Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/181

Rh And wreaths of twisted gold invest

The neck, and sparkle on the breast.

Three are the companies of horse,

And three the chiefs that scour the course:

Twelve gallant boys each chief obey,

And shine in tripartite array.

Young Priam first, Polites' heir,

Well-pleased his grandsire's name to bear,

Leads his gay troop, himself decreed

To raise up an Italian seed:

He prances forth, all dazzling bright,

On Thracian steed with spots of white:

White on its fetlock's front is seen,

And white the space its brows between.

Then Atys, next in place, from whom

The Atian family descend:

Young Atys, fresh with life's first bloom,

The boy Iulus' sweet boy-friend:

Iulus last, in form and face

Preeminent his peers above,

A courser rides of Tyrian race,

Memorial gift of Dido's love.

Sicilian steeds the rest bestride

From old Acestes' stalls supplied.

The Dardanids with mingling cheers

Relieve the young aspirants' fears,

And gaze delighted, as they trace

A parent's mien in each fair face.

And now when all from first to last

Beneath their kinsfolk's eyes had past,

Before the assembled crowd,

Epytides shrills forth from far

His signal-shout, as if for war,

And cracks his whip aloud.