Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Postquam rupta fides Tyriis et moenia castae
non aequo superum genitore euersa Sagunti,
extemplo positos finiti cardine mundi
uictor adit populos cognataque limina Gades.
nec uatum mentes agitare et praescia corda 5
cessatum super imperio: citus aequore Bostar
uela dare et rerum praenoscere fata iubetur.
prisca fides adytis longo seruatur ab aeuo,
qua sublime sedens, Cirrhaeis aemulus antris,
inter anhelantis Garamantas corniger Hammon 10
fatidico pandit uenientia saecula luco.

After the faith was broken by the Tyrians and the walls of chaste Saguntum overthrown, with the sire of the gods not impartial,
straightway the victor approaches the peoples set at the hinge of the bounded world and the kindred threshold, Gades.
nor was there any ceasing from above to agitate the minds of seers and prescient hearts 5
Bostar is bidden swiftly on the sea to give sails and to pre-know the fates of things.
ancient credit is preserved in the adyta from a long age,
where, sitting on high, a rival to the Cirrhaean caverns,
amid the panting Garamantes horn-bearing Hammon unfolds the coming ages in a fatidic grove. 10

hinc omen coeptis et casus scire futuros
ante diem bellique uices nouisse petebat.
Exin clauigeri ueneratus numinis aras
captiuis onerat donis, quae nuper ab arce 15

from here he was seeking an omen for his undertakings and to know the future contingencies
in advance, and to have learned the vicissitudes of war.
Then, having venerated the altars of the club-bearing divinity,
he loads them with captive gifts, which recently from the citadel 15

uictor fumantis rapuit semusta Sagunti.
uulgatum, nec cassa fides, ab origine fani
impositas durare trabes solasque per aeuum
condentum nouisse manus. hinc credere gaudent
consedisse deum seniumque repellere templis. 20
tum, quis fas et honos adyti penetralia nosse,
femineos prohibent gressus ac limine curant
saetigeros arcere sues.

the victor carried off the half-burned from smoking Saguntum.
a common report, and not an empty credence, that from the origin of the fane
the beams set in place endure, and that only through the age
the hands of the founders have known them. hence they rejoice to believe
that the god has settled and drives back senility from the temples. 20
then, for whom it is right and an honor to know the inner places of the adytum,
they prohibit women’s steps and at the threshold take care
to ward off bristle-bearing swine.

nec discolor ulli
ante aras cultus: uelantur corpora lino,
et Pelusiaco praefulget stamine uertex. 25
discinctis mos tura dare atque e lege parentum
sacrificam lato uestem distinguere clauo:
pes nudus tonsaeque comae castumque cubile.
inrestincta focis seruant altaria flammae,
sed nulla effigies simulacraue nota deorum 30

nor is the cult different for anyone
before the altars: bodies are veiled with linen,
and the crown of the head gleams with Pelusiac thread. 25
for the ungirded it is the custom to offer incense and, by the law of the forefathers,
to distinguish the sacrificial vestment with a broad clavus:
a bare foot and shorn locks and a chaste couch.
unextinguished flames in the hearths keep the altars,
but no effigy nor simulacra known of the gods. 30

maiestate locum et sacro impleuere timore.
In foribus labor Alcidae: Lernaea recisis
anguibus hydra iacet, nexuque elisa leonis
ora Cleonaei patulo caelantur hiatu.
at Stygius saeuis terrens latratibus umbras 35
ianitor, aeterno tum primum tractus ab antro,
uincla indignatur, metuitque Megaera catenas.

they have filled the place with majesty and with sacred fear.
On the door-leaves, the labor of Alcides: the Lernaean hydra, its serpents cut off, lies; and the jaws of the Cleonaean lion, crushed by a noose, are carved with a gaping yawning.
but the Stygian doorkeeper, terrifying the shades with savage barkings, 35
then for the first time dragged from his eternal cave, resents the bonds, and Megaera fears the chains.

iuxta Thraces equi pestisque Erymanthia et altos
aeripedis ramos superantia cornua cerui.
nec leuior uinci Libycae telluris alumnus 40
matre super stratique genus deforme bimembres
Centauri frontemque minor nunc amnis Acarnan.
inter quae fulget sacratis ignibus Oete,
ingentemque animam rapiunt ad sidera flammae.

nearby the Thracian horses and the Erymanthian pest, and the horns
of the brazen-footed deer surpassing the tall branches.
nor was the nursling of Libyan soil lighter to be conquered 40
lifted from his mother and laid out, the misshapen race, the two-formed
Centaurs, and the Acarnanian river now lesser in brow.
among which Oeta shines with sacred fires,
and the flames snatch his mighty spirit to the stars.

Postquam oculos uaria impleuit uirtutis imago, 45

After the varied image of valor filled his eyes, 45

mira dehinc cernit: surgentis mole profundi
inuectum terris subitum mare nullaque circa
litora et infuso stagnantis aequore campos.
nam qua caeruleis Nereus euoluitur antris
atque imo freta contorquet Neptunia fundo, 50
proruptum exundat pelagus, caecosque relaxans
Oceanus fontis torrentibus ingruit undis.
tum uada, ceu saeuo penitus permota tridenti,
luctantur terris tumefactum imponere pontum.

marvels thence he beholds: a sudden sea, driven upon the lands by the mass of the surging deep, and no shores anywhere around, and fields stagnating with the poured‑in level. For where Nereus is unrolled in cerulean caverns and the Neptunian straits are twisted from the inmost bottom, 50
the sea, burst forth, overflows, and Ocean, unloosing its blind springs, rushes on with torrent waves. Then the shallows, as if deeply stirred by the savage trident, struggle to impose the swollen sea upon the lands.

mox remeat gurges tractoque relabitur aestu, 55
ac ratis erepto campis deserta profundo,
et fusi transtris expectant aequora nautae.
Cymothoes ea regna uagae pelagique labores
Luna mouet, Luna, immissis per caerula bigis,
fertque refertque fretum, sequiturque reciproca Tethys. 60

soon the surge returns and slips back with the drawn-back tide, 55
and the raft, the deep torn from the plains, is left deserted,
and the sailors, sprawled upon the benches, await the waters.
The Moon moves the realms of wandering Cymothoe and the labors of the sea,
the Moon, with her chariot-team sent through the blue,
and she carries and carries back the flood, and Tethys follows the reversals. 60

Haec propere spectata duci; nam multa fatigant.
curarum prima exercet, subducere bello
consortem thalami paruumque sub ubere natum.
uirgineis iuuenem taedis primoque Hymenaeo
imbuerat coniunx memorique tenebat amore.

These things were quickly looked upon by the leader; for many matters weary him.
the first of his cares busies him: to withdraw from the war the consort of the bedchamber and the little one born under the breast.
with maiden torches and with the first Hymenaeus the spouse had imbued the youth, and held him with mindful love.

            65
at puer, obsessae generatus in ore Sagunti,
bissenos Lunae nondum compleuerat orbes.
quos ut seponi stetit et secernere ab armis,
adfatur ductor: 'Spes o Carthaginis altae,
nate, nec Aeneadum leuior metus, amplior, oro,            70
sis patrio decore et factis tibi nomina condas,
qui<s> superes bellator auum; iamque aegra timoris
Roma tuos numerat lacrimandos matribus annos.
ni praesaga meos ludunt praecordia sensus,
ingens hic terris crescit labor: ora parentis            75

            65
but the boy, begotten on the very threshold of besieged Saguntum,
had not yet completed twice-six circuits of the Moon.
when it was resolved that he be set aside and separated from the arms,
the leader addresses him: 'O hope of lofty Carthage,
son, no lighter a dread to the Aeneads—nay, greater, I pray—            70
be in your father’s honor, and by deeds found a name for yourself,
that you may surpass as a warrior your grandsire; and already, sick with fear,
Rome counts your years to be wept by mothers.
unless my foreboding feelings in my breast deceive me,
here a vast toil for the lands is growing: the features of the parent            75

agnosco toruaque oculos sub fronte minacis
uagitumque grauem atque irarum elementa mearum.
si quis forte deum tantos inciderit actus
ut nostro abrumpat leto primordia rerum,
hoc pignus belli, coniunx, seruare labora. 80
cumque datum fari, duc per cunabula nostra:
tangat Elissaeas palmis puerilibus aras
et cineri iuret patrio Laurentia bella.
inde ubi flore nouo pubescet firmior aetas,
emicet in Martem et calcato foedere uictor 85
in Capitolina tumulum mihi uindicet arce.

I recognize the features and the menacing eyes under the brow,
and the grave wailing and the elements of my angers.
if by chance any of the gods should cut short actions so great
as to break off by my death the primordial beginnings of things,
strive, wife, to preserve this pledge of war. 80
and when it is granted him to speak, lead him through our cradle:
let him touch with childish palms the Elissan altars
and swear by his paternal ash the Laurentian wars.
then, when a sturdier age grows with new bloom,
let him leap forth into Mars, and, the treaty trampled, as victor, 85
let him vindicate for me a tumulus on the Capitoline citadel.

tu uero, tanti felix quam gloria partus
expectat, ueneranda fide, discede periclis
incerti Martis durosque relinque labores.
nos clausae niuibus rupes suppostaque caelo 90

but you, happy one, whom the glory of so great an offspring
awaits, venerable in faith, withdraw from the perils
of incertain Mars and leave the hard labors.
we will [face] the cliffs shut in by snows and the crags set beneath the sky 90

saxa manent, nos Alcidae mirante nouerca
sudatus labor et, bellis labor acrior, Alpes.
quod si promissum uertat Fortuna fauorem
laeuaque sit coeptis, te longa stare senecta
aeuumque extendisse uelim; tua iustior aetas,            95
ultra me improperae ducant cui fila sorores.'
      Sic ille. at contra Cirrhaei sanguis Imilce
Castalii, quae materno de nomine dicta
(Castulo Phoebei seruat cognomina uatis)
aeque ex sacrata repetebat stirpe parentes.            100
tempore quo Bacchus populos domitabat Hiberos
concutiens thyrso atque armata Maenade Calpen,
lasciuo genitus Satyro nymphaque Myrice
Milichus indigenis late regnarat in oris
cornigeram attollens genitoris imagine frontem.            105

saxa remain, for us, with Alcides’ stepmother marveling,
a sweat-drenched labor, and—a labor harsher than wars—the Alps.
but if Fortune should turn the promised favor
and be left-handed to our undertakings, I would wish you to stand in long senescence
and to have extended your lifetime; your more just age,            95
for which the hasty Sisters should draw the threads beyond me.'
      Thus he. But in reply Imilce, blood of the Cirrhaean Castalian,
who was named from her mother’s name
(Castulo preserves the cognomina of the Phoebean vates),
likewise was tracing back her parents from a consecrated stock.            100
at the time when Bacchus was taming the Hiberian peoples,
shaking with his thyrsus and Calpe with an armed Maenad,
Milichus, begotten of a lascivious Satyr and the nymph Myrice,
had ruled widely over the indigenous shores,
raising a horn-bearing brow in the image of his begetter.            105

hinc patriam clarumque genus referebat Imilce,
barbarica paulum uitiato nomine lingua.
quae tunc sic lacrimis sensim manantibus infit:
'Mene, oblite tua nostram pendere salute,
abnuis inceptis comitem? sic foedera nota 110
primitiaeque tori, gelidos ut scandere tecum
deficiam montis coniunx tua?

hence Imilce traced her fatherland and illustrious stock,
with her name slightly vitiated by the barbarian tongue.
who then thus, with tears gently trickling, begins:
'Me—are you, forgetful of your own, though our safety hangs upon your welfare,
refusing as a companion for your undertakings? Is this how the well-known covenants 110
and the first-fruits of the marriage-bed stand—that to scale with you the icy mountains
should I fail, your wife?

crede uigori
femineo. castum haud superat labor ullus amorem.
sin solo aspicimur sexu, fixumque relinqui,
cedo equidem nec fata moror; deus annuat, oro: 115
i felix, i numinibus uotisque secundis
atque acies inter flagrantiaque arma relictae
coniugis et nati curam seruare memento.

trust in vigor
feminine. no toil surpasses chaste love.
but if we are looked at by sex alone, and it is fixed that i be left behind,
i yield indeed and i do not delay the fates; may god assent, i pray: 115
go fortunate, go with propitious divinities and vows,
and amid the battle-lines and blazing arms
remember to keep the care of your left-behind wife and son.

quippe nec Ausonios tantum nec tela nec ignes
quantum te metuo: ruis ipsos acer in enses 120

indeed I fear not so much the Ausonians nor weapons nor fires
as I fear you: you, keen, rush upon the very swords 120

obiectasque caput telis, nec <te> ulla secundo
euentu satiat uirtus, tibi gloria soli
fine caret, credisque uiris ignobile letum
belligeris in pace mori. tremor implicat artus,
nec quemquam horresco, qui se tibi conferet unus.            125
sed tu, bellorum genitor, miserere nefasque
auerte et serua caput inuiolabile Teucris.'
      Iamque adeo <e>gressi steterant in litore primo,
et promota ratis, pendentibus arbore nautis,
aptabat sensim pulsanti carbasa uento,            130
cum lenire metus properans aegramque leuare
attonitis mentem curis sic Hannibal orsus:
'Ominibus parce et lacrimis, fidissima coniunx.
et pace et bello cunctis stat terminus aeui,
extremumque diem primus tulit; ire per ora            135

and you throw your head in the way of the missiles, nor does any valor with a favorable event sate you; for you alone glory lacks an end, and you believe it an ignoble death for belligerents to die in peace. A tremor entwines my limbs, nor do I shudder at any man who would match himself with you alone.            125
but you, begetter of wars, have pity and avert the nefas, and preserve the inviolable head for the Teucrians.'
      And now already, having gone out, they had stood on the foremost shore,
and the ship, brought forward, with the sailors hanging from the mast,
was gradually fitting the canvases to the beating wind,            130
when, hastening to soothe her fears and to lighten her mind sick
and thunderstruck with cares, thus Hannibal began:
‘Spare omens and tears, most faithful spouse. Both in peace and in war a terminus of lifetime stands for all,
and the first day has carried the last; to go through the lips of men            135

nomen in aeternum pa<u>cis mens ignea donat,
quos pater aetheriis caelestum destinat oris.
an Romana iuga et famulas Carthaginis arces
perpetiar? stimulant manes noctisque per umbras
increpitans genitor, stant arae atque horrida sacra 140
ante oculos, breuitasque uetat mutabilis horae
prolatare diem.

a fiery mind grants a name forever to a few,
whom the Father destines to the aetherial shores of the celestials.
Am I to endure Roman yokes and Carthage’s enslaved citadels?
the spirits of the dead spur me, and my father, chiding through the shadows of night;
the altars stand and dreadful rites before my eyes, 140
and the shortness of the changeful hour forbids
to prolong the day.

sedeamne, ut nouerit una
me tantum Carthago, et, qui sim, nesciat omnis
gens hominum, letique metu decora alta relinquam?
quantum etenim distant a morte silentia uitae? 145
nec tamen incautos laudum exhorresce furores.
et nobis est lucis honos, gaudetque senecta
gloria, cum longo titulis celebratur in aeuo.

Shall I sit, so that only Carthage may know me,
and the whole race of men not know who I am, and shall I leave lofty honors
for fear of death? For how far indeed do the silences of life differ from death? 145
Yet do not shudder at the incautious frenzies of praises.
For we too have an honor of the light, and old age rejoices
in glory, when through a long age it is celebrated with titles.

te quoque magna manent suscepti praemia belli.
dent modo se superi, Thybris tibi seruiet omnis 150

Great rewards of the war undertaken await you also.
only let the gods above grant it, all the Tiber will serve you 150

Iliacaeque nurus et diues Dardanus auri.'
dumque ea permixtis inter se fletibus orant,
confisus pelago celsa de puppe magister
cunctantem ciet. abripitur diuulsa marito.
haerent intenti uultus et litora seruant, 155
donec, iter liquidum uolucri rapiente carina,
consumpsit uisus pontus tellusque recessit.

'and the Iliac daughters-in-law and the Dardanian rich in gold.'
and while they pray these things with tears permixt among themselves,
the master, confident in the sea, from the high stern summons the one delaying.
she is snatched away, torn from her husband.
their faces hang intent and they keep watch on the shores, 155
until, the liquid path being seized by the winged keel,
the sea consumed their sight and the land receded.

      At Poenus belli curis auertere amorem
apparat et repetit properato moenia gressu.
quae dum perlustrat crebroque obit omnia uisu,            160
tandem sollicito cessit uis dura labori,
belligeramque datur somno componere mentem.
      Tum pater omnipotens, gentem exercere periclis
Dardaniam et fama saeuorum tollere ad astra
bellorum meditans priscosque referre labores,            165

      But the Punic prepares to avert love with the cares of war,
and he returns to the walls with a hastened step.
as he surveys them and repeatedly visits everything with frequent gaze,            160
at last hard strength yielded to anxious toil,
and it is granted to compose his warlike mind to sleep.
      Then the omnipotent father, planning to exercise the Dardanian nation with dangers
and to raise to the stars by the fame of savage wars,
and to recall the ancient labors,            165

praecipitat consulta uiri segnemque quietem
terret et immissa rumpit formidine somnos.
iamque per umentem noctis Cyllenius umbram
aligero lapsu portabat iussa parentis.
nec mora.

he precipitates the man's counsels and frightens the sluggish repose
and breaks the slumbers with fear sent in.
and now through the dewy shadow of night the Cyllenian
with winged glide was bearing the commands of his parent.
no delay.

mulcentem securo membra sopore 170
adgreditur iuuenem ac monitis incessit amaris:
'Turpe duci totam somno consumere noctem,
o rector Libyae. uigili stant bella magistro.
iam maria effusas cernes turbare carinas
et Latiam toto pubem uolitare profundo, 175
dum lentus coepti terra cunctaris Hibera.

he approaches the youth, soothing his limbs with secure sleep, 170
and presses him with bitter admonitions:
'Shameful it is for a leader to consume the whole night in sleep,
O ruler of Libya. Wars stand by a vigilant master.
Already you will see the seas troubled by keels poured forth
and the Latin youth flitting over the whole deep, 175
while, sluggish, you delay on Iberian land from your undertaking.

scilicet id satis est decoris memorandaque uirtus,
quod tanto cecidit molimine Graia Saguntos?
en age, si quid inest animo par fortibus ausis,
fer gressus agiles mecum et comitare uocantem 180

Surely that is enough of decorum and a memorable virtue,
that Grecian Saguntum fell with so great a molimen?
Come now, if there is anything in your spirit equal to brave ventures,
bring agile steps with me and accompany the one calling 180

(respexisse ueto: monet hoc pater ille deorum):
uictorem ante altae statuam te moenia Romae.'
      Iamque uidebatur dextram iniectare graduque
laetantem trahere in Saturnia regna citato,
cum subitus circa fragor et uibrata per auras            185
exterrent saeuis a tergo sibila linguis,
ingentique metu diuum praecepta pauenti
effluxere uiro, et turbatus lumina flectit.
ecce iugis rapiens siluas ac robora uasto
contorta amplexu tractasque per inuia rupes            190
ater letifero stridebat turbine serpens.
quantus non aequas perlustrat flexibus Arctos
et geminum lapsu sidus circumligat Anguis,
immani tantus fauces diducit hiatu
attollensque caput nimbosis montibus aequat.            195

(I forbid you to look back: that father of the gods warns this):
I will set you, a victor, before the walls of lofty Rome.'
      And now he seemed to throw his right hand on and, with a quickened step,
to drag the rejoicing one into the Saturnian realms,
when a sudden crash around and hisses, brandished through the airs,            185
terrify from behind with savage tongues,
and in vast fear the precepts of the gods slipped from the trembling man,
and, disturbed, he turns his eyes. Behold, sweeping from the ridges
forests and oaks with a vast contorted embrace, and dragged through pathless crags,
a black serpent was shrieking in a death-bearing whirlwind.            190
As huge as the Serpent that with its flexures surveys the unequal Bears
and with its gliding encircles the twin constellation,
so huge he parts his jaws with an immense gaping
and, lifting his head, he equals the cloud-massed mountains.            195

congeminat sonitus rupti uiolentia caeli
imbriferamque hiemem permixta grandine torquet.
hoc trepidus monstro (neque enim sopor ille nec altae
uis aderat noctis, uirgaque fugante tenebras
miscuerat lucem somno deus) ardua quae sit, 200
scitatur, pestis terrasque urgentia membra
quo ferat et quosnam populos deposcat hiatu.
cui gelidis almae Cyllenes editus antris:
'Bella uides optata tibi.

the violence of the rent heaven redoubles the sounds,
and it whirls a rain‑bearing winter‑storm with hail mixed in.
at this prodigy, trembling (for neither was that slumber nor the force
of deep night present, and the god, with his rod driving the shadows to flight,
had mingled light with sleep) he inquires what towering thing it is, 200
what the pest is, and whither, with limbs pressing the lands,
it bears itself, and what peoples it demands with its gape.
to him, born from the icy caves of kindly Cyllene, replied:
'You behold wars desired for you.

te maxima bella,
te strages nemorum, te moto turbida caelo 205
tempestas caedesque uirum magnaeque ruinae
Idaei generis lacrimosaque fata secuntur.
quantus per campos populatis montibus actas
contorquet siluas squalenti tergore serpens
et late umectat terras spumante ueneno, 210

upon you the greatest wars, upon you the slaughters of groves, upon you, with the sky set in motion, the turbid tempest and the slayings of men and the great ruins of the Idaean race and lachrymose fates follow.
as huge as, across the plains with the mountains laid waste, a serpent with squalid hide hurls the forests driven along and far and wide moistens the lands with foaming venom, 210

tantus perdomitis decurrens Alpibus atro
inuolues bello Italiam tantoque fragore
eruta conuulsis prosternes oppida muris.'
His aegrum stimulis liquere deusque soporque.
it membris gelidus sudor, laetoque pauore 215
promissa euoluit somni noctemque retractat.
iamque deum regi Martique sub omine fausto
instauratus honos, niueoque ante omnia tauro
placatus meritis monitor Cyllenius aris.

so great, running down with the Alps subdued, with black war you will wrap Italy, and with so great a crash
you will lay low towns, torn up with convulsed walls.'
At these goads both the god and sleep left the sick man.
a chilly sweat goes over his limbs, and with joyful fear 215
he unrolls the promises of the dream and reconsiders the night.
and now, under a favorable omen, the honor to the king of the gods and to Mars was restored,
and, before all, with a snow-white bull, the Cyllenian monitor was appeased at his well-merited altars.

extemplo edicit conuellere signa, repensque            220
castra quatit clamor permixtis dissona linguis.
      Prodite, Calliope, famae, quos horrida coepta
excierint populos tulerintque in regna Latini,
et quas indomitis urbes armarit Hiberis
quasque Paraetonio glomerarit litore turmas            225

at once he proclaims to tear up the standards, and a sudden            220
clamor, dissonant with mingled tongues, shakes the camp.
      Bring forth to fame, Calliope, what peoples the horrid undertakings
have roused and have borne into the realms of Latinus,
and what cities he has armed with the indomitable Iberians,
and what troops he has massed on the Paraetonian shore            225

ausa sibi Libye rerum deposcere frenos
et terris mutare iugum. ~non ulla nec umquam
saeuior it trucibus tempestas acta procellis,
~nec bellum ruptis tam dirum mille carinis
acrius infremuit trepidumque exterruit orbem.            230
      Princeps signa tulit Tyria Carthagine pubes,
membra leuis celsique decus fraudata superbum
corporis, at docilis fallendi et nectere tectos
numquam tarda dolos. rudis his tum parma, breuique
bellabant ense; at uestigia nuda, sinusque            235
cingere inadsuetum, et rubrae uelamine uestis
ars erat in pugna fusum occuluisse cruorem.

daring for Libya to demand for herself the reins of affairs
and to change the yoke upon the lands. ~no storm ever at any time
goes more savage, driven by truculent blasts, ~nor has war,
with a thousand hulls shattered, roared more keenly and terrified
the trembling world.             230
      Foremost the youth from Tyrian Carthage bore the standards,
light in limbs and defrauded of the proud grace
of a lofty body; but teachable in deceiving and in weaving hidden
stratagems, never slow to tricks. Their parma then was crude, and with a short
sword they fought; but their footprints were bare, and to gird the folds was            235
unaccustomed; and by the veil of red clothing
their art in battle was to conceal the spilled blood.

his rector fulgens ostro super altior omnis
germanus nitet Hannibalis gratoque tumultu
Mago quatit currus et fratrem spirat in armis. 240

over these, their leader, gleaming in purple, towers above all
Hannibal’s brother shines, and with a welcome tumult
Mago shakes his chariots and breathes his brother in arms. 240

Proxima Sidoniis Vtica est effusa maniplis,
prisca situ ueterisque ante arces condita Byrsae.
tunc, quae Sicanio praecinxit litora muro
in clipei speciem curuatis turribus, Aspis.
sed dux in sese conuerterat ora Sychaeus, 245
Hasdrubalis proles, cui uano corda tumore
maternum implebat genus, et resonare superbo
Hannibal haud umquam cessabat auunculus ore.

Nearest to the Sidonian maniples lies Utica, spread out,
ancient in site and founded before the old citadel of Byrsa.
then Aspis, which girdled the shores with a Sicanian wall,
with towers curved into the semblance of a shield.
but the leader Sychaeus had turned faces toward himself, 245
the progeny of Hasdrubal, whose heart the maternal lineage
was filling with vain tumidity, and he never ceased to make
the name of his uncle Hannibal ring upon his proud lips.

      Adfuit undosa cretus Berenicide miles,
nec, tereti dextras in pugnam armata dolone,            250
destituit Barce sitientibus arida uenis.
nec non Cyrene Pelopei stirpe nepotis
Battiadas prauos fidei stimulauit in arma.
quos trahit, antiquo laudatus Hamilcare quondam,
consilio uiridis, sed belli serus, Ilertes.            255

      There was present a soldier born of wave-washed Berenice,
nor, their right hands for battle armed with the polished javelin,            250
did Barce, parched in her thirsting veins, fail them.
And Cyrene too, of the stock of Pelops’s grandson,
stimulated the Battiads, depraved in fidelity, to arms.
them Ilertes draws along, once praised by ancient Hamilcar,
green in counsel, but late for war.            255

Sabratha tum Tyrium uulgus Sarranaque Leptis
Oeaque Trinacrios Afris permixta colonos
et Tingim rapido mittebat ab aequore Lixus.
tum Vaga et antiquis dilectus regibus Hippo,
quaeque procul cauit non aequos Ruspina fluctus, 260
et Zama et uberior Rutulo nunc sanguine Thapsus.
ducit tot populos, ingens et corpore et armis,
Herculeam factis seruans ac nomine famam,
Antaeus celsumque caput super agmina tollit.

Sabratha then, the Tyrian commons and Sarranian Leptis,
and Oea, with Trinacrian colonists mixed among Africans,
and Lixus was sending to Tingis from the rapid sea.
then Vaga and Hippo, beloved by ancient kings,
and Ruspina, which from afar shunned the not-equitable waves, 260
and Zama, and Thapsus now richer with Rutulian blood.
he leads so many peoples, mighty both in body and in arms,
keeping Herculean renown in deeds and in name,
Antaeus, and he lifts his lofty head above the battle-lines.

