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Again they close, and once again dtsjoin;
In troop to troop oppos'd, and hne to hne
They meet; they wheel; they throw their darts afar
Wtth harmless rage and well-dissembled war.
Then in a round the mingled bodies run:
Flying the3' follow, and pursuing shun;
Broken, they break; and, rallying, they renew
In other forms the military shew
At last, in order, undiscern'd they join,
And march together in a friendly line.
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 denied recess;
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 chase
In circles, when they swim around the wat'ry race.
? , ;
_
DRYDEN'S TRANSLATION OF VIRGIL
This game, these carousels, Aseanius taught;
And, bullchng All)a, 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 reeeiv'd the game,
Which Troy, the youths the Trojan troop, they name.
Thus far the sacred sports they celebrate:
But Fortune soon resum'd her ancient hate;
For, while they pay the dead his annual dues,
Those envied rites Saturnian Juno views;
And sends the goddess of the various bows
To try new methods o_ revenge below;
Supplies the winds to wing her airy way,
Where m the port secure the navy lay.
Swiftly fair Iris down her arch descends,
And, undlscern'd, her fatal voyage ends.
She saw the gath'ring crowd; and, ghdmg thence,
The desart shore, and fleet without defense
The Trojan matrons, on the sands alone,
With fighs and tears Anchlses' death bemoan;
Then, turning to the sea their weeping eyes,
Their pity to themselves renews their cries.
"Alas ! " said one, "what oceans yet remain For us to sail Xwhat labors to sustain ! "
All take the word, and, with a gen'ral groan,
Implore the gods for peace, and places of their own.
The goddess, great in mischief, views their pains, And in a woman's form her heav'nly limbs restrains.
In face and shape old Beroe she became,
Doryclus' wife, a venerable dame,
Once blest with riches, and 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, m Troy's unhappy hour f
O wretched we, reserv'd by cruel fate,
Beyond the i'uins of the sinking state!
Now sev'n revolwng years are wholly run,
Since this improsp'rous voyage we begun ;
Since, toss'd from shores to shores, from lands to iands,
? THE FIFTH BOOK OF THE Aigl_EIS L_
Inhospitable rocks and barren sands,
Wand'ring m exile thro' the stormy sea,
We search in vain for flying Italy.
Now cast by fortune on this kindred land,
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 remam l
Shall we no more the Trojan walls renew, Or streams of some dissembled Simois view!
Haste, join wtth me, th' unhappy fleet consume 1 Cassandra bids; and I declare her doom.
In sleep I saw her; she supphed my hands
(For this I more than dreamt) with flaming brands: 'Wtth these,' said she, 'these wand'ring sh_ps destroy: These are your fatal seats, and th_s your Troy. '
T_me calls you now ; the precious hour employ: Slack not the good presage, while Heav'n inspires Our minds to dare, and gives the ready fires. See! Neptune's altars minister their brands:
The god is pleas'd; the god supplies our hands. " Then from the pile a flaming fire she drew,
And, toss'd in air, amidst the galleys threw.
Wrapp'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 Beroe this, tho' she belies her face l
What terrors from her frowmng front artse!
Behold a goddess in her ardent eyes l
What rays around her heav'nly face are seen l
Mark her majestic voice, and more than mortal mien! Beroe 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,
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,
Mounts up on equal wings, and bends her painted bow. Struck with the sight, and seiz'd with rage divine,
? _Ii) ,"
'. ': " :
204 DRYDEI_S TRANSLATIOI_ OF VIRGIL
The matrons prosecute their mad design:
They shriek aloud; they snatch, with impious hands, The food of altars; fires and flaming brands.
Green boughs and saphngs, mingled in their haste, And smoking torches, on the ships they cast.
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 theater.
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 remahaders of unhappy Troy!
Not hostile fleets, but your own hopes, you burn,
And on your friends your fatal fury turn Behold your own Ascamus t,, While he said,
He drew his glitt'ring helmet from his head, In which the youths to sportful arms he led. By this, . SEneas 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 avold the light;
Their frlends 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 searas, with seeming peace, Work on their way amid the smold'ring tow, Sure in destruction, but in motion slow.
The silent plague thro' the green timber eats, And vomits out a tardy flame by fits.
Down to the keels, and upward to the sails, The fire descends, or mounts, but still prevads ;
? _HE FIFTH BOOK OF THE ,_EIS _05 Nor bucketspour'dn,orstrengthof human hand,
Can thevictorioueslementwithstand. The plo_sherorendshisrobe,and throws
To hcav'nhishands,andwithhishandshisvows. "0 Jove,"hecried',i? pray'rscanyethaveplace;
Ifthouabhorr'sntotalltheDardanrace; If anysparkofpitystilrlemain;
Ifgodsaregods,andnotinvok'dinvain; Yet spare the relics of the Trojan train l
Yet from the flames our burning vessels freej Or let thy fury fall alone on reel
At this devoted head thy thunder throw, And send the willing sacrifice below l"
Scarce had he said, when southern storms arise: From pole to pole the forky lightning flies;
Loud rattling shakes the mountains and the plain; Heav'n bellies downward, and descends in rain. Whole sheets of water from the clouds are sent, Which, hissing thro' the planks, the flames prevent, And stop the fiery pest. Four ships alone
Burn to the waist, and for the fleet atone. But doubtful thoughts the hero's heart divide;
If he should still in Sicily reside,
Forgetful of his fates, or tempt the main,
In hope the promis'd Italy to gain.
Then Nantes, old and wise, to whom alone
The will of Heav'n by Pallas was foreshown; Vers'd in portents, experlenc'd, and inspir'd
To tell events, and what the fates requir'd;
Thus while he stood, to neither part inclin'd,
With cheerful words reliev'd his lab'ring mind: "O goddess-born, resign'd in ev'ry state,
With patience bear, with prudence push your fate. By suff'ring well, our Fortune we subdue;
Fly when she frowns, and, when she calls, pursue Your friend Acestes is of Trojan kind;
To him disclose the secrets of your mind:
Trust in his hands your old and useless train;
Too num'rous for the ships which yet remain:
The feeble, old, indulgent of their ease,
? The dames who dread the dangers of the seas, With all the dastard crew, who dare not stand The shock of battle with your foes by land. Here you may build a common town for all, And, from Acestes' name, Acesta call. "
The reasons, with his friend's experience join'd, Encourag'd much, but more disturb'd his mind.
'T was dead of night; when to his slumb'ring eyes His father's shade descended from the skies,
And thus he spoke: "O more than vital breath, Lov'd while I liv'd, and dear ev'n after death;
O son, in various toils and troubles toss'd,
The King of Heav'n employs my careful ghost On his commands: the god, who sav'd from fire Your flaming fleet, and heard your just desire. The wholesome counsel of your friend receive, And here the coward train and women leave: The chosen youth, and those who nobly dare, Transport, to tempt the dangers of the war.
