May: SUPPLEMENTUM PHARSALIAE

Romuleas arces celeri victoria famâ
Caesaris intrârat. Fictis certare parati
Obsequiis complent Phobea Palatia Patres.
Atque quater denis (quamvis devicta sit ipsa
Illo Roma die) decernunt vota diebus.

Into the Romulean citadels had entered the swift fame of Caesar’s victory.
Prepared to contend with feigned obsequience,
the Fathers fill the Phoebean Palatine.
And four times ten (although Rome herself was conquered
on that very day) they decree vows for 40 days.

Caeduntur tauri, gratoque altaria thure
Cuncta calent: nec tot sunt templa ornata coronis,
Cum Latio audita est olim victoria felix
Scipiadae, et fusus Zamensibus Hannibal arvis;
Aut cum Teutonicis intravit monia victor

Bulls are hewn down, and the altars with welcome incense
all glow; nor are there so many temples adorned with garlands,
as when once in Latium the fortunate victory of the Scipiad was heard,
and Hannibal was routed on the Zamaean fields;
or when, victorious over the Teutons, he entered the walls

Exuviis Marius. Non plus felicibus armis,
Externisve unquam laetata es, Roma, tropaeis,
Quam nunc amissâ pro libertate triumphas.
Tum justo, meruit quem Gallia victa, triumpho,
Dilatoque diu, jungunt decreta senatûs

Marius, with the spoils. Not more by fortunate arms, nor ever by foreign trophies, have you rejoiced, Rome,
than now you triumph, though liberty has been lost.
Then to the just triumph, which conquered Gaul deserved,
and, long delayed, they join the senate's decrees

Tres alios; veteres ut possit Caesar honore
Obscurare duces, pompasque excedere cunctas;
Utque triumphales utroque a cardine laurus
Ornarent pariter currus; Australibus illa
Splendida divitiis, Boreae generosior ista

Three others; so that Caesar might be able by honor to obscure the ancient leaders, and to exceed all pomps; and that triumphal laurels from either cardinal point might alike adorn the chariots; that one Austral, splendid with riches, this one Boreal, more generous.

Robore et exuviis; ut pictis mixta Britannis
Agmina Niliaca incedant; ut sole perustos
Mazaces albo comitentur corpore Suevi:
Ut galli Armeniis juncti, Maurisque Sicambri,
Spectentur pariter populis; longeque remotae

With might and with trophies; that Niliac columns may march mingled with painted Britons; that the Suevi, with white body, may accompany the Mazaces sun-seared; that gauls joined with Armenians, and Sicambri with Moors, may be beheld together by the peoples; and far-removed

Tot possint gentes, et quas commercia nunquam
Junxissent, Latiis junctae nunc ire catenis,
Communemque, simul vinctae, deflere ruinam:
Ut cunctos pariter fontes, captivaque Tybris
Flumina Caesareis videat depicta tabellis;

So many nations can, and those whom commerce would never have joined,
joined now to go in Latin chains,
and, bound together at once, to bewail a common ruin:
so that Tiber may see all springs alike, and the captive
rivers painted on Caesar’s tablets;

Inde catenati lugens Germania Rheni
Fata sui sedeat; Nilus septemfluus illic
Cornua fracta gemens; frenato ut gurgite Gallis
Inde suis Rhodanus, Mauris hinc Bagrada ploret.
Nec majorem ullo sese Urbs Romana triumpho

Thence let Germany, mourning, sit for the fate of her chained Rhine;
the seven-streamed Nile there, groaning with its fractured horns;
so that, with his surge reined, the Rhone from there may bewail his own Gauls,
and from here the Bagrada may lament for the Moors.
Nor would the Roman City in any triumph declare herself greater

Fortunamque suam potuisset cernere, si non
Ipsa triumphatae partis pars magna fuisset.
Tot clarus titulis, tot bellorumque superbus
Exuviis, Tyrio Caesar spectabilis ostro
Monia sublimi intravit Romana triumpho,

And she could have discerned her own Fortune, if she herself had not been a great part of the triumphed-over party.
So renowned with so many titles, so proud of the spoils of wars,
Caesar, conspicuous in Tyrian purple,
entered the Roman walls with a sublime triumph,

Quadrijugis vectus niveis, quos pascua mittunt
Clitumni laeta, et sacrae victoribus undae.
Dicito, Calliope, quas gentes quattuor illis,
(Quos, Ponto, Aegypto, Libye, Gallisque subactis,
Ducebat Caesar) spectabat Roma triumphis.

Borne in snow-white four-yoked steeds, which the glad pastures
of Clitumnus send, and the sacred waters for victors.
Say, Calliope, what four peoples, in those triumphs
(whom, with Pontus, Egypt, Libya, and the Gauls subjugated,
Caesar was leading) Rome gazed upon in triumphs.

Quam diversa fuit facies, quam corpore toto
Ornatus populis varius, quam dissona lingua,
Dum fluvios tabulis pictos, dum facta metallis
Oppida, bellorum series, diversaque pugnae
Tot genera ostendit; varie et fabricata ministri

How different was the face, how over the whole body
the adornment varied by peoples, how dissonant the language,
while he displayed rivers painted on panels, while towns wrought in metals,
the series of wars, and the diverse kinds of combat,
so many sorts; and the attendants showed things variously fabricated.

Arma, ducum exuvias, argenti pondera et auri,
Captaque magnorum portant diademata regum.
Sed, si non tantae dignaris singula pompae
Dicere, Calliope, saltem miserabile magni
Vercingetorigis fatum reticere putato

Arms, the spoils of leaders, the weights of silver and of gold,
and the captured diadems of great kings they carry.
But, if you do not deign, Calliope, to tell the particulars of so great a pomp,
at least think that the pitiable fate of great Vercingetorix
should not be kept in silence.

Esse nefas, quem bellantem tot viderat annos
Gallia, collatis toties cum Caesare signis,
Et toties renovantem acies, proavita tueri
Jura, jugumque suis Romanum avertere Gallis.
Hic, quem dura ducis nimium sententia morti

It would be a sacrilege, that the man whom Gaul had seen warring for so many years,
so often with standards joined with Caesar,
and so often renewing the battle-lines, to guard ancestral rights,
and to avert the Roman yoke from his own Gauls.
This man, whom the too harsh sentence of the leader consigned to death

Damnâsset, residens indignabunda feretro
Dejicit ora: tegit frontem diffusa minacem
Caesaries, Dîs iratus, vitamque perosus
Captivam, domini gladios optare videtur.
Ecce alia in Phario facies miseranda triumpho

had condemned him; indignant, seated upon the bier,
he casts down his face: the loosened hair veils his threatening brow;
angry at the gods, and loathing a captive life,
he seems to desire the swords of his master.
Behold another face to be pitied in the Pharian triumph

Corda movet vulgi: incessit regina catenis
Arsinoë, passis per candida colla capillis,
Et teneras, modo quae gessêre Aegyptia sceptra,
Auratis palmas manicis religata tenebat.
Quamvis Arsinoën non hîc sententia mortis

She moves the hearts of the crowd: Queen Arsinoë advanced in chains,
with hair let loose over her white neck,
and her tender palms—she who just now bore the Egyptian scepters—
she held, bound with gilded manacles.
Although a sentence of death did not here [fall upon] Arsinoë

Dura manet, parcit clementia Caesaris illi:
Aut donat victor, Cleopatrae captus amore,
Germanae veniam, Phariamque remittit ad aulam.
Heu! quantum, Cleopatra, tibi, si capta perîsset
Hîc soror, abstulerat crimen Fortuna futurum!

Severity remains; the clemency of Caesar spares her:
Or the victor, captivated by love of Cleopatra,
grants pardon to the sister, and sends her back to the Pharian court.
Alas! how much, Cleopatra, for you, if here your sister, captured, had perished,
Fortune would have taken away the future crime!

