Part 8 (1/2)
He said no more, but, in his walls confined, Shut out the woes which he too well divined; Nor with the rising storm would vainly strive, But left the helm, and let the vessel drive.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
In spite of the warning of their king, the Latians now resolved upon war against the Trojans and they demanded that the gates of the temple of Ja.n.u.s should be thrown open. Ja.n.u.s was the most ancient king who reigned in Italy. When he died he was wors.h.i.+pped as a G.o.d, and a magnificent temple was erected in his honor. The gates of this temple were always open in times of war and shut in times of peace. They were opened by the king, and in later ages, when Rome was a republic, the president or consul performed the ceremony dressed in robes of purple and attended by mult.i.tudes of citizens and soldiers, with the blaring of trumpets.
Two gates of steel (the name of Mars they bear, And still are wors.h.i.+pped with religious fear) Before his temple stand; the dire abode, And the feared issues of the furious G.o.d, Then, when the sacred senate votes the wars, The Roman consul their decree declares, And in his robes the sounding gates unbars.
The youth in military shouts arise, And the loud trumpets break the yielding skies.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK Vii.
The Latians now requested their king to unlock the gates of the temple of Ja.n.u.s in accordance with the ancient custom. Latinus refused saying that to do so would be a defiance of the G.o.ds. But the G.o.ddess Juno, resolved that there should be no peace, descended from the skies, and with her own hands pushed back the bolts of bra.s.s, and flung wide open the gates. Then the cry of war went forth throughout the land and everywhere men began to prepare for the conflict, giving up their work in the fields to get ready their spears and s.h.i.+elds and battle-axes.
Soon a vast number of warriors was marshalled under King Turnus to drive the Trojans out of Italy. Vergil gives a long list of the famous chiefs who a.s.sembled on this occasion.
First came Me-zen'ti-us, an Etrurian king, fierce in war, but a despiser of the G.o.ds. His own people had expelled him from their country, for his cruelty, and he had taken refuge with King Turnus.
His son Lausus also came to the war with a thousand men from the Etrurian city of A-gyl'la. Next came the brave Av-en-ti'nus, son of the renowned hero, Her'cu-les, who performed those marvelous feats, of which we read with wonder in the ancient legends. Aventinus was a warrior of terrible appearance, his body covered with the s.h.a.ggy hide of an enormous lion, the white tusks displayed above his head.
King Caec'u-lus, son of the G.o.d Vulcan, came from the city of Prae-nes'te with an army who fought with slings, wore helmets of wolf-skins, and marched with one foot naked.
Nor arms they wear, nor swords and bucklers wield, Nor drive the chariot through the dusty field; But whirl from leathern slings huge b.a.l.l.s of lead; And spoils of yellow wolves adorn their head; The left foot naked, when they march to fight; But in a bull's raw hide they sheath the right.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VII.
From the mountains of Etruria came the gallant horseman, Mes-sa'pus, Neptune's son, ”whom none had power to prostrate by fire or steel.”
The mighty King Clausus led to the field a great host from the country of the Sabines, and an army of the Qui-ri'tes from the town of Cu'res.
This name, Quirites was in later ages one of the names by which the citizens of Rome were called. Another of the warriors was Umbro, chief of the Maru'vi-i, who could charm serpents and heal wounds inflicted by their bites.
[Ill.u.s.tration with caption: CAMILLA. (Drawn by Varian.)]
All these and many more of the princes of Italy, a.s.sembled with their armies at the call of Turnus. Greatest amongst them was Turnus himself, tallest by a head, and clad in armor brilliant with embroidered gold. There was one female warrior amongst his allies.
This was Ca-mil'la, the queen of the Volscians. She was the daughter of King Met'a-bus, who, like Mezentius, had been driven from his kingdom by his own people, because he was a cruel tyrant. In his flight, for the enraged people pursued him to take his life, he carried with him his infant daughter Camilla. Coming to the bank of a river and still pursued by his enemies, he bound the child fast to his javelin, and holding the weapon in his hands, he prayed to Di-a'na, G.o.ddess of hunters and hunting, and dedicated his daughter to her saying, ”To thee, G.o.ddess of the woods, I devote this child to be thy handmaid, and committing her to the wind, I implore thee to receive her as thine own.” Then he hurled the spear across the river, and plunging into the water swam to the other side, where he found the javelin fixed in the bank, and the infant uninjured.
After this achievement Metabus retired to the mountains, where he led the life of a shepherd. As soon as the child was able to hold a weapon in her hand, he trained her to the use of javelins and arrows and she grew up to be a brave and skillful warrior. In course of time she returned to the kingdom from which her father had been expelled, and became celebrated as a runner of wondrous speed.
VII. ALLIANCE WITH EVANDER--VULCAN MAKES ARMS FOR AENEAS--THE FAMOUS s.h.i.+ELD.
Meanwhile AEneas was considering how to defend himself and his people against the enemy who was thus marshalling such mighty forces against him. He thought of many plans without being able to decide upon any.
This way, and that, he turns his anxious mind; Thinks, and rejects the counsels he designed; Explores himself in vain in every part, And gives no rest to his distracted heart DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.
But fortune again favored the pious chief. In a dream the river G.o.d, Tib-e-ri'nus, arrayed in garb of green, with a crown of reeds upon his head (old Father Tiber himself, the guardian genius of Rome in later ages) appeared to him, and told him where to seek help. He repeated the prophecy of Helenus, about the sow with her litter of thirty young, and he directed AEneas to repair to Pal-lan-te'um, a city further up the river, whose king, E-van'der, being frequently at war with the Latians, would gladly join the Trojans. The good father promised that he himself would conduct the Trojans along his banks, and bear them safely on his waters until they reached the Kingdom of Evander.
”To thy free pa.s.sage I submit my streams.
Wake, son of Venus, from thy pleasing dreams!
And when the setting stars are lost in day, To Juno's power thy just devotion pay; With sacrifice the wrathful queen appease; Her pride at length shall fall, her fury cease.
When thou return'st victorious from the war, Perform thy vows to me with grateful care.
The G.o.d am I, whose yellow water flows Around these fields, and fattens as it goes; Tiber my name--among the rolling floods Renowned on earth, esteemed among the G.o.ds.”
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK VIII.
Old Father Tiber then plunged into the middle of the river, and disappeared from the hero's view. When AEneas awoke he immediately prepared for his journey, selecting two s.h.i.+ps from his fleet and furnis.h.i.+ng them with men and arms. As he was about to depart, the prophecy only just repeated by the river G.o.d was fulfilled before his eyes; for on the bank where he stood, a white sow suddenly appeared with a litter of thirty young ones.