Aeneid, Book 9: The Siege

1Atque ea diversa penitus dum parte geruntur,

Irim de caelo misit Saturnia Iuno

audacem ad Turnum. Luco tum forte parentis

Pilumni Turnus sacrata valle sedebat.

5Ad quem sic roseo Thaumantias ore locuta est:

Turne, quod optanti divom promittere nemo

auderet, volvenda dies en attulit ultro.

Aeneas urbe et sociis et classe relicta

sceptra Palatini sedemque petit Euandri.

10Nec satis: extremas Corythi penetravit ad urbes

Lydorumque manum collectos armat agrestis.

Quid dubitas? Nunc tempus equos, nunc poscere currus.

Rumpe moras omnis et turbata arripe castra.

Dixit et in caelum paribus se sustulit alis

15ingentemque fuga secuit sub nubibus arcum.

Adgnovit iuvenis duplicisque ad sidera palmas

sustulit ac tali fugientem est voce secutus:

Iri, decus caeli, quis te mihi nubibus actam

detulit in terras? Unde haec tam clara repente

20tempestas? Medium video discedere caelum

palantisque polo stellas. Sequor omina tanta,

quisquis in arma vocas. Et sic effatus ad undam

processit summoque hausit de gurgite lymphas,

multa deos orans, oneravitque aethera votis.

1While these events were unfolding far away in another quarter,

Saturnian Juno sent Iris down from heaven

to daring Turnus, who happened then to be sitting in the grove

of his ancestor Pilumnus, in a consecrated valley.

5Then Thaumas' daughter spoke to him, her lips rose-red:

"Turnus, no god would dare promise this, however much you wished for it;

look, the turning day has brought it of its own accord.

Aeneas has left the city, his comrades, and his fleet behind

and is seeking the realm and seat of Evander on the Palatine.

10Nor is that all: he has pressed on to the farthest cities of Corythus

and is arming a Lydian force, gathered from the countryside.

Why hesitate? Now is the time: call for horses, call for chariots.

Break off all delay; seize the camp in its confusion."

She spoke and rose into the sky on level wings,

15her flight cutting a vast arc beneath the clouds.

The young man recognized her and raised both palms to the stars,

calling after her as she flew:

"Iris, glory of heaven, who drove you through the clouds to me

and brought you down to earth? Where has this sudden radiance

20in the sky come from? I see heaven part at its center

and stars go wandering across its vault. I follow such great omens,

whoever you are who summon me to arms." With these words he went to the stream

and scooped up water from its surface;

with many prayers to the gods, he burdened heaven with vows.

25Iamque omnis campis exercitus ibat apertis,

dives equum, dives pictaï vestis et auri;

Messapus primas acies, postrema coercent

Tyrrhidae iuvenes, medio dux agmine Turnus,

vertitur arma tenens et toto vertice supra est.

30Ceu septem surgens sedatis amnibus altus

per tacitum Ganges aut pingui flumine Nilus

cum refluit campis et iam se condidit alveo.

Hic subitam nigro glomerari pulvere nubem

prospiciunt Teucri ac tenebras insurgere campis.

35Primus ab adversa conclamat mole Caicus:

Quis globus, o cives, caligine volvitur atra?

Ferte citi ferrum, date tela, ascendite muros,

hostis adest, heia! Ingenti clamore per omnis

condunt se Teucri portas et moenia complent.

40Namque ita discedens praeceperat optumus armis

Aeneas: siqua interea fortuna fuisset,

neu struere auderent aciem neu credere campo;

castra modo et tutos servarent aggere muros.

Ergo etsi conferre manum pudor iraque monstrat,

45obiciunt portas tamen et praecepta facessunt

armatique cavis expectant turribus hostem.

25And now the whole army advanced across the open fields,

rich in horses, rich in embroidered dress and gold.

Messapus led the foremost ranks; at the rear

Tyrrhus' young sons kept the column in order, while Turnus, their commander,

moved armed through the center, towering a full head above them all.

30The host moved like the great Ganges rising, its seven streams at peace,

silent in its course, or like the Nile with its rich flood

when it ebbs from the fields and has withdrawn into its channel.

Then the Trojans saw a sudden cloud massing from black dust

and darkness rising over the fields.

35Caicus was first to shout from the rampart facing them:

"What mass is rolling toward us through that black haze, countrymen?

Quick, bring steel, hand out weapons, mount the walls;

the enemy is here. Up!" With a mighty shout, through every gate

the Trojans poured inside and manned the walls.

40For as he left, Aeneas, foremost in arms, had ordered them:

whatever turn events might take in the meantime,

they must not dare form a battle line or trust themselves to open ground,

but guard only the camp and the walls secured by the rampart.

So although shame and anger urged them to join battle hand to hand,

45they still barred the gates and carried out their orders;

armed, they waited for the enemy within the towers.

47Turnus ut ante volans tardum praecesserat agmen

viginti lectis equitum comitatus, et urbi

improvisus adest; maculis quem Thracius albis

50portat equus cristaque tegit galea aurea rubra.

Ecquis erit, mecum, iuvenes, qui primus in hostem?

En, ait et iaculum attorquens emittit in auras,

principium pugnae, et campo sese arduus infert.

Clamore excipiunt socii fremituque sequuntur

55horrisono: Teucrum mirantur inertia corda,

non aequo dare se campo, non obvia ferre

arma viros, sed castra fovere. Huc turbidus atque huc

lustrat equo muros aditumque per avia quaerit.

Ac veluti pleno lupus insidiatus ovili

60cum fremit ad caulas, ventos perpessus et imbris,

nocte super media; tuti sub matribus agni

balatum exercent, ille asper et improbus ira

saevit in absentis, collecta fatigat edendi

ex longo rabies et siccae sanguine fauces:

65haud aliter Rutulo muros et castra tuenti

ignescunt irae, duris dolor ossibus ardet.

Qua temptet ratione aditus et quae via clausos

excutiat Teucros vallo atque effundat in aequum?

Classem, quae lateri castrorum adiuncta latebat,

70aggeribus saeptam circum et fluvialibus undis,

invadit sociosque incendia poscit ovantis

atque manum pinu flagranti fervidus implet.

Tum vero incumbunt, urget praesentia Turni,

atque omnis facibus pubes accingitur atris.

75Diripuere focos; piceum fert fumida lumen

taeda et commixtam Volcanus ad astra favillam.

47Turnus had flown ahead and outstripped the slow column,

accompanied by twenty picked horsemen, and arrived

unforeseen before the city. A Thracian horse dappled white

50bore him, and a golden helmet with a red crest covered his head.

"Who will be first, young men, to join me against the enemy?

There!" he cried, and, whirling his javelin, hurled it into the air

to open the battle, then, towering, strode onto the field.

His comrades answered with a shout and followed him with a roar

55terrible to hear; they marveled at the Trojans' cowardly hearts:

the men would not venture onto level ground or bring

their arms out to meet them, but kept close to camp. Seething, now here, now there,

Turnus circled the walls on horseback, seeking a way in through trackless ground.

And as a wolf lies in wait beside a crowded sheepfold

60and growls at the pens after enduring wind and rain

at dead of night; lambs, safe beneath their mothers,

keep up their bleating, while he, fierce and relentless in his rage,

rages at those beyond his reach; the long-gathered frenzy to feed

torments him, his throat parched for blood:

65just so, as the Rutulian surveyed the walls and camp,

his rage caught fire; pain burned in his hard bones.

How might he test the approaches? By what route could he

shake the penned-in Trojans from behind their rampart and spill them onto open ground?

Then he turned on the fleet, which lay hidden along the camp's flank,

70enclosed all around by embankments and the river's waters;

he called on his exultant comrades for fire

and, himself aflame, gripped a blazing pine torch.

Then they bore down in earnest; Turnus' presence drove them on,

and all the young warriors armed themselves with sooty torches.

75They plundered the hearths; the smoking brand cast a pitch-fed glare,

and Vulcan carried mingled embers to the stars.

77Quis deus, o musae, tam saeva incendia Teucris

avertit? Tantos ratibus quis depulit ignes?

Dicite. Prisca fides facto, sed fama perennis.

80Tempore quo primum Phrygia formabat in Ida

Aeneas classem et pelagi petere alta parabat,

ipsa deum fertur genetrix Berecyntia magnum

vocibus his adfata Iovem: Da, nate, petenti,

quod tua cara parens domito te poscit Olympo.

85Pinea silva mihi, multos dilecta per annos

lucus in arce fuit summa, quo sacra ferebant,

nigranti picea trabibusque obscurus acernis:

has ego Dardanio iuveni, cum classis egeret,

laeta dedi; nunc sollicitam timor anxius angit.

90Solve metus atque hoc precibus sine posse parentem:

ne cursu quassatae ullo neu turbine venti

vincantur, prosit nostris in montibus ortas.

Filius huic contra, torquet qui sidera mundi:

O genetrix, quo fata vocas, aut quid petis istis?

95Mortaline manu factae immortale carinae

fas habeant certusque incerta pericula lustret

Aeneas? Cui tanta deo permissa potestas?

Immo ubi defunctae finem portusque tenebunt

Ausonios olim, quaecumque evaserit undis

100Dardaniumque ducem Laurentia vexerit arva,

mortalem eripiam formam magnique iubebo

aequoris esse deas, qualis Nereia Doto

et Galatea secant spumantem pectore pontum.

Dixerat idque ratum Stygii per flumina fratris,

105per pice torrentis atraque voragine ripas

adnuit et totum nutu tremefecit Olympum.

Ergo aderat promissa dies et tempora Parcae

debita complerant, cum Turni iniuria Matrem

admonuit ratibus sacris depellere taedas.

110Hic primum nova lux oculis offulsit et ingens

visus ab Aurora caelum transcurrere nimbus

Idaeique chori; tum vox horrenda per auras

excidit et Troum Rutulorumque agmina complet:

Ne trepidate meas, Teucri, defendere navis

115neve armate manus: maria ante exurere Turno

quam sacras dabitur pinus. Vos ite solutae,

ite deae pelagi: genetrix iubet. Et sua quaeque

continuo puppes abrumpunt vincula ripis

delphinumque modo demersis aequora rostris

120ima petunt. Hinc virgineae (mirabile monstrum)

quot prius aeratae steterant ad litora prorae

reddunt se totidem facies pontoque feruntur.

77What god, Muses, turned such savage fires away from the Trojans?

Who drove so great a blaze back from their ships?

Tell me. Ancient belief attests the deed, but its fame endures.

80When first, on Phrygian Ida,

Aeneas was building his fleet and preparing to seek the open sea,

the Berecyntian Mother of the gods herself, it is said,

addressed mighty Jupiter with these words: "My son, grant me

what your loving mother asks of you, now that you have mastered Olympus.

85Mine was a pine forest, cherished through many years,

a grove on the highest ridge, to which they brought offerings,

dark with black firs and trunks of maple.

Those trees I gladly gave to the Dardan youth when he needed

a fleet; now anxious fear torments me.

90Dispel my fears, and let your mother's prayers prevail in this:

let them not, battered on any voyage or by a gale,

be overcome; let their birth on my mountains count in their favor."

Her son, who wheels the stars of heaven, replied:

"Mother, to what end do you summon fate? What are you asking for these ships?

95Shall hulls fashioned by mortal hands

have a divine right to immortality, and Aeneas go secure through uncertain dangers?

What god has been granted power so great?

No. Once the ships have finished their course and at last hold

Ausonian harbors as their journey's end, all those that escape the waves

100and carry the Dardan leader to Laurentian fields,

I will strip their mortal shape away and ordain them

goddesses of the great sea, like Nereus' daughter Doto

and Galatea, who cleave the foaming sea with their breasts."

He had spoken. Swearing by his Stygian brother's streams,

105by banks where pitch seethes in a black abyss,

he nodded assent and shook all Olympus with his nod.

So the promised day had come, and the Fates had fulfilled

the appointed span, when Turnus' assault moved the Mother

to drive the torches from her sacred ships.

110First a strange light flashed before their eyes, and a vast

cloud was seen racing across the sky out of the dawn,

with Idaean choirs; then a dread voice fell through the air

and filled the ranks of Trojans and Rutulians:

"Trojans, do not rush in alarm to defend my ships

115or arm your hands: sooner will Turnus be allowed to burn the seas

than these sacred pines. Go free,

go, goddesses of the sea: the Mother commands." And every ship

at once snaps its own moorings free from the bank,

and like a dolphin, plunging its beaked prow, dives

120into the depths. Then forms of maidens, a wondrous portent,

as many as the bronze-beaked prows that had stood along the shore,

emerge and are borne across the sea.

123Obstipuere animis Rutuli, conterritus ipse

turbatis Messapus equis, cunctatur et amnis

125rauca sonans revocatque pedem Tiberinus ab alto.

At non audaci Turno fiducia cessit;

ultro animos tollit dictis atque increpat ultro:

Troianos haec monstra petunt, his Iuppiter ipse

auxilium solitum eripuit, non tela neque ignes

130exspectans Rutulos. Ergo maria invia Teucris

nec spes ulla fugae: rerum pars altera adempta est.

Terra autem in nostris manibus, tot milia gentes

arma ferunt Italae. Nil me fatalia terrent,

siqua Phryges prae se iactant, responsa deorum:

135sat fatis Venerique datum, tetigere quod arva

fertilis Ausoniae Troes. Sunt et mea contra

fata mihi, ferro sceleratam exscindere gentem,

coniuge praerepta: nec solos tangit Atridas

iste dolor solisque licet capere arma Mycenis.

140Sed periisse semel satis est: peccare fuisset

ante satis penitus modo non genus omne perosos

femineum. Quibus haec medii fiducia valli

fossarumque morae, leti discrimina parva,

dant animos. At non viderunt moenia Troiae

145Neptuni fabricata manu considere in ignis?

Sed vos, o lecti, ferro qui scindere vallum

apparat et mecum invadit trepidantia castra.

Non armis mihi Volcani, non mille carinis

est opus in Teucros; addant se protinus omnes

150Etrusci socios, tenebras et inertia furta

Palladii caesis summae custodibus arcis

ne timeant, nec equi caeca condemur in alvo:

luce palam certum est igni circumdare muros.

Haud sibi cum Danais rem faxo et pube Pelasga

155esse ferant, decumum quos distulit Hector in annum.

Nunc adeo, melior quoniam pars acta diei,

quod superest, laeti bene gestis corpora rebus

procurate, viri, et pugnam sperate parari.

123The Rutulians were stunned at heart; Messapus himself,

his horses thrown into confusion, was terrified; the river too hesitates,

125hoarsely sounding, and Tiberinus draws his foot back from the deep.

But bold Turnus' confidence did not fail;

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

"These portents are aimed at the Trojans; from them Jupiter himself

has snatched away their usual aid, not waiting for Rutulian weapons

130or fire. So the sea is barred to the Teucrians,

and there is no hope of flight: half the world is taken from them.

But the land is in our hands; so many thousands of Italian peoples

bear arms. No oracles of fate frighten me,

whatever responses the Phrygians parade:

135enough has been granted to the Fates and Venus, since the Trojans have reached

the fields of fruitful Ausonia. I too have a fate of my own against them:

to root out that guilty race with the sword,

with my bride snatched from me. That grief does not touch only the Atreidae,

nor is Mycenae alone allowed to take up arms.

140To have perished once should be enough; their earlier offense should have sufficed,

if only they did not utterly hate the whole

race of women. Their confidence in the rampart between us

and the delay of the trenches, slight barriers against death, give them heart.

Did they not see Troy's walls,

145built by Neptune's hand, sink into flames?

But you, my chosen men, who among you is ready to cut through the palisade with steel

and storm the alarmed camp with me?

Against the Teucrians I have no need of Vulcan's arms, no need of a thousand hulls;

let all the Etruscans join them at once as allies.

150The Trojans need not fear the dark or the craven theft

of the Palladium, when the guards of the high citadel were cut down,

nor shall we be shut inside the blind belly of a horse:

openly, in daylight, I am resolved to ring their walls with fire.

I will make them admit they are not dealing with Danaans

155and the Pelasgian host, whom Hector held off until the tenth year.

Now then, since the better part of the day is spent,

for what remains, men, refresh your bodies in gladness after success,

and expect battle soon."

159Interea vigilum excubiis obsidere portas

160cura datur Messapo et moenia cingere flammis.

Bis septem Rutuli, muros qui milite servent,

delecti; ast illos centeni quemque sequuntur

purpurei cristis iuvenes auroque corusci.

Discurrunt variantque vices fusique per herbam

165indulgent vino et vertunt crateras aenos.

Conlucent ignes, noctem custodia ducit

insomnem ludo.

Haec super e vallo prospectant Troes et armis

alta tenent, nec non trepidi formidine portas

170explorant pontisque et propugnacula iungunt,

tela gerunt. Instat Mnestheus acerque Serestus,

quos pater Aeneas, siquando adversa vocarent,

rectores iuvenum et rerum dedit esse magistros.

Omnis per muros legio, sortita periclum,

175excubat exercetque vices, quod cuique tuendum est.

159Meanwhile Messapus is charged with posting sentries around the gates

160and ringing the walls with watchfires.

Fourteen Rutulian captains are chosen to keep watch on the walls with troops;

each has a hundred young men following him,

radiant in crimson plumes and flashing gold.

They range on patrol and relieve one another's watches; sprawled on the grass,

165they indulge in wine and drain the bronze mixing bowls.

The fires blaze; the guard spends the night

sleepless in revelry.

From high on the rampart the Trojans survey all this and, armed,

hold the heights. Anxious with fear, they also inspect the gates,

170join the bridges to the battlements,

and carry missiles. Mnestheus and fierce Serestus urge them on,

men whom father Aeneas, should adversity ever call,

appointed commanders of the young and placed in charge of affairs.

All along the walls the entire force, its share of danger drawn by lot,

175keeps watch in shifts, each man at the post he must defend.

176Nisus erat portae custos, acerrimus armis,

Hyrtacides, comitem Aeneae quem miserat Ida

venatrix iaculo celerem levibusque sagittis;

it iuxta comes Euryalus, quo pulchrior alter

180non fuit Aeneadum Troiana neque induit arma,

ora puer prima signans intonsa iuventa.

His amor unus erat, pariterque in bella ruebant:

tum quoque communi portam statione tenebant.

Nisus ait: Dine hunc ardorem mentibus addunt,

185Euryale, an sua cuique deus fit dira cupido?

Aut pugnam aut aliquid iamdudum invadere magnum

mens agitat mihi nec placida contenta quietest.

Cernis, quae Rutulos habeat fiducia rerum.

Lumina rara micant; somno vinoque soluti

190procubuere; silent late loca: percipe porro,

quid dubitem et quae nunc animo sententia surgat.

Aenean acciri omnes, populusque patresque,

exposcunt mittique viros, qui certa reportent.

Si tibi quae posco promittunt (nam mihi facti

195fama sat est), tumulo videor reperire sub illo

posse viam ad muros et moenia Pallantea.

Obstipuit magno laudum percussus amore

Euryalus; simul his ardentem adfatur amicum:

Mene igitur socium summis adiungere rebus,

200Nise, fugis? Solum te in tanta pericula mittam?

Non ita me genitor, bellis adsuetus Opheltes,

Argolicum terrorem inter Troiaeque labores

sublatum erudiit, nec tecum talia gessi,

magnanimum Aenean et fata extrema secutus:

205est hic, est animus lucis contemptor et istum

qui vita bene credat emi, quo tendis, honorem.

Nisus ad haec: Equidem de te nil tale verebar

nec fas, non, ita me referat tibi magnus ovantem

Iuppiter aut quicumque oculis haec aspicit aequis.

210Sed siquis, quae multa vides discrimine tali,

siquis in adversum rapiat casusve deusve,

te superesse velim; tua vita dignior aetas.

Sit qui me raptum pugna pretiove redemptum

mandet humo solita aut siqua id Fortuna vetabit,

215absenti ferat inferias decoretque sepulchro.

Neu matri miserae tanti sim causa doloris,

quae te sola, puer, multis e matribus ausa

persequitur magni nec moenia curat Acestae,

Ille autem: Causas nequiquam nectis inanis,

220nec mea iam mutata loco sententia cedit:

adceleremus, ait. Vigiles simul excitat, illi

succedunt servantque vices: statione relicta

ipse comes Niso graditur, regemque requirunt.

176Nisus stood guard at the gate, a fierce man-at-arms,

Hyrtacus' son, whom the huntress Ida had sent

as Aeneas' companion, swift with the javelin and light arrows;

at his side went Euryalus, his comrade; no one fairer

180stood among Aeneas' followers or wore the armor of Troy,

a boy whose unshorn face bore only the first signs of youth.

A single love bound them, and they rushed to battle side by side;

now too they kept the gate on a shared watch.

Nisus said: "Do the gods instill this ardor in our minds,

185Euryalus, or does each man's own fierce desire become a god to him?

My mind has long been driving me to undertake either battle

or some great venture; it is not content with quiet rest.

You see what confidence in their position has taken hold of the Rutulians.

Few lights flicker; overcome by sleep and wine,

190they lie sprawled; all around is silent. Now hear further

what I am weighing, the purpose rising now in my mind.

All of them, people and leaders alike, demand that Aeneas be recalled

and that men be sent to bring back definite news.

If they promise you the rewards I ask (for me, the glory

195of the deed is enough), I believe that beneath that mound

I can find a way to the walls, to the city of Pallanteum."

Euryalus was stunned, struck by a mighty love of glory;

at once he spoke to his eager friend:

"Do you then shrink from taking me as your companion in this high venture,

200Nisus? Shall I let you go alone into such danger?

That is not how my father Opheltes, seasoned in war,

amid Greek terror and Troy's ordeals,

brought me up from childhood; nor have I borne myself so beside you,

following great-hearted Aeneas through the worst of fate:

205here, here is a spirit that scorns the light of life

and believes the honor you seek is well bought with life."

Nisus answered: "I never feared anything of that kind from you,

nor would it be right. Never. So may great Jupiter, or whatever god

regards this with impartial eyes, bring me back to you triumphant.

210But if—and many things can happen in danger like this—

if some chance or god should sweep me into disaster,

I want you to survive; your youth has the better claim to life.

Let there be someone to reclaim my body from battle or ransom it at a price

and commit me to the customary earth; or if Fortune somehow forbids it,

215offer funeral rites to me in absence and honor me with a tomb.

And let me not become the cause of such grief to your wretched mother,

who alone, boy, out of all the mothers, dared

to follow you and gave no thought to great Acestes' walls."

But Euryalus answered: "You weave empty arguments to no purpose;

220my resolve does not shift from its ground or yield.

Let us hurry," he said, and at once woke the guards; they

took over and kept the watch. Leaving his station,

Euryalus himself walked at Nisus' side, and together they sought the king.

224Cetera per terras omnis animalia somno

225laxabant curas et corda oblita laborum:

ductores Teucrum primi et delecta iuventus

consilium summis regni de rebus habebant,

quid facerent quisve Aeneae iam nuntius esset.

Stant longis adnixi hastis, et scuta tenentes,

230castrorum et campi medio. Tum Nisus et una

Euryalus confestim alacres admittier orant:

rem magnam, pretiumque morae fore. Primus Iulus

accepit trepidos ac Nisum dicere iussit.

Tum sic Hyrtacides: Audite O mentibus aequis,

235Aeneadae, neve haec nostris spectentur ab annis,

quae ferimus. Rutuli somno vinoque soluti

conticuere; locum insidiis conspeximus ipsi,

qui patet in bivio portae, quae proxuma ponto;

interrupti ignes, aterque ad sidera fumus

240erigitur: si fortuna permittitis uti

quaesitum Aenean et moenia Pallantea,

mox hic cum spoliis ingenti caede peracta

adfore cernetis. Nec nos via fallit euntis:

vidimus obscuris primam sub vallibus urbem

245venatu adsiduo et totum cognovimus amnem.

Hic annis gravis atque animi maturus Aletes:

Di patrii, quorum semper sub numine Troia est,

non tamen omnino Teucros delere paratis,

cum talis animos iuvenum et tam certa tulistis

250pectora. Sic memorans umeros dextrasque tenebat

amborum et voltum lacrimis atque ora rigabat.

Quae vobis, quae digna, viri, pro laudibus istis

praemia posse rear solvi? Pulcherrima primum

di moresque dabunt vestri; tum cetera reddet

255actutum pius Aeneas atque integer aevi

Ascanius, meriti tanti non immemor umquam.

224Across the lands every other living creature lay in sleep,

225easing its cares, its heart forgetful of toil;

but the foremost Trojan captains and their chosen warriors

were holding council on the gravest affairs of state:

what they should do, and who should now carry word to Aeneas.

They stood leaning on long spears, their shields in hand,

230in the space between the camp and plain. Then Nisus, with

Euryalus beside him, eagerly begged to be admitted at once:

the matter was grave and worth a pause. Iulus was first

to receive the excited pair, and directed Nisus to speak.

Then Hyrtacus' son began: "Hear me with open minds,

235Aeneas' men, and do not judge our proposal by our years.

The Rutulians, slack with sleep and wine,

have fallen silent. We have found a place for our stealthy passage,

lying open at the crossroads by the gate nearest the sea.

Fires have gone out here and there, and black smoke

240rises to the stars. If you allow us to use this chance

to seek out Aeneas and the walls of Pallanteum,

then, after wreaking great slaughter, you will soon see us

back here with spoils. Nor will the road mislead us as we go:

from the dark valleys we have seen the city's first buildings,

245through constant hunting, and have learned the river's whole course."

Then Aletes, advanced in years and mature in judgment, spoke:

"Gods of our fathers, beneath whose power Troy has always stood,

you do not mean, after all, to destroy the Trojans utterly,

since you have granted such courage to our young men, such steadfast

250hearts." As he spoke, he clasped both youths by the shoulders and right hands,

and tears streamed over his face and cheeks.

"What rewards, brave men, what rewards worthy of such deeds

can I believe may be paid you? The noblest rewards

will come first from the gods and your own character; then all else

255dutiful Aeneas and Ascanius, with his whole life before him,

will repay at once, never forgetting service so great."

257Immo ego vos, cui sola salus genitore reducto,

excipit Ascanius, per magnos, Nise, penatis

Assaracique larem et canae penetralia Vestae

260obtestor; quaecumque mihi fortuna fidesque est,

in vestris pono gremiis: revocate parentem,

reddite conspectum; nihil illo triste recepto.

Bina dabo argento perfecta atque aspera signis

pocula, devicta genitor quae cepit Arisba,

265et tripodas geminos, auri duo magna talenta,

cratera antiquum, quem dat Sidonia Dido.

Si vero capere Italiam sceptrisque potiri

contigerit victori et praedae dicere sortem,

vidisti quo Turnus equo, quibus ibat in armis

270aureus: ipsum illum, clipeum cristasque rubentis

excipiam sorti, iam nunc tua praemia, Nise.

Praeterea bis sex genitor lectissima matrum

corpora captivosque dabit suaque omnibus arma,

insuper his campi quod rex habet ipse Latinus.

275Te vero, mea quem spatiis propioribus aetas

insequitur, venerande puer, iam pectore toto

accipio et comitem casus complector in omnis.

Nulla meis sine te quaeretur gloria rebus;

seu pacem seu bella geram, tibi maxima rerum

280verborumque fides. Contra quem talia fatur

257"No, I myself, whose only safety lies in my father's return,"

Ascanius broke in, "I implore you both, Nisus, by the mighty Penates,

by Assaracus' Lar and ancient Vesta's inner shrine.

260Whatever fortune and good faith are mine

I place in your hands. Bring my father back;

restore him to my sight. Once he returns, there will be no sorrow.

I will give two cups fashioned entirely in silver and embossed with figures,

which my father took from conquered Arisba;

265a pair of tripods, two great talents of gold,

and an ancient mixing bowl given by Sidonian Dido.

But if it falls to me as victor to take Italy and wield its royal power,

and to assign the spoil by lot,

you saw Turnus's horse and the armor in which he rode,

270all in gold: that very horse, his shield and crimson crests

I will set apart from the lot; even now they are your rewards, Nisus.

Besides, my father will give you twelve women, the choicest matrons,

and twelve male captives, each with his own arms,

and beyond these, the portion of the plain King Latinus himself holds.

275But you, revered boy, whose years my own follow

more closely, I now take to my whole heart

and embrace as my companion through every turn of fortune.

No glory will be sought in any enterprise of mine without you;

whether I pursue peace or wage war, I will place the highest trust in you,

280in deeds and words." In reply,

281Euryalus: Me nulla dies tam fortibus ausis

dissimilem arguerit; tantum, fortuna secunda

aut adversa cadat. Sed te super omnia dona

unum oro, genetrix Priami de gente vetusta

285est mihi, quam miseram tenuit non Ilia tellus

mecum excedentem, non moenia regis Acestae.

Hanc ego nunc ignaram huius quodcumque pericli est

inque salutatam linquo: nox et tua testis

dextera, quod nequeam lacrumas perferre parentis

290at tu, oro, solare inopem et succurre relictae.

Hanc sine me spem ferre tui: audentior ibo

in casus omnis. Percussa mente dedere

Dardanidae lacrimas; ante omnis pulcher Iulus,

atque animum patriae strinxit pietatis imago.

295Tum sic effatur:

Sponde digna tuis ingentibus omnia coeptis.

Namque erit ista mihi genetrix nomenque Creusae

solum defuerit, nec partum gratia talem

parva manet. Casus factum quicumque sequentur,

300per caput hoc iuro, per quod pater ante solebat:

quae tibi polliceor reduci rebusque secundis,

haec eadem matrique tuae generique manebunt.

Sic ait inlacrimans; umero simul exuit ensem

auratum, mira quem fecerat arte Lycaon

305Gnosius atque habilem vagina aptarat eburna.

Dat Niso Mnestheus pellem horrentisque leonis

exuvias; galeam fidus permutat Aletes.

Protinus armati incedunt; quos omnis euntis

primorum manus ad portas iuvenumque senumque

310prosequitur votis. Nec non et pulcher Iulus,

ante annos animumque gerens curamque virilem,

multa patri mandata dabat portanda: sed aurae

omnia discerpunt et nubibus inrita donant.

281Euryalus said: "No day will ever prove me unequal

to such bold ventures, whether Fortune falls in my favor

or against me. But above every gift,

I ask one thing of you: I have a mother of Priam's ancient line,

285a poor woman whom neither the land of Ilium held back

when she left with me, nor King Acestes' walls.

Now I leave her unaware of whatever danger this may hold,

without even saying farewell. Night and your right hand are witnesses

that I cannot bear my mother's tears.

290But you, I beg, comfort her in her need and come to her aid when she is left behind.

Let me carry with me this hope in you; I shall go more boldly

into every danger." Struck to the heart, the Trojans gave way

to tears, fair Iulus before them all;

and the image of devotion to a parent touched his heart.

295Then he said:

"Be assured of everything worthy of your great undertaking.

For this mother of yours shall be a mother to me; only Creusa's name

will be lacking. No slight gratitude awaits her for bearing such a son.

Whatever outcome follows this deed,

300I swear by this head of mine, by which my father used to swear:

all that I promise you if you return and our fortunes prosper,

these same rewards shall be held for your mother and your kin."

As he spoke through tears, he unbuckled from his shoulder a sword

inlaid with gold, which Lycaon of Cnossus had crafted with marvelous skill

305and fitted securely in an ivory scabbard.

Mnestheus gave Nisus a hide, the spoil

of a shaggy lion; faithful Aletes exchanged helmets.

Armed, they set out at once. As they went, the whole company

of chiefs, young and old alike, escorted them to the gates

310with prayers. Fair Iulus too,

bearing, beyond his years, a man's courage and concern,

entrusted them with many messages for his father; but the winds

shred them all and consign them vainly to the clouds.

314Egressi superant fossas noctisque per umbram

315castra inimica petunt, multis tamen ante futuri

exitio. Passim somno vinoque per herbam

corpora fusa vident, arrectos litore currus,

inter lora rotasque viros, simul arma iacere,

vina simul. Prior Hyrtacides sic ore locutus:

320Euryale, audendum dextra; nunc ipsa vocat res.

Hac iter est. Tu, ne qua manus se attollere nobis

a tergo possit, custodi et consule longe;

haec ego vasta dabo et lato te limite ducam.

Sic memorat vocemque premit; simul ense superbum

325Rhamnetem adgreditur, qui forte tapetibus altis

exstructus toto proflabat pectore somnum.

Rex idem et regi Turno gratissimus augur,

sed non augurio potuit depellere pestem.

Tris iuxta famulos temere inter tela iacentis

330armigerumque Remi premit aurigamque sub ipsis

nanctus equis ferroque secat pendentia colla;

tum caput ipsi aufert domino truncumque relinquit

sanguine singultantem; atro tepefacta cruore

terra torique madent. Nec non Lamyrumque Lamumque

335et iuvenem Serranum, illa qui plurima nocte

luserat, insignis facie, multoque iacebat

membra deo victus: felix, si protinus illum

aequasset nocti ludum in lucemque tulisset.

314Once outside, they cross the trenches and through the night's shadow

315make for the enemy camp, though first they are destined to bring

death to many. Here and there across the grass, overcome by sleep and wine,

they see bodies sprawled, chariots standing with shafts raised along the bank,

men among reins and wheels, and weapons lying with them,

wine beside them too. The son of Hyrtacus spoke first:

320"Euryalus, we must dare it with our own hands; the moment itself calls.

This is our path. You, to keep any band from rising

behind us, stand guard and scan the distance;

I will lay this ground waste and lead you through on a broad path."

So he speaks and hushes his voice; at once with his sword he attacks

325proud Rhamnes, who happened to lie propped on piled coverlets,

snoring out sleep from the depths of his chest.

A king himself, he was also the augur dearest to King Turnus,

but by his augury he could not ward off death.

Nearby he strikes three attendants lying heedlessly among the weapons,

330and Remus' armor-bearer and charioteer, whom he finds beneath the horses;

with steel he cuts through their drooping throats;

then he takes their master's own head and leaves the headless trunk

gurgling blood; the ground and couches, warmed with black gore,

are drenched. Nor does he spare Lamyrus or Lamus,

335or young Serranus, who had played dice far into that night,

remarkable for his beauty, and now lay there, his limbs

overcome by too much of the wine-god: fortunate, if only he had kept on,

prolonging his play through the night and into dawn.

339Impastus ceu plena leo per ovilia turbans

340(suadet enim vesana fames) manditque trahitque

molle pecus mutumque metu, fremit ore cruento:

nec minor Euryali caedes; incensus et ipse

perfurit ac multam in medio sine nomine plebem,

Fadumque Herbesumque subit Rhoetumque Abarimque,

345ignaros, Rhoetum vigilantem et cuncta videntem,

sed magnum metuens se post cratera tegebat;

pectore in adverso totum cui comminus ensem

condidit adsurgenti et multa morte recepit.

Purpuream vomit ille animam et cum sanguine mixta

350vina refert moriens; hic furto fervidus instat.

Iamque ad Messapi socios tendebat; ibi ignem

deficere extremum et religatos rite videbat

carpere gramen equos: breviter cum talia Nisus.

sensit enim nimia caede atque cupidine ferri:

355Absistamus, ait, nam lux inimica propinquat.

Poenarum exhaustum satis est, via facta per hostis.

Multa virum solido argento perfecta relinquunt

armaque craterasque simul pulchrosque tapetas.

Euryalus phaleras Rhamnetis et aurea bullis

360cingula, Tiburti Remulo ditissimus olim

quae mittit dona hospitio cum iungeret absens

Caedicus, ille suo moriens dat habere nepoti,

post mortem bello Rutuli pugnaque potiti

haec rapit atque umeris nequiquam fortibus aptat.

365Tum galeam Messapi habilem cristisque decoram

induit. Excedunt castris et tuta capessunt.

339Nisus is like an unfed lion ravaging crowded sheepfolds,

340driven on by maddened hunger, devouring and dragging

the tender flock, mute with fear, and roaring from a bloodied mouth.

Euryalus' slaughter is no less. He too is inflamed

and rages wildly through a great nameless crowd in the camp's midst,

falling on Fadus, Herbesus, Rhoetus, and Abaris.

345The others are unaware; Rhoetus is awake and sees it all,

but, terrified, hides behind a mixing bowl.

At close quarters Euryalus buries the whole sword in Rhoetus' breast

as he rises, then draws it back heavy with death.

Rhoetus vomits out his crimson life, and dying brings back up

350wine mixed with blood; Euryalus presses the stealth attack, still ablaze.

Now he was bearing down on Messapus' companions; there he saw

the last fire failing, and horses properly tethered

cropping grass. Then Nisus, sensing

that slaughter and lust for steel had gone too far, spoke briefly:

355"We must stop," he said. "Hostile daylight is drawing near.

Punishment enough has been exacted; a path is open through the enemy."

They leave behind many of the men's treasures wrought in solid silver,

along with weapons, mixing bowls, and splendid tapestries.

Euryalus seizes Rhamnes' decorated trappings and a golden belt

360set with bosses, gifts that wealthy Caedicus once sent

to Tiburtine Remulus, though absent, when he joined him

in guest-friendship; dying, Remulus left them to his grandson.

After his grandson's death in war, the Rutulians won them in battle.

Euryalus snatches them and fits them to his strong shoulders, all in vain.

365Then he puts on Messapus' well-fitting helmet, adorned with crests.

They leave the camp and make for safety.

367Interea praemissi equites ex urbe Latina,

cetera dum legio campis instructa moratur,

ibant et Turno regi responsa ferebant,

370tercentum, scutati omnes, Volcente magistro.

Iamque propinquabant castris murosque subibant,

cum procul hos laevo flectentis limite cernunt

et galea Euryalum sublustri noctis in umbra

prodidit immemorem radiisque adversa refulsit.

375Haud temere est visum. Conclamat ab agmine Volcens

State, viri. Quae causa viae? Quive estis in armis?

Quove tenetis iter? Nihil illi tendere contra,

sed celerare fugam in silvas et fidere nocti.

Obiciunt equites sese ad divortia nota

380hinc atque hinc omnemque abitum custode coronant.

Silva fuit late dumis atque ilice nigra

horrida, quam densi complerant undique sentes;

rara per occultos lucebat semita calles.

Euryalum tenebrae ramorum onerosaque praeda

385impediunt fallitque timor regione viarum;

Nisus abit, iamque imprudens evaserat hostis

atque locos, qui post Albae de nomine dicti

Albani, tum rex stabula alta Latinus habebat,

ut stetit et frustra absentem respexit amicum.

390Euryale infelix, qua te regione reliqui?

Quave sequar, rursus perplexum iter omne revolvens

fallacis silvae? Simul et vestigia retro

observata legit dumisque silentibus errat.

Audit equos, audit strepitus et signa sequentum.

395Nec longum in medio tempus, cum clamor ad auris

pervenit ac videt Euryalum, quem iam manus omnis

fraude loci et noctis, subito turbante tumultu,

oppressum rapit et conantem plurima frustra.

Quid faciat? Qua vi iuvenem, quibus audeat armis

400eripere? An sese medios moriturus in enses

inferat et pulchram properet per volnera mortem?

367Meanwhile, cavalry sent ahead from the Latin city,

while the rest of the legion remained drawn up across the fields,

were on their way, carrying replies back to King Turnus:

370three hundred men, all bearing shields, under Volcens' command.

They were nearing the camp now, coming up beneath its walls,

when from afar they saw the pair turning along a left-hand track.

There in night's faintly gleaming shadow, Euryalus' helmet

betrayed him, heedless of it, as it caught the rays and flashed them back.

375The sight did not go unheeded. Volcens called out from the column:

"Halt, men! What brings you on this road? Who are you, armed like this?

Where are you bound?" They made no attempt to answer him,

but sped their flight into the forest and trusted the night.

The horsemen threw themselves across the known forks

380on this side and that, and ringed every exit with a guard.

A forest stretched there, bristling far and wide with brush and black holm-oaks,

dense thornbushes choking it on every side;

only here and there did a footpath glimmer through the hidden ways.

The darkness of the boughs and the weight of his spoils

385hampered Euryalus, while fear made him lose his bearings among the paths.

Nisus went on; without knowing it, he had already left behind his enemies

and the country later called Alban from the name of Alba,

where King Latinus then kept his herds in upland folds.

Then he halted and looked back in vain for his missing friend.

390"Ill-fated Euryalus, where have I left you?

By what way can I follow?" He retraced every tangled path

through the treacherous forest and at once followed back

the tracks he had marked and wandered among the silent thickets.

He heard horses; he heard the din and signals of pursuit.

395Scarcely any time passed before a shout reached

his ears, and he saw Euryalus, whom now the whole troop,

through the treachery of ground and night, with sudden uproar confusing him,

had overpowered and was dragging him away, though he struggled in every way, in vain.

What could he do? By what force, with what weapons could he dare

400to wrest the young man free? Or should he throw himself, ready to die, among their swords

and hasten through wounds to a glorious death?

402Ocius adducto torquens hastile lacerto,

suspiciens altam Lunam sic voce precatur:

Tu, dea, tu praesens nostro succurre labori,

405astrorum decus et nemorum Latonia custos.

Siqua tuis umquam pro me pater Hyrtacus aris

dona tulit, siqua ipse meis venatibus auxi

suspendive tholo aut sacra ad fastigia fixi:

hunc sine me turbare globum et rege tela per auras.

410Dixerat, et toto conixus corpore ferrum

conicit: hasta volans noctis diverberat umbras

et venit aversi in tergum Sulmonis ibique

frangitur ac fisso transit praecordia ligno.

Volvitur ille vomens calidum de pectore flumen

415frigidus et longis singultibus ilia pulsat.

Diversi circumspiciunt. Hoc acrior idem

ecce aliud summa telum librabat ab aure.

Dum trepidant, it hasta Tago per tempus utrumque

stridens traiectoque haesit tepefacta cerebro.

402At once, drawing back his arm, he poised the spearshaft,

and, looking up to the Moon on high, prayed aloud:

"Goddess, be present now; come to our aid in this ordeal,

405glory of the stars, Latona's daughter, guardian of the groves.

If ever my father Hyrtacus brought gifts on my behalf

to your altars; if I myself added trophies from my hunting,

hanging them from your dome or fixing them to the sacred gables,

let me scatter this troop, and guide my weapons through the air."

410He spoke, then braced with his whole body and hurled

the weapon. The flying spear cleaved the shadows of night

and struck the back of Sulmo as he turned away; there

it broke, yet its splintered shaft drove through his vitals.

He rolled over, vomiting a hot stream from his chest,

415already cold, his flanks convulsed by long-drawn gasps.

They looked around in every direction. Spurred to greater fury, Nisus

was already poising another spear beside the tip of his ear.

While they panicked, the spear whistled through both of Tagus' temples

and lodged fast in his pierced brain, growing warm.

420Saevit atrox Volcens nec teli conspicit usquam

auctorem nec quo se ardens inmittere possit.

Tu tamen interea calido mihi sanguine poenas

persolves amborum, inquit; simul ense recluso

ibat in Euryalum. Tum vero exterritus, amens

425conclamat Nisus, nec se celare tenebris

amplius aut tantum potuit perferre dolorem.

Me me, adsum qui feci, in me convertite ferrum,

O Rutuli, mea fraus omnis; nihil iste nec ausus

nec potuit, caelum hoc et conscia sidera testor,

430tantum infelicem nimium dilexit amicum.

Talia dicta dabat; sed viribus ensis adactus

transabiit costas et candida pectora rumpit.

Volvitur Euryalus leto, pulchrosque per artus

it cruor, inque umeros cervix conlapsa recumbit:

435purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro

languescit moriens lassove papavera collo

demisere caput, pluvia cum forte gravantur.

At Nisus ruit in medios solumque per omnis

Volcentem petit in solo Volcente moratur.

440Quem circum glomerati hostes hinc comminus atque hinc

proturbant. Instat non setius ac rotat ensem

fulmineum, donec Rutuli clamantis in ore

condidit adverso et moriens animam abstulit hosti.

Tum super exanimum sese proiecit amicum

445confossus placidaque ibi demum morte quievit.

420Fierce Volcens rages, but nowhere can he see

who cast the spear or anyone he can rush upon in fury.

"But you, meanwhile, will pay me with your hot blood

for both of them," he said; and at once, unsheathing his sword,

he moved on Euryalus. Then Nisus, terrified and frantic,

425cried out. He could no longer keep himself hidden in the darkness

or endure so great an agony:

"Me! Me! Here I am: I did it! Turn your steel on me,

Rutulians! The whole offense is mine. He neither dared this

nor could have done it; I call this sky and the stars that know it to witness.

430He only loved his unfortunate friend too much."

He spoke, but Volcens drove his sword home with all his strength;

it passed through Euryalus' ribs and tore open his white breast.

Euryalus rolls over in death. Blood courses over his beautiful limbs,

and his neck gives way, his head sinking onto his shoulders:

435as when a purple flower, severed by the plow,

wilts as it dies; or poppies lower their heads on weary necks

when they happen to be weighed down by rain.

But Nisus rushes alone into their midst; through them all

he seeks Volcens, and fixes on Volcens alone.

440Enemies mass around him and drive him back at close quarters

from either side. Still he presses on and whirls his sword,

flashing like lightning, until he buries it straight in the mouth

of the shouting Rutulian and, dying, takes his enemy's life.

Then he throws himself over his lifeless friend,

445pierced through, and there at last comes to rest in peaceful death.

446Fortunati ambo! Siquid mea carmina possunt,

nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,

dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum

accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.

450Victores praeda Rutuli spoliisque potiti

Volcentem exanimum flentes in castra ferebant.

Nec minor in castris luctus Rhamnete reperto

exsangui et primis una tot caede peremptis,

Serranoque Numaque. Ingens concursus ad ipsa

455corpora seminecisque viros tepidaque recentem

caede locum et plenos spumanti sanguine rivos.

Agnoscunt spolia inter se galeamque nitentem

Messapi et multo phaleras sudore receptas.

Et iam prima novo spargebat lumine terras

460Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile:

iam sole infuso, iam rebus luce retectis

Turnus in arma viros, armis circumdatus ipse,

suscitat, aeratasque acies in proelia cogit

quisque suas variisque acuunt rumoribus iras.

465Quin ipsa arrectis (visu miserabile) in hastis

praefigunt capita et multo clamore sequuntur

Euryali et Nisi.

446Fortunate pair! If my song has any power,

no day shall ever erase you from the memory of the ages,

so long as the house of Aeneas dwells beside the Capitol's immovable rock

and the Roman father holds command.

450Victorious and masters of plunder and spoils, the Rutulians

carried lifeless Volcens back to camp in tears.

No less was the grief in camp when Rhamnes was found

bloodless, and so many leading men slain in the one massacre,

Serranus and Numa among them. A great crowd gathers at the very

455bodies, the men half-dead, the ground still warm from the recent

slaughter, and the streams brimming with foaming blood.

Among themselves they recognize the spoils: the gleaming helmet

of Messapus, and the trappings recovered with such toil.

And now early Dawn was sprinkling the lands with new light,

460leaving Tithonus' saffron bed;

now that the sun streamed out, now that light had laid the world bare,

Turnus, himself fully armed, rouses the men to arms;

each leader drives his own bronze-clad ranks into battle,

and with rumors of every kind they sharpen their rage.

465More than that, pitiful to see, upon upraised spears

they set the very heads and follow with loud shouting,

the heads of Euryalus and Nisus.

468Aeneadae duri murorum in parte sinistra

opposuere aciem, nam dextera cingitur amni,

470ingentisque tenent fossas et turribus altis

stant maesti; simul ora virum praefixa movebant,

nota nimis miseris atroque fluentia tabo.

Interea pavidam volitans pennata per urbem

nuntia Fama ruit matrisque adlabitur auris

475Euryali. At subitus miserae calor ossa reliquit,

excussi manibus radii revolutaque pensa.

Evolat infelix et femineo ululatu,

scissa comam, muros amens atque agmina cursu

prima petit, non illa virum, non illa pericli

480telorumque memor; caelum dehinc questibus implet:

Hunc ego te, Euryale, aspicio? Tune illa senectae

sera meae requies, potuisti linquere solam,

crudelis? Nec te, sub tanta pericula missum,

adfari extremum miserae data copia matri?

485Heu, terra ignota canibus data praeda Latinis

alitibusque iaces, nec te, tua funera mater

produxi pressive oculos aut volnera lavi,

veste tegens, tibi quam noctes festina diesque

urgebam et tela curas solabar anilis.

490Quo sequar, aut quae nunc artus avolsaque membra

et funus lacerum tellus habet? Hoc mihi de te,

nate, refers? Hoc sum terraque marique secuta?

Figite me, siqua est pietas, in me omnia tela

conicite, o Rutuli, me primam absumite ferro:

495aut tu, magne pater divom, miserere tuoque

invisum hoc detrude caput sub Tartara telo,

quando aliter nequeo crudelem abrumpere vitam.

Hoc fletu concussi animi, maestusque per omnis

it gemitus: torpent infractae ad proelia vires.

500Illam incendentem luctus Idaeus et Actor

Illionei monitu et multum lacrimantis Iuli

corripiunt interque manus sub tecta reponunt.

468The steadfast sons of Aeneas, along the left side of the walls,

drew up their line (the river guarded the right),

470and guarded the broad trenches; on the high towers

they stood grieving; the faces impaled there shook them too,

far too familiar to the wretched Trojans and streaming with black gore.

Meanwhile winged Rumor, the messenger, flits through the frightened city,

rushes on and glides to the ears of the mother

475of Euryalus. All at once the warmth left the poor woman's bones;

the shuttles fell from her hands and her yarn unrolled.

The stricken woman flies out, raising a woman's keening,

tearing her hair and, frantic, running toward the walls and battle lines;

she makes straight for them, heedless of the warriors, heedless of the danger

480or the flying spears. Then she fills heaven with her lament:

"Is this how I see you, Euryalus? Could you, the solace

that came late to my old age, have left me all alone,

cruel one? When you were sent into dangers so great,

was your wretched mother given no last chance to speak to you?

485Ah, in a strange land, abandoned as prey to Latin dogs

and birds, you lie. I, your mother, never brought your body to burial,

or closed your eyes, or washed your wounds,

or covered you with the robe I hurried over for you,

pressing the work night and day, soothing an old woman's cares at the loom.

490Where am I to follow you? What land now holds your limbs,

your severed members, your mangled corpse? Is this all of you

that you bring back to me, my son? Is this what I followed over land and sea?

Pierce me, if there is any pity; hurl every spear at me,

Rutulians; make me the first victim of your steel.

495Or you, great Father of the gods, take pity, and with your bolt

drive my hated head down to Tartarus,

since I can end this cruel life no other way."

Her weeping shakes their spirits; through them all

a mournful groan passes, and their strength for battle falters, broken and numb.

500Idaeus and Actor seize her as she kindles their grief,

at the bidding of Ilioneus and Iulus, who weeps bitterly,

and bear her in their arms back under shelter.

503At tuba terribilem sonitum procul aere canoro

increpuit; sequitur clamor caelumque remugit.

505Adcelerant acta pariter testudine Volsci

et fossas implere parant ac vellere vallum.

Quaerunt pars aditum et scalis ascendere muros,

qua rara est acies interlucetque corona

non tam spissa viris. Telorum effundere contra

510omne genus Teucri ac duris detrudere contis,

adsueti longo muros defendere bello.

Saxa quoque infesto volvebant pondere, siqua

possent tectam aciem perrumpere: cum tamen omnis

ferre iuvat subter densa testudine casus;

515nec iam sufficiunt. Nam qua globus imminet ingens,

immanem Teucri molem volvuntque ruuntque,

quae stravit Rutulos late armorumque resolvit

tegmina. Nec curant caeco contendere Marte

amplius audaces Rutuli, sed pellere vallo

520missilibus certant.

Parte alia horrendus visu quassabat Etruscam

pinum et fumiferos infert Mezentius ignis;

at Messapus equum domitor, Neptunia proles,

rescindit vallum et scalas in moenia poscit.

503But far off a trumpet with ringing bronze blared out

a terrible call; a cry follows, and the sky bellows back.

505The Volscians press on together under the advancing shield-roof,

preparing to fill the ditches and tear up the rampart.

Some seek a way in and try to climb the walls with ladders,

where the line is thin and gaps show in the ring,

not packed so thick with men. In answer the Teucrians pour out

510every kind of missile and thrust them back with stout poles,

seasoned by long war in defending walls.

They also rolled down stones of deadly weight, in hopes they might

break through the shielded line; yet for all that,

the attackers are eager to bear every blow beneath the dense shield-roof;

515but now it can no longer hold. For where a great mass of assailants presses close,

the Teucrians roll and hurl down an enormous rock,

which lays the Rutulians low far and wide and breaks apart

their shield-cover. The bold Rutulians no longer choose

to contend in blind fighting; instead, they strive to drive the Trojans from the rampart

520with missiles.

Elsewhere Mezentius, dreadful to behold, brandished an Etruscan

pine-brand and brought smoking fires against them;

but Messapus, tamer of horses, Neptune's son,

tears open the rampart and calls for ladders against the walls.

525Vos, o Calliope, precor, adspirate canenti,

quas ibi tum ferro strages, quae funera Turnus

ediderit, quem quisque virum demiserit Orco;

et mecum ingentis oras evolvite belli,

et meministis enim, divae, et memorare potestis.

530Turris erat vasto suspectu et pontibus altis,

opportuna loco, summis quam viribus omnes

expugnare Itali summaque evertere opum vi

certabant, Troes contra defendere saxis

perque cavas densi tela intorquere fenestras.

535Princeps ardentem coniecit lampada Turnus

et flammam adfixit lateri, quae plurima vento

corripuit tabulas et postibus haesit adesis.

Turbati trepidare intus frustraque malorum

velle fugam. Dum se glomerant retroque residunt

540in partem, quae peste caret, tum pondere turris

procubuit subito et caelum tonat omne fragore.

Semineces ad terram, immani mole secuta,

confixique suis telis et pectora duro

transfossi ligno veniunt. Vix unus Helenor

545et Lycus elapsi. Quorum primaevus Helenor,

Maeonio regi quem serva Licymnia furtim

sustulerat vetitisque ad Troiam miserat armis,

ense levis nudo parmaque inglorius alba;

isque ubi se Turni media inter milia vidit,

550hinc acies atque hinc acies adstare Latinas:

ut fera, quae densa venantum saepta corona

contra tela furit seseque haud nescia morti

inicit et saltu supra venabula fertur,

haud aliter iuvenis medios moriturus in hostis

555inruit et, qua tela videt densissima, tendit.

At pedibus longe melior Lycus inter et hostis

inter et arma fuga muros tenet altaque certat

prendere tecta manu sociumque attingere dextras.

Quem Turnus, pariter cursu teloque secutus,

560increpat his victor: Nostrasne evadere, demens,

sperasti te posse manus? Simul adripit ipsum

pendentem et magna muri cum parte revellit.

Qualis ubi aut leporem aut candenti corpore cycnum

sustulit alta petens pedibus Iovis armiger uncis

565quaesitum aut matri multis balatibus agnum

Martius a stabulis rapuit lupus. Undique clamor

tollitur: invadunt et fossas agere complent;

ardentis taedas alii ad fastigia iactant.

525You, Calliope and sisters, I pray, inspire me as I sing

what carnage by the sword, what deaths Turnus

dealt there then, and whom each warrior sent down to Orcus.

Unroll with me the vast compass of the war,

for you remember it, goddesses, and you can recount it.

530There stood a tower, looming vast, joined by high bridges to the battlements,

well placed, which all the Italians strained with utmost strength

to storm and demolish, mustering all the force they had;

the Trojans opposed them, defending it with stones

and, packed at the open loopholes, hurling spears.

535Turnus was first to hurl a blazing firebrand

and lodge the flame in its flank; fanned wide by the wind,

it seized the planks and clung to the posts it consumed.

Inside, the shaken defenders rushed about in panic, vainly seeking

escape from disaster. As they crowded together and drew back

540into the section untouched by fire, the tower, under their massed weight,

suddenly collapsed; the whole sky thundered with the crash.

Half-dead they struck the ground, the immense structure crashing after them,

impaled on their own weapons, with their chests run through

by hard timbers. Only Helenor and Lycus escaped.

545Helenor was still a youth,

whom Licymnia, a slave, had secretly borne to the Maeonian king

and sent armed to Troy, though arms were forbidden him.

He was lightly equipped, with drawn sword and an unmarked white buckler.

When he saw himself amid Turnus' thousands,

550with Latin battle lines confronting him on either side:

just as a wild beast, hemmed within a dense ring of hunters,

rages against their weapons and knowingly hurls itself

to death, springing upon the hunting spears,

so the doomed young man rushed into the enemy's midst

555and made for the place where he saw the weapons thickest.

But Lycus, far swifter on foot, fled through his foes

and through their weapons, reached the wall, and struggled

to grasp the high rampart and reach his comrades' outstretched hands.

Turnus pursued him, close behind with feet and spear,

560and taunted him in triumph: "Madman, did you hope

you could escape our hands?" At once he seized Lycus

as he clung there and tore him down with a great section of the wall,

like Jove's armor-bearer when, climbing high, it lifts a hare

or a gleaming-bodied swan in its hooked talons,

565or like the wolf of Mars snatching from the fold a lamb

sought by its mother with repeated bleats. Shouts rose on every side:

the attackers surged in and filled the ditches with piled earth;

others hurled blazing brands at the battlements.

569Ilioneus saxo atque ingenti fragmine montis

570Lucetium portae subeuntem ignisque ferentem,

Emathiona Liger, Corynaeum sternit Asilas,

hic iaculo bonus, hic longe fallente sagitta,

Ortygium Caeneus, victorem Caenea Turnus,

Turnus Ityn Cloniumque, Dioxippum Promolumque

575et Sagarim et summis stantem pro turribus Idan,

Privernum Capys. Hunc primo levis hasta Themillae

strinxerat: ille manum proiecto tegmine demens

ad volnus tulit; ergo alis adlapsa sagitta

et laevo infixa est lateri manus abditaque intus

580spiramenta animae letali volnere rupit.

Stabat in egregiis Arcentis filius armis,

pictus acu chlamydem et ferrugine clarus Hibera,

insignis facie, genitor quem miserat Arcens,

eductum Matris luco Symaethia circum

585flumina, pinguis ubi et placabilis ara Palici:

stridentem fundam positis Mezentius hastis

ipse ter adducta circum caput egit habena

et media adversi liquefacto tempora plumbo

diffidit ac multa porrectum extendit harena.

569Ilioneus, with a boulder, a massive fragment of mountain,

570struck down Lucetius as he came up to the gate carrying fire.

Liger killed Emathion; Asilas struck down Corynaeus.

Liger was skilled with the javelin, Asilas with an arrow that deceived from afar.

Caeneus killed Ortygius; Turnus killed the victorious Caeneus.

Turnus killed Itys and Clonius, Dioxippus and Promolus,

575Sagaris too, and Idas as he stood defending the lofty towers.

Capys killed Privernus. Themillas' light spear had first

grazed him; in his folly he cast aside his shield and brought his hand

to the wound. Then Capys' arrow, gliding in on feathered wings,

pinned his hand to his left side and buried itself deep within

580and fatally ruptured the passages of breath.

The son of Arcens stood there in splendid armor,

wearing a needle-embroidered cloak bright with Iberian purple,

remarkable for his beauty. His father Arcens had sent him,

a youth raised in the Mother's grove beside the Symaethian

585waters, where the rich altar of the Palici stood, ready to be appeased:

Mezentius laid down his spears and took up his whistling sling;

he himself swung it three times around his head, its thong drawn taut,

then with its molten lead shot split his adversary's brow

down the middle and stretched him full length across the broad sand.

590Tum primum bello celerem intendisse sagittam

dicitur ante feras solitus terrere fugaces

Ascanius fortemque manu fudisse Numanum,

cui Remulo cognomen erat, Turnique minorem

germanam nuper thalamo sociatus habebat.

595Is primam ante aciem digna atque indigna relatu

vociferans tumidusque novo praecordia regno

ibat et ingentem sese clamore ferebat:

Non pudet obsidione iterum valloque teneri,

bis capti Phryges, et morti praetendere muros?

600En qui nostra sibi bello conubia poscunt!

Quis deus Italiam, quae vos dementia adegit

Non hic Atridae nec fandi fictor Ulixes:

durum a stirpe genus natos ad flumina primum

deferimus saevoque gelu duramus et undis,

605venatu invigilant pueri silvasque fatigant,

flectere ludus equos et spicula tendere cornu.

At patiens operum parvoque adsueta iuventus

aut rastris terram domat aut quatit oppida bello.

Omne aevum ferro teritur, versaque iuvencum

610terga fatigamus hasta; nec tarda senectus

debilitat vires animi mutatque vigorem:

canitiem galea premimus, semperque recentis

comportare iuvat praedas et vivere rapto.

Vobis picta croco et fulgenti murice vestis,

615desidiae cordi, iuvat indulgere choreis,

et tunicae manicas et habent redimicula mitrae.

O vere Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges, ite per alta

Dindyma ubi adsuetis biforem dat tibia cantum!

Tympana vos buxusque vocat Berecyntia Matris

620Idaeae sinite arma viris et cedite ferro.

590Then for the first time in war Ascanius is said to have aimed

a swift arrow, though before he had been accustomed only to frightening fleeing game,

and with his own hand to have struck brave Numanus down.

His surname was Remulus, and he had only lately

married Turnus' younger sister.

595He strode before the foremost rank, shouting things fit and unfit

to tell, his heart swollen by his new royal connection,

and made himself seem immense with all his shouting:

"Are you not ashamed to be held fast again by siege and rampart,

Phrygians twice captured, and to put walls between yourselves and death?

600Look at the men who demand brides from us by force of war!

What god drove you to Italy? What madness?

There are no sons of Atreus here, no Ulysses devising lies:

we are a hard race from the root. First we carry our newborn children

down to the rivers and harden them in bitter cold and river water.

605The boys keep long watches in the hunt and scour the forests;

their sport is to rein horses and shoot arrows from horn bows.

As young men they endure labor and are accustomed to little;

either they subdue the earth with mattocks or assault towns in war.

