Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Segne iter emenso uix dum Tarpeia uideri
culmina desierant, toruos cum uersus ad urbem
ductor Agenoreus uultus remeare parabat.
castra locat, nulla laedens ubi gramina ripa
Tutia deducit tenuem sine nomine riuum 5
et tacite Tuscis inglorius adfluit undis.
hic modo primores socium, modo iussa deorum,
nunc sese increpitat: 'Dic o, cui Lydia caede
creuerunt stagna et concussa est Daunia tellus
armorum tonitru, quas exanimatus in oras 10
signa refers?

The sluggish journey just completed, the Tarpeian summits had scarcely yet ceased to be seen,
when, his face turned grimly toward the city, the Agenorean leader was preparing to return.
he pitches camp where, harming no grasses on any bank,
the Tutia draws down a thin stream without a name, 5
and silently, inglorious, it flows into the Tuscan waves.
here now he chides the chiefs of his allies, now the commands of the gods,
now himself he rebukes: ‘Speak, O you, by whose Lydian slaughter
the pools have swollen and the Daunian land has been shaken
by the thunder of arms— to what shores, out of your senses, 10
do you bear back the standards?’

qui mucro tuum, quae lancea tandem
intrauit pectus? si nunc existeret alma
Carthago ante oculos turrita celsa figura,
quas abitus, miles, causas, inlaese, dedisses?
"Imbres, o patria, et mixtos cum grandine nimbos 15

what blade, what lance at last
entered your breast? If now nurturing Carthage
were to appear before your eyes, turreted in lofty figure,
what reasons for departure, soldier, unharmed, would you have given?
"The rains, O fatherland, and clouds mixed with hail 15

et tonitrus fugio." procul hanc expellite genti
femineam Tyriae labem, nisi luce serena
nescire ac liquida Mauortem agitare sub aethra.'
    Terror adhuc inerat superum ac redolentia in armis
fulmina et ante oculos irati pugna Tonantis.            20
parendi tamen et cuicumque incumbere iusso
durabat uigor, ac sensim diffusus ad oras
signa reportandi crescebat in agmine feruor.
sic, ubi perrupit stagnantem calculus undam,
exiguos format per prima uolumina gyros,            25
mox tremulum uibrans motu gliscente liquorem
multiplicat crebros sinuati gurgitis orbes,
donec postremo laxatis circulus oris
contingat geminas patulo curuamine ripas.
    At contra Argyripae prauum decus (inclita namque            30

and I flee the thunders." Drive far from the nation this womanish stain of Tyrian stock, anyone who does not know how to ply Mavors in clear daylight and under the limpid aether.'
    The terror of the gods still was within, and the lightnings, still redolent in their arms, and the battle of the angry Thunderer before their eyes.            20
yet the vigor of obeying, and of bending to whatever was ordered, endured, and gradually, diffused along the shores, in the column the fervor grew for carrying back the standards.
so, when a pebble has broken through the stagnant wave,
it shapes slight gyres through the first rollings,            25
soon, as the trembling liquid quivers with swelling motion,
it multiplies the frequent orbs of the sinuous eddy,
until at last, its rims relaxed, the circle
with a wide-bending curve touches the twin banks.
    But on the contrary the perverse glory of Argyripa (for renowned indeed

semina ab Oenea ductoris stirpe trahebat
Aetoli--Dasio fuit haud ignobile nomen:
laetus opum, sed clauda fides, seseque calenti
addiderat Poeno Latiae diffisus habenae)--
is uoluens ueterum memorata antiqua parentum            35
'Longo miles' ait 'quateret cum Teucria bello
Pergama et ad muros staret sine sanguine Mauors,
sollicitis Calchas (nam sic fortissimus heros
poscenti socero saepe inter pocula Dauno
narrabat memori Diomedes condita mente)--            40
sed Calchas Danais, nisi clausum ex sedibus arcis
armisonae curent simulacrum auellere diuae,
non umquam adfirmat Therapnaeis Ilion armis
cessurum aut Ledae rediturum nomen Amyclas.
quippe deis uisum, ne cui perrumpere detur            45

he drew his seed from the stock of Oeneus, the Aetolian leader—Dasius was a not ignoble name:
glad of riches, but with a halting faith, and he had attached himself to the hot Poenus, distrusting the Latin rein)—
he, turning over the ancient matters remembered of his forefathers,            35
said, “When Teucria was battering Pergama with a long war, and Mavors stood at the walls without bloodshed,
the anxious Calchas (for thus the most valiant hero Diomedes would often tell to his asking father-in-law Daunus, amid the cups, with mindful mind the things laid up)—            40
but Calchas affirms to the Danaans that, unless they take care to tear away from the seats of the citadel the statue of the arms-sounding goddess,
never will Ilion yield to the Therapnaean arms, nor will the name of Leda return to Amyclae.
for it seemed to the gods that it be granted to no one to break through.”            45

effigies ea quas umquam possederit urbes.
tum meus adiuncto monstratam euadit in arcem
Tydides Ithaco et dextra <a>molitus in ipso
custodes aditu templi caeleste reportat
Palladium ac nostris aperit mala Pergama fatis. 50
nam postquam Oenotris fundauit finibus urbem,
aeger delicti Phrygium placare colendo
numen et Iliacos parat exorare Penatis.
ingens iam templum celsa surgebat in arce,
Laomedonteae sedes ingrata Mineruae, 55
cum medios inter somnos altamque quietem
nec celata deam et minitans Tritonia uirgo:
"Non haec, Tydide, tantae pro laudis honore
digna paras: non Garganus nec Daunia tellus
debentur nobis.

the effigy—whatever cities it has ever possessed.
then my Tydides, with the Ithacan joined, makes his way into the pointed‑out citadel,
and by his right hand, having dealt with the guards at the very
entrance of the temple, carries back the heavenly
Palladium and opens Pergama to our fates of evils. 50
for after he founded a city within Oenotrian borders,
sick over the offense he prepares by worship to placate the Phrygian
divinity and to entreat the Iliac Penates.
already a huge temple was rising on the high citadel,
a seat displeasing to Laomedontean Minerva, 55
when, in the midst of sleep and deep repose,
the Tritonian maiden appeared—no goddess concealed—and threatening:
"These things, Tydides, are not worthy, in the honor of so great praise,
that you prepare: neither Garganus nor the Daunian land
are owed to us.

quaere in Laurentibus aruis 60

seek in the Laurentian fields 60

qui nunc prima locant melioris moenia Troiae.
huc uittas castumque refer penetrale parentum."
quis trepidus monitis Saturnia regna capessit.
iam Phryx condebat Lauinia Pergama uictor
armaque Laurenti figebat Troia luco. 65
uerum ubi Tyrrheni peruentum ad fluminis undas
castraque Tydides posuit fulgentia ripa,
Priamidae intremuere metu.

who now place the first walls of a better Troy.
hither bring back the fillets and the chaste inner shrine of your parents."
so he, anxious at the warnings, takes up the Saturnian realms.
already the Phrygian victor was founding Lavinian Pergama
and Troy was fixing arms in the Laurentine grove. 65
but when they had come to the waves of the Tyrrhenian river
and Tydides set his gleaming camp upon the bank,
the Priamids trembled with fear.

tum pignora pacis
praetendens dextra ramum canentis oliuae
sic orsus Dauni gener inter murmura Teucrum: 70
"Pone, Anchisiade, memores irasque metusque.
quicquid ad Idaeos Xanthum Simoentaque nobis
sanguine sudatum Scaeaeque ad limina portae,
haud nostrum est: egere dei duraeque sorores.
nunc age, quod superest cur non melioribus aeui 75

then, proffering pledges of peace,
holding forth in his right hand a branch of hoary olive,
thus began the son-in-law of Daunus amid the murmurs of the Teucrians: 70
"Set aside, son of Anchises, the remembered angers and the fears.
whatever to the Idaean Xanthus and Simois for us
was sweated in blood, and at the thresholds of the Scaean gate,
is not ours: the gods and the hard sisters drove it.
now come, as for what remains, why not to better ages 75

ducimus auspiciis? dextras iungamus inermis:
foederis en haec testis erit." ueniamque precatus
Troianam ostentat trepidis de puppe Mineruam.
haec ausos Celtas inrumpere moenia Romae
corripuit leto neque tot de milibus unum 80
ingentis populi patrias dimisit ad aras.'
His fractus ductor conuelli signa maniplis
optato laetis abitu iubet.

"Do we conduct by auspices? Let us join unarmed right hands:
lo, this shall be witness of the covenant." And, having begged for pardon,
he displays from the stern to the trembling the Trojan Minerva.
This one seized with death the Celts who dared to break into the walls of Rome,
nor out of so many thousands did she dismiss even one 80
of that mighty people back to their ancestral altars."
By these things broken, the leader orders the standards to be torn up by the maniples,
for a wished-for departure, the ranks rejoicing.

itur in agros
diues ubi ante omnis colitur Feronia luco
et sacer umectat Flauinia rura Capenas. 85
fama est intactas longaeui ab origine fani
creuisse, in medium congestis undique donis,
immensum per tempus opes, lustrisque relictum
innumeris aurum solo seruante pauore.
hac auidas mentes ac barbara corda rapina 90

they go into the fields
where rich Feronia, before all, is worshipped in her grove,
and the sacred Capenas moistens the Flaminian fields. 85
the report is that, untouched from the origin of the long-lived shrine,
wealth grew, with gifts piled up from everywhere into the common midst,
for an immense span of time, and over countless lustrums left,
fear alone guarding the gold.
by this plunder greedy minds and barbarian hearts 90

polluit atque armat contemptu pectora diuum.
auia tunc longinqua placent, quae sulcat aratro
ad freta porrectis Trinacria Bruttius aruis.
Dum Libys haud laetus Regina ad litora tendit,
uictor summoto patriis a finibus hoste 95
Fuluius infaustam Campana ad moenia clausis
portabat famam miserisque extrema mouebat.

he defiles and also arms their hearts with contempt of the gods.
then far-off pathless places please, where Bruttium, with fields stretched to the straits, scores with the plough facing Trinacria.
While the Libyan, not joyful, makes for the Queen’s shores,
Fulvius, the victor, the enemy removed from his country’s borders, 95
was carrying ill-omened report to those shut in at the Campanian walls
and was setting the last things in motion for the wretched.

tum prensans passim, cuicumque est nomen in armis:
'Dedecus hoc defende manu: cur perfida et urbi
altera Carthago nostrae post foedera rupta            100
et missum ad portas Poenum, post iura petita
consulis alterni stat adhuc et turribus altis
Hannibalem ac Libycas expectat lenta cohortis?'
miscebat dictis facta et nunc robore celsas
educi turris, quis uinceret ardua muri,            105
cogebat, nunc coniunctas astringere nodis
instabat ferroque trabes, quo frangeret altos
portarum postes quateretque morantia claustra.
hic latera intextus stellatis axibus agger,
hic grauida armato surgebat uinea dorso.            110

then grasping at random, whosoever has a name in arms:
“Defend this disgrace with your hand: why does treacherous Carthage, a second for our City,
after treaties broken and a Punic sent to the gates,            100
after the rights sought of the alternate consul, still stand, and from her lofty towers
sluggishly await Hannibal and the Libyan cohorts?”
He mingled deeds with words, and now he compelled that lofty towers be raised with timber,
by which to conquer the steep heights of the wall,            105
now he pressed to tighten the joined beams with knots
and with iron the timbers, with which to break the tall posts
of the gates and shake the hindering bars. Here a siege-ramp, its flanks interwoven
with star-spoked axles; here a heavy mantlet was rising with armored back.            110

at postquam properata satis quae commonet usus,
dat signum atque alacer scalis transcendere muros
imperat ac saeuis urbem terroribus implet.
Tum subito dextrum offulsit conatibus omen.
cerua fuit, raro terris spectata colore, 115
quae candore niuem, candore anteiret olores.

