Authors: Virgil
290 Messapus, eager to wreck the treaty, rode straight at the
Etruscan Aulestes, a king wearing the insignia of a king, and the
charging horse drove him back in terror. He fell as he retreated,
and crashed violently head and shoulders into the altar behind
him. Riding furiously, Messapus flew to him and, towering over
him with a lance as long as a housebeam, he struck him his
death blow even as he poured out prayers for mercy. ‘So much
for Aulestes!’ cried Messapus. ‘This is a better victim to offer to
the great gods!’ and the men of Italy ran to strip the body while
it was still warm. Corynaeus came to meet them, snatching a
half-burnt torch from an altar. Ebysus made for him, but before
300 he could strike a blow, Corynaeus filled his face with fire.
His great beard flared up and gave off a stench as it burned.
Corynaeus pressed his attack and, clutching the hair of his
helpless enemy in his left hand, he forced him to the ground,
kneeling on him with all his weight, and sunk the hard steel
in his flank. Meanwhile Podalirius had been following the
shepherd Alsus as he rushed through the hail of missiles in the
front line of battle and was now poised over him with the naked
sword. But, drawing back his axe, Alsus struck him full in
the middle of the forehead and split it to the chin, bathing all
his armour in a shower of blood. It was a cruel rest then for
310 Podalirius. An iron sleep bore down upon him and closed his
eyes in everlasting night.
But true to his vow Aeneas, unhelmeted, stretched out his
weaponless right hand and called to his allies: ‘Where are you
rushing? What is this sudden discord rising among you? Control
your anger! The treaty is already struck and its terms agreed. I
alone have the right of conflict. Leave me to fight and forget
your fears. We have a treaty, and my right hand will make it
good. The rituals we have performed have made Turnus mine.’
While he was still speaking, while words like these were still
passing his lips, an arrow came whirring in its flight and struck
320 him, unknown the hand that shot it and the force that spun it
to its target, unknown what chance or what god brought such
honour to the Rutulians. The shining glory of the deed is lost in
darkness, and no man boasted that he had wounded Aeneas.
When Turnus saw him leaving the field and the leaders of the
allies in dismay, a sudden fire of hope kindled in his heart.
Horses and arms he demanded both at once, and in a flash he
leapt on his chariot with spirits soaring and gathered up the
reins. Then many a brave hero he sent down to death as he flew
330 along, and many half-dead bodies he sent rolling on the ground,
crushing whole columns of men under his chariot wheels as he
caught up their spears and showered them on those who had
taken to flight. Just as Mars, spattered with blood, charges along
the banks of the icy river Hebrus, clashing sword on shield and
giving full rein to his furious horses as he stirs up war; they fly
across the open plain before the winds of the south and the
west, till Thrace roars to its furthest reaches with the drumming
of their hooves as his escort gallops all round him, Rage, Treachery
and the dark faces of Fear – just so did bold Turnus lash his
horses through the thick of battle till they smoked with sweat,
and as he trampled the pitiable bodies of his dead enemies, the
340 flying hooves scattered a dew of blood and churned the gore
into the sand. Sthenelus he sent to his death with a throw from
long range; then Thamyrus and Pholus, both in close combat.
From long range, too, he struck down the Imbrasidae, Glaucus
and Lades, whom their father Imbrasus himself had brought up
in Lycia, and gave them armour that equipped them either to
do battle or to outstrip the winds on horseback.
In another part of the field, Eumedes was charging into the
fray. He was a famous warrior, son of old Dolon, bearing his
grandfather’s name, but his spirit and his hand for war were his
350 father’s. It was Dolon who dared to ask for the chariot of
Achilles as a reward for going to spy on the camp of the Greeks.
But Diomede provided a different reward for his daring, and he
soon ceased to aspire to the horses of Achilles. When Turnus
caught sight of Eumedes far off on the open plain, he struck him
first with a light javelin thrown over the vast space that lay
between. Then, halting the two horses that drew his chariot, he
leapt down and stood over his dying enemy with his foot on his
neck. He wrenched the sword out of Eumedes’ hand, and it
flashed as he dipped it deep in his throat, saying: ‘There they
360 are, Trojan. These are the fields of Hesperia you tried to take
by war. Lie there and measure them! This is my reward for those
who test me by the sword. This is how they build their cities.’
Next, with a throw of his javelin, he sent Asbytes to join him,
then Chloreus, Sybaris, Dares, Thersilochus and Thymoetes,
whose horse had fallen and thrown him over its head. Just as
when the breath of Thracian Boreas sounds upon the deep
Aegean as he pursues the waves to the shore, and wherever the
winds put out their strength the clouds take to flight across the
sky, just so, wherever Turnus cut his path, the enemy gave way
before him, their ranks breaking and running, and his own
370 impetus carried him forward with the plumes on his helmet
tossing as he drove his chariot into the wind. Phegeus could not
endure this onslaught of Turnus and his wild shouting, but leapt
in front of the chariot and pulled round the horses’ heads as
they galloped at him, foaming at their bits. Then, as he was
dragged along hanging from the yoke, the broad blade of
Turnus’ lance struck his unprotected side, piercing and breaking
the double mesh of his breastplate and grazing the skin of his
body. He put up his shield and was twisting round to face his
380 enemy when he fell and was caught by the flying wheel and axle
and stretched out on the ground. Turnus, following up, struck
him between the bottom of the helmet and the top edge of the
breastplate, cutting off his head and leaving the trunk on
the sand.
While the victorious Turnus was dealing death on the plain,
Aeneas was taken into the camp by Mnestheus and faithful
Achates. Ascanius was with them. Aeneas was bleeding and
leaning on his long spear at every other step. He was in a fury,
tugging at the arrowhead broken in the wound and demanding
that they should take the quickest way of helping him, make a
390 broad cut with the blade of a sword, slice open the flesh where
the arrow was embedded and get him back into battle. But now
there came Iapyx, son of Iasus, whom Phoebus Apollo loved
above all other men. Overcome by this fierce love, Apollo had
long since offered freely and joyfully to give him all his arts and
all his powers, prophecy, the lyre, the swift arrow, but, in order
to prolong the life of his dying father, Iapyx chose rather to ply
a mute, inglorious art and know the virtues of herbs and the
400 practice of healing. There, with the grieving Iulus, in the middle
of a great crowd of warriors, stood Aeneas, growling savagely,
leaning on his great spear and unmoved by their tears. The old
man, with his robe caught up and tied behind him after the
fashion of Apollo Paeon, tried anxiously and tried in vain all he
could do with his healing hands and the potent herbs of Apollo.
In vain his right hand worked at the dart. In vain the forceps
gripped the steel. Fortune did not show the way and his patron
Apollo gave no help. And all the time the horror of battle grew
fiercer and fiercer on the plain, and nearer and nearer drew
the danger. They soon could see a wall of dust in the sky. The
cavalry rode up, and showers of missiles were falling into
the middle of the camp. A hideous noise of shouting rose to
410 the heavens as young men fought and fell under the iron hand
of Mars.
At this Venus, dismayed by her son’s undeserved suffering,
picked some dittany on Mount Ida in Crete. The stalk of this
plant has a vigorous growth of leaves and its head is crowned
by a purple flower. It is a herb which wild goats know well and
feed on when arrows have flown and stuck in their backs. This
Venus brought down, veiled in a blinding cloud, and with it
tinctured the river water they had poured into shining bowls,
impregnating it secretly and sprinkling in it fragrant panacea
420 and the health-giving juices of ambrosia. Such was the water
with which old Iapyx, without knowing it, bathed the wound,
and suddenly, in that moment, all the pain left Aeneas’ body
and the blood was staunched in the depths of the wound. Of its
own accord the arrow came away in the hand of Iapyx and fresh
strength flowed into Aeneas, restoring him to his former state.
It was Iapyx who was the first to fire their spirits to face the
enemy. ‘Bring the warrior his arms, and quickly!’ he cried. ‘Why
stand there? This cure was not effected by human power, nor
by the guidance of art. It is not my right hand that saved you,
Aeneas. Some greater power, some god, is driving you and
430 sending you back to greater deeds.’ Aeneas was hungry for
battle. He had already sheathed his calves in his golden greaves
and was brandishing his flashing spear, impatient of delay. When
the shield was fitted to his side and the breastplate to his back,
he took Ascanius in an armed embrace and kissed him lightly
through the helmet, saying: ‘From me, my son, you can learn
courage and hard toil. Others will teach you about Fortune. My
hand will now defend you in war and lead you where the prizes
are great. I charge you, when in due course your years ripen and
you become a man, do not forget, but as you go over in your mind
440 the examples of your kinsmen, let your spirit rise at the thought
of your father Aeneas and your uncle Hector.’
When he had finished speaking, he moved through the gates
in all his massive might, brandishing his huge spear, and there
rushed with him in serried ranks Antheus and Mnestheus and
all his escort, streaming from the camp. A blinding dust then
darkened the plain. The very earth was stirred and trembled
under the drumming of their feet. As they advanced, Turnus
saw them from the rampart opposite. The men of Ausonia also
saw them and cold tremors of fear ran through the marrow of
their bones. But before all the Latins, Juturna heard the sound
450 and knew its meaning. She fled, trembling, but Aeneas came
swiftly on, leading his dark army over the open plain. Just as
when a cloud blots out the sun and begins to move from mid-ocean
towards the land; long-suffering farmers see it in the far
distance and shudder to the heart, knowing what it will bring,
the ruin of trees, the slaughter of their crops and destruction
everywhere; the flying winds come first, and their sound is first
to reach the shore – just so the Trojan leader from Rhoeteum
drove his army forward against the enemy in wedge formation,
each man shoulder to shoulder with his neighbour. Fierce Osiris
was struck by the sword of Thymbraeus. Mnestheus cut down
460 Arcetius, Achates Epulo, and Gyas Ufens. Tolumnius himself
fell, the augur who had been the first to hurl a spear against his
enemies. The shouting rose to the sky and now it was the
Rutulians who turned and fled over the fields, raising the dust
on their backs. Aeneas did not think fit to cut down men who
had turned away from him, nor did he go after those who stood
to meet him in equal combat or carried spears. He was looking
for Turnus, and only Turnus, tracking him through the thick
murk. Turnus was the only man he asked to fight.