Thus briefly, Jove. But golden Venus madeless brief reply. “O Father, who dost holdo'er Man and all things an immortal sway!Of what high throne may gods the aid imploresave thine? Behold of yonder Rutulith' insulting scorn! Among them Turnus movesin chariot proud, and boasts triumphant warin mighty words. Nor do their walls defendmy Teucrians now. But in their very gates,and on their mounded ramparts, in close fightthey breast their foes and fill the moats with blood.Aeneas knows not, and is far away.Will ne'er the siege have done? A second timeabove Troy's rising walls the foe impends;another host is gathered, and once morefrom his Aetolian Arpi wrathful speedsa Diomed. I doubt not that for mewounds are preparing. Yea, thy daughter dearawaits a mortal sword! If by thy willunblest and unapproved the Trojans cameto Italy, for such rebellious crimegive them their due, nor lend them succor, thou,with thy strong hand! But if they have obeyedunnumbered oracles from gods aboveand sacred shades below, who now has powerto thwart thy bidding, or to weave anewthe web of Fate? Why speak of ships consumedalong my hallowed Erycinian shore?Or of the Lord of Storms, whose furious blastswere summoned from Aeolia? Why tellof Iris sped from heaven? Now she movesthe region of the shades (one kingdom yetfrom her attempt secure) and thence lets loose Alecto on the world above, who stridesin frenzied wrath along th' Italian hills.No more my heart now cherishes its hopeof domination, though in happier dayssuch was thy promise. Let the victory fallto victors of thy choice! If nowhere liesthe land thy cruel Queen would deign accordunto the Teucrian people,—O my sire,I pray thee by yon smouldering wreck of Troy to let Ascanius from the clash of armsescape unscathed. Let my own offspring live!Yea, let Aeneas, tossed on seas unknown,find some chance way; let my right hand availto shelter him and from this fatal warin safety bring. For Amathus is mine,mine are Cythera and the Paphian hillsand temples in Idalium. Let him dropthe sword, and there live out inglorious days.By thy decree let Carthage overwhelmAusonia's power; nor let defence be foundto stay the Tyrian arms! What profits itthat he escaped the wasting plague of warand fled Argolic fires? or that he knewso many perils of wide wildernessand waters rude? The Teucrians seek in vainnew-born Troy in Latium. Better farcrouched on their country's ashes to abide,and keep that spot of earth where once was Troy!Give back, O Father, I implore thee, giveXanthus and Simois back! Let Teucer's sonsunfold once more the tale of Ilium's woe!”

Then sovereign Juno, flushed with solemn scorn,made answer. “Dost thou bid me here profanethe silence of my heart, and gossip forthof secret griefs? What will of god or manimpelled Aeneas on his path of war,or made him foeman of the Latin King?Fate brought him to Italia? Be it so!Cassandra's frenzy he obeyed. What voice —say, was it mine?—urged him to quit his camp,risk life in storms, or trust his war, his walls,to a boy-captain, or stir up to strifeEtruria's faithful, unoffending sons?What god, what pitiless behest of mine,impelled him to such harm? Who traces herethe hand of Juno, or of Iris spedfrom heaven? Is it an ignoble strokethat Italy around the new-born Troy makes circling fire, and Turnus plants his heelon his hereditary earth, the sonof old Pilumnus and the nymph divine,Venilia? For what offence would Troy bring sword and fire on Latium, or enslavelands of an alien name, and bear awayplunder and spoil? Why seek they marriages,and snatch from arms of love the plighted maids?An olive-branch is in their hands; their shipsmake menace of grim steel. Thy power one dayravished Aeneas from his Argive foes,and gave them shape of cloud and fleeting airto strike at for a man. Thou hast transformedhis ships to daughters of the sea. What wrongif I, not less, have lent the Rutulisomething of strength in war? Aeneas, then,is far away and knows not! Far awaylet him remain, not knowing! If thou sway'stCythera, Paphos, and Idalium,why rouse a city pregnant with loud wars,and fiery hearts provoke? That fading powerof Phrygia, do I, forsooth, essayto ruin utterly? O, was it Iexposed ill-fated Troy to Argive foe?For what offence in vast array of armsdid Europe rise and Asia, for a rapetheir peace dissolving? Was it at my wordth' adulterous Dardan shepherd came to stormthe Spartan city? Did my hand supplyhis armament, or instigate a warfor Cupid's sake? Then was thy decent hourto tremble for thy children; now too latethe folly of thy long lament to Heaven,and objurgation vain.” Such Juno's plea;the throng of gods with voices loud or lowgave various reply: as gathering windssing through the tree-tops in dark syllables,and fling faint murmur on the far-off sea,to tell some pilot of to-morrow's storm.Then Jupiter omnipotent, whose handshave governance supreme, began reply;deep silence at his word Olympus knew,Earth's utmost cavern shook; the realms of lightwere silent; the mild zephyrs breathed no more, and perfect calm o'erspread the levelled sea.“Give ear, ye gods, and in your hearts recordmy mandate and decree. Fate yet allowsno peace 'twixt Troy and Italy, nor bidsyour quarrel end. Therefore, what Chance this dayto either foe shall bring, whatever hopeeither may cherish,—the Rutulian causeand Trojan have like favor in my eyes.The destinies of Italy constrainthe siege; which for the fault of Troy fulfillsan oracle of woe. Yon Rutule hostI scatter not. But of his own attemptlet each the triumph and the burden bear;for Jove is over all an equal King.The Fates will find the way.” The god confirmedhis sentence by his Stygian brother's wave,the shadowy flood and black, abysmal shore.He nodded; at the bending of his browOlympus shook. It is the council's end.Now from the golden throne uprises Jove;the train of gods attend him to the doors.

