Book 8

1 When Turnus had assembled all his pow'rs,
2 His standard planted on Laurentum's tow'rs;
3 When now the sprightly trumpet, from afar,
4 Had giv'n the signal of approaching war,
5 Had rous'd the neighing steeds to scour the fields,
6 While the fierce riders clatter'd on their shields;
7 Trembling with rage, the Latian youth prepare
8 To join th' allies, and headlong rush to war.
9 Fierce Ufens, and Messapus, led the crowd,
10 With bold Mezentius, who blasphem'd aloud.
11 These thro' the country took their wasteful course,
12 The fields to forage, and to gather force.
13 Then Venulus to Diomede they send,
14 To beg his aid Ausonia to defend,
15 Declare the common danger, and inform
16 The Grecian leader of the growing storm:
17 Aeneas, landed on the Latian coast,
18 With banish'd gods, and with a baffled host,
19 Yet now aspir'd to conquest of the state,
20 And claim'd a title from the gods and fate;
21 What num'rous nations in his quarrel came,
22 And how they spread his formidable name.
23 What he design'd, what mischief might arise,
24 If fortune favor'd his first enterprise,
25 Was left for him to weigh, whose equal fears,
26 And common interest, was involv'd in theirs.

27 While Turnus and th' allies thus urge the war,
28 The Trojan, floating in a flood of care,
29 Beholds the tempest which his foes prepare.
30 This way and that he turns his anxious mind;
31 Thinks, and rejects the counsels he design'd;
32 Explores himself in vain, in ev'ry part,
33 And gives no rest to his distracted heart.
34 So, when the sun by day, or moon by night,
35 Strike on the polish'd brass their trembling light,
36 The glitt'ring species here and there divide,
37 And cast their dubious beams from side to side;
38 Now on the walls, now on the pavement play,
39 And to the ceiling flash the glaring day.

40 'T was night; and weary nature lull'd asleep
41 The birds of air, and fishes of the deep,
42 And beasts, and mortal men. The Trojan chief
43 Was laid on Tiber's banks, oppress'd with grief,
44 And found in silent slumber late relief.
45 Then, thro' the shadows of the poplar wood,
46 Arose the father of the Roman flood;
47 An azure robe was o'er his body spread,
48 A wreath of shady reeds adorn'd his head:
49 Thus, manifest to sight, the god appear'd,
50 And with these pleasing words his sorrow cheer'd:
51 "Undoubted offspring of ethereal race,
52 O long expected in this promis'd place!
53 Who thro' the foes hast borne thy banish'd gods,
54 Restor'd them to their hearths, and old abodes;
55 This is thy happy home, the clime where fate
56 Ordains thee to restore the Trojan state.
57 Fear not! The war shall end in lasting peace,
58 And all the rage of haughty Juno cease.
59 And that this nightly vision may not seem
60 Th' effect of fancy, or an idle dream,
61 A sow beneath an oak shall lie along,
62 All white herself, and white her thirty young.
63 When thirty rolling years have run their race,
64 Thy son Ascanius, on this empty space,
65 Shall build a royal town, of lasting fame,
66 Which from this omen shall receive the name.
67 Time shall approve the truth. For what remains,
68 And how with sure success to crown thy pains,
69 With patience next attend. A banish'd band,
70 Driv'n with Evander from th' Arcadian land,
71 Have planted here, and plac'd on high their walls;
72 Their town the founder Pallanteum calls,
73 Deriv'd from Pallas, his great-grandsire's name:
74 But the fierce Latians old possession claim,
75 With war infesting the new colony.
76 These make thy friends, and on their aid rely.
77 To thy free passage I submit my streams.
78 Wake, son of Venus, from thy pleasing dreams;
79 And, when the setting stars are lost in day,
80 To Juno's pow'r thy just devotion pay;
81 With sacrifice the wrathful queen appease:
82 Her pride at length shall fall, her fury cease.
83 When thou return'st victorious from the war,
84 Perform thy vows to me with grateful care.
85 The god am I, whose yellow water flows
86 Around these fields, and fattens as it goes:
87 Tiber my name; among the rolling floods
88 Renown'd on earth, esteem'd among the gods.
89 This is my certain seat. In times to come,
90 My waves shall wash the walls of mighty Rome."

91 He said, and plung'd below. While yet he spoke,
92 His dream Aeneas and his sleep forsook.
93 He rose, and looking up, beheld the skies
94 With purple blushing, and the day arise.
95 Then water in his hollow palm he took
96 From Tiber's flood, and thus the pow'rs bespoke:
97 "Laurentian nymphs, by whom the streams are fed,
98 And Father Tiber, in thy sacred bed
99 Receive Aeneas, and from danger keep.
100 Whatever fount, whatever holy deep,
101 Conceals thy wat'ry stores; where'er they rise,
102 And, bubbling from below, salute the skies;
103 Thou, king of horned floods, whose plenteous urn
104 Suffices fatness to the fruitful corn,
105 For this thy kind compassion of our woes,
106 Shalt share my morning song and ev'ning vows.
107 But, O be present to thy people's aid,
108 And firm the gracious promise thou hast made!"
109 Thus having said, two galleys from his stores,
110 With care he chooses, mans, and fits with oars.
111 Now on the shore the fatal swine is found.
112 Wondrous to tell!- She lay along the ground:
113 Her well-fed offspring at her udders hung;
114 She white herself, and white her thirty young.
115 Aeneas takes the mother and her brood,
116 And all on Juno's altar are bestow'd.

