Aeneid
Virgil
Vergil. The Aeneid of Virgil. Williams, Theodore, C, translator. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1910.
- But lo! from Argos on her voyage of air
- rides the dread spouse of Jove. She, sky-enthroned
- above the far Sicilian promontory,
- pachynus, sees Dardania's rescued fleet,
- and all Aeneas' joy. The prospect shows
- houses a-building, lands of safe abode,
- and the abandoned ships. With bitter grief
- she stands at gaze: then with storm-shaken brows,
- thus from her heart lets loose the wrathful word:
- “O hated race! O Phrygian destinies —
- to mine forevermore (unhappy me!)
- a scandal and offense! Did no one die
- on Troy's embattled plain? Could captured slaves
- not be enslaved again? Was Ilium's flame
- no warrior's funeral pyre? Did they walk safe
- through serried swords and congregated fires?
- At last, methought, my godhead might repose,
- and my full-fed revenge in slumber lie.
- But nay! Though flung forth from their native land,
- I o'er the waves, with enmity unstayed,
- dared give them chase, and on that exiled few
- hurled the whole sea. I smote the sons of Troy
- with ocean's power and heaven's. But what availed
- Syrtes, or Scylla, or Charybdis' waves?
- The Trojans are in Tiber; and abide
- within their prayed-for land delectable,
- safe from the seas and me! Mars once had power
- the monstrous Lapithae to slay; and Jove
- to Dian's honor and revenge gave o'er
- the land of Calydon. What crime so foul
- was wrought by Lapithae or Calydon?
- But I, Jove's wife and Queen, who in my woes
- have ventured each bold stroke my power could find,
- and every shift essayed,—behold me now
- outdone by this Aeneas! If so weak
- my own prerogative of godhead be,
- let me seek strength in war, come whence it will!
- If Heaven I may not move, on Hell I call.
- To bar him from his Latin throne exceeds
- my fated power. So be it! Fate has given
- Lavinia for his bride. But long delays
- I still can plot, and to the high event
- deferment and obstruction. I can smite
- the subjects of both kings. Let sire and son
- buy with their people's blood this marriage-bond!
- Let Teucrian and Rutulian slaughter be
- thy virgin dower, and Bellona's blaze
- light thee the bridal bed! Not only teemed
- the womb of Hecuba with burning brand,
- and brought forth nuptial fires; but Venus, too,
- such offspring bore, a second Paris, who
- to their new Troy shall fatal wedlock bring.”
- So saying, with aspect terrible she sped
- earthward her way; and called from gloom of hell
- Alecto, woeful power, from cloudy throne
- among the Furies, where her heart is fed
- with horrid wars, wrath, vengeance, treason foul,
- and fatal feuds. Her father Pluto loathes
- the creature he engendered, and with hate
- her hell-born sister-fiends the monster view.
- A host of shapes she wears, and many a front
- of frowning black brows viper-garlanded.
- Juno to her this goading speech addressed:
- “O daughter of dark Night, arouse for me
- thy wonted powers and our task begin!
- Lest now my glory fail, my royal name
- be vanquished, while Aeneas and his crew
- cheat with a wedlock bond the Latin King
- and seize Italia's fields. Thou canst thrust on
- two Ioving brothers to draw sword and slay,
- and ruin homes with hatred, calling in
- the scourge of Furies and avenging fires.
- A thousand names thou bearest, and thy ways
- of ruin multiply a thousand-fold.
- Arouse thy fertile breast! Go, rend in twain
- this plighted peace! Breed calumnies and sow
- causes of battle, till yon warrior hosts
- cry out for swords and leap to gird them on.”
- Straightway Alecto, through whose body flows
- the Gorgon poison, took her viewless way
- to Latium and the lofty walls and towers
- of the Laurentian King. Crouching she sate
- in silence on the threshold of the bower
- where Queen Amata in her fevered soul
- pondered, with all a woman's wrath and fear,
- upon the Trojans and the marriage-suit
- of Turnus. From her Stygian hair the fiend
- a single serpent flung, which stole its way
- to the Queen's very heart, that, frenzy-driven,
- she might on her whole house confusion pour.
- Betwixt her smooth breast and her robe it wound
- unfelt, unseen, and in her wrathful mind
- instilled its viper soul. Like golden chain
- around her neck it twined, or stretched along
- the fillets on her brow, or with her hair
- enwrithing coiled; then on from limb to limb
- slipped tortuous. Yet though the venom strong
- thrilled with its first infection every vein,
- and touched her bones with fire, she knew it not,
- nor yielded all her soul, but made her plea
- in gentle accents such as mothers use;
- and many a tear she shed, about her child,
- her darling, destined for a Phrygian's bride:
- “O father! can we give Lavinia's hand
- to Trojan fugitives? why wilt thou show
- no mercy on thy daughter, nor thyself;
- nor unto me, whom at the first fair wind
- that wretch will leave deserted, bearing far
- upon his pirate ship my stolen child?
- Was it not thus that Phrygian shepherd came
- to Lacedaemon, ravishing away
- Helen, the child of Leda, whom he bore
- to those false Trojan lands? Hast thou forgot
- thy plighted word? Where now thy boasted love
- of kith and kin, and many a troth-plight given
- unto our kinsman Turnus? If we need
- an alien son, and Father Faunus' words
- irrevocably o'er thy spirit brood,
- I tell thee every land not linked with ours
- under one sceptre, but distinct and free,
- is alien; and 't is thus the gods intend.
- Indeed, if Turnus' ancient race be told,
- it sprang of Inachus, Acrisius,
- and out of mid-Mycenae.” But she sees
- her lord Latinus resolute, her words
- an effort vain; and through her body spreads
- the Fury's deeply venomed viper-sting.
- Then, woe-begone, by dark dreams goaded on,
- she wanders aimless, fevered and unstrung
- along the public ways; as oft one sees
- beneath the twisted whips a leaping top
- sped in long spirals through a palace-close
- by lads at play: obedient to the thong,
- it weaves wide circles in the gaping view
- of its small masters, who admiring see
- the whirling boxwood made a living thing
- under their lash. So fast and far she roved
- from town to town among the clansmen wild.
- Then to the wood she ran, feigning to feel
- the madness Bacchus loves; for she essays
- a fiercer crime, by fiercer frenzy moved.
- Now in the leafy dark of mountain vales
- she hides her daughter, ravished thus away
- from Trojan bridegroom and the wedding-feast.
- “Hail, Bacchus! Thou alone,” she shrieked and raved,
- “art worthy such a maid. For thee she bears
- the thyrsus with soft ivy-clusters crowned,
- and trips ecstatic in thy beauteous choir.
- For thee alone my daughter shall unbind
- the glory of her virgin hair.” Swift runs
- the rumor of her deed; and, frenzy-driven,
- the wives of Latium to the forests fly,
- enkindled with one rage. They leave behind
- their desolated hearths, and let rude winds
- o'er neck and tresses blow; their voices fill
- the welkin with convulsive shriek and wail;
- and, with fresh fawn-skins on their bodies bound,
- they brandish vine-clad spears. The Queen herself
- lifts high a blazing pine tree, while she sings
- a wedding-song for Turnus and her child.
- With bloodshot glance and anger wild, she cries:
- “Ho! all ye Latin wives, if e'er ye knew
- kindness for poor Amata, if ye care
- for a wronged mother's woes, O, follow me!
- Cast off the matron fillet from your brows,
- and revel to our mad, voluptuous song.”
- Thus, through the woodland haunt of creatures wild,
- Alecto urges on the raging Queen
- with Bacchus' cruel goad. But when she deemed
- the edge of wrath well whetted, and the house
- of wise Latinus of all reason reft,
- then soared the black-winged goddess to the walls
- of the bold Rutule, to the city built
- (So runs the tale) by beauteous Danae
- and her Acrisian people, shipwrecked there
- by south wind strong. Its name was Ardea
- in language of our sires, and that proud name
- of Ardea still it wears, though proud no more.
- Here Turnus in the gloom of midnight lay
- half-sleeping in his regal hall. For him
- Alecto her grim fury-guise put by,
- and wore an old crone's face, her baleful brow
- delved deep with wrinkled age, her hoary hair
- in sacred fillet bound, and garlanded
- with leaf of olive: Calybe she seemed,
- an aged servitress ot Juno's shrine,
- and in this seeming thus the prince addressed:—
- “O Turnus, wilt thou tamely see thy toil
- lavished in vain? and thy true throne consigned
- to Trojan wanderers? The King repels
- thy noble wooing and thy war-won dower.
- He summons him a son of alien stem
- to take his kingdom. Rouse thee now, and front,
- scorned and without reward, these perilous days.
- Tread down that Tuscan host! Protect the peace
- of Latium from its foe! Such is the word
- which, while in night and slumber thou wert laid,
- Saturnia's godhead, visibly revealed,
- bade me declare. Up, therefore, and array
- thy warriors in arms! Swift sallying forth
- from thy strong city-gates, on to the fray
- exultant go! Assail the Phrygian chiefs
- who tent them by thy beauteous river's marge,
- and burn their painted galleys! 't is the will
- of gods above that speaks. Yea, even the King
- Latinus, if he will not heed thy plea,
- or hear thy wooing, shall be taught too late
- what Turnus is in panoply of war.”
- In mocking answer to the prophetess
- the warrior thus replied: “That stranger fleet
- in Tiber moored, not, as thy folly prates,
- of me unnoted lies. Vex me no more
- with thy fantastic terror. Juno's power
- is watchful of my cause. 'T is mere old age,
- gone to decay and dotage, fills thy breast
- with vain foreboding, and, while kings contend,
- scares and deceives thy visionary eye.
- Guard thou in yonder temple's holy shade
- the images divine! Of peace and war
- let men and warriors the burden bear!”
- So kindled he Alecto's wrath to flame;
- and even as he spoke a shudder thrilled
- the warrior's body, and his eyeballs stood
- stonily staring at the hydra hair
- which hissed and writhed above the grisly head
- of the large-looming fiend. With eyes of fire
- horribly rolling, she repelled him far,
- while he but faltered speechless. She upraised
- two coiling snakes out of her tresses, cracked
- the lashes of her scourge, and wrathfully,
- with raving lips replied: “Look well on me,
- gone to decay and dotage of old age!
- And mocked with foolish fear while kings contend!
- Wilt hearken now! Behold me, hither flown
- from where my sister-furies dwell! My hands
- bring bloody death and war.” She spoke, and hurled
- her firebrand at the hero, thrusting deep
- beneath his heart her darkly smouldering flame.
- Then horror broke his sleep, and fearful sweat
- dripped from his every limb. He shrieked aloud
- for arms; and seized the ready arms that lay
- around his couch and hall. Then o'er his soul
- the lust of battle and wild curse of war
- broke forth in angry power, as when the flames
- of faggots round the bubbling cauldron sing,
- and up the waters leap; the close-kept flood
- brims over, streaming, foaming, breaking bound,
- and flings thick clouds in air. He, summoning
- his chieftains, bade them on Latinus move,
- break peace, take arms, and, over Italy
- their shields extending, to thrust forth her foe:
- himself for Teucrian with Latin joined
- was more than match. He called upon the gods
- in witness of his vows: while, nothing loth,
- Rutulia's warriors rushed into array;
- some by his youth and noble beauty moved,
- some by his kingly sires and fame in arms.
- While Turnus stirred Rutulia's valiant souls,
- Alecto on her Stygian pinions sped
- to where the Teucrians lay. She scanned the ground
- with eager guile, where by the river's marge
- fair-browed Iulus with his nets and snares
- rode fiercely to the chase. Then o'er his hounds
- that hell-born virgin breathed a sudden rage,
- and filled each cunning nostril with the scent
- of stags, till forth in wild pursuit they flew.
- Here all the woe began, and here awoke
- in rustic souls the swift-enkindling war.
- For a fair stag, tall-antlered, stolen away
- even from its mother's milk, had long been kept
- by Tyrrhus and his sons—the shepherd he
- of all the royal flocks, and forester
- of a wide region round. With fondest care
- their sister Silvia entwined its horns
- with soft, fresh garlands, tamed it to run close,
- and combed the creature, or would bring to bathe
- at a clear, crystal spring. It knew the hands
- of all its gentle masters, and would feed
- from their own dish; or wandering through the wood,
- come back unguided to their friendly door,
- though deep the evening shade. Iulus' dogs
- now roused this wanderer in their ravening chase,
- as, drifted down-stream far from home it lay,
- on a green bank a-cooling. From bent bow
- Ascanius, eager for a hunter's praise,
- let go his shaft; nor did Alecto fail
- his aim to guide: but, whistling through the air,
- the light-winged reed pierced deep in flank and side.
- Swift to its cover fled the wounded thing,
- and crept loud-moaning to its wonted stall,
- where, like a blood-stained suppliant, it seemed
- to fill that shepherd's house with plaintive prayer.
- Then Silvia the sister, smiting oft
- on breast and arm, made cry for help, and called
- the sturdy rustics forth in gathering throng.
- These now (for in the silent forest couched
- the cruel Fury) swift to battle flew.
- One brandished a charred stake, another swung
- a knotted cudgel, as rude anger shapes
- its weapon of whate'er the searching eye
- first haps to fall on. Tyrrhus roused his clans,
- just when by chance he split with blows of wedge
- an oak in four; and, panting giant breath,
- shouldered his woodman's axe. Alecto then,
- prompt to the stroke of mischief, soared aloft
- from where she spying sate, to the steep roof
- of a tall byre, and from its peak of straw
- blew a wild signal on a shepherd's horn,
- outflinging her infernal note so far
- that all the forest shuddered, and the grove
- throbbed to its deepest glen. Cold Trivia's lake
- from end to end gave ear, and every wave
- of the white stream of Nar, the lonely pools
- of still Velinus heard: while at the sound
- pale mothers to their breasts their children drew.
- Swift to the signal of the dreadful horn,
- snatching their weapons rude, the freeborn swains
- assembled for the fray; the Trojan bands
- poured from their bivouac with instant aid
- for young Ascanius. In array of war
- both stand confronting. Not mere rustic brawl
- with charred oak-staff and cudgel is the fight,
- but with the two-edged steel; the naked swords
- wave like dark-bladed harvest-field, while far
- the brazen arms flash in the smiting sun,
- and skyward fling their beam: so some wide sea,
- at first but whitened in the rising wind,
- swells its slow-rolling mass and ever higher
- its billows rears, until the utmost deep
- lifts in one surge to heaven. The first to fall
- was Almo, eldest-born of Tyrrhus' sons,
- whom, striding in the van, a loud-winged shaft
- laid low in death; deep in his throat it clung,
- and silenced with his blood the dying cry
- of his frail life. Around him fell the forms
- of many a brave and strong; among them died
- gray-haired Galaesus pleading for a truce:
- righteous he was, and of Ausonian fields
- a prosperous master; five full flocks had he
- of bleating sheep, and from his pastures came
- five herds of cattle home; his busy churls
- turned with a hundred ploughs his fruitful glebe.
- While o'er the battle-field thus doubtful swung
- the scales of war, the Fury (to her task
- now equal proven) having dyed the day
- a deep-ensanguined hue, and opened fight
- with death and slaughter, made no tarrying
- within Hesperia, but skyward soared,
- and, Ioud in triumph, insolently thus
- to Juno called: “See, at thy will, their strife
- full-blown to war and woe! Could even thyself
- command them now to truce and amity?
- But I, that with Ausonia's blood befoul
- their Trojan hands, yet more can do, if thou
- shift not thy purpose. For with dire alarms
- I will awake the bordering states to war
- enkindling in their souls the frenzied lust
- the war-god breathes; till from th' horizon round
- the reinforcement pours—I scattering seeds
- of carnage through the land.” In answer spoke
- juno: “Enough of artifice and fear!
