When Aeneas heard that the nations of Italy were gathering together against him, he did not know where to look for help. He knew that he and his Trojans were but few against many. While he was thinking about these things, he fell asleep. In his dreams the god of the river, Father Tiber, appeared to him.

"You are welcome in this land," Father Tiber told him. "Do not be troubled by wars and rumors of wars, nor give up the work you have begun. It is the will of the gods that you shall prosper in the end. And now you are looking for help. Certain men from the land of Arcadia came to this country of Italy with their king, Evander, and have built a city which they call Pallanteum. These men are always at war with the Latins. Go to them, therefore, and make a treaty. The way you must go is by my river, north."

"Great chief of Troy," Evander began, "we have all the good will in the world for you, but, as you see, there are but few of us in this little town. However, I have an idea. There is a city not far from this place which was built long ago by men from the land of Lydia. You know the Lydians well, for they are neighbors of Troy and fought alongside you against the Greeks."

Evandar led Aeneas over to a morning fire and handed him some baked bread. Then he continued. "Long ago, when there was a famine in the Lydians' country, some came over the sea to Italy and built a city named Agylla. The king of this city, Mezentius, was one of the most wicked of men, and after a while his people made a rebellion against him and set fire to his palace. He escaped with his life and fled to Turnus. So there is war between the people of Agylla, the Tuscans they are called - and Turnus. For Turnus wishes to bring back the king and to set him over the Tuscans again. However, the Tuscans do not want him back. When the Tuscans gathered their army together, they would have gone forth to war, but a prophet said to them, 'Tuscans, you do well to be angry with your king, and to fight against him and his friends. However, mark this. No man of Italy must be your leader. You must have a stranger to command you.'"

"When the Tuscans heard the prophet say this, they came to me and asked me to lead them. However, I am old and feeble. They then asked my son, Pallas, to lead them, but the prophet forbade it because the mother of Pallas was a woman of Italy. You, therefore, Aeneas of Troy, are the man whom they look for. You are in your prime, and you are altogether a stranger in race. Do you then stand forth and be the leader of these Tuscans? If so, Pallas shall go with you and learn from you to be a good soldier. Two hundred horsemen I will send with you, and there are two hundred men who follow Pallas, my son."

While the king was still speaking there was a great clap of thunder, and then the sound of a trumpet such as the Tuscans use. Aeneas knew these were signs of good and he said to the king, "Be of good cheer; all shall go well."

Then the horsemen rode out from the city, four hundred of them all, with Prince Pallas in the midst, fair as the Morning Star. And they came to a grove where the Tuscans, under their leader, Tarchon, had pitched their camp.

Meanwhile, back on Mt. Olympus,Venus had not forgotten her dear son. She said to Vulcan, her husband, "My dear husband, while the Greeks were fighting against Troy, I never asked you to make arms for my son, as did the goddess of the morning for her son, Memnon. For I said to myself, 'The gods have decreed that Troy shall fall. Why should my son waste his time and labor in giving help where help cannot be of any use?' But now, all things are changed. My son is come to this land of Italy by the will of the gods, but all the nations are gathering themselves together against him. I pray Thee, therefore, to help him and me that he may more easily gain the Latium lands. Make weapons for him that he may conquer his enemies and be safe against their spears and swords."

Vulcan agreed and set his workers to the task. When the weapons were finished, Venus laid them at Aeneas' feet. "These the god of fire has wrought for you. With these you need fear no enemy, no, not Turnus himself." Then she vanished.

While Aeneas was away gathering allies, Juno did not fail to see how she might do harm to the Trojans. "Now," she said to herself, "now is the time to attack, while their chief is away, and while their camp is but half finished." So she sent Iris, her messenger, to Prince Turnus with these words. "The chance which neither I nor anyone else, whether god or man, could promise you has come of itself. Aeneas has gone away to the city of Evander, hoping to make him his ally. He has left his ships and his camp, which is but half finished. Take the chance and attack them now."

