From conquered Corinth, rich with Grecian spoils.
And yet another, famed for warlike toils,
On Argos shall impose the Roman laws,
And, on the Greeks, revenge the Trojan cause;
Shall drag in chains their Achillean race;
Shall vindicate his ancestors' disgrace,
And Pallas, for her violated place.

Great Cato there, for gravity renowned,*

And conquering Cossus goes with laurels crowned.
Who can omit the Gracchi? who declare
The Scipios' worth, those thunderbolts of war,
The double bane of Carthage? Who can see,
Without esteem for virtuous poverty,
Severe Fabricius, or can cease to admire
The ploughman consul in his coarse attire?
Tired as I am, my praise the Fabii claim;
And thou, great hero, greatest of thy name,
Ordained in war to save the sinking state,
And, by delays, to put a stop to fate!
Let others better mould the running mass
Of metals, and inform the breathing brass,
And soften into flesh a marble face;
Plead better at the bar; describe the skies,
And when the stars descend, and when they rise.
But, Rome! 'tis thine alone, with awful sway,
To rule mankind, and make the world obey,
Disposing peace and war thy own majestic way;
To tame the proud, the fettered slave to free :-
These are imperial arts, and worthy thee."

He paused and, while with wondering eyes they viewed

The passing spirits, thus his speech renewed:-
"See great Marcellus! how, untired in toils,
He moves with manly grace, how rich with regal
spoils !

He, when his country (threatened with alarms)
Requires his courage and his conquering arms,

* Note IV.

Shall more than once the Punic bands affright;
Shall kill the Gaulish king in single fight;
Then to the Capitol in triumph move,

And the third spoils shall grace Feretrian Jove."
Æneas here beheld, of form divine,

A godlike youth in glittering armour shine,
With great Marcellus keeping equal pace;
But gloomy were his eyes, dejected was his face.
He saw, and, wondering, asked his airy guide,
What and of whence was he, who pressed the hero's
side?

"His son, or one of his illustrious name?

How like the former, and almost the same!
Observe the crowds that compass him around;
All gaze, and all admire, and raise a shouting sound:
But hovering mists around his brows are spread,
And night, with sable shades, involves his head."
"Seek not to know (the ghost replied with tears)
The sorrows of thy sons in future years.
This youth (the blissful vision of a day)
Shall just be shown on earth, and snatched away.
The gods too high had raised the Roman state,
Were but their gifts as permanent as great.
What groans of men shall fill the Martian Field!
How fierce a blaze his flaming pile shall yield!
What funeral pomp shall floating Tyber see,
When, rising from his bed, he views the sad so-
lemnity!

No youth shall equal hopes of glory give,
No youth afford so great a cause to grieve.
The Trojan honour, and the Roman boast,
Admired when living, and adored when lost!
Mirror of ancient faith in early youth!
Undaunted worth, inviolable truth!
No foe, unpunished, in the fighting-field

Shall dare thee, foot to foot, with sword and shield,

Much less in arms oppose thy matchless force, When thy sharp spurs shall urge thy foaming horse. Ah! couldst thou break through Fate's severe decree, A new Marcellus shall arise in thee! *

Full canisters of fragrant lilies bring,

Mixed with the purple roses of the spring;
Let me with funeral flowers his body strow;
This gift which parents to their children owe,
This unavailing gift, at least, I may bestow!"
Thus having said, he led the hero round
The confines of the blest Elysian ground;
Which when Anchises to his son had shown,
And fired his mind to mount the promised throne,
He tells the future wars, ordained by Fate;
The strength and customs of the Latian state;
The prince, and people; and fore-arms his care
With rules, to push his fortune, or to bear.

Two gates the silent house of Sleep adorn;
Of polished ivory this, that of transparent horn; †
True visions through transparent horn arise;
Through polished ivory pass deluding lies.
Of various things discoursing as he passed,
Anchises hither bends his steps at last.
Then, through the gate of ivory, he dismissed
His valiant offspring, and divining guest.
Straight to the ships Eneas took his way,
Embarked his men, and skimmed along the sea,
Still coasting, till he gained Caieta's bay.
At length on oozy ground his galleys moor;
Their heads are turned to sea, their sterns to shore.

}

NOTES

ON

ÆNEIS, BOOK VI.

Note I.

The next, in place and punishment, are they,
Who prodigally throw their souls away, &c.---P. 405.

Proxima sorte tenent mæsti loca, qui sibi letum

Insontes peperere manu, lucemque perosi,

Projecere animas, &c.

This was taken, amongst many other things, from the tenth book of Plato de Republica: no commentator, besides Fabrini, has taken notice of it. Self-murder was accounted a great crime by that divine philosopher; but the instances which he brings are too many to be inserted in these short notes. Sir Robert Howard, in his translation of this Æneïd, which was printed with his poems in the year 1660, has given us the most learned and the most judicious observations on this book, which are extant in our language.

Note II.

Lo! to the secret shadows I retire,

To pay my penance till my years expire.---P. 409.

These two verses in English seem very different from the Latin

Discedam; explebo numerum, reddarque tenebris.

Yet they are the sense of Virgil ; at least, according to the common interpretation of this place---" I will withdraw from your company, retire to the shades, and perform my penance of a thousand years." But I must confess, the interpretation of those two words, explebo numerum, is somewhat violent, if it be thus understood, minuam numerum; that is, I will lessen your company by my departure: for Deiphobus, being a ghost, can hardly be said to be of their number. Perhaps the poet means by explebo numerum, absolvam sententiam; as if Deïphobus replied to the Sibyl, who was angry at his long visit, "I will only take my last leave of Eneas, my kinsman and my friend, with one hearty good wish for his health and welfare, and then leave you to prosecute your voyage." That wish is expressed in the words immediately following, 1, decus, i, nostrum, &c. which contain a direct answer to what the Sibyl said before, when she upbraided their long discourse, nos flendo ducimus horas. This conjecture is new, and therefore left to the discretion of the reader.

Note III.

Know, first, that heaven, and earth's compacted frame,
And flowing waters, and the starry flame,

And both the radiant lights, &c.---P. 416.

Principio cælum, et terras, camposque liquentes,
Lucentemque globum lunæ, Titaniaque astra, &c.

Here the sun is not expressed, but the moon only, though a less, and also a less radiant, light. Perhaps the copies of Virgil are all false, and that, instead of Titaniaque astra, he writ, Titanaque, et astra; and according to these words I have made my translation. It is most certain, that the sun ought not to be omitted; for he is frequently called the life and soul of the world: and nothing bids so fair for a visible divinity to those who know no better, than that glorious luminary. The Platonists call God the