Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Interea trepidis Fabius spes unica rebus.
ille quidem socios atque aegram uulnere praeceps
Ausoniam armabat uiridique ad dura laborum
bellator senio iam castra mouebat in hostem,
sed mens humana maior non tela nec enses 5
nec fortis spectabat equos. tot milia contra
Poenorum inuictumque ducem, tot in agmina solus
ibat et in sese cuncta arma uirosque gerebat.

Meanwhile Fabius, the sole hope for the alarmed affairs.
he indeed was arming the allies and Ausonia, sick with the wound, in headlong haste,
and, a war-man with green old age for the hard things of labors,
was now moving the camp against the enemy,
but a more-than-human mind was not looking to missiles nor swords 5
nor sturdy horses. Against so many thousands
of the Punics and the unconquered leader, into so many battle-lines he alone
went, and upon himself he was bearing all the arms and the men.

ac ni sacra seni uis impressumque fuisset
sistere Fortunam cunctando aduersa fouentem, 10
ultima Dardanii transisset nominis aetas.
ille modum superis in Punica castra fauoris
addidit et Libyae finem inter prospera bella
uincendi statuit. tumefactum cladibus ille
Hesperiis lento Poenum moderamine lusit. 15

and had there not been to the old man a sacred might and an imprinted capacity
to halt Fortune by delaying, as she fostered adversities, 10
the final age of the Dardanian name would have passed.
he set a limit for the gods’ favor toward the Punic camp
and amid prosperous wars he fixed an end to Libya’s winning.
he, with slow moderation, toyed with the Carthaginian swollen
by Hesperian disasters. 15

summe ducum, qui regna iterum labentia Troiae
et fluxas Latii res maiorumque labores,
qui Carmentis opes et regna Euandria seruas,
surge, age et emerito sacrum caput insere caelo.
At Libyae ductor, postquam noua nomina lecto 20
dictatore uigent, raptim mutata Latinis
imperia haud frustra reputans, cognoscere hauebat,
quae fortuna uiro, quodnam decus, ultima fessis
ancora cur Fabius, quem post tot Roma procellas
Hannibali putet esse parem. feruore carentes 25
angebant anni fraudique inaperta senectus.

supreme of leaders, you who the realms of Troy slipping once again
and the fluid affairs of Latium and the labors of the ancestors,
you who preserve the resources of Carmentis and the Evandrian realms,
arise, come, and insert your sacred head, well-earned, into heaven.
But the leader of Libya, after that new names flourish with a dictator chosen, 20
reckoning not in vain that the commands had been swiftly changed for the Latins, he was eager to learn
what fortune for the man, what honor indeed, why Fabius was the last
anchor for the weary, whom after so many tempests Rome
thinks to be a match for Hannibal. Years lacking fervor and an old age not open to fraud 25
were vexing him.

ocius accitum captiuo ex agmine poscit
progeniem ritusque ducis dextraeque labores.
Cilnius, Arreti Tyrrhenis ortus in oris,
clarum nomen erat. sed laeua adduxerat hora 30

more swiftly he calls for one summoned from the captive column, and asks
the lineage and rites of the leader and the labors of his right hand.
cilnius, of arretium, born on the tyrrhenian shores,
was a renowned name. but an unlucky hour had brought him 30

Ticini iuuenem ripis, fususque ruentis
uulnere equi Libycis praebebat colla catenis.
hic ardens exire malis et rumpere uitam,
'Non cum Flaminio tibi res, nec feruida Gracchi
in manibus consulta:' inquit 'Tirynthia gens est; 35
quam si fata tuis genuissent, Hannibal, oris,
terrarum imperium Carthaginis arce uideres.
non ego te longa serie per singula ducam.

Ticinus’s banks held the youth, and, laid low by the wound of a rushing horse,
he was offering his neck to Libyan chains. Here, burning to escape his woes and to break off his life,
he said: 'Your affair is not with Flaminius, nor are Gracchus’s fervid counsels in hand: it is a Tirynthian stock; 35
which, if the Fates had begotten on your shores, Hannibal,
from Carthage’s citadel you would behold the dominion of the lands.
I will not lead you through the particulars in a long series.

hoc sat erit: nosces Fabios certamine ab uno.
Veientum populi uiolata pace negabant 40
acceptare iugum, ac uicino Marte furebat
ad portas bellum, consulque ciebat ad arma.
dilectus uetiti, priuataque castra penates
Herculei impleuere.

this will be enough: you will know the Fabii from a single contest.
The Veientine people, with the peace violated, were refusing 40
to accept the yoke, and with Mars near at hand war was raging
at the gates, and the consul was stirring to arms.
the levy having been forbidden, and a private camp the Herculean Penates
filled.

domo, mirabile, ab una
patricius iunctis exercitus ibat in armis. 45

from one house, marvelous,
a patrician army went forth in united arms. 45

ter centum exiluere duces. quocumque liberet
uno non pauidus rexisses bella magistro.
sed dirum egressis omen: Scelerata minaci
stridentis sonitu tremuerunt limina portae,
maximaque Herculei mugiuit numinis ara. 50
inuasere hostem, numerarique aspera uirtus
haud est passa uiros, et plures milite caedes.

three hundred leaders leapt forth. wherever it might please,
you would have ruled the wars unafraid with a single commander.
but a dire omen for those going out: the accursed
thresholds of the gate trembled with the menacing sound of creaking,
and the very great altar of the Herculean numen bellowed. 50
they attacked the enemy, and their rugged valor did not allow
the men to be counted, and the slaughters were more than the soldiery.

saepe globo densi, saepe et per deuia passim
dispersi subiere uices, meritique labore
aequato, nulli quisquam uirtute secundus, 55
ducere ter centum Tarpeia ad templa triumphos.
spes heu fallaces oblitaque corda, caducum
mortali quodcumque datur! grex ille uirorum,
qui Fabia gente incolumi deforme putabat
publica bella geri, pariter cecidere deorum 60

often in a dense globe, often too, scattered here and there along byways,
they underwent their turns, and, with labor equal, deserved
so that none was second to any in valor, to lead three hundred triumphs to the Tarpeian temples. 55
alas, fallacious hopes and hearts that forget, how perishable
whatever is given to a mortal! that band of men,
who thought it shameful that the public wars be waged
with the Fabian clan unscathed, together fell by the gods’ will. 60

inuidia, subitis circumuenientibus armis.
nec tamen occisos est cur laetere. supersunt
quot tibi si<n>t Libyaeque satis: certauerit unus
ter centum dextris.

by envy, with sudden arms circumventing.
nor yet is there cause that you rejoice at the slain. there remain
as many as would be enough for you and for Libya: one alone
will have vied with three hundred right hands.

tam uiuida membra laborque
prouidus et cauta sollertia tecta quiete. 65
nec uero, calidi, nunc tu, cui sanguinis aetas,
foderis in pugna uelocius ilia planta
bellatoris equi frenisque momorderis ora.'
quem cernens auidum leti post talia Poenus,
'Nequiquam nostras, demens,' ait 'elicis iras 70
et captiua paras moriendo euadere uincla.
uiuendum est. arta seruentur colla catena.'
haec iuuenis, diuisque tumens ausisque secundis.

so lively the limbs, and a provident labor and cautious sagacity veiled by repose. 65
nor indeed, hot-blooded one, would you now—you whose age is of blood—
have with your sole more swiftly dug the flanks of a war-horse,
and have made the bit bite its mouth.'
Seeing him eager for death after such words, the Carthaginian said,
'In vain, madman, you elicit our wraths, 70
and by dying you prepare to evade captive chains.
You must live. Let the neck be kept fast by a tight chain.'
Thus spoke the youth, swelling with the gods and with ventures seconded.

At patres Latiasque nurus raptabat ad aras
cura deum. maesto suffusae lumina uultu 75

But the concern of the gods was snatching the fathers and the Latian brides to the altars;
their eyes suffused, with a mournful countenance. 75

femineus matres graditur chorus: ordine longo
Iunoni pallam conceptaque uota dicabant:
'Huc ades, o regina deum, gens casta precamur
et ferimus, digno quaecumque est nomine, turba
Ausonidum pulchrumque et, acu et subtemine fuluo 80
quod nostrae neuere manus, uenerabile donum.
ac dum decrescit matrum metus, hoc tibi, diua,
interea uelamen erit. si pellere nostris
Marmaricam terris nubem dabis, omnis in auro
pressa tibi uaria fulgebit gemma corona.' 85
necnon et proprio uenerantur Pallada dono
Phoebumque armigerumque deum primamque Dionen.

the feminine chorus of mothers advances: in a long order
they were dedicating to Juno a mantle and the vows they had conceived:
'Come hither, O queen of the gods, we, a chaste nation, pray
and, as a throng of Ausonids, we bring whatever offering is of worthy name,
and the fair and venerable gift which our hands have woven with needle and tawny weft; 80
and while the mothers’ fear diminishes, this shall meanwhile be for you, goddess,
a veil. If you will grant to drive the Marmaric cloud from our lands,
a crown pressed all in gold will shine for you with variegated gem.' 85
and they likewise venerate Pallas with her own gift,
and Phoebus and the arms-bearing god, and primeval Dione.

tanta adeo, cum res trepidae, reuerentia diuum
nascitur: at rarae fumant felicibus arae.
Dum Roma antiquos templis indicit honores, 90

so great indeed, when affairs are alarmed, the reverence of the gods
is born; but rare are the altars that smoke in felicitous times.
While Rome proclaims ancient honors to the temples, 90

iam Fabius, tacito procedens agmine et arte
bellandi lento similis, praecluserat omnis
fortunaeque hostique uias. discedere signis
haud licitum, summumque decus, quo tollis ad astra
imperii, Romane, caput, parere docebat. 95
uerum ubi prima satis conspecta in montibus altis
signa procul fulsitque nouis exercitus armis,
arrectae spes Sidonii, feruetque secundis
fortunae iuuenis. uincendi sola uidetur,
quod nondum steterint acies, mora: 'Pergite,' clamat 100
'ite citi, ruite ad portas, propellite uallum
pectoribus.

now Fabius, advancing with a silent column and, by the art of warring, resembling slowness,
had shut off all ways both for fortune and for the foe. To depart from the standards
was not permitted, and he taught that obedience is the highest honor, by which, Roman,
you lift the head of empire to the stars. 95
but when the foremost standards were sufficiently seen on the lofty mountains
afar, and the army flashed with new arms,
the hopes of the Sidonian were raised, and the youth seethes with favorable
fortune. The only delay to conquering seems to be
that the battle lines have not yet stood: “Go on,” he cries, 100
“go swiftly, rush to the gates, drive back the rampart
with your breasts.

quantum campi distamus, ad umbras
tantum hosti superest. resides ad bella uocantur,
quis pudeat certare, senes. quodcumque uidetis,
hoc reliquum est, primo damnatum ut inutile bello. 105

as far as across the plain we are separated, so much remains to the enemy till the shades;
the inactive are called to wars;
old men, whom would it shame to contend? whatever you see,
this is what is left, condemned at the first as useless for war. 105

en, ubi nunc Gracchi atque ubi nunc sunt fulmina gentis
Scipiadae? pulsi Ausonia non ante pauentem
dimisere fugam quam terror ad ultima mundi
Oceanumque tulit. profugus nunc errat uterque
nomina nostra tremens et ripas seruat Hiberi. 110
est etiam, cur Flaminio mihi gloria caeso
creuerit, et titulis libeat cur figere nostris
crudum Marte uiri nomen.

Lo, where now are the Gracchi, and where now are the thunderbolts of the race, the Scipiads?
driven from Ausonia, they did not take to flight before terror bore them to the farthest ends of the world
and to Ocean. now each wanders an exile, trembling at our names and keeps watch on the banks of the Hiberus. 110
There is even cause why, with Flaminius slain, my glory has grown, and why it pleases me
to fasten to our titles the man’s name,
raw with Mars.

quot demere noster
huic annos Fabio gladius ualet! et tamen audet.
audeat.

how many years our sword avails to take away from this fabius! and yet he dares.
let him dare.

haud ultra faxo spectetur in armis.'            115
    Talia uociferans uolucri rapit agmina cursu
ac praeuectus equo nunc dextra prouocat hostem
nunc uoce increpitat, missa nunc eminus hasta
fertur ouans pugnaeque agitat simulacra futurae:
ut Thetidis proles Phrygiis Vulcania campis            120

'I will make sure he is no longer beheld in arms.'            115
    Vociferating such things, he sweeps the ranks at winged speed,
and, carried forward on his horse, now with his right hand he challenges the foe,
now he upbraids them with his voice, now, a spear sent from afar,
he is borne exultant and stirs up the simulacra of the coming battle:
as the progeny of Thetis on the Phrygian fields with Vulcanian arms            120

arma tulit, clipeo amplexus terramque polumque
maternumque fretum totumque in imagine mundum.
    Cassarum sedet irarum spectator et alti
celsus colle iugi domat exultantia corda
infractasque minas dilato Marte fatigat            125
sollers cunctandi Fabius, ceu nocte sub atra
munitis pastor stabulis per ouilia clausum
impauidus somni seruat pecus: effera saeuit
atque impasta trucis ululatus turba luporum
exercet morsuque quatit restantia claustra.             130
    Inritus incepti mouet inde atque Apula tardo
arua Libys passu legit ac nunc ualle residit
conditus occulta, si praecipitare sequentem
atque inopinata detur circumdare fraude,
nunc nocturna parat caecae celantibus umbris            135
furta uiae retroque abitum fictosque timores
adsimulat, tum castra citus deserta relicta
ostentat praeda atque inuitat prodigus hostem:
qualis Maeonia passim Maeandrus in ora,
cum sibi gurgitibus flexis reuolutus oberrat.            140

he bore arms, having with his shield embraced both earth and sky
and his maternal sea, and the whole world in an image.
    A spectator of vain angers he sits, and on the high
ridge’s hill towering he tames exultant hearts,
and he wearies unbroken threats by war deferred, Fabius, skillful in delaying,            125
as when under black night, with stalls fortified,
a shepherd through the sheepfolds guards the flock shut in,
fearless of sleep: a savage and unfed howling mob of cruel wolves
rages and harasses, and with biting it shakes the resisting barriers.             130
    Foiled of his attempt, thence the Libyan moves and with slow
pace he picks his way through the Apulian fields, and now in a valley he settles,
concealed in hiding, if it might be granted to hurl headlong the pursuer
and to surround him with an unexpected fraud;
now he prepares thefts of the road, the blind night with its shades concealing,            135
and he simulates a way back and feigned fears;
then swift he displays camps left deserted as booty
and, prodigal, invites the enemy:
like the Maeander along the Maeonian shore everywhere,
when, rolled back upon itself with flexed whirlpools, it wanders astray.            140

nulla uacant incepta dolis: simul omnia uersat
miscetque exacuens uaria ad conamina mentem,
sicut aquae splendor radiatus lampade solis
dissultat per tecta uaga sub imagine uibrans
luminis et tremula laquearia uerberat umbra. 145
iamque dolore furens ita secum immurmurat ira:
'Obuia si primus nobis hic tela tulisset,
nullane nunc Trebiae et Trasimenni nomina? nulli
lugerent Itali? numquam Phaethontius amnis
sanguinea pontum turbasset decolor unda? 150
inuentum, dum se cohibet terimurque sedendo,
uincendi genus.

no undertakings are void of wiles: at once he turns over everything
and mixes, sharpening his mind for varied attempts,
just as the splendor of water, radiated by the lamp of the sun,
leaps about through the dwelling, quivering under the image of the light,
and with a trembling shadow lashes the coffered ceilings. 145
and now, raging with pain, he thus mutters with himself in wrath:
'If this man had first brought weapons to meet us,
would the names of the Trebia and Trasimene now be nothing? would no
Italians be mourning? would the Phaethontian river never
have troubled the deep with a discolored, blood-red wave? 150
a kind of winning has been found, while he holds himself in and we are worn down by sitting.'

en quotiens, uelut obuius iret,
discinxit ratione dolos fraudesque resoluit.'
haec secum, medio somni cum bucina noctem
diuideret, iamque excubias sortitus iniquas 155

lo, how often, as though he were going to meet him face-to-face,
he ungirded by reason the deceits and unloosed the frauds.'
these things to himself, when the trumpet, in the midst of sleep, was dividing the night,
and now, having been allotted the unjust watches, 155

tertius abrupta uigil iret ad arma quiete.
uertit iter Daunique retro tellure relicta
Campanas remeat notus populator in oras.
hic uero, intrauit postquam uberis arua Falerni
(diues ea et numquam tellus mentita colono), 160
addunt frugiferis inimica incendia ramis.

the third watch, with quiet broken, went to arms.
he turns his path, and with the Daunian soil left behind
the well-known despoiler returns to the Campanian shores.
here indeed, after he entered the fields of bountiful Falernian
(rich they, and a land that never lied to the farmer), 160
they add inimical fires to the fruit-bearing branches.

    Haud fas, Bacche, tuos tacitum tramittere honores,
quamquam magna incepta uocent. memorabere, sacri
largitor laticis, grauidae cui nectare uites
nulli dant prelis nomen praeferre Falernis.            165
Massica sulcabat meliore Falernus in aeuo
ensibus ignotis senior iuga. pampinus umbras
nondum uua uiridis nudo texebat in aruo,
pocula nec norant sucis mulcere Lyaei,
fonte sitim et pura soliti defendere lympha.            170

Not right, Bacchus, to pass your honors over in silence,
though great undertakings call. You shall be remembered, bestower
of sacred liquid, whose vines, pregnant with nectar, allow no presses
to set a name before the Falernian.165
Massic Falernus, in a better age,
the elder, furrowed the ridges, when swords were unknown. The vine-leaf
had not yet, the green grape, woven shades upon the bare field,
nor did they know to soothe cups with the juices of Lyaeus,
accustomed to defend thirst by a spring and pure water.170

attulit hospitio pergentem ad litora Calpes
extremumque diem pes dexter et hora Lyaeum,
nec pigitum paruosque lares humilisque subire
limina caelicolam tecti. cepere uolentem
fumosi postes et ritu pauperis aeui            175
ante focos mensae, laetus nec senserat hospes
aduenisse deum. sed enim de more parentum
grato cursabat studio instabatque senectae,
donec, opes festas, puris nunc poma canistris
composuit, nunc inriguis citus extulit hortis            180
rorantis umore dapes, tum lacte fauisque
distinxit dulcis epulas nulloque cruore
polluta castus mensa Cerealia dona
attulit ac primum Vestae detersit honorem
undique et in mediam iecit libamina flammam.            185

Calpe brought to hospitality, as he was proceeding to the shores, and a right foot and hour brought to the farthest day, Lyaeus; nor did it irk the heaven-dweller to undergo the small Lares and the low thresholds of the roof. The smoky doorposts received him willing, and, in the rite of a poor age, the table before the hearths—happy, the host had not sensed that a god had arrived. But indeed, according to the custom of the ancestors, with pleasing zeal he bustled and pressed on despite old age, until, his festive resources, now he set fruits in clean baskets, now quickly he brought out from the irrigated gardens viands dripping with moisture, 175
then with milk and honeycombs he variegated the sweet courses, and, the table chaste and polluted by no gore, he brought Cereal gifts, and first he wiped clean Vesta’s honor on every side and cast the libations into the central flame. 180

deesse tuos latices, hac sedulitate senili
captus, Iacche, uetas. subito, mirabile dictu,
fagina pampineo spumarunt pocula suco,
pauperis hospitii pretium, uilisque rubenti
fluxit mulctra mero, et quercu in cratera cauata 190
dulcis odoratis umor sudauit ab uuis.
'En cape' Bacchus ait 'nondum tibi nota, sed olim
uiticolae nomen peruulgatura Falerni
munera,' et haud ultra latuit deus.

