stone,
Trees, rocks, and mountains overthrown,
And charging at their leader's call
Pressed forward furious to the wall.
Some in their headlong ardour scaled
The rampart's height, the guard assailed,
And many a ponderous fragment rent
From portal, tower, and battlement.
Huge gates adorned with burnished gold
Were loosed and lifted from their hold;
And post and pillar, with a sound
Like thunder, fell upon the ground.
At every portal, east and west
And north and south, the chieftains pressed
Each in his post appointed led
His myriads in the forest bred.

"Charge, let the gates be opened wide:
Charge, charge, my giants," Ravan cried.
They heard his voice, and loud and long
Rang the wild clamour of the throng,
And shell and drum their notes upsent,
And every martial instrument.
Forth, at the bidding of their lord
From every gate the giants poured,
As, when the waters rise and swell,
Huge waves preceding waves impel.
Again from every Vanar throat
A scream of fierce defiance smote
The welkin: earth and sea and sky
Reechoed with the awful cry.
The roar of elephants, the neigh
Of horses eager for the fray.
The frequent clash of warriors' steel,
The rattling of the chariot wheel.
Fierce was the deadly fight: opposed
In terrible array they closed,
As when the Gods of heaven enraged
With rebel fiends wild battle waged.
Axe, spear, and mace were wielded well:
At every blow a Vanar fell.
But shivered rock and brandished tree
Brought many a giant on his knee,
To perish in his turn beneath
The deadly wounds of nails and teeth.

Canto XLIII. The Single Combats.

Brave chiefs of each opposing side
Their strength in single combat tried.
Fierce Indrajit the fight began
With Angad in the battle's van.
Sampati, strongest of his race,
Stood with Prajangha face to face.
Hanuman, Jambumali met
In mortal opposition set.
Vibhishan, brother of the lord
Of Lanka, raised his threatening sword
And singled out, with eyes aglow
With wrath, Satrughna for his foe.
The mighty Gaja Tapan sought,
And Nila with Nikumbha fought.
Sugriva, Vanar king, defied
Fierce Praghas long in battle tried,
And Lakshman fearless in the fight
Encountered Virupaksha's might.
To meet the royal Rama came
Wild Agniketu fierce as flame;
Mitraghana, he who loved to strike
His foeman and his friend alike:
With Rasmiketu, known and feared
Where'er his ponderous flag was reared;
And Yajnakopa whose delight
Was ruin of the sacred rite.
Th