Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Hostis ut Ausoniis decederet aduena terris,
fatidicae fuerant oracula prisca Sibyllae
caelicolum Phrygia genetricem sede petitam
Laomedonteae sacrandam moenibus urbis:
aduectum exciperet numen, qui lectus ab omni 5
concilio patrum praesentis degeret aeui
optimus. en nomen melius maiusque triumphis!
iamque petita aderat Latia portante Cybebe
puppe, atque ante omnis magno cedente senatu
obuius accitis properabat Scipio sacris, 10
qui, genitus patruo ductoris ad Africa bella
tunc lecti, multa fulgebat imagine auorum.

That the alien foe might depart from Ausonian lands,
there had been the oracles of the ancient fate-speaking Sibyl:
that the Genetrix of the heaven-dwellers, sought from the Phrygian seat,
be consecrated to the walls of Laomedon’s city;
that, when the numen was brought, he should receive it, who, chosen by the whole 5
council of the Fathers, was the best man of the present age.
Lo, a name better and greater than triumphs!
And now she who had been sought was at hand, with a Latin ship bearing Cybebe,
and, the great senate yielding precedence, before all
Scipio hastened to meet her, the sacred rites having been summoned, 10
who, born of the paternal uncle of the leader then chosen for the wars to Africa,
was gleaming with the many image of his ancestors.

isque ubi longinquo uenientia numina ponto
accepit supplex palmis Tuscique sonora
Thybridis adduxit sublimis ad ostia puppim,             15
femineae tum deinde manus subiere, per amnem
quae traherent celsam religatis funibus alnum.
circum arguta cauis tinnitibus aera, simulque
certabant rauco resonantia tympana pulsu,
semiuirique chori, gemino qui Dindyma monte             20
casta colunt, qui Dictaeo bacchantur in antro,
quique Idaea iuga et lucos nouere silentis.
hos inter fremitus ac laeto uota tumultu
substitit adductis renuens procedere uinclis
sacra ratis subitisque uadis immobilis haesit.             25
tum puppe a media magno clamore sacerdos:
'Parcite pollutis contingere uincula palmis
et procul hinc, moneo, procul hinc, quaecumque profanae,
ferte gradus nec uos casto miscete labori,
dum satis est monuisse deae.

and he, when he received with suppliant palms the divinities coming from the far-off sea,
and in lofty state brought the sounding ship to the mouths of the Tuscan Tiber,             15
then thereafter women’s hands took up the task, to draw through the river
the towering alder-ship with ropes made fast. Around, bronzes shrilled with hollow tinkles,
and at the same time resounding tympana vied with a hoarse beat,
and the half-man choirs, who on the twin-peaked mount Dindymus worship chastely,
who bacchant in the Dictaean cave, and who have known the Idaean ridges and silent groves.             20
Amid these roars and the joyful tumult of vows
the sacred raft halted, refusing to advance though the cables were drawn tight,
and stuck motionless on sudden shallows. Then from mid-ship the priest, with a great cry:
'Forbear to touch the cables with polluted palms,
and far from here, I warn you, far from here, whoever of you are profane,
carry your steps, nor mix yourselves with the chaste labor,
since it suffices that the goddess has given warning.             25

quod si qua pudica             30
mente ualet, si qua inlaesi sibi corporis astat
conscia, uel sola subeat pia munera dextra.'
     Hic, prisca ducens Clausorum ab origine nomen,
Claudia, non aequa<e> populi male credita fama<e>,
in puppim uersis palmisque oculisque profatur:             35
'Caelicolum genetrix, numen, quod numina nobis
cuncta creas, cuius proles terramque fretumque
sideraque et manis regnorum sorte gubernant,
si nostrum nullo uiolatum est crimine corpus,
testis, diua, ueni et facili me absolue carina.'             40
tum secura capit funem, fremitusque leonum
audiri uisus subito, et grauiora per auris
nulla pulsa manu sonuerunt tympana diuae.
fertur prona ratis (uentos impellere credas)
contraque aduersas ducentem praeuenit undas.             45
extemplo maior cunctis spes pectora mulcet
finem armis tandem finemque uenire periclis.
     Ipse alacer Sicula discedens Scipio terra
abscondit late propulsis puppibus aequor,
cui numen pelagi placauerat hostia taurus,             50
iactaque caeruleis innabant fluctibus exta.

but if any chaste woman             30
is strong in mind, if any stands conscious to herself of an uninjured body,
let her, even alone, undertake the pious duties with her right hand.'
     Here, Claudia, drawing her name from the ancient origin of the Clausi,
ill-believed by the people’s unjust report,
speaks toward the ship with her palms and eyes turned:             35
'Mother of the heaven-dwellers, divinity who create for us all the divinities,
whose offspring by the lot of their realms govern earth and sea
and stars and the spirits below, if our body
has been violated by no crime, be witness, goddess, come, and bear me clear with an easy-moving keel.'             40
Then, confident, she takes the rope, and the roars of lions
seemed suddenly to be heard, and the drums of the goddess, struck by no hand,
sounded heavier through the ears. The ship glides forward (you would think the winds were driving it),
and it outstrips the one leading it against the opposing waves.             45
At once a greater hope soothes all hearts
that at last an end to arms and an end to dangers is coming.      Scipio himself, eager, departing from Sicilian land,
covers the sea far and wide with ships driven forward,
for whom the numen of the sea a bull as victim had appeased,             50
and the entrails, cast forth, were floating on the dark-blue waves.

tunc a sede deum purumque per aethera lapsae
armigerae Iouis ante oculos coepere uolucres
aequoreas monstrare uias ac ducere classem.
augurium clangor laetum dabat. inde secuti 55
tantum praegressos liquida sub nube uolatus
quantum non frustra speculantum lumina seruant,
litora Agenoreae tenuerunt perfida terrae.

then, having glided from the seat of the gods and through the pure aether,
the armigerous birds of Jove, before their eyes, began to show the sea-ways
and to lead the fleet. A glad omen their clangor was giving. Then, following 55
so far as the flights gone ahead beneath the limpid cloud,
as far as the watchers’ eyes keep them not in vain,
they made the shores of Agenor’s treacherous land.

     Nec segnis tanta in semet ueniente procella
Africa terribilem magno sub nomine molem             60
regis opes contra et Massyla parauerat arma,
spesque Syphax Libycis una et Laurentibus unus
terror erat. campos pariter uallesque refusas
litoraque implerat nullo decorare tapete
cornipedem Nomas adsuetus, densaeque per auras             65
condebant iaculis stridentibus aethera nubes.
immemor hic dextraeque datae iunctique per aras
foederis, et mensas testis atque hospita iura
fasque fidemque simul, prauo mutatus amore,
ruperat atque toros regni mercede pararat.             70
uirgo erat eximia specie claroque parente,
Hasdrubalis proles, thalamis quam cepit ut altis,
ceu face succensus prima taedaque iugali,
uertit opes gener ad Poenos, Latiaeque soluto
foedere amicitiae dotalia transtulit arma.             75
     Sed non Ausonio curarum extrema Syphacem
ductori monuisse fuit, missique minantur:
stet regno, reputet superos, pacta hospita seruet:
longe coniugia ac longe Tyrios hymenaeos
inter Dardanias acies fore.

     Nor was Africa sluggish, with so great a tempest coming upon herself,
to have prepared, under a great name, a terrible mass—             60
the resources of a king in opposition, and Massylian arms—
and Syphax was the sole hope for the Libyans and the single
terror for the Laurentine folk. Equally the plains and the flooded valleys
and the shores he had filled—the Nomad, used to deck the hoofed one
with no carpet—and dense clouds through the air were burying the aether             65
with hissing javelins. He, unmindful of the right hand given and of the pact
joined at the altars, and of the tables as witnesses and the laws of hospitality,
and divine law and good faith together—changed by crooked love—
had broken them and had prepared marriage-beds at the price of a kingdom.
There was a maiden of outstanding beauty and with illustrious parentage,             70
the offspring of Hasdrubal—whom, as soon as he took to lofty chambers,
as if inflamed by the first torch and the bridal torch,
the son-in-law turned his resources to the Phoenicians, and, with the pact
of friendship with Latium dissolved, transferred his arms as a dowry.
     But it was not for the Ausonian commander to fail to admonish Syphax of his utmost cares;
envoys were sent and threaten thus: let him stand fast in his kingdom, let him take thought of the gods above, let him keep the pledged hospitality:
marriages, and Tyrian hymenaeals, will be far—far—amid Dardanian battle-lines.

sanguine quippe, 80
si renuat, blando nimium facilique marito
statura obsequia et thalami flagrantis amores.
Sic Latius permixta minis, <s>ed cassa monebat
ductor. nam surdas coniunx obstruxerat aures.

