Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/264

240 'Twas heard by Trivia's lake afar,

Heard by the sulphurous waves of Nar

And Velia's fountain flood;

And terror-stricken mothers pressed

Their children closer to their breast.

Now, gathering at the hideous sound,

The rustics from the country round

Snatch up their arms and run:

The Trojan youth, their gates displayed,

Stream forth to give Ascanius aid,

And battle is begun.

No longer now 'tis village feud,

Waged with seared stakes and truncheons rude:

Another game they try:

'Tis two-edged iron: swords and spears

Bristle the field with spiky ears:

Responsive to the sun's appeal

Flash glittering brass and burnished steel,

And fling their rays on high:

As when beneath the winds' first sweep

The white foam gathers on the deep,

The waters gradual rise,

High and more high the billows grow,

Till from the very depth below

They mount into the skies.

Young Almo, Tyrrheus' heir till then,

Falls mid the foremost fighting men,

By whizzing shaft laid low:

Deep in his gullet lodged the death

And choked the ways of voice and breath

With life-blood's gushing flow:

Around him many a warrior bleeds,

And old Galæsus, as he pleads

In vain for peace: no juster son

Had fair Ausonia, richer none: