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E'en then affection claims its part; Euryalus is in his heart; Uprising from the sodden clay, He casts himself in Salius' way, And Salius tripped and sprawling lay. This gave the victory to Euryalus, but Salius protested against the foul play by which he had been defeated, and claimed that he was entitled to the first prize.
Here, just in the flush of victory, he lost his feet; they slid away on the ground they pressed, and he fell forward right among the ordure and blood of the sacrifice. Yet forgot he not his darling Euryalus; for rising, he flung himself over the slippery ground in front of Salius, and he rolled over and lay all along on the hard sand.
The spectators, however, favored the claim of Euryalus because of his youth and beauty; and Diores vehemently took the same side, since, if Salius were adjudged the victory, he would not receive a prize at all.
These priests were called Salii, not, as some say, after a man of Samothrace or of Mantinea named Salius, who first taught the art of dancing under arms, but rather from the springing dance itself, which they dance through the city when they carry out the shields in the month of March, dressed in scarlet tunics, girt with brazen girdles, with brazen helmets on their heads and little daggers with which they strike the shields.
Diores supports him, who succeeded to the palm, so he loudly cries, and bore off the last prize in vain, if the highest honours be restored to Salius.
Here the remaining games were to be celebrated, and first of all a foot race. Among the competitors in this were Euryalus, a Trojan youth distinguished for his personal beauty; Nisus, a brave warrior, who was his constant friend and companion; Diores, Salius, and Patron, three other Trojans; and two Sicilian youths famous for their speed, named Elymus and Panopes.
Among the Sicilian competitors were Sa'li-us and Pa'tron, and two young men, El'y-mus and Pan'o-pes, companions of King Acestes. The signal having been given, the racers darted off like lightning. Nisus quickly took the lead springing far away ahead of the rest. Next, but at a long distance came Salius, and after him Euryalus, followed by Elymus, with Diores close by his side.
Nisus gets away first, and shoots out far in front of the throng, fleeter than the winds or the winged thunderbolt. Next to him, but next by a long gap, Salius follows; then, left a space behind him, Euryalus third . . . and Helymus comes after Euryalus; and close behind him, lo!
'If this, cries Nisus, 'is the reward of defeat, and thy pity is stirred for the fallen, what fit recompense wilt thou give to Nisus? to my excellence the first crown was due, had not I, like Salius, met Fortune's hostility. And with the words he displayed his face and limbs foul with the wet dung.
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