The stern Italians will their courage try;
Rough are their manners, and their minds are high. But first to Pluto's palace you shall go,
And seek my shade among the blest below:
For not with impious ghosts my soul remains,
Nor suffers with the damn'd perpetual pains,
But breathes the living air of soft Elysian plains. The chaste Sibylla shall your steps convey,
And blood of offer'd victims free the way.
There shall you know what realms the gods assign, And learn the fates and fortunes of your line.
But now, farewell l I vanish with the night,
And feel the blast of heav'n's approachin[_ light. "
He said, and mix'd with shades, and took his airy flight "Whither so fast? " the filial duty cried;
"And why, ah why, the wish'd embrace denied ? " He said, and rose; as holy zeal inspires,
He rakes hot embersj and renews the fires;
His country gods and Vesta then adores
With cakes and incense, and their aid implores. Next, for his friends and royal host he sent_
? _ _IFTH BOOK OP TH_ _IB
Reveal'd his vision, and the gods' intent, With his own p_rpose. All, without delay,
The will o? Jove, and his desires obey.
They list with women each degenerate name,
Who dares not hazard life for future fame. These they cashier: the brave remaining few,
Oars, banks, and cables, half consum'd, renew. The prince designs a city with the plow;
The lots their sev'ral tenements allow.
This part is nam'd from Ilium, that from Troy, And the new king ascends the throne with joy;
A chosen senate from the people draws;
Appoints the judges, and ordains the laws.
Then, on the top of Eryx, 'they begin
A rising temple to the Paphian queen.
Anchises, last, is honor'd as a god;
A priest is added, annual gifts bestow'd,
And groves are planted round his blest abode.
Nine days they pass in feasts, their temples crown'd| And fumes of incense in the fanes abound.
Then from the so_th arose a gentle breeze
That curl'd the smoothness of the glassy seas;
The rising winds a r_/ting gale afford,
And call the merry mariners aboard.
Now loud laments along the shores resound, Of parting friends in close embraces bound.
The trembling women, the degenerate train,
Who shunn'd the frightful dangers of the main, Ev'n those desire to sail, and take their share
Of the rough passage and the promis'd war: Whom good . _neas cheers, and recommends
To their new master's care his fearful friends
On Eryx's altars three fat calves he lays;
A lamb new-fallen to the stormy seas;
Then slips his haulsers, and his anchors weighs. High on the deck the godlike hero stands,
With olive crown'd, a charger in his hands; Then cast the reeking entrails in the brine,
And pour'd the sacrifice of purple wine.
Fresh gales arise; with equal strokes they vie,
? 208 DRYDEN'S TRANSLATION OF VIRGIL
And brush the buxom seas, and o'er the billows fly. Meantime the mother goddess, full of fears,
To Neptune thus address'd, with tender tears: "The pride of Jove's imperious queen, the rage,
The malice which no suff'rings can assuage, Compel me to these pray'rs; since neither fate, Nor time, nor pity, can remove her bate:
Ev'n Jove is thwarted by his haughty wife; Still vanquish'd, yet she still renews the strife. As if 't were little to consume the town
Which aw'd the world, and wore th' imperial crown, She prosecutes the ghost of Troy with pains,
And gnaws, ev'n to the bones, the last remains. Let her the causes of her hatred tell;
But you can witness its effects too well.
You saw the storm she rais'd on Libyan floods, That mix'd the mounting billows with the clouds; "_Vhen, bribing . TEolus, she shook the main,
And moved rebellion in your wat'ry reign. With fury she possess'd the Dardan dames, To burn their fleet with execrable flames, And forc'd . ,Eneas, when his ships were lost, To leave his foll'wers on a foreign coast. For what remains, your godhead I implore, And trust my son to your protecting pow'r.
If neither Jove's nor Fate's decree withstand, Secttre his passage to the Latian land. "
Then thus the mighty Ruler of the Main:
"What may not Venus hope from Neptune's reign ?
My kingdom claims your birth; my late defense Of your indanger'd fleet may claim your confidence. Nor less by land than sea my deeds declare
How much your lov'd 2Eneas is my care.
Thee, Xantbus, and thee, Simois, I attest.
Your Trojan troops when proud Achilles press'd,
And drove before him headlong on the plain, And dash'd against the walls the trembling train;
When floods were fiU'd with bodies of the slain; When crimson Xanthus, doubtful of his way,
Stood up, on ridges to behold the sea;
? TI_IE FIFTH BOOK OF THE _1_8
(New heaps came tumbling in, and chok'd his way;) When your . _Eneas fought, but fought with odds
Of force unequal, and unequal gods;
I spread a cloud before the victor's sight, Sustain'd the vanqulsh'd, and secur'd his flight; Ev'n then secur'd him, when I sought with joy The vow'd destruction of ungrateful Troy.
My will's the same: fair goddess, fear no more, Your fleet shall safely gain the Latian shore; Their lives are giv'n; one destin'd head alone Shall perish, and for multitudes atone. "
Thus having arm'd with hopes her anxlo_s rnlnd_ His finny team Saturnian Neptune join'd,
Then adds the foamy bridle to their jaws,
And to the loosen'd reins permits the laws.
High on the waves his azure car he guides;
Its axles thunder, and the sea subsides,
And the smooth ocean rolls her silent tides.
The tempests fly before their father's face,
Trains of inferior gods his triumph grace,
And monster whales before their master play, And choir_ of Tritons crowd the wat'ry way.
The marshal'd pow'rs in equal troops divide
To right and left; the gods his better side
Inclose, and on the worse the Nymphs and Nereids ride. .
Now smiling hope, with sweet vicissitude,
Within the hero's mind his joys renew'&
He calls to raise the masts, the sheets display;
The cheerful crew with diligence obey;
They scud before the wind, and sail in open sea. Ahead of all the master pilot steers;
And, as he leads, the following navy veers.
The steeds of Night had travel'd half the sky,
The drowsy rowers on their benches lie,
When the soft God of Sleep, with easy flight, Descends, and draws behind a trail of light.
Thou, Palinurus, art his destin'd prey;
To thee alone he takes his fatal way.
Dire dreams to thee, and iron sleep, he bears;
And, lighting on thy prow, the form of Phorbas wears.
? DRYDEN'S TRANSLATION OF V_ Then thus the traitor god began his tale:
"The winds, my friend, inspire a pleasing ga|e; tl The ships, without thy care, securely sail.
Ii Now steal an hour of sweet repose; and I Will take the rudder and thy room supply. "
To whom the yawning pilot, half asleep:
"Me dost thou bid to trust the treach'rous deep,
The harlot smiles of her dissembling face,
And to her faith commit the Trojan race?
Shall I believe the Siren South again,
And, oft betray'd, not know the monster main? "
He said: his fasten'd hands the rudder keep,
And, fix'd on hear'n, his eyes repel invading sleep. The god was wroth, and at his temples threw
A branch in Lethe dipp'd, and drunk with Stygian dew: The pilot, vanquish'd by the pow'r divine,
Soon clos'd his swimming eyes, and lay supine. Scarce were his limbs extended at their length,
The god, insulting with superior strength, Fell heavy on him, plung'd him in the sea,
And, with the stern, the rudder tore away.
