Mythology, Greek -- Juvenile literature; Mythology, Roman -- Juvenile literature
And even as he spake came Saces, riding on a horse that was covered
with foam, and on his face was the wound of an arrow. And he cried, “O
Turnus, our last hopes are in thee. For Æneas is about to destroy the
city, and the firebrands are cast upon the roofs. And King Latinus is
sore tried with doubt, and the Queen hath laid hands upon herself and
is dead. And now only Messapus and Atinas maintain the battle, and the
fight grows fierce around them, while thou drivest thy chariot about
these empty fields.”
Then for a while Turnus stood speechless, and shame and grief and
madness were in his soul; and he looked to the city, and lo! the fire
went up even to the top of the tower which he himself had builded upon
the walls to be a defence against the enemy. And when he saw it, he
cried, “It is enough, my sister; I go whither the gods call me. I will
meet with Æneas face to face, and endure my doom.”
And as he spake he leapt down from his chariot, and ran across the
plain till he came near to the city, even where the blood was deepest
upon the earth and the arrows were thickest in the air. And he beckoned
with the hand and called to the Italians, saying, “Stay now your
arrows. I am come to fight this battle for you all.” And when they
heard it they left a space in the midst. Æneas also, when he heard the
name of Turnus, left attacking the city, and came to meet him, mighty
as Athos, or Eryx, or Father Apenninus, that raiseth his snowy head
to the heavens. And the men of Troy and the Latins and King Latinus
marvelled to see them meet, so mighty they were.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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