Story of Aeneas

by Michael Clarke

VII. ALLIANCE WITH EVANDER—VULCAN MAKES ARMS FOR AENEAS—THE FAMOUS SHIELD.

Meanwhile AEneas was considering how to defend himself and his people against the enemy who was thus marshalling such mighty forces against him. He thought of many plans without being able to decide upon any.

This way, and that, he turns his anxious mind;
Thinks, and rejects the counsels he designed;
Explores himself in vain in every part,
And gives no rest to his distracted heart
DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

But fortune again favored the pious chief. In a dream the river god, Tib-e-ri'nus, arrayed in garb of green, with a crown of reeds upon his head (old Father Tiber himself, the guardian genius of Rome in later ages) appeared to him, and told him where to seek help. He repeated the prophecy of Helenus, about the sow with her litter of thirty young, and he directed AEneas to repair to Pal-lan-te'um, a city further up the river, whose king, E-van'der, being frequently at war with the Latians, would gladly join the Trojans. The good father promised that he himself would conduct the Trojans along his banks, and bear them safely on his waters until they reached the Kingdom of Evander.

"To thy free passage I submit my streams.
Wake, son of Venus, from thy pleasing dreams!
And when the setting stars are lost in day,
To Juno's power thy just devotion pay;
With sacrifice the wrathful queen appease;
Her pride at length shall fall, her fury cease.
When thou return'st victorious from the war,
Perform thy vows to me with grateful care.
The god am I, whose yellow water flows
Around these fields, and fattens as it goes;
Tiber my name—among the rolling floods
Renowned on earth, esteemed among the gods."
DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

Old Father Tiber then plunged into the middle of the river, and disappeared from the hero's view. When AEneas awoke he immediately prepared for his journey, selecting two ships from his fleet and furnishing them with men and arms. As he was about to depart, the prophecy only just repeated by the river god was fulfilled before his eyes; for on the bank where he stood, a white sow suddenly appeared with a litter of thirty young ones.

When lo! a sudden prodigy;
A milk-white sow is seen
Stretched with her young ones, white as she,
Along the margent green.
AEneas takes them, dam and brood,
And o'er the altars pours their blood,
To thee, great Juno, e'en to thee,
High heaven's majestic queen.
CONINGTON, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

AEneas then started on his voyage, Father Tiber making the passage easy by calming his turbid river so that its surface was as smooth as a peaceful lake. At noon next day the Trojans came in sight of Pallanteum, and soon afterwards they turned their ships toward the land, and approached the city. Just then King Evander, accompanied by his son Pallas and many of his chiefs, was offering a sacrifice to Hercules in a grove outside the city walls. Alarmed at the sudden appearance of the vessels, they made a movement as if to depart in haste from their altars. But Pallas forbade them to interrupt the sacred rites, and advancing to meet the strangers, he addressed them from a rising ground, asking who they were, and for what purpose they had come. AEneas, speaking from the deck of one of his ships, and holding in his hand an olive branch, the emblem of peace, replied, saying, "You see before you sons of Troy, and enemies of the Latians, who have declared war against us. We seek King Evander. Bear him these tidings, and say to him that we have come asking for his alliance in arms."

Astonished at hearing that the visitors were the illustrious Trojans whose fame had already spread throughout the world, Pallas invited them to land and come as guests to his father's house. AEneas gladly accepted the invitation, and the young prince conducted them to the grove, and introduced them to King Evander. This Evander was by birth a Greek. He had come from the Grecian province of Ar-ca'di-a, and the city he founded in Italy he called after the name of his native Arcadian city of Pallanteum. AEneas, however, had no fear that Evander, though a Greek, would be an enemy of his, for they were both of the same blood, being both descended from Atlas, the mighty hero who of old supported the heavens on his shoulders. Mercury, the father of Evander, was the son of Ma'i-a, a daughter of Atlas; and Dardanus, the founder of Troy, and ancestor of its kings, was son of E-lec'tra, another daughter of Atlas. AEneas reminded Evander of this relationship and reminded him also that the Rutulians and Latians were enemies of Evander and his people, as well as of the Trojans.

"They are the nation," said he, "which pursue you with cruel war, and they think that if they expel us from the country, nothing can hinder them from reducing all Italy under their yoke. Let us therefore form an alliance against this common foe. We Trojans have amongst us men stout of heart in battle and experienced in war."

While the hero was speaking, the king kept his eyes intently fixed upon him, for in his face and figure he saw the resemblance of the great Anchises, whom he had known in past years. Then replying to AEneas, he said, "Great chief of the Trojan race, I gladly receive and recognize you. I well recollect the words, the voice, and the features of your father, Anchises. For I remember that Priam on his way to visit his sister Hesione in Greece, also visited my country, Arcadia. Many of the Trojan princes accompanied him; but the most majestic of them all was Anchises. Much did I admire him, and I took him with me to our Arcadian city Phe'neus. At his departure he gave me costly presents, a quiver filled with Lycian arrows, a mantle interwoven with gold and two golden bridles." Evander concluded by consenting to the proposal of AEneas for an alliance against the Latians—

"The league you ask, I offer as your right;
And when to-morrow's sun reveals the light,
With swift supplies you shall be sent away."
DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

The Trojans were now hospitably entertained by King Evander. Seated on the greensward, they partook of a plenteous repast, and when the banquet was over, the king explained to AEneas and his companions the meaning of the religious festivities in which they had been engaged. It was through no vain superstition, he said, that they performed these solemn rites, but to commemorate their deliverance from a terrible scourge, and to give honor to their deliverer.

Then Evander related the story of the monster Ca'cus, who in former times, dwelt in a cave underneath the hill on which Pallanteum was now built. He was a giant, of enormous size and hideous to behold, for from his father Vulcan, the god of fire, he had got the power of breathing smoke and flame through his mouth and nostrils. He was a scourge and a terror to the country round, as besides being a robber, he killed and devoured men. But by good fortune the hero Hercules happened to pass that way, driving before him a herd of cattle which he had taken from another cruel monster—the three-bodied giant Ge'ry-on, whom he had destroyed. As these cattle were grazing by the river, Hercules having lain down on the bank to rest, Cacus stole four bulls and four heifers, the finest of the herd. To conceal the theft he dragged the animals backwards by the tails into his den, so that their footprints seemed to show that they had gone from the cave instead of into it. This trick had almost succeeded, for Hercules, after searching in vain for the missing animals, was about to resume his journey, when a lowing from within the cave reached his ears.

The oxen at departing fill
With noisy utterance grove and hill,
And breathe a farewell low;
When hark! a heifer from the den
Makes answer to the sound again
And mocks her wily foe.
CONINGTON, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

Hercules now knowing what had become of his cattle rushed to the top of the mount where he had seen the giant, but Cacus fled into his cave, and instantly let drop the huge stone which he kept suspended by iron chains over the entrance. This stone even the mighty Hercules could not move from its place, for it was held fast by great bolts on the inside. But searching around the mount for another entrance, he saw a rock overhanging the river, which formed a back for the cavern. Exerting his full strength, the hero wrenched this rock from its fastenings, and hurled it into the water. In the interior of the den, thus laid open, Hercules soon caught sight of the robber, and commenced to assail him with arrows and stones. Then the monster belched forth volumes of smoke and flame, concealing himself in a cloud of pitchy vapor. But Hercules now thoroughly enraged, rushed furiously into the den, and seizing Cacus by the throat, choked him to death. Great was the joy of the people when they heard of the destruction of the monster, and anniversary festivals had been held there ever since in honor of the deliverer.

After King Evander had told this story, choirs of young and old men, the priests called Sa'li-i, sang songs about the great deeds of Hercules; how when a child in his cradle he had strangled the two serpents sent by Juno to destroy him, how he had slain the furious lion of Nemea, dragged from Pluto's realms the three-headed dog Cerberus, and performed numerous other difficult and dangerous feats.

Evander and his people now returned to the city, accompanied by their Trojan guests. The king walked by the side of AEneas, and told him many things about the traditions of the place, and its early history. At one time, he said, the country had been ruled by Saturn, who, driven from the throne of the heavens by his son Jupiter, had come to Italy, and finding on the banks of the river a race of uncivilized men, had formed them into a settled society. He taught them how to till the ground, and introduced laws amongst them, and so peaceful and happy were they under his reign, that it was called the Golden Age. One of the kings long after Saturn's reign was Tiberinus, whose name was given to the river, and who became its guardian god.

The king then escorted AEneas through the town, pointing out to him many places, destined to be famous in later history, for on that very ground Romulus built his city, and Pallanteum became the celebrated Palatine Mount, one of the seven hills of Rome. When they reached the royal palace, which was not as large or magnificent as palaces often are, the king took pride in mentioning that the great Hercules, honored in life, and after death worshipped as a god, had not disdained to accept hospitality under its roof.

He spoke, and through the narrow door
The great AEneas led,
And heaped a couch upon the floor
With leaves and bear-skin spread.
CONINGTON, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

While the Trojan chief was being entertained by King Evander, his mother Venus was much troubled in mind thinking of the danger which threatened her son in his new settlement. She resolved that he should have all the aid in her power to supply, and so she requested Vulcan to make him a suit of armor. Vulcan was the god of smiths as well as of fire, and Venus thus appealed to him in behalf of her son.

"While the Greeks were laboring to bring destruction on Troy," said she to the fire god, who was also the god of smiths, "I did not ask your help, knowing that the ruin of the city had been decreed by the gods. But now AEneas has settled in Italy by Jupiter's command; therefore, I beg your assistance. What I wish is that you should make arms and armor for my son. Many nations have combined against him, and are sharpening their swords for the destruction of himself and his people."

Vulcan readily agreed to comply with the request of Venus. Being a god he could make arms and armor against which the power of mortal men would be of no avail. His forges, and furnaces, and anvils were in vast caves under one of the Lip'a-re isles and under Mount AEtna, and the giant Cyclops were his workmen.

Sacred to Vulcan's name, an isle there lay,
Betwixt Sicilia's coasts and Lipare,
Raised high on smoking rocks; and, deep below,
In hollow caves the fires of AEtna glow.
The Cyclops here their heavy hammers deal;
Loud strokes, and hissing of tormented steel,
Are heard around; the boiling waters roar;
And smoky flames through fuming tunnels soar.
DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

To these workshops Vulcan forthwith repaired to give orders for the arms which Venus requested for her son. He found his men industriously at work making wonderful things for the gods. Some were forging a thunderbolt for Jupiter, the rays or shafts of which were of hail and watery cloud, and glaring fire and the winged wind. Others were making a war chariot for Mars, and others a shield for Minerva, ornamented with serpent's scales of gold. When Vulcan entered, he bade them lay aside all those tasks.

"My sons! (said Vulcan), set your tasks aside;
Your strength and master skill must now be tried.
Arms for a hero forge—arms that require
Your force, your speed, and all your forming fire."
DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

Instantly the Cyclops set to work on their new task, and very soon rivulets of molten gold and copper and iron were flowing in flaming furnaces. A splendid shield was made, which was a sufficient defense in itself against all the weapons of King Turnus. Other things necessary for war were also put in shape, and so the work of forging arms for the Trojan hero was vigorously prosecuted.

Meantime AEneas himself, after his night's repose in the palace of Evander, was talking with the king and his son on the business which had brought him to Pallanteum. The good will of Evander was greater than his means, for his country was small, and on one side of it was the territory of his enemies, the Rutulians. He was not able, therefore, to do much for AEneas, but he knew where ample aid could be obtained. "In the neighboring state of Etruria, and not far from this spot," said he, "stands the ancient city of Agylla, founded by a nation illustrious in war—Mezentius was recently its king, a cruel and wicked man. The people, indignant at his crimes, took up arms against him and set fire to his palace. He himself fled for protection to King Turnus, with whom he now is. The Etrurians therefore have resolved to make war upon Turnus, and their ships and men are already assembled. You, AEneas, must be the leader of these people, for a soothsayer has told them that no native of Italy is destined to subdue the Rutulians, and that they must choose a foreigner to be their commander in the war. They have invited me to lead them, but I am too old to undertake such a task. I would have sent them my son, but being born of an Italian mother, he is of the people of this land. You, however, gallant leader of the Trojans, being in the prime of life, and of foreign race, are destined by the gods for this work. My son Pallas too shall take part in the expedition, and I will give him two hundred horsemen, and as many more he shall add in his own name."

Evander had scarcely ceased speaking when lightning flashed through the heavens and peals of thunder were heard and sounds as of trumpets blaring, and then across the sky were seen arms blazing brilliantly as the sun—arms such as heroes bore in battle, and they clashed with a loud resounding noise.

Gazing up, repeated peals they hear;
And, in a heaven serene, refulgent arms appear
Reddening the skies, and glittering all around,
The tempered metals clash, and yield a silver sound.
DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

AEneas understood this marvelous apparition, and he explained it to his astonished companions as a call to him from heaven. His divine mother, he said, had told him that she would send that sign, and that she would bring him arms made by Vulcan. Then he offered the usual sacrifices to the gods, after which he went to his ships, and chose from his followers some to accompany him to Agylla, directing the others to return to the camp at Laurentum, and inform Iulus of the progress of their affairs at Pallanteum. Preparations for departure were now made. Evander gave AEneas horses for himself and his companions, and when all was ready, the king affectionately embraced his son, and bade him a tender farewell, praying to the gods that he might live to see him come back in safety.

