Yet Turnus with undaunted mind is bent
To man the shores and hinder the descent,
And thus awakes the courage of his friends :
"What you so long have wish'd, kind Fortune
sends-

In ardent arms to meet th' invading foe:
You find, and find him at advantage now.
Yours is the day: you need but only dare:
Your swords will make you masters of the war:
Your sires, your sons, your houses, and your
lands,

And dearest wives, are all within your hands.
Be mindful of the race from whence you came,
And emulate in arms your fathers' fame.
Now take the time, while stagg'ring yet they
stand

With feet unfirm; and prepossess the strand:
Fortune befriends the bold." No more he said,
But balanc'd whom to leave, and whom to
lead;

Then these elects, the landing to prevent;
And those he leaves to keep the city pent.
Meantime the Trojan sends his troops
ashore :

Some are by boats expos'd, by bridges more,
With lab'ring oars they bear along the strand,
Where the tide languishes, and leap a-land.
Tarchon observes the coast with careful eyes,
And, while no ford he finds, no water fries,
Nor billows with unequar murmurs roar,
But mostly slide along, and swell the shore,
That course he steer'd, and thus he gave com-
mand:

"Here ply your oars, and at all hazard land
Force on the vessel, that her keel may wound
This hated soil, and furrow hostile ground.
Let me securely land-I ask no more;
Then sink my ships, or shatter on the shore."
This fiery speech inflames his fearful friends:
They tug at ev'ry oar,and ev'ry stretcher bends:
They run their ships aground: the vessels
knock,

(Thus forc'd ashore,) and tremble with the shock.

Tarchon's alone was lost, and stranded stood:
Stuck on a bank, and beaten by the flood,
She breaks her back; the loosen'd sides gives
way,

And plunge the Tuscan soldiers in the sea.
Their broken oars and floating planks withstand
Their passage, while they labour to the land:
And ebbing tides bear back upon th' uncertain
sand.

Now Turnus leads his troops without delay, Advancing to the margin of the sea. The trumpets sound: Æneas first assail'd The clowns new rais'd and raw; and soon prevail'd.

Great Theron fell, an omen of the fight-
Great Theron, large of limbs, of giant height.
He first in open fields defied the prince;
But armour scal'd with gold was no defence
Against the fated sword, which open'd wide
His plated shield, and pierc'd his naked side.

Next Lichas fell, who, not like others born,
Was from his wretched mother ripp'd and torn;
Sacred, O Phoebus! from his birth to thee
For his beginning life from biting steel was free.
Not far from him was Gyas laid along,
Of monstrous bulk; with Cissues fierce and
strong:
[sail'd,
Vain bulk and strength! for, when the chief as-
Nor valour, nor Herculean arms avail'd,
Nor their fam'd father, wont in war to go
With great Alcides, while he toil'd below.
The noisy Pharos next receiv'd his death:
Eneas writh'd his dart, and stopp'd his bawl-
ing breath.

Then wretched Cydon had receiv'd his doom, Who courted Clytius in his beardless bloom, And sought with lust obscene polluted joys→→→ The Trojan sword had cur'd his love of boys, Had not his seven bold brethren stopp'd the

course

Of the fierce champion, with united force.
Sev'n darts were thrown at once; and some

rebound

From his bright shield, some on his helmet sound:

The rest had reach'd him ; but his mother's care Prevented those, and turn'd aside in air. The prince then call'd Achates, to supply The spears, that knew the way to victory"Those fatal weapons, which, inur'd to blood, In Grecian bodies under Ilium stood: Not one of those my hand shall toss in vain Against our foes on this contended plain." He said: then seiz'd a mighty spear, and threw;

Which, wing'd with fate, through Mæon's buckler flew,

Pierc'd all the brazen plates, and reach'd his heart:

He stagger'd with intolerable smart.
Alcanor saw; and reach'd, but reach'd in vain,
His helping hand, his brother to sustain.
A second spear, which kept the former course,
From the same hand, and sent with equal force,
His right arm pierc'd, and, holding on, bereft
His use of both, and pinion'd down his left.
Then Numitor from his dead brother drew
Th' ill-omen'd spear, and at the Trojan threw :
Preventing fate directs the lance awry,
Which, glancing, only mark'd Achates thigh.

