eloquently in his behalf, that, although Fate has decreed he shall
perish, she grants him brief respite.

To preserve Turnus from the deadly blows of the real Aeneas, Juno
causes him to pursue a phantom foe on board a ship, whose moorings she
loosens, thus setting him adrift upon the Tiber. Perceiving only then
how he has been tricked, Turnus threatens to slay himself, but is
restrained by Juno, who after awhile allows him to land and return to
the battle. Thus deprived of his principal foe, Aeneas ranges over the
battle-field, where he wounds Mezentius and kills Lausus. Seeing his
beloved son is gone, Mezentius is so anxious to die that he now offers
an unresisting throat to Aeneas, who slays him on the spot.

"One boon (if vanquished foe may crave
The victor's grace) I ask--a grave.
My wrathful subjects round me wait:
Protect me from their savage hate,
And let me in the tomb enjoy
The presence of my slaughtered boy."

_Book XI._ Having made a trophy of the enemies' spoil, Aeneas, even
before proceeding to bury his own comrades, adorns the body of Pallas
and sends it back to Etruria. Then he bargains with Turnus'
ambassadors for a twelve-days truce, during which both parties
celebrate pompous funerals, the finest of all being that of Pallas.

Hoping to check further bloodshed, Latinus now proposes a peace, whose
terms Aeneas is willing to accept, but which Turnus angrily rejects
since they deprive him of his promised bride. The conflict is
therefore resumed, and the next interesting episode refers to Camilla,