’twixt corslet and helm, where the sitter’s neck is seen 25 gleaming, and the shield is hanging from the left arm: Orsilochus, as she pretends to fly and wheels round in a mighty ring, she baffles by ever circling inwards, and chases him that chases her: at last, rising to the stroke, she brings down on the wretch again and again, spite of all his prayers, 30 her massy battle-axe that rives armour and bone: the brain spouts over the face through the ghastly wound. Now there stumbles upon her, and pauses in terror at the sudden apparition, the warrior son of Aunus, dweller on the Apennine, not the meanest of Liguria’s children while 35 Fate prospered his trickery. He, when he sees no speed of flight can escape the combat, or avoid the onset of the dreadful queen, essaying to gain his base end by policy and stratagem, thus begins: “What great glory is it after all, if you, a woman, trust your mettled steed? Put away the chance of flight, and dare to meet me hand to hand on equal ground, and gird you for battle on foot: soon shall you see which of us gains honour from this 5 windy boasting.” He said: but she, all on fire, stung with bitter grief, gives her horse to her comrade, and stands ready to meet him in arms, fearless though on foot, with naked sword and maiden shield. But the youth, deeming that his wiles had sped, darts away without more ado, 10 and turning his bridle, rides off in flight, and wearies his beast with the strokes of his iron heel. “False Ligurian, vainly puffed up with overweening fancies, to no end have you tried your sire’s slippery craft, nor shall your lying bring you safe to Aunus the liar.” So cries the maiden, 15 and with lightning-like pace crosses at full speed the horse’s path, and seizing the reins, fronts and encounters him, and gluts her vengeance with his hated blood: easily as a hawk, the bird of augury, darting from a lofty rock, comes up with a dove high in the clouds, holds her in his gripe, 20 and with crooked talons tears out her heart, while gore and plucked feathers come tumbling from the sky.