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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Shall level with the plain in ashes lie: The people shall be slaves, unless in time They kneel for pardon, and repent their crime. Twice have our foes been vanquish'd on the plain: Then shall I wait till Turnus will be slain? Your force against the perjur'd city bend. There it began, and there the war shall end. The peace profan'd our rightful arms requires; Cleanse the polluted place with purging fires." He finish'd; and, one soul inspiring all, Form'd in a wedge, the foot approach the wall. Without the town, an unprovided train Of gaping, gazing citizens are slain. Some firebrands, others scaling ladders bear, And those they toss aloft, and these they rear: The flames now launch'd, the feather'd arrows fly, And clouds of missive arms obscure the sky. Advancing to the front, the hero stands, And, stretching out to heav'n his pious hands, Attests the gods, asserts his innocence, Upbraids with breach of faith th' Ausonian prince; Declares the royal honor doubly stain'd, And twice the rites of holy peace profan'd. Dissenting clamors in the town arise; Each will be heard, and all at once advise. One part for peace, and one for war contends; Some would exclude their foes, and some admit their friends. The helpless king is hurried in the throng, And, whate'er tide prevails, is borne along. Thus, when the swain, within a hollow rock, Invades the bees with suffocating smoke, They run around, or labor on their wings, Disus'd to flight, and shoot their sleepy stings; To shun the bitter fumes in vain they try; Black vapors, issuing from the vent, involve the sky. But fate and envious fortune now prepare To plunge the Latins in the last despair. The queen, who saw the foes invade the town, And brands on tops of burning houses thrown, Cast round her eyes, distracted with her fear- No troops of Turnus in the field appear. Once more she stares abroad, but still in vain, |
