The Aeneid Virgil (the top 100 crime novels of all time .TXT) đ
- Author: Virgil
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He said no more. And now renewing day
Had chasâd the shadows of the night away.
He chargâd the soldiers, with preventing care,
Their flags to follow, and their arms prepare;
Warnâd of thâ ensuing fight, and bade âem hope the war.
Now, his lofty poop, he viewâd below
His camp incompassâd, and thâ inclosing foe.
His blazing shield, imbracâd, he held on high;
The camp receive the sign, and with loud shouts reply.
Hope arms their courage: from their towârs they throw
Their darts with double force, and drive the foe.
Thus, at the signal givân, the cranes arise
Before the stormy south, and blacken all the skies.
King Turnus wonderâd at the fight renewâd,
Till, looking back, the Trojan fleet he viewâd,
The seas with swelling canvas coverâd oâer,
And the swift ships descending on the shore.
The Latians saw from far, with dazzled eyes,
The radiant crest that seemâd in flames to rise,
And dart diffusive fires around the field,
And the keen glittâring of the golden shield.
Thus threatâning comets, when by night they rise,
Shoot sanguine streams, and sadden all the skies:
So Sirius, flashing forth sinister lights,
Pale humankind with plagues and with dry famine fright:
Yet Turnus with undaunted mind is bent
To man the shores, and hinder their descent,
And thus awakes the courage of his friends:
âWhat you so long have wishâd, kind Fortune sends;
In ardent arms to meet thâ invading foe:
You find, and find him at advantage now.
Yours is the day: you need but only dare;
Your swords will make you masters of the war.
Your sires, your sons, your houses, and your lands,
And dearest wifes, are all within your hands.
Be mindful of the race from whence you came,
And emulate in arms your fathersâ fame.
Now take the time, while staggâring yet they stand
With feet unfirm, and prepossess the strand:
Fortune befriends the bold.â Nor more he said,
But balancâd whom to leave, and whom to lead;
Then these elects, the landing to prevent;
And those he leaves, to keep the city pent.
Meantime the Trojan sends his troops ashore:
Some are by boats exposâd, by bridges more.
With labâring oars they bear along the strand,
Where the tide languishes, and leap a-land.
Tarchon observes the coast with careful eyes,
And, where no ford he finds, no water fries,
Nor billows with unequal murmurs roar,
But smoothly slide along, and swell the shore,
That course he steerâd, and thus he gave command:
âHere ply your oars, and at all hazard land:
Force on the vessel, that her keel may wound
This hated soil, and furrow hostile ground.
Let me securely landâ âI ask no more;
Then sink my ships, or shatter on the shore.â
This fiery speech inflames his fearful friends:
They tug at evâry oar, and evâry stretcher bends;
They run their ships aground; the vessels knock,
(Thus forcâd ashore,) and tremble with the shock.
Tarchonâs alone was lost, that stranded stood,
Stuck on a bank, and beaten by the flood:
She breaks her back; the loosenâd sides give way,
And plunge the Tuscan soldiers in the sea.
Their broken oars and floating planks withstand
Their passage, while they labour to the land,
And ebbing tides bear back upon thâ uncertain sand.
Now Turnus leads his troops without delay,
Advancing to the margin of the sea.
The trumpets sound: Aeneas first assailâd
The clowns new-raisâd and raw, and soon prevailâd.
Great Theron fell, an omen of the fight;
Great Theron, large of limbs, of giant height.
He first in open field defied the prince:
But armour scalâd with gold was no defence
Against the fated sword, which openâd wide
His plated shield, and piercâd his naked side.
Next, Lichas fell, who, not like others born,
Was from his wretched mother rippâd and torn;
Sacred, O Phoebus, from his birth to thee;
For his beginning life from biting steel was free.
Not far from him was Gyas laid along,
Of monstrous bulk; with Cisseus fierce and strong:
Vain bulk and strength! for, when the chief assailâd,
Nor valour nor Herculean arms availâd,
Nor their famâd father, wont in war to go
With great Alcides, while he toilâd below.
The noisy Pharos next receivâd his death:
Aeneas writhâd his dart, and stoppâd his bawling breath.
Then wretched Cydon had receivâd his doom,
Who courted Clytius in his beardless bloom,
And sought with lust obscene polluted joys:
The Trojan sword had curd his love of boys,
Had not his sevân bold brethren stoppâd the course
Of the fierce champions, with united force.
Sevân darts were thrown at once; and some rebound
From his bright shield, some on his helmet sound:
The rest had reachâd him; but his motherâs care
Prevented those, and turnâd aside in air.
The prince then callâd Achates, to supply
The spears that knew the way to victoryâ â
âThose fatal weapons, which, inurâd to blood,
In Grecian bodies under Ilium stood:
Not one of those my hand shall toss in vain
Against our foes, on this contended plain.â
He said; then seizâd a mighty spear, and threw;
Which, wingâd with fate, throâ Maeonâs buckler flew,
Piercâd all the brazen plates, and reachâd his heart:
He staggerâd with intolerable smart.
Alcanor saw; and reachâd, but reachâd in vain,
His helping hand, his brother to sustain.
A second spear, which kept the former course,
From the same hand, and sent with equal force,
His right arm piercâd, and holding on, bereft
His use of both, and pinionâd down his left.
Then Numitor from his dead brother drew
Thâ ill-omenâd spear, and at the Trojan threw:
Preventing fate directs the lance awry,
Which, glancing, only markâd Achatesâ thigh.
In pride of youth the Sabine Clausus came,
And, from afar, at Dryops took his aim.
The spear flew hissing throâ the middle space,
And piercâd his throat, directed at his face;
It stoppâd at once the passage of his wind,
And the free soul to flitting air resignâd:
His forehead was the first that struck the ground;
Lifeblood and life rushâd mingled throâ the wound.
He slew three brothers of the Borean race,
And three, whom Ismarus, their native place,
Had sent to war, but all the sons of Thrace.
Halesus, next, the bold Aurunci leads:
The son of Neptune to his aid succeeds,
Conspicuous on his horse. On either hand,
These fight to keep, and those to win, the land.
With mutual blood thâ Ausonian soil is dyed,
While on its borders each their claim decide.
As wintry winds, contending in the sky,
With equal force of lungs their titles try:
They rage, they roar; the doubtful rack of heavân
Stands without motion, and the tide undrivân:
Each bent to conquer, neither side to yield,
They long suspend the fortune of the field.
Both armies
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