Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Primus Agenoridum cedentia terga uidere
Aeneadis dederat Fabius. Romana parentem
solum castra uocant, solum uocat Hannibal hostem
impatiensque morae fremit: ut sit copia Martis,
expectanda uiri fata optandumque sub armis 5
Parcarum auxilium. namque hac spirante senecta
nequiquam sese Latium sperare cruorem.

Fabius had first given to the Aeneads to behold the yielding backs of the Agenorids.
the Roman camp alone calls him father,
Hannibal alone calls him enemy, and, impatient of delay, he rages: although there be abundance for Mars,
the fate of the man must be waited for, and under arms it must be wished for 5
the aid of the Parcae. for with this old age breathing
he hopes in vain for Latin gore.

iam uero concors miles signisque relatis
indiuisus honos, iterumque et rursus eidem
soli obluctandum Fabio maioribus aegrum 10
angebant curis. lentando feruida bella
dictator cum multa adeo, tum miles egenus
cunctarum ut rerum Tyrius foret, arte sedendi
egerat et, quamquam finis pugnaque manuque
haud dum partus erat, iam bello uicerat hostem. 15

now indeed the soldiery in concord, and with the standards restored,
the undivided honor, and that again and yet again against the same
Fabius alone there must be wrestled, sickened him with greater cares. 10
By slackening the fervid wars
the dictator had brought it about—both in many things indeed, and especially that the Tyrian
soldier was needy of all things—by the art of sitting still;
and, although an end and a victory by the hand
had not yet been brought forth, already in war he had conquered the enemy. 15

quin etiam ingenio fluxi, sed prima feroces,
uaniloquum Celtae genus ac mutabile mentis,
respectare domos: maerebant caede sine ulla
(insolitum sibi) bella geri, siccasque cruore
inter tela siti Mauortis hebescere dextras. 20
his super internae labes et ciuica uulnus
inuidia augebant. laeuus conatibus Hannon
ductoris non ulla domo summittere patres
auxilia aut ullis opibus iuuisse sinebat.
Quis lacerum curis et rerum extrema pauentem 25
ad spes armorum et furialia uota reducit
praescia Cannarum Iuno atque elata futuris.

Nay even the Celts, a race fickle in disposition yet fierce at the first onset, vainglorious of tongue and mutable of mind, began to look back toward their homes: they mourned that wars were being waged with no slaughter (unaccustomed for them), and that their right hands, dry of gore, were growing dull amid the weapons in the drought of Mars. 20
Over and above these things, an internal stain and the civic wound of envy were increasing them. Hanno, adverse to the undertakings, would not permit the Fathers at home to send any reinforcements from the homeland or to have aided with any resources.
Who is it that brings back the one torn with cares and fearing the last extremes of affairs to hopes of arms and Furial vows? Juno, prescient of Cannae and exalted by things to come. 25

namque hac accitam stagnis Laurentibus Annam
adfatur uoce et blandis hortatibus implet:
'Sanguine cognato iuuenis tibi, diua, laborat 30

for indeed, with this she addresses Anna, summoned from the Laurentine pools,
and with her voice she fills her with blandishing exhortations:
'By kindred blood a youth, goddess, labors for you' 30

Hannibal a uestro nomen memorabile Belo.
perge age, et insanos curarum comprime fluctus.
excute sollicito Fabium.

Hannibal, a memorable name from your Belus.
go on now, and compress the mad billows of cares.
shake Fabius out of his solicitude.

sola ille Latinos
sub iuga mittendi mora iam discingitur armis.
cum Varrone manus et cum Varrone serenda 35
proelia, nec desit fatis ad signa mouenda.
ipsa adero.

the only delay of sending the Latins
beneath the yokes—he is now stripped for arms.
with Varro the hands, and with Varro the battles are to be joined 35
nor let him be lacking to the fates for moving the standards.
I myself will be present.

tendat iamdudum in Iapyga campum.
huc Trebiae rursum et Trasimenni fata sequentur.'
    Tum diua Indigetis castis contermina lucis
'Haud' inquit 'tua ius nobis praecepta morari.             40
sit fas, sit tantum, quaeso, retinere fauorem
antiquae patriae mandataque magna sororis,
quamquam inter Latios Annae stet numen honores.'
    Multa retro rerum iacet atque ambagibus aeui
obtegitur densa caligine mersa uetustas,            45
cur Sarrana dicent Oenotri numina templo,
regnisque Aeneadum germana colatur Elissae.
sed pressis stringam reuocatam ab origine famam
narrandi metis breuiterque antiqua reuoluam.

let him at once make for the Iapygian plain.
hither the dooms of Trebia and of Trasimene will follow again.'
    Then the goddess, bordering the chaste groves of the Indiges,
'Not at all,' she says, 'is it right for us to delay your precepts.             40
let it be lawful—only this, I pray—to retain favor
for my ancient fatherland and the great mandates of my sister,
although among the Latins the numen of Anna stands in honors.'
    Much of things lies back, and in the windings of time
sunken antiquity is covered by dense murk, why the Oenotrians will call a Tyrian numen at a temple,            45
and why, in the realms of the Aeneadae, the sister of Elissa is worshiped.
but I will compress, with the bounds of narrating drawn tight, the tale recalled from its origin,
and I will briefly roll back ancient things.

Iliaco postquam deserta est hospite Dido 50

After Dido was deserted by the Iliac guest 50

et spes abruptae, media<m> in penetralibus atram
festinat furibunda pyram. tum corripit ensem
certa necis, profugi donum exitiale mariti.
despectus taedae regnis se imponit Iarbas,
et tepido fugit Anna rogo.

and hopes broken off, frenzied she hastens to the black pyre set in the midst within the inner chambers.
then she snatches up the sword, certain of death, the lethal gift of her fugitive husband.
scorned of the wedding-torch, Iarbas sets himself upon the realms,
and Anna flees the still-warm pyre.

quis rebus egenis 55
ferret opem, Nomadum late terrente tyranno?
Battus Cyrenen molli tum forte fouebat
imperio, mitis Battus lacrimasque dedisse
casibus humanis facilis. qui supplice uisa
intremuit regum euentus dextramque tetendit. 60
atque ea, dum flauas bis tondet messor aristas,
seruata interea sedes: nec longius uti
his opibus Battoque fuit.

who, in needy circumstances, 55
would bring help, while the tyrant of the Nomads was terrifying far and wide?
Battus was then by chance fostering Cyrene with a gentle rule,
mild Battus and easy to have given tears
to human misfortunes. When he saw the suppliant,
he shuddered at the fortunes of kings and stretched out his right hand. 60
and for her, while the reaper twice shears the blond ears of grain,
meanwhile a seat was kept safe: nor was there any longer to use
these resources and Battus.

nam ferre per aequor
exitium miserae iam Pygmaliona docebat.
ergo agitur pelago, diuis inimica sibique, 65

for already she was teaching Pygmalion to carry across the sea
destruction for the wretched woman. therefore she is driven on the deep, hostile to the gods and to herself, 65

quod se non dederit comitem in suprema sorori,
donec iactatam laceris, miserabile, uelis
fatalis turbo in Laurentis expulit oras.
non caeli, non illa soli, non gnara colentum
Sidonis in Latia trepidabat naufraga terra. 70
ecce autem Aeneas sacro comitatus Iulo,
iam regni compos, noto sese ore ferebat.
qui terrae defixam oculos et multa timentem
ac deinde adlapsam genibus lacrimantis Iuli
attollit mitique manu intra limina ducit. 75
atque ubi iam casus aduersorumque pauorem
hospitii leniuit honos, tum discere maesta
exposcit cura letum infelicis Elissae.

because she had not given herself as a companion to her sister in the last things,
until, piteously, with shredded sails, a fatal whirlwind drove her, tossed, onto the Laurentine shores.
not at the sky, not at that soil, did the Sidonian shipwrecked woman, not ignorant of the inhabitants,
tremble on the Latin land. 70
lo, however, Aeneas, accompanied by sacred Iulus,
now in possession of a kingdom, was bearing himself with a familiar face.
he, seeing her with eyes fixed on the ground and fearing many things,
and then, as she glided to the knees of weeping Iulus,
lifts her up and with a gentle hand leads her within the threshold. 75
and when now the honor of hospitality had softened her misfortunes and the fear of adversities,
then, sorrowful, her concern demands to learn the death of ill-fated Elissa.

cui sic uerba trahens largis cum fletibus Anna
incipit et blandas addit pro tempore uoces: 80
'Nate dea, solus regni lucisque fuisti
germanae tu causa meae: mors testis et ille
(heu cur non idem mihi tum!) rogus. ora uidere
postquam est ereptum miserae tua, litore sedit
interdum, stetit interdum, uentosque secuta 85

to whom thus, drawing out words with copious weepings, Anna
begins and adds blandishing voices suited to the moment: 80
'Son of the goddess, you alone were the cause of my sister’s
kingdom and of her light: death is witness and that
(alas, why not the same for me then!) pyre. After the sight of your
face was snatched from the wretched woman, she sat on the shore
at times, stood at times, and followed the winds 85

infelix oculis magno clamore uocabat
Aenean comitemque tuae se imponere solam
orabat paterere rati. mox turbida anhelum
rettulit in thalamos cursum subitoque tremore
substitit et sacrum timuit tetigisse cubile. 90
inde amens nunc sideream fulgentis Iuli
effigiem fouet amplexu, nunc tota repente
ad uultus conuersa tuos, ab imagine pendet
conqueriturque tibi et sperat responsa remitti.
non umquam spem ponit amor: iam tecta domumque 95
deserit et rursus portus furibunda reuisit,
si qui te referant conuerso flamine uenti.

Unhappy, with her eyes she was calling with a great outcry
Aeneas, and was begging that you would allow her, alone, to set herself aboard
your ship as a companion. Soon, in turmoil, panting,
she brought back her course into the thalamoi, and with a sudden trembling
she halted and feared to have touched the sacred couch. 90
Then, out of her mind, now the sidereal effigy of shining Iulus
she cherishes in an embrace, now all at once wholly
turned to your features, she hangs upon the image
and makes complaint to you and hopes that responses be remitted.
Love never lays down hope: already the roofs and the house 95
she deserts, and again, frenzied, revisits the harbors,
if any winds with a reversed blast might bring you back.

ad magicas etiam fallax atque improba gentis
Massylae leuitas descendere compulit artes.
heu sacri uatum errores! dum numina noctis 100

even to magical arts the deceitful and shameless levity of the Massylian race compelled her to descend.
alas, the errors of sacred seers! while the divinities of night 100

eliciunt spondentque nouis medicamina curis,
quod uidi decepta nefas! congessit in atram
cuncta tui monumenta pyram et non prospera dona.'
    Tunc sic Aeneas dulci repetitus amore:
'Tellurem hanc iuro, uota inter nostra frequente<r>            105
auditam uobis, iuro caput, Anna, tibique
germanaeque tuae dilectum mitis Iuli,
respiciens aegerque animi tum regna reliqui
uestra, nec abscessem thalamo, ni magna minatus
meque sua ratibus dextra imposuisset et alto            110
egisset rapidis classem Cyllenius Euris.
sed cur (heu seri monitus!), cur tempore tali
incustodito saeuire dedistis amori?'
    Contra sic infit uoluens uix murmur anhelum
inter singultus labrisque trementibus Anna:            115

they draw forth and promise medicaments for new cares—what an impiety I saw, being deceived! she piled upon a black
pyre all the tokens of you and ill-omened gifts.'
    Then thus Aeneas, retaken by sweet love:
'I swear by this earth, which among our vows has often been heard by you, I swear by my head, Anna, and by the dear life
of gentle Iulus to you and to your sister, that looking back and heartsick I then left your realms, nor would I have departed
from the bridal bed, had not the Cyllenian, threatening great things, set me with his own right hand upon the ships and driven the fleet upon the deep with swift East-winds.            105
But why (alas, monitions too late!), why at such a time
did you allow unguarded love to rage?'
    In reply thus she begins, rolling forth a scarcely gasping murmur
amid sobs and with trembling lips, Anna:            115

'Nigro forte Ioui, cui tertia regna laborant,
atque atri sociae thalami noua sacra parabam,
quis aegram mentem et trepidantia corda leuaret
infelix germana tori, furuasque trahebam
ipsa manu properans ad uisa pianda bidentis;            120
~namque asper somno dirus me impleuerat horror,
terque suam Dido, ter cum clamore uocarat
et laeta exultans ostenderat ora Sychaeus.
quae dum abigo menti et sub lucem ut uisa secundent
oro caelicolas ac uiuo purgor in amni,            125
illa cito passu peruecta ad litora mutae
oscula, qua steteras, bis terque infixit harenae:
deinde amplexa sinu late uestigia fouit,
ceu cinerem orbatae pressant ad pectora matres.
tum rapido praeceps cursu resolutaque crinem            130

'By chance to Black Jove, to whom the third realms toil,
and to the companion of the dark marriage‑bed I was preparing new sacred rites,
that someone might lighten the ailing mind and the trembling hearts
of the unhappy sister of the bed, and I myself, hastening, was leading
dusky two‑toothed sheep with my own hand to atone the visions seen;            120
~for a harsh and dreadful horror had filled me in sleep,
and thrice Dido, thrice with a cry had called her own [Sychaeus],
and Sychaeus, exulting and joyful, had shown his features.
While I drive these things from my mind, and that the visions might be favorable by daybreak
I beg the heaven‑dwellers and I am purified in a living river,            125
she, borne quickly with silent step to the shore,
fixed kisses twice and thrice upon the sand where you had stood:
then, embracing, she cherished your footprints widely in her bosom,
as bereaved mothers press ashes to their breasts.
Then headlong at a rapid run, and with hair unbound,            130

euasit propere in celsam, quam struxerat ante
magna mole, pyram, cuius de sede dabatur
cernere cuncta freta et totam Carthaginis urbem.
hic Phrygiam uestem et bacatum induta monile,
postquam illum infelix hausit, quo munera primum 135
sunt conspecta, diem et conuiuia mente reduxit
festasque aduentu mensas teque ordine Troiae
narrantem longos se peruigilante labores,
in portus amens rorantia lumina flexit:
"Di longae noctis, quorum iam numina nobis 140
mors instans maiora facit, precor," inquit "adeste
et placidi uictos ardore admittite manis.
Aeneae coniunx, Veneris nurus, ulta maritum,
<uidi constructas nostrae Carthaginis arces.

she swiftly escaped to the lofty pyre, which she had built before
with great mass, from whose seat it was granted
to behold all the straits and the whole city of Carthage.
here, clothed in Phrygian garment and a beaded necklace,
after she, unhappy, drank in that day—on which the gifts were first 135
beheld—she brought back to mind the day and the banquets
and the tables festive at your arrival, and you recounting in order the long
labors of Troy, while she herself kept vigil sleepless; out of her mind she turned
her dewy eyes toward the harbors:
“gods of the long night, whose divinities now impending death 140
makes greater for us, I pray,” she said, “be present,
and, calm shades, admit one conquered by burning passion.
the wife of Aeneas, the daughter-in-law of Venus, having avenged her husband,
I saw the citadels of our Carthage constructed.

nunc ad uos magni descendet corporis umbra. 145
me quoque fors dulci quondam uir notus amore
expectat, curas cupiens aequare priores."
haec dicens ensem media in praecordia adegit,
ensem Dardanii quaesitum in pignus amoris.
uiderunt comites tristique per atria planctu 150

now to you the shade of a great body will descend. 145
me too perhaps a husband once known by sweet love
awaits, desiring to equal the former cares."
saying these things, she drove the sword into the middle of her breast,
the sword of the Dardanian, sought as a pledge of love.
her companions saw it, and with mournful wailing through the halls 150

concurrunt: magnis resonant ululatibus aedes.
accepi infelix dirisque exterrita fatis,
ora manu lacerans, lymphato regia cursu
tecta peto celsosque gradus euadere nitor.
ter diro fueram conata incumbere ferro, 155
ter cecidi exanimae membris reuoluta sororis.

they run together: the halls resound with great ululations.
I, unhappy, received it and, terrified by dire fates,
rending my face with my hand, in a frenzied course through the palace
I make for the royal roofs and strive to ascend the lofty steps.
thrice I had attempted to lean upon the dire iron, 155
thrice I fell, rolled back by the limbs of my exanimate sister.

iamque ferebatur uicina per oppida rumor:
arma parant Nomadum proceres et saeuus Iarbas. 157a
tum Cyrenaeam fatis agitantibus urbem
deuenio. hinc uestris pelagi uis adpulit oris.'
Motus erat placidumque animum mentemque quietam 160
Troius in miseram rector susceperat Annam.
iamque omnis luctus omnisque e pectore curas
dispulerat, Phrygiis nec iam amplius aduena tectis
illa uidebatur.

And now rumor was being borne through the neighboring towns:
the chieftains of the Nomads and savage Iarbas prepare arms.            157a
then, with the fates driving, I come to the Cyrenaean city.
from here the force of the sea drove me to your shores.'
    He had been moved, and the Trojan ruler had received pitiable Anna
with a placid spirit and a quiet mind.            160
And now he had scattered all grief and all cares from his breast,
and she no longer seemed a newcomer beneath Phrygian roofs.

tacito nox atra sopore
cuncta per et terras et lati stagna profundi 165

black night, with silent sleep,
held all things throughout both the lands and the broad pools of the deep 165

condiderat, tristi cum Dido aegerrima uultu
has uisa in somnis germanae effundere uoces:
'His, soror, in tectis longae indulgere quieti,
heu nimium secura, potes, nec, quae tibi fraudes
tendantur, quae circumstent discrimina, cernis?            170
at nondum nostro infaustos generique soloque
Laomedonteae noscis telluris alumnos?
dum caelum rapida stellas uertigine uoluet,
lunaque fraterno lustrabit lumine terras,
pax nulla Aeneadas inter Tyriosque manebit.            175
surge, age: iam tacitas suspecta Lauinia fraudes
molitur dirumque nefas sub corde uolutat
praeterea, ne falsa putes haec fingere somnum,
haud procul hinc paruo descendens fonte Numicus
labitur et leni per ualles uoluitur amne.            180

he had settled down, when Dido, very sick, with a sad countenance,
was seen in dreams to pour forth these voices to her sister:
'In these halls, sister, you can indulge in long repose—
alas, all too secure—and you do not discern what deceits
are being stretched against you, what perils stand around?            170
and do you not yet recognize as ill-omened to our stock and to our soil
the nurslings of Laomedontean earth?
so long as heaven shall roll the stars in swift whirl,
and the moon shall bathe the lands with her fraternal light,
no peace will remain between the Aeneads and the Tyrians.            175
rise, come: already the suspect Lavinia is contriving silent deceits
and turns over dire impiety beneath her heart;
moreover, lest you think that sleep is falsely fashioning these things,
not far from here the Numicus, descending from a small spring,
glides and is rolled with a gentle stream through the valleys.'            180

huc rapies, germana, uiam tutosque receptus.
te sacra excipient hilares in flumina Nymphae,
aeternumque Italis numen celebrabere in oris.'
sic fata in tenuem Phoenissa euanuit auram.
Anna nouis somno excutitur perterrita uisis, 185
itque timor totos gelido sudore per artus.

to this place, sister, you will hasten your way and to safe refuges.
the Nymphs, cheerful, will receive you into their sacred streams,
and you will be celebrated as an eternal numen on Italian shores.'
thus having spoken, the Phoenician woman vanished into thin air.
Anna, terrified by new visions, is shaken from sleep, 185
and fear goes through all her limbs with icy sweat.

tunc, ut erat tenui corpus uelamine tecta,
prosiluit stratis humilique egressa fenestra
per patulos currit plantis pernicibus agros,
donec harenoso, sic fama, Numicius illam 190
suscepit gremio uitreisque abscondidit antris.
orta dies totum radiis impleuerat orbem,
cum nullam Aeneadae thalamis Sidonida nacti
et Rutulum magno errantes clamore per agrum
uicini ad ripas fluuii manifesta secuntur 195

then, as her body was covered with a thin veil,
she leapt from the bedclothes and, having gone out by a low window,
she runs through the wide‑open fields with nimble soles,
until the sandy Numicius, so the report goes, received her into its bosom 190
and hid her in glassy caverns.
the risen day had filled the whole orb with rays,
when the Aeneads, having found no Sidonian woman in her chambers,
and the Rutulian, wandering with great clamor through the field,
follow manifest tracks to the banks of the neighboring river 195

signa pedum, dumque inter se mirantur, ab alto
amnis aquas cursumque rapit. tum sedibus imis
inter caeruleas uisa est residere sorores
Sidonis et placido Teucros adfarier ore.
ex illo primis anni celebrata diebus 200
per totam Ausoniam uenerando numine culta est.

the footprints; and while they marvel among themselves, from the deep
the river sweeps along its waters and its course. Then, on the lowest seats
she was seen to sit among her cerulean sisters,
the Sidonian woman, and with a placid mouth to address the Teucrians.
From that time, on the first days of the year, 200
throughout all Ausonia she has been worshiped with a venerable numen.

Hanc postquam in tristis Italum Saturnia pugnas
hortata est, celeri superum petit aethera curru,
optatum Latii tandem potura cruorem.
diua deae parere parat magnumque Libyssae 205
ductorem gentis nulli conspecta petebat.
ille uirum coetu tum forte remotus ab omni
incertos rerum euentus bellique uolutans
anxia ducebat uigili suspiria uoce.

After the Saturnian had urged her into the sad battles of the Italians,
she seeks the aether of the gods with her swift chariot,
about at last to drink the longed-for blood of Latium.
the goddess prepares to obey the goddess and, unseen by anyone, was seeking the great leader of the Libyan 205
nation.
he, at that moment by chance removed from every company of men,
revolving the uncertain outcomes of affairs and of war,
was drawing anxious sighs with a wakeful voice.

cui dea sic dictis curas solatur amicis: 210

to whom the goddess thus with friendly words soothes his cares: 210

'Quid tantum ulterius, rex o fortissime gentis
Sidoniae, ducis cura aegrescente dolorem?
omnis iam placata tibi manet ira deorum,
omnis Agenoridis rediit fauor. eia, age, segnis
rumpe moras, rape Marmaricas in proelia uires. 215
mutati fasces.

'Why so much further, O king most bravest of the Sidonian nation,
do you, with a leader’s care growing sick, make your grief grow?
now every wrath of the gods remains appeased for you,
all the Agenorid’s favor has returned. Come, up now, sluggish one,
break delays, seize Marmaric forces into battles. 215
the fasces are changed.

iam bellum atque arma senatus
ex inconsulto posuit Tirynthius heros,
cumque alio tibi Flaminio sunt bella gerenda.
me tibi, ne dubites, summi matrona Tonantis
misit. ego Oenotris aeternum numen in oris 220
concelebror uestri generata e sanguine Beli.

now the Tirynthian hero, without consultation of the senate, has laid down war and arms,
and wars are to be waged for you with another Flamininus.
do not doubt, the matron of the Highest Thunderer
has sent me to you. I, an eternal numen on the Oenotrian shores, 220
am celebrated, begotten from your blood of Belus.

haud mora sit: rapido belli rape fulmina cursu.
celsus Iapygios ubi se Garganus in agros>
explicat (haud longe tellus), huc derige signa.
[haec, ut Roma cadat, sat erit uictoria Poenis.'] 224a
dixit et in nubes umentia sustulit ora.

let there be no delay: snatch the thunderbolts of war in rapid course.
where towering Garganus unfolds himself into the Iapygian fields
(the land is not far), direct your standards hither.
[this, that Rome may fall, will be victory enough for the Phoenicians.'] 224a
she spoke and raised her face into the dewy clouds.

Cui dux, promissae reuirescens pignore laudis,
'Nympha, decus generis, quo non sacratius ullum
numen' ait 'nobis, felix oblata secundes.
ast ego te compos pugnae Carthaginis arce
marmoreis sistam templis iuxtaque dicabo 230

To her the leader, reviving at the pledge of promised glory,
'Nymph, ornament of our race, than which no divinity is more sacred
to us,' he says, 'O auspicious one, favor the offerings presented.
but I, with the combat won, will set you on the citadel of Carthage
in marble temples, and beside I will dedicate 230

aequatam gemino simulacri munere Dido.'
haec fatus socios stimulat tum<e>factus ouantis:
'Pone grauis curas tormentaque lenta sedendi,
fatalis Latio miles. placauimus iras
caelicolum, redeunt diui: finita maligno 235
hinc Fabio imperia et mutatos consule fasces
nuntio. nunc dextras mihi quisque atque illa referto
quae Marte exclusus promittere magna solebas.

Dido, made equal by a twin-gift of an effigy.'
Having spoken these things, he spurs his comrades, then made exultant:
'Put down your heavy cares and the slow torments of sitting,
soldier fated for Latium. We have appeased the wraths of the heaven-dwellers; the divinities return:
finished with the malign 235
hence the commands under Fabius, and I announce the fasces changed with the consul.
I announce. Now let each man bring back to me his right hand and those things
which, shut out from Mars, you were wont to promise as great.'

en, numen patrium spondet maiora peractis.
uellantur signa, ac diua ducente petamus            240
infaustum Phrygibus Diomedis nomine campum.'
    Dumque Arpos tendunt instincti pectora Poeni,
subnixus rapto plebei muneris ostro
saeuit iam rostris Varro ingentique ruinae
festinans aperire locum fata admouet urbi.            245

Lo, the paternal numen pledges greater things than those accomplished.
let the standards be plucked up, and, with the goddess leading, let us seek            240
the field ill-omened to the Phrygians by the name of Diomedes.'
    And while the Carthaginians, their hearts incited, stretch toward Arpi,
propped upon the purple, seized, of a plebeian office,
Varro already rages from the Rostra, and, hastening to open a place for enormous ruin,
brings the fates up to the city.            245

atque illi sine luce genus surdumque parentum
nomen, et immodice uibrabat in ore canoro
lingua procax. hinc auctus opes largusque rapinae,
infima dum uulgi fouet oblatratque senatum,
tantum in quassata bellis caput extulit urbe            250
momentum ut rerum et fati foret arbiter unus,
quo conseruari Latium uictore puderet.
hunc Fabios inter sacrataque nomina Marti
Scipiadas interque Ioui spolia alta ferentem
Marcellum fastis labem suffragia caeca            255
addiderant, Cannasque malum exitiale fouebat
ambitus et Graio funestior aequore Campus.
idem, ut turbarum sator atque accendere sollers
inuidiam prauusque togae, sic debilis arte
belligera Martemque rudis uersare nec ullo            260

and for him a lineage without light and the deaf name of parents,
and an immoderate, impudent tongue flickered in a melodious mouth.
Hence he increased his wealth and was lavish in rapine,
while he coddled the lowest of the mob and bayed against the senate,
so far did his head lift itself in a city shaken by wars            250
that he was the single arbiter of affairs and of fate,
under whose victory it would shame Latium to be preserved.
This man, among the Fabii and the names consecrated to Mars,
among the Scipiads and Marcellus bearing high spoils to Jove,
the blind suffrages had added to the fasti as a stain,            255
and ambition was nursing the baleful ill of Cannae,
and the Campus, more deadly than the Greek sea.
The same man—being a sower of tumults and skillful to kindle
envy, and crooked in the toga—so was feeble in the war-making art
and untrained to handle Mars, and in no wise            260

spectatus ferro, lingua sperabat adire
ad dextrae decus atque e rostris bella ciebat.
ergo alacer Fabiumque morae increpitare professus
ad uulgum in patres petulantia uerba ferebat:
'Vos, quorum imperium est, consul praecepta modumque 265
bellandi posco. sedeone au<t> montibus erro,
dum mecum Garamas et adustus corpora Maurus
diuidit Italiam?

tested by the sword, with his tongue he hoped to approach the glory of the right hand,
and from the rostra he was stirring wars.
therefore eager, and having professed to upbraid Fabius for delay,
he was carrying petulant words against the Fathers to the crowd:
'You, whose command it is, I, the consul, demand precepts and the measure 265
of waging war. am I to sit, o<r> do I wander on the mountains,
while with me the Garamantian and the sun-scorched Moor
partitions Italy?

an ferro, quo cingitis, utor?
exaudi, bone dictator, quid Martia plebes
imperitet: pelli Libyas Romamque leuari 270
hoste iubent. num festinant, quos plurima passos
tertius exurit lacrimosis casibus annus?

