Father Anchises paused; and, as they wondered, went
on to say: “See how Marcellus advances in the glory of
the general’s spoils, towering with conqueror’s majesty 5
over all the warriors near! When the state of Rome
reels under the invader’s shock, he shall stay it; his horse’s
hoofs shall trample the Carthaginian and the revolted
Gaul; and he shall dedicate the third suit of armour to
Quirinus
[235] the sire.” Hereupon Æneas, for he saw walking
10at Marcellus’ side a youth of goodly presence and in
gleaming armour, but with little joy on his brow and
downcast eyes: “Who, my father, is he that thus attends
the warrior’s march? his son, or one of the glorious line
of his posterity? What a hum runs through the attendant 15
train! how lofty his own mien! but the shadow of gloomy
night hovers saddening round his head.” Father Anchises
began, tears gushing forth the while: “Alas, my son!
ask not of the heavy grief that those of your blood must
bear. Of him the fates shall give but a glimpse to earth, 20
nor suffer him to continue longer. Yes, powers of the
sky! Rome’s race would have been in your eyes too
strong, had a boon like this been its own forever. What
groanings of the brave shall be wafted from Mars’ broad
field to Mars’ mighty town! What a funeral, father 25
Tiber, shall thine eyes behold, as thou flowest past that
new-built sepulchre! No child of the stock of Ilion shall
raise his Latian ancestors to such heights of hope: never
while time lasts shall the land of Romulus take such pride
in any that she has reared. Woe for the piety, for the 30
ancient faith, for the arm unconquered in battle! Never
would foeman have met that armed presence unscathed,
marched he on foot into the field or tore with bloody spur
the flank of his foaming steed. Child of a nation’s sorrow!
were there hope of thy breaking the tyranny of fate, thou 35
shalt be Marcellus. Bring me handfuls of lilies, that I
may strew the grave with their dazzling hues, and crown,
if only with these gifts, my young descendant’s shade, and
perform the vain service of sorrow.” Thus they wander
here and there through the whole expanse in the broad
fields of shadow and take note of all. Soon as Anchises
had taken his son from end to end, and fired his mind
with the prospect of that glorious history, he then tells 5
the warrior of the battles that he must fight at once, and
informs him of the Laurentian
[236] tribes and Latinus’ town,
and how to shun or stand the shock of every peril.
There are two gates of Sleep: the one, as story tells,
of horn, supplying a ready exit for true spirits: the other 10
gleaming with the polish of dazzling ivory, but through
it the powers below send false dreams to the world above.
Thither Anchises, talking thus, conducts his son and the
Sibyl, and dismisses them by the gate of ivory.
[237] Æneas
traces his way to the fleet and returns to his comrades; 15
then sails along the shore for Caieta’s haven. The anchor
is cast from the prow: the keels are ranged on the beach.