Nam miserae Arsinoë donatam a Caesare vitam
Crimine majori posthac soror impia tollet.
Maxima sed populi subiit miseratio mentes,
Cum vidêre Afro pueri captiva triumpho
Ora Jubae; cujus Libyco rex maximus orbe

For wretched Arsinoe, the life granted by Caesar thereafter her impious sister will take away by a greater crime.
But the greatest compassion entered the minds of the people,
when they saw in the African triumph the captive features of the boy Juba; whose father had been the greatest king in the Libyan orb

Nuper erat genitor, qui tot modo regna, tot urbes,
Tot populos latâ tenuit ditione remotos.
Quis Latius, miserande puer, tam obtusa gerebat
Pectora, quem tua non aetas innoxia movit?
Aut quis te, tanto dejectum culmine regni,

Recently there was a father, who but now so many kingdoms, so many cities,
so many peoples remote he held under broad dominion.
Which Latin, pitiable boy, bore so obtuse a breast,
whom did not your innocuous age move?
Or who, you cast down from so great a summit of kingship,

Immerita hostili praebentem colla catenae
Non morens animo vidit? sed caeca futuri
Mens hominum: felix, quae tam miseranda videtur,
Sors tua, magne puer; vinclis felicior istis
Es, Juba, quam magni maneant si regna parentis,

Did he see you, offering an undeserving neck to the hostile chain, and not die at heart?
But the mind of men is blind as to the future: happy—though it seems so pitiable—
your lot, great boy; happier by these fetters are you, Juba,
than if the kingdoms of your great father should remain,

Et stet firma tuis tellus Maurusia sceptris.
Illa dies, quae te captivum fecerit, illa
Transtulit in melius: (quis crederet?) illa futurae
(Tristis visa, licet) posuit fundamina famae.
Moribus Ausoniis primis nutritus ab annis,

And let the Maurusian land stand firm beneath your scepters.
That day which made you a captive, that day
transferred you for the better: (who would believe it?) that day of your future
(though it seemed sad) laid the foundations of fame.
Nurtured by Ausonian morals from your earliest years,

Barbarie exutusque, tuo felicia posthac
Tempora constituens orbi, moderamine justo
Commissas olim regni tractabis habenas.
(Nam te, post casus tantos, ad culmina regni
Evehet Augustus Caesar, solioque locabit.)

And, stripped of barbarism, constituting hereafter felicitous times for the orb, by your just moderation you will handle the reins of the kingdom once committed.
(For Augustus Caesar, after such great misfortunes, will elevate you to the heights of kingship, and will place you on the throne.)

100

Praeterea excultus studiis, miranda relinques
Ingenii monimenta tui; calamique perennis
Docti fama tibi per saecula cuncta manebit.
Sed non Pharnacis captiva Quiritibus ora
Armenio potuit Caesar monstrare triumpho.

Furthermore, cultivated by studies, you will leave behind wondrous monuments of your genius;
and the fame of your learned, perennial pen will remain to you through all the ages.
But Caesar could not show to the Quirites the captive face of Pharnaces
in an Armenian triumph.

105

Ille fugâ evasit: vehitur fugientis imago;
Et "Veni, Vidi, Vici," tria verba, superbo
Portantur curru, totum narrantia bellum.
Romanos animos, plus quam spectacula viva,
Tristia fata ducum tabulis depicta movebant.

He escaped by flight: the image of the fugitive is borne;
and "I came, I saw, I conquered," three words, are carried on the proud chariot,
narrating the whole war. The Roman spirits, more than by living spectacles,
were moved by the sad fates of the leaders depicted on tablets.

110

Illic mosta videt civilia vulnera Roma,
Et proprias luget clades; illic sua quisque
Funera Romanus, cognataque damna, recenset.
Inter barbariscas strages, et funera regum
Extera, magnates Libyae, caesosque per Alpes

There mournful Rome sees the civil wounds,
and bewails her own disasters; there each Roman
reviews his own funerals and kindred losses.
Amid barbarian slaughters, and the foreign funerals of kings,
the magnates of Libya, and those cut down across the Alps

115

Gallorum proceres; proprio quâ pingitur ense
Rex Juba transfixus, convivia mosta cruentans,
Demersusque sui Nili Ptolemaeus in undis;
Monstrantur Latiae mortes, absumtaque bellis
Maxima Caesareis Romanae nomina gentis.

