No More Learning

Here reigns dread Rhadamanthus, a king no mercy that knows, Chastens and judges the guilty, compels each soul to disclose
Crimes of the upper air that he kept concealed from the eye,
Proud of his idle cunning, till Death brought punishment nigh. Straightway then the Avenger Tisiphone over them stands,
Scourges the trembling sinners, her fierce lash arming her hands ; Holds in her left uplifted her serpents grim, and from far
Summons the awful troop of her sisters gathered for war !
Then at the last with a grating of hideous hinges unclose
Hell's infernal doors. Dost see what warders are those
Crouched in the porch? What presence is yonder keeping the gate? Know that a Hydra beyond it, a foe still fiercer in hate,
Lurks with a thousand ravening throats. See ! Tartarus great Yawning to utter abysses, and deepening into the night,
Twice as profound as the space of the starry Olympian height.
" Here the enormous Titans, the Earth's old progeny, hurled
Low by the lightning, are under the bottomless waters whirled.
Here I beheld thy children, Aloeus, giants of might,
Brethren bold who endeavored to pluck down heaven from its height, Fain to displace great Jove from his throne in the kingdom of light Saw Salmoneus too, overtaken with agony dire
While the Olympian thunder he mimicked and Jove's own fire. Borne on his four-horse chariot, and waving torches that glowed, Over the Danaan land, through the city of Elis, he rode,
Marching in triumph, and claiming the honors due to a god. Madman, thinking with trumpets and tramp of the steeds that he
drove
He might rival the storms, and the matchless thunders of Jove I
But the omnipotent Father a bolt from his cloudy abyss
Launched — no brand from the pine, no smoke of the torchlight
this —
And with an awful whirlwind blast hurled Pride to its fall. Tityos also, the nursling of Earth, great mother of all,
Here was to see, whose body a long league covers of plain ; One huge vulture with hooked beak evermore at his side Shears his liver that dies not, his bowel fruitful of pain,
. ENEAS' JOURNEY TO HADES. 879
Searches his heart for a banquet, beneath his breast doth abide, Grants no peace to the vitals that ever renew them again.
" Why of Pirithous tell, and Ixion, Lapithae tall,
O'er whose brows is suspended a dark crag, ready to fall,
Ever in act to descend ? Proud couches raised upon bright Golden feet are shining, a festal table in sight
Laden with royal splendor. The Furies' Queen on her throne Sits at the banquet by — forbids them to taste it — has flown Now to prevent them with torch uplifted, and thundering tone.
" All who have hated a brother in lifetime, all who have laid Violent hands on a parent, the faith of a client betrayed ; Those who finding a treasure have o'er it brooded alone, Setting aside no portion for kinsmen, a numerous band ; Those in adultery slain, all those who have raised in the land Treason's banner, or broken their oath to a master's hand, Prisoned within are awaiting an awful doom of their own.
" Ask me not, what their doom, — what form of requital or ill Whelms them below. Some roll huge stones to the crest of the hill, Some on the spokes of a whirling wheel hang spread to the wind. Theseus sits, the unblest, and will ever seated remain ;
Phlegyas here in his torments a warning voice to mankind
Raises, loudly proclaiming throughout Hell's gloomy abodes : '
' Learn hereby to be just, and to think no scorn of the Gods !
This is the sinner his country who sold, forged tyranny's chain, Made for a bribe her laws, for a bribe unmade them again.
Yon wretch dared on a daughter with eyes unholy to look.
All some infamy ventured, of infamy's gains partook.
Had I a thousand tongues, and a thousand lips, and a speech Fashioned of steel, sin's varying types I hardly could teach, " Could not read thee the roll of the torments suffered of each !
Soon as the aged seer of Apollo her story had done,
"Forward," she cries, "on the path, and complete thy mission begun.
I behold in the distance battlements great,
Hasten the march !
Built by the Cyclops' forge, and the vaulted dome at the gate Where the divine revelation ordains our gifts to be laid. "
Side by side at her bidding they traverse the region of shade, Over the distance hasten, and now draw nigh to the doors. Fronting the gates Mneaa stands, fresh water he pours
Over his limbs, and the branch on the portal hangs as she bade.
After the rite is completed, the gift to the goddess addressed,
Now at the last they come to the realms where Joy has her throne ;
380 . ENEAS' JOURNEY TO HADES.
Sweet green glades in the Fortunate Forests, abodes of the blest, Fields in an ampler ether, a light more glorious dressed,
Lit evermore with their own bright stars and a sun of their own. Some are training their limbs on the wrestling green, and compete Gayly in sport on the yellow arenas, some with their feet
Treading their choral measures, or singing the hymns of the god ; While some Thracian priest, in a sacred garment that trails,
Chants them the air with the seven sweet notes of his musical scales, Now with his fingers striking, and now with his ivory rod.
Here are the ancient children of Teucer, fair to behold,
Generous heroes, born in the happier summers of old, —
Ilus, Assaracus by him, and Dardan, founder of Troy.
Far in the distance yonder are visible armor and car
Unsubstantial, in earth their lances are planted, and far
Over the meadows are ranging the chargers freed from employ.
All the delight they took when alive in the chariot and sword,
All of the loving care that to shining coursers was paid,
Follows them now that in quiet below Earth's breast they are laid. Banqueting here he beholds them to right and to left on the sward, Chanting in chorus the Paean, beneath sweet forests of bay, Whence, amid wild wood covers, the river Eridanus, poured,
Rolls his majestic torrents to upper earth and the day.
Braves for the land of their sires in the battle wounded of yore, Priests whose purity lasted until sweet life was no more,
Faithful prophets who spake as beseemed their god and his shrine, All who by arts invented to life have added a grace,
All whose services earned the remembrance deep of the race,
Round their shadowy foreheads the snow-white garland entwine.
Then, as about them the phantoms stream, breaks silence the seer, Turning first to Musaeus, — for round him the shadows appear Thickest to crowd, as he towers with his shoulders over the throng, — " Tell me, ye joyous spirits, and thou, bright master of song,
Where is the home and the haunt of the great Anchises, for whom Hither we come, and have traversed the awful rivers of gloom ? " Briefly in turn makes answer the hero : " None has a home
In fixed haunts. We inhabit the dark thick glades, on the brink Ever of moss-banked rivers, and water meadows that drink
Living streams. But if onward your heart thus wills ye to go, Climb this ridge. I will set ye in pathways easy to know. " Forward he marches, leading the way ; from the heights at the end Shows them a shining plain, and the mountain slopes they descend.
There withdrawn to a valley of green in a fold of the plain Stood Anchises the father, his eyes intent on a train —
ENEAS' JOURNEY TO HADES.
381
Prisoned spirits, soon to ascend to the sunlight again ; — Numbering over his children dear, their myriad bands,
All their destinies bright, their ways, and the work of their hands. When he beheld . Eneas across these flowery lands
Moving to meet him, fondly he strained both arms to his boy, Tears on his cheek fell fast, and his voice found slowly employ.
" Here thou comest at last, and the love I counted upon
Over the rugged path has prevailed. Once more, O my son,
I may behold thee, and answer with mine thy voice as of yore.
Long I pondered the chances, believed this day was in store, Reckoning the years and the seasons. Nor was my longing belied. O'er how many a land, past what far waters and wide,
Hast thou come to mine arms ! What dangers have tossed thee, my
child!
Ah ! how I feared lest harm should await thee in Libya wild ! "
" Thine own shade, my sire, thine own disconsolate shade, Visiting oft my chamber, has made me seek thee," he said.
" Safe upon Tuscan waters the fleet lies. Grant me to grasp Thy right hand, sweet father, withdraw thee not from its clasp. "
So he replied ; and a river of tears flowed over his face.
Thrice with his arms he essayed the beloved one's neck to embrace ; Thrice clasped vainly, the phantom eluded his hands in flight,
Thin as the idle breezes, and like some dream of the night.
There . Eneas beholds in a valley withdrawn from the rest Far-off glades, and a forest of boughs that sing in the breeze ; Near them the Lethe river that glides by abodes of the blest. Round it numberless races and peoples floating he sees.
So on the flowery meadows in calm, clear summer, the bees Settle on bright-hued blossoms, or stream in companies round Fair white lilies, till every plain seems ringing with sound.
Strange to the scene ^Eneas, with terror suddenly pale,
Asks of its meaning, and what be the streams in the distant vale, Who those warrior crowds that about yon river await.
Answer returns Anchises : " The spirits promised by Fate
Life in the body again. Upon Lethe's watery brink
These of the fountain of rest and of long oblivion drink.
Ever I yearn to relate thee the tale, display to thine eyes,
Count thee over the children that from my loins shall arise,
So that our joy may be deeper on finding Italy's skies. "
" O my father ! and are there, and must we believe it," he said, " Spirits that fly once more to the sunlight back from the dead ?
382 . ENEAS' JOURNEY TO HADES.
Souls that anew to the body return and the fetters of clay ? " Can there be any who long for the light thus blindly as they ?
" Listen, and I will resolve thee the doubt," Anchises replies. Then unfolds him in order the tale of the earth and the skies.
" In the beginning, the earth, and the sky, and the spaces of night, Also the shining moon, and the sun Titanic and bright
Feed on an inward life, and with all things mingled, a mind
Moves universal matter, with Nature's frame is combined.
Thence man's race, and the beast, and the feathered creature that flies, All wild shapes that are hidden the gleaming waters beneath.
Each elemental seed has a fiery force from the skies,
Each, its heavenly being, that no dull clay can disguise,
Bodies of earth ne'er deaden, nor limbs long destined to death. Hence, their fears and desires; their sorrows and joys; for their sight, Blind with the gloom of a prison, discerns not the heavenly light.
" Nor when at last life leaves them, do all sad ills, that belong Unto the sinful body, depart ; still many survive
Lingering within them, alas ! for it needs must be that the long Growth should in wondrous fashion at full completion arrive.
So, due vengeance racks them, for deeds of an earlier day Suffering penance, and some to the winds hang viewless and thin Searched by the breezes ; from others, the deep infection of sin Swirling water washes, or bright fire purges, away.
Each in his own sad ghost we endure ; then, chastened aright,
Into Elysium pass. Few reach to the fields of delight,
Till great Time, when the cycles have run their courses on high, Takes the inbred pollution, and leaves to us only the bright
Sense of the heaven's own ether, and fire from the springs of the sky. When for a thousand years they have rolled their wheels through the
night,
God to the Lethe river recalls this myriad train,
That with remembrance lost once more they may visit the light, And, at the last, have desire for a life in the body again. "
When he had ended, his son and the Sibyl maiden he drew
Into the vast assembly — the crowd with its endless hum;
There on a hillock plants them, that hence they better may view All the procession advancing, and learn their looks as they come.
" What bright fame hereafter the Trojan line shall adorn,
What far children be theirs, from the blood of Italians born, Splendid souls, that inherit the name and the glory of Troy,
Now will I tell thee, and teach thee the fates thy race shall enjoy.
ENEAS' JOURNEY TO HADES. 883
Yon fair hero who leans on a lance unpointed and bright,
Granted the earliest place in the world of the day and the light, Half of Italian birth, from the shadows first shall ascend,
Silvius, Alban of name, thy child though born at the end,
Son of thy later years by Lavinia, consort of thine,
Reared in the woods as a monarch and sire of a royal line.
Next to him Procas, the pride of the race ; then Capys, and far Numitor; after him one who again thy name shall revive,
Silvius, hight ^Eneas, in pious service and war
Noble alike, if to Alba's throne he shall ever arrive.
Heroes fair ! how grandly, behold ! their manhood is shown,
While their brows are shaded by leaves of the citizen crown !
These on the mountain ranges shall set Nomentum the steep,
Gabii's towers, Fidenae's town, Collatia's keep ;
Here plant Inuus' camp, there Cora and Bola enthrone,
Glorious names erelong, now a nameless land and unknown. Romulus, scion of Mars, at the side of his grandsire see —
Ilia fair his mother, the blood of Assaracus he !
See on his helmet the doubled crest, how his sire has begun Marking the boy with his own bright plumes for the world of the sua Under his auspices Rome, our glorious Rome, shall arise,
Earth with her empire ruling, her great soul touching the skies.
Lo ! seven mountains enwalling, a single city, she lies,
Blest in her warrior brood ! So crowned with towers ye have seen Ride through Phrygia's cities the great Berecynthian queen,
Proud of the gods her children, a hundred sons at her knee, All of them mighty immortals, and lords of a heavenly fee ! Turn thy glance now hither, behold this glorious clan, Romans of thine. See Caesar, and each generation of man Yet to be born of lulus beneath heaven's infinite dome. Yonder behold thy hero, the promised prince, upon whom Often thy hopes have dwelt, Augustus Caesar, by birth
Kin to the godlike dead, who a golden age upon earth
Yet shall restore where Saturn in Latium's plains was lord,
Ruling remote Garamantes and India's tribes with his sword.
Far beyond all our planets the land lies, far beyond high
Heaven, and the sun's own orbit, where Atlas, lifting the sky, Whirls on his shoulders the sphere, inwrought with its fiery suns ! Ere his arrival, lo ! through shivering Caspia runs
Fear, at her oracle's answers. The vast Maeotian plain,
Sevenfold Nile and his mouths, are fluttered and tremble again ; Ranges of earth more wide than Alcides ever surveyed,
Though he pursued deer brazen of limb, tamed Erymanth's glade, Lerna with arrows scared, or the Vine God, when from the war Homeward with ivied reins he conducts his conquering car,
384 -ENEAS' JOURNEY TO HADES.
Driving his team of tigers from Nysa's summits afar. — Art thou loath any longer with deeds our sway to expand ? Can it be fear forbids thee to hold Ausonia's land ?
" Who comes yonder the while with the olive branch on his brow, Bearing the sacred vessels ? I know yon tresses, I know
Yon gray beard, Rome's monarch, the first with law to sustain Rome yet young ; from the lordship of Cures' little domain
Sent to an empire's throne. At his side goes one who shall break Slumberous peace, to the battle her easeful warriors wake,
Rouse once more her battalions disused to the triumph so long, Tullus the king ! Next, Ancus the boastful marches along,
See, overjoyed already by praises breathed from a crowd ! Yonder the royal Tarquins are visible ; yonder the proud
Soul of avenging Brutus, with Rome's great fasces again
Made Rome's own ; who first to her consul's throne shall attain, Hold her terrible axes ; his sons, the rebellious pair,
Doom to a rebel's death for the sake of Liberty fair.
Ill-starred sire ! let the ages relate as please them the tale,
Yet shall his patriot passion and thirst of glory prevail.
Look on the Decii there, and the Drusi ; hatchet in hand
See Torquatus the stern, and Camillus home to his land
Marching with rescued banners. But yonder spirits who stand Dressed in the shining armor alike, harmonious now
While in the world of shadows with dark night over their brow — Ah ! what battles the twain must wage, what legions array,
What fell carnage kindle, if e'er they reach to the day !
Father descending from Alpine snows and Monoecus's height, Husband ranging against him an Eastern host for the fight !
Teach not your hearts, my children, to learn these lessons of strife; Turn not a country's valor against her veriest life.
Thou be the first to forgive, great child of a heavenly birth,
Fling down, son of my loins, thy weapons and sword to the earth !
" See, who rides from a vanquished Corinth in conqueror's car Home to the Capitol, decked with Achaean spoils from the war ! Argos and proud Mycenae a second comes to dethrone,
Ay, and the ^Eacus-born, whose race of Achilles is sown, Venging his Trojan sires and Minerva's outraged fane !
Who would leave thee, Cato, untold ? thee, Cossus, unknown ? Gracchus' clan, or the Scipio pair, war's thunderbolts twain, Libya's ruin ; — forget Fabricius, prince in his need ;
Pass unsung Serranus, his furrows sowing with seed ?
Give me but breath, ye Fabians, to follow ! Yonder the great Fabius thou, whose timely delays gave strength to the state.
iENEAS' JOURNEY TO HADES. 385
Others will mold their bronzes to breathe with a tenderer grace, Draw, I doubt not, from marble a vivid life to the face,
Plead at the bar more deftly, with sapient wands of the wise Trace heaven's courses and changes, predict us stars to arise. Thine, O Roman, remember, to reign over every race !
These be thine arts, thy glories, the ways of peace to proclaim, Mercy to show to the fallen, the proud with battle to tame ! "
Thus Anchises, and then — as they marveled — further anon:
" Lo, where decked in a conqueror's spoils Marcellus, my son,
Strides from the war ! How he towers o'er all of the warrior train ! When Rome reels with the shock of the wild invaders' alarm,
He shall sustain her state. From his war steed's saddle, his arm Carthage and rebel Gaul shall destroy, and the arms of the slain Victor a third time hang in his father Quirinus' fane. "
Then JEneas, — for near him a youth seemed ever to pace,
Fair, of an aspect princely, with armor of glittering grace, —
Yet was his forehead joyless, his eye cast down as in grief
" Who can it be, my father, that walks at the side of the chief ?
Is it his son, or perchance some child of his glorious race
Born from remote generations ? And hark, how ringing a cheer Breaks from his comrades round ! What a noble presence is here ! Though dark night with her shadow of woe floats over his face ! "
Answer again Anchises began with a gathering tear :
" Ask me not, O my son, of thy children's infinite pain !
Fate one glimpse of the boy to the world will grant, and again Take him from life. Too puissant methinks to immortals on high Rome's great children had seemed, if a gift like this from the sky Longer had been vouchsafed ! What wailing of warriors bold Shall from the funeral plain to the War God's city be rolled !
What sad pomp thine eyes will discern, what pageant of woe, When by his new-made tomb thy waters, Tiber, shall flow !
Never again such hopes shall a youth of the lineage of Troy
Rouse in his great forefathers of Latium ! Never a boy
Nobler pride shall inspire in the ancient Romulus land !
