THE ENEIS.

BOOK I.

ARGUMENT.

The Trojans, after a seven years' voyage, set sail for Italy, but are overtaken by a dreadful storm, which Æolus raises at the request of Juno. The tempest sinks one, and scatters the rest. Neptune drives off the winds, and calms the sea. Eneas, with his own ship and six more, arrives safe at an African port. Venus complains to Jupiter of her son's misfortunes. Jupiter comforts her, and sends Mercury to procure him a kind reception among the Carthaginians. Eneas, going out to discover the country, meets his mother in the shape of a huntress, who conveys him in a cloud to Carthage, where he sees his friends whom he thought lost, and receives a kind entertainment from the queen. Dido, by a device of Venus, begins to have a passion for him, and, after some discourse with him, desires the history of his adventures since the siege of Troy, which is the subject of the two following books.

ARMS, and the man I sing, who, forc'd by Fate
And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate,
Expell'd and exil'd, left the Trojan shore.
Long labours, both by sea and land, he bore,
And in the doubtful war, before he won
The Latin realm, and built the destin❜d town,
His banish'd gods restor❜d to rites divine,
And settled sure succession in his line,
From whence the race of Alban fathers come
And the long glories of majestic Rome.

O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate; What goddess was provok'd, and whence her hate;

For what offence the queen of heav'n began
To persecute so brave, so just a man;
Involv'd his anxious life in endless cares,
Expos'd to wants, and hurried into wars!
Can heav'nly minds such high resentment show,
Or exercise their spite in human wo?

Against the Tyber's mouth, but far away,
An ancient town was seated on the sea-
A Tyrian colony-the people made
Stout for the war, and studious of their trade:
Carthage the name-belov'd by Juno more
Than her own Argos, or the Samian shore.

With whirlwinds from beneath she toss'd the ship,

And bare expos'd the bosom of the deep:
Then as an eagle gripes the trembling game-
The wretch, yet hissing with her father's flame,
She strongly seiz'd, and, with a burning wound,
Transfix'd, and naked, on a rock she bound.
But I, who walk in awful state above,
The majesty of heav'n, the sister wife of Jove,
For length of years my fruitless force employ
Against the thin remains of ruin'd Troy!
What nations now to Juno's pow'r will pray?
Or offerings on my slighted altars lay?"

Thus rag'd the goddess; and with fury
fraught,

The restless regions of the storms she sought,
Where, in a spacious cave of living stone,
The tyrant Eolus, from his airy throne,
With pow' imperial curbs the struggling winds,
And sounding tempests in dark prisons binds.
This way, and that, th' impatient captives tend,
And, pressing for release, the mountains rend.
High in his hall th' undaunted monarch stands,
And shakes his sceptre, and their rage com-
mands;

Which did he not, their unresisted sway Would sweep the word before them in their way;

Earth, air, and seas, through empty space would roll,

And heav'n would fly before the driving soul.
In fear of this, the father of the gods
Confin'd their fury to those dark abodes,
And lock'd them safe within, oppress'd with
mountain loads;

Impos'd a king with arbitrary sway,
To loose their fetters, or their force allay;
To whom the suppliant queen her pray'rs ad-
dress'd,

And thus the tenor of her suit express'd,

"O, Eolus !-for to thee the king of heav'n The pow'r of tempests and of winds has giv'n; Thy force alone their fury can restrain,

And smooth the waves, or swell the troubled main

A race of wand'ring slaves, abhorr❜d by me,
With prosp'rous passage cut the Tuscan sea:
To fruitful Italy their course they steer,
And, for their vanquish'd gods, design new
temples there.

Raise all thy winds, with night involve the skies;
Sink or disperse my fatal enemies.
Twice sev'n, the charming daughters of the
main,

'Around my person wait, and bear my train :'
Succeed my wish, and second my design,
The fairest, Deiopeia, shall be thine,
And make thee father of a happy line."

