THE ARGUMENT.

Æneis proceeds in his relation: he gives an account of the fleet with which he failed, and the fuccefs of his first voyage to Thrace; from thence he directs his courfe to Delos, and afks the oracle what place the Gods had appointed for his habitation? By a miftake of the oracle's anfwer, he fettles in Crete : his houfhold Gods give him the true fenfe of the oracle in a dream: he follows their advice, and makes the best of his way for Italy he is caft on feveral fhores, and meets with very furprizing adventures, till at length he lands on Sicily; where his father Anchifes dies. This is the place he was failing from, when the tempeft rofe, and threw him upon the Carthaginian coaft.

:

WHEN heaven had overturn'd th' Trojan state,
And Priam's throne, by too fevere a fate :

VOL. VI.

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When

When ruin'd Troy became the Grecians prey,
And Ilium's lofty towers in ashes lay:
Warn'd by celeftial omens, we retreat,
To feek in foreign lands a happier feat.
Near old Antandros, and at Ida's foot,
The timber of the facred groves we cut;
And build our fleet: uncertain yet to find
What place the gods for our repofe affign'd.
Friends daily flock, and scarce the kindly spring
Began to cloathe the ground, and birds to sing :
When old Anchifes fummon'd all to fea :
The crew, my father and the fates obey.

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With fighs and tears I leave my native shore,

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And empty fields, where Ilium stood before.

My fire, my fon, our lefs, and greater gods,
All fail at once; and cleave the briny floods.

Against our coast appears a spacious land,
Which once the fierce Lycurgus did command:
Thracia the name; the people bold in war;
Vaft are their fields, and tillage is their care.
A hofpitable realm, while fate was kind;
With Troy in friendship and religion join'd.
I land, with lucklefs omens; then adore
Their gods, and draw a line along the shore :
I lay the deep foundations of a wall:
And Enos, nam'd from me, the city call.
To Dionæan Venus vows are paid,

And all the powers that rifing labours aid;
A bull on Jove's imperial altar laid.

Not far, a rifing hillock stood in view;
Sharp myrtles, on the fides, and cornels grew.
There, while I went to crop the sylvan scenes,
And shade our altar with their leafy greens,
I pull❜d a plant (with horror I relate
A prodigy fo ftrange, and full of fate);

The rooted fibres rofe; and from the wound,
Black bloody drops distill'd upon the ground.
Mute, and amaz'd, my hair with terror stood;
Fear fhrunk my finews, and congeal'd my blood:
Man'd once again, another plant I try,
That other gush'd with the fame fanguine dye.
Then, fearing guilt for fome offence unknown,
With prayers and vows the Dryads I atone;
With all the fifters of the woods, and moft
The god of arms, who rules the Thracian coast:
That they, or he, these omens would avert;
Release our fears, and better figns impart.
Clear'd, as I thought, and fully fix'd at length
To learn the cause, I tugg'd with all my strength :
I bent my knees against the ground; once more
The violated myrtle ran with gore.

Scarce dare I tell the sequel: from the womb

Of wounded earth, and caverns of the tomb,
A groan as of a troubled ghost renew'd

My fright, and then these dreadful words enfued:
Why.doft thou thus my bury'd body rend?
Ofpare the corpfe of thy unhappy friend!
Spare to pollute thy pious hands with blood:
The tears diftil not from the wounded wood;
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(Johnson) NCI