AENEAS HIS ERROURS, OR HIS Voyage from Troy into ITALY.
An ESSAY Upon the Third Book of Virgils AEneis.
By Iohn Boys of Hode Court, Esq
— per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum
Tendimus in Latium: —
Virg. AEn. 1.
London, Printed by T. M. for Henry Broome, at the Gun in Ivy-lain, 1661.
TO THE Right Honourable, the Lord Viscount Cornbury, Eldest Sonne to the Right Honourable, the Lord High Chancellour of ENGLAND.
My Lord,
I Here present your Honour with the fruits (not so well indeed digested and ripen'd, as I wish they were) of some [Page] few weeks retirement in the Country: the more then merited reception my late Essay upon this great Author found with your greater Father, the Right Honorable, the Lord High Chancellour hath encouraged me to continue my Addresses to the same Family, of which, after himself, your Lordship is the deserving Head.
I hasten, my Lord, [Page] with my poore Offering, whilest your Lordship hath leasure to cast your eye upon such a trifle as this; for (doubtlesse) you are already in your journey to more weighty employments, for which as well the Example as the Precepts of your most wise and knowing Father daily prepare and adapt you.
The truth is, that if you look upon the bulk of the Volume, it is no [Page] more then a Pamphlet, and, by consequence, very much beneath the Patronage of so great a Mecenas: but if you consider the credit and weight of the Author, to wit, Virgil, then I hope, that your Lordship will not receive it under so mean and opprobious a qualification; however defac'd and mangled by the unskilfull hand of so rude an Artist, as my self.
[Page]Great wits have not blush'd to undertake and publish one single piece of this excellent Author, of whom every book indeed is of it self a compleat Poem: Hence we have Mr. Sandys his Essay upon the first; Sir Iohn Denhams upon the second, and the united studies of Mr. Waller and Mr. Godolphin upon the fourth of the AEneis: I aspire not to the unequall'd Excellencies, [Page] and deserved fame of those worthy Gentlemen; it is the height of my Ambition to merit your Lordships acceptance, and candid interpretation of this my present addresse, and to beget a belief in you, that there is no person more truly devoted to your Lordships service, and to that of your right Noble Family, then
My Lord,
Your Lordships most humble and most Obedient Servant, Iohn Boys.
AEneas his Errours, or his Voyage from Troy into Italy.
The Argument.
AEneas having given Queen Dido a full relation of the miseries, and final subversion of the City, and Empire of Troy in the precedent booke, pursues in this the particulars of his Navigation, or Voyage from Asia into Europe, from Troy into Italy: with those severall ranconters, which befell him by the way.
WHen 'twas by heav'ns decreed that Asia's States,
And Priams race by undeserved fates
Should fall; that lofty Ilium, and that frame
By Neptune raiz'd, should in a Common flame
Expire; urg'd by the answers of the Gods,
From stranger seats we quit our own abodes
Our Fleet for Sea, and when men furnish it,
Uncertain whether we our course should bend,
Or where our labours should a period find.
Summer was scarce advanc'd, when to resigne
Our selves to fates Anchrises did enjoyn:
Our ports I weeping leave, and native shore,
And fields, wch lately Troy's proud turrets bore:
With my Companions, son, my Gods, forlorn
An Exile I through the vast Deep am born.
A vast and warlike land by Thracians till'd
(Whose Scepter fierce Lycurgus once did weild)
In view doth lye; to us (by the same ties
Of leagues and worship) ancient Allies;
Whilest fortune smil'd: my course I hither steer,
And on the winding shore a town doe reer;
[Page 3]By crosse fates guided; & from mine own name,
The name of the AEneadae doe frame:
To Venus I, and to those Deities
Offer'd, who did befriend our enterprize:
To the great King of Gods upon the strand
A white Bull I did slay; there was at hand
A rizing bank, with Cornel twigs beset
And with rough myrtle for rude lances fit:
This place approaching, I endeavoured
To pluck the verdāt boughs, therwith to spread
The Altar; but a horrid prodigie
And strang behold: from the first shrub, which I
Tore from the ground drops of black blood distill'd
Which with corrupted gore the place defil'd:
A shiv'ring through my members shot: my blood
Through terrour in my veins congealed stood:
[Page 4]Another twig I then assay, that I
Of things the hidden causes might descry:
The like defluxion thence proceeds: in thought
Perplext, by pray'r the rural Nymphs I sought,
And Father Mars, the Thracians Deity;
That into good they'd turn this prodigie;
But, when with greater strength a third assay
Making, with both my knees I struggling lay
Against the earth (shall I be dumb or speak?)
A piteous groan did from beneath me break:
And a voice doth arrive my frighted ear:
Why wretched me, AEneas, do'st thou tear:
Stain not thy pious hands; the Buried spare,
One Troy hath caus'd that we no strangers are:
Nor, from this root distils this purple gore:
Fly bloody coasts, ah, fly this cursed shore:
[Page 5]For I am Polydorus, whom they slew
With showrs of arrows, which here rooting grew:
But, then distracting fear did me surprize:
Me my tongue fail'd; an end my hair did rise:
Unhappy Priam (when he did distrust
Dardania's strength, when he the City first
Invested saw) to Thracia's a King, by stealth
This Polydorus, and with him much wealth
Sent to be kept: but, when the fortune he
Of Troy, and our strength did declining see,
The Victors arm's, and Agamemnon's side
He follow'd; and, all laws rejecting, did
Slay Polydorus, and possesse his gold;
Dire thirst of pelf what empire dost thou hold
[Page 6] In Mortal breasts? My fear allay'd, then I
Told to the Trojan Peers the prodigie,
But chiefly to my Sire: their sense I crave,
Who jointly those curs'd shors perswade to leave
With injur'd friendship; & our sayl's to spread;
With heap'd-up earth the grave then of the Dead
We doe repaire: and to his Ghost erect
Altars, with Cypresse, and black garlands deck'd:
The Trojan Dames stand round with flowing hair
Bowls of new milk and blood we offer there:
Then in his grave his soul we do compose,
And with a Vale the whole duty close:
When winds & seas were still'd, & gentle gales
Did us invite to hoise our pregnant sail's:
When first we durst to calmed Surges trust,
Filling the strands, our ships to sea we [...] thrust:
[Page 7] [...]s we the Port, so shores and Citi's seem
Is to forsake: a land, in high esteem
With Neptune, and the Sea-Nymphs Mother, lies
Surrounded with the sea; Apollo this
Floating about all Coasts and Seas did tie
With Gyaros, and high-brow'd Myconie:
And (sixt) made it for Culture fit; 'gainst wind
Secure: here we arriv'd safe harbour find
For our tir'd selves and ships: and, now on shore,
Apollo's town approaching we adore:
King Anius, King of men, and Phoebus Priest,
With royall wreaths, and sacred Lawrel drest,
Comes forth his friend Anchises to accost,
We joyn rights hands, and he becomes our host:
I in the ancient temple of that God
Make my addresse: Grant us a fixt abode;
[Page 8]Grant wals: a stock; a lasting State: maintain
Troy's second tours, with what there doth remain
Left by Achilles, and his Greeks: what guide
Have we? where shall we go? or where abide?
