinurus no distinction found
265 Betwixt the night and day; such darkness reign'd around.
266 Three starless nights the doubtful navy strays,
267 Without distinction, and three sunless days;
268 The fourth renews the light, and, from our shrouds,
269 We view a rising land, like distant clouds;
270 The mountain-tops confirm the pleasing sight,
271 And curling smoke ascending from their height.
272 The canvas falls; their oars the sailors ply;
273 From the rude strokes the whirling waters fly.
274 At length I land upon the Strophades,
275 Safe from the danger of the stormy seas.
276 Those isles are compass'd by th' Ionian main,
277 The dire abode where the foul Harpies reign,
278 Forc'd by the winged warriors to repair
279 To their old homes, and leave their costly fare.
280 Monsters more fierce offended Heav'n ne'er sent
281 From hell's abyss, for human punishment:
282 With virgin faces, but with wombs obscene,
283 Foul paunches, and with ordure still unclean;
284 With claws for hands, and looks for ever lean.

285 "We landed at the port, and soon beheld
286 Fat herds of oxen graze the flow'ry field,
287 And wanton goats without a keeper stray'd.
288 With weapons we the welcome prey invade,
289 Then call the gods for partners of our feast,
290 And Jove himself, the chief invited guest.
291 We spread the tables on the greensward ground;
292 We feed with hunger, and the bowls go round;
293 When from the mountain-tops, with hideous cry,
294 And clatt'ring wings, the hungry Harpies fly;
295 They snatch the meat, defiling all they find,
296 And, parting, leave a loathsome stench behind.
297 Close by a hollow rock, again we sit,
298 New dress the dinner, and the beds refit,
299 Secure from sight, beneath a pleasing shade,
300 Where tufted trees a native arbor made.
301 Again the holy fires on altars burn;
302 And once again the rav'nous birds return,
303 Or from the dark recesses where they lie,
304 Or from another quarter of the sky;
305 With filthy claws their odious meal repeat,
306 And mix their loathsome ordures with their meat.
307 I bid my friends for vengeance then prepare,
308 And with the hellish nation wage the war.
309 They, as commanded, for the fight provide,
310 And in the grass their glitt'ring weapons hide;
311 Then, when along the crooked shore we hear
312 Their clatt'ring wings, and saw the foes appear,
313 Misenus sounds a charge: we take th' alarm,
314 And our strong hands with swords and bucklers arm.
315 In this new kind of combat all employ
316 Their utmost force, the monsters to destroy.
317 In vain- the fated skin is proof to wounds;
318 And from their plumes the shining sword rebounds.
319 At length rebuff'd, they leave their mangled prey,
320 And their stretch'd pinions to the skies display.
321 Yet one remain'd- the messenger of Fate:
322 High on a craggy cliff Celaeno sate,
323 And thus her dismal errand did relate:
324 'What! not contented with our oxen slain,
325 Dare you with Heav'n an impious war maintain,
326 And drive the Harpies from their native reign?
327 Heed therefore what I say; and keep in mind
328 What Jove decrees, what Phoebus has design'd,
329 And I, the Furies' queen, from both relate-
330 You seek th' Italian shores, foredoom'd by fate:
331 Th' Italian shores are granted you to find,
332 And a safe passage to the port assign'd.
333 But know, that ere your promis'd walls you build,
334 My curses shall severely be fulfill'd.
335 Fierce famine is your lot for this misdeed,
336 Reduc'd to grind the plates on which you feed.'
337 She said, and to the neighb'ring forest flew.
338 Our courage fails us, and our fears renew.
339 Hopeless to win by war, to pray'rs we fall,
340 And on th' offended Harpies humbly call,
341 And whether gods or birds obscene they were,
342 Our vows for pardon and for peace prefer.
343 But old Anchises, off'ring sacrifice,
344 And lifting up to heav'n his hands and eyes,
345 Ador'd the greater gods: 'Avert,' said he,
346 'These omens; render vain this prophecy,
347 And from th' impending curse a pious people free!'

348 "Thus having said, he bids us put to sea;
349 We loose from shore our haulsers, and obey,
350 And soon with swelling sails pursue the wat'ry way.
351 Amidst our course, Zacynthian woods appear;
352 And next by rocky Neritos we steer:
353 We fly from Ithaca's detested shore,
354 And curse the land which dire Ulysses bore.
355 At length Leucate's cloudy top appears,
356 And the Sun's temple, which the sailor fears.
357 Resolv'd to breathe a while from labor past,
358 Our crooked anchors from the prow we cast,
359 And joyful to the little city haste.
360 Here, safe beyond our hopes, our vows we pay
361 To Jove, the guide and patron of our way.
362 The customs of our country we pursue,
363 And Trojan games on Actian shores renew.
364 Our youth their naked limbs besmear with oil,
365 And exercise the wrastlers' noble toil;
366 Pleas'd to have sail'd so long before the wind,
367 And left so many Grecian towns behind.
368 The sun had now fulfill'd his annual course,
369 And Boreas on the seas display'd his force:
370 I fix'd upon the temple's lofty door
371 The brazen shield which vanquish'd Abas bore;
372 The verse beneath my name and action speaks:
373 'These arms Aeneas took from conqu'ring Greeks.'
374 Then I command to weigh; the seamen ply
375 Their sweeping oars; the smoking billows fly.
376 The sight of high Phaeacia soon we lost,
377 And skimm'd along Epirus' rocky coast.

378 "Then to Chaonia's port our course we bend,
379 And, landed, to Buthrotus' heights ascend.
380 Here wondrous things were loudly blaz'd fame:
381 How Helenus reviv'd the Trojan name,
382 And reign'd in Greece; that Priam's captive son
383 Succeeded Pyrrhus in his bed and throne;
384 And fair Andromache, restor'd by fate,
385 Once more was happy in a Trojan mate.
386 I leave my galleys riding in the port,
387 And long to see the new Dardanian court.
388 By chance, the mournful queen, before the gate,
389 Then solemniz'd her former husband's fate.
390 Green altars, rais'd of turf, with gifts she crown'd,
391 And sacred priests in order stand around,
392 And thrice the name of hapless Hector sound.
393 The grove itself resembles Ida's wood;
394 And Simois seem'd the well-dissembled flood.
395 But when at nearer distance she beheld
396 My shining armor and my Trojan shield,
397 Astonish'd at the sight, the vital heat
398 Forsakes her limbs; her veins no longer beat:
399 She faints, she falls, and scarce recov'ring strength,
400 Thus, with a falt'ring tongue, she speaks at length:

401 "'Are you alive, O goddess-born ?' she said,
402 'Or if a ghost, then where is Hector's shade?'
403 At this, she cast a loud and frightful cry.
404 With broken words I made this brief reply:
405 'All of me that remains appears in sight;
406 I live, if living be to loathe the light.
407 No phantom; but I drag a wretched life,
408 My fate resembling that of Hector's wife.
409 What have you suffer'd since you lost your lord?
410 By what strange blessing are you now restor'd?
411 Still are you Hector's? or is Hector fled,
412 And his remembrance lost in Pyrrhus' bed?'
413 With eyes dejected, in a lowly tone,
414 After a modest pause she thus begun:

415 "'O only happy maid of Priam's race,
416 Whom death deliver'd from the foes' embrace!
417 Commanded on Achilles' tomb to die,
418 Not forc'd, like us, to hard captivity,
419 Or in a haughty master's arms to lie.
420 In Grecian ships unhappy we were borne,
421 Endur'd the victor's lust, sustain'd the scorn:
422 Thus I submitted to the lawless pride
423 Of Pyrrhus, more a handmaid than a bride.
424 Cloy'd with possession, he forsook my bed,
425 And Helen's lovely daughter sought to wed;
426 Then me to Trojan Helenus resign'd,
427 And his two slaves in equal marriage join'd;
428 Till young Orestes, pierc'd with deep despair,
429 And longing to redeem the promis'd fair,
430 Before Apollo's altar slew the ravisher.
431 By Pyrrhus' death the kingdom we regain'd:
432 At least one half with Helenus remain'd.
433 Our part, from Chaon, he Chaonia calls,
434 And names from Pergamus his rising walls.
435 But you, what fates have landed on our coast?
436 What gods have sent you, or what storms have toss'd?
437 Does young Ascanius life and health enjoy,
438 Sav'd from the ruins of unhappy Troy?
439 O tell me how his mother's loss he bears,
440 What hopes are promis'd from his blooming years,
441 How much of Hector in his face appears?'
442 She spoke; and mix'd her speech with mournful cries,
443 And fruitless tears came trickling from her eyes.

