Statius: THEBAID

Nondum cuncta polo uigil inclinauerat astra
ortus et instantem cornu tenuiore uidebat
Luna diem, trepidas ubi iam Tithonia nubes
discutit ac reduci magnum parat aethera Phoebo:
agmina iam raris Dircaea penatibus errant,                5
noctis questa moras; quamuis tunc otia tandem
et primus post bella sopor, tamen aegra quietem
pax fugat et saeui meminit uictoria belli.
uix primo proferre gradum et munimina ualli
soluere, uix totas reserare audacia portas;                10
stant ueteres ante ora metus campique uacantis
horror: ut adsiduo iactatis aequore tellus
prima labat, sic attoniti nil comminus ire
mirantur fusasque putant adsurgere turmas.
sic ubi perspicuae scandentem limina turris                15

Not yet had the sunrise inclined all the wakeful stars in the sky,
and the Moon with a thinner horn was seeing the pressing day,
when already the Tithonian dawn scatters the trembling clouds
and prepares the great aether for returning Phoebus:
already the Dircaean ranks wander among sparse hearths,                5
complaining of the delays of night; although then at last there were leisures
and the first sleep after wars, yet sickly peace puts flight to rest,
and victory remembers the savage war.
Hardly to put forth a first step and to loosen the bulwarks of the rampart,
hardly does boldness unbar the whole gates;                 10
the old fears stand before their faces and the horror of the empty plain:
as land first reels to those tossed by the constant sea,
so, thunderstruck, they marvel to go at close quarters upon nothing,
and think routed masses are rising up.
So, when to the thresholds of a far-seeing tower one climbs—                15

Idaliae uolucres fuluum aspexere draconem,
intus agunt natos et feta cubilia uallant
unguibus imbellesque citant ad proelia pennas;
mox ruerit licet ille retro, tamen aera nudum
candida turba timet, tandemque ingressa uolatus                20
horret et a mediis etiamnum respicit astris.
    itur in exanguem populum bellique iacentis
reliquias, quacumque dolor luctusque, cruenti,
exegere, duces; hi tela, hi corpora, at illi
caesorum tantum ora uident alienaque iuxta                25
pectora; pars currus deflent uiduisque loquuntur,
hoc solum quia restat, equis; pars oscula figunt
uulneribus magnis et de uirtute queruntur.
frigida digeritur strages: patuere recisae
cum capulis hastisque manus mediisque sagittae                30

The Idalian birds beheld a tawny dragon,
they drive their young inside and rampart the teeming nests
with their claws, and they rouse their unwarlike wings to battles;
though he may soon rush backward, nevertheless the bright throng
fears the naked air, and at length, once entering their flights,                20
it shudders and even looks back from the mid-stars.
    there is a going against the bloodless people and the remnants
of the prostrate war, wherever grief and mourning, bloody ones,
have driven the leaders; these look to the weapons, these to the bodies, but those
see only the faces of the slain and, close by, alien                25
chests; some bewail the chariots and speak to the widowed,
since this alone remains, horses; some fasten kisses
upon the great wounds and complain of valor.
The cold slaughter is sorted: lay open were severed
hands with hilts and spears, and arrows in the middles.                30

luminibus stantes; multis uestigia caedis
nulla: ruunt planctu pendente et ubique parato.
at circum informes truncos miserabile surgit
certamen qui iusta ferant, qui funera ducant.
saepe etiam hostiles (lusit Fortuna parumper) 35
decepti fleuere uiros; nec certa facultas
noscere quem miseri uitent calcentue cruorem.

standing in the eyes; for many, no vestiges of slaughter:
they rush with lament pending and prepared everywhere.
but around misshapen trunks a pitiable contest rises
as to who should bear the rightful rites, who should lead the funerals.
often even the enemy (Fortune played for a little) 35
deceived, wept for the men; nor any sure capacity
to know whose gore the wretches should avoid or tread.

at quibus est inlaesa domus uacuique doloris,
aut deserta uagi Danaum tentoria lustrant
inmittuntque faces, aut (quae post bella uoluptas) 40
quaerunt dispersi iaceat quo puluere Tydeus,
an rapti pateat specus auguris, aut ubi diuum
hostis, an aetheriae uiuant per membra fauillae.
iam lacrimis exempta dies, nec serus abegit
Vesper: amant miseri lamenta malisque fruuntur. 45

but for those whose house is uninjured and void of grief,
either they, wandering, survey the deserted tents of the Danaans
and cast in torches, or (what a pleasure after wars) 40
scattered they seek in what dust Tydeus lies,
whether the cave of the snatched-away augur lies open, or where the enemy
of the gods [is], and whether ethereal cinders live through his limbs.
now the day has been taken up by tears, nor has tardy
Vesper driven them away: the wretched love laments and take pleasure in their ills. 45

nec subiere domos, sed circum funera pernox
turba sedet, uicibusque datis alterna gementes
igne feras planctuque fugant; nec dulcibus astris
uicta, nec adsiduo coierunt lumina fletu.
tertius Aurorae pugnabat Lucifer, et iam                50
montibus orbatis, lucorum gloria, magnae
Teumesi uenere trabes et amica Cithaeron
silua rogis; ardent excisae uiscera gentis
molibus extructis: supremo munere gaudent
Ogygii manes; queritur miserabile Graium                55
nuda cohors uetitumque gemens circumuolat ignem.
accipit et saeui manes Eteoclis iniquos
haudquaquam regalis honos; Argiuus haberi
frater iussus adhuc atque exule pellitur umbra.
    at non plebeio fumare Menoecea busto                60

nor did they enter their homes, but an all-night crowd sits around the funerals,
and, turns being given, groaning by turns, they drive off wild beasts with fire and with lamentation; nor, overcome by the sweet stars,
did their eyes, nor did their lids meet from assiduous weeping.
the third Lucifer was contending with Aurora, and already                50
the mountains stripped, the glory of the groves, beams came to great Teumesus, and friendly Cithaeron
brought a forest for pyres; the inwards of the hewn-down nation blaze
on masses built up: the Ogygian shades rejoice in the last honor;
the naked cohort of the Greeks laments pitiably and, groaning, flits around the forbidden fire.                55
even the savage manes of Eteocles receive an inequitable, by-no-means regal honor; the brother
is ordered still to be held Argive and is driven off, an exiled shade.
    but not to have Menoeceus smoke on a plebeian pyre                60

rex genitor Thebaeque sinunt, nec robora uilem
struxerunt de more rogum, sed bellicus agger
curribus et clipeis Graiorumque omnibus armis
sternitur; hostiles super ipse, ut uictor, aceruos
pacifera lauro crinem uittisque decorus                65
accubat: haud aliter quam cum poscentibus astris
laetus in accensa iacuit Tirynthius Oeta.
spirantes super inferias, captiua Pelasgum
corpora frenatosque, pater, solacia sorti
bellorum, mactabat equos; his arduus ignis                70
palpitat, et gemitus tandem erupere paterni:
'o nisi magnanimae nimius te laudis inisset
ardor, Echionios mecum uenerande penates
atque ultra recture puer, uenientia qui nunc
gaudia et ingratum mihi munus acerbas!                75

the king-father and Thebes permit it, nor did timbers build a cheap pyre according to custom, but a warlike rampart is spread with chariots and shields and all the arms of the Graians; above hostile heaps he himself, as a victor, reclines, his hair adorned with peace-bearing laurel and fillets; 65
not otherwise than when, the stars demanding, the Tirynthian lay rejoicing on kindled Oeta.
over the funeral offerings, the still-breathing captive bodies of the Pelasgians and bridled horses—the consolations, father, for the lot of wars—he was sacrificing; on these the towering fire palpitates, and at last a father’s groans burst forth:
‘O, had not an excessive ardor of magnanimous praise entered you, boy to be revered with me at the Echionian Penates and destined to rule further, you who now embitter the joys that were coming and a gift unpleasing to me!’ 75

tu superum conuexa licet coetusque perenni
(credo equidem) uirtute colas, mihi flebile semper
numen eris; ponant aras excelsaque Thebae
templa dicent: uni fas sit lugere parenti.
et nunc heu quae digne tibi sollemnia quasue 80
largiar exequias? nec si fatale potestas
Argos et impulsas cineri miscere Mycenas,
meque super, cui uita (nefas!) et sanguine nati
partus honos.

you—though you inhabit the convexities of the gods and the everlasting concourse (I truly believe) by your virtue—will be to me a lamentable divinity forever; let Thebes set up altars and will dedicate lofty temples: for one parent alone let it be lawful to mourn. And now, alas, what solemnities worthy of you, or what exequies, shall I bestow? nor, even if a fated power allowed me to mingle Argos and driven Mycenae with ash, and, over and above, for me, whose life (abomination!) and the honor of begetting were by a son’s blood.

eademne dies, eadem impia bella
te, puer, et diros misere in Tartara fratres? 85
et nunc Oedipodi par est fortuna doloris
ac mihi? quam similes gemimus, bone Iuppiter, umbras!
accipe, nate, tui noua libamenta triumphi,
accipe et hoc regimen dextrae frontisque superbae
uincula, quae patri minimum laetanda dedisti. 90

Did the same day, the same impious wars,
send you, boy, and your dread brothers down to Tartarus? 85
and now is the fortune of grief equal for Oedipus
and for me? how similar shades we lament, good Jupiter!
receive, son, the new libations of your triumph,
receive also this rein of your right hand and the bonds of your proud forehead,
which you granted to your father all too little to be rejoiced in. 90

regem te, regem tristes Eteocleos umbrae
aspiciant.' simul haec dicens crinemque manumque
destruit, accensaque iterat uiolentius ira:
'saeuum agedum inmitemque uocent si funera Lernae
tecum ardere ueto; longos utinam addere sensus 95
corporibus caeloque animas Ereboque nocentes
pellere fas, ipsumque feras, ipsum unca uolucrum
ora sequi atque artus regum monstrare nefandos!
ei mihi, quod positos humus alma diesque resoluet!
quare iterum repetens iterumque edico: suprema 100
ne quis ope et flammis ausit iuuisse Pelasgos;
aut nece facta luet numeroque explebit adempta
corpora; per superos magnumque Menoecea iuro.'
dixit, et abreptum comites in tecta ferebant.

‘let the sad shades of Eteocles behold you a king, a king.’ At the same time saying these things, she tears her hair and mangles her hand, and, kindled, she renews her anger more violently:
‘let them call me savage then and merciless if I forbid the funerals of Lerna to burn with you; would that it were permitted to add long sensation to bodies and to drive guilty souls to the sky and to Erebus, and that you yourself be the prey, that the hooked beaks of birds follow you and point out the unspeakable limbs of kings!
alas for me, that kindly earth and the days will dissolve those laid out!
wherefore, repeating again and again I proclaim: let no one dare to have aided the Pelasgians in the last rites with help and with flames; 95
or he shall pay with a killing done and will make up by number the bodies taken away; by the gods above and by great Menoeceus I swear.’
she spoke, and his companions were bearing the one snatched away into the house.

flebilis interea uacuis comitatus ab Argis 105

meanwhile, a tearful cortege from empty Argos 105

(fama trahit miseras) orbae uiduaeque ruebant
Inachides ceu capta manus; sua uulnera cuique,
par habitus cunctis, deiecti in pectora crines
accinctique sinus; manant lacera ora cruentis
unguibus, et molles planctu creuere lacerti.                110
prima per attonitas nigrae regina cateruae,
tristibus inlabens famulis iterumque resurgens,
quaerit inops Argia uias; non regia cordi,
non pater: una fides, unum Polynicis amati
nomen in ore sedet; Dircen infaustaque Cadmi                115
moenia posthabitis uelit incoluisse Mycenis.
proxima Lernaeo Calydonidas agmine mixtas
Tydeos exequiis trahit haud cessura sorori
Deipyle; scelus illa quidem morsusque profanos
audierat miseranda uiri, sed cuncta iacenti                120

(rumor draws the wretched) the Inachids, orphaned and widowed, were rushing
as a captured band; each her own wounds,
like attire for all, hair cast down upon their breasts
and their folds girt up; their torn faces drip from bloody
nails, and their soft upper arms have swelled from beating.                110
foremost through the astonished ranks of the black throng,
slipping upon her sad handmaids and rising again,
destitute Argia seeks the ways; no palace to her heart,
no father: one faith, one name of beloved Polynices
sits upon her mouth; she would have wished to have dwelt at Dirce and the ill-omened walls of Cadmus,
with Mycenae set after.                115
next, Deipyle, not about to yield to her sister,
draws the Calydonian women, mingled in a Lernaean column,
to the obsequies of Tydeus; she, pitiable, had indeed heard
of the crime and the unholy bites of her husband, but all for the one lying there                120

infelix ignoscit amor. post aspera uisu,
ac deflenda tamen, digno plangore Nealce
Hippomedonta ciens. uatis mox impia coniunx
heu uacuos positura rogos.

ill-fated love forgives. after sights harsh to behold,
and yet to be deplored, with worthy plangent wailing Nealce
calling Hippomedon. soon the impious consort of the seer,
alas, about to set up empty pyres.

postrema gementum
agmina Maenaliae ducit comes orba Dianae,                125
et grauis Euadne: dolet haec queriturque labores
audacis pueri, magni memor illa mariti
it toruum lacrimans summisque irascitur astris.
illas et lucis Hecate speculata Lycaeis
prosequitur gemitu, duplexque ad litus euntes                130
planxit ab Isthmiaco genetrix Thebana sepulcro,
noctiuagumque gregem, quamuis sibi luget, Eleusin
fleuit et arcanos errantibus extulit ignes.
ipsa per auersos ducit Saturnia calles
occultatque uias, ne plebs congressa suorum                135

the hindmost of the groaning ranks the Maenalian companion bereft of Diana leads,                125
and grave Evadne: this one grieves and laments the labors
of the audacious boy, that one, mindful of her great husband,
goes grim, weeping, and grows angry at the highest stars.
them too, having spied from the Lycaean groves, Hecate
pursues with a groan, and as they go to the double shore,                130
the Theban mother beat her breast from her Isthmiac tomb;
and Eleusis wept for the night-wandering band, though she mourns for herself,
and raised arcane fires for the wanderers.
Saturnia herself leads them through backward byways
and conceals the roads, lest the plebs, meeting their own,                135

ire uetet pereatque ingentis gloria coepti.
nec non functa ducum refouendi corpora curam
Iris habet, putresque arcanis roribus artus
ambrosiaeque rigat sucis, ut longius obstent
expectentque rogum et flammas non ante fatiscant.                140
    squalidus ecce genas et inani uulnere pallens
Ornytus (hic socio desertus ab agmine, tardat
plaga recens) timido secreta per auia furto
debile carpit iter fractaeque innititur hastae.
isque ubi mota nouo stupuit loca sola tumultu                145
femineumque gregem, quae iam super agmina Lernae
sola uidet, non ille uiam causasue requirit,
quippe patent, maesto sed sic prior occupat ore:
'quo, miserae, quo fertis iter?

to forbid the going, and let the glory of the mighty enterprise perish.
Nor indeed is Iris without the task of refreshing the leaders’ bodies;
she sprinkles their rotting limbs with secret dews
and with the juices of ambrosia, so that they may hold out longer,
await the pyre, and not grow weary of the flames beforehand.                140
    look! Ornytus, squalid in his cheeks and paling with a hollow wound
(this man, deserted by his allied column, a fresh wound slows), with timid stealth through secret pathless places
picks out a feeble way and leans upon a broken spear.
and when he marveled at the lonely places stirred by a new tumult,                145
and at the feminine flock, which now alone looks down over the ranks of Lerna,
he does not seek the road or the causes, for they lie open; but thus first he forestalls with a mournful mouth:
‘whither, wretched ones, whither do you carry your path?

funusne peremptis
speratis cineremque uiris? stat peruigil illic 150

Is it a funeral for the slain
and cinders for the hoped-for men? A sleepless watch stands there 150

umbrarum custos inhumataque corpora regi
adnumerat. nusquam lacrimae, procul usque fugati
accessus hominum: solis auibusque ferisque
ire licet. uestrisne Creon dabit aequus honorem
luctibus?

the guardian of the shades counts to the king the uninhumed bodies
nowhere are tears; the approaches of men are driven far away
only to birds and wild beasts is it permitted to go. will equitable Creon give honor
to your griefs?

inmites citius Busiridos aras 155
Odrysiique famem stabuli Siculosque licebit
exorare deos; rapiet fortasse precantes,
si mens nota mihi, nec coniugialia supra
funera sed caris longe mactabit ab umbris.
quin fugitis, dum tuta uia est, Lernamque reuersae 160
nomina, quod superest, uacuis datis orba sepulcris
absentesque animas ad inania busta uocatis?
aut uos Cecropiam (prope namque et Thesea fama est
Thermodontiaco laetum remeare triumpho)
imploratis opem?

you will more quickly appease the savage altars of Busiris 155
and the Odrysian hunger of the stall, and the Sicilian gods; it will be permitted
to win them over; he will perhaps snatch you even as you pray,
if his mind is known to me, and he will immolate you not over
conjugal funerals but far from dear shades. Why do you not flee, while the road is safe, and, returned to Lerna, 160
give, so far as remains, names to empty sepulchers, bereft, and call
absent souls to empty burial-mounds? Or do you implore Cecropian aid (for it is near, and the report is
that Theseus is returning glad from a Thermodontian triumph)?
do you implore help?

bello cogendus et armis 165

to be compelled by war and by arms 165

in mores hominemque Creon.' sic fatus, at illis
horruerunt lacrimae, stupuitque inmanis eundi
impetus, atque uno uultus pallore gelati.
non secus adflauit molles si quando iuuencas
tigridis Hyrcanae ieiunum murmur, et ipse                170
auditu turbatus ager, timor omnibus ingens
quae placeat, quos illa fames escendat in armos.
    continuo discors uario sententia motu
scinditur: his Thebas tumidumque ambire Creonta,
his placet Actaeae si quid clementia gentis                175
adnuat; extremum curarum ac turpe reuerti.

‘into the manners and the man, Creon.’ Thus he spoke, but for them
their tears shuddered, and the immense impulse of going stood stupefied,
and their faces were frozen with a single pallor.
No otherwise does the hungry murmur of a Hyrcanian tigress ever breathe upon tender heifers,
and the field itself is disturbed at the hearing, a vast fear for all—170
what she may fancy, onto whose shoulders that hunger may climb.
straightway their opinion, discordant with a varied motion,
is split: to some it pleases to approach Thebes and to court puffed-up Creon,
to others, if the clemency of the Actaean nation (Athens) should nod assent, this pleases;175
to turn back is the last of cares and disgraceful.

hic non femineae subitum uirtutis amorem
colligit Argia, sexuque inmane relicto
tractat opus: placet (egregii spes dura pericli!)
comminus infandi leges accedere regni, 180
quo Rhodopes non ulla nurus nec alumna niuosi
Phasidis innuptis uallata cohortibus iret.
tunc mouet arte dolum, quo semet ab agmine fido
segreget, inmitesque deos regemque cruentum
contemptrix animae et magno temeraria luctu 185

Here Argia gathers a sudden love of not‑feminine virtue, and, her sex left behind, she handles a monstrous work: it pleases her (a hard hope of an outstanding peril!) to approach at close quarters the laws of the unspeakable kingdom, 180
to which no daughter‑in‑law of Rhodope nor alumna of snowy Phasis would go, even when fenced with cohorts of the unwed.
t hen she sets a stratagem in motion by art, by which she might segregate herself from the faithful column, and—contemptress of her life and temerarious in great mourning—[she stands against] the ruthless gods and the blood‑stained king. 185

prouocet; hortantur pietas ignesque pudici.
ipse etiam ante oculos omni manifestus in actu,
nunc hospes miserae, primas nunc sponsus ad aras,
nunc mitis coniunx, nunc iam sub casside torua
maestus in amplexu multumque a limine summo                190
respiciens: sed nulla animo uersatur imago
crebrior Aonii quam quae de sanguine campi
nuda uenit poscitque rogos. his anxia mentem
aegrescit furiis et, qui castissumus ardor,
funus amat; tunc ad comites conuersa Pelasgas,                195
'uos' ait 'Actaeas acies Marathoniaque arma
elicite, aspiretque pio Fortuna labori.
me sinite Ogygias, tantae quae sola ruinae
causa fui, penetrare domos et fulmina regni
prima pati; nec surda ferae pulsabimus urbis                200

may it challenge; piety and pudic flames encourage her.
he himself too, before her eyes manifest in every act—
now the guest of the wretched woman, now the bridegroom at the first altars,
now the gentle husband, now already beneath the grim casque,
mournful in her embrace and often looking back from the highest threshold 190
but no image revolves in her mind
more frequent than that Aonian one which, out of the blood of the field,
comes naked and demands pyres. With these furies her anxious mind
falls sick, and—that most chaste ardor—
loves a funeral; then, turned to her Pelasgian companions,195
she says, 'You, draw forth the Actaean battle-lines and the Marathonian arms,
and may Fortune breathe favor on the pious labor.
Suffer me to enter the Ogygian homes—I who alone was the cause
of so great a ruin—and to endure first the thunderbolts of the realm;
nor shall we beat upon a deaf, savage city.' 200

limina: sunt illic soceri mihi suntque sorores
coniugis, et Thebas haud ignoranda subibo.
ne tantum reuocate gradus: illo impetus ingens
auguriumque animi.' nec plura, unumque Menoeten
(olim hic uirginei custos monitorque pudoris) 205
eligit et, quamquam rudis atque ignara locorum,
praecipites gressus, qua uenerat Ornytus, aufert.
atque ubi uisa procul socias liquisse malorum,
'anne' ait 'hostiles ego te tabente per agros
(heu dolor!) expectem quaenam sententia lenti 210
Theseos, an bello proceres, an dexter haruspex
adnuat?

