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They scare not me, those words of heaven,
The voice of fate from temples given,
Which Phrygia's exiles boast:
Venus and fate have reaped their due
In bringing safe the wandering crew
To our Ausonian coast.
I too have had my fate assigned,
To sweep the miscreants from mankind
Who rob me of my spouse:
Not only Atreus' sons can feel,
Nor Greece alone can draw the steel
For breach of marriage vows.
Yet once to suffer may suffice:
What ailed them then to trespass twice?
One taste of crime should leave behind
A loathing for the female kind.
Behold, their confidence they ground
On balking trench and mediate mound,
Removed from death a span!
And saw they not sink down in flame
Their Ilium's walls, albeit the frame
Of powers more strong than man?
But you, my warriors, who will dare
Rush on with me, the fence down-tear,
The trembling camp invade?
No Vulcan's arms, no thousand sail
'Gainst Troy are needed to prevail:
Nay, let Etruria weight the scale
And lend them all her aid.
Palladium ravished from the tower,
Its warders stabbed at midnight's hour,
Such feats they need not fear:
We will not skulk in horse's womb:
Our fires shall wrap their walls with doom
In daylight broad and clear.