2. Ovid, Fasti, 3.460, 3.471-3.473, 3.511-3.513, 6.474-6.648 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 3.460. She’d already happily exchanged that faithless spouse for Bacchus 3.471. Behold again you sands, how you receive my tears! 3.472. I remember I used to say: “Perjured, faithless Theseus!” 3.473. He abandoned me: now Bacchus commits the same crime. 3.511. Since, transmuted, you will be called Libera: 3.512. And there’ll be a memory of your crown beside you 3.513. The crown Vulcan gave to Venus, and she to you.’ 6.474. And the vigilant Morning Star leaves the Eastern waters. 6.475. Good mothers (since the Matralia is your festival) 6.476. Go, offer the Theban goddess the golden cakes she’s owed. 6.477. Near the bridges and mighty Circus is a famous square 6.478. One that takes its name from the statue of an ox: 6.479. There, on this day, they say, Servius with his own 6.480. Royal hands, consecrated a temple to Mother Matruta. 6.481. Bacchus, whose hair is twined with clustered grapes 6.482. If the goddess’ house is also yours, guide the poet’s work 6.483. Regarding who the goddess is, and why she exclude 6.484. (Since she does) female servants from the threshold 6.485. of her temple, and why she calls for toasted cakes. 6.486. Semele was burnt by Jove’s compliance: Ino 6.487. Received you as a baby, and nursed you with utmost care. 6.488. Juno swelled with rage, that Ino should raise a child 6.489. Snatched from Jove’s lover: but it was her sister’s son. 6.490. So Athamas was haunted by the Furies, and false visions 6.491. And little Learchus died by his father’s hand. 6.492. His grieving mother committed his shade to the tomb. 6.493. And paid the honours due to the sad pyre. 6.494. Then tearing her hair in sorrow, she leapt up 6.495. And snatched you from your cradle, Melicertes. 6.496. There’s a narrow headland between two seas 6.497. A single space attacked by twofold waves: 6.498. There Ino came, clutching her son in her frenzied grasp 6.499. And threw herself, with him, from a high cliff into the sea. 6.500. Panope and her hundred sisters received them unharmed 6.501. And gliding smoothly carried them through their realm. 6.502. They reached the mouth of densely eddying Tiber 6.503. Before they became Leucothea and Palaemon. 6.504. There was a grove: known either as Semele’s or Stimula’s: 6.505. Inhabited, they say, by Italian Maenads. 6.506. Ino, asking them their nation, learned they were Arcadians 6.507. And that Evander was the king of the place. 6.508. Hiding her divinity, Saturn’s daughter cleverly 6.509. Incited the Latian Bacchae with deceiving words: 6.510. ‘O too-easy-natured ones, caught by every feeling! 6.511. This stranger comes, but not as a friend, to our gathering. 6.512. She’s treacherous, and would learn our sacred rites: 6.513. But she has a child on whom we can wreak punishment.’ 6.514. She’d scarcely ended when the Thyiads, hair streaming 6.515. Over their necks, filled the air with their howling 6.516. Laid hands on Ino, and tried to snatch the boy. 6.517. She invoked gods with names as yet unknown to her: 6.518. ‘Gods, and men, of this land, help a wretched mother!’ 6.519. Her cry carried to the neighbouring Aventine. 6.520. Oetaean Hercules having driven the Iberian cattle 6.521. To the riverbank, heard and hurried towards the voice. 6.522. As he arrived, the women who’d been ready for violence 6.523. Shamefully turned their backs in cowardly flight. 6.524. ‘What are you doing here,’ said Hercules (recognising her) 6.525. ‘Sister of Bacchus’ mother? Does Juno persecute you too?’ 6.526. She told him part of her tale, suppressing the rest because of her son: 6.527. Ashamed to have been goaded to crime by the Furies. 6.528. Rumour, so swift, flew on beating wings 6.529. And your name was on many a lip, Ino. 6.530. It’s said you entered loyal Carmentis’ home 6.531. As a guest, and assuaged your great hunger: 6.532. They say the Tegean priestess quickly made cake 6.533. With her own hands, and baked them on the hearth. 6.534. Now cakes delight the goddess at the Matralia: 6.535. Country ways pleased her more than art’s attentions. 6.536. ‘Now, O prophetess,’ she said, ‘reveal my future fate 6.537. As far as is right. Add this, I beg, to your hospitality.’ 6.538. A pause ensued. Then the prophetess assumed divine powers 6.539. And her whole breast filled with the presence of the god: 6.540. You’d hardly have known her then, so much taller 6.541. And holier she’d become than a moment before. 6.542. ‘I sing good news, Ino,’ she said, ‘your trials are over 6.543. Be a blessing to your people for evermore. 6.544. You’ll be a sea goddess, and your son will inhabit ocean. 6.545. Take different names now, among your own waves: 6.546. Greeks will call you Leucothea, our people Matuta: 6.547. Your son will have complete command of harbours 6.548. We’ll call him Portunus, Palaemon in his own tongue. 6.549. Go, and both be friends, I beg you, of our country!’ 6.550. Ino nodded, and gave her promise. Their trials were over 6.551. They changed their names: he’s a god and she’s a goddess. 