Practice Exam Set: Aeneid X Lines 857–882

Mezentius speaks to his horse Rhaebe as he would speak to a companion, a friend, a fellow soldier. They have lived long together — diu, res si qua diu mortalibus ulla est — if anything lasts long for mortals. The qualification is everything: Mezentius knows exactly how much mortal time is worth, and he has just watched his son pay for it with his life. Today they either ride back with Aeneas's head and avenge Lausus, or they fall together. He will not ask Rhaebe to submit to Trojan masters after this. They go together, or not at all.

He mounts. He loads both hands with javelins. He rides back into battle with his helmet gleaming and his heart carrying a compound of emotions Virgil renders with extraordinary economy: aestuat ingens uno in corde pudor mixtoque insania luctu — great shame seethes in his heart, blended with grief and a kind of rage that tips into madness. It is not a warrior's battle-fury. It is a father's. The distinction matters enormously to how this final aristeia reads.

He calls Aeneas's name three times across the field. Aeneas hears it and is glad — not with cruelty, but with the recognition of a warrior who has been waiting for this. The final confrontation is coming, and both men know it.