Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/400

376 Elsewhere must Latium seek relief,

Or yield her to the Trojan chief.

Latinus quails, and bends him low

Before the giant wave of woe:

Heaven's wrath, in sad reverses read,

new mounded o'er the dead,

All warn him with presaging voice

Æneas is the gods' true choice:

So Latium's wisest sons he calls

To council in the palace halls.

They meet, and flooding all the road

Stream onward to their king's abode:

Midmost, in age and state the chief,

Latinus sits with face of grief,

Invites the lately-missioned train,

And bids them point by point explain.

Then talk is stilled, and Venulus,

The charge obeying, answers thus:

'Townsmen of Latium! we have seen

King Diomed in his home:

Each perilous chance that lay between

Is mastered and o'ercome;

The hand that levelled Ilium's towers

In friendship has been clasped in ours.

We found him on his work intent,

By might of victor hand

Rearing an Argive settlement

In Iapygian land.

Admission to his presence gained,

And privilege of speech obtained,

We tender gifts to buy his grace,

Inform him of our name and race,

Tell who our foe, and what the cause

Our embassy to Arpi draws.

He hears, and with untroubled eye

And courteous accent makes reply: