Classic Poem

THIRD BOOK

Now when the Gods had crushed the Asian State
And Priam's race, by too severe a fate;
When they were pleased proud Ilium to destroy,
And smokes upon the ground Neptunian Troy;
The sad Survivors, from their Country driven,
Seek distant shores, impelled by signs from Heaven.
Beneath Antandros we prepare a Fleet: —
There my Companions muster at the feet
Of Phrygian Ida, dubious in our quest,
And where the Fates may suffer us to rest.
Scarcely had breathed the earliest summer gales
Before Anchises bid to spread the sails;
Weeping I quit the Port, my native coast,
And fields where Troy once was; and soon am tost
An Exile on the bosom of the seas,
With Friends, Son, household Gods and the great Deities.
Right opposite is spread a peopled Land,
Where once the fierce Lycurgus held command;
The martial Thracians plough its champain wide,
To Troy by hospitable rites allied,
While Fortune favoured to this coast we hied;
Where entering with unfriendly Fates, I lay
My first foundations in a hollow bay;
And call the men Aeneades, — to share
With the new Citoyens the name I bear.
To Dionaean Venus we present,
And to the Gods who aid a fresh intent,
The sacred offerings; and with honour due
Upon the shore a glossy Bull I slew
To the great King of Heaven. A Mount was near
Upon whose summit cornel trees uprear
Their boughs, and myrtles rough with many a spear.
Studious to deck the Altar with green shoots,
Thither I turned; and, tugging at the roots
Strove to despoil the thicket; when behold
A dire portent, and wondrous to be told!
No sooner was the shattered root laid bare
Of the first Tree I struggled to uptear,
Than from the fibres drops of blood distilled,
Whose blackness stained the ground: — me horror thrilled:
My frame all shuddered, and my blood was chilled.
Persisting in the attempt, I toiled to free
The flexile body of another tree,
Anxious the latent causes to explore;
And from the bark blood trickled as before.
Revolving much in mind forthwith I paid
Vows to the sylvan Nymphs, and sought the aid
Of Father Mars, spear-shaking God who yields
His stern protection to the Thracian fields;
That to a prosperous issue they would guide
The accident, the omen turn aside.
But, for a third endeavour, when with hands
Eagerly strained, knees pressed against the sands,
I strive the myrtle lances to uproot
With my whole strength (speak shall I, or be mute?)
From the deep tomb a mournful groan was sent
And a voice followed, uttering this lament:
" Torment me not, Aeneas. Why this pain
Given to a buried Man? O cease, refrain,
And spare thy pious hands this guilty stain!
Troy brought me forth, no alien to thy blood;
Nor yields a senseless trunk this sable flood.
Oh fly the cruel land; the greedy shore
Forsake with speed, for I am Polydore.
A flight of iron darts have pierced me through,
Took life, and into this sharp thicket grew."
Then truly did I stand aghast, cold fear
Strangling my voice, and lifting up my hair.
Erewhile from Troy had Priam sent by stealth
This Polydore, and with him store of wealth;
Trusting the Thracian King his Son would rear:
For wretched Priam now gave way to fear,
Seeing the Town beleaguered. These alarms
Spread to the Thracian King, and when the Arms
Of Troy were quelled, to the victorious side
Of Agamemnon he his hopes allied;
Breaking through sacred laws without remorse,
Slew Polydore, and seized the gold by force.
What mischief to poor mortals has not thirst
Of gold created! appetite accursed!
Soon as a calmer mind I could recall
I seek the Chiefs, my Father above all;
Report the omen, and their thoughts demand.
One mind is theirs, — to quit the impious Land;
With the first breezes of the South to fly
Sick of polluted hospitality.
Forthwith on Polydore our hands bestow
A second burial, and fresh mould upthrow;
And to his Manes raise beside the mound
Altars, which, as they stood in mournful round,
Cerulean fillets and black cypress bound;
And with loose hair a customary Band
Of Trojan Women in the circle stand.
From cups warm milk and sacred blood we pour,
Thus to the tomb the Spirit we restore;
And with a farewell cry its future rest implore.

Then, when the sea grew calm, and gently creeps
The soft South-wind and calls us to the Deeps,
The Crew draw down our Ships; they crowd the Shore,
The Port we leave; with Cities sprinkled o'er,
Slowly the Coast recedes, and then is seen no more.

In the 'mid Deep there lies a spot of earth,
Sacred to her who gave the Nereids birth;
And to Aegean Neptune. Long was tossed
This then unfruitful ground, and driven from coast to coast;
But, as it floated o'er the wide-spread sea,
The Archer-God, in filial piety,
Between two Sister islands bound it fast
For Man's abode, and to defy the blast.
Thither we steer. At length the unruffled Place
Received our Vessels in her calm embrace.
We land — and, when the pleasant soil we trod,
Adored the City of the Delian God.
Anius, the King (whose brows were wreathed around
With laurel garlands and with fillets bound,
His sacred symbols as Apollo's Priest)
Advanced to meet us, from our ships released;
He recognized Anchises; and their hands
Gladly they join, renewing ancient Bands
Of Hospitality; nor longer waits
The King, but leads us to his friendly gates.

To seek the Temple was my early care;
To whose Divinity I bowed in prayer
Within the reverend Pile of ancient stone: —
" Thymbreus! painful wanderings have we known
Grant, to the weary, dwellings of their own!
A City yield, a Progeny ensure,
A habitation destined to endure! —
— To us, sad relics of the Grecian Sword,
(All that is left of Troy) another Troy accord!
What shall we seek? whom follow? where abide?
Vouchsafe an augury our course to guide;
Father, descend, and through our Spirits glide!"
— Then shook, or seemed to shake, the entire Abode;
A trembling seized the Laurels of the God;
The mountain rocked; and sounds with murmuring swell
Rolled from the Shrine; upon the ground I fell,
And heard the guiding voice our fates foretell.
" Ye patient Dardans! that same Land which bore
From the first Stock your Fathers heretofore;
That ancient Mother will unfold her breast
For your return, — seek Her with faithful quest;
So shall the Aenean Line command the earth
As long as future years to future years give birth."

Thus Phoebus answered, and forthwith the crowd
Burst into transport vehement and loud:
All ask what Phoebus wills; and where the bourne
To which Troy's wandering Race are destined to return.
Then spake my aged Father, turning o'er
Traditions handed down from days of yore;
" Give ear," he said, " O Chieftains, while my words
Unfold the hopes this Oracle affords!
On the mid sea the Cretan Island lies,
Dear to the sovereign Lord of earth and skies;
There is the Idean Mount, and there we trace
The fountain-head, the cradle of our race.
A hundred Cities, places of command,
Rise in the circle of that fruitful land;
Thence to Rhoetean shores (if things oft heard
I faithfully remember) Teucer steered,
Our first progenitor; and chose a spot
His Seat of government when Troy was not;
While yet the Natives housed in valleys deep,
Ere Pergamus had risen, to crown the lofty steep.
From Crete came Cybele; from Crete we gained
All that the Mother of the Gods ordained;
The Corybantian Cymbals thence we drew,
The Idaean Grove; and faithful Silence, due
To rites mysterious; and the Lion pair
Ruled by the Goddess from her awful Car.
Then haste — the Mandate of the Gods obey
And to the Gnossian Realms direct our way;
But first the winds propitiate, and if Jove
From his high Throne the enterprise approve,
The third day's light shall bring our happy Fleet
To a safe harbour on the shores of Crete."

He spake, appropriate Victims forth were led,
And by his hand upon the Altars bled;
A Bull to soothe the God who rules the Sea —
A Bull, O bright Apollo! fell to thee,
A sable sheep for Hyems doth he smite,
For the soft Zephyrs one of purest white.
Fame told that regions would in Crete be found
Bare of the foe, deserted tracts of ground;
Left by Idomeneus, to recent flight
Driven from those realms — his patrimonial right.
Cheered by a hope those vacant seats to gain
We quit the Ortygian Shore, and scud along the Main.
Near ridgy Naxos, traversed by a rout
Of madding Bacchanals with song and shout;
By green Donysa rising o'er the Deeps;
Olearos, and snow-white Parian steeps;
Flying with prosperous sail through sounds and seas
Starred with the thickly-clustering Cyclades.
Confused and various clamour rises high;
" To Crete and to our Ancestors" we cry
While Ships and Sailors each with other vie.
Still freshening from the stern the breezes blow,
And speed the Barks they chase, where'er we go;
Till rest is given upon the ancient Shores
Of the Curetes to their Sails and Oars.
So with keen hope I trace a circling Wall
And the new City, by a name which all
Repeat with gladness, Pergamus I call.
The thankful Citoyens I then exhort
To love their hearths, and raise a guardian Fort.
— The Fleet is drawn ashore; in eager Bands
The Settlers cultivate the allotted lands;
And some for Hymeneal rites prepare;
I plan our new Abodes, fit laws declare;
But pestilence now came, and tainted the wide air.
To piteous wasting were our limbs betrayed;
On trees and plants the deadly season preyed.
The men relinquished their dear lives, — or life
Remaining, dragged their frames in feeble strife.
Thereafter, Sirius clomb the sultry sky,
Parched every herb to bare sterility;
And forced the sickly corn its nurture to deny.
My anxious Sire exhorts to seek once more
The Delian shrine, and pardon thence implore;
Ask of the God to what these sorrows tend,
Whence we must look for aid, our voyage whither bend.

'Twas night, and couched upon the dewy ground
The weary Animals in sleep were bound,
When those Penates which my hands had snatched
From burning Troy, while on my bed I watched,
Appeared, and stood before me, to my sight
Made manifest by copious streams of light
Poured from the body of the full-orbed Moon,
That through the loop-holes of my chamber shone.
Thus did they speak: " We come, the Delegates
Of Phoebus, to foretell thy future fates:
Things which his Delian tripod to thine ear
Would have announced, through us he utters here.
When Troy was burnt we crost the billowy sea
Faithful Attendants on thy arms, and We
Shall raise to Heaven thy proud Posterity.
But thou thy destined wanderings stoutly bear,
And for the Mighty, mighty seats prepare;
These thou must leave; — Apollo ne'er designed
That thou in Crete a resting-place shouldst find.
There is a Country styled by Men of Greece
Hesperia — strong in arms — the soil of large increase,
Aenotrians held it; men of later fame
Call it Italia, from their Leader's name;
Our home is there; there lies the native place
Of Dardanus, and Iasius — whence our race.
Rise then; and to thy aged Father speak
Indubitable tidings; — bid him seek
The Ausonian Land, and Corithus; Jove yields
No place to us among Dictean fields."

Upon the sacred spectacle I gazed,
And heard the utterance of the Gods, amazed.
Sleep in this visitation had no share;
Each face I saw — the fillets round their hair!
Chilled with damp fear I started from the bed,
And raised my hands and voice to heaven — then shed
On the recipient hearth untempered wine
In prompt libation to the powers divine.
This rite performed with joy, my Sire I sought
Charged with the message that the Gods had brought;
When I had opened all in order due
The truth found easy entrance; for he knew
The double Ancestors, the ambiguous race,
And owned his new mistake in person and in place.
Then he exclaimed " O Son, severely tried
In all that Troy is fated to abide,
This course Cassandra's voice to me made known;
She prophesied of this, and she alone;
Italia oft she cried, and words outthrew
Of realms Hesperian, to our Nation due:
But how should Phrygians such a power erect?
Whom did Cassandra's sayings then affect?
Now, let us yield to Phoebus, and pursue
The happier lot he offers to our view."
All heard with transport what my Father spake.
This habitation also we forsake;
And strait, a scanty remnant left behind,
Once more in hollow Ships we court the helpful wind.

But when along the Deep our Galleys steered,
And the last speck of land had disappeared,
And naught was visible, above, around,
Save the blank sky, and ocean without bound,
Then came a Tempest-laden Cloud that stood
Right over me, and roused the blackening flood.
The fleet is scattered, while around us rise
Billows that every moment magnifies.
Day fled, and heaven, enveloped in a night
Of stormy rains, is taken from our sight;
By instincts of their own the clouds are riven
And prodigal of fire — while we are driven
Far from the points we aimed at, every bark
Errant upon the waters rough and dark.
Even Palinurus owns that night and day,
Thus in each other lost, confound his way.
Three sunless days we struggle with the gales,
And for three starless nights all guidance fails;
The fourth day came, and to our wistful eyes
The far-off Land then first began to rise,
Lifting itself in hills that gently broke
Upon our view, and rolling clouds of smoke.
Sails drop; the Mariners, with spring and stoop
Timed to their oars, the eddying waters scoop,
The Vessels skim the waves, alive from prow to poop.

Saved from the perils of the stormy seas,
We disembark upon the Strophades;
Amid the Ionian Waters lie this pair
Of Islands, and that Grecian name they bear.
The brood of Harpies, when in fear they left
The doors of Phineus, — of that home bereft
And of their former tables — thither fled,
There dwelt with dire Celaeno at their head.
No plague so hideous, for impure abuse
Of upper air, did ever Styx produce,
Stirred by the anger of the Gods, to fling
From out her waves some new-born monstrous Thing.
Birds they, with virgin faces, crooked claws;
Of filthy paunch and of insatiate maws,
And pallid mien — from hunger without pause.

