And the Sun's temple, which the sailor fears.
Resolv'd to breathe a while from labour past,

Our crooked anchors from the prow we cast,
And joyful to the little city haste.

365

Here, safe beyond our hopes, our vows we pay 360
To Jove, the guide and patron of our way.
The customs of our country we pursue,
And Trojan games on Actian shores renew.
Our youth their naked limbs besmear with oil,
And exercise the wrestlers' noble toil-
Pleas'd to have sail'd so long before the wind,
And left so many Grecian towns behind.
The sun had now fulfill'd his annual course,
And Boreas on the seas display'd his force:
I fix'd upon the temple's lofty door

370

The brazen shield which vanquish'd Abas bore:
The verse beneath my name and action speaks:
"These arms Æneas took from conqu'ring Greeks.”
Then I command to weigh: the seamen pły

Their sweeping oars: the smoking billows fly. 375
The sight of high Phæacia soon we lost,

And skimm'd along Epirus' rocky coast.

Then to Chaonia's port our course we bend,
And, landed, to Buthrotus' heights ascend.

379

Here wondrous things were loudly blaz'd by Fame—

How Helenus reviv'd the Trojan name,

And reign'd in Greece; that Priam's captive son
Succeeded Pyrrhus in his bed and throne;
And fair Andromache, restor❜d by Fate,
Once more was happy in a Trojan mate.

I leave my galleys riding in the port,

And long to see the new Dardanian court.

By chance, the mournful queen, before the gate,
Then solemniz'd her former husband's fate.

385

Green altars, rais'd of turf, with gifts she crown'd; 390
And sacred priests in order stand around,

And thrice the name of hapless Hector sound.
The grove itself resembles Ida's wood;

And Simoïs seem'd the well-dissembled flood.

But when, at nearer distance, she beheld

My shining armour and my Trojan shield,

Astonish'd at the sight, the vital heat

Forsakes her limbs, her veins no longer beat:

395

She faints, she falls, and scarce recov'ring strength,

Thus, with a fault'ring tongue, she speaks at length:

"Are you alive, O goddess-born?" she said,
"Or if a ghost, then where is Hector's shade?"
At this she cast a loud and frightful cry.-
With broken words I made this brief reply:
"All of me that remains, appears in sight;
I live; if living be to loath the light—
No phantom; but I drag a wretched life;
My fate resembling that of Hector's wife.

What have you suffer'd since you

lost your lord?

401

405

By what strange blessing are you now restor❜d? 410

Still are you Hector's? or is Hector fled,

And his remembrance lost in Pyrrhus' bed?"

With eyes dejected, in a lowly tone,

After a modest pause, she thus begun :

"Oh only happy maid of Priam's race,

415

Whom death deliver'd from the foe's embrace!

Commanded on Achilles' tomb to die,

Not forc'd, like us, to hard captivity,

Or in a haughty master's arms to lie.

In Grecian ships unhappy we were borne,

420

Endur'd the victor's lust, sustain'd the scorn:

Thus I submitted to the lawless pride

Of Pyrrhus, more a handmaid than a bride.
Cloy'd with possession, he forsook my bed,
And Helen's lovely daughter sought to wed;
Then me to Trojan Helenus resign'd,
And his two slaves in equal marriage join'd;
Till young Orestes, pierc'd with deep despair,
And longing to redeem the promis'd fair,
Before Apollo's altar slew the ravisher.

By Pyrrhus' death the kingdom we regain'd:
At least one half with Helenus remain'd.
Our part, from Chaon, he Chaonia calls,
And names, from Pergamus, his rising walls.

But

you

I what fates have landed on our coast?

425

430

435

What gods have sent you, or what storms have toss'd?
Does young Ascanius life and health enjoy,
Sav'd from the ruins of unhappy Troy?

O! tell me how his mother's loss he bears,

What hopes are promis'd from his blooming years, How much of Hector in his face appears.

"

441

She spoke; and mix'd her speech with mournful cries;

And fruitless tears came trickling from her eyes.

upon

At length her lord descends

the plain,

In pomp, attended with a numʼrous train;
Receives his friends, and to the city leads,
And tears of joy amidst his welcome sheds.
Proceeding on, another Troy I see,
Or, in less compass, Troy's epitome.

445

A riv❜let by the name of Xanthus ran;

450

And I embrace the Scaan gate again.

My friends in porticoes were entertain❜d;

And feasts and pleasures through the city reign'd. The tables fill'd the spacious hall around;

454

And golden bowls with sparkling wine were crown'd. Two days we pass'd in mirth, till friendly gales, Blown from the south, supply'd our swelling sails. Then to the royal seer I thus began:

"O thou who know'st, beyond the reach of man, The laws of heav'n, and what the stars decree, 460

Whom Phoebus taught unerring prophecy,

From his own tripod, and his holy tree

Skill'd in the wing'd inhabitants of air,

What auspices their notes and flights declare-

O! say for all religious rites portend

465