The magnates of the Gauls; where King Juba is depicted transfixed by his own sword, blood-staining the mournful banquets,
and Ptolemy submerged in the waves of his own Nile;
The Latian deaths are shown, and
the greatest names of the Roman nation consumed by Caesarean wars.

120

Hic cum rege Jubâ Petreius, Afranius illic:
Illic Torquatus moriens, hic Sulla jacebat.
Nec procul hinc oculis agnoscunt flentibus ora
Scipiadae, puppi jam desilientis ab altâ.
Te quoque, sancte Cato, fodientem viscera dextrâ,

Here with King Juba was Petreius, there Afranius:
There Torquatus, dying; here Sulla lay.
Not far from here they recognize with weeping eyes the face
of the Scipiade, now leaping down from the high stern.
You too, holy Cato, gouging your entrails with your right hand,

125

Et properanti animae lacerantem vulnera cernunt.
Verum, inter procerum tot mortes, una tacetur.
Nec tabulae mostis monstrare Quiritibus audent
Flebile Pompeii fatum, ne tanta triumphos
Tristaret clades; sed mors ea sola relicta.

And they behold him tearing his wounds for the hastening soul.
But, among so many deaths of the nobles, one is kept silent.
Nor do the tablets dare to show to the mournful Quirites
the lamentable fate of Pompey, lest so great a calamity
should sadden the triumphs; but that death alone was omitted.

130

Quae tum praecipue populo expectata fuisset,
Altius infixa est quaerentibus; et bene cuncti
Jam, sine picturis, Magni miserabile letum,
Et seriem tantae possunt memorare ruinae.
Quis numerare queant variae spectacula pompae?

That which then would have been especially expected by the people,
is more deeply fixed in those who inquire; and indeed all
now, without pictures, can recount Magnus’s pitiable death,
and the sequence of so great a ruin.
Who could enumerate the spectacles of the varied pomp?

135

Quot campis ludi? Nova quot certamina Circo
Spectentur populis? quantoque madescat arena
Sanguine nobilium dat quas Hyrcana ferarum
Silva, aut monstriferis nutrit Gaetulia campis?
Quin et nocturnae praefulgent undique pompae;

How many games on the fields? How many new contests in the Circus
are beheld by the peoples? and how much the arena is soaked
with the blood of noble beasts, which the Hyrcanian forest gives,
or Gaetulia nurtures on its monster-bearing plains?
Indeed even the nocturnal pomps blaze forth on every side;

140

Delectantque, parat cum post spectacula Caesar
Nocte redire domum, toto famulante senatu;
Cum mediam cernunt elephantes ire per urbem,
Et lucem gestare: forum via lactea visum est:
Tot simul accensis elephantûm terga micabant

And they delight, when Caesar prepares, after the spectacles, to return home by night, with the whole senate in attendance;
when they discern elephants going through the middle of the city,
and bearing light: the forum seemed a Milky Way:
so many at once, with lights kindled, the backs of the elephants were flashing

145

Ignibus, atque ibant colestibus aemula signis.
Nec tantas victoris opes spectacula vana
Testantur solum: sed duratura per aevum
Exsurgunt opera, et saeclis miranda futuris.
Nam templum Veneri, domus a quâ Julia nata est,

With fires, and they went rivaling the celestial signs.
Nor do vain spectacles alone attest such great opulence of the victor;
but works destined to endure through the age arise, and to be wondered at by future ages.
For a temple to Venus, the house whence the Julian line was born,

150

Aut pius, aut tantâ sublatus origine, Caesar
Magnificum exstruxit, spoliisque ornavit opimis.
Ut formosa Venus tanto videatur honore
Plus Jovis uxorem, et Tritonida vincere, quam cum
Aurea poma illi nemorosae in vallibus Idae

