第91章

Ev'n he, the King of Men, the foremost name Of all the Greeks, and most renown'd by fame, The proud revenger of another's wife, Yet by his own adult'ress lost his life;Fell at his threshold; and the spoils of Troy The foul polluters of his bed enjoy.

The gods have envied me the sweets of life, My much lov'd country, and my more lov'd wife:

Banish'd from both, I mourn; while in the sky, Transform'd to birds, my lost companions fly:

Hov'ring about the coasts, they make their moan, And cuff the cliffs with pinions not their own.

What squalid specters, in the dead of night, Break my short sleep, and skim before my sight!

I might have promis'd to myself those harms, Mad as I was, when I, with mortal arms, Presum'd against immortal pow'rs to move, And violate with wounds the Queen of Love.

Such arms this hand shall never more employ;No hate remains with me to ruin'd Troy.

I war not with its dust; nor am I glad To think of past events, or good or bad.

Your presents I return: whate'er you bring To buy my friendship, send the Trojan king.

We met in fight; I know him, to my cost:

With what a whirling force his lance he toss'd!

Heav'ns! what a spring was in his arm, to throw!

How high he held his shield, and rose at ev'ry blow!

Had Troy produc'd two more his match in might, They would have chang'd the fortune of the fight:

Th' invasion of the Greeks had been return'd, Our empire wasted, and our cities burn'd.

The long defense the Trojan people made, The war protracted, and the siege delay'd, Were due to Hector's and this hero's hand:

Both brave alike, and equal in command;

Aeneas, not inferior in the field, In pious reverence to the gods excell'd.

Make peace, ye Latians, and avoid with care Th' impending dangers of a fatal war.'

He said no more; but, with this cold excuse, Refus'd th' alliance, and advis'd a truce."Thus Venulus concluded his report.

A jarring murmur fill'd the factious court:

As, when a torrent rolls with rapid force, And dashes o'er the stones that stop the course, The flood, constrain'd within a scanty space, Roars horrible along th' uneasy race;White foam in gath'ring eddies floats around;The rocky shores rebellow to the sound.

The murmur ceas'd: then from his lofty throne The king invok'd the gods, and thus begun:

"I wish, ye Latins, what we now debate Had been resolv'd before it was too late.

Much better had it been for you and me, Unforc'd by this our last necessity, To have been earlier wise, than now to call A council, when the foe surrounds the wall.

O citizens, we wage unequal war, With men not only Heav'n's peculiar care, But Heav'n's own race; unconquer'd in the field, Or, conquer'd, yet unknowing how to yield.

What hopes you had in Diomedes, lay down:

Our hopes must center on ourselves alone.

Yet those how feeble, and, indeed, how vain, You see too well; nor need my words explain.

Vanquish'd without resource; laid flat by fate;Factions within, a foe without the gate!

Not but I grant that all perform'd their parts With manly force, and with undaunted hearts:

With our united strength the war we wag'd;With equal numbers, equal arms, engag'd.

You see th' event.- Now hear what I propose, To save our friends, and satisfy our foes.

A tract of land the Latins have possess'd Along the Tiber, stretching to the west, Which now Rutulians and Auruncans till, And their mix'd cattle graze the fruitful hill.

Those mountains fill'd with firs, that lower land, If you consent, the Trojan shall command, Call'd into part of what is ours; and there, On terms agreed, the common country share.

There let'em build and settle, if they please;Unless they choose once more to cross the seas, In search of seats remote from Italy, And from unwelcome inmates set us free.

Then twice ten galleys let us build with speed, Or twice as many more, if more they need.

Materials are at hand; a well-grown wood Runs equal with the margin of the flood:

Let them the number and the form assign;

The care and cost of all the stores be mine.

To treat the peace, a hundred senators Shall be commission'd hence with ample pow'rs, With olive the presents they shall bear, A purple robe, a royal iv'ry chair, And all the marks of sway that Latian monarchs wear, And sums of gold.Among yourselves debate This great affair, and save the sinking state."Then Drances took the word, who grudg'd, long since, The rising glories of the Daunian prince.

Factious and rich, bold at the council board, But cautious in the field, he shunn'd the sword;A close caballer, and tongue-valiant lord.

Noble his mother was, and near the throne;But, what his father's parentage, unknown.

He rose, and took th' advantage of the times, To load young Turnus with invidious crimes.

"Such truths, O king," said he, "your words contain, As strike the sense, and all replies are vain;Nor are your loyal subjects now to seek What common needs require, but fear to speak.

Let him give leave of speech, that haughty man, Whose pride this unauspicious war began;For whose ambition (let me dare to say, Fear set apart, tho' death is in my way)The plains of Latium run with blood around.

So many valiant heroes bite the ground;

Dejected grief in ev'ry face appears;

A town in mourning, and a land in tears;

While he, th' undoubted author of our harms, The man who menaces the gods with arms, Yet, after all his boasts, forsook the fight, And sought his safety in ignoble flight.

Now, best of kings, since you propose to send Such bounteous presents to your Trojan friend;Add yet a greater at our joint request, One which he values more than all the rest:

Give him the fair Lavinia for his bride;

With that alliance let the league be tied, And for the bleeding land a lasting peace provide.

Let insolence no longer awe the throne;

But, with a father's right, bestow your own.

For this maligner of the general good, If still we fear his force, he must be woo'd;His haughty godhead we with pray'rs implore, Your scepter to release, and our just rights restore.

O cursed cause of all our ills, must we Wage wars unjust, and fall in fight, for thee!