Story of Aeneas Part 8

He said no more, but, in his walls confined, Shut out the woes which he too well divined; Nor with the rising storm would vainly strive, But left the helm, and let the vessel drive.

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.

In spite of the warning of their king, the Latians now resolved upon war against the Trojans and they demanded that the gates of the temple of Ja.n.u.s should be thrown open. Ja.n.u.s was the most ancient king who reigned in Italy. When he died he was worshipped as a G.o.d, and a magnificent temple was erected in his honor. The gates of this temple were always open in times of war and shut in times of peace. They were opened by the king, and in later ages, when Rome was a republic, the president or consul performed the ceremony dressed in robes of purple and attended by mult.i.tudes of citizens and soldiers, with the blaring of trumpets.

Two gates of steel (the name of Mars they bear, And still are worshipped with religious fear) Before his temple stand; the dire abode, And the feared issues of the furious G.o.d, Then, when the sacred senate votes the wars, The Roman consul their decree declares, And in his robes the sounding gates unbars.

The youth in military shouts arise, And the loud trumpets break the yielding skies.

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK Vii.

The Latians now requested their king to unlock the gates of the temple of Ja.n.u.s in accordance with the ancient custom. Latinus refused saying that to do so would be a defiance of the G.o.ds. But the G.o.ddess Juno, resolved that there should be no peace, descended from the skies, and with her own hands pushed back the bolts of bra.s.s, and flung wide open the gates. Then the cry of war went forth throughout the land and everywhere men began to prepare for the conflict, giving up their work in the fields to get ready their spears and shields and battle-axes.

Soon a vast number of warriors was marshalled under King Turnus to drive the Trojans out of Italy. Vergil gives a long list of the famous chiefs who a.s.sembled on this occasion.

First came Me-zen'ti-us, an Etrurian king, fierce in war, but a despiser of the G.o.ds. His own people had expelled him from their country, for his cruelty, and he had taken refuge with King Turnus.

His son Lausus also came to the war with a thousand men from the Etrurian city of A-gyl'la. Next came the brave Av-en-ti'nus, son of the renowned hero, Her'cu-les, who performed those marvelous feats, of which we read with wonder in the ancient legends. Aventinus was a warrior of terrible appearance, his body covered with the s.h.a.ggy hide of an enormous lion, the white tusks displayed above his head.

King Caec'u-lus, son of the G.o.d Vulcan, came from the city of Prae-nes'te with an army who fought with slings, wore helmets of wolf-skins, and marched with one foot naked.

Nor arms they wear, nor swords and bucklers wield, Nor drive the chariot through the dusty field; But whirl from leathern slings huge b.a.l.l.s of lead; And spoils of yellow wolves adorn their head; The left foot naked, when they march to fight; But in a bull's raw hide they sheath the right.

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.

From the mountains of Etruria came the gallant horseman, Mes-sa'pus, Neptune's son, "whom none had power to prostrate by fire or steel."

The mighty King Clausus led to the field a great host from the country of the Sabines, and an army of the Qui-ri'tes from the town of Cu'res.

This name, Quirites was in later ages one of the names by which the citizens of Rome were called. Another of the warriors was Umbro, chief of the Maru'vi-i, who could charm serpents and heal wounds inflicted by their bites.

[Ill.u.s.tration with caption: CAMILLA. (Drawn by Varian.)]

All these and many more of the princes of Italy, a.s.sembled with their armies at the call of Turnus. Greatest amongst them was Turnus himself, tallest by a head, and clad in armor brilliant with embroidered gold. There was one female warrior amongst his allies.

This was Ca-mil'la, the queen of the Volscians. She was the daughter of King Met'a-bus, who, like Mezentius, had been driven from his kingdom by his own people, because he was a cruel tyrant. In his flight, for the enraged people pursued him to take his life, he carried with him his infant daughter Camilla. Coming to the bank of a river and still pursued by his enemies, he bound the child fast to his javelin, and holding the weapon in his hands, he prayed to Di-a'na, G.o.ddess of hunters and hunting, and dedicated his daughter to her saying, "To thee, G.o.ddess of the woods, I devote this child to be thy handmaid, and committing her to the wind, I implore thee to receive her as thine own." Then he hurled the spear across the river, and plunging into the water swam to the other side, where he found the javelin fixed in the bank, and the infant uninjured.

After this achievement Metabus retired to the mountains, where he led the life of a shepherd. As soon as the child was able to hold a weapon in her hand, he trained her to the use of javelins and arrows and she grew up to be a brave and skillful warrior. In course of time she returned to the kingdom from which her father had been expelled, and became celebrated as a runner of wondrous speed.

VII. ALLIANCE WITH EVANDER--VULCAN MAKES ARMS FOR AENEAS--THE FAMOUS SHIELD.

Meanwhile AEneas was considering how to defend himself and his people against the enemy who was thus marshalling such mighty forces against him. He thought of many plans without being able to decide upon any.

This way, and that, he turns his anxious mind; Thinks, and rejects the counsels he designed; Explores himself in vain in every part, And gives no rest to his distracted heart DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.

But fortune again favored the pious chief. In a dream the river G.o.d, Tib-e-ri'nus, arrayed in garb of green, with a crown of reeds upon his head (old Father Tiber himself, the guardian genius of Rome in later ages) appeared to him, and told him where to seek help. He repeated the prophecy of Helenus, about the sow with her litter of thirty young, and he directed AEneas to repair to Pal-lan-te'um, a city further up the river, whose king, E-van'der, being frequently at war with the Latians, would gladly join the Trojans. The good father promised that he himself would conduct the Trojans along his banks, and bear them safely on his waters until they reached the Kingdom of Evander.

"To thy free pa.s.sage I submit my streams.

Wake, son of Venus, from thy pleasing dreams!

And when the setting stars are lost in day, To Juno's power thy just devotion pay; With sacrifice the wrathful queen appease; Her pride at length shall fall, her fury cease.

When thou return'st victorious from the war, Perform thy vows to me with grateful care.

The G.o.d am I, whose yellow water flows Around these fields, and fattens as it goes; Tiber my name--among the rolling floods Renowned on earth, esteemed among the G.o.ds."

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.

Old Father Tiber then plunged into the middle of the river, and disappeared from the hero's view. When AEneas awoke he immediately prepared for his journey, selecting two ships from his fleet and furnishing them with men and arms. As he was about to depart, the prophecy only just repeated by the river G.o.d was fulfilled before his eyes; for on the bank where he stood, a white sow suddenly appeared with a litter of thirty young ones.

When lo! a sudden prodigy; A milk-white sow is seen Stretched with her young ones, white as she, Along the margent green.

AEneas takes them, dam and brood, And o'er the altars pours their blood, To thee, great Juno, e'en to thee, High heaven's majestic queen.

CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.

AEneas then started on his voyage, Father Tiber making the pa.s.sage easy by calming his turbid river so that its surface was as smooth as a peaceful lake. At noon next day the Trojans came in sight of Pallanteum, and soon afterwards they turned their ships toward the land, and approached the city. Just then King Evander, accompanied by his son Pallas and many of his chiefs, was offering a sacrifice to Hercules in a grove outside the city walls. Alarmed at the sudden appearance of the vessels, they made a movement as if to depart in haste from their altars. But Pallas forbade them to interrupt the sacred rites, and advancing to meet the strangers, he addressed them from a rising ground, asking who they were, and for what purpose they had come. AEneas, speaking from the deck of one of his ships, and holding in his hand an olive branch, the emblem of peace, replied, saying, "You see before you sons of Troy, and enemies of the Latians, who have declared war against us. We seek King Evander. Bear him these tidings, and say to him that we have come asking for his alliance in arms."

Astonished at hearing that the visitors were the ill.u.s.trious Trojans whose fame had already spread throughout the world, Pallas invited them to land and come as guests to his father's house. AEneas gladly accepted the invitation, and the young prince conducted them to the grove, and introduced them to King Evander. This Evander was by birth a Greek. He had come from the Grecian province of Ar-ca'di-a, and the city he founded in Italy he called after the name of his native Arcadian city of Pallanteum. AEneas, however, had no fear that Evander, though a Greek, would be an enemy of his, for they were both of the same blood, being both descended from Atlas, the mighty hero who of old supported the heavens on his shoulders. Mercury, the father of Evander, was the son of Ma'i-a, a daughter of Atlas; and Darda.n.u.s, the founder of Troy, and ancestor of its kings, was son of E-lec'tra, another daughter of Atlas. AEneas reminded Evander of this relationship and reminded him also that the Rutulians and Latians were enemies of Evander and his people, as well as of the Trojans.

"They are the nation," said he, "which pursue you with cruel war, and they think that if they expel us from the country, nothing can hinder them from reducing all Italy under their yoke. Let us therefore form an alliance against this common foe. We Trojans have amongst us men stout of heart in battle and experienced in war."

While the hero was speaking, the king kept his eyes intently fixed upon him, for in his face and figure he saw the resemblance of the great Anchises, whom he had known in past years. Then replying to AEneas, he said, "Great chief of the Trojan race, I gladly receive and recognize you. I well recollect the words, the voice, and the features of your father, Anchises. For I remember that Priam on his way to visit his sister Hesione in Greece, also visited my country, Arcadia. Many of the Trojan princes accompanied him; but the most majestic of them all was Anchises. Much did I admire him, and I took him with me to our Arcadian city Phe'neus. At his departure he gave me costly presents, a quiver filled with Lycian arrows, a mantle interwoven with gold and two golden bridles." Evander concluded by consenting to the proposal of AEneas for an alliance against the Latians--

"The league you ask, I offer as your right; And when to-morrow's sun reveals the light, With swift supplies you shall be sent away."

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.

The Trojans were now hospitably entertained by King Evander. Seated on the greensward, they partook of a plenteous repast, and when the banquet was over, the king explained to AEneas and his companions the meaning of the religious festivities in which they had been engaged.

It was through no vain superst.i.tion, he said, that they performed these solemn rites, but to commemorate their deliverance from a terrible scourge, and to give honor to their deliverer.

Then Evander related the story of the monster Ca'cus, who in former times, dwelt in a cave underneath the hill on which Pallanteum was now built. He was a giant, of enormous size and hideous to behold, for from his father Vulcan, the G.o.d of fire, he had got the power of breathing smoke and flame through his mouth and nostrils. He was a scourge and a terror to the country round, as besides being a robber, he killed and devoured men. But by good fortune the hero Hercules happened to pa.s.s that way, driving before him a herd of cattle which he had taken from another cruel monster--the three-bodied giant Ge'ry-on, whom he had destroyed. As these cattle were grazing by the river, Hercules having lain down on the bank to rest, Cacus stole four bulls and four heifers, the finest of the herd. To conceal the theft he dragged the animals backwards by the tails into his den, so that their footprints seemed to show that they had gone from the cave instead of into it. This trick had almost succeeded, for Hercules, after searching in vain for the missing animals, was about to resume his journey, when a lowing from within the cave reached his ears.

The oxen at departing fill With noisy utterance grove and hill, And breathe a farewell low; When hark! a heifer from the den Makes answer to the sound again And mocks her wily foe.

CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.

Hercules now knowing what had become of his cattle rushed to the top of the mount where he had seen the giant, but Cacus fled into his cave, and instantly let drop the huge stone which he kept suspended by iron chains over the entrance. This stone even the mighty Hercules could not move from its place, for it was held fast by great bolts on the inside. But searching around the mount for another entrance, he saw a rock overhanging the river, which formed a back for the cavern.

Exerting his full strength, the hero wrenched this rock from its fastenings, and hurled it into the water. In the interior of the den, thus laid open, Hercules soon caught sight of the robber, and commenced to a.s.sail him with arrows and stones. Then the monster belched forth volumes of smoke and flame, concealing himself in a cloud of pitchy vapor. But Hercules now thoroughly enraged, rushed furiously into the den, and seizing Cacus by the throat, choked him to death. Great was the joy of the people when they heard of the destruction of the monster, and anniversary festivals had been held there ever since in honor of the deliverer.

After King Evander had told this story, choirs of young and old men, the priests called Sa'li-i, sang songs about the great deeds of Hercules; how when a child in his cradle he had strangled the two serpents sent by Juno to destroy him, how he had slain the furious lion of Nemea, dragged from Pluto's realms the three-headed dog Cerberus, and performed numerous other difficult and dangerous feats.

Evander and his people now returned to the city, accompanied by their Trojan guests. The king walked by the side of AEneas, and told him many things about the traditions of the place, and its early history.

At one time, he said, the country had been ruled by Saturn, who, driven from the throne of the heavens by his son Jupiter, had come to Italy, and finding on the banks of the river a race of uncivilized men, had formed them into a settled society. He taught them how to till the ground, and introduced laws amongst them, and so peaceful and happy were they under his reign, that it was called the Golden Age.

One of the kings long after Saturn's reign was Tiberinus, whose name was given to the river, and who became its guardian G.o.d.

The king then escorted AEneas through the town, pointing out to him many places, destined to be famous in later history, for on that very ground Romulus built his city, and Pallanteum became the celebrated Palatine Mount, one of the seven hills of Rome. When they reached the royal palace, which was not as large or magnificent as palaces often are, the king took pride in mentioning that the great Hercules, honored in life, and after death worshipped as a G.o.d, had not disdained to accept hospitality under its roof.

He spoke, and through the narrow door The great AEneas led, And heaped a couch upon the floor With leaves and bear-skin spread.

CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.

While the Trojan chief was being entertained by King Evander, his mother Venus was much troubled in mind thinking of the danger which threatened her son in his new settlement. She resolved that he should have all the aid in her power to supply, and so she requested Vulcan to make him a suit of armor. Vulcan was the G.o.d of smiths as well as of fire, and Venus thus appealed to him in behalf of her son.

"While the Greeks were laboring to bring destruction on Troy," said she to the fire G.o.d, who was also the G.o.d of smiths, "I did not ask your help, knowing that the ruin of the city had been decreed by the G.o.ds. But now AEneas has settled in Italy by Jupiter's command; therefore, I beg your a.s.sistance. What I wish is that you should make arms and armor for my son. Many nations have combined against him, and are sharpening their swords for the destruction of himself and his people."

Vulcan readily agreed to comply with the request of Venus. Being a G.o.d he could make arms and armor against which the power of mortal men would be of no avail. His forges, and furnaces, and anvils were in vast caves under one of the Lip'a-re isles and under Mount AEtna, and the giant Cyclops were his workmen.

Sacred to Vulcan's name, an isle there lay, Betwixt Sicilia's coasts and Lipare, Raised high on smoking rocks; and, deep below, In hollow caves the fires of AEtna glow.

The Cyclops here their heavy hammers deal; Loud strokes, and hissing of tormented steel, Are heard around; the boiling waters roar; And smoky flames through fuming tunnels soar.

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.

To these workshops Vulcan forthwith repaired to give orders for the arms which Venus requested for her son. He found his men industriously at work making wonderful things for the G.o.ds. Some were forging a thunderbolt for Jupiter, the rays or shafts of which were of hail and watery cloud, and glaring fire and the winged wind. Others were making a war chariot for Mars, and others a shield for Minerva, ornamented with serpent's scales of gold. When Vulcan entered, he bade them lay aside all those tasks.