Headlong he fell, and, struggling in the main,
Cried out for helping hands, but cried in vain.
The victor d_rnon mounts obscure in air,
While the ship sails without the pilot's care.
On Neptune's faith the floating fleet relies;
But what the man forsook, the god supplies,
And o'er the dang'rous deep secure the navy flies; Glides by the Sirens' cliffs, a shelly coast,
Long infamous for ships and sailors lost,
And white with bones. Th' impetuous ocean roars,
And rocks rebellow from the sounding shores.
The watchful hero felt the knocks, and found
The tossing vessel sail'd on shoaly ground.
Sure of his pilot's loss, he takes himself
The helm, and steers aloof, and shuns the shelf.
Inly he griev'd, and, groaning from the breast,
Deplor'd his death; ,Ild thus his pain express'd:
"For faith repos'd on seas, and on the flatt'ring sky, Thy naked corpse is doom'd on shores unknown to lie. "
? THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE iENEI8
THE ARGUMZNT. --The Sibyl foretells . _neas the adventures he should meet wlth in Italy. She attends him to hell; descrlbmg to him the various scenes of that place, and conducting him to hls father Anohises, who instructs hlm in those sublime mysteries of the soul of the world, and the transmlgratlon;and shews hlm that gloriousrace of heroes which was to descend from him, and his posterity.
E said,and wept;thenspreadhissailsbefore The winds,andreach'adtlengththeCurn_anshore:
Theiranchorsdropp'dh,iscrew the vesselmsoor. They turn their heads to sea, their sterns to land,
And greet with greedy joy th' Italian strand. Some strike from clashing flints their fiery seed; Some gather sticks_ the kindled flames to feed, Or search for hollow trees, and fell the wood% Or trace thro' valleys the discover'd floods.
Thus, while their sev'ral charges they fulfil,
The pious prince ascends the sacred hill
Where Phoebus is ador'd; and seeks the shade Which hides from sight his venerable maid.
Deep in a cave the Sibyl makes abode;
Thence full of fate returns, and of the god. Thro' Trivia's grove they walk; and now behold, And enter now, the temple roof'd with gold. When Daedalus, to fly the Cretan shore,
His heavy limbs on jointed pinions bore,
(The first who sail'd in air,) 't is sung by Fame, To the Cumaean coast at length he came,
And here alighting, built this costly frame.
2tl
f
? 212 DRYDEN'S TRANSLATION' OF _tGIL
Inscrib'd to Phoebus, here he hung on high
The steerage of his wings, that cut the sky:
Then o'er the lofty gate his art emboss'd
Androgeos' death, and off'rings to his ghost;
Sev'n youths from Athens yearly sent, to meet
The fate appointed by revengeful Crete.
And next to those the dreadful urn was plac'd,
In which the destin'd names by lots were cast:
The mournful parents stand around in tears,
And rising Crete against their shore appears.
There too, in living sculpture, might be seen
The mad affection of the Cretan queen;
Then how she cheats her hellowmg lover's eye;
The rushing leap, the doubtful progeny,
The lower part a beast, a man above,
The monument of their polluted love.
Not far from thence he grav'd the wondrous maze, A thou_nd doors, a thousand winding ways.
Here dwells the monster, hid from human view, Not to be found, but by the faithft_l clew;
Till the kind artist, mov'd with pious grief, Lent to the loving maid this last relief,
And all those erring paths describ'd so well
That Theseus conquer'd and the monster fell.
Here hapless Icarus had found his part,
Had not the father's grief restrai_l'd his art.
He twice assay'd to cast his son in gold;
Twice from his hands he dropp'd the forming mold.
All this with wond'ring eyes . _neas vlew'd; Each varying object his delight renew'd:
Eager to read the rest--Achates came,
And by his side the mad divinmg dame,
The priestess of the god, Deiphobe her name. "Time suffers not," she said, "to feed your eyes With empty pleasures; haste the sacrifice.
Sev'n bullocks, yet unyok'd, for Phoebus choose, And for Diana sev'n unspotted ewes. "
This said, the servants urge the sacred rites, While to the temple she the prince invites.
A sp. acious cave, within its farmost part_
? THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE . 2ENEIS _13
Was hew'd and fashion'd by laborious art
Thro' the hill's hollow sides: before the place,
A hundred doors a hundred entries grace;
As many voices issue, and the sound
Of Sybd's words as many times rebound
Now to the mouth they come. Aloud she cries:
"This is the time; enquire your destinies
He comes; behold the god r, Thus whde she said, (And shiv'rmg at the sacred entry stay'd,)
Her color chang'd; her face was not the same,
And hollow groans from her deep spirit came.
Her hair stood up; convulsive rage possess'd
Iter trembling hmbs, and heav'd her lab'ring breast. Greater than humankind she seem'd to look,
And with an accent more than mortal spoke.
Her staring eyes with sparkhng fury roll;
When all the god came rushing on her soul.
Swiftly she turn'd, and, foaming as she spoke:
"Why this delay? " she cried--"the pow'rs invoke l Thy pray'rs alone can open this abode;
Else vain are my demands, and dumb the god. "
She said no more The trembling Trojans hear, O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear.
The prince himseIf, with awful dread possess'd,
His vows to great ApolJo thus address'd:
"Indulgent god, propitious pow'r to Troy,
S_ift to reheve, unwilling to destroy,
Directed by whose hand the Dardan dart
Plerc'd the proud Grecian's only mortal part:
Thus Car, by fate's decrees and thy commands, Thro' ambient seas and thro' devouring sands, Our exil'd crew has sought th' Ausonian ground; And now, at length, the flying coast is found.
Thus far the fate of Troy, from place to place, With fury has pursued her wand'ring race.
Here cease, ye pow'rs, and let your vengeance end: Troy is no more, and can no more offend.
And thou, 0 sacred maid, inspir'd to see Th' event of things m dark futurity;
Give me what Heav'n has promis'd to my fate,
? _14 DRYDEN'S TRANSLATION OF VIRGIL
To conquer and command the Latian state; To fix my wand'ring gods, and find a place For the long exiles of the Trojan race.
,_ Then shall my grateful hands a temple rear
To the twin gods, with vows and solemn pray'r;
_t And annual rites, anti festivals, and games, Shall be perform'd to their auspicious names.
Nor shalt thou want thy honors in my land; For there thy faithful oracles shall stand, Preserv'd in shrines; and ev'ry sacred lay, Whtch, by thy mouth, Apollo shall convey:
All shall be treasur'd by a chosen train Of holy priests, and ever shall remain. But 0 ! commlt not thy prophetic mind
To flitting leaves, the sport of ev'ry wind, Lest they disperse in air our empty fate; Write not, but, what the pow'rs ordain, relate. "
Struggling in vain, impatient of her load,
And lab'ring underneath the pond'rous god,
The-more she strove to shake him from her breast, With more and far superior force he press'd; Commands his entrance, and, without control,
Usurps her organs and inspires her soul.
