XX. "Trusting to this, no embassy I sent, No arts employed, thy purpose to explore. Myself, my proper person, I present, And stand a humble suppliant at thy door. Thy foes are ours, the Daunian race, and sore They grind us. If they drive us hence, they say, Their conquering arms shall stretch from shore to shore. Plight we our troth; strong arms are ours to-day, Stout hearts, and manhood proved in many a hard essay." XXI. He ceased. Long while Evander marked with joy His face and eyes, and scanned through and through, Then spake: "O bravest of the sons of Troy! What joy to greet thee; thine the voice, the hue, The face of great Anchises, whom I knew. Well I remember, how, in days forepast, Old Priam came to Salamis, to view His sister's realms, Hesione's, and passed To far Arcadia, chilled with many a Northern blast. XXII. "Scarce o'er my cheeks the callow down had crept, With wondering awe I viewed the Trojan train, And gazed at Priam. But Anchises stepped The tallest. Boyish ardour made me fain To greet the hero, and his hand to strain. I ventured, and to Pheneus brought my guest. A Lycian case of arrows, bridles twain, All golden--Pallas holds them,--and a vest And scarf of broidered gold his parting thanks expressed. XXIII. "Take then the hand thou seekest; be it thine, The plighted pact; and when to-morrow's ray Shall chase the shadows, and the dawn shall shine, Aid will I give you, and due stores purvey, And send you hence rejoicing on your way. Meanwhile, since Heaven forbids us to postpone These yearly rites, and we are friends, be gay And share with us the banquet. Sit ye down,-- Behold, the boards are spread,--and make the feast your own." XXIV. He spake, and back, at his command, they bring The food and wine. The chiefs, in order meet, Along the grass he ranges, and their king Leads to his throne; of maple was the seat; A lion's hide lay bristling at his feet. Youths and the altar's minister bring wine, And heap the bread, and serve the roasted meat. On lustral entrails and the bull's whole chine, Couched round the Trojan king, the Trojan warriors dine. XXV. Then, when at last desire of food had ceased, Thus spake Evander: "Lo, this solemn show, This sacred altar, and this ordered feast, No idle witchwork are they. Well we know The ancient gods. Saved from a fearful foe, Each year the deed we celebrate. See there Yon nodding crag; behold the rocks below, Tost in huge ruin, and the lonely lair, Scooped from the mountain's side, how wild the waste and bare!