Statius: THEBAID

At non Aoniae moderator perfidus aulae
nocte sub ancipiti, quamuis umentibus astris
longus ad auroram superet labor, otia somni
accipit; inuigilant animo scelerisque parati
supplicium exercent curae; tum plurima uersat, 5
pessimus in dubiis augur, timor. 'ei mihi' clamat,
'unde morae?' (nam prona ratus facilemque tot armis
Tydea, nec numero uirtutem animumque rependit)
'num regio diuersa uiae? num missus ab Argis
subsidio globus?

But not the Aonian master of the court, treacherous,
by night beneath the two-faced sky—although with dewy stars
long labour may outlast the dawn—receives the leisure of sleep;
cares keep watch in his spirit and, ready for wrongdoing,
administer punishment; then he turns over very many things, 5
fear, worst augur in doubts, cries 'woe is me,' he shouts,
'whence these delays?' (for deeming Tydean prone and easily to be won with so many arms,
he did not weigh courage and spirit by number) 'is some region of the road changed?
or has a host been sent from Argos as reinforcement?'

an sceleris data fama per urbes 10
finitimas? paucosne, pater Gradiue, manuue
legimus indecores? at enim fortissimus illic
et Chromis et Dorylas et nostris turribus aequi
Thespiadae totos raperent mihi funditus Argos.

has a fame of the crime been given through the neighboring cities 10
or do we read only a few unseemly acts, O Father Gradivus, or written by hand?
But indeed the bravest there—both Chromis and Dorylas and the Thespiadae, as worthy as our towers—would have swept whole Argos away from its foundations for me.

nec tamen ille meis, reor, impenetrabilis armis 15

nor yet, I think, impenetrable to my arms 15

aere gerens solidoque datos adamante lacertos
uenerat; heu segnes, quorum labor haeret in uno,
si conserta manus.' uario sic turbidus aestu
angitur ac sese culpat super omnia, qui non
orantem in mediis legatum coetibus ense                20
perculerit foedasque palam satiauerit iras.
iam pudet incepti, iam paenitet. ac uelut ille
fluctibus Ioniis Calabrae datus arbiter alno
nec rudis undarum (portus sed linquere amicos
purior Olenii frustra gradus impulit astri),                25
cum fragor hiberni subitus Iouis, omnia mundi
claustra tonant multusque polos inclinat Orion,
ipse quidem malit terras pugnatque reuerti,
fert ingens a puppe Notus, tunc arte relicta
ingemit et caecas sequitur iam nescius undas:                30

bearing bronze and brawny arms fastened with solid adamant
he had come; ah, slow ones, whose labor clings to a single thing,
if the hand is joined. Thus, stirred with a variable surge,
he is anguished and reproaches himself above all, who did not
strike down with his sword the envoy praying among the assemblies                20
and openly sate his foul angers.
now he is ashamed of what he began, now he repents. And just as that
pilot given to a Calabrian skiff on Ionian waves,
not unskilled in the seas (yet the purer course of the Olenian star in vain urged him to leave friendly harbors),                25
when the sudden crash of wintry Jove thunders the world’s barriers
and mighty Orion inclines the heavens,
he indeed prefers to fight for the lands and to return,
a vast South Wind carries him from the stern; then, his art abandoned,
he groans and now, ignorant, follows the blind waves:                30

talis Agenoreus ductor caeloque morantem
Luciferum et seros maerentibus increpat ortus.
    ecce sub occiduas uersae iam Noctis habenas
astrorumque obitus, ubi primum maxima Tethys
impulit Eoo cunctantem Hyperiona ponto,                35
ima flagellatis, signum lugubre malorum,
ponderibus trepidauit humus, motusque Cithaeron
antiquas dedit ire niues; tunc uisa leuari
culmina septenaeque iugo concurrere portae.
et prope sunt causae: gelido remeabat Eoo                40
iratus fatis et tristis morte negata
Haemonides; necdum ora patent, dubiusque notari
signa dabat magnae longe manifesta ruinae
planctuque et gemitu; lacrimas nam protinus omnes
fuderat. haud aliter saltu deuertitur orbus                45

such an Agenorean leader reproving Lucifer, lingering in the sky, and the late risings grieving.
    behold now the reins turned toward the west of Night
and the settings of the stars, where first great Tethys
drove Hyperion's reluctant sea to the East, all                35
depths whipped, a doleful sign of evils,
the ground trembled with its burdens, and Cithaeron's motions
sent ancient snows forth; then the summits seemed to be raised
and the sevenfold gates to run together on the ridge.
and the causes are near: at the chill East returned                40
Haemonides angry with the fates and saddened by denied death;
not yet were faces revealed, and doubtful to be marked
he was giving signs manifesting afar the great ruin
with lamentation and groan; for immediately he had poured forth all tears.
no differently is the bereft man turned aside by a leap                45

pastor ab agrestum nocturna strage luporum,
cuius erile pecus siluis inopinus abegit
imber et hibernae uentosa cacumina lunae.
luce patent caedes; domino perferre recentes
ipse timet casus, haustaque informis harena                50
questibus implet agros, stabulique silentia magni
odit et amissos longo ciet ordine tauros.
    illum congestae portarum ad limina matres
ut solum uidere (nefas!), nulla agmina circum
magnanimosque duces, nil ausae quaerere tollunt                55
clamorem, qualis bello supremus apertis
urbibus, aut pelago iam descendente carina.

A shepherd from the countryside, struck by the nocturnal carnage of wolves,
whose master’s flock the unexpected rain drove from the woods
and the windy summits of the wintry moon.
with daylight the slaughters lie open; he himself fears to carry the fresh
misfortunes to his lord, and with scooped-up, formless sand                50
fills the fields with plaints, and he loathes the silence of the great fold
and musters the lost bulls in a long procession.
    to him the mothers gathered at the piled-up thresholds of the gates
to see him alone (a sacrilege!), no cohorts around
and no valiant leaders, nothing daring to raise a cry to seek aid                55
such as when, in war, the utmost alarm opens the cities,
or when a keel is already descending to the sea.

ut primum inuisi cupido data copia regis:
'hanc tibi de tanto donat ferus agmine Tydeus
infelicem animam, siue haec sententia diuum, 60

as soon as the desire of the hated one, supplied by the king’s ample bounty:
"this, from so great a host, the savage Tydeus grants to you — this unhappy soul — if this is the sentence of the gods," 60

seu fortuna fuit, seu, quod pudet ira fateri,
uis inuicta uiri. uix credo et nuntius: omnes
procubuere, omnes. noctis uaga lumina testor
et socium manes et te, mala protinus ales,
qua redeo, non hanc lacrimis meruisse nec astu                65
crudelem ueniam atque inhonorae munera lucis;
sed mihi iussa deum placitoque ignara moueri
Atropos atque olim non haec data ianua leti
eripuere necem. iamque ut mihi prodiga uitae
pectora et extremam nihil horrescentia mortem                70
aspicias: bellum infandum ominibusque negatam
mouisti, funeste, aciem, dum pellere leges
et consanguineo gliscis regnare superbus
exule; te series orbarum excisa domorum
planctibus adsiduis, te diro horrore uolantes                75

whether it was fortune, or—what shame compels me to confess— the unconquered force of a man. I scarcely believe it, even the messenger: all fell, all. I call to witness the wandering lights of night
and the friendly manes and you, wicked bird at once, by whom I return, that she did not earn this by tears nor by guile a cruel pardon and the dishonorable gifts of light;                65
but Atropos, ignorant of my commands and of my pleading to the gods, was moved, and once that door of death not granted
snatched away her doom. And now, that you may behold for me the prodigal breasts of life
and a final death that shrinks at nothing:                70
you, baleful one, have raised an unspeakable war and a battle denied to omens, while, banished and proud, you strove to overthrow laws
and to rule, growing with your kindred; you whose line of fatherless houses was cut off with constant laments, you, flying in dread horror                75

quinquaginta animae circum noctesque diesque
adsilient, neque enim ipse moror.' iam mouerat iras
rex ferus, et tristes ignescunt sanguine uultus.
inde ultro Phlegyas et non cunctator iniqui
Labdacus (hos regni ferrum penes) ire manuque 80
proturbare parant. sed iam nudauerat ensem
magnanimus uates, et nunc trucis ora tyranni,
nunc ferrum aspectans: 'numquam tibi sanguinis huius
ius erit aut magno feries imperdita Tydeo
pectora; uado equidem exultans ereptaque fata 85
insequor et comites feror expectatus ad umbras.

fifty souls will leap about night and day
and for I myself do not delay.' Already the fierce king had moved to wrath, and their sad faces blaze with blood.
thence moreover Phlegyas and Labdacus, not lingering, unjust, (these the iron of the realm in their hands) prepare to go and to rout with hand 80
But now the magnanimous seer had bared his sword, and now beholding the face of the savage tyrant,
now the steel, he says: 'never shall you have a right to this blood nor shall you smite Tydeus' breast unspoiled by great harm;
I indeed go rejoicing, and I pursue the fates that were snatched away, and I am borne, an expected comrade, to the shades.

te superis fratrique++' et iam media orsa loquentis
absciderat plenum capulo latus; ille dolori
pugnat et ingentem nisu duplicatus in ictum
corruit, extremisque animae singultibus errans 90

to you, to the gods above, and to your brother ++' and now, in the midst of beginning to speak,
had sliced his side full to the hilt; he struggles against the pain
and, doubled by a mighty effort into the stroke, collapsed,
and, wandering with the final sobs of his soul 90

alternus nunc ore uenit, nunc uulnere sanguis.
excussae procerum mentes, turbataque mussant
concilia; ast illum coniunx fidique parentes
seruantem uultus et toruum in morte peracta,
non longum reducem laetati, in tecta ferebant                95
sed ducis infandi rabidae non hactenus irae
stare queunt; uetat igne rapi, pacemque sepulcri
impius ignaris nequiquam manibus arcet.
    tu tamen egregius fati mentisque nec umquam
(sic dignum est) passure situm, qui comminus ausus                 100
uadere contemptum reges, quaque ampla ueniret
libertas, sancire uiam: quo carmine dignam,
quo satis ore tuis famam uirtutibus addam,
augur amate deis?

alternately now from the mouth comes, now blood from the wound.
the minds of chiefs shaken out, and the disturbed councils murmur;
but his wife and faithful parents, keeping his countenance and stern in death accomplished,
not long rejoicing at his return alive, were bearing him into the house 95
but the unspeakable rabid wrath of the leader cannot yet be stayed; he forbids him to be seized by fire, and the impious one in vain with ignorant hands restrains the peace of the sepulchre.
you, however, distinguished in fate and mind and never (as is fitting) to endure a laid low resting-place,
who dared in person to go despising kings, and wherever broad liberty came to consecrate the way:
by what song worthy, by what mouth shall I add fame to your virtues, augur beloved of the gods?

non te caelestia frustra
edocuit lauruque sua dignatus Apollo est,                105
                                    . . .                                             105a
et nemorum Dodona parens Cirrhaeaque uirgo
audebit tacito populos suspendere Phoebo.
nunc quoque Tartareo multum diuisus Auerno
Elysias, i, carpe plagas, ubi manibus axis
inuius Ogygiis nec sontis iniqua tyranni                110

not taught you in vain by the celestial things;
and Apollo deigned to bestow his own laurel upon you,                105
                                    . . .                                             105a
and Dodona, mother of the woods, and the Cirrhaean virgin will dare
to suspend peoples for the silent Phoebus.
Now also, far divided from Tartarean Avernus,
go, seize the Elysian realms, where an axle untouched by Ogygian hands
and the unjust sway of a wicked tyrant do not hold sway;                110

iussa ualent; durant habitus et membra cruentis
inuiolata feris, nudoque sub axe iacentem
et nemus et tristis uolucrum reuerentia seruat.
    at nuptae exanimes puerique aegrique parentes
moenibus effusi per plana, per auia, passim                115
quisque suas auidi ad lacrimas, miserabile, currunt,
certamen, quos densa gradu comitantur euntes
milia solandi studio, pars uisere flagrant
unius acta uiri et tantos in nocte labores:
feruet iter gemitu et plangoribus arua reclamant.                120
ut uero infames scopulos siluamque nefandam
peruentum, ceu nulla prius lamenta nec atri
manassent imbres, sic ore miserrimus uno
exoritur fragor, aspectuque accensa cruento
turba furit: stat sanguineo discissus amictu                125

the commands hold; her garments and limbs endure, defiled by bloody beasts,
and both the grove and the sad reverencing birds keep her lying beneath the naked sky.
    but the brides, breathless, and the boys and sick parents
poured forth from the walls across the plains, through byways, everywhere                115
each, eager for their own tears — pitiable — runs,
a contest: those whom dense thousands accompany as they go,
driven by a zeal to console, some glow to behold
the deeds of one man and such great labors by night:
the road boils with groaning and the fields cry back with wails.                120
when, moreover, they reached the infamous rocks and the accursed wood,
as if no lament had flowed before nor the dark rains poured, so from one miserable mouth
a crash arises, and the crowd, kindled by the bloody sight, raves:
he stands rent in a blood-stained cloak                125

Luctus atrox caesoque inuitat pectore matres.
scrutantur galeas frigentum inuentaque monstrant
corpora, prociduae super externosque suosque.
hae pressant in tabe comas, hae lumina signant
uulneraque alta rigant lacrimis, pars spicula dextra 130
nequiquam parcente trahunt, pars molliter aptant
bracchia trunca loco et ceruicibus ora reponunt.

Fierce mourning and the struck-down breast summon the mothers.
they search the helmets of the frozen and display the bodies found,
fallen, prostrate over foreigners and their own.
these press their hair down in decay, these mark their eyes
and bathe deep wounds with tears, some drag spears with the right hand 130
in vain, sparing, others gently fit truncated arms
to their places and replace faces on necks.

    at uaga per dumos uacuique in puluere campi
magna parens iuuenum, gemini nunc funeris, Ide
squalentem sublata comam liuentiaque ora                135
ungue premens (nec iam infelix miserandaque, uerum
terror inest lacrimis), per et arma et corpora passim
canitiem impexam dira tellure uolutans
quaerit inops natos omnique in corpore plangit.
Thessalis haud aliter bello gauisa recenti,                140

But the great mother of the youths, wandering through brambles and the fields empty of dust,
now twin in mourning, Ide, her matted hair lifted and her bruised face
pressing with a fingernail (no longer unhappy and pitiable, but a terror dwells in her tears), through both arms and bodies everywhere
rolling a grisly grayness mixed with earth
she seeks her helpless sons and beats her breast upon every corpse. Thessalian no less, who had rejoiced in the recent war, 135

cui gentile nefas hominem renouare canendo,
multifida attollens antiqua lumina cedro
nocte subit campos uersatque in sanguine functum
uulgus et explorat manes, cui plurima busto
imperet ad superos: animarum maesta queruntur                145
concilia, et nigri pater indignatur Auerni.
    illi in secessu pariter sub rupe iacebant
felices, quos una dies, manus abstulit una,
peruia uulneribus media trabe pectora nexi.
ut uidit lacrimisque oculi patuere profusis:                150
'hosne ego complexus genetrix, haec oscula, nati,
uestra tuor?

to whom by ancestral law it is a crime to renew a man by singing,
raising ancient lights on a many-forked cedar,
by night he enters the fields and turns over the people stained with blood
and probes the shades, to whom he commands very many things at the pyre
to be offered to the gods above: the sorrowful councils of souls complain                145
and the sire of black Avernus is indignant.
    those in seclusion lay together beneath the cliff
happy, whom one day, one hand took away together,
their breasts bound through by the middle beam pierced with wounds.
when she saw and her eyes were opened with tears poured forth:                150
'these whom I embraced—mother, these kisses, my sons—do I behold you?'

sic uos extremo in fine ligauit
ingenium crudele necis? quae uulnera tractem,
quae prius ora premam? uosne illa potentia matris,
uos uteri fortuna mei, qua tangere diuos 155

Thus has a cruel genius of death bound you at the utter end?
Which wounds shall I tend, which faces first shall I press?
Was it that power of a mother, you—the fortune of my womb—by which to touch the gods 155

rebar et Ogygias titulis anteire parentes?
at quanto melius dextraque in sorte iugatae,
quis steriles thalami nulloque ululata dolore
respexit Lucina domum! mihi quippe malorum
causa labor; sed nec bellorum in luce patenti 160
conspicui fatis aeternaque gentibus ausi
quaesistis miserae uulnus memorabile matri,
sed mortem obscuram ~numerosaque funera passi,~
heu quantus furto cruor et sine laude iacetis!

I thought too to outstrip Ogygian ancestors in titles?
but how much better, and those yoked on the right in fate,
who, barren of bridal-chambers and with no ululation of grief,
did Lucina behold the house! For I am indeed the cause of evils; but not in the open light of wars conspicuous, nor daring with eternal fates to the nations,
did you seek a memorable wound for a wretched mother, 160
but you suffered obscure death ~and numerous funerals,~
ah, what great blood lies by theft, and you lie without praise!

quin ego non dextras miseris complexibus ausim                165
diuidere et tanti consortia rumpere leti:
ite diu fratres indiscretique supremis
ignibus et caros urna confundite manes!'
    nec minus interea digesta strage suorum
hic Cthonium coniunx, hic mater Penthea clamat                170
Astyoche, puerique rudes, tua, Phaedime, proles,
amissum didicere patrem, Marpessaque pactum
Phyllea, sanguineumque lauant Acamanta sorores.
tunc ferro retegunt siluas collisque propinqui
annosum truncant apicem, qui conscius actis                175

Would that I not dare to part right hands in miserable embraces
and to break the consortia of so great a death:
go on long, brothers, and indiscriminate ones, mingle with the last
fires and pour your dear shades into the urn!'
    Nor less meanwhile, amid the dispersed slaughter of their own,
here the Chthonic spouse, here the mother of Pentheus cries                170
Astyoche, and the raw boys, your offspring, Phaedimus,
learned that their father was lost, and Phyllea the pact with Marpessa,
and the sisters of Acamas wash with blood. Then with iron they uncover the woods and nearby hills
they lop the aged summit, he who is conscious of the deeds                175

noctis et inspexit gemitus; ibi grandior aeuo
ante rogos, dum quisque suo nequit igne reuelli,
concilium infaustum dictis mulcebat Aletes:
'saepe quidem infelix uarioque exercita ludo
fatorum gens nostra fuit, Sidonius ex quo                180
hospes in Aonios iecit sata ferrea sulcos,
unde noui fetus et formidata colonis
arua suis. sed nec ueteris cum regia Cadmi
fulmineum in cinerem monitis Iunonis iniquae
consedit, neque funerea cum laude potitus                185
infelix Athamas trepido de monte ueniret,
semianimem heu laeto referens clamore Learchum,
hic gemitus Thebis, nec tempore clarius illo
Phoenissae sonuere domus, cum lassa furorem
uicit et ad comitum lacrimas expauit Agaue.                190

and he beheld also the groans of the night; there, older in age before the pyres, while each could not be torn from his own fire, Aletes soothed the ill-omened council with words:
'often indeed our unhappy race was trained by a various sport of fates, since the Sidonian, from whom as guest iron-sown seed was cast into Aonian furrows,180
whence new offspring and fields feared by their settlers arose. But neither when of old the royal Cadmus, warned by unjust Juno, sank into ashen ruin by lightning,
nor when unhappy Athamas, without funeral honour attained, came trembling down from the mountain,185
bringing back, alas, half-alive Learchus with a glad shout,—here were laments for Thebes, nor did the Phoenician houses sound more clearly at that time,
when wearied Agave conquered her fury and, struck with fear, recoiled from the tears of her companions.'190

una dies similis fato specieque malorum
aequa fuit, qua magniloquos luit impia flatus
Tantalis, innumeris cum circumfusa ruinis
corpora tot raperet terra, tot quaereret ignes.
talis erat uulgi status, et sic urbe relicta                195
primaeuique senesque et longo examine matres
inuidiam planxere deis miseroque tumultu
bina per ingentes stipabant funera portas.
meque ipsum memini (necdum apta doloribus aetas)
flesse tamen gemituque meos aequasse parentes                200
illa tamen superi. nec quod tibi, Delia, castos
prolapsum fontes specula temerare profana
heu dominum insani nihil agnouere Molossi,
deflerim magis, aut uerso quod sanguine fluxit
in subitos regina lacus: sic dura Sororum                205

one day, alike in fate and in the aspect of evils,
was equal, on which the impious blast of Tantalus overthrew the vainglorious,
when, with innumerable ruins poured around, the earth carried off so many bodies, so many sought for fires.
such was the condition of the multitude, and thus with the city left behind 195
the firstborn and old men and mothers in a long procession
beat out envy against the gods and with miserable tumult
they pressed two by two the great funeral gates.
and I myself remember (my age not yet fitted to grief)
yet to have wept and with a groan to have matched my parents 200
those things, however, the gods above. Nor that I should have bewailed more that to you, Delia, the chaste
the spring slipped, a watch-tower profaned the sacred fountains — ah —
the lord of mad Molossus recognised nothing,
nor that which, blood turned back, flowed into sudden lakes the queen:
thus hard were the Sisters'

pensa dabant uisumque Ioui. nunc regis iniqui
ob noxam inmeritos patriae tot culmina ciues
exuimus, nec adhuc calcati foederis Argos
fama subit, et iam bellorum extrema dolemus.
quantus equis quantusque uiris in puluere crasso 210
sudor!

they weighed matters and offered a portent to Jove. now, on account of the crime of the unjust king,
we citizens have stripped the undeserving of so many heights of the fatherland,
nor yet has news of Argos, of the treaty trampled, arisen, and already we lament the last consequences of wars.
what a sweat on horses and what on men in the thick dust 210
sudor!

io quanti crudele rubebitis amnes!
uiderit haec bello uiridis manus: ast ego doner
dum licet igne meo terraque insternar auita!'
haec senior, multumque nefas Eteoclis aceruat
crudelem infandumque uocans poenasque daturum. 215
unde ea libertas? iuxta illi finis et aetas
tota retro, seraeque decus uelit addere morti.

oh how many rivers will you crimson cruelly!
may this green hand see these things in war: but I, while it is permitted, will meanwhile spread with my fire and my ancestral earth!'
thus spoke the elder, and he heaps great crime upon Eteocles, calling it cruel and unspeakable and saying he will mete out punishments. 215
whence that freedom? near him is the end and age wholly behind, and he would wish to add a late glory to death.

haec sator astrorum iamdudum e uertice mundi
prospectans primoque imbutas sanguine gentes
Gradiuum acciri propere iubet. ille furentes 220

this sower of the stars, long since from the summit of the world surveying
and bidding that the peoples drenched in primal blood be swiftly summoned to the march
Gradiuum acciri propere iubet. ille furentes 220

Bistonas et Geticas populatus caedibus urbes
turbidus aetherias currus urguebat ad arces,
fulmine cristatum galeae iubar armaque in auro
tristia, terrificis monstrorum animata figuris,
incutiens: tonat axe polus clipeique cruenta                 225
lux rubet, et solem longe ferit aemulus orbis.
hunc ubi Sarmaticos etiamnum efflare labores
Iuppiter et tota perfusum pectora belli
tempestate uidet: 'talis mihi, nate, per Argos,
talis abi, sic ense madens, hac nubilus ira.                230
exturbent resides frenos et cuncta perosi
te cupiant, tibi praecipites animasque manusque
deuoueant; rape cunctantes et foedera turba,
cui dedimus; tibi fas ipsos incendere bello
caelicolas pacemque meam. iam semina pugnae                235
ipse dedi: remeat portans inmania Tydeus
ausa, ducis scelus et, turpis primordia belli,
insidias fraudesque, suis quas ultus in armis.

Bistonian and Getic cities ravaged by slaughters
the turbulent chariot urged celestial steeds to the citadels,
the helmet crested with lightning, the radiance and arms in gold
sad, enlivened by the terrifying shapes of monsters,
striking: the pole thunders and the shield’s bloody                 225
light glows red, and the rival orb smites the sun afar. When Jupiter sees this man even now breathing out Sarmatic toils
and his whole breast soaked with the tempest of war:
“such to me, my son, through Argos,
such go, thus dripping with the sword, clouded with this wrath.                230
may they force out the remaining reins and, hating all things,
desire you, may they consecrate to you souls and hands headlong;
seize, you who hesitate, and let the crowd break the treaties
which we gave; it is right for you to inflame them in war,
the heavenly ones and my peace. I myself have now sown the seeds of battle:                235
let Tydeus return bearing monstrous deeds,
the leader’s crime dared, and the shameful springs of war,
the ambushes and deceits, which he avenged with his own arms.

adde fidem. uos, o superi, meus ordine sanguis,
ne pugnare odiis, neu me temptare precando 240

add faith. you, O gods above, my blood by order,
do not bid me fight with hatreds, nor tempt me by entreaty 240

certetis; sic Fata mihi nigraeque Sororum
iurauere colus: manet haec ab origine mundi
fixa dies bello, populique in proelia nati.
quodni me ueterum poenas sancire malorum
gentibus et diros sinitis punire nepotes                245
(arcem hanc aeternam mentisque sacraria nostrae
testor et Elysios, etiam mihi numina, fontes)
ipse manu Thebas correptaque moenia fundo
excutiam uersasque solo super Inacha tecta
effundam turres aut stagna in caerula uerram                250
imbre superiecto, licet ipsa in turbine rerum
Iuno suos colles templumque amplexa laboret.'
dixit, et attoniti iussis; mortalia credas
pectora, sic cuncti uocemque animosque tenebant:
non secus ac longa uentorum pace solutum                 255
aequor et imbelli recubant ubi litora somno,
siluarumque comas et abacto flamine nubes
mulcet iners aestas; tunc stagna lacusque sonori
detumuere, tacent exusti solibus amnes.
    gaudet ouans iussis et adhuc temone calenti                260

contend; thus the Fates and the black spindle of the Sisters swore to me: this day stands fixed from the origin of the world for war, and peoples are born for battles.
and that I, to exact the penalties of ancient evils on peoples and, if you allow, to punish accursed descendants (this eternal citadel and the shrines of our soul I call to witness, and the Elysian, yes even to me divine, springs)
I myself with my hand will seize Thebes and shake down its walls from the foundations, and overturn roofs upon the plain above Inachus, I will pour down towers or sweep the pools into the blue with rain poured over them,
though Juno herself in the whirlwind, embracing her hills and her temple, may toil.'
she said, and they, astonished at the commands — you would deem them mortal hearts — thus all held fast their voice and spirits:
not unlike the sea, loosened by a long calm of winds, and lying unwarlike where the shores rest in sleep,
and idle summer soothes the tresses of the woods and the clouds with a breeze blown off; then the pools and sounding lakes fell silent, the rivers burned by suns are mute.
rejoicing, exultant at the orders and even yet with the tiller warm 260

feruidus in laeuum torsit Gradiuus habenas.
iamque iter extremum caelique abrupta tenebat,
cum Venus ante ipsos nulla formidine gressum
figit equos; cessere retro iam iamque rigentes
suppliciter posuere iubas. tunc pectora summo 265
adclinata iugo uultumque obliqua madentem
incipit (interea dominae uestigia iuxta
spumantem proni mandunt adamanta iugales):
'bella etiam in Thebas, socer o pulcherrime, bella
ipse paras ferroque tuos abolere nepotes? 270
nec genus Harmoniae nec te conubia caelo
festa nec hae quicquam lacrimae, furibunde, morantur?

Gradiuus, ardent, the reins bent to the left.
and now held the final route and the sheer heights of heaven,
when Venus before them, having stepped with no dread,suppliantly laid down their manes. then, her breasts 265
leaning on the highest yoke and her face turned aside and wet,
she begins (meanwhile the mistress, beside them,
entrusts the foaming, prone beasts with adamantine yokes):
'Are you even preparing wars upon Thebes, O most beautiful father-in-law, wars
yourself, and to destroy your grandchildren with iron? 270
does neither the race of Harmonia nor nuptials blessed by heaven
nor these tears, you furious one, stay you in any way?'

criminis haec merces? hoc fama pudorque relictus,
hoc mihi Lemniacae de te meruere catenae?
perge libens; at non eadem Volcania nobis 275

Is this the price of my crime? Abandoned by fame and by shame,
is this the Lemnian chain that you have for me deserved?
Go on willingly; but may not the same Volcanian doom be ours 275

obsequia, et laesi seruit tamen ira mariti!
illum ego perpetuis mihi desudare caminis
si iubeam uigilesque operi transmittere noctes,
gaudeat ornatusque nouos ipsique laboret
arma tibi; tu++sed scopulos et aena precando 280
flectere corda paro; solum hoc tamen anxia, solum
obtestor, quid me Tyrio sociare marito
progeniem caram infaustisque dabas hymenaeis?
dum fore praeclaros armis et uiuida rebus
pectora uipereo Tyrios de sanguine inactas 285
demissumque Iouis serie genus, a! mea quanto
Sithonia mallem nupsisset uirgo sub Arcto
trans Borean Thracasque tuos!

compliance, and yet the ire of an injured husband serves!
that man, if I were to bid him to sweat for me at perpetual hearths
and to consign watchful nights to the task,
let him rejoice and toil at new ornaments and let the arms themselves labor for you; but I prepare, by entreating and by brazen pleading,
to bend your hearts; only this, however, anxious, only
I beseech, why did you join to me a Tyrian husband
a beloved progeny and give them in ill-omened hymenaeis?
while they were to be illustrious in arms and vigorous in affairs
hearts Tyrian untainted from viperous blood
and a stock descended from the line of Jupiter! ah, how much rather
285
would my maiden have married a Sithonian beneath the Arctic,
beyond the North Wind and your Thracians!

indigna parumne
pertulimus, diuae Veneris quod filia longum
reptat et Illyricas deiectat uirus in herbas? 290
nunc gentem inmeritam++' lacrimas non pertulit ultra
Bellipotens; hastam laeua transumit et alto
(haud mora) desiluit curru clipeoque receptam
laedit in amplexu dictisque ita mulcet amicis:
'o mihi bellorum requies et sacra uoluptas 295

Have we borne too little indignities,
that the daughter of goddess Venus drags out a long venom
and casts Illyrian poison into the grasses? 290
now Bellipotent no longer endured tears for an undeserving++' people; with his left hand he hurled the spear across and into the deep
(and not long delayed) he leapt down from his chariot and, seizing her with shield, wounds her in his embrace
and with friendly words thus soothes: 'O to me the rest of wars and sacred delight 295

unaque pax animo; soli cui tanta potestas
diuorumque hominumque meis occurrere telis
impune et media quamuis in caede frementes
hos adsistere equos, hunc ensem auellere dextrae:
nec mihi Sidonii genialia foedera Cadmi                300
nec tua cara fides (ne falsa incessere gaude!)
exciderunt: prius in patrui deus infera mergar
stagna et pallentes agar exarmatus ad umbras.
sed nunc fatorum monitus mentemque supremi
iussus obire patris (neque enim Vulcania tali                305
imperio manus apta legi), quo pectore contra
ire Iouem dictasque parem contemnere leges,
cui modo (pro uires!) terras caelumque fretumque
attremere oranti tantosque ex ordine uidi
delituisse deos? sed ne mihi corde supremos                310

and one peace in my soul; to whom alone such power
to meet with impunity the weapons of gods and men,
and though raging in the very midst of slaughter
to make these horses stand, to wrench that sword from a right hand:
nor have the genial treaties of Sidonian Cadmus fallen from me
nor your dear faith (do not exult if it prove false!)
been lost: rather let me first, a god of my uncle, be plunged beneath
the infernal pools and, disarmed, go to the pale shades.
but now, by the warning of the Fates and by the mind of the supreme father
ordered to undergo the command of my sire (for not with Vulcan’s hand
fitted to such a mandate was I chosen), with what breast against
shall I oppose Jove and scorn to equal the laws he has spoken,
he to whom but now (in my strength!) I saw the lands and heaven and sea
tremble at my entreaty and I saw the gods so ranged and confounded? but lest in my heart the highest

concipe, cara, metus: quando haec mutare potestas
nulla datur, cum iam Tyriis sub moenibus ambae
bellabunt gentes, adero et socia arma iuuabo.
tunc me sanguineo late deferuere campo
res super Argolicas haud sic deiecta uidebis; 315
hoc mihi ius, nec fata uetant.' sic orsus aperto
flagrantes inmisit equos. non ocius alti
in terras cadit ira Iouis, si quando niualem
Othryn et Arctoae gelidum caput institit Ossae
armauitque in nube manum: uolat ignea moles 320
saeua dei mandata ferens, caelumque trisulca
territat omne coma iamdudum aut ditibus agris
signa dare aut ponto miseros inuoluere nautas.

conceive, dear, a fear: since no power is granted to change these things
when now beneath Tyrian walls both peoples will go to war,
I will be present and will aid allied arms.
then you will see matters borne far across the blood-stained field
not thus over the Argolic lands cast down; 315
this is my right, nor do the fates forbid.' Thus having begun
he hurled in the blazing horses with rein opened. Not later
does the wrath of high Jove fall upon the lands, if ever
he set foot on snowy Othrys and the icy head of Arctoae Ossa
and armed his hand in a cloud: the fiery mass flies forth 320
bearing the savage commands of the god, and the three-cleft heaven
is terrified and long since either gives omens to wealthy fields
or involves wretched sailors in the sea.

iamque remensus iter fesso Danaeia Tydeus
arua gradu uiridisque legit deuexa Prosymnae 325

and now, his journey measured, Tydeus of the Danaans, weary, traversed the fields with his step and chose the green, sloping heights of Prosymna 325

terribilis uisu: stant fulti puluere crines,
squalidus ex umeris cadit alta in uulnera sudor,
insomnesque oculos rubor excitat, oraque retro
sorbet anhela sitis; mens altum spirat honorem
conscia factorum. sic nota in pascua taurus                330
bellator redit, aduerso cui colla suoque
sanguine proscissisque natant palearibus armi;
tunc quoque lassa tumet uirtus multumque superbit
pectore despecto; uacua iacet hostis harena
turpe gemens crudosque uetat sentire dolores.                335
talis erat; medias etiam non destitit urbes,
quidquid et Asopon ueteresque interiacet Argos,
inflammare odiis, multumque et ubique retexens
legatum sese Graia de gente petendis
isse super regnis profugi Polynicis, at inde                340

fearful to behold: his dust-brushed locks stand on end,
foul sweat falls from his shoulders into deep wounds,
a flush stirs his sleepless eyes, and his panting mouth
drinks up thirst; his mind breathes lofty honor,
conscious of his deeds. Thus the bull known in the pastures                330
returns a warrior, before whom his neck and his own
blood and the hacked-off crests of his arms swim in his armor;
then too spent courage swells and proudly exults much
with a scornful heart; the enemy lies in the empty sand,
groaning that it is shameful and forbids feeling fresh pains.                335
such was he; nor did he cease even amid the cities,
to inflame with hatred whatever lies between the Asopus and ancient Argos,
and, far and wide unweaving, to proclaim that from the Greek people
he had gone as an envoy seeking terms, a fugitive over
the realms of Polynices, but thence                340

uim, noctem, scelus, arma, dolos, ea foedera passum
regis Echionii, fratri sua iura negari.
prona fides populis; deus omnia credere suadet
Armipotens, geminatque acceptos Fama pauores.
utque introgressus portas (et forte uerendos 345
concilio pater ipse duces cogebat Adrastus)
improuisus adest, iam illinc a postibus aulae
uociferans: 'arma, arma uiri, tuque optime Lernae
ductor, magnanimum si quis tibi sanguis auorum,
arma para!

force, night, crime, arms, deceits, those treaties endured of King Echionius, that his brother's rights be denied.
a credulity prone to the peoples; the All‑Powerful God urges to believe all things,
and Fame doubles the accepted fears. and when having entered the gates (and by chance Adrastus the father himself was assembling the reverend leaders in council 345
) he is present unexpectedly, already there at the portals of the hall crying aloud: 'arms, arms, men, and you, most excellent leader of Lerna,
if any magnanimous blood of your forebears is in you, prepare arms!'

nusquam pietas, non gentibus aequum                350
fas aut cura Iouis; melius legatus adissem
Sauromatas rabidos seruatoremque cruentum
Bebrycii nemoris. nec iussa incuso pigetue
officii: iuuat isse, iuuat, Thebasque nocentes
explorasse manu; bello me, credite, bello,                 355
ceu turrem ualidam aut artam compagibus urbem,
delecti insidiis instructique omnibus armis
nocte doloque uiri nudum ignarumque locorum
nequiquam clausere; iacent in sanguine mixti
ante urbem uacuam. nunc o nunc tempus in hostes,                360

nowhere is piety, nor is what is right for nations, nor the will or care of Jupiter; better I would have gone as legate to the raging Sauromatae and the bloody guardian of the Bebrycian wood. Nor do I blame the orders or begrudge duty: it pleases to go, it pleases, and to explore the guilty Theban men by hand; in war me, believe, in war, as one would a tower strong or a city compact with fast joints, chosen men, by ambush and fitted with every weapon, at night and by guile shut up in vain the man naked and unknowing of the places; they lie mingled in blood before the empty city. Now, O now, is the time against the enemies, 350

dum trepidi exanguesque metu, dum funera portant,
nunc, socer, haec dum non manus excidit; ipse ego fessus
quinquaginta illis heroum inmanibus umbris
uulneraque ista ferens putri insiccata cruore
protinus ire peto!' trepidi de sedibus astant 365
Inachidae, cunctisque prior Cadmeius heros
accurrit uultum deiectus et 'o ego diuis
inuisus uitaeque nocens haec uulnera cerno
integer? hosne mihi reditus, germane, parabas?
in me haec tela dabas!

while trembling and bloodless with fear, while they bear the funerals,
now, father‑in‑law, while these hands have not fallen away; I myself, wearied,
bearing those wounds and the fifty of those heroes' monstrous shades,
and those wounds dried with putrid gore,
I at once seek to go!' From their seats the trembling Inachians stand 365
the Cadmean hero runs forward before all, his countenance cast down, and cries, 'O ye gods, hated and harmful to life am I — do I behold these wounds and remain whole?
was this the homecoming you were preparing for me, brother?
you aimed these weapons at me!

pro uitae foeda cupido! 370
infelix, facinus fratri tam grande negaui.
et nunc uestra quidem maneant in pace quieta
moenia, nec uobis tanti sim causa tumultus
hospes adhuc. scio (nec me adeo res dextra leuauit)
quam durum natis, thalamo quam triste reuelli, 375

O foul desire for life! 370
unhappy one, I denied my brother so great a deed.
And now may your walls indeed remain quiet in peace,
and may I not be, while still a guest, the cause of so great an uproar to you. I know (nor has fortune so far lifted me by a kindly hand)
how hard it is to be torn from your native loins, how sad to be torn from your bridal chamber, 375

quam patria; non me ullius domus anxia culpet
respectentue truces obliquo limine matres.
ibo libens certusque mori, licet optima coniunx
auditusque iterum reuocet socer; hunc ego Thebis,
hunc, germane, tibi iugulum et tibi, maxime Tydeu, 380
debeo.' sic uariis pertemptat pectora dictis
obliquatque preces. commotae questibus irae
et mixtus lacrimis caluit dolor; omnibus ultro
non iuuenum modo, sed gelidis et inertibus aeuo
pectoribus mens una subit, uiduare penates, 385
finitimas adhibere manus, iamque ire.

than my fatherland; let no anxious house of any one blame me
nor let fierce mothers look back from the oblique threshold.
I will go willingly and resolved to die, although my best spouse
and my father-in-law call me back again; this throat I owe to Thebes,
this, brother, I owe to you and to you, O greatest son of Tydeus, 380
thus with varied words he tests their breasts and turns aside prayers.
Anger, stirred by complaints, and sorrow mixed with tears grew hot;
and upon all, not of the young alone, but upon breasts chilled and inert with age,
one mind suddenly comes: to bereave the household-penates, to call in neighboring hands,
and now to go.

sed altus
consiliis pater imperiique haud flectere molem
inscius: 'ista quidem superis curaeque medenda
linquite, quaeso, meae: nec te germanus inulto
sceptra geret, neque nos auidi promittere bellum. 390

but the father, lofty in counsel and unskilled in how to bend the burden of empire, said: 'those things indeed leave to the gods above and to cares that must be healed—leave them, I beg, to my keeping: your brother will not wield the scepter unavenged, nor are we, eager, to promise war.' 390

at nunc egregium tantoque in sanguine ouantem
excipite Oeniden, animosaque pectora laxet
sera quies: nobis dolor haud rationis egebit.'
    turbati extemplo comites et pallida coniunx
Tydea circum omnes fessum bellique uiaeque                395
stipantur. laetus mediis in sedibus aulae
constitit, ingentique exceptus terga columna,
uulnera dum lymphis Epidaurius eluit Idmon
(nunc uelox ferro, nunc ille tepentibus herbis
mitior), ipse alta seductus mente renarrat                400
principia irarum, quaeque orsus uterque uicissim,
quis locus insidiis, tacito quae tempora bello,
qui contra quantique duces, ubi maximus illi
sudor, et indicio seruatum Maeona tristi
exponit. cui fida manus proceresque socerque                405

but now receive the outstanding Oenides, rejoicing in so great a bloodshed,
and let late repose relax their brave breasts: to us grief will lack no reason.'
    disturbed, at once his comrades and his pale Tydean wife
are gathered round the man, wearied by war and by the road                395
he stood joyful in the middle seats of the hall,
and, his back supported by a huge column, received care,
while Idmon of Epidaurus washed the wounds with waters
(now swift with the sword, now that one gentler with warm herbs),
he himself, withdrawn in spirit, recounts again                400
the beginnings of the angers, and which each had begun in turn,
what place for ambushes, what moments for silent war,
who opposed whom and how many leaders, where his greatest
sweat was, and how, by Maeonian sad proof, he was saved,
he sets forth. to whom a faithful hand, the chiefs and his father-in-law                405

astupet oranti, Tyriusque incenditur exul.
    soluerat Hesperii deuexo margine ponti
flagrantes Sol pronus equos rutilamque lauabat
Oceani sub fonte comam, cui turba profundi
Nereos et rapidis accurrunt passibus Horae,                410
frenaque et auratae textum sublime coronae
deripiunt, laxant calidis umentia loris
pectora; pars meritos uertunt ad molle iugales
gramen et erecto currum temone supinant.
Nox subiit curasque hominum motusque ferarum                415
composuit nigroque polos inuoluit amictu,
illa quidem cunctis, sed non tibi mitis, Adraste,
Labdacioque duci: nam Tydea largus habebat
perfusum magna uirtutis imagine somnus.
et iam noctiuagas inter deus armifer umbras                420

he stands amazed at the suppliant, and the Tyrian exile is kindled.
the Sun had descended on the sloping margin of the western sea,
the leaning Sun was bathing his blazing horses and the red hair
beneath Ocean’s spring, to whom a throng of the deep—Nereids—and the swift Hours
410
run with quick steps, and they wrench away the reins and the woven lofty golden crown,
they loosen their breasts damp with warm straps; some turn the deserved
toward the soft yoke the tender grass and, with the chariot‑pole raised, fling back the chariot.
Night came on and composed the cares of men and the motions of beasts,
415
and wrapped the skies in a black cloak,—that one gentle to all, but not gentle to you, Adrastus,
nor to Duke Labdacus: for bounteous Sleep held Tydeus, steeped
in a great semblance of virtue. and now the god, bearer of arms, among the nightly‑wandering shades 420

desuper Arcadiae fines Nemeaeaque rura
Taenariumque cacumen Apollineasque Therapnas
armorum tonitru ferit et trepidantia corda
implet amore sui. comunt Furor Iraque cristas,
frena ministrat equis Pauor armiger. at uigil omni                425
Fama sono uanos rerum succincta tumultus
anteuolat currum flatuque impulsa gementum
alipedum trepidas denso cum murmure plumas
excutit: urguet enim stimulis auriga cruentis
facta, infecta loqui, curruque infestus ab alto                430
terga comasque deae Scythica pater increpat hasta.
qualis ubi Aeolio dimissos carcere Ventos
dux prae se Neptunus agit magnoque uolentes
incitat Aegaeo; tristis comitatus eunti
circum lora fremunt Nimbique Hiemesque profundae                435

from above he strikes the bounds of Arcadia and the Nemean fields
and the summit of Taenarium and Apollo’s Therapnae
with the thunder of arms and fills trembling hearts
with love of himself. Fury and Anger deck the crests,
Fear, the bearer of arms, supplies the bridles for the horses. But wakeful                425
Fame, girded with the sound of vain tumult, flies ahead of the chariot and, driven by a blast, the groaning
of winged horses shakes their startled plumes with a dense murmur:
for the charioteer urges with bloody goads,
made and unmade to speak, and the Scythian sire from on high hostile to the chariot                430
reproves the backs and hair of the goddess with his spear.
Such as when the Winds let loose from Aeolian prison
the leader Neptune drives before him and, urging the willing,
stirs them up on the Aegean with great force; a grim company going
the reins roar around, and the Clouds and deep Winters                435

Nubilaque et uulso terrarum sordida fundo
Tempestas: dubiae motis radicibus obstant
Cyclades, ipsa tua Mycono Gyaroque reuelli,
Dele, times magnique fidem testaris alumni.
    septima iam nitidum terris Aurora deisque                440
purpureo uehit ore diem, Perseius heros
cum primum arcana senior sese extulit aula,
multa super bello generisque tumentibus amens
incertusque animi, daret armis iura nouosque
gentibus incuteret stimulos, an frena teneret                445
irarum et motos capulis adstringeret enses.
hinc pacis tranquilla mouent, atque inde pudori
foeda quies, flectique noua dulcedine pugnae
difficiles populi; dubio sententia tandem
sera placet, uatum mentes ac prouida ueri                450

And clouds and a tempest, foul with the torn-up foundation of the lands:
the Cyclades stand opposed by their shaken roots; your own Myconus and Gyara to be wrenched away, Dele, you fear, and you bear witness to the faith of the great fosterling.
now seventh Aurora, bright for gods and lands, 440
with a purple mouth conveys the day; Perseus the hero
as soon as the elder raised himself from the secret court,
mad with many things swelling from war and stock,
and uncertain in spirit whether he should give laws by arms and strike
new spurs into peoples, or hold the reins
of angers and bind swords fastened to hilts.
From this springs the tranquil motions of peace, and from that a foul rest for modesty;
and peoples hard to bend to the new sweetness of battle are turned; at last a late
sentence pleases the doubtful minds of the seers and the provident of truth 450

sacra mouere deum. sollers tibi cura futuri,
Amphiarae, datur, iuxtaque Amythaone cretus
iam senior (sed mente uiret Phoeboque) Melampus
adsociat passus: dubium cui pronus Apollo
oraque Cirrhaea satiarit largius unda. 455
principio fibris pecudumque in sanguine diuos
explorant; iam tum pauidis maculosa bidentum
corda negant diraque nefas minitantia uena.
ire tamen uacuoque sedet petere omina caelo.

sacred rites move the god. A cunning care for the future is granted to you, Amphiaraus, and beside Amythaon sprung, now elder (but green in mind and in Phoebus) Melampus associates as partner; to whom Apollo, prone, is dubious and the Cirrhean wave will more largely sate the mouths. At first they search out the divine tokens in the entrails and in the blood of the flocks; even then the stained hearts of the fearful deny the bident and the vein menaces a dreadful crime. Yet he sits intent on going and on seeking omens from the empty sky. 455

mons erat audaci seductus in aethera dorso 460
(nomine Lernaei memorant Aphesanta coloni)
gentibus Argolicis olim sacer; inde ferebant
nubila suspenso celerem temerasse uolatu
Persea, cum raptos pueri perterrita mater
prospexit de rupe gradus ac paene secuta est. 465

there was a mountain, its audacious back lifted into the ether 460
(by name Lernaeus, the Aphesan colonists recall)
once consecrate to the Argolic peoples; thence the clouds carried word that Perseus, in a swift and rash flight through the suspended air, had borne off, when the terrified mother beheld from the cliff the steps of the snatched boys and almost followed. 465

hoc gemini uates sanctam canentis oliuae
fronde comam et niueis ornati tempora uittis
euadunt pariter, madidos ubi lucidus agros
ortus et algentes laxauit sole pruinas.
ac prior Oeclides solitum prece numen amicat:                470
'Iuppiter omnipotens (nam te pernicibus alis
addere consilium uolucresque implere futuri
ominaque et causas caelo deferre latentes
accipimus), non Cirrha deum promiserit antro
certius, aut frondes lucis quas fama Molossis                475
Chaonias sonuisse tibi, licet aridus Hammon
inuideat Lyciaeque parent contendere sortes
Niliacumque pecus patrioque aequalis honori
Branchus et undosae qui rusticus accola Pisae
Pana Lycaonia nocturnum exaudit in umbra:                480

these twin seers, singing of the sacred olive,
with foliage their hair and their temples bound with snowy bands,
together emerge, when the bright east wind has loosened
the wet fields and the sun has thawed the clinging frosts.
and first Oeclides, joining the accustomed divinity with prayer:                470
'Jupiter Almighty (for we take you, with your swift wings,
to add counsel and to fill the birds prophetic of the future,
and to receive omens and hidden causes brought from heaven),
no more certainly promised a god in Cirrha's cave,
or the leaves of light which fame says sounded to you among the Molossians                475
to Chaonian ears, though arid Ammon begrudge it
and strive to rival the Lycean oracles,
and Branchus, a flock of the Nile and equal in ancestral honor,
and he who as a rustic dweller hears Pan at wavy Pisa by night in Lycaonian shade:'                480

ditior ille animi, cui tu, Dictaee, secundas
impuleris manifestus aues. mirum unde, sed olim
hic honor alitibus, superae seu conditor aulae
sic dedit effusum chaos in noua semina texens,
seu quia mutatae nostraque ab origine uersis                485
corporibus subiere notos, seu purior axis
amotumque nefas et rarum insistere terris
uera docent: tibi, summe sator terraeque deumque,
scire licet: nos Argolicae primordia pugnae
uenturumque sinas caelo praenosse laborem.                490
si datur et duris sedet haec sententia Parcis
soluere Echionias Lernaea cuspide portas,
signa feras laeuusque tones; tunc omnis in astris
consonet arcana uolucris bona murmura lingua.
si prohibes, hic necte moras dextrisque profundum                495

richer in spirit is he, to whom you, Dictaee, have bestowed manifest auspicious birds. Whence this marvel is, I know not; but of old this honor nourished the birds here, whether the supreme founder of the heavenly court thus gave the poured-out chaos to be woven into new seeds, or whether, changed and our origin having been turned, they assumed known bodies; or whether the purer sky and the banishment of the impious and the rarity of alighting on the lands teach the truths. To you, highest sower and giver both of earth and gods, it is permitted to know: grant that we may foreknow the origins of the Argolic battle and that you allow (us) to foresee by heaven the coming toil. If it is granted and this decree sits with the stern Parcae to unloose the Echionian gates with Lernaean spear, bear the standards and thunder with your left; then may every secret good murmur of the bird make consonance among the stars with a speaking tongue. If you forbid, weave delays here and with right hands bind the deep 495

alitibus praetexe diem.' sic fatus et alto
membra locat scopulo; tunc plura ignotaque iungit
numina et inmensi fruitur caligine mundi.
    postquam rite diu partiti sidera, cunctas
perlegere animis oculisque sequacibus auras,                500
tunc Amythaonius longo post tempore uates:
'nonne sub excelso spirantis limite caeli,
Amphiarae, uides, cursus ut nulla serenos
ales agat liquidoque polum complexa meatu
pendeat aut fugiens placabile clanxerit omen?                505
non comes obscurus tripodum, non fulminis ardens
uector adest, flauaeque sonans auis unca Mineruae
non uenit auguriis melior; quin uultur et altis
desuper accipitres exultauere rapinis.
monstra uolant: dirae stridunt in nube uolucres,                510

to the birds he framed the day.' Thus having spoken, he sets his limbs upon the high
rock; then he joins more and unknown divine powers
and enjoys the vast world's darkness.     after they had duly for a long while divided the stars, and scanned all
the airs with attentive minds and following eyes,                500
then the seer of Amythaon, after a long time, said:
'do you not see, Amphiaras, under the high brim of the breathing sky,
how a bird without course drives serene days, or, embracing the sky's sphere
in liquid motion, hangs suspended, or, fleeing, has uttered a placable omen?                505
not a dark attendant of the tripod, not a blazing bearer of thunder
is present, nor has the hooked, sounding bird of tawny Minerva
come better to auguries; rather vultures and hawks from the high places
have exulted in their plundering from above.
monsters fly: dire birds creak in the cloud,                510

nocturnaeque gemunt striges et feralia bubo
damna canens. quae prima deum portenta sequamur?
hisne dari, Thymbraee, polum?

and the nocturnal striges groan and the funereal bubo laments, singing doom.
which first portents of the gods shall we follow?
is the sky given to these, Thymbraean?

simul ora recuruo
ungue secant rabidae planctumque imitantibus alis
exagitant zephyros et plumea pectora caedunt.'                515
ille sub haec: 'equidem uarii, pater, omina Phoebi
saepe tuli: iam tum, prima cum pube uirentem
semideos inter pinus me Thessala reges
duceret, hic casus terraeque marisque canentem
obstipuere duces, nec me uentura locuto                520
saepius in dubiis auditus Iasoni Mopsus.
sed similes non ante metus aut astra notaui
prodigiosa magis; quamquam maiora parantur.
huc aduerte animum: clara regione profundi
aetheros innumeri statuerunt agmina cycni.                525

at once with curved beaks
they cut with talon, maddened, and with wings imitating lamentation
they stir up the zephyrs and beat their plume-clad breasts.'                515
he beneath these: 'truly I have borne, father, diverse omens of Phoebus
often: even then, when in his first youth verdant
among the pines semi-gods the Thessalian kings were leading me,
this mishap, singing of land and sea, struck the leaders dumb, nor was I, about to speak, more often
heard—Mopsus to Jason—in doubtful matters.                520
but I had not before noted fears or signs similar, more prodigious;
although greater things are being prepared. Attend your mind hither: in a bright region of the deep
countless squadrons of aerial swans have taken their stations.'                525

siue hos Strymonia Boreas eiecit ab Arcto,
seu fecunda refert placidi clementia Nili.
fixerunt cursus: has rere in imagine Thebas:
nam sese inmoti gyro atque in pace silentes
ceu muris ualloque tenent. sed fortior ecce 530
aduentat per inane cohors; septem ordine fuluo
armigeras summi Iouis exultante caterua
intuor: Inachii sint hi tibi, concipe, reges.

whether the Strymonian Boreas cast these from the Bear,
or the placid clemency of the fruitful Nile restores them.
they have fixed their courses: they set these, in likeness, as Thebes upon the land:
for they, unmoved in their gyre and silent in peace,
as if with walls and rampart hold fast. but lo, a stronger 530
cohort arrives through the void; seven in tawny order
a shield-bearing, exultant throng of highest Jove I behold: imagine these to be, for you, Inachian kings.

inuasere globum niuei gregis uncaque pandunt
caedibus ora nouis et strictis unguibus instant. 535
cernis inexperto rorantes sanguine uentos,
et plumis stillare diem? quae saeua repente
uictores agitat leto Iouis ira sinistri?
hic excelsa petens subita face solus inarsit
summisitque animos, illum uestigia adortum 540

they invaded the circle of the snowy flock, and with hooked slaughter they open fresh mouths
and press on with bared, drawn talons. 535
do you see the untried winds dripping with blood,
and the day to drip from feathers? what fierce, sudden
wrath of Jove on the left drives the victors to death?
here, seeking the high places, alone he was kindled by a sudden torch
and lifted up his spirits, and he assailed the footsteps of that one encountered 540

maiorum uolucrum tenerae deponitis alae.
hic hosti implicitus pariter ruit, hunc fuga retro
uoluit agens sociae linquentem fata cateruae.
hic nimbo glomeratus obit, hic praepete uiua
pascitur inmoriens; spargit caua nubila sanguis. 545
quid furtim inlacrimas?

