Aeneid, Book 10: Pallas & Mezentius

1Panditur interea domus omnipotentis Olympi,

conciliumque vocat divom pater atque hominum rex

sideream in sedem, terras unde arduus omnis

castraque Dardanidum adspectat populosque Latinos.

5Considunt tectis bipatentibus, incipit ipse:

Caelicolae magni, quianam sententia vobis

versa retro tantumque animis certatis iniquis?

Abnueram bello Italiam concurrere Teucris.

Quae contra vetitum discordia? Quis metus aut hos

10aut hos arma sequi ferrumque lacessere suasit?

Adveniet iustum pugnae, ne arcessite, tempus,

cum fera Karthago Romanis arcibus olim

exitium magnum atque Alpes immittet apertas:

tum certare odiis, tum res rapuisse licebit.

15Nunc sinite et placitum laeti componite foedus.

1Meanwhile almighty Olympus' palace is thrown open,

and the father of gods and king of men summons a council

to his starry court, from which, enthroned on high, he surveys all lands,

the Dardanians' camp and the Latin peoples.

5They take their seats within the double-doored hall; he himself begins:

"Mighty dwellers in heaven, why has your judgment

reversed, and why do you contend so fiercely with hostile hearts?

I had refused to let Italy clash with the Teucrians in war.

What discord is this, defying my ban? What fear persuaded one side,

10or the other, to take up arms and provoke the sword?

The rightful time for battle will come; do not summon it,

when one day fierce Carthage, through the Alps laid open,

will hurl vast destruction upon the citadels of Rome:

then you may contend in hatred, then seize the spoils.

15Now let it be, and gladly ratify the compact already approved."

16Iuppiter haec paucis; at non Venus aurea contra

pauca refert:

O pater, O hominum rerumque aeterna potestas!

Namque aliud quid sit, quod iam implorare queamus?

20Cernis ut insultent Rutulli Turnusque feratur

per medios insignis equis tumidusque secundo

Marte ruat? Non clausa tegunt iam moenia Teucros:

quin intra portas atque ipsis proelia miscent

aggeribus moerorum et inundant sanguine fossas.

25Aeneas ignarus abest. Numquamne levari

obsidione sines? Muris iterum imminet hostis

nascentis Troiae nec non exercitus alter;

atque iterum in Teucros Aetolis surgit ab Arpis

Tydides. Equidem credo, mea volnera restant

30et tua progenies mortalia demoror arma.

Si sine pace tua atque invito numine Troes

Italiam petiere, luant peccata neque illos

iuveris auxilio; sin tot responsa secuti,

quae superi manesque dabant: cur nunc tua quisquam

35vertere iussa potest aut cur nova condere fata?

Quid repetem exustas Erycino in litore classes,

quid tempestatum regem ventosque furentis

Aeolia excitos aut actam nubibus Irim?

Nunc etiam manis, haec intemptata manebat

40sors rerum, movet et superis immissa repente

Allecto, medias Italum bacchata per urbes.

Nil super imperio moveor: speravimus ista,

dum fortuna fuit; vincant quos vincere mavis.

Si nulla est regio, Teucris quam det tua coniunx

45dura, per eversae, genitor, fumantia Troiae

exscidia obtestor, liceat dimittere ab armis

incolumem Ascanium, liceat superesse nepotem.

Aeneas sane ignotis iactetur in undis

et, quamcumque viam dederit Fortuna, sequatur:

50hunc tegere et dirae valeam subducere pugnae.

Est Amathus, est celsa mihi Paphus atque Cythera

Idaliaeque domus: positis inglorius armis

exigat hic aevum. Magna dicione iubeto

Karthago premat Ausoniam: nihil urbibus inde

55obstabit Tyriis. Quid pestem evadere belli

iuvit et Argolicos medium fugisse per ignes

totque maris vastaeque exhausta pericula terrae,

dum Latium Teucri recidivaque Pergama quaerunt?

Non satius cineres patriae insedisse supremos

60atque solum, quo Troia fuit? Xanthum et Simoenta

redde, oro, miseris iterumque revolvere casus

da, pater, Iliacos Teucris.

16Jupiter said this briefly; but golden Venus in reply

did not speak briefly:

"O Father, eternal power over humankind and all things!

For what else is there now that we can implore?

20Do you see how the Rutulians exult, how Turnus is borne

through their midst, conspicuous with his team and elated by success

as he rushes on under favoring Mars? Closed walls no longer shelter the Trojans:

they join battle within the gates and on the ramparts

of the walls, and flood the trenches with blood.

25Aeneas is away, unaware. Will you never let them find

relief from siege? Once more an enemy looms over the walls

of Troy as she is born, and another army too

rises again against the Trojans from Aetolian Arpi:

the son of Tydeus. I suppose wounds still await me,

30and I, your own daughter, await mortal weapons.

If the Trojans sought Italy without your sanction and against your will,

let them pay for their sin, and give them no

aid; but if they followed all those oracles

given by gods above and powers below, how can anyone now

35overturn your commands, or why should anyone fashion new fates?

Why should I rehearse the fleet burned on Eryx's shore,

the king of storms and the raging winds

roused from Aeolia, or Iris driven through the clouds?

Now she even stirs the shades; this single realm of creation

40alone remained unassailed. Allecto, suddenly sent into the upper world,

raged like a Bacchant through the heart of Italy's cities.

I care no longer about empire; we had that hope

while Fortune allowed. Let those you choose for victory prevail.

If there is no land your hard-hearted wife will grant the Trojans,

45by the smoking ruins of Troy overthrown, Father,

I implore you: let me send Ascanius safely out of battle;

let your grandson survive.

Let Aeneas, by all means, be tossed on unknown seas

and follow whatever path Fortune grants:

50only let me shield him and draw him out of the dreadful fight.

I have Amathus, lofty Paphos and Cythera,

and my Idalian home: there, his weapons laid aside,

let him pass his life without glory. Command that

Carthage hold Ausonia under vast dominion; from his line no threat

55will rise against Tyrian cities. What good was it to escape the plague of war

and flee through the heart of Argive fires,

and endure so many perils of sea and vast land,

while the Trojans seek Latium and a Troy reborn?

Would it not have been better to settle on their homeland's last ashes

60and the ground where Troy once stood? Restore Xanthus and Simois

to these wretches, I beg. Let the Trojans once again relive

the disasters of Ilium, Father."

62bTum regia Iuno

acta furore gravi: Quid me alta silentia cogis

rumpere et obductum verbis volgare dolorem?

65Aenean hominum quisquam divomque subegit

bella sequi aut hostem regi se inferre Latino?

Italiam petiit fatis auctoribus, esto,

Cassandrae inpulsus furiis: num linquere castra

hortati sumus aut vitam committere ventis?

70Num puero summam belli, num credere muros

Tyrrhenamque fidem, aut gentis agitare quietas?

Quis deus in fraudem, quae dura potentia nostra

egit? Ubi hic Iuno demissave nubibus Iris?

Indignum est Italos Troiam circumdare flammis

75nascentem et patria Turnum consistere terra,

cui Pilumnus avus, cui diva Venilia mater:

quid face Troianos atra vim ferre Latinis,

arva aliena iugo premere atque avertere praedas?

Quid soceros legere et gremiis abducere pactas,

80pacem orare manu, praefigere puppibus arma?

Tu potes Aenean manibus subducere Graium

proque viro nebulam et ventos obtendere inanis,

tu potes in totidem classem convertere nymphas:

nos aliquid Rutulos contra iuvisse nefandum est?

85Aeneas ignarus abest: ignarus et absit.

Est Paphus Idaliumque tibi, sunt alta Cythera:

quid gravidam bellis urbem et corda aspera temptas?

Nosne tibi fluxas Phrygiae res vertere fundo

conamur, nos, an miseros qui Troas Achivis

90obiecit? Quae causa fuit, consurgere in arma

Europamque Asiamque et foedera solvere furto?

Me duce Dardanius Spartam expugnavit adulter,

aut ego tela dedi fovive cupidine bella?

Tum decuit metuisse tuis: nunc sera querelis

95haud iustis adsurgis et inrita iurgia iactas.

62bThen royal Juno,

driven by deep fury, said: "Why do you force me to break

my deep silence and lay bare in words the grief I have veiled?

65What man or god drove Aeneas

to pursue war or thrust himself as an enemy upon King Latinus?

He sought Italy with fate as his warrant, granted,

driven by Cassandra's frenzies. Did we advise him to leave his camp

or trust his life to the winds?

70Did we advise him to entrust to a boy the whole war, the walls,

and Etruscan loyalty, or to stir up peaceful nations?

What god, what harsh power of ours drove him

into this snare? Where is Juno in this, or Iris sent down from the clouds?

Is it an outrage that Italians ring a rising Troy

75with fire, while Turnus stands fast on his native soil,

he whose grandfather is Pilumnus, whose mother the goddess Venilia?

But what of the Trojans bringing violence against the Latins with a black torch,

pressing foreign fields under the yoke and driving off plunder?

What of choosing fathers-in-law and taking betrothed women from their families' arms,

80begging peace with weapons in hand, mounting arms on their ships?

You can snatch Aeneas from the hands of the Greeks

and interpose a cloud and empty winds in the man's place,

you can turn a fleet into an equal number of nymphs:

but is it an abomination that we gave the Rutulians any help?

85Aeneas is away, unaware; let him stay away, unaware.

You have Paphos and Idalium, and lofty Cythera:

why assail a city pregnant with wars and hearts made fierce?

Are we the ones trying to overturn from the ground up

the tottering fortunes of Phrygia for you, or was it the man who exposed the wretched

90Trojans to the Greeks? What caused Europe and Asia to rise

in arms and break their treaties through theft?

Did the Dardan adulterer storm Sparta under my leadership,

or did I give him weapons and fan the war with lust?

Then was the time to fear for your own; now you rise too late

95with unjust complaints and hurl futile charges."

96Talibus orabat Iuno, cunctique fremebant

caelicolae adsensu vario, ceu flamina prima

cum deprensa fremunt silvis et caeca volutant

murmura, venturos nautis prodentia ventos.

100Tum pater omnipotens, rerum cui prima potestas,

infit; eo dicente deum domus alta silescit

et tremefacta solo tellus, silet arduus aether,

tum Zephyri posuere, premit placida aequora pontus:

Accipite ergo animis atque haec mea figite dicta.

105Quandoquidem Ausonios coniungi foedere Teucris

haud licitum, nec vestra capit discordia finem:

quae cuique est fortuna hodie, quam quisque secat spem,

Tros Rutulusne fuat nullo discrimine habebo.

Seu fatis Italum castra obsidione tenentur

110sive errore malo Troiae monitisque sinistris.

Nec Rutulos solvo: sua cuique exorsa laborem

fortunamque ferent. Rex Iuppiter omnibus idem.

Fata viam invenient. Stygii per flumina fratris,

per pice torrentis atraque voragine ripas

115adnuit et totum nutu tremefecit Olympum.

Hic finis fandi. Solio tum Iuppiter aureo

surgit, caelicolae medium quem ad limina ducunt.

96So Juno argued, and all the dwellers in heaven murmured,

their sympathies divided, like the first gusts of wind

when, trapped in the woods, they roar and roll

unseen murmurs that warn sailors of winds to come.

100Then the almighty Father, who holds supreme power over all,

began. As he spoke, the high house of the gods fell silent;

earth, shaken to its foundations, fell silent; high heaven was still;

then the west winds ceased, and the sea lay flat and calm:

"Take these words into your hearts, then, and fix them there.

105Since it is not permitted that the Ausonians be joined

in treaty with the Teucrians, and your discord admits no end,

whatever fortune each has today, whatever hope each pursues,

whether Trojan or Rutulian, I will make no distinction.

Whether the Trojan camp is held under siege by the Italians' fates

110or by Troy's disastrous error and ill-omened warnings,

Nor do I exempt the Rutulians: each one's own undertakings will bring

both toil and fortune. King Jupiter is the same to all.

