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Some help to sink new trenches, others aid
To ram the stones, or raise the palisade,
Hoarse trumpets sound th' alarm: around the walls
Runs a distracted crew, whom their last labour
A sad procession in the streets is seen, [calls.
Of matrons that attend the mother-queen:
High in the chair she sits, and at her side,
With down-cast eyes, appears the fatal bride.
They mount the cliff, where Pallas' temple stands :
Prayers in their mouths, and presents in their
hands;

With censers, first they fume the sacred shrine;
Then in this common supplication join:
"O patroness of arms, unspotted maid,
Propitious hear, and lend thy Latins aid:
Break short the pirate's lance; pronounce his fate,
And lay the Phrygian low before the gate."

Now Turnus arms for fight: his back and breast,
Well-temper'd steel and scaly brass invest :
The cuishes, which his brawny thighs enfold,
Are mingled metal damask'd o'er with gold.
His faithful falchion sits upon his side;
Nor casque, nor crest, his manly features hide;
But bare to view amid surrounding friends,
With godlike grace, he from the tower descends.
Exulting in his strength, he seems to dare
His absent rival, and to promise war.

Freed from his keepers, thus, with broken
reins,

The wanton courser prances o'er the plains:
Or in the pride of youth o'erleaps the mounds;
And snuffs the females in forbidden grounds.
Or seeks his watering in the well-known flood,
To quench his thirst, and cool his fiery blood:
He swims luxuriant in the liquid plain,
And o'er his shoulder flows his waving mane:
He neighs, he snorts, he bears his head on high;
Before his ample chest the frothy waters fly.

Soon as the prince appears without the gate,
The Volscians, and their virgin-leader, wait
His last commands. Then, with a graceful mein,
Lights from her lofty steed the warrior queen:
Her squadron imitates, and each descends;
Whose common suit Camilla thus commends:
"If sense of honour, if a soul secure
Of inborn worth, that can all tests endure,
Can promise aught; or on itself rely,
Greatly to dare, to conquer, or to die:
Then I alone, sustain'd by these, will meet
The Tyrrhene troops, and promise their defeat.
Ours be the danger, ours the sole renown;
You, general, stay behind, and guard the town."
Turnus a while stood mute, with glad surprise ;
And on the fierce virago fix'd his eyes:
Then thus return'd: "O grace of Italy,
With what becoming thanks can I reply!
Not only words lie labouring in my breast;
But thought itself is by thy praise opprest;
Yet rob me not of all, but let me join
My toils, my hazard, and my fame, with thine.
The Trojan (not in stratagem unskill’d)
Sends his light horse before, to scour the field :
Himself, through steep ascents and thorny brakes,
A larger compass to the city takes.

This news my scouts confirm and I prepare
To foil his cunning, and his force to dare:
With chosen foot his passage to forelay :
And place an ambush in the winding way.
Thou, with thy Volscians, face the Tuscan horse:
The brave Messapus shall thy troops enforce

With those of Tibur; and the Latian band:
Subjected all to thy supreme command.”

This said, he warns Messapus to the war:
Then every chief exhorts, with equal care.
All thus encourag'd, his own troops he joins,
And hastes to prosecute his deep designs.

Enclos'd with hills, the winding valley lies, By nature form'd for fraud, and fitted for surprise: A narrow track, by human steps untrode, Leads, through perplexing thorns, to this obscure abode.

High o'er the vale a steepy mountain stands : Whence the surveying sight the nether ground comThe top is level: an offensive seat

[mands.

Of war; and from the war a safe retreat.
For, on the right and left, is room to press
The foes at hand, or from afar distress:
To drive them headlong downward; and to pour,
On their descending backs, a stony shower.
Thither young Turnus took the well-known way;
Possess'd the pass, and in blind ambush lay.

