]
And through all turns of weal and woe
Followed proud Tarquin still.
Now right across proud Tarquin 365
A corpse was Julius laid;
And Titus groaned with rage and grief,
And at Valerius made.
Valerius struck at Titus,
And lopped off half his crest; 370
But Titus stabbed Valerius
A span deep in the breast.
Like a mast snapped by the tempest,
Valerius reeled and fell.
Ah! woe is me for the good house 375
That loves the people well!
Then shouted loud the Latines;
And with one rush they bore
The struggling Romans backward
Three lances' length and more: 380
And up they took proud Tarquin,
And laid him on a shield,
And four strong yeoman bare him,
Still senseless from the field.

XVIII

But fiercer grew the fighting 385
Around Valerius dead;
For Titus dragged him by the foot,
And Aulus by the head.
"On, Latines, on!" quoth Titus,
"See how the rebels fly!" 390
"Romans, stand firm!" quoth Aulus,
"And win this fight or die!
They must not give Valerius
To raven and to kite;
For aye Valerius loathed the wrong, 395
And aye upheld the right:
And for your wives and babies
In the front rank he fell.
Now play the men for the good house
That loves the people well!" 400

XIX

Then tenfold round the body
The roar of battle rose,
Like the roar of a burning forest,
"When a strong north wind blows.
Now backward, and now forward, 405
Rocked furiously the fray,
Till none could see Valerius,
And none wist where he lay.
For shivered arms and ensigns
Were heaped there in a mound, 410
And corpses stiff, and dying men,
That writhed and gnawed the ground,
And wounded horses kicking,
And snorting purple foam:
Right well did such a couch befit 415
A Consular of Rome.

[_Mamilius is seen coming to the aid of the Latins. Cossus gallops
off to summon Herminus, who comes at once. Mamilius flings himself
athwart his course, and both champions are slain_.]

XX

But north looked the Dictator;
North looked he long and hard;
And spake to Caius Cossus,
The Captain of his Guard: