And, as the Cretan labyrinth of old,

With wand'ring ways, and many a winding fold,
Involv'd the weary feet, without redress,
In a round error, which deny'd recess;

771

7.80

So fought the Trojan boys in warlike play,
Turn'd, and return'd, and still a diff'rent way.
Thus dolphins, in the deep, each other chace, 775
In circles, when they swim around the wat'ry race.
This game, these carousals, Ascanius taught;
And, building Alba, to the Latins brought,
Shew'd what he learn'd: the Latin sires impart,
To their succeeding sons, the graceful art:
From these imperial Rome receiv'd the game;
Which Troy, the youths the Trojan troop, they
Thus far the sacred sports they celebrate: [name.
But Fortune soon resum'd her ancient hate:
For while they pay the dead his annual dues, 785
Those envy'd rites Saturnian Juno views;
And sends the goddess of the various bow,
To try new methods of revenge below;
Supplies the winds to wing her airy way;
Where in the port secure the navy lay.
Swiftly fair Iris down her arch descends,
And, undiscern'd, her fatal voyage ends.
She saw the gath'ring crowd; and gliding thence,
The desert shore, and fleet without defence.
The Trojan matrons on the sands alone,
With sighs and tears Anchises' death bemoan:
Then, turning to the sca their weeping eyes,
Their pity to themselves, renews their cries,

790

795

800

Alas! said one, 'what oceans yet remain
For us to sail! what labors to sustain !'
All take the word, and with agen'ral groan, [own.
Implore the gods for peace, and places of their
The goddess, great in mischief, views their pains,
And, in a woman's form, her heav'nly limbs re-
strains.

In face and shape, old Beroë she became, 805
Doriclus' wife, a venerable dame,

Once bless'd with riches, aud a mother's name.
Thus chang'd, amidst the crying crowd she ran,
Mix'd with the matrons, and these words began:
'O wretched we! whom not the Grecian pow'r,
'Nor flames destroy'd, in Troy's unhappy hour!
'O wretched we! reserv'd' by cruel fate,
'Beyond the ruins of the sinking state!
'Now seven revolving years are wholly run,

812

'Since this unprosp'rous voyage we begun: 615 'Since toss'd from shores to shores, from lands to "Inhospitable rocks and barren sands, [lands, 'Wand'ring in exile, through the stormy sea, 'We search in vain for flying Italy.

Now cast by Fortune on this kindred land, 820) " What should our rest, and rising walls withstand, 'Or hinder here to fix our banish'd band?

O, country lost! and gods redeem'd in vain, "If still in endless exile we remain !

'Shall we no more the Trojan walls renew, 825 'Or streams of some dissembled Simois view?

'Haste, join with me, th' unhappy fleet consume! Cassandra bids; and I declare her doom,

In sleep I saw her; she supply'd my hands

(For this I more than dreamt) with flaming brands: "With these" (said she)" these wand'ring ships destroy;

"These are

your fatal seats, and this your Troy." "Time calls you now, the precious hour employ,. 'Slack not the good presage, while heaven inspires 'Our minds to dare, and gives the ready fires.835 'See! Neptune's altars minister their brands: 'The god is pleas'd; the god supplies our hands,” Then, from the pile, a flaming fir she drew, And, toss'd in air, amidst the gallies threw. Wrap'd in amaze, the matrons wildly stare: Then Pyrgo, reverenc'd for her hoary hair, Pyrgo, the nurse of Priam's num'rous race, 'No Beroë this, tho' she belies her face: 'What terrors from her frowning front arise; 'Behold a goddess in her ardent eyes!

840

845

What rays around her heav'nly face are seen, 'Mark her majestic voice, and more than mortal mien,

Beroë but now I left, whom, pin'd with pain, 'Her age and anguish from these rites detain.' She said, the matrons, seiz'd with new amaze, 850 Roll their malignant eyes, and on the navy gaze, They fear, and hope, and neither part obey: They hope the fated land, but fear the fatal way.

The goddess, having done her task below, [bow.
Mounts up on equal wings, and bends her painted
Struck with the sight, and seiz'd with rage divine,
The matrons prosecute their mad design: 857
They shriek aloud; they snatch, with impious hands,
The food of altars: firs, and flaming brands,
Green boughs and saplings, mingled in their haste,
And smoking torches on the ships they cast. 861
The flame, unstopp'd at first, more fury gains;
And Vulcan rides at large with loosen'd reins:
Triumphant to the painted sterns he soars,
And seizes in his way the banks and crackling oars.
Eumelus was the first the news to bear,
While yet they crowd the rural theatre.
Then what they hear, is witness'd by their eyes;
A storm of sparkles and of flames arise.
Ascanius took th' alarm, while yet he led
His early warriors on his prancing steed,
And spurring on, his equals soon o'erpass'd,
Nor could his frighted friends reclaim his haste.
Soon as the royal youth appear'd in view,
He sent his voice before him as he flew :
'What madness moves you, matrons! to destroy
'The last remainders of unhappy Troy?

866

870

873

Not hostile fleets, but your own hopes you burn, And on your friends your fatal fury turn. 'Behold your own Ascanius!'-while he said 880) He drew his glitt’ring helmet from his head, In which the youths to sportful arms he led.

By this, Æneas and his train appear;
And now the women, seiz'd with shame and fear,
Dispers'd, to woods and caverns take their flight,
Abhor their actions, and avoid the light; 886
Their friends acknowledge, and their error find,
And shake the goddess from their alter'd mind.

Not so the raging fires their fury cease,

But lurking in the seams, with seeming peace,890 Work on their way, amid the smouldering tow, Sure in destruction, but in motion slow.

The silent plague through the green timber eats, And vomits out a tardy flame by fits.

Down to the keels, and upward to the sails, 895 The fire descends, or mounts, but still prevails: Nor buckets pour'd, nor strength of human hand, Can the victorious element withstand.

The pious hero rends his robe, and throws 899 To heav'n his hands, and, with his hands, his vows: O Jove!' he cry'd, 'if pray'rs can yet have place; 'If thou abhorr'st not all the Dardan race; "If any spark of pity still remain;

'If gods are gods, and not invok'd in vain; 'Yet spare the relics of the Trojan train! 905 'Yet from the flames our burning vessels free! Or let thy fury fall alone on me.

'At this devoted head thy thunder throw, ' And send the willing sacrifice below.'

Scarce had he said, when southern storms arise; From pole to pole the forky lightning flies; 911