Now, with a furious blast, the hundred doors
Ope of themselves; a rushing whirlwind roars
Within the cave, and Sibyl's voice restores:
"Escap'd the dangers of the wat'ry reign,
Yet more and greater dls by land remain.
The coast, so long desir'd (nor doubt th' event),
Thy troops shall reach, but, having reach'd, repent.
Wars, horrid wars, I view--a field of blood, And Tiber rolhng with a purple flood. Simois nor Xanthus shall be wanting there: A new Achtlles shall in arms appear,
And he, too, goddess-born. Fierce Juno's hate, Added to hostile force, shall urge thy "fate.
To what strange nations shalt not thou resort, Driv'n to solicit aid at ev'ry court[
The cause the same which Ilium once oppress'd; A foreign mistress, and a foreign guest.
? THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE _Ek'EI8 Z15 But thou, secure of soul, unbent with woes,
The more thy fortune frowns, the more oppose.
The dawnings of thy safety shall be shown
From whence thou least shalt hope, a Grecian town. "
Thus, from the dark recess, the Sibyl spoke, And the resisting air the thunder broke;
The cave rebeUow'd, and the temple shook.
Th' ambiguous god, who rul'd her lob'ring breast, In these mysterious words his mind express'd; Some truths reveal'd, in terms involv'd the rest. At length her fury fell, her foaming teas'd,
And, ebbing in her soul, the god decreas'd. Then thus the chief: "No terror to my vlew,
No frightful face of danger can be new.
Inur'd to suffer, and resolv'd to dare,
The Fates, without my pow'r, shall be without my care. This let me crave, since near your grove the road
To hell lies open, and the dark abode
Which Acheron surrounds, th' innavigable flood; Conduct me thro' the regions void of light,
And lead me longing to my father's sight.
For him, a thousand dangers I have sought,
And, rushing where the thickest Grecian_. fought,
Safe on my back the sacred burthen brought.
He, for my sake, the raging ocean tried,
And wrath of Hear'n, my still auspicious guide,
And bore beyond the strength decrepid age supplied.
Oft, since he breath'd his last, in dead of night
His reverend image stood before my sight;
Enjoin'd to seek, below, his holy shade;
Conducted there by your unerring aid.
But you, if pious minds by pray'rs are won,
Oblige the father, and protect the son.
Yours is the pow'r; nor Proserpine in vain
Has made you priestess of her nightly relg_
If Orpheus, arm'd with his enchanting lyre,
The ruthless king with pity could inspire,
And from the shades below redeem his wife;
If Pollux, off'ring his alternate life, Could free his brother, and can dally go
? 216 DRYDEN'S TRANSLATION OF VIRGIL
By turns aloft, by turns descend below-- Why name I Theseus, or his greater friend,
Who trod the downward path, and upward could ascend? Not less than theirs from Jove my lineage came;
My mother greater, my descent the same. "
So pray'd the Trojan prince, and, while he pray'd,
His hand upon the holy altar laid.
Then thus rephed the prophetess divine:
"O goddess-born of great Anchises' line, The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labor lies.
To few great Jupiter imparts this grace,
And those of shining worth and heav'nly race.
Betwixt those regions and our upper fight, Deep forests and impenetrable night
Possess the middle space: th' infernal bounds Cocytus,--with his sable waves, surrounds.
But if so dire a love your soul invades,
As twice below to view the trembling shades;
If you so hard a toil will undertake,
As twice to pass th' innavigable lake;
Receive my counsel In the neighb'ring grove There stands a tree; the queen of Stygian Jove Claims it her own; thick woods and gloomy night Conceal the happy plant from human sight
One bough it bear_ ; but (wondrous to behold _) The ductile rind and leaves of radiant gold : This from the vulgar branches must be torn, And to fair Proserpine the present borne,
Ere leave be giv'n to tempt the nether skies. The first thus rent a second will arise,
And the same metal the same room supplies. Look round the wood, with lifted eyes, to see The lurking gold upon the fatal tree:
Then rend it off, as holy rites command; The willing metal will obey thy hand,
Following with ease, if favor'd by thy fate, Thou art foredoom'd to view the Stygian state:
? THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE ,_NEIS 2]7
If not, no labor can the tree constrain;
And strength of stubborn arms and steel are vain. Besides, you know not, wh_le you here attend,
Th' unworthy fate of your unhappy friend: Breathless he lies; and his unburied ghost,
Depriv'd of fun'ral rites, pollutes your host.
Pay first his pious dues; and, for the dead,
Two sable sheep around his hearse be led;
Then, living turfs upon his body lay:
This done, securely take the destiu'd way,
"70 find the regions destitute of day. "
She said, and held her peace. . /_Eneas went Sad from the cave, and full of discontent, Unknowing whom the sacred Sibyl meant.
Achates, the companion of his breast,
Goes grieving by his side, with equal cares oppress'd. Walking, they talk'd, and fruitlessly divin'd
What friend the priestess by those words design'(,.
But soon they found an object to deplore:
Misenus lay extended on the shore;
Son of the God of Winds: none so renown'd
The warrior trumpet in the field to sound;
With breathing brass to kindle fierce alarms,
And rouse to dare their fate in honorable arms.
He serv'd great Hector, and was ever near,
Not with his trumpet only, but his spear.
But by Pelides' arms when Hector fell,
He chose . ,Enos; and he chose as well.
Swoln with applause, and aiming still at more,
He now provokes the sea gods from the shore;
With envy Triton heard the martial sound,
And the bold champion, for his challenge, drown'd; Then cast his mangled carcass on the strand:
The gazing crowd around the body stand.
All weep; but most . ,Eneas mourns his fate,
And hastens to perform the funeral state.
In altar-wlse, a stately pile they rear;
The basis broad below, and top advanc'd in air.
An ancient wood, fit for the work design'd,
(The shady covert of the salvage kind,)
? _IS DRYDEN'S TRA_WJ[mJrON OF VIRGIL
The Trojans found: the sounding ax is plied; Firs, pines, and pitch trees, and the tow'ring pride Of forest ashes, feel the fatal stroke,
And piercing wedges cleave the stubborn oak.
Huge trunks of trees, fell'd from the steepy crown Of the bare mountains, roll with ruin down. Arm'd like the rest the Trojan prince appears,
And by his pious labor urges theirs.
Thus while he wrought, revolving in his mind The ways to compass what his wish design'd,
He cast his eyes upon the gloomy grove,
And then with vows implor'd the Queen of Love: "O may thy pow'r, propitious still to me,
Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree,
In this deep forest; since the Sibyl's breath Foretold, alas! too true, Misenus' death "
Scarce_had he said, when, full before his sight, Two doves, descending from their airy flight,
Secure upon the grassy plain alight.
He knew his mother's birds; and thus he pray'd:
"Be you my guides, with your auspicious aid,
And lead my footsteps, till the branch be found,
Whose glitt'ring shadow gilds the sacred ground.
