Her hideous looks, and hellish form return;
Her curling snakes with hissings fill the place,
And open all the furies of her face;
Then, darting fire from her malignant eyes,
She cast him backward as he strove to rise.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
Then crying out that she came from the abode of the dire sisters, and
that wars and death were in her hands, she flung a fire-brand at the
king, and disappeared. Turnus started from his sleep, in terror, and
now his breast was filled with eager desire for war. Immediately he
sent orders amongst his chiefs to prepare to defend Italy and expel
the foreigners, declaring that he and his people were a match for
Trojans and Latins combined.
Meanwhile Alecto, her mission of discord not yet completed, appeared
among a band of Trojan youths who with Iulus at their head were
amusing themselves by hunting in the forest. The Fury hurled a fire-
brand at the hounds, and suddenly, as if seized with madness, they
rushed in pursuit of a beautiful young stag which was sporting among
the trees. This stag was a pet of Syl'vi-a, the daughter of Tyr'rheus,
one of the herdsmen of King Latinus. Iulus seeing the hounds in
pursuit, followed them, and shot at and wounded the stag. The animal
fled to the house of Tyrrheus, where Sylvia, seeing her pet covered
with blood, broke out into loud lamentations. Her father in a fit of
anger seized a weapon, and joined by some of his friends rushed upon
Iulus and his companions. The alarm quickly reaching the camp of the
Trojans several of them hastened to assist their countrymen, and a
fierce battle ensued, in which many of the Latians or Latins were
killed. Thus the evil project of Juno was accomplished.
Then Juno thus: "The grateful work is done,
The seeds of discord sowed, the war begun;
Frauds, fears and fury, have possessed the state,
And fixed the causes of a lasting hate."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
And now the Latian youth, chiefly shepherds, who had taken part with
Tyrrheus, rushed from the field of battle into the city, carrying with
them the bodies of their friends who had been slain, and crying to the
gods and to King Latinus for vengeance upon the Trojans. Just then
King Turnus appeared with a force of his Rutulians, and addressed the
people in words which excited them to the highest pitch of fury. He
told them that foreigners had been invited to rule in their country,
and that the chief of the intruders was to have the princess who had
been promised to him to be his wife.
Then a great multitude of Latians and Rutulians hastened to the palace
of King Latinus, and demanded that he should at once declare war
against the Trojans. Latinus refused to do what he knew was against
the decrees of the gods, and he warned the people that evil would come
upon them if they persevered in their mad opposition to the will of
heaven. He also warned Turnus that he would be punished for inciting
such a war, and that he should one day seek the aid of the gods, and
seek it in vain. As for himself, he said, he was an old man. Their
folly could deprive him only of a happy ending of a life which could
not be much further prolonged. He then retired to his palace, and gave
up the reins of government, leaving the people to pursue their own
course.
He said no more, but, in his walls confined,
Shut out the woes which he too well divined;
Nor with the rising storm would vainly strive,
But left the helm, and let the vessel drive.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
In spite of the warning of their king, the Latians now resolved upon
war against the Trojans and they demanded that the gates of the temple
of Janus should be thrown open. Janus was the most ancient king who
reigned in Italy. When he died he was worshipped as a god, and a
magnificent temple was erected in his honor. The gates of this temple
were always open in times of war and shut in times of peace. They were
opened by the king, and in later ages, when Rome was a republic, the
president or consul performed the ceremony dressed in robes of purple
and attended by multitudes of citizens and soldiers, with the blaring
of trumpets.
Two gates of steel (the name of Mars they bear,
And still are worshipped with religious fear)
Before his temple stand; the dire abode,
And the feared issues of the furious god,
Then, when the sacred senate votes the wars,
The Roman consul their decree declares,
And in his robes the sounding gates unbars.
The youth in military shouts arise,
And the loud trumpets break the yielding skies.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK Vii.
The Latians now requested their king to unlock the gates of the temple
of Janus in accordance with the ancient custom. Latinus refused saying
that to do so would be a defiance of the gods. But the goddess Juno,
resolved that there should be no peace, descended from the skies, and
with her own hands pushed back the bolts of brass, and flung wide open
the gates. Then the cry of war went forth throughout the land and
everywhere men began to prepare for the conflict, giving up their work
in the fields to get ready their spears and shields and battle-axes.
