The Aeneids of Virgil Part 4

But Pyrrhus with his father's might comes on; no bolt avails, No man against the might of him; the door all battered fails, The door-leaves torn from off of hinge tumble and lie along: Might maketh road; through pa.s.sage forced the entering Danaans throng, And slay the first and fill the place with armour of their ranks.

Nay nought so great is foaming flood that through its bursten banks Breaks forth, and beateth down the moles that 'gainst its going stand.

And falls a fierce heap on the plain, and over all the land Drags off the herds and herd-houses.

There saw I Pyrrhus wild With death of men amidst the door, and either Atreus' child; 500 And Hecuba and hundred wives her sons wed saw I there, And Priam fouling with his blood the very altars fair Whose fires he hallowed: fifty beds the hope of house to be, The doorways proud with outland gold and war-got bravery Sunk into ash; where fire hath failed the Danaans are enow.

Belike what fate on Priam fell thou askest me to show: For when he saw the city lost, and his own house-door stormed, And how in bowels of his house the host of foemen swarmed, The ancient man in vain does on the arms long useless laid About his quaking back of eld, and girds himself with blade 510 Of no avail, and fareth forth amid the press to die.

A very midmost of the courts beneath the naked sky A mighty altar stood: anear a bay exceeding old, The altar and the G.o.ds thereof did all in shadow hold; And round about that altar-stead sat Hecuba the queen, And many daughters: e'en as doves all huddled up are seen 'Neath the black storm they cling about the dear G.o.d's images.

But when in arms of early days King Priam now she sees, She crieth: 'O unhappy spouse! what evil heart hast thou, With weapons thus to gird thyself, or whither wilt thou now? 520 Today availeth no such help, and no such warder's stay May better aught; not even were my Hector here today.

But come thou hither unto me; this altar all shall save, Or we shall die together here!'

Her arms about she gave And took him, and the elder set adown in holy stead.

But lo! now one of Priam's sons, Polites, having fled From Pyrrhus' murder through the swords and through the foeman's throng, Runs wounded through the empty hall from out the cloister long, And burning Pyrrhus, hard at heel, the deadly hurt doth bear, And grip of hand is on him now, and now the point of spear. 530 But as he rushed before their eyes, his parents' face beneath He fell, and with most plenteous blood shed forth his latest breath; Then Priam, howsoever nigh the very death might grip, Refrained him nothing at the sight, but voice and wrath let slip: 'Ah, for such wickedness,' he cried, 'for daring such a deed, If aught abide in heaven as yet such things as this to heed, May the G.o.ds give thee worthy thanks, and pay thee well-earned prize, That thou hast set the death of sons before my father's eyes, That thou thy murder's fouling thus in father's face hast flung.

Not he, Achilles, whence indeed thou liar hast never sprung, 540 Was such a foe to Priam erst; for shamfast meed he gave To law and troth of suppliant men, and rendered to the grave The bloodless Hector dead, and me sent to mine own again.'

So spake the elder, and cast forth a toothless spear and vain, That forthwith from the griding bra.s.s was put aback all spent, And from the shield-boss' outer skin hung down, for nothing sent.

Then Pyrrhus cried: 'Yea tell him this, go take the tidings down To Peleus' son my father then, of Pyrrhus worser grown And all these evil deeds of mine! take heed to tell the tale!

Now die!'

And to the altar-stone him quivering did he hale, 550 And sliding in his own son's blood so plenteous: in his hair Pyrrhus his left hand wound, his right the gleaming sword made bare, That even to the hilts thereof within his flank he hid.

Such was the end of Priam's day, such faring forth fate bid, Troy all aflame upon the road, all Pergamus adown.

He, of so many peoples once the mighty lord and crown, So many lands of Asia once, a trunk beside the sea Huge with its headless shoulders laid, a nameless corpse is he.

Then first within the compa.s.sing of bitter fear I was; The image of my father dear by me all mazed did pa.s.s, 560 When I beheld the like-aged king gasping his life away Through cruel wound: upon mine eyes forlorn Creusa lay, The wasted house, my little one, Iulus', evil end.

I look aback to see what folk about me yet do wend, But all, foredone, had fallen away, their weary bodies spent, Some all amid the fire had cast, some unto earth had sent.

Alone was I of all men now, when lo, in Vesta's house Abiding, and in inmost nook silent and lurking close, Helen the seed of Tyndarus! the clear fires give her light As there she strayeth, turning eyes on every shifting sight; 570 She, fearful of the Teucrian wrath for Pergamus undone, And fearful of the Danaan wrath and husband left alone, The wasting fury both of Troy and land where she was born, She hid her by the altar-stead, a thing of G.o.ds forlorn.

Forth blazed the wildfire in my soul, wrath stirred me up to slake My vengeance for my dying home, and ill's atonement take.

What! should she come to Sparta safe, and her Mycenae then, And in the hard-won triumphing go forth a Queen of men, And see her husband and her home, her parents and her sons, Served by the throng of Ilian wives and Phrygian vanquished ones? 580 Shall Priam so be slain with sword; shall Troy so blaze aloft; Shall the sea-beach the Dardan blood have sweat so oft and oft For this? Nay, nay: and though forsooth no deed to blaze abroad The slaying of a woman be, nor gaineth fame's reward, Yet still to quench an evil thing and pay the well-earned meed Is worthy praise, and joy it were unto the full to feed My heart's fell flame, and satisfy these ashes well beloved.

Such things my soul gave forth; such things in furious heart I moved.

When lo, my holy mother now, ne'er seen by eyes of mine So clear before, athwart the dark in simple light did shine; 590 All G.o.d she was; of countenance and measure was she nought, But her the heaven-abiders see; so my right hand she caught, And held me, and from rosy mouth moreover added word:

'O son, what anger measureless thy mighty grief hath stirred?

Why ragest thou? or whither then is gone thy heed of me?

Wilt thou not first behold the place where worn by eld is he, Anchises, left? Wilt thou not see if yet thy wife abide Creusa, or Ascanius yet? The Greekish bands fare wide About them now on every hand, and but my care withstood The fire had wafted them away or sword had drunk their blood. 600 Laconian Helen's beauty cursed this overthrow ne'er wrought.

Nor guilty Paris; nay, the G.o.ds, the G.o.ds who pity nought, Have overturned your lordship fair, and laid your Troy alow.

Behold! I draw aside the cloud that all abroad doth flow, Dulling the eyes of mortal men, and darkening dewily The world about. And look to it no more afeard to be Of what I bid, nor evermore thy mother's word disown.

There where thou seest the great walls cleft, and stone torn off from stone, And seest the waves of smoke go by with mingled dust-cloud rolled,-- There Neptune shakes the walls and stirs the foundings from their hold With mighty trident, tumbling down the city from its base. 611 There by the Scaean gates again hath bitter Juno place The first of all, and wild and mad, herself begirt with steel, Calls up her fellows from the ships.

Look back! Tritonian Pallas broods o'er topmost burg on high, All flashing bright with Gorgon grim from out her stormy sky; The very Father hearteneth on, and stays with happy might The Danaans, crying on the G.o.ds against the Dardan fight.

s.n.a.t.c.h flight, O son, whiles yet thou may'st, and let thy toil be o'er, I by thy side will bring thee safe unto thy father's door.' 620

She spake, and hid herself away where thickest darkness poured.

Then dreadful images show forth, great G.o.dheads are abroad, The very haters of our Troy.

And then indeed before mine eyes all Ilium sank in flame, And overturned was Neptune's Troy from its foundations deep.

E'en as betideth with an ash upon the mountain steep, Round which sore smitten by the steel the acre-biders throng, And strive in speeding of the axe: and there it threateneth long, And, shaken, trembleth nodding still with heavy head of leaf; Till overcome by many hurts it groans its latest grief, 630 And torn from out the ridgy hill, drags all its ruin alow.

I get me down, and, G.o.ddess-led, speed on 'twixt fire and foe, And point and edge give place to me, before me sinks the flame; But when unto my father's door and ancient house I came, And I was fain of all things first my father forth to bear Unto the mountain-tops, and first I sought to find him there, Still he gainsayed to spin out life now Troy was lost and dead, Or suffer exile: 'Ye whose blood is hale with youth,' he said, 'Ye other ones, whose might and main endureth and is stout, See ye to flight while yet ye may! 640 Full surely if the heavenly ones my longer life had willed, They would have kept me this abode: the measure is fulfilled In that the murder I have seen, and lived when Troy-town fell.

O ye, depart, when ye have bid my body streaked farewell.

My hand itself shall find out death, or pity of my foes, Who seek my spoils: the tomb methinks a little thing to lose.

Forsooth I tarry overlong, G.o.d-cursed, a useless thing, Since when the Father of the G.o.ds, the earth-abiders' King, Blew on me blast of thunder-wind and touched me with his flame.'

His deed was stubborn as his word, no change upon him came. 650 But all we weeping many tears, my wife Creusa there, Ascanius, yea and all the house, besought him not to bear All things to wrack with him, nor speed the hastening evil tide.

He gainsaith all, and in his will and home will yet abide.

So wretchedly I rush to arms with all intent to die; For what availeth wisdom now, what hope in fate may lie?

'And didst thou hope, O father, then, that thou being left behind, My foot would fare? Woe worth the word that in thy mouth I find!

But if the G.o.ds are loth one whit of such a town to save, And thou with constant mind wilt cast on dying Troy-town's grave 660 Both thee and thine, wide is the door to wend adown such ways; For Pyrrhus, red with Priam's blood, is hard at hand, who slays The son before the father's face, the father slays upon The altar. Holy Mother, then, for this thou ledst me on Through fire and sword!--that I might see our house filled with the foe, My father old, Ascanius, Creusa lying low, All weltering in each other's blood, and murdered wretchedly.

Arms, fellows, arms! the last day's light on vanquished men doth cry.

Ah! give me to the Greeks again, that I may play the play Another while: not unavenged shall all we die today.' 670

So was I girt with sword again, and in my shield would set My left hand now, and was in point from out of doors to get, When lo, my wife about my feet e'en in the threshold clung, Still to his father reaching out Iulus tender-young: 'If thou art on thy way to die, then bear us through it all; But if to thee the wise in arms some hope of arms befall, Then keep this house first! Unto whom giv'st thou Iulus' life, Thy father's, yea and mine withal, that once was called thy wife?'

So crying out, the house she filled with her exceeding moan, When sudden, wondrous to be told, a portent was there shown; 680 For as his woeful parents' hands and lips he hangs between, On topmost of Iulus' head a thin peaked flame is seen, That with the harmless touch of fire, whence clearest light is shed, Licks his soft locks and pastures round the temples of his head.

Quaking with awe from out his hair we fall the fire to shake, And bring the water of the well the holy flame to slake.

But joyous to the stars aloft Anchises raiseth eyes, And with his hands spread out abroad to very heaven he cries: 'Almighty Jove, if thou hast will toward any prayers to turn, Look down on us this while alone; if aught our goodness earn, 690 Father, give help and strengthen us these omens from the sky!'

Scarce had the elder said the word ere crashing suddenly It thundered on the left, and down across the shades of night Ran forth a great brand-bearing star with most abundant light; And clear above the topmost house we saw it how it slid Lightening the ways, and at the last in Ida's forest hid.

Then through the sky a furrow ran drawn out a mighty s.p.a.ce, Giving forth light, and sulphur-fumes rose all about the place.

My father vanquished therewithal his visage doth upraise, And saith a word unto the G.o.ds that holy star to praise: 700 'Now, now, no tarrying is at all, I follow where ye lead; O Father-G.o.ds heed ye our house and this my son's son heed!

This is your doom; and Troy is held beneath your majesty.

I yield, O son, nor more gainsay to go my ways with thee.'

He spake; and mid the walls meanwhile we hear the fire alive Still clearer, and the burning place more nigh the heat doth drive.

'O hasten, father well-beloved, to hang about my neck!

Lo, here my shoulders will I stoop, nor of the labour reck.

And whatsoever may befall, the two of us shall bide One peril and one heal and end: Iulus by my side 710 Shall wend, and after us my wife shall follow on my feet Ye serving-folk, turn ye your minds these words of mine to meet: Scant from the city is a mound and temple of old tide, Of Ceres' lone, a cypress-tree exceeding old beside.