6.552. You ask why she forbids the approach of female servants? 6.553. She hates them: by her leave I’ll sing the reason for her hate. 6.554. Daughter of Cadmus, one of your maid 6.555. Was often embraced by your husband. 6.556. Faithless Athamas secretly enjoyed her: he learned 6.557. From her that you gave the farmers parched seed. 6.558. You yourself denied it, but rumour confirmed it. 6.559. That’s why you hate the service of a maid. 6.560. But let no loving mother pray to her, for her child: 6.561. She herself proved an unfortunate parent. 6.562. Better command her to help another’s child: 6.563. She was more use to Bacchus than her own. 6.564. They say she asked you, Rutilius, ‘Where are you rushing? 6.565. As consul you’ll fall to the Marsian enemy on my day.’ 6.566. Her words were fulfilled, the Tolenu 6.567. Flowed purple, its waters mixed with blood. 6.568. The following year, Didius, killed on the same 6.569. Day, doubled the enemy’s strength. 6.570. Fortuna, the same day is yours, your temple 6.571. Founded by the same king, in the same place. 6.572. And whose is that statue hidden under draped robes? 6.573. It’s Servius, that’s for sure, but different reason 6.574. Are given for the drapes, and I’m in doubt. 6.575. When the goddess fearfully confessed to a secret love 6.576. Ashamed, since she’s immortal, to mate with a man 6.577. (For she burned, seized with intense passion for the king 6.578. And he was the only man she wasn’t blind to) 6.579. She used to enter his palace at night by a little window: 6.580. So that the gate bears the name Fenestella. 6.581. She’s still ashamed, and hides the beloved feature 6.582. Under cloth: the king’s face being covered by a robe. 6.583. Or is it rather that, after his murder, the people 6.584. Were bewildered by their gentle leader’s death 6.585. Their grief swelling, endlessly, at the sight 6.586. of the statue, until they hid him under robes? 6.587. I must sing at greater length of a third reason 6.588. Though I’ll still keep my team on a tight rein. 6.589. Having secured her marriage by crime, Tullia 6.590. Used to incite her husband with words like these: 6.591. ‘What use if we’re equally matched, you by my sister’ 6.592. Murder, I by your brother’s, in leading a virtuous life? 6.593. Better that my husband and your wife had lived 6.594. Than that we shrink from greater achievement. 6.595. I offer my father’s life and realm as my dower: 6.596. If you’re a man, go take the dower I speak of. 6.597. Crime is the mark of kingship. Kill your wife’s father 6.598. Seize the kingdom, dip our hands in my father’s blood.’ 6.599. Urged on be such words, though a private citizen 6.600. He usurped the high throne: the people, stunned, took up arms. 6.601. With blood and slaughter the weak old man was defeated: 6.602. Tarquin the Proud snatched his father-in-law’s sceptre. 6.603. Servius himself fell bleeding to the hard earth 6.604. At the foot of the Esquiline, site of his palace. 6.605. His daughter, driving to her father’s home 6.606. Rode through the streets, erect and haughty. 6.607. When her driver saw the king’s body, he halted 6.608. In tears. She reproved him in these terms: 6.609. ‘Go on, or do you seek the bitter fruits of virtue? 6.610. Drive the unwilling wheels, I say, over his face.’ 6.611. A certain proof of this is Evil Street, named 6.612. After her, while eternal infamy marks the deed. 6.613. Yet she still dared to visit her father’s temple 6.614. His monument: what I tell is strange but true. 6.615. There was a statue enthroned, an image of Servius: 6.616. They say it put a hand to its eyes 6.617. And a voice was heard: ‘Hide my face 6.618. Lest it view my own wicked daughter.’ 6.619. It was veiled by cloth, Fortune refused to let the robe 6.620. Be removed, and she herself spoke from her temple: 6.621. ‘The day when Servius’ face is next revealed 6.622. Will be a day when shame is cast aside.’ 6.623. Women, beware of touching the forbidden cloth 6.624. (It’s sufficient to utter prayers in solemn tones) 6.625. And let him who was the City’s seventh king 6.626. Keep his head covered, forever, by this veil. 6.627. The temple once burned: but the fire spared 6.628. The statue: Mulciber himself preserved his son. 6.629. For Servius’ father was Vulcan, and the lovely 6.630. Ocresia of Corniculum his mother. 6.631. Once, performing sacred rites with her in the due manner 6.632. Tanaquil ordered her to pour wine on the garlanded hearth: 6.633. There was, or seemed to be, the form of a male organ 6.634. In the ashes: the shape was really there in fact. 6.635. The captive girl sat on the hearth, as commanded: 6.636. She conceived Servius, born of divine seed. 6.637. His father showed his paternity by touching the child’ 6.638. Head with fire, and a cap of flames glowed on his hair. 6.639. And Livia, this day dedicated a magnificent shrine to you 6.640. Concordia, that she offered to her dear husband. 6.641. Learn this, you age to come: where Livia’s Colonnade 6.642. Now stands, there was once a vast palace. 6.643. A site that was like a city: it occupied a space 6.644. Larger than that of many a walled town. 6.645. It was levelled to the soil, not because of its owner’s treason 6.646. But because its excess was considered harmful. 6.647. Caesar counteced the demolition of such a mass 6.648. Destroying its great wealth to which he was heir. |
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5. Vergil, Aeneis, 4.666, 5.604-5.699, 6.35-6.155, 7.104-7.105, 7.385-7.405, 8.1-8.369, 8.513-8.519, 10.515-10.517 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 4.666. “I know a way—O, wish thy sister joy!— 5.604. in soothing words: “Ill-starred! What mad attempt 5.605. is in thy mind? Will not thy heart confess 5.606. thy strength surpassed, and auspices averse? 5.607. Submit, for Heaven decrees!” With such wise words 5.608. he sundered the fell strife. But trusty friends 5.609. bore Dares off: his spent limbs helpless trailed 5.610. his head he could not lift, and from his lips 5.611. came blood and broken teeth. So to the ship 5.612. they bore him, taking, at Aeneas' word 5.613. the helmet and the sword—but left behind 5.614. Entellus' prize of victory, the bull. 5.615. He, then, elate and glorying, spoke forth: 5.616. “See, goddess-born, and all ye Teucrians, see 5.617. what strength was mine in youth, and from what death 5.618. ye have clelivered Dares.” Saying so 5.619. he turned him full front to the bull, who stood 5.620. for reward of the fight, and, drawing back 5.621. his right hand, poising the dread gauntlet high 5.622. wung sheer between the horns and crushed the skull; 5.623. a trembling, lifeless creature, to the ground 5.624. the bull dropped forward dead. Above the fallen 5.625. Entellus cried aloud, “This victim due 5.626. I give thee, Eryx, more acceptable 5.627. than Dares' death to thy benigt shade. 5.628. For this last victory and joyful day 5.630. Forthwith Aeneas summons all who will 5.631. to contest of swift arrows, and displays 5.632. reward and prize. With mighty hand he rears 5.633. a mast within th' arena, from the ship 5.634. of good Sergestus taken; and thereto 5.635. a fluttering dove by winding cord is bound 5.636. for target of their shafts. Soon to the match 5.637. the rival bowmen came and cast the lots 5.638. into a brazen helmet. First came forth 5.639. Hippocoon's number, son of Hyrtacus 5.640. by cheers applauded; Mnestheus was the next 5.641. late victor in the ship-race, Mnestheus crowned 5.642. with olive-garland; next Eurytion 5.643. brother of thee, O bowman most renowned 5.644. Pandarus, breaker of the truce, who hurled 5.645. his shaft upon the Achaeans, at the word 5.646. the goddess gave. Acestes' Iot and name 5.647. came from the helmet last, whose royal hand 5.648. the deeds of youth dared even yet to try. 5.649. Each then with strong arm bends his pliant bow 5.650. each from the quiver plucks a chosen shaft. 5.651. First, with loud arrow whizzing from the string 5.652. the young Hippocoon with skyward aim 5.653. cuts through the yielding air; and lo! his barb 5.654. pierces the very wood, and makes the mast 5.655. tremble; while with a fluttering, frighted wing 5.656. the bird tugs hard,—and plaudits fill the sky. 5.657. Boldly rose Mnestheus, and with bow full-drawn 5.658. aimed both his eye and shaft aloft; but he 5.659. failing, unhappy man, to bring his barb 5.660. up to the dove herself, just cut the cord 5.661. and broke the hempen bond, whereby her feet 5.662. were captive to the tree: she, taking flight 5.663. clove through the shadowing clouds her path of air. 5.664. But swiftly—for upon his waiting bow 5.665. he held a shaft in rest—Eurytion 5.666. invoked his brother's shade, and, marking well 5.667. the dove, whose happy pinions fluttered free 5.668. in vacant sky, pierced her, hard by a cloud; 5.669. lifeless she fell, and left in light of heaven 5.670. her spark of life, as, floating down, she bore 5.671. the arrow back to earth. Acestes now 5.672. remained, last rival, though the victor's palm 5.673. to him was Iost; yet did the aged sire 5.674. to show his prowess and resounding bow 5.675. hurl forth one shaft in air; then suddenly 5.676. all eyes beheld such wonder as portends 5.677. events to be (but when fulfilment came 5.678. too late the fearful seers its warning sung): 5.679. for, soaring through the stream of cloud, his shaft 5.680. took fire, tracing its bright path in flame 5.681. then vanished on the wind,—as oft a star 5.682. will fall unfastened from the firmament 5.683. while far behind its blazing tresses flow. 5.684. Awe-struck both Trojan and Trinacrian stood 5.685. calling upon the gods. Nor came the sign 5.686. in vain to great Aeneas. But his arms 5.687. folded the blest Acestes to his heart 5.688. and, Ioading him with noble gifts, he cried: 5.689. “Receive them, sire! The great Olympian King 5.690. ome peerless honor to thy name decrees 5.691. by such an omen given. I offer thee 5.692. this bowl with figures graven, which my sire 5.693. good gray Anchises, for proud gift received 5.694. of Thracian Cisseus, for their friendship's pledge 5.695. and memory evermore.” Thereon he crowned 5.696. his brows with garland of the laurel green 5.697. and named Acestes victor over all. 5.698. Nor could Eurytion, noble youth, think ill 5.699. of honor which his own surpassed, though he 6.35. And Queen Pasiphae's brute-human son 6.36. The Minotaur—of monstrous loves the sign. 6.37. Here was the toilsome, labyrinthine maze 6.38. Where, pitying love-lorn Ariadne's tears 6.39. The crafty Daedalus himself betrayed 6.40. The secret of his work; and gave the clue 6.41. To guide the path of Theseus through the gloom. 