Bread are heap'd on high Th' Attendants Water for their Hands supply And having wash'd with silken Towels dry Next fifty Handmaids in long order bore The Censers and with Fumes the Gods adore Then Youths and Virgins twice as many join To place the Dishes and to serve the Wine To the most Hon ble Ursula Marchioness of Normaneby AE 1. l 995 The Tyrian Train admitted to the Feast Approach and on the painted Couches rest All on the Trojan Gifts with Wonder gaze But view the beauteous Boy with more amaze His Rosy-colour'd Cheeks his radiant Eyes His Motions Voice and Shape and all the God's disguise Nor pass unprais'd the Vest and Veil Divine Which wand'ring Foliage and rich Flow'rs entwine But far above the rest the Royal Dame Already doom'd to Love's disastrous Flame With Eyes insatiate and tumultuous Joy Beholds the Presents and admires the Boy The guileful God about his Father long With Children's play and false Embraces hung Then sought the Queen She took him to her Arms With greedy Pleasure and devour'd his Charms Unhappy Dido little thought what Guest How dire a God she drew so near her Breast But he not mindless of his Mother's Pray'r Works in the pliant Bosom of the Fair And moulds her Heart anew and blots her former Care The dead is to the living Love resign'd And all Aeneas enters in her Mind Now when the Rage of Hunger was appeas'd The Meat remov'd and ev'ry Guest was pleas'd The Golden Bowls with sparkling Wine are crown'd And through the Palace chearful Cries resound From gilded Roofs depending Lamps display Nocturnal Beams that emulate the Day A Golden Bowl that shone with Gems Divine The Queen commanded to be crown'd with Wine The Bowl that Belus us'd and all the Tyrian Line Then Silence through the Hall proclaim'd she spoke O hospitable Jove we thus invoke With solemn Rites thy sacred Name and Pow'r Bless to both Nations this auspicious Hour So may the Tojan and the Tyrian Line In lasting Concord from this Day combine Thou Bacchus God of Joys and friendly Cheer And gracious Juno both be present here And you my Lords of Tyre your Vows address To Heav'n with mine to ratifie the Peace The Goblet then she took with Nectar crown'd Sprinkling the first Libations on the Ground And rais'd it to her Mouth with sober Grace Then sipping offer'd to the next in place 'T was Bitias whom she call'd a thirsty Soul He took the Challenge and embrac'd the Bowl With Pleasure swill'd the Gold nor ceas'd to draw 'Till he the bottom of the Brimmer saw The Goblet goes around Iopas brought His Golden Lyre and sung what ancient Atlas taught The various Labours of the wand'ring Moon And whence proceed th' Eclipses of the Sun Th' Original of Men and Beasts and whence The Rains arise and Fires their Warmth dispence And fix'd and erring Stars dispose their Influence What shakes the solid Earth what Cause delays The Summer Nights and shortens Winter Days With Peals of Shouts the Tyrians praise the Song Those Peals are echo'd by the Trojan Throng Th' unhappy Queen with Talk prolong'd the Night And drank large Draughts of Love with vast Delight Of Priam much enquir'd of Hector more Then ask'd what Arms the swarthy Memnon wore What Troops he landed on the Trojan Shore The Steeds of Di'mede vary'd the Discourse And fierce Achilles with his matchless Force At length as Fate and her ill Stars requir'd To hear the Series of the War desir'd Relate at large my God-like Guest she said The Grecian Stratagems the Town betray'd The fatal Issue of so long a War Your Flight your Wand'rings and your Woes declare For since on ev'ry Sea on ev'ry Coast Your Men have been distress'd your Navy tost Sev'n times the Sun has either Tropick view'd The Winter banish'd and the Spring renew'd The Second Book of the Aeneis The Argument Aeneas relates how the City of Troy was taken after a Ten Years Siege by the Treachery of Sinon and the Stratagem of a wooden Horse He declares the fixt Resolution he had taken not to survive the Ruins of his Country and the various Adventures he met with in the Defence of it at last having been before advis'd by Hector 's Ghost and now by the Appearance of his Mother Venus he is prevail'd upon to leave the Town and settle his Houshold-Gods in another Country in order to this he carries off his Father on his Shoulders and leads his little Son by the Hand his Wife following him behind When he comes to the Place appointed for the general Rendevouze he finds a great Confluence of People but misses his Wife whose Ghost afterwards appears to him and tells him the Land which was design'd for him ALL were attentive to the God-like Man When from the lofty Couch he thus began Great Queen what you command me to relate Renews the sad remembrance of our Fate An Empire from its old Foundations rent And ev'ry Woe the Trojans underwent A Peopl'd City made a Desart Place All that I saw and part of which I was Not ev'n the hardest of our Foes cou'd hear Nor stern Ulysses tell without a Tear And now the latter Watch of wasting Night And setting Stars to kindly Rest invite But since you take such Int'rest in our Woe And Troy's disast'rous end desire to know I will restrain my Tears and briefly tell What in our last and fatal Night befel By Destiny compell'd and in Despair The Greeks grew weary of the tedious War To y e most Illustrious Prince Charles Duke of Somerset Knight of y e most Noble Order of y e Garter AE 2. l 1. And by Minerva's Aid a Fabrick rear'd Which like a Steed of monstrous height appear'd The Sides were planck'd with Pine they feign'd it made For their Return and this the Vow they paid Thus they pretend but in the hollow Side Selected Numbers of their Souldiers hide With inward Arms the dire Machine they load With Iron Bowels stuff the dark Abode In sight of Troy lies Tenedos an Isle While Fortune did on Priam's Empire smile Renown'd for Wealth but since a faithless Bay Where Ships expos'd to Wind and Weather lay There was their Fleet conceal'd We thought for Greece Their Sails were hoisted and our Fears release The Trojans coop'd within their Walls so long Unbar their Gates and issue in a Throng Like swarming Bees and with Delight survey The Camp deserted where the Grecians lay The Quarters of the sev'ral Chiefs they show'd Here Phoenix here Achilles made abode Here join'd the Battels there the Navy rode Part on the Pile their wond'ring Eyes employ The Pile by Pallas rais'd to ruin Troy Thymaetes first 't is doubtful whether hir'd Or so the Trojan Destiny requir'd Mov'd that the Ramparts might be broken down To lodge the fatal Engine in the Town But Capys and the rest of sounder Mind The fatal Present to the Flames design'd Or to the watry deep At least to bore The hollow sides
the Seasons and the Year direct Bacchus and fost'ring Ceres Pow'rs Divine Who gave us Corn for Mast for Water Wine Ye Fawns propitious to the Rural Swains Ye Nymphs that haunt the Mountains and the Plains Join in my Work and to my Numbers bring Your needful Succour for your Gifts I sing And thou whose Trident struck the teeming Earth And made a Passage for the Coursers Birth And thou for whom the Caean Shore sustains Thy Milky Herds that graze the Flow'ry Plains And thou the Shepherds tutelary God Leave for a while O Pan thy lov'd Abode And if Arcadian Fleeces be thy Care From Fields and Mountains to my Song repair Inventor Pallas of the fat'ning Oyl Thou Founder of the Plough and Plough-man's Toyl And thou whose Hands the Shrowd-like Cypress rear Come all ye Gods and Goddesses that wear The rural Honours and increase the Year You who supply the Ground with Seeds of Grain And you who swell those Seeds with kindly Rain And chiefly thou whose undetermin'd State Is yet the Business of the Gods Debate Whether in after Times to be declar'd The Patron of the World and Rome's peculiar Guard Or o're the Fruits and Seasons to preside And the round Circuit of the Year to guide Pow'rful of Blessings which thou strew'st around And with thy Goddess Mother's Myrtle crown'd Or wilt thou Caesar chuse the watry Reign To smooth the Surges and correct the