When Turnus heard these words, he called his army together and set forth, marching toward the camp which the Trojans had pitched by the seashore.

The men who were watching on the wall saw a great cloud of dust and one of them cried out, "To arms, my friends! Make ready to defend the camp. The enemy is at hand." Then the Trojans shut the gates and manned the walls. For Aeneas had said to them, "Do not fight in the plain, whatever may happen. The enemy is too strong for you. Keep behind the walls."

Turnus, riding on a Thracian horse, came up to the wall and threw his spear over it. So he began the siege. He rode around the camp, looking for a weak place by which he might enter. But he could find none, and the Trojans would not come forth. "Well," he thought to himself, if I cannot get at them, cowards as they are, at least I can burn their ships." So he called for torches and they rushed to the ships.

As soon as it was light the battle began. The Latins put their shields together over their heads so closely that no one could thrust a spear through it. They called this tactic a "tortoise", because this creature has a very thick and strong shell. The Trojans, however, rolled up a great rock from the inside on to the wall, and this they pushed over the wall so that it fell down upon the "tortoise" and broke it down. Many Latins were crushed to death, and, after this, the Latins were not willing to fight any more in this way. Some put scaling ladders up against the wall, and climbed up to the top. But the Trojans thrust at them with poles and spears as they climbed, killing some and wounding some, pushing others off the steps of the ladders so that they fell to the ground. And, if by chance, a Latin did make it to the top of the wall, he was one among many and was either killed or cast down to the earth.

The battle took a turn for the worse against the Trojans when Turnus threw a lighted torch at the great tower upon the walls. The fire caught the wood and inched its way from story to story, for the wind was blowing and made the flame fiercer by the minute. In a short time, the lower part burned away, and then the whole tower fell forward.

At this, Aeneas' son, young Ascanius, took an arrow from his quiver and put the notch upon the string. He drew the bow with all his strength, saying a prayer and making a vow at the same time to Jupiter. Jupiter heard, and thundered on the left hand; and even as the thunder was heard, the arrow hissed through the air and struck one of the Latins on the head, piercing it through from temple to temple. And so the battle raged, hour after hour, until dark. Only then did the weary warriors lay their arms down and rest.

While these things were going on at the camp, Aeneas made an alliance with the Tuscans under their chief, Tarchon. Aeneas went back in the first ship, along with Pallas, the son of Evander, at his side. After him came the ships of the Tuscans, and with the Tuscans came others from the northern parts of Italy, some 8,000 men in thirty ships. All that night they rowed down the river, and Aeneas sat at the helm of his ship, his heart too full to care about sleep. About midnight he saw a strange sight. There came up to the side of his ship a nymph. She laid one hand upon the ship, and with the other she swam. She then related this message to him. "Know that your son and your people are besieged in the camp. Put on the armor that the Fire-god made for you and hasten to help them." When she had said this, she put her hand under the keel of the ship and pushed it on. Her companions did the same to the other ships. Quickly did they pass through the water and when the day began to break they were at their journey's end.

Aeneas passed the word along the fleet that everyone should make himself ready for battle. He himself stood up on the stern of his ship and lifted his shield in his left hand. It shone brightly in the sun. All the Trojans in the camp saw it and were glad, for now, they knew, their chief had come back to them. Turnus and his men also saw it and were much astonished. For the sea was covered with ships and Aeneas was in the midst of them. From his helmet and from his shield there shone a terrible light, like the light of a comet when it flares in the sky at midnight.

By the time Turnus and some of his men arrived at the shore, many of their enemies were already making their way to shore. The battle raged on long and hard. Aeneas slew the tallest man in the army of Turnus. Theron was his name. He wore a heavier and stronger coat of mail than any other man, but Aeneas drove his spear right through it. He then slew the two sons of Melampus, who was the companion of Hercules. They, too, were giants among men, but they could not stand against Aeneas.

