These are not Ardea's walls, nor this the town
Amata proffers with Lavinia's crown;
'Tis hostile earth you tread; of hope bereft,
No means of safe return by flight are left.

To whom, with countenance calm and soul sedate,
Thus Turnus, then begin, and try thy fate;
My message to the ghost of Priam bear,
Tell him a new Achilles sent thee there."

A lance of tough ground-ash the Trojan threw,
Rough in the rind, and knotted as it grew,
With his full force he whirled it first around;
But the soft yielding air received the wound:
Imperial Juno turned the course before,
And fixed the wandering weapon in the door.

"But hope not thou," said Turnus, "when I strike To shun thy fate-our force is not alike,

Nor thy steel tempered by the Lemnian god."
Then rising, on his utmost stretch he stood,
And aimed from high; the full-descending blow
Cleaves the broad front and beardless cheeks in two.
Down sinks the giant with a thundering sound,
His ponderous limbs oppress the trembling ground;
Blood, brains, and foam gush from the gaping wound;
Scalp, face, and shoulders the keen steel divides,
And the shared visage hangs on equal sides.
The Trojans fly from their approaching fate,
And, had the victor then secured the gate,
And to his troops without unclosed the bars,
One lucky day had ended all his wars,
But boiling youth, and blind desire of blood,
Push on his fury to pursue the crowd.
Hamstringed behind unhappy Gyges died,
Then Phalaris is added to his side;

The pointed javelins from the dead he drew,
And their friends' arms against their fellows threw.
Strong Halys stands in vain; weak Phlegys flies;
Saturnia, still at hand, new force and fire supplies.
Then Halius, Prytanis, Alcander fall

(Engaged against the foes who scaled the wall) :
But whom they feared without they found within.
At last, though late, by Linceus he was seen.
He calls new succours and assaults the prince,
But weak his force and vain is their defence.
Turned to the right, his sword the hero drew,
And at one blow the bold aggressor slew;
He joints the neck, and with a stroke so strong

The helm flies off, and bears the head along.
Next him the huntsman Amycus he killed,
In darts envenomed and in poison skilled.
Then Clytius fell beneath his fatal spear,
And Cretus, whom the Muses held so dear;
He fought with courage and he sung the fight-
Arms were his business, verses his delight.

The Trojan chiefs behold, with rage and grief,
Their slaughtered friends, and hasten their relief.
Bold Mnestheus rallies first the broken train,
Whom brave Seresthus and his troops sustain,
To save the living and revenge the dead;
Against one warrior's arms all Troy they led.

Oh, void of sense and courage," Mnestheus cried, "Where can you hope your coward heads to hide? Ah, where beyond these rampires can you run? One man, and in your camp enclosed, you shun; Shall then a single sword such slaughter boast, And pass unpunished from a numerous host? Forsaking honour and renouncing fame, Your gods, your country, and your king your shame.' This just reproach their virtue doth excite, They stand, they join, they thicken to the fight. Now Turnus doubts, and yet disdains to yield, But with slow paces measures back the field; And inches to the walls where Tiber's tide, Washing the camp, defends the weaker side. The more he loses they advance the more, And tread in every step he trod before.

They shout, they bear him back, and whom by might

They cannot conquer, they oppress with weight.
As compassed with a wood of spears around

The lordly lion still maintains his ground;
Grins horrible, retires, and turns again,

Threats his distended paws and shakes his mane ;
He loses while in vain he presses on,

Nor will his courage let him dare to run :
So Turnus fares, and unresolved of flight,

Moves tardy back and just recedes from fight.

Yet twice enraged the combat he renews,

Twice breaks, and twice his broken foes pursues;

But now they swarm, and with fresh troops supplied,
Come rolling on and rush from every side,
Nor Juno, who sustained his arms before,

Dares with new strength suffice the exhausted store.

For Jove with four commands sent Iris down
To force the invader from the frighted town.

