網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

«Such is our purpose, not unknown the way, « Where yonder torrent's devious waters stray: "Oft have we seen, when hunting by the stream, The distant spires above the vallies gleam.

[ocr errors]

Mature in years, for sober wisdom fam'd, Mov'd by the speech, Alethes here exclaim'd: «Ye parent Gods! who rule the fate of Troy, «Still dwells the Dardan spirit in the boy;

« When minds like these, in striplings thus ye raise, "Yours is the godlike act, be yours the praise; << In gallant youth, my fainting hopes revive, And llion's wonted glories still survive. »> Then, in his warm embrace, the boys he press'd, And quivering strain'd them to his aged breast; With tears the burning cheek of each bedew'd, And sobbing, thus his first discourse renew'd: "What gift, my countrymen, what martial prize « Can we bestow, which you may not despise? « Our deities the first, best boon have given, « Internal virtues are the gift of Heaven.

[ocr errors]

*

r

What rewards can bless poor

your

deeds on earth,

Doubtless, await such young exalted worth;
Eneas, and Ascanius shall combine

"To yield applause, far, far surpassing mine. »›
Iulus then; «< By all the

"

་་

"

powers above!

By those Penates (1), who my country love;

By hoary Vesta's sacred fane, I swear,

My hopes are all in you, ye generous pair!
Restore my father to my grateful sight,

44 And all my sorrows yield to one delight...

(1) Household gods.

« Nisus! two silver goblets are thine own,
«Sav'd from Arisba's stately domes o'erthrown;

[ocr errors]

My sire secured them on that fatal day,

«Nor left such bowls, an Argive robber's prey.
"Two massy tripods, also, shall be thine,
« Two talents polished from the glittering mine ;
"An ancient cup, which Tyrian Dido gave,

་ While yet our vessels press'd the Punic wave ;

"

But, when the hostile chiefs at length bow down,

« When great Æneas wears Hesperia's crown,

<< The casque, the buckler, and the fiery steed

« Which Turnus guides with more than mortal speed, « Are thine; no envious lot shall then be cast,

I pledge my word, irrevocably past;

Nay more, twelve slaves and twice six captive dames,

"To sooth thy softer hours with amorous flames,

[ocr errors]

And all the realms which now the Latins sway,

The labours of to-night, shall well repay.

« But thou, my generous youth, whose tender years, «Are near my own, whose worth my heart reveres, Henceforth, affection sweetly thus begun,

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

« Shall join our bosoms and our souls in one;
« Without thy aid, no glory shall be mine,
"Without thy dear advice, no great design;
Alike, through life esteem'd, thou godlike boy,
"In war my bulwark, and in peace my joy. »

To him Euryalus: « No day shall shame « The rising glories, which from this I claim. « Fortune may favour, or the skies may frown, But valour, spite of fate, obtains renown.

*

Yet, ere frem hence our eager steps depart, " One boon I beg, the nearest to my heart:

«

My mother, sprung from Priam's royal line, « Like thine ennobled, hardly less divine,

« Nor Troy, nor King Acestes' realms restrain
Her feeble age from dangers of the main ;
«Alone she came, all selfish fears above,
A bright example of maternal love.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Unknown, the secret enterprize I brave,

«< Lest grief should bend my parent to the grave: << From this alone no fond adieus I scek,

No fainting mother's lips have press'd my cheek;
By gloomy Night, and thy right hand, I vow
Her parting tears would shake my purpose now:
"Do thou, my prince, her failing age sustain,
In thee her much-lov'd child may live again;
Her dying hours with pious conduct bless,
• Assist her wants, relieve her fond distress :
So dear a hope must all my soul inflame,
To rise in glory, or to fall in fame. »
Struck with a filial care, so deeply felt,
In tears at once the Trojan warriors melt;
Faster than all, Iulus' eyes o'erflow;

Such love was his, and such had been his woe.
<< All thou hast ask'd receive,» the Prince repli'd,
« Nor this alone, but many a gift beside;

To cheer thy mother's years shall be my aim,
Creusa's (1) style, but wanting to the dame;
<< Fortune an adverse wayward course may run,
a But blest thy mother in so dear a son.

་་

Now, by my life, my Sire's most sacred oath,

To thee I pledge my full, my firmest troth,

(1) The mother of Iulus, lost on the night when Troy was taken.

All the rewards, which once to thec were vow'd,
<< If thou should'st fall, on her shall be bestow'd. »
Thus spoke the weeping Prince, then forth to view,
A gleaming falchion from the sheath he drew;
Lycaon's utmost skill had grae'd the steel,
For friends to envy and for foes to feel.
A tawny hide, the Moorish lion's spoil,
Slain midst the forest, in the hunter's toil,
Mnestheus to guard the elder youth bestows,
And old Alethes' casque defends his brows;
Arm'd, thence they go, while all the assembled train,
To aid their cause, implore the gods in vain ;
More than a boy, in wisdom and in grace,
Julus holds amidst the chiefs his place;

His prayers he sends, but what can prayers avail,
Lost in the murmurs of the sighing gale?

The trench is past, and, favour'd by the night,
Thro' sleeping foes they wheel their wary flight.
When shall the sleep of many a foe be o'er?
Alas! some slumber, who shall wake no more!
Chariots and bridles, mix'd with arms are seen,
And flowing flasks, and scatter'd troops between ;
Bacchus and Mars, to rule the camp combine,
A mingled chaos this, of war and wine.

Now, cries the first, « for deeds of blood prepare, With me the conquest, and the labour share; «Here lies our path; lest hand arise,

any

"Watch thou, while many a dreaming chieftain dies; "I'll carve our passage through the heedless foe,

[ocr errors]

And clear thy road with many a deadly blow. »

His whispering accents then the youth represt,

And pierc'd proud Rhamnes through his panting breast;

Stretch'd at his ease, th' incautious king repos'd,
Debauch, and not fatigue, his eyes had clos'd;
To Turnus dear, a prophet and a prince,
His omens more than augur's skill evince;
But he, who thus foretold the fate of all,
Could not avert his own untimely fall.
Next Remus' armour-bearer, hapless, fell,
And three unhappy slaves the carnage swell :
The charioteer, along his courser's sides
Expires, the steel his sever'd neck divides;
And last, his Lord is number'd with the dead,
Bounding convulsive, flies the gasping head;

From the swol'n veins, the blackening torrents pour,
Stain'd is the couch and earth, with clotting gore.
Young Lamyrus and Lamus next expire,
And gay Serranus, fill'd with youthful fire;
Half the long night in childish games was past,
Lull'd by the potent grape, he slept at last ;
Ah! happier far, had he the morn survey'd,
And, 'till Aurora's dawn, his skill display'd.

In slaughter'd folds, the keepers lost in sleep,
His hungry fangs a lion thus may steep;
'Mid the sad flock, at dead of night, he prowls,
With murder glutted, and in carnage rolls;
Insatiate still, through teeming herds he roams,
In seas of gore, the lordly tyrant foams.

Nor less the other's deadly vengeance came,
But falls on feeble crowds without a name;
His wound, unconscious Fadus scarce can feel,
Yet, wakeful Rhæsus sees the threat'ning steel;
His coward breast behind a jar he hides,
And, vainly, in the weak defence confides;

« 上一頁繼續 »