Valerius Flaccus: ARGONAVTICA

Interea scelerum luctusque ignarus Iason
alta secat. neque enim patrios cognoscere casus
Iuno sinit, mediis ardens ne flectat ab undis
ac temere in Pelian et adhuc obstantia regis
fata ruat placitosque deis ne deserat actus. 5
iamque fretis summas aequatum Pelion ornos
templaque Tisaeae mergunt obliqua Dianae,
iam Sciathos subsedit aquis, iam longa recessit
Sepias. attollit tondentes pabula Magnes
campus equos: vidisse putant Dolopeia busta 10
intrantemque Amyron curvas quaesita per oras
aequora, flumineo cuius redeuntia vento
vela legunt.

Meanwhile, Jason, ignorant of crimes and of mourning, cuts the deep.
for Juno does not allow him to learn the paternal misfortunes,
burning lest he turn aside from the midst of the waves,
and lest he rashly rush upon Pelias and the king’s as-yet-resisting
fates, and lest he forsake the actions pleasing to the gods. 5
and now, to the straits, Pelion’s topmost ash trees are leveled,
and the slanting temples of Tisaean Diana sink;
now Sciathos has subsided beneath the waters, now long Sepias has receded.
The Magnesian plain lifts up the horses cropping fodder: they think they have seen the Dolopian tombs 10
and the Amyrus entering the waters sought along the curved shores,
by whose riverine wind the drawing-back sails are furled.

remis insurgitur, inde salutant
Eurymenas. recipit velumque fretumque reversus
Auster et in nubem Minyis repe<te>ntibus altum 15

they leap to the oars, then from there they hail Eurymenae.
Returned, Auster takes back both the sail and the strait,
and, as the Minyae are returning to the deep, into a cloud 15

Ossa redit. metus ecce deum damnataque bello
Pallene circumque vident immania monstra
terrigenum caelo quondam adversata Gigantum,
quos scopulis trabibusque parens miserata iugisque
induit et versos exstruxit in aethera montes. 20
quisque suas in rupe minas pugnamque metusque
servat adhuc, quatit ipse hiemes et torquet ab alto
fulmina crebra pater, scopulis sed maximus illis
horror abest, Sicula pressus tellure Typhoeus.
hunc profugum et sacras revomentem pectore flammas, 25
ut memorant, prensum ipse comis Neptunus in altum
abstulit implicuitque vadis totiensque cruenta
mole resurgentem torquentemque anguibus undas
Sicanium dedit usque fretum cumque urbibus Aetnam
intulit ora premens.

Ossa returns. Behold, the fear of the gods and Pallene condemned by war
and around they see the immense monsters
of the earth-born Giants once opposed to heaven,
whom their parent, pitying, with crags and beams and ridges
clothed and, the mountains turned over, reared up into the aether. 20
each one still keeps on his crag his threats and the battle and the fears;
the Father himself shakes the winters and from on high twists
frequent thunderbolts; but from those rocks the greatest
horror is absent, Typhoeus pressed by Sicilian earth.
This fugitive, vomiting back sacred flames from his breast,25
as they tell, Neptune himself, seizing by the hair, into the deep
carried off and entangled in the shallows, and so often, as he rose again
with bloody mass and with his snakes was twisting the waves,
he consigned to the Sicanian strait all the way, and even with cities he brought in Etna,
pressing upon his mouth.

trux ille eiectat adesi 30

that savage one belches out, gnawed 30

fundamenta iugi, pariter tunc omnis anhelat
Trinacria, iniectam fesso dum pectore molem
commovet experiens gemituque reponit inani.
      Iamque Hyperionius metas maris urget Hiberi
currus et evectae prono laxantur habenae                    35
aethere, cum palmas Tethys grandaeva sinusque
sustulit et rupto sonuit sacer aequore Titan.
auxerat hora metus, iam se vertentis Olympi
ut faciem raptosque simul montesque locosque
ex oculis circumque graves videre tenebras.                    40
ipsa quies rerum mundique silentia terrent
astraque et effusis stellatus crinibus aether;
ac velut ignota captus regione viarum
noctivagum qui carpit iter non aure quiescit,
non oculis, noctisque metus niger auget utrimque                    45

the foundations of the ridge; at the same time then all Trinacria gasps,
while he, making trial, stirs the mass cast upon his weary chest
and with an empty groan sets it back.
      And now the Hyperionian chariot presses the metes of the Iberian sea,
and the reins, borne aloft in the slanting aether, are loosened,                    35
when age-old Tethys lifted her palms and bosom-folds,
and the sacred Titan resounded as the sea was sundered.
The hour had increased their fears, now that they saw the face
of Olympus turning itself, and mountains and places alike
snatched from their eyes, and heavy darkness round about.                    40
The very rest of things and the silence of the world terrify,
and the aether, starred with streaming tresses;
and just as one caught in an unknown region of the roads,
who takes a night-wandering path, rests neither with his ear
nor with his eyes, and black fear of night swells on either side,                    45

campus et occurrens umbris maioribus arbor,
haud aliter trepidare viri. sed pectora firmans
Hagniades 'non hanc' inquit 'sine numine pinum
derigimus nec me tantum Tritonia cursus
erudiit. saepe ipsa manu dignata carinam est. 50
an non experti, subitus cum luce fugata
horruit imbre dies?

the plain, and a tree looming with greater shadows,
not otherwise do the men tremble. But strengthening their hearts,
Hagniades says: 'not this pine do we direct without a numen,
nor has Tritonia only instructed my course.
she has often, with her own hand, deigned the hull.' 50
or have you not experienced it, when, with the light put to flight,
the day shuddered with a sudden shower?

quantis, pro Iuppiter, Austris
restitimus, quanta quotiens et Pallados arte
in cassum decimae cecidit tumor arduus undae!
quin agite, o socii; micat immutabile caelum 55
puraque nec gravido surrexit Cynthia cornu
(nullus in ore rubor) certusque ad talia Titan
integer in fluctus et in uno decidit Euro.
adde quod in noctem venti veloque marique
incumbunt magis et tacitis ratis ocior horis. 60

with how great, by Jupiter, South Winds we have withstood, and how great, how often too by the art of Pallas the lofty swelling of the tenth wave has fallen in vain! come now, O companions; the immutable heaven flashes 55
and Cynthia has risen pure and not with a gravid horn
(no redness on her face), and the Titan, sure for such things, has gone down entire into the waves, and the winds have settled into a single Eurus.
add that into the night the winds bear down more upon sail and sea, and the ship is swifter in the silent hours. 60

atque adeo non illa sequi mihi sidera mens stat
quae delapsa polo reficit mare. tantus Orion
iam cadit, irato iam stridet in aequore Perseus:
sed mihi dux, vetitis qui numquam conditus undis
axe nitet, Serpens, septenosque implicat ignes.' 65
sic ait et certi memorat qui vultus Olympi
Pleiones Hyadumque locos, quo sidere vibret
Ensis et Actaeus niteat qua luce Bootes.
haec ubi dicta dedit, Cereris tum munere fessas
restituunt vires et parco corpora Baccho. 70
mox somno cessere, regunt sua sidera puppem.

and indeed my mind does not stand to follow those stars
which, having slipped from the pole, refashion the sea. So great Orion
now falls, now Perseus hisses on the wrathful expanse;
but for me as guide—the Serpent, who never hidden by forbidden waves
shines on the axis, and entwines seven fires.' 65
so he speaks and recounts what are the fixed aspects of Olympus,
the places of Pleione and of the Hyades, with what star the Sword
quivers and with what light Actaean Boötes shines.
when he had given these words, then by the gift of Ceres they restore
their weary strength and their bodies with sparing Bacchus. 70
soon they yielded to sleep; their own stars steer the stern.

Iamque sub Eoae dubios Atlantidis ignes
albet ager motisque truces ab ovilibus ursi
tuta domosque petunt, raras et litus in altum
mittit aves, cum primus equis erexit anhelis 75

And now beneath the Eastern Atlantid’s doubtful fires
the field grows white, and the savage bears, stirred from the sheepfolds,
seek safe places and their homes, and the shore sends few
birds into the deep, when the first has risen with panting horses. 75

Phoebus Athon mediasque diem dispersit in undas.
certatim remis agitur mare rostraque cursu
prima tremunt et iam summis Vulcania surgit
Lemnos aquis, tibi per varios defleta labores,
Ignipotens, nec te furiis et crimine matrum                    80
terra fugat meritique piget meminisse prioris.
      Tempore quo primum fremitus insurgere opertos
caelicolum et regni sensit novitate tumentes
Iuppiter aetheriae nec stare silentia pacis,
Iunonem volucri primam suspendit Olympo                    85
horrendum chaos ostendens poenasque barathri.

Phoebus scattered Athos and the mid-day into the waves.
the sea is driven in rivalry with oars and the beaks tremble foremost in their course,
and now Vulcanian Lemnos rises from the topmost waters,
lamented to you through various labors, O Fire-Potent,
nor does the land banish you for the Furies and the crime of the mothers, 80
nor is it loath to remember your earlier merit.
At the time when first Jupiter felt the muffled murmurs
of the heaven-dwellers rise, and, swollen by the novelty of the reign,
that the silences of ethereal peace did not stand,
he hung Juno first from winged Olympus,
showing the dreadful Chaos and the punishments of the barathrum.

mox etiam pavidae temptantem vincula matris
solvere praerupti Vulcanum vertice caeli
devolvit. ruit ille polo noctemque diemque
turbinis in morem, Lemni dum litore tandem 90

soon also, as he was attempting to unloose the bonds of his fearful mother,
Jupiter cast down Vulcan from the craggy vertex of heaven.
he rushed through the sky, both night and day,
in the manner of a turbine, until at last on the Lemnian shore 90

insonuit. vox inde repens ut perculit urbem,
adclinem scopulo inveniunt miserentque foventque
alternos aegro cunctantem poplite gressus.
hinc, reduci superas postquam pater adnuit arces,
Lemnos cara deo nec fama notior Aetne 95
aut Lipares domus.

it resounded. Thence a sudden voice, as it struck the city,
they find him leaning against a crag and, pitying, they tend him,
halting with an ailing knee in his alternate steps.
then, after the Father nodded assent for his return to the upper citadels,
Lemnos, dear to the god, and in fame no less known than Aetna 95
aut the Liparaean home.

has epulas, haec templa peracta
aegide et horrifici formatis fulminis alis
laetus adit. contra Veneris stat frigida semper
ara loco, meritas postquam dea coniugis iras
horruit et tacitae Martem tenuere catenae. 100
quocirca struit illa nefas Lemnoque merenti
exitium furiale movet. neque enim alma videri
tantum: eadem tereti crinem subnectitur auro
sidereos diffusa sinus, eadem effera et ingens
et maculis suffecta genas pinumque sonantem 105

these banquets, these temples, with the aegis completed
and the wings of the horrific thunderbolt fashioned,
he gladly approaches. Opposite there always stands the cold
altar of Venus in that place, after the goddess shuddered
at the deserved ires of her spouse and the silent chains held Mars. 100
wherefore she contrives a nefarious deed and sets in motion
Furial destruction for deserving Lemnos. For she is not to seem
nurturing only: the same one fastens her hair beneath with polished gold,
her bosom spread with starry folds; the same one, savage and huge,
and her cheeks suffused with blotches, and a crackling pine-wood 105

virginibus Stygiis nigramque simillima pallam.
      Iamque dies aderat. Thracas qui fuderat armis
dux Lemni puppes tenui contexere canna
ausus et inducto cratem defendere tergo
laeta mari tum signa refert plenasque movebant                    110
armentis nuribusque rates (et barbara vestis
et torques insigne loci). sonat aequore clamor
'o patria, o variis coniunx nunc anxia curis,
has agimus longi famulas tibi praemia belli.',
cum dea se piceo per sudum turbida nimbo                    115
praecipitat Famamque vaga vestigat in umbra,
quam pater omnipotens digna atque indigna canentem
spargentemque metus placidis regionibus arcet
aetheris.

very like to the Stygian virgins, and to a black pall most similar.
      And now the day was at hand. The leader of Lemnos, who had routed the Thracians with arms,
dared to weave the ships with slender reed
and to defend the wicker-frame with a hide drawn over,
then he gives auspicious signals upon the sea, and they set in motion the ships full                    110
of herds and daughters-in-law (both the barbarian garment
and the torque were the emblem of the place). A clamor sounds on the sea:
'O fatherland, O spouse now anxious with various cares,
these maidservants we drive as the prizes of the long war for you,'
when the goddess, troubled, hurls herself through the clear sky in a pitch-dark cloud,                    115
and tracks Fame in the wandering shadow,
whom the omnipotent father keeps away from the placid regions
of the aether, as she sings worthy and unworthy things
and scatters fears.