Venere Aethiopes, gens haud incognita Nilo, 265
qui magneta secant: solis honor ille, metallo
intactum chalybem uicino ducere saxo.
his simul immitem testantes corpore solem
exusti uenere Nubae. non aerea cassis
nec lorica riget ferro, non tenditur arcus: 270

The Ethiopians came, a people by no means unknown to the Nile, 265
who quarry magnets: the honor of the Sun is this—to draw Chalybean steel, untouched by metal, with a neighboring stone.
Together with these there came the Nubae, scorched, bearing witness in their bodies to the harsh sun.
no bronze helmet nor cuirass stiff with iron, no bow is stretched: 270

tempora multiplici mos est defendere lino
et lino munire latus scelerataque sucis
spicula derigere et ferrum infamare ueneno.
tum primum castris Phoenicum tendere ritu
Cinyphii didicere Macae. squalentia barba 275
ora uiris, umerosque tegunt uelamine capri
saetigero; panda manus est armata cateia.

it is the custom to defend the temples with manifold linen
and with linen to fortify the side, and to direct darts steeped in juices
and to defile the iron with venom.
then for the first time to pitch their camp in the rite of the Phoenicians
the Cinyphian Macae learned. squalid with beard 275
are the men’s faces, and they cover their shoulders with the covering of a bristly goat;
the bent hand is armed with the cateia.

uersicolor contra caetra et falcatus ab arte
ensis Adyrmachidis ac laeuo tegmina crure.
sed mensis asper populus uictuque maligno: 280
nam calida tristes epulae torrentur harena.
quin et Massyli fulgentia signa tulere,
Hesperidum ueniens lucis domus ultima terrae.

versicolored caetra opposite, and a falcate sword, wrought by craft, of the Adyrmachidae, and greaves on the left shin.
but a people harsh at table and with niggardly victual: 280
for their cheerless banquets are roasted in the hot sand.
nay, even the Massylians bore their gleaming standards,
coming from the groves of the Hesperides, the farthest home of the earth.

praefuit intortos demissus uertice crinis
Bocchus atrox, qui sacratas in litore siluas 285

was in command, with twisted locks let down from his crown,
Bocchus the fierce, who the sacred woods upon the shore 285

atque inter frondes reuirescere uiderat aurum.
Vos quoque desertis in castra mapalibus itis,
misceri gregibus Gaetulia sueta ferarum
indomitisque loqui et sedare leonibus iras.
nulla domus: plaustris habitant; migrare per arua 290
mos atque errantes circumuectare penates.

and he had seen the gold grow green again among the fronds.
You too go into the camp with your huts (mapalia) deserted,
Gaetulia, accustomed to be mingled with herds of wild beasts,
and to speak to untamed lions and to soothe their wrath.
no house: they dwell in wagons; to migrate across the fields 290
is the custom, and to carry their wandering household gods around.

hinc mille alipedes turmae (uelocior Euris
et doctus uirgae sonipes) in castra ruebant:
ceu, pernix cum densa uagis latratibus implet
uenator dumeta Lacon, aut exigit Vmber 295
nare sagax e calle feras, perterrita late
agmina praecipitant uolucres formidine cerui.
hos agit haud laeto uultu nec fronte serena
Asbytes nuper caesae germanus Acherras.
Marmaridae, medicum uulgus, strepuere cateruis, 300

from here a thousand wing-footed squadrons (swifter than the East-winds
and the hoof-thundering steed trained to the switch) were rushing into the camp:
as, when the nimble Laconian hunter fills the thickets with dense, wandering barkings,
or the Umbrian, keen in nostril, drives the beasts from the track, 295
far and wide the herds, terrified, the deer wing-swift, rush headlong in dread.
these is driving, with no glad visage nor serene brow,
Acherras, the brother of Asbytes, lately slain.
The Marmaridae, a medic folk, clattered in companies, 300

ad quorum cantus serpens oblita ueneni,
ad quorum tactum mites iacuere cerastae.
tum, chalybis pauper, Baniurae cruda iuuentus,
contenti parca durasse hastilia flamma,
miscebant auidi trucibus fera murmura linguis. 305
necnon Autololes, leuibus gens ignea plantis,
cui sonipes cursu, cui cesserit incitus amnis,
tanta fuga est: certant pennae, campumque uolatu
cum rapuere, pedum frustra uestigia quaeras.
spectati castris, quos suco nobilis arbor 310
et dulci pascit lotos nimis hospita baca,
quique atro rabidas efferuescente ueneno
dipsadas immensis horrent Garamantes harenis.

at whose songs the serpent, forgetful of venom,
at whose touch the cerastes, the horned snakes, lay gentle.
then the raw youth of Baniura, poor in steel,
content to have hardened their spear-shafts with sparing flame,
eager, were mingling wild murmurs with savage tongues. 305
and likewise the Autololes, a fiery tribe with light soles,
to whom the swift-footed steed, to whom the rushing river, would yield
such is their speed: wings compete, and when they have swept the plain
in their flight, you would vainly seek the footprints of their feet.
renowned in the camps, those whom the noble tree with its juice 310
—the lotus, too hospitable—feeds with its sweet berry,
and the Garamantes, who in their immense sands shudder at the rabid
dipsades, as black venom seethes.

fama docet, caesae rapuit cum Gorgonis ora
Perseus, in Libyam dirum fluxisse cruorem: 315

Fame teaches that, when he snatched the severed face of the Gorgon,
Perseus, into Libya dread gore flowed: 315

inde Medusaeis terram exundasse chelydris.
milibus his ductor spectatus Marte Choaspes,
Neritia Meni<n>ge satus, cui tragula semper
fulmineam armabat, celebratum missile, dextram.
huc coit aequoreus Nasamon, inuadere fluctu 320
audax naufragia et praedas auellere ponto,
huc, qui stagna colunt Tritonidos alta paludis,
qua uirgo, ut fama est, bellatrix edita lympha
inuento primam Libyen perfudit oliuo.

thence the land overflowed with Medusaean chelydri. Over these thousands, the leader Choaspes, proved in Mars, born of Neritia Meni<n>ge, whose right hand he was always arming with the tragula—the renowned missile—lightning-swift. Hither gathers the seaborne Nasamon, bold to assault shipwrecks amid the surge and to tear prizes from the deep, 320
hither, those who dwell by the pools of the high marsh of Tritonis, where the maiden—so rumor has it— a warrioress born from the water, with the discovered olive first drenched Libya.

Necnon totus adest Vesper populique reposti. 325
Cantaber ante omnis, hiemisque aestusque famisque
inuictus palmamque ex omni ferre labore.
mirus amor populo, cum pigra incanuit aetas,
imbelles iam dudum annos praeuertere saxo
nec uitam sine Marte pati. quippe omnis in armis 330

And likewise the whole West is present, and the peoples set back. 325
The Cantabrian before all, unconquered by winter and by heat and by hunger,
and to carry off the palm from every toil.
wondrous is the love in the people, when sluggish age has grown hoary,
to forestall unwarlike years long beforehand with the stone,
and not to endure life without Mars. indeed all is in arms 330

lucis causa sita, et damnatum uiuere paci.
Venit et Aurorae lacrimis perfusus, in orbem
diuersum patrias fugit cum deuius oras,
armiger Eoi non felix Memnonis Astyr.
his paruus sonipes nec Marti natus, at idem 335
aut inconcusso glomerat uestigia dorso,
aut molli pacata celer rapit esseda collo.

set for the sake of the light, and condemned to live for peace.
And there comes too, drenched with Aurora’s tears, who, straying, fled his fatherland’s shores into a different world,
the not‑fortunate Astyr, the armiger of Eastern Memnon.
with these the small horse, not born for Mars, yet the same 335
either compacts his steps on an unshaken back,
or, with gentle neck appeased, swift whisks along the chariot.

Cydnus agit, iuga Pyrenes uenatibus acer
metiri iaculoue extendere proelia Mauro.
      Venere et Celtae sociati nomen Hiberis.            340
his pugna cecidisse decus, corpusque cremari
tale nefas: caelo credunt superisque referri,
impastus carpat si membra iacentia uultur.
      Fibrarum et pennae diuinarumque sagacem
flammarum misit diues Callaecia pubem,            345

Cydnus drives, keen to measure the ridges of the Pyrenees with hunts
or to extend battles with the Moor by javelin.
      There came also the Celts, allied in name with the Iberians.            340
for these men, to have fallen in battle is an honor, and for the body to be cremated
such an impiety: they believe it is borne back to heaven and to the gods above,
if the unfed vulture should crop the lying limbs.
      Rich Gallaecia sent a youth shrewd in entrails and the feather and divine
flames of divination,            345

barbara nunc patriis ululantem carmina linguis,
nunc pedis alterno percussa uerbere terra
ad numerum resonas gaudentem plaudere caetras.
haec requies ludusque uiris, ea sacra uoluptas.
cetera femineus peragit labor: addere sulco 350
semina et impresso tellurem uertere aratro
segne uiris.

now howling barbarian songs in their native tongues,
now the earth, struck by the alternating lash of the foot,
to the measure they delight to clap resounding caetras.
this is rest and sport for the men; that is their sacred pleasure.
the rest a feminine labor accomplishes: to add to the furrow 350
seeds, and to turn the earth with the pressed-in plough—
sluggish work for men.

quicquid duro sine Marte gerundum,
Callaici coniunx obit inrequieta mariti.
hos Viriathus agit Lusitanumque remotis
extractum lustris, primo Viriathus in aeuo,            355
nomen Romanis factum mox nobile damnis.
      Nec Cerretani, quondam Tirynthia castra,
aut Vasco insuetus galeae ferre arma morati,
non, quae Dardanios post uidit, Ilerda, furores,
nec qui Massageten monstrans feritate parentem            360

whatever must be borne in harsh toil without Mars,
the wife of the Callaician husband, unresting, attends to.
These Viriathus drives, and the Lusitanian, from remote
lairs dragged forth—Viriathus in his first age—            355
a name soon made noble to the Romans by losses.
      Nor the Cerretani, once the Tirynthian’s camp,
or the Vasco, unaccustomed to a helmet, delaying to bear arms,
not Ilerda, which afterwards saw Dardanian furies,
nor he who, by his ferocity, shows the Massagete as his parent,            360

cornipedis fusa satiaris, Concane, uena.
iamque Ebusus Phoenissa mouet, mouet Arbacus arma
aclyde uel tenui pugnax instare ueruto,
iam cui Tlepolemus sator et cui Lindus origo,
funda bella ferens Baliaris et alite plumbo,            365
et quos nunc Grauios uiolato nomine Graium
Oeneae misere domus Aetolaque Tyde.
dat Carthago uiros, Teucro fundata uetusto,
Phocaicae dant Emporiae, dat Tarraco pubem
uitifera et Latio tantum cessura Lyaeo.            370
hos inter clara thoracis luce nitebat
Sedetana cohors, quam Sucro rigentibus undis
atque altrix celsa mittebat Saetabis arce,
Saetabis et telas Arabum spreuisse superba
et Pelusiaco filum componere lino.            375

you are sated, Concanus, by the poured vein of the hoof-footed beast.
and now Phoenician Ebusus stirs, Arbacus stirs arms,
warlike to press on with an aclys or slender verutum,
now he whose begetter is Tlepolemus and whose origin is Lindus,
the Balearic, bearing wars with the sling and with winged lead,            365
and those whom the houses of Oeneus and Aetolian Tydeus sent forth, now called Gravii, the name of the Graians violated.
Carthage gives men, founded by ancient Teucer,
the Phocaean Emporiae give, vine-bearing Tarraco gives a youth
that will yield only to Latian Lyaeus.            370
among these the Sedetan cohort was shining with the bright light of the thorax,
which the Sucro with stiff-chilled waves and Saetabis, the nurse, sent from her lofty citadel,
and Saetabis, proud to have spurned the webs of the Arabs
and to compose thread with Pelusiac flax.            375

Mandonius populis domitorque insignis equorum
imperitat Caeso, et socio stant castra labore.
At Vettonum alas Balarus probat aequore aperto,
hic adeo, cum uer placidum flatusque tepescit,
concubitus seruans tacitos grex perstat equarum 380
et Venerem occultam genitali concipit aura.
sed non multa dies generi, properatque senectus,
septimaque his stabulis longissima ducitur aestas.

Mandonius, a subduer of peoples and a distinguished tamer of horses; Caeso holds command, and the camp stands by companion labor.
But Balarus proves the wings of the Vettones on the open plain,
here indeed, when spring is gentle and the breaths grow warm,
the herd of mares, keeping their silent couplings, persists 380
and conceives a hidden Venus by a generative breeze.
but not many a day is for the breed, and old age hastens,
and in these stalls the seventh summer is drawn out as the longest.

      At non Sarmaticos attollens Vxama muros
tam leuibus persultat equis: hinc uenit in arma            385
haud aeui fragilis sonipes crudoque uigore
asper frena pati aut iussis parere magistris.
Rhyndacus his ductor, telum sparus; ore ferarum
et rictu horrificant galeas. uenatibus aeuum
transigitur, uel more patrum uis raptaque pascunt.            390

      But Uxama, upraising Sarmatian walls, does not bound on horses so light:
from here there comes to arms a steed not fragile of age and, with raw vigor,            385
harsh to endure the reins or to obey the orders of masters.
Rhyndacus is their leader, the weapon the sparus; with the mouths of wild beasts
and with gaping jaws they make helmets horrifying. A lifetime is spent in hunting,
or, in the manner of their fathers, they feed on force and on what is seized.            390

      Fulget praecipuis Parnasia Castulo signis
et celebre Oceano atque alternis aestibus Hispal
ac Nebrissa dei Nysaeis conscia thyrsis,
quam Satyri coluere leues redimitaque sacra
nebride et arcano Maenas nocturna Lyaeo.            395
Arganthoniacos armat Carteia nepotes.
rex proauis fuit humani ditissimus aeui,
ter denos decies emensus belliger annos.
armat Tartessos stabulanti conscia Phoebo
et Munda Emathios Italis paritura labores.            400
nec decus auriferae cessauit Corduba terrae.

      Parnassian Castulo gleams with outstanding signs,
and Hispal, renowned for the Ocean and its alternating tides,
and Nebrissa, conscious of the god with Nysaean thyrsi,
which nimble Satyrs have cultivated, and the sacred rites wreathed
with a fawn-skin, and a Maenad by night with secret Lyaeus.            395
Carteia arms the Arganthonian descendants.
a king was the richest in the human span,
having measured out 300 war-bearing years. Tartessos, privy to Phoebus
when he stables, arms as well, and Munda, destined to bring forth Emathian
toils for Italians.            400
nor did the glory of gold-bearing Corduba cease.

hos duxere uiros flauenti uertice Phorcys
spiciferisque grauis bellator Arauricus oris,
aequales aeui, genuit quos ubere ripa
Palladio Baetes umbratus cornua ramo. 405

These men were led by Phorcys with a blond crown,
and the Araurican warrior, weighty from spike-bearing shores,
coevals in age, whom the bank begot from its rich udder,
Baetis, its horns shaded by a Palladian branch. 405

      Talia Sidonius per campos agmina ductor
puluere nigrantis raptat lustransque sub armis,
qua uisu comprendere erat, fulgentia signa
ibat ouans longaque umbram tellure trahebat.
non aliter, quotiens perlabitur aequora curru            410
extremamque petit, Phoebea cubilia, Tethyn
frenatis Neptunus equis, fluit omnis ab antris
Nereidum chorus et sueto certamine nandi
candida perspicuo conuertunt brachia ponto.
      At Pyrenaei frondosa cacumina montis            415
turbata Poenus terrarum pace petebat.

      Such columns did the Sidonian leader drag through the plains, blackening with dust, and, surveying beneath arms,
so far as it could be comprehended by sight, at the gleaming standards
he went exultant and drew his shadow long upon the earth.
no otherwise, whenever he glides over the waters with his chariot            410
and seeks Tethys, the farthest couch of Phoebus, Neptune
with his reined horses, the whole chorus of Nereids streams from their caves
and, with their accustomed contest of swimming,
they turn their white arms in the transparent sea.
      But for the leafy summits of the Pyrenean mountain            415
the Punic, with the peace of the lands thrown into turmoil, was making.

Pyrene celsa nimbosi uerticis arce
diuisos Celtis late prospectat Hiberos
atque aeterna tenet magnis diuortia terris.
nomen Bebrycia duxere a uirgine colles, 420

Pyrene, from the lofty citadel of her cloud-mantled summit,
looks far over the Iberians sundered from the Celts,
and holds the eternal divides of mighty lands.
the hills took their name from a Bebrycian maiden, 420

hospitis Alcidae crimen, qui, sorte laborum
Geryonae peteret cum longa tricorporis arua,
possessus Baccho saeua Bebrycis in aula
lugendam formae sine uirginitate reliquit
Pyrenen, letique deus, si credere fas est, 425
causa fuit leti miserae deus. edidit aluo
namque ut serpentem patriasque exhorruit iras,
confestim dulcis liquit turbata penates.
tum noctem Alcidae solis plangebat in antris
et promissa uiri siluis narrabat opacis, 430
donec maerentem ingratos raptoris amores
tendentemque manus atque hospitis arma uocantem
diripuere ferae.

the crime of the guest Alcides, who, by the lot of his labors,
when he was seeking the broad fields of three-bodied Geryon,
possessed by Bacchus in the savage hall of Bebryx,
left Pyrene to be lamented, her beauty without maidenhood,
and the god of Death, if it is right to believe it, 425
was the cause of the poor girl’s death. For when she brought forth from her womb
a serpent and shuddered at her father’s wrath,
straightway, distraught, she left her sweet household gods.
Then through the night, alone in the caves, she lamented Alcides
and told to the shadowy woods the promises of the man, 430
until, mourning the ungrateful loves of her ravisher,
and stretching out her hands and calling upon the guest’s arms,
the wild beasts tore her to pieces.

laceros Tirynthius artus,
dum remeat uictor, lacrimis perfudit et amens
palluit inuento dilectae uirginis ore. 435

The Tirynthian drenched the torn limbs,
while he returns a victor, with tears, and, out of his mind,
grew pale at the found face of the beloved virgin. 435

at uoce Herculea percussa cacumina montis
intremuere iugis: maesto clamore ciebat
Pyrenen, scopulique omnes ac lustra ferarum
Pyrenen resonant. tumulo tum membra reponit
supremum inlacrimans, nec honos intercidit aeuo, 440
defletumque tenent montes per saecula nomen.
Iamque per et collis et densos abiete lucos
Bebryciae Poenus fines transcenderat aulae.

but the peaks of the mountain, struck by the Herculean voice, trembled along the ridges: with a mournful clamor he was summoning Pyrene, and all the crags and the lairs of beasts resound Pyrene. then he reposes the limbs upon a mound, weeping the last, nor has the honor perished with age, 440
and the mountains hold through the ages the lamented name.
And now over both the hills and the groves dense with fir the Carthaginian had crossed the borders of the Bebrycian hall.