for indeed with blood, 80
if he should refuse, the compliances for a too-bland and too-facile husband
and the loves of a blazing bridal chamber would be established.
Thus the Latin leader warned, commingled with threats, <s>ed to no effect
for his consort had blocked his ears deaf.

ergo, asper monitis frustra nitentibus, enses             85
aduocat et castas polluti foederis aras
testatus uaria Martem mouet impiger arte.
castra, leui calamo cannaque intecta palustri,
qualia Maurus amat dispersa mapalia pastor,
adgreditur, furtum armorum tutantibus umbris,             90
ac tacita spargit celata incendia nocte.
inde, ubi collecti rapidam diffundere pestem
coeperunt ignes et se per pinguia magno
pabula ferre sono, clare expatiantur in auras
et fumos uolucri propellunt lumine flammae.             95
it totis inimica lues cum turbine castris,
atque alimenta uorat strepitu Vulcanus anhelo
arida, et ex omni manant incendia tecto.

therefore, harsh, with warnings striving in vain, he calls to arms,             85
and, invoking as witness the chaste altars of the polluted pact,
he, untiring, stirs Mars with varied art. The camp, roofed with light reed and marsh-cane,
such scattered mapalia as the Moorish shepherd loves,
he assaults, the shadows protecting the stealth of arms,             90
and in silent night he strews hidden fires. Then, when the gathered
fires began to pour out the swift plague and to carry themselves through the rich
fuel with a great roar, they spread clearly into the air
and the flames with winged light drive forth the smokes.             95
The hostile blight goes with a whirlwind through the whole camp,
and Vulcan with panting clamor devours the dry nourishments,
and from every roof the fires stream.

sentitur plerisque prius, quam cernitur, ignis
excitis somno, multorumque ora uocantum 100
auxilium inuadunt flammae. fluit undique uictor
Mulciber et rapidis amplexibus arma uirosque
corripit: exundat pestis, semustaque castra
albenti uolitant per nubila summa fauilla.
ipsius ingenti regis tentoria saltu 105
lugubre increpitans late circumuolat ardor,
hausissetque uirum, trepidus ni clade satelles
e somno ac stratis rapuisset inulta precantem.

the fire is felt by most before it is seen,
once roused from sleep, and the mouths of many calling 100
for help the flames invade. from every side victorious
Mulciber flows and with swift embraces seizes arms and men:
the pest floods out, and white cinder flits through the highest clouds,
the camp half-burned. the blaze, lugubriously crackling, with a mighty leap
far and wide flies around the king’s own tent, 105
and would have gulped down the man, had not an attendant, alarmed by the disaster,
snatched him from sleep and from his bedding, praying that it not go unavenged.

     Verum ubi mox iuncto sociarant aggere uires
Massylus Tyriusque duces, accitaque regno             110
lenierat pubes infaustae uulnera noctis,
ira pudorque dabant et coniunx, tertius ignis,
immanis animos, adflataque barbarus ora
castrorum flammis et se uelamine nullo
uix inter trepidas ereptum ex hoste cateruas             115
frendebat minitans: sed enim non luce Syphacem
nec claro potuisse die nec sole tuente
a quoquam uinci. iactarat talia uecors,
sed iam claudebat flatus nec plura sinebat
Atropos et tumidae properabat stamina linguae.             120
namque, ubi prosiluit castris, ceu turbidus amnis,
qui siluas ac saxa trahens per deuia praeceps
uoluitur et ripas spumanti gurgite laxat,
ante omnis praeuectus equo trahit agmina uoce.
contra naua manus Rutuli celsusque ruebat             125
uiso rege procul raptis exercitus armis,
ac sibi quisque: 'Videsne?

     But when soon the Massylian and Tyrian leaders had allied their forces with the rampart joined,
and the youth called in from the realm had soothed the wounds of the ill‑omened night,             110
anger and shame were giving, and his wife, the third fire, immense spirit to him;
and the barbarian, his face breathed upon by the camp’s flames and himself with no covering,
scarcely snatched from the enemy amid the trembling bands, was gnashing, threatening;
but that Syphax could not by light, nor on a bright day, nor with the sun looking on,
be conquered by anyone. The madman had vaunted such things,             115
but already breath was failing, and Atropos allowed no more
and was hastening the threads of his puffed‑up tongue. For, when he leapt forth from the camp, like a turbid river,
which, dragging woods and rocks, rolls headlong through byways
and loosens its banks with a foaming whirlpool, riding before all on his horse he draws the ranks by his voice.             120
In counter, the eager band of the Rutulians and the army, towering, rushed,
their arms snatched up, when the king was seen from afar,
and each to himself: “Do you see?             125

uidesne, ut in agmine primo
Massylus uolitet deposcens proelia rector?
fac nostrum hoc, mea dextra, decus. uiolauit et aras
caelicolum et casti ductoris foedera rupit. 130
sit satis hunc castris semel effugisse crematis.'
sic secum taciti et certatim spicula fundunt.

do you see, how in the foremost line
the Massylian ruler flits, demanding battles?
make this our glory, my right hand. He has violated even the altars
of the heaven-dwellers and broke the covenants of the chaste commander. 130
let it be enough that he once escaped from the camps, burned.'
thus, silent among themselves and vying with one another, they pour forth their darts.

prima in cornipedis sedit spirantibus ignem
naribus hasta uolans erexitque ore cruento
quadrupedem elatis pulsantem calcibus auras.             135
corruit asper ecus confixaque cuspide membra
huc illuc iactans rectorem prodidit hosti.
inuadunt uanumque fugae atque attollere fessos
adnitentem artus reuocato a uulnere telo
corripiunt, tum uincla uiro manicaeque, pudendu<m>,             140
addita, et, exemplum non umquam fidere laetis,
sceptriferas arta palmas uinxere catena.
ducitur ex alto deiectus culmine regni,
qui modo sub pedibus terras et sceptra patensque
litora ad Oceani sub nutu uiderat aequor.             145
prostratis opibus regni Phoenissa metuntur
agmina, et inuisus Marti notusque fugarum
uertit terga citus damnatis Hasdrubal ausis.

first the flying spear settled in the horse’s nostrils breathing fire,
and it reared the quadruped, striking the airs with lifted hooves with bloody mouth.             135
the rough steed collapsed, and, tossing his limbs transfixed by the spear-point
hither and thither, betrayed his rider to the enemy.
they rush in and, futile for flight and striving to raise his weary
limbs, when the weapon was drawn back from the wound, they seize him; then bonds for the man and handcuffs, a shameful thing,             140
were added, and—an example never to trust in prosperities—
they bound with a tight chain the scepter-bearing palms.
he is led, cast down from the high summit of kingship,
he who but now had seen lands beneath his feet, and scepters, and the plain
sea to the shores of Ocean under his nod.             145
with the resources of the realm laid low, the Phoenician ranks are mown down,
and Hasdrubal, hateful to Mars and known for flights,
turns his back in haste, his ventures condemned.

     Stabat Carthago, truncatis undique membris,
uni <in>nixa uiro, tantoque fragore ruentem             150
Hannibal absenti retinebat nomine molem.
id relicum fessos opis auxiliique ciere
rerum extrema iubent, huc confugere pauentes,
postquam se superum desertos numine cernunt.
nec mora: propulsa sulcant uada salsa carina,             155
qui reuocent patriaeque ferant mandata monentis,
ne lentus nullas uideat Carthaginis arces.

     Carthage stood, with limbs truncated on every side,
leaning upon a single man; and the mass, collapsing with so great a crash,             150
Hannibal, though absent, was holding back by his name.
This, the last resort, bids the weary to summon help and auxiliary aid,
to take refuge hither in panic, after they perceive themselves deserted by the numen of the High Ones.
No delay: with the driven-forward keel they furrow the saline shallows,             155
who may recall him and bear to the fatherland the mandates of the admonisher,
lest, slow, he should behold no citadels of Carthage.

     Quarta Aurora ratem Dauni deuexerat oras,
et fera ductoris turbabant somnia mentem.
namque grauis curis carpit dum nocte quietem,             160
cernere Flaminium Gracchumque et cernere Paulum
uisus erat simul aduersos mucronibus in se
destrictis ruere atque Itala depellere terra,
omnisque a Cannis Trasimennique omnis ab undis
in pontum impellens umbrarum exercitus ibat.             165
ipse fugam cupiens notas euadere ad Alpes
quaerebat terraeque ulnis amplexus utrisque
haerebat Latiae, donec uis saeua profundo
truderet et rapidis daret asportare procellis.
     His aegrum uisis adeunt mandata ferentes             170
legati patriaeque extrema pericula pandunt:
Massyla ut ruerint arma, ut ceruice catenas
regnator tulerit Libyae, letoque negato
seruetur noua pompa Ioui, Carthago laboret
ut trepidi Hasdrubalis, qui rerum agitarit habenas,             175
non una concussa fuga.

     The fourth Dawn had borne the ship down to Daunus’ shores,
and fierce dreams were troubling the leader’s mind.
for while, heavy with cares, he snatched repose at night,             160
he seemed to see Flaminius and Gracchus, and to see Paulus,
at once, opposed, rush upon him with points drawn
and drive him from the Italian land, and the whole army of shades,
all from Cannae and all from the waters of Trasimene,
was pressing him into the sea, going on to the open deep.             165
He himself, desiring flight, was seeking to escape to the well-known Alps,
and, embraced by the arms of the land on both sides,
he clung to Latian soil, until a savage force would thrust him
into the deep and give him to be carried off by swift storms.
     At these sights, sick at heart, there approach, bearing commands,             170
envoys, and they lay open the uttermost dangers of the fatherland:
how the Massylian arms have collapsed, how the ruler of Libya
has borne chains on his neck, and, with death denied,
is preserved as a new pomp for Jove; that Carthage toils,
shaken by more than one flight of panicked Hasdrubal, who had driven the reins of affairs,             175
not by a single rout alone.

se, triste profatu,
uidisse, arderent cum bina in nocte silenti
castra, et luceret sceleratis Africa flammis.
praerapidum iuuenem minitari, Bruttia seruet
litora dum Poenus, detracturum ignibus atris, 180
in quam se referat, patriam suaque inclita facta.
haec postquam dicta, et casus patuere metusque,
effundunt lacrimas dextramque ut numen adorant.

himself—sad to tell—he had seen, when in the silent night the twin camps were burning, and Africa was aglow with accursed flames.
that a very-swift youth was threatening that, while the Poenus keeps the Bruttian shores, he would drag down to black fires the fatherland to which he would betake himself, and his own illustrious deeds. 180
after these things were spoken, and the disasters and fears lay open, they pour out tears and adore his right hand as a numen.

Audiuit toruo obtutu defixus et aegra
expendit tacite cura secum ipse uolutans 185
an tanti Carthago foret. sic deinde profatur:
'O dirum exitium mortalibus! o nihil umquam
crescere nec magnas patiens exurgere laudes
inuidia!

He heard, fixed with a grim gaze, and with a sickly
care he weighed it silently, turning it over with himself, 185
whether Carthage were worth so much. Thus then he speaks forth:
'O dire destruction for mortals! O envy, patient of nothing ever
growing, nor of great praises rising up—
envy!'

euersam iam pridem excindere Romam
atque aequasse solo potui, traducere captam 190
seruitum gentem Latioque imponere leges.
dum sumptus dumque arma duci fessosque secundis
summisso tirone negant recreare maniplos,
dumque etiam Cerere et uictu fraudasse cohortis
Hannoni placet, induitur tota Africa flammis, 195
pulsat Agenoreas Rhoeteia lancea portas.
nunc patriae decus et patriae nunc Hannibal unus
subsidium, nunc in nostra spes ultima dextra.

I could long since have extirpated overthrown Rome
and leveled her with the ground, led the captured nation across into servitude, 190
and imposed laws upon Latium. While they refuse the general expenses and arms and to refresh the maniples,
wearied by successes, by sending in recruits, and while it also pleases Hanno to defraud the cohorts
even of Ceres and victuals, all Africa is clothed in flames, and the Rhoeteian lance batters the Agenorean gates. 195
Now the glory of the fatherland and now Hannibal alone the succor of the fatherland, now the last hope is in my right hand.

uertentur signa, ut patres statuere, simulque
et patriae muros et te seruabimus, Hannon.'             200
     Haec ubi detonuit, celsas e litore puppes
propellit multumque gemens mouet aequore classem.
non terga est ausus cedentum inuadere quisquam,
non reuocare uirum: cuncti praestare uidentur,
quod sponte abscedat, superi, tandemque resoluat             205
Ausoniam. uentos optant, et litora ab hoste
nuda uidere sat est: ceu flamina comprimit Auster
cum fera et abscedens reddit mare, nauita parco
interea uoto non auras poscit amicas
contentus caruisse Noto, pacemque quietam             210
pro facili cursu reputat satis.

The standards will be turned, as the fathers decreed, and at the same time
both the walls of the fatherland and you we shall preserve, Hanno.'             200
     When he had thundered these things out, he propels the tall ships from the shore
and, groaning much, sets the fleet in motion on the sea.
no one dared to assail the backs of those withdrawing,
nor to recall the man: all seem to proffer this boon,
that of his own accord he depart, O gods above, and at last release             205
Ausonia. they long for winds, and to see the shores
bared of the foe is enough: as when the South Wind, savage, stills the blasts
and, withdrawing, gives back the sea, meanwhile the sailor with a sparing
vow does not ask for friendly breezes, content to have lacked Notus,
and he deems quiet peace sufficient in place of an easy course.             210

omnis in altum
Sidonius uisus conuerterat undique miles:
ductor defixos Itala tellure tenebat
intentus uultus, manantesque ora rigabant
per tacitum lacrimae, et suspiria crebra ciebat,             215
haud secus ac patriam pulsus dulcisque penatis
linqueret et tristis exul traheretur in oras.
     Vt uero adfusis puppes procedere uentis
et sensim coepere procul subsidere montes,
nullaque iam Hesperia et nusquam iam Daunia tellus,             220
hic secum infrendens: 'Mentisne ego compos et hoc nunc
indignus reditu, qui memet finibus umquam
amorim Ausoniae? flagrasset subdita taedis
Carthago, et potius cecidisset nomen Elissae.

All the Sidonian soldiery seemed to have turned on every side toward the deep:
the leader held his looks, fastened on the Italian soil, intent,
and tears, flowing, were wetting his face in silence,
and he was arousing frequent sighs,             215
no otherwise than if, driven from fatherland and sweet Penates,
he were leaving, and a sad exile were being dragged to foreign shores.
     But when with the winds blowing close the ships began to move forward
and the mountains far off began gradually to sink,
and there was now no Hesperian land and nowhere now Daunian soil,             220
here, gnashing to himself: 'Am I in possession of my mind, and now unworthy of return, I
who could ever have removed myself from the borders of Ausonia?
Carthage should have flamed, laid under torches, and rather the name of Elissa should have fallen.

quid? tunc sat compos, qui non ardentia tela 225
a Cannis in templa tuli Tarpeia, Iouemque
detraxi solio? sparsissem incendia montis
per septem bello uacuos gentique superbae
Iliacum exitium et proauorum fata dedissem.

What? was I then quite self-possessed, I who did not carry the blazing weapons 225
from Cannae into the Tarpeian temples, and who did not drag Jove
down from his throne? I would have scattered fires over the mountain
of the seven hills, empty of war, and to the proud race I would have given
the Iliac destruction and the dooms of my forefathers.

cur porro haec angant? nunc, nunc inuadere ferro 230
quis prohibet rursumque ad moenia tendere gressus?
ibo et, castrorum relegens monumenta meorum,
qua uia nota <uoca>t, remeabo Anienis ad undas.

why, furthermore, do these things distress me? now, now to invade with iron 230
who forbids, and to direct my steps back again to the walls?
I will go, and, re-reading the monuments of my camps,
where the known road <uoca>, I shall return to the waves of the Anio.

flectite in Italiam proras, auertite classem:
faxo ut uallata reuocetur Scipio Roma.'             235
     Talibus ardentem furiis Neptunus ut alto
prospexit uertique rates ad litora uidit,
quassans caeruleum genitor caput aequora fundo
eruit et tumidum mouet ultra litora pontum.
extemplo uentos imbresque et rupe procellas             240
concitat Aeolias ac nubibus aethera condit.
tum, penitus telo molitus regna tridenti
intima, ab occasu Tethyn impellit et ortu
ac totum Oceani turbat caput.

turn the prows toward Italy, divert the fleet:
I will see to it that Scipio is recalled to siege-girt Rome.'             235
     When Neptune, at such words, from the deep
looked out and saw the ships being turned toward the shores,
shaking his blue head, the begetter tears up the waters from the bottom
and moves the swollen sea beyond the shores.
forthwith he rouses winds and rains, and from the crag the Aeolian storms,             240
and he conceals the aether with clouds.
then, having wrought deep within at his innermost realms with the trident weapon,
he drives Tethys from the Occident and from the Orient,
and confounds the whole head of Ocean.

aequora surgunt
spumea et inlisu scopulus tremit omnis aquarum. 245
primus se attollens Nasamonum sedibus Auster
nudauit Syrtim correpta nubilus unda.
insequitur sublime ferens nigrantibus alis
abruptum Boreas ponti latus. intonat ater
discordi flatu et partem rapit aequoris Eurus. 250
hinc rupti reboare poli, atque hinc crebra micare
fulmina, et in classem ruere implacabile caelum.

the seas rise
foamy, and with the impact of the waters every reef trembles. 245
first, Auster, lifting himself from the seats of the Nasamones,
cloud-dark, with the wave caught up, laid bare the Syrtis.
Boreas follows, bearing on high with black wings
the torn flank of the sea. Black, he thunders
with a discordant blast, and Eurus snatches a portion of the waters. 250
here the riven poles re-echo, and there frequent lightnings flicker,
and the implacable sky rushes upon the fleet.

consensere ignes nimbique et fluctus et ira
uentorum, noctemque freto imposuere tenebrae.
ecce, intorta Noto ueniensque a puppe procella 255
antemnae immugit (stridorque immite rudentum
sibilat) ac similem monti nigrante profundo
ductoris frangit super ora trementia fluctum.
exclamat uoluens oculos caeloque fretoque:
'Felix o frater diuisque aequate cadendo, 260
Hasdrubal!

fires and clouds and billows and the ire
of the winds agreed, and the shadows laid night upon the sea.
behold, a squall, twisted by the South Wind and coming from the stern, 255
bellows at the yard (and the harsh screech of the ropes
hisses) and, like a mountain as the deep blackens,
breaks the wave over the leader’s trembling face.
he cries out, rolling his eyes both to sky and to sea:
'Happy, O brother, and made equal to the gods by falling, 260
Hasdrubal!

egregium fortis cui dextera in armis
pugnanti peperit letum, et cui fata dedere
Ausoniam extremo tellurem adprendere morsu.
at mihi Cannarum campis, ubi Paulus, ubi illae
egregiae occubuere animae, dimittere uitam             265
non licitum, uel, cum ferrem in Capitolia flammas,
Tarpeio Iouis ad manis descendere telo.'
     Talia dum maeret, diuersis flatibus acta
in geminum ruit unda latus puppimque sub atris
aequoris aggeribus tenuit, ceu turbine mersam.             270
mox nigris alte pulsa exundantis harenae
uerticibus ratis aetherias remeauit ad auras
et fluctus supra uento librante pependit.
at geminas Notus in scopulos atque horrida saxa
dura sorte rapit, miserandum et triste, biremis.             275
increpuere ictu prorae.

outstanding he, for whom his brave right hand in arms,
fighting, won death; and to whom the Fates granted
to fasten upon Ausonian soil with a final bite.
but for me, on the fields of Cannae, where Paulus, where those
distinguished souls fell, it was not permitted to let life go             265
or, when I was bearing flames against the Capitol,
to descend to the shades by Jupiter’s Tarpeian weapon.'
     While he laments such things, driven by contrary blasts,
the wave rushes upon both sides and held the ship beneath the dark
embankments of the deep, as if sunk by a whirlwind.             270
soon, struck aloft by the black vortices of the overflowing sand,
the ship returned to the ethereal airs
and hung above the waves, the wind keeping the balance.
but Notus hurries, by hard lot, the bireme onto twin crags
and horrid rocks—a pitiable and grim thing.             275
the bows resounded with the impact.

tum murice acuto
dissiliens sonuit rupta compage carina.
hic uaria ante oculos facies: natat aequore toto
arma inter galeasque uirum cristasque rubentis
florentis Capuae gaza et seposta triumpho             280
Laurens praeda ducis, tripodes mensaeque deorum
cultaque nequiquam miseris simulacra Latinis.
tum Venus emoti facie conterrita ponti
talibus adloquitur regem maris: 'Hoc satis irae
interea, genitor: satis ad maiora minarum.             285
cetera parce, precor, pelago, ne tollat acerba
hoc Carthago decus, nullo superabile bello
progenuisse caput, nostrosque in funera Poeni
Aeneadas undis totoque eguisse profundo.'
     Sic Venus.

then, leaping upon a sharp murex,
the keel sounded, its fastening burst asunder.
here a varied visage before the eyes: over the whole sea floats
arms amid the helmets of men and reddening crests,
the treasure of flourishing Capua and, set apart for triumph, the Laurentine spoil of the leader,             280
tripods and the tables of the gods and simulacra, worshiped in vain by the wretched Latins.
then Venus, terrified at the face of the stirred sea,
addresses the king of the sea with such words: 'This is enough of wrath
for now, father: enough of threats for greater things.             285
spare the rest, I pray, for the sea, lest bitter
Carthage take away this glory, to have begotten a head unconquerable in no war,
and lest the Poeni have driven our Aeneadae to funerals
by the waves and the whole deep.'
     So spoke Venus.

et tumidi considunt gurgite fluctus.             290
                                                                                   290a
obuiaque aduersis propellunt agmina castris.
     Dux, uetus armorum scitusque accendere corda
laudibus, ignifero mentes furiabat in iram
hortatu decorisque urebat pectora flammis:
'Tu mihi Flaminii portas rorantia caesi             295
ora ducis: nosco dextram. tu primus in ictus
ingentis Pauli ruis ac defigis in ossa
mucronem.

and the swollen waves subside in the whirlpool.             290
                                                                                   290a
and they drive the battle-lines forward to meet the opposing camps.
     The leader, veteran of arms and skilled to kindle hearts with praises, with fire-bearing exhortation was frenzying minds into wrath and was scorching breasts with the flames of glory:
'You for me carry the dripping features of Flaminius, the slain general: I recognize the right hand. You are first to rush into the blows of mighty Paulus and to drive the point into his bones.'

tibi pugnacis gestantur opima
Marcelli, Gracchusque cadens tibi proluit ensem.
ecce manus, quae pulsantem te, belliger Appi, 300
moenia sublimis Capuae de culmine muri
excelso fusa moribundum perculit hasta.
ecce aliud fulmen dextrae, quo nobile nomen
Fuluius excepit non unum pectore uulnus.

to you are carried the opulent spoils of pugnacious Marcellus, and Gracchus, falling, drenched your sword for you.
behold the hand which, while you were battering the walls of sky-high Capua, warlike Appius, 300
from the summit of the lofty wall struck you down with a cast spear, moribund.
behold another thunderbolt of the right hand, by which Fulvius, of noble name, received not one wound in his breast.

huc prima te siste acie, cui consul in armis 305
Crispinus cecidit. me tu comitare per hostis,
qui nobis, memini, ad Cannas laetissimus irae
Seruili fers ora ducis suffixa ueruto.
cerno flagrantis oculos uultumque timendum
non ipso minus ense tuum, fortissime Poenum 310
o iuuenis, qualem uidi, cum flumine saeuo
insignis Trebiae complexum ingentibus ulnis
mersisti fundo luctantem uana tribunum.

here set yourself in the foremost line, you by whose arms the consul Crispinus fell. 305
Do you accompany me through the foes,
you who, I recall, at Cannae, most gladdening to our wrath,
bore to us the face of the leader Servilius fixed on a javelin.
I discern your blazing eyes and a countenance to be feared,
no less than the sword itself, O most valiant Punic youth, 310
such as I saw when, in the savage river
of renowned Trebia, having clasped him in mighty arms,
you plunged to the bottom the tribune struggling in vain.

at tu, qui gelidas Ticini primus ad undas
Scipiadae patris tinxisti sanguine ferrum, 315
incepta exequere et nati mihi redde cruorem.
horrescamne ipsos, ueniant si ad proelia, diuos,
cum stetis, turmae, uidi contermina caelo
quas iuga calcantis summas uolitare per Alpis,
cum uideam, quorum ferro manibusque capaces 320
arsere Argyripae campi? num segnior ibis
nunc mihi, qui primus torques in moenia telum
Dardana, nec nostrae facilis concedere laudi?

but you, who by the gelid waves of the Ticinus first dyed your iron with the blood of the Scipiad’s father, 315
carry through the undertakings and render to me the gore of the son.
shall I shudder at the gods themselves, if they come to battles,
when I saw, squadrons, as you stood, the ridge-crests of the Alps you were treading flit bordering the sky,
when I behold that by whose steel and hands the capacious fields of Argyripa blazed? 320
will you go more sluggish now for me, you who are first to whirl a missile against the Dardan walls, and not easy to concede to our praise?

te<n>' uero, tene extimulem, qui, fulmina contra
et nimbos tonitrusque ac summi numinis iras 325
cum starem, perferre sonos ac uana iubebas
nubila et ante ducem Capitolia celsa petebas?
quid uos, quis claro deletum est Marte Saguntum,
exhorter, quos nobilitant primordia belli?
ut meque et uobis dignum, defendite, quaeso, 330
praeteritas dextrae laudes.

