Aeneid

Virgil

Vergil. The Aeneid of Virgil. Williams, Theodore, C, translator. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1910.

  1. There in the middle court a shadowy elm
  2. Its ancient branches spreads, and in its leaves
  3. Deluding visions ever haunt and cling.
  4. Then come strange prodigies of bestial kind :
  5. Centaurs are stabled there, and double shapes
  6. Like Scylla, or the dragon Lerna bred,
  7. With hideous scream; Briareus clutching far
  8. His hundred hands, Chimaera girt with flame,
  9. A crowd of Gorgons, Harpies of foul wing,
  10. And giant Geryon's triple-monstered shade.
  11. Aeneas, shuddering with sudden fear,
  12. Drew sword and fronted them with naked steel;
  13. And, save his sage conductress bade him know
  14. These were but shapes and shadows sweeping by,
  15. His stroke had cloven in vain the vacant air.
  1. Hence the way leads to that Tartarean stream
  2. Of Acheron, whose torrent fierce and foul
  3. Disgorges in Cocytus all its sands.
  4. A ferryman of gruesome guise keeps ward
  5. Upon these waters,—Charon, foully garbed,
  6. With unkempt, thick gray beard upon his chin,
  7. And staring eyes of flame; a mantle coarse,
  8. All stained and knotted, from his shoulder falls,
  9. As with a pole he guides his craft, tends sail,
  10. And in the black boat ferries o'er his dead;—
  11. Old, but a god's old age looks fresh and strong.
  12. To those dim shores the multitude streams on—
  13. Husbands and wives, and pale, unbreathing forms
  14. Of high-souled heroes, boys and virgins fair,
  15. And strong youth at whose graves fond parents mourned.
  16. As numberless the throng as leaves that fall
  17. When autumn's early frost is on the grove;
  18. Or like vast flocks of birds by winter's chill
  19. Sent flying o'er wide seas to lands of flowers.
  20. All stood beseeching to begin their voyage
  21. Across that river, and reached out pale hands,
  22. In passionate yearning for its distant shore.
  23. But the grim boatman takes now these, now those,
  24. Or thrusts unpitying from the stream away.
  25. Aeneas, moved to wonder and deep awe,
  26. Beheld the tumult; “Virgin seer!” he cried, .
  27. “Why move the thronging ghosts toward yonder stream?
