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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Nor, Cisseus, couldst thou scape from Turnus' hand, In vain the strongest of th' Arcadian band: Nor to Cupentus could his gods afford Availing aid against th' Aenean sword, Which to his naked heart pursued the course; Nor could his plated shield sustain the force. Iolas fell, whom not the Grecian pow'rs, Nor great subverter of the Trojan tow'rs, Were doom'd to kill, while Heav'n prolong'd his date; But who can pass the bounds, prefix'd by fate? In high Lyrnessus, and in Troy, he held Two palaces, and was from each expell'd: Of all the mighty man, the last remains A little spot of foreign earth contains. And now both hosts their broken troops unite In equal ranks, and mix in mortal fight. Seresthus and undaunted Mnestheus join The Trojan, Tuscan, and Arcadian line: Sea-born Messapus, with Atinas, heads The Latin squadrons, and to battle leads. They strike, they push, they throng the scanty space, Resolv'd on death, impatient of disgrace; And, where one falls, another fills his place. The Cyprian goddess now inspires her son To leave th' unfinish'd fight, and storm the town: For, while he rolls his eyes around the plain In quest of Turnus, whom he seeks in vain, He views th' unguarded city from afar, In careless quiet, and secure of war. Occasion offers, and excites his mind To dare beyond the task he first design'd. Resolv'd, he calls his chiefs; they leave the fight: Attended thus, he takes a neighb'ring height; The crowding troops about their gen'ral stand, All under arms, and wait his high command. Then thus the lofty prince: "Hear and obey, Ye Trojan bands, without the least delay Jove is with us; and what I have decreed Requires our utmost vigor, and our speed. Your instant arms against the town prepare, The source of mischief, and the seat of war. This day the Latian tow'rs, that mate the sky, |