Or am I to use the iron with which you gird yourselves?
Hear me, good Dictator, what the Martial plebs
commands: they order the Libyas to be driven out and Rome to be relieved 270
of the enemy. Are they in haste, those whom, having suffered very many things,
a third year consumes with tearful misfortunes?

ite igitur, capite arma, uiri. mora sola triumpho
paruum iter est. quae prima dies ostenderit hostem,
et patrum regna et Poenorum bella resoluet. 275

go therefore, take up arms, men. delay alone is a short march to triumph
what foe the first day shall have revealed,
will resolve both the realms of the Fathers and the Punic wars. 275

ite alacres: Latia deuinctum colla catena
Hannibalem Fabio ducam spectante per urbem.'
    Haec postquam increpuit, portis arma incitus effert
impellitque moras: ueluti cum carcere rupto
auriga indocilis totas effudit habenas            280
et praeceps trepida pendens in uerbera planta
impar fertur equis: fumat male concitus axis,
ac frena incerto fluitant discordia curru.
cernebat Paulus (namque huic communia Campus
iura atque arma tulit) labi mergente sinistro            285
consule res pessumque dari, sed mobilis ira est
turbati uulgi, signataque mente cicatrix
undantis aegro frenabat corde dolores.
nam cum perdomita est armis iuuenilibus olim
Illyris ora uiri, nigro adlatrauerat ore            290

go, alacritous: Hannibal, his neck bound by a Latin chain,
I will lead through the city with Fabius looking on.'
    After he had cried these things aloud, in impetuosity he brings the arms forth through the gates
and drives away delays: just as when, the starting-stall burst,
the untrained charioteer has poured out the whole reins,            280
and, headlong, leaning forward with a trembling foot poised for the lashes,
unequal to the horses, is borne along: the axle, ill-hurried, smokes,
and the reins, at odds, float in an unsteady chariot.
Paulus saw (for to him the Campus gave shared rights and arms)
that, as the left-hand consul sank, the state was sliding and being given to ruin; but changeable is the ire
of a troubled crowd, and a scar stamped on his mind
was reining in the billowing pains in his ailing heart.
For when the Illyrian shore of the man was once thoroughly subdued
by youthful arms, a black mouth had barked at him.            290

uictorem inuidia et uentis iactarat iniquis.
hinc inerat metus et durae reuerentia plebis.
sed genus admotum superis summumque per altos
attingebat auos caelum: numerare parentem
Assaracum retro praestabat Amulius auctor 295
Assaracusque Iouem, ne<c>, qui spectasset in armis,
abnueret genus.

envy and iniquitous winds had buffeted the victor.
hence there was fear and a reverence of the harsh plebs.
but his lineage, brought near to the gods and highest, through lofty grandsires
touched heaven: it availed him to reckon backward his forefather
Assaracus, with Amulius as guarantor, 295
and Assaracus [to reckon] Jove; nor would one who had looked on him in arms
disown the stock.

huic Fabius iam castra petenti:
'Si tibi cum Tyrio credis fore maxima bella
ductore (inuitus uocem hanc e pectore rumpam)
frustraris, Paule. Ausoni<d>um te proelia dira 300
teque hostis castris grauior manet, aut ego multo
nequiquam didici casus praenoscere Marte.
spondentem audiui (piget heu taedetque senectae,
si quas prospicio restat passura ruinas!)
cum duce tam fausti Martis, qua uiderit <h>ora, 305

to him, as he now made for the camp, Fabius:
'If you believe you will have the greatest wars with the Tyrian
leader (unwilling I burst this voice from my breast),
you are mistaken, Paul. The dire battles of the Ausonians 300
and a foe heavier than the camps awaits you, or else I have learned
to foresee chances in war very much in vain.
I have heard him pledging (alas, it irks and it wearies me, this old age,
if I foresee any ruins still left to be suffered!)
that, with a leader of so fortunate a Mars, at whatever hour he shall have seen, 305

sumpturum pugnam. quantum nunc, Paule, supremo
absumus exitio, uocem hanc si consulis ardens
audiuit Poenus! iam latis obuia credo
stat campis acies, expectaturque sub ictu
alter Flaminius.

to take up the fight. How far now, Paulus, are we from supreme
ruin, if the Carthaginian, burning for the consul, has heard this word!
Already, I believe, on the broad plains the battle line stands to meet us,
and another Flaminius is awaited beneath the blow.

quantos, insane, ciebis 310
Varro uiros! tu (pro superi!) tu protinus arma,
tu campum? noscas ante exploresque trahendo,
~quam ritus hostis!

how many men, insane Varro, will you rouse! 310
you (by the gods above!) you straightway to arms,
you to the field? learn first and explore by protracting,
~what the enemy’s practice is!

tu non, quae copia rerum,
quae natura locis, quod sit, rimabere sollers,
armorum genus, et stantem super omnia tela 315
fortunam aspicies? fer, Paule, indeuia recti
pectora. cur, uni patriam si adfligere fas est,
uni sit seruare nefas?

will you not, being skillful, scrutinize what abundance of resources there is,
what the nature of the places is, what there is; the kind of armaments, and will you look upon Fortune standing above all weapons 315
bear, Paulus, hearts straying from the right.
why, if it is permitted by divine law for one man to afflict the fatherland,
should it be unlawful for one man to preserve it?

eget improbus arto
iam uictu Libys, et belli feruore retuso
laxa fides socium est. non hic domus hospita tecto 320

the ruthless Libyan is in want of scant victuals,
now, and with the fervor of war blunted
the fidelity of allies is lax. Here there is no hospitable house under a roof 320

inuitat patrio, non fidae moenibus urbes
excipiunt renouatque pari se pube iuuentus.
tertia uix superest, crudo quae uenit Hibero,
turba uirum. persta et cauti medicamina belli
lentus ama.

the fatherland invites; cities, not trustworthy in their walls, receive, and the youth renews itself with an equal pubes of young men.
scarcely a third throng of men remains, which comes from the harsh Iberus,
a crowd of warriors. Stand fast, and love, unhurried, the remedies of cautious war.

si qua interea inuitauerit aura            325
annueritque deus, uelox accede secundis.'
    Cui breuiter maesto consul sic ore uicissim:
'Mecum erit haec prorsus pietas, mentemque feremus
in Poenos, inuicte, tuam. nec me unica fallit
cunctandi ratio, qua te grassante senescens            330
Hannibal oppressum uidit considere bellum.
sed quaenam ira deum?

if any breeze meanwhile shall have invited            325
and the god shall have nodded assent, swiftly accede to fair winds.'
    To whom in turn the consul briefly with a mournful countenance thus:
'This dutifulness will be wholly with me, and we shall bear your intention,
unconquered one, against the Poeni. Nor does the sole rationale
of delaying escape me, by which, with you pressing on, the aging            330
Hannibal saw the war, pressed down, settle.
but what, pray, is the wrath of the gods?'

consul datus alter, opinor,
Ausoniae est, alter Poenis. trahit omnia secum
et metuit demens alio ne consule Roma
concidat. e Tyrio consortem accite senatu: 335

one consul given, I opine, is for Ausonia, the other for the Poeni. he drags everything to himself
and, demented, fears lest Rome collapse with another consul. from the Tyrian senate call in a consort-colleague: 335

non tam saeua uolet. nullus qui portet in hostem
sufficit insano sonipes. incedere noctis,
quae tardent cursum, tenebras dolet, itque superbus
tantum non strictis mucronibus, ulla retardet
ne pugnas mora, dum uagina ducitur ensis. 340
Tarpeiae rupes cognataque sanguine nobis
tecta Iouis, quaeque arce sua nunc stantia linquo,
moenia felicis patriae, quocumque uocabit
summa salus, testor, spreto discrimine iturum.

