He spake, and to the roofed place now swiftly wending home,
Called for his steeds, and merrily stood there before their foam,
E'en those that Orithyia gave Pilumnus, gift most fair,
Whose whiteness overpassed the snow, whose speed the wingèd air.
The busy horse-boys stand about, and lay upon their breasts
The clapping of their hollow hands, and comb their manèd crests.
But he the mail-coat doth on him well-wrought with golden scale
And latten white; he fits the sword unto his hand's avail:
His shield therewith, and hornèd helm with ruddy crest o'erlaid:
That sword, the very Might of Fire for father Daunus made,90
And quenched the white-hot edge thereof amidst the Stygian flood.
Then the strong spear he took in hand that 'gainst the pillar stood,
Amidmost of the house: that spear his hand won mightily
From Actor of Auruncum erst; he shakes the quivering tree
Loud crying: "Now, O spear of mine, who never heretofore
Hast failed my call, the day draws on: thee the huge Actor bore,
Now Turnus' right hand wieldeth thee: to aid, that I prevail
To lay the Phrygian gelding low, and strip his rended mail
By might of hand; to foul with dust the ringlets of his hair,
Becrisped with curling-irons hot and drenched with plenteous myrrh!"100
By such a fury is he driven; from all his countenance
The fiery flashes leap, the flames in his fierce eyeballs dance:
As when a bull in first of fight raiseth a fearful roar,
And teacheth wrath unto his horns and whets them for the war,
And 'gainst the tree-trunks pusheth them, and thrusts the breezes home,
And with the scattering of the sand preludeth fight to come.
Nor less Æneas, terrible, in Venus' armour dight,
Now whetteth war; and in his heart stirreth the wrath of fight,
That plighted peace shall lay the war fain is his heart and glad;
His fellows' minds and bitter fear that makes Iulus sad110
He solaceth with fate-wise words; then bids his folk to bear
His answer to the Latin king and peace-laws to declare.
But scarce the morrow's dawn of day had lit the mountain steeps,
And scarce the horses of the Sun drew upward from the deeps,
And from their nostrils raised aloft blew forth the morning clear,
When Trojans and Rutulian men the field of fight prepare,
And measure out a space beneath the mighty city's wall.
Midmost the hearths they hallow there to common Gods of all,
And grassy altars: other some bear fire, and fountain's flow,
All linen clad, and vervain leaves are crowning every brow.120
Forth comes the host of Italy, the men that wield the spear
Pour outward from the crowded gate; the Trojan host is there,
And all the Tyrrhene company in battle-gear diverse,
Nor otherwise in iron clad, than if the War-god fierce
Cried on to arms: and in the midst of war-ranks thousandfold
The dukes are flitting, well beseen in purple dye and gold,
E'en Mnestheus of Assaracus, Asylas huge of force,
Messapus, Neptune's very son, the tamer of the horse.
But when the sign was given abroad each to his own place won,
And set his spear-shaft in the earth and leaned his shield thereon.130
Then streamed forth mothers fain to see and elders feeble grown;
The unarmed crowd beset the towers and houses of the town,
And others of the people throng the high-built gates around.
But Juno from the steep that men now call the Alban mound
(Though neither worship, name, nor fame it bore upon that day),
Was looking down upon the lists and either war-array
Of Trojan and Laurentine men, and King Latinus' wall,
Then upon Turnus' sister's ear her words of God did fall:
A goddess she, the queen of mere and sounding river-wave;
Which worship Jupiter the King, the Heaven-Abider gave140
A hallowed gift to pay her back for ravished maidenhood:
"O Nymph, the glory of the streams, heart well-beloved and good,
Thee only, as thou know'st, I love of all who e'er have come
Into the unkind bed of Jove from out a Latin home,
With goodwill have I granted thee the heavenly house to share;
Therefore, Juturna, know thy grief lest I the blame should bear:
While Fortune would, and while the Fates allowed the Latin folk
A happy day, so long did I thy town and Turnus cloak;
But now I see him hastening on to meet the fated ill:
His doomsday comes, the foeman's hand shall soon his hour fulfil.150
I may not look upon the fight, or see the wagered field;
But thou, if any present help thou durst thy brother yield,
Haste, it behoves thee!—happier days on wretches yet may rise."
