To-morrow's sun, unless my skill be vain,
Shall see huge heaps of foes in battle slain."
Parting, she spoke; and with
mortal" target="_blank" title="a.不死的n.不朽的人物">
immortal force
Push'd on the
vessel in her wat'ry course;
For well she knew the way. Impell'd behind,
The ship flew forward, and outstripp'd the wind.
The rest make up. Unknowing of the cause,
The chief admires their speed, and happy omens draws.
Then thus he pray'd, and fix'd on heav'n his eyes:
"Hear thou, great Mother of the deities.
With turrets crown'd! (on Ida's holy hill
Fierce tigers, rein'd and curb'd, obey thy will.)
Firm thy own omens; lead us on to fight;
And let thy Phrygians
conquer in thy right."
He said no more. And now renewing day
Had chas'd the shadows of the night away.
He charg'd the soldiers, with preventing care,
Their flags to follow, and their arms prepare;
Warn'd of th' ensuing fight, and bade 'em hope the war.
Now, his lofty poop, he view'd below
His camp incompass'd, and th' inclosing foe.
His blazing
shield, imbrac'd, he held on high;
The camp receive the sign, and with loud shouts reply.
Hope arms their courage: from their tow'rs they throw
Their darts with double force, and drive the foe.
Thus, at the signal giv'n, the cranes arise
Before the stormy south, and
blacken all the skies.
King Turnus wonder'd at the fight renew'd,
Till, looking back, the Trojan fleet he view'd,
The seas with swelling
canvas cover'd o'er,
And the swift ships descending on the shore.
The Latians saw from far, with dazzled eyes,
The
radiant crest that seem'd in flames to rise,
And dart diffusive fires around the field,
And the keen glitt'ring the golden
shield.
Thus threat'ning comets, when by night they rise,
Shoot
sanguine streams, and sadden all the skies:
So Sirius, flashing forth
sinister lights,
Pale humankind with plagues and with dry
famine fright:
Yet Turnus with undaunted mind is bent
To man the shores, and
hinder their descent,
And thus awakes the courage of his friends:
"What you so long have wish'd, kind Fortune sends;
In
ardent arms to meet th' invading foe:
You find, and find him at
advantage now.
Yours is the day: you need but only dare;
Your swords will make you masters of the war.
Your sires, your sons, your houses, and your lands,
And dearest wifes, are all within your hands.
Be mindful of the race from
whence you came,
And emulate in arms your fathers' fame.
Now take the time, while stagg'ring yet they stand
With feet unfirm, and prepossess the strand:
Fortune befriends the bold." Nor more he said,
But balanc'd whom to leave, and whom to lead;
Then these elects, the
landing to prevent;
And those he leaves, to keep the city pent.
Meantime the Trojan sends his troops ashore:
Some are by boats expos'd, by bridges more.
With lab'ring oars they bear along the strand,
Where the tide languishes, and leap aland.
Tarchon observes the coast with careful eyes,
And, where no ford he finds, no water fries,
Nor billows with
unequal murmurs roar,
But
smoothly slide along, and swell the shore,
That course he steer'd, and thus he gave command:
"Here ply your oars, and at all
hazard land:
Force on the
vessel, that her keel may wound
This hated soil, and
furrowhostile ground.
Let me
securely land- I ask no more;
Then sink my ships, or
shatter on the shore."
This fiery speech inflames his
fearful friends:
They tug at ev'ry oar, and ev'ry
stretcher bends;
They run their ships aground; the
vessels knock,
(Thus forc'd ashore,) and tremble with the shock.
Tarchon's alone was lost, that stranded stood,
Stuck on a bank, and
beaten by the flood:
She breaks her back; the loosen'd sides give way,
And
plunge the Tuscan soldiers in the sea.
Their broken oars and floating planks withstand
Their passage, while they labor to the land,
And ebbing tides bear back upon th'
uncertain sand.
Now Turnus leads his troops without delay,
Advancing to the
margin of the sea.
The trumpets sound: Aeneas first assail'd
The clowns new-rais'd and raw, and soon prevail'd.
Great Theron fell, an omen of the fight;
Great Theron, large of limbs, of giant height.
He first in open field defied the
prince:
But armor scal'd with gold was no defense
Against the fated sword, which open'd wide
His plated
shield, and pierc'd his naked side.
Next, Lichas fell, who, not like others born,
Was from his
wretched mother ripp'd and torn;
Sacred, O Phoebus, from his birth to thee;
For his
beginning life from
biting steel was free.