you, Iacchus, captivated by this elderly sedulity,
forbid that your liquors be lacking. Suddenly—marvelous to say—
beech-wood cups foamed with vine-leaf juice,
the recompense of the poor hospitality, and the lowly milking-pail
flowed with ruddy wine, and from the oak, into a hollowed crater, 190
sweet moisture sweated from fragrant grapes.
“Here, take,” said Bacchus, “gifts not yet known to you, but destined one day
to promulgate abroad the name of Falernus the vine-grower,”
and the god lay hidden no longer.

inde nitentem
lumine purpureo frontem cinxere corymbi, 195
et fusae per colla comae, dextraque pependit
cantharus, ac uitis thyrso delapsa uirenti
festas Nysaeo redimiuit palmite mensas.
nec facilis laeto certasse, Falerne, sapori,
postquam iterata tibi sunt pocula, iam pede risum, 200

then corymbs wreathed his brow shining with purple light, 195
and his hair, poured down, over his neck; and from his right hand there hung
a cantharus, and a vine, slipped down onto the green thyrsus,
re-wreathed the festive tables with a Nysaean shoot.
nor was it easy, Falernus, to contend with the merry savor,
after the cups had been renewed for you, you were already with your foot setting laughter a-going, 200

iam lingua titubante moues, patrioque Lyaeo
tempora quassatus, grates et praemia digna
uix intellectis conaris reddere uerbis,
donec composuit luctantia lumina Somnus,
Somnus, Bacche, tibi comes additus. hinc ubi primo 205
ungula dispersit rores Phaethontia Phoebo,
uuiferis late florebat Massicus aruis
miratus nemora et lucentis sole racemos.
it monti decus, atque ex illo tempore diues
Tmolus <et> ambrosiis Ariusia pocula sucis 210
ac Methymna ferox lacibus cessere Falernis.

now with a tottering tongue you wag, and, your temples
shaken by native Lyaeus, you try to render thanks and worthy rewards
with words scarcely understood, until Sleep composed your struggling lights,
Sleep, Bacchus, assigned as companion to you. Thence, when first the Phaethontian 205
hoof scattered the dews for Phoebus, Massicus far and wide bloomed
on the vine-bearing fields, marvelling at the groves and the clusters shining with the sun.
glory goes to the mountain, and from that time rich Tmolus
and Ariusian cups with ambrosial juices, and fierce Methymna with her vats,
yielded to the Falernian vats. 210

Haec tum uasta dabat terrisque infestus agebat
Hannibal, et sicci stimulabant sanguinis enses,
ludificante ducem Fabio. iamque improba castris
Ausoniis uota et pugnandi praua libido 215

At that time Hannibal was dealing out these vast devastations and, hostile to the lands, was driving on,
and the swords, thirsting for still-dry blood, were goading,
while Fabius was making sport of the leader. And now in the Ausonian camps
wicked vows and a perverse lust for fighting 215

gliscebat: proni decurrere monte parabant.
Da famae, da, Musa, uirum, cui uincere bina
concessum castra et geminos domitare furores.
'Feruida si nobis corda abruptumque putassent
ingenium patres et si clamoribus' inquit 220
'turbari facilem mentem, non ultima rerum
et deplorati mandassent Martis habenas.

it was swelling: leaning forward they were preparing to run down the mountain.
Give to fame, give, Muse, the man to whom it was granted to conquer two camps and to tame twin frenzies.
'If the fathers had thought our hearts fervid and our temperament headlong, and that by shouts,' he says 220
'a facile mind could be thrown into turmoil, they would not have entrusted the reins of a lamented Mars as the last resource of our affairs.

stat pensata diu belli sententia: uincam
seruare inuitos urgentisque ultima fata.
nulli per Fabium e uobis cecidisse licebit. 225
si lucis piget et supremis esse cupido est
nominis Ausonii taedetque in tempore tali
nullum clade noua claraeque fragore ruinae
insignem fecisse locum, reuocandus ab atris
Flaminius uobis est sedibus. ille ruendi 230

the counsel of war, long weighed, stands firm: I shall prevail
to save the unwilling and to stave off the ultimate dooms that press.
to none of you, through Fabius, will it be permitted to have fallen. 225
if the light is loathsome and there is a desire to be the last
of the Ausonian name, and in such a time it wearies you
to have made no place marked by new carnage and by the crash of illustrious ruin,
Flaminius must be called back for you from the black abodes.
he is for rushing 230

iam dudum properans signum auspiciumque dedisset.
an nondum praeceps uicinaque fata uidetis?
una, ut debellet, satis est uictoria Poeno.

long since, hurrying, he would have given the signal and the auspice.
Or do you not yet see the headlong plunge and the fates close at hand?
one victory is enough for the Punic foe to finish the war.

state, uiri, et sentite ducem. cum optabile tempus
deposcet dextras, tunc ista ferocia dicta 235
aequentur factis. non est, mihi credite, non est
arduus in pugnas ferri labor: una reclusis
omnes iam portis in campum effuderit hora.

stand, men, and perceive the leader. when the desirable time
shall demand right hands, then let those ferocious words 235
be matched by deeds. believe me, it is not, it is not
arduous labor to be borne into battles: one hour, the gates thrown open,
will already have poured all into the plain.

magnum illud solisque datum, quos mitis euntis
Iuppiter aspexit, magnum est ex hoste reuerti. 240
fortunae Libys incumbit flatuque secundo
fidit agens puppim. dum desinat aura sinusque
destituat tumidos subducto flamine uentus,
in rem cunctari fuerit. non ulla perenni
amplexu Fortuna fouet.

that great thing, and granted only to those whom gentle Jupiter has looked upon as they go,
it is great to return from the foe. 240
the Libyan leans upon Fortune and, with a favorable breath,
trusts as he drives the stern. until the breeze ceases and the wind,
with the blast withdrawn, leaves the swelling folds abandoned,
it will be to advantage to delay. no one does Fortune foster
with a perennial embrace.

iam copia quanto 245

now how great a supply 245

artior et nullo Tyriis certamine quantum
detritum est famae! quin inter cetera nostra
haud laude afuerit, modo qui++sed parcere dictis
sit melius. iam uos acies et proelia et hostem
poscitis?

more strait, and with no contest for the Tyrians, how much of fame
has been worn away! nay rather, among our other things it will not
have been without laud, provided that—but to spare words
is better. Now you demand battle-lines and battles and the hostile foe?

o maneat, superi, fiducia talis!            250
interea exclusa maioris sorte pericli
me solum, quaeso, toti me opponite bello.'
his dictis fractus furor et rabida arma quierunt:
ut, cum turbatis placidum caput extulit undis
Neptunus totumque uidet totique uidetur            255
regnator ponto, saeui fera murmura uenti
dimittunt nullasque mouent in frontibus alas,
tum sensim infusa tranquilla per aequora pace
languentes tacito lucent in litore fluctus.
    Sensit cura sagax Poeni fraudisque ueneno            260

o may such confidence remain, gods above!            250
meanwhile, with the lot of the greater peril excluded,
set me alone, I beg, against the whole war.'
At these words the fury was broken and the rabid arms grew quiet:
as, when Neptune has lifted his placid head from the troubled waves
and, ruler of the sea, sees all and is seen by all,            255
the savage winds release their wild murmurs
and stir no wings upon their brows,
then, with tranquil peace gradually infused across the levels of the sea,
the languid waves shine on the silent shore.
    The shrewd concern of the Phoenician felt it, and with the poison of fraud            260

adgreditur mentes. pauca atque haec ruris auiti
iugera nec multis Fabius uertebat aratris:
Massicus uuiferis addebat nomina glaebis.
hinc pestem placitum moliri et spargere causas
in castra ambiguas.

he attacks the minds. a few—and these—acres of ancestral countryside
Fabius was turning, nor with many ploughs:
Massicus was adding names to the vine-bearing glebes.
from this it was resolved to contrive a plague and to scatter ambiguous causes
into the camp.

ferro flammisque pepercit            265
suspectamque loco pacem dedit arte maligna
ceu clandestino traheretur foedere bellum.
    Intellectus erat Fabio, Tyriosque uidebat
dictator saeuire dolos. sed non uacat ~aegre
inuidiam gladios inter lituosque timere            270
et dubia morsus famae depellere pugna,
donec reptantem et nequiquam saepe trahendo
huc illuc castra scrutantem proelia Poenum,
qua nemorosa iuga et scopulosi uertice colles
exurgunt, clausit sparsa ad diuortia turma.            275

he spared with iron and flames            265
and, suspect by the place, gave peace by malignant art,
as if the war were being drawn out by a clandestine compact.
    It had been perceived by Fabius, and the dictator saw
the Tyrian stratagems raging. But there is no leisure, amid swords
and trumpets, to fear ill will with difficulty, and to drive off the bites of fame by a doubtful fight,            270
until the Punic foe, crawling and, by often dragging
his camp here and there, in vain searching out battles,
where wooded ridges and hills craggy at the summit
rise, he enclosed with a troop scattered at the diverging passes.            275

hinc Laestrygoniae saxoso monte premebant
a tergo rupes, undosis squalida terris
hinc Literna palus, nec ferri aut militis usum
poscebat regio, saeptos sed fraude locorum
arta fames poenas miserae exactura Sagunti            280
urgebat, finisque aderat Carthaginis armis.
    Cuncta per et terras et lati stagna profundi
condiderat somnus, positoque labore dierum
pacem nocte datam mortalibus orbis agebat.
at non Sidonium curis flagrantia corda            285
ductorem uigilesque metus haurire sinebant
dona soporiferae noctis.

hence Laestrygonian crags with a rocky mountain pressed them
from the rear, squalid with wave-swept lands; on this side the Literna marsh,
nor did the region require the use of iron or of soldier,
but, the men hemmed in by the treachery of the places,
pinching hunger, destined to exact the penalties of wretched Saguntum,            280
was pressing, and an end by Carthage’s arms was at hand.
    Sleep had buried all things both over the lands and the broad pools of the profound,
and, the labor of the days laid aside, the orb of the world was holding the peace granted to mortals by night.
but neither did wakeful fear allow the Sidonian leader and hearts
burning with cares to drink in the gifts of soporiferous Night.            285
gifts of sleep-bringing night.

nam membra cubili
erigit et fului circumdat pelle leonis,
qua super instratos proiectus gramine campi
presserat ante toros. tunc ad tentoria fratris 290

for he raises his limbs from the couch
and girds himself with the fulvous lion’s pelt,
with which, flung above the couches spread on the grass of the plain,
he had earlier pressed them. then to his brother’s tents 290

fert gressus uicina citos. nec degener ille
belligeri ritus taurino membra iacebat
effultus tergo et mulcebat tristia somno.
haud procul hasta uiri terrae defixa propinquae,
et dir<a> e summa pendebat cuspide cassis; 295
at clipeus circa loricaque et ensis et arcus
et telum Baliare simul tellure quiescunt.

he speeds his steps to the neighboring quarters. nor was that man degenerate in warlike rite: with his limbs laid out, propped on a bull’s back, he was soothing his sadness with sleep.
not far off the man’s spear was fixed in the nearby earth, and a dread casque was hanging from the very tip of the cusp; 295
but the shield close by, and the lorica (cuirass) and the sword and the bow and the Balearic missile rest together on the ground.

iuxta lecta manus, iuuenes in Marte probati,
et sonipes strato carpebat gramina dorso.
ut pepulere leuem intrantis uestigia somnum, 300
'Heus!' inquit (pariterque manus ad tela ferebat)
'quae te cura uigil fessum, germane, fatigat?'
ac iam constiterat sociosque in caespite fusos
incussa reuocat castrorum ad munera planta,
cum Libyae ductor: 'Fabius me noctibus aegris, 305

nearby were the chosen bands, youths proven in Mars,
and the war-steed with saddled back was plucking the grasses.
when they brushed away the light traces of sleep coming on, 300
'Hey!' he says (and at the same time he was bearing his hands to the weapons),
'what care, wakeful, wearies you, brother, though worn out?'
and now he had halted and, with a stamped foot, recalls the comrades sprawled on the turf
to the duties of the camp, when the leader of Libya: 'Fabius, to me in sickly nights, 305

in curas Fabius nos excitat, illa senectus
heu fatis quae sola meis currentibus obstat!
cernis ut armata circumfundare corona,
et uallet clausos collectus miles in orbe<m>.
uerum, age, nunc quando res artae, percipe porro 310
quae meditata mihi. latos correpta per agros
armenta adsueto belli de more secuntur.

Fabius rouses us into cares, that old age—alas!—which alone stands in the way of my fates running on!
you see how an armed ring pours round,
and the gathered soldiery, we being enclosed in a circle, fortifies us.
but come now, since affairs are straitened, perceive further 310
what has been meditated by me. seized across the broad fields the herds,
by the accustomed manner of war, follow.

cornibus arentis edicam innectere ramos
sarmentique leuis fronti religare maniplos,
admotus cum feruorem disperserit ignis 315
ut passim exultent stimulante dolore iuuenci
et uaga per collis ceruice incendia iactent.
tum terrore nouo trepidus laxabit iniquas
custos excubias maioraque nocte timebit.
si cordi consulta (moras extrema recusant) 320

I will order dried branches to be fastened to their horns,
and light bundles of brushwood to be bound to the brow,
when applied fire has spread its heat; 315
so that the young bullocks may leap everywhere with pain goading them,
and with wandering necks toss the fires across the hills.
then, at new terror, the trembling guard will slacken his unfriendly watches
and will fear greater things in the night.
if the counsels are to your heart (extremities refuse delays). 320

accingamur' ait. gemino tentoria gressu
inde petunt. ingens clipeo ceruice reposta
inter equos interque uiros interque iacebat
capta manu spolia et rorantia caede Maraxes
ac dirum, in somno ceu bella capesseret, amens 325
clamorem tum forte dabat dextraque tremente
arma toro et notum quaerebat feruidus ensem.

'Let us gird ourselves,' he says. With twin stride the tents
thence they seek. With his neck reposed on his shield, huge,
he lay among horses and among men and among
spoils taken by hand and dripping with slaughter—Maraxes—
and, as if in sleep he were taking up wars, out of his mind, a dread shout 325
he was then by chance giving, and with trembling right hand
he, fervid, was seeking on the couch his arms and his well-known sword.

huic Mago, inuersa quatiens ut dispulit hasta
bellantem somnum, 'Tenebris, fortissime ductor,
iras compesce atque in lucem proelia differ. 330
ad fraudem occultamque fugam tutosque receptus
nunc nocte utendum est. arentis nectere frondes
cornibus et latis accensa immittere siluis
armenta, oppositi reserent quo claustra manipli,
germanus parat atque obsessa euellere castra. 335

To him Mago, shaking his spear reversed as he dispelled the warlike sleep,
'In the darkness, bravest leader, restrain your wrath and defer the battles to the light. 330
for stratagem and concealed flight and safe retreats we must now make use of the night.
to tie parched fronds to their horns, and to send the herds, kindled, into the broad woods,
so that the opposing maniple may unbar its barriers; your brother is preparing this, and to wrench free the besieged camp. 335

emergamus, et hic Fabio persuadeat astus
non certare dolis.' nihil hinc cunctante, sed acris
incepti laeto iuuene, ad tentoria Acherrae
festinant, cui parca quies minimumque soporis,
nec notum somno noctes aequare: feroci 340
peruigil inseruibat equo fessumque leuabat
tractando et frenis ora exagitata fouebat.
at socii renouant tela arentemque cruorem
ferro detergent et dant mucronibus iras.
quid fortuna loci poscat, quid tempus, et ipsi 345
quaenam agitent, pandunt et coeptis ire ministrum
haud segnem hortantur.

let us emerge, and let this artifice persuade Fabius
not to contend in wiles.' With him delaying nothing here, but the youthful
spirit glad at the fierce undertaking, to the tents of Acherra
they hasten, to whom scant rest and the least portion of sleep,
nor was it known to make nights equal with sleep: with fierce 340
vigilance he was attending to his horse and lightening its weariness
by handling, and with the reins he was soothing the mouth harried.
but the comrades renew their weapons and the dried gore
they wipe off with steel and give wrath to their blades.
what the fortune of the place demands, what the time, and what they themselves 345
are planning, they lay open, and they urge the attendant to go to the undertakings
not at all sluggish.

discurrit tessera castris,
intentiquo docent, quae sint properanda, mone<n>tque
quisque suos: instat trepidis stimulatque ruentis
nauus abire timor, dum caeca silentia dumque 350

the watchword runs through the camp,
and, intent, they teach what must be hastened, and warn their own men each;
eager fear presses on the trembling and goads those rushing to depart,
while blind silences and while 350

maiores umbrae. rapida iam subdita peste
uirgulta atque altis surgunt e cornibus ignes.
hic uero ut, gliscente malo et quassantibus aegra
armentis capita, adiutae pinguescere flammae
coepere et uincens fumos erumpere uertex,            355
per collis dumosque (lues agit atra) per altos
saxosi scopulos montis lymphata feruntur
corpora anhela boum, atque obsessis naribus igni
luctantur frustra rabidi mugire iuuenci.
per iuga, per uallis errat Vulcania pestis            360
nusquam stante malo, uicinaque litora fulgent:
quam multa adfixus caelo sub nocte serena
fluctibus e mediis sulcator nauita ponti
astra uidet, quam multa uidet, feruoribus atris
cum Calabros urunt ad pinguia pabula saltus,            365

greater shadows. Now, with the rapid pest set beneath,
the brushwood and fires rise from their tall horns.
Here indeed, as the ill waxed and, the herds ailing, shook their heads,
the flames, aided, began to fatten, and the peak, conquering the fumes, began to erupt;            355
through hills and thickets (the black blight drives them), over the high
crags of the rocky mountain the frantic, panting bodies
of the oxen are borne, and with nostrils besieged by the fire
the rabid bullocks struggle in vain to bellow.
Over ridges, over valleys the Vulcanian pest wanders,            360
the evil halting nowhere, and the neighboring shores gleam:
as many as the stars, fixed in the sky, under a serene night
the sailor, furrower of the sea from the midst of the waves,
sees—so many he sees—when with black fervors
they scorch the Calabrian glades for the rich pastures.            365

uertice Gargani residens incendia pastor.
    At facie subita uolitantum montibus altis
flammarum, quis tunc ce<ci>dit custodia sorti,
horrere atque ipsos nullo spargente uagari
credere et indomitos pasci sub collibus ignes.            370
caelone exciderint, et magna fulmina dextra
torserit Omnipotens, an caecis rupta cauernis
fuderit egestas accenso sulphure flammas
infelix tellus, media in formidine quaerunt.
iamque abeunt, faucesque uiae citus occupat armis            375
Poenus et in patulos exultans emicat agros.

the shepherd, sitting on the summit of Garganus, [beholds] the conflagrations.
    But at the sudden sight of flames flying over the high mountains,
whoever’s watch then fell by lot,
they shudder and believe that the fires themselves, with no one scattering them, wander,
and that untamable fires graze beneath the hills.            370
whether they have fallen from the sky, and the Omnipotent with his great right hand
has hurled thunderbolts, or whether, its blind caverns burst,
the unhappy earth has poured forth flames with sulphur kindled—
in the midst of their dread they ask.
and now they depart, and swiftly the Carthaginian seizes with arms the throats
of the road and, exulting, darts out into the open fields.            375

huc tamen usque uigil processerat arte regendi
dictator Trebiam et Tusci post stagna profundi,
esset ut Hannibali Fabium Romanaque tela
euasisse satis. quin et uestigia pulsi 380

