Book 6

1 He said, and wept; then spread his sails before
2 The winds, and reach'd at length the Cumaean shore:
3 Their anchors dropp'd, his crew the vessels moor.
4 They turn their heads to sea, their sterns to land,
5 And greet with greedy joy th' Italian strand.
6 Some strike from clashing flints their fiery seed;
7 Some gather sticks, the kindled flames to feed,
8 Or search for hollow trees, and fell the woods,
9 Or trace thro' valleys the discover'd floods.
10 Thus, while their sev'ral charges they fulfil,
11 The pious prince ascends the sacred hill
12 Where Phoebus is ador'd; and seeks the shade
13 Which hides from sight his venerable maid.
14 Deep in a cave the Sibyl makes abode;
15 Thence full of fate returns, and of the god.
16 Thro' Trivia's grove they walk; and now behold,
17 And enter now, the temple roof'd with gold.
18 When Daedalus, to fly the Cretan shore,
19 His heavy limbs on jointed pinions bore,
20 (The first who sail'd in air,) 't is sung by Fame,
21 To the Cumaean coast at length he came,
22 And here alighting, built this costly frame.
23 Inscrib'd to Phoebus, here he hung on high
24 The steerage of his wings, that cut the sky:
25 Then o'er the lofty gate his art emboss'd
26 Androgeos' death, and off'rings to his ghost;
27 Sev'n youths from Athens yearly sent, to meet
28 The fate appointed by revengeful Crete.
29 And next to those the dreadful urn was plac'd,
30 In which the destin'd names by lots were cast:
31 The mournful parents stand around in tears,
32 And rising Crete against their shore appears.
33 There too, in living sculpture, might be seen
34 The mad affection of the Cretan queen;
35 Then how she cheats her bellowing lover's eye;
36 The rushing leap, the doubtful progeny,
37 The lower part a beast, a man above,
38 The monument of their polluted love.
39 Not far from thence he grav'd the wondrous maze,
40 A thousand doors, a thousand winding ways:
41 Here dwells the monster, hid from human view,
42 Not to be found, but by the faithful clew;
43 Till the kind artist, mov'd with pious grief,
44 Lent to the loving maid this last relief,
45 And all those erring paths describ'd so well
46 That Theseus conquer'd and the monster fell.
47 Here hapless Icarus had found his part,
48 Had not the father's grief restrain'd his art.
49 He twice assay'd to cast his son in gold;
50 Twice from his hands he dropp'd the forming mold.

51 All this with wond'ring eyes Aeneas view'd;
52 Each varying object his delight renew'd:
53 Eager to read the rest- Achates came,
54 And by his side the mad divining dame,
55 The priestess of the god, Deiphobe her name.
56 "Time suffers not," she said, "to feed your eyes
57 With empty pleasures; haste the sacrifice.
58 Sev'n bullocks, yet unyok'd, for Phoebus choose,
59 And for Diana sev'n unspotted ewes."
60 This said, the servants urge the sacred rites,
61 While to the temple she the prince invites.
62 A spacious cave, within its farmost part,
63 Was hew'd and fashion'd by laborious art
64 Thro' the hill's hollow sides: before the place,
65 A hundred doors a hundred entries grace;
66 As many voices issue, and the sound
67 Of Sybil's words as many times rebound.
68 Now to the mouth they come. Aloud she cries:
69 "This is the time; enquire your destinies.
70 He comes; behold the god!" Thus while she said,
71 (And shiv'ring at the sacred entry stay'd,)
72 Her color chang'd; her face was not the same,
73 And hollow groans from her deep spirit came.
74 Her hair stood up; convulsive rage possess'd
75 Her trembling limbs, and heav'd her lab'ring breast.
76 Greater than humankind she seem'd to look,
77 And with an accent more than mortal spoke.
78 Her staring eyes with sparkling fury roll;
79 When all the god came rushing on her soul.
80 Swiftly she turn'd, and, foaming as she spoke:
81 "Why this delay?" she cried- "the pow'rs invoke!
82 Thy pray'rs alone can open this abode;
83 Else vain are my demands, and dumb the god."

84 She said no more. The trembling Trojans hear,
85 O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear.
86 The prince himself, with awful dread possess'd,
87 His vows to great Apollo thus address'd:
88 "Indulgent god, propitious pow'r to Troy,
89 Swift to relieve, unwilling to destroy,
90 Directed by whose hand the Dardan dart
91 Pierc'd the proud Grecian's only mortal part:
92 Thus far, by fate's decrees and thy commands,
93 Thro' ambient seas and thro' devouring sands,
94 Our exil'd crew has sought th' Ausonian ground;
95 And now, at length, the flying coast is found.
96 Thus far the fate of Troy, from place to place,
97 With fury has pursued her wand'ring race.
98 Here cease, ye pow'rs, and let your vengeance end:
99 Troy is no more, and can no more offend.
100 And thou, O sacred maid, inspir'd to see
101 Th' event of things in dark futurity;
102 Give me what Heav'n has promis'd to my fate,
103 To conquer and command the Latian state;
104 To fix my wand'ring gods, and find a place
105 For the long exiles of the Trojan race.
106 Then shall my grateful hands a temple rear
107 To the twin gods, with vows and solemn pray'r;
108 And annual rites, and festivals, and games,
109 Shall be perform'd to their auspicious names.
110 Nor shalt thou want thy honors in my land;
111 For there thy faithful oracles shall stand,
112 Preserv'd in shrines; and ev'ry sacred lay,
113 Which, by thy mouth, Apollo shall convey:
114 All shall be treasur'd by a chosen train
115 Of holy priests, and ever shall remain.
116 But O! commit not thy prophetic mind
117 To flitting leaves, the sport of ev'ry wind,
118 Lest they disperse in air our empty fate;
119 Write not, but, what the pow'rs ordain, relate."

120 Struggling in vain, impatient of her load,
121 And lab'ring underneath the pond'rous god,
122 The more she strove to shake him from her breast,
123 With more and far superior force he press'd;
124 Commands his entrance, and, without control,
125 Usurps her organs and inspires her soul.
126 Now, with a furious blast, the hundred doors
127 Ope of themselves; a rushing whirlwind roars
128 Within the cave, and Sibyl's voice restores:
129 "Escap'd the dangers of the wat'ry reign,
130 Yet more and greater ills by land remain.
131 The coast, so long desir'd (nor doubt th' event),
132 Thy troops shall reach, but, having reach'd, repent.
133 Wars, horrid wars, I view- a field of blood,
134 And Tiber rolling with a purple flood.
135 Simois nor Xanthus shall be wanting there:
136 A new Achilles shall in arms appear,
137 And he, too, goddess-born. Fierce Juno's hate,
138 Added to hostile force, shall urge thy fate.
139 To what strange nations shalt not thou resort,
140 Driv'n to solicit aid at ev'ry court!
141 The cause the same which Ilium once oppress'd;
142 A foreign mistress, and a foreign guest.
143 But thou, secure of soul, unbent with woes,
144 The more thy fortune frowns, the more oppose.
145 The dawnings of thy safety shall be shown
146 From whence thou least shalt hope, a Grecian town."

147 Thus, from the dark recess, the Sibyl spoke,
148 And the resisting air the thunder broke;
149 The cave rebellow'd, and the temple shook.
150 Th' ambiguous god, who rul'd her lab'ring breast,
151 In these mysterious words his mind express'd;
152 Some truths reveal'd, in terms involv'd the rest.
153 At length her fury fell, her foaming ceas'd,
154 And, ebbing in her soul, the god decreas'd.
155 Then thus the chief: "No terror to my view,
156 No frightful face of danger can be new.
157 Inur'd to suffer, and resolv'd to dare,
158 The Fates, without my pow'r, shall be without my care.
159 This let me crave, since near your grove the road
160 To hell lies open, and the dark abode
161 Which Acheron surrounds, th' innavigable flood;
162 Conduct me thro' the regions void of light,
163 And lead me longing to my father's sight.
164 For him, a thousand dangers I have sought,
165 And, rushing where the thickest Grecians fought,
166 Safe on my back the sacred burthen brought.
167 He, for my sake, the raging ocean tried,
168 And wrath of Heav'n, my still auspicious guide,
169 And bore beyond the strength decrepid age supplied.
170 Oft, since he breath'd his last, in dead of night
171 His reverend image stood before my sight;
172 Enjoin'd to seek, below, his holy shade;
173 Conducted there by your unerring aid.
174 But you, if pious minds by pray'rs are won,
175 Oblige the father, and protect the son.
176 Yours is the pow'r; nor Proserpine in vain
177 Has made you priestess of her nightly reign.
178 If Orpheus, arm'd with his enchanting lyre,
179 The ruthless king with pity could inspire,
180 And from the shades below redeem his wife;
181 If Pollux, off'ring his alternate life,
182 Could free his brother, and can daily go
183 By turns aloft, by turns descend below-
184 Why name I Theseus, or his greater friend,
185 Who trod the downward path, and upward could ascend?
186 Not less than theirs from Jove my lineage came;
187 My mother greater, my descent the same."
188 So pray'd the Trojan prince, and, while he pray'd,
189 His hand upon the holy altar laid.

190 Then thus replied the prophetess divine:
191 "O goddess-born of great Anchises' line,
192 The gates of hell are open night and day;
193 Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
194 But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
195 In this the task and mighty labor lies.
196 To few great Jupiter imparts this grace,
197 And those of shining worth and heav'nly race.
198 Betwixt those regions and our upper light,
199 Deep forests and impenetrable night
200 Possess the middle space: th' infernal bounds
201 Cocytus, with his sable waves, surrounds.
202 But if so dire a love your soul invades,
203 As twice below to view the trembling shades;
204 If you so hard a toil will undertake,
205 As twice to pass th' innavigable lake;
206 Receive my counsel. In the neighb'ring grove
207 There stands a tree; the queen of Stygian Jove
208 Claims it her own; thick woods and gloomy night
209 Conceal the happy plant from human sight.
210 One bough it bears; but (wondrous to behold!)
211 The ductile rind and leaves of radiant gold:
212 This from the vulgar branches must be torn,
213 And to fair Proserpine the present borne,
214 Ere leave be giv'n to tempt the nether skies.
215 The first thus rent a second will arise,
216 And the same metal the same room supplies.
217 Look round the wood, with lifted eyes, to see
218 The lurking gold upon the fatal tree:
219 Then rend it off, as holy rites command;
220 The willing metal will obey thy hand,
221 Following with ease, if favor'd by thy fate,
222 Thou art foredoom'd to view the Stygian state:
223 If not, no labor can the tree constrain;
224 And strength of stubborn arms and steel are vain.
225 Besides, you know not, while you here attend,
226 Th' unworthy fate of your unhappy friend:
227 Breathless he lies; and his unburied ghost,
228 Depriv'd of fun'ral rites, pollutes your host.
229 Pay first his pious dues; and, for the dead,
230 Two sable sheep around his hearse be led;
231 Then, living turfs upon his body lay:
232 This done, securely take the destin'd way,
233 To find the regions destitute of day."

234 She said, and held her peace. Aeneas went
235 Sad from the cave, and full of discontent,
236 Unknowing whom the sacred Sibyl meant.
237 Achates, the companion of his breast,
238 Goes grieving by his side, with equal cares oppress'd.
239 Walking, they talk'd, and fruitlessly divin'd
240 What friend the priestess by those words design'd.
241 But soon they found an object to deplore:
242 Misenus lay extended the shore;
243 Son of the God of Winds: none so renown'd
244 The warrior trumpet in the field to sound;
245 With breathing brass to kindle fierce alarms,
246 And rouse to dare their fate in honorable arms.
247 He serv'd great Hector, and was ever near,
248 Not with his trumpet only, but his spear.
249 But by Pelides' arms when Hector fell,
250 He chose Aeneas; and he chose as well.
251 Swoln with applause, and aiming still at more,
252 He now provokes the sea gods from the shore;
253 With envy Triton heard the martial sound,
254 And the bold champion, for his challenge, drown'd;
255 Then cast his mangled carcass on the strand:
256 The gazing crowd around the body stand.
257 All weep; but most Aeneas mourns his fate,
258 And hastens to perform the funeral state.
259 In altar-wise, a stately pile they rear;
260 The basis broad below, and top advanc'd in air.
261 An ancient wood, fit for the work design'd,
262 (The shady covert of the salvage kind,)
263 The Trojans found: the sounding ax is plied;
264 Firs, pines, and pitch trees, and the tow'ring pride
265 Of forest ashes, feel the fatal stroke,
266 And piercing wedges cleave the stubborn oak.
267 Huge trunks of trees, fell'd from the steepy crown
268 Of the bare mountains, roll with ruin down.
269 Arm'd like the rest the Trojan prince appears,
270 And by his pious labor urges theirs.

271 Thus while he wrought, revolving in his mind
272 The ways to compass what his wish design'd,
273 He cast his eyes upon the gloomy grove,
274 And then with vows implor'd the Queen of Love:
275 "O may thy pow'r, propitious still to me,
276 Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree,
277 In this deep forest; since the Sibyl's breath
278 Foretold, alas! too true, Misenus' death."
279 Scarce had he said, when, full before his sight,
280 Two doves, descending from their airy flight,
281 Secure upon the grassy plain alight.
282 He knew his mother's birds; and thus he pray'd:
283 "Be you my guides, with your auspicious aid,
284 And lead my footsteps, till the branch be found,
285 Whose glitt'ring shadow gilds the sacred ground.
286 And thou, great parent, with celestial care,
287 In this distress be present to my pray'r!"
288 Thus having said, he stopp'd with watchful sight,
289 Observing still the motions of their flight,
290 What course they took, what happy signs they shew.
291 They fed, and, flutt'ring, by degrees withdrew
292 Still farther from the place, but still in view:
293 Hopping and flying, thus they led him on
294 To the slow lake, whose baleful stench to shun
295 They wing'd their flight aloft; then, stooping low,
296 Perch'd on the double tree that bears the golden bough.
297 Thro' the green leafs the glitt'ring shadows glow;
298 As, on the sacred oak, the wintry mistletoe,
299 Where the proud mother views her precious brood,
300 And happier branches, which she never sow'd.
301 Such was the glitt'ring; such the ruddy rind,
302 And dancing leaves, that wanton'd in the wind.
303 He seiz'd the shining bough with griping hold,
304 And rent away, with ease, the ling'ring gold;
305 Then to the Sibyl's palace bore the prize.
306 Meantime the Trojan troops, with weeping eyes,
307 To dead Misenus pay his obsequies.
308 First, from the ground a lofty pile they rear,
309 Of pitch trees, oaks, and pines, and unctuous fir:
310 The fabric's front with cypress twigs they strew,
311 And stick the sides with boughs of baleful yew.
312 The topmost part his glitt'ring arms adorn;
313 Warm waters, then, in brazen caldrons borne,
314 Are pour'd to wash his body, joint by joint,
315 And fragrant oils the stiffen'd limbs anoint.
316 With groans and cries Misenus they deplore:
317 Then on a bier, with purple cover'd o'er,
318 The breathless body, thus bewail'd, they lay,
319 And fire the pile, their faces turn'd away-
320 Such reverend rites their fathers us'd to pay.
321 Pure oil and incense on the fire they throw,
322 And fat of victims, which his friends bestow.
323 These gifts the greedy flames to dust devour;
324 Then on the living coals red wine they pour;
325 And, last, the relics by themselves dispose,
326 Which in a brazen urn the priests inclose.
327 Old Corynaeus compass'd thrice the crew,
328 And dipp'd an olive branch in holy dew;
329 Which thrice he sprinkled round, and thrice aloud
330 Invok'd the dead, and then dismissed the crowd.
331 But good Aeneas order'd on the shore
332 A stately tomb, whose top a trumpet bore,
333 A soldier's fauchion, and a seaman's oar.
334 Thus was his friend interr'd; and deathless fame
335 Still to the lofty cape consigns his name.
336 These rites perform'd, the prince, without delay,
337 Hastes to the nether world his destin'd way.
338 Deep was the cave; and, downward as it went
339 From the wide mouth, a rocky rough descent;
340 And here th' access a gloomy grove defends,
341 And there th' unnavigable lake extends,
342 O'er whose unhappy waters, void of light,
343 No bird presumes to steer his airy flight;
344 Such deadly stenches from the depths arise,
345 And steaming sulphur, that infects the skies.
346 From hence the Grecian bards their legends make,
347 And give the name Avernus to the lake.
348 Four sable bullocks, in the yoke untaught,
349 For sacrifice the pious hero brought.
350 The priestess pours the wine betwixt their horns;
351 Then cuts the curling hair; that first oblation burns,
352 Invoking Hecate hither to repair:
353 A pow'rful name in hell and upper air.
354 The sacred priests with ready knives bereave
355 The beasts of life, and in full bowls receive
356 The streaming blood: a lamb to Hell and Night
357 (The sable wool without a streak of white)
358 Aeneas offers; and, by fate's decree,
359 A barren heifer, Proserpine, to thee,
360 With holocausts he Pluto's altar fills;
361 Sev'n brawny bulls with his own hand he kills;
362 Then on the broiling entrails oil he pours;
363 Which, ointed thus, the raging flame devours.
364 Late the nocturnal sacrifice begun,
365 Nor ended till the next returning sun.
366 Then earth began to bellow, trees to dance,
367 And howling dogs in glimm'ring light advance,
368 Ere Hecate came. "Far hence be souls profane!"
369 The Sibyl cried, "and from the grove abstain!
370 Now, Trojan, take the way thy fates afford;
371 Assume thy courage, and unsheathe thy sword."
372 She said, and pass'd along the gloomy space;
373 The prince pursued her steps with equal pace.

374 Ye realms, yet unreveal'd to human sight,
375 Ye gods who rule the regions of the night,
376 Ye gliding ghosts, permit me to relate
377 The mystic wonders of your silent state!

378 Obscure they went thro' dreary shades, that led
379 Along the waste dominions of the dead.
380 Thus wander travelers in woods by night,
381 By the moon's doubtful and malignant light,
382 When Jove in dusky clouds involves the skies,
383 And the faint crescent shoots by fits before their eyes.

384 Just in the gate and in the jaws of hell,
385 Revengeful Cares and sullen Sorrows dwell,
386 And pale Diseases, and repining Age,
387 Want, Fear, and Famine's unresisted rage;
388 Here Toils, and Death, and Death's half-brother, Sleep,
389 Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep;
390 With anxious Pleasures of a guilty mind,
391 Deep Frauds before, and open Force behind;
392 The Furies' iron beds; and Strife, that shakes
393 Her hissing tresses and unfolds her snakes.
394 Full in the midst of this infernal road,
395 An elm displays her dusky arms abroad:
396 The God of Sleep there hides his heavy head,
397 And empty dreams on ev'ry leaf are spread.
398 Of various forms unnumber'd specters more,
399 Centaurs, and double shapes, besiege the door.
400 Before the passage, horrid Hydra stands,
401 And Briareus with all his hundred hands;
402 Gorgons, Geryon with his triple frame;
403 And vain Chimaera vomits empty flame.
404 The chief unsheath'd his shining steel, prepar'd,
405 Tho' seiz'd with sudden fear, to force the guard,
406 Off'ring his brandish'd weapon at their face;
407 Had not the Sibyl stopp'd his eager pace,
408 And told him what those empty phantoms were:
409 Forms without bodies, and impassive air.
410 Hence to deep Acheron they take their way,
411 Whose troubled eddies, thick with ooze and clay,
412 Are whirl'd aloft, and in Cocytus lost.
413 There Charon stands, who rules the dreary coast-
414 A sordid god: down from his hoary chin
415 A length of beard descends, uncomb'd, unclean;
416 His eyes, like hollow furnaces on fire;
417 A girdle, foul with grease, binds his obscene attire.
418 He spreads his canvas; with his pole he steers;
419 The freights of flitting ghosts in his thin bottom bears.
420 He look'd in years; yet in his years were seen
421 A youthful vigor and autumnal green.
422 An airy crowd came rushing where he stood,
423 Which fill'd the margin of the fatal flood:
424 Husbands and wives, boys and unmarried maids,
425 And mighty heroes' more majestic shades,
426 And youths, intomb'd before their fathers' eyes,
427 With hollow groans, and shrieks, and feeble cries.
428 Thick as the leaves in autumn strow the woods,
429 Or fowls, by winter forc'd, forsake the floods,
430 And wing their hasty flight to happier lands;
431 Such, and so thick, the shiv'ring army stands,
432 And press for passage with extended hands.
433 Now these, now those, the surly boatman bore:
434 The rest he drove to distance from the shore.
435 The hero, who beheld with wond'ring eyes
436 The tumult mix'd with shrieks, laments, and cries,
437 Ask'd of his guide, what the rude concourse meant;
438 Why to the shore the thronging people bent;
439 What forms of law among the ghosts were us'd;
440 Why some were ferried o'er, and some refus'd.

441 "Son of Anchises, offspring of the gods,"
442 The Sibyl said, "you see the Stygian floods,
443 The sacred stream which heav'n's imperial state
444 Attests in oaths, and fears to violate.
445 The ghosts rejected are th' unhappy crew
446 Depriv'd of sepulchers and fun'ral due:
447 The boatman, Charon; those, the buried host,
448 He ferries over to the farther coast;
449 Nor dares his transport vessel cross the waves
450 With such whose bones are not compos'd in graves.
451 A hundred years they wander on the shore;
452 At length, their penance done, are wafted o'er."
453 The Trojan chief his forward pace repress'd,
454 Revolving anxious thoughts within his breast,
455 He saw his friends, who, whelm'd beneath the waves,
456 Their fun'ral honors claim'd, and ask'd their quiet graves.
457 The lost Leucaspis in the crowd he knew,
458 And the brave leader of the Lycian crew,
459 Whom, on the Tyrrhene seas, the tempests met;
460 The sailors master'd, and the ship o'erset.

