The Aeneid Part 9

Meantime, my sire commands to hoist our sails, Lest we should lose the first auspicious gales.

"The prophet bless'd the parting crew, and last, With words like these, his ancient friend embrac'd: 'Old happy man, the care of G.o.ds above, Whom heav'nly Venus honor'd with her love, And twice preserv'd thy life, when Troy was lost, Behold from far the wish'd Ausonian coast: There land; but take a larger compa.s.s round, For that before is all forbidden ground.

The sh.o.r.e that Phoebus has design'd for you, At farther distance lies, conceal'd from view.

Go happy hence, and seek your new abodes, Blest in a son, and favor'd by the G.o.ds: For I with useless words prolong your stay, When southern gales have summon'd you away.'

"Nor less the queen our parting thence deplor'd, Nor was less bounteous than her Trojan lord.

A n.o.ble present to my son she brought, A robe with flow'rs on golden tissue wrought, A phrygian vest; and loads with gifts beside Of precious texture, and of Asian pride.

'Accept,' she said, 'these monuments of love, Which in my youth with happier hands I wove: Regard these trifles for the giver's sake; 'T is the last present Hector's wife can make.

Thou call'st my lost Astyanax to mind; In thee his features and his form I find: His eyes so sparkled with a lively flame; Such were his motions; such was all his frame; And ah! had Heav'n so pleas'd, his years had been the same.'

"With tears I took my last adieu, and said: 'Your fortune, happy pair, already made, Leaves you no farther wish. My diff'rent state, Avoiding one, incurs another fate.

To you a quiet seat the G.o.ds allow: You have no sh.o.r.es to search, no seas to plow, Nor fields of flying Italy to chase: (Deluding visions, and a vain embrace!) You see another Simois, and enjoy The labor of your hands, another Troy, With better auspice than her ancient tow'rs, And less obnoxious to the Grecian pow'rs.

If e'er the G.o.ds, whom I with vows adore, Conduct my steps to Tiber's happy sh.o.r.e; If ever I ascend the Latian throne, And build a city I may call my own; As both of us our birth from Troy derive, So let our kindred lines in concord live, And both in acts of equal friendship strive.

Our fortunes, good or bad, shall be the same: The double Troy shall differ but in name; That what we now begin may never end, But long to late posterity descend.'

"Near the Ceraunian rocks our course we bore; The shortest pa.s.sage to th' Italian sh.o.r.e.

Now had the sun withdrawn his radiant light, And hills were hid in dusky shades of night: We land, and, on the bosom Of the ground, A safe retreat and a bare lodging found.

Close by the sh.o.r.e we lay; the sailors keep Their watches, and the rest securely sleep.

The night, proceeding on with silent pace, Stood in her noon, and view'd with equal face Her steepy rise and her declining race.

Then wakeful Palinurus rose, to spy The face of heav'n, and the nocturnal sky; And listen'd ev'ry breath of air to try; Observes the stars, and notes their sliding course, The Pleiads, Hyads, and their wat'ry force; And both the Bears is careful to behold, And bright Orion, arm'd with burnish'd gold.

Then, when he saw no threat'ning tempest nigh, But a sure promise of a settled sky, He gave the sign to weigh; we break our sleep, Forsake the pleasing sh.o.r.e, and plow the deep.

"And now the rising morn with rosy light Adorns the skies, and puts the stars to flight; When we from far, like bluish mists, descry The hills, and then the plains, of Italy.

Achates first p.r.o.nounc'd the joyful sound; Then, 'Italy!' the cheerful crew rebound.

My sire Anchises crown'd a cup with wine, And, off'ring, thus implor'd the pow'rs divine: 'Ye G.o.ds, presiding over lands and seas, And you who raging winds and waves appease, Breathe on our swelling sails a prosp'rous wind, And smooth our pa.s.sage to the port a.s.sign'd!'

The gentle gales their flagging force renew, And now the happy harbor is in view.

Minerva's temple then salutes our sight, Plac'd, as a landmark, on the mountain's height.

We furl our sails, and turn the prows to sh.o.r.e; The curling waters round the galleys roar.

The land lies open to the raging east, Then, bending like a bow, with rocks compress'd, Shuts out the storms; the winds and waves complain, And vent their malice on the cliffs in vain.

The port lies hid within; on either side Two tow'ring rocks the narrow mouth divide.

The temple, which aloft we view'd before, To distance flies, and seems to shun the sh.o.r.e.

Scarce landed, the first omens I beheld Were four white steeds that cropp'd the flow'ry field.

'War, war is threaten'd from this foreign ground,'

My father cried, 'where warlike steeds are found.

Yet, since reclaim'd to chariots they submit, And bend to stubborn yokes, and champ the bit, Peace may succeed to war.' Our way we bend To Pallas, and the sacred hill ascend; There prostrate to the fierce virago pray, Whose temple was the landmark of our way.

Each with a Phrygian mantle veil'd his head, And all commands of Helenus obey'd, And pious rites to Grecian Juno paid.

These dues perform'd, we stretch our sails, and stand To sea, forsaking that suspected land.

"From hence Tarentum's bay appears in view, For Hercules renown'd, if fame be true.

Just opposite, Lacinian Juno stands; Caulonian tow'rs, and Scylacaean strands, For shipwrecks fear'd. Mount Aetna thence we spy, Known by the smoky flames which cloud the sky.

Far off we hear the waves with surly sound Invade the rocks, the rocks their groans rebound.

The billows break upon the sounding strand, And roll the rising tide, impure with sand.

Then thus Anchises, in experience old: "T is that Charybdis which the seer foretold, And those the promis'd rocks! Bear off to sea!'

With haste the frighted mariners obey.

First Palinurus to the larboard veer'd; Then all the fleet by his example steer'd.

To heav'n aloft on ridgy waves we ride, Then down to h.e.l.l descend, when they divide; And thrice our galleys knock'd the stony ground, And thrice the hollow rocks return'd the sound, And thrice we saw the stars, that stood with dews around.

The flagging winds forsook us, with the sun; And, wearied, on Cyclopian sh.o.r.es we run.

The port capacious, and secure from wind, Is to the foot of thund'ring Aetna join'd.

By turns a pitchy cloud she rolls on high; By turns hot embers from her entrails fly, And flakes of mounting flames, that lick the sky.

Oft from her bowels ma.s.sy rocks are thrown, And, shiver'd by the force, come piecemeal down.

Oft liquid lakes of burning sulphur flow, Fed from the fiery springs that boil below.

Enceladus, they say, transfix'd by Jove, With blasted limbs came tumbling from above; And, where he fell, th' avenging father drew This flaming hill, and on his body threw.

As often as he turns his weary sides, He shakes the solid isle, and smoke the heavens hides.

In shady woods we pa.s.s the tedious night, Where bellowing sounds and groans our souls affright, Of which no cause is offer'd to the sight; For not one star was kindled in the sky, Nor could the moon her borrow'd light supply; For misty clouds involv'd the firmament, The stars were m.u.f.fled, and the moon was pent.

"Scarce had the rising sun the day reveal'd, Scarce had his heat the pearly dews dispell'd, When from the woods there bolts, before our sight, Somewhat betwixt a mortal and a sprite, So thin, so ghastly meager, and so wan, So bare of flesh, he scarce resembled man.

This thing, all tatter'd, seem'd from far t' implore Our pious aid, and pointed to the sh.o.r.e.

We look behind, then view his s.h.a.ggy beard; His clothes were tagg'd with thorns, and filth his limbs besmear'd; The rest, in mien, in habit, and in face, Appear'd a Greek, and such indeed he was.

He cast on us, from far, a frightful view, Whom soon for Trojans and for foes he knew; Stood still, and paus'd; then all at once began To stretch his limbs, and trembled as he ran.

Soon as approach'd, upon his knees he falls, And thus with tears and sighs for pity calls: 'Now, by the pow'rs above, and what we share From Nature's common gift, this vital air, O Trojans, take me hence! I beg no more; But bear me far from this unhappy sh.o.r.e.

'T is true, I am a Greek, and farther own, Among your foes besieg'd th' imperial town.

For such demerits if my death be due, No more for this abandon'd life I sue; This only favor let my tears obtain, To throw me headlong in the rapid main: Since nothing more than death my crime demands, I die content, to die by human hands.'

He said, and on his knees my knees embrac'd: I bade him boldly tell his fortune past, His present state, his lineage, and his name, Th' occasion of his fears, and whence he came.

The good Anchises rais'd him with his hand; Who, thus encourag'd, answer'd our demand: 'From Ithaca, my native soil, I came To Troy; and Achaemenides my name.

Me my poor father with Ulysses sent; (O had I stay'd, with poverty content!) But, fearful for themselves, my countrymen Left me forsaken in the Cyclops' den.

The cave, tho' large, was dark; the dismal floor Was pav'd with mangled limbs and putrid gore.

Our monstrous host, of more than human size, Erects his head, and stares within the skies; Bellowing his voice, and horrid is his hue.

Ye G.o.ds, remove this plague from mortal view!

The joints of slaughter'd wretches are his food; And for his wine he quaffs the streaming blood.

These eyes beheld, when with his s.p.a.cious hand He seiz'd two captives of our Grecian band; Stretch'd on his back, he dash'd against the stones Their broken bodies, and their crackling bones: With spouting blood the purple pavement swims, While the dire glutton grinds the trembling limbs.

"'Not unreveng'd Ulysses bore their fate, Nor thoughtless of his own unhappy state; For, gorg'd with flesh, and drunk with human wine While fast asleep the giant lay supine, Snoring aloud, and belching from his maw His indigested foam, and morsels raw; We pray; we cast the lots, and then surround The monstrous body, stretch'd along the ground: Each, as he could approach him, lends a hand To bore his eyeball with a flaming brand.

Beneath his frowning forehead lay his eye; For only one did the vast frame supply- But that a globe so large, his front it fill'd, Like the sun's disk or like a Grecian shield.

The stroke succeeds; and down the pupil bends: This vengeance follow'd for our slaughter'd friends.

But haste, unhappy wretches, haste to fly!

Your cables cut, and on your oars rely!

Such, and so vast as Polypheme appears, A hundred more this hated island bears: Like him, in caves they shut their woolly sheep; Like him, their herds on tops of mountains keep; Like him, with mighty strides, they stalk from steep to steep And now three moons their sharpen'd horns renew, Since thus, in woods and wilds, obscure from view, I drag my loathsome days with mortal fright, And in deserted caverns lodge by night; Oft from the rocks a dreadful prospect see Of the huge Cyclops, like a walking tree: From far I hear his thund'ring voice resound, And trampling feet that shake the solid ground.

Cornels and salvage berries of the wood, And roots and herbs, have been my meager food.

While all around my longing eyes I cast, I saw your happy ships appear at last.

On those I fix'd my hopes, to these I run; 'T is all I ask, this cruel race to shun; What other death you please, yourselves bestow.'

"Scarce had he said, when on the mountain's brow We saw the giant shepherd stalk before His following flock, and leading to the sh.o.r.e: A monstrous bulk, deform'd, depriv'd of sight; His staff a trunk of pine, to guide his steps aright.

His pond'rous whistle from his neck descends; His woolly care their pensive lord attends: This only solace his hard fortune sends.

Soon as he reach'd the sh.o.r.e and touch'd the waves, From his bor'd eye the gutt'ring blood he laves: He gnash'd his teeth, and groan'd; thro' seas he strides, And scarce the topmost billows touch'd his sides.

"Seiz'd with a sudden fear, we run to sea, The cables cut, and silent haste away; The well-deserving stranger entertain; Then, buckling to the work, our oars divide the main.

The giant harken'd to the dashing sound: But, when our vessels out of reach he found, He strided onward, and in vain essay'd Th' Ionian deep, and durst no farther wade.

With that he roar'd aloud: the dreadful cry Shakes earth, and air, and seas; the billows fly Before the bellowing noise to distant Italy.

The neigh'ring Aetna trembling all around, The winding caverns echo to the sound.

His brother Cyclops hear the yelling roar, And, rushing down the mountains, crowd the sh.o.r.e.

We saw their stern distorted looks, from far, And one-eyed glance, that vainly threaten'd war: A dreadful council, with their heads on high; (The misty clouds about their foreheads fly;) Not yielding to the tow'ring tree of Jove, Or tallest cypress of Diana's grove.

New pangs of mortal fear our minds a.s.sail; We tug at ev'ry oar, and hoist up ev'ry sail, And take th' advantage of the friendly gale.

Forewarn'd by Helenus, we strive to shun Charybdis' gulf, nor dare to Scylla run.

An equal fate on either side appears: We, tacking to the left, are free from fears; For, from Pelorus' point, the North arose, And drove us back where swift Pantagias flows.

His rocky mouth we pa.s.s, and make our way By Thapsus and Megara's winding bay.

This pa.s.sage Achaemenides had shown, Tracing the course which he before had run.

"Right o'er against Plemmyrium's wat'ry strand, There lies an isle once call'd th' Ortygian land.

Alpheus, as old fame reports, has found From Greece a secret pa.s.sage under ground, By love to beauteous Arethusa led; And, mingling here, they roll in the same sacred bed.