Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. Soon Turnus, reckless of the risk, leaped forth,
  2. upreached his whole height to his lifted sword,
  3. and struck: the Trojans and the Latins pale
  4. cried mightily, and all eyes turned one way
  5. expectant. But the weak, perfidious sword
  6. broke off, and as the blow descended, failed
  7. its furious master, whose sole succor now
  8. was flight; and swifter than the wind he flew.
  9. But, lo! a hilt of form and fashion strange
  10. lay in his helpless hand. For in his haste,
  11. when to the battle-field his team he drove,
  12. his father's sword forgotten (such the tale),
  13. he snatched Metiscus' weapon. This endured
  14. to strike at Trojan backs, as he pursued,
  15. but when on Vulcan's armory divine
  16. its earthly metal smote, the brittle blade
  17. broke off like ice, and o'er the yellow sands
  18. in flashing fragments scattered. Turnus now
  19. takes mad flight o'er the distant plain, and winds
  20. in wavering gyration round and round;
  21. for Troy's close ring confines him, and one way
  22. a wide swamp lies, one way a frowning wall.