it will not desire things so savage. No steed that carries him against the foe suffices for the insane one. He chafes at advancing in the darkness of night, the shadows which delay his course, and he goes proud, all but with blades drawn, lest any delay retard the battles while the sword is being drawn from the sheath. 340
the Tarpeian rock and the roofs of Jove, kindred to us by blood, and the walls of my fortunate fatherland, which I now leave standing on its citadel—I call them to witness—that, wherever the supreme safety shall call, I will go, danger spurned.

sed si surda mihi pugnabunt castra monenti,            345
haud ego uos ultra, nati, dulcemque morabor
Assaraci de gente domum, similemue uidebit
Varroni Paulum redeuntem saucia Roma.'
    Sic tum diuersa turbati mente petebant
castra duces. at praedictis iam sederat aruis            350

but if the camp will fight deaf to my admonition,            345
I for my part will no longer delay you, sons, nor the sweet
house from the race of Assaracus; and wounded Rome will see
Paulus returning like to Varro.'
    Thus then, with mind disturbed, the leaders were making for different
camps. But on the foretold fields he had already settled.            350

Aetolos Poenus seruans ad proelia campos.
non alias maiore uirum, maiore sub armis
agmine cornipedum concussa est Itala tellus.
quippe extrema simul gentique urbique timebant,
nec spes certandi plus uno Marte dabatur.            355
    Faunigenae socio bella inuasere Sicano
sacra manus Rutuli, seruant qui Daunia regna
Laurentique domo gaudent et fonte Numici,
quos Castrum Phrygibusque grauis quondam Ardea misit,
quos, celso deuexa iugo Iunonia sedes,            360
Lanuuium atque altrix casti Collatia Bruti,
quique immite nemus Triuiae, quique ostia Tusci
amnis amant tepidoque fouent Almone Cybeben.

The Punic foe, keeping the Aetolian fields for battles.
not at any other time was the Italian earth shaken by a greater multitude of men, by a greater column under arms of horse.
for indeed they feared the utmost at once for the nation and the city, nor was hope of contending given for more than a single battle.            355
    The Faunus-born sacred band of the Rutuli assailed the wars with the Sicanian ally,
who keep the Daunian realms and rejoice in the Laurentian home and the spring of the Numicus,
whom Castrum and Ardea, once grievous to the Phrygians, sent,
whom, the Juno-ian seat sloping down from a lofty ridge,
Lanuvium and Collatia, nurse of chaste Brutus, (sent),            360
and they who love the harsh grove of Trivia, and who the mouths of the Tuscan river,
and with the tepid Almo cherish Cybele.

hinc Tibur, Catille, tuum sacrisque dicatum
Fortunae Praeneste iugis Antemnaque, prisco 365

from here Tibur, Catillus, your own, and Praeneste dedicated to sacred Fortuna on its ridges,
and Antemnae, ancient 365

Crustumio prior, atque habiles ad aratra Labici.
necnon sceptriferi qui potant Thybridis undam,
quique Anienis habent ripas gelidoque rigantur
Simbruuio rastrisque domant Aequicula rura.
his Scaurus monitor, tenero tunc Scaurus in aeuo, 370
sed iam signa dabat nascens in saecula uirtus.

Crustumium first, and the Labici apt for the plough.
and likewise the scepter-bearing who quaff the wave of the Tiber,
and those who hold the banks of the Anio and are irrigated by the icy Simbruine,
and with rakes they tame the Aequiculan fields.
for these Scaurus as monitor—then Scaurus in tender age— 370
but already a nascent virtue was giving signs for the ages.

non illis solitum crispare hastilia campo,
nec mos pennigeris pharetram impleuisse sagittis:
pila uolunt breuibusque habiles mucronibus enses;
aere caput tecti surgunt super agmina cristis.            375
    At, quos ipsius mensis seposta Lyaei
Setia et incelebri miserunt ualle Velitrae,
quos Cora, quos spumans immiti Signia musto,
et quos pestifera Pomptini uligine campi,
qua Saturae nebulosa palus restagnat, et atro            380

it was not usual for them to twitch spear-shafts on the field,
nor was it the custom to have filled the quiver with feather-bearing arrows:
they favor pila and swords deft with short points;
with bronze covering the head they rise above the battle-lines with crests.            375
    But those whom Setia, set apart for the very table of Lyaeus,
and Velitrae in an uncelebrated valley sent,
those whom Cora, whom Signia foaming with harsh must (new wine),
and those whom the Pomptine fields, with pestiferous swampiness, sent,
where the nebulous marsh of Satura lies stagnant, and with black            380

liuentis caeno per squalida turbidus arua
cogit aquas Vfens atque inficit aequora limo,
ducit auis pollens nec dextra indignus auorum
Scaeuola, cui dirae caelatur laudis honora
effigie clipeus: flagrant altaribus ignes,            385
Tyrrhenum ualli medio stat Mucius ira
in semet uersa, saeuitque <in> imagine uirtus.
~tunc icta species iniere ac bella magistro
cernitur effugiens ardentem Porsena dextram.
    Quis Circaea iuga et scopulosi uerticis Anxur            390
Hernicaque impresso raduntur uomere saxa,
quis putri pinguis sulcaris Anagnia gleba,
Sulla Ferentinis Priuernatumque maniplis
ducebat simul excitis, Soraeque iuuentus
addita fulgebat telis. hic Scaptia pubes,            395

turbid, the Ufens drives its waters through squalid fields, livid with mud,
and infects the seas with slime; Scaevola, strong in ancestry and not unworthy in his right hand of his forefathers,
leads—whose shield is engraved with the honors of dread praise in effigy:
fires blaze on the altars; in the middle of the rampart Mucius stands against the Tyrrhenian,
his wrath turned upon himself, and virtue rages the image.
~then the stricken likenesses have entered, and wars under a master;
Porsena is seen fleeing the burning right hand.
Those whose Circaean ridges and Anxur of the craggy summit,
and the Hernican rocks, are scraped by the pressed ploughshare,
whose Anagnian soil, rich yet crumbling, is furrowed,
Sulla was leading with the Ferentine and the maniples of the Privernates,
summoned at once, and the youth of Sora, added, gleamed with weapons.
here the Scaptian youth, 395

hic Fabrateriae uulgus, nec monte niuoso
descendens Atina aberat detritaque bellis
S<u>essa atque a duro Frusino haud imbellis aratro.
at, qui Fibreno miscentem flumina Lirim
sulphureum tacitisque uadis ad litora lapsum 400
accolit, Arpinas, accita pube Venafro
ac Larinatum dextris, socia hispidus arma
commouet atque uiris ingens exhaurit Aquinum.
Tullius aeratas raptabat in agmina turmas,
regia progenies et Tullo sanguis ab alto. 405
indole pro quanta iuuenis quantumque daturus
Ausoniae populis uentura in saecula ciuem!

here the populace of Fabrateria, nor was Atina, descending from the snowy mountain, absent, and Sessa worn down by wars, and Frusino, not unwarlike at the hard plough, from its toughness. but he who dwells where the Fibrenus mixes with the river Liris, sulfurous and gliding to the shores with silent shallows, 400
the Arpinate, with youth summoned from Venafrum and the Larinates at his right hand, the rough one stirs the allied arms and drains mighty Aquinum of its men. Tullius was snatching bronze-clad squadrons into the battle-lines, a royal offspring and blood from lofty Tullus. 405
O how great in natural endowment the youth, and how much of a citizen he was going to give to the Ausonian peoples in ages to come!

ille, super Gangen, super exauditus et Indos,
implebit terras uoce et furialia bella
fulmine compescet linguae nec deinde relinquet 410

he, heard beyond the Ganges and beyond the Indians,
will fill the lands with his voice, and will restrain the furial wars
with the thunderbolt of his tongue, nor thereafter will he leave off. 410

par decus eloquio cuiquam sperare nepotum.
Ecce inter primos Therapnaeo a sanguine Clausi
exultat rapidis Nero non imitabilis ausis.
hunc Amiterna cohors et Bactris nomina ducens
Casperia, hunc Foruli magnaeque Reate dicatum 415
Caelicolum Matri necnon habitata pruinis
Nursia et a Tetrica comitantur rupe cohortes.

an equal honor in eloquence for any of his posterity to hope for.
Behold, among the foremost, from Therapnaean blood of Clausus
Nero exults, not imitable in his swift ventures.
him the Amiternine cohort and Casperia, deriving its name from Bactris,
him Foruli and great Reate, dedicated to the Mother of the Sky-dwellers, 415
and Nursia, inhabited by frosts, and the cohorts from the Tetrica crag accompany.

cunctis hasta decus, clipeusque refertur in orbem,
conique implumes et laeuo tegmina crure.
ibant et laeti pars Sancum uoce canebant            420
auctorem gentis, pars laudes ore ferebat,
Sabe, tuas, qui de proprio cognomine primus
dixisti populos magna dicione Sabinos.
    Quid, qui Picenae stimulat telluris alumnos,
horridus et squamis et equina Curio crista,            425

for all, the spear is an ornament, and the shield is fashioned into an orb,
and unplumed cones and coverings on the left shin.
they were going, and happy; a part with voice were singing Sancus,            420
the author of the race; a part was bearing praises by mouth,
Sabus, yours, you who from your own cognomen first
called the peoples the Sabines under great dominion.
    What of him who goads the pupils of the Picene land,
Curio, rough with scales and with an equine crest,            425

pars belli quam magna uenit! non aequore uerso
tam creber fractis albescit fluctus in undis,
nec coetu leuiore, ubi mille per agmina uirgo
lunatis acies imitatur Martia peltis,
perstrepit et tellus et Amazonius Thermodon.            430
hic et, quos pascunt scopulosae rura Numanae,
et quis litoreae fumant altaria Cuprae,
quique Truentinas seruant cum flumine turris,
cernere erat: clipeata procul sub sole corusco
agmina sanguinea uibrant in nubila luce.            435
stat fucare colus nec Sidone uilior Ancon
murice nec Libyco, statque umectata Vomano
Hadria et inclemens hirsuti signifer Ascli.
ho<c> Picus quondam nomen memorabile ab alto
Saturno statuit genitor, quem carmine Circe            440

What a great portion of war comes! not, when the sea is upturned, does the surge whiten so thick with broken billows,
nor with a lighter mustering, where through a thousand battalions the War-Maiden
imitates battle-lines with crescent pelta-shields,
both the earth and the Amazonian Thermodon resound.            430
Here too were seen those whom the rocky fields of Numana feed,
and those for whom the altars of shore-dwelling Cupra smoke,
and who with the river guard the Truentine towers:
one might behold it: shield-bearing columns afar, beneath the coruscating sun,
flash blood-red into the clouded light.            435
Ancon stands to dye the distaff, not meaner with Sidonian murex
nor with Libyan, and Adria stands moistened by the Vomano,
and the unrelenting standard-bearer of shaggy Asculum. This name once the famed Picus, son of lofty
Saturn, established; whom by incantation Circe            440

exutum formae uolitare per aethera iussit
et sparsit croceum plumis fugientis honorem.
ante, ut fama docet, tellus possessa Pelasgis,
quis Aesis regnator erat fluuioque reliquit
nomen et a sese populos tum dixit Asilos.            445
    Sed non ruricolae firmarunt robore castra
deteriore cauis uenientes montibus Vmbri.
hos Aesis Sapisque lauant rapidasque sonanti
uertice contorquens undas per saxa Metaurus,
et lauat ingentem perfundens flumine sacro            450
Clitumnus taurum Narque albescentibus undis
in Thybrim properans Tiniaeque inglorius umor
et Clanis et Rubico et Senonum de nomine Sena.

he ordered him, stripped of his form, to flit through the ether,
and he sprinkled a saffron honor upon the feathers of the fleeing one.
before, as report teaches, the land was possessed by the Pelasgians,
among whom Aesis was ruler, and he left to the river
his name, and then called the peoples from himself the Asili.            445
    But not with an inferior strength did the country-dwellers make firm their camps,
the Umbri coming from hollowed mountains.
these the Aesis and the Sapis bathe, and the Metaurus,
hurling with a resounding whirl its rapid waves through the rocks,
and the Clitumnus washes the huge bull, drenching with its sacred river,            450
and the Nar with whitening waves, hastening to the Tiber,
and the inglorious moisture of the Tinia,
and the Clanis and the Rubicon and Sena from the name of the Senones.

sed pater ingenti medios inlabitur amne
Albula et admota perstringit moenia ripa. 455

but father Albula glides through the midst with his immense river, and with his bank brought near he skims the walls. 455

his urbes Arna et laetis Meuania pratis,
Hispellum et duro monti per saxa recumbens
<N>arnia et infestum nebulis umentibus olim
Iguuium patuloque iacens sine moenibus aruo
Fulgin<i>a, his populi fortes: Amerinus et armis            460
uel rastris laudande Camers, his Sassina, diues
lactis, et haud parci Martem coluisse Tudertes.
ductor Piso uiros spernaces mortis agebat,
ora puer pulcherque habitum, sed corde sagaci
aequabat senium atque astu superauerat annos.            465
is primam ante aciem pictis radiabat in armis,
Arsacidum ut fuluo micat ignea gemma monili.
    Iamque per Etruscos legio completa maniplos
rectorem magno spectabat nomine Galbam.

among these, the cities Arna and Mevania with glad meadows,
Hispellum and arnia, reclining along the hard mountain through the rocks,
and Iguvium, once plagued by dripping mists, and Fulgina lying on an open field without walls;
to these belong stout peoples: the Amerinus and Camers, to be praised either for arms
or for rakes; to these, Sassina, rich in milk, and the Tudertes, not at all sparing in cultivating Mars.            460
the leader Piso was driving men who spurn death,
a boy in face and fair in appearance, but with a sagacious heart
he matched old age and by astuteness had surpassed his years.            465
he was beaming before the foremost battle-line in painted arms,
as a fiery gem of the Arsacids gleams on a tawny necklace.
    And now through the Etruscan maniples the legion, completed,
was looking to Galba as its commander, a man of great name.

huic genus orditur Minos inclusaque tauro 470

for him Minos begins the lineage, and Pasiphaë, enclosed in the bull 470

Pasiphae, clarique dehinc stant ordine patres.
lectos Caere uiros, lectos Cor<t>ona, superbi
Tarchonis domus, et ueteres misere Grauiscae.
necnon Argolico dilectum litus Haleso
A<l>sium et obsessae campo squalente Fregenae. 475
adfuit et sacris interpres fulminis alis
Faesula et antiquus Romanis moenibus horror
Clusinum uulgus, cum, Porsena magne, iubebas
nequiquam pulsos Romae imperitare Superbos.

Pasiphae, and thereafter illustrious sires stand in order.
Caere sent chosen men, Cortona sent chosen men, the proud
house of Tarchon, and old Graviscae sent theirs as well.
and also the shore beloved by Argolic Halesus,
Alsium, and Fregenae, beset by a squalid, water-logged plain. 475
there was present too Faesula, interpreter of lightning by sacred wings,
and the Clusine crowd, an ancient terror to the Roman walls,
when, great Porsenna, you were bidding in vain that the Proud, driven from Rome, should rule.

tunc, quos a niueis exegit Luna metallis, 480
insignis portu, quo non spatiosior alter
innumeras cepisse rates et claudere pontum,
Maeoniaeque decus quondam Vetulonia gentis.
bissenos haec prima dedit praecedere fasces
et iunxit totidem tacito terrore securis. 485

then, those whom Luna drove forth from the snow-white metals, 480
distinguished by a port, than which no other is more spacious
to have received innumerable ships and to shut in the sea,
and Vetulonia, once the ornament of the Maeonian people.
this one first gave twelve fasces to precede
and joined just as many axes with silent terror. 485

haec altas eboris decorauit honore curulis
et princeps Tyrio uestem praetexuit ostro.
haec eadem pugnas accendere protulit aere.
his mixti Nepesina cohors Aequique Falisci,
quique tuos, Flauina, focos, Sabatia quique 490
stagna tenent Ciminique lacum, qui Sutria tecta
haud procul et sacrum Phoebo Soracte frequentant.

this one adorned the high curule seats with the honor of ivory,
and, as first, bordered the garment with Tyrian purple.
this same brought forth bronze to kindle battles.
with these were mingled the Nepesinian cohort and the Aequian Faliscans,
and those who hold your hearths, Flavina, and who the pools of Sabatia 490
and the lake of Ciminus, who frequent the roofs of Sutrium
not far away and Soracte sacred to Phoebus.

spicula bina gerunt: capiti cudone ferino
sat cautum: Lycios damnant hastilibus arcus.
Hae bellare acies norant. at Marsica pubes 495
et bellare manu et chelydris cantare soporem
uipereumque herbis hebetare et carmine dentem.

they carry twin darts: the head quite protected with a ferine cudon;
they condemn Lycian bows with spears.
These battle-lines knew how to wage war. but the Marsic youth 495
both to war with the hand and to chant sleep upon adders,
and to dull the viperine tooth with herbs and with song.

Ae<e>tae prolem Angitiam mala gramina primam
monstrauisse ferunt tactuque domare uenena
et lunam excussisse polo, stridoribus amnes 500

They say that Angitia, progeny of Aeetes, first showed evil herbs,
and to tame venoms by touch, and to have shaken the moon from the sky,
and rivers by her hissings. 500

frenantem, ac siluis montes nudasse uocatis.
sed populis nomen posuit metuentior hospes,
cum fugeret Phrygias trans aequora Marsya Crenas
Mygdoniam Phoebi superatus pectine loton.
Marruuium ueteris celebratum nomine Marri 505
urbibus est illis caput, interiorque per udos
Alba sedet campos pomisque rependit aristas.

reining them in, and, the woods being summoned, to have stripped the mountains bare.
but a more fearful guest set a name upon the peoples,
when Marsyas fled across the seas the Phrygian springs,
overcome on the Mygdonian lyre by the plectrum of Phoebus.
Marruvium, celebrated by the name of old Marrus, is the capital of those cities, 505
and Alba sits farther inland through the watery fields and with apples balances the ears of grain.

cetera in obscuro famae et sine nomine uulgi,
sed numero castella ualent. coniungitur acer
Paelignus gelidoque rapit Sulmone cohortes. 510
haud illo leuior bellis Vestina iuuentus 515

the rest are in the obscurity of fame and without a name to the crowd,
but by their number the castles prevail. is joined the keen
Paelignian, and from icy Sulmo he sweeps up cohorts. 510
in wars the Vestine youth is no lighter than he. 515

agmina densauit uenatu dura ferarum:
quae, Fiscelle, tuas arces Pinnamque uirentem
pascuaque haud tarde redeuntia tondet Aueiae.
Marrucina simul, Frentanis aemula pubes,
Corfini populos magnumque Teate trahebat. 520
omnibus in pugnam fertur sparus, omnibus alto
adsuetae uolucrem caelo demittere fundae.
pectora pellis obit caesi uenatibus ursi.

it massed its columns, hardened by the hunting of wild beasts:
which, Fiscellus, crops your citadels and the green Pinna, and the pastures of Aveia that are not slow to return.
At the same time the Marrucinian youth, emulous of the Frentani, was drawing the peoples of Corfinium and great Teate. 520
for all a spear is borne into battle, for all the slings accustomed to send the bird down from the high sky.
a bear’s hide, slain in hunts, covers their breasts.

    <Nec Sidicina cohors defit. Viriasius armat            523a
mille uiros, nulli uictus uel ponere castra            523b
uel iunxisse ratem duroque resoluere muros            523c
ariete et in turrim subitos immittere pontis.>            523d
    Nec cedit studio Sidicinus sanguine miles,            511
quem genuere Cales. non paruus conditor urbi,
ut fama est, Calais, Boreae quem rapta per auras
Orithyia uago Geticis nutriuit in antris.

    <Nor does the Sidicinian cohort fail. Viriasius arms            523a
a thousand men, second to none either in pitching a camp            523b
or in lashing a raft and in loosening hard walls with the ram,            523c
and in sending sudden bridges into a tower.>            523d
    Nor does the soldier of Sidicinian blood yield in zeal,            511
whom Cales begot. No small founder for the city, as report has it, was Calais, whom Orithyia, snatched by Boreas through the airs, nurtured in wandering Getic caverns.

Iam uero, quos diues opum, quos diues auorum 524

Now indeed, those whom opulence of wealth, those whom opulence of forefathers 524

e toto dabat ad bellum Campania tractu,
ductorum aduentu<m> uicinis sedibus Osci
seruabant: Sinuessa tepens fluctuque sonorum
Vulturnum, quasque euertere silentia Amyclae
Fundique et regnata Lamo Caieta domusque
Antiphatae, compressa freto, stagnisque palustre            530
Liternum et quondam fatorum conscia Cyme.
illic Nuceria et Gaurus naualibus acta
prole Dicarchea, multo cum milite Graia
illic Parthenope ac Poeno non peruia Nola,
Allifae et Clanio contemptae semper Acerrae.            535
Sarrastis etiam populos totasque uideres
Sarni mitis opes; illic, quos sulphure pingues
Phlegraei legere sinus, Misenus et ardens
ore Giganteo sedes Ithacesia Bai.
non Prochyte, non ardentem sortita Typhoea            540

out of its whole stretch Campania was giving for war,
the Osci were watching from their neighboring seats for the arrival of the leaders:
Sinuessa warm and the Volturnus with its sounding wave,
and Amyclae, whose silences overthrew it,
and Fundi and Gaeta ruled by Lamus, and the house
of Antiphates, pressed by the strait, and marshy with pools, Liternum, and Cumae once conscious of the fates.            530
there Nuceria and Gaurus, worked with shipyards,
the Dicaearchian brood, with much Greek soldiery,
there Parthenope and Nola not passable to the Punic,
Allifae and Acerrae always despised by the Clanius.            535
You might also see the Sarrastian peoples and all the wealth
of gentle Sarnus; there, those whom the Phlegraean bays, rich with sulfur,
have gathered, Misenus and Baiae, the Ithacan seat blazing
with a Giant’s mouth. Not Prochyte, nor she who by lot received Typhoeus burning            540

Inarime, non antiqui saxosa Telonis
insula, nec paruis aberat Calatia muris,
Surrentum et pauper sulci Cerealis Abella,
in primis Capua, heu rebus seruare serenis
inconsulta modum et prauo peritura tumore! 545
laetos rectoris formabat Scipio bello.
ille uiris pila et ferro circumdare pectus
addiderat. leuiora domo de more parentum
gestarant tela, ambustas sine cuspide cornos;
aclydis usus erat factaeque ad rura bipennis. 550
ipse inter medios uenturae ingentia laudis
signa dabat: uibrare sudem, tramittere saltu
muralis fossas, undosum frangere nando
indutus thoraca uadum: spectacula tanta
ante acies uirtutis erant.

Inarime, not the rocky island of ancient Telon,
nor was Calatia far with its small walls,
Surrentum and Abella, poor in the furrow of Ceres,
foremost Capua—alas, in serene fortunes unadvised to keep measure, and doomed to perish by perverse swelling! 545
Scipio, as ruler, was shaping the rejoicing men for war.
He had added the practice for the men to equip themselves with pila and to gird the breast with iron.
At home, by the custom of their fathers, they had borne lighter weapons, cornel-wood shafts scorched without a point;
the aclys had been in use, and the double-axe made for the fields. 550
He himself in the midst was giving great tokens of the praise to come:
to vibrate the stake, to clear with a leap the fosses of walls,
to break the wavy ford by swimming, clad in a cuirass:
such sights of virtue stood before the battle-lines.

saepe alite planta 555

often with winged foot 555

ilia perfossum et campi per aperta uolantem
ipse pedes praeuertit ecum, saepe arduus idem
castrorum spatium et saxo tramisit et hasta.
Martia frons facilesque comae nec pone retroque
caesaries breuior. flagrabant lumina miti 560
aspectu, gratusque inerat uisentibus horror.

he himself on foot outstripped the horse, pierced in the flanks and flying through the open stretches of the plain;
often, the same man, towering, sent across the span of a camp both a stone and a spear.
a martial brow and compliant locks, nor was the mane shorter either behind or before.
his lights blazed with a mild aspect, and a pleasing awe resided for the beholders. 560

    Adfuit et Samnis, nondum uergente fauore
ad Poenos, sed nec ueteri purgatus ab ira:
qui Batulum Nucrasque metunt, Bouiania quique
exagitant lustra aut Caudinis faucibus haerent,            565
et quos aut Rufrae, quos aut Aesernia, quosue
obscura incultis Herdonia misit ab agris.
    Bruttius, haud dispar animorum, unaque iuuentus
Lucanis excita iugis Hirpinaque pubes
horrebat telis et tergo hirsuta ferarum.            570

    Present too was the Samnite, with favor not yet veering
to the Punic side, yet not cleansed from ancient wrath:
those who reap Batulum and Nucrae, and those who
harry the Bovianian lairs or stick in the Caudine gorges,            565
and those whom either Rufrae, or Aesernia, or else
obscure Herdonia sent from its uncultivated fields.
    The Bruttian, in no way different in spirit, and the youth
roused from the Lucanian ridges, and the Hirpinian young men
bristled with weapons and were shaggy on the back with the hides of beasts.            570

hos uenatus alit: lustra incoluere sitimque
auertunt fluuio, somnique labore parantur.
    Additur his Calaber Sallentinaeque cohortes
necnon Brundisium, quo desinit Itala tellus.
parebat legio audaci permissa Cethego,            575
cui socias uires atque indiscreta maniplis
arma recensebant: nunc sese ostendere miles
Leucosiae e <s>copulis, nunc, quem Picentia Paesto
misit et exhaustae mox Poeno Marte Cerillae,
nunc Silarus quos nutrit aquis, quo gurgite tradunt            580
duritiem lapidum mersis inolescere ramis.

these are nourished by venery: they have inhabited lairs and avert their thirst by a river, and sleep is procured by toil.
    Added to these are the Calabrian and Salentine cohorts, and also Brundisium, where the Italian land ends.
the legion obeyed, entrusted to bold Cethegus,            575
for whom they were mustering allied forces and arms not distinguished from the maniples: now the soldier would show himself
from the crags of Leucosia, now he whom Picentia sent from Paestum and Cerillae, soon drained by Punic war,
now those whom the Silarus nourishes with its waters, in whose eddy they hand down that the hardness of stones grows onto submerged branches.            580

ille et pugnacis laudauit tela Salerni
falcatos ensis, et, quae Buxentia pubes
aptabat dextris, inrasae robora clauae.
ipse, umero exertus gentili more parentum, 585

he too praised the weapons of pugnacious Salerno,
the sickle-curved swords, and what the Buxentian youth
were fitting to their right hands, the oaken timbers of the unshaven club.
he himself, with his shoulder bared in the gentile manner of his ancestors, 585

difficili gaudebat equo roburque iuuentae
flexi cornipedis duro exercebat in ore.
    Vos etiam accisae desolataeque uirorum,
Eridani gentes, nullo attendente deorum
uotis tunc uestris casura ruistis in arma.            590
certauit Mutinae quassata Placentia bello,
Mantua mittenda certauit pube Cremonae,
Mantua, Musarum domus atque ad sidera cantu
euecta Aonio et Smyrnaeis aemula plectris.
tum Verona Athesi circumflua et undique sollers            595
arua coronantem nutrire Fauentia pinum,
Vercellae, fuscique ferax Pollentia uilli,
et quondam Teucris comes in Laurentia bella
Ocni prisca domus, paruique Bononia Rheni,
quique graui remo limosis segniter undis            600

he rejoiced in a difficult horse, and exercised the vigor of youth upon the hard mouth of the flexing hoof-steed.
    You too, cut down and desolated of men, peoples of the Eridanus, with none of the gods attending to your vows, doomed then to fall, rushed into arms.            590
Placentia, shaken by war, contended at Mutina,
Mantua vied with Cremona in sending forth its youth,
Mantua, house of the Muses and by Aonian song lifted to the stars,
and rival of the Smyrnaean plectra.
then Verona, encircled by the Athesis, and Faventia, skilled on every side            595
to nurture the pine that crowns the fields,
Vercellae, and Pollentia fertile in dusky fleece,
and the ancient home of Ocnus, once companion to the Teucri in the Laurentian wars,
and Bologna of the little Rhine,
and those who with a heavy oar sluggishly [move] on the muddy waves            600

lenta paludosae proscindunt stagna Rauennae.
tum Troiana manus, tellure antiquitus orti
Euganea profugique sacris Antenoris oris.
necnon cum Venetis Aquileia ~superfluit armis.