117 The foll'wing night, and the succeeding day,
118 Propitious Tiber smooth'd his wat'ry way:
119 He roll'd his river back, and pois'd he stood,
120 A gentle swelling, and a peaceful flood.
121 The Trojans mount their ships; they put from shore,
122 Borne on the waves, and scarcely dip an oar.
123 Shouts from the land give omen to their course,
124 And the pitch'd vessels glide with easy force.
125 The woods and waters wonder at the gleam
126 Of shields, and painted ships that stem the stream.
127 One summer's night and one whole day they pass
128 Betwixt the greenwood shades, and cut the liquid glass.
129 The fiery sun had finish'd half his race,
130 Look'd back, and doubted in the middle space,
131 When they from far beheld the rising tow'rs,
132 The tops of sheds, and shepherds' lowly bow'rs,
133 Thin as they stood, which, then of homely clay,
134 Now rise in marble, from the Roman sway.
135 These cots (Evander's kingdom, mean and poor)
136 The Trojan saw, and turn'd his ships to shore.
137 'T was on a solemn day: th' Arcadian states,
138 The king and prince, without the city gates,
139 Then paid their off'rings in a sacred grove
140 To Hercules, the warrior son of Jove.
141 Thick clouds of rolling smoke involve the skies,
142 And fat of entrails on his altar fries.

143 But, when they saw the ships that stemm'd the flood,
144 And glitter'd thro' the covert of the wood,
145 They rose with fear, and left th' unfinish'd feast,
146 Till dauntless Pallas reassur'd the rest
147 To pay the rites. Himself without delay
148 A jav'lin seiz'd, and singly took his way;
149 Then gain'd a rising ground, and call'd from far:
150 "Resolve me, strangers, whence, and what you are;
151 Your bus'ness here; and bring you peace or war?"
152 High on the stern Aeneas his stand,
153 And held a branch of olive in his hand,
154 While thus he spoke: "The Phrygians' arms you see,
155 Expell'd from Troy, provok'd in Italy
156 By Latian foes, with war unjustly made;
157 At first affianc'd, and at last betray'd.
158 This message bear: 'The Trojans and their chief
159 Bring holy peace, and beg the king's relief.'
160 Struck with so great a name, and all on fire,
161 The youth replies: "Whatever you require,
162 Your fame exacts. Upon our shores descend.
163 A welcome guest, and, what you wish, a friend."
164 He said, and, downward hasting to the strand,
165 Embrac'd the stranger prince, and join'd his hand.

166 Conducted to the grove, Aeneas broke
167 The silence first, and thus the king bespoke:
168 "Best of the Greeks, to whom, by fate's command,
169 I bear these peaceful branches in my hand,
170 Undaunted I approach you, tho' I know
171 Your birth is Grecian, and your land my foe;
172 From Atreus tho' your ancient lineage came,
173 And both the brother kings your kindred claim;
174 Yet, my self-conscious worth, your high renown,
175 Your virtue, thro' the neighb'ring nations blown,
176 Our fathers' mingled blood, Apollo's voice,
177 Have led me hither, less by need than choice.
178 Our founder Dardanus, as fame has sung,
179 And Greeks acknowledge, from Electra sprung:
180 Electra from the loins of Atlas came;
181 Atlas, whose head sustains the starry frame.
182 Your sire is Mercury, whom long before
183 On cold Cyllene's top fair Maia bore.
184 Maia the fair, on fame if we rely,
185 Was Atlas' daughter, who sustains the sky.
186 Thus from one common source our streams divide;
187 Ours is the Trojan, yours th' Areadian side.
188 Rais'd by these hopes, I sent no news before,
189 Nor ask'd your leave, nor did your faith implore;
190 But come, without a pledge, my own ambassador.
191 The same Rutulians, who with arms pursue
192 The Trojan race, are equal foes to you.
193 Our host expell'd, what farther force can stay
194 The victor troops from universal sway?
195 Then will they stretch their pow'r athwart the land,
196 And either sea from side to side command.
197 Receive our offer'd faith, and give us thine;
198 Ours is a gen'rous and experienc'd line:
199 We want not hearts nor bodies for the war;
200 In council cautious, and in fields we dare."

201 He said; and while spoke, with piercing eyes
202 Evander view'd the man with vast surprise,
203 Pleas'd with his action, ravish'd with his face:
204 Then answer'd briefly, with a royal grace:
205 "O valiant leader of the Trojan line,
206 In whom the features of thy father shine,
207 How I recall Anchises! how I see
208 His motions, mien, and all my friend, in thee!
209 Long tho' it be, 't is fresh within my mind,
210 When Priam to his sister's court design'd
211 A welcome visit, with a friendly stay,
212 And thro' th' Arcadian kingdom took his way.
213 Then, past a boy, the callow down began
214 To shade my chin, and call me first a man.
215 I saw the shining train with vast delight,
216 And Priam's goodly person pleas'd my sight:
217 But great Anchises, far above the rest,
218 With awful wonder fir'd my youthful breast.
219 I long'd to join in friendship's holy bands
220 Our mutual hearts, and plight our mutual hands.
221 I first accosted him: I sued, I sought,
222 And, with a loving force, to Pheneus brought.
223 He gave me, when at length constrain'd to go,
224 A Lycian quiver and a Gnossian bow,
225 A vest embroider'd, glorious to behold,
226 And two rich bridles, with their bits of gold,
227 Which my son's coursers in obedience hold.
228 The league you ask, I offer, as your right;
229 And, when to-morrow's sun reveals the light,
230 With swift supplies you shall be sent away.
231 Now celebrate with us this solemn day,
232 Whose holy rites admit no long delay.
233 Honor our annual feast; and take your seat,
234 With friendly welcome, at a homely treat."
235 Thus having said, the bowls (remov'd for fear)
236 The youths replac'd, and soon restor'd the cheer.
237 On sods of turf he set the soldiers round:
238 A maple throne, rais'd higher from the ground,
239 Receiv'd the Trojan chief; and, o'er the bed,
240 A lion's shaggy hide for ornament they spread.
241 The loaves were serv'd in canisters; the wine
242 In bowls; the priest renew'd the rites divine:
243 Broil'd entrails are their food, and beef's continued chine.

244 But when the rage of hunger was repress'd,
245 Thus spoke Evander to his royal guest:
246 "These rites, these altars, and this feast, O king,
247 From no vain fears or superstition spring,
248 Or blind devotion, or from blinder chance,
249 Or heady zeal, or brutal ignorance;
250 But, sav'd from danger, with a grateful sense,
251 The labors of a god we recompense.
252 See, from afar, yon rock that mates the sky,
253 About whose feet such heaps of rubbish lie;
254 Such indigested ruin; bleak and bare,
255 How desart now it stands, expos'd in air!
256 'T was once a robber's den, inclos'd around
257 With living stone, and deep beneath the ground.
258 The monster Cacus, more than half a beast,
259 This hold, impervious to the sun, possess'd.
260 The pavement ever foul with human gore;
261 Heads, and their mangled members, hung the door.
262 Vulcan this plague begot; and, like his sire,
263 Black clouds he belch'd, and flakes of livid fire.
264 Time, long expected, eas'd us of our load,
265 And brought the needful presence of a god.
266 Th' avenging force of Hercules, from Spain,
267 Arriv'd in triumph, from Geryon slain:
268 Thrice liv'd the giant, and thrice liv'd in vain.
269 His prize, the lowing herds, Alcides drove
270 Near Tiber's bank, to graze the shady grove.
271 Allur'd with hope of plunder, and intent
272 By force to rob, by fraud to circumvent,
273 The brutal Cacus, as by chance they stray'd,
274 Four oxen thence, and four fair kine convey'd;
275 And, lest the printed footsteps might be seen,
276 He dragg'd 'em backwards to his rocky den.
277 The tracks averse a lying notice gave,
278 And led the searcher backward from the cave.

279 "Meantime the herdsman hero shifts his place,
280 To find fresh pasture and untrodden grass.
281 The beasts, who miss'd their mates, fill'd all around
282 With bellowings, and the rocks restor'd the sound.
283 One heifer, who had heard her love complain,
284 Roar'd from the cave, and made the project vain.
285 Alcides found the fraud; with rage he shook,
286 And toss'd about his head his knotted oak.
287 Swift as the winds, or Scythian arrows' flight,
288 He clomb, with eager haste, th' aerial height.
289 Then first we saw the monster mend his pace;
290 Fear his eyes, and paleness in his face,
291 Confess'd the god's approach. Trembling he springs,
292 As terror had increas'd his feet with wings;
293 Nor stay'd for stairs; but down the depth he threw
294 His body, on his back the door he drew
295 (The door, a rib of living rock; with pains
296 His father hew'd it out, and bound with iron chains):
297 He broke the heavy links, the mountain clos'd,
298 And bars and levers to his foe oppos'd.
299 The wretch had hardly made his dungeon fast;
300 The fierce avenger came with bounding haste;
301 Survey'd the mouth of the forbidden hold,
302 And here and there his raging eyes he roll'd.
303 He gnash'd his teeth; and thrice he compass'd round
304 With winged speed the circuit of the ground.
305 Thrice at the cavern's mouth he pull'd in vain,
306 And, panting, thrice desisted from his pain.
307 A pointed flinty rock, all bare and black,
308 Grew gibbous from behind the mountain's back;
309 Owls, ravens, all ill omens of the night,
310 Here built their nests, and hither wing'd their flight.
311 The leaning head hung threat'ning o'er the flood,
312 And nodded to the left. The hero stood
313 Adverse, with planted feet, and, from the right,
314 Tugg'd at the solid stone with all his might.
315 Thus heav'd, the fix'd foundations of the rock
316 Gave way; heav'n echo'd at the rattling shock.
317 Tumbling, it chok'd the flood: on either side
318 The banks leap backward, and the streams divide;
319 The sky shrunk upward with unusual dread,
320 And trembling Tiber div'd beneath his bed.
321 The court of Cacus stands reveal'd to sight;
322 The cavern glares with new-admitted light.
323 So the pent vapors, with a rumbling sound,
324 Heave from below, and rend the hollow ground;
325 A sounding flaw succeeds; and, from on high,
326 The gods with hate beheld the nether sky:
327 The ghosts repine at violated night,
328 And curse th' invading sun, and sicken at the sight.
329 The graceless monster, caught in open day,
330 Inclos'd, and in despair to fly away,
331 Howls horrible from underneath, and fills
332 His hollow palace with unmanly yells.
333 The hero stands above, and from afar
334 Plies him with darts, and stones, and distant war.
335 He, from his nostrils huge mouth, expires
336 Black clouds of smoke, amidst his father's fires,
337 Gath'ring, with each repeated blast, the night,
338 To make uncertain aim, and erring sight.
339 The wrathful god then plunges from above,
340 And, where in thickest waves the sparkles drove,
341 There lights; and wades thro' fumes, and gropes his way,
342 Half sing'd, half stifled, till he grasps his prey.
343 The monster, spewing fruitless flames, he found;
344 He squeez'd his throat; he writh'd his neck around,
345 And in a knot his crippled members bound;
346 Then from their sockets tore his burning eyes:
347 Roll'd on a heap, the breathless robber lies.
348 The doors, unbarr'd, receive the rushing day,
349 And thoro' lights disclose the ravish'd prey.
350 The bulls, redeem'd, breathe open air again.
351 Next, by the feet, they drag him from his den.
352 The wond'ring neighborhood, with glad surprise,
353 Behold his shagged breast, his giant size,
354 His mouth that flames no more, and his extinguish'd eyes.
355 From that auspicious day, with rites divine,
356 We worship at the hero's holy shrine.
357 Potitius first ordain'd these annual vows:
358 As priests, were added the Pinarian house,
359 Who rais'd this altar in the sacred shade,
360 Where honors, ever due, for ever shall be paid.
361 For these deserts, and this high virtue shown,
362 Ye warlike youths, your heads with garlands crown:
363 Fill high the goblets with a sparkling flood,
364 And with deep draughts invoke our common god."

365 This said, a double wreath Evander twin'd,
366 And poplars black and white his temples bind.
367 Then brims his ample bowl. With like design
368 The rest invoke the gods, with sprinkled wine.
369 Meantime the sun descended from the skies,
370 And the bright evening star began to rise.
371 And now the priests, Potitius at their head,
372 In skins of beasts involv'd, the long procession led;
373 Held high the flaming tapers in their hands,
374 As custom had prescrib'd their holy bands;
375 Then with a second course the tables load,
376 And with full chargers offer to the god.
377 The Salii sing, and cense his altars round
378 With Saban smoke, their heads with poplar bound-
379 One choir of old, another of the young,
380 To dance, and bear the burthen of the song.
381 The lay records the labors, and the praise,
382 And all th' immortal acts of Hercules:
383 First, how the mighty babe, when swath'd in bands,
384 The serpents strangled with his infant hands;
385 Then, as in years and matchless force he grew,
386 Th' Oechalian walls, and Trojan, overthrew.
387 Besides, a thousand hazards they relate,
388 Procur'd by Juno's and Eurystheus' hate:
389 "Thy hands, unconquer'd hero, could subdue
390 The cloud-born Centaurs, and the monster crew:
391 Nor thy resistless arm the bull withstood,
392 Nor he, the roaring terror of the wood.
393 The triple porter of the Stygian seat,
394 With lolling tongue, lay fawning at thy feet,
395 And, seiz'd with fear, forgot his mangled meat.
396 Th' infernal waters trembled at thy sight;
397 Thee, god, no face of danger could affright;
398 Not huge Typhoeus, nor th' unnumber'd snake,
399 Increas'd with hissing heads, in Lerna's lake.
400 Hail, Jove's undoubted son! an added grace
401 To heav'n and the great author of thy race!
402 Receive the grateful off'rings which we pay,
403 And smile propitious on thy solemn day!"
404 In numbers thus they sung; above the rest,
405 The den and death of Cacus crown the feast.
406 The woods to hollow vales convey the sound,
407 The vales to hills, and hills the notes rebound.
408 The rites perform'd, the cheerful train retire.

409 Betwixt young Pallas and his aged sire,
410 The Trojan pass'd, the city to survey,
411 And pleasing talk beguil'd the tedious way.
412 The stranger cast around his curious eyes,
413 New objects viewing still, with new surprise;
414 With greedy joy enquires of various things,
415 And acts and monuments of ancient kings.
416 Then thus the founder of the Roman tow'rs:
417 "These woods were first the seat of sylvan pow'rs,
418 Of Nymphs and Fauns, and salvage men, who took
419 Their birth from trunks of trees and stubborn oak.
420 Nor laws they knew, nor manners, nor the care
421 Of lab'ring oxen, or the shining share,
422 Nor arts of gain, nor what they gain'd to spare.
423 Their exercise the chase; the running flood
424 Supplied their thirst, the trees supplied their food.
425 Then Saturn came, who fled the pow'r of Jove,
426 Robb'd of his realms, and banish'd from above.
427 The men, dispers'd on hills, to towns he brought,
428 And laws ordain'd, and civil customs taught,
429 And Latium call'd the land where safe he lay
430 From his unduteous son, and his usurping sway.
431 With his mild empire, peace and plenty came;
432 And hence the golden times deriv'd their name.
433 A more degenerate and discolor'd age
434 Succeeded this, with avarice and rage.
435 Th' Ausonians then, and bold Sicanians came;
436 And Saturn's empire often chang'd the name.
437 Then kings, gigantic Tybris, and the rest,
438 With arbitrary sway the land oppress'd:
439 For Tiber's flood was Albula before,
440 Till, from the tyrant's fate, his name it bore.
441 I last arriv'd, driv'n from my native home
442 By fortune's pow'r, and fate's resistless doom.
443 Long toss'd on seas, I sought this happy land,
444 Warn'd by my mother nymph, and call'd by Heav'n's command."

445 Thus, walking on, he spoke, and shew'd the gate,
446 Since call'd Carmental by the Roman state;
447 Where stood an altar, sacred to the name
448 Of old Carmenta, the prophetic dame,
449 Who to her son foretold th' Aenean race,
450 Sublime in fame, and Rome's imperial place:
451 Then shews the forest, which, in after times,
452 Fierce Romulus for perpetrated crimes
453 A sacred refuge made; with this, the shrine
454 Where Pan below the rock had rites divine:
455 Then tells of Argus' death, his murder'd guest,
456 Whose grave and tomb his innocence attest.
457 Thence, to the steep Tarpeian rock he leads;
458 Now roof'd with gold, then thatch'd with homely reeds.
459 A reverent fear (such superstition reigns
460 Among the rude) ev'n then possess'd the swains.
461 Some god, they knew- what god, they could not tell-
462 Did there amidst the sacred horror dwell.
463 Th' Arcadians thought him Jove; and said they saw
464 The mighty Thund'rer with majestic awe,
465 Who took his shield, and dealt his bolts around,
466 And scatter'd tempests on the teeming ground.
467 Then saw two heaps of ruins, (once they stood
468 Two stately towns, on either side the flood,)
469 Saturnia's and Janicula's remains;
470 And either place the founder's name retains.
471 Discoursing thus together, they resort
472 Where poor Evander kept his country court.
473 They view'd the ground of Rome's litigious hall;
474 (Once oxen low'd, where now the lawyers bawl;)
475 Then, stooping, thro' the narrow gate they press'd,
476 When thus the king bespoke his Trojan guest:
477 "Mean as it is, this palace, and this door,
478 Receiv'd Alcides, then a conqueror.
479 Dare to be poor; accept our homely food,
480 Which feasted him, and emulate a god."
481 Then underneath a lowly roof he led
482 The weary prince, and laid him on a bed;
483 The stuffing leaves, with hides of bears o'erspread.
484 Now Night had shed her silver dews around,
485 And with her sable wings embrac'd the ground,
486 When love's fair goddess, anxious for her son,
487 (New tumults rising, and new wars begun,)
488 Couch'd with her husband in his golden bed,
489 With these alluring words invokes his aid;
490 And, that her pleasing speech his mind may move,
491 Inspires each accent with the charms of love:
492 "While cruel fate conspir'd with Grecian pow'rs,
493 To level with the ground the Trojan tow'rs,
494 I ask'd not aid th' unhappy to restore,
495 Nor did the succor of thy skill implore;
496 Nor urg'd the labors of my lord in vain,
497 A sinking empire longer to sustain,
498 Tho'much I ow'd to Priam's house, and more
499 The dangers of Aeneas did deplore.
500 But now, by Jove's command, and fate's decree,
501 His race is doom'd to reign in Italy:
502 With humble suit I beg thy needful art,
503 O still propitious pow'r, that rules my heart!
504 A mother kneels a suppliant for her son.
505 By Thetis and Aurora thou wert won
506 To forge impenetrable shields, and grace
507 With fated arms a less illustrious race.
508 Behold, what haughty nations are combin'd
509 Against the relics of the Phrygian kind,
510 With fire and sword my people to destroy,
511 And conquer Venus twice, in conqu'ring Troy."
512 She said; and straight her arms, of snowy hue,
513 About her unresolving husband threw.
514 Her soft embraces soon infuse desire;
515 His bones and marrow sudden warmth inspire;
516 And all the godhead feels the wonted fire.
517 Not half so swift the rattling thunder flies,
518 Or forky lightnings flash along the skies.
519 The goddess, proud of her successful wiles,
520 And conscious of her form, in secret smiles.

521 Then thus the pow'r, obnoxious to her charms,
522 Panting, and half dissolving in her arms:
523 "Why seek you reasons for a cause so just,
524 Or your own beauties or my love distrust?
525 Long since, had you requir'd my helpful hand,
526 Th' artificer and art you might command,
527 To labor arms for Troy: nor Jove, nor fate,
528 Confin'd their empire to so short a date.
529 And, if you now desire new wars to wage,
530 My skill I promise, and my pains engage.
531 Whatever melting metals can conspire,
532 Or breathing bellows, or the forming fire,
533 Is freely yours: your anxious fears remove,
534 And think no task is difficult to love."
535 Trembling he spoke; and, eager of her charms,
536 He snatch'd the willing goddess to his arms;
537 Till in her lap infus'd, he lay possess'd
538 Of full desire, and sunk to pleasing rest.
539 Now when the Night her middle race had rode,
540 And his first slumber had refresh'd the god-
541 The time when early housewives leave the bed;
542 When living embers on the hearth they spread,
543 Supply the lamp, and call the maids to rise-
544 With yawning mouths, and with half-open'd eyes,
545 They ply the distaff by the winking light,
546 And to their daily labor add the night:
547 Thus frugally they earn their children's bread,
548 And uncorrupted keep the nuptial bed-
549 Not less concern'd, nor at a later hour,
550 Rose from his downy couch the forging pow'r.

551 Sacred to Vulcan's name, an isle there lay,
552 Betwixt Sicilia's coasts and Lipare,
553 Rais'd high on smoking rocks; and, deep below,
554 In hollow caves the fires of Aetna glow.
555 The Cyclops here their heavy hammers deal;
556 Loud strokes, and hissings of tormented steel,
557 Are heard around; the boiling waters roar,
558 And smoky flames thro' fuming tunnels soar.
559 Hether the Father of the Fire, by night,
560 Thro' the brown air precipitates his flight.
561 On their eternal anvils here he found
562 The brethren beating, and the blows go round.
563 A load of pointless thunder now there lies
564 Before their hands, to ripen for the skies:
565 These darts, for angry Jove, they daily cast;
566 Consum'd on mortals with prodigious waste.
567 Three rays of writhen rain, of fire three more,
568 Of winged southern winds and cloudy store
569 As many parts, the dreadful mixture frame;
570 And fears are added, and avenging flame.
571 Inferior ministers, for Mars, repair
572 His broken axletrees and blunted war,
573 And send him forth again with furbish'd arms,
574 To wake the lazy war with trumpets' loud alarms.
575 The rest refresh the scaly snakes that fold
576 The shield of Pallas, and renew their gold.
577 Full on the crest the Gorgon's head they place,
578 With eyes that roll in death, and with distorted face.

579 "My sons," said Vulcan, "set your tasks aside;
580 Your strength and master-skill must now be tried.
581 Arms for a hero forge; arms that require
582 Your force, your speed, and all your forming fire."
583 He said. They set their former work aside,
584 And their new toils with eager haste divide.
585 A flood of molten silver, brass, and gold,
586 And deadly steel, in the large furnace roll'd;
587 Of this, their artful hands a shield prepare,
588 Alone sufficient to sustain the war.
589 Sev'n orbs within a spacious round they close:
590 One stirs the fire, and one the bellows blows.
591 The hissing steel is in the smithy drown'd;
592 The grot with beaten anvils groans around.
593 By turns their arms advance, in equal time;
594 By turns their hands descend, and hammers chime.
595 They turn the glowing mass with crooked tongs;
596 The fiery work proceeds, with rustic songs.

597 While, at the Lemnian god's command, they urge
598 Their labors thus, and ply th' Aeolian forge,
599 The cheerful morn salutes Evander's eyes,
600 And songs of chirping birds invite to rise.
601 He leaves his lowly bed: his buskins meet
602 Above his ankles; sandals sheathe his feet:
603 He sets his trusty sword upon his side,
604 And o'er his shoulder throws a panther's hide.
605 Two menial dogs before their master press'd.
606 Thus clad, and guarded thus, he seeks his kingly guest.
607 Mindful of promis'd aid, he mends his pace,
608 But meets Aeneas in the middle space.
609 Young Pallas did his father's steps attend,
610 And true Achates waited on his friend.
611 They join their hands; a secret seat they choose;
612 Th' Arcadian first their former talk renews:
613 "Undaunted prince, I never can believe
614 The Trojan empire lost, while you survive.
615 Command th' assistance of a faithful friend;
616 But feeble are the succors I can send.
617 Our narrow kingdom here the Tiber bounds;
618 That other side the Latian state surrounds,
619 Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.
620 But mighty nations I prepare, to join
621 Their arms with yours, and aid your just design.
622 You come, as by your better genius sent,
623 And fortune seems to favor your intent.
624 Not far from hence there stands a hilly town,
625 Of ancient building, and of high renown,
626 Torn from the Tuscans by the Lydian race,
627 Who gave the name of Caere to the place,
628 Once Agyllina call'd. It flourish'd long,
629 In pride of wealth and warlike people strong,
630 Till curs'd Mezentius, in a fatal hour,
631 Assum'd the crown, with arbitrary pow'r.
632 What words can paint those execrable times,
633 The subjects' suff'rings, and the tyrant's crimes!
634 That blood, those murthers, O ye gods, replace
635 On his own head, and on his impious race!
636 The living and the dead at his command
637 Were coupled, face to face, and hand to hand,
638 Till, chok'd with stench, in loath'd embraces tied,
639 The ling'ring wretches pin'd away and died.
640 Thus plung'd in ills, and meditating more-
641 The people's patience, tir'd, no longer bore
642 The raging monster; but with arms beset
643 His house, and vengeance and destruction threat.
644 They fire his palace: while the flame ascends,
645 They force his guards, and execute his friends.
646 He cleaves the crowd, and, favor'd by the night,
647 To Turnus' friendly court directs his flight.
648 By just revenge the Tuscans set on fire,
649 With arms, their king to punishment require:
650 Their num'rous troops, now muster'd on the strand,
651 My counsel shall submit to your command.
652 Their navy swarms upon the coasts; they cry
653 To hoist their anchors, but the gods deny.
654 An ancient augur, skill'd in future fate,
655 With these foreboding words restrains their hate:
656 'Ye brave in arms, ye Lydian blood, the flow'r
657 Of Tuscan youth, and choice of all their pow'r,
658 Whom just revenge against Mezentius arms,
659 To seek your tyrant's death by lawful arms;
660 Know this: no native of our land may lead
661 This pow'rful people; seek a foreign head.'
662 Aw'd with these words, in camps they still abide,
663 And wait with longing looks their promis'd guide.
664 Tarchon, the Tuscan chief, to me has sent
665 Their crown, and ev'ry regal ornament:
666 The people join their own with his desire;
667 And all my conduct, as their king, require.
668 But the chill blood that creeps within my veins,
669 And age, and listless limbs unfit for pains,
670 And a soul conscious of its own decay,
671 Have forc'd me to refuse imperial sway.
672 My Pallas were more fit to mount the throne,
673 And should, but he's a Sabine mother's son,
674 And half a native; but, in you, combine
675 A manly vigor, and a foreign line.
676 Where Fate and smiling Fortune shew the way,
677 Pursue the ready path to sov'reign sway.
678 The staff of my declining days, my son,
679 Shall make your good or ill success his own;
680 In fighting fields from you shall learn to dare,
681 And serve the hard apprenticeship of war;
682 Your matchless courage and your conduct view,
683 And early shall begin t' admire and copy you.
684 Besides, two hundred horse he shall command;
685 Tho' few, a warlike and well-chosen band.
686 These in my name are listed; and my son
687 As many more has added in his own."

688 Scarce had he said; Achates and his guest,
689 With downcast eyes, their silent grief express'd;
690 Who, short of succors, and in deep despair,
691 Shook at the dismal prospect of the war.
692 But his bright mother, from a breaking cloud,
693 To cheer her issue, thunder'd thrice aloud;
694 Thrice forky lightning flash'd along the sky,
695 And Tyrrhene trumpets thrice were heard on high.
696 Then, gazing up, repeated peals they hear;
697 And, in a heav'n serene, refulgent arms appear:
698 Redd'ning the skies, and glitt'ring all around,
699 The temper'd metals clash, and yield a silver sound.
700 The rest stood trembling, struck with awe divine;
701 Aeneas only, conscious to the sign,
702 Presag'd th' event, and joyful view'd, above,
703 Th' accomplish'd promise of the Queen of Love.
704 Then, to th' Arcadian king: "This prodigy
705 (Dismiss your fear) belongs alone to me.
706 Heav'n calls me to the war: th' expected sign
707 Is giv'n of promis'd aid, and arms divine.
708 My goddess mother, whose indulgent care
709 Foresaw the dangers of the growing war,
710 This omen gave, when bright Vulcanian arms,
711 Fated from force of steel by Stygian charms,
712 Suspended, shone on high: she then foreshow'd
713 Approaching fights, and fields to float in blood.
714 Turnus shall dearly pay for faith forsworn;
715 And corps, and swords, and shields, on Tiber borne,
716 Shall choke his flood: now sound the loud alarms;
717 And, Latian troops, prepare your perjur'd arms."

718 He said, and, rising from his homely throne,
719 The solemn rites of Hercules begun,
720 And on his altars wak'd the sleeping fires;
721 Then cheerful to his household gods retires;
722 There offers chosen sheep. Th' Arcadian king
723 And Trojan youth the same oblations bring.
724 Next, of his men and ships he makes review;
725 Draws out the best and ablest of the crew.
726 Down with the falling stream the refuse run,
727 To raise with joyful news his drooping son.
728 Steeds are prepar'd to mount the Trojan band,
729 Who wait their leader to the Tyrrhene land.
730 A sprightly courser, fairer than the rest,
731 The king himself presents his royal guest:
732 A lion's hide his back and limbs infold,
733 Precious with studded work, and paws of gold.
734 Fame thro' the little city spreads aloud
735 Th' intended march, amid the fearful crowd:
736 The matrons beat their breasts, dissolve in tears,
737 And double their devotion in their fears.
738 The war at hand appears with more affright,
739 And rises ev'ry moment to the sight.

740 Then old Evander, with a close embrace,
741 Strain'd his departing friend; and tears o'erflow his face.
742 "Would Heav'n," said he, "my strength and youth recall,
743 Such as I was beneath Praeneste's wall;
744 Then when I made the foremost foes retire,
745 And set whole heaps of conquer'd shields on fire;
746 When Herilus in single fight I slew,
747 Whom with three lives Feronia did endue;
748 And thrice I sent him to the Stygian shore,
749 Till the last ebbing soul return'd no more-
750 Such if I stood renew'd, not these alarms,
751 Nor death, should rend me from my Pallas' arms;
752 Nor proud Mezentius, thus unpunish'd, boast
753 His rapes and murthers on the Tuscan coast.
754 Ye gods, and mighty Jove, in pity bring
755 Relief, and hear a father and a king!
756 If fate and you reserve these eyes, to see
757 My son return with peace and victory;
758 If the lov'd boy shall bless his father's sight;
759 If we shall meet again with more delight;
760 Then draw my life in length; let me sustain,
761 In hopes of his embrace, the worst of pain.
762 But if your hard decrees- which, O! I dread-
763 Have doom'd to death his undeserving head;
764 This, O this very moment, let me die!
765 While hopes and fears in equal balance lie;
766 While, yet possess'd of all his youthful charms,
767 I strain him close within these aged arms;
768 Before that fatal news my soul shall wound!"
769 He said, and, swooning, sunk upon the ground.
770 His servants bore him off, and softly laid
771 His languish'd limbs upon his homely bed.

772 The horsemen march; the gates are open'd wide;
773 Aeneas at their head, Achates by his side.
774 Next these, the Trojan leaders rode along;
775 Last follows in the rear th' Arcadian throng.
776 Young Pallas shone conspicuous o'er the rest;
777 Gilded his arms, embroider'd was his vest.
778 So, from the seas, exerts his radiant head
779 The star by whom the lights of heav'n are led;
780 Shakes from his rosy locks the pearly dews,
781 Dispels the darkness, and the day renews.
782 The trembling wives the walls and turrets crowd,
783 And follow, with their eyes, the dusty cloud,
784 Which winds disperse by fits, and shew from far
785 The blaze of arms, and shields, and shining war.
786 The troops, drawn up in beautiful array,
787 O'er heathy plains pursue the ready way.
788 Repeated peals of shouts are heard around;
789 The neighing coursers answer to the sound,
790 And shake with horny hoofs the solid ground.

791 A greenwood shade, for long religion known,
792 Stands by the streams that wash the Tuscan town,
793 Incompass'd round with gloomy hills above,
794 Which add a holy horror to the grove.
795 The first inhabitants of Grecian blood,
796 That sacred forest to Silvanus vow'd,
797 The guardian of their flocks and fields; and pay
798 Their due devotions on his annual day.
799 Not far from hence, along the river's side,
800 In tents secure, the Tuscan troops abide,
801 By Tarchon led. Now, from a rising ground,
802 Aeneas cast his wond'ring eyes around,
803 And all the Tyrrhene army had in sight,
804 Stretch'd on the spacious plain from left to right.
805 Thether his warlike train the Trojan led,
806 Refresh'd his men, and wearied horses fed.

807 Meantime the mother goddess, crown'd with charms,
808 Breaks thro' the clouds, and brings the fated arms.
809 Within a winding vale she finds her son,
810 On the cool river's banks, retir'd alone.
811 She shews her heav'nly form without disguise,
812 And gives herself to his desiring eyes.
813 "Behold," she said, "perform'd in ev'ry part,
814 My promise made, and Vulcan's labor'd art.
815 Now seek, secure, the Latian enemy,
816 And haughty Turnus to the field defy."
817 She said; and, having first her son embrac'd,
818 The radiant arms beneath an oak she plac'd,
819 Proud of the gift, he roll'd his greedy sight
820 Around the work, and gaz'd with vast delight.
821 He lifts, he turns, he poises, and admires
822 The crested helm, that vomits radiant fires:
823 His hands the fatal sword and corslet hold,
824 One keen with temper'd steel, one stiff with gold:
825 Both ample, flaming both, and beamy bright;
826 So shines a cloud, when edg'd with adverse light.
827 He shakes the pointed spear, and longs to try
828 The plated cuishes on his manly thigh;
829 But most admires the shield's mysterious mold,
830 And Roman triumphs rising on the gold:
831 For these, emboss'd, the heav'nly smith had wrought
832 (Not in the rolls of future fate untaught)
833 The wars in order, and the race divine
834 Of warriors issuing from the Julian line.
835 The cave of Mars was dress'd with mossy greens:
836 There, by the wolf, were laid the martial twins.
837 Intrepid on her swelling dugs they hung;
838 The foster dam loll'd out her fawning tongue:
839 They suck'd secure, while, bending back her head,
840 She lick'd their tender limbs, and form'd them as they fed.
841 Not far from thence new Rome appears, with games
842 Projected for the rape of Sabine dames.
843 The pit resounds with shrieks; a war succeeds,
844 For breach of public faith, and unexampled deeds.
845 Here for revenge the Sabine troops contend;
846 The Romans there with arms the prey defend.
847 Wearied with tedious war, at length they cease;
848 And both the kings and kingdoms plight the peace.
849 The friendly chiefs before Jove's altar stand,
850 Both arm'd, with each a charger in his hand:
851 A fatted sow for sacrifice is led,
852 With imprecations on the perjur'd head.
853 Near this, the traitor Metius, stretch'd between
854 Four fiery steeds, is dragg'd along the green,
855 By Tullus' doom: the brambles drink his blood,
856 And his torn limbs are left the vulture's food.
857 There, Porsena to Rome proud Tarquin brings,
858 And would by force restore the banish'd kings.
859 One tyrant for his fellow-tyrant fights;
860 The Roman youth assert their native rights.
861 Before the town the Tuscan army lies,
862 To win by famine, or by fraud surprise.
863 Their king, half-threat'ning, half-disdaining stood,
864 While Cocles broke the bridge, and stemm'd the flood.
865 The captive maids there tempt the raging tide,
866 Scap'd from their chains, with Cloelia for their guide.
867 High on a rock heroic Manlius stood,
868 To guard the temple, and the temple's god.
869 Then Rome was poor; and there you might behold
870 The palace thatch'd with straw, now roof'd with gold.
871 The silver goose before the shining gate
872 There flew, and, by her cackle, sav'd the state.
873 She told the Gauls' approach; th' approaching Gauls,
874 Obscure in night, ascend, and seize the walls.
875 The gold dissembled well their yellow hair,
876 And golden chains on their white necks they wear.
877 Gold are their vests; long Alpine spears they wield,
878 And their left arm sustains a length of shield.
879 Hard by, the leaping Salian priests advance;
880 And naked thro' the streets the mad Luperci dance,
881 In caps of wool; the targets dropp'd from heav'n.
882 Here modest matrons, in soft litters driv'n,
883 To pay their vows in solemn pomp appear,
884 And odorous gums in their chaste hands they bear.
885 Far hence remov'd, the Stygian seats are seen;
886 Pains of the damn'd, and punish'd Catiline
887 Hung on a rock- the traitor; and, around,
888 The Furies hissing from the nether ground.
889 Apart from these, the happy souls he draws,
890 And Cato's holy ghost dispensing laws.

891 Betwixt the quarters flows a golden sea;
892 But foaming surges there in silver play.
893 The dancing dolphins with their tails divide
894 The glitt'ring waves, and cut the precious tide.
895 Amid the main, two mighty fleets engage
896 Their brazen beaks, oppos'd with equal rage.
897 Actium surveys the well-disputed prize;
898 Leucate's wat'ry plain with foamy billows fries.
899 Young Caesar, on the stern, in armor bright,
900 Here leads the Romans and their gods to fight:
901 His beamy temples shoot their flames afar,
902 And o'er his head is hung the Julian star.
903 Agrippa seconds him, with prosp'rous gales,
904 And, with propitious gods, his foes assails:
905 A naval crown, that binds his manly brows,
906 The happy fortune of the fight foreshows.
907 Rang'd on the line oppos'd, Antonius brings
908 Barbarian aids, and troops of Eastern kings;
909 Th' Arabians near, and Bactrians from afar,
910 Of tongues discordant, and a mingled war:
911 And, rich in gaudy robes, amidst the strife,
912 His ill fate follows him- th' Egyptian wife.
913 Moving they fight; with oars and forky prows
914 The froth is gather'd, and the water glows.
915 It seems, as if the Cyclades again
916 Were rooted up, and justled in the main;
917 Or floating mountains floating mountains meet;
918 Such is the fierce encounter of the fleet.
919 Fireballs are thrown, and pointed jav'lins fly;
920 The fields of Neptune take a purple dye.
921 The queen herself, amidst the loud alarms,
922 With cymbals toss'd her fainting soldiers warms-
923 Fool as she was! who had not yet divin'd
924 Her cruel fate, nor saw the snakes behind.
925 Her country gods, the monsters of the sky,
926 Great Neptune, Pallas, and Love's Queen defy:
927 The dog Anubis barks, but barks in vain,
928 Nor longer dares oppose th' ethereal train.
929 Mars in the middle of the shining shield
930 Is grav'd, and strides along the liquid field.
931 The Dirae souse from heav'n with swift descent;
932 And Discord, dyed in blood, with garments rent,
933 Divides the prease: her steps Bellona treads,
934 And shakes her iron rod above their heads.
935 This seen, Apollo, from his Actian height,
936 Pours down his arrows; at whose winged flight
937 The trembling Indians and Egyptians yield,
938 And soft Sabaeans quit the wat'ry field.
939 The fatal mistress hoists her silken sails,
940 And, shrinking from the fight, invokes the gales.
941 Aghast she looks, and heaves her breast for breath,
942 Panting, and pale with fear of future death.
943 The god had figur'd her as driv'n along
944 By winds and waves, and scudding thro' the throng.
945 Just opposite, sad Nilus opens wide
946 His arms and ample bosom to the tide,
947 And spreads his mantle o'er the winding coast,
948 In which he wraps his queen, and hides the flying host.
949 The victor to the gods his thanks express'd,
950 And Rome, triumphant, with his presence bless'd.
951 Three hundred temples in the town he plac'd;
952 With spoils and altars ev'ry temple grac'd.
953 Three shining nights, and three succeeding days,
954 The fields resound with shouts, the streets with praise,
955 The domes with songs, the theaters with plays.
956 All altars flame: before each altar lies,
957 Drench'd in his gore, the destin'd sacrifice.
958 Great Caesar sits sublime upon his throne,
959 Before Apollo's porch of Parian stone;
960 Accepts the presents vow'd for victory,
961 And hangs the monumental crowns on high.
962 Vast crowds of vanquish'd nations march along,
963 Various in arms, in habit, and in tongue.
964 Here, Mulciber assigns the proper place
965 For Carians, and th' ungirt Numidian race;
966 Then ranks the Thracians in the second row,
967 With Scythians, expert in the dart and bow.
968 And here the tam'd Euphrates humbly glides,
969 And there the Rhine submits her swelling tides,
970 And proud Araxes, whom no bridge could bind;
971 The Danes' unconquer'd offspring march behind,
972 And Morini, the last of humankind.

973 These figures, on the shield divinely wrought,
974 By Vulcan labor'd, and by Venus brought,
975 With joy and wonder fill the hero's thought.
976 Unknown the names, he yet admires the grace,
977 And bears aloft the fame and fortune of his race.