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238 Though Latium's force unite with Troy's

Himself will bring the counterpoise.

This said, to Heaven he makes appeal:

The Rutule hosts with emulous zeal

Their martial rage inflame:

And one the chief's young beauty fires,

One kindles at his hero sires,

One at his deeds of fame.

While Turnus thus to fury fans

The Rutules' warlike might,

Alecto on her Stygian vans

Turns to Troy's camp her flight.

New cunning in her breast, a place

She in the distance eyed,

Where young Iulus led the chase

Along the river-side:

Then sudden to his hounds' keen smell

Presents the lure they know so well,

A gallant stag to start:

'Twas thence a nation's sorrow flowed,

And kindling into madness glowed

The savage rustic heart.

Of beauteous form and branching head

A stag in human haunts was bred,

From mother's milk withdrawn,

By Tyrrheus and his children reared,

Tyrrheus, who ruled the royal herd,

The ranger of the lawn.

Fair Silvia, daughter of the race,

Its horns with wreaths would interlace,

Comb smooth its shaggy coat, and lave

Its body in the crystal wave.

Tame and obedient, it would stray

Free through the woods a summer's day,