Swans. 239 



the camp of Turnus, when the news suddenly 

 arrives that Aeneas is marching upon them, to 

 the loud calls of this bird : 



Hie undique clamor 



Dissensu vario magnus se tollit ad auras : 

 Haud secus atque alto in luco cum forte catervae 

 Consedere avium, piscosove amne Padusae 

 Dant sonitum rauci per stagna loquacia cycni. 1 



We now come to two birds mentioned in the 

 same line of the third Georgic. The poet is 

 telling the farmer to water his flocks in the cool 

 evening of a hot day : 



Cum frigidus aera vesper 

 Temperat, et saltus reficit jam roscida luna, 

 Litoraque alcyonen resonant, acalanthida dumi. 2 



The first of these birds is also mentioned in a line 

 of the first Georgic, which is mainly taken from 

 Aratus ; but it is significant that Aratus does not 

 mention the ' alcyon ' either here or anywhere else. 



1 With that a great noise rises aloft in diverse contention, 

 even as when flocks of birds haply settle on a lofty grove, and 

 swans utter their hoarse cry among the vocal pools in the fish- 

 filled river of Padusa. Aen. xi. 456; cp. vii. 700. 



2 When cool eve 



Allays the air, and dewy moonbeams slake 

 The forest glades, with halcyon's voice the shore 

 And every thicket with the goldfinch rings. Georg. iii. 338. 



