4. Cicero, On Divination, 1.17-1.22, 1.105, 1.107, 1.124, 1.132, 2.3, 2.46, 2.70, 2.76 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •signs, augural Found in books: Santangelo (2013) 26, 218, 219, 229| 1.17. Sed quo potius utar aut auctore aut teste quam te? cuius edidici etiam versus, et lubenter quidem, quos in secundo de consulatu Urania Musa pronuntiat: Principio aetherio flammatus Iuppiter igni Vertitur et totum conlustrat lumine mundum Menteque divina caelum terrasque petessit, Quae penitus sensus hominum vitasque retentat Aetheris aeterni saepta atque inclusa cavernis. Et, si stellarum motus cursusque vagantis Nosse velis, quae sint signorum in sede locatae, Quae verbo et falsis Graiorum vocibus erant, Re vera certo lapsu spatioque feruntur, Omnia iam cernes divina mente notata. 1.18. Nam primum astrorum volucris te consule motus Concursusque gravis stellarum ardore micantis Tu quoque, cum tumulos Albano in monte nivalis Lustrasti et laeto mactasti lacte Latinas, Vidisti et claro tremulos ardore cometas, Multaque misceri nocturna strage putasti, Quod ferme dirum in tempus cecidere Latinae, Cum claram speciem concreto lumine luna Abdidit et subito stellanti nocte perempta est. Quid vero Phoebi fax, tristis nuntia belli, Quae magnum ad columen flammato ardore volabat, Praecipitis caeli partis obitusque petessens? Aut cum terribili perculsus fulmine civis Luce sereti vitalia lumina liquit? Aut cum se gravido tremefecit corpore tellus? Iam vero variae nocturno tempore visae Terribiles formae bellum motusque monebant, Multaque per terras vates oracla furenti Pectore fundebant tristis minitantia casus, 1.19. Atque ea, quae lapsu tandem cecidere vetusto, Haec fore perpetuis signis clarisque frequentans Ipse deum genitor caelo terrisque canebat. Nunc ea, Torquato quae quondam et consule Cotta Lydius ediderat Tyrrhenae gentis haruspex, Omnia fixa tuus glomerans determinat annus. Nam pater altitos stellanti nixus Olympo Ipse suos quondam tumulos ac templa petivit Et Capitolinis iniecit sedibus ignis. Tum species ex aere vetus venerataque Nattae Concidit, elapsaeque vetusto numine leges, Et divom simulacra peremit fulminis ardor. 1.20. Hic silvestris erat Romani nominis altrix, Martia, quae parvos Mavortis semine natos Uberibus gravidis vitali rore rigabat; Quae tum cum pueris flammato fulminis ictu Concidit atque avolsa pedum vestigia liquit. Tum quis non artis scripta ac monumenta volutans Voces tristificas chartis promebat Etruscis? Omnes civilem generosa a stirpe profectam Vitare ingentem cladem pestemque monebant Vel legum exitium constanti voce ferebant Templa deumque adeo flammis urbemque iubebant Eripere et stragem horribilem caedemque vereri; Atque haec fixa gravi fato ac fundata teneri, Ni prius excelsum ad columen formata decore Sancta Iovis species claros spectaret in ortus. Tum fore ut occultos populus sanctusque senatus Cernere conatus posset, si solis ad ortum Conversa inde patrum sedes populique videret. 1.21. Haec tardata diu species multumque morata Consule te tandem celsa est in sede locata, Atque una fixi ac signati temporis hora Iuppiter excelsa clarabat sceptra columna, Et clades patriae flamma ferroque parata Vocibus Allobrogum patribus populoque patebat. Rite igitur veteres, quorum monumenta tenetis, Qui populos urbisque modo ac virtute regebant, Rite etiam vestri, quorum pietasque fidesque Praestitit et longe vicit sapientia cunctos, Praecipue coluere vigenti numine divos. Haec adeo penitus cura videre sagaci, Otia qui studiis laeti tenuere decoris, 1.22. Inque Academia umbrifera nitidoque Lyceo Fuderunt claras fecundi pectoris artis. E quibus ereptum primo iam a flore iuventae Te patria in media virtutum mole locavit. Tu tamen anxiferas curas requiete relaxans, Quod patriae vacat, id studiis nobisque sacrasti. Tu igitur animum poteris inducere contra ea, quae a me disputantur de divinatione, dicere, qui et gesseris ea, quae gessisti, et ea, quae pronuntiavi, accuratissume scripseris? 1.105. Quid de auguribus loquar? Tuae partes sunt, tuum inquam, auspiciorum patrocinium debet esse. Tibi App. Claudius augur consuli nuntiavit addubitato Salutis augurio bellum domesticum triste ac turbulentum fore; quod paucis post mensibus exortum paucioribus a te est diebus oppressum. Cui quidem auguri vehementer adsentior; solus enim multorum annorum memoria non decantandi augurii, sed dividi tenuit disciplinam. Quem inridebant collegae tui eumque tum Pisidam, tum Soranum augurem esse dicebant; quibus nulla videbatur in auguriis aut praesensio aut scientia veritatis futurae; sapienter aiebant ad opinionem imperitorum esse fictas religiones. Quod longe secus est; neque enim in pastoribus illis, quibus Romulus praefuit, nec in ipso Romulo haec calliditas esse potuit, ut ad errorem multitudinis religionis simulacra fingerent. Sed difficultas laborque discendi disertam neglegentiam reddidit; malunt enim disserere nihil esse in auspiciis quam, quid sit, ediscere. 1.107. Atque ille Romuli auguratus pastoralis, non urbanus fuit nec fictus ad opiniones inperitorum, sed a certis acceptus et posteris traditus. Itaque Romulus augur, ut apud Ennium est, cum fratre item augure Curantes magna cum cura tum cupientes Regni dant operam simul auspicio augurioque. †In monte Remus auspicio se devovet atque secundam Solus avem servat. At Romulus pulcher in alto Quaerit Aventino, servat genus altivolantum. Certabant, urbem Romam Remoramne vocarent. Omnibus cura viris, uter esset induperator. Exspectant; veluti, consul quom mittere signum Volt, omnes avidi spectant ad carceris oras, 1.124. Illud tamen eius philosophi magnificum ac paene divinum, quod, cum impiis sententiis damnatus esset, aequissimo animo se dixit mori; neque enim domo egredienti neque illud suggestum, in quo causam dixerat, ascendenti signum sibi ullum, quod consuesset, a deo quasi mali alicuius inpendentis datum. Equidem sic arbitror, etiamsi multa fallant eos, qui aut arte aut coniectura divinare videantur, esse tamen divinationem; homines autem, ut in ceteris artibus, sic in hac posse falli. Potest accidere, ut aliquod signum dubie datum pro certo sit acceptum, potest aliquod latuisse aut ipsum, aut quod esset illi contrarium. Mihi autem ad hoc, de quo disputo, probandum satis est non modo plura, sed etiam pauciora divine praesensa et praedicta reperiri. 1.132. Nunc illa testabor, non me sortilegos neque eos, qui quaestus causa hariolentur, ne psychomantia quidem, quibus Appius, amicus tuus, uti solebat, agnoscere; non habeo denique nauci Marsum augurem, non vicanos haruspices, non de circo astrologos, non Isiacos coniectores, non interpretes somniorum; non enim sunt ii aut scientia aut arte divini, Séd superstitiósi vates ínpudentesque hárioli Aút inertes aút insani aut quíbus egestas ímperat, Quí sibi semitám non sapiunt, álteri monstránt viam; Quíbus divitias póllicentur, áb iis drachumam ipsí petunt. De hís divitiis síbi deducant dráchumam, reddant cétera. Atque haec quidem Ennius, qui paucis ante versibus esse deos censet, sed eos non curare opinatur, quid agat humanum genus. Ego autem, qui et curare arbitror et monere etiam ac multa praedicere, levitate, vanitate, malitia exclusa divinationem probo. Quae cum dixisset Quintus, Praeclare tu quidem, inquam, paratus 2.3. Quibus rebus editis tres libri perfecti sunt de natura deorum, in quibus omnis eius loci quaestio continetur. Quae ut plane esset cumulateque perfecta, de divinatione ingressi sumus his libris scribere; quibus, ut est in animo, de fato si adiunxerimus, erit abunde satis factum toti huic quaestioni. Atque his libris adnumerandi sunt sex de re publica, quos tum scripsimus, cum gubernacula rei publicae tenebamus. Magnus locus philosophiaeque proprius a Platone, Aristotele, Theophrasto totaque Peripateticorum familia tractatus uberrime. Nam quid ego de Consolatione dicam? quae mihi quidem ipsi sane aliquantum medetur, ceteris item multum illam profuturam puto. Interiectus est etiam nuper liber is, quem ad nostrum Atticum de senectute misimus; in primisque, quoniam philosophia vir bonus efficitur et fortis, Cato noster in horum librorum numero ponendus est. 2.46. Mirabile autem illud, quod eo ipso tempore, quo fieret indicium coniurationis in senatu, signum Iovis biennio post, quam erat locatum, in Capitolio conlocabatur.—Tu igitur animum induces (sic enim mecum agebas) causam istam et contra facta tua et contra scripta defendere?—Frater es; eo vereor. Verum quid tibi hic tandem nocet? resne, quae talis est, an ego, qui verum explicari volo? Itaque nihil contra dico, a te rationem totius haruspicinae peto. Sed te mirificam in latebram coniecisti; quod enim intellegeres fore ut premerere, cum ex te causas unius cuiusque divinationis exquirerem, multa verba fecisti te, cum res videres, rationem causamque non quaerere; quid fieret, non cur fieret, ad rem pertinere. Quasi ego aut fieri concederem aut esset philosophi causam, 2.70. Satis multa de ostentis; auspicia restant et sortes eae, quae ducuntur, non illae, quae vaticinatione funduntur, quae oracla verius dicimus; de quibus tum dicemus, cum ad naturalem divinationem venerimus. Restat etiam de Chaldaeis; sed primum auspicia videamus. Difficilis auguri locus ad contra dicendum. Marso fortasse, sed Romano facillumus. Non enim sumus ii nos augures, qui avium reliquorumve signorum observatione futura dicamus. Et tamen credo Romulum, qui urbem auspicato condidit, habuisse opinionem esse in providendis rebus augurandi scientiam (errabat enim multis in rebus antiquitas), quam vel usu iam vel doctrina vel vetustate immutatam videmus; retinetur autem et ad opinionem vulgi et ad magnas utilitates rei publicae mos, religio, disciplina, ius augurium, collegii auctoritas. 2.76. Sed de hoc loco plura in aliis, nunc hactenus. Externa enim auguria, quae sunt non tam artificiosa quam superstitiosa, videamus. Omnibus fere avibus utuntur, nos admodum paucis; alia illis sinistra sunt, alia nostris. Solebat ex me Deiotarus percontari nostri augurii disciplinam, ego ex illo sui. Di immortales! quantum differebat! ut quaedam essent etiam contraria. Atque ille iis semper utebatur, nos, nisi dum a populo auspicia accepta habemus, quam multum iis utimur? Bellicam rem administrari maiores nostri nisi auspicato noluerunt; quam multi anni sunt, cum bella a proconsulibus et a propraetoribus administrantur, | 1.17. But what authority or what witness can I better employ than yourself? I have even learned by heart and with great pleasure the following lines uttered by the Muse, Urania, in the second book of your poem entitled, My Consulship:First of all, Jupiter, glowing with fire from regions celestial,Turns, and the whole of creation is filled with the light of his glory;And, though the vaults of aether eternal begird and confine him,Yet he, with spirit divine, ever searching the earth and the heavens,Sounds to their innermost depths the thoughts and the actions of mortals.When one has learned the motions and variant paths of the planets,Stars that abide in the seat of the signs, in the Zodiacs girdle,(Spoken of falsely as vagrants or rovers in Greek nomenclature,Whereas in truth their distance is fixed and their speed is determined,)Then will he know that all are controlled by an Infinite Wisdom. 1.18. You, being consul, at once did observe the swift constellations,Noting the glare of luminous stars in direful conjunction:Then you beheld the tremulous sheen of the Northern aurora,When, on ascending the mountainous heights of snowy Albanus,You offered joyful libations of milk at the Feast of the Latins;Ominous surely the time wherein fell that Feast of the Latins;Many a warning was given, it seemed, of slaughter nocturnal;Then, of a sudden, the moon at her full was blotted from heaven —Hidden her features resplendent, though night was bejewelled with planets;Then did that dolorous herald of War, the torch of Apollo,Mount all aflame to the dome of the sky, where the sun has its setting;Then did a Roman depart from these radiant abodes of the living,Stricken by terrible lightning from heavens serene and unclouded.Then through the fruit-laden body of earth ran the shock of an earthquake;Spectres at night were observed, appalling and changeful of figure,Giving their warning that war was at hand, and internal commotion;Over all lands there outpoured, from the frenzied bosoms of prophets,Dreadful predictions, gloomy forecasts of impending disaster. 1.19. And the misfortunes which happened at last and were long in their passing —These were foretold by the Father of Gods, in earth and in heaven,Through unmistakable signs that he gave and often repeated.[12] Now, of those prophecies made when Torquatus and Cotta were consuls, —Made by a Lydian diviner, by one of Etruscan extraction —All, in the round of your crowded twelve months, were brought to fulfilment.For high-thundering Jove, as he stood on starry Olympus,Hurled forth his blows at the temples and monuments raised in his honour,And on the Capitols site he unloosed the bolts of his lightning.Then fell the brazen image of Natta, ancient and honoured:Vanished the tablets of laws long ago divinely enacted;Wholly destroyed were the statues of gods by the heat of the lightning. 