Here safe in port we saw the fields o'erspread
With beeves and goats, untended as they fed.
Prompt slaughter follows; offerings thence we pay,
And call on Jove himself to share the prey.
Then, couch by couch, along the bay we rear,
And feast well pleased upon that goodly cheer.
But, clapping loud their wings, the Harpy brood
Rush from the mountain — pounce upon our food,
Pollute the morsels which they fail to seize —
And, screaming, load with noisome scents the breeze.
Again — but now within a long-drawn glade
O'erhung with rocks and boughs of roughest shade
We deck our tables, and replace the fire
Upon the Altars; but, with noises dire,
From different points of Heaven, from blind retreats,
They flock — and hovering o'er defile the meats.
" War let them have," I cried, and gave command
To stem the next foul onset, arms in hand.
Forthwith the men withdraw from sight their shields
And hide their swords where grass a covert yields,
But when the Harpies with loud clang once more
Gathered, and spread upon the curved shore,
From a tall eminence in open view
His trumpet sound of charge Misenus blew;
Then do our swords assault those Fowls obscene,
Of generation aqueous and terrene.
But what avails it? oft repeated blows
They with inviolable plumes oppose;
Baffle the steel, and, leaving stains behind
And spoil half eaten, mount upon the wind;
Celaeno only on a summit high
Perched — and there vented this sad prophecy.

" By war, Descendants of Laomedon!
For our slain Steers, by war would ye atone?
Why seek the blameless Harpies to expel
From regions where by right of birth they dwell?
But learn, and fast within your memories hold,
Things which to Phoebus Jupiter foretold,
Phoebus to me, and I to you unfold,
I, greatest of the Furies. Ye, who strive
For Italy, in Italy shall arrive;
Havens within that wished — for land, by leave
Of favouring winds, your Navy shall receive;
But do not hope to raise those promised Walls
Ere on your head the curse of hunger falls;
And, for the slaughter of our herds, your doom
Hath been your very tables to consume,
Gnawed and devoured through utter want of food!"
She spake, and, borne on wings, sought refuge in the wood.

The haughty spirits of the Men were quailed,
A shuddering fear through every heart prevailed;
On force of arms no longer they rely
To daunt whom prayers and vows must pacify,
Whether to Goddesses the offence were given,
Or they with dire and obscene Birds had striven.
Due Rites ordained, as on the shore he stands,
My Sire Anchises, with uplifted hands,
Invokes the greater Gods: " Ye Powers, disarm
This threat, and from your Votaries turn the harm!"
Then bids to loose the Cables and unbind
The willing canvas, to the breeze resigned.

Where guides the Steersman and the south winds urge
Our rapid keels, we skim the foaming surge,
Before us opens midway in the flood
Zacynthus, shaded with luxuriant wood;
Dulichium now, and Same next appears;
And Neritos a craggy summit rears;
We shun the rocks of Ithaca, ill Nurse
Of stern Ulysses! and her soil we curse;
Then Mount Leucate shows its vapoury head;
Where, from his temple, Phoebus strikes with dread
The passing Mariner; but no mischance
Now feared, to that small City we advance;
Gladly we haul the sterns ashore, and throw
The biting Anchor out from every prow.

Unlooked-for land thus reached, to Jove we raise
The votive Altars which with incense blaze;
Our Youth, illustrating the Actian Strand
With Trojan games, as in their native land
Imbue their naked limbs with slippery oil,
And pant for mastery in athletic toil;
Well pleased so fair a voyage to have shaped
'Mid Grecian Towns on every side escaped.
Sol through his annual round meanwhile had passed,
And the Sea roughened in the wintry blast;
High on the Temple Gate a brazen shield
I fixed, which mighty Abbas used to wield;
Inscriptive verse declared, why this was done,
" Arms from the conquering Greeks and by Aeneas won."
Then at my word the Ships their moorings leave,
And with contending oars the waters cleave;
Phaeacian Peaks beheld in air and lost
As we proceed, Epirus now we coast;
And, a Chaonian harbour won, we greet
Buthrotas, perched upon her lofty seat.

