XLI. So spake he, fain the tumult to allay, And scarce had ceased, when, whistling as it flew, A feathered shaft came hurtling on its way, And smote the good AEneas; whose, and who That shaft had sped, what wind had borne it true, What chance with fame Ausonia's host had crowned, What God, perhaps, had aided them—none knew. The glory of that noble deed was drowned, And none was found to boast of great AEneas' wound.

XLII. When Turnus saw the Trojan prince retire, The chiefs bewildered, and their hearts unstrung, Hope unexpected set his soul on fire, And, calling for his steeds and arms, he sprung Upon his chariot, and the reins outflung. On drives he; many a hero of renown Sinks, crushed to death; the dying roll among The dead; whole ranks beneath his wheels go down, And fast at flying hosts the fliers' spears are thrown.

XLIII. As when grim Mars, by Hebrus' icy flood, Clashing his brazen buckler, drives apace His fierce steeds, maddening with the lust of blood; They o'er the plain the flying winds outrace, And with their trampling groan the fields of Thrace; And round the War-God his attendants throng, Hatred, and Treachery and Fear's dark face; So Turnus drove the battling ranks among, And lashed his smoking steeds, and waved the whistling thong.

XLIV. In piteous sort he tramples on the slain; The flying horse-hoofs spirt the crimson dew, And tread the gore down in the sandy plain. Now, man to man, at Thamyris he flew, And Pholus. Sthenelus aloof he slew; Aloof the two Imbracidae lay dead, Glaucus and Lades, of the Lycian crew, Both armed alike, whom Imbracus had bred To fight, or on swift steeds the flying winds to head.

XLV. Elsewhere afield, amid the foremost, fought The brave Eumedes. (From the loins he came Of noble Dolon, and to war he brought The borrowed lustre of his grandsire's name, The strength and spirit of his sire of fame, Who for his meed, when offering to explore The Danaan camp, Pelides' car would claim. Poor fool! Tydides paid the boaster's score, And for Achilles' steeds he hankers now no more.)

XLVI. Him Turnus sees, and through the void afar Speeds a light lance, then bids the coursers stand, And, lightly leaping from his two-horsed car, Stamps on his neck, fall'n breathless on the sand, And wrests the shining dagger from his hand. Deep in his throat he deals a deadly wound, And cries, "Now, Trojan, take the wished-for land. Lie there, and measure the Hesperian ground; Their meed, who tempt my sword; thus city-walls they found."

XLVII. Asbutes, Sybaris and Chloreus bleed, Dares the bold, Orsilochus the brave, Thymoetes, pitched from off his plunging steed. As on the AEgean when the North-winds rave, And the fierce gale rolls shoreward wave on wave, And drives the cloud-rack through the sky; so these Shrank back from Turnus, as his path he clave, Urged by his impulse, and each turns and flees; Loose streams his horsehair crest, blown backward by the breeze.

XLVIII. His fiery onset, and his shouts of pride Bold Phlegeus brooked not, but himself he flung Before the car, and caught and turned aside The foaming steeds. But while, thus dragged along, Grasping the bridle, on the yoke he hung, His shieldless side the broad-tipt javelin found, And pierced, and, staying, to the corslet clung, With linen folds and brazen links twice bound. And lightly scored the skin, and grazed him with the wound.

XLIX. His shield before him, at the foe he made, And drew his short sword, turning sharply round, And trusted to the naked steel for aid, When wheel and axle, urged with onward bound, Struck down and dashed him headlong to the ground, And Turnus, reaching forward, sword in hand, Room 'twixt the hauberk and the helmet found And lopped the head with his avenging brand, And left the bleeding trunk to welter on the sand.

L. While Turnus thus dealt havoc as he flew, Back with AEneas from the combat went Ascanius, Mnestheus, and Achates true, And helped the bleeding hero to his tent. Faltering and pale, as on the spear he leant, Fretting, and tugging at the shaft in vain, Quick help he summons,—with the broadsword's rent The wound to widen, and the lurking bane Cut out, and send him back to battle on the plain.

LI. Iapis, son of Iasus, was there, The best-beloved of Phoebus. Long ago Apollo, fired to see a youth so fair, His arts and gifts had offered to bestow, His augury, his lyre, his sounding bow. But he, in hope a bed-rid parent's days To lengthen, sought the leech's craft to know, The power of simples, and the silent praise Of healing arts, and scorned the great Apollo's bays.

LII. Dark-frowning stands, still propt upon his spear, AEneas, heedless of his friends around And young Iulus, weeping in his fear. Tight-girt like Paeon, with the robes upbound, Beside him kneels the aged leech renowned. With busy haste Apollo's salves he tries, In vain, in vain he coaxes in the wound The stubborn steel, the pincer's teeth he plies: Fate bides averse, his help the healing god denies;

LIII. And more and more, along the echoing wold, The war's wild horror thickens on the ear, And storm-like, in the darkened skies uprolled, The driving dust-clouds show the danger near. Now horsemen, galloping in haste, appear, And darts and arrows, as the foe draw nigh, Fall in the tents, and fill the camp with fear, And a grim clamour mounts the vaulted sky, The shouts of those that fight, the groans of those that die.

LIV. Then, Venus, for her darling filled with grief, A stalk of dittany on Ida's crown Seeks out, and gathers, for his wound's relief, The flower of purple and the leaves of down. (To wounded wild-goats 'twas a plant well-known) This brings the Goddess, veiled in mist, and brews In a bright bowl a mixture of her own, And, steeped in water from the stream, she strews Soft balm of fragrant scent, and sweet ambrosial dews.

LV. Therewith the leech, unwitting, rinsed the wound, And the pain fled, and all the blood was stayed. Out came the dart, and he again was sound. "Arms! bring his arms! Why stand ye thus afraid?" Iapis cries, and, foremost to upbraid, Inflames them to the fight. "No hand of mine, No power of leech-craft, nor a mortal's aid This healing wrought; a greater power divine, AEneas, sends thee back, by greater deeds to shine."

LVI. He, hot for fight, the golden cuishes bound, And shook the spear, then put his corslet on, And strung the shield, and in his arms enwound, And gently through the helmet kissed his son. "Learn, boy, of me, how gallant deeds are done, Fortune of others. I will guard thee now, And lead to fame. Let riper manhood con Thy kinsmen's deeds. Remember, and be thou What uncle Hector was, and what thy sire is now."

LVII. He spake, and swinging his tremendous spear, Swept through the gate; then Antheus, with his train, Rushed forth, and Mnestheus. With a general cheer Forth pours the host; a dust-cloud hides the plain; Earth, startled by their trampling, throbs in pain. Pale Turnus saw them from a distant height, The Ausonians saw, and terror chilled each vein. Juturna heard, and knew the noise of fight, And from the van drew back, and shuddered with affright.

LVIII. On swept he, and the blackening host behind. As when from sea a storm-cloud sweeps to shore, The weather breaking, and the trembling hind Foresees afar the ruin and the roar, The shattered orchards, and the crops no more, While, landward borne, the muttering winds betray The coming storm; so down the Trojan bore Against the foemen, and in firm array All knit their serried ranks, and gladden at the fray.

LIX. Thymbraeus smites Osiris, Mnestheus fells Archetius; by Achates smitten sheer, Falls Epulo, and Gyas Ufens quells. Falls, too, Tolumnius, the sacred seer, Who first against the foemen hurled his spear. Uprose a shout, and the Rutulians reeled And fled. AEneas, on the dusty rear Close-trampling, scorns to follow them afield, Or fight with those that stand, or slaughter those that yield.

LX. Turnus alone, amid the blinding gloom, He tracks and traces, searching far and near, Turnus alone he summons to his doom. Juturna sees, and smit with sudden fear, Unseats Metiscus, Turnus' charioteer, And flings him down, and leaves him on the plain, Then takes his place, and, urging their career, Loose o'er the coursers shakes the waving rein; Metiscus' voice and form, Metiscus' arms remain.

LXI. Like a black swallow, as she flies among A rich man's halls, or in the courts is found In quest of dainties for her twittering young. And now in empty cloisters, now around The fishpools circles, while the shrill notes sound. So now Juturna, through the midmost foes, Whirled in the rapid chariot, scours the ground; Now here, now there triumphant Turnus shows, Now, flying, wheels aloof, nor suffers him to close.

LXII. So wheels in turn AEneas to and fro, And tracks his man, and through the war's wild tide Calls him aloud. Oft as he marks his foe, And, running, tries to match the coursers' stride, So oft Juturna wheels the team aside. What shall he do? While wavering thus in vain, As diverse thoughts his doubtful mind divide, A steel-tipt dart Messapus—one of twain— Aims true, and hurls it forth, uprunning on the plain.

LXIII. AEneas paused, behind his buckler bent. On came the javelin, and the cone was shorn From off his helmet, and the plume was rent. Foiled by this treachery, as he marked with scorn The steeds and chariot from the combat borne, He blazed with ire, and, calling on again Jove and the altars of the truce forsworn, Rushed on, thrice terrible, and o'er the plain Dealt indiscriminate death, and gave his wrath the rein.

LXIV. What heavenly muse can sing, what god can say The scenes of horror wrought on either side, The varied slaughter of that fatal day, What chiefs were chased along the field, and died, As Turnus now, and now the Trojan plied His murderous sword? Jove, could'st thou deem it right So dire a broil such peoples should divide, Two jarring nations met in deadly fight, Whom leagues of lasting love were destined to unite?

LXV. AEneas first (that fight 'twas first that stayed The Teucrian rout) caught Suero on the side. Where death is quickest, 'twixt the ribs his blade, Deep in the framework of the breast, he plied. Then Turnus slew Diores; close beside, His brother Amycus from his steed he tore; One by the spear, one by the sword-cut died. Their severed heads the ruthless victor bore, Fixt to his flying car, and dripping with the gore.

LXVI. Talus, and Tanais, and Cethegus there AEneas smote, and poor Onytes slew, Whom Peridia to Echion bare. Turnus two Lycian brethren next o'erthrew From Phoebus' fields, and young Menoetes too From Arcady, who loathed the war in vain. Poor was his home, nor rich men's doors he knew. By fishful Lerna he had earned his gain, Hired was the scanty glebe his father sowed with grain.

LXVII. Lo, as fierce flames drive in from left and right Through woodlands parched and groves of crackling bay, As sweep impetuous from a mountain height Loud, foaming torrents, that withouten stay Cleave to the sea their devastating way: So, while in each full tides of anger flow, Rush Turnus and AEneas to the fray: Their tameless breasts with bursting valour glow, On, on they speed amain, nor fear the opposing blow.

LXVIII. There stands Murranus, vaunting in vain joy His sires, and grandsires, he the princely son Of Latin monarchs. Him the chief of Troy Smites with the whirlwind of a monstrous stone, Huge as a rock. Down from his chariot thrown, 'Twixt reins and yoke, he tumbles on the sward. The fierce wheels, thundering onward, beat him down; His starting steeds, to shun the victor's sword, Tread on his trampled limbs, unmindful of their lord.

LXIX. Here, fronting Hyllus, as he rushed amain, Fierce Turnus stood; his levelled spear-head clave The golden casque, and quivered in his brain. Nor thee, poor Creteus, though of Greeks most brave, From Turnus had thy prowess power to save. Nor aught availed Cupencus' gods to aid Against the dread AEneas, as he drave. Squaring his breast, he met the glittering blade, Nor long his brazen shield the mortal stroke delayed.

LXX. Thee, too, great AEolus, Laurentum's plain Saw trampled down by Turnus, as he flew, And stretched at length among the Trojan slain. Thou diest, whom ne'er could Argive bands subdue, Nor Peleus' son, who Priam's realm o'erthrew. Thy goal is here; beyond the distant wave, Beneath the mount where Ida's fir-trees grew, High house was thine; high house Lyrnessus gave, Thy home; Laurentum's soil hath given thee a grave.

LXXI. So met the ranks, and mingled, man with man, Latins and Dardans in promiscuous throng, Mnestheus and fierce Serestus in the van, Messapus, tamer of the steed, and strong Asylas. There in tumult swept along Arcadian horsemen, and the Tuscan train. No rest is theirs, no respite; loud and long The conflict rages, as with might and main, Each for his own dear life, the warriors strive and strain.

LXXII. Now lovely Venus doth her son persuade To seek the walls, and townward turn his train, And deal swift havoc on the foe dismayed. While here and there AEneas scans the plain, Still tracking Turnus through the ranks in vain, Far off the peaceful city he espies, Unscathed, unstirred, and in his restless brain The vision of a greater war doth rise; Larger the War-God looms, and to his chiefs he cries.

LXXIII. Mnestheus, Sergestus and Serestus strong He calls, and on a hillock takes his stand. There, mustering round him, all the Teucrians throng, Each armed with buckler, and his spear in hand, And from the mound he thus exhorts the band: "Hear, sons of Teucer, and let none be slack. Jove fights for us, so hearken my command. Though strange the venture, sudden the attack, Let none for that cause faint, none loiter and hang back.

LXXIV. "This town—unless they yield them and obey— This town, the centre of Latinus' reign, The cause of war, will I uproot this day, And raze her smoking roof-tops to the plain. What! shall I wait, and wait, till Turnus deign To take fresh heart, and tempt the war's rough game, And, conquered, face his conqueror again? See there the fount of all this blood! For shame; Bring quick the torch; let fire the perjured pact reclaim!"

LXXV. So spake he, and one purpose nerves them all. They form a wedge, and forward with a cheer The close-knit column charges at the wall. Here scaling ladders in a trice they rear, And firebrands suddenly and flames appear. These seek the gates, and lay the foremost dead; Those flash the sword, or shake the shining spear. Darts cloud the skies. AEneas, at their head, Stands by the lofty walls, and with his hands outspread,

LXXVI. Upbraids aloud Latinus, twice untrue, And bids heaven witness and his wrongs regard, Thus forced reluctant to the fight anew; How loth again with Latin foes he warred, How twice the truce the Latin crimes had marred. Upsprings wild discord in the town; some call To cede the city, and have the gates unbarred, And drag the aged monarch to the wall; Some rush to arms, and strive their entrance to forestall.

LXXVII. As when within a crannied rock some hind, Returning home, a swarm of bees hath found, And all the nest with bitter smoke doth blind: They, in their waxen citadel fast bound, Post to and fro, the narrow cells around, And whet their stings in fury and despair: With stifled hum the caverned crags resound, The black fumes search the windings of their lair, And the dark smoke rolls up, and mingles with the air.

LXXVIII. A new mischance now smote with further woe The Latin town, and fainting hearts dismayed. As queen Amata sees the coming foe, The ramparts stormed, their flames the roofs invade, And nowhere Turnus nor his troops to aid, Him dead she deems, herself the cause declares, Herself alone she spares not to upbraid. She wails,—she raves,—her purple robe she tears, And from a lofty beam the hideous noose prepares.

LXXIX. The women heard; Lavinia first of all, Her golden locks, her rosy cheeks doth tear. All rave around, and wailings fill the hall. Fast flies the news, and shakes the town with fear. Then rends his robes Latinus in despair, His town in ruins and his consort dead, And, scattering dust upon his hoary hair, Himself he blames, that ne'er in Turnus' stead The Dardan prince he chose, his dear-lov'd child to wed.

LXXX. Meanwhile, in chase of distant stragglers, speeds Fierce Turnus. Slacker is his car's career, And less he glories in his conquering steeds, When lo, the breezes from Laurentum bear The sound of shouting, and the shrieks of fear, And a dull murmur, as of men that groan,— The city's roar—strikes on his listening ear. "Ah me! what clamour on the winds is blown? What noise of grief," he cries, "comes rolling from the town?"

LXXXI. He spake, and madly pulled the rein. Then she, His sister, like Metiscus changed in view, Who ruled the chariot, "Forward, Turnus! See The path that victory points thee to pursue. This way—this way to chase the Trojan crew! Others there are, who can the walls defend, See here AEneas, how he storms. We, too, Our foes, Troy's varlets, to their graves can send, Nor thee less tale of slain, nor scantier praise attend."

LXXXII. Then quickly answered Turnus, glancing round, "Sister, long since I knew thee—knew thee plain, When first thy cunning did the league confound, And sent thee forth, fierce battle to darrain; And now thou think'st to cheat me, but in vain, Albeit a goddess. But what power on high Hath willed thee, sent from the Olympian reign, Such toils to suffer, and such tasks to try? Cam'st thou, forsooth, to see thy wretched brother die?

LXXXIII. "What can I do? What pledge of safety more Doth Fortune give? what better hopes remain? Myself beheld, these very eyes before, Murranus die, the dearest of our train, Stretched by a huge wound hugely on the plain. I saw, how, backward as his comrades reeled, Poor Ufens, sooner than behold such stain, Sank low in death; himself, his sword and shield The Teucrian victors hold, their trophies of the field.

LXXXIV. "What, shall I see our houses wrapt in flame,— Last wrong of all—and coward-like, stand by, Nor make this arm put Drances' taunts to shame? Shall Turnus run, and Latins see him fly? And is it then so terrible to die? Be kind, dread spirits of the world below! To you, since envious are the powers on high, Worthy my ancestors of long ago, Free from the coward's blame, a sacred shade I go."

LXXXV. Scarce spake he; through the midmost foes apace Comes Saces, borne upon his foaming steed, A flying shaft had scored him in the face. "Turnus," he cries, "sole champion in our need, Help us, have pity on thy friends who bleed. See there, AEneas threatens in his ire To raze our towers, and with a storm-cloud's speed Thunders in arms, and roofward flies the fire, To thee the Latins turn, thee Latin hopes require.

LXXXVI. "Himself, the king, is wavering, whom to call His new allies, and whom his kingdom's heir. Dead is the queen, thy faithfullest of all, Self-plunged from light, in terror and despair. Scarce fierce Atinas and Messapus there, Beside the town-gates standing, hold their own. Dense hosts surround them, and with falchions bare, War's harvest bristles, by the walls upgrown; Thou on the empty sward art charioting alone."

LXXXVII. Stunned and bewildered by the changeful scene Stood Turnus, gazing speechless and oppressed. Shame, rage, and sorrow, and revengeful spleen, And frenzied love, and conscious worth confessed Boil from the depths of his tumultuous breast. Now, when the shadows from his mind withdrew, And light, returning, to his thoughts gave rest, Back from his chariot towards the walls he threw His eyes, aflame with wrath, and grasped the town in view.

LXXXVIII. From floor to floor, behold, a tower upblazed,— The tower, with bridge above and wheels below, Himself with beams and mortised planks had raised. "Sister," he cries, "Fate conquers; let us go The way which Heaven and cruel fortune show. I stand to meet AEneas in the fray, And die; if death be bitter, be it so. No more dishonoured shalt thou see me, nay, O sister, let me vent this fury, while I may."

LXXXIX. He spake, and quickly vaulting from his car, Through foes, through darts, his sister left to mourn, Rushed headlong forth, and broke the ranks of war. As when a boulder, from a hill-top borne, Which rains have washed, or blustering winds have torn, Or creeping years have loosened, down the steep, From crag to crag, leaps headlong, and in scorn Goes bounding on, and with resistless sweep Lays waste the woods, and whelms the shepherd and his sheep;

XC. So Turnus through the broken ranks doth fly On to the town-walls, where the crimson plain Is soaked, and shrill with javelins shrieks the sky, Then shouts, with hand uplifted, to his train, "Rutulians, hold! Ye Latin men refrain! Mine are the risks of Fortune, mine of right, The truce thus torn, to expiate the stain, And let the sword give judgment." At the sight The hostile ranks divide, and clear the lists of fight.

XCI. But when the Sire AEneas heard the name Of Turnus, and his foeman's form espied, Down from the ramparts and the towers he came, And scorned delay, and put all else aside, Thundering in arms, and glorying in his pride. As Athos huge, as Eryx huge he shows, Or huge as Father Apennine, whose side Roars with his nodding oaks, when drifted snows Shine on his joyous crest, and lighten on his brows.

XCII. Rutulians, Trojans, Latins,—each and all Look wondering on, both they who man the height, And they who batter at the base. Down fall Their arms. Amazed Latinus views the sight, Two chiefs from distant countries, matched in might. The lists set wide, they dash into the fray. Each hurls a spear, then, hand to hand, they fight. Loud ring the shields, and quick the broadswords play. Earth groans, and chance contends with courage for the day.

XCIII. As on Taburnus, or in Sila's shade Two bulls, with butting foreheads, mix in fray: Pale fly the hinds, mute stands the herd dismayed: The heifers low, unknowing who shall sway The grove, what lord and leader to obey; They, with horns locked, their mutual rage outpour, And thrust for thrust, and wound for wound repay, Fast from their necks and dewlaps streams the gore, And all the neighbouring wood rebellows to the roar;

XCIV. So, when both champions on the listed field, The Trojan and the Daunian, eye to eye, Met in the deadly conflict, shield to shield Clanged, and a loud crash shattered through the sky. And now great Jove, the Sire of gods on high, Holds up the scales, and sets the long beam straight, And in the balance lays their fates, to try Each champion's fortune in the stern debate, Whom battle's toil shall doom, where sinks the deathful weight.

XCV. Forth springs, in fancied safety, at his foe Fierce Turnus, rising to his utmost height, And planting all his body in the blow, Strikes. A loud shout, of terror and delight Goes up from Troy and Latium at the sight. When lo, the falchion, as the stroke he plies, Snaps short, and leaves him helpless. Naught but flight Can aid him; swifter than the wind he flies, As in his hand disarmed an unknown hilt he spies.

XCVI. When first his steeds were harnessed for the war, In haste he snatched Metiscus' sword, 'tis said, His sire's forgotten, as he climbed the car, And well enough that weapon served his stead, To smite the stragglers, while the Trojans fled; But when it met, and countered in the fray The arms of Vulcan, then the mortal blade, Found faithless, like the brittle ice, gave way, And in the yellow sand the sparkling fragments lay.

XCVII. So Turnus flies, and, doubling, but in vain, Now here, now there, weaves many an aimless round; For all about him, as he scours the plain, The swarming legions of the foe are found, And here the marsh, and there the bulwarks bound. Nor less AEneas, though his stiff knee feels The rankling arrow, and the hampering wound Retards his pace, pursues him, as he wheels, And dogs the flying foe, and presses on his heels.

XCVIII. As when some stag, a river in his face, Or toils with scarlet feathers, set to scare, A huntsman with his braying hounds doth chase. Awed by the steep bank and the threatening snare, A thousand ways he doubles here and there; But the keen Umbrian, all agape, is by, Now grasps,—now holds him,—and now thinks to tear, And snaps his teeth on nothing; and a cry Rings back from shore and stream, and rolls along the sky.

XCIX. Chiding by name his comrades, as he flies, Fierce Turnus for his trusty sword doth cry. Nor less AEneas with his threat defies, "Stand off," he shouts, "who ventures to draw nigh, His town shall perish, and himself shall die." Onward, though maimed, he presses to his prey. Twice five times circling round the field they fly; For no mean stake or sportive prize they play, Lo, Turnus' life and blood are wagered in the fray.

C. A wilding olive on the sward had stood, Sacred to Faunus. Mariners of yore In worship held the venerable bough, When to Laurentum's guardian, safe on shore Their votive raiment and their gifts they bore. That sacred tree, the lists of fight to clear, Troy's sons had lopped. There, in the trunk's deep core, The Dardan javelin, urged with impulse sheer, Stuck fast; the stubborn root, retentive, grasped the spear.

CI. Stooping, AEneas with his hands essayed To pluck the steel, and follow with the spear The foe his feet o'ertook not. Sore dismayed Then Turnus cried, "O Faunus, heed and hear, And thou, kind Earth, hold fast the steel, if dear I held the plant, which Trojan hands profaned." He prayed, nor Heaven refused a kindly ear. Long while AEneas at the tough root strained; Vain was his utmost strength; the biting shaft remained.

CII. While thus he stooped and struggled, prompt to aid, Juturna, to Metiscus changed anew, Ran forth, and to her brother reached his blade. Then Venus, wroth the daring Nymph to view, Came, and the javelin from the stem withdrew, Thus, armed afresh, each eager for his chance, The Daunian trusting to his falchion true, The Dardan towering with uplifted lance, High-hearted, face to face, the breathless chiefs advance.

CIII. Then Jove, as from a saffron cloud above Looked Juno, pleased the doubtful strife to view, "When shall this end, sweet partner of my love? What more? Thou know'st it, and hast owned it too, Divine AEneas to the skies is due. What wilt thou, chill in cloudland? Was it right A god with mortal weapons to pursue? Or give—for thine was all Juturna's might— Lost Turnus back his sword, and renovate the fight?

CIV. "Desist at length, and hearken to my prayer. Feed not in silence on a grief so sore, Nor spoil those sweet lips with unlovely care. The end is come; 'twas thine on sea and shore Troy's sons to vex, to wake the war's uproar, To cloud a home, a marriage-league untie, And mar with grief a bridal. Cease, and more Attempt not." Thus the ruler of the sky, And thus, with down-cast look, Saturnia made reply.

CV. "E'en so, great Jove, because thy will was known, I left, reluctant, Turnus and his land. Else ne'er should'st thou behold me here alone, Thus shamed and suffering, but, torch in hand, To smite these hateful Teucrians would I stand. I made Juturna rescue from the foe Her hapless brother,—mine was the command,— Approved her daring for his sake, yet so As not to wield the spear, or meddle with the bow.

CVI. "Nay, that I swear, and a dread oath will take (The only oath that doth the high gods bind), By that grim fount that feeds the Stygian lake. And now, great Jove, reluctant, but resigned, I yield, and leave the loathed fight behind. One boon I ask, nor that in Fate's despite, For Latium, for the honour of thy kind. When—be it so—blest Hymen's pact they plight, And laws and lasting league the warring folks unite,

CVII. "Ne'er let the children of the soil disown The name of Latins; turn them not, I pray, To Trojan folk, to be as Teucrians known. Ne'er let Italia's children put away The garb they wear, the language of to-day Let Latium flourish, and abide the same, And Alban kings through distant ages sway. Let Rome through Latin prowess wax in fame; But fall'n is Troy, and fall'n for ever be her name."

