Our single swords the quarrel shall decide,
And to the
victor be the
beauteous bride."
He said, and striding on, with
speedy pace,
He sought his coursers of the Thracian race.
At his approach they toss their heads on high,
And,
proudly neighing, promise
victory.
The sires of these Orythia sent from far,
To grace Pilumnus, when he went to war.
The drifts of Thracian snows were
scarce so white,
Nor northern winds in fleetness match'd their flight.
Officious grooms stand ready by his side;
And some with combs their flowing manes divide,
And others stroke their chests and
gentlysoothe their pride
He sheath'd his limbs in arms; a temper'd mass
Of golden metal those, and mountain brass.
Then to his head his glitt'ring helm he tied,
And girt his
faithful fauchion to his side.
In his Aetnaean forge, the God of Fire
That fauchion labor'd for the hero's sire;
Immortal keenness on the blade bestow'd,
And plung'd it hissing in the Stygian flood.
Propp'd on a
pillar, which the ceiling bore,
Was plac'd the lance Auruncan Actor wore;
Which with such force he brandish'd in his hand,
The tough ash trembled like an osier wand:
Then cried: "O pond'rous spoil of Actor slain,
And never yet by Turnus toss'd in vain,
Fail not this day thy wonted force; but go,
Sent by this hand, to
pierce the Trojan foe!
Give me to tear his corslet from his breast,
And from that
eunuch head to rend the crest;
Dragg'd in the dust, his frizzled hair to soil,
Hot from the vexing ir'n, and smear'd with
fragrant oil!"
Thus while he raves, from his wide nostrils flies
A fiery steam, and sparkles from his eyes.
So fares the bull in his lov'd female's sight:
Proudly he bellows, and preludes the fight;
He tries his goring horns against a tree,
And meditates his
absent enemy;
He pushes at the winds; he digs the strand
With his black hoofs, and spurns the yellow sand.
Nor less the Trojan, in his Lemnian arms,
To future fight his manly courage warms:
He whets his fury, and with joy prepares
To
terminate at once the ling'ring wars;
To cheer his chiefs and tender son, relates
What Heav'n had promis'd, and expounds the fates.
Then to the Latian king he sends, to cease
The rage of arms, and
ratify the peace.
The morn ensuing, from the mountain's height,
Had
scarcely spread the skies with rosy light;
Th'
ethereal coursers, bounding from the sea,
From out their
flaming nostrils breath'd the day;
When now the Trojan and Rutulian guard,
In friendly labor join'd, the list prepar'd.
Beneath the walls they
measure out the space;
Then
sacred altars rear, on sods of grass,
Where, with religious their common gods they place.
In purest white the
priests their heads attire;
And living waters bear, and holy fire;
And, o'er their linen hoods and shaded hair,
Long twisted wreaths of
sacred veryain wear,
In order issuing from the town appears
The Latin
legion, arm'd with
pointed spears;
And from the fields, advancing on a line,
The Trojan and the Tuscan forces join:
Their various arms afford a
pleasing sight;
A
peaceful train they seem, in peace prepar'd for fight.
Betwixt the ranks the proud commanders ride,
Glitt'ring with gold, and vests in
purple dyed;
Here Mnestheus, author of the Memmian line,
And there Messapus, born of seed
divine.
The sign is giv'n; and, round the listed space,
Each man in order fills his proper place.
Reclining on their ample shields, they stand,
And fix their
pointed lances in the sand.
Now, studious of the sight, a num'rous throng
Of either sex promiscuous, old and young,
Swarm the town: by those who rest behind,
The gates and walls and houses' tops are lin'd.
Meantime the Queen of Heav'n
beheld the sight,
With eyes unpleas'd, from Mount Albano's height
(Since call'd Albano by succeeding fame,
But then an empty hill, without a name).
She
thence survey'd the field, the Trojan pow'rs,
The Latian squadrons, and Laurentine tow'rs.
Then thus the
goddess of the skies bespoke,
With sighs and tears, the
goddess of the lake,
King Turnus' sister, once a lovely maid,
Ere to the lust of
lawless Jove betray'd:
Compress'd by force, but, by the
grateful god,
Now made the Nais of the neighb'ring flood.
"O nymph, the pride of living lakes," said she,
"O most renown'd, and most belov'd by me,
Long hast thou known, nor need I to record,
The
wanton sallies of my wand'ring lord.
Of ev'ry Latian fair whom Jove misled
To mount by stealth my
violated bed,
To thee alone I grudg'd not his embrace,
But gave a part of heav'n, and an unenvied place.
Now learn from me thy near approaching grief,
Nor think my wishes want to thy relief.
While fortune favor'd, nor Heav'n's King denied
To lend my
succor to the Latian side,
I sav'd thy brother, and the sinking state:
But now he struggles with
unequal fate,
And goes, with gods
averse, o'ermatch'd in might,
To meet
inevitable death in fight;
Nor must I break the truce, nor can
sustain the sight.
Thou, if thou dar'st thy present aid supply;
It well becomes a sister's care to try."
At this the lovely nymph, with grief oppress'd,
Thrice tore her hair, and beat her
comely breast.
To whom Saturnia thus: "Thy tears are late:
Haste,
snatch him, if he can be
snatch'd from fate:
New tumults
kindle;
violate the truce:
Who knows what changeful fortune may produce?
'T is not a crime t' attempt what I decree;
Or, if it were,
discharge the crime on me."
She said, and, sailing on the
winged wind,
Left the sad nymph suspended in her mind.
And now pomp the
peaceful kings appear:
Four steeds the
chariot of Latinus bear;
Twelve golden beams around his temples play,
To mark his lineage from the God of Day.
Two snowy coursers Turnus'
chariot yoke,
And in his hand two massy spears he shook:
Then issued from the camp, in arms
divine,
Aeneas, author of the Roman line;
And by his side Ascanius took his place,
The second hope of Rome's
immortal race.
Adorn'd in white, a rev'rend
priest appears,
And off'rings to the
flaming altars bears;
A porket, and a lamb that never suffer'd shears.
Then to the rising sun he turns his eyes,
And strews the beasts, design'd for sacrifice,
With salt and meal: with like officious care
He marks their foreheads, and he clips their hair.
Betwixt their horns the
purple wine he sheds;
With the same gen'rous juice the flame he feeds.
Aeneas then unsheath'd his shining sword,
And thus with pious pray'rs the gods ador'd:
"All-seeing sun, and thou, Ausonian soil,
For which I have
sustain'd so long a toil,
Thou, King of Heav'n, and thou, the Queen of Air,
Propitious now, and reconcil'd by pray'r;
Thou, God of War, whose unresisted sway
The labors and events of arms obey;
Ye living fountains, and ye
running floods,
All pow'rs of ocean, all
ethereal gods,
Hear, and bear record: if I fall in field,
Or, recreant in the fight, to Turnus yield,
My Trojans shall encrease Evander's town;
Ascanius shall
renounce th' Ausonian crown:
All claims, all questions of
debate, shall cease;
Nor he, nor they, with force infringe the peace.
But, if my juster arms
prevail in fight,
(As sure they shall, if I
divine aright,)
My Trojans shall not o'er th' Italians reign:
Both equal, both unconquer'd shall remain,
Join'd in their laws, their lands, and their abodes;
I ask but altars for my weary gods.
The care of those religious rites be mine;
The crown to King Latinus I resign:
His be the sov'reign sway. Nor will I share
His pow'r in peace, or his command in war.
For me, my friends another town shall frame,
And bless the rising tow'rs with fair Lavinia's name."
Thus he. Then, with erected eyes and hands,
The Latian king before his altar stands.
"By the same heav'n," said he, "and earth, and main,
And all the pow'rs that all the three contain;
By hell below, and by that upper god
Whose
thunder signs the peace, who seals it with his nod;
So let Latona's double offspring hear,
And double-fronted Janus, what I swear:
I touch the
sacred altars, touch the flames,
And all those pow'rs
attest, and all their names;
Whatever chance
befall on either side,
No term of time this union shall divide:
No force, no fortune, shall my vows unbind,
Or shake the
steadfast tenor of my mind;
Not tho' the circling seas should break their bound,
O'erflow the shores, or sap the solid ground;
Not tho' the lamps of heav'n their spheres forsake,
Hurl'd down, and hissing in the
nether lake:
Ev'n as this royal
scepter" (for he bore
A
scepter in his hand) "shall never more
Shoot out in branches, or renew the birth:
An
orphan now, cut from the mother earth
By the keen ax, dishonor'd of its hair,
And cas'd in brass, for Latian kings to bear."
When thus in public view the peace was tied
With
solemn vows, and sworn on either side,
All dues perform'd which holy rites require;
The
victim beasts are slain before the fire,
The trembling entrails from their bodies torn,
And to the fatten'd flames in chargers borne.
Already the Rutulians deem their man
O'ermatch'd in arms, before the fight began.
First rising fears are whisper'd thro' the crowd;