O Father give a blessed augurie,
And gently glide into our breasts: but I
Had scarcely done, when all things seem'd to shake,
The laurel, porch, the moūtain seem'd to quake;
The very Tripod rung: upon the ground
We prostrate fell: and heard this voice resound:
Stout Dardans, whence you first your birth derive
Thither return, that land shall harbour give:
AEneas house, with those, who thence descend,
Here far and neer its Empire shall extend:
Great joy here at amongst the people rose:
What seats they were al ask'd, which Phoebus chose
[Page 9]For our retreat: My sir, then old Records
Calling to minde, began, yee Trojan Lords
Hear; and whereon your hopes are grounded, know
To sea-girt Crete great Iove his birth doth ow:
Ther's Ida's mount: thence we our birth derive;
A hundred City's there doe dwellings give:
Hence (if I speak aright) to Phrygian shores
Our Grandsire Teucrus first advanc'd with oar's:
And chose his Empires seat: nor Ilium stood,
Or Troy's tour's then: they in the vales abode:
Hence Mother Cybel, brazen Cymbals hence,
Hence Ida's grove, and silent rites commence:
That Goddesse chariot hence yoak'd Lyons drew:
Come on; let us the Gods Commands pursue:
The winds appease; to * Gnossian realms contend;
Not far from hence: if Iupiter befriend,
Then to the Altars he due rites did give:
A Bull to Neptune; such was Phoebus right;
To storms a black sheep; to fair gales a white:
a Idomeneus was bruited to be cast
Out of his native Throne: Cretes coast laid wast:
Houses and towns deserted: we forsake
b Ortygias port; and all sail winged make:
We vinie Naxus; green Donysa, we
The Cyclads, through the Main which scater'd lie,
Oliarus, white Paros passe, and quit
Those seas, which are with frequent Isles beset.
A shout the eager sailers raise, and chear
Their willing mates, brave hearts, come, let us steer
[Page 11]For Crete, our native soile: a friendly gale
Blowing a stern fils our distended saile:
And now we coast the a Curets shore along
Now I the wals raise of my wished town;
And call it Pergamus: joy'd at the name,
Our men build houses, and a Castle frame:
And now our ships were drawn upon the sands,
Our youth employ'd in choosing wives & lands:
I dwellings gave: but loe! a mortal year
From the Corruption of the tainted Ayre,
A lamentable-languishing disease
All living Creatures, trees, and Corn doth seize:
Beloved life those either did exhale
Or after them their pined bodies drawle;
[Page 12]The barren fields the soultry Dog-star burns;
Grasse drys; the blasted ear no food returns:
My Sire the way to Delos to repeat
And Phoebus bids, his pardon to intreat,
To know when he would to our toils put end,
Our labours ease; where we our course should bend
'Twas night; and sleep all mortals did possess,
Behold my Gods, those sacred Images
Which I with me from 'midst Troys flam's did bear
To me (in sleep dissolved) did appear.
In all proportions by that light display'd,
Which through the window the bright moon convay'd
They thus began; and thus my cares allay'd.
What Phoebus to thee (leaving Delos) said,
He here repeats; he us to thee doth send:
Troy burnt, thee and thy arms we did attend,
[Page 13]With thee have cross'd the swelling waves; the same
Shall to the stars extoll thy Nephews fame,
And give thy City rule: great wals prepare
For thy great Heirs: nor toile, nor travel spare:
From hence remove; Apollo to this strand
Bid not approach, or plant in Cretan land.
There is a place, the Greeks Hesperia stile,
An antient land, and strong; a fruitfull soile,
Th' Oenotrians held it; Italie the same
Our moderns call, from their first a leaders name:
This is our distin'd seat: hence Dardanus
And Iasius sprung, the root of Troy and us:
Rise, and relate unto thine aged sire
These doubtless truths; then for b Ausonia steer.
[Page 14]For Iove forbids this Countrey to possesse:
Astonish'd at this sight, and Gods expresse,
(Nor was't a dream; their faces, wreathed hair
I knew, and did their voices plainly hear,
Whilst a cold sweat run all my body o're)
I start up from my bed; the heav'ns implore
With hands extended; and a Sacrifice
Offer: this duly done, I doe advise
Anchises of all passages, and tell
To him in order what to me befell:
Our twofold I Parents and ambiguous race:
He did confesse, with the mistaken place
Then he; son, try'd in Trojan fates, this thing
Cassandra unto me alone did sing:
I now recall; these fates to us as due,
Italian kingdoms she did of't foreshew,
That Trojans to Hesperia should arrive:
Or whom then did Cassandras Councell sway?
Better adviz'd let us the b God obey.
Thus he, and his advice all gladly take,
We also do this place forthwith forsake.
And leaving some behinde, set sayl: and now
We with our hollow keels the Ocean plow.
But, when we were advanc'd, nor land could see
And rounded were with nought but sea & skye:
Loe! o're my head a black storm-crouded cloud
Hung, which the waters did in darkness shro [...]d.
The sea windes furrow: angry waves swell high
Toss'd on the Deep we are, and scatter'd lye:
[Page 16]Storms intercept the day; mists veil the skye,
Whil'st from rent clouds vollies of thunder flye:
Forc'd from our course in darkned salts we stray
Ev'n a Po [...]inure discerns not night from day:
Nor doth remember how his Course to steer;
Three days we wander, nor doth sun appear:
As many star-lesse Nights; on the fourth we
Land, hills, & smoak in black Curls rizeing see,
Furling our sayls we take our Oars: with these
We dash the foam; and cleave the azure seas:
Escap'd the Str [...]phades me first receiv'd,
The Str [...]phades, (from a Greek name deriv'd)
Are Islands in th' Ionian Main: The place,
To which Celoeno, and Harpynian race
[Page 17]Retir'd, when they by Phineus banisht were,
And their first pension did forsake through fear.
Then these no Monster's worse, no greater curse,
No greater plague e're sprung from stygian source
The fowl's have Virgins faces, purging still
Their filthy paunches, arm'd with talons, ill
And ever pale through hunger.
But, when we, the port entring, neer did draw,
Fat Oxen in the Meads we grazing saw,
Goats without keepers: these we did invade;
And of the prey the Gods partakers made.
Then on the shore we tables placing, feast,
But, from the mountains (sooner then exprest)
The Harpyes stoop; snatch, and pollute our meat,
And making hideous crys their wings do beat;
Whil'st skreeches 'midst a filthy stench resound:
A shadie and a close retreat we found
[Page 18]Under a hollow rock; again we spread
Our tables, and fire on the Altars laid:
Then from another quarter (where they lay
In ambush) sallying, they invade our prey
With their hook'd talons, and defile the same:
Then 'gainst the cursed race I war proclaim:
To arms Command; my men obey, and place
Their swords & shields 'midst the aspiring grass▪
But, when with usual noise upon the ground
They stoop't, Misenus then a charge did sound:
My men fall on, and a strange fight assay,
With swords to wound the noisom foul, but they
Nor wounds, or hurt upon their plumes receive:
But, nimbly on their wings remounting, leave
Lothsome impressions, and the prey half-eat:
One (hight Celaeno) on a rock did set,
[Page 19]An om'nous Prophetesse, and thus declare:
Race of Laömedon, will ye wage war
Your unjust slaughters to maintain? And strive
The guiltlesse Harpies by rude force to drive
Out of their native Kingdome? now give ear
And these my words in your mindes fixed bear;
Which Iove to Phoebus, he to me did shew,
I, of the Furies chief, the same to you
Pronounce: you now for Italy are bound,
And shall arrive safe on Italian ground:
But, you shall not with wals your promis'd town
Invest, before dire hunger, and the wrong
Offerr'd to us, shall force you to devour
Your trenchers: she this having said, did sore
Aloft; and her self in the woods conceal'd:
But suddain fear my mens cold blood congeal'd
[Page 20]Their courage fell; whether th'are Goddesses,
Fiends, or foul birds, not force must make our peace
But prayers and vows, they cry: then from the shore
Anchises his hands spreading, doth implore
The power's above; and with due rites appease:
Adding, just Deity's, that you would please
To interpose, these evils to prevent,
And, reconcil'd, to save the Innocent:
Then he commands to launch: a lusty breez
Our Canvas swels, on foaming waves we rise:
Now woody Zant amidst the waves we see,
Dulichium, Same, Neritos descry:
Cursing that soil, which dire Vlysses bred:
[Page 21]Anon its head cloud-crowned Leucas reers:
And Phoebus opens, whom the sayler fears:
Tired we hither steer: we anchor here,
And under a small City shelter'd were:
Now, when despaired land we did enioy,
We promis'd vows on smoaking Altars pay:
On Actian shores we Ilian games revive:
Where our men, naked and anointed, give
Proof of their active strength: we joy that we
Have thus escap'd the dreaded enemy;
So many Grecian Citie's past. The Sun
In the mean time his annual course had run▪
And Northern blasts made the chaff'd billows rore
A brazen shield (which mighty Abans bore)
I here affixing, this verse underwrote:
These spoyls from Conqu'ring Greeks AEneas got:
[Page 22]Then, I bid lanch, and hand their oars: the Deep
To strives they cuff, and the rude billows sweep:
The airie tours of the Phaeacians we
Forth with doe hide; and Epires coast passe by:
Then, into the Chaonian port we swim,
And the high City of Buthrotos climb:
Here we a story hear, which did exceed
Our faith, that Helenus (of Priam's seed)
Both Pyrrhus wife and Scepter did enjoy:
Was wedded: I amazed stood: on fire
I was, the man to meet, and to enquire
Into this strange successe: the shore and fleet
I leave; and do advance with winged feet:
[Page 23]Before the City, in a Grove, hard by
Feign'd Simois the sad Andromache
Pay'd solemn rites to her dead Hectors dust,
And at his empty grave invok'd his Ghost,
Joyning to which she had two Altars made,
Whereon her tributary tears she payd.
When me, 'midst Trojan Guards, she did behold
Coming, thereat astonish'd, stiff and cold
She forthwith grew; and sinking to the ground,
At last her speech a passage hardly found.
I'st a true face, a real man I see?
Or com'st thou, Goddesse-born, a Ghost to me?
If so, where's Hector, pray? this weeping she
Spoke, and the place fill'd with her mournfull crye
To her (through grief distracted) briefly I
Troubled, and faultring in my speech reply
[Page 24]I live indeed, though me crosse fates pursue,
Doubt not, for thou realities doest view:
After the losse (alas!) of thy great aMate,
What is thy hap? what fortune (of thy state
Worthy) hath thee befaln? doth Hectors wife
Andromache with Pyrrhus wedded live?
With a soft voice, and a dejected face
She then reply's, O b maid, of Priams race,
Before all others happy! who didst die
A victime to the cruel enemie
Under Troy's wals; by lot who wert not led
A Captive to a Conqu'ring Masters bed:
After Troy burnt, and tossed on the main,
I, (a slave) did the irksome scorn sustain
[Page 25]Of that proud youth, Achilles off-spring, who
Hotly pursuing, to my fellow Slave
Helenus, me (a slave) in Marriage gave:
But him Orestes (whom the flames of love
Did burn, and Conscience of past ills did move)
Betray'd, and at his Fathers Altars slew;
Whence by his death this province did accrue
To Helenus; from Trojan Chaon, who
Did all this tract Chaonia name: but show
What happy fates, what God, what friendly gales
Thy ship did hither drive, and fill thy sailes?
How does Ascanius? doth he live, and breathe?
How doth he, pray, resent his b mothers death?
[Page 26]What? doth his Uncle Hector, or his Syre
AEneas him with noble thoughts inspire?
Whil'st thus she spoke, and did lament in vain,
Priamides doth with a princely train
Arrive: and (with words mingling tears) doth own
Us, his old friends: then to the neighbouring town
We joyfully advance, where I doe see
Of our great Troy a small Epitome:
Our Tour's, and shallow Xanthus I behold:
And Scaean gate in my embraces fold:
The vulgar also the same freedome have,
To them the King like entertainment gave.
Our costly fare is served up in gold;
Of lusty Bacchus we full goblets hold:
Day after day whilest thus we feasting spend,
Our sailes are Courted by the gentle winde,
[Page 27] Auster our Canvas swels; in these words I
Then to the a Prophet doe my self apply:
O Trojan-born, the Gods Interpreter,
Inspir'd by Phoebus, skilled in what e're
The Tripods, laurels, or the stars foreshow,
What by the tongues of birds, or wings we know.
Say, (for all Oracles to us promise
A happy voyage, all the Gods advize
To Italie, and far-sequestred seats
To saile; Celaeno onely dreadfull threats,
Dire famine breathes) how we should or eschew
Dangers at hand, or toyl's to come subdue:
Here Helenus with gratefull sacrifice
Having the Gods prepar'd, (as was the guize)
Untied the fillets of his sacred head,
And me (with awfull rev'rence smitten) led
[Page 28]Into the Temple, where the learned Priest
From his divine mouth thus my fates exprest,
O Goddesse-born, (for it is more than plain,
That by the heav'nly Conduct through [...]he Main
Thou dost advance, thus 'tis decreed by Iove,
Who that great wheele of things doth wisely move)
Of many Cautions take these few, whereby
Thou stranger Coasts the saflier may'st descry;
And anchore in Ausonian ports: the rest
The fates and Iuno have from me supprest:
First Italy (which you suppose at-hand)
Is a far-scatter'd, a far-distant land:
And, before you attain the promis'd shore,
You in Sicilian seas must ply the Oar,
Your keels must the Ausonian brine divide,
Hell you must see, by Circes Isle must glide:
[Page 29]Remember; this to thee a signe shall be:
Thou a white sow with thirty Pigs shalt see
White as her self, beleaguering her breast,
Hard by a shadow'd stream; here welcome rest
Thou from thy toyls shalt finde; thy town build here
Nor the devouring of thy trenchers fear.
The fates themselves will best unriddle, and
Apollo, when invok'd, will be at hand.
But, that a Land there, the Coast of Italie
Wash'd by our seas, our neighb'ring Country, flye▪
By hostile Greeks those places peopled are:
Narycian Locrians doe inhabite there
And from those tracts, the Salentines late held,
Lyctian Idomeneus hath them expell'd:
[Page 30]There Melibaean Phyloctetes smal
Petilia hath invested with a wall:
But, when thy fleet shall in safe harbour be,
And on the Altars vows perform'd by thee,
Spread o're thy face a purple veil, least, when
Thou dost officiate, foes should intervene,
And holy rites disturb: let this to thee
And thy Descendants still a Custome be:
But, when thou shalt Sicilias coast draw neer
And the straits of Pelorus shall appear,
Steer to the Larbord, fly the Starbord shore;
The left-hand Seas cleave with thy lab'ring oar.
It is reported (so great change doth wait
Vpon times darker footsteps) that this Strait
Was once firm land; and that a mighty force
Did it from the old Continent divorce:
[Page 31]That the Sea, interposing, did divide
Th' Hesperian from the Sicilian side:
And rushing in with its still-chaffed Brine,
Once neer-allied Plains and towns disjoyn:
Scylla the right, the left Charybdis keeps,
And sucks thrice to the bottome of her Deeps
The toyling floud, as often lifts on high
Th' ejected waves, & laves th'approached skie.
But, a Scylla lurking in dark caves display's
Her face, and ships to crushing rocks betray's:
A Virgin to the twist divinely fram'd:
Her nether parts with shape of Monsters sham'd:
Which wolves are in their fore-parts, but behind
Of Dolphins have the Scalie rudders joyn'd:
Better it is to round Pachynus cape,
And thy course that way, (though about) to shape,
[Page 32]Then ugly Scylla in her cave, to see
And rocks resounding with her Monsters crye:
Further, if Helenus have any skill;
Or truth; or know at all Apollo's will,
One thing I recommend, one above all,
Incessantly on Courted Iuno call:
Her Deity with vows propitious make,
With sacrifice appease; then thou shalt take
Thy journey with assur'd successe: and land
From Sicil's coast safe on th' Italian strand.
Where when to Cumoe, and Avernus (plac'd
a Midst softly-wisp'ring woods) thou shalt have pass'd,
There thou shalt see the frantick a Prophetesse
Sing Destinies in a deep Caves recesse:
[Page 33]Which she to leaves commits: what verse soe're
She writes, in order plac'd she leaveth there:
They firmly keep the place to each assign'd;
But, when the open'd door th' intruding wind
Admits, which doth the lighter leaves disperce,
She n'ere reorders the disorder'd verse;
Or cares them to rejoyn: unanswear'd they
And Sibyls Cell detesting go their way:
Nor think time lost, though thou beest here delayd
Though thy departure winds and friends perswade,
But with all humblenesse Sibylla seek:
To thee th' Inspired willingly will speak,
Of Italie the people will declare,
And thee instruct in the insuing warre,
Teach where toward, & teach where to assayl,
And (worshipp'd,) will supply a favo'ring gale:
[Page 34]Loe! here the sum of what I can advise:
Go; raise our Troy by great deeds to the skyes.
Which when the Prophet kindly had exprest,
With costly gifts he doth dismisse his Guest:
With Iv'ry, silver, gold, with vessels made
Of Dodonaean brasse, his ship doth lade:
A Coat-of-maile studded with gold: a bright
Helmet, with curled plumes, (once the delight
His presents likewise; he to these doth add
Brave Coursers with their Riders:
Lastly their crazie Fleet he doth repair,
And them supplies with all things useful were.
[Page 35]Mean while Anchises bids them to prepare,
That they might ready be when winds blew faire;
To whom in courtly terms the Priest thus spake
Anchises, whom into her bed to take
Venus hath deign'd, the Gods especial care,
Twice from Troys ruin's snatch'd: lo! 'fore thee are
Ausonia's shores; to these thy course direct,
And yet from these thou must thy Course deflect:
For that part of Ausonia farr doth lye
By Phoebus meant; in thy sons pietye
Go happy man: but why do I thus spend
Both words and time, when friendly gales attend?
Andromache (at parting no lesse sad)
Ascanius with rich figur'd vests doth lade:
What or the needle could, or loom invent,
Rare peeces, she in these words did present,
[Page 36]Sweet youth, these, wrought by mine own hands, receive
As monuments, with thee to keep alive
Of Hectors wife the memory; of thine
The fare-well tokens: thou the very meen
Of my Astyanax, the ey's, the face,
And very gesture hast; and now (alas!)
Had he surviv'd, you'd equall been in years.
Then with these parting words I mingle tears
Live, and be happy you who setled are,
We must be tossed too and fro: your care
Is at an end: you have no seas to crosse,
Or in your quest to be still at a losse,
Catching recoyling shores: you live to see
Xanthus in little; and a Troy, which ye
Your selves have built, I hope more happily,
And which to Greeks may lesse obnoxious bee:
[Page 37]And, if I Tyber and those plains about
Possesse, and see those realmes for us laid out,
Both Troy's, (designed kindred towns to be,
Neighbours, both boasting the same pedigree,
Alike turmoyl'd) shall leagued be: that care
On those shall rest, who our Descendants are:
Now we neer the Ceraunian Mountains ride,
The shortest cut to the Italian side:
The Sun now set, night its black mantle spreads,
And on our mother-earth we take our beds;
We for our bodi's on the shore take care,
Where toyled Nature we with sleep repaire:
Night was not yet half spent, when from his bed
A waken'd Palinurus nimbly fled:
The winds observ'd; to ev'ry blast gave ear,
Mark'd all stars gliding in the silent sphear:
The two Bears, with golden Orîen he
Contemplat's, then, when he a setled skye
And clear beheld, he gives the signe to weigh:
We goe abord; we launch; our sayls we spread;
And now Morn blush'd, & twingling stars were fled;
When obscure hills, and humble Italie
We make: Achates Italie doth crie;
With joyfull Clamours Italie our men
Resound: a mighty bowl Anchises then
(Surrounding with a Garland) fills with wine,
And standing on the Poup, the powers divine
Invokes: Gods, who both seas do rule and land,
Who tempests tame, a favouring gale command.
The wished breezes rise: as we draw neer;
Minerva's Temple and the Port appear:
[Page 39]And now our sayls we furl, and anchor cast:
A Haven (Iland-lock'd,) opens to the East,
Which vast rocks wal, with breaking waves made white
And (it invironning) hide from the sight:
Under whose shelter as our selves we drew,
The Temple, lately seen, fled from our view:
Four Coursers here, as white as snow could be,
Ranging the fields without restraint we see,
Anchises then: warr dost thou, land, presage?
Horse are for war; with Horse we war do wage:
And yet they in the Charriot joyned are,
And bit and yoke use patiently to bear;
And blessed peace may speak: then we adore
Arm-shakeing Pallas, on whose friendly shore
We first arriv'd, having our faces veil'd:
Nor to obey the a Prophets order fail'd,
[Page 40]Whilst we the rites, as he had us enjoyn'd,
To Iuno do perform: then 'fore the wind
Our sayls we set; and bid those Coasts farewell,
By us suspected, as where Greeks did dwell:
Tarentum's bay from hence salutes our ey's
'Gainst which the Fore-land of Lacinia lye's
Neighbouring to this Caulonia's tour's appear,
Then Scylacaeum, whose rocks ships do tear.
Trinacrian AEtna's our next prospect, where
Rocks beaten with loud-roaring seas we hear;
And noises eccho'd to the neighb'ring strands;
Where waves, (discolour'd with Commixed sands
Belch'd-up we see: Anchises then; behold
Charybdis, and those dreadfull rocks foretold
By Helenus: bear from the shore, he cryes,
And stoutly to your Oars, my Masters, rize
[Page 41]They all obey; and Palinurus now
Bears to the Larbord-sea the yeilding prow:
With oars and sailes all to the Larbord ply;
Now on the back of swelling Surges we
To heaven ascend, then, when they sinking fell,
Through yawning waves we do descend to Hel:
Thrice we the hollow rocks heard to resound;
Thrice saw the foam to drenched stars rebound:
The wind now leaves us with the setting sun,
And on the Cyclops Coast (unskill'd) we run:
The port, though larg, was safe: but thunder-like
Neer AEtna's ruins did a terrour strike:
A cloud of smoak it sometimes to the skies
Ejects, which doth with glowing embers rise:
Then bals of fire it casts, as if it meant
With strange granads to storm the firmament:
[Page 42]Rocks & torn mountains with dissolved stones
It belcheth up, thence issuing forth with groans
Encelad's body thunder-struct, is said
Under this mighty weight to have been laid:
And that, when e're his wearied side he turns
Imposed AEtna (flames ejecting) burns;
That all a Trinacria trembles, whilest a night
Of duskie smoke doth intercept the light:
Hid in the woods this night we passe in fear,
Nor the cause of the noise could see: for there
Was neither Stars, or Moon: a gen'ral cloud
Did the whole face of heav'n in darknes shroud.
