At first the silent venom slid with ease, And seiz'd her cooler senses by degrees; Then, ere th' infected ma.s.s was fir'd too far, In plaintive accents she began the war, And thus bespoke her husband: "Shall," she said, "A wand'ring prince enjoy Lavinia's bed?

If nature plead not in a parent's heart, Pity my tears, and pity her desert.

I know, my dearest lord, the time will come, You in vain, reverse your cruel doom; The faithless pirate soon will set to sea, And bear the royal virgin far away!

A guest like him, a Trojan guest before, In shew of friendship sought the Spartan sh.o.r.e, And ravish'd Helen from her husband bore.

Think on a king's inviolable word; And think on Turnus, her once plighted lord: To this false foreigner you give your throne, And wrong a friend, a kinsman, and a son.

Resume your ancient care; and, if the G.o.d Your sire, and you, resolve on foreign blood, Know all are foreign, in a larger sense, Not born your subjects, or deriv'd from hence.

Then, if the line of Turnus you retrace, He springs from Inachus of Argive race."

But when she saw her reasons idly spent, And could not move him from his fix'd intent, She flew to rage; for now the snake possess'd Her vital parts, and poison'd all her breast; She raves, she runs with a distracted pace, And fills with horrid howls the public place.

And, as young striplings whip the top for sport, On the smooth pavement of an empty court; The wooden engine flies and whirls about, Admir'd, with clamors, of the beardless rout; They lash aloud; each other they provoke, And lend their little souls at ev'ry stroke: Thus fares the queen; and thus her fury blows Amidst the crowd, and kindles as she goes.

Nor yet content, she strains her malice more, And adds new ills to those contriv'd before: She flies the town, and, mixing with a throng Of madding matrons, bears the bride along, Wand'ring thro' woods and wilds, and devious ways, And with these arts the Trojan match delays.

She feign'd the rites of Bacchus; cried aloud, And to the buxom G.o.d the virgin vow'd.

"Evoe! O Bacchus!" thus began the song; And "Evoe!" answer'd all the female throng.

"O virgin! worthy thee alone!" she cried; "O worthy thee alone!" the crew replied.

"For thee she feeds her hair, she leads thy dance, And with thy winding ivy wreathes her lance."

Like fury seiz'd the rest; the progress known, All seek the mountains, and forsake the town: All, clad in skins of beasts, the jav'lin bear, Give to the wanton winds their flowing hair, And shrieks and shoutings rend the suff'ring air.

The queen herself, inspir'd with rage divine, Shook high above her head a flaming pine; Then roll'd her haggard eyes around the throng, And sung, in Turnus' name, the nuptial song: "Io, ye Latian dames! if any here Hold your unhappy queen, Amata, dear; If there be here," she said, "who dare maintain My right, nor think the name of mother vain; Unbind your fillets, loose your flowing hair, And orgies and nocturnal rites prepare."

Amata's breast the Fury thus invades, And fires with rage, amid the sylvan shades; Then, when she found her venom spread so far, The royal house embroil'd in civil war, Rais'd on her dusky wings, she cleaves the skies, And seeks the palace where young Turnus lies.

His town, as fame reports, was built of old By Danae, pregnant with almighty gold, Who fled her father's rage, and, with a train Of following Argives, thro' the stormy main, Driv'n by the southern blasts, was fated here to reign.

'T was Ardua once; now Ardea's name it bears; Once a fair city, now consum'd with years.

Here, in his lofty palace, Turnus lay, Betwixt the confines of the night and day, Secure in sleep. The Fury laid aside Her looks and limbs, and with new methods tried The foulness of th' infernal form to hide.

Propp'd on a staff, she takes a trembling mien: Her face is furrow'd, and her front obscene; Deep-dinted wrinkles on her cheek she draws; Sunk are her eyes, and toothless are her jaws; Her h.o.a.ry hair with holy fillets bound, Her temples with an olive wreath are crown'd.

Old Chalybe, who kept the sacred fane Of Juno, now she seem'd, and thus began, Appearing in a dream, to rouse the careless man: "Shall Turnus then such endless toil sustain In fighting fields, and conquer towns in vain?

Win, for a Trojan head to wear the prize, Usurp thy crown, enjoy thy victories?

The bride and scepter which thy blood has bought, The king transfers; and foreign heirs are sought.

Go now, deluded man, and seek again New toils, new dangers, on the dusty plain.

Repel the Tuscan foes; their city seize; Protect the Latians in luxurious ease.

This dream all-pow'rful Juno sends; I bear Her mighty mandates, and her words you hear.

