Therewithal
he shows the holy wood of
Argiletum, and calls the spot to witness as he tells the slaying of his
guest Argus.
Argiletum, and calls the spot to witness as he tells the slaying of his
guest Argus.
Virgil - Aeneid
graciously visit us and
these thy rites with favourable feet. Such are their songs of praise;
they crown all with the cavern of Cacus and its fire-breathing lord. All
the woodland echoes with their clamour, and the hills resound.
Thence all at once, the sacred rites accomplished, retrace their way to
the city. The age-worn King walked holding Aeneas and his son by his
side for companions on his way, and lightened the road with changing
talk. Aeneas admires and turns his eyes lightly round about, pleased
with the country; and gladly on spot after spot inquires and hears of
the memorials of earlier men. Then King Evander, founder of the fortress
of Rome:
'In these woodlands dwelt Fauns and Nymphs sprung of the soil, and a
tribe of men born of stocks and hard oak; who had neither law nor grace
of life, nor did they know to yoke bulls or lay up stores or save their
gains, but were nurtured by the forest boughs and the hard living of the
huntsman. Long ago Saturn came from heaven on high in flight before
Jove's arms, an exile from his lost realm. He gathered together the
unruly race scattered on the mountain heights, and gave them statutes,
and chose Latium to be their name, since in these borders he had found a
safe hiding-place. Beneath his reign were the ages named of gold; thus,
in peace and quietness, did he rule the nations; till gradually there
crept in a sunken and stained time, the rage of war, and the lust of
possession. Then came the Ausonian clan and the tribes of Sicania, and
many a time the land of Saturn put away her name. Then were kings,
[330-364]and fierce Thybris with his giant bulk, from whose name we of
Italy afterwards called the Tiber river, when it lost the true name of
old, Albula. Me, cast out from my country and following the utmost
limits of the sea, Fortune the omnipotent and irreversible doom settled
in this region; and my mother the Nymph Carmentis' awful warnings and
Apollo's divine counsel drove me hither. '
Scarce was this said; next advancing he points out the altar and the
Carmental Gate, which the Romans call anciently by that name in honour
of the Nymph Carmentis, seer and soothsayer, who sang of old the coming
greatness of the Aeneadae and the glory of Pallanteum. Next he points
out the wide grove where valiant Romulus set his sanctuary, and the
Lupercal in the cool hollow of the rock, dedicate to Lycean Pan after
the manner of Parrhasia.
Therewithal he shows the holy wood of
Argiletum, and calls the spot to witness as he tells the slaying of his
guest Argus. Hence he leads him to the Tarpeian house, and the Capitol
golden now, of old rough with forest thickets. Even then men trembled
before the wood and rock. 'This grove,' he cries, 'this hill with its
leafy crown, is a god's dwelling, though whose we know not; the
Arcadians believe Jove himself hath been visible, when often he shook
the darkening aegis in his hand and gathered the storm-clouds. Thou
seest these two towns likewise with walls overthrown, relics and
memorials of men of old. This fortress lord Janus built, this Saturn;
the name of this was once Janiculum, of that Saturnia. '
With such mutual words they drew nigh the house of poor Evander, and saw
scattered herds lowing on the Roman Forum and down the gay Carinae. When
they reached his dwelling, 'This threshold,' he cries, 'Alcides the
Conqueror stooped to cross; in this palace he rested. Dare thou, my
guest, to despise riches; mould thyself to [365-396]like dignity of
godhead, and come not exacting to our poverty. ' He spoke, and led tall
Aeneas under the low roof of his narrow dwelling, and laid him on a
couch of stuffed leaves and the skin of a Libyan she-bear. Night falls
and clasps the earth in her dusky wings.
But Venus, stirred in spirit by no vain mother's alarms, and moved by
the threats and stern uprisal of the Laurentines, addresses herself to
Vulcan, and in her golden bridal chamber begins thus, breathing divine
passion in her speech:
'While Argolic kings wasted in war the doomed towers of Troy, the
fortress fated to fall in hostile fires, no succour did I require for
her wretched people, no weapons of thine art and aid: nor would I task,
dear my lord, thee or thy toils for naught, though I owed many and many
a debt to the children of Priam, and had often wept the sore labour of
Aeneas. Now by Jove's commands he hath set foot in the Rutulian borders;
I now therefore come with entreaty, and ask armour of the god I worship.
For the son she bore, the tears of Nereus' daughter, of Tithonus'
consort, could melt thine heart. Look what nations are gathering, what
cities bar their gates and sharpen the sword against me for the
desolation of my children. '
The goddess ended, and, as he hesitates, clasps him round in the soft
embrace of her snowy arms.
these thy rites with favourable feet. Such are their songs of praise;
they crown all with the cavern of Cacus and its fire-breathing lord. All
the woodland echoes with their clamour, and the hills resound.
Thence all at once, the sacred rites accomplished, retrace their way to
the city. The age-worn King walked holding Aeneas and his son by his
side for companions on his way, and lightened the road with changing
talk. Aeneas admires and turns his eyes lightly round about, pleased
with the country; and gladly on spot after spot inquires and hears of
the memorials of earlier men. Then King Evander, founder of the fortress
of Rome:
'In these woodlands dwelt Fauns and Nymphs sprung of the soil, and a
tribe of men born of stocks and hard oak; who had neither law nor grace
of life, nor did they know to yoke bulls or lay up stores or save their
gains, but were nurtured by the forest boughs and the hard living of the
huntsman. Long ago Saturn came from heaven on high in flight before
Jove's arms, an exile from his lost realm. He gathered together the
unruly race scattered on the mountain heights, and gave them statutes,
and chose Latium to be their name, since in these borders he had found a
safe hiding-place. Beneath his reign were the ages named of gold; thus,
in peace and quietness, did he rule the nations; till gradually there
crept in a sunken and stained time, the rage of war, and the lust of
possession. Then came the Ausonian clan and the tribes of Sicania, and
many a time the land of Saturn put away her name. Then were kings,
[330-364]and fierce Thybris with his giant bulk, from whose name we of
Italy afterwards called the Tiber river, when it lost the true name of
old, Albula. Me, cast out from my country and following the utmost
limits of the sea, Fortune the omnipotent and irreversible doom settled
in this region; and my mother the Nymph Carmentis' awful warnings and
Apollo's divine counsel drove me hither. '
Scarce was this said; next advancing he points out the altar and the
Carmental Gate, which the Romans call anciently by that name in honour
of the Nymph Carmentis, seer and soothsayer, who sang of old the coming
greatness of the Aeneadae and the glory of Pallanteum. Next he points
out the wide grove where valiant Romulus set his sanctuary, and the
Lupercal in the cool hollow of the rock, dedicate to Lycean Pan after
the manner of Parrhasia.
Therewithal he shows the holy wood of
Argiletum, and calls the spot to witness as he tells the slaying of his
guest Argus. Hence he leads him to the Tarpeian house, and the Capitol
golden now, of old rough with forest thickets. Even then men trembled
before the wood and rock. 'This grove,' he cries, 'this hill with its
leafy crown, is a god's dwelling, though whose we know not; the
Arcadians believe Jove himself hath been visible, when often he shook
the darkening aegis in his hand and gathered the storm-clouds. Thou
seest these two towns likewise with walls overthrown, relics and
memorials of men of old. This fortress lord Janus built, this Saturn;
the name of this was once Janiculum, of that Saturnia. '
With such mutual words they drew nigh the house of poor Evander, and saw
scattered herds lowing on the Roman Forum and down the gay Carinae. When
they reached his dwelling, 'This threshold,' he cries, 'Alcides the
Conqueror stooped to cross; in this palace he rested. Dare thou, my
guest, to despise riches; mould thyself to [365-396]like dignity of
godhead, and come not exacting to our poverty. ' He spoke, and led tall
Aeneas under the low roof of his narrow dwelling, and laid him on a
couch of stuffed leaves and the skin of a Libyan she-bear. Night falls
and clasps the earth in her dusky wings.
But Venus, stirred in spirit by no vain mother's alarms, and moved by
the threats and stern uprisal of the Laurentines, addresses herself to
Vulcan, and in her golden bridal chamber begins thus, breathing divine
passion in her speech:
'While Argolic kings wasted in war the doomed towers of Troy, the
fortress fated to fall in hostile fires, no succour did I require for
her wretched people, no weapons of thine art and aid: nor would I task,
dear my lord, thee or thy toils for naught, though I owed many and many
a debt to the children of Priam, and had often wept the sore labour of
Aeneas. Now by Jove's commands he hath set foot in the Rutulian borders;
I now therefore come with entreaty, and ask armour of the god I worship.
For the son she bore, the tears of Nereus' daughter, of Tithonus'
consort, could melt thine heart. Look what nations are gathering, what
cities bar their gates and sharpen the sword against me for the
desolation of my children. '
The goddess ended, and, as he hesitates, clasps him round in the soft
embrace of her snowy arms.