461 Amidst the spirits, Palinurus press'd,
462 Yet fresh from life, a new-admitted guest,
463 Who, while he steering view'd the stars, and bore
464 His course from Afric to the Latian shore,
465 Fell headlong down. The Trojan fix'd his view,
466 And scarcely thro' the gloom the sullen shadow knew.
467 Then thus the prince: "What envious pow'r, O friend,
468 Brought your lov'd life to this disastrous end?
469 For Phoebus, ever true in all he said,
470 Has in your fate alone my faith betray'd.
471 The god foretold you should not die, before
472 You reach'd, secure from seas, th' Italian shore.
473 Is this th' unerring pow'r?" The ghost replied;
474 "Nor Phoebus flatter'd, nor his answers lied;
475 Nor envious gods have sent me to the deep:
476 But, while the stars and course of heav'n I keep,
477 My wearied eyes were seiz'd with fatal sleep.
478 I fell; and, with my weight, the helm constrain'd
479 Was drawn along, which yet my gripe retain'd.
480 Now by the winds and raging waves I swear,
481 Your safety, more than mine, was then my care;
482 Lest, of the guide bereft, the rudder lost,
483 Your ship should run against the rocky coast.
484 Three blust'ring nights, borne by the southern blast,
485 I floated, and discover'd land at last:
486 High on a mounting wave my head I bore,
487 Forcing my strength, and gath'ring to the shore.
488 Panting, but past the danger, now I seiz'd
489 The craggy cliffs, and my tir'd members eas'd.
490 While, cumber'd with my dropping clothes, I lay,
491 The cruel nation, covetous of prey,
492 Stain'd with my blood th' unhospitable coast;
493 And now, by winds and waves, my lifeless limbs are toss'd:
494 Which O avert, by yon ethereal light,
495 Which I have lost for this eternal night!
496 Or, if by dearer ties you may be won,
497 By your dead sire, and by your living son,
498 Redeem from this reproach my wand'ring ghost;
499 Or with your navy seek the Velin coast,
500 And in a peaceful grave my corpse compose;
501 Or, if a nearer way your mother shows,
502 Without whose aid you durst not undertake
503 This frightful passage o'er the Stygian lake,
504 Lend to this wretch your hand, and waft him o'er
505 To the sweet banks of yon forbidden shore."
506 Scarce had he said, the prophetess began:
507 "What hopes delude thee, miserable man?
508 Think'st thou, thus unintomb'd, to cross the floods,
509 To view the Furies and infernal gods,
510 And visit, without leave, the dark abodes?
511 Attend the term of long revolving years;
512 Fate, and the dooming gods, are deaf to tears.
513 This comfort of thy dire misfortune take:
514 The wrath of Heav'n, inflicted for thy sake,
515 With vengeance shall pursue th' inhuman coast,
516 Till they propitiate thy offended ghost,
517 And raise a tomb, with vows and solemn pray'r;
518 And Palinurus' name the place shall bear."
519 This calm'd his cares; sooth'd with his future fame,
520 And pleas'd to hear his propagated name.

521 Now nearer to the Stygian lake they draw:
522 Whom, from the shore, the surly boatman saw;
523 Observ'd their passage thro' the shady wood,
524 And mark'd their near approaches to the flood.
525 Then thus he call'd aloud, inflam'd with wrath:
526 "Mortal, whate'er, who this forbidden path
527 In arms presum'st to tread, I charge thee, stand,
528 And tell thy name, and bus'ness in the land.
529 Know this, the realm of night- the Stygian shore:
530 My boat conveys no living bodies o'er;
531 Nor was I pleas'd great Theseus once to bear,
532 Who forc'd a passage with his pointed spear,
533 Nor strong Alcides- men of mighty fame,
534 And from th' immortal gods their lineage came.
535 In fetters one the barking porter tied,
536 And took him trembling from his sov'reign's side:
537 Two sought by force to seize his beauteous bride."
538 To whom the Sibyl thus: "Compose thy mind;
539 Nor frauds are here contriv'd, nor force design'd.
540 Still may the dog the wand'ring troops constrain
541 Of airy ghosts, and vex the guilty train,
542 And with her grisly lord his lovely queen remain.
543 The Trojan chief, whose lineage is from Jove,
544 Much fam'd for arms, and more for filial love,
545 Is sent to seek his sire in your Elysian grove.
546 If neither piety, nor Heav'n's command,
547 Can gain his passage to the Stygian strand,
548 This fatal present shall prevail at least."
549 Then shew'd the shining bough, conceal'd within her vest.
550 No more was needful: for the gloomy god
551 Stood mute with awe, to see the golden rod;
552 Admir'd the destin'd off'ring to his queen-
553 A venerable gift, so rarely seen.
554 His fury thus appeas'd, he puts to land;
555 The ghosts forsake their seats at his command:
556 He clears the deck, receives the mighty freight;
557 The leaky vessel groans beneath the weight.
558 Slowly she sails, and scarcely stems the tides;
559 The pressing water pours within her sides.
560 His passengers at length are wafted o'er,
561 Expos'd, in muddy weeds, upon the miry shore.

562 No sooner landed, in his den they found
563 The triple porter of the Stygian sound,
564 Grim Cerberus, who soon began to rear
565 His crested snakes, and arm'd his bristling hair.
566 The prudent Sibyl had before prepar'd
567 A sop, in honey steep'd, to charm the guard;
568 Which, mix'd with pow'rful drugs, she cast before
569 His greedy grinning jaws, just op'd to roar.
570 With three enormous mouths he gapes; and straight,
571 With hunger press'd, devours the pleasing bait.
572 Long draughts of sleep his monstrous limbs enslave;
573 He reels, and, falling, fills the spacious cave.
574 The keeper charm'd, the chief without delay
575 Pass'd on, and took th' irremeable way.
576 Before the gates, the cries of babes new born,
577 Whom fate had from their tender mothers torn,
578 Assault his ears: then those, whom form of laws
579 Condemn'd to die, when traitors judg'd their cause.
580 Nor want they lots, nor judges to review
581 The wrongful sentence, and award a new.
582 Minos, the strict inquisitor, appears;
583 And lives and crimes, with his assessors, hears.
584 Round in his urn the blended balls he rolls,
585 Absolves the just, and dooms the guilty souls.
586 The next, in place and punishment, are they
587 Who prodigally throw their souls away;
588 Fools, who, repining at their wretched state,
589 And loathing anxious life, suborn'd their fate.
590 With late repentance now they would retrieve
591 The bodies they forsook, and wish to live;
592 Their pains and poverty desire to bear,
593 To view the light of heav'n, and breathe the vital air:
594 But fate forbids; the Stygian floods oppose,
595 And with circling streams the captive souls inclose.

596 Not far from thence, the Mournful Fields appear
597 So call'd from lovers that inhabit there.
598 The souls whom that unhappy flame invades,
599 In secret solitude and myrtle shades
600 Make endless moans, and, pining with desire,
601 Lament too late their unextinguish'd fire.
602 Here Procris, Eriphyle here he found,
603 Baring her breast, yet bleeding with the wound
604 Made by her son. He saw Pasiphae there,
605 With Phaedra's ghost, a foul incestuous pair.
606 There Laodamia, with Evadne, moves,
607 Unhappy both, but loyal in their loves:
608 Caeneus, a woman once, and once a man,
609 But ending in the sex she first began.
610 Not far from these Phoenician Dido stood,
611 Fresh from her wound, her bosom bath'd in blood;
612 Whom when the Trojan hero hardly knew,
613 Obscure in shades, and with a doubtful view,
614 (Doubtful as he who sees, thro' dusky night,
615 Or thinks he sees, the moon's uncertain light,)
616 With tears he first approach'd the sullen shade;
617 And, as his love inspir'd him, thus he said:
618 "Unhappy queen! then is the common breath
619 Of rumor true, in your reported death,
620 And I, alas! the cause? By Heav'n, I vow,
621 And all the pow'rs that rule the realms below,
622 Unwilling I forsook your friendly state,
623 Commanded by the gods, and forc'd by fate-
624 Those gods, that fate, whose unresisted might
625 Have sent me to these regions void of light,
626 Thro' the vast empire of eternal night.
627 Nor dar'd I to presume, that, press'd with grief,
628 My flight should urge you to this dire relief.
629 Stay, stay your steps, and listen to my vows:
630 'T is the last interview that fate allows!"
631 In vain he thus attempts her mind to move
632 With tears, and pray'rs, and late-repenting love.
633 Disdainfully she look'd; then turning round,
634 But fix'd her eyes unmov'd upon the ground,
635 And what he says and swears, regards no more
636 Than the deaf rocks, when the loud billows roar;
637 But whirl'd away, to shun his hateful sight,
638 Hid in the forest and the shades of night;
639 Then sought Sichaeus thro' the shady grove,
640 Who answer'd all her cares, and equal'd all her love.

641 Some pious tears the pitying hero paid,
642 And follow'd with his eyes the flitting shade,
643 Then took the forward way, by fate ordain'd,
644 And, with his guide, the farther fields attain'd,
645 Where, sever'd from the rest, the warrior souls remain'd.
646 Tydeus he met, with Meleager's race,
647 The pride of armies, and the soldiers' grace;
648 And pale Adrastus with his ghastly face.
649 Of Trojan chiefs he view'd a num'rous train,
650 All much lamented, all in battle slain;
651 Glaucus and Medon, high above the rest,
652 Antenor's sons, and Ceres' sacred priest.
653 And proud Idaeus, Priam's charioteer,
654 Who shakes his empty reins, and aims his airy spear.
655 The gladsome ghosts, in circling troops, attend
656 And with unwearied eyes behold their friend;
657 Delight to hover near, and long to know
658 What bus'ness brought him to the realms below.
659 But Argive chiefs, and Agamemnon's train,
660 When his refulgent arms flash'd thro' the shady plain,
661 Fled from his well-known face, with wonted fear,
662 As when his thund'ring sword and pointed spear
663 Drove headlong to their ships, and glean'd the routed rear.
664 They rais'd a feeble cry, with trembling notes;
665 But the weak voice deceiv'd their gasping throats.

666 Here Priam's son, Deiphobus, he found,
667 Whose face and limbs were one continued wound:
668 Dishonest, with lopp'd arms, the youth appears,
669 Spoil'd of his nose, and shorten'd of his ears.
670 He scarcely knew him, striving to disown
671 His blotted form, and blushing to be known;
672 And therefore first began: "O Tsucer's race,
673 Who durst thy faultless figure thus deface?
674 What heart could wish, what hand inflict, this dire disgrace?
675 'Twas fam'd, that in our last and fatal night
676 Your single prowess long sustain'd the fight,
677 Till tir'd, not forc'd, a glorious fate you chose,
678 And fell upon a heap of slaughter'd foes.
679 But, in remembrance of so brave a deed,
680 A tomb and fun'ral honors I decreed;
681 Thrice call'd your manes on the Trojan plains:
682 The place your armor and your name retains.
683 Your body too I sought, and, had I found,
684 Design'd for burial in your native ground."

685 The ghost replied: "Your piety has paid
686 All needful rites, to rest my wand'ring shade;
687 But cruel fate, and my more cruel wife,
688 To Grecian swords betray'd my sleeping life.
689 These are the monuments of Helen's love:
690 The shame I bear below, the marks I bore above.
691 You know in what deluding joys we pass'd
692 The night that was by Heav'n decreed our last:
693 For, when the fatal horse, descending down,
694 Pregnant with arms, o'erwhelm'd th' unhappy town
695 She feign'd nocturnal orgies; left my bed,
696 And, mix'd with Trojan dames, the dances led
697 Then, waving high her torch, the signal made,
698 Which rous'd the Grecians from their ambuscade.
699 With watching overworn, with cares oppress'd,
700 Unhappy I had laid me down to rest,
701 And heavy sleep my weary limbs possess'd.
702 Meantime my worthy wife our arms mislaid,
703 And from beneath my head my sword convey'd;
704 The door unlatch'd, and, with repeated calls,
705 Invites her former lord within my walls.
706 Thus in her crime her confidence she plac'd,
707 And with new treasons would redeem the past.
708 What need I more? Into the room they ran,
709 And meanly murther'd a defenseless man.
710 Ulysses, basely born, first led the way.
711 Avenging pow'rs! with justice if I pray,
712 That fortune be their own another day!
713 But answer you; and in your turn relate,
714 What brought you, living, to the Stygian state:
715 Driv'n by the winds and errors of the sea,
716 Or did you Heav'n's superior doom obey?
717 Or tell what other chance conducts your way,
718 To view with mortal eyes our dark retreats,
719 Tumults and torments of th' infernal seats."

720 While thus in talk the flying hours they pass,
721 The sun had finish'd more than half his race:
722 And they, perhaps, in words and tears had spent
723 The little time of stay which Heav'n had lent;
724 But thus the Sibyl chides their long delay:
725 "Night rushes down, and headlong drives the day:
726 'T is here, in different paths, the way divides;
727 The right to Pluto's golden palace guides;
728 The left to that unhappy region tends,
729 Which to the depth of Tartarus descends;
730 The seat of night profound, and punish'd fiends."
731 Then thus Deiphobus: "O sacred maid,
732 Forbear to chide, and be your will obey'd!
733 Lo! to the secret shadows I retire,
734 To pay my penance till my years expire.
735 Proceed, auspicious prince, with glory crown'd,
736 And born to better fates than I have found."
737 He said; and, while he said, his steps he turn'd
738 To secret shadows, and in silence mourn'd.

739 The hero, looking on the left, espied
740 A lofty tow'r, and strong on ev'ry side
741 With treble walls, which Phlegethon surrounds,
742 Whose fiery flood the burning empire bounds;
743 And, press'd betwixt the rocks, the bellowing noise resounds
744 Wide is the fronting gate, and, rais'd on high
745 With adamantine columns, threats the sky.
746 Vain is the force of man, and Heav'n's as vain,
747 To crush the pillars which the pile sustain.
748 Sublime on these a tow'r of steel is rear'd;
749 And dire Tisiphone there keeps the ward,
750 Girt in her sanguine gown, by night and day,
751 Observant of the souls that pass the downward way.
752 From hence are heard the groans of ghosts, the pains
753 Of sounding lashes and of dragging chains.
754 The Trojan stood astonish'd at their cries,
755 And ask'd his guide from whence those yells arise;
756 And what the crimes, and what the tortures were,
757 And loud laments that rent the liquid air.

758 She thus replied: "The chaste and holy race
759 Are all forbidden this polluted place.
760 But Hecate, when she gave to rule the woods,
761 Then led me trembling thro' these dire abodes,
762 And taught the tortures of th' avenging gods.
763 These are the realms of unrelenting fate;
764 And awful Rhadamanthus rules the state.
765 He hears and judges each committed crime;
766 Enquires into the manner, place, and time.
767 The conscious wretch must all his acts reveal,
768 (Loth to confess, unable to conceal),
769 From the first moment of his vital breath,
770 To his last hour of unrepenting death.
771 Straight, o'er the guilty ghost, the Fury shakes
772 The sounding whip and brandishes her snakes,
773 And the pale sinner, with her sisters, takes.
774 Then, of itself, unfolds th' eternal door;
775 With dreadful sounds the brazen hinges roar.
776 You see, before the gate, what stalking ghost
777 Commands the guard, what sentries keep the post.
778 More formidable Hydra stands within,
779 Whose jaws with iron teeth severely grin.
780 The gaping gulf low to the center lies,
781 And twice as deep as earth is distant from the skies.
782 The rivals of the gods, the Titan race,
783 Here, sing'd with lightning, roll within th' unfathom'd space.
784 Here lie th' Alaean twins, (I saw them both,)
785 Enormous bodies, of gigantic growth,
786 Who dar'd in fight the Thund'rer to defy,
787 Affect his heav'n, and force him from the sky.
788 Salmoneus, suff'ring cruel pains, I found,
789 For emulating Jove; the rattling sound
790 Of mimic thunder, and the glitt'ring blaze
791 Of pointed lightnings, and their forky rays.
792 Thro' Elis and the Grecian towns he flew;
793 Th' audacious wretch four fiery coursers drew:
794 He wav'd a torch aloft, and, madly vain,
795 Sought godlike worship from a servile train.
796 Ambitious fool! with horny hoofs to pass
797 O'er hollow arches of resounding brass,
798 To rival thunder in its rapid course,
799 And imitate inimitable force!
800 But he, the King of Heav'n, obscure on high,
801 Bar'd his red arm, and, launching from the sky
802 His writhen bolt, not shaking empty smoke,
803 Down to the deep abyss the flaming felon strook.
804 There Tityus was to see, who took his birth
805 From heav'n, his nursing from the foodful earth.
806 Here his gigantic limbs, with large embrace,
807 Infold nine acres of infernal space.
808 A rav'nous vulture, in his open'd side,
809 Her crooked beak and cruel talons tried;
810 Still for the growing liver digg'd his breast;
811 The growing liver still supplied the feast;
812 Still are his entrails fruitful to their pains:
813 Th' immortal hunger lasts, th' immortal food remains.
814 Ixion and Perithous I could name,
815 And more Thessalian chiefs of mighty fame.
816 High o'er their heads a mold'ring rock is plac'd,
817 That promises a fall, and shakes at ev'ry blast.
818 They lie below, on golden beds display'd;
819 And genial feasts with regal pomp are made.
820 The Queen of Furies by their sides is set,
821 And snatches from their mouths th' untasted meat,
822 Which if they touch, her hissing snakes she rears,
823 Tossing her torch, and thund'ring in their ears.
824 Then they, who brothers' better claim disown,
825 Expel their parents, and usurp the throne;
826 Defraud their clients, and, to lucre sold,
827 Sit brooding on unprofitable gold;
828 Who dare not give, and ev'n refuse to lend
829 To their poor kindred, or a wanting friend.
830 Vast is the throng of these; nor less the train
831 Of lustful youths, for foul adult'ry slain:
832 Hosts of deserters, who their honor sold,
833 And basely broke their faith for bribes of gold.
834 All these within the dungeon's depth remain,
835 Despairing pardon, and expecting pain.
836 Ask not what pains; nor farther seek to know
837 Their process, or the forms of law below.
838 Some roll a weighty stone; some, laid along,
839 And bound with burning wires, on spokes of wheels are hung
840 Unhappy Theseus, doom'd for ever there,
841 Is fix'd by fate on his eternal chair;
842 And wretched Phlegyas warns the world with cries
843 (Could warning make the world more just or wise):
844 'Learn righteousness, and dread th' avenging deities.'
845 To tyrants others have their country sold,
846 Imposing foreign lords, for foreign gold;
847 Some have old laws repeal'd, new statutes made,
848 Not as the people pleas'd, but as they paid;
849 With incest some their daughters' bed profan'd:
850 All dar'd the worst of ills, and, what they dar'd, attain'd.
851 Had I a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues,
852 And throats of brass, inspir'd with iron lungs,
853 I could not half those horrid crimes repeat,
854 Nor half the punishments those crimes have met.
855 But let us haste our voyage to pursue:
856 The walls of Pluto's palace are in view;
857 The gate, and iron arch above it, stands
858 On anvils labor'd by the Cyclops' hands.
859 Before our farther way the Fates allow,
860 Here must we fix on high the golden bough."

861 She said: and thro' the gloomy shades they pass'd,
862 And chose the middle path. Arriv'd at last,
863 The prince with living water sprinkled o'er
864 His limbs and body; then approach'd the door,
865 Possess'd the porch, and on the front above
866 He fix'd the fatal bough requir'd by Pluto's love.
867 These holy rites perform'd, they took their way
868 Where long extended plains of pleasure lay:
869 The verdant fields with those of heav'n may vie,
870 With ether vested, and a purple sky;
871 The blissful seats of happy souls below.
872 Stars of their own, and their own suns, they know;
873 Their airy limbs in sports they exercise,
874 And on the green contend the wrestler's prize.
875 Some in heroic verse divinely sing;
876 Others in artful measures led the ring.
877 The Thracian bard, surrounded by the rest,
878 There stands conspicuous in his flowing vest;
879 His flying fingers, and harmonious quill,
880 Strikes sev'n distinguish'd notes, and sev'n at once they fill.
881 Here found they Tsucer's old heroic race,
882 Born better times and happier years to grace.
883 Assaracus and Ilus here enjoy
884 Perpetual fame, with him who founded Troy.
885 The chief beheld their chariots from afar,
886 Their shining arms, and coursers train'd to war:
887 Their lances fix'd in earth, their steeds around,
888 Free from their harness, graze the flow'ry ground.
889 The love of horses which they had, alive,
890 And care of chariots, after death survive.
891 Some cheerful souls were feasting on the plain;
892 Some did the song, and some the choir maintain,
893 Beneath a laurel shade, where mighty Po
894 Mounts up to woods above, and hides his head below.
895 Here patriots live, who, for their country's good,
896 In fighting fields, were prodigal of blood:
897 Priests of unblemish'd lives here make abode,
898 And poets worthy their inspiring god;
899 And searching wits, of more mechanic parts,
900 Who grac'd their age with new-invented arts:
901 Those who to worth their bounty did extend,
902 And those who knew that bounty to commend.
903 The heads of these with holy fillets bound,
904 And all their temples were with garlands crown'd.

905 To these the Sibyl thus her speech address'd,
906 And first to him surrounded by the rest
907 (Tow'ring his height, and ample was his breast):
908 "Say, happy souls, divine Musaeus, say,
909 Where lives Anchises, and where lies our way
910 To find the hero, for whose only sake
911 We sought the dark abodes, and cross'd the bitter lake?"
912 To this the sacred poet thus replied:
913 "In no fix'd place the happy souls reside.
914 In groves we live, and lie on mossy beds,
915 By crystal streams, that murmur thro' the meads:
916 But pass yon easy hill, and thence descend;
917 The path conducts you to your journey's end."
918 This said, he led them up the mountain's brow,
919 And shews them all the shining fields below.
920 They wind the hill, and thro' the blissful meadows go.

921 But old Anchises, in a flow'ry vale,
922 Review'd his muster'd race, and took the tale:
923 Those happy spirits, which, ordain'd by fate,
924 For future beings and new bodies wait-
925 With studious thought observ'd th' illustrious throng,
926 In nature's order as they pass'd along:
927 Their names, their fates, their conduct, and their care,
928 In peaceful senates and successful war.
929 He, when Aeneas on the plain appears,
930 Meets him with open arms, and falling tears.
931 "Welcome," he said, "the gods' undoubted race!
932 O long expected to my dear embrace!
933 Once more 't is giv'n me to behold your face!
934 The love and pious duty which you pay
935 Have pass'd the perils of so hard a way.
936 'T is true, computing times, I now believ'd
937 The happy day approach'd; nor are my hopes deceiv'd.
938 What length of lands, what oceans have you pass'd;
939 What storms sustain'd, and on what shores been cast?
940 How have I fear'd your fate! but fear'd it most,
941 When love assail'd you, on the Libyan coast."
942 To this, the filial duty thus replies:
943 "Your sacred ghost before my sleeping eyes
944 Appear'd, and often urg'd this painful enterprise.
945 After long tossing on the Tyrrhene sea,
946 My navy rides at anchor in the bay.
947 But reach your hand, O parent shade, nor shun
948 The dear embraces of your longing son!"
949 He said; and falling tears his face bedew:
950 Then thrice around his neck his arms he threw;
951 And thrice the flitting shadow slipp'd away,
952 Like winds, or empty dreams that fly the day.