444 "At length her lord descends upon the plain,
445 In pomp, attended with a num'rous train;
446 Receives his friends, and to the city leads,
447 And tears of joy amidst his welcome sheds.
448 Proceeding on, another Troy I see,
449 Or, in less compass, Troy's epitome.
450 A riv'let by the name of Xanthus ran,
451 And I embrace the Scaean gate again.
452 My friends in porticoes were entertain'd,
453 And feasts and pleasures thro' the city reign'd.
454 The tables fill'd the spacious hall around,
455 And golden bowls with sparkling wine were crown'd.
456 Two days we pass'd in mirth, till friendly gales,
457 Blown from the supplied our swelling sails.
458 Then to the royal seer I thus began:
459 'O thou, who know'st, beyond the reach of man,
460 The laws of heav'n, and what the stars decree;
461 Whom Phoebus taught unerring prophecy,
462 From his own tripod, and his holy tree;
463 Skill'd in the wing'd inhabitants of air,
464 What auspices their notes and flights declare:
465 O say- for all religious rites portend
466 A happy voyage, and a prosp'rous end;
467 And ev'ry power and omen of the sky
468 Direct my course for destin'd Italy;
469 But only dire Celaeno, from the gods,
470 A dismal famine fatally forebodes-
471 O say what dangers I am first to shun,
472 What toils vanquish, and what course to run.'

473 "The prophet first with sacrifice adores
474 The greater gods; their pardon then implores;
475 Unbinds the fillet from his holy head;
476 To Phoebus, next, my trembling steps he led,
477 Full of religious doubts and awful dread.
478 Then, with his god possess'd, before the shrine,
479 These words proceeded from his mouth divine:
480 'O goddess-born, (for Heav'n's appointed will,
481 With greater auspices of good than ill,
482 Foreshows thy voyage, and thy course directs;
483 Thy fates conspire, and Jove himself protects,)
484 Of many things some few I shall explain,
485 Teach thee to shun the dangers of the main,
486 And how at length the promis'd shore to gain.
487 The rest the fates from Helenus conceal,
488 And Juno's angry pow'r forbids to tell.
489 First, then, that happy shore, that seems so nigh,
490 Will far from your deluded wishes fly;
491 Long tracts of seas divide your hopes from Italy:
492 For you must cruise along Sicilian shores,
493 And stem the currents with your struggling oars;
494 Then round th' Italian coast your navy steer;
495 And, after this, to Circe's island veer;
496 And, last, before your new foundations rise,
497 Must pass the Stygian lake, and view the nether skies.
498 Now mark the signs of future ease and rest,
499 And bear them safely treasur'd in thy breast.
500 When, in the shady shelter of a wood,
501 And near the margin of a gentle flood,
502 Thou shalt behold a sow upon the ground,
503 With thirty sucking young encompass'd round;
504 The dam and offspring white as falling snow-
505 These on thy city shall their name bestow,
506 And there shall end thy labors and thy woe.
507 Nor let the threaten'd famine fright thy mind,
508 For Phoebus will assist, and Fate the way will find.
509 Let not thy course to that ill coast be bent,
510 Which fronts from far th' Epirian continent:
511 Those parts are all by Grecian foes possess'd;
512 The salvage Locrians here the shores infest;
513 There fierce Idomeneus his city builds,
514 And guards with arms the Salentinian fields;
515 And on the mountain's brow Petilia stands,
516 Which Philoctetes with his troops commands.
517 Ev'n when thy fleet is landed on the shore,
518 And priests with holy vows the gods adore,
519 Then with a purple veil involve your eyes,
520 Lest hostile faces blast the sacrifice.
521 These rites and customs to the rest commend,
522 That to your pious race they may descend.