Now from the East the Sun began to rise,
And day nights mask had plucked from the skies
When a strang out-side of a man appears
From out the woods, his hands who suppliant rears
[Page 43]More then half-starv'd; most wretched in his dresse
We look, and lo! an uncouth nastinesse:
A long untrimmed beard, and ragged cloths
With thorns repeec'd; the rest a Greek disclose:
But, when he Trojan arms and habits saw,
He frighted stopt, as if he would withdraw:
Then hastily he to the shore did run,
And thus with tears, & humble prayers begun:
I by the stars, the Gods, the common ayre
We breath, conjure you me away to bear:
To any Coast let me transplanted be;
It shall suffice: I must confesse that I
Amongst those of my Nation arms did bear,
And against Troy serv'd in the passed war:
For which (if my offence so hainous be)
Me tear, and scatter ith' unfathom'd sea:
[Page 44]And if I perish, 'twill my grief abate,
That I from humane hands receive my fate:
Then falling down he did my knees embrace,
Whilest we exhort him to declare the race
From whence he sprung; his name; and what hard fate
Had him reduced to this sad estate:
Forthwith Anchises his right hand extends,
And, by this Pledg declares that we were friends:
At last confirm'd he fearelesse doth reply:
From Ithaca, Vlysses fortune I
Did follow; Achaemenides by name,
Poore Adamastus son, (I wish the same
Fortune had still continued) to Troy sent:
Here, when my friends from this dire region went
Through fear they me forgot, and left behind,
In the vast den of Polypheme confin'd:
[Page 45]A vast and gloomy room it is: the floore
With raw flesh strewed is, and putrid gore:
Of a stupendious height himself: the skies
At ev'ry step he knocks: great Deities
Of such a plague, O, ease the earth; addresse
To him none dares to make, or crave accesse:
He eats the bloody bowels of the slain:
I saw, when he two of our wretched train
Seizing with his huge paws with force did throw
Against the rock; the house within did flow
With crimson streams: I saw, when he did eat
Limbs spurting gore, and when the living meat
Under his teeth yet trembled: but our Chief,
Brave Ithacus, ever himself, relief
In this destresse found out: for lo! whilest he
With wine and food, ore-gorg'd did snoring lie,
[Page 46]Stretch'd in his den; his neck awry, of blood
A stream ejecting, and a mighty flood
Of undigested wine, with gobbits raw,
The Gods imploring, we about him draw:
And his vast eye peirce with a sharpned spear,
Which (single in his forehead) did appear
Like Phoebus setting, or a Grecian sheild:
Thus just revenge to our dead friends we yeeld:
But fly, Oh wretches, fly this cursed shore;
Your cables cut; for here are hundreds more,
As salvage and as big; who doe frequent
These strands and rocks; and now the moon it's spent
Lamp hath recruited thrice, its horns thrice fill'd
Since I a haplesse life lead in these wilde
And desart places: and vast Cyclops see
Advancing, whilest I their approaches flie,
[Page 47]And dreaded yels: a wretched food to me
Berries and Cornels, shrubs and trees supplie:
On grasse I feed, and herbs which wild do grow:
But, taking from this place my prospect, loe!
Your fleet I saw, the first which did arrive
Upon this coast: to you resolv'd to give
My self a pris'ner: any death let me
Die, so I may these salvage Monsters flye:
He scarce had said, when Polyphemus we
With his huge bulk 'midst his flocks stalking see,
And making to the shore: a dreadfull, vast,
And ugly Monster, who his sight had lost:
His hand and foot-steps a strip't pine did guide;
His flocks (his sole joy) him accompani'd
A pipe ('bout his neck hung) his grief did ease:
But, when he did approach the swelling seas
[Page 48]From his lost eye he wash'd the flowing blood,
And, his teeth grinding, stalked through the flood
Nor could the waves reach his exalted wast;
The worthy Suppliant then we take; and hast
Away: our cables silently we slip;
And the seas surface with stretch'd oars do sweep
He heard and by our noise his steps did guide,
But, when he found that to lay hold he tryde
In vain; nor could surmount the deeper flood,
Then he his hideous voice extends, so loud,
That th' Ocean trembled, Italie did quake,
And hollow AEtna a deep groan did make:
Now from the hils and woods Cyclopean bands
Alarm'd flie to the Port, and man the strands:
Whence they in vain pursue with threatning eyes
Whilest their proud heads they lodg i'th' neighbouring skies
[Page 49]A dire assembly; like tall Oakes they stood,
Or spire-like Cypresse-trees, and seem'd a wood:
Fear makes us hastily to sea to thrust,
And t' any gale our ready sail's to trust:
And though twixt Scylla and Charybdis we
Forbidden were to steere; yet we decree
That course to stand: when from Pelorus strait
A Northern breez doth rise, and on us wait:
Pantagia's mouth; the bay of Megara
We passe, and Tapsus level with the Sea:
Thus Achaemenides, (known coasts whilest he
Repeats) our course directs: an Isle doth lie
'Fore the a Sicanian bay; and opposite
To rough Plemmyrium, by our Grandsires hight
Ortygia; Alphêus (as they fame)
Under the Sea through secret channels came,
[Page 50]And mingling, Arethusa, with thy spring
Doth to the main, with thine, its waters bring:
The Gods we here invoke: Helorus leave,
Th' adjoyning plains enriching with its wave:
Hence weathering Pachynus rocky cape,
By unmov'd Camerine our course we shape:
To the Geloian plains we bid adieu,
And Gelas town: and now we have in view
The mighty wals of high-built Agregas,
For breeds of gen'rous Steeds which did surpass:
Palmie Selinus, now by thee we run,
Then the blind rocks of Lelybaeum shun:
And lastly in the port of Drepannum,
A joylesse port, I to an Anchore come:
Here having pass'd so many stormy seas,
My Sire (alas!) I lose; the onely ease
[Page 51]Of all my cares and toile: dear Father dost dresse
Thou here forsake me, thus turmoil'd and tost?
Nor Helenus, nor dire Celaeno, (though
They many ills foretold) did this fore-show.
Here all my travels, all my toils took end,
And hence the Gods me to your coast did send.
Thus whilest to him all do attention give,
He here concludes his ample Narrative,
Of haplesse Troy which did the fates contain,
And what himself had suffer'd on the Main.
FINIS.
Pray, Reader, amend these few lapses of the Presse as followeth:
PAge the 1. line the 6. for from read for, p. 2. l. 2. for when, with, p. 6. l. 16. for were, we. p. 9. l. 1. for Sir. Sire, p. 10. l. 1. for their, three, l. 9. for Donysor, Donysa. p. 15. l. 12. for shrond shroud. p. 16. l. 4. for Polinure, Palinure. l. 11. for Straphades, Strophades l. 14. for Harpynian, Harpyian, p. 41. l. 10. for Clyclops, Cyclops. p. 61. l. 10 for Port Poet.
Some few hasty Reflections upon the precedent Poem.
