Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/328

304 'Me, guilty me, make me your aim,

Rutules! mine is all the blame;

He did no wrong, nor e'er could do;

That sky, those stars attest 'tis true;

Love for his friend too freely shown,

This was his crime, and this alone.'

In vain he spoke: the sword, fierce driven,

That alabaster breast had riven.

Down falls Euryalus, and lies

In death's enthralling agonies:

Blood trickles o'er his limbs of snow;

"His head sinks gradually low:"

Thus, severed by the ruthless plough,

Dim fades a purple flower:

Their weary necks so poppies bow,

O'erladen by the shower.

But Nisus on the midmost flies,

With Volscens, Volscens in his eyes:

In clouds the warriors round him rise,

Thick hailing blow on blow:

Yet on he bears, no stint, no stay;

Like thunderbolt his falchion's sway:

Till as for aid the Rutule shrieks

Plunged in his throat the weapon reeks:

The dying hand has reft away

The life-blood of its foe.

Then, pierced to death, asleep he fell

On the dead breast he loved so well.

Blest pair! if aught my verse avail,

No day shall make your memory fail

From off the heart of time,

While Capitol abides in place,

The mansion of the Æneian race,

And throned upon that moveless base

Rome's father sits sublime.