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Which winding hills encompass round,
Their shaggy tops with forests crowned;
There, as the deepening vale descends,
A rustic theatre extends,
Where, ringed with thousands round, he sate
On high-heaped throne in rural state.
Whoe'er in speed of foot would vie
He here invites, their chance to try
And earn reward: from diverse parts
They come, swift limbs and generous hearts,
Trojan and Sicel interspersed:
Euryalus and Nisus first:
That for his beauty and his youth
Conspicuous 'mid the sons of Troy,
This for his pure affection's truth
Concentred on the lovely boy.
Diores next them takes his place,
A princely branch of Priam's race:
Salius and Patron too succeed,
The one of Acarnanian breed,
While Tegea gave the other birth,
And Arcady his parent earth:
Then Helymus and Panopes,
Trinacria's youthful offspring these,
Trained in the woods to chase the boar
And comrades of Acestes hoar:
With many a candidate besides
Whom dim-eyed fame in darkness hides.
Whom, as around his seat they pressed,
Æneas thus in brief addressed:
'Vouchsafe your audience, and receive
My words with glad regard.
None of this train the field shall leave
Unguerdoned by reward: