Now midft the foe, diftracted Nifus flew

;

Volfcens, and him alone, he keeps in view.
The gath'ring train the furious youth surround;
Dart follows dart, and wound fucceeds to wound;

All, all, unfelt; he feeks their guilty lord;

In fiery circles flies his thund'ring sword;

'Nor ceas'd, but found, at length, the deftin'd way;

595

And, bury'd in his mouth, the faulchion lay.

Thus cover'd o'er with wounds on ev'ry fide,

Brave Nifus flew the murd'rer as he dy'd ;
Then, on the dear Euryalus his breaft,
Sunk down, and flumber'd in eternal reft.

600

Hail, happy pair! if fame our verse can give,

From age to age, your memory fhall live;

How literally true, fee Suetonius, in Auguft. c. 58. The name of reges was generally ufed with fome fort of contempt by the Roman writers. Imperator fignified the fame as a general, with us. Pater fignified a ruler, a preferver, and father of the people.

Auguftus was cautious of taking too high a title: Non aliud difcordantis patriæ remedium fuisse, quin ut ab uno regeretur: non regno tantum, neque dictatura, fed principis nomine conftitutam rempublicam. Tacitus (where he is speaking for and against Auguftus) An. Lib. 1.

Virgil in other places ufes genitor and pater for governor, En. 1. 154. G. 4. 382.

These words had long been used in that fenfe; perhaps ever fince the first governments, which were by fathers. It was a mild humane name for a governor; and perhaps has a particular propriety for a Roman governor; for pater used by way of eminence, the fenator, or chief fenator, and princeps fenatus, are almost univocal terms. To this may be added, that one of the most common infcriptions on Auguftus's medals is, that of AUGUSTUS PATER. Thus Horace ufes it of Auguftus; Hic ames dici pater atque princeps. Od. 1. 2. 50. And of Jupiter, where too he is complimenting Auguftus:

Gentis

Victores praeda Rutuli fpoliifque potiti
Volfcentem exanimum flentes in caftra ferebant.
Nec minor in caftris luctus, Rhamnete reperto
Exfangui, et primis una tot caede peremtis,
Sarranoque Numaque. ingens concurfus ad ipfa
Corpora, feminecefque viros, tepidaque recentem
Caede locum, et pleno fpumantis fanguine rivos.
Adgnofcunt fpolia inter fe galeamque nitentem.
Meffapi, et multo phaleras fudore receptas.
Et jam prima novo fpargebat lumine terras
Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile:
Jam fole infufo, rebus jam luce retectis,
Turnus in arma viros, armis circumdatus ipfe,
Sufcitat, aeratafque acies in proelia cogit
Quifque fuos, variifque acuunt rumoribus iras.
Quin ipfa adrectis (vifu miferabile) in haftis
Praefigunt capita, et multo clamore fequuntur,
Euryali et Nifi.

Aeneadae duri murorum in parte finistra

450

455

460

465

Oppofuere aciem, (nam dextera cingitur amni)
Ingentifque tenent foffas, ac turribus altis

470

But Heyne thinks that Pater Romanus means Jupiter Capitolinus.

635. Now to the mother's ears.] Though (fays Trapp) what is commonly and ftrictly called the episode of Nifus and Euryalus, concludes with their death, yet the lamentation which is

made

The victors firft divide the gaudy prey;

Then to the camp their breathless chief convey:

There too a scene of gen'ral grief appears;

609

Now, dappled streaks of light Aurora shed,
And ruddy rofe from Tithon's faffron bed:
Then fiery Phoebus, with his golden ray,
Pour'd o'er the op'ning world a flood of day.
When furious Turnus gave the loud alarms;
First arm'd himself; then call'd the hoft to arms.
The chiefs their foldiers to the field excite,
Inflame their rage, and lead them to the fight.

There crouds of flaughter'd princes claim their tears.
Stretch'd o'er the plain their haplefs friends they found,
Some pale, in death, fome gasping on the ground.
With copious flaughter all the field was dy'd,
And streams, of gore run thick on ev'ry fide.
All knew the belt and helm divinely wrought;
But mourn the fatal prize, fo dearly bought.

