Before you read to the end of this post, have everyone get a piece of paper and a pencil. Then, without discussing it, have each person read and then draw a picture of the climactic scene in Aeneid 12 where Aeneas hits Turnus with a spear and wins the duel. Give yourself three minutes — time it! — to complete the task.

Here’s the scene (12.919–927) in Fred’s translation:

And, as he [Turnus] hesitates still, Aeneas with javelin brandished,

Figures the odds of success with his eyes and, mustering his full strength,

Spins off a long-range shot. No boulder propelled from a taut-torqued

Catapult high on a parapet makes such a crack, and no lightning

Leaps with such crackling, thunderous peal. Like a whirling tornado,

Bearing the fury of death, that shaft rips open his corslet’s

Rim and the outer edge of his shield’s seven layers of protection,

Screams through the thick of his thigh. And Turnus, felled by the impact,

Drops to the ground on his knee; and his knee buckles under his hugeness.

For reference, here’s the Latin of the part in bold (924–6):

exitium dirum hasta ferens orasque recludit

loricae et clipei extremos septemplicis orbis; 925

per medium stridens transit femur.

Now, if you want to get this right you need to know what a corselet (lorica) is and looks like. It’s a shirt made of leather armor. Aeneas is typically wearing a brown one in the iconographic tradition.

Aeneas looming over Turnus moments after our challenge

Got your picture? Good. Take a quick break.