366
VIRGIL's
Æn. II.
The House is fill'd with loud Laments and Cries,
And Shrieks of Women rend the vaulted Skies.
The fearful Matrons run from place to place,
And kiss the Thresholds, and the Posts embrace. 670
The fatal work inhuman Pyrrhus plies,
And all his Father sparkles in his Eyes,
Nor Bars, nor fighting Guards his force sustain;
The Bars are broken, and the Guards are slain.
In ruth the Greeks, and all the Apartments fill; 675
Those few Defendants whom they find, they kill.
Not with so fierce a Rage, the foaming Flood
Roars, when he finds his rapid Course withstood:
Bears down the Dams with unresisted sway,
And sweeps the Cattle and the Cots away. 680
These Eyes beheld him, when he march'd between
The Brother-Kings: I saw th' unhappy Queen,
The hundred Wives, and where old Priam stood,
To stain his hallow'd Altar with his Blood.
The fifty Nuptial Beds: (such Hopes had he, 685
So large a Promise of a Progeny.)
The Posts of plated Gold, and hung with Spoils,
Fell the Reward of the proud Victor's Toils.
Where e'er the raging Fire had left a space,
The Grecians enter, and possess the Place. 690
Perhaps you may of Priam's Fate enquire.
He, when he saw his Regal Town on fire,
His ruin'd Palace, and his ent'ring Foes,
On ev'ry side inevitable woes;
And Shrieks of Women rend the vaulted Skies.
The fearful Matrons run from place to place,
And kiss the Thresholds, and the Posts embrace. 670
The fatal work inhuman Pyrrhus plies,
And all his Father sparkles in his Eyes,
Nor Bars, nor fighting Guards his force sustain;
The Bars are broken, and the Guards are slain.
In ruth the Greeks, and all the Apartments fill; 675
Those few Defendants whom they find, they kill.
Not with so fierce a Rage, the foaming Flood
Roars, when he finds his rapid Course withstood:
Bears down the Dams with unresisted sway,
And sweeps the Cattle and the Cots away. 680
These Eyes beheld him, when he march'd between
The Brother-Kings: I saw th' unhappy Queen,
The hundred Wives, and where old Priam stood,
To stain his hallow'd Altar with his Blood.
The fifty Nuptial Beds: (such Hopes had he, 685
So large a Promise of a Progeny.)
The Posts of plated Gold, and hung with Spoils,
Fell the Reward of the proud Victor's Toils.
Where e'er the raging Fire had left a space,
The Grecians enter, and possess the Place. 690
Perhaps you may of Priam's Fate enquire.
He, when he saw his Regal Town on fire,
His ruin'd Palace, and his ent'ring Foes,
On ev'ry side inevitable woes;
