Statius: THEBAID

Pulsa sitis fluuio, populataque gurgitis alueum
agmina linquebant ripas amnemque minorem;
acrior et campum sonipes rapit et pedes arua
implet ouans, rediere uiris animique minaeque
uotaque, sanguineis mixtum ceu fontibus ignem 5
hausissent belli magnasque in proelia mentes.
dispositi in turmas rursus legemque seueri
ordinis, ut cuique ante locus ductorque, monentur
instaurare uias. tellus iam puluere primo
crescit, et armorum transmittunt fulgura siluae. 10
qualia trans pontum Phariis defensa serenis
rauca Paraetonio decedunt agmina Nilo,
cum fera ponit hiems: illae clangore fugaci,
umbra fretis aruisque, uolant, sonat auius aether.

Beaten off was thirst by the river, and, the channel of the whirlpool depopulated,
the ranks were leaving the banks and the river now lesser;
keener the war-steed sweeps the plain, and the foot-soldier
fills the fields exulting; back returned to the men their spirits, their threats,
and their vows, as though they had quaffed fire mixed in blood-stained fountains 5
of war, and mighty minds for battles.
set again in troops and in the law of a severe
order—each as before to his place and leader—they are admonished
to restore the marches. The earth already swells with first dust,
and the forests transmit the lightnings of arms. 10
such as, across the sea, under Pharian calms for their defense,
the hoarse columns depart from the Paraetonian Nile,
when savage winter relents: they, with fleeting clangor,
a shadow over straits and fields, fly; the pathless aether resounds.

iam Borean imbresque pati, iam nare solutis 15

now to endure Boreas and the rains, now to swim with the moorings cast off 15

amnibus et nudo iuuat aestiuare sub Haemo.
hic rursus simili procerum uallante corona
dux Talaionides, antiqua ut forte sub orno
stabat et admoti nixus Polynicis in hastam:
'at tamen, o quaecumque es' ait 'cui gloria tanta, 20
uenimus innumerae fatum debere cohortes,
quem non ipse deum sator aspernetur honorem,
dic age, quando tuis alacres absistimus undis,
quae domus aut tellus, animam quibus hauseris astris.
dic quis et ille pater.

and it pleases to summer by the rivers and beneath bare Haemus.
here again, with a like corona of princes hemming him in,
the leader, the Talaionid, chanced as he stood beneath an ancient ash
and, leaning upon the spear of Polynices brought near, said:
'yet, O whoever you are, to whom so great glory, 20
we, innumerable cohorts, have come to acknowledge that we owe our fate [to you],
an honor that not even the sower of gods himself would spurn;
come, tell, since we briskly withdraw from your waves,
what house or land, from what stars you have drunk your soul.
say also who that father is.'

neque enim tibi numina longe,                25
transierit fortuna licet, maiorque per ora
sanguis, et adflicto spirat reuerentia uultu.'
    ingemit, et paulum fletu cunctata modesto
Lemnias orsa refert: 'inmania uulnera, rector,
integrare iubes, Furias et Lemnon et artis                30

nor indeed are the numina far from you,                25
although Fortune has passed by, and nobler blood
shows through your features, and reverence breathes from your afflicted countenance.'
    she groans, and having delayed a little with modest weeping,
the Lemnian woman, beginning, replies: 'you bid me, ruler,
to renew immense wounds, and the Furies and Lemnos and my arts                30

arma inserta toris debellatosque pudendo
ense mares; redit ecce nefas et frigida cordi
Eumenis. o miserae, quibus hic furor additus! o nox!

arms inserted in beds and males debellated by a shameful sword; behold, the nefarious crime returns, and a cold Eumenis is at my heart. O wretched women, to whom this furor has been added! O night!

o pater! illa ego nam, pudeat ne forte benignae
hospitis, illa, duces, raptum quae sola parentem 35
occului. quid longa malis exordia necto?

O father! I am that very one—lest perhaps I shame my kindly guest—
that one, leaders, who alone my father, snatched away, 35
I concealed. Why do I weave long beginnings to my ills?

et uos arma uocant magnique in corde paratus.
hoc memorasse sat est: claro generata Thoante
seruitium Hypsipyle uestri fero capta Lycurgi.'
aduertere animos, maiorque et honora uideri 40
parque operi tanto; cunctis tunc noscere casus
ortus amor, pater ante alios hortatur Adrastus:
'immo age, dum primi longe damus agmina uulgi
(nec facilis Nemea latas euoluere uires,
quippe obtenta comis et ineluctabilis umbra), 45

and you too are called to arms, and a great preparedness is in your hearts.
it is enough to have remembered this: generated from illustrious Thoas,
Hypsipyle bears your servitude, captured by Lycurgus.'
they turned their minds, and she seemed greater and more honorable 40
and equal to so great a task; then in all arose the desire to learn the fortunes,
father Adrastus before the others exhorts:
'nay then, come, while we, the foremost, grant the columns of the crowd a long lead
(nor is Nemea easy to deploy broad forces,
since with foliage over-spread and with ineluctable shade), 45

pande nefas laudesque tuas gemitusque tuorum,
unde hos aduenias regno deiecta labores.'
    dulce loqui miseris ueteresque reducere questus.
incipit: 'Aegaeo premitur circumflua Nereo
Lemnos, ubi ignifera fessus respirat ab Aetna                 50
Mulciber; ingenti tellurem proximus umbra
uestit Athos nemorumque obscurat imagine pontum;
Thraces arant contra, Thracum fatalia nobis
litora, et inde nefas. florebat diues alumnis
terra, nec illa Samo fama Deloue sonanti                55
peior et innumeris quas spumifer adsilit Aegon.

“unfold the nefarious deed and your praises and the groans of your people,
whence you come to these labors, cast down from a kingdom.”
    sweet it is for the wretched to speak and to bring back ancient complaints.
she begins: “Lemnos, encircled by Aegean Nereus, is pressed,
where Mulciber, weary, breathes from fire-bearing Etna;                 50
Athos, close by, clothes the land with immense shadow
and with the image of its groves darkens the sea;
opposite, the Thracians plow, the shores of the Thracians fatal to us,
and from there the nefas. The land flourished, rich in nurslings,
nor was it worse than Samos by report and than resounding Delos,                55
and than the innumerable [islands] upon which the foam-bearing Aegean leaps.”

dis uisum turbare domos, nec pectora culpa
nostra uacant: nullos Veneri sacrauimus ignes,
nulla deae sedes; mouet et caelestia quondam
corda dolor lentoque inrepunt agmine Poenae. 60
illa Paphon ueterem centumque altaria linquens,
nec uultu nec crine prior, soluisse iugalem
ceston et Idalias procul ablegasse uolucres
fertur. erant certe media quae noctis in umbra
diuam alios ignes maioraque tela gerentem 65

it seemed good to the gods to throw households into turmoil, nor are our hearts free from guilt: we consecrated no fires to Venus, no seat for the goddess; and grief at times stirs even heavenly hearts, and Punishments creep in with a slow column. 60
she, leaving ancient Paphos and her hundred altars, no longer the same in countenance nor in hair, is reported to have loosed the conjugal cestus and to have sent the Idalian birds far away. there were certainly those who in the mid-shadow of night saw the goddess bearing other fires and greater weapons 65

Tartareas inter thalamis uolitasse sorores
uulgarent, utque implicitis arcana domorum
anguibus et saeua formidine nupta replesset
limina nec fidi populum miserata mariti.
protinus a Lemno teneri fugistis Amores: 70
mutus Hymen uersaeque faces et frigida iusti
cura tori. nullae redeunt in gaudia noctes,
nullus in amplexu sopor est, Odia aspera ubique
et Furor et medio recubat Discordia lecto.

They would spread that Tartarean sisters had flown among the bedchambers,
and that, with serpents entwined and savage dread, the bride had filled
the thresholds and had not pitied the people of her faithful husband.
Straightway from Lemnos, tender Loves, you fled: 70
Hymen mute, the torches inverted, and the cold care of the lawful bed.
No nights return into joys, no sleep is in the embrace; harsh Hatreds everywhere,
and Fury, and Discord reclines in the middle of the bed.

cura uiris tumidos aduersa Thracas in ora 75
eruere et saeuam bellando frangere gentem.
cumque domus contra stantesque in litore nati,
dulcius Edonias hiemes Arctonque frementem
excipere, aut tandem tacita post proelia nocte
fractorum subitas torrentum audire ruinas. 80

a concern to the men was to uproot on the adverse Thracian shore the tumid Thracians 75
and by warring to break the savage nation.
and though the households and the sons standing on the shore were against it,
sweeter to them to take on the Edonian winters and the Arcton (the Bear, the North) roaring,
or at last, after battles, in the tacit night,
to hear the sudden crashes of broken torrents. 80

illae autem tristes (nam me tunc libera curis
uirginitas annique tegunt) sub nocte dieque
adsiduis aegrae in lacrimis solantia miscent
conloquia, aut saeuam spectant trans aequora Thracen.
    Sol operum medius summo librabat Olympo                85
lucentes, ceu staret, equos; quater axe sereno
intonuit, quater antra dei fumantis anhelos
exeruere apices, Ventisque absentibus Aegon
motus et ingenti percussit litora ponto:
cum subito horrendas aeui matura Polyxo                90
tollitur in furias thalamisque insueta relictis
euolat. insano ueluti Teumesia Thyias
rapta deo, cum sacra uocant Idaeaque suadet
buxus et a summis auditus montibus Euhan:
sic, erecta genas aciemque effusa trementi                95

those women, however, sorrowful (for at that time care-free maidenhood and my years shelter me)
beneath night and day, ailing in continual tears, they mix consoling colloquies,
or gaze across the seas at savage Thrace.
The Sun, mid of labors, was poising on highest Olympus his gleaming horses, as though he stood; 85
four times on the clear axis it thundered, four times the peaks
vented the panting breaths of the god’s smoking caverns, and with the winds absent Aegon
was stirred and smote the shores with a vast deep:
when suddenly Polyxo, ripe with years, is lifted into horrendous furies and, unused to leaving
her chambers, flies forth. Just as the Teumesian Thyias, mad, snatched by the god,90
when the sacred rites call and the Idaean boxwood urges,
and “Euahn” is heard from the topmost mountains:
thus, with cheeks raised and her gaze poured forth, trembling, 95

sanguine, desertam rabidis clamoribus urbem
exagitat clausasque domos et limina pulsans
concilium uocat; infelix comitatus eunti
haerebant nati. atque illae non segnius omnes
erumpunt tectis, summasque ad Pallados arces                100
impetus: huc propere stipamur et ordine nullo
congestae; stricto mox ense silentia iussit
hortatrix scelerum et medio sic ausa profari:
"rem summam instinctu superum meritique doloris,
o uiduae (firmate animos et pellite sexum!)                105
Lemniades, sancire paro; si taedet inanes
aeternum seruare domos turpemque iuuentae
flore situm et longis steriles in luctibus annos,
inueni, promitto, uiam (nec numina desunt)
qua renouanda Venus: modo par insumite robur                 110
luctibus, atque adeo primum hoc mihi noscere detur.
tertia canet hiems: cui conubialia uincla
aut thalami secretus honos?

with blood, she harasses the city deserted with rabid clamors,
and, battering at shut-up homes and thresholds, calls a council;
unhappy, the children clung as an escort to her going.
And they no less briskly, all burst from the roofs, and the rush is to the highest
citadels of Pallas:                100
hither in haste we are packed and, heaped together with no order;
soon, with sword drawn, the hortatrix of crimes commanded silences
and thus dared to speak in the midst:
"the chief matter, by the instigation of the supernal ones and of deserved grief,
O widows (strengthen your spirits and drive off your sex!),                105
Lemnian women, I prepare to sanction; if it wearies you to keep
empty homes forever and the shameful decay of the flower of youth,
and years barren in long mournings, I have found, I promise, a way
(nor do the divinities fail) whereby Venus may be renovated:
only put in strength equal to your griefs,                 110
and indeed first let this be granted me to know.
the third winter is sounding: for whom are the conjugal bonds
or the secluded honor of the bridal chamber?

cui coniuge pectus
intepuit? cuius uidit Lucina labores,
dicite, uel iustos cuius pulsantia menses 115

for whom has the breast grown warm with a spouse?
whose labors has Lucina seen,
say, or whose due, pulsating months 115

uota tument? qua pace feras uolucresque iugari
mos datus! heu segnes!

do the vows swell? by what peace has a custom been granted that wild beasts and winged creatures be yoked?
alas, sluggards!

potuitne ultricia Graius
uirginibus dare tela pater laetusque dolorum
sanguine securos iuuenum perfundere somnos:
at nos uulgus iners? quodsi propioribus actis 120
est opus, ecce animos doceat Rhodopeia coniunx,
ulta manu thalamos pariterque epulata marito.
nec uos inmunis scelerum securaue cogo.

Was the Greek father able to give avenging weapons to maidens and, glad of dolors, to perfuse with blood the uncareful slumbers of youths:
but we a sluggish rabble? And if there is need of acts nearer at hand, 120
behold, let the Rhodopeian spouse teach our spirits,
she who with her hand took vengeance on the bedchambers and even banqueted together with her husband. Nor do I compel you to be exempt from crimes or secure.

plena mihi domus atque ingens, en cernite, sudor.
quattuor hos una, decus et solacia patris, 125
in gremio (licet amplexu lacrimisque morentur)
transadigam ferro saniemque et uulnera fratrum
miscebo patremque super spirantibus addam.
ecqua tot in caedes animum promittit?" agebat
pluribus; aduerso nituerunt uela profundo: 130

my house is full and immense—lo, behold—the toil.
these four at once, the pride and consolations of their father, 125
in my lap (though they may delay with embrace and tears)
I will drive through with iron, and I will mix the gore and wounds of the brothers,
and I will add the father atop them while they are still breathing. “Does any woman pledge her spirit to so many slaughters?” She was pressing on with more;
the sails glittered upon the adverse deep: 130

Lemnia classis erat. rapuit gauisa Polyxo
fortunam atque iterat: "superisne uocantibus ultro
desumus? ecce rates!

It was a Lemnian fleet. rejoicing, Polyxo seized the fortune and reiterates:
"Are we failing, when the gods above are calling us unbidden?
Behold the ships!

deus hos, deus ultor in iras
apportat coeptisque fauet. nec imago quietis
uana meae: nudo stabat Venus ense uideri 135
clara mihi somnosque super. 'quid perditis aeuum?'
inquit, 'age auersis thalamos purgate maritis.

a god brings these, a god-avenger into wrath,
and he favors our undertakings. Nor is the image of my quiet
vain for me: Venus stood, with a bare sword, seen clearly by me, above my slumbers. 135
“Why do you waste the age?”
she says, “come, with husbands turned away, purge the bedchambers.

ipsa faces alias melioraque foedera iungam.'
dixit, et hoc ferrum stratis, hoc, credite, ferrum
imposuit. quin, o miserae, dum tempus agi rem, 140
consulite; en ualidis spumant euersa lacertis
aequora, Bistonides ueniunt fortasse maritae."
hinc stimuli ingentes, magnusque aduoluitur astris
clamor. Amazonio Scythiam feruere tumultu
lunatumque putes agmen descendere, ubi arma 145
indulget pater et saeui mouet ostia Belli.

“I myself will yoke other torches and better covenants.”
She spoke, and this steel upon the couches—this, believe it—steel
she set. Nay rather, O miserable ones, while it is time to do the deed, 140
take counsel; behold, the seas foam, upturned by sturdy arms,
the Bistonian women are coming, perhaps as brides.”
Hence huge stimuli, and a great clamor rolls to the stars.
You would think Scythia seethes with Amazonian tumult,
and that a crescent-formed column is descending, where the father indulges arms
145
and moves the doors of savage War.

nec uarius fremor aut studia in contraria rapti
dissensus, ut plebe solet: furor omnibus idem,
idem animus solare domos iuuenumque senumque
praecipitare colos plenisque adfrangere paruos 150

nor a varied roar nor a dissension of zeal swept into opposing sides,
as is wont with the plebs: the same frenzy for all,
the same spirit to make solitary the homes of both young and old,
to hurl headlong the distaffs and to snatch the little ones from full breasts 150

uberibus ferroque omnes exire per annos.
tunc uiridi luco (lucus iuga celsa Mineruae
propter opacat humum niger ipse, sed insuper ingens
mons premit et gemina pereunt caligine soles),
hic sanxere fidem, tu Martia testis Enyo 155
atque inferna Ceres, Stygiaeque Acheronte recluso
ante preces uenere deae; sed fallit ubique
mixta Venus, Venus arma tenet, Venus admouet iras.
nec de more cruor: natum Charopeia coniunx
obtulit, accingunt sese et mirantia ferro 160
pectora congestisque auidae simul undique dextris
perfringunt, ac dulce nefas in sanguine uiuo
coniurant, matremque recens circumuolat umbra.

to live out all their years by breasts and by iron.
then in a green grove (the grove itself, near the lofty ridges of Minerva,
black, shades the ground; but, above, a huge
mountain presses, and the suns perish in a double gloom),
here they sanctioned the pledge, you, warlike Enyo, as witness, 155
and infernal Ceres; and, Stygian Acheron thrown open,
before the prayers the goddesses came; but Venus, mingled in, deceives everywhere—
Venus holds the arms, Venus brings up wraths.
nor is the gore according to custom: the Charopaean wife
offered her son; they gird themselves, and the chest marveling at the steel
they shatter, eager, with right hands massed at once from every side,
and they swear a sweet impiety on the living blood, and the fresh shade
flies around the mother.160

talia cernenti mihi quantus in ossibus horror,
quisue per ora color! qualis cum cerua cruentis 165

as I behold such things, how great a horror in my bones,
and what color across my features! such as when a hind with bloody 165

circumuenta lupis, nullum cui pectore molli
robur et in uolucri tenuis fiducia cursu,
praecipitat suspensa fugam, iam iamque teneri
credit et elusos audit concurrere morsus.
illi aderant, primis iamque offendere carinae 170
litoribus, certant saltu contingere terram
praecipites. miseri, quos non aut horrida uirtus
Marte sub Odrysio, aut medii inclementia ponti
hauserit!

surrounded by wolves, in whose soft breast there is no
strength, and but a slender confidence in winged running,
she hurls her flight headlong in suspense; now, now she believes
she is being seized, and she hears the baffled bites clash together.
they were at hand, and now the keels were striking against the foremost 170
shores; they strive, headlong, to touch the land with a leap.
wretches, whom neither the grim valor
under Odrysian Mars, nor the inclementness of the mid sea,
has swallowed!

alta etiam superum delubra uaporant
promissasque trahunt pecudes: niger omnibus aris 175
ignis, et in nullis spirat deus integer extis.
tardius umenti noctem deiecit Olympo
Iuppiter et uersum miti, reor, aethera cura
sustinuit, dum fata uetant, nec longius umquam
cessauere nouae perfecto sole tenebrae. 180

even the high shrines of the gods exhale vapor
and they draw in the promised beasts: black fire on all the altars 175
fire, and in no entrails does a god breathe intact.
more slowly did Jupiter cast down night from the wet Olympus
and, the ether turned, with gentle, I reckon, care he sustained it,
while the fates forbid; nor ever longer
did the fresh shadows cease, with the sun completed. 180

sera tamen mundo uenerunt astra, sed illis
et Paros et nemorosa Thasos crebraeque relucent
Cyclades; una graui penitus latet obruta caelo
Lemnos, in hanc tristes nebulae, et plaga caeca superne
texitur, una uagis Lemnos non agnita nautis.                185
iam domibus fusi et nemorum per opaca sacrorum
ditibus indulgent epulis uacuantque profundo
aurum inmane mero, dum quae per Strymona pugnae,
quis Rhodope gelidoue labor sudatus in Haemo
enumerare uacat. nec non, manus impia, nuptae                190
serta inter festasque dapes quo maxima cultu
quaeque iacent; dederat Cytherea suprema
nocte uiros longoque breuem post tempore pacem
nequiquam et miseros perituro adflauerat igni.
conticuere chori, dapibus ludoque licenti                195

yet late, however, did the stars come to the world, but for them
both Paros and woody Thasos and the frequent Cyclades shine back; one alone, Lemnos, lies hidden, buried deep beneath a heavy sky;
upon this island sad mists, and a blind tract from above,
is woven; alone is Lemnos not recognized by the wandering sailors. 185
now, stretched out in their homes and through the shadowy recesses of sacred groves,
they indulge in wealthy banquets and empty to the depth
immense gold with unmixed wine, while it is leisure to recount what battles along the Strymon,
what toil, sweated, on Rhodope or on chilly Haemus.
nor indeed not—the impious band—the brides,
among garlands and festive feasts, each where she lies with the greatest adornment;
Cytherea had granted on the last night their husbands and, after a long time, a brief peace,
in vain, and had breathed upon the wretches with a fire destined to perish.
the choirs fell silent, from banquets and unlicensed play 195

fit modus et primae decrescunt murmura noctis,
cum consanguinei mixtus caligine Leti
rore madens Stygio morituram amplectitur urbem
Somnus et implacido fundit grauia otia cornu
secernitque uiros. uigilant nuptaeque nurusque 200
in scelus, atque hilares acuunt fera tela Sorores.
inuasere nefas, cuncto sua regnat Erinys
pectore.

there comes a limit, and the murmurs of the early night subside,
when Sleep, kinsman of Death, mingled with the gloom of Letum,
dripping with Stygian dew, embraces the city doomed to die,
and from his implacable horn pours out heavy repose
and separates the men. the brides and the daughters-in-law keep vigil 200
for crime, and the Sisters, cheerful, whet their savage weapons.
they have rushed upon the nefarious deed; their own Erinys rules
in every breast.

non aliter Scythicos armenta per agros
Hyrcanae clausere leae, quas exigit ortu
prima fames, auidique implorant ubera nati. 205
quos tibi (nam dubito) scelerum de mille figuris
expediam casus? Helymum temeraria Gorge
euinctum ramis altaque in mole tapetum
efflantem somno crescentia uina superstans
uulnera disiecta rimatur ueste, sed illum 210

not otherwise did Hyrcanian lionesses shut in the herds through Scythian fields,
whom first hunger drives at their rising, and the eager whelps implore the udders. 205
which cases for you (for I hesitate) out of a thousand figures of crimes
shall I unfold? Helymus, reckless Gorge
bound with branches and on a high mass of coverlets,
as he breathes out, in sleep, the wines swelling within, standing over him
she searches for the wounds, his garment flung apart; but him 210

infelix sopor admota sub morte refugit.
turbidus incertumque oculis uigilantibus hostem
occupat amplexu, nec segnius illa tenentis
pone adigit costas donec sua pectora ferro
tangeret. is demum sceleri modus; ora supinat 215
blandus adhuc oculisque tremens et murmure Gorgen
quaerit et indigno non soluit bracchia collo.

unhappy sleep, with death brought up close, fled.
confused, and seeing the foe uncertainly with vigilant eyes, he seizes in an embrace,
nor less swiftly does she, from behind, drive into the ribs of the one holding her until her own breasts touched the iron. this at last was the limit of the crime; he turns his face upward 215
still coaxing, and trembling with his eyes and with a murmur he seeks Gorge and does not loosen his arms from the unworthy neck.

non ego nunc uulgi quamquam crudelia pandam
funera, sed propria luctus de stirpe recordor:
quod te, flaue Cydon, quod te per colla refusis 220
intactum, Crenaee, comis (quibus ubera mecum
obliquumque a patre genus), fortemque, timebam
quem desponsa, Gyan uidi lapsare cruentae
uulnere Myrmidones, quodque inter serta torosque
barbara ludentem fodiebat Epopea mater. 225

I will not now lay open, although cruel, the funerals of the crowd, but I recall griefs from my own stock:
how I feared for you, blond Cydon, how for you, Crenaeus, with hair poured back over your necks, untouched (you who shared with me the breasts and an oblique lineage from our father), 220
and the brave Gyas, whom I, a betrothed girl, saw the Myrmidons make collapse by a bloody wound,
and how the barbarian mother Epopea was stabbing him, playing among garlands and couches. 225

flet super aequaeuum exarmata Lycaste
Cydimon, heu similes perituro in corpore uultus
aspiciens floremque genae et quas finxerat auro
ipsa comas, cum saeua parens iam coniuge fuso
astitit impellitque minis atque inserit ensem.                230
ut fera, quae rabiem placido desueta magistro
tardius arma mouet stimulisque et uerbere crebro
in mores negat ire suos, sic illa iacenti
incidit undantemque sinu conlapsa cruorem
excipit et laceros premit in noua uulnera crines.                235
ut uero Alcimeden etiamnum in murmure truncos
ferre patris uultus et egentem sanguinis ensem
conspexi, riguere comae atque in uiscera saeuus
horror iit: meus ille Thoas, mea dira uideri
dextra mihi! extemplo thalamis turbata paternis                240

unarmed Lycaste weeps over her coeval Cydimon, alas, gazing on the features like her own in the body about to perish, and the flower of his cheek and the tresses which she herself had fashioned with gold, when a savage mother, with her spouse now poured out, stood by and with threats drives her and inserts the sword.                230
like a wild beast, which, its rage unlearned by a placid trainer, moves to arms more slowly and, despite spurs and frequent lash, refuses to go into its own ways, so she falls upon the one lying there and, collapsing, catches in her bosom the surging blood, and presses torn tresses into fresh wounds.                235
but when indeed I beheld Alcimede, still in a murmur, bearing her father’s mangled features and a sword needy of blood, my hair bristled and a savage horror went into my viscera: that Thoas of mine, my right hand seemed dire to me! forthwith, perturbed from my father’s chambers                240

inferor. ille quidem dudum (quis magna tuenti
somnus?) agit uersans secum, etsi lata recessit
urbe domus, quinam strepitus, quae murmura noctis,
cur fremibunda quies. trepido scelus ordine pando,
quis dolor, unde animi: "uis nulla arcere furentes; 245
hac sequere, o miserande; premunt aderuntque moranti,
et mecum fortasse cades." his motus et artus
erexit stratis.

I am borne in. He indeed long since (what sleep for one gazing on great things?) is restless, turning things over with himself, although his house has withdrawn far from the city—what is the uproar, what the murmurs of the night, why a roaring repose. To the trembling man I unfold the crime in order, what the grief is, whence the impulses: "no force can ward off the raging; follow this way, O pitiable one; they press on and will be at hand for one who delays, 245
and perhaps you will fall with me." Moved by these words he too raised his limbs from the couch.

ferimur per deuia uastae
urbis et ingentem nocturnae caedis aceruum
passim, ut quosque sacris crudelis uespera lucis 250
strauerat, occulta speculamur nube latentes.
hic impressa toris ora extantesque reclusis
pectoribus capulos magnarum et fragmina trunca
hastarum et ferro laceras per corpora uestes,
crateras pronos epulasque in caede natantes 255

we are borne through the byways of the vast
city, and everywhere the immense heap of nocturnal slaughter;
as many as the cruel evening of the sacred lights had strewn, 250
we spy them, lying hidden in a concealed cloud.
here faces pressed into couches, and, with chests laid open, the protruding
hilts of great swords and truncated fragments of spears, and garments
lacerated by iron across the bodies, mixing-bowls overturned and banquets
floating in slaughter. 255

cernere erat, iugulisque modo torrentis apertis
sanguine commixto redeuntem in pocula Bacchum.
hic iuuenum manus et nullis uiolabilis armis
turba senes, positique patrum super ora gementum
semineces pueri trepidas in limine uitae 260
singultant animas. gelida non saeuius Ossa
luxuriant Lapitharum epulae, si quando profundo
Nubigenae caluere mero: uix primus ab ira
pallor, et impulsis surgunt ad proelia mensis.

it could be seen, and, with throats opened like a torrent,
Bacchus, with blood commingled, returning into the cups.
here a band of youths and, not violable by any arms, a throng of old men,
and half-dead boys, laid upon the faces of their groaning fathers,
sob out their spirits, trembling on the threshold of life. 260
not more savagely upon chilly Ossa do the banquets of the Lapiths luxuriate,
whenever the Cloud-born have grown hot with deep pure wine:
scarcely has the first pallor from wrath appeared, and, the tables thrust aside,
they rise to battles.

tunc primum sese trepidis sub nocte Thyoneus 265
detexit, nato portans extrema Thoanti
subsidia, et multa subitus cum luce refulsit.
agnoui: non ille quidem turgentia sertis
tempora nec flaua crinem distinxerat uua:
nubilus indignumque oculis liquentibus imbrem 270

then for the first time Thyoneus disclosed himself under night to the trembling, 265
carrying the last succors to his son Thoas, and suddenly he shone back with much light.
I recognized him: he indeed had not his temples swelling with garlands,
nor had he set off his hair with the tawny grape:
clouded, and an unworthy rain for his liquid eyes. 270

adloquitur: "dum fata dabant tibi, nate, potentem
Lemnon et externis etiam seruare timendam
gentibus, haud umquam iusto mea cura labori
destitit: absciderunt tristes crudelia Parcae
stamina, nec dictis, supplex quae plurima fudi                275
ante Iouem frustra, lacrimisque auertere luctus
contigit; infandum natae concessit honorem.
accelerate fugam, tuque, o mea digna propago,
hac rege, uirgo, patrem, gemini qua bracchia muri
litus eunt: illa, qua rere silentia, porta                280
stat funesta Venus ferroque accincta furentes
adiuuat (unde manus, unde haec Mauortia diuae
pectora?). tu lato patrem committe profundo:
succedam curis." ita fatus in aera rursus
soluitur et nostrum, uisus arcentibus umbris,                285

he addresses: "while the fates were granting to you, son, a potent
Lemnos and even to preserve it feared by external
nations, my care never at any time failed your just labor:
the sad, cruel Parcae cut the threads, nor was it granted, by words which as a suppliant I poured forth in great number                275
before Jove in vain, and by tears, to turn away the grief;
it granted to the daughter the unspeakable honor.
accelerate your flight, and you, O offspring worthy of me,
by this way, maiden, guide your father, where the twin arms of the walls
go down to the shore: that gate, where you suppose there is silence,                280
baleful Venus stands and, girded with iron, aids the frenzied
(whence the hands, whence these Mavortian breasts of the goddess?).
do you entrust your father to the broad deep:
I will succeed to the cares." thus having spoken, into the air again
he is dissolved, and our sight, the shades keeping it at bay,                285

mitis iter longae clarauit limite flammae.
qua data signa sequor; dein curuo robore clausum
dis pelagi Ventisque et Cycladas Aegaeoni
amplexo commendo patrem, nec fletibus umquam
fit modus alternis, ni iam dimittat Eoo                290
Lucifer astra polo. tunc demum litore rauco
multa metu reputans et uix confisa Lyaeo
diuidor, ipsa gradu nitente, sed anxia retro
pectora; nec requies quin et surgentia caelo
flamina et e cunctis prospectem collibus undas.                295
    exoritur pudibunda dies, caelumque retexens
auersum Lemno iubar et declinia Titan
opposita iuga nube refert.