the thresholds: there are my father-in-law there for me, and the sisters
of my husband, and I will go in to Thebes, not to be ignored.
only do not call back your steps so far: thither is the mighty impulse
and the augury of my spirit.' And no more; and she chooses one Menoetes
(formerly the guardian and monitor of maidenly modesty), 205
and, although untrained and ignorant of the places,
she snatches away headlong steps, by the way Ornytus had come.
And when she seemed from afar to have left her companions in misfortune,
'Shall I,' he says, 'wait for you as you waste away through hostile fields
(alas, grief!), for what decision of slow Theseus, or the chiefs for war, or that a favorable haruspex 210
nod assent?

interea funus decrescit, et uncis
alitibus (non hos potius?) supponimus artus.
et nunc me duram, si quis tibi sensus ad umbras,
me tardam Stygiis quereris, fidissime, diuis. 215

meanwhile the funeral diminishes, and we set the limbs beneath hooked birds (not rather to these?)
and now, most faithful one, if you have any sensation among the shades, you complain to the Stygian gods that I am hard,
that I am slow. 215

heu si nudus adhuc, heu si iam forte sepultus:
nostrum utrumque nefas; adeo uis nulla dolenti?
Mors nusquam saeuusque Creon? hortaris euntem,
Ornyte!' sic dicens magno Megareia praeceps
arua rapit passu, demonstrat proxima quisque 220
obuius horrescitque habitus miseramque ueretur.

alas if still naked, alas if now by chance buried:
both are our impiety; is there then no power for the grieving?
Is Death nowhere, and savage Creon? you urge me as I go,
Ornytus!' so saying, the Megarian headlong sweeps the fields
with great stride; whoever meets her points out the nearest way 220
and shudders at her aspect and reveres the wretched woman.

uadit atrox uisu, nil corde nec aure pauescens,
et nimiis confisa malis propiorque timeri:
nocte uelut Phrygia cum lamentata resultant
Dindyma, pinigeri rapitur Simoentis ad amnem                225
dux uesana chori, cuius dea sanguine lecto
ipsa dedit ferrum et uittata fronde notauit.
    iam pater Hesperio flagrantem gurgite currum
abdiderat Titan, aliis rediturus ab undis,
cum tamen illa grauem luctu fallente laborem                230

she goes atrocious to the sight, fearing nothing in heart nor at hearing,
and, overconfident through excessive evils, the more near to be feared:
at night, just as when the Phrygian Dindymus, lamented, resounds,
she is swept to the river of pine-bearing Simois,                225
the mad leader of the chorus, to whom the goddess herself, with chosen blood,
gave the iron and marked with filleted frond.
    already Father Titan had hidden his blazing chariot in the Hesperian gulf,
to return from other waves,
when nevertheless she, her grief beguiling the heavy toil,                230

nescit abisse diem: nec caligantibus aruis
terretur, nec frangit iter per et inuia saxa
lapsurasque trabes nemorumque arcana (sereno
nigra die) caecisque incisa noualia fossis,
per fluuios secura uadi, somnosque ferarum 235
praeter et horrendis infesta cubilia monstris.
tantum animi luctusque ualent! pudet ire Menoeten
tardius, inualidaeque gradum miratur alumnae.

she knows not that the day has departed: nor is she terrified by fields growing murky, nor does she break her course through pathless rocks and beams about to slip, and the secret places of the groves (black on a clear day), and fallow fields cut with blind ditches, through rivers confident of the ford, and she passes by the slumbers of beasts and lairs infested with horrendous monsters. so much do spirit and grief avail! it shames Menoetes to go more slowly, and he marvels at the step of his infirm alumna. 235

quas non illa domos pecudumque hominumque modesto
pulsauit gemitu? quotiens amissus eunti 240
limes, et errantem comitis solacia flammae
destituunt gelidaeque facem uicere tenebrae!
iamque supinantur fessis lateque fatiscunt
Penthei deuexa iugi, cum pectore anhelo
iam prope deficiens sic incipit orsa Menoetes: 245
'haud procul, exacti si spes non blanda laboris,
Ogygias, Argia, domos et egena sepulcri
busta iacere reor: graue comminus aestuat aer
sordidus, et magnae redeunt per inane uolucres.

What homes of beasts and of men did she not strike with a modest groan? how often was the boundary-path lost to her as she went, 240
and, as she wandered, the consolations of the companion flames deserted her, and the chilly darkness overpowered the torch!
and now the down-slopes of Pentheus’s ridge for the weary are bent backward and gape widely, when, with panting breast, now nearly failing, Menoetes thus begins: 245
'not far, if the hope of finished labor is not flattering,
I think the Ogygian homes, Argia, and funeral mounds needy of sepulcher lie: the foul air seethes grievously at close quarters,
and great birds return through the void.

haec illa est crudelis humus, nec moenia longe. 250

This is that cruel ground, nor are the walls far. 250

cernis ut ingentes murorum porrigat umbras
campus et e speculis moriens intermicet ignis?
moenia sunt iuxta.' modo nox magis ipsa tacebat,
solaque nigrantes laxabant astra tenebras.
horruit Argia, dextramque ad moenia tendens: 255
'urbs optata prius, nunc tecta hostilia, Thebae,
et tamen, inlaesas si reddis coniugis umbras,
sic quoque dulce solum, cernis quo praedita cultu,
qua stipata manu, iuxta tua limina primum
Oedipodis magni uenio nurus?

do you see how the plain stretches forth the vast shadows of the walls,
and from the watchtowers a dying fire flickers? ‘the walls are near by.’ Just now the night itself was more silent,
and only the stars were loosening the blackening darkness.
Argia shuddered, and, stretching her right hand toward the walls: 255
‘city once desired, now hostile roofs, Thebes,
and yet, if you return the unharmed shades of my husband,
thus also a sweet soil, see with what cultivation you are endowed,
how packed with a throng, beside your thresholds first
do I come, the daughter-in-law of great Oedipus?

improba non sunt 260
uota: rogos hospes planctumque et funera posco.
illum, oro, extorrem regni belloque fugatum,
illum, quem solio non es dignata paterno,
redde mihi. tuque, oro, ueni, si manibus ulla
effigies errantque animae post membra solutae, 265
tu mihi pande uias, tuaque ipse ad funera deduc,
si merui.' dixit, tectumque adgressa propinquae
pastorale casae reficit spiramina fessi
ignis, et horrendos inrumpit turbida campos.

my vows are not wicked 260
O host, I demand pyres and lamentation and funerals.
him, I beg, an exile from the realm and driven to flight by war,
him, whom you did not deem worthy of his paternal throne,
restore to me. and do you too, I beg, come, if any effigy is for the Manes
and souls wander after their limbs are loosed, 265
you disclose the ways for me, and yourself lead me to your funeral rites,
if I have deserved.' she spoke, and, having approached the roof of a nearby
shepherd’s cottage, rekindles the breathings of the weary fire,
and, troubled, breaks into the dreadful fields.

qualis ab Aetnaeis accensa lampade saxis 270

just as, from the Aetnaean rocks kindled by a torch 270

orba Ceres magnae uariabat imagine flammae
Ausonium Siculumque latus, uestigia nigri
raptoris uastosque legens in puluere sulcos;
illius insanis ululatibus ipse remugit
Enceladus ruptoque uias inluminat igni:                275
Persephonen amnes siluae freta nubila clamant,
Persephonen tantum Stygii tacet aula mariti.
    admonet attonitam fidus meminisse Creontis
altor et occulto summittere lampada furto.
regina Argolicas modo formidata per urbes,                280
uotum inmane procis spesque augustissima gentis,
nocte sub infesta, nullo duce et hoste propinquo,
sola per offensus armorum et lubrica tabo
gramina, non tenebras, non circumfusa tremescens
concilia umbrarum atque animas sua membra gementes,                285

bereft Ceres kept varying with the semblance of a mighty flame
the Ausonian and Sicilian flank, picking out the vestiges of the black
ravisher and the vast furrows in the dust; at her insane ululations
Enceladus himself bellows back and with burst fire illuminates the ways:                275
the rivers, the woods, the seas, the clouds cry “Persephone,”
only the Stygian hall of the husband is silent of Persephone.
    the faithful fosterer admonishes the astonied queen to remember Creon
and to lower the lamp in occult theft.
the queen, lately dreaded through the Argolic cities,280
a monstrous vow for the suitors and the most august hope of the nation,
under baleful night, with no guide and no enemy near at hand,
alone across grasses fouled by arms and slippery with gore,
shuddering at neither the darkness nor the surrounding councils
of shades and the souls lamenting their own limbs,                285

saepe gradu caeco ferrum calcataque tela
dissimulat, solusque labor uitasse iacentes,
dum funus putat omne suum, uisuque sagaci
rimatur positos et corpora prona supinat
incumbens, queriturque parum lucentibus astris.                290
    forte soporiferas caeli secreta per umbras
Iuno, sinu magni semet furata mariti,
Theseos ad muros, ut Pallada flecteret, ibat,
supplicibusque piis faciles aperiret Athenas.
atque ubi per campos errore fatiscere uano                295
inmeritam Argian supero respexit ab axe,
indoluit uisu, et lunaribus obuia bigis
aduertit uultum placidaque ita uoce locuta est:
'da mihi poscenti munus breue, Cynthia, si quis
est Iunonis honos; certe Iouis improba iussu                300

Often with a blind step she disregards steel and the trampled javelins, and her sole toil is to have avoided the things lying, while she thinks every corpse her own; and with sagacious sight she scrutinizes those laid out and, leaning over, turns supine the prone bodies, and she complains that the stars shine too little. 290
By chance through the soporific secret shades of the sky Juno, having stolen herself from the bosom of her great husband, was going to the walls of Theseus, that she might bend Pallas and open amenable Athens to pious suppliants. And when from the upper axle she looked down and beheld undeserving Argia growing faint across the plains in vain wandering, she grieved at the sight, and to meet the lunar two-horse chariot she turned her face and with a placid voice spoke thus: “Grant me, as I ask, a brief boon, Cynthia, if there is any honor of Juno; surely, though in defiance of Jove’s command, 300

ter noctem Herculeam++ueteres sed mitto querelas:
en locus officio. cultrix placitissima nostri
Inachis Argia cernis qua nocte uagetur
nec reperire uirum densis queat aegra tenebris?
et tibi nimbosum languet iubar: exere, quaeso, 305
cornua, et adsueto propior premat orbita terras.

thrice the Herculean night—but I set aside old complaints:
look, here is scope for service. Do you see in what night
the Inachian Argia, our most pleasing cultress, wanders,
and, weary, cannot find her husband in the dense darkness?
and even for you your cloud-laden radiance languishes: thrust forth, I pray, 305
your horns, and let your orbit, closer than is wont, press upon the lands.

hunc quoque, qui curru madidas tibi pronus habenas
ducit, in Aonios uigiles demitte Soporem.'
uix ea, cum scissis magnum dea nubibus orbem
protulit; expauere umbrae, fulgorque recisus                310
sideribus; uix ipsa tulit Saturnia flammas.
    primum per campos infuso lumine pallam
coniugis ipsa suos noscit miseranda labores,
quamquam texta latent suffusaque sanguine maeret
purpura; dumque deos uocat et de funere caro                315

send this one too, who, leaning forward, guides for you the dripping reins
of the chariot, down into the Aonian wakeful ones, Sleep.'
scarcely had she said this, when the goddess, the clouds rent, brought forth her great orb;
the shades trembled, and a splendor shorn from the stars,                310
and the Saturnian herself scarcely endured the flames.
    first, over the plains, with light poured in, the pitiable wife herself
recognizes the palla of her spouse, his own toils,
although the woven threads lie hidden and the purple, suffused with blood, mourns;
and while she calls upon the gods and about the dear funeral                315

hoc superesse putat, uidet ipsum in puluere paene
calcatum. fugere animus uisusque sonusque,
inclusitque dolor lacrimas; tum corpore toto
sternitur in uultus animamque per oscula quaerit
absentem, pressumque comis ac ueste cruorem 320
seruatura legit. mox tandem uoce reuersa:
'hunc ego te, coniunx, ad debita regna profectum
ductorem belli generumque potentis Adrasti
aspicio, talisque tuis occurro triumphis?

she thinks this remains; she sees him himself in the dust, almost
trodden underfoot. her spirit, and sight and sound, fled,
and grief shut in her tears; then with her whole body
she is cast down upon his face and seeks through kisses the absent
soul, and the blood pressed by hair and garment, to preserve it, she gathers. 320
soon at last, her voice returned:
'husband, is this how I behold you—who set out to the owed realms,
a leader of war and the son-in-law of mighty Adrastus? and do I meet you thus in your triumphs?'

huc attolle genas defectaque lumina: uenit 325
ad Thebas Argia tuas; age, moenibus induc
et patrios ostende lares et mutua redde
hospitia. heu quid ago? proiectus caespite nudo
hoc patriae telluris habes.

hither lift your cheeks and your failing eyes: she comes 325
to your Thebes, Argia; come, lead her within the walls
and show the ancestral Lares and render mutual hospitality. Alas, what am I doing? cast out on bare turf
this is what you have of your fatherland’s earth.

quae iurgia? certe
imperium non frater habet! nullasne tuorum 330

what quarrels? surely
your brother does not have the imperium! have none of your people 330

mouisti lacrimas? ubi mater, ubi incluta fama
Antigone? mihi nempe iaces, mihi uictus es uni!

Have you moved tears? where is mother, where the illustrious fame,
Antigone? surely you lie for me, to me alone you are conquered!

dicebam: "quo tendis iter? quid sceptra negata
poscis? habes Argos, soceri regnabis in aula;
hic tibi longus honos, hic indiuisa potestas." 335
quid queror?

I kept saying: "Whither do you direct your course? Why do you demand scepters denied?
you have Argos; you will reign in your father-in-law’s court;
here for you is long honor, here undivided power." 335
why do I complain?

ipsa dedi bellum maestumque rogaui
ipsa patrem ut talem nunc te complexa tenerem.
sed bene habet, superi, gratum est, Fortuna; peracta
spes longinqua uiae: totos inuenimus artus.
ei mihi, sed quanto descendit uulnus hiatu! 340
hoc frater?

I myself gave the war and I myself begged the mournful thing;
I myself, father, so that embracing I might hold you thus now.
but it is well, gods above, it is welcome, Fortune; the far-off hope
of the way is accomplished: we have found the limbs entire.
ah me, but by how great a gaping does the wound descend! 340
this, brother?

qua parte, precor, iacet ille nefandus
praedator? uincam uolucres (sit adire potestas)
excludamque feras; an habet funestus et ignes?
sed nec te flammis inopem tua terra uidebit:
ardebis lacrimasque feres quas ferre negatum 345

in what part, I pray, does that unspeakable predator lie?
I will beat back the birds (if there be power to approach)
and I will shut out the wild beasts; or does the funereal pyre even have fires?
but neither will your land behold you bereft of flames:
you shall burn, and you shall bear the tears which it was denied to bring 345

regibus, aeternumque tuo famulata sepulcro
durabit deserta fides, testisque dolorum
natus erit, paruoque torum Polynice fouebo.'
    ecce alios gemitus aliamque ad busta ferebat
Antigone miseranda facem, uix nacta petitos                350
moenibus egressus; illam nam tempore in omni
attendunt uigiles et rex iubet ipse timeri,
contractaeque uices et crebrior excubat ignis.
ergo deis fratrique moras excusat et amens,
ut paulum inmisso cessit statio horrida somno,                355
erumpit muris: fremitu quo territat agros
uirginis ira leae, rabies cui libera tandem
et primus sine matre furor. nec longa morata,
quippe trucem campum et positus quo puluere frater
nouerat.

for kings; and, as a handmaid to your tomb forever,
the deserted loyalty will endure, and a witness of griefs
will be a son, and with the little one I will warm the couch of Polynices.'
behold, pitiable Antigone was bearing other groans and another torch to the tombs,
scarcely having found the exits sought from the walls; for her at every time
the sentries attend, and the king himself bids that she be feared,
the watches are tightened and the fire keeps more frequent vigil. therefore to the gods and to her brother she excuses delays, and, out of her mind,
when the dreadful post yielded a little as sleep was let in,
she bursts out from the walls: with what roar the wrath of the maiden-lioness
terrifies the fields, whose frenzy is at last unbridled
and her first fury without a mother. nor did she delay long,
for she knew the grim field and the dust in which her brother was laid.

atque illam contra uidet ire Menoetes, 360

and Menoetes sees her going to meet him, 360

cui uacat, et carae gemitus compescit alumnae.
cum tamen erectas extremus uirginis aures
accessit sonus, utque atra sub ueste comisque
squalentem et crasso foedatam sanguine uultus
astrorum radiis et utraque a lampade uidit, 365
'cuius' ait 'manes, aut quae temeraria quaeris
nocte mea?' nihil illa diu, sed in ora mariti
deicit inque suos pariter uelamina uultus,
capta metu subito paulumque oblita doloris.
hoc magis increpitans suspecta silentia perstat 370
Antigone, comitemque premens ipsamque; sed ambo
deficiunt fixique silent.

he to whom it falls, restrains the groans of his dear alumna.
when, however, a far-off sound reached the maiden’s pricked ears,
and as, beneath a black garment and hair, he saw her filthy and her face defiled
with thick blood by the rays of the stars and by each lamp, 365
he said, 'whose shades, or what rash one are you seeking
in my night-watch?' She for a long time says nothing, but casts the veils upon her husband’s face
and equally upon her own features,
seized by sudden fear and somewhat forgetful of grief.
all the more, chiding their suspicious silences, Antigone persists, 370
pressing her companion and herself; but both falter
and, fixed, are silent.

tandem ora retexit
Argia, corpusque tamen complexa profatur:
'si quid in hoc ueteri bellorum sanguine mecum
quaesitura uenis, si tu quoque dura Creontis 375

at last Argia unveiled her face,
and yet, embracing the body, she proclaims:
'if you come to seek anything with me in this ancient blood of wars,
if you too the harsh decrees of Creon 375

iussa times, possum tibi me confisa fateri.
si misera es (certe lacrimas lamentaque cerno),
iunge, age, iunge fidem: proles ego regis Adrasti
(ei mihi! num quis adest?) cari Polynicis ad ignes,
etsi regna uetant++' stupuit Cadmeia uirgo 380
intremuitque simul dicentemque occupat ultro:
'mene igitur sociam (pro fors ignara!) malorum,
mene times?

do you fear commands? I, confiding in you, can confess to you.
if you are wretched (surely I see tears and laments),
join, come, join your faith: I am the progeny of King Adrastus
(ah me! is anyone present?) to the dear Polynices’ pyre,
though the kingdoms forbid it.' The Cadmean maiden was astonished 380
and trembled at once, and of her own accord forestalls her as she is speaking:
'me then as a partner (ah, unknowing Chance!) of your misfortunes,
me do you fear?

mea membra tenes, mea funera plangis.
cedo, tene, pudet heu! pietas ignaua sororis!

you hold my limbs, you bewail my funeral rites.
I yield—hold him; I am ashamed, alas! the cowardly piety of the sister!

haec prior++' hic pariter lapsae iunctoque per ipsum 385
amplexu miscent auidae lacrimasque comasque,
partitaeque artus redeunt alterna gementes
ad uultum et cara uicibus ceruice fruuntur.
dumque modo haec fratrem memorat, nunc illa maritum,
mutuaque exorsae Thebas Argosque renarrant, 390

this one first; that one equally, having fallen, and with an embrace joined across him 385
they, avid, mingle tears and tresses; and, having shared out the limbs,
they return by turns, groaning, to the face and in alternation enjoy the dear neck.
and while now this one commemorates her brother, now that one her husband,
and having begun mutual discourse they recount Thebes and Argos. 390

longius Argia miseros reminiscitur actus:
'per tibi furtiui sacrum commune doloris,
per socios manes et conscia sidera iuro:
non hic amissos, quamquam uagus exul, honores,
non gentile solum, carae non pectora matris, 395
te cupiit unam noctesque diesque locutus
Antigonen; ego cura minor facilisque relinqui.
tu tamen ex celsa sublimem forsitan arce
ante nefas Grais dantem uexilla maniplis
uidisti, teque ille acie respexit ab ipsa 400
ense salutatam et nutantis uertice coni:
nos procul. extremas sed quis deus egit in iras?

Argia, at greater length, reminisces the miserable acts:
'by the sacred bond to you of our furtive common dolor,
by the allied Manes and the conscious stars I swear:
not here the lost honors did he desire, though a wandering exile,
not the ancestral soil, not the dear heart of his mother, 395
he desired you alone and, nights and days, spoke of Antigone;
I am a lesser care and easy to be left. You, however, perhaps from a lofty citadel
saw him sublime, before the impiety, giving the standards to the Greek maniples,
and he from the battle-line itself looked back at you,
having saluted you with his sword and with the nodding summit of his crest;400
we far off. But what god drove us into utmost wraths?'

nil uestrae ualuere preces? tibine iste negauit
oranti?' causas ac tristia reddere fata
coeperat Antigone; fidus comes admonet ambas: 405

Did your prayers avail nothing? Did he refuse you
as you were begging?' Antigone had begun to render the causes and the gloomy fates,
but a faithful companion admonishes them both: 405

'heia agite inceptum potius! iam sidera pallent
uicino turbata die, perferte laborem,
tempus erit lacrimis, accenso flebitis igne.'
    haud procul Ismeni monstrabant murmura ripas,
qua turbatus adhuc et sanguine decolor ibat.                410
huc laceros artus socio conamine portant
inualidae, iungitque comes non fortior ulnas.
sic Hyperionium trepido Phaethonta sorores
fumantem lauere Pado; uixdum ille sepulcro
conditus, et flentes stabant ad flumina siluae.                415
ut sanies purgata uado membrisque reuersus
mortis honos, ignem miserae post ultima quaerunt
oscula; sed gelidae circum exanimesque fauillae
putribus in foueis, atque omnia busta quiescunt.

