Poetical Works of Robert Bridges excluding the eight dramas

They wer' amid the shadows by night in loneliness obscure
Walking forth i' the void and vasty dominyon of Ades;
As by an uncertain moonray secretly illumin'd
One goeth in the forest, when heav'n is gloomily clouded,
And black night hath robb'd the colours and beauty from all things.

Here in Hell's very jaws, the threshold of darkening Orcus,
Have the avenging Cares laid their sleepless habitation,
Wailing Grief, pallid Infections, & heart-stricken Old-age,
Dismal Fear, unholy Famine, with low-groveling Want,
Forms of spectral horror, gaunt Toil and Death the devourer,
And Death's drowsy brother, Torpor; with whom, an inane rout,
All the Pleasures of Sin; there also the Furies in ambusht

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Chamber of iron, afore whose bars wild War bloodyhanded
Raged, and mad Discord high brandisht her venomous locks.

Midway of all this tract, with secular arms an immense elm
Reareth a crowd of branches, aneath whose leafy protection
Vain dreams thickly nestle, clinging unto the foliage on high:
And many strange creatures of monstrous form and features
Stable about th'entrance, Centaur and Scylla's abortion,
And hundred-handed Briareus, and Lerna's wildbeast
Roaring amain, and clothed in frightful flame the Chimæra,
Gorgons and Harpies, and Pluto's three-bodied ogre.

In terror Æneas upheld his sword to defend him,
With ready naked point confronting their dreaded onset:
And had not the Sibyl warn'd how these lively spirits were
All incorporeal, flitting in thin maskery of form,
He had assail'd their host, and wounded vainly the void air.

Hence is a road that led them a-down to the Tartarean streams,
Where Acheron's whirlpool impetuous, into the reeky
Deep of Cokytos disgorgeth, with muddy burden.
These floods one ferryman serveth, most awful of aspect,
Of squalor infernal, Charon: all filthily unkempt
That woolly white cheek-fleece, and fiery the blood-shotten eyeballs:
On one shoulder a cloak knotted-up his nudity vaunteth.
He himself plieth oar or pole, manageth tiller and sheet,
And the relics of men in his ash-grey barge ferries over;
Already old, but green to a god and hearty will age be.

Now hitherward to the bank much folk were crowding, a medley
Of men and matrons; nor did death's injury conceal
Bravespirited heroes, young maidens beauteous unwed,
And boys borne to the grave in sight of their sorrowing sires.

Countless as in the forest, at a first white frosting of autumn
Sere leaves fall to the ground; or like whenas over the ocean
Myriad birds come thickly flocking, when wintry December
Drives them afar southward for shelter upon sunnier shores,

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So throng'd they; and each his watery journey demanded,
All to the further bank stretching-out their arms impatient:
But the sullen boatman took now one now other at will,
While some from the river forbade he', an' drave to a distance.

Æneas in wonder alike and deep pity then spake.
‘Tell me,’ said he, ‘my guide, why flock these crowds to the water?
Or what seek the spirits? or by what prejudice are these
Rudely denied, while those may upon the solemn river embark?’
T'whom then briefly again the Avernian priestess in answer.
‘O Son of Anchises, heavn's true-born glorious offspring,
Deep Cokytos it is thou seest & Hell's Stygian flood,
Whose dread sanction alone Jove's oath from falsehood assureth.
These whom thou pitiedst, th'outcast and unburied are they;
That ferryman Charon; those whom his bark carries over
Are the buried; nor ever may mortal across the livid lake
Journey, or e'er upon Earth his bones lie peacefully entomb'd:
Haunting a hundred years this mournful plain they wander
Doom'd for a term, which term expired they win to deliv'rance.’

Then he that harken'd stood agaze, his journey arrested,
Grieving at heart and much pitying their unmerited lot.
There miserably fellow'd in death's indignity saw he
Leucaspis with his old Lycian seachieften Orontes,
Whom together from Troy in home-coming over the waters
Wild weather o'ermaster'd, engulphing both shipping and men.
And lo! his helmsman, Palinurus, in eager emotion,
Who on th'Afric course, in bright star-light, with a fair wind,
Fell by slumber opprest unheedfully into the wide sea:
Whom i' the gloom when hardly he knew, now changed in affliction,

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First he addrest. ‘What God, tell me O Palinurus, of all gods
Pluckt you away and drown'd i' the swift wake-water abandon'd?
For never erst nor in else hath kind responsive Apollo
Led me astray, but alone in this thing wholly deluded,
When he aver'd that you, to remote Ausonia steering,
Safe would arrive. Where now his truth? Is this the promis'd faith?’
But he, ‘Neither again did Phœbus wrongly bespeak thee,
My general, nor yet did a god in his enmity drown me:
For the tiller, wherewith I led thy fleet's navigation,
And still clung to, was in my struggling hold of it unshipt,
And came with me’ o'erboard, Ah! then, by ev'ry accurst sea,
Tho' in utter despair, far less mine own peril awed me
Than my thought o' the ship, what harm might hap to her, yawing
In the billows helmless, with a high wind and threatening gale.
Two nights and one day buffeted held I to the good spar
Windborne, with the current far-drifting, an' on the second morn
Saw, when a great wave raised me aloft, the Italyan highlands;
And swimming on with effort got ashore, nay already was saved,
Had not there the wrecking savages, who spied me defenceless,
Scarce clinging outwearied to a rock, half-drowned & speechless,
Beat me to death for hope of an unfound booty upon me.
Now to the wind and tidewash a sport my poor body rolleth.
Wherefore thee, by heav'n's sweet light & airness, I pray,
By thy Sire's memories, thy hope of youthful Iulus,
Rescue me from these ills, brave master; Go to Velija,
O'er my mortality's spoil cast thou th'all-hallowing dust:

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Or better, if so be the goddess, heav'n's lady-Creatress,
Show thee the way,—nor surely without high favoring impulse
Mak'st thou ventur' across these floods & black Ereban lake,—
Give thy hand to me', an' o'er their watery boundary bring me
Unto the haven of all, death's home of quiet abiding.’
Thus he lamented, anon spake sternly the maid of Avernus.
‘Whence can such unruly desire, Palinurus, assail thee?
Wilt thou th'Eumenidan waters visit unburied? o'erpass
Hell's Stygian barrier? Charon's boat unbidden enter?
Cease to believe that fate can be by prayer averted.
Let my sooth a litel thy cruel destiny comfort
Surely the people of all thy new-found country, determin'd
By heav'n-sent omens will achieve thy purification,
Build thee a tomb of honour with yearly solemnity ordain'd,
And dedicate for ever thy storied name to the headland.’

These words lighten awhile his fear, his sadness allaying,
Nor vain was the promise his name should eternally survive.

They forthwith their journey renew, tending to the water:
Whom when th'old boatman descried silently emerging
Out o' the leafy shadows, advancing t'ward the river-shore,
Angrily gave he challenge, imperious in salutation.
‘Whosoever thou be, that approachest my river all-arm'd,
Stand to announce thyself, nor further make footing onward.
Here 'tis a place of ghosts, of night & drowsy delusion:
Forbidden unto living mortals is my Stygian keel:
Truly not Alkides embarkt I cheerfully, nor took
Of Theseus or Pirithous glad custody, nay though
God-sprung were they both, warriors invincible in might:
He'twas would sportively the guard of Tartarus enchain,
Yea and from the palace with gay contumely dragged him:
They to ravish Hell's Queen from Pluto's chamber attempted.’

Then thus th'Amphrysian prophetess spake briefly in answer.
‘No such doughty designs are ours, Cease thou to be moved!
Nor these sheeny weapons intend force. Cerberus unvext

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Surely for us may affray the spirits with ‘howling eternal,
And chaste Persephone enjoy her queenly seclusion.
Troian Æneas, bravest and gentlest-hearted,
Hath left earth to behold his father in out-lying Ades.
If the image of a so great virtue doth not affect thee,
Yet this bough’—glittering she reveal'd its golden avouchment—
‘Thou mayst know.’ Forthwith his bluster of heart was appeased:
Nor word gave he, but admiring the celestial omen,
That bright sprigg of weird for so long period unseen,
Quickly he turneth about his boat, to the margin approaching,
And the spirits, that along the gun'al benchways sat in order,
Drave he ashore, offering readyroom: but when the vessel took
Ponderous Æneas, her timbers crankily straining
Creak'd, an' a brown water came trickling through the upper seams.
Natheless both Sibyl and Hero, slow wafted across stream,
Safe on th'ooze & slime's hideous desolation alighted.

