Statius: THEBAID

Obruit Hesperia Phoebum nox umida porta,
imperiis properata Iouis; nec castra Pelasgum
aut Tyrias miseratus opes, sed triste tot extra
agmina et inmeritas ferro decrescere gentes.
panditur inmenso deformis sanguine campus: 5
illic arma et equos, ibant quibus ante superbi,
funeraque orba rogis neglectaque membra relinquunt.
tunc inhonora cohors laceris insignibus aegras
secernunt acies, portaeque, ineuntibus arma
angustae populis, latae cepere reuersos. 10
par utrimque dolor; sed dant solacia Thebis
quattuor errantes Danaum sine praeside turmae:
ceu mare per tumidum uiduae moderantibus alni,
quas deus et casus tempestatesque gubernant.

Moist night at Hesperia's gate overwhelms Phoebus,
hastened by the commands of Jove; nor did it pity the camps
or Tyrian riches of the Pelasgians, but to diminish, sadly, so many
hosts and peoples undeserving by the sword.
panditur inmenso deformis sanguine campus: 5
there lie arms and horses, those who before went proud,
and they leave funerals bereft of pyres and neglected limbs.
Then the dishonored cohort, with torn insignia, parts the sickly ranks,
and the gates, the entering arms for narrow peoples,
the broad gates received the turned-back. 10
Equal sorrow on either side; yet to Thebes give solace
four wandering squadrons of the Danaans, without a guardian commander:
as the sea through a swollen channel, the widowed alders restraining it,
which god and chance and storms do steer.

inde animus Tyriis non iam sua castra, sed ultro 15

thence the spirit toward the Tyrians no longer looked to his own camps, but of its own accord 15

hostilem seruare fugam, ne forte Mycenas,
contenti rediisse, petant: dat tessera signum
excubiis, positaeque uices; dux noctis opertae
sorte Meges ultroque Lycus. iamque ordine iusso
arma, dapes ignemque ferunt; rex firmat euntes:                20
'uictores Danaum (neque enim lux crastina longe,
nec quae pro timidis intercessere tenebrae
semper erunt), augete animos et digna secundis
pectora ferte deis. iacet omnis gloria Lernae
praecipuaeque manus: subiit ultricia Tydeus                25
Tartara, Mors subitam integri stupet auguris umbram,
Ismenos raptis tumet Hippomedontis opimis,
Arcada belligeris pudet adnumerare tropaeis.
in manibus merces, nusquam capita ardua belli
monstrataeque ducum septena per agmina cristae;                30

to keep their flight from the enemy, lest perhaps, content to have returned to Mycenae, they should seek them; he gives the watchword as a token
to the sentinels, and the shifts having been set; by lot Meges and by turn Lycus are chiefs of the veiled night. And now, at the ordered command,
they carry arms, banquets and fire; the king steadies those who go:                20
'victors of the Danaans (for the morrow's light will not be far away,
nor will the darkness that intervened for the timid always remain), increase your spirits and bear hearts worthy to the favoring gods.
All the glory of Lerna lies fallen and its foremost band: avenger Tydeus has gone down to Tartarus,                25
Death stands amazed at the sudden shade of the upright seer,
Ismenos swells with the spoils of the seized Hippomedon,
Arcadia is ashamed to count among its warlike trophies.
Goods are in hands, nowhere lofty heads of war
nor the seven crests of leaders shown through the ranks.'                30

scilicet Adrasti senium fraterque iuuenta
peior et insanis Capaneus metuendus in armis.
ite age et obsessis uigilem circumdate flammam!
nulli ex hoste metus: praedam adseruatis opesque
iam uestras.' sic ille truces hortatibus implet 35
Labdacidas, iuuat exhaustos iterare labores:
sicut erant (puluis sudorque cruorque per artus
mixtus adhuc) uertere gradum; uix obuia passi
conloquia, amplexus etiam dextrasque suorum
excussere umeris.

Scarcely indeed Adrastus' senescence and his brother's youth,
the worse one and Capaneus dreadful in his frantic arms.
Go now, surround the besieged with a wakeful flame!
Let there be no fear from the foe: you preserve the prey and now your own riches.' Thus he, with fierce exhortations, fills the Labdacids, 35
delights to make the exhausted renew their labors:
as they were (dust and sweat and blood still mingled through their limbs)
to reverse their step; scarcely suffering meetings and speeches,
they even shook off embraces and the right hands of their own from their shoulders.

tunc frontem auersaque terga 40
partiti laterumque sinus, uallum undique cingunt
ignibus infestis. rabidi sic agmine multo
sub noctem coiere lupi, quos omnibus agris
nil non ausa fames longo tenuauit hiatu:
iam stabula ipsa premunt, torquet spes inrita fauces 45

then with brow and turned backs 40
they part the fronts and folds of their flanks, and gird the rampart all round
with hostile fires. thus, in a great pack, rabid wolves
gathered toward night, which in every field
dared nothing that hunger had not thinned with long gape:
now the very stalls press upon them, famine twists vain hopes in their throats 45

balatusque tremens pinguesque ab ouilibus aurae;
quod superest, duris adfrangunt postibus ungues
pectoraque, et siccos minuunt in limine dentes.
    at procul Argolici supplex in margine templi
coetus et ad patrias fusae Pelopeides aras                50
sceptriferae Iunonis opem reditumque suorum
exposcunt, pictasque fores et frigida uultu
saxa terunt paruosque docent procumbere natos.
condiderant iam uota diem; nox addita curas
iungit, et ingestis uigilant altaria flammis.                55
peplum etiam dono, cuius mirabile textum
nulla manu sterilis nec dissociata marito
uersarat, calathis castae uelamina diuae
haud spernenda ferunt, uariis ubi plurima floret
purpura picta modis mixtoque incenditur auro.                60

and the trembling bleat and the rich breaths from the sheep;
what remains, they break upon the hard doorposts with their hooves
and their breasts, and they gnaw away the dry teeth at the threshold.
    but far off a suppliant Argolic throng on the margin of the temple
and the Pelopid women, scattered to their ancestral altars                50
implore the aid of scepter-bearing Juno and the return of their own;
with chilled faces they rub the painted doors and the stones
and instruct their little-born to prostrate themselves. They had already laid aside their vows for the day; night, added, joins cares
and with heaped-up flames they keep watch over the altars.                55
They also bear as a gift a peplos, whose wondrous weave
no sterile hand nor a wife separated from her husband had ever turned on the loom;
in baskets they carry the veil of the chaste goddess, not to be scorned, where
the richly painted purple flourishes in varied patterns and is set alight mingled with gold.                60

ipsa illic magni thalamo desponsa Tonantis,
expers conubii et timide positura sororem,
lumine demisso pueri Iouis oscula libat
simplex et nondum furtis offensa mariti.
hoc tunc Argolicae sanctum uelamine matres 65
induerant ebur, et lacrimis questuque rogabant:
'aspice sacrilegas Cadmeae paelicis arces,
siderei regina poli, tumulumque rebellem
disice et in Thebas aliud (potes) excute fulmen.'
quid faciat? scit Fata suis contraria Grais 70
auersumque Iouem, sed nec periisse precatus
tantaque dona uelit; tempus tamen obuia magni
fors dedit auxilii.

there herself, espoused to the nuptial thalamus of the great Thunderer,
unversed in conubium and timid, about to place her sister,
with downcast eye she bestows kisses on the boy of Jove,
simple, and not yet affronted by the husband’s furtive acts.
thus then the Argolic mothers with sacred veil 65
had clad her in ivory, and with tears and plaints were begging:
'behold the sacrilegious towers of the Cadmean concubine,
O queen of the starry pole, scatter the rebellious mound
and hurl another thunderbolt upon Thebes (if you can).'
What is to be done? The Fates know themselves contrary to the Greeks 70
and turned away Jove; yet she would not have prayed him dead
nor wished for such gifts to be granted; nevertheless chance gave timely aid to the great.

uidet alto ex aethere clausa
moenia et insomni uallum statione teneri:
horruit irarum stimulis motaque uerendum 75

she sees the walls shut in from the high ether and the rampart held by a sleepless station:
she shuddered at the stimuluses of her angers and at the movement to be feared 75

turbauit diadema coma: non saeuius arsit
Herculeae cum matris onus geminosque Tonantis
secubitus uacuis indignaretur in astris.
ergo intempesta somni dulcedine captos
destinat Aonios leto praebere, suamque 80
orbibus accingi solitis iubet Irin et omne
mandat opus. paret iussis dea clara polumque
linquit et in terras longo suspenditur arcu.

she disordered her diadem with her hair: she had not burned more fiercely even when, as mother of Hercules, the burden and the Thunderer’s twin couches lay empty and provoked anger in the skies.
therefore, taken by the untimely sweetness of sleep, she resolves to surrender them to Aonian death, and bids Iris gird on her customary rings 80
and commits the whole task. The bright goddess obeys the commands and leaves the sky and is suspended down to the lands on a long-hung bow.

    stat super occiduae nebulosa cubilia Noctis
Aethiopasque alios, nulli penetrabilis astro,                85
lucus iners, subterque cauis graue rupibus antrum
it uacuum in montem, qua desidis atria Somni
securumque larem segnis Natura locauit.
limen opaca Quies et pigra Obliuio seruant
et numquam uigili torpens Ignauia uultu.                90

    there stands above the westward nests of cloudy Night
    and other Ethiopians, a grove inert, penetrable by no star,                85
    and beneath it a hollow cavern, heavy with rocks, goes empty into the mountain,
    where Nature has placed the idle halls of Sluggish Sleep
    and the untroubled hearth. Shadowy Quiet and drowsy Oblivion watch the threshold
    and Sloth, torpid in countenance, never wakes to a wakeful face.                90

Otia uestibulo pressisque Silentia pennis
muta sedent abiguntque truces a culmine uentos
et ramos errare uetant et murmura demunt
alitibus. non hic pelagi, licet omnia clament
litora, non ullus caeli fragor; ipse profundis                95
uallibus effugiens speluncae proximus amnis
saxa inter scopulosque tacet: nigrantia circum
armenta omne solo recubat pecus, et noua marcent
germina, terrarumque inclinat spiritus herbas.
mille intus simulacra dei caelauerat ardens                100
Mulciber: hic haeret lateri redimita Voluptas,
hic comes in requiem uergens Labor, est ubi Baccho,
est ubi Martigenae socium puluinar Amori
obtinet. interius tecti in penetralibus altis
et cum Morte iacet, nullique ea tristis imago                105

Leisure sits at the vestibule and Silences, with pressed wings,
sit mute and drive away the savage winds from the ridge
and forbid the boughs to wander and remove the murmurs
from the birds. Not here of the sea, although all the shores cry out,
not any crash of the sky; the very river, fleeing the deeps 95
near to the cavern, escaping into its valleys, is silent among the rocks and cliffs: all around the darkening herds
lie down upon every soil, and new shoots wither,
and the spirit of the lands bends the grasses. Within a thousand images the ardent
Mulciber had engraved a god: here Pleasure, bound with a fillet, clings to a side,
here Labor, companion, leaning toward rest, is where Bacchus is,
where the Mars-born Love holds a companion on his couch. Deeper in the dwelling, in the high inner sanctuaries,
she lies with Death, and that sad image is of none; 105

cernitur. hae species. ipse autem umentia subter
antra soporifero stipatos flore tapetas
incubat; exhalant uestes et corpore pigro
strata calent, supraque torum niger efflat anhelo
ore uapor; manus haec fusos a tempore laeuo 110
sustentat crines, haec cornu oblita remisit.

is seen. these apparitions. he himself, however, lies upon the damp caverns below,
on soporific-flower‑packed tapestries he reposes; the garments exhale and the couches grow warm with his sluggish body,
and above the bed a black vapor breathes from his labored mouth;
these hands sustain the locks spun on the left spindle, 110
this one, having smeared (it) with horn, let it fall.

adsunt innumero circum uaga Somnia uultu,
uera simul falsis permixtaque ~flumina flammis~
Noctis opaca cohors, trabibusque ac postibus haerent,
aut tellure iacent. tenuis, qui circuit aulam,                115
inualidusque nitor, primosque hortantia somnos
languida succiduis expirant lumina flammis.
    huc se caeruleo librauit ab aethere uirgo
discolor: effulgent siluae, tenebrosaque tempe
arrisere deae, et zonis lucentibus icta                120