Kept by our fathers' worshipping through many years agone: Thither by divers roads go we to meet at last in one.

Now, father, take thy fathers' G.o.ds and holy things to hold, For me to touch them fresh from fight and murder were o'erbold, A misdeed done against the G.o.ds, till in the living flood I make a shift to wash me clean.' 720

I stooped my neck and shoulders broad e'en as the word I said, A forest lion's yellow fell for cloth upon them laid, And took my burden up: my young Iulus by my side, Holding my hand, goes tripping short unto his father's stride; My wife comes after: on we fare amidst a mirky world.

And I, erewhile as nothing moved by storm of weapons hurled, I, who the gathering of the Greeks against me nothing feared, Now tremble at each breath of wind, by every sound am stirred, Sore troubled for my fellows both, and burden that I bore.

And now we draw anigh the gates, and all the way seemed o'er, 730 When sudden sound of falling feet was borne upon our ears, And therewithal my father cries, as through the dusk he peers, 'Haste, son, and get thee swift away, for they are on us now; I see the glittering of the bra.s.s and all their shields aglow.'

What G.o.dhead nought a friend to me amidst my terror there s.n.a.t.c.hed wit away I nothing know: for while I swiftly fare By wayless places, wandering wide from out the road I knew, Creusa, whether her the Fates from me unhappy drew, Whether she wandered from the way, or weary lagged aback, Nought know I, but that her henceforth mine eyes must ever lack. 740 Nor turned I round to find her lost, nor had it in my thought, Till to that mound and ancient house of Ceres we were brought; Where, all being come together now, there lacked but her alone, And there her fellows' hopes, her son's, her husband's were undone.

On whom of men, on whom of G.o.ds, then laid I not the guilt?

What saw I bitterer to be borne in all the city spilt?

Ascanius and Anchises set the Teucrian G.o.ds beside, I give unto my fellows there in hollow dale to hide, But I unto the city turn with glittering weapons girt; Needs must I search all Troy again, and open every hurt, 750 And into every peril past must thrust my head once more.

And first I reach the walls again and mirk ways of the door Whereby I wended out erewhile; and my old footsteps' track I find, and mid the dusk of night with close eyes follow back; While on the heart lies weight of fear, and e'en the hush brings dread, Thence to the house, if there perchance, if there again she tread, I go: infall of Greeks had been, and all the house they hold, And 'neath the wind the ravening fire to highest ridge is rolled.

The flames hang o'er, with raging heat the heavens are hot withal; Still on: I look on Priam's house and topmost castle-wall; 760 And in the desert cloisters there and Juno's very home Lo, Phoenix and Ulysses cursed, the chosen wards, are come To keep the spoil; fair things of Troy, from everywhither brought, Rapt from the burning of the shrines, G.o.ds' tables rudely caught, And beakers utterly of gold and raiment s.n.a.t.c.hed away Are there heaped up; and boys and wives drawn out in long array Stand trembling round about the heap.

And now withal I dared to cast my cries upon the dark, I fill the streets with clamour great, and, groaning woefully, 'Creusa,' o'er and o'er again without avail I cry. 770

But as I sought and endlessly raved all the houses through A hapless shape, Creusa's shade, anigh mine eyen drew, And greater than the body known her image fashioned was; I stood amazed, my hair rose up, nor from my jaws would pa.s.s My frozen voice, then thus she spake my care to take away: 'Sweet husband, wherefore needest thou with such mad sorrow play?

Without the dealing of the G.o.ds doth none of this betide; And they, they will not have thee bear Creusa by thy side, Nor will Olympus' highest king such fellowship allow.

Long exile is in store for thee, huge plain of sea to plough, 780 Then to Hesperia shalt thou come, where Lydian Tiber's wave The wealthiest meads of mighty men with gentle stream doth lave: There happy days and lordship great, and kingly wife, are born For thee. Ah! do away thy tears for loved Creusa lorn.

I shall not see the Myrmidons' nor Dolopes' proud place, Nor wend my ways to wait upon the Greekish women's grace; I, daughter of the Dardan race, I, wife of Venus' son; Me the great Mother of the G.o.ds on Trojan sh.o.r.e hath won.