Aeneid, Book 11: Camilla

1Oceanum interea surgens Aurora reliquit:

Aeneas, quamquam et sociis dare tempus humandis

praecipitant curae turbataque funere mens est,

vota deum primo victor solvebat Eoo.

5Ingentem quercum decisis undique ramis

constituit tumulo fulgentiaque induit arma,

Mezenti ducis exuvias, tibi, magne, tropaeum,

bellipotens: aptat rorantis sanguine cristas

telaque trunca viri et bis sex thoraca petitum

10perfossumque locis clipeumque ex aere sinistrae

subligat atque ensem collo suspendit eburnum.

Tum socios, namque omnis eum stipata tegebat

turba ducum, sic incipiens hortatur ovantis:

Maxima res effecta, viri; timor omnis abesto,

15quod superest: haec sunt spolia et de rege superbo

primitiae, manibusque meis Mezentius hic est.

Nunc iter ad regem nobis murosque Latinos.

Arma parate animis et spe praesumite bellum,

nequa mora ignaros, ubi primum vellere signa

20adnuerint superi pubemque educere castris,

impediat segnisve metu sententia tardet.

Interea socios inhumataque corpora terrae

mandemus, qui solus honos Acheronte sub imo est.

Ite, ait, egregias animas, quae sanguine nobis

25hanc patriam peperere suo, decorate supremis

muneribus, maestamque Evandri primus ad urbem

mittatur Pallas, quem non virtutis egentem

abstulit atra dies et funere mersit acerbo.

1Meanwhile, rising Dawn left Ocean behind.

Though concern to grant his comrades time for burial

pressed Aeneas, and grief for the dead had shaken his mind,

at first light the victor was fulfilling his vows to the gods.

5He set a huge oak on a mound, all its branches lopped away,

and clothed it in gleaming armor,

the spoils of the chieftain Mezentius, a trophy for you,

great Mars, lord of battle. He fastened the crests dripping with blood,

the warrior's broken weapons, and his breastplate, struck and pierced in twelve places;

10he bound the bronze shield to the trophy's left arm

and hung the ivory-hilted sword from its neck.

Then, with the whole close-packed company of captains

thronging around him, he began to exhort his exultant comrades:

"The greatest task is done, men. Banish every fear

15of what remains. Here are the spoils, the first fruits

from that proud king; Mezentius himself is here, slain by my hands.

Now our road leads to the king and the Latin walls.

Set your minds on readying weapons, and anticipate the war with hope,

so no delay may hamper us unprepared when first

20the gods permit us to pull up the standards and lead the men from camp,

and no resolve dulled by fear may hold us back.

Meanwhile, let us commit our comrades' unburied bodies to earth,

the only honor that remains in the depths of Acheron.

Go," he said, "and honor the noble souls who with their own blood

25won this homeland for us. Give them the final

rites, and first let Pallas be sent to Evander's grieving city.

A dark day carried him off, though he lacked nothing in valor,

and plunged him into bitter death."

29Sic ait inlacrimans recipitque ad limina gressum,

30corpus ubi exanimi positum Pallantis Acoetes

servabat senior, qui Parrhasio Evandro

armiger ante fuit, sed non felicibus aeque

tum comes auspiciis caro datus ibat alumno.

Circum omnis famulumque manus Troianaque turba

35et maestum Iliades crinem de more solutae.

Ut vero Aeneas foribus sese intulit altis,

ingentem gemitum tunsis ad sidera tollunt

pectoribus, maestoque immugit regia luctu.

Ipse caput nivei fultum Pallantis et ora

40ut vidit levique patens in pectore vulnus

cuspidis Ausoniae, lacrimis ita fatur obortis.

Tene, inquit, miserande puer, cum laeta veniret,

invidit Fortuna mihi, ne regna videres

nostra neque ad sedes victor veherere paternas?

45Non haec Evandro de te promissa parenti

discedens dederam, cum me complexus euntem

mitteret in magnum imperium metuensque moneret

acris esse viros, cum dura proelia gente.

Et nunc ille quidem spe multum captus inani

50fors et vota facit cumulatque altaria donis:

nos iuvenem exanimum et nil iam caelestibus ullis

debentem vano maesti comitamur honore.

Infelix, nati funus crudele videbis!

Hi nostri reditus expectatique triumphi!

55Haec mea magna fides! At non, Evandre, pudendis

vulneribus pulsum adspicies nec sospite dirum

optabis nato funus pater. Ei mihi, quantum

praesidium Ausonia et quantum tu perdis, Iule!

29So he spoke through tears and turned his steps back to the doorway,

30where old Acoetes kept watch over Pallas' lifeless body

laid out for burial. Once the armor-bearer of Parrhasian Evander,

and later, under omens far less fortunate,

went as the companion assigned to his dear young charge.

All around stood the household servants, the Trojan throng,

35and the grieving women of Ilium, their hair loosened according to custom.

But when Aeneas entered the high doorway,

they beat their breasts and raised a vast groan to the stars,

and the palace bellowed with the sound of mourning.

When Aeneas himself saw Pallas' snow-white head and face

40propped up, and the wound gaping in his smooth breast,

made by an Ausonian spear-point, tears welled as he spoke:

"Was it you, poor boy, whom Fortune, just when she came smiling,

begrudged me, so that you should never see our realm

or ride home victorious to your father's halls?

45This was not what I promised your father Evander about you

as I left, when he embraced me on my way

and sent me against a mighty dominion, anxiously warning

that its men were fierce and battle with that hardy people would be hard.

And even now he may be deeply absorbed in empty hope,

50making vows and heaping the altars with gifts,

while we in grief escort this lifeless youth with empty honor,

a youth who now owes nothing to any god above.

Unhappy father, you will look upon your son's cruel funeral!

This is our homecoming, these the triumphs you awaited!

55This is how well I kept my solemn pledge! Yet, Evander, you will not see him

driven from battle with shameful wounds, nor, had your son survived,

would you as his father pray for his grim death. Ah me, what a great

safeguard you lose, Ausonia, and how much you lose, Iulus!"

59Haec ubi deflevit, tolli miserabile corpus

60imperat et toto lectos ex agmine mittit

mille viros, qui supremum comitentur honorem

intersintque patris lacrimis, solacia luctus

exigua ingentis, misero sed debita patri.

Haud segnes alii crates et molle feretrum

65arbuteis texunt virgis et vimine querno

exstructosque toros obtentu frondis inumbrant.

Hic iuvenem agresti sublimem stramine ponunt,

qualem virgineo demessum pollice florem

seu mollis violae seu languentis hyacinthi,

70cui neque fulgor adhuc necdum sua forma recessit:

non iam mater alit tellus viresque ministrat.

Tum geminas vestes auroque ostroque rigentis

extulit Aeneas, quas illi laeta laborum

ipsa suis quondam manibus Sidonia Dido

75fecerat et tenui telas discreverat auro.

Harum unam iuveni supremum maestus honorem

induit arsurasque comas obnubit amictu,

multaque praeterea Laurentis praemia pugnae

aggerat et longo praedam iubet ordine duci.

80Addit equos et tela, quibus spoliaverat hostem.

Vinxerat et post terga manus, quos mitteret umbris

inferias, caeso sparsuros sanguine flammas,

indutosque iubet truncos hostilibus armis

ipsos ferre duces inimicaque nomina figi.

85Ducitur infelix aevo confectus Acoetes:

pectora nunc foedans pugnis, nunc unguibus ora

sternitur et toto proiectus corpore terrae.~.~.

Ducunt et Rutulo perfusos sanguine currus.

Post bellator equus positis insignibus Aethon

90it lacrimans guttisque umectat grandibus ora.

Hastam alii galeamque ferunt, nam cetera Turnus

victor habet. Tum maesta phalanx Teucrique sequuntur

Tyrrhenique omnes et versis Arcades armis.

Postquam omnis longe comitum praecesserat ordo,

95substitit Aeneas gemituque haec addidit alto:

Nos alias hinc ad lacrimas eadem horrida belli

fata vocant: salve aeternum mihi, maxime Palla,

aeternumque vale. Nec plura effatus ad altos

tendebat muros gressumque in castra ferebat.

59When he had finished his lament, he ordered the pitiable body

60to be lifted and sent men chosen from the entire army,

a thousand men, to escort this last tribute

and be present for the father's tears, scant consolations

for grief so vast, yet owed to that unhappy father.

Others lost no time weaving a pliant wicker bier

65from arbutus rods and oaken twigs,

and shaded its raised couch beneath a canopy of leaves.

There they laid the youth aloft on a rustic bed,

like a flower plucked by a maiden's thumb,

a blossom of soft violet or drooping hyacinth,

70whose radiance and native beauty have not yet departed,

though Mother Earth no longer feeds it or gives it strength.

Then Aeneas brought out two robes stiff with gold and purple,

which Sidonian Dido herself, delighting in the work,

had once fashioned for him with her own hands

75and picked out their fabric with fine gold thread.

Grieving, he clothed the youth in one as a final honor

and veiled in its folds his hair, soon to burn;

he also heaped up many trophies from the Laurentine battle

and ordered the spoils borne in a long procession.

80He added horses and weapons taken from the enemy.

He had also bound captives' hands behind their backs, men he would send

as offerings to the shades, to spatter the flames with their blood when slaughtered,

and he ordered the commanders themselves to carry tree trunks dressed

in enemy armor, with their foes' names fixed to them.

85Unhappy Acoetes was led along, worn out with age;

now he marred his chest with his fists, now raked his face with his nails,

then collapsed, flinging himself full-length upon the ground.

They also led out chariots drenched in Rutulian blood.

Behind them came Pallas' war-horse Aethon, his trappings laid aside,

90weeping, his face wet with great drops.

Others carried Pallas' spear and helmet, for victorious Turnus

held the rest. Then followed the grieving column: the Trojans,

all the Etruscans, and the Arcadians with their weapons reversed.

After the whole train of companions had passed far ahead,

95Aeneas halted and added these words with a deep groan:

"The same grim fates of war call us away from here

to other tears. Forever hail, my great Pallas,

and forever farewell." He said no more, but toward the high

ramparts he went, making his way back into camp.

100Iamque oratores aderant ex urbe Latina,

velati ramis oleae veniamque rogantes:

corpora, per campos ferro quae fusa iacebant,

redderet ac tumulo sineret succedere terrae;

nullum cum victis certamen et aethere cassis;

105parceret hospitibus quondam socerisque vocatis.

Quos bonus Aeneas haud aspernanda precantis

prosequitur venia et verbis haec insuper addit:

Quaenam vos tanto fortuna indigna, Latini,

implicuit bello, qui nos fugiatis amicos?

110Pacem me exanimis et Martis sorte peremptis

oratis? Equidem et vivis concedere vellem.

Nec veni, nisi fata locum sedemque dedissent,

nec bellum cum gente gero: rex nostra reliquit

hospitia et Turni potius se credidit armis.

115Aequius huic Turnum fuerat se opponere morti.

Si bellum finire manu, si pellere Teucros

apparat, his mecum decuit concurrere telis:

vixet, cui vitam deus aut sua dextra dedisset.

Nunc ite et miseris supponite civibus ignem.

120Dixerat Aeneas. Illi obstipuere silentes

conversique oculos inter se atque ora tenebant.

Tum senior semperque odiis et crimine Drances

infensus iuveni Turno sic ore vicissim

orsa refert: O fama ingens, ingentior armis

125vir Troiane, quibus caelo te laudibus aequem?

Iustitiaene prius mirer belline laborum?

Nos vero haec patriam grati referemus ad urbem

et te, siqua viam dederit fortuna, Latino

iungemus regi: quaerat sibi foedera Turnus.

130Quin et fatalis murorum attollere moles

saxaque subvectare umeris Troiana iuvabit.

Dixerat haec, unoque omnes eadem ore fremebant.

100By now envoys had arrived from the Latin city,

wreathed with olive boughs and asking this favor:

that Aeneas return the bodies strewn by the sword across the fields

and let them pass beneath an earthen burial mound;

there is no quarrel with defeated men bereft of heaven's air;

105he should spare those once called his guest-friends and fathers-in-law.

Good Aeneas met the petitioners with a gracious concession

and added these words besides:

"Latins, what cruel stroke of fortune has entangled you

in so great a war that you shun our friendship?

110Do you ask me for peace for the lifeless, those struck down by Mars' lot?

For my part, I would gladly grant it to the living too.

I would not have come had the fates not granted me this place and home,

and I wage no war against your people. Your king abandoned our

guest-bond and chose instead to trust himself to Turnus' arms.

115It would have been fairer for Turnus to face this death himself.

If he means to end this war by force of arms and drive the Trojans out,

he should have met me in combat with these weapons;

the one to whom a god or his own right hand gave life would have lived.

Now go, and kindle the funeral fire beneath your wretched countrymen."

120Aeneas had finished. They stood stunned and silent,

and kept their eyes and faces turned toward one another.

Then aged Drances, always hostile to young Turnus

in hatred and slander, answered in his turn,

beginning thus: "Trojan hero, mighty in fame, mightier in arms,

125with what praises could I raise you to the sky?

Should I admire first your justice or your labors in war?

Gratefully we will carry these words back to our native city

and, if Fortune opens any way, unite you

with King Latinus. Let Turnus seek his own alliances.

130Indeed, we shall be glad to raise your destined walls

and carry the stones for Trojan walls on our shoulders."

So Drances spoke, and all clamored assent with one voice.

133Bis senos pepigere dies et pace sequestra

per silvas Teucri mixtique inpune Latini

135erravere iugis. Ferro sonat alta bipenni

fraxinus, evertunt actas ad sidera pinus,

robora nec cuneis et olentem scindere cedrum

nec plaustris cessant vectare gementibus ornos.

Et iam Fama volans, tanti praenuntia luctus,

140Evandrum Evandrique domos et moenia replet,

quae modo victorem Latio Pallanta ferebat.

Arcades ad portas ruere et de more vetusto

funereas rapuere faces; lucet via longo

ordine flammarum et late discriminat agros.

145Contra turba Phrygum veniens plangentia iungit

agmina. Quae postquam matres succedere tectis

viderunt, maestam incendunt clamoribus urbem.

133They agreed on a truce of twelve days. With peace between them,

Trojans and Latins mingled together, ranging unharmed through the woods

135and over the ridges. The tall ash rings beneath the double-edged iron axe;

they topple pines towering to the stars.

They never stop splitting oakwood and fragrant cedar with wedges

or hauling mountain ash on groaning carts.

And now flying Rumor, herald of so great a grief,

140fills Evander, Evander's palace, and his city's walls,

the same Rumor that only just proclaimed Pallas victorious in Latium.

The Arcadians rushed to the gates and, in time-honored custom,

snatched up funeral torches. The road glows with a long

line of flames, cutting a bright divide far across the fields.

145Coming to meet them, the throng of Phrygians joins its mourning

ranks with theirs. When the mothers saw those columns approaching their homes,

they set the grieving city ablaze with their cries.

148At non Evandrum potis est vis ulla tenere,

sed venit in medios. Feretro Pallanta reposto

150procubuit super atque haeret lacrimansque gemensque,

et via vix tandem vocis laxata dolore est.

Non haec, O Palla, dederas promissa parenti,

cautius ut saevo velles te credere Marti;

haud ignarus eram, quantum nova gloria in armis

155et praedulce decus primo certamine posset.

Primitiae iuvenis miserae bellique propinqui

dura rudimenta et nulli exaudita deorum

vota precesque meae! Tuque, O sanctissima coniunx,

felix morte tua neque in hunc servata dolorem!

160Contra ego vivendo vici mea fata, superstes

restarem ut genitor. Troum socia arma secutum

obruerent Rutuli telis! Animam ipse dedissem

atque haec pompa domum me, non Pallanta, referret,

nec vos arguerim, Teucri, nec foedera nec quas

165iunximus hospitio dextras: sors ista senectae

debita erat nostrae. Quod si immatura manebat

mors natum, caesis Volscorum milibus ante

ducentem in Latium Teucros cecidisse iuvabit.

Quin ego non alio digner te funere, Palla,

170quam pius Aeneas et quam magni Phryges et quam

Tyrrhenique duces, Tyrrhenum exercitus omnis.

Magna tropaea ferunt, quos dat tua dextera Leto:

tu quoque nunc stares immanis truncus in armis,

esset par aetas et idem si robur ab annis,

175Turne. Sed infelix Teucros quid demoror armis?

Vadite et haec memores regi mandata referte:

quod vitam moror invisam Pallante perempto,

dextera causa tua est, Turnum natoque patrique

quam debere vides. Meritis vacat hic tibi solus

180fortunaeque locus. Non vitae gaudia quaero,

nec fas, sed nato Manis perferre sub imos.

148But no force can hold Evander back.

He comes into their midst. When the bier bearing Pallas is set down,

150he throws himself upon it and clings there, weeping and groaning.

Only at last does grief open a narrow passage for his voice:

"Pallas, this was not the promise you made your father:

you said you would entrust yourself more cautiously to savage Mars.

I knew well how strong the lure of new glory in arms

155and honor all too sweet could prove in a first battle.

Wretched first fruits of youth, and cruel first lessons

in a war so near! Not one of the gods heard

my vows or prayers! And you, my most revered wife,

fortunate in your death, spared this grief!

160But I, by living on, have outlasted my fate,

left a father surviving his son. If only the Rutulians had overwhelmed me

with spears as I fought beside the Trojans! I would have given my life,

and this funeral procession would be carrying me home, not Pallas!

Nor would I accuse you, Trojans, or our alliance, or the right hands

165we joined in guest-friendship. That was the lot owed

to my old age. But if an untimely death awaited

my son, it will comfort me that, after first cutting down thousands of Volscians,

he fell while leading the Trojans into Latium.

Indeed, Pallas, I could deem no other funeral worthy of you

170than the one dutiful Aeneas, the great Phrygians,

the Etruscan chiefs, and the whole Etruscan army have given.

They bear as mighty trophies the men your right hand sent to Death;

you too would now stand, a vast trunk hung with armor,

had age been equal and strength from years the same,

175Turnus. But, wretched as I am, why do I hold the Trojans back from battle?

Go, remember, and carry this charge back to your king:

the reason I endure this hated life, now Pallas is dead,

is your right hand, the hand that, as you know, owes Turnus

to both son and father. This is the one field still open

180to your valor and fortune. I seek no joy for myself in life;

that would be wrong. I seek only to carry this news to my son among the shades below."

182Aurora interea miseris mortalibus almam

extulerat lucem, referens opera atque labores:

iam pater Aeneas, iam curvo in litore Tarchon

185constituere pyras. Huc corpora quisque suorum

more tulere patrum, subiectisque ignibus atris

conditur in tenebras altum caligine caelum.

Ter circum accensos cincti fulgentibus armis

decurrere rogos, ter maestum funeris ignem

190lustravere in equis ululatusque ore dedere;

spargitur et tellus lacrimis, sparguntur et arma:

it caelo clamorque virum clangorque tubarum.

Hic alii spolia occisis derepta Latinis

coniciunt igni, galeas ensesque decoros

195frenaque ferventisque rotas; pars munera nota,

ipsorum clipeos et non felicia tela.

Multa boum circa mactantur corpora Morti,

saetigerosque sues raptasque ex omnibus agris

in flammam iugulant pecudes. Tum litore toto

200ardentis spectant socios semustaque servant

busta neque avelli possunt, nox umida donec

invertit caelum stellis ardentibus aptum.

Nec minus et miseri diversa in parte Latini

innumeras struxere pyras, et corpora partim

205multa virum terrae infodiunt avectaque partim

finitimos tollunt in agros urbique remittunt,

cetera confusaeque ingentem caedis acervum

nec numero nec honore cremant: tunc undique vasti

certatim crebris conlucent ignibus agri.

210Tertia lux gelidam caelo dimoverat umbram:

maerentes altum cinerem et confusa ruebant

ossa focis tepidoque onerabant aggere terrae.

182Meanwhile Dawn had lifted her kindly light

for wretched mortals, bringing back their work and toil.

Now, along the curving shore, father Aeneas and Tarchon

185had raised the pyres. Each brought there the bodies of his own men

in ancestral custom; and when black fires were kindled beneath them,

smoke buried the high sky in darkness.

Three times, girded in gleaming armor, they ran around

the kindled pyres; three times on horseback they ritually circled

190the sorrowful funeral fire and raised wailing cries.

Tears spattered both the earth and their armor;

the cries of men and the blare of trumpets rose to heaven.

Here some cast into the fire spoils stripped from slain Latins:

helmets and gleaming swords,

195bridles, and still-hot chariot wheels. Others cast in the customary offerings,

their own shields and ill-starred weapons.

All around, many cattle are sacrificed to Death,

while over the flames they slaughter bristling hogs and sheep

seized from every field. Then, all along the shore,

200they watch their comrades burn and stand guard over the half-consumed

pyres. They cannot be torn away until dewy night

turns the sky above, studded with blazing stars.

In a separate quarter the wretched Latins do no less:

they raise countless pyres. Some of the many bodies

205of their men they bury in the earth; others they carry away,

taking some to neighboring fields and sending others back to the city.

All the rest, a vast heap from the indiscriminate slaughter,

they burn with neither count nor honor. Then on every side the broad

fields vie with one another, gleaming with clustered fires.

210The third dawn had driven the cold shadow from the sky:

in grief they raked the deep ash and mingled bones

from the pyres, then covered them with a mound of still-warm earth.

213Iam vero in tectis, praedivitis urbe Latini,

praecipuus fragor et longi pars maxima luctus.

215Hic matres miseraeque nurus, hic cara sororum

pectora maerentum puerique parentibus orbi

dirum exsecrantur bellum Turnique hymenaeos:

ipsum armis ipsumque iubent decernere ferro,

qui regnum Italiae et primos sibi poscat honores.

220ingravat haec saevus Drances solumque vocari

testatur, solum posci in certamina Turnum.

Multa simul contra variis sententia dictis

pro Turno, et magnum reginae nomen obumbrat,

multa virum meritis sustentat fama tropaeis.

225Hos inter motus, medio in flagrante tumultu,

ecce super maesti magna Diomedis ab urbe

legati responsa ferunt: nihil omnibus actum

tantorum impensis operum, nil dona neque aurum

nec magnas valuisse preces, alia arma Latinis

230quaerenda aut pacem Troiano ab rege petendum.

Deficit ingenti luctu rex ipse Latinus.

Fatalem Aenean manifesto numine ferri

admonet ira deum tumulique ante ora recentes.

Ergo concilium magnum primosque suorum

235imperio accitos alta intra limina cogit.

olli convenere fluuntque ad regia plenis

tecta viis. Sedet in mediis et maximus aevo

et primus sceptris haud laeta fronte Latinus.

Atque hic legatos Aetola ex urbe remissos,

240quae referant, fari iubet et responsa reposcit

ordine cuncta suo. Tum facta silentia linguis,

et Venulus dicto parens ita farier infit:

213But now within the homes, in the city of wealthy Latinus,

the clamor was loudest, and the greatest share of prolonged grief was there.

215Here mothers and wretched young wives, here the loving hearts

of grieving sisters, and boys bereft of their parents,

cursed the dreadful war and Turnus' wedding:

they demanded that he himself decide it in arms, he himself by the sword,

since it was he who claimed Italy's rule and its highest honors for himself.

220Bitter Drances added weight to their charges, declaring that Turnus alone

had been called out, Turnus alone demanded for the combat.

At the same time many voices argued on the other side,

speaking for Turnus in various ways; the queen's great name sheltered him,

and great renown upheld the man through trophies well earned.

225Amid these divisions, in the heart of the raging tumult,

there came, on top of all this, sorrowing envoys from mighty Diomedes' city,

bearing their answer: nothing had been achieved

despite all the expense of such great undertakings; neither gifts nor gold

nor weighty appeals had availed. The Latins must seek other arms

230or ask peace from the Trojan king.

King Latinus himself lost heart beneath the immense grief.

Fate-sent Aeneas was driven on by manifest divine will;

the gods' anger and fresh tombs before his eyes warned him of it.

So he summoned a great council and gathered the leading men of his people,

235called by his command, within the lofty halls.

They assembled and streamed toward the royal halls along crowded

streets. Latinus sat among them, oldest in years

and foremost in royal authority, his brow far from glad.

There he ordered the envoys returned from the Aetolian city

240to say what they had to report, demanding every answer

in its proper order. Then every tongue fell silent,

and Venulus, obeying his command, began to speak:

243Vidimus, o cives, Diomedem Argivaque castra

atque iter emensi casus superavimus omnis

245contigimusque manum, qua concidit Ilia tellus.

Ille urbem Argyripam patriae cognomine gentis

victor Gargani condebat Iapygis agris.

Postquam introgressi et coram data copia fandi,

munera praeferimus, nomen patriamque docemus,

250qui bellum intulerint, quae causa attraxerit Arpos.

Auditis ille haec placido sic reddidit ore:

O fortunatae gentes, Saturnia regna,

antiqui Ausonii, quae vos fortuna quietos

sollicitat suadetque ignota lacessere bella?

255Quicumque Iliacos ferro violavimus agros,

mitto ea, quae muris bellando exhausta sub altis,

quos Simois premat ille viros, infanda per orbem

supplicia et scelerum poenas expendimus omnes,

vel Priamo miseranda manus: scit triste Minervae

260sidus et Euboicae cautes ultorque Caphareus.

Militia ex illa diversum ad litus abacti

Atrides Protei Menelaus adusque columnas

exsulat, Aetnaeos vidit Cyclopas Ulixes.

Regna Neoptolemi referam versosque penates

265Idomenei? Libycone habitantis litore Locros?

Ipse Mycenaeus magnorum ductor Achivom

coniugis infandae prima inter limina dextra

oppetiit: devictam Asiam subsedit adulter.

Invidisse deos, patriis ut redditus aris

270coniugium optatum et pulchram Calydona viderem?

Nunc etiam horribili visu portenta sequuntur,

et socii amissi petierunt aethera pennis

fluminibusque vagantur aves, heu dira meorum

supplicia, et scopulos lacrimosis vocibus implent.

275Haec adeo ex illo mihi iam speranda fuerunt

tempore, cum ferro caelestia corpora demens

adpetii et Veneris violavi volnere dextram.

Ne vero, ne me ad talis impellite pugnas:

nec mihi cum Teucris ullum post eruta bellum

280Pergama, nec veterum memini laetorve malorum.

Munera, quae patriis ad me portatis ab oris,

vertite ad Aenean. Stetimus tela aspera contra

contulimusque manus: experto credite, quantus

in clipeum adsurgat, quo turbine torqueat hastam.

285Si duo praeterea talis Idaea tulisset

terra viros, ultro Inachias venisset ad urbes

Dardanus, et versis lugeret Graecia fatis.

Quidquid apud durae cessatum est moenia Troiae,

Hectoris Aeneaeque manu victoria Graium

290haesit et in decimum vestigia rettulit annum.

Ambo animis, ambo insignes praestantibus armis

hic pietate prior. Coeant in foedera dextrae,

qua datur; ast armis concurrant arma cavete.

Et responsa simul quae sint, rex optime, regis

295audisti et quae sit magno sententia bello.

243"We saw Diomedes, fellow citizens, and his Argive camp;

we traversed the road and overcame every hazard,

245and clasped the hand by which the land of Ilium fell.

There, victorious, he was founding Argyripa, a city named

for his native people, in the Iapygian fields of Garganus.

Once we entered and were given leave to speak before him,

we offered our gifts and declared our name and country,

250who had brought war upon us, and what cause had drawn us to Arpi.

When he had heard us, he replied in a calm voice:

'O fortunate peoples who dwell in Saturn's realm,

ancient Ausonians, what fortune disturbs your peace

and urges you to provoke a war unknown to you?

255All of us who violated the Trojan fields with steel

(I say nothing of what we endured in battle beneath their lofty walls,

or all those heroes whom the Simois holds) across the world

we have paid unspeakable punishment, the price of our crimes,

a band even Priam might pity. Minerva's baleful storm bears witness,

260as do the Euboean reefs and Caphareus the avenger.

Driven from that war, each toward a different shore,

Atreus' son Menelaus wanders in exile as far as Proteus' pillars;

Ulysses has seen Aetna's Cyclopes.

Need I tell of Neoptolemus' fallen kingdom or Idomeneus'

265overturned home? Or of the Locrians dwelling on the Libyan shore?

Agamemnon himself, Mycenaean commander of the mighty Achaeans,

met death at his first threshold, by his accursed wife's hand:

her adulterous lover lay in wait for Asia's conqueror.

Did the gods begrudge me, once restored to my ancestral altars,

270the sight of my longed-for wife and beautiful Calydon?

Even now dreadful portents pursue me: my lost comrades

have taken to the upper air on wings

and roam the rivers as birds (alas, my people's dreadful

punishment!) and fill the cliffs with tearful cries.

275From that very moment I should indeed have expected all this,

when in madness I attacked the bodies of gods with steel

and wounded Venus' right hand.

No, no indeed. Do not drive me into battles such as these.

I have no war with the Trojans now that Pergamum

280is overthrown, nor do I recall or rejoice in those old calamities.

Turn toward Aeneas the gifts you carry me from your native shores.

We stood facing each other's fierce weapons

and met hand-to-hand. Trust one who knows how formidable

he looms above his shield and with what whirlwind force he hurls his spear.

285Had Ida's land borne two more men like him,

the Dardanian host would have advanced of its own accord upon Argive cities,

and Greece would now be mourning, the fates reversed.

Every delay beneath stubborn Troy's walls came from this:

the Greeks' victory was checked by the hands of Hector and Aeneas

290and driven back on its tracks into the tenth year.

Both were outstanding in courage, both renowned for peerless feats of arms;

Aeneas surpassed Hector in devotion. Let right hands join in treaty

wherever a way opens; but beware of matching his arms with yours.'

And now, best of kings, you have heard both Diomedes' reply

295and his judgment on this great war."

296Vix ea legati, variusque per ora cucurrit

Ausonidum turbata fremor: ceu saxa morantur

cum rapidos amnis, fit clauso gurgite murmur

vicinaeque fremunt ripae crepitantibus undis.

300Ut primum placati animi et trepida ora quierunt,

praefatus divos solio rex infit ab alto:

Ante equidem summa de re statuisse, Latini,

et vellem et fuerat melius, non tempore tali

cogere concilium, cum muros adsidet hostis.

305Bellum importunum, cives, cum gente deorum

invictisque viris gerimus, quos nulla fatigant

proelia: nec victi possunt absistere ferro.

Spem siquam adscitis Aetolum habuistis in armis,

ponite. Spes sibi quisque, sed haec quam angusta videtis;

310cetera qua rerum iaceant perculsa ruina,

ante oculos interque manus sunt omnia vestras.

Nec quemquam incuso: potuit quae plurima virtus

esse, fuit; toto certatum est corpore regni.

Nunc adeo quae sit dubiae sententia menti

315expediam et paucis, animos adhibete, docebo.

Est antiquus ager Tusco mihi proximus amni,

longus in occasum, finis super usque Sicanos;

Aurunci Rutulique serunt et vomere duros

exercent colles atque horum asperrima pascunt.

320Haec omnis regio et celsi plaga pinea montis

cedat amicitiae Teucrorum, et foederis aequas

dicamus leges sociosque in regna vocemus.

Considant, si tantus amor, et moenia condant.

Sin alios finis aliamque capessere gentem

325est animus possuntque solo decedere nostro:

bis denas Italo texamus robore navis

seu pluris complere valent, iacet omnis ad undam

materies, ipsi numerumque modumque carinis

praecipiant, nos aera manus navalia demus.

330Praeterea qui dicta ferant et foedera firment

centum oratores prima de gente Latinos

ire placet pacisque manu praetendere ramos,

munera portantis aurique eborisque talenta

et sellam regni trabeamque insignia nostri.

335Consulite in medium et rebus succurrite fessis.

296The envoys had barely finished when a wavering murmur of confusion

passed from mouth to mouth among the Ausonians, like the sound when rocks impede

swift rivers: the checked current raises a roar,

and the neighboring banks resound as the waves crash.

300As soon as their spirits calmed and their agitated faces fell still,

King Latinus invoked the gods, then began from his high throne:

"Latins, I wish we had settled this critical question

before now; it would have been better not to call a council

at a time like this, with the enemy encamped against our walls.

305Citizens, we are waging a ruinous war against a race sprung from gods,

men unconquered whom no battles wear down;

even when defeated, they cannot put aside the sword.

If you placed any hope in the Aetolian arms summoned to our aid,

abandon it. Each man must be his own hope, but you see how slender that hope is.

310As for the rest, the ruin in which our fortunes lie shattered

is all before your eyes and close at hand.

I accuse no one: our courage was as great as courage could be,

and we fought with the full strength of the kingdom.

Now I will set out what my uncertain mind advises

315and explain it briefly. Give me your full attention.

I own an ancient tract beside the Tuscan river,

stretching far westward beyond even the Sicanian borders.

The Auruncians and Rutulians till it; with the plowshare they work

the stubborn hills and graze their roughest ground.

320Let this whole territory and the pine-clad slope of its high mountain

be granted for friendship with the Trojans. Let us offer fair terms

of treaty and invite them as allies into our realm.

Let them settle there, if that is their great desire, and found a walled city.

But if they intend to seek another territory and another people,

325and can depart from our soil,

let us build them twenty ships from Italian oak,

or more, if they can crew them; all the timber lies ready beside the water.

Let them determine the number and dimensions of the hulls;

we will provide bronze, craftsmen, and naval equipment.

330Besides, to carry our message and secure a treaty,

I propose that one hundred Latin envoys, chosen from the nation's foremost men,

go, holding out branches of peace in their hands

and bearing gifts: talents of gold and ivory,

our royal chair and purple-striped state robe, emblems of our kingship.

335Take counsel for the common good, and come to the aid of our weary fortunes."

336Tum Drances idem infensus, quem gloria Turni

obliqua invidia stimulisque agitabat amaris,

largus opum et lingua melior, sed frigida bello

dextera, consiliis habitus non futilis auctor,

340seditione potens (genus huic materna superbum

nobilitas dabat, incertum de patre ferebat),

surgit et his onerat dictis atque aggerat iras:

Rem nulli obscuram nostrae nec vocis egentem

consulis, O bone rex: cuncti se scire fatentur,

345quid fortuna ferat populi, sed dicere mussant.

Det libertatem fandi flatusque remittat

cuius ob auspicium infaustum moresque sinistros

(dicam equidem, licet arma mihi mortemque minetur)

lumina tot cecidisse ducum totamque videmus

350consedisse urbem luctu, dum Troia temptat

castra fugae fidens et caelum territat armis.

Unum etiam donis istis, quae plurima mitti

Dardanidis dicique iubes, unum, optime regum,

adicias nec te ullius violentia vincat,

355quin natam egregio genero dignisque hymenaeis

des, pater, et pacem hanc aeterno foedere iungas.

Quod si tantus habet mentes et pectora terror,

ipsum obtestemur veniamque oremus ab ipso:

cedat, ius proprium regi patriaeque remittat.

360Quid miseros totiens in aperta pericula cives

proicis, O Latio caput horum et causa malorum?

Nulla salus bello: pacem te poscimus omnes,

Turne, simul pacis solum inviolabile pignus.

Primus ego, invisum quem tu tibi fingis, et esse

365nil moror, en supplex venio. Miserere tuorum,

pone animos et pulsus abi. Sat funera fusi

vidimus ingentis et desolavimus agros.

Aut si fama movet, si tantum pectore robur

concipis et si adeo dotalis regia cordi est,

370aude atque adversum fidens fer pectus in hostem.

Scilicet ut Turno contingat regia coniunx,

nos animae viles, inhumata infletaque turba,

sternamur campis. Etiam tu, siqua tibi vis,

si patrii quid Martis habes, illum aspice contra,

375qui vocat.

336Then Drances rose, hostile as ever, driven by Turnus' glory

to covert envy and its bitter stings.

Lavish with his wealth and stronger with words, but with a hand cold

in battle, he was counted an adviser of real weight in council

340and wielded power through faction. His mother's noble birth

gave him proud lineage; on his father's side his origin was obscure.

With these words he fed and intensified resentment:

"You ask our counsel on a matter obscure to no one and needing no words

from me, good king. Everyone admits he knows

345what fortune holds for our people, but they shrink from speaking out.

Let that man grant us freedom to speak and lay aside his swagger,

because of whose ill-starred auspices and perverse conduct

(I will speak, though he threatens me with weapons and death)

we see so many glorious leaders fallen

350and the whole city sunk in grief, while, counting on escape, he attacks

the Trojan camp and threatens heaven with his weapons.

Add one more gift to those many gifts you order

sent and offered to the Dardanians—one more, best of kings—

and do not let any man's violence prevent you:

355bestow your daughter on a noble son-in-law in a worthy marriage,

father, and seal this peace with an everlasting covenant.

But if such fear possesses our minds and hearts,

let us beseech that very man and beg this favor from him:

let him yield and surrender his private claim to king and country.

360Why do you keep casting our wretched citizens into open danger,

you source and cause of all these evils for Latium?

War offers no salvation. We all demand peace from you,

Turnus, and with it the one inviolable pledge of peace: Lavinia.

I am first—though you imagine me your enemy, and I do not mind

365being one—look, I come as a suppliant. Pity your own people,

lay down your pride and leave in defeat. Routed, we have seen enough deaths

and laid vast fields waste.

Or if fame moves you, if you conceive such strength

in your heart, and if the palace that comes as dowry is so dear to you,

370then dare: confidently face your enemy head-on.

So, of course, that Turnus may gain the royal bride,

we worthless lives, a crowd unburied and unwept,

must be strewn across the fields! Come then, if you have any strength,

if you have any of your ancestral courage in war, face the man

375who challenges you."

376Talibus exarsit dictis violentia Turni;

dat gemitum rumpitque has imo pectore voces

Larga quidem, Drance, semper tibi copia fandi

tum, cum bella manus poscunt, patribusque vocatis

380primus ades. Sed non replenda est curia verbis,

quae tuto tibi magna volant, dum distinet hostem

agger murorum nec inundant sanguine fossae.

Proinde tona eloquio, solitum tibi, meque timoris

argue tu, Drance, quando tot stragis acervos

385Teucrorum tua dextra dedit passimque tropaeis

insignis agros. Possit quid vivida virtus,

experiare licet; nec longe scilicet hostes

quaerendi nobis: circumstant undique muros.

Imus in adversos: quid cessas? An tibi Mavors

390ventosa in lingua pedibusque fugacibus istis

semper erit?

Pulsus ego? Aut quisquam merito, foedissime, pulsum

arguet, Iliaco tumidum qui crescere Thybrim

sanguine et Evandri totam cum stirpe videbit

395procubuisse domum atque exutos Arcadas armis?

Haud ita me experti Bitias et Pandarus ingens

et quos mille die victor sub Tartara misi,

inclusus muris hostilique aggere saeptus.

Nulla salus bello. Capiti cane talia, demens,

400Dardanio rebusque tuis. Proinde omnia magno

ne cessa turbare metu atque extollere vires

gentis bis victae, contra premere arma Latini.

Nunc et Myrmidonum proceres Phrygia arma tremescunt,

nunc et Tydides et Larissaeus Achilles,

405amnis et Hadriacas retro fugit Aufidus undas.

Vel cum se pavidum contra mea iurgia fingit

artificis scelus et formidine crimen acerbat.

Numquam animam talem dextra hac, absiste moveri,

amittes: habitet tecum et sit pectore in isto.

376At those words Turnus' violence flared up;

he groaned and burst out with these words from deep in his chest:

"You always have words in plenty, Drances,

when war demands hands and the senators are summoned;

380you are first to arrive. But the senate house must not be filled with words

that fly so grandly from you in safety, while the rampart of our walls

holds the enemy off and the trenches do not flood with blood.

So thunder away with your eloquence, as is your habit, and accuse me

of fear, Drances, since your right hand has made so many heaps

385of slaughtered Trojans and you have marked the fields far and wide

with trophies. You may test what vigorous courage

can do; no need, of course, for us to seek the enemy far away:

they stand all around our walls.

Let us go against them. Why do you hang back? Or will your Mars

390always be lodged in that blustering tongue and those fleeing

feet of yours?

Driven back, was I? Or who, foulest man, can rightly accuse me

of being driven back when he sees the Tiber swell and rise

with Trojan blood, Evander's entire house, together with its line,

395laid low, and the Arcadians stripped of their arms?

Bitias and giant Pandarus did not find me so,

nor the thousand whom I, victorious in a single day, sent down to Tartarus,

though I was shut inside their walls and hemmed in by an enemy rampart.

No safety in war? Sing such prophecies, madman, over the Dardanian

400chief's head and over your own fortunes. Go on, then: never stop throwing everything

into turmoil with your vast fear, exalting the strength

of a people twice conquered and, by contrast, belittling Latinus' arms.

Now even the chiefs of the Myrmidons tremble at Phrygian arms;

now Tydeus' son and Larisaean Achilles tremble too,

405and the river Aufidus flees backward from the Adriatic waves!

Or take him when he pretends to be frightened by my rebukes,

the crafty scoundrel, and sharpens his charge with his show of fear!

You will never lose a life like yours to this right hand; stop being alarmed.

Let it live with you and stay in that breast of yours.

410Nunc ad te et tua magna, pater, consulta revertor.

Si nullam nostris ultra spem ponis in armis,

si tam deserti sumus et semel agmine verso

funditus occidimus neque habet Fortuna regressum?

oremus pacem et dextras tendamus inertis.

415Quamquam O, si solitae quicquam virtutis adesset!

Ille mihi ante alios fortunatusque laborum

egregiusque animi, qui, nequid tale videret,

procubuit moriens et humum semel ore momordit.

Sin et opes nobis et adhuc intacta iuventus

420auxilioque urbes Italae populique supersunt,

sin et Troianis cum multo gloria venit

sanguine, sunt illis sua funera parque per omnis

tempestas: cur indecores in limine primo

deficimus? Cur ante tubam tremor occupat artus?

425Multa dies variisque labor mutabilis aevi

rettulit in melius, multos alterna revisens

lusit et in solido rursus Fortuna locavit.

Non erit auxilio nobis Aetolus et Arpi:

at Messapus erit felixque Tolumnius et quos

430tot populi misere duces, nec parva sequetur

gloria delectos Latio et Laurentibus agris.

Est et Volscorum egregia de gente Camilla,

agmen agens equitum et florentis aere catervas.

Quod si me solum Teucri in certamina poscunt

435idque placet tantumque bonis communibus obsto,

non adeo has exosa manus Victoria fugit,

ut tanta quicquam pro spe temptare recusem.

Ibo animis contra, vel magnum praestet Achillem

factaque Vulcani manibus paria induat arma

440ille licet. Vobis animam hanc soceroque Latino

Turnus ego, haud ulli veterum virtute secundus,

devovi. Solum Aeneas vocat: et vocet oro,

nec Drances potius, sive est haec ira deorum,

morte luat, sive est virtus et gloria, tollat.

410Now, father, I return to you and your weighty deliberations.

If you place no further hope in our arms,

if we are so abandoned that one rout of our battle line

has utterly destroyed us and Fortune has no way back,

then let us beg for peace and stretch out helpless hands.

415But oh, if only a trace of our accustomed valor remained!

In my eyes, that man is fortunate beyond all others in his hardships

and exceptional in courage who, rather than see such a thing,

fell in death and bit the earth once for all.

But if we still have resources and a generation of young warriors as yet unbroken,

420if Italian cities and peoples remain to aid us,

if the Trojans too won their glory at the cost of much

blood—they have their own dead, and the same

storm has swept over all—why do we falter in disgrace at the very threshold?

Why does trembling seize our limbs before the trumpet sounds?

425Time and the shifting trials of the years have restored many things

for the better; returning to many in turn,

Fortune has made sport of them, then set them back on solid ground.

Diomedes, the Aetolian at Arpi, will not come to our aid;

but Messapus will, and auspicious Tolumnius, and the

430leaders whom so many peoples have sent. Nor will slight

glory attend the chosen men from Latium and Laurentum's fields.

There is also Camilla, from the distinguished Volscian people,

leading a column of cavalry and squadrons resplendent in bronze.

But if the Trojans demand me alone for combat,

435if that is your decision and I so greatly obstruct the common good,

Victory has not fled these hands with such hatred

that I would refuse any venture for a hope so great.

I will face him with courage, even if he surpasses great Achilles

and wears matching armor forged by Vulcan's hands—

440let him. To you and to my father-in-law Latinus,

I, Turnus, second in valor to none of the heroes of old,

have vowed this life. Aeneas calls for me alone? Let him call, I pray.

Do not let Drances instead, if this is the gods' anger, atone for it

with his death, or, if it is courage and glory, carry them off."

445Illi haec inter se dubiis de rebus agebant

certantes; castra Aeneas aciemque movebat:

nuntius ingenti per regia tecta tumultu

ecce ruit magnisque urbem terroribus implet,

instructos acie Tiberino a flumine Teucros

450Tyrrhenamque manum totis descendere campis.

Extemplo turbati animi concussaque vulgi

pectora et adrectae stimulis haud mollibus irae.

Arma manu trepidi poscunt, fremit arma iuventus,

flent maesti mussantque patres. Hic undique clamor

455dissensu vario magnus se tollit in auras

haud secus atque alto in luco cum forte catervae

consedere avium piscosove amne Padusae

dant sonitum rauci per stagna loquacia cycni.

Immo, ait, O cives adrepto tempore, Turnus,

460cogite concilium et pacem laudate sedentes:

illi armis in regna ruunt. Nec plura locutus

corripuit sese et tectis citus extulit altis.

Tu, Voluse, armari Volscorum edice maniplos,

duc, ait, et Rutulos. Equitem Messapus in armis

465et cum fratre Coras latis diffundite campis.

Pars aditus urbis firmet turrisque capessat,

cetera, qua iusso, mecum manus inferat arma.

Ilicet in muros tota discurritur urbe.

Consilium ipse pater et magna incepta Latinus

470deserit ac tristi turbatus tempore differt

multaque se incusat, qui non adceperit ultro

Dardanium Aenean generumque adsciverit urbi.