but you indeed—shall I really spur you on, you who, against lightnings
and clouds and thunderclaps and the wraths of the Highest Divinity, 325
while I stood firm, were bidding me to endure the sounds and the empty
clouds, and were aiming for the lofty Capitol ahead of your general? What of you, by whose illustrious Mars Saguntum was erased—
should I exhort you, you whom the beginnings of the war ennoble?
that I may be worthy both of myself and of you, defend, I beg, 330
the past praises of your right hand.

diuum ipse fauore
uincendoque senex patriam post trina labantem
lustra et non uisos tam longa aetate penatis
ac natum et fidae iam pridem coniugis ora
confisus uobis repeto. non altera restat 335
iam Liby<a>e, nec Dardaniis pugna altera restat.
certatus nobis hodie dominum accipit orbis.'
Hannibal haec.

by the favor of the gods I myself,
and by conquering, as an old man, return to my fatherland, wavering after three lustra,
and to the household gods not seen for so long an age,
and to my son and the face of my faithful wife long since [awaiting],
relying on you, I return. No second remains 335
now for Libya, nor does another battle remain for the Dardanians.
The world, contested with us, today receives its lord.'
Hannibal said these things.

sed non patiens remorantia uerba
Ausonius miles, quotiens dux coeperat ora
soluere ad effatus, signum pugnamque petebant.             340
     Haec procul aeria speculantem nube sororem
ut uidit diuum genitor maestosque sub acri
obtutu uultus, sic ore effatus amico est:
'Qui te mentis edunt morsus? da noscere coniunx.
num Poeni casus ducis et Carthaginis angit             345
cura tuae?

but the Ausonian soldiery, not patient of delaying words,
whenever the leader had begun to loosen his lips
to utterance, were asking for the signal and the battle.             340
     When the father of the gods saw his sister watching these things from afar in an airy
cloud, and her features sad beneath a keen
gaze, thus he spoke with a friendly mouth:
“What bites of the mind are eating you? Grant me to know, spouse.
Is it the fortunes of the Punic leader and of Carthage that afflict
your care?”             345

sed enim reputa tecum ipsa furores
Sidonios. gentem contra et fatalia regna
Teucrorum quis erit, quaeso, germana, rebelli
fractis foederibus populo modus? ipsa malorum
non plus Carthago tulit exhausitque laboris, 350
quam pro Cadmea <s>u<bi>isti exercita gente.

but do, however, reconsider within yourself the Sidonian frenzies.
against the nation and the fated realms of the Teucrians, sister, what limit, I pray,
will there be to a people rebellious with treaties broken? Carthage herself
has not borne more of evils nor drained more of toil, 350
than you underwent on behalf of the Cadmean people,
harried.

turbasti maria ac terras iuuenemque ferocem
immisti Latio. tremuerunt moenia Romae,
perque bis octonos primus fuit Hannibal annos
humani generis. tempus componere gentes. 355
ad finem uentum, et claudenda est ianua belli.'
Tum supplex Iuno: 'Neque ego, haec mutare laborans
quis est fixa dies, pendenti nube resedi,
nec reuocare acies bellumue extendere quaero.

you have troubled seas and lands and have sent a fierce youth
into Latium. the walls of Rome trembled,
and for twice eight years Hannibal was the foremost
of the human race. it is time to compose the nations. 355
the end has been reached, and the gate of war must be shut.'
Then suppliant Juno: 'Nor have I, laboring to change these things,
for which a day is fixed, taken my seat in a hanging cloud,
nor do I seek to recall the battle-lines or to extend the war.

quae donare potes, quoniam mihi gratia languet             360
et cecidit iam primus amor, nil fila sororum
aduersus posco: uertat terga Hannibal hosti,
ut placet, et cineres Troiae Carthagine reg<n>ent.
illud te gemini per mutua pignora amoris
et soror et coniunx oro: tranare pericla             365
magnanimum patiare ducem uitamque remittas
neue sinas captum Ausonias perferre catenas.
stent etiam contusa malis mea moenia, fracto
nomine Sidonio, et nostro seruentur honori.'
     Sic Iuno, et contra breuiter sic Iuppiter orsus:             370
'Do spatium muris, ut uis, Carthaginis altae.

what you can grant, since for me favor languishes             360
and first love has now fallen, I ask nothing against
the Sisters’ threads: let Hannibal turn his back to the foe,
as it pleases, and let the ashes of Troy reign at Carthage.
by those twin pledges of mutual love I, both sister and spouse,
beg you for this: allow the magnanimous leader to swim through perils             365
and remit his life, nor allow him, captured, to endure Ausonian chains.
let my walls also stand, though bruised by ills, with the
Sidonian name broken, and be kept for our honor.'
     Thus Juno; and in reply briefly thus Jupiter began:             370
'I grant a respite to the walls, as you wish, of lofty Carthage.

stent lacrimis precibusque tuis. sed percipe, coniunx,
quatenus indulsisse uacet. non longa supersunt
fata urbi, uenietque pari sub nomine ductor,
qui nunc seruatas euertat funditus arces. 375
aetherias quoque, uti poscis, trahat Hannibal auras,
ereptus pugnae.

let them stand by your tears and prayers. But perceive, consort,
to what extent it is permitted to have indulged. Not long fates remain
for the city, and there will come, under an equal name, a leader,
to overturn from the foundations the citadels now preserved. 375
also, as you demand, let Hannibal draw the aetherial airs,
rescued from the fight.

miscere hic sidera ponto
et terras implere uolet redeuntibus armis:
noui feta uiri bello praecordia. sed lex
muneris haec esto nostri: Saturnia regna 380
ne post haec uideat, repetat neue amplius umquam
Ausoniam. nunc instanti raptum auehe leto
ne, latis si miscebit fera proelia campis,
Romulei nequeas iuuenis subducere dextrae.'
Dum statuit fata Omnipotens urbique ducique, 385
inuadunt acies pugnam et clamore lacessunt
sidera.

here he will wish to mingle the stars with the sea,
and to fill the lands with returning arms:
I know the man’s breast teeming with war. But let this be the law
of our munus: let him not see the Saturnian realms after this, 380
nor ever again revisit Ausonia. Now bear him away, snatched
from imminent death, lest, if he shall mingle fierce battles on the broad plains,
you be unable to withdraw him from the right hand of the Romulean youth.'
While the All-Powerful fixes the fates for the city and for the leader, 385
the battle-lines rush upon the fight and with their clamor challenge
the stars.

non alio grauiores tempore uidit
aut populos tellus aut, qui patria arma mouerent,
maioris certare duces. discriminis alta
in medio merces, quicquid tegit undique caelum. 390
ibat Agenoreus praefulgens ductor in ostro,
excelsumque caput penna nutante leuabat
crista rubens. saeuus magno de nomine terror
praecedit, Latioque micat bene cognitus ensis.

at no other time did the earth behold either peoples more formidable, or—those who set their fatherland’s arms in motion—leaders of greater stature contending. the lofty prize of the crisis stood in the balance, whatever the sky covers on every side. 390
the Agenorean leader went, resplendent in purple,
and a red-crested helm with nodding plume lifted his lofty head.
a savage terror, from his great name, goes before,
and the sword well known to Latium flashes.

at contra ardenti radiabat Scipio cocco,             395
terribilem ostentans clipeum, quo patris et una
caelarat patrui spirantis proelia dira
effigies: flammam ingentem frons alta uomebat.
sub tanta cunctis ui telorumque uirumque
in ducibus stabat spes et uictoria solis.             400
quin etiam, fauor ut subigit plerosque metusue,
Scipio si Libycis esset generatus in oris,
sceptra ad Agenoreos credunt uentura nepotes,
Hannibal Ausonia genitus si sede fuisset,
haud dubitant terras Itala in dicione futuras.             405
     Contremuere aurae, rapido uibrantibus hastis
turbine, et horrificam traxere per aethera nubem.
inde ensis propiorque acies et comminus ora
admota ac dira flagrantia lumina flamma.

but on the other side Scipio was radiating in burning scarlet,             395
displaying a terrible shield, on which an effigy had chased
the dire battles of his father and likewise of his uncle, seeming to breathe:
the lofty crest spewed forth a vast flame.
under such might of weapons and of men the hope for all
stood in the leaders alone, and victory in them only.             400
nay even—since favor or fear compels most—
if Scipio had been begotten on Libyan shores,
they believe the scepters would come to Agenorean descendants;
if Hannibal had been born in the Ausonian seat,
they do not doubt the lands would be under Italian dominion.             405
     The breezes trembled, with spears quivering in a rapid
whirlwind, and they dragged a horrific cloud through the aether.
then the sword-work and the battle-line came nearer, and faces
were brought to close quarters, and eyes blazing with dread flame.

sternitur, in medium contemptrix turba pericli 410
quae primis se praecipitem tulit obuia telis,
gentilemque bibit tellus inuita cruorem.
feruidus ingenii Masinissa et feruidus aeui
in primas Macetum turmas immania membra
infert et iaculo circumuolat alite campum. 415
caerulus haud aliter, cum dimicat, incola T<h>yles
agmina falcigero circumuenit arta couinno.
Graia phalanx patrio densarat more cateruas
iunctisque astabat nulli penetrabilis hastis.

is laid low, into the midst the crowd, a scorner of peril, 410
which had hurled itself headlong to meet the foremost missiles,
and the unwilling earth drinks kindred blood. Masinissa, fervid in spirit and fervid in age,
throws his gigantic limbs into the front ranks of the Macedonians
and with a winged javelin flies around the field. 415
even so, when he fights, the cerulean dweller of Thule
hemms in the packed columns with a scythe-bearing chariot.
the Graian phalanx had thickened its troops in the ancestral manner
and, with spears locked, stood penetrable by none.

immemor has pacti post foedus in arma Philippus             420
miserat et quassam refouebat Agenoris urbem.
rarescit multo laxatus uulnere miles
atque aperit patulas prostrato corpore late
inter tela uias. inrumpit mole ruinae
Ausonius globus et periuria Graia resignat.             425
Archemorum Rutilus, Teucrum Norbanus (et ambo
Mantua pubenti genetrix dimiserat aeuo),
obtruncat Samium bellacis dextra Caleni,
at Clytium Selius, Pellaeum et uana tumentem
ad nomen patriae Clytium: sed gloria Pellae             430
haud ualuit misero defendere Daunia tela.

Philip, unmindful of the compact after the treaty, had sent these men into arms and was restoring Agenor’s shattered city.             420
The soldiery grows rare, loosened by much wounding, and with bodies laid low opens wide paths far and wide among the weapons. The Ausonian mass bursts in with the bulk of a collapse and annuls Greek perjuries.             425
Rutilus [struck down] Archemorus, Norbanus Teucer (and Mantua, their mother, had sent them both forth in blooming age), with the right hand of warlike Calenus he hews down a Samian; but Selius [slays] Clytius—Clytius of Pella, swelling vainly at the name of his fatherland: yet the glory of Pella did not avail to defend the wretch from Daunian weapons.             430

     Saeuior his Latius uastabat Bruttia signa
Laelius increpitans: 'Adeone Oenotria tellus
detestanda fuit, quam per maria aspera perque
insanos Tyrio fugeretis remige fluctus?             435
sed fugisse satis fuerit. Latione cruore
insuper externas petitis perfundere terras?'
haec dicens Silarum meditantem in proelia telo
praeuenit. hasta uolans imo sub gutture sedit
et uitae uocisque uias simul incita clausit.             440
Vergilio Caudinus, acerbo Laus Amano
sternitur.

     More savage than these, the Latin was laying waste the Bruttian standards,
Laelius, chiding: 'Was the Oenotrian land
so detestable that you would flee it through rough seas and through
insane waves with a Tyrian oarsman?             435
but to have fled would have been enough. With Latin blood
do you furthermore seek to drench foreign lands?'
Saying these things, he forestalled Silarus, intent on battle, with his weapon.
A spear, flying, settled beneath the lowest throat
and, impetuous, at once closed the paths of life and of voice.             440
The Caudine Vergilius, and Laus from harsh Amanus,
are laid low.

accendunt iras uultusque uirorum
armorumque habitus noti et uox consona linguae.
quos ubi nudantis conspexit Hamilcare cretus
terga fuga, 'State ac nostram ne prodite gentem'             445
uociferans subit et conuertit proelia dextra:
qualis in aestiferis Garamantum feta ueneno
attollit campis feruenti pastus harena
colla Paraetonius serpens lateque per auras
undantem torquet perfundens nubila tabem.             450
continuo infesta portantem cuspide uulnus
impedit anteuolans Herium, cui nobile nomen
Marrucina domus clarumque Teate ferebat.
atque illi magnum nitenti et laudibus hostis
arrecto capuli ad finem manus incita sedit,             455
quaerebatque miser morienti lumine fratrem,
cum iuuenis subit et leto stimulatus acerbo
Pleminius saeuum mucronem ante ora coruscat
ac fratrem magno minitans clamore reposcit.

they inflame ires and the visages of men
and the known habit of arms, and a voice consonant to their tongue.
when one born of Hamilcar saw them baring
their backs in flight, shouting, 'Stand and do not betray our nation,'             445
he rushes up and with his right hand turns the battles:
just as on the heat-bearing fields of the Garamantes, teeming with venom,
a Paraetonian serpent, fed on the seething sand,
lifts its neck and far through the breezes
twists, undulating, suffusing the clouds with corrupt ichor.             450
straightway, flying before, he hampers Herius,
who was bearing a wound with a hostile spear-point—he whose noble name
the Marrucinan house and renowned Teate bore.
and as he, striving mightily and with spirit aroused
by the enemy’s praises, the impetuous hand settled to the end of the hilt,             455
and the wretch with dying light was seeking his brother,
when a youth comes up—and goaded by bitter death—
Pleminius flashes the cruel point before his face
and, threatening with a great shout, demands his brother back.

huic proles Barcae: 'Germanum reddere uero 460
si placet, haud renuo. maneant modo foedera nostra:
Hasdrubalem reuocate umbris. egone aspera ponam
umquam in Romanos odia, aut mansuescere corda
nostra sinam, parcamque uiro quem terra crearit
Itala?

to him the son of Barca: 'To give back your brother, indeed, 460
if it pleases, I do not refuse. Only let our treaties remain:
recall Hasdrubal from the shades. I—shall I ever lay aside
the harsh hatreds against the Romans, or allow our hearts
to grow gentle, and spare the man whom the Italian earth has created?
Italian?

tum manes inimico<s> sede repellat             465
aeterna socioque abigat me frater Auerno.'
sic ait et clipei propulsum pondere toto,
lubrica qua tellus lapsantis sanguine fratris
fallebat nisus, prosternit et occupat ense.
extendit labens palmas, Heriumque iacentem             470
amplexus, iuncta leniuit morte dolores.
tum Libys inuadit mixtae certamina turbae
conuertitque ruens per longum hostilia terga,
ut cum fulminibus permixta tonitrua mundum
terrificant, summique labat domus alta parentis:             475
omne hominum terris trepidat genus, ipsaque ob ora
lux atrox micat, et praesens astare uiritim
creditur intento perculsis Iuppiter igne.

then let the shades repel the enemies from their eternal seat 465
and let my brother drive me from our shared Avernus.'
So he speaks, and the man, driven back by the full weight of the shield,
where the ground, slippery with his brother’s blood, deceived his footing,
he throws him down and overtakes him with the sword. He, sliding, stretches out his palms, and, embracing Herius where he lay, 470
with a joined death he soothed his pains. Then the Libyan attacks the combat of the mingled crowd
and, rushing on, turns hostile backs for a long stretch,
as when thunderclaps, commingled with lightning, terrify the world,
and the lofty house of the highest Parent totters: all the race of men on earth trembles, and before their very faces
a baleful light flashes, and Jupiter is believed to stand present, man by man,
to the stricken, with his fire aimed.

     Parte alia, ceu sola forent discrimina campo
quo mis<c>eret agens truculentum Scipio Martem,             480
aspera pugna nouas uaria sub imagine leti
dat formas. hic ense iacet prostratus adacto,
hic saxo perfracta gemit lacrimabilis ossa,
ast hos, turpe, pauor fusos proiecit in ora,
horum aduersa dedit Gradiuo pectora uirtus.             485
ipse super strages ductor Rhoeteius instat,
qualis apud gelidum currus quatit altior Hebrum
et Geticas soluit feruenti sanguine Mauors
laetus caede niues, glaciemque Aquilonibus actam
perrumpit stridens sub pondere belliger axis.             490
iamque ardore truci lustrans fortissima quaeque
nomina obit ferro. claris spectata per orbem
stragibus occumbit late inter tela iuuentus:
qui muros rapuere tuos miserasque nefandi
principium belli fecere, Sagunte, ruinas,             495
qui sacros, Trasimenne, lacus, Phaethontia quique
polluerant tabo stagna, ac fiducia tanta
quos tulit, ut superum regi soliumque domosque
irent direptum: mactantur comminus uno
exitio, redduntque animas, temerata fereba<n>t             500
qui secreta deum et primo<s> reserasse negatas
gressibus humanis Alpis.

     On another part, as if the perils were the only ones on the plain
where Scipio, driving on, mixed truculent Mars,             480
the rough fight, under a varied image of death, gives new
forms. Here one lies prostrated, the sword driven in;
here another, pitiable, groans, his bones shattered by a stone;
but these—shameful—panic, routed, has flung on their faces;
of these, valor has presented breasts opposed to Gradivus.             485
He himself, the Rhoeteian leader, presses on above the heaps,
like when, by the icy Hebrus, the loftier chariot rattles,
and Mavors loosens the Getic snows with seething blood,
glad at the slaughter, and the ice driven by the North Winds
the warlike axle, hissing beneath the weight, bursts through.             490
And now, with grim ardor surveying each most valiant,
he goes after the names with iron. A youth, proved by famous
slaughters through the world, falls far and wide amid the weapons:
those who seized your walls and made your wretched ruins
the beginning of the unspeakable war, Saguntum,             495
those who, Trasimene, had polluted your sacred lakes, and the Phaethontian
pools with gore, and whom such confidence had borne
as to go to the king of the gods—to his throne and homes—
to sack them: they are slaughtered hand to hand by one
doom, and give up their spirits—they who were bragging they had profaned             500
the secrets of the gods and had unbarred the foremost Alps,
forbidden to human steps.

formidinis huius
plena acies propere retro exanimata ruebat:
haud secus ac tectis urbis Vulcania pestis
cum sese infudit, rapidusque incendia flatus             505
uentilat et uolucris spargit per culmina flammas,
attonitum erumpit subita formidine uulgus,
lateque ut capta passim trepidatur in urbe.
     Verum ubi cunctari taedet dispersa uirorum
proelia sectantem et leuiori Marte teneri,             510
omnes in causam belli auctoremque malorum
uertere iam uires tandem placet. Hannibal unus
dum restet, non, si muris Carthaginis ignis
subdatur caesique cadant exercitus omnis,
profectum Latio.

full of this dread the battle-line, panic-struck, was rushing quickly back:
not otherwise than when a Vulcanian plague upon the roofs of a city
has poured itself, and the rapid breath fans the fires            505
and scatters winged flames over the roof-ridges,
the crowd bursts out, thunderstruck by sudden fear,
and, far and wide, as in a captured city, there is panic everywhere.
     But when it wearies him to delay, pursuing scattered combats of men
and to be held by a slighter Mars,            510
it at last pleases him to turn all forces against the cause of the war
and the author of the evils. So long as Hannibal alone remains,
not—even if fire be set beneath the walls of Carthage and the whole army,
cut down, should fall—has anything been accomplished for Latium.

contra, si concidat unus, 515
nequiquam fore Agenoreis cuncta arma uirosque.
illum igitur lustrans circumfert lumina campo
rimaturque ducem. iuuat in certamina summa
ferre gradum, cuperetque uiro concurrere, tota
spectante Ausonia.

on the contrary, if the one should fall, 515
all arms and men of the Agenoreans would be in vain.
him therefore, scanning, he carries his gaze around the field
and searches out the leader. it pleases him to bear his step into the supreme
contests, and he would desire to clash with the man, with all
Ausonia looking on.

celsus clamore feroci             520
prouocat increpitans hostem et noua proelia poscit.
     Quas postquam audiuit uoces conterrita Iuno,
ne Libyci ducis impauidas ferrentur ad aures,
effigiem informat Latiam propereque coruscis
attollit cristis, addit clipeumque iubasque             525
Romulei ducis atque umeris imponit honorem
fulgentis saguli, dat gressum habitusque cientis
proelia et audacis adicit sine corpore motus.
tum par effigies fallacis imagine uana
cornipedis moderanda cito per deuia passu             530
belligerae datur ad speciem certaminis umbrae.

raised high with ferocious clamor,             520
he provokes, chiding, the foe and demands new battles.
     When Juno, terrified, heard these voices,
lest they be carried to the undaunted ears of the Libyan leader,
she shapes a Latin effigy and quickly lifts it with flashing
crests, adds both a shield and the mane-crests             525
of the Romulean leader and places upon the shoulders the honor
of a gleaming sagulum; she gives it a stride and an aspect that stirs
battles, and adds bold motions without a body.
then a matching likeness, with a deceptive, empty image,
of a hoofed steed to be guided quickly with its pace through byways,             530
is given to the war-bearing shade for the semblance of combat.

sic Poeni ducis ante oculos exultat et ultro
Scipio Iunoni simulatus tela coruscat.
at, uiso laetus rectore ante ora Latino
et tandem propius sperans ingentia, Poenus 535
quadrupedi citus imponit uelocia membra
et iacit aduersam properati turbinis hastam.
dat terga et campo fugiens uolat ales imago
tramittitque acies.

Thus before the eyes of the Punic leader the counterfeit exults, and of his own accord
Scipio, simulated by Juno, brandishes his weapons.
but, glad at the sight of the Latin commander before his face
and at last hoping mighty things at closer range, the Carthaginian 535
swiftly sets his swift limbs upon the quadruped
and hurls a spear with the whirling rush of his charge against him.
it turns its back, and, fleeing across the field, the winged image flies
and passes through the battle lines.

tum uero, ut uictor et alti
iam compos uoti, ferrata calce cruentat 540
cornipedem et largas Poenus quatit asper habenas:
'Quo fugis, oblitus nostris te cedere regnis?
nulla tibi Libyca latebra est, o Scipio, terra.'
haec ait et stricto sequitur mucrone uolantem,
donec longinquo frustratum duxit in arua 545
diuersa spatio procul a certamine pugnae.
tum fallax subito simulacrum in nubila cessit.

then indeed, as victor and now in possession of a lofty
vow, with his iron‑shod heel he bloodies the hoofed steed, 540
and the harsh Punic shakes the ample reins:
'Whither do you flee, oblivious to yield to our realms?
there is no Libyan hiding‑place for you, O Scipio, on the land.'
He says this and, with drawn point, pursues the flying one,
until it led the baffled man into fields far off, by a long interval of space, 545
far from the contest of battle. Then the deceitful simulacrum suddenly withdrew into the clouds.

fulmineus ductor 'Quisnam se numine caeco
composuit nobis' inquit 'deus? aut latet idem
cur monstro? tantumne obstat mea gloria diuis? 550
sed non auelles umquam, quicumque secundus
caelicolum stas Ausoniae, non artibus hostem
eripies uerum nobis.' frena inde citati
conuertit furibundus equi campumque petebat,
cum subito occultae pestis conlapsa tremore 555
cornipedis moles ruit atque efflauit anhelo
pectore Iunonis curis in nubila uitam.

the fulminant leader: 'Which god with blind divinity
has arrayed himself against us?' he says; 'or does the same one hide—why—
in a monster? Does my glory so much obstruct the gods? 550
but never will you wrench away—whoever, favorable
among the heaven-dwellers, you stand for Ausonia—nor by your arts will you
snatch the foe indeed from us.' Then, frenzied, he turned the reins
of the speeding horse and was making for the field,
when suddenly, collapsed by a tremor of hidden pestilence, 555
the mass of the hoofed beast falls, and with panting chest
by Juno’s cares breathed out its life into the clouds.

tum uero impatiens 'Vestra est haec altera, uestra
fraus,' inquit 'superi: non fallitis. aequore mersum
texissent scopuli, pelagusque hausisset et undae! 560
anne huic seruabar leto? mea signa secuti,
quis pugnae auspicium dedimus, caeduntur, et absens
accipio gemitus uocesque ac uerba uocantum
Hannibalem.

then indeed, impatient, 'This is yours—this other, your fraud,' he says, 'you gods above: you do not deceive me. Would that the rocks had covered me, sunk in the sea, and that the deep and the waves had swallowed me! 560
Was I kept for this death? Those who, having followed my standards, to whom we gave the auspice of battle, are being cut down, and while absent I receive the groans and voices and the words of men calling
Hannibal.'

quis nostra satis delicta piabit
Tartareus torrens?' simul haec fundebat et una             565
spectabat dextram ac leti feruebat amore.
     Tunc Iuno, miserata uirum, pastoris in ora
uertitur ac siluis subito procedit opacis
atque his adloquitur uersantem ingloria fata:
'Quaenam te siluis accedere causa subegit             570
armatum nostris? num dura ad proelia tendis,
magnus ubi Ausoniae reliquos domat Hannibal armis?

'What Tartarean torrent will sufficiently expiate our delicts?' At the same time as he was pouring these things forth, he was also             565
looking at his right hand and burning with a love of death.
     Then Juno, having pitied the man, turns into a shepherd’s face
and suddenly comes forth from the shady woods
and with these words addresses him, as he was revolving inglorious fates:
'What cause has compelled you, armed, to approach the woods—our woods—             570
is it that you are tending to hard battles,
where great Hannibal subdues the rest of Ausonia with arms?'

si uelox gaudes ire et compendia grata
sunt tibi, uicino in medios te tramite ducam.'
adnuit atque onerat promissis pectora largis             575
pastoris patresque docet Carthaginis altae
magna repensuros, nec se leuiora daturum.
praecipitem et uasto superantem proxima saltu
circumagit Iuno ac fallens regione uiarum
non gratam inuito seruat celata salutem.             580
     Interea Cadmea manus, deserta pauensque,
non ullum Hannibalem, nusquam certamina cernit
saeui nota ducis. pars ferro occumbere credunt,
pars damnasse aciem et diuis cessisse sinistris.

'if you rejoice to go swift and if short-cuts are pleasing
to you, I shall lead you by a neighboring track into the midst.'
he nodded, and she loads his breast with bountiful promises,             575
and she informs that the Fathers of lofty Carthage will repay great things, and that she herself will not give slighter rewards.
Juno wheels him headlong, overleaping the nearest places with a vast leap,
and, deceiving him as to the region of the roads,
she preserves, concealed, a safety not welcome to the unwilling.             580
     Meanwhile the Cadmean band, forsaken and in fear,
sees no Hannibal at all, nowhere the combats known of the savage leader.
some believe he has fallen by the sword,
others that he has condemned the battle-line and yielded to adverse gods.

ingruit Ausonius uersosque agit aequore toto             585
rector. iamque ipsae trepidant Carthaginis arces:
impletur terrore uago cuncta Africa pulsis
agminibus, uolucrique fuga sine Marte ruentes
tendunt attonitos extrema ad litora cursus
ac Tartessiacas profugi sparguntur in oras;             590
pars Batti petiere domos, pars flumina Lagi.
sic ubi, ui caeca tandem deuictus, ad astra
euomuit pastos per saecula Vesbius ignis
et pelago et terris fusa est Vulcania pestis,
uidere Eoi, monstrum admirabile, Seres             595
lanigeros cinere Ausonio canescere lucos.

the Ausonian presses in and the leader drives the routed across the whole level plain             585
and now the very citadels of Carthage tremble:
all Africa is filled with wandering terror as the columns are beaten back,
and in winged flight, rushing without war, they stretch their stunned courses
to the farthest shores and, as fugitives, are scattered to the Tartessian coasts;             590
part sought the homes of Battus, part the rivers of Lagus.
thus, when at last, conquered by blind force, Vesuvius
vomited to the stars the fires fed through ages,
and the Vulcanian plague was poured upon sea and lands,
the Eastern Seres saw, an admirable prodigy, their wool-bearing groves             595
grow hoary with Ausonian ash.

At fessum tumulo tandem regina propinquo
sistit Iuno ducem, facies unde omnis et atrae
apparent admota oculis uestigia pugnae.
qualem Gargani campum Trebiaeque paludem 600
et Tyrrhena uada et Ph<a>et<h>ontis uiderat amnem
strage uiru<m> undantem, talis, miserabile uisu,
prostratis facies aperitur dira maniplis.
tunc superas Iuno sedes turbata reuisit.

But the queen Juno at last halts the weary leader on a nearby mound,
whence the whole scene and the black traces of the battle,
set before his eyes, appear. Such as he had seen the plain of Garganus and the marsh of the Trebia 600
and the Tyrrhenian shallows and the river of Phaethon
surging with the slaughter of men, such, pitiable to behold,
a dreadful aspect is opened with the maniples laid low.
Then Juno, troubled, revisited the heavenly seats.

iamque propinquabant hostes tumuloque subibant,             605
cum secum Poenus: 'Caelum licet omne soluta
in caput hoc compage ruat terraeque dehiscant,
non ullo Cannas abolebis, Iuppiter, aeuo,
decedesque prius regnis, quam nomina gentes
aut facta Hannibalis sileant. nec deinde relinquo             610
securam te, Roma, mei, patriaeque superstes
ad spes armorum uiuam tibi. nam modo pugna
praecellis, resident hostes: mihi satque superque
ut me Dardaniae matres atque Itala tellus,
dum uiuam, expectent nec pacem pectore norint.'             615
sic rapitur paucis fugientum mixtus, et altos
inde petit retro montis tutasque latebras.

and now the foes were drawing near and were coming up to the mound,             605
when the Carthaginian to himself: 'Though all heaven, its framework loosened,
should crash down upon this head, and the lands yawn open,
you will not erase Cannae in any age, Jupiter,
and you will depart from your realms sooner than the nations
fall silent about the name or the deeds of Hannibal. Nor then do I leave             610
you, Rome, secure from me; surviving my fatherland,
I shall live for you with hopes of arms. For now in the fight
you excel; the enemies subside: for me it is enough and more
that the Dardanian mothers and the Italian land, so long as I live,
should await me and not know peace in their heart.'              615
Thus he is swept away, mingled with a few of the fleeing, and from there
he makes for the high mountains behind and safe hiding-places.

Hic finis bello. reserantur protinus arces
Ausonio iam sponte duci. iura improba adempta
armaque, et incisae leges, opibusque superbis 620
uis fracta, et posuit gestatas belua turris.

Here the war finds its end. The citadels are at once unbarred,
now of their own accord, to the Ausonian leader. Lawless claims removed
and arms, and the laws cut down; and the force of proud wealth 620
is broken, and the beast has put down the towers it had carried.

excelsae tum saeua rates spectacula Poenis
flammiferam accepere facem, subitaque procella
arserunt maria, atque expauit lumina Nereus.
Mansuri compos decoris per saecula rector, 625
deuictae referens primus cognomina terrae,
securus sceptri, repetit per caerula Romam
et patria inuehitur sublimi tecta triumpho.
ante Syphax feretro residens captiua premebat
lumina, et auratae seruabant colla catenae, 630
hic Hannon clarique genus Phoenissa iuuenta
et Macetum primi atque incocti corpora Mauri,
tum Nomades notusque sacro, cum lustrat harenas,
Hammoni Garamas et semper naufraga Syrtis.

the lofty ships then, grim spectacles for the Poeni,
received the fire-bearing torch, and in a sudden gale
the seas blazed, and Nereus’s eyes were struck with terror.
A ruler master of a glory destined to endure through the ages, 625
bearing back, the first, the cognomens of a conquered land,
untroubled by the scepter, he makes for Rome across the cerulean,
and is borne to his homeland’s roofs in a lofty triumph.
in front, Syphax, seated on a litter, as a captive kept his eyes downcast,
and gilded chains were guarding necks; 630
here Hanno and the illustrious stock, the Phoenician youth,
and the chiefs of the Macedonians and the sun-seared bodies of the Moor,
then the Nomads, and the Garamas known to sacred Hammon,
when he circles the sands, and the ever shipwrecking Syrtis.

mox uictas tendens Carthago ad sidera palmas             635
ibat et effigies orae iam lenis Hiberae,
terrarum finis Gades ac laudibus olim
terminus Herculeis Calpe Baetesque lauare
solis equos dulci consuetus fluminis unda,
frondosumque apicem subigens ad sidera mater             640
bellorum fera Pyrene nec mitis Hiberus,
cum simul inlidit ponto, quos attulit, amnes.
sed non ulla magis mentesque oculosque tenebat,
quam uisa Hannibalis campis fugientis imago.
ipse astans curru atque auro decoratus et ostro             645
Martia praebebat spectanda Quiritibus ora,
qualis odoratis descendens Liber ab Indis
egit pampineos frenata tigride currus;
aut cum Phlegraeis, confecta mole Gigantum,
incessit campis tangens Tirynthius astra.             650
salue, inuicte parens, non concessure Quirino
laudibus ac meritis non concessure Camillo:
nec uero, cum te memorat de stirpe deorum,
prolem Tarpei mentitur Roma Tonantis.

soon Carthage, stretching conquered palms to the stars,             635
went by, and the effigy of the now gentle Iberian shore,
Gades, the limit of the lands, and Calpe, once the terminus
of Hercules’ labors, and the Baetis, accustomed to bathe
the horses of the Sun with the sweet wave of its river;
and fierce Pyrene, mother of wars, thrusting her leafy peak to the stars,             640
and not gentle the Hiberus, when at once he dashes into the deep
the rivers he has brought with him. But nothing more held
minds and eyes than the sight of the image of Hannibal fleeing the fields.
He himself, standing in the chariot and adorned with gold and purple,
offered to the Quirites a martial countenance to behold,             645
such as Liber, descending from the fragrant Indies,
drove vine-wreathed cars with a tiger for bridle;
or as when, the mass of the Giants at Phlegra finished,
the Tirynthian advanced across the plains, touching the stars.             650
Hail, invincible father, not about to concede to Quirinus
in praises and deserts, nor to Camillus to concede:
nor indeed, when Rome recounts you of the stock of the gods,
does she lie that you are the offspring of the Tarpeian Thunderer.