CVIII. Smiling, the founder of the world replied: "Thou, second child of Saturn, born to reign In heaven Jove's sister, and his spouse beside. Such floods of passion can thy breast contain? But come, and from thy fruitless rage refrain. I yield, and gladly; be thy will obeyed. Speech, customs, name Ausonia shall retain Unchanged for ever, as thy lips have prayed. And in the Latin race Troy's mingled blood shall fade.

CIX. "All Latins will I make them, of one tongue, And sacred rites, as common good, assign. Hence shalt thou see, from blood Ausonian sprung, A blended race, whose piety shall shine Excelling man's, and equalling divine; And ne'er shall other nation tell so loud Thy praise, or pay such homage to thy shrine." Well-pleased was Juno, and assenting bowed, And straight with altered mind ascended from the cloud.

CX. New schemes the Sire, from Turnus to repel Juturna's aid, now ponders in his mind. Two fiends there are, called Furies. Night with fell Megaera bore them at one birth, and twined Their serpent spires, and winged them like the wind. These at Jove's threshold, and beside his throne Await his summons, to afflict mankind, When death or pestilence the Sire sends down, Or shakes the world with war, and scares the guilty town.

CXI. One, for an omen, from the skies he sends, To front Juturna. Down, with sudden spring, To earth, as in a whirlwind, she descends. As when a poisoned arrow from the string Through clouds a Parthian launches on the wing,— Parthian or Cretan—and in darkling flight The shaft, with cureless venom in its sting, Screams through the shadows; so, arrayed in might, Swift to the earth came down the daughter of the Night.

CXII. But when Troy's host and Turnus' ranks were known, Shrunk to the semblance of a bird in size, Which oft on tombs or ruined roofs alone Sits late at night, and with ill-omened cries Vexes the darkness; so in dwarfed disguise The foul fiend, shrieking around Turnus' head, Flaps on his shield, and flutters o'er his eyes. Strange torpor numbs the Daunian's limbs with dread; The stiffening hair stands up, and all his voice is dead.

CXIII. The rustling wings Juturna knew, and tore Her comely face, and rent her scattered hair, And smote her breast: "O cruel me! what more For Turnus can a sister now? What care Or craft thy days can lengthen? Can I dare To face this fiend? At last, at last I go, And quit the field. Foul birds, avaunt, nor scare My fluttering soul. Too well the sounds of woe, Those beating wings,—too well great Jove's behest I know.

CXIV. "This for my robbed virginity? Ah, why Did immortality the Sire bestow, And grudge a mortal's privilege—to die? Else, sure this moment could I end my woe, And with my hapless brother pass below. Immortal I? What joy hath aught beside, Thou, Turnus, dead? Gape, Earth, and let me go, A Goddess, to the shades!" She spake, and sighed, And, veiled in azure mantle, plunged beneath the tide.

CXV. But fierce AEneas on his foeman pressed. His tree-like spear he poises for the fray, And pours the pent-up fury of his breast. "Why stay'st thou, Turnus? Wherefore this delay? Fierce arms, not swiftness, must decide the day. Shift as thou wilt, and every shape assume; Exhaust thy courage and thy craft, and pray For wings to soar with, or in earth's dark womb Sink low thy recreant head, and hide thee from thy doom."

CXVI. Thus he; but Turnus shook his head, and said, "Ruffian! thy threats are but as empty sound; They daunt not Turnus; 'tis the gods I dread, And Jove my enemy." Then, glancing round, He marked a chance-met boulder on the ground, Huge, grey with age, set there in ancient days To clear disputes,—a barrier and a bound. Scarce twelve picked men the ponderous mass could raise, Such men as Earth brings forth in these degenerate days.

CXVII. That stone the Daunian lifted, straining hard With hurrying hand, and all his height updrew, And at AEneas hurled the monstrous shard; So heaving, and so running, scarce he knew His running, or how huge a weight he threw. Cold froze his blood; beneath his trembling frame The weak knees tottered. Through the void air flew The stone, nor all the middle space o'ercame, Short of its mark it fell, nor answered to its aim.

CXVIII. As oft in dreams, when drowsy night doth load The slumbering eyes, still eager, but in vain, We strive to race along a lengthening road, And faint and fall, amidmost of the strain; The feeble limbs their wonted aid disdain, Mute is the tongue, nor doth the voice obey, Nor words find utterance; so with fruitless pain Poor Turnus strives; but, struggle as he may, The baffling fiend is there, and mocks the vain essay.

CXIX. Then, tost with diverse passions, dazed with fear, Towards friends and town he throws an anxious glance. No car he sees, no sister-charioteer. Desperate of flight, nor daring to advance, Aghast, and shuddering at the lifted lance, He falters. Then AEneas poised at last His spear, and hurled it, as he marked his chance. Less loud the stone from battering engine cast, Less loud through ether bursts the levin-bolt's dread blast.

CXX. Like a black whirlwind flew the deadly spear, Right thro' the rim the sevenfold shield it rent And breastplate's edge, nor stayed its onset ere Deep in the thigh its hissing course was spent. Down on the earth, his knees beneath him bent, Great Turnus sank: Rutulia's host around Sprang up with wailing and with wild lament: From neighbouring hills their piercing cries rebound, And every wooded steep re-echoes to the sound.

CXXI. Then, looking up, his pleading hands he rears: "Death I deserve, nor death would I delay. Use, then, thy fortune. If a father's tears Move thee, for old Anchises' sake, I pray, Pity old Daunus. Me, or else my clay, If so thou wilt, to home and kin restore. Thine is the victory. Latium's land to-day Hath seen her prince the victor's grace implore. Lavinia now is thine; the bitter feud give o'er."

CXXII. Wrathful in arms, with rolling eyeballs, stood AEneas, and his lifted arm withdrew; And more and more now melts his wavering mood, When lo, on Turnus' shoulder—known too true— The luckless sword-belt flashed upon his view; And bright with gold studs shone the glittering prey, Which ruthless Turnus, when the youth he slew, Stripped from the lifeless Pallas, as he lay, And on his shoulders wore, in token of the day.

CXXIII. Then terribly AEneas' wrath upboils, His fierce eyes fixt upon the sign of woe. "Shalt thou go hence, and with the loved one's spoils? 'Tis Pallas—Pallas deals the deadly blow. And claims this victim for his ghost below." He spake, and mad with fury, as he said, Drove the keen falchion through his prostrate foe. The stalwart limbs grew stiff with cold and dead, And, groaning, to the shades the scornful spirit fled.



NOTES TO BOOK ONE

I. 'The Lavinian shore,' the coast of Italy near Lavinium, an old town in Latium. See also stanzas xxxv. and xxxvi.

III. Carthage was a Phoenician colony, and Tyre was the leading Phoenician city.

Samos was an island in the Archipelago near the coast of Asia Minor. There was a famous temple on it, dedicated to Juno, who was supposed to take a special interest in the island.

V. 'The choice of Paris' refers to the Greek story that once when the gods were feasting, 'Discord' threw a golden apple on the table as a prize for the fairest. Juno, Minerva and Venus each claimed it, but the Trojan prince Paris, who was made judge, gave it to Venus. Ganymede was a beautiful Trojan boy who was carried off to Olympus to be Jove's cup-bearer.

VI. Ajax, son of Oileus, desecrated Minerva's temple at Troy. (Cf. Book II. stanza liv.)

XIV. The 'son of Tydeus' is Diomedes, one of the foremost Greek warriors in the war with Troy. Aeneas narrowly escaped being slain by him.

For Sarpedon see Book IX. stanza lxxxix. and for Simois note on Book VI. stanza xiv.

XXVI. Acestes was king of Eryx in Sicily, which was called 'Trinacria' from its three promontories. See Book V. stanzas iv. and following.

XXVII. See note on Book III. stanzas lxxi. and following.

XXXII. The legend was that Antenor escaped from Troy and established a colony of Trojans at the northern end of the Adriatic. The Timavus was a small river near where Trieste now is.

XXXIII. Patavium. The modern Padua.

XXXV. Ascanius or Iulus is the son of Aeneas.

XXXVI. The legend was that Rhea Silvia, a priestess of Mars, bore the twins Romulus and Remus. The two children were exposed and left to die, but were found and nursed by a she-wolf.

XXXVIII. This prophecy refers not to C. Julius Caesar but to his nephew Augustus, as is shown by the references to the east (the battle of Actium) and to the closing of the 'gates of Janus.' For an account of the latter, see Book VII. stanza xxiv.

XL. The 'son of Maia' is Mercury.

XLII. Harpalyce was the daughter of a Thracian king and a famous huntress.

XLIX. Byrsa. This word, originally the Semitic word for 'citadel,' was thought by the Greeks to be their own word Byrsa meaning 'a bull's hide.' This mistake was probably the cause of the legend given by Virgil.