Ah, for his filial love ! for his old-world faith ! for his hand Matchless in battle ! Unharmed what foeman had offered to stand Forth in his path, when charging on foot for the enemy's ranks,
Or when plunging the spur in his foam-flecked courser's flanks ! Child of a nation's sorrow ! if thou canst baffle the Fates'
Bitter decrees, and break for a while their barrier gates,
Thine to become Marcellus !
Handfuls of lilies, that I bright flowers may strew on my son,
vol. v 26
I pray thee, bring me anon
386
iENEAS AND THE CTCLOP&
Heap on the shade of the boy unborn these gifts at the least, Doing the dead, though vainly, the last sad service. "
He ceased. So from region to region they roam with curious eyes,
Traverse the spacious plains where shadowy darkness lies. One by one Anchises unfolds each scene to his son,
Kindling his soul with a passion for glories yet to be won. Speaks of the wars that await him beneath the Italian skies, Rude Laurentian clans and the haughty Latinus' walls,
How to avoid each peril, or bear its brunt, as befalls.
Sleep has his portals twain : one fashioned of horn, it is said, Whence come true apparitions by exit smooth from the dead ; One with the polished splendor of shining ivory bright — False are the only visions that issue thence from the night. Thither Anchises leads them, exchanging talk by the way, There speed Sibyl and son by the ivory gate to the day. Straight to his vessels and mates Maeas journeyed, and bore Thence for Caieta's harbor along the Italian shore.
. ENEAS AND THE CYCLOPS. By VIRGIL.
(Translation of John Conington. )
The port is sheltered from the blast,
Its compass unconfined and vast :
But . <Etna with her voice of fear
In weltering chaos thunders near.
Now pitchy clouds she belches forth
Of cinders red and vapor swarth,
And from her caverns lifts on high
Live balls of flame that lick the sky : Now with more dire convulsion flings Disploded rocks, her heart's rent strings, And lava torrents hurls to day,
A burning gulf of fiery spray.
'Tis said Enceladus' huge frame,
Heart-stricken by the avenging flame,
Is prisoned here, and underneath
Gasps through each vent his sulphurous breath : And still as his tired side shifts round
Trinacria echoes to the sound
. ENEAS AND THE CYCLOPS.
Through all its length, while clouds of smoke The living soul of ether choke.
All night, by forest branches screened,
We writhe as 'neath some torturing fiend,
Nor know the horror's cause :
For stars were none, nor welkin bright With heavenly fires, but blank black night
The stormy noon withdraws.
And now the day-star, tricked anew, Had drawn from heaven the veil of dew : When from the wood, all ghastly wan,
A stranger form, resembling man,
Comes running forth, and takes its way With suppliant gesture to the bay.
We turn, and look on limbs besmeared With direst filth, a length of beard,
A dress with thorns held tight: In all beside, a Greek his style,
Who in his country's arms erewhile
Had sailed at Troy to fight.
Soon as our Dardan arms he saw,
Brief space he stood in wildering awe
And checked his speed : then toward the shore With cries and weeping onward bore :
" By heaven and heaven's blest powers, I pray, And life's pure breath, this light of day, Receive me, Trojans : o'er the seas
Transport me wheresoe'er you please.
I ask no further. Ay, 'tis true,
I
once was of the Danaan crew, And levied war on Troy:
If all too deep that crime's red stain, Then fling me piecemeal to the main
And 'mid the waves destroy. If death is certain, let me die
By hands that share humanity. "
He ended, and before us flung
About our knees in suppliance clung. His name, his race we bid him show, And what the story of his woe : Anchises' self his hand extends
And bids the trembler count us friends. Then by degrees he laid aside
His fear, and presently replied;
^ENEAS AND THE CYCLOPS.
"From Ithaca, my home, I came, And Achemenides my name,
The comrade of Ulysses' woes : For Troy I left my father's door,
Poor Adamastus; both were poor;
Ah ! would these fates had been as those ! Me, in their eager haste to fly
The scene of hideous butchery,
My unreflecting countrymen
Left in the Cyclops' savage den.
All foul with gore that banquet room
Immense and dreadful in its gloom.
He, lofty towering, strikes the skies
(Snatch him, ye Gods, from mortal eyes ! ) :
No kindly look e'er crossed his face,
Ne'er oped his lips in courteous grace :
The limbs of wretches are his food :
He champs their flesh, and quaffs their blood. Isaw, when his enormous hand
Plucked forth two victims from our band,
Swung round, and on the threshold dashed, While all the floor with blood was splashed:
I saw him grind them, bleeding fresh,
And close his teeth on quivering flesh :
Not unrequited : such a wrong
My wily chieftain brooked not long :
E'en in that dire extreme of ill
Ulysses was Ulysses still.
For when o'ercome with sleep and wine
Along the cave he lay supine,
Ejecting from his monstrous maw
Wine mixed with gore and gobbets raw,
We pray to Heaven, our parts dispose,
And in a circle round him close.
With sharpened point that eyeball pierce
Which 'neath his brow glared lone and fierce, Like Argive shield or sun's broad light,
And thus our comrades' death requite.
But fly, unhappy, fly, and tear
Your anchors from the shore : For vast as Polyphemus there
Guards, feeds, and milks his fleecy care, On the sea's margin make their home And o'er the lofty mountains roam
A hundred Cyclops more.
2ENEAS AND THE CYCLOPS.
Three moons their circuit nigh have made, Since in wild den or woodland shade
My wretched life I trail,
See Cyclops stalk from rock to rock, And tremble at their footsteps' shock,
And at their voices quail.
Hard cornel fruits that life sustain,
And grasses gathered from the plain.
Long looking round, at last I scanned
Your vessels bearing to the strand. Whate'er you proved, I vowed me yours : Enough, to 'scape these bloody shores. Become yourselves my slayers, and kill This destined wretch which way you will. "
E'en as he spoke, or e'er we deem, Down from the lofty rock
We see the monster Polypheme Advancing 'mid his flock,
In quest the well-known shore to find,
Huge, awful, hideous, ghastly, blind.