Meantime, Latonian Phoebe, from the skies,
Beheld th' approaching war with hateful eyes,
And call'd the light-foot Opis to her aid,
Her most belov'd, and ever-trusty maid.
Then with a sigh began: "Camilla goes
To meet her death, amidst her fatal foes:
The nymph I lov'd of all my mortal train;
Invested with Diana's arms, in vain.
Nor is my kindness for the virgin, new,
"Twas born with her, and with her years it grew
Her father Metabus, when forc'd away
From old Privernum, for tyrannic sway,
Snatch'd up, and sav'd from his prevailing foes,
This tender babe, companion of his woes;
Casmilla was her mother; but he drown'd
One hissing letter in a softer sound,
And call'd Camilla. Through the woods he flies;
Wrapt in his robe the royal infant lies.
His foes in sight, he mends his weary pace;
With shouts and clamours they pursue the chase.
The banks of Amascene at length he gains;
The raging flood his farther flight restrains:
Rais'd o'er the borders with unusual rains.
Prepar'd to plunge into the stream, he fears:
Not for himself, but for the charge he bears.
Anxious he stops a while; and thinks in haste;
Then, desperate in distress, resolves at last.
A knotty lance of well-boil'd oak he bore;
The middle part with cork he cover'd o'er:
He clos'd the child within the hollow space:
With twigs of bending osier bound the case.
Then pois'd the spear, heavy with human weight a
And thus invok'd my favour for the freight:
"Accept, great goddess of the woods," he said,
"Sent by her sire, this dedicated maid:
Through air she flies a suppliant to thy shrine;
And the first weapons that she knows, are thine."
He said; and with full force the spear he threw;
Above the sounding waves Camilla flew.
Then, prest with foes, he stemm'd the stormy tide;
And gain'd by stress of arms, the farther side.
His fasten'd spear he pull'd from out the ground;
And, vietor of his vows, his infant nymph unbound.
Nor after that, in towns which walls enclose,
Would trust his hunted life amidst his foes.
But rough, in open air be chose to lie :
Earth was his couch, his covering was the sky,
On hills unsborn, or in a desert denp
He shunn'd the dire society of men.

A shepherd's solitary life he led :

His daughter with the milk of mares he fed ;
The dugs of bears, and every savage beast,
He drew, and through her lip the liquor press'd.
The little Amazon could scarcely go,
He loads her with a quiver and a bow:
And, that she might her staggering steps command,
He with a slender javelin fills her hand:
Her flowing hair no golden fillet bound;
Nor swept her trailing robe the dusty ground.
Instead of these, a tiger's hide o'erspread
Her back and shoulders, fasten'd to her head
The flying dart she first attempts to fling;
And round her tender temples toss'd the sling:
Then, as her strength with years increas'd, began
To pierce aloft in air the soaring swan;

And from the clouds to fetch the heron and the

crane.

The Tuscan matrons with each other vy'd
To bless their rival sons with such a bride;
But she disdains their love, to share with me
The sylvan shades, and vow'd virginity.
And oh! I wish, contented with my cares
Of savage spoils, she had not sought the wars:
Then had she been of my celestial train;
And shunn'd the fate that dooms her to be slain.
But since, opposing Heaven's decree, she goes
To find her death among forbidden foes;
Haste with these arms, and take thy steepy flight,
Where, with the gods adverse, the Latins fight:
This bow to thee, this quiver, I bequeath,
This chosen arrow to revenge her death:
By whate'er hand Camilla shall be slain,
Or of the Trojan, or Italian train,

Let him not pass unpunish'd from the plain.
Then, in a hollow cloud, myself will aid,
To bear the breathless body of my maid:
Unspoil'd shall be her arms, and unprophan'd
Her holy limbs with any human hand :

And in a marble tomb laid in her native land."
She said: the faithful nymph descends from high
With rapid flight, and cuts the sounding sky:
Black clouds and stormy winds around her body fly.
By this the Trojan and the Tuscan horse,
Drawn up in squadrons, with united force,
Approach the walls; the sprightly coursers bound;
Press forward on their bits, and shift their ground:
Shields, arms, and spears, flash horrible from far;
And the fields glitter with a waving war.
Oppos'd to these, come on with furious force
Messapus, Coras, and the Latian horse:
These in a body plac'd: on either hand
Sustain'd, and clos'd by fair Camilla's band.
Advancing in a line, they couch their spears;
And less and less the middle space appears.
Thick smoke obscures the field: and scarce are seen
The neighing coursers, and the shouting men.
In distance of their darts they stop their course;
Then man to man they rush, and horse to horse.
The face of Heaven their flying javelins hide :
And deaths unseen are dealt on either side.
Tyrrhenus, and Aconteus, void of fear,
By mettled coursers borne in full career,
Meet first oppos'd: and, with a mighty shock,
Their horses' heads against each other knock.
Far from his steed is fierce Aconteus cast:
As with an engine's force, or lightning's blast;
He rolls along in blood, and breathes his last.
The Latin squadrons take a sudden fright; [flight.
And sling their shields behind, to save their backs in

Spurring at speed to their own walls they drew;
Close in the rear the Tuscan troops pursue,
And urge their flight; Asylas leads the chase;
Till seiz'd with shame they wheel about, and face s
Receive their foes, and raise a threatening cry.
The Tuscans take their turn to fear, and fly.

So swelling surges, with a thundering roar,
Driven on each other's backs, insult the shore;
Bound o'er the rocks, incroach upon the land;
And far upon the beech eject the sand.
Then, backward, with a swing, they take their way;
Repuls'd from upper ground, and seek their mother-
With equal hurry quit th' invaded shore;
And swallow back the sand and stones they spew'd
before.

[sea :

Twice were the Tuscans masters of the field,
Twice by the Latins, in their turn repell'd.
Asham'd at length, to the third charge they ran,
Both hosts resolv'd, and mingled man to man:
Now dying groans are heard, the fields are strow'd
With fallen bodies, and are drunk with blood:
Arms, horses, men, on heaps together lie:
Confus'd the fight, and more confus'd the cry.
Orsilochus, who durst not press too near
Strong Remulus, at distance drove his spear;
And struck the steel beneath his horse's ear.
The fiery steed, impatient of the wound,
Curvets, and, springing upward with a bound,
His hopeless lord cast backward on the ground.
Catillus pierc'd Iolas first; then drew
His reeking lance, and at Herminius threw :
The mighty champion of the Tuscan crew.
His neck and throat unarm'd, his head was bare,
But shaded with a length of yellow hair:
Secure, be fought, expos'd on every part,

A spacious mark for swords, and for the flying

dart:

Across the shoulders came the feather'd wound;
Transfixt, he fell, and doubled to the ground.
The sands with streaming blood are sanguine dy'd;
And death with honour sought on either side.

Resistless, through the war, Camilla rode:
In danger unappall'd, and pleas'd with blood.
One side was bare for her exerted breast;
One shoulder with her painted quiver prest.
Now from afar her fatal javelins play;
Now with her axe's edge she hews her way;
Diana's arms upon her shoulder sound;
And when, too closely prest, she quits the ground,
From her bent bow she sends a backward wound.
Her maids, in martial pomp, on either side,
Larina, Tulla, fierce Tarpeia ride:
Italians all in peace, their queen's delight:
In war, the bold companions of the fight.

So march'd the Thracian Amazons of old, When Thermodon with bloody billows roll'd; Such troops as these in shining arms were seen, When Theseus met in fight their maiden queen. Such to the field Penthesilea led,

From the fierce virgin when the Grecians fled; With such, return'd triumphant from the war, Her maids with cries attend the lofty car: They clash with manly force their moony shields With female shouts resound the Phrygian fields. Who foremost, and who last, heroic maid, On the cold earth were by thy courage laid? Thy spear, of mountain ash, Eumenius first, With fury driven, from side to side transpiere'd A purple stream came spouting from the wound; | Bath'd in his blood he lics, and bites the ground,

Lyris and Pegasus at once he slew;

The former, as the slacken'd reins he drew,
Of his faint steed: the latter, as he stretch'd
His arm to prop his friend, the javelin reach'd.
By the same weapon, sent from the same hand,
Both fall together, and both spurn the sand.
Amastrus next is added to the slain:
The rest in rout she follows o'er the plain :
Tereus, Harpalicus, Demophoon,

And Chromys, at full speed her fury shun.
Of all her deadly darts, not one she lost;
Each was attended with a Trojan ghost.
Young Ornithus bestrode a hunter steed,
Swift for the chase, and of Apulian breed:
Him, from afar, she spy'd in arms unknown;
O'er his broad back an ox's hide was thrown:
His helm a wolf, whose gaping jaws were spread
A covering for his cheeks, and grinn'd around his
He clench'd within his hand an iron prong; [head.
And tower'd above the rest, conspicuous in the
throng.

Him soon she singled from the flying train,
And slew with case: then thus insults the slain.
"Vain bunter, didst thou think through woods

to chase

The savage herd, a vile and trembling race?
Here cease thy vaunts, and own my victory;
A woman-warrior was too strong for thee.
Yet if the ghosts demand the conqueror's name,
Confessing great Camilla, save thy shame."
Then Butes and Orsilochus she slew,
The bulkiest bodies of the Trojan crew.
But Butes breast to breast: the spear descends
Above the gorget, where his helmet ends,
And o'er the shield which his left side defends
Orsilochus, and she, their coursers ply,
He seems to follow, and she seems to fly.
But in a narrower ring she makes the race;
And then he flies, and she pursues the chase.
Gathering at length on her deluded foe,
She swings her axe, and rises at the blow:
Full on the helm behind, with such a sway
The weapon falls, the riven steel gives way:
He groans, he roars, he sues in vain for grace;
Brains, mingled with his blood, besmear his face.
Astonish'd Aunus just arrives by chance,
To see his fall, nor farther dares advance;
But fixing on the horrid maid his eye,
He stares, and shakes, and finds it vain to fly.
Yet like a true Ligurian, born to cheat,
(At least while fortune favour'd his deceit)
Cries out aloud, "What courage have you shown,
Who trust your courser's strength, and not your
Forego the 'vantage of your horse, alight, [own?
And then on equal terms begin the fight:

It shall be seen, weak woman, what you can,
When foot to foot, you combat with a man.”
He said she glows with anger and disdain,
Dismounts with speed to dare him on the plain:
And leaves her horse at large among her train.
With her drawn sword defies him to the field:
And, marching lifts aloft her maiden shield:
The youth, who thought his cunning did succeed,
Reins round his horse, and urges all his speed,
Adds the remembrance of the spur, and hides
The goring rowels in his bleeding sides.
"Vain fool, and coward," said the lofty maid,
Caught in the train, which thou thyself hast
On others practise thy Ligurian arts;
Thin stratagems, and tricks of little hearts,

[laid!

Are lost on me. Nor shalt thou safe retire,
With vaunting lies to thy fallacious sire."
At this, so fast her flying feet she sped,
That soon she strain'd beyond his horse's head:
Then turning short, at once she seiz`d the rein,
And laid the boaster grovelling on the plain.
Not with more ease the falcon from above
Trusses, in middle air, the trembling dove:
Then plumes the prey, in her strong pounces
bound;
[ground.
The feathers foul with blood come tumbling to the
Nor mighty Jove, from his superior height,
With his broad eye surveys th' unequal fight.
He fires the breast of Tarchon with disdain ;
And sends him to redeem th' abandon'd plain
Between the broken ranks the Tuscan rides,
And these encourages, and those he chides:
Recals each leader, by his name, from flight;
Renews their ardour, and restores the fight.
"What panic fear has seiz'd your souls? O shame
O brand perpetual of th' Etrurian name!
Cowards, incurable! a woman's hand
Drives, breaks, and scatters, your ignoble band!
Now cast away the sword, and quit the shield:
What use of weapons which you dare not wield?
Not thus you fly your female foes by night,
Nor shun the feast, when the full bowls invite:
When to fat offerings the glad augur calls,
And the shrili horn-pipe sounds to bacchanals.
These are your study'd cares; your lewd delight:
Swift in debauch, but slow to manly fight."
Thus having said, he spurs amid the foes,
Not managing the life he meant to lose.
The first he found he seiz'd, with headlong haste,
In his strong gripe: and clasp'd around the waste:
'Twas Venulus: whom from his horse he tore,
And (laid athwart his own) in triumph bore.
Loud shouts ensue: the Latins turn their eyes,
And view th' unusual sight with vast surprise.
The fiery Tarchon, flying o'er the plains,
Prest in his arms the ponderous prey sustains:
Then, with his shorten'd spear, explores around
His jointed arms, to fix a deadly wound.
Nor less the captive struggles for his life:
He writhes his body to prolong the strife:
And, fencing for his naked throat, exerts
His utmost vigour, and the point averts.