1.20. Here was the Martian beast, the nurse of Roman dominion,Suckling with life-giving dew, that issued from udders distended,Children divinely begotten, who sprang from the loins of the War God;Stricken by lightning she toppled to earth, bearing with her the children;Torn from her station, she left the prints of her feet in descending.Then what diviner, in turning the records and tomes of the augurs,Failed to relate the mournful forecasts the Etruscans had written?Seers all advised to beware the monstrous destruction and slaughter,Plotted by Romans who traced their descent from a noble ancestry;Or they proclaimed the laws overthrow with voices insistent,Bidding rescue the city from flames, and the deities temples;Fearful they bade us become of horrible chaos and carnage;These, by a rigorous Fate, would be certainly fixed and determined,Were not a sacred statue of Jove, one comely of figure,High on a column erected beforehand, with eyes to the eastward;Then would the people and venerable senate be able to fathomHidden designs, when that statue — its face to the sun at its rising —Should behold from its station the seats of the people and Senate. 1.21. Long was the statue delayed and much was it hindered in making.Finally, you being consul, it stood in its lofty position.Just at the moment of time, which the gods had set and predicted,When on column exalted the sceptre of Jove was illumined,Did Allobrogian voices proclaim to Senate and peopleWhat destruction by dagger and torch was prepared for our country.[13] Rightly, therefore, the ancients whose monuments you have in keeping,Romans whose rule over peoples and cities was just and courageous,Rightly your kindred, foremost in honour and pious devotion,Far surpassing the rest of their fellows in shrewdness and wisdom,Held it a duty supreme to honour the Infinite Godhead.Such were the truths they beheld who painfully searching for wisdomGladly devoted their leisure to study of all that was noble, 1.22. Who, in Academys shade and Lyceums dazzling effulgence,Uttered the brilliant reflections of minds abounding in culture.Torn from these studies, in youths early dawn, your country recalled you,Giving you place in the thick of the struggle for public preferment;Yet, in seeking surcease from the worries and cares that oppress you,Time, that the State leaves free, you devote to us and to learning.In view, therefore, of your acts, and in view too of your own verses which I have quoted and which were composed with the utmost care, could you be persuaded to controvert the position which I maintain in regard to divination? 1.105. Why need I speak of augurs? That is your rôle; the duty to defend auspices, I maintain, is yours. For it was to you, while you were consul, that the augur Appius Claudius declared that because the augury of safety was unpropitious a grievous and violent civil war was at hand. That war began few months later, but you brought it to an end in still fewer days. Appius is one augur of whom I heartily approve, for not content merely with the sing-song ritual of augury, he, alone, according to the record of many years, has maintained a real system of divination. I know that your colleagues used to laugh at him and call him the one time a Pisidian and at another a Soran. They did not concede to augury any power of prevision or real knowledge of the future, and used to say that it was a superstitious practice shrewdly invented to gull the ignorant. But the truth is far otherwise, for neither those herdsmen whom Romulus governed, nor Romulus himself, could have had cunning enough to invent miracles with which to mislead the people. It is the trouble and hard work involved in mastering the art that has induced this eloquent contempt; for men prefer to say glibly that there is nothing in auspices rather than to learn what auspices are. 1.107. As for that augural art of Romulus of which I spoke, it was pastoral and not city-bred, nor was it invented to gull the ignorant, but received by trustworthy men, who handed it on to their descendants. And so we read in Ennius the following story of Romulus, who was an augur, and of his brother Remus, who also was an augur:When each would rule they both at once appealedTheir claims, with anxious hearts, to augury.Then Remus took the auspices aloneAnd waited for the lucky bird; while onThe lofty Aventine fair RomulusHis quest did keep to wait the soaring tribe:Their contest would decide the citys nameAs Rome or Remora. The multitudeExpectant looked to learn who would be king.As, when the consul is about to giveThe sign to start the race, the people sitWith eyes intent on barrier doors from whose108 Embellished jaws the chariots soon will come;So now the