Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Fama per Ausoniae turbatas spargitur urbes
nubiferos montes et saxa minantia caelo
accepisse iugum, Poenosque per inuia uectos,
aemulaque Herculei iactantem facta laboris
descendisse ducem. diros canit improba motus 5
et gliscit gressu uolucrique citatior Euro
terrificis quatit attonitas rumoribus arces.
adstruit auditis docilis per inania rerum
pascere rumorem uulgi pauor: itur in acris
bellorum raptim curas, subitusque per omnem 10
Ausoniam Mauors strepit et ciet arma uirosque.

Rumor is scattered through the disturbed cities of Ausonia
that the cloud-bearing mountains and the rocks menacing the sky
have accepted the yoke, and that the Punics were borne through pathless places,
and that the leader, vaunting deeds to rival the Herculean labor,
has descended. The shameless tale sings dire commotions, 5
and swells, with its step, swifter than the winged East-Wind,
and with terrifying rumors it shakes the thunderstruck citadels.
Fear, teachable to heap upon what it has heard, through the emptiness of things
feeds the rumor of the crowd: they rush into the bitter
cares of wars, and sudden through all Ausonia Mars rattles and summons arms and men. 10

pila nouant, ac detersa rubigine saeuus
induitur ferro splendor, niueumque repostae
instaurant galeae coni decus; hasta iuuatur
ammento, reuocantque noua fornace bipennis. 15

They renew the pila, and, with the rust wiped away, a savage splendor is put upon the iron, and the snow-white adornment of the cone of the refitted helmet is restored; the spear is aided by an amentum, and they recall to life the two-edged axe in a new furnace. 15

conseritur tegimen laterum impenetrabile, multas
passurus dextras atque inrita uulnera, thorax.
pars arcu inuigilant, domitat pars uerbere anhelum
cornipedem in gyros saxoque exasperat ensem.
nec uero muris, quibus est luctata uetustas, 20
ferre morantur opem; subuectant saxa cauasque
retractant turris, edit quas longior aetas.

an impenetrable covering of the flanks is stitched together, to suffer many right hands and ineffectual wounds—the thorax.
some keep vigilant watch over the bow, another part with the lash tames the panting horn-footed steed into circles, and with stone roughens the sword.
nor indeed do they delay to bring aid to the walls, with which old age has wrestled; 20
they convey up stones and draw out again the hollow towers, which a longer age has produced.

hinc tela accipiunt arces, ac robora portis
et fidos certant obices accersere silua,
circumdant fossas. haud segnis cuncta magister 25
praecipitat timor, ac uastis trepidatur in agris.
deseruere larem: portant ceruicibus aegras
attoniti matres ducentisque ultima fila
grandaeuos rapuere senes, tum crine soluto
ante agitur coniunx, dextra laeuaque trahuntur 30

hence the citadels receive weapons, and for the gates
and trusty bars they vie to fetch oaken timbers from the forest,
they encircle the ditches. Fear, no sluggish master, precipitates all things, 25
and in the vast fields there is flurried alarm.
they have deserted the hearth: upon their necks the astonied
carry their ailing mothers, and, drawing the last threads,
they have snatched up the very aged old men; then, with hair loosened,
the consort is driven before, and on the right and left they are dragged 30

parui non aequo comitantes ordine nati.
sic uulgus, traduntque metus, nec poscitur auctor.
at patres, quamquam exterrent immania coepta
inque sinu bellum, atque Alpes et peruia saxa
decepere, tamen crudam contra aspera mentem 35
et magnos tollunt animos.

the little children accompanying in uneven order.
thus the common crowd, and they hand down fears, nor is an author demanded.
but the fathers, although immense undertakings terrify
and war is in the bosom, and the Alps and passable rocks
deceived, nevertheless they raise a raw mind against hardships 35
and they uplift great spirits.

iuuat ire periclis
ad decus et dextra memorandum condere nomen
quale dedit numquam rebus Fortuna secundis.
Sed Libyae ductor tuto fouet agmina uallo
fessa gradum multoque gelu torpentia neruos, 40
solandique genus, laetos ostentat ad urbem
per campos superesse uiam, Romamque sub ictu.
at non et rerum curas consultaque belli
stare probat solusque nequit perferre quietem.

it delights to go through perils
toward glory and to found with the right hand a name to be remembered,
such as Fortune never granted in prosperous affairs.
But the leader of Libya safely shelters the columns with a rampart,
their steps weary and their sinews benumbed by much gelid frost, 40
and, a kind of solace, he shows that a joyful road remains across the plains to the city,
and Rome within striking distance.
but he does not approve that the cares of affairs and the counsels of war
stand still, and he alone cannot endure repose.

armiferae quondam prisca inter tempora gentes 45

arms-bearing nations once, in ancient times 45

Ausonium inuasere latus sedesque beatas
et metui peperere manu. mox impia bella
Tarpeius pater et capti sensere Quirites.
hic dum sollicitat donis et inania corda
ac fluxam morum gentem fouet armaque iungit,                    50
iam consul uolucri praeuectus litora classe
Scipio Phocaicis sese referebat ab oris,
ingentisque duces, pelagi terraeque laborem
diuersum emensos, propiora pericula uallo
iungebant, magnaeque aderant primordia cladis.                    55
namque ut, conlatis admoto consule castris,
sustulerat Fortuna moras, signumque furoris
accensae uiso poscebant hoste cohortes:
~debellata procul, quaecumque uocantur Hiberis,
ingenti Tyrius numerosa per agmina ductor                    60

They invaded the Ausonian flank and the blessed seats,
and by their hand they begot being feared. Soon the Tarpeian father
and the captured Quirites felt impious wars.
Here, while he solicits with gifts and fosters empty hearts
and a people fluid in morals, and yokes arms,                    50
already the consul Scipio, borne along by a wingèd fleet,
was returning himself from Phocaean shores,
and the mighty leaders, having passed the diverse toil
of sea and land, were joining nearer dangers with a rampart,
and the beginnings of a great disaster were at hand.                    55
For when, the camps having been brought together, the consul being close at hand,
Fortune had removed delays, and the cohorts, enflamed
at the sight of the enemy, were demanding the signal for fury:
~far off, whatever are called among the Hiberians, warred to an end,
the Tyrian leader through the numerous battle-ranks in mighty array                    60

uoce sonat: non Pyrenen Rhodanumue ferocem
iussa aspernatos, Rutulam fumasse Saguntum,
raptum per Celtas iter, et, qua ponere gressum
Amphitryoniadae fuerit labor, isse sub armis
Poenorum turmas, equitemque per ardua uectum                    65
insultasse iugo, et fremuisse hinnitibus Alpes.
        Contra pulchra suos uocat ad discrimina consul:
'Hostem, miles, habes fractum ambustumque niuosis
cautibus atque aegre torpentia membra trahentem.
en age, qui sacros montis rupesque profundas                    70
transiluit, discat quanto stet celsius arce
Herculea uallum, et maius sit scandere collis
an uestros rupisse globos.

he sounds with his voice: that not the Pyrenees and the ferocious Rhone had spurned orders,
that Rutulian Saguntum had smoked, that the route had been snatched through the Celts, and that, where it had been a labor
for the Amphitryoniad to set his step, the squadrons of the Phoenicians had gone under arms,
and that the horseman, borne through the steep places, had leapt upon the ridge, and that the Alps had roared with neighings.                    65
        On the other hand the consul calls his men to fair hazards:
'Soldier, you have the enemy broken and scorched by the snowy
crags and dragging his numbed limbs with difficulty.
come on then, let him who has leapt across the sacred mountain and the deep crags
learn by how much the rampart stands higher than the Herculean citadel,
and whether it is the greater thing to have climbed hills
or to have broken your ranks.                    70

det inania famae,
dum magna fuso pugna retroque ruenti,
qua uentum est, obstent Alpes. super ardua ductum 75

let him give the empty to fame,
while, the great fight having been routed and he rushing backward,
where he came, let the Alps stand in the way. over the arduous heights led 75

huc egere dei, Latios ut sanguine finis
imbueret, tellusque hostilis conderet ossa.
scire libet, noua nunc nobis atque altera bellum
Carthago, anne eadem mittat, quae mersa sub aequor
Aegatis inter uasto iacet obruta ponto.' 80
Haec ait atque agmen Ticini flectit ad undas.
caeruleas Ticinus aquas et stagna uadoso
perspicuus seruat turbari nescia fundo
ac nitidum uiridi lente trahit amne liquorem.

Hither the gods drove him, that he might soak the Latin borders with blood, and that a hostile soil might bury the bones.
I would like to know whether Carthage now sends us a new and second war, or the same that, sunk beneath the water, among the Aegates lies overwhelmed under the vast deep.' 80
He says this and bends the column toward the waves of the Ticinus.
the Ticinus preserves cerulean waters and pools with a shoal
perspicuous bottom, unacquainted with disturbance,
and slowly draws a shining liquid in a green stream.

uix credas labi: ripis tam mitis opacis                    85
argutos inter uolucrum certamine cantus
somniferam ducit lucenti gurgite lympham.
        Iamque sub extremum noctis fugientibus umbris
lux aderat, Somnusque suas confecerat horas.
explorare locos consul collisque propinqui                    90

scarcely would you believe it to glide: so gentle by its shadowy banks                    85
amid the piercing songs of birds in contest
it carries somniferous water in a gleaming current.
        And now toward the last of night, with the shadows fleeing,
light was at hand, and Sleep had completed his hours.
the consul set about to explore the places and the nearby hills                    90

ingenium, et campis quae sit natura, parabat.
par studium Poeno similesque in pectore curae.
ergo aderant rapidis equitum comitantibus alis.

he was preparing to ascertain the character, and what the nature of the plains might be.
equal zeal stirred the Punic, and similar cares were in his breast.
therefore they were at hand, the swift wings of horsemen accompanying.

        Verum ubi commoto docuerunt puluere nubes
hostem ferre gradum, et propius propiusque sonoro                    95
quadrupedum cornu tellus gemit, ac simul acer
uincentum lituos hinnitus saeuit equorum,
'Arma, uiri, rapite arma, uiri,' dux instat uterque.
ambobus uelox uirtus geminusque cupido
laudis et ad pugnas Martemque insania concors.                    100
        Haud mora. iam tantum campi dirimebat ab ictu
quantum impulsa ualet comprendere lancea nodo,
cum subitum liquida non ullis nubibus aethra
augurium mentes oculosque ad sidera uertit.

But when the clouds, by the stirred-up dust, made known that the enemy was bearing his step,
and nearer and nearer the earth groans at the sonorous horn, of the quadrupeds, 95
and at once the fierce neighing of the horses overmasters the trumpets,
'Arms, men, snatch up arms, men,' each leader presses on.
in both there is swift valor and a twin desire
of praise, and toward battles and Mars a frenzy in concord. 100
No delay. Already only so much of the plain separated them from the blow
as a lance, driven, avails to clasp with its thong,
when suddenly an augury in the ether, clear with no clouds,
turned their minds and eyes to the stars.

accipiter medio tendens a limite solis 105

a hawk, tending from the mid limit of the sun 105

dilectas Veneri notasque ab honore Diones
turbabat uiolentus aues atque unguibus idem,
idem nunc rostro, duris nunc ictibus alae,
ter quinas dederat saeua inter uulnera leto.
nec finis satiesue, noui sed sanguinis ardor                    110
gliscere, et urgebat trepidam iam caede priorum
incertamque fugae pluma labente columbam,
donec Phoebeo ueniens Iouis ales ab ortu
in tenuis tandem nubis dare terga coegit.
tum uictrix laetos signa ad Romana uolatus                    115
conuertit, prolesque ducis qua parte decora
Scipio quassabat puerilibus arma lacertis,
clangorem bis terque dedit, rostroque coruscae
perstringens conum galeae se reddidit astris.
        Exclamat Liger (huic superos sentire monentis                    120

he was troubling the birds beloved to Venus and known by the honor of Dione, with violence, the same now with claws,
the same now with beak, now with hard blows of the wing,
had given thrice five to death amid cruel wounds.
nor end nor satiety, but the ardor for fresh blood                    110
was swelling, and he pressed the dove, trembling now from the slaughter of those before
and unsure of flight with plumage slipping,
until Jove’s bird, coming from the Phoebean rising,
forced him at last to turn his back into thin cloud.
then the victress turned her glad flights toward the Roman standards,                    115
and to the quarter where the leader’s progeny, the comely Scipio,
was brandishing arms with boyish upper-arms,
she gave a clangor twice and thrice, and, grazing with her beak the cone
of his flashing helmet, she returned herself to the stars.
        Liger exclaims (to this man the gods, warning him, to perceive those above                    120

ars fuit ac penna monstrare futura magistra):
'Poene, bis octonos Italis in finibus annos
audaci similis uolucri sectabere pubem
Ausoniam multamque feres cum sanguine praedam.
sed compesce minas: renuit tibi Daunia regna 125
armiger ecce Iouis. nosco te, summe deorum:
adsis o firmesque tuae, pater, alitis omen.

it was an art too to demonstrate the future, with the wing as instructress):
'Almost, for 16 years within the Italian borders
you will pursue the Ausonian youth, like a audacious bird,
and you will carry much prey with blood.
but restrain your threats: the Daunian realms refuse you 125
behold the armiger of Jove. I recognize you, highest of the gods:
be present, O father, and strengthen the omen of your bird.

nam tibi seruantur, ni uano cassa uolatu
mentitur superos praepes, postrema subactae
fata, puer, Libyae et maius Carthagine nomen.'                    130
        Contra laeta Bogus Tyrio canit omina regi,
et faustum accipitrem caesasque in nube uolucres
Aeneadis cladem et Veneris portendere genti.
tum dictis comitem contorquet primus in hostis
ceu suadente deo et fatorum conscius hastam.                    135

for for you are reserved, unless with empty, vain flight
the swift-wing lies about the gods, the final fates of subjugated
Libya, boy, and a name greater than Carthage.'                    130
        In counter, Bogus sings joyful omens to the Tyrian king,
and that the auspicious hawk and the birds felled in the cloud
portend disaster to the Aeneads and to the race of Venus.
then, with the words as companion, he is first to hurl a spear into the foes,
as if a god were urging and he conscious of the fates.                    135

illa uolans patuli longe per inania campi
ictum perdiderat spatio, ni fusus habenas
dum primae decus adfectat decerpere pugnae
obuia quadrupedis praeceps Catus ora tulisset.
sic elanguescens ac iam casura petitum 140
inuenit uulnus caedemque accepit ab hoste
cornus et oblatae stetit inter tempora frontis.
Incurrunt acies, magnoque fragore per aequor
suspendunt cuncti frenis sublime reductos
cornipedes ultroque ferunt.

she, flying far through the emptiness of the broad field,
had lost her strike through the distance, had not Catus, loosed in the reins,
while he strives to pluck the glory of the first battle,
borne headlong the face of his quadruped to meet it.
thus, growing faint and now about to fall, the cornel-wood found the aimed-at 140
wound, and took a kill from the foe, and stood between the temples of the proffered brow.
The battle-lines run together, and with great crash across the level plain
all by the reins make their reined-back cornipeds rear aloft,
and drive them forward besides.

erectus in auras 145
it sonipes rapidaque uolans per aperta procella
tenuia uix summo uestigia puluere signat.
Boiorum ante alias Crixo duce mobilis ala
arietat in primos obicitque immania membra.
ipse tumens ataui Brenni se stirpe ferebat 150

reared into the airs 145
the steed goes, and flying through the open in a rapid squall
he scarcely marks faint foot-prints in the topmost dust.
Before others, the mobile wing of the Boii with Crixus as leader
rams the foremost ranks and he throws his immense limbs against them.
he himself, swelling, bore himself on the stock of his forefather Brennus. 150

Crixus et in titulos Capitolia capta trahebat,
Tarpeioque iugo demens et uertice sacro
pensantes aurum Celtas umbone gerebat.
colla uiri fuluo radiabant lactea torque,
auro uirgatae uestes, manicaeque rigebant                    155
ex auro, et simili uibrabat crista metallo.
        Sternitur impulsu uasto perculsa Camertum
prima phalanx, spissaeque ruunt conferta per arma
undae Boiorum: sociata examina densent
infandi Senones, conlisaque quadrupedantum                    160
pectoribus toto uoluuntur corpora campo.

Crixus too was dragging the captured Capitoline into his titles,
and, demented, on the Tarpeian ridge and the sacred summit
he bore on his shield-boss Celts weighing out gold.
the man’s milk-white neck was shining with a tawny torque,
garments striped with gold, and arm-guards were stiff                    155
with gold, and a crest was quivering with similar metal.
        Laid low by a vast impulse, the first phalanx of the Camertes,
stricken, and the thick waves of the Boii rush, packed through the weapons;
the nefarious Senones mass their allied swarms,
and bodies, dashed by the chests of the four-footers, roll over the whole field.                    160

arua natant, altusque uirum cruor, altus equorum
lubrica belligerae sorbet uestigia turmae.
seminecum letum peragit grauis ungula pulsu
et circumuolitans taetros e sanguine rores 165

the fields float, and deep gore of men, deep of horses,
the slick ground swallows the footprints of the war-bearing squadron.
the heavy hoof, with its pounding, completes the half-dead doom,
and, circling, flutters foul dews from the blood 165

spargit humo miserisque suo lauit arma cruore.
spicula prima, puer, tumidi, Tyrrhene, Pelori
purpureo moriens uictricia sanguine tinguis.
nam tibi, dum stimulas cornu atque in proelia mentes
accendis renouasque uiros ad uulnera cantu, 170
haesit barbaricum sub anhelo gutture telum
et clausit raucum letali uulnere murmur.

he scatters on the ground, and with his own gore he washed the arms of the wretched.
the first dart-points, boy, Tyrrhenian of swelling Pelorus, you, dying, dye with purple, victorious blood.
for you, while you stimulate with the horn and inflame minds into battles and by chant renew men for wounds, 170
a barbaric weapon stuck beneath your gasping throat and with a lethal wound shut your hoarse murmur.

at sonus extremo morientis fusus ab ore
flexa pererrauit mutis iam cornua labris.
Crixus Picentem Laurumque, nec eminus ambo, 175
sed gladio Laurum++Picenti rasilis hasta
ripis lecta Padi letum tulit. auia namque
dum petit ac laeuo meditatur fallere gyro,
hasta uiri femur et pariter per anhela uolantis
ilia sedit equi et geminam dedit horrida mortem. 180

but the sound of the dying, poured from the furthest mouth,
wandered through the horns, now bent to lips grown mute.
Crixus [slew] the Picentine and Laurus, and not both from afar, 175
but with the sword [he slew] Laurus; the Picentine a polished spear,
picked from the banks of the Po, brought to death. for as he
seeks pathless places and plans to deceive with a leftward circle,
the spear settled in the man’s thigh and equally, through the panting flanks of the flying
horse, gave a grim twin death. 180

idem sanguinea Venuli ceruice reuellens
sternit praecipitem tepido te, Farfare, telo
et te sub gelido nutritum, Tulle, Velino,
egregium Ausoniae decus ac memorabile nomen,
si dent fata moras aut seruent foedera Poeni,                    185
tum Remulum atque, olim celeberrima nomina bello,
Tiburtis Magios Hispellatemque Metaurum
et Clanium dubia meditantem cuspide uulnus.
        Nec locus est Tyriis belli pugnaeue, sed omnem
Celticus impleuit campum furor. inrita nulli                    190
spicula torquentur, statque omne in corpore ferrum.
hic inter trepidos immane Quirinius audens,
cui fugere ignotum atque inuicta mente placebat
rebus in aduersis exceptum pectore letum,
cuspide flammat ecum ac dispergit gaesa lacerto,                    195

the same man, tearing from Venulus’s blood-stained neck,
casts you headlong, Farfarus, with a still-warm weapon,
and you, Tullus, reared beneath icy Velinus,
an eminent glory of Ausonia and a memorable name,
if the Fates grant delays or the Carthaginians keep their treaties,                    185
then Remulus, and—once most renowned names in war—
the Magii of Tibur and Metaurus of Hispellum,
and Clanius, plotting a wound with a wavering spear-point.
        Nor is there room for Tyrians for war or battle, but Celtic
fury has filled the entire field. No javelins are hurled in vain for anyone,                    190
and every steel stands fixed in a body.
Here, amid the alarmed, Quirinius, dreadfully bold—
to whom flight was unknown, and it pleased, with an unconquered mind,
in adverse fortunes to catch death upon his chest—
fires his horse with the spear-point and scatters javelins from his arm.                    195

si reserare uiam atque ad regem rumpere ferro
detur iter, certusque necis petit omnibus ausis,
quod nequeat sentire, decus. cadit inguine fosso
Teutalus, et uasto quatitur sub pondere tellus.
occumbit Sarmens, flauam qui ponere uictor 200
caesariem crinemque tibi, Gradiue, uouebat
auro certantem et rutilum sub uertice nodum.

if it be granted to unbar a way and to break through with iron to the king,
and, assured of death, he seeks with every daring,
a glory that cannot feel. Teutalus falls, his groin gouged,
and the earth is shaken beneath the vast weight.
Sarmens falls, who, as victor, was vowing to lay down to you, Gradivus, the blond 200
mane and the lock, rivaling gold, and the ruddy knot beneath his crown.

sed Parcae intonsa non exaudita uouentem
ad manes traxere coma. per candida membra
it fumans cruor, et tellus perfusa rubescit. 205
at non tardatus iaculo occurrente Ligaunus
inruit aduersumque uiro rotat obuius ensem
et ferit insurgens, umero qua brachia lenti
adnectunt nerui, decisaque uulnere dextra
laxatis paulum moribunda pependit habenis, 210

but the Parcae, with unshorn hair, drew to the shades the one vowing, unheard;
through his shining-white limbs the smoking gore goes,
and the earth, drenched, reddens. 205
but not delayed by the oncoming javelin, Ligaunus
rushes in and, meeting the man, whirls his sword against him
and strikes as he rises, where pliant sinews fasten the arms
to the shoulder, and the right hand, cut off by the wound,
hung dying, the reins a little loosened. 210

dumque micans tremulo conatu lora retemptat,
flectentem adsuetos imitatur nescia frenos.
demetit auersi Vosegus tum colla, iubaque
suspensam portans galeam atque inclusa perempti
ora uiri, patrio diuos clamore salutat.                    215
        Dumque ea Gallorum populi dant funera campo,
accitas propere castris in proelia consul
raptabat turmas primusque ruebat in hostem
candenti sublimis equo. trahit undique lectum
diuitis Ausoniae iuuenem, Marsosque Coramque                    220
Laurentumque decus iaculatoremque Sabellum
et Gradiuicolam celso de colle Tudertem
indutosque simul gentilia lina Faliscos,
quosque sub Herculeis ~taciturno flumine muris
pomifera arua creant Anienicolae Catilli,                    225

and while, glittering, with a trembling attempt she retries the reins,
unknowing she imitates the bending of the accustomed bridle.
Vosegus then mows the necks of those turned away, and, carrying
a helmet hung with a mane and the enclosed features of the slain man,
he greets the gods with his fatherland shout.                    215
        And while the peoples of the Gauls are giving such funerals to the field,
the consul, having quickly summoned from the camp to the battles,
was sweeping the squadrons along and was first rushing on the foe,
lofty on a shining white horse. He draws from every side the chosen
youth of wealthy Ausonia, the Marsi and the Cora-folk,                    220
the glory of Laurentum and the Sabellian javelin-thrower,
and the worshiper of Gradivus, the Tudertine from the high hill,
and likewise the Faliscans clad in their native linens,
and those whom, beneath the Herculean walls by the taciturn river,
the pomiferous fields of the Anio-dwellers of Catillus raise.                    225

quosque in praegelidis duratos Hernica riuis
mittebant saxa et nebulosi rura Casini.
ibant in Martem terrae dominantis alumni
damnati superis nec iam reditura iuuentus.
Scipio qua medius pugnae uorat agmina uertex 230
infert cornipedem atque instinctus strage suorum
inferias caesis mactat Labarumque Padumque
et Caunum et multo uix fusum uulnere Breucum
Gorgoneoque Larum torquentem lumina uultu.

and those whom, hardened in ice-cold streams, the Hernican rocks
and the misty fields of Casinum were sending forth.
the nurslings of the ruling land were going into Mars,
doomed by the gods above, a youth now not to return.
Scipio, where the mid-whirl of the fight devours ranks, 230
drives in his hoofed steed, and, stirred by the slaughter of his own men,
he offers inferiae to the slain, and sacrifices Labarus and Padus
and Caunus, and the Breucus scarcely laid low with many a wound,
and Larus, twisting his eyes with a Gorgonian visage.

occidis et tristi, pugnax Lepontice, fato; 235
nam dum frena ferox obiecto corpore prensat
atque aequat celsus residentis consulis ora
ipse pedes, frontem in mediam grauis incidit ensis,
et diuisum umeris iacuit caput. at Batus, amens
qui luctatur equo parmaque incursibus obstat, 240

you too fall, pugnacious Leponticus, by a grim fate; 235
for while, fierce, he grasps at the reins with his body thrust in the way
and, towering, matches the face of the seated consul
he himself on foot, a heavy sword sinks into the middle of his brow,
and the head lay severed from the shoulders. But Batus, out of his mind,
who wrestles with his horse and with his parma withstands the charges, 240

ictu quadrupedis fulua porrectus harena
elisa incussis amisit calcibus ora.
perfurit Ausonius turbata per aequora ductor,
ceu Geticus Boreas, totum cum sustulit imo
Icarium fundo uictor mare: nauita uasto                    245
iactatur sparsus lacerata classe profundo,
cunctaque canenti perfunditur aequore Cyclas.
        Crixus, ut in tenui spes exiguumque salutis,
                    . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                            248a
armat contemptu mentem necis.

stretched out on the tawny sand by the stroke of the quadruped,
his face, smashed by the driven-in hooves, he lost.
the Ausonian leader raves through the troubled waters,
like the Getic Boreas, when, victorious, he has heaved up from the lowest
the Icarian sea from its bottom: the mariner in the vast                    245
deep is tossed, cast adrift with his fleet torn to pieces,
and all the Cyclades are drenched by the sonorous sea.
        Crixus, as when hope is slender and the remnant of safety meager,
                    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              248a
arms his mind with contempt of death.

horrida barba
sanguinea rutilat spuma, rictusque furentis
albet, et adfuso squalent a puluere crines.
inuadit Tarium uicino consule pugnas
miscentem saeuisque uirum circumtonat armis.
uoluitur ille solo; nam pronum effundit in armos
fata extrema ferens abies, rapiturque pauore 255
tractus equi uinctis conexa ad cingula membris.

his bristling beard glitters red with sanguine foam, and the gape of the furious one
is white, and his hair is squalid from the dust poured on.
he assails Tarius, who, with the nearby consul, is mixing the battles,
and he thunders around the man with savage arms.
he is rolled on the ground; for a fir-spear, bearing final fates, spills him prone over the shoulders,
and he is snatched in terror 255
dragged by the horse, his limbs bound and fastened to the girths.

longa cruor sparso linquit uestigia campo,
et tremulos cuspis ductus in puluere signat.
laudabat leti iuuenem egregiosque parabat
ulcisci consul manis, cum dira per auris 260

the gore leaves long tracks on the strewn field,
and the spear-point marks wavering tracings in the dust.
he was praising the youth’s death and was preparing
to avenge the distinguished shades, when dread through his ears 260

uox uenit, et Crixum ferri clamoribus audit,
haud notum uultu. surgit uiolentior ira
comminus atque oculos optato in corpore figit.
tum stimulans grato plausae ceruicis honore
cornipedem adloquitur: 'Vulgum Martemque minorem 265
mox, Gargane: uocant superi ad maiora.

A voice comes, and he hears that Crixus is being borne along by shouts, not known by his face.
A more violent anger rises at close quarters, and he fixes his eyes on the desired body.
Then, urging with the pleasing honor of a patted neck, he addresses the hoof‑footed one: ‘The mob and the lesser Mars anon, Garganus: 265
the gods above call to greater things.’

uidesne,
quantus eat Crixus? iam nunc tibi praemia pono
illum Sidonio fulgentem ardore tapeta,
barbaricum decus, et fuluis donabere frenis.'
sic fatus, magno Crixum clamore ciebat 270
in pugnam ac uacuo poscebat proelia campo.
nec detractantem par ira accenderat hostem.

do you see,
how great Crixus advances? even now I set rewards for you:
those tapestries shining with Sidonian fire,
a barbaric adornment, and you shall be gifted with tawny reins.'
thus having spoken, he was summoning Crixus with a great shout 270
to the fight and was demanding combat on the empty field.
nor was the enemy hanging back; equal wrath had kindled him.

ut iussae cessere retro spatiumque dederunt
hinc atque hinc alae et medio stetit aequore pugna,
quantus Phlegraeis Telluris alumnus in aruis 275

when, as ordered, the wings withdrew back and gave room
on this side and that, and the battle stood on the middle plain,
as great as the Earth’s nursling in the Phlegraean fields 275

mouit signa Mimas caelumque exterruit armis,
tantus semifero Crixus sub pectore murmur
torquet et horrisonis ululatibus erigit iras:
'Nemone incensae captaeque superfuit urbi,
ut tibi, quas Brenni populus ferremus in arma, 280
narraret, dextras? disce en nunc' inquit et una
contorquet nodis et obusto robore diram
uel portas quassare trabem. sonat illa tremendum,
at nimio iactu seruasse improuida campi
distantis spatium propiorem transuolat hostem. 285
cui consul: 'Ferre haec umbris proauoque memento,
quam procul occumbas Tarpeia sede, tibique
haud licitum sacri Capitolia cernere montis.'
tum nodo cursuque leui simul adiuuat hastam,
dignum mole uiri nisus.

Mimas moved the standards and terrified the sky with arms;
so great a growl does Crixus, half‑beast, twist beneath his breast
and with dread‑sounding ululations he rouses his wraths:
“Has no one survived the inflamed and captured city,
to tell you the right hands which we, the people of Brennus, would bear into arms?” 280
“Learn now then,” he says, and at once he hurls a dire beam
with knots and charred oak, a timber to shatter even gates.
It thunders dreadfully; but by too excessive a cast, unwary of having kept
the span of the distant field, it flies over the nearer foe.
To whom the consul: “Remember to carry this to the shades and to your great‑grandfather—how far from the Tarpeian seat you fall, and that to you
it was by no means permitted to behold the Capitoline of the sacred mount.”
Then with the thong‑knot and a light run he at once helps his spear,
an effort worthy of the man’s mass. 285

fugit illa per oras 290

it flies along the edges 290

multiplicis lini subtextaque tegmina neruis
atque altum tota metitur cuspide pectus.
procumbit lata porrectus in arua ruina,
et percussa gemit tellus ingentibus armis.
haud aliter structo Tyrrhena ad litora saxo 295
pugnatura fretis subter caecisque procellis,
pila immane sonans impingitur ardua ponto:
immugit Nereus, diuisaque caerula pulsu
inlisum accipiunt irata sub aequora montem.

the coverings of manifold linen and underwoven with sinews,
and with the whole point he measures the deep chest.
he falls forward, stretched out, upon the fields in a broad ruin,
and the earth, smitten, groans beneath the huge arms.
not otherwise, with rock piled toward the Tyrrhenian shores 295
to do battle with the straits below and the blind storms,
a monstrous, resounding pile is driven, towering, upon the deep:
Nereus bellows, and the cerulean waters, divided by the stroke,
beneath, the angry seas receive the mountain dashed against them.

ductore amisso pedibus se credere Celtae: 300
una spes anima tantusque pependerat ardor.
ac ueluti, summo uenator densa Picano
cum lustra exagitat spissisque cubilibus atram
immittit passim dumosa per inuia pestem,
dum tacitas uires et flammam colligit ignis, 305

with their leader lost the Celts entrust themselves to their feet: 300
upon one life had hung their single hope and so great an ardor.
and just as, on a high Picene height, a hunter
when he drives out the lairs and into the thick resting-places sends
the black blight everywhere through brambly trackless places,
while the fire gathers its silent powers and flame, 305

nigranti piceus sensim caligine uertex
uoluitur et pingui contorquet nubila fumo:
mox subita in toto lucent incendia monte,
fit sonitus, fugere ferae, fugere uolucres,
atque ima longe trepidant in ualle iuuencae.                    310
        At Mago, ut uertisse globos primumque laborem,
qui solus genti est, cas<s>um uidet, arma suorum
ac patrium in pugnas equitem uocat. undique nudi
adsiliunt frenis infrenatique manipli.
nunc Itali in tergum uersis referuntur habenis,                    315
nunc rursus Tyrias retro pauor auehit alas,
aut illi dextros lunatis flexibus orbes,
aut illi laeuos sinuant in cornua gyros.

the pitchy summit slowly billows with blackening caliginous gloom,
and twists the clouds with thick, greasy smoke:
soon sudden fires glow over the whole mountain,
a roar arises; the wild beasts flee, the birds flee,
and heifers deep in the valley far off tremble.                    310
        But Mago, when he sees the masses wheeled about and the first toil,
which alone the nation has, undone, calls to arms his men
and the native cavalry into the fights. On every side leap forth
maniples bare of bits and maniples unbridled.
now the Italians are borne back with the reins turned backward,                    315
now in turn fear carries the Tyrian wings in retreat,
either they curve rightward orbits in crescent bendings into horns,
or they curve leftward gyres into horned formations.

texunt alterno glomerata uolumina cursu
atque eadem refuga cedentes arte resoluunt. 320

they weave massed coils with alternating course
and the same, fleeing back, as they give ground, they resolve by art. 320

hac pontum uice, ubi exercet discordia uentos,
fert Boreas Eurusque refert molemque profundi
nunc huc alterno, nunc illuc, flamine gestant.
        Aduolat aurato praefulgens murice ductor
Sidonius, circaque Metus Terrorque Furorque.                    325
isque ubi Callaici radiantem tegminis orbem
extulit et magno percussit lumine campos,
spes uirtusque cadunt, trepidaque a mente recedit
uertere terga pudor, nec leti cura decori,
sed fugere infixum est, terraeque optantur hiatus.                    330
sic, ubi Caucaseis tigris se protulit antris,
linquuntur campi, et tutas petit omne latebras
turbatum insano uultu pecus: illa pererrat
desertas uictrix uallis, iamque ora reducto
paulatim nudat rictu, ut praesentia mandens                    335

thus the sea in this turn, where discord drills the winds,
Boreas bears and Eurus carries back the mass of the deep,
now hither with alternating blast, now thither they waft it.
        Swoops the Sidonian leader, pre-flashing with gilded purple,
and around him Fear and Terror and Fury.                    325
and when he lifted the shining circle of his Gallaecian covering
and smote the fields with great radiance,
hope and manly virtue fall, and from the trembling mind recedes
the shame of turning backs, nor is there care for a seemly death,
but to flee is fixed, and they long for the gaping pits of the earth.                    330
so, when a tiger from Caucasian caverns has put herself forth,
the fields are abandoned, and the whole herd with mad visage, distraught,
seeks safe hiding-places: she ranges
as victress through deserted valleys, and now her jaws she gradually bares
with mouth drawn back, as if champing the things at hand.                    335

corpora, et immani stragem meditatur hiatu.
non illum Metabus, non illum celsior Vfens
euasere tamen, quamuis hic alite planta,
hic ope cornipedis totis ferretur habenis.
nam Metabum ad manis demisit cuspide fulgens 340
fraxinus, Vfentem conlapsum poplite caeso
ensis obit laudemque pedum cum sanguine ademit.

bodies, and with a monstrous gape he meditates slaughter.
Not Metabus, not higher-mounted Ufens escaped him, although this one with a winged sole,
that one by the aid of a horse was being borne with all the reins.
for the ash-wood spear, gleaming at the spear-point, sent Metabus down to the shades 340
while Ufens, collapsed with his hamstring cut,
a sword slays, and took away the renown of his feet along with his blood.

iamque dedit leto Sthenium Laurumque domoque
Collinum gelida, uiridi quem Fucinus antro
nutrierat dederatque lacum tramittere nando. 345
fit socius leti coniecta Massicus hasta,
uitiferi sacro generatus uertice montis
et Liris nutritus aquis, qui f<r>onte quieta
dissimulat cursum ac nullo mutabilis imbri
perstringit tacitas gemmanti gurgite ripas. 350

and now he gave Sthenius and Laurus to death, and from his home
Collinus, whom chill Fucinus, in a green cavern,
had nurtured and had granted to cross the lake by swimming. 345
Massicus becomes a companion of death by a hurled spear,
born from the sacred summit of the vine-bearing mountain
and nourished by the waters of the Liris, which with quiet brow
disguises its course and, unchangeable by any rain,
skims the silent banks with a gemming whirlpool. 350

[exoritur rabies caedum, ac uix tela furori
sufficiunt. teritur iunctis umbonibus umbo,
pesque pedem premit, et nutantes casside cristae
hostilem tremulo pulsant conamine frontem.]
Tergemini primam ante aciem fera proelia fratres 355
miscebant, quos Ledaeo Sidonia Barce
Xant<h>ippo felix uteri inter bella crearat.
res Graiae ductorque parens ac nobile Amyclae
nomen et iniectus Spartanis colla catenis
Regulus inflabant ueteri praecordia fama. 360
Marte probare genus factisque Lacona parentem
ardebant gelidosque dehinc inuisere montis
Taygeta et tandem bellis innare subactis
Eurotan patrium ritusque uidere Lycurgi.

[A rage of slaughters rises, and scarcely do missiles suffice for the frenzy.
boss is worn down on boss with the rims joined,
and foot presses foot, and crests nodding on the casque
strike the hostile brow with a trembling effort.]
Triplet brothers were mixing savage battles before the foremost battle-line, 355
whom Sidonian Barce had happily borne in her womb to Ledaean Xanthippus amid wars.
Greek affairs and their leader-father and the noble Amyclaean
name, and Regulus with neck thrust into Spartan chains,
swelled their hearts with ancient fame. 360
They burned to prove in Mars their stock, and by deeds their Laconian parent,
and thereafter to visit the icy mountains Taygetus,
and at length, with wars subdued, to swim the fatherland Eurotas
and to behold the rites of Lycurgus.

sed Spartam penetrare deus fratresque negarunt 365

but the god and the brothers denied entry to Sparta 365

Ausonii, totidem numero, quos miserat altis
Egeriae genitos immitis Aricia lucis,
aetatis mentisque pares; at non dabat ultra
Clotho dura lacus aramque uidere Dianae.
namque ut in aduersos impacti turbine pugnae                    370
Eumachus et Critias et laetus nomine patris
Xanthippus iunxere gradus, (ceu bella leones
inter se furibunda mouent et murmure anhelo
squalentis campos ac longa mapalia complent:
omnis in occultas rupis atque auia pernix                    375
Maurus saxa fugit, coniunxque Libyssa profuso
uagitum cohibens suspendit ab ubere natos;
illi dira fremunt, perfractaque in ore cruento
ossa sonant, pugnantque feri<s> sub dentibus artus)
haud secus Egeriae pubes, hinc Virbius acer,                    380

The Ausonians, equal in number, whom pitiless Aricia had sent
born from Egeria’s lofty groves,
equal in age and in mind; but harsh Clotho did not grant them further
to see the lake and the altar of Diana.
for when, dashed against their opponents in the whirlwind of the fight                    370
Eumachus and Critias and Xanthippus, glad in his father’s name,
joined their steps, (as lions wage furious wars
among themselves and, with panting murmur,
fill the squalid fields and the long mapalia:
every Moor, swift, flees to hidden crags and pathless places,                    375
and the Libyan wife, with milk pouring, holding back the wail,
lifts her sons from the breast;
they roar dreadfully, and in the bloody mouth the broken
bones resound, and the wild limbs struggle beneath their teeth)
not otherwise the youth of Egeria; here keen Virbius,                    380

hinc Capys, adsiliunt paribusque Albanus in armis.
subsidens paulum perfossa proruit aluo
Albanum Critias: ast illi cuncta repente
implerunt clipeum miserando uis<c>era lapsu.
Eumachus inde Capyn++sed tota mole tenebat 385
ceu fixum membris tegimen; tamen improbus ensis
adnexam parmae decidit uulnere laeuam,
inque suo pressa est non reddens tegmina nisu
infelix manus atque haesit labentibus armis.

thence Capys, and Albanus, leap in with equal arms.
settling a little, Critias, having pierced his belly, cast Albanus headlong;
but for him his whole viscera suddenly
filled his shield with a pitiable slipping.
then Eumachus assailed Capys—but he held with his whole mass 385
as though a covering fixed to his limbs; yet the shameless sword,
with a wound, cut off the left hand fastened to the parma,
and the unlucky hand, pressed in its own effort, not giving back the coverings,
was pinned and stuck fast as the armor slipped.

ultima restabat fusis iam palma duobus 390
Virbius. huic trepidos simulanti ducere gressus
Xanthippus gladio, rigida cadit Eumachus hasta,
et tandem aequatae geminato funere pugnae.
inde alterna uiris transegit pectora mucro,
inque uicem erepta posuerunt proelia uita. 395

the final palm remained for Virbius, with two already routed 390
to him, as he feigned to guide trembling steps, Xanthippus falls by the sword, Eumachus falls by the rigid spear,
and at last the combats were equalized by a twinned funeral.
then the point pierced through the men’s breasts in alternation,
and in turn, with life snatched away, they laid down the battles. 395

felices leti, pietas quos addidit umbris!
optabunt similes uenientia saecula fratres,
aeternumque decus memori celebrabitur aeuo,
si modo ferre diem serosque uidere nepotes
carmina nostra ualent, nec famam inuidit Apollo. 400
At consul toto palantis aequore turmas
uoce tenet, dum uoce uiget: 'Quo signa refertis?
quis uos heu uobis pauor abstulit?

happy in death, those whom piety has added to the Shades!
coming ages will desire similar brothers,
and their eternal glory will be celebrated by a mindful age,
if only our songs are strong to carry the day and to see late-born descendants,
and Apollo has not begrudged fame. 400
But the consul holds the squadrons scattered over the whole plain
with his voice, while his voice is vigorous: 'Where are you bearing back the standards?
what panic—alas for you—has carried you off?

horrida primi
si sors uisa loci pugnaeque lacessere frontem,
post me state uiri et pulsa formidine tantum 405
aspicite! has dextras capti genuere parentes
quas fugitis. quae spes uictis?

horrid, if the lot of the foremost place
and of challenging the battle’s front has seemed,
stand behind me, men, and, with fear repulsed, only 405
look! These right hands were begotten by captive parents
which you flee. what hope for the conquered?

Alpesne petemus?
ipsam turrigero portantem uertice muros
credite summissas Romam nunc tendere palmas.
natorum passim raptus caedemque parentum 410

Shall we seek the Alps?
believe that Rome herself, bearing her walls on a tower-bearing head,
now stretches suppliant palms. Believe it:
the abduction of sons everywhere and the slaughter of parents 410

Vestalisque focos extingui sanguine cerno.
hoc arcete nefas!' postquam inter talia crebro
clamore obtusae crassoque a puluere fauces,
hinc laeua frenos, hinc dextra corripit arma
et latum obiectat pectus strictumque minatur 415
nunc sibi, nunc trepidis, ni restent, comminus ensem.
Quas acies alto genitor dum spectat Olympo,
consulis egregii mouere pericula mentem.

And I behold the Vestal hearths being extinguished with blood.
Ward off this nefarious abomination!'
after, amid such things, their throats dulled by frequent shouting and by thick dust,
here with his left hand he snatches the reins, here with his right he snatches arms,
and he thrusts out his broad chest and threatens a drawn sword 415
now against himself, now against the panic-stricken, if they do not stand fast, at close quarters.
While the Father from high Olympus watches these battle-lines,
the dangers of the distinguished consul stirred his mind.

Gradiuum uocat et patrio sic ore profatur:
'Magnanimi me, nate, uiri, ni bella capessis 420
haud dubie extremus, terret labor: eripe pugnae
ardentem, oblitumque sui dulcedine caedum
siste ducem Libyae; nam plus petit improbus uno
consulis exitio tota quam strage cadentum.
praeterea, cernis, tenerae qui proelia dextrae 425

He calls Gradivus and thus speaks with a paternal voice:
'My son, the labor of the magnanimous man, unless you take up the wars, 420
without doubt his last, terrifies me: snatch from the fight
the one burning, and, forgetful of himself through the sweetness of slaughters,
halt the leader of Libya; for the shameless one seeks more by the destruction of one
consul than by the whole carnage of the falling.
besides, you see, whose battles are for a tender right hand 425

iam credit puer atque annos transcendere factis
molitur longumque putat pubescere bello,
te duce primitias pugnae, te magna magistro
audeat et primum hoc uincat, seruasse parentem.'
Haec rerum sator. at Mauors in proelia currus 430
Odrysia tellure uocat. tum fulminis atri
spargentem flammas clipeum galeamque deorum
haud ulli facilem multoque labore Cyclopum
sudatum thoraca capit quassatque per auras
Titanum bello satiatam sanguinis hastam 435
atque implet curru campos.

now the boy believes and strives to transcend his years by deeds,
and thinks it long to come of age in war;
with you as leader let him dare the first-fruits of battle, with you as great master,
and let him win this first: to have saved his father.'
Thus the Sower of things. But Mavors calls his chariots to battles 430
from the Odrysian land. Then the shield that scatters the flames
of the black thunderbolt, and the helmet, and the cuirass of the gods,
easy to none and sweated by much labor of the Cyclopes,
he takes up, and he brandishes through the airs the spear glutted
with the blood of the Titans in war, 435
and he fills the plains with his chariot.

exercitus una
Irarum Eumenidesque simul letique cruenti
innumerae facies, frenisque operata regendis
quadriiugos atro stimulat Bellona flagello.
fertur ab immenso tempestas horrida caelo 440

the army together
the Eumenides of Wraths as well, and the innumerable faces of bloody Death
and, busy with guiding the reins,
Bellona goads the four-yoked with a black scourge.
a horrid tempest is borne from the immense sky 440

nigrantisque globos et turbida nubila torquens
inuoluit terras. quatitur Saturnia sedes
ingressu tremefacta dei, ripasque relinquit
audito curru fontique relabitur amnis.
Ductorem Ausonium telis Garamantica pubes 445
cinxerat et Tyrio regi noua dona parabat
armorum spolium ac rorantia consulis ora.

and, twisting blackening masses and turbid clouds,
he envelops the lands. the Saturnian seat is shaken,
made to tremble at the god’s entry, and the river, on hearing
the chariot, leaves its banks and slips back to its fountain.
the Garamantian youth had encircled the Ausonian leader with weapons, 445
and was preparing for the Tyrian king new gifts:
the spoil of arms and the dripping face of the consul.

stabat Fortunae non cedere certus et acri
mole retorquebat crudescens caedibus hastas,
iamque suo, iamque hostili perfusa cruore 450
membra madent, cecidere iubae, gyroque per orbem
artato Garamas iaculis propioribus instat
~et librat saeua coniectum cuspide ferrum.
hic puer ut patrio defixum corpore telum
conspexit, maduere genae, subitoque trementem 455

he stood resolved not to cede to Fortune, and with a fierce
mass was hurling back the spears, growing bloodier with slaughters,
and now with his own, and now with the enemy’s gore suffused, his limbs drip; 450
the crests have fallen, and in a tightened ring around the circle
the Garamantian presses on with nearer javelins,
~and he poises the steel for the cast with a savage spear-point.
here, when the boy saw the weapon fixed in his father’s body,
his cheeks grew wet, and suddenly, trembling, 455

corripuit pallor, gemitumque ad sidera rupit.
bis conatus erat praecurrere fata parentis
conuersa in semet dextra, bis transtulit iras
in Poenos Mauors. fertur per tela, per hostis
intrepidus puer et Gradiuum passibus aequat. 460
continuo cessere globi, latusque repente
apparet campo limes.

pallor seized him, and he burst a groan to the stars.
twice he had tried to outstrip the fates of his father, his right hand turned upon himself, twice Mavors transferred his wraths onto the Phoenicians. he is borne through missiles, through enemies, undaunted the boy, and he matches Gradivus in his strides. 460
immediately the masses gave way, and suddenly a broad lane appears on the plain.

metit agmina tectus
caelesti clipeo et sternit super arma iacentum
corporaque auctorem teli multasque paternos
ante oculos animas, optata piacula, mactat. 465
tunc rapta propere duris ex ossibus hasta
innixum ceruice ferens umeroque parentem
emicat. attonitae tanta ad spectacula turmae
tela tenent, ceditque loco Libys asper, et omnis
late cedit Hiber, pietasque insignis et aetas 470

he mows down the battle-lines, covered
by a celestial shield, and strews, over the arms of the fallen,
bodies, and the author of the weapon, and many lives owed to his father,
before his eyes—desired expiations—he sacrifices. 465
then, the spear quickly snatched from the hard bones,
bearing his father propped on neck and shoulder,
he darts forth. At such a spectacle the astonied troops
hold their weapons; the harsh Libyan yields the place, and every
Spaniard gives way far and wide, and conspicuous piety and youth 470

belligeris fecit miranda silentia campis.
tum celso e curru Mauors 'Carthaginis arces
excindes' inquit 'Tyriosque ad foedera coges.
nulla tamen longo tanta exorietur in aeuo
lux tibi, care puer.

he made wondrous silences upon the belligerent plains.
Then from his lofty chariot Mavors said, 'You will raze the citadels of Carthage and will compel the Tyrians to treaties.
Yet in the long aeon no light so great will arise for you, dear boy.

macte, o macte indole sacra, 475
uera Iouis proles. et adhuc maiora supersunt,
sed nequeunt meliora dari.' tum nubila Mauors
aetheraque emenso terras iam sole capessit,
et fessas acies castris clausere tenebrae.
Condebat noctem deuexo Cynthia curru 480
fraternis adflata rotis, et ab aequore Eoo
surgebant roseae media inter caerula flammae.

“Be blessed, O be blessed, with sacred disposition, 475
true offspring of Jove. And still greater things remain, but better cannot be granted.” Then Mars took to the clouds and the upper air, the sun now having traversed the lands, and darkness shut the weary battle-lines in their camp.
Cynthia was closing the night with her down-sloping chariot, 480
breathed upon by her brother’s wheels, and from the Eoan sea rose rosy flames amid the cerulean blue.

at consul tristis campos Poenisque secundam
planitiem metuens Trebiam collisque petebat.
iamque dies rapti cursu nauoque labore, 485

but the consul, gloomy, fearing the plains and a level ground favorable to the Punics,
was making for the Trebia and the hills.
and already the day, by the hurried course and zealous toil, 485

et medio abruptus fluitabat in amne solutis
pons uinclis, qui Dardanium trauexerat agmen,
Eridani rapidas aderat cum Poenus ad undas.
dumque uada et mollis aditus per deuia flexo
circuitu petit et stagni languentia quaerit, 490
interdum rapta uicinis saltibus alno
flumineam texit, qua trauehat agmina, classem:
ecce aderat Trebiaeque simul uicina tenebat
Trinacrio accitus per caerula longa Peloro,
Gracchorum proles, consul. gens inclita magno 495
atque animosa uiro, multusque in imagine claris
praefulgebat auus titulis bellique domique.

and in midstream the bridge, with its fastenings loosened, torn away, was floating, which had carried the Dardanian column,
when the Punic man was at hand by the rapid waves of the Eridanus.
and while he seeks the fords and gentle approaches through byways in a bent circuit, and looks for the languishing waters of the pool, 490
meanwhile, with alder snatched from neighboring glades he wove a riverine fleet, by which he might ferry the columns:
behold, there was at hand, and at the same time holding the places near the Trebia,
the consul, offspring of the Gracchi, summoned through the long cerulean seas by Trinacrian Pelorus.
a clan renowned for a great and high‑spirited man, and in his image the grandsire shone forth abundant with illustrious titles of war and of peace. 495

Nec Poeni positis trans amnem in gramine castris
deerant. namque animos stimulabant prospera rerum
increpitansque super ductor: 'Quis tertius urbi 500

Nor were the Punics, with camps set across the river on the grass, missing;
for the prosperous fortunes of affairs were stimulating their spirits,
and the leader, besides, inveighing, said: 'Who the third to the City 500

iam superest consul? quaenam altera restat in armis
Sicania? en omnes Latiae Daunique nepotum
conuenere manus.

Does a consul still remain now? What other, a second, Sicily remains under arms?
Behold, all the bands of Latium and of Daunus’s descendants
have gathered.

feriant nunc foedera mecum
ductores Italum ac leges et pacta reposcant.
at tu, donata tela inter Martia luce, 505
infelix animae, sic, sic uiuasque tuoque
des iterum hanc laudem nato; nec fine sub aeui
oppetere in bello detur, cum fata uocabunt.
pugnantem cecidisse meum est.' haec personat ardens.

let the leaders of the Italians strike treaties with me now
and demand back laws and pacts. but you, amid the Martial light with weapons bestowed, 505
ill-fated of soul, thus, thus may you live, and to your
son may you give this praise again; nor let it be granted, at the end of life,
to meet death in war, when the Fates will call.
'It is mine to have fallen fighting.' he resounds with these words, ardent.

inde leui iaculo Massylumque impiger alis 510
castra sub ipsa datis inritat et elicit hostem.
Nec Latius uallo miles debere salutem
fas putat aut clausas pulsari cuspide portas.
erumpunt, cunctisque prior uolat aggere aperto
degener haud Gracchis consul.

then, with a light javelin, swift with the Massylian wings deployed 510
he provokes and draws out the enemy right beneath the very camp itself.
Nor does the Latin soldier think it right to owe his safety to the rampart
or that closed gates be struck by the spear-point.
they burst out, and before all the consul flies along the opened embankment,
not degenerate from the Gracchi, the consul.

