Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Paulus, ut aduersam uidet increbrescere pugnam,
ceu fera, quae telis circumcingentibus ultro
adsilit in ferrum et per uulnera colligit hostem,
in medios fert arma globos seseque periclis
ingerit atque omni letum molitur ab ense.            5
increpat horrendum: 'Perstate et fortiter, oro,
pectoribus ferrum accipite ac sine uulnere terga
ad manis deferte, uiri. nisi gloria mortis,
nil superest. idem sedes adeuntibus imas
hic uobis dux Paulus erit.' uelocius inde            10
Haemonio Borea pennaque citatior ibat
quae redit in pugnas fugientis harundine Parthi,
atque ubi certamen primi ciet immemor aeui
plenus Gradiuo mentem Cato, fertur in hostis
ac iuuenem, quem Vasco leuis, quem spicula densus            15

Paulus, when he sees the adverse battle grow in force,
like a wild beast, which, with missiles hemming it round, of its own accord
leaps upon the steel and through its wounds grapples the foe,
bears his arms into the midst of the masses and thrusts himself into dangers,
and from every blade he contrives death.            5
he shouts terribly: ‘Stand fast and bravely, I beg you,
receive the steel with your breasts, and carry to the Manes your backs
without a wound, men. If not the glory of death,
nothing remains. The same Paulus will be your leader
for you as you approach the deepest seats below.’ Then swifter than            10
Haemonian Boreas and swifter than the feathered shaft
which returns into the fray from the fleeing Parthian’s reed,
and where Cato, forgetful of his earliest age,
his mind full of Gradivus, rouses the contest, he rushes upon the foe
and at a youth, whom a nimble Basque, whom, thick with javelins,            15

Cantaber urgebat, letalibus eripit armis.
abscessere retro pauidique in terga relatos
abduxere gradus: ut, laetus ualle remota
cum capream uenator agit fessamque propinquo
insequitur cursu et sperat iam tangere dextra, 20
si ferus aduerso subitum se protulit antro
et stetit ante oculos frendens leo: deserit una
et color et sanguis et tela minora periclo,
nec iam speratae cura est in pectore praedae.
nunc in restantis mucronem comminus urget, 25
nunc trepidos ac terga mala formidine uersos
adsequitur telis.

The Cantabrian pressed, and with lethal arms snatches him away.
they fell back, and, panic-struck, drew their steps away, turned to the rear;
as, when the valley having been cleared, a hunter drives a roe-deer and, with a near run, pursues the weary one and now hopes to touch with his right hand, 20
if a savage lion has thrust himself forth suddenly from a cavern opposite
and stood before his eyes, gnashing: at once both color and blood desert him, and his weapons are lesser than the peril,
nor is there now any care in his breast for the hoped-for prey.
now he presses at close quarters the point against those who stand firm, 25
now with missiles he overtakes the trembling and those whose backs are turned by baleful fear.

furere ac decorare labores
et saeuire iuuat. cadit ingens nominis expers
uni turba uiro, atque, alter si detur in armis
Paulus Dardaniis, amittant nomina Cannae. 30
Tandem inclinato cornu sine more ruebat
prima acies, non parca fugae. Labienus et Ocres
sternuntur leto atque Opiter quos Setia colle
uitifero, celsis Labienum Cingula saxa
miserunt muris.

to rage and to embellish his labors, and to be savage, delights him. a huge crowd, lacking a name, falls to one man; and, if another Paulus be granted in Dardanian arms, let Cannae forfeit its name. 30
At length, the wing having given way, the front line, without order, was rushing, not sparing in flight. Labienus and Ocres are laid low in death, and Opiter—whom Setia from its vine-bearing hill sent; Cingulum’s stones from their lofty walls sent Labienus.

iunxit fera tempora leti 35

he joined the savage hours of lethal death 35

Sidonius non consimili discrimine miles:
nam Labienus obit penetrante per ilia corno,
fratres, hic umero, cecidere, hic poplite, caesis.
oppetis et Tyrio super inguina fixe ueruto
Maecenas, cui Maeonia uenerabile terra 40
et sceptris olim celebratum nomen Etruscis.
per medios agitur, proiecto lucis amore
Hannibalem lustrans, Paulus.

Sidonian not with a like peril the soldier:
for Labienus dies, a horn penetrating through his flanks,
the brothers fell—this one in the shoulder, this one at the knee—slain.
you too meet death, Maecenas, with a Tyrian javelin fixed above the groin,
for whom the Maeonian land is venerable, 40
and whose name was once celebrated by Etruscan scepters.
through the midst he is borne, love of the light cast aside,
scanning Hannibal, Paulus.

sors una uidetur
aspera, si occumbat ductore superstite Poeno.
Quam metuens molem (neque enim certamine sumpto 45
tempestas tanta et rabies impune fuisset)
in faciem pauidi Iuno conuersa Metelli
'Quid uanos,' inquit 'Latio spes unica consul,
incassumque moues fato renuente furores?
si superest Paulus, restant Aeneia regna; 50

a single lot seems
harsh, if he should succumb with the Punic leader surviving.
Fearing this mass (for indeed, with the contest taken up, 45
so great a storm and rage would not have been unpunished),
Juno, converted into the face of the frightened Metellus,
says: 'Why, consul, the sole hope of Latium, do you
rouse vain furies to no purpose, with fate refusing?
if Paulus survives, the Aenean realms remain;' 50

sin secus, Ausoniam tecum trahis. ire tumentem
tu contra iuuenem et caput hoc abscidere rebus
turbatis, o Paule, paras? nunc Hannibal ipsi
(tam laetus bello est) ausit certare Tonanti.

but if otherwise, you drag Ausonia with you. to go against the swelling youth,
you, and to cut off this head for affairs in turmoil,
O Paulus, do you prepare? now Hannibal himself
(so joyful in war is he) would dare to contend with the Thunderer.

et iam conuersis (uidi nam flectere) habenis            55
euasit Varro ac sese ad meliora reseruat.
sit spatium fatis, et, dum datur, eripe leto
hanc nostris maiorem animam: mox bella capesses.'
    Ad quae suspirans ductor: 'Mortemne sub armis
cur poscam, causa ista parum est, quod talia nostrae            60
pertulerunt aures suadentem monstra Metellum?
i, demens, i, carpe fugam.

and now with the reins turned (for I saw him wheel them) Varro has escaped and reserves himself for better things.            55
let there be space for the fates, and, while it is granted, snatch from death
this spirit greater for our men: soon take up wars.'
    To which the leader, sighing: 'Death under arms—
why should I ask it? that reason is too little, that such things our ears have endured—            60
the monstrosities that Metellus was urging?
go, madman, go, seize flight.

non hostica tela
excipias tergo, superos precor. integer, oro,
intactusque abeas atque intres moenia Romae
cum Varrone simul. talin', pauidissime, dignum 65

may you not receive hostile weapons
in your back, I pray the gods above. whole, I beg,
and intact may you depart and enter the walls of Rome
together with Varro. is such a thing, most timorous one, worthy 65

me uita pulchraque indignum morte putasti?
quippe sinit Poenus, qui nunc contraria bella
ipsi ferre Ioui ualeat. pro degener altae
uirtutis patrum!

did you think me unworthy of life and of a fair death?
for indeed the Punic permits it, who now is able to bear wars contrary even to Jove himself.
ah, degenerate from the high virtue of the fathers!

quando certamen inire,
cuiue uirum mallem memet componere, quam qui            70
et uictus dabit et uictor per saecula nomen?'
    Talibus increpitat mediosque aufertur in hostis
ac retro cursum tendentem ad crebra suorum
agmina et in densis furantem membra maniplis
per conferta uirum et stipata umbonibus arma            75
consequitur melior planta atque obtruncat Acherram,
ut canis occultos agitat cum Belgicus apros
erroresque ferae sollers per deuia mersa
nare legit tacitoque premens uestigia rostro
lustrat inaccessos uenantum indagine saltus            80

when would I enter a contest,
or to whom would I prefer to match myself as a man, rather than to him who            70
both, vanquished, will give, and, as victor, a name through the ages?'
    With such words he rebukes, and is borne away into the midst of the enemies,
and, as he was turning his course back toward the crowded ranks
of his own and stealing his limbs through the dense maniples,
through the packed throng of men and the arms tight with shield-bosses,            75
he overtakes with the better foot and hews down Acherras,
as when a Belgic hound harries hidden boars
and, skillful, with nose dipped, picks out the strayings of the beast through pathless places,
and, pressing the tracks with silent muzzle,
ranges the inaccessible glades for the hunt with the toils.            80

nec sistit, nisi conceptum sectatus odorem
deprendit spissis arcana cubilia dumis.
    At coniunx Iouis, ut Paulum depellere dictis
nequiquam fuit et consul non desinit irae,
in faciem Mauri rursus mutata Gelestae            85
auocat ignarum saeuo a certamine Poenum:
'Huc tela, huc' inquit 'dextram implorantibus adfer,
o decus aeternum Carthaginis. horrida iuxta
stagnantis consul molitur proelia ripas,
et laus haud alio maior datur hoste perempto.'            90
haec ait et iuuenem diuersa ad proelia raptat.

nor does he halt, until, having pursued the caught scent,
he detects the secret lairs in the thick brambles.
But the consort of Jove, since it was in vain to drive Paulus away by words
and the consul does not desist from wrath,
changed again into the face of the Moor Gelestes,85
calls the unknowing Punic away from the savage contest:
“Here, hither with your weapons, bring your right hand to those imploring,
O eternal glory of Carthage. Close by, along the stagnant banks,
the consul labors to set in motion grim battles,
and by no other foe slain is greater praise bestowed.”90
She speaks thus and whirls the youth off to different battles.

Flumineo Libycam turbabat in aggere pubem—
Cristae nomen erat. bis terni iuncta ferebant
arma senem circa nati; pauperque penatum
(sed domus haud obscura Tuder, notusque per Vmbros 95

On the river embankment he was throwing the Libyan youth into turmoil—
Crista was his name. Twice three sons, in close array, bore
their arms about the old man; and poor in household gods
(but his home was by no means obscure—Tuder, well known throughout the Umbrians 95

bellator populos) factis et caede docebat
natorum armigeram pugnas tractare cohortem.
unanima inde phalanx, crudo ducente magistro,
postquam hominum satiata nec<e> est, prostrauerat ictu
innumero cum turre feram facibusque secutis 100
ardentem monstri spectabat laeta ruinam,
cum subitus galeae fulgor conoque coruscae
maiore intremuere iubae. nec tarda senectus
(agnouit nam luce uirum): rapit agmine natos
saeua parens ultro in certamina et addere passim 105
tela iubet nec manantis ex ore feroci
aut quae flagrarent galea exhorrescere flammas.

warrior of peoples) by deeds and slaughter he taught
the cohort, armed with his sons, to handle battles.
thence the like-minded phalanx, with a blood-raw master leading,
after it was sated with the slaughter of men, had laid low by numberless blows
the wild beast with its tower; and, the torches following, 100
joyful it watched the blazing ruin of the monster,
when a sudden gleam of a helmet, and on the cone
the bristling plumes quivered more greatly. Nor was old age slow
(for she recognized the man by the light): the savage parent
snatches her sons in a column into the combats of her own accord and bids them everywhere to add 105
missiles, and not to shudder at the flames dripping from the fierce mouth
or those which were blazing from the helmet.

armiger haud aliter magni Iouis, anxia nido
cum dignos nutrit gestanda ad fulmina fetus,
obuersam spectans ora ad Phaet<h>ontia prolem, 110
explorat dubios Phoebea lampade natos.
iamque suis daret ut pugnae documenta uocantis
 . . . . . . . . . . . 112a
et medias hasta uelox praeteruolat auras.
haesit multiplici non alte cuspis in auro
ac senium inualido dependens prodidit ictu. 115

not otherwise the armor-bearer of great Jove, anxious at the nest,
when it nourishes offspring worthy to be borne to the thunderbolts,
watching faces turned toward the Phaet<h>ontian progeny, 110
tests the doubtful-born with the Phoebean lamp.
and now, that he might give to his own, calling, proofs of battle
 . . . . . . . . . . . 112a
and a swift spear flies past through the middle airs.
the point stuck not deep in the manifold gold
and, hanging, betrayed old age by the feeble blow. 115

cui Poenus: 'Quinam ad cassos furor impulit ictus
exanguem senio dextram? uix prima momordit
tegmina Callaici cornus tremebunda metalli.
en, reddo tua tela tibi: memorabilis ista
a nobis melius discet bellare iuuentus.' 120
sic propria miseri transfigit pectora corno.

to whom the Carthaginian: 'What madness has driven your bloodless-with-old-age right hand to empty blows?
Hardly has the trembling cornel-shaft bitten the outermost coverings of Callaician metal.
Lo, I give back your missiles to you: that memorable youth
will learn to war better from us.' 120
thus with his own cornel he transfixes the wretch’s breast.

    At contra, horrendum, bis terna spicula dextra
torta uolant, paribusque ruunt conatibus hastae:
haud secus ac Libyca fetam tellure leaenam
uenator premit obsesso cum Maurus in antro,            125
inuadunt rabidi iam dudum et inania temptant
nondum sat firmo catuli certamina dente.
consumit clipeo tela et collectus in arma
sustinet urgentis crepitantibus ictibus hastas
Sidonius ductor, nec iam per uulnera credit            130

But on the contrary—horrendous—twice three darts, whirled by the right hand, fly, and the spears rush with equal efforts:
not otherwise than as a Libyan lioness, heavy with young from the soil, a Moorish hunter presses in a besieged cave, 125
the whelps, rabid long since, charge and attempt vain contests with a tooth not yet firm enough.
He spends the missiles on his shield, and, gathered within his armor, he withstands the spears pressing with rattling blows,
the Sidonian leader, nor now does he trust through wounds.

aut per tot caedes actum satis, iraque anhelat,
ni leto det cuncta uirum iungatque parenti
corpora et excidat miseros cum stirpe penatis.
    Tunc Abarim adfatur (namque una hic armiger ira
flammabat Martem atque omnis comes ibat in actus):            135
'Suppedita mihi tela. uadis liuentis Auerni
demitti globus ille cupit, qui nostra lacessit
tegmina: iam stultae fructus pietatis habebit.'
haec fatus iaculo Lucam, qui maximus aeui,
transadigit: pressa iuuenis cum cuspide labens            140
arma super fratrum resupino concidit ore.

or that enough has been done through so many slaughters, and he pants with ire,
unless he gives all the men to death and joins the bodies to their parent
and extirpates the wretched Penates with the stock.     Then he addresses Abaris (for this one, the armor-bearer, together with one wrath
was inflaming Mars and as a companion went into all the acts):            135
'Supply me weapons. That mass longs to be sent down to the livid shallows
of Avernus, which provokes our coverings: now he will have the fruit
of foolish piety.' Having spoken these things, with a javelin he transfixed Luca,
who was greatest in age: the youth, slipping with the point pressed home,
fell with upturned face upon the arms of his brothers.            140

mortiferum inde manu properantem uellere ferrum
pilo Volsonem (namque hoc de strage iacentum
fors dabat) adfixa sternit per tegmina nare.
tum Vesulum calido lapsantem in sanguine fratrum 145

then, as he was hastening with his hand to pluck out the death‑bearing iron,
he lays low Volso with a javelin (for chance was supplying this from the carnage of the fallen),
his nostril fastened through the coverings.
then Vesulus, slipping in the hot blood of his brothers 145

ense metit rapido plenamque (heu barbara uirtus!)
abscisi galeam capitis, ceu missile telum,
conuersis in terga iacit. Telesinus, ad ossa
inliso saxo, qua spina interstruit artus,
occumbit, fratrisque uidet labentia membra 150
Quercentis, quem funda procul per inane uoluta
sopierat, dum supremam Telesinus in auras
exhalat lucem et dubitantia lumina condit.
at fessus maerore simul cursuque metuque
et tamen haud irae uacuus non certa per aequor 155
interdum insistens Perusinus membra ferebat.

with a rapid sword he mows, and the helmet (alas, barbarous valor!)
of a severed head, like a missile weapon,
he hurls at backs turned. Telesinus, to the bones
a rock driven in, where the spine lattices the limbs,
succumbs, and sees the slipping limbs of his brother 150
Quercens, whom a sling, whirled afar through the empty void,
had lulled, while Telesinus exhales the last light into the airs
and shuts his wavering eyes. But, weary at once with grief and with running and with fear,
and yet by no means void of wrath, the Perusian was bearing his limbs not with sure footing across the level, 155
at times planting himself.

hunc sude, quam raptam Libyci per terga iacentis
armiger obtulerat monstri, super inguina fixam,
obtruncat quercuque premit uiolentus obusta.
temptarat precibus saeuum lenire furorem, 160

this one he hacks down with a stake, which the armor-bearer had proffered, snatched through the hides of a prostrate Libyan monster,
fixed above the groin, and, violent, he presses him with charred oak.
he had attempted by prayers to lenify the savage frenzy, 160

sed Stygius primos impleuit feruor hiatus,
et pulmone tenus demisit anhelitus ignem.
tandem cum toto cecidit grege, nomen in Vmbro
clarum, Crista, diu populo: ceu fulmine celsa
aesculus aut proauis ab origine cognita quercus 165
cum fumat percussa Ioui, sacrosque per aeuum
aetherio ramos populantur sulphure flammae,
donec uicta deo late procumbit et omnem
conlabens operit spatioso stipite prolem.
Atque ea dum iuxta Tyrius stagna Aufida ductor 170
molitur, Paulus, numerosa caede futuram
ultus iam mortem, ceu uictor bella gerebat.

but Stygian fervor filled the first gashes,
and his breath, panting, sent fire down as far as the lung.
at length, with all his flock he fell, a name renowned among the Umbrians,
Crista, long to the people: like when a lofty Italian oak or an oak known from the beginning by forefathers 165
smokes, struck by Jove, and flames with aetherial sulphur despoil
its sacred branches through the age,
until, conquered by the god, it sinks wide and, collapsing,
covers all its progeny with its spacious trunk.
And while the Tyrian leader near the pools of the Aufidus was contriving these things, 170
Paulus, having already avenged by numerous slaughter his death to come,
was conducting war as though a victor.

inter mille uiros iacet ingens P<h>orcys ab antris
Herculeae Calpes, caelatus Gorgone parmam,
unde genus ~tristique deae manabat origo. 175

among a thousand men lies the huge Phorcys, from the caverns
of Herculean Calpe, with his parma engraved with a Gorgon,
whence the stock and the grim goddess’s origin emanated. 175

hunc obiectantem sese atque antiqua tumentem
nomina saxificae monstrosa e stirpe Medusae,
dum laeuum petit incumbens uiolentius inguen,
detrahit excelsi correptum uertice coni,
adflictumque premens, tergo qua balteus imo 180
sinuatur coxa<e>que sedet munimen utrique,
coniecto fodit ense super: uomit ille calentem
sanguinis effundens per hiantia uiscera riuum
et subit Aetolos Atlanticus accola campos.
 Has inter strages rapido terrore coorti 185
inuadunt terga atque auerso turbine miscent
bella inopina uiri, Tyrius quos fallere doctos
hanc ipsam pugnae rector formarat ad artem,
succinctique dolis, fugerent ceu Punica castra,
dediderant dextras. tum totis mentibus actam 190

this man, throwing himself forward and swelling with ancient names,
monstrous from the stone-making stock of Medusa,
while, leaning in more violently, he aims at the left groin,
he drags him down, seized by the apex of his lofty cone-helm,
and, pressing the stricken man, where at the lowest back the belt
curves and the guard that sits for each hip provides protection,            180
from above he stabs with the directed sword: he vomits forth a hot
stream of blood, pouring it out through gaping entrails,
and the Atlantic dweller goes under the Aetolian fields.
    Amid these slaughters, roused by swift terror,185
the men assault the rear and, with a reversed whirlwind, mingle
unexpected battles—whom the Tyrian commander, skilled to deceive,
had trained to this very art of combat—
and, girded with wiles, as if they were fleeing the Punic camp,
they had offered their right hands in surrender. then, with their whole minds driven            190

in caedes aciem pone atque in terga ruentes
praecipitant. non hasta uiro, non deficit ensis:
e strage est ferrum atque euulsa cadauere tela.
raptum Galba procul (neque enim uirtutis amorem
aduersa exemisse ualent) ut uidit ab hoste 195
auferri signum, conixus corpore toto
uictorem adsequitur letalique occupat ictu.

they precipitate the battle-line into slaughter from behind, and, rushing upon the backs,
they cast them headlong. No spear fails a man, no sword:
from the carnage there is iron and weapons wrenched from a cadaver.
Galba, from afar (for adverse things are not able to have removed the love of virtue), when he saw from the enemy 195
a standard being carried off, straining with his whole body
overtakes the victor and forestalls him with a lethal blow.

ac dum comprensam caeso de corpore praedam
auellit, tardeque manus moribunda remittit,
transfixus gladio propere accurrentis Amorgi            200
occidit, immoriens magnis non prosperus ausis.
    Haec inter, ueluti nondum satiasset Enyo
iras saeua truces, sublatum puluere campum
Vulturnus rotat et candentis torquet harenas.
iamque reluctantis stridens immane procella            205

and while he tears away the booty grasped from the hewn body,
and the dying hand slowly lets it go,
he falls, transfixed by the sword of Amorgus running up in haste,            200
dying, not prosperous in his great ventures.
    Meanwhile, as though Enyo had not yet sated
her savage, grim wraths, the Volturnus wheels the field, the dust being lifted,
and twists the white-hot sands.
and now a huge, shrieking squall drives the struggling sands            205

per longum tulit ad campi suprema cauisque
adflictos ripis tumidum demersit in amnem.
hic tibi finis erat, metas hic Aufidus aeui
seruabat tacito, non felix Curio, leto.
namque, furens animi dum consternata moratur            210
agmina et oppositu membrorum sistere certat,
in praeceps magna propulsus mole ruentum
turbatis hauritur aquis fundoque uolutus
Hadriaca iacuit sine nomine mortis harena.
    Ingens ferre mala et Fortunae subdere colla            215
nescius, aduersa fronte incurrebat in arma
uincentum consul: pereundi Martius ardor
atque animos iam sola dabat fiducia mortis,
cum Viriathus agens telis, regnator Hiberae
magnanimus terrae, iuxta atque ante ora furentis            220

for a long way it bore them to the farthest edges of the plain, and, dashed against the hollow banks, plunged the swollen river into them.
here for you was the end; here the Aufidus was keeping in silence the metes of your lifetime, unlucky Curio, for death.
for, while, raging in spirit, he delays the panic-stricken ranks and strives to check them by the opposing of his limbs,            210
driven headlong by the great mass of those rushing, he is swallowed by the troubled waters, and, rolled to the bottom,
he lay on the Adriatic sand with a death without a name.
    Huge to endure evils and unknowing to bow his necks to Fortune,            215
with adverse brow the consul was charging into the weapons of the victors:
the martial ardor of perishing and now the sole trust in death was giving courage to his spirits,
when Viriathus, dealing with missiles, the high-souled ruler of the Iberian land, close by and before the eyes of the frenzied man            220

obtruncat Pauli fessum certaminis hostem.
heu dolor, heu lacrimae! Seruilius, optima belli,
post Paulum belli pars optima, corruit ictu
barbarico magnamque cadens leto addidit uno
inuidiam Cannis.

he hews down Paulus’s enemy, weary from the contest.
alas, grief, alas, tears! Servilius, the best of war,
after Paulus the best part of war, fell by a barbaric blow,
and, falling, by a single death he added great invidia at Cannae.

tristem non pertulit iram 225
consul et, insani quamquam contraria uenti
exarmat uis atque obtendit puluere lucem,
squalentem rumpens ingestae toruus harenae
ingreditur nimbum ac <V>iriat<h>um moris Hiberi
carmina pulsata fundentem barbara caetra 230
inuadit laeuaeque fodit uitalia mammae.
hic fuit extremus caedum labor. addere bello
haud ultra licuit dextram, nec tanta relictum est
uti, Roma, tibi posthac ad proelia Paulo.

the consul did not endure the grim wrath, 225
and, although the force of the insane winds
disarms and screens the light with dust,
grim, breaking through the squalidness of the heaped sand,
he enters the storm-cloud and assails Viriathus, after the Iberian custom,
pouring forth barbarian songs with the caetra beaten; and he attacks and with his left pierces the vital parts of the breast. 230
here was the last labor of the slaughters. to add the right hand
to the war was permitted no further, nor was there left
to you, Rome, thereafter so great a Paulus for battles.

saxu<m> ingens, uasto libratum pondere, caeca 235

a huge stone, balanced by a vast weight, blindly 235

uenit in ora manu et perfractae cassidis aera
ossibus infodiens compleuit sanguine uultus.
inde pedem referens, labentia membra propinquo
imposuit scopulo atque, undanti uulnere anhelans,
sedit terribilis clipeum super ore cruento:            240
immanis ceu, depulsis leuioribus hastis,
accepit leo cum tandem per pectora ferrum,
stat teli patiens media tremebundus harena
ac, manante iubis rictuque et naribus unda
sanguinis, interdum languentia murmura torquens,            245
effundit patulo spumantem ex ore cruorem.
tum uero incumbunt Libyes, super ipse citato
ductor equo, qua flatus agit, qua peruius ensis,
qua sonipes, qua belligero fera belua dente.
obrutus hic telis ferri per corpora Piso            250

he reached his face with his hand and, driving the bronzes of the shattered helmet into the bones, he filled his countenance with blood.
then drawing back his step, he set his slipping limbs on a nearby crag and, panting with a surging wound, sat terrible, the shield above his bloodied face:            240
monstrous as, the lighter spears driven off, when at last the lion receives the iron through his breast, he stands, enduring the weapon, trembling in the middle arena,
and, with a wave of blood trickling from mane and maw and nostrils, at times twisting faint murmurs, he pours out foaming gore from his gaping mouth.            245
then indeed the Libyans press in, and over them the leader himself on a quickened horse, wherever the blast drives, wherever the sword is passable, wherever the war-steed, wherever the wild beast with war-bearing tooth.
here Piso, overwhelmed with missiles, is borne through bodies by the steel            250

rectorem ut uidit Libyae, conixus in hastam
ilia cornipedis subrecta cuspide transit
conlapsoque super nequiquam incumbere coeptat,
cum Poenus, propere collecto corpore, quamquam
cernuus inflexo sonipes effuderat armo: 255
'Vmbraene Ausoniae rediuiua bella retractant
post obitum dextra nec in ipsa morte quiescunt?'
sic ait atque aegrum coeptanti attollere corpus
arduus insurgens totum permiscuit ensem.
Ecce, Cydonea uiolatus harundine plantam, 260
Lentulus effusis campum linquebat habenis,
cum uidet in scopulo rorantem saxa cruore
toruoque obtutu labentem in Tartara Paulum.
mens abiit, puduitque fugae.

When he saw the ruler of Libya, bracing upon his spear
he pierces the flanks of the horse with the upraised spear-point,
and he begins in vain to lean over the collapsed one on top,
when the Punic man, his body swiftly gathered, although
the steed, headlong, had spilled him by its bent shoulder: 255
“Do the Shades of Ausonia resume revived wars
after death, and does the right hand not rest even in death itself?”
thus he spoke, and as he began to lift his sick body,
towering as he rose, he drove the whole sword clean through.
Lo, with his sole wounded by a Cydonian reed, 260
Lentulus, with loosened reins, was leaving the field,
when he sees on a crag bedewing the stones with gore
and, with a grim gaze, Paulus slipping down into Tartarus.
his mind departed, and he was ashamed of flight.

tum uisa cremari
Roma uiro, tunc ad portas iam stare cruentus 265

then Rome seemed to the man to be burning,
then that, blood-stained, he was already standing at the gates 265

Hannibal; Aetoli tum primum ante ora fuere
sorbentes Latium campi. 'Quid deinde relictum
crastina cur Tyrios lux non deducat ad urbem,
deseris in tantis puppim si, Paule, procellis?
testor caelicolas,' inquit 'ni damna gubernas 270
crudelis belli uiuisque in turbine tanto
inuitus, plus, Paule, (dolor uerba aspera dictat)
plus Varrone noces.

Hannibal; then for the first time the Aetolian fields were before their eyes, quaffing down Latium. 'What then is left—why should not tomorrow’s light lead the Tyrians to the city,
if you desert the ship, Paulus, in such tempests?
I call the heaven-dwellers to witness,' he says, 'if you do not steer the losses of the cruel war and the living, in so great a whirlwind, albeit unwilling, you, Paulus, (pain dictates harsh words) do more harm 270
than Varro.'

cape, quaeso, hunc, unica rerum
fessarum spe<s>, cornipedem. languentia membra
ipse leuabo umeris et dorso tuta locabo.' 275
Haec inter, lacero manantem ex ore cruorem
eiectans, consul: 'Macte o uirtute paterna!
nec uero spes angustae, cum talia restent
pectora Romuleo regno.

take, I beg, this hoof-footed steed, the only hope of wearied affairs.
I myself will lift the languishing limbs upon my shoulders and set them safe upon my back.' 275
Meanwhile, the consul, casting out blood streaming from his torn mouth, said: 'Well done, O by paternal virtue!
nor indeed are hopes narrow, since such hearts remain for the Romulean realm.

calcaribus aufer,
qua uulnus permittit, ecum atque hinc ocius urbis 280

Drive the horse on with spurs,
as far as the wound permits, and from here more quickly to the city 280

claudantur portae (ruet haec ad moenia pestis)
dic, oro: rerum Fabio tradantur habenae.
nostris pugnauit monitis furor. amplius acta
quid superest uita, nisi caecae ostendere plebi
Paulum scire mori?

let the gates be closed (this pestilence will rush upon these walls)
say, I beg: let the reins of affairs be handed over to Fabius.
Fury has fought against our monitions. With life spent,
what further remains, except to show to the blind plebs
that Paulus knows how to die?

feror an consumptus in urbem 285
uulneribus? quantine emptum uelit Hannibal, ut nos
uertentis terga aspiciat? nec talia Paulo
pectora, nec manis tam parua intramus imago.

Am I being borne into the city 285
or consumed by wounds? For how much would Hannibal wish it purchased, that he might behold us turning our backs?
Nor has Paulus such a heart, nor do we enter to the Manes as so small an image.

ille ego—sed uano quid enim te demoror aeger,
Lentule, conquestu? perge atque hinc cuspide fessum 290
erige quadrupedem propere.' tum Lentulus urbem
magna ferens mandata petit. nec Paulus inultum
quod superest de luce sinit: ceu uulnere tigris
letifero cedens tandem proiectaque corpus
luctatur morti et languentem pandit hiatum 295

that man am I—but why indeed do I, sick, delay you, Lentulus, with vain lament? go on and from here with the spear quickly raise up the weary quadruped.' 290
then Lentulus seeks the city, bearing great mandates. nor does Paulus allow what remains of the light to be unavenged: as a tiger, yielding at last to a death-bearing wound and, its body cast down,
struggles against death and opens a languishing gape 295

in uanos morsus, nec sufficientibus irae
ictibus extrema lambit uenabula lingua.
iamque coruscanti telum propiusque ferenti
gressum exultantem et securo caedis Iertae
non expectatum surgens defixerat ensem 300
Sidoniumque ducem circumspectabat, in illa
exoptans animam certantem ponere dextra.
sed uicere uirum coeuntibus undique telis
et Nomas et Garamas et Celtae et Maurus et Astur.

into vain bites, and, with blows not sufficient for his wrath,
he licks with his tongue the tips of the hunting-spears. And now, at one
brandishing a weapon and bringing it nearer, with a bounding stride and, confident
of Ierta’s slaughter, rising he had driven home an unlooked-for sword, 300
and he was looking around for the Sidonian leader, longing to lay down
his battling soul by that right hand. But missiles converging from every side
overcame the man—both Nomas and Garamas and the Celt and the Moor and the Astur.

hic finis Paulo. iacet altum pectus et ingens 305
dextera, quem, soli si bella agitanda darentur,
aequares forsan Fabio. mors additur urbi
pulchra decus misitque uiri inter sidera nomen.

here is the end for Paulus. his lofty breast and mighty right hand lie low, 305
whom, if wars to be conducted were given to him alone,
one might perhaps equal him to Fabius. a fair death is added to the city
as an ornament and sent the man’s name among the stars.

Postquam spes Italum mentesque in consule lapsae,
ceu truncus capitis, saeuis exercitus armis 310

After the hopes of the Italians and their minds had fallen with the consul,
like a trunk bereft of its head, the army by savage arms 310

sternitur, et uictrix toto fremit Africa campo.
hic Picentum acies, hic Vmber Martius, illic
Sicana procumbit pubes, hic Hernica turma.
passim signa iacent, quae Samnis belliger, et quae
Sarrastes populi Marsaeque tulere cohortes. 315
transfixi clipei galeaeque et inutile ferrum
fractaque conflictu parmarum tegmina et ore
cornipedum derepta fero spumantia frena.

is laid low, and victorious Africa roars over the whole field.
here the battle-line of the Picentes, here the Martial Umbrian, there
the Sicilian youth collapses, here a Hernican troop.
everywhere standards lie, which the warlike Samnite, and which
the Sarrastan peoples and the Marsian cohorts bore. 315
shields and helmets transfixed, and useless iron,
and the coverings of the parmae broken in the conflict, and from the mouth
of the fierce hoofed steeds the foaming bits torn away.

sanguineus tumidas in campos Aufidus undas
eiectat redditque furens sua corpora ripis. 320
sic Lagea ratis, uasto uelut insula ponto
conspecta, inlisit scopulis ubi nubifer Eurus,
naufragium spargens operit freta: iamque per undas
et transtra et mali laceroque aplustria uelo
ac miseri fluitant reuomentes aequora nautae. 325

blood-red, the Aufidus hurls its swollen waves into the fields
and, furious, gives back the bodies to its banks. 320
thus a Lagean ship, like an island sighted on the vast sea,
where the cloud-bearing Eurus dashed it upon the rocks,
scattering the wreck, covers the waters: and now over the waves
both thwarts and masts and aplustres with the torn sail,
and the wretched sailors float, spewing back the waters. 325

At Poenus, per longa diem certamina saeuis
caedibus emensus, postquam eripuere furori
insignem tenebrae lucem, tum denique Martem
dimisit tandemque suis in caede pepercit.
sed mens inuigilat curis noctisque quietem 330
ferre nequit. stimulat dona inter tanta deorum
optatas nondum portas intrasse Quirini.

But the Punic, having spent the day through long combats with savage slaughters,
after darkness had snatched the bright light from his fury,
then at last dismissed Mars and finally spared his own in slaughter.
but his mind keeps vigil with cares and cannot bear the night’s repose, 330
it goads him that, amid such great gifts of the gods,
he has not yet entered the longed-for gates of Quirinus.

proxima lux placet. hinc strictos ferre ocius enses,
dum feruet cruor et perfusae caede cohortes,
destinat ac iam claustra manu, iam moenia flamma 335
occupat et iungit Tarpeia incendia Cannis.
Quo turbata uiri coniunx Saturnia coepto
irarumque Iouis Latiique haud inscia fati,
incautum ardorem atque auidas ad futtile uotum
spes iuuenis frenare parat.

The next dawn pleases him. From here he hastens to carry drawn swords more swiftly,
while the gore seethes and the cohorts are drenched with slaughter;
he aims, and now he seizes the gates with hand, now the walls with flame, 335
and he joins Tarpeian conflagrations to Cannae.
At which undertaking of the man the Saturnian spouse, disturbed,
and by no means unknowing of the angers of Jove and of the Latin fate,
prepares to bridle the incautious ardor and the eager hopes of the youth toward a futile vow.

ciet inde quietis 340

thence she rouses from quiet 340

regnantem tenebris Somnum, quo saepe ministro
edomita inuiti componit lumina fratris,
atque huic adridens 'Non te maioribus' inquit
'ausis, diue, uoco nec posco ut mollibus alis
des uictum mihi, Somne, Iouem. non mille premendi            345
sunt oculi tibi, nec spernens tua numina custos
Inachiae multa superandus nocte iuuencae.
ductori, precor, immittas noua somnia Poeno,
ne Romam et uetitos cupiat nunc uisere muros,
quos intrare dabit numquam regnator Olympi.'            350
    Imperium celer exequitur curuoque uolucris
per tenebras portat medicata papauera cornu.

the Sleep ruling in the shadows, by whose ministry she often composes the eyes of her unwilling brother, and, smiling on him, she says: 'I do not summon you, god, to greater ventures, nor do I ask that with your soft wings you give Jove, O Sleep, as vanquished to me. Not a thousand eyes are there for you to press,            345
nor is there, scorning your divinities, a guard of the Inachian heifer to be overcome with a long night. I pray, send new dreams to the Punic leader, lest he now desire to visit Rome and the forbidden walls, which the ruler of Olympus will never grant to be entered.'            350
    He swiftly carries out the command, and the winged one through the darkness bears drugged poppies in a curved horn.

ast ubi per tacitum adlapsus tentoria prima
Barcaei petiit iuuenis, quatit inde soporas
deuexo capiti pennas oculisque quietem 355
inrorat, tangens Lethaea tempora uirga.
exercent rabidam truculenta insomnia mentem.
iamque uidebatur multo sibi milite Thybrim
cingere et insultans astare ad moenia Romae.

but when, having glided through the silent night, he sought the foremost tents
of the Barcid youth, thence he shakes over the drooping head the sleep‑bearing
feathers, and on his eyes he sprinkles repose, 355
touching the temples with the Lethean wand.
truculent dreams exercise his rabid mind.
and now he seemed to himself with much soldiery to gird the Tiber
and, exulting, to stand at the walls of Rome.

ipse refulgebat Tarpeiae culmine rupis 360

he himself was gleaming on the summit of the Tarpeian cliff 360

elata torquens flagrantia fulmina dextra
Iuppiter, et lati fumabant sulphure campi,
ac gelidis Anien trepidabat caerulus undis,
et densi ante oculos iterumque iterumque tremendum
uibrabant ignes. tunc uox effusa per auras: 365
'Sat magna, o iuuenis, prensa est tibi gloria Cannis.
siste gradum: nec enim sacris inrumpere muris,
Poene, magis dabitur, nostrum quam scindere caelum.'
attonitum uisis maioraque bella pauentem
post confecta Sopor Iunonia iussa relinquit, 370
nec lux terribili purgauit imagine mentem.

Jupiter, twisting blazing thunderbolts in his raised right hand,
and the broad fields were smoking with sulphur,
and the cerulean Anio was trembling with its icy waves,
and dense fires, fearsome, were vibrating again and again before his eyes. then a voice poured forth through the airs: 365
'Great enough, O young man, is the glory seized for you at Cannae.
halt your step: for it will be granted to you no more to burst into the sacred walls,
Punic man, than to rend our heaven.'
astonished at the sights and fearing greater wars,
after the Iunonian commands were accomplished Sleep leaves him, 370
nor did the light purge his mind of the terrible image.

Quos inter motus somni uanosque tumultus
dedita per noctem reliquo cum milite castra
nuntiat et praedam pleno trahit agmine Mago.
huic ductor laetas Tarpeio uertice mensas 375

Amid these motions and vain tumults of sleep
he announces that the camp has been surrendered during the night with the remaining soldiery,
and Mago drags the plunder in a full column.
for him the leader sets joyful tables on the Tarpeian summit 375

spondenti, cum quinta diem nox orbe tulisset,
celatis superum monitis clausoque pauore,
uulnera et exhaustas saeuo certamine uires
ac nimium laetis excusat fidere rebus.
tum spe deiectus iuuenis, ceu uertere ab ipsis 380
terga iuberetur muris ac signa referre,
'Tanta mole' inquit 'non Roma, ut credidit ipsa,
sed Varro est uictus. quaenam tam prospera Martis
munera destituis fato patriamque moraris!

as he was pledging, when the fifth night had borne the day in its orb,
with the monitions of the gods concealed and fear shut within,
he excuses the wounds and the forces exhausted by savage combat
and the trusting too much in overly happy affairs.
then the young man, cast down from hope, as if he were being ordered to turn his back from the very 380
walls and to carry back the standards,
'By so great an effort,' he says, 'not Rome, as she herself believed,
but Varro is conquered. What gifts of Mars so prosperous
are you deserting to fate and making the fatherland wait!

mecum exultet eques: iuro hoc caput, accipe muros            385
Iliacos portasque tibi sine Marte patentis.'
    Dumque ea Mago fremit cauto non credita fratri,
iam Latius sese Canusina in moenia miles
colligere et profugos uicino cingere uallo
coeperat. heu rebus facies inhonora sinistris!            390

let the horseman exult with me: I swear by this head—accept the Iliac walls and the gates standing open to you without Mars.' 385
And while Mago roars these things, not believed by his cautious brother,
already the Latin soldier had begun to gather himself into the Canusian walls
and to encircle the refugees with a nearby rampart.
alas, a dishonorable look upon adverse affairs! 390

non aquilae, non signa uiris, non consulis altum
imperium, non subnixae lictore secures.
trunca atque aegra metu, ceu magna elisa ruina,
corpora debilibus nituntur sistere membris.
clamor saepe repens et saepe silentia fixis 395
in tellurem oculis: nudae plerisque sinistrae
detrito clipeo, desunt pugnacibus enses,
saucius omnis eques: galeis carpsere superbum
cristarum decus et damnarunt Martis honores.

not the eagles, not the standards for the men, not the consul’s lofty
command, not the axes upheld by the lictor.
maimed and sick with fear, as by a great shattered ruin,
their bodies strive to steady themselves on feeble limbs.
a sudden clamor often, and often silences, with eyes fixed 395
upon the earth: for most the left hands are bare,
the shield having been rubbed away; swords are lacking to the fighters,
every horseman is wounded: from their helmets they have plucked the proud
adornment of crests and have condemned the honors of Mars.

at multa thorax perfossus cuspide, et haerens 400
loricae interdum Maurusia pendet harundo.
interdum maesto socios clamore requirunt.
hic Galba, hic Piso et leto non dignus inerti
Curio deflentur, grauis illic Scaeuola bello.

but many a breastplate pierced through by a spear-point, and, clinging, 400
a Moorish reed at times hangs from the cuirass.
at times they seek their comrades with a mournful cry.
here Galba, here Piso, and Curio, not worthy of inert death,
are bewailed; there Scaevola, grave in war.

hos passim, at Pauli pariter ceu dira parentis 405

these men everywhere; but of Paullus likewise, as of a dire parent 405

fata gemunt: ut uera mali praenuntia numquam
cessarit canere et Varronis sistere mentem,
utque diem hunc totiens nequiquam auerterit urbi,
atque idem quantus dextra. sed cura futuri
quos premit, aut fossas instant praeducere muris 410
aut portarum aditus, ut rerum est copia, firmant,
quaque patet campus planis ingressibus hostis,
ceruorum ambustis imitantur cornua ramis,
et stilus occulitur, caecum in uestigia telum.
Ecce, super clades et non medicabile uulnus, 415
reliquias belli atque imperdita corpora Poenis
impia formido ac maior iactabat Erinys.

the fates groan: that words foretelling ill had never ceased
to sing and to check Varro’s mind,
and that so often he had in vain turned this day away from the city,
and that the same man was as mighty in his right hand. but care for the future
presses those whom it presses: either they hasten to draw trenches before the walls 410
or they strengthen the approaches of the gates, as resources allow;
and wherever the plain lies open to the enemy with level entrances,
they imitate the antlers of stags with branches burned at the tips,
and the stake is hidden, a blind weapon for the footsteps.
Behold, over and above the disasters and the incurable wound, 415
an impious dread and a greater Erinys was hurling against the Carthaginians
the remnants of the war and the bodies not destroyed.

trans aequor Tyrios enses atque arma parabant
Punica et Hannibalem mutato euadere caelo.
dux erat exilio non laetus Marte Metellus, 420

across the sea they were preparing Tyrian swords and Punic arms,
and to escape Hannibal with the sky changed.
leader for exile was Metellus, not happy with Mars, 420

sed stirpe haud parui cognominis. is mala bello
pectora degeneremque manum ad deformia agebat
consulta atque alio positas spectabat in ore,
quis sese occulerent, terras, quo nomina nulla
Poenorum aut patriae penetraret fama relictae. 425
 Quae postquam accepit flammata Scipio mente,
quantus Sidonium contra fera proelia miscens
ductorem stetit in campis, rapit ocius ensem
atque, ubi turpe malum Latioque extrema coquebant
coepta uiri, ruptis foribus sese arduus infert. 430
tum quatiens strictum cum uoce ante ora pauentum
mucronem: 'Tarpeia, pater, qui templa secundam
incolis a caelo sedem, et Saturnia, nondum
Iliacis mutata malis, tuque aspera pectus
aegide Gorgoneos uirgo succincta furores, 435

but of a lineage of no mean cognomen. He was driving hearts ill for war and a degenerate band to disgraceful counsels and was looking toward lands set in another orb,
lands wherein they might hide themselves, where no names of the Poeni nor report of the fatherland left behind might penetrate.            425
    After Scipio, with mind inflamed, learned these things,
as great as when, mixing savage battles against the Sidonian leader,
he stood on the plains, he snatches his sword more swiftly and, where the men were cooking up a base evil and extreme undertakings for Latium,
with the doors burst, he, towering, thrusts himself in.            430
then, shaking the drawn point with a voice before the faces of the trembling:
“Tarpeian father, you who inhabit the temples, the second seat from the sky, and Saturnia, not yet changed by Iliac woes, and you, maiden girded at the breast with the harsh aegis, the Gorgonian frenzies,            435

Indigetesque dei, sponte en per numina uestra
perque caput, nullo leuius mihi numine, patris
magnanimi iuro: numquam Lauinia regna
linquam nec linqui patiar, dum uita manebit.
ocius en testare deos, si moenia taedis 440
flagrabunt Libycis, nullas te ferre, Metelle,
ausurum in terras gressus. ni talia sancis,
quem tremis et cuius somnos formidine rumpis,
Hannibal hic armatus adest.

and you native gods, lo, by your numina,
and by the head—no numen lighter to me—of my magnanimous father I swear: never the Lavinian realms
will I leave nor suffer to be left, while life shall remain.
quickly, look, call the gods to witness, if the walls with torches 440
will blaze Libyan, that you, Metellus, will not dare
to carry your steps into any lands. unless you sanction such things,
the one whom you fear and whose slumbers you break with dread—
Hannibal is here in arms.

moriere, nec ullo
Poenorum melior parietur gloria caeso.'            445
his excussa incepta minis. iamque ordine iusso
obstringunt animas patriae dictataque iurant
sacramenta deis et purgant pectora culpa.
    Atque ea dum Rutulis turbata mente geruntur,
lustrabat campos et saeuae tristia dextrae            450

you will die, nor will a better glory be begotten from any Carthaginian slain.'            445
by these threats the undertakings were shaken off. and now, with the order given,
they bind their souls to the fatherland and swear the prescribed oaths to the gods
and cleanse their hearts from fault.
    And while these things are carried out by the Rutulians with mind disturbed,
he was ranging the plains and the grim works of his savage right hand            450

facta recensebat pertractans uulnera uisu
Hannibal et magna circumstipante caterua
dulcia praebebat trucibus spectacula Poenis.
quas strages inter, confossus pectora telis
seminecem extremo uitam exhalabat in auras 455
mu<r>mure deficiens iam Cloelius oraque nisu
languida uix aegro et dubia ceruice leuabat.
agnouit sonipes, arrectisque auribus acrem
hinnitum effundens sternit tellure Bagesum,
quem tum captiuo portabat in agmina dorso. 460
hinc, rapidum glomerans cursum, per lubrica pingui
stante cruore soli et tmulata cadauera caede
euolat ac domini consistit ad ora iacentis.

Hannibal was recounting the deeds, pertracting the wounds with his gaze, and, with a great throng hemming him around, he was offering sweet spectacles to the truculent Punics.
Amid which slaughters, his breast transfixed by weapons, half-dead Cloelius was exhaling life with his last breath into the airs, 455
failing into a murmur now, and he could scarcely lift his languid face by effort, with an ailing and wavering neck.
The steed recognized him, and, with ears pricked, pouring out a sharp whinny, casts Bagesus to the earth, whom he was then carrying on his captive back into the battle-lines. 460
Thence, massing a rapid course, over the slippery ground with thick-standing gore and corpses tumulated by slaughter, he darts forth and takes his stand by the face of his master lying there.

inde inclinatus colla et submissus in armos
de more inflexis praebebat scandere terga 465

then, with neck inclined and lowered into the shoulders,
according to custom, with limbs flexed he offered his back to be mounted 465

cruribus ac proprio quodam trepidabat amore.
milite non illo quisquam felicius acri
insultarat equo, uel si resupina citato
proiectus dorso ferretur membra, uel idem
si nudo staret tergo, dum rapta uolucris            470
transigeret cursu sonipes certamina campi.
    At Libys humanos aequantem pectore sensus
haud parce miratus ecum, quinam ille sinistrae
depugnet morti iuuenis, nomenque decusque
erogitat letique simul compendia donat.            475
hic Cinna (ad Tyrios namque is sua uerterat arma
credulus aduersis, et tum comes ibat ouanti)
'Auribus huic,' inquit 'ductor fortissime, origo est
non indigna tuis.

he trembled in his legs, too, with a certain personal love. No soldier had more happily vaulted upon that keen horse, whether, thrown supine on the sped back, his limbs were borne along, or likewise if he stood on the naked back, while the hoofed one, with winged course, brought to an end the contests of the field. 470
But the Libyan, unstintingly marveling at the horse matching human senses in his breast, inquires who that young man is who is fighting it out with sinister death, and he dispenses both the name and the renown, and at the same time grants the shortcuts of death. 475
here Cinna (for he had turned his arms to the Tyrians, trusting in adverse fortunes, and was then going as companion to the triumphant one) says, 'To this man, bravest leader, the origin is not unworthy of your ears.

quondam sub regibus illa,
quae Libycos renuit frenos, sub regibus olim 480

once under kings that city,
which refused the Libyan reins, under kings of old 480

Roma fuit. sed enim, solium indignata Superbi
ut sceptra exegit, confestim ingentia bella
Clusina uenere domo. si Porsena fando
auditus tibi, si Cocles, si Lydia castra,
ille ope Maeonia et populo succinctus Etrusco 485
certabat pulsos per bella reponere reges.

Rome was. But indeed, having disdained the throne of the Proud,
when she drove out the scepters, at once immense wars
came from the Clusian home. If Porsena has been heard by you in report,
if Cocles, if the Lydian camp,
he, girded with Maeonian aid and the Etruscan people 485
strove to reinstate the banished kings by wars.

multa adeo nequiquam ausi, pressitque tyrannus
Ianiculum incumbens u<r>bi. mox pace probata
compressere odia, et positum cum foedere bellum,
obsidibusque obstricta fides. mansuescere corda 490
nescia, pro superi! et nil non immite parata
gens Italum pro laude pati: is Cloelia senos
nondum complerat primaeui corporis annos,
una puellarum Laurentum et pignora pacis
inter uirgineas regi tramissa cateruas. 495

so many things dared in vain, and the tyrant pressed
the Janiculum, bearing down upon the city. soon, with peace approved
they suppressed hatreds, and with a covenant the war was set aside,
and by hostages faith was bound. hearts unknowing to be tamed, 490
alas, gods above! and the race of the Italians prepared to endure nothing not cruel for praise:
this Cloelia had not yet completed six years of early youth,
one of the maidens of the Laurentes and a pledge of peace,
sent among maiden companies to the king. 495

facta uirum sileo. rege haec et foedere et annis
et fluuio spretis mirantem interrita Thybrim
tranauit, frangens undam puerilibus ulnis.
cui si mutasset sexum natura, reuerti
forsan Tyrrhenas tibi non licuisset in oras, 500
Porsena.

I am silent about the deeds of men. she, with the king and the treaty and her years and the river spurned, undaunted swam the Tiber, marveling, breaking the wave with childish forearms.
to whom, if nature had changed her sex, perhaps it would not have been permitted for you to return to the Tyrrhenian shores, 500
Porsena.

sed iuueni, ne sim tibi longior, hinc est
et genus et clara memorandum uirgine nomen.'
Talia dum pandit, uicinus parte sinistra
per subitum erumpit clamor. permixta ruina
inter et arma uirum et lacerata cadauera Pauli 505
eruerant corpus media de strage iacentum.
heu quis erat!

but as for the youth, lest I be longer for you, from here are both his lineage and a name to be remembered from a famous virgin.'
While he unfolds such things, near at hand on the left side
a clamor bursts forth suddenly. Amid the commingled ruin,
both the arms of men and the torn cadavers, they had dug out the body of Paulus,505
lying in the midst of the slaughter.
alas, who was it!

quam non similis modo Punica telis
agmina turbanti, uel cum Taulantia regna
uertit, et Illyrico sunt addita uincla tyranno!
puluere canities atro arentique cruore 510

how unlike he was now to the one who, just now, was throwing the Punic ranks into turmoil with his weapons,
or when he overturned the Taulantian realms,
and fetters were added to the Illyrian tyrant!
his gray hair with black dust and dried gore 510

squalebat barba, et perfracti turbine dentes
muralis saxi, tum toto corpore uulnus.
Quae postquam aspexit, geminatus gaudia ductor
Sidonius 'Fuge, Varro,' inquit 'fuge, Varro, superstes,
dum iaceat Paulus. patribus Fabioque sedenti 515
et populo consul totas edissere Cannas.

his beard was squalid, and the teeth smashed by the whirlwind
of a mural stone; then a wound over the whole body.
After he saw these things, the Sidonian leader, his joys doubled,
says: 'Flee, Varro, flee, Varro, survive,
while Paulus lies. to the fathers and to Fabius sitting 515
and to the people, as consul, fully set forth Cannae.'

concedam hanc iterum, si lucis tanta cupido est,
concedam tibi, Varro, fugam. at, cui fortia et hoste
me digna haud paruo caluerunt corda uigore,
funere supremo et tumuli decoretur honore. 520
quantus, Paule, iaces! qui tot mihi milibus unus
maior laetitiae causa es. cum fata uocabunt,
tale precor nobis salua Carthagine letum.'
 Haec ait et socium mandari corpora terrae,
postera cum thalamis Aurora ruebit apertis, 525

I will grant this again, if so great is the desire for the light,
I will grant you, Varro, flight. But let him whose stout heart
has burned with no small vigor, and with deeds worthy of me in a foe,
be adorned with the final funeral and the honor of a tomb.            520
How great you lie, Paulus! you who, to me, alone
are a greater cause of joy than so many thousands. When the Fates will call,
such a death I pray for us, with Carthage safe.'
    He says these things and orders the bodies of his comrades to be entrusted to the earth,
when on the next day Aurora will blush red with her chambers opened,            525

imperat armorumque iubet consurgere aceruos,
arsuros, Gradiue, tibi. tum munera iussa,
defessi quamquam, accelerant sparsoque propinquos
agmine prosternunt lucos: sonat icta bipenni
frondosis silua atra iugis. hinc ornus et albae 530
populus alta comae, ualidis accisa lacertis,
scinditur, hinc ilex proauorum condita saeclo.

he commands, and bids piles of arms to rise, to burn for you, Gradivus. then, though weary, they hasten the ordered offerings, and with the column dispersed they lay low the neighboring groves: the dark woodland on leafy ridges resounds, smitten by the double‑axe. from here the ash and the white poplar with lofty foliage, 530
cut down by sturdy upper arms, are split; from here the holm‑oak, laid down in the age of their forefathers.

deuoluunt quercus et amantem litora pinum
ac, ferale decus, maestas ad busta cupressos.
funereas tum deinde pyras certamine texunt, 535
officium infelix et munus inane peremptis,
donec anhelantis stagna in Tartessia Phoebus
mersit equos, fugiensque polo Titania caecam
orbita nigranti traxit caligine noctem.
post, ubi fulserunt primis Phaethontia frena 540
ignibus atque sui terris rediere colores,
supponunt flammam et manantia corpora tabo
hostili tellure cremant.

they roll down oaks and the shore-loving pine,
and—funereal adornment—the mournful cypresses to the tombs.
then thereafter they weave the funeral pyres in rivalry, 535
an unlucky office and a vain service for the slain,
until Phoebus plunged his panting horses into the Tartessian pools,
and, fleeing the pole, the Titanian orbit dragged night,
blind with blackening murk. after, when the Phaethontian reins
shone with first fires and their own colors returned to the lands, 540
they put fire beneath and on hostile earth burn
the bodies dripping with gore.

subit horrida mentem
formido incerti casus, tacitusque pererrat
intima corda pauor, si fors ita Martis iniqui 545

a horrid dread of uncertain chance comes upon the mind,
and silent terror wanders through the inmost hearts,
if the fortune of unjust Mars be thus. 545

mox ferat, hac ipsis inimica sede iacendum.
at tibi, Bellipotens, sacrum, constructus aceruo
ingenti mons armorum surgebat ad astra.
ipse, manu celsam pinum flammaque comantem
attollens, ductor Gradiuum in uota ciebat: 550
'Primitias pugnae et laeti libamina belli
Hannibal Ausonio cremat haec de nomine uictor,
et tibi, Mars genitor, uotorum haud surde meorum,
arma electa dicat spirantum turba uirorum.'
tum face coniecta populatur feruidus ignis 555
flagrantem molem, et rupta caligine in auras
actus apex claro perfundit lumine campos.

soon it may bring to pass that, in this seat hostile to themselves, they must be cast down.
but for you, War-Powerful, a sacred [offering], a mountain of arms constructed in a huge heap was rising to the stars.
he himself, lifting with his hand a lofty pine crested with flame, the leader was summoning Gradivus with vows: 550
‘The first-fruits of battle and the libations of joyful war Hannibal, victor over the Ausonian name, burns these,
and to you, Mars, father, not deaf to my vows,
let the breathing throng of men dedicate chosen arms.’
then, the torch hurled, the fervid fire lays waste the blazing mass, 555
and the tip, driven into the breezes with the murk burst asunder, floods the fields with bright light.

hinc citus ad tumulum donataque funera Paulo
ibat et hostilis leti iactabat honorem.
sublimem eduxere pyram mollisque uirenti 560

from there, swift, he went to the mound and the funeral rites granted to Paulus,
and he flaunted the honor of hostile death.
they raised a lofty pyre, and, soft with green 560

stramine composuere toros. superaddita dona,
funereum decus: expertis inuisus et ensis
et clipeus, terrorque modo atque insigne superbum
tum laceri fasces, captaeque in Marte secures.
non coniunx natiue aderant, non iuncta propinquo 565
sanguine turba uirum, aut celsis de more feretris
praecedens prisca exequias decorabat imago
omnibus exuuiis nudo, iamque Hannibal unus
sat decoris laudator erat: fulgentia pingui
murice suspirans inicit uelamina et auro 570
intextam chlamydem ac supremo adfatur honore:
'I, decus Ausoniae, quo fas est ire superbas
uirtute et factis animas.

they composed the biers with straw. super-added gifts,
funereal decor: both sword and shield, hateful to the experienced,
and that which just now was a terror and a proud insignia—
then the torn fasces, and the axes captured in Mars.
no spouse native-born was present, nor a throng of men joined by near 565
blood, nor did the ancient image, going before on lofty biers according to custom,
adorn the exequies, with all spoils stripped; and now Hannibal alone
was a sufficient praiser of honor: sighing, he casts on shining
garments dyed with rich murex-purple, and a cloak woven with gold,
and addresses (him) with final honor:570
'Go, glory of Ausonia, whither it is lawful for souls proud
in virtue and deeds to go.

tibi gloria leto
iam parta insigni. nostros Fortuna labores
uersat adhuc casusque iubet nescire futuros.' 575

for you, glory in death
is already won, distinguished. Fortune our labors
still turns, and bids us not to know future chances.' 575

haec Libys, atque repens crepitantibus undique flammis
aetherias anima exultans euasit in auras.
Fama dehinc gliscente sono iam sidera adibat,
iam maria ac terras, primamque intrauerat urbem.
diffidunt muris: solam pauitantibus arcem 580
sperauisse sat est.

thus the Libyan; and suddenly, with flames crackling on every side,
his soul, exulting, escaped into the ethereal airs.
Thereafter Rumor, with swelling sound, now was reaching the stars,
now the seas and lands, and had entered the first city.
they distrust their walls: for the panic-stricken, to have hoped for the citadel alone is enough. 580

nec enim superesse iuuentam,
ac stare Ausoniae uacuum sine corpore nomen,
quodque adeo nondum portis inruperit hostis,
contemptu cessare putant. iam tecta cremari,
ac delubra rapi caedesque ante ora nefandae 585
natorum septemque arces fumare uidentur.
lux una euersas bis centum in stra<g>e curulis,
ac iuuenum bis tricenis orbata gemebat
milibus exhaustae nutantia moenia Romae,
atque ea post Trebiam, post Tusci stagna profundi, 590

for indeed they think that no youth survives,
and that the name of Ausonia stands vacant, without a body,
and that the very fact that the enemy has not yet burst into the gates
is a delay through contempt. Already roofs are being burned,
and shrines are being plundered, and the abominable slaughters before their eyes 585
of their sons, and the seven citadels seem to be smoking.
one day lamented 200 curule overthrown in massacre,
and, bereft of 60,000 youths, it groaned—
the swaying walls of exhausted Rome—
and this after the Trebia, after the pools of the Etruscan deep, 590

nec socium numero pariter leuiore perempto.
sed uero sed enim reliqui pia turba senatus
munera sortito inuadunt. celer omnia lustrans
clamitat attonitis Fabius: 'Non ulla relicta est,
credite, cunctandi ratio.

nor was the count of comrades slain any the lighter.
but truly—indeed—the remaining dutiful throng of the senate
seize their duties by lot. Swift, surveying everything,
Fabius shouts to the astonished: “No reason for delaying is left,
believe me.”

adproperemus, ut hostis 595
nequiquam armatos ausit succedere muros.
dura inter pauidos alitur fortuna sedendo,
et gliscunt aduersa metu. ite ocius, arma
deripite, o pubes, templis.

let us hasten, so that the enemy 595
may in vain dare to come up to the armed walls.
grim fortune is nourished by sitting among the timid,
and adverse things wax through fear. go, swiftly, take down the arms,
O youth, from the temples.

uos atria raptim
nudate et clipeos in bella refigite captos. 600
sat patriae sumus, e numero si ad proelia nostro
nil minuit pauor. in patulis illa horrida campis
sit metuenda lues, muros haud fregerit umquam
exultare leuis nudato corpore Maurus.'
Dum Fabius lapsas acuit formidine mentes, 605

you, strip the atria swiftly,
and unfasten for war the captured shields. 600
we are enough for the fatherland, if fear from our number for battles
takes away nothing. on the open, spreading plains let that horrid pestilence
be the thing to fear; never will the light-armed Moor,
exulting with body laid bare, have shattered walls.'
While Fabius sharpens minds that had slipped by fear, 605

Varronem aduentare uagus per moenia rumor
spargit et occulto perfundit pectora motu:
haud secus ac, fractae rector si forte carinae
litoribus solus uacuis ex aequore sospes
adnatet, incerti trepidant, tendantne negentne 610
iactato dextras, ipsamque odere salutem
unius amissa superantis puppe magistri.
quam restare uiro labem, qui accedere portis
audeat ac dirum ueniat pauitantibus omen!
Hos mulcens questus Fabius deforme docebat 615
cladibus irasci uulgumque arcebat ab ira.

Rumor, wandering, spreads that Varro is drawing near through the walls,
and with a hidden motion it suffuses their hearts:
not otherwise than if the helmsman of a shattered keel by chance,
safe from the sea, were to swim up alone to empty shores,
the uncertain ones tremble, whether to stretch out or to refuse their right hands to the ship‑tossed man, 610
and they hate salvation itself—the salvation of the one surviving master, with the ship lost.
What disgrace could remain for the man who would dare to approach the gates
and come as a dire omen to those in terror!
Soothing these complaints, Fabius taught that it is deformed to be angry at disasters, 615
and he kept the common folk back from wrath.

aduersis etenim ferri non esse uirorum
qui Martem inscribant genti, non posse dolores
condere et ex poena solacia poscere luctus.
si uero exprobrare sinant, sibi tristius illum 620

for indeed to be swept along by adversities is not the part of men
who emblazon Mars upon their nation, not to be able to bury their pains
and to demand consolations for lamentations from punishment.
but if they allow reproaching, that man is more grievous to himself 620

inluxisse diem, quo castris uiderit ire
Varronem, quam quo uideat remeare sine armis.
his dictis sedere minae, et conuersa repente
pectora: nunc fati miseret, nunc gaudia Poeno
consulibus reputant caesis erepta duobus. 625
ergo omne effundit longo iam se agmine uulgus
gratantum, magnaque actum se credere mente
testantur, quod fisus auis sceptrisque superbis
Laomedontiadum non desperauerit urbi.
Nec minus infelix culpae grandique pudore 630
turbatus, consul titubantem ad moenia gressum
portabat lacrimans: deiectum attollere uultum
ac patriam aspicere et luctus renouare pigebat.

that the day had dawned on which he would see Varro go to the camp, rather than that on which he would see him return without arms.
At these words the threats subsided, and hearts were suddenly turned: now they pity fate, now they reckon that the joy has been snatched from the Phoenician—of having both consuls cut down. 625
therefore the whole crowd of congratulators now pours itself out in a long column, and they testify that they believe it has been accomplished by a great mind, in that, trusting in his ancestors and the proud scepters of the Laomedontians, he did not despair of the city.
No less unhappy, troubled by fault and by great shame, the consul, weeping, was carrying his tottering step to the walls: it irked him to raise his cast-down face and to look upon his fatherland and to renew the griefs.

quod uero reduci tum se populusque patresque
offerrent, non gratari, sed poscere natos 635

but in truth, that to the returned man then both the people and the Fathers were offering themselves,
not to congratulate, but to demand their sons 635

quisque suos fratresque simul miseraeque parentes
ire uidebantur laceranda ad consulis ora.
sic igitur muto lictore inuectus in urbem
damnatum superis aspernabatur honorem.
At patres Fabiusque, procul maerore remoto, 640
praecipitant curas.

each man seemed to see his own, and his brothers as well, and their wretched parents,
going toward the consul’s features to be torn.
thus, therefore, borne into the city with a silent lictor,
he spurned an honor condemned by the gods above.
But the Fathers and Fabius, grief put far away, 640
hasten their concerns.

raptim delecta iuuenta
seruitia armantur, nec claudit castra saluti
postpositus pudor. infixum est Aeneia regna
Parcarum in leges quacumque reducere dextra
proque arce et sceptris et libertatis honore 645
uel famulas armare manus. primaeua suorum
corpora praetexto spoliant uelamine et armis
insolitis cingunt.

with youth chosen in haste,
the slaves are armed, nor, with modesty postponed to safety, are the camp-gates closed.
It is fixed to bring back the Aenean realms
into the laws of the Parcae by whatever right hand,
and, for the citadel and the scepters and the honor of liberty, 645
or to arm maidservant hands. The first-blooming bodies of their own
they despoil of the praetexta garment and gird with unaccustomed arms.

puerilis casside uultus
clauditur atque hostis pubescere caede iubetur.
idem obsecrantis, captiuum uulgus ut auro 650

the boyish face is enclosed by a helmet, and the enemy is bidden to come of age through slaughter.
likewise, of one beseeching, that the captive mob with gold 650

pensarent paruo (nec pauca fuere precantum
milia), miranti durarunt prodere Poeno.
cuncta adeo scelera et noxam superauerat omnem
armatum potuisse capi. tunc terga dedisse
damnatis Siculas longe meritare per oras 655
impositum, donec Latio decederet hostis.

that they might pay out at a small price (and the thousands of those praying were not few), they even steeled themselves to betray to the astonished Punic. So far had all crimes and every guilt been surpassed—that a man in arms could have been taken. Then, for having shown their backs, it was laid upon the condemned to serve for pay far along the Sicilian shores, 655
until the enemy should withdraw from Latium.

haec tum Roma fuit: post te cui uertere mores
si stabat fatis, potius, Carthago, maneres.

Such was Rome then: if it stood fixed by the Fates that, after you, there would be someone to turn her morals,
rather, Carthage, you should have remained.