BOOK V.

Hersilia and Numa repulse the Marsi.- Retreat of Leo. Romulus fortifies his camp. - New exploits of Leo. - Junction of the Marsi and Samnites.. Romulus assembles his council. Numa goes forth to take possession of the defiles of the Trebanian mountains. He finds among these mountains a people by whom he is beloved. - Defeat of the Marsi among the mountains. Singular combat of Numa and Leo. - Magnanimity of Numa. He hears that Tullus is dying, and leaves all to fly to him.

WHEN an immense mass of rock becomes detached from the top of a mountain, and rolls onward with violence towards the plain below, as it approaches the base, its momentum increases; it dashes aside, or carries forward every thing in its course. The nymphs and frightened shepherds fly from it with shrieks; the timid flocks precipitate themselves into the valley; the trembling laborer stands motionless and chilled with terror; when suddenly the rock meets two giant oaks, whose gnarled roots have been knotted together for centuries, and whose trunks seem to defy the action of time. Here it stops; the two trees receive the shock, and the shepherds and flocks are saved. So Leo stops, as he meets Hersilia and Numa.

The fierce Amazon, armed with the celestial buckler, was the first to make the attack. "Barbarian," said she," it is Jupiter who delivers you to me. Your last hour is come; go and boast in the regions of Pluto that you have wounded the great Romulus." She said, and

lanched with all her force a barbed javelin, which her fury prevented her from aiming. The iron flew, and passed by the side of Leo. It pierced the valiant Telos, who at this moment was grappling with Aruncus. Leo moved not a step, but snatched the javelin from the body of Telos, and looking at the princess with a bitter smile, "I return your weapon," said he; "learn to use it better." Saying this, he lanched the javelin at the princess; when Numa, the tender Numa, threw himself before the iron. He forgets that the celestial buckler defends Hersilia, and his own person seems to him a more efficient shield. Its cruel point pierces the gold and brass of his brilliant breastplate, and tears open the bosom of this generous lover. A light tint of purple covers his arms. Numa, while he sees his own blood flowing, thinks only of Hersilia. The more he is impressed how dreadful was this blow, the more thankful is he to heaven that he has preserved his lover. But this sentiment gives place to the desire of vengeance. He darts upon Leo: a multitude of warriors separate them. They seek each other for a long time, but do not come together.

Then Numa falls upon the Marsi, and cuts them down as the reaper cuts the harvest. Ever at the side of Hersilia, he strikes with one hand, and with the other parries the blows which threaten the Amazon. In the mean time, the princess abandons herself to the transports of fury. She slays Ocres, Opiter, Soractor, and the young Almeron Almeron, the only hope, the only child of the hapless Almira. The tender mother had foreseen the fate of her boy.

When the Marsi assembled to go forth and fight the Romans, Almeron, scarce fourteen years of age, fled

from the house of his mother to join the army. At the moment of starting, the afflicted mother entered the camp, seeking on all sides her fugitive son. Almeron saw her, and tried to hide himself behind the rear rank; but where does not the eye of a mother penetrate? She sees him, flies to him, and presses him while weeping. Almeron, with downcast look, dares not raise his eyes to her whose reproaches he fears. "My son," said she, sobbing, "my only treasure, you would run from me, you would quit your mother. Alas! what can you do in battle? Your slender arm can scarcely balance a javelin; the arrows which you lanch would hardly wound a young fawn; and you would go forth to measure yourself with the most famous warriors of Rome? O my child, my dear child, be sure at least, before you abandon me, that you have no longer any need of the cares of a mother; be sure that in inflicting this dreadful blow upon me, which I can never survive, you can live without me. You weep, my boy, you embrace me, but you do not promise to renounce your cruel purpose. And you, Marsi, can you suffer this? And have you no mothers? Alas! if it must be so, give me also arms. I will follow my child wherever he goes; I will share his perils; I will protect him, and you shall see the courage which maternal love inspires."

From this time Almira did not leave her son. Leo, who loved them, had forbidden them to go far from him; and as soon as the young Almeron had exhausted his quiver of arrows, he returned to place himself in safety between his mother and his general. But in that disastrous night they were separated from Leo, and the terrible Hersilia met them. In vain were the entreaties and

efforts of Almira.

Hersilia buried her sword in the breast of the child, and Almeron fell like a tender flower, plucked at its opening bloom. Before he closed his eyes, he sought the regard of his mother. Almira saw him, and died at the sight, without being stricken.*

Numa, less cruel than Hersilia, but equally redoubtable, slays only such as resist him. Hisbon, Privernus, and Marsenna, had expired under his blows. Nasamon and Seralpin had bitten the dust. Liger, the brave Liger, dares to attack the hero, and closes his cutting irons. "Twould have been done for Numa if he had not at this instant dropped his head. The cutting disk clips the brilliant sphinx which decorates his cap, and the purple panaches are cut and blown away. Numa then falls upon Liger, and breaks his lance in his breast. With the terrible sword of Pompilius he cuts off the head of Orimanthus, the right hand of Tarchon, and lays Quercens at his feet. Still pressing on the retreating Marsi, he finally drives them from the field. Leo alone remains there.

Abandoned by all his friends, he does not perceive that he is alone. He finds his club again, and needs no further arms. But the Sabines surround him, and the fierce Ufens advances, shouting at the top of his voice, “The Marsi are not here assembled, where to be elected gen

* In blooming youth, the fair Almeron fell,
Sent by Hersilia to the gates of hell;
Short was his date! by fiendish fury slain
He falls, and all a mother's cares are vain.
The mother saw

- she gave one shriek and sigh'd; Then fell upon her lovely boy and died.

Anon.

eral it is only necessary to bend a poplar. You must die; you cannot escape." Leo hears him, and smiles; with a light bound he avoids the javelin which Ufens lanches at him, and immediately he pounces upon him, grapples to him, and with his nervous hand he strangles the proud warrior. Leo then stands upon the trembling corpse, and proudly raising his head, he looks calmly upon the circle of bloody swords with which he is surrounded. Fearlessly he casts his eyes about, choosing a place through which he would make his retreat; and having resolved on this, he falls upon those that obstruct his passage. He keeps them off, and dashes them with his club, till his way is clear, and he passes slowly from them, as a greedy wolf retires from a sheep-cot. Thrice he stops and turns upon them, and thrice he drives back the battalions which pursue him. At length, he reaches his warriors, and his terrific voice arrests their flight. He rallies and calls them to order. He alone fills the interval which separates them from the Romans, and marches between the two armies, covering the one and repelling the other.

Numa, irritated with these exploits, which he cannot but admire, wishes to attack Leo single-handed. He was about to rush upon him, when a noise which he hears on the bank of the river arrests his attention. It was the aged Sophanor at the head of his army, coming onward to protect the retreat of his colleague. The Marsi feign ⚫that they wish to pass the Fucinus. Numa, to defend the bank, is obliged to leave Leo; and this terrible warrior, with what remains of his army, draws off in safety from the camp which he had filled with carnage.

The prudent Sophanor, well versed in the profession