To this point, however, the watchful had advanced by the art of ruling,
the dictator beyond the Trebia and the pools of the Tuscan deep,
so that for Hannibal it would have been enough to have escaped Fabius and the Roman weapons
nay, even the footprints of the routed 380

et gressus premeret castris, ni sacra uocarent
ad patrios ueneranda deos. tum uersus ad urbem
adloquitur iuuenem, cui mos tramittere signa
et belli summam primasque iubebat habenas,
atque his praeformat dictis fingitque monendo: 385
'Si factis nondum, Minuci, te cauta probare
erudiit Fortuna meis, nec ducere uerba
ad uerum decus ac prauis arcere ualebunt.
uidisti clausum Hannibalem.

and he would have pressed his steps upon the camp, had not the sacred rites called him
to the ancestral gods to be venerated. Then, turned toward the city
he addresses the youth, for whom it was the custom to hand over the standards
and to bid him take the sum of the war and the foremost reins,
and with these words he preforms him and fashions by admonishing: 385
'If, by my deeds, Fortune has not yet taught you, Minucius, to prove yourself cautious,
nor will words be able to lead
to true honor and to keep you from crooked courses.
you have seen Hannibal shut in.

nil miles et alae
iuuere aut densis legio conferta maniplis. 390
testor te, solus clausi nec deinde morabor.
dis sine me libare dapem et sollemnia ferre:
hunc iterum atque iterum uinctum uel montibus altis
amnibus aut rapidis (modo pugna absistite) tradam.
interea (crede experto, non fallimus) aegris 395

nothing did the soldier and the wings help
or the legion packed in dense maniples. 390
I call you to witness, I alone have enclosed him, nor shall I then delay.
allow me to libate the banquet to the gods and to carry out the solemnities:
this man again and again, bound either by high mountains
or by swift rivers (only desist from battle) I will deliver.
meanwhile (believe one experienced, we do not mislead) for the ailing 395

nil mouisse salus rebus. sit gloria multis
et placeat, quippe egregium, prosternere ferro
hostem, sed Fabio sit uos seruasse triumphus.
plena tibi castra atque intactus uulnere miles
creditur: hos nobis (erit haec ti<bi> gloria) redde. 400
iam cernes Libycum hu<i>c uallo adsultare leonem,
iam praedas offerre tibi, iam uertere terga,
respectantem adeo atque iras cum fraude coquentem.

Safety has advanced matters nothing. Let it be glory for many—and let it be pleasing, since it is outstanding—to prostrate the foe with steel; but let it be Fabius’s triumph that you have preserved yourselves. Full camps and soldiers untouched by wound are entrusted to you: give these back to us (this will be your glory). 400
Now you will see the Libyan lion leap against this rampart,
now offer you spoils, now turn his back,
even looking back and cooking up his wrath with deceit.

claude, oro, castra et cunctas spes eripe pugnae.
haec monuisse satis. sed si compescere corda 405
non datur oranti, magno te iure pioque
dictator capere arma ueto.' sic castra relinquens
uallarat monitis ac se referebat ad urbem.

close, I beg, the camp, and snatch away every hope of battle.
this warning is enough. but if it is not granted to the one praying to restrain hearts, 405
by great and pious right I forbid you, dictator, to take up arms.' thus, leaving the camp
he had fortified it with monitions and was returning to the city.

Ecce autem flatu classis Phoenissa secundo
litora Caietae Laestrygoniosque recessus 410

Behold, moreover, with a favorable breeze the Phoenician fleet
makes for the shores of Caieta and the Laestrygonian recesses 410

sulcabat rostris portusque intrarat apertos
ac totus multo spumabat remige pontus,
cum trepidae fremitu uitreis e sedibus antri
aequoreae pelago simul emersere sorores
ac possessa uident infestis litora proris.            415
tum magno perculsa metu Nereia turba
attonitae propere refluunt ad limina nota,
Telebou<m> medio surgunt qua regna profundo
pumiceaeque procul sedes. immanis in antro
conditur abrupto Proteus ac spumea late            420
cautibus obiectis reiectat caerula uates.
is postquam (sat gnarus enim rerumque metusque)
per uarias lusit formas et terruit atri
serpentis squamis horrendaque sibila torsit
aut fremuit toruo mutatus membra leone,            425

s/he was ploughing with its beaks (rostra) and had entered open ports,
and the whole sea foamed with the many oarsmen,
when, alarmed by the roar, from the vitreous seats of the cave
the sea-born sisters at once emerged into the deep,
and they see the shores occupied by hostile prows.            415
then, struck with great fear, the Nereid throng—astonied—swiftly
flows back to the well-known thresholds, where in the mid-deep rise
the realms of the Telebo<m> and the pumiceous seats afar. In a vast
abrupt cavern Proteus is hidden, and, with rocks set before him,
the seer (vates) far and wide beats back the foaming cerulean waters.            420
he, after—well skilled enough, indeed, both in things and in fear—
played through various forms and terrified with the scales
of a black serpent, and twisted forth dreadful hisses,
or, his limbs changed into a grim lion, he roared.            425

'Dicite,' ait 'quae causa uiae? quisue ora repente
peruasit pallor? cur scire futura libido?'
Ad quae Cymodoce, Nympharum maxima natu
Italidum: 'Nosti nostros, praesage, timores.

'Speak,' he says, 'what is the cause of the journey? or what pallor has suddenly pervaded your faces? why the desire to know the future?'
To these things Cymodoce, the eldest by birth of the Italian Nymphs:
You know our fears, seer.

quid Tyriae classes ereptaque litora nobis 430
portendunt? num migrantur Rhoeteia regna
in Libyam superis? aut hos Sarranus habebit
nauita iam portus?

what do the Tyrian fleets and the shores snatched from us portend? 430
are the Rhoetean realms being transferred into Libya by the gods above?
or will a Phoenician sailor now hold these harbors?

patria num sede fugatae
Atlantem et Calpen extrema habitabimus antra?'
Tunc sic euoluens repetita exordia retro 435
incipit ambiguus uates reseratque futura:
'Laomedonteus Phrygia cum sedit in Ida
pastor et errantis dumosa per auia tauros
arguta reuocans ad roscida pascua canna
audiuit sacrae lentus certamina formae, 440

shall we, driven from our native seat,
inhabit the far caves of Atlas and Calpe?'
Then, thus unrolling the repeated exordia backward, 435
the ambiguous seer begins and unbars the future:
'When the Laomedontean shepherd sat on Phrygian Ida
and, recalling the wandering bulls through bushy pathless places
with a shrilling reed to the dewy pastures,
at leisure he heard the contests of sacred beauty, 440

tum matris currus niueos agitabat olores
tempora sollicitus litis seruasse Cupido.
paruulus ex umero corytos et aureus arcus
fulgebat, nutuque uetans trepidare parentem
monstrabat grauidam telis se ferre pharetram. 445
ast alius niuea comebat fronte capillos,
purpureos alius uestis religabat amictus.
cum sic suspirans roseo Venus ore decoros
adloquitur natos: "Testis certissima uestrae
ecce dies pietatis adest.

then the snowy swans of his mother’s chariot Cupid was driving,
anxious to have kept the times of the dispute.
the little one had from his shoulder the corytus and golden bow
gleaming, and with a nod, forbidding his parent to be alarmed,
he showed that he was carrying a quiver pregnant with shafts. 445
but another was combing the hair on her snowy brow,
another was binding the purple wraps of her vesture.
when thus, sighing, Venus with roseate mouth addresses
her beautiful sons: "Behold, the day, the surest witness
of your piety, is at hand."

quis credere saluis 450
hoc ausit uobis? de forma atque ore (quid ultra
iam superest rerum?) certat Venus. omnia paruis
si mea tela dedi blando medicata ueneno,
si uester, caelo ac terris qui foedera sancit,
stat supplex, cum uultis, auus: uictoria nostra 455

who would dare to believe this of you, with you safe? 450
about form and face (what beyond
now remains of things?) Venus competes. if I have given all my weapons
to my little ones, medicated with blandishing poison,
if your grandsire, who sanctions treaties for heaven and earth,
stands suppliant, whenever you wish: our victory 455

Cypron Idymaeas referat de Pallade palmas,
de Iunone Paphos centum mihi fumet in aris."
dumque haec aligeris instat Cytherea, sonabat
omne nemus gradiente dea. iam bellica uirgo,
aegide deposita et qua adsuetum casside crinem 460
inuoluit, nec compta tamen pacemque serenis
condiscens oculis, ibat lucoque ferebat
praedicto sacrae uestigia concita plantae.
parte alia intrabat iussis Saturnia siluis,
iudicium Phrygis et fastus pastoris et Iden 465
post fratris latura toros.