And thou, great parent, with celestial care,
In this distress be present to my pray'r 1"
Thus having said, he stopp'd with watchful sight, Observing still the motions of their flight,
What course they took, what happy slgns they shew. They fed, and, flutt'ring, by degrees withdrew
Still farther from the place, but still in view:
Hopping and flying, thus they led him on
To the slow lake, whose baleful stench to shun
They wing'd their flight aloft; then, stooping low, Perch'd on the double tree that bears the golden bough. Thro' the green leafs the glitt'ring shadows glow;
As, on the sacred oak, the wintry mistletoe,
Where the proud mother views her precious brood,
And happier branches, which she never aow'd.
Such was the glitt'ring; such the ruddy rind,
And dancing leaves, that wanton'd in the wind.
? THE SIXTH _OOK OF THE . _NEIS SI9
He seiz'd the shining bough with griping hold, And rent away, with ease, the ling'ring gold;
Then to the Sibyl's palace bore the prize.
Meantime the Trojan troops, with weeping eyes,
To dead Misenus pay his obsequies.
First, from the ground a lofty pile they rear,
Of pitch trees, oaks, and pines, and unctuous fir:
The fabric's front with cypress twigs they strew, And stick the sides with boughs of baleful yew.
The topmost part his glitt'ring arms adorn;
Warm waters, then, in brazen caldrons borne,
Are pour'd to wash his body, joint by joint,
And fragrant oils the stiffen'd limbs anoint.
With groans and cries M_senus they deplore:
Then on a bier, with purple cover'd o'er,
The breathless body, thus bewail'd, they lay,
And fire the pile, their faces turn'd awaym
Such reverend rites their fathers us'd to pay.
Pure oil and incense on the fire they throw,
And fat of victims, which his friends bestow.
These gifts the greedy flames to dust devour;
Then on the living coals red wine they pour;
And, last, the rehcs by themselves dispose,
Which in a brazen urn the priests inclose.
Old Coryn_eus compass'd thrice the crew,
And dipp'd an olive branch in holy dew,
Which thrice he sprinkled round, and thrice aloud Invok'd the dead, and then dismiss'd the crowd.
But good . ,Eneas order'd on the shore
A stately tomb, whose top a trumpet bore,
A soldier's fauchion, and a seaman's oar.
Thus was his friend interr'd; and deathless fame Still to the lofty cape consigns his name.
These rites perform'd, the prince, without delay, Hastes to the nether world his destin'd way.
Deep was the cave; and, downward as it went From the wide mouth, a rocky rough descent;
And here th' access a gloomy grove defends,
And there th' unnavigable lake extends,
O'er whose unhappy waters, void of light_
? 220 DRYDEN'S TgANSLATION OF VIRGIL
No bird presumes to steer his airy flight; Such deadly stenches from the depths arise,
And steaming sulphur, that infects the skies.
From hence the Grecian bards their legends make, And gave the name Avernus to the lake
Four sable bullocks, in the yoke untaught,
For sacmfice the pious hero brought
The priestess pours the wine betwixt their horns; Then cuts the curling hair, that first oblation burns, Invoking Hecate hither to repair.
A pow'rful name in hell and upper air.
The sacred priests with ready knives bereave
The beasts of life, and m full bowls receive
The streaming blood: a lamb to Hell and Night
(The sable wool without a streak of white)
gEneas offers; and, by fate's decree,
A barren heifer, Proserpine, to thee.
With_holocausts he Pluto's altar fills;
Sev'n brawny bulls wlth his own hand he kills;
Then on the brodmg entrails oil he pours;
Which, orated thus, the raging flame devours.
Late the nocturnal sacrifice begun,
Nor ended till the next returning sun.
Then earth began to bellow, trees to dance,
And howhng dogs in glimm'ring hght advance,
Ere Hecate came. "Far hence be souls profane! "
Tlle Sibyl cried "and from the grove abstain!
Now, Trojan, take tile way thy fates afford;
Assume thy courage, and unsheathe thy sword. "
She sa_d, and pass'd along the gloomy space;
The prince pursued her steps with equal pace.
Ye realms, yet unreveal'd to human sight, Ye gods who rule the regions of the night,
Ye gliding ghosts, permit me to relate
The mystic wonders of your silent state l
Obscure they went thro' dreary shades, that led Along the waste dominions of the dead
Thus wander travelers in woods by mght,
_y the moon's doubtful and malignant light,
When Jove m dusky clouds revolves the skie_j
? THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE _I_NEIS 221
And the faint crescent shoots by fits before their eyes. Just in the gate and in the jaws of hell,
Revengeful Cares and sullen Sorrows dwell, And pale Diseases, and repining Age,
Want, Fear, and Famine's unresisted rage;
Here Toils, and Death, and Death's half-brother, Sleep_ Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep;
With anxious Pleasures of a guilty mind,
Deep Frauds before, and open Force behind;
The Furies' iron beds; and Strife, that shalkes
Her hissing tresses and unfolds her snakes
Full in the midst of this infernal road,
An elm displays her dusky arms abroad:
The God of Sleep there hides his heavy head,
And empty dreams on ev'ry leaf are spread.
Of various forms unnumber'd specters more, Centaurs, and double shapes, besiege the door.
Before the passage, horrid Hydra stands,
And Briareus with all his hundred hands; Gorgons, Geryon with his triple frame;
And vain Chimaera vomits empty flame
The chief unsheath'd his shining steel, prepar'd, Tho' seiz'd with sudden fear, to force the guard, Off'ring his brandish'd weapon at their face; Had not the Sibyl stopp'd his eager pace,
And told him what those empty phantoms were: Forms without bodies, and impassive air.
Hence to deep Acheron they take their way, Whose troubled eddies, thick with ooze and clay, Are whirl'd aloft, and in Cocytus lost.
There Charon stands, who rules the dreary ? oast_ A sordid god: down from his hoary chin
A length of beard descends, uncomb'd, unclean; His eyes, like hollow furnaces on fire;
A girdle, foul with grease, binds his obscene attire.
He spreads his canvas; with his pole he steers;
The freights of flitting ghosts in his thin bottom bears. He look'd in years; yet in his years were seen
A youthful vigor and autumnal green,
An airy crowd came rushing where he stood,
? r_
Dtt_b_s'S _kA_SLA_OSOPWlt_
t
Which fillt'hdemarginofthefatalflood: Husbands and wives, boys and unmarried maids, And mighty heroes' more majestic shades,
And youths, intomb'd before their fathers' eyes, With hollow groans, and shrieks, and feeble cries. Thick as the leaves in autumn strow the woods,
Or fowls, by winter fore'd, forsake the floods,
And wing their hasty flight to happier lands;
Such, and so thick, the shiv'ring army stands,
And press for passage with extended hands
Now these, now those, the surly boatman bore:
The rest he drove to distance from the shore.
The hero, who beheld with wond'ring eyes
The tumult mix'd with shrieks, laments, and cries, Ask'd of his guide, what the rude concourse meant; Why to the shore the thronging people bent,
What forms of law among the ghosts were us'd; Why some were ferried o'er, and some reius'd.