The fates will find a way." By the rivers of his Stygian brother,

by banks where pitch seethes in a black abyss,

115he nodded assent and shook all Olympus with his nod.

So ended the speeches. Jupiter then rose from his golden throne,

and the dwellers in heaven escorted him in their midst to the threshold.

118Interea Rutuli portis circum omnibus instant

sternere caede viros et moenia cingere flammis.

120At legio Aeneadum vallis obsessa tenetur,

nec spes ulla fugae. Miseri stant turribus altis

nequiquam et rara muros cinxere corona

Asius Imbrasides Hicetaoniusque Thymoetes

Assaracique duo et senior cum Castore Thymbris,

125prima acies; hos germani Sarpedonis ambo

et Clarus et Thaemon Lycia comitantur ab alta.

Fert ingens toto conixus corpore saxum,

haud partem exiguam montis, Lyrnesius Acmon,

nec Clytio genitore minor nec fratre Menestheo.

130Hi iaculis, illi certant defendere saxis

molirique ignem nervoque aptare sagittas.

Ipse inter medios, Veneris iustissima cura,

Dardanius caput ecce puer detectus honestum,

qualis gemma micat, fulvum quae dividit aurum,

135aut collo decus aut capiti; vel quale per artem

inclusum buxo aut Oricia terebintho

lucet ebur; fusos cervix cui lactea crinis

accipit et molli subnectens circulus auro.

Te quoque magnanimae viderunt, Ismare, gentes

140volnera dirigere et calamos armare veneno,

Maeonia generose domo, ubi pinguia culta

exercentque viri Pactolusque inrigat auro.

Adfuit et Mnestheus, quem pulsi pristina Turni

aggere moerorum sublimem gloria tollit,

145et Capys: hinc nomen Campanae ducitur urbi.

Illi inter sese duri certamina belli

118Meanwhile the Rutulians press hard around every gate,

intent on slaughtering men and ringing the walls with fire.

120But Aeneas' host, besieged, is pinned behind its palisade,

with no hope of escape. Helpless, they stand on the high towers,

all in vain, and ring the walls with a thin line of men:

Asius son of Imbrasus and Thymoetes son of Hicetaon,

the two Assaraci, and old Thymbris with Castor,

125form the front rank. Sarpedon's two brothers,

Clarus and Thaemon, support them from lofty Lycia.

Lyrnesian Acmon strains with his whole body to hoist

a massive rock, no small part of a mountain,

himself no lesser than his father Clytius or his brother Menestheus.

130Some fight to defend with javelins, others with stones;

some launch firebrands, others fit arrows to bowstrings.

Behold the Dardan boy himself among them,

Venus' most rightful charge, his noble head uncovered,

like a gem flashing where it is set in tawny gold,

135an ornament for neck or head; or like ivory

inlaid by art in boxwood or Orician terebinth,

shining. Flowing locks fall over his milk-white neck,

and a circlet of pliant gold binds them below.

Your high-hearted clans also saw you, Ismarus,

140aiming wounding shots and tipping reed arrows with poison,

noble son of a Maeonian house, where men work rich fields

and Pactolus waters them with gold.

Mnestheus too was there, raised high by the recent glory

of having driven Turnus from the rampart of the walls,

145and Capys; from him the Campanian city takes its name.

They had engaged one another in the harsh struggles of war;

147contulerant: media Aeneas freta nocte secabat.

Namque ut ab Euandro castris ingressus Etruscis

regem adit et regi memorat nomenque genusque,

150quidve petat quidve ipse ferat, Mezentius arma

quae sibi conciliet, violentaque pectora Turni

edocet, humanis quae sit fiducia rebus

admonet immiscetque preces: haud fit mora, Tarchon

iungit opes foedusque ferit; tum libera fati

155classem conscendit iussis gens Lydia divom,

externo commissa duci. Aeneia puppis

prima tenet, rostro Phrygios subiuncta leones,

imminet Ida super, profugis gratissima Teucris.

Hic magnus sedet Aeneas secumque volutat

160eventus belli varios, Pallasque sinistro

adfixus lateri iam quaerit sidera, opacae

noctis iter, iam quae passus terraque marique.

147Aeneas was cleaving the seas in the heart of night.

For after leaving Evander and entering the Etruscan camp,

he approaches its king and tells him his name and lineage,

150what he seeks and what he himself brings. He explains what forces

Mezentius is winning to his side, and Turnus' violent spirit;

he warns how little trust there is in human affairs

and mingles prayers with his words. There is no delay: Tarchon

joins forces and seals an alliance; then, freed from fate's restraint,

155the Lydian people embark at the gods' command,

entrusted to a foreign commander. Aeneas' ship

holds the lead, with Phrygian lions fastened beneath its prow;

Mount Ida towers above them, dearest to the exiled Teucrians.

Here great Aeneas sits, pondering within himself

160the war's shifting fortunes, while Pallas, clinging to his left

side, asks him now about the stars and the journey through

the dark night, now what he has suffered on land and sea.

163Pandite nunc Helicona, deae, cantusque movete,

quae manus interea Tuscis comitetur ab oris

165Aenean armetque rates pelagoque vehatur.

Massicus aerata princeps secat aequora tigri:

sub quo mille manus iuvenum, qui moenia Clusi

quique urbem liquere Cosas, quis tela sagittae

gorytique leves umeris et letifer arcus.

170Una torvus Abas: huic totum insignibus armis

agmen et aurato fulgebat Apolline puppis.

Sescentos illi dederat Populonia mater

expertos belli iuvenes, ast Ilva trecentos

insula inexhaustis Chalybum generosa metallis.

175Tertius ille hominum divomque interpres Asilas,

cui pecudum fibrae, caeli cui sidera parent

et linguae volucrum et praesagi fulminis ignes,

mille rapit densos acie atque horrentibus hastis.

Hos parere iubent Alpheae ab origine Pisae,

180urbs Etrusca solo. Sequitur pulcherrimus Astur,

Astur equo fidens et versicoloribus armis.

Tercentum adiciunt (mens omnibus una sequendi)

qui Caerete domo, qui sunt Minionis in arvis,

et Pyrgi veteres intempestaeque Graviscae.

163Open Helicon now, goddesses, and set the song in motion,

what force meanwhile from Tuscan shores escorts

165Aeneas, fits out the ships, and is borne over the sea.

Massicus first cleaves the waters in the bronze-clad Tiger;

under his command are a thousand young men, who left the walls of Clusium

and the city of Cosae; their weapons are arrows,

light quivers on their shoulders and death-dealing bows.

170With him goes grim Abas; all his company

glittered in splendid arms, and his stern blazed with golden Apollo.

Mother Populonia had given him six hundred

battle-seasoned youths, but Ilva three hundred more,

the island rich in inexhaustible Chalybian ore.

175Third came Asilas, interpreter of gods and men,

for whom the victims' entrails obey, for whom the stars of heaven obey,

and the cries of birds and the fires of prophetic lightning;

he drives a thousand on, packed close in battle line and bristling with spears.

Pisa, Alphean in origin, bids these men obey Asilas,

180a city on Etruscan soil. Next follows fairest Astur,

Astur, trusting in his horse and his many-colored arms.

Three hundred more join them, all of one mind to follow,

men whose home is Caere, others from Minio's fields,

from ancient Pyrgi and fever-ridden Graviscae.

185Non ego te, Ligurum ductor fortissime bello,

transierim, Cinyre, et paucis comitate Cupavo,

cuius olorinae surgunt de vertice pennae,

crimen, Amor, vestrum formaeque insigne paternae.

Namque ferunt luctu Cycnum Phaethontis amati,

190populeas inter frondes umbramque sororum

dum canit et maestum Musa solatur amorem,

canentem molli pluma duxisse senectam,

linquentem terras et sidera voce sequentem.

Filius, aequalis comitatus classe catervas,

195ingentem remis Centaurum promovet: ille

instat aquae saxumque undis immane minatur

arduus et longa sulcat maria alta carina.

Ille etiam patriis agmen ciet Ocnus ab oris,

fatidicae Mantus et Tusci filius amnis,

200qui muros matrisque dedit tibi, Mantua, nomen,

Mantua, dives avis; sed non genus omnibus unum:

gens illi triplex, populi sub gente quaterni,

ipsa caput populis, Tusco de sanguine vires.

Hinc quoque quingentos in se Mezentius armat,

205quos patre Benaco velatus harundine glauca

Mincius infesta ducebat in aequora pinu.

It gravis Aulestes centenaque arbore fluctum

verberat adsurgens, spumant vada marmore verso.

Hunc vehit immanis Triton et caerula concha

210exterrens freta, cui laterum tenus hispida nanti

frons hominem praefert, in pristim desinit alvus:

spumea semifero sub pectore murmurat unda.

Tot lecti proceres ter denis navibus ibant

subsidio Troiae et campos salis aera secabant.

185I would not pass you over, Cinyrus, bravest in war among Ligurian leaders,

or you, Cupavo, though only a few attend you,

from whose crest swan feathers rise—

Love, your shared reproach, and the emblem of his father's form.

For they say that Cycnus, grieving for his beloved Phaethon,

190among the poplar foliage and the shade of Phaethon's sisters,

while he sang and consoled his mournful love with song,

passed his old age singing in soft plumage,

leaving earth and following the stars with his voice.

His son, accompanied in his fleet by bands of his peers,

195drives the huge Centaur ahead with oars; its figure

looms over the water and threatens the waves with a massive rock,

towering, while the long keel furrows the deep sea.

Ocnus too calls up a force from his native shores,

son of prophetic Manto and the Tuscan river god,

200who gave you walls, Mantua, and his mother's name,

Mantua, rich in ancestors, yet her people do not all share one stock:

three stocks make up her nation, with four peoples under each stock;

Mantua herself stands chief among them, her strength from Tuscan blood.

From there too Mezentius drives five hundred to take arms against him;

205Mincius, son of Father Benacus and veiled in gray-green reeds,

led them onto the open water aboard a hostile pine ship.

Mighty Aulestes advances and, rising high, beats the swell

with a hundred oars; the waters foam as the sea's marble surface is churned.

A colossal Triton carries him, his conch terrifying the blue waters;

210as he swims, his shaggy front down to the flanks

displays a man, but his belly tapers into a sea-beast;

foaming water murmurs beneath his half-bestial chest.

So many chosen chiefs sailed in thirty ships

to bring aid to Troy, and bronze prows cleaved the salt sea's plains.

215Iamque dies caelo concesserat almaque curru

noctivago Phoebe medium pulsabat Olympum:

Aeneas (neque enim membris dat cura quietem)

ipse sedens clavumque regit velisque ministrat.

Atque illi medio in spatio chorus ecce suarum

220occurrit comitum: nymphae, quas alma Cybebe

numen habere maris nymphasque e navibus esse

iusserat, innabant pariter fluctusque secabant,

quot prius aeratae steterant ad litora prorae.

Agnoscunt longe regem lustrantque choreis,

225quarum quae fandi doctissima Cymodocea

pone sequens dextra puppim tenet ipsaque dorso

eminet ac laeva tacitis subremigat undis,

tum sic ignarum adloquitur: Vigilasne, deum gens,

Aenea? Vigila et velis immitte rudentis.

230Nos sumus, Idaeae sacro de vertice pinus,

nunc pelagi nymphae, classis tua. Perfidus ut nos

praecipitis ferro Rutulus flammaque premebat,

rupimus invitae tua vincula teque per aequor

quaerimus. Hanc Genetrix faciem miserata refecit

235et dedit esse deas aevumque agitare sub undis.

At puer Ascanius muro fossisque tenetur

tela inter media atque horrentis Marte Latinos.

Iam loca iussa tenent forti permixtus Etrusco

Arcas eques: medias illis opponere turmas,

240ne castris iungant, certast sententia Turno.

Surge age et Aurora socios veniente vocari

primus in arma iube et clipeum cape, quem dedit ipse

invictum Ignipotens atque oras ambiit auro.

