Silius Italicus: PUNICA

Turbato monstris Latio cladisque futurae
signa per Ausoniam prodentibus inrita diuis,
haud secus ac si fausta forent et prospera pugnae
omina uenturae, consul traducere noctem
exsomnis telumque manu uibrare per umbras 5
ac modo segnitie Paulum increpitare, modo acris
exercere tubas nocturnaque classica uelle.
nec minor in Poeno properi certaminis ardor.
erumpunt uallo fortuna urgente sinistra
consertaeque manus.

With Latium troubled by portents and by the gods, who through Ausonia bring forth signs of future ruin in vain,
no less than if the omens of battle were auspicious and prosperous, the consul to pass the night sleepless
and to brandish a weapon with his hand through the shades 5
and now to rebuke Paulus for sluggishness, now to sound the keen trumpets and desire the nocturnal bugles.
Nor was the ardor of the Phoenician less eager for hastening into combat.
they burst forth from the rampart with Fortune urging on the left
and the clasped hands joined in fight.

nam sparsi ad pabula campis 10
uicinis raptanda Macae fudere uolucrem
telorum nubem. ante omnis inuadere bella
Mancinus gaudens hostilique unguere primus
tela cruore cadit, cadit et numerosa iuuentus.
nec pecudum fibras Varro et contraria Paulo 15

for, scattered on the neighbouring fields as fodder to be seized 10
the fleet-footed Macae poured forth a winged cloud of missiles to be snatched up.
Before all, Mancinus, rejoicing to fall upon the fight and first to bedew his weapons
with hostile blood, falls — and the numerous youth fall with him.
Nor does Varro spare the fleeces of the flocks, nor (do) things turn out favorable for Paulus 15

auspicia incusante deum compesceret arma,
ni sors alterni iuris, quo castra reguntur,
arbitrium pugnae properanti in fata negasset.
quae tamen haud ualuit perituris milibus una
plus donasse die. rediere in castra, gemente 20
haud dubie Paulo, qui crastina iura uideret
amenti cessura uiro, frustraque suorum
seruatas a caede animas.

the auspices, accusing the god, had checked the arms,
had not the lot of alternate law, by which the camps are ruled,
denied to the man hastening to battle the arbitrium of fate.
which nevertheless availed not to grant to the thousands about to perish
one more day. they returned into the camp, groaning 20
doubtless for Paulus, who would see the laws of tomorrow about to cease for the madman,
and in vain the souls of his men saved from slaughter.

nam turbidus ira
infensusque morae dilata ob proelia ductor
'Sicine, sic' inquit 'grates pretiumque rependis, 25
Paule, tui capitis? meruerunt talia, qui te
legibus atque urnae dira eripuere minanti?
tradant immo hosti reuocatos ilicet enses,
tradant arma iube, aut pugnantum deripe dextris.

for a stormy wrath
and the commander, hostile to delay prolonged on account of battles, said, "Is this how, Paul, you repay thanks and the price of your head? 25
Have those who, threatening, wrested you from the laws and the urn merited such things?
Nay, order that the swords recalled be handed over at once to the enemy,
order them to deliver the arms, or wrench them from the right hands of the fighters.

sed uos, quorum oculos atque ora umentia uidi, 30

but you, whose eyes and faces I saw moist with tears, 30

uertere cum consul terga et remeare iuberet,
ne morem et pugnae signum expectate petendae.
dux sibi quisque uiam rapito, cum spargere primis
incipiet radiis Gargana cacumina Phoebus.
pandam egomet propere portas.

when the consul ordered to turn his back and withdraw,
lest you wait for delay and for the signal of battle to be sought.
each commander seize a way for himself, snatch it up, when Phoebus will begin
to scatter his first rays over the Garganan summits.
I myself will quickly throw open the gates.

ruite ocius atque hunc            35
ereptum reuocata diem.' sic turbidus aegra
pestifero pugnae castra incendebat amore.
    At Paulus, iam non idem nec mente nec ore,
sed qualis stratis deleto milite campis
post pugnam stetit, ante oculos atque ora futuro            40
obuersante malo, ceu iam spe lucis adempta
cum stupet exanimata parens natique tepentis
nequiquam fouet extremis amplexibus artus,
'Per totiens' inquit 'concussae moenia Romae,
perque has, nox Stygia quas iam circumuolat umbra,            45

rush on more swiftly and restore this one snatched back by the returning day.' Thus the shaken man, sick with a pestilential love of battle,
    set the camps afire. At Paulus, now not the same in mind nor in speech,
but such as when, the soldiers having been destroyed on the strewn fields
after the fight he stood, with the impending evil turning before his eyes            40
and mouths, as a parent bereft now of the hope of light
stands stunned, breathless, and vainly warms with last embraces the limbs
of his warm son, 'By so many,' he says, 'the shaken walls of Rome,
and by these, which the Stygian night already flies around with its shadow            45

insontis animas, cladi parce obuius ire.
dum transit diuum furor et consumitur ira
Fortunae, nouus Hannibalis, sat, nomina ferre
si discit miles nec frigidus aspicit hostem.
nonne uides, cum uicinis auditur in aruis, 50
quam subitus linquat pallentia corpora sanguis,
quamque fluant arma ante tubas?

Spare the souls of the innocent from meeting ruin.
While the madness of the gods passes and the wrath of Fortune is consumed,
a new Hannibal of Fortune is enough to bear renown,
if the soldier learns and does not coldly behold the enemy.
nonne uides, cum uicinis auditur in aruis, 50
how suddenly blood forsakes the pale bodies,
and how the arms stream forth before the trumpets?

cunctator et aeger,
ut rere, in pugnas Fabius quotcumque sub illis
culpatis duxit signis, nunc arma capessunt.
at quos Flaminius++sed dira auertite diui. 55
sin nostris animus monitis precibusque repugnat,
aures pande deo. cecinit Cymaea per orbem
haec olim uates et te praesaga tuosque
uulgauit terris proauorum aetate furores.

the Delayer and sickly,
as if to repeat, in battles Fabius, under whatever guilty standards he led, now takes up arms.
but those whom Flaminius — ah, dire ones, avert them, gods. 55
but if my spirit resists our warnings and prayers,
open your ears, O god. A Cymaean prophet once sang these things through the orb
and proclaimed them to the lands, a presager of you and your kin,
the furies of your forefathers in that ancient age.

iamque alter tibi, nec perplexo carmine, coram 60

and now another speaks to you, not in a perplexing song, but openly before you 60

fata cano uates: sistis ni crastina signa,
firmabis nostro Phoebeae dicta Sibyllae
sanguine. nec Graio posthac Diomede ferentur,
sed te, si perstas, insignes consule campi.'
haec Paulus, lacrimaeque oculis ardentibus ortae. 65
Necnon et noctem sceleratus polluit error.
Xanthippo captus Libycis tolerarat in oris
seruitium Satricus, mox inter praemia regi
Autololum dono datus ob uirtutis honorem.

I sing the fates, O prophet: 'If you do not stay tomorrow’s standards,
you will confirm with our blood the sayings of the Phoebean Sibyl.
Nor hereafter will they be borne to Greek Diomedes,
but you, if you persist, will make the fields notable as consul.'
these things Paulus, and tears rising in his burning eyes. 65
And likewise a wicked error defiled the night.
Satricus, captured with Xanthippus on the Libyan shores, had endured servitude;
soon, among the prizes to the king, Autololus was given as a gift, bestowed for the honor of virtue.

huic domus et gemini fuerant Sulmone relicti 70
matris in uberibus nati, Mancinus et una
nomine Rhoeteo Solimus. nam Dardana origo
et Phrygio genus a proauo, qui sceptra secutus
Aeneae claram muris fundauerat urbem
ex sese dictam Solimon. celebrata colonis 75

to him a house and twin brothers had been left at Sulmo 70
born at their mother’s breasts, Mancinus and Solimus together
called Rhoeteus by name. For a Dardan origin
and a Phrygian stock from a great‑grandfather, who, having followed the scepters
of Aeneas, had founded a city renowned for its walls
named Solimon after himself. Celebrated by colonists 75

mox Italis paulatim attrito nomine Sulmo.
at tum barbaricis Satricus cum rege cateruis
aduectus, quo non spretum, si posceret usus,
noscere Gaetulis Latias interprete uoces,
postquam posse datum Paeligna reuisere tecta 80
et patrium sperare Larem, ad conamina noctem
aduocat ac furtim castris euadit iniquis.
sed fuga nuda uiri.

