Latin poetry -- Adaptations; Virgil -- Adaptations
But King Latinus made answer: "Yet think awhile, my son. Thou hast the
kingdom of thy father Daunus; and there are other noble virgins in
Latium whom thou mayest have to wife. Wilt thou not then be content?
For to give my daughter to any husband of this nation I was forbidden,
as thou knowest. Yet did I disobey, being moved by love of thee, my
wife also beseeching me with many tears. Thou seest what troubles I
and my people, and thou more than all, have suffered from that time.
Twice have we fled in the battle, and now the city only is left to us.
If I must yield me to these men, let me yield whilst thou art yet
alive. For what doth it profit me that thou shouldst die? Nay, but all
men would cry shame on me if I gave thee to death!"
Now for a space Turnus spake not for wrath. Then he said, "Be not
troubled for me, my father. For I, too, can smite with the spear; and
as for this Æneas, his mother will not be at hand to snatch him in a
cloud from my sight."
Then Amata cried to him, saying, "Fight not, I beseech thee, with
these men of Troy, my son; for surely what thou sufferest I also shall
suffer. Nor will I live to see Æneas my son-in-law."
And Lavinia heard the voice of her mother, and wept. As a man stains
ivory with crimson, or as roses are seen mixed with lilies, even so
the virgin's face burned with crimson. And Turnus, regarding her,
loved her exceedingly, and made answer: "Trouble me not with tears or
idle words, my mother, for to this battle I must go. And do thou,
Idmon the herald, say to the Phrygian king, 'To-morrow, when the sun
shall rise, let the people have peace, but we two will fight together.
And let him that prevaileth have Lavinia to wife.'"
Then first he went to the stalls of his horses. The wife of the North
Wind gave them to Pilumnus. Whiter than snow were they, and swifter
than the wind. Then he put the coat of mail about his shoulders, and
fitted a helmet on his head, and took the great sword which Vulcan had
made for Daunus his father, and had dipped it when it was white-hot in
the river of Styx. His spear also he took where it stood against a
pillar, saying, "Serve me well, my spear, that hast never failed me
before, that I may lay low this womanish robber of Phrygia, and soil
with dust his curled and perfumed hair."
The next day the men of Italy and the men of Troy measured out a
space for the battle. And in the midst they builded an altar of turf.
And the two armies sat on the one side and on the other, having fixed
their spears in the earth and laid down their shields. Also the women
and the old men stood on the towers and roofs of the city, that they
might see the fight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account