Crastina lux, mea si non inrita dicta putaris,

245ingentis Rutulae spectabit caedis acervos.

Dixerat, et dextra discedens impulit altam

haud ignara modi puppim: fugit illa per undas

ocior et iaculo et ventos aequante sagitta.

Inde aliae celerant cursus. Stupet inscius ipse

250Tros Anchisiades; animos tamen omine tollit.

Tum breviter super adspectans convexa precatur:

Alma parens Idaea deum, cui Dindyma cordi

turrigeraeque urbis biiugique ad frena leones,

tu mihi nunc pugnae princeps, tu rite propinques

255augurium Phrygibusque adsis pede, diva, secundo.

215And now day had yielded the sky, and kindly Phoebe in her night-roving car

was striking the midmost height of heaven;

Aeneas, for care allowed no rest to his limbs,

sat at the helm himself and handled the sails.

And there in mid-course, look, a band of his own companions

220came to meet him: the nymphs whom kindly Cybele

had bidden hold the divine power of the sea and become sea-nymphs from ships;

they swam abreast and cleft the waves,

as many as brazen prows had once stood by the shore.

From far off they know their king and circle round him in their dances;

225of them Cymodocea, most skilled in speech,

following close behind, laid her right hand on the stern and with her back

rose clear of the water and with her left hand rowed beneath the silent waves;

then addressed him, still unaware: "Are you awake, child of the gods,

Aeneas? Wake, and let the sail-ropes run free.

230We are the pines from Ida's holy summit,

now nymphs of the sea, your fleet. When the treacherous Rutulian

was driving us headlong with steel and flame,

we broke your moorings against our will and seek you

over the sea. The Mother, taking pity, remade us in this form

235and gave us divinity and life beneath the waves.

But the boy Ascanius is hemmed in by wall and trench,

amid missiles and Latins bristling with war.

Already the Arcadian horse, joined with the valiant Etruscans,

holds the ground assigned to them. Turnus has resolved

240on throwing squadrons in their path, so they cannot join the camp.

Rise now, and at dawn be first to summon your comrades

to arms. Take up the shield

that Fire-lord himself gave you, invincible, rimmed with gold.

Tomorrow's dawn, if you do not count my words empty,

245shall look upon great heaps of Rutulian slaughter."

She spoke, and as she parted she struck the towering

stern with her right hand, well knowing how: it sped over the waves

swifter than a javelin, swifter than an arrow racing with the winds.

Then the others quicken on their course. Anchises' Trojan son,

250bewildered, stood amazed; yet the omen lifted his heart.

Then, gazing up at the vault above, he prayed briefly:

"Nourishing Idaean Mother of the gods, to whom Dindyma is dear,

and tower-crowned cities, and the twin lions at your reins,

take the lead of battle for me now; bring this omen true,

255and goddess, stand by the Phrygians with favoring step."

256Tantum effatus. Et interea revoluta rubebat

matura iam luce dies noctemque fugarat:

principio sociis edicit, signa sequantur

atque animos aptent armis pugnaeque parent se.

260Iamque in conspectu Teucros habet et sua castra,

stans celsa in puppi; clipeum cum deinde sinistra

extulit ardentem. Clamorem ad sidera tollunt

Dardanidae e muris, spes addita suscitat iras,

tela manu iaciunt: quales sub nubibus atris

265Strymoniae dant signa grues atque aethera tranant

cum sonitu fugiuntque notos clamore secundo.

At Rutulo regi ducibusque ea mira videri

Ausoniis, donec versas ad litora puppes

respiciunt totumque adlabi classibus aequor.

270Ardet apex capiti cristisque a vertice flamma

funditur et vastos umbo vomit aureus ignes:

non secus ac liquida siquando nocte cometae

sanguinei lugubre rubent aut Sirius ardor,

ille sitim morbosque ferens mortalibus aegris,

275nascitur et laevo contristat lumine caelum.

Haud tamen audaci Turno fiducia cessit

litora praecipere et venientis pellere terra.

ultro animos tollit dictis atque increpat ultro

Quod votis optastis, adest, perfringere dextra;

280in manibus Mars ipse viris. Nunc coniugis esto

quisque suae tectique memor, nunc magna referto

facta, patrum laudes. Ultro occurramus ad undam,

dum trepidi egressisque labant vestigia prima.

Audentis Fortuna iuvat,

285haec ait et secum versat, quos ducere contra

vel quibus obsessos possit concredere muros.

256So much he said. Meanwhile the returning day was reddening

in the full light of dawn, and had driven night away:

first he orders his comrades to follow the standards

and fit their hearts to arms and make themselves ready for battle.

260And now he has the Teucrians and his camp in view,

standing on the high stern; then with his left hand

he raised the blazing shield. From the walls the Dardanians lift a cry to the stars;

new hope kindles their anger,

they hurl their weapons: like cranes beneath dark clouds,

265Strymonian cranes that sound their signals and swim the sky

with a din, fleeing the south winds amid cries that speed them on.

The Rutulian king and Ausonian captains marvel at this,

until they look back and see sterns turned toward the shore

and the whole sea gliding in with fleets.

270His helmet crest blazes; from its summit flame streams

over the plumes, and the golden boss spews vast fires:

just as, sometimes, on a clear night comets

glow blood-red and baleful, or Sirius' blaze,

bringing thirst and sickness to stricken mortals,

275rises and makes the sky grim with sinister light.

Yet bold Turnus' confidence did not fail him:

he would seize the shore first and drive the newcomers from land.

He himself lifts their spirits with words and even rebukes them:

"What you prayed for is here: to break through by strength of hand;

280Mars himself is in your hands. Now let each remember

his own wife and home; let him now recall

great deeds and his fathers' glory. Let us go out to meet them at the water's edge,

while they are in confusion and their first footing falters as they land.

Fortune helps the daring."

285So he speaks, and turns over in his mind which troops to lead against them,

or to whom he can entrust the beleaguered walls.

287Interea Aeneas socios de puppibus altis

pontibus exponit. Multi servare recursus

languentis pelagi et brevibus se credere saltu,

290per remos alii. Speculatus litora Tarchon,

qua vada non sperat nec fracta remurmurat unda,

sed mare inoffensum crescenti adlabitur aestu,

advertit subito proram sociosque precatur:

Nunc, o lecta manus, validis incumbite remis;

295tollite, ferte rates; inimicam findite rostris

hanc terram, sulcumque sibi premat ipsa carina.

Frangere nec tali puppim statione recuso

arrepta tellure semel. Quae talia postquam

effatus Tarchon, socii consurgere tonsis

300spumantisque rates arvis inferre Latinis,

donec rostra tenent siccum et sedere carinae

omnes innocuae, sed non puppis tua, Tarchon.

Namque inflicta vadis dorso dum pendet iniquo,

anceps sustentata diu fluctusque fatigat,

305solvitur atque viros mediis exponit in undis

fragmina remorum quos et fluitantia transtra

impediunt, retrahitque pedem simul unda relabens.

287Meanwhile Aeneas brings his comrades ashore from the high ships

by gangways. Many wait for the ebb

of the slackening sea, then leap and trust themselves to the shallows;

290others climb down by the oars. Tarchon surveys the shore,

where he expects no shoals and no breaking wave roars back,

but the smooth sea glides ashore on a rising swell.

He swings his prow toward it at once and appeals to his comrades:

"Now, chosen company, lean hard upon your stout oars;

295lift the ships, drive them on; cleave this hostile

land with the ships' beaks, and let each keel press its own furrow.

I do not shrink from wrecking the ship at such a landing,

once we have seized the land for good." When Tarchon has spoken

these words, his comrades rise as one upon the oars

300and drive the foaming ships onto the fields of Latium,

until the beaks grip dry ground and every keel settles

unharmed. But not your ship, Tarchon:

for, driven onto a shoal, it hangs over an uneven ridge,

long held in wavering balance while the surf keeps battering it;

305then it breaks apart and spills its men amid the waves.

Fragments of oars and floating thwarts

entangle them, as the receding wave drags their feet back.

308Nec Turnum segnis retinet mora, sed rapit acer

totam aciem in Teucros et contra in litore sistit.

310Signa canunt. Primus turmas invasit agrestis

Aeneas, omen pugnae, stravitque Latinos

occiso Therone, virum qui maximus ultro

Aenean petit: huic gladio perque aerea suta,

per tunicam squalentem auro latus haurit apertum.

315Inde Lichan ferit, exsectum iam matre perempta

et tibi, Phoebe, sacrum: casus evadere ferri

quo licuit parvo? Nec longe Cissea durum

immanemque Gyan, sternentis agmina clava,

deiecit Leto: nihil illos Herculis arma

320nec validae iuvere manus genitorque Melampus,

Alcidae comes usque gravis dum terra labores

praebuit. Ecce Pharo, voces dum iactat inertis,

intorquens iaculum clamanti sistit in ore.

Tu quoque, flaventem prima lanugine malas

325dum sequeris Clytium infelix, nova gaudia, Cydon,

Dardania stratus dextra, securus amorum,

qui iuvenum tibi semper erant, miserande iaceres,

ni fratrum stipata cohors foret obvia, Phorci

progenies, septem numero, septenaque tela

330coniciunt; partim galea clipeoque resultant

inrita, deflexit partim stringentia corpus

alma Venus. Fidum Aeneas adfatur Achaten:

Suggere tela mihi: non ullum dextera frustra

torserit in Rutulos, steterunt quae in corpore Graium

335Iliacis campis. Tum magnam corripit hastam

et iacit: illa volans clipei transverberat aera

Maeonis et thoraca simul cum pectore rumpit.

Huic frater subit Alcanor fratremque ruentem

sustentat dextra: traiecto missa lacerto

340protinus hasta fugit servatque cruenta tenorem,

dexteraque ex umero nervis moribunda pependit.

Tum Numitor iaculo fratris de corpore rapto

Aenean petiit; sed non et figere contra

est licitum, magnique femur perstrinxit Achatae.

308No sluggish delay restrains Turnus; fierce, he drives

his whole battle line at the Trojans and arrays it against them on the shore.

310The signals blare. Aeneas is first to charge the rustic troops,

the battle's opening omen; he strikes the Latins down

by killing Theron, the largest of the men, who of his own accord

attacks Aeneas. With his sword, through the bronze-sewn scales,

through the tunic bristling with gold, Aeneas pierces his exposed flank.

315Then he strikes Lichas, cut from his dead mother's womb

and consecrated to you, Phoebus: what good was it to escape the knife's stroke

as an infant? Not far away, hard Cisseus

and huge Gyas, though they were felling ranks with clubs,

Aeneas casts them down in death. Hercules' weapons do not help them,

320nor their strong hands, nor Melampus their father,

Alcides' companion while earth kept setting hard labors before Alcides.

See: while Pharus hurls his empty words,

Aeneas hurls a javelin and plants it in Pharus' shouting mouth.

You too, unlucky Cydon, while you follow Clytius,

325your new delight, his cheeks yellow with their first down,

would lie struck down by the Dardanian hand, released from the loves

you had always borne for young men, pitiable man,

had not a close-packed band of brothers met Aeneas: Phorcus'

sons, seven in number. Seven spears

330they hurl. Some rebound uselessly from his helmet and shield;

others, grazing his body, kindly Venus turns aside.

Aeneas calls to faithful Achates:

"Bring me spears. Not one that lodged in a Greek body

on Ilium's fields will my right hand hurl in vain

335against the Rutulians." Then he snatches up a great spear

and throws it. Flying, it pierces the bronze of Maeon's shield

and tears through his breastplate and chest at once.

Alcanor, his brother, comes up and with his right hand supports

his falling brother. The launched spear passes through Alcanor's upper arm,

340flies straight on, and keeps its bloody course;

his dying right hand hangs from the shoulder by the sinews.

Then Numitor snatches the javelin from his brother's body

and attacks Aeneas; but he is not allowed to pierce him in return,

and only grazes the thigh of great Achates.