Helenus, Son of Priam, here was Chief,
(So ran the tale ill-fitted for belief),
Governed where Grecian Pyrrhus once had reigned,
Whose sceptre wielding he, therewith, had gained
Andromache his Spouse, — to nuptials led
Once more by one whom Troy had born and bred.
I longed to greet him, wished to hear his fate
As his own voice the Story would relate.
So from the Port in which our galleys lay,
Right toward the City I pursued my way.
A Grove there was, where by a streamlet's side
With the proud name of Simois dignified,
Andromache a solemn service paid,
(As chanced that day) invoking Hector's shade;
There did her hands the mournful gifts present
Before a tomb — his empty monument
Of living green-sward hallowed by her care;
And two funereal Altars, planted near,
Quickened the motion of each falling tear,
When my approach she witnessed, and could see
Our Phrygian Arms, she shrank as from a prodigy,
In blank astonishment and terror shook,
While the warm blood her tottering limbs forsook.
She swooned and long lay senseless on the ground,
Before these broken words a passage found:
" Was that a real Shape which met my view?
Son of a Goddess, is thy coming true?
Liv'st thou? or, if the light of life be fled,
Hector, where is he?" This she spake, — then spread
A voice of weeping through the Grove, and I
Uttered these few faint accents in disturbed reply.
" Fear not to trust thine eyes; I live indeed,
And fraught with trouble is the life I lead.
Fallen from the height, where with thy glorious Mate
Thou stood'st, Andromache, what change had Fate
To offer worthy of thy former state?
Say, did the Gods take pity on thy vows?
Or have they given to Pyrrhus Hector's Spouse?"

Then she with downcast look, and voice subdued:
" Thrice happy Virgin, thou of Priam's blood,
Who, in the front of Troy by timely doom,
Didst pour out life before a hostile tomb;
And, slaughtered thus, wert guarded from the wrong
Of being swept by lot amid a helpless throng!
O happiest above all who ne'er did press
A conquering Master's bed, in captive wretchedness!
I, since our Ilium fell, have undergone
(Wide waters crossed) whate'er Achilles" Son
Could in the arrogance of birth impose,
And faced in servitude a Mother's throes.
Hereafter, he at will the knot untied,
To seek Hermione a Spartan Bride;
And me to Trojan Helenus he gave —
Captive to Captive — if not Slave to Slave.
Whereat, Orestes with strong love inflamed
Of her now lost whom as a bride he claimed,
And by the Furies driven, in vengeful ire
Smote Pyrrhus at the Altar of his Sire.
He, by an unexpected blow, thus slain,
On Helenus devolved a part of his Domain,
Who called the neighbouring fields Chaonian ground,
Chaonia named the Region wide around,
From Trojan Chaon, — choosing for the site
Of a new Pergamus yon rocky height.
But thee a Stranger in a land unknown
What Fates have urged? What winds have hither blown?
Or say what God upon our coasts hath thrown?
Survives the Boy Ascanius? In his heart
Doth his lost Mother still retain her part?
What, Son of great Aeneas, brings he forth
In emulation of his Father's worth?
In Priam's Grandchild doth not Hector raise
High hopes to reach the virtue of past days?"

Then followed sobs and lamentations vain;
But from the City, with a numerous train,
Her living Consort Helenus descends;
He saw, and gave glad greeting to his Friends;
And towards his hospitable palace leads
While passion interrupts the speech it feeds.
As we advance I gratulate with joy
Their dwindling Xanthus, and their little Troy;
Their Pergamus aspiring in proud state,
As if it strove the old to emulate;
And clasp the threshold of their Scaean Gate.
Nor fails this kindred City to excite
In my Associates unreserved delight;
And soon in ample Porticos the King
Receives the Band with earnest welcoming;
Amid the Hall high festival we hold,
Refreshed with viands served in massy gold
And from resplendent goblets, votive wine
Flows in libations to the Powers divine.

Two joyful days thus past, the southern breeze
Once more invites my Fleet to trust the Seas;
To Helenus this suit I then prefer:
" Illustrious Trojan! Heaven's interpreter!
By prescient Phoebus with his spirit filled,
Skilled in the tripod, in the laurel skilled;
Skilled in the stars, and what by voice or wing
Birds to the intelligence of mortals bring;
Now mark: — to Italy my course I bend
Urged by the Gods who for this aim portend,
By every sign they give, a happy end.
The Harpy Queen, she only doth presage
A curse of famine in its utmost rage;
Say thou what perils I am first to shun,
What course for safe deliverance must be run?"

Then Helenus (the accustomed Victims slain)
Invoked the Gods their favour to obtain.
This done, he loosed the fillets from his head,
And took my hand; and, while a holy dread
Possessed me, onward to the Temple led,
Thy Temple, Phoebus! — from his lip then flowed
Communications of the inspiring God. —
" No common auspices (this truth is plain)
Conduct thee, Son of Venus! o'er the Main;
The high behests of Jove this course ordain.
But, that with safer voyage thou mayst reach
The Ausonian harbour, I will clothe in speech
Some portion of the future; Fate hath hung
Clouds o'er the rest, or Juno binds my tongue.
And first, that Italy, whose coasts appear,
To thy too confident belief, so near,
With havens open for thy sails, a wide
And weary distance doth from thee divide.
Trinacrian waves shall bend the pliant oar;
Thou, through Ausonian gulfs, a passage must explore,
Trace the Circean Isle, the infernal Pool,
Before thy City rise for stedfast rule.
Now mark these Signs, and store them in thy mind;
When, anxiously reflecting, thou shalt find
A bulky Female of the bristly Kind
On a sequestered river's margin laid,
Where Ilex branches do the ground o'ershade,
With thirty young ones couched in that Recess,
White as the pure white Dam whose teats they press,
There found thy City; — on that soil shall close
All thy solicitudes, in fixed repose.
Nor dread Celaeno's threat, the Fates shall clear
The way, and at thy call Apollo interfere.
But shun those Lands where our Ionian sea
Washes the nearest shores of Italy.
On all the coasts malignant Greeks abide;
Narycian Locrians there a Town have fortified;
Idomeneus of Crete hath compassed round
With soldiery the Sallentinian ground;
There, when Thessalian Philoctetes chose
His resting-place, the small Petilia rose.
And when, that sea past over, thou shalt stand
Before the Altars, kindled on the strand,
While to the Gods are offered up thy vows,
Then in a purple veil enwrap thy brows,
And sacrifice thus covered, lest the sight
Of any hostile face disturb the rite.
Be this observance kept by thee and thine,
And this to late posterity consign!
But when by favouring breezes wafted o'er
Thy Fleet approaches the Sicilian shore,
And dense Pelorus gradually throws
Its barriers open to invite thy prows,
That passage shunned, thy course in safety keep
By steering to the left, with ample sweep.

" 'Tis said when heaving Earth of yore was rent
This ground forsook the Hesperian Continent;
Nor doubt, that power to work such change might lie
Within the grasp of dark Antiquity.
Then flowed the sea between, and, where the force
Of roaring waves established the divorce,
Still, through the Straits, the narrow waters boil,
Dissevering Town from Town, and soil from soil.
Upon the right the dogs of Scylla fret;
The left by fell Charybdis is beset;
Thrice towards the bottom of a vast abyss
Down, headlong down the liquid precipice
She sucks the whirling billows, and, as oft,
Ejecting, sends them into air aloft.
But Scylla, pent within her Cavern blind,
Thrusts forth a visage of our human kind,
And draws the Ship on rocks; She, fair in show,
A woman to the waist, is foul below;
A huge Sea-Beast — with Dolphin tails, and bound
With water Wolves and Dogs her middle round!
But Thou against this jeopardy provide
Doubling Pachynus with a circuit wide;
Thus shapeless Scylla may be left unseen,
Unheard the yelling of her brood marine.
But, above all if Phoebus I revere
Not unenlightened, an authentic Seer,
Then, Goddess-born, (on this could I enlarge
Repeating oft and oft the solemn charge)
Adore imperial Juno, freely wait
With gifts on Juno's Altar, supplicate
Her potent favour, and subdue her hate;
So shalt thou seek, a Conqueror at last,
The Italian shore, Trinacrian dangers past!
Arrived at Cumae and the sacred floods
Of black Avernus resonant with woods,
Thou shalt behold the Sybil where She sits
Within her cave, rapt in ecstatic fits,
And words and characters to leaves commits.
The prophecies which on those leaves the Maid
Inscribes, are by her hands in order laid
'Mid the secluded Cavern, where they fill
Their several places, undisturbed and still.
But if a light wind entering through the door
Scatter the thin leaves on the rocky floor,
She to replace her prophecies will use
No diligence; all flutter where they choose,
In hopeless disconnexion loose and wild;
And they, who sought for knowledge, thus beguiled
Of her predictions, from the cave depart,
And quit the Sybil with a murmuring heart.
But thou, albeit ill-disposed to wait,
And prizing moments at their highest rate,
Though Followers chide, and ever and anon
The flattering winds invite thee to be gone,
Beg of the moody Prophetess to break
The silent air, and for thy guidance speak.
She will disclose the features of thy doom,
The Italian Nations, and the Wars to come;
How to escape from hardships, or endure,
And make a happy termination sure;
Enough — chains bind the rest, or clouds obscure.
Go then, nor in thy glorious progress halt,
But to the stars the Trojan name exalt!"

So spake the friendly Seer, from hallowed lips,
Then orders sumptuous presents to the Ships;
Smooth ivory, massy gold, with ponderous store
Of vases fashioned from the paler ore;
And Dodonaean Cauldrons, nor withholds
The golden halberk, knit in triple folds,
That Neoptolemus erewhile had worn;
Nor his resplendent crest which waving plumes adorn.
Rich offerings also grace my Father's hands;
Horses he adds with Equerries, and Bands
Of Rowers, and supply of Arms commands.
— Meanwhile Anchises bids the Fleet unbind
Its sails for instant seizure of the wind.
The Interpreter of Phoebus then addressed
This gracious farewell to his ancient Guest:
" Anchises! to celestial honours led,
Beloved of Venus, whom she deigned to wed,
Care of the Gods, twice snatched from Ilium lost,
Now for Ausonia be these waters crossed!
Yet must thou only glide along the shores
To which I point; far lies the Land from ours
Whither Apollo's voice directs your powers:
Go, happy Parent of a pious Son,
No more — I baulk the winds that press thee on."
Nor less Andromache, disturbed in heart
That parting now, we must for ever part,
Embroidered Vests of golden thread bestows;
A Phrygian Tunic o'er Ascanius throws;
And studious that her bounty may become
The occasion, adds rich labours of the loom:
" Dear Child," she said, " these also, to be kept
As the memorials of my hand, accept!
Last gifts of Hector's Consort, let them prove
To thee the symbols of enduring love;
Take what Andromache at parting gives,
Fair Boy! — sole Image that for me survives
Of my Astyanax, — in whom his face,
His eyes are seen, his very hands I trace;
And now, but for obstruction from the tomb,
His years had opened into kindred bloom."
To these, while gushing tears bedewed my cheek,
Thus in the farewell moment did I speak:
" Live happy Ye, whose race of fortune run
Permits such life; from trials undergone
We to the like are called, by you is quiet won.
No seas have Ye to measure, nor on you
Is it imposed Ausonia to pursue,
And search for fields still flying from the view.
Lo Xanthus here in miniature! — there stands
A second Troy, the labour of your hands,
With happier auspices — in less degree
Exposed, I trust, to Grecian enmity.
If Tiber e'er receive me, and the sod
Of Tiber's meadows by these feet be trod,
If e'er I see our promised City rise,
These neighbouring Nations bound by ancient ties
Hesperian and Epirian, whose blood came
From Dardanus, whose lot hath been the same,
Shall make one Troy in spirit. May that care
To our Descendants pass from heir to heir!"

We coast the high Ceraunia, whence is found
The shortest transit to Italian ground;
Meanwhile the sun went down, and shadows spread
O'er every mountain darkened to its head.
Tired of their oars the Men no sooner reach
Earth's wished-for bosom than their limbs they stretch
On the dry margin of the murmuring Deep,
Where weariness is lost in timely sleep.
Ere Night, whose Car the Hours had yoked and reined,
Black Night, the middle of her orbit gained,
Up from his couch did Palinurus rise,
Looks to the wind for what it signifies,
And to each breath of air a watchful ear applies.
Next all the Stars gliding through silent Heaven
The Bears, Arcturus, and the clustered Seven,
Are noted, — and his ranging eyes behold
Magnificent Orion armed in gold.
When he perceives that all things low and high
Unite to promise fixed serenity,
He sends the summons forth; our Camp we raise, —
Are gone, — and every Ship her broadest wings displays.

Now, when Aurora reddened in a sky
From which the Stars had vanished, we descry
The low faint hills of distant Italy.
" Italia!" shouts Achates; round and round
" Italia" flies with gratulant rebound,
From all who see the coast, or hear the happy sound.
Not slow is Sire Anchises to entwine
With wreaths a goblet, which he filled with wine,
Then, on the Stern he took his lofty stand,
And cried, " Ye Deities of sea and land
Through whom the Storms are governed, speed our way
By breezes docile to your kindliest sway!"
— With freshening impulse breathe the wished-for gales,
And, as the Ships press on with greedy sails,
Opens the Port; and, peering into sight,
Minerva's Temple tops a craggy height.
The Sails are furled by many a busy hand;
The veering prows are pointed to the Strand.
Curved into semblance of a bow, the Haven
Looks to the East; but not a wave thence driven
Disturbs its peacefulness; their foamy spray
Breaks upon jutting rocks that fence the Bay.
Two towering cliffs extend with gradual fall
Their arms into the Sea, and frame a wall
In whose embrace the harbour hidden lies;
And, as its shelter deepens on our eyes,
Back from the shore Minerva's Temple flies.

Four snow-white Horses, grazing the wide fields,
Are the first omen which our landing yields;
Then Sire Anchises — " War thy tokens bear
O Hospitable land! The Horse is armed for war;
War do these menace, but as Steed with Steed
Oft joins in friendly yoke, the sight may breed
Fair hope that peace and concord will succeed."
To Pallas then in clanking armour mailed,
Who hailed us first, exulting to be hailed,
Prayers we address — with Phrygian amice veiled;
And, as by Helenus enjoined, the fire
On Juno's Altar fumes — to Juno vows aspire.
When we had ceased this service to present
That instant, seaward are our Sail-yards bent
And we forsake the Shore — with cautious dread
Of ground by Native Grecians tenanted.

The Bay is quickly reached that draws its name
From proud Tarentum, proud to share the fame
Of Hercules though by a dubious claim:
Right opposite we ken the Structure holy
Of the Lacinian Goddess rising slowly;
Next the Caulonian Citadel appeared
And the Scylacian bay for Shipwrecks feared;
Lo, as along the open Main we float,
Mount Etna, yet far off! and far remote
Groans of the Sea we hear; — deep groans and strokes
Of angry billows beating upon rocks, —
And hoarse surf-clamours, — while the flood throws up
Sands from the depths of its unsettled cup.
My Sire exclaimed, " Companions, we are caught
By fell Charybdis, — flee as ye were taught!
These, doubtless, are the rocks, the dangerous shores
Which Helenus denounced — away — with straining oars."
Quick, to the left the Master Galley veers
With roaring prow, as Palinurus steers;
And for the left the bands of Rowers strive,
While every help is caught that winds can give.
The whirlpool's dizzy altitudes we scale,
For ghastly sinking when the waters fail.
The hollow rocks thrice gave a fearful cry:
Three times we saw the clashing waves fling high
Their foam dispersed along a drizzling sky.
The flagging wind forsook us with the sun,
And to Cyclopian shores a darkling course we run.

The Port, which now we chance to enter, lies
By winds unruffled though of ample size;
But all too near is Etna, thundering loud;
And ofttimes casting up a pitchy cloud
Of smoke — in whirling convolutions driven,
With weight of hoary ashes, high as heaven,
And globes of flame; and sometimes he gives vent
To rocky fragments, from his entrails rent;
And hurls out melting substances — that fly
In thick assemblage, and confound the sky;
While groans and lamentations burdensome
Tell to the air from what a depth they come.
The enormous Mass of Etna, so 'tis said,
On lightning-scorched Enceladus was laid;
And ever pressing on the Giant's frame,
Breathes out, from fractured chimneys, fitful flame,
And, often as he turns his weary side
Murmuring Trinacria trembles far and wide,
While wreaths of smoke ascend and all the welkin hide.
We, through the night, enwrapped in woods obscure,
The shock of those dire prodigies endure,
Nor could distinguish whence might come the sound;
For all the stars to ether's utmost bound
Were hidden or bedimmed, and Night withheld
The Moon, in mist and lowering fogs concealed.
[ Desunt : translation of lines 588-706]

Those left, we harboured on the joyless coast
Of Drepanum, here harassed long and tossed,
And here my Sire Anchises did I lose,
Help in my cares, and solace of my woes.
Here, O best Father! best beloved and best
Didst thou desert me when I needed rest,
Thou, from so many perils snatched in vain:
Not Helenus, though much in doleful strain
He prophesied, this sorrow did unfold,
Not dire Celaeno this distress foretold.
This trouble was my last; Celestial Powers
O Queen, have brought me to your friendly shores."

Sole speaker, thus Aeneas did relate
To a hushed audience the decrees of Fate,
His wandering course remeasured, till the close
Now reached, in silence here he found repose.