XXV. Thus first AEneas; then with uplift eyes, His right hand stretching to the stars in prayer, "Hear me, AEneas," old Latinus cries, "By the same Earth, and Sea and Stars I swear, By the twin offering of Latona fair, And two-faced Janus, and Hell's powers malign, And Dis unpitying; let Jove give ear, The Sire whose bolt the solemn league doth sign, Witness these fires and gods,--my hand is on the shrine,-- XXVI. "No time with Latins shall this league unbind, Whate'er the issue, or the peace confound, No force shall shake the purpose of my mind. Nay--though the circling Ocean burst its bound, And all the Earth were in a deluge drowned, And Heaven with Hell should mingle. Sure as now This sceptre" (haply in his hand was found The Royal sceptre) "nevermore, I trow, Shall bourgeon with fresh leaves, or spread a shadowing bough, XXVII. "Since once in forests, from its parent tree Lopped clean away, the woodman stripped it bare Of boughs and leaves, now fashioned, as ye see, And cased in brass by cunning craftsman's care, For fathers of the Latin realm to bear." So they, amid their chiefest, Sire with Sire, Confirm the league. These o'er the flames prepare To slay the victims, and, as rites require, The living entrails tear, and feed the sacred fire. XXVIII. Long while unequal to Rutulian eyes The combat seemed, and trouble tossed them sore, Now more, beholding nearer, how in size And strength the champions differed, yea, and more, Beholding Turnus, as he moved before The altars, sad and silently, and seeks With downcast eyes Heaven's favour to implore, The wanness of his youthful frame, that speaks Of health and hope now fled, the pallor of his cheeks. XXIX. Soon as Juturna saw the whispers grow From tongue to tongue, and marked the changing tone, The hearts of people wavering to and fro, Amidst them,--now in form of Camers known, Great Camers, sprung from grandsires of renown, His father famed for many a brave emprise, Himself as famed for exploits of his own,-- Amidst them, mistress of her part, she flies, And scatters words of doubt, and many a dark surmise. XXX. "Shame, will ye risk, Rutulians, for his host The life of one? In number, strength and show Do we not match them? _Those_ are all they boast, Trojans, Arcadians and Etruscans. Lo, Fight we by turns, each scarce can find a foe. He to his gods, whose shrines he dies to shield, Will rise, and praised will be his name below. We, reft of home, to tyrant lords shall yield, And toil as slaves, who sit so slackly on the field."