The Aeneid | Page 8

for their
dwellings choose a spot of ground,
Which, first design'd, with ditches
they surround.
Some laws ordain; and some attend the choice
Of
holy senates, and elect by voice.
Here some design a mole, while
others there
Lay deep foundations for a theater;
From marble
quarries mighty columns hew,

For ornaments of scenes, and future
view.
Such is their toil, and such their busy pains,
As exercise the
bees in flow'ry plains,
When winter past, and summer scarce begun,

Invites them forth to labor in the sun;
Some lead their youth abroad,
while some condense
Their liquid store, and some in cells dispense;


Some at the gate stand ready to receive
The golden burthen, and
their friends relieve;
All with united force, combine to drive
The
lazy drones from the laborious hive:
With envy stung, they view each
other's deeds;
The fragrant work with diligence proceeds.
"Thrice
happy you, whose walls already rise!"
Aeneas said, and view'd, with
lifted eyes,
Their lofty tow'rs; then, entiring at the gate,
Conceal'd
in clouds (prodigious to relate)
He mix'd, unmark'd, among the busy
throng,
Borne by the tide, and pass'd unseen along.
Full in the center of the town there stood,
Thick set with trees, a
venerable wood.
The Tyrians, landing near this holy ground,
And
digging here, a prosp'rous omen found:
From under earth a courser's
head they drew,
Their growth and future fortune to foreshew.
This
fated sign their foundress Juno gave,
Of a soil fruitful, and a people
brave.
Sidonian Dido here with solemn state
Did Juno's temple
build, and consecrate,
Enrich'd with gifts, and with a golden shrine;

But more the goddess made the place divine.
On brazen steps the
marble threshold rose,
And brazen plates the cedar beams inclose:

The rafters are with brazen cov'rings crown'd;
The lofty doors on
brazen hinges sound.
What first Aeneas this place beheld,
Reviv'd
his courage, and his fear expell'd.
For while, expecting there the
queen, he rais'd
His wond'ring eyes, and round the temple gaz'd,

Admir'd the fortune of the rising town,
The striving artists, and their
arts' renown;
He saw, in order painted on the wall,
Whatever did
unhappy Troy befall:
The wars that fame around the world had blown,

All to the life, and ev'ry leader known.
There Agamemnon, Priam
here, he spies,
And fierce Achilles, who both kings defies.
He
stopp'd, and weeping said: "O friend! ev'n here
The monuments of
Trojan woes appear!
Our known disasters fill ev'n foreign lands:

See there, where old unhappy Priam stands!
Ev'n the mute walls
relate the warrior's fame,
And Trojan griefs the Tyrians' pity claim."

He said (his tears a ready passage find),
Devouring what he saw so
well design'd,
And with an empty picture fed his mind:
For there he

saw the fainting Grecians yield,
And here the trembling Trojans quit
the field,
Pursued by fierce Achilles thro' the plain,
On his high
chariot driving o'er the slain.
The tents of Rhesus next his grief renew,

By their white sails betray'd to nightly view;
And wakeful
Diomede, whose cruel sword
The sentries slew, nor spar'd their
slumb'ring lord,
Then took the fiery steeds, ere yet the food
Of Troy
they taste, or drink the Xanthian flood.
Elsewhere he saw where
Troilus defied
Achilles, and unequal combat tried;
Then, where the
boy disarm'd, with loosen'd reins,
Was by his horses hurried o'er the
plains,
Hung by the neck and hair, and dragg'd around:
The hostile
spear, yet sticking in his wound,
With tracks of blood inscrib'd the
dusty ground.
Meantime the Trojan dames, oppress'd with woe,
To
Pallas' fane in long procession go,
In hopes to reconcile their heav'nly
foe.
They weep, they beat their breasts, they rend their hair,
And
rich embroider'd vests for presents bear;
But the stern goddess stands
unmov'd with pray'r.
Thrice round the Trojan walls Achilles drew

The corpse of Hector, whom in fight he slew.
Here Priam sues; and
there, for sums of gold,
The lifeless body of his son is sold.
So sad
an object, and so well express'd,
Drew sighs and groans from the
griev'd hero's breast,
To see the figure of his lifeless friend,
And his
old sire his helpless hand extend.
Himself he saw amidst the Grecian
train,
Mix'd in the bloody battle on the plain;
And swarthy Memnon
in his arms he knew,
His pompous ensigns, and his Indian crew.

Penthisilea there, with haughty grace,
Leads to the wars an
Amazonian race:
In their right hands a pointed dart they wield;
The
left, for ward, sustains the lunar shield.
Athwart her breast a golden
belt she throws,
Amidst the press alone provokes a thousand foes,

And dares her maiden arms to manly force oppose.
Thus while the Trojan prince employs his eyes,
Fix'd on the walls
with wonder and surprise,
The beauteous Dido, with a num'rous train

And pomp of guards, ascends the sacred fane.
Such on Eurotas'
banks, or Cynthus' height,
Diana seems; and so she charms the sight,


When in the dance the graceful goddess leads
The choir of nymphs,
and overtops their heads:
Known by her quiver, and her lofty mien,

She walks majestic, and she looks their queen;
Latona sees her shine
above the rest,
And feeds with secret joy her silent breast.
Such
Dido was; with such becoming state,
Amidst the crowd, she walks
serenely great.
Their labor to her future sway she speeds,
And
passing with a gracious glance proceeds;
Then mounts the throne,
high plac'd before the shrine:
In crowds around, the