Meanwhile at every gate the Rutule foeurges the slaughter on, and closes roundthe battlements with ring of flame. The hostof Trojans, prisoned in the palisades,lies in strict siege and has no hope to fly.In wretched plight they man the turrets tall,to no avail, and with scant garrisonthe ramparts crown. In foremost line of guardare Asius Imbrasides, the twinAssaraci, and Hicetaon's sonThymoetes, and with Castor at his sidethe veteran Thymbris; then the brothers bothof slain Sarpedon, and from Lycian steepClarus and Themon. With full-straining thewslifting a rock, which was of some huge hillno fragment small, Lyrnesian Acmon stood;nor less than Clytius his sire he seemed,nor Mnestheus his great brother. Some defendthe wall with javelins; some hurl down stonesor firebrands, or to the sounding stringfit arrows keen. But lo! amid the throng,well worth to Venus her protecting care,the Dardan boy, whose princely head shone forthwithout a helm, like radiant jewel setin burnished gold for necklace or for crown;or like immaculate ivory inclosedin boxwood or Orician terebinth;his tresses o'er his white neck rippled down,confined in circlet of soft twisted gold.Thee, too, the warrior nations gaze upon,high-nurtured Ismarus, inflicting woundswith shafts of venomed reed: Maeonia's valethy cradle was, where o'er the fruitful fieldswell-tilled and rich, Pactolus pours his gold.Mnestheus was there, who, for his late repulseof Turnus from the rampart, towered forthin glory eminent; there Capys stood,whose name the Capuan citadel shall bear.

While these in many a shock of grievous warhotly contend, Aeneas cleaves his wayat midnight through the waters. He had faredfrom old Evander to th' Etruscan folk,addressed their King, and to him told the taleof his own race and name, his suit, his powers;of what allies Mezentius had embraced,and Turnus' lawless rage. He bids him knowhow mutable is man, and warning gives,with supplication joined. Without delayTarchon made amity and sacred league,uniting with his cause. The Lydian tribe,now destined from its tyrant to be free,embarked, obedient to the gods, and gaveallegiance to the foreign King. The shipAeneas rode moved foremost in the line:its beak a pair of Phrygian lions bore;above them Ida rose, an emblem dearto exiled Trojans. On his Iofty seatwas great Aeneas, pondering the eventsof changeful war; and clinging to his sidethe youthful Pallas fain would learn the loreof stars, the highway of dark night, and asksthe story of his toils on land and sea.

Now open Helicon and move my song,ye goddesses, to tell what host in armsfollowed Aeneas from the Tuscan shore,and manned his ships and traveiled o'er the sea!