Near Anio's ftream old Marius rears his head;
The hinds beheld his grifly form, and fled.

The state thus threaten'd, by old cuftom taught, 1000* For counsel to the Tufcan prophets fought :

Of these the chief for learning fam'd, and age,
Aruns by name, a venerable fage,

At Luna liv'd; none better could defcry

What bodes the lightning's journey through the sky; 1005 Prefaging veins and fibres well he knew,

1010

And omens read aright, from every wing that flew.
Firft he commands to burn the monstrous breed,
Sprung from mix'd species, and difcordant feed
Forbidden and accurfed births, which come
Where nature's laws defign'd a barren womb.
Next, the remaining trembling tribes he calls,
To pass with folemn rites about their walls,
In holy march to visit all around,

And with lustrations purge the utmost bound.
The fovereign priests the long proceffion lead,
Inferior orders in the train fucceed,
Aray'd all duly in the Gabine weed...
There the chafte head of Vefta's choir appears,
A facred fillet binds her reverend hairs;
To her, in fole preeminence, is due,
Phrygian Minerva's awful fhrine to view.
Next the fifteen in order pass along,
Who guard the fatal Sibyls' fecret fong:
To Almon's stream Cybele's form they bear,
And wash the goddess each returning year.
The Titian brotherhood, the Augurs band,
Obferving flights on the left lucky hand;

10152

}

1020

1025

The

The feven ordain'd Jove's holy feast to deck;
The Salii blithe, with bucklers on the neck;
All marching in their order just appear:

And last the generous Flamens close the rear.

1030

While thefe through ways uncouth, and tiresome ground,
Patient perform their long laborious round,

Aruns collects the marks of heaven's dread flame;
In earth he hides them with religious hand,
Murmurs a prayer, then gives the place a name,
And bids the fix'd Bidental hallow'd ftand.
Next from the herd a chofen male is fought,
And foon before the ready altar brought.
And now the feer the facrifice began,
The pouring wine upon the victim ran;
The mingled meal upon his brow was plac'd;
The crooked knife the deftin'd line had trac'd;
When with reluctant rage th' impatient beaft
The rites unpleafing to the God confeft.

At length compell'd his stubborn head to bow,
Vanquish'd he yields him to the fatal blow;
The gushing veins no chearful crimson pour,
But ftain with poifonous black the facred floor.
The paler prophet stood with horror ftruck;
Then with a hafty hand the entrails took,
And fought the angry gods again; but there
Prognoftics worse, and fadder figns, appear;
The pallid guts with fpots were marbled o'er,
With thin cold ferum ftain'd, and livid gore;
The liver wet with putrid ftreams he spy'd,
And veins that threaten'd on the hoftile fide:

}

1040

1045

1050

1055

Part

Part of the heaving lungs is no where found,
And thinner films the fever'd entrails bound;
No ufual motion ftirs the panting heart;
The chinky veffels ouze on every part;
The cawl, where wrapt the clofe inteftines lie,
Betrays its dark recefles to the eye.
One prodigy fuperior threaten'd still,
The never-failing harbinger of ill:
Lo! by the fibrous liver's rifing head,
A fecond rival prominence is fpread;
All funk and poor the friendly part appears,
And a pale, fickly, withering visage wears;
While high and full the adverse vessels ride,
And drive, impetuous, on their purple tide.
Amaz'd, the sage forefaw th' impending fate;
Ye gods! (he cry'd) forbid me to relate
What woes on this devoted people wait.
Nor doft thou, Jove, in these our rites partake,
Nor fmile propitious on the prayer we make;
The dreadful Stygian gods this victim claim,
And to our facrifice the Furies came.

The ills we fear command us to be dumb;

Yet fomewhat worse than what we fear fhall come.
But may the gods be gracious from on high,
Some better profperous event fupply,

Fibres may err, and augury may lye;

Arts may be false, by which our fires divin'd,
And Tages taught them, to abuse mankind.
Thus darkly he the prophecy expreft,
And riddling fung the double-dealing priest.

1073

}

1080

1085

But

But Figulus exclaims (to science bred,
And in the gods myfterious fecrets read;
Whom nor Ægyptian Memphis' fons excell❜d,
Nor with more kill the rolling orbs beheld :
Well could he judge the labours of the sphere,
And calculate the juft revolving year).

The stars (he cries) are in confufion hurl'd,

And wandering error quite mifguides the world;
Or, if the laws of nature yet remain,

1090

1095.

Some fwift deftruction now the Fates ordain.
Shall earth's wide opening jaws for ruin call,
And finking cities to the centre fall ?
Shall raging drought infeft the fultry sky?
Shall faithlefs earth the promis'd crop deny ?
Shall poifonous vapours o'er the waters brood,
And taint the limpid spring and filver flood?
Ye gods! what ruin does your wrath prepare !

Comes it from heaven, from earth, from feas, or air?
The lives of many to a period hafte,

And thousands fhall together breathe their last.
If Saturn's fullen beams were lifted high,

And baneful reign'd afcendant o'er the sky,
Then moist Aquarius deluges might rain,
And earth once more lie funk beneath the main :
Or did thy glowing beams, O Phœbus, shine
Malignant in the Lion's fcorching fign,

1110

Wide o'er the world confuming fires might roll, 1115
And heaven be seen to flame from pole to pole:
Through peaceful orbits these unangry glide,
But, God of Battles! what doft thou provide?
Who in the threatening Scorpion dost preside?

}

With potent wrath around thy influence ftreams, 1120 And the whole monfter kindles at thy beams;

While Jupiter's more gentle rays decline,

And Mercury with Venus faintly mine;
The wandering lights are darken'd all and gone,
And Mars now lords it o'er the heavens alone.
Orion's starry falchion blazing wide,
Refulgent glitters by his dreadful file.

War comes, and falvage flaughter must abound,
The fword of violence shall right confound:
The blackeft crimes fair virtue's name fhall wear,
And impious fury rage for many a year.
Yet afk not thou an end of arms, O Rome,
Thy peace muft with a lordly master come.
Protract destruction, and defer thy chain,
The fword alone prevents the tyrant's reign,
And civil wars thy liberty maintain.

4125

The heartless vulgar to the fage give heed,
New rifing fears his words foreboding breed.
When, lo! more dreadful wonders ftrike their eyes,
Forth through the streets a Roman matron flies, 1140
Mad as the Thracian dames that bound along,

And chant Lyæus in their frantic fong:
Enthusiastic heavings swell'd her breast,

And thus her voice the Delphic god confeft:

Where doft thou fnatch me, Pæan! wherefore bear 1145
Through cloudy heights and tracts of pathless air?
I fee Pangean mountains white with snow,
Æmus and wide Philippi's fields below.

Say, Phoebus, wherefore does this fury rise?
What mean these spears and fhields before my eyes? 1150