He spake, and from the chariot leapt adown upon the mead,
And left his sister lone in grief amidst the foe to speed,
Amidst the spears, and breaketh through the midmost press of fight,
E'en as a headlong stone sweeps down from off the mountain-height,
Torn by the wind; or drifting rain hath washed it from its hold,
Or loosed, maybe, it slippeth down because the years grow old:
Wild o'er the cliffs with mighty leap goes down that world of stone,
And bounds o'er earth, and woods and herds and men-folk rolleth on
Amidst its wrack: so Turnus through the broken battle broke
Unto the very city-walls, where earth was all a-soak690
With plenteous blood, and air beset with whistling of the shafts;
There with his hand he maketh sign, and mighty speech he wafts:
"Forbear, Rutulians! Latin men, withhold the points of fight!
Whatever haps, the hap is mine; I, I alone, of right
Should cleanse you of the broken troth, and doom of sword-edge face."
So from the midst all men depart, and leave an empty space;
But now the Father Æneas hath hearkened Turnus' name,
And backward from the walls of war and those high towers he came.
He casts away all tarrying, sets every deed aside,
And thundering in his battle-gear rejoicing doth he stride:700
As Athos great, as Eryx great, great as when roaring goes
Amid the quaking oaken woods and glory lights the snows,
And Father Apennine uprears his head amidst the skies.
Then Trojan and Rutulian men turn thither all their eyes,
And all the folk of Italy, and they that hold the wall,
And they that drive against its feet the battering engines' fall
All men do off their armour then. Amazed Latinus stands
To see two mighty heroes, born in such wide-sundered lands,
Meet thus to try what deed of doom in meeting swords may be.
But they, when empty space is cleared amid the open lea,710
Set each on each in speedy wise, and with their war-spears hurled
Amid the clash of shield and brass break into Mavors' world;
Then groaneth earth; then comes the hail of sword-strokes thick and fast,
And in one blended tangle now are luck and valour cast:
As when on mighty Sila's side, or on Taburnus height,
Two bulls with pushing horny brows are mingled in the fight:
The frighted herdsmen draw aback, and all the beasts are dumb
For utter fear; the heifers too misdoubt them what shall come,
Who shall be master of the grove and leader of the flock;
But each on each they mingle wounds with fearful might of shock, 720
And gore and push home fencing horns, and with abundant blood
Bathe neck and shoulder, till the noise goes bellowing through the wood;
E'en so Æneas out of Troy, and he, the Daunian man,
Smite shield on shield; and mighty clash through all the heavens there ran.
'Tis Jupiter who holds the scales 'twixt even-poisèd tongue;
There in the balance needfully their sundered fates he hung,
Which one the battle-pain shall doom, in which the death shall lie.
Now Turnus deems him safe, and forth with sword upreared on high,
He springs, and all his body strains, and rises to the stroke,
And smites: the Trojans cry aloud, and eager Latin folk,730
And both hosts hang 'twixt hope and fear: but lo, the treacherous sword
Breaks in the middle of the blow and leaves its fiery lord:—
And if the flight shall fail him now!—Swift as the East he flees
When in his right hand weaponless an unknown hilt he sees.
They say, that when all eager-hot he clomb his yokèd car
In first of fight, that then he left his father's blade of war,
And caught in hand his charioteer Metiscus' battle-glaive;
And that was well while Trojan fleers backs to the smiting gave,
But when they meet Vulcanian arms, the very God's device,
Then shivereth all the mortal blade e'en as the foolish ice;740
And there upon the yellow sand the glittering splinters lie.
So diversely about the field doth wildered Turnus fly,
And here and there in winding ways he doubleth up and down,
For thick all round about the lists was drawn the Teucrian crown:
By wide marsh here, by high walls there, his fleeing was begirt.
Nor less Æneas, howsoe'er, hampered by arrow-hurt,
His knees might hinder him at whiles and fail him as he ran,
Yet foot for foot all eagerly followed the hurrying man;
As when a hound hath caught a hart hemmed by the river's ring,
Or hedged about by empty fear of crimson-feathered string,750
And swift of foot and baying loud goes following up the flight;
But he, all fearful of the snare and of the flood-bank's height,
Doubles and turns a thousand ways, while open-mouthed and staunch
The Umbrian keen sticks hard at heel, and now, now hath his haunch,
Snapping his jaws as though he gripped, and, mocked, but biteth air.
Then verily the cry arose; the bank, the spreading mere,
Rang back about, and tumult huge ran shattering through the sky.
But Turnus as he fled cried out on all his Rutuli,
And, calling each man by his name, craved his familiar blade.
Meanwhile Æneas threateneth death if any come to aid,760
And swift destruction: and their souls with fearful threats doth fill
Of city ruined root and branch; and, halting, followeth still.
Five rings of flight their running fills, and back the like they wend:
Nought light nor gamesome is the prize for which their feet contend,
For there they strive in running-game for Turnus' life and blood.
By hap hard by an olive wild of bitter leaves there stood,
Hallowed to Faunus, while agone a most well-worshipped tree,
Whereon to that Laurentian God the sailors saved from sea
Would set their gifts, and hang therefrom their garments vowed at need.
But now the Teucrian men of late had lopped with little heed770
That holy stem, that they might make the lists of battle clear:
And there Æneas' war-spear stood; his might had driven it there,
And held it now, set hard and fast in stubborn root and stout:
The Dardan son bent o'er it now to pluck the weapon out,
That he might follow him with shot whom running might not take.
But Turnus, wildered with his fear, cried out aloud and spake:
"O Faunus, pity me, I pray! and thou, O kindest Earth,
Hold thou the steel for me, who still have worshipped well thy worth,
Which ever those Ænean folk with battle would profane!"