Then to the king: "Your empty vaunts forbear:

Success I hope; and fate I cannot fear.

631

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 sat on each Arcadian face.

635

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,

639

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.

64.5

Young Pallas, when he saw the chief advance 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." "Twas heard, the vain request; Alcides mourn'd, and stifled sighs within his breast.

650

Then Jove, to sooth his sorrow, thus began:

"Short bounds of life are set to mortal man.

656

"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: 660
My own Sarpedon fell beneath his foe;

Nor I, his mighty sire, could ward the blow.
Ev'n 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.

665

Now with full force his spear young Pallas threw And, having thrown, his shining falchion drew.

;

675

The steel just graz'd along the shoulder-joint,
And mark'd it slightly with the glancing point. 670
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:
Through folded brass, and tough bull-hides, it pass'd,
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;

680

t

And with his bloody teeth he bites the ground.

Turnus bestrode the corps:

Said he :

my message to your master bear:

Such as the sire deserv'd, the son I send : 685

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 689
Of his left foot, and spurn'd the wretched corse;
Then snatch'd the shining belt, with gold inlaid -
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. 695
In an ill hour insulting Turnus tore

Those golden spoils, and in a worse he wore.
O mortals! blind of fate, who never know

To bear high fortune, or endure the low!

The time shall come, when Turnus, but in vain, 700 Shall wish untouch'd the trophies of the slainShall 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.

705

One day first sent thee to the fighting field,

Beheld whole heaps of foes in battle kill'd;

709

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.

715

720

At Magus next he threw: he stoop'd below

725

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,

730

The ransom of this one poor life shall pay.
If I survive, shall Troy the less prevail?
A single soul's too light to turn the scale."
He said. The hero sternly thus reply'd:

66

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,

735

740

He seis'd his helm, and dragg'd him with his left; Then with his right hand, while his neck he wreath'd, Up to the hilts 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,

746

Much of his god, more of his purple, proud. 750 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 Serestús on his shoulders bears,

755

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,