t is
restrained by Juno, who after awhile allows him to land and return to
the battle. Thus deprived of his principal foe, Aeneas ranges over the
battle-field, where he wounds Mezentius and kills Lausus. Seeing his
beloved son is gone, Mezentius is so anxious to die that he now offers
an unresisting throat to Aeneas, who slays him on the spot.

"One boon (if vanquished foe may crave
The victor's grace) I ask--a grave.
My wrathful subjects round me wait:
Protect me from their savage hate,
And let me in the tomb enjoy
The presence of my slaughtered boy."

_Book XI._ Having made a trophy of the enemies' spoil, Aeneas, even
before proceeding to bury his own comrades, adorns the body of Pallas
and sends it back to Etruria. Then he bargains with Turnus'
ambassadors for a twelve-days truce, during which both parties
celebrate pompous funerals, the finest of all being that of Pallas.

Hoping to check further bloodshed, Latinus now proposes a peace, whose
terms Aeneas is willing to accept, but which Turnus angrily rejects
since they deprive him of his promised bride. The conflict is
therefore resumed, and the next interesting episode refers to Camilla,
the warrior maid, whose father when she was only a babe tied her to
the shaft of his spear and flung her across a torrent he was unable to
stem with her in his arms. Having thus saved her from the enemy's
clutches, this father taught Camilla to fight so bravely, that she
causes dire havoc among the Trojans before she dies, using her last
breath to implore Turnus to hasten to the rescue.

"Go: my last charge to Turnus tell,
To haste with succor, and repel
The Trojans from the town--farewell."
She spoke, and speaking, dropped her rein,
Perforce descending to the plain.
Then by degrees she slips away
From all that heavy load of clay:
Her languid neck, her drowsy head
She droops to earth, of vigor sped:
She lets her martial weapons go:
The indignant soul flies down below.

_Book XII._ Unappeased by Latinus' reiterated assertions that he is
bestowing Lavinia upon a stranger merely to obey the gods, or by the
entreaties in which Amata now joins, Turnus still refuses peace. More
fighting therefore ensues, during which Aeneas is wounded in the
thigh. While his leech is vainly trying to stanch his blood, Venus
drops a magic herb into the water used for bathing his wounds and thus
miraculously cures him. Plunging back into the fra