[lineation error --DR]

524 "'When, parted hence, the wind, that ready waits
525 For Sicily, shall bear you to the straits
526 Where proud Pelorus opes a wider way,
527 Tack to the larboard, and stand off to sea:
528 Veer starboard sea and land. Th' Italian shore
529 And fair Sicilia's coast were one, before
530 An earthquake caus'd the flaw: the roaring tides
531 The passage broke that land from land divides;
532 And where the lands retir'd, the rushing ocean rides.
533 Distinguish'd by the straits, on either hand,
534 Now rising cities in long order stand,
535 And fruitful fields: so much can time invade
536 The mold'ring work that beauteous Nature made.
537 Far on the right, her dogs foul Scylla hides:
538 Charybdis roaring on the left presides,
539 And in her greedy whirlpool sucks the tides;
540 Then spouts them from below: with fury driv'n,
541 The waves mount up and wash the face of heav'n.
542 But Scylla from her den, with open jaws,
543 The sinking vessel in her eddy draws,
544 Then dashes on the rocks. A human face,
545 And virgin bosom, hides her tail's disgrace:
546 Her parts obscene below the waves descend,
547 With dogs inclos'd, and in a dolphin end.
548 'T is safer, then, to bear aloof to sea,
549 And coast Pachynus, tho' with more delay,
550 Than once to view misshapen Scylla near,
551 And the loud yell of wat'ry wolves to hear.

552 "'Besides, if faith to Helenus be due,
553 And if prophetic Phoebus tell me true,
554 Do not this precept of your friend forget,
555 Which therefore more than once I must repeat:
556 Above the rest, great Juno's name adore;
557 Pay vows to Juno; Juno's aid implore.
558 Let gifts be to the mighty queen design'd,
559 And mollify with pray'rs her haughty mind.
560 Thus, at the length, your passage shall be free,
561 And you shall safe descend on Italy.
562 Arriv'd at Cumae, when you view the flood
563 Of black Avernus, and the sounding wood,
564 The mad prophetic Sibyl you shall find,
565 Dark in a cave, and on a rock reclin'd.
566 She sings the fates, and, in her frantic fits,
567 The notes and names, inscrib'd, to leafs commits.
568 What she commits to leafs, in order laid,
569 Before the cavern's entrance are display'd:
570 Unmov'd they lie; but, if a blast of wind
571 Without, or vapors issue from behind,
572 The leafs are borne aloft in liquid air,
573 And she resumes no more her museful care,
574 Nor gathers from the rocks her scatter'd verse,
575 Nor sets in order what the winds disperse.
576 Thus, many not succeeding, most upbraid
577 The madness of the visionary maid,
578 And with loud curses leave the mystic shade.

579 "'Think it not loss of time a while to stay,
580 Tho' thy companions chide thy long delay;
581 Tho' summon'd to the seas, tho' pleasing gales
582 Invite thy course, and stretch thy swelling sails:
583 But beg the sacred priestess to relate
584 With willing words, and not to write thy fate.
585 The fierce Italian people she will show,
586 And all thy wars, and all thy future woe,
587 And what thou may'st avoid, and what must undergo.
588 She shall direct thy course, instruct thy mind,
589 And teach thee how the happy shores to find.
590 This is what Heav'n allows me to relate:
591 Now part in peace; pursue thy better fate,
592 And raise, by strength of arms, the Trojan state.'

593 "This when the priest with friendly voice declar'd,
594 He gave me license, and rich gifts prepar'd:
595 Bounteous of treasure, he supplied my want
596 With heavy gold, and polish'd elephant;
597 Then Dodonaean caldrons put on board,
598 And ev'ry ship with sums of silver stor'd.
599 A trusty coat of mail to me he sent,
600 Thrice chain'd with gold, for use and ornament;
601 The helm of Pyrrhus added to the rest,
602 That flourish'd with a plume and waving crest.
603 Nor was my sire forgotten, nor my friends;
604 And large recruits he to my navy sends:
605 Men, horses, captains, arms, and warlike stores;
606 Supplies new pilots, and new sweeping oars.
607 Meantime, my sire commands to hoist our sails,
608 Lest we should lose the first auspicious gales.