"Son of Anchises, offspring of the gods,"
The Sibyl said, "you see the Stygian floods,
The sacred stream which heav'n's imperial state
Attests m oaths, and fears to violate.
The ghosts rejected are th' unhappy crew
Depriv'd of sepulchers and fun'ral due:
The boatman, Charon; those, the buried host,
He ferries over to the farther coast;
Nor dares his transport vessel cross the waves
With such whose bones are not compos'd in graves
A hundred years they wander on the shore;
At length, their penance done, are wafted o'er. "
The Trojan chief his forward pace repress'd,
Revolving anxious thoughts within his breast,
He saw his friends, who, whelm'd beneath the waves, Their fun'ral honors claire'd, and ask'd their quiet graves, The lost Leucaspis in the crowd he knew,
And the brave leader of the Lycian crew,
Whom, on the Tyrrhene seas, the tempests met;
The sailors master'd, and the ship o'erset.
Amidst the spirits, Palinurus press'd,
Yet fresh from life, a new-admitted guest,
? THE SIXTH BOOE OF THE _. NEIS 223
Who, while he steering view'd the stars, and bore
His course from Afric to the Latian shore,
Fell headlong down. The Trojan fix'd his view,
And scarcely thro' the gloom the sullen shadow knew Then thus the prince: "What envious pow'r, O friend, Brought your lov'd life to this disastrous end?
For Phoebus, ever true in all he said,
Has in your fate alone my faith betray'd.
The god foretold you should not die, before
You reach'd, secure from seas, th' Italian shore.
Is this th' unerring pow'r? " The ghost replied;
"Nor Phoebus flatter'd, nor his answers lied;
Nor envious gods have sent me to the deep:
But, while the stars and course of heav'n I keep,
My wearied eyes were seiz'd with fatal sleep.
I fell: and, with my weight, the helm constrain'd
Was drawn along, which yet my gripe retain'd.
Now by the winds and raging waves I swear,
Your safety, more than mine, was then my care;
Lest, of the guide bereft, the rudder lost,
Your ship should run against the rocky coast.
Three blust'ring nights, borne by the southern blast,
I floated, and discover'd land at last:
High on a mounting wave my head I bore,
Forcing my strength, and gath'ring to the shore.
Panting, but past the danger, now I seiz'd
The craggy chffs, and my tir'd members eas'd.
While, cumber'd with my dropping clothes, I lay,
The cruel nation, covetous of prey,
Stain'd with my blood th' unhospitable coast;
And now, by winds and waves, my lifeless limbs are toss'd: Which O avert, by yon ethereal light,
Which I have lost for this eternal night l
Or, if by dearer ties you may be won,
By your dead sire, and by your living son, Redeem from this reproach my wand'ring ghost; Or with your navy seek the Velin coast,
_Andin a peaceful grave my corpse compose; Or, if a nearer way your mother shows,
Without whose aid you durst not undertake
? 224 DRYDEN'S TRAI_SLATION OF _rIRGIL
This frightful passage o'er the Stygian lake,
Lend to this wretch your hand, and waft him o'er To the sweet banks of yon forbidden shore. "
Scarce had he said, the prophetess began:
"What hopes delude thee, miserable man?
Think'st thou, thus umntomb'd, to cross the floods_ To view the Furies and infernal gods,
And visit, without leave, the dark abodes ?
Attend the term of long revolving years;
Fate, and the dooming gods, are deaf to tears.
This comfort of thy dire misfortune take:
The wrath of Hear'n, inflicted for thy sake,
With vengeance shall pursue th' inhuman coast,
Till they propitiate thy offended ghost,
And raise a tomb, with vows and solemn pray'r;
And Palinurus' name the place shall bear. "
This calm'd his cares; sooth'd with his future fame, And pleas'd to hear his propagated name.
No-'w nearer to the Stygian lake they draw" Whom, from the shore, the surly boatman saw; Observ'd their passage thro" the shady wood,
And mttrk'd their near approaches to the flood. Then thus he call'd aloud, inflam'd with wrath: "Mortal, whate'er, who this forbidden path
In arms presum'st to tread, I charge thee, stand, And tell thy name, and bus'ness in the land.
Know this, the realm of night--the Stygian shore: My boat conveys no living bodies o'er;
Nor was I pleas'd great Theseus once to bear,
Who forc'd a passage with his pointed spear,
Nor strong Aleides--men of mighty fame,
And from th' immortal gods their lineage came. In, fetters one the barking porter tied,
And took him trembling from his sov'reign's side: Two sought by force to seize his beauteous bride. " To whom the Sibyl thus: "Compose thy mind;
Nor frauds are here contriv'd, nor force design'& Still may the dog the wand'ring troops constrain
Of airy ghosts, and vex the guilty train,
And with her grisly lord his lovely queen remain.
? THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE _ENEIS 225
The Trojan chief, whose lineage is from Jove, Much fam'd/or arms, and more for filial love, Is sent to seek his sire in your Elysian grove. If neither piety, nor Heav'n's command,
Can gain his passage to the Stygian strand,
This fatal present shall prevail at least. "
Then shew'd the shining hough, conceal'd within her vest. No more was needful: for the gloomy god
Stood mute with awe, to see the golden rod;
Admir'd the destin'd off'ring to his queen--
A venerable gift, so rarely seen.
His /ury thus appeas'd, he puts to land;
The ghosts forsake their seats at his command:
He clears the deck, receives the mighty freight;
The leaky vessel groans beneath the weight.
Slowly she sails, and scarcely stems the tides;
The pressing water pours within her sides.
His passengers at length are wafted o'er,
Expos'd, in muddy weeds, upon the miry shore.
No sooner landed, in Ms den they found
The triple porter of the Stygian sound,
Grim Cerberus, who soon began to rear
His crested snakes, and arm'd his bristling hair. The prudent Sibyl had before prepar'd
A sop, in honey steep'd, to charm the guard;
Which, mix'd with pow'rful drugs, she cast before i His greedy grinning jaws, just op'd to roar
W_th three enormous mouths he gapes; and straight,
With hunger press'd, devours the pleaslng bait.
Long draughts of sleep his monstrous limbs enslave;
He reels, and, falling, fills the spacious cave.
The keeper charm'd, the chief without delay
Pass'd on, and took th' irremeable way.
Before the gates, the cries of babes new born,
Whom fate had from their tender mothers torn,
Assault his ears: then those, whom form of laws
Condemn'd to die, when traitors judg'd their cause.
Nor want they lots, nor judges to review
The wrongful sentence, and award a new.
Minos, the strict inquisitor, appears; Hc xtu--8
? W_
DRYDEN'S TRANSLATION OF VIRGIL
And lives and crimes, with his assessors, hears. Round in his urn the blended balls he rolls, Absolves the just, and dooms the guilty souls. The next, in place and punishment, are they Who prodigally throw their souls away;
Fools, who, repining at their wretched state, And loathing anxious life, suborn'd their fate. With late repentance now they would retrieve The bodies they forsook, and wish to live; Their pains and poverty desire to bear,
To view the light of hear'n, and breathe the vital air: But fate forbids; the Stygian floods oppose,
And with nine circling streams the captive souls inclose, Not far from thence, the Mournful Fields appear
So call'd from lovers that inhabit there.
The souls whom that unhappy flame invades,
In secret solitude and myrtle shades
Make endless moans, and, pining with desire, Lament-too late their unextinguish'd fire.
Here Proeris, Eriphyle here he found,
Baring her breast, yet bleeding with the wound Made by her son. He saw Pasiphae there,
With Ph;edra's ghost, a foul incestuous pair.
There Laodamia, with Evadne, moves,
Unhappy both, but loyal in their loves:
C_eneus, a woman once, and once a man,
But ending in the sex she first began.
Not far from these Ph_nician Dido stood,
Fresh from her wound, her bosom bath'd in blood; Whom when the Trojan hero hardly knew,
Obscure in shades, and with a doubtful view, (Doubtful as he who sees, thro' dusky night,
Or thinks he sees, the moon's uncertain hght,) With tears he first approach'd the sullen shade; And, as his love inspir'd him, thus he said: "Unhappy queen l then is the common breath
Of rumor true, in your reported death,
And I, alas! the cause? By Hear'n, I vow,
And all the pow"rs that rule the realms below, Unwilling I forsook your friendly state,
? 81X'rH BOOK OP THB ,,_ z_
__m__suded by the gods, and forc'd by fate-- Those gods, that fate, whose unresisted might Have seat me to these regions void of light, Thro' the vast empire of eternal night,
Nor dar'd I to presume, that, press'd with grief, My flight should urge you to this dire relief. Stay, stay your steps, and listed to my voWS,
is the last interview that Isle allows I"
In vain he thus attempts her mind to move
With tears, and pray'rs, and late-repenting 10re, Disdainfully she look'd; then turning round,
But fix'd her eyes unmov'd upon the ground,
And what he says and swears, regards no more Than the deaf rocks, when the loud billows roar; But whirl'd away, to shun his hateful sight,
Hid Lnthe forest and the shades of night;
Then sought Sicha_us thro' the shady grove,
Who answer'd all her cares, and equal'd all her lQv_
Some pious tears the pitying hero paid,
And folIow'd with his eyes the flitting shade,
Then took the forward way, by fate ordain'd,
And, with his guide, the farther fields attain'd,
Where, sever'd from the rest, the warrior souls remain'& Tydeus he met, with Meleager's race,
The pride of armies, and the soldiers' grace;
And pale Adrastus with his ghastly face.
Of Trojan chiefs he vlew'd a num'rous trainj
All much lamented, all in battle sIaln;
GIaucus and Medon, high above the rest,
Antenor's sons, and Ceres' sacred priest.
And proud Idzus, Priam's charioteer,
Who shakes his empty reins, and aims his airy spear. The gladsome ghosts, in circling troops, attend
And with unwearied eyes behold their friend;
Delight to hover near_ and long to know
What hus'aess brought him to the realms below.
But A-rglve chiefs, and Agamenmon's train,
VChea his refulgent arms flash'd thro' the shady pl_h_ Fled from his well-known face, with wonted fear,
As when his thuad'riag sword _d pointed spear
? DRYDI_"S TRANSLATION OF VIRGIL
Drove headlong to their ships, and glean'd the routed real'.
They rais'd a feeble cry, with trembling notes; But the weak voice deceiv'd their gasping throats.
Here Priam's son, Deiphobus, he found,
Whose face and limbs were one continued wound:
Dishonest, with lopp'd arms, the youth appears, Spoll'd of his nose, and shorten'd of his ears.
He scarcely knew h_m, striving to disown
His blotted form, and blushing to be known;
And therefore first began: "0 Teucer's race,
Who durst thy faultless figure thus deface?
What heart could wish, what hand infl_ct, this dire disgrace[_ 'Twas fam'd, that in our last and fatal night
Your single prowess long sustain'd the fight,
Till tir'd, not forc'd, a glorious fate you chose,
And fell upon a heap of slaughter'd foes.
But, in remembrance of so brave a deed,
A tomb and iun'ral honors I decreed;
Thrice ca-ll'd your manes on the Trojan plains:
The place your armor and your name retains.
Your body too I sought, and, had I found,
Desigu'd for burial in your native ground. "
The ghost replied: "Your piety has paid
All needful rites, to rest my wand'ring shade;
But cruel fate, and my more cruel wife,
To Grecian swords betray'd my sleeping hfe.
These are the monuments of Helen's love:
The shame I bear below, the marks I bore above. You know in what deluding joys we pass'd
The night that was by Heav'n decreed our last:
For, when the fatal horse, descending down, Pregnant with arms, o'erwhelm'd th' unhappy town She feign'd nocturnal orgies; left my bed,
And, mix'd with Trojan dames, the dances led, Then, waving high her torch, the signal made, Which rous'd the Grecians from their ambuscade. With watching overworn, with cares oppress'd, Unhappy I had laid me down to rest,
And heavy sleep my weary hmbs possess'd. Meantime ray worthy wife our arms mislaid,
? THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE _NEIS 2_
And from beneath my head my sword convey'd; The door unlatch'd, and, with repeated calls, Invites her former lord within my walls.
Thus in her crime her confidence she plac'd, And with new treasons would redeem the past. What need I more_ Into the room they ran, And meanly murther'd a defenseless man. Ulysses, basely born, first led the way.
Avenging pow'rsl with justice if I pray, That fortune be their own another day l
But answer you; and in your turn relate, What brought you, living, to the Stygian state: Driv'n by the winds and errors of the sea,
Or did you Heav'n's superior doom obey
Or tell what other chance conducts your way, To view wlth mortal eyes our dark retreats, Tumults and torments of th' infernal seats"
While thus in talk the flying hours they pass, The sun had finish'd more than half his race:
And they, perhaps, in words and tears had _pent The httle tnne of stay which Heav'n had lent,
But thus the Sibyl chides their long delay:
"Night rushes down, and headlong drives the day: 'T is here, in different paths, the way divides;
The right to Pluto's golden palace guides;
The left to that unhappy region tends,
Which to the depth of Tartarus descends;
The seat of night profound, and punish'd fiends. " Then thus Deiphobus: "0 sacred maid,
Forbear to chide, and be your will obey'dl Lo ! to the secret shadows I retire,
To pay my penance till my years expire. Proceed, auspicious prince, with glory crown'd,
And born to better fates than I have found. " He said; and, while he said, his steps he turn'd
To secret shadows, and in silence mourn'd. The hero, looking on the left, espied
A lofty tow'r, and strong on ev'ry side
With treble walls, which Phlegethon surrounds, Whose fiery flood the burning empire bounds;
? 230 DRYDEN'S TRAN'SLA'I_ON OF VIRGIL
And, press'd betwixt the rocks, the bellowing noise resounds. Wide is the fronting gate, and, rals'd on high
With adamantine columns, threats the sky.
