Thither young Turnus took the well-known way,
Possess'd the pass, and in blind ambush lay.

Meantime, Latonian Phœbe, from the skies,
Beheld th' approaching war with hateful eyes,
And call'd the light-foot Opis to her aid,
Her most beloved and ever-trusty maid;
Then with a sigh began: 'Camilla goes
To meet her death amidst her fatal foes-
The nymph I loved of all my mortal train,
Invested with Diana's arms, in vain.
Nor is my kindness for the virgin new:

805

810

'Twas born with her; and with her years it grew.

Her father Metabus, when forced away

815

From old Privernum for tyrannic sway,
Snatch'd up, and saved from his prevailing foes,
This tender babe, companion of his woes.
Casmilla was her mother: but he drown'd

One hissing letter in a softer sound,

820

And call'd Camilla. Through the woods he flies ;

Wrapp'd in his robe the royal infant lies.

His foes in sight, he mends his weary pace;
With shouts and clamors they pursue the chase.

The banks of Amasene at length he gains;

825

The raging flood his farther flight restrains,
Raised o'er the borders with unusual rains.
Prepared to plunge into the stream, he fears,
Not for himself, but for the charge he bears.
Anxious, he stops a while, and thinks in haste,
Then, desp'rate in distress, resolves at last.
A knotty lance of well-boil'd oak he bore :
The middle part with cork he cover'd o'er:
He closed the child within the hollow space ;
With twigs of bending osier bound the case,
Then poised the spear, heavy with human weight,
And thus invoked my favor for the freight:

830

835 840

845

'Accept, great goddess of the woods,' he said,
'Sent by her sire, this dedicated maid!
Through air she flies a suppliant to thy shrine ;
And the first weapons that she knows are thine.'
He said; and with full force the spear he threw :
Above the sounding waves Camilla flew.
Then, press'd by foes, he stemm'd the stormy tide,
And gain'd, by stress of arms, the farther side.
His fasten'd spear he pull'd from out the ground,
And, victor of his vows, his infant nymph unbound :
Nor, after that, in towns which walls inclose,
Would trust his hunted life amidst his foes;
But, rough, in open air he chose to lie:
Earth was his couch; his cov'ring was the sky.
On hills unshorn, or in a desert den,

850

He shunn'd the dire society of men.

A shepherd's solitary life he led :

His daughter with the milk of mares he fed.

855

The dugs of bears, and ev'ry savage beast,
He drew, and through her lips the liquor press'd.

The little Amazon could scarcely go

He loads her with a quiver and a bow;

And, that she might her stagg'ring steps command, 860

He with a slender jav'lin fills her hand.

Her flowing hair no golden fillet bound;

Nor swept her trailing robe the dusty ground.

Instead of these, a tiger's hide o'erspread

Her back and shoulders, fasten'd to her head.
The flying dart she first attempts to fling,

865

And round her tender temples toss'd the sling;

Then, as her strength with years increased, began

To pierce aloft in air the soaring swan,

And from the clouds to fetch the heron and the crane.

The Tuscan matrons with each other vied

871

To bless their rival sons with such a bride:

VIR.

VOL. II.

T

But she disdains their love, to share with me

The sylvan shades, and vow'd virginity.
And, oh! I wish, contented with my cares
Of savage spoils, she had not sought the wars:
Then had she been of my celestial train,

875

And shunn'd the fate that dooms her to be slain.

But since, opposing heaven's decree, she goes
To find her death among forbidden foes,
Haste with these arms, and take thy steepy flight,
Where, with the gods averse, the Latins fight.
This bow to thee, this quiver, I bequeath,
This chosen arrow, to revenge her death :

880

By whate'er hand Camilla shall be slain,
Or of the Trojan or Italian train,
Let him not pass unpunish'd from the plain.
Then, in a hollow cloud, myself will aid
To bear the breathless body of my maid :
Unspoil'd shall be her arms, and unprofaned
Her holy limbs with any human hand,
And in a marble tomb laid in her native land.'

885

890

She said. The faithful nymph descends from high With rapid flight, and cuts the sounding sky: Black clouds and stormy winds around her body fly. By this, the Trojan and the Tuscan horse, Drawn up in squadrons, with united force Approach the walls: the sprightly coursers bound, Press forward on their bits, and shift their ground. Shields, arms, and spears, flash horribly from far; 900 And the fields glitter with a waving war. Opposed to these, come on with furious force Messapus, Coras, and the Latian horse; These in the body placed, on either hand Sustain'd and closed by fair Camilla's band. Advancing in a line, they couch their spears; And less and less the middle space appears.

896

905

Thick smoke obscures the field; and scarce are seen
The neighing coursers, and the shouting men.

In distance of their darts they stop their course ; 910
Then man to man they rush, and horse to horse.
The face of heaven their flying jav'lins hide ;
And deaths unseen are dealt on either side.

Tyrrhenus and Aconteus, void of fear,
By mettled coursers borne in full career,
Meet first opposed; and, with a mighty shock,

915

Their horses' heads against each other knock.
Far from his steed is fierce Aconteus cast,
As with an engine's force, or lightning's blast:

He rolls along in blood, and breathes his last.

920

The Latin squadrons take a sudden fright,

And sling their shields behind, to save their backs in

flight.

Spurring at speed, to their own walls they drew;
Close in the rear the Tuscan troops pursue,
And urge their flight: Asylas leads the chase;
Till, seized with shame, they wheel about, and face,
Receive their foes, and raise a threat'ning cry.
The Tuscans take their turn to fear and fly.

925

So swelling surges, with a thund'ring roar, Driv'n on each other's backs, insult the shore, Bound o'er the rocks, encroach upon the land,

930

And far upon the beach eject the sand;
Then backward, with a swing, they take their way,
Repulsed from upper ground, and seek their mother sea;
With equal hurry quit th' invaded shore,
And swallow back the sand and stones they spew'd

before.

Twice were the Tuscans masters of the field,
Twice were the Latins, in their turn, repell'd.
Ashamed at length, to the third charge they ran-
Both hosts resolved, and mingled man to man.

935

940

Now dying groans are heard; the fields are strow'd
With falling bodies, and are drunk with blood.
Arms, horses, men, on heaps together lie:
Confused the fight, and more confused the cry.
Orsilochus, who durst not press too near

945

Strong Remulus, at distance drove his spear,
And struck the steel beneath his horses' ear.
The fiery steed, impatient of the wound,
Curvets, and, springing upward with a bound,
His helpless lord cast backward on the ground.

950

Catillus pierced Iolas first; then drew

His reeking lance, and at Herminius threw,

The mighty champion of the Tuscan crew.
His neck and throat unarm'd, his head was bare,

But shaded with a length of yellow hair :

955

Secure, he fought, exposed on ev'ry part,

A spacious mark for swords, and for the flying

dart.

Across the shoulders came the feather'd wound.

Transfix'd he fell, and doubled to the ground.

The sands with streaming blood are sanguine died, And death, with honor, sought on either side. Resistless, through the war Camilla rode, In danger unappall'd, and pleased with blood. One side was bare for her exerted breast; One shoulder with her painted quiver press'd.

961

965

Now from afar her fatal jav'lins play;
Now with her axe's edge she hews her way:

Diana's arms upon her shoulder sound;

And when, too closely press'd, she quits the ground, From her bent bow she sends a backward wound. 970

Her maids, in martial pomp, on either side,

Larina, Tulla, fierce Tarpeia, ride-
Italians all-in peace, their queen's delight,
In war, the bold companions of the fight.