In stately folds, and she doth walk, a goddess all,
With tread majestic!
Lo, ‘t is Venus’ self! O stay,
My heavenly mother, stay! Why dost thou, cruel too,
So often mock thy son with borrowed semblances?
Why may we not join hands, each in his proper self,
And speak the words of truth? Ah me! She’s vanished quite,
And I am left forlorn!—
Deeply moved, he follows her vanishing figure.
Achates, seeking to divert Æneas, leads him to the parapet and points out to him the life awakening in the city below (422-429).