Haste; arm your Ardeans; issue to the plain; With fate to friend, a.s.sault the Trojan train: Their thoughtless chiefs, their painted ships, that lie In Tiber's mouth, with fire and sword destroy.

The Latian king, unless he shall submit, Own his old promise, and his new forget- Let him, in arms, the pow'r of Turnus prove, And learn to fear whom he disdains to love.

For such is Heav'n's command." The youthful prince With scorn replied, and made this bold defense: "You tell me, mother, what I knew before: The Phrygian fleet is landed on the sh.o.r.e.

I neither fear nor will provoke the war; My fate is Juno's most peculiar care.

But time has made you dote, and vainly tell Of arms imagin'd in your lonely cell.

Go; be the temple and the G.o.ds your care; Permit to men the thought of peace and war."

These haughty words Alecto's rage provoke, And frighted Turnus trembled as she spoke.

Her eyes grow stiffen'd, and with sulphur burn; Her hideous looks and h.e.l.lish form return; Her curling snakes with hissings fill the place, And open all the furies of her face: Then, darting fire from her malignant eyes, She cast him backward as he strove to rise, And, ling'ring, sought to frame some new replies.

High on her head she rears two twisted snakes, Her chains she rattles, and her whip she shakes; And, churning b.l.o.o.d.y foam, thus loudly speaks: "Behold whom time has made to dote, and tell Of arms imagin'd in her lonely cell!

Behold the Fates' infernal minister!

War, death, destruction, in my hand I bear."

Thus having said, her smold'ring torch, impress'd With her full force, she plung'd into his breast.

Aghast he wak'd; and, starting from his bed, Cold sweat, in clammy drops, his limbs o'erspread.

"Arms! arms!" he cries: "my sword and shield prepare!"

He breathes defiance, blood, and mortal war.

So, when with crackling flames a caldron fries, The bubbling waters from the bottom rise: Above the brims they force their fiery way; Black vapors climb aloft, and cloud the day.

The peace polluted thus, a chosen band He first commissions to the Latian land, In threat'ning emba.s.sy; then rais'd the rest, To meet in arms th' intruding Trojan guest, To force the foes from the Lavinian sh.o.r.e, And Italy's indanger'd peace restore.

Himself alone an equal match he boasts, To fight the Phrygian and Ausonian hosts.

The G.o.ds invok'd, the Rutuli prepare Their arms, and warn each other to the war.

His beauty these, and those his blooming age, The rest his house and his own fame ingage.

While Turnus urges thus his enterprise, The Stygian Fury to the Trojans flies; New frauds invents, and takes a steepy stand, Which overlooks the vale with wide command; Where fair Ascanius and his youthful train, With horns and hounds, a hunting match ordain, And pitch their toils around the shady plain.

The Fury fires the pack; they snuff, they vent, And feed their hungry nostrils with the scent.

'Twas of a well-grown stag, whose antlers rise High o'er his front; his beams invade the skies.

From this light cause th' infernal maid prepares The country churls to mischief, hate, and wars.

The stately beast the two Tyrrhidae bred, s.n.a.t.c.h'd from his dams, and the tame youngling fed.

Their father Tyrrheus did his fodder bring, Tyrrheus, chief ranger to the Latian king: Their sister Silvia cherish'd with her care The little wanton, and did wreaths prepare To hang his budding horns, with ribbons tied His tender neck, and comb'd his silken hide, And bathed his body. Patient of command In time he grew, and, growing us'd to hand, He waited at his master's board for food; Then sought his salvage kindred in the wood, Where grazing all the day, at night he came To his known lodgings, and his country dame.

This household beast, that us'd the woodland grounds, Was view'd at first by the young hero's hounds, As down the stream he swam, to seek retreat In the cool waters, and to quench his heat.

Ascanius young, and eager of his game, Soon bent his bow, uncertain in his aim; But the dire fiend the fatal arrow guides, Which pierc'd his bowels thro' his panting sides.

The bleeding creature issues from the floods, Possess'd with fear, and seeks his known abodes, His old familiar hearth and household G.o.ds.

He falls; he fills the house with heavy groans, Implores their pity, and his pain bemoans.

Young Silvia beats her breast, and cries aloud For succor from the clownish neighborhood: The churls a.s.semble; for the fiend, who lay In the close woody covert, urg'd their way.

One with a brand yet burning from the flame, Arm'd with a knotty club another came: Whate'er they catch or find, without their care, Their fury makes an instrument of war.

Tyrrheus, the foster father of the beast, Then clench'd a hatchet in his h.o.r.n.y fist, But held his hand from the descending stroke, And left his wedge within the cloven oak, To whet their courage and their rage provoke.

