But now a thought his mother sent Æneas' mind to bless.
That he should wend unto the walls, and townward turn his host,
And blend amid destruction swift the Latin people lost.
For he, now marking Turnus' ways through many a company,
Hither and thither turns his eyes, and sees the city lie
At peace amid the mighty stir, unharmed amid the fight,
And image of a greater war set all his soul alight.560
Mnestheus, Sergestus then he calls, Serestus battle-strong,
The Dukes of war; he mounts a knoll; thither the Teucrians throng
In serried ranks, yet lay not by the battle-spear and shield:
So there from off the mound he speaks amidmost of the field:
"Let none hang back from these my words, for Jove is standing by;
Let none be dull herein because it cometh suddenly:
Today the town, the cause of war, the king Latinus' home,
Unless they cry them craven men, and 'neath the yoke they come,
Will I o'erthrow; the smoking towers upon the ground will lay.
What! must I wait till Turnus grows fain of the battle-play?570
And shall he, conquered, take his ease to fight me o'er and o'er?
O fellows, this is head and well of all the wicked war.
Haste with the torches, set we forth the troth with fire to find!"
He spake; but all they set to work, and striving with one mind
Knit close their ranks, and on the town a world of battle bear:
Unlooked-for ladders are at hand, and sudden fires appear;
While some they run unto the gates, and there the out-guards slay,
Or hurl the spears, and with their cloud dim down the light of day.
Æneas, in the front of men, lifts hand unto the walls,
And in a great and mighty voice guilt on Latinus calls,580
And bids the Gods to witness him twice to the battle driven,
Italians twice become his foes, and twice the treaty riven.
But mid the turmoiled city-folk arose the bickering then,
Some bade unbar and open gates unto the Dardan men;
Yea, some unto the walls would drag their very king and lord;
But some bear arms and go their ways the walls of war to ward:
E'en as the shepherd finds the bees shut in, a fencèd folk,
In chinky pumice rock, and fills their house with bitter smoke;
But they, all busy-fearful grown within their waxen wall,
Run here and there and whet their wrath with mighty humming call:590
The black stink rolleth through their house, and with a murmuring blind
The stony hollows moan: the reek the empty air doth find.
Here on the weary Latins fell another stroke of fate,
That moved the city deep adown with sorrow sore and great;
For when the Queen from house aloft beheld the foe draw nigh,
The walls beset, the flaming brands unto the house-roofs fly,
And nowhere the Rutulian ranks or Turnus' warring host,
The hapless woman deems the youth in stress of battle lost,
And, all bewildered in her mind by these so sudden woes,
Curses herself for head and spring whence all the evil flows;600
And crying many a bitter word, and mad with sorrow grown,
She riveth with her dying hand the queenly purple gown,
And knits the knot of loathly death from lofty beam on high.
But when the wretched Latin wives know all this misery,
Her daughter first, Lavinia, wastes the blossom of her hair,
And wounds her rosy cheeks; then they that stood about her there
Run wild about, and all the house resoundeth with their wail.
Thence through the city flies the sound of that unhappy tale,
And all hearts sink: Latinus goes with raiment rent and torn,
Stunned by his wife's unhappy lot, and city lost and lorn,610
And scattering o'er his hoariness defilement of the dust;
And often he upbraids himself that he took not to trust
That Dardan lord, nor willingly had hallowed him his son.
Meanwhile across the outer plain war-Turnus followeth on
The last few stragglers, duller grown, and less and less his heart
Rejoices in his hurrying steed and their victorious part.
The air bore to him noise of men with doubtful terror blent,
And round about his hearkening ears confusèd murmur sent;
The noise of that turmoilèd town, a sound of nought but woe:
"Ah, me!" he cried, "what mighty grief stirs up the city so?620
Why from the walls now goeth up this cry and noise afar?"
He spake, and, wildered, drew the rein and stayed the battle-car:
His sister met his questioning, as she in seeming clad
Of that Metiscus, all the rule of battle-chariot had,
And steeds and bridle:
"Hereaway, O Turnus, drive we on
The sons of Troy; where victory shows a road that may be won:
For other hands there are, belike, the houses to defend.
Æneas falls on Italy, and there doth battle blend;
So let our hands give cruel death to Teucrian men this day,
No less in tale: so shalt thou hold thine honour in the fray."630
But Turnus sayeth thereunto:
"Sister, I knew thee long ago, when first by art and craft
Thou brok'st the troth-plight, and therewith amidst the battle went;
And now thou hidest God in vain. But whose will thee hath sent
From high Olympus' house to bear such troubles, and so great?
Was it to see thy brother's end and most unhappy fate?
For what do I? What heal is left in aught that may befall?
Mine eyes beheld Murranus die, on me I heard him call:
No dearer man in all the world is left me for a friend:
Woe's me I that mighty man of men a mighty death must end.640
Ufens is dead, unhappy too lest he our shame behold;
E'en as I speak the Teucrians ward his arms and body cold.
And now—the one shame wanting yet—shall I stand deedless by
Their houses' wrack, nor let my sword cast back that Drances' lie?
Shall I give back, and shall this land see craven Turnus fled?
Is death, then, such a misery? O rulers of the dead,
Be kind! since now the high God's heart is turned away from me;
A hallowed soul I go adown, guiltless of infamy,
Not all unworthy of the great, my sires of long ago."
Scarce had he said when, here behold, from midmost of the foe,650
Comes Saces on his foaming steed, an arrow in his face,
Who, crying prayers on Turnus' name, onrusheth to the place:
"Turnus, in thee our last hope lies! pity thy wretched folk!
Æneas thundereth battle there, and threateneth with his stroke
The overthrow of tower and town, and wrack of Italy.
The flames are flying toward the roofs; all mouths of Latins cry
On thee; all eyes are turned to thee: yea, the king wavereth there,
Whom shall he call his son-in-law, to whom for friendship fare.
The Queen to wit, thy faithfullest, is dead by her own hand,
And, fearful of the things to come, hath left the daylight land.660
Messapus and Atinas keen alone upbear our might
Before the gates: round each of them are gathered hosts of fight
Thick-thronging, and a harvest-tide that bristles with the sword;
While here thou wendest car about the man-deserted sward."
Bewildered then with images of diverse things he stood
In silent stare; and in his heart upswelled a mighty flood
Of mingled shame and maddening grief: the Furies goaded sore
With bitter love and valour tried and known from time of yore.
But when the cloud was shaken off and light relit his soul,
His burning eyeballs toward the town, fierce-hearted, did he roll,670
And from the wheels of war looked back unto the mighty town;
And lo, behold, a wave of flame into a tongue-shape grown
Licked round a tower, and 'twixt its floors rolled upward unto heaven:
A tower that he himself had reared with timbers closely driven,
And set beneath it rolling-gear, and dight the bridges high.
"Now, sister, now the Fates prevail! no more for tarrying try.
Nay, let us follow where the God, where hard Fate calleth me!
Doomed am I to Æneas' hand; doomed, howso sore it be,
To die the death; ah, sister, now thou seest me shamed no more:
Now let me wear the fury through ere yet my time is o'er."680