Foremost in fight, from shores Etrurian cameMezentius, scornful rebel against Heaven,his people all in arms; and at his sideLausus his heir (no fairer youth than he,save Turnus of Laurentum), Lausus, skilledo break proud horses and wild beasts to quell;who from Agylla's citadel in vainled forth his thousand warriors: worthy heto serve a nobler sire, and happier farhe had ne'er been born Mezentius' son.

Next after these, conspicuous o'er the plain,with palm-crowned chariot and victorious steeds,rode forth well-moulded Aventinus, sprungfrom shapely Hercules; upon the shieldhis blazon was a hundred snakes, and showedhis father's hydra-cincture serpentine;him deep in Aventine's most secret grovethe priestess Rhea bore—a mortal maidclasped in a god's embrace the wondrous daywhen, flushed with conquest of huge Geryon,the lord of Tiryns to Laurentum drove,and washed in Tiber's wave th' Iberian kine.His followers brandished pointed pikes and staves,or smooth Sabellian bodkin tipped with steel;but he, afoot, swung round him as he strodea monstrous lion-skin, its bristling maneand white teeth crowning his ferocious brow:for garbed as Hercules he sought his King.

Then came twin brethren, leaving Tibur's keep(named from Tiburtus, brother of them twain)Catillus and impetuous Coras, youthof Argive seed, who foremost in the vanpressed ever where the foemen densest throng:as when two centaurs, children of the cloud,from mountain-tops descend in swift career,the snows of Homole and Othrys leaving,while crashing thickets in their pathway fall.

Nor was Praeneste's founder absent there,by Vulcan sired, among the herds and hinds,and on a hearth-stone found (so runs the taleeach pious age repeats) King Caeculuswith rustic legions gathered from afar:from steep Praeneste and the Gabian valeto Juno dear, from Anio's cold stream,from upland Hernic rocks and foaming rills,from rich Anagnia's pastures, and the plainwhence Amasenus pours his worshipped wave.Not all of armor boast, and seldom soundthe chariot and shield; but out of slingsthey hurl blue balls of lead, or in one handa brace of javelins bear; pulled o'er their browsare hoods of tawny wolf-skin; as they marchthe left foot leaves a barefoot track behind,a rawhide sandal on the right they wear.

Messapus came, steed-tamer, Neptune's son,by sword and fire invincible: this day,though mild his people and unschooled in war,he calls them to embattled lines, and drawsno lingering sword. Fescennia musters there,Aequi Falisci, and what clans possessSoracte's heights, Flavinia's fruitful farms,Ciminian lake and mountain, and the grovesabout Capena. Rank on rank they move,loud singing of their chieftain's praise: as whena flock of snowy swans through clouded airreturn from feeding, and make tuneful cryfrom their long throats, while Asia's rivers hear,and lone Cayster's startled moorland rings:for hardly could the listening ear discernthe war-cry of a mail-clad host; the soundwas like shrill-calling birds, when home from seatheir soaring flock moves shoreward like a cloud.