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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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'T is true, Messapus, fearless of his fate, With fierce Atinas' aid, defends the gate: On ev'ry side surrounded by the foe, The more they kill, the greater numbers grow; An iron harvest mounts, and still remains to mow. You, far aloof from your forsaken bands, Your rolling chariot drive o'er empty Stupid he sate, his eyes on earth declin'd, And various cares revolving in his mind: Rage, boiling from the bottom of his breast, And sorrow mix'd with shame, his soul oppress'd; And conscious worth lay lab'ring in his thought, And love by jealousy to madness wrought. By slow degrees his reason drove away The mists of passion, and resum'd her sway. Then, rising on his car, he turn'd his look, And saw the town involv'd in fire and smoke. A wooden tow'r with flames already blaz'd, Which his own hands on beams and rafters rais'd; And bridges laid above to join the space, And wheels below to roll from place to place. "Sister, the Fates have vanquish'd: let us go The way which Heav'n and my hard fortune show. The fight is fix'd; nor shall the branded name Of a base coward blot your brother's fame. Death is my choice; but suffer me to try My force, and vent my rage before I die." He said; and, leaping down without delay, Thro' crowds of scatter'd foes he freed his way. Striding he pass'd, impetuous as the wind, And left the grieving goddess far behind. As when a fragment, from a mountain torn By raging tempests, or by torrents borne, Or sapp'd by time, or loosen'd from the roots- Prone thro' the void the rocky ruin shoots, Rolling from crag to crag, from steep to steep; Down sink, at once, the shepherds and their sheep: Involv'd alike, they rush to nether ground; Stunn'd with the shock they fall, and stunn'd from earth rebound: So Turnus, hasting headlong to the town, Should'ring and shoving, bore the squadrons down. Still pressing onward, to the walls he drew, Where shafts, and spears, and darts promiscuous flew, And sanguine streams the slipp'ry ground embrue. |