LV. Paphos in Cyprus was one of the chief centres of the worship of Venus.

LX. Priam was the king of Troy, and the Atridae were Agamemnon and Menelaus. Achilles is described as fierce to both, because he quarrelled with Agamemnon about a captive. It is with this quarrel that the Iliad opens.

LXII. Rhesus, king of Thrace, had come to help the Trojans. It had been prophesied that if his horses ate Trojan grass or drank the water of the river, Troy could never be taken. Diomedes (Tydides) prevented this by capturing the horses.

LXIII. Troilus: a son of Priam slain by Achilles.

LXIV. Memnon, son of Aurora, the dawn-goddess, and Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, came to Troy as allies. They were both slain by Achilles.

LXV. The Eurotas was a river in Laconia, and Cynthus was a mountain of Delos. Both places were supposed to be favourite haunts of the goddess Diana. Oreads: mountain-nymphs. Latona was the mother of Diana and Apollo.

LXX. Hesperia, 'the western land,' means Italy.

The Oenotrian folk were an old Italian race settled in the south of the peninsula, in Lucania. Italus is an eponymous hero and was probably invented to account for the name Italia. Probably Italia means 'the cattle land.'

LXXXII. This Teucer, who was a Greek, must be carefully distinguished from the founder of the Trojans. He was a son of the king of Salamis, and on his return from the Trojan war was exiled by his father. He fled to Dido's father Belus, and with the help of the latter founded a new kingdom in Cyprus.

XCVII. Bacchus was the god of wine and feasting.



NOTES TO BOOK TWO

XXII. An oracle said that the citadel of Troy would never be taken as long as the Palladium, or image of Pallas, remained in it. So Diomedes and Ulysses stole the image.

XXXII. Apollo had conferred on Cassandra the gift of prophecy. But she deceived him, and as he could not take away his former gift, he added as a curse that no one should ever believe her.

XXXV. Neoptolemus was the son of Achilles and grandson of Peleus.

XLII. Sigeum is the name of the promontory which juts out into the Hellespont from the Troad.

LV. The 'Atridan pair' were Agamemnon, king of Argos, and Menelaus, king of Sparta, the sons of Atreus.

LVI. Nereus was one of the chief sea-gods.

LXI. Andromache was the wife of Hector.

LXIII. Pyrrhus is the same as Neoptolemus in stanza xxxv.

LXXVI. Creusa and Iulus were the wife and son of Aeneas.

LXXVII. Helen is called 'Tyndarean' because she was the daughter of Tyndarus. Paris, son of Priam, had carried her off from her husband Menelaus, and so caused the Trojan war.

LXXXIII. The goddess Pallas (Athena) wore on her shield the head of the snaky-haired monster Medusa, one of the Gorgons.

LXXXIV. The walls of Troy were said to have been built by Apollo and Neptune.

CV. Hesperia, 'the western land,' here means Italy. The Tiber is called Lydian from a tradition that the Lydians had colonised Etruria.



NOTES TO BOOK THREE

X. The Nereids were sea-nymphs, the daughters of Nereus. The island mentioned is Delos, and the story referred to is that Jupiter hid Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana, on the floating island of Delos, in order to shelter her from the jealousy of Juno. By means of chains Apollo fixed Delos between the two small neighbouring islands Myconos and Gyarus.

XII. 'Thymbrean lord.' Apollo, so called from the town of Thymbra in the Troad, where he was worshipped.

XVI. Crete is called 'Gnosian' from 'Gnossos,' the chief town of the island.

XVII. Ortygia was the ancient name of Delos.

XXIII. The 'Ausonian shores' means Italy. For the Ausonians, see Book VII. stanza vi.

XXIX. The Strophades were a small group of islands off the south-west coast of Greece. The story alluded to is that Phineus, king of Thrace, unjustly put out the eyes of his sons. As a punishment the gods blinded him, and sent the Harpies—loathsome monsters with the bodies of birds and the faces of women—to defile and seize all the food that was set before him. Phineus was at last freed from them by Zetes and Calais, the sons of the North Wind, who drove the Harpies from Thrace to the Strophades.

For Celaeno's prophecy, see note on Book VII. stanza xvi.

XXXVI. Ulysses, the most cunning of the Greek leaders before Troy, was king of Ithaca, and son of Laertes.

XXXIX. Phaeacia means Corcyra, and Chaonia is a district of Epirus. Its chief harbour was Buthrotum.

XLIII. Hermione was the daughter of Menelaus and Helen. Orestes was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. He slew his mother on account of her treacherous murder of Agamemnon when the latter returned home from Troy, and killed Pyrrhus for having deprived him of his promised bride, Hermione.

XLVI. Xanthus was a river that flowed near Troy. The 'Scaean Gate' was the western gate of Troy and looked towards the sea. It was the best known of the gates because most of the fighting took place before it.

XLVII. Apollo was called 'Clarian' from Claros (near Ephesus), where there was a shrine and oracle of the god.

LII. Narycos, or more properly Naryx, was a town of the Opuntian Locri in Greece. Virgil follows the tradition that they went and settled in the south of Italy at the close of the Trojan war.

The 'Sallentinian plain' was the land bordering on the Tarentine Gulf, and 'Petelia' was on the east coast of Bruttium, and had been founded by Philoctetes, after he had been expelled from Thessaly.

LV. Scylla and Charybdis are taken from Homer. The former was a terrible sea-monster with six heads, and the latter a whirlpool. Tradition fixed their abode as the Straits of Messina. Scylla dwelt in a cave on the Italian side, Charybdis on the Sicilian.

LX. Dodona, in Epirus, was one of the famous oracles in Greece.

LXVIII. The place was called 'Castrum Minervae,' and lay a few miles to the north of the southern extremity of Calabria.

LXXII. The Cyclops were placed by Virgil on the slopes of Aetna.

LXXIV. Enceladus was one of the giants who had fought against the gods, but Jupiter struck him down with a thunderbolt and buried him under Mount Aetna.

LXXXVII. Pelorus was the most northerly headland of the Straits of Messina.

LXXXVIII. Plemmyrium ('the place of the tides') is the headland near the harbour of Syracuse, which was built on the island of Ortygia. The legend which Virgil refers to relates that Alpheus, the god of a river in Elis, fell in love with the nymph Arethusa while she was bathing in his waters. Diana changed her into a stream, and in that guise she fled from Alpheus under land and sea, finally issuing forth in Ortygia. Alpheus pursued her, and mingled his waters with hers.



NOTES TO BOOK FOUR

VIII. 'Sire Lyaeus:' Bacchus. These gods are mentioned in this place as having to do with marriage—possibly they are invoked as being specially the gods of Carthage.

XV. The name 'Titan' as applied to the sun is curious. Perhaps it is a reference to the Greek tale that Hyperion, one of the Titans, was the father of the sun.

XIX. The Agathyrsians were a Scythian tribe, and the Dryopes were a Thessalian people who dwelt on Mount Parnassus, the especial home of Apollo; Cynthus is a mountain in Delos.

XXVI. 'Ammon' was the African Jupiter.

XXIX. The 'Zephyrs' were the south-west winds, and so the right ones to take the fleet of Aeneas to Italy from Carthage.

XXXII. Atlas was the giant who held apart heaven and earth. Virgil identifies him with the mountains which lie in North Africa between the sea and the desert of Sahara. Atlas was the father of Maia, the mother of Mercury. The latter is called 'Cyllenius' from his birth-place, Mount Cyllene in Arcadia.

XXXVIII. Mount Cithaeron, near Thebes, was famous for the revels which took place there in honour of Bacchus.

XLIV. Phoebus (Apollo) is called 'Grynoeus' from Grynium, a city of Aeolis in Asia Minor. He was much worshipped in Lycia, hence his oracles are often called 'Lycian lots.'

LV. It was at Aulis in Boeotia that the Greek expedition against Troy mustered.

LX. In this passage Virgil has in mind the Bacchae of Euripides, in which Pentheus goes mad, and perhaps the Eumenides of Aeschylus, but it is more probable that in the latter case he is merely thinking of Orestes as he is represented in tragedy.

LXVI. Hecate, the goddess of the lower world, sometimes identified with Proserpina, and sometimes with Diana. She was worshipped at cross-roads by night.

For Avernus, see note on Book VI. stanza xviii.

The ancients believed that foals were born with a lump on their foreheads. The name given to this was hippomanes, and it was supposed to act as a powerful love-philtre.

LXXXII. By the 'unknown Avenger' Virgil clearly points to Hannibal.



NOTES TO BOOK FIVE

IV. Eryx was the son of Venus and Butes, Aeneas son of Venus and Anchises, hence they are called brothers here. Eryx is the legendary founder of the town of that name on the west coast of Sicily, near Mount Eryx.

VI. The story was that Acestes was the son of the Sicilian river-god Crimisus and Egesta, a Trojan maiden.

XI. The myrtle was sacred to Venus. Helymus was the supposed founder of the Elymi, a Sicilian tribe. He was a Trojan who had migrated to Sicily from Troy.