See the battle -

In another part of the field, Pallas and his Arcadians were fighting. The Arcadians were used to fighting on horseback, but now they were forced to fight on foot. Many Arcadians fled before the enemy. Pallas cried out to them. "Now, by the name of your king, Evander, stand firm!" So saying, he rushed into the thickest of the fight, and his people followed.

And now the nymph, Juturna, the sister of Turnus, hastened to her brother, and told him what havoc Pallas was making among the Latins. At once Turnus left the place where he was fighting. As he drove his chariot through the ranks of his army he cried, "Leave Pallas to me. He is mine. Let no one presume to meddle with him."

Then Jupiter said to Hercules, "My son, the days of man are but short, and each has his appointed time. But the brave man lives after death by the praise which men give to noble deeds. This youth must die, but he shall not be forgotten. And for Turnus, too, the day of death is near."

First Pallas threw his spear. It pierced the shield of Turnus. It pierced his coat of mail, and it grazed the skin of his shoulder. Turnus stood awhile, balancing his spear. Then he threw it, with a better aim. It pierced Pallas' shield, the stout bull's hide and the iron, and the coat of mail. It struck Pallas full in the chest. From chest to back it passed, and in a moment Pallas fell dead upon the plain. Then Turnus stood over the dead man and said, "Men of Arcadia, take this message to your king. I send him back his Pallas. Let him bury his son with all honor." So saying, he put his foot upon the body and dragged from it the belt, a wonderful work heavy with figures wrought in gold. Before many days had passed, he would wish that he had never taken it. Then the Arcadians lifted up the body of their young chief and laid it on the shield and carried it out of the battle.

Jupiter answered, "It shall be so. All you have asked I will give. The Italians shall not change name, or dress or speech. The men of Troy shall become Latins, and you will be honored by them all."

Turnus saw a great stone nearby, so, rather than use his sword, he lifted it from the ground. Running forward, he cast it at Aeneas. The stone fell short.

Aeneas' dreadful spear pointed at him. For a while, Aeneas stood, shaking it in his hand, waiting until his aim was sure. Then he threw it with all his might. It came like a whirlwind, and pierced the seven folds of Turnus' shield, making a deep wound in his thigh. Turnus dropped with his knee on the ground, and all the Latins groaned aloud to see it. Then he said, "I have deserved my fate. Take what you have won. And yet, have mercy on me. Pity the old man, my father. You had such a father as I. Give me back to my own people. They have seen me beaten. They see me beg my life from you. Lavinia is yours. Therefore spare my life."

Aeneas stood in doubt. He thought of sparing Turnus, but then his eye fell on the belt of Pallas, now fastened around Turnus' waist. He cried out with a dreadful voice. "Shall I spare you when you wear the golden belt of my friend, Pallas? Not so. Take this. It is Pallas who slays you!" And he drove his spear into Turnus' chest. So the spirit of Turnus passed into the darkness.

Aeneas married the fair Lavinia and built a city which he called after her name. This city soon grew to be a great place, for the people in the country round about heard the fame of the great Aeneas, how brave he was in battle, and how just, and they came in great numbers to be his subjects.

Lavinia had a son, and Ascanius thought it would be well for him to leave the city of Lavinium to his young brother, so he went to start a city of his own. He built a new town for himself and called it Alba Longa - that is, the Long White Town.

Years later, a wonderful thing happened. Two babies, children of a princess descended from Aeneas, were left out to die by a cruel uncle. But a she-wolf that had lost her own cubs nursed them, and they grew up to be the strongest men in the country. As time went on, the village was turned into a town, and the town was made a strong place. The people who lived in it called themselves Romans. Little by little they made wider their boundaries and increased their power. More than once their city was taken. Still, however low it fell, it rose again, stronger than before. It conquered first all Italy, and then countries nearest to it, then faraway nations in Asia and Africa. Most wonderful of all, I say, is that we have from them Law and Order. But this is a matter of which you will hear more when you are older.