Creber utraque manu pulsat versatque Dareta. 460
Tum pater Aeneas procedere longius iras,
Et saevire animis Entellum haud passus acerbis ;

Sed finem imposuit pugnae, fessumque Dareta ( , Eripuit, mulcens dictis; ac talia fatur:

'Infelix! quae tanta animum dementia cepit? 465
Non vires alias, conversaque numina sentis ?
Cede deo!' Dixitque, et proelia voce diremit.
Ast illum fidi aequales, genua aegra trahentem,
Jactantemque utroque caput, crassumque cruorem
Ore ejectantem, mixtosque in sanguine dentes, 470
Ducunt ad naves; galeamque ensemque, vocati,
Accipiunt: palmam Entello taurumque relinquunt.
Hic victor superans animis, tauroque superbus:
'Nate dea vosque haec,' inquit, ' cognoscite, Teucri,
Et mihi quae fuerint juvenili in corpore vires,

475
Et qua, servetis revocatum a morte Dareta.'
Dixit, et adversi contra stetit ora juvenci,
Qui donum astabat pugnae; durosque reducta
Libravit dextra media inter cornua cestus
Arduus, effractoque illisit in ossa cerebro.

480
Sternitur, exanimisque tremens procumbit humi bos.
Ille super tales effundit pectore voces :
‘Hanc tibi, Eryx, meliorem animam pro morte Daretis
Persolvo: hic victor cestus artemque repono.'
Protinus Aeneas celeri certare sagitta

485 Invitat, qui forte velint, et praemia ponit: Ingentique manu malum de nave Seresti

Erigit; et volucrem trajecto in fune columbam, --460. Creber. See A. 2, 627.-466. Vires alias, other strength;' or,

his strength different from what it was in the early part of the contest,' as if the conversa numina (especially Eryx) had in pity given Entellus supernatural vigour. Hence Cede deo. See below, verse 483. — 471. Galeamque, &c. See verse 367.—472. See verse 11l.-473. Superans animis superbiens.

478. He drew back his right hand, poised the cestus so as to strike right between the horns, and rising on tiptoe (see verse 426), crashed in skull and brain.—481. Observe the effect of the monosyllabic ending. -483. He felt himself bound to offer something to his divine teacher (verse 391) and protector (verse 466) Eryx; the strife was sacred, and so he offered up the bull as a worthier gift than Dares. And with it, as usual, relinquishing the practice, he devotes to the god the arms of his former accomplishment.

487. Mālum, not målum.-488. Trajecto in fune, “by a knot,' or óby

6

P

490

495

500

Quo tendant ferrum, malo suspendit ab alto,
Convenere viri, dejectamque aerea sortem
Accepit galea; et primus clamore secundo
Hyrtacidae ante omnes exit locus Hippocoöntis;
Quem modo navali Mnestheus certamine victor
Consequitur, viridi Mnestheus evinctus oliva.
Tertius Eurytion, tuus, 0 clarissime! frater,
Pandare, qui quondam, jussus confundere foedus,
In medios telum torsisti primus Achivos.
Extremus galeaque ima subsedit Acestes,
Ausus et ipse manu juvenum tentare laborem.

Tum validis flexos incurvant viribus arcus,
Pro se quisque, viri, et depromunt tela pharetris.
Primaque per coelum, nervo stridente, sagitta
Hyrtacidae juvenis volucres diverberat auras;
Et venit, adversique infigitur arbore mali.
Intremuit malus, timuitque exterrita pennis
Ales, et ingenti sonuerunt omnia plausu.
Post, acer Mnestheus adducto constitit arcu,
Alta petens; pariterque oculos telumque tetendit.
Ast ipsam miserandus avem contingere ferro
Non valuit; nodos et vincula linea rupit,
Quîs innexa pedem malo pendebat ab alto;
Illa notos atque atra volans in nubila, fugit.
Tum rapidus, jamdudum arcu contenta parato
Tela tenens, fratrem Eurytion in vota vocavit;
Jam vacuo laetam coelo speculatus, et, alis
Plaudentem, nigra figit sub nube columbam.

