Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/247

Rh Exulting in the mighty sign,

They spread the board, set on the wine,

And crown the cup with flowers.

Soon as the moon at earliest birth

Diffused her lustre o'er the earth,

Each by a different path explores

The town, the frontier, and the shores:

And here they find Numicius' spring,

Here Tiber flows, here dwells the king.

This done, the monarch's grace to gain,

Æneas sends a goodly train,

A hundred chiefs of each degree,

With wool-wreathed boughs from Pallas' tree,

Rich presents to their hand commends,

And bids them crave the dues of friends.

At once the ambassadors obey:

Their hasty steps despatch the way.

Himself with narrow trench defines

The rampart's meditated lines,

And camp-like girds his city round

With palisade and sloping mound.

And now the chiefs, the way o'ercome,

Before them rising tall

See roofs and towers, the Latins' home,

And pass beneath the wall.

Before the town the youth at play

In mimic contests speed the day,

Direct the rapid car, or train

The courser on the dusty plain,

With vigour bend the phant bow,

Or to its mark the javelin throw,

Ply the swift foot, or plant the blow:

When riding up in full career

A herald to the monarch's ear