Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Iam, Tartessiaco quos soluerat aequore Titan
in noctem diffusus, equos iungebat Eois
litoribus, primique nouo Phaethonte retecti
Seres lanigeris repetebant uellera lucis,
et foeda ante oculos strages, propiusque patebat 5
insani Mauortis opus: simul arma uirique
ac mixtus sonipes dextraeque in uulnere caesi
haerentes hostis, passim clipeique iubaeque
atque artus trunci capitum fractusque iacebat
ossibus in duris ensis. nec cernere deerat 10
frustra seminecum quaerentia lumina caelum.
tum spumans sanie lacus et fluitantia summo
aeternum tumulis orbata cadauera ponto.

Now Titan, who had loosed his horses on the Tartessian main, diffused into night, was yoking his horses at the Eastern shores; and the Seres, first laid bare by the new Phaethon, were seeking again the fleeces of the wool-bearing light, and the foul carnage was before the eyes, and nearer lay open the work of mad Mavors: at once both arms and men, and the war-steed mingled, and the right hands of the enemy, hewn off, clinging in the wound; everywhere both shields and crests, and limbs, headless trunks, and a sword broken lay in the hard bones. Nor was there lacking to be seen eyes half-dead, vainly seeking the sky. Then a lake foaming with gore, and on the surface floating corpses, forever bereft of tombs by the sea.

Nec tamen aduersis ruerat tota Itala uirtus.
Bruttius ingenti miserandae caedis aceruo, 15

Nor yet had all Italian valor collapsed before adversities.
Bruttius, upon a huge heap of pitiable slaughter, 15

non aequum ostentans confosso corpore Martem,
extulerat uix triste caput truncosque trahebat
per stragem neruis interlabentibus artus,
tenuis opum, non patre nitens linguaue, sed asper
ense, nec e Volsca quisquam uir gente redemit 20
plus aeui nec<e> magnanima. puer addere sese
pubescente gena castris optarat et acri
Flaminio spectatus erat, cum Celtica uictor
obrueret bello diuis melioribus arma.
inde honor ac sacrae custodia Marte sub omni 25
alitis: hinc causam nutriuit gloria leti.

displaying unfair Mars with his body run through,
he had scarcely raised his sad head and was dragging his maimed
limbs through the carnage, the sinews slipping between the joints,
meager in resources, leaning neither on father nor on tongue, but rough
with the sword; nor did any man of Volscian stock, nor even the high‑souled, redeem 20
a longer span of life. As a boy, with down coming on his cheek, he had wished
to attach himself to the camps, and he had been approved by keen
Flaminius, when, a victor with better gods, he was overwhelming the Celtic
arms in war. Thence came honor and the guardianship, in every sort of Mars,
of the sacred bird: from this his glory nourished the cause of death. 25

namque necis certus, captae prohibere nequiret
cum Poenos aquilae, postquam subsidere fata
uiderat et magna pugnam inclinare ruina,
occulere interdum et terrae mandare parabat. 30

for indeed, resolved on death, when he could not prevent the Punic foe from taking the eagle-standard,
after he had seen the fates subside and the battle lean with a great ruin,
he was preparing to conceal it for a while and to commit it to the earth. 30

sed subitis uictus telis labentia membra
prostrauit super ac mentita morte tegebat.
uerum ubi lux nocte e Stygia miseroque sopore
reddita, uicini de strage cadaueris hasta
erigitur soloque uigens conamine late            35
stagnantem caede et facilem discedere terram
ense fodit, clausamque aquilae infelicis adorans
effigiem, palmis languentibus aequat harenas.
supremus fessi tenuis tum cessit in auras
halitus et magnam misit sub Tartara mentem.            40
    Iuxta cernere erat meritae sibi poscere carmen
uirtutis sacram rabiem.

but overpowered by sudden missiles he cast his slipping limbs down upon it and was covering it with a feigned death.
but when light was restored from Stygian night and wretched sleep, he is raised by the spear of a nearby corpse from the carnage,
and, vigorous with a groundward effort, he digs with his sword the earth spread far, stagnant with slaughter and easy to part,            35
and, adoring the enclosed effigy of the ill-fated eagle, with languishing palms he levels the sands.
then the last thin breath of the weary one withdrew into the airs and he sent his great mind beneath to Tartarus.            40
    Nearby it was to be seen—the sacred frenzy of valor demanding for itself a song deserved.

Laeuinus, ab alto
Priuerno, uitis Latiae praesignis honore,
exanimum Nasamona Tyren super ipse iacebat
exanimis: non hasta uiro, non ensis: in artis 45

Laevinus, from lofty Privernum,
preeminent with the honor of the Latian vine,
himself, lifeless, lay above the lifeless Nasamonian Tyren:
not spear for the man, not sword: by arts 45

abstulerat Fors arma. tamen certamine nudo
inuenit Marti telum dolor. ore cruento
pugnatum, ferrique uicem dens praebuit irae.

Fortune had taken away the arms; yet in naked combat grief found a weapon for Mars.
With a bloody mouth the fighting was done, and the tooth supplied to wrath the place of iron.

iam lacerae nares foedataque lumina morsu,
iam truncum raptis caput auribus, ipsaque diris            50
frons depasta modis, et sanguine abundat hiatus;
nec satias, donec mandentia linqueret ora
spiritus et plenos rictus mors atra teneret.
    Talia dum praebet tristis miracula uirtus,
diuerso interea fugientes saucia turba            55
iactantur casu siluisque per auia caecis
ablati furtim multo cum uulnere solos
per noctem metantur agros. sonus omnis et aura
exterrent pennaque leui commota uolucris.

now the lacerated nostrils and the eyes defiled by a bite,
now the head, with ears snatched away, a stump, and the very brow            50
devoured in dire modes, and the gaping opening abounds with blood;
nor is there satiety, until the breath left the champing mouth
and black death held the gaping jaws full.
    While grim valor offers such miracles,
meanwhile the wounded crowd, fleeing in diverse directions,            55
are tossed by mischance and through pathless, blind woods,
stolen away stealthily with many a wound, alone they measure out
the fields through the night. Every sound and breeze terrify them,
and even a bird, stirred with a light wing.

non sopor aut menti requies. agit asper acerba 60

no sleep nor repose for the mind. a harsh force agitates bitter 60

nunc Mago attonitos, nunc arduus Hannibal hasta.
    Serranus, clarum nomen, tua, Regule, proles,
qui longum semper fama gliscente per aeuum
infidis seruasse fidem memorabere Poenis,
flore nitens primo, patriis heu Punica bella            65
auspiciis ingressus erat, miseramque parentem
et dulcis tristi repetebat sorte penates
saucius. haud illi comitum super ullus, et atris
uulneribus qui ferret opem: per deuia, fractae
innitens hastae furtoque ereptus opacae            70
noctis, iter tacitum Perusina ferebat in arua.
hic fessus parui, quaecumque ibi fata darentur,
limina pulsabat tecti, cum membra cubili
euoluens non tarda Marus (uetus ille parentis
miles et haud surda tractarat proelia fama)            75

now Mago [assails] the thunderstruck, now towering Hannibal with his spear.
    Serranus, a bright name, your offspring, Regulus,
who will be remembered, while fame swells ever through a long age,
to have kept faith with the faithless Punics,
shining in his first flower, alas, under a father’s auspices the Punic wars            65
he had entered, and he was seeking again his wretched parent
and his sweet household gods in a sad lot,
wounded. No one at all of his companions remained to him, and none
to bring aid to his dark wounds: along the byways, leaning
on a broken spear and snatched away by the stealth of dark            70
night, he was bearing a silent journey into the Perusine fields.
Here, weary, he was knocking at the small threshold of a roof, whatever fates might be granted there,
when, rolling his limbs from the couch not slowly, Marus (that old soldier
of his father, and, as fame not deaf had it, he had handled battles)            75

procedit renouata focis et paupere Vesta
lumina praetendens. utque ora agnouit et aegrum
uulneribus diris ac, lamentabile uisu,
lapsantis fultum truncata cuspide gressus,
funesti rumore mali iam saucius aures: 80
'Quod scelus, o nimius uitae nimiumque ferendis
aduersis genitus, cerno? te, maxime, uidi,
ductorum, cum captiuo Carthaginis arcem
terreres uultu, crimen culpamque Tonantis,
occidere atque hausi, quem non Sidonia tecta 85
expulerint euersa meo de corde, dolorem.

he advances, with the hearths renovated and with poor Vesta,
presenting lights. And when he recognized the face and the ailing one
with dire wounds, and—lamentable to behold—
his slipping steps propped by a truncated spear-point,
already wounded in his ears by the rumor of the funereal evil: 80
'What crime, O you excessive for life and born too greatly for bearing
adversities, do I behold? you, greatest of leaders, I saw,
when with captive countenance you were terrifying the citadel
of Carthage—the crime and blame of the Thunderer—
I fell and I drank in the pain which not even the Sidonian roofs,
85
overthrown, would drive from my heart.'

estis ubi en iterum, superi? dat pectora ferro
Regulus, ac stirpem tantae periura recidit
surgentem Carthago domus.' inde aegra reponit
membra toro, nec ferre rudis medicamina (quippe 90

where are you, lo, again, gods above? Regulus gives his breast to the steel
and perjured Carthage cuts down the rising stock of so great a house.' thence he sets back
his sick limbs on the couch, and, unpracticed to administer medicaments (indeed 90

callebat bellis) nunc purgat uulnera lympha,
nunc mulcet sucis. ligat inde ac uellera molli
circumdat tactu et torpentis mitigat artus.
exin cura seni tristem depellere fesso
ore sitim et parca uires accersere mensa. 95
quae postquam properata, sopor sua munera tandem
applicat et mitem fundit per membra quietem.

