Aeneid
Virgil
Vergil. The Aeneid of Virgil. Williams, Theodore, C, translator. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1910.
- Such worship o'er, all take the homeward way
- back to the town. The hospitable King,
- though bowed with weight of years, kept at his side
- Aeneas and his son, and as they fared,
- with various discourse beguiled the way.
- Aeneas scanned with quick-admiring eyes
- the region wide, and lingered with delight
- now here, now there, inquiring eagerly
- of each proud monument of heroes gone.
- Then King Evander, he who builded first
- On Palatine, spoke thus: “These groves erewhile
- their native nymphs and fauns enjoyed, with men
- from trees engendered and stout heart of oak.
- Nor laws nor arts they knew; nor how to tame
- burls to the yoke, nor fill great barns with store
- and hoard the gathered grain; but rudely fared
- on wild fruits and such food as hunters find.
- Then Saturn from Olympian realms came down,
- in flight from Jove's dread arms, his sceptre lost,
- and he an exiled King. That savage race
- he gathered from the mountain slopes; and gave
- wise laws and statutes; so that latent land
- was Latium, ‘hid land’, where he hid so long.
- The golden centuries by legends told
- were under that good King, whose equal sway
- untroubled peace to all his peoples gave.
- But after slow decline arrived an age
- degenerate and of a darker hue,
- prone to insensate war and greed of gain.
- Then came Sicanian and Ausonian tribes,
- and oft the land of Saturn lost its name.
- New chieftains rose, and Thybris, giant King
- and violent, from whom th' Italians named
- the flooding Tiber, which was called no more
- the Albula, its true and ancient style.
- Myself, in exile from my fatherland
- sailing uncharted seas, was guided here
- by all-disposing Chance and iron laws
- of Destiny. With prophecy severe
- Carmentis, my nymph-mother, thrust me on,
- warned by Apollo's word.” He scarce had said,
- when near their path he showed an altar fair
- and the Carmental gate, where Romans see
- memorial of Carmentis, nymph divine,
- the prophetess of fate, who first foretold
- what honors on Aeneas' sons should fall
- and lordly Pallanteum, where they dwell.
- Next the vast grove was seen, where Romulus
- ordained inviolable sanctuary;
- then the Lupercal under its cold crag,
- Wolf-hill, where old Arcadians revered
- their wolf-god, the Lycaean Pan. Here too
- the grove of Argiletum, sacred name,
- where good Evander told the crime and death
- of Argus, his false guest. From this they climbed
- the steep Tarpeian hill, the Capitol,
- all gold to-day, but then a tangled wild
- of thorny woodland. Even then the place
- woke in the rustics a religious awe,
- and bade them fear and tremble at the view
- of that dread rock and grove. “This leafy wood,
- which crowns the hill-top, is the favored seat
- of some great god,” said he, “but of his name
- we know not surely. The Arcadians say
- jove's dread right hand here visibly appears
- to shake his aegis in the darkening storm,
- the clouds compelling. Yonder rise in view
- two strongholds with dismantled walls, which now
- are but a memory of great heroes gone:
- one father Janus built, and Saturn one;
- their names, Saturnia and Janiculum.”
- 'Mid such good parley to the house they came
- of King Evander, unadorned and plain,
- whence herds of browsing cattle could be seen
- ranging the Forum, and loud-bellowing
- in proud Carinae. As they entered there,
- “Behold,” said he, “the threshold that received
- Alcides in his triumph! This abode
- he made his own. Dare, O illustrious guest,
- to scorn the pomp of power. Shape thy soul
- to be a god's fit follower. Enter here,
- and free from pride our frugal welcome share.”
- So saying, 'neath his roof-tree scant and low
- he led the great Aeneas, offering him
- a couch of leaves with Libyan bear-skin spread.
- Now night drew near, enfolding the wide world
- in shadowy wings. But Venus, sore disturbed,
- vexed not unwisely her maternal breast,
- fearing Laurentum's menace and wild stir
- of obstinate revolt, and made her plea
- to Vulcan in their nuptial bower of gold,
- outbreathing in the music of her words
- celestial love: “When warring Argive kings
- brought ruin on Troy's sacred citadel
- and ramparts soon to sink in hostile flames,
- I asked not thee to help that hopeless woe,
- nor craved thy craft and power. For, dearest lord,
- I would not tax in vain shine arduous toil,
- though much to Priam's children I was bound,
- and oft to see Aeneas burdened sore
- I could but weep. But now by will of Jove
- he has found foothold in Rutulian lands.