505

510

515

a cord passed round it;' that is, the pigeon: others passed through the mast. The more usual phrase is the abl. absol. trajecto fune.492. Hippocoön, thus, was the brother of Nisus. See A. 9, 177.--493. Victor : the first three in the boat-race were crowned as victors, verse 269. Mnestheus was the second, verse 258.—494. Oliva. See verse 111.—496. Pandarus, a Lycian auxiliary of the Trojans, celebrated as an archer. The event alluded to by Virgil is told by Homer, Il. 4, 86, &c., where we learn that, instigated (jussus) by Minerva, he broke a truce then subsisting between the Greeks' and Trojans.

500. Incurvant, 'bend into an arch' their flexile bows, in order to fasten the string.–501. Pro se quisque, viri. The collocation of these words deserves notice and imitation. —- 507. Adducto, the ancient archers drew the string to the breast, not, as the English, to the -511. Quis, an old form for quibus. For innexa pedem, and innexa crinem (Ă. 6, 281), see A. 4, 558.—512. Notos = in ventos.-513. Rapidus,

r.

Decidit exanimis, vitamque reliquit in astris
Aetheriis, fixamque refert delapsa sagittam.
Amissa solus palma superabat Acestes :
Qui tamen aërias telum contendit in auras,

520
Ostentans artemque pater, arcumque sonantem,
Hic oculis subitum objicitur, magnoque futurum
Augurio, monstrum: docuit post exitus ingens;
Seraque terrifici cecinerunt omina vates.
Namque, volans liquidis in nubibus, arsit arundo, 525
Signavitque viam flammis, tenuesque recessit
Consumpta in ventos: coelo ceu saepe refixa
Transcurrunt, crinemque volantia sidera ducunt.
Attonitis haesere animis, superosque precati
Trinacrii Teucrique viri: nec maximus omen 530
Abnuit Aeneas; sed, laetum amplexus Acesten,
Muneribus cumulat magnis, ac talia fatur:
'Sume, pater; nam te voluit rex magnus Olympi
Talibus auspiciis exsortem ducere honorem.
Ipsius Anchisae longaevi hoc munus habebis, 535
Cratera impressum signis, quem Thracius olim
Anchisae genitori in magno munere Cisseus
Ferre sui dederat monumentum et pignus amoris.'
Sic fatus, cingit viridanti tempora lauro,
Et primum ante omnes victorem appellat Acesten, 540
Nec bonus Eurytion praelato invidit honori,
Quamvis solus avem coelo dejecit ab alto.
Proximus ingreditur donis, qui vincula rupit;
Extremus, volucri qui fixit arundine malum.

At pater Aeneas, nondum certamine misso, 545
Custodem, ad sese, comitemque impubis Iuli,

as often, for rapide.-517. Life was left behind in the sky, while the dove fell to earth. — 519. Superabat, supererat. See verse 713. – 520. To shew his skill, and the excellence of his bow, he shot up into the air, and his arrow reached the clouds (nubibus, verse 525).--521. The position of pater shews that his skill was from his experience. Patēr, with ē long by the arsis. — 522. This prodigy was probably intended by Virgil to have regard to the burning of the ships, verse 604, &c. ; the soothsayers interpreting the omen when it was too late (sera) to avert the evil, and the event itself, not they, with all their awe-inspiring power (terrifici), had explained the prophetic meaning of the portent.-533. Olympi. See Ecl. 5, 56.537. Cisseus, king of Thrace (Thracius), father of Hecuba, the wife of Priam.-538. Ferre dederat. See verses 248, 572.-539. See verse 111.

550

555

Epytiden vocat, et fidam sic fatur ad aurem:
'Vade age, et, Ascanio, si jam puerile paratum
Agmen habet secum, cursusque instruxit equorum,
Ducat avo turmas, et sese ostendat in armis,
Dic,' ait. Ipse omnem longo decedere circo
Infusum populum, et campos jubet esse patentes.
Incedunt pueri, pariterque ante ora parentum
Frenatis lucent in equis: quos omnis euntes
Trinacriae mirata fremit Trojaeque juventus.
Omnibus in morem tonsa coma pressa corona ;
Cornea bina ferunt praefixa hastilia ferro;
Pars leves humero pharetras: it pectore summo
Flexilis obtorti per collum circulus auri.
Tres equitum numero turmae, ternique vagantur
Ductores; pueri bis seni quemque secuti,

1
Agmine partito fulgent, paribusque magistris.
Una acies juvenum, duxit quam parvus ovantem
Nomen avi referens Priamus, tua clara, Polite,
Progenies, auctura Italos; quem Thracius albis
Portat equus bicolor maculis, vestigia primi
Alba pedis, frontemque ostentans arduus albam.
Alter Atys, genus unde Atii duxere Latini;
Paryus Atys, pueroque puer dilectus Iulo.
Extremus, formaque ante omnes pulcher, Iulus
Sidonio est invectus equo, quem candida Dido
Esse sui dederat monumentum et pignus amoris.

560

565

570

547. Such guardians of young heroes were common in heroic times, as well as those of Virgil. Homer mentions (Il. 17, 323) Periphas, son of Epytus, an attendant of Anchises.—548, &c. Ascanio, dic ut ducat. 550. Avo, the dativus commodi, in honorem avi.—551. Aeneas orders the circular space described verse 206, &c., to be cleared.-553, &c. The ludus Trojae (verse 600) here described by Virgil was often celebrated by Augustus and succeeding emperors.-556. In morem,

'in a uniform manner.' Tonsu erat corona, probably of olive. See verse 774; 6. 3, 21. The meaning of tonsa is doubtful; either plucked from the tree, or picked leaves, or clipped into proper shape. This chaplet was worn above the helmet. See verse 673; A. 7, 751.-559. A periphrasis for torques aureus.-560. There were three leaders, who each headed twelve young horsemen.—562. Paribus = pariter ornatis et armatis.-564. Polito. See X. 2, 526, &c.—565. Auctura Italos. See verse 117. An old commentator mentions that, according to Cato, Polites founded Politorium, a Latin town.—568. Atii. This is said in honour of Augustus, whose mother Atia belonged to the gens Atia. Hence, too, from the intermarriage of the families, Atia being the daughter of Julius Caesar's sister, the ingenious allusion in the next verse, pueroque puer.

Cetera Trinacriis pubes senioris Acestae
Fertur equis.

Excipiunt plausu pavidos; gaudentque tuentes 575
Dardanidae, veterumque agnoscunt ora parentum.
Postquam omnem laeti consessum oculosque suorum
Lustravere in equis, signum clamore paratis
Epytides longe dedit, insonuitque flagello.
Olli discurrere pares, atque agmina terni

580
Diductis solvere choris; rursusque vocati
Convertere vias, infestaque tela tulere.
Inde alios ineunt cursus, aliosque recursus,
Adversi spatiis: alternosque orbibus orbes
Impediunt, pugnaeque cient simulacra sub armis; 585
Et nunc terga fuga nudant; nunc spicula vertunt
Infensi; facta pariter nunc pace feruntur.
Ut quondam Creta fertur Labyrinthus in alta
Parietibus textum caecis iter, ancipitemque
Mille habuisse dolum, qua signa sequendi 590
Falleret indeprensus et irremeabilis error:
Haud alio Teucrûm nati vestigia cursu
Impediunt, texuntque fugas et proelia ludo!
Delphinum similes, qui per maria humida nando
Carpathium Libycumque secant [luduntque per undas).
Hunc morem cursus, atque haec certamina primus 596
Ascanius, Longam muris quum cingeret Albam,
Retulit, et priscos docuit celebrare Latinos,

580. Pares, &c. They were first in a line; then they galloped apart (do urrere), breaking up (solvere) into separate parties (diductis choris) of three each (terni). At a signal, they stopped, wheeled round, and seemed to commence an attack.' Then drawn up in opposite rows (adversi spatiis), they galloped through each other's ranks, and rode in circular windings, exhibiting a mimic fight with all its evolutions. -581. Choris = turmis. — 587. Pariter, together,' the two parties united' or combined.—588. The Labyrinth of Crete was contrived by the artist Daedalus, and concealed in its mazes the Minotaur. See A. 6, 27.-589. Pārietibus, four syllables, the first i being pronounced as y. Caecis, 'intercepting the view,' not allowing one to take in with the eye all the windings.-590. Sequendi, the genitive, depending on signa, the signs of the course to pursue.'—-591. Indéprensus = indeprehensibilis.-- 594. Delphinum similes. See Zumpt, § 411.–595. The island Carpathus lies between Crete and Rhodes, giving name to the adjacent sea. Luduntque per undas; that is, ludentes per undas. These words are wanting in many of the best manuscripts and editions.-596. Others read Hunc morem, hos cursus, &c.—597. Lonyam Albam. See A. 1, 271.-598. Retulit, 'renewed.' Virgil seems here to use priscos