ABSTRACT
Book of Virgil’s Aeneids Connection o f the episode w ith the foregoing story:
Mezentius was King of Etruria, or Tuscany, from whence he was expelled by his subjects for his tyrannical government and cruelty, and a new king elected. Being thus banished he applies himself to King Turnus, in whose court he and his son Lausus take sanctuary. Turnus for the love of Lavinia making war with Aeneas, Mezentius engages in the cause of his benefactor, and performs many great actions, particularly in revenging himself on his late subjects, who now assisted Aeneas out of hatred to him. Mezentius is everywhere described by Virgil as an atheist; his son Lausus is made the pattern of filial piety and virtue; and the death of those two is the subject of this noble episode.
