the steed could tame,
And quell wild beasts and track the woodland game.
A hundred warriors from Agylla's town
He leads--ah vainly! though he died with fame.
Proud had he been and worthy to have known
A nobler sire's commands, a nobler sire to own.

LXXXVIII. With conquering steeds triumphant o'er the mead,
His chariot, crowned with palm-leaves, proudly wheeled
The comely Aventinus, glorious seed
Of glorious Hercules; the blazoned shield
His father's Hydra and her snakes revealed.
Him, when of old, the monstrous Geryon slain,
The lord of Tiryns, victor of the field,
Reached in his wanderings the Laurentian plain,
And bathed in Tiber's stream the captured herds of Spain,

LXXXIX. The priestess Rhea, in the secret shade
Of wooded Aventine, brought forth to light,
A god commingling with a mortal maid.
With pikes and poles his followers join the fight,
Their swords are sharp, their Sabine spears are bright.
Himself afoot, a lion's bristling hide
With sharp teeth set in rows of glittering white,
Swings o'er his forehead, as with eager stride,
Clad in his father's cloak, he seeks the monarch's side.

XC. Twin brothers came from Tibur--such the name
Tiburtus gave it--one Catillus hight,
And one fierce Coras, each of Argive fame,
Each in the van, where deadliest raves the fight.
As when two cloud-born Centaurs in their might
From some tall mountain with swift strides descend,
Steep Homole, or Othrys' snow-capt height;
The thickets yield, trees crash, and branches bend,
As with resistless force the trampled woods they rend.

XCI. Nor lacked Praeneste's founder, Vulcan's child,
Found on the hearthstone--if the tale be true,--
Brave Caeculus, the Shepherds' monarch styled.
Forth from Praeneste swarmed the rustic crew,
From Juno's Gabium to the fight they flew,
From ice-cold Anio, swoln with wintry rain,
From Hernic rocks, which mountain streams bedew,
From fat Anagnia's pastures, from the plain
Where Amasenus rolls majestic to the main.

XCII. With diverse arms they hasten to the war;
Not all can boast the clashing of the shield,
Not all the thunder of the rattling car.
These sling their leaden bullets o'er the field,
Those in each hand the deadly javelin wield.
With caps of fur their rugged brows are dight,
The tawny covering from the dark wolf peeled;
Bare i