I will
tell of grim wars, tell of embattled lines, of kings whom honour drove
on death, of the Tyrrhenian forces, and all Hesperia enrolled in arms.
tell of grim wars, tell of embattled lines, of kings whom honour drove
on death, of the Tyrrhenian forces, and all Hesperia enrolled in arms.
Virgil - Aeneid
The anchor is cast from the prow; the sterns
are grounded on the beach.
BOOK SEVENTH
THE LANDING IN LATIUM, AND THE ROLL OF THE ARMIES OF ITALY
Thou also, Caieta, nurse of Aeneas, gavest our shores an everlasting
renown in death; and still thine honour haunts thy resting-place, and a
name in broad Hesperia, if that be glory, marks thy dust. But when the
last rites are duly paid, and the mound smoothed over the grave, good
Aeneas, now the high seas are hushed, bears on under sail and leaves his
haven. Breezes blow into the night, and the white moonshine speeds them
on; the sea glitters in her quivering radiance. Soon they skirt the
shores of Circe's land, where the rich daughter of the Sun makes her
untrodden groves echo with ceaseless song; and her stately house glows
nightlong with burning odorous cedarwood, as she runs over her delicate
web with the ringing comb. Hence are heard afar angry cries of lions
chafing at their fetters and roaring in the deep night; bears and
bristly swine rage in their pens, and vast shapes of wolves howl; whom
with her potent herbs the deadly divine Circe had disfashioned, face and
body, into wild beasts from the likeness of men. But lest the good
Trojans might suffer so dread a change, might enter her haven or draw
nigh the ominous shores, Neptune filled [23-55]their sails with
favourable winds, and gave them escape, and bore them past the seething
shallows.
And now the sea reddened with shafts of light, and high in heaven the
yellow dawn shone rose-charioted; when the winds fell, and every breath
sank suddenly, and the oar-blades toil through the heavy ocean-floor.
And on this Aeneas descries from sea a mighty forest. Midway in it the
pleasant Tiber stream breaks to sea in swirling eddies, laden with
yellow sand. Around and above fowl many in sort, that haunt his banks
and river-channel, solaced heaven with song and flew about the forest.
He orders his crew to bend their course and turn their prows to land,
and glides joyfully into the shady river.
* * * * *
Forth now, Erato! and I will unfold who were the kings, what the tides
of circumstance, how it was with ancient Latium when first that foreign
army drew their fleet ashore on Ausonia's coast; I will recall the
preluding of battle. Thou, divine one, inspire thou thy poet.
I will
tell of grim wars, tell of embattled lines, of kings whom honour drove
on death, of the Tyrrhenian forces, and all Hesperia enrolled in arms. A
greater history opens before me, a greater work I essay.
Latinus the King, now growing old, ruled in a long peace over quiet
tilth and town. He, men say, was sprung of Faunus and the nymph Marica
of Laurentum. Faunus' father was Picus; and he boasts himself, Saturn,
thy son; thou art the first source of their blood. Son of his, by divine
ordinance, and male descent was none, cut off in the early spring of
youth. One alone kept the household and its august home, a daughter now
ripe for a husband and of full years for marriage. Many wooed her from
wide Latium and all Ausonia. Fairest and foremost of all [56-93]is
Turnus, of long and lordly ancestry; but boding signs from heaven, many
and terrible, bar the way. Within the palace, in the lofty inner courts,
was a laurel of sacred foliage, guarded in awe through many years, which
lord Latinus, it was said, himself found and dedicated to Phoebus when
first he would build his citadel; and from it gave his settlers their
name, Laurentines. High atop of it, wonderful to tell, bees borne with
loud humming across the liquid air girt it thickly about, and with
interlinked feet hung in a sudden swarm from the leafy bough.
Straightway the prophet cries: 'I see a foreigner draw nigh, an army
from the same quarter seek the same quarter, and reign high in our
fortress. ' Furthermore, while maiden Lavinia stands beside her father
feeding the altars with holy fuel, she was seen, oh, horror! to catch
fire in her long tresses, and burn with flickering flame in all her
array, her queenly hair lit up, lit up her jewelled circlet; till,
enwreathed in smoke and lurid light, she scattered fire over all the
palace. That sight was rumoured wonderful and terrible. Herself, they
prophesied, she should be glorious in fame and fortune; but a great war
was foreshadowed for her people.
are grounded on the beach.
