Aeneid, Book 12: The Final Duel

1Turnus ut infractos adverso Marte Latinos

defecisse videt, sua nunc promissa reposci,

se signari oculis, ultro implacabilis ardet

attollitque animos. Poenorum qualis in arvis

5saucius ille gravi venantum vulnere pectus

tum demum movet arma leo gaudetque comantis

excutiens cervice toros fixumque latronis

inpavidus frangit telum et fremit ore cruento:

haud secus adcenso gliscit violentia Turno.

10Tum sic adfatur regem atque ita turbidus infit:

Nulla mora in Turno; nihil est quod dicta retractent

ignavi Aeneadae, nec quae pepigere recusent.

Congredior, fer sacra, pater, et concipe foedus.

Aut hac Dardanium dextra sub Tartara mittam,

15desertorem Asiae (sedeant spectentque Latini),

et solus ferro crimen commune refellam,

aut habeat victos, cedat Lavinia coniunx.

1When Turnus sees that the Latins, broken as war turns against them,

have lost heart, that his own promises are now called in,

and that every gaze singles him out, he blazes, implacable,

of his own accord, and lifts his spirit. So in Punic fields a lion,

5wounded deep in the chest by hunters,

only then rouses himself to fight; exulting, he tosses

the shaggy mane on his muscled neck and fearlessly snaps the hunter's

shaft lodged in him, then snarls from a bloodied mouth:

just so violence swells in Turnus, set ablaze.

10Then, seething, he addresses the king and begins:

"Turnus will not delay. There is no cause for Aeneas' cowardly men

to take back their word or reject the pact they struck.

I will face him. Bring the rites, father, and pronounce the compact.

Either with this right hand I will send the Dardanian

15down to Tartarus, Asia's deserter (let the Latins sit and watch),

and alone with steel refute our common charge,

or let him hold us conquered, and Lavinia yield as his wife."

18Olli sedato respondit corde Latinus:

O praestans animi iuvenis, quantum ipse feroci

20virtute exsuperas, tanto me impensius aequum est

consulere atque omnis metuentem expendere casus.

Sunt tibi regna patris Dauni, sunt oppida capta

multa manu, nec non aurumque animusque Latino est;

sunt aliae innuptae Latio et Laurentibus arvis,

25nec genus indecores. Sine me haec haud mollia fatu

sublatis aperire dolis, simul hoc animo hauri.

Me natam nulli veterum sociare procorum

fas erat, idque omnes divique hominesque canebant.

Victus amore tui, cognato sanguine victus

30coniugis et maestae lacrumis, vincla omnia rupi:

promissam eripui genero, arma impia sumpsi.

Ex illo qui me casus, quae, Turne, sequantur

bella, vides, quantos primus patiare labores.

Bis magna victi pugna vix urbe tuemur

35spes Italas; recalent nostro Thybrina fluenta

sanguine adhuc campique ingentes ossibus albent.

Quo referor totiens? Quae mentem insania mutat?

Si Turno exstincto socios sum adscire paratus,

cur non incolumi potius certamina tollo?

40Quid consanguinei Rutuli, quid cetera dicet

Italia, ad mortem si te—Fors dicta refutet!—

prodiderim, natam et conubia nostra petentem?

Respice res bello varias; miserere parentis

longaevi, quem nunc maestum patria Ardea longe

45dividit. Haudquaquam dictis violentia Turni

flectitur: exsuperat magis aegrescitque medendo.

Ut primum fari potuit, sic institit ore:

Quam pro me curam geris, hanc precor, optime, pro me

deponas letumque sinas pro laude pacisci:

50et nos tela, pater, ferrumque haud debile dextra

spargimus; et nostro sequitur de volnere sanguis.

longe illi dea mater erit, quae nube fugacem

feminea tegat et vanis sese occulat umbris.

18Latinus answered him, his heart composed:

"Young man, outstanding in spirit, the more you yourself excel

20in fierce courage, the more deeply must I

take counsel and, in my fear, weigh every outcome.

You have your father Daunus' realm, and many cities

captured by your hand; Latinus too has gold and goodwill.

There are other unwed women in Latium, in Laurentian fields,

25none mean in birth. Let me lay bare these truths, harsh

to speak, with all concealment cast aside; take this too into your heart.

Divine law forbade me to join my daughter to any of her former suitors;

gods and men alike proclaimed it.

Conquered by love of you, conquered by my wife's kinship

30with you and by her grieving tears, I broke every bond:

I tore the promised bride from her son-in-law and took up impious arms.

You see what disasters since that day, what wars pursue me,

Turnus, and how great the trials you bear above all.

Twice beaten in great battle, we can barely defend

35Italy's hopes within our city; the Tiber's streams are warm again

with our blood even now, and broad fields whiten with bones.

Where am I swept time after time? What madness sways my mind?

If I am ready, once Turnus is dead, to take the Trojans as allies,

why not end the fighting now, while he still lives?

40What will your Rutulian kin say? What will the rest

of Italy say, if I betray you to death (may Fortune prove

the words false), you who seek my daughter and marriage with our house?

Consider war's shifting fortunes; pity your aged

father, whom now, grieving, his native Ardea keeps

45far from you." Yet Turnus' violence does not yield at all to his words:

it surges still higher and grows worse under treatment.

As soon as he could speak, he pressed his reply:

"The care you bear for me, I beg you, best of men, set down

for my sake, and let me strike this bargain: death for glory.

50We too, father, can hurl spears, and our right hand wields

no feeble steel; blood too flows from the wounds we deal.

His goddess mother will be far from him then, she who would veil him in flight

with a woman's cloud and hide herself in empty shadows."

54At regina, nova pugnae conterrita sorte,

55flebat et ardentem generum monitura tenebat:

Turne, per has ego te lacrimas, per siquis Amatae

tangit honos animum (spes tu nunc una, senectae

tu requies miserae, decus imperiumque Latini

te penes, in te omnis domus inclinata recumbit).

60unum oro: desiste manum committere Teucris.

Qui te cumque manent isto certamine casus,

et me, Turne, manent: simul haec invisa relinquam

lumina nec generum Aenean captiva videbo.

Accepit vocem lacrimis Lavinia matris

65flagrantis perfusa genas, quoi plurimus ignem

subiecit rubor et calefacta per ora cucurrit.

Indum sanguineo veluti violaverit ostro

siquis ebur, aut mixta rubent ubi lilia multa

alba rosa: talis virgo dabat ore colores.

70Illum turbat amor, figitque in virgine voltus:

ardet in arma magis paucisque adfatur Amatam.

Ne, quaeso, ne me lacrimis neve omine tanto

prosequere in duri certamina Martis euntem,

O mater; neque enim Turno mora libera mortis.

75Nuntius haec Idmon Phrygio mea dicta tyranno

haud placitura refer: cum primum crastina caelo

puniceis invecta rotis Aurora rubebit,

non Teucros agat in Rutulos, Teucrum arma quiescant

et Rutuli; nostro dirimamus sanguine bellum,

80illo quaeratur coniunx Lavinia campo.

54But the queen, terrified by this new turn in the fight,

55wept and clung to her fiery son-in-law, meaning to warn him:

"Turnus, by these tears I beg you, by whatever respect

for Amata touches your heart (you are now my one hope,

the solace of my wretched old age; Latinus' honor and rule

rest in your hands; on you our whole tottering house leans):

60one thing I ask: refrain from meeting the Trojans hand to hand.

Whatever fate awaits you in that combat

awaits me too, Turnus: with you I shall leave this hated

light, nor live captive to see Aeneas as my son-in-law."

Lavinia received her mother's words, her burning cheeks

65drenched in tears; a deep blush kindled

fire in her and coursed across her heated face.

As when someone stains Indian ivory with blood-red purple,

or many white lilies, mingled with a rose, blush:

such colors the maiden showed on her face.

70Love unsettles him and pins his gaze upon the maiden;

he burns still hotter for battle and answers Amata briefly:

"Do not, I beg you, do not send me off with tears and

so grave an omen as I go to the contest of cruel Mars,

mother; for Turnus is not free to postpone his death.

75Idmon, go as messenger; take these words of mine

to the Phrygian tyrant, unwelcome though they will be: as soon

as tomorrow's Dawn rides in on crimson wheels and reddens the sky,

let him not drive Trojans against Rutulians; let the arms

of Trojans and Rutulians rest. Let us decide the war with our blood;

80on that field let Lavinia be sought as bride."

81Haec ubi dicta dedit rapidusque in tecta recessit.

poscit equos gaudetque tuens ante ora frementis,

Pilumno quos ipsa decus dedit Orithyia,

qui candore nives anteirent, cursibus auras.

85Circumstant properi aurigae manibusque lacessunt

pectora plausa cavis et colla comantia pectunt.

Ipse dehinc auro squalentem alboque orichalco

circumdat loricam umeris; simul aptat habendo

ensemque clipeumque et rubrae cornua cristae.

90ensem, quem Dauno ignipotens deus ipse parenti

fecerat et Stygia candentem tinxerat unda.

Exin quae mediis ingenti adnixa columnae

aedibus adstabat, validam vi corripit hastam,

Actoris Aurunci spolium, quassatque trementem

95vociferans: Nunc, O numquam frustrata vocatus

hasta meos, nunc tempus adest: te maximus Actor

te Turni nunc dextra gerit. Da sternere corpus

loricamque manu valida lacerare revulsam

semiviri Phrygis et foedare in pulvere crinis

100vibratos calido ferro murraque madentis.

His agitur furiis; totoque ardentis ab ore

scintillae absistunt, oculis micat acribus ignis:

mugitus veluti cum prima in proelia taurus

terrificos ciet atque irasci in cornua temptat,

105arboris obnixus trunco, ventosque lacessit

ictibus aut sparsa ad pugnam proludit harena.

Nec minus interea maternis saevos in armis

Aeneas acuit Martem et se suscitat ira,

oblato gaudens componi foedere bellum,

110tum socios maestique metum solatur Iuli,

fata docens, regique iubet responsa Latino

certa referre viros et pacis dicere leges.

81After speaking these words, he swiftly withdraws into the palace.

He calls for his horses and delights to see them neighing before him,

which Orithyia herself gave Pilumnus as a mark of honor,

to outstrip snow in whiteness and winds in speed.

85Eager charioteers crowd around them, rousing them with cupped hands,

slapping their chests and combing their flowing manes.

Turnus next straps around his shoulders a breastplate bristling

with gold and pale orichalc; at once he readies for use

his sword and shield and the horns of his crimson-crested helmet.

90The fire-god himself had forged that sword for his father Daunus

and quenched it, still glowing, in the waters of Styx.

Then he snatches up with force the stout spear that stood

in the palace hall, propped against a massive pillar,

spoil of Actor the Auruncan, and shakes it till it quivers,

95shouting: "Now, spear that never failed my call,

now the time has come: mighty Actor once bore you;

now Turnus' right hand wields you. Grant me to strike down the body

and with my strong hand wrench off and rip apart the breastplate

of the half-man Phrygian, and foul in the dust his hair,

100curled with hot iron and drenched in myrrh."

Such furies drive him; from his blazing face

sparks fly, and fire flashes in his fierce eyes:

as when a bull, facing his first combat, raises

terrifying bellows and tries to drive rage into his horns,

105straining against a tree trunk, and challenges the winds

with blows or rehearses battle in the scattered sand.

No less fierce meanwhile in the armor his mother gave him,

Aeneas sharpens his spirit for war and rouses himself in anger,

glad that the offered compact will settle the war,

110then reassures his comrades and calms sorrowing Iulus' fear,

explaining fate to them; he orders men to carry a firm answer

to King Latinus and state the laws of peace.

113Postera vix summos spargebat lumine montis

orta dies, cum primum alto se gurgite tollunt

115solis equi lucemque elatis naribus efflant:

campum ad certamen magnae sub moenibus urbis

dimensi Rutulique viri Teucrique parabant

in medioque focos et dis communibus aras

gramineas. Alii fontemque ignemque ferebant,

120velati limo et verbena tempora vincti.

Procedit legio Ausonidum, pilataque plenis

agmina se fundunt portis. Hinc Troïus omnis

Tyrrhenusque ruit variis exercitus armis,

haud secus instructi ferro, quam si aspera Martis

125pugna vocet; nec non mediis in milibus ipsi

ductores auro volitant ostroque decori,

et genus Assaraci Mnestheus et fortis Asilas

et Messapus equum domitor, Neptunia proles.

