Page:The Aeneid of Virgil JOHN CONINGTON 1917 V2.pdf/99

 shall be at your call as you go to Italy, and you shall be free to enter its harbours: but you shall not build walls round your fated city, before fell hunger and your murderous wrong against us drive you to gnaw and eat up your very tables.'[o] She said, and her wings carried her swiftly     5 into the wood. But for my friends, a sudden terror curdled their blood, their hearts died within them; no more arms—no, we must sue for grace, with vows and prayers, be the creatures goddesses or fell and loathsome birds. And my father Anchises, spreading his hands from the shore,     10 invokes the mighty powers, and ordains meet sacrifice—'Great gods, forefend these menaces! Great gods, avert a chance like this, and let your blessing shield your worshippers!' Then he bids us tear our moorings from the shore, and uncoil and stretch our ropes. 15

"The winds swell our sails, we scud over the foaming surge, where gale and pilot bid us go. Now rising from the wave are seen the woods of Zacynthos,[o] and Dulichium, and Samos, and the tall cliffs of Neritos: we fly past the rocks of Ithaca, Laertes' realm, breathing a curse     20 for the land that nursed the hard heart of Ulysses. Soon, too, the storm-capped peaks of Leucata dawn on the view, and their Apollo, the terror of sailors. In our weariness we make for him, and enter the little town: our anchors are thrown from the prow, our sterns ranged      25 on the coast.

"So now, masters of the land beyond our hope, we perform lustrations to Jove, and set the altars ablaze with our vows, and solemnize the shores of Actium[o] with the native games of Troy. My comrades strip, and practise     30 the wrestle of the old country, all slippery with oil: what joy to have passed in safety by all those Argive cities, and held on our flight through the heart of the foe! Meanwhile the sun rolls round the mighty year, and the north winds of icy winter roughen the sea. A shield of      35 hollow brass, once borne by the great Abas, I fasten up full on the temple gate, and signalize the deed with a verse: 'These arms are the offering of Æneas, won from