Hence the triple-throated bellowings of Cerberus invade
All Hell, where opposite the arrival he lies in a vast den.
But the Sibyl, who mark'd his necklaces of stiffening snakes,
Cast him a cake, poppy-drench'd with drowsiness and honey-sweeten'd.
He, rabid and distending a-hungry' his triply-cavern'd jaws,
Gulp'd the proffer'd morsel; when slow he relaxt his immense bulk,
And helplessly diffused fell out-sprawl'd over the whole cave.
Æneas fled by, and left full boldly the streamway,
That biddeth all men across but alloweth ne'er a returning.

Already now i' the air were voices heard, lamentation,
And shrilly crying of infant souls by th'entry of Ades.
Babes, whom unportion'd of sweet life, unblossoming buds,
One black day carried off and chokt in dusty corruption.—
Next are they who falsely accused were wrongfully condemn'd

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Unto the death: but here their lot by justice is order'd.
Inquisitor Minos, with his urn, summoning to assembly
His silent council, their deed or slander arraigneth.—
Next the sullen-hearted, who rashly with else-innocent hand
Their own life did-away, for hate or weariness of light,
Imperiling their souls. How gladly, if only in Earth's air,
Would they again their toil, discomfort, and pities endure!
Fate obstructs: deep sadness now, unloveliness awful
Rings them about, & Styx with ninefold circle enarmeth.—

Not far hence they come to a land extensive on all sides;
Weeping Plain 'tis call'd:—such name such country deserveth.
Here the lovers, whom fiery passion hath cruelly consumed,
Hide in leafy alleys and pathways bow'ry, sequester'd
By woodland myrtle, nor hath Death their sorrow ended.
Here was Phædra to see, Procris and sad Eriphyle,
She of her unfilial deathdoing wound not ashamed,
Evadne, and Pasiphae and Laodamia,
And epicene Keneus, a woman to a man metamorphos'd,
Now by Fate converted again to her old feminine form.

'Mong these shades, her wound yet smarting ruefully, Dido
Wander'd throu' the forest-obscurity; and Æneas
Standing anigh knew surely the dim form, though i' the darkness
Veil'd,—as when one seeth a young moon on the horizon,
Or thinketh to 'have seen i' the gloaming her delicate horn;
Tearfully in oncelov'd accents he lovingly addrest her.
‘Unhappy! ah! too true 'twas told me' O unhappy Dido,
Dead thou wert; to the fell extreme didst thy passion ensue.
And was it I that slew thee? Alas! Smite falsity, ye heav'ns!
And Hell-fury attest me', if here any sanctity reigneth,
Unwilling, O my Queen, my step thy kingdom abandon'd.
Me the command of a god, who here my journey determines
Through Ereban darkness, through fields sown with desolation,

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Drave me to wrong my heart. Nay tho' deep-pain'd to desert thee
I ne'er thought to provoke thy pain of mourning eternal.
Stay yet awhile, ev'n here unlook'd-for again look upon me:
Fly me not ere the supreme words that Fate granteth us are said.’

Thus he: but the spirit was raging, fiercely defiant,
Whom he approach'd with words to appease, with tears for atonement.
She to the ground downcast her eyes in fixity averted;
Nor were her features more by his pleading affected,
Than wer' a face of flint, or of ensculptur'd alabaster.
At length she started disdainful, an' angrily withdrew
Into a shady thicket: where her grief kindly Sychæus
Sooth'd with other memories, first love and virginal embrace.
And ever Æneas, to remorse by deep pity soften'd,
With brimming eyes pursued her queenly figure disappearing.

Thence the Sibyl to the plain's extremest boundary led him,
Where world-fam'd warriors, a lionlike company, haunted.
Here great Tydeus saw he eclips'd, & here the benighted
Phantom of Adrastus, of stalwart Parthenopæus.
Here long mourn'd upon earth went all that prowess of Ilium
Fallen in arms; whom, when he beheld them, so many and great,
Much he bewail'd. By Thersilochus his mighty brothers stood,
Children of Antenor; here Demetrian Polyphates,
And Idæus, in old chariot-pose dreamily stalking.
Right and left the spirits flocking on stood crowding around him;
Nor their eyes have enough; they touch, find joy unwonted
Marching in equal step, and eager of his coming enquire.
But th'Argive leaders, and they that obey'd Agamemnon
When they saw that Trojan in arms come striding among them,
Old terror invaded their ranks: some fled stricken, as once

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They to the ships had fled for shelter; others the alarm raise,
But their thin utterance mock'd vainly the lips wide parted.
Here too Deiphobus he espied, his fair body mangled,
Cruelly dismember'd, disfeatur'd cruelly his face,
Face and hands; and lo! shorn closely from either temple,
Gone wer' his ears, and maim'd each nostril in impious outrage.
Barely he knew him again cow'ring shamefastly' an' hiding
His dire plight, & thus he 'his old companyon accosted.
‘Noblest Deiphobus, great Teucer's intrepid offspring,
Who was it, inhuman, coveted so cruel a vengeance?
Who can hav' adventur'd on thee? That last terrible night
Thou wert said to hav' exceeded thy bravery, an' only
On thy faln enemies wert faln by weariness o'ercome.
Wherefor' upon the belov'd sea-shore thine empty sepulchral
Mound I erected, aloud on thy ghost tearfully calling.
Name and shield keep for thee the place; but thy body, dear friend,
Found I not, to commit to the land ere sadly' I left it.’

Then the son of Priam ‘I thought not, friend, to reproach thee:
Thou didst all to the full, ev'n my shade's service, accomplish.
'Twas that uninterdicted adultress from Lacedæmon
Drave me to doom, & planted in hell, her trophy triumphant.
On that night,—how vain a security and merrymaking
Then sullied us thou know'st, yea must too keenly remember,—
When the ill-omened horse o'erleapt Troy's lofty defences,
Dragg'd in amidst our town pregnant with a burden of arm'd men.
She then, her Phrygian women in feign'd phrenzy collecting,
All with torches aflame, in wild Bacchic orgy paraded,
Flaring a signal aloft to her ambusht confederate Greeks.
I from a world of care had fled with weariful eyelids
Unto my unhappy chamber', an' lay fast lockt in oblivyon,

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Sunk to the depth of rest as a child that nought will awaken.
Meanwhile that paragon helpmate had robb'd me of all arms,
E'en from aneath the pillow my blade of trust purloining;—
Then to the gate; wide flings she it op'n an' calls Menelaus.
Would not a so great service attach her faithful adorer?
Might not it extinguish the repute of her earlier illdeeds?
Brief be the tale. Menelaus arrives: in company there came
His crime-counsellor Æolides. . So, and more also
Dealye', O Gods, to the Greeks! an' if I call justly upon you.—
But thou; what fortune hitherward, in turn prithy tell me,
Sent thee alive, whether erring upon the bewildering Ocean,
Or high-prompted of heav'n, or by Fate wearily hunted,
That to the sunless abodes and dusky demesnes thou approachest?’

Ev'n as awhile they thus converse it is already mid-day
Unperceiv'd, but aloft earth's star had turn'd to declining.
And haply' Æneas his time in parley had outgone,
Had not then the Sibyl with word of warning avized him.
‘Night hieth, Æneas; in tears our journey delayeth.
See our road, that it here in twain disparteth asunder;
This to the right, skirting by th'high city-fortresses of Dis,
Endeth in Elysium, our path; but that to the leftward
Only receives their feet who wend to eternal affliction.’
Deiphobus then again, ‘Speak not, great priestess, in anger;
I will away to refill my number among th'unfortun'd.
Thou, my champyon, adieu! Go where thy glory awaits thee!’
When these words he 'had spok'n, he-turn'd and hastily was fled.

Æneas then look'd where leftward, under a mountain,
Outspread a wide city lay, threefold with fortresses engirt,
Lickt by a Tartarean river of live fire, the torrential
Red Phlegethon, and huge boulders his roundy bubbles be:
Right i' the front stareth the columnar gate adamantine,
Such that no battering warfare of men or immortals

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E'er might shake; blank-faced to the cloud its bastion upstands.
Tisiphone thereby in a bloodspotty robe sitteth alway
Night and day guarding sleeplessly the desperat entrance,
Wherefrom an awestirring groan-cry and fierce clamour outburst,
Sharp lashes, insane yells, dragg'd chains and clanking of iron.

Æneas drew back, his heart by' his hearing affrighted:
‘What manner of criminals, my guide, now tell me,’ he-question'd,
‘Or what their penalties? what this great wail that ariseth?’
Answering him the divine priestess, ‘Brave hero of Ilium,
O'er that guilty threshold no breath of purity may come:
But Hecate, who gave me to rule i' the groves of Avernus,
Herself led me around, & taught heav'n's high retribution.
Here Cretan Rhadamanthus in unblest empery reigneth,
Secret crime to punish,—full surely he wringeth avowal
Even of all that on earth, by vain impunity harden'd,
Men sinning have put away from thought till impenitent death.
On those convicted tremblers then leapeth avenging
Tisiphone with keen flesh-whips and vipery scourges,
And of her implacable sisters inviteth attendance.’
—Now sudden on screeching hinges that portal accursed
Flung wide its barriers.—‘In what dire custody, mark thou,
Is the threshold! guarded by how grim sentry the doorway!
More terrible than they the ravin'd insatiable Hydra
That sitteth angry within. Know too that Tartarus itself
Dives sheer gaping aneath in gloomy profundity downward
Twice that height that a man looketh-up t'ward airy Olympus.
Lowest there those children of Earth, Titanian elders,
In the abyss, where once they fell hurl'd, yet wallowing lie.
There the Aloidæ saw I, th'ungainly rebel twins
Primæval, that assay'd to devastate th'Empyræan

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With huge hands, and rob from Jove his kingdom immortal.
And there Salmoneus I saw, rend'ring heavy payment,
For that he idly' had mockt heav'n's fire and thunder electric;
With chariot many-yoked and torches brandishing on high
Driving among 'his Graian folk in Olympian Elis;
Exultant as a God he rode in blasphemy worshipt.
Fool, who th'unreckoning tempest and deadly dreaded bolt
Thought to mimic with brass and confus'd trample of horses!
But 'him th'Omnipotent, from amidst his cloudy pavilyon,
Blasted, an' eke his rattling car and smoky pretences
Extinguish'd at a stroke, scattering his dust to the whirlwind.
There too huge Tityos, whom Earth that gendereth all things
Once foster'd, spreadeth-out o'er nine full roods his immense limbs.
On him a wild vulture with hook-beak greedily gorgeth
His liver upsprouting quick as that Hell-chicken eateth.
She diggeth and dwelleth under the vast ribs, her bloody bare neck
Lifting anon: ne'er loathes she the food, ne'er fails the renewal.
Where wer' an end their names to relate, their crimes and torments?
Some o'er whom a hanging black rock, slipping at very point of
Falling, ever threateneth: Couches luxurious invite
Softly-cushion'd to repose: Tables for banqueting outlaid
Tempt them ever-famishing: hard by them a Fury regardeth,
And should they but a hand uplift, trembling to the dainties,
She with live firebrand and direful yell springeth on them.

Their crimes,—not to' hav lov'd a brother while love was allow'd them;
Or to' hav struck their father, or inveigled a dependant;
Or who chancing alone on wealth prey'd lustfully thereon,
Nor made share with others, no greater company than they:

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Some for adultery slain; some their bright swords had offended
Drawn i' the wrong: or a master's trust with perfidy had met:
Dungeon'd their penalties they await. Look not to be answer'd
What that doom, nor th'end of these men think to determine.
Some aye roll heavy rocks, some whirl dizzy on the revolving
Spokes of a pendant wheel: sitteth and to eternity shall sit
Unfortun'd Theseus; while sad Phlegias saddeneth hell
With vain oyez to' all loud crying a tardy repentance,
“Walk, O man, i' the fear of God, and learn to be righteous!”
Here another, who sold for gold his country, promoting
Her tyrant; or annull'd for a base bribe th'inviolate law.
This one had unfather'd his blood with bestial incest:
All some fearful crime had dared & vaunted achievement.
What mind could harbour the offence of such recollection,
Or lend welcoming ear to the tale of iniquity and shame,
And to the pains wherewith such deeds are justly requited?

Ev'n when thus she' had spok'n, the priestess dear to Apollo,
‘But, ready, come let us on, perform we the order appointed!
Hast'n we (saith she), the wall forged on Cyclopian anvils
Now I see, an' th'archway in Ætna's furnace attemper'd,
Where my lore biddeth us to depose our high-privileg'd gift.’

Then together they trace i' the drooping dimness a foot-path,
Whereby, faring across, they arrive at th'arches of iron.
Æneas stept into the porch, and duly besprinkling
His body with clear water affixt his bough to the lintel;
And, having all perform'd at length with ritual exact,
They came out on a lovely pleasance, that dream'd-of oasis,
Fortunate isle, the abode o' the blest, their fair Happy Woodland.
Here is an ampler sky, those meads ar' azur'd by a gentler

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Sun than th'Earth, an' a new starworld their darkness adorneth.

Some were matching afoot their speed on a grassy arena,
In playful combat some wrestling upon the yellow sand,
Part in a dance-rhythm or poetry's fine phantasy engage;
While full-toga'd anear their high-priest musical Orpheus
Bade his prime sev'n tones in varied harmony discourse,
Now with finger, anon sounding with an ivory plectrum.
And here Æneas met Teucer's fortunate offspring,
High-spirited heroes, fair-favor'd sons o' the morning,
Assarac and Ilos and Dardan founder of Ilium:
Their radiant chariots he' espied rank't empty afar off,
Their spears planted afield, their horses wandering at large,
Grazing around:—as on earth their joy had been, whether armour
Or chariot had charmed them, or if 'twer' good manage and care
Of the gallant warhorse, the delight liv'd here unabated:
Lo! then others, that about the meadow sat feasting in idless,
And chanting for joy a familyar pæan of old earth,
By fragrant laurel o'ercanopied, where 'twixt enamel'd banks
Bountiful Eridanus glides throu' their bosky retirement.
Here were men who bled for honour, their country defending;
Priests, whose lives wer' a flame of chastity on God's altar;
Holy poets, content to await their crown of Apollo;
Discoverers, whose labour had aided life or ennobled;
Or who fair memories had left through kindly deserving.
On their brow a fillet pearl-white distinguisheth all these:
Whom the Sibyl, for they drew round, in question accosted,
And most Musæus, who tower'd noble among them,
Center of all that sea of bright faces looking upward.
‘Tell, happy souls, and thou poet and high mystic illustrious,
Where dwelleth Anchises? what home hath he? for 'tis in his quest

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We hither have made journey across Hell's watery marches.’

Therto with brief parley rejoin'd that mystic of old-time.
‘In no certain abode we remain: by turn the forest glade
Haunt we, lilied stream-bank, sunny mead; and o'er valley and rock
At will rove we: but if ye aright your purpose arede me,
Mount ye the hill: myself will prove how easy the pathway.’
Speaking he led: and come to the upland, sheweth a fair plain
Gleaming aneath; and they, with grateful adieu, the descent made.