she was practiced in wars) now she purges the wounds with water,
now she soothes with juices. Then she binds and with fleeces she
encircles with a gentle touch and mitigates the torpid limbs.
next the care is, for the old man, to dispel from his weary
mouth the grim thirst and to summon strength with a sparing table. 95
after these things were hastened through, Sleep at last applies
its own gifts and pours gentle quiet through his limbs.

necdum exorta dies, Marus instat uulneris aestus:
expertis medicare modis gratumque teporem
exutus senium trepida pietate ministrat.            100
    Hic iuuenis maestos tollens ad sidera uultus
cum gemitu lacrimisque simul: 'Si culmina nondum
Tarpeia exosus damnasti sceptra Quirini,
extremas Italum res Ausoniamque ruentem
aspice,' ait 'genitor, tandemque aduerte procellis            105

and not yet had day arisen, the heat of the wound presses: Marus
with expert modes to medicate and a welcome warmth,
having shed senility, ministers with trembling piety.            100
    Here the young man, lifting his sad countenance to the stars,
with a groan and tears together, says: ‘If the Tarpeian
summits you have not yet, in hatred, condemned with the scepters of Quirinus,
look upon the extremity of the affairs of the Italians and Ausonia rushing to ruin,
father,’ he says, ‘and at length turn your attention to the tempests.’            105

aequos Iliacis oculos. amisimus Alpes,
nec deinde aduersis modus est: Ticinus et ater
stragibus Eridanus, tuque insignite tropaeis
Sidoniis Trebia et tellus lacrimabilis Arni.
sed quid ego haec?

cast kindly eyes upon the Ilians. We have lost the Alps,
nor thereafter is there measure to our adversities: the Ticinus and the Eridanus, black with slaughters,
and you, Trebia, distinguished with Sidonian trophies,
and the lamentable land of the Arno.
but why do I say these things?

grauior quanto uis ecce malorum!            110
uidi crescentis Trasimenni caedibus undas,
prostrataque uirum mole inter tela cadentem
uidi Flaminium. testor, mea numina, manes
dignam me poenae tum nobilitate paternae
strage hostis quaesisse necem, ni tristia letum,            115
ut quondam patri, nobis quoque fata negassent.'
    Cetera ~aceruantem questu lenire laborans
effatur senior: 'Patrio, fortissime, ritu
quicquid adest duri et rerum inclinata feramus.
talis lege deum cliuoso tramite uitae            120

graver, behold, by how much is the force of ills!            110
I saw the waves of Trasimene swelling with slaughters,
and, the mass of men laid low, amid the missiles falling,
I saw Flaminius. I call to witness, my numina, the Manes,
that then, by my paternal nobility, I sought a death
worthy of penalty by the slaughter of the foe, if the grim fates had not denied death,            115
as once to my father, to us also.'
    The elder, striving to soothe him as he heaped up the rest in lament,
speaks forth: 'In the ancestral rite, most brave one, let us bear
whatever hardship is at hand and the downturn of affairs.
such is, by the law of the gods, the path of life on a slope            120

per uarios praeceps casus rota uoluitur aeui.
sat tibi, sat magna et totum uulgata per orbem
stant documenta domus: sacer ille et numine nullo
inferior, tuus ille parens decora alta parauit
restando aduersis nec uirtutem exuit ullam 125
ante reluctantis liquit quam spiritus artus.
uix puerile mihi tempus confecerat aetas,
cum primo malas signabat Regulus aeuo.

through various headlong disasters the wheel of time is rolled.
enough for you, enough and great, and broadcast through the whole world
stand the proofs of the house: that sacred sire of yours, inferior to no numen,
prepared high honors by withstanding adversities, nor did he divest himself of any virtue 125
before his breath left his resisting limbs. Scarcely had age completed for me my boyish time,
when Regulus, in my earliest season, was marking my cheeks.

accessi comes, atque omnis sociauimus annos,
donec dis Italae uisum est extinguere lumen 130
gentis, in egregio cuius sibi pectore sedem
ceperat alma Fides mentemque amplexa tenebat.
ille ensem nobis magnorum hunc instar honorum
uirtutisque ergo dedit et, sordentia fumo
quae cernis nunc, frena (sed est argenteus ollis 135

I came as a companion, and we united all our years,
until it seemed to the gods to extinguish the light of the Italian people 130
of the clan, in whose outstanding breast kindly Faith had taken a seat
and, having embraced his mind, held it. He gave to us this sword as the counterpart of great honors
and as a reward for valor, and the reins which you now see begrimed with smoke
(but it is silver on the cheek-pieces 135

fulgor). nec cuiquam Marus est post talia dona
non praelatus eques. uerum superauit honores
omnis hasta meos. cui me libare Lyaei
quod cernis latices, dignum cognoscere causam.

gleam). nor, after such gifts, is Marus an equestrian not preferred above anyone.
but the spear has surpassed all my honors.
to which you see me libate the Lyaean waters,
it is worthy to know the cause.

    Turbidus arentis lento pede sulcat harenas            140
Bagrada, non ullo Libycis in finibus amne
uictus limosas extendere latius undas
et stagnante uado patulos inuoluere campos.
hic studio laticum, quorum est haud prodiga tellus,
per ripas laeti saeuis consedimus aruis.            145
lucus iners iuxta Stygium pallentibus umbris
seruabat sine sole nemus, crassusque per auras
halitus erumpens taetrum expirabat odorem.
intus dira domus curuoque immanis in antro
sub terra specus et tristes sine luce tenebrae.            150

    The turbid Bagrada with slow foot furrows the arid sands            140
not by any river within the Libyan borders outdone in extending its muddy waves more widely and, with a stagnant shoal, in enwrapping the outspread plains.
here, in zeal for waters—of which the land is by no means prodigal— we gladly settled along the banks in the harsh fields.            145
a sluggish grove nearby preserved a sunless woodland with Stygian, pallid shades, and a thick exhalation, bursting through the air, breathed out a loathsome odor.
within, a dreadful dwelling, and beneath the earth a monstrous cavern in a curved cave, and gloomy darkness without light.            150

horror mente redit. monstrum exitiabile et ira
telluris genitum, cui par uix uiderit aetas
ulla uirum, serpens centum porrectus in ulnas
letalem ripam et lucos habitabat Auernos.
ingluuiem immensi uentris grauidamque uenenis 155
aluum deprensi satiabant fonte leones
aut acta ad fluuium torrenti lampade solis
armenta et tractae foeda grauitate per auras
ac tabe adflatus uolucres.

horror returns to mind. a death-dooming monster, begotten by the wrath
of Earth, to which scarcely any age has seen a man equal,
a serpent stretched to a hundred cubits
inhabited the lethal bank and the Avernian groves.
the gluttony of its immense belly and its paunch pregnant with poisons 155
lions caught at the spring would sate,
or herds driven to the river by the torrential torch of the sun,
and birds drawn through the air by the foul heaviness
and taint of its breath.

semesa iacebant
ossa solo informi dape quae repletus et asper 160
uastatis gregibus nigro ructarat in antro.
isque ubi feruenti concepta incendia pastu
gurgite mulcebat rapido et spumantibus undis,
nondum etiam toto demersus corpore in amnem
iam caput aduersae ponebat margine ripae. 165

half-eaten lay the bones on the shapeless soil, the banquet which, gorged and grim, after the herds were devastated, he had belched out in the black cavern. 160
and when he would soothe the fires conceived by the seething feeding with the swift surge and foaming waves,
not yet even with his whole body submerged in the river,
already he would place his head on the margin of the opposite bank. 165

imprudens tantae pestis gradiebar, Aquino
Apenninicola atque Vmbro comitatus Auente:
scire nemus faciemque loci explorare libebat.
iamque propinquantum tacitus penetrauit in artus
horror et occulto riguerunt frigore membra. 170
intramus tamen et Nymphas numenque precamur
gurgitis ignoti trepidosque et multa pauentis
arcano gressus audemus credere luco.
ecce e uestibulo primisque e faucibus antri
Tartareus turbo atque insano saeuior Euro 175
spiritus erumpit, uastoque e gurgite fusa
tempestas oritur, mixtam stridore procellam
Cerbereo torquens.

unwitting of so great a pestilence I was walking, accompanied by Avente, an Apennine-dweller of Aquino and an Umbrian:
to know the grove and to explore the face of the place was pleasing.
and now, as we were drawing near, a silent horror penetrated into my limbs
and my members stiffened with hidden frigidity. 170
nevertheless we enter and we pray the Nymphs and the numen of the unknown whirlpool,
and, though alarmed and greatly fearing, we dare to entrust our steps
to the secret grove. behold, from the vestibule and from the first jaws of the cave
a Tartarean whirlwind and a blast fiercer than the insane Eurus
bursts forth, and from the vast gulf, poured out, a tempest arises, twisting a storm mixed with a Cerberean screech.175

pauefacti clade uicissim
aspicimus. resonare solum, tellusque moueri,
atque antrum ruere, et uisi procedere manes. 180

terrified by the disaster in turn
we behold. the ground to resound, and the earth to be moved,
and the cave to collapse, and the manes seemed to proceed. 180

quantis armati caelum petiere Gigantes
anguibus, aut quantus Lernae lassauit in undis
Amphitryoniaden serpens, qualisque comantis
auro seruauit ramos Iunonius anguis:
tantus disiecta tellure sub astra coruscum            185
extulit adsurgens caput atque in nubila primam
dispersit saniem et caelum foedauit hiatu.
diffugimus tenuemque metu conamur anheli
tollere clamorem frustra: nam sibila totum
implebant nemus. at subita formidine caecus            190
et facti damnandus Auens (sed fata trahebant)
antiquae quercus ingenti robore sese
occulit, infandum si posset fallere monstrum.
uix egomet credo: spiris <c>ingentibus arte
arboris abstraxit molem penitusque reuulsam            195

with how great snakes, armed, the Giants sought the heavens,
or how great the serpent of Lerna wearied the Amphitryoniad in the waves,
and of what sort the Iunonian snake guarded the gold-tressed
branches: so mighty, with the earth thrown asunder, up toward the stars the flashing            185
head he raised as he surged up, and into the clouds he first
scattered his sanies and defiled the sky with his gaping maw.
we scatter in flight and in panting fear we try to lift
a thin shout, in vain: for hisses were filling
the whole grove. But, blind with sudden dread and to be condemned            190
for the deed, Auens (but the fates were dragging) hid himself
in an ancient oak of massive strength, if he could
beguile the unspeakable monster. I scarcely believe it myself: with huge coils, by craft,
he tore away the mass of the tree from the tree’s structure and, wrenched utterly up from the depths,            195

euertit fundo et radicibus eruit imis.
tum trepidum ac socios extrema uoce cientem
corripit atque haustu sorbens et faucibus atris
(uidi respiciens) obscaena condidit aluo.
infelix fluuio sese et torrentibus undis 200
crediderat celerique fuga iam nabat Aquinus.

he overturned it from the base and tore it out by its deepest roots.
then the trembling man, calling his comrades with his final voice,
he seizes him, and, sucking him down with a draught and with black jaws
(I saw, looking back) he stowed him in his obscene belly.
the unlucky man had entrusted himself to the river and to its torrential waves 200
and Aquinus, in swift flight, was already swimming.

hunc medio inuasit fluctu ripaeque relatos
(heu genus infandum leti!) depascitur artus.
Sic dirum nobis et lamentabile monstrum
effugisse datur. quantum mens aegra sinebat, 205
adpropero gressum et ductori singula pando.

it attacked this man in mid-surge and devours the limbs borne back to the bank
(alas, an unspeakable genus of death!)
Thus it is given us to have escaped the dire and lamentable monster
as far as my sick mind allowed, 205
I hasten my step and unfold the particulars to the leader.

ingemuit casus iuuenum miseratus acerbos.
utque erat in pugnas et Martem et proelia et hostem
igneus et magna audendi flagrabat amore,
ocius arma rapi et spectatum Marte sub omni 210
ire iubet campis equitem. ruit ipse citatum
quadrupedem planta fodiens, scutataque raptim
consequitur iusso manus et muralia portat
ballistas tormenta grauis suetamque mouere
excelsas turris immensae cuspidis hastam. 215

He groaned, pitying the bitter mishaps of the youths.
And as he was fiery for combats and for Mars and battles and the foe,
and burned with a great love of daring,
more swiftly he bids arms to be snatched up, and he orders the horseman
to go to the plains to observe under every aspect of Mars; 210
he himself rushes, goading the quickened quadruped with his sole,
and swiftly he follows with the shield-bearing band, the order having been given,
and he carries the mural ballistas, heavy engines, and the lofty towers
wont to be moved, and the spear of immense point
of the enormous cusp of the tall towers. 215

iamque ubi feralem strepitu circumtonat aulam
cornea gramineum persultans ungula campum,
percitus hinnitu serpens euoluitur antro
et Stygios aestus fumanti exsibilat ore:
terribilis gemino de lumine fulgurat ignis. 220
at nemus arrectae et procera cacumina saltus
exuperant cristae: trifido uibrata per auras
lingua micat motu atque adsultans aethera lambit.
ut uero strepuere tubae, conterritus alte
immensum attollit corpus tergoque residens 225
cetera sinuatis glomerat sub pectore gyris.
dira dehinc in bella ruit rapideque resoluens
contortos orbes derecto corpore totam
extendit molem subitoque propincus in ora
lato distantum spatio uenit.

And now, when with din the funereal hall resounds around, the horny hoof leaping over the grassy field,
roused by the neighing the serpent uncoils from the cave and hisses out Stygian heats from a smoking mouth:
terrible, fire flashes from his twin lights (eyes). 220
but his crests overtop the upraised and tall summits of wood and glade: the tongue, forked, quivering through the airs,
flickers with motion and, springing, licks the ether. But when the trumpets truly clanged, thoroughly terrified he
lifts his immense body high and, settling upon his back, the rest he gathers beneath his breast in winding coils. 225
Thence he rushes into dire wars, and swiftly uncoiling his twisted circles, with body made straight he
extends his whole mass and suddenly, close upon the face, comes to those far distant by a broad span.

omnis anhelat 230

all is panting 230

attonitus serpentis ecus frenoque teneri
impatiens crebros expirat naribus ignes.
arduus ille super tumidis ceruicibus altum
nutat utroque caput. trepidos inde incitus ira
nunc sublime rapit, nunc uasto pondere gaudet 235
elisisse premens.

the horse, thunderstruck at the serpent and impatient to be held by the bridle,
breathes frequent fires from his nostrils.
lofty, above his swollen necks he nods his head high
to either side. Then, impelled by ire, he now snatches the trembling ones aloft,
now rejoices, pressing down, to have crushed them with his vast weight. 235

tunc fractis ossibus atram
absorbet saniem et, tabo manante per ora,
mutat hians hostem semesaque membra relinquit.
cedebant iam signa retro, uictorque cateruas
longius auectas adflatus peste premebat, 240
cum ductor, propere reuocatam in proelia turmam
uocibus impellens: "Serpentine Itala pubes
terga damus Libycisque parem non esse fatemur
anguibus Ausoniam? si debellauit inertis
halitus, ac uiso mens aegra effluxit hiatu, 245

then, with bones broken, he gulps down the black gore, and, with rot dripping through his jaws,
gaping he alters his foe and leaves the half‑eaten limbs behind.
the standards were now yielding backward, and the victor pressed the ranks,
carried farther away, with his plague‑laden breath, 240
when the leader, urging with cries the troop quickly recalled to battle:
“Does the Italian youth crawl, do we give our backs and confess that Ausonia is not the peer
of the Libyan serpents? If a breath has debellated the inert,
and at the sight the sick spirit has flowed away at the gaping maw, 245

ibo alacer solusque manus componere monstro
sufficiam." clamans haec atque interritus hastam
fulmineo uolucrem torquet per inane lacerto.
uenit in aduersam non uano turbine frontem
cuspis et haud paulum uires adiuta ruentis 250
contra ardore ferae capiti tremebunda resedit.
clamor ad astra datur, uocesque repente profusae
aetherias adiere domos.

I will go eager, and alone I shall be sufficient to join hands in combat with the monster."
shouting these things and undaunted, he hurls the flying spear through the void with a lightning-like arm.
the point comes into the opposing forehead with no vain whirl, and—its force aided not a little by the beast’s headlong ardor rushing against it—settled, quivering, in its head. 250
a clamor is sent to the stars, and voices suddenly poured forth reached the ethereal homes.

furit ilicet ira
terrigena, impatiens dare terga nouusque dolori
et chalybem longo tum primum passus in aeuo. 255
nec frustra rapidi stimulante dolore fuisset
impetus, ablato ni Regulus arte regendi
instantem elusisset equo rursusque secutum
cornipedis gyros flexi curuamine tergi
detortis laeua celer effugisset habenis. 260

straightway he rages in ire
the earth‑born, unwilling to give his back and new to dolor,
and then for the first time in his long age having suffered steel. 255
nor would the impetus have been in vain, the swift pain stimulating,
if Regulus, by the art of reining, had not with his horse eluded
the pressing foe, and, as it again pursued, the courser’s gyres
by the bending curvature of the flexed back
with the reins twisted to the left, had not swiftly escaped. 260

At non spectator Marus inter talia segni
torpebat dextra. mea tanto in corpore monstri
hasta secunda fuit. iam iamque extrema trisulca
lambebat lingua fessi certamine terga
quadrupedis: torsi telum atque urgentia uelox 265
in memet saeui serpentis proelia uerto.

