XV. [1] And so Ascanius came to the highest position of authority over the Latins. As Ascanius had decided to pursue Mezentius with continuous warfare, Mezentius' son Lausus invaded the hill of the Lavinian citadel. He managed to hold that town, since all the king's troops had been scattered around, and so the Latins sent envoys to Mezentius to find out his terms for accepting their surrender. [2]  Amongst other onerous requirements, Mezentius included the condition that all wine from the Latin region should be tributed to him for a certain number of years; and so on Ascanius' advice and authority it was decided that they would rather die than undergo that kind of servitude. [3]  Therefore the Latins publicly dedicated the wine from every vintage to Jupiter and consecrated the city; then they broke out, scattered the garrison, killed Lausus, and put Mezentius to flight. [4]  Afterwards he sent envoys and secured friendship and an alliance with the Latins, as Lucius Caesar tells us in his first book, and also Aulus Postumius in the volume which he wrote and published about the arrival of Aeneas. [5]  And so the Latins believed that Ascanius, because of his famous valour and virtue, was not only descended from Jupiter but also by abbreviating and modifying his name a little they called him first Iolus, then later Iulus; and from him the Julian family descended, as Caesar writes in his second book, and Cato in the Origines.