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Sunk in sleep and wine, the Rutulians are silent; we have stealthily spied the open ground that lies in the path through the gate next the sea. The line of fires is broken, and their smoke rises darkly upwards. If you allow us to use the chance towards seeking Aeneas in Pallanteum town, you will soon descry us here at hand with the spoils of the great slaughter we have dealt.
Meantime AEneas himself, after his night's repose in the palace of Evander, was talking with the king and his son on the business which had brought him to Pallanteum. The good will of Evander was greater than his means, for his country was small, and on one side of it was the territory of his enemies, the Rutulians.
"Is it not a shame, Rutulians, to permit one man to expose his life to danger for you all? We are greater in number than the enemy and equal in valor. If Turnus die in this fight, he indeed shall be famous forever, but we who sit here inactive, shall, after losing our country, be the slaves of haughty masters."
They had neither flocks nor herds, nor any other property for their enemies to plunder, while the Rutulians and Latins had great possessions, both of treasure in the towns and of rural produce in the country, so that when the Trojans gained the victory over them in any sally or foray, they always came home laden with booty, as well as exultant in triumph and pride; while if the Latins conquered the Trojans in a battle, they had nothing but the empty honor to reward them.
The victorious Rutulians, with their spoils and the plunder regained, bore dead Volscens weeping to the camp. Nor in the camp was the wailing less, when Rhamnes was found a bloodless corpse, and Serranus and Numa and all their princes destroyed in a single slaughter.
The Rutulians were vanquished: the victorious Aborigines and Trojans lost their leader Latinus. Thereupon Turnus and the Rutulians, mistrustful of their strength, had recourse to the prosperous and powerful Etruscans, and their king Mezentius, whose seat of government was at Cære, at that time a flourishing town.
A space of ground was measured off on the open plain in front of the city walls, and in the center were erected altars of turf. The two armies were marshalled on opposite sides of this space, the Trojans and Etrurians on one side, the Rutulians and Latians on the other, and at a given signal every man fixed his spear in the earth, and laid down his shield.
But suddenly the flock of swans arose, and darting in a solid body upon the eagle, attacked him with such force that he dropped his prey and flew off into the clouds. The Rutulians understood the meaning of this spectacle, and with loud shouts they began to make preparations for battle.
Accordingly the attempt was made, but the Trojans were found on their guard, and having received strict orders from Aeneas not to fight in his absence, they lay still in their intrenchments, and resisted all the efforts of the Rutulians to draw them into the field.
But while the solemn ceremonies were being carried out at the altars, the Rutulians began to show signs of dissatisfaction. It seemed to them that the youthful Turnus was no equal match in arms for the veteran Trojan. Already the Rutulians deemed their man O'ermatched in arms, before the fight began. First rising fears are whispered through the crowd; Then, gathering sound, they murmur more aloud.
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