Annotations
A rider (probably Volcens) thrusts his sword into the chest of a falling warrior (probably Euryalus). Some dead bodies lie on the ground and the whole right half of the engraving is filled by riders with bristling spears.
Ein Reiter (wohl Volcens) stößt einem niedersinkenden Krieger (wohl Euryalus) das Schwert in die Brust: am Boden liegen einige Leichen; die ganze rechte Hälfte des Kupferstichs ist gefüllt von Reitern mit starrenden Lanzen. (Suerbaum)
Engraving from a German children’s picture-book version of the Aeneid by G. J. Lang and G. C. Eimmart, “A tapestry of Roman virtues as seen in Vergil’s Aeneas and his brave deeds, rendered in sparkling engravings, as illustrations of the remarkable deeds of antiquity, for the common benefit of noble youth,” (Peplus virtutum Romanarum in Aenea Virgiliano eiusque rebus fortiter gestis, ad maiorem antiquitatis et rerum lucem, communi iuventutis sacratae bono, aere renitens) (Nuremburg: J.L. Buggel, 1688), pl. 41.
The action in this scene takes place at night, which is perhaps why the engraving is so dark. Suerbaum identifies the wounded man in the center of the engraving as Euryalus, but it is just as likely to be Nisus, and that Euryalus is the beautiful young man beneath him who is clearly already dead. A helmet sits on the ground in front of him, perhaps the very helmet that gave him away to the enemy at line 373. After witnessing Euryalus’ death at the hands of Volcens, Nisus fights the Rutulian and kills him, but is quickly slain himself. He falls across the body of his dead friend at lines 444-445. (Lucy McInerney)