Now tempt the war no more." He said, and Sarpedon's son) he slew: the deadly da rt

flew
Obscure in air, and vanish'd from their view.
The Trojans, by his arms, their patron know,
And hear the twanging of his heavenly bow,
Then duteous force they use, and Phoebus'

name,

To keep from fight the youth too fond of fame.
Undaunted, they themselves no dangers shun :
From wall to wall, the shouts and clamours run:
They bend their bows; they whirl their slings
around:

Heaps of spent arrows fall, and strew the
ground;
[sound.

And helms, and shields, and rattling arms re-
The combat thickens, like the storm that flies
From westward, when the show'ry Kids arise;
Or patt'ring hail comes pouring on the main,
When Jupiter descends in harden'd rain,

Or bellowing clouds burst with a stormy sound,
And with an armed winter strew the ground.
Pand'rus and Bitias, thunder-bolts of war,
Whom Hiera to bold Alcanor bore,
On Ida's top-two youths of height and size
Like firs that on their mother-mountain rise-
Presuming on their force, the gates unbar,
And of their own accord invite the war,
With fates, averse, against their king's com-
mand,

Arm❜d, on the right and on the left, they stand,
And flank the passage: shining steel they wear,
And waving crests above their heads appear.
Thus two tall oaks, that Padus' banks adorn,
Lift up to heav'n their leafy heads unshorn,
And, ever press'd with nature's heavy load,
Dance to the whistling winds, and at each other
nod.

In flows a tide of Latians, when they see
The gates set open, and the passage free:
Bold Quercens, with rash Tmarus rushing on,
Equicolus, who in bright armour shone,
And Hæmon first: but soon repuls'd they fly,
Or in the well-defended pass they die.

Found passage through his breast, and pierce
his heart.

Fix'd in the wound th' Italian cornel stcod,
Warm'd in his lungs, and in his vital blood.
Aphidnus next, and Erymanthus dies,
And Meropes, and the gigantic size
Of Bitias, threat'ning with his ardent eyes;
Not by the feeble dart he fell oppress'd,
(A dart were lost within his roomy breast,)
But from a knotted lance, large, heavy, strong,
Which roar'd like thunder as it whirl'd along:
Not two bull-hides th' impetuous force withhold,
Nor coat of double mail, with scales of gold.
Down sunk the monster bulk, and press'd the
ground,

(His arms and clatt'ring shield on the vast body
sound.)

Not with less ruin than the Baian mole,
Rais'd on the seas, the surges to control-
At once comes tumbling down the rocky wall,
Prone to the deep; the stones disjointed fall
Of the vast pile; the scatter'd ocean flies;
Black sands, discolour'd froth, and mingled mud,
arise,

The frighted billows roll, and seek the shores:
Then trembles Prochyta, then Ischia roars :
Typhoeus, thrown beneath by Jove's commanil,
Astonish'd at the flaw that shakes the land,
Soon shifts his weary side, and, scarce awake,
With wonder feels the weight press lighter on
his back.

The warrior god the Latian troops inspir'd,
And strung their sinews, and their courage fir'd,
But chills the Trojan hearts with cold affright:
Then black despair precipitates their flight.

When Pandarus beheld his brother kill'd,
The town with fear and wild confusion fill'd,
He turns the hinges of the heavy gate
With both his hands, and adds his shoulders to
the weight;

Some happier friends within the walls enclos'd
The rest shut out, to certain death expos'd;

These with success are fir'd, and those with Fool as he was, and frantic in his care,

rage;

And each on equal terms at length engage.
Drawn from their lines, and issuing on the
plain,

The Trojans hand to hand the fight maintain.
Fierce Turnus in another quarter fought,
When suddenly th' unhop'd-for news

brought,

was

The foes had left the fastness of their place,
Prevail'd in fight, and had his men in chase.
He quits th' attack, and, to prevent their fate,
Runs, where the giant brothers guard the gate.
The first he met, Antiphates the brave,
But base begotten on a Theban slave-

T' admit young Turous, and include the war
He thrust amid the crowd, securely bold,
Like a fierce tiger pent amid the fold.
Too late his blazing buckler they descry,
And sparkling fires that shot from either eye,
His mighty members, and his ample breast,
His rattling armour, and his crimson crest.
Far from that hated face the Trojans fly,
All but the fool who sought his destiny. [vow'd
Mad Pandarus steps forth, with vengeance
For Bitias' death, and threatens thus aloud:
"These are not Ardea's walls, nor this the

town

Amata proffers with Lavinia's crown:

His golden helm gives way, with stony blows
Batter'd and flat, and beaten to his brows.
His crest is rash'd away; his ample shield
Is falsified, and round with jav'lins fill'd.

The foe now faint, the Trojans overwhelm;
And Mnestheus lays hard load upon his helm.
Sick sweat succeeds, he drops at ev'ry pore;
With driving dust his cheeks are pasted o'er;
Shorter and shorter ev'ry gasp he takes;
And vain efforts and hurtless blows he makes.
Arm'd as he was, at length he leap'd from high,
Plung'd in the flood, and made the waters fly.
The yellow god the welcome burden bore,
And wip'd the sweat, and wash'd away the
gore;

Then gently wafts him to the farther coast,
And sends him safe to cheer his anxious host.

BOOK X.
ARGUMENT.

Jupiter, calling a council of the gods,forbids them to engage in either party. At Eneas' return there is a bloody battle; Turnus killing Pallas; Eneas, Lausus and Mezentius. Mezentius is described as an atheist; Lausus as a pious and virtuous youth. The different actions and death of these two are the subject of a noble episode.

"O pow'r immense! eternal energy!
(For to what else protection can we fly?)
See'st thou the proud Rutulians, how they dare
In fields, unpunish'd, and insult my care?
How lofty Turnus vaunts amidst his train,
In shining arms triumphant on the plain?
E'en in their lines and trenches they contend,
And scarce their walls the Trojan troops de
fend:

The town is fill'd with slaughter, and o'erfloats
With a red deluge, their increasing moats.
Æneas, ignorant, and far from thence,
Has left a camp expos'd, without defence.
This endless outrage shall they still sustain?
Shall Troy renew'd, be forc'd and fir'd again?
A second siege my banish'd issue fears;
And a new Diomede in arms appears.
One more audacious mortal will be found;
And I, thy daughter, wait another wound.
Yet, if, with fates averse, without thy leave,
The Latian lands my progeny receive,
Bear they the pains of violated law,
And thy protection from their aid withdraw.
But, if the gods their sure success foretell-
If those of heaven consent with those of hell,
To promise Italy; who dare debate
The pow'r of Jove, or fix another fate?
What should I tell of tempests on the main,
Of Elus usurping Neptune's reign?

THE gates of heav'n unfold: Jove summons all Of Iris sent, with Bacchanalian heat,

The gods to council in the common hall.
Sublimely seated, he surveys from far
The fields, the camp, the fortune of the war,
And all th' inferior world. From first to last,
The sov'reign senate in degrees are plac'd.
Then thus the almighty sire began: "Ye gods,
Natives or denizens of blest abodes!
From whence these murmurs, and this change
of mind,

This backward fate from what was first de-
sign'd?

Why this protracted war, when my commands
Pronounc'd a peace, and gave the Latian lands?
What fear or hope on either part divides
Our heav'ns, and arms our powers on diff'rent
sides?

A lawful time of war at length will come,
(Nor need your haste anticipate the doom,)
When Carthage shall contend the world with
Rome,

Shall force the rigid rocks and Alpine chains,
And, like a flood, come pouring on the plains.
Then is your time for faction and debate,
For partial favour, and permitted hate.
Let now your immature dissension cease:
Sit quiet, and compose your souls to peace."
Thus Jupiter in few unfolds the charge:
But lovely Venus thus replies at large:

I

T" inspire the matrons, and destroy the fleet?
Now Juno to the Stygian sky descends,
Solicits hell for aid and arms the fiends.
That new example wanted yet above-
An act that well became the wife of Jove!
Alecto, rais'd by her, with rage inflames
The peaceful bosoms of the Latian dames,
Imperial sway no more exalts my mind;
(Such hopes I had indeed, while heav'n was
kind ;)

Now let my happier foes possess my place,
Whom Jove prefers before the Trojan race;
And conquer they whom you with conquest

grace.

Since you can spare, from all your wide com
mand,

No spot of earth, no hospitable land,
Which may my wand'ring fugitives receive,
(Since haughty Juno will not give you leave ;)
Then, father, (if I still may use that name,)
By ruin'd Troy, yet smoking from the flame,
I beg you, let Ascanius, by my care,
Be freed from danger and dismiss'd the war:
Inglorious let him live, without a crown:
The father may be cast on coasts unknown,
Struggling with fate; but let me save the son.
Mine is Cythera, mine the Cyprian tow'rs:
In those recesses, and those sacred how'rs,

Obscurely let him rest; his right resign
To promis'd empire, and his Julian line.

