These are my theme, and how the war began,
And how concluded by the godlike man :
For I shall sing of battles, blood, and rage,
Which princes and their people did engage;
And haughty souls, that, mov'd with mutual
hate,

In fighting fields pursu'd and found their fate; That rous'd the Tyrrhene realm with loud alarms,

And peaceful Italy involv'd in arms.
A larger scene of action is display'd;
And, rising hence, a greater work is weigh'd.
Latinus, old and mild, had long posses'd
The Latian sceptre, and his people bless'd;
His father Faunus: a Laurentian dame
His mother; fair Marica was her name.
But Faunus came from Picus: Picus drew
His birth from Saturn, if records be true.
Thus king Latinus, in the third degree,
Had Saturn author of his family.
But this old peaceful prince, as heav'n decreed,
Was bless'd with no male issue to succeed :
His sons in blooming youth were snatch'd by
fate:

One only daughter heir'd the royal state.
Fir'd with her love, and with ambition led,
The neighb'ring princes court her nuptial bed.
Among the crowd, but far above the rest,
Young Turnus to the beauteous maid address'd.
Turnus, for high descent and graceful mien,
Was first, and favour'd by the Latian queen:
With him she strove to join Lavinia's hand;
But dire portents the purpos'd match with-
stand.
[stood
Deep in the palace, of long growth, there
A laurel's trunk, a venerable wood;
Where rites divine were paid; whose holy hair
Was kept and cut with superstitious care.
This plant, Latinus, when his town he wall'd,
Then found, and from the tree Laurentium
call'd:

And last, in honour of his new abode,
He vow'd the laurel to the laurel's god.
It happen'd once, (a boding prodigy!)
A swarm of bees, that cut the liquid sky,
(Unknown from whence they took their airy
flight,)

Upon the topmost branch in clouds alight;
There, with their clasping feet, together clung,
And a long cluster from the laurel hung.
An ancient augur prophesied from hence :
"Behold on Latian shores a foreign prince!
From the same parts of heaven his navy stands,
To the same parts on earth: his army lands;
The town he conquers, and the tow'r com-
mands."

Yet more, when fair Lavinia fed the fire
Before the gods, and stood beside her sire,

(Strange to relate!) the flames, involv'd in

smoke

Of incense, from the sacred altar broke,
Caught her dishevell'd hair, and rich attire:
Her crown and jewels crackled in the fire:
From thence the fuming trail began to spread,
And lambent glories danc'd about her head.
This new portent the seer with wonder views,
Then pausing, thus his prophecy renews :
"The nymph, who scatters flaming fires around,
Shall shine with honour-shall herself be
crown'd;

But, caus'd by her irrevocable fate,

War shall the country waste, and change the state."

Latinus, frighted at this dire ostent,
For counsel to his father Faunus went,
And sought the shades renown'd for prophecy,
Which near Albunea's sulph'rous fountain lie.
To those the Latian and the Sabine land
Fly, when distress'd: and thence relief de-
mand.

The priest on skins of off'rings takes his ease,
And nightly visions in his slumber sees:
A swarm of thin aerial shapes appears,
And, flutt'ring round his temples, deafs his cars.
These he consults, the future fates to know,
From powers above, and from the fiends be-

low.

Here for the god's advice Latinus flies,
Offering a hundred sheep for sacrifice;
Their woolly fleeces, as the rites requir'd,
He laid beneath him, and to rest retir❜d.
No sooner were his eyes in slumber bound,
When from above, a more than mortal sound
Invades his ears; and thus the vision spoke :
"Seek not, my seed, in Latian bands to yoke
Our fair Lavinia, nor the gods provoke.
A foreign son upon the shore descends,
Whose martial fame from pole to pole extends.
His race, in arms and arts of peace renown'd,
Not Latium shall contain, nor Europe bound:
"T is theirs what'er the sun surveys around."
These answers, in the silent night receiv'd,
The king himself divulg'd, the land believ'd:
The fame through all the neighb'ring nations
flew,

When now the Trojan navy was in view.

Beneath a shady tree, the hero spread
His table on the turf, with cakes of bread;
And, with his chiefs, on forest fruits he fed.
They sate; and, (not without the god's com-
mand,)

Their homely fare despatch'd, the hungry band
Invade their trenchers next, and soon devour,
To mend the scanty meal, their cakes of flour,
Ascanius this observ'd, and smiling said,
'See! we devour the plates on which we fed."