soon called Sulmo by the Italians, the name worn down by use.
But then Satricus, borne along with a barbarous king and his bands,
—a prize not to be spurned, if need required—
to learn the Latin speech by a Gaetulian interpreter,
after it had been granted that he might revisit Paelignan roofs 80
and hope for his father’s Lar, he summons the night to his attempts
and stealthily slips into the hostile camp.
But the man’s flight is naked.

sumpto nam prodere coepta
uitabat clipeo et dextra remeabat inermi.
exuuias igitur prostrataque corpora campo 85
lustrat et exutis Mancini cingitur armis.
iamque metus leuior.

for, having taken up arms, he kept from betraying the enterprises begun
he warded off with his shield and withdrew with his right hand unarmed.
therefore he surveys the spoils and the bodies prostrated on the field 85
and Mancinus is girded with the arms stripped from others.
and now the fear is lighter.

uerum, cui dempta ferebat
exangui spolia et cuius nudauerat artus,
natus erat, paulo ante Maca prostratus ab hoste.
Ecce sub aduentum noctis primumque soporem 90

but he, from whom the bloodless spolia had been taken and whose artus had been stripped, had been born a little before at Maca, laid low by the enemy.
Lo beneath the advent of night and the first sopor 90

alter natorum, Solimus, uestigia uallo
Ausonio uigil extulerat, dum sorte uicissim
alternat portae excubias, fratrisque petebat
Mancini stratum sparsa inter funera corpus,
furtiua cupiens miserum componere terra.            95
nec longum celerarat iter, cum tendere in armis
aggere Sidonio uenientem conspicit hostem,
quodque dabat fors in subitis necopina, sepulcro
Aetoli condit membra occultata Thoantis.
inde, ubi nulla sequi propius pone arma uirumque            100
incomitata uidet uestigia ferre per umbras,
prosiliens tumulo contorquet nuda parentis
in terga haud frustra iaculum, Tyriamque sequentum
Satricus esse manum et Sidonia uulnera credens,
auctorem caeci trepidus circumspicit ictus.            105

another of the sons, Solimus, had raised his vigilant footsteps on the Ausonian rampart
while by lot in turn he alternates the gate’s watches,
and sought the brother Mancinus’ prostrate body, strewn among the funerals,
secretly desiring to lay the wretched man in the earth.            95
nor had he hurried his journey far, when he beholds an enemy coming in arms
toward the Sidonian mound, and what chance grants in sudden unexpectedness, buries
the hidden limbs in the tomb of Aetolian Thoas.
thence, where he sees no man with arms to follow nor to place nearer the body            100
he sees footprints carrying the unaccompanied man through the shades,
leaping from the tomb he hurls his parent’s naked javelin into the back — not without result,
believing the hand to be Satrican and the wounds to be Sidonian of the follower,
trembling, he looks round for the author of the blind blow.            105

    Verum ubi uictorem iuuenili robore cursus
attulit et notis fulsit lux tristis ab armis
fraternusque procul luna prodente retexit
ante oculos sese et radiauit comminus umbo,
exclamat iuuenis subita flammatus ab ira:            110
'Non sim equidem Sulmone satus tua, Satrice, proles
nec frater, Mancine, tuus fatearque nepotem
Pergameo indignum Solimo, si euadere detur
huic nostras impune manus. tu nobile gestes
germani spolium ante oculos referasque superba            115
me spirante domus Paelignae perfidus arma?
haec tibi, cara parens Acca, ad solacia luctus
dona feram, nati ut figas aeterna sepulcro.'
    Talia uociferans stricto mucrone ruebat.

    But when the race brought the victor with youthful strength
and the sad light gleamed from the familiar arms,
and the brother, revealed from afar by the moon, uncovered himself
before his eyes and the shield‑boss flashed close at hand,
the youth, kindled by sudden wrath, cried aloud:            110
'Surely I am not sprung from Sulmo, Satrice, your offspring,
nor, Mancinus, your brother, nor will I call myself grandson
of Pergamenian Solimus, unworthy, if it be granted
that our hands go free and unpunished from this one. You bear
the noble spoil of your brother before your eyes and carry back proud            115
arms—while I, breathing, the treacherous house of the Paeligni’s weapons?
These things, dear parent Acca, as consolations for my grief
I will bring to you, so that you may fix my son in an eternal tomb.'
    Shouting such things, he rushed with his drawn blade.

ast illi iam tela manu iamque arma fluebant 120

but for him already missiles in hand and already arms were pouring forth 120

audita patria natisque et coniuge et armis,
ac membra et sensus gelidus stupefecerat horror.
tum uox semanimi miseranda effunditur ore:
'Parce, precor, dextrae, non ut mihi uita supersit
(quippe nefas hac uelle frui), sed sanguine nostro 125
ne damnes, o nate, manus. Carthaginis ille
captiuus, patrias nunc primum aduectus in oras,
ille ego sum Satricus, Solimi genus.

having heard of my fatherland and of my sons and my wife and of arms,
and a chill horror had stunned my limbs and senses.
then a voice of wretched spirit is poured forth from his mouth:
'Spare, I beg, your right hand, not that life may remain to me
(for truly it is wicked to wish to enjoy this), but do not condemn, with our blood, 125
your hands, O son. That captive of Carthage,
now for the first time brought to his native shores,
that man am I, Satricus, of Solimian stock.'

haud tua, nate,
fraus ulla est. iaceres in me cum feruidus hastam,
Poenus eram. uerum castris elapsus acerbis 130
ad uos et carae properabam coniugis ora:
hunc rapui exanimi clipeum.

Not yours, my son,
is any treachery. You would hurl a blazing spear at me,
I was a Punic. But, having slipped away from the bitter camps 130
I hastened to you and to the face of my dear wife:
I snatched up this shield of the lifeless.

sed iam unice nobis
haec fratris tumulis arma excusata reporta.
curarum tibi prima tamen sit, nate, referre
ductori monitus Paulo, producere bellum 135

but now, for us alone,
these arms of my brother, dug up from the tombs, were brought back.
let your first care, however, be, my son, to carry word to the commander Paul—
that war be brought forth. 135

nitatur Poenoque neget certamina Martis.
augurio exultat diuum immensamque propinqua
stragem acie sperat. quaeso, cohibete furentem
Varronem: namque hunc fama est impellere signa.

let him strive, and deny the contests of Mars to the Punic man.
he exults in augury of the gods and hopes a vast, near slaughter in the battle‑line.
I beg you, restrain raging Varronem:
for rumor is that signs impel him on.

sat magnum hoc miserae fuerit mihi cardine uitae 140
solamen cauisse meis. nunc ultima, nate,
inuento simul atque amisso redde parenti
oscula.' sic fatus galeam exuit atque rigentis
inuadit nati tremebundis colla lacertis:
attonito mentis uerbis sanare pudorem 145
uulneris impressi <et> telum excusare laborat:
'Quis testis nostris, quis conscius adfuit actis?
non nox errorem nigranti condidit umbra?

This will have been a great comfort to my wretched life, that this came to my children 140
now, my son, when found and at once lost, give back the last kisses to your parent.' Thus speaking he takes off his helmet and clasps the stiff neck
of his son with trembling arms: with his mind stunned he strives by words to salve the shame
of the inflicted wound and to excuse the weapon <et>:'Who was witness to our deeds, who conscious was present?
Did not night, a darkening shade, conceal the error?'

cur trepidas? da, nate, magis, da iungere pectus.
absoluo pater ipse manum, atque in fine laborum 150

why do you tremble? give, son, more, give to press thy breast to mine.
I, the father myself, unloose my hand, and at the end of labors 150

hac condas oculos dextra, precor.' at miser imo
pectore suspirans iuuenis non uerba uicesque
adloquio uocemue refert, sed sanguinis atri
sistere festinat cursum laceroque ligare
ocius inlacrimans altum uelamine uulnus. 155
tandem inter gemitus miserae erupere querelae:
'Sicine te nobis, genitor, Fortuna reducit
in patriam? sic te nato natumque parenti
impia restituit? felix o terque quaterque
frater, cui fatis genitorem agnoscere ademptum. 160
ast ego, Sidoniis imperditus, ecce, parentem
uulnere cognosco.

Hide your eyes with your right hand, I pray.' But the wretched youth, sighing from his inmost
breast, returns not words and replies nor speech or voice to the address, but hastens to stay
the course of the dark blood and to bind the gaping wound more quickly, weeping, the deep wound with his garment. 155
at last amid groans the miserable complaints burst forth:
'Does Fortune so bring you back to us, my father, to the fatherland? Does she thus impiously restore you
to your son and to the parent born to the child? O happy, O thrice and four-times blessed
brother, for whom by the fates a father taken away is known again. 160
but I, ruined by the Sidonians, behold, recognize my parent by the wound.'

saltem hoc, Fortuna, fuisset
solamen culpae, dubia ut mihi signa dedisses
infausti generis. uerum linquetur iniquis
non ultra superis nostros <s>celerare labores.' 165

At least this, Fortune, would have been
a solace for my guilt, that you had given me uncertain omens
of an ill-fated kind. But it will be left to the unjust
that the gods no longer <s>hasten our labors.' 165

    Haec dum amens queritur, iam deficiente cruore
in uacuas senior uitam disperserat auras.
tum iuuenis maestum attollens ad sidera uultum
'Pollutae dextrae et facti Titania testis
infandi, quae nocturno mea lumine tela            170
derigis in patrium corpus, non amplius' inquit
'his oculis et damnato uiolabere uisu.'
haec memorat, simul ense fodit praecordia et atrum
sustentans uulnus mananti sanguine signat
in clipeo mandata patris: fvge proelia varro,            175
ac summi tegimen suspendit cuspide teli
defletumque super prosternit membra parentem.
    Talia uenturae mittebant omina pugnae
Ausoniis superi, sensimque abeuntibus umbris
conscia nox sceleris roseo cedebat Eoo.            180

    While, mad, he bewailed these things, now, the blood failing, the old man had poured out his life into empty airs.
then the youth, raising his sorrowful face to the stars,
'Polluted right hand and Titanian witness of the unspeakable deed,' he said,
'you who by my nocturnal light direct my weapons            170
against my father’s body, no longer,' he said, 'with these eyes and with a doomed gaze will you profane me.'
he says this, at once he plunges the sword into his breast and, sustaining the black
wound flowing with blood, he records on his shield his father’s commands: FUGE PROELIA VARRO,            175
and he hangs the helmet of the high spear on its point
and lays the lamented limbs of his father prostrate upon it.
    Such omens were sending forth the futures of the battle to the Ausonians above, and with the shades departing slowly
the night, conscious of the crime, yielded to rosy Dawn.            180

ductor in arma suos Libys et Romanus in arma
excibant de more suos, Poenisque redibat
qualis nulla dies omni surrexerit aeuo.
'Non uerborum' inquit 'stimulantum' Poenus 'egetis,
Herculeis iter a metis ad Iapygis agros 185
uincendo emensi. nusquam est animosa Saguntos,
concessere Alpes, pater ipse superbus aquarum
Ausoni<d>um Eridanus captiuo defluit alueo.

A Libyan leader and a Roman leader were calling their men to arms
each in the accustomed way, and the Carthaginian replied
as if no day would ever rise through all the ages. 'You lack,' he said, 'not words of goading,
the Hercules-like road I measured by conquering from the goals to the Iapygian fields 185
nowhere is spirited Saguntum, the Alps yielded, the very proud father of waters,
the Ausonian Eridanus flows in a captive channel.'

strage uirum mersus Trebia est, atque ora sepulcro
Lydia Flaminio premitur, lateque refulgent 190
ossibus ac nullo sulcantur uomere campi.
clarior his titulus plusque adlatura cruoris
lux oritur. mihi magna satis, sat uero superque
bellandi merces sit gloria: cetera uobis
uincantur.

with the slaughter of men Trebia is submerged, and the shores are pressed by the sepulchre of Lydian Flaminio, and far they gleam with bones, and the fields are furrowed by no plough. 190
brighter than these an inscription and the blood to be added more rises as a light. For me let a great reward be enough, yea truly ample and overfull—let glory be the wage of fighting: the rest be conquered for you.

quicquid diti deuexit Hibero, 195

whatever riches the wealthy Hiberus has borne down, 195

quicquid in Aetnaeis iactauit Roma triumphis,
quin etiam Libyco si quid de litore raptum
condidit, in uestros ueniet sine sortibus enses.
ferte domos quod dextra dabit. nil ductor honoris
ex opibus posco.

whatever Rome has vaunted in Aetnean triumphs,
nay even if anything snatched from the Libyan shore
she has laid up, swords will come into your hands without lots.
Carry home what your right hand shall give. I, leader of honor,
ask nothing from riches.

raptor per saecula longa 200
Dardanus edomitum uobis spoliauerit orbem.
qui Tyria ducis Sarranum ab origine nomen,
seu Laurens tibi, Sigeo sulcata colono,
adridet tellus, seu sunt Byzacia cordi
rura magis centum Cereri fruticantia culmis, 205
electos optare dabo inter praemia campos.
addam etiam, flaua Thybris quas inrigat unda,
captiuis late gregibus depascere ripas.

a plunderer through long ages 200
Dardanus will have despoiled for you the subdued orb.
who from a Tyrian leader takes the Sarranean name by origin,
whether the Laurentine land, ploughed for the Sigean colonist,
smiles upon you, or whether Byzacian fields are more dear to your heart
and a hundred blades of grain rustle for Ceres’s harvest, 205
I will give chosen plains among the rewards to be desired.
I will add also the yellow banks that the Tiber’s wave waters,
to feed their shores with broad flocks of captives.

qui uero externo socius mihi sanguine Byrsae
signa moues, dextram Ausonia si caede cruentam 210

who indeed, an external ally to me, with the blood of Byrsa you set the standards in motion, the right hand bloodied by Ausonian slaughter 210

attolles, hinc iam ciuis Carthaginis esto.
neu uos Garganus Daunique fefellerit ora,
ad muros statis Romae. licet auia longe
urbs agat et nostro procul a certamine distet,
hic hodie ruet, atque ultra te ad proelia miles 215
nulla uoco: ex acie tende in Capitolia cursum.'
Haec memorat.

you shall be raised up; henceforth be a citizen of Carthage.
nor let the coasts of Garganus and Daunus deceive you, standing at the walls of Rome.
although the city wanders far by pathless ways and stands far removed from our contest,
here today it will fall, and I call no soldier beyond you to the battles 215
from the line press on your course to the Capitol.'
Thus he relates.

tum propulso munimine ualli
fossarum rapuere moras, aciemque locorum
consilio curuis accommodat ordine ripis.
barbaricus laeuo stetit ad certamina cornu 220
bellator Nasamon unaque immanior artus
Marmarides, tum Maurus atrox Garamasque Macesque
et Massylae acies et ferro uiuere laetum
uulgus Adyrmachidae pariter, gens accola Nili,
corpora ab immodico seruans nigrantia Phoebo. 225

then with the rampart’s bulwark pushed aside
they seized the trench-works’ obstacles, and fitted the battle-line of the ground
by design to the curving order of the banks.
the barbarian stood on the left horn for the fight 220
a Nasamone warrior and alongside him the more savage Marmarides’ bands,
then a fierce Maurus and the Garamans and Maces,
and the Massylae’s host and a rabid throng glad to live by the sword,
the people Adyrmachidae likewise, a race dwelling by the Nile,
their bodies blackened from excess of Phoebus’ heat. 225

quis positum agminibus caput imperiumque Nealces.
at parte in dextra, sinuat qua flexibus undam
Aufidus et curuo circum errat gurgite ripas,
Mago regit. subiere leues, quos horrida misit
Pyrene, populi et uario cinxere tumultu 230
flumineum latus: effulget caetrata iuuentus,
Cantaber ante alios nec tectus tempora Vasco
ac torto miscens Baliaris proelia plumbo
Baetigenaeque uiri.

who set Nealces as head of the ranks and as commander.
but on the right wing, where the Aufidus winds its wave in bends
and wanders about the banks with a curved whirlpool, Mago rules.
light troops came forward, whom fierce Pyrene sent forth,
and peoples girded the riverine flank with a varied tumult 230
shielded youth glitter: the Cantabrians before all, nor did the Basque hide his temples,
and the Balearic men, mingling battles with whirled lead, and Baetican warriors.

celsus media ipse coercet
agmina, quae patrio firmauit milite quaeque 235
Celtarum Eridano perfusis saepe cateruis.
sed qua se fluuius retro labentibus undis
eripit et nullo cuneos munimine uallat,
turritas moles ac propugnacula dorso
belua nigranti gestans, ceu mobilis agger, 240

lofty he himself restrains the host in the middle
which he steadied with native soldiery and which often, with throngs of Celts drenched in the Eridanus, 235
but where the river tears itself back with sliding waves
and keeps no wedges enclosed by bulwark,
bearing on its back a turreted mass and bulwarks
a blackening beast, as a movable rampart, 240

nutat et erectos attollit ad aethera muros.
cetera iam Numidis circumuolitare uagosque
ferre datur cursus et toto feruere campo.
    Dum Libys incenso dispensat milite uires
hortandoque iterum atque iterum insatiabilis urget            245
factis quemque suis et se cognoscere iactat
qua dextra ueniant stridentis sibila teli,
promittitque uiris nulli se defore testem,
iam Varro exacta uallo legione mouebat
cladum principia, ac pallenti laetus in unda            250
laxabat sedem uenturis portitor umbris.

