Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Nunc age, quos clades insignis Iapyge campo
uerterit ad Libyam populos Sarranaque castra,
expediam. stat nulla diu mortalibus usquam,
Fortuna titubante, fides. adiungere dextras
certauere palam rumpenti foedera Poeno 5
(heu nimium faciles laesis diffidere rebus!)
saeuior ante alios iras seruasse repostas
atque odium renouare ferox in tempore Samnis,
mox leuis et sero pressurus facta pudore
Bruttius, ambiguis fallax mox Apulus armis, 10
tum gens Hirpini uana indocilisque quieti
et rupisse indigna fidem: ceu dira per omnis
manarent populos foedi contagia morbi.

Now come, I will set forth which peoples a distinguished disaster on the Iapygian field turned toward Libya and the Sarran camps.
No loyalty stands anywhere long for mortals, when Fortune is tottering. They strove openly to join right hands to the Phoenician who was breaking treaties 5
(alas, all too ready to distrust affairs once harmed!)
the Samnite, harsher than others, had kept his angers stored and, fierce, to renew his hatred in season;
soon the Bruttian, fickle and only late to press his deeds with shame;
next the Apulian, deceitful with ambiguous arms, 10
then the tribe of the Hirpini, vainglorious and untaught of repose,
and unworthy to have broken faith: as though through all the peoples
the foul contagions of a dread disease were seeping.

iamque Atella suas iamque et Calatia adegit,
fas superante metu, Poenorum in castra cohortes. 15

and now Atella, and now even Calatia, drove—fas overborne by fear—their cohorts into the Punic camp. 15

inde Phalanteo leuitas animosa Tarento
Ausonium laxare iugum. patefecit amicas
alta Croton portas Afrisque ad barbara iussa
Thespiadum docuit summittere colla nepotes.
idem etiam Locros habuit furor.

thence from Phalantine Tarentum, spirited levity set about to loosen the Ausonian yoke. lofty Croton opened friendly gates and taught the descendants of the Thespiads to lower their necks to the barbarian commands of the Africans.
the same frenzy also held Locri.

ora uadosi            20
litoris, Argiuos Maior qua Graecia muros
seruat et Ionio luitur curuata profundo,
laetas res Libyae et fortunam in Marte secuta,
iurauit pauitans Tyrio sua proelia Marti.
iam uero, Eridani tumidissimus accola, Celtae            25
incubuere malis Italum ueteresque doloris
tota se socios properarunt iungere mole.
    Sed fas id Celtis, fas impia bella referre
Boiorum fuerit populis: Capuaene furorem,
quem Senonum genti, placuisse, et Dardana ab ortu            30

the shores of the shallow            20
coast, where Greater Greece keeps Argive walls
and, curved, is bathed by the Ionian deep,
having followed the glad affairs of Libya and her fortune in Mars,
swore, quaking, its own battles to the Tyrian Mars.
now indeed, the most swelling neighbor of the Eridanus, the Celts,            25
pressed upon the woes of the Italians, and of their ancient grievance
with their whole mass hastened to join themselves as allies.
    But that was right for the Celts, right for the peoples of the Boii to bring back
impious wars: did the frenzy of Capua, which for the nation of the Senones
it pleased, and a people Dardanian from their origin,            30

moenia barbarico Nom<a>dum sociata tyranno
quisnam mutato tantum nunc tempore credat?
luxus et insanis nutrita ignauia lustris
consumptusque pudor peccando unisque relictus
diuitiis probrosus honor lacerabat hiantem 35
desidia populum ac resolutam legibus urbem.
insuper exitio truculenta superbia agebat.

the walls allied with the barbaric tyrant of the Nomads,
who now, with the time so changed, would believe it?
luxury and sloth nourished in insane brothels,
and modesty consumed by sinning and left all alone,
a disgraceful honor with riches was tearing the gaping 35
people with sloth, and a city loosened from laws.
moreover, truculent pride was driving to destruction.

nec uitiis deerant uires. non largior ulli
Ausoniae populo (sic tum Fortuna fouebat)
aurique argentique modus; madefacta ueneno 40
Assyrio maribus uestis medioque dierum
regales epulae atque ortu conuiuia solis
deprensa et nulla macula non inlita uita.
tum populo saeui patres, plebesque senatus
inuidia laeta, et conlidens dissona corda 45

nor did the vices lack strength. no more bounteous measure of gold and silver was granted to any Ausonian people (so then did Fortune foster them); men’s garments soaked with Assyrian poison, 40
and in the midst of the day regal banquets, and feasts caught at the sun’s rising, and a life smeared with every stain. then for the people, savage fathers, and both plebs and senate rejoicing in envy, and hearts discordant, crashing together

seditio. sed enim interea temeraria pubis
delicta augebat pollutior ipsa senectus.
nec, quos uile genus despectaque lucis origo
foedabat, sperare sibi et deposcere primi
deerant imperia ac patriae pereuntis habenas. 50
quin etiam exhilar<ar>e uiris conuiuia caede
mos olim et miscere epulis spectacula dira
certantum ferro, saepe et super ipsa cadentum
pocula, respersis non parco sanguine mensis.

sedition. But indeed meanwhile a more polluted old age itself was augmenting the rash offenses of the youth.
nor were there lacking, among those whom a vile stock and a despised origin of the light defiled, men to hope for themselves and to demand, as first, the commands and the reins of a perishing fatherland. 50
nay even to exhilarate men, to gladden banquets with slaughter
was once the custom, and to mix with the feasts dire spectacles
of those contending with iron, and often of those falling even upon the cups themselves,
the tables spattered, with no sparing of blood.

Has astu adgressus quo uerteret acrius aegras 55
ad Tyrios mentes, quae nulla sorte daturam
certus erat Romam (neque enim impetrata uolebat)—
Pacuuio fuit haud obscurum crimine nomen—
hortatur summi partem deposcere iuris
atque alternatos sociato consule fasces 60

Thus, having approached them with craft, so that he might more sharply turn the ailing minds toward the Tyrians, 55
minds which he was certain would on no terms grant Rome (for he did not wish it obtained)—
Pacuvius had a name not obscure for crime—
he urges them to demand a share of the highest jurisdiction
and fasces alternated, with a consulate in partnership. 60

et, si partita renuant sedisse curuli
aequatumque decus geminasque uidere secures,
ultorem ante oculos atque ora astare repulsae.
ergo electa manus gressu fert dicta citato.
antistat cunctis praecellens Virrius ore, 65
sed genus obscurum nullique furore secundus.

and, if, by a partition, they should refuse to have sat on the curule chair and to see the honor equalized and the twin axes, let the avenger of the repulse stand before their eyes and faces. therefore a chosen band bears the words with quickened step. before all stands Virrius, excelling in speech, 65
but of obscure lineage and second to none in frenzy.

qui postquam coetu patrum ingentique senatu
impia dementis uulgi ac uix tota profudit
consulta <et> tumidis incendit uocibus aures,
concordi fremitu renuentum effunditur asper            70
toto e concilio clamor, tum quisque fatigat
increpitans, uocumque tremit certamine templum.
    Hic Torquatus, auum fronte aequauisse seuera
nobilis, 'Heu Capua portantes talia dicta
Romuleis durastis' ait 'succedere muris,            75

who, after he had poured forth before the gathering of the fathers and the vast senate
the impious counsels of the demented mob—scarcely in full—and had with swollen words inflamed their ears,
with a concordant roar of those refusing there bursts forth a harsh clamor            70
from the whole council; then each man, chiding, wears him down,
and the temple trembles with the contest of voices.
    Here Torquatus, noble for having equaled his grandsire with his severe brow,
says, 'Alas, Capua, bearing such words you have had the hardihood'
'to approach the Romulean walls,'            75

ad quos non ausi Carthago atque Hannibal arma
post Cannas adferre suas? numquamne per auris
it uestras, in Tarpeia cum sede Latini
orarent paria, haud uerbis, haud uoce, sed acri
propulsum dextra, qui tum mandata superbo            80
ore adportabat, tanto per limina templi
turbine praecipitem reuoluti corporis actum,
ut saeuo adflictus saxo spectante piaret
tristia dicta Ioue et lueret uerba impia leto?
en ego progenies eius, qui sede Tonantis            85
expulit orantem et nuda Capitolia consul
defendit dextra.' rabidum hinc palmasque uirorum
intentantem oculis proauitaque facta parantem
ut uidit maiore adeo crudescere motu,
excipit his frendens Fabius: 'Pro cuncta pudendi!            90