The speech had omen, that the Trojan race
Should find repose, and this the time and place.
Eneas took the word, and thus replies :-
(Confessing fate, with wonder in his eyes :)
"All hail, O earth! all hail, my household gods!
Behold the destin'd place of your abodes!
For thus Anchises prophesied of old,
And this our fatal place of rest foretold:
'When, on a foreign shore, instead of meat,
By famine forc'd, your trenchers you shall eat,
Then ease your weary Trojans will attend,
And the long labours of your voyage end.
Remember on that happy coast to build :
And with a trench enclose the fruitful field.'
This was that famine, this the fatal place,
Which ends the wand'ring of our exil'd race.
Then on to-morrow's dawn, your care employ,
To search the land, and where the cities lie,
And what the men; but give this day to joy.
Now pour to Jove; and, after Jove is blest,
Call great Anchises to the genial feast:
Crown high the goblets with a cheerful draught:
Enjoy the present hour; adjourn the future
thought."

Thus having said, the hero bound his brows
With leafty branches, then perform'd his vows;
Adorning first the genius of the place,
Then Earth, the mother of the heav'nly race,
The nymphs, and native godheads yet unknown,
And Night, and all the stars that gild her sable
And ancient Cybel, and Idman Jove; [throne,
And last his sire below, and mother-queen above.
Then heaven's high monarch thunder'd thrice
aloud

And thrice he shook aloft a golden cloud.
Soon through the joyful camp a rumour flew,
The time was come their city to renew.
Then ev'ry brow with cheerful green is crown'd;
The feasts are doubled, and the bowls go round.
When next the rosy morn disclos'd the day,
The scouts to sev'ral parts divide their way,
To learn the natives' names, their towns ex-
plore,

The coast, and tendings of the crooked shore:
Here Tyber flows, and here Numicus stands;
Here warlike Latians hold the happy lands.

The pious chief who sought by peaceful ways To found his empire, and his town to raise, A hundred youths from all his train selects, And to the Latian court their course directs, (The spacious palace where their prince resides,)

And all their heads with wreaths of olive hides,
To go commission'd to require a peace,
And carry presents to procure access.
Thus while they speed their pace, the prince
designs

The new-elected seat, and draws the lines.

The Trojans round the place a rampire cast, And palisades about the trenches plac'd. Meantime the train, proceeding on their

way,

From far the town and lofty tow'rs survey:
At length approach the walls. Without the
gate,

They see the boys and Latian youth debate
The martial prizes on the dusty plain:
Some drive the cars, and some the coursers
rein;

Some bend the stubborn bow for victory;
And some with darts their active sinews try.
A posting messenger, despatch'd from hence,
Of this fair troop advis'd their aged prince,
That foreign men, of mighty stature, came;
Uncouth their habit, and unknown their name.
The king ordains their entrance, and ascends
His regal seat, surrounded by his friends.
The palace built by Picus, vast and proud,
Supported by a hundred pillars stood,
And round encompass'd with a rising wood.
The pile o'erlook'd the town, and drew the
sight,

Surpris'd at once with rev'rence and delight. There kings receiv'd the marks of sov❜reign pow'r :

In state the monarchs march'd; the lictors bore
Their awful axes and the rods before.
Here the tribunal stood, the house of pray'r;
And here the sacred senators repair;
All at large tables, in long order set,
A ram their off'ring, and a ram their meat.
Above the portal, carv'd in cedar wood,
Plac'd in their ranks, their godlike grandsire
stood-

Old Saturn, with his crooked scythe, on high;
And Italus, that led the colony;
And ancient Janus, with his double face,
And bunch of keys, the porter of the place.
There stood Sabinus, planter of the vines:
On a short pruning-hook his head reclines,
And studiously surveys his gen'rous wines;
Then warlike kings, who for their country
fought,

་

And honourable wounds from battle brought. Around the posts hung helmets, darts, and

spears,

And captive chariots, axes, shields, and bars And broken beaks of ships, the trophies of their

wars.

Above the rest, as chief of all the band,
Was Picus plac'd; a buckler in his hand;
His other wav'd a long divining wand.
Girt in his Gabine gown the hero sate,
Yet could not with his art avoid his fate :
For Circe long had lov'd the youth in vain,
Till love refus'd converted to disdain

Then, mixing powerful herbs, with magic art She chang'd his form, who could not change his heart;

Constrain'd him in a bird, and made him fly,
With party-colour'd plumes, a chatt'ring pie.
In this high temple, on a chair of state,
The seat of audience, old Latinus sate;
Then gave admission to the Trojan train;
And thus with pleasing accents he began:
"Tell me, ye Trojans-for that name you own;
Nor is your course upon our coasts unknown—
Say what you seek, and whither were you
bound?

