* When ruin'd Troy became the Grecians prey,
And Ilium's lofty towers in ashes lay :
Warn'd by celestial omens, we retreat,
To feek in foreign lands a happier feat.
Near old Antandros, and at Ida's foot,
The timber of the facred groves we cut;
And build our fleet: uncertain yet to find
What place the gods for our repose affign'd.
Friends daily flock, and scarce the kindly spring
Began to cloathe the ground, and birds to fing :
When old Anchifes fummon'd all to fea :
The crew, my father and the fates obey.

10

With fighs and tears I leave my native fhore,

15

And empty fields, where Ilium stood before.

My fire, my fon, our lefs, and greater gods,
All fail at once; and cleave the briny floods.

Against our coast appears a spacious land,
Which once the fierce Lycurgus did command:
Thracia the name; the people bold in war;
Vast are their fields, and tillage is their care.
A hofpitable realm, while fate was kind;
With Troy in friendship and religion join'd.
I land, with lucklefs omens; then adore
Their gods, and draw a line along the shore:
I lay the deep foundations of a wall :
And Enos, nam'd from me, the city call.
To Dionæan Venus vows are paid,
And all the powers that rifing labours aid i
A bull on Jove's imperial altar laid.

Not far, a rifing hillock stood in view
Sharp myrtles, on the fides, and cornels grew.
There, while I went to crop the fylvan scenes,
And shade our altar with their leafy greens,
I pull❜d a plant (with horror I relate
A prodigy fo ftrange, and full of fate);

The rooted fibres rofe; and from the wound,
Black bloody drops diftill'd upon the ground.
Mute, and amaz'd, my hair with terror stood;
Fear fhrunk my finews, and congeal'd my blood:
Man'd once again, another plant I try,
That other gufh'd with the fame fanguine dye.
Then, fearing guilt for fome offence unknown,
With prayers and vows the Dryads I atone;
With all the fifters of the woods, and most
The god of arms, who rules the Thracian coaft:
That they, or he, these omens would avert ;
Release our fears, and better figns impart.
Clear'd, as I thought, and fully fix'd at length
To learn the caufe, I tugg'd with all my strength:
I bent my knees against the ground; once more
The violated myrtle ran with gore.

Scarce dare I tell the sequel: from the womb

Of wounded earth, and caverns of the tomb,

A groan as of a troubled ghost renew'd

My fright, and then these dreadful words enfued:
Why doft thou thus my bury'd body rend?
O fpare the corpfe of thy unhappy friend!
Spare to pollute thy pious hands with blood:
The tears diftil not from the wounded wood;
B 2

60

But

Let not my prayers a doubtful anfwer find,
But in clear auguries unveil thy mind.
Scarce had I faid; he shook the holy ground,
The laurels, and the lofty hills around:
And from the tripos rufh'd a bellowing found.
Proftrate we fell, confefs'd the prefent god;
Who gave this anfwer from his dark abode :
Undaunted youths, go seek that mother earth
From which your ancestors derive their birth,

The foil that sent you forth, her ancient race,
In her old bofom, fhall again embrace.

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125

130

Through the wide world th' Æneian house shall reign, And childrens children fhall the crown fuftain.

Thus Phoebus did our future fates difclofe :

A mighty tumult, mix'd with joy, arose.

All are concern'd to know what place the god 135 Affign'd, and where determin'd our abode. My father, long revolving in his mind

The race and lineage of the Trojan kind,

Thus anfwer'd their demands: Ye princes, hear
Your pleafing fortune; and difpel your fear.
The fruitful ifle of Crete, well known to fame,
Sacred of old to Jove's imperial name,
In the mid ocean lies with large command;
And on its plains a hundred cities stand.
Another Ida rifes there; and we

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145

From thence derive our Trojan ancestry.

From thence, as 'tis divulg'd by certain fame,
To the Rhætean fhores old Teucer came:

There

There fix'd, and there the feat of empire chofe,
Ere Ilium and the Trojan towers arofe.

In humble vales they built their soft abodes :
Till Cybele, the mother of the gods,
With tinkling cymbals, charm'd th' Idean woods.
She fecret rites and ceremonies taught,
And to the yoke the favage lions brought.

Let us the land, which heaven appoints, explore;
Appease the winds, and feek the Gnoffian fhore.
If Jove affift the passage of our fleet,
The third propitious dawn difcovers Crete.
Thus having faid, the facrifices laid

150

155

160

On fmoaking altars, to the gods he paid.
A bull to Neptune, an oblation due,
Another bull to bright Apollo flew :

:

A milk-white ewe the western winds to please:
And one coal black to calm the ftormy feas.
Ere this, a flying rumour had been spread,
That fierce Idomeneus from Crete was fled;
Expell'd and exil'd; that the coaft was free
From foreign or domeftic enemy :
We leave the Delian ports, and put to fea.
By Naxos, fam'd for vintage, make our way:
Then green Donyfa pass; and fail in fight
Of Paros isle, with marble quarries white.
We pass the scatter'd ifles of Cyclades,

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170

That, fcarce distinguish'd, seem to ftud the feas. 175 The fhouts of failors double near the fhores ;

They ftretch their canvas, and they ply their oars.

When ruin'd Troy became the Grecians prey,
And Ilium's lofty towers in ashes lay:
Warn'd by celestial omens, we retreat,
To feek in foreign lands a happier feat.
Near old Antandros, and at Ida's foot,
The timber of the facred groves we cut;
And build our fleet: uncertain yet to find
What place the gods for our repofe affign'd.
Friends daily flock, and fcarce the kindly spring
Began to cloathe the ground, and birds to fing:
When old Anchifes fummon'd all to fea :
The crew, my father and the fates obey.
With fighs and tears I leave my native shore,
And empty fields, where Ilium stood before.
My fire, my fon, our lefs, and greater gods,
All fail at once; and cleave the briny floods.
Against our coaft appears a spacious land,
Which once the fierce Lycurgus did command:
Thracia the name; the people bold in war;
Vast are their fields, and tillage is their care.
A hofpitable realm, while fate was kind;
With Troy in friendship and religion join'd.
I land, with lucklefs omens; then adore
Their gods, and draw a line along the shore:
I lay the deep foundations of a wall :
And Enos, nam'd from me, the city call.
To Dionæan Venus vows are paid,
And all the powers that rifing labours aid;
A bull on Jove's imperial altar laid.