Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/310

286 'Fair Iris, glory of the sky,

Who sent thee hither from on high?

What means this sudden light?

I see the heavens dispart in twain,

And round the pole the starry train

Is swimming in my sight.

Enough: I follow this thy sign,

Whoe'er thou art, O power divine!'

So speaking, to the wave he hied,

Scooped in his palms the brimming tide,

In suppliance to the immortals bows,

And burdens heaven with uttered vows.

And now the host is on the plain,

With steeds, and gold, and broidered grain:

Messapus the front rank arrays:

The hinder Tyrrheus' sons obeys:

The midmost are by Turnus led:

So rising in serene repose

Great Ganges rears his seven-fold head:

So Nile from off the champaign flows

And sinks into his bed.

Troy's sons look forth, and see revealed

Black dust-clouds, moving o'er the field:

And first from off the fronting mole

Aloud Caicus calls:

'What murky clouds are these that roll?

Fetch weapons, man the walls!

See there, the foe!' And one and all

Pour through the gates and fill the wall.

For such Æneas' last command,

What time he stood to go,

Should chance meanwhile surprise his band,

To wage no conflict hand to hand.

But safe behind the rampart stand

And thence direct the blow.