6.42. 0 Icarus, in such well-graven scene 6.43. How proud thy place should be! but grief forbade: 6.44. Twice in pure gold a father's fingers strove 6.45. To shape thy fall, and twice they strove in vain. 6.46. Aeneas long the various work would scan; 6.47. But now Achates comes, and by his side 6.48. Deiphobe, the Sibyl, Glaucus' child. 6.49. Thus to the prince she spoke : 6.50. “Is this thine hour 6.51. To stand and wonder? Rather go obtain 6.52. From young unbroken herd the bullocks seven 6.53. And seven yearling ewes, our wonted way.” 6.54. Thus to Aeneas; his attendants haste 6.55. To work her will; the priestess, calling loud 6.57. Deep in the face of that Euboean crag 6.58. A cavern vast is hollowed out amain 6.59. With hundred openings, a hundred mouths 6.60. Whence voices flow, the Sibyl's answering songs. 6.61. While at the door they paused, the virgin cried : 6.62. “Ask now thy doom!—the god! the god is nigh!” 6.63. So saying, from her face its color flew 6.64. Her twisted locks flowed free, the heaving breast 6.65. Swelled with her heart's wild blood; her stature seemed 6.66. Vaster, her accent more than mortal man 6.67. As all th' oncoming god around her breathed : 6.68. “On with thy vows and prayers, 0 Trojan, on! 6.69. For only unto prayer this haunted cave 6.70. May its vast lips unclose.” She spake no more. 6.71. An icy shudder through the marrow ran 6.72. of the bold Trojans; while their sacred King 6.73. Poured from his inmost soul this plaint and prayer : 6.74. “Phoebus, who ever for the woes of Troy 6.75. Hadst pitying eyes! who gavest deadly aim 6.76. To Paris when his Dardan shaft he hurled 6.77. On great Achilles! Thou hast guided me 6.78. Through many an unknown water, where the seas 6.79. Break upon kingdoms vast, and to the tribes 6.80. of the remote Massyli, whose wild land 6.81. To Syrtes spreads. But now; because at last 6.82. I touch Hesperia's ever-fleeting bound 6.83. May Troy 's ill fate forsake me from this day! 6.84. 0 gods and goddesses, beneath whose wrath 6.85. Dardania's glory and great Ilium stood 6.86. Spare, for ye may, the remt of my race! 6.87. And thou, most holy prophetess, whose soul 6.88. Foreknows events to come, grant to my prayer 6.89. (Which asks no kingdom save what Fate decrees) 6.90. That I may stablish in the Latin land 6.91. My Trojans, my far-wandering household-gods 6.92. And storm-tossed deities of fallen Troy . 6.93. Then unto Phoebus and his sister pale 6.94. A temple all of marble shall be given 6.95. And festal days to Phoebus evermore. 6.96. Thee also in my realms a spacious shrine 6.97. Shall honor; thy dark books and holy songs 6.98. I there will keep, to be my people's law; 6.99. And thee, benigt Sibyl for all time 6.100. A company of chosen priests shall serve. 6.101. O, not on leaves, light leaves, inscribe thy songs! 6.102. Lest, playthings of each breeze, they fly afar 6.103. In swift confusion! Sing thyself, I pray.” 6.104. So ceased his voice; the virgin through the cave 6.105. Scarce bridled yet by Phoebus' hand divine 6.106. Ecstatic swept along, and vainly stove 6.107. To fing its potent master from her breast; 6.108. But he more strongly plied his rein and curb 6.109. Upon her frenzied lips, and soon subdued 6.110. Her spirit fierce, and swayed her at his will. 6.111. Free and self-moved the cavern's hundred adoors 6.112. Swung open wide, and uttered to the air 6.113. The oracles the virgin-priestess sung : 6.114. “Thy long sea-perils thou hast safely passed; 6.115. But heavier woes await thee on the land. 6.116. Truly thy Trojans to Lavinian shore 6.117. Shall come—vex not thyself thereon—but, oh! 6.118. Shall rue their coming thither! war, red war! 6.119. And Tiber stained with bloody foam I see. 6.120. Simois, Xanthus, and the Dorian horde 6.121. Thou shalt behold; a new Achilles now 6.122. In Latium breathes,—he, too, of goddess born; 6.123. And Juno, burden of the sons of Troy 6.124. Will vex them ever; while thyself shalt sue 6.125. In dire distress to many a town and tribe 6.126. Through Italy ; the cause of so much ill 6.127. Again shall be a hostess-queen, again 6.128. A marriage-chamber for an alien bride. 6.129. Oh! yield not to thy woe, but front it ever 6.130. And follow boldly whither Fortune calls. 6.131. Thy way of safety, as thou least couldst dream 6.133. Thus from her shrine Cumaea's prophetess 6.134. Chanted the dark decrees; the dreadful sound 6.135. Reverberated through the bellowing cave 6.136. Commingling truth with ecstasies obscure. 