errand? It was not thus that my father, the veteran Opheltes, reared and bred me among Argive terrors and Trojan agonies, nor have such been my doings at your side, since I followed our hero Æneas and his desperate fate. Here, here, within me is a soul that thinks scorn of happy 5 sunshine, and deems that the glory at which you aim were cheaply bought with life." "Nay," returns Nisus, "trust me, I had no such fear of you—none such had been just: so may I return to you in triumph, by grace of mighty Jove, or whosoever now looks down on us with righteous eyes. 10 But should aught—and a venture like this, you see, has a thousand such—should aught sway things amiss, be it chance or heaven's will, I would fain have you spared: yours is the meeter age for life. Let me have one to rescue me in fight, or redeem me by ransom paid, and so consign 15 me to the burial all receive: or should Fortune grudge even that, to pay me the rites of the absent, and give me the adornment of a tomb. Nor let me be the cause of grief so terrible to that unhappy parent, who alone of many matrons has had a heart to follow you, dear boy, 20 nor cares for the city of great Acestes." He replied: "Spinning empty pretexts is idle work: there is no change or faltering in my resolve. Up and despatch!" At once he rouses the guard, who take his place and fulfil their time, while he, departing from the post, walks side by side 25 with Nisus, and they seek the prince together.
All else that breathed on earth were asleep, their load of care unbound, their hearts oblivious of toil; the chief leaders of the Teucrians, the flower of the host, were holding council on the crisis in their realm's fortune, what they 30 should do, or who should at length be sent with the news to Æneas. There they stand propped on their long spears, their shields still in their hands, in the midst of camp and plain. At this moment Nisus and Euryalus eagerly crave instant admission—the affair is great, say they, and well 35 worth the pause it claims. Iulus was the first to welcome and reassure them, and bid Nisus speak. Then began the son of Hyrtacus: "Listen, ye sons of Troy, with kindly