illa fremens habitat sub nubibus imis,
non Erebi, non diva poli, terrasque fatigat 120

she, roaring, dwells beneath the lowest clouds,
not of Erebus, not a goddess of the sky, and she wearies the lands 120

quas datur. audentem primi spernuntque foventque
mox omnes agit et motis quatit oppida linguis.
talem diva sibi scelerisque dolique ministram
quaerit avens.

as far as it is granted. the daring one the foremost both spurn and foster,
soon she drives all, and with tongues set in motion she shakes towns.
such a minister for herself, of crime and of guile, the goddess, eager, seeks.
yearning.

videt illa prior iamque advolat ultro
impatiens iamque ora parat, iam suscitat aures.                    125
hanc super incendit Venus atque his vocibus implet:
'vade age et aequoream, virgo, delabere Lemnon
et cunctas mihi verte domos, praecurrere qualis
bella soles, cum mille tubas armataque campis
agmina et innumerum flatus cum fingis equorum.                    130
adfore iam luxu turpique cupidine captos
fare viros carasque toris inducere Thressas.
haec tibi principia, hinc rabidas dolor undique matres
instimulet. mox ipsa adero ducamque paratas.'
      Illa abit et mediam gaudens defertur in urbem                    135

she sees first and now flies hither of her own accord,
impatient, and now she prepares mouths, now she pricks up ears.                    125
over and above this Venus fires her and fills her with these voices:
'come, go, maiden, and glide down to sea-girt Lemnos,
and overturn for me all the homes, such as you are wont
to run before wars, when you fashion a thousand trumpets
and the battle-lines armed on the plains and the innumerable snortings of horses.                    130
say that the men, now captured by luxury and shameful desire,
are soon to be present and to bring dear Thracian women to their beds.
let these be your beginnings; from here let grief on every side goad the mothers to madness.
soon I myself shall be present and will lead them prepared.'
      She departs, and rejoicing is borne into the midst of the city.                    135

et primam Eurynomen ad proxima limina Codri
occupat exesam curis castumque cubile
servantem. manet illa viro famulasque fatigat
litoribus, tardi reputant quae tempora belli
ante torum et longo mulcent insomnia penso. 140
huic dea cum lacrimis et nota veste Neaerae
icta genas 'utinam non hic tibi nuntius essem,
o soror, aut nostros' inquit 'prius unda dolores
obruat, in tali quoniam tibi tempore coniunx
sic meritae, votis quem tu fletuque requiris, 145
heu furit et captae indigno famulatur amore.
iamque aderunt thalamisque tuis Threissa propinquat,
non forma, non arte colus, non laude pudoris
par tibi.

and first she seizes upon Eurynome at Codrus’s nearest thresholds,
keeping the chaste couch, consumed by cares.
She waits for her man and wearies her handmaids
on the shores, who, before the bed, reckon the slow seasons of war
and with a long weight of wool soothe their insomnia. 140
To her the goddess, with tears and in Neaera’s familiar garb,
beating her cheeks, says: ‘Would that I were not here a messenger to you,
O sister, or that a wave would first overwhelm our griefs,
since at such a time for you your consort—so meriting—whom you seek
with vows and with weeping, alas, is mad and slavishly serves the love of a captive.
And now they will be here, and a Thracian woman draws near to your bridal chambers,
not equal to you in beauty, nor in the art of the distaff, nor in the praise of modesty.’

nec magni proles praeclara Dorycli,
picta manus usto<que> placet sed barbara mento. 150
ac tamen hos aliis forsan solabere casus
tu thalamis fatoque leges meliore penates.
me tua matris egens damnataque paelice proles
exanimat, quam iam miseros transversa tuentem
letalesque dapes infectaque pocula cerno. 155

nor does the illustrious offspring of great Doryclus please,
but a painted hand and a barbarian chin, scorched, do please. 150
and yet perhaps you will solace these misfortunes with others:
you will choose household gods with a better marriage and fate.
what unmans me is your child, lacking a mother and condemned to a concubine,
whom I already behold looking askance at the wretched men
and at the lethal feasts and the tainted cups. 155

scis simile ut flammis simus genus, adde cruentis
quod patrium saevire Dahis. iam lacte ferino,
iam veniet durata gelu. sed me quoque pulsam
fama viro nostrosque toros virgata tenebit
et plaustro derepta nurus.' sic fata querellas 160
abscidit et curis pavidam lacrimisque relinquit.

you know how like to flames our race is; add that it is a paternal custom for the blood-stained Dahae to rage. now with ferine milk, now she will come hardened by gelid frost. but rumor too will hold me as driven out by my husband, and the striped bride, snatched away in a wagon, will possess our marriage-bed.' thus having spoken she cut off her complaints and leaves her, fearful with cares and with tears. 160

transit ad Iphinoen isdemque Amythaonis implet
Oleniique domum furiis, totam inde per urbem
personat ut cunctas agitent expellere Lemno,
ipsi urbem Thressaeque regant. dolor iraque surgit, 165
obvia quaeque eadem traditque auditque neque ulli
vana fides. tum voce deos, tum questibus implent,
oscula iamque toris atque oscula postibus ipsis
ingeminant lacrimisque iterum visuque morantur.

she passes to Iphinoe and with the same furies fills the house
of Amythaon and of Olenius; thence through the whole city
she makes it resound that they should stir all to drive out from Lemnos,
and that they themselves and the Thracian women should rule the city. Pain and wrath rise, 165
whomever they meet they both tell and hear the same, and to none
is the report empty. Then with voice they fill the gods, then with complaints,
and now they redouble kisses to the couches and kisses to the very doorposts,
and by tears and by the sight they linger again.

prosiliunt nec tecta virum thalamosque revisunt 170

they leap forth, nor do they revisit the roofs of the men and the bedchambers 170

amplius, adglomerant sese nudisque sub astris
condensae fletus acuunt ac dira precantur
coniugia et Stygias infanda ad foedera taedas.
Has inter medias Dryopes in imagine maestae
flet Venus et saevis ardens dea planctibus instat 175
primaque: 'Sarmaticas utinam fortuna dedisset
insedisse domos tristesque habitasse pruinas,
plaustra sequi vel iam patriae vidisse per ignes
culmen agi stragemque deum. nam cetera belli
perpetimur.

moreover, they throng together and, beneath the naked stars,
packed tight, they sharpen their weeping and pray for dread
marriages and Stygian torches for unspeakable covenants.
Amidst these, in the likeness of sad Dryope, Venus weeps,
and the goddess, burning, urges on their savage beatings of the breast 175
and as the first to speak: “Would that fortune had granted
to have settled Sarmatian homes and to have dwelt in grim frosts,
to follow wagons, or by now to have seen the rooftop of our fatherland
driven through the fires and the slaughter of the gods. For the other things of war
we endure.”

mene ille novis, me destinat amens 180
servitiis? urbem aut fugiens natosque relinquam?
non prius ense manus raptoque armabimus igne
dumque silent ducuntque nova cum coniuge somnos,
magnum aliquid spirabit amor?' tunc ignea torquens
lumina praecipites excussit ab ubere natos. 185

me—does that madman destine me for new 180
servitudes? shall I, fleeing, leave the city and my sons?
shall we not first arm our hands with the sword and with snatched fire,
and while they are silent and with the new spouse they take their sleep,
will love breathe out something great?' then, turning fiery
eyes she cast off headlong from her breast her sons. 185

ilicet arrectae mentes evictaque matrum
corda sacer Veneris gemitus rapit. aequora cunctae
prospiciunt simulantque choros delubraque festa
fronde tegunt laetaeque viris venientibus adsunt.
iamque domos mensasque petunt, discumbitur altis                    190
porticibus, sua cui<que> furens infestaque coniunx
adiacet, inferni qualis sub nocte barathri
accubat attonitum Phlegyan et Thesea iuxta
Tisiphone saevasque dapes et pocula libat,
tormenti genus, et nigris amplectitur hydris.                    195
      Ipsa Venus quassans undantem turbine pinum
adglomerat tenebras pugnaeque accincta trementem
desilit in Lemnon.

straightway uplifted minds and the conquered hearts of the mothers the sacred groan of Venus seizes. they all look out over the seas and feign choruses and cover the shrines with festal foliage, and, joyful, they attend to their men as they come. and now they seek homes and tables; they recline in the high                    190
porticoes, each his own raging and hostile wife lies next to him, such as under the night of the infernal barathrum Tisiphone reclines beside the thunderstruck Phlegyas and Theseus, and she libates savage banquets and cups— a kind of torment— and embraces with black hydras.                    195
      Venus herself, shaking with a whirlwind the surging pine-ship, masses the darknesses, and girded for battle, she leaps down trembling onto Lemnos.

