In vain, with lifted hands and gazing eyes, } His guards behold him soaring through the skies, } And dogs pursue his flight with imitated cries. } Mnestheus the second victor was declared; And, summoned there, the second prize he shared-- A coat of mail, which brave Demoleus bore, } More brave Æneas from his shoulders tore, } In single combat on the Trojan shore. } This was ordained for Mnestheus to possess-- In war for his defence, for ornament in peace. Rich was the gift, and glorious to behold, But yet so ponderous with its plates of gold, That scarce two servants could the weight sustain; } Yet, loaded thus, Demoleus o'er the plain } Pursued, and lightly seized, the Trojan train. } The third, succeeding to the last reward, Two goodly bowls of massy silver shared, With figures prominent, and richly wrought, And two brass cauldrons from Dodona brought. Thus all, rewarded by the hero's hands, Their conquering temples bound with purple bands. And now Sergestus, clearing from the rock, Brought back his galley shattered with the shock. Forlorn she looked, without an aiding oar, And, hooted by the vulgar, made to shore; As when a snake, surprised upon the road, Is crushed athwart her body by the load Of heavy wheels; or with a mortal wound Her belly bruised, and trodden to the ground-- In vain, with loosened curls, she crawls along; Yet, fierce above, she brandishes her tongue; Glares with her eyes, and bristles with her scales; But, grovelling in the dust, her parts unsound she trails. So slowly to the port the Centaur tends, But, what she wants in oars, with sails amends. Yet, for his galley saved, the grateful prince Is pleased the unhappy chief to recompense. Pholoe, the Cretan slave, rewards his care, Beauteous herself, with lovely twins as fair. From thence his way the Trojan hero bent Into the neighbouring plain, with mountains pent, Whose sides were shaded with surrounding wood. Full in the midst of this fair valley, stood A native theatre, which, rising slow By just degrees, o'erlooked the ground below. High on a sylvan throne the leader sate; A numerous train attend in solemn state. Here those, that in the rapid course delight, Desire of honour, and the prize, invite. The rival runners without order stand; The Trojans, mixed with the Sicilian band. First Nisus, with Euryalus, appears-- Euryalus a boy of blooming years, With sprightly grace and equal beauty crowned-- Nisus, for friendship to the youth, renowned. Diores next, of Priam's royal race, Then Salius, joined with Patron, took their place; (But Patron in Arcadia had his birth, And Salius, his from Acarnanian earth;) Then two Sicilian youths--the names of these, Swift Helymus, and lovely Panopes,