'Come on, come, press on with the undertaking rather! already the stars grow pale,
disturbed by the neighboring day; carry through the labor;
there will be time for tears—you will weep when the fire is kindled.'
    not far off the murmurings of the Ismenus were pointing out the banks,
where it still went, troubled and discolored with blood.                410
hither they carry the torn limbs with companionly endeavor,
weak as they are, and the comrade, no stronger, adds his arms.
thus did the sisters of Hyperionian Phaethon, trembling,
wash him, still smoking, in the Po; scarcely was he yet consigned to the sepulcher,
and the weeping woods stood by the rivers.                415
when the gore was cleansed in the ford and the honor of death restored
to the limbs, the wretched women seek the fire after the final kisses;
but cold and lifeless ashes lie round about in mouldering pits,
and all the burial-places are at rest.

stabat adhuc, seu forte, rogus, seu numine diuum, 420

the pyre still stood, whether by chance, or by the divine will of the gods, 420

cui torrere datum saeuos Eteocleos artus,
siue locum monstris iterum Fortuna parabat,
seu dissensuros seruauerat Eumenis ignes.
hic tenuem nigris etiamnum aduiuere lucem
roboribus pariter cupidae uidere, simulque                425
flebile gauisae; nec adhuc quae busta repertum,
sed placidus quicumque rogant mitisque supremi
admittat cineris consortem et misceat umbras.
    ecce iterum fratres: primos ut contigit artus
ignis edax, tremuere rogi et nouus aduena busto                 430
pellitur; exundant diuiso uertice flammae
alternosque apices abrupta luce coruscant.

to which it was granted to scorch the savage Eteoclean limbs,
whether Fortune was preparing the place again for prodigies,
or the Fury had reserved fires that would be at variance.
here they saw a slight light still living amid the blackness,
eager equally for timbers, and at once rejoiced with tears;                425
nor yet do they care what pyre has been found,
but they ask that whoever is placid and gentle may admit a partner
of the final ash and mingle the shades.
    behold again the brothers: as soon as the edacious fire touched
the first limbs, the pyres trembled, and the newcomer is driven from the pyre;                 430
flames gush forth from a divided crest,
and alternating tips flash with broken light.

pallidus Eumenidum ueluti commiserit ignes
Orcus, uterque minax globus et conatur uterque
longius; ipsae etiam commoto pondere paulum 435
secessere trabes. conclamat territa uirgo:
'occidimus, functasque manu stimulauimus iras.
frater erat; quis enim accessus ferus hospitis umbrae
pelleret?

as if pallid Orcus had set in combat the fires of the Eumenides
Orcus, each mass menacing, and each strives farther
farther; even the beams themselves, their weight shaken a little 435
withdrew. The terrified maiden cries out:
'we perish, and with our hand we have goaded the spent wraths.
he was a brother; for who would have driven off the savage approach of a guest’s shade
to be repelled?'

en clipei fragmen semustaque nosco
cingula, frater erat! cernisne ut flamma recedat 440

lo, I recognize a fragment of the shield and the half-burnt belts;
it was my brother! do you see how the flame draws back 440

concurratque tamen? uiuunt odia improba, uiuunt.
nil actum bello; miseri, sic dum arma mouetis
uicit nempe Creon!

and yet should they clash together? wicked hatreds live, they live.
nothing has been done by war; wretches, thus while you move arms,
Creon has indeed conquered!

nusquam iam regna: quis ardor?
cui furitis? sedate minas; tuque exul ubique,
semper inops aequi, iam cede (hoc nupta precatur,                445
hoc soror), aut saeuos mediae ueniemus in ignes.'
    uix ea, cum subitus campos tremor altaque tecta
impulit adiuuitque rogi discordis hiatus,
et uigilum turbata quies, quibus ipse malorum
fingebat simulacra Sopor: ruit ilicet omnem                450
prospectum lustrans armata indagine miles.

Nowhere now are there kingdoms: what ardor? at whom do you rage? Calm your threats; and you, exile everywhere,
always destitute of equity, now yield (this a bride prays,                445
this a sister), or we will come into the savage flames between you.'
    Hardly had she said this, when a sudden tremor struck the plains and the lofty roofs,
and it aided the gaping of the pyre of discord, and the rest of the watchmen’s sleep was disturbed,
for Sleep himself was fashioning simulacra of evils for them: forthwith the soldier rushes, sweeping all                450
the prospect with an armed cordon.

illos instantes senior timet unus; at ipsae
ante rogum saeuique palam spreuisse Creontis
imperia et furtum claro plangore fatentur
securae, quippe omne uident fluxisse cadauer. 455

one elder alone fears those pressing on; but they themselves
before the pyre openly confess to have spurned the commands of savage Creon
and the theft with clear lamentation, secure,
since they see that the whole cadaver has flowed away. 455

ambitur saeua de morte animosaque leti
spes furit: haec fratris rapuisse, haec coniugis artus
contendunt uicibusque probant: 'ego corpus', 'ego ignes',
'me pietas', 'me duxit amor'. deposcere saeua
supplicia et dextras iuuat insertare catenis.                460
nusquam illa alternis modo quae reuerentia uerbis,
iram odiumque putes; tantus discordat utrimque
clamor, et ad regem qui deprendere trahuntur.
    at procul Actaeis dextra iam Pallade muris
Iuno Phoroneas inducit praeuia matres                465
attonitas, non ipsa minus, coetumque gementem
conciliat populis et fletibus addit honorem.
ipsa manu ramosque oleae uittasque precantes
tradit, et obtenta summittere lumina palla
et praeferre docet uacuas sine manibus urnas.                470

the cruel death is vied for, and a high‑spirited hope of doom raves: this one contends she snatched the brother’s limbs, that one the husband’s, and by turns they prove it: ‘I the body,’ ‘I the fires,’ ‘piety led me,’ ‘love led me.’ it delights them to demand savage punishments and to thrust their right hands into chains.                460
nowhere now that reverence which just now was in their alternating words— you would think it wrath and hatred; so great the discordant clamor on both sides, and to the king they are hauled by those who seized them.
    but far off, from the Actaean walls, with Pallas now as right‑hand guide, Juno, going before, brings in the Phoronean mothers                465
astonished, she herself no less, and she brings the groaning assembly into concord with the peoples and adds honor to their tears. with her own hand she gives them the olive branches and supplicant fillets, and she teaches them to lower their eyes beneath the drawn mantle and to bear before them empty urns, without the Manes.                470

omnis Erectheis effusa penatibus aetas
tecta uiasque replent: unde hoc examen et una
tot miserae? necdum causas nouere malorum,
iamque gemunt. dea conciliis se miscet utrisque
cuncta docens, qua gente satae, quae funera plangant 475
quidue petant; uariis nec non adfatibus ipsae
Ogygias leges inmansuetumque Creonta
multum et ubique fremunt.

all the Erechtheid ages, poured out from their Penates,
fill the roofs and the streets: whence this swarm, and so many
wretched women together? they have not yet known the causes
of the misfortunes, and already they groan. the goddess mingles herself with both
councils, teaching all things: of what gens they are begotten, what funerals they lament, 475
and what they seek; nor do they fail, with various addresses, they themselves
murmur much and everywhere against the Ogygian laws
and the unsoftened Creon.

Geticae non plura queruntur
hospitibus tectis trunco sermone uolucres,
cum duplices thalamos et iniquum Terea clamant.                480
    urbe fuit media nulli concessa potentum
ara deum, mitis posuit Clementia sedem,
et miseri fecere sacram; sine supplice numquam
illa nouo, nulla damnauit uota repulsa.
auditi quicumque rogant, noctesque diesque                485

Getic birds do not complain more
to the roofs of their hosts with truncated speech,
when they cry out the double bridal-chambers and unjust Tereus.                480
    In the midst of the city there was an altar of the gods granted to none of the powerful;
gentle Clemency set her seat there,
and the wretched made it sacred; never without a new suppliant
was that altar, she condemned no vows with repulse.
all who ask are heard, both by nights and by days.                485

ire datum et solis numen placare querelis.
parca superstitio: non turea flamma nec altus
accipitur sanguis: lacrimis altaria sudant,
maestarumque super libamina secta comarum
pendent et uestes mutata sorte relictae. 490
mite numus circa cultuque insigne uerendo,
uittatae laurus et supplicis arbor oliuae.
nulla autem effigies, nulli commissa metallo
forma dei: mentes habitare et pectora gaudet.

it is granted to go and to placate the numen with complaints alone.
a sparing superstition: neither the incense-flame nor abundant
blood is received: with tears the altars sweat,
and above the libations the shorn tresses of the sorrowful
hang, and garments left behind with fortune changed. 490
a gentle nimbus around and distinguished by reverend cult,
filleted laurels and the olive, the supplicant’s tree. but no effigy, no form of the deity entrusted
to any metal: it rejoices to dwell in minds and breasts.

semper habet trepidos, semper locus horret egenis 495
coetibus, ignotae tantum felicibus arae.
fama est defensos acie post busta paterni
numinis Herculeos sedem fundasse nepotes.
fama minor factis: ipsos nam credere dignum
caelicolas, tellus quibus hospita semper Athenae, 500

it always holds the trembling; the place always shudders with gatherings of the needy, 495
an altar only unknown to the fortunate.
the fame is that, defended in the battle-line after the pyre of the paternal numen,
the Herculean grandsons founded the seat.
fame lesser than the deeds: for it is worthy to believe them themselves
heaven-dwellers, for whom the land of Athens was ever a hostess. 500

ceu leges hominemque nouum ritusque sacrorum
seminaque in uacuas hinc descendentia terras,
sic sacrasse loco commune animantibus aegris
confugium, unde procul starent iraeque minaeque
regnaque, et a iustis Fortuna recederet aris.                505
iam tunc innumerae norant altaria gentes:
huc uicti bellis patriaque a sede fugati
regnorumque inopes scelerumque errore nocentes
conueniunt pacemque rogant; mox hospita sedes
uicit et Oedipodae Furias et funus ~olynthi                510
texit et a misero matrem summouit Oreste.
huc uulgo monstrante locum manus anxia Lernae
deueniunt, cedunt miserorum turba priorum.
uix ibi, sedatis requierunt pectora curis:
ceu patrio super alta grues Aquilone fugatae                515

as if laws and a new man and the rites of sacred things
and seed-principles descending from here into empty lands,
so they consecrated in that place a common refuge for ailing living beings,
a sanctuary of flight, whence angers and threats
and kingdoms would stand far off, and Fortune would withdraw from just altars.                505
already then numberless nations knew the altars:
hither, conquered in wars and driven from the seat of their fatherland,
and destitute of kingdoms and guilty through the wandering of crimes,
they gather and ask for peace; soon the hospitable seat
overcame even the Furies of Oedipus and shrouded the funeral of Olynthus,                510
and kept the mother away from wretched Orestes.
hither, with the crowd in general pointing out the place, the anxious band of Lerna
comes down; the throng of earlier wretches yields.
scarcely there, with cares calmed, did their hearts find rest:
as cranes, driven from their fatherland by the North Wind over the heights,                515

