But queen Amata, aroused by Juno,
insisted that Lavinia should be espoused to Turnus, chief of the
Rutulians. Stung by the fury Alecto, she stirred up the people until they
demanded that Latinus declare war against Aeneas; and when he hesitated,
Juno herself threw open the gates of the temple of Janus.
Leaving part of his forces in Latium with Ascanius, Aeneas, instructed in a
dream by father Tiber, sailed up the river to Pallanteum, the future site
of Rome, to gain the alliance of Evander, an Arcadian king unfriendly to
Turnus.
Evander, who was celebrating a solemn feast to Hercules, together with his
only son Pallas, and his senate, welcomed the warriors to his modest home,
promised his alliance, and sent forth with Aeneas his son Pallas and four
hundred knights. He also advised him to go to Argylla, whose people were
stirred up against Turnus because he protected their tyrant king
Mezentius.
While Aeneas was thus seeking allies, his troops in Latium had been
attacked and besieged by Turnus, and were greatly in need of the hero's
aid. While the hosts of Turnus were sleeping after their drunken revelry,
Nisus proposed to his beloved Euryalus that they steal through the Latin
line with messages to Aeneas. Their proposal was applauded by the elders,
and Iulus, weeping, promised to cherish them forever for their courage.
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