Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/439

Rh By all the infernal powers divine

And grisly Pluto's mystic shrine:

Let Jove give ear, whose vengeful tire

Makes treaties firm, the Almighty Sire:

I touch the hearth with either hand,

I call the gods that 'twixt us stand:

No time shall make the treaty vain,

Whate'er to-day's event;

No violence shall my will constrain,

Though earth were scattered in the main

And Styx with ether blent:

E'en as this sceptre' (as he swore

A sceptre in his hand he bore)

'Shall ne'er put forth or leaf or gem,

Since severed from its parent stem

Foliage and branch it lost;

'Twas once a tree; now workman's care

Has given it Latium's kings to bear,

With seemly bronze embossed.'

Thus chief and chief in open sight

With solemn words the treaty plight;

Then o'er the flame they slay

The hallowed victims, strip the flesh

Yet quick with life, and warm and fresh

On loaded altars lay.

But in the Rutules' jealous sight

Unequal seems the chance of fight,

Ill matched the champions twain,

And fitfully their bosoms heave

As near and nearer they perceive

The encounter on the plain.

Compassion deepening into dread,

They note young Turnus' quiet tread,

The downcast meekness of his eyes

Turned to the hearth in suppliant guise,