Through the thick battle pressed.
锟絙utius smote Mamilius

So fiercely" target="_blank" title="ad.凶猛地，残忍地">fiercely on the shield
That the great lord of Tusculum

Well-nigh rolled on the field.
Mamilius smote 锟絙utius,

With a good aim and true,
Just where the next and shoulder join,

And pierced him through and through;
And brave 锟絙utius Elva

Fell swooning to the ground:
But a thick wall of bucklers

Encompassed him around.
His clients from the battle

Bare him some little space,
And filled a helm from the dark lake,

And bathed his brow and face;
And when at last he opened

His swimming eyes to light,
Men say, the earliest words he spake

Was, ``Friends, how goes the fight?''.
XVII

But meanwhile in the centre
Great deeds of arms were wrought;

There Aulus the Dictator
And there Valerius fought.

Aulus with his good broadsword
A bloody passage cleared

To where, amidst the thickest foes,
He saw the long white beard.

Flat lighted that good broadsword
Upon proud Tarquin's head.

He dropped the lance: he dropped the reins:
He fell as fall the dead.

Down Aulus springs to slay him,
With eyes like coals of fire;

But faster Titus hath sprung down,
And hath bestrode his sire.

Latian captains, Roman knights,
Fast down to earth they spring,

And hand to hand they fight on foot
Around the ancient king.

First Titus gave tall C锟絪o
A death wound in the face;

Tall C锟絪o was the bravest man
Of the brave Fabian race:

Aulus slew Rex of Gabii,
The priest of Juno's shrine;

Valerius smote down Julius,
Of Rome's great Julian line;

Julius, who left his mansion,
High on the Velian hill,

And through all turns of weal and woe
Followed proud Tarquin still.

Now right across proud Tarquin
A corpse was Julius laid;

And Titus groaned with rage and grief,
And at Valerius made.

Valerius struck at Titus,
And lopped off half his crest;

But Titus stabbed Valerius
A span deep in the breast.

Like a mast snapped by the tempest,
Valerius reeled and fell.

Ah! woe is me for the good house
That loves the people well!

Then shouted loud the Latines;
And with one rush they bore

The struggling Romans backward
Three lances' length and more:

And up they took proud Tarquin,
And laid him on a shield,

And four strong yeomen bare him,
Still senseless, from the field.

XVIII
But fiercer grew the fighting

Around Valerius dead;
For Titus dragged him by the foot

And Aulus by the head.
``On, Latines, on!'' quoth Titus,

``See how the rebels fly!''
``Romans, stand firm!'' quoth Aulus,

``And win this fight or die!
They must not give Valerius

To raven and to kite;
For aye Valerius loathed the wrong,

And aye upheld the right:
And for your wives and babies

In the front rank he fell.
Now play the men for the good house

That loves the people well!.''
XIX

Then tenfold round the body
The roar of battle rose,

Like the roar of a burning forest,
When a strong north wind blows,

Now backward, and now forward,
Rocked furiously the fray,

Till none could see Valerius,
And none wist where he lay.

For shivered arms and ensigns
Were heaped there in a mound,

And corpses stiff, and dying men
That writhed and gnawed the ground;

And wounded horses kicking,
And snorting purple foam:

Right well did such a couch befit
A Consular of Rome.

XX
But north looked the Dictator;

North looked he long and hard,
And spake to Caius Cossus,

The Captain of his Guard;
``Caius, of all the Romans

Thou hast the keenest sight,
Say, what through yonder storm of dust

Comes from the Latian right;''
XXI

Then answered Caius Cossus:
``I see an evil sight;

The banner of proud Tusculum
Comes from the Latian right;

I see the plum锟絛 horsemen;
And far before the rest

I see the dark-gray charger,
I see the purple vest;

I see the golden helmet
That shines far off like flame;

So ever rides Mamilius,
Prince of the Latian name.''

XXII
``Now hearken, Caius Cossus:

Spring on thy horse's back;
Ride as the wolves of Apennine

Were all upon thy track;
Haste to our southward battle:

And never draw thy rein
Until thou find Herminius,

And bid hime come amain.''
XXIII

So Aulus spake, and turned him
Again to that fierce strife;

And Caius Cossus mounted,
And rode for death and life.

Loud clanged beneath his horse-hoofs
The helmets of the dead,

And many a curdling pool of blood
Splashed him heel to head.

So came he far to southward,
Where fought the Roman host,

Against the banners of the marsh
And banners of the coast.

Like corn before the sickle
The stout Laninians fell,

Beneath the edge of the true sword
That kept the bridge so well.

XXIV
``Herminius! Aulus greets thee;

He bids thee come with speed,
To help our central bettle,

For sore is there our need;
There wars the youngest Tarquin,

And there the Crest of Flame,
The Tusculan Mamilius,

Prince of the Latian name.
Valerius hath fallen fighting

In front of our array;
And Aulus of the seventy fields

Alone upholds the day.''
XXV

Herminius beat his bosom:
But never a word he spake.

He clapped his hand on Auster's mane,
He gave the reins a shake.

Away, away, went Auster,
Like an arrow from the bow:

Black Auster was the fleetest steed
From Aufidus to Po.

XXVI
Right glad were all the Romans

Who, in that hour of dread,
Against great odds bare up the war

Around Valerius dead,
When from the south the cheering

Rose with a mighty swell;
``Herminius comes, Herminius,

Who kept the bridge so well!''
XXVII

Mamilius spied Herminius,
And dashed across the way.

``Herminius! I have sought thee
Through many a bloody day.

One of us two, Herminius,
Shall never more go home.

I will lay on for Tusculum,
And lay thou on for Rome!

XXVIII
All round them paused the battle,

While met in mortal fray
The Roman and the Tusculan,

The horses black and gray.

• fiercely [´fiəsli] ad.凶猛地，残忍地 (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
• bloody [´blʌdi] a.(流)血的；血腥的 (初中英语单词)
• priest [pri:st] n.教士；牧师；神父 (初中英语单词)
• backward [´bækwəd] ad.向后 a.向后的 (初中英语单词)
• purple [´pə:pl] n.紫色 a.紫(红)的 (初中英语单词)
• banner [´bænə] n.旗(帜)；头号标题 (初中英语单词)
• fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
• sprung [sprʌŋ] spring的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
• furiously [´fjuəriəsli] ad.狂怒地；有力地 (高中英语单词)
• southward [´sauθwəd] a.&n.向南方向(的) (高中英语单词)
• mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
• mortal [´mɔ:tl] a.致命的 n.凡人 (高中英语单词)
• amidst [ə´midst] prep.=amid (英语四级单词)
• corpse [kɔ:ps] n.尸体 (英语四级单词)
• senseless [´sensləs] a.无知觉的；愚蠢的 (英语四级单词)
• hearken [´hɑ:kən] vi.听 (英语四级单词)
• bridge [bridʒ] n.桥(梁)；鼻梁；桥牌 (英语四级单词)