Aeneid

whoe'er thou art, I fall not unavenged!

Thou shalt but triumph for a fleeting hour.

Like doom for thee is written. Speedily

thou shalt this dust inhabit, even as I!”

Mezentius answered him with wrathful smile:

“Now die! What comes on me concerns alone

the Sire of gods and Sovereign of mankind.”

So saying, from the wounded breast he plucked

his javelin: and on those eyes there fell

inexorable rest and iron slumber,

and in unending night their vision closed.

Then Caedicus cut down Alcathous,

Sacrator slew Hydaspes, Rapo smote

Parthenius and Orses stout and strong;

Messapus, good blade cut down Clonius

and Ericetes, fierce Lycaon's child;

the one from an unbridled war-horse thrown,

the other slain dismounted. Then rode forth

Agis the Lycian, but bold Valerus,

true to his valiant breeding, hurled him down;

having slain Thronius, Salius was slain

by skilled Nealces, of illustrious name

for spear well cast and far-surprising bow.

Thus Mars relentless holds in equal scale

slaughters reciprocal and mutual woe;

the victors and the vanquished kill or fall

in equal measure; neither knows the way

to yield or fly. Th' Olympians Iook down

out of Jove's house, and pity as they see

the unavailing wrath of either foe,

and burdens measureless on mortals laid.

Lo! Venus here, Saturnian Juno yon,

in anxious watch; while pale Tisiphone

moves on infuriate through the battling lines.

On strode Mezentius o'er the gory plain,

and swollen with rage waved wide-his awful spear.

Like tall Orion when on foot he goes

trough the deep sea and lifts his shoulders high

above the waves; or when he takes his path

along the mountain-tops, and has for staff

an aged ash-tree, as he fixes firm

his feet in earth and hides his brows in cloud;—

so Ioomed Mezentius with his ponderous arms.

To match him now, Aeneas, Iooking down

the long array of war, came forth in arms

to challenge and defy. But quailing not,

a mass immovable, the other stood

waiting his noble foe, and with a glance

measured to cast his spear the space between.

“May this right hand“, he said, “and this swift spear

which here I poise, be favoring gods for me!

The spoils from yonder robber's carcase stripped

I vow to hang on thee, my Lausus, thou

shalt stand for trophy of Aeneas slain.”

He said, and hurled from far the roaring spear,

which from the shield glanced off, and speeding still

smote famed Antores 'twixt the loin and side—

antores, friend of Hercules, who came

from Argos, and had joined Evander's cause,

abiding in Italia. Lo, a wound

meant for another pierced him, and he lay,

ill-fated! Iooking upward to the light,

and dreaming of dear Argos as he died.

Then good Aeneas hurled his spear; it passed

through hollow orb of triple bronze, and through

layers of flax and triple-twisted hides;

then in the lower groin it lodged, but left

its work undone. Aeneas, not ill-pleased

to see the Tuscan wounded, swiftly drew

the falchion from his thigh, and hotly pressed

his startled foe. But Lausus at the sight

groaned loud, so much he loved his father dear,

and tears his cheek bedewed. O storied youth!

If olden worth may win believing ear,

let not my song now fail of thee to sing,

thy noble deeds, thy doom of death and pain!

Mezentius, now encumbered and undone,

fell backward, trailing from the broken shield

his foeman's spear. His son leaped wildly forth

to join the fray; and where Aeneas' hand

lifted to strike, he faced the thrusting sword

and gave the hero pause. His comrades raised

applauding cries, as shielded by his son

the father made retreat; their darts they hurl,

and vex with flying spears the distant foe:

Aeneas, wrathful, stands beneath his shield.

As when the storm-clouds break in pelting hail,

the swains and ploughmen from the furrows fly,

and every traveller cowers in sure defence

of river-bank or lofty shelving crag,

while far and wide it pours; and by and by,

each, when the sun returns, his task pursues:

so great Aeneas, by assault o'erwhelmed,

endured the cloud of battle, till its rage

thundered no more; then with a warning word

to Lausus with upbraiding voice he called:

“Why, O death-doomed, rush on to deeds too high

for strength like thine. Thou art betrayed, rash boy,

by thine own loyal heart!” But none the less

the youth made mad defence; while fiercer burned