  28. What seek they there? Or what election holds
  29. That these unwilling linger, while their peers
  30. Sweep forward yonder o'er the leaden waves?”
  31. To him, in few, the aged Sibyl spoke :
  32. “Son of Anchises, offspring of the gods,
  33. Yon are Cocytus and the Stygian stream,
  34. By whose dread power the gods themselves do fear
  35. To take an oath in vain. Here far and wide
  36. Thou seest the hapless throng that hath no grave.
  37. That boatman Charon bears across the deep
  38. Such as be sepulchred with holy care.
  39. But over that loud flood and dreadful shore
  40. No trav'ler may be borne, until in peace
  41. His gathered ashes rest. A hundred years
  42. Round this dark borderland some haunt and roam,
  43. Then win late passage o'er the longed-for wave.”
  44. Aeneas lingered for a little space,
  45. Revolving in his soul with pitying prayer
  46. Fate's partial way. But presently he sees
  47. Leucaspis and the Lycian navy's lord,
  48. Orontes; both of melancholy brow,
  49. Both hapless and unhonored after death,
  50. Whom, while from Troy they crossed the wind-swept seas,
  51. A whirling tempest wrecked with ship and crew.
  1. There, too, the helmsman Palinurus strayed :
  2. Who, as he whilom watched the Libyan stars,
  3. Had fallen, plunging from his lofty seat
  4. Into the billowy deep. Aeneas now
  5. Discerned his sad face through the blinding gloom,
  6. And hailed him thus : “0 Palinurus, tell
  7. What god was he who ravished thee away
  8. From me and mine, beneath the o'crwhelming wave?
  9. Speak on! for he who ne'er had spoke untrue,
  10. Apollo's self, did mock my listening mind,
  11. And chanted me a faithful oracle
  12. That thou shouldst ride the seas unharmed, and touch
  13. Ausonian shores. Is this the pledge divine?”
  14. Then he, “0 chieftain of Anchises' race,
  15. Apollo's tripod told thee not untrue.
  16. No god did thrust me down beneath the wave,
  17. For that strong rudder unto which I clung,
  18. My charge and duty, and my ship's sole guide,
  19. Wrenched from its place, dropped with me as I fell.
  20. Not for myself—by the rude seas I swear—
  21. Did I have terror, but lest thy good ship,
  22. Stripped of her gear, and her poor pilot lost,
  23. Should fail and founder in that rising flood.
  24. Three wintry nights across the boundless main
  25. The south wind buffeted and bore me on;
  26. At the fourth daybreak, lifted from the surge,
  27. I looked at last on Italy, and swam
  28. With weary stroke on stroke unto the land.
  29. Safe was I then. Alas! but as I climbed
  30. With garments wet and heavy, my clenched hand
  31. Grasping the steep rock, came a cruel horde
  32. Upon me with drawn blades, accounting me—
  33. So blind they were!—a wrecker's prize and spoil.
  34. Now are the waves my tomb; and wandering winds
  35. Toss me along the coast. 0, I implore,
  36. By heaven's sweet light, by yonder upper air,
  37. By thy lost father, by Iulus dear,
  38. Thy rising hope and joy, that from these woes,
  39. Unconquered chieftain, thou wilt set me free!
  40. Give me a grave where Velia's haven lies,
  41. For thou hast power! Or if some path there be,
  42. If thy celestial mother guide thee here
  43. (For not, I ween, without the grace of gods
  44. Wilt cross yon rivers vast, you Stygian pool)
  45. Reach me a hand! and bear with thee along!
  46. Until (least gift!) death bring me peace and calm.”
  47. Such words he spoke: the priestess thus replied:
  48. “Why, Palinurus, these unblest desires?
  49. Wouldst thou, unsepulchred, behold the wave
  50. Of Styx, stern river of th' Eumenides?
  51. Wouldst thou, unbidden, tread its fearful strand?
  52. Hope not by prayer to change the laws of Heaven!
  53. But heed my words, and in thy memory
  54. Cherish and keep, to cheer this evil time.
  55. Lo, far and wide, led on by signs from Heaven,
  56. Thy countrymen from many a templed town
  57. Shall consecrate thy dust, and build thy tomb,
  58. A tomb with annual feasts and votive flowers,
  59. To Palinurus a perpetual fame!”
  60. Thus was his anguish stayed, from his sad heart
  61. Grief ebbed awhile, and even to this day,
  62. Our land is glad such noble name to wear.
  1. The twain continue now their destined way
  2. Unto the river's edge. The Ferryman,
  3. Who watched them through still groves approach his shore,
  4. Hailed them, at distance, from the Stygian wave,
  5. And with reproachful summons thus began:
  6. “Whoe'er thou art that in this warrior guise
  7. Unto my river comest,—quickly tell
  8. Thine errand! Stay thee where thou standest now!
  9. This is ghosts' land, for sleep and slumbrous dark.
  10. That flesh and blood my Stygian ship should bear
  11. Were lawless wrong. Unwillingly I took
  12. Alcides, Theseus, and Pirithous,
  13. Though sons of gods, too mighty to be quelled.
  14. One bound in chains yon warder of Hell's door,
  15. And dragged him trembling from our monarch's throne:
  16. The others, impious, would steal away
  17. Out of her bride-bed Pluto's ravished Queen.”
  18. Briefly th' Amphrysian priestess made reply:
  19. “Not ours, such guile: Fear not! This warrior's arms
  20. Are innocent. Let Cerberus from his cave
  21. Bay ceaselessly, the bloodless shades to scare;
  22. Let Proserpine immaculately keep
  23. The house and honor of her kinsman King.
  24. Trojan Aeneas, famed for faithful prayer
  25. And victory in arms, descends to seek
  26. His father in this gloomy deep of death.
  27. If loyal goodness move not such as thee,
  28. This branch at least” (she drew it from her breast)
  29. “Thou knowest well.”
  30. Then cooled his wrathful heart;
  31. With silent lips he looked and wondering eyes
  32. Upon that fateful, venerable wand,
  33. Seen only once an age. Shoreward he turned,
  34. And pushed their way his boat of leaden hue.
  35. The rows of crouching ghosts along the thwarts
  36. He scattered, cleared a passage, and gave room
  37. To great Aeneas. The light shallop groaned
  38. Beneath his weight, and, straining at each seam,
  39. Took in the foul flood with unstinted flow.
  40. At last the hero and his priestess-guide
  41. Came safe across the river, and were moored
  42. 'mid sea-green sedges in the formless mire.