Soon a vast number of warriors was marshalled under King Turnus to
drive the Trojans out of Italy. Vergil gives a long list of the famous
chiefs who assembled on this occasion.
First came Me-zen'ti-us, an Etrurian king, fierce in war, but
a despiser of the gods. His own people had expelled him from their
country, for his cruelty, and he had taken refuge with King Turnus.
His son Lausus also came to the war with a thousand men from the
Etrurian city of A-gyl'la. Next came the brave Av-en-ti'nus, son of
the renowned hero, Her'cu-les, who performed those marvelous feats, of
which we read with wonder in the ancient legends. Aventinus was a
warrior of terrible appearance, his body covered with the shaggy hide
of an enormous lion, the white tusks displayed above his head.
King Caec'u-lus, son of the god Vulcan, came from the city of
Prae-nes'te with an army who fought with slings, wore helmets
of wolf-skins, and marched with one foot naked.
Nor arms they wear, nor swords and bucklers wield,
Nor drive the chariot through the dusty field;
But whirl from leathern slings huge balls of lead;
And spoils of yellow wolves adorn their head;
The left foot naked, when they march to fight;
But in a bull's raw hide they sheath the right.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
From the mountains of Etruria came the gallant horseman, Mes-sa'pus,
Neptune's son, "whom none had power to prostrate by fire or steel."
The mighty King Clausus led to the field a great host from the country
of the Sabines, and an army of the Qui-ri'tes from the town of Cu'res.
This name, Quirites was in later ages one of the names by which the
citizens of Rome were called. Another of the warriors was Umbro, chief
of the Maru'vi-i, who could charm serpents and heal wounds inflicted
by their bites.
[Illustration with caption: CAMILLA. (Drawn by Varian.)]
All these and many more of the princes of Italy, assembled with their
armies at the call of Turnus. Greatest amongst them was Turnus
himself, tallest by a head, and clad in armor brilliant with
embroidered gold. There was one female warrior amongst his allies.
This was Ca-mil'la, the queen of the Volscians. She was the daughter
of King Met'a-bus, who, like Mezentius, had been driven from his
kingdom by his own people, because he was a cruel tyrant. In his
flight, for the enraged people pursued him to take his life, he
carried with him his infant daughter Camilla. Coming to the bank of a
river and still pursued by his enemies, he bound the child fast to his
javelin, and holding the weapon in his hands, he prayed to Di-a'na,
goddess of hunters and hunting, and dedicated his daughter to her
saying, "To thee, goddess of the woods, I devote this child to be thy
handmaid, and committing her to the wind, I implore thee to receive
her as thine own." Then he hurled the spear across the river, and
plunging into the water swam to the other side, where he found the
javelin fixed in the bank, and the infant uninjured.
After this achievement Metabus retired to the mountains, where he led
the life of a shepherd. As soon as the child was able to hold a weapon
in her hand, he trained her to the use of javelins and arrows and she
grew up to be a brave and skillful warrior. In course of time she
returned to the kingdom from which her father had been expelled, and
became celebrated as a runner of wondrous speed.
VII. ALLIANCE WITH EVANDER--VULCAN MAKES ARMS FOR AENEAS--THE FAMOUS
SHIELD.
Meanwhile AEneas was considering how to defend himself and his people
against the enemy who was thus marshalling such mighty forces against
him. He thought of many plans without being able to decide upon any.
This way, and that, he turns his anxious mind;
Thinks, and rejects the counsels he designed;
Explores himself in vain in every part,
And gives no rest to his distracted heart
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.
But fortune again favored the pious chief. In a dream the river god,
Tib-e-ri'nus, arrayed in garb of green, with a crown of reeds upon his
head (old Father Tiber himself, the guardian genius of Rome in later
ages) appeared to him, and told him where to seek help. He repeated
the prophecy of Helenus, about the sow with her litter of thirty
young, and he directed AEneas to repair to Pal-lan-te'um, a city
further up the river, whose king, E-van'der, being frequently at war
with the Latians, would gladly join the Trojans. The good father
promised that he himself would conduct the Trojans along his banks,
and bear them safely on his waters until they reached the Kingdom of
Evander.
"To thy free passage I submit my streams.
Wake, son of Venus, from thy pleasing dreams!
And when the setting stars are lost in day,
To Juno's power thy just devotion pay;
With sacrifice the wrathful queen appease;
Her pride at length shall fall, her fury cease.
When thou return'st victorious from the war,
Perform thy vows to me with grateful care.
The god am I, whose yellow water flows
Around these fields, and fattens as it goes;
Tiber my name--among the rolling floods
Renowned on earth, esteemed among the gods."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.
Old Father Tiber then plunged into the middle of the river, and
disappeared from the hero's view. When AEneas awoke he immediately
prepared for his journey, selecting two ships from his fleet and
furnishing them with men and arms. As he was about to depart, the
prophecy only just repeated by the river god was fulfilled before his
eyes; for on the bank where he stood, a white sow suddenly appeared
with a litter of thirty young ones.
When lo! a sudden prodigy;
A milk-white sow is seen
Stretched with her young ones, white as she,
Along the margent green.
AEneas takes them, dam and brood,
And o'er the altars pours their blood,
To thee, great Juno, e'en to thee,
High heaven's majestic queen.
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.
AEneas then started on his voyage, Father Tiber making the passage
easy by calming his turbid river so that its surface was as smooth as
a peaceful lake. At noon next day the Trojans came in sight of
Pallanteum, and soon afterwards they turned their ships toward the
land, and approached the city. Just then King Evander, accompanied by
his son Pallas and many of his chiefs, was offering a sacrifice to
Hercules in a grove outside the city walls. Alarmed at the sudden
appearance of the vessels, they made a movement as if to depart in
haste from their altars. But Pallas forbade them to interrupt the
sacred rites, and advancing to meet the strangers, he addressed
them from a rising ground, asking who they were, and for what purpose
they had come. AEneas, speaking from the deck of one of his ships, and
holding in his hand an olive branch, the emblem of peace, replied,
saying, "You see before you sons of Troy, and enemies of the Latians,
who have declared war against us. We seek King Evander. Bear him
these tidings, and say to him that we have come asking for his
alliance in arms."
Astonished at hearing that the visitors were the illustrious Trojans
whose fame had already spread throughout the world, Pallas invited
them to land and come as guests to his father's house. AEneas gladly
accepted the invitation, and the young prince conducted them to the
grove, and introduced them to King Evander. This Evander was by birth
a Greek. He had come from the Grecian province of Ar-ca'di-a, and the
city he founded in Italy he called after the name of his native
Arcadian city of Pallanteum. AEneas, however, had no fear that
Evander, though a Greek, would be an enemy of his, for they were both
of the same blood, being both descended from Atlas, the mighty hero
who of old supported the heavens on his shoulders. Mercury, the father
of Evander, was the son of Ma'i-a, a daughter of Atlas; and Dardanus,
the founder of Troy, and ancestor of its kings, was son of E-lec'tra,
another daughter of Atlas. AEneas reminded Evander of this
relationship and reminded him also that the Rutulians and Latians were
enemies of Evander and his people, as well as of the Trojans.
"They are the nation," said he, "which pursue you with cruel war, and
they think that if they expel us from the country, nothing can hinder
them from reducing all Italy under their yoke. Let us therefore form
an alliance against this common foe. We Trojans have amongst us men
stout of heart in battle and experienced in war."
While the hero was speaking, the king kept his eyes intently fixed
upon him, for in his face and figure he saw the resemblance of the
great Anchises, whom he had known in past years. Then replying
to AEneas, he said, "Great chief of the Trojan race, I gladly receive
and recognize you. I well recollect the words, the voice, and the
features of your father, Anchises. For I remember that Priam on his
way to visit his sister Hesione in Greece, also visited my country,
Arcadia. Many of the Trojan princes accompanied him; but the most
majestic of them all was Anchises. Much did I admire him, and I took
him with me to our Arcadian city Phe'neus. At his departure he gave me
costly presents, a quiver filled with Lycian arrows, a mantle
interwoven with gold and two golden bridles." Evander concluded by
consenting to the proposal of AEneas for an alliance against the
Latians--
"The league you ask, I offer as your right;
And when to-morrow's sun reveals the light,
With swift supplies you shall be sent away."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.
The Trojans were now hospitably entertained by King Evander. Seated on
the greensward, they partook of a plenteous repast, and when the
banquet was over, the king explained to AEneas and his companions the
meaning of the religious festivities in which they had been engaged.
It was through no vain superstition, he said, that they performed
these solemn rites, but to commemorate their deliverance from a
terrible scourge, and to give honor to their deliverer.
Then Evander related the story of the monster Ca'cus, who in former
times, dwelt in a cave underneath the hill on which Pallanteum was now
built. He was a giant, of enormous size and hideous to behold, for
from his father Vulcan, the god of fire, he had got the power of
breathing smoke and flame through his mouth and nostrils. He was a
scourge and a terror to the country round, as besides being a robber,
he killed and devoured men. But by good fortune the hero Hercules
happened to pass that way, driving before him a herd of cattle which
he had taken from another cruel monster--the three-bodied giant
Ge'ry-on, whom he had destroyed. As these cattle were grazing by the
river, Hercules having lain down on the bank to rest, Cacus stole four
bulls and four heifers, the finest of the herd. To conceal the theft he
dragged the animals backwards by the tails into his den, so that their
footprints seemed to show that they had gone from the cave instead of
into it. This trick had almost succeeded, for Hercules, after
searching in vain for the missing animals, was about to resume his
journey, when a lowing from within the cave reached his ears.
The oxen at departing fill
With noisy utterance grove and hill,
And breathe a farewell low;
When hark! a heifer from the den
Makes answer to the sound again
And mocks her wily foe.
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.
Hercules now knowing what had become of his cattle rushed to the top
of the mount where he had seen the giant, but Cacus fled into his
cave, and instantly let drop the huge stone which he kept suspended by
iron chains over the entrance. This stone even the mighty Hercules
could not move from its place, for it was held fast by great bolts on
the inside. But searching around the mount for another entrance, he
saw a rock overhanging the river, which formed a back for the cavern.
Exerting his full strength, the hero wrenched this rock from its
fastenings, and hurled it into the water. In the interior of the den,
thus laid open, Hercules soon caught sight of the robber, and
commenced to assail him with arrows and stones. Then the monster
belched forth volumes of smoke and flame, concealing himself in a
cloud of pitchy vapor. But Hercules now thoroughly enraged, rushed
furiously into the den, and seizing Cacus by the throat, choked him to
death. Great was the joy of the people when they heard of the
destruction of the monster, and anniversary festivals had been held
there ever since in honor of the deliverer.
After King Evander had told this story, choirs of young and old men,
the priests called Sa'li-i, sang songs about the great deeds of
Hercules; how when a child in his cradle he had strangled the two
serpents sent by Juno to destroy him, how he had slain the furious
lion of Nemea, dragged from Pluto's realms the three-headed dog
Cerberus, and performed numerous other difficult and dangerous feats.
Evander and his people now returned to the city, accompanied by their
Trojan guests. The king walked by the side of AEneas, and told him
many things about the traditions of the place, and its early history.
At one time, he said, the country had been ruled by Saturn, who,
driven from the throne of the heavens by his son Jupiter, had come to
Italy, and finding on the banks of the river a race of uncivilized
men, had formed them into a settled society. He taught them how to
till the ground, and introduced laws amongst them, and so peaceful and
happy were they under his reign, that it was called the Golden Age.
One of the kings long after Saturn's reign was Tiberinus, whose name
was given to the river, and who became its guardian god.
The king then escorted AEneas through the town, pointing out to him
many places, destined to be famous in later history, for on that very
ground Romulus built his city, and Pallanteum became the celebrated
Palatine Mount, one of the seven hills of Rome. When they reached the
royal palace, which was not as large or magnificent as palaces often
are, the king took pride in mentioning that the great Hercules,
honored in life, and after death worshipped as a god, had not
disdained to accept hospitality under its roof.
He spoke, and through the narrow door
The great AEneas led,
And heaped a couch upon the floor
With leaves and bear-skin spread.
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.
While the Trojan chief was being entertained by King Evander, his
mother Venus was much troubled in mind thinking of the danger which
threatened her son in his new settlement. She resolved that he should
have all the aid in her power to supply, and so she requested Vulcan
to make him a suit of armor. Vulcan was the god of smiths as well as
of fire, and Venus thus appealed to him in behalf of her son.
"While the Greeks were laboring to bring destruction on Troy," said
she to the fire god, who was also the god of smiths, "I did not ask
your help, knowing that the ruin of the city had been decreed by the
gods. But now AEneas has settled in Italy by Jupiter's command;
therefore, I beg your assistance. What I wish is that you should make
arms and armor for my son. Many nations have combined against him, and
are sharpening their swords for the destruction of himself and his
people."
Vulcan readily agreed to comply with the request of Venus. Being a god
he could make arms and armor against which the power of mortal men
would be of no avail. His forges, and furnaces, and anvils were in
vast caves under one of the Lip'a-re isles and under Mount AEtna, and
the giant Cyclops were his workmen.
Sacred to Vulcan's name, an isle there lay,
Betwixt Sicilia's coasts and Lipare,
Raised high on smoking rocks; and, deep below,
In hollow caves the fires of AEtna glow.
The Cyclops here their heavy hammers deal;
Loud strokes, and hissing of tormented steel,
Are heard around; the boiling waters roar;
And smoky flames through fuming tunnels soar.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.
To these workshops Vulcan forthwith repaired to give orders for the
arms which Venus requested for her son. He found his men industriously
at work making wonderful things for the gods. Some were forging a
thunderbolt for Jupiter, the rays or shafts of which were of hail and
watery cloud, and glaring fire and the winged wind. Others were making
a war chariot for Mars, and others a shield for Minerva, ornamented
with serpent's scales of gold. When Vulcan entered, he bade them lay
aside all those tasks.
"My sons! (said Vulcan), set your tasks aside;
Your strength and master skill must now be tried.
Arms for a hero forge--arms that require
Your force, your speed, and all your forming fire."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.
Instantly the Cyclops set to work on their new task, and very soon
rivulets of molten gold and copper and iron were flowing in flaming
furnaces. A splendid shield was made, which was a sufficient defense
in itself against all the weapons of King Turnus. Other things
necessary for war were also put in shape, and so the work of forging
arms for the Trojan hero was vigorously prosecuted.
Meantime AEneas himself, after his night's repose in the palace of
Evander, was talking with the king and his son on the business which
had brought him to Pallanteum. The good will of Evander was greater
than his means, for his country was small, and on one side of it was
the territory of his enemies, the Rutulians. He was not able,
therefore, to do much for AEneas, but he knew where ample aid could be
obtained. "In the neighboring state of Etruria, and not far from this
spot," said he, "stands the ancient city of Agylla, founded by a
nation illustrious in war--Mezentius was recently its king, a cruel
and wicked man. The people, indignant at his crimes, took up arms
against him and set fire to his palace. He himself fled for protection
to King Turnus, with whom he now is. The Etrurians therefore have
resolved to make war upon Turnus, and their ships and men are already
assembled. You, AEneas, must be the leader of these people, for
a soothsayer has told them that no native of Italy is destined to
subdue the Rutulians, and that they must choose a foreigner to be
their commander in the war. They have invited me to lead them, but I
am too old to undertake such a task. I would have sent them my son,
but being born of an Italian mother, he is of the people of this land.
You, however, gallant leader of the Trojans, being in the prime of
life, and of foreign race, are destined by the gods for this work. My
son Pallas too shall take part in the expedition, and I will give him
two hundred horsemen, and as many more he shall add in his own name."
Evander had scarcely ceased speaking when lightning flashed through
the heavens and peals of thunder were heard and sounds as of trumpets
blaring, and then across the sky were seen arms blazing brilliantly as
the sun--arms such as heroes bore in battle, and they clashed with a
loud resounding noise.
Gazing up, repeated peals they hear;
And, in a heaven serene, refulgent arms appear
Reddening the skies, and glittering all around,
The tempered metals clash, and yield a silver sound.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.