Is by the Trojan from his chariot thrown,
Crush'd with the weight of an unwielding ftone:
Betwixt the wheels he fell; the wheels that bore 780
His living load, his dying body tore.
His starting steeds, to shun the glittering sword,
Paw down his trampled limbs, forgetful of their lord.
Fierce Hillus threaten'd high; and face to face
Affronted Turnus in the middle space :
The prince encounter'd him in full career,
And at his temples aim'd the deadly spear:
So fatally the flying weapon fped,
That through his brazen helm it pierc'd his head.
Nor, Ciffeus, could'ft thou 'fcape from Turnus' hand, 790
In vain the strongest of th' Arcadian band:
Nor to Cupentus could his gods afford
Availing aid against th' Ænean sword :
Which to his naked heart pursued the course :
Nor could his plated shield sustain the force.
Iölus fell, whom not the Grecian powers,
Nor great fubverter of the Trojan towers,
Were doom'd to kill, while heaven prolong'd his date :
But who can pafs the bounds prefix'd by fate?
In high Lyrneffus, and, in Troy, he held
Two palaces, and was from each expell'd:
Of all the mighty man, the last remains,
A little spot of foreign earth contains.
And now both hofts their broken troops unite,
In equal ranks, and mix in mortal fight.
Serefthus and undaunted Mnestheus join
The Trojan, Tufcan, and Arcadian line :
Sea-born Meffapus, with Atinas, heads
The Latin fquadrons, and to battle leads.
They strike, they push, they throng the fcanty space;
Refolv'd on death, impatient of disgrace;
And where one falls, another fills his place.
The Cyprian goddef's now infpires her fon
To leave th' unfinish'd fight, and storm the town.
For, while he rolls his eyes around the plain,
In quest of Turnus, whom he seeks in vain,
He views th' unguarded city from afar,
In careless quiet, and secure of war:
Occafion offers, and excites his mind,
To dare beyond the task he first design'd.
Refolv'd, he calls his chiefs; they leave the fight;
Attended thus, he takes a neighbouring height :
The crowding troops about their general stand,
All under arms, and wait his high command.
Then thus the lofty prince : Hear and obey,
Ye Trojan bands, without the least delay.
Jove is with us, and what I have decreed
Requires our utmost vigour, and our speed.
Your inftant arms against the town prepare;
The fource of mischief, and the feat of war.
This day the Latian towers, that mate the sky,
Shall level with the plain in ashes lie :
The people shall be slaves, unless in time
They kneel for pardon, and repent their crime.
Twice have our foes been vanquish'd on the plain; 835 Then fhall I wait till Turnus will be flain?
Your force against the perjur'd city bend:
There it began, and there the war fhall end.
The peace profan'd our rightful arms requires,
Cleanse the polluted place with purging fires.
He finish'd; and, one foul inspiring all,
Form'd in a wedge, the foot approach the wall..
Without the town, an unprovided train
Of gaping, gazing citizens are flains
Some firebrands, others fcaling ladders bear;
And those they tofs aloft, and these they rear:
The flames now launch'd, the feather'd arrows fly,
The clouds of missive arms obscure the sky.
Advancing to the front, the hero ftands,
And, ftretching out to heaven his pious hands,
Attefts the gods, afferts his innocence,
Upbraids with breach of faith th' Aufonian prince :
Declares the royal honour doubly stain'd,
And twice the rites of holy peace profan'd.
Diffenting clamours in the town arise;
Each will be heard and all at once advise.
One part for peace,
and one for war contends:
Some would exclude their foes, and fome admit their
The helpless king is hurry'd in the throng;
And whate'er tide prevails, is born along.
Thus, when the fwain, within a hollow rock,
Invades the bees with fuffocating smoke,
They run around, or labour on their wings,
Difus'd to flight; and fhoot their fleepy ftings;
To fhun the bitter fumes, in vain they try;
Black vapours, iffuing from the vent, involve the sky.
But fate, and envious fortune, now prepare To plunge the Latins in the last despair.
The queen, who faw the foes invade the town,
And brands on tops of burning houses thrown; 870
Caft round her eyes, distracted with her fear;
No troops of Turnus in the field appear.
Once more she stares abroad, but still in vain;
And then concludes the royal youth is flain.
Mad with her anguifh, impotent to bear
The mighty grief, the loaths the vital air.
She calls herself the caufe of all this ill,
And owns the dire effects of her ungovern'd will :
She raves against the gods, the beats her breast,
She tears with both her hands her purple veft;
Then round a beam a running noose she ty'd,
And, faften'd by the neck, obscenely dy'd.
Soon as the fatal news by fame was blown, And to her dames and to her daughter known;
The fad Lavinia rends her yellow hair,
And rofy cheeks; the reft her forrow share:
With fhrieks the palace rings, and madness of de
The fpreading rumour fills the public place;
Confufion, fear, diftraction, and difgrace,
And filent fhame, are feen in every face.
Latinus tears his garments as he goes,
Both for his public and his private woes :
With filth his venerable beard befmears,
And fordid duft deforms his filver hairs.
And much he blames the softness of his mind, 895
Obnoxious to the charms of womankind,
And foon reduc'd to change, what he fo well defign'd:
To break the folemn league so long defir'd,
Nor finish what his fates, and thofe of Troy, requir'd.
Now Turnus rolls aloof o'er empty plains,
And here and there fome ftraggling foes he gleans.
His flying courfers please him lefs and lefs,
Afham'd of eafy fight, and cheap fuccefs.
Thus half contented, anxious in his mind,
The diftant cries come driving in the wind:
Shouts from the walls, but shouts in murmurs drown'd;
A jarring mixture, and a boding found.
Alas, faid he, what mean these dismal cries?
What doleful clamours from the town arife?
Confus'd he stops, and backward pulls the reins: 91
She, who the driver's office now sustains,'
Replies: Neglect, my lord, these new alarms;
Here fight, and urge the fortune of your arms:
There want not others to defend the wall:
If by your rival's hand th' Italians fall.
So fhall your fatal fword his friends opprefs,
In honour equal, equal in fuccefs.
To this, the prince: O fifter, (for I knew peace infring'd, proceeded first from you,) I knew you when you mingled first in fight, And now in vain you would deceive my fight:
Why, goddess, this unprofitable care?
Who fent you down froin heaven, involv'd in air?
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