That Phrygian gods to Latium should be brought,
Or who believ'd what mad Cassandra taught?
Now let us go where Phoebus leads the way.'
"He said; and we with glad consent obey,
Forsake the seat, and, leaving few behind,
We spread our sails before the
willing wind.
Now from the sight of land our galleys move,
With only seas around and skies above;
When o'er our heads descends a burst of rain,
And night with sable clouds involves the main;
The ruffling winds the foamy billows raise;
The scatter'd fleet is forc'd to sev'ral ways;
The face of heav'n is ravish'd from our eyes,
And in redoubled peals the roaring
thunder flies.
Cast from our course, we
wander in the dark.
No stars to guide, no point of land to mark.
Ev'n Palinurus no
distinction found
Betwixt the night and day; such darkness reign'd around.
Three starless nights the
doubtful navy strays,
Without
distinction, and three sunless days;
The fourth renews the light, and, from our shrouds,
We view a rising land, like distant clouds;
The mountain-tops
confirm the
pleasing sight,
And curling smoke ascending from their height.
The
canvas falls; their oars the sailors ply;
From the rude strokes the whirling waters fly.
At length I land upon the Strophades,
Safe from the danger of the stormy seas.
Those isles are compass'd by th' Ionian main,
The dire abode where the foul Harpies reign,
Forc'd by the
winged warriors to repair
To their old homes, and leave their
costly fare.
Monsters more
fierce offended Heav'n ne'er sent
From hell's abyss, for human punishment:
With
virgin faces, but with wombs obscene,
Foul paunches, and with ordure still unclean;
With claws for hands, and looks for ever lean.
"We landed at the port, and soon beheld
Fat herds of oxen graze the flow'ry field,
And
wanton goats without a
keeper stray'd.
With weapons we the
welcome prey invade,
Then call the gods for partners of our feast,
And Jove himself, the chief invited guest.
We spread the tables on the greensward ground;
We feed with
hunger, and the bowls go round;
When from the mountain-tops, with
hideous cry,
And clatt'ring wings, the hungry Harpies fly;
They
snatch the meat, defiling all they find,
And,
parting, leave a
loathsome stench behind.
Close by a hollow rock, again we sit,
New dress the dinner, and the beds refit,
Secure from sight, beneath a
pleasing shade,
Where tufted trees a native arbor made.
Again the holy fires on altars burn;
And once again the rav'nous birds return,
Or from the dark recesses where they lie,
Or from another quarter of the sky;
With
filthy claws their
odious meal repeat,
And mix their
loathsome ordures with their meat.
I bid my friends for
vengeance then prepare,
And with the hellish nation wage the war.
They, as commanded, for the fight provide,
And in the grass their glitt'ring weapons hide;
Then, when along the
crooked shore we hear
Their clatt'ring wings, and saw the foes appear,
Misenus sounds a
charge: we take th' alarm,
And our strong hands with swords and bucklers arm.
In this new kind of
combat all employ
Their
utmost force, the monsters to destroy.
In vain- the fated skin is proof to wounds;
And from their plumes the shining sword rebounds.
At length rebuff'd, they leave their mangled prey,
And their stretch'd pinions to the skies display.
Yet one remain'd- the
messenger of Fate:
High on a craggy cliff Celaeno sate,
And thus her
dismalerrand did relate:
'What! not
contented with our oxen slain,
Dare you with Heav'n an
impious war maintain,
And drive the Harpies from their native reign?
Heed
therefore what I say; and keep in mind
What Jove decrees, what Phoebus has design'd,
And I, the Furies' queen, from both relate-
You seek th' Italian shores, foredoom'd by fate:
Th' Italian shores are granted you to find,
And a safe passage to the port assign'd.
But know, that ere your promis'd walls you build,
My curses shall
severely be fulfill'd.
Fierce
famine is your lot for this misdeed,
Reduc'd to grind the plates on which you feed.'
She said, and to the neighb'ring forest flew.
Our courage fails us, and our fears renew.
Hopeless to win by war, to pray'rs we fall,
And on th' offended Harpies
humbly call,
And whether gods or birds obscene they were,
Our vows for
pardon and for peace prefer.
But old Anchises, off'ring sacrifice,
And lifting up to heav'n his hands and eyes,
Ador'd the greater gods: 'Avert,' said he,
'These omens; render vain this prophecy,
And from th'
impending curse a pious people free!'