All our years are worn away with iron; with a spear reversed

610we goad the backs of bullocks; nor does slow old age

weaken the strength of our spirit or alter its vigor.

We press gray hair beneath a helmet and always delight

to bring home ever-fresh plunder and live by pillage.

Your clothes are embroidered in saffron and gleaming purple;

615you cherish idleness and delight in dancing;

your tunics have sleeves, and your Phrygian caps have ribbons.

Phrygian women indeed—for Phrygian men you are not! Go over

Dindyma's heights, where the double pipe sounds its familiar song!

The drums and Berecyntian boxwood pipe of the Idaean Mother

620call you. Leave arms to men and yield before steel!"

621Talia iactantem dictis ac dira canentem

non tulit Ascanius nervoque obversus equino

contendit telum diversaque bracchia ducens

constitit, ante Iovem supplex per vota precatus:

625Iuppiter omnipotens, audacibus adnue coeptis.

Ipse tibi ad tua templa feram sollemnia dona

et statuam ante aras aurata fronte iuvencum

candentem pariterque caput cum matre ferentem,

iam cornu petat et pedibus qui spargat harenam.

630Audiit et caeli Genitor de parte serena

intonuit laevum, sonat una fatifer arcus:

effugit horrendum stridens adducta sagitta

perque caput Remuli venit et cava tempora ferro

traicit. I, verbis virtutem inlude superbis!

635His capti Phryges haec Rutulis responsa remittunt.

Hoc tantum Ascanius. Teucri clamore sequuntur

laetitiaque fremunt animosque ad sidera tollunt.

Aetheria tum forte plaga crinitus Apollo

desuper Ausonias acies urbemque videbat,

640nube sedens, atque his victorem adfatur Iulum:

Macte nova virtute, puer: sic itur ad astra,

dis genite et geniture deos. Iure omnia bella

gente sub Assaraci fato ventura resident,

nec te Troia capit. Simul haec effatus ab alto

645aethere se misit, spirantis dimovet auras

Ascaniumque petit. Forma tum vertitur oris

antiquum in Buten; hic Dardanio Anchisae

armiger ante fuit fidusque ad limina custos,

tum comitem Ascanio pater addidit. Ibat Apollo

650omnia longaevo similis, vocemque coloremque

et crinis albos et saeva sonoribus arma,

atque his ardentem dictis adfatur Iulum:

Sit satis, Aenide, telis impune Numanum

oppetiisse tuis; primam hanc tibi magnus, Apollo

655concedit laudem et paribus non invidet armis:

cetera parce, puer, bello. Sic orsus Apollo

mortalis medio aspectus sermone reliquit

et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram.

Agnovere deum proceres divinaque tela

660Dardanidae pharetramque fuga sensere sonantem.

621As he flung out such words and kept voicing grim threats,

Ascanius could not bear it. Turning toward him, he set

the shaft to a horse-sinew string, drew his arms wide apart,

stood still, and as a suppliant prayed with vows before Jupiter:

625"Almighty Jupiter, favor these daring beginnings.

I myself will bring solemn gifts to your temples

and set before your altars a young bull with gilded brow,

gleaming white and holding its head level with its mother's,

already thrusting with its horn and scattering sand with its feet."

630The Father of heaven heard, and from the clear quarter of the sky

thundered on the left; at the same moment the death-dealing bow rang out:

the drawn arrow shot away with a dreadful hiss,

passed through Remulus' head, and with its iron point

pierced both hollow temples. "Go on, mock valor with proud words!

635This is the answer the captured Phrygians send back to the Rutulians."

That was all Ascanius said. The Teucrians follow with a shout

and roar with joy and lift their spirits to the stars.

Now it chanced in the high reaches of heaven that long-haired Apollo

from above was looking upon the Ausonian battle lines and the city,

640sitting on a cloud, and with these words addressed victorious Iulus:

"Well done in your new valor, boy: so one goes to the stars,

god-born, and destined to beget gods. Rightly all the wars

destined by fate shall come to rest beneath the line of Assaracus,

and Troy cannot contain you." When he had spoken these words from high heaven,

645he darted down, parting the living air,

and made for Ascanius. Then the cast of his face was changed

into old Butes; he had once been Dardanian Anchises'

armor-bearer and faithful guard at the threshold,

and Aeneas had then assigned him to Ascanius as companion. Apollo went

650like the old man in every way, in voice and complexion

and white hair and grim arms that rang aloud,

and with these words addressed eager Iulus:

"Let it be enough, son of Aeneas, that Numanus has met his death

by your shafts, with no penalty to you; great Apollo grants you

655this first glory and does not begrudge you equal feats of arms:

for the rest, boy, hold back from war." So Apollo spoke,

then left mortal sight in mid-speech

and far away vanished from their eyes into thin air.

The Dardanian chiefs recognized the god and his divine weapons,

660and as he departed heard the quiver ringing.

661Ergo avidum pugnae dictis ac numine Phoebi

Ascanium prohibent, ipsi in certamina rursus

succedunt animasque in aperta pericula mittunt.

It clamor totis per propugnacula muris,

665intendunt acris arcus amentaque torquent.

Sternitur omne solum telis, tum scuta cavaeque

dant sonitum flictu galeae, pugna aspera surgit:

quantus ab occasu veniens pluvialibus Haedis

verberat imber humum, quam multa grandine nimbi

670in vada praecipitant, cum Iuppiter horridus austris

torquet aquosam hiemem et caelo cava nubila rumpit.

661So, at Phoebus' words and divine command, they keep

Ascanius, though eager for battle, from the fight; they themselves again

advance into the struggle and expose their lives to manifest danger.

The war cry runs through the battlements all along the walls;

665they draw their strong bows and whirl their javelins by the straps.

The whole ground lies strewn with missiles; then shields and hollow

helmets ring under blows, and savage battle rises:

as fierce as rain that comes from the west beneath the rain-bearing Kids

and lashes the earth; as thick as the hail that storm clouds pour

670into the shallows, when Jupiter, bristling with southern gales,

whirls a water-heavy storm and bursts the hollow clouds in the sky.

672Pandarus et Bitias, Idaeo Alcanore creti,

quos Iovis eduxit luco silvestris Iaera

abietibus iuvenes patriis et montibus aequos,

675portam, quae ducis imperio commissa, recludunt,

freti animis, ultroque invitant moenibus hostem.

Ipsi intus dextra ac laeva pro turribus adstant,

armati ferro et cristis capita alta corusci:

quales aëriae liquentia flumina circum,

680sive Padi ripis Athesim seu propter amoenum,

consurgunt geminae quercus intonsaque caelo

attollunt capita et sublimi vertice nutant.

inrumpunt aditus Rutuli ut videre patentis

continuo Quercens et pulcher Aquiculus armis

685et praeceps animi Tmarus et Mavortius Haemon

agminibus totis: at versi terga dedere

aut ipso portae posuere in limine vitam.

Tum magis increscunt animis discordibus irae;

et iam collecti Troes glomerantur eodem

690et conferre manum et procurrere longius audent.

672Pandarus and Bitias, born of Alcanor of Ida,

whom Iaera, nymph of the woods, reared in Jupiter's grove,

young men equal in stature to their native firs and mountains,

675throw open the gate their leader's order had entrusted to them,

confident in their courage, and of their own accord invite the enemy within the walls.

They themselves stand inside, right and left, in place of towers,

armed with steel, crests flashing on their towering heads:

like lofty oaks beside flowing rivers,

680whether on the banks of the Po or by the lovely Athesis:

the twin trees rise and lift their unshorn crowns

to heaven, swaying their lofty tops.

The Rutulians burst through the entrance as soon as they see it open:

at once Quercens and Aquiculus, splendid in armor,

685impetuous Tmarus and warlike Haemon,

with all their ranks. But driven back, they either turn in flight

or lay down their lives on the gate's very threshold.

Then rage mounts still higher in hostile hearts;

and now the Trojans rally and mass at the same point,

690daring to fight hand-to-hand and sally farther out.

691Ductori Turno diversa in parte furenti

turbantique viros perfertur nuntius, hostem

fervere caede nova et portas praebere patentis.

Deserit inceptum atque immani concitus ira

695Dardaniam ruit ad portam fratresque superbos.

Et primum Antiphaten, is enim se primus agebat,

Thebana de matre nothum Sarpedonis alti,

coniecto sternit iaculo; volat Itala cornus

aëra per tenerum stomachoque infixa sub altum

700pectus abit: reddit specus atri volneris undam

spumantem, et fixo ferrum in pulmone tepescit.

Tum Meropem atque Erymanta manu, tum sternit Aphidnum,

tum Bitian ardentem oculis animisque frementem

non iaculo, neque enim iaculo vitam ille dedisset,

705sed magnum stridens contorta phalarica venit,

fulminis acta modo, quam nec duo taurea terga

nec duplici squama lorica fidelis et auro

sustinuit: conlapsa ruunt immania membra.

Dat tellus gemitum, et clipeum super intonat ingens.

710Talis in Euboico Baiarum litore quondam

saxea pila cadit, magnis quam molibus ante

constructam ponto iaciunt; sic illa ruinam

prona trahit penitusque vadis inlisa recumbit:

miscent se maria, et nigrae attolluntur harenae;

715tum sonitu Prochyta alta tremit durumque cubile

Inarime Iovis imperiis imposta Typhoeo.

Hic Mars armipotens animum viresque Latinis

addidit et stimulos acris sub pectore vertit

immisitque Fugam Teucris atrumque Timorem.

720Undique conveniunt, quoniam data copia pugnae

bellatorque animo deus incidit.

691To Turnus, their leader, raging in another quarter

and routing men, word is brought that the enemy

is running hot with fresh slaughter and holding the gates wide open.

He abandons what he had begun and, driven by monstrous anger,

695rushes to the Dardan gate and the proud brothers.

And first he fells Antiphates, for he was the first to press forward,

a bastard son of tall Sarpedon by a Theban mother,

with a hurled javelin; the Italian cornel flies

through the yielding air and, lodged in his throat, drives deep

700into his chest: the hollow of the dark wound pours back a foaming

surge, and the iron grows warm where it is fixed in the lung.

Then by hand he fells Meropes and Erymanthus, then Aphidnus,

then Bitias, blazing in his eyes and raging in spirit,

not with a javelin, for he would not have yielded life to a javelin,

705but a great shrieking phalarica came spinning,

driven like a thunderbolt; neither two layers of bull hide

nor the trusty corslet with its double scales and gold

withstands it: his huge limbs collapse and crash down.

