Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. Soon as the breaking dawn its glory threw
  2. along the hills, and from the sea's profound
  3. leaped forth the horses of the sun-god's car,
  4. from lifted nostrils breathing light and fire,
  5. then Teucrian and Rutulian measured out
  6. a place for duel, underneath the walls
  7. of the proud city. In the midst were set
  8. altars of turf and hearth-stones burning bright
  9. in honor of their common gods. Some brought
  10. pure waters and the hallowed flame, their thighs
  11. in priestly skirt arrayed, and reverend brows
  12. with vervain bound. Th' Ausonians, spear in hand,
  13. out from the city's crowded portals moved
  14. in ordered column: next the Trojans all,
  15. with Tuscan host in various martial guise,
  16. equipped with arms of steel, as if they heard
  17. stern summons to the fight. Their captains, too,
  18. emerging from the multitude, in pride
  19. of gold and purple, hurried to and fro:
  20. Mnestheus of royal stem, Asilas brave;
  21. and Neptune's offspring, tamer of the steed,
  22. Messapus. Either host, at signal given,
  23. to its own ground retiring, fixed in earth
  24. the long shafts of the spears and stacked the shields.
  25. Then eagerly to tower and rampart fly
  26. the women, the infirm old men, the throng
  27. of the unarmed, and sit them there at gaze,
  28. or on the columned gates expectant stand.