XV. The Genealogy of Aeneas.
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FROM THE ILIAD.—Book III. 200–259.
I
Idle the thoughts, my soul to daunt,
Like a weak boy's with angry tongue;
I could return, with scoffing taunt,
Words of reviling, wrath, and wrong.
I know thy line, and thou knowest mine,
What need it that the tale be told?
Spreads over the earth our lofty birth
In legends of days of old.
II
The face of my parents thou ne'er hast viewed.
To my eyes thine were never shown,
But that thou art of King Peleus' blood
To all mankind is known;
And of Thetis the fair, with flowing hair,
Who dwells 'neath the ocean wave.
To Anchises' arms, me, the Queen of Charms,
Pledge of love, Aphrodite gave.
III
One pair to-day for offspring slain
In loud lament must weep;
No longer shall this childish strain
Our spears from the conflict keep.
But if I must tell, what to most men well
Is known, my lineage proud,
In days long since gone, was Dardanus, son
Of Zeus, who compels the cloud.
IV
And he built Dardania, for not as yet
On the plain sacred Ilion stood;
But their dwellings at foot of Ida they set
With many a fountain dewed.
Next the heir of his race filled his lordly place,
Erichthonius, richest of men,
For of thousands three brood-mares had he,
Feeding upon the fen.
V
Loose in the marsh were they turned to feed;
And, as Boreas whirled along,
He was seized with desire, while in flowery mead
They frolicked amid their young.
With passion warm, in a dark steed's form,
He veiled his godlike mould;
And from his embrace, a wondrous race
Of twelve she-colts was foaled.
VI
Over waving corn was their fleet career,
On its topmost beard it were sped;
So rapid and light their touch, no ear
Would bend beneath their tread.
If their bounding track coursed over the back
Of ocean spreading wide;
On the unscattered spray of the waters gray,
They skimmed along the tide.
VII
And from Tros, his son, who the Troës swayed
After his sire as king,
Did Ilus, Assaracus, Ganymede,
Three gallant princes, spring.
And in grace the last all men surpassed,
So far that the admiring gods
To Heaven caught him up to bear Jove's cup,
And dwell in their blest abodes.
VIII
To the son of Ilus Laomedon
Were the bridegroom of the Morn,
Tithonus, and Priam, who fills the throne,
Lampus and Clytius born;
And as sturdy a branch, Hicetaon stanch,
As Ares ever had grown.
Through Assaracus we join this princely tree,
My grandsire was his son.
IX
Capys, Anchises' sire; he mine.
Such is my lineage high.
As Hector is head of Priam's line,
So of my father's, I.
But deem not that worth will follow birth,
They come not at mortal call;
But in varying degrees, as Zeus may please,
They are given by the Lord of all.
X
But let us no more, like silly boys,
Wrangle here in idle strain,
While all around the fight's fierce noise
Is sounding over the plain.
For both and each of slanderous speech
Might choose a ponderous load;
Far more in weight, than a galley's freight,
By five-score rowers rowed.
XI
The tongue is a weapon nimble to wield,
For which ample task is found,
And of words is a wide and open field,
All spreading round and round.
Whatever is said, soon back is sped,
So why should we jarring here,
Like women in rage, contentious wage
This poor and wordy war?
XII
Women hurrying on to the public path,
Careless of false or true,
At each other rail, as swelling wrath
Inspires each scolding shrew.
By your right arm strong—not your angry tongue—
Must I from the field be chased;
No longer I stay, without more delay
Let our spears of the battle taste.
