Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Ceperat Etruscos occulto milite colles
Sidonius ductor perque alta silentia noctis
siluarum anfractus caecis insederat armis.
at parte e laeua restagnans gurgite uasto
effigiem in pelagi lacus umectabat inerti<s> 5
et late multo foedabat proxima limo.
quae uada Faunigenae regnata antiquitus Arno
nunc uoluente die Trasimenni nomina seruant.

He had taken the Etruscan hills with a hidden soldiery,
Sidonius, the leader, and through the deep silences of night
had settled, armed, in the forests' blind anfractuosities.
at the left hand, resting in a vast stagnant gulf
he dipped his effigy in the inert lake of the sea<s> 5
and far and wide defiled the neighbouring strand with much mud.
those shallows, long since ruled by the Faun-born Arno,
now, with the day revolving, retain the name Trasimenni.

Lydius huic genitor, <T>moli decus, aequore longo
Maeoniam quondam in Latias aduexerat oras 10
Tyrrhenus pubem dederatque uocabula terris.
isque insueta tubae monstrauit murmura primus
gentibus et bellis ignaua silentia rupit,
nec modicus uoti natum ad maiora fouebat.
uerum ardens puero castumque exuta pudorem 15

Lydius his father, Tmolian glory, had once led from Maeonian sea to Latian shores across the long deep 10
the Tyrrhenian had bestowed a people and given names to the lands.
and he first displayed to the nations the strange murmurs of the trumpet
and broke the slothful silence of wars,
nor did he rear his son with modest hopes for lesser things.
but burning, he stripped the boy of chaste modesty 15

(nam forma certare deis, Trasimenne, ualeres)
litore correptum stagnis demisit Agylle,
flore capi iuuenem primaeuo lubrica mentem
nympha nec Idalia lenta incaluisse sagitta.
solatae uiridi penitus fouere sub antro            20
Naides amplexus undosaque regna trementem.
hinc dotale lacus nomen, lateque Hymenaeo
conscia lasciuo Trasimennus dicitur unda.
     Et iam curriculo nigram nox roscida metam
stringebat, nec se thalamis Tithonia coniunx            25
protulerat stabatque nitens in limine primo,
cum minus abnuerit noctem desisse uiator
quam coepisse diem: consul carpebat iniquas,
praegrediens signa ipsa, uias, omnisque ruebat
mixtus eques nec discretis leuia arma maniplis            30

(for you, Trasimene, might vie with the gods in beauty)
Agylle, seized upon the shore, let down into the pools,
the slippery blossom of first youth took hold of the young man’s mind,
and the nymph, not slow with the Idalian arrow, had inflamed him.
the Naiads, having consoled him, cherished him deep beneath a green cave            20
the Naiads embracing him and the wave‑dominion trembling.
Hence the lake is called a bridal‑dowry, and far and wide
the Trasimennus wave is said to be privy to lascivious Hymenaeus.
     And now the dewy night, in its course, was touching the black turning‑post
nor had Tithonian bride brought herself forth to the bridal‑chambers            25
and she stood shining upon the first threshold,
when the wayfarer denied more readily that night had ceased
than that the day had begun: the consul was seizing hostile things,
advancing himself before the standards, the roads and all were rushing on
mixed was the cavalry and light arms not in distinct maniples            30

insertique globo pedites, et inutile Marti
lixarum uulgus praesago cuncta tumultu
implere, et pugnam fugientum more petebant.
tum super ipse lacus densam caligine caeca
exhalans nebulam late corruperat omnem 35
prospectum miseris, atque atrae noctis amictu
squalebat pressum picea inter nubila caelum.
nec Poenum liquere doli: sedet ense reposto
abditus et nullis properantem occursibus arcet.

and footsoldiers thrust into the mass, and a worthless rabble of camp‑followers, useless to Mars,
to fill all things with an omen‑bearing tumult, and sought battle in the manner of those fleeing.
then above the lake itself, blind with dense caliginy, exhaling a nebula, had far and wide broken every 35
prospect for the wretched, and the sky, pressed amid pitchy clouds, lay foul in the cloak of black night.
nor did the Phoenician’s guile fail: he sits, his sword put back, concealed, and by avoiding hasty encounters keeps off those who would rush upon him.

ire datur, longeque patet ceu pace quieta 40
incustoditum, mox inremeabile, litus.
namque sub angustas artato limite fauces
in fraudem ducebat iter, geminumque receptis
exitium, hinc rupes, hinc undae claustra premebant.
at tur<m>a umbroso seruabat uertice montis 45

passage is given, and it lies far off, as if in tranquil peace 40
unguarded, soon not to be re-entered, the shore.
for beneath, with a narrow channel bound by a tightened limit,
the way led into deceit, and a twin destruction awaited the received,
on this side cliffs, on that side the waves pressed their barriers. But a troop kept watch on the shady crown of the mountain 45

hostilem ingressum, refugos habitura sub ictu:
haud secus ac uitreas sollers piscator ad undas,
ore leuem patulo texens de uimine nassam,
cautius interiora ligat mediamque per aluum
sensim fastigans compressa cacumina nectit            50
ac fraude artati remeare foraminis arcet
introitu facilem quem traxit ab aequore piscem.
     Ocius interea propelli signa iubebat
excussus consul fatorum turbine mentem,
donec flammiferum tollentes aequore currum            55
solis equi sparsere diem. iamque orbe renato
diluerat nebulas Titan, sensimque fluebat
caligo in terras nitido resoluta sereno.
tunc ales, priscum populis de more Latinis
auspicium cum bella parant mentesque deorum            60

hostile ingress, holding back those who would flee under the blow:
no less than a crafty fisherman at the glassy waves,
weaving a light-net from spreading osier mouth,
he cautiously binds the interior and through the middle of the belly
slowly fastens the compressed wefts and ties the tops            50
and by the trick of the narrowed mesh keeps back return
through the easy entrance the fish which he dragged from the sea.
     Meanwhile more quickly he ordered the standards to be driven forth
the consul shaken in mind by the whirlwind of fates,
until, lifting the flame-bearing chariot from the sea,            55
the horses of the Sun scattered the day. Now with the orb reborn
Titan had washed away the mists, and the gloom flowed down
into the lands, dissolved into a bright serenity.
Then the bird, in the ancient custom of the Latin peoples,
prepares auspices with wars and the minds of the gods            60

explorant super euentu, ceu praescia luctus
damnauit uesci planctuque alimenta refugit.
nec rauco taurus cessauit flebile ad aras
immugire sono pressamque ad colla bipennem
incerta ceruice ferens altaria liquit. 65
signa etiam effusa certant dum uellere mole,
taeter humo lacera nitentum erupit in ora
exultans cruor, et caedis documenta futurae
ipsa parens miseris gremio dedit atra cruento.
ac super haec diuum genitor terrasque fretumque 70
concutiens tonitru Cyclopum rapta caminis
fulmina Tyrrhenas Trasimenni torsit in undas,
ictusque aetheria per stagna patentia flamma
fumauit lacus atque arserunt fluctibus ignes.

they watch over the event above, as if prescient of sorrow, doomed to be fed on lamentation and recoiling from sustenance.
nor did the bull cease to bellow mournfully at the raucous altars, lowing with a plaintive sound, and bearing the double‑axe pressed to its neck with uncertain throat, left the altars. 65
the standards too, poured forth, strove to be wrenched from their mass; foul blood, rent from the shining faces, gushed onto the earth exulting, and the mother herself gave, in her woeful bloody bosom, the tokens of the slaughter to come.
and above these things the sire of the gods, shaking lands and sea and the strait with thunder,
snatching thunderbolts from the Cyclopes’ forges, hurled them into the Tyrrhenian and Trasimenean waves,
and struck the open pools with celestial flame: the lakes smoked and fires burned upon the waters.

heu uani monitus frustraque morantia Parcas 75

Alas, vain warnings and the Parcae delaying in vain 75

prodigia! heu fatis superi certare minores!
atque hic, egregius linguae nomenque superbum,
Coruinus, Phoebea sedet cui casside fulua
ostentans ales proauitae insignia pugnae,
plenus et ipse deum, et socium terrente pauore 80
immiscet precibus monita atque his uocibus infit:
'Iliacas per te flammas Tarpeiaque saxa,
per patrios, consul, muros suspensaque nostrae
euentu pugnae natorum pignora, cedas
oramus superis tempusque ad proelia dextrum 85
opperiare.

Portents! ah, ye gods above, contest lesser fates!
and here, Corvinus, distinguished in tongue and proud of his name,
upon whom a tawny-crested bird of Phoebus sits, displaying the ensigns of his grandmother’s fight,
himself also full of a god and of an ally, mixing warnings with prayers and utters these words:80
'By the Trojan flames through you and the Tarpeian rocks,
by our ancestral, consul, walls, and by the pledges of our sons hung on the outcome of our battle,
yield, we beg the gods above, and await a right, propitious time for battles.'85

dabunt idem camposque diemque
pugnandi: tantum ne dedignare secundos
expectare deos. cum fulserit hora, cruentam
quae stragem Libyae portet, tum signa sequentur
nulla uulsa manu, uescique interritus ales 90

they will grant the same fields and the day
of fighting: only do not disdain to await
favouring gods. When the hour shall have shone, which brings
the bloody slaughter of Libya, then the standards will follow—
none rent by hand—and an undaunted bird will feed. 90

gaudebit, nullosque uomet pia terra cruores.
an te praestantem belli fugit, improba quantum
hoc possit Fortuna loco? sedet obuius hostis
aduersa fronte, at circa nemorosa minantur
insidias iuga, nec laeua stagnantibus undis 95
effugium patet, et tenui stant tramite fauces.

she will rejoice, and the pious earth will vomit no bloods.
Or does perverse Fortune — how much she can prevail in this place — avoid you, outstanding in war? Sed the enemy sits opposite with hostile brow,
and around the wooded ridges they menace ambushes, nor on the left does escape lie by the stagnant waves 95
and gorges stand upon a slender track.

si certare dolis et bellum ducere cordi est,
interea rapidis aderit Seruilius armis,
cui par imperium et uires legionibus aequae.
bellandum est astu. leuior laus in duce dextrae.' 100
Talia Coruinus, primoresque addere passim
orantum uerba, et diuisus quisque timori<s>
nunc superos, ne Flamin<i>o, nunc deinde precari
Flaminium, ne caelicolis contendere perstet.

if to strive by guile and to lead war is in his heart,
meanwhile Servilius will be present with rapid arms,
to whom equal command and forces are due to the legions. bellandum est astu. less praise lies in a leader of the right hand. 100
Such things Corvinus, and the chiefs everywhere add words of beseeching,
and divided, each by his fear,
now to the gods above to pray (lest against Flamininus), now again to implore Flamininus himself,
lest he persist in contending with the heaven-dwellers.

acrius hoc accensa ducis surrexerat ira, 105

the leader's anger, inflamed by this, had risen more fiercely, 105

auditoque furens socias non defore uires
'Sicine nos' inquit 'Boiorum in bella ruentis
spectastis, cum tanta lues uulgusque tremendum
ingrueret, rupesque iterum Tarpeia paueret?
quas ego tunc animas dextra, quae corpora fudi, 110
irata tellure sata et uix uulnere uitam
reddentis uno! iacuere ingentia membra
per campos magnisque premunt nunc ossibus arua.

and when she heard it, raging, the allied forces would not be absent
"Have you so seen us," she said, "rushing into the wars of the Boii,
when such a plague and the terrible populace were pressing in,
and the Tarpeian rock again was awed?
those souls which then with my right hand, which bodies I poured forth, 110
sown by the angered earth and scarce by one wound restoring life!
huge limbs lay across the fields and now press the plains with mighty bones.

scilicet has sera ad laudes Seruilius arma
adiungat, nisi diuiso uicisse triumpho 115
ut nequeam et decoris contentus parte quiescam?
quippe monent superi. similes ne fingite uobis,
classica qui tremitis, diuos.

Shall Servilius then add these late arms to his praises?
Or—unless, with the triumph divided, he has won so that I may not, and, content with part of the glory, rest?
For the gods above indeed warn. Do not fashion gods like yourselves, you who tremble at the war‑trumpets.

sat magnus in hostem
augur adest ensis, pulchrumque et milite dignum
auspicium Latio quod in armis dextera praestat. 120

a great augur-ensis stands against the enemy
and a fair blade, worthy of a milite,
an auspicium for Latium which the right hand in arms provides. 120

an, Coruine, sedet, clausum se consul inerti
ut teneat uallo, Poenus nunc occupet altos
Arreti muros, Corythi nunc diruat arcem,
hinc Clusina petat, postremo ad moenia Romae
inlaesus contendat iter? deforme sub armis 125
uana superstitio est: dea sola in pectore Virtus
bellantum uiget. umbrarum me noctibus atris
agmina circumstant, Trebiae qui gurgite quique
Eridani uoluuntur aquis, inhumata iuuentus.'
Nec mora.

Or, Corvinus, does the consul sit cloistered in sloth
that he may hold the rampart, while now a Punic man seizes the lofty
walls of Arretium, now rends the citadel of Corythus,
next he seeks Clusian ground, and finally makes his way unharmed
to the walls of Rome? An ugly superstition under arms 125
is idle: only the goddess Virtus dwells in the breast
and flourishes in those who fight. Armies of shades around me in black nights
stand encamped, those who were swept in Trebia’s whirl and who roll
in the waters of the Eridanus, unburied youth.'
Nor delay.

iam medio coetu signisque sub ipsis 130
postrema aptabat nulli exorabilis arma.
aere atque aequorei tergo flauente iuuenci
cassis erat munita uiro, cui uertice surgens
triplex crista iubas effundit crine Suebo:
Scylla super fracti contorquens pondera remi 135

now, in the middle of the throng and beneath the very standards 130
he fitted the last arms, not to be entreated, on a man.
a helmet was secured to the man from bronze and the tawny back of a sea‑calf
and on its rising crown a triple crest pours forth Suebian manes:
Scylla above, twisting the weight of a broken oar 135

instabat saeuosque canum pandebat hiatus,
nobile Gargeni spolium, quod rege superbus
Boiorum caeso capiti inlacerabile uictor
aptarat pugnasque decus portabat in omnis.
loricam induitur: tortos huic nexilis hamos 140
ferro squama rudi permixtoque asperat auro.
tum clipeum capit, aspersum quem caedibus olim
Celticus ornarat cruor, umentique sub antro
ceu fetum lupa permulcens puerilia membra
ingentem Assaraci caelo nutribat alumnum. 145
hinc ensem lateri dextraeque accommodat hastam.

he pressed forward and displayed the savage gapes of his dogs,
the noble spoil of Garganus, which, proud of the Boii king’s slain head,
the irresistible victor had set up and bore as the glory of all his fights.
loricam induitur: tortos huic nexilis hamos 140
iron scales roughened and intermixed with crude gold his hooked loom had bound.
then he seized a shield, whose face once sprinkled with slaughter
the Celtic blood had adorned, and like a she‑wolf in a damp cave
fondling the young, sucking the infant limbs,
nourished the mighty foster‑child of Assaracus under the sky. 145
thence he fitted a sword to his flank and a spear to his right hand.

stat sonipes uexatque ferox umentia frena,
Caucas<e>am instratus uirgato corpore tigrim.
inde exceptus equo, qua dant angusta uiarum,
nunc hos, nunc illos adit atque hortatibus implet: 150

the swift-steed halts and the fierce one lashes the wet reins,
arrayed like a Caucasian tiger with a striped body.
thereupon mounted on his horse, where the ways grow narrow,
now he approaches these, now those, and fills them with exhortations: 150

'Vestrum opus est uestrumque decus suffixa per urbem
Poeni ferre ducis spectanda parentibus ora.
unum hoc pro cunctis sat erit caput. aspera quisque
hortamenta sibi referat: "Meus, heu!

'It is your opus and your decus, set up through the city,
for the Poeni to bear the leader's faces to be beheld by his parents.
This one head will be enough as one for all. Let each man
bring back to himself harsh hortamenta: "Meus, heu!'

meus atris
Ticini frater ripis iacet," "At meus alta            155
metitur stagna Eridani sine funere natus."
haec sibi quisque; sed, est uestrum cui nulla doloris
priuati rabies, is uero ingentia sumat
e medio, fodiant quae magnas pectus in iras,
perfractas Alpes passamque infanda Saguntum,            160
quosque nefas uetiti transcendere nomen Hiberi,
tangere iam Thybrim. nam dum nos augur et extis
quaesitae fibrae uanusque moratur haruspex,
solum iam superest Tarpeio imponere castra.'
     Turbidus haec, uisoque artis in milibus atras            165

"my brother lies on the dark
banks of the Ticino," "But my son, born without a death, ploughs the deep            155
pools of the Eridanus."
each says this to himself; but is there any of you to whom no private madness
of grief is known? He indeed should take great things
from the midst, let them dig up what broke the Alps and the accursed Saguntum having been passed,            160
and those crimes which it is forbidden for the name of Iberia to cross, to touch now the Tiber. For while the augur and the entrails sought from the liver
and the deceitful soothsayer delay us,
only remains to pitch our camp on the Tarpeian rock.'
     Troubled by these things, and the black art seen in the entrails of the crowds            165

bellatore iubas aptante 'Est, Orfite, munus,
est' ait 'hoc certare tuum, quis opima uolenti
dona Ioui portet feretro suspensa cruento.
nam cur haec alia pariatur gloria dextra?'
hinc praeuectus equo, postquam inter proelia notam 170
accepit uocem, 'Procul hinc te Martius,' inquit
'Murrane, ostendit clamor, uideoque furentem
iam Tyria te caede. uenit laus quanta!