Vain is the force of man, and Heav'n's as vain,
To crush the pillars which the pile sustain. Sublime on these a tow'r of steel is rear'd;
And d_re Tlsiphone there keeps the ward,
Girt in her sanguine gown, by night and day,
Observant of the souls that pass the downward way From hence are heard the groans of ghosts, the pains Of sounding lashes and of dragging chains.
The Trojan stood astonish'd at their cries,
And ask'd his guide from whence those yells arise; And what the crimes, and what the tortures were, And loud laments that rent the liquid air.
She thus replied; "The chaste and holy race Are all forbidden this polluted place.
But Hecate, when she gave to rule the woods, Then led me trembling thro' these dire abodes, And taught the tortures of th' avenging gods. These are the realms of unrelenting fate;
And awful Rhadamanthus rules the state. He hears and judges each committed crime;
Enquires mto the manner, place, and time. The conscious wretch must all his acts reveal,
(Loth to confess, unable to conceal),
From the first moment of his vital breath,
To his last hour of unrepenting death. Straight, o'er the guilty ghost, the Fury shakes
The sounding whip and brandishes her snakes, And the pale stoner, with her sisters, takes.
Then, of itself, unfolds th' eternal door;
With dreadful sounds the brazen hinges roar.
You see, before the gate, what stalking ghost Commands the guard, what sentries keep the post. More formidable Hydra stands within,
Whose jaws with iron teeth severely grin.
The gaping gulf low to the center lies,
_Andtwice as deep as earth is distant from the sktel, The rivals of the gods, the Titan race,
? THE SIXTH BOOK O_ THE _NEIS
Here, sing'd with hghtning, roll withi_ th' uafathom'd 6p_P,, Here lie th' Al_ean twins, (I saw them both,)
Enormous bodies, of gigantic growth,
Who dar'd in fight the Thund'rer to defy,
Affect his heav'n, and force him from the sky. Salmoneus, suff'ring cruel pains, I found,
For emulating Jove; the rattling sound
Of mimic thunder, and the ghtt'ring blaze
Of pointed lightnings, and their forky rays. Thro' Elis and the Grecmn towns he flew;
Th' audacious wretch four fiery coursers drew: He wav'd a torch aloft, and, madly vain,
Sought godhke worship from a servde train. Ambitious fool l with horny hoofs to pass O'er hollow arches of resounding brass,
To rival thunder in its rapid course,
And imitate inimitable force!
But he, the King of Hear'n, obscure on high,
Bar'd his red arm, and, launching from the sky His writhen bolt, not shaking empty smoke,
Down to the deep abyss the flaming felon strook. There Tityus was to see, who took his birth
From hear'n, his nursing from the foodful earth. Here his gigantic hmbs, with large embrace, Infold nine acres of infernal space.
A rav'nous vulture, in his open'd side,
Her crooked beak and cruel talons tried; Still for the growing liver digg'd his breast;
The growing liver still supphed the feast; Still are his entrails frmtful to their pains:
Th' immortal hunger lasts, th' immortal food remains. Ixlon and Perithotis I could name,
And more Thessalian chiefs of mighty fame. High o'er their heads a mold'rmg rock is plac'd, That promises a fall, and shakes at ev'ry blast. They lie below, on golden beds display'd;
And genial feasts with regal pomp _lremade. The Queen of Fttries by their sideq is set,
And snatches from their mouths th' untasted meat, Which if they tou_h, her hissing snakes, she rears,
? DRYDEN'S TRANSLATIOI_ OF VIRGIL
Tossing her torch, and thund'ring in their ears. Then they, who brothers' better claim disown,
Expel their parents, and usurp the throne; Defraud their chents, and, to lucre sold,
Sit brooding on unprofitable gold;
Who dare not give, and ev'n refuse to lend
To their poor kindred, or a wanting friend.
Vast is the throng of these; nor less the train
Of lustful youths, for foul adult'ry slam:
Hosts of deserters, who their honor sold,
. And basely broke thelr faith for bribes of gold.
All these within the dungeon's depth remain,
Despairing pardon, and expecting pain.
Ask not what pains; nor farther seek to know
Their process, or the forms of law below.
Some roll a weighty stone; some, laid along,
And bound with burning wires, on spokes of wheels are hung. Unhappy_Theseus, doom'd for ever there,
Is fix'd by fate on his eternal chair;
And wretched Phlegyas warns the world with cries
(. Could warning make the world more just or wise):
' Learn righteousness, and dread th' avenging deities. '
To tyrants others have their country sold,
Imposing foreign lords, for foreign gold;
Some have old laws repeal'd, new statutes made,
lqot as the people pleas'd, but as they paid;
With incest some their daughters' bed profan'd:
All dar'd the worst of ills, and, what they dar'd, attain'& Had I a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues,
And throats of brass, inspir'd with iron lungs,
I could not half those horrid crimes repeat,
Nor half the pumshments those crimes have met.
But let us haste our voyage to pursue:
The walls of Pluto's palace are m view;
The gate, and iron arch above it, stands
On anvils labor'd by the Cyclops' hands.
Before our farther way the Fates allow,
Here must we fix on liigh the golden bough. "
She said: and thro' the gloomy shades they pass'd,
And chose the middle path. Arriv'd at last,
? THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE _NEIS
The prince with living water sprinkled o'er
His limbs and body; then approach'd the door, Possess'd the porch, and on the front above
He fix'd the fatal bough requir'd by Pluto's love. These holy rites perform'd, they took their way Where long extended plains of pleasure lay:
The verdant fields with those of heav'n may v_e_ With ether vested, and a purple sky;
The blissful seats of happy souls below.
Stars of their own, and their own suns, they know.
Their airy limbs in sports they exercise,
And on the green contend the wrestler's prize.
Some in heroic verse divinely sing;
Others in artful measures lead the ring.
The Thracian bard, surrounded by the rest,
There stands conspicuous in his flowing vest;
His flying fingers, and harmonious quill,
Strikes sev'n distinguish'd notes, and sev'n at once the_ ill. Here found they Teucer's old heroic race,
Born better times and happier years to grace.
Assaracus and Ilus here enjoy
Perpetual fame, with him who founded Troy,
The chief beheld their chariots from afar,
Their shining arms, and coursers train'd to war:
Their lances fix'd m earth, their steeds around,
Free from their harness, graze the flow'ry ground,
The love of horses which they had, alive,
And care of chariots, after death survive.
Some cheerful souls were feasting on the plain;
Some did the song, and some the choir maintain,
Beneath a laurel shade, where mighty Po
Mounts up to woods above, and hides his head below.
Here patriots live, who, for their country's good, In fighting fields, were prodigal of blood:
Priests of unblemish'd lives here make abode, And poets worthy their inspiring god;
And searching wits, of more mechanic parts, Who grac'd their age with new-invented arts: Those who to worth their bounty did extend, And those who knew that bounty to commend.