Scarce spake she ere Juturna poured the tear-flood from her eyes,
And thrice and four times smote with hand her bosom well beseen.
"Nay, this is now no weeping-time," saith that Saturnian Queen,
"Haste; snatch thy brother from the death if all be not undone,
Or wake up war and rend apart the treaty scarce begun;
And I am she that bids thee dare."
She urged her, and she left
Her wavering mind and turmoiled heart with sorrow's torment cleft.160
Meantime the Kings—Latinus there, a world of state around,
Is borne upon the fourfold car, his gleaming temples bound
With twice six golden rays, the sign of his own grandsire's light,
The heavenly Sun; and Turnus wends with twi-yoked horses white,
Tossing in hand two shafts of war with broad-beat points of steel.
And hither Father Æneas, spring of the Roman weal,
Flaming with starry shield and arms wrought in the heavenly home,
And next to him Ascanius young, the second hope of Rome,
Fare from the camp: the priest thereon, in unstained raiment due,
Offereth a son of bristly sow and unshorn yearling ewe,170
And bringeth up the four-foot hosts unto the flaming place.
But they, with all eyes turned about the rising sun to face,
Give forth the salt meal from the hand, and with the iron sign
The victims' brows, and mid the flame pour out the bowls of wine:
Then good Æneas draws his sword, and thuswise prays the prayer:
"Bear witness, Sun, and thou, O Land, who dost my crying hear!
Land, for whose sake I waxed in might, sustaining toils enow;
And Thou, Almighty Father, hear! Saturnian Juno thou,
Grown kinder, Goddess, I beseech; and thou, most glorious Mars,
Father, whose hand of utter might is master of all wars;180
Ye Springs, and River-floods I call, and whatsoever God
Is in the air, or whatso rules the blue sea with its rod—
If to Ausonian Turnus here Fortune shall give the day,
The conquered to Evander's town shall straightly wend their way;
Iulus shall depart the land, nor shall Æneas' folk
Stir war hereafter, or with sword the Latin wrath provoke.
But if the grace of victory here bow down upon our fight;
—(As I believe, as may the Gods make certain with their might!)—
I will not bid the Italian men to serve the Teucrian's will;
Nor for myself seek I the realm; but all unconquered still190
Let either folk with equal laws plight peace for evermore:
The Gods and worship I will give, Latinus see to war;
My father lawful rule shall have; for me my Teucrians here
Shall build a city, and that home Lavinia's name shall bear."
So first Æneas: after whom Latinus swears and says,
Looking aloft, and stretching hands up towards the starry ways:
"E'en so, Æneas, do I swear by Stars, and Sea, and Earth,
By twi-faced Janus, and the twins Latona brought to birth,
And by the nether Might of God and shrine of unmoved Dis;
And may the Sire who halloweth in all troth-plight hearken this:200
I hold the altars, and these Gods and fires to witness take,
That, as for Italy, no day the peace and troth shall break,
What thing soever shall befall; no might shall conquer me.
Not such as with the wrack of flood shall mingle earth and sea,
Nor such as into nether Hell shall melt the heavenly land.
E'en as this sceptre"—(for by chance he bore a staff in hand)—
"Shall never more to leafage light and twig and shadow shoot,
Since when amid the thicket-place, cut off from lowest root,
It lost its mother, and the knife hath lopped it, leaf and bough,—
A tree once, but the craftsman's hand hath wrapped it seemly now210
With brass about, and made it meet for hands of Latin lords."
So in the sight of all the chiefs with such abundant words
They bound the troth-plight fast and sure: then folk in due wise slay
The victims on the altar-flame, and draw the hearts away
Yet living, and with platters full the holy altars pile.