"Thus having said, he bids us put to sea;
We loose from shore our haulsers, and obey,
And soon with swelling sails
pursue the wat'ry way.
Amidst our course, Zacynthian woods appear;
And next by rocky Neritos we steer:
We fly from Ithaca's detested shore,
And curse the land which dire Ulysses bore.
At length Leucate's cloudy top appears,
And the Sun's
temple, which the sailor fears.
Resolv'd to breathe a while from labor past,
Our
crooked anchors from the prow we cast,
And
joyful to the little city haste.
Here, safe beyond our hopes, our vows we pay
To Jove, the guide and
patron of our way.
The customs of our country we
pursue,
And Trojan games on Actian shores renew.
Our youth their naked limbs besmear with oil,
And exercise the wrastlers' noble toil;
Pleas'd to have sail'd so long before the wind,
And left so many Grecian towns behind.
The sun had now fulfill'd his
annual course,
And Boreas on the seas display'd his force:
I fix'd upon the
temple's lofty door
The
brazenshield which vanquish'd Abas bore;
The verse beneath my name and action speaks:
'These arms Aeneas took from conqu'ring Greeks.'
Then I command to weigh; the seamen ply
Their
sweeping oars; the smoking billows fly.
The sight of high Phaeacia soon we lost,
And skimm'd along Epirus' rocky coast.
"Then to Chaonia's port our course we bend,
And, landed, to Buthrotus' heights ascend.
Here
wondrous things were loudly blaz'd fame:
How Helenus reviv'd the Trojan name,
And reign'd in Greece; that Priam's
captive son
Succeeded Pyrrhus in his bed and throne;
And fair Andromache, restor'd by fate,
Once more was happy in a Trojan mate.
I leave my galleys riding in the port,
And long to see the new Dardanian court.
By chance, the
mournful queen, before the gate,
Then solemniz'd her former husband's fate.
Green altars, rais'd of turf, with gifts she crown'd,
And
sacred priests in order stand around,
And
thrice the name of
hapless Hector sound.
The grove itself resembles Ida's wood;
And Simois seem'd the well-dissembled flood.
But when at nearer distance she beheld
My shining armor and my Trojan
shield,
Astonish'd at the sight, the vital heat
Forsakes her limbs; her veins no longer beat:
She faints, she falls, and
scarce recov'ring strength,
Thus, with a falt'ring tongue, she speaks at length:
"'Are you alive, O goddess-born ?' she said,
'Or if a ghost, then where is Hector's shade?'
At this, she cast a loud and
frightful cry.
With broken words I made this brief reply:
'All of me that remains appears in sight;
I live, if living be to
loathe the light.
No
phantom; but I drag a
wretched life,
My fate resembling that of Hector's wife.
What have you suffer'd since you lost your lord?
By what strange
blessing are you now restor'd?
Still are you Hector's? or is Hector fled,
And his
remembrance lost in Pyrrhus' bed?'
With eyes
dejected, in a lowly tone,
After a
modest pause she thus begun:
"'O only happy maid of Priam's race,
Whom death deliver'd from the foes' embrace!
Commanded on Achilles' tomb to die,
Not forc'd, like us, to hard captivity,
Or in a
haughty master's arms to lie.
In Grecian ships
unhappy we were borne,
Endur'd the victor's lust, sustain'd the scorn:
Thus I submitted to the
lawless pride
Of Pyrrhus, more a handmaid than a bride.
Cloy'd with possession, he
forsook my bed,
And Helen's lovely daughter sought to wed;
Then me to Trojan Helenus resign'd,
And his two slaves in equal marriage join'd;
Till young Orestes, pierc'd with deep despair,
And
longing to
redeem the promis'd fair,
Before Apollo's altar slew the ravisher.
By Pyrrhus' death the kingdom we regain'd:
At least one half with Helenus remain'd.
Our part, from Chaon, he Chaonia calls,
And names from Pergamus his rising walls.
But you, what fates have landed on our coast?
What gods have sent you, or what storms have toss'd?
Does young Ascanius life and health enjoy,
Sav'd from the ruins of
unhappy Troy?
O tell me how his mother's loss he bears,
What hopes are promis'd from his
blooming years,
How much of Hector in his face appears?'
She spoke; and mix'd her speech with
mournful cries,
And fruitless tears came trickling from her eyes.
"At length her lord descends upon the plain,
In pomp, attended with a num'rous train;
Receives his friends, and to the city leads,
And tears of joy
amidst his
welcome sheds.
Proceeding on, another Troy I see,