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Rain dreadful. With extended arm the king
Bears on his sounding shield the rattling storm;
And presses dauntless on. And now begins
The conflict: shield to shield, and lance to lance
Oppos'd: now rings the batter'd armour: now
The shout of fierce success, the dying groan,
Mingle their horrors: now the snorting steeds
O'er mangled limbs of noble warriors slain

Whirl the swift car, and bathe their hoofs in blood.
O'er the disastrous field, the gloomy pow'rs

That guide the course of slaughter, and delight
In human woe, ride on the stormy clouds,
And, as the tide of conquest drives, to these,
And now to these, reveal their dreadful forms.
Then pale confusion, fear, and shameful flight,
Seizes the bravest; then the mighty fall.

Oh say, bright parent of immortal verse!
Say, memory! what chiefs renown'd in arms
The sword of Locrine mingled with the dead.
First Lago fell; Vigenius next expir'd;

Pierc'd through the shoulder as he turns for flight,

Andragius bites the ground; Molmutius next

Writhes in the pangs of death, for wisdom fam'd,
And skill'd with various eloquence to sooth

Each stormy passion, and the fierce and proud
Beneath the sway of justice teach to bow:

But vain is eloquence, and wisdom vain,

When ruthless war unsheaths his slaught'ring sword.

His death with grief the brave Rudaucus views,

Springs from the ranks, and shakes his threat'ning lance:

The king beholds him, and exclaims aloud:

"Wretch! dost thou dare my waken'd rage to tempt?

On the cold earth Molmutius bleeding lies,

Could not that arm thy lov'd companion save?
Then share his fate. This mercy I bestow,

My spear shall join thee with thy friend in death."
While yet he speaks, the strong Cornubian lance
Sings on direct. Th' impenetrable shield

His left extends, and disappoints the blow:
At the same instant, with no doubtful aim,

While yet Rudaucus from his flying dart

Expects immortal fame, and marks its course,

His right inpels the jav'lin. In his groin

Sudden Rudaucus feels the piercing steel.
Stagg'ring he back recoils; before his eyes
The shades of death are spread. Loëgria's chief
Draws his bright sword, and rushes to destroy.
In vain. At once an hundred guardian arms
Extend their covering shields, and pour at once
An hundred darts against the monarch's head.
But not as yet hell's dreadful ministers

Had, in the course of time prescrib'd, led on
Th' appointed minute; and each thirsty dart,
Turn'd by their breath, or by their sable shields
Repell'd, falls harmless. Full of wrath, he sees
His conquest ravish'd, and with thund'ring voice
Pursues the foe, and fires his martial bands,

Then bathes his slaught'ring sword in vulgar gore.

Nor less Belinus to revenge incites

His heroes. Ev'ry kindling bosom glows

With noble heat, and mighty lust of fame.
And first, where tow`ring in the foremost rank
The might of Butes stood, Gerontius mark'd,
And aim'd the deadly jav'lin. Sounding shrill
It flew, and pierc'd the warrior's neck. He falls
Prone on the plain. Loëgria's troops behold
Their bravest slain, and smit with panic fear
Recede: th' exulting victor bears the spoil.
Next Durius fell, pierc'd by Catellus' dart ;
Not unreveng'd, for warlike Leucon saw,
And with swift motion whirling round dismiss'd

The polish'd pebble from the rapid sling.

Maglaunus feels its force, while on his car

Sublime, the boaster vaunts his matchless arm.

By Elidaucus Phrygian Dates fell:

Griev'd at the sight, and ardent for revenge,

The noble Ilus rear'd his mighty lance;

But satiate with the praise already won,

The

wary

chief within the lines retir'd,

Nor brav'd superior force. Alternate thus

The fortune of the battle ebbs and flows,

And now Loëgria, now Cornubia bleeds.

Now paus'd the fight. A narrow space divides The warring nations, and the rattling storm

Of flying darts subsides: but here and there
Some arm unbidden hurls the random spear:
Meanwhile, on either hand the chiefs repair
The ranks disorder'd. Now again the blast
Of the shrill trumpet, and the shout confus'd
Of charging myriads, with the clank of arms,
And sound of rushing feet, pierces the air.
The tumult thickens: now the keen-edg'd sword
Is bath'd in blood; the slaughter grows around,

Wounded they wound, and dying they destroy.
As when the sea, in narrow channel pent,

Where Cambria's mountains lift their snow-clad heads,

And overlook Eblana's distant bay,

By strong attraction rais'd, on either hand

Wins on the shore, and ebbing now retires,
Till in the middle way the meeting waves

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