With what device or in what hope hangest thou chill in
cloudland?
Virgil - Aeneid
Five circles they cover at full speed, and unwind as
many this way and that; for not light nor slight is the prize they seek,
but Turnus' very lifeblood is at issue. Here there haply had stood a
bitter-leaved wild olive, sacred to Faunus, a tree worshipped by
mariners of old; on it, when rescued from the waves, they were wont to
fix their gifts to the god of Laurentum and hang their votive raiment;
but the Teucrians, unregarding, had cleared away the sacred stem, that
they might meet on unimpeded lists. Here stood Aeneas' spear; hither
borne by its own speed it was held fast stuck in the tough root. The
Dardanian stooped over it, and would wrench away the steel, to follow
with the weapon him whom he could not catch in running. Then indeed
Turnus cries in frantic terror: 'Faunus, have pity, I beseech thee! and
thou, most gracious Earth, keep thy hold on the steel, as I ever have
kept your worship, and the Aeneadae again have polluted it in war. ' He
spoke, and called the god to aid in vows that fell not fruitless. For
all Aeneas' strength, his long struggling and delay over the tough stem
availed not to unclose the hard grip of the wood. While he strains and
pulls hard, the Daunian goddess, changing once more into the charioteer
Metiscus' likeness, runs forward and passes her brother his sword. But
Venus, indignant that the [787-818]Nymph might be so bold, drew nigh
and wrenched away the spear where it stuck deep in the root. Erect in
fresh courage and arms, he with his faithful sword, he towering fierce
over his spear, they face one another panting in the battle shock.
Meanwhile the King of Heaven's omnipotence accosts Juno as she gazes on
the battle from a sunlit cloud. 'What yet shall be the end, O wife? what
remains at the last? Heaven claims Aeneas as his country's god, thou
thyself knowest and avowest to know, and fate lifts him to the stars.
With what device or in what hope hangest thou chill in cloudland? Was it
well that a deity should be sullied by a mortal's wound? or that the
lost sword--for what without thee could Juturna avail? --should be
restored to Turnus and swell the force of the vanquished? Forbear now, I
pray, and bend to our entreaties; let not the pain thus devour thee in
silence, and distress so often flood back on me from thy sweet lips. The
end is come. Thou hast had power to hunt the Trojans over land or wave,
to kindle accursed war, to put the house in mourning, and plunge the
bridal in grief: further attempt I forbid thee. ' Thus Jupiter began:
thus the goddess, daughter of Saturn, returned with looks cast down:
'Even because this thy will, great Jupiter, is known to me for thine,
have I left, though loth, Turnus alone on earth; nor else wouldst thou
see me now, alone on this skyey seat, enduring good and bad; but girt in
flame I were standing by their very lines, and dragging the Teucrians
into the deadly battle. I counselled Juturna, I confess it, to succour
her hapless brother, and for his life's sake favoured a greater daring;
yet not the arrow-shot, not the bending of the bow, I swear by the
merciless well-head of the Stygian spring, the single ordained dread of
the gods in heaven. And now I retire, and leave the battle in loathing.
[819-854]This thing I beseech thee, that is bound by no fatal law, for
Latium and for the majesty of thy kindred. When now they shall plight
peace with prosperous marriages (be it so! ), when now they shall join in
laws and treaties, bid thou not the native Latins change their name of
old, nor become Trojans and take the Teucrian name, or change their
language, or alter their attire: let Latium be, let Alban kings endure
through ages, let Italian valour be potent in the race of Rome. Troy is
fallen; let her and her name lie where they fell. '
To her smilingly the designer of men and things:
'Jove's own sister thou art, and second seed of Saturn, such surge of
wrath tosses within thy breast! But come, allay this madness so vainly
stirred.
many this way and that; for not light nor slight is the prize they seek,
but Turnus' very lifeblood is at issue. Here there haply had stood a
bitter-leaved wild olive, sacred to Faunus, a tree worshipped by
mariners of old; on it, when rescued from the waves, they were wont to
fix their gifts to the god of Laurentum and hang their votive raiment;
but the Teucrians, unregarding, had cleared away the sacred stem, that
they might meet on unimpeded lists. Here stood Aeneas' spear; hither
borne by its own speed it was held fast stuck in the tough root. The
Dardanian stooped over it, and would wrench away the steel, to follow
with the weapon him whom he could not catch in running. Then indeed
Turnus cries in frantic terror: 'Faunus, have pity, I beseech thee! and
thou, most gracious Earth, keep thy hold on the steel, as I ever have
kept your worship, and the Aeneadae again have polluted it in war. ' He
spoke, and called the god to aid in vows that fell not fruitless. For
all Aeneas' strength, his long struggling and delay over the tough stem
availed not to unclose the hard grip of the wood. While he strains and
pulls hard, the Daunian goddess, changing once more into the charioteer
Metiscus' likeness, runs forward and passes her brother his sword. But
Venus, indignant that the [787-818]Nymph might be so bold, drew nigh
and wrenched away the spear where it stuck deep in the root. Erect in
fresh courage and arms, he with his faithful sword, he towering fierce
over his spear, they face one another panting in the battle shock.
Meanwhile the King of Heaven's omnipotence accosts Juno as she gazes on
the battle from a sunlit cloud. 'What yet shall be the end, O wife? what
remains at the last? Heaven claims Aeneas as his country's god, thou
thyself knowest and avowest to know, and fate lifts him to the stars.
With what device or in what hope hangest thou chill in cloudland? Was it
well that a deity should be sullied by a mortal's wound? or that the
lost sword--for what without thee could Juturna avail? --should be
restored to Turnus and swell the force of the vanquished? Forbear now, I
pray, and bend to our entreaties; let not the pain thus devour thee in
silence, and distress so often flood back on me from thy sweet lips. The
end is come. Thou hast had power to hunt the Trojans over land or wave,
to kindle accursed war, to put the house in mourning, and plunge the
bridal in grief: further attempt I forbid thee. ' Thus Jupiter began:
thus the goddess, daughter of Saturn, returned with looks cast down:
'Even because this thy will, great Jupiter, is known to me for thine,
have I left, though loth, Turnus alone on earth; nor else wouldst thou
see me now, alone on this skyey seat, enduring good and bad; but girt in
flame I were standing by their very lines, and dragging the Teucrians
into the deadly battle. I counselled Juturna, I confess it, to succour
her hapless brother, and for his life's sake favoured a greater daring;
yet not the arrow-shot, not the bending of the bow, I swear by the
merciless well-head of the Stygian spring, the single ordained dread of
the gods in heaven. And now I retire, and leave the battle in loathing.
[819-854]This thing I beseech thee, that is bound by no fatal law, for
Latium and for the majesty of thy kindred. When now they shall plight
peace with prosperous marriages (be it so! ), when now they shall join in
laws and treaties, bid thou not the native Latins change their name of
old, nor become Trojans and take the Teucrian name, or change their
language, or alter their attire: let Latium be, let Alban kings endure
through ages, let Italian valour be potent in the race of Rome. Troy is
fallen; let her and her name lie where they fell. '
To her smilingly the designer of men and things:
'Jove's own sister thou art, and second seed of Saturn, such surge of
wrath tosses within thy breast! But come, allay this madness so vainly
stirred.