345Hic Curibus fidens primaevo corpore Clausus

advenit et rigida Dryopem ferit eminus hasta

sub mentum graviter pressa pariterque loquentis

vocem animamque rapit traiecto gutture; at ille

fronte ferit terram et crassum vomit ore cruorem.

350Tres quoque Threicios Boreae de gente suprema

et tris, quos Idas pater et patria Ismara mittit,

per varios sternit casus. Accurrit Halaesus

Auruncaeque manus, subit et Neptunia proles,

insignis Messapus equis. Expellere tendunt

355nunc hi, nunc illi; certatur limine in ipso

Ausoniae. Magno discordes aethere venti

proelia ceu tollunt animis et viribus aequis;

non ipsi inter se, non nubila, non mare cedit;

anceps pugna diu, stant obnixa omnia contra:

360haud aliter Troianae acies aciesque Latinae

concurrunt; haeret pede pes densusque viro vir.

345Here Clausus of Cures, confident in his youthful strength,

comes up and strikes Dryops from afar with his rigid spear,

driven hard beneath his chin; as Dryops is speaking,

it pierces his throat and takes voice and life together. He

falls face-first to earth and vomits clotted blood from his mouth.

350He also lays low three Thracians from Boreas' exalted line

and three whom their father Idas sends from their native Ismara,

each by a different death. Halaesus rushes up

with his Auruncan band; Neptune's son comes on as well,

Messapus, renowned for horses. They strain to drive their foes back,

355first one side, then the other; they fight on the very threshold

of Ausonia. Just as opposing winds in the vast sky

rise to battle, evenly matched in resolve and force;

neither wind yields to wind, nor do the clouds or sea;

long the struggle hangs in doubt, all locked in resistance:

360just so the Trojan and Latin battle lines

clash; foot locks against foot, man packed against man.

362At parte ex alia, qua saxa rotantia late

impulerat torrens arbustaque diruta ripis,

Arcadas insuetos acies inferre pedestris

365ut vidit Pallas Latio dare terga sequaci

(aspera quis natura loci dimittere quando

suasit equos), unum quod rebus restat egenis,

nunc prece, nunc dictis virtutem accendit amaris:

Quo fugitis, socii? Per vos et fortia facta,

370per ducis Evandri nomen devictaque bella

Opemque meam, patriae quae nunc subit aemula laudi,

fidite ne pedibus. Ferro rumpenda per hostis

est via. Qua globus ille virum densissimus urget,

hac vos et Pallanta ducem patria alta reposcit.

375Numina nulla premunt, mortali urgemur ab hoste

mortales, totidem nobis animaeque manusque.

Ecce, maris magna claudit nos obice pontus,

deest iam terra fugae: pelagus Troiamne petemus?

Haec ait et medius densos prorumpit in hostis.

362But elsewhere, where a torrent had driven rolling rocks

far and wide and torn brushwood from the banks,

Pallas saw the Arcadians, unused to advancing a battle line

365on foot, turn their backs in flight before the pursuing Latins.

(The rough terrain had compelled them

to leave their horses.) Taking the one course left in desperate straits,

he fires their courage, now with appeals, now with sharp rebukes:

"Where are you fleeing, comrades? By all you are and by your brave deeds,

370by the name of your leader Evander and the wars he won,

and by my own strength, now rising to rival my father's glory,

do not trust your feet. We must cut a path with steel

through the enemy. Where that thickest mass of men presses,

there your lofty homeland demands you and Pallas, your leader.

375No gods bear down on us. A mortal enemy presses us,

mortals ourselves; we have as many lives and hands as they.

See, the sea walls us in with its vast barrier;

there is no land left for flight. Shall we seek the deep, or Troy?"

So he speaks and bursts into the midst of the close-packed foes.

380Obvius huic primum, fatis adductus iniquis,

fit Lagus. Hunc, magno vellit dum pondere saxum,

intorto figit telo, discrimina costis

per medium qua spina dabat, hastamque receptat

ossibus haerentem. Quem non super occupat Hisbo,

385ille quidem hoc sperans: nam Pallas ante ruentem,

dum furit, incautum crudeli morte sodalis

excipit atque ensem tumido in pulmone recondit.

Hinc Sthenium petit et Rhoeti de gente vetusta

Anchemolum, thalamos ausum incestare novercae.

390Vos etiam, gemini, Rutulis cecidistis in agris,

Daucia, Laride Thymberque, simillima proles,

indiscreta suis gratusque parentibus error;

at nunc dura dedit vobis discrimina Pallas:

nam tibi, Thymbre, caput Evandrius abstulit ensis;

395te decisa suum, Laride, dextera quaerit

semianimesque micant digiti ferrumque retractant.

Arcadas accensos monitu et praeclara tuentis

facta viri mixtus dolor et pudor armat in hostis.

Tum Pallas biiugis fugientem Rhoetea praeter

400traicit. Hoc spatium tantumque morae fuit Ilo;

Ilo namque procul validam direxerat hastam,

quam medius Rhoeteus intercipit, optime Teuthra,

te fugiens fratremque Tyren, curruque volutus

caedit semianimis Rutulorum calcibus arva.

405Ac velut optato ventis aestate coortis

dispersa immittit silvis incendia pastor,

correptis subito mediis extenditur una

horrida per latos acies Volcania campos;

ille sedens victor flammas despectat ovantis:

410non aliter socium virtus coit omnis in unum

teque iuvat, Palla. Sed bellis acer Halaesus

tendit in adversos seque in sua conligit arma.

Hic mactat Ladona Pheretaque Demodocumque,

Strymonio dextram fulgenti deripit ense

415elatam in iugulum, saxo ferit ora Thoantis

ossaque dispersit cerebro permixta cruento.

Fata canens silvis genitor celarat Halaesum:

ut senior leto canentia lumina solvit,

iniecere manum Parcae telisque sacrarunt

420Evandri. Quem sic Pallas petit ante precatus:

Da nunc, Thybri pater, ferro, quod missile libro,

fortunam atque viam duri per pectus Halaesi.

Haec arma exuviasque viri tua quercus habebit.

Audiit illa deus: dum texit Imaona Halaesus,

425Arcadio infelix telo dat pectus inermum.

380First to meet him, drawn on by hostile fates,

is Lagus. While he strains to wrench up a massive stone,

Pallas pins him with a whirling spear at the gap between his ribs,

where the spine divides them down the middle, then wrenches back the shaft

stuck fast in bone. But Hisbo does not catch Pallas over the body,

385though that was his hope: Pallas meets him first as he charges,

raging and made reckless by his comrade's cruel death,

and buries his sword deep in the swelling lung.

Next he attacks Sthenius, and Anchemolus from ancient Rhoetus' line,

who dared to violate his stepmother's marriage bed.

390You too fell on Rutulian fields, twin sons

of Daucus, Larides and Thymber, two nearly identical offspring,

indistinguishable to your kin, a welcome confusion to your parents;

but Pallas now marked you with cruel differences:

for the sword of Evander's son took off your head, Thymber;

395and your severed right hand, Larides, searches for its owner,

its half-living fingers twitching and clutching again at the sword.

The Arcadians, fired by his rebuke and watching the hero's

splendid deeds, are armed against the foe by mingled grief and shame.

Then Pallas runs Rhoeteus through as he flees past in his two-horse chariot.

400That alone bought Ilus a moment's space and respite:

for Pallas had hurled his mighty spear at Ilus from far off,

but Rhoeteus intercepted it in mid-flight, noble Teuthras,

while fleeing you and your brother Tyres. Tumbling from his chariot,

half alive, he beats the Rutulian earth with his heels.

405As when in summer the longed-for winds rise

and a shepherd lets loose scattered fires among the woods;

the intervening ground suddenly catches, and a single

dread battle line of Vulcan stretches across the broad fields.

Seated in triumph, he looks down on the exultant flames.

410Just so all his comrades' courage gathers into one

and comes to your aid, Pallas. But Halaesus, fierce in war,

presses against them, crouched tight behind his shield.

He slaughters Ladon, Pheres, and Demodocus;

his flashing sword lops off Strymonius' right hand,

415raised against Halaesus' throat. With a rock he smashes Thoas' face

and scatters bones mingled with bloody brain.

His father, chanting prophecies, had hidden Halaesus in the woods;

but when the old man closed his age-whitened eyes in death,

the Fates laid hands on him and devoted him to the weapons

420of Evander. Pallas now attacks, after first praying:

"Father Tiber, grant success now to this steel I poise

to throw, and a path through unyielding Halaesus' breast.

Your oak shall bear this man's arms and spoils."

The god heard his words. While Halaesus shields Imaon,

425ill-fated, he presents his unguarded chest to Pallas' Arcadian spear.

426At non caede viri tanta perterrita Lausus,

pars ingens belli, sinit agmina: primus Abantem

oppositum interimit, pugnae nodumque moramque.

Sternitur Arcadiae proles, sternuntur Etrusci

430et vos, O Grais imperdita corpora, Teucri.

Agmina concurrunt ducibusque et viribus aequis.

Extremi addensent acies nec turba moveri

tela manusque sinit. Hinc Pallas instat et urget,

hinc contra Lausus, nec multum discrepat aetas:

435egregii forma, sed quis Fortuna negarat

in patriam reditus. Ipsos concurrere passus

haud tamen inter se magni regnator Olympi:

mox illos sua fata manent maiore sub hoste.

Interea soror alma monet succedere Lauso

440Turnum, qui volucri curru medium secat agmen.

Ut vidit socios: Tempus desistere pugnae;

solus ego in Pallanta feror, soli mihi Pallas

debetur; cuperem ipse parens spectator adesset.

Haec ait, et socii cesserunt aequore iusso.

426But Lausus does not allow the ranks to be terrified by so great a warrior's death;

himself a formidable force in the war, he is first to kill Abas,

who bars his way, a knot and stubborn check in the battle.

Arcadia's youth is laid low, the Etruscans are laid low,

430and you too, Trojans, bodies the Greeks never destroyed.

The battle lines clash, equal in commanders and strength.

Those at the rear pack the lines tighter, and the press allows neither

weapons nor hands to move. On one side Pallas presses and bears down,

on the other Lausus; little separates them in age,

435both remarkable in beauty, but Fortune had denied them

a return home. Yet the ruler of great Olympus did not permit

the two themselves to meet in combat:

soon each must meet his fate beneath a mightier foe.

Meanwhile Turnus' gracious sister urges him to relieve Lausus;

440he is cleaving the center of the host in his swift chariot.

When he saw his comrades, he called: "It is time to withdraw from the fight.

I alone am moving against Pallas; Pallas is due

to me alone. I only wish his father himself were here to watch."

He said this, and his comrades left the field at his command.

445At Rutulum abscessu iuvenis tum iussa superba

miratus stupet in Turno corpusque per ingens

lumina volvit obitque truci procul omnia visu

talibus et dictis it contra dicta tyranni:

Aut spoliis ego iam raptis laudabor opimis

450aut leto insigni: sorti pater aequus utrique est.

Tolle minas. Fatus medium procedit in aequor.

Frigidus Arcadibus coit in praecordia sanguis.

Desiluit Turnus biiugis, pedes apparat ire

comminus; utque leo, specula cum vidit ab alta

455stare procul campis meditantem in proelia taurum,

advolat: haud alia est Turni venientis imago.

Hunc ubi contiguum missae fore credidit hastae,

ire prior Pallas, siqua fors adiuvet ausum

viribus imparibus, magnumque ita ad aethera fatur:

460Per patris hospitium et mensas, quas advena adisti,

te precor, Alcide, coeptis ingentibus adsis.

Cernat semineci sibi me rapere arma cruenta

victoremque ferant morientia lumina Turni.

Audiit Alcides iuvenem magnumque sub imo

465corde premit gemitum lacrimasque effundit inanis.

Tum Genitor natum dictis adfatur amicis:

Stat sua cuique dies, breve et inreparabile tempus

omnibus est vitae: sed famam extendere factis,

hoc virtutis opus. Troiae sub moenibus altis

470tot nati cecidere deum; quin occidit una

Sarpedon, mea progenies. Etiam sua Turnum

fata vocant, metasque dati pervenit ad aevi.

Sic ait atque oculos Rutulorum reicit arvis.

At Pallas magnis emittit viribus hastam

475vaginaque cava fulgentem deripit ensem.

Illa volans umeri surgunt qua tegmina summa

incidit atque viam clipei molita per oras

tandem etiam magno strinxit de corpore Turni.

Hic Turnus ferro praefixum robur acuto

480in Pallanta diu librans iacit atque ita fatur:

Adspice, num mage sit nostrum penetrabile telum.

Dixerat; at clipeum, tot ferri terga, tot aeris,

quem pellis totiens obeat circumdata tauri,

vibranti cuspis medium transverberat ictu

485loricaeque moras et pectus perforat ingens.

Ille rapit calidum frustra de volnere telum:

una eademque via sanguis animusque sequuntur.

Corruit in volnus, sonitum super arma dedere

et terram hostilem moriens petit ore cruento.

445But when the Rutulians drew back, the young warrior, amazed at the proud command,

stood transfixed before Turnus. He swept his eyes over the man's enormous frame,

taking in every part from afar with a fierce gaze,

and answered the king's words with these:

"Either I shall now win praise for taking a commander's spoils,

450or for a glorious death. My father accepts either lot.

Enough of threats." With that he advanced into the middle of the field.

Cold blood congealed in the Arcadians' hearts.

Turnus sprang from his two-horse chariot and prepared to meet Pallas on foot,

hand to hand. Just as a lion, when from a high lookout it sees

455a bull standing far off in the fields, intent on battle,

flies at it, so Turnus looked as he came on.

When Pallas judged Turnus within reach of a cast spear,

he moved first, hoping fortune might somehow aid him in his daring

though their strength was unequal. Then he cried to high heaven:

460"By my father's guest-bond, by the tables you came to as a stranger,

I beg you, Alcides, stand beside me in this great undertaking.

May Turnus, half-dead, see me strip the blood-stained armor from him,

and may his dying eyes endure the sight of me victorious."

Alcides heard the young man. Deep in his heart

465he stifled a mighty groan and shed unavailing tears.

Then Jupiter addressed his son in kindly words:

"Each has an appointed day; brief and irrecoverable

is the span of life for all. But to lengthen fame through deeds,

that is valor's work. Beneath Troy's high walls

470so many sons of gods fell; and among them fell

Sarpedon, my own offspring. Turnus too is called by his fate

and has reached the limit of his allotted life."

So Jupiter spoke and turned his eyes away from the Rutulian fields.

Then Pallas hurled his spear with all his strength

475and snatched his gleaming sword from the hollow scabbard.

The flying spear struck where the upper armor rises at the shoulder;

it forced a path through the rim of the shield

and at last grazed even Turnus' mighty body.

Turnus then balanced his oak shaft tipped with sharp iron

480and took long aim at Pallas; he hurled it and said:

"See now whether my spear can pierce more deeply."

He had spoken. Though the shield had so many layers of iron and bronze,

and so many folds of bull's hide encircled it,

the spearpoint pierced its center with a quivering stroke,

485broke through the breastplate's resistance, and bored through Pallas' broad chest.

In vain Pallas tore the hot spear from the wound:

blood and life followed it out along the same path.

He collapsed onto the wound; his armor clanged over him,

and dying struck the hostile ground with his bloodied mouth.

490Quem Turnus super adsistens,

Arcades, haec, inquit, memores mea dicta referte

Euandro; qualem meruit, Pallanta remitto.

Quisquis honos tumuli, quidquid solamen humandi est,

largior. Haud illi stabunt Aeneia parvo

495hospitia. Et laevo pressit pede talia fatus

exanimem, rapiens immania pondera baltei

impressumque nefas, una sub nocte iugali

caesa manus iuvenum foede thalamique cruenti,

quae Clonus Eurytides multo caelaverat auro;

500quo nunc Turnus ovat spolio gaudetque potitus.

Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurae

et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis!

Turno tempus erit, magno cum optaverit emptum

intactum Pallanta et cum spolia ista diemque

505oderit. At socii multo gemitu lacrimisque

impositum scuto referunt Pallanta frequentes.

O dolor atque decus magnum rediture parenti

haec te prima dies bello dedit, haec eadem aufert,

cum tamen ingentis Rutulorum linquis acervos.

510Nec iam fama mali tanti, sed certior auctor

advolat Aeneae, tenui discrimine leti

esse suos, versis tempus succurrere Teucris.

Proxima quaeque metit gladio latumque per agmen

ardens limitem agit ferro, te, Turne, superbum

515caede nova quaerens. Pallas, Euander, in ipsis

omnia sunt oculis, mensae, quas advena primas

tunc adiit, dextraeque datae. Sulmone creatos

quattuor hic iuvenes, totidem, quos educat Ufens,

viventis rapit, inferias quos immolet umbris

520captivoque rogi perfundat sanguine flammas.

490Standing over him, Turnus said:

"Arcadians, remember these words of mine and carry them

to Evander: I send Pallas back as Evander deserves to receive him.

Whatever honor a tomb confers, whatever consolation burial brings,

I grant him. His guest-bond with Aeneas will cost him

495dearly." With these words he planted his left foot

on Pallas' lifeless body and tore away the massive sword-belt,

stamped with a crime: the band of young men foully slaughtered

on a single wedding night, the bridal chambers drenched in blood,

scenes Clonus, son of Eurytus, had chased in lavish gold.

500Turnus now exults in possessing that spoil.

How blind the human mind is to fate and the lot to come,

and how unable to keep within bounds when success exalts it!

The time will come when Turnus would wish he had paid dearly

to leave Pallas unharmed, when he will hate those spoils and

505that day. But Pallas' comrades, amid deep groans and tears,

carry him back in a throng, laid upon his shield.

O Pallas, destined to return to your father as grief and great glory!

This first day gave you to war; this same day takes you away,

though you leave vast heaps of Rutulian dead behind.

510Now no mere rumor of so great a disaster, but a more certain messenger

comes racing to Aeneas: his men are only a hair's breadth from death;

the Trojans have been routed, and it is time to bring them aid.

Aeneas mows down every man within reach of his sword and, blazing with rage,

carves a broad path with steel through the ranks, seeking you, Turnus,

515proud of your fresh bloodshed. Pallas, Evander, everything stands

before his very eyes: the tables he first approached as a stranger,

and the right hands exchanged in pledge. Here he seizes alive

four young sons of Sulmo and as many whom Ufens reared,

to sacrifice them as funeral offerings to the shades

520and drench the pyre's flames with captive blood.

521Inde Mago procul infensam contenderat hastam.

Ille astu subit ac tremibunda supervolat hasta,

et genua amplectens effatur talia supplex:

Per patrios manis et spes surgentis Iuli

525te precor, hanc animam serves natoque patrique.

Est domus alta, iacent penitus defossa talenta

caelati argenti, sunt auri pondera facti

infectique mihi. Non hic victoria Teucrum

vertitur aut anima una dabit discrimina tanta.

530Dixerat. Aeneas contra cui talia reddit:

Argenti atque auri memoras quae multa talenta,

natis parce tuis. Belli commercia Turnus

sustulit ista prior iam tum Pallante perempto.

Hoc patris Anchisae manes, hoc sentit Iulus.

535Sic fatus galeam laeva tenet atque reflexa

cervice orantis capulo tenus applicat ensem.

Nec procul Haemonides, Phoebi Triviaeque sacerdos,

infula cui sacra redimibat tempora vitta,

totus conlucens veste atque insignibus armis.

540Quem congressus agit campo lapsumque superstans

immolat ingentique umbra tegit; arma Serestus

lecta refert umeris, tibi, rex Gradive, tropaeum.

521Next Aeneas hurled his menacing spear at Magus from afar.

But Magus cunningly ducks beneath it, and the quivering spear flies over him.

Then, clasping Aeneas' knees as a suppliant, he pleads:

"By your father's shade and your hopes for Iulus as he grows,

525I beg you, spare my life for my son and my father.

My house is rich; deep within lie buried talents

of chased silver, and masses of gold, some wrought,

some unwrought, are mine. Troy's victory does not hinge on this,

nor can one life make so great a difference."

530So he spoke. Aeneas answered him:

"All those talents of silver and gold you speak of:

keep them for your children. Turnus was the first to end

such bargains of war, when he killed Pallas.

My father Anchises' shade feels the same, and so does Iulus."

535With these words, Aeneas grips Magus' helmet in his left hand and bends back

the suppliant's neck, driving his sword into him to the hilt.

Not far away stands Haemonides, priest of Phoebus and Trivia,

whose temples a priestly wool-band knotted with a sacred ribbon encircles,

gleaming all over in his robe and splendid armor.

540Aeneas meets him, drives him across the field, and, when he falls, stands over him;

he sacrifices him and covers him with his vast shadow. Serestus

gathers the armor and bears it away on his shoulders, a trophy for you, King Gradivus.

543Instaurant acies Volcani stirpe creatus

Caeculus et veniens Marsorum montibus Umbro:

545Dardanides contra furit. Anxuris ense sinistram

et totum clipei ferro deiecerat orbem;

dixerat ille aliquid magnum vimque adfore verbo

crediderat caeloque animum fortasse ferebat

canitiemque sibi et longos promiserat annos:

550Tarquitus exultans contra fulgentibus armis,

silvicolae Fauno Dryope quem nympha crearat,

obvius ardenti sese obtulit. Ille reducta

loricam clipeique ingens onus impedit hasta;

tum caput orantis nequiquam et multa parantis

555dicere deturbat terrae truncumque tepentem

provolvens super haec inimico pectore fatur:

Istic nunc, metuende, iace. Non te optima mater

condet humi patrioque onerabit membra sepulchro:

alitibus linquere feris aut gurgite mersum

560unda feret piscesque impasti volnera lambent.

Protinus Antaeum et Lucam, prima agmina Turni,

persequitur fortemque Numam fulvumque Camertem,

magnanimo Volcente satum, ditissimus agri

qui fuit Ausonidum et tacitis regnavit Amyclis.

565Aegaeon qualis, centum cui bracchia dicunt

centenasque manus, quinquaginta oribus ignem

pectoribusque arsisse, Iovis cum fulmina contra

tot paribus streperet clipeis, tot stringeret enses:

sic toto Aeneas desaevit in aequore victor,

570ut semel intepuit mucro. Quin ecce Niphaei

quadriiugis in equos adversaque pectora tendit.

Atque illi longe gradientem et dira frementem

ut videre, metu versi retroque ruentes

effunduntque ducem rapiuntque ad litora currus.

543They renew the battle lines: Caeculus, born of Vulcan's stock,

and Umbro, come from the Marsian hills.

545Against them Aeneas rages. His sword had struck off Anxur's left arm

and brought the whole round shield down with it.

Anxur had uttered a mighty boast and believed his strength would match his words,

perhaps lifting his proud heart to heaven,

and promising himself gray hair and many years.

550Then Tarquitus, striding proudly against him in gleaming armor,

whom the nymph Dryope had borne to Faunus, the woodland god,

sets himself in furious Aeneas' path. Aeneas draws back his spear;

when cast, it pins Tarquitus' breastplate and massive shield together.

Then, as Tarquitus pleads in vain and prepares a long speech,

555Aeneas sends his head spinning to the ground. Rolling the still-warm trunk

forward, he speaks these words over it, hatred in his heart:

"Lie there now, dread warrior. Your noble mother will not

bury you in your native soil or cover your limbs with an ancestral tomb:

you will be left for wild birds, or, drowned in the deep,

560the waves will carry you, and famished fish will lick your wounds."

At once he pursues Antaeus and Lucas, foremost in Turnus' ranks,

brave Numa, and tawny Camers,

great-hearted Volcens' son, richer in land

than any Ausonian and ruler of silent Amyclae.

