Book 4
Aeneas, goodliest of all his train.
105
In such a guise Apollo (when he leaves
cold Lycian hills and Xanthus' frosty stream
to visit Delos to Latona dear)
ordains the song, while round his altars cry
the choirs of many islands, with the pied,
fantastic Agathyrsi; soon the god
moves o'er the Cynthian steep; his flowing hair
he binds with laurel garland and bright gold;
upon his shining shoulder as he goes
the arrows ring:—not less uplifted mien
aeneas wore; from his illustrious brow
such beauty shone. Soon to the mountains tall
the cavalcade comes nigh, to pathless haunts
of woodland creatures; the wild goats are seen,
from pointed crag descending leap by leap
down the steep ridges; in the vales below
are routed deer, that scour the spreading plain,
and mass their dust-blown squadrons in wild flight,
far from the mountain's bound. Ascanius
flushed with the sport, spurs on a mettled steed
from vale to vale, and many a flying herd
his chase outspeeds; but in his heart he prays
among these tame things suddenly to see
a tusky boar, or, leaping from the hills,
a growling mountain-lion, golden-maned.
Meanwhile low thunders in the distant sky
160
mutter confusedly; soon bursts in full
the storm-cloud and the hail. The Tyrian troop
is scattered wide; the chivalry of Troy,
with the young heir of Dardan's kingly line,
of Venus sprung, seek shelter where they may,
with sudden terror; down the deep ravines
the swollen torrents roar. In that same hour
Queen Dido and her hero out of Troy
to the same cavern fly. Old Mother-Earth
and wedlock-keeping Juno gave the sign;
the flash of lightnings on the conscious air
were torches to the bridal; from the hills
the wailing wood-nymphs sobbed a wedding song.
