The Prophecy of Capys.

A LAY SUNG AT THE BANQUET IN THE CAPITOL, ON THE DAY

WHEREON MANIUS CURIUS DENTATUS, A SECOND TIME CONSUL, TRIUMPHED OVER KING PYRRHUS AND THE TARENTINES, IN THE YEAR OF THE CITY CCCCLXXIX.

I.

Now slain is King Amulius,
Of the great Sylvian line,
Who reigned in Alba Longa,
On the throne of Aventine.
Slain is the Pontiff Camers,

Who spake the words of doom:
"The children to the Tiber;

The mother to the tomb."

II.

In Alba's lake no fisher

His net to-day is flinging:
On the dark rind of Alba's oaks

To-day no ax is ringing :

The yoke hangs o'er the manger;

The scythe lies in the hay:

Through all the Alban villages
No work is done to-day.

III.

And every Alban burgher

Hath donned his whitest gown;

And every head in Alba

161. Who spake the words of doom.-Doom to Rhea Ilia or Sylvia, the daughter of Numitor, who had been cruelly treated by his brother Amulius, and to her twin children, the daughters of the war-god Mars.

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192. The ravening she-wolf knew them. See note to "Horatius," line 444,

200. Blithe it was to see the twins.--Romulus and Remus. The two names are only varied forms of the same word.

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As Rhea's boys go by,

And maids who shriek to see the heads,
Yet, shrieking, press more nigh.

X.

So they marched along the lake;
They marched by fold and stall,
By corn-field and by vineyard,
Unto the old man's hall.

XI.

In the hall-gate sate Capys,
Capys, the sightless seer;
From head to foot he trembled

As Romulus drew near.

And up stood still his thin white hair,
And his blind eyes flashed fire:

"Hail! foster child of the wondrous nurse!
Hail son of the wondrous sire !"

XII.

"But thou-what dost thou here

In the old man's peaceful hall?
What doth the eagle in the coop,
The bison in the stall?

Our corn fills many a garner;
Our vines clasp many a tree;
Our flocks are white on many a hill
But these are not for thee.

XIII.

"For thee no treasure ripens

In the Tartessian mine:

For thee no ship brings precious bales
Across the Libyan brine:

241. As Rhea's boys go by.-See note to "Horatius," line 444.
254. Hail! foster child of the wonderous nurse i-The she-wolf.
255. Hail! son of the wonderous sire !-The war-god Mars.

265. In the Tartessian mine.-The reference is to mines in the region of Southern Spain, called by the Phenicians Tarshish, in the Greek from Tartessos.

267. Across the Libyan brine.-The sea separating Libya, or NorthWestern Africa, from Europe.

Thou shalt not drink from amber;

Thou shalt not rest on down;
Arabia shalt not steep thy locks,
Nor Sidon tinge thy gown.

XIV.

"Leave gold and myrrh and jewels,
Rich table and soft bed,

To them who of man's seed are born,

Whom woman's milk have fed.

Thou wast not made for lucre,

For pleasure, nor for rest;

Thou, that are sprung from the War-god's loins,
And hast tugged at the she-wolf's breast.

XV.

"From sunrise unto sunset

All earth shall hear thy fame;

A glorious city thou shalt build,
And name it by thy name:

And there, unquenched through ages,
Like Vesta's sacred fire,

Shall live the spirit of thy nurse,

The spirit of thy sire.

XVI.

"The ox toils through the furrow,

Obedient to the goad;

The patient ass, up flinty paths,

Plods with his weary load:

With whine and bound the spaniel

His master's whistle hears;

And the sheep yields her patiently
To the loud-clashing shears.

XVII.

"But thy nurse will hear no master;
Thy nurse will bear no load;

And woe to them that shear her,

And woe to them that goad!

When all the pack, loud baying,

285. Like Vesta's sacred fire.-See note to "Horatius," line 313, and to

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