Utque dato signo spatia in sua quisque recessit,

130defigunt tellure hastas et scuta reclinant.

Tum studio effusae matres et volgus inermum

invalidique senes turris ac tecta domorum

obsedere, alii portis sublimibus adstant.

113Scarcely had the next day risen and begun to scatter light across the mountain peaks

when the Sun's horses first lifted themselves from the deep sea

115and breathed out light through upraised nostrils:

For the contest beneath the walls of the great city,

Rutulian and Trojan men measured out and prepared the field;

at its center they set hearth fires and turf altars

to gods common to both. Others carried spring water and fire,

120wearing ritual aprons, their temples bound with sacred boughs.

The Ausonian legion advances; columns bristling with javelins

pour through the crowded gates. From the other side the whole Trojan

and Etruscan army rushes up under arms of every kind,

arrayed in steel as if the savage battle of Mars

125were calling them. Amid the thousands, the commanders themselves

gallop, splendid in gold and purple:

Mnestheus, scion of Assaracus, and brave Asilas,

and Messapus, tamer of horses, Neptune's son.

At the signal, each side withdraws to its own ground;

130they plant their spears in the earth and rest their shields.

Then mothers, streaming out eagerly, the unarmed crowd,

and feeble old men throng the towers and housetops;

others take their stand at the lofty gates.

134At Iuno e summo, qui nunc Albanus habetur,

135tum neque nomen erat nec honos aut gloria monti,

prospiciens tumulo campum aspectabat et ambas

Laurentum Troumque acies urbemque Latini.

Extemplo Turni sic est adfata sororem

diva deam, stagnis quae fluminibusque sonoris

140praesidet (hunc illi rex aetheris altus honorem

Iuppiter erepta pro virginitate sacravit):

Nympha, decus fluviorum, animo gratissima nostro,

scis ut te cunctis unam, quaecumque Latinae

magnanimi Iovis ingratum ascendere cubile,

145praetulerim caelique lubens in parte locarim:

disce tuum, ne me incuses, Iuturna, dolorem.

Qua visa est Fortuna pati Parcaeque sinebant

cedere res Latio, Turnum et tua moenia texi:

nunc iuvenem imparibus video concurrere fatis,

150Parcarumque dies et vis inimica propinquat.

Non pugnam aspicere hanc oculis, non foedera possum.

Tu pro germano siquid praesentius audes,

perge: decet. Forsan miseros meliora sequentur.

Vix ea, cum lacrimas oculis Iuturna profudit

155terque quaterque manu pectus percussit honestum.

Non lacrumis hoc tempus, ait Saturnia Iuno:

Adcelera et fratrem, siquis modus, eripe morti,

aut tu bella cie conceptumque excute foedus:

auctor ego audendi. Sic exhortata reliquit

160incertam et tristi turbatam volnere mentis.

134But Juno, from the summit of what is now known

135as the Alban Mount, though then it had no name, honor, or fame,

looked out from the height and surveyed the field, both battle lines

of Laurentines and Trojans, and Latinus' city.

At once the goddess addressed Turnus' sister,

a goddess speaking to a goddess, ruler of pools

140and sounding rivers (Jupiter, high king of heaven,

consecrated this honor to her for the virginity he stole):

"Nymph, glory of rivers, dearest to my heart,

you know how I preferred you alone above every Latin woman

who ever entered great-hearted Jove's unwelcome bed,

145and gladly gave you a place in heaven.

Now learn the grief that is yours, Juturna, and do not blame me.

So long as Fortune seemed to permit, and the Fates allowed

Latium's cause to prosper, I protected Turnus and your walls.

Now I see the young man entering battle under unequal fates,

150while the Fates' appointed day and a hostile force close in.

I cannot bear to witness this battle or this compact.

If you dare some more effective act for your brother,

go on: it is right. Perhaps better fortune will attend the wretched."

She had scarcely spoken when tears streamed from Juturna's eyes,

155and three times, then four, she struck her lovely breast.

"This is no time for tears," Saturnian Juno said.

"Hurry, and if any way remains, snatch your brother from death,

or rouse war yourself and shatter the compact they have framed.

I give you warrant to dare." After urging her on, Juno left her

160wavering, her mind in turmoil from grief's wound.

161Interea reges, ingenti mole Latinus

quadriiugo vehitur curru, cui tempora circum

aurati bis sex radii fulgentia cingunt,

Solis avi specimen; bigis it Turnus in albis,

165bina manu lato crispans hastilia ferro;

hinc pater Aeneas, Romanae stirpis origo,

sidereo flagrans clipeo et caelestibus armis,

et iuxta Ascanius, magnae spes altera Romae,

procedunt castris, puraque in veste sacerdos

170saetigeri fetum suis intonsamque bidentem

adtulit admovitque pecus flagrantibus aris.

Illi ad surgentem conversi lumina solem

dant fruges manibus salsas et tempora ferro

summa notant pecudum paterisque altaria libant.

175Tum pius Aeneas stricto sic ense precatur:

Esto nunc Sol testis et haec mihi Terra vocanti,

quam propter tantos potui perferre labores,

et pater omnipotens et tu Saturnia coniunx,

iam melior, iam, diva, precor, tuque inclute Mavors,

180cuncta tuo qui bella, pater, sub numine torques;

fontisque fluviosque voco, quaeque aetheris alti

religio et quae caeruleo sunt numina ponto:

cesserit Ausonio si fors victoria Turno,

convenit Evandri victos discedere ad urbem,

185cedet Iulus agris, nec post arma ulla rebelles

Aeneadae referent ferrove haec regna lacessent,

sin nostrum adnuerit nobis Victoria Martem

(ut potius reor et potius di numine firment),

non ego nec Teucris Italos parere iubebo

190nec mihi regna peto: paribus se legibus ambae

invictae gentes aeterna in foedera mittant.

Sacra deosque dabo; socer arma Latinus habeto,

imperium sollemne socer; mihi moenia Teucri

constituent, urbique dabit Lavinia nomen.

161Meanwhile the kings approached. Latinus, in stately pomp,

rode in a four-horse chariot; around his gleaming temples

twelve golden rays shone in a crown,

emblem of his grandsire the Sun. Turnus rode behind two white horses,

165brandishing two broad-headed spears in one hand.

From the other camp father Aeneas, founder of the Roman line,

blazing with his star-bright shield and heavenly arms,

and beside him Ascanius, mighty Rome's second hope,

came forward. A priest in spotless robes brought

170a bristling sow's young and an unshorn two-toothed ewe,

and led both victims beside the blazing altars.

They turned their eyes toward the rising sun,

sprinkled salted meal from their hands, and marked with steel

the crowns of the victims' heads, then poured libations from bowls on the altars.

175Then dutiful Aeneas, his sword drawn, prayed:

"Sun, be my witness now, and this Earth I call upon,

for whose sake I found strength to endure so many trials;

and almighty Father; and you, his Saturnian consort

(now kinder, goddess, now, I pray); and you, glorious Mars,

180Father, who direct every war by your divine will;

I call upon the springs and rivers, every sacred power of high heaven

and every divine presence in the dark-blue sea:

if victory should chance to fall to Ausonian Turnus,

it is agreed that we, defeated, withdraw to Evander's city;

185Iulus will leave these lands, nor afterward, returning to war,

will Aeneas' people take up arms or assail this realm with steel.

But if Victory favors our side in battle

(as I believe is likelier, and may the gods confirm it by their will),

I will not order the Italians to submit to the Trojans,

190nor do I claim a kingdom for myself: under equal laws let both

unconquered peoples enter an eternal compact.

I will provide the rites and gods; let Latinus, my father-in-law, keep command of arms,

and my father-in-law his customary sovereignty. For me the Trojans will

build walls, and Lavinia will give her name to the city."

195Sic prior Aeneas; sequitur sic deinde Latinus

suspiciens caelum tenditque ad sidera dextram:

Haec eadem, Aenea, terram mare sidera iuro

Latonaeque genus duplex Ianumque bifrontem

vimque deum infernam et duri sacraria Ditis;

200audiat haec genitor, qui foedera fulmine sancit.

Tango aras, medios ignis et numina testor:

nulla dies pacem hanc Italis nec foedera rumpet,

quo res cumque cadent; nec me vis ulla volentem

avertet, non, si tellurem effundat in undas

205diluvio miscens caelumque in Tartara solvat;

ut sceptrum hoc (dextra sceptrum nam forte gerebat)

numquam fronde levi fundet virgulta nec umbras,

cum semel in silvis imo de stirpe recisum

matre caret posuitque comas et bracchia ferro,

210olim arbos, nunc artificis manus aere decoro

inclusit patribusque dedit gestare Latinis.

Talibus inter se firmabant foedera dictis

conspectu in medio procerum. Tum rite sacratas

in flammam iugulant pecudes et viscera vivis

215eripiunt cumulantque oneratis lancibus aras.

195So Aeneas spoke first. Latinus then followed,

looking up to heaven and stretching his right hand toward the stars:

"I swear the same, Aeneas, by earth, sea, and stars,

by Latona's twin offspring and two-faced Janus,

by the power of the gods below and the sanctuary of stern Dis.

200May the Father who ratifies compacts with his thunderbolt hear this.

I touch the altars; I call the flames between us and the divine powers to witness:

no day shall break this peace and compact for the Italians,

whatever course events take; no force shall turn me from my resolve,

not even if it poured earth into ocean, confounded both in a flood,

205and dissolved heaven into Tartarus;

so surely as this scepter" (for he happened to hold it in his right hand)

"will never put forth shoots in tender leaf or cast shade,

since once in the woods it was cut from the base of its stock,

lost its mother-tree, and yielded crown and branches to the blade;

210once a tree, now the craftsman's hand has sheathed it in splendid bronze

and given it to the Latin elders to bear."

With such words they confirmed the compact between them

in full view of the assembled chiefs. Then the duly consecrated

victims they slaughter over the flame; from them still living they

215tear the entrails and heap the altars with laden platters.

216At vero Rutulis inpar ea pugna videri

iamdudum et vario misceri pectora motu;

tum magis, ut propius cernunt non viribus aequis.

Adiuvat incessu tacito progressus et aram

220suppliciter venerans demisso lumine Turnus

tabentesque genae et iuvenali in corpore pallor.

Quem simul ac Iuturna soror crebrescere vidit

sermonem et volgi variare labantia corda,

in medias acies, formam adsimulata Camerti,

225cui genus a proavis ingens clarumque paternae

nomen erat virtutis, et ipse acerrimus armis,

in medias dat sese acies haud nescia rerum

rumoresque serit varios ac talia fatur:

Non pudet, O Rutuli, pro cunctis talibus unam

230obiectare animam? Numerone an viribus aequi

non sumus? En omnes et Troes et Arcades hi sunt

fatalesque manus, infensa Etruria Turno:

vix hostem, alterni si congrediamur, habemus.

Ille quidem ad superos, quorum se devovet aris,

235succedet fama vivusque per ora feretur:

nos patria amissa dominis parere superbis

cogemur, qui nunc lenti consedimus arvis.

Talibus incensa est iuvenum sententia dictis

iam magis atque magis, serpitque per agmina murmur;

240ipsi Laurentes mutati ipsique Latini.

Qui sibi iam requiem pugnae rebusque salutem

sperabant, nunc arma volunt foedusque precantur

infectum et Turni sortem miserantur iniquam.

216But to the Rutulians the duel had long seemed unequal,

and conflicting emotions churned their hearts,

all the more when, at closer range, they saw the two so unequal in strength.

Turnus deepened their unease, advancing silently to the altar

220and bowing before it like a suppliant, his eyes cast down,

his cheeks drawn, pallor spread across his youthful body.

As soon as his sister Juturna saw the talk spreading

and the crowd's faltering hearts veering,

she assumed Camers' form:

225a man of high ancestral stock, whose father's name

was renowned for valor, and who was himself among the fiercest in arms.

Into the midst of the ranks she thrust herself, well aware of her task;

she sowed rumor after rumor, then spoke:

"Rutulians, are you not ashamed to stake a single life

230for all these warriors? Are we not their match in numbers or strength?

Look: here they all are, Trojans and Arcadians,

the troops sent by fate, and Etruria hostile to Turnus.