Main Then Mariners in Storms to thee shall pray Ev'n utmost Thule shall thy Pow'r obey And Neptune shall resign the Fasces of the Sea The wat'ry Virgins for thy Bed shall strive And Tethys all her Waves in Dowry give Or wilt thou bless our Summers with thy Rays And seated near the Ballance poise the Days Where in the Void of Heav'n a Space is free Betwixt the Scorpion and the Maid for thee The Scorpion ready to receive thy Laws Yields half his Region and contracts his Claws Whatever part of Heav'n thou shalt obtain For let not Hell presume of such a Reign Nor let so dire a Thirst of Empire move Thy Mind to leave thy Kindred Gods above Tho' Greece admires Elysium's blest Retreat Tho' Proserpine affects her silent Seat And importun'd by Ceres to remove Prefers the Fields below to those above But thou propitious Caesar guide my Course And to my bold Endeavours add thy Force Pity the Poet 's and the Ploughman's Cares Int'rest thy Greatness in our mean Affairs And use thy self betimes to hear our Pray'rs While yet the Spring is young while Earth unbinds Her frozen Bosom to the Western Winds While Mountain Snows dissolve against the Sun And Streams yet new from Precipices run Ev'n in this early Dawning of the Year Produce the Plough and yoke the sturdy Steer And goad him till he groans beneath his Toil 'Till the bright Share is bury'd in the Soil That Crop rewards the greedy Peasant's Pains Which twice the Sun and twice the Cold sustains And bursts the crowded Barns with more than promis'd Gains But e're we stir the yet unbroken Ground The various Course of Seasons must be found The Weather and the setting of the Winds The Culture suiting to the sev'ral Kinds Of Seeds and Plants and what will thrive and rise And what the Genius of the Soil denies This Ground with Bacchus that with Ceres suits That other loads the Trees with happy Fruits A fourth with Grass unbidden decks the Ground Thus Tmolus is with yellow Saffron crown'd India black Ebon and white Ivory bears And soft Idume weeps her od'rous Tears Thus Pontus sends her Beaver Stones from far And naked Spanyards temper Steel for War Epirus for th' Elean Chariot breeds In hopes of Palms a Race of running Steeds This is the Orig'nal Contract these the Laws Impos'd by Nature and by Nature's Cause On sundry Places when Deucalion hurl'd his Mother's Entrails on the desart World Whence Men a hard laborious Kind were born Then borrow part of Winter for thy Corn And early with thy Team the Gleeb in Furrows turn That while the Turf lies open and unbound Succeeding Suns may bake the Mellow Ground But if the Soil be barren only scar The Surface and but lightly print the Share When cold Arcturus rises with the Sun Lest wicked Weeds the Corn shou'd over-run In watry Soils or lest the barren Sand Shou'd suck the Moisture from the thirsty Land Both these unhappy Soils the Swain forbears And keeps a Sabbath of alternate Years That the spent Earth may gather heart again And better'd by Cessation bear the Grain At least where Vetches Pulse and Tares have stood And Stalks of Lupines grew a stubborn Wood Th' ensuing Season in return may bear The bearded product of the Golden Year For Flax and Oats will burn the tender Field And sleepy Poppies harmful Harvests yield But sweet Vicissitudes of Rest and Toyl Make easy Labour and renew the Soil Yet sprinkle sordid Ashes all around And load with fat'ning Dung thy fallow Ground Thus change of Seeds for meagre Soils is best And Earth manur'd not idle though at rest Long Practice has a sure Improvement found With kindled Fires to burn the barren Ground When the light Stubble to the Flames resign'd Is driv'n along and crackles in the Wind. Whether from hence the hollow Womb of Earth Is warm'd with secret Strength for better Birth Or when the latent Vice is cur'd by Fire Redundant Humours thro' the Pores expire Or that the Warmth distends the Chinks and makes New Breathings whence new Nourishment she takes Or that the Heat the gaping Ground constrains New Knits the Surface and new Strings