- Thy provocation works. Now have they joined
- in close and deadly combat, and warm blood
- those sudden-leaping swords incarnadines,
- which chance put in their hands. Such nuptial joys,
- such feast of wedlock, let the famous son
- of Venus with the King Latinus share!
- But yon Olympian Sire and King no more
- permits thee freely in our skies to roam.
- Go, quit the field! Myself will take control
- of hazards and of labors yet to be.”
- Thus Saturn's daughter spoke. Alecto then,
- unfolding far her hissing, viperous wings,
- turned toward her Stygian home, and took farewell
- of upper air. Deep in Italia lies
- a region mountain-girded, widely famed,
- and known in olden songs from land to land:
- the valley of Amsanctus; deep, dark shades
- enclose it between forest-walls, whereby
- through thunderous stony channel serpentines
- a roaring fall. Here in a monstrous cave
- are breathing-holes of hell, a vast abyss
- where Acheron opes wide its noisome jaws:
- in this Alecto plunged, concealing so
- her execrable godhead, while the air
- of earth and heaven felt the curse removed.
- Forthwith the sovereign hands of Juno haste
- to consummate the war. The shepherds bear
- back from the field of battle to the town
- the bodies of the slain: young Almo's corse
- and gray Galaesus' bleeding head. They call
- just gods in heaven to Iook upon their wrong,
- and bid Latinus see it. Turnus comes,
- and, while the angry mob surveys the slain,
- adds fury to the hour. “Shall the land
- have Trojan lords? Shall Phrygian marriages
- debase our ancient, royal blood—and I
- be spurned upon the threshold?” Then drew near
- the men whose frenzied women-folk had held
- bacchantic orgies in the pathless grove,
- awed by Amata's name: these, gathering,
- sued loud for war. Yea, all defied the signs
- and venerable omens; all withstood
- divine decrees, and clamored for revenge,
- prompted by evil powers. They besieged
- the house of King Latinus, shouting-loud
- with emulous rage. But like a sea-girt rock
- unmoved he stood; like sea-girt rock when surge
- of waters o'er it sweeps, or howling waves
- surround; it keeps a ponderous front of power,
- though foaming cliffs around it vainly roar;
- from its firm base the broken sea-weeds fall.
- But when authority no whit could change
- their counsels blind, and each event fulfilled
- dread Juno's will, then with complaining prayer
- the aged sire cried loud upon his gods
- and on th' unheeding air: “Alas,” said he,
- “My doom is shipwreck, and the tempest bears
- my bark away! O wretches, your own blood
- shall pay the forfeit for your impious crime.
- O Turnus! O abominable deed!
- Avenging woes pursue thee; to deaf gods
- thy late and unavailing prayer shall rise.
- Now was my time to rest. But as I come
- close to my journey's end, thou spoilest me
- of comfort in my death.” With this the King
- fled to his house and ceased his realm to guide.
- A sacred custom the Hesperian land
- of Latium knew, by all the Alban hills
- honored unbroken, which wide-ruling Rome
- keeps to this day, when to new stroke she stirs
- the might of Mars; if on the Danube's wave
- resolved to fling the mournful doom of war,
- or on the Caspian folk or Arabs wild;
- or chase the morning far as India's verge,
- ind from the Parthian despot wrest away
- our banners Iost. Twin Gates of War there be,
- of fearful name, to Mars' fierce godhead vowed:
- a hundred brass bars shut them, and the strength
- of uncorrupting steel; in sleepless watch
- Janus the threshold keeps. 'T is here, what time
- the senate's voice is war, the consul grave
- in Gabine cincture and Quirinal shift
- himself the griding hinges backward moves,
- and bids the Romans arm; obedient then
- the legionary host makes Ioud acclaim,
- and hoarse consent the brazen trumpets blow.
- Thus King Latinus on the sons of Troy
- was urged to open war, and backward roll
- those gates of sorrow: but the aged king
- recoiled, refused the loathsome task, and fled
- to solitary shades. Then from the skies
- the Queen of gods stooped down, and her sole hand
- the lingering portal moved; Saturnia
- swung on their hinges the barred gates of war.
- ausonia from its old tranquillity
- bursts forth in flame. Foot-soldiers through the field
- run to and fro; and mounted on tall steeds
- the cavaliers in clouds of dust whirl by.
- All arm in haste. Some oil the glittering shield
- or javelin bright, or on the whetstone wear
- good axes to an edge, while joyful bands
- uplift the standards or the trumpets blow.
- Five mighty cities to their anvils bring
- new-tempered arms: Atina—martial name —
- proud Tibur, Ardea, Crustumium,
- and river-walled Antemnae, crowned with towers
- strong hollow helmets on their brows they draw
- and weave them willow-shields; or melt and mould
- corselets of brass or shining silver greaves;
- none now for pruning-hook or sacred plough
- have love or care: but old, ancestral swords
- for hardier tempering to the smith they bring.
- Now peals the clarion; through the legions pass
- the watchwords: the impatient yeoman takes
- his helmet from the idle roof-tree hung;
- while to his chariot the master yokes
- the mettled war-horse, dons a shining shield
- and golden mail, and buckles his good sword.
- Virgins of Helicon, renew my song!
- Instruct me what proud kings to battle flown
- with following legions throng the serried plain.
- Tell me what heroes and illustrious arms
- Italia's bosom in her dawning day
- benignant bore: for your celestial minds,
- have memory of the past, but faint and low
- steals glory's whisper on a mortal ear.
- Foremost in fight, from shores Etrurian came
- Mezentius, scornful rebel against Heaven,
- his people all in arms; and at his side
- Lausus his heir (no fairer youth than he,
- save Turnus of Laurentum), Lausus, skilled
- o break proud horses and wild beasts to quell;
- who from Agylla's citadel in vain
- led forth his thousand warriors: worthy he
- to serve a nobler sire, and happier far
- he had ne'er been born Mezentius' son.
- Next after these, conspicuous o'er the plain,
- with palm-crowned chariot and victorious steeds,
- rode forth well-moulded Aventinus, sprung
- from shapely Hercules; upon the shield
- his blazon was a hundred snakes, and showed
- his father's hydra-cincture serpentine;
- him deep in Aventine's most secret grove
- the priestess Rhea bore—a mortal maid
- clasped in a god's embrace the wondrous day
- when, flushed with conquest of huge Geryon,
- the lord of Tiryns to Laurentum drove,
- and washed in Tiber's wave th' Iberian kine.
- His followers brandished pointed pikes and staves,
- or smooth Sabellian bodkin tipped with steel;
- but he, afoot, swung round him as he strode
- a monstrous lion-skin, its bristling mane
- and white teeth crowning his ferocious brow:
- for garbed as Hercules he sought his King.
- Then came twin brethren, leaving Tibur's keep
- (named from Tiburtus, brother of them twain)
- Catillus and impetuous Coras, youth
- of Argive seed, who foremost in the van
- pressed ever where the foemen densest throng:
- as when two centaurs, children of the cloud,
- from mountain-tops descend in swift career,
- the snows of Homole and Othrys leaving,
- while crashing thickets in their pathway fall.
- Nor was Praeneste's founder absent there,
- by Vulcan sired, among the herds and hinds,
- and on a hearth-stone found (so runs the tale
- each pious age repeats) King Caeculus
- with rustic legions gathered from afar:
- from steep Praeneste and the Gabian vale
- to Juno dear, from Anio's cold stream,
- from upland Hernic rocks and foaming rills,
- from rich Anagnia's pastures, and the plain
- whence Amasenus pours his worshipped wave.
- Not all of armor boast, and seldom sound
- the chariot and shield; but out of slings
- they hurl blue balls of lead, or in one hand
- a brace of javelins bear; pulled o'er their brows
- are hoods of tawny wolf-skin; as they march
- the left foot leaves a barefoot track behind,
- a rawhide sandal on the right they wear.
- Messapus came, steed-tamer, Neptune's son,
- by sword and fire invincible: this day,
- though mild his people and unschooled in war,
- he calls them to embattled lines, and draws
- no lingering sword. Fescennia musters there,
- Aequi Falisci, and what clans possess
- Soracte's heights, Flavinia's fruitful farms,
- Ciminian lake and mountain, and the groves
- about Capena. Rank on rank they move,
- loud singing of their chieftain's praise: as when
- a flock of snowy swans through clouded air
- return from feeding, and make tuneful cry
- from their long throats, while Asia's rivers hear,
- and lone Cayster's startled moorland rings:
- for hardly could the listening ear discern
- the war-cry of a mail-clad host; the sound
- was like shrill-calling birds, when home from sea
- their soaring flock moves shoreward like a cloud.
- Then, one of far-descended Sabine name,
- Clausus advanced, the captain of a host,
- and in himself an equal host he seemed;
- from his proud loins the high-born Claudian stem
- through Latium multiplies, since Roman power
- with Sabine first was wed. A cohort came
- from Amiternum and the olden wall
- of Cures, called Quirites even then;
- Eretum answered and Mutusca's hill
- with olives clad, Velinus' flowery field,
- nomentum's fortress, the grim precipice
- of Tetrica, Severus' upland fair,
- Casperia, Foruli, Himella's waves,
- Tiber and Fabaris, and wintry streams
- of Nursia; to the same proud muster sped
- Tuscan with Latin tribes, and loyal towns
- beside whose walls ill-omened Allia flows.
- As numerous they moved as rolling waves
- that stir smooth Libyan seas, when in cold floods
- sinks grim Orion's star; or like the throng
- of clustering wheat-tops in the summer sun,
- near Hermus or on Lycia's yellowing plain:
- shields clashed; their strong tramp smote the trembling ground.
- Now Agamemnon's kinsman, cruel foe
- to the mere name of Troy, Halaesus, yokes
- the horses of his car and summons forth
- a thousand savage clans at Turnus' call :
- rude men whose mattocks to the Massic hills
- bring Bacchus' bounty, or by graybeard sires
- sent from Auruncan upland and the mead
- of Sidicinum; out of Cales came
- its simple folk; and dwellers by the stream
- of many-shoaled Volturnus, close-allied
- with bold Saticulan or Oscan swains.
- Their arms are tapered javelins, which they wear
- bound by a coiling thong; a shield conceals
- the left side, and they fight with crooked swords.
- Nor shalt thou, Oebalus, depart unsung,
- whom minstrels say the nymph Sebethis bore
- to Telon, who in Capri was a king
- when old and gray; but that disdaining son
- quitted so small a seat, and conquering sway
- among Sarrastian folk and those wide plains
- watered by Sarnus' wave, became a king
- over Celenna, Rufrae, Batulum,
- and where among her apple-orchards rise
- Abella's walls. All these, as Teutons use,
- hurl a light javelin; for helm they wear
- stripped cork-tree bark; the crescent of their shields
- is gleaming bronze, and gleaming bronze the sword.
- Next Ufens, mountain-bred, from Nersae came
- to join the war; of goodly fame was he
- for prosperous arms: his Aequian people show
- no gentle mien, but scour the woods for prey,
- or, ever-armed, across the stubborn glebe
- compel the plough; though their chief pride and joy
- are rapine, violence, and plundered store.
- Next after these, his brows and helmet bound
- with noble olive, from Marruvium came
- a priest, brave Umbro, ordered to the field
- by King Archippus: o'er the viper's brood,
- and venomed river-serpents he had power
- to scatter slumber with wide-waving hands
- and wizard-songs. His potent arts could soothe
- their coiling rage and heal the mortal sting:
- but 'gainst a Trojan sword no drug had he,
- nor could his drowsy spells his flesh repair,
- nor gathered simples from the Marsic hills.
- Thee soon in wailing woods Anguitia mourned,
- thee, Fucinus, the lake of crystal wave,
- thee, many a mountain-tarn!