Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/128

Then, when the guests have gone their ways
And the dim moon withdraws her rays,
And setting stars to slumber call,
Alone she mourns in that lone hall,
Clasps the dear couch where late he lay,
Beholds him, hears him far away;
Or keeps Ascanius on her knees,
And in the son the father sees,
Might she but steal one peaceful hour
From love's ungovernable power.
No more the growing towers arise,
No more in martial exercise
The youth engage, make strong the fort,
Or shape the basin to a port:
The works all slack and aimless lie,
Grim bastions, looming from on high,
And monster cranes that mate the sky.

Whom when imperial Juno saw
With passion so possessed
Too tyrannous for shame to awe,
She Venus' ear addressed:
'A glorious triumph you enjoy:
Vast spoil must be to share
'Twixt Venus and her conquering boy:
Two gods have cunning to destroy
A single earthly fair.
Nor has it 'scaped me that you dread
This town that lifts so proud a head:
Let Carthage open as she will
Her homes, your heart mistrusts her still.
But must suspicion never cease?
Or why so fierce a fight?
What if we make a lasting peace,
And marriage treaties plight?