  1. Here Cerberus, with triple-throated roar,
  2. Made all the region ring, as there he lay
  3. At vast length in his cave. The Sibyl then,
  4. Seeing the serpents writhe around his neck,
  5. Threw down a loaf with honeyed herbs imbued
  6. And drowsy essences: he, ravenous,
  7. Gaped wide his three fierce mouths and snatched the bait,
  8. Crouched with his large backs loose upon the ground,
  9. And filled his cavern floor from end to end.
  10. Aeneas through hell's portal moved, while sleep
  11. Its warder buried; then he fled that shore
  12. Of Stygian stream, whence travellers ne'er return.
  1. Now hears he sobs, and piteous, lisping cries
  2. Of souls of babes upon the threshold plaining;
  3. Whom, ere they took their portion of sweet life,
  4. Dark Fate from nursing bosoms tore, and plunged
  5. In bitterness of death. Nor far from these,
  6. The throng of dead by unjust judgment slain.
  7. Not without judge or law these realms abide:
  8. Wise Minos there the urn of justice moves,
  9. And holds assembly of the silent shades,
  10. Hearing the stories of their lives and deeds.
  11. Close on this place those doleful ghosts abide,
  12. Who, not for crime, but loathing life and light
  13. With their own hands took death, and cast away
  14. The vital essence. Willingly, alas!
  15. They now would suffer need, or burdens bear,
  16. If only life were given! But Fate forbids.
  17. Around them winds the sad, unlovely wave
  18. Of Styx: nine times it coils and interflows.
  19. Not far from hence, on every side outspread,
  20. The Fields of Sorrow lie,—such name they bear;
  21. Here all whom ruthless love did waste away
  22. Wander in paths unseen, or in the gloom
  23. Of dark myrtle grove: not even in death
  24. Have they forgot their griefs of long ago.
  25. Here impious Phaedra and poor Procris bide;
  26. Lorn Eriphyle bares the vengeful wounds
  27. Her own son's dagger made; Evadne here,
  28. And foul are seen; hard by,
  29. Laodamia, nobly fond and fair;
  30. And Caeneus, not a boy, but maiden now,
  31. By Fate remoulded to her native seeming.
  32. Here Tyrian Dido, too, her wound unhealed,
  33. Roamed through a mighty wood. The Trojan's eyes
  34. Beheld her near him through the murky gloom,
  35. As when, in her young month and crescent pale,
  36. One sees th' o'er-clouded moon, or thinks he sees.
  37. Down dropped his tears, and thus he fondly spoke:
  38. “0 suffering Dido! Were those tidings true
  39. That thou didst fling thee on the fatal steel?
  40. Thy death, ah me! I dealt it. But I swear
  41. By stars above us, by the powers in Heaven,
  42. Or whatsoever oath ye dead believe,
  43. That not by choice I fled thy shores, 0 Queen!
  44. Divine decrees compelled me, even as now
  45. Among these ghosts I pass, and thread my way
  46. Along this gulf of night and loathsome land.
  47. How could I deem my cruel taking leave
  48. Would bring thee at the last to all this woe?
  49. 0, stay! Why shun me? Wherefore haste away?
  50. Our last farewell! Our doom! I speak it now!”
  51. Thus, though she glared with fierce, relentless gaze,
  52. Aaeneas, with fond words and tearful plea,
  53. Would soothe her angry soul. But on the ground
  54. She fixed averted eyes. For all he spoke
  55. Moved her no more than if her frowning brow
  56. Were changeless flint or carved in Parian stone.
  57. Then, after pause, away in wrath she fled,
  58. And refuge took within the cool, dark grove,
  59. Where her first spouse, Sichaeus, with her tears
  60. Mingled his own in mutual love and true.
  61. Aeneas, none the less, her guiltless woe
  62. With anguish knew, watched with dimmed eyes her way,
  63. And pitied from afar the fallen Queen.
  1. But now his destined way he must be gone;
  2. Now the last regions round the travellers lie,
  3. Where famous warriors in the darkness dwell:
  4. Here Tydeus comes in view, with far-renowned
  5. Parthenopaeus and Adrastus pale;
  6. Here mourned in upper air with many a moan,
  7. In battle fallen, the Dardanidae,
  8. Whose long defile Aeneas groans to see:
  9. Glaucus and Medon and Thersilochus,
  10. Antenor's children three, and Ceres' priest,
  11. That Polypoetes, and Idaeus still.
  12. Keeping the kingly chariot and spear.
  13. Around him left and right the crowding shades
  14. Not only once would see, but clutch and cling
  15. Obstructive, asking on what quest he goes.
  16. Soon as the princes of Argolic blood,
  17. With line on line of Agamemnon's men,
  18. Beheld the hero and his glittering arms
  19. Flash through the dark, they trembled with amaze,
  20. Or turned in flight, as if once more they fled
  21. To shelter of the ships; some raised aloft
  22. A feeble shout, or vainly opened wide
  23. Their gaping lips in mockery of sound.
  1. Here Priam's son, with body rent and torn,
  2. is seen,—his mangled face,
  3. His face and bloody hands, his wounded head
  4. Of ears and nostrils infamously shorn.
  5. Scarce could Aeneas know the shuddering shade
  6. That strove to hide its face and shameful scar;
  7. But, speaking first, he said, in their own tongue:
  8. “Deiphobus, strong warrior, nobly born
  9. Of Teucer's royal stem, what ruthless foe
  10. Could wish to wreak on thee this dire revenge?
  11. Who ventured, unopposed, so vast a wrong?
  12. The rumor reached me how, that deadly night,
  13. Wearied with slaying Greeks, thyself didst fall
  14. Prone on a mingled heap of friends and foes.
  15. Then my own hands did for thy honor build
  16. An empty tomb upon the Trojan shore,
  17. And thrice with echoing voice I called thy shade.
  18. Thy name and arms are there. But, 0 my friend,
  19. Thee could I nowhere find, but launched away,
  20. Nor o'er thy bones their native earth could fling.”
  21. To him the son of Priam thus replied:
  22. “Nay, friend, no hallowed rite was left undone,
  23. But every debt to death and pity due
  24. The shades of thy Deiphobus received.
  25. My fate it was, and Helen's murderous wrong,
  26. Wrought me this woe; of her these tokens tell.
  27. For how that last night in false hope we passed,
  28. Thou knowest,—ah, too well we both recall!
  29. When up the steep of Troy the fateful horse
  30. Came climbing, pregnant with fierce men-at-arms,
  31. 't was she, accurst, who led the Phrygian dames
  32. In choric dance and false bacchantic song,
  33. And, waving from the midst a lofty brand,
  34. Signalled the Greeks from Ilium's central tower
  35. In that same hour on my sad couch I lay,
  36. Exhausted by long care and sunk in sleep,
  37. That sweet, deep sleep, so close to tranquil death.
  38. But my illustrious bride from all the house
  39. Had stolen all arms; from 'neath my pillowed head
  40. She stealthily bore off my trusty sword;
  41. Then loud on Menelaus did she call,
  42. And with her own false hand unbarred the door;
  43. Such gift to her fond lord she fain would send
  44. To blot the memory of his ancient wrong!
  45. Why tell the tale, how on my couch they broke,
  46. While their accomplice, vile Aeolides,
  47. Counselled to many a crime. 0 heavenly Powers!
  48. Reward these Greeks their deeds of wickedness,
  49. If with clean lips upon your wrath I call!
  50. But, friend, what fortunes have thy life befallen?
  51. Tell point by point. Did waves of wandering seas
  52. Drive thee this way, or some divine command?
  53. What chastisement of fortune thrusts thee on
  54. Toward this forlorn abode of night and cloud?”
  1. While thus they talked, the crimsoned car of Morn
  2. Had wheeled beyond the midmost point of heaven,
  3. On her ethereal road. The princely pair
  4. Had wasted thus the whole brief gift of hours;
  5. But Sibyl spoke the warning: “Night speeds by,
  6. And we, Aeneas, lose it in lamenting.
  7. Here comes the place where cleaves our way in twain.
  8. Thy road, the right, toward Pluto's dwelling goes,
  9. And leads us to Elysium. But the left
  10. Speeds sinful souls to doom, and is their path
  11. To Tartarus th' accurst.”
  12. Cried out: “0 priestess, be not wroth with us!
  13. Back to the ranks with yonder ghosts I go.
  14. 0 glory of my race, pass on! Thy lot
  15. Be happier than mine!” He spoke, and fled.
  1. Aeneas straightway by the leftward cliff
  2. Beheld a spreading rampart, high begirt
  3. With triple wall, and circling round it ran
  4. A raging river of swift floods of flame,
  5. Infernal Phlegethon, which whirls along
  6. Loud-thundering rocks. A mighty gate is there
  7. Columned in adamant; no human power,
  8. Nor even the gods, against this gate prevail.
  9. Tall tower of steel it has; and seated there
  10. Tisiphone, in blood-flecked pall arrayed,
  11. Sleepless forever, guards the entering way.
  12. Hence groans are heard, fierce cracks of lash and scourge,
  13. Loud-clanking iron links and trailing chains.
  14. Aeneas motionless with horror stood
  15. o'erwhelmed at such uproar. “0 virgin, say
  16. What shapes of guilt are these? What penal woe
  17. Harries them thus? What wailing smites the air?”
  18. To whom the Sibyl, “Far-famed prince of Troy,
  19. The feet of innocence may never pass
  20. Into this house of sin. But Hecate,
  21. When o'er th' Avernian groves she gave me power,
  22. Taught me what penalties the gods decree,
  23. And showed me all. There Cretan Rhadamanth
  24. His kingdom keeps, and from unpitying throne
  25. Chastises and lays bare the secret sins
  26. Of mortals who, exulting in vain guile,
  27. Elude till death, their expiation due.
  28. There, armed forever with her vengeful scourge,
  29. Tisiphone, with menace and affront,
  30. The guilty swarm pursues; in her left hand
  31. She lifts her angered serpents, while she calls
  32. A troop of sister-furies fierce as she.
  33. Then, grating loud on hinge of sickening sound,
  34. Hell's portals open wide. 0, dost thou see
  35. What sentinel upon that threshold sits,
  36. What shapes of fear keep guard upon that gloom?
  1. Far, far within the dragon Hydra broods
  2. With half a hundred mouths, gaping and black;
  3. And Tartarus slopes downward to the dark
  4. Twice the whole space that in the realms of light
  5. Th' Olympian heaven above our earth aspires. —
  6. Here Earth's first offspring, the Titanic brood,
  7. Roll lightning-blasted in the gulf profound;
  8. The twin , colossal shades,
  9. Came on my view; their hands made stroke at Heaven
  10. And strove to thrust Jove from his seat on high.
  11. I saw Salmoneus his dread stripes endure,
  12. Who dared to counterfeit Olympian thunder
  13. And Jove's own fire. In chariot of four steeds,
  14. Brandishing torches, he triumphant rode
  15. Through throngs of Greeks, o'er Elis' sacred way,
  16. Demanding worship as a god. 0 fool!
  17. To mock the storm's inimitable flash—
  18. With crash of hoofs and roll of brazen wheel!
  19. But mightiest Jove from rampart of thick cloud
  20. Hurled his own shaft, no flickering, mortal flame,
  21. And in vast whirl of tempest laid him low.
  22. Next unto these, on Tityos I looked,
  23. Child of old Earth, whose womb all creatures bears:
  24. Stretched o'er nine roods he lies; a vulture huge
  25. Tears with hooked beak at his immortal side,
  26. Or deep in entrails ever rife with pain
  27. Gropes for a feast, making his haunt and home
  28. In the great Titan bosom; nor will give
  29. To ever new-born flesh surcease of woe.
  30. Why name Ixion and Pirithous,
  31. The Lapithae, above whose impious brows
  32. A crag of flint hangs quaking to its fall,
  33. As if just toppling down, while couches proud,
  34. Propped upon golden pillars, bid them feast
  35. In royal glory: but beside them lies
  36. The eldest of the Furies, whose dread hands
  37. Thrust from the feast away, and wave aloft
  38. A flashing firebrand, with shrieks of woe.
  39. Here in a prison-house awaiting doom
  40. Are men who hated, long as life endured,
  41. Their brothers, or maltreated their gray sires,
  42. Or tricked a humble friend; the men who grasped
  43. At hoarded riches, with their kith and kin
  44. Not sharing ever—an unnumbered throng;
  45. Here slain adulterers be; and men who dared
  46. To fight in unjust cause, and break all faith
  47. With their own lawful lords. Seek not to know
  48. What forms of woe they feel, what fateful shape
  49. Of retribution hath o'erwhelmed them there.
  50. Some roll huge boulders up; some hang on wheels,
  51. Lashed to the whirling spokes; in his sad seat
  52. Theseus is sitting, nevermore to rise;
  53. Unhappy Phlegyas uplifts his voice
  54. In warning through the darkness, calling loud,
  55. ‘0, ere too late, learn justice and fear God!’
  56. Yon traitor sold his country, and for gold
  57. Enchained her to a tyrant, trafficking
  58. In laws, for bribes enacted or made void;
  59. Another did incestuously take
  60. His daughter for a wife in lawless bonds.
  61. All ventured some unclean, prodigious crime;
  62. And what they dared, achieved. I could not tell,
  63. Not with a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues,
  64. Or iron voice, their divers shapes of sin,
  65. Nor call by name the myriad pangs they bear.”
  1. So spake Apollo's aged prophetess.
  2. “Now up and on!” she cried. “Thy task fulfil!
  3. We must make speed. Behold yon arching doors
  4. Yon walls in furnace of the Cyclops forged!
  5. 'T is there we are commanded to lay down
  6. Th' appointed offering.” So, side by side,
  7. Swift through the intervening dark they strode,
  8. And, drawing near the portal-arch, made pause.
  9. Aeneas, taking station at the door,
  10. Pure, lustral waters o'er his body threw,
  11. And hung for garland there the Golden Bough.
  1. Now, every rite fulfilled, and tribute due
  2. Paid to the sovereign power of Proserpine,
  3. At last within a land delectable
  4. Their journey lay, through pleasurable bowers
  5. Of groves where all is joy,—a blest abode!
  6. An ampler sky its roseate light bestows
  7. On that bright land, which sees the cloudless beam
  8. Of suns and planets to our earth unknown.
  9. On smooth green lawns, contending limb with limb,
  10. Immortal athletes play, and wrestle long
  11. 'gainst mate or rival on the tawny sand;
  12. With sounding footsteps and ecstatic song,
  13. Some thread the dance divine: among them moves
  14. The bard of Thrace, in flowing vesture clad,
  15. Discoursing seven-noted melody,
  16. Who sweeps the numbered strings with changeful hand,
  17. Or smites with ivory point his golden lyre.
  18. Here Trojans be of eldest, noblest race,
  19. Great-hearted heroes, born in happier times,
  20. Ilus, Assaracus, and Dardanus,
  21. Illustrious builders of the Trojan town.
  22. Their arms and shadowy chariots he views,
  23. And lances fixed in earth, while through the fields
  24. Their steeds without a bridle graze at will.
  25. For if in life their darling passion ran
  26. To chariots, arms, or glossy-coated steeds,
  27. The self-same joy, though in their graves, they feel.
  28. Lo! on the left and right at feast reclined
  29. Are other blessed souls, whose chorus sings
  30. Victorious paeans on the fragrant air
  31. Of laurel groves; and hence to earth outpours
  32. Eridanus, through forests rolling free.
  33. Here dwell the brave who for their native land
  34. Fell wounded on the field; here holy priests
  35. Who kept them undefiled their mortal day;
  36. And poets, of whom the true-inspired song
  37. Deserved Apollo's name; and all who found
  38. New arts, to make man's life more blest or fair;
  39. Yea! here dwell all those dead whose deeds bequeath
  40. Deserved and grateful memory to their kind.
  41. And each bright brow a snow-white fillet wears.
  42. Unto this host the Sibyl turned, and hailed
  43. Musaeus, midmost of a numerous throng,
  44. Who towered o'er his peers a shoulder higher:
  45. “0 spirits blest! 0 venerable bard!
