BOOK IX AND while in the far distance such deeds befell, Saturnian Juno sent Iris from heaven to gallant Turnus, who as it chanced was then seated within a hallowed vale, in the grove of his sire Pilumnus. To him, with roseate lips, thus spake the child of Thaumas: 6"Turnus, that which no god had dared to promise to thy prayers, lo, the circling hour has brought unasked! Aeneas, leaving town, comrades, and fleet, seeks the Palatine realm, and Evander's dwelling. Nor does that suffice; he has won his way to Corythus' utmost cities,1 and is mustering in armed bands the Lydian country-folk. Why hesitate? Now, now is the hour to call for steed and car; break off delay, and seize the bewildered camp!" She spake, and on poised wings rose into the sky, cleaving in flight her mighty bow beneath the clouds. The youth knew her, and, raising his two upturned hands to heaven, with such words pursued her flight: “Iris, glory of the sky, who has brought thee down to me, wafted upon the clouds to earth? Whence this sudden brightness of the air? I see the heavens part asunder, and the stars that roam in the firmament.3 I follow the mighty omen, whoso thou art 2 cf. Aen. v. 657-8. 3 The mist veiling the heavens is rent asunder, revealing the stars beyond. VOL. II. 1 quisquis in arma vocas." et sic effatus ad undam processit summoque hausit de gurgite lymphas, multa deos orans, oneravitque aethera votis. Iamque omnis campis exercitus ibat apertis, dives equum, dives pictaï vestis et auri (Messapus primas acies, postrema coercent Tyrrhidae iuvenes, medio dux agmine Turnus), ceu septem surgens sedatis amnibus altus per tacitum Ganges aut pingui flumine Nilus cum refluit campis et iam se condidit alveo. hic subitam nigro glomerari pulvere nubem prospiciunt Teucri ac tenebras insurgere campis. primus ab adversa conclamat mole Caïcus: "quis globus, o cives, caligine volvitur atra? ferte citi ferrum, date tela, ascendite muros, hostis adest, heia!" ingenti clamore per omnis condunt se Teucri portas et moenia complent. namque ita discedens praeceperat optimus armis Aeneas, si qua interea fortuna fuisset, FMPR neu struere auderent aciem neu credere campo; 29 vertitur arma tenens et toto vertice supra est. verse, given by inferior MSS., is taken from vII. 784. 33 magno Py1. 42 acies R. 7 scandite M2: et scandite FR. 44 furor Nonius. monstrant F 35 40 45 50 This that callest to arms!" And with these words he went onward to the river, and took up water from the brimming flood, calling, oft on the gods and burdening heaven with vows. 25 And now all the army was advancing on the open plain, rich in horses, rich in broidered robes and gold -Messapus marshalling the van, the sons of Tyrrhus the rear, and Turnus their captain in the centre of the line:-even as Ganges, rising high in silence with his seven peaceful streams, or Nile, when his rich flood ebbs from the fields, and at length he is sunk into his channel. Here the Teucrians descry a sudden cloud gathering in black dust, and darkness rising on the plains. First cries Caïcus from the rampart's front: “What mass, my countrymen, rolls onward in murky gloom? Quick with the sword! Serve weapons, climb the walls! The enemy is upon us, ho!" With mighty clamour the Teucrians seek shelter through all the gates and man the ramparts. For so at his departure, Aeneas, bravest of warriors, had charged; were aught to chance meanwhile, they should not dare to array their line or trust the field; let them but guard camp and walls, secure behind their mound. Therefore, though shame and wrath prompt to conflict, yet they bar the gates and do his bidding, awaiting the foe under arms and within covert of the towers. Turnus, as he had flown forward in advance of his tardy column, with a following of twenty chosen horse comes upon the city unobserved: a Thracian steed, spotted with white, bears the prince, and a golden helm with crimson crest guards his head. "Gallants, is there one, who with me will be first against the foe to-lo!" he cries, and whirling a javelin sends it skyward-the pre I 2 principium pugnae, et campo sese arduus infert. clamorem excipiunt socii fremituque sequuntur horrisono; Teucrum mirantur inertia corda, non aequo dare se campo, non obvia ferre arma viros, sed castra fovere. huc turbidus atque huc lustrat equo muros aditumque per avia quaerit ac veluti pleno lupus insidiatus ovili 55 65 MPR 70 cum fremit ad caulas, ventos perpessus et imbris, 60 nocte super media; tuti sub matribus agni balatum exercent; ille asper et improbus ira saevit in absentis; collecta fatigat edendi ex longo rabies et siccae sanguine fauces: haud aliter Rutulo muros et castra tuenti ignescunt irae, duris dolor ossibus ardet. qua temptet ratione aditus, et quae via clausos excutiat Teucros vallo atque effundat in aequum? classem, quae lateri castrorum adiuncta latebat, aggeribus saeptam circum et fluvialibus undis, invadit sociosque incendia poscit ovantis atque manum pinu flagranti fervidus implet. tum vero incumbunt (urget praesentia Turni, atque omnis facibus pubes accingitur atris. diripuere focos; piceum fert fumida lumen taeda et commixtam Volcanus ad astra favillam. Quis deus, o Musae, tam saeva incendia Teucris avertit? tantos ratibus quis depulit ignis? dicite. prisca fides facto, sed fama perennis. tempore quo primum Phrygia formabat in Ida Aeneas classem et pelagi petere alta parabat, ipsa deum fertur genetrix Berecyntia magnum 53 campis R. 75 80 54 clamore FRy2, known to Servius. 66 durus Py1. After ardet Conington and most earlier editors place a comma. 67 qua 68 via FMP2y, Servius: quae via P1R, known to Servius. aequor PF2. 77 qui Py1. 79 sed] sit R. 82 genetrix fertur R. And lude of battle-and advances proudly o'er the plain. His comrades take up the shout, and follow with dreadful din; they marvel at the Teucrians' craven hearts, crying: "They trust not themselves to a fair field, they face not the foe in arms, but they hug the camp." Hither and thither he rides wildly round the walls, seeking entrance where way is none. as when a wolf, lying in wait about a crowded fold, roars beside the pens at midnight, enduring winds and rains; safe beneath their mothers the lambs keep bleating; he, fierce and reckless in his wrath, rages against the prey beyond his reach, tormented by the long-gathering fury of famine, and by his dry, bloodless jaws :-even so, as he scans wall and camp, the Rutulian's wrath is aflame; resentment is hot within his iron bones. By what device shall he essay entrance? By what path hurl the prisoned Teucrians from their rampart, and pour them on the plain ? Hard by the camp's side lay the fleet, fenced about with mounds and the flowing river; this he assails, calling for fire to his exulting comrades, and with hot haste fills his hand with a blazing pine. Then indeed they fall to, spurred on by Turnus' presence, and all the band armed them with murky torches. Lo! they have stripped the hearths; smoking brands fling a pitchy glare, and the Fire-god wafts to heaven the sooty cloud. 77 What god, ye Muses, turned such fierce flames from the Teucrians? Who drove away from the ships such vast fires? Tell me; faith in the tale is old, but its fame is everlasting. In the days when on Phrygian Ida, Aeneas was first fashioning his fleet and preparing to sail the deep seas, the very Mother of gods, 'tis said, the Berecyntian queen, thus spake to |