第57章

This household beast, that us'd the woodland grounds, Was view'd at first by the young hero's hounds, As down the stream he swam, to seek retreat In the cool waters, and to quench his heat.

Ascanius young, and eager of his game, Soon bent his bow, uncertain in his aim;But the dire fiend the fatal arrow guides, Which pierc'd his bowels thro' his panting sides.

The bleeding creature issues from the floods, Possess'd with fear, and seeks his known abodes, His old familiar hearth and household gods.

He falls; he fills the house with heavy groans, Implores their pity, and his pain bemoans.

Young Silvia beats her breast, and cries aloud For succor from the clownish neighborhood:

The churls assemble; for the fiend, who lay In the close woody covert, urg'd their way.

One with a brand yet burning from the flame, Arm'd with a knotty club another came:

Whate'er they catch or find, without their care, Their fury makes an instrument of war.

Tyrrheus, the foster father of the beast, Then clench'd a hatchet in his horny fist, But held his hand from the descending stroke, And left his wedge within the cloven oak, To whet their courage and their rage provoke.

And now the goddess, exercis'd in ill, Who watch'd an hour to work her impious will, Ascends the roof, and to her crooked horn, Such as was then by Latian shepherds borne, Adds all her breath: the rocks and woods around, And mountains, tremble at th' infernal sound.

The sacred lake of Trivia from afar, The Veline fountains, and sulphureous Nar, Shake at the baleful blast, the signal of the war.

Young mothers wildly stare, with fear possess'd, And strain their helpless infants to their breast.

The clowns, a boist'rous, rude, ungovern'd crew, With furious haste to the loud summons flew.

The pow'rs of Troy, then issuing on the plain, With fresh recruits their youthful chief sustain:

Not theirs a raw and unexperienc'd train, But a firm body of embattled men.

At first, while fortune favor'd neither side, The fight with clubs and burning brands was tried;But now, both parties reinforc'd, the fields Are bright with flaming swords and brazen shields.

A shining harvest either host displays, And shoots against the sun with equal rays.

Thus, when a black-brow'd gust begins to rise, White foam at first on the curl'd ocean fries;Then roars the main, the billows mount the skies;Till, by the fury of the storm full blown, The muddy bottom o'er the clouds is thrown.

First Almon falls, old Tyrrheus' eldest care, Pierc'd with an arrow from the distant war:

Fix'd in his throat the flying weapon stood, And stopp'd his breath, and drank his vital blood Huge heaps of slain around the body rise:

Among the rest, the rich Galesus lies;

A good old man, while peace he preach'd in vain, Amidst the madness of th' unruly train:

Five herds, five bleating flocks, his pastures fill'd;His lands a hundred yoke of oxen till'd.

Thus, while in equal scales their fortune stood The Fury bath'd them in each other's blood;Then, having fix'd the fight, exulting flies, And bears fulfill'd her promise to the skies.

To Juno thus she speaks: "Behold! It is done, The blood already drawn, the war begun;The discord is complete; nor can they cease The dire debate, nor you command the peace.

Now, since the Latian and the Trojan brood Have tasted vengeance and the sweets of blood;Speak, and my pow'r shall add this office more:

The neighb'ing nations of th' Ausonian shore Shall hear the dreadful rumor, from afar, Of arm'd invasion, and embrace the war."Then Juno thus: "The grateful work is done, The seeds of discord sow'd, the war begun;Frauds, fears, and fury have possess'd the state, And fix'd the causes of a lasting hate.

A bloody Hymen shall th' alliance join Betwixt the Trojan and Ausonian line:

But thou with speed to night and hell repair;For not the gods, nor angry Jove, will bear Thy lawless wand'ring walks in upper air.

Leave what remains to me." Saturnia said:

The sullen fiend her sounding wings display'd, Unwilling left the light, and sought the nether shade.

In midst of Italy, well known to fame, There lies a lake (Amsanctus is the name)Below the lofty mounts: on either side Thick forests the forbidden entrance hide.

Full in the center of the sacred wood An arm arises of the Stygian flood, Which, breaking from beneath with bellowing sound, Whirls the black waves and rattling stones around.

Here Pluto pants for breath from out his cell, And opens wide the grinning jaws of hell.

To this infernal lake the Fury flies;

Here hides her hated head, and frees the lab'ring skies.

Saturnian Juno now, with double care, Attends the fatal process of the war.

The clowns, return'd, from battle bear the slain, Implore the gods, and to their king complain.

The corps of Almon and the rest are shown;Shrieks, clamors, murmurs, fill the frighted town.

Ambitious Turnus in the press appears, And, aggravating crimes, augments their fears;Proclaims his private injuries aloud, A solemn promise made, and disavow'd;A foreign son is sought, and a mix'd mungril brood.

Then they, whose mothers, frantic with their fear, In woods and wilds the flags of Bacchus bear, And lead his dances with dishevel'd hair, Increase the clamor, and the war demand, (Such was Amata's interest in the land,)Against the public sanctions of the peace, Against all omens of their ill success.

With fates averse, the rout in arms resort, To force their monarch, and insult the court.

But, like a rock unmov'd, a rock that braves The raging tempest and the rising waves-Propp'd on himself he stands; his solid sides Wash off the seaweeds, and the sounding tides-So stood the pious prince, unmov'd, and long Sustain'd the madness of the noisy throng.

But, when he found that Juno's pow'r prevail'd, And all the methods of cool counsel fail'd, He calls the gods to witness their offense, Disclaims the war, asserts his innocence.

"Hurried by fate," he cries, "and borne before A furious wind, we have the faithful shore.