Turnus slaying Pandarus by Wenceslaus Hollar (Plate 324 - Scenes from Virgil) 1607-1677
"When Pandarus beheld his brother kill’d,
The town with fear and wild confusion fill’d,
He turns the hinges of the heavy gate
With both his hands, and adds his shoulders to the weight
Some happier friends within the walls inclos’d;
The rest shut out, to certain death expos’d:
Fool as he was, and frantic in his care,
T’ admit young Turnus, and include the war!
He thrust amid the crowd, securely bold,
Like a fierce tiger pent amid the fold.
Too late his blazing buckler they descry,
And sparkling fires that shot from either eye,
His mighty members, and his ample breast,
His rattling armour, and his crimson crest.
Far from that hated face the Trojans fly,
All but the fool who sought his destiny.
Mad Pandarus steps forth, with vengeance vow’d
For Bitias’ death, and threatens thus aloud:
“These are not Ardea’s walls, nor this the town
Amata proffers with Lavinia’s crown:
’Tis hostile earth you tread. Of hope bereft,
No means of safe return by flight are left.”
To whom, with count’nance calm, and soul sedate,
Thus Turnus: “Then begin, and try thy fate:
My message to the ghost of Priam bear;
Tell him a new Achilles sent thee there.”"
-Virgil, The Aeneid, Book 9
 |
| Turnus (the new Achilles) of the Rutuli slaying the Trojan Pandarus by Wenceslaus Hollar (Plate 324) 1607-1677. |
Source:
https://hollar.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/hollar%3AHollar_k_0350
Quote:
Comments
Post a Comment