In pride of youth the Sabine Clausus came, And, from afar, at Dryops took his aim,

Around his head he toss'd his glitt'ring brand,
And from Strymonius hew'd his better hand,
Held up to guard his throat; then hurl'd a stone
At Thoas' ample front, and pierc'd the bone:
It struck beneath the space of either eye:
And blood, and mingled brains, together fly.
Deep skill'd in future fates, Halesus' sire
Did with the youth to lonely groves retire:
But, when the father's mortal race was run,
Dire destiny laid hold upon the son,
And haul'd him to the war, to find, beneath
Th' Evandrian spear, a memorable death.
Pallas th' encounter seeks, but, ere he throws,
To Tuscan Tyber, thus address'd his vows;
"O sacred stream! direct my flying dart,
And give to pass the proud Halesus' heart.
His arms and spoils thy holy oak shall bear."
Pleas'd with the bribe, the god receiv'd his
pray'r ;

For, while his shield protects a friend distress'd,
The dart came driving on and pierc'd his breast.
But Lausus, no small portion of the war,
Permits not panic fear to reign too far,
Caus'd by the death of so renown'd a knight;
But by his own example cheers the fight.
Fierce Abas first he slew-Abas, the stay
Of Trojan hopes, and hind'rance of the day.
The Phrygian troops escap'd the Greeks in vain :
They, and their mix'd allies, now load the plain.
To the rude shock of war both armies came :
Their leaders equal, and their strength the same.
The rear so press'd the front, they could not
wield

Their angry weapons, to dispute the field.
Here Pallas urges on, and Lausus there:
Of equal youth and beauty both appear,
Both by fate forbid to breathe their native air.
Their congress in the field great Jove with-
stands-

Both doom'd to fall, and fall by greater hands.
Meantime Juturna warns the Daunian chief
Of Lausus' danger, urging swift relief.
With his driv'n chariot he divides the crowd
And making to his friends, thus calls aloud :
"Let none presume his needless aid to join:
Retire, and clear the field: the fight is mine:
To this right hand is Pallas only due:
O! were his father here, my just revenge to
view!"

From the forbidden space his men retir'd.
Pallas their awe, and his stern words admir'd;
Survey'd him o'er and o'er with wond'ring
sight,
[height:
Struck with his haughty mien, and tow'ring
Then to the king: "Your empty vaunts forbear:
Success I hope; and fate I cannot fear.
Alive, or dead, I shall deserve a name :
Jove is impartial, and to both the same.

He said, and to the void advanc'd his pace.
Pale horror sate on each Arcadian face.
Then Turnus, from his chariot, leaping light,
Address'd himself on foot to single fight.
And, as a lion-when he spies from far
A bull that seems to meditate the war,
Bending his neck, and spurning back the sand-
Runs roaring downward from his hilly stand;
Imagine eager Turnus not more slow,
To rush from high on his unequal foe.

Young Pallas, when he saw the chief ad

vance

Within due distance of his flying lance,
Prepares to charge him first-resolv'd to try
If fortune would his want of force supply;
And thus to heav'n and Hercules address'd:
"Alcides, once on earth Evander's guest!
His son adjures thee, by those holy rites,
That hospitable board, those genial nights,
Assist my great attempt to gain this prize,
And let proud Turnus view, with dying eyes,
His ravish'd spoils." "T was heard, the vain
request;
[breast.
Alcides mourn'd, and stifled sighs within his
Then love, to sooth his sorrow, thus began:
"Short bounds of life are set to mortal man.
'Tis virtue's work alone to stretch the narrow
span.

So many sons of gods, in bloody fight
Around the walls of Troy, have lost the light:
My own Sarpedon fell beneath his foe;
Nor I, his mighty sire, could ward the blow.
E'en Turnus shortly shall resign his breath,
And stands already on the verge of death."
This said, the god permits the fatal fight,
But from the Latian fields averts his sight.

Now with full force his spear young Pallas

threw ;

And, having thrown, his shining falchion drew,
The steel just graz'd along the shoulder-joint,
And mark'd it slightly with the glancing point.
Fierce Turnus first to nearer distance drew,
And pois'd his pointed spear, before he threw :
Then as the winged weapon whizz'd along,
"See now," said he, "whose arm is better
strung."

