Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/92

68 At length Hesperia you shall gain,

Where through a rich and peopled plain

Soft Tiber rolls his tide:

There a new realm, a royal wife,

Shall build again your shattered life.

Weep not your dear Creusa's fate:

Ne'er through Mycenæ's haughty gate

A captive shall I ride,

Nor swell some Grecian matron's train,

I, born of Dardan princes' strain,

To Venus' seed allied:

Heaven's mighty Mother keeps me here:

Farewell, and hold our offspring dear.'

Then, while I dewed with tears my cheek,

And strove a thousand things to speak,

She melted into night:

Thrice I essayed her neck to clasp:

Thrice the vain semblance mocked my grasp,

As wind or slumber light.

So now, the long, long night o'erpast,

I reach my weary friends at last.

There with amazement I behold

New-mustering comrades, young and old,

Sons, mothers, bound from home to flee,

A melancholy company.

They meet, prepared to brave the seas

And sail with me where'er I please.

Now, rising o'er the heights of Ide,

Shone the bright star, day's orient guide:

The Danaans swarmed at every door,

Nor seemed there hope of safety more:

I yield to fate, take up my sire,

And to the mountain's shade retire.