When Jupiter descends in hardened rain, Or bellowing clouds burst with a stormy sound, And with an armed winter strew the ground. Pand'rus and Bitias, thunder-bolts of war, Whom Hiera to bold Alcanor bare On Ida's top--two youths of height and size Like firs that on their mother mountain rise-- Presuming on their force, the gates unbar, And of their own accord invite the war, With fates averse, against their king's command. Armed, on the right and on the left they stand, And flank the passage: shining steel they wear, And waving crests above their heads appear. Thus two tall oaks, that Padus' banks adorn, Lift up to heaven their leafy heads unshorn, And, overpressed with nature's heavy load, Dance to the whistling winds, and at each other nod. In flows a tide of Latians, when they see The gate set open, and the passage free; Bold Quercens, with rash Tmarus, rushing on, Aquicolus, that in bright armour shone, And Hæmon first: but soon repulsed they fly, Or in the well-defended pass they die. These with success are fired, and those with rage, And each on equal terms at length engage. Drawn from their lines, and issuing on the plain, The Trojans hand to hand the fight maintain. Fierce Turnus in another quarter fought, When suddenly the unhoped-for news was brought, The foes had left the fastness of their place, Prevailed in fight, and had his men in chase. He quits the attack, and, to prevent their fate, Runs, where the giant brothers guard the gate. The first he met, Antiphates the brave, (But base-begotten on a Theban slave-- Sarpedon's son) he slew: the deadly dart Found passage through his breast, and pierced his heart. Fixed in the wound the Italian cornel stood, Warmed in his lungs, and in his vital blood. Aphidnus next, and Erymanthus dies, } And Meropes, and the gigantic size } Of Bitias, threatening with his ardent eyes. } Not by the feeble dart he fell oppressed, (A dart were lost within that roomy breast,) But from a knotted lance, large, heavy, strong, Which roared like thunder as it whirled along: Not two bull-hides the impetuous force withhold, Nor coat of double mail, with scales of gold. Down sunk the monster-bulk, and pressed the ground, (His arms and clattering shield on the vast body sound,) Not with less ruin than the Baian mole, Raised on the seas, the surges to controul-- At once comes tumbling down the rocky wall; Prone to the deep, the stones disjointed fall Of the vast pile; the scattered ocean flies; Black sands, discoloured froth, and mingled mud, arise: The frighted billows roll, and seek the shores: Then trembles Prochyta, then Ischia roars: Typhöeus, thrown beneath by Jove's command, Astonished at the flaw that shakes the land,