Either pious, or lifted up by so great an origin, Caesar
constructed something magnificent, and adorned it with rich spoils.
So that fair Venus may seem by so great an honor
to surpass Jove’s wife and the Tritonid, more than when
the golden apples to her in the wooded valleys of Ida

155

Judicium Paridis, Priamo fatale, dedisset.
Plusque Dioneae veneratur numina mundus,
Quam vel Junonem vel Pallada: dignius orbi
Nomen Iülaeae censetur stirpis origo,
Quam Superûm regina, aut vertice nata Tonantis.

would have given the Judgment of Paris, fatal to Priam.
And the world venerates the Dionean’s numina more,
than either Juno or Pallas: for the world, the origin of the Julian stock is judged a more worthy name,
than the queen of the Superi, or she born from the Thunderer’s head.

160

Interiora auro radiabant limina templi
Marmorei, aurataeque trabes, caelataque multâ
Arte micant simulacra Deûm, et spirantia signa.
Hîc Troja antiqua, et Veneris Phrygiique videntur
Anchisae thalami; decantatumque poëtis

The inner thresholds of the marble temple were radiant with gold,
and gilded beams, and the simulacra of the Gods, engraved with much
art, glitter, and statues that seem to breathe.
Here ancient Troy, and the bridal-chambers of Venus and of Phrygian
Anchises, are seen; and the theme oft-sung by the poets

165

Frondescit nemus Idaeum, quod debuit olim
Vatibus, hîc tantis debens pictoribus Ida.
Hîc torus exsurgit mollis, quem mater Amorum
Progeniem terris, tantosque datura nepotes,
Cum juvene Anchisâ quondam Venus aurea pressit,

The Idaean grove grows leafy, which once was owed to the poets; here Ida is indebted to such great painters.
Here a soft couch rises, which the mother of Loves, destined to give to the lands a progeny and such great grandsons,
once pressed with the young Anchises, golden Venus.

170

Concubitumque hominis pulcherrima passa Dearum est.
Aeneas juxta soboles stat, corpore talis
Formoso, qualis semper florente juventâ
Exsultat Phobus; frenatâ aut tigride qualis
Bacchus odoratis curru descendit ab Indis:

And the most beautiful of the goddesses endured the coupling of a man.
Aeneas, the offspring, stands nearby, such in his fair body
as Phoebus ever exults with flowering youth,
or such as Bacchus, with a tiger reined,
descends in his chariot from the perfumed Indians:

175

Troïus Aeneas, cui tantam Musa Maronis
Donavit elix famam per saecula, quantam
Maeonius Graio vates praestabat Achilli.
Illic eximiae visa est pietatis imago,
Cum bonus Aeneas, Trojâ pereunte, parentem

Trojan Aeneas, to whom the Muse of Maro
granted so great a fame through the ages as
the Maeonian vates was bestowing on Greek Achilles.
There the image of exceptional piety was seen,
when good Aeneas, as Troy was perishing, his father

180

Grandaevum attolens humeris, per tela, per ignes
Hostiles, rapuit. Non illi Laomedontis
Arsurae curantur opes, non fulva supellex,
Nec sparsae passim per tanta incendia gazae;
Sed genitor, Phrygiique lares, et sacra Deorum.

Uplifting the aged man upon his shoulders, through weapons, through hostile fires,
he snatched him away. Not for him are the riches of Laomedon, destined to burn, a care,
nor the tawny furnishings,
nor treasures scattered everywhere through such great fires;
but his father, and the Phrygian Lares, and the sacra of the gods.

185

Pone patrem sequitur fortem formosus Iülus,
Unde genus nomenque suum gens Julia duxit.
Condidit hic Albam Longam, multosque per annos
Imperio rexit. Longo dehinc ordine picti,
Post primum Albani reges monstrantur Iülum;

Behind his father follows the handsome, brave Iülus,
whence the Julian gens drew its lineage and its name.
He founded Alba Longa, and through many years
he ruled with imperial sway. Thereafter, in long array painted,
after Iülus first, the Alban kings are shown;

190

Donec Iüleam Tullus rex diruit Albam,
Transtulit et Romam cives. Hinc ordine rursus
Reges atque duces Latii, Romanaque fata
Usque ad Caesarei monstrantur tempora regni,
Quo vetus Alba iterum Romam vicisse videtur.

Until King Tullus destroyed Iulean Alba,
and transferred the citizens to Rome. From here, in order, in turn
the kings and leaders of Latium, and the Roman fates,
are shown up to the times of the Caesarean reign,
under which old Alba seems to have conquered Rome again.

195

Robore sed quamvis munita potentia tanto
Caesaris, et populi plausu firmata videtur;
Nutat adhuc; et plus terris quatietur Iberis,
Quam vel Thessalicis, vel Thapsi tristibus arvis.
Maxima adhuc restant discrimina, maxima bella,

But though the power, fortified by so great a might of Caesar
and strengthened by the people's applause, seems secure;
it still totters; and it will be shaken more on the Iberian lands,
than either on the Thessalian, or on the gloomy fields of Thapsus.
The greatest dangers still remain, the greatest wars,

200

Quae juvenes facient Pompeii, nomine tanto
Non indigna. Truces vicinos Gadibus illi
Herculeis armant populos. Hispania sedes
Terita bellorum, et Romani scena furoris.
Currit ad Occasus extremaque litora mundi

What the youths of Pompey will do, to so great a name
not unworthy. Those fierce men arm the peoples neighboring
to Herculean Gades. Spain, a seat
worn by wars, and the scene of Roman fury.
It runs to the West and the farthest shores of the world

205

Jam civile nefas, quâ sese Hispania pandit
Ultima. Non ulli populo majora videntur
(Cum vastus fessos exactâ luce jugales
Proluit Oceanus) rutilantis corpora Phobi:
Atque ideo propiora suae putat incola terrae

Now already the civil abomination, where farthest Spain spreads itself.
To no people do the glowing bodies of Phoebus seem greater
(when the vast Ocean washes the weary yoke-mates after the light is spent):
and therefore the inhabitant deems them nearer to his own land.

210

Deceptus, tamquam sese illic aetheris alti
Convexum inclinet: sed majus ab aequore tanto
Surgentes reddunt nebulae, densique vapores
Objectum, radios oculi diffundere sueti.
Hinc non ulla vident surgente crepuscula Phobo,

Deceived, as though there the convex of the high ether
inclined itself; but mists rising from so great a level surface
of the sea render a greater obstacle, and the dense vapors,
an object set before, to eyes accustomed to diffuse rays.
Hence they see no crepuscules when Phoebus is rising,

215

Nec fugiente: dies oritur cum sole, caditque.
Tota jacet corii specie diffusa bovini
Terra Hispana, mari cincta undique, et insula paene
Facta, nisi gelidâ quod Pyrenaeus ab Arcto
Mons interpositus Gallis disterminat agris.

Nor when it is fleeing: day rises with the sun, and falls.
The whole Hispanic land lies spread in the likeness of a bovine hide,
girt by the sea on every side, and almost made an island,
except that the Pyrenean mountain, interposed from the icy North,
demarcates it from the Gallic fields.

220

Facturum tantis montem divortia terris
Excelsum posuit Natura, et vertice colum
Aequantem summo. Nudum est, et gramine nullo
Vestitum, quod Gallorum praepinguibus arvis
Objicitur Boreale latus: contraque, cacumen,

Nature set up a lofty mountain, to make a division between such great lands, and with its summit equaling the sky at the highest. It is naked, and clothed with no grass, whose Boreal side is thrown up against the pinguid fields of the Gauls: and over against it, the peak,

225

Quâ steriles terrae campos prospectat Iberae,
Frondosum silvas densas, et pascua laeta
Ostendit; tamquam Galli felicibus arvis
Divitias mons iste suas concesserat, utque
Vestiret sese, terras spoliârat Iberas.

Where it looks out over the barren plains of the Iberian land,
it displays frondose dense woods, and glad pastures;
as though to Gaul’s felicitous fields
this mountain had conceded its own riches, and, that it might
clothe itself, had despoiled the Iberian lands.

230

Nubifero (famae si credas) nomina monti
Pyrene miseranda dedit. Regnabat in illo
Monte Bebryx genitor, parvâque excepit in aulâ
Hospitio Alciden formosa armenta petentem
Geryonis. Visa est Alcidae regia virgo

Pyrene, pitiable, gave her name to the cloud-bearing mountain (if you credit report).
On that mountain her sire Bebryx reigned, and in his small hall
received with hospitality Alcides, seeking the fair herds
of Geryon. The royal maiden seemed to Alcides

235

Pyrene, placuitque nimis; deceptaque tandem,
Hospitis invicti placido succumbit amori.
Conjugium Alcides miderae, taedasque jugales,
Si modo Geryonis victor remeârit ab arvis,
Promittit: sed fasta negant crudelia taedas.

Pyrene, and she pleased him exceedingly; and at last, beguiled,
she succumbed to the placid love of the invincible guest.
Alcides promises to the wretched girl conjugal union, and nuptial torches,
if only he should return victorious from the fields of Geryon,
he promises: but the Fates deny the cruel torches.

240

Nec prius Alcides vincit, quam funere tristi
Pyrene formosa jacet. Timet illa parentem
Iratum; nec vitiati pondera ventris
Ulterius celare valet. Queribunda pererrat
Frondosas latebras, et vasti devia montis;

Nor does Alcides conquer before fair Pyrene lies in grim death.
She fears her angry parent; nor can she any further conceal the weight of her vitiated womb.
Lamenting, she wanders through leafy coverts, and the byways of the vast mountain;

245

Solaque furtivum silvis deplangit amorem.
Amphitryoniaden falsum, tardumve vocabat;
Donec, plorantis frustra, magnique vocantis
Herculis auxilium, leto crudelior ipso
Bellua formosae laceravit virginis artus.

And alone she deplores in the forests the furtive love.
She called the Amphitryoniad false, or tardy;
Until, weeping in vain and calling for the aid of great Hercules,
the beast, more cruel than death itself,
lacerated the limbs of the beautiful virgin.

250

Amphitryoniades tristem Bebrycis ad aulam
Jam victor rediens, amissâ virgine demens,
Et formidandus luctu, per lustra ferarum,
Per juga, perque alti frondosa cacumina montis
Tendebat, sponsae quaerens vestigia carae,

The Amphitryoniad, sad, to Bebryx’s hall,
now returning a victor, out of his mind with the maiden lost,
and formidable in grief, through the lairs of wild beasts,
over ridges, and over the leafy summits of the high mountain
he was stretching his course, seeking the footprints of his dear bride.

255

Pyrenenque suam mosto clamore vocabat.
Pyrenen silvae, Pyrenen antra ferarum,
Et curvae toto resonabant monte cavernae.
Ingemuit locus ipse; ferae tremuêre; metuque
Montani latuêre lupi; nec quaerere praedam

And he was calling his own Pyrene with mournful clamor.
“Pyrene!” the forests, “Pyrene!” the dens of wild beasts,
and the curved caverns were resounding through the whole mountain.
The very place groaned; the wild creatures trembled; and in fear
the mountain wolves hid; nor did they seek prey

260

Immanes audent ursi, torvive leones,
Dum nemore atque jugis graditur Tirynthius altis.
Sed, postquam laceros artus atque ora puellae
Deformata suae cognovit, fata Deosque
Multum incusavit lacrymans: tunc oscula caris

Immense bears dare, and grim-visaged lions,
while the Tirynthian strides through the high forest and ridges.
But after he recognized the torn limbs and the features of his own maiden
deformed, he greatly accused the Fates and the Gods,
weeping: then kisses to the dear

265

Relliquiis repetita dedit; supremaque plangens
Funera, Pyrenen tumulavit montibus illis.
"Diruet hanc," inquit, "molem non longa vetustas.
"Famaque tum tua major erit; tumulique ruina
"Augebit tumulum: toto tunc monte jacebis.

He gave repeated kisses to the dear remains;
and, beating his breast as he mourned the last rites, he entombed Pyrene in those mountains.
"No long antiquity will demolish this mass," he says,
"And then your fame will be greater; and the ruin of the tumulus
"Will augment the tumulus: you will then lie in the whole mountain.

270

"Ut juga tota tenet Bacchus Nisea sepultus,
"Mons erit iste tuus." Consensit fama: tenentque
Pyrenes isti nomen per saecula montes.
Pompeii juvenes, instructo milite Gades
Linquentes, bellum omne locant, quâ pinguia Baetis

"As Nisean Bacchus, buried, holds whole ridges,
that mountain shall be yours." Fame consented: and those
mountains hold Pyrene’s name through the ages.
Pompey’s youths, leaving Gades with the soldiery drawn up,
deploy the whole war where the rich Baetis

275

Culta secans, sua felici dat nomina terrae.
Oppida cepissent primo regionibus illis
Ateguam, atque Ucubin, et nomen clade futurâ
Funestum Ausoniae, Mundam, et te grata Camonis
Corduba, doctorum cunis fecunda virorum.

Cutting through the cultivated lands, it gives its own names to the fortunate land.
They first took in those regions the towns Ategua and Ucubi, and Munda—its name to be funest to Ausonia by future carnage—
and you, Corduba, pleasing to the Camenae, fertile as the cradle of learned men.

280

Undique Pompeiis vires Hispania mittit.
Hîc, praeter Latias aquilas, Romanaque signa,
Quae Varus, duxitque acer Labienus, Iberi
Pugnaces coëunt: hic trux stat Cantaber, armis
Qui vitam impendit solis, gens nescia pacis

On every side Spain sends strength to the Pompeians.
Here, besides the Latin eagles and the Roman standards,
which Varus, and keen Labienus led, the warlike Iberians
gather: here the grim Cantabrian stands, who
spends his life on arms alone, a nation unknowing of peace

285

Aut siccae mortis, ferro praevertere sueta
Imbelles annos: decus esse abrumpere vitam,
Naturaeque putant segnem donare senectam.
Augurii sacri, divinarumque peritam
Flammarum, pubem dives Gallaecia mittit.

Or, accustomed to forestall with iron the dry death of unwarlike years:
they deem it a glory to break off life,
and think it to bestow on Nature a sluggish old age.
Skilled in sacred augury and in divine
flames, rich Gallaecia sends its youth.

290

Callaïci veniunt, qui, demto Marte, laborem
Non ullum novêre viri: nam semina sulcis
Injicit, et duro glebas invertit aratro,
Femina, dum manibus peraguntur bella virorum.
A Minii ripis patrii venit impiger Astur,

The Callaïci come, who, with Mars removed, the men have known no labor at all: for the woman casts the seeds into the furrows and turns the glebes with the hard plow, while the wars of men are prosecuted by hands. From the banks of his native Minius comes the untiring Astur,

295

Auriferique Tagi fulgentia signa ferebat
Incola, deciduum consuetus cernere solem;
Et Vasco insuetus galeis, et Concanus audax,
Qui se Massagetûm durâ de stirpe fatetur,
Cornipedis consuetus equi potare cruorem.

The inhabitant of the gold-bearing Tagus was bearing the refulgent insignia,
accustomed to behold the setting sun;
and the Vascon unaccustomed to helmets, and the bold Concanus,
who avows himself from the hard stock of the Massagetae,
accustomed to drink the blood of the hoof-footed horse.

300

Celtiberi, bello qui corpora caesa suorum
Igne cremant, creduntque nefas si forte jacentûm
Exanimes fera vel volucris depascitur artus,
A ripis rapidi veniunt Sucronis; et omnes
Hispanae gentes, quaecumque aut funera Magni

The Celtiberians, who in war cremate with fire the bodies of their own that have been cut down,
and believe it nefarious if by chance of those lying dead
a wild beast or a bird devours the lifeless limbs,
come from the banks of the swift Sucro; and all
the Spanish peoples, whichever either the obsequies of Magnus

305

Ulcisci, aut Latios cupiunt nutrire furores.

to avenge, or they desire to nourish Latian furies.