Then Drances, ever full of hate, whom Turnus' great renown With bitter stings of envy thwart goaded for evermore; Lavish of wealth and fair of speech, but cold-hand in the war; Held for no unwise man of redes, a make-bate keen enow; The lordship of whose life, forsooth, from well-born dam did flow, 340 His father being of no account--upriseth now this man, And piles a grievous weight of words with all the wrath he can. "A matter dark to none, and which no voice of mine doth need, Thou counsellest on, sweet King: for all confess in very deed They wot whereto our fortune drives; but fear their speech doth hide: Let him give liberty of speech, and sink his windy pride, Because of whose unhappy fate, and evil life and will-- Yea, I will speak, despite his threats to smite me and to kill-- So many days of dukes are done, and all the city lies 349 O'erwhelmed with grief, the while his luck round camps of Troy he tries, Trusting to flight, and scaring heaven with clashing of his sword. One gift meseems thou shouldest add, most gracious king and lord, Unto the many gifts thou bid'st bear to the Dardan folk, Nor bow thyself to violence, nor lie beneath its yoke. Father, thy daughter nobly wed unto a glorious son, And knit the bonds of peace thereby in troth-plight never done. Or if such terror and so great upon our hearts doth lie, Let us adjure the man himself, and pray him earnestly To yield up this his proper right to country and to king:-- --O why into the jaws of death wilt thou so often fling 360 Thine hapless folk, O head and fount of all the Latin ill? No safety is in war; all we, for peace we pray thee still, O Turnus,--for the only pledge of peace that may abide. I first, whom thou call'st foe (and nought that name I thrust aside), Lo, suppliant to thy feet I come! Pity thy people then! Sink thine high heart, and, beaten, yield; surely we broken men Have seen enough of deaths, laid waste enough of field and fold. But if fame stir thee, if thine heart such dauntless valour hold, If such a longing of thy soul a kingly dowry be, Dare then, and trust thee in thy might, and breast the enemy. 370 Forsooth all we, that Turnus here a queenly wife might gain-- We common souls--a heap unwept, unburied, strew the plain. And now for thy part, if in thee some valour hath a place Or memory of the ancient wars, go look him in the face Who calleth thee to come afield."