THE TENTH BOOK OF THE ENEIS

THE ARGUMENT

Jupiter, calling a council of the gods, forbids them to engage in either party. At Æneas's return there is a bloody battle: Turnus killing Pallas; Eneas, Lausus and Mezentius. Mezentius is describ'd as an atheist; Lausus, as a pious and virtuous youth. The different actions and death of these two are the subject of a noble episode.

THE gates of heav'n unfold: Jove summons all

The gods to council in the common hall.
Sublimely seated, he surveys from far
The fields, the camp, the fortune of the war,
And all th' inferior world. From first to

In shining arms, triumphant on the plain? 31 Ev'n in their lines and trenches they contend,

And scarce their walls the Trojan troops defend:

The town is fill'd with slaughter, and o'erfloats,

With a red deluge, their increasing moats.
Eneas, ignorant, and far from thence,
Has left a camp expos'd, without defense.
This endless outrage shall they still sustain ?
Shall Troy renew'd be forc'd and fir'd
again?

A second siege my banish'd issue fears, 40
And a new Diomede in arms appears.
One more audacious mortal will be found;
And I, thy daughter, wait another wound.
Yet, if with fates averse, without thy leave,
The Latian lands my progeny receive,
Bear they the pains of violated law,
And thy protection from their aid withdraw.
But, if the gods their sure success foretell;
If those of heav'n consent with those of
hell,

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To promise Italy; who dare debate
The pow'r of Jove, or fix another fate?
What should I tell of tempests on the main,
Of Eolus usurping Neptune's reign?
Of Iris sent, with Bacchanalian heat
T' inspire the matrons, and destroy the
fleet?

Now Juno to the Stygian sky descends,
Solicits hell for aid, and arms the fiends.
That new example wanted yet above:
An act that well became the wife of Jove !
Alecto, rais'd by her, with rage inflames 60
The peaceful bosoms of the Latian dames.
Imperial sway no more exalts my mind;
(Such hopes I had indeed, while Heav'n was
kind;)

Now let my happier foes possess my place,

Whom Jove prefers before the Trojan

Since Turnus from the camp he cast with shame.

Thus mortal war was wag'd on either side. Meantime the hero cuts the nightly tide: For, anxious, from Evander when he went, He sought the Tyrrhene camp, and Tarchon's tent;

Expos'd the cause of coming to the chief; 220 His name and country told, and ask'd relief; Propos'd the terms; his own small strength declar'd;

What vengeance proud Mezentius had prepar'd;

What Turnus, bold and violent, design'd; Then shew'd the slipp'ry state of human

kind,

And fickle fortune; warn'd him to beware, And to his wholesome counsel added pray'r. Tarchon, without delay, the treaty signs,

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Now, sacred sisters, open all your spring! The Tuscan leaders, and their army sing, Which follow'd great Eneas to the war: Their arms, their numbers, and their names, declare.

A thousand youths brave Massicus obey, Borne in the Tiger thro' the foaming sea; From Asium brought, and Cosa, by his care: For arms, light quivers, bows and shafts, they bear.

Fierce Abas next: his men bright armor wore;

His stern Apollo's golden statue bore. 250 Six hundred Populonia sent along,

All skill'd in martial exercise, and strong. Three hundred more for battle Ilva joins, An isle renown'd for steel, and unexhausted mines.

Asylas on his prow the third appears, Who heav'n interprets, and the wand'ring stars;

From offer'd entrails prodigies expounds, And peals of thunder, with presaging sounds. A thousand spears in warlike order stand, Sent by the Pisans under his command. 260 Fair Astur follows in the wat❜ry field, Proud of his manag'd horse and painted shield.

Gravisca, noisome from the neighb'ring fen, And his own Cære, sent three hundred men; With those which Minio's fields and Pyrgi

Whose forms and fortunes in his ensigns fly.
For Cycnus lov'd unhappy Phaeton,
And sung his loss in poplar groves, alone,
Beneath the sister shades, to soothe his grief.
Heav'n heard his song, and hasten'd his
relief,

And chang'd to snowy plumes his hoary hair,
And wing'd his flight, to chant aloft in air.
His son Cupavo brush'd the briny flood:
Upon
his stern a brawny Centaur stood, 280
Who heav'd a rock, and, threat'ning still to
throw,

With lifted hands alarm'd the seas below: They seem'd to fear the formidable sight, And roll'd their billows on, to speed his flight.

Ocnus was next, who led his native train Of hardy warriors thro' the wat'ry plain: The son of Manto by the Tuscan stream, From whence the Mantuan town derives the