16. Then far to North Æbutius,

The Master of the Knights, Gave Tubero of Norba

To feed the Porcian kites. Next under those red horse-hoofs

Flaccus of Setia lay; Better had he been pruning

Among his elms that day.
Mamilius saw the slaughter,

And tossed his golden crest,
And towards the Master of the Knights

Through the thick battle pressed.
Æbutius smote Mamilius

So fiercely on the shield,
That the great lord of Tusculum

Wellnigh rolled on the field.
Mamilius smote Æbutius,

With a good aim and true,
Just where the neck and shoulder join,

And pierced him through and through; And brave Æbutius Elva

Fell swooning to the ground: But a thick wall of bucklers

Encompassed him around.
His clients from the battle

Bare him some little space;
And filled a helm from the dark lake,

And bathed his brow and face;
And when at last he opened

His swimming eyes to light,
Men say, the earliest word he spake
Was, “Friends, how goes the fight?”

17.
But meanwhile in the centre

Great deeds of arms were wrought; There Aulus the Dictator,

And there Valerius fought.
Aulus, with his good broadsword,

A bloody passage cleared
To where, amidst the thickest foes,

He saw the long white beard.
Flat lighted that good broadsword

Upon proud Tarquin's head.
He dropped the lance: he dropped the reins :

He fell as fall the dead.
Down Aulus springs to slay him,

With eyes like coals of fire;
But faster Titus hath sprung down,

And hath bestrode his sire.
Latian captains, Roman knights,

Fast down to earth they spring; And hand to hand they fight on foot

Around the ancient king. First Titus gave tall Cæso

A death wound in the face; Tall Cæso was the bravest man

Of the brave Fabian race: Aulus slew Rex of Gabii,

The priest of Juno's shrine: Valerius smote down Julius,

Of Roine's great Julian line;
Iulius, who left his mansion

High on the Velian hill,
And through all turns of weal and wo

Followed proud Tarquin still.
Now right across proud Tarquin

A corpse was Julius laid:
And Titus groaned with rage and grief,

And at Valerius made.

Valerius struck at Titus,

And lopped off half his crest;
But Titus stabbed Valerius

A span deep in the breast.
Like a mast snapped by the tempest,

Valerius reeled and fell.
Ah! wo is me for the good house

That loves the people well!
Then shouted loud the Latines;

And with one rush they bore The struggling Romans backward

Three lances' length and more:
And up they took proud Tarquin,

And laid him on a shield,
And four strong yeomen bare him,
Still senseless, from the field.

18.
But fiercer grew the fighting

Around Valerius dead;
For Titus dragged him by the foot,

And Aulus by the head.
“On, Latines, on!" quoth Titus,

“See how the rebels fly!” “Romans, stand firm !" quoth Aulus,

“And win this fight or die ! They must not give Valerius

To raven and to kite;
For aye Valerius loathed the wrong,

And aye upheld the right:
And for your wives and babies

In the front rank he fell. Now play the men for the good house That loves the people well!"

19.
Then tenfold round the body

The roar of battle rose,
Like the roar of a burning forest,

When a strong northwind blows.
Now backward, and now forward,

Rocked furiously the fray, Till none could see Valerius,

And none wist where he lay. For shivered arms and ensigns

Were heaped there in a mound, And corpses stiff, and dying men

That writhed and gnawed the grounl; And wounded horses kicking,

And snorting purple foam : Right well did such a couch befit A Consular of Rome.

20. But north looked the Dictator;

North looked he long and hard ; And spake to Caius Cossus,

The Captain of his Guard: “Caius, of all the Romans

Thou hast the keenest sight; Say, what through yonder storm of dust Comes from the Latian right?"

21. Then answered Caius Cossus:

"I see an evil sight; The banner of proud Tusculum

Comes from the Latian right,
I see the plumed horsemen;

And far before the rest
I see the dark-gray charger,

I see the purple vest;

I see the golden helmet

That shines far off like ilame; 80 ever rides Mamilius,

Prince of the Latian name.”

22. "Now, hearken, Caius Cossus ;

Spring on thy horse's back; Ride as the wolves of Apennine

Were all upon thy track! Haste to our southward battle,

And never draw thy rein Until thou find Herminius,

And bid him come amain."

23. So Aulus spake, and turned him

Again to that fierce strife; And Caius Cossus mounted,

And rode for death and life.
Loud clanged beneath his horse-hoofs

The helmets of the dead,
And many a curdling pool of blood

Splashed him from heel to head.
So came he far to southward,

Where fought the Roman host Against the banners of the marsh

And banners of the coast. Like corn before the sickle

The stou: Lavinians fell, Beneath the edge of the true sword

That kept the bridge so well.

“Herminius! I have sought thee

Through many a bloody day.
One of us two, Herminius

Shall never more go home.
I will lay on for Tusculum,
And lay thou on for Rome!"

28.
All round them paused the battle,

While met in mortal fray The Roman and the Tusculan,

The horses black and gray. Herminius smote Mamilius

Through breastplate and through breass, And fast flowed out the purple blood

Over the purple vest. Mamilius smote Herminius

Through headpiece and through head, And side by side those chiefs of pride

Together fell down dead.
Down fell they dead together

In a great lake of gore;
And still stood all who saw them fall
While men might count a score.

29.
Fast, fast, with heels wild spurning,

The dark-gray charger fled; He burst through ranks of fighting men,

He sprang o'er heaps of dead. His bridle far out-streaming,

His flanks all blood and foam, He sought the southern mountains,

The mountains of his home. The pass was steep and rugged,

The wolves they howled and whmed; But he ran like a whirlwind up the pass,

And he left the wolves behind. Through many a startled hamlet

Thundered his flying feet: He rushed through the gate of Tusculum,

He rushed up the long white street;
He rushed by tower and temple,

And paused not from his race
Till he stood before his master's door

In the stately market-place.
And straightway round him gathered

A pale and trembling crowd,
And when they knew him cries of rage

Brake forth, and wailing loud :
And women rent their tresses

For their great prince's fall :
And old men girt on their old swords,

And went to man the wall.

24. "Herminius! Aulus greets thee;

He bids thee come with speed To help our central battle,

For sore is there our need: There wars the youngest Tarquin,

And there the Crest of Flame, The Tusculan Mamilius,

Prince of the Latian name.
Valerius hath fallen fighting

In front of our array,
And Aulus of the seventy fields

Alune upholds the day.”

25. Herminius beat his bosom,

But never a word he spake: He clapped his hands on Auster's mane;

He gave the reins a shake. Away, away went Auster

Like an arrow from the bow; Black Auster was the fleetest steed

From Aufidus to Po.

30.

26. Right glad were all the Romans

Who, in that hour of dread, Against great odds bare up the war

Around Valerius dead, When from the south the cheering

Rose with a mighty swell," Herminius comes, Herminius, Who kept the bridge so well!"

27. Mamilius spied Herminius,

And dashed across the way. VOL. IV.--76

But, like a graven image,

Black Auster kept his place, And ever wistfully he looked

Into his master's face. The raven-mane that daily,

With pats and fond caresses,
The young Herminia washed and comnod,

And twined in even tresses,
And decked with coloured ribands

From her own gay attire,
Hung sadly o'er her father's corpse

In carnage and in mire.
Forth with a shout sprang Titus,

And seized black Auster's rein,
Then Aulus sware a fearful oath,
And ran at him amain.

3 A

And Ardea wavered on the left,

And Cora on the right. “Rome to the charge !” cried Aulus ;

“The foe begins to yield! Charge for the hearth of Vesta!

Charge for the Golden Shield! Let no man stop to plunder,

But slay, and slay, and slay : The gods who live forever

Are on our side to-day.”

36.

"The furies of thy brother

With me and mine abide,
If one of your accursed house

Upon black Auster ride !"
As on an Alpine watch-tower

From heaven comes down the flame, Full on the neck of Titus

The blade of Aulus came:
And out the red blood spouted,

In a wide arch and tall,
As spouts a fountain in the court

Of some rich Capuan's hall.
The knees of all the Latines

Were loosened with dismay When dead, on dead Herminius, The bravest Tarquin lay.

31. And Aulus the Dictator

Stroked Auster's raven mane, With heed he looked unto the girths,

With heed unto the rein.
“Now bear me well, black Auster,

Into yon thick array;
And thou and I will have revenge
For thy good lord this day.”

32.
So spake he; and was buckling

Tighter black Auster's band, When he was aware of a princely pair

That rode at his right hand. So like they were, no mortal

Might one from other know: White as snow their armour was:

Their steeds were white as snow. Never on earthly anvil

Did such rare armour gleam; And never did such gallant steeds Drink of an earthly stream.

33. And all who saw them trembled,

And pale grew every cheek ; And Aulus the Dictator

Scarce gathered voice to speak.
* Say by what name men call you ?

What city is your home?
And wherefore ride ye in such guise
Before the ranks of Rome ?"

34.
* By many names men call us;

In many lands we dwell: Well Samothracia knows us :

Cyrene knows us well. Our house in gay Tarentum

Is hung each morn with flowers : High o'er the masts of Syracuse

Our marble portal towers :
But by the proud Eurotas

Is our dear native home;
And for the right we come to fight
Before the ranks of Rome.”