but after the things which use admonishes had been hastened enough,
he gives the signal and, brisk, orders the walls to be overstepped with ladders,
and he fills the city with savage terrors.
Then suddenly a right (auspicious) omen flashed for the endeavors.
it was a hind, with a hue rarely seen on earth, 115
which in candor would outstrip snow, in candor would outstrip swans.

hanc agreste Capys donum, cum moenia sulco
signaret, grato paruae mollitus amore
nutrierat sensusque hominis donarat alendo.
inde exuta feram docilisque accedere mensis 120
atque ultro blanda attactu gaudebat erili.
aurato matres adsuetae pectine mitem
comere et umenti fluuio reuocare colorem.

this one rustic Capys, as a gift, when he was marking the walls with a furrow,
had nurtured, softened by the pleasing love of the little one,
and by rearing had endowed her with the sense of a human. From then on, with her wildness shed,
and docile to approach the tables, 120
and moreover, coaxing, she took delight in the master’s touch.
the matrons, accustomed with a gilded comb to groom the gentle one
and to call back her color in the moist river.

numen erat iam cerua loci, famulamque Dianae
credebant, ac tura deum de more dabantur. 125

The hind was now the numen of the place, and the handmaid of Diana
they believed, and incense of the gods was given according to custom. 125

haec aeui uitaeque tenax felixque senectam
mille indefessos uiridem duxisse per annos
saeclorum numero Troianis condita tecta
aequabat. sed iam longo nox uenerat aeuo.
nam, subito incursu saeuorum agitata luporum 130
qui noctis tenebris urbem (miserabile bello
prodigium) intrarant, primos ad luminis ortus
extulerat sese portis pauidaque petebat
consternata fuga positos ad moenia campos.

she, tenacious of age and of life and happy, had led a green old age
through a thousand indefatigable years, and was equaling, by the count of ages,
the roofs founded for the Trojans.
but now night had come upon her long age.
for, shaken by the sudden incursion of savage wolves 130
who in the darkness of night had entered the city (a miserable portent
for war), at the first risings of light she had carried herself out through the gates
and, fearful, was seeking in panic-stricken flight the fields laid out by the walls.

exceptam laeto iuuenum certamine ductor 135
mactat, diua, tibi (tibi enim haec gratissima sacra)
Fuluius atque 'Adsis,' orat 'Latonia, coeptis.'
inde alacer fidensque dea circumdata clausis
arma mouet, quaque obliquo curuantur in or<b>e<m>
moenia flexa sinu, spissa uallata corona 140

the leader Fulvius sacrifices, the one taken in the joyful contest of the youths, to you, goddess (for to you these rites are most most pleasing), 135
and he prays, “Be present, Latonian, to our undertakings.”
then, lively and confident, with the goddess encompassing the enclosed city,
he sets the arms in motion, and where the walls, bent with a slanting fold,
curve into a circle, thickly hemmed with a ring, 140

alligat et telis in morem indaginis ambit.
    Dum pauitant, spumantis equi fera corda fatigans
euehitur porta sublimis Taurea cristis
bellator, cui Sidonius superare lacerto
ductor et Autololas dabat et Maurusia tela.            145
is trepido ac lituum tinnitu stare neganti
imperitans uiolenter equo, postquam auribus hostis
uicinum sese uidet et clamare propincu<m>,
'Claudius huic' inquit (praestabat Claudius arte
bellandi et merita mille inter proelia fama)            150
'huic' inquit 'solum, si qua est fiducia dextrae,
det sese campo atque ineat certamina mecum.'
    Vna mora Aeneadae, postquam uox attigit auris,
dum daret auspicium <i>usque in certamina ductor:
praeuetitum namque et capital committere Martem            155

he ties and encircles with missiles in the manner of a drive-net.
    While they quail, Taurea, a crested warrior, is carried out high from the gate,
wearing down the fierce heart of his foaming horse; to him the Sidonian
leader was wont to grant to overmatch by his brawn both the Autololes
and the Maurusian spears.            145
he, mastering with force his skittish horse that refused to stand
at the clarion’s ringing, after he perceives by his ears that the foe
is near and shouting close at hand,
“Claudius for this man,” he says (Claudius excelled in the art
of warring and in fame deserved amid a thousand battles),            150
“for this man,” he says, “let him alone, if there is any confidence in his right hand,
give himself on the field and enter combat with me.”
    One sole delay for the Aenead, after the voice reached his ears,
while the leader should give the auspice usque in certamina: for to engage Mars
prematurely was forbidden and a capital crime.            155

sponte uiris. erumpit ouans, ut Fuluius arma
imperio soluit, patulumque inuectus in aequor
erigit undantem glomerato puluere nubem.
indignatus opem ammenti socioque iuuare
expulsum nodo iaculum atque accersere uires 160
Taurea uibrabat nudis conatibus hastam:
inde ruens ira telum contorquet in auras.

of their own will for the men. he bursts out exultant, when Fulvius by command unlocks the arms,
and, borne into the open level, he raises a billowing cloud with gathered dust.
indignant to use the aid of the throwing-thong and of a comrade to help,
to launch the javelin expelled by the loop and to summon strength, 160
Taurea was brandishing the spear with bare efforts:
then, rushing on in wrath, he hurls the weapon into the airs.

at non idem animus Rutulo: spec<u>latur et omni
corpore perlustrat qua sit certissima ferro
in uulnus uia, nunc uibrat, nunc comprimit hastam 165
mentiturque minas. mediam tunc transiit ictu
parmam, sed grato f<r>audata est sanguine cuspis.
tum strictum propere uagina detegit ensem.

but not the same spirit for the Rutulian: he scouts and with his whole
body he surveys where the most certain path for steel may be
into a wound; now he brandishes, now he compresses the spear 165
and he feigns threats. Then he passed with a blow through the middle
of the shield, but the point was cheated of welcome blood.
Then quickly he bares from the sheath his drawn sword.

et iam ferrata rapiebat calce uolantem
Taurea cornipedem fugiens minitantia fata. 170

and now with his iron-shod heel Taurea was urging on the flying steed, fleeing the menacing fates. 170

nec Rutulus leuior cedentis perdere terga:
nam profugo rapidus fusis instabat habenis,
utque metus uictum, sic ira et gloria portis
uictorem immisit meritique cupido cruoris.
ac dum uix oculis, uix credunt mentibus hostem            175
confisum nullo comitante inrumpere tectis,
per mediam propere trepidantum interritus urbem
egit ecum auersaque euasit ad agmina porta.
    Hinc ardore pari nisuque incurrere muris
ignescunt animi penetrataque tecta subire.            180
tela simul flammaeque micant.

nor was the Rutulian slower to ruin the back of the one yielding:
for at the fugitive he pressed, rapid, with the reins let loose,
and as fear sent the conquered within the gates, so wrath and glory through the gates
sent the victor, and a desire for deserved blood.
and while they scarcely believe with their eyes, scarcely with their minds, that the enemy,            175
trusting in no companion, is bursting into the roofs,
through the middle of the city of the trembling, undaunted, he drove his horse in haste
and by the gate turned away he escaped to the battle-lines.
    From here, with equal ardor and strain, their spirits ignite to run upon the walls
and to enter beneath the penetrated roofs.            180
missiles and flames flash at once.

tunc saxeus imber
ingruit, et summis ascendunt turribus hastae.
nec pronum audendi uirtute excellere cuiquam:
aequarunt irae dextras. Dictaea per auras
tranat et in medium perlabitur urbis harundo. 185

then a stony shower
rushes on, and spears mount the highest towers.
nor was it easy for anyone, by valor, to excel in daring:
anger made equal their right hands. A Dictaean reed
swims through the airs and glides into the middle of the city. 185

laetatur non hortandi, non plura monendi
Fuluius esse locum. rapiunt sibi quisque laborem.
quos ubi tam erectos animi uidet, et super esse
factorum sibi quemque ducem, ruit impete uasto
ad portam magnaeque optat discrimina famae. 190
Tres claustra aequaeuo seruabant corpore fratres,
quis delecta manus centeni cuique ferebant
excubias unaque locum statione tenebant.

Fulvius rejoices that there is no place for exhorting, no place for further admonishing.
they each snatch the labor for themselves. When he sees them so erect in spirit, and that, moreover, each is a leader of deeds for himself, he rushes with a vast onrush to the gate and longs for the hazards of great fame. 190
Three brothers, with bodies of equal age, were guarding the barriers;
for whom a chosen band—a hundred to each—kept the watches, and with a single post they held the place.

forma ex his Numitor, cursu plantaque uolucri
praestabat Laurens, membrorum mole Taburnus. 195
sed non una uiris tela: hic mirabilis arcu,
ille hastam quatere ac medicatae cuspidis ictu
proelia moliri et nudo non credere ferro,
tertius aptabat flammis ac sulphure taedas:
qualis Atlantiaco memoratur litore quondam 200

in form among these, Numitor; in running and with a swift sole, Laurens excelled; in the mass of his limbs, Taburnus. 195
but the weapons were not the same for the men: this one marvelous with the bow,
that one to brandish the spear and to undertake battles with the blow of a medicated point and not to trust to bare steel,
the third was fitting torches with flames and sulfur:
such as is recounted once upon a time on the Atlantic shore 200

monstrum Geryones immane tricorporis irae,
cui tres in pugna dextrae uaria arma gerebant:
una ignes saeuos, ast altera pone sagittas
fundebat, ualidam torquebat tertia cornum,
atque uno diuersa dabat tria uulnera nisu.            205
hos ubi non aequis uariantes proelia consul
conspexit telis et portae limina circum
stragem ac perfusos subeuntum sanguine postis,
concitat intortam furiatis uiribus hastam.
letum triste ferens auras secat Itala taxus            210
et, qua nudarat, dum fundit spicula ab alto,
arcum protendens Numitor latus, ilia transit.
at non obsaepto contentus limine Martem
exercere, leuis bello, sed turbidus ausi,
Virrius incauto feruore eruperat amens            215

the monster Geryon, immense, of three-bodied ire,
to whom in battle three right hands bore varied arms:
one was pouring savage fires, but another behind
was showering arrows, the third was twisting the stout horn-bow,
and with one effort he dealt three diverse wounds.            205
when the consul saw these men varying the fray with unequal missiles
and, around the gate’s thresholds, the carnage and the doorposts
of those going under drenched with blood,
he speeds a twisted spear with frenzied forces.
the Italian yew, bearing grim death, cleaves the airs,            210
and, where Numitor had laid bare his side, while he pours darts from on high,
stretching the bow, it passes through the flank.
but not content to exercise Mars with the threshold barred,
light in war, but turbulent in daring,
Virrius burst out, mad, in incautious fervor.            215

reclusa in campum porta miseramque furori
uincentum obtulerat pubem. ruit obuia in arma
Scipio et oblatum metit insatiabilis agmen.
Tifata umbrifero generatum monte Calenum
nutrierant audere trucem, nec corpore magno 220
mens erat inferior.

with the gate thrown open onto the plain, he had offered the wretched youth to the fury of the conquerors.
Scipio rushes to meet in arms and, insatiable, mows down the proffered column.
Tifata, the shade-bearing mountain, had reared a Calenus born there,
grim in daring, nor was his mind inferior to his great body. 220
his mind was not inferior.

subsidere saepe leonem,
nudus inire caput pugnas, certare iuuenco
atque obliqua trucis deducere cornua tauri
adsuerat crudoque ~aliqua se attollere facto.
is, dum praecipites expellit Virrius urbe, 225
seu spreto, seu ne fieret mora, nudus in aequor
thorace exierat leuiorque premebat anhelos
pondere loricae et palantis uictor agebat.
iamque Veliternum media transegerat aluo,
iam solitum aequali ludo committere equestris 230

to cause a lion often to subside,
to enter battles with the head bare, to contend with a young bull,
and to draw down the slanting horns of a savage bull,
he had been accustomed, and to exalt himself by some raw exploit.
that man, while Virrius drives them headlong out of the city, 225
whether out of disdain, or lest there be delay, had gone onto the plain
with breast bare without a cuirass, and, lighter by the weight of the corselet,
he pressed the panting and, as victor, drove the stragglers.
and now he had transfixed Veliternus through the middle of the belly,
now to bring the equestrian to their accustomed, evenly matched game 230

Scipiadae pugnas Marium tellure reuulso
perculerat saxo. miser implorabat amicum
cum gemitu expirans, scopulusque premebat hiantem.
sed ualidas saeuo uires duplicante dolore
effudit lacrimas pariter cornumque sonantem 235
Scipio, solamen properans optabile in armis
hostem prostrato morientem ostendere amico.

The Scipiad’s combats Marius, with a rock torn from the earth,
had smitten; wretched, expiring with a groan, he implored his friend,
and the crag was pressing the gasping man. but, with savage pain doubling his powers,
he poured forth strong tears and at the same time the sounding horn, 235
Scipio, hastening to show to his friend, laid low and dying, the enemy overthrown—an eagerly desired solace in arms.

tranauit, uolucris liquidas ceu scinderet auras,
hasta uiri pectus rupitque immania membra:
quanta est uis agili per caerula summa Liburnae, 240
quae, pariter quotiens reuocatae ad pectora tonsae
percussere fretum, uentis fugit ocior et se,
quam longa est, uno remorum praeterit ictu.
Ascanium Volesus, proiectis ocius armis
quo leuior peteret muros, per aperta uolantem 245

he swam across, as if a bird were cleaving the liquid breezes,
the spear ruptured the man’s breast and shattered the enormous limbs:
as great as is the force of a nimble Liburnian over the cerulean surface, 240
which, whenever the oars, recalled in unison to the breasts,
have struck the sea, flees swifter than the winds and, long as it is, with a single stroke of the oars passes its own length.
Volesus pursued Ascanius—who, having more quickly cast away his arms that he might seek the walls lighter, was flying through the open— 245

adsequitur planta. deiectum protinus ense
ante pedes domini iacuit caput, ipse secutus
corruit ulterior procursus impete truncus.
nec spes obsessis ultra reserata tueri
moenia: conuertunt gressus recipique precantis 250
(infandum) excludunt socios dum cardine uerso
obnixi torquent obices, munimina sera.

he overtakes on foot. Cast down by the sword at once,
before his master’s feet the head lay; he himself, following,
the trunk, collapsed, borne on by the impetus of its further course.
nor was there hope for the besieged any longer to guard the unbarred
walls: they turn their steps, and those begging to be received 250
(unspeakable) they exclude their comrades, while, with the hinge turned,
bracing themselves, they twist the bars, the belated muniments.

acrius hoc instant Itali clausosque fatigant.
et, ni caeca sinu terras nox conderet atro,
perfractae rapido patuissent milite portae.            255
    Sed non in requiem pariter cessere tenebrae:
hinc sopor impauidus, qualem uictoria mouit;
at Capua aut maestis ululantum flebile matrum
questibus aut gemitu trepidantum exterrita patrum
tormentis finem metamque laboribus orat.            260

more sharply at this the Italians press on and weary the shut-in;
and, if blind night had not hid the lands in a black bosom,
the broken-through gates would have stood open to the rapid soldiery.            255
    But not into requiem did the darkness alike subside:
on this side, a fearless sleep, such as victory has moved;
but Capua, either by the mournful, lamentable ululations of mothers
or by the groan and complaints of fathers in trepidation, terrified,
prays for an end to torments and a goal to labors.            260

mussat perfidiae ductor coetuque senatus
Virrius a Poeno nullam docet esse salutem,
uociferans pulsis uiuendi e pectore curis:
'Speraui sceptra Ausoniae pepigique, sub armis
si dexter Poenis deus et Fortuna fuisset, 265
ut Capuam Iliaci migrarent regna Quirini.
qui quaterent muros Tarpeiaque moenia, misi;
nec mihi poscendi uigor afuit, alter ut aequos
portaret fasces nostro de nomine consul.
hactenus est uixisse satis.

the leader of perfidy murmurs, and Virrius shows to the assembly of the senate that there is no salvation from the Punic, vociferating, with the cares of living driven from his breast: 'I hoped for the scepters of Ausonia and I struck a pact, if under arms god and Fortune had been right-hand to the Poeni, 265
that to Capua the realm of Iliac Quirinus might migrate. those to batter the walls and the Tarpeian ramparts I sent; nor was the vigor of demanding lacking to me, that the other consul, of my name, might carry equal fasces. thus far it has been enough to have lived.

dum copia noctis, 270
cui cordi comes aeterna est Acherontis ad undam
libertas, petat ille meas mensasque dapesque
et uictus mentem fuso per membra Lyaeo
sopitoque necis morsu medicamina cladis
hauriat ac placidis exarmet fata uenenis.' 275

while the leeway of night remains, 270
to whom freedom is dear, an eternal companion at the wave of Acheron,
let him seek my tables and my feasts,
and, his mind overcome, with Lyaeus poured through his limbs,
and, the bite of death soothed, let him drink the medicaments of disaster,
and with placid poisons disarm the Fates.' 275

haec ait et turba repetit comitante penatis.
Aedibus in mediis consurgens ilice multa
extruitur rogus, hospitium commune peremptis.
nec uulgum cessat furiare dolorque pauorque.

He says these things and returns to the throng, with the Penates accompanying.
In the midst of the house, a pyre is erected, rising with much holm-oak,
a common lodging for the slain.
nor do grief and dread cease to infuriate the common folk.

nunc menti Decius serae redit et bona uirtus 280
exilio punita truci. despectat ab alto
sacra Fides agitatque uirum fallacia corda.
uox occulta subit passim diffusa per auras:
'Foedera, mortales, ne saeuo rumpite ferro,
sed castam seruate Fidem.

Now Decius returns late to his mind, and Good Virtue, punished by cruel exile, 280
Sacred Faith looks down from on high and deceitful hearts agitate the man.
An occult voice rises, diffused everywhere through the airs:
'Mortals, do not break treaties with savage iron,
but preserve chaste Faith.'

fulgentibus ostro 285
haec potior regnis. dubio qui frangere rerum
gaudebit pacta ac tenuis spes linquet amici,
non illi domus, aut coniunx, aut uita manebit
umquam expers luctus lacrimaeque. aget aequore semper
ac tellure premens, aget aegrum nocte dieque 290

with purple gleaming 285
this is superior to realms. he who in the uncertainty of affairs
will rejoice to break pacts and will leave the slender hope of a friend,
for him neither house, nor spouse, nor life will ever remain
free from grief and tears. the sea will drive him always,
and on land, pressing him down, it will drive him sick by night and by day 290

despecta ac uiolata Fides.' adit omnia iamque
concilia ac mensas contingit et abdita nube
accumbitque toris epulaturque improba Erinys.
ipsa etiam Stygio spumantia pocula tabo
porrigit et large poenas letumque ministrat. 295
Virrius interea, dum dat penetrare medullas
exitio, ascenditque pyram atque amplexibus haeret
iungentum fata et subici iubet ocius ignis.
Stringebant tenebrae metas, uictorque ruebat.

'Faith scorned and violated.' She now approaches all councils and touches the tables, and, in a hidden cloud, the wicked Erinys reclines on couches and feasts. She herself even proffers cups foaming with Stygian gore and lavishly dispenses punishments and death. 295
Meanwhile Virrius, while he lets destruction penetrate to the marrow, climbs the pyre and clings with embraces to the fates of those being joined, and orders the fire to be thrust beneath more swiftly.
The darkness was drawing tight the bounds, and the victor was rushing headlong.

iamque superstantem muro sociosque Milonem 300
uoce attollentem pubes Campana uidebat.
pandunt attoniti portas trepidoque capessunt
castra inimica gradu, quis leto auertere poenas
defuerant animi. patet urbs confessa furorem
et reserat Tyrio maculatas hospite sedes. 305

and now the Campanian youth was seeing Milo standing upon the wall and with his voice lifting up his comrades 300
they, thunderstruck, throw open the gates, and with a trembling step they make for the inimical camp—those whose spirits had failed to avert penalties by death.
the city lies open, confessing its frenzy, and unbars homes stained by the Tyrian guest. 305

matronae puerique ruunt maestumque senatus
concilium nullique hominum lacrimabile uulgus.
stabant innixi pilis exercitus omnis
spectabantque uiros et laeta et tristia ferre
indocilis nunc propexis in pectora barbis            310
uerrere humum, nunc foedantis in puluere crinem
canentem et turpi lacrima precibusque pudendis
femineum tenues ululatum fundere in auras.
    Atque ea dum miles miratur inertia facta
expectatque ferox sternendi moenia signum,            315
ecce repens tacito percurrit pectora sensu
religio et saeuas componit numine mentis,
ne flammam taedasque uelint, ne templa sub uno
in cinerem traxisse rogo.

matrons and boys rush, and the sorrowful council of the senate,
and a tear-moving crowd with none of the men.
the whole army stood leaning on their spears
and watched men, untaught to bear both joyful and sad things,
now with beards let down over their breasts to sweep the ground,            310
now defiling in dust their hoary hair,
and with base tear and shameful prayers
to pour a womanish ululation into the thin airs.
    And while the soldier marvels at these inert deeds
and, fierce, awaits the signal for leveling the walls,            315
lo, with a sudden, silent sensation there runs through their hearts
a religious awe, and by a divine influence it composes their savage minds,
lest they should desire flame and torches, lest they drag the temples
into ash beneath one pyre.

subit intima corda
perlabens sensim mitis deus. ille superbae 320

he enters the inmost hearts
gliding gradually, the gentle god. he of the proud 320

fundamenta Capyn posuisse antiquitus urbi
non cuiquam uisus passim monet, ille refusis
in spatium immensum campis habitanda relinqui
utile tecta docet. paulatim atrocibus irae
languescunt animis, et uis mollita senescit. 325
Pan Ioue missus erat seruari tecta uolente
Troia, pendenti similis Pan semper et imo
uix ulla inscribens terrae uestigia cornu.
dextera lasciuit caesa Tegeatide capra
uerbera laeta mouens festa per compita cauda. 330
cingit acuta comas et opacat tempora pinus,
ac parua erumpunt rubicunda cornua fronte.

he, everywhere seen by no one, warns that Capys had anciently set the foundations for the city; he teaches that, with the fields flung open into an immense expanse, the useful roofs be left for habitation. little by little angers flag in savage spirits, and force, softened, grows old. 325
Pan had been sent by Jove, with Troy’s roofs to be preserved at his will; Pan, ever like one hanging, and scarcely inscribing any tracks upon the earth with his horn. his right hand frolics, a Tegean she-goat having been felled, moving joyful lashes with the festive tail through the cross-roads. 330
a sharp pine girds his hair and shades his temples, and little ruddy horns burst forth from his brow.

stant aures, imoque cadit barba hispida mento.
pastorale deo baculum, pellisque sinistrum
uelat grata latus tenerae de corpore dammae. 335

the ears stand, and a hispid beard falls down from the lowest chin.
a pastoral staff for the god, and a hide pleasing
veils the left side, from the body of a tender fallow-deer. 335

nulla in praeruptum tam prona et inhospita cautes,
in qua non librans corpus similisque uolanti
cornipedem tulerit praecisa per auia plantam.
interdum inflexus medio nascentia tergo
respicit adridens hirtae ludibria caudae, 340
obtendensque manum solem inferuescere fronti
arcet et umbrato perlustrat pascua uisu.
hic, postquam mandata dei perfecta malamque
sedauit rabiem et permulsit corda furentum,
Arcadiae uolucris saltus et amata reuisit 345
Maenala, ubi argutis longe de uertice sacro
dulce sonans calamis ducit stabula omnia cantu.

no crag so leaning down toward a precipice and inhospitable,
on which, balancing his body and like to one flying,
he has not borne his hoofed sole through cut-off pathless places.
at times, bent, from the middle of his back he looks back,
smiling at the playful mockeries of his shaggy tail, 340
and holding his hand before, he wards off the sun growing hot from his brow
and with a shaded gaze he thoroughly surveys the pastures.
here, after the mandates of the god were completed and he
stilled the evil frenzy and soothed the hearts of the raging,
he revisits the swift glades of Arcadia and his beloved 345
Maenalus, where, far off from the sacred summit,
sweetly sounding with shrilling reeds, he leads all the stables by song.

