Virgil

“ Blind with hot rage, his brethren, sword in hand,
Or snatching missiles, to avenge the slain,
Rush to the charge. Laurentum's ranks withstand
Their onset, and a deluge sweeps the plain, 307 Trojans, Agylla's bands, Arcadia's glittering train.
XXXVI . One passion burns,—to let the sword decide.
Stript stand the altars, and the shrines are bare;
Dark drives the storm of javelins far and wide,
The iron tempest hurtles in the air,
And bowls and censers from the hearths they tear.
Himself Latinus, flying, bears afar
His home-gods, outraged by the league's misfare. ”

“ Meanwhile, the Trojans and the Tuscan train,
In marshalled squadrons, to the walls draw near,
Steeds neigh, and chafe, and prance upon the plain,
And lances bristling o'er the field appear.
Messapus, too, and Latium's hosts are here,
Coras, Catillus, and Camilla leads
Her troops to aid. All couch the levelled spear,
And whirl the dart. Hot waxes on the meads 685 The tramp of hurrying hosts, the snorting of the steeds.
LXXVIII . Each halts within a spear-cast of the foe,
Then, spurring, forward with a shout they dash,
And, darkening heaven, shower the darts like snow. ”

“ That steed, that shield, that crest of crimson hue,
I keep for thee,—thine, Nisus, from to-day.
Twelve lovely matrons and male captives too,
Each with his armour, shall my sire convey,
With all the lands that own Latinus' sway.
But thee, whose years the most with mine agree,
Brave youth! my heart doth welcome. Come what may,
In peace or war my comrade shalt thou be. 307 Thine are my thoughts, my deeds; fame tempts me but for thee. ”

“ Hate me, and Tyrians would their queen disown.
My wifely honour is a name abhorred,
And that chaste fame has perished, which alone
Perchance had raised me to a starry throne.
O think with whom thou leav'st me to thy fate,
Dear guest, no longer as a husband known.
Why stay I? till Pygmalion waste my state, 361 Or on Iarbas' wheels, a captive queen, to wait?
XLII . "Ah! if at least, ere thou had'st sailed away,
Some babe, the token of thy love, were born,
Some child Æneas, in my halls to play,
Like thee at least in look, I should not mourn
As altogether captive and forlorn." ”

“ Rutulia's host around
Sprang up with wailing and with wild lament:
From neighbouring hills their piercing cries rebound, 1072 And every wooded steep re-echoes to the sound.
CXXI . Then, looking up, his pleading hands he rears:
"Death I deserve, nor death would I delay.
Use, then, thy fortune. If a father's tears
Move thee, for old Anchises' sake, I pray,
Pity old Daunus. Me, or else my clay,
If so thou wilt, to home and kin restore.
Thine is the victory. Latium's land to-day
Hath seen her prince the victor's grace implore. 1081 Lavinia now is thine; the bitter feud give o'er." ”

“ Lo,
Fight we by turns, each scarce can find a foe.
He to his gods, whose shrines he dies to shield,
Will rise, and praised will be his name below.
We, reft of home, to tyrant lords shall yield, 262 And toil as slaves, who sit so slackly on the field."
XXXI . So saying, Juturna to the youths imparts
Fresh rage, and murmurs through the concourse run,
And changed are Latin and Laurentian hearts,
And they, who lately sought the strife to shun,
And longed for rest, now wish the league undone,
And, pitying Turnus, wrongly doomed to die,
Call out for arms. ”

“ O Æolus, for Jove, of human kind
And Gods the sovran Sire, hath given to thee
To lull the waves and lift them with the wind,
A hateful people, enemies to me,
Their ships are steering o'er the Tuscan sea,
Bearing their Troy and vanquished gods away
To Italy. Go, set the storm-winds free,
And sink their ships or scatter them astray, 82 And strew their corpses forth, to weltering waves a prey. ”

“ The quivering steel, that whistles o'er his head,
And, like a suppliant, crouching to his foe, 622 Clings to Æneas' knees, and cries in words of woe:
LXXI . "O by the promise of thy youthful heir,
By dead Anchises, pity, I implore,
My son, my father; for their sakes forbear.
Rich is my house, its cellars heaped with store
Of gold, and silver talents by the score.
'Tis not my doom, that shall the day decide.
If Trojans win, one foeman's life the more
Mars not the triumph, nor can turn the tide." 631 Thus he, and thus in scorn the Dardan chief replied:
LXXII . ”

“ Ours is Messapus, ours Tolumnius, yea,
And all whom Latium or Laurentum sends, 487 Nor scanty fame, nor slow Italia's hosts attends.
LVI . "Ours, too, is brave Camilla, noble maid,
The pride of Volscians, and she leads a band
Of horsemen fierce, in brazen arms arrayed.
If me the foe to single fight demand,
And so ye will, and I alone withstand
The common good, come danger as it may,
Not so hath victory fled this hated hand,
Not yet so weak is Turnus, as to stay 496 With such a prize unsnatched, and falter from the fray. ”

“ Dread Power divine, we follow on thy way, 658 Gladly, whoe'er thou art, thy summons we obey.
LXXV . "Be near us now, and O, vouchsafe thine aid,
And bid fair stars their kindly beams afford
To light our pathway through the deep." He prayed,
And from the scabbard snatched his flaming sword,
And, swift as lightning, cleft the twisted cord.
Fired by their chief, like ardour fills the crew,
They scour, they scud and, hurrying, crowd on board.
Bare lies the beach; ships hide the sea from view, 667 And strong arms lash the foam and sweep the sparkling blue. ”

“ As Turnus now, and now the Trojan plied
His murderous sword? Jove, could'st thou deem it right
So dire a broil such peoples should divide,
Two jarring nations met in deadly fight, 568 Whom leagues of lasting love were destined to unite?
LXV . Æneas first (that fight 'twas first that stayed
The Teucrian rout) caught Suero on the side.
Where death is quickest, 'twixt the ribs his blade,
Deep in the framework of the breast, he plied.
Then Turnus slew Diores; close beside,
His brother Amycus from his steed he tore;
One by the spear, one by the sword-cut died. ”

“ Nisus, the bold, stood warder of the gate,
The son of Hyrtacus, whom Ida fair,
The huntress, on Æneas sent to wait,
Quick with light arrows and the flying spear.
Beside him stood Euryalus, his fere;
Scarce on his cheeks the down of manhood grew,
The comeliest youth that donned the Trojan gear.
Love made them one; as one, to fight they flew, 199 As one they guard the gates, companions tried and true.
XXIV . Then Nisus: "Is it that the Gods inspire,
Euryalus, this fever of the breast?
Or make we gods of but a wild desire? ”

“ Will hurl to Hell this Dardan thief abhorred,
This Asian runaway, and on the foe
Refute the common slander with the sword, 10 Or he, as victor, reign and be Lavinia's lord."
III . Then, calm of soul, Latinus made reply,
"O gallant youth, the more thy heart is fain
In fierceness to excel, the more should I
Weigh well the risks and measure loss with gain.
To thee belong thy father Daunus' reign
And captured towns. Good will have I and gold,
And other maids our Latin homes contain,
Of noble birth and lovely to behold. 19 Hear now, and let plain speech the thankless truth unfold. ”

“ How one Æneas hath from Ilion come,
A Dardan guest, whom Dido deigns to wed.
Now, lapt in dalliance and with ease o'erfed,
All winter long they revel in their shame,
Lost to their kingdoms. Such the tale she spread;
And straight the demon to Iarbas came, 217 And wrath on wrath upheaped, and fanned his soul to flame.
XXVI . Born of a nymph, by Ammon's forced embrace,
A hundred temples and in each a shrine
He built to Jove, the father of his race,
And lit the sacred fires, that sleepless shine,
The Gods' eternal watches. ”

“ A queen, in pride of triumph? Shall this be,
And Troy have blazed and Priam's self been slain, 694 And Trojan blood so oft have soaked the Dardan plain?
LXXIX . "Not so; though glory wait not on the act;
Though poor the praise, and barren be the gain,
Vengeance on feeble woman to exact,
Yet praised hereafter shall his name remain,
Who purges earth of such a monstrous stain.
Sweet is the passion of vindictive joy,
Sweet is the punishment, where just the pain,
Sweet the fierce ardour of revenge to cloy, 703 And slake with Dardan blood the funeral flames of Troy. ”

“ Thus Jove; but Venus of the golden hair,
Less brief, made answer: "Lord of earth and air!
O Father! Power eternal! whom beside
We know none other, to approach with prayer,
See the Rutulians, how they swell with pride; 19 See Turnus, puffed with triumph, borne upon the tide.
IV . "Their very walls the Teucrians shield no more.
Within the gates, amid the mounds the fray
Is raging, and the trenches float with gore,
While, ignorant, Æneas is away.
Is theirs no rest from leaguer—not a day?
Again a threatening enemy hangs o'er
A new-born Troy! ”