So stoops the yellow eagle from on high,
And bears a speckled serpent through the sky,
Fastening his crooked talons on the prey,
The prisoner hisses through the liquid way;
Resists the royal hawk, and though opprest,
She fights in volumes, and erects her crest.
Turn'd to her foe, she stiffens every scale,
And shoots her forky tongue, and whisks her
threatening tail.

Against the victor all defence is weak:
Th' imperial bird still plies her with his beak:
He tears her bowels, and her breast he gores ;
Then claps his pinions, and securely soars.

Thus, through the midst of circling enemies,
Strong Tarchon snatch'd, and bore away his prizet
The Tyrrhene troops, that shrunk before, now press
The Latins, and presume the like success.

Then Aruns, doom'd to death, his arts essay'd
To murder, unespy'd, the Volscian maid:
This way and that his-winding course he bends,
And, wheresoe'er she turns, her steps attends.
When she retires victorious from the chase,
He wheels about with care, and shifts his places

When, rushing on, she keeps her foes in fight,
He keeps aloof, but keeps her still in sight:
He threats, and trembles, trying every way
Unseen to kill, and safely to betray.

Chloreus, the priest of Cybelè, from far,
Glittering in Phrygian arms amidst the war,
Was by the virgin view'd: the steed he press'd
Was proud with trappings, and his brawny chest
With scales of gilded brass was cover'd o'er,
A robe of Tyrian dye the rider wore.
With deadly wounds he gaul'd the distant foe;
Gnossian his shafts, and Lycian was his bow:
A golden helm his front and head surrounds,
A gilded quiver from his shoulder sounds.
Gold, weav'd with linen, on his thighs he wore,
With flowers of needle-work distinguish'd o'er,
With golden buckles bound, and gather'd up before.
Him, the fierce maid beheld, with ardent eyes;
Fond and ambitious of so rich a prize:
Or that the temple might his trophies hold,
Or else to shine herself in Trojan gold:
Blind in her haste, she chases him alone,
And seeks his life, regardless of her own.
This lucky moment the sly traitor chose :
Then, starting from his ambush, up he rose,
And threw, but first to Heaven address'd his vows.
"O patron of Soractes' high abodes,
Phoebus, the ruling power among the gods;
Whom first we serve, whole woods of unctuous pine
Are fell'd for thee, and to thy glory shine;
By thee protected, with our naked soles,

Then turns to her, whom, of her female train,
She trusted most, and thus she speaks with pain:
"Acca, 'tis past! he swims before my sight,
Inexorable Death; and claims his right.
Bear my last words to Turnus, fly with speed,
And bid him timely to my charge succeed:
Repel the Trojans, and the town relieve:
Farewell; and in this kiss my parting breath
receive."

She said; and sliding sunk upon the plain;
Dying, her open'd hand forsakes the rein;
Short, and more short, she pants: by slow degrees
Her mind the passage from her body frees.
She drops her sword, she nods her plumy crest;
Her drooping head declining on her breast:
In the last sigh her struggling soul expires;
And, murmuring with disdain, to Stygian sounds
retires.

A shout, that struck the golden stars, ensu'd: Despair and rage, and languish'd fight renew'd. The Trojan troops, and Tuscans in a line, Advance to charge; the mixt Arcadians join.

But Cynthia's maid, high seated, from afar Surveys the field, and fortune of the war : Unmov'd a while, till prostrate on the plain, Weltering in blood, she sees Camilla slain; And round her corpse of friends and foes a fight ing train.

Then, from the bottom of her breast, she drew A mournful sigh, and these sad words ensue: "Too dear a fine, ah! much-lamented maid,

Through flames unsing'd we march, and tread the For warring with the Trojans, thou hast paid:

kindled coals:

Give me, propitious power, to wash away
The stains of this dishonourable day:
Nor spoils, nor triumph, from the fact I claim;
But with my future actions trust my fame,
Let me, by stealth, this female plague overcome,
And from the field return inglorious home."

Apollo heard, and granting half his prayer, Shuffled in winds the rest, and toss'd in empty

air.