Praefodiunt alii portas aut saxa sudesque

subvectant. Bello dat signum rauca cruentum

475bucina. Tum muros varia cinxere corona

matronae puerique: vocat labor ultimus omnis.

Nec non ad templum summasque ad Palladis arces

subvehitur magna matrum regina caterva

dona ferens, iuxtaque comes Lavinia virgo,

480causa mali tanti, oculos deiecta decoros.

Succedunt matres et templum ture vaporant

et maestas alto fundunt de limine voces:

Armipotens, praeses belli, Tritonia virgo,

frange manu telum Phrygii praedonis et ipsum

485pronum sterne solo portisque effunde sub altis.

445So they were arguing these matters among themselves while the issue hung in doubt;

meanwhile Aeneas was breaking camp and advancing his battle line.

Suddenly a messenger races through the royal palace in a great commotion

and fills the city with dreadful alarm, reporting

that the Trojans, drawn up in battle array, are marching from the Tiber,

450and the Etruscan force is coming down across the whole plain.

At once their spirits are thrown into confusion, the people's hearts

are shaken, and anger is roused by no gentle goads.

In panic they clamor for arms in hand; the young men roar for arms,

while the grieving elders weep and mutter. From every side a great outcry

455rises into the air in a confusion of dissent,

just as when flocks of birds have chanced to settle

in a deep grove, or on Padusa's fish-rich stream

hoarse swans make a din across the noisy marshes.

"By all means, citizens," Turnus says, seizing his moment,

460"summon the council and sit there praising peace:

they are rushing armed against our kingdom." Saying no more,

he rushed off and swiftly left the lofty palace.

"Volusus, order the Volscian companies to arm,

and lead the Rutulians," he says. "Messapus, you and Coras

465with his brother, deploy the armed cavalry across the broad fields.

Let one contingent secure the city's approaches and take the towers;

let the rest of the force attack with me wherever I give the order."

At once throughout the city they rush in every direction to the walls.

Father Latinus himself abandons the council and his great proposals;

470shaken by the grim crisis, he puts them off

and bitterly blames himself for not having freely welcomed

Dardan Aeneas and adopted him as son-in-law for the city.

Some dig trenches before the gates; others haul up stones

and stakes. The hoarse war trumpet sounds the bloody signal

475for battle. Then, in a motley ring, the walls are encircled

by mothers and children: the final emergency summons everyone.

Meanwhile toward Pallas' temple on the summit of her citadel

Queen Amata is borne upward amid a great throng of mothers,

bearing gifts; beside her goes the maiden Lavinia,

480the cause of so great a calamity, her lovely eyes cast down.

The mothers follow and perfume Pallas' temple with incense,

then from the high threshold pour out this mournful prayer:

"Mighty in arms, mistress of war, Tritonian maiden,

shatter with your hand the weapon of the Phrygian robber; cast him

485headlong to the ground and spill him beneath our lofty gates."

486Cingitur ipse furens certatim in proelia Turnus.

Iamque adeo rutilum thoraca indutus aenis

horrebat squamis surasque incluserat auro,

tempora nudus adhuc, laterique adcinxerat ensem

490fulgebatque alta decurrens aureus arce,

exsultatque animis et spe iam praecipit hostem:

qualis ubi abruptis fugit praesaepia vinclis

tandem liber equus campoque potitus aperto

aut ille in pastus armentaque tendit equarum

495aut adsuetus aquae perfundi flumine noto

emicat adrectisque fremit cervicibus alte

luxurians, luduntque iubae per colla, per armos.

Obvia cui Volscorum acie comitante Camilla

occurrit portisque ab equo regina sub ipsis

500desiluit, quam tota cohors imitata relictis

ad terram defluxit equis; tum talia fatur:

Turne, sui merito siqua est fiducia forti,

audeo et Aeneadum promitto occurrere turmae

solaque Tyrrhenos equites ire obvia contra.

505Me sine prima manu temptare pericula belli

tu pedes ad muros subsiste et moenia serva.

Turnus ad haec, oculos horrenda in virgine fixus:

O decus Italiae virgo, quas dicere grates

quasve referre parem? Sed nunc, est omnia quando

510iste animus supra, mecum partire laborem.

Aeneas, ut fama fidem missique reportant

exploratores, equitum levia improbus arma

praemisit, quaterent campos; ipse ardua montis

per deserta iugo superans adventat ad urbem.

515Furta paro belli convexo in tramite silvae,

ut bivias armato obsidam milite fauces.

Tu Tyrrhenum equitem conlatis excipe signis;

tecum acer Messapus erit turmaeque Latinae

Tiburtique manus, ducis et tu concipe curam.

520Sic ait, et paribus Messapum in proelia dictis

hortatur sociosque duces et pergit in hostem.

Est curvo anfractu valles, adcommoda fraudi

armorumque dolis, quam densis frondibus atrum

urget utrimque latus, tenuis quo semita ducit

525angustaeque ferunt fauces aditusque maligni.

Hanc super in speculis summoque in vertice montis

planities ignota iacet tutique receptus,

seu dextra laevaque velis occurrere pugnae,

sive instare iugis et grandia volvere saxa.

530Huc iuvenis nota fertur regione viarum

arripuitque locum et silvis insedit iniquis.

486Turnus himself, raging, eagerly girds himself for battle.

By now he had put on a red-gold cuirass and bristled

with its bronze scales; he had encased his calves in gold.

His head was still bare, and he had strapped a sword to his side.

490Golden, he flashed as he raced down from the high citadel,

exultant in spirit; in hope he already had the enemy beaten:

like a horse that breaks its tether and bolts from the stall,

free at last and master of the open field,

either making for pasture and a herd of mares,

495or, accustomed to bathe in a familiar river's water,

springs toward it and, arching his neck, neighs aloud,

reveling as his mane plays over neck and shoulders.

Camilla came to meet him, attended by a Volscian battle line,

and at the very gates the queen leapt down from her horse.

500Her whole troop followed her example, leaving their mounts

and streaming to the ground; then she spoke:

"Turnus, if the brave have any rightful confidence in themselves,

I dare promise to meet the squadrons of Aeneas' men

and go alone against the Etruscan cavalry.

505Let me test the first dangers of war with my own hand;

you stay on foot at the walls and defend the fortifications."

Turnus answered, his eyes fixed on the formidable maiden:

"O maiden, glory of Italy, what thanks can I express,

what equal return can I make? Yet since your courage now

510surpasses every recompense, share the task with me.

Relentless Aeneas, as rumor says and the scouts we sent

confirm, has sent light-armed horsemen ahead

to scour the plains. He himself is surmounting the mountain heights

along a ridge through deserted country and is closing on the city.

515I am preparing an ambush on a bending track through the woods,

to occupy the forked defile with armed men.

You meet the Etruscan cavalry with standards massed;

fierce Messapus will be with you, along with the Latin squadrons

and the contingent from Tibur; take command yourself."

520So he spoke and with like commands urged Messapus

and the allied leaders into battle, then advanced against the enemy.

There is a valley winding in a curve, well suited to ambush

and stratagems of war; dark slopes thick with foliage

hem it in on either side. A narrow path leads there,

525through cramped defiles and constricted approaches.

Above it, among lookout points on the mountain's highest crest,

lies a little-known plateau with secure places of retreat,

from which one may meet an attack on the right or left,

or hold the ridges and roll down massive rocks.

530The young warrior rushed there along a familiar route,

seized the position, and took his stand in the treacherous woods.

532Velocem interea superis in sedibus Opim,

unam ex virginibus sociis sacraque caterva,

compellabat et has tristis Latonia voces

535ore dabat: Graditur bellum ad crudele Camilla,

O virgo, et nostris nequiquam cingitur armis,

cara mihi ante alias. Neque enim novus iste Dianae

venit amor subitaque animum dulcedine movit.

Pulsus ob invidiam regno viresque superbas

540Priverno antiqua Metabus cum excederet urbe,

infantem fugiens media inter proelia belli

sustulit exsilio comitem matrisque vocavit

nomine Casmillae mutata parte Camillam.

Ipse sinu prae se portans iuga longa petebat

545solorum nemorum: tela undique saeva premebant

et circumfuso volitabant milite Volsci.

Ecce fugae medio summis Amasenus abundans

spumabat ripis: tantus se nubibus imber

ruperat. Ille, innare parans, infantis amore

550tardatur caroque oneri timet. Omnia secum

versanti subito vix haec sententia sedit.

Telum immane manu valida quod forte gerebat

bellator, solidum nodis et robore cocto,

huic natam, libro et silvestri subere clausam,

555implicat atque habilem mediae circumligat hastae;

quam dextra ingenti librans ita ad aethera fatur:

Alma, tibi hanc, nemorum cultrix, Latonia virgo,

ipse pater famulam voveo; tua prima per auras

tela tenens supplex hostem fugit. Accipe, testor,

560diva tuam, quae nunc dubiis committitur auris.

Dixit et adducto contortum hastile lacerto

immittit: sonuere undae, rapidum super amnem

infelix fugit in iaculo stridente Camilla.

At Metabus, magna propius iam urgente caterva,

565dat sese fluvio atque hastam cum virgine victor

gramineo donum Triviae de caespite vellit.

532Meanwhile, in the gods' high dwellings, Diana addressed swift Opis,

one of the virgin companions in her sacred band,

and, grieving, spoke these words:

535"Camilla is marching into cruel war,

maiden, and girds herself in vain with our weapons,

dearer to me than all the rest. No new love is this that has come

upon Diana and suddenly stirred my heart.

Driven from his throne by hatred of his overbearing power,

540as Metabus left the ancient city of Privernum,

he fled through the thick of battle and snatched up his infant daughter

as his companion in exile. From the name of her mother,

Casmilla, he changed one part and called her Camilla.

Carrying her before him against his breast, he made for the long ridges

545of lonely forest. Savage missiles harried him from every side,

and Volscian soldiers swarmed around him.

Then the Amasenus barred his escape, overflowing high

and foaming at the tops of its banks; such a rainstorm

had burst from the clouds. He meant to swim across, but love

550for the infant held him back, and he feared for his dear burden.

As he weighed every course, this sudden, reluctant resolve took hold:

He took the huge weapon he happened to carry in his powerful hand,

the warrior's knotty spear of solid, fire-seasoned oak;

he wrapped his daughter in woodland cork bark and bound her to it,

555and tied her securely around the shaft's middle so it could still be handled.

Then, balancing it in his mighty right hand, he spoke to the sky:

'Gracious Latonian virgin, guardian of the woods, to you

I, her father, vow this child as your servant; yours are the first

weapons she holds, a suppliant fleeing the enemy through the air. Receive her, goddess,

560your own—I call you to witness—now entrusted to uncertain winds.'

He spoke; drawing back his arm, he launched the shaft he had poised.

The waters roared; over the rushing river

unhappy Camilla flew on the whistling javelin.

But Metabus, as the great band of pursuers pressed close,

565plunged into the river and, victorious, pulled the spear with the girl still bound

from the grassy bank—the child his gift to Trivia.

567Non illum tectis ullae, non moenibus urbes

accepere neque ipse manus feritate dedisset:

pastorum et solis exegit montibus aevom.

570Hic natam in dumis interque horrentia lustra

armentalis equae mammis et lacte ferino

nutribat, teneris immulgens ubera labris.

Utque pedum primis infans vestigia plantis

institerat, iaculo palmas armavit acuto

575spiculaque ex umero parvae suspendit et arcum.

Pro crinali auro, pro longae tegmine pallae

tigridis exuviae per dorsum a vertice pendent.

Tela manu iam tum tenera puerilia torsit

et fundam tereti circum caput egit habena

580Strymoniamque gruem aut album deiecit olorem.

