He spake, and called the God to aid with vows not made in vain;780
For o'er the tough tree tarrying long, struggling with utter might,
No whit Æneas could undo the gripping woody bite.
But while he struggleth hot and hard, and hangeth o'er the spear,
Again the Daunian Goddess, clad in shape of charioteer
Metiscus, Turnus' trusty sword unto his hand doth speed.
But Venus, wrathful that the Nymph might dare so bold a deed,
Came nigh, and from the deep-set root the shaft of battle drew.
So they, high-hearted, stored with hope and battle-gear anew,
One trusting in his sword, and one fierce with his spear on high,
Stand face to face, the glorious game of panting Mars to try.790
Meanwhile the King of Heaven the great thus unto Juno saith,
As from a ruddy cloud she looked upon the game of death:
"What then shall end it, O my wife? what deed is left thine hand?
That Heaven shall gain Æneas yet, a Godhead of the land,
That Fate shall bear him to the stars thou know'st and hast allowed:
What dost thou then, or hoping what hang'st thou in chilly cloud?
What! was it right that mortal wound a God's own flesh should wrong?
Right to give Turnus—but for thee how was Juturna strong?—
The sword he lost? or vanquished men, to give their might increase?
I prithee yield unto my prayers, and from thy troubling cease.800
Let not thine hushed grief eat thine heart, or bitter words of care
So often from thy sweetest mouth the soul within me wear.
The goal is reached: thou hast availed o'er earth and sea to drive
The Trojan men; to strike the spark of wicked war alive;
To foul their house, and woe and grief mid wedding-feast to bear,
And now I bid thee hold thine hand."
Thuswise said Jupiter,
And with a downcast countenance spake that Satumian Queen:
"Well have I known, great Jupiter, all that thy will hath been,
And Turnus and the worldly land loth have I left alone,
Else nowise should'st thou see me bear, sole on this airy throne,810
Things meet and unmeet: flame-begirt the war-ranks would I gain,
And drag the host of Trojans on to battle and their bane.
Juturna!—yes, I pitied her, and bade her help to bear
Unto her brother; good, methought, for life great things to dare;
But nought I bade her to the shaft or bending of the bow,
This swear I by the ruthless well, the Stygian overflow,
The only holy thing there is that weighs on Godhead's oath.
And now indeed I yield the place, and leave the fight I loathe.
But one thing yet I ask of thee, held in no fateful yoke;
For Latium's sake I pray therefore, and glory of thy folk:820
When they at last—so be it now!—pledge peace mid bridal kind,
When they at last join law to law, and loving treaty bind,
Let them not change their ancient name, those earth-born Latin men,
Nor turn them into Trojan folk, or call them Teucrians then:
Let not that manfolk shift their tongue, or cast their garb aside;
Let Latium and the Alban kings through many an age abide,
And cherish thou the Roman stem with worth of Italy:
Troy-town is dead: Troy and its name for ever let them die!"
The Fashioner of men and things spake, smiling in her face:
"Yea, Jove's own sister; second branch forsooth, of Saturn's race!830
Such are the mighty floods of wrath thou rollest in thy breast.
But this thine anger born for nought, I prithee let it rest:
I give thine asking; conquered now I yield me, and am glad:
The Ausonian men shall keep the tongue and ways their fathers had,
And as their name is shall it be: only in body blent
Amidst them shall the Teucrians sink; from me shall rites be sent,
And holy things, and they shall be all Latins of one tongue.
Hence shalt thou see a blended race from blood Ausonian sprung,
Whose godliness shall outgo men, outgo the Gods above;
Nor any folk of all the world so well thy worth shall love." 840
So gladdened Juno's heart was turned, and yea-saying she bowed,
And so departed from the sky and left her watching-cloud.
Another thing the Father now within him turneth o'er,
What wise Juturna he shall part from her lost brother's war:
Two horrors are there that are called the Dreadful Ones by name,
Whom with Megæra of the Pit at one birth and the same
Untimely Night brought forth of yore, and round about them twined
Like coils of serpents, giving them great wings to hold the wind:
About Jove's throne, and close anigh the Stern King's threshold-stead,
Do these attend, in sick-heart men to whet the mortal dread,850
Whenso the King-God fashions forth fell death and dire disease,
Or smites the guilty cities doomed with battle miseries.
Now one of these sent Jupiter swift from the heavenly place,
And bade her for a sign of doom to cross Juturna's face.
So borne upon a whirl of wind to earth the swift one flies,
E'en as an arrow from the string is driven amid the skies,
Which headed with the venom fell a Parthian man hath shot,—
Parthian, Cydonian, it may be,—the hurt that healeth not;
Its hidden whirring sweepeth through the drifting misty flow:
So fared the Daughter of the Night, and sought the earth below.860
But when she saw the Ilian hosts and Turnus' battle-rank,
Then sudden into puny shape her body huge she shrank,
A fowl that sits on sepulchres, and desert roofs alone
In the dead night, and through the mirk singeth her ceaseless moan;
In such a shape this bane of men met Turnus' face in field,
And, screeching, hovered to and fro, and flapped upon his shield:
Strange heaviness his body seized, consuming him with dread,
His hair stood up, and in his jaws his voice lay hushed and dead.
But when afar Juturna knew the Dread One's whirring wings,
The hapless sister tears her hair and loose its tresses flings,870
Fouling her face with tearing nails, her breast with beat of hand.
"How may my help, O Turnus, now beside my brother stand?
How may I harden me 'gainst this? by what craft shall I stay
Thy light of life? how cast myself in such a monster's way?
Now, now I leave the battle-field; fright not the filled with fear,
O birds of ill! full well I know your flapping wings in air,
And baneful sound. Thy mastering will I know it holdeth good,
O Jove the great!—was this the gift thou gav'st for maidenhood?
Why give me everlasting life, and death-doom take away?
O, but for that my sorrows sore now surely might I slay,880
And wend beside my brother now amid the nether Night.
Am I undying? ah, can aught of all my good delight
Without thee, O my brother lost! O Earth, gape wide and well,
And let a Goddess sink adown into the deeps of hell!"
So much she said, and wrapped her round with mantle dusky-grey,
And, groaning sore, she hid herself within the watery way.
But forth Æneas goes, and high his spear he brandisheth,
A mighty tree, and from his heart grown fell a word he saith:
"And wherewith wilt thou tarry me? hangs Turnus back again?
No foot-strife but the armèd hand must doom betwixt us twain.890
Yea, turn thyself to every shape, and, gathering everything
Wherewith thine heart, thy craft is strong, go soaring on the wing,
And chase the stars; or deep adown in hollow earth lie stored."