Ovid: METAMORPHOSES

Consedere duces et vulgi stante corona
surgit ad hos clipei dominus septemplicis Aiax,
utque erat inpatiens irae, Sigeia torvo
litora respexit classemque in litore vultu
intendensque manus 'agimus, pro Iuppiter!' inquit

The leaders sat, and with the ring of the crowd standing
rises toward these Ajax, lord of the sevenfold shield,
and, as he was impatient of wrath, with grim
countenance he looked back at the Sigeian shores and the fleet on the shore,
and stretching out his hands, he says, 'Are we doing this, by Jupiter!'

'ante rates causam, et mecum confertur Ulixes!
at non Hectoreis dubitavit cedere flammis,
quas ego sustinui, quas hac a classe fugavi.
tutius est igitur fictis contendere verbis,
quam pugnare manu, sed nec mihi dicere promptum,

'before the ships the case, and Ulysses is compared with me!
but he did not hesitate to yield to the Hectorian flames,
which I withstood, which I drove away from this fleet.
safer it is therefore to contend with fictitious words,
than to fight by hand; but neither is it easy for me to speak,

nec facere est isti: quantumque ego Marte feroci
inque acie valeo, tantum valet iste loquendo.
nec memoranda tamen vobis mea facta, Pelasgi,
esse reor: vidistis enim; sua narret Ulixes,
quae sine teste gerit, quorum nox conscia sola est!

nor is it for that man to do: and as much as I am strong by ferocious Mars
and in the battle-line, so much is that man strong in speaking.
nor do I think my deeds need to be remembered to you, Pelasgians,
for you have seen them; let Ulysses tell his own doings,
which he carries out without a witness, of which night alone is conscious!

praemia magna peti fateor; sed demit honorem
aemulus: Aiaci non est tenuisse superbum,
sit licet hoc ingens, quicquid speravit Ulixes;
iste tulit pretium iam nunc temptaminis huius,
quod, cum victus erit, mecum certasse feretur.

I confess great prizes are sought; but a rival diminishes the honor:
aemulus: for Ajax, it is no credit to have held a proud man,
albeit let this be immense, whatever Ulysses has hoped;
that man has already now borne the reward of this trial,
namely that, when he is vanquished, it will be reported that he has contended with me.

'Atque ego, si virtus in me dubitabilis esset,
nobilitate potens essem, Telamone creatus,
moenia qui forti Troiana sub Hercule cepit
litoraque intravit Pagasaea Colcha carina;
Aeacus huic pater est, qui iura silentibus illic

'And I, if virtue in me were doubtful,
powerful in nobility I should be, begotten from Telamon,
who under strong Hercules took the Trojan walls
and entered the Colchian shores with the Pagasaean keel;
to him Aeacus is father, who there gives laws to the silent

reddit, ubi Aeoliden saxum grave Sisyphon urget;
Aeacon agnoscit summus prolemque fatetur
Iuppiter esse suam: sic a Iove tertius Aiax.
nec tamen haec series in causam prosit, Achivi,
si mihi cum magno non est communis Achille:

renders judgments, where the heavy rock presses the Aeolid Sisyphus;
the highest Jupiter recognizes Aeacus and confesses the progeny to be his own: thus Ajax is third from Jove.
yet let not this lineage avail in the cause, Achaeans, if I do not have in common with great Achilles:

frater erat, fraterna peto! quid sanguine cretus
Sisyphio furtisque et fraude simillimus illi
inseris Aeacidis alienae nomina gentis?
'An quod in arma prior nulloque sub indice veni,
arma neganda mihi, potiorque videbitur ille,

He was a brother; I seek fraternal things! Why, you begotten of Sisyphian blood and most similar to him in thefts and fraud, do you insert among the Aeacids the names of an alien race?
'Or because I came first to arms and under no summons I came,
are arms to be denied to me, and will that man seem preferable,

ultima qui cepit detractavitque furore
militiam ficto, donec sollertior isto
sed sibi inutilior timidi commenta retexit
Naupliades animi vitataque traxit ad arma?
optima num sumat, quia sumere noluit ulla:

who last took up, and by feigned frenzy shirked, military service,
until the Naupliad, more skillful than that man but more unhelpful to himself,
unwove the contrivances of a timid spirit and
dragged him, though it had been shunned, to arms?
Should he take the best, because he was unwilling to take up any:

nos inhonorati et donis patruelibus orbi,
obtulimus quia nos ad prima pericula, simus?
'Atque utinam aut verus furor ille, aut creditus esset,
nec comes hic Phrygias umquam venisset ad arces
hortator scelerum! non te, Poeantia proles,

we, unhonored and bereft of an uncle’s gifts,
because we offered ourselves to the first perils, are we so?
And would that either that madness had been real, or had been believed,
and that this comrade had never come to the Phrygian citadels,
an instigator of crimes! not you, progeny of Poeas,

expositum Lemnos nostro cum crimine haberet!
qui nunc, ut memorant, silvestribus abditus antris
saxa moves gemitu Laertiadaeque precaris,
quae meruit, quae, si di sunt, non vana precaris.
et nunc ille eadem nobis iuratus in arma,

would that Lemnos held you, cast out, as our guilt!
who now, as they recount, hidden in forested caves,
you move the rocks with your groan and pray against the Laertiades (son of Laertes)
for what he has deserved—prayers which, if there are gods, are not vain.
and now that man sworn with us to the same arms,

heu! pars una ducum, quo successore sagittae
Herculis utuntur, fractus morboque fameque
velaturque aliturque avibus, volucresque petendo
debita Troianis exercet spicula fatis.
ille tamen vivit, quia non comitavit Ulixem;

alas! one of the leaders, with whom, as successor, the arrows of Hercules are employed, broken by disease and by famine, and he is both covered and nourished by birds, and by seeking the winged creatures he trains the darts owed by fate to the Trojans. he nevertheless lives, because he did not accompany Ulysses;

mallet et infelix Palamedes esse relictus,
[viveret aut certe letum sine crimine haberet]
quem male convicti nimium memor iste furoris
prodere rem Danaam finxit fictumque probavit
crimen et ostendit, quod iam praefoderat, aurum.

and unlucky Palamedes would have preferred to have been left behind,
[he would be living, or at least would have a death without a charge]
whom that man, too mindful of his “madness” ill-convicted,
pretended was betraying the Danaan cause, and he proved the feigned
crime and displayed the gold which he had already pre-buried.

ergo aut exilio vires subduxit Achivis,
aut nece: sic pugnat, sic est metuendus Ulixes!
'Qui licet eloquio fidum quoque Nestora vincat,
haut tamen efficiet, desertum ut Nestora crimen
esse rear nullum; qui cum inploraret Ulixem

therefore either by exile he has withdrawn the strengths from the Achaeans,
or by death: thus he fights, thus is Ulysses to be feared!
'Who, although by eloquence he surpasses even faithful Nestor,
not however will he bring it about that I think the desertion of Nestor to be no crime;
he who, when he implored Ulysses

vulnere tardus equi fessusque senilibus annis,
proditus a socio est; non haec mihi crimina fingi
scit bene Tydides, qui nomine saepe vocatum
corripuit trepidoque fugam exprobravit amico.
aspiciunt oculis superi mortalia iustis!

slow from the wound of his horse and weary with senile years,
he was betrayed by his comrade; Tydides knows well that these accusations
are not being forged against me, he who, often calling me by name,
rebuked me and reproached his trembling friend for flight.
The gods above look upon mortal things with just eyes!

en eget auxilio, qui non tulit, utque reliquit,
sic linquendus erat: legem sibi dixerat ipse.
conclamat socios: adsum videoque trementem
pallentemque metu et trepidantem morte futura;
opposui molem clipei texique iacentem

lo, he needs aid, he who did not bear it; and as he abandoned, thus he had to be left: he had pronounced a law for himself.
he cries out to his allies: I am present, and I see him trembling
and pale with fear and in trepidation at impending death;
I set the mass of my shield against him and covered the one lying.

servavique animam (minimum est hoc laudis) inertem.
si perstas certare, locum redeamus in illum:
redde hostem vulnusque tuum solitumque timorem
post clipeumque late et mecum contende sub illo!
at postquam eripui, cui standi vulnera vires

and I preserved an inert soul (this is the least of praise).
if you persist in contending, let us return to that place:
restore the enemy and your wound and your accustomed fear,
and lurk wide behind the shield and contend with me beneath it!
but after I snatched away one from whom wounds had stripped the strength for standing

non dederant, nullo tardatus vulnere fugit.
'Hector adest secumque deos in proelia ducit,
quaque ruit, non tu tantum terreris, Ulixe,
sed fortes etiam: tantum trahit ille timoris.
hunc ego sanguineae successu caedis ovantem

had not given him; slowed by no wound, he fled.
'Hector is here and leads the gods with him into the battles,
and wherever he rushes, not you alone are terrified, Ulysses,
but even the brave as well: so much dread does he draw.
this man, exulting in the success of blood-stained slaughter,

eminus ingenti resupinum pondere fudi,
hunc ego poscentem, cum quo concurreret, unus
sustinui: sortemque meam vovistis, Achivi,
et vestrae valuere preces. si quaeritis huius
fortunam pugnae, non sum superatus ab illo.

from afar I cast him resupine with enormous weight,
this man, demanding with whom he should clash, I alone
withstood; and you, Achaeans, vowed for my lot,
and your prayers prevailed. If you ask the fortune of this
combat, I was not overcome by him.

ecce ferunt Troes ferrumque ignesque Iovemque
in Danaas classes: ubi nunc facundus Ulixes?
nempe ego mille meo protexi pectore puppes,
spem vestri reditus: date pro tot navibus arma.
'Quodsi vera licet mihi dicere, quaeritur istis

behold, the Trojans are bringing iron and fires and Jove
against the Danaan fleets: where now is eloquent Ulysses?
surely I with my own breast protected a thousand ships,
the hope of your return: grant arms in return for so many ships.
'But if it is permitted me to speak truths, it is being sought by these

quam mihi maior honos, coniunctaque gloria nostra est,
atque Aiax armis, non Aiaci arma petuntur.
conferat his Ithacus Rhesum inbellemque Dolona
Priamidenque Helenum rapta cum Pallade captum:
luce nihil gestum, nihil est Diomede remoto;

how much greater an honor to me, and our glory is conjoined,
and Ajax is sought by arms, not are arms sought for Ajax.
let the Ithacan compare with these his Rhesus and unwarlike Dolon
and Helenus, son of Priam, captured together with the Palladium snatched:
nothing is achieved in the light, nothing with Diomedes removed;

100

si semel ista datis meritis tam vilibus arma,
dividite, et pars sit maior Diomedis in illis.
'Quo tamen haec Ithaco, qui clam, qui semper inermis
rem gerit et furtis incautum decipit hostem?
ipse nitor galeae claro radiantis ab auro

if once you grant those arms to such base merits,
divide them, and let the greater part among them be Diomedes’.
'Yet to what end are these for the Ithacan, who in secret, who always unarmed,
conducts the affair and by stealth deceives the incautious enemy?
the very sheen of the helmet, shining from bright gold

105

insidias prodet manifestabitque latentem;
sed neque Dulichius sub Achillis casside vertex
pondera tanta feret, nec non onerosa gravisque
Pelias hasta potest inbellibus esse lacertis,
nec clipeus vasti caelatus imagine mundi 110
conveniet timidae nataeque ad furta sinistrae:
debilitaturum quid te petis, inprobe, munus,
quod tibi si populi donaverit error Achivi,
cur spolieris, erit, non, cur metuaris ab hoste,
et fuga, qua sola cunctos, timidissime, vincis,

it will betray ambushes and will manifest the one lying latent;
but nor will the Dulichian head bear such great weights beneath Achilles’ helmet, nor indeed can the Pelian spear, burdensome and heavy, be for unwarlike upper arms,
nor will the shield embossed with the image of the vast world 110
befit a timid left hand born for thefts:
why do you seek, shameless man, a gift that will debilitate you, which, if the error of the Achaean people should grant to you, there will be a reason why you should be despoiled, not why you should be feared by the enemy,
and flight, by which alone, most timid one, you conquer all,

115

tarda futura tibi est gestamina tanta trahenti?
adde quod iste tuus, tam raro proelia passus,
integer est clipeus; nostro, qui tela ferendo
mille patet plagis, novus est successor habendus.
'Denique (quid verbis opus est?) spectemur agendo!

Will such great gear be slow for you, dragging it?
add, moreover, that that shield of yours, having so rarely suffered battles,
is intact; ours, which by bearing weapons
lies open with a thousand wounds, must have a new successor.
'Finally (what need is there of words?) let us be judged by doing!'

120

arma viri fortis medios mittantur in hostes:
inde iubete peti et referentem ornate relatis.'
Finierat Telamone satus, vulgique secutum
ultima murmur erat, donec Laertius heros
adstitit atque oculos paulum tellure moratos

let the arms of the brave man be sent into the midst of the enemies:
from there bid that they be sought, and honor the one bringing them back with the things brought back.'
He had finished, the son of Telamon, and the final murmur of the crowd followed,
until the Laertian hero stood, and his eyes, delayed a little upon the earth

125

sustulit ad proceres exspectatoque resolvit
ora sono, neque abest facundis gratia dictis.
'Si mea cum vestris valuissent vota, Pelasgi,
non foret ambiguus tanti certaminis heres,
tuque tuis armis, nos te poteremur, Achille,

he raised to the nobles and opened his lips with the long‑awaited sound,
nor was grace absent from his eloquent words.
'If my vows had prevailed along with yours, Pelasgians,
there would not be a doubtful heir of so great a contest,
and you with your own arms, we would possess you, Achilles,

130

quem quoniam non aequa mihi vobisque negarunt
fata,' (manuque simul veluti lacrimantia tersit
lumina) 'quis magno melius succedat Achilli,
quam per quem magnus Danais successit Achilles?
huic modo ne prosit, quod, uti est, hebes esse videtur,

since the not-equitable fates have denied him to me and to you,' (and with his hand at the same time he wiped, as if tearful, his eyes) 'who would better succeed great Achilles
than he through whom great Achilles proved successful to the Danaans?
only let it not profit this man that, as he is, he seems to be dull,

135

neve mihi noceat, quod vobis semper, Achivi,
profuit ingenium, meaque haec facundia, siqua est,
quae nunc pro domino, pro vobis saepe locuta est,
invidia careat, bona nec sua quisque recuset.
'Nam genus et proavos et quae non fecimus ipsi,

and let it not harm me, that to you always, Achaeans,
ingenuity has profited, and this my eloquence, if there is any,
which now speaks for its master, and has often spoken for you,
let it be free from envy, and let each man not refuse his own goods.
'For lineage and ancestors and the things which we ourselves have not done,

140

vix ea nostra voco, sed enim, quia rettulit Aiax
esse Iovis pronepos, nostri quoque sanguinis auctor
Iuppiter est, totidemque gradus distamus ab illo:
nam mihi Laertes pater est, Arcesius illi,
Iuppiter huic, neque in his quisquam damnatus et exul;

I scarcely call those ours; but indeed, because Ajax asserted
that he was the great-grandson of Jove, the author of our blood too
is Jupiter, and by just as many steps we are distant from him:
for to me Laertes is father, to him Arcesius,
to this one Jupiter, nor among these is anyone condemned and an exile;

145

est quoque per matrem Cyllenius addita nobis
altera nobilitas: deus est in utroque parente.
sed neque materno quod sum generosior ortu,
nec mihi quod pater est fraterni sanguinis insons,
proposita arma peto: meritis expendite causam,

There is also, through my mother, a Cyllenian second nobility added to me: a god is in each parent.
But neither because I am more noble by maternal origin,
nor because my father is innocent of fraternal blood,
do I seek the proffered arms set forth: weigh the case by merits,

150

dummodo, quod fratres Telamon Peleusque fuerunt,
Aiacis meritum non sit nec sanguinis ordo,
sed virtutis honor spoliis quaeratur in istis!
aut si proximitas primusque requiritur heres,
est genitor Peleus, est Pyrrhus filius illi:

provided that the fact that Telamon and Peleus were brothers,
be not Ajax’s merit nor the order of blood,
but let the honor of virtue be sought in these spoils!
or if proximity and the first heir are required,
his father is Peleus, his son is Pyrrhus:

155

quis locus Aiaci? Pthiam haec Scyrumve ferantur!
nec minus est isto Teucer patruelis Achilli:
num petit ille tamen?

What place for Ajax? Let these be borne to Phthia or to Scyros!
nor is Teucer any less a paternal cousin to that Achilles:
does he, however, seek it?

num, si petat, auferat illa?
ergo, operum quoniam nudum certamen habetur,
plura quidem feci, quam quae conprendere dictis

Would he, if he sought them, carry those off?
Therefore, since a bare contest of deeds is being held,
indeed I have done more than can be comprehended in words

160

in promptu mihi sit, rerum tamen ordine ducar.
     'Praescia venturi genetrix Nereia leti
dissimulat cultu natum, et deceperat omnes,
in quibus Aiacem, sumptae fallacia vestis:
arma ego femineis animum motura virilem               165
mercibus inserui, neque adhuc proiecerat heros
virgineos habitus, cum parmam hastamque tenenti
"nate dea," dixi "tibi se peritura reservant
Pergama! quid dubitas ingentem evertere Troiam?"
iniecique manum fortemque ad fortia misi.

let it be ready at hand for me; nevertheless I shall be led by the order of events.
     'Foreknowing the coming doom, the Nereid mother
disguises her son by attire, and had deceived all,
among whom Ajax, by the trickery of the assumed vestment:
I set arms, to move a manly spirit, among feminine wares               165
and I inserted them among the merchandise, nor had the hero yet cast off
maidenly attire, when, as he held shield and spear,
"son of the goddess," I said, "the Pergama, destined to perish, reserve themselves
for you! Why do you hesitate to overthrow huge Troy?"
and I laid my hand on him and sent the brave one to brave deeds.

170

ergo opera illius mea sunt: ego Telephon hasta
pugnantem domui, victum orantemque refeci;
quod Thebae cecidere, meum est; me credite Lesbon,
me Tenedon Chrysenque et Cillan, Apollinis urbes,
et Scyrum cepisse; mea concussa putate

therefore his exploits are mine: I subdued Telephus with a spear as he fought, and, conquered and begging, I restored him; that Thebes fell is my doing; believe it was I who took Lesbos, I who took Tenedos and Chryse and Cilla, cities of Apollo, and Scyros; reckon them as shaken by me.

175

procubuisse solo Lyrnesia moenia dextra,
utque alios taceam, qui saevum perdere posset
Hectora, nempe dedi: per me iacet inclitus Hector!
illis haec armis, quibus est inventus Achilles,
arma peto: vivo dederam, post fata reposco.

that the Lyrnesian walls have lain prostrate on the soil by my right hand,
and, to be silent of others, the one who could destroy savage Hector—surely I supplied: through me renowned Hector lies low!
by those arms, by which Achilles was found,
I seek these arms: to him living I had given them; after his fate I demand them back.

180

'Ut dolor unius Danaos pervenit ad omnes,
Aulidaque Euboicam conplerunt mille carinae,
exspectata diu, nulla aut contraria classi
flamina erant, duraeque iubent Agamemnona sortes
inmeritam saevae natam mactare Dianae.

'As the grief of one reached all the Danaans,
and a thousand keels filled Euboean Aulis,
long awaited, there were no—or contrary—winds for the fleet,
and the harsh lots bid Agamemnon to immolate his undeserving daughter to savage Diana.

185

denegat hoc genitor divisque irascitur ipsis
atque in rege tamen pater est, ego mite parentis
ingenium verbis ad publica commoda verti:
hanc equidem (fateor, fassoque ignoscat Atrides)
difficilem tenui sub iniquo iudice causam.

the father denies this and grows angry at the gods themselves
and yet in the king he is a father; I turned the gentle nature
of the parent by words toward the public advantage:
this case indeed (I confess, and may the Atrides forgive the confessor)
I held as difficult under an unfair judge.

190

hunc tamen utilitas populi fraterque datique
summa movet sceptri, laudem ut cum sanguine penset;
mittor et ad matrem, quae non hortanda, sed astu
decipienda fuit, quo si Telamonius isset,
orba suis essent etiam nunc lintea ventis.

yet him the utility of the people, and his brother, and the highest authority of the bestowed scepter move, to weigh praise against blood;
I too am sent to the mother, who was not to be urged, but had to be deceived by craft,
to which, if the Telamonian had gone, the sails would even now be bereft of their own winds.

195

'Mittor et Iliacas audax orator ad arces,
visaque et intrata est altae mihi curia Troiae,
plenaque adhuc erat illa viris; interritus egi
quam mihi mandarat communem Graecia causam
accusoque Parin praedamque Helenamque reposco

'And I too am sent, a bold orator, to the Iliac citadels,
and the curia of lofty Troy was to me both seen and entered,
and it was still full of men; undaunted I prosecuted
the common cause which Greece had entrusted to me,
and I accuse Paris and I demand back the plunder and Helen

200

et moveo Priamum Priamoque Antenora iunctum;
at Paris et fratres et qui rapuere sub illo,
vix tenuere manus (scis hoc, Menelae) nefandas,
primaque lux nostri tecum fuit illa pericli.
'Longa referre mora est, quae consilioque manuque

and I sway Priam, and Antenor joined to Priam;
but Paris and his brothers, and those who under him had carried off the prey,
scarcely restrained their nefarious hands (you know this, Menelaus),
and that first light of our peril was with you.
'It is a long delay to recount the things which by counsel and by hand

205

utiliter feci spatiosi tempore belli.
post acies primas urbis se moenibus hostes
continuere diu, nec aperti copia Martis
ulla fuit; decimo demum pugnavimus anno:
quid facis interea, qui nil nisi proelia nosti?

usefully I acted in the spacious time of the war.
after the first battle-lines, the enemies kept themselves within the walls of the city for a long time, nor was there any opportunity for open Mars at all;
only in the tenth year did we at last fight:
what do you meanwhile do, you who know nothing except battles?

210

quis tuus usus erat? nam si mea facta requiris,
hostibus insidior, fossa munimina cingo,
consolor socios, ut longi taedia belli
mente ferant placida, doceo, quo simus alendi
armandique modo, mittor, quo postulat usus.

what was your use? for if you inquire about my deeds,
I lay ambushes for the enemies, I gird the defenses with a ditch,
I console my comrades, so that they may bear the weariness of a long war
with a placid mind; I teach by what method we are to be sustained
and armed, I am sent where use requires.

215

'Ecce Iovis monitu deceptus imagine somni
rex iubet incepti curam dimittere belli;
ille potest auctore suam defendere vocem:
non sinat hoc Aiax delendaque Pergama poscat,
quodque potest, pugnet! cur non remoratur ituros? 220
cur non arma capit, dat, quod vaga turba sequatur?
non erat hoc nimium numquam nisi magna loquenti.

'Behold, deceived by the image of a dream at Jove’s monition,
the king bids the care of the begun war to be dismissed;
he can defend his voice with an author:
let Ajax not allow this, and let him demand that Pergama be destroyed,
and, what he can, let him fight! Why does he not delay those about to go? 220
why does he not take up arms, give what the wandering throng may follow?
this was not excessive for one who never spoke except great things.

quid, quod et ipse fugit? vidi, puduitque videre,
cum tu terga dares inhonestaque vela parares;
nec mora, "quid facitis? quae vos dementia" dixi

what of this, that he himself too fled? I saw, and I was ashamed to see,
when you turned your backs and were preparing dishonorable sails;
no delay: "what are you doing? what madness seizes you," I said

225

"concitat, o socii, captam dimittere Troiam,
quidque domum fertis decimo, nisi dedecus, anno?"
talibus atque aliis, in quae dolor ipse disertum
fecerat, aversos profuga de classe reduxi.
convocat Atrides socios terrore paventes:

"he incites you, O comrades, to dismiss captured Troy,
and what do you carry home in the tenth year, if not disgrace?"
with such words and others, in which pain itself had made me eloquent,
I led back those turned away from the fugitive fleet.
the Atrides summons the allies, quaking with terror:

230

nec Telamoniades etiamnunc hiscere quicquam
audet, at ausus erat reges incessere dictis
Thersites etiam, per me haut inpune protervis!
erigor et trepidos cives exhortor in hostem
amissamque mea virtutem voce repono.

nor does the Telamonides even now dare to utter anything,
yet Thersites too had dared to assail the kings with words—
not with impunity, thanks to me, for his insolence!
I rise up and exhort the trembling citizens against the enemy,
and with my voice I restore the lost courage.

235

tempore ab hoc, quodcumque potest fecisse videri
fortiter iste, meum est, qui dantem terga retraxi.
'Denique de Danais quis te laudatve petitve?
at sua Tydides mecum communicat acta,
me probat et socio semper confidit Ulixe.

from this time, whatever that man can seem to have done bravely is mine, I who drew him back as he was turning his back.
'Finally, among the Danaans who either praises you or seeks you out?
but Tydides shares his deeds with me,
he approves me and always trusts in Ulysses as a partner.

240

est aliquid, de tot Graiorum milibus unum
a Diomede legi! nec me sors ire iubebat:
sic tamen et spreto noctisque hostisque periclo
ausum eadem, quae nos, Phrygia de gente Dolona
interimo, non ante tamen, quam cuncta coegi

it is something, out of so many thousands of Graians to be chosen alone by Diomedes!
nor did the lot bid me to go:
yet thus, with the peril of night and of the enemy spurned,
I dispatch Dolon, of the Phrygian race, who had dared the same as we,
not, however, before I had compelled him to tell all

245

prodere et edidici, quid perfida Troia pararet.
omnia cognoram nec, quod specularer, habebam
et iam promissa poteram cum laude reverti:
haut contentus eo petii tentoria Rhesi
inque suis ipsum castris comitesque peremi

to betray, and I learned thoroughly what perfidious Troy was preparing.
I had come to know everything, nor did I have anything to spy out,
and already I could have returned with praise for the promises;
not content with that I sought the tents of Rhesus,
and in his own camp I slew him himself and his companions

250

atque ita captivo, victor votisque potitus,
ingredior curru laetos imitante triumphos;
cuius equos pretium pro nocte poposcerat hostis,
arma negate mihi, fueritque benignior Aiax.
quid Lycii referam Sarpedonis agmina ferro

and thus, a captive taken, a victor and my vows attained,
I enter in a chariot imitating joyful triumphs;
whose horses the enemy had demanded as the price for the night,
deny the arms to me, and Ajax will have been the kinder.
what should I recount of the battle-lines of Lycian Sarpedon by the sword

255

devastata meo? cum multo sanguine fudi
Coeranon Iphitiden et Alastoraque Chromiumque
Alcandrumque Haliumque Noemonaque Prytaninque
exitioque dedi cum Chersidamante Thoona
et Charopem fatisque inmitibus Ennomon actum

laid waste by my steel? when with much blood I poured out
Coeranus, son of Iphitus, and Alastor and Chromius,
and Alcandrus and Halius and Noemon and Prytanis,
and I consigned to destruction Thoon together with Chersidamas,
and Charops, and Ennomon driven by unmerciful fates.

260

quique minus celebres nostra sub moenibus urbis
procubuere manu. sunt et mihi vulnera, cives,
ipso pulchra loco; nec vanis credite verbis,
aspicite! en' vestemque manu diduxit et 'haec sunt
pectora semper' ait 'vestris exercita rebus!

and those too, less renowned, have fallen by my hand beneath the walls of our city;
I too have wounds, citizens, fair by the very place; and do not trust empty words—
look! see! and he drew apart his garment with his hand and 'these are
the breasts ever' he said 'drilled in your affairs!'

265

at nihil inpendit per tot Telamonius annos
sanguinis in socios et habet sine vulnere corpus!
'Quid tamen hoc refert, si se pro classe Pelasga
arma tulisse refert contra Troasque Iovemque?
confiteorque, tulit (neque enim benefacta maligne

but the Telamonian expended nothing of blood for his allies through so many years,
and he has a body without a wound!
'What, however, does this matter, if he claims that for the Pelasgian fleet
he bore arms against the Trojans and Jove?
and I confess it, he did bear (for I do not begrudge good deeds

270

detractare meum est), sed ne communia solus
occupet atque aliquem vobis quoque reddat honorem,
reppulit Actorides sub imagine tutus Achillis
Troas ab arsuris cum defensore carinis.
ausum etiam Hectoreis solum concurrere telis

(for it is not my practice malignly to detract from good deeds), but let him not monopolize what is common all by himself and let him render some honor to you also;
the Actorid, secure under the image of Achilles, drove back the Trojans from the ships that were about to burn, together with their defender.
he even dared alone to face Hector’s weapons

275

se putat, oblitus regisque ducumque meique,
nonus in officio et praelatus munere sortis.
sed tamen eventus vestrae, fortissime, pugnae
quis fuit? Hector abit violatus vulnere nullo!
'Me miserum, quanto cogor meminisse dolore

he thinks himself, forgetful of the king and the leaders and of me,
a ninth in duty and preferred by the gift of the lot.
but yet what was the outcome of your battle, most valiant one?
Hector departs violated by no wound!
'Wretched me, with how great a pain am I compelled to remember

280

temporis illius, quo, Graium murus, Achilles
procubuit! nec me lacrimae luctusque timorque
tardarunt, quin corpus humo sublime referrem:
his umeris, his inquam, umeris ego corpus Achillis
et simul arma tuli, quae nunc quoque ferre laboro.

of that time, when, the wall of the Greeks, Achilles
fell prostrate! nor did tears and mourning and fear
delay me from bearing the body aloft from the ground:
on these shoulders, these, I say, shoulders, I bore the body of Achilles
and at the same time the arms, which even now I also labor to bear.

285

sunt mihi, quae valeant in talia pondera, vires,
est animus certe vestros sensurus honores:
scilicet idcirco pro nato caerula mater
ambitiosa suo fuit, ut caelestia dona,
artis opus tantae, rudis et sine pectore miles

I have the forces that are strong for such weights,
there is a spirit surely that will be sensible of your honors:
surely it was on that account that the sea-blue mother
was ambitious for her own son, that the celestial gifts,
the work of so great an art, a raw and mindless soldier

290

indueret? neque enim clipei caelamina novit,
Oceanum et terras cumque alto sidera caelo
Pleiadasque Hyadasque inmunemque aequoris Arcton
diversosque orbes nitidumque Orionis ensem.
[postulat, ut capiat, quae non intellegit, arma!]

to put them on? for he does not know the embossings of the shield,
Ocean and the lands and, with the high heaven, the stars,
and the Pleiads and the Hyads and the Bear immune from the sea,
and the different orbits and the gleaming sword of Orion.
[he demands to take up arms which he does not understand!]

295

'Quid, quod me duri fugientem munera belli
arguit incepto serum accessisse labori
nec se magnanimo maledicere sentit Achilli?
si simulasse vocas crimen, simulavimus ambo;
si mora pro culpa est, ego sum maturior illo.

'What of this, that he accuses me, as one fleeing the harsh duties of war,
of having come too late to a labor already undertaken,
nor does he realize that he is maligning magnanimous Achilles?
if you call it a crime to have feigned, we both feigned;
if delay stands as a fault, I am earlier than he.

300

me pia detinuit coniunx, pia mater Achillem,
primaque sunt illis data tempora, cetera vobis:
haut timeo, si iam nequeam defendere, crimen
cum tanto commune viro: deprensus Ulixis
ingenio tamen ille, at non Aiacis Ulixes.

a pious wife detained me, a pious mother detained Achilles,
and the first times were given to them, the rest to you:
I do not fear the charge, if now I cannot defend myself,
since it is shared with so great a man: yet he was caught
by Ulysses’ ingenuity, but Ulysses not by Ajax.

305

'Neve in me stolidae convicia fundere linguae
admiremur eum, vobis quoque digna pudore
obicit. an falso Palameden crimine turpe
accusasse mihi, vobis damnasse decorum est?
sed neque Naupliades facinus defendere tantum

'Nor let us admire him for pouring upon me the revilings of a stolid tongue;
he also objects to you things worthy of shame.
Or is it disgraceful that I accused Palamedes with a false charge,
and decorous that you condemned him?
but neither can the Naupliad defend so great a crime.

310

tamque patens valuit, nec vos audistis in illo
crimina: vidistis, pretioque obiecta patebant.
'Nec, Poeantiaden quod habet Vulcania Lemnos,
esse reus merui (factum defendite vestrum!
consensistis enim), nec me suasisse negabo,

and so patent a case prevailed, nor did you hear charges against him:
you saw them, and the planted objects lay open—bought for a price.
'Nor, because Vulcanian Lemnos holds the Poeantian son,
have I deserved to be held guilty (defend your own deed!
for you consented), nor will I deny that I advised it,

315

ut se subtraheret bellique viaeque labori
temptaretque feros requie lenire dolores.
paruit—et vivit! non haec sententia tantum
fida, sed et felix, cum sit satis esse fidelem.
quem quoniam vates delenda ad Pergama poscunt,

that he withdraw himself from the toil of war and of the way,
and try to soothe his fierce pains with rest.
he obeyed—and he lives! not only was this sentence faithful,
but also felicitous, since it is enough to be faithful.
since the seers demand him for Pergama to be destroyed,

320

ne mandate mihi! melius Telamonius ibit
eloquioque virum morbis iraque furentem
molliet aut aliqua producet callidus arte!
ante retro Simois fluet et sine frondibus Ide
stabit, et auxilium promittet Achaia Troiae,

do not entrust it to me! the Telamonian will go better,
and with eloquence he will soften the man raging with maladies and with wrath,
or, being crafty, will draw him out by some art!
sooner will the Simois flow backward, and Ida stand without leaves,
and Achaea will promise aid to Troy,

325

quam, cessante meo pro vestris pectore rebus,
Aiacis stolidi Danais sollertia prosit.
sis licet infestus sociis regique mihique
dure Philoctete, licet exsecrere meumque
devoveas sine fine caput cupiasque dolenti

than that, with my breast falling idle for your affairs, the cleverness of stolid Ajax should profit the Danaans.
although you may be hostile to your comrades and to the king and to me, harsh Philoctetes, although you may execrate and devote my head without end, and, in your pain, may desire

330

me tibi forte dari nostrumque haurire cruorem,
utque tui mihi sit, fiat tibi copia nostri:
te tamen adgrediar mecumque reducere nitar
tamque tuis potiar (faveat Fortuna) sagittis,
quam sum Dardanio, quem cepi, vate potitus,

that perhaps i be given to you and that you drain our gore,
and that there be to me opportunity of you, let there be to you opportunity of me:
yet i will approach you and strive to bring you back with me
and i will gain possession (may Fortuna favor) of your arrows,
as i have gotten possession of the Dardanian seer, whom i seized,

335

quam responsa deum Troianaque fata retexi,
quam rapui Phrygiae signum penetrale Minervae
hostibus e mediis. et se mihi conferat Aiax?
nempe capi Troiam prohibebant fata sine illo:
fortis ubi est Aiax? ubi sunt ingentia magni

as I unraveled the responses of the gods and the Trojan fates,
as I snatched the inner-sanctum sign of Phrygian Minerva from the midst of the enemies. And Ajax would compare himself to me?
surely the fates were forbidding Troy to be taken without him:
where is brave Ajax? where are the mighty things of the great

340

verba viri? cur hic metuis? cur audet Ulixes
ire per excubias et se committere nocti
perque feros enses non tantum moenia Troum,
verum etiam summas arces intrare suaque
eripere aede deam raptamque adferre per hostes?

the words of the man? Why do you fear here? Why does Ulysses dare to go through the sentries and to commit himself to the night, and, through savage swords, to enter not only the walls of the Trojans, but even the highest citadels, and to snatch the goddess from her own temple and to bear her, seized, through the foes?

