THE EPISODE OF NISUS AND EURYALUS.

A PARAPHRASE FROM THE ENEID, LIB. IX.

NISUS the guardian of the portal, stood,
Eager to gild his arms with hostile blood;
Well skilled in fight the quivering lance to wield,
Or pour his arrows through th' embattled field:
From Ida torn, he left his sylvan cave,
And sought a foreign home, a distant grave.
To watch the movements of the Daunian host,
With him Euryalus sustains the post;

No lovelier mien adorned the ranks of Troy,
And beardless bloom yet graced the gallant boy,
Though few the seasons of his youthful life,
As yet a novice in the martial strife,
'Twas his, with beauty, valor's gifts to share -
A soul heroic, as his form was fair:

These burn with one pure flame of generous love;
In peace, in war, united still they move;
Friendship and glory form their joint reward;
And now combined they hold their nightly guard.

"What God," exclaimed the first, "instils this fire? Or, in itself a god, what great desire?

My laboring soul, with anxious thought oppressed,
Abhors this station of inglorious rest;

The love of fame with this can ill accord,
Be 't mine to seek for glory with my sword.
Seest thou yon camp, with torches twinkling dim,
Where drunken slumbers wrap each lazy limb?

Where confidence and ease the watch disdain,
And drowsy Silence holds her sable reign?
Then hear my thought:

grief

In deep and sullen

Our troops and leaders mourn their absent chief: Now could the gifts and promised prize be thine (The deed, the danger, and the fame be mine), Were this decreed, beneath yon rising mound, Methinks, an easy path perchance were found; Which past, I speed my way to Pallas' walls, And lead Eneas from Evander's halls."

With equal ardor fired, and warlike joy,
His glowing friend addressed the Dardan boy:
"These deeds, my Nisus, shalt thou dare alone?
Must all the fame, the peril, be thine own?
Am I by thee despised, and left afar,
As one unfit to share the toils of war?
Not thus his son the great Opheltes taught;
Not thus my sire in Argive combats fought;
Not thus, when Ilion fell by heavenly hate,
I tracked Æneas through the walks of fate:
Thou know'st my deeds, my breast devoid of fear,
And hostile life-drops dim my gory spear.

Here is a soul with hope immortal burns,
And life, ignoble life, for glory spurns.

Fame, fame is cheaply earned by fleeting breath:
The price of honor is the sleep of death."

Then Nisus,

"Calm thy bosom's fond alarms : Thy heart beats fiercely to the din of arms.

More dear thy worth and valor than my own,
I swear by him who fills Olympus' throne!
So may I triumph, as I speak the truth,
And clasp again the comrade of my youth!
But should I fall, and he who dares advance
Through hostile legions must abide by chance,—
If some Rutulian arm, with adverse blow,
Should lay the friend who ever loved thee low,
Live thou; such beauties I would fain preserve,
Thy budding years a lengthened term deserve.
When humbled in the dust, let some one be,
Whose gentle eyes will shed one tear for me;
Whose manly arm may snatch me back by force,
Or wealth redeem from foes my captive corse;
Or, if my destiny these last deny,

If in the spoiler's power my ashes lie,
Thy pious care may raise a simple tomb,
To mark thy love, and signalize my doom.
Why should thy doting wretched mother weep
Her only boy, reclined in endless sleep?
Who, for thy sake, the tempest's fury dared,
Who, for thy sake, war's deadly peril shared ;
Who braved what woman never braved before,
And left her native for the Latian shore."
"In vain you damp the ardor of my soul,"
Replied Euryalus; "it scorns control!

Hence, let us haste!" Their brother guards arose,
Roused by their call, nor court again repose;
The pair, buoyed up on Hope's exulting wing,
Their stations leave, and speed to seek the king.

Now o'er the earth a solemn stillness ran, And lulled alike the cares of brute and man; Save where the Dardan leaders nightly hold Alternate converse, and their plans unfold. On one great point the council are agreed, An instant message to their prince decreed; Each leaned upon the lance he well could wield, And poised with easy arm his ancient shield; When Nisus and his friend their leave request To offer something to their high behest. With anxious tremors, yet unawed by fear, The faithful pair before the throne appear: Iulus greets them; at his kind command, The elder first addressed the hoary band.

"With patience" (thus Hyrtacides began) "Attend, nor judge from youth our humble plan. Where yonder beacons half expiring beam, Our slumbering foes of future conquest dream, Nor heed that we a secret path have traced, Between the ocean and the portal placed, Beneath the covert of the blackening smoke, Whose shade securely our design will cloak! If you, ye chiefs, and fortune will allow, We'll bend our course to yonder mountain's brow, Where Pallas' walls at distance meet the sight, Seen o'er the glade, when not obscured by night: Then shall Æneas in his pride return, While hostile matrons raise their offspring's urn; And Latian spoils and purpled heaps of dead Shall mark the havoc of our hero's tread.

Such is our purpose, not unknown the way; Where yonder torrent's devious waters stray, Oft have we seen, when hunting by the stream, The distant spires above the valleys gleam."

Mature in years, for sober wisdom famed,
Moved by the speech, Alethes here exclaimed,
"Ye parent gods! who rule the fate of Troy,
Still dwells the Dardan spirit in the boy;
When minds like these in striplings thus ye raise,
Yours is the godlike act, be yours the praise;
In gallant youth, my fainting hopes revive,
And Ilion's wonted glories still survive."
Then in his warm embrace the boys he pressed,
And, quivering, strained them to his aged breast;
With tears the burning cheek of each bedewed,
And, sobbing, thus his first discourse renewed:
"What gift, my countrymen, what martial prize
Can we bestow, which you may not despise?
Our deities the first best boon have given
Internal virtues are the gift of Heaven.
What poor rewards can bless your deeds on earth,
Doubtless await such young, exalted worth.
Eneas and Ascanius shall combine

To yield applause far, far surpassing mine."
Iulus then :-"By all the powers above!
By those Penates who my country love!
By hoary Vesta's sacred fane, I swear,
My hopes are all in you, ye generous pair!
Restore my father to my grateful sight,
And all my sorrows yield to one delight.