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Quote of the day: Cluvius relates that Agrippina in her ea
Notes
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The Aeneid by Virgil
translated by Theodore C. Williams
Book XII Chapter 28: Turnus' sword breaks
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Soon Turnus, reckless of the risk, leaped forth,
upreached his whole height to his lifted sword,
and struck: the Trojans and the Latins pale
cried mightily, and all eyes turned one way
expectant. But the weak, perfidious sword
broke off, and as the blow descended, failed
its furious master, whose sole succor now
was flight; and swifter than the wind he flew.
But, lo! a hilt of form and fashion strange
lay in his helpless hand. For in his haste,
when to the battle-field his team he drove,
his father's [Note 1] sword forgotten (such the tale),
he snatched Metiscus' weapon. This endured
to strike at Trojan backs, as he pursued,
but when on Vulcan's armory divine
its earthly metal smote, the brittle blade
broke off like ice, and o'er the yellow sands
in flashing fragments scattered. Turnus now
takes mad flight o'er the distant plain, and winds
in wavering gyration round and round;
for Troy's close ring confines him, and one way
a wide swamp lies, one way a frowning wall.

Note 1: father = Daunus

Event: The Duel of Turnus and Aeneas

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Emicat hic impune putans et corpore toto
alte sublatum consurgit Turnus in ensem
et ferit; exclamant Troes trepidique Latini,
arrectaeque amborum acies. at perfidus ensis
frangitur in medioque ardentem deserit ictu,
ni fuga subsidio subeat. fugit ocior Euro
ut capulum ignotum dextramque aspexit inermem.
fama est praecipitem, cum prima in proelia iunctos
conscendebat equos, patrio mucrone relicto,
dum trepidat, ferrum aurigae rapuisse Metisci;
idque diu, dum terga dabant palantia Teucri,
suffecit; postquam arma dei ad Volcania uentum est,
mortalis mucro glacies ceu futtilis ictu
dissiluit, fulua resplendent fragmina harena.
ergo amens diuersa fuga petit aequora Turnus
et nunc huc, inde huc incertos implicat orbis;
undique enim densa Teucri inclusere corona
atque hinc uasta palus, hinc ardua moenia cingunt.