s shield at the same time above his head, and
bracing himself with all his force against the approaching concussion.
The spear struck the shield near the upper edge of it, as it was held
in AEneas's hands. It passed directly through the plates of which the
shield was composed, and then continuing its course, it glided down
just over AEneas's back, and planted itself deep in the ground behind
him, and stood there quivering. AEneas crept out from beneath it with a
look of horror.

Immediately after throwing his spear, and perceiving that it had
failed of its intended effect, Achilles drew his sword and rushed
forward to engage AEneas, hand to hand. AEneas himself recovering in an
instant from the consternation which his narrow escape from impalement
had awakened, seized an enormous stone, heavier, as Homer represents
it, than any two ordinary men could lift, and was about to hurl it at
his advancing foe, when suddenly the whole combat was terminated by a
very unexpected interposition. It seems that the various gods and
goddesses, from their celestial abodes among the summits of Olympus,
had assembled in invisible forms to witness this combat--some
sympathizing with and upholding one of the combatants, and some the
other. Neptune was on AEneas's side; and accordingly when he saw how
imminent the danger was which threatened AEneas, when Achilles came
rushing upon him with his uplifted sword, he at once resolved to
interfere. He immediately rushed, himself, between the combatants. He
brought a sudden and supernatural mist over the scene, such as the God
of the Sea has always at his command; and this mist at once concealed
AEneas from Achilles's view. Neptune drew the spear out of the ground,
and released it too from the shield which remained still pinned down
by it; and then threw the spear down at Achilles's feet. He next
seized AEneas, and lifting him high above the ground he bore him away
in an invisible form over the heads of soldiers and horsemen that had
been drawn up in long lines around the field of combat. When the mist
passed away Achilles saw his spear lying at his feet, and on looking
around him found that his enemy was gone.

Such are the marvelous tales which were told by the ancient narrators,
of the prowess and exploits of AEneas under the walls of Troy, and of
the interpositions which were put forth to save him in moments of
desperate danger, by beings supernatural and divine. These tales were
in those day