At legio Ausonidum, flammas ductore iubente
arceri portis stantisque relinquere muros
(mite decus mentis), condunt ensesque facesque. 350

But the legion of the Ausonids, the leader bidding that the flames be warded from the gates and that the standing walls be left untouched (a gentle honor of mind), sheathe their swords and quench their torches. 350

multa deum templis domibusque nitentibus auro
egeritur praeda et uictus alimenta superbi,
quisque bonis periere, uirum de corpore uestes
femineae mensaeque alia tellure petitae
poculaque Eoa luxum inritantia gemma.            355
nec modus argento, caelataque pondera facti
tantum epulis auri, tum passim corpora longo
ordine captiua, et domibus deprompta talenta,
pascere longincum non deficientia bellum,
immensique greges famulae ad conuiuia turbae.            360
    Fuluius, ut finem spoliandis aedibus aere
belligero reuocante dedit, sublimis ab alto
suggestu, magnis fautor non futtilis ausis,
'Lanuuio generate,' inquit 'quem Sospita Iuno
dat nobis, Milo, Gradiui cape uictor honorem,            365

much booty is carried out from the temples of the gods and from houses glittering with gold,
and the victuals of proud living; the goods of each have perished—garments from the bodies of men,
women’s dresses, and tables sought from another land,
and cups provoking luxury with an Eastern gem.            355
nor is there a limit to silver, and embossed weights of handiwork,
so much gold for feasts; then everywhere captive bodies in long
order, and talents fetched down from the houses,
not failing to feed a long-continued war,
and immense droves of a servile crowd for banquets.            360
    Fulvius, when he gave an end to the plundering of the dwellings as the warlike brass
called them back, high upon a lofty
platform, no futile favorer of great bold ventures,
‘Born at Lanuvium,’ he says, ‘whom Juno Sospita
gives us, Milo, take, victor, the honor of Gradivus,’            365

tempora murali cinctus turrita corona.'
tum sontes procerum meritosque piacula prima
acciet et iusta punit commissa securi.
~hic atrox uirtus (nec enim occuluisse probarim
spectatum uel in hoste decus) clamore feroci 370
Taurea 'Tune' inquit 'ferro spoliabis inultus
te maiorem anima, et iusso lictore recisa
ignauos cadet ante pedes fortissima ceruix?
haud umquam hoc uobis dederit deus.' inde minaci
obtutu toruum contra et furiale renidens 375
bellatorem alacer per pectora transigit ensem.

“your temples encircled with the turreted mural crown.’
then he summons the guilty among the nobles and the first expiatory victims,
and he punishes the offenses committed with the just axe.
~here a grim valor (for I would not approve to have hidden a glory worth beholding, even in an enemy)
with fierce outcry Taurea says: ‘Will you, unavenged, by the sword despoil
370
one greater than you in soul, and shall the bravest neck, cut off by an ordered lictor,
fall before cowardly feet? Never will a god grant this to you.’ Then, with a menacing
look, grim in reply and flashing a Fury-like smile, he, eager, drives his sword
through the warrior’s breast.

cui ductor: 'Patriam moriens comitare cadentem.
qui nobis animus, quae dextera cuique uiritim,
decernet Mauors. tibi, si rebare pudendum
iussa pati, licuit pugnanti occumbere letum.' 380

to whom the leader: 'Dying, accompany your fatherland as it falls.
What spirit is in us, what right hand each man has man‑by‑man,
Mavors will decide. For you, if you thought it shameful
to endure commands, it was permitted to meet death while fighting.' 380

Dum Capua infaustam luit haud sine sanguine culpam,
interea geminos terra crudelis Hibera
Fortuna abstulerat permiscens tristia laetis
Scipiadas, magnumque decus magnumque dolorem.
forte Dicarchea iuuenis dum sedit in urbe 385
Scipio post belli repetens extrema penatis,
huc tristis lacrimas et funera acerba suorum
fama tulit. duris quamquam non cedere suetus
pulsato lacerat uiolenter pectore amictus.

While Capua was paying its ill-omened guilt not without blood,
meanwhile the cruel Iberian land
Fortune had taken away, commixing sad with glad,
the Scipiads, both a great glory and a great grief.
by chance, while the youth in Dicarchea sat in the city 385
Scipio, after the war revisiting the farthest bounds of his Penates,
to here sad report brought the tears and the bitter funerals of his own.
although he was not wont to yield to hardships,
with his breast smitten he violently rends his mantle.

non comites tenuisse ualent, non ullus honorum 390
militiaeue pudor. pietas irata sinistris
caelicolis furit atque odit solacia luctus.
iamque dies iterumque dies absumpta querelis:
uersatur species ante ora oculosque parentum.

neither can companions manage to hold him back, nor any regard for honors or the modesty of military service; 390
piety, angered at the adverse heaven‑dwellers, rages and hates the consolations of grief.
and now a day and again a day is consumed with laments:
the image keeps turning before his face and the eyes of his parents.

ergo excire parat manis animasque suorum 395

therefore he prepares to call forth the Manes and the spirits of his own 395

adloquioque uirum tantos mulcere dolores.
hortatur uicina palus, ubi signat Auerni
squalentem introitum stagnans Acherusius umor.
noscere uenturos agitat mens protinus annos.

and by address to soothe the man’s so great sorrows.
the nearby marsh encourages, where the Acherusian humor, stagnating, marks the squalid entrance of Avernus.
to know the coming years his mind is driven straightway.

Sic ad Cymaeam, quae tum sub nomine Phoebi 400
Autonoe tripodas sacros antrumque tenebat,
fert gressus iuuenis consultaque pectoris aegri
pandit et aspectus orat contingere patrum.
nec cuncta<ta> diu uates 'Mactare repostis
mos umbris' inquit 'consueta piacula nigras 405
sub lucem pecudes reclusaeque abdere terrae
manantem iugulis spirantum caede cruorem.
tunc populos tibi regna suos pallentia mittent.

Thus to the Cumaean, Autonoe, who then, under the name of Phoebus, 400
held the sacred tripods and the cavern, the young man carries his steps,
and lays open the counsels of his ailing breast
and begs to be allowed to attain the sight of his fathers.
nor did the prophetess delay long: 'To immolate to the reposed
shades the accustomed piacula,' she says, 'black 405
flocks at daybreak, and to hide in the opened earth
the blood, flowing from the throats of the breathing, by slaughter.
then the pallid realms will send to you their peoples.'

cetera quae poscis maiori uate canentur.
namque tibi Elysio repetita oracula campo 410

the rest which you ask will be sung by a greater vates.
for to you oracles repeated from the Elysian field 410

eliciam ueterisque dabo inter sacra Sibyllae
cernere fatidicam Phoebei pectoris umbram.
uade, age et, a medio cum se nox umida cursu
flexerit, ad fauces uicini castus Auerni
duc praedicta sacris duro placamina Diti:            415
mella simul tecum et puri fer dona Lyaei.'
    Hoc alacer monitu et promissae nomine uatis,
adparat occulto monstrata piacula coepto.
inde ubi nox iussam procedens contigit horam,
et spatia aequarunt tenebras transacta futuras,            420
consurgit stratis pergitque ad turbida portae
ostia Tartareae, penitus quis abdita uates
promissa implerat Stygioque sedebat in antro.

I will draw forth and will grant, amid the rites of the ancient Sibyl,
to behold the fatidic shade of Phoebus’s heart.
Go, come now, and, when the dewy night has bent itself
from the middle of its course, to the jaws of near Avernus, chaste,
bring the foretold appeasements for the rites to hard Dis:            415
together with you carry honey and the gifts of pure Lyaeus.'
    Eager at this admonition and by the pledge of the promised seeress,
he prepares the expiations indicated for the hidden undertaking.
Then, when the night, advancing, reached the ordered hour,
and the spans elapsed equaled the darkness to come,            420
he rises from his couch and goes to the turbid thresholds
of the gate of Tartarus, within whose hidden depths the prophetess
had fulfilled her promises and was sitting in a Stygian cave.

tum, qua se primum rupta tellure recludit
inuisus caelo specus atque eructat acerbam 425

then, where the cavern, hateful to heaven, first lays itself open with the earth burst asunder,
and belches bitter 425

Cocyti laxo suspirans ore paludem,
inducit iuuenem ferroque cauare refossam
ocius urget humum atque arcanum murmur anhelans
ordine mactari pecudes iubet. ater operto
ante omnis taurus regi, tum proxima diuae 430
caeditur Hennaeae casta ceruice iuuenca.
inde tibi, Alecto, tibi, numquam laeta Megaera,
corpora lanigerum procumbunt lecta bidentum.

the swamp of Cocytus, sighing with gaping mouth,
she leads in the youth, and urges him more quickly with iron to hollow out
the re-dug ground, and, exhaling an arcane murmur,
orders the flocks to be sacrificed in due order. A black bull, with head veiled,
before all, for the king; then next, for the goddess, the Hennaean heifer 430
is struck down, with chaste neck. Then for you, Alecto, for you, never-glad Megaera,
the chosen bodies of wool-bearing two-year-old sheep sink down.

fundunt mella super Bacchique et lactis honorem.
'Sta, iuuenis, faciemque, Erebo quae surgit ab omni,' 435
exclamat uates 'patere. accedentia cerno
Tartara et ante oculos adsistere tertia regna.

they pour honey on top and the honor-offering of Bacchus and of milk.
'Stand, young man, and endure the visage which rises from all Erebus,' 435
the seer cries out, 'Be patient. I discern Tartarus approaching and the third realms standing before my eyes.'

ecce ruunt uariae species et quicquid ab imo
natum hominum extinctumque chao est' (iam cuncta uidebat,
Cyclopas Scyllamque et pastos membra uirorum 440

behold various forms rush, and whatever from the lowest
Chaos of mankind has been born and extinguished is' (already he was seeing all things,
the Cyclopes and Scylla, and the limbs of men devoured 440

Odrysiae telluris equos): 'contende tueri
eductumque tene uagina interritus ensem.
quaecumque ante animae tendent potare cruorem
dissice, dum castae procedat imago Sibyllae.
interea cerne, ut gressus inhumata citatos 445
fert umbra et properat tecum coniungere dicta,
cui datur ante atros absumpti corporis ignes
sanguine non tacto solitas effundere uoces.'
aspicit et subito turbatus Scipio uisu
'Quinam te, qui casus,' ait 'dux maxime, fessae 450
eripuit patriae, cum talis horrida poscant
bella uiros?