If we meet them man for man, we scarcely have an enemy apiece.

He, at least, will rise in glory to the gods above, at whose altars he vows himself,

235and be carried alive on men's lips;

but we, our homeland lost, will be forced to obey proud masters,

we who now sit idle on these fields."

At such words the young men's resolve caught fire

and burned hotter and hotter as a murmur crept through the ranks;

240the Laurentines themselves changed, and the Latins too.

Those who had hoped by now for respite from battle and safety for their cause

now wanted arms and prayed that the compact be

undone, and pitied Turnus' unequal lot.

244His aliud maius Iuturna adiungit et alto

245dat signum caelo, quo non praesentius ullum

turbavit mentes Italas monstroque fefellit.

Namque volans rubra fulvus Iovis ales in aethra

litoreas agitabat aves turbamque sonantem

agminis aligeri, subito cum lapsus ad undas

250cycnum excellentem pedibus rapit improbus uncis.

Adrexere animos Itali, cunctaeque volucres

convertunt clamore fugam, mirabile visu,

aetheraque obscurant pennis hostemque per auras

facta nube premunt, donec vi victus et ipso

255pondere defecit, praedamque ex unguibus ales

proiecit fluvio penitusque in nubila fugit.

Tum vero augurium Rutuli clamore salutant

expediuntque manus; primusque Tolumnius augur

Hoc erat, hoc, votis, inquit, quod saepe petivi.

260Adcipio adgnoscoque deos; me, me duce ferrum

corripite, O miseri, quos improbus advena bello

territat invalidas ut aves et litora vestra

vi populat: petet ille fugam penitusque profundo

vela dabit. Vos unanimi densete catervas

265et regem vobis pugna defendite raptum.

244Juturna added something greater still and sent

245a sign from high heaven: no sign more potent

ever stirred Italian hearts or deceived them with its portent.

For Jove's tawny eagle, flying through the ruddy upper air,

was harrying the shore birds, all the noisy press

of the winged troop, when suddenly he swooped toward the water

250and savagely seized a splendid swan in his hooked talons.

The Italians took heart. All the birds together

wheeled back with a cry, a wonder to see,

and darkened heaven with their wings. Forming a cloud,

they pressed their foe through the air until, overcome by their force and sheer

255weight, the eagle faltered, dropped its prey from its talons

into the river, then fled far into the clouds.

Then the Rutulians hailed the augury with a shout

and readied their hands. Tolumnius the augur spoke first:

"This was it, this was the sign I so often sought in prayer.

260I accept it and recognize the gods. With me, with me as leader,

seize your swords, wretched men! A lawless foreigner

terrifies you in war like helpless birds and ravages your shores

by force. He will take flight and set his sails far out

upon the deep. But you, close ranks with one accord

265and rescue in battle the king snatched from you."

266Dixit et adversos telum contorsit in hostis

procurrens: sonitum dat stridula cornus et auras

certa secat. Simul hoc, simul ingens clamor et omnes

turbati cunei calefactaque corda tumultu.

270Hasta volans, ut forte novem pulcherrima fratrum

corpora constiterant contra, quos fida crearat

una tot Arcadio coniunx Tyrrhena Gylippo,

horum unum ad medium, teritur qua sutilis alvo

balteus et laterum iuncturas fibula mordet

275egregium forma iuvenem et fulgentibus armis

transadigit costas fulvaque effundit harena.

At fratres, animosa phalanx accensaque luctu,

pars, gladios stringunt manibus, pars missile ferrum

corripiunt caecique ruunt. Quos agmina contra

280procurrunt Laurentum, hinc densi rursus inundant

Troes Agyllinique et pictis Arcades armis:

sic omnis amor unus habet decernere ferro.

Diripuere aras, it toto turbida caelo

tempestas telorum ac ferreus ingruit imber,

285craterasque focosque ferunt. Fugit ipse Latinus

pulsatos referens infecto foedere divos.

Infrenant alii currus aut corpora saltu

subiciunt in equos et strictis ensibus adsunt.

Messapus regem regisque insigne gerentem,

290Tyrrhenum Aulesten, avidus confundere foedus,

adverso proterret equo: ruit ille recedens

et miser oppositis a tergo involvitur aris

in caput inque umeros. At fervidus advolat hasta

Messapus teloque orantem multa trabali

295desuper altus equo graviter ferit atque ita fatur:

Hoc habet, haec melior magnis data victima divis.

Concurrunt Itali spoliantque calentia membra.

Obvius ambustum torrem Corynaeus ab ara

corripit et venienti Ebuso plagamque ferenti

300occupat os flammis: olli ingens barba reluxit

nidoremque ambusta dedit. Super ipse secutus

caesariem laeva turbati corripit hostis

inpressoque genu nitens terrae adplicat ipsum:

sic rigido latus ense ferit. Podalirius Alsum

305pastorem primaque acie per tela ruentem,

ense sequens nudo superimminet: ille securi

adversi frontem mediam mentumque reducta

disicit et sparso late rigat arma cruore.

Olli dura quies oculos et ferreus urget

310somnus, in aeternam conduntur lumina noctem.

266He spoke, then charged and hurled his spear at the enemy ranks.

The whistling cornel shaft rang out and cut

unerringly through the air. No sooner had it flown than a vast shout rose:

every battalion broke formation, every heart kindled by the uproar.

270The flying spear found nine brothers standing there by chance,

all splendid men, sons whom one faithful

Etruscan wife had borne, all nine, to Arcadian Gylippus.

One of them, at the waist where his stitched belt rubbed

his belly and its clasp bit where his flanks met,

275a youth outstanding in beauty and gleaming armor:

the spear pierced through the ribs, spilling him onto yellow sand.

But the brothers, a bold battalion set ablaze by grief,

some drew swords, some snatched up spears,

and all rushed on, blind to their own safety. Against them the ranks of Laurentum

280charged; from the other side, packed close, poured the Trojans,

the men of Agylla, and Arcadians in painted arms.

So one desire seized them all: to decide the issue by steel.

The altars were torn apart. Across the whole darkened sky

swept a storm of weapons, and iron rain came crashing down;

285mixing bowls and altar fires were swept away. Latinus himself fled,

bearing away the outraged gods, the compact broken.

Some harnessed chariots; others vaulted

onto horses and came on with drawn swords.

Messapus, eager to wreck the compact, drove back

290Tyrrhenian Aulestes, a king wearing the royal diadem,

with his charging horse. Retreating, Aulestes fell

and, helpless, tumbled backward over the altars behind him,

onto his head and shoulders. Messapus, ablaze, flew at him, spear in hand,

and as Aulestes pleaded on and on, struck him heavily

295from high on horseback with his beam-thick shaft, then cried:

"He's finished! Here is a better victim offered to the mighty gods."

The Italians crowded in and stripped the still-warm body.

Corynaeus met Ebusus with a charred brand snatched from the altar,

and as Ebusus came on, already swinging a blow,

300Corynaeus struck first, thrusting flame into his face. His massive beard flared

and, singed, gave off a stench. Pressing the attack, Corynaeus

caught the bewildered enemy's hair in his left hand,

braced a knee against him and pinned him to the ground;

then drove his unyielding sword into his side. Podalirius

305pursued the shepherd Alsus as he charged through spears in the front rank,

and loomed over him, bare sword drawn. But Alsus drew back

his axe and split his attacker's brow down the middle to the chin,

drenching Podalirius' armor in blood that sprayed far and wide.

Harsh rest and iron sleep closed over his eyes;

310his sight was sealed in everlasting night.

311At pius Aeneas dextram tendebat inermem

nudato capite atque suos clamore vocabat:

Quo ruitis? Quaeve ista repens discordia surgit?

O cohibete iras! Ictum iam foedus et omnes

315compositae leges; mihi ius concurrere soli;

me sinite atque auferte metus; ego foedera faxo

firma manu; Turnum debent haec iam mihi sacra.

Has inter voces, media inter talia verba

ecce viro stridens alis adlapsa sagitta est

320incertum qua pulsa manu, quo turbine adacta,

quis tantam Rutulis laudem, casusne deusne,

adtulerit: pressa est insignis gloria facti.

nec sese Aeneae iactavit vulnere quisquam.

Turnus ut Aenean cedentem ex agmine vidit

325turbatosque duces, subita spe fervidus ardet:

poscit equos atque arma simul saltuque superbus

emicat in currum et manibus molitur habenas.

Multa virum volitans dat fortia corpora Leto,

semineces volvit multos aut agmina curru

330proterit aut raptas fugientibus ingerit hastas.

Qualis apud gelidi cum flumina concitus Hebri

sanguineus Mavors clipeo increpat atque furentis

bella movens immittit equos; illi aequore aperto

ante Notos Zephyrumque volant; gemit ultima pulsu

335Thraca pedum; circumque atrae Formidinis ora

Iraeque Insidiaeque, dei comitatus, aguntur:

talis equos alacer media inter proelia Turnus

fumantis sudore quatit, miserabile caesis

hostibus insultans; spargit rapida ungula rores

340sanguineos, mixtaque cruor calcatur harena.

311But dutiful Aeneas held out his unarmed right hand,

his head uncovered, and called loudly to his men:

"Where are you rushing? What sudden discord has arisen?

Restrain your anger! The compact is already struck,

315all its terms settled. I alone have the right to meet him in combat.

Leave this to me and put away your fear. By my own hand

I will make the compact firm; these rites already pledge Turnus to me."

Even as he spoke, in the midst of his appeal,

a hissing arrow suddenly came winging down and struck him.

320No one knew whose hand had loosed it, what force had driven it,

whether chance or a god had won the Rutulians such glory.

The glory of that signal deed went unclaimed:

no one boasted that he had wounded Aeneas.

When Turnus saw Aeneas withdrawing from the battle line

325and the captains in confusion, sudden hope set him ablaze.

He called at once for his horses and weapons, then proudly sprang

into his chariot and gathered the reins into his hands.

Wheeling everywhere, he consigned many brave warriors to Death,

sent many rolling half-alive, crushed whole ranks beneath his chariot,

330or snatched up spears and hurled them on the fleeing men.

As when beside the streams of icy Hebrus Mars is roused,

bloodstained, and crashes on his shield, then looses his maddened horses,

setting wars in motion; across the open plain

they fly ahead of South Wind and West Wind; furthest

335Thrace groans beneath their pounding hooves; around him stream

black-visaged Dread, Rage, and Treachery, the god's escort:

just so Turnus, eager in the thick of battle,

lashed his horses, steaming with sweat, a piteous sight

as he exulted over slaughtered foes; flying hooves scattered sprays

340of blood, and gore was trampled, mingling with the sand.

341Iamque neci Sthenelumque dedit Thamyrumque Pholumque,

hunc congressus et hunc, illum eminus; eminus ambo

Imbrasidas, Glaucum atque Laden, quos Imbrasus ipse

nutrierat Lycia paribusque ornaverat armis,

345vel conferre manum vel equo praevertere ventos.

Parte alia media Eumedes in proelia fertur,

antiqui proles bello praeclara Dolonis,

nomine avum referens, animo manibusque parentem,

qui quondam, castra ut Danaum speculator adiret,

350ausus Pelidae pretium sibi poscere currus;

illum Tydides alio pro talibus ausis

adfecit pretio, nec equis adspirat Achillis.

Hunc procul ut campo Turnus prospexit aperto,

ante levi iaculo longum per inane secutus

355sistit equos biiugis et curru desilit atque

semianimi lapsoque supervenit et pede collo

impresso dextrae mucronem extorquet et alto

fulgentem tinguit iugulo atque haec insuper addit:

En agros et quam bello, Troiane, petisti,

360Hesperiam metire iacens: haec praemia qui me

ferro ausi temptare ferunt, sic moenia condunt.

Huic comitem Asbyten coniecta cuspide mittit.

Chloreaque Sybarimque Daretaque Thersilochumque

et sternacis equi lapsum cervice Thymoeten.

365Ac velut Edoni Boreae cum spiritus alto

insonat Aegaeo sequiturque ad litora fluctus,

qua venti incubuere, fugam dant nubila caelo:

sic Turno, quacumque viam secat, agmina cedunt

conversaeque ruunt acies; fert impetus ipsum,

370et cristam adverso curru quatit aura volantem.