953 Now, in a secret vale, the Trojan sees
954 A sep'rate grove, thro' which a gentle breeze
955 Plays with a passing breath, and whispers thro' the trees;
956 And, just before the confines of the wood,
957 The gliding Lethe leads her silent flood.
958 About the boughs an airy nation flew,
959 Thick as the humming bees, that hunt the golden dew;
960 In summer's heat on tops of lilies feed,
961 And creep within their bells, to suck the balmy seed:
962 The winged army roams the fields around;
963 The rivers and the rocks remurmur to the sound.
964 Aeneas wond'ring stood, then ask'd the cause
965 Which to the stream the crowding people draws.
966 Then thus the sire: "The souls that throng the flood
967 Are those to whom, by fate, are other bodies ow'd:
968 In Lethe's lake they long oblivion taste,
969 Of future life secure, forgetful of the past.
970 Long has my soul desir'd this time and place,
971 To set before your sight your glorious race,
972 That this presaging joy may fire your mind
973 To seek the shores by destiny design'd."-
974 "O father, can it be, that souls sublime
975 Return to visit our terrestrial clime,
976 And that the gen'rous mind, releas'd by death,
977 Can covet lazy limbs and mortal breath?"

978 Anchises then, in order, thus begun
979 To clear those wonders to his godlike son:
980 "Know, first, that heav'n, and earth's compacted frame,
981 And flowing waters, and the starry flame,
982 And both the radiant lights, one common soul
983 Inspires and feeds, and animates the whole.
984 This active mind, infus'd thro' all the space,
985 Unites and mingles with the mighty mass.
986 Hence men and beasts the breath of life obtain,
987 And birds of air, and monsters of the main.
988 Th' ethereal vigor is in all the same,
989 And every soul is fill'd with equal flame;
990 As much as earthy limbs, and gross allay
991 Of mortal members, subject to decay,
992 Blunt not the beams of heav'n and edge of day.
993 From this coarse mixture of terrestrial parts,
994 Desire and fear by turns possess their hearts,
995 And grief, and joy; nor can the groveling mind,
996 In the dark dungeon of the limbs confin'd,
997 Assert the native skies, or own its heav'nly kind:
998 Nor death itself can wholly wash their stains;
999 But long-contracted filth ev'n in the soul remains.
1000 The relics of inveterate vice they wear,
1001 And spots of sin obscene in ev'ry face appear.
1002 For this are various penances enjoin'd;
1003 And some are hung to bleach upon the wind,
1004 Some plung'd in waters, others purg'd in fires,
1005 Till all the dregs are drain'd, and all the rust expires.
1006 All have their manes, and those manes bear:
1007 The few, so cleans'd, to these abodes repair,
1008 And breathe, in ample fields, the soft Elysian air.
1009 Then are they happy, when by length of time
1010 The scurf is worn away of each committed crime;
1011 No speck is left of their habitual stains,
1012 But the pure ether of the soul remains.
1013 But, when a thousand rolling years are past,
1014 (So long their punishments and penance last,)
1015 Whole droves of minds are, by the driving god,
1016 Compell'd to drink the deep Lethaean flood,
1017 In large forgetful draughts to steep the cares
1018 Of their past labors, and their irksome years,
1019 That, unrememb'ring of its former pain,
1020 The soul may suffer mortal flesh again."

1021 Thus having said, the father spirit leads
1022 The priestess and his son thro' swarms of shades,
1023 And takes a rising ground, from thence to see
1024 The long procession of his progeny.
1025 "Survey," pursued the sire, "this airy throng,
1026 As, offer'd to thy view, they pass along.
1027 These are th' Italian names, which fate will join
1028 With ours, and graff upon the Trojan line.
1029 Observe the youth who first appears in sight,
1030 And holds the nearest station to the light,
1031 Already seems to snuff the vital air,
1032 And leans just forward, on a shining spear:
1033 Silvius is he, thy last-begotten race,
1034 But first in order sent, to fill thy place;
1035 An Alban name, but mix'd with Dardan blood,
1036 Born in the covert of a shady wood:
1037 Him fair Lavinia, thy surviving wife,
1038 Shall breed in groves, to lead a solitary life.
1039 In Alba he shall fix his royal seat,
1040 And, born a king, a race of kings beget.
1041 Then Procas, honor of the Trojan name,
1042 Capys, and Numitor, of endless fame.
1043 A second Silvius after these appears;
1044 Silvius Aeneas, for thy name he bears;
1045 For arms and justice equally renown'd,
1046 Who, late restor'd, in Alba shall be crown'd.
1047 How great they look! how vig'rously they wield
1048 Their weighty lances, and sustain the shield!
1049 But they, who crown'd with oaken wreaths appear,
1050 Shall Gabian walls and strong Fidena rear;
1051 Nomentum, Bola, with Pometia, found;
1052 And raise Collatian tow'rs on rocky ground.
1053 All these shall then be towns of mighty fame,
1054 Tho' now they lie obscure, and lands without a name.
1055 See Romulus the great, born to restore
1056 The crown that once his injur'd grandsire wore.
1057 This prince a priestess of your blood shall bear,
1058 And like his sire in arms he shall appear.
1059 Two rising crests, his royal head adorn;
1060 Born from a god, himself to godhead born:
1061 His sire already signs him for the skies,
1062 And marks the seat amidst the deities.
1063 Auspicious chief! thy race, in times to come,
1064 Shall spread the conquests of imperial Rome-
1065 Rome, whose ascending tow'rs shall heav'n invade,
1066 Involving earth and ocean in her shade;
1067 High as the Mother of the Gods in place,
1068 And proud, like her, of an immortal race.
1069 Then, when in pomp she makes the Phrygian round,
1070 With golden turrets on her temples crown'd;
1071 A hundred gods her sweeping train supply;
1072 Her offspring all, and all command the sky.

1073 "Now fix your sight, and stand intent, to see
1074 Your Roman race, and Julian progeny.
1075 The mighty Caesar waits his vital hour,
1076 Impatient for the world, and grasps his promis'd pow'r.
1077 But next behold the youth of form divine,
1078 Ceasar himself, exalted in his line;
1079 Augustus, promis'd oft, and long foretold,
1080 Sent to the realm that Saturn rul'd of old;
1081 Born to restore a better age of gold.
1082 Afric and India shall his pow'r obey;
1083 He shall extend his propagated sway
1084 Beyond the solar year, without the starry way,
1085 Where Atlas turns the rolling heav'ns around,
1086 And his broad shoulders with their lights are crown'd.
1087 At his foreseen approach, already quake
1088 The Caspian kingdoms and Maeotian lake:
1089 Their seers behold the tempest from afar,
1090 And threat'ning oracles denounce the war.
1091 Nile hears him knocking at his sev'nfold gates,
1092 And seeks his hidden spring, and fears his nephew's fates.
1093 Nor Hercules more lands or labors knew,
1094 Not tho' the brazen-footed hind he slew,
1095 Freed Erymanthus from the foaming boar,
1096 And dipp'd his arrows in Lernaean gore;
1097 Nor Bacchus, turning from his Indian war,
1098 By tigers drawn triumphant in his car,
1099 From Nisus' top descending on the plains,
1100 With curling vines around his purple reins.
1101 And doubt we yet thro' dangers to pursue
1102 The paths of honor, and a crown in view?
1103 But what's the man, who from afar appears?
1104 His head with olive crown'd, his hand a censer bears,
1105 His hoary beard and holy vestments bring
1106 His lost idea back: I know the Roman king.
1107 He shall to peaceful Rome new laws ordain,
1108 Call'd from his mean abode a scepter to sustain.
1109 Him Tullus next in dignity succeeds,
1110 An active prince, and prone to martial deeds.
1111 He shall his troops for fighting fields prepare,
1112 Disus'd to toils, and triumphs of the war.
1113 By dint of sword his crown he shall increase,
1114 And scour his armor from the rust of peace.
1115 Whom Ancus follows, with a fawning air,
1116 But vain within, and proudly popular.
1117 Next view the Tarquin kings, th' avenging sword
1118 Of Brutus, justly drawn, and Rome restor'd.
1119 He first renews the rods and ax severe,
1120 And gives the consuls royal robes to wear.
1121 His sons, who seek the tyrant to sustain,
1122 And long for arbitrary lords again,
1123 With ignominy scourg'd, in open sight,
1124 He dooms to death deserv'd, asserting public right.
1125 Unhappy man, to break the pious laws
1126 Of nature, pleading in his children's cause!
1127 Howeer the doubtful fact is understood,
1128 'T is love of honor, and his country's good:
1129 The consul, not the father, sheds the blood.
1130 Behold Torquatus the same track pursue;
1131 And, next, the two devoted Decii view:
1132 The Drusian line, Camillus loaded home
1133 With standards well redeem'd, and foreign foes o'ercome
1134 The pair you see in equal armor shine,
1135 Now, friends below, in close embraces join;
1136 But, when they leave the shady realms of night,
1137 And, cloth'd in bodies, breathe your upper light,
1138 With mortal hate each other shall pursue:
1139 What wars, what wounds, what slaughter shall ensue!
1140 From Alpine heights the father first descends;
1141 His daughter's husband in the plain attends:
1142 His daughter's husband arms his eastern friends.
1143 Embrace again, my sons, be foes no more;
1144 Nor stain your country with her children's gore!
1145 And thou, the first, lay down thy lawless claim,
1146 Thou, of my blood, who bearist the Julian name!
1147 Another comes, who shall in triumph ride,
1148 And to the Capitol his chariot guide,
1149 From conquer'd Corinth, rich with Grecian spoils.
1150 And yet another, fam'd for warlike toils,
1151 On Argos shall impose the Roman laws,
1152 And on the Greeks revenge the Trojan cause;
1153 Shall drag in chains their Achillean race;
1154 Shall vindicate his ancestors' disgrace,
1155 And Pallas, for her violated place.
1156 Great Cato there, for gravity renown'd,
1157 And conqu'ring Cossus goes with laurels crown'd.
1158 Who can omit the Gracchi? who declare
1159 The Scipios' worth, those thunderbolts of war,
1160 The double bane of Carthage? Who can see
1161 Without esteem for virtuous poverty,
1162 Severe Fabricius, or can cease t' admire
1163 The plowman consul in his coarse attire?
1164 Tir'd as I am, my praise the Fabii claim;
1165 And thou, great hero, greatest of thy name,
1166 Ordain'd in war to save the sinking state,
1167 And, by delays, to put a stop to fate!
1168 Let others better mold the running mass
1169 Of metals, and inform the breathing brass,
1170 And soften into flesh a marble face;
1171 Plead better at the bar; describe the skies,
1172 And when the stars descend, and when they rise.
1173 But, Rome, 't is thine alone, with awful sway,
1174 To rule mankind, and make the world obey,
1175 Disposing peace and war by thy own majestic way;
1176 To tame the proud, the fetter'd slave to free:
1177 These are imperial arts, and worthy thee."

1178 He paus'd; and, while with wond'ring eyes they view'd
1179 The passing spirits, thus his speech renew'd:
1180 "See great Marcellus! how, untir'd in toils,
1181 He moves with manly grace, how rich with regal spoils!
1182 He, when his country, threaten'd with alarms,
1183 Requires his courage and his conqu'ring arms,
1184 Shall more than once the Punic bands affright;
1185 Shall kill the Gaulish king in single fight;
1186 Then to the Capitol in triumph move,
1187 And the third spoils shall grace Feretrian Jove."
1188 Aeneas here beheld, of form divine,
1189 A godlike youth in glitt'ring armor shine,
1190 With great Marcellus keeping equal pace;
1191 But gloomy were his eyes, dejected was his face.
1192 He saw, and, wond'ring, ask'd his airy guide,
1193 What and of whence was he, who press'd the hero's side:
1194 "His son, or one of his illustrious name?
1195 How like the former, and almost the same!
1196 Observe the crowds that compass him around;
1197 All gaze, and all admire, and raise a shouting sound:
1198 But hov'ring mists around his brows are spread,
1199 And night, with sable shades, involves his head."
1200 "Seek not to know," the ghost replied with tears,
1201 "The sorrows of thy sons in future years.
1202 This youth (the blissful vision of a day)
1203 Shall just be shown on earth, and snatch'd away.
1204 The gods too high had rais'd the Roman state,
1205 Were but their gifts as permanent as great.
1206 What groans of men shall fill the Martian field!
1207 How fierce a blaze his flaming pile shall yield!
1208 What fun'ral pomp shall floating Tiber see,
1209 When, rising from his bed, he views the sad solemnity!
1210 No youth shall equal hopes of glory give,
1211 No youth afford so great a cause to grieve;
1212 The Trojan honor, and the Roman boast,
1213 Admir'd when living, and ador'd when lost!
1214 Mirror of ancient faith in early youth!
1215 Undaunted worth, inviolable truth!
1216 No foe, unpunish'd, in the fighting field
1217 Shall dare thee, foot to foot, with sword and shield;
1218 Much less in arms oppose thy matchless force,
1219 When thy sharp spurs shall urge thy foaming horse.
1220 Ah! couldst thou break thro' fate's severe decree,
1221 A new Marcellus shall arise in thee!
1222 Full canisters of fragrant lilies bring,
1223 Mix'd with the purple roses of the spring;
1224 Let me with fun'ral flow'rs his body strow;
1225 This gift which parents to their children owe,
1226 This unavailing gift, at least, I may bestow!"
1227 Thus having said, he led the hero round
1228 The confines of the blest Elysian ground;
1229 Which when Anchises to his son had shown,
1230 And fir'd his mind to mount the promis'd throne,
1231 He tells the future wars, ordain'd by fate;
1232 The strength and customs of the Latian state;
1233 The prince, and people; and forearms his care
1234 With rules, to push his fortune, or to bear.

1235 Two gates the silent house of Sleep adorn;
1236 Of polish'd ivory this, that of transparent horn:
1237 True visions thro' transparent horn arise;
1238 Thro' polish'd ivory pass deluding lies.
1239 Of various things discoursing as he pass'd,
1240 Anchises hither bends his steps at last.
1241 Then, thro' the gate of iv'ry, he dismiss'd
1242 His valiant offspring and divining guest.
1243 Straight to the ships Aeneas his way,
1244 Embark'd his men, and skimm'd along the sea,
1245 Still coasting, till he gain'd Cajeta's bay.
1246 At length on oozy ground his galleys moor;
1247 Their heads are turn'd to sea, their sterns to shore.