He gives the death desir'd; his safe return,
By southern tempests, to the seas is borne.

Now, when the javelin whizz'd along the skies,
Both armies on Camilla turn'd their eyes,
Directed by the sound of either host,
Th' unhappy virgin, though concern'd the most,
Was only deaf; so greedy was she bent
On golden spoils, and on her prey intent:
Till in her pap the winged weapon stood
Infix'd; and deeply drunk the purple blood.
Her sad attendants hasten to sustain
Their dying lady drooping on the plain.
Far from their sight the trembling Aruns flies,
With beating heart, and fear confus'd with joys;
Nor dares he farther to pursue his blow,
Or even to bear the sight of his expiring for.
As when the wolf has torn a bullock's hide,
At unawares, or ranch'd a shepherd's side:
Conscious of his audacious deed, he flies,
And claps his quivering tail between his thighs;
So, speeding once, the wretch no more attends;
But, spurring forward, herds among his friends.
She wrench'd the javelin with her dying hands;
But, wedg'd within her breast, the weapon stands;
The wood she draws, the steely point remains;
She staggers in her seat with agonizing pains:
A gathering mist o'erclouds her cheerful eyes,
And from her cheeks the rosy colour flies.

VOL. XIX.

Nor aught avail'd, in this unhappy strife,
Diana's sacred arms, to save thy life.
Yet unreveng'd thy goddess will not leave
Her votary's death, nor with vain sorrow grieve.
Branded the wretch, and be his name abhorr'd ;
But after-ages shall thy praise record.
Th' inglorious coward soon shall press the plain;
Thus vows thy queen, and thus the fates ordain."
High o'er the field there stood a hilly mound,
Sacred the place, and spread with oaks around;
Where, in a marble tomb, Dercennus lay,
A king that once in Latium bore the sway.
The beauteous Opis thither bent her flight,
To mark the traitor Aruns from the height.
Him, in refulgent arms, she soon espy'd,
Swoln with success, and loudly thus she cry'd:
"Thy backward steps, vain boaster, are too late;
Turn, like a man, at length, and meet thy fate.
Charg'd with my message to Camilla go;
And say I sent thee to the shades below;
An honour undeserv'd from Cynthia's bow."
She said and from her quiver chose with speed
The winged shaft, predestin'd for the deed:
Then, to the stubborn yew her strength apply'd;
Till the far distant horns approach'd on either side.
The bow-string touch'd her breast, so strong she
Whizzing in air the fatal arrow flew.

:

[drew;

At once the twanging bow and sounding dart The traitor heard, and felt the point within his heart.

Him, beating with his heels, in pangs of death,
His flying friends to foreign fields bequeath.
The conquering damsel, with expanded wings,
The welcome message to her mistress brings.

Their leader lost, the Volscians quit the field;
And unsustain'd, the chiefs of Turnus yield.
The frighted soldiers, when their captains fly,
More on their speed than on their strength rely.

G8

Confus'd in flight, they bear each other down,
And spur their horses headlong to the town.
Driven by their foes, and to their fears resign'd,
Not once they turn; but take their wounds behind.
These drop the shield, and those the lance forego;
Or on their shoulders bear the slacken'd bow.
The hoofs of horses, with a rattling sound,
Beat short and thick, and shake the rotten ground.
Black clouds of dust come rolling in the sky,
And o'er the darken'd walls and rampires fly.
The trembling matrons, from their lofty stands,
Rend Heaven with female shrieks, and wring their
hands.

All pressing on, pursuers and pursued,
Are crush'd in crowds, a mingled multitude.
Some happy few escape: the throng too late
Rush on for entrance, till they choke the gate.
Ev'n in the sight of home, the wretched sire
Looks on, and sees his helpless son expire.
Then, in a fright, the folding gates they close:
But leave their friends excluded with their foes.
The vanquish'd cry; the victors loudly shout;
'Tis terrour all within; and slaughter all without.
Blind in their fear, they bounce against the wall,
Or, to the moats pursu'd, precipitate their fall.