inde ferox quaesitum armis per inhospita rura
Volcarum populatur iter tumidique minaces 445
accedit Rhodani festino milite ripas.
aggeribus caput Alpinis et rupe niuali
proserit in Celtas ingentemque extrahit amnem
spumanti Rhodanus proscindens gurgite campos
ac propere in pontem lato ruit incitus alueo. 450

thence ferocious, a route sought with arms through inhospitable fields
he lays waste among the Volcae, and to the swollen, minacious 445
banks of the Rhone he approaches with hurrying soldiery.
from Alpine ramparts and snowy crag he thrusts forth his head upon the Celts,
and draws out a mighty river— the Rhone, cleaving the plains with a foaming
eddy— and swiftly toward the bridge he rushes, impelled, in a broad channel. 450

auget opes stanti similis tacitoque liquore
mixtus Arar, quem gurgitibus complexus anhelis
cunctantem immergit pelago raptumque per arua
ferre uetat patrium uicina ad litora nomen.
inuadunt alacres inimicum pontibus amnem: 455
nunc celso capite et ceruicibus arma tuentur,
nunc ualidis gurges certatim frangitur ulnis.
fluminea sonipes religatus ducitur alno,
belua nec retinet tardante Libyssa timore.

the Arar, seeming to stand still and with silent flow, when mingled, augments the wealth; which, embraced by panting eddies, he plunges, as it lingers, into the deep, and forbids it, snatched through the fields, to carry its native name to the neighboring shores. eager they assault the river inimical to bridges: 455
now with high head and neck they keep their arms safe,
now the torrent is broken in rivalry by strong forearms. the river-steed, bound, is led by an alder-boat,
nor does the Libyan beast hold them back, although fear slows it.

nam trabibus uada et iniecta tellure repertum 460
conexas operire trabes ac ducere in altum
paulatim ripae resolutis aggere uinclis.
at gregis inlapsu fremebundo territus atras
expauit moles Rhodanus stagnisque refusis
torsit harenoso minitantia murmura fundo. 465

for by beams and by earth thrown in, the ford once found 460
they cover connected beams and lead them into the deep,
gradually, as the bank’s fastenings of the embankment are loosened.
but at the roaring inrush of the host, terrified, the dark
mass, the Rhone, with back-flowing pools, wrung menacing murmurs from its sandy bed. 465

Iamque Tricastinis incedit finibus agmen,
iam facilis campos, iam rura Vocontia carpit.
turbidus hic truncis saxisque Druentia laetum
ductoris uastauit iter. namque Alpibus ortus
auulsas ornos et adesi fragmina montis 470
cum sonitu uoluens fertur latrantibus undis
ac uada translato mutat fallacia cursu,
non pediti fidus, patulis non puppibus aequus.

And now the column advances within the borders of the Tricastini,
now it plucks the easy plains, now the Vocontian fields.
here the Druentia, turbulent with trunks and rocks, laid waste
the leader’s happy route. For, born in the Alps,
rolling torn-up ash-trees and fragments of a gnawed mountain with a roar 470
it is borne along with barking waves,
and by a shifted course it changes its treacherous shallows,
not trusty for the foot-soldier, nor fair to broad-beamed ships.

et tunc imbre recens fuso correpta sub armis
corpora multa uirum spumanti uertice torquens            475
immersit fundo laceris deformia membris.
      Sed iam praeteritos ultra meminisse labores
conspectae propius dempsere pauentibus Alpes.
cuncta gelu canaque aeternum grandine tecta
aequaeuam glaciem cohibent: riget ardua montis            480

and then, with recent rain poured out, snatching many bodies of men under arms,
whirling with a foaming vortex,            475
plunged them to the bottom, disfigured with torn limbs.
      But now the Alps, seen nearer, took away from the trembling
any further remembrance of the toils gone by. All things, covered forever
with frost and hoary hail, confine coeval ice: the steep of the mountain stands rigid            480

aetherii facies surgentique obuia Phoebo
duratas nescit flammis mollire pruinas.
quantum Tartareus regni pallentis hiatus
ad manis imos atque atrae stagna paludis
a supera tellure patet, tam longa per auras 485
erigitur tellus et caelum intercipit umbra.
nullum uer usquam nullique aestatis honores.

the aetherial face, meeting the rising Phoebus,
does not know to soften with flames the hardened frosts.
as far as the Tartarean chasm of the pallid realm
to the deepest shades and the pools of the black swamp
opens from the upper earth, by so much through the airs 485
the land is raised and intercepts the sky with its shadow.
no spring anywhere and no honors of summer.

sola iugis habitat diris sedesque tuetur
perpetuas deformis hiemps; illa undique nubes
huc atras agit et mixtos cum grandine nimbos. 490
iam cuncti flatus uentique furentia regna
Alpina posuere domo. caligat in altis
obtutus saxis, abeuntque in nubila montes.
mixtus Athos Tauro Rhodopeque adiuncta Mimanti
Ossaque cum Pelio cumque Haemo cesserit Othrys. 495

alone upon the dire ridges and guarding perpetual seats
dwells misshapen Winter; she drives hither from every side black clouds
and nimbus-clouds mixed with hail. 490
by now all blasts and winds have set their raging realms
in an Alpine home. The gaze grows dim upon the lofty
rocks, and the mountains pass away into the clouds.
Athos blended with Taurus and Rhodope joined to Mimas,
and Ossa with Pelion, and Othrys with Haemus, would yield. 495

primus inexpertas adiit Tirynthius arces.
scindentem nubes frangentemque ardua montis
spectarunt superi longisque ab origine saeclis
intemerata gradu magna ui saxa domantem.
At miles dubio tardat uestigia gressu, 500
impia ceu sacros in finis arma per orbem,
Natura prohibente, ferant diuisque repugnent.

the Tirynthian first approached the untried citadels.
the gods looked upon him as he split the clouds and broke the steep heights of the mountain,
and, with great force, subdued rocks undefiled by a step for long ages from the beginning.
But the soldier delays his footsteps with doubtful pace, 500
as if they were bearing impious arms into sacred boundaries throughout the orb,
Nature forbidding, and as if they were resisting the gods.

contra quae ductor++non Alpibus ille nec ullo
turbatus terrore loci, sed languida maestis
corda uirum fouet hortando reuocatque uigorem: 505
'Non pudet obsequio superum fessosque secundis,
post belli decus atque acies, dare terga niuosis
montibus et segnes summittere rupibus arma?
nunc, o nunc, socii, dominantis moenia Romae
credite uos summumque Iouis conscendere culmen. 510

against which the leader++he, disturbed neither by the Alps nor by any
terror of the place, but he warms by exhorting the languid, sorrowful
hearts of the men and calls back their vigor: 505
“Is it not shameful, men obedient to the gods and wearied by prosperities,
after the glory of war and the battle-lines, to give your backs to the snowy
mountains and to lower your sluggish arms to the crags?
Now, O now, comrades, believe that you are the walls of ruling Rome
and are ascending the summit of highest Jove.” 510

hic labor Ausoniam et dabit hic in uincula Thybrim.'
nec mora. commotum promissis ditibus agmen
erigit in collem et uestigia linquere nota
Herculis edicit magni crudisque locorum
ferre pedem ac proprio turmas euadere calle. 515
rumpit inaccessos aditus atque ardua primus
exuperat summaque uocat de rupe cohortes.
tum, qua durati concreto frigore collis
lubrica frustratur canenti semita cliuo,
luctantem ferro glaciem cremat: haurit hiatu 520
nix resoluta uiros altoque e culmine praeceps
umenti turmas operit delapsa ruina.

‘this toil will give Ausonia, and this will put the Tiber in bonds.’
no delay. The column, stirred by rich promises,
he lifts onto the hill, and he bids them leave the well-known
footprints of great Hercules and set foot through the raw places
and have the troops make their way by a path of their own. 515
he breaks paths inaccessible and is the first to surmount the steeps
and from the topmost crag he calls the cohorts. Then, where the hill,
hardened by congealed frost, the slippery path on the hoary slope
baffles them, he burns the ice that fights the iron: the loosened snow
gulps men in with a gaping maw, and from the high summit headlong 520
a sodden avalanche, sliding down, buries the ranks.

interdum aduerso glomeratas turbine Corus
in media ora niues fuscis agit horridus alis,
aut rursum immani stridens auulsa procella 525

sometimes Corus, with an adverse whirlwind, drives the snows massed together into the very faces with dusky wings, horrid;
or again a strident squall, torn away, enormous, 525

nudatis rapit arma uiris uoluensque per orbem
contorto rotat in nubes sublimia flatu.
quoque magis subiere iugo atque euadere nisi
erexere gradum, crescit labor. ardua supra
sese aperit fessis et nascitur altera moles, 530
unde nec edomitos exudatosque labores
respexisse libet: tanta formidine plana
exterrent repetita oculis, atque una pruinae
canentis, quocumque datur permittere uisus,
ingeritur facies.

it snatches the arms from stripped men, and rolling through the orb
with a contorted blast it whirls sublime things into the clouds.
and the more they went under the yoke, and unless
they raised their step to get out, the toil increases. the heights above
open themselves to the weary, and another mass is born, 530
whence it is not pleasing to look back upon labors subdued and sweated out:
so great with dread do the plains, repeated to the eyes, terrify, and the single visage
of hoary rime, wherever it is given to allow the sight,
is thrust upon the view.

medio sic nauita ponto, 535
cum dulcis liquit terras et inania nullos
inueniunt uentos securo carbasa malo,
immensas prospectat aquas ac uicta profundis
aequoribus fessus renouat sua lumina caelo.
Iamque super clades atque importuna locorum 540

thus in mid-sea the sailor, 535
when he has left the sweet lands and the empty canvases
find no winds with the mast untroubled,
he gazes out over the immense waters and, overcome by the deep
seas, weary, he renews his eyes with the sky.
And now over the disasters and the unpropitiousness of the places 540

inluuie rigidaeque comae squalore perenni
horrida semiferi promunt e rupibus ora,
atque effusa cauis exesi pumicis antris
Alpina inuadit manus adsuetoque uigore
per dumos notasque niues atque inuia pernix 545
clausum montiuagis infestat cursibus hostem.
mutatur iam forma locis. hic sanguine multo
infectae rubuere niues, hic nescia uinci
paulatim glacies cedit tepefacta cruore,
dumque premit sonipes duro uestigia cornu, 550
ungula perfossis haesit compressa pruinis.

With foulness and with rigid tresses, in perennial squalor, the semi-feral thrust from the crags their horrid faces,
and, pouring out from the hollow caverns of gnawn pumice, the Alpine band invades; with accustomed vigor,
through brambles and familiar snows and trackless places, swift, 545
it harasses the enemy, shut in, with mountain-roving courses.
Now the form is changed by the places. Here the snows, stained with much blood,
grew red; here the ice, unacquainted with defeat, little by little yields, warmed by gore,
and while the clanging-footed steed presses the footprints with hard horn, 550
the hoof, compressed, stuck fast in hoar-frosts that had been pierced through.

nec pestis lapsus simplex: abscisa relincunt
membra gelu, fractosque asper rigor amputat artus.
bis senos soles, totidem per uulnera saeuas
emensi noctes optato uertice sidunt 555

nor is the pest of slipping simple: they leave behind limbs cut off by frost,
and harsh rigor amputates broken limbs.
for twelve suns, and just as many savage
nights traversed through wounds, they settle on the longed-for summit 555

castraque praeruptis suspendunt ardua saxis.
At Venus, ancipiti mentem labefacta timore,
adfatur genitorem et rumpit maesta querelas:
'Quis poenae modus aut pereundi terminus, oro,
Aeneadis erit, et quando terrasque fretumque 560
emensis sedisse dabis? cur pellere nostros
a te concessa Poenus parat urbe nepotes?

and they suspend their lofty camps on precipitous rocks.
But Venus, her mind shaken by a twofold fear,
addresses her begetter and, sad, breaks forth into complaints:
'What measure of penalty or bound of perishing, I pray,
will there be for the Aeneads, and when will you grant, the lands and the sea having been traversed, 560
that they have settled? why does the Carthaginian prepare to drive our descendants
from a city granted by you?'

Alpibus imposuit Libyam finemque minatur
imperio. casus metuit iam Roma Sagunti.
quo Troiae extremos cineres sacramque ruinam 565
Assaracique larem et Vestae secreta feramus?

He has set Libya upon the Alps and threatens an end to the empire.
Rome already fears the fall of Saguntum.
to what place shall we bear the last ashes of Troy and its sacred ruin, 565
and the Lar of Assaracus and the secrets of Vesta?

da sedem, genitor, tutisque iacere. parumne est
exilia errantis totum quaesisse per orbem?
anne iterum capta repetentur Pergama Roma?'
His Venus, et contra genitor sic deinde profatur: 570

grant a seat, father, and to lie in safety. Is it not enough
to have sought exiles, a wanderer, through the whole orb?
or again, Rome being captured, shall Pergama be sought once more?'
Thus Venus; and in reply the Begetter then speaks forth thus: 570

'Pelle metus, neu te Tyriae conamina gentis
turbarint, Cytherea: tenet longumque tenebit
Tarpeias arces sanguis tuus. hac ego Martis
mole uiros spectare paro atque expendere bello.
gens ferri patiens ac laeta domare labores 575
paulatim antiquo patrum desuescit honori,
atque ille, haud umquam parcus pro laude cruoris
et semper famae sitiens, obscura sedendo
tempora agit mutum uoluens inglorius aeuum
sanguine de nostro populus, blandoque ueneno 580
desidiae uirtus paulatim euicta senescit.

'Drive away fears, and let not the attempts of the Tyrian nation
disturb you, Cytherean: your blood holds, and long will hold,
the Tarpeian citadels. By this mass of Mars
I prepare to observe men and to weigh them in war.
a race enduring of iron and glad to tame labors 575
little by little is unlearning the ancient honor of the fathers,
and he, never sparing of blood for praise
and always thirsty for fame, by sitting passes his time
in obscurity, rolling on a mute, inglorious age—
a people from our blood—and by the coaxing poison 580
of idleness, Virtue, little by little overcome, grows old.

magnae molis opus multoque labore parandum,
tot populos inter soli sibi poscere regna.
iamque tibi ueniet tempus quo maxima rerum
nobilior sit Roma malis. hinc nomina nostro 585

a work of great magnitude and to be prepared with much labor,
to claim dominions for oneself alone among so many peoples.
and already the time will come for you when the greatest of things,
Rome, will be more noble by her evils. hence names to our 585

non indigna polo referet labor, hinc tibi Paulus,
hinc Fabius gratusque mihi Marcellus opimis.
hi tantum parient Latio per uulnera regnum
quod luxu et multum mutata mente nepotes
non tamen euertisse queant. iamque ipse creatus 590
qui Poenum reuocet patriae Latioque repulsum
ante suae muros Carthaginis exuat armis.

not unworthy of heaven will the labor bring back returns; hence for you Paulus,
hence Fabius, and Marcellus, pleasing to me with the Opima.
these will beget for Latium so great a realm
that descendants, much changed in mind and by luxury,
will not, however, be able to overturn. and now even he himself is created 590
who may call the Punic back, repulsed from the fatherland and from Latium,
before the walls of his own Carthage strip him of arms.

hinc, Cytherea, tuis longo regnabitur aeuo.
exin se Curibus uirtus caelestis ad astra
efferet, et sacris augebit nomen Iulis 595
bellatrix gens bacifero nutrita Sabino.
hinc pater ignotam donabit uincere Thylen
inque Caledonios primus trahet agmina lucos,
compescet ripis Rhenum, reget impiger Afros
palmiferamque senex bello domitabit Idymen. 600

hence, Cytherea, by your own it will be ruled for a long age.
thereafter from Cures heavenly valor will lift itself to the stars,
and a war-waging clan, nurtured by berry-bearing Sabine land, will augment the name of the sacred Iulii 595
a bellatrix gens nourished by the berry-bearing Sabine.
hence a father will bestow to conquer unknown Thule,
and as the first he will draw his columns into the Caledonian groves,
he will curb the Rhine on its banks, untiring he will rule the Africans,
and as an old man he will subdue in war the palm-bearing Idumea. 600

nec Stygis ille lacus uiduataque lumine regna,
sed superum sedem nostrosque tenebit honores.
tum iuuenis magno praecellens robore mentis
excipiet patriam molem celsusque feretur
aequatum imperio tollens caput. hic fera gentis 605
bella Palaestinae primo delebit in aeuo.

nor will he hold the lake of Styx and the realms widowed of light,
but he will hold the supernal seat and our honors.
then, a youth excelling in great strength of mind
will take up the burden of the fatherland, and will be borne on high,
lifting a head equal to empire. This man the fierce wars of the Palestinian nation 605
will wipe out in his first age.

at tu transcendes, Germanice, facta tuorum,
iam puer auricomo praeformidate Batauo.
nec te terruerint Tarpei culminis ignes:
sacrilegas inter flammas seruabere terris. 610
nam te longa manent nostri consortia mundi.
huic laxos arcus olim Gangetica pubes
summittet, uacuasque ostendent Bactra pharetras.

but you will transcend, Germanicus, the feats of your forebears,
already as a boy, dreaded beforehand by the golden‑haired Batavian.
nor let the fires of the Tarpeian summit terrify you:
amid sacrilegious flames you will be preserved on earth. 610
for long consortia of our world await you.
to you one day the Gangetic youth will lower their slackened bows,
and Bactra will show their quivers empty.

hic et ab Arctoo currus aget axe per urbem,
ducet et Eoos, Baccho cedente, triumphos. 615

here too he will drive his chariot from the Arctic axis through the city,
and he will lead Eoan triumphs, with Bacchus yielding. 615

idem indignantem tramittere Dardana signa
Sarmaticis uictor compescet sedibus Histrum.
quin et Romuleos superabit uoce nepotes
quis erit eloquio partum decus. huic sua Musae
sacra ferent, meliorque lyra, cui substitit Hebrus 620
et uenit Rhodope, Phoebo miranda loquetur.

that same man will, as victor, restrain the Hister, resentful to let the Dardanian standards cross
to the Sarmatian seats.
nay, even he will surpass the Romulean descendants in voice,
for whom there will be a glory begotten by eloquence. to him the Muses
will bring their own sacred rites, and with a better lyre, at which the Hebrus stood still 620
and Rhodope came, he will speak marvels to Phoebus.

ille etiam, qua prisca, uides, stat regia nobis,
aurea Tarpeia ponet Capitolia rupe
et iunget nostro templorum culmina caelo.
tunc, o nate deum diuosque dature, beatas 625
imperio terras patrio rege. tarda senectam
hospitia excipient caeli, solioque Quirinus
concedet, mediumque parens fraterque locabunt:
siderei iuxta radiabunt tempora nati.'
Dum pandit seriem uenturi Iuppiter aeui, 630

He too, where, as you see, the ancient royal house stands for us,
will set the Capitolia, golden, upon the Tarpeian rock,
and he will yoke the summits of the temples to our sky.
then, O son of gods, and you who are to bestow gods, rule the blessed 625
lands by your father’s imperium. Heaven’s hostels shall receive
your tardy old age, and Quirinus will yield his throne,
and your father and brother will place you in the middle:
the temples of the starry-born son’s brow will shine nearby.'
While Jupiter spreads out the sequence of the coming age, 630

ductor Agenoreus tumulis delatus iniquis
lapsantem dubio deuexa per inuia nisu
firmabat gressum atque umentia saxa premebat.
non acies hostisue tenet, sed prona minaci
praerupto turbant et cautibus obuia rupes. 635
stant clausi maerentque moras et dura uiarum.
nec refouere datur torpentia membra quiete:
noctem operi iungunt et robora ferre coactis
approperant umeris ac raptas collibus ornos.

the Agenorean leader, borne down upon uneven hills,
was steadying his step, slipping with uncertain effort down through pathless descents,
and he was pressing the damp rocks.
not a battle-line nor an enemy holds them, but downward slopes with a menacing
precipice throw them into confusion, and a cliff confronting them with crags. 635
they stand shut in and mourn the delays and the harshness of the roads.
nor is it given to rewarm their torpid limbs with rest:
they yoke the night to the work and hasten to carry timbers on forced
shoulders and ash-trees snatched from the hills.

iamque ubi nudarunt silua densissima montis, 640
aggessere trabes, rapidisque accensus in orbem
excoquitur flammis scopulus: mox proruta ferro
dat gemitum putris resoluto pondere moles
atque aperit fessis antiqui regna Latini.
his tandem ignotas transgressus casibus Alpes 645

and now when they had stripped the mountain of its most dense forest, 640
they heaped up beams, and the crag, enkindled in a circle by rapid flames,
is calcined; soon, overthrown by iron,
the crumbling mass, its weight loosened, gives a groan
and opens to the weary the realms of ancient Latinus.
by these means at last, having crossed the Alps with unknown hazards, 645

Taurinis ductor statuit tentoria campis.
Interea uoces Iouis atque oracula portans
emensis aderat Garamantum laetus harenis
Bostar et ut uiso stimulabat corda Tonante:
'Maxime Belide, patriis qui moenibus arces 650
seruitium dextra, Libycas penetrauimus aras.
nos tulit ad superos perfundens sidera Syrtis,
nos paene aequoribus tellus uiolentior hausit.

The leader set his tents on the Taurinian plains.
Meanwhile, bearing Jove’s voices and oracles,
Bostar, glad, arrived, having passed through the sands of the Garamantes,
and, at the Thunderer’s sight, was goading their hearts:
'Greatest Belid, you who by your right hand doom the citadels to servitude at the fatherland’s walls, 650
we have penetrated the Libyan altars.
the Syrtis, dousing the stars, carried us to the heights of the gods,
the land, more violent than the seas, almost swallowed us.

ad finem caeli medio tenduntur ab orbe
squalentes campi. tumulum Natura negauit 655
immensis spatiis, nisi quem caua nubila torquens
construxit turbo impacta glomeratus harena,
uel si perfracto populatus carcere terras
Africus et pontum spargens super aera Corus
inuasere truces capientem proelia campum 660

to the end of heaven from the middle orb the squalid plains are stretched.
Nature denied a mound to the immense spaces, 655
save such as, twisting hollow clouds, the whirlwind constructed,
massed with sand driven together; or if, its prison broken,
Africus, having ravaged the lands, and Corus, scattering the sea over the air,
have invaded, fierce, the field capable of holding battles. 660

inque uicem ingesto cumularunt puluere montis.
has obseruatis ualles enauimus astris.
namque dies confundit iter, peditemque profundo
errantem campo et semper media arua uidentem
Sidoniis Cynosura regit fidissima nautis. 665
uerum ubi defessi lucos nemorosaque regna
cornigeri Iouis et fulgentia templa subimus,
exceptos hospes tectis inducit Arisbas.

and in their turn, with dust brought in, they piled up mountains.
these valleys we swam through, with the stars observed.
for day confounds the route, and the most trustworthy Cynosure for Sidonian sailors guides the foot-traveler wandering on the deep
plain and ever seeing the fields as everywhere midmost; 665
but when, exhausted, we come beneath the groves and the woodland realms
of the horn-bearing Jove and his gleaming temples,
our host Arisbas ushers us, once received, beneath his roofs.

stat fano uicina, nouum et memorabile, lympha,
quae nascente die, quae deficiente tepescit 670
quae<que> riget, medius cum sol accendit Olympum,
atque eadem rursum nocturnis feruet in umbris.
tum loca plena deo, dites sine uomere glaebas
ostentat senior laetaque ita mente profatur:
"Has umbras nemorum et conexa cacumina caelo 675

There stands near the shrine, a new and memorable water,
which at the day’s birth, which at its waning, grows tepid 670
and which grows rigid, when the sun at mid-heaven kindles Olympus,
and the same again boils in nocturnal shades.
Then the elder displays places full of the god, clods rich without the plowshare,
and thus with a glad mind he speaks forth:
"These shades of the groves and the tops joined to the sky 675

calcatosque Ioui lucos prece, Bostar, adora.
nam cui dona Iouis non diuulgata per orbem,
in gremio Thebes geminas sedisse columbas?
quarum Chaonias pennis quae contigit oras
implet fatidico <Do>donida murmure quercum. 680
at quae Carpathium super aequor uecta per auras
in Libyen niueis tranauit concolor alis
hanc sedem templo Cythereia condidit ales;
hic, ubi nunc aram lucosque uidetis opacos,
ductore electo gregis, admirabile dictu, 685
lanigeri capitis media inter cornua perstans,
Marmaricis ales populis responsa canebat.

and adore, Bostar, with prayer the groves of Jove that have been trodden.
for to whom are not the gifts of Jove divulged through the orb,
that in the bosom of Thebes two doves sat?
of which the one that with her wings touched the Chaonian shores
fills the Dodonaean oak with a fate‑speaking murmur. 680
but the one borne over the Carpathian sea through the airs
crossed into Libya, like in color to her snowy wings;
the Cytherean bird founded this seat with a temple;
here, where now you see an altar and shady groves,
with the leader of the flock chosen, wonderful to say, 685
standing right between the horns of a wool‑bearing head,
the bird was chanting responses to the Marmaric peoples.

mox subitum nemus atque annoso robore lucus
exiluit, qualesque premunt nunc sidera quercus
a prima uenere die: prisco inde pauore 690

soon a sudden grove, and a sacred grove with age-old oak, leapt forth;
and oaks such as now press the stars came from the first day:
from then with ancient awe 690

arbor numen habet coliturque tepentibus aris."
dumque ea miramur, subito stridore tremendum
impulsae patuere fores, maiorque repente
lux oculos ferit. ante aras stat ueste sacerdos
effulgens niuea, et populi concurrere certant. 695
inde ubi mandatas effudi pectore uoces,
ecce intrat subitus uatem deus. alta sonoro
conlisis trabibus uoluuntur murmura luco,
ac maior nota iam uox prorumpit in auras:
"Tenditis in Latium belloque agitare paratis 700
Assaraci prolem, Libyes.

"the tree has a numen and is worshiped at warm altars."
and while we marvel at these things, suddenly, with a dreadful creak,
the doors, driven open, stood agape, and a greater
light strikes the eyes. before the altars a priest stands,
effulgent in snow-white vesture, and the peoples vie to run together. 695
then, when I had poured forth from my breast the mandated words,
lo, the god suddenly enters the seer. deep murmurs
roll through the grove, the timbers clashing with a sonorous sound,
and now a voice with a more marked note bursts forth into the air:
"You aim for Latium and are prepared to harry with war 700
the offspring of Assaracus, O Libyans.

coepta aspera cerno
Gradiuumque trucem currus iam scandere et atram
in latus Hesperium flammam expirare furentis
cornipedes multoque fluentia sanguine lora.
tu, qui pugnarum euentus extremaque fati 705

I discern harsh undertakings begun,
and grim Gradivus already to mount his chariot, and black
flame to breathe out upon the Hesperian flank from the raging
hoofed-steeds, and the reins flowing with much blood.
you, who know the outcomes of battles and the utmost things of fate 705

deposcis claroque ferox das uela labori,
inuade Aetoli ductoris Iapyga campum.
Sidonios augebis auos nullique relinques
altius Ausoniae penetrare in uiscera gentis,
donec uicta tibi trepidabunt Dardana regna. 710
nec ponet pubes umquam Saturnia curam
dum carpet superas in terris Hannibal auras." Talia portabat laetis oracula Bostar
impleratque uiros pugnae propioris amore.

you demand, and fierce you set sails to illustrious labor,
invade the Iapygian field of the Aetolian leader.
you will augment your Sidonian ancestors, and you will leave to no one
to penetrate more deeply into the viscera of the Ausonian nation,
until the Dardanian realms, vanquished, will tremble before you. 710
nor will the Saturnian youth ever lay down concern
so long as Hannibal plucks the upper airs upon the earth." Such oracles Bostar was bearing to the joyful,
and he had filled the men with love of the nearer battle.