Countless wandering Dreams are present around with face,
the shadowy cohort of Night, true and false mixed, ~rivers with flames~
they cling to beams and doorposts, or lie upon the earth. Thin, a wan brightness that circles the hall,                115
a feeble sheen, and prompting the earliest sleeps they breathe out languid eyes with failing flames.
    hither a maiden poised from the blue ether descended
discolored: the woods flashed, and the shadowed valleys
smiled at the goddess, and struck by gleaming zones they shone                120

euigilat domus; ipse autem nec lampade clara
nec sonitu nec uoce deae perculsus eodem
more iacet, donec radios Thaumantias omnes
impulit inque oculos penitus descendit inertes.
tunc sic orsa loqui nimborum fulua creatrix: 125
'Sidonios te Iuno duces, mitissime diuum
Somne, iubet populumque trucis defigere Cadmi,
qui nunc euentu belli tumefactus Achaeum
peruigil adseruat uallum et tua iura recusat.
da precibus tantis; rara est hoc posse facultas 130
placatumque Iouem dextra Iunone mereri.'
dixit, et increpitans languentia pectora dextra,
ne pereant uoces, iterumque iterumque monebat.

the house wakes; he himself, however, struck by neither bright lamp
nor sound nor the voice of the goddess lies in the same
manner, until he drives back all Thaumantian rays
and they sink down wholly into his inactive eyes.
then thus began to speak the tawny maker of clouds: 125
'Juno commands you to lead the Sidonian folk, most gentle of the gods,
Sleep, and to fix the people of fierce Cadmus in place,
who now, swollen by the event of war, keeps sleepless watch
upon the Achaean rampart and rejects your laws.
grant these great entreaties; rare is the power to achieve this 130
and to deserve to win Jove placated by Juno's right hand.'
she spoke, and chastising the languid breasts with her right hand,
lest her voices perish, she warned again and again.

ille deae iussis uultu, quo nutat, eodem
adnuit; excedit grauior nigrantibus antris                 135
Iris et obtusum multo iubar excitat imbri.
    ipse quoque et uolucrem gressum et uentosa citauit
tempora, et obscuri sinuatam frigore caeli
impleuit chlamydem, tacitoque per aethera cursu
fertur et Aoniis longe grauis inminet aruis.                140

he, at the goddess’ commands, with the very countenance by which she nods, nodded likewise;
heavier Iris issues forth from the darkening caverns and stirs a radiance blunted by abundant rain. 135
he himself likewise quickened a bird‑like pace and the windy seasons, and filled with the cold of the dark sky a sinuous cloak,
and, borne on a silent course through the ether, is borne and, heavy, looms far over the Aonian fields. 140

illius aura solo uolucres pecudesque ferasque
explicat, et penitus, quemcumque superuolat orbem,
languida de scopulis sidunt freta, pigrius haerent
nubila, demittunt extrema cacumina siluae,
pluraque laxato ceciderunt sidera caelo.                145
primus adesse deum subita caligine sensit
campus, et innumerae uoces fremitusque uirorum
summisere sonum; cum uero umentibus alis
incubuit piceaque haud umquam densior umbra
castra subit, errare oculi resolutaque colla,                150
et medio adfatu uerba imperfecta relinqui.
mox et fulgentes clipeos et saeua remittunt
pila manu, lassique cadunt in pectora uultus.
et iam cuncta silent: ipsi iam stare recusant
cornipedes, ipsos subitus cinis abstulit ignes.                155

his breeze spreads upon the ground birds, flocks, and wild beasts
and deep, wherever it flies over the orb,
the seas grow languid from the cliffs, the clouds cling more sluggish,
they let down the outermost summits of the wood,
and more stars have fallen from the loosened sky.                145
first the plain perceived that the god was present by sudden gloom,
and innumerable voices and the roar of men
sent out a sound; but when he settled on moist wings
and a pitch-dark shadow, denser than ever, came upon the camp,
eyes wander and necks are relaxed,                150
and words were left unfinished in a mid breath.
soon they fling both shining shields and cruel spears with their hands,
and weary countenances fall upon their chests.
and now all is silent: the horn-footed themselves now refuse to stand;
sudden ash even snatched away their very fires.                155

    at non et trepidis eadem Sopor otia Grais
suadet, et adiunctis arcet sua nubila castris
noctiuagi uis blanda dei: stant undique in armis
foedam indignantes noctem uigilesque superbos.
ecce repens superis animum lymphantibus horror                160
Thiodamanta subit formidandoque tumultu
pandere fata iubet, siue hanc Saturnia mentem,
siue nouum comitem bonus instigabat Apollo.
prosilit in medios, uisu audituque tremendus
impatiensque dei, fragili quem mente receptum                165
non capit: exundant stimuli, nudusque per ora
stat furor, et trepidas incerto sanguine tendit
exhauritque genas; acies huc errat et illuc,
sertaque mixta comis sparsa ceruice flagellat.
sic Phryga terrificis genetrix Idaea cruentum                170

    but Sleep does not counsel the same repose to the trembling Greeks,
and the night's wandering power of the charming god, joining its clouds to the camps, restrains them:
they stand everywhere in arms, shaming the foul night and proud of wakefulness.
behold, suddenly a dread from the heavens, moistening the mind, approaches                160
it seizes Thiodamas and, with fearful tumult, bids him unfold the fates,
whether Saturn's daughter moved this mind, or good Apollo urged on a new comrade.
he springs into the midst, terrible in sight and hearing,
impatient of the god, whom a frail mind received and cannot contain:                165
the goads overflow, and madness stands naked across his face,
and with uncertain blood he stretches trembling limbs and drains his cheeks; his gaze roves here and there,
and garlands mixed with hair, scattered about his neck, lash him.
thus the Phrygian Idaean mother, bloody with terrors,                170

elicit ex adytis consumptaque bracchia ferro
scire uetat; quatit ille sacras in pectora pinus
sanguineosque rotat crines et uulnera cursu
exanimat: pauet omnis ager, respersaque cultrix
arbor, et attoniti currum erexere leones.                175
    uentum ad consilii penetrale domumque uerendam
signorum, magnis ubi dudum cladibus aeger,
rerum extrema mouens, frustra consultat Adrastus.
stant circum subiti proceres, ut quisque perempto
proximus, et magnis loca desolata tuentur                180
regibus, haud laeti seque huc creuisse dolentes.
non secus amisso medium cum praeside puppis
fregit iter, subit ad uidui moderamina claui
aut laterum custos aut quem penes obuia ponto
prora fuit: stupet ipsa ratis tardeque sequuntur                185

he drags forth from the adyta and forbids knowing the arms consumed by iron;
that pine he shakes upon his breast and whirls his blood-streaked locks, and with his running
he stuns wounds: every field is struck with panic, and the sown tree besprinkled,
and, astonished, the lions lifted up the chariot.                175
    they came to the council’s innermost chamber and to the venerable house
of the signs, where Adrastus, long sick from great disasters,
moving the last affairs of things, consults in vain.
Around him stand the sudden leaders, each as one next to the slain,
and they watch places laid desolate by great kings                180
not rejoicing, and lamenting that they were born here.
Not otherwise, when the helmsman gone, the ship broke her course midway under her commander,
the bereaved hands took up the reins of the helm, or the keeper of the sides, or he to whom by chance the prow belonged:
the vessel itself stands stunned, and they follow slowly.                185

arma, nec accedit domino tutela minori.
ergo alacer trepidos sic erigit augur Achiuos:
'magna deum mandata, duces, monitusque uerendos
aduehimus: non hae nostro de pectore uoces:
ille canit, cui me famulari et sumere uittas 190
uestra fides, ipso non discordante, subegit.
nox fecunda operum pulchraeque accommoda fraudi
panditur augurio diuum; uocat obuia Virtus,
et poscit Fortuna manus.

arms, nor does guardianship come to a lesser lord.
therefore the eager augur thus rouses the trembling Achaeans:
'we bring great commands of the gods, leaders, and reverend warnings
to you: these are not voices from our own breast:
he sings, to whom your faith, himself not dissenting, compelled me to serve and to take up the sacerdotal fillets 190
your fidelity, with him not disagreeing, has forced me.
night, fruitful of deeds and aptly suited to fair deceit,
is revealed by the augury of the gods; Virtue calls to meet,
and Fortune demands willing hands.

stupet obruta somno
Aonidum legio: tempus nunc funera regum 195
ulcisci miserumque diem; rapite arma morasque
frangite portarum: sociis hoc subdere flammas,
hoc tumulare suos. equidem haec et Marte diurno,
dum res infractae pulsique in terga redimus,
(per tripodas iuro et rapti noua fata magistri) 200

the Aonian legion, overthrown by sleep, stands amazed: now is the time to avenge the funerals of kings and the miserable day; seize arms and delays, break the bolts of the gates: lay this fire beneath our allies, heap this tomb for our own. I for my part swear these with diurnal Mars, while, our affairs shattered and driven to our backs, we retire, (by tripods I swear, and by the plundered new fates of the master)

uidi, et me uolucres circum plausere secundae.
sed nunc certa fides. modo me sub nocte silenti
ipse, ipse adsurgens iterum tellure soluta,
qualis erat (solos infecerat umbra iugales),
Amphiaraus adit: non uanae monstra quietis, 205
nec somno comperta loquor.

I saw, and the propitious winged ones clapped about me.
but now a sure faith. Just now under the silent night
he himself, he himself rising again from the loosened earth,
just as he was (the twin shades alone had darkened him),
Amphiaraus approaches: not vain visions of repose, 205
nor do I speak of things discovered in sleep.

"tune," inquit, "inertes
Inachidas (redde haec Parnasia serta meosque
redde deos) tantam patiere amittere noctem,
degener? haec egomet caeli secreta uagosque
edocui lapsus? uade heia, ulciscere ferro 210
nos saltem!" dixit, meque haec ad limina uisus
cuspide sublata totoque impellere curru.

"then," he said, "will you, idle ones,
Inachian women (restore these Parnassian garlands and restore my gods),
suffer to lose so great a night, degenerate ones? Have I myself taught
the secrets of heaven and the wandering courses of the fallen? Go, hey, avenge with iron 210
at least us!" he said; and, these things seen, with spear uplifted he urged me
to the thresholds and to drive the whole chariot.

quare agite, utendum superis; non comminus hostes
sternendi: bellum iacet, et saeuire potestas.
ecqui aderunt, quos ingenti se attollere fama 215

therefore, come now, we must make use of the gods above; the enemies are not to be overthrown at close quarters:
war lies before us, and the power to rage.
are there any who will come forward, whom mighty fame lifts up 215

non pigeat, dum fata sinunt? iterum ecce benignae
noctis aues; sequor, et comitum licet agmina cessent,
solus eo! atque adeo uenit ille et quassat habenas.'
    talia uociferans noctem exturbabat, euntque
non secus accensi proceres quam si omnibus idem                220
corde deus: flagrant comitari et iungere casus.
ter denos numero, turmarum robora, iussus
ipse legit; circa fremit indignata iuuentus
cetera, cur maneant castris ignauaque seruent
otia: pars sublime genus, pars facta suorum,                225
pars sua, sortem alii clamant, sortem undique poscunt.

should it not grieve me, while the fates permit? again behold the kindly
birds of night; I follow, and though the columns of comrades may fall back,
I alone to that place! and indeed he came and shook the reins.'
    tossing such shouts he drove out the night, and they go
no less the chiefs inflamed than if the same god were in every heart                220
they blaze to accompany and to unite in misfortunes. Three times ten in number, the strengths of the squadrons, ordered,
he himself selects; around protests the indignant youth
the rest, why they remain in camp and keep slothful
leisure: some cry that their stock is noble, some that they are made of their own kin,                225
some claim their own lot, others shout for lot and demand fate from every side.

gaudet in aduersis animoque adsurgit Adrastus.
uertice sic Pholoes uolucrum nutritor equorum,
cum fetura gregem pecoroso uere nouauit,
laetatur cernens hos montis in ardua niti, 230

Adrastus rejoices in adversity and rises up in spirit. Thus on the summit Pholoe, feeder (keeper) of the winged horses, when in the fruitful spring he renewed the flock with offspring, rejoices to see these strive up into the heights of the mountain, 230

hos innare uadis, certare parentibus illos;
tunc uacuo sub corde mouet, qui molle domandi
ferre iugum, qui terga boni, quis in arma tubasque
natus, ad Eleas melior quis surgere palmas:
talis erat turmae ductor longaeuus Achiuae. 235
nec deest coeptis: 'unde haec tam sera repente
numina? qui fractos superi rediistis ad Argos?
estne hic infelix uirtus, gentique superstes
sanguis, et in miseris animorum semina durant?