people, fearful, looked for signsTo know whose prize the mighty realm would be.Meantime the fading sun into the shadesof night withdrew and then the shining dawnShot forth its rays. Twas then an augury,The best of all, appeared on high — a birdThat on the left did fly. And, as the sunIts golden orb upraised, twelve sacred birdsFlew down from heaven and betook themselvesTo stations set apart for goodly signs.Then Romulus perceived that he had gainedA throne whose source and proper was augury. [49] 1.124. However, the following utterance of that philosopher, made after he had been wickedly condemned to death, is a noble one — I might almost call it divine: I am very content to die, he said; for neither when I left my home nor when I mounted the platform to plead my cause, did the god give any sign, and this he always does when some evil threatens me.[55] And so my opinion is that the power of divination exists, notwithstanding the fact that those who prophesy by means of art and conjecture are oftentimes mistaken. I believe that, just as men may make mistakes in other callings, so they may in this. It may happen that a sign of doubtful meaning is assumed to be certain or, possibly, either a sign was itself unobserved or one that annulled an observed sign may have gone unnoticed. But, in order to establish the proposition for which I contend it is enough for me to find, not many, but even a few instances of divinely inspired prevision and prophecy. 1.132. I will assert, however, in conclusion, that I do not recognize fortune-tellers, or those who prophesy for money, or necromancers, or mediums, whom your friend Appius makes it a practice to consult.In fine, I say, I do not care a figFor Marsian augurs, village mountebanks,Astrologers who haunt the circus grounds,Or Isis-seers, or dream interpreters:— for they are not diviners either by knowledge or skill, —But superstitious bards, soothsaying quacks,Averse to work, or mad, or ruled by want,Directing others how to go, and yetWhat road to take they do not know themselves;From those to whom they promise wealth they begA coin. From what they promised let them takeTheir coin as toll and pass the balance on.Such are the words of Ennius who only a few lines further back expresses the view that there are gods and yet says that the gods do not care what human beings do. But for my part, believing as I do that the gods do care for man, and that they advise and often forewarn him, I approve of divination which is not trivial and is free from falsehood and trickery.When Quintus had finished I remarked, My dear Quintus, you have come admirably well prepared. 2.3. After publishing the works mentioned I finished three volumes On the Nature of the Gods, which contain a discussion of every question under that head. With a view of simplifying and extending the latter treatise I started to write the present volume On Divination, to which I plan to add a work on Fate; when that is done every phase of this particular branch of philosophy will be sufficiently discussed. To this list of works must be added the six volumes which I wrote while holding the helm of state, entitled On the Republic — a weighty subject, appropriate for philosophic discussion, and one which has been most elaborately treated by Plato, Aristotle, Theophrastus, and the entire peripatetic school. What need is there to say anything of my treatise On Consolation? For it is the source of very great comfort to me and will, I think, be of much help to others. I have also recently thrown in that book On Old Age, which I sent my friend Atticus; and, since it is by philosophy that a man is made virtuous and strong, my Cato is especially worthy of a place among the foregoing books. 2.46. Besides, you quote me as authority for the remarkable fact that, at the very time when proof of the conspiracy was being presented to the Senate, the statue of Jupiter, which had been contracted for two years before, was being erected on the Capitol.Will you then — for thus you pleaded with me — will you then persuade yourself to take sides against me in this discussion, in the face of your own writings and of your own practice? You are my brother and on that account I shrink from recrimination. But what, pray, is causing you distress in this matter? Is it the nature of the subject? Or is it my insistence on finding out the truth? And so I waive your charge of my inconsistency — I am asking you for an explanation of the entire subject of soothsaying. But you betook yourself to a strange place of refuge. You knew that you would be in straits when I asked your reason for each kind of divination, and, hence, you had much to say to this effect: Since I see what divination does I do not ask the reason or the cause why it does it. The question is, what does it do? not, why does it do it? As if I would grant either that divination accomplished anything, or that it was permissible for a philosopher not to ask why anything happened! 