anges lifts in silence, calm and clear,
Or Nile, whose flood the fruitful soil hath fed,
Ebbs from the fattened fields, and hides him in his bed.

V. Far off, the Teucrians from their camp descried
The gathering dust-cloud on the plains appear.
Then brave Caicus from a bastion cried,
"What dark mass, rolling towards us, have we here?
Arm, townsmen, arm! Bring quick the sword and spear,
And mount the battlements, and man the wall.
The foemen, ho!" And with a mighty cheer
The Teucrians, hurrying at the warning call,
Pour in through all the gates, and muster on the wall.

VI. So, parting, wise AEneas gave command,
Should chance surprise them, with their chief away,
To shun the field, nor battle hand to hand,
But safe behind their sheltering earthworks stay,
And, guarding wall and rampart, stand at bay.
So now, though passion and indignant hate
Prompt to engage, his mandate they obey,
And bar each inlet, and secure each gate,
And, armed, in sheltering towers their enemies await.

VII. Turnus, with twenty horsemen, left the rest
To lag behind, and near the town-gate drew
All unforeseen. A Thracian steed he pressed,
Dappled with white; a crest of scarlet hue
High o'er his golden helmet flamed in view.
Loudly he shrills in anger to his train,
"Who first with me will at the foemen--who?
See there!" and, rising hurls his spear amain,
Sign of the fight begun, and pricks along the plain.

VIII. With shouts his comrades welcome the attack,
And clamouring fiercely follow in his train.
They marvel at the Teucrian hearts so slack,
That none will dare to trust the open plain,
And fight like men, but in the camp remain,
And safe behind their sheltering rampart stay.
Now here, now there, fierce Turnus in disdain
Rides round the walls, and, searching for a way,
Where way is none, still strives an entrance to essay.

IX. As wolf, in ambush by the fold, sore beat
With winds, at midnight howls amid the rain.
The lambs beneath their mothers safely bleat.
He, mad with rage, and faint with famine's pain,
Thirsts for their blood, and ramps at them in vain;
So raves fierce Turnus, as his eyes survey
The walls and camp. Grief burns in every vein,
As round he looks for access and a way
To shake the Teucrians out, and strew them forth to slay.

X. The fleet, as by the flanking camp it lies