345

quae nisi fecissem, frustra Telamone creatus
gestasset laeva taurorum tergora septem.
illa nocte mihi Troiae victoria parta est:
Pergama tunc vici, cum vinci posse coegi.
'Desine Tydiden vultuque et murmure nobis

which, if I had not done them, the one begotten of Telamon would have borne in vain on his left the seven hides of bulls.
that night for me the victory over Troy was won:
Pergama I then conquered, when I compelled it to be able to be conquered.
'Cease from Tydides, and with your look and mutterings to us

350

ostentare meum: pars est sua laudis in illo!
nec tu, cum socia clipeum pro classe tenebas,
solus eras: tibi turba comes, mihi contigit unus.
qui nisi pugnacem sciret sapiente minorem
esse nec indomitae deberi praemia dextrae,

to show off what is mine: there is his own share of laud in him!
nor were you, when as an ally you held the shield for the fleet,
alone: for you a crowd was companion; for me it befell one.
who, unless he knew the pugnacious to be lesser than the sapient,
and that prizes are not owed to an indomitable right hand,

355

ipse quoque haec peteret; peteret moderatior Aiax
Eurypylusque ferox claroque Andraemone natus
nec minus Idomeneus patriaque creatus eadem
Meriones, peteret maioris frater Atridae:
quippe manu fortes nec sunt mihi Marte secundi,

he himself too would seek these; let the more moderate Ajax seek them
and fierce Eurypylus, and the one born from renowned Andraemon,
and no less Idomeneus, and Meriones born of the same fatherland,
let the brother of the elder Atrides seek them:
for indeed they are strong in hand, nor are they second to me in Mars,

360

consiliis cessere meis. tibi dextera bello
utilis, ingenium est, quod eget moderamine nostro;
tu vires sine mente geris, mihi cura futuri;
tu pugnare potes, pugnandi tempora mecum
eligit Atrides; tu tantum corpore prodes,

they have yielded to my counsels. For you a right hand is useful in war;
you have an ingenium which requires our moderation;
you bear strength without mind, to me falls the care of the future;
you can fight, with me the Atrides chooses the times of fighting;
you are of use only in body,

365

nos animo; quantoque ratem qui temperat, anteit
remigis officium, quanto dux milite maior,
tantum ego te supero. nec non in corpore nostro
pectora sunt potiora manu: vigor omnis in illis.
'At vos, o proceres, vigili date praemia vestro,

we in mind; and by how much he who pilots the ship outstrips
the oarsman’s office, by how much a leader is greater than a soldier,
by so much I surpass you. And likewise in our body
the breasts are more powerful than the hand: all vigor is in them.
'But you, O nobles, give rewards to your watchman,'

370

proque tot annorum cura, quibus anxius egi,
hunc titulum meritis pensandum reddite nostris:
iam labor in fine est; obstantia fata removi
altaque posse capi faciendo Pergama, cepi.
per spes nunc socias casuraque moenia Troum

and in return for the care of so many years, during which I have anxiously carried on,
render this title to be weighed against my merits:
now the labor is at its end; I have removed the obstructing fates
and, by making high Pergama able to be taken, I took it.
now by our allied hopes and the walls of the Trojans destined to fall

375

perque deos oro, quos hosti nuper ademi,
per siquid superest, quod sit sapienter agendum,
siquid adhuc audax ex praecipitique petendum est,
[si Troiae fatis aliquid restare putatis,]
este mei memores! aut si mihi non datis arma,

by the gods I beg, whom I lately took from the foe,
by whatever remains that is to be done wisely,
if anything still daring must be sought from the brink,
[if you think that anything remains to the fates of Troy,]
be mindful of me! or if you do not grant arms to me,

380

huic date!' et ostendit signum fatale Minervae.
Mota manus procerum est, et quid facundia posset,
re patuit, fortisque viri tulit arma disertus.
Hectora qui solus, qui ferrum ignesque Iovemque
sustinuit totiens, unam non sustinet iram,

'Give to this man!' and he showed the fatal sign of Minerva.
The hand of the nobles was moved, and what eloquence could do
was evident in the matter, and the eloquent man bore off the arms of the brave man.
He who alone, who so often withstood Hector, iron and fires and Jove,
does not withstand a single wrath,

385

invictumque virum vicit dolor: arripit ensem
et 'meus hic certe est! an et hunc sibi poscit Ulixes?
hoc' ait 'utendum est in me mihi, quique cruore
saepe Phrygum maduit, domini nunc caede madebit,
ne quisquam Aiacem possit superare nisi Aiax.'

and grief conquered the unconquered man: he snatches up his sword
and 'This is surely mine! Or does Ulysses even claim this too for himself?
This,' he says, 'must be used by me upon myself; and the blade which
has often been wet with the blood of the Phrygians will now be soaked with its master’s slaughter,
so that no one can surpass Ajax unless Ajax.'

390

dixit et in pectus tum demum vulnera passum,
qua patuit ferrum, letalem condidit ensem.
nec valuere manus infixum educere telum:
expulit ipse cruor, rubefactaque sanguine tellus
purpureum viridi genuit de caespite florem,

He spoke, and into his breast—then at last enduring wounds—where the steel found a passage, he buried the lethal sword.
Nor had his hands the strength to draw out the weapon fixed in:
the blood itself expelled it, and the earth, reddened with blood,
from the green turf engendered a purple flower,

395

qui prius Oebalio fuerat de vulnere natus;
littera communis mediis pueroque viroque
inscripta est foliis, haec nominis, illa querellae.
Victor ad Hypsipyles patriam clarique Thoantis
et veterum terras infames caede virorum

which previously had been born from the wound of the Oebalian boy;
the letter common in the middle to both the boy and the man
is inscribed upon the leaves—this of the name, that of the lament.
Victor to the fatherland of Hypsipyle and of illustrious Thoas,
and to the lands of the ancients infamous for the slaughter of men

400

vela dat, ut referat Tirynthia tela, sagittas;
quae postquam ad Graios domino comitante revexit,
inposita est sero tandem manus ultima bello.
[Troia simul Priamusque cadunt. Priameia coniunx
perdidit infelix hominis post omnia formam

he sets sail, to bring back the Tirynthian weapons, the arrows;
which, after she had carried back to the Graians with their lord accompanying,
the final hand was at last, too late, laid upon the war.
[Troy and Priam fall together. The Priameian consort,
unhappy, after all lost the form of a human being.

405

externasque novo latratu terruit auras,
longus in angustum qua clauditur Hellespontus.]
Ilion ardebat, neque adhuc consederat ignis,
exiguumque senis Priami Iovis ara cruorem
conbiberat, tractata comis antistita Phoebi

and she terrified the outer airs with a new barking,
where the long Hellespont is shut in to a narrow [strait.] ]
Ilium was burning, nor yet had the fire settled,
and Jove’s altar had drunk up the scant blood of old Priam,
the priestess of Phoebus dragged by her hair

410

non profecturas tendebat ad aethera palmas;
Dardanidas matres patriorum signa deorum,
dum licet, amplexas succensaque templa tenentes
invidiosa trahunt victores praemia Grai;
mittitur Astyanax illis de turribus, unde

was stretching to the aether palms not destined to prevail;
the Greek victors drag as invidious prizes the Dardanian mothers,
who, while it is permitted, have embraced the images of their ancestral gods and, holding the kindled temples,
Astyanax is sent from those towers, whence

415

pugnantem pro se proavitaque regna tuentem
saepe videre patrem monstratum a matre solebat.
iamque viam suadet Boreas, flatuque secundo
carbasa mota sonant: iubet uti navita ventis;
'Troia, vale! rapimur' clamant, dant oscula terrae

fighting on his behalf and guarding the ancestral realms,
he was often wont to see his father, pointed out by his mother.
And now Boreas urges the way, and with a seconding breath
the canvases, moved, resound: the mariner bids to use the winds;
'Troy, farewell! we are snatched away,' they cry, they give kisses to the land

420

Troades et patriae fumantia tecta relinquunt.
ultima conscendit classem—miserabile visu!—
in mediis Hecabe natorum inventa sepulcris:
prensantem tumulos atque ossibus oscula dantem
Dulichiae traxere manus, tamen unius hausit

The Trojan women and their fatherland’s smoking roofs they leave behind.
last Hecuba boards the fleet—miserable to behold!—
Hecuba, found in the midst of the sepulchers of her sons:
grasping the mounds and giving kisses to the bones
the Dulichian hands dragged her, yet of one she drank

425

inque sinu cineres secum tulit Hectoris haustos;
Hectoris in tumulo canum de vertice crinem,
inferias inopes, crinem lacrimasque reliquit,
Est, ubi Troia fuit, Phrygiae contraria tellus
Bistoniis habitata viris: Polymestoris illic

and in her bosom she carried with her Hector’s ashes, scooped up;
on Hector’s tomb a hoary lock from the crown of her head,
poor offerings to the dead, a lock and tears, she left,
There is, where Troy was, a land opposite Phrygia,
inhabited by Bistonian men: there of Polymestor

430

regia dives erat, cui te commisit alendum
clam, Polydore, pater Phrygiisque removit ab armis,
consilium sapiens, sceleris nisi praemia magnas
adiecisset opes, animi inritamen avari.
ut cecidit fortuna Phrygum, capit inpius ensem

the royal palace was rich, to which your father secretly committed you to be reared,
Polydorus, and removed you from Phrygian arms,
a wise counsel, unless to crime the prizes—great wealth—had been added,
a goad of an avaricious mind.
when the fortune of the Phrygians fell, the impious man seizes the sword

435

rex Thracum iuguloque sui demisit alumni
et, tamquam tolli cum corpore crimina possent,
exanimem scopulo subiectas misit in undas.
     Litore Threicio classem religarat Atrides,
dum mare pacatum, dum ventus amicior esset:               440
hic subito, quantus, cum viveret, esse solebat,
exit humo late rupta similisque minanti
temporis illius vultum referebat Achilles,
quo ferus iniustum petiit Agamemnona ferro
'inmemores' que 'mei disceditis,' inquit 'Achivi,

the king of the Thracians plunged a blade into the throat of his own fosterling,
and, as though the crimes could be removed along with the body,
he sent the lifeless one from a crag into the waves beneath.
On the Thracian shore the Atrides had moored his fleet,
while the sea was pacified, while the wind was more amicable: 440
here suddenly, as great as he used to be when he lived,
he comes forth from the ground, widely broken, and like one threatening;
Achilles was bearing the countenance of that time
when, fierce, he sought unjust Agamemnon with steel,
and said, 'forgetful of me you depart, Achaeans.'

445

obrutaque est mecum virtutis gratia nostrae!
ne facite! utque meum non sit sine honore sepulcrum,
placet Achilleos mactata Polyxena manes!'
dixit, et inmiti sociis parentibus umbrae,
rapta sinu matris, quam iam prope sola fovebat,

and the gratitude for my virtue has been buried with me!
Do not do this! and that my sepulcher may not be without honor,
let sacrificed Polyxena please the Manes of Achilles!'
he spoke, and—with the parents as associates of the merciless shade—
snatched from her mother’s bosom, whom now, almost her only one, she was cherishing,

450

fortis et infelix et plus quam femina virgo
ducitur ad tumulum diroque fit hostia busto.
quae memor ipsa sui postquam crudelibus aris
admota est sensitque sibi fera sacra parari,
utque Neoptolemum stantem ferrumque tenentem;

brave and unlucky, and a maiden more than a woman,
she is led to the tomb and becomes a victim for the dire pyre.
who, mindful of herself, after she was brought near the cruel altars
and sensed that savage sacrifices were being prepared for her,
and saw Neoptolemus standing and holding the iron;

455

inque suo vidit figentem lumina vultu,
'utere iamdudum generoso sanguine' dixit
'nulla mora est; at tu iugulo vel pectore telum
conde meo' iugulumque simul pectusque retexit.
'scilicet haud ulli servire Polyxena vellem.

and she saw him fixing his eyes upon her own face,
'use now at last the noble blood,' she said;
'there is no delay; but you, bury the weapon in my throat or in my breast,'
and at once she uncovered both her throat and her breast.
'surely Polyxena would not wish to serve any man.'

460

haud per tale sacrum numen placabitis ullum!
mors tantum vellem matrem mea fallere posset:
mater obest minuitque necis mihi gaudia, quamvis
non mea mors illi, verum sua vita tremenda est.
vos modo, ne Stygios adeam non libera manes,

not by such a sacred rite will you appease any divinity!
I would only wish that my death could deceive my mother:
my mother hinders and diminishes for me the joys of death, although
it is not my death that is tremendous to her, but rather her own life.
only you, see to it that I do not go to the Stygian shades not free,

465

ite procul, si iusta peto, tactuque viriles
virgineo removete manus! acceptior illi,
quisquis is est, quem caede mea placare paratis,
liber erit sanguis. siquos tamen ultima nostri
verba movent oris (Priami vos filia regis,

go far off, if I seek what is just, and remove virile hands from a virginal touch! more acceptable to him—whoever he is, whom you are preparing to placate by my slaughter—my blood will be free. if, however, the ultimate words of my mouth move any (the daughter of King Priam,

470

non captiva rogat), genetrici corpus inemptum
reddite, neve auro redimat ius triste sepulcri,
sed lacrimis! tum, cum poterat, redimebat et auro.'
dixerat, at populus lacrimas, quas illa tenebat,
non tenet; ipse etiam flens invitusque sacerdos

(she asks not as a captive), give back to her mother a body unbought,
and let her not redeem with gold the grim right of the sepulcher,
but with tears! Then, when she could, she ransomed even with gold.'
She had spoken, but the people do not hold the tears which she held back;
even the priest himself, weeping and unwilling,

475

praebita coniecto rupit praecordia ferro.
illa super terram defecto poplite labens
pertulit intrepidos ad fata novissima vultus;
tunc quoque cura fuit partes velare tegendas,
cum caderet, castique decus servare pudoris.

with the proffered steel, driven home, he burst the vitals.
she, slipping upon the earth with knee failing,
bore an intrepid countenance to her very latest fates;
even then the care was to veil the parts that should be veiled,
as she fell, and to preserve the honor of chaste modesty.

480

Troades excipiunt deploratosque recensent
Priamidas et quot dederit domus una cruores,
teque gemunt, virgo, teque, o modo regia coniunx,
regia dicta parens, Asiae florentis imago,
nunc etiam praedae mala sors; quam victor Ulixes

The Trojan women receive them and tally up the lamented sons of Priam, and how many gore-shed the one house has given, and they lament you, maiden, and you as well, O lately a royal spouse, called a royal mother, the image of flourishing Asia, now even the evil lot of booty; whom the victor Ulysses

485

esse suam nollet, nisi quod tamen Hectora partu
edideras: dominum matri vix repperit Hector!
quae corpus conplexa animae tam fortis inane,
quas totiens patriae dederat natisque viroque,
huic quoque dat lacrimas; lacrimas in vulnera fundit

would not want you to be his, except that nevertheless you had borne Hector by childbirth;
you had brought him forth: Hector scarcely found a master for his mother!
she who, embracing the body, void of so brave a soul,
the tears which so often she had given to her fatherland and to her sons and to her husband,
to this one too she gives tears; tears she pours upon the wounds

490

osculaque ore tegit consuetaque pectora plangit
canitiemque suam concretam sanguine vellens
plura quidem, sed et haec laniato pectore, dixit:
'nata, tuae—quid enim superest?—dolor ultime matris,
nata, iaces, videoque tuum, mea vulnera, vulnus:

and she covers her with kisses and beats the accustomed breasts
and, tearing her own gray hair matted with blood,
she said more indeed, but also these things, with her lacerated breast:
'daughter, the last grief of your mother—for what indeed remains?—
daughter, you lie, and I see your wound, my wounds, a wound:'

495

en, ne perdiderim quemquam sine caede meorum,
tu quoque vulnus habes; at te, quia femina, rebar
a ferro tutam: cecidisti et femina ferro,
totque tuos idem fratres, te perdidit idem,
exitium Troiae nostrique orbator, Achilles;

look—lest I should have lost anyone without the slaughter of my own— you too have a wound; but you, because you are a woman, I thought safe from iron: you too have fallen, a woman, by iron, and the same man who destroyed so many of your brothers, the same has destroyed you, the ruin of Troy and our bereaver, Achilles;

500

at postquam cecidit Paridis Phoebique sagittis,
nunc certe, dixi, non est metuendus Achilles:
nunc quoque mi metuendus erat; cinis ipse sepulti
in genus hoc saevit, tumulo quoque sensimus hostem:
Aeacidae fecunda fui! iacet Ilion ingens,

but after he fell by the arrows of Paris and Phoebus,
now surely, I said, Achilles is not to be feared:
even now he was to be feared for me; the very ash of the buried
rages against this race, at the tomb too we sensed an enemy:
I have been fruitful for the Aeacid! mighty Ilion lies,

505

eventuque gravi finita est publica clades,
sed finita tamen; soli mihi Pergama restant.
in cursuque meus dolor est: modo maxima rerum,
tot generis natisque potens nuribusque viroque
nunc trahor exul, inops, tumulis avulsa meorum,

and with a grave event the public calamity was finished,
but finished nonetheless; to me alone Pergama remain.
and my grief is still in course: just now the greatest of things,
so powerful in lineage and sons and daughters‑in‑law and husband,
now I am dragged an exile, destitute, torn from the tombs of my own,

510

Penelopae munus, quae me data pensa trahentem
matribus ostendens Ithacis "haec Hectoris illa est
clara parens, haec est" dicet "Priameia coniunx,"
postque tot amissos tu nunc, quae sola levabas
maternos luctus, hostilia busta piasti!

the task of Penelope, as I, drawing the allotted wool,
she, showing me to the Ithacan matrons, will say, “this is that
famous mother of Hector, this is,” “the Priamian spouse,”
and after so many lost, you now—you who alone used to lighten
a mother’s griefs—have appeased hostile tombs!

515

inferias hosti peperi! quo ferrea resto?
quidve moror?

I have borne funereal offerings for an enemy! Why do I, iron, remain?
or why do I delay?

quo me servas, annosa senectus?
quo, di crudeles, nisi uti nova funera cernam,
vivacem differtis anum? quis posse putaret
felicem Priamum post diruta Pergama dici?

to what do you reserve me, age-worn senectitude?
to what, cruel gods, unless that I may behold new funerals,
do you defer the long-lived old woman? who would have thought
that Priam could be called happy after Pergama was razed?

520

felix morte sua est! nec te, mea nata, peremptam
adspicit et vitam pariter regnumque reliquit.
at, puto, funeribus dotabere, regia virgo,
condeturque tuum monumentis corpus avitis!

happy in his own death he is! nor did he, my daughter, behold you slain, and he relinquished life and the kingdom alike.
but, I suppose, you will be dowered with funerals, royal maiden,
and your body will be interred in the ancestral monuments!

non haec est fortuna domus: tibi munera matris 525
contingent fletus peregrinaeque haustus harenae!
omnia perdidimus: superest, cur vivere tempus
in breve sustineam, proles gratissima matri,
nunc solus, quondam minimus de stirpe virili,
has datus Ismario regi Polydorus in oras.

not such is the fortune of our house: for you the gifts of a mother 525
will be tears and draughts of foreign sand!
we have lost everything: there remains a reason why I should endure to live
for a brief time, offspring most dear to your mother,
now the only one, once the least of the virile stock,
Polydorus, delivered to the Ismarian king, to these shores.

530

quid moror interea crudelia vulnera lymphis
abluere et sparsos inmiti sanguine vultus?'
Dixit et ad litus passu processit anili,
albentes lacerata comas. 'date, Troades, urnam!'
dixerat infelix, liquidas hauriret ut undas:

‘why do I meanwhile delay to wash away with waters the cruel wounds
and the faces bespattered with savage blood?’
She spoke and advanced to the shore with an old-woman’s step,
with her whitening locks torn. ‘Give an urn, Trojan women!’
the unhappy one had said, that she might draw the liquid waves:

535

adspicit eiectum Polydori in litore corpus
factaque Threiciis ingentia vulnera telis;
Troades exclamant, obmutuit illa dolore,
et pariter vocem lacrimasque introrsus obortas
devorat ipse dolor, duroque simillima saxo

she beholds the body of Polydorus cast out on the shore
and the huge wounds made by Thracian weapons;
the Trojan women cry out, she herself was struck dumb with grief,
and alike the voice and the tears that had sprung up inwardly
pain itself devours, and she is most like to a hard stone

540

torpet et adversa figit modo lumina terra,
interdum torvos sustollit ad aethera vultus,
nunc positi spectat vultum, nunc vulnera nati,
vulnera praecipue, seque armat et instruit ira.
qua simul exarsit, tamquam regina maneret,

she is numb and fixes her eyes facing the earth,
at times she lifts her grim countenance to the aether,
now she looks at the face of the one laid out, now at the wounds of her son,
the wounds especially, and she arms and arrays herself with wrath.
as soon as she blazed with it, as though she still remained a queen,

545

ulcisci statuit poenaeque in imagine tota est,
utque furit catulo lactente orbata leaena
signaque nacta pedum sequitur, quem non videt, hostem,
sic Hecabe, postquam cum luctu miscuit iram,
non oblita animorum, annorum oblita suorum,

she resolved to avenge and is wholly fixed on the image of punishment,
and as a lioness, bereft of her suckling cub, rages,
and, having found the signs of footsteps, follows the foe whom she does not see,
so Hecuba, after she mingled wrath with grief,
not forgetful of her spirit, forgetful of her own years,

550

vadit ad artificem dirae, Polymestora, caedis
conloquiumque petit; nam se monstrare relictum
velle latens illi, quod nato redderet, aurum.
credidit Odrysius praedaeque adsuetus amore
in secreta venit: tum blando callidus ore

she goes to the contriver of the dire slaughter, Polymestor, and seeks a colloquy; for, lurking, she says she wishes to show to him gold left behind, which he was to render back to the son.
the Odrysian believed, and, accustomed to the love of booty, came into the secret places: then, cunning with a coaxing mouth

555

'tolle moras, Hecabe,' dixit 'da munera nato!
omne fore illius, quod das, quod et ante dedisti,
per superos iuro.' spectat truculenta loquentem
falsaque iurantem tumidaque exaestuat ira
atque ita correpto captivarum agmina matrum

'remove delays, Hecabe,' he said, 'give gifts to your son!
All shall be his—what you give, and what you gave before—
I swear by the gods above.' The truculent one gazes at the speaker
and at him swearing falsely, and seethes with swelling ire,
and thus, once he was seized, the ranks of captive mothers

560

invocat et digitos in perfida lumina condit
expellitque genis oculos (facit ira potentem)
inmergitque manus foedataque sanguine sonti
non lumen (neque enim superest), loca luminis haurit.
clade sui Thracum gens inritata tyranni

she invokes and buries her fingers into the treacherous eyes
and expels the eyes from his cheeks (anger makes her potent),
and she immerses her hands, and, defiled with the blood of the guilty,
she drains not the light (for it does not remain), but the places of the light.
the nation of the Thracians, provoked by the disaster of their own tyrant

565

Troada telorum lapidumque incessere iactu
coepit, at haec missum rauco cum murmure saxum
morsibus insequitur rictuque in verba parato
latravit, conata loqui: locus exstat et ex re
nomen habet, veterumque diu memor illa malorum

The Trojan woman they began to assail with the hurling of missiles and stones;
but she pursues the rock that was sent with a hoarse murmur
with her bites, and with her jaws prepared for words
she barked, having tried to speak: a place exists and from the thing it has its name,
and she, long mindful of ancient evils,

570

tum quoque Sithonios ululavit maesta per agros.
illius Troasque suos hostesque Pelasgos,
illius fortuna deos quoque moverat omnes,
sic omnes, ut et ipsa Iovis coniunxque sororque
eventus Hecaben meruisse negaverit illos.

then too, sorrowful, she ululated through the Sithonian fields.
of her, both her own Trojans and her Pelasgian enemies,
her fortune had moved even all the gods,
so all, that even Jove’s consort and sister herself
would deny that Hecuba had merited those outcomes.

575

Non vacat Aurorae, quamquam isdem faverat armis,
cladibus et casu Troiaeque Hecabesque moveri.
cura deam propior luctusque domesticus angit
Memnonis amissi, Phrygiis quem lutea campis
vidit Achillea pereuntem cuspide mater;

It is not free for Aurora, although she had favored the same arms, to be moved by the disasters and the fall both of Troy and of Hecabe.
a nearer care and a domestic grief distresses the goddess for Memnon, lost, whom the saffron mother saw perishing on the Phrygian fields
by Achilles’ spear;

580

vidit, et ille color, quo matutina rubescunt
tempora, palluerat, latuitque in nubibus aether.
at non inpositos supremis ignibus artus
sustinuit spectare parens, sed crine soluto
sicut erat, magni genibus procumbere non est

she saw, and that color, by which the matutinal temples blush,
had grown pale, and the aether hid in clouds.
But the mother did not endure to behold the limbs not yet laid
upon the ultimate fires, but with hair loosened,
just as she was, she did not refrain from prostrating herself at the great one's knees.

