Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Voyage of Aeneas
13:923 Troy thus destroy'd, 'twas still deny'd by Fate,
13:924 The hopes of Troy should perish with the state.
13:925 His sire, the son of Cytherea bore,
13:926 And household-Gods from burning Ilium's shore,
13:927 The pious prince (a double duty paid)
13:928 Each sacred burthen thro' the flames convey'd.
13:929 With young Ascanius, and this only prize,
13:930 Of heaps of wealth, he from Antandros flies;
13:931 But struck with horror, left the Thracian shore,
13:932 Stain'd with the blood of murder'd Polydore.
13:933 The Delian isle receives the banish'd train,
13:934 Driv'n by kind gales, and favour'd by the main.
13:935 Here pious Anius, priest, and monarch reign'd,
13:936 And either charge, with equal care sustain'd,
13:937 His subjects rul'd, to Phoebus homage pay'd,
13:938 His God obeying, and by those obey'd.
13:939 The priest displays his hospitable gate,
13:940 And shows the riches of his church, and state
13:941 The sacred shrubs, which eas'd Latona's pain,
13:942 The palm, and olive, and the votive fane.
13:943 Here grateful flames with fuming incense fed,
13:944 And mingled wine, ambrosial odours shed;
13:945 Of slaughter'd steers the crackling entrails burn'd:
13:946 And then the strangers to the court return'd.
13:947 On beds of tap'stry plac'd aloft, they dine
13:948 With Ceres' gift, and flowing bowls of wine;
13:949 When thus Anchises spoke, amidst the feast:
13:950 Say, mitred monarch, Phoebus' chosen priest,
13:951 Or (e'er from Troy by cruel Fate expell'd)
13:952 When first mine eyes these sacred walls beheld,
13:953 A son, and twice two daughters crown'd thy bliss?
13:954 Or errs my mem'ry, and I judge amiss?
13:955 The royal prophet shook his hoary head,
13:956 With snowy fillets bound, and sighing, said:
13:957 Thy mem'ry errs not, prince; thou saw'st me then,
13:958 The happy father of so large a train;
13:959 Behold me now (such turns of chance befall
13:960 The race of man!), almost bereft of all.
13:961 For (ah!) what comfort can my son bestow,
13:962 What help afford, to mitigate my woe!
13:963 While far from hence, in Andros' isle he reigns,
13:964 (From him so nam'd) and there my place sustains.
13:965 Him Delius praescience gave; the twice-born God
13:966 A boon more wond'rous on the maids bestow'd.
13:967 Whate'er they touch'd, he gave them to transmute
13:968 (A gift past credit, and above their suit)
13:969 To Ceres, Bacchus, and Minerva's fruit.
13:970 How great their value, and how rich their use,
13:971 Whose only touch such treasures could produce!
13:972 The dire destroyer of the Trojan reign,
13:973 Fierce Agamemnon, such a prize to gain
13:974 (A proof we also were design'd by Fate
13:975 To feel the tempest, that o'erturn'd your state),
13:976 With force superior, and a ruffian crew,
13:977 From these weak arms, the helpless virgins drew:
13:978 And sternly bad them use the grant divine,
13:979 To keep the fleet in corn, and oil, and wine.
13:980 Each, as they could, escap'd: two strove to gain
13:981 Euboea's isle, and two their brother's reign.
13:982 The soldier follows, and demands the dames;
13:983 If held by force, immediate war proclaims.
13:984 Fear conquer'd Nature in their brother's mind,
13:985 And gave them up to punishment assign'd.
13:986 Forgive the deed; nor Hector's arm was there,
13:987 Nor thine, Aeneas, to maintain the war;
13:988 Whose only force upheld your Ilium's tow'rs,
13:989 For ten long years, against the Grecian pow'rs.