IT was not, Reader, the ultimate end of our Poet, in this precedent Poem, barely to deliver the story of AEneas his Errours, or Perigrination from Troy into Italy, with those Accidents which befell him therein; which, (although there were in it, no further scope then that) yet is so trim and well contriv'd a Narrative, that it is of it self sufficient to entitle this a most excellent piece: No: our wise Authour had a more covert and mysterious design; and, in this wel-built fabrick of his gives us the full prospect of a well-order'd Common-wealth, with all the integral parts thereof; which whilest we endeavour to [Page 53] make out, let not the Reader passe sentence upon us, as guilty of perverting or violating the sense or meaning of our Authour, whose constant manner it is, to have a more remote drift, then what is perceptible to the eye of every vulgar Reader.
Wherefore,The Com-wealth. behold first in the grosse or general, our supposed Common-wealth, to wit, a ship, or Fleet at Sea, between both which the Allegory or Comparison is as natural, as it is familiar, and therefore needs no further illustration.
Next we come to the parts integral, The foure parts thereof which, as members, compleat this whol, or body of our Common-wealth, whereof the first is the Prince, the second, the Council; the third, the great Minister of State; and the fourth, the People; Of which briefly in their order, and according to Virgils method and design.
First,The Prince. Behold in the accomplish'd AEneas, the Prince or supream Magistrate, as the principal member, or rather head of our Common-wealth: and him we will consider in these three Princely Attributes [Page 54] or qualifications, which are here given him: First, in his Piety: secondly, in his Wisdome; & thirdly, in his Valour:
His Piety. Piety, with the Latines is first taken for that due observance, respect and devotion, which we pay to God; and secondly for that duty and reverence we give to our parents; so that pius signifies as well dutifull, as religious; and he that is truly pious in the one sense, will be so in the other: None was therefore either more Religious, or Dutifull then Virgils AEneas, our imaginary Prince. As a pregnant proof of both which take this story, which I casually light upon the other day in AElian: Var. Hist. l. 3. c. 22. When Troy was taken, and sack'd, (sayes he) the Greeks pitying the miserable condition of the subdued Trojans, proclaimed, by sound of trumpet, that it should be lawfull for them, to make choise of any one thing they pleased, and to carry it away with them: AEneas therefore, neglecting all things else, chose his House-hold Gods: The Greeks admiring the Piety of the Man, gave him leave to take any one thing of his Moveables; who slghting the most pretious of his Iewels, [Page 55] and other goods, took his old decrepit Father upon his shoulders. The Enemy admiring at this second demonstration of Piety, gave him his whole Estate free, with liberty to go whether he pleased: adding, [...]. that the most implacable enemies ought to shew mercy to those, who were religious to the Gods, and dutifull to their Parents. Hence Virgil introduceth him here flying with his Gods, often praying and Sacrificing to the same; and, to say truth, Religion, (were there no other end in it, then a politick) ought to be the chief care and study of the Prince, as being the very Basis of all Government, and the surest tye of Obedience: whence, it rightly hath its denomination, a religando, which signifies, to binde fast, or to tye.
As for his Wisdome;His Wisdome that appears, as well in his readinesse to ask and follow good Counsel, as in his abilities in giving the same: Hence Virgil makes him frequently consulting with the Gods; and good Counsellours are indeed [Page 56] as Gods to Princes: often with Prophets, and Interpreters of Oracles: particularly, with his Father Anchises, an experienc'd, and sober old man; with Sibylla (a great prophetesse, inspired by Apollo) that is, a person endued with much wisdome, whereof he was the supposed Deity; and with Helenus, a knowing and a well-known friend: a person as honest, as he was intelligent: mark what qualifications ought to be in Counsellours of State, Age, Experience, Wisdome and Integrity: The Age and Experience of Anchises; the wisdome of Sibylla; and the Integrity of Helenus: As for his abilities in giving good advise, in directing, governing and managing his Affaires, that appeares in the whole Series and course of his life: to enumerate particulars herein, would be infinite.
Lastly, for the valour of our AEneas, or Prince,His valour. that is also twofold: active or passive, of both which there are such clear and undeniable demonstrations, that we shall not insist long upon this head: the first appears in his several ranconters, often charges, victories, [Page 57] and triumphs: the latter in his sufferings, distresses and afflictions; in which no one ever shared more plentifully, than himself: How was he tossed up and down? how often in storms and tempests? how often driven from place to place? disappointed in his designes? Defeated in his attempts? still persecuted by Iuno, his mortal or rather immortal enemy: yet, behold him ever unshaken, unmoved, undaunted: still constant in the pursuit of his Counsels, till at last, overcoming the malice both of fortune and his enemies, he accomplish what he drives at, and what was by the fates laid out for him; and setting foot in Italy, there lay the foundation of a never-declining Monarchy.
And, now, most gracious Soveraign, it is not that I have wrested this Character, in delivering things otherwise, then they are represented by our Authour in the precedent Poem, that, I might direct this Application to your Royal Self: No, should I therefore compare your Majesty with our AEneas, in those three princely qualifications, above mentioned, none could truly [Page 58] object to me either force or flattery: As for your Piety therefore, whether in the first sense, as it relates to God, that appears sufficiently; our eyes see it, and our hearts re [...]oyce thereat: Our Church, that is, the Assembly of the faithfull, and our Churches, that is, the consecrated places, where those Assemblies use to be held, begin now, (under your Royal Protection) to resume their prestine beauty, and will (we hope) in time, Phaenix-like, rise up more splendid and glorious, out of their own ashes, that is, those deformed ruines and rubbish, wherein they lay lately obscured and oppressed: or, in the second, that is, your AEneas ▪ like reverence to your Royal Father both living and dead: which manifests it self in your Justice Distributive, which consists in Punishment and Reward, the two principal wheels, upon which that great engin of a Common-Wealth makes its rotation; the first in taking just revenge upon the horrid murderers of your Royal Father, our Gracious Soveraign; a parentation indeed, considering the unparallel'd hainousnesse and enormity of the fact, not in [Page 59] the least severe: the second, in restoring and rewarding his old Servants, and such as have either acted or suffered for him.
