This is digression, and I return to my subject. I said
above that these two machines of the balance and the Dira were only
ornamental, and that the success of the duel had been the same
without them; for when AEneas and Turnus stood fronting each other
before the altar, Turnus looked dejected, and his colour faded in
his face, as if he desponded of the victory before the fight; and
not only he, but all his party, when the strength of the two
champions was judged by the proportion of their limbs, concluded it
was impar pugna, and that their chief was overmatched. Whereupon
Juturna, who was of the same opinion, took this opportunity to break
the treaty and renew the war. Juno herself had plainly told the
nymph beforehand that her brother was to fight
"Imparibus fatis; nec diis, nec viribus aequis;"
so that there was no need of an apparition to fright Turnus, he had
the presage within himself of his impending destiny. The Dira only
served to confirm him in his first opinion, that it was his destiny
to die in the ensuing combat.
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