Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Flectite nunc uestros, Heliconis numina, cantus
Ortygiae pelagus Siculique ad litoris urbes.
muneris hic uestri labor est, modo Daunia regna
Aeneadum, modo Sicanios accedere portus,
aut Macetum lustrare domos et Achaica rura 5
aut uaga Sardoo uestigia tinguere fluctu
uel Tyriae quondam regnata mapalia genti
extremumue diem et terrarum inuisere metas.
sic poscit sparsis Mauors agitatus in oris.

Turn now your songs, numina of Helicon,
to the sea of Ortygia and to the cities of the Sicilian shore.
this is the labor of your office, now the Daunian realms
of the Aeneads, now to approach the Sicani harbors,
or to survey the homes of the Macedonians and the Achaean fields 5
or to dip wandering footprints in the Sardinian wave,
or the mapalia once ruled by the Tyrian race,
and to visit the farthest day and the bounds of the lands.
thus does Mavors, stirred on scattered shores, demand.

ergo age, qua litui, qua ducunt bella, sequamur.            10
    Ausoniae pars magna iacet Trinacria tellus,
ut semel expugnante Noto et uastantibus undis
accepit freta caeruleo propulsa tridente.
namque per occultum caeca ui turbinis olim
impactum pelagus laceratae uiscera terrae            15

come then, let us follow where the war-trumpets, where wars lead.            10
    A great part of Ausonia lies the Trinacrian land,
once, with Notus assailing and the waves laying waste,
it took in the straits, driven off by the cerulean trident.
for through hidden ways, by the blind force of a whirlwind, once
the driven-in sea tore the entrails of the rent earth            15

discidit et medio perrumpens arua profundo
cum populis pariter conuulsis transtulit urbes.
ex illo seruans rapidus diuortia Nereus
saeuo diuiduos coniungi pernegat aestu.
sed spatium, quod dissociat consortia terrae, 20
latratus fama est (sic arta interuenit unda)
et matutinos uolucrum tramittere cantus.

it split asunder and, breaking through the fields with a midmost deep,
with the peoples convulsed alike, transferred the cities.
from that time, the swift Nereus, keeping the separations,
with a savage surge refuses that the divided be joined.
but the span which disassociates the fellowship of the lands, 20
is said to transmit barking (so narrow a wave comes between)
and the matutinal songs of birds.

multa solo uirtus: iam reddere faenus aratris,
iam montis umbrare olea, dare nomina Baccho
cornipedemque citum lituis generasse ferendis, 25
nectare Cecropias Hyblaeo accedere ceras.
hic et Paeonios arcano sulphure fontis,
hic Phoebo digna et Musis uenerabere uatum
ora excellentum, sacras qui carmine siluas
quique Syracosia resonant Helicona camena. 30

much virtue in the soil: now to render interest to the ploughs,
now to shade the mountain with the olive, to give names to Bacchus,
and to have bred a swift hoofed steed fit to bear the war-trumpets, 25
to make Cecropian waxes approach Hyblaean nectar.
here too Paeonian springs with secret sulphur,
here you will venerate the mouths of excellent bards worthy of Phoebus and the Muses,
who with their song make the sacred woods resound,
and who make Helicon echo with a Syracusan Camena. 30

promptae gens linguae, ast eadem, cum bella cieret,
portus aequoreis sueta insignire tropaeis.
Post dirum Antipha<t>ae sceptrum et Cyclopia regna
uomere uerterunt primum noua rura Sicano--
Pyrene misit populos, qui nomen ab amne 35
ascitum patrio terrae imposuere uacanti.
mox Ligurum pubes Siculo ductore nouauit
possessis bello mutata uocabula regnis.

people of ready tongue, yet the same, when it stirred wars,
accustomed to emblazon harbors with sea-trophies.
After the dire scepter of Antiphates and the Cyclopean realms
they first turned with the ploughshare new fields for the Sicanian—
Pyrene sent peoples, who upon the vacant land imposed a name taken from their homeland river. 35
soon the youth of the Ligurians, with a Sicel leader, renewed
the names, changed for realms possessed by war.

nec Cres dedecori fuit accola: duxerat actos
moenibus e centum non fausta ad proelia Minos, 40
Daedaleam repetens poenam. qui fraude nefanda
postquam perpetuas iudex concessit ad umbras
Cocalidum insidiis, fesso Minoia turba
bellandi studio Siculis subsedit in oris.
miscuerunt Phrygiam prolem Troianus Acestes 45

nor was a Cretan inhabitant a disgrace: Minos had led forth men drawn from a hundred walls to inauspicious battles, 40
seeking to exact the Daedalean penalty. He who, after by unspeakable fraud the judge had withdrawn to the perpetual shades by the plots of the daughters of Cocalus, the Minoan throng, weary in zeal for warring, settled on Sicilian shores.
Trojan Acestes mingled the Phrygian progeny 45

Troianusque Helymus, structis qui pube secuta
in longum ex sese donarunt nomina muris.
nec Zanclaea gerunt obscuram moenia famam,
dextera quam tribuit posito Saturnia telo.
sed decus Hennaeis haud ullum pulchrius oris, 50
quam quae Sisyphio fundauit nomen ab Isth<m>o
et multum ante alias Ephyraeis fulget alumnis.

and the Trojan Helymus, who, with the youth following, after structures were raised,
donated from themselves their names to walls stretched long.
nor do the Zanclean walls bear an obscure fame,
a fame which the Saturnian right hand granted with the weapon set down.
but no glory for the Hennaean shores is any more beautiful, 50
than that which founded its name from the Sisyphian Isth<m>us
and shines far before others with Ephyraean nurslings.

hic Arethusa suum piscoso fonte receptat
Alpheon sacrae portantem signa coronae.
At non aecus amat Trinacria Mulciber antra. 55
nam Lipare uastis subter depasta caminis
sulphureum uomit exeso de uertice fumum.
ast Aetna eructat tremefactis cautibus ignis
inclusi gemitus, pelagique imitata furorem
murmure per caecos tonat inrequieta fragoris 60

here Arethusa receives her own Alpheus in her fish-filled spring,
bearing the tokens of the sacred crown.
But not kindly does Mulciber love the Trinacrian caves. 55
for Lipara, gnawed beneath by vast furnaces,
vomits sulphureous smoke from its eaten-out summit.
but Aetna belches, with the rocks shaken, the groans
of enclosed fire, and, imitating the sea’s fury,
it thunders with an unquiet murmur of crash through blind passages. 60

nocte dieque simul. fonte e Phlegethontis ut atro
flammarum exundat torrens piceaque procella
semiambusta rotat liquefactis saxa cauernis.
sed quamquam largo flammarum exaestuet intus
turbine et adsidue subnascens profluat ignis, 65
summo cana iugo cohibet, mirabile dictu,
uicinam flammis glaciem, aeternoque rigore
ardentes horrent scopuli: stat uertice celsi
collis hiemps calidaque niuem tegit atra fauilla.

by night and by day together. as from the black spring of Phlegethon
a torrent of flames overflows, and a pitchy squall
whirls half-burned rocks, the caverns liquefied.
but although within it seethes with a copious whirlwind
of flames and the ever-springing fire unceasingly flows forth, 65
at the highest hoary ridge it restrains, marvelous to say,
ice neighboring the flames, and with eternal rigor
the burning crags bristle: on the summit of the lofty
hill winter stands, and black hot cinder covers the snow.

Quid referam Aeolio regnatas nomine terras 70
uentorumque domos atque addita claustra procellis?
hic uersi penitus Pelopea ad regna Pachyni
pulsata Ionio respondent saxa profundo.
hic contra Libyamque situm Caurosque furentis
cernit deuexas Lilybaeon nobile chelas. 75

Why should I recount the lands ruled under the Aeolian name, and the homes of the winds, and the bars added to the tempests? 70
Here, turned deep toward the Pelopian realms at Pachynus,
the rocks, beaten by the Ionian deep, respond.
Here, set opposite Libya and the raging Caurus,
noble Lilybaeon beholds its sloping claws. 75

at, qua diuersi lateris frons tertia terrae
uergit in Italiam prolato ad litora dorso,
celsus harenosa tollit se mole Pelorus.
    His longo mitis placide dominator in aeuo
praefuerat terris Hieron, tractare sereno            80
imperio uulgum pollens et pectora nullo
parentum exagitare metu, pactamque per aras
haud facilis temerare fidem socialia iura
Ausoniis multos seruarat casta per annos.
uerum, ubi fata uirum fragili soluere senecta,            85
primaeuo cessit sceptrum exitiale nepoti,
et placida indomitos accepit regia mores.

but, where the third face of the land on the opposite side
slopes toward Italy, with its back extended to the shores,
lofty Pelorus lifts itself with a sandy mass.
    Over these lands for a long age the gentle ruler
Hiero had presided peacefully, strong to manage the crowd with serene            80
imperium and to agitate no hearts with any fear of authorities,
and, not easy to profane the pledged faith through the altars,
he had kept the social laws chaste with the Ausonians for many years.
but, when the fates loosed the man by brittle old age,
the ruinous scepter passed to his youthful grandson,            85
and the placid court received untamed manners.

namque bis octonis nondum rex praeditus annis
caligare alto in solio nec pondera regni
posse pati et nimium fluxis confidere rebus. 90

for, not yet endowed as king with sixteen years,
he grew dim upon the high throne, nor the weights of the kingdom
could he bear, and he trusted too much in things in flux. 90

iamque breui nullum, delicta tuentibus armis,
fas notum ignotumque nefas. uilissima regi
cura pudor. tam praecipiti materna furori
Pyrrhus origo dabat stimulos proauique superbum
Aeacidae genus atque aeternus carmine Achilles. 95
ergo ardor subitus Poenorum incepta fouendi,
nec sceleri mora: <iam> iungit noua foedera, pacto
cederet ut Siculis uictor Sidonius oris.

and now in a short time, with arms protecting misdeeds, no right was known and no wrong unknown.
the most paltry care to the king was shame. So headlong into frenzy, his maternal origin from Pyrrhus was giving spurs, and the proud stock of his great-grandfather the Aeacid, and Achilles eternal in song. 95
therefore a sudden ardor of fostering the undertakings of the Punics, nor any delay to the crime: <now> he joins new treaties, on the agreement that the Sidonian victor should yield as to the Sicilian shores.

sed stabant Poenae, tumulumque negabat Erinys,
qua modo pactus erat socium non cernere, terra. 100
saeuos namque pati fastus iuuenemque cruento
flagrantem luxu et miscentem turpia diris
haud ultra faciles, quos ira metusque coquebat,
iurati obtruncant. nec iam modus ensibus: addunt
femineam caedem atque insontum rapta sororum 105

But the Punics stood firm, and the Erinys denied a tomb,
in the very land where he had just bargained not to recognize an ally. 100
for no longer compliant to endure savage haughtiness and the youth blazing
with bloody luxury and mixing foul things with dire rites,
they, whom anger and fear were seething, sworn, cut him down.
Nor now any measure to the swords: they add the slaughter of women and the ravishings
of innocent sisters snatched away. 105

corpora prosternunt ferro. noua saeuit in armis
libertas iactatque iugum: pars Punica castra,
pars Italos et nota uolunt, nec turba furentum
defit quae neutro sociari foedere malit.
Tali Trinacriae motu rebusque Sicanis 110
exitio regis trepidis, sublimis honore
(tertia nam Latios renouarat purpura fasces)
Marcellus classem Zanclaeis appulit oris.

they lay bodies low with steel. a new liberty rages in arms and tosses off the yoke:
some want the Punic camps, others the Italians and the known, nor is there lacking a mob
of the frenzied who would prefer to be allied by treaty with neither side.
At such a commotion of Trinacria and with Sican affairs trembling 110
at the king’s ruin, exalted in honor (for the purple had renewed the Latin fasces for the third time)
Marcellus drove his fleet to the Zanclaean shores.

atque ubi cuncta uiro caedesque exposta tyranni
ambiguaeque hominum mentes, Carthaginis arma 115
quos teneant et quanta locos, quod uulgus amicum
duret Troiugenis, quantos Arethusa tumores
concipiat perstetque suas non pandere portas,
incumbit bello ac totam per proxima raptim
armorum effundit flammato pectore pestem. 120

and when everything had been set forth to the man and the slaughters of the tyrant,
and the wavering minds of men, the arms of Carthage, 115
which places they hold and how great, what friendly populace
endures for the Trojan-born, how great swellings Arethusa
conceives and persists in not opening her own portals,
he leans upon war and swiftly through the nearest regions
with flaming breast he pours out the whole pestilence of arms. 120

non aliter Boreas, Rhodopes a uertice praeceps
cum sese immisit decimoque uolumine pontum
expulit in terras, sequitur cum murmure molem
eiecti maris et stridentibus adfremit alis.
prima Leontinos uastarunt proelia campos, 125
regnatam diro quondam Laestrygone terram.
instabat ductor, cui tarde uincere Graias
par erat ac uinci turmas.

Not otherwise Boreas, headlong from the peak of Rhodope,
when he has hurled himself and with the tenth rolling has driven the sea
onto the lands, follows with a murmur the mass
of the ejected sea and roars with hissing wings.
the first battles laid waste the Leontine fields, 125
a land once ruled by the dire Laestrygon. The leader pressed on, for whom to conquer
Greek troops slowly was as little his way as to be conquered.

ruit aequore toto
(femineum credas maribus concurrere uulgum)
et Cereri placitos fecundat sanguine campos. 130
sternuntur passim, pedibusque euadere letum
eripuit rapidus Mauors. nam ut cuique salutem
promisit fuga, praeueniens dux occupat ense.
'Ite, gregem metite imbellem ac succidite ferro:'
clamat cunctantis urgens umbone cateruas 135

he rushes over the whole expanse
(you would think a feminine mob to concur with males)
and he fecundates with blood the fields pleasing to Ceres. 130
they are strewn everywhere, and swift Mavors snatched away
the chance to escape death by their feet. For as to whomsoever flight
promised safety, the leader, forestalling, seizes with the sword.
'Go, reap the unwarlike flock and hew them down with steel:'
he shouts, pressing the lingering ranks with his shield-boss. 135

'pigro luctandi studio certamen in umbra
molle pati docta et gaudens splendescere oliuo
stat, mediocre decus uincentum, ignaua iuuentus.
haec laus sola datur, si uiso uincitis hoste.'
ingruit audito ductore exercitus omnis, 140
solaque, quod superest, secum certamina norunt,
quis dextra antistet spoliisque excellat opimis.
Euboici non per scopulos inlisa Caphereo
Euripi magis unda furit, pontumue sonantem
eicit angusto uiolentius ore Propontis, 145
nec feruet maiore fretum rapiturque tumultu
quod ferit Herculeas extremo sole columnas.

'with a sluggish zeal for wrestling, a contest in the shade
taught to endure and rejoicing to shine with olive(-oil),
there stands—an idle youth—the mediocre honor of winners.
this sole praise is granted: if, the foe once seen, you conquer.'
upon hearing the leader, the whole army rushes in, 140
and, as for what remains, they know only contests among themselves,
as to who shall stand foremost by his right hand and excel with opulent spoils.
not more does the wave of the Euboean Euripus, dashed upon the rocks of Caphereus,
rage, nor does the Propontis from its narrow mouth more violently
cast out the sounding sea, 145
nor does the strait that strikes the Herculean Columns at the farthest sun
seethe with greater surge and be swept along with tumult.

Mite tamen dextrae decus inter proelia tanta
enituit fama. miles Tyrrhenus (Asilo
nomen erat) captus quondam ad Trasimenna fluenta, 150

Yet a gentle honor of the right hand, amid such great battles,
shone forth in fame. A Tyrrhenian soldier (Asilus
was the name), once captured by the Trasimene streams, 150

seruitium facile et dominantis mollia iussa
expertus Beryae, patrias remearat ad oras
sponte fauentis eri, repetitisque impiger armis
tum ueteres Siculo casus Mauorte piabat.
atque is, dum medios inter fera proelia miscet,            155
inlatus Beryae, cui, pacta ad regia misso
Poenorum a populis sociataque bella gerenti,
aerato cassis munimine clauserat ora,
inuadit ferro iuuenem trepideque ferentem
instabilis retro gressus prosternit harena.            160
at miser audita uictoris uoce trementem
cunctantemque animam Stygia ceu sede reducens,
cassidis a mento male fidae uincula rumpit
iungebatque preces atque addere uerba parabat.
sed subito aspectu et noto conterritus ore            165

having experienced the easy servitude and the soft commands of a ruling lord Berya, he had returned to his native shores by the good will of his favoring master, and, brisk with arms resumed, then was atoning the former Sicilian misfortunes by Mars.
and he, while he mingles amid the midst of the fierce battles,            155
launched against Berya—who, sent to the royal palace with pacts from the peoples of the Poeni and conducting allied wars—the helmet had shut his face with a brazen bulwark,
he assails the youth with steel, and, as he bears his steps backward in trepidation, unstable, he throws him down on the sand.            160
but the wretch, on hearing the victor’s voice, drawing back his trembling and lingering spirit as if from the Stygian seat,
he breaks the fastenings of the ill-trusty helmet from his chin and he was joining prayers and was preparing to add words.
but suddenly, at the sight and the familiar face, terrified            165

Tyrrhenus ferrumque manu reuocauit et ultro
talia cum gemitu lacrimis effudit obortis:
'Ne, quaeso, supplex lucem dubiusque precare:
fas hostem seruare mihi. multo optimus ille
militiae, cui postremum est primumque, tueri 170
inter bella fidem: tu letum euadere nobis
das prior et seruas nondum seruatus ab hoste.
haud equidem dignum memet, quae tristia uidi,
abnuerim dignumque iterum in peiora reuolui,
si tibi per medios ignis mediosque per ensis 175
non dederit mea dextra uiam.' sic fatur et ultro
attollit uitaque exaequat munera uitae.

Tyrrhenus drew back the steel in his hand and of his own accord
poured out such words with a groan, tears having welled up:
'Do not, I pray, as a supplicant and in doubt, beg for the light of day:
it is right for me to preserve an enemy. By much he is the best
in military service, for whom the last and the first thing is to protect 170
faith amid wars: you granted us first to escape death,
and you save others while yourself not yet saved from the foe.
I for my part would not deny myself to be unworthy, given the grim things I have seen,
and worthy to be rolled back again into worse,
if my right hand should not give you a way through the midst of fires and through the midst of swords.' 175
Thus he speaks, and of his own accord
he lifts him up and equates gifts of life with life.

At, compos Sicula primum certaminis ora
coepti, Marcellus uictricia signa quieto
agmine progrediens Ephyraea ad moenia uertit. 180

But, once master first of the Sicilian shores of the contest begun,
Marcellus, advancing with a quiet column,
turned his victorious standards toward the Ephyraean walls. 180

inde Syracosias castris circumdedit arces.
sed ferri languebat amor. sedare monendo
pectora caeca uirum atque iras euellere hauebat.

thence he encircled the Syracusan citadels with camps.
But the love of iron was languishing. He was eager to soothe by admonishing the men’s blind hearts and to tear out their anger.

nec (renuant si forte sibi et si mitia malle
credant esse metum) laxis seruatur omissa            185
obsidio claustris: quin contra intentior ipse
inuigilat cautis, fronte imperterritus, armis
et struit arcana necopina pericula cura.
haud secus Eridani stagnis ripaue Caystri
innatat albus olor pronoque immobile corpus            190
dat fluuio et pedibus tacitas eremigat undas.
    Interea, dum incerta labat sententia clausis,
exciti populi atque urbes socia arma ferebant:
incumbens Messena freto minimumque reuulsa
discreta Italia atque Osco memorabilis ortu:            195

nor (if they should perhaps refuse it for themselves and if they should believe that fear prefers to be mild) is the siege kept abandoned with loosened bars:            185
rather, on the contrary, he himself, more intent, keeps vigil with precautions, undaunted in brow, in arms,
and by care he contrives arcane, unlooked-for perils. Not otherwise, in the pools of the Eridanus or on the bank of the Cayster,
the white swan swims, and gives his motionless body to the sloping stream,            190
and with his feet he rows the silent waves.
    Meanwhile, while the decision wavers uncertain among the shut-in,
aroused peoples and cities were bearing allied arms:
Messana, leaning upon the strait and torn away only a little,
separated from Italy and memorable for Oscan origin:            195

tum Catane, nimium ardenti uicina Typhoeo
et generasse pios quondam celeberrima fratres,
et cui non licitum fatis, Camarina, moueri:
tum, quae nectareis uocat ad certamen Hymetton,
audax Hybla, fauis, palmaque arbusta Selinus            200
et, iusti quondam portus, nunc litore solo
subsidium infidum fugientibus aequora, Myl<a>e:
necnon altus Eryx, necnon e uertice celso
Centuripae largoque uirens Entella Lyaeo,
Entella, Hectoreo dilectum nomen Acestae.            205
non T<h>apsos, non e tumulis glacialibus Acrae
defuerunt. Agyrina manus geminoque Lacone
Tyndaris attollens sese adfluit. altus equorum
mille rapit turmam atque hinnitibus aera flammat
pulueream uoluens Acragas ad inania nubem.            210

then Catania, too near to the too-burning Typhoeus,
and most famed to have once begotten pious brothers,
and you, Camarina, to whom it was not permitted by the Fates to be moved:
then bold Hybla, which calls Hymettus to a contest
with nectarean honeycombs, and Selinus with palm-groves            200
and, once a proper harbor, now on a bare shore
a treacherous aid to those fleeing the seas, Myl<a>e:
and also lofty Eryx, and also from its high summit
Centuripa, and Entella green with abundant Lyaeus,
Entella, a name beloved to Hectorean Acestes.            205
not T<h>apsos, not Acrae from her icy mounds
were absent. The Agyrinan band, and Tyndaris, uplifting herself
with the twin Laconian, streams in. Lofty Acragas
sweeps a thousand troop of horses and with whinnies flames the air,
rolling a dusty cloud toward the empty skies.            210

ductor Grosphus erat, cuius caelata gerebat
taurum parma trucem, poenae monimenta uetustae.
ille, ubi torreret subiectis corpora flammis,
mutabat gemitus mugitibus, actaque ueras
credere erat stabulis armenta effundere uoces,            215
haud impune quidem: nam dirae conditor artis
ipse suo moriens immugit flebile tauro.
uenit ab amne trahens nomen Gela, uenit Halaesa
et qui praesenti domitant periura Palici
pectora supplicio, Troianaque uenit Acesta,            220
quique per Aetnaeos Acis petit aequora fines
et dulci gratam Nereida perluit unda.
aemulus ille tuo quondam, Polypheme, calori,
dum fugit agrestem uiolenti pectoris iram,
in tenuis liquefactus aquas euasit et hostem            225

the leader was Grosphus, whose engraved shield bore
a fierce bull, monuments of an ancient penalty.
he, whenever he roasted bodies with flames applied beneath,
was changing groans into bellowings, and one might believe that herds
driven to the stalls were pouring forth true voices,            215
not with impunity indeed: for the founder of the dire art
himself, dying, bellowed plaintively in his own bull.
Gela comes, drawing its name from the river, Halaesa comes,
and those whose Palici tame perjured hearts
by present punishment, and Trojan Acesta comes,            220
and Acis, who seeks the seas along Aetnaean borders
and with sweet wave bathes the pleasing Nereid.
he, once a rival to your heat, Polyphemus,
while he flees the rustic wrath of a violent breast,
liquefied into thin waters, escaped both the foe.            225

et tibi uictricem, Galatea, immiscuit undam.
necnon qui potant Hypsamque Alabimque sonoro<s>
et perlucentem splendenti gurgite Achaten,
qui fontis, uage Chrysa, tuos et pauperis aluei
Hipparin ac facilem superari gurgite parco 230
Pantagian rapidique colunt uada flaua Syma<e>thi.
litora Thermarum, prisca dotata camena,
armauere suos, qua mergitur Himera ponto
Aeolio.

and to you, Galatea, he mixed in the conquering wave.
and likewise those who drink the Hypsas and the sonorous Alabis,
and the Achates, transparent with its shining current,
who tend your springs, wandering Chrysa, and Hipparis of the poor channel,
Hipparis, and the Pantagias, easy to be surpassed by its sparing current, 230
and who inhabit the tawny shallows of the rapid Symaethus.
the shores of Thermae, endowed by an ancient Camena,
have armed their own, where the Himera is plunged into the Aeolian
sea.

nam diuiduas se scindit in oras
nec minus occasus petit incita quam petit ortus. 235
Nebrodes gemini nutrit diuortia fontis,
quo mons Sicania non surgit ditior umbrae.
Henna deum lucis sacra<s> dedit ardua dextra<s>.
hic specus ingentem laxans telluris hiatum
caecum iter ad manis tenebroso limite pandit, 240

for it splits itself into divided shores,
nor less, urged on, does it seek the setting than it seeks the rising. 235
Nebrodes nourishes the twin divergences of the spring,
than which mountain Sicily does not rise richer in shade.
lofty Henna gave sacred right-hands to the gods of light.
here a cave, loosening a vast gaping of the earth,
opens a blind way to the shades along a shadowy path. 240

qua nouus ignotas Hymenaeus uenit in oras,
hac Stygius quondam stimulante cupidine rector
ausus adire diem, maestoque Acheronte relicto
egit in inlicitas currum per inania terras.
tum rapta praeceps Hennaea uirgine flexit            245
attonitos caeli uisus lucemque pauentis
in Styga rursus equos et praedam condidit umbris.
Romanos Petraea duces, Romana petiuit
foedera Callipolis lapidosique Engyon arui,
Hadranum Ergetiumque simul telaque superba            250
lanigera Melite et litus piscosa Calacte,
quaeque procelloso Cephaloedias ora profundo
caeruleis horret campis pascentia cete,
et qui correptas sorbentem uerticis haustu
atque iterum e fundo iaculantem ad sidera puppis            255

where a new Hymenaeus came into unknown shores,
along this, the Stygian ruler once, with desire goading him,
dared to approach the day, and, with gloomy Acheron left behind,
drove his chariot into illicit lands through empty tracts.
then, with the Hennaean maiden snatched, headlong he turned            245
the horses, their eyes astonished at the sights of heaven and dreading the light,
back to Styx, and consigned the prey to the shades.
Rocky Petraea sought Roman leaders, Roman
treaties were sought by Callipolis and the stony fields of Engyon,
Hadranum and Ergetium as well, and the superb weapons            250
of wool-bearing Melite, and the fishy shore of Calacte,
and the Cephaloedian coast, which, with stormy deep,
shudders, pasturing cetaceans in cerulean fields,
and that which, gulping down the seized sterns by the draught of a vortex,
and again from the bottom hurling the sterns to the stars,            255

Tauromenitana cernunt de sede Charybdim.
haec Latium manus et Laurentia signa fouebat.
Cetera Elissaeis aderat gens Sicana uotis.

From the Tauromenitan seat they discern Charybdis.
this band was fostering Latium and the Laurentian standards.
the rest of the Sicanian people stood by Elissaean vows.

mille Agathy<r>na dedit perflataque Trogilos Austris,
mille Thoanteae sedes Phacelina Dianae. 260
tergemino uenit numero fecunda Panhormos,
seu siluis sectere feras seu retibus aequor
uerrere seu caelo libeat traxisse uolucrem.
non Herbesos iners, non Naulocha pigra pericli
sederunt, non frondosis Morgentia campis 265
abstinuit Marte infido. comitata Menaeis
uenit Amastra uiris et paruo nomine Tisse
et Netum et Mutyce pubesque liquentis Achaeti.

a thousand Agathyrna gave, and Trogilos wind-swept by the Austers;
a thousand the seats of Phacelina Diana of Thoas. 260
fecund Panormos came in a triple number,
whether you pursue beasts in the woods or sweep the sea with nets,
or it please you to have drawn a bird from the sky.
not sluggish Herbesos, not Naulocha slow in danger
sat back, nor did Morgentia in its leafy fields 265
abstain from treacherous Mars. Accompanied by Menaean
men came Amastra, and Tisse with a small name,
and Netum and Mutyce and the youth of liquid Achaetus.

Sidonios Drepane atque undae clamosus Helorus
et mox seruili uastata Triocala bello, 270

Sidonian Drepane and Helorus clamorous with the wave
and Triocala soon devastated by the Servile war, 270

Sidonios Arbela ferox et celsus Ietas
et bellare Tabas docilis Cossyraque parua
nec maior~ Megara iunctae concordibus ausis
iuuere et strato Gaulum spectabile ponto,
cum sonat alcyones cantu nidosque natantis            275
immota gestat sopitis fluctibus unda.
ipsa Syracusae patulos urbs inclita muro<s>
milite collecto uariisque impleuerat armis.
ductores facilem impelli laetamque tumultus
uaniloquo plebem furiabant insuper ore:            280
numquam hoste intratos muros et quattuor arces,
et Salaminiacis quantam Eoisque tropaeis
ingenio portus urbs inuia fecerit umbram,
spectatum proauis: ter centum ante ora triremes
unum naufragium, mersasque impune profundo            285

Fierce Arbela and lofty Ietas
and Tabas, teachable-to-war, and little Cossyra,
and no greater Megara, joined with concordant audacities,
helped, and Gaulum, notable with the sea outspread,
when the halcyons resound with song and the motionless wave            275
bears the floating nests, the billows soothed to sleep.
The illustrious city of Syracuse itself, with its outspread walls,
had filled them with gathered soldiery and with various arms.
The leaders, with a vainglory-voiced mouth, were maddening besides
the populace, easy to impel and glad for tumults: that never had an enemy entered the walls and the four citadels,            280
and how greatly the city, by the harbor’s contrivance made unapproachable,
had cast into the shade the Salaminian and Eastern trophies,
seen by their forefathers: three hundred triremes before their faces,
a single shipwreck, and [hulls] sunk with impunity in the profound.            285

clade pharetrigeri subnixas regis Athenas.
flammabant uulgum geniti Carthagine fratres,
Poeni matre genus, sed quos, sub crimine pulsus
urbe Syracosia, Libycis eduxerat oris
Trinacrius genitor, geminaque a stirpe parentum            290
astus miscebant Tyrios leuitate Sicana.
    Quae cernens ductor, postquam immedicabile uisum
seditio, atque ultro bellum surgebat ab hoste,
testatus diuos Siculorum amnesque lacusque
et fontis, Arethusa, tuos, ad bella uocari            295
inuitum (quae sponte diu non sumpserit, hostem
induere arma sibi), telorum turbine uasto
adgreditur muros atque armis intonat urbi.

Athens propped upon the disaster of the quiver-bearing king.
the brothers begotten at Carthage inflamed the crowd,
of Punic mother their stock, but whom, driven out under a charge
from the Syracusan city, their Trinacrian father had led to the Libyan shores,
and from the twin stock of parents they were mixing Tyrian astuteness with Sicilian levity.            290
    Seeing these things, the leader, after the sedition seemed incurable
and war was moreover arising unprovoked from the enemy,
calling to witness the gods of the Sicilians and the rivers and lakes
and your springs, Arethusa, that he was being called to wars unwilling (arms
which he would not long have taken up of his own accord; that the enemy was putting weapons upon him),            295
with a vast whirlwind of missiles he assaults the walls and thunders upon the city with arms.

par omnis simul ira rapit, certantque ruuntque.
turris multiplici surgens ad sidera tecto 300

an equal rage at once seizes all, and they contend and they rush.
a tower, rising to the stars with manifold roofing 300

exibat, tabulata decem cui crescere Graius
fecerat et multas nemorum consumpserat umbras.
armatam hinc igni pinum et deuoluere saxa
certabant calidaeque picis diffundere pestem.
huic procul ardentem iaculatus lampada Cimber 305
conicit et lateri telum exitiabile figit.

it was going out, for which a Grecian had made ten stories to grow and had consumed many shades of the groves.
from here they strove to arm the pine with fire and to roll down rocks and to pour out the pest of hot pitch.
at this, from afar, Cimber, having hurled a blazing torch,
throws it and fixes a death-dealing missile to the side. 305

pascitur adiutu<s> Vulcanus turbine uenti,
gliscentemque trahens turris per uiscera labem
perque altam molem et totiens nascentia tecta
scandit ouans rapidusque uorat crepitantia flammis 310
ro<bo>ra et, ingenti simul exundante uapore
ad caelum, uictor nutantia culmina lambit.
implentur fumo et nebula caliginis atrae,
nec cuiquam euasisse datur, ceu fulminis ictu
correptae rapido in cineres abi<e>re ruinae. 315

Vulcan, aided by the whirlwind of the wind, is fed,
and, dragging the swelling plague through the tower’s entrails,
and through the lofty mass and the so-often newborn roofs,
he climbs exultant and, swift, devours, crackling with flames 310
the oaken timbers; and, with an enormous vapor at once overflowing
to the sky, as victor he licks the nodding rooftops.
they are filled with smoke and a cloud of black murk,
nor is it granted to anyone to have escaped; as by a stroke of lightning
the seized ruins have gone swiftly into cinders. 315

Par contra pelago miseris fortuna carinis.
namque ubi se propius tectis urbique tulere,
qua portus muris pacatas adplicat undas,
improuisa nouo pestis conterruit astu.
trabs fabre teres atque erasis undique nodis 320
nauali similis malo praefixa gerebat
uncae tela manus: ea celso ex aggere muri
bellantis curui rapiebat in aera ferri
unguibus et mediam reuocata ferebat in urbem.

On the other hand, upon the sea fortune was equal for the wretched ships.
for when they bore themselves nearer to the roofs and the city,
where the harbor applies pacified waves to the walls,
an unforeseen pestilence with a new stratagem terrified them.
a beam, skillfully rounded and with knots scraped away on every side, 320
like a naval mast, prefixed, bore
a hooked-hand weapon: this from the high rampart of the wall
was snatching into the air with talons of curved iron,
and, drawn back, was carrying the middle into the city.

nec solos uis illa uiros, quin saepe triremem 325
belligerae rapuere trabes, cum desuper actum
incuterent puppi chalybem morsusque tenacis.
qui, simul adfixo uicina in robora ferro
sustulerant sublime ratem, miserabile uisu,
per subitum rursus laxatis arte catenis 330

nor did that force seize men alone; indeed often a trireme 325
was snatched by the beams of war, when from above they drove
into the stern the steel and the tenacious bites of the talons.
they, who, as soon as, with the iron fastened into the nearby oaken
timbers, had lifted the ship on high—miserable to see—
then all at once, the chains skillfully loosened again by art, 330

tanta praecipitem reddebant mole profundo
ut totam haurirent undae cum milite puppem.
his super insidiis angusta foramina murus
arte cauata dabat, per quae c<l>am fundere tela
tutum erat, opposito mittentibus aggere ualli.            335
<nec> sine fraude labos, arta ne rursus eodem
spicula ab hoste uia uicibus contorta redirent.
calliditas Graia atque astus pollentior armis
Marcellum tantasque minas terraque marique
arcebat, stabatque ingens ad moenia bellum.            340
    Vir fuit Isthmiacis decus immortale colonis,
ingenio facile ante alios telluris alumnos,
nudus opum, sed cui caelum terraeque paterent.

so great a mass made it headlong to the deep
that the waves would gulp down the whole ship with its soldiery.
besides these ambushes the wall gave narrow openings
hollowed out by art, through which it was safe to pour missiles c<l>andestinely,
with the rampart of a palisade set in the way for those hurling.            335
<nor> was the toil without a stratagem, lest again by the same
narrow way the darts, hurled in turn by the enemy, might return.
Greek cleverness and a cunning more powerful than arms
was warding off Marcellus and such threats by land and sea,
and a vast war stood at the walls.            340
    There was a man, an immortal glory to the Isthmian colonists,
by ingenuity easily before others, the nurslings of the earth,
bare of wealth, but for whom heaven and earth lay open.

ille, nouus pluuias Titan ut proderet ortu
fuscatis tristis radiis, ille, haereat anne 345

he, how the new Titan would betray rains by his rising,
gloomy with darkened rays, he, whether it stick or not 345

pendeat instabilis tellus, cur foedere certo
hunc adfusa globum Tethys circumliget undis
nouerat atque una pelagi lunaeque labores,
et pater Oceanus qua lege effunderet aestus.
non illum mundi numerasse capacis harenas 350
uana fides. puppis etiam constructaque saxa
feminea traxisse ferunt contra ardua dextra.

he knew why the unstable earth hangs suspended, why, by a fixed compact, Tethys, with waves poured around, girds this globe, knew also the joint labors of the sea and of the moon, and by what law Father Ocean pours out the tides.
no empty belief held that he had numbered the sands of the capacious world 350
they even report that he drew ships and constructed stones with a feminine right hand up against steep places.

    Hic dum Italum ductorem astu Teucrosque fatigat,
adnabat centum late Sidonia uelis
classis subsidio et scindebat caerula rostris.            355
erigitur subitas in spes Arethusia proles
adiungitque suas portu progressa carinas.
nec contra Ausonius tonsis aptare lacertos
addubitat mersisque celer fodit aequora remis.
uerberibus torsere fretum: salis icta frequenti            360

    Here, while he wearies by stratagem the Italian leader and the Teucrians,
a Sidonian fleet with a hundred sails was swimming near far and wide for succor
and was cleaving the cerulean waters with its beaks.            355
the Arethusan offspring is raised into sudden hopes
and, having advanced from the harbor, adds its own keels.
nor, on the other side, does the Ausonian hesitate to fit his arms to the oars
and, swift, he digs the waters with the submerged oars.
with lashes they wrung the strait: the brine, smitten with frequent strokes            360

albescit pulsu facies, perque aequora late
spumat canenti sulcatus gurgite limes.
insultant pariter pelago, ac Neptunia regna
tempestate noua trepidant. tum uocibus aequor
personat, et clamat scopulis clamoris imago. 365
ac iam diffusus uacua bellator in unda
cornibus ambierat patulos ad proelia fluctus,
nauali claudens umentem indagine campum:
ac simili curuata sinu diuersa ruebat
classis et artabat lunato caerula gyro. 370
nec mora: terrificis saeuae stridoribus aeris,
per uacuum late cantu resonante profundum,
inc<r>epuere tubae, quis excitus aequore Triton
expauit tortae certantia murmura conchae.

the surface whitens with the beating, and far across the level waters the furrowed boundary foams with a hoary surge.
they leap upon the sea together, and the Neptunian realms tremble at the new tempest. then the sea resounds with voices, and the echo of the clamor shouts from the crags. 365
and now the warrior, spread out on the empty wave, had encircled the open swells for battle with his horns,
enclosing the watery field with a naval toils; and with a like curved bend the opposing fleet was rushing
and was narrowing the blue with a lunate gyre. 370
no delay: with terrifying screeches of savage bronze,
through the empty deep far resounding with song,
the trumpets rang out, at which, roused upon the sea, Triton was aghast at the rivaling murmurs of the twisted conch.

uix meminere maris: tam uasto ad proelia nisu 375

scarcely did they remember the sea: to so vast a strain for battle 375

incumbunt proni positisque in margine puppis
extremae plantis nutantes spicula torquent.
sternitur effusis pelagi media area telis,
celsaque anhelatis exurgens ictibus alnus
caerula nigranti findit spumantia sulco.            380
    Ast aliae latere atque incussi roboris ictu
detergent remos, aliae per uiscera pinus
tramissis ipso retinentur uulnere rostris
quo retinent. medias inter sublimior ibat
terribilis uisu puppis, qua nulla per omne            385
egressa est Libycis maior naualibus aeuum.

they lean forward prone, and with the soles planted on the margin of the farthest stern,
swaying, they hurl darts. The middle arena of the deep is strewn with effused missiles,
and the lofty alder-ship, rising with gasping strokes,
cleaves the blue, foaming with a blackening furrow.            380
    But others, at the flank and by the blow of the driven oak-ram,
wipe off the oars; others, through the very viscera of the pine-ship,
with the beaks sent clean through, are held fast by the very wound
by which they themselves hold. Amid the middle ranks a loftier
ship was going, terrible to the sight, than which no greater through all time            385
has gone forth from Libyan dockyards.

sed quater haec centum numeroso remige pontum
pulsabat tonsis, ueloque superba capaci
cum rapidum hauriret Borean et cornibus omnis
colligeret flatus, lento se robore agebat, 390

but four times this one, with a numerous crew of a hundred oarsmen,
beat the sea with oars; and, proud with a capacious sail,
when it drank in the swift Boreas and with its horns gathered all the blasts,
it drove itself with slow might, 390

intraret fluctus solis ce<u> pulsa lacertis:
procurrunt leuitate agili docilesque regentis
audiuisse manum Latio cum milite puppes.
    Has ut per laeuum uenientis aequor Himilco
in latus obliquas iussamque incurrere proram            395
conspexit, propere diuis in uota uocatis
aequoris, intento uolucrem de more sagittam
adsignat neruo, utque oculis librauit in hostem
et calamo monstrauit iter, diuersa relaxans
brachia deduxit uultu comitante per auras            400
in uulnus telum ac residentis puppe magistri
adfixit plectro dextram. nec deinde regenda
puppe manus ualuit flectenti immortua clauo.
dumque ad opem accurrit ceu capta nauita puppe,
ecce iterum fatoque pari neruoque sagitta            405

it would enter the waves as if propelled by arms alone:
they run forward with agile lightness, and the ships, docile to have heeded the hand of the helmsman,
together with the Latin soldiery.
    When Himilco saw these coming across the port-side sea,
slant to his flank and their prow ordered to charge,            395
swiftly, the gods of the sea being called upon with vows,
he fits, as is his custom, the winged arrow to the taut string,
and when with his eyes he had balanced the aim upon the foe
and had shown the path with the shaft, relaxing his arms
opposite ways he drew the missile through the breezes, his gaze accompanying, into the wound,            400
and he fastened the right hand of the master sitting at the stern
to the tiller. Nor thereafter did the hand avail to steer the stern,
dead upon the helm as it bent. And while the sailor runs up
to give aid, as though the stern were captured, behold again, with an equal fate
and from the same string, an arrow—            405

in medium perlapsa globum transuerberat ictu
orba gubernacli subeuntem munera Taurum.
Inrumpit Cumana ratis, quam Corbulo ductor
lectaque complebat Stabiarum litore pubes.
numen erat celsae puppis uicina Dione. 410
sed superingestis propior quia subdita telis
bella capessebat, media subsedit in unda
diuisitque fretum.

slipping into the middle of the throng, with a blow it transfixes
Taurus, bereft of the helm, taking up the duties of the rudder.
The Cumaean ship bursts in, which the leader Corbulo
and the chosen youth from the shore of Stabiae were manning.
there was, as the numen of the lofty stern, Dione close at hand. 410
but, since, brought nearer and placed beneath, she was taking up war
under missiles heaped on from above, she settled in the mid-wave
and divided the strait.

clamantum spumeus ora
Nereus implet aquis, palmaeque, trahente profundo,
luctantum frustra summis in fluctibus extant. 415
hic audax ira magno per caerula saltu
Corbulo transgressus (nam textam robore turrim
appulerant nexae ferri compage triremes)
euadit tabulata super flammaque comantem
multifida pinum celso de culmine quassat. 420

the foamy Nereus fills the mouths of the shouting with waters,
and the palms, as the deep drags, of those struggling in vain stand out upon the highest billows. 415
here, bold with ire, with a great leap across the blue waters,
Corbulo, having crossed (for the triremes, bound with an iron fastening, had brought alongside a tower woven of oak-timber)
surmounts the platforms above, and a many-cleft pine streaming with flame
from the lofty summit he brandishes and shakes. 420

inde atros alacer pastosque bitumine torquet,
ammentante Noto, Poenorum aplustribus ignes.
intrat diffusos pestis Vulcania passim
atque implet dispersa foros: trepidatur omisso
summis remigio, sed enim tam rebus in artis 425
fama mali nondum tanti penetrarat ad imos.
at rapidus feruor, per pinguis unguine taedas
inlapsus, flammis uictricibus insonat alueo.

then, brisk, he hurls black fires, fattened with bitumen,
with the South Wind acting as a sling-thong, at the Punics’ stern-ornaments.
the Vulcanian pest enters far and wide among those spread out,
and fills the scattered gangways: there is panic, the uppermost
oar-bank abandoned, but indeed, with affairs in such narrows, 425
the report of so great an evil had not yet penetrated to the lowest.
but swift fervor, having glided through torches rich with grease,
resounds through the hull with conquering flames.

qua nondum tamen intulerat uim Dardana lampas
parcebatque uapor, saxorum grandine dirus 430
arcebat fatumque ratis retinebat Himilco.
hic miser, igniferam dum uentilat aere pinum,
murali saxo per lubrica sanguine transtra
uoluitur in fluctus Lycchaei uulnere Cydnus.
fax nidore graui foedauit comminus auras 435
ambusto instridens pelago.

