Stands--shame to tell it--an Egyptian bride.
See now the fight; prows churn and oar-blades lash
The foam. 'Twould seem the Cyclads swim the tide,
Torn from his moorings, or the mountains clash,
So huge the tower-crowned ships, so terrible the crash.

XCI. Winged darts are hurled, and flaming tow; the leas
Of Neptune redden. There the queen stands by,
And sounds the timbrel for the fray, nor sees
The asps behind. All monsters of the sky
With Neptune, Venus, and Minerva vie.
In vain Anubis barks; Mars raves among
The combatants; the Furies frown on high.
With mantle rent, glad Discord joins the throng;
Behind, with bloody scourge, Bellona stalks along.

XCII. There Actian Phoebus, gazing on the scene,
Bent his dread bow. Egypt, Arabia fled,
And India turned in terror. There, the queen
Calls to the winds; behold, the sails are spread.
Her, pale with thoughts of dying, through the dead
The waves and zephyrs--so the gold expressed--
Bear onward. Yonder, to his sheltering bed
Nile, sorrowing, calls the fugitives to rest,
Unfolds his winding robes, and bares his azure breast.

XCIII. There, Caesar sacred to his gods proclaims
Three hundred temples, each a stately fane.
Behold his triple triumph. Shouts and games
Gladden the streets; glad matrons chant the strain
At every altar, and the steers are slain.
He takes the offerings, and reviews the throng,
Throned in the portal of Apollo's fane.
Below, the captive nations march along,
Diverse in arms and garb, and each of different tongue.

XCIV. Wild Nomads, Africans uncinctured came,
Carians, Gelonian bowmen, and behind
The Leleges, the Dahae, hard to tame,
The Morini, extreme of human-kind.
Last, proud Araxes, whom no bridge could bind,
Euphrates humbled, and the horned Rhine.
All this, by Vulcan on the shield designed,
He sees, and, gladdening at the gift divine,
Upbears aloft the fame and fortunes of his line.

BOOK NINE

ARGUMENT

Certified by Juno of the absence of AEneas, Turnus leads his forces
against the Trojans. When they entrench themselves within their
lines, he attempts to burn their ships, which are thereupon changed
by Cybele into nymphs, and float away (1-144). Turnus undaunted
harangues his men and beleaguers the camp (145-198). Nisus and
Euryalus scheme, and petition, to sally forth to find AEneas and a
rescue.