A pine tree, plucked from earth, makes strong His tread, and guides his steps along.
His sheep upon their master wait,
Sole joy, sole solace of his fate.
Soon as he touched the ocean waves
And reached the level flood, Groaning and gnashing fierce, he laves
His socket from the blood,
And through the deepening water strides, While scarce the billows bathe his sides. With wildered haste we speed our flight, Admit the suppliant, as of right,
And noiseless loose the ropes; Our quick oars sweep the blue profound: The giant hears, and towards the sound
With outstretched hands he gropes. But when he grasps and grasps in vain, Still headed by the Ionian main,
To heaven he lifts a monstrous roar,
Which sends a shudder through the waves, Shakes to its base the Italian shore,
And echoing runs through JStna's caves. Prom rocks and woods the Cyclop host
Bush startled forth, and crowd the coast.
THE RETURN OF THE GOLDEN AGE.
There glaring fierce we see them stand In idle rage, a hideous band,
The sons of iEtna, carrying high
Their towering summits to the sky :
So on a height stand clustering trees, Tall oaks, or cone-clad cypresses,
The stately forestry of Jove,
Or Dian's venerable grove.
Fierce panic bids us set our sail, And stand to catch the first fair gale. But stronger e'en than present fear The thought of Helenus the seer, Who counseled still those seas to fly Where Scylla and Charybdis lie : That path of double death we shun, And think a backward course to run. When lo ! from out Pelorus' strait
The northern breezes blow : We pass Pantagia's rocky gate, And Megara, where vessels wait,
And Thapsus, pillowed low. So, measuring back familiar seas,
Land after land before us shows The rescued Achemenides,
The comrade of Ulysses' woes.
THE RETURN OF THE GOLDEN AGE.
(The Messianic Eclogue. ) By VIRGIL.
(Translated by Sir Charles Bowen. )
Come is the last of the ages, in song Cumaean foretold Now is the world's grand cycle begun once more from of
old.
Justice the Virgin comes, and the Saturn kingdom again ; Now from the skies is descending a new generation of men. Thou to the boy in his birth, — upon whose first opening
eyes — The iron age shall close, and a race that is golden arise,
THE RETURN OF THE GOLDEN AGE. 391
Chaste Lucina be kindly ! He reigns — thy Phœbus — to-day ! Thine to be Consul, thine, at a world's bright ushering in, Pollio, when the procession of nobler months shall begin ; Under thy rule all lingering traces of Italy's sin,
Fading to naught, shall free us from fear's perpetual sway.
Life of the gods shall be his, to behold with the gods in their might Heroes immortal mingled, appear himself in their sight,
Rule with his Father's virtues a world at peace from the sword. Boy, for thine infant presents the earth unlabored shall bring
Ivies wild with foxglove around thee wreathing, and fling
Mixed with the laughing acanthus the lotus leaf on the sward ; Homeward at eve untended the goat shall come from the mead Swelling with milk; flocks fearless of monstrous lions shall feed; Even thy cradle blossom with tender flowers, and be gay.
Every snake shall perish ; the treacherous poison weed
Die, and Assyrian spices arise unsown by the way.
When thou art able to read of the heroes' glories, the bright
Deeds of thy sire, and to know what is manhood's valor and might, Plains will be turning golden, and wave with ripening corn ;
Purple grapes shall blush on the tangled wilderness thorn ;
Honey from hard-grained oaks be distilling pure as the dew ; Though of our ancient folly as yet shall linger a few
Traces, to bid us venture the deep, with walls to surround
Cities, and, restless ever, to cleave with furrows the ground.
Then shall another Tiphys, a later Argo to sea
Sail, with her heroes chosen ; again great battles shall be ;
Once more the mighty Achilles be sent to a second Troy.
Soon when strengthening years shall have made thee man from a boy, Trader himself shall abandon the deep ; no trafficking hull
Barter her wares ; all regions of all things fair shall be full.
Glebe shall be free from the harrow, the vine no pruner fear ;
Soon will the stalwart plowman release unneeded the steer.
Varied hues no longer the wool shall falsely assume.
Now to a blushing purple and now to the saffron's bloom,
Cropping the meadow, the ram shall change his fleece at his need ; Crimsoning grasses color the lambs themselves as they feed.
" Ages blest, roll onward ! " the Sisters of Destiny cried Each to her spindle, agreeing by Fate's firm will to abide. Come to thy godlike honors ; theJtime well-nigh is begun ;
ove great scion and son !
Lo, how the universe totters beneath heaven's dome and its weight,
Land and the wide waste waters, the depths of the firmament great ! Lo, all nature rejoices to see this glorious day I
Offspring loved of immortals, of
392 A SACRED ECLOGUE IN IMITATION OF VIRGIL.
Ah, may the closing years of my life enduring be found, — Breath sufficient be mine thy deeds of valor to sound ; — Orpheus neither nor Linus shall ever surpass my lay ;
One with mother immortal, and one with sire, at his side, To Orpheus Calliopeia, to Linus Apollo allied.
Pan, were he here competing, did all Arcadia see,
Pan, by Arcadia's voice, should allow him vanquished of me.
Baby, begin thy mother to know, and to meet with a smile ;
Ten long moons she has waited, and borne her burden the while. Smile, my babe ; to his feast no god has admitted the child, Goddess none to his kisses, on whom no parent has smiled.
A SACRED ECLOGUE IN IMITATION OF VIRGIL'S « POLLIO. "
ALEXANDER POPE.
[Alexander Fops : An English poet ; born May 22, 1688. His whole career was one of purely poetic work and the personal relations it brought him into. He published the "Essay on Criticism" in 1710, the "Rape of the Lock" in 1711, the "Messiah" in 1712, his translation of the Iliad in 1718- 1720, and of the Odyssey in 1725. His " Essay on Man," whose thoughts were mainly suggested by Bolingbroke, appeared in 1733. His " Satires," modeled on Horace's manner, but not at all in his spirit, are among his best-known works. He died May 30, 1744. ]
Ye Nymphs of Solyma ! begin the song :
To heav'nly themes sublimer strains belong. The mossy fountains, and the sylvan shades, The dreams of Pindus and th' Aonian maids, Delight no more — O thou my voice inspire Who touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire !
Rapt into future times, the Bard begun :
A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son !
Prom Jesse's root behold a branch arise,
Whose sacred flow'r with fragrance fills the skies : Th' ^Ethereal spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descends the mystic Dove.
Ye Heav'ns ! from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly show'r !
The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid, Prom storms a shelter, and from heat a shade.
All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail ; Returning Justice lift aloft her scale;
A SACRED ECLOGUE IN IMITATION OF VIRGIL.
Peace o'er the World her olive wand extend, And white-robed Innocence from heav'n descend. Swift fly the years, and rise th' expected morn! Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born ! See Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring, With all the incense of the breathing spring : See lofty Lebanon his head advance,
See nodding forests on the mountains dance :
See spicy clouds from lowly Saron rise,
And Carmel's flow'ry top perfumes the skies ! Hark ! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers ; Prepare the way ! a God, a God appears :
A God, a God ! the vocal hills reply,
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies ! Sink down ye mountains, and ye valleys rise, With heads declined, ye cedars homage pay ;
Be smooth ye rocks, ye rapid floods give way ! The Savior comes ! by ancient bards foretold : Hear him, ye deaf, and all ye blind, behold !
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, And on the sightless eyeball pour the day :
'Tis he th' obstructed paths of sound shall clear, And bid new music charm th' unfolding ear : The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No sigh, no murmur the wide world shall hear, From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.
In adamantine chains shall Death be bound,
And Hell's grim Tyrant feel th' eternal wound. As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air, Explores the lost, the wand'ring sheep directs, By day o'ersees them, and by night protects, The tender lambs he raises in his arms,
Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms ; Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage, The promised father of the future age.
No more shall nation against nation rise,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be covered o'er, The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more ;
But useless lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad falchion in a plowshare end. Then palaces shall rise ; the joyful Son
A SACRED ECLOGUE IN IMITATION OF VIRGIL.
Shall finish what his short-lived Sire begun ;
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,
And the same hand that sowed, shall reap the field. The swain in barren deserts with surprise
See lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise ;
And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murm'ring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.
Waste sandy valleys, once perplexed with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn :
To leafless shrubs the flow'ring palms succeed,
And od'rous myrtle to the noisome weed.
The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead, And boys in flow'ry bands the tiger lead ;
The steer and lion at one crib shall meet,
And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet.
The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crested basilisk and speckled snake,
Pleased the green luster of the scales survey,
And with their forky tongues shall innocently play. Rise, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rise !
Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes !
See, a long race thy spacious courts adorn ;
See future sons, and daughters yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on ev'ry side arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies !
See barb'rous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars thronged with prostrate kings, And heaped with products of Sabaean springs !
For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,
And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.
See heav'n its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day !
No more the rising Sun shall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her silver horn ;
But lost, dissolved in thy superior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
O'erflow thy courts : the light himself shall shine Revealed, and God's eternal day be thine !
The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away ; —
But fixed his word, his saving pow'r remains ;
Thy realm forever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns !
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AT THE CHRISTIAN ERA. 395
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AT THE CHRISTIAN ERA. By STRABO.
[Strabo, the leading geographer of antiquity whose work is extant, was a Greek of Pontus ; born about b. c. 62, and died after a. d. 21. He was great- great-grandson of a leading general of the father of Mithridates the Great, and grand-nephew of a governor of Colchis under that king himself. His grand father was also an important satrap. He went early to Rome, and was highly educated ; became a considerable traveler, and was long at Alexandria, studying the works of previous geographers, and astronomy and mathematics ; later re turned to Rome. He wrote a long continuation of Polybius, and "Historical Memoirs," but his great work was the one here excerpted : the first all-round treatise in the world covering at once mathematical, physical, political, and his torical geography. The mathematical part is chiefly copied from Eratosthenes and others. ]
The Earth an Island.
Perception and experience alike inform us that the earth we inhabit is an island ; since wherever men have approached the termination of the land, the sea, which we designate ocean, has been met with ; and reason assures us of the similarity of those places which our senses have not been permitted to sur vey. For in the east the land occupied by the Indians, and in the west by the Iberians and Maurusians, is wholly encompassed (by water), and so is the greater part on the south and north. And as to what remains as yet unexplored by us, because navi gators sailing from opposite points have not hitherto fallen in with each other, it is not much, as any one may see who will compare the distances between those places with which we are already acquainted. Nor is it likely that the Atlantic Ocean is divided into two seas by narrow isthmuses so placed as to prevent circumnavigation ; how much more probable that it is confluent and uninterrupted ! Those who have returned from an attempt to circumnavigate the earth do not say they have been prevented from continuing their voyage by any opposing continent, for the sea remained perfectly open, but through want of resolution and the scarcity of provision. This theory, too, accords better with the ebb and flow of the ocean, for the phenomenon, both in the increase and diminution, is everywhere identical, or at all events has but little difference, as if produced by the agitation of one sea and resulting from one cause.
396 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AT THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
Pboof of the Earth's Sphericity.
As the size of the earth has been demonstrated by other writers, we shall here take for granted and receive as accurate what they have advanced. We shall also assume that the earth is spheroidal, that its surface is likewise spheroidal, and, above all, that bodies have a tendency toward its center, which latter point is clear to the perception of the most average understand ing. However, we may show summarily that the earth is sphe roidal from the consideration that all things, however distant, tend to its center, and that everybody is attracted toward its center of gravity ; this is more distinctly proved from observa tions of the sea and sky, for here the evidence of the senses — common observation — is alone requisite. The convexity of the sea is a further proof of this to those who have sailed ; for they cannot perceive lights at a distance when placed at the same level as their eyes, but if raised on high they at once become perceptible to vision, though at the same time farther removed. So when the eye is raised it sees what before was utterly imper ceptible. Homer speaks of this when he says, —
"Lifted up on the vast wave, he quickly beheld afar. "
Sailors, as they approach their destination, behold the shore continually raising itself to their view, and objects which had at first seemed low begin to elevate themselves. Our gnomons also are, among other things, evidence of the revolution of the heavenly bodies ; and common sense at once shows us that if the depth of the earth were infinite, such a revolution could not take place.
Changes in Elevation, Tides, Etc.
Eratosthenes proceeds to tell us that the earth is spheroidal ; not, however, perfectly so, inasmuch as it has certain irregulari ties. He then enlarges on the successive changes of its form, occasioned by water, fire, earthquakes, eruptions, and the like ; all of which is entirely out of place, for the spheroidal form of the whole earth is the result of the system of the universe, and the phenomena which he mentions do not in the least change its general form, such little matters being entirely lost in the great mass of the earth. Still they cause various peculiarities in different parts of our globe, and result from a variety of causes.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AT THE CHRISTIAN ERA. 397
He points out as a most interesting subject for disquisition the fact of our finding, often quite inland, two or three thou sand stadia from the sea, vast numbers of muscle, oyster, and scallop shells, and salt-water lakes. He gives as an instance that about the temple of Ammon, and along the road to it for the space of three thousand stadia, there are yet found a vast amount of oyster shells, many salt beds, and salt springs bub bling up, besides which are pointed out numerous fragments of wreck which they say have been cast up through some opening, and dolphins placed on pedestals, with the inscription, " Of the Delegates from Cyrene. "
Herein he agrees with the opinion of Strato the natural phi losopher, and Xanthus of Lydia. Xanthus mentioned that in the reign of Artaxerxes, there was so great a drought that every river, lake, and well was dried up : and that in many places he had seen, a long way from the sea, fossil shells, some like cockles, others resembling scallop shells, also salt lakes in Armenio, Matiana, and Lower Phrygia, which induced him to believe that sea had formerly been where land now was. Strato, who went more deeply into the causes of these phenomena, was of opinion that formerly there was no exit to the Euxine as now at Byzantium, but that the rivers running into it had forced a way through, and thus let the waters escape into the Propontis, and thence to the Hellespont. And that a like change had oc curred in the Mediterranean. For the sea being overflowed by the rivers, had opened for itself a passage by the Pillars of Her cules, and thus much that was formerly covered by water had been left dry. He gives as the cause of this, that anciently the levels of the Mediterranean and Atlantic were not the same, and states that a bank of earth, the remains of the ancient sepa ration of the two seas, is still stretched under water from Europe to Africa. He adds that the Euxine is the most shallow, and the seas of Crete, Sicily, and Sardinia much deeper, which is occasioned by the number of large rivers flowing into the Euxine both from the north and east, and so filling it up with mud, whilst the others preserve their depth. This is the cause of the remarkable sweetness of the Euxine Sea, and of the currents which regularly set toward the deepest part. He gives it as his opinion, that should the rivers continue to flow in the same direction, the Euxine will in time be filled up; since already the left side of the sea is little else than shallows, as also Salmy- dessus (Midjeh in Roumelia), and the shoals at the mouth of
398 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AT THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
the Ister (Danube), and the desert of Scythia (Dobrudscha), which the sailors call the Breasts.
Probably, too, the temple of Amnion was originally close to the sea, though now, by the continual deposit of the waters, it is quite inland ; and he conjectures that it was owing to its being so near the sea that it became so celebrated and illustrious, and that it never would have enjoyed the credit it now possesses had it always been equally remote from the sea. Egypt, too, he says, was formerly covered by sea as far as the marshes near Pelusium, Mount Casius, and the Lake Sirbonis. Even at the present time, when salt is being dug in Egypt, the beds are found under layers of sand, and mingled with fossil shells, as if this district had formerly been under water, and as if the whole region about Casium and Gerrha had been shallows reach ing to the Arabian Gulf. The sea afterward receding left the land uncovered, and the Lake Sirbonis remained, which having afterward forced itself a passage, became a marsh. In like manner the borders of the Lake Mœris resemble a sea beach rather than the banks of a river. Every one will admit that formerly at various periods a great portion of the mainland has been covered and again left bare by the sea. Likewise that the land now covered by the sea is not all on the same level, any more than that whereon we dwell ; which is now uncovered and has experienced so many changes, as Eratosthenes has observed. Consequently in the reasoning of Xanthus there does not appear to be anything out of place.
In regard to Strato, however, we must remark that, leaving out of the question the many arguments he has properly stated, some of those which he has brought forward are quite inadmis sible. For first he is inaccurate in stating that the beds of the interior and the exterior seas have not the same level, and that the depth of those two seas is different : whereas the cause why the sea is at one time raised, at another depressed, that it in undates certain places and again retreats, is not that the beds have different levels, some higher and some lower, but simply this, that the same beds are at one time raised, at another de pressed, causing the sea to rise or subside with them ; for hav ing risen they cause an inundation, and when they subside the waters return to their former places.
The immediate cause of these phenomena is not the fact of one part of the bed of the ocean being higher or lower than an other, but the upheaval or depression of the strata on which the
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AT THE CHRISTIAN ERA. 399
waters rest. Strato's hypothesis evidently originated in the be lief that what occurs in rivers is also the case in regard to the sea ; viz. , that there is a flow of water from the higher places. Otherwise he would not have attempted to account for the current he observed at the strait of Byzantium in the manner he does, attributing it to the bed of the Euxine being higher than that of the Propontis (Marmora) and adjoining ocean (-iEgaean), and even attempting to explain the cause thereof; viz. , that the bed of the Euxine is filled up and choked by the deposit of the rivers which flow into it, and its waters in con sequence driven out into the neighboring sea. The same theory he would apply in respect to the Mediterranean and Atlantic, alleging that the bed of the former is higher than that of the latter, in consequence of the number of rivers which flow into it and the alluvium they carry along with them. In that case there ought to be a like influx at the Pillars and the Calpe, as there is at Byzantium. But I waive this objection, as it might be asserted that the influx was the same in both places, but owing to the interference of the ebb and flow of the sea
became imperceptible.