  46. Declare what dwelling or what region holds
  47. Anchises, for whose sake we twain essayed
  48. Yon passage over the wide streams of hell.”
  49. And briefly thus the hero made reply:
  50. “No fixed abode is ours. In shadowy groves
  51. We make our home, or meadows fresh and fair,
  52. With streams whose flowery banks our couches be.
  53. But you, if thitherward your wishes turn,
  54. Climb yonder hill, where I your path may show.”
  55. So saying, he strode forth and led them on,
  56. Till from that vantage they had prospect fair
  57. Of a wide, shining land; thence wending down,
  58. They left the height they trod;for far below
  59. Father Anchises in a pleasant vale
  60. Stood pondering, while his eyes and thought surveyed
  61. A host of prisoned spirits, who there abode
  62. Awaiting entrance to terrestrial air.
  63. And musing he reviewed the legions bright
  64. Of his own progeny and offspring proud—
  65. Their fates and fortunes, virtues and great deeds.
  66. Soon he discerned Aeneas drawing nigh
  67. o'er the green slope, and, lifting both his hands
  68. In eager welcome, spread them swiftly forth.
  69. Tears from his eyelids rained, and thus he spoke:
  70. “Art here at last? Hath thy well-proven love
  71. Of me thy sire achieved yon arduous way?
  72. Will Heaven, beloved son, once more allow
  73. That eye to eye we look? and shall I hear
  74. Thy kindred accent mingling with my own?
  75. I cherished long this hope. My prophet-soul
  76. Numbered the lapse of days, nor did my thought
  77. Deceive. 0, o'er what lands and seas wast driven
  78. To this embrace! What perils manifold
  79. Assailed thee, 0 my son, on every side!
  80. How long I trembled, lest that Libyan throne
  81. Should work thee woe!”
  82. Aeneas thus replied:
  83. “Thine image, sire, thy melancholy shade,
  84. Came oft upon my vision, and impelled
  85. My journey hitherward. Our fleet of ships
  86. Lies safe at anchor in the Tuscan seas.
  87. Come, clasp my hand! Come, father, I implore,
  88. And heart to heart this fond embrace receive!”
  89. So speaking, all his eyes suffused with tears;
  90. Thrice would his arms in vain that shape enfold.
  91. Thrice from the touch of hand the vision fled,
  92. Like wafted winds or likest hovering dreams.
  1. After these things Aeneas was aware
  2. Of solemn groves in one deep, distant vale,
  3. Where trees were whispering, and forever flowed
  4. The river Lethe, through its land of calm.
  5. Nations unnumbered roved and haunted there:
  6. As when, upon a windless summer morn,
  7. The bees afield among the rainbow flowers
  8. Alight and sip, or round the lilies pure
  9. Pour forth in busy swarm, while far diffused
  10. Their murmured songs from all the meadows rise.
  11. Aeneas in amaze the wonder views,
  12. And fearfully inquires of whence and why;
  13. What yonder rivers be; what people press,
  14. Line after line, on those dim shores along.
  15. Said Sire Anchises: “Yonder thronging souls
  16. To reincarnate shape predestined move.
  17. Here, at the river Lethe's wave, they quaff
  18. Care-quelling floods, and long oblivion.
  19. Of these I shall discourse, and to thy soul
  20. Make visible the number and array
  21. Of my posterity; so shall thy heart
  22. In Italy, thy new-found home, rejoice.”
  23. “0 father,” said Aeneas, “must I deem
  24. That from this region souls exalted rise
  25. To upper air, and shall once more return
  26. To cumbering flesh? 0, wherefore do they feel,
  27. Unhappy ones, such fatal lust to live?”
  28. “I speak, my son, nor make thee longer doubt,”