The spear kept on the fatal course, unstay'd
By plates of ir'n, which o'er the shield were
laid:
[pass'd,
Through folded brass, and tough bull-hides, it
His corslet pierc'd, and reach'd his heart at last.
In vain the youth tugs at the broken wood:
The soul comes issuing with the vital blood:
He falls: his arms upon his body sound :
And with his bloody teeth he bites the ground.
Turnus bestrode the corpse : "Arcadians
hear,"

Said he :

"my message to your master bear:

Such as the sire deserv'd, the son I send:
It costs him dear to be the Phrygian's friend.
The lifeless body, tell him, I bestow
Unask'd, to rest his wand'ring ghost below."
He said, and trampled down, with all the force
Of his left foot, and spurn'd the wretched corse;
Then snatch'd the shining belt, with gold in-
laid-

The belt Eurytion's artful hands had made;
Where fifty fatal brides, express'd to sight,
All in the compass of one mournful night,
Depriv'd their bridegrooms of returning light.
In an ill hour insulting Turnus tore
Those golden spoils, and in a worse he wore.
O mortals! blind in fate, who never know
To bear high fortunes, or endure the low!
The time shall come, when Turnus, but in vain,
Shall wish untouch'd the trophies of the slain-
Shall wish the fatal belt were far away,
And curse the dire remembrance of the day.
The sad Arcadians, from th' unhappy field,
Bear back the breathless body on a shield.
O grace and grief of war! at once restor'd,
With praises, to thy sire, at once deplor❜d.
One day first sent thee to the fighting field,
Beheld whole heaps of foes in battle kill'd;
One day beheld thee dead, and borne upon thy
shield.

This dismal news, not from uncertain fame,
But sad spectators, to the hero came:
His friends upon the brink of ruin stand,
Unless reliev'd by his victorious hand.
He whirls his sword around, without delay,
And hews through adverse foes an ample way,
To find fierce Turnus, of his conquest proud.
Evander, Pallas, all that friendship ow'd
To large deserts, are present to his eyes-
His plighted hand, and hospitable ties.

Four sons of Sulmo, four whom Ufens bred,
He took in fight, and living victims' led,
To please the ghost of Pallas, and expire,
In sacrifice, before his fun'ral fire.

At Magus next he threw : he stoop'd below The flying spear, and shunn'd the promis'd blow,

Then creeping, clasp'd the hero's knees, and pray'd:

"By young Iulus, by thy father's shade,
O! spare my life, and send me back to see
My longing sire, and tender progeny.
A lofty house I have, and wealth untold,
In silver ingots, and in bars of gold:

All these, and sums besides, which see no day,
The ransom of this one poor life shall pay.
If I survive, will Troy the less prevail?
A single soul's too light to turn the scale."
He said. The hero sternly thus replied:
"Thy bars and ingots, and the sums beside

Leave for thy children's lot. Thy Turnus broke

All rules of war by one relentless stroke,
When Pallas fell: so deems, nor deems alone,
My father's shadow, but my living son."
Thus having said, of kind remorse bereft,
He seiz'd his helm, and uragg'd him with his left;
Then with his right hand, while his neck he
wreath'd,

Up to the hilt his shining falchion sheath'd.
Apollo's priest, Hæmonides was near:
His holy fillets on his front appear;
Glitt'ring in arms, he shone amidst the crowd,
Much of his god, more of his purple, proud.
Him the fierce Trojan follow'd through the field:
The holy coward fell; and, forc'd to yield,
The prince stood o'er the priest, and, at one
blow,

Sent him an off"ring to the shades below.
His arms Serestus on his shoulders bears,
Design'd a trophy to the god of wars.

Vulcanian Cæculus renews the fight,
And Umbro, born upon the mountain's height.
The champion cheers his troops t' encounter
those,

And seeks revenge himself on other foes.
At Anxur's shield he drove; and, at one blow,
Both shield and arm to ground together go.
Anxur had boasted much of magic charms,
And thought he wore impenetrable arms,
So made by mutter'd spell; and, from the
spheres,

Had life secur'd, in vain, for length of years.
Then Tarquitus the field in triumph trod;
A nymph his mother, and his sire a god.
Exulting in bright arms, he braves the prince :
With his protended lance he makes defence;
Bears back his feeble foe; then, pressing on
Arrests his better hand, and drags him down;
Stands o'er the prostrate wretch, and (as he lay,
Vain tales inventing, and prepar'd to pray)
Mows off his head: the trunk a moment stood,
Then sunk, and roll'd along the sand in blood.
The vengeful victor thus upbraids the slain :
"Lie there, proud man, unpity'd, on the plain:
Lie there, inglorious, and without a tomb,
Far from thy mother and thy native home,
Expos'd to savage beasts, and birds of prey,
Or thrown for food to monsters of the sea."
On Lycas and Antæus next he ran,
Two chiefs of Turnus, and who led his van.
They fled for fear; with these, he chas❜d along
Camers the yellow-lock'd, and Numa strong,
Both great in arms; and both were fair and

young.