(the horses of Odrysian land): 'strive to keep watch,
and, undaunted, hold the sword drawn from its sheath.
whatever souls shall come forward to drink the blood,
drive them off, until the chaste image of the Sibyl may advance.
meanwhile, see how the unburied shade bears quickened steps 445
and hastens to join words with you—
to whom it is granted, before the black fires of the consumed body,
with the blood untouched, to pour forth her accustomed voices.'
he looks, and suddenly Scipio, troubled by the sight, says:
'What fate, pray, has snatched you, greatest leader, from your weary fatherland, 450
when wars so horrid demand such men?'

nec enim dextra concesserit ulli
Appius aut astu. decimum lux rettulit ortum,
ut te, cum Capua remearem, uulnera uidi
mulcentem, hoc uno maestum, quod adire nequires 455

for neither in the right hand would Appius have yielded to anyone, nor in astuteness. the tenth dawn has returned,
when I, as I was returning from Capua, saw you soothing your wounds,
sad in this one thing, that you were unable to approach. 455

saucius ad muros et Martis honore careres.'
    Contra quae ductor: 'Fesso mihi proxima tandem
lux gratos Phaethontis equos auertit et atris
aeternum demisit aquis. sed lenta meorum
dum uanos ritus cura et sollemnia uulgi            460
exequitur, cessat flammis imponere corpus,
ut portet tumulis per longum membra paternis.
quod te per nostri Martis precor aemula facta,
arce quae putris artus medicamina seruant
daque uago portas quamprimum Acherontis adire.'            465
    Tunc iuuenis: 'Gens o ueteris pulcherrima Clausi,
haud ulla ante tuam, quamquam non parua fatigent,
curarum prior extiterit.

wounded at the walls and you would be bereft of the honor of Mars.'
In reply to these things the leader: 'For me, weary, the next light at last turned aside the welcome horses of Phaethon and sent me down forever to the black waters. But while the slow concern of my people performs empty rites and the solemnities of the crowd, it delays to place the body on the flames, so as to carry the limbs for a long distance to the paternal tombs. Wherefore I beg you, by deeds rivaling our Mars, ward off the medicaments which preserve putrid limbs, and grant that I, a wanderer, may as soon as possible approach the gates of Acheron.' 465
Then the youth: 'O most beautiful race of ancient Clausus,
no care before your own, although no small cares weary me,
has stood forth.

namque ista per omnis
discrimen seruat populos uariatque iacentum
exequias tumuli et cinerum sententia discors. 470

for indeed this distinction among all
peoples it preserves, and varies the obsequies of the lying-dead,
with opinion about tumulus and cinders at discord. 470

tellure, ut perhibent, (is mos anticus) Hibera
exanima obscenus consumit corpora uultur.
regia cum lucem posuerunt membra, probatum est
Hyrcanis adhibere canes. Aegyptia tellus
claudit odorato post funus stantia saxo 475
corpora et a mensis exanguem haud separat umbram.

on Iberian soil, as they report (this is the ancient custom),
the obscene vulture consumes lifeless bodies.
when royal limbs have laid down the light, it is approved
to employ Hyrcanian dogs. The Egyptian land
encloses after the funeral in perfumed stone 475
bodies, and does not separate the bloodless shade from the tables.

exhausto instituit Pontus uacuare cerebro
ora uirum et longum medicata reponit in aeuum.
quid qui reclusa nudos Garamantes harena
infodiunt? quid qui saeuo sepelire profundo 480
exanimos mandant Libycis Nasamones in oris?

with the brain drained, Pontus has instituted to hollow the faces of men, and lays them away, medicated, for a long age.
what of those who, the sand laid open, bury the naked Garamantes?
what of those who, on Libyan shores, the Nasamones command the lifeless to be buried in the savage deep? 480

at Celtae uacui capitis circumdare gaudent
ossa, nefas, auro ac mensis ea pocula seruant.
Cecropidae ob patriam Mauortis sorte peremptos
decreuere simul communibus urere flammis. 485

but the Celts take pleasure to encircle with gold the bones of an empty head—abomination!—and they keep them as cups on their tables.
The Cecropids, for the fatherland, those slain by Mars’s lot,
decreed together to burn in common flames. 485

at gente in Scythica suffixa cadauera truncis
lenta dies sepelit putri liquentia tabo.'
    Talia dum memorant, umbra ueniente Sibyllae
Autonoe 'Finem hic' inquit 'sermonibus adde
alternis. haec, haec ueri fecunda sacerdos,            490
cui tantum patuit rerum, quanto ipse negarit
plus nouisse deus. me iam comitante tuorum
tempus abire globo et pecudes imponere flammis.'
    At grauida arcanis Cymes anus attigit ore
postquam sacrificum delibauitque cruorem,            495
in decus egregiae uultus intenta iuuentae
'Aetherea fruerer cum luce, haud segniter' inquit
'Cymaeo populis uox nostra sonabat in antro.

but in the Scythian race cadavers fastened to tree-trunks a slow day buries, melting with putrid gore.'
While they recount such things, as the shade of the Sibyl comes, Autonoe says: 'Add an end here to your alternate speeches. This—this priestess, fecund of truth, to whom so much of things stood open that the god himself would deny he knew more, with me now accompanying your throng it is time to depart and to set the victims upon the flames.'
But the old woman of Cyme, pregnant with arcana, after she had touched it with her mouth and had tasted the sacrificial blood, intent on the beauty of the exquisite youth’s face, said: 'When I enjoyed the aetherial light, by no means sluggishly did our voice resound to the peoples in the Cumaean cavern.

tum te permixtum saeclis rebusque futuris
Aeneadum cecini. sed non sat digna mearum 500

then I sang you commingled with the ages and future things
of the Aeneads. but not sufficiently worthy of my 500

cura tuis uocum. nec enim conquirere dicta
aut seruare fuit proauis sollertia uestris.
uerum age, disce, puer, quando cognoscere cordi est,
iam tua deque tuis pendentia Dardana fatis.

have care for your words.
for indeed to seek out sayings or to preserve them was not the skill of your forefathers.
but come, learn, boy, since to know is at your heart,
now the Dardan matters, yours and those of your own, that hang upon the fates.

namque tibi cerno properatum oracula uitae            505
hinc petere et patrios uisu contingere manis.
armifero uictor patrem ulcisceris Hibero
creditus ante annos Martem, ferroque resolues
gaudia Poenorum et missum laetabere bello
omen, Hiberiacis uicta Carthagine terris.            510
maius ad imperium posthac capiere, nec ante
Iuppiter absistet cura, quam cuncta fugarit
in Libyam bella et uincendum duxerit ipse
Sidonium tibi rectorem. pudet urbis iniquae
quod post haec decus hoc patriaque domoque carebit.'            515

for I discern for you that it has been hastened to seek the oracles of your life            505
from here, and to touch in a vision your ancestral Manes.
as victor on the arms-bearing Iberus you will avenge your father,
being entrusted with Mars before your years, and with iron you will unloose
the joys of the Punics, and you will rejoice in the omen sent to war,
Carthage conquered on Iberian lands.            510
thereafter you will be taken to a greater imperium, nor before
will Jupiter cease from care, until he has put all wars to flight
into Libya and has himself brought the Sidonian ruler to be vanquished by you.
it shames the unjust city
that after these things this glory will be lacking to fatherland and to home.'            515

sic uates gressumque lacus uertebat ad atros.
    Tum iuuenis 'Quaecumque datur sors durior aeui,
obnitemur,' ait 'culpa modo pectora cessent.
sed, te oro, quando uitae tibi causa labores
humanos iuuisse fuit, siste, inclita uirgo,            520
paulisper gressum et nobis manisque silentum
enumera Stygiaeque aperi formidinis aulam.'
    Adnuit illa quidem, sed 'Non optanda recludis
regna:' ait 'hic tenebras habitant uolitantque per umbras
innumeri quondam populi.

thus the prophetess was turning her step toward the black lakes.
    Then the youth: 'Whatever harsher lot of our lifetime is given,
we will strive,' he says, 'only let faults cease from our breasts.
but, I beg you, since the purpose of your life has been to have aided
human labors, halt, renowned maiden, for a little while your step,            520
and enumerate for us the spirits of the silent, and open
the hall of Stygian dread.'
    She nodded indeed, but says: 'You are opening realms not to be desired:
here darkness dwells, and through the shades flit
innumerable peoples of former time.

domus omnibus una. 525
in medio uastum late se tendit inane:
huc, quicquid terrae, quicquid freta et igneus aer
nutriuit primo mundi genitalis ab aeuo
Mors communis agit: descendunt cuncta, capitque
campus iners quantum interiit restatque futurum. 530

one house for all. 525
in the middle a vast void stretches itself far and wide:
hither, whatever of earth, whatever the seas and fiery air
have nourished from the first generative age of the world,
Common Death drives: all things descend, and the inert plain receives
as much as has perished and as much as is yet to be. 530

cingunt regna decem portae: quarum una receptat
belligeros dura Gradiui sorte creatos;
altera, qui legis posuere atque inclita iura
gentibus et primas fundarunt moenibus urbes;
tertia ruricolas, Cereris iustissima turba 535
quae uenit ad manis et fraudum inlaesa ueneno.
exin, qui laetas artis uitaeque colendae
inuenere uiam nec dedignanda parenti
carmina fuderunt Phoebo, sua limina seruant.
proxima, quos uenti saeuaeque hausere procellae, 540
naufraga porta rapit: sic illam nomine dicunt.

ten gates gird the realms: of which one receives
the belligerent, created by the hard lot of Gradivus;
another, those who have set law and illustrious right
for the peoples and founded the first cities with walls;
a third the country-dwellers, Ceres’s most just throng, 535
who come to the shades and are unhurt by the poison of frauds.
next, those who discovered the glad arts and the way of cultivating life,
and poured forth songs not to be disdained by their father
Phoebus, keep their own thresholds.
next, those whom winds and savage squalls have gulped down, 540
the Shipwreck Gate snatches: thus they so name that one.

finitima huic noxa grauido et peccasse fatenti
uasta patet populo: poenas Rhadamanthus in ipso
expetit introitu mortumque exercet inanem.
septima femineis reseratur porta cateruis, 545

Adjacent to this, a vast space lies open to the people heavy with guilt and confessing they have sinned:
at the very entrance Rhadamanthus exacts penalties and torments the empty dead.
The seventh gate is unbarred for female companies, 545

umentis ubi casta fouet Proserpina lucos.
infantum hinc gregibus uersasque ad funera taedas
passis uirginibus turbaeque in limine lucis
est iter extinctae et uagitu ianua nota.
tum seducta loco et laxata lucida nocte 550
claustra nitent, quae secreti per limitis umbram
Elysios ducunt campos: hic turba piorum,
nec Stygio in regno, caeli nec posta sub axe,
uerum ultra Oceanum sacro contermina fonti
Lethaeos potat latices, obliuia mentis. 555
extrema hinc auro fulgens iam lucis honorem
sentit et admoto splendet ceu sidere lunae.

where chaste Proserpina cherishes the humid groves.
from here for the flocks of infants and for maidens with hair loosed and torches turned toward funerals,
and for the throng on the threshold of light, there is the way of the extinguished and a doorway known by wailing.
then the bars, withdrawn from their place and loosened in a lucid night, 550
shine—those which through the shade of a secret limit lead to the Elysian fields:
here a throng of the pious, neither in the Stygian realm nor placed beneath the axis of heaven,
but beyond Ocean, bordering a sacred spring,
drinks the Lethean waters, oblivions of mind. 555
from the far edge here, gleaming with gold, it already feels the honor of light
and shines as the moon with a star brought near.

hac animae caelum repetunt ac mille peractis
oblitae Ditem redeunt in corpora lustris.
has passim nigrum pandens Mors lurida rictum 560

by this the souls seek heaven again, and, with a thousand lustrums completed,
forgetful of Dis they return into bodies.
these everywhere, Lurid Death, spreading her black gape, 560

itque reditque uias et portis omnibus errat.
    Tum iacet in spatium sine corpore pigra uorago
limosique lacus: large exundantibus urit
ripas saeuus aquis Phlegethon et turbine anhelo
flammarum resonans saxosa incendia torquet.            565
parte alia torrens Cocytos sanguinis atri
uerticibus furit et spumanti gurgite fertur.
at, magnis semper diuis regique deorum
iurari dignata palus, picis horrida riuo,
fumiferum uoluit Styx inter sulphura limum.            570
tristior his Acheron sanie crassoque ueneno
aestuat et gelidam eructans cum murmure harenam
descendit nigra lentus per stagna palude.