609 "The prophet bless'd the parting crew, and last,
610 With words like these, his ancient friend embrac'd:
611 'Old happy man, the care of gods above,
612 Whom heav'nly Venus honor'd with her love,
613 And twice preserv'd thy life, when Troy was lost,
614 Behold from far the wish'd Ausonian coast:
615 There land; but take a larger compass round,
616 For that before is all forbidden ground.
617 The shore that Phoebus has design'd for you,
618 At farther distance lies, conceal'd from view.
619 Go happy hence, and seek your new abodes,
620 Blest in a son, and favor'd by the gods:
621 For I with useless words prolong your stay,
622 When southern gales have summon'd you away.'

623 "Nor less the queen our parting thence deplor'd,
624 Nor was less bounteous than her Trojan lord.
625 A noble present to my son she brought,
626 A robe with flow'rs on golden tissue wrought,
627 A phrygian vest; and loads with gifts beside
628 Of precious texture, and of Asian pride.
629 'Accept,' she said, 'these monuments of love,
630 Which in my youth with happier hands I wove:
631 Regard these trifles for the giver's sake;
632 'T is the last present Hector's wife can make.
633 Thou call'st my lost Astyanax to mind;
634 In thee his features and his form I find:
635 His eyes so sparkled with a lively flame;
636 Such were his motions; such was all his frame;
637 And ah! had Heav'n so pleas'd, his years had been the same.'

638 "With tears I took my last adieu, and said:
639 'Your fortune, happy pair, already made,
640 Leaves you no farther wish. My diff'rent state,
641 Avoiding one, incurs another fate.
642 To you a quiet seat the gods allow:
643 You have no shores to search, no seas to plow,
644 Nor fields of flying Italy to chase:
645 (Deluding visions, and a vain embrace!)
646 You see another Simois, and enjoy
647 The labor of your hands, another Troy,
648 With better auspice than her ancient tow'rs,
649 And less obnoxious to the Grecian pow'rs.
650 If e'er the gods, whom I with vows adore,
651 Conduct my steps to Tiber's happy shore;
652 If ever I ascend the Latian throne,
653 And build a city I may call my own;
654 As both of us our birth from Troy derive,
655 So let our kindred lines in concord live,
656 And both in acts of equal friendship strive.
657 Our fortunes, good or bad, shall be the same:
658 The double Troy shall differ but in name;
659 That what we now begin may never end,
660 But long to late posterity descend.'

661 "Near the Ceraunian rocks our course we bore;
662 The shortest passage to th' Italian shore.
663 Now had the sun withdrawn his radiant light,
664 And hills were hid in dusky shades of night:
665 We land, and, on the bosom Of the ground,
666 A safe retreat and a bare lodging found.
667 Close by the shore we lay; the sailors keep
668 Their watches, and the rest securely sleep.
669 The night, proceeding on with silent pace,
670 Stood in her noon, and view'd with equal face
671 Her steepy rise and her declining race.
672 Then wakeful Palinurus rose, to spy
673 The face of heav'n, and the nocturnal sky;
674 And listen'd ev'ry breath of air to try;
675 Observes the stars, and notes their sliding course,
676 The Pleiads, Hyads, and their wat'ry force;
677 And both the Bears is careful to behold,
678 And bright Orion, arm'd with burnish'd gold.
679 Then, when he saw no threat'ning tempest nigh,
680 But a sure promise of a settled sky,
681 He gave the sign to weigh; we break our sleep,
682 Forsake the pleasing shore, and plow the deep.

