hunc ubi miscentem longe media agmina vidit, purpureum pennis et pactae coniugis ostro, impastus stabula alta leo ceu saepe peragrans (suadet enim vesana fames), si forte fugacem conspexit capream aut surgentem in cornua cervum, gaudet hians immane comasque arrexit et haeret visceribus super incumbens; lavit improba taeter ora cruor, sic ruit in densos alacer Mezentius hostis.
When Mezentius saw him far off, dealing havoc among the ranks, bright in crimson plumes and the bright purple of his plighted bride, just as often an unfed lion, ranging the deep coverts'for maddening hunger prompts him'if by chance he spies a timorous roe or stately antlered stag, exults with mouth terribly agape, bristles his mane, and clings crouching over the flesh, his cruel mouth bathed in foul gore, so Mezentius leaps eagerly upon the massed foemen.