XVI.-XVII. The gens Memmia and the gens Sergia were two distinguished Roman families who traced their descent from Trojans. The only member of the family of Cluentius we know much about is the disreputable person on whose behalf Cicero made a well-known speech.

XXVI. Cape Malea is the most southerly point of Laconia in the Peloponnesus, renowned for its storms.

XXXII. Panopea was one of the Nereids or sea-nymphs. Portunus was an ancient Roman sea-god. Originally he was, as his name implies, a god of harbourage.

XXXIII. Meliboea was a town at the foot of Mount Ossa in Thessaly.

LVI. Alcides, a common name for Hercules, who was descended from Alcaeus. Hercules slew Eryx in the boxing-match referred to.

LXVIII. This refers to an incident mentioned in the Iliad. A truce had been concluded by the Greek and Trojans but it was broken by Pandarus, who shot an arrow at Menelaus.

LXXII. The meaning of this passage is very obscure. For we are not told what the portent signified either in this or the succeeding books. The old interpretation was that it referred to the burning of the ships (lxxxii. and following), but it is more probable that Virgil was thinking of the wars between Rome and Sicily.

LXXVII. The mother of Augustus was a member of the Atian family, and this passage was evidently inserted by Virgil with the special idea of pleasing Augustus.

LXXX. For Crete and the Labyrinth, see note on Book VI. stanza iv.

CIII. The temple of Venus on Mount Eryx was very celebrated in antiquity. Venus is called 'Idalian' from Idalium in Cyprus.

CXII. All the names that occur in this stanza are those of sea-gods or sea-nymphs.

CXVIII. The Roman poets placed the Sirens on some rocks in the southern part of the bay of Naples.



NOTES TO BOOK SIX

I. Cumae was the most ancient Greek colony in Campania. The tradition was that it had been founded by immigrants from Cyme and Aeolis and from Chaleis in Euboea. Hence its name, and the epithet Virgil applies to it.

II. The 'Sibyl' here mentioned was the most famous of the prophetesses of antiquity. She was directly inspired by Apollo (the Delian seer), and dwelt in a cavern near his temple. Trivia is an epithet of Hecate. See note on Book IV. stanza lxvi.

III. Daedalus, who built the labyrinth for Minos, incurred the wrath of the latter and escaped from Crete with his son Icarus, by making wings. He fastened them on with wax, and Icarus flying too near the sun, his wings melted and he fell into the Aegean. Daedalus, however, reached Cumae in safety.

IV. On the gate were carvings representing various Cretan stories. Androgeos was the son of Minos, king of Crete. He won all the contests at the Panathenaic festival at Athens, whose king, Aegeus, slew him out of jealousy. In revenge, Minos made war on the Athenians, and forced them to pay a yearly tribute of seven youths and seven maidens, who were devoured by the Minotaur. This monster was the offspring of Pasiphae, wife of Minos, and a bull sent by Neptune, and it lived in the labyrinth built by Daedalus. The tribute continued to be paid until Theseus, son of Aegeus, went to Crete as one of the seven. Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, fell in love with him, and helped him to slay the monster.

XIV. Xanthus and Simois were two rivers which flowed through the plain before Troy. The new Achilles is of course Turnus, king of the Rutuli.

XV. The Grecian town is Pallanteum, the chief city of Evander's kingdom. See Book VIII. stanza vii.

XVI. Acheron was the fabled river of the lower world. Virgil probably had in his mind the real Acherusia palus, a gloomy marsh near Naples.

XVIII. There was a volcanic lake near Cumae called Avernus, whose waters gave out sulphureous vapours. It was connected by tradition with the lower world. Orpheus, the mythical poet, so charmed the gods of the nether world by his harp-playing, that he was allowed to take back to the upper world his dead wife Eurydice. Castor was mortal, but his brother Pollux was immortal; so when the former was slain in fight Pollux obtained from Jupiter permission that each should spend half their time in heaven, half in Hades. Theseus descended into Hades in order to carry off Proserpine. He was kept a prisoner there until he was rescued by Hercules (Alcides), who came down to carry off Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guarded the entrance (see stanza lvi.).

XXXII. Virgil alludes to the promontory of Misenum on the north side of the bay of Naples. The legend is a purely local one. There is no mention of Misenus in Homer.

XXXIII. 'Aornos' is a Greek word—'where no bird can come.'

XXXV. 'The Furies' mother and her sister' were Night and Earth.

XXXVII. 'Phlegethon' was the 'burning' river of the lower world.

XXXIX. The beast of Lerna is the Lernean Hydra, slain by Hercules; the others are terrible monsters slain by various heroes.

XLI. Charon was the ferryman of the dead.

LIV. Apollo was called Amphrysian because he tended the herds of Admetus near the river Amphrysus in Thessaly. Here the epithet is strangely transferred to Apollo's servant.

LVII. Minos, king of Crete, became one of the judges of the dead, in the under-world. His brother Rhadamanthus was the other. See stanza lxxv.

LIX. For Phaedra, see note on Book VII. stanza ciii. Procris was accidentally slain by her husband, Eriphyle was killed by her son Alcmaeon, Evadne threw herself on her husband's funeral pyre, and Laodamia also died with her husband. For Pasiphae, see note on stanza iv.

LXIII. Tydeus, Parthenopaeus, and Adrastus were three of the seven heroes who fought against Thebes. The other names are taken from the Iliad.

LXXVII. The two sons of Aloeus were Otus and Ephialtes, who threatened to assail the Immortals by piling Pelion on Ossa and Ossa on Olympus. Salmoneus of Elis was punished for having presumptuously claimed divine honours.

LXXX. Ixion was king of the Lapithae, and being taken to heaven by Jupiter, made love to Juno, for which he was eternally punished. Pirithous was his son, and was guilty of having, with Theseus, attempted to carry off Proserpine.

XCIII. Lethe was the river of forgetfulness, and those who drank of it forgot their former life and were ready for a new one.

C.-CI. The kings mentioned in these two stanzas are the earliest mythical rulers of Alba Longa. Numitor was the father of Rhea Silvia (Ilia), the mother of Romulus and Remus.

CV. The Emperor Augustus was the nephew and adopted son of C. Julius Caesar, who claimed to trace his descent back to Iulus, and so through Aeneas to Venus herself.

CVIII. The first king referred to is Numa Pompilius, who was a Sabine born at Cures. Tullus and Ancus were the third and fourth kings of Rome. They can none of them be considered historical figures.

CIX. This Brutus expelled Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome. His sons tried to restore the monarchy and he ordered them to be executed.

CX. The Decii, father and son, both died in battle, and the family of the Drusi had many distinguished members. Manlius Torquatus was celebrated for killing his son for disobeying orders. Camillus was the great Roman hero of the fourth century B.C. He was five times dictator and saved Rome from the Gauls.

CXI. Virgil is referring to Caesar and Pompey.

CXII. L. Mummius captured Corinth, and so ended the war with Greece, in 146 B.C., and is clearly referred to here. By 'the man who lofty Argos shall o'erthrow,' Virgil probably means Aemilius Paullus, who won the battle of Pydna in 168 B.C. against a king of Macedonia who called himself a descendant of Achilles.

CXIII. Cato was the famous censor of 184 B.C. who vainly tried to check the growth of luxury at Rome. Cossus killed the king of Veii in 426 B.C. The two Gracchi were great political reformers. The elder Scipio defeated Hannibal at Zama in 202 B.C., and his son took Carthage in 146 B.C. Fabricius was the general who fought against Pyrrhus, when the latter invaded Italy in 281-75 B.C. Serranus was a general in the first Punic war. The Fabii of renown are so many that Anchises only mentions the most famous of them, Q. Fabius Maximus Cunctator, the general against Hannibal.

CXV. Marcus Marcellus was a Roman general in the first Punic war.

CXVI. Marcellus was the son of the Emperor's sister Octavia, and at the age of 18 he married Augustus' daughter Julia. He was a youth of great promise, and was destined to succeed his father-in-law, but he died of fever at the age of 20 in 23 B.C., amidst universal grief.



NOTES TO BOOK SEVEN

I. 'Thou too, Caieta,' that is to say, as well as Misenus and Palinurus, mentioned in the last book. Caieta gave her name to the town and promontory which were on the confines of Latium and Campania.

II. 'The coast, where Circe'—Virgil identifies 'the island of Aeaea,' the dwelling-place of Circe in Homer, with the promontory of Circeii in Italy.

VI. 'Say, Erato:' Erato was the Muse of Love, and the invocation is not specially appropriate in this place. But the line is an imitation of Apollonius Rhodius iii, 1.

'Ausonia,' a poetical name for Italy. The Ausones were early inhabitants of Campania.

