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Rh Or, e'en that boon should chance refuse,

To pay the absent funeral dues.

Nor let me cause so dire a smart

To that devoted mother's heart,

Who, sole of all the matron train,

Attends her darling o'er the main,

Nor cares like others to sit down

An inmate of Acestes' town.'

He answers brief: 'Your pleas are naught:

Firm stands the purpose of my thought:

Come, stir we: why so slow?'

Then calls the guards to take their place,

Moves on by INisus, pace with pace,

And to the prince they go.

All other creatures wheresoe'er

Were stretched in sleep, forgetting care:

Troy's chosen chiefs in high debate

Were pondering o'er the reeling state,

What means to try, or whom to speed

To show Æneas of their need.

There stand they, midway in the field,

Still hold the spear, still grasp the shield:

When Nisus and his comrade brave

With eager tones admittance crave;

The matter high; though time be lost,

The occasion well were worth the cost.

Iulus hails the impatient pair,

Bids Nisus what they wish declare.

Then spoke the youth 'Chiefs! lend your ears,

Nor judge our proffer by our years.

The Rutules, sunk in wine and sleep,

Have ceased their former watch to keep:

A stealthy passage have we spied

Where on the sea the gate opes wide: