Ovid: METAMORPHOSES

Nescius adsumptis Priamus pater Aesacon alis
vivere lugebat: tumulo quoque nomen habenti
inferias dederat cum fratribus Hector inanes;
defuit officio Paridis praesentia tristi,
postmodo qui rapta longum cum coniuge bellum

Unknowing, father Priam, that Aesacus with assumed wings
was living, was mourning: to the tomb too that had his name
Hector, together with his brothers, had given empty funerary offerings;
the presence of Paris was lacking for the sad office,
afterward he who with his ravished spouse a long war

attulit in patriam: coniurataeque sequuntur
mille rates gentisque simul commune Pelasgae;
nec dilata foret vindicta, nisi aequora saevi
invia fecissent venti, Boeotaque tellus
Aulide piscosa puppes tenuisset ituras.

brought it into his fatherland: and a thousand confederated ships follow,
and along with them at once the common cause of the Pelasgian people;
nor would vengeance have been deferred, had not savage winds
made the seas impassable, and the Boeotian land
at fish-rich Aulis held the ships that were about to go.

hic patrio de more Iovi cum sacra parassent,
ut vetus accensis incanduit ignibus ara,
serpere caeruleum Danai videre draconem
in platanum, coeptis quae stabat proxima sacris.
nidus erat volucrum bis quattuor arbore summa:

here, when they had prepared the sacred rites to Jupiter by ancestral custom,
as the old altar glowed white-hot with kindled fires,
the Danaans saw a cerulean serpent slither
into a plane-tree, which stood nearest the sacred rites they had begun.
at the top of the tree there was a nest of birds, twice four:

quas simul et matrem circum sua damna volantem
corripuit serpens avidoque recondidit ore,
obstipuere omnes, at veri providus augur
Thestorides 'vincemus'; ait, 'gaudete, Pelasgi!
Troia cadet, sed erit nostri mora longa laboris,'

whom, together with their mother flying around her losses,
the serpent seized and concealed in his avid mouth;
all were astounded, but the son of Thestor, a provident augur of truth,
said, 'We shall conquer; rejoice, Pelasgians!
Troy will fall, but there will be a long delay of our labor,'

atque novem volucres in belli digerit annos.
ille, ut erat virides amplexus in arbore ramos,
fit lapis et signat serpentis imagine saxum.
Permanet Aoniis Boreas violentus in undis
bellaque non transfert, et sunt, qui parcere Troiae

and he distributes the nine birds into the years of war.
he, just as he had embraced the green branches on the tree,
becomes stone and marks the rock with the image of the serpent.
Boreas remains violent on the Aonian waves
and does not transfer the wars, and there are those who would spare Troy

Neptunum credant, quia moenia fecerat urbi;
at non Thestorides: nec enim nescitve tacetve
sanguine virgineo placandam virginis iram
esse deae. postquam pietatem publica causa
rexque patrem vicit, castumque datura cruorem

They would believe Neptune, since he had made the walls for the city;
but not the Thestorides: for he neither is ignorant nor does he keep silent
that the wrath of the virgin goddess must be appeased with virgin blood.
After the public cause overcame piety, and the king the father,
and the maiden, about to give chaste blood,

flentibus ante aram stetit Iphigenia ministris,
victa dea est nubemque oculis obiecit et inter
officium turbamque sacri vocesque precantum
supposita fertur mutasse Mycenida cerva.
ergo ubi, qua decuit, lenita est caede Diana,

Iphigenia stood before the altar with the ministers weeping;
the goddess was overcome and cast a cloud before their eyes, and amid
the office and the crowd of the sacred rite and the voices of the praying,
she is said to have exchanged the Mycenid for a hind set in her place.
therefore, when Diana was softened by slaughter, as was fitting,

et pariter Phoebes, pariter maris ira recessit,
accipiunt ventos a tergo mille carinae
multaque perpessae Phrygia potiuntur harena.
Orbe locus medio est inter terrasque fretumque
caelestesque plagas, triplicis confinia mundi;

and alike Phoebe’s wrath and the sea’s withdrew,
a thousand keels receive winds at their back,
and, having endured much, they gain the Phrygian sand.
In the middle of the orb there is a place between the lands and the sea and the
celestial regions, the confines of the triple world;

unde quod est usquam, quamvis regionibus absit,
inspicitur, penetratque cavas vox omnis ad aures:
Fama tenet summaque domum sibi legit in arce,
innumerosque aditus ac mille foramina tectis
addidit et nullis inclusit limina portis;

whence whatever is anywhere, however far away in its regions, is seen, and every voice penetrates to hollow ears: Fame holds and chose for herself a home on the highest citadel, and to the house she added numberless approaches and a thousand apertures, and enclosed its thresholds with no doors;

nocte dieque patet: tota est ex aere sonanti,
tota fremit vocesque refert iteratque quod audit;
nulla quies intus nullaque silentia parte,
nec tamen est clamor, sed parvae murmura vocis,
qualia de pelagi, siquis procul audiat, undis

by night and by day it stands open: all is of resounding bronze,
all resounds and gives back voices and reiterates what it hears;
no rest within and no silences in any part,
nor yet is it clamor, but the murmurs of a small voice,
such as from the sea’s waves, if someone hears from afar

esse solent, qualemve sonum, cum Iuppiter atras
increpuit nubes, extrema tonitrua reddunt.
atria turba tenet: veniunt, leve vulgus, euntque
mixtaque cum veris passim commenta vagantur
milia rumorum confusaque verba volutant;

are wont to be, or what sound, when Jupiter has rattled the dark
clouds, the farthest thunders give back.
The halls are held by a throng: they come, the idle rabble, and go,
and inventions mixed with truths wander everywhere,
they roll thousands of rumors and confused words;

e quibus hi vacuas inplent sermonibus aures,
hi narrata ferunt alio, mensuraque ficti
crescit, et auditis aliquid novus adicit auctor.
illic Credulitas, illic temerarius Error
vanaque Laetitia est consternatique Timores

of whom some fill empty ears with talk,
others carry what has been told elsewhere, and the measure of the feigned
grows, and some new Author adds something to what he has heard.
there is Credulity there, there rash Error,
and vain Joy and panic-stricken Terrors

Seditioque repens dubioque auctore Susurri;
ipsa, quid in caelo rerum pelagoque geratur
et tellure, videt totumque inquirit in orbem.
Fecerat haec notum, Graias cum milite forti
adventare rates, neque inexspectatus in armis

And sudden Sedition and Whisper with a doubtful author;
she herself sees what of affairs is being done in the sky and on the sea and on the earth, and inquires into the whole orb.
She had made this known, that the Graian ships with brave soldiery
were approaching, and nor unanticipated in arms.

hostis adest: prohibent aditus litusque tuentur
Troes, et Hectorea primus fataliter hasta,
Protesilae, cadis, commissaque proelia magno
stant Danais, fortisque animae nece cognitus Hector.
nec Phryges exiguo, quid Achaica dextera posset,

the enemy is at hand: they prohibit accesses and guard the shore
the Trojans; and by Hectorian spear, first fatally,
Protesilaus, you fall, and the committed battles stand
to the Danaans at great cost, and Hector is recognized by the killing of a brave soul.
nor did the Phrygians, at no small price, learn what the Achaean right hand could accomplish,

sanguine senserunt, et iam Sigea rubebant
litora, iam leto proles Neptunia, Cycnus,
mille viros dederat, iam curru instabat Achilles
totaque Peliacae sternebat cuspidis ictu
agmina perque acies aut Cycnum aut Hectora quaerens

they perceived it in blood, and already the Sigean
shores were reddening; already to death the Neptunian offspring, Cycnus,
had given a thousand men; already Achilles was pressing on with his chariot
and with the stroke of the Pelian spear-point was strewing whole ranks,
and through the battle-lines seeking either Cycnus or Hector

congreditur Cycno (decimum dilatus in annum
Hector erat): tum colla iugo candentia pressos
exhortatus equos currum derexit in hostem
concutiensque suis vibrantia tela lacertis
'quisquis es, o iuvenis,' dixit 'solamen habeto

he engages with Cycnus (Hector had been deferred to the tenth year):
then, after exhorting the harness-pressed horses, their necks white-glowing with the yoke,
he directed the chariot against the enemy
and, shaking with his own arms the vibrant spears,
'whoever you are, O young man,' he said, 'have this solace

mortis, ab Haemonio quod sis iugulatus Achille!'
hactenus Aeacides: vocem gravis hasta secuta est,
sed quamquam certa nullus fuit error in hasta,
nil tamen emissi profecit acumine ferri
utque hebeti pectus tantummodo contudit ictu.

‘of death, that you are slaughtered by Haemonian Achilles!’
thus far the Aeacid: a weighty spear followed his voice,
but although sure, there was no error in the spear,
nevertheless nothing it accomplished by the acumen of the hurled steel,
and with a dull blow it only bruised the chest.

'nate dea, nam te fama praenovimus,' inquit
ille 'quid a nobis vulnus miraris abesse?'
(mirabatur enim.) 'non haec, quam cernis, equinis
fulva iubis cassis neque onus, cava parma, sinistrae
auxilio mihi sunt: decor est quaesitus ab istis;

'son of a goddess, for by fame we have fore-known you,' he says
'why do you marvel that a wound is absent from me?'
(for he was marveling.) 'not these, which you see, the helmet
fulvous with equine manes, nor the burden, the hollow parma, of my left hand,
are for my aid: decor has been sought from these;

Mars quoque ob hoc capere arma solet! removebitur huius
tegminis officium: tamen indestrictus abibo;
est aliquid non esse satum Nereide, sed qui
Nereaque et natas et totum temperat aequor.'
dixit et haesurum clipei curvamine telum

Mars too on this account is accustomed to take up arms! the service of this
covering will be removed: yet I shall depart with sword undrawn;
there is something in not being sown from a Nereid, but from him who
governs both Nereus and his daughters and the whole sea.'
he spoke and cast a weapon to stick fast in the curve of the shield

misit in Aeaciden, quod et aes et proxima rupit
terga novena boum, decimo tamen orbe moratum est.
excutit hoc heros rursusque trementia forti
tela manu torsit: rursus sine vulnere corpus
sincerumque fuit; nec tertia cuspis apertum

he hurled at the Aeacid that which shattered both bronze and the nearest nine hides of oxen, yet it was delayed at the tenth ring. again the hero shakes this off and with a strong hand once more hurled the quivering weapons: again the body was without wound and intact; nor did the third spear-point open it.

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et se praebentem valuit destringere Cycnum.
haut secus exarsit, quam circo taurus aperto,
cum sua terribili petit inritamina cornu,
poeniceas vestes, elusaque vulnera sentit;
num tamen exciderit ferrum considerat hastae:

and, though he offered himself, he had no power to graze Cycnus.
not otherwise did he blaze up than a bull in the open circus,
when with his terrible horn he seeks his own provocations,
the scarlet robes, and feels his wounds eluded;
yet he considers whether perhaps the iron has fallen out of the spear:

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haerebat ligno. 'manus est mea debilis ergo,
quasque' ait 'ante habuit vires, effudit in uno?
nam certe valuit, vel cum Lyrnesia primus
moenia deieci, vel cum Tenedonque suoque
Eetioneas inplevi sanguine Thebas,

it was sticking in the wood. “Is my hand then feeble,
and,” he says, “the forces it had before, has it poured out in one?
for surely it availed, whether when I first
cast down the Lyrnessian walls, or when both Tenedos and
Eetionian Thebes I filled with their own blood,”

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vel cum purpureus populari caede Caicus
fluxit, opusque meae bis sensit Telephus hastae.
hic quoque tot caesis, quorum per litus acervos
et feci et video, valuit mea dextra valetque.'
dixit et, ante actis veluti male crederet, hastam

or when the Caicus flowed purple with ravaging slaughter,
and Telephus twice felt the work of my spear.
Here too, with so many cut down, whose heaps along the shore
I both made and see, my right hand had strength and still has it.'
He said, and, as though he put little trust in his earlier deeds, the spear

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misit in adversum Lycia de plebe Menoeten
loricamque simul subiectaque pectora rupit.
quo plangente gravem moribundo vertice terram
extrahit illud idem calido de vulnere telum
atque ait: 'haec manus est, haec, qua modo vicimus, hasta:

he hurled at his adversary Menoetes, a man from the Lycian common folk,
and at once broke the cuirass and the breast set beneath.
as he beat the heavy earth with his dying head,
he draws that same weapon from the warm wound
and says: 'This is the hand, this, and the spear by which we have just conquered:'

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utar in hoc isdem; sit in hoc, precor, exitus idem!'
sic fatus Cycnum repetit, nec fraxinus errat
inque umero sonuit non evitata sinistro,
inde velut muro solidaque a caute repulsa est;
qua tamen ictus erat, signatum sanguine Cycnum

'I will use the same in this; may the outcome in this be the same, I pray!'
thus having spoken he goes at Cycnus again, nor does the ash spear err,
and on the left shoulder, not evaded, it resounded,
from there it was repulsed as from a wall and from a solid crag;
yet where he had been struck, Cycnus was marked with blood

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viderat et frustra fuerat gavisus Achilles:
vulnus erat nullum, sanguis fuit ille Menoetae!
tum vero praeceps curru fremebundus ab alto
desilit et nitido securum comminus hostem
ense petens parmam gladio galeamque cavari

Achilles had seen and had rejoiced in vain as well:
there was no wound; that blood was of Menoetes!
then indeed, headlong, roaring, from the high chariot
he leaps down and, seeking at close quarters with his gleaming sword
the heedless enemy, to hollow out with the sword the buckler and the helmet.

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cernit, at in duro laedi quoque corpore ferrum.
haut tulit ulterius clipeoque adversa reducto
ter quater ora viri, capulo et cava tempora pulsat
cedentique sequens instat turbatque ruitque
attonitoque negat requiem: pavor occupat illum,

he discerns that even the steel is being injured on the hard body.
he did not endure it further, and with his shield drawn back facing his foe
thrice and four times he strikes the man’s face and the hollow temples with the hilt;
and, following him as he yields, he presses on and harasses and charges,
and he denies respite to the thunderstruck man: fear seizes him,

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ante oculosque natant tenebrae retroque ferenti
aversos passus medio lapis obstitit arvo;
quem super inpulsum resupino corpore Cycnum
vi multa vertit terraeque adflixit Achilles.
tum clipeo genibusque premens praecordia duris

Darkness swims before his eyes, and, bearing his steps backward,
a stone in the middle of the field stood in the way;
upon which, driven onto it, with body thrown supine, Cycnus
Achilles by great force turned and dashed to the ground.
Then, pressing the vitals with his hard shield and knees

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vincla trahit galeae, quae presso subdita mento
elidunt fauces et respiramen iterque
eripiunt animae. victum spoliare parabat:
arma relicta videt; corpus deus aequoris albam
contulit in volucrem, cuius modo nomen habebat.

He drags at the bonds of the helmet, which, set beneath the pressed-down chin,
crush the throat and take away the breathing and the passage
of the breath. He was preparing to despoil the vanquished:
he sees the arms left behind; the god of the sea transferred the body
into a white bird, whose name he had just now borne.

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Hic labor, haec requiem multorum pugna dierum
attulit et positis pars utraque substitit armis.
dumque vigil Phrygios servat custodia muros,
et vigil Argolicas servat custodia fossas,
festa dies aderat, qua Cycni victor Achilles

This labor, this battle brought a respite of many days,
and with arms laid down each side halted.
and while a vigilant guard keeps the Phrygian walls,
and a vigilant guard keeps the Argolic trenches,
a festal day was at hand, on which Achilles, conqueror of Cycnus

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Pallada mactatae placabat sanguine vaccae;
cuius ut inposuit prosecta calentibus aris,
et dis acceptus penetravit in aethera nidor,
sacra tulere suam, pars est data cetera mensis.
discubuere toris proceres et corpora tosta

He was appeasing Pallas with the blood of a sacrificed cow;
and when he set the cut-up portions of it upon the hot altars,
and the savor, acceptable to the gods, penetrated into the aether,
the sacred things took their own due, the remaining part was given to the tables.
the nobles reclined on couches and the roasted bodies

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carne replent vinoque levant curasque sitimque.
non illos citharae, non illos carmina vocum
longave multifori delectat tibia buxi,
sed noctem sermone trahunt, virtusque loquendi
materia est: pugnas referunt hostisque suasque,

they fill themselves with flesh and with wine they lighten cares and thirst.
the citharae do not delight them, nor the songs of voices,
nor the long tibia of many-bored boxwood,
but they draw out the night with discourse, and virtue is the material of their speaking:
they recount battles and their foes and their own,

