The Æneid of Virgil, Translated into English Verse. Virgil

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The Æneid of Virgil, Translated into English Verse - Virgil

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they require, Doubtful to deem them, betwixt hope and dread, Alive or out of hearing with the dead. All mourned, but good Æneas mourned the most, And bitter tears for Amycus he shed, Gyas, Cloanthus, bravest of his host, 253 Lycus, Orontes bold, all counted with the lost.
XXX . Now came an end of mourning and of woe, When Jove, surveying from his prospect high Shore, sail-winged sea, and peopled earth below, Stood, musing, on the summit of the sky, And on the Libyan kingdom fixed his eye, To him, such cares revolving in his breast, Her shining eyes suffused with tears, came nigh Fair Venus, for her darling son distrest, 262
And thus in sorrowing tones the Sire of heaven addressed;
XXXI . "O Thou, whose nod and awful bolts attest O'er Gods and men thine everlasting reign, Wherein hath my Æneas so transgressed, Wherein his Trojans, thus to mourn their slain, Barred from the world, lest Italy they gain? Surely from them the rolling years should see New sons of ancient Teucer rise again, The Romans, rulers of the land and sea. 271
So swar'st thou; Father, say, why changed is thy decree?

      

XXXII . "That word consoled me, weighing fate with fate, For Troy's sad fall. Now Fortune, as before, Pursues the woe-worn victims of her hate. O when, great Monarch, shall their toil be o'er? Safe could Antenor pass th' Illyrian shore Through Danaan hosts, and realms Liburnian gain, And climb Timavus and her springs explore, Where through nine mouths, with roaring surge, the main 280
Bursts from the sounding rocks and deluges the plain.

      

XXXIII . "Yet there he built Patavium, yea, and named The nation, and the Trojan arms laid down, And now rests happy in the town he framed. But we, thy progeny, to whom alone Thy nod hath promised a celestial throne, Our vessels lost, from Italy are barred, O shame! and ruined for the wrath of one. Thus, thus dost thou thy plighted word regard, 289
Our sceptred realms restore, our piety reward?"
XXXIV . Then Jove, soft-smiling with the look that clears The storms, and gently kissing her, replies; "Firm are thy fates, sweet daughter; spare thy fears. Thou yet shalt see Lavinium's walls arise, And bear thy brave Æneas to the skies. My purpose shifts not. Now, to ease thy woes, Since sorrow for his sake hath dimmed thine eyes, More will I tell, and hidden fates disclose. 298
He in Italia long shall battle with his foes,

      

XXXV . "And crush fierce tribes, and milder ways ordain, And cities build and wield the Latin sway, Till the third summer shall have seen him reign, And three long winter-seasons passed away Since fierce Rutulia did his arms obey. Then, too, the boy Ascanius, named of late Iulus—Ilus was he in the day When firm by royalty stood Ilium's state— 307
Shall rule till thirty years complete the destined date.

      

XXXVI . "He from Lavinium shall remove his seat, And gird Long Alba for defence; and there 'Neath Hector's kin three hundred years complete The kingdom shall endure, till Ilia fair, Queen-priestess, twins by Mars' embrace shall bear. Then Romulus the nation's charge shall claim, Wolf-nursed and proud her tawny hide to wear, And build a city of Mavortian fame, 316
And make the Roman race remembered by his name.
XXXVII . "To these no period nor appointed date, Nor bounds to their dominion I assign; An endless empire shall the race await. Nay, Juno, too, who now, in mood malign, Earth, sea and sky is harrying, shall incline To better counsels, and unite with me To cherish and uphold the imperial line, The Romans, rulers of the land and sea, 325
Lords of the flowing gown. So standeth my decree.

      

XXXVIII . "In rolling ages there shall come the day When heirs of old Assaracus shall tame Phthia and proud Mycene to obey, And terms of peace to conquered Greeks proclaim. Cæsar, a Trojan—Julius his name, Drawn from the great Iulus—shall arise, And compass earth with conquest, heaven with fame, Him, crowned with vows and many an Eastern prize, 334
Thou, freed at length from care, shalt welcome to the skies.
XXXIX . "Then wars shall cease and savage times grow mild, And Remus and Quirinus, brethren twain, With hoary Faith and Vesta undefiled, Shall give the law. With iron bolt and chain Firm-closed the gates of Janus shall remain. Within, the Fiend of Discord, high reclined On horrid arms, unheeded in the fane, Bound with a hundred brazen knots behind, 343
And grim with gory jaws, his grisly teeth shall grind."
XL . So saying, the son of Maia down he sent, To open Carthage and the Libyan state, Lest Dido, weetless of the Fates' intent, Should drive the Trojan wanderers from her gate. With feathered oars he cleaves the skies, and straight On Libya's shores alighting, speeds his hest. The Tyrians, yielding to the god, abate Their fierceness. Dido, more than all the rest, 352

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