With labour spent no longer can he wield The heavy falchion or sustain the shield: O'erwhelmed with darts which from afar they fling, The weapons round his hollow temples ring: His golden helm gives way with stony blows Battered and flat and beaten to his brows. His crest is rashed away, his ample shield Is falsified, and round with javelins filled.

The foe now faint, the Trojans overwhelm : And Mnestheus lays hard load upon his helm. Sick sweat succeeds, he drops at every pore, With driving dust his cheeks are pasted o'er. Shorter and shorter every gasp he takes, And vain efforts and hurtless blows he makes. Armed as he was, at length he leaped from high, Plunged in the flood and made the waters fly. The yellow god the welcome burthen bore, And wiped the sweat and washed away the gore: Then gently wafts him to the farther coast, And sends him safe to cheer his anxious host.

BOOK X.

THE ARGUMENT.

Jupiter calling a council of the gods, forbids them to engage in either party. At Æneas's return there is a bloody battle: Turnus killing Pallas; Æneas, Lausus and Mezentius. Mezentius is described as an atheist; Lausus as a pious and virtuous youth. The different actions and death of these two are the subject of a noble episode.

THE gates of heaven unfold; Jove summons all
The gods to council, in the common hall.
Sublimely seated he surveys from far

The fields, the camp, the fortune of the war,
And all the inferior world; from first to last
The sovereign senate in degrees are placed.

Then thus the almighty sire began: "Ye gods,
Natives or denizens of blest abodes,

From whence these murmurs and this change of mind,
This backward fate from what was first designed ?
Why this protracted war? When my commands
Pronounced a peace, and gave the Latian lands.
What fear or hope on either part divides

Our heavens, and arms our powers on different sides?
A lawful time of war at length will come

(Nor need your haste anticipate the doom),

When Carthage shall contend the world with Rome,

Shall force the rigid rocks, and Alpine chains,

And like a flood come pouring on the plains;
Then is your time for faction and debate,
For partial favour, and permitted hate.
Let now your immature dissension cease;
Sit quiet, and compose your souls to peace."
Thus Jupiter in few unfolds the charge;
But lovely Venus thus replies at large :
"O power immense, eternal energy
(For to what else protection can we fly),
Seest thou the proud Rutulians, how they dare
In fields, unpunished, and insult my care?
How lofty Turnus vaunts amidst his train,

In shining arms triumphant on the plain?
Even in their lines and trenches they contend,
And scarce their walls the Trojan troops defend;
The town is filled with slaughter, and o’erfloats,
With a red deluge, their increasing moats.
Æneas ignorant, and far from thence,
Has left a camp exposed without defence.
This endless outrage shall they still sustain?
Shall Troy renewed be forced, and fired again?
A second siege my banished issue fears,
And a new Diomede in arms appears.
One more audacious mortal will be found,
And I thy daughter wait another wound.
Yet, if with Fates averse, without thy leave,
The Latian lands my progeny receive;
Bear they the pains of violated law,
And thy protection from their aid withdraw.
But if the gods their sure success foretell,
If those of heaven consent with those of hell,
To promise Italy, who dare bebate

The power of Jove, or fix another fate?
What should I tell of tempests on the main,
Of Æolus usurping Neptune's reign?
Of Iris sent; with Bacchanalian heat,
To inspire the matrons, and destroy the fleet.
Now Juno to the Stygian sky descends,
Solicits hell for aid, and arms the fiends.
That new example wanted yet above;
An act that well became the wife of Jove.
Alecto, raised by her, with rage inflames
The peaceful bosoms of the Latian dames.
Imperial sway no more exalts my mind;
(Such hopes I had indeed, while heaven was kind).
Now let my happier foes possess my place,
Whom Jove prefers before the Trojan race;
And conquer they, whom you with conquest grace.
Since you can spare, from all your wide command,
No spot of earth, no hospitable land,

Which may my wandering fugitives receive
(Since haughty Juno will not give you leave);
Then, father (if I still may use that name),
By ruined Troy, yet smoking from the flame,
I beg you let Ascanius, by my care,
Be freed from danger, and dismissed the war ;
Inglorious let him live without a crown;
The father may be cast on coasts unknown,