Non tulit instantem Phegeus animisque frementem:

obiecit sese ad currum et spumantia frenis

ora citatorum dextra detorsit equorum.

Dum trahitur pendetque iugis, hunc lata retectum

375lancea consequitur rumpitque infixa bilicem

loricam et summum degustat volnere corpus.

Ille tamen clipeo obiecto conversus in hostem

ibat et auxilium ducto mucrone petebat:

cum rota praecipitem et procursu concitus axis

380impulit effunditque solo, Turnusque secutus

imam inter galeam summi thoracis et oras

abstulit ense caput truncumque reliquit harenae.

341And now he gave Sthenelus, Thamyrus, and Pholus over to death:

two he met at close quarters, the third from afar; from afar as well

he killed both sons of Imbrasus, Glaucus and Lades, whom Imbrasus himself

had reared in Lycia and equipped with matching arms,

345ready either to close hand to hand or outrun the winds on horseback.

Elsewhere Eumedes swept into the heart of battle,

war-glorious son of Dolon of old,

bearing his grandfather's name, his father's spirit and strength of hand.

Dolon once dared to enter the Greek camp as a spy

350and demand Achilles' chariot as his reward;

the son of Tydeus paid him a different reward for such daring,

and he never came near Achilles' horses.

When Turnus saw Eumedes far off across the open field,

he first sent a light javelin after him through the long reach of air,

355then halted his two-horse team, leapt down from the chariot,

and overtook him where he lay half-alive. Planting a foot

on his neck, Turnus wrenched the blade from his right hand

and dyed its gleaming edge deep in his throat, adding this taunt:

"Look, Trojan: as you lie there, measure the fields

360and Hesperia, which you sought through war. These are the rewards

borne off by those who dare test me with steel; this is how they build their walls."

With a cast spear he sent Asbytes to join him,

then Chloreus, Sybaris, Dares, and Thersilochus,

and Thymoetes, fallen from the neck of his bucking horse.

365As when the breath of Thracian Boreas roars

over the deep Aegean and drives the waves toward shore,

and wherever the winds bear down, the clouds flee across the sky,

so the ranks gave way before Turnus wherever he carved a path,

the battle lines wheeled and rushed away; his own charge bore him on,

370and the headwind of his onrushing chariot tossed his streaming crest.

Phegeus could not endure Turnus pressing hard and raging in spirit.

He flung himself before the chariot and with his right hand

wrenched aside the racing horses' mouths, foaming against the bits.

While he was dragged along and hung from the yoke, a broad lance

375caught him exposed, struck home, and tore through his two-ply

corselet, but the wound only grazed the surface of his body.

Even so, he turned on his enemy with his shield held out,

advanced, and sought rescue from his drawn sword,

when the wheel and axle, driven by the chariot's forward rush,

380struck him headlong and spilled him onto the ground. Turnus followed,

and at the gap between the helmet's lower edge and the breastplate's upper rim

swept off his head with the sword, leaving the trunk on the sand.

383Atque ea dum campis victor dat funera Turnus,

interea Aenean Mnestheus et fidus Achates

385Ascaniusque comes castris statuere cruentum,

alternos longa nitentem cuspide gressus.

Saevit et infracta luctatur arundine telum

eripere auxilioque viam, quae proxima, poscit

ense secent lato vulnus telique latebram

390rescindant penitus seseque in bella remittant.

Iamque aderat Phoebo ante alios dilectus Iapyx

Iasides, acri quondam cui captus amore

ipse suas artes, sua munera, laetus Apollo

augurium citharamque dabat celerisque sagittas.

395Ille ut depositi proferret fata parentis,

scire potestates herbarum usumque medendi

maluit et mutas agitare inglorius artes.

Stabat acerba fremens, ingentem nixus in hastam

Aeneas magno iuvenum et maerentis Iuli

400concursu, lacrimis immobilis. Ille retorto

Paeonium in morem senior succinctus amictu

multa manu medica Phoebique potentibus herbis

nequiquam trepidat, nequiquam spicula dextra

sollicitat prensatque tenaci forcipe ferrum.

405Nulla viam Fortuna regit, nihil auctor Apollo

subvenit; et saevus campis magis ac magis horror

crebrescit propiusque malum est. Iam pulvere caelum

stare vident: subeunt equites, et spicula castris

densa cadunt mediis. It tristis ad aethera clamor

410bellantum iuvenum et duro sub Marte cadentum.

Hic Venus, indigno nati concussa dolore,

dictamnum genetrix Cretaea carpit ab Ida,

puberibus caulem foliis et flore comantem

purpureo; non illa feris incognita capris

415gramina, cum tergo volucres haesere sagittae:

hoc Venus, obscuro faciem circumdata nimbo,

detulit; hoc fusum labris splendentibus amnem

inficit occulte medicans spargitque salubris

ambrosiae sucos et odoriferam panaceam.

420Fovit ea volnus lympha longaevus Iapyx

ignorans, subitoque omnis de corpore fugit

quippe dolor, omnis stetit imo volnere sanguis;

iamque secuta manum nullo cogente sagitta

excidit, atque novae rediere in pristina vires.

425Arma citi properate viro! Quid statis? Iapyx

conclamat primusque animos adcendit in hostem.

Non haec humanis opibus, non arte magistra

proveniunt neque te, Aenea, mea dextera servat:

maior agit deus atque opera ad maiora remittit.

383And while victorious Turnus dealt out these deaths across the fields,

meanwhile Mnestheus, faithful Achates,

385and Ascanius at his side brought bloodied Aeneas into camp,

struggling forward step by step, braced on a long spear.

He raged and struggled to wrench out the weapon, its shaft snapped off,

and demanded the quickest course of aid:

cut the wound open with a broad sword, lay bare

390the weapon's deep hiding place, and send him back to battle.

Iapyx, son of Iasus, was already there, dear to Phoebus

above all others. Apollo himself, once seized by fierce love for him,

had gladly offered his own arts, his own gifts:

prophecy, the lyre, and swift arrows.

395But to prolong the life allotted to his stricken father,

Iapyx preferred to learn the powers of herbs and the practice of healing,

and ingloriously ply the silent arts.

Aeneas stood groaning bitterly, leaning on his massive spear,

amid a great throng of warriors and grieving Iulus,

400unmoved by tears. The old man, his robe folded back

and girded about him in the manner of Paeon,

worked anxiously with healing hand and Phoebus' potent herbs,

all in vain; in vain he probed the arrowhead with his right hand

and seized the iron with clamping forceps.

405Fortune opened no path; Apollo, his patron, gave

no help. Savage terror grew and grew across the fields,

and danger drew nearer. Now they saw the sky

stand thick with dust; horsemen pressed on, and missiles fell dense

into the very camp. A grim cry rose to heaven

410from young men fighting and falling under harsh Mars.

Then Venus, shaken by her son's undeserved pain,

his mother, plucked dittany from Cretan Ida,

a stem thick with downy leaves and crowned

with purple blossom, a plant well known to wild goats

415when winged arrows have lodged in their backs.

Venus brought it down, her face veiled in a dark mist,

and secretly steeped it in the water poured into a gleaming-rimmed bowl,

making a healing mixture; she sprinkled in the wholesome

juices of ambrosia and fragrant panacea.

420The aged Iapyx bathed the wound with that water,

unaware; at once all pain fled from Aeneas' body,

all bleeding stopped deep within the wound;

and now the arrowhead, following his hand with no force applied,

fell free, and his strength returned, fresh as before.

425"Quickly, bring him his arms! Why do you stand there?" Iapyx

cried, the first to fire their spirits against the foe.

"This comes neither by human aid nor by the mastery of art;

my right hand has not saved you, Aeneas.

A greater god is at work and sends you back to greater deeds."

430Ille avidus pugnae suras incluserat auro

hinc atque hinc oditque moras hastamque coruscat.

Postquam habilis lateri clipeus loricaque tergo est,

Ascanium fusis circum complectitur armis

summaque per galeam delibans oscula fatur:

435Disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque laborem,

fortunam ex aliis. Nunc te mea dextera bello

defensum dabit et magna inter praemia ducet.

Tu facito, mox cum matura adoleverit aetas,

sis memor, et te animo repetentem exempla tuorum

440et pater Aeneas et avunculus excitet Hector.

Haec ubi dicta dedit, portis sese extulit ingens,

telum immane manu quatiens; simul agmine denso

Antheusque Mnestheusque ruunt omnisque relictis

turba fluit castris: tum caeco pulvere campus

445miscetur pulsuque pedum tremit excita tellus.

Vidit ab adverso venientis aggere Turnus,

videre Ausonii, gelidusque per ima cucurrit

ossa tremor: prima ante omnis Iuturna Latinos

audiit adgnovitque sonum et tremefacta refugit.

450Ille volat campoque atrum rapit agmen aperto.

Qualis ubi ad terras abrupto sidere nimbus

it mare per medium; miseris heu praescia longe

horrescunt corda agricolis, dabit ille ruinas

arboribus stragemque satis, ruet omnia late;

455ante volant sonitumque ferunt ad litora venti:

talis in adversos ductor Rhoeteius hostis

agmen agit, densi cuneis se quisque coactis

adglomerant. Ferit ense gravem Thymbraeus Osirim,

Archetium Mnestheus, Epulonem obtruncat Achates

460Ufentemque Gyas; cadit ipse Tolumnius augur,

primus in adversos telum qui torserat hostis.

Tollitur in caelum clamor, versique vicissim

pulverulenta fuga Rutuli dant terga per agros.

Ipse neque aversos dignatur sternere Morti

465nec pede congressos aequo nec tela ferentis

insequitur: solum densa in caligine Turnum

vestigat lustrans, solum in certamina poscit.

430Eager for battle, he had sheathed his calves in gold

on either side. He loathed delay and brandished his spear.

Once the shield sat ready at his side and the cuirass on his back,

he flung his arms wide and drew Ascanius close,

then, through his helmet, lightly kissed him and said:

435"Learn valor from me, my boy, and genuine toil;

look to others for fortune. Now my right hand in battle

will keep you safe and lead you on to great rewards.

Later, when your years have ripened into manhood, be sure

to remember: recall in your heart the examples of your kin,

440and let your father Aeneas and your uncle Hector spur you on."

When he had spoken, he strode towering through the gates,

brandishing the massive spear in his hand. At once, in close array,

Antheus and Mnestheus rushed forward, and the whole throng poured

from the camp they left behind. Then the field churned in blinding dust,

445and the roused earth shook beneath the pounding of feet.

Turnus saw them coming from the opposite height;

the Ausonians saw them too, and an icy shudder ran

through the marrow of their bones. Juturna, first among all the Latins,

heard and recognized the sound, then shrank back in terror.

450Aeneas flies on, sweeping his dust-dark column across the open field.

Like a storm cloud when the sky bursts into tempest, moving

toward land across mid-sea: ah, far off the wretched farmers'

foreboding hearts shudder. It will bring ruin

to trees and havoc to crops; it will tear all down far and wide.

455Winds race ahead and carry its roar to the shore.

So the Rhoetean leader drives his column against

the enemy; in close-packed wedges each man crowds

in. Thymbraeus strikes formidable Osiris with his sword;

Mnestheus strikes Archetius; Achates cuts down Epulo;

460Gyas cuts down Ufens. Tolumnius the augur himself falls,

the first to have hurled a weapon against his foes.

A shout rises to heaven, and now in turn the Rutulians wheel

and show their backs in dusty flight across the fields.

Aeneas does not deign to consign fleeing men to Death,

465or pursue men who meet him on equal terms on foot or bear arms.

Turnus alone he hunts through the dense dust-cloud,

ranging the field; Turnus alone he calls to combat.

468Hoc concussa metu mentem Iuturna virago

aurigam Turni media inter lora Metiscum

470excutit et longe lapsum temone relinquit:

ipsa subit manibusque undantis flectit habenas,

cuncta gerens, vocemque et corpus et arma Metisci.

Nigra velut magnas domini cum divitis aedes

pervolat et pennis alta atria lustrat hirundo,

475pabula parva legens nidisque loquacibus escas,

et nunc porticibus vacuis, nunc umida circum

stagna sonat: similis medios Iuturna per hostis

fertur equis rapidoque volans obit omnia curru

iamque hic germanum iamque hic ostentat ovantem

480nec conferre manum patitur, volat avia longe.

Haud minus Aeneas tortos legit obvius orbes

vestigatque virum et disiecta per agmina magna

voce vocat. Quotiens oculos coniecit in hostem

alipedumque fugam cursu temptavit equorum,

485aversos totiens currus Iuturna retorsit.

Heu quid agat? Vario nequiquam fluctuat aestu,

diversaeque vocant animum in contraria curae.

Huic Messapus, uti laeva duo forte gerebat

lenta levis cursu praefixa hastilia ferro,

490horum unum certo contorquens dirigit ictu.

Substitit Aeneas et se collegit in arma,

poplite subsidens; apicem tamen incita summum

hasta tulit summasque excussit vertice cristas.

Tum vero adsurgunt irae; insidiisque subactus,

495diversos ubi sensit equos currumque referri,

multa Iovem et laesi testatus foederis aras

iam tandem invadit medios et Marte secundo

terribilis saevam nullo discrimine caedem

suscitat irarumque omnis effundit habenas.

468Shaken to the heart by this fear, the warrior Juturna

hurls Turnus' charioteer Metiscus from his place among the reins

470and leaves him tumbled far from the chariot-pole.

She takes his place and guides the flowing reins in her hands,

assuming all of Metiscus: his voice, his body, and his armor.

As a black swallow flits through the great house

of a wealthy lord and ranges the high halls on its wings,

475gathering scraps of food for its chattering nestlings,

and sends its cry now through empty colonnades, now around

the damp pools: so Juturna speeds among the enemy,

borne by her horses, flying in her swift chariot through every quarter.

Now here, now there, she displays her exultant brother

480but never lets him close in combat; she races far over trackless ground.

Aeneas no less runs to intercept each winding circuit,

tracking the man and calling through the scattered ranks

in a mighty voice. Whenever he catches sight of his foe

and tries on foot to overtake the wing-footed horses,

485Juturna wheels the chariot away from him again.

What can he do? In vain he tosses on a shifting tide,

while rival cares pull his mind in opposite directions.

Messapus, who happened to carry in his left hand

two supple shafts, light in flight and tipped with iron,

490whirls one and sends it straight at Aeneas with sure aim.

Aeneas halts and gathers himself beneath his shield,

sinking to one knee; yet the hurtling spear shears off

the helmet's peak and knocks the topmost plumes from his head.

Then his anger truly surges. Goaded by the trickery,

495when he sees the horses turn aside and the chariot wheel away,

he repeatedly calls Jupiter and the altars of the violated compact to witness.

At last he charges into their midst and, with Mars favoring him,

terrible, stirs up savage slaughter without distinction

and gives his anger utterly free rein.

500Quis mihi nunc tot acerba deus, quis carmine caedes

diversas obitumque ducum, quos aequore toto

inque vicem nunc Turnus agit, nunc Troius heros,

expediat? Tanton placuit concurrere motu,

Iuppiter, aeterna gentis in pace futuras?

505Aeneas Rutulum Sucronem, ea prima ruentis

pugna loco statuit Teucros, haud multa morantem

excipit in latus et, qua fata celerrima, crudum

transadigit costas et cratis pectoris ensem.

Turnus equo deiectum Amycum fratremque Dioren,

510congressus pedes, hunc venientem cuspide longa,

hunc mucrone ferit curruque abscisa duorum

suspendit capita et rorantia sanguine portat.

Ille Talon Tanaimque neci fortemque Cethegum,

tris uno congressu, et maestum mittit Oniten,

515nomen Echionium matrisque genus Peridiae,

hic fratres Lycia missos et Apollinis agris

et iuvenem exosum nequiquam bella Menoeten,

Arcada, piscosae cui circum flumina Lernae

ars fuerat pauperque domus nec nota potentum

520munera conductaque pater tellure serebat.

Ac velut immissi diversis partibus ignes

arentem in silvam et virgulta sonantia lauro,

aut ubi decursu rapido de montibus altis

dant sonitum spumosi amnes et in aequora currunt

525quisque suum populatus iter: non segnius ambo

Aeneas Turnusque ruunt per proelia; nunc nunc

fluctuat ira intus, rumpuntur nescia vinci

pectora, nunc totis in volnera viribus itur.

500What god can now unfold so many horrors for me, what god tell in song

the varied slaughter and deaths of leaders, whom across the whole plain

now Turnus, now the Trojan hero, drives to death in turn?

Was it your will, amid such fury,

Jupiter, that peoples destined for everlasting peace should clash?

505Aeneas meets Sucron the Rutulian; that first clash

halts the fleeing Trojans in their tracks. Sucron delays him little:

Aeneas catches him in the side and, where death comes swiftest, drives

his bloodied sword through the ribs and lattice of his chest.

Turnus, on foot, meets Amycus, thrown from his horse, and Amycus' brother

510Diores. He strikes the first as he charges, with a long spear,

the second with his blade; then hangs their two severed heads from his chariot

and carries them dripping with blood.

Aeneas sends Talus, Tanais, and brave Cethegus to death,

three in a single encounter, and sorrowful Onites too,

515of Echionian name and descended through his mother Peridia.

Turnus kills the brothers sent from Apollo's Lycian fields,

and young Menoetes, an Arcadian who had hated war in vain.

His trade had lain along the streams of fish-rich Lerna;

his home was poor and had known none of powerful men's gifts,

520and his father sowed on rented land.

As fires loosed from different sides race into

a parched forest and thickets of crackling laurel,

or as foaming rivers, rushing down from high mountains,

roar and run to the sea,

525each ravaging its own course, so no less furiously

Aeneas and Turnus rush through battle. Now, now

rage boils within; their hearts, which know no yielding, strain to bursting;

now with all their strength they press on toward wounds.

529Murranum hic, atavos et avorum antiqua sonantem

530nomina per regesque actum genus omne Latinos,

praecipitem scopulo atque ingentis turbine saxi

excutit effunditque solo: hunc lora et iuga subter

provolvere rotae, crebro super ungula pulsu

incita nec domini memorum proculcat equorum.

535Ille ruenti Hyllo animisque immane frementi

occurrit telumque aurata ad tempora torquet:

olli per galeam fixo stetit hasta cerebro.

Dextera nec tua te, Graium fortissime Cretheu

eripuit Turno. Nec di texere Cupencum

540Aenea veniente sui: dedit obvia ferro

pectora, nec misero clipei mora profuit aerei.

Te quoque Laurentes viderunt, Aeole, campi

oppetere et late terram consternere tergo.

Occidis, Argivae quem non potuere phalanges

545sternere nec Priami regnorum eversor Achilles;

hic tibi mortis erant metae: domus alta sub Ida,

Lyrnesi domus alta, solo Laurente sepulchrum.

Totae adeo conversae acies, omnesque Latini,

omnes Dardanidae, Mnestheus acerque Serestus

550et Messapus equum domitor et fortis Asilas

Tuscorumque phalanx Evandrique Arcades alae,

pro se quisque viri summa nituntur opum vi:

nec mora nec requies, vasto certamine tendunt.

529Here Aeneas, as Murranus proclaims his remote forebears

530and ancestors' ancient names, tracing his whole lineage through Latin kings,

with a jagged boulder, the whirling mass of a huge stone,

knocks him headlong from his chariot and spills him on the ground. Beneath reins and yoke

the wheels roll him; above, blow after trampling blow,

the racing hooves crush him, unmindful of their master.

535Turnus meets Hyllus as he charges, roaring wildly in his fury,

and hurls his spear at his gold-bound temples:

through the helmet, the spear stands fixed in his brain.

Nor could your right hand, Cretheus, bravest of Greeks,

save you from Turnus. Nor did Cupencus' own gods shield him

540as Aeneas came: he offered his breast to the oncoming blade,

and his bronze shield's resistance did not help the wretched man.

You too, Aeolus, the Laurentian fields saw

meet death and stretch your back across the ground.

You fall, whom the Argive battle lines could not

545strike down, nor Achilles, destroyer of Priam's realms.

Here stood the bounds of your death: your lofty home beneath Ida,

your lofty home at Lyrnesus; your grave on Laurentian soil.

So the battle lines turn in full against one another: all the Latins,

all the Dardans, Mnestheus and fierce Serestus,

550Messapus, tamer of horses, and brave Asilas,

the Etruscan phalanx and Evander's Arcadian cavalry.

Each man strains to the full measure of his strength;

there is no pause, no rest: they contend in the vast struggle.

554Hic mentem Aeneae genetrix pulcherrima misit,

555iret ut ad muros urbique adverteret agmen

ocius et subita turbaret clade Latinos.

Ille ut vestigans diversa per agmina Turnum

huc atque huc acies circumtulit, aspicit urbem

immunem tanti belli atque impune quietam.

560Continuo pugnae adcendit maioris imago:

Mnesthea Sergestumque vocat fortemque Serestum

ductores tumulumque capit, quo cetera Teucrum

concurrit legio nec scuta aut spicula densi

deponunt. Celso medius stans aggere fatur:

565Nequa meis esto dictis mora; Iuppiter hac stat,

neu quis ob inceptum subitum mihi segnior ito.

Urbem hodie, causam belli, regna ipsa Latini,

ni frenum accipere et victi parere fatentur,

eruam et aequa solo fumantia culmina ponam.

570Scilicet exspectem, libeat dum proelia Turno

nostra pati rursusque velit concurrere victus?

Hoc caput, O cives, haec belli summa nefandi:

ferte faces propere foedusque reposcite flammis.

Dixerat, atque animis pariter certantibus omnes

575dant cuneum densaque ad muros mole feruntur.

554At this point Venus, his mother, loveliest of all, puts it into Aeneas' mind:

555he should make for the walls and turn his army against the city

at once, and throw the Latins into confusion with sudden devastation.

As he tracks Turnus through the scattered ranks

and turns his gaze this way and that, he sees the city,

untouched by so great a war, at rest and unpunished.

560At once the vision of a greater battle sets him afire:

He calls Mnestheus and Sergestus and brave Serestus,

the captains, and takes a mound, where all the rest of the Trojan

legion gathers in close ranks without laying down shield or spear.

Standing among them on the high mound, he says:

565"Let there be no delay in carrying out my words. Jupiter stands with us,

and let no one lag because my undertaking is sudden.

Today I will uproot the city, the cause of this war, Latinus' own kingdom,

unless they declare that, beaten, they will take the bridle and submit;

I will level its smoking rooftops with the ground.

570Am I really to wait until Turnus chooses to face us in battle

and, though beaten, wishes to clash once more?

This city, fellow citizens, is the source and sum of this accursed war:

bring torches quickly, and with flames exact the compact's due."

He finishes. All alike, their eager spirits vying,

575form a wedge and surge in a dense mass toward the walls.

576Scalae improviso subitusque apparuit ignis.

Discurrunt alii ad portas primosque trucidant,

ferrum alii torquent et obumbrant aethera telis.

Ipse inter primos dextram sub moenia tendit

580Aeneas magnaque incusat voce Latinum

testaturque deos, iterum se ad proelia cogi,

bis iam Italos hostis, haec altera foedera rumpi.

Exoritur trepidos inter discordia civis:

urbem alii reserare iubent et pandere portas

585Dardanidis ipsumque trahunt in moenia regem,

arma ferunt alii et pergunt defendere muros.

Inclusas ut cum latebroso in pumice pastor

vestigavit apes fumoque implevit amaro:

illae intus trepidae rerum per cerea castra

590discurrunt magnisque acuunt stridoribus iras;

volvitur ater odor tectis, tum murmure caeco

intus saxa sonant, vacuas it fumus ad auras.

576Without warning, scaling ladders appear and fire breaks out.

Some race to the gates and slaughter the first men they meet;

others send steel whirling and darken the sky with missiles.

Aeneas himself, among the foremost beneath the walls, stretches out his right hand

580and in a mighty voice accuses Latinus,

calling the gods to witness that he is again being forced into battle:

that twice now the Italians have become his enemies, that this second compact is being broken.

Dissension erupts among the panic-stricken citizens:

some demand that the city be unbarred and its gates thrown open

585to the Dardans, and drag the king himself to the ramparts;

others take up arms and set about defending the walls,

as when a shepherd has tracked down bees enclosed in a porous rock

and filled its crannies with bitter smoke:

inside, frantic at their plight, through their waxen camp

590they scatter and whet their rage with loud buzzing;

dark fumes roll through their dwellings; then, with a muffled hum,

the rocks resound within, while smoke streams out into the open air.

