第54章

(Such dangers as on seas 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 goodness, 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' Arunci told, that Dardanus, tho' born On Latian plains, yet sought the Phrygian shore, And Samothracia, Samos call'd before.

From Tuscan Coritum 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 expell'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 Mycenae 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;Ev'n 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, thro' 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 honor 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.

Despite not then, that in our hands we bear These holy boughs, 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 Tiber 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 scepter 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 scepter mov'd, or kingly vest, But pond'ring future things of wondrous 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 scepter, 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 their augury!

Have what you ask; your presents I receive;Land, where and when you please, with ample leave;Partake and use my kingdom as your own;

All shall be yours, while I command the crown:

And, if my wish'd alliance please your king, Tell him he should not send the peace, but bring.

Then let him not a friend's embraces fear;The peace is made when I behold him here.

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 thro' 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 ethereal 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' embassadors 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, Thro' 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?