against whom Carthage and Hannibal did not dare to bring their arms after Cannae? has it never gone through your ears, when, in the Tarpeian seat, the Latins were pleading for equal terms—not by words, not by voice, but that the one who then was bringing mandates with a proud mouth was driven back by a keen right hand—, with such a whirlwind was he hurled headlong through the thresholds of the temple by his rolling body, 80
that, dashed against the savage rock with Jove spectating, he might expiate his grim sayings and atone for impious words with death? behold, I am the progeny of him who from the seat of the Thunderer expelled the suppliant, and as consul defended the Capitol with bare right hand.' from here, when he saw him raging and brandishing his palms in the men’s faces and preparing deeds of his great-grandsires, to grow so much more cruel in movement, Fabius snaps back, gnashing, with these words: 'By all things of shame! 85

sedes, ecce, uacat, belli uiduata procella:
quem, quaeso, e uobis huic imposuisse paratis
inque locum Pauli quemnam datis? an tua, Virri,
prima atque ante alios sors, concedente senatu,
te citat ac nostris aequat iam purpura Brutis?            95
i, demens, i, quo tendis; tibi perfida fasces
det Carthago suos.' medio feruore loquentis
impatiens ultra gemitu cohibere furorem
fulminea toruum exclamat Marcellus ab ira:
'Quae tandem et quam lenta tenet patientia mentem,            100
o confuse nimis Gradiui turbine Varro,
ut perferre queas furibunda insomnia consul?
nonne exturbatos iam dudum limine templi
praecipites agis ad portas, et discere cogis
semiuiros, quod sit nostro de more creati            105

the seat, behold, is empty, bereft of the storm of war:
whom, I ask, from among you are you preparing to set upon it,
and whom do you give in the place of paulus? or is it your
lot first and before the others, virrius, with the senate conceding,
does the purple summon you and now make you equal to our brutuses?            95
go, madman, go where you are heading; let treacherous carthage
give you its own fasces.' in the midst of the heat of the speaker,
unable any longer to confine his frenzy to a groan,
with lightning-like wrath marcellus shouts grimly:
'what patience, pray, and how sluggish holds your mind,            100
o varro, all too confounded by gradivus’ whirlwind,
that you, consul, can endure raving dreams?
do you not long since drive them, thrust from the threshold of the temple,
headlong to the gates, and compel the half-men to learn
what it is, by our custom, to have been created [i.e., elected]?            105

consulis imperium? non umquam sobria pubes
et peritura breui, moneo, ocius urbe facesse.
muros ante tuos, ut par est, debita ductor
armatus responsa dabit.' consurgere cuncti
hinc pariter magnoque uiros clamore premebant. 110
necnon et foribus propere Campana iuuentus
extulit ipsa gradum, tantaeque dolore repulsae
concitus Hannibalem uoluebat Virrius ore.

the consul’s imperium? A populace never sober, and doomed to perish shortly, I warn you, withdraw from the city more quickly.
before your walls, as is fitting, an armed ductor will give the due responses.' From here all together they rose, and with great clamor were pressing the men. 110
and likewise the Campanian youth quickly lifted its step from the doors themselves, and Virrius, incited by the pain of so great a repulse, was rolling Hannibal’s name on his lips.

Fuluius (huic nam spondebant praesagia mentis
uenturum decus, et Capuae pereuntis imago 115
iam tum erat ante oculos) 'Non si Carthaginis' inquit
'ductorem uestris deuinctum colla catenis
Romam uictor agis, posthac intrare Quirini
sacratas dabitur sedes. tende ocius, oro,
quo mens aegra uocat.' referunt haec inde citati 120

Fulvius (for to him the presages of his mind were pledging
the glory to come, and the image of perishing Capua was already then before his eyes) 115
'Not even if Carthage’s,' he says,
'leader you drive to Rome as victor, his neck bound by your chains,
will it thereafter be granted to enter the sacred seats of Quirinus.
Press on more quickly, I beg,
whither your ailing mind calls.' Those summoned report these things from there. 120

mixta minis et torua trucis responsa senatus.
Tantane, omnipotens, caligine mersa latere
fata placet? ueniet quondam felicior aetas,
cum pia Campano gaudebit consule Roma
et per bella diu fasces perque arma negatos 125
ultro ad magnanimos referet secura nepotes.

grim responses of the savage senate, mingled with threats.
Is it your pleasure, Almighty, that the fates, plunged in gloom, lie hidden so?
a happier age will come one day,
when pious Rome will rejoice in a Campanian consul
and the fasces, long denied through wars and by arms, she will, unbidden and secure, bring back to her magnanimous descendants. 125

poena superborum tamen haec durabit auorum,
quod non ante suos Capua ad suffragia mittet,
quam Carthago suos.
Postquam nunc dicta senatus,
nunc facta exposuit, tum ueris falsa per artem 130
Virrius admiscens cecinit fatale cruenti
turbati<s> signum belli. furiata iuuentus
arma, arma Hannibalemque uolunt.

yet this penalty of the proud ancestors will endure,
that Capua will not send its own to the suffrages
before Carthage sends its own.
After he set forth now the sayings of the senate,
now the deeds, then Virrius, mixing false things with true by art, sang forth the fated signal of bloody
war to the agitated. 130
the frenzied youth want arms, arms and Hannibal.

ruit undique uulgus
et Poenos in tecta uocant. ingentia facta
Sidonii iuuenis celebrant: ut ruperit Alpes 135

the crowd rushes from all sides
and call the punics into their homes. they celebrate the immense deeds
of the sidonian youth: how he broke through the alps 135

Herculei socius decoris diuisque propinquas
transierit cursu rupes, ut caede referta
clauserit Eridani uictor uada, uictor ut idem
Lydia Romano turbarit stagna cruore,
ut Trebiae ripas aeterno nomine famae            140
tradiderit Paulumque idem inter proelia et idem
Flaminium, proceres rerum, demiserit umbris.
his super excisam primori Marte Saguntum
et iuga Pyrenes et Hiberum et sacra parentis
iuratumque uiro bellum puerilibus annis            145
accumulant. unum, ducibus tot caede peremptis,
tot fusis acie, stare inter proelia nullis
attactum telis. superum cum munere detur
huic sociare uiro dextras et foedere iungi,
fastus exanguis populi uanumque tumorem            150

the comrade of Herculean honor and the cliffs near to the gods
he has crossed at a run; how, packed with slaughter,
as victor he has shut the fords of the Eridanus, how the same victor
has troubled the Lydian pools with Roman gore,
how he has handed over the banks of the Trebia to an eternal name of fame,            140
and how he, the same, amid battles, has sent Paulus, and likewise
Flaminius, princes of affairs, down to the shades.
To these they heap on Saguntum razed at war’s first onset,
and the ridges of the Pyrenees and the Hiberus, and the sacred rites of his father,
and the war sworn by the man in his puerile years;            145
one thing—though so many leaders have been perished by slaughter,
so many routed in the battle-line—that he stands amid the frays,
unattacked by any weapons. Since by a gift of the gods it is granted
to join right hands with this man and be united by treaty,
the bloodless haughtiness of the people and their empty swelling—            150

nimirum Capua et dominatum perferat urbis,
ceu famulis fasces aequataque iura negantis?
prorsus enim tanto potiorem nomine habendum
Varronem, ut fugiat consul fulgentior ostro.
Talia iactantes iam lectam sorte parabant 155
mittere quae Tyrios adiungat foedere pubem.

Surely Capua too should endure the dominion of the City,
as of one denying to its servants the fasces and equalized rights?
for plainly Varro must be held preferable in title,
to the point that the consul more resplendent in purple may flee.
While bandying such words about, they were already preparing 155
to send a youth chosen by lot, who might join the Tyrians by a treaty.

sed non inuictum ponebat pectore robur
tum solum Decius Capuae decus. isque receptus
in medios coetus (neque enim differre dabatur)
'Itis,' ait 'ciues, uiolanda ad iura parentum 160
damnatumque caput temerati foederis aris
iungitis hospitio? quae tanta obliuio recti?

but Decius, then the sole glory of Capua, did not lay aside invincible strength in his breast;
and he, received into the midst of the assemblies (for to defer was not granted),
'You go,' he says, 'citizens, to the laws of your ancestors to be violated, 160
and do you yoke to your altars, in hospitality, a head condemned for a profaned treaty?
what such great oblivion of the right?'

magnu<m> atque in magnis positum populisque uirisque
<h>a<u>d uersam ostentare fidem! nunc tempus inire
proelia pro Rutulis, nunc signa aciemque mouere, 165

a great thing, and placed among great things, to display to peoples and men an unchanged fidelity! now is the time to enter battles for the Rutulians, now to move the standards and the battle-line, 165

dum trepidae res, et medicinam uulnera poscunt:
is locus officio, cum cessant prospera, cumque
dura ad opem Fortuna uocat. nam laeta fouere
haud quaquam magni est animi decus. huc, age, adeste.

while affairs are in trepidation, and wounds demand medicine:
this is the place for duty, when prosperities cease, and when
Fortune calls to aid in hardships. For to foster the happy things
is by no means the ornament of a great spirit. Hither, come, be present.

noui dis animas similes et pectora magnis 170
numquam angusta malis. capiunt, mihi credite, Cannas
et Trasimenna uada et Pauli memorabile letum.
hi sunt qui uestris infixum moenibus hostem
deiecere manu et Capuam eripuere superbis
Samnitum iussis.

I know souls like to the gods and hearts for great things, 170
never narrow in misfortunes. They can, believe me, encompass Cannae
and the shallows of Trasimene and the memorable death of Paulus.
These are they who cast down by their hand the enemy fastened upon your walls
and snatched Capua from the proud behests of the Samnites.

hi sunt qui iura dedere 175
terrore expulso Sidicinaque bella remorunt.
quos fugitis socios? quosue additis?

these are they who gave laws 175
with terror driven out, and held back the Sidicinian wars.
which allies are you fleeing? or whom do you add?

ille ego sanguis
Dardanius, cui sacra pater, cui nomina liquit
ab Ioue ducta Capys magno cognatus Iulo,
ille ego semihomines inter Nasamonas et inter 180
saeuum atque aequantem ritus Garamanta ferarum
Marmarico ponam tentoria mixtus alumno,
ductoremque feram, cui nunc pro foedere proque
iustitia est ensis solaeque e sanguine laudes?
non ita, non Decio permixtum fasque nefasque, 185

I, that blood,
Dardanian, to whom father Capys, kin to great Iulus, left rites and names drawn from Jove,
shall I, that same, among the half-human Nasamones and among 180
the savage Garamantian, who makes equal the rites of beasts,
set my tents, mingled with a Marmaric fosterling,
and bear as leader one for whom now in place of covenant and of
justice there is the sword, and whose sole praises are from blood?
not so, not with a Decius are right and wrong commingled, 185

haec ut uelle queat. nullo nos inuida tanto
armauit Natura bono, quam ianua mortis
quod patet et uita non aequa exire potestas.'
Haec uana auersas Decius iactauit ad auris.
ast delecta manus iungebat foedera Poeno. 190
iamque aderat praemissa duci turbante tumultu
Autololes numerosa cohors.

that he may be able to will these things. With no good so great has begrudging Nature armed us, as that the door of death lies open and there is the power to go out from an unequal life.'
These vain things Decius flung to averted ears. But a chosen band was joining pacts with the Punic. 190
and now there arrived, sent ahead to the leader, the numerous cohort of the Autololes, roiling with tumult.

ipse agmine magno
festinata citus per campos signa mouebat.
et Decius: 'Nunc hora, uiri, nunc tempus. adeste,
dum Capua dignum, dum me duce dextera uindex 195
molitur facinus: procumbat barbara pubes.

he himself, with a great column,
swiftly was moving the hastened standards across the plains.
and Decius: 'Now the hour, men, now the time. Be present,
while a deed worthy of Capua, while with me as leader the avenging right hand contrives the exploit: 195
let the barbarian youth fall prostrate.

pro se quisque alacres rapite hoc decus. hostis adire
si parat, obstructas praebete cadauere portas
et ferro purgate nefas. hic denique solus
eluerit sanguis maculatas crimine mentes.' 200

each man for himself, eagerly seize this honor. if the enemy prepares
to approach, present the gates barred by a corpse,
and with iron purge the wickedness. here at last blood alone
will wash out minds stained with crime.' 200

    Dumque ea nequiquam non ulli laeta profatur,
audita asperitate uiri coeptoque feroci,
multa feta gerens ira praecordia, Poenus
astabat muris propereque accersere lectos
immitem castris Decium iubet. horrida uirtus            205
armatumque fide pectus rectique cupido
et maior Capua mens imperterrita mole
inuicta stabat toruoque minacia uultu
iussa ducis uerbisque etiam incessebat amaris.
quem Libyae rector tot signa, tot arma ferentis            210
spernentem increpitans magno clamore profatur:
'Post Paulum, post Flaminium componimur, eheu,
uecordi Decio, mecum certasse uolenti
in decus et famam leti.

    While she, pleasing to no one, utters these things in vain,
after the man’s asperity and his fierce undertaking were heard,
the Carthaginian, his breast big with much wrath, stood by the walls,
and promptly orders chosen men to summon to the camp the merciless Decius.
a bristling virtue            205
and a breast armed with faith and a desire for the right,
and a mind greater than Capua, undaunted by its mass,
stood unconquered, and with a grim face menacing
he was assailing the leader’s commands even with bitter words.
whom the ruler of Libya, with so many standards, so many arms attending,            210
chiding as he scorned, proclaims with a great shout:
“After Paulus, after Flaminius, we are matched, alas,
with the witless Decius, who wishes to have contended with me
for the honor and fame of death.”

rapite (ite citati)
signa, duces. pateatne mihi Campana uetante 215

seize (go in haste)
the standards, leaders. Shall it be patent to me, with Capua forbidding 215

urbs Decio, explorare libet, noua bella mouenti
cui patuere Alpes, saxa impellentia caelum
atque uni calcata deo.' suffuderat ora
sanguis et a toruo surgebant lumine flammae.
tum rictus spumans et anhelis faucibus acta 220
uersabant penitus dirum suspiria murmur.
sic urbem inuectus, toto comitante senatu
et uulgo ad spectanda ducis simul ora ruente,
effundit cunctam rabiem irarumque procellas.

the city to Decius, I am pleased to explore, for one setting new wars in motion,
to whom the Alps lay open, rocks impelling the sky,
and trodden by one god alone.' Blood had suffused
his face, and from his grim light flames were rising.
then his foaming jaws and the sighs driven through panting throats 220
were churning deep a dreadful murmuring sigh.
thus, carried into the city, with the whole senate accompanying,
and the populace rushing at once to behold the leader’s face,
he pours out all his madness and the storms of his angers.

Necnon et Decio propiora pericula mentem 225
flammarant, tempusque adeo cernebat adesse,
quo laudes ducis inuicti superaret inermis.
non illum fuga, non clausi occuluere penates,
sed liber, ueluti nullus penetrasset in urbem
Hannibal, intrepido seruauerat otia uultu, 230

Nor indeed had nearer perils also inflamed Decius’s mind, 225
and he clearly perceived that the time was at hand,
when, unarmed, he might surpass the praises of the unconquered leader.
Not flight, not the closed Penates concealed him;
but free, as though no Hannibal had penetrated into the city,
with an intrepid countenance he had preserved his leisure. 230

cum iuuenem saeuis, horrendum, concitus armis
inuadit globus et pedibus sublime sedentis
ductoris sistit. tonat inde ferocibus alte
incessens uictor dictis: 'Solusne ruentem
fulcire ac reuocare paras a funere Romam, 235
o demens? en, qui diuum mihi munera tanta
eripiat.

when a mass, roused with savage arms—horrific—invades the youth and halts at the feet of the leader sitting aloft. then the victor, pressing on with ferocious words, thunders from on high: 'Are you alone preparing to prop the collapsing Rome and to call her back from death, O madman? Look, here is he to snatch from me such great gifts of the gods. 235
O madman? Look, here is he to snatch from me such great gifts of the gods.

