XIII. Then spake her son, who wields the starry sphere, "Mother, what would'st thou of the Fates demand? What art thou seeking for these Teucrians here? Shall vessels, fashioned by a mortal hand, The gift of immortality command? And shall AEneas sail the uncertain main, Himself of safety certain, and his band? Did ever God such privilege attain? Nay, rather, when at length, Ausonian ports they gain, XIV. "Their duty done, and Ocean's dangers o'er, What ships soe'er shall have escaped, to bear The Dardan chief to the Laurentian shore, Shall lose their perishable form, and wear The sea-nymphs' shape, like Galatea fair And Doto, when they breast the deep." He spake, And by his brother's Stygian river sware, Whose pitchy torrent swells the infernal lake, And with his awful nod made all Olympus shake. XV. The day was come, the fated time complete, When Turnus' insults bade the Mother rise And ward the firebrands from her sacred fleet. A sudden light now flashed upon their eyes, A cloud from eastward ran athwart the skies, With choirs of Ida, and a voice through air Pealed forth, and filled both armies with surprise, "Trojans, be calm; your needless pains forbear, Nor arm to save these ships; their safety is my care. XVI. "Sooner shall Turnus make the ocean blaze, Than these my pines. Go, sea-nymphs, and be free, Your mother bids you." Each at once obeys, Their cables snapt, like dolphins in their glee, They dip their beaks, and dive beneath the sea. Hence, where before along the shore had stood The brazen poops--O marvellous to see!-- So many now, with maiden forms endued, Rise up, and reappear, and float upon the flood. XVII. All stand aghast; amid the startled steeds Messapus quails, and Tiber checks his tide, And, hoarsely murmuring, from the deep recedes. Yet fails not Turnus, prompt to cheer or chide. "To Teucrians point these prodigies," he cried, "They bide not, they, Rutulian sword and brand. E'en Jove their wonted succour hath denied. Barred is the sea, and half the world is banned; Earth, too, is ours, such hosts Italia's chiefs command. XVIII. "I fear not Fate, nor what the Gods can do. Suffice for Venus and the Fates the day When Trojans touched Ausonia. I have, too, My Fates, these robbers of my bride to slay. Not Atreus' sons alone, and only they, Have known a sorrow and a smart so keen, And armed for vengeance. But enough, ye say, Once to have fallen? One trespass then had been Enough, and made them loathe all womankind, I ween.