683 "And now the rising morn with rosy light
684 Adorns the skies, and puts the stars to flight;
685 When we from far, like bluish mists, descry
686 The hills, and then the plains, of Italy.
687 Achates first pronounc'd the joyful sound;
688 Then, 'Italy!' the cheerful crew rebound.
689 My sire Anchises crown'd a cup with wine,
690 And, off'ring, thus implor'd the pow'rs divine:
691 'Ye gods, presiding over lands and seas,
692 And you who raging winds and waves appease,
693 Breathe on our swelling sails a prosp'rous wind,
694 And smooth our passage to the port assign'd!'
695 The gentle gales their flagging force renew,
696 And now the happy harbor is in view.
697 Minerva's temple then salutes our sight,
698 Plac'd, as a landmark, on the mountain's height.
699 We furl our sails, and turn the prows to shore;
700 The curling waters round the galleys roar.
701 The land lies open to the raging east,
702 Then, bending like a bow, with rocks compress'd,
703 Shuts out the storms; the winds and waves complain,
704 And vent their malice on the cliffs in vain.
705 The port lies hid within; on either side
706 Two tow'ring rocks the narrow mouth divide.
707 The temple, which aloft we view'd before,
708 To distance flies, and seems to shun the shore.
709 Scarce landed, the first omens I beheld
710 Were four white steeds that cropp'd the flow'ry field.
711 'War, war is threaten'd from this foreign ground,'
712 My father cried, 'where warlike steeds are found.
713 Yet, since reclaim'd to chariots they submit,
714 And bend to stubborn yokes, and champ the bit,
715 Peace may succeed to war.' Our way we bend
716 To Pallas, and the sacred hill ascend;
717 There prostrate to the fierce virago pray,
718 Whose temple was the landmark of our way.
719 Each with a Phrygian mantle veil'd his head,
720 And all commands of Helenus obey'd,
721 And pious rites to Grecian Juno paid.
722 These dues perform'd, we stretch our sails, and stand
723 To sea, forsaking that suspected land.

724 "From hence Tarentum's bay appears in view,
725 For Hercules renown'd, if fame be true.
726 Just opposite, Lacinian Juno stands;
727 Caulonian tow'rs, and Scylacaean strands,
728 For shipwrecks fear'd. Mount Aetna thence we spy,
729 Known by the smoky flames which cloud the sky.
730 Far off we hear the waves with surly sound
731 Invade the rocks, the rocks their groans rebound.
732 The billows break upon the sounding strand,
733 And roll the rising tide, impure with sand.
734 Then thus Anchises, in experience old:
735 ''T is that Charybdis which the seer foretold,
736 And those the promis'd rocks! Bear off to sea!'
737 With haste the frighted mariners obey.
738 First Palinurus to the larboard veer'd;
739 Then all the fleet by his example steer'd.
740 To heav'n aloft on ridgy waves we ride,
741 Then down to hell descend, when they divide;
742 And thrice our galleys knock'd the stony ground,
743 And thrice the hollow rocks return'd the sound,
744 And thrice we saw the stars, that stood with dews around.
745 The flagging winds forsook us, with the sun;
746 And, wearied, on Cyclopian shores we run.
747 The port capacious, and secure from wind,
748 Is to the foot of thund'ring Aetna join'd.
749 By turns a pitchy cloud she rolls on high;
750 By turns hot embers from her entrails fly,
751 And flakes of mounting flames, that lick the sky.
752 Oft from her bowels massy rocks are thrown,
753 And, shiver'd by the force, come piecemeal down.
754 Oft liquid lakes of burning sulphur flow,
755 Fed from the fiery springs that boil below.
756 Enceladus, they say, transfix'd by Jove,
757 With blasted limbs came tumbling from above;
758 And, where he fell, th' avenging father drew
759 This flaming hill, and on his body threw.
760 As often as he turns his weary sides,
761 He shakes the solid isle, and smoke the heavens hides.
762 In shady woods we pass the tedious night,
763 Where bellowing sounds and groans our souls affright,
764 Of which no cause is offer'd to the sight;
765 For not one star was kindled in the sky,
766 Nor could the moon her borrow'd light supply;
767 For misty clouds involv'd the firmament,
768 The stars were muffled, and the moon was pent.

769 "Scarce had the rising sun the day reveal'd,
770 Scarce had his heat the pearly dews dispell'd,
771 When from the woods there bolts, before our sight,
772 Somewhat betwixt a mortal and a sprite,
773 So thin, so ghastly meager, and so wan,
774 So bare of flesh, he scarce resembled man.
775 This thing, all tatter'd, seem'd from far t' implore
776 Our pious aid, and pointed to the shore.
777 We look behind, then view his shaggy beard;
778 His clothes were tagg'd with thorns, and filth his limbs besmear'd;
779 The rest, in mien, in habit, and in face,
780 Appear'd a Greek, and such indeed he was.
781 He cast on us, from far, a frightful view,
782 Whom soon for Trojans and for foes he knew;
783 Stood still, and paus'd; then all at once began
784 To stretch his limbs, and trembled as he ran.
785 Soon as approach'd, upon his knees he falls,
786 And thus with tears and sighs for pity calls:
787 'Now, by the pow'rs above, and what we share
788 From Nature's common gift, this vital air,
789 O Trojans, take me hence! I beg no more;
790 But bear me far from this unhappy shore.
791 'T is true, I am a Greek, and farther own,
792 Among your foes besieg'd th' imperial town.
793 For such demerits if my death be due,
794 No more for this abandon'd life I sue;
795 This only favor let my tears obtain,
796 To throw me headlong in the rapid main:
797 Since nothing more than death my crime demands,
798 I die content, to die by human hands.'
799 He said, and on his knees my knees embrac'd:
800 I bade him boldly tell his fortune past,
801 His present state, his lineage, and his name,
802 Th' occasion of his fears, and whence he came.
803 The good Anchises rais'd him with his hand;
804 Who, thus encourag'd, answer'd our demand:
805 'From Ithaca, my native soil, I came
806 To Troy; and Achaemenides my name.
807 Me my poor father with Ulysses sent;
808 (O had I stay'd, with poverty content!)
809 But, fearful for themselves, my countrymen
810 Left me forsaken in the Cyclops' den.
811 The cave, tho' large, was dark; the dismal floor
812 Was pav'd with mangled limbs and putrid gore.
813 Our monstrous host, of more than human size,
814 Erects his head, and stares within the skies;
815 Bellowing his voice, and horrid is his hue.
816 Ye gods, remove this plague from mortal view!
817 The joints of slaughter'd wretches are his food;
818 And for his wine he quaffs the streaming blood.
819 These eyes beheld, when with his spacious hand
820 He seiz'd two captives of our Grecian band;
821 Stretch'd on his back, he dash'd against the stones
822 Their broken bodies, and their crackling bones:
823 With spouting blood the purple pavement swims,
824 While the dire glutton grinds the trembling limbs.

825 "'Not unreveng'd Ulysses bore their fate,
826 Nor thoughtless of his own unhappy state;
827 For, gorg'd with flesh, and drunk with human wine
828 While fast asleep the giant lay supine,
829 Snoring aloud, and belching from his maw
830 His indigested foam, and morsels raw;
831 We pray; we cast the lots, and then surround
832 The monstrous body, stretch'd along the ground:
833 Each, as he could approach him, lends a hand
834 To bore his eyeball with a flaming brand.
835 Beneath his frowning forehead lay his eye;
836 For only one did the vast frame supply-
837 But that a globe so large, his front it fill'd,
838 Like the sun's disk or like a Grecian shield.
839 The stroke succeeds; and down the pupil bends:
840 This vengeance follow'd for our slaughter'd friends.
841 But haste, unhappy wretches, haste to fly!
842 Your cables cut, and on your oars rely!
843 Such, and so vast as Polypheme appears,
844 A hundred more this hated island bears:
845 Like him, in caves they shut their woolly sheep;
846 Like him, their herds on tops of mountains keep;
847 Like him, with mighty strides, they stalk from steep to steep
848 And now three moons their sharpen'd horns renew,
849 Since thus, in woods and wilds, obscure from view,
850 I drag my loathsome days with mortal fright,
851 And in deserted caverns lodge by night;
852 Oft from the rocks a dreadful prospect see
853 Of the huge Cyclops, like a walking tree:
854 From far I hear his thund'ring voice resound,
855 And trampling feet that shake the solid ground.
856 Cornels and salvage berries of the wood,
857 And roots and herbs, have been my meager food.
858 While all around my longing eyes I cast,
859 I saw your happy ships appear at last.
860 On those I fix'd my hopes, to these I run;
861 'T is all I ask, this cruel race to shun;
862 What other death you please, yourselves bestow.'

