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 through 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,

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In which he wraps his queen, and hides the flying host.
The victor to the gods his thanks express'd,

And Rome triumphant with his presence bless'd.950
Three hundred temples in the town he plac'd;
With spoils and altars ev'ry 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. 955
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;
Accepts the presents vow'd for victory,
And hangs the monumental crowns on high.
Vast crowds of vanquish'd nations march along,
Various in arms, in habit, and in tongue.
Here, Mulciber assigns the proper place
For Carians, and th' ungirt Numidian race;
Then ranks the Thracians in the second row,

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With Scythians, expert in the dart and bow.
And here the tam'd Euphrates humbly glides;

And there the Rhine submits her swelling tides, 969 And proud Araxes, whom no bridge could bind. The Danes' unconquer'd offspring march behind; And Morini, the last of human kind.

These figures, on the shield divinely wrought, By Vulcan labour'd, and by Venus brought, With joy and wonder fill the hero's thought. Unknown the names, he yet admires the grace, And bears aloft the fame and fortune of his race.

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G 2

EN EIS,

BOOK IX.

ARGUMENT.

Turnus takes advantage of Æneas's absence, fires some of his ships (which are transformed into sea-nymphs), and assaults his camp. The Trojans, reduced to the last extremities, send Nisus and Euryalus to recall Æneas; which furnishes the poet with that admirable episode of their friendship, generosity, and the conclusion of their adventures.

WHILE these affairs in distant places pass'd,

The various Iris Juno sends with haste,

To find bold Turnus, who, with anxious thought, The secret shade of his great grandsire sought. Retir'd alone she found the daring man,

And op'd her rosy lips, and thus began:

"What none of all the gods could grant thy vowsThat, Turnus, this auspicious day bestows. Æneas, gone to seek th' Arcadian prince,

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Has left the Trojan camp without defence;

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And, short of succours there, employs his pains
In parts remote to raise the Tuscan swains.
Now snatch an hour that favours thy designs;
Unite thy forces, and attack their lines."

This said, on equal wings she pois'd her weight, 15
And form'd a radiant rainbow in her flight.

The Daunian hero lifts his hands and eyes,
And thus invokes the goddess as she flies:

"Iris, the grace of heav'n! what pow'r divine 19
Has sent thee down, through dusky clouds to shine?
See, they divide immortal day appears,
And glitt'ring planets dancing in their spheres!
With joy, these happy omens I obey,

And follow, to the war, the god that leads the way.'
Thus having said, as by the brook he stood, 25
He scoop'd the water from the crystal flood;
Then with his hands the drops to heav'n he throws,
And loads the pow'rs above with offer'd vows.

Now march the bold confed'rates through the plain,
Well hors'd, well clad-a rich and shining train. 30-
Messapus leads the van; and, in the rear,
The sons of Tyrrheus in bright arms appear.
In the main battle, with his flaming crest,

The mighty Turnus tow'rs above the rest.
Silent they move, majestically slow,
Like ebbing Nile, or Ganges in his flow.

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