Let Cyprus bring back the Idaean palms from Pallas,
let Paphos smoke for me on a hundred altars over Juno."
And while Cytherea urges these things upon the winged ones, all
the grove resounded as the goddess strode. Now the warlike maiden,
her aegis laid aside and the helmet with which she is wont to wrap her hair 460
removed, yet not adorned, and learning peace with serene
eyes, was going and was bearing to the foretold grove the footprints
of her sacred, hastening foot. In another quarter the Saturnian was entering the woods as bidden,
about to bring, after her brother’s couch, the judgment of the Phrygian,
the pride of the shepherd, and Ida. 465

postrema nitenti
adfulsit uultu ridens Venus: omnia circa
et nemora et penitus frondosis rupibus antra
spirantem sacro traxerunt uertice odorem.
nec iudex sedisse ualet, fessique nitoris 470

last, Venus shone upon him, smiling with a gleaming countenance: all around both the groves and deep within the caves on leafy crags drew in the breathing fragrance from her sacred crown.
nor can the judge sit still, and, weary of the radiance, 470

luce cadunt oculi, ac metuit dubitasse uideri.
sed uictae fera bella deae uexere per aequor,
atque excisa suo pariter cum iudice Troia.
tum pius Aeneas terris iactatus et undis
Dardanios Itala posuit tellure penatis. 475
dum cete ponto innabunt, dum sidera caelo
lucebunt, dum sol Indo se litore tollet,
hic regna et nullae regnis per saecula metae.

his eyes fall from the light, and he fears to seem to have hesitated.
but the fierce wars of the defeated goddess bore [them] over the sea,
and Troy was cut down, together with its own judge.
then pious Aeneas, tossed on lands and on waves,
placed the Dardanian Penates on Italian soil. 475
so long as whales shall swim in the deep, so long as the stars in the sky
shall shine, so long as the sun shall lift itself from the Indian shore,
here [shall be] kingdoms, and no bounds to the kingdoms through the ages.

at uos, o natae, currit dum immobile filum,
Hadriaci fugite infaustas Sasonis harenas. 480
sanguineis tumidus ponto miscebitur undis
Aufidus et rubros impellet in aequora fluctus,
damnatoque deum quondam per carmina campo
Aetolae rursus Teucris pugnabitis umbrae.
Punica Romuleos quatient mox spicula muros, 485

but you, O daughters, while the motionless thread runs,
flee the ill-omened sands of Sason in the Adriatic. 480
the Aufidus, swollen, will be commingled with the deep by blood-red waves,
and will drive crimson billows into the waters,
and on the field once condemned by the gods through song you Aetolian shades will fight the Teucrians again.
Punic javelins will soon shake the Romulean walls, 485

multaque Hasdrubalis fulgebit strage Metaurus.
hinc ille in furto genitus patruique piabit
idem ultor patrisque necem; tum litus Elissae
implebit flammis auelletque Itala Poenum
uiscera torrentem et propriis superabit in oris.            490
huic Carthago armis, huic Africa nomine cedet,
hic dabit ex sese qui tertia bella fatiget
et cinerem Libyae ferat in Capitolia uictor.'
    Quae dum arcana deum uates euoluit in antro,
iam monita et Fabium bellique equitumque magister            495
exuerat mente ac praeceps tendebat in hostem.
pascere nec Poenus prauum ac nutrire furorem
deerat et, ut paruo maiora ad proelia damno
eliceret, dabat interdum simulantia terga:
non aliter, quam qui sparsa per stagna profundi            500

and the Metaurus will gleam with much carnage of Hasdrubal.
from here that one, begotten in stealth, will atone, the same as avenger, the murder both of his uncle and of his father; then he will fill Elissa’s shore
with flames and will tear away the Punic man scorching the Italian vitals and will overcome him upon his own shores.            490
to this man Carthage will yield in arms, to this man Africa will yield in name,
here will arise from him one who will weary the Third War
and, victor, will bear the ash of Libya into the Capitolia.'
    While the seer unfolds these arcana of the gods in the cavern,
already the warnings and Fabius the Master of the Horse of war and of cavalry had cast from his mind and was headlong aiming against the enemy.            495
nor did the Punic man fail to feed and to nourish the perverse frenzy
and, so that he might draw them out to greater battles with small loss,
he was at times offering backs that only pretended to flee:
not otherwise than one who, scattered through the pools of the deep,            500

euocat e liquidis piscem penetralibus esca,
cumque leuem summa uidit iam nare sub unda,
ducit sinuato captiuum ad litora lino.
    Fama furit uersos hostis, Poenumque salutem
inuenisse fuga: liceat si uincere, finem            505
promitti cladum, sed enim dicione carere
uirtutem, et poenas uincentibus esse repostas.
clausurum iam castra ducem rursusque referri
uaginae iussurum enses, reddatur in armis
ut ratio, et purget miles cur uicerit hostem.            510
haec uulgus.

he calls forth the fish from the liquid inner depths with bait,
and when he has seen the light one now swim at the surface beneath the wave,
he draws the captive to the shores with a sinuous line.
    Rumor rages that the foes are routed, and that the Punic man has found
salvation in flight: if it be permitted to conquer, an end of disasters is            505
promised, but that valor, forsooth, is without dominion,
and that penalties are laid up for the victors.
That the leader will now shut the camp and will order the swords
to be borne back to the sheath, that reason may be restored in arms,
and that the soldier may purge why he has conquered the foe.            510
Such things the common crowd.

necnon patrum Saturnia mentes
inuidiae stimulo fodit et popularibus auris.
tunc indigna fide censent optandaque Poeno,
quae mox haud paruo luerent damnata periclo.
Diuiditur miles, Fabioque equitumque magistro 515

and also the Saturnian pierces the minds of the fathers
with the spur of invidious envy and with popular breezes.
then they judge as unworthy of faith and as to be desired by the Punic foe
those things which, once condemned, they would soon pay for at no small peril.
The soldiery is divided, and to Fabius and to the master of horse 515

imperia aequantur penitus. cernebat et expers
irarum senior, magnas ne penderet alti
erroris poenas patria inconsulta, timebat.
ac tum, multa putans secum, ut remeauit ab urbe,
partitus socias uires, uicina propinquis 520
signa iugis locat et specula sublimis ab alta
non Romana minus seruat quam Punica castra.

the commands are made entirely equal. and the elder too, devoid of wrath, perceived, lest the fatherland, without counsel, should pay great penalties of profound error, he feared. and then, thinking many things with himself, as he returned from the city, dividing the allied forces, he places the standards near on neighboring ridges, 520
and, aloft from a high lookout, he keeps watch over the Roman no less than the Punic camps.

nec mora. disiecto Minuci uecordia uallo
perdendi simul et pereundi ardebat amore.
Quem postquam rapidum uidit procedere castris 525
hinc Libys, hinc Fabius, simul accendere sagacis
in subitum curas: propere capere arma maniplis
edicit uallique tenet munimine turmas
Ausonius, torquet totas in proelia uires
Poenorum ductor propellitque agmina uoce: 530

no delay. with Minucius’s rampart, by frenzy, cast apart,
he was burning with a love at once of destroying and of perishing.
When, after, on this side the Libyan, on that Fabius, saw him swift proceeding from the camp, 525
at once they kindle the concerns of the sagacious one to sudden action:
he orders the maniples quickly to take up arms,
and the Ausonian holds his troops by the muniment of the rampart;
the leader of the Punics twists all his forces into battle
and drives the columns forward with his voice. 530

'Dum dictator abest, rape, miles, tempora pugnae.
non sperata diu plano certamina campo
offert ecce deus. quando data copia, longum
detergete situm ferro multoque cruore
exsatiate, uiri, plenos rubiginis enses.' 535
Atque ea Cunctator pensabat ab aggere ualli
perlustrans campos oculis, tantoque periclo
discere, quinam esset Fabius, te, Roma, dolebat.

'While the dictator is away, seize, soldier, the moments of battle.
behold, a god offers contests long unsought on a level field.
since opportunity is given, wipe away the long corrosion with iron,
and with much gore satiate, men, the swords full of rust.' 535
And the Delayer was weighing these things from the mound of the rampart,
scanning the plains with his eyes, and it pained him that you, Rome,
should learn, at so great a peril, who indeed Fabius was.

cui natus iuncta arma ferens 'Dabit improbus,' inquit
'quas dignum est, poenas, qui per suffragia caeca 540
inuasit nostros haec ad discrimina fasces.
insanae spectate tribus. pro lubrica rostra
et uanis fora laeta uiris!

to whom his son, bearing buckled-on arms, said, 'The wicked man will pay
the penalties that are worthy, he who through blind suffrages 540
has seized our fasces to these crises.
behold, you insane tribes. Ah, the slippery Rostra
and the forums gladdened with vain men!'

nunc munera Martis
aequent imperio et solem concedere nocti
sciscant imbelles. magna mercede piabunt 545

now let the duties of Mars
be made equal to the imperium, and let the sun yield to night
be enacted by the unwarlike. With great recompense they will expiate 545

erroris rabiem et nostrum uiolasse parentem.'
tum senior, quatiens hastam lacrimisque coortis.
'Sanguine Poenorum, iuuenis, tam tristia dicta
sunt abolenda tibi. patiarne ante ora manusque
ciuem deleri nostras, aut uincere Poenum, 550
me spectante, sinam?

‘the madness of error and to have violated our parent.’
then the elder, shaking his spear and with tears springing up:
‘By the blood of the Punics, young man, so sad a saying
must be abolished by you. Shall I endure, before our faces and hands,
a citizen to be destroyed, or allow the Punic to conquer, 550
I looking on?’

non aequauisse minorem
soluetur culpa si sunt mihi talia corda?
iamque hoc, ne dubites, longaeui, nate, parentis
accipe et aeterno fixum sub pectore serua:
succensere nefas patriae, nec foedior ulla 555
culpa sub extremas fertur mortalibus umbras.
sic docuere senes.

not to have equaled a lesser man
will the fault be absolved, if I have such a heart?
and now this, do not doubt, of your long-aged parent, son,
receive, and keep it fixed beneath your breast for eternity:
to be incensed at the fatherland is impiety, nor any fouler 555
fault is said among mortals beneath the uttermost shades.
thus the elders taught.

quantus qualisque fuisti,
cum pulsus lare et extorris Capitolia curru
intrares exul, tibi corpora caesa, Camille,
damnata quot sunt dextra! pacata fuissent 560

how great and of what sort you were,
when, driven from your hearth and as an outcast, you entered the capitol by chariot
as an exile; to your right hand, Camillus, how many bodies
slain were condemned! they would have been pacified 560

ni consulta uiro mensque impenetrabilis irae,
mutassentque solum sceptris Aeneia regna
nullaque nunc stares terrarum uertice, Roma.
pone iras, o nate, meas. socia arma feramus
et celeremus opem.' iamque intermixta sonabant 565
classica, procursusque uiros conliserat acer.

if counsel had not been to the man and a mind impenetrable to wrath,
and the Aenean realms would have changed their soil by their scepters,
and you, Rome, would not now stand at the vertex of the lands.
put away my angers, O son. let us bear allied arms
and hasten aid.' and now the intermingled trumpets were sounding 565
and a keen onset had dashed the men together.

    Primus claustra manu portae dictator et altos
disiecit postis rupitque in proelia cursum.
non grauiore mouent uenti certamina mole
Odrysius Boreas et Syrtim tollere pollens            570
Africus, obnixi cum bella furentia torquent:
distraxere fretum ac diuersa ad litora uoluunt
aequor quisque suum; sequitur stridente procella
nunc huc, nunc illuc, raptum mare et intonat undis.
haud prorsus daret ullus honos tellusque subacta            575

    The dictator first with his hand burst the bars of the gate and the lofty
doorposts, and broke a path into the battles.
No heavier mass of contests do the winds set in motion—
Boreas of the Odrysians and Africus, powerful to heave up the Syrtis—            570
when, braced against each other, they wrench raging wars:
they have torn apart the strait and roll each his own sea to different shores;
a shrieking squall pursues, the sea snatched now here, now there,
and it thunders with the waves. By no means at all would any honor be granted,
and the land, subdued,            575

Phoenicum et Carthago ruens, iniuria quantum
orta ex inuidia decoris tulit. omnia namque
dura simul deuicta uiro, metus, Hannibal, irae,
inuidia, atque una fama et fortuna subactae.
Poenus ab excelso rapidos decurrere uallo 580
ut uidit, tremuere irae, ceciditque repente
cum gemitu spes haud dubiae praesumpta ruinae.

Phoenician Carthage rushing to ruin, how much injury,
sprung from envy of honor, has borne. For all the hard things
were at once vanquished by the man—fear, Hannibal, wraths,
envy—and fame and fortune together were subdued.
When the Punic saw them speeding down from the high rampart, 580
his wraths trembled, and suddenly fell with a groan
the hope of a by-no-means doubtful, presumed ruin.

quippe aciem denso circumuallauerat orbe
hausurus clausos coniectis undique telis.
atque hic Dardanius prauo certamine ductor 585
iam Styga et aeternas intrarat mente tenebras
(nam Fabium auxiliumque uiri sperare pudebat),
cum senior gemino complexus proelia cornu
ulteriore ligat Poenorum terga corona
et modo claudentis aciem nunc, extima cingens, 590
clausos ipse tenet. maiorem surgere in arma
maioremque dedit cerni Tirynthius.

indeed he had circumvallated the battle-line with a dense ring,
meaning to drain the enclosed with missiles hurled from every side.
and here the Dardanian leader, in a perverse contest, 585
had already in mind entered the Styx and the eternal shades
(for it shamed him to hope for Fabius and the man’s aid),
when the elder, embracing the battle with a twin horn,
with a further corona binds the backs of the Poeni,
and those who just now were closing in the battle-line, now, girding the outermost, 590
he himself holds enclosed. the Tirynthian granted him to rise greater
into arms and to be seen greater.

altae
scintillant cristae et, mirum, uelocibus ingens
per subitum membris uenit uigor: ingerit hastas
auersumque premit telorum nubibus hostem: 595

high
crests scintillate, and—marvel!—into his swift
limbs there comes suddenly an immense vigor: he heaves in spears
and presses the enemy, turned away, with clouds of missiles: 595

qualis post iuuenem, nondum subeunte senecta,
rector erat Pylius bellis aetate secunda.
    Inde ruens Thurin et Buten et Narin et Arsen
dat leto fisumque manus conferre Mahalcen,
cui decus insigne et quaesitum cuspide nomen.            600
tum Garadum largumque comae prosternit Adherben
et geminas acies superantem uertice Thulin,
qui summas alto prensabat in aggere pinnas,
eminus hos, gladio Sapharum gladioque Monaesum
et Morinum pugnas aeris stridore cientem,            605
dexteriore gena cum sedit letifer ictus,
perque tubam fixae decurrens uulnere malae
extremo fluxit propulsus murmure sanguis.
proximus huic iaculo Nasamonius occidit Idmon.

such as, after the youth, with old age not yet approaching,
the Pylian ruler was a leader in wars in his second age.
    Thence rushing, he gives to death Thurin and Butes and Naris and Arses,
and Mahalces, confident to bring hands together in combat,
to whom distinguished honor and a name earned by the spear.            600
then he lays low Garadus and Adherbes, luxuriant of hair,
and Thulis, overtopping with his head the twin battle-lines,
who was grasping the topmost battlements on the high rampart;
these from afar—Sapharus with the sword and with the sword Monaesus—
and Morinus, stirring battles with the hissing of bronze,            605
when the death-bearing blow settled on his right cheek,
and, running down through the tube of the trumpet from the wound of his transfixed cheek,
at the end the blood flowed, driven out by the murmur.
next to him Idmon the Nasamonian fell by a javelin.

namque super tepido lapsantem sanguine et aegra 610

for indeed, slipping upon the tepid blood and ailing 610

lubrica nitentem nequiquam euadere planta
impacto prosternit equo trepideque leuantem
membra adflicta solo pressa uiolentius hasta
implicuit terrae telumque in caede reliquit.
haeret humi cornus motu tremefacta iacentis            615
et campo seruat mandatum adfixa cadauer.
    Necnon exemplo laudis furiata iuuentus,
Sullaeque Crassique simul iunctusque Metello
Furnius ac melior dextrae Torquatus, inibant
proelia et unanimi uel morte emisse uolebant            620
spectari Fabio. miser hic uestigia retro
dum rapit et molem subducto corpore uitat
intorti Bibulus saxi atque in terga refertur,
strage super lapsus socium, qua fibula morsus
loricae crebro laxata resoluerat ictu,            625

with a slippery sole gleaming, as he strove in vain to get away,
he casts him down by ramming with his horse, and as he, in trepidation, was lifting
limbs battered, from the ground, he pinned them to the earth with a spear pressed more violently,
and left the weapon in the slaughter.
the cornel-shaft sticks in the soil, shaken by the motion of the fallen one,            615
and, fixed in the field, keeps the cadaver by mandate.
    And likewise, the youth, frenzied by the example of praise,
both of Sulla and of Crassus together, and Furnius joined with Metellus,
and Torquatus, better in the right hand, were entering
the battles, and with one mind were wishing to be beheld by Fabius as having purchased even by death;            620
here the wretch, while he snatches his footsteps backward and avoids the mass
of a hurled stone with body withdrawn—Bibulus—and is borne onto his back,
slipping atop the wreck of a comrade, where a fibula, the bite
of the lorica loosened by frequent blow, had unfastened,            625

accepit lateri penitusque in uiscera adegit
extabat fixo quod forte cadauere ferrum.
heu sortem necis! euasit Garamantica tela
Marmaridumque manus, ut inerti cuspide fusus
occideret, telo non in sua uulnera misso. 630
uoluitur exanimis, turpatque decora iuuenta
ora nouus pallor.

he took it into his side and drove it deep into his viscera—
the iron which by chance was sticking out from a cadaver pinned fast.
alas the lot of death! he had escaped the Garamantian missiles
and the hands of the Marmaridae, only to fall, poured out, by an inert
spear-point, the weapon not sent against his own wounds. 630
he is rolled lifeless, and a new pallor disfigures the face
fair with youth.

membris dimissa solutis
arma fluunt, erratque niger per lumina somnus.
    Venerat ad bellum Tyria Sidone, nepotum
excitus prece, et auxilio socia arma ferebat,            635
Eoa tumidus pharetrati militis ala,
gens Cadmi, Cleadas; fulua cui plurima passim
casside et aurato fulgebat gemma monili,
qualis ubi Oceani renouatus Lucifer unda
laudatur Veneri et certat maioribus astris.            640

with limbs loosened, let go, the weapons slip away,
and black sleep wanders across his eyes.
    He had come to the war from Tyrian Sidon, roused
by the prayer of his descendants, and he was bearing allied arms for aid,            635
the Eastern wing, puffed-up, of quiver-bearing soldiery,
Cleadas, of the race of Cadmus; on whom many a gem glowed everywhere
on his tawny helmet and on an aurate necklace,
just as, when the Morning Star renewed by Ocean’s wave
is praised by Venus and vies with the greater stars.            640

ostro ipse ac sonipes ostro totumque per agmen
purpura Agenoreis saturata micabat aenis.
hic auidum pugnae <et> tam clarum excidere nomen
Brutum exoptantem, uarie nunc laeuus in orbem,
nunc dexter leuibus flexo per deuia gyris            645
ludificatus equo, uolucrem post terga sagittam
fundit Achaemenio detractans proelia ritu.
nec damnata manus, medio sed, flebile, mento
armigeri Cascae penetrabilis haesit harundo
oblicumque secans subrecta cuspide uulnus            650
umenti ferrum admouit tepefacta palato.
at Brutus diro casu turbatus amici
ausum multa uirum et spargentem in uulnera saeuos
fraude fugae calamos, iam nullis cursibus instat
prendere cornipedis, sed totam pectoris iram            655

he himself in purple and the charger in purple, and through the whole battle-line the purple, saturated by Agenorean bronzes, was flashing.
here, having made sport of Brutus—eager for battle and wishing that so famous a name should be felled—now leftward in a circle, now rightward along byways with light, bent turns,            645
he, playing tricks with his horse, flings a winged arrow behind his back, shirking set combats in Achaemenid fashion.
nor was the hand condemned, but—lamentably—the penetrative reed stuck in the middle of the chin of Casca the armor-bearer,
and, cutting an oblique wound with its up-tilted point, the warmed steel touched the moist palate.            650
but Brutus, disturbed by the dire fall of his friend, at the man who dared many things and was scattering cruel reeds into wounds by the fraud of flight,
now presses with no races to catch the charger, but [turns] the whole wrath of his breast            655

mandat atrox hastae telumque uolatile nodo
excutit et summum, qua laxa monilia crebro
nudabant uersu, tramittit cuspide pectus.
labitur intento cornu transfossus, et una
arcum laeua cadens, dimisit dextra sagittam.            660
    At non tam tristi sortitus proelia Marte
Phoebei Soractis honor Carmelus agebat.
sanguine quippe suo iam Bagrada tinxerat ensem,
dux rectorque Nubae populi, iam fusus eidem
Zeusis Amyclaei stirps impacata Phalanti,            665
quem tulerat mater claro Phoenissa Laconi.