the warrior girding on his crest cried, "It is, Orfite, the gift,
it is," he said, "this contest is yours: who, desiring rich
gifts, shall bear to Jove suspended on a bloody bier?
for why should this glory be allotted to another's right hand?"
thence urged forward on his horse, after amid the battles he had heard the known 170
voice, "Begone from here, warlike one," he said,
"Murrane, the shout proclaims; and I see you raging
already with Tyrian slaughter. What praise has come!"

sed, oro,
haec angusta loci ferro patefacta relaxa.'
tum Soracte satum, praestantem corpore et armis, 175
Aequanum noscens, patrio cui ritus in aruo,
cum pius Arcitenens accensis gaudet aceruis,
exta ter innocuos laetum portare per ignes,
'Sic in Apollinea semper uestigia pruna
inuiolata teras uictorque uaporis ad aras 180

but, I beg, open and widen these narrow bounds laid bare by steel.'
then Soracte's son, outstanding in body and arms, 175
knowing Aequanus, to whom the rites belong in the ancestral field,
when pious Arcitenens rejoices over kindled heaps,
thrice bears harmless entrails through the joyous fires,
'Thus ever on Apollo's coals you shall thresh the embers
intact, and victorious bring the steam to the altars' 180

dona serenato referas sollemnia Phoebo:
concipe' ait 'dignum factis, Aequane, furorem
uulneribusque tuis. socio te caedis et irae
non ego Marmaridum mediam penetrare phalangem
Cinyphiaeque globos dubitarim inrumpere turmae.'             185
     Nec iam ultra monitus et uerba morantia Martem
ferre ualet: longo Aeneadis quod flebitur aeuo
increpuere simul feralia classica signum,
ac tuba terrificis fregit stridoribus auras.
heu dolor, heu lacrimae nec post tot saecula serae!            190
horresco ut pendente malo, ceu ductor ad arma
exciret Tyrius.

bring the solemn gifts to serene Phoebus:
'Receive,' he says, 'a fury worthy of deeds, Aequane, and of your wounds. I would not hesitate to join you in slaughter and wrath, to pierce the middle of the Marmarian phalanx
and to burst into the Cinyphian ranks.'             185
     Nor now can Mars endure further warnings and delaying words: in the long age which the Aeneid will mourn together the funeral trumpets sounded the signal,
and the trumpet broke the skies with terrifying cries. Ah pain, ah tears, nor after so many late generations!            190
I shudder as at a hanging disaster, as if the Tyrian leader were rousing men to arms.

latebrosis collibus Astur
et Libys et torta Baliaris saeuus habena
erumpunt multusque Maces Garamasque Nomasque,
tum, quo non alius uenalem in proelia dextram 195
ocior attulerit conductaque bella probarit,
Cantaber et galeae contempto tegmine Vasco.
hinc pariter rupes, lacus hinc, hinc arma simulque
consona uox urget, signum clamore uicissim
per collis Tyria circumfundente corona. 200

From the covert hills burst forth the Astur and the Libyan and the savage rein of twisted Balear,
and many Maces and Garamas and Nomas break out,
then—where no other would have borne a mercenary right hand to battles swifter—195
the Cantabrian and the Vasco, the latter scorning helmet and its covering.
Hence alike cliffs, hence lakes, hence weapons at once together
a consonant voice urges, the signal in turn with a shout
pouring around the hills with a Tyrian crown. 200

     Auertere dei uultus fatoque dederunt
maiori non sponte locum; stupet ipse tyranni
fortunam Libyci Mauors, disiectaque crinem
inlacrimat Venus, et Delum peruectus Apollo
tristem maerenti solatur pectine luctum.            205
sola Apennini residens in uertice diras
expectat caedes immiti pectore Iuno.
     Primae Picentum, rupto ceu turbine fusa
agmina et Hannibalem ruere ut uidere, cohortes
inuadunt ultro et poenas pro morte futura,            210
turbato uictore, petunt accensa iuuentus,
et uelut erepto metuendi libera caelo
manibus ipsa suis praesumpta piacula mittit.
funditur unanimo nisu et concordibus ausis
pilorum in Poenos nimbus, fixosque repulsi            215

     To avert the god’s countenance they by fate were given place
not of their own will to a greater; Mauors (Mars) himself is stunned
at the fortune of the Libyan tyrant, and Venus, her dishevelled hair scattered,
weeps, and Apollo conveyed to Delos soothes the grieving sorrow with his plectrum.            205
sola Apennini residens in uertice diras
expectat caedes immiti pectore Iuno.
     The first cohorts of the Picentes, as if by a broken whirlwind scattered
and eager to see Hannibal rush in, attack of their own accord and demand penalties for the death to come,            210
the victor thrown into confusion, the inflamed youth press on,
and as if with fear snatched away and the sky made safe from dread
they themselves, by their own hands, send forth expiatory offerings assumed beforehand.
A storm of javelins is poured by unanimous effort and concordant daring            215

summittunt clipeos curuato pondere teli.
acrius hoc rursum Libys (et praesentia saeui
extimulat ducis) hortantes se quisque uicissim
incumbunt pressoque impellunt pectore pectus.
Ipsa, facem quatiens ac flauam sanguine multo 220
sparsa comam, medias acies Bellona pererrat.

they lift their shields against the curved weight of the missile.
more fiercely in turn the Libyan urges this (and the presence of the fierce leader incites them), each exhorting his comrade by turns
they press in and thrust breast against breast with crowded chests.
She herself, brandishing a torch and her golden hair with much blood sprinkled,220
wanders through the central ranks—Bellona.

stridit Tartareae nigro sub pectore diuae
letiferum murmur, feralique horrida cantu
bucina lymphatas agit in certamina mentes.
his iras aduersa fouent crudusque ruente            225
fortuna stimulus spem proiecisse salutis:
hos dexter deus et laeto Victoria uultu
adridens acuit, Martisque fauore fruuntur.
     Abreptus pulchro caedum Lateranus amore
dum sequitur dextram, in medios penetrauerat hostis.            230

the deadly murmur creaked beneath the black breast of the Tartarean goddess,
and the trumpet, dread with its feral song, drives frenzy-struck minds into combats.
against these they foment angers, and Fortune, rushing forth fierce, a goad, has cast away the hope of safety; 225
a propitious god and smiling Victory with a joyous countenance, smiling, sharpen them, and they enjoy the favour of Mars.
Seized by a beautiful love of slaughter, Lateranus, while he pursued the right hand, had pierced into the midst of the enemy. 230

quem postquam florens aequali Lentulus aeuo
conspexit nimium pugnae nimiumque cruoris
infestas inter non aequo Marte cateruas
fata inritantem, nisu se concitat acri
immitemque Bagam, qui iam uicina ferebat            235
uulnera pugnantis tergo, uelocior hasta
occupat et socium duris se casibus addit.
tunc alacres arma adglomerant geminaque corusci
fronte micant: paribus fulgent capita ardua cristis.
actus in aduersos casu (namque obuia ferre            240
arma quis auderet, nisi quem deus ima colentum
damnasset Stygiae nocti?) praefracta gerebat
Syrticus excelso decurrens robora monte
et quatiens acer nodosi pondera rami
flagrabat geminae nequiquam caedis amore:            245

whom, after the flourishing Lentulus of equal age
had seen — rousing hostile bands too eager for battle and too eager for blood
with unequal Mars between them, fate provoking — he urges himself with a keen thrust
and attacks the ruthless Bagas, who already bore near-by wounds
on the back of the combatant; swifter than a spear he seizes him
and adds himself a comrade in harsh misfortunes.
then the eager men heap on arms and twin helmets flash from the brow:
lofty heads gleam with equal crests.
driven against them by chance (for who would dare to carry arms meeting them,
unless a god had doomed him, lowest of the worshippers, to Stygian night?)
Syrticus, having burst forth, was bearing down oak-trees from a high mountain
and fiercely brandishing the weights of knotted boughs,
was aflame in vain with a twofold love of slaughter: 245

'Non hic Aegates infidaque litora nautis,
o iuuenes, motumque nouis sine Marte procellis
fortunam bello pelagus dabit. aequoris olim
uictores, media sit qualis, discite, terra
bellator Libys, et meliori cedite regnis.' 250
ac simul infesto Lateranum pondere truncae
arboris urgebat iungens conuicia pugnae.
Lentulus huic frendens ira: 'Trasimennus in altos
ascendet citius collis, quam sanguine roret
iste pio ramus,' subsidensque ilia nisu 255
conantis suspensa fodit.

'Not here will the Aegates and the treacherous shores to sailors,
O youths, and a sea stirred by new tempests without Mars
grant fortune to war. Learn what the midlands are like,
you once victors of the sea, and, Libyan warrior, yield your lands
to a better realm.' 250
and at once, with the hostile weight of the trunk, he pressed upon the Lateran tree,
joining the taunts of battle. Lentulus, gnashing with anger, said to him: 'Trasimennus will ascend
to the high hills sooner than that pious branch
will be wet with blood,' and, crouching, with that effort attempting to hang, he pierced it. 255

tum feruidus atro
pulmone exundat per hiantia uiscera sanguis.
Nec minus accensis in mutua funera dextris
parte alia campi saeuit furor. altus Iertes
obtruncat Nerium.

then, hot, blood wells forth from his black lung through gaping entrails.
Nor less, their right hands kindled for mutual funerals, on another part of the field fury rages. tall Iertes cuts down Nerium.

Rullo ditissimus arui 260

Rullo, richest in arable soil 260

occumbis, generose Volunx, nec clausa repostis
pondera thesauris patrio nec regia quondam
praefulgens ebore et possessa mapalia soli
profuerunt. quid rapta iuuant, quid gentibus auri
numquam extincta sitis? modo quem Fortuna fouendo 265
congestis opibus donisque refersit opimis,
nudum Tartarea portabit nauita cumba.

You shall fall, noble Volunx, nor did the weights locked away in ancestral treasuries, nor the once-royal halls shining with ivory and the huts held of the soil, avail you. What profit plundered things, what to peoples the never-extinguished thirst for gold? He whom but now Fortune, fostering, replenished with heaped riches 265
with amassed wealth and opulent gifts, a seamen’s skiff will bear naked to Tartarean doom.

     Iuxta bellator iuuenilibus Appius ausis
pandebat campum caede atque, ubi plurima uirtus
nullique aspirare uigor, decus inde petebat.            270
obuius huic Atlans, Atlans a litore Hibero,
nequiquam extremae longinquus cultor harenae,
impetit os hasta, leuiterque e corpore summo
degustat cuspis generosum extrema cruorem.
intonuere minae, uiolentaque lumina flammis            275

     Beside him, Appius, a warrior of youthful daring,
laid open the field with slaughter; and where most abundant virtue
and vigour to rival none were, thence he sought his glory.            270
an Atlans met him, Atlans from the Hiberian shore,
in vain a distant tiller of the utmost sand,
a spear assails his face, and the point lightly from the top of his body
tastes the noble man's last blood. Threats thundered, and his eyes violent with flames            275

exarsere nouis. furit et diffulminat omnem
obstantum turbam; at clausum sub casside uulnus
Martia commendat mananti sanguine membra.
tum uero aspiceres pauitantem et condere semet
nitentem sociis iuuenem, ceu tigride cerua 280
Hyrcana cum pressa tremit, uel territa pennas
colligit accipitrem cernens in nube columba,
aut dumis subit, albenti si sensit in aethra
librantem nisus aquilam, lepus.

they blazed anew. he rages and hurls lightning at the whole opposing throng;
but the wound closed beneath the helmet commits the Martian limbs
dropping with blood. then indeed you would behold the youth, hesitating and about to hide himself,
shining among his comrades, like a Hyrcanian hind when pressed by a tiger 280
trembles, or, terrified, a dove gathers its feathers seeing a hawk in the cloud,
or, if it has perceived in the white ether the eagle beating and balancing, the hare slips beneath the brambles.

ora citato
ense ferit, tum colla uiri dextramque micantem            285
demetit ac mutat successu saeuior hostem.
     Stabat fulgentem portans in bella bipennem
Cinyphius socerique miser Magonis inire
optabat pugnam ante oculos spe laudis Isalcas,
Sidonia tumidus sponsa uanoque superbus            290

strikes the face with the summoned sword;
then severs the neck and the man’s gleaming right hand
and with a sterner stroke changes the vanquished enemy.            285
     Cinyphius stood, bearing a shining two‑bladed axe for war;
and the wretched father‑in‑law of Magon wished to enter the fight;
before his eyes Isalcas, hoping for the praise of glory,
the Sidonian, swelling as a bride and proud in vain.            290

foedere promissae post Dardana proelia taedae.
huic immittit atrox uiolentas Appius iras
conantique grauem fronti librare securim
altior insurgens galeam super exigit ictum.
at fragilis ualido conamine soluitur ensis 295
aere in Cinyphio, nec dispar sortis Isalcas
umbonem incerto detersit futtilis ictu.

after the Dardan wars, the nuptial torch promised by compact.
to this Appius, fierce, pours forth violent wrath
and, striving to poise a heavy axe upon the brow, rising higher thrusts a blow upon the helmet above.
but the fragile sword is loosened by a mighty effort against Cinyphius’ bronze, nor did Isalcas’ cheap shield, unequal to his lot, rub the boss away with an uncertain stroke. 295

tum quod humo haud umquam ualuisset uellere saxum,
ni uires trux ira daret, contorquet anhelans
Appius et lapsu resupino in terga cadentem 300
mole premit scopuli perfractisque ossibus urget.
uidit coniuncto miscens certamina campo
labentem socer, et lacrimae sub casside fusae
cum gemitu, rapidusque ruit: data foedera nuper
accendunt animos expectatique nepotes. 305

then, that the rock would never have been able to be torn from the ground,
had not raw ire lent force, panting Appius twists and, pressing, with a backward fall
crushes him under the mass of a cliff and presses on with bones shattered 300
and he saw his father‑in‑law, mingling combats on the jointed field, sliding,
and tears poured beneath his helmet with a groan, and he rushed swiftly: the oaths lately given
now inflame their spirits and the long‑awaited descendants. 305

iamque aderat clipeumque uiri atque immania membra
lustrabat uisu, propiorque a fronte coruscae
lux galeae saeuas paulum tardauerat iras.
haud secus, e specula praeceps delatus opaca,
subsidens campo summissos contrahit artus,            310
cum uicina trucis conspexit cornua tauri,
quamuis longa fames stimulet, leo: nunc ferus alta
surgentis ceruice toros, nunc torua sub hirta
lumina miratur fronte ac iam signa mouentem
et sparsa pugnas meditantem spectat harena.            315
hic prior intorquens telum sic Appius infit:
'Si qua tibi pietas, ictum ne desere foedus
et generum comitare socer.' per tegmina uelox
tunc aerisque moras laeuo stetit hasta lacerto.
at contra non dicta Libys, sed feruidus hastam            320

and now he was present and scanned with his gaze the man's shield and enormous limbs, and the gleaming light of the helmet from the front had somewhat checked his savage wrath.
no less, hurled headlong from the dark watch-tower, sinking onto the plain he draws up his lowered limbs,310
when he caught sight of the nearby horns of the savage bull, though long hunger may spur him, like a lion: now he wonders at the lofty muscles of the rising neck, now at the grim eyes beneath the shaggy brow, and now he watches him moving the standards and pondering the scattered battles in the sand.315
Here, first whirling his spear, Appius speaks thus:
'If any piety is in you, do not abandon the struck compact, and accompany your son-in-law, father-in-law.' Swift, the spear then stood through the coverings and the bronze, fixed in his left arm.320
but Libys, not with words but fervent, [the spear]...

perlibrat, magni donum memorabile fratris,
caeso quam uictor sub moenibus ille Sagunti
abstulerat Durio ac spectatae nobile pugnae
germano dederat portare in proelia pignus.
telum ingens perque arma uiri perque ora, doloris 325
adiutum nisu, letalem pertulit ictum,
exanguesque uiri conantis uellere ferrum
in uulnus cecidere manus. iacet aequore nomen
clarum Maeonio atque Italae pars magna ruinae
Appius.

he weighs it over, a memorable gift of a noble brother,
which Durio, the victor beneath the walls of Saguntum slain,
had borne off and had given to his brother to carry into the famed battle as pledge.
a vast spear through both the man's arms and his face, through the pain 325
aided by a heave, dealt a deadly stroke;
and the bloodless hands of the man trying to wrench out the iron
fell into the wound. Upon the plain lies the famous name
Maeonian, and Appius, a great part of Italy's ruin.

intremuere lacus, corpusque refugit            330
contractis Trasimennus aquis: telum ore cruento
expirans premit atque admorsae immurmurat hastae.
     Nec fati melior Mamercus corpore toto
exsoluit poenas nulli non saucius hosti.
namque per aduersos, qua Lusitana ciebat            335

the lakes shuddered, and Trasimennus shrank back, its body drawn together in the waters: the spear, breathing out at its bloody mouth, he presses, and the bitten haft mutters.
Nor did Mamercus fare better; with his whole body he paid the penalty, wounded and falling to every hostile hand.
for through the opposing ranks, where the Lusitanian roused 335

pugnas dira manus, raptum cum sanguine caesi
signiferi magna uexillum mole ferebat
et trepida infelix reuocabat signa suorum.
sed furiata cohors ausisque accensa superbis
quodcumque ipsa manu gestabat missile, quicquid            340
praebebat tellus sparsis uix peruia telis
iniecit pariter, pluresque in corpore nullum
inuenere locum perfossis ossibus hastae.
     Aduolat interea fraterni uulneris ira
turbatus Libyae ductor, uisoque cruore,            345
num lateri cuspis, num toto pondere telum
sedisset, fratremque amens sociosque rogabat.
utque metum leti procul et leuiora pauore
cognouit, proprio tectum gestamine praeceps
ex acie rapit et tutis a turbine pugnae            350

dire hands in the fights; with blood having been seized the slain standard-bearer
bore the banner with vast weight
and the unhappy one, trembling, recalled the standards of his men.
but the cohort, mad and inflamed by arrogant daring,
threw whatever missile it itself handled by hand, whatever            340
the ground lent, scarcely passable with scattered javelins,
it cast together, and more found no place in the bodies
with spears having pierced the bones.   Meanwhile fury of a brother’s wound
flies at the disturbed leader of Libya, and when he saw the gore,            345
whether the point had lodged in the flank, or the spear by its whole weight
had settled, he, mad, asked for his brother and his comrades.
and when he perceived the fear of death afar off and lighter with dread
he snatches his own covering cloak headlong
from the line and bears it away from the storm of battle to safety            350

constituit castris. medicas hinc ocius artes
et senioris opem Synhali uocat. unguere uulnus
herbarum hic sucis ferrumque e corpore cantu
exigere et somnum tacto misisse chelydro
anteibat cunctos, nomenque erat inde per urbes 355
perque Paraetoniae celebratum litora Syrtis.

he established camp. Thence he more swiftly calls medical arts
and the aid of Synhalus the elder. To anoint the wound
with the juices of herbs, here to draw the iron from the body by song
and to have sent sleep by the chelydra’s touch
he outstripped all, and from that place his name was through the cities 355
and along the shores of the Paraetonian Syrtis celebrated.

ipse olim antiquo primum Garamanticus Hammon
scire pater dederat Synhalo morsusque ferarum
telorumque grauis ictus sedare medendo.
atque is deinde suo moriens caelestia dona 360
monstrauit nato, natusque heredis honori
tramisit patrias artis. quem deinde secutus
haud leuior fama Synhalus Garamantica sollers
monstrata augebat studio multaque uetustum
Hammonis comitem numerabat imagine patrem. 365

ipse olim antiquo primum Garamanticus Hammon
once in olden time Garamantian Hammon himself first
scire pater dederat Synhalo morsusque ferarum
had a father who gave to Synhalus knowledge, and to soothe the bites of beasts
telorumque grauis ictus sedare medendo.
and to quell by medicament the grievous strokes of weapons.360
atque is deinde suo moriens caelestia dona
and he then, dying, showed celestial gifts to his son,360
monstrauit nato, natusque heredis honori
and the son, to the honour of his heir, transmitted
tramisit patrias artis. quem deinde secutus
the ancestral arts. whom then, following him,
haud leuior fama Synhalus Garamantica sollers
Synhalus, no less famed, clever in Garamantian renown,
monstrata augebat studio multaque uetustum
increased what had been shown by zeal, and in many old
Hammonis comitem numerabat imagine patrem. 365
counted Hammon, in image, both companion and father.365

tum proauita ferens leni medicamina dextra
ocius, intortos de more astrictus amictus,
mulcebat lympha purgatum sanguine uulnus.
at Mago, exuuias secum caesique uolutans
hostis mente necem, fraternas pectore curas 370
pellebat dictis et casum laude leuabat:
'Parce metu, germane. meis medicamina nulla
aduersis maiora feres: iacet Appius hasta
ad manis pulsus nostra.

then the great-grandmother, bearing gentle medicaments in her right hand,
more quickly, her garments wrapped round in the accustomed fashion,
was soothing with water the wound cleansed of blood. But Mago, rolling the spoils and the slain with him,
the enemy with slaughter in his mind, drove away brotherly cares from his breast 370
with words and eased the calamity with praise:
'Spare your fear, brother. By my remedies you will suffer no greater harms from the foe: Appius lies,
struck by our spear, gone to the manes.

si uita relinquat,
sat nobis actum est: sequar hostem laetus ad umbras.'            375
     Quae dum turbatos auertunt aequore campi
ductores ualloque tenent, ex agmine Poenum
cedentem consul tumulo speculatus ab alto
atque atram belli castris se condere nubem,
turbidus extemplo trepidantis milite maesto            380

if he leaves life behind,
it is enough done for us: I will follow the enemy gladly to the shades.'            375
     While these things turn away the leaders, disturbed on the plain,
and hold them with rampart, the consul, from a lofty mound observing
the Punic withdrawing from the column, and that the black cloud of war was hiding itself in the camps,
at once troubled by the panic of the sorrowing soldiery            380

inuadit cuneos subitoque pauore relaxat
iam rarescentis acies. tum uoce feroci
poscit ecum ac mediae ruit in certamina uallis.
sic ubi torrentem crepitanti grandine nimbum
inlidit terris molitus Iuppiter altas 385
fulmine nunc Alpes, nunc mixta Ceraunia caelo,
intremuere simul tellus et pontus et aether,
ipsaque commoto quatiuntur Tartara mundo.

he charges the wedges and with sudden panic relaxes
the battle-line now thinning. Then with a ferocious voice
he bids 'come with me' and rushes into the contests of the mid-valley.
thus when Jupiter, striving, strikes a storm of crackling hail
upon the lands with a thunderbolt, now the high Alps, now the Ceraunian peaks mingled with the sky, 385
the earth and the sea and the ether trembled together,
and Tartarus itself is shaken by the world disturbed.

incidit attonitis inopino turbine Poenis
haud secus improuisa lues, gelidusque sub ossa 390
peruasit miseris conspecti consulis horror.
it medius ferroque ruens densissima latum
pandit iter. clamor uario discrimine uocum
fert belli rabiem ad superos et sidera pulsat,
ceu pater Oceanus cum saeua Tethye Calpen 395

an unforeseen whirlwind fell upon the astonished Punic ranks,
no less an unprovided plague, and a cold horror of beholding the consul
pervaded to the bones of the wretched 390
Meanwhile he, rushing on amid them with sword, rends open a wide way through the thickest throng.
A shout, with a varied clash of voices, bears the raving of war to the gods above and smites the stars,
as when Father Oceanus with the savage Tethys and Calpe 395

Herculeam ferit atque exesa in uiscera montis
contortum pelagus latrantibus ingerit undis:
dant gemitum scopuli, fractasque in rupibus undas
audit Tartessos latis distermina terris,
audit non paruo diuisus gurgite Lixus.            400
     Ante omnis iaculo tacitas fallente per auras
occumbit Bogus, infaustum qui primus ad amnem
Ticini rapidam in Rutulos contorserat hastam.
ille sibi longam Clotho turbamque nepotum
crediderat uanis deceptus in alite signis.            405
sed non augurio Parcarum impellere metas
concessum cuiquam: ruit inter tela cruentis
suspiciens oculis caelum superosque reposcit
tempora promissae media iam morte senectae.
nec Bagaso exultare datum <a>ut impune relictum            410

He smites the Herculean rock and, eaten into the entrails of the mountain,
casts the convulsed sea into the barking waves:
the crags give a groan, and the waves shattered on the rocks
Tartessos hears across its broad boundaries of land,
Lixus hears, divided by no small gulf of waters.            400
     Before all, deceiving the silent airs with a javelin,
Bogus falls, he who first had hurled a swift spear from the river
Ticinum at the Rutuli. He had trusted to Clotho a long line and the crowd of descendants,
deceived by vain signs in a bird.             405
but it is not granted to any to drive the limits of the Fates by augury:
he rushes amid the bloody spears, raising his eyes and demanding heaven and the gods
for the seasons promised — old age now in the midst of death.
Nor was Bagas given to exult, left <a>unpunished            410

consulis ante oculos uita spoliasse Libonem.
laurigeris decus illud auis nauaque iuuenta
florebat, sed Massylus succiderat ensis
pubescente caput mala, properoque uirentis
delerat leto bellator barbarus annos. 415
Flaminium implorasse tamen iam morte suprema
haud frustra fuit. auulsa est nam protinus hosti
ore simul ceruix: iuuit punire feroci
uictorem exemplo <et> monstratum reddere letum.

that life had bereft the consul Libo before his eyes.
That laurelled glory, that honor, and the shiplike youthful prime
flourished, but the Massylian sword had felled him—his head just coming to manhood,
and with the green years hastening— the barbarian warrior destroyed those years with death. 415
Yet Flaminius’s having implored at the supreme death
was not for naught. For straightaway the neck was torn away and cast from the foe’s jaws:
it availed to punish the fierce victor by example and to repay him with a shown death.

Quis deus, o Musae, paribus tot funera uerbis 420
euoluat, tantisque umbris in carmine digna
quis lamenta ferat? certantis laude cadendi
primaeuos iuuenes mortisque in limine cruda
facta uirum et fixis rabiem sub pectore telis?
sternitur alternus uastis concursibus hostis, 425

Which god, O Muses, with equal words shall unfold so many funerals 420
and who shall bear lamentations in a song worthy of such mighty shades?
who will sing the firstborn youths, contending for the glory of falling,
one after another is laid low by the enemy’s vast onrushes, 425

nec spoliare uacat praedaeque aduertere mentem.
urget amor caedum, clausis dum detinet hostem
fraternum castris uulnus, funditque ruitque
nunc iaculis, nunc ense, modo inter milia consul
bellantum conspectus equo, modo Marte feroci            430
ante aquilas et signa pedes. fluit impia riuis
saguineis uallis, tumulique et concaua saxa
armorum sonitus flatusque imitantur equorum.
     Miscebat campum, membrorum in proelia portans
celsius humano robur, uisaque pauentis            435
mole gigantei uertebat corporis alas
Othrys Marmarides: lati super agmen utrumque
ingens tollebant umeri caput, hirtaque toruae
frontis caesaries et crinibus aemula barba
umbrabat rictus; squalore hinc hispida diro            440

nor is there leisure to strip off life and turn the mind to plunder.
Love of slaughter presses on, while he detains the brother's wound
within the closed camp, and pours forth and rushes
now with javelins, now with sword; now the consul amid thousands
of fighting men is seen on horseback, now with fierce Mars            430
before the eagles and standards stand the footsoldiers. A wicked stream flows
with bloody valleys, and the tumuli and hollowed rocks
imitate the sound of arms and the breathings of horses.
     Mixing the plain, bearing into battle the strength
more fiery than human, and seen wings of a giant body
Othrys and Marmarides turned from the mass of the trembling one:            435
broad shoulders each raised a huge head above the line, and the shaggy hair
of a grim brow and a beard rivaling the locks
shadowed their mouths; from these a dreadful bristling filth

et uillosa feris horrebant pectora saetis.
aspirare uiro propioremque addere Martem
haud ausum cuiquam. laxo ceu belua campo
incessebatur tutis ex agmine telis.

and their chests bristled with shaggy hairs like wild beasts.
to breathe upon a man and to bring nearer Mars no one dared.
it stalked, like a beast at large on the plain,
from the formation secure against missiles.

tandem uesanos palantum in terga ferenti 445
cum fremitu uultus tacita per nubila penna
intrauit toruum Gortynia lumen harundo
auertitque uirum. fugientis ad agmina consul
intorquet tergo iaculum, quod tegmine nudas
inrupit costas hirtoque a pectore primum 450
mucronem ostendit. rapidus conuellere temptat
qua nasci ferrum fulgenti cuspide cernit,
donec abundanter defuso sanguine late
procubuit moriens et telum uulnere pressit.

at last into the backs of the frenzied Palantes bearing on 445
with a roar the grim Gortynian shaft, through the silent wing, pierced the face’s light
and turned the man aside. the consul, as he fled toward the ranks,
hurled a javelin at his back, which through his covering burst the naked ribs
and from the bristling breast first showed the point. the swift man endeavours to pull it out
where he sees the iron born with a gleaming cusp;
until, abundantly with blood poured forth, far and wide,
he fell forward dying and pressed the weapon to the wound.

spiritus exundans uicinum puluere moto 455

a spirit overflowing, the neighboring dust stirred into motion 455

perflauit campum et nubem dispersit in auras.
Nec minor interea tumulis siluisque fremebat
diuersis Mauors, uariaque per ardua pugna
et saxa et dumi rorantes caede nitebant.
exitium trepidis letique et stragis acerbae 460
causa Sychaeus erat.

he breathed through the field and scattered the cloud into the airs.
Nor less meanwhile among the tombs and woods roared
the various Mars in different places, and through the steep places of battle
both rocks and thorny bushes, gleaming with slaughter, stood out.
destruction to the anxious, and of death and bitter carnage 460
Sychaeus was the cause.

Murranum ille eminus hasta
perculerat, quo non alius, cum bella silerent,
dulcius Oeagrios pulsabat pectine neruos.
occubuit silua in magna patriosque sub ipso
quaesiuit montis leto ac felicia Baccho 465
Aequana et Zephyro Surrentum molle salubri.
addiderat misero comitem pugnaeque ferocis
gaudebat tristi uictor nouitate Sychaeus.

He had smitten from afar with a Murranean spear,
a blow which no other, when wars were hushed,
struck sweeter the Oeagrian strings with a plectrum.
the wood fell and beneath the very native
slope of the mountain sought death and Bacchus’ blessings 465
and the level plain and the soft, healthful Surrentine Zephyr.
Sychaeus, the victor, had given the wretched man a comrade and
rejoiced, a grim victor, in the strange novelty of fierce combat.

palantis nam dum sequitur, peruaserat altam
in siluam et priscae reclinis ab ictibus ulmi 470

for while he pursued the fleeing man, he had pierced far into the lofty wood
and the trunk of an ancient elm, bent back from the blows, had yielded.470

terga tuebatur trunco frustraque relictos
Tauranus comites suprema uoce ciebat.
transegit iuuenem ac perfossis incita membris
haesit in opposito cuspis Sidonia ligno.
Quid uobis, quaenam ira deum, uel mente sinistra 475
quae sedit formido, uiri?

he was warding their backs with his trunk, and in vain Tauranus roused the comrades left behind with his last voice.
the Sidonian spear transfixed the youth, and, his limbs pierced, the point stuck in the wood opposite.
What to you, what anger of the gods, or what sinister thought 475
which fear has settled, men?

qui Marte relicto
ramorum quaesistis opem. non aequus in artis
nimirum rebus suasor metus. arguit asper
exitus euentu praui consulta timoris.

you, having left Mars,
sought the aid of branches. Fear, plainly, is no fair persuader
in matters of art. A harsh outcome proves, by event, the counsels
of perverse fear to be wrong.

annosa excelsos tendebat in aethera ramos 480
aesculus, umbrosum magnas super ardua siluas
nubibus insertans altis caput, instar (aperto
si staret campo) nemoris, lateque tenebat
frondosi nigra tellurem roboris umbra.
par iuxta quercus longum molita per aeuum 485

the aged aesculus stretched its lofty branches into the aether 480
the aesculus, casting shade above the great high woods,
thrusting its head into the high clouds, like (if it stood
open in a field) a grove, and far and wide it held
the earth with the dark shadow of its leafy strength. Nearby stood an equal quercus, wrought through a long age 485

uertice canenti proferre sub astra cacumen
diffusas patulo laxabat stipite frondes
umbrabatque coma summi fastigia montis.
huc Hennaea cohors, Triquetris quam miserat oris
rex, Arethusa, tuus, defendere nescia morti 490
dedecus et mentem nimio mutata pauore
certatim sese tulit ascendensque uicissim
pressit nutantis incerto pondere ramos.
mox alius super atque alius consistere tuto
dum certant, pars excussi (nam fragmine putri 495
ramorum et senio male fida fefellerat arbor),
pars trepidi celso inter tela cacumine pendent.

to thrust its crown beneath the stars from the singing summit
it loosened its widespread leaves on a spreading stem
and the tress shaded the pinnacle of the lofty mountain.
hither the Hennaean cohort, which the Triquetran shore had sent,
your Arethusa, rex, unskilled to defend against death 490
disgrace and the mind, changed by excessive fear,
hurried one against another and ascending in turn
pressed down the wavering branches with an uncertain weight.
soon one above and another to stand securely
while they strove, some were shaken off (for by a fragment of rotten 495
branch, and by old age the tree had treacherously deceived),
the rest of the fearful hung amid the lofty shoots at the summit.

turbatos una properans consumere peste
corripit aeratam iam dudum in bella bipennem,
deposito clipeo mutatus tela, Sychaeus. 500

hurrying together to consume the men thrown into confusion by plague
he seizes the bronze, long-ready-for-war, two-edged axe (bipennem),
his shield laid aside, his weapons changed, Sychaeus. 500

incumbunt sociae dextrae, magnoque fragore
pulsa gemit crebris succumbens ictibus arbos.
fluctuat infelix concusso stipite turba,
ceu, Zephyrus quatit antiquos ubi flamine lucos,
fronde super tremuli uix tota cacuminis haerens 505
iactatur nido pariter nutante uolucris.
procubuit tandem multa deuicta securi
suffugium infelix miseris et inhospita quercus
elisitque uirum spatiosa membra ruina.

the sisterly right hands lean upon it, and the tree, beaten with great din,
groans, succumbing to repeated strokes. The unhappy throng rocks on the shaken trunk,
as when Zephyr shakes the ancient groves with his blast,
scarcely the whole summit clinging with leaf to the trembling top 505
is tossed, the nest likewise flung by the wavering bird. At last, conquered by many blows,
the unhappy oak, an ill refuge and inhospitable to the wretched,
collapsed, and its spacious ruin crushed the man's limbs.

Inde aliae cladum facies. contermina taedis 510
conlucet rapidoque inuoluitur aesculus igni.
iamque inter frondes arenti robore gliscens
uerticibus saeuis torquet Vulcanus anhelos
cum feruore globos flammarum et <c>ulmina torret.

Thence other faces of ruin. Neighboring torches gleam 510
and the horse‑chestnut is wrapped in swift fire.
and now among the leaves, its drying trunk swelling,
Vulcan, with savage breath, twists forth panting spheres
of flame and scorches the summits.

nec tela interea cessant. semusta gementum 515

nor meanwhile do the weapons cease. a half-burnt groan 515

atque amplexa cadunt ardentis corpora ramos.
Haec inter miseranda uirum certamina consul
ecce aderat uoluens iram exitiumque Sychaeo.
at iuuenis dubio tantae discrimine pugnae
occupat euentum telo temptare priorem. 520
cui medio leuiter clipeo stetit aeris in ora
cuspis et oppositas uetita est tramittere crates.

and clasping, the burning branches fall with their blazing bodies.
Among these pitiable contests of men, behold the consul was present, turning his ire and destruction upon Sychaeus.
but the young man, in the dubious crisis of so great a battle, takes the occasion to try the outcome first with his weapon. 520
to whom the bronze point lightly stood upon the middle rim of the shield, and was forbidden to pass through the opposing wickerwork.

sed non et consul misso concredere telo
fortunam optatae caedis parat, at latus ense
haurit: nec crudae tardarunt tegmina parmae. 525
labitur infelix atque adpetit ore cruento
tellurem expirans. tum diffundente per artus
frigore se Stygio manantem in uiscera mortem
accipit et longo componit lumina somno.
Atque ea dum uariis permixtus tristia Mauors 530

but the consul too, trusting the cast weapon,
prepares the fortune of the wished slaughter, yet the sword drinks his flank: nor did the shields’ rude coverings delay. 525
the unlucky man slips and, with a bloody mouth, seeks the earth, breathing out. Then, the Stygian cold spreading through his limbs,
he receives into his viscera the flowing death and composes his eyes in a long sleep.
And while Mars, mingled with various gloomy things 530

casibus alternat, iam castris Mago relictis,
iam Libyae ductor properantia signa citato
raptabant cursu et cessata reponere hauebant
tempora caede uirum ac multo pensare cruore.
it globus intorquens nigranti turbine nubem 535
pulueris, et surgit sublatis campus harenis,
quaque ferens gressum flectit uestigia ductor,
undanti circum tempestas acta procella
uoluitur atque altos operit caligine montis.
occubuere femur Fontanus, Buta canorum 540
transfixi guttur, pressoque e uulnere cuspis
prospexit terga.

he alternates by fortunes; now with Magus left in the camp,
now the Libyan leader, hastening, snatched up the standards with swift
course and, when their time for slaughter was ceased, had to replace
the men and to weigh out with much blood. The throng, whirling, casts a darkening cloud 535
of dust, and the plain rises with sands lifted high,
and wherever the leader sets his step he turns the traces of his feet,
and the storm driven around by the surging blast
is rolled along and covers the high mountains with gloom. They fell: Fontanus at the thigh, Buta of the hounds 540
their throats pierced, and from the pressed wound the spear
looked out through their backs.

hunc tristes luxere Fregellae
multiplicem proauis, hunc mater Anagnia fleuit.
haud dispar fortuna tibi, Laeuine, sed auso
non eadem. neque enim Tyrio concurrere regi 545

the sorrowing Fregellae bewailed him;
his mother of Anagnia wept him.
Fortune not dissimilar to you, Laevius, but for the daring
not the same. For it was not meet to engage the Tyrian king 545

temptas, sed lectus par ad certamen Ithemon
Autololum moderator erat; quem poplite caeso
dum spoliat, grauis immiti cum turbine costas
fraxinus inrupit, conlapsaque membra sub ictu
hoste super fuso subita cecidere ruina.            550
     [Nec Sidicina cohors defit. Viriasius armat
mille uiros, nulli uictus uel ponere castra
uel iunxisse ratem duroque resoluere muros
ariete et in turrim subitos immittere pontis.]
                             *                                                 554a
     Quem postquam Libyae ductor uirtute feroci
exultare uidet (namque illi uulnere praeceps
terga dabat leuibus diffisus Arauricus armis),
acrius hoc, pulchro Mauorte accensus in iram
et dignum sese ratus in certamina saeuo
comminus ire uiro, referenti e corpore telum            560
aduolat et fodiens pectus: 'Laudande laborum,
quisquis es, haud alia decuit te occumbere dextra.
ad manis leti perfer decus.

you are tried, but chosen equal to the contest was Ithemon;
Autololum was the moderator; whom, with the poplite cut,
while he stripped him, a heavy ash, with a savage whirlwind,
burst in against his ribs, and his limbs collapsed under the blow,
the enemy overthrown, fell by sudden ruin.            550
     [Nor does the Sidican cohort fail. Viriasius arms
a thousand men, none to be conquered nor to pitch camp
nor to join a ship nor to unloose hard walls
with a battering-ram and to send men suddenly onto the tower by bridge.]
                             *                                                 554a
     Whom after the Libyan leader saw exulting in fierce virtue
(for to him, headlong from his wound, Arauricus was turning his back,
trusting in his light arms),
the more sharply roused by this, Mauortes, inflamed into anger
and thinking himself worthy to enter into combats with the savage man
at close quarters, when the man was returning a spear from his body,            560
flew at him and, plunging, pierced his chest: 'O praiseworthy of labors,
whoever you are, no other right hand would have been fitting for you to fall by.
Bring to the manes the glory of death.

Itala gentis
ni tibi origo foret, uita donatus abires.'
hinc Fadum petit et ueterem bellare Labicum, 565

Of the Italian people—if that origin were not yours, you, having been granted life, would depart.'
From here he makes for Fadus and to wage war upon ancient Labicum, 565

cui Siculis quondam terris congressus Hamilcar
clarum spectato dederat certamine nomen.
immemor annorum seniumque oblitus in arma
ille quidem cruda mente et uiridissimus irae
ibat, sed uani frigentem in Marte senectam 570
prodebant ictus: stipula crepitabat inani
ignis iners cassamque dabat sine robore flammam.
quem postquam accepit patrio monstrante superbum
armigero Poenum ductor, 'Certamina primae
hic lue nunc' inquit 'pugnae: te notus Hamilcar 575
hac trahit ad manis dextra.' tum librat ab aure
intorquens iaculum et uersantem in uulnere sese
transigit.

to whom, having once met in the Sicilian lands, Hamilcar
had given a famous name by a contest seen. Forgetful of years and of senescence, and heedless in arms,
that man indeed with a raw mind and green with anger
went, but the blows betrayed a Mars‑cold old age 570
the straw crackled in vain, the fire sluggish and gave a hollow flame without vigour.
After a proud Carthaginian armiger showed him to a leader, when he received him, 'Here now,' he said, 'the first contests
of the fight: to you, renowned Hamilcar, 575
this right hand delivers to the shades.' Then he poises from the shoulder
whirling the javelin and, turning, transfixes himself in the wound.

extracta foedauit cuspide sanguis
canitiem et longos finiuit morte labores.
nec minus Herminium primis obtruncat in armis, 580

blood, drawn forth by the spear‑point, defiled his grayness and finished his long labors with death.
nor less he slays Herminius in the first onset of arms, 580

adsuetum, Trasimenne, tuos praedantibus hamis
exhaurire lacus patriaeque alimenta senectae
ducere suspenso per stagna iacentia lino.
interea exanimem maesti super arma Sychaeum
portabant Poeni corpusque in castra ferebant. 585
quos ubi conspexit tristi clamore ruentis
ductor, praesago percussus pectora luctu,
'Quinam' inquit 'dolor, o socii, quemue ira deorum
eripuit nobis? num te, dulcedine laudis
flagrantem et nimio primi Mauortis amore 590
atra, Sychaee, dies properato funere carpsit?'
utque dato gemitu lacrimae adsensere ferentum
et dictus pariter caedis maerentibus auctor,
'Cerno' ait 'aduerso pulchrum sub pectore uulnus
cuspidis Iliacae.

accustomed, Trasimene, to have your waters drained by predatory hooks
and to draw the nourishment of his native old age, suspended, through the lying pools by a line.
meanwhile the Carthaginians, sorrowful, were carrying lifeless Sychaeus over his arms
and were bearing the corpse into the camp. 585
whom when the leader espied rushing with a mournful cry,
struck in his breast by a presaging grief, he said, 'What pain, O comrades, or what wrath of the gods
has snatched him from us? Has some dark day, O Sychaeus, seized you — burning with the sweetness of praise
and with an excessive love of prime Mars — and reaped you with a hasty death?'
and as, with a single groan given, the tears of those bearing him consented
and he who had been the very author of the slaughter sorrowed with them, 'I see,' he said, 'a fair wound beneath the breast
from an Iliac spear.'

dignus Carthagine, dignus 595

worthy of Carthage, worthy 595

Hasdrubale ad manis ibis, nec te optima mater
dissimilem lugebit auis, Stygiaue sub umbra
degenerem cernens noster uitabit Hamilcar.
at mihi Flaminius, tam maesti causa doloris,
morte sua minuat luctus. haec pompa sequetur            600
exequias, seroque emptum uolet impia Roma
non uiolasse mei corpus mucrone Sychaei.'
     Sic memorans torquet fumantem ex ore uaporem,
iraque anhelatum proturbat pectore murmur,
ut multo accensis feruore exuberat undis            605
clausus ubi exusto liquor indignatur aeno.