Camers was son to Volscens, lately slain, In wealth surpassing all the Latian train, And in Amycle fix'd his silent easy reign

And as Egeon, when with heav'n he strove,
Stood opposite in arms to mighty Jove;
Mov'd all his hundred hands, provok'd the war,
Defied the forky lightning from afar;
At fifty mouths his flaming breath expires,
And flash for flash returns, and fires for fires;
In his right hand as many swords he wields,
And takes the thunder on as many shields:
With strength like his, the Trojan hero stood;
And soon the fields with falling crops were
strow'd,

When once his falchion found the taste of blood.

With fury scarce to be conceiv'd, he flew Against Niphæus, whom four coursers drew. They, when they see the fiery chief advance, And pushing at their chests his pointed lance, Wheel'd with so swift a motion, mad with fear, They threw their master headlong from the chair.

They stare, they start, nor stop their course, before

They bear the bounding chariot to the shore.

Now Lucagus and Liger scour the plains, With two white steeds; but Liger holds the reins,

And Lucagus the lofty seat maintains

Bold brethren both. The former wav'd in air
His flaming sword: Eneas couch'd his spear,
Unus'd to threats, and more unus'd to fear.
Then Liger thus: "Thy confidence is vain
To 'scape from hence, as from the Trojan
plain :

Nor these the steeds which Diomede bestrode,
Nor this the chariot where Achilles rode :
Nor Venus' veil is here, nor Neptune's shield:
Thy fatal hour is come; and this the field."
Thus Liger vainly vaunts: the Trojan peer
Return'd his answer with his flying spear.
As Lucagus, to lash his horses, bends
Prone to the wheels, and his left foot protends
Prepar'd for fight-the fatal dart arrives,
And through the border of his buckler drives;
Pass'd through and pierc'd his groin. The dead-
ly wound,

Cast from his chariot, roll'd him on the ground: Whom thus the chief upbraids with scornful spite :

"Blame not the slowness of your steeds in flight:

Vain shadows did not force their swift retreat;
But you yourself forsake your empty seat."
He said and seiz'd at once the loosen'd rein:
For Liger lay already on the plain,

By the same shock: then, stretching out his

hands,

The recreant thus his wretched life demands: "Now, by thyself, O more than mortal man! By her and him from whom thy breath began, VOL. II.-13

Who form'd thee thus divine, I beg thee, spare
This forfeit life, and hear thy suppliant's pray'r."
Thus much he spoke, and more he would have
said,

But the stern hero turn'd aside his head,
And cut him short: "I hear another man:
You talk'd not thus before the fight began.
Now take your turn; and, as a brother should,
Attend your brother to the Stygian flood."
Then through his breast his fatal sword he sent;
And the soul issued at the gaping vent.
As storms the skies, and torrents tear the
ground,

Thus rag'd the prince, and scatter'd deaths around.

At length Ascanius, and the Trojan train,
Broke from the camp, so long besieg'd in vain.
Meantime the king of gods, and mortal man,
Held conf'rence with his queen, and thus began:
"My sister goddess, and well pleasing wife,
Still think you Venus' aid supports the strife-
Sustains her Trojans or themselves, alone,
With inborn valour force their fortune on?
How fierce in fight, with courage undecay'd!
Judge if such warriors want immortal aid."
To whom the goddess with the charming eyes,
Soft in her tone, submissively replies:
"Why, O my sov'reign lord, whose frown I
fear,

And cannot, unconcern'd, your anger bear-
Why urge you thus my grief? when if I still
(As once I was) were mistress of your will,
From your almighty pow'r your pleasing wife
Might gain the grace of lengthening Turnus'
life,

Securely snatch him from the fatal fight,
And give him to his aged father's sight.
Now let him perish, since you hold it good,
And glut the Trojans with his pious blood.
Yet from our lineage he derives his name,
And, in the fourth degree, from god Pilumnus
came!

Yet he devoutly pays you rites divine,
And offers daily incense at your shrine."
Then shortly thus the sov'reign god replied:
"Since in my pow'r and goodness you confide,
If, for a little space, a lengthen'd span,
You beg reprieve for this expiring man,
I grant your leave to take your Turnus hence
From instant fate, and can so far dispense.
But, if some secret meaning lies beneath,
To save the short-liv'd youth from destin'd
death,

Or, if a farther thought you entertain,
To change the fates; you feed your hopes in