prompt them? Me thou shalt not move With words from my firm purpose ere thou raise Thy arm against me. Let us hasten first To prove the temper of our brazen spears.”
He spake, and hurled his brazen spear to smite The dreadful shield, a terror in men’s eyes; That mighty buckler rang with the strong blow. Achilles, as it came, held forth his shield With nervous arm far from him, for he feared That the long javelin of his valiant foe Might pierce it. Idle fear; he had not thought That the bright armor given him by the gods Not easily would yield to force of man. Nor could the rapid spear that left the hand Of brave Aeneas pierce the shield; the gold, The gift of Vulcan, stopped it. Through two folds It went, but three remained; for Vulcan’s skill Fenced with five folds the disk—the outer two Of brass, the inner two of tin; between Was one of gold, and there the brazen spear Was stayed. And then in turn Achilles threw His ponderous spear, and struck the orbèd shield Borne by Aeneas near the upper edge, Where thinnest was the brass and thinnest lay The bullock’s hide. The Pelian ash broke through; The buckler crashed; Aeneas, stooping low, Held it above him, terrified; the spear, Tearing both plate and hide of that huge shield, Passed over him, and, eager to go on, Plunged in the earth and stood. He, when he saw The massive lance which he had just escaped Fixed in the earth so near him, stood awhile As struck with fear, and with despairing looks. Achilles drew his trenchant sword and rushed With fury on Aeneas, uttering A fearful shout. Aeneas lifted up A stone, a mighty weight, which no two men, As men are now, could raise, yet easily He wielded it. Aeneas then, to save His threatened life, had smitten with the stone His adversary’s buckler or his helm, And with his sword Pelides had laid dead The Trojan, had not he who shakes the earth, Neptune, beheld him in that perilous hour, And instantly addressed the immortal gods:—
“My heart, ye gods, is heavy for the sake Of the great-souled Aeneas, who will sink To Hades overcome by Peleus’ son. Rash man! He listened to