Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/128

104 Then, when the guests have gone their ways

And the dim moon withdraws her rays,

And setting stars to slumber call,

Alone she mourns in that lone hall,

Clasps the dear couch where late he lay,

Beholds him, hears him far away;

Or keeps Ascanius on her knees,

And in the son the father sees,

Might she but steal one peaceful hour

From love's ungovernable power.

No more the growing towers arise,

No more in martial exercise

The youth engage, make strong the fort,

Or shape the basin to a port:

The works all slack and aimless lie,

Grim bastions, looming from on high,

And monster cranes that mate the sky.

Whom when imperial Juno saw

With passion so possessed

Too tyrannous for shame to awe,

She Venus' ear addressed:

'A glorious triumph you enjoy:

Vast spoil must be to share

'Twixt Venus and her conquering boy:

Two gods have cunning to destroy

A single earthly fair.

Nor has it 'scaped me that you dread

This town that lifts so proud a head:

Let Carthage open as she will

Her homes, your heart mistrusts her still.

But must suspicion never cease?

Or why so fierce a fight?

What if we make a lasting peace,

And marriage treaties plight?