  29. Anchises said, and thus the truth set forth,
  30. In ordered words from point to point unfolding:
  1. “Know first that heaven and earth and ocean's plain,
  2. The moon's bright orb, and stars of Titan birth
  3. Are nourished by one Life; one primal Mind,
  4. Immingled with the vast and general frame,
  5. Fills every part and stirs the mighty whole.
  6. Thence man and beast, thence creatures of the air,
  7. And all the swarming monsters that be found
  8. Beneath the level of the marbled sea;
  9. A fiery virtue, a celestial power,
  10. Their native seeds retain; but bodies vile,
  11. With limbs of clay and members born to die,
  12. Encumber and o'ercloud; whence also spring
  13. Terrors and passions, suffering and joy;
  14. For from deep darkness and captivity
  15. All gaze but blindly on the radiant world.
  16. Nor when to life's last beam they bid farewell
  17. May sufferers cease from pain, nor quite be freed
  18. From all their fleshly plagues; but by fixed law,
  19. The strange, inveterate taint works deeply in.
  20. For this, the chastisement of evils past
  21. Is suffered here, and full requital paid.
  22. Some hang on high, outstretched to viewless winds;
  23. For some their sin's contagion must be purged
  24. In vast ablution of deep-rolling seas,
  25. Or burned away in fire. Each man receives
  26. His ghostly portion in the world of dark;
  27. But thence to realms Elysian we go free,
  28. Where for a few these seats of bliss abide,
  29. Till time's long lapse a perfect orb fulfils,
  30. And takes all taint away, restoring so
  31. The pure, ethereal soul's first virgin fire.
  32. At last, when the millennial aeon strikes,
  33. God calls them forth to yon Lethaean stream,
  34. In numerous host, that thence, oblivious all,
  35. They may behold once more the vaulted sky,
  36. And willingly to shapes of flesh return.”
  1. So spoke Anchises; then led forth his son,
  2. The Sibyl with him, to the assembled shades
  3. (A voiceful throng), and on a lofty mound
  4. His station took, whence plainly could be seen
  5. The long procession, and each face descried.
  1. “Hark now! for of the glories I will tell
  2. That wait our Dardan blood; of our sons' sons
  3. Begot upon the old Italian breed,
  4. Who shall be mighty spirits, and prolong
  5. Our names, their heritage. I will unfold
  6. The story, and reveal the destined years.
  7. Yon princeling, thou beholdest leaning there
  8. Upon a royal lance, shall next emerge
  9. Into the realms of day. He is the first
  10. Of half-Italian strain, the last-born heir
  11. To thine old age by fair Lavinia given,
  12. Called Silvius, a royal Alban name
  13. (Of sylvan birth and sylvan nurture he),
  14. A king himself and sire of kings to come,
  15. By whom our race in Alba Longa reign.
  16. Next Procas stands, our Trojan people's boast;
  17. Capys and Numitor, and, named like thee,
  18. Aeneas Sylvius, like thee renowned
  19. For faithful honor and for deeds of war,
  20. When he ascends at last his Alban throne.
  21. Behold what warrior youth they be! How strong
  22. Their goodly limbs! Above their shaded brows
  23. The civic oak they wear! For thee they build
  24. Nomentum, and the walls of Gabii,
  25. Fidena too, and on the mountains pile
  26. Collatia's citadels, Pometii,
  27. Bola and Cora, Castrum-Inui—
  28. Such be the names the nameless lands shall bear.
  29. See, in that line of sires the son of Mars,
  30. Great Romulus, of Ilian mother born,
  31. From far-descended line of Trojan kings!
  32. See from his helm the double crest uprear,
  33. While his celestial father in his mien
  34. Shows forth his birth divine! Of him, my son,
  35. Great Rome shall rise, and, favored of his star,
  36. Have power world-wide, and men of godlike mind.
  37. She clasps her seven hills in single wall,
  38. Proud mother of the brave! So Cybele,
  39. The Berecynthian goddess, castle-crowned,
  40. On through the Phrygian kingdoms speeds her car,
  41. Exulting in her hundred sons divine,
  42. All numbered with the gods, all throned on high.
  43. “Let now thy visionary glance look long
  44. On this thy race, these Romans that be thine.
  45. Here Caesar, of Iulus' glorious seed,
  46. Behold ascending to the world of light!
  47. Behold, at last, that man, for this is he,
  48. So oft unto thy listening ears foretold,
  49. Augustus Caesar, kindred unto Jove.
  50. He brings a golden age; he shall restore
  51. Old Saturn's sceptre to our Latin land,
  52. And o'er remotest Garamant and Ind
  53. His sway extend; the fair dominion
  54. outruns th' horizon planets, yea, beyond
  55. The sun's bright path, where Atlas' shoulder bears
  56. Yon dome of heaven set thick with burning stars.
  57. Against his coming the far Caspian shores
  58. Break forth in oracles; the Maeotian land
  59. Trembles, and all the seven-fold mouths of Nile.
  1. Not o'er domain so wide Alcides passed,
  2. Although the brazen-footed doe he slew
  3. And stilled the groves of Erymanth, and bade
  4. The beast of Lerna at his arrows quail.
  5. Nor half so far triumphant Baechus drove,
  6. With vine-entwisted reins, his frolic team
  7. Of tigers from the tall-topped Indian hill.
  8. “Still do we doubt if heroes' deeds can fill
  9. A realm so wide? Shall craven fear constrain
  10. Thee or thy people from Ausonia's shore?
  11. Look, who is he I may discern from far
  12. By olive-branch and holy emblems known?
  13. His flowing locks and hoary beard, behold!
  14. Fit for a Roman king! By hallowed laws
  15. He shall found Rome anew—from mean estate
  16. In lowly Cures led to mightier sway.
  17. But after him arises one whose reign
  18. Shall wake the land from slumber: Tullus then
  19. Shall stir slack chiefs to battle, rallying
  20. His hosts which had forgot what triumphs be.
  21. Him boastful Ancus follows hard upon,
  22. o'erflushed with his light people's windy praise.
  23. Wilt thou see Tarquins now? And haughty hand
  24. Of vengeful Brutus seize the signs of power?
  25. He first the consul's name shall take; he first
  26. Th' inexorable fasces sternly bear.
  27. When his own sons in rash rebellion join,
  28. The father and the judge shall sentence give
  29. In beauteous freedom's cause—unhappy he!
  30. Howe'er the age to come the story tell,
  31. 't will bless such love of honor and of Rome.
  32. See Decius, sire and son, the Drusi, see!
  33. Behold Torquatus with his axe! Look where
  34. Camillus brings the Gallic standards home!
  35. “But who are these in glorious armor clad
  36. And equal power? In this dark world of cloud
  37. Their souls in concord move;—but woe is me!
  38. What duel 'twixt them breaks, when by and by
  39. The light of life is theirs, and forth they call
  40. Their long-embattled lines to carnage dire!
  41. Allied by nuptial truce, the sire descends
  42. From Alpine rampart and that castled cliff,
  43. Monoecus by the sea; the son arrays
  44. His hostile legions in the lands of morn.
  45. Forbear, my children! School not your great souls
  46. In such vast wars, nor turn your giant strength
  47. Against the bowels of your native land!
  48. But be thou first, 0 first in mercy! thou
  49. Who art of birth Olympian! Fling away
  50. Thy glorious sword, mine offspring and mine heir!
  51. “Yonder is one whose chariot shall ascend
  52. The laurelled Capitolian steep; he rides
  53. In glory o'er Achaea's hosts laid low,
  54. And Corinth overthrown. There, too, is he
  55. Who shall uproot proud Argos and the towers
  56. Of Agamemnon; vanquishing the heir
  57. Even of Aeacus, the warrior seed
  58. Of Peleus' son; such vengeance shall be wrought
  59. For Troy's slain sires, and violated shrines!
  60. “Or who could fail great Cato's name to tell?
  61. Or, Cossus, thine? or in oblivion leave
  62. The sons of Gracchus? or the Scipios,
  63. Twin thunderbolts of war, and Libya's bane?
  64. Or, more than kingly in his mean abode,
  65. Fabricius? or Serranus at the plough?
  66. Ye Fabii, how far would ye prolong
  67. My weary praise? But see! 'T is Maximus,
  68. Who by wise waiting saves his native land.
  69. “Let others melt and mould the breathing bronze
  70. To forms more fair,—aye! out of marble bring
  71. Features that live; let them plead causes well;
  72. Or trace with pointed wand the cycled heaven,
  73. And hail the constellations as they rise;
  74. But thou, 0 Roman, learn with sovereign sway
  75. To rule the nations. Thy great art shall be
  76. To keep the world in lasting peace, to spare
  77. humbled foe, and crush to earth the proud.”
  1. So did Anchises speak, then, after pause,
  2. Thus to their wondering ears his word prolonged:
  3. “Behold Marcellus, bright with glorious spoil,
  4. In lifted triumph through his warriors move!
  5. The Roman power in tumultuous days
  6. He shall establish; he rides forth to quell
  7. Afric and rebel Gaul; and to the shrine
  8. Of Romulus the third-won trophy brings.”
  9. Then spoke Aeneas, for he now could see
  10. A beauteous youth in glittering dress of war,
  11. Though of sad forehead and down-dropping eyes:
  12. “Say, father, who attends the prince? a son?
  13. Or of his greatness some remoter heir?
  14. How his friends praise him, and how matchless he!
  15. But mournful night Tests darkly o'er his brow.”
  16. With brimming eyes Anchises answer gave:
  17. “Ask not, 0 son, what heavy weight of woe
  18. Thy race shall bear, when fate shall just reveal
  19. This vision to the world, then yield no more.
  20. 0 gods above, too glorious did ye deem
  21. The seed of Rome, had this one gift been sure?
  22. The lamentation of a multitude
  23. Arises from the field of Mars, and strikes
  24. The city's heart. 0 Father Tiber, see
  25. What pomp of sorrow near the new-made tomb
  26. Beside thy fleeting stream! What Ilian youth
  27. Shall e'er his Latin kindred so advance
  28. In hope of glory? When shall the proud land
  29. Of Romulus of such a nursling boast?
  30. Ah, woe' is me! 0 loyal heart and true!
  31. 0 brave, right arm invincible! What foe
  32. Had 'scaped his onset in the shock of arms,
  33. Whether on foot he strode, or if he spurred
  34. The hot flanks of his war-horse flecked with foam?
  35. 0 lost, lamented child! If thou evade
  36. Thy evil star, Marcellus thou shalt be.
  37. 0 bring me lilies! Bring with liberal hand!
  38. Sad purple blossoms let me throw—the shade
  39. Of my own kin to honor, heaping high
  40. My gifts upon his grave! So let me pay
  41. An unavailing vow!”
  42. Then, far and wide
  43. Through spacious fields of air, they wander free,
  44. Witnessing all; Anchises guides his son
  45. From point to point, and quickens in his mind
  46. Hunger for future fame. Of wars he tells
  47. Soon imminent; of fair Laurentum's tribes;
  48. Of King Latinus' town; and shows what way
  49. Each task and hardship to prevent, or bear.
  1. Now Sleep has portals twain, whereof the one
  2. Is horn, they say, and easy exit gives
  3. To visions true; the other, gleaming white
  4. With polished ivory, the.dead employ
  5. To people night with unsubstantial dreams.
  6. Here now Anchises bids his son farewell;
  7. And with Sibylla, his companion sage,
  8. Up through that ivory portal lets him rise.
  9. Back to his fleet and his dear comrades all
  10. Aeneas hastes.Then hold they their straight course
  11. Into Caieta's bay. An anchor holds
  12. Each lofty prow; the sterns stand firm on shore.