He clapp'd his hand upon the wounded part;
The second shaft came swift and unespy'd,

785

And pierc'd his hand, and nail'd it to his side, Transfix'd his breathing lungs, and beating heart: The soul came issuing out, and hiss'd against the dart.

The son of Arcens shone amid the rest,

In glitt'ring armour and a purple vest,

(Fair was his face, his eyes inspiring love)Bred by his father in the Martian grove, Where the fat altars of Palicus flame,

790

And sent in arms to purchase early fame.

795

Him when he spy'd from far, the Tuscan king

Laid by the lance, and took him to the sling,

Thrice whirl'd the thong around his head, and threw : The heated lead half melted as it flew:

It pierc'd his hollow temples and his brain;

800

The youth came tumbling down, and spurn'd the plain.

Then young Ascanius, who, before this day,

Was wont in woods to shoot the savage prey,
First bent in martial strife the twanging bow,

And exercis'd against a human foe

With this bereft Numanus of his life,

805

Who Turnus' younger sister took to wife.

Proud of his realm, and of his royal bride,

Vaunting before his troops, and lengthen'd with a stride,

In these insulting terms the Trojans he defy'd: 810 "Twice conquer'd cowards! now your shame is

shown

Coop'd up a second time within

your town!

Who dare not issue forth in open field,

But hold your walls before you for a shield.

Thus threat you war? thus our alliance force? 815
What gods, what madness, hither steer'd your course?
You shall not find the sons of Atreus here,

Nor need the frauds of sly Ulysses fear.
Strong from the cradle, of a sturdy brood,

We bear our new-born infants to the flood;

There bath'd amid the stream, our boys we hold,
With winter harden'd, and inur'd to cold.
They wake before the day to range the wood,
Kill ere they eat, nor taste unconquer'd food.
No sports, but what belong to war, they know—
To break the stubborn colt, to bend the bow.

820

824

Our youth, of labour patient, earn their bread;
Hardly they work, with frugal diet fed.

From ploughs and harrows sent to seek renown,

They fight in fields, and storm the shaken town. 830
No part of life from toils of war is free,

No change in age, or diff'rence in degree.
We plough and till in arms: our oxen feel,
Instead of goads, the spur and pointed steel:

Th' inverted lance makes furrows in the plain. 835
Ev'n time, that changes all, yet changes us in vain-
The body, not the mind-nor can controul

Th' immortal vigour, or abate the soul.

Our helms defend the young, disguise the grey;

We live by plunder, and delight in prey.

Your vests embroider'd with rich purple shine;

In sloth you glory, and in dances join.

840

Your vests have sweeping sleeves: with female pride, Your turbans underneath your chins are ty❜d.

Go, Phrygians, to your Dindymus agen!

Go, less than women, in the shapes of men! Go! mix'd with eunuchs in the Mother's rites, (Where with unequal sound the flute invites)

845

Sing, dance, and howl, by turns, in Ida's shade:
Resign the war to men, who know the martial trade."

This foul reproach Ascanius could not hear
With patience, or a vow'd revenge forbear.
At the full stretch of both his hands, he drew,
And almost join'd, the horns of the tough yew.
But, first, before the throne of Jove he stood,

851

855

And thus with lifted hands invok'd the god: "My first attempt, great Jupiter, succeed!

An annual off'ring in thy grove shall bleed,
A snow-white steer, before thy altar led,

Who, like his mother, bears aloft his head,

860

Butts with his threat'ning brows, and bellowing

stands,

And dares the fight, and spurns the yellow sands."
Jove bow'd the heav'ns, and lent a gracious ear,

And thunder'd on the left, amidst the clear.
Sounded at once the bow; and swiftly flies

The feather'd death, and hisses through the skies.

865

The steel through both his temples forc'd the way:

Extended on the ground, Numanus lay.

"Go now, vain boaster! and true valour scorn !

The Phrygians, twice subdu'd, yet make this third

return."

Ascanius said no more. The Trojans shake

The heav'ns with shouting, and new vigour take.
Apollo then bestrode a golden cloud,

870

To view the feats of arms, and fighting crowd; 874
And thus the beardless victor he bespoke aloud:
"Advance, illustrious youth! increase in fame,
And wide from east to west extend thy name-
Offspring of gods thyself; and Rome shall owe
To thee a race of demigods below.

This is the way to heav'n: the pow'rs divine 880
From this beginning date the Julian line.

To thee, to them, and their victorious heirs,

The conquer'd war is due; and the vast world is

theirs.

Troy is too narrow for thy name." He said,

And plunging downward shot his radiant head; 885
Dispell'd the breathing air, that broke his flight:
Shorn of his beams, a man to mortal sight,

Old Butes' form he took, Anchises' squire,
Now left, to rule Ascanius, by his sire: