She came Earthward, with that, and summoned, in her anger, One of the evil goddesses, Allecto, Dweller in Hell’s dark shadows, sorrow-bringer, Lover of gloom and war and plot and hatred. Even her father hates her, even her sisters, She takes so many forms, such savage guises, Her hair a black and tangled nest of serpents. And Juno whets the knife-edge of her passion:-- “Daughter of Night, grant me a boon, a service, To keep my pride and honor undefeated. Stop it, this Trojan swindle of Latinus With marriages, this ravage of his kingdom! You have the power: when brothers love each other You know the way to arm them, set them fighting, You can turn houses upside down with malice, Bring under one roof the lash, the funeral torches, You have a thousand names of evil-doing, A thousand ways and means. Invent, imagine, Contrive--break up the peace, sow seeds of warfare, Let arms be what they want; in the same moment Let arms be what they seize.”
Therewith Allecto, Infected with her Gorgon poison, travelled To Latium and the palace, where the queen, Amata, brooded, womanly resentment Burning within her heart, for Turnus’ marriage, And, fuel on fire, the coming of the Trojans. From her own dark hair, Allecto pulled one serpent Meant for the queen, her intimate heart, her bosom, Corruption, evil, frenzy, for the household. Between the robe and the smooth breasts the serpent Went gliding deep, unseen, unfelt; the woman Received the viperous menace. The snake grew larger, Became a collar of gold, became a ribbon Wound through the hair, entwining, sliding smoothly Over the limbs, mercurial poison, working With slow infection, no great passionate fury, So that the queen, at first, spoke low and softly, As mothers do, protesting to Latinus And weeping for her daughter’s Trojan marriage:-- “Must she be given, my lord, to Trojan exiles? Have you no pity for her, for yourself, No pity for a mother? He will desert us, This faithless pirate, with our child as booty, At the first turn of the wind. That was the way-- Remember?--the Phrygian shepherd came to Sparta And went away with Leda’s daughter, Helen. A solemn pledge--does that amount to nothing? You loved your people once; you were bound to Turnus. Our son must be a stranger; Faunus says so. If Faunus speaks, so be it. I remind you All lands, not ours, are foreign; and prince Turnus, By the letter of the oracle, an alien. Trace back his ancestry--Acrisius’ daughter Founded his line, and what could be more foreign Than the heart of Greece, Mycenae?”