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inque vices adita atque exhausta pericula saepe
commemorare iuvat; quid enim loqueretur Achilles,
aut quid apud magnum potius loquerentur Achillem?
proxima praecipue domito victoria Cycno
in sermone fuit: visum mirabile cunctis,

and by turns it delights to recall the perils entered upon and exhausted; for what would Achilles speak of, or what would they rather speak of in the presence of great Achilles? most of all the latest victory, with Cycnus subdued, was in the discourse: a marvel seen by all,

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quod iuveni corpus nullo penetrabile telo
invictumque a vulnere erat ferrumque terebat.
hoc ipse Aeacides, hoc mirabantur Achivi,
cum sic Nestor ait: 'vestro fuit unicus aevo
contemptor ferri nulloque forabilis ictu

that the youth’s body was penetrable by no weapon
and invulnerable to wound, and it wore down the iron.
This the Aeacid himself, this the Achaeans marveled at,
when thus Nestor said: 'in your age there was a single
despiser of iron and by no blow perforable

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Cycnus. at ipse olim patientem vulnera mille
corpore non laeso Perrhaebum Caenea vidi,
Caenea Perrhaebum, qui factis inclitus Othryn
incoluit, quoque id mirum magis esset in illo,
femina natus erat.' monstri novitate moventur

Cycnus. but I myself once saw Caeneus the Perrhaebian enduring a thousand wounds, with his body unharmed, Caeneus the Perrhaebian, who, renowned for deeds, inhabited Othrys; and that this might be the more wondrous in him, he had been born a woman.' they are moved by the novelty of the prodigy

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quisquis adest, narretque rogant: quos inter Achilles:
'dic age! nam cunctis eadem est audire voluntas,
o facunde senex, aevi prudentia nostri,
quis fuerit Caeneus, cur in contraria versus,
qua tibi militia, cuius certamine pugnae

whoever is present, and they ask that he tell it: among them Achilles:
'say, come! for to all the same is the will to hear,
O eloquent old man, the prudence of our age,
who Caeneus was, why turned into the contrary sex,
what soldiery was yours, in the contest of what battle

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cognitus, a quo sit victus, si victus ab ullo est.'
tum senior: 'quamvis obstet mihi tarda vetustas,
multaque me fugiant primis spectata sub annis,
plura tamen memini. nec quae magis haereat ulla
pectore res nostro est inter bellique domique

known, by whom he was conquered, if he was conquered by anyone.'
then the elder: 'although tardy old age stands in my way,
and many things escape me that were beheld in my earliest years,
yet I remember more. Nor is there any matter that clings more
to our breast among war and home

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acta tot, ac si quem potuit spatiosa senectus
spectatorem operum multorum reddere, vixi
annos bis centum; nunc tertia vivitur aetas.
'Clara decore fuit proles Elateia Caenis,
Thessalidum virgo pulcherrima, perque propinquas

so many deeds, and as if spacious old age could make someone a spectator of many works, I have lived twice a hundred years; now a third age is being lived.
'Renowned for beauty was the Elateian progeny, Caenis,
the most beautiful maiden of the Thessalians, and through the neighboring

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perque tuas urbes (tibi enim popularis, Achille),
multorum frustra votis optata procorum.
temptasset Peleus thalamos quoque forsitan illos:
sed iam aut contigerant illi conubia matris
aut fuerant promissa tuae, nec Caenis in ullos

and through your cities (for she was your compatriot, Achilles),
desired in vain by the vows of many suitors.
Peleus too might perhaps have attempted those bridal chambers;
but already either the connubial unions with your mother had fallen to him,
or had been promised to yours, and Caenis toward none

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denupsit thalamos secretaque litora carpens
aequorei vim passa dei est (ita fama ferebat),
utque novae Veneris Neptunus gaudia cepit,
"sint tua vota licet" dixit "secura repulsae:
elige, quid voveas!" (eadem hoc quoque fama ferebat)

she declined the bridal chambers, and, traversing secluded shores,
she suffered the force of the sea-god (so Fame reported),
and when Neptune took the joys of his new Venus,
"let your vows," he said, "be safe from refusal:
choose what you would vow!" (the same Fame was reporting this as well)

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"magnum" Caenis ait "facit haec iniuria votum,
tale pati iam posse nihil; da, femina ne sim:
omnia praestiteris." graviore novissima dixit
verba sono poteratque viri vox illa videri,
sicut erat; nam iam voto deus aequoris alti

"‘Great,’ Caenis says, ‘this injury makes my vow,
that to suffer anything of such a kind may now be impossible; grant that I not be a woman:
you will have performed everything.’ She spoke the last words with a graver sound,
and that voice could seem a man’s, just as it was; for now by the vow the god of the deep sea

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adnuerat dederatque super, nec saucius ullis
vulneribus fieri ferrove occumbere posset.
munere laetus abit studiisque virilibus aevum
exigit Atracides Peneiaque arva pererrat.
'Duxerat Hippodamen audaci Ixione natus

he had assented and had granted besides, that he could not be made wounded by any wounds nor succumb to iron.
happy with the gift he departs, and the Atracides spends his age in manly pursuits and wanders through the Peneian fields.
'The son of audacious Ixion had taken Hippodame as wife'

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nubigenasque feros positis ex ordine mensis
arboribus tecto discumbere iusserat antro.
Haemonii proceres aderant, aderamus et ipsi,
festaque confusa resonabat regia turba.
ecce canunt Hymenaeon, et ignibus atria fumant,

and the fierce cloud-born he had ordered, the tables set in order,
to recline in a cave roofed with trees.
the Haemonian chieftains were present, and we ourselves were there too,
and the royal palace resounded with the mingled festive throng.
lo, they sing the Hymenaeon, and the atria smoke with fires,

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cinctaque adest virgo matrum nuruumque caterva,
praesignis facie; felicem diximus illa
coniuge Pirithoum, quod paene fefellimus omen.
nam tibi, saevorum saevissime Centaurorum,
Euryte, quam vino pectus, tam virgine visa

and the maiden arrives, encircled by a band of mothers and daughters-in-law,
distinguished in face; we called Pirithous happy in that spouse—
an omen which we almost belied.
for to you, Eurytus, most savage of the savage Centaurs,
as your breast was by wine, so was it by the maiden when seen

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ardet, et ebrietas geminata libidine regnat.
protinus eversae turbant convivia mensae,
raptaturque comis per vim nova nupta prehensis.
Eurytus Hippodamen, alii, quam quisque probabant
aut poterant, rapiunt, captaeque erat urbis imago.

he burns, and ebriety, doubled by libido, reigns.
straightway overturned tables throw the banquet into turmoil,
and the new bride, her hair seized, is carried off by force.
Eurytus takes Hippodame; others seize whichever each approved or was able,
and there was the image of a captured city.

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femineo clamore sonat domus: ocius omnes
surgimus, et primus "quae te vecordia," Theseus
"Euryte, pulsat," ait, "qui me vivente lacessas
Pirithoum violesque duos ignarus in uno?"
[neve ea magnanimus frustra memoraverit ore,

the house resounds with feminine clamor: swiftly we all
rise, and first Theseus says, "what madness
strikes you, Eurytus, that, while I live, you dare assail
Pirithous and, unknowing, violate two in one?"
[and lest the great‑souled man should have mentioned those things in vain with his mouth,

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submovet instantes raptamque furentibus aufert.]
ille nihil contra, (neque enim defendere verbis
talia facta potest) sed vindicis ora protervis
insequitur manibus generosaque pectora pulsat.
forte fuit iuxta signis exstantibus asper

he drives back those pressing on and bears away the seized woman from the frenzied.]
that man does nothing in reply, (for he cannot defend by words
such deeds) but he pursues the avenger’s face with insolent
hands and strikes his noble breast.
by chance there was nearby, rough with figures standing out

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antiquus crater; quem vastum vastior ipse
sustulit Aegides adversaque misit in ora:
sanguinis ille globos pariter cerebrumque merumque
vulnere et ore vomens madida resupinus harena
calcitrat. ardescunt germani caede bimembres

an ancient crater; which, vast, the Aegid himself, vaster, lifted and hurled into the opposing face:
he, vomiting globes of blood alike and brain and mere wine
from wound and mouth, flails, lying backward on the sodden sand,
kicking. the bi-formed brothers blaze with bloodshed

240

certatimque omnes uno ore "arma, arma" loquuntur.
vina dabant animos, et prima pocula pugna
missa volant fragilesque cadi curvique lebetes,
res epulis quondam, tum bello et caedibus aptae.
'Primus Ophionides Amycus penetralia donis

and eagerly all with one voice say "arms, arms."
the wines were giving spirit, and the first cups in the fight,
sent, fly, and fragile jars and curved cauldrons,
things once for banquets, then apt for war and slaughters.
"First the Ophionid Amycus the inner recesses with gifts

245

haut timuit spoliare suis et primus ab aede
lampadibus densum rapuit funale coruscis
elatumque alte, veluti qui candida tauri
rumpere sacrifica molitur colla securi,
inlisit fronti Lapithae Celadontis et ossa

he did not at all fear to despoil his own, and first from the shrine
he snatched a thick torch with flashing lamps,
and having lifted it high, just as one who strives to break the white
neck of a bull with a sacrificial axe,
he dashed it against the brow of the Lapith Celadon, and the bones

250

non cognoscendo confusa relinquit in ore.
exsiluere oculi, disiectisque ossibus oris
acta retro naris medioque est fixa palato.
hunc pede convulso mensae Pellaeus acernae
stravit humi Pelates deiecto in pectora mento

he left the bones, not to be recognized, confused in his face.
the eyes leapt out, and with the bones of the face scattered
the nose was driven back and was fixed in the middle of the palate.
him, with the foot of a maple table wrenched off, the Pellaean Pelates
laid low on the ground, his chin cast down upon his breast.

255

cumque atro mixtos sputantem sanguine dentes
vulnere Tartareas geminato mittit ad umbras.
'Proximus ut steterat spectans altaria vultu
fumida terribili "cur non" ait "utimur istis?"
cumque suis Gryneus inmanem sustulit aram

and as he was spitting teeth mixed with black blood,
by a doubled wound he sends him to the Tartarean shades.
'Nearest, as he had stood, gazing with a terrible countenance at the fumid altars,
he says, "why do we not use these?"
and with his own men Gryneus lifted the immense altar

260

ignibus et medium Lapitharum iecit in agmen
depressitque duos, Brotean et Orion: Orio
mater erat Mycale, quam deduxisse canendo
saepe reluctanti constabat cornua lunae.
"non impune feres, teli modo copia detur!"

and with the fires he hurled it into the middle of the Lapiths’ battle-line
and laid low two, Broteas and Orion: For Orion
his mother was Mycale, who was well known to have often drawn down by chanting
the horns of the moon, though reluctant.
"You will not bear this with impunity, only let supply of a missile be given!"

265

dixerat Exadius telique habet instar, in alta
quae fuerant pinu votivi cornua cervi.
figitur hinc duplici Gryneus in lumina ramo
eruiturque oculos, quorum pars cornibus haeret,
pars fluit in barbam concretaque sanguine pendet.

Exadius had spoken, and he has, for a weapon, the antlers of a votive stag which had been on a lofty pine.
From here Gryneus is transfixed in the eyes by the double-branched bough,
and his eyes are torn out, part of which clings to the horns,
part flows onto his beard and, congealed with blood, hangs.

270

'Ecce rapit mediis flagrantem Rhoetus ab aris
pruniceum torrem dextraque a parte Charaxi
tempora perfringit fulvo protecta capillo.
correpti rapida, veluti seges arida, flamma
arserunt crines, et vulnere sanguis inustus

'Behold Rhoetus snatches from the midst of the blazing altars
an ember-red brand, and on the right side of Charaxus
he shatters the temples, protected with fulvous hair.
Seized by the swift flame, just as a dry crop,
the hair burned, and in the wound the blood was seared.

275

terribilem stridore sonum dedit, ut dare ferrum
igne rubens plerumque solet, quod forcipe curva
cum faber eduxit, lacubus demittit: at illud
stridet et in trepida submersum sibilat unda.
saucius hirsutis avidum de crinibus ignem

it gave a terrible sound with a screech, as iron, glowing red with fire, is for the most part wont to give, when the smith, having drawn it out with a curved pair of tongs, plunges it into the troughs: but that hisses and, submerged, whistles in the trembling wave.
wounded, from his shaggy locks the ravenous fire

280

excutit inque umeros limen tellure revulsum
tollit, onus plaustri, quod ne permittat in hostem,
ipsa facit gravitas: socium quoque saxea moles
oppressit spatio stantem propiore Cometen.
gaudia nec retinet Rhoetus: "sic, conprecor," inquit

he shakes it off, and onto his shoulders he lifts a threshold torn from the earth,
a wagon’s burden, which, so that he may not allow it to be hurled at the enemy,
its very heaviness brings about: the rocky mass too crushed his comrade
Cometes, who was standing at too close a distance.
nor does Rhoetus restrain his joys: “So, I beseech,” he says

285

"cetera sit fortis castrorum turba tuorum!"
semicremoque novat repetitum stipite vulnus
terque quaterque gravi iuncturas verticis ictu
rupit, et in liquido sederunt ossa cerebro.
'Victor ad Euagrum Corythumque Dryantaque transit;

"let the rest be the brave throng of your camps!"
and with a half-burned stake he renews the wound, struck again,
and thrice and four times with a heavy blow he broke the sutures of the crown,
and the bones settled in the liquid brain.
'The victor passes on to Evagrius and Corythus and Dryas;

290

e quibus ut prima tectus lanugine malas
procubuit Corythus, "puero quae gloria fuso
parta tibi est?" Euagrus ait, nec dicere Rhoetus
plura sinit rutilasque ferox in aperta loquentis
condidit ora viri perque os in pectora flammas.

and from among whom, when Corythus, his cheeks covered with first down, fell forward,
“What glory has been won for you with a boy laid low?” Euagrus said; nor does Rhoetus
allow him to say more, and the ferocious one buried the ruddy flames into the open mouth
of the man as he was speaking, and through the mouth into the breast the flames.

295

te quoque, saeve Drya, circum caput igne rotato
insequitur, sed non in te quoque constitit idem
exitus: adsiduae successu caedis ovantem,
qua iuncta est umero cervix, sude figis obusta.
ingemuit duroque sudem vix osse revulsit

you too, savage Dryas, he pursues, with fire whirled around his head;
but in your case the same end did not ensue:
him, exulting in the success of assiduous slaughter,
you pierce with a charred stake where the neck is joined to the shoulder.
he groaned and from the hard bone scarcely wrenched out the stake.

300

Rhoetus et ipse suo madefactus sanguine fugit.
fugit et Orneus Lycabasque et saucius armo
dexteriore Medon et cum Pisenore Thaumas,
quique pedum nuper certamine vicerat omnes
Mermeros, accepto tum vulnere tardius ibat;

Rhoetus too himself, soaked with his own blood, flees.
Orneus flees too, and Lycabas, and Medon wounded in the right shoulder,
and Thaumas together with Pisenor,
and Mermeros, who lately in a contest of the feet had conquered all,
then, a wound received, was going more slowly;

305

et Pholus et Melaneus et Abas praedator aprorum,
quique suis frustra bellum dissuaserat augur
Asbolus: ille etiam metuenti vulnera Nesso
"ne fuge! ad Herculeos" inquit "servaberis arcus."
at non Eurynomus Lycidasque et Areos et Imbreus

and Pholus and Melaneus and Abas, a predator of boars,
and Asbolus the augur, who had in vain dissuaded war for his own men:
he even said to Nessus, who feared wounds,
"do not flee! you will be preserved for the Herculean bows."
but not Eurynomus and Lycidas and Areos and Imbreus

310

effugere necem; quos omnes dextra Dryantis
perculit adversos. adversum tu quoque, quamvis
terga fugae dederas, vulnus, Crenaee, tulisti:
nam grave respiciens inter duo lumina ferrum,
qua naris fronti committitur, accipis, imae.

to escape death; all of whom the right hand of Dryas struck down as they faced him.
in front you too, although you had given your back to flight, Crenaeus, bore a wound:
for, looking back, you receive the heavy iron between your two lights,
where the nose is joined to the lower forehead.

315

'In tanto fremitu cunctis sine fine iacebat
sopitus venis et inexperrectus Aphidas
languentique manu carchesia mixta tenebat,
fusus in Ossaeae villosis pellibus ursae;
quem procul ut vidit frustra nulla arma moventem,

'In such a great din, with everything in endless uproar, Aphidas lay
lulled in his veins and unawakened,
and with a languishing hand he was holding mixed carchesia,
sprawled on the shaggy pelts of the Ossaean bear;
whom, when he saw from afar, in vain moving no arms,

320

inserit amento digitos "miscenda" que dixit
"cum Styge vina bibes" Phorbas; nec plura moratus
in iuvenem torsit iaculum, ferrataque collo
fraxinus, ut casu iacuit resupinus, adacta est.
mors caruit sensu, plenoque e gutture fluxit

he inserts his fingers into the thong and said "to be commingled
with Styx you will drink the wines," said Phorbas; nor, delaying further,
he hurled the javelin at the youth, and the iron-shod ash
was driven into his neck, as it chanced he lay supine by the fall.
death lacked sensation, and from his full gullet it flowed

325

inque toros inque ipsa niger carchesia sanguis.
'Vidi ego Petraeum conantem tollere terra
glandiferam quercum; quam dum conplexibus ambit
et quatit huc illuc labefactaque robora iactat,
lancea Pirithoi costis inmissa Petraei

and black blood onto the couches and into the very goblets.
'I saw Petraeus attempting to lift from the earth
an acorn-bearing oak; which, while he encircles with embraces
and shakes here and there and flings the loosened oaken mass,
the spear of Pirithous, driven into Petraeus’s ribs

330

pectora cum duro luctantia robore fixit.
Pirithoi virtute Lycum cecidisse ferebant,
Pirithoi virtute Chromin, sed uterque minorem
victori titulum quam Dictys Helopsque dederunt,
fixus Helops iaculo, quod pervia tempora fecit

he fixed fast his breast, struggling with the hard oak.
They said that by the valor of Pirithous Lycus had fallen,
by the valor of Pirithous Chromis; but each gave a lesser
title to the victor than Dictys and Helops bestowed,
Helops fixed by a javelin, which made his temples pervious

335

et missum a dextra laevam penetravit ad aurem,
Dictys ab ancipiti delapsus acumine montis,
dum fugit instantem trepidans Ixione natum,
decidit in praeceps et pondere corporis ornum
ingentem fregit suaque induit ilia fractae.

and, sent from the right hand, it penetrated to the left ear,
Dictys, having slipped from the twin-edged peak of the mountain,
while, trembling, he flees the pressing son of Ixion,
fell headlong, and with the weight of his body broke a huge ash,
and impaled his flanks on the broken one.

340

'Ultor adest Aphareus saxumque e monte revulsum
mittere conatur; conantem stipite querno
occupat Aegides cubitique ingentia frangit
ossa nec ulterius dare corpus inutile leto
aut vacat aut curat tergoque Bienoris alti

'The avenger Aphareus is at hand, and tries to hurl a rock wrenched from the mountain,
as he attempts, the son of Aegeus forestalls him with an oaken club
and shatters the huge bones of his elbow, nor does he have leisure or care to
consign the useless body further to death, and on the back of lofty Bienor

345

insilit, haut solito quemquam portare nisi ipsum,
opposuitque genu costis prensamque sinistra
caesariem retinens vultum minitantiaque ora
robore nodoso praeduraque tempora fregit.
robore Nedymnum iaculatoremque Lycopen

he leaps upon, not at all accustomed to carry anyone except himself,
and he set his knee against his ribs, and, holding the seized hair with his left hand,
he shattered the face and the threatening mouth
with a knotted oak, and broke the very-hard temples.
with the oak, Nedymnus and Lycopes the javelin-thrower

350

sternit et inmissa protectum pectora barba
Hippason et summis exstantem Riphea silvis
Thereaque, Haemoniis qui prensos montibus ursos
ferre domum vivos indignantesque solebat.
haut tulit utentem pugnae successibus ultra

he lays low too Hippasus, whose chest was protected by a flowing beard, and Ripheus, towering above the highest woods, and Thereas, who was wont to carry home alive and indignant bears seized on the Haemonian mountains. he did not bear him, employing the successes of the fight, any further.

355

Thesea Demoleon: solidoque revellere trunco
annosam pinum magno molimine temptat;
quod quia non potuit, praefractam misit in hostem,
sed procul a telo Theseus veniente recessit
Pallados admonitu: credi sic ipse volebat. 360
non tamen arbor iners cecidit; nam Crantoris alti
abscidit iugulo pectusque umerumque sinistrum:
armiger ille tui fuerat genitoris, Achille,
quem Dolopum rector, bello superatus, Amyntor
Aeacidae dederat pacis pignusque fidemque.

Demoleon [aimed at] Theseus; and with great exertion he attempts to tear from its solid trunk an aged pine; since he could not, he hurled the broken-off [piece] at the enemy, but Theseus, at Pallas’s admonition, withdrew far from the oncoming missile: thus he himself wished it to be believed. 360
Yet the tree did not fall ineffectual; for at the throat of lofty Crantor it sheared off his breast and his left shoulder. That man had been the armiger of your begetter, Achilles, whom Amyntor, ruler of the Dolopes, overcome in war, had given to the Aeacid as a pledge of peace and of good faith.

365

Hunc procul ut foedo disiectum vulnere Peleus
vidit, "at inferias, iuvenum gratissime Crantor,
accipe" ait validoque in Demoleonta lacerto
fraxineam misit contentis viribus hastam,
quae laterum cratem praerupit et ossibus haerens

When Peleus saw him from afar, cast down by a foul wound, “but as funeral offerings, Crantor, most dear of youths, receive this,” he said, and with a strong arm he sent the ash-wood spear into Demoleon, with his strength drawn taut, which broke through the latticework of the sides and, clinging to the bones

370

intremuit: trahit ille manu sine cuspide lignum
(id quoque vix sequitur), cuspis pulmone retenta est;
ipse dolor vires animo dabat: aeger in hostem
erigitur pedibusque virum proculcat equinis.
excipit ille ictus galea clipeoque sonantes

he shuddered: he drags with his hand the wood without its point
(that too scarcely follows), the point is held fast in the lung;
the pain itself was giving strength to his spirit: ailing, against the foe
he rears up and with his equine feet he tramples the man.
he catches the resounding blows on his helmet and shield

375

defensatque umeros praetentaque sustinet arma
perque armos uno duo pectora perforat ictu.
ante tamen leto dederat Phlegraeon et Hylen
eminus, Iphinoum conlato Marte Claninque;
additur his Dorylas, qui tempora tecta gerebat

and he defends his shoulders and supports the weapons held out before him
and through the shoulders with one blow he perforates two chests.
before, however, he had given Phlegraeon and Hylen to death
from afar, and Iphinous and Clanis with battle joined;
to these is added Dorylas, who wore his temples covered

380

pelle lupi saevique vicem praestantia teli
cornua vara boum multo rubefacta cruore.
'Huic ego (nam viris animus dabat) "aspice," dixi
"quantum concedant nostro tua cornua ferro"
et iaculum torsi: quod cum vitare nequiret,

the hide of a wolf and the splayed horns of oxen, taking the place of a savage weapon,
crooked, reddened with much gore.
'To him I (for my spirit was supplying strength) said, "Look," I said,
"how much your horns concede to our iron,"
and I hurled a javelin: which, since he could not avoid,

385

opposuit dextram passurae vulnera fronti:
adfixa est cum fronte manus; fit clamor, at illum
haerentem Peleus et acerbo vulnere victum
(stabat enim propior) mediam ferit ense sub alvum.
prosiluit terraque ferox sua viscera traxit

he put his right hand to his forehead about to suffer wounds:
the hand was affixed to the forehead; a clamor arises, but Peleus
strikes him, clinging and overcome by the bitter wound
(for he was standing nearer), with the sword beneath the middle of the belly.
he sprang forth and, fierce, on the ground dragged out his own viscera

390

tractaque calcavit calcataque rupit et illis
crura quoque inpediit et inani concidit alvo.
'Nec te pugnantem tua, Cyllare, forma redemit,
si modo naturae formam concedimus illi.
barba erat incipiens, barbae color aureus, aurea

and he trod upon what he had dragged, and having trodden on it he tore it, and with them he also entangled his legs, and he fell with his belly emptied.
'Nor did your form redeem you as you fought, Cyllarus,
if indeed we concede a form to that nature.
a beard was beginning, the color of the beard golden, golden

395

ex umeris medios coma dependebat in armos.
gratus in ore vigor; cervix umerique manusque
pectoraque artificum laudatis proxima signis,
et quacumque vir est; nec equi mendosa sub illo
deteriorque viro facies; da colla caputque,

from his shoulders his hair hung down to the midst of his upper arms.
a pleasing vigor in his face; his neck and shoulders and hands
and chest were closest to the lauded statues of artisans,
and wherever he is a man; nor, beneath him, was the horse’s
appearance faulty or inferior to the man; add the neck and the head,

400

Castore dignus erit: sic tergum sessile, sic sunt
pectora celsa toris. totus pice nigrior atra,
candida cauda tamen; color est quoque cruribus albus.
multae illum petiere sua de gente, sed una
abstulit Hylonome, qua nulla decentior inter

He will be worthy of Castor: thus a back fit for sitting, thus his chests lofty with muscles.
all blacker than black pitch, yet a white tail; there is also a white color upon the legs.
many from his own race sought him, but one
carried him off, Hylonome, than whom none more becoming among

405

semiferos altis habitavit femina silvis;
haec et blanditiis et amando et amare fatendo
Cyllaron una tenet, cultu quoque, quantus in illis
esse potest membris, ut sit coma pectine levis,
ut modo rore maris, modo se violave rosave

a woman dwelt among the half-beasts in the high forests;
she holds Cyllarus alone both by blandishments and by loving and by avowing love,
and also by attire, as much as can be upon those members,
so that her hair may be sleek with the comb,
so that now with the dew of the sea, now with violet or with rose, she treats herself

410

inplicet, interdum candentia lilia gestet,
bisque die lapsis Pagasaeae vertice silvae
fontibus ora lavet, bis flumine corpora tinguat,
nec nisi quae deceant electarumque ferarum
aut umero aut lateri praetendat vellera laevo. 415
par amor est illis: errant in montibus una,
antra simul subeunt; et tum Lapitheia tecta
intrarant pariter, pariter fera bella gerebant:
(auctor in incerto est) iaculum de parte sinistra
venit et inferius quam collo pectora subsunt,

she entwines it, sometimes bears shining-white lilies,
and twice a day, when from the vertex of the Pagasaean wood the gliding founts flow,
she washes her face at the springs, twice she dips their bodies in the river,
nor does she drape pelts over the left shoulder or side except those which befit and are of chosen wild beasts. 415
Equal is the love for them: they wander on the mountains together,
they enter caves together; and then the Lapith dwellings
they had entered side by side, side by side they were waging the fierce wars:
(the source is uncertain) a javelin from the left side
came, and lower than where the breast lies beneath the neck,

420

Cyllare, te fixit; parvo cor vulnere laesum
corpore cum toto post tela educta refrixit.
protinus Hylonome morientes excipit artus
inpositaque manu vulnus fovet oraque ad ora
admovet atque animae fugienti obsistere temptat;

Cyllarus, it pierced you; your heart, hurt by a small wound,
after the spear was drawn out grew cold along with the whole body.
At once Hylonome catches his dying limbs
and with her hand laid on she cherishes the wound and brings mouth to mouth,
and tries to oppose the fleeing soul;

425

ut videt exstinctum, dictis, quae clamor ad aures
arcuit ire meas, telo, quod inhaeserat illi,
incubuit moriensque suum conplexa maritum est.
'Ante oculos stat et ille meos, qui sena leonum
vinxerat inter se conexis vellera nodis,

When she sees him extinct, with words which the clamor to my ears
barred from going, upon the weapon which had stuck in him,
she sank, and dying she embraced her own husband.
'Before my eyes that one too stands, who had bound together the fleeces of six lions
with interlinked knots, the fleeces bound to each other,

430

Phaeocomes, hominemque simul protectus equumque;
caudice qui misso, quem vix iuga bina moverent,
Tectaphon Oleniden a summo vertice fregit;
[fracta volubilitas capitis latissima, perque os
perque cavas nares oculosque auresque cerebrum

Phaeocomes, having shielded both the man and the horse at once;
who, with a log sent, which scarcely two yokes would move,
broke Tectaphon, the Olenid, from the very crown of the head;
[the very broad roundness of the head shattered, and through the mouth
and through the hollow nostrils and the eyes and the ears the brain

435

molle fluit, veluti concretum vimine querno
lac solet utve liquor rari sub pondere cribri
manat et exprimitur per densa foramina spissus.]
ast ego, dum parat hic armis nudare iacentem,
(scit tuus hoc genitor) gladium spoliantis in ima

soft it flows, just as milk thickened in oaken wicker is wont [to do], or as the liquor of a rare sieve, under weight, drips and, thick, is pressed out through dense apertures.]
but I, while this man prepares with arms to strip the one lying low,
(your begetter knows this) I drove the sword of the despoiler down into the depths

440

ilia demisi. Cthonius quoque Teleboasque
ense iacent nostro: ramum prior ille bifurcum
gesserat, hic iaculum; iaculo mihi vulnera fecit:
signa vides! adparet adhuc vetus inde cicatrix.
tunc ego debueram capienda ad Pergama mitti;

I drove it into his deepest entrails. Cthonius too and Teleboas lie by my sword: the former had borne a bifurcate branch, the latter a javelin; with the javelin he made wounds to me: you see the signs! even now the old cicatrix from that appears. Then I ought to have been sent to Pergama to be taken.

445

tum poteram magni, si non superare, morari
Hectoris arma meis! illo sed tempore nullus,
aut puer, Hector erat, nunc me mea deficit aetas.
quid tibi victorem gemini Periphanta Pyraethi,
Ampyca quid referam, qui quadrupedantis Echecli

then I could, if not to overcome, to delay the arms of great Hector with my own! but at that time Hector was not yet, or was a boy; now my age fails me. why should I recount to you Periphas, victor of Pyraethus’s twins,
or Ampycus, who of four-footed Echeclus

450

fixit in adverso cornum sine cuspide vultu?
vecte Pelethronium Macareus in pectus adacto
stravit Erigdupum; memini et venabula condi
inguine Nesseis manibus coniecta Cymeli.
nec tu credideris tantum cecinisse futura

did he fix a cornel-wood shaft without a point in a face opposite him?
with a lever driven in, Macareus laid low the Pelethronian Erigdupum by striking into his breast;
I remember too that boar-spears were buried in the groin of Cymelus, hurled by the hands of Nessus.
nor should you believe that he sang only things to come

455

Ampyciden Mopsum: Mopso iaculante biformis
occubuit frustraque loqui temptavit Hodites
ad mentum lingua mentoque ad guttura fixo.
'Quinque neci Caeneus dederat Styphelumque Bromumque
Antimachumque Elymumque securiferumque Pyracmon:

Ampycid Mopsus: with Mopsus hurling, the biform fell, and Hodites tried in vain to speak, his tongue fixed to his chin and his chin fixed to his throat.
'Five to death had Caeneus consigned—Styphelus and Bromus,
Antimachus and Elymus and axe-bearing Pyracmon:'

460

vulnera non memini, numerum nomenque notavi.
provolat Emathii spoliis armatus Halesi,
quem dederat leto, membris et corpore Latreus
maximus: huic aetas inter iuvenemque senemque,
vis iuvenalis erat, variabant tempora cani.

I do not remember the wounds; I noted the number and the name.
Latreus, greatest in limbs and body, flies forth, armed with the spoils of Emathian Halesus,
whom he had given to death: for him the age was between a youth and an old man,
the vigor was youthful; his temples were variegated with hoary hairs.

465

qui clipeo galeaque Macedoniaque sarisa
conspicuus faciemque obversus in agmen utrumque
armaque concussit certumque equitavit in orbem
verbaque tot fudit vacuas animosus in auras:
"et te, Caeni, feram? nam tu mihi femina semper,

who, conspicuous with shield and helmet and Macedonian sarissa,
and, his face turned toward either battle-line,
shook his arms and rode in a fixed circle,
and, high-spirited, poured so many words into the empty airs:
"And must I endure you too, Caeneus? for to me you are always a woman,

470

tu mihi Caenis eris. nec te natalis origo
commonuit, mentemque subit, quo praemia facto
quaque viri falsam speciem mercede pararis?
quid sis nata, vide, vel quid sis passa, columque,
i, cape cum calathis et stamina pollice torque;

You will be Caenis to me. Nor has your natal origin admonished you, and does it come into your mind for what deed the rewards were, and for what fee you secured the false semblance of a man?
Consider what you were born, or what you have suffered; and the distaff—go, take it with your baskets, and twist the threads with your thumb;

475

bella relinque viris." iactanti talia Caeneus
extentum cursu missa latus eruit hasta,
qua vir equo commissus erat. furit ille dolore
nudaque Phyllei iuvenis ferit ora sarisa:
non secus haec resilit, quam tecti a culmine grando,

"leave the wars to men." As he was vaunting such things, Caeneus
with a spear sent at a run tore open the side of the one stretched out in his charge,
where the man had been joined to the horse. He rages with pain,
and the youth, son of Phyleus, smites his bare face with a naked sarissa:
no otherwise does this rebound than hail from the roof’s ridge,

480

aut siquis parvo feriat cava tympana saxo.
comminus adgreditur laterique recondere duro
luctatur gladium: gladio loca pervia non sunt.
"haut tamen effugies! medio iugulaberis ense,
quandoquidem mucro est hebes" inquit et in latus ensem

or if someone should strike hollow tympana with a small stone.
He approaches at close quarters and struggles to bury the sword in the hard flank:
there are no passable places for the sword.
"Not, however, will you escape! You will be throat-cut by the middle of the blade,
since the point is blunt," he says, and into the side the sword

485

obliquat longaque amplectitur ilia dextra.
plaga facit gemitus ut corpore marmoris icto,
fractaque dissiluit percusso lammina callo.
ut satis inlaesos miranti praebuit artus,
"nunc age" ait Caeneus "nostro tua corpora ferro

he angles aside and with his long right hand embraces the flanks.
the stroke makes groans, as when a body of marble is struck,
and the blade, shattered, sprang apart, the hardness having been smitten.
when he had sufficiently offered to the marveling foe his unharmed limbs,
"now come," says Caeneus, "submit your bodies to our steel

490

temptemus!" capuloque tenus demisit in armos
ensem fatiferum caecamque in viscera movit
versavitque manum vulnusque in vulnere fecit.
ecce ruunt vasto rabidi clamore bimembres
telaque in hunc omnes unum mittuntque feruntque.

"let us try!" and up to the hilt he plunged into the shoulders
the death-bearing sword and moved it blind in the viscera,
and he kept turning his hand and made wound upon wound.
lo, with vast rabid clamor the biform ones rush,
and at this one they all together both hurl and bear their weapons.

495

tela retusa cadunt: manet inperfossus ab omni
inque cruentatus Caeneus Elateius ictu.
fecerat attonitos nova res. "heu dedecus ingens!"
Monychus exclamat.

the blunted missiles fall: he remains unpierced by every stroke
and Caeneus the Elateian bloodied by the blow.
A novel thing had made them thunderstruck. "Alas, a huge disgrace!"
Monychus exclaims.

"populus superamur ab uno
vixque viro; quamquam ille vir est, nos segnibus actis,

"we, a people, are overcome by one
and scarcely by a man; although he is a man, we with sluggish deeds,

500

quod fuit ille, sumus. quid membra inmania prosunt?
quid geminae vires et quod fortissima rerum
in nobis natura duplex animalia iunxit?
nec nos matre dea, nec nos Ixione natos
esse reor, qui tantus erat, Iunonis ut altae

What he was, we are. What good are enormous limbs?
What good are twin strengths, and that Nature, strongest of things,
has joined double animals in us?
Nor do I think that we were born of a goddess mother, nor from Ixion,
who was so great, that of lofty Juno

505

spem caperet: nos semimari superamur ab hoste!
saxa trabesque super totosque involvite montes
vivacemque animam missis elidite silvis!
massa premat fauces, et erit pro vulnere pondus."
dixit et insanis deiectam viribus austri

would take hope: we are overcome by a half-male enemy!
Roll rocks and beams, and wrap whole mountains over me,
and with hurled forests dash out the lively soul!
Let a mass press the throat, and weight will be in place of a wound."
He said, and by the mad forces of Auster cast it down

510

forte trabem nactus validum coniecit in hostem
exemplumque fuit, parvoque in tempore nudus
arboris Othrys erat, nec habebat Pelion umbras.
obrutus inmani cumulo sub pondere Caeneus
aestuat arboreo congestaque robora duris

by chance, having obtained a stout beam, he hurled it at the foe
and was an example; and in a short time Othrys was naked
of tree, nor did Pelion have its shades.
overwhelmed beneath an immense heap, under the arboreal weight, Caeneus
seethes, and the heaped oaken timbers with hard

515

fert umeris, sed enim postquam super ora caputque
crevit onus neque habet, quas ducat, spiritus auras,
deficit interdum, modo se super aera frustra
tollere conatur iactasque evolvere silvas
interdumque movet, veluti, quam cernimus, ecce,

he bears it on his shoulders, but indeed after the burden grew above his face and head
nor has his breath the airs to draw,
at times he fails, now he tries in vain to lift himself above the air
and to unroll the hurled forests,
and sometimes he moves them, just as, look, the thing which we see,

520

ardua si terrae quatiatur motibus Ide.
exitus in dubio est: alii sub inania corpus
Tartara detrusum silvarum mole ferebant;
abnuit Ampycides medioque ex aggere fulvis
vidit avem pennis liquidas exire sub auras,

if lofty Ida should be shaken by the earth’s tremors.
the outcome is in doubt: others were reporting the body
to have been thrust down beneath the empty Tartarus by the mass of the forests;
Ampycides denied it, and from the middle of the heap he saw
a bird with tawny feathers go forth into the clear airs,

525

quae mihi tum primum, tunc est conspecta supremum.
hanc ubi lustrantem leni sua castra volatu
Mopsus et ingenti circum clangore sonantem
adspexit pariterque animis oculisque secutus
"o salve," dixit "Lapithaeae gloria gentis,

which to me then first, then was seen for the last time.
when Mopsus saw her surveying with gentle flight his camp
and resounding around with immense clangor,
and he beheld and followed her equally with spirit and with eyes,
"O hail," he said, "glory of the Lapithaean race,

530

maxime vir quondam, sed nunc avis unica, Caencu!"
credita res auctore suo est: dolor addidit iram,
oppressumque aegre tulimus tot ab hostibus unum;
nec prius abstitimus ferro exercere dolorem,
quam data pars leto, partem fuga noxque removit.'

greatest man once, but now a unique bird, Caeneus!"
the matter was credited on its author: grief added anger,
and we could hardly endure that one was oppressed by so many enemies;
nor did we desist from exercising our grief with the sword,
until a part was given to death, and flight and night removed a part.'

535

Haec inter Lapithas et semihomines Centauros
proelia Tlepolemus Pylio referente dolorem
praeteriti Alcidae tacito non pertulit ore
atque ait: 'Herculeae mirum est oblivia laudis
acta tibi, senior; certe mihi saepe referre

These battles between the Lapiths and the half-men Centaurs
as the Pylian, bringing back the pain of Alcides in times past, was recounting,
Tlepolemus did not endure with a silent mouth
and said: 'It is a wonder that there is oblivion of Herculean glory
for you, old man; surely you often recount to me

540

nubigenas domitos a se pater esse solebat.'
tristis ad haec Pylius: 'quid me meminisse malorum
cogis et obductos annis rescindere luctus
inque tuum genitorem odium offensasque fateri?
ille quidem maiora fide, di! gessit et orbem

‘my father was wont to say that he himself had subdued the cloud-born.’
sad at these words the Pylian [said]: ‘why do you force me to remember evils
and to tear open griefs overcast by years,
and to confess hatred and offenses against your begetter?
he indeed did things greater than belief, gods!, and the orb

545

inplevit meritis, quod mallem posse negare;
sed neque Deiphobum nec Pulydamanta nec ipsum
Hectora laudamus: quis enim laudaverit hostem?
ille tuus genitor Messenia moenia quondam
stravit et inmeritas urbes Elinque Pylonque

he filled the world with merits, which I would prefer to be able to deny;
but neither Deiphobus nor Polydamas nor Hector himself do we laud: for who would laud an enemy?
that father of yours once laid low the Messenian walls and the undeserving cities, both Elis and Pylos