where, however, the Dardanian lamp had not yet brought in its force
and the vapor was sparing, grim with a hail of stones 430
he was warding off, and Himilco was holding back the fate of the ship.
here the wretch, while he fans with bronze the fire-bearing pine,
by a mural stone, over thwarts slippery with blood,
Cydnus is rolled into the waves by the blow of Lycchaeus.
the torch, with heavy reek, befouled at close quarters the airs, 435
hissing upon the sea, seared.

ferus inde citatum
missile adorata contorquet Sabratha puppe
(Hammon numen erat Libycae gentile carinae
cornigeraque sedens spectabat caerula fronte):
'Fer, pater, adflictis, fer,' ait 'Garamantice uates, 440

then the savage from there hurls the sped
missile from the adored Sabrathan stern
(Hammon was the tutelary numen of the Libyan keel,
and, horn-bearing, as he sat he gazed with cerulean brow):
'Bring, father, to the afflicted—bring,' said the Garamantian seer, 440

rebus opem inque Italos da certa effundere tela.'
has inter uoces tremulo uenit agmine cornus
et Neptunicolae transuerberat ora Telonis.
Vrgebant nihilo leuius iam in limine mortis,
quos fuga praecipitis partem glomerarat in unam 445
puppis, adhuc uacuam taedae. sed, proxima cursu
fulmineo populatus, ineuitabilis ardor
correptam flammis inuoluit ouantibus alnum.

bring aid to our affairs, and grant to pour sure missiles upon the Italians.'
amid these voices the cornel-spear came with a quivering flight
and pierced clean through the face of Telon, a worshipper of Neptune.
None the less did they press, now on the very threshold of death,
those whom their headlong flight had massed into one part at the stern, 445
still empty of the torch. But, having ravaged what was nearest in lightning-swift course,
the unavoidable ardor enfolded the seized alder-ship in exultant flames.

primus, ope aequorei funis delapsus in undas,
qua nondum Stygios glomerabat Mulciber aestus, 450
ambustus socium remis aufertur Himilco.
proxima nudarunt miserandi fata Batonis
desertam ductore ratem. bonus ille per artem
crudo luctari pelago atque exire procellas.

first, by the aid of a sea-rope slipping down into the waves,
where Mulciber was not yet massing Stygian heats, 450
Himilco, scorched, is borne away by oars to a comrade.
next, the pitiable fates of Baton laid bare the ship,
deserted of her helmsman. He was good, by his art,
to wrestle with the raw deep and to weather the tempests.

idem, quid Boreas, quid uellet crastinus Auster, 455

the same man, what Boreas, what the morrow's Auster would will, 455

anteibat, nec peruigilem tu fallere uultum
obscuro quamuis cursu, Cynosura, ualeres.
is, postquam aduersis nullus modus, 'Accipe nostrum,
Hammon, sanguinem,' ait 'spectator cladis iniquae.'
atque, acto in pectus gladio, dextra inde cruorem 460
excipit et large sacra inter cornua fundit.
Hos inter Daphnis, deductum ab origine nomen
antiqua, fuit infelix, cui linquere saltus
et mutare casas infido marmore uisum.

he went before, nor could you, Cynosura, deceive the ever‑wakeful face
with an obscure course, although you had the strength.
he, after that there was no limit to adversities, said, ‘Receive our
blood, Hammon, spectator of iniquitous disaster.’
and, the sword driven into his breast, with his right hand then the blood 460
he catches and in largess pours it as sacred between the horns.
Among these, Daphnis—his name drawn down from ancient origin—
was ill‑fated, to whom it seemed good to leave the glades
and to exchange the cottages for the treacherous marble (sea).

at princeps generis quanto maiora parauit 465
intra pastorem sibi nomina! Daphnin amarunt
Sicelides Musae, dexter donauit auena
Phoebus Castalia et iussit, proiectus in herba
si quando caneret, laetos per prata, per arua
ad Daphnin properare greges riuosque silere. 470

but the prince of the race, how much greater names he prepared for himself within a shepherd’s guise! 465
Daphnis the Sicilian Muses loved; the Castalian Phoebus, propitious, bestowed the oaten pipe
and ordered that, whenever he should sing, stretched out in the grass,
the joyful flocks hasten across the meadows, across the fields, to Daphnis, and the streams be silent. 470

ille ubi septena modulatus harundine carmen
mulcebat siluas, non umquam tempore eodem
Siren adsuetos effudit in aequore cantus,
Scyllaei tacuere canes, stetit atra Charybdis,
et laetus scopulis audiuit iubila Cyclops.            475
progeniem hauserunt et nomen amabile flammae.
    Innatat ecce super transtris fumantibus asper
Ornytos ac longam sibimet facit aequore mortem,
qualis Oiliades, fulmen iaculante Minerua,
surgentis domuit fluctus ardentibus ulnis.            480
transigitur ualida medius, dum se adleuat, alni
cuspide Marmarides Sciron. pars subnatat unda
membrorum, pars extat aquis totumque per aequor
portatur, rigido, miserandum, immortua rostro.

he, when with a seven-reed pipe having modulated a song
was soothing the woods, never at the same time did the Siren
pour forth her accustomed songs on the sea; the Scyllaean hounds were silent,
black Charybdis stood still, and the Cyclops, joyous, upon the crags heard the jubilations.            475
the flames drank in both offspring and a lovable name.
    Behold, rough Ornytos swims upon the smoking thwarts
and makes for himself a long death upon the sea,
like the son of Oileus, with Minerva hurling the thunderbolt,
he tamed the rising waves with burning forearms.            480
he is run through in the middle, while he lifts himself, by the strong
cusp of the alder-ship by the Marmaridian Sciron. Part of his limbs floats just beneath the wave,
part stands out above the waters, and over the whole plain of the sea
he is borne, pitiably, by the rigid, undying beak.

accelerant puppes utrimque atque ora ruentum 485

they speed the ships on both sides and the mouths of the rushing 485

sanguinei feriunt remorum aspergine rores.
ipse adeo senis ductor Rhoeteius ibat
pulsibus et ualido superabat remige uentos.
quam rapidis puppem manibus frenare Lilaeus
dum temptat, saeua truncatur membra bipenni, 490
ac fert haerentis trabibus ratis incita palmas.

blood-red dews are smitten by the spray of the oars.
he himself indeed, the Rhoeteian helmsman of the old man, was going
by strokes and was overcoming the winds with strong rowing.
while Lilaeus tries to rein the ship with rapid hands,
his limbs are savagely hewn off by a two-edged axe, 490
and the urged-on raft carries the palms clinging to the beams.

    Sicania Aeoliden portabant transtra Podaetum.
hic, aeuo quamquam nondum excessisset ephebos,
nec sat maturus laudum, seu feruida corda
seu laeui traxere dei, bellique cupido,             495
arma puer niueis aptarat picta lacertis
et freta gaudebat celsa turbare Chimaera.
iamque super Rutula, super et Garamantide pinu
ibat ouans, melior remo meliorque sagitta,
et iam turrigerum demerserat aequore Nessum.            500
heu puero malesuada rudi noua gloria pugnae!

    The Sicilian thwarts were bearing the Aeolid Podaetus.
this youth, although he had not yet passed from the age of ephebes,
nor yet ripe enough for praises, whether fervid heart
or the smooth god drew him, and a desire of war,             495
the boy had fitted painted arms upon his snow-white upper arms
and he rejoiced to trouble the straits with the lofty Chimaera.
and now over a Rutulian, and over a Garamantian pine
he went exulting, better with the oar and better with the arrow,
and already he had sunk the tower-bearing Nessus in the sea.            500
alas, for the boy, how ill-seducing to the raw is the new glory of battle!

dum cristam galeae trucis exuuiasque precatur
de duce Marcello superos temerarius, hasta
excepit raptim uulnus letale remissa,
pro qualis! seu splendentem sub sidera nisu 505

while he was beseeching the gods above for the crest of the savage helmet and the spoils
from the leader Marcellus, temerarious, a spear
sent back swiftly caught him with a lethal wound,
ah, what a one! whether shining beneath the stars in his exertion 505

exigeret discum, iaculo seu nubila supra
surgeret, aligeras ferret seu puluere plantas
uix tacto, uel dimens<i> spatia improba campi
transiret uelox saltu, decuere labores.
sat prorsus, sat erat decoris discrimine tuto, 510
sat laudis. cur facta, puer, maiora petebas?

whether he would drive out the discus, or with the javelin would soar above the clouds,
or would bear his winged soles with the dust scarcely touched,
or, the outrageous spaces of the field once measured,
would cross them swift with a leap, such labors befitted him.
enough indeed, enough there was of decorum in safe distinction, 510
enough of praise. why, boy, were you seeking greater deeds?

illum, ubi labentem pepulerunt tela sub undas,
ossa Syracosio fraudatum naufraga busto,
fleuerunt freta, fleuerunt Cyclopia saxa
et Cyane et Anapus et Ortygie Arethusa.            515
    Parte alia Perseus (puppem hanc Tiberinus agebat)
quaque uehebatur Crantor Sidonius Io
concurrunt. iniecta ligant hinc uincula ferri
atque illinc, steteruntque rates ad proelia nexae.
nec iaculo aut longe certatur harundine fusa:            520

him, when the darts drove him, slipping, beneath the waves,
his shipwrecked bones, cheated of a Syracusan tomb,
the straits wept, the Cyclopian rocks wept,
and Cyane and Anapus and Ortygian Arethusa.            515
    On another part Perseus (this ship Tiberinus was steering)
and that on which Crantor and Sidonian Io were being borne
rush together. Cast-on, they bind chains of iron on this side
and on that, and the ships stood fast, linked for battle.
nor is the contest with javelin or with a reed loosed from afar:            520

comminus et gladio terrestria proelia miscent.
perrumpunt Itali, qua caedes prima reclusit
monstrauitque uiam; uasta sed mole catenas
hortatur socios et uincla abrumpere ferri
ac parat hostili resoluta puppe receptos            525
auehere et paribus pelago diducere ab armis--
Aetnaeo Polyphemus erat nutritus in antro
atque inde antiquae nomen feritatis amabat.
ubera praebuerat paruo lupa, corporis alti
terribilis moles, mens aspera, uultus in ira            530
semper et ad caedes Cyclopia corde libido.
isque relaxatis membrorum pondere uinclis
impulerat puppim et mergebat gurgite tonsas
duxissetque ratem, pressa Laronius hasta
ni propere duro nitentem exurgere uelox            535

at close quarters and with the sword they mingle battles as on land.
the Italians break through, where the first slaughter opened
and showed the way; but with a vast mass he urges comrades to break
the chains and the bonds of iron, and he prepares, with the hostile stern unfastened,
to carry off those taken in and to draw them away at sea from equal arms-- 525
Polyphemus had been nurtured in the Aetnaean cavern
and from there loved the name of ancient ferocity.
a she-wolf had offered her teats to him when small; the terrible mass
of a tall body, a harsh mind, a face always in wrath
and, with a Cyclopean heart, a lust for slaughters.
and he, with the bonds loosened by the weight of his limbs,
had driven the stern and was submerging the oars in the whirlpool,
and would have hauled the ship, had not Laronius, with his spear planted,
swift to act, quickly against the hard one striving to rise 535

adfixet transtro. uix morte incepta remittit:
namque manus seruat dum suetos languida ductus,
ignauum summo traxit super aequore remum.
Perculsi cuneo Poeni densentur in unum,
quod caret hoste, latus, subito cum pondere uictus, 540
insiliente mari, summergitur alueus undis.

fastened him to the thwart. Scarcely, with death begun, does he release:
for his hand, sluggish, while it keeps its accustomed strokes,
dragged the idle oar over the surface of the sea.
Struck by a wedge, the Punics are packed into the one
side that lacks the foe, when, overcome by the sudden weight, 540
with the sea leaping in, the hull is submerged beneath the waves.

scuta uirum cristaeque et inerti spicula ferro
tutelaeque deum fluitant. hic robore fracto
pugnat inops chalybis seseque in proelia rursus
armat naufragio, remis male feruidus ille 545
festinat spoliare ratem, discrimine nullo
nautarum interdum conuulsa sedilia torquens.
non plectro ratis aut frangendae in uulnera prorae
parcitur, et pelago repetuntur nantia tela.

the shields of men and crests and javelins with inert iron,
and the tutelary images of the gods, float. Here, with the timber broken,
he fights bereft of steel, and arms himself again for battles
from the shipwreck; that one, rashly fervid, hastens to despoil the ship of oars, 545
making no distinction,
at times wrenching away the sailors’ torn-up benches.
neither the plectrum (oar-blade) of the ship nor the prow, to be broken into wounds,
is spared, and swimming missiles are sought again on the sea.

uulneribus patulis intrat mare. mox sua ponto 550

through gaping wounds the sea enters. soon its own to the sea 550

singultante anima propulsa refunditur unda.
nec desunt, qui correptos complexibus artis
immergant pelago et, iaculis cessantibus, hostem
morte sua perimant. remeantum gurgite mentes
crudescunt, ac pro ferro stat fluctibus uti. 555
haurit sanguineus contorta cadauera uertex.

with sobbing breath the repelled wave is poured back.
nor are lacking those who, having seized men in tight embraces,
plunge them into the sea and, the javelins falling silent, slay the foe
by their own death. as they return in the gulf, minds
grow cruel, and, instead of iron, it stands to use the billows. 555
the blood-red vortex drinks down the contorted corpses.

hinc clamor, gemitus illinc mortesque fugaeque
remorumque fragor flictuque sonantia rostra.
perfusum bello feruet mare. fessus acerbis
terga fuga celeri Libyae conuertit ad oras 560
exigua sese furatus Himilco carina.

on this side clamor, on that side groans, and deaths and flights
and the crash of oars and the beaks resounding with collision.
perfused with war the sea seethes. Wearied by bitter hardships,
he turns his back in swift flight to the shores of Libya 560
Himilco, having stolen himself away in a small skiff.

Concessere mari tandem Graiusque Libysque,
et iam captiuae uinclis ad litora longo
ordine ducuntur puppes. flagrantibus alto
stant aliae taedis. splendet lucente profundo 565

At last both the Greek and the Libyan have yielded to the sea,
and now the captive ships, in bonds, to the shores in a long
order are led. On the deep, with blazing
torches, others stand. The lucent deep glistens 565

Mulciber, et tremula uibratur imagine pontus.
ardet nota fretis Cyane pennataque Siren,
ardet et Europe, niuei sub imagine tauri
uecta Ioue ac prenso tramittens aequora cornu,
et quae fusa comas curuum per caerula piscem 570
Nereis umenti moderatur roscida freno.
uritur undiuagus Python et corniger Hammon
et, quae Sidonios uultus portabat Elissae,
bis ternis ratis ordinibus grassata per undas.

Mulciber, and the deep is quivered with a trembling image.
burns Cyanê, known to the straits, and the winged Siren,
burns too Europa, borne by Jove under the image of a snowy bull
and, grasping the horn, crossing the seas,
and the Nereid, dewy, who with hair let down guides through the cerulean the curved fish with a moist bridle. 570
the wave-wandering Python is scorched, and horn-bearing Ammon,
and that which bore the Sidonian features of Elissa,
its ship, with twice three banks, having advanced through the waves.

at uinclis trahitur cognata in litora Anapus 575
Gorgoneasque ferens ad sidera Pegasus alas.
ducitur et Libyae puppis signata figuram
et Triton captiuus et ardua rupibus Aetne,
spirantis rogus Enceladi, Cadmeaque Sidon.
Nec mora tum trepidos hac clade inrumpere muros 580

but Anapus is dragged in bonds to the kindred shores, 575
and Pegasus, bearing Gorgonean wings, to the stars.
and a Libyan stern is led, marked with the effigy
both of captive Triton and of Etna towering with crags,
the pyre of breathing Enceladus, and Cadmean Sidon.
No delay then to burst in upon the walls, panic‑stricken by this disaster 580

signaque ferre deum templis iam iamque fuisset,
ni subito importuna lues inimicaque pestis,
inuidia diuum pelagique labore parata,
polluto miseris rapuisset gaudia caelo.
criniger aestiferis Titan feruoribus auras 585
et patulam Cyanen lateque palustribus undis
stagnantem Stygio Cocyti oppleuit odore
temporaque autumni laetis florentia donis
foedauit rapidoque accendit fulminis igni.
fumabat crassus nebulis caliginis aer, 590
squalebat tellus uitiato feruida dorso
nec uictum dabat aut ullas languentibus umbras,
atque ater picea uapor expirabat in aethra.

and they would already, already have been bearing the standards of the gods into the temples,
if suddenly an importunate blight and inimical pestilence,
prepared by the envy of the gods and by the labor of the sea,
had snatched from the wretched their joys by a polluted sky.
the shaggy-maned Titan with heat-bearing fervors the airs 585
and the wide Cyane, stagnant far and wide with palustrine waters,
he filled with the Stygian odor of Cocytus,
and the times of autumn flowering with gladsome gifts
he defiled and kindled with the swift fire of the thunderbolt.
the thick air was smoking with mists of gloom, 590
the earth, fervid with a vitiated surface, was squalid,
nor did it give nourishment or any shades to the languishing,
and black pitchy vapor was exhaling into the aether.

uim primi sensere canes. mox nubibus atris
fluxit deficiens penna labente uolucris. 595

The dogs were the first to feel the force. Soon, under dark clouds,
the bird, failing, sank, its wing slipping. 595

inde ferae siluis sterni. tum serpere labes
Tartarea atque haustis populari castra maniplis.
arebat lingua, et gelidus per uiscera sudor
corpore manabat tremulo.

then the wild beasts were laid low in the woods.
then a Tartarean blight began to creep and, with the maniples drained, to ravage the camp.
the tongue was parched, and a gelid sweat was seeping through the vitals
from the trembling body.

descendere fauces
abnuerant siccae iussorum alimenta ciborum. 600
aspera pulmonem tussis quatit, et per anhela
igneus efflatur sitientum spiritus ora.
lumina ferre grauem uix sufficientia lucem
unca nare iacent, saniesque immixta cruore
expuitur, membrisque cutis tegit ossa peresis. 605
heu dolor! insignis notis bellator in armis
ignauo rapitur leto.

