Like Homer, Virgil dashes at once into the heart of his story. This is how he introduces his hero:—
"Arms and the man I sing, who first, By fate of Ilian realm amerced, To fair Italia onward bore, And landed on Lavinium's shore."[1]
He tells us nothing, however, for the present, of the escape from Troy and the embarkation of the fugitives, or of the guiding oracles in obedience to which they had sailed forth in quest of this new home. He only shows us Æneas on the sea, having just set sail from Sicily, where the angry Queen of Heaven catches sight of him. Juno, we must remember—Virgil, apparently, has no idea that any one could need reminding of it—Juno has never forgotten or forgiven that scene upon Mount Ida, where the Trojan Paris preferred the fascinations—or the bribes—of Venus to her own stately charms. She had persuaded her royal consort, the king of gods and men, to consent to the downfall of the accursed race; and she persecutes this unhappy remnant, now on its voyage, with unrelenting hate. Even the poet, who makes use of her persecution as one of the mainsprings of his story, professes his astonishment at its bitterness,—
"Can such deep hate find place in breasts divine?"[2]
- ↑ The extracts are in all cases (where not otherwise marked) from Mr Conington's translation, and are made with the permission of his representatives and publishers.
- ↑ Milton has translated the line almost literally:—
"In heavenly spirits could such perversion dwell?"
—Par. Lost, vi.