Multae illam frustra Tyrrhena per oppida matres

optavere nurum: sola contenta Diana

aeternum telorum et virginitatis amorem

intemerata colit. Vellem haud correpta fuisset

585militia tali, conata lacessere Teucros:

cara mihi comitumque foret nunc una mearum.

Verum age, quandoquidem fatis urgetur acerbis,

abere, nympha, polo finisque invise Latinos,

tristis ubi infausto committitur omine pugna.

590Haec cape et ultricem pharetra deprome sagittam:

hac quicumque sacrum violarit volnere corpus,

Tros Italusque, mihi pariter det sanguine poenas.

Post ego nube cava miserandae corpus et arma

inspoliata feram tumulo patriaeque reponam.

595Dixit; at illa levis caeli delapsa per auras

insonuit, nigro circumdata turbine corpus.

567No city took him into its homes or within its walls,

nor would his own wildness let him submit;

he lived out his life among shepherds on lonely mountains.

570There, among brambles and the rough haunts of wild beasts,

he nursed his daughter on wild milk at the teats of a mare from the herd,

pressing the udder's milk into her tender lips.

As soon as the infant had stood on her feet and taken her first steps,

he armed her hands with a sharp javelin

575and hung small darts and a bow from the little girl's shoulder.

Instead of gold for her hair or the covering of a long robe,

a tigress's hide hung from the crown of her head down her back.

Even then she hurled a child's weapons with her tender hand

and whirled a sling about her head by its smooth thong,

580bringing down a Strymonian crane or a white swan.

Many mothers throughout Etruscan towns desired her in vain

as a daughter-in-law; content with Diana alone,

she remained untouched and cherished an enduring love of weapons and virginity.

How I wish she had not been caught up

585in warfare like this and tried to challenge the Trojans;

she would now be dear to me, one of my own companions.

But come: since bitter fates are bearing down on her,

leave heaven, nymph, and go in sorrow to the Latin lands,

where battle is joined under an ill-starred omen.

590Take these weapons and draw an avenging arrow from the quiver:

with it, whoever violates her consecrated body by wounding it,

whether Trojan or Italian, must pay me the penalty in his blood.

Afterward, within a hollow cloud, I will carry the poor girl's body

and her unplundered arms, and lay them in a tomb in her native land."

595Diana spoke. Opis glided lightly down through heaven's air

with a rushing sound, her body wrapped in a black whirlwind.

597At manus interea muris Troiana propinquat

Etruscique duces equitumque exercitus omnis,

compositi numero in turmas. Fremit aequore toto

600insultans sonipes et pressis pugnat habenis

huc conversus et huc; tum late ferreus hastis

horret ager campique armis sublimibus ardent.

Nec non Messapus contra celeresque Latini

et cum fratre Coras et virginis ala Camillae

605adversi campo apparent hastasque reductis

protendunt longe dextris et spicula vibrant,

adventusque virum fremitusque ardescit equorum.

Iamque intra iactum teli progressus uterque

substiterat: subito erumpunt clamore furentisque

610exhortantur equos; fundunt simul undique tela

crebra nivis ritu caelumque obtexitur umbra.

Continuo adversis Tyrrhenus et acer Aconteus

conixi incurrunt hastis primique ruina

dant sonitum ingenti perfractaque quadrupedantum

615pectora pectoribus rumpunt: excussus Aconteus

fulminis in morem aut tormento ponderis acti

praecipitat longe et vitam dispergit in auras.

Extemplo turbatae acies, versique Latini

reiciunt parmas et equos ad moenia vertunt.

620Troes agunt, princeps turmas inducit Asilas.

Iamque propinquabant portis, rursusque Latini

clamorem tollunt et mollia colla reflectunt:

hi fugiunt penitusque datis referuntur habenis.

Qualis ubi alterno procurrens gurgite pontus

625nunc ruit ad terram scopulusque superiacit unda

spumeus extremamque sinu perfundit arenam,

nunc rapidus retro atque aestu revoluta resorbens

saxa fugit litusque vado labente relinquit:

bis Tusci Rutulos egere ad moenia versos,

630bis reiecti armis respectant terga tegentes.

Tertia sed postquam congressi in proelia totas

implicuere inter se acies legitque virum vir:

tum vero et gemitus morientum et sanguine in alto

armaque corporaque et permixti caede virorum

635semianimes volvuntur equi, pugna aspera surgit.

597Meanwhile the Trojan force drew near the walls,

with the Etruscan leaders and the entire cavalry host,

all arrayed in ordered squadrons. Across the whole plain

600the prancing warhorse neighed and strained against tightened reins,

wheeling this way and that; then far and wide the iron field

bristled with spears, and the plains blazed with weapons held high.

Opposite them, Messapus and the swift Latins,

Coras with his brother, and maiden Camilla's cavalry wing

605appeared across the field; with right arms drawn back,

they leveled their spears far forward and brandished javelins.

The men's advance and the horses' neighing mounted to a roar.

Now each side had advanced within a weapon's cast

and halted. Suddenly they burst forward with a shout,

610spurring their maddened horses, and all at once from every side

showered missiles thick as snow, their shadow veiling the sky.

At once Tyrrhenus and fierce Aconteus rushed head-on,

braced behind opposing spears, and first struck together

with a tremendous crash; their horses' chests shattered

615as breast struck breast. Aconteus, hurled from his horse

like a thunderbolt or a heavy shot launched from an engine,

went hurtling far away and scattered his life into the air.

At once the lines broke in confusion. The Latins wheeled,

flung their shields behind them, and turned their horses toward the walls.

620The Trojans pursued; Asilas led the squadrons at their head.

They were already nearing the gates when the Latins again

raised a shout and wheeled their horses' supple necks;

the Trojans fled in turn and, giving free rein, were swept far back.

So the sea, sweeping forward with alternating surge,

625now rushes landward and overtops the rock with its wave,

foaming as its curved flood drenches the farthest sand,

now races back, sucking in the stones rolled by the swell,

and flees the shore, leaving it as the shallows ebb.

Twice the Etruscans drove the Rutulians, turned in flight, to the walls;

630twice the Etruscans, beaten back, looked over their shoulders, shielding their backs with weapons.

But when for a third time they met in battle and locked

all their ranks together, each man chose his man;

then came the groans of the dying; in blood pooled deep,

weapons, bodies, and half-dead horses, all mingled

635in the slaughter of men, rolled together. Savage battle rose.

636Orsilochus Remuli, quando ipsum horrebat adire,

hastam intorsit equo ferrumque sub aure reliquit.

Quo sonipes ictu furit arduus altaque iactat

vulneris impatiens arrecto pectore crura:

640volvitur ille excussus humi. Catillus Iollan

ingentemque animis, ingentem corpore et armis

deicit Herminium, nudo cui vertice fulva

caesaries nudique umeri, nec vulnera terrent:

tantus in arma patet. Latos huic hasta per armos

645acta tremit duplicatque virum transfixa dolore.

Funditur ater ubique cruor; dant funera ferro

certantes pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem.

At medias inter caedes exsultat Amazon,

unum exserta latus pugnae, pharetrata Camilla,

650et nunc lenta manu spargens hastilia denset,

nunc validam dextra rapit indefessa bipennem;

aureus ex umero sonat arcus et arma Dianae.

Illa etiam in tergum, siquando pulsa recessit,

spicula converso fugientia dirigit arcu.

655At circum lectae comites, Larinaque virgo

Tullaque et aeratam quatiens Tarpeia securem,

Italides, quas ipsa decus sibi dia Camilla

delegit pacisque bonas bellique ministras:

quales Threiciae cum flumina Thermodontis

660pulsant et pictis bellantur Amazones armis

seu circum Hippolyten, seu cum se Martia curru

Penthesilea refert, magnoque ululante tumultu

feminea exsultant lunatis agmina peltis.

636Orsilochus, since he dreaded meeting Remulus himself,

hurled his spear at Remulus' horse and left the iron lodged beneath its ear.

Maddened by the blow, the warhorse reared high and flung

its legs aloft, chest upright, unable to bear the wound:

640Remulus, thrown from the saddle, went rolling on the ground. Catillus felled Iollas

and Herminius, mighty in courage, mighty in body and arms.

Tawny hair flowed from Herminius' bare head;

his shoulders too were bare, and no wound alarmed him:

so broad a target he offered to weapons. A spear driven through his wide shoulders

645quivered; it transfixed the man and doubled him over in pain.

Dark blood pours everywhere; fighting men deal death with steel

and through their wounds seek a noble death.

But amid the slaughter an Amazon exults,

Camilla, one side bared for battle, wearing her quiver.

650Now from her hand she scatters pliant javelins in a dense volley,

now tirelessly she snatches up a mighty two-edged axe in her right hand;

the golden bow and arms of Diana ring from her shoulder.

Even when she is forced to retreat,

she turns her bow and aims arrows backward as she flees.

655Around her stand her chosen companions: maiden Larina,

Tulla, and Tarpeia brandishing her bronze axe,

women of Italy whom divine Camilla herself chose

to be her glory, loyal attendants in peace and war:

like Thracian Amazons when their horses beat the streams

660of Thermodon and they fight in painted armor,

whether around Hippolyte, or when warlike

Penthesilea returns in her chariot, and amid a great shrieking uproar

the women's battle lines exult with crescent shields.

664Quem telo primum, quem postremum, aspera virgo,

665deicis? Aut quot humi morientia corpora fundis?

Eunaeum Clitio primum patre, cuius apertum

adversi longa transverberat abiete pectus:

sanguinis ille vomens rivos cadit atque cruentam

mandit humum moriensque suo se in volnere versat.

670Tum Lirim Pagasumque super; quorum alter habenas

suffosso revolutus equo dum colligit, alter

dum subit ac dextram labenti tendit inermem,

praecipites pariterque ruunt. His addit Amastrum

Hippotaden, sequiturque incumbens eminus hasta

675Tereaque Harpalycumque et Demophoonta Chrominque;

quotque emissa manu contorsit spicula virgo,

tot Phrygii cecidere viri. Procul Ornytus armis

ignotis et equo venator Iapyge fertur,

cui pellis latos umeros erepta iuvenco

680pugnatori operit, caput ingens oris hiatus

et malae texere lupi cum dentibus albis,

agrestisque manus armat sparus; ipse catervis

vertitur in mediis et toto vertice supra est.

Hunc illa exceptum, neque enim labor agmine verso,

685traicit et super haec inimico pectore fatur:

Silvis te, Tyrrhene, feras agitare putasti?

Advenit qui vestra dies muliebribus armis

verba redarguerit. Nomen tamen haud leve patrum

manibus hoc referes, telo cecidisse Camillae.

664Fierce maiden, whom do you strike down first with your weapon, whom last?

665Or how many dying bodies do you spill upon the ground?

First Eunaeus, son of Clytius, whose exposed breast

she transfixes with a long fir spear as he faces her:

vomiting streams of blood, he falls and bites

the bloodied earth and, dying, writhes in his own wound.

670Then Liris and Pagasus too: one gathers the reins

as he tumbles from his stabbed horse; the other

runs up and reaches an unarmed right hand toward the falling man;

both pitch headlong down together. She adds Amastrus,

son of Hippotas; then, bearing down with her spear from afar, she pursues

675Tereus, Harpalycus, Demophoon, and Chromis;

and as many javelins as the maiden hurled from her hand,

so many Phrygian warriors fell. From afar Ornytus advances,

in strange gear, a hunter borne on an Iapygian horse.

A hide stripped from a young bull covers the broad shoulders

680of the fighter; the huge gape of a wolf's mouth

and its jaws, with white teeth, cover his head,

and a rustic hunting spear arms his hand. He moves

amid the troops and towers a full head above them.

She catches him in the general rout, no hard task,

685transfixes him, and over him speaks with hatred in her heart:

"Did you think, Tuscan, you were chasing wild beasts in the woods?

