第64章

Receive the grateful off'rings which we pay, And smile propitious on thy solemn day!"In numbers thus they sung; above the rest, The den and death of Cacus crown the feast.

The woods to hollow vales convey the sound, The vales to hills, and hills the notes rebound.

The rites perform'd, the cheerful train retire.

Betwixt young Pallas and his aged sire, The Trojan pass'd, the city to survey, And pleasing talk beguil'd the tedious way.

The stranger cast around his curious eyes, New objects viewing still, with new surprise;With greedy joy enquires of various things, And acts and monuments of ancient kings.

Then thus the founder of the Roman tow'rs:

"These woods were first the seat of sylvan pow'rs, Of Nymphs and Fauns, and salvage men, who took Their birth from trunks of trees and stubborn oak.

Nor laws they knew, nor manners, nor the care Of lab'ring oxen, or the shining share, Nor arts of gain, nor what they gain'd to spare.

Their exercise the chase; the running flood Supplied their thirst, the trees supplied their food.

Then Saturn came, who fled the pow'r of Jove, Robb'd of his realms, and banish'd from above.

The men, dispers'd on hills, to towns he brought, And laws ordain'd, and civil customs taught, And Latium call'd the land where safe he lay From his unduteous son, and his usurping sway.

With his mild empire, peace and plenty came;And hence the golden times deriv'd their name.

A more degenerate and discolor'd age Succeeded this, with avarice and rage.

Th' Ausonians then, and bold Sicanians came;And Saturn's empire often chang'd the name.

Then kings, gigantic Tybris, and the rest, With arbitrary sway the land oppress'd:

For Tiber's flood was Albula before, Till, from the tyrant's fate, his name it bore.

I last arriv'd, driv'n from my native home By fortune's pow'r, and fate's resistless doom.

Long toss'd on seas, I sought this happy land, Warn'd by my mother nymph, and call'd by Heav'n's command."Thus, walking on, he spoke, and shew'd the gate, Since call'd Carmental by the Roman state;Where stood an altar, sacred to the name Of old Carmenta, the prophetic dame, Who to her son foretold th' Aenean race, Sublime in fame, and Rome's imperial place:

Then shews the forest, which, in after times, Fierce Romulus for perpetrated crimes A sacred refuge made; with this, the shrine Where Pan below the rock had rites divine:

Then tells of Argus' death, his murder'd guest, Whose grave and tomb his innocence attest.

Thence, to the steep Tarpeian rock he leads;Now roof'd with gold, then thatch'd with homely reeds.

A reverent fear (such superstition reigns Among the rude) ev'n then possess'd the swains.

Some god, they knew- what god, they could not tell-Did there amidst the sacred horror dwell.

Th' Arcadians thought him Jove; and said they saw The mighty Thund'rer with majestic awe, Who took his shield, and dealt his bolts around, And scatter'd tempests on the teeming ground.

Then saw two heaps of ruins, (once they stood Two stately towns, on either side the flood,)Saturnia's and Janicula's remains;

And either place the founder's name retains.

Discoursing thus together, they resort Where poor Evander kept his country court.

They view'd the ground of Rome's litigious hall;(Once oxen low'd, where now the lawyers bawl;)Then, stooping, thro' the narrow gate they press'd, When thus the king bespoke his Trojan guest:

"Mean as it is, this palace, and this door, Receiv'd Alcides, then a conqueror.

Dare to be poor; accept our homely food, Which feasted him, and emulate a god."Then underneath a lowly roof he led The weary prince, and laid him on a bed;The stuffing leaves, with hides of bears o'erspread.

Now Night had shed her silver dews around, And with her sable wings embrac'd the ground, When love's fair goddess, anxious for her son, (New tumults rising, and new wars begun,)Couch'd with her husband in his golden bed, With these alluring words invokes his aid;And, that her pleasing speech his mind may move, Inspires each accent with the charms of love:

"While cruel fate conspir'd with Grecian pow'rs, To level with the ground the Trojan tow'rs, I ask'd not aid th' unhappy to restore, Nor did the succor of thy skill implore;Nor urg'd the labors of my lord in vain, A sinking empire longer to sustain, Tho'much I ow'd to Priam's house, and more The dangers of Aeneas did deplore.

But now, by Jove's command, and fate's decree, His race is doom'd to reign in Italy:

With humble suit I beg thy needful art, O still propitious pow'r, that rules my heart!

A mother kneels a suppliant for her son.

By Thetis and Aurora thou wert won To forge impenetrable shields, and grace With fated arms a less illustrious race.

Behold, what haughty nations are combin'd Against the relics of the Phrygian kind, With fire and sword my people to destroy, And conquer Venus twice, in conqu'ring Troy."She said; and straight her arms, of snowy hue, About her unresolving husband threw.

Her soft embraces soon infuse desire;

His bones and marrow sudden warmth inspire;And all the godhead feels the wonted fire.

Not half so swift the rattling thunder flies, Or forky lightnings flash along the skies.

The goddess, proud of her successful wiles, And conscious of her form, in secret smiles.

Then thus the pow'r, obnoxious to her charms, Panting, and half dissolving in her arms:

"Why seek you reasons for a cause so just, Or your own beauties or my love distrust?

Long since, had you requir'd my helpful hand, Th' artificer and art you might command, To labor arms for Troy: nor Jove, nor fate, Confin'd their empire to so short a date.

And, if you now desire new wars to wage, My skill I promise, and my pains engage.

Whatever melting metals can conspire, Or breathing bellows, or the forming fire, Is freely yours: your anxious fears remove, And think no task is difficult to love."Trembling he spoke; and, eager of her charms, He snatch'd the willing goddess to his arms;Till in her lap infus'd, he lay possess'd Of full desire, and sunk to pleasing rest.