XCI. Nor lacked Præneste's founder, Vulcan's child,
Found on the hearthstone—if the tale be true,—
Brave Cæculus, the Shepherds' monarch styled.
Forth from Præneste swarmed the rustic crew,
From Juno's Gabium to the fight they flew,
From ice-cold [Anio,] swoln with wintry rain,
From Hernic rocks, which mountain streams bedew,
From fat [Anagnia's] pastures, from the plain		811
Where [Amasenus] rolls majestic to the main.
XCII. With diverse arms they hasten to the war;
Not all can boast the clashing of the shield,
Not all the thunder of the rattling car.
These sling their leaden bullets o'er the field,
Those in each hand the deadly javelin wield.
With caps of fur their rugged brows are dight,
The tawny covering from the dark wolf peeled;
Bare is the left foot, as they march to fight,		820
And, rough with raw bull's-hide, a sandal guards the right.

XCIII. Next came Messapus, tamer of the steed,
Great Neptune's son. Fire nor the steel's sharp stroke
Could lay him lifeless, so the Fates decreed.
Grasping his sword, a laggard race he woke,
Disused to war, and tardy to provoke.
Behind him throng Fescennia's ranks to fight,
[Men from Flavinia, and Faliscum's folk,]
And those whom fair Capena's groves delight,		829
Ciminius' mount and lake, and steep Soracte's height.

XCIV. With measured tramp, their monarch's praise they sing,
[Like snowy swans,] the liquid clouds among,
Which homeward from their feeding ply the wing,
When o'er Caÿster's marish, loud and long,
The echoes float of their melodious song.
None, sure, such countless multitudes would deem
The mail-clad warriors of an armèd throng:
Nay, rather, like a dusky cloud they seem		838
Of sea-fowl, landward driven with many a hoarse-voiced scream.

XCV. Lo, [Clausus] next; a mighty host he led,
Himself a host. From Sabine sires he came,
And Latium thence the Claudian house o'erspread,
When Romans first with Sabines dared to claim
Coequal lordship and a share of fame.
With Amiternus came Eretum's band;
From fair Velinus' dewy fields they came,
From olive-crowned Mutusca, from the land		847
Where proud Nomentum's towers the fruitful plains command.