13:990 Prepar'd to bind their captive arms in bands,
13:991 To Heav'n they rear'd their yet unfetter'd hands,
13:992 Help, Bacchus, author of the gift, they pray'd;
13:993 The gift's great author gave immediate aid;
13:994 If such destruction of their human frame
13:995 By ways so wond'rous, may deserve the name;
13:996 Nor could I hear, nor can I now relate
13:997 Exact, the manner of their alter'd state;
13:998 But this in gen'ral of my loss I knew,
13:999 Transform'd to doves, on milky plumes they flew,
13:1000 Such as on Ida's mount thy consort's chariot drew.
13:1001 With such discourse, they entertain'd the feast;
13:1002 Then rose from table, and withdrew to rest.
13:1003 The following morn, ere Sol was seen to shine,
13:1004 Th' inquiring Trojans sought the sacred shrine;
13:1005 The mystick Pow'r commands them to explore
13:1006 Their ancient mother, and a kindred shore.
13:1007 Attending to the sea, the gen'rous prince
13:1008 Dismiss'd his guests with rich munificence,
13:1009 In old Anchises' hand a sceptre plac'd,
13:1010 A vest, and quiver young Ascanius grac'd,
13:1011 His sire, a cup; which from th' Aonian coast,
13:1012 Ismenian Therses sent his royal host.
13:1013 Alcon of Myle made what Therses sent,
13:1014 And carv'd thereon this ample argument.
13:1015 A town with sev'n distinguish'd gates was shown,
13:1016 Which spoke its name, and made the city known;
13:1017 Before it, piles, and tombs, and rising flames,
13:1018 The rites of death, and quires of mourning dames,
13:1019 Who bar'd their breasts, and gave their hair to flow,
13:1020 The signs of grief, and marks of publick woe.
13:1021 Their fountains dry'd, the weeping Naiads mourn'd,
13:1022 The trees stood bare, with searing cankers burn'd,
13:1023 No herbage cloath'd the ground, a ragged flock
13:1024 Of goats half-famish'd, lick'd the naked rock,
13:1025 Of manly courage, and with mind serene,
13:1026 Orion's daughters in the town were seen;
13:1027 One heav'd her chest to meet the lifted knife,
13:1028 One plung'd the poyniard thro' the seat of life,
13:1029 Their country's victims; mourns the rescu'd state,
13:1030 The bodies burns, and celebrates their Fate.
13:1031 To save the failure of th' illustrious line,
13:1032 From the pale ashes rose, of form divine,
13:1033 Two gen'rous youths; these, fame Coronae calls,
13:1034 Who join the pomp, and mourn their mother's falls.
13:1035 These burnish'd figures form'd of antique mold,
13:1036 Shone on the brass, with rising sculpture bold;
13:1037 A wreath of gilt Acanthus round the brim was roll'd.
13:1038 Nor less expence the Trojan gifts express'd;
13:1039 A fuming censer for the royal priest,
13:1040 A chalice, and a crown of princely cost,
13:1041 With ruddy gold, and sparkling gems emboss'd.
13:1042 Now hoisting sail, to Crete the Trojans stood,
13:1043 Themselves remembring sprung from Teucer's blood;
13:1044 But Heav'n forbids, and pestilential Jove
13:1045 From noxious skies, the wand'ring navy drove.
13:1046 Her hundred cities left, from Crete they bore,
13:1047 And sought the destin'd land, Ausonia's shore;
13:1048 But toss'd by storms at either Strophas lay,
13:1049 'Till scar'd by Harpies from the faithless bay.
13:1050 Then passing onward with a prosp'rous wind,
13:1051 Left sly Ulysses' spacious realms behind;
13:1052 Ambracia's state, in former ages known.
13:1053 The strife of Gods, the judge transform'd to stone
13:1054 They saw; for Actian Phoebus since renown'd,
13:1055 Who Caesar's arms with naval conquest crown'd;
13:1056 Next pass'd Dodona, wont of old to boast
13:1057 Her vocal forest; and Chaonia's coast,
13:1058 Where king Molossus' sons on wings aspir'd,
13:1059 And saw secure the harmless fewel fir'd.
13:1060 Now to Phaeacia's happy isle they came,
13:1061 For fertile orchards known to early fame;
13:1062 Epirus past, they next beheld with joy
13:1063 A second Ilium, and fictitious Troy;
13:1064 Here Trojan Helenus the sceptre sway'd,
13:1065 Who show'd their fate and mystick truths display'd.
13:1066 By him confirm'd Sicilia's isle they reach'd,
13:1067 Whose sides to sea three promontories stretch'd,
13:1068 Pachynos to the stormy south is plac'd,
13:1069 On Lilybaeum blows the gentle west,
13:1070 Peloro's cliffs the northern bear survey,
13:1071 Who rolls above, and dreads to touch the sea.
13:1072 By this they steer, and favour'd by the tide,
13:1073 Secure by night in Zancle's harbour ride.
13:1074 Here cruel Scylla guards the rocky shore,
13:1075 And there the waves of loud Charybdis roar:
13:1076 This sucks, and vomits ships, and bodies drown'd;
13:1077 And rav'nous dogs the womb of that surround,
13:1078 In face a virgin; and (if ought be true
13:1079 By bards recorded) once a virgin too.
13:1080 A train of youths in vain desir'd her bed;
13:1081 By sea-nymphs lov'd, to nymphs of seas she fled;
13:1082 The maid to these, with female pride, display'd
13:1083 Their baffled courtship, and their love betray'd.
13:1084 When Galatea thus bespoke the fair
13:1085 (But first she sigh'd), while Scylla comb'd her hair:
13:1086 You, lovely maid, a gen'rous race pursues,
13:1087 Whom safe you may (as now you do) refuse;
13:1088 To me, tho' pow'rful in a num'rous train
13:1089 Of sisters, sprung from Gods, who rule the main,
13:1090 My native seas could scarce a refuge prove,
13:1091 To shun the fury of the Cyclops' love,
13:1092 Tears choak'd her utt'rance here; the pity'ng maid
13:1093 With marble fingers wip'd them off, and said:
13:1094 My dearest Goddess, let thy Scylla know,
13:1095 (For I am faithful) whence these sorrows flow.
13:1096 The maid's intreaties o'er the nymph prevail,
13:1097 Who thus to Scylla tells the mournful tale.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Voyage of Aeneas
13:923 Troy thus destroy'd, 'twas still deny'd by Fate,
13:924 The hopes of Troy should perish with the state.
13:925 His sire, the son of Cytherea bore,
13:926 And household-Gods from burning Ilium's shore,
13:927 The pious prince (a double duty paid)
13:928 Each sacred burthen thro' the flames convey'd.
13:929 With young Ascanius, and this only prize,
13:930 Of heaps of wealth, he from Antandros flies;
13:931 But struck with horror, left the Thracian shore,
13:932 Stain'd with the blood of murder'd Polydore.
13:933 The Delian isle receives the banish'd train,
13:934 Driv'n by kind gales, and favour'd by the main.
13:935 Here pious Anius, priest, and monarch reign'd,
13:936 And either charge, with equal care sustain'd,
13:937 His subjects rul'd, to Phoebus homage pay'd,
13:938 His God obeying, and by those obey'd.
13:939 The priest displays his hospitable gate,
13:940 And shows the riches of his church, and state
13:941 The sacred shrubs, which eas'd Latona's pain,
13:942 The palm, and olive, and the votive fane.
13:943 Here grateful flames with fuming incense fed,
13:944 And mingled wine, ambrosial odours shed;
13:945 Of slaughter'd steers the crackling entrails burn'd:
13:946 And then the strangers to the court return'd.
13:947 On beds of tap'stry plac'd aloft, they dine
13:948 With Ceres' gift, and flowing bowls of wine;
13:949 When thus Anchises spoke, amidst the feast:
13:950 Say, mitred monarch, Phoebus' chosen priest,
13:951 Or (e'er from Troy by cruel Fate expell'd)
13:952 When first mine eyes these sacred walls beheld,
13:953 A son, and twice two daughters crown'd thy bliss?
13:954 Or errs my mem'ry, and I judge amiss?
13:955 The royal prophet shook his hoary head,
13:956 With snowy fillets bound, and sighing, said:
13:957 Thy mem'ry errs not, prince; thou saw'st me then,
13:958 The happy father of so large a train;
13:959 Behold me now (such turns of chance befall
13:960 The race of man!), almost bereft of all.
13:961 For (ah!) what comfort can my son bestow,
13:962 What help afford, to mitigate my woe!
13:963 While far from hence, in Andros' isle he reigns,
13:964 (From him so nam'd) and there my place sustains.
13:965 Him Delius praescience gave; the twice-born God
13:966 A boon more wond'rous on the maids bestow'd.
13:967 Whate'er they touch'd, he gave them to transmute
13:968 (A gift past credit, and above their suit)
13:969 To Ceres, Bacchus, and Minerva's fruit.
13:970 How great their value, and how rich their use,
13:971 Whose only touch such treasures could produce!
13:972 The dire destroyer of the Trojan reign,
13:973 Fierce Agamemnon, such a prize to gain
13:974 (A proof we also were design'd by Fate
13:975 To feel the tempest, that o'erturn'd your state),
13:976 With force superior, and a ruffian crew,
13:977 From these weak arms, the helpless virgins drew:
13:978 And sternly bad them use the grant divine,
13:979 To keep the fleet in corn, and oil, and wine.
13:980 Each, as they could, escap'd: two strove to gain
13:981 Euboea's isle, and two their brother's reign.
13:982 The soldier follows, and demands the dames;
13:983 If held by force, immediate war proclaims.
13:984 Fear conquer'd Nature in their brother's mind,
13:985 And gave them up to punishment assign'd.
13:986 Forgive the deed; nor Hector's arm was there,
13:987 Nor thine, Aeneas, to maintain the war;
13:988 Whose only force upheld your Ilium's tow'rs,
13:989 For ten long years, against the Grecian pow'rs.
13:990 Prepar'd to bind their captive arms in bands,
13:991 To Heav'n they rear'd their yet unfetter'd hands,
13:992 Help, Bacchus, author of the gift, they pray'd;
13:993 The gift's great author gave immediate aid;
13:994 If such destruction of their human frame
13:995 By ways so wond'rous, may deserve the name;
13:996 Nor could I hear, nor can I now relate
13:997 Exact, the manner of their alter'd state;
13:998 But this in gen'ral of my loss I knew,
13:999 Transform'd to doves, on milky plumes they flew,
13:1000 Such as on Ida's mount thy consort's chariot drew.
13:1001 With such discourse, they entertain'd the feast;
13:1002 Then rose from table, and withdrew to rest.
13:1003 The following morn, ere Sol was seen to shine,
13:1004 Th' inquiring Trojans sought the sacred shrine;
13:1005 The mystick Pow'r commands them to explore
13:1006 Their ancient mother, and a kindred shore.
13:1007 Attending to the sea, the gen'rous prince
13:1008 Dismiss'd his guests with rich munificence,
13:1009 In old Anchises' hand a sceptre plac'd,
13:1010 A vest, and quiver young Ascanius grac'd,
13:1011 His sire, a cup; which from th' Aonian coast,
13:1012 Ismenian Therses sent his royal host.
13:1013 Alcon of Myle made what Therses sent,
13:1014 And carv'd thereon this ample argument.
13:1015 A town with sev'n distinguish'd gates was shown,
13:1016 Which spoke its name, and made the city known;
13:1017 Before it, piles, and tombs, and rising flames,
13:1018 The rites of death, and quires of mourning dames,
13:1019 Who bar'd their breasts, and gave their hair to flow,
13:1020 The signs of grief, and marks of publick woe.
13:1021 Their fountains dry'd, the weeping Naiads mourn'd,
13:1022 The trees stood bare, with searing cankers burn'd,
13:1023 No herbage cloath'd the ground, a ragged flock
13:1024 Of goats half-famish'd, lick'd the naked rock,
13:1025 Of manly courage, and with mind serene,
13:1026 Orion's daughters in the town were seen;
13:1027 One heav'd her chest to meet the lifted knife,
13:1028 One plung'd the poyniard thro' the seat of life,
13:1029 Their country's victims; mourns the rescu'd state,
13:1030 The bodies burns, and celebrates their Fate.
13:1031 To save the failure of th' illustrious line,
13:1032 From the pale ashes rose, of form divine,
13:1033 Two gen'rous youths; these, fame Coronae calls,
13:1034 Who join the pomp, and mourn their mother's falls.
13:1035 These burnish'd figures form'd of antique mold,
13:1036 Shone on the brass, with rising sculpture bold;
13:1037 A wreath of gilt Acanthus round the brim was roll'd.
13:1038 Nor less expence the Trojan gifts express'd;
13:1039 A fuming censer for the royal priest,
13:1040 A chalice, and a crown of princely cost,
13:1041 With ruddy gold, and sparkling gems emboss'd.
13:1042 Now hoisting sail, to Crete the Trojans stood,
13:1043 Themselves remembring sprung from Teucer's blood;
13:1044 But Heav'n forbids, and pestilential Jove
13:1045 From noxious skies, the wand'ring navy drove.
13:1046 Her hundred cities left, from Crete they bore,
13:1047 And sought the destin'd land, Ausonia's shore;
13:1048 But toss'd by storms at either Strophas lay,
13:1049 'Till scar'd by Harpies from the faithless bay.
13:1050 Then passing onward with a prosp'rous wind,
13:1051 Left sly Ulysses' spacious realms behind;
13:1052 Ambracia's state, in former ages known.
13:1053 The strife of Gods, the judge transform'd to stone
13:1054 They saw; for Actian Phoebus since renown'd,
13:1055 Who Caesar's arms with naval conquest crown'd;
13:1056 Next pass'd Dodona, wont of old to boast
13:1057 Her vocal forest; and Chaonia's coast,
13:1058 Where king Molossus' sons on wings aspir'd,
13:1059 And saw secure the harmless fewel fir'd.
13:1060 Now to Phaeacia's happy isle they came,
13:1061 For fertile orchards known to early fame;
13:1062 Epirus past, they next beheld with joy
13:1063 A second Ilium, and fictitious Troy;
13:1064 Here Trojan Helenus the sceptre sway'd,
13:1065 Who show'd their fate and mystick truths display'd.
13:1066 By him confirm'd Sicilia's isle they reach'd,
13:1067 Whose sides to sea three promontories stretch'd,
13:1068 Pachynos to the stormy south is plac'd,
13:1069 On Lilybaeum blows the gentle west,
13:1070 Peloro's cliffs the northern bear survey,
13:1071 Who rolls above, and dreads to touch the sea.
13:1072 By this they steer, and favour'd by the tide,
13:1073 Secure by night in Zancle's harbour ride.
13:1074 Here cruel Scylla guards the rocky shore,
13:1075 And there the waves of loud Charybdis roar:
13:1076 This sucks, and vomits ships, and bodies drown'd;
13:1077 And rav'nous dogs the womb of that surround,
13:1078 In face a virgin; and (if ought be true
13:1079 By bards recorded) once a virgin too.
13:1080 A train of youths in vain desir'd her bed;
13:1081 By sea-nymphs lov'd, to nymphs of seas she fled;
13:1082 The maid to these, with female pride, display'd
13:1083 Their baffled courtship, and their love betray'd.
13:1084 When Galatea thus bespoke the fair
13:1085 (But first she sigh'd), while Scylla comb'd her hair:
13:1086 You, lovely maid, a gen'rous race pursues,
13:1087 Whom safe you may (as now you do) refuse;
13:1088 To me, tho' pow'rful in a num'rous train
13:1089 Of sisters, sprung from Gods, who rule the main,
13:1090 My native seas could scarce a refuge prove,
13:1091 To shun the fury of the Cyclops' love,
13:1092 Tears choak'd her utt'rance here; the pity'ng maid
13:1093 With marble fingers wip'd them off, and said:
13:1094 My dearest Goddess, let thy Scylla know,
13:1095 (For I am faithful) whence these sorrows flow.
13:1096 The maid's intreaties o'er the nymph prevail,
13:1097 Who thus to Scylla tells the mournful tale.