The day has come to prove your boasts false

with a woman's weapons. Yet no slight fame will you carry

to your fathers' shades: that you fell to Camilla's spear."

690Protinus Orsilochum et Buten, duo maxima Teucrum

corpora, sed Buten aversum cuspide fixit

loricam galeamque inter, qua colla sedentis

lucent et laevo dependet parma lacerto,

Orsilochum fugiens magnumque agitata per orbem

695eludit gyro interior sequiturque sequentem,

tum validam perque arma viro perque ossa securim

altior exsurgens oranti et multa precanti

congeminat: vulnus calido rigat ora cerebro.

Incidit huic subitoque aspectu territus haesit

700Appenninicolae bellator filius Auni,

haud Ligurum extremus, dum fallere fata sinebant.

Isque ubi se nullo iam cursu evadere pugnae

posse neque instantem reginam avertere cernit,

consilio versare dolos ingressus et astu

705incipit haec: Quid tam egregium, si femina forti

fidis equo? Dimitte fugam et te comminus aequo

mecum crede solo pugnaeque adcinge pedestri:

iam nosces, ventosa ferat cui gloria fraudem.

Dixit, at illa furens acrique adcensa dolore

710tradit equum comiti paribusque resistit in armis,

ense pedes nudo puraque interrita parma.

At iuvenis, vicisse dolo ratus, avolat ipse,

haud mora, conversisque fugax aufertur habenis

quadrupedemque citum ferrata calce fatigat.

715Vane Ligus frustraque animis elate superbis,

nequiquam patrias temptasti lubricus artis,

nec fraus te incolumem fallaci perferet Auno,

haec fatur virgo et pernicibus ignea plantis

transit equum cursu frenisque adversa prehensis

720congreditur poenasque inimico ex sanguine sumit:

quam facile accipiter saxo sacer ales ab alto

consequitur pennis sublimem in nube columbam

comprensamque tenet pedibusque eviscerat uncis;

tum cruor et vulsae labuntur ab aethere plumae.

690Next were Orsilochus and Butes, the two largest

men among the Trojans. Butes she transfixed from behind with her spearpoint

between breastplate and helmet, where the mounted man's neck

lay exposed and his buckler hung from his left arm.

She eluded Orsilochus: feigning flight while he chased her around a wide circle,

695she took the inside track and pursued her pursuer.

Then, rising higher, she brought her heavy axe through the man's armor

and bones, blow after blow, as he pleaded

and begged; the wound bathed his face in warm brains.

Next a warrior met her and froze, terrified by the sudden sight:

700the son of Aunus, who dwelt in the Apennines,

not the least of the Ligurians, while the Fates allowed him to deceive.

When he saw that no speed could now get him clear of the fight,

and that he could not shake off the queen pressing close,

he set about devising a stratagem with cunning

705and began: "What is so remarkable if a woman

relies on a powerful horse? Stop fleeing. Trust yourself to face me

at close quarters on level ground, and prepare for battle on foot.

Then you will learn which of us vainglory brings to grief."

He spoke. Camilla, furious and burning with sharp resentment,

710handed her horse to a companion and faced him on equal terms,

on foot with drawn sword and plain shield, unafraid.

But the young man, thinking he had won by deceit, sped away at once,

a fugitive now, wheeling his reins,

and goaded his swift horse with an iron spur.

715"Vain Ligurian, swollen for nothing with pride,

you have tried your slippery ancestral tricks in vain;

your trick will not bring you safely back to your deceitful father, Aunus."

So the maiden spoke. Blazing forward on swift feet,

she outran the horse, seized the reins as she came head-on,

720closed with him, and took vengeance in her enemy's blood:

as easily as a hawk, that sacred bird, from a high crag

overtakes on the wing a dove soaring high in the clouds,

holds it once caught and disembowels it with hooked talons;

then blood and torn feathers drift down from the sky.

725At non haec nullis hominum sator atque deorum

observans oculis summo sedet altus Olympo:

Tyrrhenum genitor Tarchonem in proelia saeva

suscitat et stimulis haud mollibus incitat iras.

Ergo inter caedes cedentiaque agmina Tarchon

730fertur equo variisque instigat vocibus alas,

nomine quemque vocans, reficitque in proelia pulsos.

Quis metus, O numquam dolituri, O semper inertes

Tyrrheni, quae tanta animis ignavia venit?

Femina palantis agit atque haec agmina vertit!

735Quo ferrum quidve haec gerimus tela inrita dextris?

At non in Venerem segnes nocturnaque bella

aut ubi curva choros indixit tibia Bacchi,

exspectate dapes et plenae pocula mensae,

hic amor, hoc studium, dum sacra secundus haruspex

740nuntiet ac lucos vocet hostia pinguis in altos!

Haec effatus equum in medios, moriturus et ipse,

concitat et Venulo adversum se turbidus infert

dereptumque ab equo dextra complectitur hostem

et gremium ante suum multa vi concitus aufert.

745Tollitur in caelum clamor, cunctique Latini

convertere oculos. Volat igneus aequore Tarchon

arma virumque ferens; tum summa ipsius ab hasta

defringit ferrum et partis rimatur apertas,

qua vulnus letale ferat; contra ille repugnans

750sustinet a iugulo dextram et vim viribus exit.

Utque volans alte raptum cum fulva draconem

fert aquila implicuitque pedes atque unguibus haesit,

saucius at serpens sinuosa volumina versat

adrectisque horret squamis et sibilat ore,

755arduus insurgens; illa haud minus urget obunco

luctantem rostro, simul aethera verberat alis:

haud aliter praedam Tiburtum ex agmine Tarchon

portat ovans. Ducis exemplum eventumque secuti

725But the father of men and gods does not watch all this

with heedless eyes as he sits high atop Olympus:

Jupiter rouses Etruscan Tarchon to savage battle

and with no gentle spurs drives on his anger.

So amid the slaughter and ranks falling back, Tarchon

730rides through and urges on the cavalry with many cries,

calling each man by name and rallying the routed to battle.

"What fear is this? Etruscans, will shame never sting you, forever

spiritless? What cowardice has seized your hearts?

A woman drives you in rout and turns back this whole battle line!

735Why do we bear steel? Why carry these useless weapons in our right hands?

Yet you are never sluggish for Venus and the wars of night,

or when Bacchus' curved pipe summons the dances.

You wait for feasts and cups from a laden table

(this is your love, this your zeal) until a favorable haruspex

740announces the rites and a fattened victim calls you into the deep groves!"

With these words, himself resolved to die, he spurs his horse into their midst

and drives fiercely head-on at Venulus.

He tears his enemy from the saddle and locks his right arm around him,

then, at full gallop, carries him off against his own chest by sheer force.

745A shout rises to heaven, and all the Latins

turn to look. Tarchon, fiery, flies across the plain,

bearing arms and the man. From the tip of Venulus' own spear

he snaps off the iron point and probes for gaps in Venulus' armor

where he can deal a mortal wound. But Venulus struggles against him,

750holds Tarchon's right hand away from his throat, and counters force with force.

And as when a tawny eagle flies high, carrying off a captured serpent,

its feet locked around the prey and its talons gripping fast,

the wounded snake writhes its winding coils,

bristles with raised scales, and hisses from its jaws,

755rearing upright, while the eagle no less assails the struggling creature

with its hooked beak and at the same time beats the air with its wings:

just so Tarchon carries his prey from the Tiburtine ranks,

exulting. Following the example and success of their leader,

759Maeonidae incurrunt. Tum fatis debitus Arruns

760velocem iaculo et multa prior arte Camillam

circuit et quae sit fortuna facillima, temptat.

Qua se cumque furens medio tulit agmine virgo,

hac Arruns subit et tacitus vestigia lustrat;

qua victrix redit illa pedemque ex hoste reportat,

765hac iuvenis furtim celeris detorquet habenas.

Hos aditus iamque hos aditus omnemque pererrat

undique circuitum et certam quatit improbus hastam.

Forte sacer Cybelo Chloreus olimque sacerdos

insignis longe Phrygiis fulgebat in armis

770spumantemque agitabat equum, quem pellis aënis

in plumam squamis auro conserta tegebat.

Ipse, peregrina ferrugine clarus et ostro,

spicula torquebat Lycio Gortynia cornu;

aureus ex umeris erat arcus et aurea vati

775cassida; tum croceam chlamydemque sinusque crepantis

carbaseos fulvo in nodum collegerat auro

pictus acu tunicas et barbara tegmina crurum.

Hunc virgo, sive ut templis praefigeret arma

Troïa, captivo sive ut se ferret in auro

780venatrix, unum ex omni certamine pugnae

caeca sequebatur totumque incauta per agmen

femineo praedae et spoliorum ardebat amore,

telum ex insidiis cum tandem tempore capto

concitat et superos Arruns sic voce precatur:

785Summe deum, sancti custos Soractis Apollo,

quem primi colimus, cui pineus ardor acervo

pascitur et medium freti pietate per ignem

cultores multa premimus vestigia pruna,

da, pater, hoc nostris aboleri dedecus armis,

790omnipotens. Non exuvias pulsaeve tropaeum

virginis aut spolia ulla peto (mihi cetera laudem

facta ferent): haec dira meo dum vulnere pestis

pulsa cadat, patrias remeabo inglorius urbes.

Audiit et voti Phoebus succedere partem

795mente dedit, partem volucris dispersit in auras:

sterneret ut subita turbatam morte Camillam,

adnuit oranti; reducem ut patria alta videret,

non dedit, inque Notos vocem vertere procellae.

759the Maeonians charge in. Then Arruns, already owed to the Fates,

760first circles swift Camilla with his javelin and much cunning,

and tests which chance will prove easiest.

Wherever the maiden drives furiously through the midst of the battle line,

there Arruns follows, silently tracking her steps;

wherever she comes back victorious, withdrawing from the enemy,

765there the young man stealthily wheels his swift reins.

Now this approach, now that, he tries, ranging through the whole

circuit around her and wickedly brandishing his unerring spear.

By chance Chloreus, consecrated to Cybele and once her priest,

gleamed conspicuous from afar in Phrygian armor

770and urged a foaming horse whose covering was a hide

of bronze scales overlapping like feathers, stitched with gold.

He himself, resplendent in exotic dark red and purple,

shot Gortynian arrows from a Lycian bow;

a golden bow hung from his shoulders, and the priest's helmet

775was gold; then too his saffron cloak and its rustling folds

of linen he had gathered into a knot with bright gold;

his tunics and foreign leg-coverings were embroidered with needlework.

The maiden, whether to fasten his Trojan armor

before a temple or to display herself in captured gold

780as a huntress, followed him alone out of all the fighting,

blind and heedless through the whole battle line,

burning with a woman's love of plunder and spoils,

when at last Arruns, seizing his moment, launched his weapon

from where he lurked and prayed aloud to the gods above:

785"Highest of gods, Apollo, guardian of holy Soracte,

whom we worship above all, for whom a pinewood blaze is fed

on the piled wood, and, trusting in our devotion, through the midst of the fire

we worshippers press our steps over a deep bed of embers,

grant, almighty Father, that our weapons wipe away this disgrace.

790I seek neither stripped armor nor a trophy from the defeated

maiden, nor any spoils; my other deeds will bring me praise.

Only let this dreadful scourge fall, felled by the wound I deal;

I will return to my native cities with no glory for it."

Phoebus heard; in his judgment he granted that one part of the prayer

795would succeed, but scattered the other upon the swift winds:

that he might lay distracted Camilla low by sudden death,

he nodded assent to the prayer; but that his lofty homeland should see him return,

he did not grant; storms swept his words away to the South Winds.