To this the god-" "T is yours, O queen! to will

The work, which duty binds me to fulfil.
These airy kingdoms, and this wide command,
Are all the presents of your bounteous hand:
Yours is my sov'reign's grace; and, as your
guest,

I sit with gods at their celestial feast.
Raise tempests at your pleasure, or subdue
Dispose of empire, which I hold from you."

He said, and hurl'd against the mountain side His quiv'ring spear, and all the god applied. The raging winds rush through the hollow wound,

And dance aloft in air, and skim along the ground;

Then settling on the sea, the surges sweep,
Raise liquid mountains, and disclose the deep;
South, east, and west, with mix'd confusion roar,
And roll the foaming billows to the shore.
The cables crack; the sailors' fearful cries
Ascend; and sable night involves the skies;
And heav'n itself is ravish'd from their eyes.
Loud peals of thunder from the poles ensue ;
Then flashing fires the transient light renew
The face of things a frightful image bears;
And present death in various forms appears.
Struck with unusual fright, the Trojan chief,
With lifted hands and eyes, invokes relief;
And "Thrice and four times happy those," he
cried,

[died!
"That under Ilian walls, before their parents,
Tydides, bravest of the Grecian train!
Why could not I by that strong arm be slain,
And lie by noble Hector on the plain,
Or great Sarpedon, in those bloody fields,
Where Simois rolls the bodies and the shields
Of heroes, whose dismember'd hands yet bear
The dart aloft, and clench the pointed spear?"

Thus, while the pious prince his fate bewails,
Fierce Boreas drove against his flying sails,
And rent the sheets: the raging billows rise,
And mount the tossing vessel to the skies:
Nor can the shiv'ring oars sustain the blow;
The galley gives her side, and turns her prow;
While those astern, descending down the steep,
Through gaping waves behold the boiling deep.
Three ships were hurried by the southern blast,
And on the secret shelves with fury cast,
Those hidden rocks th' Ausonian sailors knew;
They call'd them altars, when they rose in view,
And show'd their spacious backs above the
flood.

Three more fierce Eurus, in his angry mood,
Dash'd on the shallows of the moving sand,
And in mid ocean left them moor'd a-land.
Orontes' bark, that bore the Lycian crew
(A horrid sight,) e'en in the hero's view,

From stem to stern by waves was overborne :
The trembling pilot, from his rudder torn,
Was headlong hurl'd: thrice round the ship
was toss'd,

Then bulg'd at once, and in the deep was lost;
And here and there above the waves were seen
Arms, pictures,precious goods, and floating men.
The stoutest vessel to the storm gave way,
And suck'd through loosen'd planks the rushing

sea.

Ilioneus was her chief: Aletes old,
Achates faithful, Abas young and bold,
Endur'd not less: their ships, with gaping

seams,

Admit the deluge of the briny streams.

Meantime imperial Neptune heard the sound
Of raging billows breaking on the ground.
Displeas'd, and fearing for his wat'ry reign,
He rear'd his awful head above the main
Screne in majesty,-then roll'd his eyes
Around the space of earth, and seas, and skies.
He saw the Trojan fleet dispers'd, distress'd,
By stormy winds and wint'ry heav'n oppress'd.
Full well the god his sister's envy knew,
And what her aims, and what her arts pursue.
He summon'd Eurus and the Western blast,
And first an angry glance on both he cast,
Then thus rebuk'd-"Audacious winds! from
whence

This bold attempt, this rebel insolence!
Is it for you to ravage seas and land,
Unauthoriz'd by my supreme command?
To raise such mountains on the troubled main?
Whom I-but first 't is fit the billows to restrain:
And then you shall be taught obedience to my
reign.

Hence, to your lord my royal mandate bear-
The realms of ocean and the fields of air
Are mine, not his. By fatal lot to me
The liquid empire fell, and trident of the sea.
His pow'r to hollow caverns is confin'd:
There let him reign, the jailer of the wind;
With hoarse commands his breathing subjects
call,

And boast and bluster in his empty hall."
He spoke and while he spoke he smooth'd the

As when in tumults rise th' ignoble crowd,
Mad are their motions, and their tongues are
loud;

And stones and brands in rattling volleys fly,
And all the rustic arms that fury can supply
If then some grave and pious man appear,
They hush their noise, and lend a list'ning ear:
He sooths with sober words their angry mood,
And quenches their innate desire of blood:
So, when the father of the flood appears,
And o'er the seas his sov'reign trident rears,
Their fury falls: he skims the liquid plains,
High on his chariot, and, with loosen'd reins,
Majestic moves along, and awful peace main-
tains.

The weary Trojans ply their shatter'd oars
To nearest land, and make the Libyan shores
Within a long recess there lies a bay :
An island shades it from the rolling sea,
And forms a port secure for ships to ride:
Broke by the jutting land on either side,
In double streams the briny waters glide,
Betwixt two rows of rocks: a sylvan scene
Appears above, and groves for ever green:
A grot is form'd beneath, with mossy seats,
To rest the Nereids, and exclude the heats.
Down through the crannies of the living walls,
The crystal streams descend in murm'ring falls.
No halsers need to bind the vessels here,
Nor bearded anchors; for no streams they fear.
Sev'n ships within this happy harbour meet,
The thin remainders of the scatter'd fleet:
The Trojans, worn with toils, and spent with
woes,
[wish'd repose.
Leap on the welcom'd land, and seek their
First, good Achates, with repeated strokes
Of clashing flints, their hidden fires provokes :
Short flame succeeds; a bed of wither'd leaves
The dying sparkles in their fall receives
Caught into life, in fiery fumes they rise,
And, fed with stronger food, invade the skies.
The Trojans, dropping wet, or stand around
The cheerful blaze, or lie along the ground:
Some dry their corn, infected with the brine,
Then grind with marbles, and prepare to dine.
Æneas climbs the mountain's airy brow,
And takes a prospect of the seas below,
If Capys thence, or Antheus, he could spy,
Or see the streamers of Caïcus fly.
No vessels were in view, but on the plain,
Three beamy stags command a lordly train
Of branching heads: the more ignoble throng
Attend their stately steps, and slowly graze
along.

He stood; and while secure they fed below,
He took the quiver and the trusty bow
Achates us'd to bear: the leaders first
He laid along, and then the vulgar pierc'd;

Nor ceas'd his arrows, till the shady plain Sev'n mighty bodies with their blood distain. For the sev'n ships, he made an equal share, And to the port return'd triumphant from the

war.

The jars of generous wine (Acestes' gift,
When his Trinacrian shores the navy left)
He set abroach, and for the feast prepar'd,
In equal portions with the ven'son shar'd.
Thus while he dealt it round, the pious chief
With cheerful words allay'd the common grief.
"Endure and conquer! Jove will soon dispose,
To future good, our past and present woes.
With me, the rocks of Scylla you have tried,
Th' inhuman Cyclops and his den defied.
What greater ills hereafter can you bear?
Resume your courage and dismiss your care.
An hour will come, with pleasure to relate
Your sorrows past, as benefits of Fate.
Through various hazards and events, we move
To Latium, and the realms foredoom'd by Jove:
Call'd to the seat (the promise of the skies)
Where Trojan kingdoms once again may rise,
Endure the hardships of your present state;
Live, and reserve yourselves for better fate."
These words he spoke, but spoke not from his
heart;

His outward smiles conceal'd his inward smart.
The jolly crew, unmindful of the past,
The quarry share, their plenteous dinner haste.
Some strip the skin; some portion out the spoil;
The limbs, yet trembling, in the caldrons boil;
Some on the fire the reeking entrails broil.
Stretch'd on the grassy turf, at ease they dine,
Restore their strength with meat, and cheer
their souls with wine.

