135 So speaking, he straightway wreaths his temples with leafy bough and prays to the genius of the place, and Earth, first of gods; to the nymphs and the streams yet unknown; then to Night and Night's rising signs, and to Jove of Ida and the Phrygian Mother, each in order, and his twain parents, in heaven and in the world below. At this, the almighty Father thundered thrice aloft from a clear sky, and with his own hand shook forth to view from heaven a cloud ablaze with shafts of golden light. Then suddenly through the Trojan band runs the rumour, that the day has come to found their promised city. Emulously they renew the feast, and cheered by the mighty omen set on the bowls and wreathe the wine. 148 On the morrow, soon as the risen day was lighting the earth with her earliest torch, by separate ways they search out the city and boundaries and coasts of the nation. This, they learn, is the pool of Numicius' fount; this the Tiber river; here dwell the brave Latins. Then Anchises' son commands a hundred envoys, chosen from every rank, to go to the king's stately city, o'er-shaded all by the boughs of Pallas, to bear gifts for the hero, and to crave peace for the Trojans. They linger not, but hasten at his bidding and move with rapid steps. Aeneas himself marks out his walls with a shallow trench, toils o'er the ground, and encircles this first settlement on the coast, after the fashion of a camp, with mound and battlements. And now his band had traversed their way; they were in sight of the towers and steep roofs of the Latins, and drew near to the wall. Before the city, boys and youths in their early bloom are a-training in horsemanship, or break in teams amid the dust, or bend eager bows, or hurl spicula contorquent cursuque ictuque lacessunt, 165 cum praevectus equo longaevi regis ad auris nuntius ingentis ignota in veste reportat advenisse viros. ille intra tecta vocari imperat et solio medius consedit avito. Tectum augustum, ingens, centum sublime columnis, 170 urbe fuit summa, Laurentis regia Pici, horrendum silvis et religione parentum. hic sceptra accipere et primos attollere fasces 175 FMPR 181 et cristae capitum et portarum ingentia claustra 185 spiculaque clipeique ereptaque rostra carinis. ipse Quirinali lituo parvaque sedebat succinctus trabea laevaque ancile gerebat Picus, equum domitor; quem capta cupidine coniunx aurea percussum virga versumque venenis fecit avem Circe sparsitque coloribus alas. 182 Martia qui F1M. 190 with their arms tough darts, and challenge to race or boxing bout-when, galloping up, a messenger brings word to the aged monarch's ears that mighty men are come in unknown attire. The king bids them be summoned within the halls, and takes his seat in the midst on his ancestral throne. 170 Stately and vast, towering with a hundred columns, his house crowned the city, once the palace of Laurentian Picus, awe-inspiring with its grove and the sanctity of olden days. Here 'twas auspicious for kings to receive the sceptre, and first uplift the fasces; this shrine was their senate-house, this the scene of their holy feasts; here, after slaughter of rams, the elders were wont to sit down at the long line of tables. Yea, and in order are images of their forefathers of yore, carved of old cedar-Italus and father Sabinus, planter of the vine, guarding in his image the curved pruning-hook, and aged Saturn, and the likeness of two-faced Janus-all standing in the vestibule; and other kings from the beginning, and they who had suffered wounds of war, fighting for their fatherland. Many arms, moreover, hang on the sacred doors, captive chariots, curved axes, helmet-crests and massive bars of gates; javelins and shields and beaks wrenched from ships. There sat one, holding the Quirinal staff1 and girt with short robe, his left hand bearing the sacred shield-even Picus, tamer of steeds, whom his bride Circe, smitten with love's longing, struck with her golden rod, and with drugs changed into a bird with plumes of dappled hue. 1 Quirinus (i.e. Romulus) was Rome's first augur, and as such carried the augur's badges of office-the lituus, or curved staff, and the ancile, or sacred shield-while he wore the purple striped toga, or trabea. Tali intus templo divum patriaque Latinus sede sedens Teucros ad sese in tecta vocavit, atque haec ingressis placido prior edidit ore: 66 200 'dicite, Dardanidae (neque enim nescimus et urbem et genus, auditique advertitis aequore cursum), 196 quid petitis? quae causa rates aut cuius egentis litus ad Ausonium tot per vada caerula vexit ? sive errore viae seu tempestatibus acti, qualia multa mari nautae patiuntur in alto, fluminis intrastis ripas portuque sedetis, ne fugite hospitium neve ignorate Latinos Saturni gentem, haud vinclo nec legibus aequam, sponte sua veterisque dei se more tenentem. atque equidem memini (fama est obscurior annis) 205 Auruncos ita ferre senes, his ortus ut agris Dardanus Idaeas Phrygiae penetravit ad urbes Threiciamque Samum, quae nunc Samothracia fertur. hine illum Corythi Tyrrhena ab sede profectum aurea nunc solio stellantis regia caeli accipit et numerum divorum altaribus auget.” 66 Dixerat, et dicta Ilioneus sic voce secutus: 'rex, genus egregium Fauni, nec fluctibus actos atra subegit hiems vestris succedere terris, nec sidus regione viae litusve fefellit: consilio hanc omnes animisque volentibus urbem adferimur, pulsi regnis, quae maxima quondam extremo veniens Sol aspiciebat Olympo. ab love principium generis, Iove Dardana pubes 207 penetrarit R. 211 numerom P1: numero P2y1. addit y1. 210 215 192 Such was the temple of the gods wherein Latinus, seated on the throne of his fathers, summoned the Teucrians to his presence in the halls, and as they entered greeted them thus with gentle mien : "Tell, O Sons of Dardanus--for your city and race we know, and not unheard of is your journey over the deep-what seek ye? What cause, or what need, hath borne you to the Ausonian shore o'er so many dark-blue waters? Whether straying from your course, or driven by storms (for such things oft do sailors suffer on the high seas), ye have entered the river banks and lie in haven, shun not our welcome, and be not unaware that the Latins are Saturn's race, righteous not by bond or laws, but self-controlled of their own free will and by the custom of their ancient god. And in truth I remember, though time has dimmed the tale, that Auruncan elders told how that in this land sprang Dardanus,1 and hence passed to the towns of Phrygian Ida and Thracian Samos, that men now call Samothrace. 'Twas hence, from the Tuscan home of Corythus, he came, and now the golden palace of the starry sky admits him to a throne, and with his altars he increases the number of the gods.' 212 He ceased, and Ilioneus followed thus: King, illustrious seed of Faunus, no black storm hath tossed us on the waves and driven us to seek shelter in your lands, nor hath star or shore misled us in our course. Of set purpose and with willing hearts do we draw near to this thy city, exiled from a realm once the greatest that the sun beheld as he journeyed from the uttermost heaven. From Jove2 is the origin of our race; in Jove, as ancestor, the sons of 1 cf. III. 134. 2 Jupiter was father of Dardanus. 17 |