Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/403

Thus spoke, my lord, the monarch sage,
And thus he judged the war we wage.'

The ambassadors had scarcely done,
Loud murmurs through the council run,
Of multiform intent;
So, checked by rocks, the rapid flood
Chafes wildly, loth to be withstood,
And struggles for a vent,
While bank and river-side around
Remurmur to the impatient sound.
Soon as the hum of tongues was stayed
And the wild storm in quiet laid,
Due preface to the gods addressed,
The king enthroned his mind expressed.

'I would, ye peers, that Latium's state
At earlier time had claimed debate,
Nor I been driven a court to call
With foemen clustering round our wall.
A fearful war, my friends, is ours,
Waged with a race of godlike powers:
No wounds their energy can tame:
Win they or lose, they fight the same.
Who thought on Diomed to rely
Must lay that hope for ever by:
Each from himself his hope must seek;
But hopes like ours, alas! are weak.
How low has fallen our common weal
Your eyes can see, your senses feel.
I censure none; each gallant man
Has done the most that valour can:
The forces of a nation's life
Have all been lavished on the strife.
Now hearken while I show the scheme
My doubting thoughts the wisest deem.