Decio prorsus seruabar inerti
uincendus, Decio imbelli, cui femina nulla
orta in Agenoreis nostrae Carthaginis oris
cesserit. huic agedum (nam cur indigna feramus 240
magnanimi?), miles, meritas innecte catenas.'
dixerat haec, necdum finem conuicia norant:
inlatus uelut armentis super ardua colla
cum sese imposuit uictorque immane sub ira
infremuit leo et immersis grauis unguibus haesit, 245

I was indeed being preserved to be conquered by inert Decius,
by unwarlike Decius, to whom no woman
born on the Agenorean shores of our Carthage
would have yielded. To this man, come then (for why should we, magnanimous, endure unworthy things?) 240
soldier, fasten on the deserved chains.'
He had said these things, and the invectives did not yet know an end:
borne in, just as when upon the lofty necks of herds
when the lion has set himself and, as victor, roars monstrously in wrath
and, heavy, with claws sunk, clings fast, 245

mandit anhelantem pendens ceruice iuuencum.
at Decius, dum uincla ligant, 'Necte ocius' inquit
'(nam sic Hannibalem decet intrauisse) catenas,
foederis infausti pretium. sic uictima prorsus
digna cadit Decius.

he gnaws the panting young bull, hanging by the neck.
but Decius, while they are binding the bonds, says, 'Bind more quickly
(for thus it befits that Hannibal has entered) the chains,
the price of the ill-fated treaty. thus the victim altogether worthy falls, Decius.

nec enim te sanguine laetum 250
humano sit fas caesis placasse iuuencis.
en dextra! en foedus!

for indeed it would not be lawful to have placated you, gladdened with human blood, 250
with slaughtered bullocks.
behold the right hand! behold the treaty!

nondum tibi curia necdum
templorum intrati postes: iam panditur acri
imperio carcer. perge ac primordia tanta
accumula paribus factis. mihi fama sub umbras 255
te feret oppressum Capuae cecidisse ruinis.'
nec plura effari concessum.

not yet for you the curia, nor yet the doorposts of the temples entered:
already the prison is thrown open by a harsh imperium.
proceed, and heap such great primordia with equal deeds.
for me Rumor beneath the shades will bear that you, overwhelmed, have fallen by Capua’s ruins.' 255
nor was it permitted to utter more.

obnubitur atra
ueste caput, trahiturque ferox ante ora suorum.
Exin uictor ouans sedato pectore tandem
spectandis urbis tectis templisque serenos 260

his head is veiled with a black
garment, and, fierce, he is dragged before the faces of his own.
Then the victor, exultant, with his breast at last calmed,
casts a serene gaze upon the city’s roofs and temples for viewing 260

laetus circumfert oculos et singula discit:
quis muris sator, et pubes sit quanta sub armis,
quot bello pateant argenti aerisque talenta,
nunc qualis frenata acies, nunc deinde pedestris
copia quanta uiris. monstrant Capitolia celsa 265
Stellatisque docent campos Cereremque benignam.
iamque diem ad metas defessis Phoebus Olympo
impellebat equis, fuscabat et Hesperos umbra
paulatim infusa properantem ad litora currum:
instituunt de more epulas festamque per urbem 270
regifice extructis celebrant conuiuia mensis.

glad, he casts his eyes around and learns each particular:
who was the sower (founder) of the walls, and how great the youth under arms,
how many talents of silver and of bronze lie open for war,
now of what sort the bridled battle-line, now then how great the foot-soldiery’s
supply in men. They show the lofty Capitolia 265
and they point out the Stellate fields and kindly Ceres.
and now Phoebus was driving the day to its turning-posts with his horses wearied on Olympus,
and a shadow was darkening Hesperus, gradually poured in upon his chariot
hastening to the shores:
they set up feasts according to custom, and through the city they celebrate festal
banquets with kingly tables piled high. 270

ipse, deum cultu et sacro dignatus honore,
praecipuis multoque procul splendentibus ostro
accipitur sublime toris. non una ministri
turba gregis: posuisse dapes his addita cura, 275

he himself, deemed worthy with the cult of the gods and with sacred honor,
is received on lofty couches, distinguished and gleaming from afar with much purple
Not a single throng of attendants
of the band: for them the added care was to set down the feasts, 275

his adolere focos, his ordine pocula ferre;
necnon et certis struitur penus. aspera mensa
pondera caelati fulgent antiquitus auri.
eripiunt flammae noctem, strepituque mouentum
murmurat alta domus.

by these to kindle the hearths, by these to bear the cups in order;
and likewise the provisions are arranged for set courses. the rough table
gleams with the weights of caelated gold of old.
the flames snatch away the night, and with the noise of those moving
the lofty house murmurs.

stupet inconsuetus opimae 280
Sidonius mensae miles faciemque superbi
ignotam luxus oculis mirantibus haurit.
uescitur ipse silens et tantos damnat honores
esse epulis facilesque coli tanto agmine mensas,
donec pulsa fames et Bacchi munera duram 285
laxarunt mentem. tum frontis reddita demum
laetitia, et positae grauiores pectore curae.

the soldier, unaccustomed to the opulent 280
Sidonian table, is stupefied, and he drinks in with wondering eyes
the visage of haughty luxury, unknown to him. He himself eats
in silence, and condemns that such great honors are given to feasts
and that tables are so easily tended by so great a throng,
until, hunger driven off and the gifts of Bacchus 285
having loosened his hard mind. Then joy at last is restored
to his brow, and the heavier cares are set down from his breast.

Personat Euboica Teuthras testudine, Cymes
incola, et obtusas immiti murmure saeuae
inter bella tubae permulcet cantibus auris. 290

Teuthras resounds on the Euboean tortoise-shell lyre, an inhabitant of Cyme, and amid wars he soothes with songs the ears dulled by the harsh murmur of the savage trumpet. 290

<namque chaos, caecam quondam sine sidere molem            453
non surgente die, ac mundum sine luce canebat.
tum deus ut liquidi disclusset stagna profundi
tellurisque globum media compage locasset;
ut celsum superis habitare dedisset Olympum,
castaque Saturni monstrabat saecula patris.>
iamque Iouem et laetos per furta canebat amores            291
Electraeque toros Atlantidos, unde creatus
proles digna deum tum Dardanus, isque Tonanti
ut det Eric<h>thonium magna de stirpe nepotem;
hinc Tros, hinc Ilus, generis tunc ordine longo            295

<for he was singing of chaos, the blind mass once without star,            453
with day not rising, and a world without light.
then how the god, when he had parted the pools of the liquid deep
and had placed the globe of earth in the middle fastening;
how he had given lofty Olympus for the gods above to inhabit,
and he was showing the chaste ages of father Saturn.>
and already he was singing of Jupiter and his glad loves by stealth,            291
and of the couch of Electra the Atlantid, whence there was begotten
offspring worthy of the gods, then Dardanus—he, that to the Thunderer
he might give Eric<h>thonius, a grandson from a great stock;
hence Tros, hence Ilus, then in a long sequence of the lineage            295

Assaracus, nulloque minor famaue manuue
tum Capys ut primis dederit sua nomina muris.
concelebrant plausu pariter Sidonia pubes
Campanaeque manus. ante omnis ductor honori
nominis augusto libat carchesia ritu; 300
cetera quem sequitur Bacchique e more liquorem
inrorat mensis turba ardescitque Lyaeo.

Assaracus, nor lesser in fame or in hand;
then how Capys gave his own name to the first walls.
celebrate with applause alike the Sidonian youth
and the Campanian bands. before all, the leader, in honor of the august name,
libates from carchesia by rite; 300
the rest follow him, and, according to the custom of Bacchus, the liquor
sprinkles the tables, and the throng grows ardent with Lyaeus.