6.137. Apollo, as she raged, flung loosened rein 6.138. And thrust beneath her heart a quickening spur. 6.139. When first her madness ceased, and her wild lips 6.140. Were still at last, the hero thus began : 6.141. “No tribulations new, 0 Sibyl blest 6.142. Can now confront me; every future pain 6.143. I have foretasted; my prophetic soul 6.144. Endured each stroke of fate before it fell. 6.145. One boon I ask. If of th' infernal King 6.146. This be the portal where the murky wave 6.147. of swollen Acheron o'erflows its bound 6.148. Here let me enter and behold the face 6.149. of my loved sire. Thy hand may point the way; 6.150. Thy word will open wide yon holy doors. 6.151. My father through the flames and falling spears 6.152. Straight through the centre of our foes, I bore 6.153. Upon these shoulders. My long flight he shared 6.154. From sea to sea, and suffered at my side 6.155. The anger of rude waters and dark skies,— 7.104. The King, sore troubled by these portents, sought 7.105. oracular wisdom of his sacred sire 7.385. But nay! Though flung forth from their native land 7.386. I o'er the waves, with enmity unstayed 7.387. dared give them chase, and on that exiled few 7.388. hurled the whole sea. I smote the sons of Troy 7.389. with ocean's power and heaven's. But what availed 7.390. Syrtes, or Scylla, or Charybdis' waves? 7.391. The Trojans are in Tiber ; and abide 7.392. within their prayed-for land delectable 7.393. afe from the seas and me! Mars once had power 7.394. the monstrous Lapithae to slay; and Jove 7.395. to Dian's honor and revenge gave o'er 7.396. the land of Calydon. What crime so foul 7.397. was wrought by Lapithae or Calydon? 7.398. But I, Jove's wife and Queen, who in my woes 7.399. have ventured each bold stroke my power could find 7.400. and every shift essayed,—behold me now 7.401. outdone by this Aeneas! If so weak 7.402. my own prerogative of godhead be 7.403. let me seek strength in war, come whence it will! 7.404. If Heaven I may not move, on Hell I call. 7.405. To bar him from his Latin throne exceeds 8.1. When Turnus from Laurentum's bastion proud 8.2. published the war, and roused the dreadful note 8.3. of the harsh trumpet's song; when on swift steeds 8.4. the lash he laid and clashed his sounding arms; 8.5. then woke each warrior soul; all Latium stirred 8.6. with tumult and alarm; and martial rage 8.7. enkindled youth's hot blood. The chieftains proud 8.8. Messapus, Ufens, and that foe of Heaven 8.9. Mezentius, compel from far and wide 8.10. their loyal hosts, and strip the field and farm 8.11. of husbandmen. To seek auxiliar arms 8.12. they send to glorious Diomed's domain 8.13. the herald Venulus, and bid him cry: 8.14. “ Troy is to Latium come; Aeneas' fleet 8.15. has come to land. He brings his vanquished gods 8.16. and gives himself to be our destined King. 8.17. Cities not few accept him, and his name 8.18. through Latium waxes large. But what the foe 8.19. by such attempt intends, what victory 8.20. is his presumptuous hope, if Fortune smile 8.21. Aetolia 's lord will not less wisely fear 8.23. Thus Latium 's cause moved on. Meanwhile the heir 8.24. of great Laomedon, who knew full well 8.25. the whole wide land astir, was vexed and tossed 8.26. in troubled seas of care. This way and that 8.27. his swift thoughts flew, and scanned with like dismay 8.28. each partial peril or the general storm. 8.29. Thus the vexed waters at a fountain's brim 8.30. mitten by sunshine or the silver sphere 8.31. of a reflected moon, send forth a beam 8.32. of flickering light that leaps from wall to wall 8.33. or, skyward lifted in ethereal flight 8.34. glances along some rich-wrought, vaulted dome. 8.35. Now night had fallen, and all weary things 8.36. all shapes of beast or bird, the wide world o'er 8.37. lay deep in slumber. So beneath the arch 8.38. of a cold sky Aeneas laid him down 8.39. upon the river-bank, his heart sore tried 8.40. by so much war and sorrow, and gave o'er 8.41. his body to its Iong-delayed repose. 8.42. There, 'twixt the poplars by the gentle stream 8.43. the River-Father, genius of that place 8.44. old Tiberinus visibly uprose; 8.45. a cloak of gray-green lawn he wore, his hair 8.46. o'erhung with wreath of reeds. In soothing words 8.48. “Seed of the gods! who bringest to my shore 8.49. thy Trojan city wrested from her foe 8.50. a stronghold everlasting, Latium 's plain 8.51. and fair Laurentum long have looked for thee. 8.52. Here truly is thy home. Turn not away. 8.53. Here the true guardians of thy hearth shall be. 8.54. Fear not the gathering war. The wrath of Heaven 8.55. has stilled its swollen wave. A sign I tell: 8.56. Lest thou shouldst deem this message of thy sleep 8.57. a vain, deluding dream, thou soon shalt find 8.58. in the oak-copses on my margent green 8.59. a huge sow, with her newly-littered brood 8.60. of thirty young; along the ground she lies 8.61. now-white, and round her udders her white young. 8.62. There shall thy city stand, and there thy toil 8.63. hall find untroubled rest. After the lapse 8.64. of thrice ten rolling years, Ascanius 8.65. hall found a city there of noble name 8.66. White-City, Alba; 't is no dream I sing! 8.67. But I instruct thee now by what wise way 8.68. th' impending wars may bring thee victory: 8.69. receive the counsel, though the words be few: 8.70. within this land are men of Arcady 8.71. of Pallas' line, who, following in the train 8.72. of King Evander and his men-at-arms 8.73. built them a city in the hills, and chose 8.74. (honoring Pallas, their Pelasgian sire) 8.75. the name of Pallanteum. They make war 8.76. incessant with the Latins. Therefore call 8.77. this people to thy side and bind them close 8.78. in federated power. My channel fair 8.79. and shaded shore shall guide thee where they dwell 8.80. and thy strong oarsmen on my waters borne 8.81. hall mount my falling stream. Rise, goddess-born 8.82. and ere the starlight fade give honor due 8.83. to Juno, and with supplicating vow 8.84. avert her wrath and frown. But unto me 8.85. make offering in thy victorious hour 8.86. in time to come. I am the copious flood 8.87. which thou beholdest chafing at yon shores 8.88. and parting fruitful fields: cerulean stream 8.89. of Tiber, favored greatly of high Heaven. 8.90. here shall arise my house magnificent 8.92. So spake the river-god, and sank from view 8.93. down to his deepest cave; then night and sleep 8.94. together from Aeneas fled away. 8.95. He rose, and to the orient beams of morn 8.96. his forehead gave; in both his hollowed palms 8.97. he held the sacred waters of the stream 8.98. and called aloud: “O ye Laurentian nymphs 8.99. whence flowing rills be born, and chiefly thou 8.100. O Father Tiber, worshipped stream divine 8.101. accept Aeneas, and from peril save! 8.102. If in some hallowed lake or haunted spring 8.103. thy power, pitying my woes, abides 8.104. or wheresoe'er the blessed place be found 8.105. whence first thy beauty flows, there evermore 8.106. my hands shall bring thee gift and sacrifice. 8.107. O chief and sovereign of Hesperian streams 8.108. O river-god that hold'st the plenteous horn 8.109. protect us, and confirm thy words divine!” 8.110. He spoke; then chose twin biremes from the fleet 8.112. But, lo! a sudden wonder met his eyes: 8.113. white gleaming through the grove, with all her brood 8.114. white like herself, on the green bank the Sow 8.115. tretched prone. The good Aeneas slew her there 8.116. Great Juno, for a sacrifice to thee 8.117. himself the priest, and with the sucklings all 8.118. beside shine altar stood. So that whole night 8.119. the god of Tiber calmed his swollen wave 8.120. ebbing or lingering in silent flow 8.121. till like some gentle lake or sleeping pool 8.122. his even waters lay, and strove no more 8.123. against the oarsmen's toil. Upon their way 8.124. they speed with joyful sound; the well-oiled wood 8.125. lips through the watery floor; the wondering waves 8.126. and all the virgin forests wondering 8.127. behold the warriors in far-shining arms 8.128. their painted galleys up the current drive. 8.129. O'er the long reaches of the winding flood 8.130. their sturdy oars outweary the slow course 8.131. of night and day. Fair groves of changeful green 8.132. arch o'er their passage, and they seem to cleave 8.133. green forests in the tranquil wave below. 8.134. Now had the flaming sun attained his way 8.135. to the mid-sphere of heaven, when they discerned 8.136. walls and a citadel in distant view 8.137. with houses few and far between; 't was there 8.138. where sovran Rome to-day has rivalled Heaven 8.139. Evander's realm its slender strength displayed: 8.141. It chanced th' Arcadian King had come that day 8.142. to honor Hercules, Amphitryon's son 8.143. and to the powers divine pay worship due 8.144. in groves outside the wall. Beside him stood 8.145. Pallas his son, his noblest men-at-arms 8.146. and frugal senators, who at the shrines 8.147. burnt incense, while warm blood of victims flowed. 8.148. But when they saw the tall ships in the shade 8.149. of that dark forest plying noiseless oars 8.150. the sudden sight alarmed, and all the throng 8.151. prang to its feet and left the feast divine. 8.152. But dauntless Pallas bade them give not o'er 8.153. the sacred festival, and spear in hand 8.154. flew forward to a bit of rising ground 8.155. and cried from far: “Hail, warriors! what cause 8.156. drives you to lands unknown, and whither bound? 8.157. Your kin, your country? Bring ye peace or war?” 8.158. Father Aeneas then held forth a bough 8.159. of peaceful olive from the lofty ship 8.160. thus answering : “Men Trojan-born are we 8.161. foes of the Latins, who have driven us forth 8.162. with insolent assault. We fain would see 8.163. Evander. Pray, deliver this, and say 8.164. that chosen princes of Dardania 8.165. ue for his help in arms.” So wonder fell 8.166. on Pallas, awestruck at such mighty name. 8.167. O, come, whoe'er thou art,” he said, “and speak 8.168. in presence of my father. Enter here 8.169. guest of our hearth and altar.” He put forth 8.170. his right hand in true welcome, and they stood 8.171. with lingering clasp; then hand in hand advanced 8.173. Aeneas to Evander speaking fair 8.174. these words essayed: “O best of Grecian-born! 8.175. whom Fortune's power now bids me seek and sue 8.176. lifting this olive-branch with fillets bound 8.177. I have not feared thee, though I know thou art 8.178. a Greek, and an Arcadian king, allied 8.179. to the two sons of Atreus. For behold 8.180. my conscious worth, great oracles from Heaven 8.181. the kinship of our sires, thy own renown 8.182. pread through the world—all knit my cause with thine 8.183. all make me glad my fates have so decreed. 8.184. The sire and builder of the Trojan town 8.185. was Dardanus; but he, Electra's child 8.186. came over sea to Teucria; the sire 8.187. of fair Electra was great Atlas, he 8.188. whose shoulder carries the vast orb of heaven. 8.189. But thy progenitor was Mercury 8.190. and him conceiving, Maia, that white maid 8.191. on hoar Cyllene's frosty summit bore. 8.192. But Maia's sire, if aught of truth be told 8.193. was Atlas also, Atlas who sustains 8.194. the weight of starry skies. Thus both our tribes 8.195. are one divided stem. Secure in this 8.196. no envoys have I sent, nor tried thy mind 8.197. with artful first approaches, but myself 8.198. risking my person and my life, have come 8.199. a suppliant here. For both on me and thee 8.200. the house of Daunus hurls insulting war. 8.201. If us they quell, they doubt not to obtain 8.202. lordship of all Hesperia, and subdue 8.203. alike the northern and the southern sea. 8.204. Accept good faith, and give! Behold, our hearts 8.205. quail not in battle; souls of fire are we 8.207. Aeneas ceased. The other long had scanned 8.208. the hero's face, his eyes, and wondering viewed 8.209. his form and mien divine; in answer now 8.210. he briefly spoke: “With hospitable heart 8.211. O bravest warrior of all Trojan-born 8.212. I know and welcome thee. I well recall 8.213. thy sire Anchises, how he looked and spake. 8.214. For I remember Priam, when he came 8.215. to greet his sister, Queen Hesione 8.216. in Salamis, and thence pursued his way 8.217. to our cool uplands of Arcadia . 8.218. The bloom of tender boyhood then was mine 8.219. and with a wide-eyed wonder I did view 8.220. those Teucrian lords, Laomedon's great heir 8.221. and, towering highest in their goodly throng 8.222. Anchises, whom my warm young heart desired 8.223. to speak with and to clasp his hand in mine. 8.224. So I approached, and joyful led him home 8.225. to Pheneus' olden wall. He gave me gifts 8.226. the day he bade adieu; a quiver rare 8.227. filled with good Lycian arrows, a rich cloak 8.228. inwove with thread of gold, and bridle reins 8.229. all golden, now to youthful Pallas given. 8.230. Therefore thy plea is granted, and my hand 8.231. here clasps in loyal amity with thine. 8.232. To-morrow at the sunrise thou shalt have 8.233. my tribute for the war, and go thy way 8.234. my glad ally. But now this festival 8.235. whose solemn rite 't were impious to delay 8.236. I pray thee celebrate, and bring with thee 8.237. well-omened looks and words. Allies we are! 8.239. So saying, he bade his followers renew 8.240. th' abandoned feast and wine; and placed each guest 8.241. on turf-built couch of green, most honoring 8.242. Aeneas by a throne of maple fair 8.243. decked with a lion's pelt and flowing mane. 8.244. Then high-born pages, with the altar's priest 8.245. bring on the roasted beeves and load the board 8.246. with baskets of fine bread; and wine they bring — 8.247. of Ceres and of Bacchus gift and toil. 8.248. While good Aeneas and his Trojans share 8.250. When hunger and its eager edge were gone 8.251. Evander spoke: “This votive holiday 8.252. yon tables spread and altar so divine 8.253. are not some superstition dark and vain 8.254. that knows not the old gods, O Trojan King! 8.255. But as men saved from danger and great fear 8.256. this thankful sacrifice we pay. Behold 8.257. yon huge rock, beetling from the mountain wall 8.258. hung from the cliff above. How lone and bare 8.259. the hollowed mountain looks! How crag on crag 8.260. tumbled and tossed in huge confusion lie! 8.261. A cavern once it was, which ran deep down 8.262. into the darkness. There th' half-human shape 8.263. of Cacus made its hideous den, concealed 8.264. from sunlight and the day. The ground was wet 8.265. at all times with fresh gore; the portal grim 8.266. was hung about with heads of slaughtered men 8.267. bloody and pale—a fearsome sight to see. 8.268. Vulcan begat this monster, which spewed forth 8.269. dark-fuming flames from his infernal throat 8.270. and vast his stature seemed. But time and tide 8.271. brought to our prayers the advent of a god 8.272. to help us at our need. For Hercules 8.273. divine avenger, came from laying low 8.274. three-bodied Geryon, whose spoils he wore 8.275. exultant, and with hands victorious drove 8.276. the herd of monster bulls, which pastured free 8.277. along our river-valley. Cacus gazed 8.278. in a brute frenzy, and left not untried 8.279. aught of bold crime or stratagem, but stole 8.280. four fine bulls as they fed, and heifers four 8.281. all matchless; but, lest hoof-tracks point his way 8.282. he dragged them cave-wards by the tails, confusing 8.283. the natural trail, and hid the stolen herd 8.284. in his dark den; and not a mark or sign 8.285. could guide the herdsmen to that cavern-door. 8.286. But after, when Amphitryon's famous son 8.287. preparing to depart, would from the meads 8.288. goad forth the full-fed herd, his lingering bulls 8.289. roared loud, and by their lamentable cry 8.290. filled grove and hills with clamor of farewell: 8.291. one heifer from the mountain-cave lowed back 8.292. in answer, so from her close-guarded stall 8.293. foiling the monster's will. Then hadst thou seen 8.294. the wrath of Hercules in frenzy blaze 8.295. from his exasperate heart. His arms he seized 8.296. his club of knotted oak, and climbed full-speed 8.297. the wind-swept hill. Now first our people saw 8.298. Cacus in fear, with panic in his eyes. 8.299. Swift to the black cave like a gale he flew 8.300. his feet by terror winged. Scarce had he passed 8.301. the cavern door, and broken the big chains 8.302. and dropped the huge rock which was pendent there 8.303. by Vulcan's well-wrought steel; scarce blocked and barred 8.304. the guarded gate: when there Tirynthius stood 8.305. with heart aflame, surveying each approach 8.306. rolling this way and that his wrathful eyes 8.307. gnashing his teeth. Three times his ire surveyed 8.308. the slope of Aventine ; three times he stormed 8.309. the rock-built gate in vain; and thrice withdrew 8.310. to rest him in the vale. But high above 8.311. a pointed peak arose, sheer face of rock 8.312. on every side, which towered into view 8.313. from the long ridge above the vaulted cave 8.314. fit haunt for birds of evil-boding wing. 8.315. This peak, which leftward toward the river leaned 8.316. he smote upon its right—his utmost blow — 8.317. breaking its bases Ioose; then suddenly 8.318. thrust at it: as he thrust, the thunder-sound 8.319. filled all the arching sky, the river's banks 8.320. asunder leaped, and Tiber in alarm 8.321. reversed his flowing wave. So Cacus' lair 8.322. lay shelterless, and naked to the day 8.323. the gloomy caverns of his vast abode 8.324. tood open, deeply yawning, just as if 8.325. the riven earth should crack, and open wide 8.326. th' infernal world and fearful kingdoms pale 8.327. which gods abhor; and to the realms on high 8.328. the measureless abyss should be laid bare 8.329. and pale ghosts shrink before the entering sun. 8.330. Now upon Cacus, startled by the glare 8.331. caged in the rocks and howling horribly 8.332. Alcides hurled his weapons, raining down 8.333. all sorts of deadly missiles—trunks of trees 8.334. and monstrous boulders from the mountain torn. 8.335. But when the giant from his mortal strait 8.336. no refuge knew, he blew from his foul jaws 8.337. a storm of smoke—incredible to tell — 8.338. and with thick darkness blinding every eye 8.339. concealed his cave, uprolling from below 8.340. one pitch-black night of mingled gloom and fire. 8.341. This would Alcides not endure, but leaped 8.342. headlong across the flames, where densest hung 8.343. the rolling smoke, and through the cavern surged 8.344. a drifting and impenetrable cloud. 8.345. With Cacus, who breathed unavailing flame 8.346. he grappled in the dark, locked limb with limb 8.347. and strangled him, till o'er the bloodless throat 8.348. the starting eyeballs stared. Then Hercules 8.349. burst wide the doorway of the sooty den 8.350. and unto Heaven and all the people showed 8.351. the stolen cattle and the robber's crimes 8.352. and dragged forth by the feet the shapeless corpse 8.353. of the foul monster slain. The people gazed 8.354. insatiate on the grewsome eyes, the breast 8.355. of bristling shag, the face both beast and man 8.356. and that fire-blasted throat whence breathed no more 8.357. the extinguished flame. 'T is since that famous day 8.358. we celebrate this feast, and glad of heart 8.359. each generation keeps the holy time. 8.360. Potitius began the worship due 8.361. and our Pinarian house is vowed to guard 8.362. the rites of Hercules. An altar fair 8.363. within this wood they raised; 't is called ‘the Great,’ 8.364. and Ara Maxima its name shall be. 8.365. Come now, my warriors, and bind your brows 8.366. with garlands worthy of the gift of Heaven. 8.367. Lift high the cup in every thankful hand 8.368. and praise our people's god with plenteous wine.” 8.369. He spoke; and of the poplar's changeful sheen 8.513. Behold what tribes conspire, what cities strong 8.514. behind barred gates now make the falchion keen 8.515. to ruin and blot out both me and mine!” 8.516. So spake the goddess, as her arms of snow 8.517. around her hesitating spouse she threw 8.518. in tender, close embrace. He suddenly 8.519. knew the familiar fire, and o'er his frame 10.516. First in his path was Lagus, thither led 10.517. by evil stars; whom, as he tried to lift |
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