This was ordained for Mnestheus to possess,
In war for his defence, for ornament in peace.
Rich was the gift and glorious to behold,
But yet so ponderous with its plates of gold
That scarce two servants could the weight sustain ;
Yet, loaded thus, Demoleus o'er the plain
Pursued and lightly seized the Trojan train.
The third, succeeding to the last reward,
Two goodly bowls of massy silver shared,
With figures prominent and richly wrought,
And two brass cauldrons from Dodona brought.
Thus all rewarded by the hero's hands,

Their conquering temples bound with purple bands.
And now, Sergesthus, clearing from the rock,
Brought back his galley shattered with the shock:
Forlorn she looked, without an aiding oar,
And hooted by the vulgar, made to shore,
As when a snake, surprised upon the road,
Is crushed athwart her body by the load
Of heavy wheels, or with a mortal wound
Her belly bruised, and trodden to the ground.
In vain, with loosened curls, she crawls along,
Yet fierce above she brandishes her tongue,
Glares with her eyes, and bristles with her scales,
But, grovelling in the dust, her parts unsound she trails.
So slowly to the port the Centaur tends,

But what she wants in oars with sails amends ;
Yet for his galley saved the grateful prince
Is pleased the unhappy chief to recompense;
Pholoe, the Cretan slave, rewards his care,
Beauteous herself, with lovely twins as fair.

From thence his way the Trojan hero bent
Into the neighbouring plain, with mountains pent,
Whose sides were shaded with surrounding wood.
Full in the midst of this fair valley stood

A native theatre, which rising slow

By just degrees o'erlooked the ground below.
High on a sylvan throne the leader sate;
A numerous train attend in solemn state.
Here those that in the rapid course delight,
Desire of honour and the prize invite,
The rival runners without order stand,
The Trojans mixed with the Sicilian band.
First Nisus with Euryalus appears,
Euryalus a boy of blooming years,

With sprightly grace and equal beauty crowned;

Nisus for friendship to the youth renowned;
Diores next, of Priam's royal race,

Then Salius, joined with Patron, took their place;
But Patron in Arcadia had his birth,

And Salius his from Acarnanian earth.

Then two Sicilian youths, the names of these
Swift Helymus, and lovely Panopes,
Both jolly huntsmen, both in forests bred,
And owning old Acestes for their head,
With several others of ignobler name,
Whom time has not delivered o'er to fame.
To these the hero thus his thoughts explained,
In words which general approbation gained:
"One common largess is for all designed,
The vanquished and the victor shall be joined.
Two darts of polished steel and Gnosian wood,
A silver studded axe alike bestowed.

The foremost three have olive wreaths decreed;
The first of these obtains a stately steed
Adorned with trappings, and the next in fame,
The quiver of an Amazonian dame,

With feathered Thracian arrows well supplied;
A golden belt shall gird his manly side,
Which with a sparkling diamond shall be tied;
The third this Grecian helmet shall content."
He said to their appointed base they went,
With beating hearts the expected sign receive,
And starting all at once, the barrier leave.
Spread out, as on the winged winds they flew,
And seized the distant goal with greedy view.
Shot from the crowd, swift Nisus all o'erpassed,
Nor storms, nor thunder, equal half his haste;
The next, but though the next, yet far disjoined,
Came Salius, and Euryalus behind;

Then Helymus, whom young Diores plied
Step after step, and almost side by side,
His shoulders pressing, and in longer space
Had won, or left at least a dubious race.

Now spent, the goal they almost reach at last,
When eager Nisus, hapless in his haste,
Slipped first, and slipping, fell upon the plain,
Soaked with the blood of oxen, newly slain;
The careless victor had not marked his way,
But treading where the treacherous puddle lay,
His heels flew up, and on the grassy floor
He fell, besmeared with filth and holy gore.

Not inindless then, Euryalus, of thee,

Nor of the sacred bonds of amity,

He strove the immediate rival's hope to cross,
And caught the foot of Salius as he rose :
So Salius lay extended on the plain;
Euryalus springs out, the prize to gain,
And leaves the crowd; applauding peals attend
The victor to the goal, who vanquished
Next Helymus, and then Diores came,
By two misfortunes made the third in fame

by his friend ;

But Salius enters, and exclaiming loud
For justice, deafens and disturbs the crowd,
Urges his cause may in the court be heard,
And pleads the prize is wrongfully conferred.
But favour for Euryalus appears-

His blooming beauty, with his tender years,
Had bribed the judges for the promised prize;
Besides, Diores fills the court with cries,
Who vainly reaches at the last reward
If the first palm on Salius be conferred.
Then thus the prince: "Let no disputes arise;
Where Fortune placed it, I award the prize;
But Fortune's errors give me leave to mend,
At least to pity my deserving friend."

He said; and from among the spoils he draws
(Ponderous with shaggy mane and golden paws)
A lion's hide; to Salius this he gives :
Nisus with envy sees the gift and grieves.
"If such rewards to vanquished men are due,"
He said, "and falling is to rise by you,
What prize may Nisus from your bounty claim,
Who merited the first rewards and fame ?
In falling, both an equal fortune tried :
Would Fortune for my fall so well provide ?"
With this he pointed to his face, and showed
His hands and all his habit smeared with blood.
The indulgent father of the people smiled,
And caused to be produced an ample shield
Of wondrous art, by Didymaon wrought,

Long since from Neptune's bars in triumph brought ;
This given to Nisus, he divides the rest,
And equal justice in his gifts expressed.

The race thus ended, and rewards bestowed,

Once more the Prince bespeaks the attentive crowd: "If there be here, whose dauntless courage dare

In gauntlet fight, with limbs and body bare,

His opposite sustain in open view,

Stand forth the champion, and the games renew.
Two prizes I propose, and thus divide :

A bull, with gilded horns and fillets tied,
Shall be the portion of the conquering chief;
A sword and helm shall cheer the loser's grief.'
Then haughty Dares in the lists appears,
Stalking he strides, his head erected bears;
His nervous arms the weighty gauntlet wield,
And loud applauses echo through the field;
Dares alone in combat used to stand
The match of mighty Paris hand to hand;
The same at Hector's funerals undertook
Gigantic Butes, of the Amician stock,
And by the stroke of his resistless hand
Stretched the vast bulk upon the yellow sand.
Such Dares was, and such he strode along,
And drew the wonder of the gazing throng :
His brawny back and ample breast he shows,
His lifted arms around his head he throws,
And deals in whistling air his empty blows.
His match is sought, but through the trembling band
Not one dares answer to the proud demand;
Presuming of his force, with sparkling eyes,
Already he devours the promised prize-
He claims the bull with aweless insolence,
And having seized his horns accosts the prince :
"If none my matchless valour dares oppose,
How long shall Dares wait his dastard foes?
Permit me, chief, permit without delay,
To lead this uncontended gift away."
The crowd assents, and with redoubled cries
For the proud challenger demands the prize.
Acestes, fired with just disdain to see
The palm usurped without a victory,
Reproached Entellus thus, who sate beside,

And heard and saw unmoved the Trojan's pride :

66

Once, but in vain, a champion of renown,

So tamely can you bear the ravished crown?
A prize in triumph borne before your sight,
And shun for fear the danger of the fight?
Where is our Eryx now, the boasted name,

The god who taught your thundering arm the game?
Where now your baffled honour, where the spoil

That filled your house, and fame that filled our isle ?" Entellus thus: My soul is still the same,

Unmoved with fear and moved with martial fame;
But my chill blood is curdled in my veins,
And scarce the shadow of a man remains.
Oh, could I turn to that fair prime again,
That prime of which this boaster is so vain,
The brave who this decrepid age defies
Should feel my force, without the promised prize."
He said, and rising at the word, he threw
Two ponderous gauntlets down in open view,
Gauntlets which Eryx wont in fight to wield,
And sheathe his hands with in the listed field.
With fear and wonder seized, the crowd beholds
The gloves of death, with seven distinguished folds
Of tough bull hides; the space within is spread
With iron or with loads of heavy lead.
Dares himself was daunted at the sight,
Renounced his challenge and refused to fight;
Astonished at their weight the hero stands,
And poised the ponderous engines in his hands.
"What had your wonder," said Entellus, "been
Had you the gauntlets of Alcides seen,

Or viewed the stern debate on this unhappy green?
These which I bear your brother Eryx bore,
Still marked with battered brains and mingled gore;
With these he long sustained the herculean arm,
And these I wielded while my blood was warm :
This languished frame, while better spirits fed,

E'er age unstrung my nerves, or time o'ersnowed my head.

But if the challenger these arms refuse,

And cannot wield their weight, or dare not use;

If great Æneas and Acestes join

In his request, these gauntlets I resign;

Let us with equal arms perform the fight,

And let him leave to fear, since I resign my right."

This said, Entellus for the strife prepares;

Stripped of his quilted coat, his body bares;

Composed of mighty bones and brawn he stands,

A goodly towering object on the sands.

Then just Æneas equal arms supplied,

Which round their shoulders to their wrists they tied.
Both on the tiptoe stand, at full extent,

Their arms aloft, their bodies inly bent;

Their heads from aiming blows they bear afar ;

With clashing gauntlets then provoke the war.

One on his youth and pliant limbs relies,