THE GATHERING OF THE CHIEFS.
After this the shepherds hasted back to the city, and bare with them
the dead, even the youth Almo and the old man Galæsus, and cried for
vengeance to the Gods and to the king. And fiercest of all was Turnus,
complaining that men of Troy were called to reign over them, and that
he himself was banished. And all the multitude was urgent with the
king that he should make war against the strangers; neither did any
man regard the commands of the Gods. But the king stood firm, even as
a great rock in the sea is not moved though the waves roar about it
and the seaweed is dashed upon its sides. But when he saw that he
could not prevail against these evil counsels, he called the Gods to
witness, crying, "The storm strikes upon me, and I may not stand
against it. O foolish Latins, ye shall pay for this madness with your
blood, and thou, Turnus, shalt suffer the worst punishment of all; and
when thou shalt turn to the Gods they shall not hear thee. But as for
me, my rest is at hand; I lose but the honours of my funeral."
It was a custom in Latium, which Alba kept in after time, and mighty
Rome yet keepeth to this day, that when she beginneth to make war, be
it on the men of Thrace or the men of the East, Arab, or Indian, or
Parthian, they open the great gates of the temple (double they are,
and made strong with bolts of brass and iron), on the threshold
whereof sitteth Janus, the guardian. For the Consul himself, with robe
and girdle, so soon as the fathers give their sentence for war, throws
them wide, and the people follow the Consul, and the horns blow a
great blast together. Even so they bade King Latinus, after the custom
of his country, declare war against the men of Troy, and open the
gates of slaughter; but he would not, flying and hiding himself in
darkness. Then did great Juno herself come down and burst asunder the
iron-bound gates of war.
[Illustration: TURNUS OVER THE BODIES OF ALMO AND GALÆSUS.]
Then through the land of Italy men prepared themselves for battle,
making bright shield and spear and sharpening the axe upon the
whetstone. And in five cities did they set up anvils to make arms
thereon, head-pieces, and shields of wicker, and breast-plates of
bronze, and greaves of silver. Nor did men regard any more the
reaping-hook nor the plough, making new for battle the swords of their
fathers.
Now the greatest of the chiefs were these:
First, Prince Mezentius, the Tuscan, who regarded not the Gods; and
with him Lausus his son, than whom was none fairer in the host but
Turnus only. A thousand men followed him from Agylla. Worthy was he of
a better father.
Next came, with horses that none might surpass, Aventinus, son of
Hercules; and on his shield was the emblem of his father, the Hydra,
with its hundred snakes. Long swords had his men and Sabine spears;
and he himself had about his head and shoulders a great lion's skin,
with terrible mane and great white teeth.
And from Tibur came two youths of Argos, twin brothers, Catillus and
Coras, swift and strong as two Centaurs from the hills. And Cæculus,
who builded Præneste, was there, son of Vulcan, and a great company
of country folk with him, whereof many bare not shield nor spear, but
slings with bullets of lead, and javelins in either hand, and helmets
of wolf's skin upon their heads.
After him marched Messapus, tamer of horses, Neptune's son, whom no
man might lay low with fire or sword; and the people followed, singing
a war-song of their king, like to a great flock of swans, which flies
with many cries across the Asian marsh. And next Clausus the Sabine,
from whom is sprung the great Claudian house; and Halesus, companion
of Agamemnon, and enemy of Troy from of old, with many nations behind
him; clubs had they, fastened with thongs of leather, and wicker
shields on their left arms, and their swords were shaped as
reaping-hooks. After these came Œbalus, son of Telon, with the men of
Campania, wearing helmets of cork, and having shields and swords of
bronze; also Ufens, of Nersæ, with his robber bands; and Umbro, the
Marsian priest, a mighty wizard and charmer of serpents, who also
could heal their bite; but the wound of the Trojan spears he could not
heal, nor did all his charms and mighty herbs avail him.
With them also came Virbius, son of Hippolytus, from Egeria. For men
say that Hippolytus, when the curse of his father had fallen upon him,
and he had perished by the madness of his horses, was made alive by
the skill of Æsculapius, and that Jupiter, being wroth that a mortal
should return from the dead, slew the healer, the son of Phœbus, with
his thunderbolt; but that Hippolytus Diana hid in the grove of Aricia,
that he might spend the rest of his days obscure and without offence.
And therefore do they yet hinder horses from coming near to the temple
of Diana. Nevertheless the youth Virbius drave horses in his chariot.
But chief among them all was Turnus, who moved in the midst, clad in
armour, and overtopping them all by his head. And he had a helmet with
three crests, and the Chimæra thereon for a sign; and on his shield
was Io, with her horns lifted to heaven, and Argus the herdsman, and
Inachus pouring a river from his urn. A great multitude of footmen
followed him, Rutulians and Sicanians, and they that dwelt about the
Tiber, and about Anxur, and about the green woods of Feronia.
Last of all came Camilla the Volscian, with a great company on
horses, clad in armour of bronze. She loved neither distaff nor the
basket of Minerva, but rather to fight and to outstrip the winds in
running. And a mighty runner was she, for she would run over the
harvest-field nor harm the corn, and when she sped across the waves of
the sea she wetted not her foot therein. All the youth marvelled to
behold her, and the women stood gazing upon her as she went. For a
robe of royal purple was about her shoulders, and a snood of gold
about her hair; and she carried a Syrian quiver and a pike of
myrtle-wood, as the shepherds are wont.