565As Aegaeon, who, they say, had a hundred arms

and a hundred hands, and blazed fire from fifty mouths

and fifty breasts when, against Jupiter's thunderbolts,

he clashed fifty matching shields and drew fifty swords,

so victorious Aeneas rages savagely across the whole field

570once his blade has grown warm. Now look: he bears down

on Niphaeus' four yoked horses, straight against their chests.

When from afar those horses see him striding on

and roaring terribly, they wheel in fear and bolt backward,

throwing out their driver and bearing the chariot off toward the shore.

575Interea biiugis infert se Lucagus albis

in medios fraterque Liger; sed frater habenis

flectit equos, strictum rotat acer Lucagus ensem.

Haud tulit Aeneas tanto fervore furentis:

inruit adversaque ingens apparuit hasta.

580Cui Liger:

Non Diomedis equos nec currum cernis Achillis

aut Phrygiae campos: nunc belli finis et aevi

his dabitur terris. Vesano talia late

dicta volant Ligeri. Sed non et Troïus heros

585dicta parat contra: iaculum nam torquet in hostem.

Lucagus ut pronus pendens in verbera telo

admonuit biiugos, proiecto dum pede laevo

aptet se pugnae, subit oras hasta per imas

fulgentis clipei, tum laevum perforat inguen:

590excussus curru moribundus volvitur arvis.

Quem pius Aeneas dictis adfatur amaris:

Lucage, nulla tuos currus fuga segnis equorum

prodidit aut vanae vertere ex hostibus umbrae:

ipse rotis saliens iuga deseris. Haec ita fatus

595arripuit biiugos; frater tendebat inertis

infelix palmas, curru delapsus eodem:

Per te, per qui te talem genuere parentes,

vir Troiane, sine hanc animam et miserere precantis.

Pluribus oranti Aeneas: Haud talia dudum

600dicta dabas. Morere et fratrem ne desere frater.

Tum latebras animae pectus mucrone recludit.

Talia per campos edebat funera ductor

Dardanius, torrentis aquae vel turbinis atri

more furens. Tandem erumpunt et castra relinquunt

605Ascanius puer et nequiquam obsessa iuventus.

575Meanwhile Lucagus, in a chariot drawn by a white pair,

drives into the midst with his brother Liger. Liger, at the reins,

guides the horses, while fierce Lucagus brandishes his drawn sword.

Aeneas could not endure the brothers raging with such fury:

he charges, looming huge before them, his spear thrust forward.

580Liger calls to him:

"You see neither Diomedes' horses nor Achilles' chariot,

nor the fields of Phrygia. Now an end to your war and life

will be given you on this ground." Such words from frenzied Liger

fly far and wide. But the Trojan hero prepares

585no words in reply: he hurls his javelin at the enemy.

As Lucagus leans forward over the lash,

urging the pair with his sword and setting his left foot forward

to brace for battle, Aeneas' spear passes beneath the lowest rim

of his gleaming shield and then pierces his left groin.

590Flung from the chariot, he rolls dying across the field.

Dutiful Aeneas addresses the fallen man with bitter words:

"Lucagus, no cowardly flight of your horses has betrayed your chariot,

nor have mere phantoms of the enemy wheeled it away:

you leap from the wheels yourself and desert the team." So saying,

595Aeneas seizes the team. Lucagus' luckless brother Liger,

who has slipped from the same chariot, stretches out helpless hands:

"For your own sake, for the sake of the parents who begot the man you are,

Trojan warrior, spare my life and pity me as I plead."

As Liger pleads on, Aeneas answers: "That is not what

600you were saying a moment ago. Die, and do not desert your brother, brother."

Then with his sword point Aeneas lays open Liger's breast, life's hidden seat.

Such slaughter the Dardanian leader spreads across the fields,

raging like a torrent in flood or a black whirlwind.

At last they break out and leave the camp,

605the boy Ascanius and the warriors whom the enemy had besieged in vain.

606Iunonem interea compellat Iuppiter ultro:

O germana mihi atque eadem gratissima coniunx,

ut rebare, Venus, nec te sententia fallit,

Troianas sustentat opes, non vivida bello

610dextra viris animusque ferox patiensque pericli.

Cui Iuno summissa Quid, o pulcherrime coniunx,

sollicitas aegram et tua tristia dicta timentem?

Si mihi, quae quondam fuerat quamque esse decebat,

vis in amore foret, non hoc mihi namque negares,

615omnipotens, quin et pugnae subducere Turnum

et Dauno possem incolumem servare parenti.

Nunc pereat Teucrisque pio det sanguine poenas.

Ille tamen nostra deducit origine nomen

Pilumnusque illi quartus pater et tua larga

620saepe manu multisque oneravit limina donis.

Cui rex aetherii breviter sic fatur Olympi:

Si mora praesentis leti tempusque caduco

oratur iuveni meque hoc ita ponere sentis,

tolle fuga Turnum atque instantibus eripe fatis

625hactenus indulsisse vacat. Sin altior istis

sub precibus venia ulla latet totumque moveri

mutarive putas bellum, spes pascis inanis.

Et Iuno adlacrimans: Quid si, quae voce gravaris,

mente dares atque haec Turno rata vita maneret?

630Nunc manet insontem gravis exitus, aut ego veri

vana feror. Quod ut O potius formidine falsa

ludar et in melius tua, qui potes, orsa reflectas!

606Meanwhile Jupiter, unprompted, addresses Juno:

"O my sister and, at the same time, my dearest wife,

just as you thought, it is Venus (your judgment does not fail you)

who sustains the power of Troy, not the men's vigorous right hands

610in battle, their fierce courage, or their endurance of danger."

Juno answers him humbly: "Why, O most beautiful husband,

do you distress me when I am heartsick and afraid of your grim words?

If I still had the influence in your love that once was mine

and still ought to be, you would not deny me this,

615almighty one: the power to withdraw Turnus from battle

and preserve him unharmed for Daunus, his father.

Now let him die and pay the penalty to the Trojans with his devoted blood.

Yet his name descends from our line;

Pilumnus is his forefather four generations back, and Turnus has often

620heaped your threshold with many gifts from his generous hand."

The king of heavenly Olympus gives her this brief reply:

"If you plead only for delay of the death now at hand and more time

for this doomed young man, and understand that these are my terms,

carry Turnus off in flight and snatch him from the fates pressing close.

625I can indulge this much. But if some further concession

lies hidden beneath those prayers, and you think the whole war can be turned

or changed, you are feeding empty hopes."

Juno answers through tears: "What if you granted in your heart

what you are reluctant to grant aloud, and this life remained secure for Turnus?

630Now a cruel end awaits him, innocent as he is, or else I stray

far from the truth. Oh, would that false fear were deceiving me instead,

and that you, who have the power, would turn your purposes toward a better end!"

633Haec ubi dicta dedit, caelo se protinus alto

misit, agens hiemem nimbo succincta per auras,

635Iliacamque aciem et Laurentia castra petivit.

Tum dea nube cava tenuem sine viribus umbram

in faciem Aeneae, visu mirabile monstrum,

Dardaniis ornat telis clipeumque iubasque

divini adsimulat capitis, dat inania verba,

640dat sine mente sonum gressusque effingit euntis,

morte obita qualis fama est volitare figuras

aut quae sopitos deludunt somnia sensus.

At primas laeta ante acies exsultat imago

inritatque virum telis et voce lacessit.

645Instat cui Turnus stridentemque eminus hastam

conicit: illa dato vertit vestigia tergo.

Tum vero Aenean aversum ut cedere Turnus

credidit atque animo spem turbidus hausit inanem,

Quo fugis, Aenea? Thalamos ne desere pactos;

650hac dabitur dextra tellus quaesita per undas.

Talia vociferans sequitur strictumque coruscat

mucronem nec ferre videt sua gaudia ventos.

Forte ratis celsi coniuncta crepidine saxi

expositis stabat scalis et ponte parato,

655qua rex Clusinis advectus Osinius oris.

Huc sese trepida Aeneae fugientis imago

conicit in latebras; nec Turnus segnior instat

exsuperatque moras et pontis transilit altos.

Vix proram attigerat: rumpit Saturnia funem

660avolsamque rapit revoluta per aequora navem.

Illum autem Aeneas absentem in praelia poscit;

obvia multa virum demittit corpora morti:

tum levis haud ultra latebras iam quaerit imago,

sed sublime volans nubi se immiscuit atrae.

665Cum Turnum medio interea fert aequore turbo.

633Once she has spoken, Juno at once casts herself down

from high heaven, driving a storm, cloud-wrapped, through the air,

635and makes for the Trojan line and the Laurentian camp.

Then within a hollow cloud the goddess decks a frail, powerless phantom

in Aeneas' likeness, a wondrous apparition to behold,

with Dardanian weapons; she counterfeits Aeneas' shield

and the plumes of his godlike head; she gives the phantom empty words,

640a voice without a mind, and reproduces his walking gait,

like the forms of the dead that are said to flit about,

or dreams that deceive the senses sunk in sleep.

Gladly the phantom bounds before the front ranks

and provokes Turnus with weapons, challenging him aloud.

645Turnus presses after it and from a distance hurls

a hissing spear; the phantom turns its back and flees.

Then Turnus, believing that Aeneas has turned and is retreating,

drinks in an empty hope in his excitement:

"Where are you fleeing, Aeneas? Do not desert the marriage pledged to you;

650this right hand will give you the land you sought across the waves."

Shouting these words, he follows and brandishes his drawn

blade, never seeing that the winds are carrying away his joy.

By chance a ship stands moored against the ledge of a high rock,

its ladders lowered and its gangway ready,

655the vessel that had carried King Osinius from Clusium's shores.

Into the ship's hiding places the trembling phantom of Aeneas in flight

flings itself; Turnus follows no less swiftly,

surmounts each obstacle, and vaults the high gangways.

He has barely reached the prow when Juno, Saturn's daughter, snaps the mooring line

660and sweeps the ship, torn free, across the rolling sea.

But the real Aeneas calls for absent Turnus in battle;

he sends many men who confront him down to death:

Then the weightless phantom no longer seeks concealment

but flies aloft and merges into a black cloud,

665as all the while a storm wind carries Turnus across mid-sea.

666Respicit ignarus rerum ingratusque salutis

et duplicis cum voce manus ad sidera tendit:

Omnipotens genitor, tanton me crimine dignum

duxisti et talis voluisti expendere poenas?

670Quo feror? Unde abii? Quae me fuga quemve reducit?

Laurentisne iterum muros aut castra videbo?

Quid manus illa virum, qui me meaque arma secuti?

Quosne (nefas) omnis infanda in morte reliqui

et nunc palantis video gemitumque cadentum

675accipio! Quid ago? Aut quae iam satis ima dehiscat

terra mihi? Vos O potius miserescite venti:

in rupes, in saxa, volens vos Turnus adoro

ferte ratem saevisque vadis immittite Syrtis,

quo neque me Rutuli nec conscia fama sequatur.

680Haec memorans animo nunc huc, nunc fluctuat illuc,

an sese mucrone ob tantum dedecus amens

induat et crudum per costas exigat ensem,

fluctibus an iaciat mediis et litora nando

curva petat Teucrumque iterum se reddat in arma.

685Ter conatus utramque viam, ter maxima Iuno

continuit iuvenemque animi miserata repressit.

Labitur alta secans fluctuque aestuque secundo

et patris antiquam Dauni defertur ad urbem.

666Turnus looks back, unaware of what has happened and resentful of his rescue,

and raises both hands and his voice to the stars:

"Almighty Father, did you judge me guilty

of so great a crime and choose such a penalty for me to pay?

670Where am I being carried? From where did I depart? What flight brings me back, and as what kind of man?

Will I see Laurentum's walls or the camp again?

What of that company of men who followed me and my arms?

