The Sparring Contest
THE SPARRING CONTEST .
After the races are ended, the prizes portioned as due:
" Breathes there any among ye, " proclaims Æneas anew,
" Valiant and ready of heart, let him enter yonder the lists,
There in the face of his fellows uplift his gauntleted wrists. "
Then as he spake he displayed two prizes reserved for the bold:
First for the victor a bull, with his horns all ribbons and gold;
Helmet bright and a sword for the vanquisht, to solace defeat.
Swiftly the summons is answered. In giant force to his feet
Leapt great Dares — around him the murmured hum of the crowd —
Dares accustomed of old to encounter Paris the proud;
Who, at the tomb where Hector illustrious rests with the slain,
Stretched vast Butes in death on the yellow sand of the plain,
Son of Bebrycian sires and elate with his champion bays.
Now once more to the battle the Dares of ancient days
Lifts his towering crest, lays broadening shoulders bare,
Lunges with arms alternate, and showers his blows on the air.
Where is another to match him? From all yon myriad bands
Who dares challenge him now? Who gloves in defiance his hands?
Deeming in bright ambition that all men yield him the day,
Grasping the horns of the bull impatiently, yonder he stands.
" Son of a goddess, " he thunders, " if none dare join in the fray,
Am I for ever to wait? How long is it seemly, " he cries,
" Here to detain me? Command me to go my way with the prize. "
Thundering cheers ring forth from the Trojans; in common accord
All men cry for the brave to be given his promised reward.
Gravely Acestes turns to rebuke Entellus, who sate
Near on a meadow bank: " Entellus, once in thy day
Bravest in vain of the brave, wilt suffer a prize so great
Tamely without one blow to be borne by another away?
Where is thine Eryx now, that master and god thy tongue
Idly proclaims; thy glory that over Sicily rung? —
All thy trophies hanging around thy halls in array? "
" Love of renown and ambition, " he answers, " neither is fled;
Fear has extinguisht neither, but lingering age makes dead
This chill blood, and my outworn strength grows icy and cold.
Had I what once was mine, what makes yon blusterer bold
Vain of his powers, were only my manhood still in its youth,
Guerdon none were needed, nor bullock goodly in sooth,
Hither to draw me. Of gifts I reck but lightly. " He cast
Into the midst, as he spake, two ponderous gauntlets vast,
Wherewith fiery Eryx was used in the battle to stand,
Showering blow upon blow from his mighty and gauntleted hand.
Men stood silent and awed at the seven huge hides of the dread
Oxen, inbound and stiffened with masses of iron and lead.
Dares himself is appalled, and declines them, standing apart.
Even the heroic son of Anchises balances long,
Hither and thither turning, the measureless folds of thong.
Slowly the old man spake with a breath deep drawn from his heart:
" Ah! had ye looked on the gauntlets of Hercules, gazed on the god
Armed, seen yonder on these sad shores that battle of blood!
Eryx of old thy brother was harnest thus for the fray;
Still with brains and with gore thou seest they are dabbled to-day.
Gloved in these he confronted the great Alcides; to these
I was accustomed in days when a blood less prone to repose
Succoured still my veins, nor was envious age by degrees
Over my forehead sprinkling as yet her whitening snows.
Still, if Dares the Trojan mislikes these weapons of mine,
Great Æneas desires, my master Acestes approves,
I, that the battle be equal, the Eryx gauntlets resign.
Thou be afraid no longer, and doff Troy's champion gloves. "
Lightly he flung from his shoulder his folded mantle away,
Bared his enormous thews, vast bones, huge arms, to the day,
Then stood forth as a giant, and towered supreme on the sands.
Gauntlets of even weight Troy's lord brings forth for the fray;
Cases in equal armour the rival champion hands.
Each upon tiptoe stood, rose suddenly there to his height,
Lifting on high with undaunted heart both arms to the light,
Heads draw loftily back from the reach of the enemy's stroke;
Hands in skirmish with hands play quickly, the battle provoke.
Dares the nimbler-footed, in manhood's confident ease;
Huge Entellus of limb and of weight, — but his tardier knees
Totter, and troubled breath convulses his towering frame.
Wound upon wound unavailing the rival warriors aim,
Blows on their hollow flanks rain thickly, the great thuds sound
Back from the breasts; hands wander, their ears, their temples, around.
Cheekbones rattle. Astrain, but in posture ever the same,
Firm Entellus stands, and eludes each volley that flies
Only with bending body and ever vigilant eyes.
Dares, like a commander who storms from his earth-made mound
Some tall town, or besieges a mountain fort with his train,
Every entrance tries, reconnoitres wisely the ground,
Often essays the assault, but essays it ever in vain.
Now Entellus his right hand showed as he rose to the blow,
Showed for a moment, and struck, but his rapid enemy's eye
Saw it already descending, and, ere it lighted below,
Dares darted aside, and it past him harmlessly by.
Huge Entellus his strength on the vain wind wasted, and prone
Earthwards heavily thundered by no man's stroke but his own.
So upon high Erymanthus, or Ida's mountain incline,
Hollow with age, comes crashing, at last uprooted, the pine.
Trojans rise to behold, and the brave Trinacrians rise;
All with conflicting passions fired; — shouts roll to the skies.
First on the field of disaster the royal Acestes appears,
Lifts from the earth with pity his comrade equal in years.
Undismayed, unabated, the hero now to the fight
Keener than ever returns; wild anger rouses his might:
Honour inspires him, and sense of a valour yet unrevealed.
Furiously Dares he chases in hot flight over the field;
Now with his right hand leads, with his left hand now, the attack,
Ceaseless, unresting ever. As hailstorms smiting the stack
Rattle on turret and roof, so rains Entellus his blow —
Plies both hands, drives hither and thither the buffeted foe.
Further the wise Æneas permits not fury to rage,
Leaves not fierce Entellus insatiate battle to wage,
Orders a truce forthwith, leads shattered Dares away
Far from the battle, and gently consoles him thus by the way:
" Ill-starred brave! What madness, alas, thy wit has estranged?
Seest thou not thy strength is surpast, Heaven's pleasure is changed?
Yield to the Gods. " And an end thereon of the duel decrees.
Home to the vessels his faithful friends lead Dares, his knees
Tottering, and shaken: — his head sways feebly, a crimsoning flood
Spurts from his lips in a torrent, and teeth spurt forth with the blood.
Back to the ships he is led; his companions, summoned, receive
Helmet and sword; to Entellus the bull and the victory leave,
Now o'erjoyed with his triumph, the victor, proud of his prize:
" Learn, thou son of the Goddess, and ye, O Trojans, " he cries,
" What was the youthful strength of the old Entellus, and say
From what death ye recover your rescued Dares to-day. "
Firmly he planted his feet, as he spake, confronting the bull
Where as the prize it stood, and, his right hand lifting amain,
Swinging the stroke and arising, delivered the gauntlet full
'Twixt both horns, drove home to the bones, and shattered the brain.
Thundering down upon earth with a shudder the bull drops dead.
Loudly the hero shouts: " I remit thee in Dares' stead,
Eryx, a nobler victim; his debt thy warrior pays;
Victor, his art he abandons, and here thy gauntlet he lays. "
After the races are ended, the prizes portioned as due:
" Breathes there any among ye, " proclaims Æneas anew,
" Valiant and ready of heart, let him enter yonder the lists,
There in the face of his fellows uplift his gauntleted wrists. "
Then as he spake he displayed two prizes reserved for the bold:
First for the victor a bull, with his horns all ribbons and gold;
Helmet bright and a sword for the vanquisht, to solace defeat.
Swiftly the summons is answered. In giant force to his feet
Leapt great Dares — around him the murmured hum of the crowd —
Dares accustomed of old to encounter Paris the proud;
Who, at the tomb where Hector illustrious rests with the slain,
Stretched vast Butes in death on the yellow sand of the plain,
Son of Bebrycian sires and elate with his champion bays.
Now once more to the battle the Dares of ancient days
Lifts his towering crest, lays broadening shoulders bare,
Lunges with arms alternate, and showers his blows on the air.
Where is another to match him? From all yon myriad bands
Who dares challenge him now? Who gloves in defiance his hands?
Deeming in bright ambition that all men yield him the day,
Grasping the horns of the bull impatiently, yonder he stands.
" Son of a goddess, " he thunders, " if none dare join in the fray,
Am I for ever to wait? How long is it seemly, " he cries,
" Here to detain me? Command me to go my way with the prize. "
Thundering cheers ring forth from the Trojans; in common accord
All men cry for the brave to be given his promised reward.
Gravely Acestes turns to rebuke Entellus, who sate
Near on a meadow bank: " Entellus, once in thy day
Bravest in vain of the brave, wilt suffer a prize so great
Tamely without one blow to be borne by another away?
Where is thine Eryx now, that master and god thy tongue
Idly proclaims; thy glory that over Sicily rung? —
All thy trophies hanging around thy halls in array? "
" Love of renown and ambition, " he answers, " neither is fled;
Fear has extinguisht neither, but lingering age makes dead
This chill blood, and my outworn strength grows icy and cold.
Had I what once was mine, what makes yon blusterer bold
Vain of his powers, were only my manhood still in its youth,
Guerdon none were needed, nor bullock goodly in sooth,
Hither to draw me. Of gifts I reck but lightly. " He cast
Into the midst, as he spake, two ponderous gauntlets vast,
Wherewith fiery Eryx was used in the battle to stand,
Showering blow upon blow from his mighty and gauntleted hand.