the tender wings of the larger birds laid aside.
here, entangled with the foe, he rushes together; this one flight casts back,
driving him, his comrades’ cohort abandoning his fate.
here, massed in a storm-cloud, one dies; here another, swept headlong, is fed alive while dying;
hollow clouds scatter blood. 545
why do you secretly shed tears?

illum, uenerande Melampu,
qui cadit, agnosco.' trepidos sic mole futuri
cunctaque iam rerum certa sub imagine passos
terror habet uates; piget inrupisse uolantum
concilia et caelo mentem insertasse uetanti, 550
auditique odere deos. unde iste per orbem
primus uenturi miseris animantibus aeger
creuit amor? diuumne feras hoc munus, an ipsi,
gens auida et parto non umquam stare quieti,
eruimus quae prima dies, ubi terminus aeui, 555

That man, venerable Melampus,
whom he who falls I recognise.' Thus the prophet has terror of the trembling mass of the future
and of all things already undergone under a sure semblance; it vexes him that he burst into the councils of the flying ones
and implanted a mind opposing heaven's forbidding, and that the gods were heard to hate him. From whence through the orb
did that sick love for the coming grow first among wretched souls? Will you bear this gift to the gods, or to themselves,
a people greedy and never to stand quiet once their purpose achieved, have we discovered what the first day was, where the boundary of an age, 550

quid bonus ille deum genitor, quid ferrea Clotho
cogitet? hinc fibrae et uolucrum per nubila sermo
astrorumque uices numerataque semita lunae
Thessalicumque nefas. at non prior aureus ille
sanguis auum scopulisque satae uel robore gentes 560
mentibus his usae; siluas amor unus humumque
edomuisse manu; quid crastina uolueret aetas
scire nefas homini.

what may that kindly sire of the gods, what may iron Clotho contrive?
from this the fibres and the speech of birds through clouds,
and the revolutions of the stars and the moon’s numbered path
and Thessalian witchcraft. but that earlier golden blood
—peoples sown from a forefather, on crags or in oak—did not make use of these minds; 560
one single love had mastered woods and earth by the hand;
to know what the morrow’s age would will is nefas for man.

nos, prauum et flebile uulgus,
scrutati penitus superos: hinc pallor et irae,
hinc scelus insidiaeque et nulla modestia uoti.                565
    ergo manu uittas damnataque uertice serta
deripit abiectaque inhonorus fronde sacerdos
inuiso de monte redit; iam bella tubaeque
comminus, absentesque fremunt sub pectore Thebae.
ille nec aspectum uulgi, nec fida tyranni                570

we, the perverse and lamentable vulgus,
having searched the superi thoroughly: hence pallor and angers,
hence crime and ambushes and no modesty in vow.                565
    therefore with his hand he tears away the vittae and the garlands condemned on his crown
and the dishonouring foliage cast down the priest
returns from the unwelcomed mountain; now wars and trumpets
close at hand, and Thebae roar beneath their absent heart.
he neither the aspect of the vulgus, nor the faithful confidence of the tyrant                570

conloquia aut coetus procerum perferre, sed atra
sede tegi, et superum clausus negat acta fateri
(te pudor et curae retinent per rura, Melampu):
bissenos premit ora dies populumque ducesque
extrahit incertis. et iam suprema Tonantis                575
iussa fremunt agrosque uiris annosaque uastant
oppida; bellipotens prae se deus agmina passim
mille rapit; liquere domos dilectaque laeti
conubia et primo plorantes limine natos:
tantus in attonitos cecidit deus. arma paternis                580
postibus et fixos superum ad penetralia currus
uellere amor; tunc fessa putri robigine pila
haerentesque situ gladios in saeua recurant
uulnera et attrito cogunt iuuenescere saxo.
hi teretes galeas magnorumque aerea suta                585

to bear conferences or the gatherings of chiefs, but to be hidden in a black seat,
and, shut off from the gods, to deny to confess deeds
(you are held back by shame and cares through the countryside, Melampu):
for forty days the day presses their mouths, and draws forth the people and leaders
into uncertainty. And now the supreme commands of the Thunderer 575
roar, and lay waste the fields and long‑established towns for the men;
the war‑mighty god drives along his hosts everywhere by the thousand;
houses stood empty and cherished marriages joyfully dissolved
and at the threshold newborns wept: so great a god fell upon the stunned. Arms at the ancestral
doors and the chariots fixed in the inner sanctuaries love would tear away; then spears,
weary with corrupt rust, and swords glued fast with decay recurved into cruel
wounds, and forced to grow young again by rubbed stone.
these smooth helmets and the bronze cuirasses of great men 585

thoracum et tunicas Chalybum squalore crepantes
pectoribus temptare, alii Gortynia lentant
cornua; iam falces auidis et aratra caminis
rastraque et incurui saeuum rubuere ligones.
caedere nec ualidas sanctis e stirpibus hastas,                590
nec pudor emerito clipeum uestisse iuuenco.
inrupere Argos maestique ad limina regis
bella animis, bella ore fremunt; it clamor ad auras,
quantus Tyrrheni gemitus salis, aut ubi temptat
Enceladus mutare latus; super igneus antris                595
mons tonat: exundant apices, fluctusque Pelorus
contrahit, et sperat tellus abrupta reuerti.
    atque hic ingenti Capaneus Mauortis amore
excitus et longam pridem indignantia pacem
corda tumens (huic ampla quidem de sanguine prisco                600

breastplates and tunics creaking with Chalybean rust
they try upon their chests, others bend Gortynian
horns; now sickles for the greedy and ploughs for hearths
and mattocks and crooked axes reddened fiercely.
nor to cut down vigorous spears from sacred stocks,                590
nor shame to have clad a veteran ox with a shield.
They burst into Argos and, mourning at the thresholds of the king,
war in their hearts, war they roar with mouth; the shout goes to the airs,
as great as the wailing of the Tyrrhenian sea, or when Enceladus tries
to change his side; above, the mountain thunders in fiery caverns                595
peaks gush out, and the Pelorus draws back the waves
and hopes the torn earth to return.
    and here, stirred by a mighty love of Capanus for Mauortis
and swelling his heart with long‑cherished indignation at peace
(however ample indeed from ancient blood for him                600

nobilitas; sed enim ipse manu praegressus auorum
facta, diu tuto superum contemptor et aequi
impatiens largusque animae, modo suaserit ira),
unus ut e siluis Pholoes habitator opacae
inter et Aetnaeos aequus consurgere fratres, 605
ante fores, ubi turba ducum uulgique frementis,
Amphiarae, tuas 'quae tanta ignauia' clamat,
'Inachidae uosque o socio de sanguine Achiui?
unius (heu pudeat!) plebeia ad limina ciuis
tot ferro accinctae gentes animisque paratae 610
pendemus? non si ipse cauo sub uertice Cirrhae
(quisquis is est, timidis famaeque ita uisus) Ao
mugiat insano penitus seclusus in antro,
expectare queam dum pallida uirgo tremendas
nuntiet ambages.

nobility; but he himself, having gone before by the hand the deeds of his forebears,
for a long time safely a despiser of the gods and of justice, impatient and generous of spirit,
now (when anger has counseled), as one — Pholus' dweller of the shady woods —
to rise, alike, among the Aetnean brothers, before the doors, where a crowd of leaders and the murmuring common folk,
shouts, "Amphiaraus, what such cowardice is this of yours?
You Inachids and you, comrades sprung from Achaean blood?
Shall we hang, the peoples so girded with iron and ready in heart, at the thresholds of one citizen (alack, shame!), a plebeian?
Not if he himself under the hollow summit of Cirrha — whoever he is, so feared and famed —
Ao bellow, shut off wholly in a mad cavern;
could I wait until the pale maiden proclaims those dreadful evasions."

uirtus mihi numen et ensis 615

Virtue to me is numen and ensis 615

quem teneo! iamque hic timida cum fraude sacerdos
exeat, aut hodie, uolucrum quae tanta potestas,
experiar.' laetum fremit adsensuque furentem
implet Achaea manus. tandem prorumpere adactus
Oeclides: 'alio curarum agitante tumultu 620
non equidem effreno iuuenis clamore profani
dictorumque metu, licet hic insana minetur,
elicior tenebris; alio mihi debita fato
summa dies, uetitumque dari mortalibus armis.

Whom do I hold! And now, when the timid priest should go forth with deceit, or today — what great power of birds I will try.' The Achaean band shouts joyful and with assent fills the raving man. At last, driven forward, Oeclides burst forth: 'With another tumult of cares stirring, I am not indeed a youth to be swept away by the unbridled clamor of profane men and by fear of words, though he here threatens madly; I am rather drawn out from the shadows; to me another day is owed by fate, the appointed summit, and it is forbidden that arms be given to mortals. 620

sed me uester amor nimiusque arcana profari 625
Phoebus agit; uobis uentura atque omne quod ultra est
pandere maestus eo; nam te, uesane, moneri
ante nefas, unique tacet tibi noster Apollo.
quo, miseri, fatis superisque obstantibus arma,
quo rapitis? quae uos Furiarum uerbera caecos 630

but your love for me and an excessive urge to proclaim secrets 625
Phoebus compels; to you the things to come and all that lies beyond
he bids me unfold, lamenting in that place; for you, madman, to be warned
before the crime, alone is silent to you our Apollo.
Where to, wretches, with the fates and the powers above opposing, the arms?
Whither do you hurry? what blows of the blind Furies 630

exagitant? adeone animarum taedet? et Argos
exosi?

do you drive them on? Is there so great a weariness of souls? and Argos—do you hate it utterly?

nil dulce domi? nulla omina curae?
quid me Persei secreta ad culmina montis
ire gradu trepido superumque inrumpere coetus
egistis?

nothing sweet at home? no omens of care?
why have you driven me, by Perseus’ secrets, to go to the summits of the mountain with trembling step
and to burst into the assemblies of the gods above?

potui pariter nescire quis armis 635
casus, ubi atra dies, quae fati exordia cunctis,
quae mihi. consulti testor penetralia mundi
et uolucrum adfatus et te, Thymbraee, uocanti
non alias tam saeue mihi, quae signa futuri
pertulerim: uidi ingentis portenta ruinae, 640
uidi hominum diuumque metus hilaremque Megaeram
et Lachesin putri uacuantem saecula penso.
proicite arma manu: deus ecce furentibus obstat,
ecce deus!

Could I equally have been ignorant by what arms 635
the chance, where the black day, which is the exordium of fate for all,
which for me. I call to witness the innermost shrines of the world
and the bird addressed and you, Thymbraean, calling;
never before so cruel to me, what signs of the future
I have borne: I saw portents of enormous ruin, 640
I saw the fears of men and of gods and the merry Megaera
and Lacheses weighing the rotten ages on his scale.
Cast away your arms with your hand: behold, a god stands against the raging,
behold a god!

miseri, quid pulchrum sanguine uicto
Aoniam et diri saturare noualia Cadmi? 645

miserable ones, what beauty is there in sating the Aonian fields and the dread Cadmean fallows with conquered blood? 645

sed quid uana cano, quid fixos arceo casus?
ibimus.' hic presso gemuit semel ore sacerdos.
illum iterum Capaneus: 'tuus o furor auguret uni
ista tibi, ut serues uacuos inglorius annos
et tua non umquam Tyrrhenus tempora circum 650
clangor eat.

but why do I sing vain things, why keep back fixed fates?
we will go.' Here the priest groaned once with his lips pressed.
that man again, Capaneus: 'O may thy madness be an omen to thee alone
that these things be thine, that thou mayest keep empty, inglorious years
and that the Tyrrhenian clangor never sound about thy seasons. 650
clangor eat.

quid uota uirum meliora moraris?
scilicet ut uanis auibus natoque domoque
et thalamis potiare iacens, sileamus inulti
Tydeos egregii perfossum pectus et arma
foederis abrupti? quodsi bella effera Graios 655
ferre uetas, i Sidonios legatus ad hostes:
haec pacem tibi serta dabunt.

why do you delay better vows for the man?
to be sure, so that with vain birds and to son and home
and to gain the bridal-chambers by lying, we should be silent unavenged
the chest and arms of the outstanding Tydean pierced
by a broken covenant? but if you forbid savage wars to carry off the Greeks 655
go, envoy, to the Sidonian enemies:
these garlands will grant you peace.

tua prorsus inani
uerba polo causas abstrusa atque omina rerum
eliciunt? miseret superum, si carmina curae
humanaeque preces. quid inertia pectora terres? 660

do your wholly vain
words from the sky draw out hidden causes and omens of things?
would the gods pity, if songs and human prayers
were a matter of concern. why do you terrify the breast with sloth? 660

primus in orbe deos fecit timor! et tibi tuto
nunc eat iste furor; sed prima ad classica cum iam
hostilem Ismenon galeis Dircenque bibemus,
ne mihi tunc, moneo, lituos atque arma uolenti
obuius ire pares uenisque aut alite uisa                665
bellorum proferre diem: procul haec tibi mollis
infula terrificique aberit dementia Phoebi:
illic augur ego et mecum quicumque parati
insanire manu.' rursus fragor intonat ingens
hortantum et uasto subter uolat astra tumultu.                670
ut rapidus torrens, animos cui uerna ministrant
flamina et exuti concreto frigore montes,
cum uagus in campos frustra prohibentibus exit
obicibus, resonant permixto turbine tecta,
arua, armenta, uiri, donec stetit improbus alto                675

Fear first in the orb made the gods! and let that fury now go safely to you;
but first, when to the clarions and when already we shall drink of hostile Ismenon and Dircennian helmets,
lest then, I warn, desirous to meet the lituus and arms, to go forth equal and seen like a bird and by veins,665
to bring forth the day of wars: far from you this soft fillet and the madness of terrible Phoebus will be absent:
there I am augur and with me whoever is ready to rave by hand.' Again a huge crash thunders
of those urging on and beneath with vast tumult the stars fly to the heavens.670
As a swift torrent, to which the vernal winds minister spirits and the mountains stripped by congealed cold,
when wandering it issues into the fields, its exit barred in vain by obstacles,
the roofs resound with the mingled whirlwind, the fields, the herds, the men, until the violent stream stood in the deep675

colle minor magnoque inuenit in aggere ripas:
haec alterna ducum nox interfusa diremit.
    at gemitus Argia uiri non amplius aequo
corde ferens sociumque animo miserata dolorem,
sicut erat, laceris pridem turpata capillis,                680
et fletu signata genas, ad celsa uerendi
ibat tecta patris paruumque sub ubere caro
Thessandrum portabat auo iam nocte suprema
ante nouos ortus, ubi sola superstite Plaustro
Arctos ad Oceanum fugientibus inuidet astris                685
utque fores iniit magnoque adfusa parenti est:
'cur tua cum lacrimis maesto sine coniuge supplex
limina nocte petam, cessem licet ipsa profari,
scis genitor. sed iura deum genialia testor
teque, pater, non ille iubet sed peruigil angor.                 690
ex quo primus Hymen mouitque infausta sinistram
Iuno facem, semper lacrimis gemituque propinquo
exturbata quies.

she found the bank lowered from a hill and the shores in a great mound:
this night, poured between the alternating leaders, severed them apart.
    but Argia, bearing no more equal grief in her heart
and pitying her companion’s sorrow with her spirit, as before,
her hair long since mangled and dishonored, and her cheeks marked by weeping,                680
went to the high house of her revered father and, beneath her breast, carried little Thessandrus, her child, to his grandfather now on the last night
before the new dawns, where, the lone surviving wagon, to the fleeing stars the Bear begrudges the Ocean,                685
and when she entered the doors and, poured out, stood before her great parent, she said:
'Why, father, do I, a suppliant without my sad husband, seek your thresholds with tears in the night?
Though I should cease even to speak these things, you know it, my sire. But I call the nuptial laws of the gods to witness
and you, father, it is not he who commands but sleepless anguish that orders this.                 690
since first Hymen moved the ill-omened left torch and Juno set the torch awry, ever driven forth from near rest by tears and lament.'

non si mihi tigridis horror
aequoreaeque super rigeant praecordia cautes,
ferre queam; tu solus opem, tu summa medendi 695

not if to me the horror of tigers
and the sea's jagged rocks were standing rigid upon my praecordia,
could I bear it; you alone are aid, you the summa of healing 695

iura tenes; da bella, pater, generique iacentis
aspice res humiles, atque hanc, pater, aspice prolem
exulis; huic olim generis pudor. o ubi prima
hospitia et iunctae testato numine dextrae?
hic certe est quem fata dabant, quem dixit Apollo; 700
non egomet tacitos Veneris furata calores
culpatamue facem: tua iussa uerenda tuosque
dilexi monitus.

You hold to oaths; grant wars, father, and behold the lowly affairs of a son‑in‑law prostrate
and look upon this, father, behold the offspring of an exile;
to him once belonged the honour of the lineage. O where are the first
hospices and the right hands joined by sworn numen?
this surely is he whom the Fates were giving, whom Apollo declared; 700
not I myself stole Venus’s secret heats nor a torch to be blamed:
I have revered your commands and have loved your admonitions.

nunc qua feritate dolentis
despiciam questus? nescis, pater optime, nescis
quantus amor castae misero nupsisse marito. 705
et nunc maesta quidem graue et inlaetabile munus,
ut timeam doleamque, rego; sed cum oscula rumpet
maesta dies, cum rauca dabunt abeuntibus armis
signa tubae saeuoque genas fulgebitis auro,
ei mihi, care parens, iterum fortasse rogabo!' 710

now with what ferity of grieving shall I despise complaints? you do not know, O best father, you do not know how great the love is of a chaste woman to have been married to a wretched husband. 705
and now indeed a sad, grievous, and unjoyful duty, which I keep so that I may fear and grieve; but when the sad day will break the kisses, when the trumpets will give hoarse signals to those departing with arms and you will make your cheeks shine with cruel gold,
ah me, dear parent, perhaps I shall beg again!' 710

illius umenti carpens pater oscula uultu:
'non equidem has umquam culparim, nata, querelas;
pone metus, laudanda rogas nec digna negari.
sed mihi multa dei (nec tu sperare quod urgues
desine), multa metus regnique uolubile pondus 715
subiciunt animo. ueniet qui debitus istis,
nata, modus neque te incassum fleuisse quereris.

pressing kisses upon her moist cheek with his look, the father:
'not indeed would I ever blame these complaints, daughter;
put aside your fears; you ask to be praised, and are not unworthy to receive it.
but many matters of the divine (and cease to press that you should hope for that),
many fears and the changeable weight of rule 715
are laid upon my mind. there will come a due measure for those things,
daughter, and you will not lament that you wept in vain.'

tu solare uirum, neu sint dispendia iustae
dura morae: magnos cunctamur, nata, paratus.
proficitur bello.' dicentem talia nascens 720
lux mouet ingentesque iubent adsurgere curae.

you, console the man, lest there be losses from even a just delay:
we defer great matters, daughter; be ready.
'he departs to war.' As she spoke such things 720
the rising light moves and mighty cares bid them rise.