As for our second qualification, AEn. 1 we require in our Prince, and finde it in our AEneas, a readiness in taking, and an ability in giving good Councel, the first your Majesty hath sufficiently demonstrated as well in the choise of your Councell, and Correspondence all along with your Parliament, as you have the latter in your prudent management of affairs, of which we all see the happy effects, and taste the blessed fruits.
But, for your Valour, both Active and Passive; the footsteps and impressions of them are so fresh and so many, that we should loose our selves in the enumeration of them, should we but once enter upon them: England, Scotland, France, Flanders, all the world rings of them: to be short;
And now at last, after all those strang [Page 60] and multiplied revolutions, we, to our ineffable joy, see your sacred Majesty, (like another AEneas in his promis'd Italie) by the undeniable conduct of the divine providence seated & firmly fixed in your paternal Throne, never thence to be removed, till such time as you shall be translated from earth to heaven.
— for it is more then plain,
Here then as the same Poet speaks in the person of Anchises concerning his AEneas in this very book, let us, as prophetically, I hope affirm and conclude, (changing one word,) concerning your Sacred Majesty.
The second part which after the Prince constitutes a Common-Wealth, The Counsel. is his Councel: Here the Poet gives to AEneas as Councellours, Anchises, Sibylla, Helenus: of whom we have already spoken: we shall not therefore insist long upon this point: I shall observe in the advice Helenus gives him, (which according to the nature of his design, was seasonably-prudent) these two precepts only: first he adviseth him rather to coast the whole [...]sle of Sicily in his voyage to Italie, then to passe the dangerous straits of Pelôrus, now called the Faro, though by much the nerer way, for fear he fall upon the rocks of Scylla, or be suck'd in by the violent gulph or eddy of Charybdis: to shew, that it is better, and more secure, to proceed. [Page 62] leasurably in affairs of moment, then to precipitate, and that a profest States-man, ought rather to chuse the safer then the nearer way: for herein our english proverb takes place, the furthest way about, is the nearest way home: Secondly he recommends to him above all things, by prayers and sacrifice, to reconcile and conquer his implacable enemy Iuno: for; as Donatus upon this place: Ostendit Poeta majoris potentiae inimicos obsequendo potius, quam resistendo posse superari: 'tis wisdome rather to gain a potent enemy by obligeing him, then to run the risk of subduing him by force, the success whereof is uncertain.
The great Minister of State.Nor has AEneas his Councel onely, but, as a third Complement of our Common-Wealth, and a necessary instrument of government; behold his Palinurus, or great Minister of State, cui Princeps incumbit, Sen. de Consol. ad Marcian. & in quem onus imperij reclinat, as Seneca speaks of the younger Marcellus: the person our Prince placeth, at the helm of State, and to whom he intrusts the chief guidance of that great vessel of the Common-Wealth: [Page 63] Now the Qualifications of such a Minister are chiefly two, Vigilance and Dexterity, or experience in matters of State: thus Palinurus, whilest others slept:
There's his Vigilance; Now for his Dexterity or Experience.
But to be a little more particular in Charactizing our great Minister, we will adde a note or two; Virgil then speaks thus of Palinurus, as we have (according to our manner, that is, imperfectly) rendred him.
From hence we draw two wholsome precepts, and such, as above all others, must diligently be observ'd by our great Minister: First, he is to observe the [Page 64] wind, and listen to every blast; that is, to hold intelligence in all places; and to have an ear to all reports, that accordingly as the winde blows, he may trim the sailes of his own ship; and may not be surpriz'd by a sudden Gust; which may happily overset both him and it: Next, he is to mark the stars, and accordingly to steer his course; that is, to understand perfectly the Interests of all neighbouring Kingdomes and States, and to know what Influence or Aspect the affairs of other Princes have in reference to those of his own master.
And should I, Reader, say that our gracious Soveraign is blessed in such a Minister, in the Right Honourable, the Earl of Clarendon, the present Lord High Chancellour of England, I should say no more, then what is evident by those daily dispatches, which passe through his hands, and that weight of affairs which presse, but cannot oppresse him:
Which the excellent Claudian applies to Stilico, the great Minister of State to the Emperour Honorius, and which I hope without offence to his Lordships modesty, or violence to the Poets sense, we may thus render in English:
But for as much as Prince and People, Governour and Governed are Relatives, the People. [Page 74] and therefore not Subsistent one without the other, behold our Poet gives his AEneas a competent number of Subjects, which, he ever calls by the name of Socij: by which word the Latines understand a Companion, Allie, or Confederate: in both which senses the people may most properly be called Socij, First: they are Companions, for they must expect to accompany the Prince in his fortune: if he be opprest, they must be enslav'd; if he be dethron'd, and murdered, their lives, fortunes, and liberties are all at the mercy of the Usurping Tyrant: We need not go farr for an instance to make good this: the late distractions out of which we are (by the blessing of God) now happily deliver'd are a sufficient proof of our assertion: Next they are Allies or Confederates; now such are bound to take up arm's for the mutuall defence one of the other, and that Prince that offers an injury to the one, doth it to the other; thus the people are bound to expose their lives, fortunes and all they call theirs in the defence of the Princes Crown, Dignity, [Page 75] and Estate, for which they in exchange receive his protection, as well against Forreign invaders, as domestick oppressours: And this is that Alliance or Society, which ought to intervene between both parties: and thus are subjects properly stiled Socii.
But to draw to a Conclusion:The Conclusion. whereas our Author, in the whole, exposeth his AEneas to many difficulties, during his Navigation, making him sometimes to mistake his Port; sometimes to run upon a rock, and sometimes ready to perish in a storm; these (I say) are to hint to us those many lets, impediments & difficulties that every kinde of Regiment is subject unto, which (as the learned Mr. Hooker observes) in publick proceedings are innumerable and inevitable; and therefore the people ought not to fall out with their Governours, or cavill at the Government, upon every perty miscarriage; but soberly to consider, and weigh with themselves the forementioned difficulties, and not to object that to the Governour, which, is indeed incident to all humane Affairs; nor could, by the greatest wisdome and [Page 75] forecast imaginable, be avoided: to judge by successe is irrational; for many times weak Councels take effect, when the best-digested designes are frustrated, for as much as Chance and Accident have a share in both: I could be copious upon this subject, and plentiful in instances, but I designed onely a few hasty Reflexions, and a running discourse.