nimbis et luce fragosa
prosequitur polus et tonitru pater auget honoro.
inde novam pavidas vocem furibunda per auras 200

with rainclouds and a crashful light
the sky escorts her, and the Father augments it with thunder as an honor.
then, frenzied, through the airs she sends a new voice to the terrified 200

congeminat, qua primus Athos et pontus et ingens
Thraca palus pariterque toris exhorruit omnis
mater et adstricto riguerunt ubere nati.
accelerat Pavor et Geticis Discordia demens
e stabulis atraeque genis pallentibus Irae                    205
et Dolus et Rabies et Leti maior imago
visa truces exserta manus, ut prima vocatu
intonuit signumque dedit Mavortia coniunx.
      Hic aliud Venus et multo magis ipsa tremendum
orsa nefas gemitus fingit vocesque cadentum                    210
inrupitque domos et singultantia gestans
ora manu taboque sinus perfusa recenti
arrectasque comas: 'meritos en prima revertor
ulta toros, premit ecce dies.' tum verbere victas
in thalamos agit et cunctantibus ingerit enses.                    215

she redoubles it, at which Athos first and the sea and the huge
Thracian marsh shuddered, and equally on their couches every
mother shuddered and the children grew rigid at the tightened breast.
Panic speeds up, and mad Discord from Getic byres,
and the Wraths, with black and pallid cheeks, and Guile and Rabies, and a greater image of Death,                    205
were seen, grim, with hands thrust out, when at the first summons
the Mavortian consort thundered and gave the signal.
      Here Venus undertakes another crime, and one much more dreadful
even in herself; she fashions groans and the voices of the falling,
and bursts into the homes, and, holding a sobbing face with her hand,                    210
with her bosom drenched with fresh gore and her hair bristling:
“Lo, I return first, the beds avenged as they deserve; see, the day presses.”
Then with a lash she drives the conquered into the bridal chambers and thrusts swords
upon the hesitant.                    215

Unde ego tot scelerum facies, tot fata iacentum
exsequar? heu vatem monstris quibus intulit ordo,
quae se aperit series! o qui me vera canentem
sistat et hac nostras exsolvat imagine noctes!

Whence shall I follow out so many faces of crimes, so many dooms of the fallen?
alas, into what monsters the order has brought the bard, what a series opens itself!
O let someone stay me, as I sing truths, and free my nights from this image!

      Invadunt aditus et quondam cara suorum                    220
corpora, pars ut erant dapibus vinoque soporos,
pars conferre manus etiam magnisque paratae
cum facibus quosdam insomnes et cuncta tuentes,
sed temptare fugam prohibetque capessere contra
arma metus, adeo ingentes inimica videri                    225
diva dabat, notaque sonat vox coniuge maior;
tantum oculos pressere < . . . . . > velut agmina cernant
Eumenidum ferrumve super Bellona coruscet.
hoc soror, hoc coniunx propiorque hoc nata parensque
saeva valet prensosque toris mactatque trahitque                    230

      They storm the approaches and the once dear bodies of their own                    220
some, just as they were, drowsy from banquets and wine,
some to join battle as well, and ready with great torches,
certain ones sleepless and watching everything,
but fear forbids to attempt flight and to take up arms in reply
arms; to such a degree the goddess made the hostilities seem enormous                    225
and a familiar voice resounds, louder than a wife's;
so far did they press their eyes < . . . . . > as though they beheld the ranks
of the Eumenides, or above them Bellona's steel flashed.
This the sister, this the spouse, and nearer, this the daughter and the parent
in savagery has the power, and those seized on the couches she slaughters and drags                    230

femineum genus, immanes quos sternere Bessi
nec Geticae potuere manus aut aequoris irae.
his cruor in thalamis et anhela in pectore fumant
vulnera seque toris misero luctamine trunci
devolvunt. diras aliae ad fastigia taedas 235
iniciunt adduntque domos.