- Therefore I come at last with lowly suit
- before a godhead I adore, and pray
- for gift of arms,—a mother for her son.
- Thou wert not unrelenting to the tears
- of Nereus' daughter or Tithonus' bride.
- Behold what tribes conspire, what cities strong
- behind barred gates now make the falchion keen
- to ruin and blot out both me and mine!”
- So spake the goddess, as her arms of snow
- around her hesitating spouse she threw
- in tender, close embrace. He suddenly
- knew the familiar fire, and o'er his frame
- its wonted ardor unresisted ran,
- swift as the glittering shaft of thunder cleaves
- the darkened air and on from cloud to cloud
- the rift of lightning runs. She, joyful wife;
- felt what her beauty and her guile could do;
- as, thralled by love unquenchable, her spouse
- thus answered fair: “Why wilt thou labor so
- with far-fetched pleas? my goddess, hast thou lost
- thy faith in me? Had such a prayer been shine,
- I could have armed the Teucrians. Neither Jove
- nor Destiny had grudged ten added years
- of life to Troy and Priam. If to-day
- thou hast a war in hand, and if thy heart
- determine so, I willingly engage
- to lend thee all my cunning; whatsoever
- molten alloy or welded iron can,
- whate'er my roaring forge and flames achieve,
- I offer thee. No more in anxious prayer
- distrust thy beauty's power.” So saying, he gave
- embrace of mutual desire, and found
- deep, peaceful sleep, on her fond heart reclined.
- Night's course half run, soon as the first repose
- had banished sleep,—what time some careful wife
- whose distaff and Minerva's humble toil
- must earn her bread, rekindling her warm hearth,
- adds a night-burden to her laboring day,
- and by the torch-light cheers her maidens on
- to their long tasks; that so her husband's bed
- she may in honor keep, and train to power
- her dear men-children—at such prime of morn,
- with not less eager mind the Lord of Fire
- fled his soft couch and to his forges tried.
- An island near Aeolian Lipara
- not far from a Sicilian headland lies,
- where smoking rocks precipitously tower
- above a vast vault, which the Cyclops' skill
- outhollowed large as Aetna's thunderous caves.
- There ring the smitten anvils, and the roof
- re-echoes, roaring loud. Chalybian ores
- hiss in the gloom, and from the furnace mouths
- puff the hot-panting fires. 'T is Vulcan's seat,
- and all that island is Vulcania.
- Thither descended now the god of fire
- from height of heaven. At their task were found
- the Cyclops in vast cavern forging steel,
- naked Pyracmon and gigantic-limbed
- Brontes and Steropes; beneath their blows
- a lightning-shaft, half-shaped, half-burnished lay,
- such as the Thunderer is wont to fling
- in numbers from the sky, but formless still.
- Three strands of whirling storm they wove with three
- of bursting cloud, and three did interfuse
- of ruddy-gleaming fires and winged winds;
- then fearful lightnings on the skilful forge
- they welded with loud horror, and with flames
- that bear swift wrath from Jove. Elsewhere a crew
- toiled at the chariot and winged wheel
- wherewith the war-god wakens from repose
- heroes and peopled cities. Others wrought
- the awful Aegis, herald of dismay,
- by angry Pallas worn; they burnished bright
- the golden serpent-scales and wreathing snakes,
- till from the corselet of the goddess glared
- the Gorgon's severed head and rolling eyes.
- “Cyclops of Aetna,” Vulcan cried, “have done!
- Leave ev'ry task unfinished, and receive
- my new command! Good armor must be forged
- for warrior brave. For this I need to use
- your utmost sinew and your swiftest hand,
- with all your master skill. No lingering now!”
- Swift the command, and swiftly they divide
- to each his portion, and united urge
- the common task. Forth fow the molten streams
- of brass and gold, and, melted in fierce fiame,
- the deeply-wounding steel like liquid flows.
- A mighty shield took shape, its single orb
- sufficient to withstand the gathered shock
- of all the Latin arms; for seven times
- they welded ring with ring. Some deftly ply
- the windy bellows, which receive and give
- the roaring blasts; some plunge in cooling pond
- the hissing metal, while the smithy floor
- groans with the anvil's weight, as side by side
- they lift their giant arms in numbered blows
- and roll with gripe of tongs the ponderous bars.
