CII. "I reach the ramparts and the shadowy gates Whence first I issued, backward through the night My studied steps retracing. Horror waits Around; the very silence breeds affright. Then homeward turn, if haply in her flight, If, haply, thither she had strayed; but ere I came, behold, the Danaans, loud in fight, Swarmed through the halls; roof-high the fiery glare, Fanned by the wind, mounts up; the loud blast roars in air. CIII. "Again to Priam's palace, and again Up to the citadel I speed my way. Armed, in the vacant courts, by Juno's fane, Phoenix and curst Ulysses watched the prey. There, torn from many a burning temple, lay Troy's wealth; the tripods of the Gods were there, Piled in huge heaps, and raiment snatched away, And golden bowls, and dames with streaming hair And tender boys stand round, and tremble with despair. CIV. "I shout, and through the darkness shout again, Rousing the streets, and call and call anew 'Creusa,' and 'Creusa,' but in vain. From house to house in frenzy as I flew, A melancholy spectre rose in view, Creusa's very image; ay, 'twas there, But larger than the living form I knew. Aghast I stood, tongue-tied, with stiffening hair. Then she addressed me thus, and comforted my care. CV. "'What boots this idle passion? Why so fain Sweet husband, thus to sorrow and repine? Naught happens here but as the Gods ordain. It may not be, nor doth the Lord divine Of high Olympus nor the Fates design That thou should'st take Creusa. Seas remain To plough, long years of exile must be thine, Ere thou at length Hesperia's land shalt gain, Where Lydian Tiber glides through many a peopled plain. CVI. "'Wide rule and happy days await thee there, And royal marriage shall thy portion be. Weep not for lov'd Creusa, weep not; ne'er To Grecian women shall I bow the knee, Never in Argos see captivity, I, who my lineage from the Dardans tell, Allied to Venus. Now, by Fate's decree, Here with the mother of the Gods I dwell. Farewell, and guard in love our common child. Farewell!' CVII. "So spake she, and with weeping eyes I yearned To answer, wondering at the words she said, When lo, the shadowy spirit, as I turned, Dissolved in air, and in a moment fled. Thrice round the neck with longing I essayed To clasp the phantom in a wild delight; Thrice, vainly clasped, the visionary shade Mocked me embracing, and was lost to sight, Swift as a winged wind or slumber of the night.