550

diruit inque meos ferrum flammamque penatis
inpulit, utque alios taceam, quos ille peremit,
bis sex Nelidae fuimus, conspecta iuventus,
bis sex Herculeis ceciderunt me minus uno
viribus; atque alios vinci potuisse ferendum est:

he laid low and drove iron and flame into my Penates,
and though I keep silent about others whom he slew,
we were twice six Neleids, a youth conspicuous to behold,
twice six fell to the Herculean strength, all but one—me;
and that others could have been conquered is to be borne:

555

mira Periclymeni mors est, cui posse figuras
sumere, quas vellet, rursusque reponere sumptas
Neptunus dederat, Nelei sanguinis auctor.
hic ubi nequiquam est formas variatus in omnes,
vertitur in faciem volucris, quae fulmina curvis

wondrous is the death of Periclymenus, to whom to be able to assume figures
which he wished, and to put back again the assumed ones,
Neptune had granted, the author of Neleus’s blood.
when he had in vain varied his forms into all,
he turns into the shape of the bird which the thunderbolts with curved

560

ferre solet pedibus divum gratissima regi;
viribus usus avis pennis rostroque redunco
hamatisque viri laniaverat unguibus ora.
tendit in hanc nimium certos Tirynthius arcus
atque inter nubes sublimia membra ferentem

is accustomed to carry with its feet the thunderbolts, most pleasing to the king of the gods;
using the bird’s strength, with wings and a recurved beak,
and with hooked talons he had torn the man’s face.
the Tirynthian aims his all-too-sure bow at this one,
and, as he bore his lofty limbs among the clouds,

565

pendentemque ferit, lateri qua iungitur ala;
nec grave vulnus erat, sed rupti vulnere nervi
deficiunt motumque negant viresque volandi.
decidit in terram, non concipientibus auras
infirmis pennis, et qua levis haeserat alae

and he strikes him hanging, where the wing is joined to the side;
nor was the wound grave, but the nerves, torn by the wound, fail
and deny both motion and the powers of flying.
he falls to the earth, his weak feathers not catching the airs,
and where the light wing had stuck

570

corporis adflicti pressa est gravitate sagitta
perque latus summum iugulo est exacta sinistro.
nunc videor debere tui praeconia rebus
Herculis, o Rhodiae ductor pulcherrime classis?
nec tamen ulterius, quam fortia facta silendo

the arrow was pressed down by the weight of the stricken body
and through the upper side it was driven to the left side of the throat.
now I seem to owe, in deeds, the praises of your Hercules,
O most splendid leader of the Rhodian fleet?
nor yet further than by keeping silent about brave deeds

575

ulciscor fratres: solida est mihi gratia tecum.'
Haec postquam dulci Neleius edidit ore,
a sermone senis repetito munere Bacchi
surrexere toris: nox est data cetera somno.
At deus, aequoreas qui cuspide temperat undas,

'I avenge my brothers: firm is my favor with you.'
After this the Neleian uttered these things with a sweet mouth,
from the old man’s discourse, with the gift of Bacchus renewed,
they rose from the couches: the rest of the night was given to sleep.
But the god, who with his spear tempers the sea-waves,

580

in volucrem corpus nati Phaethontida versum
mente dolet patria saevumque perosus Achillem
exercet memores plus quam civiliter iras.
iamque fere tracto duo per quinquennia bello
talibus intonsum conpellat Sminthea dictis:

he grieves in his mind for the body of the Phaethontid youth turned into a bird,
for his fatherland he sorrows in mind, and, hating cruel Achilles,
he keeps alive mindful wraths beyond what is civil.
and now, with the war drawn out for almost two five-year periods,
he thus addresses unshorn Smintheus with such words:

585

'o mihi de fratris longe gratissime natis,
inrita qui mecum posuisti moenia Troiae,
ecquid, ubi has iamiam casuras adspicis arces,
ingemis? aut ecquid tot defendentia muros
milia caesa doles? ecquid, ne persequar omnes,

'O by far most dearest to me of my brother’s children,
who with me set up the walls of Troy in vain,
do you, when you behold these citadels now even-now about to fall,
groan? or do you at all grieve that so many thousands defending the walls
have been cut down? do you at all, not to pursue them all,

590

Hectoris umbra subit circum sua Pergama tracti?
cum tamen ille ferox belloque cruentior ipso
vivit adhuc, operis nostri populator, Achilles.
det mihi se: faxo, triplici quid cuspide possim,
sentiat; at quoniam concurrere comminus hosti

Does Hector’s shade, dragged, come up around his own Pergama?
when yet that man, ferocious and more blood-stained than war itself,
still lives—Achilles, the ravager of our work.
Let him give himself to me: I’ll see to it that he feel what with my threefold cusp I can do,
but since to clash hand-to-hand with the enemy

595

non datur, occulta necopinum perde sagitta!'
adnuit atque animo pariter patruique suoque
Delius indulgens nebula velatus in agmen
pervenit Iliacum mediaque in caede virorum
rara per ignotos spargentem cernit Achivos

'since it is not granted, destroy the unsuspecting man with a hidden arrow!'
He nodded assent, and the Delian, indulgent to the spirit of his uncle and his own alike,
veiled in a cloud, came into the Trojan column,
and in the midst of the slaughter of men
he sees him thinning out the Achaeans here and there through unfamiliar places

600

tela Parin fassusque deum, 'quid spicula perdis
sanguine plebis?' ait. 'siqua est tibi cura tuorum,
vertere in Aeaciden caesosque ulciscere fratres!'
dixit et ostendens sternentem Troica ferro
corpora Peliden, arcus obvertit in illum

he gave weapons to Paris and, avowing himself a god, 'why do you waste your darts
on the blood of the common folk?' he said. 'if you have any care for your own,
turn them upon the Aeacid and avenge your slaughtered brothers!'
he spoke and, pointing out the Pelides laying low Trojan bodies
with iron, turned the bow toward him

605

certaque letifera derexit spicula dextra.
quod Priamus gaudere senex post Hectora posset,
hoc fuit; ille igitur tantorum victor, Achille,
victus es a timido Graiae raptore maritae!
at si femineo fuerat tibi Marte cadendum,

and with his right hand he directed sure, death-bearing darts.
what the old man Priam could rejoice in after Hector, this was it;
you then, Achilles, conqueror of so great things,
were conquered by the timid ravisher of a Greek wife!
but if it had been yours to fall by a feminine Mars,

610

Thermodontiaca malles cecidisse bipenni.
Iam timor ille Phrygum, decus et tutela Pelasgi
nominis, Aeacides, caput insuperabile bello,
arserat: armarat deus idem idemque cremarat;
iam cinis est, et de tam magno restat Achille

You would have preferred to have fallen by the Thermodontian double-axe.
Already that terror of the Phrygians, the glory and tutelage of the Pelasgian
name, the Aeacid, a head insuperable in war,
had burned: the same god had armed and the same had cremated;
now he is ash, and of so great Achilles there remains

615

nescio quid parvum, quod non bene conpleat urnam,
at vivit totum quae gloria conpleat orbem.
haec illi mensura viro respondet, et hac est
par sibi Pelides nec inania Tartara sentit.
ipse etiam, ut, cuius fuerit, cognoscere posses,

I know not what small thing, which does not well complete the urn,
but there lives a glory which completes the whole orb.
This measure corresponds to that man, and by this
Pelides is on a par with himself and does not sense empty Tartarus.
He himself also, so that you might recognize whose he had been,

620

bella movet clipeus, deque armis arma feruntur.
non ea Tydides, non audet Oileos Aiax,
non minor Atrides, non bello maior et aevo
poscere, non alii: solis Telamone creatis
Laertaque fuit tantae fiducia laudis.

the shield stirs wars, and from arms arms are borne forth.
Not Tydides, nor does Ajax son of Oileus dare it,
nor the lesser Atrides, nor he greater in war and in age,
to demand them, nor do others: to those alone born of Telamon
and the son of Laertes was there confidence for such renown.

625

a se Tantalides onus invidiamque removit
Argolicosque duces mediis considere castris
iussit et arbitrium litis traiecit in omnes.

The Tantalid removed from himself the burden and the odium,
and ordered the Argolic leaders to sit in the middle of the camp,
and transferred the arbitration of the dispute onto all.