But Marus, no mere spectator, amid such things was not torpid with a sluggish right hand.
my spear was the second in the so great body of the monster.
now even now the triple-forked
tongue was licking the back of the quadruped wearied by the contest:
I whirled the missile and, swift 265
I turn the pressing combats of the savage serpent onto myself.

hinc imitata cohors certatim spicula dextris
congerit alternasque ferum diducit in iras,
donec murali ballista coercuit ictu.
tum fractus demum uires; nec iam amplius aegra 270
consuetum ad nisus spina praestante rigorem
et solitum in nubes tolli caput, acrius insta<n>t.
iamque aluo penitus demersa phalarica sedit
et geminum uolucres lumen rapuere sagittae.
iam patulis uasto sub uulnere faucibus a<t>er 275

From here the cohort, taking example, in rivalry heaps javelins in their right hands
and draws the brute into alternating rages,
until a mural ballista checked it with a blow.
then at last its strength was broken; and no longer did the weary 270
spine supply the accustomed rigidity for straining,
nor the head, wont to be lifted to the clouds; they press on more keenly.
And now a phalarica, plunged deep into its belly, lodged,
and winged arrows snatched away its twin light.
now, dark beneath the vast wound, with jaws agape, 275

tabificam expirat saniem specus. ultima iamque
ingesti<s> cauda et iaculis et pondere conti
haeret humi, lassoque tamen minitatur hiatu,
donec tormentis stridens magnoque fragore
discussit trabs acta caput, longoque resoluens 280
aggere se ripae tandem exhalauit in auras
liuentem nebulam fugientis ab ore ueneni.
erupit tristi fluuio mugitus et imis
murmura fusa uadis, subitoque et lucus et antrum
et resonae siluis ulularunt flebile ripae. 285
heu quantis luimus mox tristia proelia damnis,
quantaque supplicia et qualis exhausimus iras!

The cavern breathes out a wasting ichor. And now at the last
with tail and javelins and the weight of the pike
rammed in, it clings to the ground, and yet with a weary gape it threatens,
until, shrieking under the engines and with a great crash,
the beam, driven, shattered its head, and, loosening 280
along the long embankment of the bank it at last exhaled into the airs
a livid mist of the fleeing venom from its mouth. A bellow burst from the gloomy
river and murmurs were poured from the deepest shallows, and suddenly both the grove and the cave
and the banks, resounding with the woods, ululated plaintively. 285
Alas, with how great losses we soon paid for the grim battles,
and what punishments and what manner of wraths we exhausted!

nec tacuere pii uates famulumque sororum
Naiadum, tepida quas Bagrada nutrit in unda,
nos uiolasse manu seris monuere periclis. 290

nor did the pious seers keep silent, and that the servant of the sisters
of the Naiads, whom the Bagrada nourishes in its tepid wave,
we had violated with our hand, with belated perils, they warned. 290

haec tunc hasta decus nobis pretiumque secundi
uulneris a uestro, Serrane, tributa parente,
princeps quae sacro bibit e serpente cruorem.'
    Iamdudum uultus lacrimis atque ora rigabat
Serranus medioque uiri sermone profatur:            295
'Huic si uita duci nostrum durasset in aeuum,
non Trebia infaustas superasset sanguine ripas,
nec, Trasimenne, tuus premeret tot nomina gurges.'
    Tum senior 'Magnas' inquit 'de sanguine poenas
percepit Tyrio et praesumpta piacula mortis.            300
nam defecta uiris et opes attrita supinas
Africa tendebat palmas, cum sidere diro
misit Agenoreis ductorem animosa Therapne.
nulla uiro species decorisque et frontis egenum
corpus; in exiguis uigor, admirabile, membris            305

‘This spear then was granted to us as an honor and the price of the second wound by your parent, Serranus, the foremost which drank blood from the sacred serpent.’
    For some time Serranus had been wetting his face and features with tears, and in the midst of the man’s speech he speaks:            295
‘If life had lasted for this leader into our age, not would the Trebia have overflowed its ill-fated banks with blood, nor, Trasimene, would your whirlpool have pressed down so many names.’
    Then the elder says, ‘Great penalties from blood he exacted of Tyrian stock, and anticipatory expiations of death.             300
For Africa, lacking in men and her resources worn down to helplessness, was stretching forth her palms, when spirited Therapne, under a baleful star, sent a leader to the Agenorean men. No looks had the man, and a body lacking in grace and dignity of brow; in slight limbs, vigor—wonderful to tell.            305

uiuidus et nisu magnos qui uinceret artus.
iam Martem regere atque astus adiungere ferro
et duris facilem per inhospita ducere uitam
haud isti, quem nunc penes est sollertia belli,
cederet Hannibali. uellem hunc, o tristia nobis 310
Taygeta, hunc unum non durassetis opacis
Eurotae ripis.

vivid, and one who by exertion would outmatch mighty limbs.
already to govern Mars and to join astuteness to steel,
and to lead an easy life through inhospitable hardships,
he would by no means yield to that one, in whose power now is the dexterity of war,
to Hannibal. I would that, O grievous to us, 310
Taygetus, you had not hardened this one man alone on the shady
banks of the Eurotas.

uidissem moenia flammis
Phoenissae ruere, aut certe non horrida fata
fleuissem ducis et, nulla quos morte nec igni
exutos seruans portabo in Tartara, luctus. 315
consertae campis acies, multusque per arua
feruebat Mauors, nec mens erat ulla sine ira.
hic inter medios memorandis Regulus ausis
laxabat ferro campum <in>que pericla ruebat
nec repetenda dabat letali uulnera dextra. 320

I would have seen the Phoenician walls collapse in flames,
or at least I would not have wept the leader’s horrid fates, and the griefs
which, preserved, I shall carry into Tartarus, stripped by neither death nor fire. 315
the battle-lines were joined on the plains, and over the fields
Mars was seething in abundance, nor was any mind without wrath.
here amid the midst Regulus, with deeds to be remembered,
was opening the field with steel and was rushing into perils,
and with his lethal right hand was delivering wounds not to be repeated. 320

sic, ubi nigrantem torquens stridentibus Austris
portat turbo globum piceaque e nube ruinam
pendentem terris pariter pontoque minatur,
omnis et agricola et nemoroso uertice pastor
et pelago trepidat subductis nauita uelis.            325
at fraudem nectens, socios ubi concaua saxa
claudebant, uertit subito certamina Graius
et dat terga celer ficta formidine ductor,
haud secus ac stabulis procurans otia pastor
in foueam parco tectam uelamine frondis            330
ducit nocte lupos positae balatibus agnae.
abripuit traxitque uirum fax mentis honestae
gloria et incerti fallax fiducia Martis.
non socios comitumue manus, non arma sequentum
respicere: insano pugnae tendebat amore            335

thus, when, twisting with the shrieking South Winds,
a whirlwind carries a blackening mass and from a pitchy cloud a ruin
hanging, it threatens the lands and the sea alike,
and every farmer and the shepherd on a woody summit
and on the deep the seaman, with sails drawn up, trembles.            325
but, weaving fraud, where hollow rocks
were enclosing his allies, the Greek suddenly turns the combats
and the swift leader gives his back in feigned fright,
not otherwise than a shepherd, procuring ease for the stalls,
leads by night the wolves into a pit covered with a sparing veil of leaves            330
by the bleatings of a laid-down lamb.
the torch of an honorable mind—glory—and the deceitful confidence
of uncertain Mars snatched and dragged the man.
neither his allies nor the band of comrades, nor the arms of followers
does he look back to: he was straining with insane love of battle.            335

iam solus, nubes subito cum densa Laconum
saxosis latebris intento ad proelia circum
funditur, et pone insurgit uis saeua uirorum.
o diram Latio lucem, fastisque notandum
dedecus o, Gradiue, tuum! tibi dextera et urbi 340
nata tuae tristi damnatur sorte catenae.

now alone, when suddenly a dense cloud of Laconians
is poured out around from rocky hiding-places, intent on battle,
and from behind the savage force of men rises.
O day dire for Latium, and to be marked in the fasti
a disgrace, O Gradivus, yours! your right hand, born for your city, 340
is condemned to the grim lot of the chain.

haud umquam absistam gemitu. te, Regule, uidit
Sidonius carcer, tuque huic sat magna triumpho
uisa es, Carthago, superis. quae poena sequetur
digna satis tali pollutos Marte Laconas? 345
At noua Elissaei iurato foedera patres
consultant mandare duci pacisque sequestrem
mittere poscentis uinctam inter proelia pubem
captiuamque manum ductore rependere nostro.

I will never desist from groaning. You, Regulus, the Sidonian prison beheld,
and you, Carthage, seemed to the gods for this a triumph great enough.
What penalty will follow, worthy enough for Laconians polluted by such a Mars? 345
But the fathers deliberate to entrust to a leader the new sworn covenants of Elissa,
and to send a sequester of peace to demand the youth bound amid the battles,
and to repay the captive band by exchange for our commander.

nec mora, iam stabat primis in litoris undis 350

no delay, already it stood in the first waves of the shore 350

nauali propulsa ratis, iam nautica pubes
aut siluis stringunt remos, aut abiete secta
transtra nouant. his intortos aptare rudentis,
his studium erecto componere carbasa malo.
unca locant prora curuati pondera ferri. 355
ante omnis doctus pelagi rectorque carinae
puppim aptat clauumque Cothon.

the vessel, pushed off from the naval dock, now the nautical youth
either trim the oars from the woods, or with cut fir
renew the thwarts. Some have zeal to fit twisted ropes,
others to set the canvas on the raised mast.
at the prow they place the hooked weights of curved iron. 355
before all, Cothon, learned in the sea and helmsman of the keel,
fits the stern and the helm.

micat aereus alta
fulgor aqua trifidi splendentis in aequore rostri.
tela simul uariamque ferunt contra aspera ponti
rerum ad tempus opem. mediae stat margine puppis 360
qui uoce alternos nautarum temperet ictus
et remis dictet sonitum pariterque relatis
ad numerum plaudat resonantia caerula tonsis.

a brazen gleam flashes high on the water
the sheen of the trifid beak, gleaming on the level sea.
at the same time they carry weapons and the various, timely aid of gear against the sea’s harshness
resources for the moment. at the edge amidships the steersman stands 360
who with his voice tempers the alternating strokes of the sailors
and to the oars he dictates the sound, and likewise, when drawn back,
he makes the resounding cerulean waters clap to the measure with the blades.