Men stood silent and awed at the seven huge hides of the dread
Oxen, inbound and stiffened with masses of iron and lead.
Dares himself is appalled, and declines them, standing apart.
Even the heroic son of Anchises balances long,
Hither and thither turning, the measureless folds of thong.
Slowly the old man spake with a breath deep drawn from his heart:
" Ah! had ye looked on the gauntlets of Hercules, gazed on the god
Armed, seen yonder on these sad shores that battle of blood!
Eryx of old thy brother was harnest thus for the fray;
Still with brains and with gore thou seest they are dabbled to-day.
Gloved in these he confronted the great Alcides; to these
I was accustomed in days when a blood less prone to repose
Succoured still my veins, nor was envious age by degrees
Over my forehead sprinkling as yet her whitening snows.
Still, if Dares the Trojan mislikes these weapons of mine,
Great Æneas desires, my master Acestes approves,
I, that the battle be equal, the Eryx gauntlets resign.
Thou be afraid no longer, and doff Troy's champion gloves. "
Lightly he flung from his shoulder his folded mantle away,
Bared his enormous thews, vast bones, huge arms, to the day,
Then stood forth as a giant, and towered supreme on the sands.
Gauntlets of even weight Troy's lord brings forth for the fray;
Cases in equal armour the rival champion hands.
Each upon tiptoe stood, rose suddenly there to his height,
Lifting on high with undaunted heart both arms to the light,
Heads draw loftily back from the reach of the enemy's stroke;
Hands in skirmish with hands play quickly, the battle provoke.
Dares the nimbler-footed, in manhood's confident ease;
Huge Entellus of limb and of weight, — but his tardier knees
Totter, and troubled breath convulses his towering frame.
Wound upon wound unavailing the rival warriors aim,
Blows on their hollow flanks rain thickly, the great thuds sound
Back from the breasts; hands wander, their ears, their temples, around.
Cheekbones rattle. Astrain, but in posture ever the same,
Firm Entellus stands, and eludes each volley that flies
Only with bending body and ever vigilant eyes.
Dares, like a commander who storms from his earth-made mound
Some tall town, or besieges a mountain fort with his train,
Every entrance tries, reconnoitres wisely the ground,
Often essays the assault, but essays it ever in vain.
Now Entellus his right hand showed as he rose to the blow,
Showed for a moment, and struck, but his rapid enemy's eye
Saw it already descending, and, ere it lighted below,
Dares darted aside, and it past him harmlessly by.
Huge Entellus his strength on the vain wind wasted, and prone
Earthwards heavily thundered by no man's stroke but his own.
So upon high Erymanthus, or Ida's mountain incline,
Hollow with age, comes crashing, at last uprooted, the pine.
Trojans rise to behold, and the brave Trinacrians rise;
All with conflicting passions fired; — shouts roll to the skies.
First on the field of disaster the royal Acestes appears,
Lifts from the earth with pity his comrade equal in years.
Undismayed, unabated, the hero now to the fight
Keener than ever returns; wild anger rouses his might:
Honour inspires him, and sense of a valour yet unrevealed.
Furiously Dares he chases in hot flight over the field;
Now with his right hand leads, with his left hand now, the attack,
Ceaseless, unresting ever. As hailstorms smiting the stack
Rattle on turret and roof, so rains Entellus his blow —
Plies both hands, drives hither and thither the buffeted foe.
Further the wise Æneas permits not fury to rage,
Leaves not fierce Entellus insatiate battle to wage,
Orders a truce forthwith, leads shattered Dares away
Far from the battle, and gently consoles him thus by the way:
" Ill-starred brave! What madness, alas, thy wit has estranged?
Seest thou not thy strength is surpast, Heaven's pleasure is changed?
Yield to the Gods. " And an end thereon of the duel decrees.
Home to the vessels his faithful friends lead Dares, his knees
Tottering, and shaken: — his head sways feebly, a crimsoning flood
Spurts from his lips in a torrent, and teeth spurt forth with the blood.
Back to the ships he is led; his companions, summoned, receive
Helmet and sword; to Entellus the bull and the victory leave,
Now o'erjoyed with his triumph, the victor, proud of his prize:
" Learn, thou son of the Goddess, and ye, O Trojans, " he cries,
" What was the youthful strength of the old Entellus, and say
From what death ye recover your rescued Dares to-day. "
Firmly he planted his feet, as he spake, confronting the bull
Where as the prize it stood, and, his right hand lifting amain,
Swinging the stroke and arising, delivered the gauntlet full
'Twixt both horns, drove home to the bones, and shattered the brain.
Thundering down upon earth with a shudder the bull drops dead.
Loudly the hero shouts: " I remit thee in Dares' stead,
Eryx, a nobler victim; his debt thy warrior pays;
Victor, his art he abandons, and here thy gauntlet he lays. "
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