they furrow the sluggish pools of marshy Ravenna.
then the Trojan band, sprung from Euganean soil from ancient times, and the exiles from the sacred shores of Antenor.
and likewise Aquileia with the Venetians ~overflows with arms.

tum pernix Ligus et sparsi per saxa Vagenni 605
in decus Hannibalis duros misere nepotes.
maxima tot populis rector fiducia Brutus
ibat et hortando notum accendebat in hostem.
laeta uiro grauitas ac mentis amabile pondus
et sine tristitia uirtus.

then the nimble Ligurian and the Vagenni scattered over the rocks 605
sent their hardy descendants to the glory of Hannibal.
Brutus, as leader the greatest confidence for so many peoples,
was going and by exhorting was kindling them against the well-known enemy.
a cheerful gravity in the man and the lovable weight of mind
and a virtue without sadness.

non ille rigoris            610
ingratas laudes nec nubem frontis amabat
nec famam laeuo quaerebat limite uitae.
    Addiderat ter mille uiros, in Marte sagittae
expertos, fidus Sicula regnator ab Aetna.
non totidem Ilua uiros, sed laetos cingere ferrum            615

not he of severity            610
ingrate praises, nor did he love a cloud of the brow,
nor did he seek fame by the left-hand track of life.
    He had added three thousand men, in the warfare of Mars with the arrow,
experienced, the faithful ruler from Sicilian Aetna.
not as many men Ilva, but glad to gird on steel            615

armarat patrio, quo nutrit bella, metallo.
Ignosset quamuis auido committere pugnam
Varroni, quicumque simul tot tela uideret.
tantis agminibus Rhoeteo litore quondam
feruere, cum magnae Troiam inuasere Mycenae, 620
mille rates uidit Leandrius Hellespontus.

it had armed with its native metal, with which it nourishes wars.
One would pardon Varro, though eager to commit battle,
whoever should at once behold so many weapons.
The Leandrian Hellespont saw the Rhoetean shore once seethe with such columns,
when mighty Mycenae invaded Troy, 620
a thousand ships.

    Vt uentum ad Cannas, urbis uestigia priscae,
defigunt diro signa infelicia uallo.
nec tanta miseris iamiam impendente ruina
cessarunt superi uicinas prodere clades.            625
per sudum attonitis pila exarsere maniplis,
et celsae toto ceciderunt aggere pinnae,
nutantique ruens prostrauit uertice siluas
Garganus, fundoque imo mugiuit anhelans
Aufidus, et magno late distantia ponto            630

    When they came to Cannae, the vestiges of an ancient city,
they plant unlucky standards on the dire rampart.
nor, with so great a ruin now hanging over the wretched,
did the gods cease to betray neighboring calamities.            625
through clear sky the pila blazed before the thunderstruck maniples,
and lofty battlements fell from the whole embankment,
and Garganus, rushing with its nodding summit, laid low the forests,
and the Aufidus, panting, bellowed from its deepest bed,
and, far and wide, things distant from the great sea            630

terruerunt pauidos accensa Ceraunia nautas.
quaesiuit Calaber, subducta luce repente
immensis tenebris, et terram et litora Sipus,
obseditque frequens castrorum limina bubo.
nec densae trepidis apium se inuoluere nubes 635
cessarunt aquilis.

the Ceraunian peaks, ignited, terrified the timorous sailors.
the Calabrian, with the light suddenly drawn away into immense darkness, sought both the land and the shores, and so did Sipus;
and in throngs the eagle-owl besieged the thresholds of the camps.
nor did dense clouds of bees cease to wrap themselves around the quivering Eagles. 635
cessarunt aquilis.

non unus crine corusco
regnorum euersor rubuit letale cometes.
castra quoque et uallum rabidae sub nocte silenti
inrupere ferae raptique ante ora pauentum
adiunctos uigilis sparserunt membra per agros. 640
ludificante etiam terroris imagine somnos
Gallorum uisi bustis erumpere manes,
terque quaterque solo penitus tremuere reuulsae
Tarpeiae rupes, atque atro sanguine flumen
manauit Iouis in templis, lacrimaeque uetusta 645

not one alone, with coruscant hair,
the deadly overthrower of realms, the comet, reddened.
under the rabid silent night, wild beasts too burst into the camp and rampart,
and, snatching before the faces of the fearful,
they scattered through the fields the limbs of those assigned to the watches. 640
even with a ludic image of terror mocking their sleep
the shades of the Gauls were seen to burst from the tombs,
and thrice and four times the Tarpeian rocks, torn utterly from the ground,
trembled, and in the temples of Jove a stream
flowed with black blood, and age-old tears 645

effigie patris large fluxere Quirini.
maior et horrificis sese extulit Allia ripis.
non Alpes sedere loco, non nocte dieue
ingentis inter stetit Apenninus hiatus.

copiously they flowed from the effigy of father Quirinus.
and the Allia, greater, lifted itself from its horrific banks.
not the Alps sat in their place, not by night or by day
did the Apennine stand between enormous yawning gaps.

axe super medio, Libyes a parte, coruscae            650
in Latium uenere faces, ruptusque fragore
horrisono polus, et uultus patuere Tonantis.
Aetnaeos quoque contorquens e cautibus ignis
Vesbius intonuit, scopulisque in nubila iactis
Phlegraeus tetigit trepidantia sidera uertex.            655
    Ecce inter medios belli praesagus, et ore
attonito sensuque simul, clamoribus implet
miles castra feris et anhelat clade futura:
'Parcite, crudeles superi. iam stragis aceruis
deficiunt campi.

with the axis above midheaven, from the Libyan quarter, coruscating            650
torches came into Latium, and the sky was rent with a dread-sounding crash,
and the Thunderer’s visage stood revealed. Vesuvius too, whirling Aetnaean fire
from the crags, thundered, and with rocks hurled into the clouds
the Phlegraean summit touched the trembling stars.            655
    Behold, in the very midst, presaging war, and with face
and feeling alike astonied, a soldier fills the camp with savage shouts
and pants for the coming carnage:
'Spare us, cruel gods above. Already for heaps of slaughter
the fields are failing.'

uideo per densa uolantem 660

I see him flying through the dense clouds 660

agmina ductorem Libyae currusque citatos
arma uirum super atque artus et signa trahentem.
turbinibus furit insanis et proelia uentus
inque oculos inque ora rotat. cadit immemor aeui
nequiquam, Trasimenne, tuis Seruilius oris 665
subductus.

the ranks, the leader of Libya, and spurred chariots
dragging over the man his arms and limbs and standards.
the wind rages with insane whirlwinds and whirls the battles
and spins them into eyes and into faces. He falls, forgetful of his age,
in vain, Trasimene, from your shores Servilius 665
drawn away.

quo, Varro, fugis? pro Iuppiter! ictu
procumbit saxi fessis spes ultima Paulus.

whither, Varro, are you fleeing? O Jupiter! by the blow of a rock
Paulus, the last hope for the weary, sinks down.

cesserit huic Trebia exitio. pons ecce cadentum
corporibus struitur, reicitque cadauera fumans
Aufidus, ac uictrix insultat belua campis. 670
gestat Agenoreus nostro de more secures
consulis, et sparsos lictor fert sanguine fasces.
in Libyam Ausonii portatur pompa triumphi.

let the Trebia have yielded to this destruction. Lo, a bridge is built with the bodies of the falling,
and the smoking Aufidus flings back corpses, and the victorious beast bounds over the fields. 670
the Agenorean bears, after our custom, the axes of the consul,
and the lictor carries fasces spattered with blood. into Libya the pomp of an Ausonian triumph is carried.

o dolor! hoc etiam, superi, uidisse iubetis?
congesto, laeuae quodcumque auellitur, auro 675

o grief! do you, gods above, bid me to have seen even this?
with the gold piled together, whatever is torn from the left hand, 675

metitur Latias uictrix Carthago ruinas.'

victorious Carthage surveys the Latian ruins.'