cum uidere Pharon; tunc aethera latius implent,
tunc hilari clangore sonant; iuuat orbe sereno
contempsisse niues et frigora soluere Nilo.
    iamque domos patrias Scythicae post aspera gentis
proelia laurigero subeuntem Thesea curru                520
laetifici plausus missusque ad sidera uulgi
clamor et emeritis hilaris tuba nuntiat armis.
ante ducem spolia et, duri Mauortis imago,
uirginei currus cumulataque fercula cristis
et tristes ducuntur equi truncaeque bipennes,                525
quis nemora et solidam Maeotida caedere suetae,
gorytique leues portantur et ignea gemmis
cingula et informes dominarum sanguine peltae.
ipsae autem nondum trepidae sexumue fatentur,
nec uulgare gemunt, aspernanturque precari,                530

when they have seen Pharos; then they fill the aether more widely,
then with cheerful clangor they resound; it delights, with the sphere serene,
to have contemned snows and to loosen the colds in the Nile.
    and now Theseus, entering his fatherland homes after the harsh battles of the Scythian race,
beneath a laurel-bearing chariot, the applause of the joy-bringing crowd and the shout sent to the stars                520
and the cheerful trumpet proclaims their arms now discharged.
before the leader the spoils and, an image of harsh Mars,
virginal chariots and litters heaped with crests
and grim horses are led and truncated double-axes,                525
with which they were wont to hew the groves and the solid Maeotis,
and light goryti are carried and belts fiery with gems
and peltae, misshapen with the blood of their mistresses.
but they themselves are not yet fearful nor confess their sex,
nor do they groan in a vulgar way, and they spurn to pray,                530

et tantum innuptae quaerunt delubra Mineruae.
primus amor niueis uictorem cernere uectum
quadriiugis; nec non populos in semet agebat
Hippolyte, iam blanda genas patiensque mariti
foederis. hanc patriae ritus fregisse seueros 535
Atthides oblique secum mirantur operto
murmure, quod nitidi crines, quod pectora palla
tota latent, magnis quod barbara semet Athenis
misceat atque hosti ueniat paritura marito.

and only the unwed seek the shrines of Minerva.
their foremost desire is to behold the victor borne in upon snow‑white four‑horsed teams;
nor indeed was Hippolyte not drawing the peoples to herself, now winsome in her cheeks and compliant with a husband’s covenant.
the Attic women marvel to themselves askance in a muffled murmur that she has broken the stern rites of her fatherland, 535
that her shining tresses, that her breast lies wholly hidden by a palla, that a barbarian should mingle herself with great Athens and come to an enemy, to bear children for a husband.

paulum et ab insessis maestae Pelopeides aris 540
promouere gradum seriemque et dona triumphi
mirantur, uictique animo rediere mariti.
atque ubi tardauit currus et ab axe superbo
explorat causas uictor poscitque benigna
aure preces, ausa ante alias Capaneia coniunx: 545

a little too the sorrowing Pelopid women from the beset altars moved their step, 540
and they advanced and marvel at the train and the gifts of triumph,
and their husbands returned, conquered in spirit.
and when the chariot slowed, and, high on his proud axle,
the victor explores the reasons and with a kindly ear calls for their prayers,
the wife of Capaneus, daring before the others: 545

'belliger Aegide, subitae cui maxima laudis
semina de nostris aperit Fortuna ruinis,
non externa genus, dirae nec conscia noxae
turba sumus: domus Argos erat regesque mariti,
non utinam et fortes! quid enim septena mouere                550
castra et Agenoreos opus emendare penates?
nec querimur caesos: haec bellica iura uicesque
armorum; sed non Siculis exorta sub antris
monstra nec Ossaei bello cecidere bimembres.
mitto genus clarosque patres: hominum, inclute Theseu,                555
sanguis erant, homines, eademque in sidera, eosdem
sortitus animarum alimentaque uestra creati,
quos uetat igne Creon Stygiaeque a limine portae,
ceu sator Eumenidum aut Lethaei portitor amnis,
summouet ac dubio caelique Erebique sub axe                560

'warlike Aegid, to whom Fortune opens from our ruins the greatest seeds of sudden glory,
we are not a foreign stock, nor a crowd conscious of dire guilt: Argos was our home and our husbands kings—
would that they were not also brave! For why stir the sevenfold camps and undertake the task to set right the Agenorean Penates?                550
nor do we complain of the slain: these are the laws of war and the vicissitudes of arms; but no monsters sprung from Sicilian caverns
fell in war, nor the two-formed Ossaian. I pass over their lineage and illustrious sires: they were the blood of men,
illustrious Theseus, men, and to the same stars allotted, receiving the same nourishments of souls as yours, created—                555
whom Creon forbids fire and from the threshold of the Stygian gate,
as though he were the begetter of the Eumenides or the ferryman of the Lethean river,
he drives them off, beneath the doubtful axis of sky and of Erebus                560

detinet. heu princeps Natura! ubi numina, ubi illest
fulminis iniusti iaculator?

he detains. alas, chief Nature! where are the numina, where is he
the hurler of the unjust thunderbolt?

ubi estis, Athenae?
septima iam surgens trepidis Aurora iacentes
auersatur equis; radios declinat et horret
stelligeri iubar omne poli; iam comminus ipsae 565
pabula dira ferae campumque odere uolucres
spirantem tabo et caelum uentosque grauantem.
quantum etenim superesse rear?

where are you, Athens?
now the seventh Aurora rising turns away from the fallen with her skittish horses;
she bends aside her rays and shudders at the whole radiance of the star-bearing pole; now at close quarters even the beasts themselves 565
loathe the dread fodder, and the birds hate the field, reeking with gore and weighing down the sky and the winds.
how much, indeed, do I suppose remains?

nuda ossa putremque
uerrere permittat saniem. properate, uerendi
Cecropidae; uos ista decet uindicta, priusquam 570
Emathii Thracesque dolent, quaeque extat ubique
gens arsura rogis manesque habitura supremos.
nam quis erit saeuire modus?

let him allow the bare bones and the putrid sanies
to be swept away. make haste, venerable
Cecropidae; this vengeance befits you, before 570
the Emathians and the Thracians lament, and whatever people exists everywhere,
destined to burn on pyres and to have the last rites for the Manes.
for what limit will there be to raging?

bellauimus, esto;
sed cecidere odia et tristes mors obruit iras.
tu quoque, ut egregios fama cognouimus actus, 575

we have warred, so be it;
but hatreds have fallen, and death has overwhelmed the gloomy wraths.
you also, as by fame we have come to know your egregious deeds, 575

non trucibus monstris Sinin infandumque dedisti
Cercyona, et saeuum uelles Scirona crematum.
credo et Amazoniis Tanain fumasse sepulcris,
unde haec arma refers; sed et hunc dignare triumphum.
da terris unum caeloque Ereboque laborem, 580
si patrium Marathona metu, si tecta leuasti
Cresia, nec fudit uanos anus hospita fletus.

did you not hand over Sinis to savage monsters and the unspeakable Cercyon, and did you wish the fierce Sciron burned.
I believe too that the Tanais smoked with Amazonian sepulchres, whence you bring back these arms; but deign this triumph as well.
grant to earth and to sky and to Erebus one labor, 580
if you relieved your native Marathon from fear, if you lightened the Cretan roofs, and the hostess old woman did not pour out vain tears.

sic tibi non ullae socia sine Pallade pugnae,
nec sacer inuideat paribus Tirynthius actis,
semper et in curru, semper te mater ouantem                585
cernat, et inuictae nil tale precentur Athenae.'
    dixerat; excipiunt cunctae tenduntque precantes
cum clamore manus; rubuit Neptunius heros
permotus lacrimis; iusta mox concitus ira
exclamat: 'quaenam ista nouos induxit Erinys                590

thus may no battles be yours without Pallas as ally,
nor let the Tirynthian, holy, begrudge deeds equal to his;
and may your mother always, always behold you triumphing in the chariot,                585
and may the Unconquered Athenae pray for nothing of the sort.'
    she had spoken; all take it up and, praying, stretch forth their hands
with a shout; the Neptunian hero blushed,
moved by their tears; soon, roused in just wrath,
he cries out: 'what Erinys is this that has brought in new—                590

regnorum mores? non haec ego pectora liqui
Graiorum abscedens, Scythiam Pontumque niualem
cum peterem; nouus unde furor? uictumne putasti
Thesea, dire Creon?

the ways of kingdoms? I did not leave behind hearts of the Greeks of this sort
departing, when I made for Scythia and the snowy Pontus;
whence this new frenzy? Did you think Theseus conquered,
dire Creon?

adsum, nec sanguine fessum
crede; sitit meritos etiamnum haec hasta cruores.                595
nulla mora est; uerte hunc adeo, fidissime Phegeu,
cornipedem, et Tyrias inuectus protinus arces
aut Danais edice rogos aut proelia Thebis.'
sic ait oblitus bellique uiaeque laborum,
hortaturque suos uiresque instaurat anhelas:                600
ut modo conubiis taurus saltuque recepto
cum posuit pugnas, alio si forte remugit
bellatore nemus, quamquam ora et colla cruento
imbre madent, nouus arma parat campumque lacessens
dissimulat gemitus et uulnera puluere celat.                605

I am here, and do not believe me weary with blood; this spear still thirsts for well‑earned gore.                595
no delay; turn this very steed, most trusty Phegeus,
and, borne straightway into the Tyrian citadels,
either proclaim pyres for the Danaans or battles for Thebes.’
Thus he speaks, forgetful of the toils of war and of the road,
and he exhorts his men and reinstates their panting strengths:                600
as when a bull, fresh from couplings and with his spring recovered,
when he has laid aside his fights, if by chance another warrior
bellows in the grove, although his jaws and neck drip with a bloody
shower, he readies arms anew, and, challenging the field,
he dissimulates his groans and hides his wounds with dust.                605

ipsa metus Libycos seruatricemque Medusam
pectoris incussa mouit Tritonia parma.
protinus erecti toto simul agmine Thebas
respexere angues; necdum Atticus ire parabat
miles, et infelix expauit classica Dirce.                610
    continuo in pugnas haud solum accensa iuuentus
qui modo Caucasei comites rediere triumphi:
omnis ad arma rudes ager extimulauit alumnos.
conueniunt ultroque ducis uexilla sequuntur,
qui gelidum Braurona uiri, qui rura lacessunt                615
Monychia et trepidis stabilem Piraeea nautis
et nondum Eoo clarum Marathona triumpho.

the Tritonian shield itself, smitten on her breast, stirred Libyan terrors and the protectress Medusa.
straightway the serpents, reared up, all together with their whole array looked back toward Thebes; not yet was the Attic soldier preparing to march, and ill-fated Dirce was terrified at the war-clarions.                610
    immediately into battles was kindled not only the youth who just now returned as comrades of the Caucasian triumph:
the whole countryside urged its untrained pupils to arms.
they assemble and of their own accord follow the leader’s banners—
men of chilly Brauron, who harry the fields of Mounychia,               615
and Piraeus, steadfast for trembling sailors, and Marathon not yet famous for an Eastern triumph.

mittit in arma manus gentilibus hospita diuis
Icarii Celeique domus uiridesque Melaenae,
diues et Aegaleos nemorum Parnesque benignus 620

sends bands into arms, hospitable to kindred gods, the house of Icarius and of Celeus,
and the green Melaenae,
and rich Aegaleos of the groves and kindly Parnes 620

uitibus et pingui melior Lycabessos oliuae.
uenit atrox Alaeus et olentis arator Hymetti,
quaeque rudes thyrsos hederis uestistis, Acharnae.
linquitur Eois longe speculabile proris
Sunion, unde uagi casurum in nomina ponti 625
Cresia decepit falso ratis Aegea uelo.

better for vines and the rich olive, lycabettus.
there comes the grim alaean and the plowman of fragrant hymettus,
and you, acharnae, who have clothed raw thyrsi with ivy.
is left behind, long a lookout visible to eastern prows
sunium, whence, destined to fall into the name of the wandering sea, 625
the cretan raft deceived aegeus with a false sail.

hos Salamis populos, illos Cerealis Eleusin
horrida suspensis ad proelia misit aratris,
et quos Callirhoe nouies errantibus undis
implicat, et raptae qui conscius Orithyiae 630
celauit ripis Geticos Ilissos amores.
ipse quoque in pugnas uacuatur collis, ubi ingens
lis superum, dubiis donec noua surgeret arbor
rupibus et longa refugum mare frangeret umbra.
isset et Arctoas Cadmea ad moenia ducens 635

Salamis sent these peoples, Cereal Eleusis those, grim to the battles with ploughs suspended,
and those whom Callirrhoe entwines nine times with wandering waves, and Ilissos, privy to ravished Orithyia, 630
hid on his banks the Getic loves. The hill itself also is emptied for the fights, where the huge lawsuit of the gods,
until a new tree should rise upon the cliffs for the doubtful case and with its long shadow break the receding sea. He too would have gone,
leading Arctic hosts to the Cadmean walls. 635

Hippolyte turmas: retinet iam certa tumentis
spes uteri, coniunxque rogat dimittere curas
Martis et emeritas thalamo sacrare pharetras.
    hos ubi uelle acies et dulci gliscere ferro
dux uidet, utque piis raptim dent oscula natis                640
amplexusque breues, curru sic fatur ab alto:
'terrarum leges et mundi foedera mecum
defensura cohors, dignas insumite mentes
coeptibus: hac omnem diuumque hominumque fauorem
Naturamque ducem coetusque silentis Auerni                645
stare palam est; illic Poenarum exercita Thebis
agmina et anguicomae ducent uexilla sorores.
ite alacres tantaeque, precor, confidite causae.'
dixit, et emissa praeceps iter incohat hasta:
qualis Hyperboreos ubi nubilus institit axes                650

Hippolyta’s squadrons: now the sure hope of a swelling womb restrains him,
and his spouse asks him to dismiss the cares of Mars and to consecrate
to the bedchamber his veteran quivers.
    When the leader sees that the battle-lines are willing and swelling with sweet steel,
and that they may swiftly give kisses to their dear children                640
and brief embraces, thus he speaks from his high chariot:
“Cohort that with me will defend the laws of the lands and the covenants of the world,
put on minds worthy of your undertakings: on this side it is plain that all favor
of gods and men, and Nature as our leader, and the silent gatherings of Avernus,
stand; there, at Thebes, the drilled battalions of Punishments and the snake‑haired sisters                645
will carry the banners. Go eager, and trust, I pray, in so great a cause.”
He spoke, and, a spear sent headlong, he begins the march:
like when a cloud‑bank has pressed upon the Hyperborean poles                650

Iuppiter et prima tremefecit sidera bruma,
rumpitur Aeolia et longam indignata quietem
tollit hiems animos uentosaque sibilat Arctos;
tunc montes undaeque fremunt, tunc proelia caecis
nubibus et tonitrus insanaque fulmina gaudent.                655
    icta gemit tellus, uirides grauis ungula campos
mutat, et innumeris peditumque equitumque cateruis
expirat protritus ager, nec puluere crasso
armorum lux uicta perit, sed in aethera longum
frangitur, et mediis ardent in nubibus hastae.                660
noctem adeo placidasque operi iunxere tenebras,
certamenque inmane uiris quo concita tendunt
agmina: quis uisas proclamet ab aggere Thebas,
cuius in Ogygio stet princeps lancea muro.
at procul ingenti Neptunius agmina Theseus                665

Jupiter, and the first brumal frost, made the stars tremble;
Aeolia is broken, and winter, indignant at the long quiet,
lifts its spirits, and the windy Bears whistle;
then mountains and waves roar, then battles in blind
clouds, and thunders and mad lightnings, rejoice.                655
    the smitten earth groans, the heavy hoof changes the green
fields, and with innumerable bands of foot and of horse
the trampled field breathes out; nor does the light of arms,
conquered by thick dust, perish, but is refracted far
into the upper air, and spears burn in the midst of the clouds.                660
they even have joined night and gentle shadows to the work,
and to the monstrous contest of men, toward which the stirred ranks press:
who could proclaim from the rampart the Theban sights he has seen,
on whose Ogygian wall the prince’s lance stands.
But far away, the Neptune-born Theseus [surveys] the battle-lines in their vastness.                665

angustat clipeo, propriaeque exordia laudis
centum urbes umbone gerit centenaque Cretae
moenia, seque ipsum monstrosi ambagibus antri
hispida torquentem luctantis colla iuuenci
alternasque manus circum et nodosa ligantem                670
bracchia et abducto uitantem cornua uultu.
terror habet populos, cum saeptus imagine torua
ingreditur pugnas, bis Thesea bisque cruentas
caede uidere manus: ueteres reminiscitur actus
ipse tuens sociumque gregem metuendaque quondam                675
limina et absumpto pallentem Cnosida filo.
    saeuus at interea ferro post terga reuinctas
Antigonen uiduamque Creon Adrastida leto
admouet; ambae hilares et mortis amore superbae
ensibus intentant iugulos regemque cruentum                680

he compresses within his shield the beginnings of his own praise, and on the boss he bears a hundred cities and the hundred walls of Crete, and himself, in the windings of the monstrous cave, bristly, twisting the neck of the wrestling young bullock and with alternate hands encircling and binding the knotty arms, and with face drawn back avoiding the horns.                670
terror holds the peoples, when, enclosed with the grim image, he enters the battles; twice they saw Theseus and twice the hands blood-red with slaughter: he himself, looking, recalls his former acts, and the companion troop, and the thresholds once to be feared, and the Cnosian maiden paling with the thread used up.                675
    but meanwhile savage Creon brings near to death Antigone and the Adrastian widow, bound with iron behind their backs; both are cheerful and proud with love of death, they proffer their throats to the swords and the blood-stained king                680

destituunt, cum dicta ferens Theseia Phegeus
astitit. ille quidem ramis insontis oliuae
pacificus, sed bella ciet bellumque minatur,
grande fremens, nimiumque memor mandantis, et ipsum
iam prope, iam medios operire cohortibus agros 685
ingeminans. stetit ambiguo Thebanus in aestu
curarum, nutantque minae et prior ira tepescit.

they desist, when Phegeus, bearing Thesean words,
stood by. He indeed, pacific with the branches of the innocent olive,
but he excites wars and menaces war,
booming grandly, and too mindful of the one commanding, and that he himself
now near, now to cover the very midst of the fields with cohorts, 685
reiterating. The Theban stood in the ambiguous surge of cares,
and the menaces waver and the earlier ire grows tepid.

tunc firmat sese, fictumque ac triste renidens,
'paruane prostratis,' inquit, 'documenta Mycenis
sanximus? en iterum qui moenia nostra lacessant. 690
accipimus, ueniant; sed ne post bella querantur:
lex eadem uictis.' dicit, sed puluere crasso
caligare diem et Tyrios iuga perdere montes
aspicit; armari populos tamen armaque ferri
ipse iubet pallens, mediaeque in sedibus aulae 695

then he steels himself, and, smiling a feigned and grim smile,
'have we sanctioned too small lessons for prostrate Mycenae?
lo, again we receive those who would challenge our walls. 690
let them come; but let them not complain after the wars:
the same law for the vanquished.' he speaks, but he sees the day
grow dim with thick dust and the Tyrian mountains lose their ridges;
nevertheless he himself, paling, orders the peoples to be armed and arms to be borne,
and in the seats of the hall’s midst 695

Eumenidas subitas flentemque Menoecea cernit
turbidus impositosque rogis gaudere Pelasgos.
quis fuit ille dies, tanto cum sanguine Thebis
pax inuenta perit! patriis modo fixa reuellunt
arma deis, clipeisque obducunt pectora fractis,                700
et galeas humiles et adhuc sordentia tabo
spicula: non pharetris quisquam, non ense decorus,
non spectandus equo; cessat fiducia ualli,
murorum patet omne latus, munimina portae
exposcunt: prior hostis habet; fastigia desunt:                705
deiecit Capaneus; exanguis et aegra iuuentus
iam nec coniugibus suprema nec oscula natis
iungit, et attoniti nil optauere parentes.
    Atticus at contra, iubar ut clarescere ruptis
nubibus et solem primis aspexit in armis,                710

He, troubled, beholds sudden Eumenides and Menoeceus weeping,
and that the Pelasgi, laid upon the pyres, rejoice.
What a day that was, when, with so great blood for Thebes,
the peace, once found, perishes! they wrench away the arms only just fastened
to their ancestral gods, and with shattered shields they cover their breasts,                700
and low helmets and javelins still filthy with gore:
no one is adorned with quivers, nor with a sword,
none worth beholding on a horse; the confidence in the rampart ceases,
every side of the walls lies open, the defenses of the gate
they call for: the foe has them first; the battlements are lacking:                705
Capaneus cast them down; and the youth, bloodless and sick,
now joins neither last rites to their spouses nor kisses to their children,
and the thunderstruck parents desired nothing.
    But the Attic man, on the contrary, as the radiance began to brighten through broken
clouds and he beheld the sun with his first arms on,                710

desilit in campum, qui subter moenia nudos
adseruat manes, dirisque uaporibus aegrum
aera puluerea penitus sub casside ducens
ingemit et iustas belli flammatur in iras.
hunc saltem miseris ductor Thebanus honorem                715
largitur Danais, quod non super ipsa iacentum
corpora belligeras acies Martemque secundum
miscuit, aut lacera ne quid de strage nefandus
perderet, eligitur saeuos potura cruores
terra rudis. iamque alternas in proelia gentes                720
dissimilis Bellona ciet; non clamor utrimque,
non utrimque tubae: stat debilis altera pubes
summissos enses nequiquam ammentaque dextris
laxa tenens; cedunt tellure, armisque reductis
ostentant ueteres etiamnum in sanguine plagas.                725

he leaps down into the field, which beneath the walls keeps the shades unburied,
drawing deep beneath his helmet the dusty air, sick with dire vapors,
he groans and is inflamed into the just wraths of war.
the Theban leader grants at least this honor to the wretched Danaans,                715
that he did not mingle the warlike battle lines and a second Mars over the very bodies
of those lying there, or, lest the unspeakable one lose anything from the mangled carnage,
the raw earth is chosen, to drink savage gore.
and now an unequal Bellona rouses the opposing peoples into battles;                720
not on both sides the shout, not on both sides the trumpets:
one side’s youth stands feeble, holding lowered swords in vain and
loosened throwing-straps in their right hands; they yield ground, and with weapons drawn back
they display old wounds still in blood.                725

iam nec Cecropiis idem ductoribus ardor,
languescuntque minae et uirtus secura residit:
uentorum uelut ira minor, nisi silua furentes
impedit, insanique tacent sine litore fluctus.
    ut uero aequoreus quercum Marathonida Theseus                730
extulit, erectae cuius crudelis in hostes
umbra cadit campumque trucem lux cuspidis implet,
ceu pater Edonios Haemi de uertice Mauors
impulerit currus, rapido mortemque fugamque
axe uehens, sic exanimes in terga reducit                735
pallor Agenoridas; taedet fugientibus uti
Thesea, nec facilem dignatur dextra cruorem.
cetera plebeio desaeuit sanguine uitrus:
sic iuuat exanimis proiectaque praeda canesque
degeneresque lupos, magnos alit ira leones.                740

now nor is the same ardor in the Cecropian leaders, and their threats grow faint, and valor, secure, subsides: just as the wrath of winds is lesser, unless a forest hinders them raging, and the mad billows are silent without a shore. But when indeed the sea-born Theseus raised the Marathonian oak, whose cruel shadow, upright, falls upon the foes, and the light of the spear-point fills the savage field, as father Mavors from the summit of Haemus has driven his chariots against the Edonians, bearing with the swift axle death and flight, thus pallor drives the Agenorids, lifeless, to their backs; it wearies Theseus to make use of men who flee, nor does his right hand deign an easy bloodshed. as for the rest, a brute fury rages on plebeian blood: thus it pleases dogs and degenerate wolves to feed on lifeless and cast-forth prey; anger nourishes great lions. 740

attamen Olenium Lamyrumque, hunc tela pharetra
promentem, hunc saeui tollentem pondera saxi
deicit, et triplici confisos robore gentis
Alcetidas fratres, totidem quos eminus hastis
continuat; ferrum consumpsit pectore Phyleus,                745
ore momordit Helops, umero transmisit Iapyx.
iamque et quadriiugo celsum petit Haemona curru,
horrendumque manu telum rotat: ille pauentes
obliquauit equos; longo perlata tenore
transiit hasta duos, sitiebat uulnera nec non                750
tertia, sed medio cuspis temone retenta est.
    sed solum uotis, solum clamore tremendo
omnibus in turmis optat uocitatque Creonta.
atque hunc diuersa bellorum in fronte maniplos
hortantem dictis frustraque extrema minantem                755

nevertheless he casts down the Olenian Lamyrus—this one bringing forth missiles from the quiver, that one lifting the savage weight of a rock—and the Alcetid brothers, trusting in the triple strength of their race, whom he strings together at a distance with as many spears: Phyleus consumed the iron in his chest, Helops bit it with his mouth, Iapyx sent it through his shoulder.                745
and now he also seeks Haemon, lofty on a four-yoked chariot, and he whirls with his hand a horrendous spear: that man turned his frightened horses aside; the spear, borne along in a long sweep, passed through two—the third too was thirsting for wounds, but the point was held back by the middle pole.                750
    but Creon alone, him alone with tremendous shouting in all the squadrons, he longs for and calls upon. and this man, encouraging the maniples on a different front of the wars and with words threatening the furthest ranks in vain,                755

conspicit; abscedunt comites: sed Thesea iussi
linquebant fretique deis atque ipsius armis,
ille tenet reuocatque suos; utque aequa notauit
hinc atque hinc odia, extrema se colligit ira,
iam letale furens, atque audax morte futura, 760
'non cum peltiferis' ait 'haec tibi pugna puellis,
uirgineas ne crede manus: hic cruda uirorum
proelia, nos magnum qui Tydea quique furentem
Hippomedonta neci Capaneaque misimus umbris
pectora. quae bellum praeceps amentia suasit, 765
improbe? nonne uides, quos ulciscare, iacentes?'
sic ait, et frustras periturum missile summo
adflixit clipeo.

he catches sight; the companions withdraw: yet, at his order
they were leaving Theseus, and, confident in the gods and in his very arms,
he restrains and calls back his own; and when he noted equal
hatreds on this side and that, he gathers himself in utmost wrath,
now raging to deal death, and bold with the death to come, 760
‘not with pelta-bearing girls,’ he says, ‘is this a fight for you;
do not suppose the hands are virginal: here are the raw
battles of men—we who sent the great Tydeus and the raging
Hippomedon to death and their breasts to the shades, and Capaneus’s breast—.
what precipitate amentia urged you to war,765
shameless one? do you not see those whom you avenge, lying?’
thus he speaks, and a missile doomed to perish in vain
he dashed upon the top of the shield.

risit uocesque manumque
horridus Aegides, ferrataque arbore magnos
molitur iactus, nec non prius ore superbo 770

he laughed at the voices and the hand,
the bristling son of Aegeus, and with an iron-clad tree he contrives mighty throws,
and likewise first with a proud mouth 770

intonat: 'Argolici, quibus haec datur hostia, manes,
pandite Tartareum chaos ultricesque parate
Eumenidas, uenit ecce Creon!' sic fatus, et auras
dissipat hasta tremens; tunc, qua subtemine duro
multiplicem tenues iterant thoraca catenae,                775
incidit: emicuit per mille foramina sanguis
impius; ille oculis extremo errore solutis
labitur. adsistit Theseus grauis armaque tollens,
'iamne dare extinctis iustos' ait 'hostibus ignes,
iam uictos operire placet? uade atra dature                780
supplicia, extremique tamen secure sepulcri.'
    accedunt utrimque pio uexilla tumultu
permiscentque manus; medio iam foedera bello,
iamque hospes Theseus; orant succedere muris
dignarique domos.

he thunders: 'Argolic shades, to whom this victim is given,
open the Tartarean chaos and prepare the avenging
Eumenides, look, Creon comes!' thus having spoken, and he scatters
the air with a trembling spear; then, where with hard woof
the slender chains traverse the many-layered thorax,                775
he strikes: through a thousand little apertures the impious blood
flashed forth; he, with his eyes loosed in the last wandering,
slips down. Theseus stands by, weighty, and lifting his arms,
'is it now pleasing to give just fires to enemies
now slain, now to cover the conquered? go, black one, destined                780
to give punishments, yet be secure of the final sepulcher.'
    there approach from both sides the standards in pious tumult
and they mingle hands; now covenants in the midst of war,
and already Theseus a guest; they beg him to come beneath the walls
and to deem their homes worthy.

nec tecta hostilia uictor 785

nor, as victor, the hostile roofs 785

aspernatus init; gaudent matresque nurusque
Ogygiae, qualis thyrso bellante subactus
mollia laudabat iam marcidus orgia Ganges.
ecce per aduersas Dircaei uerticis umbras
femineus quatit astra fragor, matresque Pelasgae                790
decurrunt: quales Bacchea ad bella uocatae
Thyiades amentes, magnum quas poscere credas
aut fecisse nefas; gaudent lamenta nouaeque
exultant lacrimae; rapit huc, rapit impetus illuc,
Thesea magnanimum quaerant prius, anne Creonta,                795
anne suos: uidui ducunt ad corpora luctus.
    non ego, centena si quis mea pectora laxet
uoce deus, tot busta simul uulgique ducumque,
tot pariter gemitus dignis conatibus aequem:
turbine quo sese caris instrauerit audax                800

spurning, he enters; the mothers and daughters‑in‑law of Ogygia rejoice,
such as the Ganges, subdued by a war‑wielding thyrsus,
already drooping, was praising the soft orgies. Behold, through the opposing
shades of the Dircaean peak a feminine crash shakes the stars, and the Pelasgian mothers                790
run down: like Thyiads, called to Bacchic wars, frenzied—whom you would believe
to be demanding, or to have done, some great nefarious deed; the laments rejoice and new
tears exult; the rush snatches here, the rush snatches there,
whether they should seek first great‑souled Theseus, or Creon, or their own; they lead
widowed griefs to the bodies.                795
not I, even if some god should loosen my breast to a hundred
voices, could with worthy endeavors match so many pyres at once of commoners and of leaders,
so many groans alike: with what whirlwind the bold one for his dear ones has strewn himself                800

ignibus Euadne fulmenque in pectore magno
quaesierit; quo more iacens super oscula saeui
corporis infelix excuset Tydea coniunx;
ut saeuos narret uigiles Argia sorori;
Arcada quo planctu genetrix Erymanthia clamet, 805
Arcada, consumpto seruantem sanguine uultus,
Arcada, quem geminae pariter fleuere cohortes.
uix nouus ista furor ueniensque implesset Apollo,
et mea iam longo meruit ratis aequore portum.
durabisne procul dominoque legere superstes, 810
o mihi bissenos multum uigilata per annos
Thebai?

how Evadne sought fires and the thunderbolt into her great breast;
by what manner, lying upon the kisses of the savage body, the unhappy consort of Tydeus might excuse herself;
how Argia may recount the cruel sentries to her sister;
with what lament the Erymanthian mother cries for the Arcadian, 805
the Arcadian, his features preserved with his blood consumed,
the Arcadian, whom the twin cohorts alike wept. Scarcely would a fresh frenzy and Apollo newly arriving have fulfilled these themes,
and now my bark has earned a harbor from the long sea.
will you endure far from your master, and be read surviving him, 810
O my Thebaid, much kept vigil over for twice-six years?

iam certe praesens tibi Fama benignum
strauit iter coepitque nouam monstrare futuris.
iam te magnanimus dignatur noscere Caesar,
Itala iam studio discit memoratque iuuentus. 815

now surely present Fame has paved for you a benign path
and has begun to show a new one to those to come.
now the magnanimous Caesar deigns to know you,
now the Italian youth learns with zeal and makes mention of you. 815

uiue, precor; nec tu diuinam Aeneida tempta,
sed longe sequere et uestigia semper adora.
mox, tibi si quis adhuc praetendit nubila liuor,
occidet, et meriti post me referentur honores.

live, i pray; nor attempt the divine Aeneid,
but follow from afar and always adore the footsteps.
soon, if any envy still spreads clouds before you,
it will set, and honors of merit will be rendered after me.