THE FUNERAL GAMES (CONTINUED).
Then did Æneas offer rewards for boxers: for the conqueror an ox with
gilded horns; for the vanquished a sword and helmet. Straightway rose
up the huge Dares, who only had dared to stand in the lists against
Prince Paris, and also at the funeral games of Hector had vanquished
Butes, hurting him so sore that he died. (This Butes was of the race
of Amycus, the great boxer whom Pollux slew, and no man had stood
before him.) But when they saw the broad shoulders of the man and his
might there was not found one to contend with him. Therefore Dares
came near to Æneas, and, laying his left hand on the horns of the ox,
spake, saying, "If there be no man to stand against me, why do I
tarry? Bid them bring the prize." Thereupon Acestes rebuked Entellus,
who sat near him upon the grass: "Sufferest thou such gifts to be
taken without contest? What of Eryx, thy master? What of thy fame,
which hath gone through all the land of Sicily, and the spoils that
hang in thy house?"
Then said Entellus, "Think not, Acestes, that I am fearful, or
careless of honour. But I am old: my strength is gone from me. Were I
young, as that boaster yonder, I had not waited for gifts that I
should go forth to the battle."
Then cast he into the midst two gauntlets which Eryx, the great boxer,
had been wont to wear. And all men marvelled to see them, so huge were
they, and heavy with bull's hide and lead and iron. And Dares stood
astonied, nor would stand against such arms. And when Æneas regarded
them and tried their weight, Entellus spake, saying, "What had the man
of Troy said had he seen the gauntlets of Hercules himself, and the
dreadful battle that befell on this very shore? These gauntlets Eryx,
who was my mother's son, was wont to wear: thou seest them stained yet
with blood and brains, and I also was wont to wear them in the days of
my youth. But if Dares liketh them not, be it so; I put them away, and
he shall do the like with his."
Then he threw his garment from his shoulders, showing his mighty arms
and sinews. And Æneas gave the two equal gauntlets, and they stood
with heads thrown back, and began the battle. Dares indeed was swifter
to move, and vigorous, and young; and Entellus was huge of stature,
but slow and scant of breath. Many blows they aimed at each other:
many times one smote the other on his breast or his cheek, but struck
not home. And ever Entellus abode in the same place, swaying himself
hither and thither with watchful eyes. But Dares was as one who
besieges a city or a fort on the hills, and tries now this approach,
now that, and searches out all the place, and assails it in many ways.
But at the last Entellus lifted his right hand and dealt a mighty
blow, which the other, foreseeing it as it fell, avoided; so that the
old man wasted his strength in air, and fell with a great crash to the
earth, even as falls a pine torn up by the roots on Mount Erymanthus
or Mount Ida. Then the men of Troy and the men of Sicily rose up from
their places to see the thing; Acestes also ran forward and lifted up
the old man from the earth and would have comforted him. But he went
back in great wrath to the battle, anger and shame stirring him up.
And Dares fled before him over the plain, and he followed him, smiting
him now with the right hand, now with the left, and his blows were as
the hail that rattles upon the roof. But Æneas bade him stay his
anger, and spake kindly to Dares, bidding him cease from the battle.
"Seest thou not that this day the victory is another's, and that the
Gods are against thee? Fight not against the Gods." Then he commanded
that the battle should cease. And the companions of Dares led him to
the ships, scarcely dragging his legs, and vomiting thick blood from
his mouth, and teeth in the blood. Also they took the shield and
helmet which were his reward, but the palm-branch and the ox they left
to Entellus. Then said the conqueror, "See, son of the goddess, and ye
men of Troy, what strength dwelt in this body while I was yet young,
and from what a death ye have saved this Dares." Then stood he over
against the ox and smote it with his gauntlet between the horns. And
it fell dead upon the earth. And Entellus cried aloud, "O Eryx, I
offer thee this life for the life of Dares, being indeed the better
for the worse. And I lay aside these gauntlets and this art."
[Illustration: ENTELLUS KILLING THE BULL.]
Next Æneas called for those who would shoot with the bow, setting up a
mast from the ship of Sergestus, and fastening thereto a dove by a
cord, at which mast were all to shoot. Then came the men together and
cast lots, drawing them from the helmet. And first came Hippocoön, son
of Hyrtacus; and next to him Mnestheus; and third Eurytion, brother of
Pandarus, who broke the treaty between the men of Troy and the Greeks,
shooting his arrow at Menelaüs; but the lot of Acestes lingered in the
helmet and leapt not forth. Then first Hippocoön drew his bow and
smote the mast, so that it shook, and the bird fluttered his wings in
fear; and next Mnestheus shot his arrow, and the bird he touched not,
but the string which bound it he cut; and Eurytion let fly, calling
the while on his brother Pandarus, the mighty archer, to help him, and
smote the dove as she flew rejoicing through the air, so that she fell
to the earth and the arrow in her body. And only Acestes was left, not
having whereat he should aim; yet shot he into the air, for he would
show his skill and the might of his bow. Then lo! a marvel befell,
whereof in after days men knew the fulfilment; for the arrow burned as
it sped through the air, leaving a line of fire, till it was
altogether consumed, even as a star that shoots across the sky by
night. And men marvelled to see it, and prayed to the Gods that it
might be well. Then great Æneas refused not the omen, but embraced
Acestes and gave him many gifts, saying, "Take these gifts, my father,
for Jupiter willeth that thou shouldst have especial honour in this
thing. I give thee, therefore, this bowl, embossed with figures of
men. Old Anchises had it, and to him Cisseus, who was the father of
Queen Hecuba, gave it." Also he put a crown of bay upon his head. Nor
did the good Eurytion murmur, though he had slain the bird; the others
also had their gifts and were content.
Not even now was the assembly dismissed, there remaining yet another
sight to behold. For Ascanius and the youths that were his companions
came riding on horses, and each had a wreath about his head. Each
also had two javelins of cornel wood, and some had quivers on their
shoulders, and each a collar of gold that lay on the top of his
breast. Three companies there were, and to each a leader and twelve
that followed. And one of the leaders was Priamus, son of Polites,
called by the name of his grandfather, on a horse that was black, with
pasterns of white and forehead of white; and another Atys, whom
Ascanius loved; and third, fairest of all to behold, Ascanius, on a
horse of Sidon, which Queen Dido had given him; but to the rest
Acestes had given horses of Sicily.
And when these came forth there was much shouting and clapping of
hands, and the men of Troy rejoiced to see the lads, so like were they
to the famous men their fathers. Then, a signal being given, the
companies were divided into bands, and these made as if they fought a
battle. For sometimes they would fly, and sometimes would pursue, and
sometimes would ride altogether this way or that. Many were their ways
and movements, even as are the paths of the Labyrinth in Crete. Swift
also were they and nimble, even as dolphins which sport among the
waves in the Carpathian Sea or African. This custom did Ascanius teach
to his people when he built the city of Alba, and the men of Alba
taught it to their children after them, and mighty Rome learnt it
also, and kept it in the time to come.