Thus king Latinus, in the third degree,
Had Saturn author of his family.

But this old peaceful prince, as heaven decreed,
Was blessed with no male issue to succeed;
His sons in blooming youth were snatched by fate:
One only daughter heired the royal state.
Fired with her love, and with ambition led,
The neighbouring princes court her nuptial bed.
Among the crowd, but far above the rest,
Young Turnus to the beauteous maid addressed.
Turnus, for high descent and graceful mien,
Was first, and favoured by the Latian queen;
With him she strove to join Lavinia's hand;
But dire portents the purposed match withstand.
Deep in the palace, of long growth, there
stood

A laurel's trunk, a venerable wood;

Where rites divine were paid; whose holy hair
Was kept and cut with superstitious care.
This plant Latinus, when his town he walled,
Then found, and from the tree Laurentum called:
And last, in honour of his new abode,
He vowed the laurel to the laurel's god.
It happened once (a boding prodigy !)
A swarm of bees, that cut the liquid sky
(Unknown from whence they took their airy
flight),

Upon the topmost branch in clouds alight;
There, with their clasping feet, together clung,
And a long cluster from the laurel hung.
An ancient augur prophesied from hence :-
"Behold on Latian shores a foreign prince!
From the same parts of heaven his navy stands,
To the same parts on earth; his army lands;'
The town he conquers, and the tower commands."
Yet more, when fair Lavinia fed the fire
Before the gods, and stood beside her sire,

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10

10

(Strange to relate!) the flames, involved in

smoke*

Of incense, from the sacred altar broke,

Caught her dishevelled hair, and rich attire ;
Her crown and jewels crackled in the fire:
From thence the fuming trail began to spread,
And lambent glories danced about her head.
This new portent the seer with wonder views,
Then pausing, thus his prophecy renews:-
"The nymph, who scatters flaming fires around,
Shall shine with honour, shall herself be crowned,
But, caused by her irrevocable fate,

War shall the country waste, and change the

state.'

Latinus, frighted with this dire ostent,
For counsel to his father Faunus went,
And sought the shades renowned for prophecy,
Which near Albunca's sulphurous fountain lie.
To those the Latian and the Sabine land
Fly, when distressed, and thence relief demand.
The priest on skins of offerings takes his ease,
And nightly visions in his slumber sees;
A swarm of thin aërial shapes appears,

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115

120

125

And, fluttering round his temples, deafs his ears. 130

* Virgil, in this place, takes notice of a great secret in the Roman divination: the lambent fires, which rose above the head, or played about it, were signs of prosperity; such were those which he observed in the Second Eneid, which were seen mounting from the crown of Ascanius

Ecce, levis summo de vertice visus Iüli
Fundere lumen apex.

Smoky flames (or involved in smoke) were of a mixed omen: such were those which are here described; for smoke signifies tears, because it produces them, and flames happiness. And therefore Virgil says that this ostent was not only mirabile visu, but horrendum.-D.

These he consults, the future fates to know,
From powers above, and from the fiends below.
Here, for the god's advice, Latinus flies,
Offering a hundred sheep for sacrifice:
Their woolly fleeces, as the rites required,
He laid beneath him, and to rest retired.
No sooner were his eyes in slumber bound,
When, from above, a more than mortal sound
Invades his ears; and thus the vision spoke:-
"Seek not, my seed, in Latian bands to yoke
Our fair Lavinia, nor the gods provoke.
A foreign sun upon thy shore descends,
Whose martial fame from pole to pole extends.
His race, in arms and arts of peace renowned,
Not Latium shall contain, nor Europe bound:
"Tis theirs whate'er the sun surveys around."
These answers, in the silent night received,
The king himself divulged, the land believed:
The fame through all the neighbouring nations
flew,

When now the Trojan navy was in view.

Beneath a shady tree, the hero spread His table on the turf, with cakes of bread; And, with his chiefs, on forest fruits he fed. They sate; and (not without the god's command) Their homely fare dispatched, the hungry band 1 Invade their trenchers next, and soon devour, To mend the scanty meal, their cakes of flour. Ascanius this observed, and, smiling, said,"See! we devour the plates on which we fed." The speech had omen, that the Trojan race Should find repose, and this the time and place. Æneas took the word, and thus replies (Confessing fate with wonder in his eyes): "All hail, O earth! all hail, my household gods!

Behold the destined place of your abodes!

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14

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16

For thus Anchises prophesied of old,
And this our fatal place of rest foretold :-
When, on a foreign shore, instead of meat,
By famine forced, your trenchers you shall eat,
Then ease your weary Trojans will attend,
And the long labours of your voyage end.
Remember on that happy coast to build,
And with a trench inclose the fruitful field.'
This was that famine, this the fatal place,
Which ends the wandering of our exiled race.
Then, on to-morrow's dawn, your care employ,
To search the land, and where the cities lie,
And what the men; but give this day to joy.
Now pour to Jove; and, after Jove is blest,
Call great Anchises to the genial feast:
Crown high the goblets with a cheerful draught;
Enjoy the present hour; adjourn the future
thought."

Thus having said, the hero bound his brows
With leafy branches, then performed his vows;
Adoring first the genius of the place,

Then Earth, the mother of the heavenly race,
The nymphs, and native godheads yet unknown,
And Night, and all the stars that gild her sable
throne,

And ancient Cybel, and Idıran Jove,

And last his sire below, and mother queen

above.

Then heaven's high monarch thundered thrice

aloud,

And thrice he shook aloft a golden cloud.

Soon through the joyful camp a rumour flew,
The time was come their city to renew.

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190

Then every brow with cheerful green is crowned, 193
The feasts are doubled, and the bowls go round.
When next the rosy morn disclosed the day,
The scouts to several parts divide their way,

20

To learn the natives' names, their towns explore,
The coasts, and trendings of the crooked shore: 20
Here Tiber flows, and here Numicus stands;
Here warlike Latins hold the happy lands.
The pious chief, who sought by peaceful ways
To found his empire, and his town to raise,
A hundred youths from all his train selects,
And to the Latian court their course directs
(The spacious palace where their prince resides),
And all their heads with wreaths of olive hides.
They go commissioned to require à peace,
And carry presents to procure access.
Thus while they speed their pace, the prince
designs

The new-elected seat, and draws the lines.
The Trojans round the place a rampire cast,
And palisades about the trenches placed.

21

Meantime the train, proceeding on their way, 21
From far the town and lofty towers survey;
At length approach the walls. Without the
gate,

They see the boys and Latian youth debate
The martial prizes on the dusty plain:

21

Some drive the cars, and some the coursers rein; t
Some bend the stubborn bow for victory,
And some with darts their active sinews try.
A posting messenger, dispatched from hence,
Of this fair troop advised their aged prince,
That foreign men, of mighty stature, came;
Uncouth their habit, and unknown their name.
The king ordains their entrance, and ascends
His regal seat, surrounded by his friends.
The palace built by Picus, vast and proud,
Supported by a hundred pillars stood,
And round encompassed with a rising wood.
The pile o'erlooked the town, and drew the sight,
Surprised at once with reverence and delight.

VOL. XIV.

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