and it goes and comes back along the ways and wanders at every gate.
    Then there lies, into a space, a sluggish abyss without body,
and muddy lakes: with waters overflowing abundantly savage Phlegethon burns
the banks, and, resounding with a panting whirl of flames, he twists rocky conflagrations.            565
in another part the torrent Cocytus of black blood
rages with eddies and is borne along in a foaming gulf.
but the marsh, ever deemed worthy to be sworn by for the great gods
and the king of the gods, rough with a stream of pitch,
Styx rolls smoky slime among the sulphurs.            570
sadder than these, Acheron seethes with sanies and thick venom,
and, belching gelid sand with a murmur,
goes down, black and sluggish, through pools in a marsh.

hanc potat saniem non uno Cerberus ore,
haec et Tisiphones sunt pocula, et atra Megaera 575

this gore Cerberus drinks not with one mouth,
and these are the cups of Tisiphone, and of black Megaera 575

hanc sitit ac nullo rabies restinguitur haustu.
ultimus erumpit lacrimarum fontibus amnis
ante aulam atque aditus et inexorabile limen.
    Quanta cohors omni stabulante per atria monstro
excubat et manis permixto murmure terret!            580
luctus edax Maciesque, malis comes addita morbis,
et Maeror pastus fletu et sine sanguine Pallor
Curaeque Insidiaeque atque hinc queribunda Senectus,
hinc angens utraque manu sua guttura Liuor
et, deforme malum ac sceleri procliuis, Egestas            585
Errorque infido gressu et Discordia gaudens
permiscere fretum caelo.

it thirsts for this, and rabidity is quenched by no draught.
the last river bursts from fountains of tears
before the hall and the entrances and the inexorable threshold.
    How great a cohort, with every monster stabling throughout the halls,
keeps watch and terrifies with a murmur commixed with the Manes!            580
edacious Grief and Wasting, a companion added to evil diseases,
and Mourning fed with weeping and bloodless Pallor,
and Cares and Insidious Plottings, and here querulous Old Age,
here Envy choking its own throat with both hands,
and Want, a deformed evil and prone to crime,            585
and Error with treacherous step, and Discord rejoicing
to commingle sea with sky.

sedet ostia Ditis
centenis suetus Briareus recludere palmis
et Sphinx uirgineos rictus infecta cruore
Scyllaque Centaurique truces umbraeque Gigantum. 590

at the doors of Dis sits Briareus, accustomed to unbar with a hundred palms,
and the Sphinx, her virgin jaws infected with gore,
and Scylla and the Centaurs, grim, and the shades of the Giants. 590

Cerberus hic ruptis peragrat cum Tartara uinclis,
non ipsa Alecto, non feta furore Megaera
audet adire ferum, dum fractis mille catenis
uiperea latrans circumligat ilia cauda.
Dextra uasta comas nemorosaque brachia fundit 595
taxus Cocyti rigua frondosior unda.
hic dirae uolucres pastusque cadauere uultur
et multus bubo ac sparsis strix sanguine pennis
Harpyiaeque fouent nidos atque omnibus haerent
condensae foliis: saeuit stridoribus arbor. 600
has inter formas coniunx Iunonis Auernae
suggestu residens cognoscit crimina regum.

Cerberus here, with his fetters broken, traverses Tartarus,
not Alecto herself, not Megaera teeming with fury,
dares to approach the savage one, while, a thousand chains shattered,
barking, he girdles his flanks with a viperous tail.
On the right a yew, more frondose from the irrigating wave of Cocytus, 595
pours out its tresses and woodland arms.
Here dire birds, and the vulture fed on carrion,
and many an eagle-owl, and the strix with feathers spattered with blood,
and the Harpies warm their nests, and, packed together, cling
to every leaf: the tree rages with shrieks. 600
Amid these forms the consort of Avernian Juno,
sitting on a dais, takes cognizance of the crimes of kings.

stant uincti, seroque piget sub iudice culpae:
circum errant Furiae Poenarumque omnis imago.
quam uellent numquam sceptris fulsisse superbis! 605

they stand bound, and too late they regret their guilt before the judge:
around wander the Furies and every image of Punishments.
how they would wish never to have shone with proud scepters! 605

insultant duro imperio non digna nec aequa
ad superos passi manes, quaeque ante profari
non licitum uiuis, tandem permissa queruntur.
tunc alius saeuis religatur rupe catenis,
ast alius subigit saxum contra ardua montis, 610
uipereo domat hunc aeterna Megaera flagello.
talia letiferis restant patienda tyrannis.

they insult the gods above—the shades, having suffered under a hard dominion things not worthy nor equitable; and the things which it was not permitted for the living to profess before, at last, being permitted, they lament.
then one is bound to a rock with savage chains,
but another drives a stone against the steep heights of the mountain, 610
viperine Megaera subdues this one with her eternal scourge.
such things remain to be suffered by lethiferous tyrants.

sed te maternos tempus cognoscere uultus,
cuius prima uenit non tardis passibus umbra.'
Astabat fecunda Iouis Pomponia furto. 615
namque ubi cognouit Latio surgentia bella
Poenorum Venus, insidias anteire laborans
Iunonis fusa sensim per pectora patrem
implicuit flamma. quae ni prouisa fuissent,
Sidonia Iliacas nunc uirgo accenderet aras. 620

but it is time for you to recognize the maternal features,
whose shade was the first to come with no tardy steps.'
There stood Pomponia, fecund by Jove’s stealth. 615
for when Venus learned that Punic wars were rising in Latium,
striving to forestall the ambushes of Juno,
diffused little by little through his breast she entwined the father
with flame. And if these things had not been foreseen,
a Sidonian maiden would now be kindling the Iliac altars. 620

ergo ubi gustatus cruor admonuitque Sibylla
et dedit alternos ambobus noscere uultus,
sic iuuenis prior: 'O magni mihi numinis instar,
cara parens, quam, te ut nobis uidisse liceret,
optassem Stygias uel leto intrare tenebras!            625
quae sors nostra fuit, cui te, cum prima subiret,
eripuit sine honore dies et funere carpsit?'
excipit his mater: 'Nullos, o nate, labores
mors habuit nostra: aetherio dum pondere partum
exsoluor, miti dextra Cyllenia proles            630
imperio Iouis Elysias deduxit in oras
attribuitque paris sedes, ubi magna moratur
Alcidae genetrix, ubi sacro munere Leda.
uerum age, nate, tuos ortus, ne bella pauescas
ulla nec in caelum dubites te attollere factis,            635

therefore, when the gore had been tasted and the Sibyl had admonished,
and had given to both to recognize each other’s faces in turn,
thus the youth first: 'O you, to me the likeness of a great divinity,
dear parent, how I would have chosen, that it might be permitted us to have seen you,
to enter the Stygian shadows or even death!            625
what lot was ours, that the day, when it first came on,
snatched you away without honor and consumed you without a funeral?'
to these the mother replies: 'No labors, O son, did our death have:
while, by an aetherial weight, I am released from my travail,
the Cyllenian offspring with gentle right hand, by the command of Jove,            630
led me down to the Elysian shores
and assigned equal seats, where the great mother of Alcides abides,
where Leda, by a sacred gift, [abides].
but come, son, remember your origins, lest you fear any wars
nor doubt to raise yourself to heaven by your deeds.            635

quando aperire datur nobis, nunc denique disce.
sola die caperem medio cum forte petitos
ad requiem somnos, subitus mihi membra ligauit
amplexus, non ille meo ueniente marito
adsuetus facilisque mihi. tum luce corusca, 640
implebat quamquam languentia lumina somnu<s>,
uidi, crede, Iouem.

since it is given us to lay open, now at last learn.
when, alone, by chance at mid-day I was taking the slumbers sought for rest,
a sudden embrace bound my limbs,
not that one accustomed and easy to me with my husband coming.
then, with flashing light, 640
although sleep was filling my languishing eyes, I saw—believe it—Jove.

nec me mutata fefellit
forma dei, quod squalentem conuersus in anguem
ingenti traxit curuata uolumina gyro.
sed mihi post partum non ultra ducere uitam 645
concessum. heu, quantum gemui, quod spiritus ante
haec tibi quam noscenda darem discessit in auras!'
his alacer colla amplexu materna petebat,
umbraque ter frustra per inane petita fefellit.

nor did the god’s changed form deceive me, for, turned into a scaly serpent,
he drew his coils, curved, in a vast gyre. but to me, after childbirth, to prolong life
was not granted. alas, how greatly I groaned, that my spirit departed
into the breezes before I might give to you these things to be learned!' 645
at these words the eager youth was seeking her neck with a mother’s embrace,
and three times the shade, sought in vain through the void, eluded him.

Succedunt simulacra uirum concordia, patris 650

There follow, in concord, the simulacra of men, of the father 650

unanimique simul patrui. ruit ipse per umbram
oscula uana petens iuuenis fumoque uolucri
et nebulis similes animas adprendere certat.
'Quis te, care pater, quo stabant Itala regna
exosus Latium deus abstulit?

and his uncles together, of one mind. The youth himself rushes through the shadow,
seeking vain kisses, and strives to grasp the spirits like swift-flying smoke
and clouds.
'What god, dear father, on whom the Italian realms were to stand,
hating Latium, has snatched you away?

hei mihi! nam cur 655
ulla fuere adeo quibus a te saeuus abessem
momenta? opposito mutassem pectore mortem.

Alas for me! For why 655
were there at all any by which I was savagely away from you
moments? I would have exchanged death, with my breast opposed.

quantos funeribus uestris gens Itala passim
dat gemitus! tumulus uobis censente senatu
Mauortis geminus surgit per gramina campo.' 660
nec passi plura, in medio sermone loquentis
sic adeo incipiunt. prior haec genitoris imago:
'Ipsa quidem uirtus sibimet pulcherrima merces;
dulce tamen uenit ad manis, cum gratia uitae
durat apud superos nec edunt obliuia laudem. 665

how many groans the Italian race everywhere
pours forth for your funerals! a twin mound of Mavors, with the senate giving its vote,
rises for you across the grasses on the field.' 660
and not suffering more, in the middle of his speech as he was speaking,
thus indeed they begin. first the image of his begetter [says] these things:
'Virtue itself indeed is to itself the most beautiful meed;
yet it comes sweet to the Manes, when the favor of one’s life
endures among the gods above, nor do oblivions consume praise.' 665

uerum age, fare, decus nostrum, te quanta fatiget
militia. heu, quotiens intrat mea pectora terror,
cum repeto, quam saeuus eas, ubi magna pericla
contingunt tibi. per nostri, fortissime, leti
obtestor causas, Martis moderare furori. 670
sat tibi sint documenta domus.

but come, speak, our glory, how much military service wearies you.
alas, how often terror enters my breast,
when I recall how savage you go, where great perils
befall you. by the causes of our death, bravest one,
I adjure you, moderate the fury of Mars. 670
let the proofs of the house be enough for you.

octaua terebat
arentem culmis messem crepitantibus aestas,
ex quo cuncta mihi calcata meoque subibat
germano deuicta iugum Tartessia tellus.
nos miserae muros et tecta renata Sagunto, 675
nos dedimus Baetem nullo potare sub hoste,
nobis indomitus conuertit terque quaterque
germanus terga Hannibalis. pro barbara numquam
impolluta fides!

the eighth summer was wearing away
the parched harvest with crackling stalks,
since from that time all the Tartessian land, trodden by me and
by my brother, conquered, came beneath the yoke.
we wretched gave back to Saguntum walls and roofs renewed, 675
we granted to drink the Baetis under no foe,
for us the indomitable brother turned thrice and four times
Hannibal’s backs. O for barbarian faith never
unpolluted!

peterem cum uictor adesum
cladibus Hasdrubalem, subito uenale, cohortes 680

I would pursue, as victor, Hasdrubal eaten away by calamities,
suddenly venal, the cohorts 680

Hispanae, uulgus, Libyci quas fecerat auri
Hasdrubal, abrupto liquerunt agmine signa.
tunc hostis socio desertos milite multum
ditior ipse uiris spisso circumdedit orbe.
non segnis nobis nec inultis, nate, peracta est 685
illa suprema dies, et laude inclusimus aeuum.'
Excipit inde suos frater coniungere casus:
'Excelsae turris post ultima rebus in artis
subsidium optaram supremaque bella ciebam.

Spanish cohorts, a rabble whom Hasdrubal had fashioned by Libyan gold,
left the standards when the column was broken.
then the enemy, himself much richer in men, surrounded us—deserted of allied soldiery—
with a dense ring.
that last day, my son, was carried through by us neither sluggishly nor unavenged, 685
and we enclosed our lifetime with praise.'
Then his brother takes up to join his own misfortunes:
'After things had come into narrow straits I had opted for the aid of a lofty tower
and I was stirring up final wars.

fumantis taedas ac lata incendia passim 690
et mille iniecere faces. nil nomine leti
de superis queror: haud paruo data membra sepulcro
nostra cremauerunt in morte haerentibus armis.
sed me luctus habet, geminae ne clade ruinae
cesserit adfusis oppressa Hispania Poenis.' 695

smoking torches and broad conflagrations everywhere 690
and they cast in a thousand brands. I complain nothing to the supernal gods in the matter of death: our limbs, given to no small sepulcher, they cremated, our arms adhering in death.
but grief holds me, lest by twin calamity and ruin Spain should yield, oppressed by Poeni thronging around.' 695

    Contra quae iuuenis turbato fletibus ore:
'Di, quaeso, ut merita est, dignas pro talibus ausis
Carthago expendat poenas. sed continet acris
Pyrenes populos qui uestro Marte probatus
excepit fessos et notis Marcius armis            700
successit bello. fusos quoque fama ferebat
uictores acie atque exacta piacula caedis.'
    His laeti rediere duces loca amoena piorum,
prosequiturque oculis puer adueneratus euntis.

    Against which the youth, with a face disturbed by tears:
'Gods, I pray, let Carthage, as she has merited, pay penalties worthy for such audacities.
But Marcius restrains the fierce peoples of the Pyrenees—proved in your Mars,
he received the weary, and with well-known arms Marcius succeeded in the war;            700
report too was bearing that even the victors had been routed in battle, and the expiations of slaughter exacted.'
    At these words, rejoicing, the leaders returned to the pleasant places of the pious,
and the boy, having venerated them, follows with his eyes as they go.

iamque aderat multa uix adgnoscendus in umbra 705
Paulus et epoto fundebat sanguine uerba:
'Lux Italum, cuius spectaui Martia facta
multum uno maiora uiro, descendere nocti
atque habitanda semel subigit quis uisere regna?'
cui contra talis effundit Scipio uoces: 710

and now there was present, scarcely to be recognized in the deep shadow, 705
Paulus, and with his blood drained he was pouring forth words:
'Light of the Italians, whose Martial deeds I have beheld
far greater than belong to a single man, what compels you to descend to night
and to behold the realms to be inhabited but once?'
to whom in reply Scipio pours forth such words: 710

'Armipotens ductor, quam sunt tua fata per urbem
lamentata diu! quam paene ruentia tecum
traxisti ad Stygias Oenotria tecta tenebras.
tum tibi defuncto tumulum Sidonius hostis
constituit laudemque tuo quaesiuit honore.' 715
dumque audit lacrimans hostilia funera Paulus,
ante oculos iam Flaminius, iam Gracchus et aegro
absumptus Cannis stabat Seruilius ore.

'Leader mighty in arms, how long have your fates through the city
been lamented! how you nearly dragged, together with yourself,
the Oenotrian roofs, collapsing, to Stygian shadows.
Then for you, once deceased, the Sidonian foe
set up a tomb and sought praise by your honor.' 715
and while Paulus, weeping, hears the enemy obsequies,
before his eyes now Flaminius, now Gracchus, and Servilius,
consumed at Cannae, stood with a sickly visage.

    Appellare uiros erat ardor et addere uerba,
sed raptabat amor priscos cognoscere manis.            720
nunc meritum saeua Brutum immortale securi
nomen, nunc superos aequantem laude Camillum,
nunc auro Curium non umquam cernit amicum.
ora Sibylla docet uenientum et nomina pandit.
hic fraudes pacis Pyrrhumque a limine portae            725

    There was an ardor to address the men and to add words,
but love was snatching him to know the ancient Manes.            720
now Brutus’s name, immortal, earned by the savage axe,
now Camillus equaling the gods in praise,
now he sees Curius never a friend to gold.
the Sibyl teaches the faces of those coming and discloses the names.
here the frauds of peace and Pyrrhus from the threshold of the gate            725

reiecit uisus orbus, tulit ille ruentem
Thybridis in ripas regem solusque reuulso
pone ferox ponte exclusit redeuntia regna.
'Si tibi dulce uirum, primo qui foedera bello
Phoenicum pepigit, uidisse: hic inclitus ille 730
aequoreis uictor cum classe Lutatius armis.
si studium et saeuam cognoscere Hamilcaris umbram,
ille est (cerne procul) cui frons nec morte remissa
irarum seruat rabiem.

the one bereft of sight rejected them; he withstood the king rushing
to the banks of the Tiber, and he alone, the bridge torn away
behind him, fierce, shut out the returning kingdoms. 'If it is sweet to you to have seen the man who, in the first war
of the Phoenicians, struck the pacts: here is that renowned one, 730
Lutatius, victor with his fleet in sea-borne arms.
If there is zeal also to recognize the savage shade of Hamilcar,
that is he (discern him from afar) whose brow, not relaxed by death,
preserves the rabid rage of his angers.

si iungere cordi est
conloquium, sine gustato det sanguine uocem.' 735
atque ubi permissum et sitiens se impleuit imago,
sic prior increpitat non mitis Scipio uultu:
'Taliane, o fraudum genitor, sunt foedera uobis,
aut haec Sicania pepigisti captus in ora?
bella tuus toto natus contra omnia pacta 740

if it is pleasing to the heart to join colloquy,
allow that, when blood is tasted, he give a voice.' 735
and when it was permitted and the thirsty image filled itself,
thus Scipio, not gentle in countenance, first rebukes:
'Talianus, O begetter of frauds, are there treaties for you,
or did you, captured on the Sicilian shore, covenant these?
your son has waged wars, throughout the whole, against all pacts 740

exercet Latio et perruptis molibus Alpis
eluctatus adest: feruet gens Itala Marte
barbarico, et refluunt obstructi stragibus amnes.'
post quae Poenus ait: 'Decimum modo coeperat annum
excessisse puer, nostro cum bella Latinis 745
concepit iussu, licitum nec fallere diuos
iuratos patri. quod si Laurentia uastat
nunc igni regna et Phrygias res uertere temptat,
o pietas, o sancta fides, o uera propago!
atque utinam amissum reparet decus!' inde citato 750
celsus abit gressu, maiorque recessit imago.

he harries Latium and, the moles of the Alps broken through,
having struggled out he is here: the Italian nation seethes with Mars
barbaric, and the rivers, blocked with heaps of slaughter, flow back.'
after which the Carthaginian says: 'He had only begun to pass his tenth year
when, by my order, he conceived wars with the Latins, 745
nor was it lawful to deceive the gods by whom he had been sworn to his father.
But if now he lays waste the Laurentian realms with fire and attempts to overturn the Phrygian affairs,
O piety, O holy faith, O true progeny!
And would that he might repair the lost honor!' Then, with hastened
step, he departs towering, and the image withdrew greater. 750

Exin designat uates, qui iura sub armis
poscenti dederint populo primique petitas
miscuerint Italis Piraeo litore leges.
laetatur spectatque uirum insatiabilis ora 755

Then the seer points out those who gave laws to a people
demanding rights under arms, and who first the requested
laws on the Piraean shore mingled with the Italians.
he rejoices and the insatiable face gazes upon the man 755

Scipio et appellet cunctos, ni magna sacerdos
admoneat turbae innumera<e>: 'Quot milia toto
credis in orbe, puer, lustras dum singula uisu,
descendisse Erebo? nullo non tempore abundans
umbrarum huc agitur torrens, uectatque capaci            760
agmina mole Charon, et sufficit improba puppis.'
post haec ostendens iuuenem sic uirgo profatur:
'Hic ille est, tellure uagus qui uictor in omni
cursu signa tulit, cui peruia Bactra Dahaeque,
qui Gangen bibit et Pellaeo ponte Niphaten            765
astrinxit, cui stant sacro sua moenia Nilo.'
incipit Aeneades: 'Libyci certissima proles
Hammonis, quando exuperat tua gloria cunctos
indubitata duces similique cupidine rerum
pectora nostra calent, quae te uia, fare, superbum            770

And Scipio too would call upon them all, if the great priestess did not admonish the countless throng: 'How many thousands in the whole orb, boy, do you suppose, as you survey each particular with your gaze, have descended to Erebus? At no time does an abundant torrent of shades not get driven hither, and Charon conveys the columns with his capacious mass, and the relentless skiff suffices.'
after these, pointing out a youth, thus the maiden speaks forth: 'This is he, a wanderer over the earth, who as victor in every course bore the standards; to whom Bactra and the Dahae were passable; who drank the Ganges and with a Pellaean bridge bound Niphates; for whom his own walls stand by the sacred Nile.'
the Aenead begins: 'Most certain offspring of Libyan Hammon, since your glory surpasses all indubitable leaders and our breasts are hot with a like desire for dominion, tell, what path made you proud? 770

ad decus et summas laudum perduxerit arces.'
ille sub haec: 'Turpis lenti sollertia Martis.
audendo bella expedias. pigra extulit artis
haud umquam sese uirtus.

to honor and the highest citadels of praise.'
he to this: 'Disgraceful is the skill of a sluggish Mars.
by daring you may expedite wars. by sluggish arts virtue has never lifted itself.

tu magna gerendi
praecipita tempus: mors atra impendet agenti.'            775
haec effatus abit. Croesi mox aduolat umbra,
diues apud superos, sed mors aequarat egenis.
    Atque hic Elysio tendentem limite cernens
effigiem iuuenis, caste cui uitta ligabat
purpurea effusos per colla nitentia crines,            780
'Dic,' ait 'hic quinam, uirgo?

you, for the accomplishing of great things, precipitate time: black death hangs over the doer.' 775
having uttered these things, he departs. Soon the shade of Croesus flies hither, wealthy among the gods above, but death had made him equal to the needy.
And here, perceiving an effigy of a youth making his way along the Elysian path, for whom a chaste purple fillet was binding his flowing hairs over his shining neck, 780
he says, 'Speak, who then is this, maiden?'

nam luce refulget
praecipua frons sacra uiro, multaeque secuntur
mirantes animae et laeto clamore frequentant.
qui uultus! quam, si Stygia non esset in umbra,
dixissem facile esse deum!' 'Non falleris:' inquit 785

for with refulgent light the man's distinguished sacred brow shines,
and many souls follow, marveling, and with joyful clamor throng him.
what a visage! how, if he were not in Stygian shadow,
I would easily have said he is a god!' 'You are not deceived,' she says 785

docta comes Triuiae 'meruit deus esse uideri,
et fuit in tanto non paruum pectore numen.
carmine complexus terram, mare, sidera, manis
et cantu Musas et Phoebum aequauit honore.
atque haec cuncta prius quam cerneret ordine terris             790
prodidit ac uestram tulit usque ad sidera Troiam.'
Scipio perlustrans oculis laetantibus umbram,
'Si nunc fata darent, ut Romula facta per orbem
hic caneret uates, quanto maiora futuros
facta eadem intrarent hoc' inquit 'teste nepotes!            795
felix Aeacide, cui tali contigit ore
gentibus ostendi, creuit tua carmine uirtus.'
    Sed, quae tanta adeo gras<s>antum turba, requirens,
heroum effigies maiorisque accipit umbras.