you go to swim these shallows, to compete before your fathers;
then he moves beneath his empty heart him who can bear the soft yoke of taming,
who endures the backs of the good, who, born for arms and for trumpets,
who is fitter to lift his palms at the Eleian games:
such was the aged leader of the long Achaean troop. 235
nor does he fail in his undertakings: 'whence these gods so late, all of a sudden?
why have you, O gods above, returned broken to Argos?
is virtue here unlucky, and the blood surviving for the nation,
and do the seeds of courage endure in the wretched?

laudo equidem, egregii iuuenes, pulchraque meorum 240
seditione fruor; sed fraudem et operta paramus
proelia, celandi motus: numquam apta latenti
turba dolo. seruate animos, uenit ultor in hostes
ecce dies; tunc arma palam, tunc ibimus omnes.'
his tandem uirtus iuuenum frenata quieuit: 245

I praise you indeed, outstanding youths, and I delight in the fair deeds of my men in sedition, 240
but we prepare fraud and covert battles, schemes of hiding movements: a crowd is never fit for secret guile. Keep your spirits, behold the avenger's day comes upon the enemies; then arms openly, then we shall all advance.'
by these words at last the valour of the youths, restrained, grew quiet: 245

non aliter moto quam si pater Aeolus antro
portam iterum saxo premat imperiosus et omne
claudat iter, iam iam sperantibus aequora uentis.
    insuper Herculeum sibi iungit Agyllea uates
Actoraque: hic aptus suadere, hic robore iactat                250
non cessisse patri; comites tribus ordine deni,
horrendum Aoniis et contra stantibus agmen.
ipse noui gradiens furta ad Mauortia belli
ponit adoratas, Phoebea insignia, frondes,
longaeuique ducis gremio commendat honorem                255
frontis, et oblatam Polynicis munere grato
loricam galeamque subit.

no otherwise than if father Aeolus in his cavern
should press the gate again with rock, imperious, and close
every passage, while the seas already, even now, hope for winds.
    besides, the seer Agylleus joins himself to Herculean Aegisthus
and Actor: this one fitted to persuade, that one boasts with strength                250
that he had not deserted his father; ten by tens as comrades in rank,
a fearful column facing the Aonian throng and set against them. He himself, advancing, places the spoils of new war at the Mauortian rites,
Phoebic emblems, garlands,
and entrusts the honor to the bosom of the aged leader                255
of his brow, and, with the Polynic gift offered gladly,
takes up the cuirass and the helmet.

ferus Actora magno
ense grauat Capaneus, ipse haud dignatus in hostem
ire dolo superosque sequi. permutat Agylleus
arma trucis Nomii: quid enim fallentibus umbris 260

Capaneus, fierce, burdens Actor with a great sword,
he himself not deigning to attack the enemy by deceit nor to follow the gods. Agylleus exchanges the arms of savage Nomius: for what use to the deceiving shades 260

arcus et Herculeae iuuissent bella sagittae?
inde per abruptas castrorum ex aggere pinnas,
ne grauis exclamet portae mugitus aenae,
praecipitant saltu; nec longum, et protinus ingens
praeda solo ceu iam exanimes multoque peracti 265
ense iacent. 'ite, o socii, quacumque uoluptas
caedis inexhaustae, superisque fauentibus, oro,
sufficite!' hortatur clara iam uoce sacerdos,
'cernitis expositas turpi marcore cohortes?

and would not the bows and the Herculean arrows have helped the wars?
thence over the steep breastworks of the camp they spring with pennons,
lest the heavy bellow of the brazen gate cry out,
they hurl themselves by a leap; nor long, and immediately a vast
booty lies on the ground as if already breathless and much spent 265
by the sword. 'Go, O comrades, with whatever delight
in inexhaustible slaughter, with the gods favoring above, I beg,
be sufficient!' the priestess now exhorts with a clear voice,
'do you see the cohorts exposed to shameful decay?

pro pudor! Argolicas hine ausi obsidere portas, 270
hi seruare uiros?' sic fatus, et exuit ensem
fulmineum rapidaque manu morientia transit
agmina. quis numeret caedes, aut nomine turbam
exanimem signare queat?

for shame! having dared to besiege the Argolic gates 270
are these the ones to save their husbands?' thus having spoken, and he draws forth the thunderous sword
and with a swift hand cleaves through the dying ranks. who can count the slaughter, or mark the breathless throng by name?

subit ordine nullo
tergaque pectoraque et galeis inclusa relinquit 275

he bursts in with no formation
and leaves backs and breasts and helmets enclosed 275

murmura permiscetque uagos in sanguine manes:
hunc temere explicitum stratis, hunc sero remissis
gressibus inlapsum clipeo et male tela tenentem,
coetibus hos mediis uina inter et arma iacentes,
adclines clipeis alios, ut quemque ligatum                280
infelix tellure sopor supremaque nubes
obruerat. nec numen abest, armataque Iuno
lunarem quatiens exerta lampada dextra
pandit iter firmatque animos et corpora monstrat.
sentit adesse deam, tacitus sed gaudia celat                285
Thiodamas; iam tarda manus, iam debile ferrum
et caligantes nimiis successibus irae.
Caspia non aliter magnorum in strage iuuencum
tigris, ubi inmenso rabies placata cruore
lassauitque genas et crasso sordida tabo                290

murmurs and mingled wanderings of shades in blood:
this one rashly pierced on the couches, this one late with loosened steps slipping into his shield and ill holding his weapons,
these in the midst of gatherings lying between wines and arms,
others leaning on their shields, as each, bound by the unlucky earth, sleep and the last cloud had overwhelmed.280
nor is the divinity absent, and armed Juno, brandishing the lunar lamp raised in her right hand,
discloses the way, steels the spirits and reveals the bodies.
Thiodamas feels the goddess to be present, but silently hides his joys; 285
now the hand is slow, now the sword weak, and dimming with successes excessive from wrath.
Not otherwise in the slaughter of mighty heifers does the Caspian tiger,
where its fury, assuaged by vast gore, has wearied its cheeks and defiled them with thick filth 290

confudit maculas, spectat sua facta doletque
defecisse famem: uictus sic augur inerrat
caedibus Aoniis; optet nunc bracchia centum
centenasque in bella manus; iam taedet inanes
exhaurire animas, hostemque adsurgere mallet.                295
    parte alia segnes magno satus Hercule uastat
Sidonios Actorque alia, sua quemque cruento
limite turba subit: stagnant nigrantia tabo
gramina, sanguineis nutant tentoria riuis;
fumat humus, somnique et mortis anhelitus una                300
uoluitur; haud quisquam uisus aut ora iacentum
erexit: tali miseris deus aliger umbra
incubat et tantum morientia lumina soluit.
traxerat insomnis cithara ludoque suprema
sidera iam nullos uisurus Ialmenus ortus,                305

he confounds the stains, beholds his deeds and laments
that hunger has failed him: thus the augur wanders, undefeated
in Aonian slaughters; now he would wish for a hundred arms,
hundreds of hands for war; now he is weary of draining
empty lives, and would rather the foe rise up.                295
    elsewhere, sluggish, sprung from great Hercules, he lays waste
the Sidonians and Actor and every man whom a bloody
crowd approaches with its stain: the grass blackens, soaked with gore,
their tents totter in blood-fed streams;
the ground smokes, and the breaths of sleep and of death together                300
are rolled about; no one seemed to raise the faces
of the fallen: over such wretches a winged god-like shade
lies upon them and loosens only their dying eyes.
Sleepless, he had dragged his lyre and last pastimes along;
now Ialmenus, sprung from him, was not to see the rising stars,                305

Sidonium paeana canens; huic languida ceruix
in laeuum cogente deo, mediaque iacebant
colla relicta lyra: ferrum per pectus Agylleus
exigit aptatamque caua testudine dextram
percutit et digitos inter sua fila trementes.                310
proturbat mensas dirus liquor: undique manant
sanguine permixti latices, et Bacchus in altos
crateras paterasque redit. ferus occupat Actor
implicitum fratri Thamyrin, Tagus haurit Echecli
terga coronati, Danaus caput amputat Hebri:                315
nescius heu rapitur fatis, hilarisque sub umbras
uita fugit mortisque ferae lucrata dolores.
stratus humo gelida subter iuga fida rotasque
Calpetus Aonios gramen gentile metentes
proflatu terrebat equos: madida ora redundant                320

singing a Sidonian paean; to him a languid neck,
the god forcing it to the left, and the necks lay abandoned
in the middle by the lyre: Agylleus drives a sword through the breast
and strikes the right hand fitted with a hollow testudo‑shield
and beats between its strings his trembling fingers.                310
a dire liquor upturns the tables: everywhere flow
pools mingled with blood, and Bacchus returns into deep
craters and paterae. Fierce Actor seizes Thamyrin entwined with his brother, Tagus drains the back of crowned Echeclus thrice,
Danaus severs the head of Hebrus:                315
unknowing, alas, he is snatched by the fates, and the merry life
flees beneath the shades and gains the pains of savage death.
lying on the ground beneath cold yokes and trusty wheels
Calpetus, mowing the Aonian kindly grass, with his breath
terrified the horses: their moist mouths overflowed                320

accensusque mero sopor aestuat; ecce iacentis
Inachius uates iugulum fodit, expulit ingens
uina cruor fractumque perit in sanguine murmur.
fors illi praesaga quies, nigrasque grauatus
per somnum Thebas et Thiodamanta uidebat.                325
    quarta soporiferae superabant tempora nocti,
cum uacuae nubes et honor non omnibus astris,
adflatusque fugit curru maiore Bootes.
iamque ipsum defecit opus, cum prouidus Actor
Thiodamanta uocat: 'satis haec inopina Pelasgis                330
gaudia: uix ullos tanto reor agmine saeuam
effugisse necem, ni quos deformis in alto
sanguine degeneres occultat uita; secundis
pone modum; sunt et diris sua numina Thebis.

and fired with wine the sleep boils; behold, the Inachian seer plunges a knife into the throat of one lying there, great blood expels the wines and the broken Murmur perishes in blood.
chance a prophetic quiet for him, and weighed down through sleep he saw black Thebes and Thiodamantus.                325
    the fourth, soporiferous hours of the night were passing,
when empty clouds and an honour not for all the stars,
calls Thiodamantes: 'this unexpected joy for the Pelasgians is enough:                330
scarcely, I think, have any escaped the savage slaughter by so great a column, unless life conceals some degenerate ones in deformed deep blood; restrain excess after success; Thebes too has its own awful numina.'

forsitan et nobis modo quae fauere recedunt.' 335

perhaps even those things which but now favoured us are withdrawing. 335

paruit, et madidas tollens ad sidera palmas:
'Phoebe, tibi exuuias monstratae praemia noctis
nondum ablutus aquis (tibi enim haec ego sacra litaui)
trado ferus miles tripodum fidusque sacerdos.
si non dedecui tua iussa tulique prementem, 340
saepe ueni, saepe hanc dignare inrumpere mentem.
nunc tibi crudus honos, trunca arma cruorque uirorum:
at patrias si quando domos optataque, Paean,
templa, Lycie, dabis, tot ditia dona sacratis
postibus et totidem uoti memor exige tauros.' 345
dixerat, et laetis socios reuocabat ab armis.

she obeyed, and lifting her moist palms to the stars:
'Phoebe, to you I entrust the spoils, the prize of the night revealed,
not yet washed by waters (for to you indeed these rites I vowed),
I deliver — a fierce soldier and a faithful priest — the tripod.
if I have not disgraced your commands and have borne them down, 340
often I come, often deign to burst into this mind.
now for you a raw honour: truncated arms and the blood of men:
but if ever, Paean, you grant the longed‑for ancestral homes and temples, O Lycia,
you shall give so many rich gifts at the consecrated doors
and demand as many bulls mindful of the vow.' 345
he had spoken, and was calling his comrades back from their joyous arms.

uenerat hos inter fato Calydonius Hopleus
Maenaliusque Dymas, dilecti regibus ambo,
regum ambo comites, quorum post funera maesti
uitam indignantur. prior Arcada concitat Hopleus: 350

to these by fate had come Calydonian Hopleus
Maenalian Dymas also, both beloved of kings,
both companions of kings, whose lives, after the funerals, the mournful begrudge.350

'nullane post manes regis tibi cura perempti,
care Dyma, teneant quem iam fortasse uolucres
Thebanique canes? patriae quid deinde feretis,
Arcades? en reduces contra uenit aspera mater:
funus ubi?

'Is there no care then for you after the manes of the slain king,
dear Dymas, whom perhaps already the birds and Theban dogs possess?
What then will you bear back for the fatherland, Arcades?
Lo, behold a stern mother returns in answer:
where is the funeral?

at nostro semper sub pectore Tydeus                355
saeuit inops tumuli, quamuis patientior artus
ille nec abruptis adeo lacrimabilis annis.
ire tamen saeuumque libet nullo ordine passim
scrutari campum, mediasue inrumpere Thebas.'
excipit orsa Dymas: 'per ego haec uaga sidera iuro,                360
per ducis errantes instar mihi numinis umbras,
idem animus misero; comitem circumspicit olim
mens humili luctu, sed nunc prior ibo'—uiamque
incohat et maesto conuersus ad aethera uultu
sic ait: 'arcanae moderatrix Cynthia noctis,                365

but ever in my breast Tydeus rages, bereft of a tomb,                355
though his limbs were more patient, and not so tearful for years cut off.
yet I would that I might go and search the savage field with no order everywhere,
or burst into Thebes midst the lines.'
begins Dymas, and takes up: 'by these wandering stars I swear,                360
by the semblance of a leader's ghost wandering like a divinity,
the same mind is mine for misery; once my spirit regards a comrade
with humble grief, but now I will go first'—and he begins the way
and, turned with a sorrowful countenance to the heavens, thus speaks: 'Cynthia, mistress of secret night,                365

si te tergeminis perhibent uariare figuris
numen et in siluas alio descendere uultu,
ille comes nuper nemorumque insignis alumnus,
ille tuus, Diana, puer (nunc respice saltem)
quaeritur.' intendit pronis dea curribus almum                370
sidus et admoto monstrauit funera cornu.
apparent campi Thebaeque altusque Cithaeron:
sic ubi nocturnum tonitru malus aethera frangit
Iuppiter, absiliunt nubes et fulgure claro
astra patent, subitusque oculis ostenditur orbis.                375
accepit radios et eadem percitus Hopleus
Tydea luce uidet; longe dant signa per umbras
mutua laetantes, et amicum pondus uterque,
ceu reduces uitae saeuaque a morte remissos,
subiecta ceruice leuant; nec uerba, nec ausi                 380
flere diu: prope saeua dies indexque minatur
ortus. eunt taciti per maesta silentia magnis
passibus exhaustasque dolent pallere tenebras.

if they report that you, threefold, change your varied forms
and that your numen descends into the woods with another visage,
that youth recently attendant and distinguished nursling of the groves,
that one is yours, Diana, your boy (now at least look back)
is sought.' The goddess stretches forth, from her prostrate chariot, the protecting star                370
and, with the horn held near, shows the signal of funerals.
The fields appear and Thebes and high Cithaeron:
just as when a malignant Jupiter breaks the nocturnal heavens with thunder
the clouds fall away and, with bright lightning, the stars stand open,
and the round world is suddenly shown to eyes.                375
Hopleus receives the rays and, struck by the same Tydean light,
sees; from afar they give mutual signs through the shadows
rejoicing, and each bears the weight of the other as friend,
as if returned to life and released from savage death,
they lift him placed beneath their necks; nor words, nor did they dare                 380
to weep long: grim day is near and the rising threatens as judge.
Silent they go through the mournful stillness with great
strides and grieve to see the spent shadows grow pale.

inuida fata piis et fors ingentibus ausis
rara comes. iam castra uident animisque propinquant, 385

envious fates for the pious and Chance for those of mighty daring
a rare companion. now they behold the camps and draw near with their spirits, 385

et decrescit onus, subiti cum pulueris umbra
et sonus a tergo. monitu ducis acer agebat
Amphion equites, noctem uigilataque castra
explorare datus, primusque per auia campi
usque procul (necdum totas lux soluerat umbras) 390
nescio quid uisu dubium incertumque moueri
corporaque ire uidet; subitus mox fraude reperta
exclamat, 'cohibete gradum quicumque!' sed hostes
esse patet: miseri pergunt anteire timentque
non sibi; tunc mortem trepidis minitatur et hastam 395
expulit, ac uanos alte leuat eminus ictus,
adfectans errare manum. stetit illa Dymantis
ante oculos, qui forte prior, gressumque repressit.

and the burden lessens, when with sudden dust a shadow
and a sound from the rear. By the leader's warning keen Amphion urged
his horsemen, appointed to reconnoiter the night and the watched camp,
and first through the pathless wastes of the plain far on (not yet had light dissolved all the shadows) 390
sees somewhat by sight moved, dubious and uncertain,
and sees bodies go; then, a trick suddenly discovered,
he cries, 'restrain your step, whoever you are!' but it is plain they
are enemies: the wretched press on to go before and fear not
for themselves; then he menaces death to the trembling and hurls a spear 395
forth, and lifts on high a vain blow from afar,
aiming to err the hand. She stood before the eyes of Dymantis,
who by chance was first, and checked his step.

at non magnanimus curauit perdere iactus
Aepytus, et fixo transuerberat Hoplea tergo 400

but magnanimous Aepytus did not spare to unleash blows
and, his weapon fixed, transfixed Hopleas through the back 400

pendentisque etiam perstrinxit Tydeos armos.
labitur egregii nondum ducis inmemor Hopleus,
expiratque tenens (felix, si corpus ademptum
nesciat), et saeuas talis descendit ad umbras.
    uiderat hoc retro conuersus et agmina sentit                405
iuncta Dymas, dubius precibusne subiret an armis
instantes: arma ira dabat, fortuna precari
non audere iubet; neutri fiducia coepto:
distulit ira preces; ponit miserabile corpus
ante pedes, tergoque graues quas forte gerebat                410
tigridis exuuias in laeuam torquet et obstat
exertum obiectans mucronem, inque omnia tela
uersus et ad caedem iuxta mortemque paratus:
ut lea, quam saeuo fetam pressere cubili
uenantes Numidae, natos erecta superstat,                415

and even grazed the hanging Tydean shoulders.
Hopleus slips, unmindful of the distinguished leader,
and expires while holding (happy, if he does not know his body
has been taken), and thus descends to the cruel shades.
    Dymas had seen this, turned back, and feels the joined ranks                405
doubtful whether to yield to entreaties or to the pressing arms: anger gave arms, fortune orders that one not dare to pray; confidence was in neither undertaking:
anger postponed prayers; he lays the pitiable corpse
before his feet, and the heavy tiger-skins which by chance he bore                410
he twists to the left and opposes the drawn blade, thrusting the point out, and turning all his spears toward them and ready for slaughter and for immediate death:
as a lioness, whom the Numidian hunters, having pressed gravid on a cruel couch,
attack, she rising stands over her raised young,                415

mente sub incerta toruum ac miserabile frendens;
illa quidem turbare globos et frangere morsu
tela queat, sed prolis amor crudelia uincit
pectora, et a media catulos circumspicit ira.
et iam laeua uiro, quamuis saeuire uetaret 420
Amphion, erepta manus, puerique trahuntur
ora supina comis. serus tunc denique supplex
demisso mucrone rogat: 'moderatius, oro,
ducite, fulminei per uos cunabula Bacchi
Inoamque fugam uestrique Palaemonis annos! 425
si cui forte domi natorum gaudia, si quis
hic pater, angusti puero date pulueris haustus
exiguamque facem!

gnashing grimly and miserably, with a wavering mind;
she indeed is able to trouble the globes and to break weapons with a bite,
but the cruel love of offspring conquers hearts,
and wrath looks round the pups from the middle. and now with the left hand to the man, although Amphion would forbid rage, 420
a hand having been snatched away, and the boys are dragged
their faces upturned with hair. late then at last the suppliant,
with his blade lowered, begs: 'more gently, I pray,
lead on, by you, the cradles of stormy Bacchus,
the flight of Ino and the years of your Palaemon! 425
if perchance any at home delights in offspring, if here
any is a father, give to the distressed boy a draught of dust
and a small torch!'

rogat, en rogat ipse iacentis
uultus: ego infandas potior satiare uolucres,
me praebete feris, ego bella audere coegi.' 430

he begs — behold, he himself begs, the visage of the supine man:
ego I prefer to sate the unspeakable birds,
present me to the beasts; I have forced myself to dare wars.' 430

'immo,' ait Amphion, 'regem si tanta cupido
condere, quae timidis belli mens, ede, Pelasgis,
quid fracti exanguesque parent; cuncta ocius effer,
et uita tumuloque ducis donatus abito.'
horruit et toto praecordia protinus Arcas 435
impleuit capulo. 'summumne hoc cladibus,' inquit,
'deerat ut adflictos turparem ego proditor Argos?
nil emimus tanti, nec sic uelit ipse cremari.'
sic ait, et magno proscissum uulnere pectus
iniecit puero, supremaque murmura uoluens: 440
'hoc tamen interea ~et tu potiare sepulcro.'
tales optatis regum in complexibus ambo,
par insigne animis, Aetolus et inclutus Arcas,
egregias efflant animas letoque fruuntur.

'nay,' says Amphion, 'if so great a desire to found a king
which is a war-mind for the timorous, produce, O Pelasgians,
what the broken and bloodless prepare; bear forth all more swiftly,
and, granted life and a tomb, depart, leader.'
he shuddered, and Arcas straightway filled his whole breast with the hilt 435
and plunged it home. 'Is this the utmost for calamities,' he said,
'that I, a traitor, should disgrace afflicted Argos?
we have bought nothing of such worth, nor would he himself wish to be thus burned.'
so he spoke, and, his chest gaping from a great wound,
he hurled it upon the boy, turning his last murmurs: 440
'yet meanwhile — be thou master of the tomb.'
both thus, in the desired embraces of kings,
a pair notable and equal in courage, Aetolus and famed Arcas,
breathe out illustrious souls and partake of death.

uos quoque sacrati, quamuis mea carmina surgant                445
inferiore lyra, memores superabitis annos.
forsitan et comites non aspernabitur umbras
Euryalus Phrygiique admittet gloria Nisi.
    at ferus Amphion, regi qui facta reportent
edoceantque dolum captiuaque corpora reddant,                450

You also, consecrated ones, though my songs arise                445
from a lesser lyre, mindful you will outlive the years.
Perhaps even companions will not scorn the shades;
glory will admit Euryalus and the Phrygian Nisus.
    but savage Amphion, who to the king will report deeds
and teach the stratagem and restore captive bodies,                450

mittit ouans; clausis ipse insultare Pelasgis
tendit et abscisos sociorum ostendere uultus.
interea reducem murorum e culmine Grai
Thiodamanta uident nec iam erumpentia celant
gaudia. ut exertos enses et caede recenti 455
arma rubere notant, nouus adsilit aethera magnum
clamor, et e summo pendent cupida agmina uallo
noscere quisque suos.

rejoicing he sends forth; with the gates closed he himself strives to gloat over the Pelasgians
and to display the severed faces of their comrades.
meanwhile from the summit of the walls the Greeks see Thiodamas returned and no longer hide
their bursting joys. As they note swords bared and arms red with recent slaughter, 455
a new great shout springs up to the heavens, and eager bands hang from the topmost rampart
each man to recognize his own.

uolucrum sic turba recentum,
cum reducem longo prospexit in aere matrem,
ire cupit contra summique e margine nidi 460
extat hians, iam iamque cadat, ni pectore toto
obstet aperta parens et amantibus increpat alis.
dumque opus arcanum et taciti compendia Martis
enumerant laetisque suos complexibus implent
Hopleaque exquirunt tardumque Dymanta queruntur: 465

Thus the brood of recent fledglings,
when they espied their mother returning on the long air,
yearn to go toward her and from the high rim of the nest 460
stands gaping, now—now would fall, were not with her whole breast
the parent sheathing herself to oppose and chide them with loving wings.
And while they recount the secret task and the silent shortcuts of Mars
and, with joyful embraces, fill their own,
they search for Hopleas and bewail slow Dymantas: 465

ecce et Dircaeae iuxta dux concitus alae
uenerat Amphion; non longum caede recenti
laetatus uidet innumeris feruere cateruis
tellurem atque una gentem expirare ruina.
qui tremor inicitur caeli de lampade tactis,                470
hic fixit iuuenem, pariterque horrore sub uno
uox, acies sanguisque perit, gemitusque parantem
ipse ultro conuertit equus; fugit ala retorto
puluere. nondum illi Thebarum claustra subibant,
et iam Argiua cohors nocturno freta triumpho                475
prosilit in campos; per et arma et membra iacentum
taetraque congerie sola semianimumque cruorem
cornipedes ipsique ruunt: grauis exterit artus
ungula, sanguineus lauat imber et impedit axes.
dulce uiris hac ire uia, ceu tecta superbi                480

behold, and near Dircaean realms the leader Amphion, urged on by wing, had come; rejoicing not long in the fresh slaughter he beholds countless ranks seethe upon the earth and one people expire together in ruin.
a tremor is hurled down from the lamp of heaven touched,                470
here it plants the youth, and together beneath one horror voice, battle-line and blood perish, and the horse itself of its own accord turns aside the groaning he was preparing; the wing flees with dust rolled back.
not yet did those men undergo the bulwarks of Thebes,                475
and now the Argive cohort, with a nocturnal triumph-cry, springs forth into the fields; through both arms and the limbs of the fallen and by a foul heap and half-alive gore the horned steeds themselves rush in: the hoof crushes heavy the limbs, a blood-red shower washes and clogs the axles.
sweet for men to go this way, as over the roofs of the proud                480

Sidonia atque ipsas calcent in sanguine Thebas.
hortatur Capaneus: 'satis occultata, Pelasgi,
delituit uirtus: nunc, nunc mihi uincere pulchrum
teste die; mecum clamore et puluere aperto
ite palam, iuuenes: sunt et mihi prouida dextrae                485
omina et horrendi stricto mucrone furores.'
sic ait; ardentes alacer succendit Adrastus
Argolicusque gener, sequitur iam tristior augur.
iamque premunt muros (et adhuc noua funera narrat
Amphion) miseramque intrarant protinus urbem,                490
ni Megareus specula citus exclamasset ab alta:
'claude, uigil, subeunt hostes, claude undique portas!'
    est ubi dat uires nimius timor: ocius omnis
porta coit; solas dum tardius artat Echion
Ogygias, audax animis Spartana iuuentus                495

They tread even Sidonian Thebes herself in blood.
Capaneus urges: 'virtue, Pelasgi, has lain hidden long enough:
now, now it is fine for me to conquer, with the day as witness; with me, with clamour and open dust
go forth publicly, youths: and I have provident omens of the right hand
                485
and the rages of a dreadful sword drawn.'
thus he speaks; eager Adrastus kindles burning ardour
and the Argive son-in-law follows, the augur now the sadder.
and now they press the walls (and Amphion still tells of fresh funerals)
and at once they entered the wretched city,                490
unless Megareus from the high watchtower had quickly shouted:
'Shut, watchman, they approach, shut the gates on every side!'
    there is a place where excessive fear gives strength: more swiftly every
gate closes; while Echion alone more slowly bars the Ogygian portals
and the bold Spartan youth, spirited in courage,                495

inrupit, caesique ruunt in limine primo
incola Taygeti Panopeus rigidique natator
Oebalus Eurotae; turque, o spectate palaestris
omnibus et nuper Nemeaeo in puluere felix,
Alcidama, primis quem caestibus ipse ligarat                500
Tyndarides, nitidi moriens conuexa magistri
respicis: auerso pariter deus occidit astro.
te nemus Oebalium, te lubrica ripa Lacaenae
uirginis et falso gurges cantatus olori
flebit, Amyclaeis Triuiae lugebere Nymphis,                505
et quae te leges praeceptaque fortia belli
erudiit genetrix, nimium didicisse queretur.
talis Echionio Mauors in limine saeuit.
    tandem umeris obnixus Acron et pectore toto
pronus Ialmenides aeratae robora portae                510

he burst in, and the struck-down inhabitants rushed upon the first threshold—Panopeus of Taygetus and Oebalus, rigid-swimmer of the Eurotas; and the throng, O watchful palaestra spectators, and Alcidama, lately fortunate in Nemean dust, whom the Tyndarid himself had first bound in the gloves, look back as the shining master dies, his rounded form; with the star turned away the god alike strikes him down. The grove of Oebalus will bewail you, the slippery bank of the Lacedaemonian maiden and the false, sung-over whirlpool will weep for you; you will be mourned by the Amyclaean Nymphs of Trivia, and the mother who taught you the laws and the brave precepts of war will lament that you have learned too much. Thus Mars rages on Echion’s threshold. At last, straining on his shoulders Acron, and prostrate with all his breast, the Ialmenid leans upon the brazen beams of the gate

torserunt: quanta pariter ceruice gementes
profringunt inarata diu Pangaea iuuenci.
par operis iactura lucro, quippe hoste retento
exclusere suos; cadit intra moenia Graius
Ormenus, et pronas tendentis Amyntoris ulnas 515
fundentisque preces penitus ceruice remissa
uerba solo uultusque cadunt, colloque decorus
torquis in hostiles cecidit per uulnus harenas.
soluitur interea uallum, primaeque recusant
stare morae; iam se peditum iunxere cateruae 520
moenibus: at patulas saltu transmittere fossas
horror equis: haerent trepidi atque inmane pauentes
abruptum mirantur agi; nunc impetus ire
margine ab extremo, nunc sponte in frena recedunt.

they strained: with what necks alike moaning
the long- untilled Pangaean bullocks break through.
An equal loss of toil for gain, for with the enemy held back
they shut out their own; within the walls the Greek
Ormenus falls, and the forward-stretching arms of Amyntor
and the prayers poured forth, with neck wholly relaxed,
their words and faces fall to the ground, and the handsome
torque upon his neck fell into hostile sands through the wound.515
meanwhile the rampart gives way, and the first
delays refuse to stand; now bands of footmen have joined themselves
to the walls: but the horses dread leaping across the broad ditches:
the frightened cling and, hugely fearful, marvel at the sheer drop driven upon them;
now they urge an assault along the outer edge, now of their own accord they draw back to the reins.

hi praefixa solo uellunt munimina, at illi 525
portarum obiectus minuunt et ferrea sudant
claustra remoliri, trabibusque artata sonoro
pellunt saxa loco; pars ad fastigia missas
exultant haesisse faces, pars ima lacessunt
scrutanturque cauas caeca testudine turres. 530

these, the bulwarks fastened to the ground, would have held, but those
525
the obstacles of the gates diminish and the iron bolts sweat
to be moved back, and, braced with sounding beams,
they drive the stones from their place; some, to the roofs hurled,
rejoice that the torches have stuck, others attack the lower works
and search the hollow towers with a blind tortoise of shields. 530

    at Tyrii, quae sola salus, caput omne coronant
murorum, nigrasque sudes et lucida ferro
spicula et arsuras caeli per inania glandes
saxaque in aduersos ipsis auulsa rotabant
moenibus: exundant saeuo fastigia nimbo,                535
armataeque uomunt stridentia tela fenestrae.
qualiter aut Malean aut alta Ceraunia supra
cessantes in nube sedent nigrisque leguntur
collibus et subitae saliunt in uela procellae:
talis Agenoreis Argiuum exercitus armis                540
obruitur; non ora uirum, non pectora flectit
imber atrox, rectosque tenent in moenia uultus
inmemores leti et tantum sua tela uidentes.
Anthea falcato lustrantem moenia curru
desuper Ogygiae pepulit grauis impetus hastae;                545

    but at Tyre, which alone was safety, they crown the whole head
of the walls, and black beams and bright iron
spikes and firebrands hurled through the voids of the sky
and stones torn off and rolled against the ramparts themselves:
the battlements overflow with a savage storm,                535
and the armed windows vomit shrieking missiles.
As on Malea or the high Ceraunian peaks
the clouds pause and, borne on a black wind, are swept
over the hills and sudden squalls leap into the sails:
so is the Argive host, with Agenor’s arms,                540
overwhelmed; the savage shower bends neither faces of men nor chests,
and their straight faces hold on to the walls, forgetful of death and seeing only their own spears.
Antheus, sweeping the walls in a curved chariot,
was struck from above by the heavy onslaught of a spear from Ogygia;                 545

lora excussa manu, retroque in terga uolutus
semianimos artus ocreis retinentibus haeret;
mirandum uisu belli scelus: arma trahuntur,
fumantesque rotae tellurem et tertius hastae
sulcus arat; longo sequitur uaga puluere ceruix,                550
et resupinarum patet orbita lata comarum.
    at tuba luctificis pulsat clangoribus urbem
obsaeptasque fores sonitu perfringit amaro.
diuisere aditus, omnique in limine saeuus
signifer; ante omnes sua damna et gaudia portas.                555
dira intus facies, uix Mauors ipse uidendo
gaudeat; insanis lymphatam horroribus urbem
scindunt dissensu uario Luctusque Furorque
et Pauor et caecis Fuga circumfusa tenebris.

with the reins shaken from his hand, and rolled upon his back
his half-soulless limbs cling, held by enclosing greaves;
a wonder to the sight, the crime of war: arms are dragged,
and the smoking wheels plough the earth, and a third spear
furrows the soil; a wandering neck follows in long dust,                550
and the wide track of upturned hair lies open.
    but the trumpet with funereal clangs beats the city
and shatters the barred doors with a bitter sound.
they have divided the approaches, and on every threshold a savage
standard-bearer; before all he carries his own losses and joys to the gates.                555
dire faces within, scarcely even Mars himself rejoicing to see;
they rend the city, drenched in frenzied horrors, by varied discord—Grief and Fury
and Panic and Flight poured around in blind darkness.

Bellum intrasse putes: feruent discursibus arces, 560

You would think that war had entered: the citadels seethe with running to and fro, 560

miscentur clamore uiae, ferrum undique et ignes
mente uident, saeuas mente accepere catenas.
consumpsit uentura timor: iam tecta replerant
templaque, et ingratae uallantur planctibus arae.
una omnes eademque subit formido per annos: 565
poscunt fata senes, ardet palletque iuuentus,
atria femineis trepidant ululata querelis.

the streets are mingled with clamour; iron and fires
they see everywhere in their minds; the mind has taken on savage chains.
impending fear has consumed them: now the roofs were filled
and the temples, and the ungrateful altars are girt with laments.
una omnes eademque subit formido per annos: 565
the old men demand their fates, youth burns and grows pale,
the halls quake with women's trembling and ululating plaints.

flent pueri et flendi nequeunt cognoscere causas
attoniti et tantum matrum lamenta trementes.
illas cogit amor, nec habent extrema pudorem: 570
ipsae tela uiris, ipsae iram animosque ministrant,
hortanturque unaque ruunt, nec auita gementes
limina nec paruos cessant ostendere natos.
sic ubi pumiceo pastor rapturus ab antro
armatas erexit apes, fremit aspera nubes, 575

the boys weep, and cannot know the causes of their weeping,
astonished and trembling at nothing but their mothers’ lamentations.
love impels those women, nor do they have any ultimate shame: 570
they themselves hand weapons to men, they themselves minister wrath and courage,
and they exhort and together rush forth, nor, lamenting ancestral thresholds,
do they cease to show their little born sons. Thus when a shepherd, about to carry off
from a pumiceous cave the armed bees he had roused, a rough swarm hums, 575

inque uicem sese stridore hortantur et omnes
hostis in ora uolant, mox deficientibus alis
amplexae flauamque domum captiuaque plangunt
mella laboratasque premunt ad pectora ceras.
    nec non ancipitis pugnat sententia uulgi                580
discordesque serit motus: hi reddere fratrem
(nec mussant, sed uoce palam claroque tumultu),
reddere regna iubent; periit reuerentia regis
sollicitis: 'ueniat pactumque hic computet annum,
Cadmeosque lares exul patriasque salutet                585
infelix tenebras; cur autem ego sanguine fraudes
et periura luam regalis crimina noxae?'
inde alii: 'sera ista fides, iam uincere mauult.'
Tiresian alii lacrimis et supplice coetu
orant, quodque unum rebus solamen in artis,                590

and in turn with shrill sound encourage one another and all
fly to the enemy’s face, soon, with wings failing,
embracing the golden house and lamenting the captive
honey, and press worked wax to their breasts.
    nor lacks the two‑edged judgment of the crowd                580
and discord sows movement: these command to give back a brother
(and they do not whisper, but aloud with clear tumult),
they order the handing over of kingdoms; reverence for the king
has perished in anxious minds: 'let a pact come and reckon the year here,
and let him salute the Cadmean household and his native country as an exile                585
unhappy one, into darkness; but why should I repay with blood the frauds
and the royal crimes of perjury with injury?'
then others: 'this trust is late; he now prefers to win.'
Others beseech Tiresias with tears and a suppliant assembly
and plead what one solace there is for affairs in skill,                590

nosse futura rogant. tenet ille inclusa premitque
fata deum: 'quiane ante duci bene credita nostro
consilia et monitus, cum perfida bella uetarem?
te tamen, infelix,' inquit, 'perituraque Thebe,
si taceam, nequeo miser exaudire cadentem 595
Argolicumque oculis haurire uacantibus ignem.

they ask to know the things to come. He restrains and presses down the enclosed fates of the gods: 'why, then, should I formerly have entrusted my counsels and warnings to be led by you, when I was forbidding perfidious wars? Yet you, unhappy,' he says, 'and Thebes destined to perish, if I remain silent, I, wretched, cannot hear you falling nor with vacant eyes behold the Argive fire being drawn in.' 595
Argolicumque oculis haurire uacantibus ignem.

uincamur, Pietas; pone heia altaria, uirgo,
quaeramus superos.' facit illa, acieque sagaci
sanguineos flammarum apices geminumque per aras
ignem et clara tamen mediae fastigia lucis 600
orta docet; tunc in speciem serpentis inanem
ancipiti gyro uolui frangique rubore
demonstrat dubio, patriasque inluminat umbras.
ille coronatos iamdudum amplectitur ignes,
fatidicum sorbens uultu flagrante uaporem. 605

We are overcome, Piety; put down, hey, the altars, maiden,
let us seek the gods above.' She does so, and with keen sight
shows the blood-red tips of the flames and a twin fire through the altars
and yet teaches that the bright summits of mid-light have arisen 600
then in the semblance of a vain serpent
she rolls in a twofold coil and, broken with a blush,
points out the doubtful, and illumines the ancestral shadows.
He clasps the long-crowned fires already long embraced,
siphoning the prophetic vapor with a face all blazing. 605

stant tristes horrore comae, uittasque trementes
caesaries insana leuat: diducta putares
lumina consumptumque genis rediisse nitorem.
tandem exundanti permisit uerba furori:
'audite, o sontes, extrema litamina diuum, 610
Labdacidae: uenit alma salus, sed limite duro.
Martius inferias et saeua efflagitat anguis
sacra: cadat generis quicumque nouissimus extat
uiperei, datur hoc tantum uictoria pacto.

their hair stands sad with horror, the fillets trembling
the crazed head-lace lifts: you would think the eyes drawn apart
and the brilliance consumed had returned to the cheeks. At last she let words pour forth into her overflowing fury:
'hear, O guilty ones, the final purifications of the gods, 610
O Labdacidae: kindly salvation comes, but by a hard limit. A martial serpent demands funeral offerings and savage sacred rites:
let whoever is the latest that stands of the viperine race fall; by this pact alone is victory granted.

felix qui tanta lucem mercede relinquet.'                615
    stabat fatidici prope saeua altaria uatis
maestus, adhuc patriae tantum communia lugens
fata, Creon: grandem subiti cum fulminis ictum,
non secus ac torta traiectus cuspide pectus,
accipit exanimis sentitque Menoecea posci.                620

“happy is he who will depart this light as payment.”                615
    near the altar of the prophetic, the savage seer stood
sad, still lamenting only the common fates of the fatherland,
Creon: struck by a mighty blow of sudden lightning,
no less than a breast transfixed by a twisted spear,
he receives (him) lifeless and perceives that a Menoecean is demanded.                620

monstrat enim suadetque timor; stupet anxius alto
corda metu glaciante pater: Trinacria qualis
ora repercussum Libyco mare sumit ab aestu.
mox plenum Phoebo uatem et celerare iubentem,
nunc humilis genua amplectens, nunc ora canentis,                625
nequiquam reticere rogat; iam Fama sacratam
uocem amplexa uolat, clamantque oracula Thebae.
    nunc age, quis stimulos et pulchrae gaudia mortis
addiderit iuueni (neque enim haec absentibus umquam
mens homini transmissa deis), memor incipe Clio,                630
saecula te quoniam penes et digesta uetustas.
    diua Iouis solio iuxta comes, unde per orbem
rara dari terrisque solet contingere, Virtus,
seu pater omnipotens tribuit, siue ipsa capaces
elegit penetrare uiros, caelestibus ut tunc                635

for fear shows and urges it on; anxious the father stands, his heart frozen with deep dread:
what face of Trinacria the sea receives, driven back from the Libyan swell.
soon full of Phoebus the seer and bid to hasten,
now clasping humble knees, now the face of the singing man,                625
he begs in vain that he keep silent; already Fame, having embraced the consecrated voice,
flies, and the oracles of Thebes cry out.
    now come, remember, Clio, who added spurs and the fair delights of death
to the youth (for such things are never passed to absent men by the gods), begin mindful, Clio,                630
since the ages and dispersed antiquity are in your care.
    Goddess, next to Jupiter’s throne as companion, whence Virtue is wont to be given sparsely through the world and to touch the lands,
whether the omnipotent father grants it, or Virtue herself choosing capable men to penetrate, as then to the heavenly ones                635

desiluit gauisa plagis! dant clara meanti
astra locum quosque ipsa polis adfixerat ignes.
iamque premit terras, nec uultus ab aethere longe;
sed placuit mutare genas, fit prouida Manto,
responsis ut plana fides, et fraude priores 640
exuitur uultus.

she leapt down, joyful on the plains! Bright stars give each sea a place, which the city itself had fixed as fires.
and now she presses upon the lands, nor would her face be distant from the ether;
but it pleased that Manto change her cheeks, she becomes provident Manto,
as plain belief by answers, and by guile her former visage is stripped away. 640

abiit horrorque uigorque
ex oculis, paulum decoris permansit honosque
mollior, et posito uatum gestamina ferro
subdita; descendunt uestes, toruisque ligatur
uitta comis (nam laurus erat); tamen aspera produnt 645
ora deam nimiique gradus. sic Lydia coniunx
Amphitryoniaden exutum horrentia terga
perdere Sidonios umeris ridebat amictus
et turbare colus et tympana rumpere dextra.
sed neque te indecorem sacris dignumque iuberi 650
talia Dircaea stantem pro turre, Menoeceu,
inuenit; inmensae reserato limine portae
sternebas Danaos, pariter Mauortius Haemon.

gone were dread and vigor from her eyes;
a little of her grace and a softer honor remained,
and with the poets’ gear laid aside and put beneath iron
subdued; the garments descend, and a fillet is bound
around her stern hair (for it was laurel); yet harsh                645
features and excessive gait betray the goddess. Thus the Lydian wife
laughing, having stripped the bristling back of the Amphitryon-born,
was wrapped upon Sidonian shoulders to ruin
and to disturb the distaff and to snap the tambourines with her right hand.
    but Dircean found you there, Menoeceus, standing by the tower,
neither unbecoming nor unworthy to be bid for sacred rites;                650
you were strewing the Danaans before the opened threshold of the vast gate,
the warlike Haemon equally beside you.

sed consanguinei quamuis atque omnia fratres,
tu prior: exanimes circum cumulantur acerui; 655

but kin, consanguineous and even all your brothers, yet you first: the breathless are heaped around in a mound; 655

omne sedet telum, nulli sine caedibus ictus
(necdum aderat Virtus); non mens, non dextra quiescit,
non auida arma uacant, ipsa insanire uidetur
Sphinx galeae custos, uisoque animata cruore
emicat effigies et sparsa orichalca renident:                660
cum dea pugnantis capulum dextramque repressit:
'magnanime o iuuenis, quo non agnouerit ullum
certius armifero Cadmi de semine Mauors,
linque humiles pugnas, non haec tibi debita uirtus:
astra uocant, caeloque animam, plus concipe, mittes.                665
iamdudum hoc hilares genitor bacchatur ad aras,
hoc ignes fibraeque uolunt, hoc urguet Apollo:
terrigenam cuncto patriae pro sanguine poscunt.
Fama canit monitus, gaudet Cadmeia plebes
certa tui; rape mente deos, rape nobile fatum.                670

every weapon stands ready, no stroke falls without slaughter
(necdum aderat Virtus); neither mind nor right hand is at rest,
not even greedy arms are idle; the Sphinx herself, guardian of the galea,
seems to rage, and when blood is seen the living likeness flashes forth
and scattered orichalcum gleams:                660
when the goddess checked the warrior’s hilt and right hand she stayed him:
'O great-souled youth, by whom none will be known more surely
than Mauors, war-bringing, sprung from Cadmi's seed,
leave humble fights behind; such exploits are not the virtue due you:
the stars call, and heaven calls your spirit — conceive greater, you shall send forth.                665
long since for this cause your cheerful sire revels at the altars,
this is what the fires and the Fates desire, this Apollo urges:
they demand a native man for the whole blood of the fatherland.
Rumor sings the warning, the Cadmean people rejoice, certain of you;
seize the gods in your mind, seize your noble fate.'                670

i, precor, accelera, ne proximus occupet Haemon.'
sic ait, et magna cunctantis pectora dextra
permulsit tacite seseque in corde reliquit.
fulminis haud citius radiis adflata cupressus
combibit infestas et stirpe et uertice flammas, 675
quam iuuenis multo possessus numine pectus
erexit sensus letique inuasit amorem.
ut uero auersae gressumque habitumque notauit
et subitam a terris in nubila crescere Manto,
obstipuit.

'Go, I pray, make haste, lest the next take Haemon.'
thus she spoke, and with her great right hand she softly touched the heart of the hesitating one
and left herself behind in his breast. Swifter than the rays of lightning, a cypress struck by the bolt
consumes hostile flames both in its trunk and in its crown, 675
than the young man, long possessed by a much greater divinity, lifted his breast
and seized the senses and love of death invaded him. But when he noticed the woman's averted step and bearing
and Manto suddenly rising from the earth into the clouds,
he stood astonished.

'sequimur, diuum quaecumque uocasti, 680
nec tarde paremus,' ait; iam iamque recedens
instantem uallo Pylium tamen Agrea fixit.
armigeri fessum excipiunt; tum uulgus euntem
auctorem pacis seruatoremque deumque
conclamat gaudens atque ignibus implet honestis. 685

'we follow, whatever gods you have summoned, 680
and we will not be slow to obey,' he said; and even now withdrawing
the Pylian, though pressed by the rampart, nevertheless transfixed the pressing Agreus.
the arm-bearers receive the weary man; then the crowd, rejoicing, as he goes
proclaims him author of peace, preserver and god,
and fills him with honourable fires. 685

iamque iter ad muros cursu festinus anhelo
obtinet et miseros gaudet uitasse parentes,
cum genitor—steterunt ambo et uox haesit utrique,
deiectaeque genae. tandem pater ante profatus:
'quis nouus inceptis rapuit te casus ab armis? 690
quae bello grauiora paras? dic, nate, precanti,
cur tibi torua acies?

and now the route to the walls he held with a panting haste
and rejoiced to have escaped his wretched parents,
when the father—both stood and voice stuck in each of them,
and their cheeks were cast down. At last the father spoke first:
'what new mischance has snatched you from your undertaken arms? 690
what things graver than war do you prepare? speak, son, to one entreating,
why for you a stern aspect?

cur hic truculentus in ore
pallor, et ad patrios non stant tua lumina uultus?
audisti responsa, palam est. per ego oro tuosque,
nate, meosque annos miseraeque per ubera matris, 695
ne uati, ne crede, puer!

why this truculent pallor upon your face,
and do your looks not stand fitting to your fathers?
you have heard the responses; it is plain. By the gods I beg you, and by your years,
son, and by my years and by the wretched breasts of your mother, 695
do not trust the seer, do not believe, boy!

superine profanum
dignantur stimulare senem, cui uultus inanis
extinctique orbes et poena simillima diro
Oedipodae? quid si insidiis et fraude dolosa
rex agit, extrema cui nostra in sorte timori 700

do they deign to goad the profane old man on high,
to prick the aged one whose countenance is empty,
and whose circles of sight are extinguished, and a punishment most like that of dreadful Oedipus?
what if by ambush and deceitful fraud the king plots, for whom our fortunes lie in the utmost lot of fear 700

nobilitas tuaque ante duces notissima uirtus?
illius haec forsan, remur quae uerba deorum;
ille monet! ne frena animo permitte calenti,
da spatium tenuemque moram, male cuncta ministrat
impetus; hoc, oro, munus concede parenti. 705
sic tua maturis signentur tempora canis,
et sis ipse parens et ad hunc, animose, timorem
peruenias: ne perge meos orbare penates.

your nobility and your virtue most famous before leaders?
perhaps these things are his, even the words of the gods;
he warns! do not loose the reins to a heated spirit,
give space and a slender delay; rash impulse ill provides for all things;
this, I beg, grant as a gift to your parent. 705
thus may your seasons be marked by timely grayness of hair,
and be yourself a parent and, brave one, attain to this fear:
do not go on to bereave my household Penates.

externi te nempe patres alienaque tangunt
pignora? si pudor est, primum miserere tuorum. 710
haec pietas, hic uerus honos; ibi gloria tantum
uentosumque decus titulique in morte latentes.
nec timidus te flecto parens: i, proelia misce,
i Danaas acies mediosque per obuius enses:
non teneo; liceat misero tremibunda lauare 715

Do foreign fathers indeed touch you, and alien pledges?
if there is any shame, first have pity on your own. 710
this is piety, this true honour; there only glory and a windy adornment
and titles lying hidden in death.
nor do I, a fearful parent, bend you: go, mix in the battles,
go into the Danaan ranks and the swords meeting in the midst:
I do not hold you; let the trembling wretch be allowed to wash away 715

uulnera et undantem lacrimis siccare cruorem,
teque iterum saeuis iterumque remittere bellis.
hoc malunt Thebae.' sic colla manusque tenebat
implicitus; sed nec lacrimae nec uerba mouebant
dis uotum iuuenem; quin et monstrantibus illis 720
fraude patrem tacita subit auertitque timorem:
'falleris heu uerosque metus, pater optime, nescis.
non me ulli monitus, nec uatum exorsa furentum
sollicitant uanisque mouent (sibi callidus ista
Tiresias nataeque canat) non si ipse reclusis 725
comminus ex adytis in me insaniret Apollo.

to dry wounds and the blood flowing with tears, and to send you back again and again into savage wars. Thebes prefer this.' Thus he held his neck and hands bound; but neither tears nor words moved the youth's vow to the gods; nay, even with them pointing, by a deceit he silently creeps up to his father and turns away his fear:
'You are mistaken, alas, and know not true fear, most excellent father. No admonition of any man, nor the prophets' begun frenzy stirs or moves me (let Tiresias and his daughter sing those things, crafty for themselves), not even if Apollo himself, having been revealed from the inner shrines, should rave against me hand to hand.' 720

sed grauis unanimi casus me fratris ad urbem
sponte refert: gemit Inachia mihi saucius Haemon
cuspide; uix illum medio de puluere belli
inter utrasque acies, iam iamque tenentibus Argis— 730

sed the grievous fate of my like-minded brother brings me back to the city of my own accord:
gemit Inachia mihi, Haemon wounded by a spear;
scarcely him from the midst of the dust of war
between the two ranks, the Argives already and again pressing— 730

sed moror. i, refoue dubium turbaeque ferenti
dic, parcant leuiterque uehant; ego uulnera doctum
iungere supremique fugam reuocare cruoris
Aetiona petam.' sic imperfecta locutus
effugit; illi atra mersum caligine pectus                735
confudit sensus; pietas incerta uagatur
discordantque metus, impellunt credere Parcae.
    turbidus interea ruptis uenientia portis
agmina belligeri Capaneus agit aequore campi,
cornua nunc equitum, cuneos nunc ille pedestres,                740
et proculcantes moderantum funera currus;
idem altas turres saxis et turbine crebro
laxat, agit turmas idem atque in sanguine fumat.

but I delay. Go, recall the wavering man and him who bears the crowd,
say, spare him and carry him lightly; I will seek Aetion, skilled
to bind wounds and to call back the flight of the last blood.' Thus, having left words unfinished,
he fled; for him his breast plunged, steeped in black gloom, confounded his senses;                735
uncertain piety wanders and fears are at odds, the Parcae urge him to believe.
    Meanwhile turbulent, with the gates burst open, Capaneus marshals
the warlike ranks across the plain's surface,
now the horns of horsemen, now he the infantry's wedges,                740
and the chariots trampling down the funerals of those who would restrain them;
the same loosens high towers with stones and with frequent whirlwind,
the same drives the squadrons and fumes in blood.

nunc spargit torquens uolucri noua uulnera plumbo,
nunc iaculum excusso rotat in sublime lacerto, 745

now, twisting, he scatters fresh wounds with winged lead,
now he hurls a javelin from his swung upper arm into the lofty air, 745

nullaque tectorum subit ad fastigia, quae non
deferat hasta uirum perfusaque caede recurrat.
nec iam aut Oeniden aut Hippomedonta peremptos
aut uatem Pelopea Phalanx aut Arcada credunt;
quin socium coiisse animas et corpore in uno                 750
stare omnes, ita cuncta replet. non ullius aetas,
non cultus, non forma mouet; pugnantibus idem
supplicibusque furit; non quisquam obsistere contra,
non belli temptare uices: procul arma furentis
terribilesque iubas et frontem cassidis horrent.                755
    at pius electa murorum in parte Menoeceus
iam sacer aspectu solitoque augustior ore,
ceu subito in terras supero demissus ab axe,
constitit, exempta manifestus casside nosci,
despexitque acies hominum et clamore profundo                760
conuertit campum iussitque silentia bello.

null does he fail to mount the roofs’ ridges to which no spear would not carry off a man and return bathed in slaughter.
nor now do they believe Oenides or Hippomedon slain,
nor the seer Phalanx of Pelops’ stock or any Arcadian;
nay they think that souls have met and all stand in one body,                 750
so fully does he fill all things. No age,
no training, no beauty moves him; he rages the same
against the fighters and the suppliants; no one can stand against him,
nor essay the turns of war: from afar the arms of the raging man
and terrible crests bristle and the brow of his helmet bristles.                755
    but pious Menoeceus, chosen for a part of the walls,
now sacred in his bearing and more august in his accustomed face,
as if suddenly let down from the highest axle to the earth,
stood, his helmet taken off so that he was plain to recognize,
and he looked down upon the ranks of men and with a deep shout                760
turned the field and commanded silence for the war.

'armorum superi, tuque o qui funere tanto
indulges mihi, Phoebe, mori, date gaudia Thebis
quae pepigi et toto quae sanguine prodigus emi.
ferte retro bellum captaeque impingite Lernae 765

'gods above of arms, and you, O Phoebus, who by so great a death indulgest me to die, grant joys to Thebes which I contracted and which, prodigal, I bought with my whole blood. Bear back the war and thrust it upon captured Lerna 765

reliquias turpes, confixaque terga fouentes
Inachus indecores pater auersetur alumnos.
at Tyriis templa, arua, domos, conubia, natos
reddite morte mea: si uos placita hostia iuui,
si non attonitis uatis consulta recepi 770
auribus et Thebis nondum credentibus hausi,
haec Amphioniis pro me persoluite terris
ac mihi deceptum, precor, exorate parentem.'
sic ait, insignemque animam mucrone corusco
dedignantem artus pridem maestamque teneri 775
arripit atque uno quaesitam uulnere rumpit.
sanguine tunc spargit turres et moenia lustrat,
seque super medias acies, nondum ense remisso,
iecit et in saeuos cadere est conatus Achiuos.

the shameful remnants, the pierced backs nursing
Inachus the unseemly father turns away from his children. But give back, Tyrian temples, fields, homes, marriages, and sons
to my death: if I have been pleasing as a victim to you,
if not, I received the oracle of the seer into my astonished ears 770
and having drained it while Thebes not yet believing, pay this for me on the Amphionian lands
and, I pray, entreat my deceived parent on my behalf.'
thus he speaks, and with a flashing blade seizes the noble spirit
that long scorned the limbs and the grief to be held 775
and rends it with a single sought wound. Then he sprinkles the towers and circles the walls with blood,
and, himself among the middle battle-lines, his sword not yet slackened,
he hurled himself and set the Greeks to fall into savage panic.

ast illum amplexae Pietas Virtusque ferebant 780

but Pietas and Virtus, having embraced him, were bearing him 780

leniter ad terras corpus; nam spiritus olim
ante Iouem et summis apicem sibi poscit in astris.
    iamque intra muros nullo sudore receptum
gaudentes heroa ferunt: abscesserat ultro
Tantalidum uenerata cohors; subit agmine longo                785
colla inter iuuenum, laetisque fauoribus omni
concinitur uulgo Cadmum atque Amphiona supra
conditor; hi sertis, hi ueris honore soluto
accumulant artus patriaque in sede reponunt
corpus adoratum. repetunt mox bella peractis                790
laudibus; hic uicta genitor lacrimabilis ira
congemit, et tandem matri data flere potestas:
'lustralemne feris ego te, puer inclute, Thebis
deuotumque caput uilis ceu mater alebam?

gently to the earth the body; for the spirit long ago
before Jupiter demands its apex for itself among the highest stars.
and now within the walls, received with no sweat,
they joyfully bear the hero: the reverent cohort of the Tantalids
had departed of their own accord; it approaches in a long procession 785
necks among the youths, and with every joyful favor
the commons chant Cadmus and Amphion above,
the founder; these with garlands, these with spring-like honors unbound
heap up his limbs and restore the adored body to the native seat.
They presently renew, their praises finished, the wars;
here the defeated father groans with tearful wrath,
and at last the power to weep is given to the mother:
'Do I bear you, illustrious boy, as a lustral gift to Thebes
and your devoted head, as if a worthless mother, did I nurse?'

quod molita nefas? cui tantum inuisa deorum? 795

What impious deed have you wrought? For whom so greatly hateful to the gods? 795

non ego monstrifero coitu reuoluta notaui
pignora, nec nato peperi funesta nepotes.
quid refert? habet ecce suos Iocasta ducesque
regnantesque uidet: nos saeua piacula bello
demus, ut alterni (placet hoc tibi, fulminis auctor?) 800
Oedipodionii mutent diademata fratres?

I did not mark pledges turned by monstrous intercourse,
nor did I bear to my son fatal descendants.
What does it matter? behold Jocasta has her own, and sees leaders
and those reigning: shall we render savage expiations by war,
that in turn (does this please you, author of the thunder?) 800
the Oedipodian brothers may change their diadems?

quid superos hominesue queror? tu, saeue Menoeceu,
tu miseram ante omnes properasti extinguere matrem.
unde hic mortis amor?

why do I complain of the superi or of men?
tu, cruel Menoeceu, you above all hastened to extinguish my wretched mother.
whence this love of death?

quae sacra insania menti?
quosue ego conceptus aut quae male pignora fudi 805
tam diuersa mihi? nimirum Martius anguis,
quaeque nouis proauum tellus effloruit armis—
hinc animi tristes nimiusque in pectore Mauors,
et de matre nihil.

what sacred madness of mind?
or what offspring did I conceive, or what ill-pledges did I pour forth 805
so unlike to me? no doubt a Martial serpent,
and the land that bloomed a forefather in new arms—
hence a gloomy spirit and excessive Mars in my breast,
and nothing of the mother.

sponte en ultroque peremptus
inrumpis maestas Fatis nolentibus umbras. 810

Behold — slain by his own will and from both sides — you burst into the sorrowful shades, the Fates unwilling. 810

ast egomet Danaos Capaneaque tela uerebar:
haec erat, haec metuenda manus ferrumque quod amens
ipsa dedi. uiden ut iugulo consumpserit ensem?
altius haud quisquam Danaum mucrone subisset.'
diceret infelix etiamnum et cuncta repleret 815
questibus: abducunt comites famulaeque perosam
solantes thalamoque tenent, sedet eruta multo
ungue genas; non illa diem, non uerba precantum
respicit aut uisus flectit tellure relictos,
iam uocis, iam mentis inops.

but I myself feared the Danaans and Capanean weapons:
this was the hand to fear, this the sword which, mad, I myself gave.
see how he has devoured the blade at the throat?
no one of the Danaans ever thrust deeper with the point.'
the unhappy man would still speak and fill all things with laments 815
his companions and the handmaids lead the beloved away, consoling,
and hold her in the bedchamber, she sits, her cheeks torn by many a nail;
she neither regards the day nor the words of those praying
nor turns her eyes down to the earth left behind,
now bereft of voice, now of mind.

sic aspera tigris 820
fetibus abreptis Scythico deserta sub antro
accubat et tepidi lambit uestigia saxi;
nusquam irae, sedit rabidi feritasque famesque
oris, eunt praeter secura armenta gregesque:
aspicit illa iacens; ubi enim quibus ubera pascat 825

thus the savage tigress 820
her cubs having been snatched away, abandoned beneath a Scythian cave
she reclines and licks the warm tracks of the rock;
nowhere is there settled wrath, nor the raging fierceness and hunger
of her mouth; they pass by, the flocks and herds secure:
she lies and gazes; for where, by whom, she is to feed her teats 825

aut quos ingenti premat expectata rapina?
hactenus arma, tubae, ferrumque et uulnera: sed nunc
comminus astrigeros Capaneus tollendus in axes.
non mihi iam solito uatum de more canendum;
maior ab Aoniis poscenda amentia lucis: 830
mecum omnes audete deae!

or whom will the expected rapine press with mighty weight?
thus far arms, trumpets, iron and wounds: but now
at close quarters Capaneus, chariot‑borne, must be hurled into the wheels of the sky.
no longer for me to sing in the customary fashion of the seers;
a greater frenzy must be demanded from the Aonian lyres: 830
be bold, all goddesses, with me!

siue ille profunda
missus nocte furor, Capaneaque signa secutae
arma Iouem contra Stygiae rapuere sorores,
seu uirtus egressa modum, seu gloria praeceps,
seu magnae data fama neci, seu laeta malorum                835
principia et blandae superum mortalibus irae.
    iam sordent terrena uiro taedetque profundae
caedis, et exhaustis olim Graiumque suisque
missilibus lassa respexit in aethera dextra.
ardua mox toruo metitur culmina uisu,                 840
innumerosque gradus gemina latus arbore clausos
aerium sibi portat iter, longeque timendus
multifidam quercum flagranti lumine uibrat;
arma rubent una clipeoque incenditur ignis.

whether that madness, sent from the profound night, or the Stygian sisters, having followed Capanean standards, seized arms against Jove,
or virtue having gone beyond measure, or headlong glory,
or the fame granted to great slaughter, or the joyous beginnings of ills                835
and the bland anger of the gods toward mortals.
    now earthly things grow vile to the man and he is weary of deep slaughter,
and, his once-exhausted missiles of the Greeks and his own spent, wearied, he looked back into the aether with his right hand.
soon he measures lofty summits with a stern gaze,                 840
and bears for himself an aerial way with innumerable steps, the sides closed by a twin tree;
and, to be feared from far, he shakes a many-forked oak with flashing light;
arms glow together and fire is kindled upon the shield.

'hac' ait 'in Thebas, hac me iubet ardua uirtus 845

'this way,' he says, 'to Thebes; this arduous virtue bids me' 845

ire, Menoeceo qua lubrica sanguine turris.
experiar quid sacra iuuent, an falsus Apollo.'
dicit, et alterno captiua in moenia gressu
surgit ouans: quales mediis in nubibus aether
uidit Aloidas, cum cresceret impia tellus                850
despectura deos nec adhuc inmane ueniret
Pelion et trepidum iam tangeret Ossa Tonantem.
    tunc uero attoniti fatorum in cardine summo,
ceu suprema lues urbi facibusque cruentis
aequatura solo turres Bellona subiret,                855
omnibus e tectis certatim ingentia saxa
roboraque et ualidas fundae Balearis habenas,
nam iaculis caeloque uagis spes unde sagittis?—
uerum auidi et tormenta rotant et molibus urguent.

to go, to the tower where slippery blood for Menoeceus flows.
I will try whether the sacred rites aid, or Apollo is false.'
he says, and the captive, rejoicing, mounts the walls with alternating step:
such as the Aloidae saw in the midst of the clouds,
when the impious earth was swelling                850
about to look down on the gods, and not yet had the vast Pelion come
and trembling Ossa would already touch the Thunderer.
    then indeed, struck at the highest hinge of the fates,
as if a final plague for the city, with bloody torches to make level with the ground,
Bellona would mount her towers,                855
from every roof contending, great stones
and oak-trees and strong slings and Balearic thongs,
for whence is hope against javelins and arrows roaming the sky?—
but the eager hurlers both whirl their engines and press with their masses.

ille nec ingestis nec terga sequentibus umquam 860

he neither fled nor ever turned his back upon those pursuing 860

detrahitur telis, uacuoque sub aere pendens
plana uelut terra certus uestigia figat,
tendit et ingenti subit occurrente ruina:
amnis ut incumbens longaeui robora pontis
adsiduis oppugnat aquis; iam saxa fatiscunt                865
emotaeque trabes: tanto uiolentior ille
(sentit enim) maiore salo quassatque trahitque
molem aegram, nexus donec celer alueus omnes
abscidit et cursu uictor respirat aperto.
utque petita diu celsus fastigia supra                870
eminuit trepidamque adsurgens desuper urbem
uidit et ingenti Thebas exterruit umbra,
increpat attonitos: ~'humilesne Amphionis arces,
pro pudor, hi faciles, carmenque imbelle secuti,
hi, mentita diu Thebarum fabula, muri?~                875

is pulled down by missiles, and hanging in the empty air
like level ground he plants sure footsteps,
he strains and meets a vast-approaching ruin:
as a river leaning on the aged timbers of a bridge
assails them with unceasing waters; now the stones split 865
and the beams are loosened: the more violent he
(for he feels it) with a greater surge of salt breaks and drags
and shakes the sick mass, until the fastenings the swift hull
cuts all away and, victorious, breathes in open course.
and when on high he rose above the long-sought summits 870
and, rising from above, saw the trembling city
and terrified Thebes by his vast shadow,
he lashes the stunned: 'are these the humble strongholds of Amphion,
for shame, these compliant ones, and having followed the feeble song,
these, the walls—Thebes' tale long since fabricated?'

et quid tam egregium prosternere moenia molli
structa lyra?' simul insultans gressuque manuque
molibus obstantes cuneos tabulataque saeuus
restruit: absiliunt pontes, tectique trementis
saxea frena labant, dissaeptoque aggere rursus                880
utitur et truncas rupes in templa domosque
praecipitat frangitque suis iam moenibus urbem.
    iamque Iouem circa studiis diuersa fremebant
Argolici Tyriique dei; pater, aequus utrisque,
aspicit ingentes ardentum comminus iras                885
seque obstare uidet. gemit inseruante nouerca
Liber et obliquo respectans lumine patrem:
'nunc ubi saeua manus, meaque heu cunabula flammae?

and why so famed a wall to overthrow, built by the gentle lyre?' at once leaping upon them, with foot and hand the fierce one thrusts back the wedges that bar the masses and the beams; the bridges tumble down, and the stone clamps of the trembling roofs slip, and with the rampart broken apart again 880
he uses uprooted crags and hurls them into temples and houses and with his walls already his own he shatters the city.
and now the gods of Argos and of Tyre, differing in zeal, roared around Jupiter; the father, impartial to both, beholds their vast angers blazing close at hand
and sees himself thwarted. Liber groans with the stepmother attending, and, looking back at his father with an oblique glance:
'now where the savage hand, and alas my cradle of flame?'

fulmen, io ubi fulmen?' ait. gemit auctor Apollo
quas dedit ipse domos; Lernam Thebasque rependit 890

“Thunderbolt — ho, where is the thunderbolt?” he said. Apollo the auctor groans at the houses which he himself gave; he weighs Lerna and Thebes in the balance. 890

maestus et intento dubitat Tirynthius arcu;
maternos plangit uolucer Danaeius Argos;
flet Venus Harmoniae populos metuensque mariti
stat procul et tacita Gradiuum respicit ira.
increpat Aonios audax Tritonia diuos, 895
Iunonem tacitam furibunda silentia torquent.
non tamen haec turbant pacem Iouis, ecce quierant
iurgia cum mediis Capaneus auditus in astris,
'nullane pro trepidis,' clamabat, 'numina Thebis
statis?

sad, and with his bow drawn the Tirynthian hesitates;
the swift Danaean Argos laments his mother;
Venus weeps for Harmonia's peoples and, fearing her husband,
stands far off and with a silent wrath looks back at Mars.
increpat Aonios audax Tritonia diuos, 895
she twists furious silences at silent Juno.
yet these things do not disturb Jove's peace; behold, the quarrels had subsided when Capaneus was heard amid the stars,
'are there no gods,' he shouted, 'for trembling Thebes who stand?'

ubi infandae segnes telluris alumni, 900
Bacchus et Alcides? piget instigare minores:
tu potius uenias (quis enim concurrere nobis
dignior?); en cineres Semelaeaque busta tenentur!
nunc age, nunc totis in me conitere flammis,
Iuppiter!

where the sluggish offspring of the accursed earth, 900
Bacchus and Alcides? it disgusts me to urge the younger ones:
you rather come (for who indeed is more worthy to contend with us?); behold the ashes and the Semelaean pyres are held fast!
now come, now concentrate all your flames upon me,
Jupiter!

an pauidas tonitru turbare puellas                905
fortior et soceri turres excindere Cadmi?'
    ingemuit dictis superum dolor; ipse furentem
risit et incussa sanctarum mole comarum,
'quaenam spes hominum tumidae post proelia Phlegrae?
tune etiam feriendus?' ait. premit undique lentum                910

or to disturb the trembling girls with thunder                905
stronger and to raze the towers of Cadmus, the father-in-law?'
    the grief of the gods groaned at the words; he himself laughed at her raging
and at the shaken mass of her sacred hair,
'what hope for men swollen after the battles of Phlegra?
must he also be struck then?' he said. He presses everywhere the sluggish                910

turba deum frendens et tela ultricia poscit,
nec iam audet fatis turbata obsistere coniunx.
ipsa dato nondum caelestis regia signo
sponte tonat, coeunt ipsae sine flamine nubes
accurruntque imbres: Stygias rupisse catenas                915
Iapetum aut uictam supera ad conuexa leuari
Inarimen Aetnamue putes. pudet ista timere
caelicolas; sed cum in media uertigine mundi
stare uirum insanasque uident deposcere pugnas,
mirantur taciti et dubio pro fulmine pallent.                920
coeperat Ogygiae supra fastigia turris
arcanum mugire polus caelumque tenebris
auferri: tenet ille tamen, quas non uidet, arces,
fulguraque attritis quotiens micuere procellis,
'his' ait 'in Thebas, his iam decet ignibus uti,                925

the mob of gods gnashing and demanding avenging shafts,
nor now dares the wife, shaken by the fates, to stand opposed.
she herself, no sign of the heavenly sceptre yet given,
thunders of her own accord, the very clouds gather without flame
and the rains run up: you would think Iapetus's chains torn apart                915
or Inarus or Aetna lifted to the upper vaults conquered.
it shames the gods to fear these things; but when they see a man
standing in the middle of the world's summit and demanding mad battles,
they marvel in silence and grow pale at the thunder uncertain for a bolt.                920
atop Ogygia the tower had begun to roar its secret,
the pole to howl and the sky to be borne away in darkness: yet he holds fast the citadels he does not see,
and as often as the lightnings flashed with storms worn thin,
'by these,' he said, 'to Thebes, by these it is fitting now to employ fires,                925

hinc renouare faces lassamque accendere quercum.'
talia dicentem toto Ioue fulmen adactum
corripuit: primae fugere in nubila cristae,
et clipei niger umbo cadit, iamque omnia lucent
membra uiri. cedunt acies, et terror utrimque, 930
quo ruat, ardenti feriat quas corpore turmas.
[intra se stridere facem galeamque comasque
quaerit, et urentem thoraca repellere dextra
conatus ferri cinerem sub pectore tractat.]
stat tamen, extremumque in sidera uersus anhelat, 935
pectoraque inuisis obicit fumantia muris;
nec caderet, sed membra uirum terrena relinquunt,
exuiturque animus; paulum si tardius artus
cessissent, potuit fulmen sperare secundum.

from here to renew the torches and to rekindle the weary oak.'
as he spoke such things, Jove's bolt, driven through the whole sky,
seized him: the foremost crests fled into clouds,
and the black boss of the shield falls, and now all the limbs
of the man shine. The ranks give way, and terror on both sides 930
where he may fall, would strike those squadrons with a burning body. [within himself he hears the torch, the helmet, and the hair hiss,
he seeks them, and, trying with his right hand to thrust back the burning breastplate,
he handles the ash of the sword beneath his chest.]
yet he stands, and panting turns his face toward the farthest stars, 935
and he exposes his smoking chest to the unseen walls;
nor would he have fallen, but the man's earthly limbs quit him,
and the spirit is stripped away; had the limbs delayed but a little longer,
they could have hoped for a second bolt.