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Then they, who brothers' better claim disown,
Expel their parents, and usurp the throne;
Defraud their clients, and, to lucre sold,
Sit brooding on unprofitable gold-
Who dare not give, and e'en refuse to lend
To their poor kindred, or a wanting friend-
Vast is the throng of these; nor less the train
Of lustful youths, for foul adult'ry slain-
Hosts of deserters, who their honour sold,
And basely broke their faith for bribes of gold.
All these within the dungeon's depth remain,
Despairing pardon, and expecting pain.
Ask not what pains; nor further seek to know
Their process, or the forms of law below:
Some roll a mighty stone; some, laid along,
And bound with burning wires, on spokes of
wheels are hung.

Unhappy Theseus, doom'd for ever there,
Is fix'd by Fate on his eternal chair:

And wretched Phlegyas warns the world with
cries,
[wise,)
(Could warning make the world more just or
Learn righteousness, and dread th' avenging
Deities.'

To tyrants others have their countries sold,
Imposing foreign lords, for foreign gold:
Some have old laws repeal'd, new statutes made,
Not as the people pleas'd, but as they paid.
With incest some their daughter's bed profan'd.
All dar'd the worst of ills, and, what they dar'd
attain'd.

Had I a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues,
And throats of brass, inspir'd with iron lungs,
I could not half those horrid crimes repeat,
Nor half the punishments those crimes have

met.

But let us haste, our voyage to pursue :
The walls of Pluto's palace are in view,
The gate, and iron arch above :-it stands-
On anvils labour'd by the Cyclops' hands.
Before our farther way the Fates allow,
Here must we fix on high the golden bough."
She said: and through the gloomy shades they
past,

And chose the middle path.-Arriv'd at last
The prince, with living water, sprinkled o'er
His limbs and body, then approach'd the door,
Possess'd the porch, and on the front above
He fix'd the fatal bough, requir'd by Pluto's love.
These holy rites perform'd, they took their way,
Where long extended plains of pleasure lay.
The verdant fields with those of heav'n may vie,
With ether vested, and a purple sky-
The blissful seats of happy souls below:
Stars of their own, and their own suns, they
know.

Their airy limbs in sports they exercise,
And, on the green, contend the wrestler's prize.

Some, in heroic verse, divinely sing:
Others in artful measures lead the ring.
The Thracian bard, surrounded by the rest,
There stands conspicuous in his flowing vest.
His flying fingers, and harmonious quill,
Strike seven distinguish'd notes, and seven at
once they fill.

Here found they Teucer's old heroic race,
Born, better times, and happier years to grace,
Assaracus and Ilus here enjoy

Perpetual fame, with him who founded Troy.
The chief beheld their chariots from afar,
Their shining arms and coursers train'd to war.
Their lances fix'd in earth-their steeds around,
Free from their harness, graze the flowery
ground.

The love of horses which they had alive,
And care of chariots, after death survive.
Some cheerful souls were feasting on the plain;
Some did the song and some the choir maintain,
Beneath a laurel shade, where mighty Po
Mounts up to woods above, and hides his head
below.

Here patriots live, who, for their country's good,
In fighting fields, were prodigal of blood:
Priests of unblemish'd lives here make abode,
And poets worthy their inspiring god;
And searching wits, of more mechanic parts,
Who grac'd their age with new-invented arts;
Those who to worth their bounty did extend,
And those who knew that bounty to commend.
The heads of these, with holy fillets bound,
And all their temples were with garlands
crown'd.

To these the Sibyl thus her speech address'd, And first to him surrounded by the rest(Tow'ring his height, and ample was his breast.)

"Say, happy souls! divine Musæus! say, Where lives Anchises, and where lies our way To find the hero, for whose only sake We sought the dark abodes, and cross'd the bitter lake."

To this the sacred poet thus replied: "In no fix'd place the happy souls reside, In groves we live, and lie on mossy beds, By crystal streams, that murmur through the meads :

But pass yon easy hill, and thence descend;
The path conducts you to your journey's end."
This said, he led them up the mountain's brow
And shows them all the shining fields below.
They wind the hill, and through the blissful
meadows go.

But old Anchises, in a flow'ry vale,
Review'd his muster'd race, and took the tale,-
Those happy spirits, which, ordain'd by Fate,
For future being and new bodies wait→

With studious thought, observ'd th' illustrious throng

In Nature's order, as they pass'd alongTheir names, their fates, their conduct, and their care,

In peaceful senates, and successful war
He, when Æneas on the plain appears,
Meets him with open arms and falling tears.
"Welcome," he said, "the gods' undoubted
race!

O long expected to my dear embrace;
Once more 't is giv'n me to behold your face!
The love and pious duty which you pay,
Have pass'd the perils of so hard a way.
'T is true, computing times, I now believ'd
The happy day approach'd; nor are my hopes

deceiv'd.

What length of lands, what oceans have you pass'd,

What storms sustain'd, and on what shores been cast!

How have I fear'd your fate, but fear'd it most,
When love assail'd you on the Lybian coast."
To this, the filial duty thus replies:
"Your sacred ghost, before my sleeping eyes,
Appear'd, and often urg'd this painful enter-
prise.

After long tossing on the Tyrrhene sea,
My navy rides at anchor in the bay.
But reach your hand, O parent shade! nor shun
The dear embraces of your longing son 199
He said; and falling tears his face bedew:
Then thrice around his neck his arms he
threw ;

And thrice the flitting shadow slipp'd away,
Like winds, or empty dreams that fly the day.
Now, in a secret vale, the Trojan sees
A sep'rate grove through which a gentle breeze
Plays with a passing breath, and whispers

through the trees:

And, just before the confines of the wood,
The gliding Lethe leads her silent flood.
About the boughs an airy nation flew,
Thick as the humming bees, that hunt the gold-
en dew,

In summer's heat; on tops of lilies feed,
And creep within their bells, to suck the balmy
seed:

The winged army roams the field around; The rivers and the rocks remurmur to the sound.

Eneas wond'ring stood, then ask'd the cause, Which to the stream the crowding people draws,

Then thus the sire: "The souls that throng the flood

Are those, to whom by Fate are other bodies ow'd:

In Lethe's lake they long oblivion taste,
Of future life secure, forgetful of the past.
Long has my soul desir'd this time and place,
To set before your sight your glorious race,
That this presaging joy may fire your mind,
To seek the shores by destiny design'd."-
"O father! can it be, that souls sublime
Return to visit our terrestrial clime,
And that the gen'rous mind, releas'd by death,
Can covet lazy limbs, and mortal breath?"
Anchises then, in order, thus begun

To clear those wonders to his godlike son:
"Know, first, that heav'n, and earth's com-
pacted frame,

And flowing waters, and the starry flame,
And both the radiant lights, one common soul
Inspires and feeds-and animates the whole.
This active mind, infus'd through all the space,
Unites and mingles with the mighty mass.
Hence men and beasts the breath of life obtain,
And birds of air, and monsters of the main
Th' ethereal vigour is in all the same;
And ev'ry soul is fill'd with equal flame-
As much as earthly limbs and gross allay
Of mortal members, subject to decay,
Blunt not the beams ofheav'n and edge of day.
From this coarse mixture of terrestrial parts,
Desire and fear by turns possess their hearts,
And grief, and joy: nor can the grov'ling mind,
In the dark dungeon of the limbs confin'd,
Assert the native skies, or own its heav'nly
kind;

Nor death itself can wholly wash their stains But long-contracted filth e'en in the soul re mains.

The relics of invet'rate vice they wear;
And spots of sin obscene in ev'ry face appear.
For this are various penances enjoin'd;
And some are hung to bleach upon the wind,
Some plung'd in waters, others purg'd in fires,
Till all the dregs are drain'd, and all the rust
expires.

All have their manes, and those manes bear:
The few, so cleans'd, to these abodes repair,
And breath in ample fields the soft Elysian air.
Then are they happy, when by length of

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The scurf is worn away of each committed
No speck is left to their habitual stains;
But the pure ether of the soul remains.
But, when a thousand rolling years are past,
(So long their punishments and penance last,)
Whole droves of minds are, by the driving god,
Compell'd to drink the deep Lethean flood,
In large forgetful draughts, to steep the cares
Of their past labours and their irksome years,
That, unrememb'ring of its former pain,
The soul may suffer mortal flesh again."

Thus having said, the father-spirit leads
The priestess and his son through swarms of
shades,

And takes a rising ground, from thence to see
The long procession of his progeny.
"Survey (pursu'd the sire) this airy throng,
As, offer'd to the view, they pass along.

These are th' Italian names, which Fate will join

With ours,
and graff upon the Trojan line.
Observe the youth who first appears in sight,
And holds the nearest station to the light,
Already seems to snuff the vital air,
And leans just forward on a shining spear;
Silvius is he, thy last begotten race,
But first in order sent, to fill thy place-
An Alban name,
but mix'd with Dardan blood:
Born in the covert of a shady wood,
Him fair Lavinia, thy surviving wife,
Shall breed in groves, to lead a solitary life.
In Alba he shall fix his royal seat,
And, born a king, a race of kings beget ;—
Then Procas, honour of the Trojan name,
Capys, and Numitor, of endless fame.
A second Silvius after these appears-
Silvius Æneas, for thy name he bears-
For arms and justice equally renown'd;
Who, late restor'd, in Alba shall be crown'd.
How great they look! how vigorously they
wield

Their weighty lances, and sustain the shield! But they, who crown'd with oaken wreaths appear,

Shall Gabian walls and strong Fidene rear ;
Nomentum, Bola, with Pometia, found:
And raise Collatian tow'rs on rocky ground.
All these shall then be towns of mighty fame,
Though now they lie obscure, and lands without

a name.

See Romulus the great, born to restore
The crown that once his injur'd grandsire wore.
This prince a priestess of our blood shall
bear;

And like his sire in arms he shall appear.
Two rising crests his royal head adorn:
Born from a god, himself to godhead born,
His sire already signs him for the skies,
And marks his seat amidst the deities.

Auspicious chief! thy race, in times to come,
Shall spread the conquests of imperial Rome-
Rome whose ascending tow'rs shall heav'n in-
vade,

Involving earth and heav'n into her shade;
High as the mother of the gods in place,
And proud, like her, of an immortal race,
Then, when in pomp she makes the Phrygian
round,

With golden turrets on her temples crown'd;

A hundred gods her sweeping train supply,
Her offspring all; and all command the sky
Now fix your sight, and stand intent to see
Your Roman race, and Julian progeny.
There mighty Cæsar waits his vital hour,
Impatient for the world, and grasps his promis'd
pow'r.

But next behold the youth of form divine-
Cæsar himself, exalted in his line-
Augustus, promis'd oft, and long foretold,
Sent to the realm that Saturn rul'd of old;
Born to restore a better age of gold.
Afric and India shall his pow'r obey
He shall extend his propagated sway
Beyond the solar year, without the starry

way.

Where Atlas turns the rolling heav'ns around, And his broad shoulders with their lights are crown'd.

At his foreseen approach, already quake
The Caspian kingdoms and Maotian lake.
Their seers behold the tempest from afar;
And threat'ning oracles denounce the war.
Nile hears him knocking at his sevenfold gates,
And seeks his hidden spring, and fears his
nephew's fates.

No Hercules more lands or labours knew,
Not though the brazen-footed hind he slew
Freed Erymanthus from the foaming boar,
And dipp'd his arrows in Lernæan gore;
Nor Bacchus, turning from his Indian war,
By tigers drawn triumphant in his car,
From Nysa's top descending on the plains,
With curling vines around his purple reins.
And doubt we yet through dangers to pursue
The paths of honour, and a crown in view ?—
But what's the man, who from afar appears,
His head with olive crown'd, his hand a censer
bears?

[tain.

