Aeneid

Virgil

Vergil. The Aeneid of Virgil. Williams, Theodore, C, translator. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1910.

  1. Meanwhile th' unpitying messenger had flown
  2. to Turnus in the wood; the warrior heard
  3. from Acca of the wide confusion spread,
  4. the Volscian troop destroyed, Camilla slain,
  5. the furious foe increasing, and, with Mars
  6. to help him, grasping all, till in that hour
  7. far as the city-gates the panic reigned.
  8. Then he in desperate rage (Jove's cruel power
  9. decreed it) from the ambushed hills withdrew
  10. and pathless wild. He scarce had passed beyond
  11. to the bare plain, when forth Aeneas marched
  12. along the wide ravine, climbed up the ridge,
  13. and from the dark, deceiving grove stood clear.
  14. Then swiftly each with following ranks of war
  15. moved to the city-wall, nor wide the space
  16. that measured 'twixt the twain. Aeneas saw
  17. the plain with dust o'erclouded, and the lines
  18. of the Laurentian host extending far;
  19. Turnus, as clearly, saw the war array
  20. of dread Aeneas, and his ear perceived
  21. loud tramp of mail-clad men and snorting steeds.
  22. Soon had they sped to dreadful shock of arms,
  23. hazard of war to try; but Phoebus now,
  24. glowing rose-red, had dipped his wearied wheel
  25. deep in Iberian seas, and brought back night
  26. above the fading day. So near the town
  27. both pitch their camps and make their ramparts strong.