VII. Latinus was king of the Latins, a small tribe whose chief town was Laurentum. Faunus a god of the fields and cattle-keepers, was afterwards identified with the Greek Pan. Picus was a prophetic god. We are told by Ovid that he was changed into a woodpecker (picus) by Circe, whose love he had slighted. Saturnus was the old Latin god of sowing, and was later identified with the Greek Kronos, father of Zeus.

XII. 'Albunea': apparently refers to a wooded hill with a sulphur spring. Probably it refers to a shrine near some sulphur springs at Altieri, near Laurentum.

'Oenotria': originally the southern part of Lucania and Bruttium, but Virgil uses it poetically for the whole of Italy.

XIII. See note on Book VI. stanzas xvi. and xviii.

XVI. It was not Anchises, but a Harpy who delivered this prophecy. See Book VIII. stanza xxix. This, and other slight inconsistencies in the Aeneid are undoubtedly due to the fact that Virgil died before he had revised the poem.

XVIII. 'Phrygia's Mother' was Cybele, the Phrygian goddess.

XXIV. 'Two-faced Janus.' Janus was an old Latin deity, god of the morning and of gateways. He was represented as 'two-faced,' looking before and behind. There was a double archway in the forum, called Janus, which was closed in times of peace, but opened in time of war. See stanzas lxxxi., lxxxii.

XXVIII. The Auruncans were a tribe living in Campania.

XLI. The Syrtes were two great gulfs on the north coast of Africa. For Scylla and Charybdis, see note on Book III stanza lv. The Lapithae were a Thessalian tribe, ruled by Perithous. The Centaurs came to his marriage feast, and at the instigation of Mars, fought with the Lapithae until the latter were defeated. 'Diana's ire' was caused by neglect on the part of king Oeneus of Calydon to sacrifice to her. She sent a wild boar to ravage the country.

LXIX. 'Trivia's lake' refers to the little lake of Nemi. A famous temple of Diana stood here, tended by a priest who was a runaway slave. He gained his office by slaying his predecessor and held it only so long as he could escape a similar fate. Cf. stanza ciii.

'Velia's fountains,' a lake in the Umbrian hills beyond Reate.

LXXXVII. Agylla was the original name of Caere.

XC. Homole and Othrys were mountains in Thessaly.

XCI. The Anio flows through the hills near Tibur, and joins the Tiber close to 'Antemnae's tower-girt height.' Cf. stanza lxxxiv.

Anagnia was the largest town of the Hernici, and Amasenus was a river of Latium.

XCIII. All these places were close to each other in Etruria, a few miles north of Rome.

XCIV. It is probable that this passage was left unfinished by Virgil. The simile is taken from Homer, and used here in two different ways, the poet evidently postponing his final decision as to which he would adopt, until he revised the poem.

XCV. Clausus, according to a legend preserved by Livy, was a Sabine who left his own countrymen and joined the Romans. For this he was rewarded by a gift of land on the Anio. He was regarded as the ancestor of the Claudian family.

XCVI. The name of the Allia was ill-omened because it was on the banks of this stream that the Gauls under Brennus inflicted a crushing defeat on the Romans in 390 B.C.

XCVIII. The Oscans were one of the old non-Latin tribes of Italy. Some fragments of their language still remain.

CIII. The legend was that Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, king of Athens, was loved by his step-mother Phaedra. Hippolytus rejected her love, and she killed herself, leaving a writing accusing him of having tempted her. Theseus in his wrath besought Poseidon to slay his son, and the latter sent a monster from the sea, which terrified the horses of Hippolytus so that they ran away and killed their master. Aesculapius raised him to life, however, and Diana concealed him in the grove of Aricia under the name of Virbius. The Virbius in the text is the son of this Hippolytus, also called Virbius.

CVI. Io, the daughter of Inachus, king of Argos, was loved by Jupiter, and turned by him into a white cow in order to escape the jealousy of Juno. The latter, however, set Argus with the hundred eyes to watch her.



NOTES TO BOOK EIGHT

I. Both here and in Book VII. stanza lxxxvii. Mezentius is called the 'scorner of the gods.' The meaning of this allusion is not known. Perhaps it refers to his claiming for himself the first-fruits due to the gods, a legend mentioned by Macrobius. See stanzas lxiii. and lxiv.

II. 'Diomed' dwelt at Argyripa or Arpi, a city in Apulia, where he settled with his Argine followers after the Trojan war.

VII. Pallas is the name of an old Arcadian hero. His grandson Evander is said to have settled with his followers on the site of Rome, and called it Pallanteum, after the Arcadian city of that name.

XIV. Hercules was the son of Alcmena and Jupiter. His worship at Rome dated from very early times, as is shown by the legend—mentioned by Livy—that it was established by Romulus according to Greek usage as it had been instituted by Evander.

XVI. The olive branch was the sign—universally recognised in antiquity—of a desire for peace.

XX. The Daunian race means the Rutulians. Daunus was the father of Turnus. Cf. Book XII. stanza iii.

XXVII. Alcides is one of the names given to Hercules. The killing of Geryon, the three-bodied monster who was king in Spain, and the driving off of his cattle, was one of the famous 'twelve labours' of Hercules.

XXXVI. The gens Potitia and the gens Pinaria were the two tribes to which the care of the worship of Hercules was entrusted.

XXXVIII.-IX. In historic times, the Salians were the twelve priests of Mars who kept the twelve sacred shields in the temple of that god on the Palatine hill. Their priesthood was one of the oldest Roman institutions, and their festival was held on March 1, the first day of the old Roman year.

'His stepdame's hate' refers to the story that Juno, being jealous of Alcmena, the mother of Hercules, sent two snakes to destroy the latter as he lay in his cradle, but the infant hero strangled them. Eurystheus was the king of Tiryns, whom Hercules had to serve for twelve years, and at whose command he performed his famous twelve labours. Pholus and Hylaeus were two Centaurs; they were called 'cloud-born' because they were the offspring of Ixion and a Cloud. The Cretan monster is the mad bull sent by Neptune to destroy the land; Hercules came to the rescue and carried it away on his shoulders. There is no other mention in ancient literature of the fight between Hercules and Typhoeus. The latter was a hundred-headed fire-breathing monster, who fought against the gods, and was buried beneath Mount Aetna.

XLII.-XLVIII. Evander shows the town to Aeneas, tells him of the former state of Latium, and points out to him the chief places of interest. Asylum—Livy tells us that in order to increase the population, Romulus offered a refuge at Rome to all comers from the neighbouring towns. The Lupercal was the sanctuary of Lupercus ('wolf-repeller'), an old Roman shepherd god. The Capitol is referred to as 'now golden,' because in Virgil's time the roof of the temple of Jupiter Capitotinus was gilded.

L. Thetis, the mother of Achilles, persuaded Vulcan to make arms for her son, and so had Aurora, the goddess of dawn, 'Tithonus' spouse,' when her son Memnon went to Troy to fight against the Greeks.

LV. The island here referred to is Hiera, one of the Aeolian isles, north-east of Sicily. It is now called Volcano. The Cyclops were originally gigantic one-eyed cannibals who lived a pastoral life near Mount Aetna. In later legends they are described as the assistants of Vulcan.

LVI. These three names are Greek and mean 'Fire-anvil,' 'Thunder,' and 'Lightning,' respectively.

LXXIV. Erulus is not mentioned by any other ancient writer, so we cannot explain the allusion. Feronia was a Campanian goddess.

LXXVIII. Lucifer, 'the light bringer,' was the name of the morning star, which, rising just before the sun, seemed to bring the daylight.

LXXX. The Pelasgians were a very ancient race, of whom only traces existed in Greece in historic times. They were said to be very wide-spread, but the tales connecting them with Italy are all unhistoric. Silvanus was an ancient Latin woodland deity.

LXXXIV. The story, as related by Livy, is that the Romans being in want of wives, Romulus instituted games in honour of Neptune. At a given signal, the Romans seized and carried off the Sabine maidens who had come to see the games.

LXXXV. Mettus, dictator of Alba, had been called in to assist the Romans under Tullus Hostilius. He came, but withdrew his troops in the middle of the battle. For this treachery he was punished in the way Virgil describes. Horatius Cocles was the hero who guarded the Tiber bridge against Porsenna of Clusium. Cloelia was a Roman maiden who had been sent as a hostage to Porsenna. She escaped by swimming across the Tiber.

LXXXVI. The event here referred to is the invasion of Rome by the Gauls in 390 B.C. They captured the whole of the city, except the Capitol, which was successfully defended by Manlius, who had been put on the alert by the cackling of a flock of geese.

LXXXVII. See note on stanza xxxviii. The Luperci were the priests of Lupercus. Catiline was the author of the conspiracy of B.C. 63. Cicero, the famous orator, was consul for that year and frustrated the plot. Cato the younger died at Utica in 49 B.C. In the Roman writers Catiline is always the proverbial scoundrel and Cato is always taken as the model of rigid and exalted virtue.

LXXXVIII. At the battle of Actium, in B.C. 31, the fleet of Augustus met those of Antony and Cleopatra, and owing to the desertion of the Egyptians at the crisis of the fight, gained a complete victory over them.

XC. The Cyclads were the western islands of the Greek archipelago.

XCIV. The Carians lived in the south of Asia Minor, the Gelonians beyond the Danube, and the Morini on the North Sea, near where Ostend now is. The Dahae were a tribe of Scythians, and the Leleges were an ancient people spread over Asia Minor.



NOTES TO BOOK NINE

I. Iris, the rainbow-goddess, daughter of Thaumas, was the messenger of the gods. Pilumnus was an ancient Latin god, and an ancestor of Turnus.

XI. Ida was the mountain in the Troad whence the wood for the fleet was taken. Berecyntia. Cybele, the mother of the gods. Originally a Phrygian goddess, the centre of whose worship was Mount Berecyntus.

XIV. The 'brother' is Pluto, god of the lower world. To swear by the Styx was the most dread and binding oath; it was inviolable even by the gods.

XVIII. The reference here is to the story of how Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, seized Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, and so caused the Trojan war. Menelaus and Agamemnon were the sons of Atreus.

XXVIII. For Acestes see note on Book V. stanza vi.

XXXIII. Assaracus was an ancestor of the Trojan race, and his household gods would of course be the tutelary spirits of the Trojan royal family.

LII. Latonia. The daughter of Leto, and sister of Apollo, Diana, who was identified with the Greek Artemis, the goddess of the woods and of hunting.

LXXII. 'Jove's armour-bearer' is the eagle.

LXXV. The Symaethus was a river in Sicily.

LXXVII. The 'wily-worded Ithacan' is Ulysses, the hero of the Odyssey.

LXXX. Dindymus was a mountain in Phrygia, the seat of the worship of Cybele.

LXXXVI. 'The Kid-star.' The 'kids' are two little stars which first rise in the evening towards the end of September, during the equinoctial gales.

LXXXVII. The Athesis is the modern Adige. The Padus is the Po.

LXXXIX. Sarpedon was a Lycian prince who had fought for the Trojans at Troy and been slain by Patroclus. 'Theban' here refers to the town of Thebe in Cilicia, mentioned by Homer.

XCI. Baiae was a favourite seaside resort of the rich Romans on the bay of Naples.

Prochyta and Arime were two rocky islands dose to the bay of Naples.

Typhoeus was a hundred-headed monster slain by Jupiter and buried under Prochyta and Arime.



NOTES TO BOOK TEN

I. Olympus was a mountain in Thessaly, and was believed by the Greeks to be the home of the gods. Hence it came to be used for 'heaven'; as in the present passage.

II. Jupiter is referring to the invasion of Italy by Hannibal in 218 B.C.

IV. Diomedes, the son of Tydeus from Aetolia, is said to have settled, after the Trojan war, in Apulia, where he founded the city of Arpi. The Latins, it will be remembered, had asked him to help them against the Trojans. See Book VIII. stanza ii. And for the result of the embassy, Book XI. stanza xxxi. and following.

VI. For the burning of the vessels at Eryx, see Book V. stanzas lxxxii. and following. For Aeolia Book I. stanzas viii. to xx. For Alecto Book VII. stanzas xliv. and following.

VIII. Paphos, Amathus, and Idalium were towns in Cyprus. Cythera is an island off the southern coast of Greece. All four were celebrated in antiquity as centres of the worship of Venus.

XIV. The robber was Paris, who carried off Helen.

XXI. Ismarus was a prince from Lydia, a district in Asia Minor, called Maeonia in ancient times. The Pactolus was a river in Maeonia, famous on account of the quantity of gold it washed down. The 'Capuan town' is Capua.

XXIII. The lions are there because Cybele the Phrygian goddess, worshipped by the Trojans on Mount Ida, was drawn in her chariot by two lions. The figure-head of Aeneas' ship was probably an image of a goddess, personifying the mountain.

XXIV. Mount Helicon is in Boeotia, and was sacred to Apollo and the Muses. Clusium and Cosae were Etruscan cities.

XXV. Populonia: a town on the coast of Etruria. Ilva (the modern Elba): an island off the coast of Etruria near Populonia.

XXVII. Cinyras and Cupavo were sons of Cycnus. The legend tells us that Phaethon rashly attempted to drive the chariot of the sun, and was killed by a thunderbolt from Jupiter, while so doing. Cycnus, who was devotedly attached to him, was changed into a swan while lamenting his death.

XXVIII. Mantua was Virgil's birthplace. Hence probably the insertion of this tradition as to its origin. Mincius, mentioned in the next stanza, is a Lombard river, the Mincio, and flows out from Lake Benacus (Lago di Garda).

XXXVII. Sirius, the dog-star, whose rising was supposed to coincide with the hot weather, is always spoken of as bringing pestilence and trouble. The connection between Sirius and the hot weather was one of the conventions of poetry which the Augustan writers had borrowed from the Greeks.

LXVII. The story referred to is that of the fifty daughters of Danaus, who were married to the fifty sons of Aegyptus, their cousins. Danaus ordered his daughters to murder their husbands on their wedding night, and they all obeyed except Hypermnestra, who loved her husband Lynceus, and so saved his life.

LXXIII. Trivia here refers to Diana. Gradivus is an archaic Latin name for Mars.

LXXVII. 'Mute Amyclae' was probably so called because the inhabitants had been forbidden, owing to false alarms, to speak of the approach of an enemy. But if Virgil is referring, not to the Amyclae near Naples, but to the original Amyclae in Laconia, then the proverbial taciturnity of those inhabiting the latter country offers sufficient explanation. Aegeon was a monster with 100 arms and 50 heads. He is more often called Briareus.

LXXIX. In the Iliad Aeneas had been rescued from Diomedes and Achilles. Liger is taunting him with this.



NOTES TO BOOK ELEVEN

XXXI. Iapygia, a Greek name for the southern part of Apulia.

Garganus: name of a mountain in Apulia.

See also note on Book X. stanza iv.

XXXIII. The references in this stanza are (1) to the storm which Minerva (Pallas) raised when the Greeks set sail from Troy. (2) To the story of Nauplius, king of Euboea, who hung false lights over the headland of Caphareus, and so caused the wreck of the Greek fleet.

XXXIV. 'Proteus' Pillars' means Egypt, and the stories of Menelaus, as also the adventures of Ulysses with the Cyclops, will be found in the Odyssey. For Pyrrhus see note on Book III. stanza xliii. For Idomeneus, that on Book III. stanza xvii. Agamemnon was killed by his wife and her lover, when he returned home at the end of the Trojan war.

XXXV. Calydon was the ancient home of Diomedes in Aetolia.

LII. The Myrmidons were the followers of Achilles—Tydides is Diomedes. The Aufidus is a river of Apulia.

LXIX. Opis was a nymph of Diana (Latonia).

LXXXIV. Virgil is comparing Camilla to the two famous Amazons, Hippolyte who was married to Theseus, and Penthesilea who fought for Troy and was slain by Achilles.

CVIII. [Transcriber's note: The rhyme, the meter, and the sense of the phrase require a word here that is missing from the published text. Possibly "flight" or "sight" was intended by the translator.]



NOTES TO BOOK TWELVE

XI. Orithyia was the wife of Boreas the North Wind, who according to legend was the father of the royal horses of Troy.

XXV. The two children of Latona were Apollo and Diana.

XXIX. Camers was king of Amyclae. See note on Book X. stanza lxxvii.

XLV. The story of Dolon is taken from the Iliad. He offered to spy upon the movements of the Greeks if Hector would give him the chariot and horses of Achilles. He was however captured and slain by Diomedes (Tydides).

LII. 'Paeon': a name used of Apollo as the Healer.

LXIX. 'Cupencus' was the name given by the Sabines to the priests of Hercules.

XCI. Athos: the mountain at the extreme end of the peninsula between Thrace and Thessaly. Mount Eryx is in the north-west of Sicily.

XCIII. Taburnus: a mountain in Samnium.

Sila: a range of mountains in the extreme south of Italy.



RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.



THE PUBLISHERS OF EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY WILL BE PLEASED TO SEND FREELY TO ALL APPLICANTS A LIST OF THE PUBLISHED AND PROJECTED VOLUMES TO BE COMPRISED UNDER THE FOLLOWING THIRTEEN HEADINGS:

TRAVEL, SCIENCE, FICTION, THEOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY, CLASSICAL, FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, ESSAYS, ORATORY, POETRY & DRAMA, BIOGRAPHY, REFERENCE, ROMANCE

IN FOUR STYLES OF BINDING: CLOTH, FLAT BACK, COLOURED TOP; LEATHER, ROUND CORNERS, GILT TOP; LIBRARY BINDING IN CLOTH, & QUARTER PIGSKIN

LONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS, LTD. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.

THE END