863 "Scarce had he said, when on the mountain's brow
864 We saw the giant shepherd stalk before
865 His following flock, and leading to the shore:
866 A monstrous bulk, deform'd, depriv'd of sight;
867 His staff a trunk of pine, to guide his steps aright.
868 His pond'rous whistle from his neck descends;
869 His woolly care their pensive lord attends:
870 This only solace his hard fortune sends.
871 Soon as he reach'd the shore and touch'd the waves,
872 From his bor'd eye the gutt'ring blood he laves:
873 He gnash'd his teeth, and groan'd; thro' seas he strides,
874 And scarce the topmost billows touch'd his sides.

875 "Seiz'd with a sudden fear, we run to sea,
876 The cables cut, and silent haste away;
877 The well-deserving stranger entertain;
878 Then, buckling to the work, our oars divide the main.
879 The giant harken'd to the dashing sound:
880 But, when our vessels out of reach he found,
881 He strided onward, and in vain essay'd
882 Th' Ionian deep, and durst no farther wade.
883 With that he roar'd aloud: the dreadful cry
884 Shakes earth, and air, and seas; the billows fly
885 Before the bellowing noise to distant Italy.
886 The neigh'ring Aetna trembling all around,
887 The winding caverns echo to the sound.
888 His brother Cyclops hear the yelling roar,
889 And, rushing down the mountains, crowd the shore.
890 We saw their stern distorted looks, from far,
891 And one-eyed glance, that vainly threaten'd war:
892 A dreadful council, with their heads on high;
893 (The misty clouds about their foreheads fly;)
894 Not yielding to the tow'ring tree of Jove,
895 Or tallest cypress of Diana's grove.
896 New pangs of mortal fear our minds assail;
897 We tug at ev'ry oar, and hoist up ev'ry sail,
898 And take th' advantage of the friendly gale.
899 Forewarn'd by Helenus, we strive to shun
900 Charybdis' gulf, nor dare to Scylla run.
901 An equal fate on either side appears:
902 We, tacking to the left, are free from fears;
903 For, from Pelorus' point, the North arose,
904 And drove us back where swift Pantagias flows.
905 His rocky mouth we pass, and make our way
906 By Thapsus and Megara's winding bay.
907 This passage Achaemenides had shown,
908 Tracing the course which he before had run.

909 "Right o'er against Plemmyrium's wat'ry strand,
910 There lies an isle once call'd th' Ortygian land.
911 Alpheus, as old fame reports, has found
912 From Greece a secret passage under ground,
913 By love to beauteous Arethusa led;
914 And, mingling here, they roll in the same sacred bed.
915 As Helenus enjoin'd, we next adore
916 Diana's name, protectress of the shore.
917 With prosp'rous gales we pass the quiet sounds
918 Of still Elorus, and his fruitful bounds.
919 Then, doubling Cape Pachynus, we survey
920 The rocky shore extended to the sea.
921 The town of Camarine from far we see,
922 And fenny lake, undrain'd by fate's decree.
923 In sight of the Geloan fields we pass,
924 And the large walls, where mighty Gela was;
925 Then Agragas, with lofty summits crown'd,
926 Long for the race of warlike steeds renown'd.
927 We pass'd Selinus, and the palmy land,
928 And widely shun the Lilybaean strand,
929 Unsafe, for secret rocks and moving sand.
930 At length on shore the weary fleet arriv'd,
931 Which Drepanum's unhappy port receiv'd.
932 Here, after endless labors, often toss'd
933 By raging storms, and driv'n on ev'ry coast,
934 My dear, dear father, spent with age, I lost:
935 Ease of my cares, and solace of my pain,
936 Sav'd thro' a thousand toils, but sav'd in vain
937 The prophet, who my future woes reveal'd,
938 Yet this, the greatest and the worst, conceal'd;
939 And dire Celaeno, whose foreboding skill
940 Denounc'd all else, was silent of the ill.
941 This my last labor was. Some friendly god
942 From thence convey'd us to your blest abode."

943 Thus, to the list'ning queen, the royal guest
944 His wand'ring course and all his toils express'd;
945 And here concluding, he retir'd to rest. 

End of Book 3
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