Latin poetry -- Adaptations; Virgil -- Adaptations
And from Tibur came two youths of Argos, twin brothers, Catillus and
Coras, swift and strong as two Centaurs from the hills. And Cæculus,
who builded Præneste, was there, son of Vulcan, and a great company
of country folk with him, whereof many bare not shield nor spear, but
slings with bullets of lead, and javelins in either hand, and helmets
of wolf's skin upon their heads.
After him marched Messapus, tamer of horses, Neptune's son, whom no
man might lay low with fire or sword; and the people followed, singing
a war-song of their king, like to a great flock of swans, which flies
with many cries across the Asian marsh. And next Clausus the Sabine,
from whom is sprung the great Claudian house; and Halesus, companion
of Agamemnon, and enemy of Troy from of old, with many nations behind
him; clubs had they, fastened with thongs of leather, and wicker
shields on their left arms, and their swords were shaped as
reaping-hooks. After these came Œbalus, son of Telon, with the men of
Campania, wearing helmets of cork, and having shields and swords of
bronze; also Ufens, of Nersæ, with his robber bands; and Umbro, the
Marsian priest, a mighty wizard and charmer of serpents, who also
could heal their bite; but the wound of the Trojan spears he could not
heal, nor did all his charms and mighty herbs avail him.
With them also came Virbius, son of Hippolytus, from Egeria. For men
say that Hippolytus, when the curse of his father had fallen upon him,
and he had perished by the madness of his horses, was made alive by
the skill of Æsculapius, and that Jupiter, being wroth that a mortal
should return from the dead, slew the healer, the son of Phœbus, with
his thunderbolt; but that Hippolytus Diana hid in the grove of Aricia,
that he might spend the rest of his days obscure and without offence.
And therefore do they yet hinder horses from coming near to the temple
of Diana. Nevertheless the youth Virbius drave horses in his chariot.
But chief among them all was Turnus, who moved in the midst, clad in
armour, and overtopping them all by his head. And he had a helmet with
three crests, and the Chimæra thereon for a sign; and on his shield
was Io, with her horns lifted to heaven, and Argus the herdsman, and
Inachus pouring a river from his urn. A great multitude of footmen
followed him, Rutulians and Sicanians, and they that dwelt about the
Tiber, and about Anxur, and about the green woods of Feronia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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