2.70. Enough has been said of portents; auspices remain and so do lots — I mean lots that are drawn, and not those uttered by prophets, and more correctly styled oracles. I shall speak of oracles when I get to natural divination. In addition I must discuss the Chaldeans. But first let us consider auspices. To argue against auspices is a hard thing, you say, for an augur to do. Yes, for a Marsian, perhaps; but very easy for a Roman. For we Roman augurs are not the sort who foretell the future by observing the flights of birds and other signs. And yet, I admit that Romulus, who founded the city by the direction of auspices, believed that augury was an art useful in seeing things to come — for the ancients had erroneous views on many subjects. But we see that the art has undergone a change, due to experience, education, or the long lapse of time. However, out of respect for the opinion of the masses and because of the great service to the State we maintain the augural practices, discipline, religious rites and laws, as well as the authority of the augural college. 2.76. But we shall discuss the latter point at greater length in other discourses; let us dismiss it for the present.Now let us examine augury as practised among foreign nations, whose methods are not so artificial as they are superstitious. They employ almost all kinds of birds, we only a few; they regard some signs as favourable, we, others. Deiotarus used to question me a great deal about our system of augury, and I him about that of his country. Ye gods! how much they differed! So much that in some cases they were directly the reverse of each other. He employed auspices constantly, we never do except when the duty of doing so is imposed by a vote of the people. Our ancestors would not undertake any military enterprise without consulting the auspices; but now, for many years, our wars have been conducted by pro-consuls and pro-praetors, who do not have the right to take auspices. |
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17. Vergil, Aeneis, 6.1-6.155, 11.429, 12.460 Tagged with subjects: •signs, augural Found in books: Santangelo (2013) 229 | 6.1. After such words and tears, he flung free rein 6.2. To the swift fleet, which sped along the wave 6.3. To old Euboean Cumae's sacred shore. 6.4. They veer all prows to sea; the anchor fluke 6.5. Makes each ship sure, and shading the long strand 6.6. The rounded sterns jut o'er. Impetuously 6.7. The eager warriors leap forth to land 6.8. Upon Hesperian soil. One strikes the flint 6.9. To find the seed-spark hidden in its veins; 6.10. One breaks the thick-branched trees, and steals away 6.11. The shelter where the woodland creatures bide; 6.12. One leads his mates where living waters flow. 6.13. Aeneas, servant of the gods, ascends 6.14. The templed hill where lofty Phoebus reigns, 6.15. And that far-off, inviolable shrine 6.16. of dread Sibylla, in stupendous cave, 6.17. O'er whose deep soul the god of Delos breathes 6.18. Prophetic gifts, unfolding things to come. 6.20. Here Daedalus, the ancient story tells, 6.21. Escaping Minos' power, and having made 6.22. Hazard of heaven on far-mounting wings, 6.23. Floated to northward, a cold, trackless way, 6.24. And lightly poised, at last, o'er Cumae 's towers. 6.25. Here first to earth come down, he gave to thee 6.26. His gear of wings, Apollo! and ordained 6.27. Vast temples to thy name and altars fair. 6.28. On huge bronze doors Androgeos' death was done; 6.29. And Cecrops' children paid their debt of woe, 6.30. Where, seven and seven,—0 pitiable sight!— 6.31. The youths and maidens wait the annual doom, 6.32. Drawn out by lot from yonder marble urn. 6.33. Beyond, above a sea, lay carven Crete :— 6.34. The bull was there; the passion, the strange guile; 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,— 11.429. for other land or people yearn, and fate 12.460. and whips the swift steeds to the front of war, |
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