[throw,

The Latian virgins, valiant with despair,
-Arm'd on the towers, the common danger share:
So much of zeal their country's cause inspir'd;
So much Camilla's great example fir'd.
Poles, sharpen'd in the flames, from high they
With imitated darts, to gall the foe;
Their lives, for godlike freedom they bequeath,
And crowd each other to be first in death.
Meantime to Turnus, ambush'd in the shade,
With heavy tidings, came th' unhappy maid.
The Volscians overthrown, Camilla kill'd,
The foes entirely masters of the field,
Like a resistless flood, come rolling on:
The cry goes off the plain, and thickens to the
Inflam'd with rage, (for so the furies fire (town.
The Daunian's breast, and so the fates require,)
He leaves the hilly pass, the woods in vain
Possess'd, and downward issues on the plain:
Scarce was he gone, when to the straits, now
freed

From secret foes, the Trojan troops succeed.
Through the black forest, and the ferny brake,
Unknowingly secure, their way they take.
From the rough mountains to the plain descend,
And there, in order drawn, their line extend.
Both armies, now, in open fields are seen:
Nor far the distance of the space between.
Both to the city bend: Eneas sees,
Through smoking fields, his hastening enemies.
And Turnus views the Trojans in array,
And hears th' approaching horses proudly neigh.
Soon had their hosts in bloody battle join'd;
But westward to the sea the Sun declin'd.
Intrench'd before the town, both armies lie:
While night, with sable wings, involves the sky.

THE TWELFTH BOOK OF THE ENEIS.

THE ARGUMENT.

TURNUS challenges Æneas to a single combat articles are agreed on, but broken by the Rutuli

who wound Æneas: he is miraculously cured by Venus, forces Turnus to a duel, and con'cludes the poem with his death.

WHEN Turnus saw the Latins leave the field,
Their armies broken, and their courage quell'd;
Himself become the mark of public spite,
His honour question'd for the promis'd fight!
The more he was with vulgar hate opprest,
The more his fury boil'd within his breast:
He rous'd his vigour for the late debate;
And rais'd his haughty soul, to meet his fate.

As when the swains the Libyan lion chase,
He makes a sour retreat, nor mends his pace:
But if the pointed javelin pierce his side,
The lordly beast returns with double pride:
He wrenches out the steel, he roars for pain;
His sides he lashes, and erects his mane:
So Turnus fares; his eyeballs flash with fire,
Through his wide nostrils clouds of smoke expire.

Trembling with rage, around the court he ran; At length approach'd the king, and thus began: "No more excuses or delays: I stand In arms prepar'd to combat, hand to hand, This base deserter of his native land. The Trojan by his word, is bound to take The same conditions which himself did make, Renew the truce, the solemn rites prepare, And to my single virtue trust the war. The Latians, unconcern'd, shall see the fight; This arm, unaided, shall assert your right: Then, if my prostrate body press the plain, To him the crown and beauteous bride remain." To whom the king sedately thus reply'd: "Brave youth, the more your valour has been

try'd,

The more becomes it us, with due respect,
To weigh the chance of war, which you neglect.
You want not wealth, or a successive throne,
Or cities, which your arms have made your own;
My town and treasures are at your command;
And stor❜d with blooming beauties is my land:
Laurentum more than one Lavinia sees,
Unmarry'd, fair, of noble families.

Now let me speak, and you with patience hear,
Things which perhaps may grate a lover's ear:
But sound advice, proceeding from a heart
Sincerely yours, and free from fraudful art.

"The gods, by signs, have manifestly shown, No prince, Italian born, should heir my throne: Oft have our augurs, in prediction skill'd, And oft our priests, a foreign son reveal'd. Yet, won by worth, that cannot be withstood, Brib'd by my kindness to my kindred blood, Urg'd by my wife, who would not be deny'd, I promis'd my Lavinia for your bride; Her from her plighted lord by force I took; All ties of treaties and of honour broke: On your account I wag'd an impious war, With what success 'tis needless to declare; I and my subjects feel; and you have had

your share.

Twice vanquish'd, while in bloody fields we strive,
Scarce in our walls we keep our hopes alive:
The rolling flood runs warm with human gore;
The bones of Latians glance the neighbouring shore;
Why put I not an end to this debate,
Still unresoly'd, and still a slave to fate?

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