The Trojan chief and his warriors, among whom were the faithful Achates and Pallas at the head of his four hundred horsemen, then set forth from the city, amid the acclamations of the people. They soon came within sight of the camp of the Etrurians, who, under the command of one of their chiefs named Tarchon, had pitched their tents on a wide plain not many miles from Pallanteum.

But before joining his new allies, AEneas had a meeting with his goddess mother. Down from the clouds she came, beautiful as the sun, bearing with her the arms that Vulcan had made, and seeing her son alone on the bank of a small stream, in a secluded vale, to which he had retired for a brief rest, she presented herself before him. At his feet she placed the gifts she had promised, telling him that now he might not fear to meet his foes in battle.

"Behold! (she said) performed in every part,
My promise made, and Vulcan's labored art.
Now seek, secure, the Latian enemy.
And haughty Turnus to the field defy."
DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

Beautiful arms and armor they were, such as could be designed and fashioned only by a god—a sword and a spear, and a helmet with a blazing crest, and a breastplate of flaming bronze, and greaves of gold and electrum. But most wonderful of all was the shield, upon which were depicted the glories and triumphs in later ages of the mighty men of Rome, the descendants of Iulus, for Vulcan, being a god, had the gift of seeing into futurity.

There, embossed, the heavenly smith had wrought
(Not in the rolls of future fate untaught)
The wars in order; and the race divine
Of warriors issuing from the Julian line.
DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

[Illustration: AENEAS WITH HIS WONDERFUL ARMOR. (Drawn by Varian.)]

Vergil's description of this prophetic shield occupies the concluding portion of the eighth book of the AEneid. It is a summary of notable events in the history of Rome from the time of Romulus, who founded the city, to the time of the Emperor Augustus. The achievements of Augustus are particularly dwelt on, for he was the friend and patron of the poet, and Vergil, therefore, gave special prominence to the part taken by him in the extension of the great empire. At the famous sea-battle of Ac'ti-um (B.C. 31) near the promontory of Leu-ca'te in Greece, Augustus, aided by A-grip'pa, defeated the forces of Antony and the celebrated Egyptian Queen Cle-o-pa'tra, and this victory made him master of the Roman world. On the shield of AEneas the fight at Actium was shown on a sea of molten gold, in the midst of which were represented the fleets of ships with their brazen prows.

Betwixt the quarters, flows a golden sea;
But foaming surges there in silver play.
The dancing dolphins with their tails divide
The glittering waves, and cut the precious tide.
Amid the main, two mighty fleets engage;
Their brazen beaks opposed with equal rage,
Actium surveys the well-disputed prize;
Leucate's watery plain with foamy billows fries.
Young Caesar, on the stern in armor bright,
Here leads the Romans and their gods to fight;
Agrippa seconds him, with prosperous gales,
And, with propitious gods, his foes assails.
A naval crown, that binds his manly brows,
The happy fortune of the fight foreshows.
DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

On another part of the shield were shown scenes of the Emperor's three days' Triumph in Rome after his great conquest—the procession of vanquished nations, the games and the sacrifices to the gods, and Augustus himself seated on a throne in front of the temple of Apollo.

The victor to the gods his thanks expressed;
And Rome triumphant with his presence blessed.
Three hundred temples in the town he placed;
With spoils and altars every temple graced.
Three shining nights and three succeeding days,
The fields resound with shouts, the streets with praise.
Great Caesar sits sublime upon his throne,
Before Apollo's porch of Parian stone;
Accepts the presents vowed for victory;
And hangs the monumental crowns on high.
Vast crowds of vanquished nations march along,
Various in arms, in habit, and in tongue.
DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

AEneas viewed these scenes with wonder and delight, though ignorant of what they meant, and putting on the beautiful armor, he bore upon his shoulder the fortunes of his descendants.

These figures, on the shield divinely wrought,
By Vulcan labored, and by Venus brought,
With joy and wonder fill the hero's thought.
Unknown the names, he yet admires the grace;
And bears aloft the fame and fortune of his race.
DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK VIII.

Vergil's description of the shield of AEneas is in imitation of Homer's beautiful description in the Iliad of the shield of Achilles, also made by Vulcan.