We will now move inside the mausoleum of Vervicius and Vervicia. On the back of the inscription block, we can see two naked figures fighting. They are identified as Dares and Entellus. The story of this duel is told by Virgil in Canto V of the Aeneid. The Trojan athlete Entellus is challenged to a duel by the arrogant Phrygian Dares during the funeral games celebrated by Aeneas in Sicily after the death of his father Anchises. Entellus, who was older than his opponent, was initially knocked down by Dares but managed to get up and defeat his opponent. The Trojan wins a bull, which he sacrifices by striking it on the head.
Entellus is depicted to the left, slightly forward, leaning backwards with his arms outstretched. Dares turns his back on Entellus, brings his right hand to his forehead to illustrate his wound, and moves to the right as if fleeing. The bull is in the centre, its head bowed, indicating that Entellus has already sacrificed it. In the background, the palm and the crown, symbolising victory over death and immortality respectively, are in perfect harmony with the basic theme of the monument.
This representation is exceptional in that there are virtually no other examples of this mythological episode in Roman iconography from any province. A mosaic depicting this scene was discovered in Villelaure, in the Vaucluse, and is now in the Getty Villa in California, while three others were discovered in Aix-en-Provence. A final fragment was found in the Villa Albani in Rome and Nîmes. The Arlon scene is therefore an almost unicum in the Roman world.