Postquam confectum nautis opus horaque cursus
atque armata ratis uentique dedere profundum, 365

After the work was completed by the sailors and the hour of the course
and the armed ship and the winds gave the deep, 365

omnis turba ruit, matres puerique senesque.
per medios coetus trahit atque inimica per ora
spectandum Fortuna ducem. fert lumina contra
pacatus frontem, qualis cum litora primum
attigit adpulsa rector Sidonia classe. 370
accessi comes, haud ipso renuente, ratique
impositus maestis socium me casibus addo.

the whole throng rushes, mothers and boys and elders.
through the middle of the crowds she drags, and through inimical faces
Fortune the leader to be gazed upon. he meets their gaze
with a peaceful brow, such as when the helmsman first
touched the shores, the Sidonian fleet driven in. 370
I approached as a companion, he himself by no means refusing, and, set
upon the ship, I add myself as an associate to the mournful fortunes.

inluuiem atque inopes mensas durumque cubile
et certare malis urgentibus hoste putabat
deuicto maius, nec tam fugisse cauendo 375
aduersa egregium, quam perdomuisse ferendo.
spes tamen una mihi, quamquam bene cognita et olim
atrox illa fides, urbem murosque domumque
tangere si miseris licuisset, corda moueri
posse uiri et uestro certe mitescere fletu. 380

filth and needy tables and a hard couch,
and to contend with pressing ills he thought greater than an enemy conquered,
nor so excellent to have fled by shunning adversities, 375
as to have thoroughly subdued them by enduring.
yet one hope was mine, although that fidelity, well known and once
atrocious, if it had been permitted the wretched to touch the city,
the walls, and the home, the man’s heart could be moved
and surely be softened by your weeping. 380

claudebam sub corde metus lacrimasque putabam
esse uiro et nostrae similem inter tristia mentem.
cum tandem patriae Tiberino adlabimur amni,
seruabam uultus ducis ac prodentia sensum
lumina et obtutu perstabam intentus eodem. 385
si qua fides, unum, puer, inter mille labores,
unum etiam in patria saeuaque in Agenoris urbe
atque unum uidi poenae quoque tempore uultum.
obuia captiuo cunctis simul urbibus ibat
Ausonia, et campum turba uincente propinqui 390
implentur colles; strepit altis Albula ripis.

I was shutting fears beneath my heart, and I was thinking that tears were for a man, and that amid the sad things his mind was similar to ours.
when at last we glide to our country’s Tiberine river,
I was keeping watch on the leader’s features and the eyes betraying his feeling, and I stood fixed, intent with the same gaze. 385
if there is any credence, boy, one, amid a thousand labors,
one even in the fatherland and in the savage city of Agenor,
and one I saw even at the time of penalty, the same countenance.
Ausonia, with all her cities at once, was coming to meet the captive,
and the nearby hills are filled, the throng outmatching the plain; 390
Albula resounds along its high banks.

ipsi Poenorum proceres immitia corda
ad patrios certant cultus reuocare, togaeque
addebatur honos. stetit, inlacrimante senatu
et matrum turba iuuenumque dolore profuso, 395

the very princes of the Punic people strive to recall their merciless hearts
to ancestral cults, and honor was being added to the toga;
he stood, with the senate weeping,
and a crowd of mothers and of youths, their grief poured out, 395

inter tot gemitus immobilis. aggere consul
tendebat dextram et patria uestigia primus
ponentem terra occursu celebrabat amico.
collegit gressum, monitusque recedere consul
nec summum uiolare decus.

motionless amid so many groans. On the embankment the consul was stretching out his right hand and was the first to celebrate with a friendly meeting him as he set his footsteps upon his fatherland’s soil. He checked his pace, and, being warned to withdraw and not to violate the highest decorum, the consul did so.

cingente superba            400
Poenorum turba captiuoque agmine saeptus
ibat et inuidiam caelo diuisque ferebat.
    Ecce trahens geminum natorum Marcia pignus,
infelix nimia magni uirtute mariti,
squalentem crinem et tristis lacerabat amictus.            405
agnoscisne diem? an teneris non haesit in annis?

with a proud            400
Punic throng encircling him and hemmed in by a captive column,
he went and was bearing envy to heaven and the gods.
    Behold, Marcia, dragging the twin pledge of her sons,
unhappy through the excessive virtue of her great husband,
was tearing her squalid hair and her sad garments.            405
do you recognize the day? or has it not stuck in your tender years?

atque ea, postquam habitu iuxta et uelamine Poeno
deformem aspexit, fusis ululatibus aegra
labitur, et gelidos mortis color occupat artus.
si qua deis pietas, tales, Carthago, uidere 410

and she, after she beheld him nearby, deformed by Punic habit and veil,
with ululations poured forth, stricken she sinks, and the gelid
color of death occupies her limbs. If there is any pietas in the gods, to see such things, Carthage, 410

dent tibi Sidonias matres. me uoce quieta
adfatus iubet et uestros et coniugis una
arcere amplexus pater, impenetrabilis ille
luctibus et numquam summissus colla dolori.'
Hic alto iuuenis gemitu lacrimisque coortis 415
'Magne parens,' inquit 'quo maius numine nobis
Tarpeia nec in arce sedet, si iura querelis
sunt concessa piis, cur hoc matrique mihique
solamen, uel cur decus hoc, o dure, negasti,
tangere sacratos uultus atque oscula ab ore 420
libauisse tuo? dextram mihi prendere dextra
non licitum?

may Sidonian mothers grant to you. Addressing me with a quiet voice,
my father bids me to ward off both your embraces and my husband’s together—
he, impenetrable to griefs and never having bowed his neck to sorrow.’
Here the young man, with a deep groan and tears springing forth, 415
said: ‘Great father, than whose numen no greater sits for us
even on the Tarpeian citadel, if rights have been granted
to pious complaints, why, O hard one, have you denied this solace
to my mother and to me, or why this honor—
to touch your hallowed features and to have libated kisses from your mouth—, 420
to me? Was it not permitted for me to grasp your right hand
with my right?’

leuiora forent haec uulnera quantum,
si ferre ad manis infixos mente daretur
amplexus, uenerande, tuos. sed uana recordor
ni, Mare, (nam primo tunc haerebamus in aeuo) 425

these wounds would be how much lighter,
if it were granted to carry to the Manes your embraces, fixed in my mind, venerable one.
but I recall vain things, unless, Mare, (for then we were clinging in our first age) 425

humana maior species erat. horrida cano
uertice descendens ingentia colla tegebat
caesaries, frontique coma squalente sedebat
terribilis decor atque animi uenerabile pondus.
nil posthac oculis simile incidit.' excipit inde 430
iam Marus atque, inhibens conuellere uulnera questu,
'Quid, cum praeteritis inuisa penatibus' inquit
'hospitia et sedes Poenorum intrauit acerbas?

the appearance was greater than human. A shaggy
mane, descending from his hoary head, covered his mighty neck;
and upon his brow, with hair in squalor, there sat
a terrible beauty and the venerable weight of spirit.
nothing like it has since met my eyes.' He then takes it up from there 430
now Marus, and, restraining himself from wrenching open his wounds by lamentation,
'What, when the household gods left behind and hateful,' he says,
'did he enter the Punic lodgings and bitter abodes?

adfixi clipei currusque et spicula nota
aedibus in paruis, magni monumenta triumphi, 435
pulsabant oculos, coniunxque in limine primo
clamabat: "Quo fers gressus? non Punicus hic est,
Regule, quem fugias, carcer. uestigia nostri
casta tori domus et patrium sine crimine seruat
inuiolata larem.

Affixed shields and chariots and familiar javelins
in the small house, monuments of a great triumph, 435
were striking the eyes, and the wife on the very threshold
was shouting: "Where are you bearing your steps? this is not a Punic
prison, Regulus, for you to flee. The house keeps the traces of our
chaste bed and, without reproach, keeps the ancestral Lar
inviolate.

semel hic iterumque (quid, oro, 440

here once and again (what, I pray, 440

pollutum est nobis?) prolem, gratante senatu
et patria, sum enixa tibi. tua, respice, sedes
haec est, unde ingens umeris fulgentibus ostro
uidisti Latios consul procedere fasces,
unde ire in Martem, quo capta referre solebas 445
et uictor mecum suspendere postibus arma.
non ego complexus et sanctae foedera taedae
coniugiumue peto: patrios damnare penatis
absiste ac natis fas duc concedere noctem."
Hos inter fletus iunctus uestigia Poenis 450
limine se clusit Tyrio questusque reliquit.

(has it been defiled for us?) I have borne for you offspring, with the senate
and the fatherland congratulating. Your—look back—seat
this is, whence you saw the Latin consul proceed with mighty fasces,
his shoulders gleaming with purple, whence to go into Mars, and whither you were accustomed to bring back captured [spoils] 445
and, as victor, to hang up arms upon the doorposts with me.
I do not seek embraces and the covenants of the sacred torch
nor wedlock: cease to condemn the ancestral Penates
and deem it right to grant the night to your children."
Amid these tears, bound to the Phoenicians, he shut himself off from the Tyrian 450
threshold and, having uttered his complaint, departed.

uixdum clara dies summa lustrabat in Oeta
Herculei monumenta rogi, cum consul adire
accirique iubet Libyas. tum limina templi
uidimus intrantem. quae consultata senatus, 455

Scarcely had bright day been lustrating on Oeta’s summit the monuments of the Herculean pyre, when the consul orders that the Libyans be approached and accited. Then we saw him entering the threshold of the temple. What things the senate had been consulted about, 455

quasue uiri uoces extremum curia maerens
audierit, placido nobis ipse edidit ore.
intulit ut gressus, certatim uoce manuque
ad solitam sedem et uestigia nota uocabant.
abnuit antiquumque loci aspernatus honorem.            460
at circumfusi non setius undique dextram
prensare ac, patriae ductorem nomine tanto
redderet, orabant: captiua posse redemptum
pensari turba, ac Tyrias tum iustius arces
arsuras dextra, fuerit quae uincta catenis.            465
    Tum palmas simul attollens ac lumina caelo
"Iustitiae rectique dator, qui cuncta gubernas,
nec leuior mihi diua Fides Sarranaque Iuno,
quos reditus testes iurata mente uocaui,
sit mihi fas me digna loqui Latiosque tueri             470
uoce focos: ibo ad Tyrios non segnior," inquit
"stante fide reditus et saluo foedere poenae.

and what words of the man the mourning Curia heard at the end, he himself set forth to us with a placid mouth.
as he brought in his steps, they vied with voice and hand to call him to his accustomed seat and the well-known spot.
he refused, and, spurning the ancient honor of the place.            460
but, thronging around, none the less from every side they begged to grasp his right hand and that he would restore to his fatherland a leader of so great a name:
that a captive crowd could be weighed out as ransom for one redeemed, and that the Tyrian citadels would then more justly burn by a right hand which had been bound in chains.            465
    Then lifting both his palms and his eyes to the sky
“Giver of Justice and of the Right, you who govern all things,
nor is the goddess Faith and Sarranian Juno of less weight for me,
whom with a sworn mind I have called as witnesses of my return,
let it be lawful for me to speak things worthy of myself and to guard with my voice the Latin hearths;             470
I will go to the Tyrians no more sluggishly,” he said,
“my pledge of return standing, and the covenant of the penalty intact.

sic nobis rerum exitio desistite honorem
tendere. tot bellis totque annis fregimus aeuum.
nunc etiam uinclis et longo carcere torpent 475

thus, cease to extend honor to us to the destruction of affairs
we have shattered our age in so many wars and so many years.
now even in bonds and in a long prison we grow torpid 475

captiuo in senio uires. fuit ille nec umquam,
dum fuit, a duro cessauit munere Martis
Regulus. exangui spectatis corpore nomen.

his strength in captive old age. He was that man, and never, while he was, did Regulus cease from the hard service of Mars.
You behold the name in an exsanguine body.

at non Carthago, fraudum domus, inscia quantum
e nobis restet, iuuenes parat, aspera ferro 480
pectora, captiuos nostra pensare senecta.
ite dolos contra, gensque astu fallere laeta
discat, me capto quantum tibi, Roma, supersit.
nec uero placeat, nisi quae de more parentum
pax erit.

But not so Carthage, house of frauds, unknowing how much of us remains: she prepares youths, breasts rough for steel, 480
to counterbalance their captives with our old age. Go, oppose their stratagems, and let the nation glad to deceive by craft learn
how much remains to you, Rome, with me captured. Nor indeed let any peace be pleasing, unless it be the peace according to the custom of the ancestors.

exposcunt Libyes nobisque dedere 485
haec referenda, pari libeat si pendere bellum
foedere et ex aequo geminas conscribere leges.
sed mihi sit Stygios ante intrauisse penatis,
talia quam uideam ferientis pacta Latinos."
Haec fatus Tyriae sese iam reddidit irae, 490

the Libyans demand, and have given to us 485
these things to be reported back, if it may please to weigh the war
with an equal treaty and to inscribe twin laws on equal terms.
but for me let it be to have entered the Stygian Penates before
I see the Latins striking such pacts."
Having said these things, he now gave himself back to Tyrian wrath, 490

nec monitus spernente grauis fido<s>que senatu
Poenorum dimissa cohors. quae maesta repulsa
ac minitans capto patrias properabat ad oras.
prosequitur uulgus, patres, ac planctibus ingens
personat et luctu campus.

nor, with the grave and faithful senate spurning the warnings, was the Punic cohort dismissed.
which, sad at its repulse and menacing the captured man, was hastening to its native shores.
the crowd follows, the fathers too, and with beatings the vast plain
resounds, and with mourning.

reuocare libebat            495
interdum et iusto raptum retinere dolore.
    At trepida et subito ceu stans in funere coniunx,
ut uidit puppi properantem intrare, tremendum
uociferans celerem gressum referebat ad undas:
"Tollite me, Libyes, comitem poenaeque necisque.            500
hoc unum, coniunx, uteri per pignora nostri
unum oro: liceat tecum quoscumque ferentem
terrarum pelagique pati caelique labores.
non ego Amyclaeum ductorem in proelia misi,
nec nostris tua sunt circumdata colla catenis.            505

it was pleasing to call back            495
at times, too, and, in just grief, to hold back the one snatched away.
    But the wife, alarmed and as if suddenly standing at a funeral,
when she saw him hastening to enter the stern, crying out dreadfully,
was turning back her swift step to the waves:
"Take me, Libyans, as a companion both of penalty and of death.            500
this one thing, husband, by the pledges of our womb,
one thing I beg: let it be permitted with you, bearing whatever
labors of lands and of the sea and of the sky, to endure them.
I did not send an Amyclaean leader into battles,
nor is your neck surrounded by our chains.            505

cur usque ad Poenos miseram fugis? accipe mecum
hanc prolem. forsan duras Carthaginis iras
flectemus lacrimis, aut, si praecluserit aures
urbs inimica suas, eadem tunc hora manebit
teque tuosque simul, uel, si stat rumpere uitam, 510
in patria moriamur.

why do you flee the miserable woman all the way to the Punics? receive with me
this progeny. perhaps we shall bend the hard wraths of Carthage with tears,
or, if the inimical city has shut its ears,
then the same hour will await both you and yours together;
or, if it stands to break life, 510
let us die in our fatherland.

adest comes ultima fati."
    Has inter uoces uinclis resoluta moueri
paulatim et ripa coepit decedere puppis.
tum uero infelix, mente<m> furiata dolore,
exclamat fessas tendens ad litora palmas:            515
"En, qui se iactat Libyae populisque nefandis
atque hosti seruare fidem. data foedera nobis
ac promissa fides thalamis ubi, perfide, nunc est?"
ultima uox duras haec tunc penetrauit ad auris,
cetera percussi uetuerunt noscere remi.            520

"the ultimate companion of fate is at hand."
    Amid these voices the ship, loosened from its bonds, began
little by little to move and to depart from the bank.
Then indeed the unlucky one, her mind maddened by grief,
cries out, stretching weary palms toward the shores:            515
"Behold him who boasts that he keeps faith with Libya
and with nefarious peoples and even with the enemy. Where now is
the treaty given to us and the faith promised to the nuptial bed, traitor?"
This last voice then pierced to stubborn ears;
the rest the beaten oars forbade us to learn.            520

Tum fluuio raptim ad pelagi deuoluimur oras
ac legimus pontum pinuque immane cauata
aequor et immensas curua trabe findimus undas.
ludibrium necis horrescens, uis aspera ponti
obrueret scopulisque ratem furor improbus Euri 525
frangeret, optabam: letum id commune fuisset.
sed nos ad poenam moderato flamine lenes
uexerunt Zephyri Tyrioque dedere furori.

Then by the river we are swiftly rolled down to the shores of the sea
and we skim the deep, and with a vast hollowed pine
we cleave the level sea and with a curved beam the immense waves.
shuddering at the sport of death, I was wishing that the harsh force of the sea
would overwhelm us, and that the wanton fury of Eurus would on the rocks crush the ship, 525
I was wishing: that would have been a common death.
but gentle Zephyrs with a moderated breeze
bore us to punishment and gave us over to Tyrian fury.

    Infelix uidi patriamque remissus in urbem
narrator poenae dura mercede reuerti.            530
nec tibi nunc ritus imitantem irasque ferarum
Pygmalioneam temptarem expromere gentem,
si maius quicquam toto uidisset in orbe
gens hominum, quam quod uestri ueneranda parentis
edidit exemplum uirtus. pudet addere questus            535

    Unhappy, I saw—and, sent back to the fatherland and into the city,
I return as the narrator of the punishment, with a harsh wage.            530
nor would I now, imitating the rites and rages of wild beasts,
attempt to set forth to you the Pygmalionean people,
if the race of men had seen anything greater in the whole orb
than the example which the virtue of your venerable parent has brought forth.
I am ashamed to add laments.            535

suppliciis, quae spectaui placido ore ferentem.
tu quoque, care puer, dignum te sanguine tanto
fingere ne cessa atque orientis comprime fletus.
praefixo paribus ligno mucronibus omnes
armantur laterum crates, densumque per artem 540
texitur erecti stantisque ex ordine ferri
infelix stimulus, somnisque hac fraude negatis
quocumque inflexum producto tempore torpor
inclinauit iners, fodiunt ad uiscera corpus.

the torments, which I saw you bearing with a placid countenance.
you too, dear boy, do not cease to fashion yourself worthy of so great a blood, and restrain the tears that are arising.
with equal points affixed to the wood in front, all the lattices of the sides
are armed, and, dense by craft, 540
the unhappy goad of iron, set erect and standing in a row, is woven;
and with sleep denied by this fraud,
whenever, with time prolonged, inert torpor has bent him over askew,
they stab the body to the viscera.

absiste, o iuuenis, lacrimis. patientia cunctos 545
haec superat currus. longo reuirescet in aeuo
gloria; dum caeli sedem terrasque tenebit
casta Fides, dum uirtutis uenerabile nomen,
uiuet; eritque dies, tua quo, dux inclite, fata
audire horrebunt a te calcata minores.' 550

Cease, O young man, from tears. This patience outstrips all chariots. 545
in the long span of time glory will grow green again;
so long as chaste Faith holds the seat of heaven and the lands,
so long as the venerable name of virtue, it will live;
and there will be a day on which, illustrious leader, your juniors
will shudder to hear from you the fates you have trampled underfoot.' 550

Haec Marus et maesta refouebat uulnera cura.
interea, rapidas perfusa cruoribus alas,
sicut sanguinea Trasimenni tinxerat unda,
uera ac ficta simul spargebat Fama per Vrbem.
Allia et infandi Senones captaeque recursat 555
attonitis arcis facies.

Thus Marus too was soothing the wounds with mournful care.
meanwhile, with her swift wings drenched in gore,
as the sanguineous wave of Trasimene had dyed them,
Fame was scattering true and feigned alike through the City.
The Allia, and the nefarious Senones, and the visage of the captured 555
citadel keep recurring to their thunderstruck minds.

excussit habenas
luctificus Pauor, et tempestas aucta timendo.
hic raptim ruit in muros: uox horrida fertur
'Hostis adest', iaciuntque sudes et inania tela.
ast aliae laceris canentes crinibus alta 560
uerrunt tecta deum et seris post fata suorum
sollicitant precibus.

he shook off the reins
grief-bringing Panic, and the tempest was augmented by fearing.
here he rushes headlong to the walls: a horrid voice is borne
'The enemy is at hand,' and they hurl stakes and inane missiles.
but others, chanting with torn tresses, sweep the high roofs of the gods, 560
and with late prayers, after the dooms of their own, they solicit.

requiem tenebraeque diesque
amisere: iacent portis ululante dolore
dispersum uulgus, remeantumque ordine longo
seruat turba gradus. pendent ex ore loquentum, 565

Night and day alike have lost repose;
the scattered crowd lies at the gates, with grief ululating;
and the throng keeps the steps of those returning in a long order;
they hang upon the lips of the speakers, 565

nec laetis sat certa fides, iterumque morantur
orando et, uultu interdum sine uoce precati,
quod rogitant, audire pauent. hi<n>c fletus, ubi aures
percussae grauiore malo, metus inde, negatum
si scire, et dubius responsi nuntius haesit.            570
iamque ubi conspectu redeuntum uisa propinquo
corpora, sollicite laeti funduntur et ipsis
oscula uulneribus figunt superosque fatigant.
    Hic inter trepidos, curae uenerandus, agebat
Serranum Marus, atque olim post fata mariti            575
non egressa domum uitato Marcia coetu
et lucem causa natorum passa ruebat
in luctum similem antiquo.

nor is trust quite sure for the joyful, and again they delay
by pleading, and, with countenance sometimes supplicating without a voice,
they fear to hear what they ask. Hence weeping, when the ears
are smitten by a heavier evil; thence fear, if it is denied
to know, and the messenger of the answer halted, uncertain.            570
and now, when the bodies of those returning were seen at near
view, anxiously joyful they pour themselves out and fasten kisses
upon the very wounds and weary the Supernal Ones.
    Here, among the alarmed, venerable for his care, Marus was
tending Serranus; and Marcia—who once, after her husband’s fate,            575
had not gone forth from the house, company shunned—having endured the light
for the sake of her sons, was rushing into grief like the former.

turbata repente
agnoscensque Marum 'Fidei comes inclite magnae,
hunc certe mihi reddis.' ait 'leue uulnus? an alte 580

suddenly disturbed
and recognizing Marus, 'Illustrious companion of great Faith,
you surely give this one back to me,' she says; 'a slight wound? or deeply 580

usque ad nostra ferus penetrauit uiscera mucro?
quicquid id est, dum non uinctum Carthago catenis
abripiat poenaeque instauret monstra paternae,
gratum est, o superi. quotiens heu, nate, petebam,
ne patrias iras animosque in proelia ferres 585
neu te belligeri stimularet in arma parentis
triste decus.

has the savage blade penetrated all the way to my very vitals?
whatever it is, so long as Carthage does not snatch you off in chains
and renew the monstrosities of your father’s punishment,
it is welcome, O gods above. how often, alas, son, I begged,
that you not carry your father’s angers and spirit into battles, 585
nor let the grim honor of your warlike parent spur you to arms
sad honor.

nimium uiuacis dura senectae
supplicia expendi. quaeso, iam parcite, si qua
numina pugnastis nobis.'
At cladis acerbae
discussa ceu nube, patres conquirere fessis 590
iam rebus meditantur opem, atque ad munera belli
certatur, pulsusque timor grauiore periclo.
maxima curarum rectorem ponere castris
cui Latium et moles rerum quassata recumbat,
spectante occasum patria.

I have paid the harsh penalties of too long‑lived old age.
I beg, now spare us, if any numina have fought against us.'
But, as if the cloud of the bitter disaster were dispelled, the Fathers to seek out aid for exhausted affairs 590
now meditate, and there is contest for the duties of war, and fear is driven out by a graver peril.
to set a rector in the camp of the greatest cares,
on whom Latium and the shaken mass of affairs might recline,
while the fatherland looks upon its downfall.

Iouis illa ruenti 595

that of Jove, rushing down 595

Ausoniae atque Italis tempus protendere regnis
cura fuit; nam Tyrrhenos Poenumque secundis
Albana surgens respexerat arce tumentem,
qui ferre in muros uictricia signa parabat.
tum quassans caput 'Haud umquam tibi Iuppiter,' inquit 600
'o iuuenis, dederit portas transcendere Romae
atque inferre pedem. Tyrrhenas sternere ualles
caedibus, et ripas fluuiorum exire Latino
sanguine fas fuerit: Tarpeium accedere collem
murisque aspirare ueto.' quater inde coruscum 605
contorsit dextra fulmen, quo tota reluxit
Maeonidum tellus, atramque per aethera uoluens
abrupto fregit caelo super agmina nubem.

It was a care to prolong time for Ausonia and the Italian realms;
for, rising from the Alban citadel, he had looked back upon the Tyrrhenians and the Punic man swelling in favorable fortunes,
who was preparing to bear victorious standards into the walls.
then, shaking his head, he says, 'Never shall Jupiter grant to you, O youth, to overstep the gates of Rome
and to bring in your foot. To strew the Tyrrhenian valleys with slaughters, and for the banks of rivers to run out with Latin blood shall be permitted: to approach the Tarpeian hill
and to aspire to the walls I forbid.' Thence four times with his right hand he hurled the coruscant thunderbolt, 600
whereby the whole land of the Maeonians flashed forth,
and, rolling a black cloud through the aether, with the sky rent asunder he broke the cloud above the battle-lines.

nec Poenum auertisse satis: dat numine magno
Aeneadis mentem gremio deponere tuto 610

nor was it enough to have averted the Punic foe: he grants, by his great numen,
to the Aeneadae to lay their mind to rest in a safe bosom 610

Romuleam laudem Fabioque salutis habenas
credere ductori. cui postquam tradita belli
iura uidet, 'Non hunc' inquit 'superauerit unquam
inuidia aut blando popularis gloria fuco,
non astus fallax, non praeda aliusue cupido. 615
bellandi uetus ac laudum cladumque quieta
mente capax. par ingenium castrisque togaeque.'
sic genitor diuum recipitque ad sidera gressum.

to entrust Romulean laud and to Fabius the reins of salvation
to the leader. And when he sees that to him the laws of war
have been handed over, he says: 'Never shall envy
overcome this man, nor the popular glory with its bland
varnish, nor fallacious cunning, nor booty or any other cupidity. 615
a veteran in warring and, with a quiet mind,
capable of praises and disasters. Equal genius for camp and for toga.'
Thus the begetter of the gods withdraws and takes back his step to the stars.

    Hic circumspectis nulli deprensus in armis
laudatusque Ioui Fabius mirabile quantum            620
gaudebat reducem patriae adnumerare reuersus,
duxerat egrediens quam secum in proelia, pubem.
nec membris quisquam natoue pepercit amato
acrius aut uidit socium per bella cruorem
tristior. atque idem, perfusus sanguine uictor            625

    This man, circumspect, caught by no one in arms,
and Fabius, praised by Jove—marvelously how much—            620
rejoiced, on returning, to number, as restored, to the fatherland
the youth whom, when going forth, he had led with him into battles.
nor did anyone spare his limbs or his beloved son more keenly,
or behold a comrade’s blood through the wars more sadly.
And this same man, a victor drenched with blood,            625

hostili, plenis repetebat moenia castris.
stirpe genus clarum caeloque adfinis origo.
nam remeans longis olim Tirynthius oris
et triplicis monstri famam et spectacula captas
mira boues hac, qua fulgent nunc moenia Romae, 630
egit ouans.

with enemy blood, he returned to the walls with his camps full.
a lineage illustrious in stock and an origin allied to heaven.
for the Tirynthian, once returning from distant shores,
both the fame of the triple-formed monster and the marvelous spectacle, the captured
wondrous cattle, along this place where now the walls of Rome gleam, 630
he drove rejoicing.

tunc Arcadius, sic fama, locabat
inter desertos fundata Palatia dumos
paupere sub populo ductor, cum regia uirgo
hospite uicta sacro Fabium de crimine laeto
procreat et magni commiscet seminis ortus 635
Arcas in Herculeos mater uentura nepotes.
ter centum domus haec Fabios armauit in hostem
limine progressos uno; pulcherrima quorum
cunctando Fabius superauit facta ducemque
Hannibalem aequando. tantus tunc, Poene, fuisti. 640

then the Arcadian, so the report, was locating
the founded Palatine among deserted brambles,
a leader beneath a poor populace, when a royal maiden,
overcome by the sacred guest, brings forth Fabius from a joyful crime,
and the Arcadian mother, destined to come into Herculean grandsons,635
commingles the origins of great seed. Three hundred times ten the house armed Fabii against the foe,
having advanced from one threshold; the most illustrious of whom,
Fabius, by delaying, surpassed their deeds and the leader
Hannibal by equaling. So great then, Punic one, you were. 640

    Dum se perculsi renouant in bella Latini,
turbatus Ioue et exuta spe moenia Romae
pulsandi, collis Vmbros atque arua petebat
Hannibal, excelso summi qua uertice montis
deuexum lateri pendet Tuder, atque ubi latis            645
proiecta in campis nebulas exhalat inertis
et sedet ingentem pascens Meuania taurum,
dona Ioui. tum Palladios se fundit in agros
Picenum diues praedae atque errantibus armis,
quo spolia inuitant, transfert populantia signa,            650
donec pestiferos mitis Campania cursus
tardauit bellumque sinu indefensa recepit.
    Hic dum stagnosi spectat templumque domosque
Literni ductor, uaria splendentia cernit
pictura belli patribus monumenta prioris            655

    While the Latins, smitten, renew themselves for wars,
Hannibal, disturbed by Jove and with hope stripped of battering the walls of Rome,
was seeking Umbrian hills and fields,
where Tuder hangs on the sloping side from the lofty summit of the highest mountain,
and where, outstretched on broad, sluggish plains, it exhales mists,            645
and Mevania sits feeding a huge bull, a gift to Jove.
Then he pours himself into the Palladian fields—Picenum, rich in booty—and with wandering arms,
whither spoils invite, he shifts the plundering standards,            650
until gentle Campania slowed the pestiferous courses
and, undefended, received the war into her bosom.
    Here, while the leader looks upon the temple and the houses
of marshy Liternum, he sees monuments of an earlier war,
shining with variegated painting, for the Fathers (Senate).            655

exhausti: nam porticibus signata manebant,
quis inerat longus rerum et spectabilis ordo.
primus bella truci suadebat Regulus ore,
bella neganda uiro, si noscere fata daretur.
at princeps Poenis indicta more parentum 660
Appius astabat pugna lauroque reuinctus
iustum Sarrana ducebat caede triumphum.

exhaustively set forth: for in the porticoes there remained,
in which there was a long and notable order of events.
first Regulus, with a grim mouth, was urging wars,
wars that ought to be denied to the man, if it were granted to know the fates.
but the chief, with war proclaimed to the Phoenicians in the manner of the ancestors 660
Appius stood by the fight, and wreathed with laurel
was leading a rightful triumph with Sarran slaughter.

aequoreum iuxta decus et nauale tropaeum,
rostra gerens niuea surgebat mole columna.
exuuias Marti ~donumque Du<i>lius, alto 665
ante omnis mersa Poenorum classe, dicabat.
cui, nocturnus honos, funalia clara sacerque
post epulas tibicen adest, castosque penatis
insignis laeti repetebat murmure cantus.

beside the sea-borne honor and the naval trophy,
a column, bearing rostra, rose with snowy mass.
Duilius, to Mars the spoils and a gift, with the Punic fleet sunk in the deep before all, 665
was dedicating.
To whom, a nocturnal honor: bright torches and a sacred
piper attend after banquets, and, notable, he used to revisit the chaste Penates,
repeating songs with a glad murmur.

cernit et extremos defuncti ciuis honores: 670

he also beholds the final honors of a deceased citizen: 670

Scipio ductoris celebrabat funera Poeni,
Sardoa uictor terra. uidet inde ruentem
litoribus Libycis dispersa per agmina pubem;
instabat crista fulgens et terga premebat
Regulus: Autololes Nomadesque et Maurus et Hammon 675
et Garamas positis dedebant oppida telis.
lentus harenoso spumabat Bagrada campo
uiperea sanie, turmisque minantibus ultro
pugnabat serpens et cum duce bella gerebat.

Scipio was celebrating the funerals of the Punic commander,
a victor on Sardinian soil. Thence he sees the youth, scattered
through battle-lines, rushing along the Libyan shores;
Regulus, his crest gleaming, was pressing hard and pressing their backs:
the Autololes and the Nomads and the Moor and Ammon 675
and the Garamas, with weapons laid down, were surrendering their towns.
The Bagrada, sluggish, was foaming on the sandy plain
with viperine ichor, and the serpent, against the threatening squadrons,
was fighting of its own accord and was waging war against the general.

necnon proiectum puppi frustraque uocantem 680
numina Amyclaeum mergebat perfida ponto
rectorem manus, et seras tibi, Regule, poenas
Xanthippus digni pendebat in aequore leti.
addiderant geminas medio consurgere fluctu
Aegatis: lacerae circum fragmenta uideres 685

and likewise the perfidious band was drowning in the sea the Amyclaean helmsman, cast from the stern and calling upon the divinities in vain 680
and the band, and to you, Regulus, Xanthippus was paying belated penalties, of a deserved death, upon the sea-plain.
they had moreover added that the twin Aegates were rising in the midst of the swell;
you might see torn fragments all around 685

classis et effusos fluitare in gurgite Poenos.
possessor pelagi pronaque Lutatius aura
captiuas puppis ad litora uictor agebat.
haec inter iuncto religatus in ordine Hamilcar,
ductoris genitor, cunctarum ab imagine rerum 690
totius in sese uulgi conuerterat ora.

you would see the fleet and the Punic Carthaginians drifting, spilled out, in the surge.
Lutatius, possessor of the sea, with a favorable breeze,
as victor was driving the captive ships to the shores.
amid these things Hamilcar, bound in a joined file,
the leader’s father, had turned upon himself the faces of the whole populace away from the spectacle of all things 690

sed Pacis faciem et pollutas foederis aras
deceptumque Iouem ac dictantis iura Latinos
cernere erat. strictas trepida ceruice securis
horrebat Libys, ac summissis ordine palmis 695
orantes ueniam iurabant inrita pacta.
haec Eryce e summo spectabat laeta Dione.

but the face of Peace and the defiled altars of the federal covenant,
and Jove deceived, and the Latins dictating laws,
were to be seen. The Libyan shuddered at the drawn axes with a trembling neck,
and, with palms lowered in ordered file, 695
as they begged pardon, they were swearing the pacts void.
these things from the summit of Eryx joyful Dione was beholding.

Quae postquam infesto percensuit omnia uultu
adridens Poenus, lenta proclamat ab ira:
'Non leuiora dabis nostris inscribere tectis 700

Which things, after he surveyed all with a hostile countenance,
smiling, the Carthaginian proclaims, slow from anger:
'You will not give lighter things to inscribe upon our roofs 700

acta meae dextrae: captam, Carthago, Saguntum
da spectare, simul flamma ferroque ruentem;
perfodiant patres natorum membra. nec Alpes
exiguus domitas capiet locus: ardua celsis
persultet iuga uictor equis Garamasque Nomasque. 705
addes Ticini spumantis sanguine ripas
et nostrum Trebiam et Trasimenni litora Tusci
clausa cadaueribus. ruat ingens corpore et armis
Flaminius, fugiat consul manante cruore
Scipio et ad socios nati ceruice uehatur. 710
haec mitte in populos, et adhuc maiora dabuntur.

the deeds of my right hand: Carthage, grant to behold Saguntum
captured, and at the same time collapsing by flame and iron;
let fathers bore through the limbs of their sons. Nor shall a scant
space contain the Alps subdued: let the victor vault the steep
ridges on towering horses, and the Garamas and the Nomas. 705
you will add the banks of the Ticino foaming with blood,
and our Trebia and the shores of Tuscan Trasimene
shut in with corpses. Let Flaminius, huge in body and arms, fall,
let the consul Scipio flee with blood dripping and be carried
to the allies on the neck of his son. 710
send these among the peoples, and yet greater things will be given.

flagrantem effinges facibus, Carthago, Libyssis
Romam et deiectum Tarpeia rupe Tonantem.
interea uos, ut dignum est, ista (ocius ite)
o iuuenes, quorum dextris mihi tanta geruntur, 715

you will fashion, Carthage, Rome blazing with Libyan torches,
and the Thunderer cast down from the Tarpeian rock.
meanwhile you, as is worthy, to those things (go more swiftly)
O youths, by whose right hands such great things are being carried out for me, 715

in cineres monumenta date atque inuoluite flammis.'

consign the monuments to ashes and enwrap them in flames.'