quatit aura comantis 515

the breeze shakes the flowing locks 515

cassidis Auruncae cristas, umeroque refulget
sanguinei patrium saguli decus. agmina magno
respectans clamore uocat, quaque obuia densos
artat turba globos rumpens iter aequore fertur,
ut torrens celsi praeceps e uertice Pindi                    520
cum sonitu ruit in campos magnoque fragore
auulsum montis uoluit latus: obuia passim
armenta immanesque ferae siluaeque trahuntur,
spumea saxosis clamat conuallibus unda.
        Non, mihi Maeoniae redeat si gloria linguae                    525
centenasque pater det Phoebus fundere uoces,
tot caedes proferre queam, quot dextera magni
consulis aut contra Tyriae furor edidit irae.
Murranum ductor Libyae, ductorque Phalantum
Ausonius, gnaros belli ueteresque laborum,                    530

the crests of the Auruncan casque, and on his shoulder gleams the ancestral adornment of a blood-red sagulum. He, looking back, calls the ranks with a great shout, and wherever the opposing throng narrows dense masses, breaking a path he is borne across the plain, like a torrent headlong from the summit of lofty Pindus                    520
when with a roar it rushes into the fields and with a great crash rolls down a torn-off side of the mountain: herds that meet it everywhere, and monstrous beasts, and forests are dragged along; the foaming wave cries out in the rocky valleys.
        Not, even if the glory of the Maeonian tongue should return to me                    525
and Father Phoebus should grant me to pour out a hundred voices, could I set forth so many slaughters as the right hand of the great consul, or, on the contrary, the Tyrian fury wrought in wrath. Murranus the leader of Libya [slew], and the Ausonian leader [slew] Phalantus—men skilled in war and veteran in toils—,                    530

alter in alterius fuderunt comminus ore.
monte procelloso Murranum miserat Anxur,
Tritonis ~niueo te sacra, Phalante, profundo.
ut primum insigni fulsit uelamine consul,
quamquam orbus partem uisus unoque Cupencus 535
lumine sufficiens bellis citat improbus hastam
et summae figit tremebundam margine parmae.

the one poured at close quarters into the other’s face.
from the stormy mountain Anxur had sent Murranus,
Tritonis, sacred to you, Phalantus, in the snowy deep.
as soon as the consul shone with his distinguished veil,
although deprived of part of his sight and, with one light, Cupencus 535
sufficient for wars, recklessly brandishes a spear
and fixes the quivering one on the rim of the shield’s top.

cui consul (namque ira coquit): 'Pone, improbe, quicquid
restat in ore fero et truncata fronte relucet.'
sic ait intorquens derecto turbine robur 540
et dirum tota tramittit cuspide lumen.
nec leuior dextra generatus Hamilcare saeuit.
huic cadit infelix niueis Varenus in armis,
Meuanas Varenus, arat cui diuitis uber
campi Fulginia et patulis Clitumnus in aruis 545

to whom the consul (for anger seethes): 'Lay down, shameless one, whatever
remains on your savage face and gleams from the maimed brow.'
thus he speaks, whirling the oak-shaft with a straight whirl 540
and with the whole spear-point he sends a dire light clean through.
nor does the one begotten of Hamilcar rage any less with his right hand.
to him falls unlucky Varenus in snowy arms,
Mevanian Varenus, for whom Fulginia ploughs the rich udder
of the field, and Clitumnus in the spreading fields 545

candentis gelido perfundit flumine tauros.
sed tristes superi, atque ingrata maxima cura
uictima Tarpeio frustra nutrita Tonanti.
instat Hiber leuis et leuior discurrere Maurus.

he bathes the bulls with his icy stream, making them shining-white.
but the gods above are gloomy, and the greatest care is ungrateful—
a victim nourished in vain for the Tarpeian Thunderer.
the light Iber presses on, and the Moor, lighter, runs to and fro.

hinc pila, hinc Libycae certant subtexere cornus                    550
densa nube polum, quantumque interiacet aequi
ad ripas campi, tantum uibrantia condunt
tela, nec artatis locus est in morte cadendi.
        Allius, Argyripa Daunique profectus ab aruis
uenator, rudibus iaculis et Iapyge campum                    555
persultabat equo, mediosque inuectus in hostis,
Apula non uana torquebat spicula dextra.
huic horret thorax Samnitis pellibus ursae,
et galea annosi uallatur dentibus apri.

From here the pila, from here Libyan cornel-wood shafts vie to underweave the sky with a dense cloud,                    550
and as much level ground as lies up to the banks of the plain,
so much do the quivering missiles cover; nor is there room, in the narrowed press, to fall in death.
        Allius, a huntsman, setting out from Argyripa and from the fields of Daunus,
was leaping across the field with rude javelins and on an Iapygian horse,                    555
and, riding into the midst of the foes,
was hurling no idle Apulian little darts with his right hand.
for him the cuirass bristles with the skins of a Samnite bear,
and his helmet is walled about with the teeth of an aged boar.

uerum ubi turbantem, solo ceu lustra pererret 560

but when, creating turmoil, as if he were ranging through lairs upon the ground 560

in nemore aut agitet Gargano terga ferarum,
hinc Mago, hinc saeuus pariter uidere Maharbal,
ut subigente fame diuersis rupibus ursi
inuadunt trepidum gemina inter proelia taurum,
nec partem praedae patitur furor, haud secus acer 565
hinc atque hinc iaculo deuoluitur Allius acto:
it stridens per utrumque latus Maurusia taxus.
obuia tum medio sonuerunt spicula corde,
incertumque fuit, letum cui cederet hastae.
et iam dispersis Romana per agmina signis 570
palantis agit ad ripas, miserabile, Poenus
impellens trepidos fluuioque immergere certat.

whether in the grove or on Garganus he is chasing the backs of beasts,
on this side Mago, on that the savage Maharbal likewise saw him,
as, hunger driving them, from different crags the bears
rush upon a quivering bull between twin battles,
nor does their frenzy allow a share of the prey; just so keen 565
on this side and that Allius is rolled down by a hurled javelin:
the Mauretanian yew goes hissing through both flanks.
then the missiles clashed, meeting in the middle of the heart,
and it was uncertain to which spear death would yield.
and now, with the Roman standards scattered throughout the ranks, 570
the Carthaginian drives the stragglers to the riverbanks—pitiful to see—
pressing the panic-stricken and strives to plunge them into the river.

Tum Trebia infausto noua proelia gurgite fessis
incohat ac precibus Iunonis suscitat undas.
haurit subsidens fugientum corpora tellus 575

Then the Trebia, with ill-omened current, for the weary new battles
begins, and at Juno’s prayers stirs up the waves.
The sinking earth drinks in the bodies of the fleeing 575

infidaque soli frustrata uoragine sorbet.
nec niti lentoque datur conuellere limo
mersa pedum penitus uestigia: labe tenaci
haerent deuincti gressus, resolutaque ripa
implicat aut caeca prosternit fraude paludis. 580
iamque alius super atque alius per lubrica surgens
dum sibi quisque uiam per inextricabile litus
praeripit et putri luctatur caespite, lapsi
occumbunt seseque sua pressere ruina.
ille celer nandi iamiamque adprendere tuta 585
dum parat et celso conisus corpore prensat
gramina summa manu liquidisque emergit ab undis,
contorta ripae pendens adfigitur hasta.

and, treacherous to a foothold, after bamboozling with a whirlpool, it gulps them down.
nor is it given to strive and to tear free from the sluggish slime
the footprints of the feet sunk deep: in the tenacious slime
the fettered steps stick fast, and the loosened bank
entangles or throws them down by the blind treachery of the marsh. 580
and now one upon another, rising over the slippery places,
while each forestalls for himself a way along the inextricable shore
and wrestles with the rotten turf, slipping
they fall, and they have crushed themselves by their own collapse.
that man, swift at swimming and now just about to grasp the safe ground, 585
while he prepares and, with body raised on high, clutches
the topmost grasses with his hand and emerges from the liquid waves,
hanging there he is pinned by a spear hurled from the bank.

hic hostem orbatus telo complectitur ulnis
luctantemque uado permixta morte coercet. 590

here he, bereft of his weapon, embraces the enemy with his arms
and the foe, struggling in the ford, he coerces into a commingled death. 590

mille simul leti facies. Ligus occidit aruis,
sed proiecta uiri lymphis fluuialibus ora
sanguineum hauserunt longis singultibus amnem.
enabat tandem medio uix gurgite pulcher
Irpinus sociumque manus clamore uocabat, 595
cum rapidis inlatus aquis et uulnere multo
impulit asper equus fessumque sub aequora mersit.

a thousand faces of death at once. A Ligurian fell on the fields,
but the man’s face, flung forward into the fluvial waters,
drew in the sanguineous river with long sobs.
was at last scarcely swimming in the midst of the whirlpool, handsome
Irpinus, and he was calling the band of comrades with a shout, 595
when, borne along by the rapid waters and with many a wound,
a rough horse struck him and plunged the weary man beneath the waters.

Accumula<t> clades subito conspecta per undas
uis elephantorum turrito concita dorso.
namque uadis rapitur praeceps, ceu proruta cautes 600
auulsi montis, Trebiamque insueta timentem
prae se pectore agit spumantique incubat alueo.
explorant aduersa uiros, perque aspera duro
nititur ad laudem uirtus interrita cliuo.

Calamity accumulates, suddenly sighted across the waves;
the might of the elephants, roused with a turreted back.
for it is swept headlong in the shallows, like a crag overthrown 600
torn from a mountain, and it drives before itself the Trebia, unaccustomed and afraid,
with its chest, and broods upon the foaming channel.
adversities test the men, and through rough places fearless valor
strives up the hard slope toward praise.

namque inhonoratam Fibrenus perdere mortem 605

for indeed Fibrenus to waste an unhonored death 605

et famae nudam impatiens 'Spectabimur,' inquit
'nec, Fortuna, meum condes sub gurgite letum.
experiar, sitne in terris, domitare quod ensis
non queat Ausonius Tyrrhenaue permeet hasta.'
tum iacit adsurgens dextroque in lumine sistit 610
spicula saeua ferae telumque in uulnere linquit.
stridore horrisono penetrantem cuspidis ictum
belua prosequitur laceramque cruore profuso
attollit frontem ac lapso dat terga magistro.

and, impatient of being bare of fame, he says, 'We shall be looked upon,
nor, Fortune, will you hide my death beneath the gulf.
I will try whether there is on earth what an Ausonian sword
cannot domesticate, or a Tyrrhenian spear cannot permeate.'
then, rising, he hurls and plants in the right eye 610
the savage darts in the beast and leaves the weapon in the wound.
with a dread-sounding screech the beast accompanies the penetrating stroke
of the point and, blood poured out, raises its torn brow,
and turns its back to its fallen master.

tum uero inuadunt iaculis crebraque sagitta, 615
ausi iam sperare necem, immensosque per armos
et laterum extentus uenit atra cuspide uulnus.
stat multa in tergo et nigranti lancea dorso,
ac siluam ingentem concusso corpore uibrat,
donec consumptis longo certamine telis 620

then indeed they invade with javelins and with frequent arrow, 615
now daring to hope for the killing, and through the immense shoulders
and the stretches of the flanks there comes a wound with a black cusp.
many stand fast in its back, and a lance on the swart back,
and with its body convulsed it makes the huge forest vibrate,
until, the missiles consumed in a long contest, 620

concidit et clausit magna uada pressa ruina.
Ecce per aduersum, quamquam tardata morantur
uulnere membra uirum, subit implacabilis amnem
Scipio et innumeris infestat caedibus hostem.
corporibus clipeisque simul galeisque cadentum 625
contegitur Trebia, et uix cernere linquitur undas.

it collapsed and closed the great shallows with a great ruin pressed down.
Behold, straight against the opposing current, although the man’s limbs, slowed by a wound, delay him, Scipio, implacable, enters the river and assails the enemy with innumerable slaughters.
with the bodies and shields and helmets together of those falling the Trebia is covered, and scarcely is it left to discern the waves. 625

Mazaeus iaculo, Gestar prosternitur ense,
tum Pelopeus auis Cyrenes incola Thelgon.
huic torquet rapido correptum e gurgite pilum
et quantum longo ferri tenuata rigore 630
procedit cuspis per hiantia transigit ora.
pulsati ligno sonuere in uulnere dentes.

Mazaeus by a javelin, Gestar is prostrated by a sword,
then Thelgon, Cyrene’s dweller, the Pelopeian grandsire.
Against him he hurls a spear snatched from the rapid whirlpool
and, as far as the cusp, attenuated by the long rigor of iron, advances, 630
it transfixes through the yawning jaws. The teeth, struck by the wood, sounded in the wound.

nec leto quaesita quies: turgentia membra
Eridano Trebia, Eridanus dedit aequoris undis.
tu quoque, Thapse, cadis, tumulo post fata negato. 635

nor was rest found in death: the swelling limbs
the Trebia gave to the Eridanus, and the Eridanus to the waters of the level main.
you too, Thapse, fall, a tomb denied after death. 635

quid domus Hesperidum aut luci iuuere dearum,
fuluos aurifera seruantes arbore ramos?
Intumuit Trebia et stagnis se sustulit imis
iamque ferox totum propellit gurgite fontem
atque omnis torquet uires. furit unda sonoris 640
uerticibus, sequiturque nouus cum murmure torrens.

what did the house of the Hesperides or the groves of the goddesses avail,
guarding tawny branches on the auriferous tree?
The Trebia swelled and raised itself from its deepest pools
and now, fierce, drives forth the whole source with its flood
and whirls all its forces. The wave rages with sounding 640
whirlpools, and a new torrent follows with a murmur.

sensit et accensa ductor uiolentius ira
'Magnas, o Trebia, et meritas mihi, perfide, poenas
exsolues:' inquit 'lacerum per Gallica riuis
dispergam rura atque amnis tibi nomina demam,                    645
quoque aperis te fonte, premam, nec tangere ripas
inlabique Pado dabitur. quaenam ista repente
Sidonium, infelix, rabies te reddidit amnem?'
        Talia iactantem consurgens agger aquarum
impulit atque umeros curuato gurgite pressit.                    650

He perceived it, and the leader, kindled with more violent ire,
"You will pay out great, O Trebia, and deserved penalties to me, perfidious one,"
he says, "I will scatter your torn stream through Gallic fields by rills,
and I will strip from you the names of a river, and the spring where you open yourself I will press,                    645
nor shall it be granted to you to touch the banks and to glide into the Po. What is this, suddenly,
unhappy one, what Sidonian fury has made you a river?"
        As he was hurling such words, a rising embankment of waters
drove him and pressed his shoulders with a curved eddy.                    650

arduus aduersa mole incurrentibus undis
stat ductor clipeoque ruentem sustulit amnem.
necnon a tergo fluctus stridente procella
spumeus inrorat summas aspergine cristas.
ire uadis stabilemque uetat defigere gressum 655
subducta tellure deus, percussaque longe
raucum saxa sonant, undaeque ad bella parentis
excitae pugnant, et ripas perdidit amnis.

towering with an opposing mass against the onrushing waves
the leader stands, and with his shield he held up the rushing river.
and likewise from the rear a billow, with a shrieking squall,
foamy, bedews the topmost crests with spray.
to go through the shallows and to plant a stable step 655
the god, with the earth drawn away, forbids; and the rocks, smitten afar,
sound raucous, and the waves, stirred to their parent’s wars,
fight, and the river has lost its banks.

tum madidos crinis et glauca fronde reuinctum
attollit cum uoce caput: 'Poenasne superbas 660
insuper et nomen Trebiae delere minaris,
o regnis inimice meis? quot corpora porto
dextra fusa tua! clipeis galeisque uirorum,
quos mactas, artatus iter cursumque reliqui.

then he lifts his head, his dripping locks bound with glaucous frond, along with his voice: 'Do you menace, over and above, proud penalties, and to erase the name of Trebia, O enemy to my realms? How many bodies I carry, laid low by your right hand! By the shields and helmets of the men whom you slaughter, hemmed in, I have relinquished my path and my course.' 660

caede, uides, stagna alta rubent retroque feruntur. 665

by slaughter, you see, the deep pools redden and are borne back. 665

adde modum dextrae aut campis incumbe propinquis.'
Haec, Venere adiuncta, tumulo spectabat ab alto
Mulciber obscurae tectus caligine nubis,
ingrauat ad caelum sublatis Scipio palmis:
'Di patrii, quorum auspiciis stat Dardana Roma, 670
talin me leto tanta inter proelia nuper
seruastis? fortine animam hanc excindere dextra
indignum est uisum? redde o me, nate, periclis,
redde hosti!

add measure to your right hand, or lean upon the nearby plains.'
These things, with Venus joined, Mulciber was watching from a high mound,
covered by the dim murk of a dark cloud; Scipio, with palms uplifted to heaven, presses on:
'Ancestral gods, by whose auspices Dardanian Rome stands, 670
was it for such a death that you lately saved me amid such great battles?
or did it seem to Fortune unworthy to hew out this life by the right hand?
give me back, O son, to the perils, give me back to the foe!

liceat bellanti accersere mortem
quam patriae fratrique probem.' tum percita dictis 675
ingemuit Venus et rapidas derexit in amnem
coniugis inuicti uires. agit undique flammas
dispersus ripis ignis multosque per annos
nutritas fluuio populatur feruidus umbras.
uritur omne nemus, lucosque effusus in altos 680

let it be permitted to the combatant to summon death
which I may prove to the fatherland and to my brother.' Then, stirred by the words 675
Venus groaned and directed into the river
the forces of her unconquered consort; it drives flames on every side
the fire, scattered along the banks, and for many years
the fervid fire depopulates the shades nourished by the river.
every grove is burned, and, outpoured, into the lofty groves 680

immissis crepitat uictor Vulcanus habenis.
iamque ambusta comas abies, iam pinus et alni,
iam solo restans trunco dimisit in altum
populus adsuetas ramis habitare uolucres.
flamma uorax imo penitus de gurgite tractos 685
absorbet latices, saeuoque urgente uapore
siccus inarescit ripis cruor.

with the reins let loose, Vulcan the victor crackles.
and now the fir, its tresses scorched, now the pine and the alders,
now, resting on its trunk alone, the poplar has sent up into the height
the birds accustomed to dwell in its branches.
the voracious flame, the waters drawn utterly from the deepest whirlpool, 685
gulps down, and with the savage vapor pressing
the blood on the banks dries parched.

horrida late
scinditur in rimas et hiatu rupta dehiscit
tellus, ac stagnis altae sedere fauillae.
Miratur pater aeternos cessare repente 690
Eridanus cursus, Nympharumque intima maestus
impleuit chorus attonitis ululatibus antra.
ter caput ambustum conantem attollere iacta
lampade Vulcanus mersit fumantibus undis,
ter correpta dei crines nudauit harundo. 695

the horrid earth is widely cleft into rifts and, broken with a yawning, gapes open,
and in the pools high heaps of ashes sat.
The father Eridanus marvels that his eternal courses have suddenly ceased, 690
and the innermost chorus of the Nymphs, mournful, filled the caves
with thunderstruck ululations.
three times Vulcan, with a hurled torch, plunged the scorched head,
trying to raise itself, into the smoking waves,
three times the reed, having seized, laid bare the god’s hair. 695

tum demum admissae uoces et uota precantis,
orantique datum ripas seruare prioris,
ac tandem a Trebia reuocauit Scipio fessas
munitum in collem Graccho comitante cohortes.
at Poenus multo fluuium ueneratus honore                    700
gramineas undis statuit socialibus aras,
nescius heu, quanto superi maiora mouerent,
et quos Ausoniae luctus, Trasimenne, parares.
        Boiorum nuper populos turbauerat armis
Flaminius, facilisque uiro tum gloria belli,                    705
corde leuem atque astus inopem contundere gentem.

then at last the voices and vows of the one praying were admitted,
and to the suppliant it was granted to preserve the former banks,
and at length from the Trebia Scipio recalled the weary
cohorts onto a fortified hill, with Gracchus accompanying.
but the Phoenician, having worshiped the river with much honor,                    700
set up grassy altars for the waves as his allies,
unaware, alas, how much greater matters the gods above were setting in motion,
and what griefs for Ausonia, O Trasimene, you were preparing.
        Flaminius had lately troubled the peoples of the Boii with arms,
and easy to the man then was the glory of war,                    705
to crush a people light in heart and destitute of craft.

sed labor haud idem Tyrio certasse tyranno.
hunc laeuis urbi genitum ad fatalia damna
ominibus parat imperio Saturnia fesso
ductorem dignumque uirum ueniente ruina. 710

but the toil was by no means the same—to have contended with the Tyrian tyrant.
the Saturnian, by omens, prepares this light-minded man, born for the city's fated harms,
as a leader for the wearied empire, and a man worthy of the ruin that was coming. 710

inde ubi prima dies iuris, clauumque regendae
inuasit patriae, ac sub nutu castra fuere,
ut pelagi rudis et pontum tractare per artem
nescius, accepit miserae si iura carinae,
uentorum tenet ipse uicem cunctisque procellis                    715
dat iactare ratem: fertur uaga gurgite puppis
ipsius in scopulos dextra impellente magistri++
ergo agitur raptis praeceps exercitus armis
Lydorum <in> populos sedemque ab origine prisci
sacratam Corythi iunctosque a sanguine auorum                    720
Maeonios Italis permixta stirpe colonos.
        Nec regem Afrorum noscenda ad coepta moratur
laude super tanta monitor deus. omnia somni
condiderant aegrisque dabant obliuia curis,
cum Iuno in stagni numen conuersa propinqui                    725

then, when the first day of jurisdiction, and the helm of governing
the fatherland he seized, and the camps were under his nod,
as one untrained of the sea and ignorant how to handle the deep by art,
if he were to receive the jurisdiction of a wretched keel,
he himself holds the place of the winds and allows all tempests                    715
to toss the ship: the stern is borne wandering on the surge,
with the very right hand of the master driving it onto the rocks++
therefore the army is driven headlong with arms snatched up
against the peoples of the Lydians and the seat from the beginning of ancient
Corythus consecrated, and the Maeonian colonists joined by the blood of ancestors,                    720
with stock mixed with the Italians.
        Nor does the monitor god delay the king of the Africans
with praise meet for so great an undertaking to be made known. All things of sleep
had been laid away and were giving forgetfulness to sick cares,
when Juno, transformed into the numen of a nearby pool,                    725

et madidae frontis crinis circumdata fronde
populea stimulat subitis praecordia curis
ac rumpit ducis haud spernenda uoce quietem:
'O felix famae et Latio lacrimabile nomen
Hannibal, Ausoniae si te Fortuna creasset 730
ad magnos uenture deos, cur fata tenemus?
pelle moras. breuis est magni Fortuna fauoris.

and, with the hair of her drenched brow wreathed with frondage
of poplar, she goads the inmost heart with sudden cares
and breaks the leader’s rest with a voice not to be scorned:
'O happy in fame and for Latium a lamentable name,
Hannibal, if Fortune had created you for Ausonia, 730
to the great gods destined to come, why do we hold back the fates?
drive away delays. Fortune’s favor, when great, is brief.

quantum uouisti, cum Dardana bella parenti
iurares, fluet Ausonio tibi corpore tantum
sanguinis, et patrias satiabis caedibus umbras.                    735
nobis persolues meritos securus honores.
namque ego sum celsis quem cinctum montibus ambit
Tmolo missa manus, stagnis Trasimennus opacis.'
        His agitur monitis et laetam numine pubem
protinus aerii praeceps rapit aggere montis.                    740

as much as you vowed, when you swore Dardan wars to your parent,
so much blood will flow for you from an Ausonian body,
and you will sate your paternal shades with slaughters.                    735
you will pay to us, unafraid, the honors we deserve.
for I am Trasimene, whom, girt with lofty mountains, the band sent
from Tmolus surrounds with shadowy pools.'
        By these admonitions he is driven, and the host gladdened by the numen
straightway he sweeps headlong along the rampart of the airy mountain.                    740

horrebat glacie saxa inter lubrica summo
piniferum caelo miscens caput Apenninus.
condiderat nix alta trabes, et uertice celso
canus apex stricta surgebat ad astra pruina.
ire iubet.

the apennine, mixing its pine-bearing head with the sky, bristled with ice among the slippery rocks at the summit.
the deep snow had buried the beams, and on its lofty crest a hoary peak rose to the stars with rigid hoarfrost.
he orders to go.

prior extingui labique uidetur 745
gloria, post Alpes si stetur montibus ullis.
scandunt praerupti nimbosa cacumina saxi.
nec superasse iugum finit mulcetue laborem:
plana natant, putrique gelu liquentibus undis
inuia limosa restagnant arua palude. 750
iamque ducis nudus tanta inter inhospita uertex
saeuitia quatitur caeli, manante per ora
perque genas oculo.

first glory seems to be extinguished and to slip away 745
glory, if after the Alps one should halt on any mountains.
they climb the cloud-bearing summits of the steep rock.
nor does having overpassed the ridge either finish or soothe the labor:
the level tracts float, and, with rotten frost and waters thawing,
the trackless fields stagnate in a muddy marsh. 750
and now the leader’s bare vertex amid such inhospitable regions
is shaken by the savagery of the sky, with his eye streaming down
over mouth and over cheeks.

facilis spreuisse medentis
optatum bene credit emi quocumque periclo
bellandi tempus. non frontis parcit honori, 755

easy to have spurned the medics;
he believes the desired time for warring is well bought at whatever peril
he spares not the honor of his brow, 755

dum ne perdat iter, non cetera membra moratur
in pretium belli dare, si uictoria poscat,
satque putat lucis, Capitolia cernere uictor
qua petat atque Italum feriat qua comminus hostem.
talia perpessi tandem inter saeua locorum 760
optatos uenere lacus, ubi deinde per arma
sumeret amissi numerosa piacula uisus.
Ecce autem patres aderant Carthagine missi.

while, lest he lose the route, he does not hesitate to give the other limbs as the price of war, if victory should demand it,
and he deems it enough of life to behold the Capitolia as victor,
whither he might make his way and where he might strike the Italian foe at close quarters.
having endured such things, at last amid the savageries of the places 760
they came to the longed-for lakes, where thereafter by arms
he would take up numerous expiations for what had been lost.
Lo, moreover, the senators were present, sent from Carthage.

causa uiae non parua uiris, nec laeta ferebant.
mos fuit in populis, quos condidit aduena Dido, 765
poscere caede deos ueniam ac flagrantibus aris
(infandum dictu) paruos imponere natos.
urna reducebat miserandos annua casus
sacra Thoanteae ritusque imitata Dianae.

the cause of the journey was not small for the men, nor did they bear it gladly.
there was a custom among the peoples whom the stranger Dido founded, 765
to ask pardon of the gods by slaughter and, upon blazing altars,
(unspeakable to say) to place little sons.
the urn brought back pitiable fates by an annual lot,
the sacred observances and rites, imitating Thoantean Diana.

cui fato sortique deum de more petebat 770

for whom, according to custom, she used to petition for fate and the lots of the gods 770

Hannibalis prolem discors antiquitus Hannon.
sed propior metus armati ductoris ab ira
et magna ante oculos stabat redeuntis imago.
asperat haec, foedata genas lacerataque crinis,
atque urbem complet maesti clamoris Imilce, 775
Edonis ut Pangaea super trieteride mota
it iuga et inclusum suspirat pectore Bacchum.

Hanno, long at variance with Hannibal’s stock.
but a nearer fear from the wrath of the armed leader,
and the great image of his returning, stood before their eyes.
she makes it harsher, her cheeks defiled and her hair torn,
and Imilce fills the city with mournful clamor, 775
as an Edonian, stirred upon Pangaea at the trieteric festival,
goes over the ridges and sighs for Bacchus shut within her breast.

ergo inter Tyrias, facibus ceu subdita, matres
clamat: 'Io coniunx, quocumque in cardine mundi
bella moues, huc signa refer. uiolentior hic est, 780
hic hostis propior. tu nunc fortasse sub ipsis
urbis Dardaniae muris uibrantia tela
excipis intrepidus clipeo saeuamque coruscans
lampada Tarpeis infers incendia tectis.

thus among the Tyrian mothers, as if set beneath torches, she cries:
'Io, husband, in whatever quarter of the world
you move wars, bring the standards back here. Here is the more violent one, 780
here the enemy is nearer. You now perhaps beneath the very
walls of the Dardanian city, intrepid, catch the quivering missiles
on your shield, and, brandishing the savage torch,
you bring conflagrations upon the Tarpeian roofs.

interea tibi prima domus atque unica proles 785

Meanwhile, for you, your first home and your only progeny 785

heu gremio in patriae Stygias raptatur ad aras.
i nunc, Ausonios ferro populare penates
et uetitas molire uias. i, pacta resigna
per cunctos iurata deos.

alas, in the fatherland’s bosom he is snatched to the stygian altars.
go now, to lay waste with iron the Ausonian penates
and to undertake forbidden ways. go, rescind the pacts
sworn by all the gods.

sic praemia reddit
Carthago et talis iam nunc tibi soluit honores. 790
quae porro haec pietas delubra aspergere tabo?
heu primae scelerum causae mortalibus aegris,
naturam nescire deum! iusta ite precari
ture pio caedumque feros auertite ritus.

thus she pays back rewards
Carthage, and already now pays such honors to you. 790
what, moreover, is this piety—to sprinkle the shrines with gore?
alas, the prime causes of crimes for sick mortals,
not to know the nature of the gods! go, go to pray for just things
with pious incense, and avert the savage rites of slaughters.

mite et cognatum est homini deus. hactenus, oro, 795
sit satis ante aras caesos uidisse iuuencos.
aut si uelle nefas superos fixumque sedetque,
me, me, quae genui, uestris absumite uotis.

God is gentle and kindred to man. Thus far, I beg, let it be enough to have seen bullocks slain before the altars. 795
or, if the gods above will the nefas and it sits fixed and settled,
me—me, the one who bore him—remove by your vows.

cur spoliare iuuat Libycas hac indole terras?
an flendae magis Aegates et mersa profundo 800

why does it please to despoil Libyan lands with this disposition?
or are the Aegates rather to be lamented, and what was submerged in the deep 800

Punica regna forent, olim si sorte cruenta
esset tanta mei uirtus praerepta mariti?'
haec dubios uario diuumque hominisque timore
ad cauta inlexere patres, ipsique relictum
abnueret sortem an superum pareret honori.                    805
tum uero trepidare metu uix compos Imilce,
magnanimi metuens immitia corda mariti.
        His auide auditis ductor sic deinde profatur:
'Quid tibi pro tanto non impar munere soluat
Hannibal aequatus superis? quae praemia digna                    810
inueniam, Carthago parens?

“Would Punic realms exist, if once by bloody lot so great a valor of my husband had been snatched away beforehand?”
these things lured the wavering fathers, doubtful with varied fear both of gods and of man, to cautious counsels, and whether she herself would refuse the lot left to her or obey the honor of the supernal ones.                    805
then indeed Imilce, hardly compos, began to tremble with fear, fearing the harsh heart of her magnanimous husband.
        With these things heard eagerly, the leader then thus speaks forth:
“What shall Hannibal, made equal to the superi, render to you as a payment not unequal to so great a gift? what rewards worthy
shall I find, parent Carthage?”                    810

noctemque diemque
arma feram, templisque tuis hinc plurima faxo
hostia ab Ausonio ueniat generosa Quirino.
at puer armorum et belli seruabitur heres.
spes, o nate, meae Tyriarumque unica rerum, 815

and night and day
I will bear arms, and to your temples from here I will make
that very many victims come; may a noble victim come from Ausonian Quirinus.
but the boy will be kept, heir of arms and of war.
hope, O son, my hope and the sole one of Tyrian affairs, 815

Hesperia minitante, salus, terraque fretoque
certare Aeneadis dum stabit uita memento.
perge (patent Alpes) nostroque incumbe labori.
uos quoque, di patrii, quorum delubra piantur
caedibus atque coli gaudent formidine matrum, 820
huc laetos uultus totasque aduertite mentes.

With Hesperia threatening, O salvation, remember, so long as life shall stand, to contend with the Aeneads by land and by sea.
press on (the Alps lie open) and lean upon our labor.
you also, gods of the fatherland, whose shrines are propitiated by slaughters and who rejoice to be cultivated by the fear of mothers, 820
turn hither your glad faces and your whole minds.

namque paro sacra et maioris molior aras.
tu, Mago, aduersi conside in uertice montis,
tu laeuos propior collis accede, Choaspe,
ad claustra et fauces ducat per opaca Sychaeus. 825
ast ego te, Trasimenne, uago cum milite praeceps
lustrabo et superis quaeram libamina belli.
namque haud parua deus promissis spondet apertis,
quae spectata, uiri, patriam referatis in urbem.'

for indeed I am preparing the sacred rites and I am setting in motion altars of greater size.
you, Mago, take position on the summit of the opposite mountain,
you, Choaspes, draw nearer to the left-hand hills,
let Sychaeus lead through the dark places to the barriers and passes. 825
but I, Trasimene, with wandering soldiery, headlong will traverse you,
and from the gods above I will seek libations of war.
for the god pledges no small things with promises laid open,
which, once seen, men, you shall carry back to the fatherland-city.'