With some cold reverence worse than were she dead,
Ill mother that I was to leave her there,

To lag behind, scared by the cry they made,
The horror of the shame among them all:
But I will go and sit beside the doors.
And make a wild petition night and day,
Until they hate to hear me like a wind
Wailing for ever, till they open to me,
And lay my little blossom at my feet,
My babe, my sweet Aglaïa, my one child:
And I will take her up and go my way.
And satisfy my soul with kissing her:

Ah! what might that man not deserve of me
Who gave me back my child?

735. Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks
Grazing the tender herb, were interposed;
Or palmy hillock or the flowery lap

Of some irriguous valley spread her store,
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose:
Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps
Luxuriant; meanwhile murmuring waters fall
Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake,
That to the fringed bank with myrtle crown'd
Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams.
The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on the eternal Spring. Not that fair field
Of Enna, where Prosérpine gathering flowers,
Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis

Was gather'd, which cost Ceres all that pain

To seek her through the world; nor that sweet

Of Daphne by Orontes, and the inspired
Castalian spring, might with this Paradise
Of Eden strive.

736. And first the bold excursion he confronts
Of young Antiphates, the base-born son
Of King Sarpedon by a Theban slave;
Whose throat th' Italian cornel forceful thrown
Transfixes, in his lungs the steel grows warm,
The wound's deep cavern spouts a foamy stream.
By the same hand Aphidnus, Erymas,

And Merops fall; and Bitias, where he stood
Raging with eyes of flame: no vulgar dart
Him slew, or could have slain; a fire-spear came
With speed of lightning and the noise of wind;
Nor two bullhides, nor cuirass firm with gold
And double scales that fury could withstand ;
Down sink his giant limbs, earth gives a groan,
The shield with thunder-crash falls over him:
As when on Baian shores some rocky mole
Built up with strong foundations in the sea
Gives way; the whole mass tumbling from its height
Prone on the deep a sunken ruin lies;

The seas are mingled, and black sands uproll;
Shook to the base all Prochyta resounds,

And vast Inarime, the penal bed,

Which Jupiter hath on Typhoeus laid.

737. Daphnis, it chanced, beneath a whispering holm
Had sat him down. Thyrsis and Corydon

Had flocks together driven, the one his lambs,
The other goats with milky udders full :
Both were of blooming age, Arcadians both,
Well match'd in song, in ready answer apt:
Just then a goat, the husband of my flock,
While I was fencing myrtles from the cold,
Had stray'd away; and Daphnis I espied:
At sight of me, Come hither, he exclaim'd:

Safe, Melibœus, are thy goat and kids;

If thou hast leisure, rest thee in the shade.
Thy steers unbidden thro' the meads to drink
Hither will come: here tender reeds the bank
Of verdant Mincius fringe, and swarming bees
On yonder venerable oak resound.-

What could I do? Alcippe there was none, Nor Phyllis nigh, to house my weaned lambs, And straight a mighty match was coming on, Thyrsis and Corydon. To view their sport I rather chose than mind mine own affairs. The contest now began; their rival strains They sang alternate, so the Muses will'd; First Corydon his part, next Thyrsis tried. 738. Thus spake the heavenly Sire: his son prepares The mandate to obey. First on his feet He binds the golden sandals, which on high Bear him with pinions over seas and earth, Swift as the whirlwind. Next his wand he lifts. Therewith from Orcus pallid ghosts he calls, Or sends them downwards to the gloomy realms; Therewith gives sleep, or takes away, and opes The eyes which death had seal'd. Aided by this, Winds he controls, and glides through turbid clouds. Now in his flight he sees the tow'ring sides And top of Atlas, who the sky upholds ;

Atlas, whose piny head is ever wrapp'd

In darksome mist, by shower and storm attack'd;
Snow veils his shoulders. From his chin rush down
Floods, and his grisly beard is stiff with ice.
Here first Cyllenius, pois'd on even wings,
Alighted; hence with his whole body's weight
Down to the deep, headlong he flung himself,
Like to a bird, which low around the shores,
The fishy rocks around, flies near the surge.

The son of Maia over sandy plains

Of Libya skimm'd, and cleft through gales his way. 739. The snake between her robes and snowy breast Gliding with touch insensible, inspires

His viper-breath; now stealing round her neck
Becomes a chain of gold, or ribbon long,

Now wreaths her hair, and slips about her limbs.
Awhile the poison with a subtle flow

Tingled her veins, and wrapt her bones with fire,
Nor yet her inmost soul had caught the flame:
She weeps, and softly with a mother's grief
Her daughter and the Phrygian marriage wails :
A Trojan exile must Lavinia wed?

O Father! Nor thy daughter nor thyself
Nor me thou pitiest; whom the robber false
With the first wind deserting, o'er the wave
Will bear my child. The Phrygian shepherd thus
To Sparta came, and Helen bore to Troy.
Where is thy solemn faith, thy natural love,
Thy promise to our kinsman Turnus given?
If by the oracle of Faunus prest

Thou art resolv'd a foreign son to find;
All land, that doth not own our regal sway,
Foreign I deem; and so the gods intend;
And Turnus, if his origin we trace,
From Inachus descends and Argive kings.

740. He looked, and saw wide territory spread
Before him, towns, and rural works between ;
Cities of men with lofty gates and towers,
Concourse in arms, fierce faces threatening war,
Giants of mighty bone and bold emprise:
Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed,
Single or in array of battle ranged

Both horse and foot, nor idly must'ring stood;
One way a band select from forage drives

A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine,
From a fat meadow ground; or ficecy flock,
Ewes and their bleating lambs over the plain,
Their booty; scarce with life the shepherds fly,
But call in aid, which makes a bloody fray;
With cruel tournament the squadrons join;
Where cattle pastured late, now scatter'd lies
With carcasses and arms the ensanguined field,
Deserted: others to a city strong

Lay siege, encamp'd; by battery, scale, and mine,
Assaulting; others from the wall defend

With dart and javelin, stones, and sulphurous fire;
On each hand slaughter, and gigantic deeds.
In other part the sceptred heralds call

To council, in the city gates; anon

Grey-headed men and grave, with warriors mix'd,
Assemble, and harangues are heard; but soon,
In factious opposition; till at last

Of middle age one rising, eminent

In wise deport, spake much of right and wrong,
Of justice, of religion, truth, and peace,
And judgment from above; him old and young
Exploded, and had seized with violent hands;
Had not a cloud descending snatch'd him thence,
Unseen amid the throng: so violence
Proceeded, and oppression, and sword law,

Through all the plain, and refuge none was found.