To the manes you will go, Hasdrubal, nor will your excellent mother,
seeing you unlike her bird and degenerate under Stygian shade,
lament you; our Hamilcar will shun you. But for me, Flaminius, so great a cause of sorrow,
by his death will diminish my mourning. This pomp will attend            600
the funerals, and impious Rome, bought late, will wish that she had not violated my body
with the blade of Sychaeus.'
     Thus speaking he twists the steaming vapor from his mouth,
and wrath from his panting breast drives forth a murmuring, breathy sound,
so that, with passion many times kindled, he overflows in waves            605
where liquid, confined in a scorched cauldron, grows indignant.

tum praeceps ruit in medios solumque fatigat
Flaminium incessens. nec dicto segnius ille
bella capessebat, propiorque insurgere Mauors
coeperat, et campo iunctus iam stabat uterque, 610

then headlong he rushes into the midst and presses down Flaminius on the ground, pursuing him. Nor less slowly than in word did that man seize upon wars, and Mavors began to rise up nearer, and now both stood joined on the field, 610

cum subitus per saxa fragor, motique repente,
horrendum, colles et summa cacumina totis
intremuere iugis. nutant in uertice siluae
pinifero fractaeque ruunt super agmina rupes.
immugit penitus conuulsis ima cauernis 615
dissiliens tellus nec paruos rumpit hiatus,
atque umbras late Stygias immensa uorago
faucibus ostendit patulis, manesque profundi
antiquum expauere diem.

when a sudden crash ran through the rocks, and, moved abruptly, dreadful, the hills and their highest summits trembled along whole ridges.
the forests tottered at their crowns, and pine-trees and shattered cliffs rushed down over the ranks.
deeply roared the earth from convulsed caves, 615
the bursting ground hurled open not small chasms, and a vast Stygian chasm showed its gaping jaws far and wide, and the shades of the profound were struck with fear at the ancient day.

lacus ater in altos
sublatus montis et sede excussus auita 620
lauit Tyrrhenas ignota aspergine siluas.
iamque eadem populos magnorumque oppida regum
tempestas et dira lues strauitque tulitque.
ac super haec reflui pugnarunt montibus amnes,
et retro fluctus torsit mare.

the black lake was lifted into the high mountains
upborne from the mount and shaken from its ancestral seat 620
and with unknown spray washed the Tyrrhenian woods.
and now the same storm and dire pestilence laid low and bore away
peoples and the towns of mighty kings.
and over this the rivers, turned back, fought in the mountains,
and the sea hurled its waves backward.

monte relicto 625

the mountain left behind 625

Apenninicolae fugere ad litora Fauni.
pugnabat tamen (heu belli uecordia!) miles,
iactatus titubante solo, tremebundaque tela,
subducta tellure ruens, torquebat in hostem,
donec pulsa uagos cursus ad litora uertit 630
mentis inops stagnisque inlata est Daunia pubes.
quis consul terga increpitans (nam turbine motae
ablatus terrae inciderat): 'Quid deinde, quid, oro,
restat, io, profugis?

Apennine-dwellers fled to the shores of Faunus.
yet the soldier fought (alas the madness of war!),
tossed on the tottering soil, and with quivering spears,
the ground withdrawn beneath him, falling, hurled them at the enemy,
until, driven off, he turned his wandering course to the shores 630
mindless, and the Daunian youth were borne into the pools.
who, the consul, reproaching their backs (for, shaken by the whirlwind,
having been swept from the land, he had fallen): 'What then, what, I pray,
remains, io, for the fugitives?'

uos en ad moenia Romae
ducitis Hannibalem, uos in Tarpeia Tonantis 635
tecta faces ferrumque datis. sta, miles, et acris
disce ex me pugnas, uel si pugnare negatum,
disce mori. dabit exemplum non uile futuris
Flaminius.

Behold—you lead Hannibal to the walls of Rome
you set torches and sword on the Tarpeian roofs of the Thunderer 635
Stand, soldier, and learn fierce battles from me, or if to fight is denied,
learn to die. Flaminius will give a not unworthy example to those to come.

ne terga Libys, ne Cantaber umquam
consulis aspiciat. solus, si tanta libido 640

let not a Libyan behold the consul’s back, nor let a Cantabrian ever gaze upon it.
alone, if so great a desire 640

est uobis rabiesque fugae, tela omnia solus
pectore consumo et moriens fugiente per auras
hac anima uestras reuocabo ad proelia dextras.'
     Dumque ea commemorat densosque obit obuius hostis,
aduolat ora ferus mentemque Ducarius. acri            645
nomen erat gentile uiro, fusisque cateruis
Boiorum quondam patriis antiqua gerebat
uulnera barbaricae mentis, noscensque superbi
uictoris uultus 'Tune' inquit 'maximus ille
Boiorum terror? libet hoc cognoscere telo,            650
corporis an tanti manet de uulnere sanguis.

there is for you both madness and flight, you alone
consume all the weapons with your breast and, dying as you flee through the airs,
with this soul I will recall your right hands to battles.'
     And while he recounts these things and passes the dense foe in his path,
the fierce Ducarius darts at his face and mind. Acri            645
that was the man's gentile name; having routed the scattering bands
of the Boii once, he bore the ancient wounds of a fatherland spirit,
and, recognizing the proud face of the victor, 'Are you then,' he said, 'that greatest
terror of the Boii? I would fain learn with this spear,            650
whether from so great a wound blood yet remains of the body.'

nec uos paeniteat, populares, fortibus umbris
hoc mactare caput: nostros hic curribus egit
insistens uictos alta ad Capitolia patres.
ultrix hora uocat.' pariter tunc undique fusis 655

nor may it repent you, O populace, to sacrifice this head to the brave shades:
here he drove our fathers, pressing the conquered with chariots to the high Capitoline. 'The avenging hour calls.' equally then on every side with the ranks routed 655

obruitur telis, nimboque ruente per auras
contectus nulli dextra iactare reliquit
Flaminium cecidisse sua. nec pugna perempto
ulterior ductore fuit. namque agmine denso
primores iuuenum, laeua ob discrimina Martis 660
infensi superis dextrisque et cernere Poenum
uictorem plus morte rati, super ocius omnes
membra ducis stratosque artus certamine magno
telaque corporaque et non fausto Marte cruentas
iniecere manus.

is overwhelmed by missiles, and by a storm rushing through the airs
covered, he left to no one the throwing of his right hand — that Flaminius had fallen.
Nor was there another leader after the man slain in battle. For in the dense column
the chiefs of the youths, on the left by the boundary of Mars 660
hostile to the gods above and to the right hands, and deeming the Poenus
victor more by death, forthwith above all upon the limbs of the leader and his prostrate frame
in a great contest they hurled weapons and bodies, and with ill-omened Mars bloody
hands they plunged in.

sic densi caedis aceruo 665
ceu tumulo texere uirum. tum, strage per undas
per siluas sparsa perque altam sanguine uallem,
in medias fratre inuectus comitante cateruas
caesorum iuuenum Poenus 'Quae uulnera cernis,
quas mortes!' inquit 'premit omnis dextera ferrum, 670

thus, with a dense heap of slaughter they covered the man as with a tomb 665
then, with slaughter scattered over the waves, through the woods and through the valley deep with blood,
borne into the midst, his brother accompanying, among the bands of the slain youths, the Poenus, 'What wounds do you behold,
what deaths!' he cries, 'every right hand presses the iron,' 670

armatusque iacet seruans certamina miles.
hos, en, hos obitus nostrae spectate cohortes!
fronte minae durant, et stant in uultibus irae.

and the armed soldier lies, keeping watch over the combats.
behold these, behold these the deaths of our cohort!
threats endure upon the brow, and wrath stands in their faces.

et uereor, ne, quae tanta creat indole tellus
magnanimos fecunda uiros, huic fata dicarint 675
imperium, atque ipsis deuincat cladibus orbem.'
Sic fatus cessit nocti; finemque dedere
caedibus infusae subducto sole tenebrae.

and I fear, lest the fates assign to this one the empire for which that earth, so fertile in great character, begets magnanimous men, and bind the world with disasters upon themselves. 675
thus having spoken he withdrew into the night; and darkness, the sun being withdrawn, gave an end to the slaughters poured forth.