the dry throats had refused to let the ordered aliments of foods descend. 600
a harsh cough shakes the lung, and through panting mouths
the fiery breath of the thirsty is breathed out.
the eyes, scarcely sufficient to bear the heavy light,
lie with the nostril hooked, and foul discharge mixed with blood
is spat out, and on the limbs the skin covers bones eaten away. 605
alas, what grief! the warrior distinguished by his insignia in arms
is snatched away by an ignoble death.

iactantur in ignem
dona superba uirum, multo Mauorte parata.
succubuit medicina malis. cumulantur aceruo
labentum et magno cineres sese aggere tollunt. 610

are hurled into the fire
the proud gifts of the men, prepared by much Mavortian war.
medicine has succumbed to the evils. are heaped in a pile
the ashes of the collapsing, and the ashes lift themselves in a great mound. 610

passim etiam deserta iacent inhumataque late
corpora, pestiferos tetigisse timentibus artus.
serpit pascendo crescens Acherusia pestis
nec leuiore quatit Trinacria moenia luctu
Poenorumque parem castris fert atra laborem. 615
aequato par exitio et communis ubique
ira deum atque eadem leti uersatur imago.
Nulla tamen Latios fregit uis dura malorum,
incolumi ductore, uiros, clademque rependit
unum inter strages tutum caput.

everywhere also the bodies lie abandoned and unburied far and wide, with people fearing to have touched pestiferous limbs.
the Acherusian pest creeps, growing by feeding,
nor does it shake the walls of Trinacria with lighter grief,
and the black plague brings an equal hardship to the camps of the Punics. 615
equal doom is matched, and everywhere the common wrath of the gods
and the same image of death prevails.
yet no hard force of ills broke the Latian men,
their leader unscathed; and one head, safe amid the slaughters,
repaid the calamity.

ut grauis ergo 620
primum letiferos repressit Sirius aestus,
et minuere auidae mortis contagia pestes,
ceu, sidente Noto cum se maria alta reponunt,
propulsa inuadit piscator caerula cumba,
sic tandem ereptam morbis grassantibus armat 625

so then, when first the heavy Dog-Star repressed the death-bearing heats, 620
and the plagues diminished the contagions of ravenous death,
as, with Notus subsiding, when the deep seas settle themselves,
the fisherman invades the blue with his cerulean skiff driven forward,
thus at length he arms his host, rescued from rampaging diseases 625

Marcellus pubem, lustratis rite maniplis.
circumstant alacres signa auditisque tubarum
respirant laeti clangoribus. itur in hostem,
et, si fata ferant, iuuat inter proelia ferro
posse mori.

Marcellus leads forth the youth, the maniples duly lustrated.
eager they stand around the standards, and, the trumpets having been heard,
they breathe again, glad at the clangors. they go against the enemy,
and, if the fates allow, it pleases to be able to die amid the battles by steel.

socium miseret, qui sorte pudenda 630
in morem pecudum effudere cubilibus atris
inlaudatam animam. tumulos inhonoraque busta
respiciunt, et uel nullo iacuisse sepulcro
quam debellari morbis placet. ardua primus
ad muros dux signa rapit.

they pity their comrades, who by a shameful lot 630
in the manner of cattle have poured out in dark couches
their unlauded soul. they look back at tumuli and dishonored burial-places,
and it pleases them to have lain even in no sepulchre
rather than to be thoroughly conquered by diseases. the leader first
snatches the standards for the heights, to the walls.

tenuata iacendo 635
et macie in galeis abscondunt ora, malusque,
ne sit spes hosti, uelatur casside pallor.
infundunt rapidum conuulsis moenibus agmen
condensique ruunt: tot bellis inuia tecta
tot<que> uno introitu capiuntur militis arces. 640

thinned by lying down 635
and by emaciation they hide their faces in their helmets, and the baleful
pallor, lest there be hope for the enemy, is veiled by the casque.
they pour a rapid column into the ramparts convulsed,
and, close-packed, they rush: so many roofs inaccessible in so many wars,
and so many citadels of the soldiery are captured by a single entry. 640

Totum, qua uehitur Titan, non ulla per orbem
tum sese Isthmiacis aequassent oppida tectis.
tot delubra deum totque intra moenia portus,
adde fora et celsis suggesta theatra columnis
certantisque mari moles, adde ordine longo 645
innumeras spatioque domos aequare superbas
rura. quid, inclusos porrecto limite longis
porticibus sacros iuuenum certamine lucos?

Over the whole, wherever Titan is borne, no towns throughout the orb would then have matched themselves to the Isthmian roofs.
so many shrines of the gods and so many ports within the walls,
add the forums and theaters set up on lofty columns,
and moles contending with the sea, add in long array 645
innumerable houses, proud to equal the countryside in their expanse.
what of the sacred groves, enclosed with long porticoes drawn out in a straight boundary, for the contest of youths?

quid tot captiuis fulgentia culmina rostris
armaque fixa deis, aut quae Marathonius hostis 650
perdidit aut Libya quae sunt aduecta subacta?
hic Agathocleis sedes ornata tropaeis,
hic mites Hieronis opes; hic sancta uetustas
artificum manibus. non usquam clarior illo
gloria picturae saeclo; non aera iuuabat 655

what of the roof-crestings gleaming with so many captive prows,
and the arms fixed for the gods, or what the Marathonian foe 650
lost, or what things from Libya, subdued, have been brought in?
here the seat of Agathocles adorned with trophies,
here the gentle resources of Hiero; here sacred antiquity
in the hands of craftsmen. Nowhere in that age was the glory
of painting more famous; nor did bronzes delight. 655

~quem scire Ephyren; fuluo certauerit auro
uestis spirantis referens subtemine uultus--
quae radio caelat Babylon uel murice picto
laeta Tyros, quaeque Attalicis uariata per artem
aulaeis scribuntur acu aut Memphitide tela.            660
iam simul argento fulgentia pocula, mixta
quis gemma quaesitus honos, simulacra deorum
numen ab arte datum seruantia; munera Rubri
praeterea ponti depexaque uellera ramis,
femineus pudor.      His tectis opibusque potitus            665
Ausonius ductor, postquam sublimis ab alto
aggere despexit trepidam clangoribus urbem,
inque suo positum nutu, stent moenia regum
an nullos oriens uideat lux crastina muros,
ingemuit nimio iuris tantumque licere            670

~which Ephyre would know; a garment would have vied with tawny gold,
reproducing with its weft the faces of the breathing—
what Babylon chases with the shuttle or glad Tyre with painted murex-purple,
and what, variegated by Attalic art in hangings,
are inscribed with the needle or on a Memphian loom.            660
now too goblets gleaming with silver, whose sought distinction
is mingled with gem, images of the gods
preserving a divinity given by art; gifts of the Red
Sea besides, and fleeces combed from branches,
feminine modesty.      Having gained these roofs and riches,            665
the Ausonian leader, after from a high
rampart he looked down exalted upon the city trembling with clangors,
and since it lay at his nod whether the kings’ walls should stand
or whether tomorrow’s dawn should behold no walls arising,
he groaned at the excess of right and that so much were permitted.            670

horruit et propere reuocata militis ira
iussit stare domos, indulgens templa uetustis
incolere atque habitare deis. sic parcere uictis
pro praeda fuit, et sese contenta nec ullo
sanguine pollutis plausit Victoria pennis. 675
tu quoque ductoris lacrimas, memorande, tulisti,
defensor patriae, meditantem in puluere formas
nec turbatum animi tanta feriente ruina.
ast relicum uulgus resoluta in gaudia mente
certarunt uicti uictoribus.

he shuddered, and, the soldier’s anger quickly recalled,
he ordered the homes to stand, indulging the temples
to be inhabited and dwelt in by the ancient gods. thus to spare the vanquished
was in place of booty, and Victory, content with herself and with no
blood polluting her wings, beat them in applause. 675
you too bore the leader’s tears, O to-be-remembered one,
defender of the fatherland, as he meditated designs in the dust
and was not disturbed in mind, though so great a ruin was striking.
but the remaining crowd, their minds loosed into joys,
the conquered contended with the conquerors.

aemulus ipse            680
ingenii superum seruando condidit urbem.
ergo extat saeclis stabitque insigne tropaeum
et dabit antiquos ductorum noscere mores.
    Felices populi, si, quondam ut bella solebant,
nunc quoque inexhaustas pax nostra relinqueret urbes!            685

a rival himself,            680
by preserving the genius of the gods he founded the city.
therefore there stands through the ages and will stand a notable trophy,
and it will grant to know the ancient mores of leaders.
    Happy peoples, if, as once wars were wont,
now too our peace would leave cities unexhausted!            685

at, ni cura uiri qui nunc dedit otia mundo
effrenum arceret populandi cuncta furorem,
nudassent auidae terrasque fretumque rapinae.

But, if the care of the man who now has given leisure to the world were not warding off the unbridled fury of plundering everything,
greedy rapines would have stripped both lands and sea.