BOOK SEVENTH
THE LANDING IN LATIUM, AND THE ROLL OF THE ARMIES OF ITALY
Thou also, Caieta, nurse of Aeneas, gavest our shores an everlasting
renown in death; and still thine honour haunts thy resting-place, and a
name in broad Hesperia, if that be glory, marks thy dust. But when the
last rites are duly paid, and the mound smoothed over the grave, good
Aeneas, now the high seas are hushed, bears on under sail and leaves his
haven. Breezes blow into the night, and the white moonshine speeds them
on; the sea glitters in her quivering radiance. Soon they skirt the
shores of Circe's land, where the rich daughter of the Sun makes her
untrodden groves echo with ceaseless song; and her stately house glows
nightlong with burning odorous cedarwood, as she runs over her delicate
web with the ringing comb. Hence are heard afar angry cries of lions
chafing at their fetters and roaring in the deep night; bears and
bristly swine rage in their pens, and vast shapes of wolves howl; whom
with her potent herbs the deadly divine Circe had disfashioned, face and
body, into wild beasts from the likeness of men. But lest the good
Trojans might suffer so dread a change, might enter her haven or draw
nigh the ominous shores, Neptune filled [23-55]their sails with
favourable winds, and gave them escape, and bore them past the seething
shallows.
And now the sea reddened with shafts of light, and high in heaven the
yellow dawn shone rose-charioted; when the winds fell, and every breath
sank suddenly, and the oar-blades toil through the heavy ocean-floor.
And on this Aeneas descries from sea a mighty forest. Midway in it the
pleasant Tiber stream breaks to sea in swirling eddies, laden with
yellow sand. Around and above fowl many in sort, that haunt his banks
and river-channel, solaced heaven with song and flew about the forest.
He orders his crew to bend their course and turn their prows to land,
and glides joyfully into the shady river.
* * * * *
Forth now, Erato! and I will unfold who were the kings, what the tides
of circumstance, how it was with ancient Latium when first that foreign
army drew their fleet ashore on Ausonia's coast; I will recall the
preluding of battle. Thou, divine one, inspire thou thy poet.
I will
tell of grim wars, tell of embattled lines, of kings whom honour drove
on death, of the Tyrrhenian forces, and all Hesperia enrolled in arms. A
greater history opens before me, a greater work I essay.
Latinus the King, now growing old, ruled in a long peace over quiet
tilth and town. He, men say, was sprung of Faunus and the nymph Marica
of Laurentum. Faunus' father was Picus; and he boasts himself, Saturn,
thy son; thou art the first source of their blood. Son of his, by divine
ordinance, and male descent was none, cut off in the early spring of
youth. One alone kept the household and its august home, a daughter now
ripe for a husband and of full years for marriage. Many wooed her from
wide Latium and all Ausonia. Fairest and foremost of all [56-93]is
Turnus, of long and lordly ancestry; but boding signs from heaven, many
and terrible, bar the way. Within the palace, in the lofty inner courts,
was a laurel of sacred foliage, guarded in awe through many years, which
lord Latinus, it was said, himself found and dedicated to Phoebus when
first he would build his citadel; and from it gave his settlers their
name, Laurentines. High atop of it, wonderful to tell, bees borne with
loud humming across the liquid air girt it thickly about, and with
interlinked feet hung in a sudden swarm from the leafy bough.
Straightway the prophet cries: 'I see a foreigner draw nigh, an army
from the same quarter seek the same quarter, and reign high in our
fortress. ' Furthermore, while maiden Lavinia stands beside her father
feeding the altars with holy fuel, she was seen, oh, horror! to catch
fire in her long tresses, and burn with flickering flame in all her
array, her queenly hair lit up, lit up her jewelled circlet; till,
enwreathed in smoke and lurid light, she scattered fire over all the
palace. That sight was rumoured wonderful and terrible. Herself, they
prophesied, she should be glorious in fame and fortune; but a great war
was foreshadowed for her people.