Now Lord Anchises was down i' the green valley musing,
Where the spirits confin'd that await mortal resurrection
While diligently he mark'd, his thought had turn'd to his own kin,
Whose numbers he reckon'd, an' of all their progeny foretold
Their fate and fortune, their ripen'd temper an' action.
He then, when he' espied Æneas t'ward him approaching
O'er the meadow, both hands uprais'd and ran to receive him,
Tears in his eyes, while thus his voice in high passion outbrake.
‘Ah, thou'rt come, thou'rt come! at length thy dearly belov'd grace
Conquering all hath won thee the way. 'Tis allow'd to behold thee,
O my son,—yea again the familyar raptur' of our speech.
Nay, I look't for't thus, counting patiently the moments,
And ever expected; nor did fond fancy betray me.
From what lands, my son, from what life-dangering ocean
Art thou arrived? full mighty perils thy path hav' opposed:
And how nearly the dark Libyan thy destiny o'erthrew!’
Then 'he, ‘Thy spirit, O my sire, 'twas thy spirit often
Sadly appearing aroused me to seek thy thy far habitation
My fleet moors i' the blue Tyrrhene: all with me goeth well.
Grant me to touch thy hand as of old, and thy body embrace.’
Speaking, awhile in tears his feeling mutinied, and when
For the longing contact of mortal affection, he out-held

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His strong arms, the figure sustain'd them not: 'twas as empty
E'en as a windworn cloud, or a phantom of irrelevant sleep.

On the level bosom of this vale more thickly the tall trees
Grow, an' aneath quivering poplars and whispering alders
Lethe's dreamy river throu' peaceful scenery windeth.
Whereby now flitted in vast swarms many people of all lands,
As when in early summer 'honey-bees on a flowery pasture
Pill the blossoms, hurrying to' an' fro,—innumerous are they,
Revisiting the ravish'd lily cups, while all the meadow hums.

Æneas was turn'd to the sight, and marvelling inquired,
‘Say, sir, what the river that there i' the vale-bottom I see?
And who they that thickly along its bank have assembled?’

Then Lord Anchises, ‘The spirits for whom a second life
And body are destined ar' arriving thirsty to Lethe,
And here drink th'unmindful draught from wells of oblivyon.
My heart greatly desired of this very thing to acquaint thee,
Yea, and show thee the men to be born, our glory her'after,
So to gladden thine heart where now thy voyaging endeth.’
‘Must it then be believ'd, my sire, that a soul which attaineth
Elysium will again submit to her old body-burden?
Is this well? what hap can awake such dire longing in them?’
‘I will tell thee', O son, nor keep thy wonder awaiting,’
Answereth Anchises, and all expoundeth in order.
‘Know first that the heavens, and th'Earth, and space fluid or void,
Night's pallid orb, day's Sun, and all his starry coævals,
Are by one spirit inly quickened, and, mingling in each part,
Mind informs the matter, nature's complexity ruling.
Thence the living creatures, man, brute, and ev'ry feather'd fowl,
And what breedeth in Ocean aneath her surface of argent:
Their seed knoweth a fiery vigour, 'tis of airy divine birth,
In so far as unimpeded by an alien evil,
Nor dull'd by the body's framework condemn'd to corruption.
Hence the desires and vain tremblings that assail them, unable

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Darkly prison'd to arise to celestial exaltation;
Nor when death summoneth them anon earth-life to relinquish,
Can they in all discard their stain, nor wholly away with
Mortality's plaguespots. It must be that, O, many wild graffs
Deeply at 'heart engrain'd have rooted strangely upon them:
Wherefore must suffering purge them, yea, Justice atone them
With penalties heavy as their guilt: some purify exposed
Hung to the viewless winds, or others long watery searchings
Low i' the deep wash clean, some bathe in fiery renewal:
Each cometh unto his own retribution,—if after in ample
Elysium we attain, but a few, to the fair Happy Woodland,
Yet slow time still worketh on us to remove the defilement,
Till it hath eaten away the acquir'd dross, leaving again free
That first fiery vigour, the celestial virtue of our life.
All whom here thou seest, hav' accomplished purification:
Unto the stream of Lethe a god their company calleth,
That forgetful of old failure, pain & disappointment,
They may again into' earthly bodies with glad courage enter.’

Twin be the gates o' the house of sleep: as fable opineth
One is of horn, and thence for a true dream outlet is easy:
Fair the other, shining perfected of ivory carven;
But false are the visions that thereby find passage upward.
Soon then as Anchises had spok'n, he led the Sibyl forth
And his son, and both dismisst from th'ivory portal.

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20 IBANT OBSCURI

20
IBANT OBSCURI