35. Ho answered those strange horsemen,

And each couched low his spear; And forth with all the ranks of Rome

Were bold, and of good cheer: And on the thirty armies

Came wonder and affright,

Then the fierce trumpet-flourish

From earth to heaven arose, The kites know well the long stern swel

That bids the Romans close.
Then the good sword of Aulus

Was lifted up to slay :
Then, like a crag down Apennine,

Rushed Auster through the fray.
But under those strange horsemen

Still thicker lay the slain ; And after those strange horses

Black Auster toiled in vain. Behind them Rome's long battle

Came rolling on the foe,
Ensigns dancing wild above,

Blades all in line below.
So comes the Po in flood-time

Upon the Celtic plain:
So comes the squall, blacker than night,

Upon the Adrian main.
Now, by our Sire Quirinus,

It was a goodly sight
To see the thirty standards

Swept down the tide of flight
So flies the spray of Adria

When the black squall doth blow; So corn-sheaves in the flood-time

Spin down the whirling Po. False Sextus to the mountains

Turned first his horse's head: And fast fled Ferentinum,

And fast Circeium fled. The horsemen of Nomentum

Spurred hard out of the fray; The footmen of Velitræ

Threw shield and spear away.
And underfoot was trampled,

Amidst the mud and gore,
The banner of proud Tusculum,

That never stooped before:
And down went Flavius Faustus,

Who led his stately ranks
From where the apple blossoms wave

On Anio's echoing banks,
And Tullus of Arpinum,

Chief of the Volscian aids,
And Metius with the long fair curls,

The love of Anxur's maids,
And the white head of Vulso

The great Arician seer And Nepos of Laurentuin,

The hunter of the deer;
And in the back false Sextus

Felt the good Roman steel,
And wriggling in the dust he died,

Like a worm beneath the wheel :
And fliers and pursuers

Were mingled in a mass;

And far away the battle

Went roaring through the pass.

37. Sempronius Atratinus

Sate in the Eastern Gate.
Beside him were three Fathers,

Each in his chair of state;
Fabius, whose nine stout grandsons

That day were in the field,
And Manlius, eldest of the Twelve

Who keep the Golden Shield;
And Sergius, the High Pontiff,

For wisdom far renowned; In all Etruria's colleges

Was no such Pontiff found. And all around the portal,

And high above the wall,
Stood a great throng of people,

But sad and silent all;
Young lads, and stooping elders

That might not bear the mail,
Matrons with lips that quivered,

And maids with faces pale. Since the first gleam of daylight,

Sempronius had not ceased To listen for the rushing

Of horse-hoofs from the east. The mist of eve was rising,

The sun was hastening down, When he was aware of a princely pair

Fast pricking towards the town.
So like they were, man never

Saw twins so like before;
Red with gore their armour was,

Their steeds were red with gore.

And none who saw their bearing

Durst ask their name or race. On rode they to the Forum,

While laurel-boughs and flowers, From housetops and from windows,

Fell on their crests in showers.
When they drew nigh to Vesta,

They vaulted down amain,
And washed their horses in the well

That springs by Vesta's fane.
And straight again they mounted,

And rode to Vesta's door; Then, like a blast, away they passed, And no man saw them more.

40. And all the people trembled,

And pale grew every cheek; And Sergius the High Pontiff

Alone found voice to speak: “ The Gods who live forever

Have fought for Rome to-day! These be the Great Twin Brethren

To whom the Dorians pray.
Back comes the Chief in triumph,

Who, in thu hour of fight,
Hath seen the Great Twin Brethren

In harness on his right.
Safe comes the ship to haven,

Through billows and through gales If once the Great Twin Brethren

Sit shining on the sails.
Wherefore they washed their horses

In Vesta's holy well,
Wherefore they rode to Vesta's door,

I know, but may not tell.
Here, hard by Vesta's temple,

Build we a stately dome Unto the Great Twin Brethren

Who fought so well for Rome. And when the months returning

Bring back this day of fight, The proud Ides of Quintilis,

Marked evermore with white,
Unto the Great Twin Brethren

Let all the people throng,
With chaplets and with offerings,

With music and with song;
And let the doors and windows

Be hung with garlands all,
And let the Knights be summoned

To Mars without the wall:
Thence let them ride in purple

With joyous trumpet-sound, Each mounted on his war-horse,

And each with olive crowned; And pass in solemn order

Before the sacred dome, Where dwell the Great Twin Brethren

Who fought so well for Rome.”

38.
“ Hail to the great Asylum!

Hail to the hill-tops seven!
Hail to the fire that burns for aye,

And the shield that fell from heaven! This day, by Lake Regillus,

Under the Porcian height, All in the lands of Tusculum

Was fought a glorious fight. To-morrow your Dictator

Shall bring in triumph home The spoils of thirty cities

To deck the shrines of Rome !"

39. Then burst from that great concourse

A shout that shook the towers,
And some ran north, and some ran south,

Crying, “The day is ours!”
But on rode these strange horsemen,
With slow and lcrdly pace;