The earth gives a groan, and over him the huge shield thunders.

710So once on the Euboean shore of Baiae

a stone pier falls, one they first build from massive blocks

and hurl into the sea; so it drags ruin down

headlong and, dashed deep in the shallows, settles back:

the seas mingle, and black sands are heaved up;

715then lofty Prochyta trembles at the sound, and Inarime,

the hard bed laid on Typhoeus by Jupiter's command.

Here Mars, lord of arms, gave heart and strength

to the Latins and turned sharp goads beneath their breasts,

and loosed Flight and black Fear upon the Teucrians.

720They gather from every side, since the chance for battle is given

and the warrior god has entered their minds.

722Pandarus ut fuso germanum corpore cernit

et quo sit fortuna loco, qui casus agat res,

portam vi magna converso cardine torquet,

725obnixus latis umeris, multosque suorum

moenibus exclusos duro in certamine linquit;

ast alios secum includit recipitque ruentis,

demens, qui Rutulum in medio non agmine regem

viderit inrumpentem ultroque incluserit urbi,

730immanem veluti pecora inter inertia tigrim.

Continuo nova lux oculis effulsit, et arma

horrendum sonuere; tremunt in vertice cristae

sanguineae, clipeoque micantia fulmina mittit:

agnoscunt faciem invisam atque immania membra

735turbati subito Aeneadae. Tum Pandarus ingens

emicat et mortis fraternae fervidus ira

effatur: Non haec dotalis regia Amatae,

nec muris cohibet patriis media Ardea Turnum.

Castra inimica vides; nulla hinc exire potestas.

740Olli subridens sedato pectore Turnus:

Incipe, siqua animo virtus, et consere dextram:

hic etiam inventum Priamo narrabis Achillem.

Dixerat. Ille rudem nodis et cortice crudo

intorquet summis adnixus viribus hastam:

745excepere aurae volnus; Saturnia Iuno

detorsit veniens, portaeque infigitur hasta.

At non hoc telum, mea quod vi dextera versat,

effugies; neque enim is teli nec volneris auctor.

Sic ait et sublatum alte consurgit in ensem

750et mediam ferro gemina inter tempora frontem

dividit inpubesque immani volnere malas.

Fit sonus, ingenti concussa est pondere tellus:

conlapsos artus atque arma cruenta cerebro

sternit humi moriens, atque illi partibus aequis

755huc caput atque illuc umero ex utroque pependit.

Diffugiunt versi trepida formidine Troes:

et si continuo victorem ea cura subisset,

rumpere claustra manu sociosque immittere portis,

ultimus ille dies bello gentique fuisset;

760sed furor ardentem caedisque insana cupido

egit in adversos.

722When Pandarus sees his brother's body laid low

and where fortune stands, what turn is driving affairs,

he swings the gate on its turning hinge with great force,

725bracing his broad shoulders, and leaves many of his own men

shut outside the walls in the hard fighting;

but others he pens in with himself and takes in as they rush,

madman, who failed to see the Rutulian king amid the column

as he charged through, and of his own accord penned him within the walls,

730a monster like a tiger among a helpless herd.

At once a new glare flashed before their eyes, and his armor

rang with a dreadful sound; blood-red plumes tremble on his crest,

and his shield throws off flashing lightning:

the Aeneadae, shaken all at once, recognize the hated face

735and giant limbs. Then mighty Pandarus

springs forth, blazing with anger for his brother's death,

and says: "This is no bridal palace of Amata,

nor is Turnus enclosed by ancestral walls in the heart of Ardea.

You are looking at an enemy camp; there is no way out from here."

740Turnus smiled at him, his heart composed:

"Begin, if there is any courage in you, and match your hand with mine:

here too you will tell Priam you found Achilles."

He had spoken. The other, with a spear rough with knots and raw bark,

whirls it, straining with all his strength:

745the winds caught the stroke; Saturnian Juno

intervened and turned it aside, and the spear stuck fast in the gate.

"But you will not escape this weapon, the one my right hand wields

with force; the hand behind this weapon and wound is not the same."

So he said, and lifting his sword high above him,

750with the steel he split the middle of the forehead between the twin temples

and the beardless cheeks with a monstrous gash.

There is a crash; the earth is shaken by the enormous weight:

his fallen limbs and armor, spattered with brains,

sprawl on the ground in death, and in equal halves

755his head hangs here and there from either shoulder.

The Trojans wheel and scatter in trembling fear;

and if at once that thought had come to the victor,

to break the bars by hand and let his comrades through the gates,

that day would have been the last for the war and the Trojan people;

760but fury and mad lust for slaughter drove him on,

burning, against the men before him.

762Principio Phalerim et succiso poplite Gygen

excipit; hinc raptas fugientibus ingerit hastas

in tergum, Iuno vires animumque ministrat;

765addit Halym comitem et confixa Phegea parma,

ignaros deinde in muris Martemque cientis

Alcandrumque Haliumque Noemonaque Prytanimque.

Lyncea tendentem contra sociosque vocantem

vibranti gladio conixus ab aggere dexter

770occupat; huic uno desectum comminus ictu

cum galea longe iacuit caput. Inde ferarum

vastatorem Amycum, quo non felicior alter

ungere tela manu ferrumque armare veneno,

et Clytium Aeoliden et amicum Crethea Musis,

775Crethea Musarum comitem, cui carmina semper

et citharae cordi numerosque intendere nervis.

Semper equos atque arma virum pugnasque canebat.

762First he cuts down Phaleris and Gyges, whose hamstring he has severed;

then, snatching up spears, he drives them

into the fugitives' backs; Juno supplies him strength and courage.

765He adds Halys as their comrade, and Phegeus, pierced through his shield;

then, unaware on the walls as they rouse the fight,

Alcander, Halius, Noemon, and Prytanis.

Lynceus rushes to meet him and calls his comrades to rally;

Turnus, braced upon the rampart, strikes first with flashing sword:

770with one stroke at close quarters he severs Lynceus' head,

and his helmeted head lies far away. Next he kills Amycus,

scourge of wild beasts; no one had a surer hand

at anointing darts and arming their iron with poison;

Clytius too, son of Aeolus, and Cretheus, friend to the Muses,

775Cretheus, companion of the Muses, who always delighted

in songs and lyres and setting measured notes upon the strings.

Always he sang of horses, the arms of men, and battles.

778Tandem ductores audita caede suorum

conveniunt Teucri, Mnestheus acerque Serestus,

780palantisque vident socios hostemque receptum.

Et Mnestheus: Quo deinde fugam, quo tenditis? inquit.

Quos alios muros, quae iam ultra moenia habetis?

Unus homo et vestris, o cives, undique saeptus

aggeribus tantas strages inpune per urbem

785ediderit, iuvenum primos tot miserit Orco?

Non infelicis patriae veterumque deorum

et magni Aeneae, segnes, miseretque pudetque?

Talibus accensi firmantur et agmine denso

consistunt. Turnus paulatim excedere pugna

790et fluvium petere ac partem, quae cingitur unda;

acrius hoc Teucri clamore incumbere magno

et glomerare manum. Ceu saevum turba leonem

cum telis premit infensis, at territus ille,

asper, acerba tuens, retro redit, et neque terga

795ira dare aut virtus patitur, nec tendere contra

ille quidem hoc cupiens potis est per tela virosque:

haud aliter retro dubius vestigia Turnus

improperata refert, et mens exaestuat ira.

Quin etiam bis tum medios invaserat hostis,

800bis confusa fuga per muros agmina vertit;

sed manus e castris propere coit omnis in unum,

nec contra vires audet Saturnia Iuno

sufficere, aëriam caelo nam Iuppiter Irim

demisit germanae haud mollia iussa ferentem,

805ni Turnus cedat Teucrorum moenibus altis.

778At last the Trojan leaders, hearing of their men's slaughter,

assemble, Mnestheus and fierce Serestus,

780and see their comrades scattering and the enemy inside.

Then Mnestheus said: "Where next are you fleeing? Where are you going?

What other walls, what defenses farther on do you have?

Will one man, fellow citizens, though hemmed in on every side

by your own ramparts, wreak such slaughter with impunity throughout our camp

785and send so many of our foremost young men to Orcus?

Have you no pity, no shame, for your unhappy homeland, its ancient gods,

and great Aeneas, you cowards?"

Roused by these words, they take heart and in close-packed ranks

stand firm. Turnus begins to withdraw gradually from the battle

790and make for the river and the side enclosed by its waters.

At this the Trojans press harder with a mighty shout

and mass their force. Just as a crowd presses a savage lion

with threatening spears, while he, though frightened,

backs away, fierce and glaring bitterly; neither

795anger nor courage lets him turn his back, yet he cannot charge,

though he longs to, through the spears and men:

Turnus likewise, wavering, retraces his steps

without haste, while his mind seethes with rage.

He had even twice rushed into the enemy's midst,

800twice driven their disordered ranks in flight within the walls;

but the whole force from the camp quickly gathers together,

and Saturnian Juno dares not give Turnus strength

to withstand them; for Jupiter sent airborne Iris down from heaven

to his sister, bearing a stern command

805that Turnus withdraw from the Trojans' high walls.

806Ergo nec clipeo iuvenis subsistere tantum

nec dextra valet: iniectis sic undique telis

obruitur. Strepit adsiduo cava tempora circum

tinnitu galea, et saxis solida aera fatiscunt,

810discussaeque iubae capiti, nec sufficit umbo

ictibus: ingeminant hastis et Troes et ipse

fulmineus Mnestheus. Tum toto corpore sudor

liquitur et piceum, nec respirare potestas,

flumen agit; fessos quatit aeger anhelitus artus.

815Tum demum praeceps saltu sese omnibus armis

in fluvium dedit: ille suo cum gurgite flavo

accepit venientem ac mollibus extulit undis

et laetum sociis abluta caede remisit.

806So the young man cannot hold against such force with his shield,

nor can his sword-arm avail: missiles hurled from every side

overwhelm him. His helmet clangs unceasingly around his hollow temples,

and its solid bronze cracks open under the stones;

810the crest-plumes are struck from his head, and his shield-boss cannot withstand

the blows. The Trojans redouble their spear-thrusts, Mnestheus himself among them,

fierce as lightning. Then sweat runs over Turnus' whole body

and pours in a pitch-black stream; he has no power to draw breath,

and labored gasping shakes his exhausted limbs.

815Then at last, with a headlong leap, in all his armor,

he gives himself to the river. The Tiber, with its tawny current,

receives him as he plunges and bears him up on gentle waves,

then, the gore washed away, returns him rejoicing to his comrades.