The Trojans beaten by the flood and ruin from heaven sent.

  But Juno’s guile and wrathful heart her brother knew full well: 130

  So East and West he called to him, and spake such words to tell:

  “What mighty pride of race of yours hath hold upon your minds,

  That earth and sea ye turmoil so without my will, O winds;

  That such upheaval and so great ye dare without my will?

  Whom I — But first it comes to hand the troubled flood to still:

  For such-like fault henceforward though with nought so light ye pay.

  Go get you gone, and look to it this to your king to say:

  That ocean’s realm and three-tined spear of dread are given by Fate

  Not unto him but unto me? he holds the cliffs o’ergreat,

  Thine houses, Eurus; in that hall I bid him then be bold, 140

  Thine Æolus, and lord it o’er his winds in barred hold.”

  So saying and swifter than his word he layed the troubled main,

  And put to flight the gathered clouds, and brought the sun again;

  And with him Triton fell to work, and fair Cymothoë,

  And thrust the ships from spiky rocks; with triple spear wrought he

  To lift, and opened swallowing sands, and laid the waves alow.

  Then on light wheels o’er ocean’s face soft gliding did he go.

  And, like as mid a people great full often will arise

  Huge riot, and all the low-born herd to utter anger flies,

  And sticks and stones are in the air, and fury arms doth find: 150

  Then, setting eyes perchance on one of weight for noble mind,

  And noble deeds, they hush them then and stand with pricked-up ears,

  And he with words becomes their lord, and smooth their anger wears;

  — In such wise fell all clash of sea when that sea-father rose,

  And looked abroad: who turned his steeds, and giving rein to those,

  Flew forth in happy-gliding car through heaven’s all-open way.

  Æneas’ sore forewearied host the shores that nearest lay

  Stretch out for o’er the sea, and turn to Libyan land this while.

  There goes a long firth of the sea, made haven by an isle, 159

  Against whose sides thrust out abroad each wave the main doth send

  Is broken, and must cleave itself through hollow bights to wend:

  Huge rocks on this hand and on that, twin horns of cliff, cast dread

  On very heaven; and far and wide beneath each mighty head

  Hushed are the harmless waters; lo, the flickering wood above

  And wavering shadow cast adown by darksome hanging grove:

  In face hereof a cave there is of rocks o’erhung, made meet

  With benches of the living stone and springs of water sweet,

  The house of Nymphs: a-riding there may way-worn ships be bold

  To lie without the hawser’s strain or anchor’s hookèd hold.

  That bight with seven of all his tale of ships Æneas gained, 170

  And there, by mighty love of land the Trojans sore constrained,

  Leap off-board straight, and gain the gift of that so longed-for sand,

  And lay their limbs with salt sea fouled adown upon the strand:

  And first Achates smote alive the spark from out the flint,

  And caught the fire in tinder-leaves, and never gift did stint

  Of feeding dry; and flame enow in kindled stuff he woke;

  Then Ceres’ body spoilt with sea, and Ceres’ arms they took,

  And sped the matter spent with toil, and fruit of furrows found

  They set about to parch with fire and ‘twixt of stones to pound.

  Meanwhile Æneas scaled the cliff and far and wide he swept 180

  The main, if anywhere perchance the sea his Antheus kept,

  Tossed by the wind, if he might see the twi-banked Phrygians row;

  If Capys, or Caïcus’ arms on lofty deck might show.

  Nor any ship there was in sight, but on the strand he saw

  Three stags a-wandering at their will, and after them they draw

  The whole herd following down the dales long strung out as they feed:

  So still he stood, and caught in hand his bow and shafts of speed,

  The weapons that Achates staunch was bearing then and oft;

  And first the very lords of those, that bore their heads aloft

  With branching horns, he felled, and then the common sort, and so 190

  Their army drave he with his darts through leafy woods to go:

  Nor held his hand till on the earth were seven great bodies strown,

  And each of all his ships might have one head of deer her own.

  Thence to the haven gat he gone with all his folk to share,

  And that good wine which erst the casks Acestes made to bear,

  And gave them as they went away on that Trinacrian beach,

  He shared about; then fell to soothe their grieving hearts with speech:

  “O fellows, we are used ere now by evil ways to wend;

  O ye who erst bore heavier loads, this too the Gods shall end.

  Ye, ye have drawn nigh Scylla’s rage and rocks that inly roar, 200

  And run the risk of storm of stones upon the Cyclops’ shore:

  Come, call aback your ancient hearts and put your fears away!

  This too shall be for joy to you remembered on a day.

  Through diverse haps, through many risks wherewith our way is strown,

  We get us on to Latium, the land the Fates have shown

  To be for peaceful seats for us: there may we raise up Troy.

  Abide, endure, and keep yourselves for coming days of joy.”

  So spake his voice: but his sick heart did mighty trouble rack,

  As, glad of countenance, he thrust the heavy anguish back.

  But they fall to upon the prey, and feast that was to dight, 210

  And flay the hide from off the ribs, and bare the flesh to sight.

  Some cut it quivering into steaks which on the spits they run,

  Some feed the fire upon the shore, and set the brass thereon.

  And so meat bringeth might again, and on the grass thereby,

  Fulfilled with fat of forest deer and ancient wine, they lie.

  But when all hunger was appeased and tables set aside,

  Of missing fellows how they fared the talk did long abide;

  Whom, weighing hope and weighing fear, either alive they trow,

  Or that the last and worst has come, that called they hear not now.

  And chief of all the pious King Æneas moaned the pass 220

  Of brisk Orontes, Amycus, and cruel fate that was

  Of Lycus, and of Bias strong, and strong Cloanthus gone.

  But now an end of all there was, when Jove a-looking down

  From highest lift on sail-skimmed sea, and lands that round it lie,

  And shores and many folk about, in topmost burg of sky

  Stood still, and fixed the eyes of God on Libya’s realm at last:

  To whom, as through his breast and mind such cares of godhead passed,

  Spake Venus, sadder than her due with bright eyes gathering tears:

  “O thou, who rulest with a realm that hath no days nor years,

  Both Gods and men, and mak’st them fear thy thunder lest it fall, 230

  What then hath mine Æneas done so great a crime to call?

  What might have Trojan men to sin? So many deaths they bore

  ‘Gainst whom because of Italy is shut the wide world’s door.

  Was it not surely promised me that as the years rolled round

  The blood of Teucer come again should spring from out the ground,

  The Roman folk, such very lords, that all the earth and sea

  Their sway should compass? Father, doth the counsel shift in thee?

  This thing indeed atoned to me for Troy in ashes laid,

  And all the miserable end, as fate ‘gainst fate I weighed:

  But now the self-same fortune dogs men by such troubles driven 240

  So oft and oft. What end of toil then giv’st thou, King of heaven?

  Antenor was of might enow to ‘scape the Achæan host,

  And safe to reach the Illyrian gulf and pierce Liburnia’s coast,

  And through the inmost realms thereof to pass Timavus’ head,

  Whence through nine mouths midst mountain roar is that wild water shed,

  To cast itself on fields below with all its sounding sea:

  And there he made Patavium’s town and Teucrian seats to be,

  And gave the folk their very name and Trojan arms did raise:

  Now settled in all peace and rest he passeth quiet days.

  But we, thy children, unto whom thou giv’st with bowing head 250

  The heights of heaven, our ships are lost, and we, O shame! betrayed,

  Are driven away from Italy for anger but of one.

  Is this the good man’s guerdon then? is this the promised throne?”

  The Sower of the Gods and men a little smiled on her

  With such a countenance as calms the storms and upper air;

  He kissed his daughter on the lips, and spake such words to tell:

  “O Cytherean, spare thy dread! unmoved the Fates shall dwell

  Of thee and thine, and thou shalt see the promised city yet,

  E’en that Lavinium’s walls, and high amidst the stars shalt set

  Great-souled Æneas: nor in me doth aught of counsel shift 260

  But since care gnaws upon thine heart, the hidden things I lift

  Of Fate, and roll on time for thee, and tell of latter days.

  Great war he wars in Italy, and folk full wild of ways

  He weareth down, and lays on men both laws and wallèd steads,

  Till the third summer seeth him King o’er the Latin heads,

  And the third winter’s wearing brings the fierce Rutulians low.

  Thereon the lad Ascanius, Iulus by-named now,

  (And Ilus was he once of old, when Ilium’s city was,)

  Fulfilleth thirty orbs of rule with rolling months that pass,

  And from the town Lavinium shifts the dwelling of his race, 270

  And maketh Alba-town the Long a mighty fencèd place.

  Here when for thrice an hundred years untouched the land hath been

  Beneath the rule of Hector’s folk, lo Ilia, priestess-queen,

  Goes heavy with the love of Mars, and bringeth twins to birth.

  ‘Neath yellow hide of foster-wolf thence, mighty in his mirth,

  Comes Romulus to bear the folk, and Mavors’ walls to frame,

  And by the word himself was called the Roman folk to name.

  On them I lay no bonds of time, no bonds of earthly part;

  I give them empire without end: yea, Juno, hard of heart,

  Who wearieth now with fear of her the heavens and earth and sea, 280

  Shall gather better counsel yet, and cherish them with me;

  The Roman folk, the togaed men, lords of all worldly ways.

  Such is the doom. As weareth time there come those other days,

  Wherein Assaracus shall bind Mycenæ of renown,

  And Phthia, and shall lord it o’er the Argives beaten down.

  Then shall a Trojan Cæsar come from out a lovely name,

  The ocean-stream shall bound his rule, the stars of heaven his fame,

  Julius his name from him of old, the great Iulus sent:

  Him too in house of heaven one day ‘neath spoils of Eastlands bent

  Thou, happy, shalt receive; he too shall have the prayers of men. 290

  The wars of old all laid aside, the hard world bettereth then,

  And Vesta and the hoary Faith, Quirinus and his twin

  Now judge the world; the dreadful doors of War now shut within

  Their iron bolts and strait embrace the godless Rage of folk,

  Who, pitiless, on weapons set, and bound in brazen yoke

  Of hundred knots aback of him foams fell from bloody mouth.”

  Such words he spake, and from aloft he sent down Maia’s youth

  To cause the lands and Carthage towers new-built to open gate

  And welcome in the Teucrian men; lest Dido, fooled of fate, 299

  Should drive them from her country-side. The unmeasured air he beat

  With flap of wings, and speedily in Libya set his feet:

  And straightway there his bidding wrought, and from the Tyrians fall,

  God willing it, their hearts of war; and Dido first of all

  Took peace for Teucrians to her soul, and quiet heart and kind.

  Now good Æneas through the night had many things in mind,

  And set himself to fare abroad at first of holy day

  To search the new land what it was, and on what shore he lay

  Driven by the wind; if manfolk there abode, or nought but deer,

  (For waste it seemed), and tidings true back to his folk to bear.

  So in that hollow bight of groves beneath the cavern cleft, 310

  All hidden by the leafy trees and quavering shades, he left

  His ships: and he himself afoot went with Achates lone,

  Shaking in hand two slender spears with broad-beat iron done.

  But as he reached the thicket’s midst his mother stood before,

  Who virgin face, and virgin arms, and virgin habit bore,

  A Spartan maid; or like to her who tames the Thracian horse,

  Harpalyce, and flies before the hurrying Hebrus’ course.

  For huntress-wise on shoulder she had hung the handy bow,

  And given all her hair abroad for any wind to blow,

  And, naked-kneed, her kirtle long had gathered in a lap: 320

  She spake the first:

  “Ho youths,” she said, “tell me by any hap

  If of my sisters any one ye saw a wandering wide

  With quiver girt, and done about with lynx’s spotted hide,

  Or following of the foaming boar with shouts and eager feet?”

  So Venus; and so Venus’ son began her words to meet:

  “I have not seen, nor have I heard thy sisters nigh this place,

  O maid: — and how to call thee then? for neither is thy face

  Of mortals, nor thy voice of men: O very Goddess thou!

  What! Phoebus’ sister? or of nymphs whom shall I call thee now?

  But whosoe’er thou be, be kind and lighten us our toil, 330

  And teach us where beneath the heavens, which spot of earthly soil

  We are cast forth; unlearned of men, unlearned of land we stray,

  By might of wind and billows huge here driven from out our way.

  Our right hands by thine altar-horns shall fell full many a host.”

  Spake Venus: “Nowise am I worth so much of honour’s cost:

  The Tyrian maids are wont to bear the quiver even as I,

  And even so far upon the leg the purple shoe-thong tie.

  The Punic realm thou seest here, Agenor’s town and folk,

  But set amidst of Libyan men unused to bear the yoke.

  Dido is Lady of the Land, who fled from Tyre the old, 340

  And from her brother: weary long were all the ill deed told,

  And long its winding ways, but I light-foot will overpass.

  Her husband was Sychæus hight, of land most rich he was

  Of all Phoenicians: she, poor wretch! loved him with mighty love,

  Whose father gave her, maid, to him, and first the rites did move

  Of wedlock: but as King of Tyre her brother did abide,

  Pygmalion, more swollen up in sin than any man beside:

  Mad hatred yoked the twain of them, he blind with golden lust,

  Godless with stroke of iron laid Sychæus in the dust

  Unwares before the altar-horns; nor of the love did reck 350

  His sister had, but with vain hope played on the lover sick,

  And made a host of feignings false, and hid the matter long.

  Till in her sleep the image came of that unburied wrong,

  Her husband dead; in wondrous wise his face was waxen pale:

  His breast with iron smitten through, the altar of his bale,

  The hooded sin of evil house, to her he open laid,

  And speedily to flee away from fatherland he bade;

  And for the help of travel showed earth’s hidden wealth of old,

  A mighty mass that none might tell of silver and of gold.

  Sore moved hereby did Dido straight her flight and friends prepare: 360

  They meet together, such as are or driven by biting fear,

  Or bitter hatred of the wretch: such ships as hap had dight

  They fall upon and lade with gold; forth fare the treasures bright

  Of wretch Pygmalion o’er the sea, a woman first therein.

  And so they come unto the place where ye may see begin

  The towers of Carthage, and the walls new built that mighty grow,

  And bought the Byrsa-field good cheap, as still the name shall show,

  So much of land as one bull’s hide might scantly go about

  — But ye forsooth, what men are ye, from what land fare ye out,

  And whither go ye on your ways?” 370

  Her questioning in speech

  He answered, and a heavy sigh from inmost heart did reach:

  “O Goddess, might I tread again first footsteps of our way,

  And if the annals of our toil thine hearkening ears might stay,

  Yet Vesper first on daylight dead should shut Olympus’ door.

  From Troy the old, if yet perchance your ears have felt before

  That name go by, do we come forth, and, many a water past,

  A chance-come storm hath drifted us on Libyan shores at last.

  I am Æneas, God-lover; I snatched forth from the foe

  My Gods to bear aboard with me, a fame for heaven to know.

  I seek the Italian fatherland, and Jove-descended line; 380

  Twice ten the ships were that I manned upon the Phrygian brine,

  My Goddess-mother led the way, we followed fate god-given;

  And now scarce seven are left to me by wave and east-wind riven;

  And I through Libyan deserts stray, a man unknown and poor,

 

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