His hoary beard and holy vestments bring
His lost idea back. I know the Roman king.
He shall to peaceful Rome new laws ordain,
Call'd from his mean abode, a sceptre to sus-
Him Tullus next in dignity succeeds,
An active prince, and prone to martial deeds.
He shall his troops for fighting fields prepare,
Disus'd to toils and triumphs of the war.
By dint of sword, his crown he shall increase,
And scour his arinour from the rust of
peace.
Whom Ancus follows with a fawning air,
But vain within, and proudly popular.
Next view the Tarquin kings, th' avenging

sword

Of Brutus, justly drawn, and Rome restor❜d. He first renews the rods and axe severe, And gives the consuls royal robes to wear. His sons, who seek the tyrant to sustain, And long for arbitrary lords again,

With ignominy scourg'd in open sight, He dooms to death deserv'd, asserting public right.

Unhappy man! to break the pious laws

Of nature, pleading in his children's cause!
Howe'er the doubtful fact is understood,
"Tis love of honour, and his country's good:
The consul, not the father, sheds the blood.
Behold Tarquatus the same track pursue;
And next the two devoted Decii view-
The Drusian line, Camillus loaded home,
With standards well redeem'd, and foreign foes,
shall come.

The pair, you see, in equal armour shine,
Now friends below, in close embraces join:
But, when they leave the shady realms of night,
And, cloth'd in bodies, breathe your upper light,
With mortal hate each other shall pursue :
What wars, what wounds, what slaughter, shall

ensue.

From Alpine heights the father first descends; His daughter's husband in the plain attends : His daughter's husband arms his eastern friends.

Embrace again my sons! be foes no more; Nor stain your country with her children's gore! And thou, the first, lay down thy lawless claim, Thou, of my blood, who bear'st the Julian

name!

Another comes, who shall in triumph ride,
And to the Capitol his chariot guide,
From conquer'd Corinth, rich with Grecian

spoils.

And yet another, fam'd for warlike toils
On Argus shall impose the Roman laws,
And on the Greeks revenge the Trojan cause;
Shall drag in chains their Achillean race;
Shall vindicate his ancestors' disgrace,
And Pallas, for her violated place.
Great Cato there, for gravity renown'd,
And conquering Cossus goes with laurels
crown'd.

Who can omit the Gracchi? who declare
The Scipio's worth, those thunderbolts of war,
The double bane of Carthage? Who can see
Without esteem for virtuous poverty,
Severe Fabricius, or can cease t' admire
The ploughman consul in his coarse attire?
Tir'd as I am, my praise the Fabii claim;
And thou, great hero, greatest of thy name,
Ordain'd in war to save the sinking state,
And by delays, to put a stop to Fate!
Let others better mould the running mass
Of metals, and inform the breathing brass,
And soften into flesh a marble face;
Plead better at the bar; describe the skies,
And when the stars descend, and when they
rise.

But Rome! 't is thine alone, with awful sway,
To rule mankind, and make the world obey,
Disposing peace and war thy own majestic
way:

To tame the proud, thy fetter'd slave to free :-
These are imperial arts and worthy thee."
He paus'd-and, while with wond'ring eyes
they view'd

The passing spirits, thus his speech renew'd: "See great Marcellus! how, untir'd in toils, He moves with manly grace, how rich with regal spoils :

He, when his country (threaten'd with alarms)
Requires his courage, and his conq'ring arms,
Shall more than once the Punic bands affright;
Shall kill the Gaulish king in single fight;
Then to the Capitol in triumph move: [Jove."
And the third spoils shall grace Feretrian
Eneas here beheld, of form divine,

A godlike youth, in glitt'ring armour shine,
With great Marcellus keeping equal pace:
But gloomy were his eyes, dejected was his
face.

He saw, and wond'ring, ask'd his airy guide,
What and of whence was he, who press'd the

hero's side?

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The gods too high had rais'd the Roman state,
Were but their gifts as permanent as great.
What groans of men shall fill the Martian Field!
How fierce a blaze his flaming pile shall yield!
What fun'ral pomp shall floating Tyber see,
When, rising from his bed, he views the sad
solemnity!

