Chac'd from my country, I once more repeat
All fufferings feas could give, or war compleat ;:
For Venus, mindful of her wound, decreed
Still new calamities should past fucceed.
Agmon, impatient through fucceffive ills,
With fury, Love's bright Goddess thus revilès :
Thefe plagues in fpite to Diomede are ferft;
The crime is his, but ours the punishment.
Let each, my friends, her puny fpleen defpife,
And dare that haughty harlot of the skies.
The reft of Agmon's infolence complain,
And of irreverence the wretch arraign.
About to answer, his blafpheming throat
Contracts, and fhrieks in fome dildainful note...
To his new skin a fleece of feather clings,
Hides his late arms, and lengthens into wings.
The lower features of his face extend,
Warp into horn, and in a beak defcend.
Some more experience Agmon's destiny;
And, wheeling in the air, like fwans they fly.
These thin remains to Daunus' realms I bring,.
And here I reign, a poor precarious king.
TRANSFORMATION OF APPULUS:
Thus Diomedes.. Venulus withdraws; Unfped the fervice or the common cause. Puteoli he paffes, and furvey'd
A cave long honour'd for its awful shade.
Here trembling reeds exclude the piercing ray,
Here ftreams in gentle falls through' windings ftray,
And with a paffing breath cool Zephyrs play.
The goat-herd God frequents the filent place,
As once the wood-nymphs of the fylvan race,
Till Appulus, with a dishonest air,
And grofs behaviour, banifh'd thence the fair.
The bold buffoon, whene'er they tread the greens,
Their motion mimicks, but with geft obfcene..
Loofe language oft' he utters; bur ere long
A bark in filmy net-work binds his tongue.
Thus chang'd, a bafe wild olive he remains
The fhrub the coarfenefs of the clown retains..
THE TROJAN SHIPS
TRANSFORMED TO SEA-NYMPHS.
Meanwhile the Latians all their power prepare,
'Gainft fortune and the foe-to push the war.
With Phrygian blood the floating fields they ftain;
But, fhort of fuccours, ftill contend in vain.
Turnus remarks the Trojan fleet ill-mann'd,
Unguarded, and at anchor near the strand;
He thought; and straight a lighted brand he bore,
And fire invades what 'feap'd the waves before.
The billows from the kindling prow retire;
Pitch, rofin, fearwood, on red wings afpire,
And Vulcan on the feas exerts his attribute of fire.
This when the mother of the Gods beheld,
Her towery crown fhe fhook, and flood reveal'd;
Her brindled lions rein'd, unveil'd her head,
And, hovering o'er her favour'd fleet, she faid;
Ceafe Turnus, and the heavenly powers refpect,
Nor dare to violate what I protect.
Thefe gallies, once fair trees, on Ida stood,
And gave their shade to each descending God;
Nor fhall confume; irrevocable Fate
Allots their being no determin'd date.
Straight peals of thunder Heaven's high arches rend,
The hail-ftones leap, the fhowers in fpouts defcend.
The winds with widen'd throats the fignal give;
The cables break, the smoaking vessels drive.
Now, wondrous, as they beat the foaming flood,
The timber foftens into flesh and blood;
The yards and oars new arms and legs defign;
A trunk the hull; the flender keel, a fpine;
The prow a female face; and by degrees
The gallies rife green daughters of the feas.
Sometimes on coral beds they fit in state,
Or wanton on the waves they fear'd of late,
The barks, that beat the feas, are ftill their care,
Themselves remembering what of late they were ;
To fave a Trojan fail, in throngs they prefs,
But fmile to fee Alcinous in distress.
Unable were those wonders to deter
The Latians from their unfuccefsful war.
Both fides for doubtful victory contend;
And on their courage, and their Gods, depend.
Nor bright Lavinia, nor Latinus' crown,
Warm their great foul to war, like fair renown.
Venus at laft beholds her godlike fon
Triumphant, and the field of battle won;
Brave Turnus flain; strong Ardea but a name,
And buried in fierce deluges of flame;
Her towers, that boafted once a fovereign fway,
The fate of fancy'd grandeur now betray.
A famifh'd heron from the ashes fprings,
And beats the ruin with difaftrous wings;
Calamities of towns diftreft fhe feigns,
And oft', with woeful fhrieks, of war complains.
DEIFICATION OF ENE AS.
Now had Æneas, as ordain'd by Fate,
Surviv'd the period of Saturnia's hate :
And, by a fure irrevocable doom,
Fix'd the immortal majefty of Rome.
Fit for the station of his kindred stars,
His mother Goddess thus her fuit prefers :
Almighty arbiter, whofe powerful nød
Shakes diftant earth, and bows our own abode;
To thy great progeny indulgent be,
And rank the Goddess-born a deity.
Already has he view'd, with mortal eyes,
Thy brother's kingdoms of the nether skies.
Forthwith a conclave of the Godhead meets,
Where Juno in the shining fenate fits.
Remorfe for paft revenge the Goddess feels;
Then thundering Jove th' almighty mandate feals;
Allots the prince of his celestial line
An apotheofis, and rights divine.
The crystal mansions echo with applause,
And, with her graces, Love's bright queen withdraws
Shoots in a blaze of light along the skies,
And, borne by turtle, to Laurentum flies;
Alights where through the reeds Numicius ftrays,
And to the feas his watery tribute pays.
The God the fupplicates, to wash away
The parts more gross, and subject to decay,
And cleanse the Goddefs-born from feminal allay.
The horned flood with glad attention stands,
Then bids his ftreams obey their fire's commands.
His better parts by luftral waves refin'd,
More pure, and nearer to æthereal mind,
With gums of fragrant fcent the Goddefs ftrews,
And on his features breathes ambrofial dews.
Thus deify'd, new honours Rome decrees,
Shrines, feftivals; and ftiles him Indiges.
THE LINE OF THE LATIAN KINGS.
Afcanius now the Latian fceptre fways;
The Alban nation Sylvius next obeys.
Then young Latinus: : Next an Alba came,
The grace and guardian of the Alban name.
Then Epitus; then gentle Capys reign'd;
Then Capetis the regal power fuftain'd.
Next he who perifh'd on the Tufcan flood,
And honour'd with his name the River God.
|