She shews her heavenly form without disguise,
And gives herself to his desiring eyes.
Behold,' she said, ' perform'd, in every part, 'My promise made, and Vulcan's labour'd art. 'Now seek, secure, the Latian enemy, ' And haughty Turnus to the field defy.' She said: and having first her son embrac'd, The radiant arms beneath an oak she plac'd. Proud of the gift, he roll'd his greedy sight Around the work, and gaz'd with vast delight. 820 He lifts, he turns, he poises, and admires The crested helm, that vomits radiant fires: His hands the fatal sword and corsiet hold, One keen with temper'd steel, one stiff with gold: Both ample, flaming both, and beamy bright, 825 So shines a cloud, when edg'd with adverse light. He shakes the pointed spear, and longs to try The plaited cujshes on his manly thigh; But most admires the shield's mysterious mould, And Roman triumphs rising on the gold. 830 For there, emboss'd, the heavenly smith had wrought (Not in the rolls of future time untaught) The wars in order, and the race divine Of warriors, issuing from the Julian line.
The cave of Mars was dress'd with mossy greens:
There, by the wolf, was laid the martial twins.
Intrepid on her swelling dugs they hung;
The foster-dam loll'd out her fawning tongue :
They suck'd secure, while bending back her head,
She lick'd their tender limbs, and form'd them as
they fed.
Not far from hence now Rome appears, with games
Projected for the rape of Sabine dames.
The pit resounds with shrieks: a war succeeds,
For breach of public faith, and unexampled deeds.
Here for revenge the Sabine troops contend: 845
The Romans there with arms the prey defend.
Weary'd with tedious war, at length they cease;
And both the kings and kingdoms plight the peace.
The friendly chiefs, before Jove's altar stand,
Both arm'd, with each a charger in his hand: 850
A fatted sow for sacrifice is led;
With imprecations on the perjur'd head.
Near this the traitor Metius, stretch'd between
Four fiery steeds, is dragg'd along the green; 854
By Tullus' doom: the brambles drink his blood;
And his torn limbs are left the vultures' food.
There Porsena to Rome proud Tarquin brings,
And would by force restore the banish'd kings.
One tyrant for his fellow-tyrant fights:
The Roman youth assert their native rights, 860
Before the town the Tuscan army lies,
To win by famine, or by fraud surprize.
Their king, half threat'ning, half disdaining, stood,
While Cocles broke the bridge, and stemm'd the
The captive maids there tempt the raging tide,[ flood.
Scap'd from their chains, with Clelia for their guide.
High on a rock heroic Manlius stood,
To guard the temple, and the temple's god.
Then Rome was poor; and there you might behold
The palace, thatch'd with straw, now roof'd with
The silver goose before the shining gate
There flew, and, by her cackle, sav'd the state.
She told the Gauls' approach: th' approachingGauls,
Obscure in night, ascend, and seize the walls.
The gold dissembled well their yellow hair; 875
And golden chains on their white necks they wear.
Gold are their vests: long Alpine spears they wield;
And their left arm sustains a length of shield.
Hard by, the leaping Salian priests advance, 879
And naked thro' the streets the mad Luperci dance
In caps of wool. The targets dropt from heaven.
Here modest matrons in soft litters driven,
To pay their vows in solemn pomp appear;
And odorous gums in their chaste hands they bear.
Far hence remov'd, the Stygian seats are seen! 885
Pains of the damn'd, and punish'd Cataline,
Hung on a rock- the traitor; and, around,
The furies hissing from the nether ground.
Apart from these, the happy souls he draws,
And Cato's holy ghost dispensing laws.
Betwixt the quarters flows a golden sea:
But foaming surges, there, in silver play.
The dancing dolphins, with their tails, divide
The glitt'ring waves, and cut the precious tide.
Amid the main, two mighty fleets engage—
Their brazen beaks oppos'd with equal rage.
Actium surveys the well-disputed prize :
Leucate's wat❜ry plain with foamy billows fries.
Young Cæsar, on the stern, in armour bright,
Herc leads the Romans and their gods to fight: 900
His beamy temples shoot their flames afar;
And o'er his head is hung the Julian star.
Agrippa seconds him, with prosp'rous gales,
And, with propitious gods, his foes assails.
A naval crown, that binds his manly brows, 905
The happy fortune of the fight foreshows.
Rang'd on the line oppos'd, Antonius brings
Barbarian aids, and troops of eastern kings,
Th' Arabians near, and Bactrians from afar,
Of tongues discordant, aud a mingled war.
And, rich in gaudy robes, amidst the strife,
His ill fate follows him-th' Egyptian wife.
Moving they fight with oars and forky prows,
The froth is gather'd; and the water glows.
It seems as if the Cyclades again
Were rooted up, and justled in the main;
Or floating mountains floating mountains meet;
Such is the fierce encounter of the fleet.
Fire-balls are thrown, and pointed javelins fly:
The fields of Neptune take a purple dye.
The queen herself, amidst the loud alarms,
With cymbals toss'd, her fainting soldiers warms,
Fool as she was! who had not yet divin'd
Her cruel fate; nor saw the snakes behind.
Her country gods, the monsters of the sky,
Great Neptune, Pallas, and love's queen, defy.
The dog Anubis barks, but barks in vain;
Nor longer dares oppose th' ethereal train.
Mars, in the middle of the shining shield,
Is grav'd, and strides along the liquid field.
The Diræ souse from heav'n, with swift descent:
And Discord, dy'd in blood, with garments rent,
Divides the prease: her steps Bellona treads,
And shakes her iron rod above their heads.
This seen, Apollo, from his Actian height,
Pours down his arrows, at whose winged flight
The trembling Indians and Egyptians yield,
And soft Sabæans quit the watʼry field.
The fatal mistress hoists her silken sails,
And, shrinking from the sight, invokes the gales.
Aghast she looks; and heaves her breast for breath.
Panting, and pale with fear of future death.
The god had figur'd her, as driv'n along
By winds and waves, and scudding thro' the throng:
Just opposite, sad Nilus opens wide
His arms, and ample bosom, to the tide,
And spreads his mantle o'er the winding coast;
In which he wraps his queen, and hides the flying
The victor, to the god his thanks express'd: [host.
And Rome triumphant, with his presence bless'd.
Three hundred temples in the town he plac'd; 951
With spoils and altars every temple grac❜d.
Three shining nights, and three succeeding days,
The fields resound with shouts, the streets with
praise,
The domes with songs, the theatres with plays.
All altars flame: before each altar lies,
Drench'd in his gore, the destin'd sacrifice.
Great Cæsar sits sublime upon his throne,
Before Apollo's porch of Parian stone;
|