And now the G.o.ddess, exercis'd in ill, Who watch'd an hour to work her impious will, Ascends the roof, and to her crooked horn, Such as was then by Latian shepherds borne, Adds all her breath: the rocks and woods around, And mountains, tremble at th' infernal sound.

The sacred lake of Trivia from afar, The Veline fountains, and sulphureous Nar, Shake at the baleful blast, the signal of the war.

Young mothers wildly stare, with fear possess'd, And strain their helpless infants to their breast.

The clowns, a boist'rous, rude, ungovern'd crew, With furious haste to the loud summons flew.

The pow'rs of Troy, then issuing on the plain, With fresh recruits their youthful chief sustain: Not theirs a raw and unexperienc'd train, But a firm body of embattled men.

At first, while fortune favor'd neither side, The fight with clubs and burning brands was tried; But now, both parties reinforc'd, the fields Are bright with flaming swords and brazen shields.

A shining harvest either host displays, And shoots against the sun with equal rays.

Thus, when a black-brow'd gust begins to rise, White foam at first on the curl'd ocean fries; Then roars the main, the billows mount the skies; Till, by the fury of the storm full blown, The muddy bottom o'er the clouds is thrown.

First Almon falls, old Tyrrheus' eldest care, Pierc'd with an arrow from the distant war: Fix'd in his throat the flying weapon stood, And stopp'd his breath, and drank his vital blood Huge heaps of slain around the body rise: Among the rest, the rich Galesus lies; A good old man, while peace he preach'd in vain, Amidst the madness of th' unruly train: Five herds, five bleating flocks, his pastures fill'd; His lands a hundred yoke of oxen till'd.

Thus, while in equal scales their fortune stood The Fury bath'd them in each other's blood; Then, having fix'd the fight, exulting flies, And bears fulfill'd her promise to the skies.

To Juno thus she speaks: "Behold! It is done, The blood already drawn, the war begun; The discord is complete; nor can they cease The dire debate, nor you command the peace.

Now, since the Latian and the Trojan brood Have tasted vengeance and the sweets of blood; Speak, and my pow'r shall add this office more: The neighb'ing nations of th' Ausonian sh.o.r.e Shall hear the dreadful rumor, from afar, Of arm'd invasion, and embrace the war."

Then Juno thus: "The grateful work is done, The seeds of discord sow'd, the war begun; Frauds, fears, and fury have possess'd the state, And fix'd the causes of a lasting hate.

A b.l.o.o.d.y Hymen shall th' alliance join Betwixt the Trojan and Ausonian line: But thou with speed to night and h.e.l.l repair; For not the G.o.ds, nor angry Jove, will bear Thy lawless wand'ring walks in upper air.

Leave what remains to me." Saturnia said: The sullen fiend her sounding wings display'd, Unwilling left the light, and sought the nether shade.

In midst of Italy, well known to fame, There lies a lake (Amsanctus is the name) Below the lofty mounts: on either side Thick forests the forbidden entrance hide.

Full in the center of the sacred wood An arm arises of the Stygian flood, Which, breaking from beneath with bellowing sound, Whirls the black waves and rattling stones around.

Here Pluto pants for breath from out his cell, And opens wide the grinning jaws of h.e.l.l.

To this infernal lake the Fury flies; Here hides her hated head, and frees the lab'ring skies.

Saturnian Juno now, with double care, Attends the fatal process of the war.

The clowns, return'd, from battle bear the slain, Implore the G.o.ds, and to their king complain.

The corps of Almon and the rest are shown; Shrieks, clamors, murmurs, fill the frighted town.

Ambitious Turnus in the press appears, And, aggravating crimes, augments their fears; Proclaims his private injuries aloud, A solemn promise made, and disavow'd; A foreign son is sought, and a mix'd mungril brood.

Then they, whose mothers, frantic with their fear, In woods and wilds the flags of Bacchus bear, And lead his dances with dishevel'd hair, Increase the clamor, and the war demand, (Such was Amata's interest in the land,) Against the public sanctions of the peace, Against all omens of their ill success.

With fates averse, the rout in arms resort, To force their monarch, and insult the court.

But, like a rock unmov'd, a rock that braves The raging tempest and the rising waves- Propp'd on himself he stands; his solid sides Wash off the seaweeds, and the sounding tides- So stood the pious prince, unmov'd, and long Sustain'd the madness of the noisy throng.

But, when he found that Juno's pow'r prevail'd, And all the methods of cool counsel fail'd, He calls the G.o.ds to witness their offense, Disclaims the war, a.s.serts his innocence.

"Hurried by fate," he cries, "and borne before A furious wind, we have the faithful sh.o.r.e.