I tread my former tracks; thro' night explore Each passage, ev'ry street I cross'd before.
All things were full of horror and affright, And dreadful ev'n the silence of the night.
Then to my father's house I make repair, With some small glimpse of hope to find her there.
Instead of her, the cruel Greeks I met;
The house was fill'd with foes, with flames beset.
Driv'n on the wings of winds, whole sheets of fire, Thro' air transported, to the roofs aspire.
From thence to Priam's palace I resort, And search the citadel and desart court.
Then, unobserv'd, I pass by Juno's church:
A guard of Grecians had possess'd the porch;There Phoenix and Ulysses watch prey, And thither all the wealth of Troy convey:
The spoils which they from ransack'd houses brought, And golden bowls from burning altars caught, The tables of the gods, the purple vests, The people's treasure, and the pomp of priests.
A rank of wretched youths, with pinion'd hands, And captive matrons, in long order stands.
Then, with ungovern'd madness, I proclaim, Thro' all the silent street, Creusa's name:
Creusa still I call; at length she hears, And sudden thro' the shades of night appears-Appears, no more Creusa, nor my wife, But a pale specter, larger than the life.
Aghast, astonish'd, and struck dumb with fear, I stood; like bristles rose my stiffen'd hair.
Then thus the ghost began to soothe my grief 'Nor tears, nor cries, can give the dead relief.
Desist, my much-lov'd lord,'t indulge your pain;You bear no more than what the gods ordain.
My fates permit me not from hence to fly;Nor he, the great controller of the sky.