Aeneid Bibliomancy Reading

This oracle points to a randomly selected line from The Aeneid. The surrounding passages are provided for context.

 

Your passage is from BOOK XI: THE LATINS’ LAST STAND: A WOMAN WARRIOR.

 

For Context:

BOOK XI: THE LATINS’ LAST STAND: A WOMAN WARRIOR

The cuishes which his brawny thighs infold
Are mingled metal damask’d o’er with gold.

His faithful falchion sits upon his side;
Nor casque, nor crest, his manly features hide:

But, bare to view, amid surrounding friends,
With godlike grace, he from the tow’r descends.

Exulting in his strength, he seems to dare
His absent rival, and to promise war.

Freed from his keepers, thus, with broken reins,
The wanton courser prances o’er the plains,

Or in the pride of youth o’erleaps the mounds,
And snuffs the females in forbidden grounds.

Or seeks his wat’ring in the well-known flood,
To quench his thirst, and cool his fiery blood:

He swims luxuriant in the liquid plain,
And o’er his shoulder flows his waving mane:

He neighs, he snorts, he bears his head on high;
Before his ample chest the frothy waters fly.

Soon as the prince appears without the gate,
The Volscians, with their virgin leader, wait

His last commands. Then, with a graceful mien,
Lights from her lofty steed the warrior queen: