Complete Works of Virgil

by Virgil

  Hopeless of flight, more hopeless of relief.

  Thin on the tow’rs they stand; and ev’n those few

  A feeble, fainting, and dejected crew.

  Yet in the face of danger some there stood:

  The two bold brothers of Sarpedon’s blood,

  Asius and Acmon; both th’ Assaraci;

  Young Haemon, and tho’ young, resolv’d to die.

  With these were Clarus and Thymoetes join’d;

  Tibris and Castor, both of Lycian kind.

  From Acmon’s hands a rolling stone there came,

  So large, it half deserv’d a mountain’s name:

  Strong-sinew’d was the youth, and big of bone;

  His brother Mnestheus could not more have done,

  Or the great father of th’ intrepid son.

  Some firebrands throw, some flights of arrows send;

  And some with darts, and some with stones defend.

  Amid the press appears the beauteous boy,

  The care of Venus, and the hope of Troy.

  His lovely face unarm’d, his head was bare;

  In ringlets o’er his shoulders hung his hair.

  His forehead circled with a diadem;

  Distinguish’d from the crowd, he shines a gem,

  Enchas’d in gold, or polish’d iv’ry set,

  Amidst the meaner foil of sable jet.

  Nor Ismarus was wanting to the war,

  Directing pointed arrows from afar,

  And death with poison arm’d- in Lydia born,

  Where plenteous harvests the fat fields adorn;

  Where proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands,

  And leaves a rich manure of golden sands.

  There Capys, author of the Capuan name,

  And there was Mnestheus too, increas’d in fame,

  Since Turnus from the camp he cast with shame.

  Thus mortal war was wag’d on either side.

  Meantime the hero cuts the nightly tide:

  For, anxious, from Evander when he went,

  He sought the Tyrrhene camp, and Tarchon’s tent;

  Expos’d the cause of coming to the chief;

  His name and country told, and ask’d relief;

  Propos’d the terms; his own small strength declar’d;

  What vengeance proud Mezentius had prepar’d:

  What Turnus, bold and violent, design’d;

  Then shew’d the slipp’ry state of humankind,

  And fickle fortune; warn’d him to beware,

  And to his wholesome counsel added pray’r.

  Tarchon, without delay, the treaty signs,

  And to the Trojan troops the Tuscan joins.

  They soon set sail; nor now the fates withstand;

  Their forces trusted with a foreign hand.

  Aeneas leads; upon his stern appear

  Two lions carv’d, which rising Ida bear-

  Ida, to wand’ring Trojans ever dear.

  Under their grateful shade Aeneas sate,

  Revolving war’s events, and various fate.

  His left young Pallas kept, fix’d to his side,

  And oft of winds enquir’d, and of the tide;

  Oft of the stars, and of their wat’ry way;

  And what he suffer’d both by land and sea.

  Now, sacred sisters, open all your spring!

  The Tuscan leaders, and their army sing,

  Which follow’d great Aeneas to the war:

  Their arms, their numbers, and their names declare.

  A thousand youths brave Massicus obey,

  Borne in the Tiger thro’ the foaming sea;

  From Asium brought, and Cosa, by his care:

  For arms, light quivers, bows and shafts, they bear.

  Fierce Abas next: his men bright armor wore;

  His stern Apollo’s golden statue bore.

  Six hundred Populonia sent along,

  All skill’d in martial exercise, and strong.

  Three hundred more for battle Ilva joins,

  An isle renown’d for steel, and unexhausted mines.

  Asylas on his prow the third appears,

  Who heav’n interprets, and the wand’ring stars;

  From offer’d entrails prodigies expounds,

  And peals of thunder, with presaging sounds.

  A thousand spears in warlike order stand,

  Sent by the Pisans under his command.

  Fair Astur follows in the wat’ry field,

  Proud of his manag’d horse and painted shield.

  Gravisca, noisome from the neighb’ring fen,

  And his own Caere, sent three hundred men;

  With those which Minio’s fields and Pyrgi gave,

  All bred in arms, unanimous, and brave.

  Thou, Muse, the name of Cinyras renew,

  And brave Cupavo follow’d but by few;

  Whose helm confess’d the lineage of the man,

  And bore, with wings display’d, a silver swan.

  Love was the fault of his fam’d ancestry,

  Whose forms and fortunes in his ensigns fly.

  For Cycnus lov’d unhappy Phaeton,

  And sung his loss in poplar groves, alone,

  Beneath the sister shades, to soothe his grief.

  Heav’n heard his song, and hasten’d his relief,

  And chang’d to snowy plumes his hoary hair,

  And wing’d his flight, to chant aloft in air.

  His son Cupavo brush’d the briny flood:

  Upon his stern a brawny Centaur stood,

  Who heav’d a rock, and, threat’ning still to throw,

  With lifted hands alarm’d the seas below:

  They seem’d to fear the formidable sight,

  And roll’d their billows on, to speed his flight.

  Ocnus was next, who led his native train

  Of hardy warriors thro’ the wat’ry plain:

  The son of Manto by the Tuscan stream,

  From whence the Mantuan town derives the name-

  An ancient city, but of mix’d descent:

  Three sev’ral tribes compose the government;

  Four towns are under each; but all obey

  The Mantuan laws, and own the Tuscan sway.

  Hate to Mezentius arm’d five hundred more,

  Whom Mincius from his sire Benacus bore:

  Mincius, with wreaths of reeds his forehead cover’d o’er.

  These grave Auletes leads: a hundred sweep

  With stretching oars at once the glassy deep.

  Him and his martial train the Triton bears;

  High on his poop the sea-green god appears:

  Frowning he seems his crooked shell to sound,

  And at the blast the billows dance around.

  A hairy man above the waist he shows;

  A porpoise tail beneath his belly grows;

  And ends a fish: his breast the waves divides,

  And froth and foam augment the murm’ring tides.

  Full thirty ships transport the chosen train

  For Troy’s relief, and scour the briny main.

  Now was the world forsaken by the sun,

  And Phoebe half her nightly race had run.

  The careful chief, who never clos’d his eyes,

  Himself the rudder holds, the sails supplies.

  A choir of Nereids meet him on the flood,

  Once his own galleys, hewn from Ida’s wood;

  But now, as many nymphs, the sea they sweep,

  As rode, before, tall vessels on the deep.

  They know him from afar; and in a ring

  Inclose the ship that bore the Trojan king.

  Cymodoce, whose voice excell’d the rest,

  Above the waves advanc’d her snowy breast;

  Her right hand stops the stern; her left divides

  The curling ocean, and corrects the tides.

  She spoke for all the choir, and thus began

  With pleasing words to warn th’ unknowing man:

  “Sleep
s our lov’d lord? O goddess-born, awake!

  Spread ev’ry sail, pursue your wat’ry track,

  And haste your course. Your navy once were we,

  From Ida’s height descending to the sea;

  Till Turnus, as at anchor fix’d we stood,

  Presum’d to violate our holy wood.

  Then, loos’d from shore, we fled his fires profane

  (Unwillingly we broke our master’s chain),

  And since have sought you thro’ the Tuscan main.

  The mighty Mother chang’d our forms to these,

  And gave us life immortal in the seas.

  But young Ascanius, in his camp distress’d,

  By your insulting foes is hardly press’d.

  Th’ Arcadian horsemen, and Etrurian host,

  Advance in order on the Latian coast:

  To cut their way the Daunian chief designs,

  Before their troops can reach the Trojan lines.

  Thou, when the rosy morn restores the light,

  First arm thy soldiers for th’ ensuing fight:

  Thyself the fated sword of Vulcan wield,

  And bear aloft th’ impenetrable shield.

  To-morrow’s sun, unless my skill be vain,

  Shall see huge heaps of foes in battle slain.”

  Parting, she spoke; and with immortal force

  Push’d on the vessel in her wat’ry course;

  For well she knew the way. Impell’d behind,

  The ship flew forward, and outstripp’d the wind.

  The rest make up. Unknowing of the cause,

  The chief admires their speed, and happy omens draws.

  Then thus he pray’d, and fix’d on heav’n his eyes:

  “Hear thou, great Mother of the deities.

  With turrets crown’d! (on Ida’s holy hill

  Fierce tigers, rein’d and curb’d, obey thy will.)

  Firm thy own omens; lead us on to fight;

  And let thy Phrygians conquer in thy right.”

  He said no more. And now renewing day

  Had chas’d the shadows of the night away.

  He charg’d the soldiers, with preventing care,

  Their flags to follow, and their arms prepare;

  Warn’d of th’ ensuing fight, and bade ’em hope the war.

  Now, his lofty poop, he view’d below

  His camp incompass’d, and th’ inclosing foe.

  His blazing shield, imbrac’d, he held on high;

  The camp receive the sign, and with loud shouts reply.

  Hope arms their courage: from their tow’rs they throw

  Their darts with double force, and drive the foe.

  Thus, at the signal giv’n, the cranes arise

  Before the stormy south, and blacken all the skies.

  King Turnus wonder’d at the fight renew’d,

  Till, looking back, the Trojan fleet he view’d,

  The seas with swelling canvas cover’d o’er,

  And the swift ships descending on the shore.

  The Latians saw from far, with dazzled eyes,

  The radiant crest that seem’d in flames to rise,

  And dart diffusive fires around the field,

  And the keen glitt’ring the golden shield.

  Thus threat’ning comets, when by night they rise,

  Shoot sanguine streams, and sadden all the skies:

  So Sirius, flashing forth sinister lights,

  Pale humankind with plagues and with dry famine fright:

  Yet Turnus with undaunted mind is bent

  To man the shores, and hinder their descent,

  And thus awakes the courage of his friends:

  “What you so long have wish’d, kind Fortune sends;

  In ardent arms to meet th’ invading foe:

  You find, and find him at advantage now.

  Yours is the day: you need but only dare;

  Your swords will make you masters of the war.

  Your sires, your sons, your houses, and your lands,

  And dearest wifes, are all within your hands.

  Be mindful of the race from whence you came,

  And emulate in arms your fathers’ fame.

  Now take the time, while stagg’ring yet they stand

  With feet unfirm, and prepossess the strand:

  Fortune befriends the bold.” Nor more he said,

  But balanc’d whom to leave, and whom to lead;

  Then these elects, the landing to prevent;

  And those he leaves, to keep the city pent.

  Meantime the Trojan sends his troops ashore:

  Some are by boats expos’d, by bridges more.

  With lab’ring oars they bear along the strand,

  Where the tide languishes, and leap aland.

  Tarchon observes the coast with careful eyes,

  And, where no ford he finds, no water fries,

  Nor billows with unequal murmurs roar,

  But smoothly slide along, and swell the shore,

  That course he steer’d, and thus he gave command:

  “Here ply your oars, and at all hazard land:

  Force on the vessel, that her keel may wound

  This hated soil, and furrow hostile ground.

  Let me securely land- I ask no more;

  Then sink my ships, or shatter on the shore.”

  This fiery speech inflames his fearful friends:

  They tug at ev’ry oar, and ev’ry stretcher bends;

  They run their ships aground; the vessels knock,

  (Thus forc’d ashore,) and tremble with the shock.

  Tarchon’s alone was lost, that stranded stood,

  Stuck on a bank, and beaten by the flood:

  She breaks her back; the loosen’d sides give way,

  And plunge the Tuscan soldiers in the sea.

  Their broken oars and floating planks withstand

  Their passage, while they labor to the land,

  And ebbing tides bear back upon th’ uncertain sand.

  Now Turnus leads his troops without delay,

  Advancing to the margin of the sea.

  The trumpets sound: Aeneas first assail’d

  The clowns new-rais’d and raw, and soon prevail’d.

  Great Theron fell, an omen of the fight;

  Great Theron, large of limbs, of giant height.

  He first in open field defied the prince:

  But armor scal’d with gold was no defense

  Against the fated sword, which open’d wide

  His plated shield, and pierc’d his naked side.

  Next, Lichas fell, who, not like others born,

  Was from his wretched mother ripp’d and torn;

  Sacred, O Phoebus, from his birth to thee;

  For his beginning life from biting steel was free.

  Not far from him was Gyas laid along,

  Of monstrous bulk; with Cisseus fierce and strong:

  Vain bulk and strength! for, when the chief assail’d,

  Nor valor nor Herculean arms avail’d,

  Nor their fam’d father, wont in war to go

  With great Alcides, while he toil’d below.

  The noisy Pharos next receiv’d his death:

  Aeneas writh’d his dart, and stopp’d his bawling breath.

  Then wretched Cydon had receiv’d his doom,

  Who courted Clytius in his beardless bloom,

  And sought with lust obscene polluted joys:

  The Trojan sword had curd his love of boys,

  Had not his sev’n bold brethren stopp’d the course

  Of the fierce champions, with united force.

  Sev’n darts were thrown at once; and some rebound

  From his bright shield, some on his helmet sound:

  The rest had reach’d him; but his mother’s care

  Prevented those, and turn’d aside in air.

  The prince then call’d Achates, to supply

  The spears that knew the way to victory-

  “Those fatal weap
ons, which, inur’d to blood,

  In Grecian bodies under Ilium stood:

  Not one of those my hand shall toss in vain

  Against our foes, on this contended plain.”

  He said; then seiz’d a mighty spear, and threw;

  Which, wing’d with fate, thro’ Maeon’s buckler flew,

  Pierc’d all the brazen plates, and reach’d his heart:

  He stagger’d with intolerable smart.

  Alcanor saw; and reach’d, but reach’d in vain,

  His helping hand, his brother to sustain.

  A second spear, which kept the former course,

  From the same hand, and sent with equal force,

  His right arm pierc’d, and holding on, bereft

  His use of both, and pinion’d down his left.

  Then Numitor from his dead brother drew

  Th’ ill-omen’d spear, and at the Trojan threw:

  Preventing fate directs the lance awry,

  Which, glancing, only mark’d Achates’ thigh.

  In pride of youth the Sabine Clausus came,

  And, from afar, at Dryops took his aim.

  The spear flew hissing thro’ the middle space,

  And pierc’d his throat, directed at his face;

  It stopp’d at once the passage of his wind,

  And the free soul to flitting air resign’d:

  His forehead was the first that struck the ground;

  Lifeblood and life rush’d mingled thro’ the wound.

  He slew three brothers of the Borean race,

  And three, whom Ismarus, their native place,

  Had sent to war, but all the sons of Thrace.

  Halesus, next, the bold Aurunci leads:

  The son of Neptune to his aid succeeds,

  Conspicuous on his horse. On either hand,

  These fight to keep, and those to win, the land.

  With mutual blood th’ Ausonian soil is dyed,

  While on its borders each their claim decide.

  As wintry winds, contending in the sky,

  With equal force of lungs their titles try:

  They rage, they roar; the doubtful rack of heav’n

  Stands without motion, and the tide undriv’n:

  Each bent to conquer, neither side to yield,

  They long suspend the fortune of the field.

  Both armies thus perform what courage can;

  Foot set to foot, and mingled man to man.

  But, in another part, th’ Arcadian horse

  With ill success ingage the Latin force:

  For, where th’ impetuous torrent, rushing down,