Mezentius

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In Roman folklore, Mezentius was an Etruscan King and father of Lausus. He was sent into exile because of his cruelty, and he moved to Latium. He reveled in bloodshed and was overwelmingly savage on the battlefield, but more significantly to a Roman audience, he was a "contemptor divorum" (contemptor of the gods). He appears in Virgil's Aeneid, primarily book ten, where he aided Turnus in a war against Aeneas and the Trojans. While in battle with Aeneas, he was critically injured by a spear blow, but his son Lausus bravely blocked Aeneas' final blow to save his life. Lausus was then killed by Aeneas, who mocked the young man's piety towards his father. Mezentius escaped death for a short while, but upon hearing of Lausus' death, he went back into battle, ashamed that his son had died in his place and full of grief and anger. He eventually was overcome by Aeneas, but remained defiant and fearless unto his death, not begging for mercy as Turnus later did, but simply asking that he be buried with his son.