615

620

625

On pointed spears, a dreadful fight! they bore
The heads of both the hapless youths, before;
With barb'rous joy furvey the bloody prize,
And shout, and follow with triumphant cries.
The Trojans, on the left, fuftain the fight
From their high walls; the river guards the right. 630
They line the trenches, and the tow'rs maintain;

Thick on the ramparts ftand the penfive train,
And know the heads too well, tho' cover'd o'er
With fanguine ftains, and all deform'd with gore.
Now to the mother's ears the news had fled,
Her fon, her dear Euryalus, was dead :
The vital warmth her trembling, limbs for fook,
She dropp'd the fhuttle, and with horror shook;

635

made by the mother of the latter, moft agreeably brings us back to that fubject, when we thought it was entirely ended. And whether we call it a part of that epifode, or the fequel of it, is not at all material. However that be, it certainly equals, if not excels, any part of it.

Evolat infelix, et femineo ululatu,

Sciffa comam, muros amens atque agmina curfu
Prima petit. non illa virum, non illa pericli
Telorumque memor: caelum dehinc queftibus inplet: 480
Hunc ego te, Euryale, afpicio? tune illa fenectae
Sera meae requies potuifti linquere folam,
Crudelis? nee te, sub tanta pericula miffum,
Adfari extremum miferae data copia matri?
Heu, terra ignota canibus date praeda Latinis
Álitibufque jaces! nec te tua funera mater
Produxi, preffive oculos, aut volnera lavi,
Vefte tegens; tibi quam noctes feftina diefque
Urguebam, ac tela curas folabar anilis.

485

Quo fequar? aut quae nunc artus avolfaque membra 490 Et funus lacerum tellus habet? hoc mihi de te,

643. And is it thus.] The manner, in which Euryalus's mother is affected, on hearing the fatal news of her fon's death, is highly moving: but the fpeech which fhe breaks out into on the occafion is ftill more pathetic; the circumstances of distress are all finely chofen, and expressed in a most striking manner. What a beginning is that!

Scaliger (fays Trapp) had reafon to be in raptures upon it; for there is nothing in the fourth book itself more moving and pathetical.

651. Nor did thy mother.]

Nec te tua funera mater
Produxi.-in the orig.

Catrou tranflates this paffage," Nor was it permitted me to " conduct you. What have I faid? to conduct your corpfe to "the tomb." In this interpretation he follows Donatus; who obferves, that the afflicted mother is obliged by the violence of her grief, to make this abrupt ftop in the middle of her fpeech, Nec te-: Hic quoque aliud dictura fuit, fays he. To this explication of Donatus, Catrou fubjoins, that she makes here a correction of what she had faid, "Nec te produxi, I did not conduct you ;-what have I faid? I would have faid your dead body, immo tua funera." This interpretation is truly poetical; without recurring to the uncertain explication of the word funera, as fome of the commentators have done.

With hair difhevell'd from the walls fhe flies,
And rends the air with agonizing cries;
Breaks thro' the foremoft troops in wild defpair,
Nor heeds the darts, or dangers of the war.

And is it thus, the comfort of my years,

Thus, thus, my dear Euryalus appears?

640

And could't thou fly, my child, to certain harms? 645 'To death (oh cruel!) from thy mother's arms?

So fond a mother?-nor thy purpose tell?
Nor let me take my laft, my fad, farewell?
A prey to dogs, alas! thy body lies,

And ev'ry fowl that wings the Latian skies!
Nor did thy mother clofe thy eyes in death,
Compofe thy limbs, nor catch thy parting breath;
Nor bathe thy gaping wounds, nor cleanse the gore,
Nor throw the rich embroider'd mantle o'er ;

The work that charm'd the cares of

age away,

My task all night, my labour all the day ;
The robe I wove, thy abfence to fuftain,
For thee, my child;-but wove, alas! in vain.
Where fhall I find thee now? what land contains
Thy mangled members and thy dear remains?
How on thy face these longing eyes I fed !.
Ah! how unlike the living is the dead!
For that, o'er lands and oceans have I gone?

Is that, the fole fad relic of my fon?

A

653. Nor bathe.] Imitated from Ennius, in Crefphonte. Neque terram injicere, neque cruent à

Conveftire mihi corpora licuit ;

Neque miferae lavere lacrymae falfum fanguinem.

650

655

660

The Crefphon of Ennius was in all probability the ftory of Merope, fo fuccefsfully handled by Maffei in Italian, and by Voltaire in French, and fo miferably mangled by Hill in English.