Aeneid, Book 9

Book 9 of the Aeneid, Vergil's epic of the Trojan foundation of Rome (29–19 BC), is the only book of the poem in which Aeneas never appears. While he is away seeking allies at Pallanteum and in Etruria, Juno sends Iris to urge Turnus to attack the Trojan camp at once.

The Trojans, following Aeneas' orders, stay behind their walls. Turnus tries to burn their fleet, but the ships were built from the sacred pines of the mother goddess Cybele, and Jupiter lets them turn into sea-nymphs. That night Nisus and Euryalus, the friends of the foot race in Book 5, volunteer to break through the enemy lines to fetch Aeneas. They kill many sleeping Rutulians, but Euryalus' captured helmet glints in the moonlight; he is caught by Volcens' horsemen, and Nisus dies trying to save him. Vergil promises them lasting fame, and the next morning their heads are paraded before the walls and Euryalus' mother laments. In the assault that follows, a tower falls, Ascanius kills the boastful Numanus with an arrow and is withdrawn from the fighting by Apollo, and the giant brothers Pandarus and Bitias open the gate. Turnus breaks in, is shut inside, kills freely, and at last escapes by leaping into the Tiber.

The night raid of Nisus and Euryalus is one of the most read episodes of the Aeneid and a common school text. The rest of the book is fast-moving battle narrative in the Homeric manner.