a gentle flame made clear the path along the line of a long fire.
where the signs were given I follow; then, with curved timber enclosing him,
to the gods of the sea and to the Winds and to Aegaeon embracing the Cyclades
I commend my father, nor is there ever an end to alternating tears,
unless now the Morning Star dismiss the stars from the Eastern                290
pole. then at last, on the hoarse shore,
considering many things in fear and scarcely trusting in Lyaeus,
I am parted, I myself straining in my step, but my heart anxious backward;
nor is there rest but that I watch both the winds rising to the sky
and, from all the hills, I look out upon the waves.                295
    a bashful day rises, and, unweaving the sky,
with its beam turned away from Lemnos, and Titan restores
the slanting ridges opposite from cloud.

patuere furores
nocturni, lucisque nouae formidine cunctis
(quamquam inter similes) subitus pudor; impia terrae 300

the nocturnal frenzies lay open, and at the dread of the new light a sudden shame (though among the like-minded) came upon all; the land’s impiety 300

infodiunt scelera aut festinis ignibus urunt.
iam manus Eumenidum captasque refugerat arces
exaturata Venus; licuit sentire quid ausae,
et turbare comas et lumina tingere fletu.
insula diues agris opibusque armisque uirisque,                305
nota situ et Getico nuper ditata triumpho,
non maris incursu, non hoste, nec aethere laeuo
perdidit una omnes orbata excisaque mundo
indigenas: non arua uiri, non aequora uertunt,
conticuere domus, cruor altus et oblita crasso                310
cuncta rubent tabo, magnaeque in moenibus urbis
nos tantum et saeui spirant per culmina manes.
ipsa quoque arcanis tecti in penetralibus alto
molior igne pyram, sceptrum super armaque patris
inicio et notas regum uelamina uestes,                315

they bury the crimes or burn them with hasty fires.
now Venus, satiated, had fled the hands of the Eumenides and the captured citadels;
it was permitted to feel what they had dared, and to disorder their hair and to dye their eyes with weeping.
an island rich in fields and in resources and in arms and in men,                305
known for its situation and lately enriched by a Getic triumph,
not by an incursion of the sea, not by an enemy, nor by a left-omened aether
did it lose at once all its natives, orphaned and cut off from the world.
no men turn the fields, no men ply the seas,
the houses have fallen silent; deep gore, and all things smeared with thick                310
corruption, glow red, and on the walls of the great city
only we and the savage shades draw breath over the rooftops.
I too myself, in the secret penetralia of the roof, with lofty
fire am building a pyre; upon it I throw the scepter and my father’s arms
and the recognizable veils, the robes of kings.                315

ac prope maesta rogum confusis crinibus asto
ense cruentato, fraudemque et inania busta
plango metu, si forte premant, cassumque parenti
omen et hac dubios leti precor ire timores.
his mihi pro meritis, ut falsi criminis astu 320
parta fides, regna et solio considere patris
(supplicium!) datur. anne illis obsessa negarem?

and near the pyre, sad, with tresses confused I stand
with a blood-stained sword, and I lament the fraud and empty tombs
in fear, if perchance they press, and I pray that the vain omen
go to my father, and that by this the wavering fears of death depart.
for these deserts to me, since by the artifice of a false criminal charge 320
trust was won, the realms and to sit on my father’s throne
(punishment!) are given. Or, besieged, should I deny them?

accessi, saepe ante deos testata fidemque
inmeritasque manus; subeo (pro dira potestas!)
exangue imperium et maestam sine culmine Lemnon. 325
iam magis atque magis uigiles dolor angere sensus,
et gemitus clari, et paulatim inuisa Polyxo,
iam meminisse nefas, iam ponere manibus aras
concessum et multum cineres iurare sepultos.
sic ubi ductorem trepidae stabulique maritum, 330

I approached, having often before the gods borne witness to my good faith and my undeserving hands; I take up (O dread power!) a bloodless command and Lemnos sorrowful and without a head. 325
now more and more wakeful pain begins to vex the senses, and loud groans, and Polyxo gradually hated, now it is impious even to remember, now it is permitted to lay hands upon the altars and to swear much by buried ashes.
thus, when the leader of the fearful and the husband of the fold, 330

quem penes et saltus et adultae gloria gentis,
Massylo frangi stupuere sub hoste iuuencae,
it truncum sine honore pecus, regemque peremptum
ipse ager, ipsi amnes et muta armenta queruntur.
ecce autem aerata dispellens aequora prora 335
Pelias intacti late subit hospita ponti
pinus; agunt Minyae, geminus fragor ardua canet
per latera: abruptam credas radicibus ire
Ortygiam aut fractum pelago decurrere montem.
ast ubi suspensis siluerunt aequora tonsis, 340
mitior et senibus cycnis et pectine Phoebi
uox media de puppe uenit, maria ipsa carinae
accedunt.

in whose control were both the mountain-pastures and the glory of the grown nation,
the Massylian heifers stood aghast to be broken in under a foe,
the herd goes as a trunk without honor; and the king slain
the field itself, the rivers themselves, and the mute herds lament.
behold, however, a brazen prow, scattering the waters, 335
the Pelian pine, guest on the untouched sea, advances far and wide;
the Minyae drive; a twin clangor sings along the towering sides:
you would think Ortygia torn from its roots to be going, or a mountain, broken by the sea, to be running down.
but when the waters grew silent with the oars held aloft, 340
a voice gentler than old swans and than the plectrum of Phoebus came from the midst of the stern,
the very seas draw near to the keel.

post nosse datum est: Oeagrius illic
adclinis malo mediis intersonat Orpheus
remigiis tantosque iubet nescire labores. 345

afterwards we came to know: there the Oeagrian
Orpheus, leaning against the mast, resounds amid the oarings
and bids them not to know such great labors. 345

illis in Scythicum Borean iter oraque primi
Cyaneis artata maris. nos, Thracia uisu
bella ratae, uario tecta incursare tumultu,
densarum pecudum aut fugientum more uolucrum.
heu ubi nunc Furiae?

for them there was a journey into the Scythian Boreas and the shores of the foremost sea, narrowed by the Cyanean rocks. we, thinking at the sight that it was Thracian wars, rush to assault the roofs with various tumult, in the manner of dense herds or of birds in flight. alas, where now are the Furies?

portus amplexaque litus                350
moenia, qua longe pelago despectus aperto,
scandimus et celsas turres; huc saxa sudesque
armaque maesta uirum atque infectos caedibus enses
subuectant trepidae; quin et squalentia texta
thoracum et uultu galeas intrare soluto                355
non pudet; audaces rubuit mirata cateruas
Pallas, et auerso risit Gradiuus in Haemo.
tunc primum ex animis praeceps amentia cessit,
nec ratis illa salo, sed diuum sera per aequor
iustitia et poenae scelerum aduentare uidentur.                360

the harbor and the walls that embrace the shore                350
where one looks far down upon the open sea,
we climb, and the lofty towers; hither timorous folk haul up
rocks and stakes and the men’s mournful arms and swords stained with slaughters;
nay, nor are they ashamed to don the scaly weavings
of corselets, and to enter helmets with countenance unknit;                355
Pallas blushed, marveling at the daring squadrons,
and Gradivus laughed, averted, on Haemus.
then for the first time headlong madness withdrew from our souls,
and it seems not that ship on the swell, but the gods’ tardy justice across the plain
sea, and the penalties of crimes, are drawing near.                360

iamque aberant terris quantum Gortynia currunt
spicula, caeruleo grauidam cum Iuppiter imbri
ipsa super nubem ratis armamenta Pelasgae
sistit agens; inde horror aquis, et raptus ab omni
sole dies miscet tenebras, quis protinus unda                365
concolor; obnixi lacerant caua nubila uenti
diripiuntque fretum, nigris redit umida tellus
uerticibus, totumque Notis certantibus aequor
pendet et arquato iam iam prope sidera dorso
frangitur; incertae nec iam prior impetus alno,                370
sed labat extantem rostris modo gurgite in imo,
nunc caelo Tritona ferens. nec robora prosunt
semideum heroum, puppemque insana flagellat
arbor et instabili procumbens pondere curuas
raptat aquas, remique cadunt in pectus inanes.                375

and now they were away from the lands as far as Gortynian arrows run,
when Jupiter, driving, sets the very rigging of the Pelasgian raft above a cloud heavy with dark-blue rain;
then dread upon the waters, and day, snatched from all sun, mingles with darkness, to which straightway the wave is same-colored;                365
straining, the winds tear the hollow clouds and rend the sea, the wet earth reappears with black whirlpools, and the whole plain of the sea, as the South Winds contend, hangs and, with arched back now now near the stars, is broken;
nor is the former impulse to the uncertain alder-ship any longer, but it totters, now with its beaks standing out at the very bottom of the gulf, now bearing Triton to the sky.                370
nor do the oaken strengths of the demigod heroes avail, and the mad mast scourges the stern and, leaning with unstable weight, snatches at the curving waters, and the oars fall empty upon the breast.                375

nos quoque per rupes murorumque aggere ab omni,
dum labor ille uiris fretaque indignantur et Austros,
desuper inualidis fluitantia tela lacertis
(quid non ausa manus?) Telamona et Pelea contra
spargimus, et nostro petitur Tirynthius arcu.                380
illi (quippe simul bello pelagoque laborant),
pars clipeis munire ratem, pars aequora fundo
egerere; ast alii pugnant, sed inertia motu
corpora, suspensaeque carent conamine uires.
instamus iactu telorum, et ferrea nimbis                385
certat hiems, ustaeque sudes fractique molares
spiculaque et multa crinitum missile flamma
nunc pelago, nunc puppe cadunt; dat operta fragorem
pinus et ab iunctis regemunt tabulata cauernis.
talis Hyperborea uirides niue uerberat agros                390

we too over the crags and from every rampart of the walls,
while that toil weighs on the men and the straits and the South Winds rage,
from above with feeble arms we shower flitting missiles
(what did the hand not dare?) against Telamon and Peleus we scatter,
and the Tirynthian is targeted by our bow.                380
they (indeed, since they toil at once with war and with the sea),
some to fortify the ship with shields, some to draw the waters from the bilge;
but others fight, yet their bodies are inert in movement,
and their suspended forces lack exertion.
we press with the casting of weapons, and an iron winter vies with the storms,                385
and charred stakes and broken boulders
and darts and many a missile crested with flame
fall now into the sea, now upon the stern; the covered pine gives a crash
and the decks ring back from the joined hollows.
thus Hyperborean snow lashes the green fields                390

Iuppiter; obruitur campis genus omne ferarum,
deprensaeque cadunt uolucres, et messis amaro
strata gelu, fragor inde iugis, inde amnibus irae.
ut uero elisit nubes Ioue tortus ab alto
ignis et ingentes patuere in fulmine nautae,                395
deriguere animi, manibusque horrore remissis
arma aliena cadunt, rediit in pectora sexus.
cernimus Aeacidas murisque inmane minantem
Ancaeum et longa pellentem cuspide rupes
Iphiton; attonito manifestus in agmine supra est                400
Amphitryoniades puppemque alternus utrimque
ingrauat et medias ardet descendere in undas.
at leuis et miserae nondum mihi notus Iason
transtra per et remos impressaque terga uirorum
nunc magnum Oeniden, nunc ille hortatibus Idan                405

Jupiter; the whole race of wild creatures is overwhelmed in the fields,
and birds, caught unawares, fall, and the harvest is strewn
by bitter gelu; then crash upon the ridges, then wrath upon the rivers.
But when fire, twisted by Jove from on high, dashed the clouds
and the sailors stood out vast in the lightning, their spirits grew rigid,                395
and with hands relaxed by horror their alien arms fall, their sex returned into their breasts.
We behold the Aeacidae, and Ancaeus menacing the walls immensely,
and Iphiton driving at the crags with a long spear;
manifest above the stunned column is the Amphitryoniad,
and he weighs down the stern alternately on either side and burns to descend into the midst of the waves.                400
But Jason, nimble and to me, wretched, not yet known,
through the thwarts and oars and the pressed backs of the men
now with exhortations urges the great Oenides, now Idas.                405

et Talaum et cana rorantem aspergine ponti
Tyndariden iterans gelidique in nube parentis
uela laborantem Calain subnectere malo
uoce manuque rogat; quatiunt impulsibus illi
nunc freta, nunc muros, sed nec spumantia cedunt                410
aequora, et incussae redeunt a turribus hastae.
ipse graues fluctus clauumque audire negantem
lassat agens Tiphys palletque et plurima mutat
imperia ac laeuas dextrasque obtorquet in undas
proram nauifragis auidam concurrere saxis,                415
donec ab extremae cuneo ratis Aesone natus
Palladios oleae, Mopsi gestamina, ramos
extulit et, socium turba prohibente, poposcit
foedera; praecipites uocem inuoluere procellae.
tunc modus armorum, pariterque exhausta quierant                420

and he begs both Talaus and the Tyndarid dripping with the hoary sprinkling of the sea, reiterating with voice and hand, and Calais, child of the cold parent in the cloud, who toils to fasten the sails to the mast; they shake with their assaults now the straits, now the walls, but the foaming levels do not yield, and spears, hurled, come back from the towers.                410
Tiphys himself, driving, wearies the heavy waves and the helm that refuses to heed, and he grows pale and changes many commands, and he wrenches left and right into the waves, lest the prow, eager, run together with the ship-wrecking rocks, until from the wedge of the ship’s far edge the son of Aeson raised aloft the Pallas-olive boughs, Mopsus’s bearable emblems, and, though the crowd of comrades tried to prevent it, demanded treaties; headlong squalls enfolded his voice.                415
then there was a check to arms, and equally, exhausted, they had come to rest.                420

flamina, confusoque dies respexit Olympo.
quinquaginta illi, trabibus de more reuinctis,
eminus abrupto quatiunt noua litora saltu,
magnorum decora alta patrum, iam fronte sereni
noscendique habitu, postquam timor iraque cessit                425
uultibus. arcana sic fama erumpere porta
caelicolas, si quando domos litusque rubentum
Aethiopum et mensas amor est intrare minores;
dant fluuii montesque locum, tum terra superbit
gressibus et paulum respirat caelifer Atlans.                430
    hic et ab adserto nuper Marathone superbum
Thesea et Ismarios, Aquilonia pignora, fratres,
utraque quis rutila stridebant tempora penna,
cernimus, hic Phoebo non indignante priorem
Admetum et durae similem nihil Orphea Thracae,                435

the winds, and the day looked back with Olympus confounded.
fifty of them, with the beams bound back in the customary way,
from afar they strike the new shores with a sudden leap,
the high ornaments of great fathers, now serene in brow
and in a guise to be recognized, after fear and wrath ceased                425
from their faces. thus report has it that by a secret gate
the heaven-dwellers burst forth, whenever there is a desire to enter the homes and the shore
of the ruddy Ethiopians and their lesser tables;
rivers and mountains give place, then the earth is proud at their steps
and sky-bearing Atlas breathes a little.                430
    here too, from the lately-asserted Marathon, the proud
Theseus and the Ismarian brothers, the Aquilonian pledges,
for whom on both temples a ruddy pinion was hissing,
we behold; here, with Phoebus not taking offense, as first
Admetus, and Orpheus resembling nothing of harsh Thrace,                435

tunc prolem Calydone satam generumque profundi
Nereos. ambiguo uisus errore lacessunt
Oebalidae gemini; chlamys huic, chlamys ardet et illi,
ambo hastile gerunt, umeros exertus uterque,
nudus uterque genas, simili coma fulgurat astro. 440
audet iter magnique sequens uestigia mutat
Herculis et tarda quamuis se mole ferentem
uix cursu tener aequat Hylas Lernaeaque tollens
arma sub ingenti gaudet sudare pharetra.
ergo iterum Venus et tacitis corda aspera flammis 445
Lemniadum pertemptat Amor.

then the offspring begotten at Calydon and the sons-in-law of the deep, husbands of Nereus’s daughters. with ambiguous error for the sight the Oebalid twins provoke; a chlamys to this one, a chlamys blazes on that one too, both bear a spear-shaft, each with shoulders bared, each beardless in the cheeks, their hair flashes with a like star. 440
he dares the march and, following the footsteps of great Hercules, shifts his stride, and though he carries himself with a slow mass, tender Hylas scarcely matches his running, and lifting the Lernaean arms he rejoices to sweat beneath the huge quiver.
therefore again Venus, and with silent flames Love tests through the harsh hearts of the Lemnian women. 445

tunc regia Iuno
arma habitusque uirum pulchraeque insignia gentis
mentibus insinuat, certatimque ordine cunctae
hospitibus patuere fores; tunc primus in aris
ignis, et infandis uenere obliuia curis; 450

then queenly Juno
instills into their minds the arms and the attire of the men and the fair insignia of the nation;
and eagerly, in order, all the doors lay open to the guests;
then for the first time on the altars
was fire, and there came forgetfulness of unspeakable cares. 450

tunc epulae felixque sopor noctesque quietae,
nec superum sine mente, reor, placuere fatentes.
forsitan et nostrae fatum excusabile culpae
noscere cura, duces. cineres furiasque meorum
testor ut externas non sponte aut crimine taedas 455
attigerim (scit cura deum), etsi blandus Iason
uirginibus dare uincla nouis: sua iura cruentum
Phasin habent, alios, Colchi, generatis amores.

then banquets and happy sleep and quiet nights,
nor, I reckon, did they please without the mind of the gods above, acknowledging it.
perhaps also, leaders, be it your care to know the fate that makes our fault excusable—
I call to witness the cinders and Furies of my own that I did not of my own will nor by crime touch foreign wedding‑torches 455
I touched (the care of the gods knows it), though beguiling Jason
gives bonds to new maidens: bloody Phasis has its own laws,
and you, Colchians, beget other loves.

iamque exuta gelu tepuerunt sidera longis
solibus, et uelox in terga reuoluitur annus. 460
iam noua progenies partusque in uota soluti,
et non speratis clamatur Lemnos alumnis.
nec non ipsa tamen, thalami monimenta coacti,
enitor geminos, duroque sub hospite mater
nomen aui renouo; nec quae fortuna relictis 465