593Accidit haec fessis etiam fortuna Latinis,

quae totam luctu concussit funditus urbem.

595Regina ut tectis venientem prospicit hostem,

incessi muros, ignis ad tecta volare,

nusquam acies contra Rutulas, nulla agmina Turni:

infelix pugnae iuvenem in certamine credit

exstinctum et, subito mentem turbata dolore,

600se causam clamat crimenque caputque malorum,

multaque per maestum demens effata furorem

purpureos moritura manu discindit amictus

et nodum informis leti trabe nectit ab alta.

Quam cladem miserae postquam accepere Latinae,

605filia prima manu flavos Lavinia crinis

et roseas laniata genas, tum cetera circum

turba furit: resonant late plangoribus aedes.

Hinc totam infelix volgatur fama per urbem.

Demittunt mentes; it scissa veste Latinus,

610coniugis attonitus fatis urbisque ruina,

canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans.

Multaque se incusat, qui non acceperit ante

Dardanium Aenean generumque adsciverit ultro.

593This too befell the weary Latins,

a blow that shook the whole city to its foundations with grief.

595When the queen from the roofs sees the enemy advancing,

the walls under assault, fires flying toward the houses,

nowhere Rutulian ranks in opposition, no companies of Turnus,

in her misery she thinks the young man has been killed in battle,

and, her mind thrown into confusion by sudden grief,

600she cries that she herself is the cause, the guilt, the source of the disaster;

and, mad, after uttering many things in her mournful frenzy,

resolved on death, she tears her purple garments with her hand

and from a high beam ties the noose of a hideous death.

When the wretched Latin women learned of this disaster,

605first Lavinia, her daughter, tears her golden hair with her hand

and rends her rosy cheeks; then all the crowd around her

goes wild: the palace resounds far and wide with lamentation.

From there the woeful rumor spreads through the whole city.

Their spirits sink; Latinus goes about with his garment torn,

610stunned by his wife's fate and the ruin of his city,

defiling his white hair, showered with filthy dust.

Again and again he blames himself that he had not earlier received

Dardanian Aeneas and of his own will taken him as son-in-law.

614Interea extremo bellator in aequore Turnus

615palantis sequitur paucos iam segnior atque

iam minus atque minus successu laetus equorum

attulit hunc illi caecis terroribus aura

commixtum clamorem adrectasque impulit aures

confusae sonus urbis et inlaetabile murmur.

620Ei mihi! Quid tanto turbantur moenia luctu?

Quisve ruit tantus diversa clamor ab urbe?

Sic ait adductisque amens subsistit habenis.

Atque huic, in faciem soror ut conversa Metisci

aurigae currumque et equos et lora regebat,

625talibus occurrit dictis: Hac, Turne, sequamur

Troiugenas, qua prima viam victoria pandit;

sunt alii, qui tecta manu defendere possint.

Ingruit Aeneas Italis et proelia miscet:

et nos saeva manu mittamus funera Teucris.

630Nec numero inferior pugnae nec honore recedes.

Turnus ad haec:

O soror, et dudum adgnovi, cum prima per artem

foedera turbasti teque haec in bella dedisti,

et nunc nequiquam fallis dea. Sed quis Olympo

635demissam tantos voluit te ferre labores?

An fratris miseri letum ut crudele videres?

Nam quid ago? Aut quae iam spondet Fortuna salutem?

Vidi oculos ante ipse meos me voce vocantem

Murranum, quo non superat mihi carior alter,

640oppetere ingentem atque ingenti volnere victum.

Occidit infelix nostrum ne dedecus Ufens

adspiceret; Teucri potiuntur corpore et armis.

Exscindine domos (id rebus defuit unum)

perpetiar, dextra nec Drancis dicta refellam?

645Terga dabo et Turnum fugientem haec terra videbit?

Usque adeone mori miserum est? Vos O mihi Manes

este boni, quoniam superis aversa voluntas!

Sancta ad vos anima atque istius nescia culpae

descendam, magnorum haud umquam indignus avorum.

614Meanwhile Turnus the warrior, at the far end of the plain,

615pursued a few scattered stragglers, already flagging,

now less and less pleased with his horses' speed.

The breeze carried that uproar to him, mixed with terrors unseen,

and his straining ears were struck

by the sound of the city in confusion and its joyless murmur.

620"Ah me! Why are the walls in turmoil with such grief?

What mighty clamor comes rushing from the city in the opposite quarter?"

So he cried; distraught, he drew the reins taut and halted.

His sister, transformed into the likeness of his charioteer Metiscus

and now controlling his chariot, horses, and reins,

625countered him with these words: "This way, Turnus; let us pursue

the Trojan-born, where victory first opens a path;

there are others who can defend the houses by force.

Aeneas bears down on the Italians and embroils them in battle;

let us too deal savage death to the Trojans with our own hands.

630You will come away from battle inferior neither in tally nor in honor."

Turnus answered her:

"O sister, I recognized you long ago, when first by artifice

you broke the compact and committed yourself to this war;

even now, goddess, your deception is in vain. But who willed

635you to be sent down from Olympus to endure such ordeals?

Was it so that you might see your wretched brother's cruel death?

For what am I to do? What safety does Fortune promise now?

With my own eyes I saw Murranus calling out to me,

Murranus, than whom no one dearer remains to me,

640die, great as he was, overcome by a great wound.

Unhappy Ufens fell so that he would not see our disgrace;

the Trojans now possess his body and his arms.

Am I to suffer our homes to be razed—the one thing our fortunes

still lacked—and not refute Drances' words with my right hand?

645Shall I turn my back? Shall this land see Turnus fleeing?

Is it so utterly wretched to die? O spirits of the dead,

be gracious to me, since the will of the gods above has turned against me!

I will descend to you, a spirit unstained and guiltless of that charge,

never unworthy of my great ancestors."

650Vix ea fatus erat: medios volat ecce per hostis

vectus equo spumante Saces, adversa sagitta

saucius ora, ruitque implorans nomine Turnum:

Turne, in te suprema salus: miserere tuorum.

Fulminat Aeneas armis summasque minatur

655deiecturum arces Italum exscidioque daturum;

iamque faces ad tecta volant. In te ora Latini,

in te oculos referunt; mussat rex ipse Latinus,

quos generos vocet aut quae sese ad foedera flectat.

Praeterea regina, tui fidissima, dextra

660occidit ipsa sua lucemque exterrita fugit.

Soli pro portis Messapus et acer Atinas

sustentant aciem. Circum hos utrimque phalanges

stant densae, strictisque seges mucronibus horret

ferrea: tu currum deserto in gramine versas.

665Obstipuit varia confusus imagine rerum

Turnus et obtutu tacito stetit. Aestuat ingens

uno in corde pudor mixtoque insania luctu

et furiis agitatus amor et conscia virtus.

Ut primum discussae umbrae et lux reddita menti,

670ardentis oculorum orbes ad moenia torsit

turbidus eque rotis magnam respexit ad urbem.

Ecce autem flammis inter tabulata volutus

ad caelum undabat vortex turrimque tenebat,

turrim, compactis trabibus quam eduxerat ipse

675subdideratque rotas pontisque instraverat altos.

Iam iam fata, soror, superant; absiste morari;

quo deus et quo dura vocat Fortuna, sequamur.

Stat conferre manum Aeneae, stat quidquid acerbi est

morte pati; neque me indecorem, germana, videbis

680amplius. Hunc, oro, sine me furere ante furorem.

650He had scarcely spoken when suddenly, flying through the enemy's midst,

Saces came riding a foaming horse, struck full

in the face by an arrow; he rushed up, calling Turnus by name:

"Turnus, our last hope rests in you. Have pity on your people!

Aeneas thunders in arms and threatens to tear down

655the highest towers of Italy and give them over to destruction;

already firebrands fly onto the roofs. The Latins turn their faces

and their eyes toward you. King Latinus himself falters over

which of the two to call his son-in-law and which compact to embrace.

Besides, the queen, most faithful to you, by her own hand

660has killed herself and fled the light in terror.

Only Messapus and fierce Atinas before the gates

sustain the battle line. Around them the ranks on either side

stand massed, and a field of iron bristles with drawn blades;

while you wheel your chariot over deserted grass."

665Turnus stood stunned, confounded by this conflicting vision

of events, his gaze silent. Within his single heart seethed

a vast shame, madness mingled with grief,

love goaded by frenzy, and valor conscious of itself.

As soon as the shadows broke and light returned to his mind,

670he wheeled his burning eyes toward the walls

and, in turmoil, looked back from his chariot to the great city.

And there, among the stories, a fire-wrapped vortex

billowed skyward and engulfed a tower,

a tower he himself had raised from fitted beams,

675set on wheels, and furnished with high gangways.

"Now, now, sister, the fates prevail. Delay me no longer.

Let us follow where the god and harsh Fortune call.

My purpose stands: to meet Aeneas hand to hand and endure

whatever bitterness death holds. No longer, sister,

680will you see me dishonored. Only let me rage out this fury first, I beg you."

681Dixit et e curru saltum dedit ocius arvis

perque hostis, per tela ruit maestamque sororem

deserit ac rapido cursu media agmina rumpit.

Ac veluti montis saxum de vertice praeceps

685cum ruit avulsum vento, seu turbidus imber

proluit aut annis solvit sublapsa vetustas;

fertur in abruptum magno mons improbus actu

exsultatque solo, silvas armenta virosque

involvens secum: disiecta per agmina Turnus

690sic urbis ruit ad muros, ubi plurima fuso

sanguine terra madet striduntque hastilibus aurae,

significatque manu et magno simul incipit ore:

Parcite iam, Rutuli, et vos tela inhibete, Latini;

quaecumque est Fortuna, mea est: me verius unum

695pro vobis foedus luere et decernere ferro.

Discessere omnes medii spatiumque dedere.

At pater Aeneas audito nomine Turni

deserit et muros et summas deserit arces

praecipitatque moras omnis, opera omnia rumpit,

700laetitia exsultans, horrendumque intonat armis;

quantus Athos aut quantus Eryx aut ipse coruscis

cum fremit ilicibus quantus gaudetque nivali

vertice se attollens pater Appenninus ad auras.

Iam vero et Rutuli certatim et Troes et omnes

705convertere oculos Itali, quique alta tenebant

moenia quique imos pulsabant ariete muros,

armaque deposuere umeris. Stupet ipse Latinus

ingentis, genitos diversis partibus orbis,

inter se coiisse viros et cernere ferro.

681He spoke, then from the chariot leapt swiftly onto the plain,

rushed through foes, through weapons, left his grieving sister,

and with a rapid run broke through the middle ranks.

And as when a rock, headlong from a mountain peak,

685comes hurtling down, torn loose by wind, or when turbid rain

has washed it free, or age, undermining it through the years, has worked it loose;

the ruthless mountain-mass is borne down the steep

in mighty force and bounds along the ground, rolling up

woods, herds, and men with it, so through the scattered ranks

690Turnus rushed to the city walls, where the ground

lay drenched with spilled blood and the air shrilled with spear-shafts,

and signaled with his hand and at once began in a loud voice:

"Stay your hands now, Rutulians, and you Latins, hold back your weapons;

whatever Fortune brings is mine. More rightly I alone

695should pay the broken compact's penalty on your behalf and decide it with the sword."

All withdrew from the midst and gave him space.

But father Aeneas, at the sound of Turnus' name,

abandons the walls, abandons the topmost towers,

hurls aside all delay and breaks off all assault-works,

700exulting with joy, and thundering terribly in his arms;

as huge as Athos or as huge as Eryx, or as father Apennine himself,

when he roars with quivering holm-oaks and delights

to lift his snowy summit high into the air.

Then indeed Rutulians and Trojans and all the Italians

705turned their eyes eagerly, both those who held the high

walls and those who battered the lower ramparts with the ram,

and lowered the weapons from their shoulders. Latinus himself stood amazed

that men so mighty, born in far-separated regions of the world,

had met each other here to decide it with the sword.

710Atque illi, ut vacuo patuerunt aequore campi,

procursu rapido, coniectis eminus hastis,

invadunt Martem clipeis atque aere sonoro.

Dat gemitum tellus; tum crebros ensibus ictus

congeminant: fors et virtus miscentur in unum.

715Ac velut ingenti Sila summove Taburno

cum duo conversis inimica in proelia tauri

frontibus incurrunt; pavidi cessere magistri,

stat pecus omne metu mutum mussantque iuvencae,

quis nemori imperitet, quem tota armenta sequantur;

720illi inter sese multa vi volnera miscent

cornuaque obnixi infigunt et sanguine largo

colla armosque lavant; gemitu nemus omne remugit:

non alitur Tros Aeneas et Daunius heros

concurrunt clipeis; ingens fragor aethera complet.

725Iuppiter ipse duas aequato examine lances

sustinet et fata imponit diversa duorum,

quem damnet labor et quo vergat pondere letum;

Emicat hic, impune putans, et corpore toto

alte sublatum consurgit Turnus in ensem

730et ferit: exclamant Troes trepidique Latini,

arrectaeque amborum acies. At perfidus ensis

frangitur in medioque ardentem deserit ictu

ni fuga subsidio subeat. Fugit ocior euro,

ut capulum ignotum dextramque aspexit inermem.

735Fama est praecipitem, cum prima in proelia iunctos

conscendebat equos, patrio mucrone relicto,

dum trepidat, ferrum aurigae rapuisse Metisci.

Idque diu, dum terga dabant palantia Teucri,

suffecit: postquam arma dei ad Volcania ventumst,

740mortalis mucro glacies ceu futilis ictu

dissiluit; fulva resplendent fragmina harena.

Ergo amens diversa fuga petit aequora Turnus

et nunc huc, inde huc incertos implicat orbes

undique enim densa Teucri inclusere corona,

745atque hinc vasta palus, hinc ardua moenia cingunt.

710And when the open field lay clear before them,

they charge at a run, first hurling their spears from afar,

then rush into battle with shields and ringing bronze.

The earth groans; then with swords they redouble rapid blow

on blow: chance and valor meet as one.

715As when on mighty Sila or high Taburnus

two bulls turn, brow to brow, for hostile battle

and charge; the frightened herdsmen have withdrawn,

all the herd stands mute with fear, and the heifers low,

wondering who will rule the grove, whom the whole herd will follow.

720The bulls exchange wounds with tremendous force,

strain and drive their horns deep, and in streaming blood

bathe their necks and shoulders; the whole grove bellows back at their groans.

So too Trojan Aeneas and the Daunian hero

rush shield against shield; the enormous crash fills the upper air.

725Jupiter himself holds up the two pans, the beam level,

and sets upon them the differing fates of the two men,

to see whom the struggle condemns and which way death's weight will tip.

Turnus springs forward, sure he can strike without harm; with his whole body

he rises into the blow, sword lifted high,

730and strikes. The Trojans shout, the frightened Latins too,

and the ranks on either side stand tense. But the treacherous sword

breaks and deserts fiery Turnus midway through the stroke—

his only rescue is flight. Swifter than the East Wind, he flees

the moment he sees the unfamiliar hilt and his right hand weaponless.

735The story goes that, in headlong haste, when first he mounted

his yoked team for battle, leaving his father's blade behind,

he snatched the sword of Metiscus, his charioteer, in his confusion.

For a long while it served, as the scattered Trojans showed their backs;

but when it met the divine armor forged by Vulcan,

740the mortal blade, brittle as ice beneath the blow,

burst apart; its fragments glitter on the tawny sand.

So Turnus, frantic, flees across the plain in every direction,

now this way, now that, weaving uncertain circles;

for the Trojans have hemmed him in with a dense ring on every side,

745while here a vast marsh, there the high walls, enclose him.

746Nec minus Aeneas, quamquam tardata sagitta

interdum genua impediunt cursumque recusant,

insequitur trepidique pedem pede fervidus urget:

inclusum veluti siquando flumine nanctus

750cervum aut puniceae saeptum formidine pinnae

venator cursu canis et latratibus instat;

ille autem, insidiis et ripa territus alta,

mille fugit refugitque vias; at vividus Umber

haeret hians, iam iamque tenet similisque tenenti

755increpuit malis morsuque elusus inani est.

Tum vero exoritur clamor, ripaeque lacusque

responsant circa et caelum tonat omne tumultu.

Ille simul fugiens Rutulos simul increpat omnis,

nomine quemque vocans, notumque efflagitat ensem.

760Aeneas mortem contra praesensque minatur

exitium, si quisquam adeat, terretque trementis

excisurum urbem minitans et saucius instat.

Quinque orbis explent cursu totidemque retexunt

huc illuc; neque enim levia aut ludicra petuntur

765praemia, sed Turni de vita et sanguine certant.

746No less does Aeneas pursue, though his knees, slowed by the arrow wound,

sometimes hinder him and refuse to run;

he presses hotly at terrified Turnus' heels:

just as when a hunting hound finds a stag hemmed in by a river

750or penned by fear of the crimson feather-line,

and presses it at a run, barking;

the deer, terrified by the trap and the steep bank,

flees and doubles back a thousand ways, while the keen Umbrian hound

clings close, jaws agape, all but seizes it and, seeming to have caught it,

755snaps its jaws, only to be cheated of the bite.

Then a shout rises, and the banks and pools

echo all around; the whole sky thunders with the tumult.

Turnus, even as he flees, rebukes all the Rutulians,

calling each by name and demanding his familiar sword.

760Aeneas in turn threatens death and instant destruction

to anyone who comes near, and terrifies the trembling men,

vowing to raze their city; wounded, he still presses on.

Five circuits they complete at a run and retrace as many

back and forth; no light prize of the games is sought,

765but they contend for Turnus' life and blood.

766Forte sacer Fauno foliis oleaster amaris

hic steterat, nautis olim venerabile lignum,

servati ex undis ubi figere dona solebant

Laurenti divo et votas suspendere vestes,

770sed stirpem Teucri nullo discrimine sacrum

sustulerant, puro ut possent concurrere campo.

Hic hasta Aeneae stabat, huc impetus illam

detulerat fixam et lenta in radice tenebat.

Incubuit voluitque manu convellere ferrum

775Dardanides teloque sequi, quem prendere cursu

non poterat. Tum vero amens formidine Turnus

Faune, precor, miserere, inquit, tuque optima ferrum

terra tene, colui vestros si semper honores,

quos contra Aeneadae bello fecere profanos.

780Dixit opemque dei non cassa in vota vocavit.

Namque diu luctans lentoque in stirpe moratus

viribus haud ullis valuit discludere morsus

roboris Aeneas. Dum nititur acer et instat,

rursus in aurigae faciem mutata Metisci

785procurrit fratrique ensem dea Daunia reddit.

Quod Venus audaci nymphae indignata licere

adcessit telumque alta ab radice revellit.

Olli sublimes armis animisque refecti,

hic gladio fidens, hic acer et arduus hasta,

790adsistunt contra certamina Martis anheli.

766By chance a wild olive with bitter leaves, sacred to Faunus,

had once stood there, a tree revered by sailors.

There, men saved from the waves used to fasten offerings

to the Laurentian god and hang their votive garments.

770But the Trojans, without scruple, had removed the sacred trunk

so they could clash on an open field.

Here Aeneas' spear stands; the force of its cast had driven it here,

embedded, and the tough root holds it fast.

The Dardanian throws his weight against it, trying to wrench the iron free by hand

775so he can pursue with his spear the man he cannot catch

in the chase. Then Turnus, frantic with fear,

says: "Faunus, pity me, I pray; and you, most gracious Earth,

hold the iron fast, if I have always honored your rites,

which Aeneas' people, unlike me, have desecrated in war."

780He speaks, and his plea for the god's aid is not made in vain.

For though Aeneas struggles long, held back by the unyielding trunk,

no strength of his can loosen the grip

of the hard wood. While he strains fiercely and persists,

Juturna, again transformed into the likeness of the charioteer Metiscus,

785darts forward, and the Daunian goddess returns the sword to her brother.

Venus, indignant that the bold nymph should be allowed such license,

approaches and wrenches the spear from the deep root.

Then both, their weapons and courage restored,

one trusting in his sword, the other fierce with spear held high,

790stand face to face, panting for the contest of Mars.

791Iunonem interea rex omnipotentis Olympi

adloquitur fulva pugnas de nube tuentem:

Qua iam finis erit, coniunx? Quid denique restat?

Indigetem Aenean scis ipsa et scire fateris

795deberi caelo fatisque ad sidera tolli.

Quid struis, aut qua spe gelidis in nubibus haeres?

Mortalin decuit violari volnere divom,

aut ensem (quid enim sine te Iuturna valeret?)

ereptum reddi Turno et vim crescere victis?

800Desine iam tandem precibusque inflectere nostris,

ni te tantus edit tacitam dolor et mihi curae

saepe tuo dulci tristes ex ore recursent,

ventum ad supremum est. Terris agitare vel undis

Troianos potuisti, infandum adcendere bellum,

805deformare domum et luctu miscere hymenaeos:

ulterius temptare veto. Sic Iuppiter orsus;

sic dea submisso contra Saturnia voltu:

Ista quidem quia nota mihi tua, magne, voluntas,

Iuppiter, et Turnum et terras invita reliqui;

810nec tu me aeria solam nunc sede videres

digna indigna pati, sed flammis cincta sub ipsa

starem acie traheremque inimica in proelia Teucros.

Iuturnam misero, fateor, succurrere fratri

suasi et pro vita maiora audere probavi,

815non ut tela tamen, non ut contenderet arcum:

adiuro Stygii caput implacabile fontis,

una superstitio superis quae reddita divis.

Et nunc cedo equidem pugnasque exosa relinquo.

Illud te, nulla fati quod lege tenetur,

820pro Latio obtestor, pro maiestate tuorum:

cum iam conubis pacem felicibus, esto,

component, cum iam leges et foedera iungent,

ne vetus indigenas nomen mutare Latinos

neu Troas fieri iubeas Teucrosque vocari

825aut vocem mutare viros aut vertere vestem.

Sit Latium, sint Albani per saecula reges,

sit Romana potens Itala virtute propago:

occidit, occideritque sinas cum nomine Troia.

791Meanwhile Olympus' all-powerful king

addresses Juno as she watches the fighting from a tawny cloud:

"Where will this end now, my wife? What remains at last?

You yourself know, and admit you know, that Aeneas will be the god Indiges,

795claimed by heaven and raised by fate to the stars.

What are you plotting, or what hope keeps you here in the icy clouds?

Was it right that a god be desecrated by a wound from a mortal,

or that the sword snatched away (for what could Juturna achieve without you?)

be restored to Turnus, and fresh strength rise in the defeated?

800Stop now, at last, and yield to my entreaties,

lest such grief consume you in silence and sorrowful cares

return to me again and again from your sweet lips.

We have reached the final limit. You were able on land and sea

to hound the Trojans, kindle an unspeakable war,

805blight a house and mingle marriage with mourning.

I forbid you to venture farther." So Jupiter spoke;

then Saturn's daughter answered him, her face lowered:

"Because I knew that will of yours, mighty

Jupiter, I left Turnus and the land against my will.

810Otherwise you would not see me now alone on my airy throne,

enduring everything, deserved or undeserved. Wreathed in flames,

I would stand in the battle line itself and, as their enemy, drag the Trojans into combat.

I admit I urged Juturna to aid her wretched brother

and approved bolder measures to save his life,

815but not that she wield weapons, not that she draw a bow.

I swear by the implacable source of the Stygian spring,

the one binding dread imposed upon the gods above.

And now I yield indeed, and leave the fighting in disgust.

But one thing, not bound by any law of fate,

820I entreat you for Latium, for the majesty of your people:

when at last they make peace through auspicious marriages, let it be so,

and unite under laws and treaties,

do not make the native Latins change their ancient name,

nor command them to become Trojans and be called Teucrians,

825nor make the men change their language or alter their dress.

Let Latium remain; let Alban kings endure through the ages;

let the Roman line grow mighty through Italian valor:

Troy has fallen; let her stay fallen, name and all."

829Olli subridens hominum rerumque repertor

830Es germana Iovis Saturnique altera proles:

irarum tantos volvis sub pectore fluctus.

Verum age et inceptum frustra submitte furorem

do quod vis, et me victusque volensque remitto.

