The Aeneid of Virgil, page 200 by Virgil

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201

e.

LXXXIV. There, later Rome, and there, the Sabine dames

Amid the crowded theatre he viewed,
Raped by the Romans at the Circus games;
The sudden war, that from the deed ensued,
With aged Tatius and his Cures rude.
There stand the kings, still armed, but foes no more,
Beside Jove's altar, and abjure the feud.
Goblet in hand, the sacred wine they pour,
And o'er the slaughtered swine the plighted peace restore.

LXXXV. Next, Mettus, by the four-horsed chariot torn.

('Twere better, perjured Alban, to be true!)
Fierce Tullus dragged the traitor's limbs in scorn
Through brambles, dripping with the crimson dew.
Porsenna there around the city drew
His 'leaguering host. But freedom fired the blood
Of Romans. Idle was his rage, to view
How Cocles on the battered bridge withstood,
And Cloelia burst her bonds, and singly stemmed the flood.

LXXXVI. Next, Manlius guards the Capitol; see here

The straw-thatched palace. Silvered in the gold,
The fluttering goose proclaims the Gauls are near.
They, screened by darkness, thread the woods, and hold
With arms the slumbering citadel. Behold
Their beards all golden, and their golden hair,
Their white necks gleaming with the twisted gold,
Their chequered plaids. Each hand an Alpine spear
Waves, and an oblong shield their stalwart arms upbear.

LXXXVII. There danced the Salians, the Luperci reeled

Half-naked. See them sculptured in array,
With caps wool-tufted, and the sky-dropt shield.
Chaste dames, in cushioned chariots, lead the way
Through the glad city. Elsewhere, far away,
Loom Dis and Tartarus, where the guilty pine,
And Catiline, upon a rock for aye
Hangs, shuddering at the Furies. Distant shine
The just, where Cato stands, dealing the law divine.

LXXXVIII. The swelling ocean in the midst is seen,

All golden, but the billow's hoary spray
Foams o'er the blue. Dolphins of silvery sheen
Lash the

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