Their hunger thus appeas'd, their care attends
The doubtful fortune of their absent friends:
Alternate hopes and fears their minds possess,
Whether to deem them dead or in distress
Above the rest, Æneas mourns the fate
Of brave Orontes, and th' uncertain state
Of Gyas, Lycus, and of Amycus.—
The day, but not their sorrows, ended thus ;
When, from aloft, almighty Jove surveys
Earth, air, and shores, and navigable seas:
At length on Libyan realms he fix'd his eyes-
Whom, pond'ring thus on human miseries,
When Venus saw, she with a lowly look,
Not free from tears, her heav'nly sire be-
spoke :-

"O king of gods and men! whose awful hand
Disperses thunder on the seas and land
Disposes all with absolute command;
How could my pious son thy pow'r incense?
Or what, alas! is vanquish'd Troy's offence?
Our hope of Italy not only lost,

On various seas by various tempests toss'd,

But shut from ev'ry shore, and barr'd from ev'ry

coast.

You promis'd once a progeny divine
Of Romans, rising from the Trojan line,
In after-times should hold the world in awe,
And to the land and ocean give the law.
How is your doom revers'd, which eas'd my care
When Troy was ruin'd in that cruel war?
Then fates to fates I could oppose: but now,
When Fortune still pursues her former blow,
What can I hope? What worse can still suc-
ceed?

What end of labours has your will decreed?
Antenor, from the midst of Grecian hosts,
Could pass secure, and pierce th' Illyrian coasts,
Where rolling down the steep, Timavus raves,
And through nine channels disembogues his

waves.

At length he founded Padua's happy seat,
And gave his Trojans a secure retreat;
There fix'd their arms, and there renew'd their

name,

And there in quiet rules, and crown'd with fame
But we, descended from your sacred line,
Entitled to your heav'n and rites divine,
Are banish'd earth, and, for the wrath of one,
Remov'd from Latium, and the promis'd throne.
Are these our sceptres? these our due rewards?
And is it thus that Jove his plighted faith re-
gards ?"

To whom the father of th' immortal race,
Smiling with that serene indulgent face,
With which he drives the clouds and clears the
skies,

First gave a holy kiss; then thus replies-
"Daughter, dismiss thy fears: to thy desire,
The fates of thine are fix'd, and stand entire.
Thou shalt behold thy wish'd Lavinian walls;
And, ripe for heav'n, when Fate Æneas calls,
Then shalt thou bear him up, sublime, to me:
No counsels have revers'd my firm decree.
And, lest new fears disturb thy happy state,
Know, I have search'd the mystic rolls of Fate:
Thy son (nor is th' appointed season far)
In Italy shall wage successful war,
Shall tame fierce nations in the bloody field,
And sov'reign laws impose, and cities build,
Till, after ev'ry foe subdu'd, the sun
Thrice though the signs his annual race shall

run:

This is his time prefix'd. Ascanius then,
Now call'd Iülus, shall begin his reign,
He thirty rolling years the crown shall wear,
Then from Lavinium shall the seat transfer,
And, with hard labour, Alba-longa build.-
The throne with his succession shall be fill'd
Three hundred circuits more: than shall be seen
Ilia, the fair, a priestess and a queen,

Who, full of Mars, in time, with kindly throes,
Shall at a birth two goodly boys disclose.
The royal babes a tawny wolf shall drain:
Then Romulus his grandsire's throne shall gain,
Of martial tow'rs the founder shall become,
The people Romans call, the city Rome.
To them no bounds of empire I assign,
Nor term of years to their immortal line.
E'en haughty Juno, who, with endless broils,
Earth, seas, and heav'n, and Jove himself, tur-
moils,

At length aton'd, her friendly pow'r shall join,
To cherish and advance the Trojan line.
The subject world shall Rome's dominion own,
And, prostrate, shall adore the nation of the
gown.