he commits to the spear, and shakes the winged weapon from the knot,
and, where loose necklaces by frequent turning used to lay bare the top,
he sends his point through the chest. He slips, transfixed by the drawn
bow-horn, and at once, his left falling from the bow, with his right he
released the arrow.            660
    But not with so grim a Mars allotting the battles
was Carmelus, the honor of Phoebian Soracte, proceeding.
For already Bagrada had dyed the sword with his own blood,
the leader and ruler of the Nubian people, and already by the same was laid low
Zeusis, the implacable offspring of Amyclaean Phalantus,            665
whom a Phoenician mother had borne to the renowned Laconian.

talia dum metuit, nec pugnae fisus in hoste
tam rapido nec deinde fugae, suadente pauore,
per dumos miser in uicina cacumina quercus
repserat atque alta sese occultabat in umbra 670

while he was fearing such things, and trusting neither in battle in the foe
so rapid, nor then in flight, with panic advising,
through brambles the wretch to the neighboring crests of an oak
had crept and was hiding himself in the high shade 670

Hampsicus, insistens tremulis sub pondere ramis.
hunc longa multa orantem Carmelus et altos
mutantem saltu ramos transuerberat hasta,
ut, qui uiscatos populatur harundine lucos,
dum nemoris celsi procera cacumina sensim 675
substructa certat tacitus contingere meta,
sublimem calamo sequitur crescente uolucrem.
effudit uitam, atque alte manante cruore
membra pependerunt curuato exanguia ramo.

Hampsicus, standing upon trembling branches under his weight.
him, pleading long and much, and changing the high
branches by a leap, Carmelus transfixes with a spear,
like one who with a limed reed plunders the groves,
while, of the lofty wood, the tall tree-tops slowly 675
with a goal built up beneath, he strives silently to reach,
he pursues the bird aloft with the reed growing.
he poured out life, and with blood running deep
his bloodless limbs hung from a curved branch.

Iamque in palantis ac uersos terga feroces 680
pugnabant Itali, subitus cum mole pauenda
terrificis Maurus prorumpit Tunger in armis.
nigra uiro membra, et furui iuga celsa trahebant
cornipedes, totusque nouae formidinis arte
concolor aequabat liuentia currus equorum 685

Now already the Italians were fighting the stragglers and the fierce with backs turned 680
when suddenly, with a mass to be dreaded,
the Moor Tunger bursts forth in terrific arms.
black were the man's limbs, and the dark hoof-footed team drew
the lofty yoke, and, wholly uniform in hue by an art of new dread,
he matched the livid chariot to the horses. 685

terga: nec erectis similes imponere cristis
cessarat pennas, aterque tegebat amictus:
ceu quondam aeternae regnator noctis, ad imos
cum fugeret thalamos Hennaea uirgine rapta,
egit nigrantem Stygia caligine currum.            690
at Cato, tum prima sparsus lanugine malas,
quod peperere decus Circaeo Tuscula dorso
moenia, Laertae quondam regnata nepoti,
quamquam tardatos turbata fronte Latinos
collegisse gradum uidet, imperterritus ipse            695
ferrata calce atque effusa largus habena
cunctantem impellebat equum. negat obuius ire
et trepidat cassa sonipes exterritus umbra.
tum celer in pugnam dorso delatus ab alto
alipedem planta currum premit atque uolanti            700

the backs; nor had he ceased to set on feathers like raised crests,
and a black mantle was covering him:
as once the ruler of eternal night, when to the lowest
bridal chambers he fled with the Hennaean maiden snatched,
drove a car blackened with Stygian murk.            690
but Cato, then with his cheeks sprinkled with first down,
the glory which the Tusculan walls begot on the Circaean ridge,
once ruled by the grandson of Laertes,
although he sees that the Latins, delayed, with troubled brow
have gathered their step, he himself undaunted,            695
with iron-shod heel and, lavish, a loosened rein,
was urging on the hesitating horse. The steed refuses to go to meet
and trembles, terrified, at an empty shadow.
Then swift into the fight, carried down from the high back,
he presses with his sole the wing-footed chariot, and, as it flies,            700

adsilit a tergo. cecidere et lora repente
et stimuli, ferrumque super ceruice tremiscens
palluit infelix subducto sanguine Maurus.
ora rapit gladio praefixaque cuspide portat.

he springs from behind. and suddenly the reins fell,
and the goads, and the iron, quivering above his neck;
the hapless Moor grew pallid, the blood drawn away.
he snatches the head with his sword and carries it fixed on the spear-point.

    At saeuo Mauorte ferox perrumpit anhelum            705
dictator cum caede globum. miserabile uisu,
uulneribus fessum ac multo labente cruore
ductorem cernit suprema ac foeda precantem.
manauere genis lacrimae, clipeoque pauentem
protegit et natum stimulans 'Fortissime, labem            710
hanc pellamus' ait 'Poenoque ob mitia facta,
quod nullos nostris ignis disperserit aruis,
dignum expendamus pretium.' tunc arte paterna
ac stimulis gaudens iuuenis circumdata Poenum
agmina deturbat gladio campumque relaxat,            715

But, fierce with savage Mars, the dictator breaks through the gasping mass with slaughter, 705
a sight pitiable to see: he beholds a commander exhausted by wounds and with much blood slipping away, praying for last and loathsome things.
tears flowed over his cheeks, and with his shield he covers the trembling man, and urging his son he says, 'Bravest one, let us drive off this stain, and to the Punic man, for his gentle deeds—because he has scattered no fires over our fields—let us pay a worthy price.' Then the youth, rejoicing in his father’s skill and in the spurs, with his sword drives down the ranks that had encircled the Carthaginian and opens up the field, 715

donec Sidonius decederet aequore ductor:
ceu, stimulante fame, rapuit cum Martius agnum
auerso pastore lupus fetumque trementem
ore tenet presso, tum, si uestigia cursu
auditis celeret balatibus obuia pastor,            720
iam sibimet metuens, spirantem dentibus imis
reiectat praedam et uacuo fugit aeger hiatu.
~tum demum, Tyriis quas circumfuderat atra
tempestas, Stygiae tandem fugere tenebrae.
torpebant dextra<e>, et sese meruisse negabant            725
seruari, subitisque bonis mens aegra natabat:
ut, qui conlapsa pressi iacuere ruina,
eruta cum subito membra et nox atra recessit,
coniuent solemque pauent agnoscere uisu.
    Quis actis senior numerato milite laetus            730

until the Sidonian leader withdrew from the plain:
as, with hunger spurring, when the warlike wolf has snatched a lamb
while the shepherd is turned away, and holds the trembling offspring
in a tight-pressed mouth; then, if the shepherd, at the bleatings heard,
should hasten with running steps to meet him, already fearing for himself,            720
he flings back the prey, still breathing, from his deepest teeth,
and flees, sick, with an empty gape.
~then at length the Stygian shadows, which a black
tempest had poured around the Tyrians, finally fled.
their right hands were numb, and they said that they had not deserved            725
to be spared, and the ailing mind was swimming in sudden blessings:
as those who, pressed, have lain beneath a collapsed ruin,
when their limbs have been suddenly dug out and black night has withdrawn,
they blink and fear to recognize the sun with their sight.
    Who, with the troops counted, the elder rejoicing            730

collis et tuto repetebat in aggere castra.
ecce autem e media iam morte renata iuuentus
clamorem tollens ad sidera et ordine longo
ibat ouans Fabiumque decus Fabiumque salutem
certatim et magna memorabant uoce parentem. 735
tum qui partitis dissederat ante maniplis
'Sancte' ait 'o genitor, reuocato ad lucis honorem
si fas uera queri, cur nobis castra uirosque
diuidere est licitum? patiens cur arma dedisti,
quae solus rexisse uales?

and he was making back to the camp on the hill, safe upon the rampart.
but lo, the youth, now reborn from the very midst of death,
raising a clamor to the stars and in long order
went exulting, and Fabius as glory and Fabius as salvation
they in rivalry and with great voice were proclaiming as father. 735
then he who had before encamped apart with the maniples partitioned
“Holy,” he says, “O begetter, with the honor of the light recalled,
if it is right to speak true complaints, why was it permitted to us to divide
the camp and the men? Patient one, why did you give arms,
which you alone are strong to have ruled?”

hoc munere lapsi 740
aeternas multo cum sanguine uidimus umbras.
ocius huc aquilas seruataque signa referte.
hic patria est, murique urbis stant pectore in uno.

by this charge lapsed 740
we have seen the eternal shades with much blood.
more swiftly bring back here the eagles and the preserved standards.
here is the fatherland, and the walls of the city stand in a single breast.

tuque dolos, Poene, atque astus tandem exue notos:
cum solo tibi iam Fabio sunt bella gerenda.' 745

and you, Punic, at last strip off your well-known deceits and stratagems:
with Fabius alone you now have wars to be waged. 745

Haec ubi dicta dedit, mille hinc, uenerabile uisu,
caespite de uiridi surgunt properantibus arae.
nec prius aut epulas aut munera grata Lyaei
fas cuiquam tetigisse fuit quam multa precatus
in mensam Fabio sacrum libauit honorem.

When he had given these words, from here a thousand altars, venerable to the sight,
rise from the green turf with the men hastening.
Nor before was it permitted by divine law for anyone to have touched either the banquets or the pleasing gifts of Lyaeus,
than that, having prayed much, he poured as a libation onto the table
the sacred honor for Fabius.