Were you by stress of weather cast aground?
(Such dangers of the sea are often seen,
And oft befall to miserable men ;)
Or come your shipping in our ports to lay,
Spent and disabled in so long a way?
Say what you want: the Latians you shall find
Not forc'd to good-ness, but by will inclin❜d.
For since the time of Saturn's holy reign,
His hospitable customs we retain :

I call to mind, (but time the tale has worn,)
Th' Aurunci told, that Dardanus, though born
On Latian plains, yet sought the Phrygian shore,
And Samothracia, Samos call'd before.
From Tuscan Corythum he claim'd his birth:
But after, when exempt from mortal earth,
From thence ascended to his kindred skies,
A god, and, as a god, augments their sacrifice."
He said.-Ilioneus made this reply;
O king, of Faunus' royal family!
Nor wintry winds to Latium forc'd our way,
Nor did the stars our wand'ring course betray.
Willing we sought your shores; and, hither
bound,

The port, so long desir'd, at length we found;
From our sweet homes and ancient realms ex-

pell'd;

Great as the greatest that the sun beheld.
The god began our line, who rules above;
And, as our race, our king descends from Jove :
And hither are we come by his command,
To crave admission in your happy land.
How dire a tempest from Mycenæ pour'd,
Our plains, our temples, and our town, devour'd;
What was the waste of war, what fierce alarms
Shook Asia's crown with European arms;
E'en such have heard, if any such there be,
Whose earth is bounded by the frozen sea;
And such as, born beneath the burning sky
And sultry sun, betwixt the tropics lie.
From that dire deluge, through the wat❜ry waste,
(Such length of years, such various perils past,)
At last escap'd, to Latium we repair,

To beg what you without your want may

spare

The common water, and the common air ;

Sheds which ourselves will build, and mean abodes,

Fit to receive and serve our banish'd gods.
Nor our admission shall your realm disgrace,
Nor length of time our gratitude efface-
Besides what endless honour you shall gain,
To save and shelter Troy's unhappy train.
Now, by my sov'reign, and his fate, I swear-
Renown'd for faith in peace, for force in war-
Oft our alliance other lands desir'd,

And what we seek of you, of us requir'd.
Despise not then, that in our hands we bear
These holy boughs, and sue with words of
pray'r.

Fate and the gods, by their supreme command, Have doom'd our ships to seek the Latian

land.

To these abodes, our fleet Apollo sends;
Here Dardanus was born, and hither tends;
Where Tuscan Tyber rolls with rapid force,
And where Numicus opes his holy source.
Besides, our prince presents, with his request,
Some small remains of what his sire possess'd.
This golden charger,snatch'd from burning Troy,
Anchises did in sacrifice employ :

This royal robe and this tiara wore
Old Priam, and this golden sceptre bore,
In full assemblies, and in solemn games :
These purple vests were weav'd by Dardan
dames."

Thus while he spoke, Latinus roll'd around His eyes, and fix'd a while upon the ground. Intent he seem'd and anxious in his breast: Not by the sceptre mov'd, or kingly vest, But pond'ring future things, of wond'rous weight

Succession, empire, and his daughter's fate.
On these he mus'd within his thoughtful mind;
And then revolv'd what Faunus had divin'd
This was the foreign prince, by fate decreed
To share his sceptre, and Lavinia's bed:
This was the race that sure portents foreshew
To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.
At length he rais'd his cheerful head, and spoke:
"The pow'rs," said he," the pow'rs we both
invoke,

To you, and yours, and mine, propitious be,
And firm our purpose with our augury!
Have what you ask: your presents I receive;
Land where and when you please, with ample

Besides this answer, tell my royal guest,
I add to his commands my own request:
One only daughter heirs my crown and state,
Whom not our oracles, nor heav'n, nor fate,
Nor frequent prodigies, permit to join
With any native of th' Ausonian line.
A foreign son-in-law shall come from far,
(Such is our doom,) a chief renown'd in war,
Whose race shall bear aloft the Latian name,
And through the conquer'd world diffuse our
fame.

Himself to be the man the fates require,
I firmly judge, and, what I judge, desire."
He said, and then on each bestow'd a steed.
Three hundred horses, in high stables fed,
Stood ready, shining all, and smoothly dress'd:
Of these he chose the fairest and the best,
To mount the Trojan troop. At his command,
The steeds caparison'd with purple stand,
With golden trappings, glorious to behold,
And champ betwixt their teeth the foaming
gold.

Then to his absent guest the king decreed
A pair of coursers born of heav'nly breed,
Who from their nostrils breath'd etherial fire,
Whom Circe stole from her celestial sire,
By substituting mares produc'd on earth,
Whose wombs conceiv'd a more than mortal
birth.

These draw the chariot which Latinus sends;
And the rich present to the prince commends.
Sublime on stately steeds the Trojans borne,
To their expecting lord with peace return.
But jealous Juno, from Pachynus' height,
As she from Argos took her airy flight,
Beheld, with envious eyes, this hateful sight.
She saw the Trojan and his joyful train
Descend upon the shore, desert the main,
Design a town, and, with unhop'd success,
Th' ambassadors return with promis'd peace.
Then, pierc'd with pain, she shook her haughty
head,

Sigh'd from her inward soul, and thus she said:
"O hated offspring of my Phrygian foes!
O fates of Troy, which Juno's fates oppose!
Could they not fall unpitied on the plain,
But, slain, revive, and taken, 'scape again?
When execrable Troy in ashes lay,

Through fires and swords and seas they forc'd

their way.

Then vanquish'd Juno must in vain contend,
Her rage disarm'd, her empire at an end!
Breathless and tir'd, is all my fury spent?
Or does my glutted spleen at length relent?
As if 't were little from their town to chase,
I through the seas pursu'd their exil'd race :
Engag'd the heav'ns, oppos'd the stormy main :
But billows roar'd, and tempests rag'd in vain.

What have my Scyllas and my Syrtes done, When these they overpass, and those they shun?

On Tyber's shores they land, secure of fate,
Triumphant o'er the storms of Juno's hate!
Mars could in inutual blood the Centaurs bathe;
And Jove himself gave way to Cynthia's wrath,
Who sent the tusky boar to Calydon?
(What great offence had either people done?)
But I, the consort of the Thunderer
Have wag'd a long and unsuccessful war,
With various arts and arms in vain have toil'd,
And by a mortal man at length am foil'd!
If native pow'r prevail not, shall I doubt
To seek for needful succour from without:
If Jove and heav'n my just desires deny,
Hell shall the pow'r of heav'n and Jove supply.
Grant that the Fates have firm'd, by their de-

cree,

The Trojan race to reign in Italy:
At least I can defer the nuptial day,
And, with protracted wars, the peace delay:
With blood the dear alliance shall be bought,
And both the people near destruction brought,
So shall the son-in-law and father join,
With ruin, war, and waste of either line.
O fatal maid! thy marriage is endow'd
With Phrygian, Latian, and Rutulian blood!
Bellona leads thee to thy lover's hand:
Another queen brings forth another brand,
To burn with foreign fires another land!
A second Paris, diff'ring but in name,
Shall fire his country with a second flame."
Thus having said, she sinks beneath the
ground,

With furious haste, and shoots the Stygian

sound,

To rouse Alecto from th' infernal seat
Of her dire sisters, and their dark retreat.
This Fury, fit for her intent, she chose,
One who delights in wars and human woes.
E'en Pluto hates his own misshapen race;
Her sister Furies fly her hideous face;
So frightful are the forms the monster takes,
So fierce the hissings of her speckled snakes.
Her Juno finds, and thus inflames her spite:
"O virgin daughter of eternal Night,
Give me this once thy labour, to sustain
My right, and execute my just disdain.
Let not the Trojans, with a feign'd pretence,
Of proffer'd peace, delude the Latian prince;
Expel from Italy that odious name,

And let not Juno suffer in her fame.
'Tis thine to ruin realms, o'erturn a state,
Betwixt the dearest friends to raise debate,
And kindle kindred blood to mutual hate.
Thy hand o'er towns the fun'ral torch displays,
And forms a thousand ills ten thousand ways.

Now shake, from out thy fruitful breast, the seeds

Of envy, discord, and of cruel deeds:
Confound the peace establish'd, and prepare
Their souls to hatred, and their hands to war."
Smear'd as she was with black Gorgonean
blood,

The Fury sprang above the Stygian flood: And on her wicker wings, sublime through night,

She to the Latian palace took her flight;
There sought the queen's apartment, stood be-
fore

The peaceful threshold, and besieg'd the door.
Restless Amata lay, her swelling breast
Fir'd with disdain for Turnus dispossess'd,
And the new nuptials of the Trojan guest.
From her black bloody locks the Fury shakes
Her darling plague, the fav'rite of her snakes;
With her full force she threw the pois'nous dart,
And fix'd it deep within Amata's heart,
That, thus envenom'd, she might kindle rage,
And sacrifice to strife her house and husband's
age.

Unseen, unfelt, the fiery serpent skims
Betwixt her linen and her naked limbs,
His baneful breath, inspiring as he glides,
Now like a chain around her neck he rides,
Now like a fillet to her head repairs,
And with his circling volumes folds her hairs.
At first the silent venom slid with ease,
And seiz'd her cooler senses by degrees;
Then, ere th' infected mass was fir'd too far,
In plaintive accents she began the war,
And thus bespoke her husband: "Shall," she
said,

"A wand'ring prince enjoy Lavinia's bed?
If nature pleads not in a parent's heart,
I dry my tears, and pity her desert.

I know my dearest lord, the time will come,
You would in vain reverse your cruel doom,
The faithless pirate soon will set to sea,
And bear the royal virgin far away!
A guest like him, a Trojan guest before,
In show of friendship sought the Spartan shore,
And ravish'd Helen from her husband bore.
Think on a king's inviolable word;

And think on Turnus, her once plighted lord.
To this false foreigner you give your throne,
And wrong a friend, a kinsman, and a son.
Resume your ancient care; and if the god,
Your sire, and you, resolve on foreign blood,
Know all are foreign, in a larger sense,
Not born your subjects or deriv'd from hence,
Then, if the line of Turnus you retrace,
He springs from Inacus of Argive race."
But, when she saw her reasons idly spent,
And could not move him from his fix'd intent,

She flew to rage; for now the snake possess'd
Her vital parts and poison'd all her breast.
She raves, she runs with a distracted pace,
And fills, with horrid howls, the public place.
And, as young striplings whip the top for sport,
On the smooth pavement of an empty court;
The wooden engine flies and whirls about,
Admir'd, with clamours, of the beardless rout;
They lash aloud; each other they provoke,
And lend their little souls at ev'ry stroke:
Thus fares the queen; and thus her fury blows
Amidst the crowd, and kindles as she goes.
Not yet content, she strains her malice more,
And adds new ills to those contriv'd before:
She flies the town, and, mixing with the throng
Of madding matrons, bears the bride along,
Wand'ring through woods and wilds and devious
ways,

And with these arts the Trojan match delays.
She feign'd the rites of Bacchus; cried aloud,
And to the buxom god the virgin vow'd.
"Evoe! O Bacchus !" thus began the song;
And "Evoe!" answer'd all the female throng,
"O virgin, worthy thee alone!" she cried;
"O worthy thee alone!" the crew replied.
"For thee she feeds her hair, she leads thy
dance,

And with thy winding ivy wreaths her lance."
Like fury seiz'd the rest: the progress known,
All seek the mountains, and forsake the town:
All clad in skins of beasts, the javelin bear,
Give to the wanton winds their flowing hair;
And shrieks and shoutings rend the suff'ring air.
The queen herself, inspir'd with rage divine,
Shook high above her head a flaming pine,
Then roll'd her haggard eyes around the throng,
And sung, in Turnus' name, the nuptial song:
"Io! ye Latian dames, if any here
Hold your unhappy queen, Amata, dear;
If there be here," she said," who dare maintain
My right, nor think the name of mother vain;
Unbind your fillets, loose your flowing hair,
And orgies and nocturnal rites prepare."
Amata's breast the Fury thus invades,
And fires with rage, amid the sylvan shades.
Then, when she found her venom spread so far,
The royal house embroil'd in civil war,
Rais'd on her dusky wings she cleaves the skies,
And seeks the palace where young Turnus lies.
His town as fame reports, was built of old
By Danae. pregnant with almighty gold,
Who fled her father's rage, and, with a train
Of following Argives, through the stormy main,
Driv'n by the southern blasts, was fated here to
reign.

'T was Ardua once; now Ardea's name it

bears;

Once a fair city, now consum'd with years.