    Interea, Tyrio resoluta in gaudia coetu
conuerso (neque enim, iuuenis non digne sileri,
tramittam tua coepta libens famamque negabo            305
quamquam imperfectis, magnae tamen indolis, ausis),
mens una, inuiolata mero nullisque uenenis
potandi exarmata decus, pugnaeque necisque
Sidoniae tacito uoluebat pectore molem.
quoque esset miranda magis tam sacra libido,            310

Meanwhile, as the Tyrian assembly, turned, was dissolved into joys
and (for indeed, young man not worthy to be silenced,
I will not pass over your undertakings, and I will not deny their fame,305
although unfinished, yet of great inborn endowment, daring),
one mind, inviolate by unmixed wine and untouched by any drinking-poisons,
with the glory of drinking disarmed, was revolving in his silent breast
the mass of Sidonian battle and slaughter.
and, that so sacred a desire might be the more a marvel, 310

Pacuuio genitus patrias damnauerat artis.
is uariis oneratum epulis atque atria tardo
linquentem gressu comitatus pone parentem,
postquam posse datum meditata aperire nouosque
pandere conatus, et liber parte relicta 315
tectorum a tergo patuit locus, 'Accipe digna
et Capua et nobis' inquit 'consulta:' (togaque
armatum amota nudat latus) 'hoc ego bellum
conficere ense paro atque auulsum ferre Tonanti
rectoris Libyci uictor caput. hic erit ille, 320
qui polluta dolis iam foedera sanciet, ensis.

Born of Pacuvius, he had condemned the ancestral arts.
He, having followed behind his parent, who, burdened with various courses and leaving the halls with slow step,
after it was granted to be able to disclose his meditated plans and to lay open new attempts,
and when, a part of the buildings left behind, an open place at the back lay clear, “Receive counsels worthy both of Capua and of us,” he says; (and, the toga removed, the armed man bares his flank) “with this sword I plan to finish the war and, torn away, to carry to the Thunderer the head of the Libyan commander as victor. This shall be that sword, 315
which will sanction the treaties now polluted by deceits.” 320

si perferre nequit spectacula tanta senectus
et tremit inceptis lasso maioribus aeuo,
at tu securis concede penatibus et me
linque meae menti. summum quod credis et aequas 325

if old age cannot endure such great spectacles
and trembles, with the age weary, at undertakings too great,
but do you withdraw to safe household gods and
leave me to my own mind. what you deem highest and hold equal 325

Hannibalem superis, o quantum nomine maior
iam Poeno tibi natus erit!' uibrabat ab ore
ignis atrox, animusque uiri iam bella gerebat,
cum senior, tanti pondus conaminis aegra
iam dudum uix aure ferens, tremebundus ibidem            330
sternitur et pedibus crebro pauida oscula figens:
'Per si quid superest uitae, per iura parentis
perque tuam nostra potiorem, nate, salutem,
absiste inceptis, oro, ne sanguine cernam
polluta hospitia ac tabo repleta cruento            335
pocula et euersas pugnae certamine mensas.
tune illum, quem non acies, non moenia et urbes
ferre ualent, cum frons propior lumenque corusco
igne micat, tune illa uiri quae uertice fundit
fulmina pertuleris, si uiso intorserit ense            340

‘Hannibal to the gods above—O how much greater in name than the Poenus your son will now be born to you!’ A fierce fire was quivering from his mouth, and the spirit of the man was already waging wars, when the elder, long since scarcely bearing with his ear the burden of so great an attempt, trembling there            330
is cast down and, fixing fearful kisses repeatedly upon his feet, says: ‘By whatever of life remains, by the rights of a parent, and by your safety, son, more precious than our own, desist from your beginnings, I beg, lest I behold hospitalities defiled with blood and cups filled with bloody gore, and tables overturned by the combat of battle.            335
Will you then face that man, whom neither battle-lines nor walls and cities are able to endure, when his brow draws near and his eye flashes with coruscant fire? Will you then endure those thunderbolts which the man pours from his crest, if at the sight he should brandish his sword?’            340

diram, qua uertit per campos agmina, uocem?
fallit te, mensas inter quod credis inermem.
tot bellis quaesita uiro, tot caedibus armat
maiestas aeterna ducem.

the dire voice, with which he routs the battle-lines across the fields?
it deceives you, that you believe him unarmed among the tables.
the eternal majesty, won for the man by so many wars, by so many slaughters,
arms the leader.

si admoueris ora,
Cannas et Trebiam ante oculos Trasimennaque busta 345
et Pauli stare ingentem miraberis umbram.
quid? tanto in casu comitum iuxtaque iacentum
torpebunt dextrae?

if you bring your face near,
you will marvel to see before your eyes Cannae and the Trebia and the burial-mounds of Trasimene 345
and the huge shade of Paulus standing.
what? in so great a disaster of your companions lying close by,
will your right hands grow numb?

parce, oro, et desine uelle,
cui nequeas uictor superesse. an tristia uincla
et Decius non erudiunt componere mentem?'            350
    Talia commemorans, famae maioris amore
flagrantem ut uidit iuuenem surdumque timori,
'Nil ultra posco, refer in conuiuia gressum;
approperemus:' ait 'non iam tibi pectora pubis
Sidoniae fodienda manu tutantia regem:            355

spare, I beg, and cease to desire that which, even as victor, you could not survive. Or do not the grim chains and Decius instruct you to compose your mind?'            350
    Recalling such things, when she saw the youth burning with love of greater fame and deaf to fear,
'Nothing further do I ask; turn back your step to the banquets;
let us hasten,' she said: 'no longer for you are the chests of the Sidonian youth, defending their king, to be pierced by your hand:            355

hoc iugulo dextram explora. namque haec tibi ferrum,
si Poenum inuasisse paras, per uiscera ferrum
nostra est ducendum. tardam ne sperne senectam.

test your right hand on this throat.
for this is the steel that, if you are preparing to invade the punic foe, must be drawn through our viscera for you.
do not spurn tardy old age.

opponam membra atque ensem extorquere negatum
morte mea eripiam.' lacrimae tunc ore profusae, 360
et magna superum cura seruatus in arma
Scipiadae Poenus, nec tantum fata dederunt
externa peragi dextra. pulcherrimus irae
et dignus fieri compos memorabilis ausi,
amisit quantam posito conamine laudem, 365
cui tantum est uoluisse decus. tum red<d>ere sese
festinant epulis et tristia fronte serenant,
donec laeta uirum soluit conuiuia somnus.

'I will oppose my limbs, and by my death I will snatch away the sword that cannot be wrenched out.' Then tears were poured from his face, 360
and by the great care of the gods the Carthaginian was preserved for the arms of the Scipiad, nor did the Fates grant that so much be accomplished by an external right hand. Most noble in anger and worthy to be made the achiever of a memorable daring, he lost how much praise by the attempt laid aside, 365
to whom so great a glory is merely to have willed it. Then they hasten to return themselves to the feasts and smooth their gloomy brows, until sleep released the man from the joyful banquets.

Postera lux Phaet<h>ontis equos proferre parabat,
iam rapido summis curru splendente sub undis, 370

The next light was preparing to bring forth Phaethon’s horses,
already, with the rapid chariot gleaming beneath the topmost waves, 370

et iuuenis magno generatus Hamilcare duras
iam dudum exercet curas. Carthaginis arces
ire ferox Mago et patribus portare iubetur
nuntius acta ducis. praeda et captiua leguntur
corpora dereptaeque uiris sub Marte cruento 375
exuuiae, fausti superis libamina belli.

and the young man, born of great Hamilcar, has long been exercising harsh cares.
the citadels of Carthage
fierce Mago is ordered to go, and to the fathers to carry
as messenger the acts of the leader. The booty and captive bodies are gathered,
and the spoils torn from men beneath bloody Mars 375
are offerings to the gods above of an auspicious war.

altera curarum Libycis dimittitur oris
heu Decius, reduci lentas seruatus ad iras,
ni poenae iuuenem indignae miseratus ab alto
Iuppiter antiquam Batti uertisset ad urbem. 380
hic Pellaea uirum Ptolomaei sceptra uehentum
eripuere minis, resolutaque uincula collo.
atque eadem uitae custos mox deinde quieto
accepit tellus ossa inuiolata sepulchro.
Nec Venerem interea fugit exoptabile tempus 385

another concern is dismissed to the Libyan shores—
alas, Decius, preserved for wraths slow to return—
if Jupiter, from on high pitying the youth for unworthy punishment,
had not turned him toward the ancient city of Battus. 380
here the Pellaean scepters of Ptolemy, by threats, snatched the man
from the bearers, and the bonds were loosened from his neck.
and the same land, guardian of his life, soon thereafter
received his bones inviolate in a quiet sepulcher.
Nor meanwhile did the longed-for time escape Venus. 385

Poenorum mentes caeco per laeta premendi
exitio et luxu corda importuna domandi.
spargere tela manu passim fallentia natis
imperat et tacitas in pectora mittere flammas.
tum pueris dulce adridens: 'Eat improba Iuno 390
et nos (nec mirum, quid enim sumus?) acta secundis
despiciat.

The minds of the Carthaginians to be pressed down to blind destruction by delights, and the importunate hearts to be tamed by luxury. she orders her sons to scatter everywhere with the hand deceiving darts, and to send silent flames into hearts. then, smiling sweetly at the boys: ‘Let shameless Juno go, 390
and let her (no wonder—for what indeed are we?) with things favoring despise us.

ualet illa manu, ualet illa lacertis:
paruula nos arcu puerili spicula sensim
fundimus, et nullus nostro de uulnere sanguis.
uerum, agite, o mea turba, precor (nunc tempus), adeste 395
et Tyriam pubem tacitis exurite telis.
amplexu multoque mero somnoque uirorum
profliganda acies, quam non perfregerit ensis,
non ignes, non immissis Gradiuus habenis.

she is strong in hand, she is strong in brawn:
we, tiny, little darts from a boyish bow little by little pour forth, and from our wound no blood.
but come, O my troop, I pray (now is the time), be present 395
and with silent weapons burn up the Tyrian youth.
by embrace and by much wine and by the sleep of men the battle-line must be routed, which the sword has not broken,
not fires, not Gradivus with the reins let loose.

combibat inlapsos ductor per uiscera luxus, 400

let the leader imbibe the inlapsed luxuries through his viscera, 400

nec pudeat picto fultum iacuisse cubili,
nec crinem Assyrio perfundere pugnet amomo.
ille sub hiberno somnos educere caelo
iactator tectis malit consumere noctes,
ac ponat ritus uescendi saepe citato 405
dum residet sub casside equo, discatque Lyaeo
imbellem donare diem. tum deinde madenti
post epulas sit grata chelys, segnisque soporas
aut nostro uigiles ducat sub numine noctes.'
Haec postquam Venus, adplaudit lasciuus et alto 410
mittit se caelo niueis exercitus alis.

nor let it shame him to have lain propped on a painted couch,
nor let him struggle against drenching his hair with Assyrian amomum.
let him draw out his sleeps beneath the winter sky,
let the braggart prefer to consume the nights under roofs,
and let him lay aside the rites of eating, so often at a gallop, 405
while he sits beneath the helmet on his horse, and let him learn to grant to Lyaeus
an unwarlike day. then next, after dripping banquets,
let the lyre be welcome, and, sluggish, let him lead sleep-bringing
or, wakeful, nights under our numen.'
after these things Venus, the wanton army applauds and from the high 410
sky it launches itself with snowy wings.

sentit flammiferas pubes Maurusia pennas,
et pariter fusis tepuerunt pectora telis.
Bacchi dona uolunt epulasque et carmina rursus
Pieria liquefacta lyra. non acer aperto 415

The Maurusian youth feels the flame-bearing wings,
and alike, as the missiles were poured forth, their breasts grew warm.
They want the gifts of Bacchus and banquets and songs again
melted by the Pierian lyre. not keen in the open 415

desudat campo sonipes, non ulla per auras
lancea nudatos exercet torta lacertos.
mollitae flammis lymphae languentia somno
membra fouent, miserisque bonis perit horrida uirtus.
ipse etiam, adflatus fallente Cupidine, ductor 420
instaurat mensas dapibus repetitque uolentum
hospitia et patrias paulatim decolor artis
exuit, occulta mentem uitiante sagitta.

the steed sweats on the field, no lance, whirled, exercises the bared upper arms through the airs.
waters softened by flames soothe limbs languishing with sleep, and in wretched goods grim virtue perishes.
he himself too, the leader, afflated by deceiving Cupid, 420
restores the tables with banquets and revisits the hospitality of the willing,
and, paling from his native arts little by little, he sheds them, as a hidden arrow vitiates his mind.

altera iam patria atque aequo sub honore uocatur
altera Carthago Capua, intactumque secundae 425
fortunae ingenium uitia adlectantia quassant.
nec luxus ullus mersaeque libidine uitae
Campanis modus: accumulant uariasque per artis
scaenarum certant epulas distinguere ludo,
ut strepit assidue Phrygiam ad Nilotica loton 430

now Capua is called another homeland and, under equal honor,
another Carthage; and vices, enticing amid favorable fortune, shake a nature hitherto untouched. 425
nor is there any limit among the Campanians to luxury and to a life
submerged in lust: they heap up banquets and vie, through the various arts
of the stage, to set off the feasts with play,
how incessantly the Phrygian music rattles in answer to the Nilotic lotus. 430

~Memphis Amyclaeo passim lasciua Canopo.
inprimis dulcem, Poeno laetante, per auris
nunc uoce infundit Teuthras, nunc pectine cantum.
isque ubi mirantem resonantia pollice fila
ductorem uidit Libyae, canere inde superbas 435
Aoniae laudes sensim testudinis orsus,
concordem citharae mouit per carmina linguam
uincere linquentis uitam quae possit olores,
atque haec e multis carpsit mollissima mensae:
'Argolicis quondam populis, mirabile dictu, 440
exaudita chelys lapidem testudine felix
ducere et in muris posuisse uolentia saxa.

~Memphis everywhere is wanton with Amyclaean Canopus.
Especially does Teuthras, with the Carthaginian rejoicing, now pour sweetness through the ears with his voice,
now with the plectrum the song. And when he saw the leader of Libya marveling
at the strings resounding beneath his thumb, then he began gradually to sing the proud
praises of the Aonian tortoise-shell; he moved a tongue harmonious with the cithara through his songs,
one that could outdo the swans as they leave life,
and from many he plucked these very soft things for the table:
'Among the Argolic peoples once, wondrous to tell, 440
the chelys, fortunate with tortoise-shell, was heard
to lead the stone and to have set in the walls the willing rocks.

haec Amphionio uallauit pectine Thebas
ac silice aggeribus per se scandente uocatis
iussit in immensum cantatas surgere turris. 445

with this Amphionian plectrum he walled Thebes
and, the flint climbing of itself when the ramparts were summoned,
he ordered the towers, sung-to, to rise to the immense heights. 445

altera turbatum plectro moderata profundum
et tenuit phocas et in omni Protea forma
traxit et aequoreo portauit Ariona dorso.
iam quae Peliaca formabat rupe canendo
heroum mentes et magni pectora Achillis, 450
Centauro dilecta chelys, compesceret iras
percussa fide uel pelagi uel tristis Auerni.
[namque chaos, caecam quondam sine sidere molem
non surgente die, ac mundum sine luce canebat.

another, with the plectrum, moderated the troubled deep,
and held the seals and, in every form, Proteus
she drew, and carried Arion on an oceanic back.
now she who by singing on the Pelian crag
was shaping the minds of heroes and the breast of great Achilles, 450
the chelys beloved to the Centaur, would restrain the wraths
with its string struck, whether of the sea or of gloomy Avernus.
[for he was singing of chaos, the blind mass once without star,
with day not rising, and the world without light.

tum deus ut liquidi ~discisset stagna profundi 455
tellurisque globum media compage locasset;
ut celsum superis habitare dedisset Olympum,
castaque Saturni monstrabat saecula patris.]
sed quos pulsabat Riphaeum ad Strymona, nerui,
auditus superis, auditus manibus Orpheus, 460

then the god how he had sundered the pools of the liquid deep 455
and had placed the globe of earth in the central fastness;
how he had given lofty Olympus to the supernal ones to inhabit,
and was displaying the chaste ages of Saturn the father.]
but the strains which the strings were striking by the Rhipaean Strymon,
Orpheus was heard by the gods above, heard by the Manes, 460

emerito fulgent clara inter sidera caelo.
hunc etiam mater, tota comitante sororum
Aonidum turba, mater mirata canentem.
non illo Pangaea iuga aut Mauortius Haemus,
non illo modulante sonos stetit ultima Thrace: 465
cum siluis uenere ferae, cum montibus amnes,
immemor et dulcis nidi positoque uolatu
non mota uolucris captiua pependit in aethra.

with their service completed, they shine bright among the bright stars in heaven.
this one too his mother, with the whole throng of the Aonian sisters accompanying,
his mother marveled at him singing.
not, with him, did the ridges of Pangaea or Mavortian Haemus stand still,
not, with him modulating the sounds, did farthest Thrace stand fast: 465
when with the forests came the wild beasts, with the mountains the rivers,
and forgetful of her sweet nest and her flight laid aside,
the bird, unmoving, hung captive in the aether.

quin etiam, Pagasaea ratis, cum caerula nondum
cognita terrere<nt> pontoque intrare negarent,            470
                      . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                470a
ad puppim sacrae, cithara eliciente, carinae
adductum cantu uenit mare. pallida regna
Bistonius uates flammisque Acheronta sonantem
placauit plectro et fixit reuolubile saxum.
o dirae Ciconum matres Geticique furores            475

nay even, the Pagasaean bark, when the not-yet-known blue waters frightened them and they refused to enter the deep,            470
                      . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                            470a
to the stern of the sacred keel, with the cithara eliciting, the sea came, led by the song. the Bistonian bard appeased the pallid realms and Acheron, sounding with flames, with his plectrum, and fixed the rolling-back stone. o dire mothers of the Cicones and Getic furors            475

et damnata deis Rhodope! tulit ora reuulsa
in pontum, ripis utraque sequentibus, Hebrus.
tum quoque, cum rapidi caput a ceruice recisum
portarent fluctus, subito emicuere per undas
ad murmur cete toto exultantia ponto.' 480
Sic tunc Pierius bellis durata uirorum
pectora Castalio frangebat carmine Teuthras.

and Rhodope, condemned by the gods! Hebrus bore the torn-off features
into the sea, with both banks following on either side.
then too, when the swift waves were carrying the head cut from the neck,
suddenly they flashed forth through the waves—at the murmur,
sea-monsters exulting over the whole sea.' 480
Thus then the Pierian Teuthras was breaking the hearts of men hardened by wars
with Castalian song.

interea placida attulerant iam flamina terris
Magonem Libycis. lauro redimita subibat
optatos puppis portus, pelagoque micabant 485
captiua arma procul celsa fulgentia prora.
at patulo surgens iam dudum ex aequore late
nauticus implebat resonantia litora clamor,
et simul adductis percussa ad pectora tonsis
centeno fractus spumabat uerbere pontus. 490
nec lentum in medios rapienda ad gaudia uulgus
procurrit fluctus, elataque turba fauore
certatim ingenti celebrat noua gaudia plausu.

Meanwhile gentle breezes had already borne Mago to the Libyan lands.
the ship, wreathed with laurel, was entering the longed-for harbors, and over the sea there were gleaming from afar the captive arms, shining on the lofty prow. 485
But a nautical clamor, rising for some time now from the open level of the sea far and wide,
was filling the resounding shores, and at the same time, with the oars drawn in and struck against their breasts,
the deep foamed, shattered by a hundredfold lash. 490
Nor is the crowd slow, rushing forth into the midst of the waves to snatch its joys,
and the throng, lifted by favor, in rivalry celebrates the new joys with huge applause.

aequatur rector diuis: illum undique matres,
illum turba minor moniti gaudere nepotes, 495

the leader is equated with the gods: at him on every side mothers,
at him the lesser throng—the grandsons, warned to rejoice— 495

et senior manus et iuxta populusque patresque
mactatis superum digna<n>tur honore iuuencis.
sic patriam Mago et portas ingressus ouantis
fraternae laudis fama. ruit inde senatus,
et multo patrum stipatur curia coetu. 500
tum diuos ueneratus auum de more uetusto
'Martem' ait 'egregium et fractas, quis Itala tellus
nitebatur, opes, pars ipse haud parua laborum,
nuntio.

both the elder band and, nearby, both the people and the fathers
honor the gods above with young bulls sacrificed.
thus Mago entered his fatherland and the rejoicing gates,
the fame of his brotherly glory. then the senate rushes forth,
and the curia is thronged with a great gathering of the fathers. 500
then, having venerated his deified grandsire according to the ancient custom,
he says, 'I announce illustrious Mars and the resources broken, on which the Italian land
was leaning, the resources; I myself no small part of the labors,
I announce.'

pugnatum superis in uota secundis.
est locus, Aetoli signat quem gloria regis, 505
possessus quondam prisca inter saecula Dauno.
umentis rapido circumdat gurgite campos
Aufidus et stagnis intercipit arua refusis,
mox fluctus ferit Hadriacos magnoque fragore
cedentem impellit retrorsus in aequora pontum. 510

the battle was fought, the gods favorable to our vows.
there is a place, which the glory of an Aetolian king marks, 505
once possessed in ancient ages by Daunus.
the Aufidus surrounds the moist fields with a swift whirling flood
and with waters flowing back in pools it cuts off the fields,
soon it strikes the Adriatic billows and with great crash
drives the yielding sea backward into the level waters. 510

hic Varro et magnum Latia inter nomina Paulus
nomen, quis rerum ducibus permissa potestas,
uixdum depulsa nigrae caligine noctis
inuadunt campum et late fulgentibus armis
accendunt ultro lucem surgentis Eoi. 515
nos contra (nam germanum furor acer agebat
optatae pugnae) castris cita signa mouemus.
intremit et tellus et pulsus mugit Olympus.
hic fluuium et campos abscondit caede uirorum
ductor, quo numquam maiorem ad bella tulerunt 520
rectorem terrae.

here Varro and Paulus, a great name among Latin names,
to whom, as leaders, the power of affairs had been entrusted,
with the black murk of night scarcely dispelled,
invade the field and, far and wide with gleaming arms,
they kindle besides the light of the rising Eoan. 515
we, in turn (for keen fury was impelling my brother
to the longed-for battle), swiftly move the standards from camp.
both the earth trembles and smitten Olympus bellows.
here the leader hides river and plains with the slaughter of men—
a leader than whom the lands have never borne greater to wars,520
a ruler of the earth.

uidi cum turbine saeuo
Ausonia et sonitu bellantis fusa per agros
uni terga daret. uidi cum Varro citato
auferretur equo, proiectis degener armis.
quin et magnanimum perfosso corpore telis 525

i saw when, in a savage whirlwind
Ausonia too, with the sound of warring, routed through the fields,
would give her back to one man. i saw when Varro, on a swift
horse, was being carried off, his weapons cast away, a degenerate.
nay, even the great-souled, with his body pierced by spears 525

strage super socium uidi te, Paule, cadentem.
Aegatis ille et seruilia foedera larga
ultus caede dies: non plus optasse liberet
quam tum concessit dexter deus. altera iam lux
si talis redeat, populis sis omnibus una 530
tum, Carthago, caput terrasque colare per omnis.

I saw you, Paulus, falling upon the carnage of your comrades.
That day avenged the Aegates and the servile treaties with lavish slaughter:
one could not have wished for more than the favorable god then granted. If a second day such should return, then, Carthage, you would be the one head for all peoples, 530
and would colonize through all lands.

testes hi stragis, quos signum inlustre superbis
mos laeua gestare uiris.' tum funditur ante
ora admirantum praefulgens anulus auro
datque fidem uerbis haud paruo insignis aceruo. 535
hinc iterum repetens, 'Restat nunc sedibus imis
uertenda atque aequanda solo iam subruta Roma.
adnitamur:' ait 'uires refouete tot haustas
casibus, et pateant non parca aeraria dextris
quas emimus bello. defit iam belua, tristis 540

these are witnesses of the carnage, the illustrious badge which it is the custom for proud men to wear on the left.' then a ring, shining forth, glittering with gold, is poured out before the faces of the amazed, and, conspicuous with no small heap, it gives credence to his words. 535
then, resuming again: 'It remains now that Rome, already undermined, be turned from her deepest seats and leveled with the ground. let us strive,' he says, 'refresh your strengths so much drained by misfortunes, and let the treasuries, not sparing, lie open to the hands which we have bought for war. the beast now fails, grim. 540

Ausoniis terror, necnon alimenta fatigant.'
Atque ea dum memorat, toruo conuersus in ora
Hannonis uultu, quem gliscens gloria prauum
ductori<s> studio iam dudum agitabat acerbo:
'Iamne tibi dextras inceptaque nostra probamus? 545
iam fas Dardanio me non seruire colono?
anne iterum Hannibalem dedi placet? atra ueneno
inuidiae nigroque undantia pectora felle,
tandem tot titulis totque exorata tropaeis,
infelix muta.

'a terror to the Ausonians, and supplies are wearing out.'
And while he says these things, turned with a grim face toward Hanno’s features,
whom the swelling glory made perverse, long since goading him with the bitter zeal
of the leader: 'Do we now win your approval for our right hands and our undertakings? 545
is it now right that I not serve the Dardanian colonist?
or does it please you that Hannibal be delivered again? hearts
black with the venom of envy and billowing with black gall,
at last, by so many titles and so many trophies prevailed upon—
unhappy one, be mute.'

dextra en, en dextera, quam tu            550
Aeneadis lacerare dabas, et litora et amnes
et stagna et latos impleuit sanguine campos.'
haec Mago, atque animos fauor haud obscurus alebat.
    Cui, simul inuidia atque ira stimulantibus, Hanno<n>:
'Talia uesani iuuenis conuicia miror            555

the right hand—lo, lo the right hand—which you were proffering to lacerate the Aeneads,            550
has filled both shores and rivers and pools and broad fields with blood.'
Thus Mago; and no obscure favor was nourishing their spirits.
    To him, with envy and anger at once spurring him, Hanno<n>:
'I marvel at such invectives of a mad youth            555

haud equidem: tumet ingenio, fraternaque corda
non tarde agnoscas et uirus futtile linguae.
qui ne mutatum uanis absistere credat,
nunc pacem orandum, nunc improba foedere rupto
arma reponendu<m> et bellum exitiale cauendum 560
auctor ego. atque adeo uosmet perpendite, quaeso,
quid ferat: haud aliud nobis censere relictum est.

by no means indeed: he swells with temperament, and you may readily recognize the fraternal heart and the futile virus of his tongue.
lest he think, changed by vanities, to desist,
now peace must be begged, now—since the treaty has been wickedly broken—
arms must be laid away and the ruinous war must be avoided 560
I am the proposer. And indeed, you yourselves, I beg, weigh what it brings:
nothing else is left for us to consider.

tela, uiros, aurum, classis, alimenta precatur
belligeramque feram. uictus non plura dedissem.
sanguine Dardanio Rutulos saturauimus agros, 565
et iacet in campis Latium.

he prays for weapons, men, gold, fleets, provisions, and that I carry on a belligerent campaign.
defeated, I would not have granted more.
with Dardanian blood we have sated the Rutulian fields, 565
and Latium lies in the plains.

deponere curas
tandem ergo, bone, da uictor, liceatque sedere
in patria, liceat non exhaurire rapacis
impensis belli uacuatos saepe penates.
nunc en, nunc, inquam (falsa ut praesagia nostra 570

to lay down cares
then at last, good victor, grant, and let it be permitted to sit
in the fatherland; let it be permitted not to exhaust by the rapacious
expenses of war, the households often emptied.
now lo, now, I say (that our presages are false 570

sint, oro, mensque augurio ludatur inani),
haud procul est funesta dies. atrocia noui
corda ac prospicio natas e cladibus iras.
uos ego, uos metuo, Cannae.

let them be, I pray, and let my mind be played with by empty augury),
the death-bringing day is not far off. I know the atrocious hearts,
and I foresee wraths born from calamities.
you, you I fear, Cannae.

summittite signa
atque adeo temptate, agedum, ac deposcite pacem: 575
non dabitur. parat ille dolor, mihi credite, maius
exitium accepto, citiusque haec foedera uictor
quam uictus dabit. atque adeo, qui tanta superbo
facta sonas ore et spumanti turbine perflas
ignorantum aures, dic, en, germanus in armis 580
ille tuus par Gradiuo, per saecula tellus
cui similem numquam ductorem in bella creauit,
moenia Romuleae cur nondum uiderit urbis?

lower the standards
and indeed try, come now, and demand peace: 575
it will not be given. that resentment, believe me, prepares a greater destruction in requital,
and sooner will the victor grant these treaties than the vanquished. and moreover, you who with a proud
mouth blare such deeds and with a foaming whirlwind blow through the ears of the ignorant, say, look,
that brother-in-arms of yours, a peer to Gradivus, 580
to whom through the ages earth has never created a like leader for wars,
why has he not yet seen the walls of the Romulean city?

scilicet e gremio matrum rapiamus in hostem
nondum portandis habiles grauioribus armis, 585
aeratas iussi texamus mille carinas,
atque omnis Libyae quaeratur belua terris,
ut longa imperia atque armatos proroget annos
Hannibal et regnum trahat usque in tempora fati?
uos uero (neque enim occulto circumdamur astu) 590

of course, shall we snatch from the mothers’ bosom into the enemy
those not yet able for bearing the graver arms, 585
shall we, when bidden, weave a thousand bronze-clad hulls,
and let the beast of all Libya be sought through the lands,
so that Hannibal may prorogue long dominions and armed years
and drag his kingship on even unto the times of fate? you indeed (for we are not surrounded by hidden craft) 590

ne dulcis spoliate domos, castrisque potentum
atque opibus sancite modum. pax optima rerum
quas homini nouisse datum est, pax una triumphis
innumeris potior, pax custodire salutem
et ciuis aequare potens reuocetur in arcis            595
tandem Sidonias, et fama fugetur ab urbe
perfidiae, Phoenissa, tua. si tanta libido
armorum tenet atque enses non reddere perstat
poscenti patriae, nil suppeditare furori
hortor et haec fratri Magonem dicta referre.'            600
    Plura adnectentem (neque enim satiauerat iras
dicendo) clamor turbat diuersa uolentum:
'Si Libyae decus, haud ulli superabilis armis,
Hannibal est irae tibi, destituemus ad ipsas
uictorem metas nec opum adiumenta feremus,            605

do not despoil sweet homes, and in the camps of the mighty set a limit upon resources. peace is the best of the things which it has been given to man to know, peace alone is preferable to numberless triumphs, let peace, powerful to guard safety and to make citizens equal, be called back into the Sidonian citadels,            595
and let the fame of perfidy be driven from your city, Phoenician woman. if so great a lust of arms holds you and you persist in not returning the swords to the fatherland that demands them, I urge that nothing be supplied to the frenzy, and that Mago report these words to his brother.'            600
    As he was adding more (for he had not sated his angers by speaking), the clamor of men wanting different things throws him into confusion:
'If the glory of Libya, to none surmountable in arms, Hannibal, is the object of your wrath, we will desert the victor at the very winning-posts, nor will we bring the aids of resources,            605

inuidia unius sceptra ut iam parta retardet?'
inde alacres tribuunt quae belli posceret usus
absentique suum iactant sub teste fauorem.
mox eadem terris placitum traducere Hiberis,
dum malus obtrectat facta immortalia liuor 610
nec sinit adiutas ductoris crescere laudes.

‘that the envy of one should retard scepters already won?’
thence, eager, they grant what the use of war would require,
and for the absent one they vaunt their favor before a witness.
Soon it was resolved to transfer the same decree to the Iberian lands,
while malignant envy detracts from immortal deeds, 610
nor does it allow the commander’s assisted praises to grow.