An age is rip'ning in revolving fate,

When Troy shall overturn the Grecian state,
And sweet revenge her conqu'ring sons shall call,
To crush the people that conspir'd her fall.
Then Cæsar from the Julian stock shall rise,
Whose empire ocean, and whose fame the skies,
Alone shall bound; whom, fraught with eastern
spoils,

Our heav'n, the just reward of human toils,
Securely shall repay with rites divine;

And incense shall ascend before his sacred

shrine.

Then dire debate, and impious war, shall cease,
And the stern age be soften'd into peace:
Then banish'd faith shall once again return,
And vestal fires in hallow'd temples burn;
And Remus with Quirinus shall sustain
The righteous laws, and fraud and force re-
strain.

Janus himself before his fame shall wait,
And keep the dreadful issues of his gate,
With bolts and iron bars: within remains
Imprison'd Fury, bound in brazen chains:
High on a trophy rais'd, of useless arms,
He sits,and threats the world with vain alarms."
He said, and sent Cyllenius with command
To free the ports, and ope the Punic land
To Trojan guests; lest, ignorant of fate,
The queen might force them from her town and
state.

peace.

Down from the steep of heav'n Cyllenius flies,
And cleaves with all his wings the yielding skies.
Soon on the Libyan shore descends the god,
Performs his message, and displays his rod.
The surly murmurs of the people cease;
And, as the Fates requir'd, they give the
The queen herself suspends the rigid laws,
The Trojans pity, and protect their cause.
Meantime in shades of night Æneas lies:
Care seiz'd his soul, and sleep forsook his
eyes.
But, when the sun restor❜d the cheerful day,
He rose, the coast and country to survey,

Anxious and eager to discover more.—
It look'd a wild uncultivated shore:
But, whether human kind, or beasts alone,
Possess'd the new-found region, was unknown.
Beneath a ledge of rocks his fleets he hides :
Tall trees surround the mountain's shady sides:
The bending brow above a safe retreat provides.
Arm'd with two pointed darts, he leaves his
friends;

And true Achates on his steps attends.
Lo! in the deep recesses of the wood,
Before his eye his goddess mother stood→→
A huntress in her habit and her mien:
Her dress a maid, her air confess'd a queen.
Bare were her knees, and knots her garments
bind;

Loose was her hair and wanton'd in the wind: Her hand sustain'd a bow; her quiver hung behind.

She seem'd a virgin of the Spartan blood: With such array Harpalyce bestrode Her Tracian courser, and outstripp'd the rapid flood. [said, "Ho! strangers! have you lately seen," she "One of my sisters, like myself array'd, Who cross'd the lawn, or in the forest stray'd? A painted quiver at her back she bore; Varied with spots, a lynx's hide she wore; And at full cry pursu'd the tusky boar."

Thus Venus thus her son replied again: "None of your sisters have we heard or seen, O virgin! or what other name you bear Above that style-O, more than mortal fair! Your voice and mien celestial birth betray! If, as you seem, the sister of the day, Or one at least of chaste Diana's train, Let not a humble suppliant sue in vain : But tell a stranger long in tempests tost, [coast? What earth we tread, and who commands the Then on your name shall wretched mortals call, And offer'd victims at your altars fall.”"I dare not," she replied, assume the name Of goddess, or celestial honours claim : For Tyrian virgins bows and quivers bear, And purple buskins o'er their ankles wear. Know, gentle youth, in Libyan lands you are→→ A people rude in peace, and rough in war. The rising city, which from far you see, Is Carthage, and a Tyrian colony. Phoenician Dido rules the growing state, Who fled from Tyre to shun her brother's hate. Great were her wrongs, her story full of fate; Which I will sum in short. Sichæus, known For wealth, and brother to the Punic throne Possess'd fair Dido's bed; and either heart At once was wounded with an equal dart. Her father gave her, yet a spotless maid; Pygmalion then the Tyrian sceptre sway'd→