Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/435

Meantime in Vulcan's arms arrayed
Æneas mans his breast,
Rejoiced that offered truce has made
Two hosts from battle rest:
Then reassures his comrades' fears
And checks Iulus' starting tears,
Rehearsing Fate's decree,
And bids his envoys answer bear
To Latium's monarch, and declare
The terms of peace to be.

Scarce had the morn her radiance shed
On topmost mountain height,
When, leaving Ocean's oozy bed,
The Sun's fleet steeds, with upturned head,
Breathe out loose flakes of light.
Beneath the city's strong redoubt
Rutule and Trojan measure out
The combat's listed ground,
And altars in the midst prepare
For common sacrifice and prayer,
Piled up with grassy mound;
While others, girt with aprons, bring
Live coals and water from the spring,
Their brows with vervain bound.
Through the thronged gates the Ausonian band
Comes streaming onward, lance in hand:
Trojans and Tuscans all,
Equipped in arms of various show,
Come marshalled by their ranks, as though
They heard the battle's call.
Decked out with gold and purple dye,
From troop to troop the leaders fly,
Mnestheus, Assaracus's seed,
Asilas, chief divine,