Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/412

Myself will front the Trojan host
And Tyrrhene horseman crew:
Let me the field's first peril brave:
Bide you at home, the town to save.'
With wondering eyes the chief surveyed
The terrible yet lovely maid:
Then thus: 'What thanks can speech command,
Fair glory of the Italian land?
But now, since praise must needs despair
To match your worth, my labour share.
Æneas—so my scouts explore—
Has sent his cavalry before
To gallop to the town:
He with his footmen armed for fight
Along; the mountain's wooded height
At leisure marches down.
In that dark passage I prepare
The invading Trojan to ensnare,
That men in arms on each side set
May clasp him as in hunter's net.
You marshal your embattled force
To grapple with the Tuscan horse;
Messapus shall attend your side,
And Latium's troop the charge divide,
And brave Tiburtus' missioned host;
Yourself assume the leader's post.'
This said, with like address he plies
Messapus and his tried allies;
Then quickly on his errand hies.
There is a valley, dusk and blind,
For martial stratagem designed:
Its narrow walls with foliage black,
And strait and scant the pathway's track.
Above there lies a table-land
High on the far hill-top,