Lingering along the fhore, till dewy night
New decks the face of heaven with ftarry light.
The conquer'd Latians, with like pious care,
<Piles without number for their dead prepare;
Part, in the places where they fell, are laid;
And part are to the neighbouring fields convey'd.
The corpfe of kings, and captains of renown,
Born off in ftate, are bury'd in the town:
The reft unhonour'd, and without a name,
Are caft a common heap to feed the flame.
Trojans and Latians vie with like defires
To make the field of battle fhine with fires;
And the promiscuous blaze to heaven afpires.
Now had the morning thrice renew`d the light,
And thrice difpell'd the fhadows of the night;
When those who round the wafted fires remain,
Perform the laft fad office to the flain:
They rake the yet warm afhes, from below;
Thefe, and the bones unburn'd, in earth bestow:
These relicks with their country rites they grace;
And raise a mount of turf to mark the place.
But in the palace of the king, appears
A fcene more folemn, and a pomp of tears.
Maids, matrons, widows, mix their common moans:
Orphans their fires, and fires lament their fons.
All in that univerfal forrow share,
And curfe the cause of this unhappy war.
A broken league, a bride unjustly fought,
A crown ufurp'd, which with their blood is bought!
These are the crimes, with which they load the name Of Turnus, and on him alone exclaim.
Let him, who lords it o'er th' Aufonian land,
Engage the Trojan hero hand to hand :
His is the gain, our lot is but to ferve:
'Tis juft, the fway he feeks, he fhould deferve.
This Drances aggravates; and adds, with spight,
His foe expects, and dares him to the fight.
Nor Turnus wants a party, to support
His caufe and credit, in the Latian court.
His former acts fecure his prefent fame;
And the queen fhades him with her mighty name.
While thus their factious minds with fury burn;
The legates from th' Ætolian prince return :
Sad news they bring, that, after all the coft,
And care employ'd, their embaffy is loft:
That Diomede refus'd his aid in war;
Unmov'd with prefents, and as deaf to prayer.
Some new alliance muft elsewhere be fought;
Or peace with Troy on hard conditions bought.
Latinus, funk in forrow, finds too late
A foreign fon is pointed out by fate:
And till Æneas fhall Lavinia wed,
The wrath of heaven is hovering o'er his head.
The gods, he faw, efpous'd the jufter fide,
When late their titles in the field were try'd: 360
Witness the fresh laments, and funeral tears undry'd.
Thus, full of anxious thought, he fummons all
The Latian fenate to the council-hall:
What fqualid fpectres, in the dead of night,
Break my short fleep, and skim before my sight!
I might have promis'd to myself those harms,
Mad as I was, when I with mortal arms
Prefum'd against immortal powers to move,
And violate with wounds the queen of love.
Such arms this hand shall never more employ;
No hate remains with me to ruin'd Troy.
I war not with its duft; nor am I glad
To think of past events, or good or bad.
Your prefents I return: whate'er you bring
To buy my friendship, fend the Trojan king.
We met in fight, I know him to my coft;
With what a whirling force his lence he tofs'd:
Heavens! what a fpring was in his arm, to throw!.
Hew high he held his fhield, and rofe at every blow!
Had Troy produc'd two more, his match in might,
They would have chang'd the fortune of the fight: 440
Th' invafion of the Greeks had been return'd:
Our empire wafted, and our cities burn'd.
The long defence the Trojan people made,
The war protracted, and the fiège delay'd,
Were due to Hector's and this hero's hand;
Both brave alike, and equal in command:
Æneas not inferior in the field,
In pious reverence to the gods excell'd.
Make peace, ye Latians, and avoid with care
impending dangers of a fatal war.
faid no more; but, with this cold excufe,
fus'd th' alliance, and advis'd a truce.
Thus Venulus concluded his report.
A jarring murmur fill'd the factious court :
As when a torrent rolls with rapid force,
And dashes o'er the stones that stop the course;
The flood, constrain'd within a fcanty space,
Roars horrible along th' uneafy race:
White foam in gathering eddies floats around:
The rocky fhores rebellow to the found.
The murmur ceas'd: then from his lofty throne
The king invok'd the gods, and thus begun:
I wish, ye Latins, what we now debate
Had been refolv'd before it was too late :
Much better had it been for
Unforc'd by this our last neceffity,
To have been earlier wife; than now to call
A council, when the foe furrounds the wall.
O citizens! we wage unequal war,
With men, not only heaven's peculiar care,
But heaven's own race: unconquer'd in the field,
Or, conquer'd, yet unknowing how to yield.
What hopes you had in Diomede, lay down:
Our hopes muft center on ourselves alone.
Yet thofe how feeble, and, indeed, how vain,
You fee too well; nor need my words explain.
Vanquish'd without refource; laid flat by fate,
Factions within, a foe without the gate;
Not but I grant, that all perform'd their parts,
With manly force, and with undaunted hearts:
With our united strengh the war we wag'd;
With equal numbers, equal arms, engag'd:
You see th' event-Now hear what I propose,
To fave our friends, and fatisfy our foes:
A tract of land the Latins have poffefs'd
Along the Tiber, stretching to the West,
Which now Rutulians and Auruncans till:
And their mix'd cattle graze the fruitful hill;
Those mountains fill'd with firs, that lower land,
If you confent, the Trojan fhall command;
Called into part of what is ours; and there,
On terms agreed, the common country share.
There let them build, and fettle, if they please;
Unless they choose once more to cross the feas,
In fearch of feats remote of Italy;
And from unwelcome inmates fet us free.
Then twice ten gallies let us build with speed,
Or twice as many more, if more they need ;
Materials are at hand: a well-grown wood
Runs equal with the margin of the flood:
Let them the number, and the form affign;
The care and cost of all the ftores be mine.
To treat the peace, a hundred fenators
Shall be commiffion'd hence with ample powers; 504
With olive crown'd: the presents they shall bear,
A purple robe, a royal ivory chair;
And all the marks of fway that Latian monarchs
And fums of gold. Among yourselves debate
This great affair, and fave the sinking state.
Then Drances took the word; who grudg'd long fince,
The rifing glories of the Daunian prince.
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