aled forth, and filled both armies with surprise,
"Trojans, be calm; your needless pains forbear,
Nor arm to save these ships; their safety is my care.

XVI. "Sooner shall Turnus make the ocean blaze,
Than these my pines. Go, sea-nymphs, and be free,
Your mother bids you." Each at once obeys,
Their cables snapt, like dolphins in their glee,
They dip their beaks, and dive beneath the sea.
Hence, where before along the shore had stood
The brazen poops--O marvellous to see!--
So many now, with maiden forms endued,
Rise up, and reappear, and float upon the flood.

XVII. All stand aghast; amid the startled steeds
Messapus quails, and Tiber checks his tide,
And, hoarsely murmuring, from the deep recedes.
Yet fails not Turnus, prompt to cheer or chide.
"To Teucrians point these prodigies," he cried,
"They bide not, they, Rutulian sword and brand.
E'en Jove their wonted succour hath denied.
Barred is the sea, and half the world is banned;
Earth, too, is ours, such hosts Italia's chiefs command.

XVIII. "I fear not Fate, nor what the Gods can do.
Suffice for Venus and the Fates the day
When Trojans touched Ausonia. I have, too,
My Fates, these robbers of my bride to slay.
Not Atreus' sons alone, and only they,
Have known a sorrow and a smart so keen,
And armed for vengeance. But enough, ye say,
Once to have fallen? One trespass then had been
Enough, and made them loathe all womankind, I ween.

XIX. "Lo, these who think a paltry wall can save,
A narrow ditch can thwart us,--these, so bold,
With but a span betwixt them and the grave!
Saw they not Troy, which Neptune reared of old,
Sink down in ruin, as the flames uprolled?
But ye, my chosen, who with me will scale
Yon wall, and storm their trembling camp? Behold,
No aid divine nor ships of thousand sail,
Nor Vulcan's arms I need, o'er Trojans to prevail.

XX. "Nay; let Etrurians join them, one and all,
No raid, nor robbed Palladium they shall fear,
Nor sentries stabbed beneath the night's dark pall.
No horse shall hide us; by the daylight clear
Our flames shall ring their ramparts. Dream they here
To find such Danaan striplings, weak as they
Whom Hector baffled till the tenth long year?
But now, since near its ending draws the day,
Take rest, and bide prepared the dawning of the fray."

XXI. His outposts plants Messapus, s