the Veins Lest soaking Show'rs shou'd pierce her secret Seat Or freezing Boreas chill her genial Heat Or scorching Suns too violently beat Nor is the Profit small the Peasant makes Who smooths with Harrows or who pounds with Rakes The crumbling Clods Nor Ceres from on high Regards his Labours with a grudging Eye Nor his who plows across the furrow'd Grounds And on the Back of Earth inflicts new Wounds For he with frequent Exercise Commands Th' unwilling Soil and tames the stubborn Lands Ye Swains invoke the Pow'rs who rule the Sky For a moist Summer and a Winter dry For Winter drout rewards the Peasant's Pain And broods indulgent on the bury'd Grain Hence Mysia boasts her Harvests and the tops Of Gargarus admire their happy Crops When first the Soil receives the fruitful Seed Make no delay but cover it with speed So fenc'd from Cold the plyant Furrows break Before the surly Clod resists the Rake And call the Floods from high to rush amain With pregnant Streams to swell the teeming Grain Then when the fiery Suns too fiercely play And shrivell'd Herbs on with'ring Stems decay The wary Ploughman on the Mountain's Brow Undams his watry Stores huge Torrents flow And ratling down the Rocks large moisture yield Temp'ring the thirsty Fever of the Field And lest the Stem too feeble for the freight Shou'd scarce sustain the head
The Mists flew upward and dissolv'd in day The Trojan Chief appear'd in open sight August in Visage and serenely bright His Mother Goddess with her hands Divine Had form'd his Curling Locks and made his Temples shine And giv'n his rowling Eyes a sparkling grace And breath'd a youthful vigour on his Face Like polish'd Iv'ry beauteous to behold Or Parian Marble when enchas'd in Gold Thus radiant from the circling Cloud he broke And thus with manly modesty he spoke He whom you seek am I by Tempests tost And sav'd from Shipwreck on your Lybian Coast Presenting gracious Queen before your Throne A Prince that ows his Life to you alone Fair Majesty the Refuge and Redress Of those whom Fate pursues and Wants oppress You who your pious Offices employ To save the Reliques of abandon'd Troy Receive the Shipwreck'd on your friendly Shore With hospitable Rites relieve the Poor Associate in your Town a wandring Train And Strangers in your Palace entertain What thanks can wretched Fugitives return Who scatter'd thro' the World in exile mourn The Gods if Gods to Goodness are inclin'd If Acts of mercy touch their Heav'nly Mind And more than all the Gods your gen'rous heart Conscious of worth requite its own desert In you this Age is happy and this Earth And Parents more than Mortal gave you birth To the Right Hon ble Elizabeth Countess Dowager of Winchelsea ct AE 1. l 875. While rowling Rivers into Seas shall run And round the space of Heav'n the radiant Sun While Trees the Mountain tops with Shades supply Your Honour Name and Praise shall never dye What e're abode my Fortune has assign'd Your Image shall be present in my Mind Thus having said he turn'd with pious hast And joyful his expecting Friends embrac'd With his right hand Ilioneus was grac'd Serestus with his left then to his breast Cloanthus and the Noble Gyas prest And so by turns descended to the rest The Tyrian Queen stood fix'd upon his Face Pleas'd with his motions ravish'd with his grace Admir'd his Fortunes more admir'd the Man Then recollected stood and thus began What Fate O Goddess born what angry Pow'rs Have cast you shipwrack'd on our barren Shores Are you the great Aeneas known to Fame Who from Coelestial Seed your Lineage claim The same Aeneas whom fair Venus bore To fam'd Anchises on th' Idaean Shore It calls into my mind tho' then a Child When Teucer came from Salamis exil'd And sought my Father's aid to be restor'd My Father Belus then with Fire and Sword Invaded Cyprus made the Region bare And Conqu'ring finish'd the successful War From him the Trojan Siege I understood The Grecian Chiefs and your Illustrious Blood Your Foe himself the Dardan Valour prais'd And his own Ancestry from Trojans rais'd Enter my Noble Guest and you shall find If not a costly welcome yet a kind For I my self like you have been distress'd Till Heav'n afforded me this place of rest Like you an Alien in a Land unknown I learn to pity Woes so like my own She said and to the Palace led her Guest Then offer'd Incense and proclaim'd a Feast Nor yet less careful for her absent Friends Twice ten fat Oxen to the Ships she sends Besides a hundred Boars a hundred Lambs With bleating cries attend their Milky Dams And Jars of gen'rous Wine and spacious Bowls She gives to chear the Sailors drooping Souls Now Purple Hangings cloath the Palace Walls And sumptuous Feasts are made in splendid Halls On Tyrian Carpets richly wrought they dine With loads of Massy Plate the Side-boards shine And Antique Vafes all of Gold Emboss'd The Gold it self inferiour to the Cost Of curious Work where on the sides were seen The Fights and Figures of Illustrious Men From their first Founder to the present Queen The Good Aeneas whose Paternal Care Iulus absence could no longer bear Dispatch'd Achates to the Ships in hast To give a glad Relation of the past And fraught with precious Gifts to bring the Boy Snatch'd from the Ruins of unhappy Troy A Robe of Tissue stiff with golden Wire An upper Vest once Hellen's rich Attire From Argos by the fam'd Adultress brought With Golden flow'rs and winding foliage wrought Her Mother Laeda's Present when she came To ruin Troy and set the World on flame The Scepter Priam's eldest Daughter bore Her orient Necklace and the Crown she wore Of double texture glorious to behold One order set with Gems and one with Gold Instructed thus the wise Achates goes And in his diligence his duty shows But Venus anxious for her Son's Affairs New Councils tryes and new Designs prepares That Cupid should assume the Shape and Face Of sweet Ascanius and the sprightly grace Shou'd bring the Prefents in her Nephews stead And in Eliza's Veins the gentle Poison shed For much she fear'd the Tyrians double tongu'd And knew the Town to Juno's care belong'd These thoughts by Night her Golden Slumbers broke And thus alarm'd to winged Love she spoke My Son my strength whose mighty Pow'r alone Controuls the Thund'rer on his awful Throne To thee thy much afflicted Mother flies And on thy Succour and thy Faith relies Thou know'st my Son how Jove's revengeful Wife By force and Fraud attempts thy Brother's life And often hast thou mourn'd with me his Pains Him Dido now with Blandishment detains But I suspect the Town where Juno reigns For this 't is needful to prevent her Art And fire with Love the proud Phoenician's heart A Love so violent so fond so sure That neither Age can change nor Art can cure How this may be perform'd now take my mind Ascanius by his Father is design'd To come with Presents laden from the Port To gratifie the Queen and gain the Court I mean to plunge the Boy in pleasing Sleep And ravish'd in Idalian Bow'rs to keep Or high Cythaera That the sweet Deceipt May pass unseen and none prevent the Cheat Take thou his Form and Shape I beg the Grace But only for a Night 's revolving Space Thy self a Boy assume a Boy 's dissembled Face That when amidst the fervour of the Feast The Tyrian hugs and fonds thee on her Breast And with sweet Kisses in her Arms constrains Thou may'st infuse thy Venom in her Veins The God of Love obeys and sets aside His Bow and Quiver and his plumy Pride He walks Iulus in his Mother's Sight And in the sweet Resemblance takes Delight The Goddess then to young Ascanius flies And in a pleasing Slumber seals his Eyes Lull'd in her Lap amidst a Train of Loves She gently bears him to her blissful Groves Then with a Wreath of Myrtle crowns his Head And softly lays him on a flow'ry Bed Cupid mean time assum'd his Form and Face Foll'wing Achates with a shorter Pace And brought the Gifts The Queen already sate Amidst the Trojan Lords in shining State High on a Golden Bed Her Princely Guest Was next her side in order sate the rest Then Canisters with