Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/462

438 And bucklers clashed with brazen din

The overture of fight begin.

Earth groans: fierce strokes their falchions deal:

Chance joins with force to guide the steel.

As when two bulls engage in fight

On Sila's or Taburnus' height

And horns with horns are crossed:

Long since the trembling hinds have fled;

The whole herd stands in silent dread;

The heifers ponder in dismay,

Who now the country-side will sway,

The monarch of the host:

Giving and taking wounds alike

With furious impact home they strike;

Shoulder and neck are bathed in gore:

The forest depths return the roar.

So, shield on shield, together dash

Æneas and his Daunian foe;

The echo of that deafening crash

Mounts heavenward from below.

Great Jove with steadfast hand on high

His balance poises in the sky,

Lays in its scale each rival's fate,

And nicely ponders weight with weight,

To see whom war to doom consigns,

And which the side that death inclines.

Fearless of danger, with a bound

Young Turnus rises from the ground,

And, following on the sword he sways,

Comes down with deadly aim:

Latium and Troy intently gaze,

And swell the loud acclaim.