Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/262

Though Latium's force unite with Troy's
Himself will bring the counterpoise.
This said, to Heaven he makes appeal:
The Rutule hosts with emulous zeal
Their martial rage inflame:
And one the chief's young beauty fires,
One kindles at his hero sires,
One at his deeds of fame.

While Turnus thus to fury fans
The Rutules' warlike might,
Alecto on her Stygian vans
Turns to Troy's camp her flight.
New cunning in her breast, a place
She in the distance eyed,
Where young Iulus led the chase
Along the river-side:
Then sudden to his hounds' keen smell
Presents the lure they know so well,
A gallant stag to start:
'Twas thence a nation's sorrow flowed,
And kindling into madness glowed
The savage rustic heart.
Of beauteous form and branching head
A stag in human haunts was bred,
From mother's milk withdrawn,
By Tyrrheus and his children reared,
Tyrrheus, who ruled the royal herd,
The ranger of the lawn.
Fair Silvia, daughter of the race,
Its horns with wreaths would interlace,
Comb smooth its shaggy coat, and lave
Its body in the crystal wave.
Tame and obedient, it would stray
Free through the woods a summer's day,