585

dedignata Iovis lacrimisque has addere voces:
'omnibus inferior, quas sustinet aureus aether,
(nam mihi sunt totum rarissima templa per orbem)
diva tamen, veni, non ut delubra diesque
des mihi sacrificos caliturasque ignibus aras:

disdaining Jove and his tears, to add these words:
'inferior to all those whom the golden aether sustains
(for to me the temples are most rare throughout the whole orb),
yet come, goddess, not that you may grant to me shrines and sacrificial days
and altars that will grow warm with fires:

590

si tamen adspicias, quantum tibi femina praestem,
tum cum luce nova noctis confinia servo,
praemia danda putes; sed non ea cura neque hic est
nunc status Aurorae, meritos ut poscat honores:
Memnonis orba mei venio, qui fortia frustra

if, however, you should look upon how much I, a woman, render for you,
then, when with new light I keep the confines of night,
you would think rewards ought to be given; but that is not the care, nor is now
the present status of Aurora here, to demand merited honors:
bereft of my Memnon I come, who brave deeds in vain

595

pro patruo tulit arma suo primisque sub annis
occidit a forti (sic vos voluistis) Achille.
da, precor, huic aliquem, solacia mortis, honorem,
summe deum rector, maternaque vulnera leni!'
Iuppiter adnuerat, cum Memnonis arduus alto

for his uncle he bore arms, and in his earliest years
he was slain by brave (so you willed it) Achilles.
grant, I pray, to this one some honor, a solace of death,
highest ruler of the gods, and soothe a mother’s wounds!'
Jupiter had nodded assent, when Memnon’s towering from on high

600

corruit igne rogus, nigrique volumina fumi
infecere diem, veluti cum flumine Nais
exhalat nebulas, nec sol admittitur infra;
atra favilla volat glomerataque corpus in unum
densetur faciemque capit sumitque calorem

the pyre collapsed in the fire, and black coils of smoke stained the day,
just as when a Naiad exhales mists from the river, nor is the sun admitted below;
black ash flies, and, massed together, it is compacted into a single body
and takes on a face and assumes heat

605

atque animam ex igni (levitas sua praebuit alas)
et primo similis volucri, mox vera volucris
insonuit pennis, pariter sonuere sorores
innumerae, quibus est eadem natalis origo,
terque rogum lustrant, et consonus exit in auras

and the soul from the fire (its own lightness provided wings)
and at first similar to a bird, soon a true bird
resounded with its wings; likewise the sisters
countless, to whom the same natal origin belongs, sounded;
and thrice they lustrate the pyre, and a consonant sound goes forth into the airs

610

ter plangor, quarto seducunt castra volatu;
tum duo diversa populi de parte feroces
bella gerunt rostrisque et aduncis unguibus iras
exercent alasque adversaque pectora lassant,
inferiaeque cadunt cineri cognata sepulto

thrice the beating; at the fourth they separate the camps in flight;
then two, fierce, from opposite sides of the people,
wage wars, and with beaks and hooked claws exercise their wraths,
and they weary their wings and opposing breasts,
and kindred funeral-offerings fall to the buried ash

615

corpora seque viro forti meminere creatas.
praepetibus subitis nomen facit auctor: ab illo
Memnonides dictae, cum sol duodena peregit
signa, parentali moriturae more rebellant.
ergo aliis latrasse Dymantida flebile visum est;

their bodies and they themselves remembered that they had been created from a brave man.
the originator gives a name to the sudden swift-fliers: from him
they are called Memnonides; when the sun has completed
the twelve signs, they rebel in the parental manner, destined to die.
therefore to others it seemed lamentable that the Dymantid had barked;

620

luctibus est Aurora suis intenta piasque
nunc quoque dat lacrimas et toto rorat in orbe.
Non tamen eversam Troiae cum moenibus esse
spem quoque fata sinunt: sacra et, sacra altera, patrem
fert umeris, venerabile onus, Cythereius heros.

Aurora is intent on her own griefs and pious
tears even now she gives, and she bedews the whole orb.
Not, however, do the Fates allow the hope of Troy, along with the walls,
too, to be overthrown: the sacred things, and, another sacred thing, his father,
he bears on his shoulders, a venerable burden, the Cytherean hero.

625

de tantis opibus praedam pius eligit illam
Ascaniumque suum profugaque per aequora classe
fertur ab Antandro scelerataque limina Thracum
et Polydoreo manantem sanguine terram
linquit et utilibus ventis aestuque secundo

from such great opulence the pious one chooses that booty
and with his Ascanius and with a fugitive fleet over the waters
he is borne from Antandros and the criminal thresholds of the Thracians
and the land dripping with the blood of Polydorus
he leaves, and with serviceable winds and a favorable surge

630

intrat Apollineam sociis comitantibus urbem.
hunc Anius, quo rege homines, antistite Phoebus
rite colebatur, temploque domoque recepit
urbemque ostendit delubraque nota duasque
Latona quondam stirpes pariente retentas.

he enters the Apollinean city with comrades accompanying.
this man Anius—under whom, as king, men, and, as high-priest, Phoebus were duly worshiped—
received him in both temple and house, and he showed
the city and the well-known shrines, and the two
trunks once held fast when Latona was giving birth.

635

ture dato flammis vinoque in tura profuso
caesarumque boum fibris de more crematis
regia tecta petunt, positique tapetibus altis
munera cum liquido capiunt Cerealia Baccho.
tum pius Anchises: 'o Phoebi lecte sacerdos,

with incense given to the flames and wine poured upon the incense
and the entrails of slaughtered oxen burned according to custom,
they seek the royal roofs, and, seated on high tapestries,
they take the Cereal gifts with limpid Bacchus.
then pious Anchises: "O chosen priest of Phoebus,

640

fallor, an et natum, cum primum haec moenia vidi,
bisque duas natas, quantum reminiscor, habebas?'
huic Anius niveis circumdata tempora vittis
concutiens et tristis ait: 'non falleris, heros
maxime; vidisti natorum quinque parentem,

Am I mistaken, or had you also a son, when first I saw these walls,
and twice two daughters, as far as I recall?'
To him Anius, his temples girt with snowy fillets,
shaking and sorrowful, said: 'You are not mistaken, greatest hero;
you saw the father of five children,

645

quem nunc (tanta homines rerum inconstantia versat)
paene vides orbum. quod enim mihi filius absens
auxilium, quem dicta suo de nomine tellus
Andros habet pro patre locumque et regna tenentem?
Delius augurium dedit huic, dedit altera Liber

whom now (so great an inconstancy of affairs whirls men)
you almost see bereft. for what assistance is an absent son to me,
whom the land called by his own name, Andros,
holds in place of his father, holding the place and the realms?
the Delian gave augury to this one, the other, Liber, gave

650

femineae stirpi voto maiora fideque
munera: nam tactu natarum cuncta mearum
in segetem laticemque meri canaeque Minervae
transformabantur, divesque erat usus in illis.
hoc ubi cognovit Troiae populator Atrides,

to the female stock gifts greater than vow and faith;
for by the touch of my daughters all things
were transformed into grain and into the liquid of pure wine and of gray-eyed Minerva,
and rich was the use in them.
when the son of Atreus, the ravager of Troy, learned this,

655

(ne non ex aliqua vestram sensisse procellam
nos quoque parte putes), armorum viribus usus
abstrahit invitas gremio genitoris alantque
imperat Argolicam caelesti munere classem.
effugiunt, quo quaeque potest: Euboea duabus

(lest you think that we too have not felt some tempest of yours in some part), making use of the forces of arms
he drags the unwilling from their begetter’s bosom, and he orders
that the Argolic fleet be nourished by the celestial gift.
They flee, each whither she can: Euboea with two

660

et totidem natis Andros fraterna petita est.
miles adest et, ni dedantur, bella minatur:
victa metu pietas consortia corpora poenae
dedidit; et timido possis ignoscere fratri:
non hic Aeneas, non, qui defenderet Andron,

and Andros was sought by a fraternal hand with just as many sons.
the soldier is present and, unless they be surrendered, he menaces wars:
piety, conquered by fear, surrendered the kindred bodies to penalty;
and you could pardon the timid brother:
there was no Aeneas here, no one to defend Andros,

665

Hector erat, per quem decimum durastis in annum.
iamque parabantur captivis vincla lacertis:
illae tollentes etiamnum libera caelo
bracchia "Bacche pater, fer opem!" dixere, tulitque
muneris auctor opem,Æsi miro perdere more

There was Hector, through whom you endured into the tenth year.
and now fetters were being prepared for the captives’ upper arms:
they, lifting their arms still free to the sky, said, “Father Bacchus, bring aid!”
and the author of the gift brought aid, to destroy Aesi in a wondrous manner

670

ferre vocatur opem, nec qua ratione figuram
perdiderint, potui scire aut nunc dicere possum;
summa mali nota est: pennas sumpsere tuaeque
coniugis in volucres, niveas abiere columbas.'
Talibus atque aliis postquam convivia dictis

he is called to bring aid, nor by what manner they lost their form could I know or can I now say; the sum of the evil is known: they took wings, and your consort’s became birds, they departed as snow-white doves.'
With such words and others, after the banquets

675

inplerunt, mensa somnum petiere remota
cumque die surgunt adeuntque oracula Phoebi,
qui petere antiquam matrem cognataque iussit
litora; prosequitur rex et dat munus ituris,
Anchisae sceptrum, chlamydem pharetramque nepoti,

they finished; the table removed, they sought sleep
and with day they rise and approach the oracles of Phoebus,
who ordered them to seek the ancient mother and the kindred
shores; the king escorts and gives a gift to those setting out,
to Anchises a scepter, and to his grandson a chlamys and a quiver.

680

cratera Aeneae, quem quondam transtulit illi
hospes ab Aoniis Therses Ismenius oris:
miserat hunc illi Therses, fabricaverat Alcon
Hyleus et longo caelaverat argumento.
urbs erat, et septem posses ostendere portas:

the krater of Aeneas, which once a guest, Therses Ismenius, conveyed to him
from the Aonian shores: Therses had sent this to him; Alcon of Hyle had fashioned it
and had chased it with a long narrative in relief.
There was a city, and you could point out seven gates:

685

hae pro nomine erant, et quae foret illa, docebant;
ante urbem exequiae tumulique ignesque rogique
effusaeque comas et apertae pectora matres
significant luctum; nymphae quoque flere videntur
siccatosque queri fontes: sine frondibus arbor

these were in place of a name, and they taught which it was;
before the city exequies and burial mounds and fires and pyres
and tresses poured loose and mothers with breasts laid bare
signify mourning; the nymphs also seem to weep
and to complain that the springs have been dried: a tree without leaves

690

nuda riget, rodunt arentia saxa capellae.
ecce facit mediis natas Orione Thebis
hac non femineum iugulo dare vulnus aperto,
illac demisso per fortia pectora telo
pro populo cecidisse suo pulchrisque per urbem

bare it stands rigid; the she-goats gnaw the arid rocks.
behold, he brings about in the midst of Thebes the daughters born from Orion—
in this way not to give a feminine wound to the opened throat,
by that other path, with the weapon demitted through their stalwart breasts,
to have fallen for their own people, and through the fair city

695

funeribus ferri celebrique in parte cremari.
tum de virginea geminos exire favilla,
ne genus intereat, iuvenes, quos fama Coronas
nominat, et cineri materno ducere pompam.
hactenus antiquo signis fulgentibus aere,

to be borne at funerals and to be cremated in the celebrated part.
then from virginal ash twin youths to go forth,
lest the race perish, youths whom fame names the Coronas,
and to lead a pomp for the maternal ash.
thus far on the ancient bronze with gleaming signs,

700

summus inaurato crater erat asper acantho.
nec leviora datis Troiani dona remittunt
dantque sacerdoti custodem turis acerram,
dant pateram claramque auro gemmisque coronam.
Inde recordati Teucros a sanguine Teucri

On the top was a gilded crater, rough with acanthus.
nor do the Trojans send back gifts lighter than those given;
and they give to the priest a guardian of incense, an acerra,
they give a patera and a crown bright with gold and gems.
Then, remembering the Teucrians from the blood of Teucer,

705

ducere principium Creten tenuere locique
ferre diu nequiere Iovem centumque relictis
urbibus Ausonios optant contingere portus,
saevit hiems iactatque viros, Strophadumque receptos
portubus infidis exterruit ales Aello.

they held Crete to draw out a beginning and of a place,
nor were they able to bear Jove for long, and, with a hundred cities left behind,
they long to touch the Ausonian ports;
winter rages and tosses the men, and
at the Strophades, once received, the bird Aello terrified them with treacherous harbors.

710

et iam Dulichios portus Ithacamque Samonque
Neritiasque domus, regnum fallacis Ulixis,
praeter erant vecti: certatam lite deorum
Ambraciam versique vident sub imagine saxum
iudicis, Actiaco quae nunc ab Apolline nota est,

and now the Dulichian ports and Ithaca and Samos
and the Neritian homes, the realm of fallacious Ulysses,
had been passed as they were borne along: Ambracia, contested in the litigation of the gods,
and, turning, they behold under the image the stone of the judge,
which now is noted by Actian Apollo,

715

vocalemque sua terram Dodonida quercu
Chaoniosque sinus, ubi nati rege Molosso
inpia subiectis fugere incendia pennis.
Proxima Phaeacum felicibus obsita pomis
rura petunt, Epiros ab his regnataque vati

and the Dodonaean land, vocal with its own oak,
and the Chaonian bays, where, with King Molossus reigning,
the sons fled impious fires with wings set beneath.
They seek the neighboring fields of the Phaeacians, overgrown with fruitful apples,
they make for Epirus from these, and the realms ruled by the seer.

720

Buthrotos Phrygio simulataque Troia tenetur;
inde futurorum certi, quae cuncta fideli
Priamides Helenus monitu praedixerat, intrant
Sicaniam: tribus haec excurrit in aequora linguis,
e quibus imbriferos est versa Pachynos ad austros,

Buthrotum is held by a Phrygian and by a simulated Troy;
thence, certain of the things to come, all of which the Priamid Helenus had foretold by faithful monition, they enter Sicily:
it runs out into the seas with three tongues,
of which Pachynus is turned toward the rain-bearing south winds,

725

mollibus oppositum zephyris Lilybaeon, ad arctos
aequoris expertes spectat boreanque Peloros.
hac subeunt Teucri, et remis aestuque secundo
sub noctem potitur Zanclaea classis harena:
Scylla latus dextrum, laevum inrequieta Charybdis

with Lilybaeum opposite to the gentle Zephyrs, and Pelorus looks toward the Bears, unacquainted with the sea, and Boreas.
by this route the Teucrians come up, and with oars and a favorable tide
toward nightfall the fleet gains the Zanclean sand:
Scylla on the right flank, on the left the restless Charybdis

730

infestat; vorat haec raptas revomitque carinas,
illa feris atram canibus succingitur alvum,
virginis ora gerens, et, si non omnia vates
ficta reliquerunt, aliquo quoque tempore virgo:
hanc multi petiere proci, quibus illa repulsis

harasses; this one devours the snatched ships and belches them back,
that one is girded with savage dogs about her dark belly,
wearing the face of a maiden, and, if the poets have not left everything as fiction,
at some time also a maiden:
her many suitors sought, and when these were repulsed by her

735

ad pelagi nymphas, pelagi gratissima nymphis,
ibat et elusos iuvenum narrabat amores.
cui dum pectendos praebet Galatea capillos,
talibus adloquitur repetens suspiria dictis:
'te tamen, o virgo, genus haut inmite virorum

to the nymphs of the sea, most pleasing to the nymphs of the sea,
she used to go and would tell of the deluded loves of youths.
to whom, while Galatea offers her hair to be combed,
she addresses her with such words, repeating her sighs:
'yet you, O maiden, a not unkind race of men

740

expetit, utque facis, potes his inpune negare;
at mihi, cui pater est Nereus, quam caerula Doris
enixa est, quae sum turba quoque tuta sororum,
non nisi per luctus licuit Cyclopis amorem
effugere.' et lacrimae vocem inpediere loquentis.

seeks you, and, as you do, you can deny them with impunity;
but as for me, whose father is Nereus, whom cerulean Doris
bore, who am safe also in the throng of sisters,
it was permitted to escape the Cyclops’s love only through griefs.' And tears impeded the voice of the one speaking.

745

quas ubi marmoreo detersit pollice virgo
et solata deam est, 'refer, o carissima' dixit
'neve tui causam tege (sic sum fida) doloris!'
Nereis his contra resecuta Crataeide natam est:
'Acis erat Fauno nymphaque Symaethide cretus

which, when the maiden had wiped away with her marble-white thumb
and had consoled the goddess, she said, 'relate it, O dearest,
and do not conceal the cause of your grief (so faithful am I)!'
The Nereid in answer to these things replied to the daughter of Crataeis:
'Acis was begotten of Faunus and the nymph Symaethis

750

magna quidem patrisque sui matrisque voluptas,
nostra tamen maior; nam me sibi iunxerat uni.
pulcher et octonis iterum natalibus actis
signarat teneras dubia lanugine malas.
hunc ego, me Cyclops nulla cum fine petebat.

great indeed was the delight of his father and his mother, yet greater was ours; for he had joined me to himself alone.
handsome, and with twice eight birthdays accomplished, he had marked his tender cheeks with a doubtful down.
him I held, while the Cyclops was pursuing me without end.

755

nec, si quaesieris, odium Cyclopis amorne
Acidis in nobis fuerit praesentior, edam:
par utrumque fuit. pro, quanta potentia regni
est, Venus alma, tui! nempe ille inmitis et ipsis
horrendus silvis et visus ab hospite nullo

nor, if you should ask, whether the hatred of the Cyclops or the love
of Acis was more present within me, I would say:
each was equal. ah, how great the potency of your realm
is, nurturing Venus! surely that one, harsh and even to the very
woods horrendous, and seen by no guest

760

inpune et magni cum dis contemptor Olympi,
quid sit amor, sentit validaque cupidine captus
uritur oblitus pecorum antrorumque suorum.
iamque tibi formae, iamque est tibi cura placendi,
iam rigidos pectis rastris, Polypheme, capillos,

with impunity and a contemner of the gods of great Olympus,
what love is, he feels; and, seized by strong desire,
he burns, forgetful of his flocks and of his caves.
and now you have concern for your form, and now you have a care to please,
now you comb your rigid hair with rakes, Polyphemus,

765

iam libet hirsutam tibi falce recidere barbam
et spectare feros in aqua et conponere vultus.
caedis amor feritasque sitisque inmensa cruoris
cessant, et tutae veniuntque abeuntque carinae.
Telemus interea Siculam delatus ad Aetnen,

now it pleases you to cut back your shaggy beard with a sickle
and to behold your wild features in the water and to compose your countenance.
the love of slaughter and savagery and the boundless thirst for gore
cease, and safe keels both come and go.
Meanwhile Telemus, borne down to Sicilian Aetna,

770

Telemus Eurymides, quem nulla fefellerat ales,
terribilem Polyphemon adit "lumen" que, "quod unum
fronte geris media, rapiet tibi" dixit "Ulixes."
risit et "o vatum stolidissime, falleris," inquit,
"altera iam rapuit." sic frustra vera monentem

Telemus, son of Eurymus, whom no augural bird had deceived,
approaches terrible Polyphemus and said, "the 'light' which alone
you bear in the middle of your brow, Ulysses will snatch from you."
he laughed and said, "O most stolid of seers, you are mistaken;
the other has already snatched it." thus, him warning truths in vain

775

spernit et aut gradiens ingenti litora passu
degravat, aut fessus sub opaca revertitur antra.
prominet in pontum cuneatus acumine longo
collis (utrumque latus circumfluit aequoris unda):
huc ferus adscendit Cyclops mediusque resedit;

he spurns him, and either, striding, weighs down the shores with his huge step,
or, weary, returns beneath the shady caverns.
a hill, wedge-shaped with a long point, projects into the sea
(each side is flowed around by the wave of the level sea):
hither the savage Cyclops ascends and sat down in the middle;

780

lanigerae pecudes nullo ducente secutae.
cui postquam pinus, baculi quae praebuit usum,
ante pedes posita est antemnis apta ferendis
sumptaque harundinibus conpacta est fistula centum,
senserunt toti pastoria sibila montes,

wool-bearing flocks, with no leader, followed.
to whom, after the pine—which furnished the use of a staff—
had been set before his feet, fit for bearing yardarms,
and a pipe, compacted of a hundred reeds, was taken up,
all the mountains heard the pastoral whistles,

785

senserunt undae; latitans ego rupe meique
Acidis in gremio residens procul auribus hausi
talia dicta meis auditaque mente notavi:
'"Candidior folio nivei Galatea ligustri,
floridior pratis, longa procerior alno,

the waves felt it; hiding in a crag and, sitting in the lap of my Acis,
from afar I drank in with my ears such words, and I noted in my mind what I heard:
'"Whiter than the leaf of snow-white privet, more florid than the meadows, taller in stature than the alder,

790

splendidior vitro, tenero lascivior haedo,
levior adsiduo detritis aequore conchis,
solibus hibernis, aestiva gratior umbra,
mobilior damma, platano conspectior alta,
lucidior glacie, matura dulcior uva,

more splendid than glass, more frolicsome than a tender kid,
lighter than shells worn smooth by the assiduous sea,
more pleasing than winter suns, than estival shade,
nimbler than a fallow-deer, more conspicuous than the tall plane-tree,
more lucid than ice, sweeter than ripe grape,

795

mollior et cycni plumis et lacta coacto,
et, si non fugias, riguo formosior horto;
'"Saevior indomitis eadem Galatea iuvencis,
durior annosa quercu, fallacior undis,
lentior et salicis virgis et vitibus albis,

softer both than the swan’s plumes and than curdled milk,
and, if you do not flee, more beautiful than a well-watered garden;
'"The same Galatea is fiercer than unbroken bullocks,
harder than an aged oak, more fallacious than the waves,
more sluggish than both the willow’s rods and the white vines,

800

his inmobilior scopulis, violentior amne,
laudato pavone superbior, acrior igni,
asperior tribulis, feta truculentior ursa,
surdior aequoribus, calcato inmitior hydro,
et, quod praecipue vellem tibi demere possem,

more immobile than these rocks, more violent than a river,
prouder than the lauded peacock, fiercer than fire,
rougher than thistles, more truculent than a bear with young,
deafer than the seas, more cruel than a trampled watersnake,
and, what I would especially wish I could take away from you,

805

non tantum cervo claris latratibus acto,
verum etiam ventis volucrique fugacior aura,
(at bene si noris, pigeat fugisse, morasque
ipsa tuas damnes et me retinere labores)
sunt mihi, pars montis, vivo pendentia saxo

not only swifter than a stag driven by clear barkings,
but even more fugacious than the winds and the winged breeze,
(but if you should know well, it would irk you to have fled, and you yourself
would condemn your delays and my labors to retain you)
I have, a part of the mountain, hangings that depend from living rock

810

antra, quibus nec sol medio sentitur in aestu,
nec sentitur hiems; sunt poma gravantia ramos,
sunt auro similes longis in vitibus uvae,
sunt et purpureae: tibi et has servamus et illas.
ipsa tuis manibus silvestri nata sub umbra

caves, in which neither is the sun felt in the mid-heat,
nor is winter felt; there are fruits burdening the branches,
there are grapes like to gold on long vines,
and there are purple ones too: for you we keep both these and those.
you yourself with your own hands, born beneath the woodland shade

815

mollia fraga leges, ipsa autumnalia corna
prunaque non solum nigro liventia suco,
verum etiam generosa novasque imitantia ceras.
nec tibi castaneae me coniuge, nec tibi deerunt
arbutei fetus: omnis tibi serviet arbor.

you will gather soft strawberries, you yourself the autumnal cornels,
and plums not only livid with black juice,
but also well-bred ones that imitate fresh wax.
nor, with me as your spouse, will chestnuts be lacking to you,
nor will arbutus fruits: every tree will serve you.

820

'"Hoc pecus omne meum est, multae quoque vallibus errant,
multas silva tegit, multae stabulantur in antris,
nec, si forte roges, possim tibi dicere, quot sint:
pauperis est numerare pecus; de laudibus harum
nil mihi credideris, praesens potes ipsa videre,

'"All this herd is mine; many also wander in the valleys,
many the forest shelters, many are stabled in caves,
nor, if by chance you ask, could I tell you how many they are:
it is a poor man’s part to number his flock; as for the praises of these,
credit me nothing; being present you yourself can see,

825

ut vix circumeant distentum cruribus uber.
sunt, fetura minor, tepidis in ovilibus agni.
sunt quoque, par aetas, aliis in ovilibus haedi.

so that they scarcely can go around the udder, swollen between the legs.
there are, of a lesser brood, lambs in tepid sheepfolds.
there are also, of equal age, kids in other sheepfolds.

lac mihi semper adest niveum: pars inde bibenda
servatur, partem liquefacta coagula durant.

Milk is always at hand for me, snow-white: a part of it is kept for drinking,
and a part the liquefied rennet makes endure.

830

'"Nec tibi deliciae faciles vulgataque tantum
munera contingent, dammae leporesque caperque,
parve columbarum demptusve cacumine nidus:
inveni geminos, qui tecum ludere possint,
inter se similes, vix ut dignoscere possis,

'"Nor shall easy delights and only common gifts fall to you,
fallow-deer and hares and a he-goat,
a small doves’ nest plucked from the treetop:
I have found twins, who can play with you,
alike to each other, so that you can scarcely tell them apart,

835

villosae catulos in summis montibus ursae:
inveni et dixi 'dominae servabimus istos.'
'"Iam modo caeruleo nitidum caput exere ponto,
iam, Galatea, veni, nec munera despice nostra!
certe ego me novi liquidaeque in imagine vidi

the cubs of a shaggy she-bear on the topmost mountains:
I found them and said, 'we will keep these for my mistress.'
'"Now just raise your shining head from the cerulean sea,
now, Galatea, come, and do not despise our gifts!
surely I recognized myself and saw myself in the liquid image

840

nuper aquae, placuitque mihi mea forma videnti.
adspice, sim quantus: non est hoc corpore maior
Iuppiter in caelo, nam vos narrare soletis
nescio quem regnare Iovem; coma plurima torvos
prominet in vultus, umerosque, ut lucus, obumbrat;

recently in the water, and my form pleased me as I was seeing it.
behold, how great I am: Jupiter in heaven is not greater than this in body;
for you are wont to tell that some I-know-not-what Jupiter reigns;
a very abundant hair projects over my grim features
and, like a grove, it overshadows my shoulders.

845

nec mea quod rigidis horrent densissima saetis
corpora, turpe puta: turpis sine frondibus arbor,
turpis equus, nisi colla iubae flaventia velent;
pluma tegit volucres, ovibus sua lana decori est:
barba viros hirtaeque decent in corpore saetae.

nor think it shameful that my body bristles with most dense, rigid bristles:
ugly is a tree without foliage,
ugly a horse, unless a tawny mane veils its neck;
plumage covers birds, for sheep their wool is an adornment:
a beard befits men, and rough bristles on the body are becoming.

850

unum est in media lumen mihi fronte, sed instar
ingentis clipei. quid? non haec omnia magnus
Sol videt e caelo?

one light is in the middle of my forehead, but in the likeness
of a huge shield. what? does not great
Sun see all these things from heaven?

Soli tamen unicus orbis.
'"Adde, quod in vestro genitor meus aequore regnat:
hunc tibi do socerum; tantum miserere precesque

Yet a single orb is the Sun’s alone.
'"Add, that in your sea my genitor reigns:
I give him to you as father-in-law; only have mercy and the prayers

855

supplicis exaudi! tibi enim succumbimus uni,
quique Iovem et caelum sperno et penetrabile fulmen,
Nerei, te vereor, tua fulmine saevior ira est.
atque ego contemptus essem patientior huius,
si fugeres omnes; sed cur Cyclope repulso

Hear the suppliant! for to you alone we succumb,
and I, who spurn Jove and the sky and the piercing thunderbolt,
Nereus, you I revere; your wrath is more savage than the thunderbolt.
and I, scorned, would be more patient of this,
if you fled all; but why, with the Cyclops repulsed

860

Acin amas praefersque meis conplexibus Acin?
ille tamen placeatque sibi placeatque licebit,
quod nollem, Galatea, tibi; modo copia detur:
sentiet esse mihi tanto pro corpore vires!
viscera viva traham divulsaque membra per agros

Do you love Acis and do you prefer Acis to my embraces?
yet let him be pleasing, and let him be pleasing to himself, and—what I would not— to you, Galatea; only let opportunity be given:
he shall feel that I have forces proportionate to so great a body!
I will drag his living entrails and his torn-apart limbs through the fields

865

perque tuas spargam (sic se tibi misceat!) undas.
uror enim, laesusque exaestuat acrius ignis,
cumque suis videor translatam viribus Aetnam
pectore ferre meo, nec tu, Galatea, moveris."
'Talia nequiquam questus (nam cuncta videbam)

and over your waves I will scatter (so may it mingle itself with you!)
for I burn, and the wounded fire seethes more keenly,
and I seem to carry in my breast an Aetna transferred with its own forces,
and you, Galatea, are not moved."
'Having complained such things in vain (for I was seeing everything)

870

surgit et ut taurus vacca furibundus adempta
stare nequit silvaque et notis saltibus errat,
cum ferus ignaros nec quicquam tale timentes
me videt atque Acin "video" que exclamat "et ista
ultima sit, faciam, Veneris concordia vestrae."

he rises, and like a bull, furious with his cow deprived,
he cannot stand still and wanders the wood and his well-known glades,
when the fierce one, we being unaware and fearing nothing of the sort,
sees me and Acis, and cries out "I see," and "and let this
be the last, I will make it so, the concord of your Venus."

875

tantaque vox, quantam Cyclops iratus habere
debuit, illa fuit: clamore perhorruit Aetne.
ast ego vicino pavefacta sub aequore mergor;
terga fugae dederat conversa Symaethius heros
et "fer opem, Galatea, precor, mihi! ferte, parentes,"

and such a voice, as great as an angry Cyclops ought to have,
that was it: Aetna shuddered at the clamor.
but I, panic-struck, am plunged beneath the neighboring sea;
the Symaethian hero had turned his back in flight
and "bring aid, Galatea, I pray, to me! bring it, parents,"

880

dixerat "et vestris periturum admittite regnis!"
insequitur Cyclops partemque e monte revulsam
mittit, et extremus quamvis pervenit ad illum
angulus e saxo, totum tamen obruit Acin,
at nos, quod fieri solum per fata licebat,

he had said, "and admit me, about to perish, into your realms!"
the Cyclops pursues and hurls a part torn from the mountain,
and although only the farthest corner of the rock reached him,
nevertheless it overwhelmed Acis completely,
but we—what alone was permitted to be done by the Fates—

885

fecimus, ut vires adsumeret Acis avitas.
puniceus de mole cruor manabat, et intra
temporis exiguum rubor evanescere coepit,
fitque color primo turbati fluminis imbre
purgaturque mora; tum moles iacta dehiscit,

we did, that Acis might assume his ancestral powers.
crimson gore was seeping from the mass, and within
a scant span of time the redness began to vanish,
and its color becomes that of a river at first troubled by a shower,
and is cleansed by delay; then the hurled mass gapes apart,

890

vivaque per rimas proceraque surgit harundo,
osque cavum saxi sonat exsultantibus undis,
miraque res, subito media tenus exstitit alvo
incinctus iuvenis flexis nova cornua cannis,
qui, nisi quod maior, quod toto caerulus ore,

and a living, tall reed springs up through the cracks,
and the hollow mouth of the rock resounds with the exulting waves,
and, wondrous to tell, suddenly there stood forth up to the middle of his belly
a youth, girded with new horns of bent reeds,
who, except that he was larger, and dark-blue in all his face,

895

Acis erat, sed sic quoque erat tamen Acis, in amnem
versus, et antiquum tenuerunt flumina nomen.'
Desierat Galatea loqui, coetuque soluto
discedunt placidisque natant Nereides undis.
Scylla redit; neque enim medio se credere ponto

He was Acis, but thus also he was nevertheless Acis, turned into a river, and the streams kept the ancient name.'
Galatea had ceased to speak, and with the company dismissed
they depart and the Nereids swim in the placid waves.
Scylla returns; for indeed she did not trust herself to the middle deep

900

audet, et aut bibula sine vestibus errat harena
aut, ubi lassata est, seductos nacta recessus
gurgitis, inclusa sua membra refrigerat unda:
ecce fretum stringens, alti novus incola ponti,
nuper in Euboica versis Anthedone membris,

she dares, and either wanders without garments on the bibulous sand
or, when she is tired, having found secluded recesses
of the whirlpool, enclosed she refrigerates her limbs in her own wave:
behold, skimming the strait, a new inhabitant of the deep sea,
lately at Euboean Anthedon, with limbs transformed,

905

Glaucus adest, visaeque cupidine virginis haeret
et, quaecumque putat fugientem posse morari,
verba refert; fugit illa tamen veloxque timore
pervenit in summum positi prope litora montis.
ante fretum est ingens, apicem conlectus in unum

Glaucus is there, and, with desire for the maiden he has seen, he is fixed,
and whatever words he thinks can delay the fleeing one,
he utters; she flees nevertheless, and, swift with fear,
she reaches the summit of a mountain set near the shores.
before a huge strait there is a mountain, gathered into a single apex

910

longa sub arboribus convexus in aequora vertex:
constitit hic et tuta loco, monstrumne deusne
ille sit, ignorans admiraturque colorem
caesariemque umeros subiectaque terga tegentem,
ultimaque excipiat quod tortilis inguina piscis.

beneath the trees a long summit, arched toward the level waters:
she halted here, and safe in the place, not knowing whether he be monster or god,
and she marvels at the color and the hair covering his shoulders
and the backs set beneath,
and that at the furthest part a wreathed fish takes up his loins.

915

sensit et innitens, quae stabat proxima, moli
'non ego prodigium nec sum fera belua, virgo,
sed deus' inquit 'aquae: nec maius in aequora Proteus
ius habet et Triton Athamantiadesque Palaemon.
ante tamen mortalis eram, sed, scilicet altis

He perceived it and, leaning on the mole which stood nearest,
'not I a prodigy nor am I a feral beast, maiden,
but a god,' he says, 'of the water: nor has Proteus a greater right over the seas,
and Triton and Athamantiades Palaemon.
Yet before I was mortal, but, to be sure, from lofty

920

debitus aequoribus, iam tum exercebar in illis;
nam modo ducebam ducentia retia pisces,
nunc in mole sedens moderabar harundine linum.
sunt viridi prato confinia litora, quorum
altera pars undis, pars altera cingitur herbis,

owed to the sea-waters, already then I was exercising myself in them;
for at one time I would draw the nets that were drawing the fishes,
now, sitting on the mole, I guided the line with a reed-rod.
there are bordering shores by a green meadow, of which
one part is girdled by waves, the other part is girdled by grasses,

925

quas neque cornigerae morsu laesere iuvencae,
nec placidae carpsistis oves hirtaeve capellae;
non apis inde tulit conlectos sedula flores,
non data sunt capiti genialia serta, neque umquam
falciferae secuere manus; ego primus in illo

which neither the horn-bearing heifers have injured with their bite,
nor have the placid sheep or the hirsute she-goats cropped;
nor has the sedulous bee from there borne the gathered flowers,
nor have nuptial garlands been given to the head, nor ever
have sickle-bearing hands cut them; I was the first upon that

930

caespite consedi, dum lina madentia sicco,
utque recenserem captivos ordine pisces,
insuper exposui, quos aut in retia casus
aut sua credulitas in aduncos egerat hamos.
res similis fictae, sed quid mihi fingere prodest?

I sat down on the turf, while I dry the dripping nets,
and, that I might re-census the captive fish in order,
I set out on top those whom either chance into the nets
or their own credulity had driven onto the hooked hooks.
a matter similar to a fiction, but what does it profit me to feign?

935

gramine contacto coepit mea praeda moveri
et mutare latus terraque ut in aequore niti.
dumque moror mirorque simul, fugit omnis in undas
turba suas dominumque novum litusque relinquunt.
obstipui dubitoque diu causamque requiro,

with the grass having been touched, my prey began to move
and to shift its side, and on land to strive as on the level sea.
and while I linger and marvel at the same time, the whole throng flees into the waves
they leave their new master and the shore.
I was astounded and I doubt for a long time and I seek the cause,

940

num deus hoc aliquis, num sucus fecerit herbae:
"quae tamen has" inquam "vires habet herba?" manuque
pabula decerpsi decerptaque dente momordi.
vix bene conbiberant ignotos guttura sucos,
cum subito trepidare intus praecordia sensi

whether some god has done this, whether the juice of a herb has made it:
"What herb, however, has these powers?" I say, and with my hand
I plucked fodder and, plucked, I bit it with my tooth.
scarcely had my throat well drunk down the unknown juices,
when suddenly I felt my precordia to quiver within

945

alteriusque rapi naturae pectus amore;
nec potui restare diu "repetenda" que "numquam
terra, vale!" dixi corpusque sub aequora mersi.
di maris exceptum socio dignantur honore,
utque mihi, quaecumque feram, mortalia demant,

and my breast was seized by love of another nature;
nor could I remain long—“land, never to be sought again, farewell!” I said—and I plunged my body beneath the waters.
the gods of the sea deign to receive me with a comrade’s honor,
and so that, whatever I bear, they may remove from me the mortal things,

950

Oceanum Tethynque rogant: ego lustror ab illis,
et purgante nefas noviens mihi carmine dicto
pectora fluminibus iubeor supponere centum;
nec mora, diversis lapsi de partibus amnes
totaque vertuntur supra caput aequora nostrum.,

They entreat Ocean and Tethys; I am lustrated by them,
and, with the sin purged by a song spoken nine times for me,
I am ordered to set my breast beneath a hundred rivers;
without delay, the rivers, having slipped from different parts,
and the whole waters are turned above our head.,

955

hactenus acta tibi possum memoranda referre,
hactenus haec memini, nec mens mea cetera sensit.
quae postquam rediit, alium me corpore toto
ac fueram nuper, neque eundem mente recepi:
hanc ego tum primum viridem ferrugine barbam

Thus far I can relate to you the deeds to be remembered,
thus far I recall these things, nor did my mind sense the rest.
After it returned, I found myself other in my whole body
than I had been just now, nor did I receive the same in mind:
then for the first time I [had] this beard green with ferruginous stain

960

caesariemque meam, quam longa per aequora verro,
ingentesque umeros et caerula bracchia vidi
cruraque pinnigero curvata novissima pisce.
quid tamen haec species, quid dis placuisse marinis,
quid iuvat esse deum, si tu non tangeris istis?'

and my hair, which I sweep through the long reaches of the sea,
and my huge shoulders and cerulean arms I saw,
and my lower legs curved into a fin-bearing fish.
What, however, is this appearance, what that I have pleased the marine gods,
what good is it to be a god, if you are not touched by these things?'

965

talia dicentem, dicturum plura, reliquit
Scylla deum; furit ille inritatusque repulsa
prodigiosa petit Titanidos atria Circes.

as he was saying such things, and about to say more, Scylla left the god;
he rages, and, irritated by the repulse,
he seeks the prodigious halls of the Titaness Circe.