Page:Virgil (Collins).djvu/105

Rh within him. He would willingly enter the ring once more for the honour of his native island,—

But strength is slack in limbs grown old,

And aged blood runs dull and cold.

Had I the thing I once possessed,

Which makes yon braggart rear his crest,

Had I but youth, no need had been

Of gifts, to lure me to the green."

He rises from his seat, however, and throws down in the arena, by way of challenge, a pair of ancient gloves of a most murderous pattern. Seven folds of tough bull-hide have knobs of lead and iron sewn inside them. They are the gloves in which the hero Eryx fought his fatal battle with Hercules, whom he had rashly challenged, and they still bear the blood-stains of Eryx's previous victories. Dares, stout champion as he is, starts back in dismay when he sees them, and Æneas himself takes them up and handles them with wonder. Entellus, however, will not insist on using these; and two pair of less formidable manufacture and of equal weight are produced, with which the two heroes engage. Virgil's description of this ancient prize-fight is highly spirited. It may remind some readers, who are old enough to remember such things, of the bulletins of similar encounters between a "light-weight" and a "heavy-weight," furnished in past days by sporting writers to our own newspapers—with the happy omission of the slang of the ring:—

Raised on his toes each champion stands,

And fearless lifts in air his hands.