Have I left them all—what an outrage!—to an unspeakable death,

and do I now see them scattered and hear the groans

675of those who fall? What am I to do? Or what earth now is deep enough to gape open

for me? No, winds, take pity on me instead:

I, Turnus, willingly implore you: onto cliffs, onto rocks

drive this ship and cast it into the savage shoals of the Syrtes,

where neither the Rutulians nor rumor bearing witness to my shame can follow me."

680Turning these thoughts in his mind, he wavers now this way, now that,

whether, distraught at such disgrace, to impale himself on the point

and drive the cruel sword through his ribs,

or fling himself into the midst of the waves and, swimming, seek

the curving shore and give himself back once more to the Trojans' arms.

685Three times he tries each course; three times mighty Juno

restrains him and, in pity for his anguish, holds the young man back.

The ship glides on, cleaving the deep on favoring wave and tide,

and is carried to Ardea, the ancient city of his father Daunus.

689At Iovis interea monitis Mezentius ardens

690succedit pugnae Teucrosque invadit ovantis.

Concurrunt Tyrrhenae acies atque omnibus uni,

uni odiisque viro telisque frequentibus instant.

Ille velut rupes, vastum quae prodit in aequor,

obvia ventorum furiis expostaque ponto,

695vim cunctam atque minas perfert caelique marisque,

ipsa immota manens, prolem Dolichaonis Hebrum

sternit humi, cum quo Latagum Palmumque fugacem,

sed Latagum saxo atque ingenti fragmine montis

occupat os faciemque adversam, poplite Palmum

700succiso volvi segnem sinit, armaque Lauso

donat habere umeris et vertice figere cristas.

Nec non Euanthen Phrygium Paridisque Mimanta

aequalem comitemque, una quem nocte Theano

in lucem genitori Amyco dedit et face praegnans

705Cisseis regina Parin creat: urbe paterna

occubat, ignarum Laurens habet ora Mimanta.

Ac velut ille canum morsu de montibus altis

actus aper, multos Vesulus quem pinifer annos

defendit multosve palus Laurentia, silva

710pastus harundinea, postquam inter retia ventum est,

substitit infremuitque ferox et inhorruit armos,

nec cuiquam irasci propiusque accedere virtus,

sed iaculis tutisque procul clamoribus instant;

ille autem impavidus partis cunctatur in omnis,

dentibus infrendens, et tergo decutit hastas.

haud aliter, iustae quibus est Mezentius irae,

715non ulli est animus stricto concurrere ferro;

missilibus longe et vasto clamore lacessunt:

689Meanwhile, at Jupiter's prompting, Mezentius, burning for battle,

690advances into the fight and attacks the exultant Trojans.

The Tyrrhenian lines converge, all of them against one,

against one man, pressing him with hatred and a mass of weapons.

He is like a cliff projecting into the vast sea,

fronting the fury of the winds and exposed to the deep,

695bearing every force and menace of sky and sea

yet standing unmoved. He strikes Hebrus, Dolichaon's son,

to the ground, and with him Latagus and fleeing Palmus;

but catches Latagus with a boulder, a massive mountain fragment,

full in the mouth and face; Palmus, hamstrung at the knee,

700he leaves rolling helpless, and gives the armor to Lausus

to wear on his shoulders and set its crests upon his head.

He strikes down Phrygian Evanthes too, and Mimas, Paris'

age-mate and companion. On a single night Theano

brought Mimas to the light for his father Amycus; and, pregnant

705with a firebrand, Queen Cisseis bore Paris. In his native city

Paris lies dead; the Laurentian shore holds Mimas, unaware.

And just as a boar, driven from the high mountains by hounds' fangs,

which pine-clad Vesulus sheltered for many years,

or the Laurentian marsh for many, where he grazed in reedy

710woodland, when at last he comes among the nets,

halts with a fierce growl, his shoulders bristling,

and no one has the courage to challenge him in anger and draw nearer,

but they press him from afar with javelins and shouts from safety;

the boar, unafraid, stands at bay, facing every side,

gnashing his teeth and shaking the spears from his back.

Just so, among those whose anger against Mezentius is just,

715no one has the courage to meet him with drawn sword;

they harry him from afar with missiles and a mighty shout:

719Venerat antiquis Corythi de finibus Acron,

720Graius homo, infectos linquens profugus hymenaeos.

Hunc ubi miscentem longe media agmina vidit,

purpureum pennis et pactae coniugis ostro:

impastus stabula alta leo ceu saepe peragrans,

suadet enim vesana fames, si forte fugacem

725conspexit capream aut surgentem in cornua cervum,

gaudet, hians immane, comasque arrexit et haeret

visceribus super accumbens, lavit inproba taeter

ora cruor,

sic ruit in densos alacer Mezentius hostis.

730Sternitur infelix Acron et calcibus atram

tundit humum expirans infractaque tela cruentat.

Atque idem fugientem haud est dignatus Oroden

sternere nec iacta caecum dare cuspide volnus:

obvius adversoque occurrit seque viro vir

735contulit, haud furto melior, sed fortibus armis.

Tum super abiectum posito pede nixus et hasta:

Pars belli haud temnenda, viri, iacet altus Orodes.

Conclamant socii laetum paeana secuti.

Ille autem exspirans: Non me, quicumque es, inulto,

740victor, nec longum laetabere: te quoque fata

prospectant paria atque eadem mox arva tenebis.

Ad quae subridens mixta Mezentius ira:

Nunc morere. Ast de me divom pater atque hominum rex

viderit. Hoc dicens eduxit corpore telum:

745olli dura quies oculos et ferreus urget

somnus, in aeternam clauduntur lumina noctem.

Caedicus Alcathoum obtruncat, Sacrator Hydaspen

Partheniumque Rapo et praedurum viribus Orsen,

Messapus Croniumque Lycaoniumque Erichaeten,

750illum infrenis equi lapsu tellure iacentem,

hunc peditem. Pedes et Lycius processerat Agis,

quem tamen haud expers Valerus virtutis avitae

deicit; at Thronium Salius Saliumque Nealces

insidiis, iaculo et longe fallente sagitta.

755Iam gravis aequabat luctus et mutua Mavors

funera: caedebant pariter pariterque ruebant

victores victique, neque his fuga nota neque illis.

Di Iovis in tectis iram miserantur inanem

amborum et tantos mortalibus esse labores:

760hinc Venus, hinc contra spectat Saturnia Iuno,

pallida Tisiphone media inter milia saevit.

719Acron had come from the ancient territory of Corythus,

720a Greek exile who had left his marriage unconsummated.

When Mezentius saw him from afar, scattering the center ranks,

resplendent in plumes and his promised bride's purple cloak,

he was like a famished lion ranging the deep coverts:

driven by frenzied hunger, if it happens to catch sight of

725a fleeing roe or a stag with antlers held high,

it exults and gapes fiercely, its mane bristling, and fastens

on the entrails, crouched over them, while foul blood bathes

its ravenous jaws.

Just so, eager Mezentius charges into the dense enemy ranks.

730Luckless Acron is struck down; dying, he pounds the black earth

with his heels and stains the broken weapons with blood.

Mezentius would not deign to strike the fleeing Orodes down

or deal him an unseen wound with a spear cast from behind.

He met him head-on and faced him squarely, matching himself

735man against man, superior not by stealth but force of arms.

Then, braced over fallen Orodes with foot planted and spear held fast:

"Men, no mean part of this war lies here: lofty Orodes."

His comrades shouted together, taking up the joyful paean.

But with his last breath Orodes said: "Whoever you are, victor, you will neither

740rejoice over me unavenged nor rejoice for long. A fate like mine

is watching you too, and soon you will occupy these same fields."

Mezentius answered with a smile tinged by anger:

"Now die. As for me, let the father of gods and king of men

see to that." Saying this, he drew the spear from Orodes' body.

745Harsh rest and iron sleep press upon Orodes' eyes;

his eyes close upon eternal night.

Caedicus cuts down Alcathous; Sacrator kills Hydaspes;

Rapo kills Parthenius and Orses, formidable in strength;

Messapus kills Cronius and Lycaonian Erichaetes,

750the former lying on the ground after a fall from his unbridled horse,

the latter on foot. Lycian Agis too had advanced on foot,

but Valerus, heir to his ancestors' courage,

struck him down. Salius killed Thronius, and Nealces killed Salius

by ambush, with a javelin and an arrow deceptive at long range.

755Now grim Mars held grief and mutual deaths in balance:

victors and vanquished killed alike and fell alike;

neither side knew how to flee.

In Jupiter's halls the gods pity the futile rage

of both sides, and that mortals must endure such toils:

760Venus watches from one side, Saturnian Juno from the other;

between them, amid the thousands, the pale Fury Tisiphone rages.

762At vero ingentem quatiens Mezentius hastam

turbidus ingreditur campo. Quam magnus Orion,

cum pedes incedit medii per maxima Nerei

765stagna viam scindens, umero supereminet undas

aut summis referens annosam montibus ornum

ingrediturque solo et caput inter nubila condit:

talis se vastis infert Mezentius armis.

Huic contra Aeneas, speculatus in agmine longo,

770obvius ire parat. Manet imperterritus ille,

hostem magnanimum opperiens, et mole sua stat;

atque oculis spatium emensus, quantum satis hastae:

Dextra mihi deus et telum, quod missile libro,

nunc adsint! Voveo praedonis corpore raptis

775indutum spoliis ipsum te, Lause, tropaeum

Aeneae. Dixit stridentemque eminus hastam

iecit; at illa volans clipeo est excussa proculque

egregium Antoren latus inter et ilia figit,

Herculis Antoren comitem, qui missus ab Argis

780haeserat Euandro atque Itala consederat urbe.

Sternitur infelix alieno volnere caelumque

aspicit et dulcis moriens reminiscitur Argos

tum pius Aeneas hastam iacit: illa per orbem

aere cavum triplici, per linea terga tribusque

785transit intextum tauris opus imaque sedit

inguine, sed viris haud pertulit. Ocius ensem

Aeneas, viso Tyrrheni sanguine laetus,

eripit a femine et trepidanti fervidus instat.

Ingemuit cari graviter genitoris amore,

790ut vidit, Lausus, lacrimaeque per ora volutae.

762But then Mezentius, brandishing his enormous spear,

strides furiously onto the field. As huge as Orion

when he strides on foot through Nereus' vast mid-ocean depths,

765cleaving a path, his shoulder rising above the waves;

or when he carries an ancient ash down from the mountain heights,

he strides on land and hides his head among the clouds:

so Mezentius hurls himself forward in his massive armor.

Aeneas spots him across the long battle line

770and prepares to meet him. Mezentius stands unafraid,

waiting for his great-hearted enemy, planted in all his bulk;

then measures with his eyes the distance his spear requires:

"May my right hand, which is my god, and the spear I balance to cast

stand by me now! Lausus, I vow that you, clothed in spoils torn

775from the robber's body, shall yourself stand as a trophy

won from Aeneas." He spoke, and hurled the whistling spear from afar.

But in flight it glances off Aeneas' shield and, far away,

transfixes renowned Antores between flank and groin,

Antores, Hercules' companion, who had been sent from Argos,

780then joined Evander and made his home in an Italian city.

The unlucky man falls to the blow meant for another; he looks up

at the sky and, dying, remembers his beloved Argos.

Then dutiful Aeneas casts his spear. Through the shield's hollow disk,

triple-plated with bronze, through linen layers and the shieldwork

785woven from three bullhides it passes, and lodges low

in Mezentius' groin, but does not drive its force home. At once,

Aeneas, glad at the sight of the Etruscan's blood,

draws the sword from beside his thigh and hotly presses his trembling foe.

From love for his dear father, Lausus groans deeply

790at the sight, and tears roll down his face.

791Hic mortis durae casum tuaque optima facta,

siqua fidem tanto est operi latura vetustas,

non equidem nec te, iuvenis memorande, silebo.

Ille pedem referens et inutilis inque ligatus

795cedebat clipeoque inimicum hastile trahebat:

prorupit iuvenis seseque immiscuit armis

iamque adsurgentis dextra plagamque ferentis

Aeneae subiit mucronem ipsumque morando

sustinuit. Socii magno clamore sequuntur,

800dum genitor nati parma protectus abiret,

telaque coniciunt proturbantque eminus hostem

missilibus. Furit Aeneas tectusque tenet se.

Ac velut effusa siquando grandine nimbi

praecipitant, omnis campis diffugit arator

805omnis et agricola et tuta latet arce viator,

aut amnis ripis aut alti fornice saxi,

dum pluit in terris, ut possint sole reducto

exercere diem: sic obrutus undique telis

Aeneas nubem belli, dum detonet omnis,

810sustinet et Lausum increpitat Lausoque minatur:

Quo moriture ruis maioraque viribus audes?

Fallit te incautum pietas tua. Nec minus ille

exsultat demens; saevae iamque altius irae

Dardanio surgunt ductori, extremaque Lauso

815Parcae fila legunt: validum namque exigit ensem

per medium Aeneas iuvenem totumque recondit.

Transiit et parmam mucro, levia arma minacis,

et tunicam, molli mater quam neverat auro,

implevitque sinum sanguis; tum vita per auras

820concessit maesta ad manis corpusque reliquit.

At vero ut voltum vidit morientis et ora,

ora modis Anchisiades pallentia miris,

ingemuit miserans graviter dextramque tetendit,

et mentem patriae subiit pietatis imago.

825Quid tibi nunc, miserande puer, pro laudibus istis,

quid pius Aeneas tanta dabit indole dignum?

Arma, quibus laetatus, habe tua, teque parentum

manibus et cineri, siqua est ea cura, remitto.

Hoc tamen infelix miseram solabere mortem:

830Aeneae magni dextra cadis. Increpat ultro

cunctantis socios et terra sublevat ipsum,

sanguine turpantem comptos de more capillos.

791Here neither the doom of your cruel death nor your noblest deeds,

if any age to come will lend credence to so great a work,

nor you yourself, memorable youth, will I leave unsung.

Mezentius retreated, stepping backward, helpless and hampered,

795and dragged the enemy spear-shaft lodged in his shield.

Lausus burst forward and threw himself among the weapons.

Just as Aeneas' right hand rose to deliver the blow,

he met the very blade and, by delaying Aeneas,

held him in check. Lausus' comrades follow with a mighty shout,

800so that the father can withdraw under cover of his son's small shield.

They hurl their weapons and drive Aeneas back from a distance

with missiles. Aeneas rages but keeps himself under cover.

And just as, whenever storm clouds hurtle down in a burst of hail,

every plowman scatters from the fields,

805every farmer and traveler hides in a safe refuge

beneath a riverbank or the vault of a high rock

as rain falls on the earth, so that when the sun returns

they can resume the day's work: so, overwhelmed on every side by weapons,

Aeneas endures the cloud of war until it has thundered itself out,

810then rebukes Lausus and threatens him:

"Where are you rushing, doomed to die, daring more than your strength can bear?

Your piety betrays you, unwary as you are." Yet Lausus

still exults in madness; now savage anger rises higher

in the Dardanian leader, and the Fates wind up Lausus' final

815threads: Aeneas drives his powerful sword

through the youth's middle and buries the whole blade.

The point passed through his small shield, the light armor of the defiant youth,

and the tunic his mother had woven with pliant gold;

blood filled the folds at his breast. Then his sorrowing life, through the air,

820withdrew to the shades and left the body behind.

But when the son of Anchises saw the dying youth's face and features,

his features growing strangely pale,

he groaned deeply in pity and stretched out his right hand,

and the image of filial devotion came into his mind.

825"What can I give you now, poor youth, in return for such valor?

What can dutiful Aeneas offer worthy of so noble a spirit?

Keep the armor that gave you joy. I send you back

to your forebears' shades and ashes, if that can matter now.

Yet in this, unhappy one, you will find consolation for your wretched death:

830you fall by the hand of great Aeneas." Then, of his own accord, he calls sharply

to Lausus' hesitant comrades and lifts the youth from the ground,

his blood fouling the hair arranged in the customary style.

833Interea genitor Tiberini ad fluminis undam

volnera siccabat lymphis corpusque levabat

835arboris adclinis trunco. Procul aerea ramis

dependet galea et prato gravia arma quiescunt.

Stant lecti circum iuvenes: ipse aeger anhelans

colla fovet, fusus propexam in pectore barbam;

multa super Lauso rogitat multumque remittit

840qui revocent maestique ferant mandata parentis.

At Lausum socii exanimem super arma ferebant

flentes, ingentem atque ingenti volnere victum.

Agnovit longe gemitum praesaga mali mens:

canitiem multo deformat pulvere et ambas

845ad caelum tendit palmas et corpore inhaeret.

Tantane me tenuit vivendi, nate, voluptas,

ut pro me hostili paterer succedere dextrae,

quem genui? Tuane haec genitor per volnera servor,

morte tua vivens? Heu, nunc misero mihi demum

850exitium infelix, nunc alte volnus adactum!

Idem ego, nate, tuum maculavi crimine nomen,

pulsus ob invidiam solio sceptrisque paternis.

Debueram patriae poenas odiisque meorum:

omnis per mortis animam sontem ipse dedissem!

855Nunc vivo neque adhuc homines lucemque relinquo.

Sed linquam. Simul hoc dicens attollit in aegrum

se femur et, quamvis dolor alto volnere tardet,

haud deiectus equum duci iubet. Hoc decus illi,

hoc solamen erat; bellis hoc victor abibat

860omnibus. Adloquitur maerentem et talibus infit:

Rhaebe, diu, res siqua diu mortalibus ulla est,

viximus. Aut hodie victor spolia illa cruenti

et caput Aeneae referes Lausique dolorum

ultor eris mecum aut, aperit si nulla viam vis,

865occumbes pariter; neque enim, fortissime, credo,

iussa aliena pati et dominos dignabere Teucros.

833Meanwhile the father, beside the waters of the Tiber,

staunched his wounds with water and eased his body,

835leaning against a tree trunk. Far off, among the branches, his bronze

helmet hung, while his heavy armor rested in the meadow.

Chosen young men stood around him. Wounded and panting, he

rested his head, his long beard spread over his chest;

again and again he asked about Lausus, and again and again sent men back

840to call him back and carry his grieving father's commands.

But his comrades were carrying back lifeless Lausus on his shield,

weeping for the mighty youth brought low by a mighty wound.

From far off he recognized the sound of mourning; his mind foresaw disaster.

He fouled his white hair with showers of dust, stretched both

845hands to heaven, and clung to the body.

"Was the pleasure of living so strong in me, my son,

that I let the child I fathered face an enemy's hand

in my place? Do these wounds of yours preserve me, your father,

living through your death? Ah, now at last, in my misery,

850now at last ruin has come to wretched me; now the wound has struck deep!

I too, my son, stained your name with my crime,

driven by hatred from my ancestral throne and scepter.

I already owed atonement to my country and my people's hatred:

through every form of death I should have surrendered my guilty life!

855Yet I still live; I have not left mankind and the light.

But I will." With these words he immediately raised himself

onto his wounded thigh. Though pain from the deep wound held him back,

undismayed, he ordered his horse brought. The horse was his glory,

his solace; it had carried him away victorious

860from every war. Then he addressed the grieving horse:

"Rhaebus, we have lived long, if anything at all is long for mortals.

Today either you will return victorious with the spoils

and the head of bloodstained Aeneas, and together with me

avenge Lausus' suffering; or, if no strength can open a way,

865you will fall beside me. For, bravest one, I cannot believe

you would deign to submit to another's orders and Trojan masters."

867Dixit et exceptus tergo consueta locavit

membra manusque ambas iaculis oneravit acutis,

aere caput fulgens cristaque hirsutus equina.

870Sic cursum in medios rapidus dedit: aestuat ingens

uno in corde pudor mixtoque insania luctu,

et furiis agitatus amor et conscia virtus.

Atque hic Aenean magna ter voce vocavit.

Aeneas agnovit enim laetusque precatur:

875Sic pater ille deum faciat, sic altus Apollo,

incipias conferre manum.

Tantum effatus et infesta subit obvius hasta.

Ille autem: Quid me erepto, saevissime, nato

terres? Haec via sola fuit, qua perdere posses.

880Nec mortem horremus nec divom parcimus ulli.

Desine: nam venio moriturus et haec tibi porto

dona prius. Dixit telumque intorsit in hostem;

inde aliud super atque aliud figitque volatque

ingenti gyro, sed sustinet aureus umbo.

885Ter circum adstantem laevos equitavit in orbes

tela manu iaciens, ter secum Troïus heros

immanem aerato circumfert tegmine silvam.

Inde ubi tot traxisse moras, tot spicula taedet

vellere et urgetur pugna congressus iniqua,

890multa movens animo iam tandem erumpit et inter

bellatoris equi cava tempora conicit hastam.

Tollit se arrectum quadrupes et calcibus auras

verberat effusumque equitem super ipse secutus

implicat eiectoque incumbit cernuus armo.

895Clamore incendunt caelum Troesque Latinique.

Advolat Aeneas vaginaque eripit ensem

et super haec: Ubi nunc Mezentius acer et illa

effera vis animi? Contra Tyrrhenus, ut auras

suspiciens hausit caelum mentemque recepit:

900Hostis amare, quid increpitas mortemque minaris?

Nullum in caede nefas, nec sic ad proelia veni,

nec tecum meus haec pepigit mihi foedera Lausus.

Unum hoc per siqua est victis venia hostibus oro:

corpus humo patiare tegi. Scio acerba meorum

905circumstare odia: hunc, oro, defende furorem

et me consortem nati concede sepulchro.

Haec loquitur iuguloque haud inscius accipit ensem

undantique animam diffundit in arva cruore.

867He spoke, mounted Rhaebus, and settled into his accustomed seat,

then loaded both hands with sharp javelins,

his head gleaming with bronze, bristling with a horsehair crest.

870Thus he charged swiftly into their midst. Within his single heart

seethed vast shame, madness mingled with grief,

love goaded by frenzy, and valor conscious of itself.

There he called Aeneas three times in a mighty voice.

Aeneas recognized him and gladly prayed:

875"May the father of the gods grant it, and high Apollo too:

begin the fight hand to hand."

With only this said, he advanced to meet him, spear leveled.

But Mezentius answered: "Why try to frighten me, cruelest of men,

now that my son is torn from me? That was the only way you could destroy me.

880I dread no death and hold no god in awe.

Enough: I have come to die, but first I bring you

these gifts." He spoke and hurled a spear at his enemy;

then another, and another, planting each one as he flew

in a vast circle. But the golden boss held firm.

885Three times he rode in leftward circles around Aeneas, who stood firm,

hurling spears by hand; three times the Trojan hero turned with him,

bearing a vast forest of shafts on his bronze-bound shield.

Then Aeneas tired of drawing out delay after delay, of wrenching

shaft after shaft free; locked in an unequal fight, he was hard pressed.

890Turning many plans in his mind, at last he burst forward and hurled

his spear between the warhorse's hollow temples.

The steed reared upright and beat the air

with its hooves, then came down upon its thrown rider,

entangling him as it pitched headlong, its shoulder bearing down.

895Trojans and Latins set heaven ablaze with their shouts.

Aeneas rushed up and tore his sword from its sheath,

then stood above him and said: "Where now is fierce Mezentius? Where

is that savage force of spirit?" In answer the Etruscan looked up,

drew in heaven's air, and regained consciousness:

900"Bitter enemy, why taunt me and threaten me with death?

There is no crime in killing me. I did not come to battle on such terms,

nor did my Lausus strike such a pact with you on my behalf.

I ask just this, by whatever mercy a defeated enemy may claim:

let my body be covered with earth. I know the bitter hatred

905of my own people closes round me. Ward off their fury, I beg,

and let me share my son's tomb."

So he spoke and, fully aware, received the sword in his throat,

spilling his life across the fields in a flood of blood.