"All-seeing sun, and thou, Ausonian soil, For which I have sustain'd so long a toil, Thou, King of Heav'n, and thou, the Queen of Air, Propitious now, and reconcil'd by pray'r;Thou, God of War, whose unresisted sway The labors and events of arms obey;Ye living fountains, and ye running floods, All pow'rs of ocean, all ethereal gods, Hear, and bear record: if I fall in field, Or, recreant in the fight, to Turnus yield, My Trojans shall encrease Evander's town;Ascanius shall renounce th' Ausonian crown:
All claims, all questions of debate, shall cease;Nor he, nor they, with force infringe the peace.
But, if my juster arms prevail in fight, (As sure they shall, if I divine aright,)My Trojans shall not o'er th' Italians reign:
Both equal, both unconquer'd shall remain, Join'd in their laws, their lands, and their abodes;I ask but altars for my weary gods.
The care of those religious rites be mine;The crown to King Latinus I resign:
His be the sov'reign sway.Nor will I share His pow'r in peace, or his command in war.
For me, my friends another town shall frame, And bless the rising tow'rs with fair Lavinia's name."Thus he.Then, with erected eyes and hands, The Latian king before his altar stands.
"By the same heav'n," said he, "and earth, and main, And all the pow'rs that all the three contain;By hell below, and by that upper god Whose thunder signs the peace, who seals it with his nod;So let Latona's double offspring hear, And double-fronted Janus, what I swear:
I touch the sacred altars, touch the flames, And all those pow'rs attest, and all their names;Whatever chance befall on either side, No term of time this union shall divide:
No force, no fortune, shall my vows unbind, Or shake the steadfast tenor of my mind;Not tho' the circling seas should break their bound, O'erflow the shores, or sap the solid ground;Not tho' the lamps of heav'n their spheres forsake, Hurl'd down, and hissing in the nether lake:
Ev'n as this royal scepter" (for he bore A scepter in his hand) "shall never more Shoot out in branches, or renew the birth:
An orphan now, cut from the mother earth By the keen ax, dishonor'd of its hair, And cas'd in brass, for Latian kings to bear."When thus in public view the peace was tied With solemn vows, and sworn on either side, All dues perform'd which holy rites require;The victim beasts are slain before the fire, The trembling entrails from their bodies torn, And to the fatten'd flames in chargers borne.
Already the Rutulians deem their man O'ermatch'd in arms, before the fight began.
First rising fears are whisper'd thro' the crowd;Then, gath'ring sound, they murmur more aloud.
Now, side to side, they measure with their eyes The champions' bulk, their sinews, and their size:
The nearer they approach, the more is known Th' apparent disadvantage of their own.
Turnus himself appears in public sight Conscious of fate, desponding of the fight.
Slowly he moves, and at his altar stands With eyes dejected, and with trembling hands;And, while he mutters undistinguish'd pray'rs, A livid deadness in his cheeks appears.
With anxious pleasure when Juturna view'd Th' increasing fright of the mad multitude, When their short sighs and thick'ning sobs she heard, And found their ready minds for change prepar'd;Dissembling her immortal form, she took Camertus' mien, his habit, and his look;A chief of ancient blood; in arms well known Was his great sire, and he his greater son.
His shape assum'd, amid the ranks she ran, And humoring their first motions, thus began:
"For shame, Rutulians, can you bear the sight Of one expos'd for all, in single fight?
Can we, before the face of heav'n, confess Our courage colder, or our numbers less?
View all the Trojan host, th' Arcadian band, And Tuscan army; count 'em as they stand:
Undaunted to the battle if we go, Scarce ev'ry second man will share a foe.
Turnus, 't is true, in this unequal strife, Shall lose, with honor, his devoted life, Or change it rather for immortal fame, Succeeding to the gods, from whence he came:
But you, a servile and inglorious band, For foreign lords shall sow your native land, Those fruitful fields your fighting fathers gain'd, Which have so long their lazy sons sustain'd."With words like these, she carried her design:
A rising murmur runs along the line.
Then ev'n the city troops, and Latians, tir'd With tedious war, seem with new souls inspir'd:
Their champion's fate with pity they lament, And of the league, so lately sworn, repent.
Nor fails the goddess to foment the rage With lying wonders, and a false presage;But adds a sign, which, present to their eyes, Inspires new courage, and a glad surprise.
For, sudden, in the fiery tracts above, Appears in pomp th' imperial bird of Jove:
A plump of fowl he spies, that swim the lakes, And o'er their heads his sounding pinions shakes;Then, stooping on the fairest of the train, In his strong talons truss'd a silver swan.
Th' Italians wonder at th' unusual sight;But, while he lags, and labors in his flight, Behold, the dastard fowl return anew, And with united force the foe pursue:
Clam'rous around the royal hawk they fly, And, thick'ning in a cloud, o'ershade the sky.
They cuff, they scratch, they cross his airy course;Nor can th' incumber'd bird sustain their force;But vex'd, not vanquish'd, drops the pond'rous prey, And, lighten'd of his burthen, wings his way.
Th' Ausonian bands with shouts salute the sight, Eager of action, and demand the fight.
Then King Tolumnius, vers'd in augurs' arts, Cries out, and thus his boasted skill imparts:
"At length 't is granted, what I long desir'd!
This, this is what my frequent vows requir'd.
Ye gods, I take your omen, and obey.
Advance, my friends, and charge! I lead the way.
These are the foreign foes, whose impious band, Like that rapacious bird, infest our land:
But soon, like him, they shall be forc'd to sea By strength united, and forego the prey.
