Tum verò attonitæ monstris, actæque furore, Castra; nec exanimes possunt retinere magistri. 660 665 675 Quis furor iste novus? quò nunc, quò tenditis, inquit, 670 Stuppa, vomens tardum fumum; lentusque carinas 680 685 690 664. Cuneosque theatri. The seats in the theatre made for the people were called cunei, because they were narrower near the stage, and broader behind, in form of a wedge. 682. Stuppa. A coarse kind of flax or tow called oakum, which is driven into all the seams or chinks of a ship, and then laid over with hot pitch, to keep out the water. Then, indeed, confounded at the prodigy, and seized with madness, they shriek out together, and snatch the flame from the hallowed hearths. Some rifle the altars, and fling boughs and saplings and brands together; the conflagration rages with uncontrollable fury amidst the rowers' seats, and oars, and painted sterns of fir. Eumelus conveys the tidings to Anchises' tomb, and to the benches of the theatre, that the ships were burned: and they themselves behold the sparks of fire flying up in a pitchy cloud. And first, Ascanius, as joyous he led the cavalcade, just as he was, with full speed rode up to the troubled camp; nor was it in the power of his guardians, half dead for fear, to check him. What strange frenzy is this? whither, he cries, ah, my wretched countrywomen, whither would you now? It is not the enemy, or the hostile camp of the Greeks, but your own hopes ye burn. Here am I, your own Ascanius. Then he threw at their feet the empty helmet, which he wore in exhibiting the images of war in sport. At the same time Eneas and the whole bands of the Trojans came up in haste. But the matrons for fear fly different ways up and down the shore, and sculking repair to the woods and hollow rocks wherever they may be concealed. They loathe their horrid deed, they loathe the light, and now penitent confess their friends; and Juno is dislodged from their breasts. But the flames and conflagration did not therefore abate their ungovernable fury. The smouldering tow lives under the moistened boards, disgorging tardy languid smoke; the smothered fire gradually consumes the keel, and the contagious ruin spreads through the whole body of the vessel. Neither the utmost efforts of the heroes, nor injected streams, avail. Then pious Æneas tore his robe from his shoulders, and invoked the gods to his aid, and stretched out his hands: Almighty Jove, if thou dost not yet abhor all the Trojans to a man, if thy ancient goodness regards human disasters with any commiseration, grant now, O father, that our fleet may escape from these flames, and save from desolation the state of the Trojans thus low reduced. Or, to complete Vel tu, quod superest, infesto fulmine morti, At pater Æneas, casu concussus acerbo, 695 700 705 Nate Deâ, quò fata trahunt retrahuntque, sequamur: Hunc cape consiliis socium, et conjunge volentem : Talibus incensus dictis senioris amici, Tum verò in curas animum diducitur omnes. 715 720 701. Unum quem. Unum, here and in other places of Virgil, has the force of praecipuum; as Aen. ii. 426. 711. Divinae stirpis. He was the son of the river-god Crinisus, and descended froin Dardanus, who derived his original from Jupiter. thy vengeance, hurl me down to the realms of death with thy vindictive thunder, if I so deserve, and crush me here with thy right hand. Scarcely had he spoken these words, when a black tempest of bursting rain rages with uncommon fury; both hills and valleys quake with thunder; the shower descending in turbid rain, and condensed into pitchy darkness by the thick-beating south winds, pours down from the whole atmosphere. The ships are filled from above: the half-burned boards are drenched, till the whole smoke is extinguished, and all the ships, with the loss only of four, are saved from the fiery pest. But father Æneas, struck with the severe misfortune, turned his deeply anxious thoughts now this way, now that, pondering with himself whether he should settle in the territories of Sicily, regardless of the kingdom allotted to him by fate, or steer his course to the Italian coast. Then aged Nautes, whom Tritonian Pallas singularly taught, and rendered illustrious for deep penetration, gave forth these responses, intimating what either the high displeasure of the gods portended, or what the series of the fates required. And thus, solacing Æneas, he begins: Goddess-born, let us follow the dictates of heaven, whether they invite us backward or forward: come what will, every fortune is to be surmounted by patience. You have Trojan Acestes of divine original: admit him the partner of your counsels, and unite yourself to him your willing friend: to him deliver up such as are supernumerary, now that you have lost some ships: choose out those who are sick of the great enterprise, and of your fortune; the old with length of years oppressed, and the matrons fatigued with the voyage; select the feeble part of your company, and such as dread the danger, and, since they are tired out, let them have a settlement in these territories: they shall call the city Acesta by a licensed name. Then indeed Æneas, fired by these words of his aged friend, is distracted in his mind amidst a thousand cares. Now sable Night, mounted on her chariot with two 725 730 735 Visa dehinc cœlo facies delapsa parentis Anchise, subitò tales effundere voces: Nate, mihi vitâ quondam, dum vita manebat, Care magis; nate, Iliacis exercite fatis! Imperio Jovis huc venio, qui classibus ignem Depulit, et cœlo tandem miseratus ab alto est. Consiliis pare, quæ nunc pulcherrima Nautes Dat senior; lectos juvenes, fortissima corda, Defer in Italiam. Gens dura, atque aspera cultu, Debellanda tibi Latio est. Ditis tamen antè Infernas accede domos; et Averna per alta Congressus pete, nate, meos: non me impia namque Tartara habent tristesque umbræ; sed amoena piorum Concilia Elysiumque colo. Huc casta Sibylla Nigrantûm multo pecudum te sanguine ducet. Tum genus omne tuum, et quæ dentur moenia, disces. Jamque vale: torquet medios nox humida cursus, Et me sævus equis Oriens afflavit anhelis. Dixerat; et tenues fugit, ceu fumus, in auras. Eneas, Quò deinde ruis? quò proripis? inquit: Quem fugis? aut quis te nostris complexibus arcet? Hæc memorans, cinerem et sopitos suscitat ignes, Pergameumque Larem, et canæ penetralia Vestæ, Farre pio, et plenâ supplex veneratur acerrâ. Extemplo socios, primumque arcessit Acesten; Et Jovis imperium, et cari præcepta parentis Edocet, et quæ nunc animo sententia constet. Haud mora consiliis; nec jussa recusat Acestes. Transcribunt urbi matres, populumque volentem Deponunt, animos nil magnæ laudis egentes. Ipsi transtra novant, flammisque ambesa reponunt Robora; navigiis aptant remosque rudentesque; Exigui numero, sed bello vivida virtus. 740 745 750 722. Coelo delapsa. The ancients distinguished between the soul and the shade; the former, as they believed, went to heaven, the other resided in the infernal regions. Thus Anchises here descends from heaven, viz. as to his soul, while at the same time his shade was in Elysium, ver. 734. 736. Nigrantum pecudum. Because these were always sacrificed to the infernal deities. |