Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 2.djvu/187

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Æn. II.
ÆNEIS.
369
(The mingl'd Paste his murder'd Son had made,) 750
Haul'd from beneath the violated Shade;
And on the Sacred Pile, the Royal Victim laid.
His right Hand held his bloody Fauchion bare;
His left he twisted in his hoary Hair:
Then, with a speeding Thrust, his Heart he found:
The lukewarm Blood came rushing through the Wound, 756
And sanguine Streams distain'd the sacred Ground.
Thus Priam fell: and shar'd one common Fate
With Troy in Ashes, and his ruin'd State:
He, who the Scepter of all Asia sway'd, 760
Whom Monarchs like Domestick Slaves obey'd,
On the bleak Shoar now lies th' abandon'd King,
[1]A headless Carcass, and a nameless thing.
Then, not before, I felt my crudled Blood
Congeal with Fear, my Hair with horror stood: 765
My Father's Image fill'd my pious Mind;
Lest equal Years might equal Fortune find.
Again I thought on my forsaken Wife;
And trembl'd for my Son's abandon'd Life.
I look'd about; but found my self alone: 770
Deserted at my need, my Friends were gone,
Some spent with Toil, some with Despair oppress'd,
Leap'd headlong from the Heights; the Flames consum'd the rest.

  1. This whole line is taken from Sir John Denham.