Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/242

218 He bids his comrades turn aside

And landward set each vessel's head,

And enters in triumphant pride

The river's shadowy bed.

Be with me, Goddess, while I tell

What chiefs bore rule, what deeds befel,

What Latium's early time, before

The stranger landed on her shore,

And wake the memory of the feud

Which first her arms in blood imbued.

O be thy poet's guide, and aid

His recollection, heavenly maid!

I sing of War's tempestuous tide,

Of kings who perished in their pride,

The Tyrrhene chivalry, and all

Hesperia roused by battle's call.

A loftier task the bard assays:

The horizon broadens on his gaze.

Latinus, old at length and grey,

O'er town and realm held peaceful sway,

Born of a nymph of Latian race

From kingly Faunus' loved embrace.

Picus was Faunus' sire: and he,

Great Saturn, owes his birth to thee.

No manly heir, so Heaven decreed,

Preserved in life the royal seed;

E'en as it rose, in youth's fair day

That progeny was reft away.

One daughter stood to guard the throne,

To bridal age already grown:

Full many a prince from Latian land

And all Ausonia sought her hand,

Young Turnus chief, to kings allied

And comelier far than all beside,