And now, stripped of frost, the stars have grown warm with long suns, and the swift year rolls back upon itself. 460
now a new progeny, and births with vows discharged,
and Lemnos is acclaimed for nurslings not hoped-for.
and I myself too, however—monuments of a compelled marriage-bed—
I bring forth twins, and, a mother under a harsh guest, I renew
my grandsire’s name; nor what fortune for those left behind 465

nosse datur: iam plena quater quinquennia degunt
si modo fata sinunt aluitque rogata Lycaste.
    detumuere animi maris, et clementior Auster
uela uocat: ratis ipsa moram portusque quietos
odit et aduersi tendit retinacula saxi.                470
inde fugam Minyae, sociosque appellat Iason
efferus, o utinam iam tunc mea litora rectis
praeteruectus aquis, cui non sua pignora cordi,
non promissa fides; certe stat fama remotis
gentibus: aequorei redierunt uellera Phrixi.                475
ut stata lux pelago uenturumque aethera sensit
Tiphys et occidui rubuere cubilia Phoebi,
heu iterum gemitus, iterumque nouissima nox est.
uix reserata dies, et iam rate celsus Iason
ire iubet, primoque ferit dux uerbere pontum.                480

it is given to know: now full four five-year periods have passed
if only the fates allow, and Lycaste, when entreated, has nurtured them.
    the moods of the sea have subsided, and a more clement South Wind
calls the sails: the ship itself hates delay and quiet harbors
and stretches its moorings toward the opposing crag.                470
then the Minyae for flight, and Jason, fierce, calls his comrades—
O would that even then you had sailed past my shores with straight-running
waters, you to whom your own pledges are not at heart,
nor the promised faith; surely the report stands among remote
peoples: the fleeces of sea-crossing Phrixus have returned.                475
as soon as Tiphys sensed a steady light for the sea and a sky about to come,
and the couches of setting Phoebus reddened,
alas, again there are groans, and again it is the latest night.
hardly is day unbarred, and already, lofty on the ship, Jason
bids to go, and the leader with his first lash strikes the deep.                480

illos e scopulis et summo uertice montis
spumea porrecti dirimentes terga profundi
prosequimur uisu, donec lassauit euntes
lux oculos longumque polo contexere uisa est
aequor et extremi pressit freta margine caeli.                485
    fama subit portus uectum trans alta Thoanta
fraterna regnare Chio, mihi crimina nulla
et uacuos arsisse rogos. fremit impia plebes
sontibus accensae stimulis facinusque reposcunt.
quin etiam occultae uulgo increbrescere uoces:                490
"solane fida suis, nos autem in funera laetae?

them from the crags and the mountain’s topmost summit,
their foamy wakes stretched out, dividing the backs of the deep,
we follow with our sight, until the light wearied our going
eyes, and the level sea seemed to weave a long band to the sky,
and pressed the straits at the far margin of heaven.                485
    Rumor arises that Thoas, borne across the deep, has reached harbors
to reign on brotherly Chios; that I had no crimes,
and that the pyres burned empty. The impious plebs roars,
inflamed by goads against the guilty, and they demand the deed back.
nay even hidden voices grow frequent among the crowd:
                490
"you alone faithful to your own, we however joyful for funerals?

non deus haec fatumque? quid imperat urbe nefanda?"
talibus exanimis dictis (et triste propinquat
supplicium, nec regna iuuant) uaga litora furtim
incomitata sequor funestaque moenia linquo, 495

"Is it not a god and Fate that do these things? what commands in the unspeakable city?"
with such exanimate words (and a sad punishment draws near,
nor do the realms avail) I stealthily follow the wandering shores,
unaccompanied, and I leave the funereal walls, 495

qua fuga nota patris. sed non iterum obuius Euhan,
nam me praedonum manus huc appulsa tacentem
abripit et uestras famulam transmittit in oras.'
    talia Lernaeis iterat dum regibus exul
Lemnias et longa solatur damna querela                500
inmemor absentis (sic di suasistis!) alumni,
ille graues oculos languentiaque ora comanti
mergit humo fessusque diu puerilibus actis
labitur in somnos, prensa manus haeret in herba.
    interea campis, nemoris sacer horror Achaei,                505
terrigena exoritur serpens tractuque soluto
inmanem sese uehit ac post terga relinquit.

by which the flight of my father is known. but Euhan did not come to meet me again,
for a band of pirates, driven hither, snatches me—silent—and sends me as a handmaid to your shores.'
    while the Lemnian exile repeats such things to the Lernaean kings
and soothes her long losses with a long lament,                500
unmindful of the absent nursling (so you gods have persuaded!),
he sinks his heavy eyes and his languishing, hair-flowing face into the ground, and, tired out long by childish doings,
slips into sleep; his grasping hand clings in the grass.
    meanwhile, in the fields, the sacred dread of the Achaean grove,505
an earth-born serpent rises, and with its length uncoiled
it bears along its monstrous bulk and leaves it behind its back.

liuida fax oculis, tumidi stat in ore ueneni
spuma uirens, ter lingua uibrat, terna agmina adunci
dentis, et auratae crudelis gloria fronti 510

a livid torch in its eyes, the verdant foam of swollen venom
stands at the mouth; thrice the tongue vibrates, triple ranks of the hooked
tooth, and a cruel glory for the gilded forehead 510

prominet. Inachio sanctum dixere Tonanti
agricolae, cui cura loci et siluestribus aris
pauper honos; nunc ille dei circumdare templa
orbe uago labens, miserae nunc robora siluae
atterit et uastas tenuat complexibus ornos;                 515
saepe super fluuios geminae iacet aggere ripae
continuus, squamisque incisus adaestuat amnis.
sed nunc, Ogygii iussis quando omnis anhelat
terra dei trepidaeque latent in puluere Nymphae,
saeuior anfractu laterum sinuosa retorquens                520
terga solo siccique nocens furit igne ueneni.
stagna per arentesque lacus fontesque repressos
uoluitur et uacuis fluuiorum in uallibus errat,
incertusque sui liquidum nunc aera lambit
ore supinato, nunc arua gementia radens                525
pronus adhaeret humo, si quid uiridantia sudent
gramina; percussae calidis adflatibus herbae,
qua tulit ora, cadunt, moriturque ad sibila campus:
quantus ab Arctois discriminat aethera Plaustris
Anguis et usque Notos alienumque exit in orbem;                530

it projects. The farmers have called it sacred to the Inachian Thunderer,
to whom the care of the place and a poor honor at sylvan altars belong; now he, gliding, circles the temples of the god
with a wandering orb, now he wears down the oaks of the wretched woodland
and thins the vast ash-trees with his embraces;                 515
often, spanning the rivers, he lies continuous between the twin banks as a rampart,
and the stream boils, scored by his scales. But now, when by the commands of the Ogygian
god all the earth pants and the trembling Nymphs hide in the dust,
more savage, sinuous, twisting back his flanks with the bending of his sides,
he rages against the ground, harmful with the dry fire of venom.                520
he rolls through pools and parching lakes and checked fountains,
and wanders in the empty valleys of the rivers,
and, uncertain of himself, now with upturned mouth he licks the liquid air,
now, scraping the groaning fields, prone he clings to the soil,
if the greenish grasses sweat out anything; the herbs, smitten by hot breaths,                525
wherever he has borne his jaws, fall, and the plain dies at the hissing:
as great as the Serpent that separates the sky from the Arctic Wains
and reaches all the way to the South Winds and goes forth into an alien orb.                530

quantus et ille sacri spiris intorta mouebat
cornua Parnasi, donec tibi, Delie, fixus
uexit harundineam centeno uulnere siluam.
quis tibi, parue, deus tam magni pondera fati
sorte dedit? tune hoc uix prima ad limina uitae 535
hoste iaces?

how great too did that one move the horns of sacred Parnassus, twisted with coils,
until, fixed by you, Delian, he bore a reed-forest with a hundred wounds.
what god, little one, by lot gave to you the weights of so great a fate
has allotted? Do you then, scarcely at the first thresholds of life 535
lie low by an enemy?

an ut inde sacer per saecula Grais
gentibus et tanto dignus morerere sepulcro?
occidis extremae destrictus uerbere caudae
ignaro serpente puer, fugit ilicet artus
somnus, et in solam patuerunt lumina mortem. 540
cum tamen attonito moriens uagitus in auras
excidit et ruptis inmutuit ore querelis,
qualia non totas peragunt insomnia uoces,
audiit Hypsipyle, facilemque negantia cursum
exanimis genua aegra rapit; iam certa malorum 545

or that from there you would die sacred through the ages for the Greek
peoples and worthy of so great a sepulcher?
you perish, scourged by the stroke of the farthest tail,
the serpent unknowing, boy; straightway from your limbs
sleep flees, and your eyes gaped only upon death. 540
yet, as you die, from your thunderstruck self a wailing
fell forth into the airs, and your mouth muttered with broken complaints,
such as dreams do not carry through in whole voices;
Hypsipyle heard, and breathless she hurries her weary knees
that deny an easy course; now certain of the evils. 545

mentis ab augurio sparsoque per omnia uisu
lustrat humum quaerens et nota uocabula paruo
nequiquam ingeminans: nusquam ille, et prata recentes
amisere notas. uiridi piger accubat hostis
collectus gyro spatiosaque iugera complet 550
sic etiam, obliqua ceruicem expostus in aluo.
horruit infelix uisu longoque profundum
incendit clamore nemus; nec territus ille,
sed iacet.

from the mind’s augury and a vision scattered through all things
she scans the ground, seeking and in vain redoubling the familiar names to the little one:
he is nowhere, and the meadows have lost their recent marks. The sluggish enemy
reclines on the green, gathered in a gyre, and he fills spacious acres 550
thus too, with his neck set obliquely upon his belly.
she shuddered, unhappy, at the sight and with a long cry set the deep
grove ablaze; nor is he terrified, but he lies.

Argolicas ululatus flebilis aures
impulit; extemplo monitu ducis aduolat ardens 555
Arcas eques causamque refert. tunc squamea demum
toruus ad armorum radios fremitumque uirorum
colla mouet: rapit ingenti conamine saxum,
quo discretus ager, uacuasque impellit in auras
arduus Hippomedon, quo turbine bellica quondam 560

A mournful ululation smote Argolic ears; at once, at the leader’s monition, the ardent Arcadian horseman flies and reports the cause. 555
then at last the scaly, grim one toward the rays of arms and the men’s din moves its necks: he seizes with huge conation a stone by which the field is demarcated, and towering Hippomedon drives it into the empty airs, with what whirlwind the warlike once 560

librati saliunt portarum in claustra molares.
cassa ducis uirtus: iam mollia colla refusus
in tergum serpens uenientem exhauserat ictum.
dat sonitum tellus, nemorumque per auia densi
dissultant nexus.

poised, the millstones leap into the bars of the gates.
vain the leader’s virtue: already, bent back upon its back,
the serpent had drained the incoming blow from its soft necks.
the earth gives a sound, and through the pathless places of the groves
the dense coils spring apart.