Not far from him was Gyas laid along,
Of
monstrous bulk; with Cisseus
fierce and strong:
Vain bulk and strength! for, when the chief assail'd,
Nor valor nor Herculean arms avail'd,
Nor their fam'd father, wont in war to go
With great Alcides, while he toil'd below.
The noisy Pharos next receiv'd his death:
Aeneas writh'd his dart, and stopp'd his bawling breath.
Then
wretched Cydon had receiv'd his doom,
Who courted Clytius in his beardless bloom,
And sought with lust obscene polluted joys:
The Trojan sword had curd his love of boys,
Had not his sev'n bold brethren stopp'd the course
Of the
fierce champions, with united force.
Sev'n darts were thrown at once; and some rebound
From his bright
shield, some on his
helmet sound:
The rest had reach'd him; but his mother's care
Prevented those, and turn'd aside in air.
The
prince then call'd Achates, to supply
The spears that knew the way to
victory-
"Those fatal
weapons, which, inur'd to blood,
In Grecian bodies under Ilium stood:
Not one of those my hand shall toss in vain
Against our foes, on this contended plain."
He said; then seiz'd a
mighty spear, and threw;
Which, wing'd with fate, thro' Maeon's buckler flew,
Pierc'd all the
brazen plates, and reach'd his heart:
He stagger'd with
intolerable smart.
Alcanor saw; and reach'd, but reach'd in vain,
His helping hand, his brother to sustain.
A second spear, which kept the former course,
From the same hand, and sent with equal force,
His right arm pierc'd, and
holding on, bereft
His use of both, and pinion'd down his left.
Then Numitor from his dead brother drew
Th' ill-omen'd spear, and at the Trojan threw:
Preventing fate directs the lance awry,
Which, glancing, only mark'd Achates' thigh.
In pride of youth the Sabine Clausus came,
And, from afar, at Dryops took his aim.
The spear flew hissing thro' the middle space,
And pierc'd his
throat, directed at his face;
It stopp'd at once the passage of his wind,
And the free soul to flitting air resign'd:
His
forehead was the first that struck the ground;
Lifeblood and life rush'd mingled thro' the wound.
He slew three brothers of the Borean race,
And three, whom Ismarus, their native place,
Had sent to war, but all the sons of Thrace.
Halesus, next, the bold Aurunci leads:
The son of Neptune to his aid succeeds,
Conspicuous on his horse. On either hand,
These fight to keep, and those to win, the land.
With
mutual blood th' Ausonian soil is dyed,
While on its borders each their claim decide.
As
wintry winds, contending in the sky,
With equal force of lungs their titles try:
They rage, they roar; the
doubtful rack of heav'n
Stands without
motion, and the tide undriv'n:
Each bent to
conquer, neither side to yield,
They long
suspend the fortune of the field.
Both armies thus perform what courage can;
Foot set to foot, and mingled man to man.
But, in another part, th' Arcadian horse
With ill success ingage the Latin force:
For, where th'
impetuoustorrent, rushing down,
Huge craggy stones and rooted trees had thrown,
They left their coursers, and, unus'd to fight
On foot, were scatter'd in a
shameful flight.
Pallas, who with
disdain and grief had view'd
His foes pursuing, and his friends pursued,
Us'd threat'nings mix'd with pray'rs, his last resource,
With these to move their minds, with those to fire their force
"Which way, companions? whether would you run?
By you yourselves, and
mighty battles won,
By my great sire, by his establish'd name,
And early promise of my future fame;
By my youth, emulous of equal right
To share his honors- shun
ignoble flight!
Trust not your feet: your hands must hew way
Thro' yon black body, and that thick array:
'T is thro' that forward path that we must come;
There lies our way, and that our passage home.
Nor pow'rs above, nor destinies below
Oppress our arms: with equal strength we go,
With
mortal hands to meet a
mortal foe.
See on what foot we stand: a
scanty shore,
The sea behind, our enemies before;
No passage left, unless we swim the main;
Or, forcing these, the Trojan trenches gain."
This said, he
strode with eager haste along,
And bore
amidst the thickest of the throng.
Lagus, the first he met, with fate to foe,
Had heav'd a stone of
mighty weight, to throw:
Stooping, the spear descended on his chine,
Just where the bone
distinguished either loin:
It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay,
That
scarce the
victor forc'd the steel away.
Hisbon came on: but, while he mov'd too slow
To wish'd
revenge, the
prince prevents his blow;
For, warding his at once, at once he press'd,
And plung'd the fatal
weapon in his breast.
Then lewd Anchemolus he laid in dust,
Who stain'd his stepdam's bed with
impious lust.
And, after him, the Daucian twins were slain,