799Ergo ut missa manu sonitum dedit hasta per auras,

800convertere animos acris oculosque tulere

cuncti ad reginam Volsci. Nihil ipsa nec aurae

nec sonitus memor aut venientis ab aethere teli,

hasta sub exsertam donec perlata papillam

haesit virgineumque alte bibit acta cruorem.

805Concurrunt trepidae comites dominamque ruentem

suscipiunt. Fugit ante omnis exterritus Arruns,

laetitia mixtoque metu, nec iam amplius hastae

credere nec telis occurrere virginis audet.

Ac velut ille, prius quam tela inimica sequantur,

810continuo in montis sese avius abdidit altos

occiso pastore lupus magnove iuvenco,

conscius audacis facti, caudamque remulcens

subiecit pavitantem utero silvasque petivit:

haud secus ex oculis se turbidus abstulit Arruns

815contentusque fuga mediis se immiscuit armis.

Illa manu moriens telum trahit, ossa sed inter

ferreus ad costas alto stat vulnere mucro:

labitur exsanguis, labuntur frigida leto

lumina, purpureus quondam color ora reliquit.

820Tum sic exspirans Accam ex aequalibus unam

adloquitur fidam ante alias, quae sola Camillae,

quicum partiri curas; atque haec ita fatur:

Hactenus, Acca soror, potui: nunc vulnus acerbum

conficit, et tenebris nigrescunt omnia circum.

825Effuge et haec Turno mandata novissima perfer:

succedat pugnae Troianosque arceat urbe.

Iamque vale. Simul his dictis linquebat habenas,

ad terram non sponte fluens. Tum frigida toto

paulatim exsolvit se corpore lentaque colla

830et captum leto posuit caput, arma relinquunt,

vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.

799So when the spear, launched from his hand, sounded through the air,

800all the Volsci turned their attention and raised their keen eyes

toward their queen. Camilla herself noticed neither the rush of air

nor the sound nor the weapon coming down from the sky,

until the spear, striking home beneath her exposed breast,

lodged there and, driven deep, drank her maiden blood.

805Her frightened companions rush together and catch their falling

queen. Terrified, Arruns is first to flee,

his joy mingled with fear; no longer does he dare

to trust his spear or face the maiden's weapons.

Just as a wolf, before hostile weapons can pursue him,

810at once hides himself in the pathless high mountains

after killing a shepherd or a great bullock,

aware of his bold deed, and, drawing back his trembling tail,

tucks it beneath his belly and makes for the woods,

just so Arruns, panicked, snatches himself from sight;

815content with escape, he merges into the thick of the armed ranks.

Dying, Camilla tries to draw the spear out with her hand, but its iron point

stands fixed between the bones beside her ribs, deep in the wound.

Drained of blood, she sinks; her eyes sink, cold in death,

and the ruddy color her face once held is gone.

820Then, with her breath failing, she addresses Acca, one of her comrades,

faithful above all others, the only one with whom Camilla

used to share her cares, and she speaks these words:

"I have held out this far, sister Acca; now the cruel wound

is killing me, and darkness blackens everything around me.

825Flee, and take these last instructions to Turnus:

let him take my place in battle and keep the Trojans from the city.

And now farewell." With these words she let the reins fall

and sank helplessly to the ground. Then, cold, she slowly

slipped free of her whole body and laid down her limp neck

830and head seized by death; her weapons leave her,

and with a groan her life flees, indignant, down among the shades.

832Tum vero immensus surgens ferit aurea clamor

sidera: deiecta crudescit pugna Camilla,

incurrunt densi simul omnis copia Teucrum

835Tyrrhenique duces Evandrique Arcades alae.

At Triviae custos iamdudum in montibus Opis

alta sedet summis spectatque interrita pugnas.

Utque procul medio iuvenum in clamore furentum

prospexit tristi multatam morte Camillam,

840ingemuitque deditque has imo pectore voces:

Heu nimium, virgo, nimium crudele luisti

supplicium, Teucros conata lacessere bello!

Nec tibi desertae in dumis coluisse Dianam

profuit aut nostras umero gessisse sagittas.

845Non tamen indecorem tua te regina reliquit

extrema iam in morte, neque hoc sine nomine letum

per gentis erit aut famam patieris inultae.

Nam quicumque tuum violavit vulnere corpus,

morte luet merita. Fuit ingens monte sub alto

850regis Dercenni terreno ex aggere bustum

antiqui Laurentis opacaque ilice tectum:

hic dea se primum rapido pulcherrima nisu

sistit et Arruntem tumulo speculatur ab alto.

Ut vidit laetantem animis ac vana tumentem,

855Cur, inquit, diversus abis? Huc dirige gressum,

huc periture veni, capias ut digna Camillae

praemia. Tune etiam telis moriere Dianae?

dixit, et aurata volucrem Threissa sagittam

deprompsit pharetra cornuque infensa tetendit

860et duxit longe, donec curvata coirent

inter se capita et manibus iam tangeret aequis,

laeva aciem ferri, dextra nervoque papillam.

Extemplo teli stridorem aurasque sonantis

audiit una Arruns, haesitque in corpore ferrum.

865Illum exspirantem socii atque extrema gementem

obliti ignoto camporum in pulvere linquunt,

Opis ad aetherium pennis aufertur Olympum.

832Then an immense cry rises and strikes the golden

stars. With Camilla felled, the battle turns savage:

the whole Trojan host charges in at once, massed close,

835with the Etruscan leaders and Evander's Arcadian squadrons.

But Opis, Trivia's guardian, had long been seated high

on a mountain summit, watching the fighting unafraid.

When, from afar amid the shouting of warriors in their rage,

she saw Camilla made to pay with a grim death,

840she groaned and spoke these words from the depths of her heart:

"Alas, maiden, too great, far too cruel a penalty

you have paid for trying to challenge the Trojans in battle!

Nor, living alone in the thickets, did worshipping Diana

or carrying our arrows on your shoulder avail you.

845Yet your queen did not leave you without honor

even at the edge of death. This death will not pass nameless

among the nations, nor will you suffer the disgrace of remaining unavenged.

For whoever violated your body by wounding it

will pay with the death he deserves." Beneath a lofty mountain stood

850the massive tomb of Dercennus, an ancient Laurentine king,

raised from a mound of earth and covered by a shady holm oak.

There the beautiful goddess first checked her swift descent

and watched Arruns from high on the tomb.

When she saw him exulting at heart and swollen with empty pride,

855"Why are you turning away?" she said. "Turn your steps this way;

come here to die, so you may claim a reward

worthy of Camilla. Will even you die by Diana's weapons?"

She spoke. The Thracian huntress drew a swift arrow from her gilded

quiver and, intent on vengeance, bent the bow

860and drew the string far back, until the bow's curved tips met each other;

then, with her hands level, her left touched

the iron point, while her right hand and the string touched her breast.

At once Arruns heard the shaft's hiss and the air ringing;

at the same instant, the iron lodged in his body.

865His comrades forget him and leave him, dying and groaning his last,

in the nameless dust of the fields;

on her wings Opis is borne away to heavenly Olympus.

868Prima fugit domina amissa levis ala Camillae;

turbati fugiunt Rutuli, fugit acer Atinas

870disiectique duces desolatique manipli

tuta petunt et equis aversi ad moenia tendunt.

Nec quisquam instantis Teucros letumque ferentis

sustentare valet telis aut sistere contra,

sed laxos referunt umeris languentibus arcus,

875quadrupedumque putrem cursu quatit ungula campum.

Volvitur ad muros caligine turbidus atra

pulvis, et e speculis percussae pectora matres

femineum clamorem ad caeli sidera tollunt.

Qui cursu portas primi inrupere patentis,

880hos inimica super mixto premit agmine turba;

nec miseram effugiunt mortem, sed limine in ipso,

moenibus in patriis atque inter tuta domorum

confixi exspirant animas. Pars claudere portas:

nec sociis aperire viam nec moenibus audent

885accipere orantis, oriturque miserrima caedes

defendentum armis aditus inque arma ruentum.

Exclusi ante oculos lacrumantumque ora parentum

pars in praecipitis fossas urgente ruina

volvitur, immissis pars caeca et concita frenis

890arietat in portas et duros obice postis.

Ipsae de muris summo certamine matres,

monstrat amor verus patriae, ut videre Camillam,

tela manu trepidae iaciunt ac robore duro

stipitibus ferrum sudibusque imitantur obustis

895praecipites primaeque mori pro moenibus ardent.

868First Camilla's light cavalry flees, its commander lost;

in panic the Rutulians flee, and fierce Atinas flees;

870scattered commanders and companies left without command

seek safety, wheel their horses, and make for the walls.

No one can check with weapons the Trojans pressing on and bringing death,

or make a stand against them;

instead, on drooping shoulders they carry back their unbent bows,

875and galloping hooves pound the dusty field.

Toward the walls rolls dust, churning in a black haze;

from the watchtowers mothers beat their breasts

and raise women's cries to the stars of heaven.

The first who burst at full speed through the open gates

880are pressed from behind by the hostile throng, now mingled into their ranks;

they do not escape a wretched death, but on the very threshold,

inside their native walls and amid the shelter of their homes,

they are transfixed and breathe out their lives. Some begin to close the gates

and dare neither open a way for their comrades nor take within the walls

885the men who beg; a most pitiable slaughter breaks out,

as some defend the entrances with weapons and others rush upon those weapons.

Shut out in full view of their weeping parents,

some are swept by the driving crush into the deep ditches;

others, blind with panic, charge with reins flung loose

890and ram the gates and the unyielding posts secured by the bar.

Even the mothers on the walls strain in the final contest—

true love of country, and Camilla's example, show them how—

and in alarm hurl missiles by hand, using clubs of hard oak

and fire-hardened stakes in place of iron;

895rushing headlong, they burn to be first to die for the walls.

896Interea Turnum in silvis saevissimus implet

nuntius, et iuveni ingentem fert Acca tumultum:

deletas Volscorum acies, cecidisse Camillam,

ingruere infensos hostis et Marte secundo

900omnia corripuisse, metum iam ad moenia ferri.

Ille furens, et saeva Iovis sic numina pellunt,

deserit obsessos collis, nemora aspera linquit.

Vix e conspectu exierat campumque tenebat,

cum pater Aeneas saltus ingressus apertos

905exsuperatque iugum silvaque evadit opaca.

Sic ambo ad muros rapidi totoque feruntur

agmine nec longis inter se passibus absunt;

ac simul Aeneas fumantis pulvere campos

prospexit longe Laurentiaque agmina vidit,

910et saevum Aenean adgnovit Turnus in armis

adventumque pedum flatusque audivit equorum.

Continuoque ineant pugnas et proelia temptent,

ni roseus fessos iam gurgite Phoebus Hibero

tinguat equos noctemque die labente reducat:

915considunt castris ante urbem et moenia vallant.

896Meanwhile, in the woods, a most terrible report overwhelms Turnus,

as Acca brings the young man news of the vast upheaval:

that the Volscian battle lines were destroyed, Camilla had fallen,

furious enemies were surging on and, with Mars favoring them,

900had overrun everything, while panic was already reaching the walls.

Raging, for so Jupiter's cruel will drives him,

he abandons the hills he held and leaves the rugged woods.

Scarcely had Turnus passed from view and reached the plain

when father Aeneas entered the now-open mountain passes,

905crossed the ridge, and emerged from the shadowed wood.

Thus both rush toward the walls, each with his whole column,

with no great distance between them;

and at the same moment Aeneas saw far off the fields smoking with dust

and the Laurentian columns,

910while Turnus recognized fierce Aeneas under arms

and heard the approaching tramp of feet and the horses' snorting.

They would join battle at once and test the fight,

were not rosy Phoebus already bathing his weary horses in the Iberian sea

and bringing back night as day declined:

915they settle into their camps before the city and entrench around its walls.