'at non mea uulnera,' clamat                565
et trabe fraxinea Capaneus subit obuius, 'umquam
effugies, seu tu pauidi ferus incola luci,
siue deis, utinamque deis, concessa uoluptas,
non, si consertum super haec mihi membra Giganta
subueheres.' uolat hasta tremens et hiantia monstri                570
ora subit linguaeque secat fera uincla trisulcae,
perque iubas stantes capitisque insigne corusci
emicat, et nigri sanie perfusa cerebri
figitur alta solo. longus uix tota peregit
membra dolor, rapido celer ille uolumine telum                575

'but not my wounds,' he cries,                565
and with an ash-wood beam Capaneus advances to meet him, 'will you ever
escape, whether you, savage inhabitant of the timorous grove,
or if a pleasure granted to the gods—would that to the gods—;
not even if, piled atop this, you were to hoist against me the limbs
of a conjoined Giant.' The trembling spear flies and enters the gaping                570
jaws of the monster and cuts the fierce bonds of the three-forked tongue,
and it flashes through the standing manes and the ensign of the flashing head,
and, drenched with gore of black brain, is fixed deep in the soil.
A long agony scarcely ran through all its limbs, when he,
swift with rapid coil, wrenches the weapon                575

circumit auulsumque ferens in opaca refugit
templa dei; hic magno tellurem pondere mensus
implorantem animam dominis adsibilat aris.
illum et cognatae stagna indignantia Lernae,
floribus et uernis adsuetae spargere Nymphae,                580
et Nemees reptatus ager, lucosque per omnes
siluicolae fracta gemuistis harundine Fauni.
ipse etiam e summa iam tela poposcerat aethra
Iuppiter, et dudum nimbique hiemesque coibant,
ni minor ira deo grauioraque tela mereri                585
seruatus Capaneus; moti tamen aura cucurrit
fulminis et summas libauit uertice cristas.
    iamque pererratis infelix Lemnia campis,
liber ut angue locus, modico super aggere longe
pallida sanguineis infectas roribus herbas                590

he circles and, bearing the torn-off thing, flees back into the god’s shadowy temples;
here, having measured the earth with great weight, he hisses his imploring soul to his masters’ altars.
both the pools of kindred Lerna were indignant at him,
and the Nymphs accustomed to strew vernal flowers,                580
and the field of Nemea crawled over, and through all the groves
you sylvan Fauns groaned with your reed broken.
even Jupiter himself had already asked for weapons from the highest aether,
and long since both clouds and winters were coming together,
if not that lesser wrath moved the god and that Capaneus, kept back, was to merit heavier missiles;                585
yet a breath of the thunderbolt ran forth and with its tip it just tasted the topmost crests.
    and now, the unlucky one, the Lemnian fields traversed,
where the place is free from the serpent, from a low embankment afar
a pallid [one —] the grasses stained with bloody dews                590

prospicit. huc magno cursum rapit effera luctu
agnoscitque nefas, terraeque inlisa nocenti
funeris in morem non uerba in fulmine primo,
non lacrimas habet: ingeminat misera oscula tantum
incumbens animaeque fugam per membra tepentem 595
quaerit hians. non ora loco, non pectora restant,
rapta cutis, tenuia ossa patent nexusque madentes
sanguinis imbre noui, totumque in uulnere corpus.

she looks out. hither she hurries her course with great, savage grief,
and recognizes the nefarious deed, and dashed against the guilty earth
after the manner of a funeral she has not words at the first thunderbolt,
nor tears: the wretched woman only redoubles kisses,
leaning over and, gaping, seeks the flight of the soul through the limbs still warm 595
no faces are in place, no chests remain,
the skin is snatched away, the thin bones lie open, and the joints dripping
with the shower of fresh blood, and the whole body in a wound.

ac uelut aligerae sedem fetusque parentis
cum piger umbrosa populatus in ilice serpens, 600
illa redit querulaeque domus mirata quietem
iam stupet impendens aduectosque horrida maesto
excutit ore cibos, cum solus in arbore paret
sanguis et errantes per capta cubilia plumae.
ut laceros artus gremio miseranda recepit 605

and just as when a sluggish serpent, having ravaged in a shady ilex the seat and brood of a winged mother, 600
she returns and, marveling at the silence of the usually-complaining house,
now is stunned, hanging over it, and, bristling, shakes from her sad mouth the foods she had brought,
when only blood appears in the tree and feathers wandering through the captured nests.
as, pitiable, she received the torn limbs into her lap 605

intexitque comis, tandem laxata dolori
uox inuenit iter, gemitusque in uerba soluti:
'o mihi desertae natorum dulcis imago,
Archemore, o rerum et patriae solamen ademptae
seruitiique decus, qui te, mea gaudia, sontes 610
extinxere dei, modo quem digressa reliqui
lasciuum et prono uexantem gramina cursu?
heu ubi siderei uultus? ubi uerba ligatis
imperfecta sonis risusque et murmura soli
intellecta mihi?

and she entwined him with her hair; at last, loosened to grief,
her voice found a path, and her groans were loosed into words:
'o sweet image of my children to me, deserted,
Archemorus, O solace of my stripped-away fortunes and fatherland,
and the ornament of servitude, whom you, my joys, the guilty gods 610
extinguished, whom but now, having gone away, I left
playful and vexing the grasses with headlong course?
alas, where are the sidereal features? where the words,
unfinished with bound sounds, and the smiles and murmurs
understood by me alone?

quotiens tibi Lemnon et Argo 615
sueta loqui et longa somnum suadere querela!
sic equidem luctus solabar et ubera paruo
iam materna dabam, cui nunc uenit inritus orbae
lactis et infelix in uulnera liquitur imber.
nosco deos: o dura mei praesagia somni 620

how often to you of Lemnos and the Argo 615
accustomed was I to speak, and with a long plaint to persuade sleep!
thus indeed I used to solace my griefs, and I already gave the maternal
breasts to the little one, to whom now there comes, to the bereft, a fruitless
shower of milk, and, ill-fated, it dissolves upon the wounds.
I recognize the gods: O hard presages of my dream 620

nocturnique metus, et numquam impune per umbras
attonitae mihi uisa Venus! quos arguo diuos?
ipsa ego te (quid enim timeam moritura fateri?)
exposui fatis.

and nocturnal fears, and Venus, seen by me through the shadows, never with impunity, while I was thunderstruck! Which gods do I accuse?
I myself exposed you (for what should I, about to die, fear to confess?)
to the fates.

quae mentem insania traxit?
tantane me tantae tenuere obliuia curae? 625
dum patrios casus famaeque exorsa retracto
ambitiosa meae (pietas haec magna fidesque!),
exsolui tibi, Lemne, nefas; ubi letifer anguis,
ferte, duces, meriti si qua est mihi gratia duri,
si quis honos dictis, aut uos extinguite ferro, 630
ne tristes dominos orbamque inimica reuisam
Eurydicen, quamquam haud illi mea cura dolendo
cesserit. hocne ferens onus inlaetabile matris
transfundam gremio?

what madness has dragged my mind?
has such oblivion of so great a care held me? 625
while I, recounting again my ancestral disasters and the ambitious beginnings of my fame (this is great pietas and faith!),
I have discharged to you, Lemnos, the nefas; where is the death-bringing serpent?
lead me, guides, if there is any favor to me for my hard desert,
if any honor to my words, or extinguish me yourselves with steel, 630
lest I revisit my sad lords and hostile Eurydice bereft—
although in grieving my care has not yielded to hers.
bearing this joyless burden, shall I transfer him into the mother’s lap?

quae++me prius ima sub umbras
mergat humus!' simul haec terraque et sanguine uultum 635

“may the ground plunge me first down beneath the deepest shades!” at once, on these words, both the earth and her face with blood 635

sordida magnorum circa uestigia regum
uertitur et tacite maerentibus imputat undas.
et iam sacrifici subitus per tecta Lycurgi
nuntius implerat lacrimis ipsumque domumque,
ipsum aduentantem Persei uertice sancto 640
montis, ubi auerso dederat prosecta Tonanti,
et caput iratis rediens quassabat ab extis.
hic sese Argolicis inmunem seruat ab armis,
haud animi uacuus, sed templa araeque tenebant.

sordid the common crowd turns around the footsteps of great kings
and silently imputes the waves to the mourners.
and now a sudden messenger of the sacrifice, through the roofs of Lycurgus,
had filled with tears both himself and the house,
himself as he was arriving from the sacred summit of Mount Perseus, 640
where, with the Thunderer turned away, the cut portions had given [omens],
and, returning, he was shaking his head at the angry entrails.
here he keeps himself immune from Argolic arms,
not void of spirit, but the temples and altars were holding him.

necdum etiam responsa deum monitusque uetusti 645
exciderant uoxque ex adytis accepta profundis:
'prima, Lycurge, dabis Dircaeo funera bello.'
id cauet, et maestus uicini puluere Martis
angitur ad lituos periturisque inuidet armis.
ecce (fides superum!) laceras comitata Thoantis 650

nor yet had the responses of the gods and the ancient monitions fallen from mind 645
and the voice received from the deep adyta:
'first, Lycurgus, you will give funerals to the Dircaean war.'
this he guards against, and, mournful at the dust of neighboring Mars,
he is tormented at the trumpets and envies the arms that are doomed to perish.
lo (faith of the gods!), in tatters, attended, the daughter of Thoas 650

aduehit exequias, contra subit obuia mater,
femineos coetus plangentiaque agmina ducens.
at non magnanimo pietas ignaua Lycurgo:
fortior ille malis, lacrimasque insana resorbet
ira patris, longo rapit arua morantia passu 655
uociferans: 'illa autem ubinam, cui parua cruoris
laetaue damna mei? uiuitne?

she brings the funeral rites; coming up to meet them, the mother advances,
leading feminine companies and wailing columns.
but piety is not slothful in magnanimous Lycurgus:
stronger in misfortunes, and mad ire of a father swallows back
his tears; with a long stride he sweeps across the fields that delay 655
shouting: ‘but where then is she, to whom the small amounts of my blood
or the losses of me are a joy? does she live?’

impellite raptam,
ferte citi comites; faxo omnis fabula Lemni
et pater et tumidae generis mendacia sacri
exciderint.' ibat letumque inferre parabat 660
ense furens rapto; uenienti Oeneius heros
impiger obiecta proturbat pectora parma,
ac simul infrendens: 'siste hunc, uesane, furorem,
quisquis es!' et pariter Capaneus acerque reducto
adfuit Hippomedon rectoque Erymanthius ense, 665

drive on the snatched one,
bear her off quickly, comrades; I will make sure the whole Lemnian tale
and the father and the mendacities of the swollen sacred lineage
are blotted out.' He was going and was preparing to bring death, 660
raging with the snatched-up sword; to the one approaching the Oenean hero
untiring, with an interposed shield, shoves back his breast,
and at once, gnashing: 'stop this frenzy, madman,
whoever you are!' and at the same time Capaneus, and keen with sword drawn back,
Hippomedon was present, and the Erymanthian with levelled sword, 665

ac iuuenem multo praestringunt lumine; at inde
agrestum pro rege manus. quos inter Adrastus
mitius et sociae ueritus commercia uittae
Amphiaraus ait, 'ne, quaeso! absistite ferro,
unus auum sanguis, neue indulgete furori, 670
tuque prior.' sed non sedato pectore Tydeus
subicit: 'anne ducem seruatricemque cohortis
Inachiae ingratis coram tot milibus audes
mactare in tumulos (quanti pro funeris ultor!),
cui regnum genitorque Thoas et lucidus Euhan 675
stirpis auus?

and they dazzle the youth with much light; but then
the band of rustics on behalf of the king. Among whom Adrastus
more mildly, and Amphiaraus, fearing the fellowship of the kindred fillet,
says, 'no, I beg! cease from the steel,
one is the blood of your grandsires, and do not indulge fury, 670
and you first.' But Tydeus, his breast not calmed,
adds: 'do you then, before so many thousands, ungrateful,
dare to sacrifice upon the tombs the leader and savioress of the Inachian cohort
(what a fine avenger for a funeral!),
she to whom the kingdom, and a father Thoas, and lucid Euhan, 675
ancestor of the stock, belong?'

timidone parum, quod gentibus actis
undique in arma tuis inter rapida agmina pacem
solus habes? habeasque, et te uictoria Graium
inueniat tumulis etiamnum haec fata gementem.'
dixerat, et tandem cunctante modestior ira 680

is it too little out of timidity, that, with your peoples driven
on every side into arms, you alone have peace amid your rapid ranks?
and may you have it, and may the victory of the Greeks
find you upon the mounds still lamenting these fates.'
he had spoken, and at last, his anger hesitating, grew more restrained. 680

ille refert: 'equidem non uos ad moenia Thebes
rebar et hostiles huc aduenisse cateruas.
pergite in excidium socii, si tanta uoluptas,
sanguinis, imbuite arma domi, atque haec inrita dudum
templa Iouis (quid enim haud licitum?) ferat impius ignis, 685
si uilem, tanti premerent cum pectora luctus,
in famulam ius esse ratus dominoque ducique.
sed uidet haec, uidet ille deum regnator, et ausis,
sera quidem, manet ira tamen.' sic fatus, et arces
respicit.

he replies: 'indeed I did not suppose you had come to the walls of Thebes, and that hostile cohorts had arrived here. go on to the destruction of an ally, if there is such great voluptuous delight, in blood; imbue your arms at home, and let impious fire carry off these long-since-null temples of Jove (for what, indeed, has not been permitted?), 685
if, when so great grief pressed men’s breasts, you deemed there to be a cheap right over a handmaid for both master and commander. but he sees these things—he sees them—the ruler of the gods; and for your audacious deeds, though late, wrath awaits nevertheless.' thus he spoke, and he looks back at the citadels.

atque illic alio certamine belli 690
tecta fremunt; uolucres equitum praeuerterat alas
Fama recens, geminos alis amplexa tumultus:
illi ad fata rapi atque illi iam occumbere leto,
sic meritam, Hypsipylen iterant, creduntque nec irae
fit mora, iamque faces et tela penatibus instant, 695

and there with another contest of war 690
the roofs roar; Fresh Rumor had outstripped the flying wings of the horsemen,
embracing with her wings the twin tumults:
these to be hurried to doom and those now to meet death,
“thus deserved, Hypsipyle,” they keep repeating, and they believe it, nor is a delay made to wrath,
and now torches and spears bear down upon the household gods. 695

uertere regna fremunt raptumque auferre Lycurgum
cum Ioue cumque aris; resonant ululatibus aedes
femineis, uersusque dolor dat terga timori.
    alipedum curru sed enim sublimis Adrastus
secum ante ora uirum fremibunda Thoantida portans                700
it medius turmis et, 'parcite, parcite!' clamat,
'nil actum saeue, meritus nec tale Lycurgus
excidium, gratique inuentrix fluminis ecce.'
sic ubi diuersis maria euertere procellis
hinc Boreas Eurusque, illinc niger imbribus Auster,                705
pulsa dies regnantque hiemes, uenit aequoris alti
rex sublimis equis, geminusque ad spumea Triton
frena natans late pelago dat signa cadenti,
et iam plana Thetis, montesque et litora crescunt.
    quis superum tanto solatus funera uoto                710

they rage to overturn the realms and to carry off Lycurgus, seized, with Jove and with the altars; the halls resound with feminine ululations, and grief, reversed, gives its back to fear.
but indeed Adrastus, lofty on the chariot of wing‑footed steeds, carrying with him before the men’s faces the roaring Thoantid, 700
goes amid the squadrons and cries, ‘spare, spare!
nothing has been done, you savage ones, nor has Lycurgus deserved such destruction, and behold the inventress of the grateful river.’
so when the seas are overturned by diverse tempests—here Boreas and Eurus, there the Auster black with rains—
day is driven off and winters reign; there comes the king of the deep sea, sublime with his horses, and twin Triton, swimming by the foamy bits,
gives signals with the reins far and wide to the subsiding deep, and now Thetis is level, and mountains and shores grow.
who of the gods has consoled the funerals with so great a vow? 710

pensauit lacrimas inopinaque gaudia maestae
rettulit Hypsipylae? tu gentis conditor, Euhan,
qui geminos iuuenes Lemni de litore uectos
intuleras Nemeae mirandaque fata parabas.
causa uiae genetrix, nec inhospita tecta Lycurgi 715
praebuerant aditus, et protinus ille tyranno
nuntius extinctae miserando uulnere prolis.

who weighed the tears and brought back unlooked-for joys to sad Hypsipyle? You, founder of the race, Euhan, who had borne the twin youths from the shore of Lemnos and brought them into Nemea, and were preparing wondrous fates. The mother was the cause of the journey, nor had the not-inhospitable roofs of Lycurgus failed to afford access, 715
and forthwith he was the messenger to the tyrant of his progeny extinguished by a pitiable wound.

ergo adsunt comites (pro fors et caeca futuri
mens hominum!) regique fauent; sed Lemnos ad aures
ut primum dictusque Thoas, per tela manusque 720
inruerant, matremque auidis complexibus ambo
diripiunt flentes alternaque pectora mutant.
illa uelut rupes inmoto saxea uisu
haeret et expertis non audet credere diuis.
ut uero et uultus et signa Argoa relictis 725

therefore the companions are present (ah, Fortune, and the blind mind of men as to the future!) and they favor the king; but as soon as Lemnos and Thoas were named to their ears,
they burst in through spears and hands, 720
and both, weeping, tear at their mother with eager embraces and in turn exchange breasts and chests.
she clings like a cliff, stony in unmoving gaze, and does not dare to trust even with the gods experienced.
but when indeed both the faces and the Argoan tokens of those left behind 725

ensibus atque umeris amborum intextus Iason,
cesserunt luctus, turbataque munere tanto
corruit, atque alio maduerunt lumina fletu.
addita signa polo, laetoque ululante tumultu
tergaque et aera dei motas crepuere per auras.                730
    tunc pius Oeclides, ut prima silentia uulgi
mollior ira dedit, placidasque accessus ad aures:
'audite, o ductor Nemeae lectique potentes
Inachidae, quae certus agi manifestat Apollo.
iste quidem Argolicis haud olim indebitus armis                735
luctus adest, recto descendunt limite Parcae:
et sitis interitu fluuiorum et letifer anguis
et puer, heu nostri signatus nomine fati,
Archemorus, cuncta haec superum demissa suprema
mente fluunt.

Jason, intertwined amid the swords and shoulders of both,
the griefs yielded, and she, disturbed by so great a gift,
collapsed, and her eyes were wet with another weeping.
added were signs to the pole, and with a joyful, ululating tumult
the god’s hides and bronzes rattled through the stirred breezes. 730
then the pious Oeclides, when the crowd’s first silences
a gentler anger granted, and approaches to calm ears:
“listen, O leader of Nemea and you chosen, puissant
Inachidae, what sure Apollo makes manifest is being done.
this grief indeed, by no means long unowed to Argolic arms,735
is present; the Fates descend on a straight course:
both the thirst through the death of rivers and the death-bringing serpent,
and the boy—alas, stamped with the name of our fate—
Archemorus, all these things flow, sent down by the supreme mind
of the gods.”

differte animos festinaque tela 740

defer your spirits and your hasty weapons 740

ponite; mansuris donandus honoribus infans.
et meruit; det pulchra suis libamina Virtus
manibus, atque utinam plures innectere pergas,
Phoebe, moras, semperque nouis bellare uetemur
casibus, et semper Thebe funesta recedat. 745
at uos magnorum transgressi fata parentum
felices, longum quibus hinc per saecula nomen,
dum Lernaea palus et dum pater Inachus ibit,
dum Nemea tremulas campis iaculabitur umbras,
ne fletu uiolate sacrum, ne plangite diuos: 750
nam deus iste, deus, Pyliae nec fata senectae
maluerit, Phrygiis aut degere longius annis.'
finierat, caeloque cauam nox induit umbram.

set them down; the infant is to be gifted with honors that will endure.
and he has deserved it; let Virtue give fair libations to his own Manes,
and would that you go on weaving more delays, Phoebus, and that we may always be forbidden
to wage war with new mischances, and that Thebes may always withdraw from funeral doom. 745
but you, having overstepped the dooms of your great parents,
happy— for whom from here a long name through the ages—
so long as the Lernaean marsh and so long as father Inachus shall go,
so long as Nemea shall hurl trembling shadows upon the fields,
do not by weeping violate the sacred, do not lament the gods: 750
for that one is a god, a god; nor would he have preferred the fates of Pylian old age,
nor to pass his life longer in Phrygian years.'
he had finished, and night put on its hollow shadow upon the sky.