Not less her chief receives his due
For ship brought back and rescued crew,
A Cretan slave, expert to spin,
And at her bosom children twin.
Æneas seeks a grassy space,
Which winding hills encompass round,
Their shaggy tops with forests crowned;
There, as the deepening vale descends,
A rustic theatre extends,
Where, ringed with thousands round, he sate
On high-heaped throne in rural state.
Whoe’er in speed of foot would vie
He here invites, their chance to try
And earn reward: from diverse parts
They come, swift limbs and generous hearts,
Trojan and Sicel interspersed:
Euryalus and Nisus first:
That for his beauty and his youth
Conspicuous ’mid the sons of Troy,
This for his pure affection’s truth:
Concentred on the lovely boy.
Diores next them takes his place,
A princely branch of Priam’s race:
Salius and Patron too succeed,
The one of Acarnanian breed,
While Tegea gave the other birth,
And Arcady his parent earth:
Then Helymus and Panopes,
Trinacria’s youthful offspring these,
Trained in the woods to chase the boar
And comrades of Acestes hoar:
With many a candidate besides
Whom dim-eyed fame in darkness hides.
Whom, as around his seat they pressed,
Æneas thus in brief addressed:
‘Vouchsafe your audience, and receive
My words with glad regard.
None of this train the field shall leave
Unguerdoned by reward:
Two polished darts of Gnossian craft,
An axe with silver- studded haft,
Such boon be each one’s share:
The three who prove them first in speed
Shall boast a more conspicuous meed,
And olive chaplets wear:
First to the victor of the day
A horse be given with trappings gay:
A quiver shall the second grace,
True Amazon, with shafts from Thrace,
A belt withal of broad bright gold,
With jewelled clasp to clench its hold:
These for the second: on the third
This Argive helmet be conferred.’
And at the sign begin the race,
Pour from their base like rain-cloud dark,
And strain their eyes the goal to mark.
First, far before each flying form,
Comes Nisus rushing like the storm;
Then, nearest him where none are near,
Young Salius strains in full career;
Then with brief interval of space
Euryalus, the third in place;
Then Helymus: behind him, lo!
Diores, touching heel with toe,
Close hangs upon his rear,
And, had they run but few roods more,
Had passed him, shooting on before,
And made the vantage clear.
And panting to the goal they drew,
When Nisus trips in slippery gore
Chance- sprinkled on the grassy floor
From beasts the sacrificers slew;
So late the conqueror, blithe and bold,
He fails to keep his foot’s sure hold,
And falls in prone confusion flung
’Mid victim blood and loathly dung.
E’en then affection claims its part:
Euryalus is in his heart:
Uprising from the sodden clay,
He casts himself in Salius’ way,
And Salius tripped and sprawling lay.
Euryalus like lightning flies
’Mid plaudits and assenting cries,
And through his friend attains the prize:
Next Helymus, and next comes in
Diores, thus the third to win.
Salius aloud his wrong proclaims
To all who sit to view the games:
Fills with his shouts the foremost seat,
Claims back the prize, and brands the cheat.
But more Euryalus finds grace:
So well the tears beseem his face,
And worth appears with brighter shine
When lodged within a lovely shrine.
Diores swells the general strain,
Just ranged within the conquering list;
An empty preference, all in vain,
Should Salius have the prize he missed.
Æneas thus: ‘Your rights are yours:
None stirs the palm my word assures:
Let me be suffered to extend
Compassion to a hapless friend.’
So speaking, Salius he consoled
With lion’s hide, its claws of gold.
Outspoke bold Nisus: ‘If defeat
Such vast requital needs must meet,
And falls win friends, what boon of grace
Were large enough for Nisus’ ease,
Whose merit made him first in place?
But Fortune, with malicious glee,
That baffled Salius, baffled me.’
And saying thus, his face he reared,
And showed his limbs with ordure smeared.
The good sire smiled, and bade be brought
A shield by Didymaon wrought,
A Danaan spoil, which erst he tore
From Grecian Neptune’s temple door:
Then to the gallant youth presents
The guerdon, and his heart contents.
‘Now for the prompt collected mind,
Stout heart, and watchful eye:
Stand forth, your wrists with gauntlets bind,
And lift your arms on high.’
He said, and for the boxing fray
Two prizes he proposed:
A bull for him that wins the day,
Its horns with gold enclosed:
A shining helmet and a glaive
To reassure the beaten brave.
At once, gigantic, broad, and strong,
Amid the plaudits of the throng
Uprises Dares, who alone
With Paris’ skill dared match his own:
Nay, at the tomb where Hector lies,
The champion Butes, vast of size,
Who plumed him on an athlete’s breed
From Amycus’ Bebrycian seed,
Fell, stricken by his conquering hand,
And gasped expiring on the sand.
Such Dares in the lists appears,
His lofty head defiant rears,
The compass of his shoulders shows,
His arms by turns before him
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