Your son, not knowing what his foes decree,
You say, is absent: absent let him be.

Then Carthage may th' Ausonian towns de- Yours is Cythera, yours the Cyprian tow'rs

stroy,

Nor fear the race of a rejected boy.
What profits it my son to 'scape the fire,
Arm'd with his gods, and loaded with his sire;
To pass the perils of the seas and wind;
Evade the Greeks, and leave the war behind;
To reach th' Italian shores; if, after all,
Our second Pergamus is doom'd to fall?
Much better had he curb'd his high desires,
And hover'd o'er his ill-extinguish'd fires.
To Simois' banks the fugitive restore,
And give them back to war, and all the woes
before.

Deep indignation swell'd Saturnia's heart: "And must I own," she said, "my secret

smart

What with more decence were in silence kept,
And, but for this unjust reproach, had slept?
Did god or man your fav'rite son advise,
With war unhop'd the Latians to surprise.
By fate, you boast, and by the gods' decree,
He left his native land for Italy
Confess the truth; by mad Cassandra, more
Than heav'n, inspired, he sought a foreign
shore.

Did I persuade to trust his second Troy
To the raw conduct of a beardless boy,
With walls unfinish'd, which himself forsakes,
And through the waves a wand'ring voyage
takes ?

When have I urg'd him meanly to demand
The Tuscan aid, and arm a quiet land?
Did I or Iris give this mad advice?'

Or made the fool himself the fatal choice?
You think it hard, the Latians should destroy
With swords your Trojans, and with fires your
Troy !

Hard and unjust indeed, for men to draw
Their native air, nor take a foreign law!
That Turnus is permitted still to live,
To whom his birth a god and goddess give.
But yet 't is just and lawful for your line [join;
To drive their fields, and force with fraud to
Realms, not your own, among your clans divide,
And from the bridegroom tear the promis'd
bride.

Petition, while you public arms prepare ;
Pretend a peace, and yet provoke a war:
'Twas giv'n to you, your darling son to shroud,
To draw the dastard from the fighting crowd,
And, for a man, obtend an empty cloud.
From flaming fleets you turn'd the fire away,
And chang'd the ships to daughters of the sea.
But 't is my crime-the queen of heav'n offends
If she presume to save her suff'ring friends!

The soft recesses, and the sacred bow'rs.
Why do you then these needless arms prepare,
And thus provoke a people prone to war?
Did I with fire the Trojan town deface,
Or hinder from return your exil'd race?
Was I the cause of mischief, or the man,
Whose lawless lust the fatal war began?
Think on whose faith th' adult'rous youth relied,
Who promis'd, who procur'd the Spartan bride?
When all th' united states of Greece combin'd
To purge the world of the perfidious kind,
Then was your time to fear the Trojan fate:-
Your quarrels and complaints are now too late."
Thus Juno. Murmurs rise, with mix'd ap-

plause,

Just as they favour or dislike the cause.
So winds, when yet unfledg'd in woods they lie,
In whispers first their tender voices try;
Then issue on the main with bellowing rage,
And storms to trembling mariners presage.

'Then thus to both replied th' imperial god,
(Who shakes heav'n's axles with his awful nod.
When he begins, the silent senate stand,
With rev'rence list'ning to the dread command:
The clouds dispel; the winds their breath

restrain ;

And the hush'd waves lie flatted on the main.)
"Celestials! your attentive ears incline!
Since (said the god) the Trojans must not join
In wish'd alliance with the Latian line-
Since endless jarrings and immortal hate
Tend but to discompose our happy state-
The war henceforward be resign'd to fate.
Each to his proper fortune stand or fall:
Equal and unconcern'd I look on all.
Rutulians, Trojans, are the same to me;
And both shall draw the lots their fates decree.
Let these assault, if Fortune be their friend;
And if she favours those, let those defend :---
The Fates will find their way." The Thund'rer

said,

And shook the sacred honours of his head,
Attesting Styx, th' inviolable flood,
And the black regions of his brother god :
Trembled the poles of heav'n; and earth con-
fess'd the nod.

This end the sessions had: the senate rise,
And to his palace wait their sov'reign through
the skies,

Meantime, intent upon their siege, the foes Within their walls the Trojan host enclose: They wound, they kill, they watch at ev'ry gate Renew the fires, and urge their happy fate.

Th' Æneans wish in vain their wonted chief, Hopeless of flight, more hopeless of relief.

Thin on the tow'rs they stand; and ev'n those Æneas leads; upon his stern appear