I make this inquiry rather :
If there were any reason why, before the outlet was opened at Byzantium, the bed of the Eux
ine (being deeper than either that of the Propontis or of the adjoining sea) should not gradually have become more shallow by the deposit of the rivers which flow into it, allowing it formerly either to have been a sea, or merely a vast lake greater than the Palus Meeotis? This proposition being conceded, I would next ask, whether before this the bed of the Euxine would not have been brought to the same level as the Propontis, and in that case, the pressure being counterpoised, the overflow ing of the water have been thus avoided: and if after the Eux ine had been filled up, the superfluous waters would not naturally have forced a passage and flowed off, and by their commingling and power have caused the Euxine and Propontis to flow into each other, and thus become one sea ? no matter, as I said above, whether formerly it were a sea or a lake, though latterly cer tainly a sea. This also being conceded, they must allow that the present efflux depends neither upon the elevation nor the inclination of the bed, as Strato's theoiy would have us con sider it.
River deposits are prevented from advancing further into the sea by the regularity of the ebb and flow, which continually
400 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AT THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
drive them back. For after the manner of living creatures, which go on inhaling and exhaling their breath continually, so the sea in a like way keeps up a constant motion in and out of itself. Any one may observe, who stands on the seashore when the waves are in motion, the regularity with which they cover, then leave bare, and then again cover up his feet. This agitation of the sea produces a continual movement on its surface, which even when it is most tranquil has considerable force, and so throws all extraneous matters on to the land, and
" Flings forth the salt weed on the shore. "
This effect is certainly most considerable when the wind is on the water ; but it continues when all is hushed, and even when it blows from land the swell is still carried to the shore against the wind, as if by a peculiar motion of the sea itself. To this the verses refer : —
and
" O'er the rocks that breast the flood Borne turgid, scatter far the showery spray,"
" Loud sounds the roar of waves ejected wide. "
The wave, as it advances, possesses a kind of power which some call the purging of the sea, to eject all foreign substances. It is by this force that dead bodies and wrecks are cast on shore. But on retiring it does not possess sufficient power to carry back into the sea either dead bodies, wood, or even the lightest sub stances, such as cork, which may have been cast out by the waves. And by this means, when places next the sea fall down, being undermined by the wave, the earth and the water charged with it are cast back again ; and the weight working at the same time in conjunction with the force of the advancing tide, it is the sooner brought to settle at the bottom, instead of being carried out far into the sea. The force of the river current ceases at a very little distance beyond its mouth. Otherwise, supposing the rivers had an uninterrupted flow, by degrees the whole ocean would be filled in, from the beach onward by the alluvial de posits. And this would be inevitable even were the Euxine deeper than the sea of Sardinia, than which a deeper sea has never been sounded, measuring, as it does, according to Posi- donius, about 1000 fathoms.
Some, however, may be disinclined to admit this explanation, and would rather have proof from things more manifest to the senses, and which seem to meet us at every turn. Now deluges,
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AT THE CHRISTIAN ERA. 401
earthquakes, eruptions of wind, and risings in the bed of the sea cause the rising of the ocean, as sinking of the bottom causes it to become lower. It is not the case that small volcanic or other islands can be raised up from the sea, and not large ones, nor that all islands can, but not continents, since extensive sinkings of the land no less than small ones have been known ; witness the yawning of those chasms which have engulfed whole districts no less than their cities, as is said to have hap pened to Bura, Bizone, and many other towns at the time of earthquakes : and there is no more reason why one should rather think Sicily to have been disjoined from the mainland of Italy than cast up from the bottom of the sea by the fires of ^Etna, as the Lipari and Pithecussan (Ischia) Isles have been.
However, so nice a fellow is Eratosthenes, that though he professes himself a mathematician, he rejects entirely the dictum of Archimedes, who, in his work " On Bodies in Suspension," says that all liquids when left at rest assume a spherical form, having a center of gravity similar to that of the earth : a dictum which is acknowledged by all who have the slightest pretensions to mathematical sagacity. He says that the Mediterranean, which according to his own description is one entire sea, has not the same level even at points quite close to each other; and offers us the authority of engineers for this piece of folly, notwithstanding the affirmation of mathematicians that en gineering is itself only one division of the mathematics. He tells us that Demetrius intended to cut through the Isthmus of Corinth, to open a passage for his fleet, but was prevented by his engineers, who having taken measurements reported that the level of the sea at the Gulf of Corinth was higher than at Cen- chrea, so that if he cut through the isthmus, not only the coasts near JEgina, but even iEgina itself, with the neighboring islands, would be laid completely under water, while the pas sage would prove of little value.
According to Eratosthenes, it is this which occasions the cur rents in straits, especially the current in the Strait of Sicily, where effects similar to the flow and ebb of the tide are re marked. The current there changes twice in the course of the day and night, like as in that period the tides of the sea flow and ebb twice. In the Tyrrhenian Sea the current which is called de- scendent, and which runs toward the sea of Sicily, as if it followed an inclined plane, corresponds to the flow of the tide
in the ocean. We may remark that this current corresponds to vol. v. —26
402 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AT THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
the flow both in the time of its commencement and cessation. For it commences at the rising and the setting of the moon, and recedes when that satellite attains its meridian, whether above or below the earth. In the same way occurs the opposite or ascending current, as it is called. It corresponds to the ebb of the ocean, and commences as soon as the moon has reached either zenith or nadir, and ceases the moment she reaches the point of her rising or setting.
Size of the Inhabited Earth.
After this Eratosthenes proceeds to determine the breadth of the habitable earth: he tells us that, measuring from the meridian of Meroe (Gherri in Sennaar) to Alexandria, there are 10,000 stadia. From thence to the Hellespont about 8100. Again, from thence to the Dnieper, 5000 ; and thence to the parallel of Thule (Iceland) which Pytheas says is six days' sail north from Britain, and near the Frozen Sea, other 11,500. To which if we add 3400 stadia above Meroe in order to include the Island of the Egyptians (unknown), the Cinnamon country, and Taprobane (Ceylon), there will be in all 38,000 stadia.