Sermonem Ausonii patrium moresque tenebunt,

835utque est nomen erit; commixti corpore tantum

subsident Teucri. Morem ritusque sacrorum

adiciam faciamque omnis uno ore Latinos.

Hinc genus Ausonio mixtum quod sanguine surget,

supra homines, supra ire deos pietate videbis,

840nec gens ulla tuos aeque celebrabit honores.

Adnuit his Iuno et mentem laetata retorsit.

Interea excedit caelo nubemque relinquit.

829The creator of humankind and all things answered her with a smile:

830"You are Jove's own sister, Saturn's other child:

you churn such vast waves of anger within your breast.

But come now, lay down this fury you began in vain.

I grant your wish and give way, conquered and willing.

The Ausonians will keep their ancestral speech and customs,

835and their name will remain as it is; mingled only in body,

the Teucrians will be absorbed. I will add their sacred customs and rites

and make them all Latins, speaking with one tongue.

From this union, a people mixed with Ausonian blood will arise;

you will see them surpass mortals and surpass even gods in devotion,

840and no nation will honor you as they will."

Juno assented to his words and, rejoicing, changed her purpose.

Meanwhile she withdrew from heaven and left the cloud behind.

843His actis aliud genitor secum ipse volutat

Iuturnamque parat fratris dimittere ab armis.

845Dicuntur geminae pestes cognomine Dirae,

quas et Tartaream Nox intempesta Megaeram

uno eodemque tulit partu paribusque revinxit

serpentum spiris ventosasque addidit alas.

Hae Iovis ad solium saevique in limine regis

850adparent acuuntque metum mortalibus aegris,

siquando letum horrificum morbosque deum rex

molitur meritas aut bello territat urbes.

Harum unam celerem demisit ab aethere summo

Iuppiter inque omen Iuturnae occurrere iussit.

855Illa volat celerique ad terram turbine fertur.

Non secus ac nervo per nubem impulsa sagitta,

armatam saevi Parthus quam felle veneni,

Parthus sive Cydon, telum immedicabile, torsit,

stridens et celeris incognita transilit umbras:

860talis se sata Nocte tulit terrasque petivit.

Postquam acies videt Iliacas atque agmina Turni,

alitis in parvae subitam conlecta figuram,

quae quondam in bustis aut culminibus desertis

nocte sedens serum canit importuna per umbras,

865hanc versa in faciem Turni se pestis ob ora

fertque refertque sonans clipeumque everberat alis.

Olli membra novus solvit formidine torpor,

adrectaeque horrore comae, et vox faucibus haesit.

843With this settled, the father pondered another plan within himself:

he prepared to send Juturna away from her brother's side in battle.

845Two scourges are said to exist, known as the Dirae:

dark Night bore them and Tartarean Megaera

all in one and the same birth; she wreathed the two alike

in serpent coils and added wings swift as wind.

Beside Jove's throne, at the grim king's threshold,

850these two appear and sharpen dread in wretched mortals

whenever the king of the gods devises ghastly death and plagues,

or terrifies cities that deserve it with war.

Jupiter sent one of them, swift, down from highest heaven

and ordered her to confront Juturna as a warning.

855She flew, borne earthward in a swift whirlwind,

just like an arrow shot from the string through a cloud,

charged with the gall of savage poison and loosed

by a Parthian or Cydonian, an incurable shaft

whistling unseen as it darts through the racing shadows.

860So Night's daughter swept on and sought the earth.

When she saw the Trojan lines and Turnus' ranks,

she suddenly contracted herself into the shape of a small bird,

one that sometimes, perched at night on tombs or deserted rooftops,

sings late and ominously through the darkness.

865Changed into this form, the scourge darted before Turnus' face,

back and forth, screeching, and battered his shield with her wings.

A strange numbness born of terror unstrung his limbs;

his hair bristled in horror, and his voice caught in his throat.

869At procul ut Dirae stridorem adgnovit et alas,

870infelix crinis scindit Iuturna solutos,

unguibus ora soror foedans et pectora pugnis:

Quid nunc te tua, Turne, potest germana iuvare?

Aut quid iam durae superat mihi? Qua tibi lucem

arte morer? Talin possum me opponere monstro?

875Iam iam linquo acies. Ne me terrete timentem,

obscenae volucres: alarum verbera nosco

letalemque sonum, nec fallunt iussa superba

magnanimi Iovis. Haec pro virginitate reponit?

Quo vitam dedit aeternam? Cur mortis ademptast

880condicio? Possem tantos finire dolores

nunc certe et misero fratri comes ire per umbras!

Immortalis ego? Aut quicquam mihi dulce meorum

te sine, frater, erit? O quae satis ima dehiscet

terra mihi Manisque deam demittet ad imos?

885Tantum effata caput glauco contexit amictu

multa gemens et se fluvio dea condidit alto.

869But when from afar she recognized the Dira's screech and wings,

870unhappy Juturna tore at her loosened hair;

his sister clawed her face and beat her breast with her fists:

"What help can your own sister give you now, Turnus?

Or what remains for me now, unyielding as I am? By what device can I prolong

your life? Can I set myself against such a monster?

875Now, this instant, I leave the battle. Do not terrify me, frightened as I am,

foul birds: I know the beating of your wings

and their deathly sound; nor can the imperious commands

of great-hearted Jupiter deceive me. Is this how he repays the virginity he took?

Why did he give me eternal life? Why was the possibility

880of death taken from me? Now at least I could end all this anguish

and accompany my wretched brother through the shades!

I, immortal? Will anything of mine ever be sweet to me

without you, brother? O what earth will gape deep enough for me

and send a goddess down among the deepest shades?"

885When she had said no more, she drew a blue-green veil over her head

and, with many groans, the goddess sank into the river's depths.

887Aeneas instat contra telumque coruscat

ingens arboreum et saevo sic pectore fatur:

Quae nunc deinde mora est? Aut quid iam, Turne, retractas?

890Non cursu, saevis certandum est comminus armis.

Verte omnis tete in facies et contrahe quidquid

sive animis sive arte vales; opta ardua pennis

astra sequi clausumve cava te condere terra.

Ille caput quassans Non me tua fervida terrent

895dicta, ferox: di me terrent et Iuppiter hostis.

Nec plura effatus saxum circumspicit ingens,

saxum antiquum ingens, campo quod forte iacebat,

limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis.

Vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent,

900qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus:

ille manu raptum trepida torquebat in hostem

altior insurgens et cursu concitus heros.

Sed neque currentem se nec cognoscit euntem

tollentemve manus saxumve immane moventem;

905genua labant, gelidus concrevit frigore sanguis.

Tum lapis ipse viri, vacuum per inane volutus,

nec spatium evasit totum neque pertulit ictum.

Ac velut in somnis, oculos ubi languida pressit

nocte quies, nequiquam avidos extendere cursus

910velle videmur et in mediis conatibus aegri

succidimus, non lingua valet, non corpore notae

sufficiunt vires, nec vox aut verba sequuntur:

sic Turno, quacumque viam virtute petivit,

successum dea dira negat. Tum pectore sensus

915vertuntur varii. Rutulos aspectat et urbem

cunctaturque metu letumque instare tremescit;

nec quo se eripiat, nec qua vi tendat in hostem,

nec currus usquam videt aurigamve sororem.

887Aeneas presses him from the front and brandishes

a massive, tree-like spear; from his fierce heart he speaks:

"What delay is left now? Why do you still hold back, Turnus?

890We must settle this not by running, but hand to hand with fierce weapons.

Change yourself into every shape; gather all that

you can command in courage or in craft. Wish to chase

the high stars on wings, or hide, shut fast in hollow earth."

He shakes his head. "Your fiery words do not frighten me,

895fierce as you are; the gods frighten me, and Jupiter my enemy."

Saying no more, he looks around and sees a massive stone,

a massive stone from ancient days that happened to lie in the field,

set as a boundary between farms to settle disputes over land.

Scarcely could twelve picked men bear it on their shoulders,

900men with the bodies that earth produces now;

Turnus snatches it up in a trembling hand and whirls it at his foe,

the hero rising to his full height, his run driving the throw.

Yet he cannot recognize himself running or advancing,

lifting his hands or setting the massive stone in motion;

905his knees buckle; his blood congeals with icy fear.

Then the warrior's stone, tumbling through the empty air,

neither clears the whole distance nor drives its blow home.

As in dreams, when languid sleep has pressed our eyes

at night, we seem to strain in vain to lengthen our eager stride

910and, spent, collapse in the midst of our effort;

the tongue is powerless, the body's familiar strength

fails us, and neither voice nor words will follow:

so for Turnus: however bravely he tries to find a way,

the dread goddess denies him success. Then conflicting thoughts

915wheel within his breast. He looks toward the Rutulians and the city,

hesitates in fear, and trembles as death closes in;

he has nowhere to wrench himself free, no force to attack his foe,

and nowhere sees his chariot or his sister at the reins.

919Cunctanti telum Aeneas fatale coruscat,

920sortitus fortunam oculis, et corpore toto

eminus intorquet. Murali concita numquam

tormento sic saxa fremunt, nec fulmine tanti

dissultant crepitus. Volat atri turbinis instar

exitium dirum hasta ferens orasque recludit

925loricae et clipei extremos septemplicis orbes.

Per medium stridens transit femur. Incidit ictus

ingens ad terram duplicato poplite Turnus.

Consurgunt gemitu Rutuli, totusque remugit

mons circum, et vocem late nemora alta remittunt.

930Ille humilis supplexque oculos, dextramque precantem

protendens, Equidem merui nec deprecor, inquit:

utere sorte tua. Miseri te siqua parentis

tangere cura potest, oro (fuit et tibi talis

Anchises genitor), Dauni miserere senectae

935et me seu corpus spoliatum lumine mavis

redde meis. Vicisti, et victum tendere palmas

Ausonii videre; tua est Lavinia coniunx:

ulterius ne tende odiis. Stetit acer in armis

Aeneas, volvens oculos, dextramque repressit;

940et iam iamque magis cunctantem flectere sermo

coeperat, infelix umero cum apparuit alto

balteus et notis fulserunt cingula bullis

Pallantis pueri, victum quem volnere Turnus

straverat atque umeris inimicum insigne gerebat.

945Ille, oculis postquam saevi monimenta doloris

exuviasque hausit, furiis accensus et ira

terribilis, Tune hinc spoliis indute meorum

eripiare mihi? Pallas te hoc volnere, Pallas

immolat et poenam scelerato ex sanguine sumit,

950hoc dicens ferrum adverso sub pectore condit

fervidus. Ast illi solvuntur frigore membra

vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.

919As Turnus hesitates, Aeneas brandishes the fated spear,

920gauges his chance by eye, and with the force of his whole body

hurls it from afar. Never do stones launched by a siege engine

roar like this, nor do such mighty crashes burst

from a thunderbolt. The spear flies like a black whirlwind,

bearing dreadful destruction; it tears open the rim

925of the cuirass and the outer layers of the sevenfold shield.

Shrieking, it passes through the middle of his thigh. Struck,

huge Turnus collapses to earth, his knee folding beneath him.

The Rutulians rise together with a groan; the whole mountain

around them bellows, and the high woods echo the cry far and wide.

930Humbled and suppliant, he lifts his eyes and reaches out

his pleading right hand. He says: "I have deserved this; I do not plead against it.

Use the fortune that is yours. If any thought of a suffering father

can touch you, I beg you—you too had such a father,

Anchises—pity the old age of Daunus,

935and give me back to my people—or, if you prefer, my body

robbed of light. You have won; the Ausonians have seen me, beaten,

stretch out my hands. Lavinia is your wife.

Do not press your hatred further." Aeneas stood fierce in arms,

his eyes turning, and held back his right hand;

940more and more Turnus' words had begun to sway him

in his hesitation, when high on Turnus' shoulder appeared the ill-fated

sword-belt, its straps flashing with familiar studs,

belonging to young Pallas, whom Turnus had overcome with a wound

and laid low; he wore the enemy's trophy on his shoulders.

945Once Aeneas' eyes drank in those reminders of savage grief,

those spoils, he blazed with fury, terrible in anger:

"You, clad in spoils stripped from one of mine, are you now

to escape my hands? Pallas—Pallas sacrifices you with this wound

and exacts vengeance from your guilty blood."

950Saying this, ablaze, he buries the steel deep in Turnus' breast.

But Turnus' limbs go slack with cold,

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