it wavers and lifts the upraised walls to the heavens.
the rest now is allowed to whirl about the Numidians and to bear their wandering course and to seethe throughout the entire field.
While the Libyan, his soldiery inflamed, dispenses his forces
and, urging again and again, insatiable, presses on 245
boasts each man made by his deeds and that he himself is known
by what right hand the hissing of the whistling missile comes,
and promises to none of the men that he will be absent as witness;
already Varro, the rampart finished, with his legion was moving250

stant primi, quos sanguineae pendente uetabant
ire notae clipeo, defixique omine torpent.
iuxta terribilis facies: miseranda iacebant
corpora in amplexu, natusque in pectore patris 255

stant primi, quos sanguineae pendente notae clipeo uetabant
ire, defixique omine torpent.
iuxta terribilis facies: miseranda iacebant
corpora in amplexu, natusque in pectore patris 255

imposita uulnus dextra letale tegebat.
effusae lacrimae, Mancinique inde reuersus
fraterna sub morte dolor, tum triste mouebat
augurium et similes defuncto in corpore uultus.
ocius erroris culpam deflendaque facta 260
ductori pandunt atque arma uetantia pugnam.

with his right hand laid upon the wound he covered the deadly hurt.
tears poured forth, and Mancinus returning thence,
brotherly grief beneath death then stirred a sad augury and countenances like those dead in the body 260
more quickly reveal the guilt of the error and the deeds to be bewailed to the leader, and the arms that forbid battle.

ille ardens animi 'Ferte haec' ait 'omnia Paulo.
namque illum, cui femineo stant corde timores,
mouerit ista manus, quae caede imbuta nefanda,
cum Furiae expeterent poenas, fortasse paterno            265
signauit moriens sceleratum sanguine carmen.'
    Tum minitans propere discribit munera pugnae,
quaque feras saeuus gentes aciemque Nealces
temperat, hac sese Marso cum milite cumque
Samnitum opponit signis et Iapyge alumno.            270

he, ardent of spirit, says, "Bear all these things to Paulo."
for that man, in whom feminine fears stand in his heart,
that hand, bedewed with impious slaughter, moved him,
when the Furies demanded penalties; perchance, dying, he with paternal blood            265
sealed a wicked song.'
    Then, threatening, he promptly sets forth the charges of battle,
and where Nealces, savage, marshals fierce peoples and the line,
by this array he places himself with Mars and with soldier and
with Samnite standards and the Iapygian foster-son.            270

at campi medio (namque hac in parte uidebat
stare ducem Libyae) Seruilius obuia adire
arma et Picentis Vmbrosque inferre iubetur.
cetera Paulus habet dextro certamina cornu.
his super insidias contra Nomadumque uolucrem 275
Scipiadae datur ire manum, quaeque arte dolisque
scindent se turmae, praedicit spargere bellum.

but in the midst of the plain (for in this quarter he saw the leader of Libya standing)
Servilius is ordered to advance to meet him and to bring arms against the Picentes and Umbrians.
Paulus holds the remaining contests on the right wing.
above these, against ambushes and the flying host of the Nomads 275
the Scipiad is given the task to go, and by art and by guile
he foretells that the squadrons will rend themselves and scatter the war.

    Iamque propinquabant acies, agilique uirorum
discursu mixtoque simul calefacta per ora
cornipedum hinnitu et multum strepitantibus armis            280
errabat caecum turbata per agmina murmur.
sic, ubi prima mouent pelago certamina uenti,
inclusam rabiem ac sparsuras astra procellas
parturit unda freti fundoque emota minacis
expirat per saxa sonos atque acta cauernis            285

    And now the battle-lines drew near, and by the nimble running of men
and by their mingled breath, heated together over their mouths
with the neighing of horn‑hoofed beasts and the much-clashing of arms            280
a blind, troubled murmur wandered through the ranks. Thus, where first the winds set stirring contests on the sea,
the wave, trusting in the deep, begets enclosed madness and scatters stormy gusts to the stars;
the surge, moved from its bed and threatening from the deep, breathes forth sounds through the rocks and, driven, into the caverns            285

torquet anhelantem spumanti uertice pontum.
Nec uero fati tam saeuo in turbine solum
terrarum fuit ille labor. discordia demens
intrauit caelo superosque ad bella coegit.

it whirls the panting sea with a foaming crest.
Nor indeed was that toil of fate confined to land alone in so savage a whirlwind,
mad Discord entered the sky and forced the superiors to war.

hinc Mauors, hinc Gradiuum comitatus Apollo            290
et domitor tumidi pugnat maris, hinc Venus amens,
hinc Vesta et captae stimulatus caede Sagunti
Amphitryoniades, pariter ueneranda Cybebe
Indigetesque dei Faunusque satorque Quirinus
alternusque animae mutato Castore Pollux.            295
contra cincta latus ferro Saturnia Iuno
et Pallas, Libycis Tritonidos edita lymphis,
ac patrius flexis per tempora cornibus Hammon,
multaque praeterea diuorum turba minorum.
quorum ubi mole simul uenientum et gressibus alma            300

here Mars, there Gradivus Apollo attended            290
and the tamer of the heaving sea contended, there frantic Venus,
there Vesta and the Amphitryonid, urged on by the slaughter of captured Saguntum,
the equally venerable Cybele, the native gods, Faunus and the founder Quirinus,
and alternately the twin souls, Castor and Pollux, changed in turn.            295
against them Juno, girded with steel, on one side
and Pallas, sprung from Libyan Tritonian waters,
and paternal Ammon, with horns curved about his temples,
and many moreover of the lesser host of gods. When, together, at the coming of these in mass and with beneficent            300

intremuit tellus, pars impleuere propinquos
diuisi montes, pars sedem nube sub alta
ceperunt: uacuo descensum ad proelia caelo.
    Tollitur immensus deserta ad sidera clamor,
Phlegraeis quantas effudit ad aethera uoces            305
terrigena in campis exercitus, aut sator aeui
quanta Cyclopas noua fulmina uoce poposcit
Iuppiter, extructis uidit cum montibus ire
magnanimos raptum caelestia regna Gigantas.
nec uero prima in tantis concursibus hasta            310
ulla fuit: stridens nimbus certante furore
telorum simul effusus, cupidaeque cruoris
hinc atque hinc animae gemina cecidere procella.

The earth trembled; some filled the neighboring divided
mountains, some took a seat beneath a lofty cloud:
to the empty sky a descent to battles.     An immense cry is lifted from the deserted places up to the stars,
what voices the earthborn host poured to the aether from the Phlegraean fields            305
or what the sator of the age demanded with a voice for new Cyclopean thunderbolts
Jupiter, when he saw the Giants, snatched up with mountains, go
to the heavenly kingdoms. Nor indeed was any spear first in such encounters:            310
a whistling storm, contending in fury,
was poured forth together with weapons, and the twin blast of souls,
eager for blood, fell here and there.

ac <p>rius insanus dextra qua<m> ducitur ensis
bellantum pars magna iacet. super ipsa suorum 315

and the sword, frenzied, which is borne in the right hand, lays low a great part of the combatants. above the very bodies of his own 315

corpora consistunt auidi calcantque gementis.
nec magis aut Libyco protrudi Dardana nisu
auertiue potest pubes, aut ordine pelli
fixa suo Sarrana manus, quam uellere sede
si coeptet Calpen impacto gurgite pontus. 320
amisere ictus spatium, nec morte peracta
artatis cecidisse licet. galea horrida flictu
aduersae ardescit galeae, clipeusque fatiscit
impulsu clipei, atque ensis contunditur ense.

bodies hold firm and the eager press trample the groaning.
nor more can the Dardan youth be thrust forth by Libyan effort,
or be turned aside, or the Sarran hand be driven from its fixed rank,
than if the Calpean sea, with a wave struck, should begin to wrench them from their seat. 320
they lost the room for blows, nor, death accomplished, is it permitted
that they fall with limbs unloosed. the helmet, grim from the blow
of the opposing helmet, glows, and the shield cracks
at the impact of a shield, and the sword is battered by a sword.

pes pede, uirque uiro teritur, tellusque uideri 325
sanguine operta nequit, caelumque et sidera pendens
abstulit ingestis nox densa sub aethere telis.
quis astare loco dederat Fortuna secundo,
contorum longo et procerae cuspidis ictu,
ceu primas agitent acies, certamina miscent. 330

foot grates on foot and man on man, and the earth can scarcely be seen, covered with blood, and dense night, hanging beneath the sky, has stolen away the heaven and the stars with missiles hurled into the air.
who had placed Fortuna to stand in a favorable place? by the long stroke of spears and the thrust of the lofty point, as if the foremost ranks were driving on, they mingle their contests. 330

at, quos deinde tenet retrorsum inglorius ordo,
missilibus certant pugnas aequare priorum.
ultra clamor agit bellum, milesque cupiti
Martis inops saeuis impellit uocibus hostem.
non ullum defit teli genus.

but those whom thereafter an inglorious rank holds back,
strive with missiles to equal the battles of their predecessors.
beyond that clamour drives the war, and the soldier, deprived of eager
Mars, urges the enemy with savage cries.
no sort of missile-weapon is lacking.

<h>i sude pugnas, 335
hi pinu flagrante cient, hi pondere pili,
at saxis fundaque alius iaculoque uolucri.
interdum stridens per nubila fertur harundo,
interdumque ipsis metuenda phalarica muris.
Speramusne, deae, quarum mihi sacra coluntur, 340
mortali totum hunc aperire in saecula uoce
posse diem?

<h> here some make combats with blazing pine, 335
some with the weight of a pile, others with stones and from the ground and with a winged javelin.
sometimes a shrieking reed is borne through the clouds,
and sometimes a phalarica, terrible even to the walls, is hurled.
Shall we hope, O goddesses, whose rites are worshipped by me, 340
that with a mortal voice he can open this whole day into the ages?

tantumne datis confidere linguae,
ut Cannas uno ore sonem? si gloria uobis
nostra placet neque uos magnis auertitis ausis,
huc omnis cantus Phoebumque uocate parentem. 345

do you grant tongues so little to trust,
that they should sound Cannae with one mouth? if our glory
pleases you and you are not turned away by great daring,
summon all song hither and Phoebus the parent. 345

uerum utinam posthac animo, Romane, secunda,
quanto nunc aduersa, feras, si<n>tque hactenus, oro,
nec libeat temptare deis an Troia proles
par bellum tolerare queat. tuque anxia fati
pone, precor, lacrimas et adora uulnera laudes 350
perpetuas paritura tibi. nam tempore, Roma,
nullo maior eris.

But would that henceforth in spirit, Roman, you might be prosperous,
by as much as now you bear adverse things, if they are such as hitherto, I beg,
and may it not be pleasing to assay the gods whether Trojan progeny
can endure a like war. And you, anxious of fate,
set down, I pray, tears and worship your wounds with praises 350
that will make them perpetual for you. For in time, Rome,
you will be greater than all.

mox sic labere secundis
ut sola cladum tuearis nomina fama.
    Iamque inter uarias Fortuna utrimque uirorum
alternata uices incerto eluserat iras            355
euentu, mediaque diu pendente per ambas
spe gentis, paribus Mauors flagrabat in armis:
mitia ceu uiridis agitant cum flamina culmos,
necdum maturas impellit uentus aristas,
huc atque huc it summa seges nutansque uicissim            360

so now glide with prosperous things,
that only fame may guard the names of your defeats.
    And now amid the various turns of men on either side,
Fortune, alternating her vicissitudes, had baffled wrath with uncertain outcome            355
and with the hope of the people long hanging between both,
Mars burned in equal arms: like gentle gusts rouse the green stalks with a flame,
and as yet the wind does not drive on the ripe ears,
here and there the topmost crop goes, and the bending corn in turn            360

alterno lente motu incuruata nitescit.
tandem barbaricis perfractam uiribus acri
dissipat incurrens aciem clamore Nealces.
laxati cunei, perque interualla citatus
inrupit trepidis hostis.

with a slow alternating motion the curved blade gleams.
at last Nealces, charging, scatters the battle-line, broken by fierce barbarian strengths, with a shout.
the wedges loosened, and urged through the intervals,
the enemy bursts in among the trembling ranks.

tum turbine nigro 365
sanguinis exundat torrens, nullumque sub una
cuspide procumbit corpus. dum uulnera tergo
bellator timet Ausonius, per pectora saeuas
exceptat mortes et leto dedecus arcet.
Stabat cum primis mediae certamine pugnae 370
aspera semper amans et par cuicumque periclo
Scaeuola, nec tanta uitam iam strage uolebat,
sed dignum proauo letum et sub nomine mortem.

then in a black whirlwind 365
a torrent gushes forth of blood, and no body falls beneath a single
spear. While the Ausonian warrior fears wounds in the back,
he takes upon his breast the savage deaths and wards disgrace from death.
Standing with the foremost in the midst of the struggle of battle 370
Scaevola, always stern and a match for any peril,
nor did he now desire life amidst so great a slaughter,
but a death worthy of his forefather and a death under a name.

is postquam frangi res atque augescere uidit
exitium, 'Breuis hoc uitae, quodcumque relictum, 375

when he, after seeing affairs break apart and ruin grow,
cried, "Short is this life, whatever of it remains, 375

extendamus;' ait 'nam uirtus futtile nomen,
ni decori sat sint pariendo tempora leti.'
dixit et in medios, qua dext<e>ra concita Poeni
limitem agit, uasto conixus turbine fertur.
hic exultantem Caralim atque erepta uolentem 380
induere excelso caesi gestamina trunco
ense subit, capuloque tenus ferrum impulit ira.
uoluitur ille ruens atque arua hostilia morsu
adpetit et mortis premit in tellure dolores.

'let us prolong;' he said, 'for virtue is a futile name,
unless the seasons of death be sufficient to endow it with honor.'
he spoke, and into the midst, where with his roused right hand the Poeni
drive the line, having hurled himself he is borne on a vast whirl.
hic exultantem Caralim atque erepta uolentem 380
to don the spoils snatched from the lofty trunk of the slain he falls with his sword,
and in ire he thrusts the iron as far as the hilt.
that man, rushing, is hurled and with a bite assails the hostile fields
and presses the pangs of death into the earth.

nec Gabari<s> Sicchaeque uirum tenuere furentes 385
concordi uirtute manus; sed perdidit acer,
dum stat, decisam Gabar inter proelia dextram;
at Siccha auxilium, magno turbante dolore,
dum temere accelerat, calcato improuidus ense
succidit ac nudae sero uestigia plantae 390
damnauit dextraque iacet morientis amici.
tandem conuertit fatalia tela Nealcae
fulminei gliscens iuuenis furor. exilit ardens
nomine tam claro stimulante ad praemia caedis.

Nor did the furious hands of Gabaris and Siccha hold the man with concordant virtue; 385
but keen Gabar destroyed him, while he stood, his right hand cut off amid the battles;
and Siccha, disturbing aid with great grief,
while rashly he hastens, unwary, having trodden on the sword,
falls and belatedly condemns the tracks of the naked sole 390
and lies by the right hand of his dying friend. At last the swelling fury of Nealca,
the thunder-born youth, turned the fatal weapons. Burning,
he leaps forth, the so-famous name urging him to the spoils of slaughter.

tum silicem scopulo auulsum, quem montibus altis 395

then the flint torn away from the cliff, which from the high mountains 395

detulerat torrens, raptum contorquet in ora
turbidus. incusso crepuerunt pondere malae,
ablatusque uiro uultus: concreta cruento
per nares cerebro sanies fluit, atraque manant
orbibus elisis et trunca lumina fronte. 400
sternitur unanimo Marius succurrere Capro
conatus metuensque uiro superesse cadenti.
lucis idem auspicium ac patrium et commune duobus
paupertas: sacro iuuenes Praeneste creati
miscuerant studia et iuncta tellure serebant. 405
uelle ac nolle ambobus idem sociataque toto
mens aeuo ac paruis diues concordia rebus.

the torrent had borne him off, and raging casts the seized man upon the shore
turbid. with the struck weight the cheeks cracked,
and the face was torn from the man: clotted with blood
through the nostrils from the brain gore flows, and dark they gush
from the bruised sockets and the lights cut off in the forehead. 400
Marius is laid low; with one mind he, having tried to aid Capro,
and fearing to outlive the falling man, is overthrown.
the same auspice of light and the ancestral and common
poverty was the same for the two: as youths born at sacred Praeneste
they had mingled pursuits and were sowing joined on the same soil. 405
the same to will and not to will for both, and a mind allied through the whole
age, and rich in little things by concord in their affairs.

occubuere simul, uotisque ex omnibus unum
id Fortuna dedit, iunctam inter proelia mortem.
arma fuere decus uictori bina Symaetho. 410

They fell together, and of all their vows Fortune granted one thing:
death joined between the battles. Arms were a twofold honour to the victor Symaethus. 410

    Sed longum tanto laetari munere casus
haud licitum Poenis. aderat terrore minaci
Scipio conuersae miseratus terga cohortis
et cuncti fons Varro mali flauusque comarum
Curio et a primo descendens consule Brutus.            415
atque his fulta uiris acies repararet ademptum
mole noua campum, subito ni turbine Poenus
agmina frenasset iam procurrentia ductor.
isque ut Varronem procul inter proelia uidit
et iuxta sagulo circumuolitare rubenti            420
lictorem, 'Nosco pompam atque insignia nosco.

    But to rejoice long in so great a gift was not lawful for the Poeni. Present with threatening dread was Scipio, pitying the turned backs of the cohort,
and all: Varro, source of the calamity, and Curio with his golden hair, and Brutus sprung from the first consul.            415
and with these men supporting him he would have restored the line and recovered the field by a new weight of men, had not the Carthaginian checked with a sudden whirlwind the columns already pressing forward.
And when he saw Varro from afar amid the battles
and the lictor beside him, his cloak fluttering and reddening,            420
'I recognise the pomp and I recognise the insignia.'

Flaminius modo talis' ait. tum feruidus acrem
ingentis clipei tonitru praenuntiat iram.
heu miser!

Flaminius just now said such things. Then, ardent, he foretells keen anger by the thunder of his huge shield.
ah, wretched man!

aequari potuisti funere Paulo,
si tibi non ira superum tunc esset ademptum 425

you could have been equalled by Paul’s funeral,
if then the ire of the supernae had not been removed from you 425

Hannibalis cecidisse manu. quam saepe querere,
Varro, deis, quod Sidonium defugeris ensem!
nam, rapido subitam portans in morte salutem
procursu ~incepta in sese discrimina uertit
Scipio.

That Hannibal had fallen by your hand. How often, Varro, to the gods, do men lament that you fled the Sidonian sword!
for, bearing sudden salvation in speedy death,
a forward onset Scipio turned the perils begun upon himself.

nec Poenum, quamquam est ereptus opimae            430
caedis honor, mutasse piget maiore sub hoste
proelia et erepti Ticina ad flumina patris
exigere oblato tandem certamine poenas.
stabant educti diuersis orbis in oris,
quantos non alias uidit concurrere tellus,            435
Marte uiri dextraque pares, sed cetera ductor
anteibat Latius, melior pietate fideque.
    Desiluere caua turbati ad proelia nube,
Mauors Scipiadae metuens, Tritonia Poeno,
aduentuque deum intrepidis ductoribus ambae            440

nor does it grieve that the Poen, although he was bereft of the honor of rich slaughter            430
should have changed his battles beneath a greater foe, and at last, by the contest offered, exact from the Ticinus—snatched away—to the rivers of his father the penalties.
they stood drawn up upon the shores of diverse circles,
as many as the earth has not elsewhere seen to run together,            435
men equal in war and in right hand; but as for the rest, the Latius leader went before, better in pietas and in faith.     From the hollow cloud they sprang down, disturbed to the battles,
Mars fearing for Scipio’s house, Tritonian Minerva for the Poen,
and at the coming of the gods both became leaders to the intrepid commanders            440

contremuere acies. ater, qua pectora flectit
Pallas, Gorgoneo late micat ignis ab ore
sibilaque horrificis torquet serpentibus aegis.
fulgent sanguinei, geminum uibrare cometem
ut credas, oculi, summaque in casside largus 445
undantis uoluit flammas ad sidera uertex.

the battle-lines shuddered. dark, by which Pallas bends the breasts,
from the Gorgonean mouth a fire flashes far and the Aegis twists with hissing
serpents of horror. blood-red eyes gleam, as if, O eyes, to make the twin comet's
tail tremble, and lavish at the summit of the helmet he rolled a whirl of undulating 445
flames up toward the stars.

at Mauors, moto proturbans aera telo
et clipeo campum inuoluens, Aetnaea Cyclopum
munere fundentem loricam incendia gestat
ac pulsat fulua consurgens aethera crista.            450
    Ductores pugnae intenti, quantumque uicissim
audere<nt>, propius mensi, tamen arma ferentis
sensere aduenisse deos et laetus uterque
spectari superis addebant mentibus iras.
iamque ictu ualido libratam a pectore Poeni             455
Pallas in oblicum dextra detorserat hastam,
et Gradiuus, opem diuae portare ferocis
exemplo doctus, porgebat protinus ensem
Aetnaeum in pugnas iuueni ac maiora iubebat.
tum Virgo ignescens penitus uiolenta repente            460

but Mars, with bronze shaken hurling his weapon
and, with shield, enveloping the plain, bears the fires
of the Aetnean Cyclopes forging a cuirass,
and strikes, the tawny crest rising presses the sky upward.            450
    The leaders of battle, intent, and as much as in turn
they dared, having measured nearer, yet felt that gods
had come bearing arms, and each, rejoicing, added to his mind
that the wrath of those above was being witnessed. And now with a mighty blow             455
Pallas had from the Carthaginian’s breast poised a spear and with her right
had turned it aside obliquely, and Gradivus, taught by the example
to bring aid to the fierce goddess, was straightaway presenting
an Aetnean sword into the battle to the youth and bidding greater deeds. Then the blazing Virgin, deep within suddenly violent            460

suffudit flammis ora atque obliqua retorquens
lumina turbato superauit Gorgona uultu.
erexere omnes immania membra chelydri
aegide commota, primique furoris ad ictus
rettulit ipse pedem sensim a certamine Mauors.            465
hic dea conuulsam rapido conamine partem
uicini montis scopulisque horrentia saxa
in Martem furibunda iacit, longeque relatos
expauit sonitus tremefacto litore Sason.
    At non haec superum fallebant proelia regem.            470
demittit propere succinctam nubibus Irim
quae nimios frenet motus, ac talia fatur:
'I, dea, et Oenotris uelox adlabere terris
germanoque truces, dic, Pallas mitiget iras
nec speret fixas Parcarum uertere leges.            475

suffused her face with flames and, twisting her eyes askew,
with a Gorgon visage overawed those in turmoil.
All the vast limbs of the chelydri stood erect, moved by the aegis,
and first, to blows of fury, Mauors himself drew back his foot slowly from the strife.            465
Here the goddess, in a frenzy, hurls a convulsed portion
of the neighboring mountain and the craggy, bristling rocks
at Mars, and far off the sounds borne away
struck fear into Sason on the trembling shore.
    But these combats of the gods did not deceive the king.            470
She quickly sends down Iris, girt with clouds,
who reins excessive motions, and thus she speaks:
'Go, goddess, and swiftly glide to the Oenotrian lands
and to my brother—check his savage wrath, say, let Pallas soften his anger
and not hope to overturn the fixed decrees of the Parcae.'            475

dic etiam: "Ni desistis (nam uirus et aestus
flammiferae noui mentis) nec colligis iram,
aegide praecellant quantum horrida fulmina nosces."'
    Quae postquam accepit dubitans Tritonia uirgo
nec sat certa diu, patriis an cederet armis,            480
'Absistemus' ait 'campo. sed Pallade pulsa
num fata auertet? caeloque arcebit ab alto
cernere Gargani feruentia caedibus arua?'
haec effata caua Poenum in certamina nube
sublatum diuersa tulit terrasque reliquit.            485
    At Gradiuus atrox remeantis in aethera diuae
abscessu reuocat mentes fusosque per aequor
ipse manu magna nebulam circumdatus acri
restituit pugnae.

say also: "If you do not desist (for the vigour and heat
of a newly fire-bearing mind) nor gather your wrath,
those who boast the aegis would prevail—how many dreadful bolts you would know."'
    Which, after the Tritonian virgin had received, doubting
and not long sure, whether she should yield to her paternal arms,            480
'Let us desist,' she said, 'from the field. But, Pallas driven back,
will fate be turned aside? and from the high sky will she bar
our sight of Garganus' fields boiling with slaughter?'
these words spoken she bore the Punic man lifted in a hollow cloud
to diverse combats and left the lands behind.            485
    But Gradius, fierce, at the goddess' returning to the aether
by her departure recalls minds scattered over the plain
and himself, girded about by a keen cloud with a mighty hand,
restored the battle.

conuertunt signa nouamque
instaurant Itali uersa formidine caedem. 490

they turn their standards and renew a new slaughter, Italy itself turned by fear. 490

cum uentis positus custos, cui flamina carcer
imperio compressa tenet caelumque ruentes
Eurique et Boreae parent Corique Notique,
Iunonis precibus promissa haud parua ferentis
regnantem Ae<t>olis Vulturnum in proelia campis 495
effrenat. placet hic irae exitiabilis ultor.
qui, se postquam Aetnae mersit candente barathro
concepitque ignes et flammea protulit ora,
euolat horrendo stridore ac Daunia regna
perflat agens caecam glomerato puluere nubem. 500
eripuere oculos aurae uocemque manusque.

placed as guardian of the winds, to whom a prison, the blasts compressed by command, holds and the collapsing heavens obey, and Eurus and Boreas and Corus and Notus, promised by Juno’s prayers to bring not small things, unbridles the ruling Volturnus into battles on the Aeolian plains 495
he rages. this deadly avenger of wrath is pleasing. who, after he plunged himself into Aetna’s glowing abyss and conceived fires and thrust forth flaming mouths,
flies forth with a horrifying whistling and breathes over the Daunian realms,500
the gusts snatched away eyes and voice and hands.

uertice harenoso candentis, flebile dictu,
torquet in ora globos Italum et bellare maniplis
iussa laetatur rabie. tum mole ruinae
sternuntur tellure <et> miles et arma tubaeque, 505

from the sandy summit of the shining peak, lamentable to relate,
he hurls into the faces of the Italians balls, and, commanded to fight, delights in the madness to wage war with maniples.
then by the mass of ruin are laid low on the ground <et> soldier and arms and trumpets, 505

atque omnis retro flatu occursante refertur
lancea et in tergum Rutulis cadit inritus ictus.
atque idem flatus Poenorum tela secundant,
et uelut ammento contorta hastilia turbo
adiuuat ac Tyrias impellit stridulus hastas. 510
tum denso fauces praeclusus puluere miles
ignauam mortem compresso maeret hiatu.
ipse caput flauum caligine conditus atra
Vulturnus multaque comam perfusus harena
nunc uersos agit a tergo stridentibus alis, 515
nunc mediam in frontem ueniens clamante procella
obuius arma quatit patuloque insibilat ore.

and every spear is borne back by a countering blast
and a vain stroke falls upon the Rutulians’ rear.
and the same blast aids the weapons of the Poeni,
and like a whirlwind twisted with a reed‑mass it helps the spear‑shafts
and the whistling wind drives on the Tyrian spears. 510
then the soldier, his throat shut up by dense dust,
mourns a slavish death with his breath compressed.
Vulturnus himself, his yellow head buried in black gloom
and his hair soaked through with much sand,
now drives those turned from behind with his shrieking wings, 515
now, coming to the midst of the front with the storm shouting,
meets the arms and shakes them and hisses from his broad mouth.

interdum intentos pugnae et iam iamque ferentis
hostili iugulo ferrum conamine et ictu
auertit dextramque ipso de uulnere uellit. 520

at times he turns aside the fighters intent on battle and the iron even now about to strike the hostile throat, by exertion and by a blow,
and snatches the right hand itself from the wound. 520

nec satis Ausonias passim foedare cohortes:
in Martem uomit immixtas mugitibus auras
bisque dei summas uibrauit turbine cristas.
Quae dum Romuleis exercet proelia turmis
Aeolius furor et Martem succendit in iras, 525
adfatur Virgo, socia Iunone, parentem:
'Quantos Gradiuus fluctus in Punica castra,
respice, agit quantisque furens se caedibus implet!
nunc, quaeso, terris descendere non placet Irim?

nor is it enough to defile Ausonian cohorts everywhere:
into Mars he vomits airs mingled with lowings
and twice with a whirlwind shook the god’s highest crests.
While Aeolian fury wages battles against the Romulean squadrons
and kindles Mars into wrath, 525
the Virgin, allied with Juno, addresses the parent:
'See, Gradivus, how many waves he drives upon the Punic camp,
look, and with what slaughter, raging, he fills himself!
now, I beg, does it not please that Iris descend to the lands?'

quamquam ego non Teucros (nostro cum pignore regnet 530
Roma, et Palladio sedes hac urbe locarim)
non Teucros delere aderam, sed lumen alumnae
Hannibalem Libyae pelli florentibus annis
uita atque extingui primordia tanta negabam.'
Excipit hic Iuno longique laboris ab ira 535

although I was not going to annihilate the Teucri (may Rome, under our pledge, rule, and may I have placed the seat of Pallas in this city)
I was not present to destroy the Teucri, but I denied that the light of the foster-child Hannibal of Libya, in his flourishing years,
should be driven away and that so great beginnings should be extinguished in life.'
Here Juno takes up the speech, from the anger of long travail 535

'Immo,' ait 'ut noscant gentes, immania quantum
regna Iouis ualeant cunctisque potentia quantum
antistet, coniunx, superis tua, disice telo
flagranti (nil oramus) Carthaginis arces
Sidoniamque aciem uasto telluris hiatu            540
Tartareis immerge uadis aut obrue ponto.'
    Contra quae miti respondet Iuppiter ore:
'Certatis fatis et spes extenditis aegras.
ille, o nata, libens cui tela inimica ferebas,
contundet Tyrios iuuenis ac nomina gentis            545
induet et Libycam feret in Capitolia laurum.
at, cui tu, coniunx, cui das animosque decusque,
(fata cano) auertet populis Laurentibus arma.

'Nay,' he said, 'so that the nations may know how immense the realms of Jove are and how great the potency of all the gods is, put aside, O spouse, your blazing weapon from the gods above (we ask nothing): dash down the towers of Carthage and the Sidonian ranks into the vast chasm of the earth            540
plunge them in Tartarean depths or overwhelm them with the sea.'
    To these things Jupiter replies with a gentle mouth:
'You contend with the fates and proffer sickly hopes. He, O daughter, gladly for whom you bore hostile arms,
a youth shall crush the Tyrians and the very name of their people            545
shall wreath with Libyan laurel and bring to the Capitoline. But he, for whom you, O spouse, to whom you give spirit and honor, (I sing the fates) will turn away arms from the Laurentian peoples.

nec longe cladis metae. uenit hora diesque,
qua nullas umquam transisse optauerit Alpes.' 550

and not far from the limit of ruin. The hour and day came,
on which he would never have wished to have crossed the Alps. 550

sic ait atque Irim propere demittit Olympo
quae reuocet Martem iubeatque abscedere pugna.
nec uetitis luctatus abit Gradiuus in altas
cum fremitu nubes, quamquam lituique tubaeque
uulneraque et sanguis et clamor et arma iuuarent.            555
    Vt patuit liber superum certamine tandem
laxatusque deo campus, ruit aequore ab imo
Poenus quo sensim caelestia fugerat arma,
magna uoce trahens equitemque uirosque feraeque
turrigerae molem tormentorumque labores.            560
atque ubi turbantem leuioris ense cateruas
agnouit iuuenem, scintillauitque cruentis
ira genis, 'Quaenam Furiae quisue egit in hostem,
en, Minuci, deus, ut rursus te credere nobis
auderes?' inquit 'genitor tibi natus ab armis            565

Thus he speaks and swiftly lets down Iris from Olympus,
who recalls Mars and bids him depart the battle.
nor does the Strider quit into the high clouds
with a roar, although the signal-horns and trumpets,
wounds and blood and clamour and arms aided.            555
    When at last it was plain the gods’ strife was over
and the field relaxed for the god, the Punic man rushes up
from the lowest sea, whence he had slowly fled the heavenly arms,
with a loud voice drawing horse and men and beasts,
the tower-bearing bulk and the toils of engines.            560
and when he recognised the youth unsettling the lighter ranks
with his sword, and wrath flashed on his blood-stained cheeks,
'What Fury or what spirit has urged you against the foe,
behold, Minucius, a god—how again you dare to entrust yourself
to us?' he says, 'a sire to you born from arms'            565

ille meis ubi nunc Fabius? semel, improbe, nostras
sit satis euasisse manus.' atque inde superbis
hasta comes dictis murali turbine pectus
transforat et uoces uenturas occupat ictu.
Nec ferro saeuire sat est.

Where now is that Fabius of mine? Once — wicked one — may it suffice that our hands have escaped.' And then the proud spear, attendant on those words, with a wall‑born whirlwind transfixes the breast and, by its blow, forestalls the voices about to come.
Nor is it enough to rage with the sword.

appellitur atra 570
mole fera, et monstris componitur Itala pubes.
nam praeuectus equo moderantem cuspide Lucas
Maurum in bella boues stimulis maioribus ire
ac raptare iubet Libycarum armenta ferarum.
immane stridens agitur crebroque coacta 575
uulnere bellatrix properos fert belua gressus.

she is called a black mass of beast, and the Italian youth is marshalled with monsters. 570
for Lucas, advanced on horseback and restraining with his spear, bids the Moor to go to wars, and with greater goads urges the oxen to march and to snatch away the herds of Libyan beasts.
the huge creature, creaking, and driven by frequent wounds, 575
the warlike beast bears forward hurried steps.

liuenti dorso turris flammaque uirisque
et iaculis armata sedet. procul aspera grando
saxorum super arma ruit, passimque uolanti
celsus telorum fundit Libys aggere nimbum. 580

On the livid back a tower sits, armed with flame and men
and javelins. Far off a harsh hail
of stones rushes upon the arms, and everywhere the lofty
Libyan rampart pours a cloud of flying missiles. 580

stat niueis longum stipata per agmina uallum
dentibus, atque ebori praefixa comminus hasta
fulget ab incuruo derecta cacumine cuspis.
hic, inter trepidos rerum, per membra, per arma
exigit Vfentis sceleratum belua dentem 585
clamantemque ferens calcata per agmina portat.
nec leuius Tadio letum: qua tegmine thorax
multiplicis lini claudit latus, improba sensim
corpore non laeso penetrarunt spicula dentis
et sublime uirum clipeo resonante tulerunt. 590
haud excussa noui uirtus terrore pericli:
utitur ad laudem casu geminumque citato
uicinus fronti lumen transuerberat ense.

stands a long rampart, packed through the ranks with snowy teeth,
and a spear set in ivory gleams at close quarters, its point made straight from a curved shaft.
here, amid the tremors of the scene, through limbs, through arms
Ufentis forces out the wicked beast’s tooth, and bearing it, crying aloud, carries it trodden through the ranks 585
and does not spare Tadius’ death: where the cuirass of many-folded linen closes the side with its covering,
the relentless barbs of the tooth slowly pierced, harming the body, and they lifted the lofty man with his shield ringing. 590
his courage was not shaken by the terror of this new peril:
he made use of chance for praise, and, with his sword drawn, nearby transfixes the double light of the brow.

extimulata graui sese fera tollit ad auras
uulnere et erectis excussam cruribus alte 595

the wild beast, spurred on by a grave wound, lifts itself to the airs
and with uplifted legs shakes off high that which had been struck into its limbs 595

pone iacit uoluens reflexo pondere turrim.
arma uirique simul spoliataque belua uisu
sternuntur subita, miserandum, mixta ruina.
Spargi flagrantis contra bellantia monstra
Dardanius taedas ductor iubet et facis atrae, 600
quos fera circumfert, compleri sulphure muros.

he casts down the tower behind, rolling it with a recoil of weight.
arms and men together and the beast, stripped of its guise, are laid low by a sudden fall, pitiable, mingled in the ruin.
The Dardanian leader bids torches be hurled against the blazing monsters and black brands, 600
which the wild creature bears about, to fill the walls with sulphur.

nec iusso mora. collectis fumantia lucent
terga elephantorum flammis, raptusque sonoro
ignis edax uento per propugnacula fertur.
non aliter, Pindo Rhodopeue incendia pastor 605
cum iacit, et siluis spatiatur feruida pestis,
frondosi ignescunt scopuli, subitoque per alta
conlucet iuga dissultans Vulcanius ardor.

nor was there delay at the command. The smoking backs of the elephants gleam with flames collected,
and the devouring fire, snatched by the noisy wind, is borne along the ramparts.
Not otherwise, when a shepherd casts fires on Pindus and Rhodope 605
and a fervent pestilence stalks through the woods, the leafy crags catch fire, and suddenly through the high ridges
Vulcanian ardor flashes forth, leaping.

it fera candenti torrente bitumine corpus
amens et laxo diducit limite turmas. 610

the beast, with a white-hot torrent of burning bitumen,
rends the body in frenzy and, loosening the line, scatters the troops. 610

nec cuiquam uirtus propiora capessere bella:
longinquis audent iaculis et harundinis ictu.
uritur impatiens et magni corporis aestu
huc atque huc iactas accendit belua flammas,
donec uicini tandem se fluminis undis 615
praecipitem dedit et tenui decepta liquore
stagnantis per plana uadi tulit incita longis
extantem ripis flammam. tum denique sese
gurgitis immersit molem capiente profundo.

nor did valour dare to undertake nearer wars for anyone:
they venture from afar with javelins and the stroke of reeds.
the beast, impatient and burning with the heat of its great body,
kindles the flames cast this way and that,
until at last it hurled itself headlong into the neighboring river’s waves 615
and, deceived by the thin liquid of the stagnant stream, borne over the plains urged by long shallows,
it carried the flame projecting on the banks. then finally
it plunged itself into the gulf, the profound deep taking its mass.

At qua pugna datur, necdum Maurusia pestis 620
igne calet, circumfusi Rhoeteia pubes
nunc iaculis, nunc et saxis, nunc alite plumbo
eminus incessunt, ut qui castella per altos
oppugnat munita locos atque adsidet arces.
ausus digna uiro, fortuna digna secunda, 625

But where the battle is given, and not yet does the Maurusian pestilence glow with fire, 620
the Rhoetean youth, poured around, now from afar press on with javelins, now with stones, now with feathered lead of missiles,
they advance at a distance, as one who assaults castles by lofty approaches and besets fortified heights.
Daring deeds fitting the man, and fortune suitably seconding, 625

extulerat dextram <at>que aduersum comminus ensem
Mincius infelix ausi, sed stridula anhelum
feruorem effundens monstri manus abstulit acri
implicitum nexu diroque ligamine torsit
et superas alte miserum iaculata per auras            630
telluri elisis adflixit, flebile, membris.
    Has inter clades uiso Varrone sub armis
increpitans Paulus 'Quin imus comminus' inquit
'ductori Tyrio, quem uinctum colla catenis
staturum ante tuos currus promisimus urbi?            635
heu patria, heu plebes scelerata et praua fauoris!
haud umquam expedies tam dura sorte malorum,
quem tibi non nasci fuerit per uota petendum,
Varronem Hannibalemne, magis.' dum talia Paulus,
urget praecipitis Libys atque in terga ruentum            640

he had raised his right hand and, at close quarters, dared the sword against him, unlucky Mincius; but the hand of the monster, hissing and pouring forth a panting heat, snatched it away, entwined with a keen knot and dire ligature, and twisted it, and, hurling the wretched man high through the upper airs,630
struck him down to the shattered earth, his limbs lamentable. Amid these ruinous scenes, seeing Varrus under arms, Paulus, rebuking, said, 'Why do we not go up close, then, against the Tyrian leader, whom, bound by chains about the neck, we promised would stand before your chariots for the city?635
ah homeland, ah populace wicked and perverse in favor! You will never be freed from so harsh a fate of evils, whom it will not be necessary to seek by vows as not born for you—Varrus or, rather, Hannibal.' While Paulus spoke such things,640
the Libyan host presses on those headlong and rushing upon their backs.

ante oculos cunctas ductoris concitat hastas.
pulsatur galea et quatiuntur consulis arma.
acrius hoc Paulus medios ruit asper in hostis.

before the eyes he rouses all the leader’s spears in full view.
the helmet is struck and the consul’s arms are shaken.
more fiercely than this Paulus rushes, stern, into the midst of the enemy.

Tum uero excussus mentem, in certamina Paulo
auia diducto, conuertit Varro manuque 645
cornipedem inflectens 'Das,' inquit 'patria, poenas,
quae Fabio incolumi Varronem ad bella uocasti.
quaenam autem mentis uel quae discordia fati
Parcarumque latens fraus est? abrumpere cuncta
iamdudum cum luce libet.

Then indeed, his mind shaken, with Paulus by devious roads drawn off to the combats,
Varro turned and, bending the horn-footed steed with his hand, 645
'You exact, O fatherland, the penalties,' he said, 'which you called Varro to arms while Fabius was unharmed.
But what madness of mind, or what discord of fate
and what hidden fraud of the Parcae is this? Long have I wished to break off all things with the light.'

sed comprimit ensem 650
nescio qui deus. at <q>uae me ad grauiora reseruat!
uiuamne?

but some god presses down the sword 650
I know not which. at <q>woe, that he reserve me for graver things!
shall I live?

et fractos sparsosque cruore meorum
hos referam populo fasces atque ora per urbes
iratas spectanda dabo et, quo saeuius ipse
Hannibal haud poscat, fugiam et te, Roma, uidebo?' 655

and these, broken and sprinkled with the gore of my men,
I will bear back to the people — the fasces and faces through angry cities
I will set forth to be beheld — and to that point to which more fiercely
Hannibal himself would scarcely demand, shall I flee and behold you, Rome? 655

plura indignantem telis propioribus hostes
egere, et sonipes rapuit laxatus habenas.

the enemies hurled at the indignant man many nearer missiles
and the war-steed, its reins loosened, snatched him up.