to his son Iulus, and to charge him and the Trojans to keep close within their rampart, in case of attack during his absence. Taking command of his Etruscan allies, and followed by four hundred Arcadian horse under the young Pallas, whom his father gladly sends, as the youths of noble houses were sent in the days of knighthood, to learn the art of war under so great a captain, Æneas sets out on his march for Turnus's capital. The old king does not part from his son without sad misgivings; he has trusted Æneas with more than his life.
Venus has not been neglectful of her son. She has persuaded Vulcan to forge for him weapons and armour of such sort as only the immortal smith can make. The fire-god can never resist her blandishments; and he goes down to the forge where the Cyclops are ever at work, in the caverns beneath the Lipari Islands, off the coast of Sicily. There is much business in hand there already. Some of the one-eyed workmen are forging bolts for Jupiter, composed of four elements,—
"Three rays they took of forky hail,
Of watery cloud three rays,
Three of the wingèd southern gale,
Three of the ruddy blaze."[1]
Some are finishing a war-chariot for Mars; others are shaping an ægis for Minerva—a shield of dragon's scales and rings of gold. But their master bids them
- ↑ The thunderbolt is usually represented on ancient coins and medallions with twelve rays.