- While thus the Lemnian god his labor sped
- in far Aeolian isle, the cheerful morn
- with voice of swallows round his lowly eaves
- summoned Evander. From his couch arose
- the royal sire, and o'er his aged frame
- a tunic threw, tying beneath his feet
- the Tuscan sandals: an Arcadian sword,
- girt at his left, was over one shoulder slung,
- his cloak of panther trailing from behind.
- A pair of watch-dogs from the lofty door
- ran close, their lord attending, as he sought
- his guest Aeneas; for his princely soul
- remembered faithfully his former word,
- and promised gift. Aeneas with like mind
- was stirring early. King Evander's son
- Pallas was at his side; Achates too
- accompanied his friend. All these conjoin
- in hand-clasp and good-morrow, taking seats
- in midcourt of the house, and give the hour
- to converse unrestrained. First spoke the King:
- “Great leader of the Teucrians, while thy life
- in safety stands, I call not Trojan power
- vanquished or fallen. But to help thy war
- my small means match not thy redoubled name.
- Yon Tuscan river is my bound. That way
- Rutulia thrusts us hard and chafes our wall
- with loud, besieging arms. But I propose
- to league with thee a numerous array
- of kings and mighty tribes, which fortune strange
- now brings to thy defence. Thou comest here
- because the Fates intend. Not far from ours
- a city on an ancient rock is seen,
- Agylla, which a warlike Lydian clan
- built on the Tuscan hills. It prospered well
- for many a year, then under the proud yoke
- of King Mezentius it came and bore
- his cruel sway. Why tell the loathsome deeds
- and crimes unspeakable the despot wrought?
- May Heaven requite them on his impious head
- and on his children! For he used to chain
- dead men to living, hand on hand was laid
- and face on face,—torment incredible!
- Till, locked in blood-stained, horrible embrace,
- a lingering death they found. But at the last
- his people rose in furious despair,
- and while he blasphemously raged, assailed
- his life and throne, cut down his guards
- and fired his regal dwellings; he, the while,
- escaped immediate death and fied away
- to the Rutulian land, to find defence
- in Turnus hospitality. To-day
- Etruria, to righteous anger stirred,
- demands with urgent arms her guilty King.
- To their large host, Aeneas, I will give
- an added strength, thyself. For yonder shores
- re-echo with the tumult and the cry
- of ships in close array; their eager lords
- are clamoring for battle. But the song
- of the gray omen-giver thus declares
- their destiny: ‘O goodly princes born
- of old Maeonian lineage! Ye that are
- the bloom and glory of an ancient race,
- whom just occasions now and noble rage
- enflame against Mezentius your foe,
- it is decreed that yonder nation proud
- shall never submit to chiefs Italian-born.
- Seek ye a king from far!’ So in the field
- inert and fearful lies Etruria's force,
- disarmed by oracles. Their Tarchon sent
- envoys who bore a sceptre and a crown
- even to me, and prayed I should assume
- the sacred emblems of Etruria's king,
- and lead their host to war. But unto me
- cold, sluggish age, now barren and outworn,
- denies new kingdoms, and my slow-paced powers
- run to brave deeds no more. Nor could I urge
- my son, who by his Sabine mother's line
- is half Italian-born. Thyself art he,
- whose birth illustrious and manly prime
- fate favors and celestial powers approve.
- Therefore go forth, O bravest chief and King
- of Troy and Italy! To thee I give
- the hope and consolation of our throne,
- pallas, my son, and bid him find in thee
- a master and example, while he learns
- the soldier's arduous toil. With thy brave deeds
- let him familiar grow, and reverence thee
- with youthful love and honor. In his train
- two hundred horsemen of Arcadia,
- our choicest men-at-arms, shall ride; and he
- in his own name an equal band shall bring
- to follow only thee.” Such the discourse.
- With meditative brows and downcast eyes
- Aeneas and Achates, sad at heart,
- mused on unnumbered perils yet to come.
- But out of cloudless sky Cythera's Queen
- gave sudden signal: from th' ethereal dome
- a thunder-peal and flash of quivering fire
- tumultuous broke, as if the world would fall,
- and bellowing Tuscan trumpets shook the air.
- All eyes look up. Again and yet again
- crashed the terrible din, and where the sky
- looked clearest hung a visionary cloud,
- whence through the brightness blazed resounding arms.
- All hearts stood still. But Troy's heroic son
- knew that his mother in the skies redeemed
- her pledge in sound of thunder: so he cried,
- “Seek not, my friend, seek not thyself to read
- the meaning of the omen. 'T is to me
- Olympus calls. My goddess-mother gave
- long since her promise of a heavenly sign
- if war should burst; and that her power would bring
- a panoply from Vulcan through the air,
- to help us at our need. Alas, what deaths
- over Laurentum's ill-starred host impend!
- O Turnus, what a reckoning thou shalt pay
- to me in arms! O Tiber, in thy wave
- what helms and shields and mighty soldiers slain
- shall in confusion roll! Yea, let them lead
- their lines to battle, and our league abjure!”
- He said: and from the lofty throne uprose.
- Straightway he roused anew the slumbering fire
- sacred to Hercules, and glad at heart
- adored, as yesterday, the household gods
- revered by good Evander, at whose side
- the Trojan company made sacrifice
- of chosen lambs, with fitting rites and true.
- Then to his ships he tried him, and rejoined
- his trusty followers, of whom he took
- the best for valor known, to lend him aid
- in deeds of war. Others he bade return
- down stream in easy course, and tidings bear
- to young Ascanius of the new event,
- and of his father. Horses then were brought
- for all the Teucrians to Etruria bound;
- and for Aeneas one of rarest breed,
- o'er whom a tawny robe descended low,
- of lion-skin, with claws of gleaming gold.
- Noised swiftly through the little town it flies
- that to the precinct of the Tuscan King
- armed horsemen speed. Pale mothers in great fear
- unceasing pray; for panic closely runs
- in danger's steps; the war-god drawing nigh
- looms larger; and good sire Evander now
- clings to the hand of his departing son
- and, weeping without stay, makes sad farewell:
- “O, that great Jove would give me once again
- my vanished years! O, if such man I were,
- as when beneath Praeneste's wall I slew
- the front ranks of her sons, and burned for spoil
- their gathered shields on my triumph day;
- or when this right hand hurled king Erulus
- to shades below, though—terrible to tell —
- Feronia bore him with three lives, that thrice
- he might arise from deadly strife o'erthrown,
- and thrice be slain—yet all these lives took I,
- and of his arms despoiled him o'er and o'er:
- not now, sweet son (if such lost might were mine),
- should I from thy beloved embrace be torn;
- nor could Mezentius with insulting sword
- do murder in my sight and make my land
- depopulate and forlorn. O gods in Heaven,
- and chiefly thou whom all the gods obey,
- have pity, Jove, upon Arcadia's King,
- and hear a father's prayer: if your intent
- be for my Pallas a defence secure,
- if it be writ that long as I shall live,
- my eyes may see him, and my arms enfold,
- I pray for life, and all its ills I bear.
- But if some curse, too dark to tell, impend
- from thee, O Fortune blind! I pray thee break
- my thread of miserable life to-day;
- to-day, while fear still doubts and hope still smiles
- on the unknown to-morrow, as I hold
- thee to my bosom, dearest child, who art
- my last and only joy; to-day, before
- th' intolerable tidings smite my ears.”
- Such grief the royal father's heart outpoured
- at this last parting; the strong arms of slaves
- lifted him, fallen in swoon, and bore him home.
- Now forth beneath the wide-swung city-gates
- the mounted squadron poured; Aeneas rode,
- companioned of Achates, in the van;
- then other lords of Troy. There Pallas shone
- conspicuous in the midmost line, with cloak
- and blazoned arms, as when the Morning-star
- (To Venus dearest of all orbs that burn),
- out of his lucent bath in ocean wave
- lifts to the skies his countenance divine,
- and melts the shadows of the night away.
- Upon the ramparts trembling matrons stand
- and follow with dimmed eyes the dusty cloud
- whence gleam the brazen arms. The warriors ride
- straight on through brake and fell, the nearest way;
- loud ring the war-cries, and in martial line
- the pounding hoof-beats shake the crumbling ground.
- By Caere's cold flood lies an ample grove
- revered from age to age. The hollowing hills
- enclasp it in wide circles of dark fir,
- and the Pelasgians, so the legends tell,
- primaeval settlers of the Latin plains,
- called it the haunt of Silvan, kindly god
- of flocks and fields, and honoring the grove
- gave it a festal day. Hard by this spot
- had Tarchon with the Tuscans fortified
- his bivouac, and from the heights afar
- his legions could be seen in wide array
- outstretching through the plain. To meet them there
- Aeneas and his veteran chivalry
- made sure advance, and found repose at eve
- for warrior travel-worn and fainting steed.
- But now athwart the darkening air of heaven
- came Venus gleaming bright, to bring her son
- the gifts divine. In deep, sequestered vale
- she found him by a cooling rill retired,
- and hailed him thus: “Behold the promised gift,
- by craft and power of my Olympian spouse
- made perfect, that my son need never fear
- Laurentum's haughty host, nor to provoke
- fierce Turnus to the fray.” Cythera's Queen
- so saying, embraced her son, and hung the arms,
- all glittering, on an oak that stood thereby.
- The hero, with exultant heart and proud,
- gazing unwearied at his mother's gift,
- surveys them close, and poises in his hands
- the helmet's dreadful crest and glancing flame,
- the sword death-dealing, and the corselet strong,
- impenetrable brass, blood-red and large,
- like some dark-lowering, purple cloud that gleams
- beneath the smiting sun and flashes far
- its answering ray; and burnished greaves were there,
- fine gold and amber; then the spear and shield —
- the shield—of which the blazonry divine
- exceeds all power to tell. Thereon were seen
- Italia's story and triumphant Rome,
- wrought by the Lord of Fire, who was not blind
- to lore inspired and prophesying song,
- fore-reading things to come. He pictured there
- Iulus' destined line of glorious sons
- marshalled for many a war. In cavern green,
- haunt of the war-god, lay the mother-wolf;
- the twin boy-sucklings at her udders played,
- nor feared such nurse; with long neck backward thrown
- she fondled each, and shaped with busy tongue
- their bodies fair. Near these were pictured well
- the walls of Rome and ravished Sabine wives
- in the thronged theatre violently seized,
- when the great games were done; then, sudden war
- of Romulus against the Cures grim
- and hoary Tatius; next, the end of strife
- between the rival kings, who stood in arms
- before Jove's sacred altar, cup in hand,
- and swore a compact o'er the slaughtered swine.
- Hard by, behold, the whirling chariots tore
- Mettus asunder (would thou hadst been true,
- false Alban, to thy vow!); and Tullus trailed
- the traitor's mangled corse along the hills,
- the wild thorn dripping gore. Porsenna, next,
- sent to revolted Rome his proud command
- to take her Tarquin back, and with strong siege
- assailed the city's wall; while unsubdued
- Aeneas' sons took arms in freedom's name.
- there too the semblance of the frustrate King,
- a semblance of his wrath and menace vain,
- when Cocles broke the bridge, and Cloelia burst
- her captive bonds and swam the Tiber's wave.
- Lo, on the steep Tarpeian citadel
- stood Manlius at the sacred doors of Jove,
- holding the capitol, whereon was seen
- the fresh-thatched house of Romulus the King.
- There, too, all silver, through arcade of gold
- fluttered the goose, whose monitory call
- revealed the foeman at the gate: outside
- besieging Gauls the thorny pathway climbed,
- ambushed in shadow and the friendly dark
- of night without a star; their flowing hair
- was golden, and their every vesture gold;
- their cloaks were glittering plaid; each milk-white neck
- bore circlet of bright gold; in each man's hand
- two Alpine javelins gleamed, and for defence
- long shields the wild northern warriors bore.
- There, graven cunningly, the Salian choir
- went leaping, and in Lupercalian feast
- the naked striplings ran; while others, crowned
- with peaked cap, bore shields that fell from heaven;
- and, bearing into Rome their emblems old,
- chaste priestesses on soft-strewn litters passed.
- But far from these th' artificer divine
- had wrought a Tartarus, the dreadful doors
- of Pluto, and the chastisements of sin;
- swung o'er a threatening precipice, was seen
- thy trembling form, O Catiline, in fear
- of fury-faces nigh: and distant far
- th' assemblies of the righteous, in whose midst
- was Cato, giving judgment and decree.
- Encircled by these pictures ran the waves
- of vast, unrestful seas in flowing gold,
- where seemed along the azure crests to fly
- the hoary foam, and in a silver ring
- the tails of swift, emerging dolphins lashed
- the waters bright, and clove the tumbling brine.
- For the shield's central glory could be seen
- great fleets of brazen galleys, and the fight
- at Actium; where, ablaze with war's array,
- Leucate's peak glowed o'er the golden tide.
- Caesar Augustus led Italia's sons
- to battle: at his side concordant moved
- Senate and Roman People, with their gods
- of hearth and home, and all Olympian Powers.
- Uplifted on his ship he stands; his brows
- beneath a double glory smile, and bright
- over his forehead beams the Julian star.
- in neighboring region great Agrippa leads,
- by favor of fair winds and friendly Heaven,
- his squadron forth: upon his brows he wears
- the peerless emblem of his rostral crown.
- Opposing, in barbaric splendor shine
- the arms of Antony: in victor's garb
- from nations in the land of morn he rides,
- and from the Red Sea, bringing in his train
- Egypt and Syria, utmost Bactria's horde,
- and last—O shameless!—his Egyptian spouse.
- All to the fight make haste; the slanted oars
- and triple beaks of brass uptear the waves
- to angry foam, as to the deep they speed
- like hills on hill-tops hurled, or Cyclades
- drifting and clashing in the sea: so vast
- that shock of castled ships and mighty men!
- Swift, arrowy steel and balls of blazing tow
- rain o'er the waters, till the sea-god's world
- flows red with slaughter. In the midst, the Queen,
- sounding her native timbrel, wildly calls
- her minions to the fight, nor yet can see
- two fatal asps behind. Her monster-gods,
- barking Anubis, and his mongrel crew,
- on Neptune, Venus, and Minerva fling
- their impious arms; the face of angry Mars,
- carved out of iron, in the centre frowns,
- grim Furies fill the air; Discordia strides
- in rent robe, mad with joy; and at her side,
- bellona waves her sanguinary scourge.
- There Actian Apollo watched the war,
- and o'er it stretched his bow; which when they knew,
- Egyptian, Arab, and swart Indian slave,
- and all the sons of Saba fled away
- in terror of his arm. The vanquished Queen
- made prayer to all the winds, and more and more
- flung out the swelling sail: on wind-swept wave
- she fled through dead and dying; her white brow
- the Lord of Fire had cunningly portrayed
- blanched with approaching doom. Beyond her lay
- the large-limbed picture of the mournful Nile,
- who from his bosom spread his garments wide,
- and offered refuge in his sheltering streams
- and broad, blue breast, to all her fallen power.
- But Caesar in his triple triumph passed
- the gates of Rome, and gave Italia's gods,
- for grateful offering and immortal praise,
- three hundred temples; all the city streets
- with game and revel and applauding song
- rang loud; in all the temples altars burned
- and Roman matrons prayed; the slaughtered herds
- strewed well the sacred ground. The hero, throned
- at snow-white marble threshold of the fane
- to radiant Phoebus, views the gift and spoil
- the nations bring, and on the portals proud
- hangs a perpetual garland: in long file
- the vanquished peoples pass, of alien tongues,
- of arms and vesture strange. Here Vulcan showed
- ungirdled Afric chiefs and Nomads bold,
- Gelonian bowmen, men of Caria,
- and Leleges. Euphrates seemed to flow
- with humbler wave; the world's remotest men,
- Morini came, with double-horned Rhine,
- and Dahae, little wont to bend the knee,
- and swift Araxes, for a bridge too proud.
- Such was the blazoned shield his mother gave
- from Vulcan's forge; which with astonished eyes
- Aeneas viewed, and scanned with joyful mind
- such shadows of an unknown age to be;
- then on his shoulder for a burden bore
- the destined mighty deeds of all his sons.
- While thus in distant region moves the war,
- down to bold Turnus Saturn's daughter sends
- celestial Iris. In a sacred vale,
- the seat of worship at his grandsire's tomb,
- Pilumnus, Faunus' son, the hero mused.
- And thus the wonder-child of Thaumas called
- with lips of rose: “O Turnus, what no god
- dared give for reward of thy fondest vow,
- has come unbidden on its destined day.
- Behold, Aeneas, who has left behind
- the city with his fleet and followers,
- is gone to kingly Palatine, the home
- of good Evander. Yea, his march invades
- the far Etrurian towns, where now he arms
- the Lydian rustics. Wilt thou longer muse?
- Call for thy chariot and steeds! Away!
- Take yonder tents by terror and surprise!”
- She spoke; and heavenward on poising wings
- soared, cleaving as she fled from cloud to cloud
- a vast, resplendent bow. The warrior saw,
- and, lifting both his hands, pursued with prayer
- the fading glory: “Beauteous Iris, hail!
- Proud ornament of heaven! who sent thee here
- across yon cloud to earth, and unto me?
- Whence may this sudden brightness fall? I see
- the middle welkin lift, and many a star,
- far-wandering in the sky. Such solemn sign
- I shall obey, and thee, O god unknown!”
- So saying, he turned him to a sacred stream,
- took water from its brim, and offered Heaven
- much prayer, with many an importuning vow.