tachment were taken entirely
by surprise, and great numbers were made prisoners or slain. Lausus
himself was killed.

Excited by their victory, the Trojan soldiers, headed by Ascanius, now
turned their course toward the main body of the Rutulian army.
Mezentius had, however, in the mean time, obtained warning of their
approach, and when they reached his camp he was ready to retreat. He
fled with all his forces toward the mountains. Ascanius and the
Trojans followed him. Mezentius halted and attempted to fortify
himself on a hill. Ascanius surrounded the hill, and soon compelled
his enemies to come to terms. A treaty was made, and Mezentius and his
forces soon after withdrew from the country, leaving Ascanius and
Latium in peace.

Ascanius then, after having in some degree settled his affairs, began
to think of Lavinia. In fact, the Latin portion of his subjects
seemed disposed to murmur and complain, at her having been compelled
to withdraw from her own paternal kingdom, in order to leave the
throne to the occupancy of the son of a stranger. Some even feared
that she had come to some harm, or that Ascanius might in the end put
her to death when time had been allowed for the recollection of her to
pass in some degree from the minds of men. So the public began
generally to call for Lavinia's return.

Ascanius seems to have been well disposed to do justice in the case,
for he not only sought out Lavinia and induced her to return to the
capital with her little son, but he finally concluded to give up
Lavinium to her entirely, as her own rightful dominion, while he went
away and founded a new city for himself. He accordingly explored the
country around for a favorable site, and at length decided upon a spot
nearly north of Lavinium, and not many miles distant from it. The
place which he marked out for the walls of the city was at the foot of
a mountain, on a tract of somewhat elevated ground, which formed one
of the lower declivities of it. The mountain, rising abruptly on one
side, formed a sure defense on that side: on the other side was a
small lake, of clear and pellucid water. In front, and somewhat
below, there were extended plains of fertile land. Ascanius, after
having determined on this place as the site of his intended city, set
his men at work to make the necessary constructions. Some built the
walls of the city, and laid out streets and erected houses within.
Others were employed in forming the declivity of t