Page:The Aeneid of Virgil JOHN CONINGTON 1917 V2.pdf/185

 Anchises ended: he draws his son and the Sibyl with him into the midst of the assemblage, the heart of that buzzing crowd, and mounts an eminence, whence he might see face to face the whole of the long procession, and learn each comer's looks. 5

"Now, then, for the glories of the Dardan race from this time onward, the posterity reserved for you in the Italian line, noble spirits, the ordained heirs of our proud name: of these I will tell you, and inform you of your destiny.                                                       10

"He whom you see there, the youth leaning on the pointless spear, his lot is to fill the next place in light: he will be first to rise to upper day, born from the admixture of Italian blood, Silvius, that great Alban name, your latest offspring, whom in your old age at set of life       15 your spouse Lavinia will bear you in the woods, himself a king and the father of kings to be: from him it is that our race shall rule over Alba the Long. Next comes mighty Procas, the pride of the people of Troy, and Capys, and Numitor, and a second bearer of your name,             20 Silvius Æneas, himself renowned alike for piety and for valour, if ever he should come to the throne of Alba. What glorious youths! look what strength they carry in their port, while their brows are shaded by the civic oak! These shall uprear for you, high on the mountains, Nomentum,        25 and Gabii, and Fidenæ's town, and the towers of Collatia, Pometii and Inuus' camp, and Bola, and Cora; names which shall one day be named: now they are mere nameless lands. Romulus, too, the child of Mars, shall come along with his grandsire. Romulus,            30 whom a mother, bearing Ilium's name, shall produce from the blood of Assaracus. See you the two plumes standing on his crest, how his sire marks him even now for the upper world by his own token of honour? Yes, my son, it is by his auspices that our glorious Rome shall      35 extend her empire to earth's end, her ambition to the skies, and embrace seven hills with the wall of a single city, blest parent of a warrior brood: even as the mighty