the sons of Phorcus, all at once attacked AEneas with darts, throwing them together.  Some of the weapons struck his helmet and shield, and rebounded; others, turned aside by the care of Venus, grazed his skin.  AEneas called to Achates to bring him more spears, and snatching one as soon as it was offered, hurled it against Maeon, one of the brothers, with such force that it penetrated his shield and corselet, and inflicted a mortal wound in his breast.  Another brother, Alcanor, hurrying up to Maeon’s assistance, he smote with a second spear, just where the arm and shoulder join, leaving the arm hanging to the body only by two or three shreds of skin and muscle.  Seeing the slaughter that AEneas was spreading around him, Halaesus and Messapus hurried up with their bands to confront him, and so in that part of the field the battle grew still more furious.

In another part, where Pallas was fighting at the head of his Arcadian horsemen, the ground had been rendered so uneven by the winter torrents that they were obliged to dismount, and being unaccustomed to fight on foot, they began to retreat before the fierce assault of the Rutulians.  At this sight their brave young leader was overwhelmed with shame and mortification.  “Whither,” he cried, “my fellow countrymen, do you fly?  I implore you, by the memory of your gallant deeds in the past, by the name of Evander, the king you love, by my own hopes of glory, not to flee.  Your way lies through your foes, not from them; with your swords must you cut a passage where they crowd most densely.  These are not gods who pursue us; they are mortals, like ourselves, and they are not stronger or more numerous than we.  The ocean hems us in with an impassable barrier on the one side; the enemy confronts us on the other, and separates us from our friends.  Whether shall we fly into the sea, or force our way toward the Trojans?” So saying, he turned, and dashed into the midst of the hostile ranks.  Tagus was the first who fell a victim to his noble wrath; for as he was stooping to pick up a heavy stone, the spear of Pallas struck him in the middle of the back, and shattered the spine and ribs.  As the young hero was withdrawing the weapon, Hisbon rushed on and struck at him from above; but the blow fell short, and before he could recover his guard Pallas buried his sword deep in his body.  Warrior after warrior he struck down, restored the confidence of his followers, and spread confusion and dismay in the opposite ranks, raging among them as the flames lit by the husbandman in the autumn spread through the stubble, and destroy everything in their path.  But now the Auruncian chief, Halaesus, summoned by some of his followers to their aid, opposed the advance of the Arcadians.  He was a tried and fierce warrior, and he slew five of the bravest of Pallas’s men before the young chief could confront him.  Then, however, the son of Evander hurled a spear with such skill and certainty of aim that he pierced Halaesus’s heart, and