the learned companion of Trivia, 'he deserved to seem a god,
and there was within so great a breast no small numen.
having encompassed by song earth, sea, stars, and the Manes,
and by his cantus he equaled the Muses and Phoebus in honor.
and all these things before he beheld them in their order upon the lands 790
he proclaimed, and he bore your Troy even up to the stars.'
Scipio, scanning with rejoicing eyes the shade,
'If now the fates would grant that the Romulean deeds through the orb
this vates should sing, how much greater would the same deeds
enter future descendants with this witness!' he said. 'Happy Aeacid, to whom it befell
to be shown to the nations by such a mouth; your virtus grew by song.'
But, inquiring what so great a throng of those ranging about this was,
he receives the effigies of heroes and the shades of the maiores.

inuicto stupet Aeacide, stupet Hectore magno 800
Aiacisque gradum uenerandaque Nestoris ora
miratur, geminos aspectat laetus Atridas
iamque Ithacum corde aequantem Peleia facta.
uicturam hinc cernit Ledaei Castoris umbram:
alternam lucem peragebat in aethere Pollux. 805

he stands amazed at the unconquered Aeacid, he stands amazed at great Hector 800
he admires the stride of Ajax and the venerable visage of Nestor,
he joyfully beholds the twin Atridae,
and now the Ithacan, in his heart matching the Peleian deeds.
from here he sees the shade of Ledaean Castor destined to live:
Pollux was spending alternate light in the aether. 805

Sed subito uultus monstrata Lauinia traxit.
nam uirgo admonuit tempus cognoscere manis
femineos, ne cunctantem lux alma uocaret.
'Felix haec' inquit 'Veneris nurus ordine longo
Troiugenas iunxit sociata prole Latinis. 810
uis et Martigenae thalamos spectare Quirini?

But suddenly, with her visage revealed, Lavinia drew him.
for the maiden warned that it was time to recognize the feminine shades,
lest the kindly light call him as he delayed. “Happy is this daughter-in-law of Venus,” she said, “who in a long succession
has joined the Trojan-born to the Latins with allied progeny. 810
do you also wish to behold the marriage-chambers of Quirinus, the Mars-begotten?”

Hersiliam cerne: hirsutos cum sperneret olim
gens uicina procos, pastori rapta marito
intrauitque casae culmique e stramine fultum
pressit laeta torum et soceros reuocauit ab armis. 815
aspice Carmentis gressus. Euandria mater
haec fuit et uestros tetigit praesaga labores.
uis et, quos Tanaquil uultus gerat?

See Hersilia: when once the neighboring tribe spurned shaggy suitors,
rapt as a wife to a shepherd-husband,
and she entered the cottage and—with straw from the thatch for support—
joyful, she pressed the couch and recalled the fathers-in-law from arms. 815
look upon Carmentis’s steps. The Evandrian mother
this was, and presaging she touched upon your labors.
do you wish also to see what countenance Tanaquil wears?

haec quoque castae
augurio ualuit mentis uenturaque dixit
regna uiro et dextros agnouit in alite diuos. 820

she too, of chaste mind,
was strong in augury and foretold things to come—
kingdoms for her man, and recognized the gods favorable on the right in the bird of omen. 820

ecce pudicitiae Latium decus, inclita leti
fert frontem atque oculos terrae Lucretia fixos.
non datur, heu tibi, Roma (nec est, quod malle deceret),
hanc laudem retinere diu. Verginia iuxta,
cerne, cruentato uulnus sub pectore seruat, 825
tristia defensi ferro monumenta pudoris,
et patriam laudat miserando in uulnere dextram.

behold the Latium glory of pudicity: Lucretia, illustrious in death,
bears her brow and eyes fixed upon the earth.
it is not granted, alas, to you, Rome (nor would it be seemly to wish otherwise),
to retain this praise for long. Verginia nearby,
see, she keeps the wound beneath her breast bloodied, 825
the grim monuments of pudicity defended by iron,
and she praises her father’s right hand in the pitiable wound.

illa est, quae Thybrim, quae fregit Lydia bella,
nondum passa marem, qualis optabit habere
quondam Roma uiros, contemptrix Cloelia sexus.' 830
cum subito aspectu turbatus Scipio poscit,
quae poenae causa, et qui sint in crimine manes,
tum uirgo: 'Patrios fregit quae curribus artus
et stetit adductis super ora trementia frenis,
Tullia non ullos satis exhaustura labores 835

she is the one who cleft the Tiber, who broke the Lydian wars,
not yet having endured a husband, such as Rome will one day wish to have as men,
Cloelia, a contemptress of her sex.' 830
when suddenly, disturbed at the sight, Scipio asks
what is the cause of the penalties, and which shades are under indictment,
then the maiden: 'She who broke her father’s limbs with her chariots
and stood above the trembling features with reins drawn tight,
Tullia, never to exhaust enough labors 835

ardenti Phlegethonte natat. fornacibus atris
fons rapidus furit atque ustas sub gurgite cautes
egerit et scopulis pulsat flagrantibus ora.
illa autem, quae tondetur praecordia rostro
alitis (en quantum resonat plangentibus alis 840
armiger ad pastus rediens Iouis!), hostibus arcem
uirgo, immane nefas, adamato prodidit auro
Tarpeia et pactis reserauit claustra Sabinis.

she swims in burning Phlegethon. From black furnaces
the rapid fount rages and has heaved up beneath the whirl the scorched crags,
and with blazing rocks it beats upon the banks.
But she, whose inmost vitals are shorn by the beak
of a bird (lo how the armor-bearer of Jove, returning to his feeding, resounds with beating wings!), 840
the maiden Tarpeia—monstrous abomination—betrayed the citadel to the enemies
for beloved gold, and on agreed terms unbarred the bars to the Sabines.

iuxta (nonne uides? neque enim leuiora domantur
delicta) inlatrat ieiunis faucibus Orthrus, 845
armenti quondam custos immanis Hiberi,
et morsu petit et polluto euiscerat ungue.
nec par poena tamen sceleri: sacraria Vestae
polluit exuta sibi uirginitate sacerdos.

nearby (do you not see? for lighter delicts are not subdued)
Orthrus with fasting jaws bays, the once monstrous warden of the Iberian herd, 845
and with a bite he attacks and with a befouled claw he eviscerates.
nor yet is the penalty equal to the crime: the sanctuaries of Vesta
a priestess polluted, with her virginity stripped from herself.

sed satis haec uidisse, satis.' 850

but enough to have seen these things, enough. 850

Mox deinde: 'Videnti
nunc animas tibi, quae potant obliuia, paucas
in fine enumerasse paro et remeare tenebris.
hic Marius: nec multa dies iam restat ituro
aetheriam in lucem. ueniet tibi origine parua
in longum imperium consul.

Soon then: 'To you, seeing
now the souls who drink oblivion, a few
at the end I plan to have counted, and to return to the darkness.
here is Marius: nor does much day now remain for him about to go
into the aetherial light. There will come to you, of small origin,
a consul into long imperium.

nec Sulla morari            855
iussa potest aut amne diu potare soporo:
lux uocat et nulli diuum mutabile fatum.
imperium hic primus rapiet, sed gloria culpae,
quod reddet solus, nec tanto in nomine quisquam
existet, Sullae qui se uelit esse secundum.            860
ille, hirta cui subrigitur coma fronte, decorum
et gratum terris Magnus caput: ille deum gens,
stelligerum attollens apicem, Troianus Iulo
Caesar auo. quantas moles, cum sede reclusa
hinc tandem erumpent, terraque marique mouebunt!            865

nor can Sulla delay the orders or long drink from the soporific river:            855
light calls, and for no one is the fate of the gods mutable.
here he will first snatch imperium, but a glory of fault, which he alone will render back; nor will anyone arise, in so great a name, who would wish to be second to Sulla.            860
that one, for whom shaggy hair bristles up from his brow, a comely and welcome-to-the-lands head: Magnus; that race of the gods, lifting the star-bearing apex, Caesar, Trojan with Iulus for grandsire. how great masses, when their seat is thrown open, will at last burst forth hence, and what they will set in motion by land and sea!            865

heu miseri, quotiens toto pugnabitis orbe,
nec leuiora lues quam uictus crimina, uictor.'
    Tum iuuenis lacrimans: 'Restare haec ordine duro
lamentor rebus Latiis. sed luce remota
si nulla est uenia et merito mors ipsa laborat,            870
perfidiae Poenus quibus aut Phlegethontis in undis
exuret ductor scelus, aut quae digna renatos
ales in aeternum laniabit morsibus artus?'
'Ne metue:' exclamat uates 'non uita sequetur
inuiolata uirum: patria non ossa quiescent.            875
namque ubi fractus opum magnae certamine pugnae
pertulerit uinci turpemque orare salutem,
rursus bella uolet Macetum instaurare sub armis.
damnatusque doli desertis coniuge fida
et dulci nato linquet Carthaginis arces            880

alas, wretched ones, how often you will fight through the whole world,
and, victor, you will suffer plagues no lighter than the conquered’s crimes.'
    Then the youth, weeping: 'I lament that these things remain in harsh order
for Latin affairs. But, when the light is removed,
if there is no pardon and with good cause death itself labors,            870
by what waves of Phlegethon will the Punic leader burn out the crime
of perfidy, or what bird, worthy for this, will tear forever with bites
his reborn limbs?'
'Do not fear,' cries the seer: 'Life will not follow the man inviolated;
in his fatherland his bones will not rest.875
For when, broken by the resources in the contest of a great battle,
he has endured to be conquered and to beg shameful safety,
again he will wish to restore wars under the arms of the Macedonians.
and, condemned for deceit, with faithful wife
and sweet son abandoned, he will leave the citadels of Carthage            880

atque una profugus lustrabit caerula puppe.
hinc Cilicis Tauri saxosa cacumina uiset.
pro!

and as an exile he will traverse the cerulean deep with a single ship.
from there he will visit the rocky summits of the Cilician Taurus.
ah!

quanto leuius mortalibus aegra subire
seruitia atque hiemes aestusque fugamque fretumque
atque famem, quam posse mori! post Itala bella            885
Assyrio famulus regi falsusque cupiti
Ausoniae motus dubio petet aequora uelo,
donec Prusiacas delatus segniter oras
altera seruitia imbelli patietur in aeuo
et latebram munus regni. perstantibus inde            890
Aeneadis reddique sibi poscentibus hostem,
pocula furtiuo rapiet properata ueneno
ac tandem terras longa formidine soluet.'
    Haec uates, Erebique cauis se reddidit umbris.

how much lighter for mortals to undergo grievous servitudes and winters and heats and flight and the strait and hunger, than to be able to die! after the Italian wars            885
a slave to the Assyrian king, and foiled in his movements toward the desired Ausonia, he will seek the waters with a doubtful sail,
until, borne sluggishly to the Prusian shores,
he will endure a second servitude in an unwarlike age,
and a hiding-place as a gift of the kingdom. thereafter, with the Aeneadae standing firm            890
and demanding that the enemy be rendered back to them,
he will snatch draughts hastened with furtive poison,
and at last he will loose the lands from long fear.'
    Thus the seer, and he returned himself to the hollow shades of Erebus.

tum laetus socios iuuenis portumque reuisit.

then, happy, the youth revisited his companions and the port.