No youth shall equal hopes of glory give,
No youth afford so great a cause to grieve.
The Trojan honour, and the Roman boast,
Admir'd when living, and ador'd when lost!
Mirror of ancient faith in early youth!
Undaunted worth, inviolable truth!
No foe, unpunish'd, in the fighting field
Shall dare thee, foot to foot, with sword and

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Ah! couldst thou break through Fate's severe decree,

A new Marcellus shall arise in thee!
Full canisters of fragrant lilies bring,
Mix'd with the purple roses of the spring:
Let me with fun'ral flow'rs his body strow,
This gift, which parents to their children owe,
This unavailing gift, at least I may bestow!"
Thus having said, he led the hero round
The confines of the blest Elysian ground;
Which when Anchises to his son had shown,
And fir'd his mind to mount the promis'd throne,
He tells the future wars, ordain'd by Fate;
The strength and customs of the Latian state;
The prince, and people; and forearms his

care

With rules, to push his fortune, or to bear.

Two gates the silent house of Sleep adorn; Of polish'd iv'ry this, that of transparent horn: True visions through transparent horn arise, Through polish'd iv'ry pass deluding lies. Of various things discoursing as he pass'd, Anchises hither bends his steps at last. Then, through the gate of iv'ry he dismiss'd His valiant offspring, and divining guest. Straight to the ships Æneas took his way, Embark'd his men, and skimm'd along the sea, Still coasting, till he gain'd Caieta's bay. At length on oozy ground his galleys moor: Their heads are turn'd to sea, their sterns to shore.

BOOK VII.

ARGUMENT.

King Latinus entertains Æneas, and promises him his only daughter, Lavinia, the heiress of his crown. Turnus, being in love with her, favoured by her mother, and by Juno and Alecto, breaks the treaty which was made, and engages in his quarrel Mezentius, Camilla, Messapus, and many other of the neighbouring princes; whose forces, and the names of their commanders, are particularly related.

AND thou, O matron of immortal fame!
Here dying, to the shore hast left thy name:
Caieta still the place is call'd from thee,
The nurse of great Æneas' infancy.
Here rest thy bones in rich Hesperia's plains;
Thy name ('t is all a ghost can have) remains.
Now, when the prince her fun'ral rites had
paid,

He plough'd the Tyrrhene seas with sails display'd.

From land a gentle breeze arose by night; Serenely shone the stars; the moon was bright; And the sea trembled with her silver light.

Now near the shelves of Circe's shores they run,
(Circe the rich, the daughter of the sun,)
A dang'rous coast!-the goddess wastes her
days

In joyous songs; the rocks resound her lays.
In spinning, or the loom, she spends the night;
And cedar brands supply her father's light.
From hence were heard, rebellowing to the
main,

The roars of lions that refuse the chain,
The grunts of bristled boars, and groans of
bears,

And herds of howling wolves that stun the sailors' ears.

These from their caverns, at the close of night, Fill the sad isle with horror and affright. Darkling they mourn their fate, whom Circe's pow'r,

(That watch'd the moon, and planetary hour,) With words and wicked herbs, from human-kind Had alter'd, and in brutal shapes confin'd. Which monsters lest the Trojan's pious host Should bear, or touch upon th' enchanted coast, Propitious Neptune steer'd their course by night,

With rising gales, that sped their happy flight. Supplied with these, they skim the sounding shore,

And hear the swelling surges vainly roar.

Now, when the rosy morn began to rise, And wav'd her saffron streamer through the skies,

When Thetis blush'd in purple, not her own, And from her face the breathing winds were blown,

A sudden silence sate upon the sea, [way. And sweeping oars, with struggling urge their The Trojan, from the main, heheld a wood, Which, thick with shades, and a brown horror stood.

Betwixt the trees, the Tyber took his course, With whirlpools dimpled; and with downward force

That drove the sand along, he took his way,
And roll'd his yellow billows to the sea.
About him, and above, and round the wood,
The birds that haunt the borders of his flood,
That bath'd within, or bask'd upon his side,
To tuneful songs their narrow throats applied.
The captive gives command: the joyful train
Glide through the gloomy shade, and leave the
main.

Now, Erato! thy poet's mind inspire,
And fill his soul with thy celestial fire.
Relate what Latium was; her ancient kings:
Declare the past and present state of things,
When first the Trojan fleet Ausonia sought,
And how the rivals lov'd, and how they fought.

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