the feminine race, those monstrous men whom neither the Bessi could lay low nor the Getic hands nor the wraths of the sea.
for these, blood smokes in the bridal chambers and wounds panting in the breast; and maimed trunks, in miserable struggling, roll themselves from the beds.
others hurl dread torches to the gables and add the homes. 235

pars ignibus atris
effugiunt propere, sed dura in limine coniunx
obsidet et viso repetunt incendia ferro.
ast aliae Thressas labem causamque furorum
diripiunt: mixti gemitus clamorque precantum 240
barbarus ignotaeque implebant aethera voces.
Sed tibi nunc quae digna tuis ingentibus ausis
orsa feram, decus et patriae laus una ruentis,
Hypsipyle?

some swiftly escape the black fires,
but a hard consort at the threshold besets them,
and, the steel seen, they renew the conflagrations.
but others tear asunder the Thracian women—the stain and cause of their frenzies:
the mingled groans and the barbarian clamor of the supplicants 240
and unknown voices were filling the aether.
But what beginnings worthy of your mighty audacities shall I relate to you now, the ornament and the sole praise of your collapsing fatherland, Hypsipyle?

non ulla meo te carmine dictam
abstulerint, durent Latiis modo saecula fastis 245

let no ages remove you, declared by my song,
provided only that ages endure in the Latin annals 245

Iliacique lares tantique palatia regni.
inruerant actae pariter nataeque nurusque
totaque iam sparsis exarserat insula monstris;
illa pias armata manus 'fuge protinus urbem
meque, pater! non hostis,' ait 'non moenia laesi 250
Thraces habent; nostrum hoc facinus.

and the Ilian Lares and the palaces of so great a kingdom.
the daughters and the daughters-in-law had rushed in, driven alike,
and the whole island had now flared with scattered monsters;
she, her pious hands armed, says: 'Flee the city at once—
and me, father! It is not an enemy,' she says, 'nor do the Thracians hold walls wounded; 250
this deed is ours.'

ne quaere, quis auctor!
iam fuge, iam dubiae donum rape mentis et ensem
tu potius, miser, oro, tene!' tunc excipit artus
obnubitque caput tacitumque ad conscia Bacchi
templa rapit primoque manus a limine tendens 255
'exime nos sceleri, pater, et miserere piorum
rursus!' ait. tacita pavidum tunc sede locavit
sub pedibus dextraque dei.

do not ask who the author is!
now flee, now seize the gift of a doubtful mind and the sword—
you rather, poor man, I beg, hold them!' then she takes hold of his limbs
and veils his head and hurries the silent one to the shrines privy to Bacchus,
and from the very threshold stretching forth her hands 255
'deliver us from the crime, father, and have mercy again on the pious!'
she says. then, silent, she placed the trembling one in a seat
beneath the feet and the right hand of the god.

latet ille receptus
veste sacra. voces chorus et trieterica reddunt
aera sonum fixaeque fremunt in limine tigres. 260

he lies hidden, received in a sacred vestment.
voices, the chorus, and the trieteric bronzes give back a sound,
and tigers fixed on the threshold roar. 260

regina ut roseis Auroram surgere bigis
vidit et insomni lassatas turbine tandem
conticuisse domos, stabilem quando optima facta
dant animum maiorque piis audacia coeptis,
serta patri iuvenisque comam vestesque Lyaei                    265
induit et medium curru locat aeraque circum
tympanaque et plenas tacita formidine cistas.
ipsa sinus hederisque ligat famularibus artus
pampineamque quatit ventosis ictibus hastam,
respiciens teneat virides velatus habenas                    270
ut pater, <e> nivea tumeant ut cornua mitra
et sacer ut Bacchum referat scyphus. impulit acri
tum validas stridore fores rapiturque per urbem
talia voce canens: 'linque o mihi caede madentem,
Bacche, domum! sine foedatum te funere pontus                    275

when the queen saw Dawn rise in her rosy two-horse chariot
and that the houses, wearied by sleepless turmoil, had at last fallen silent,
since best deeds give a steady spirit and a greater boldness to pious undertakings,
she puts garlands on the father and on the youth’s hair and dons the garments of Lyaeus,                    265
and sets him in the middle of the chariot, and around it the bronzes
and drums and chests full, with silent dread.
She herself binds her folds and the limbs of her handmaids with ivy,
and she shakes the vine-leafy spear with windy strokes,
looking back, that the veiled one hold the green reins like the father,                    270
and that the snow-white mitra’s horns swell, and that the sacred cup
recall Bacchus. Then with a sharp screech she drove the stout doors
and is swept through the city, chanting with such a voice:
‘Leave to me, O Bacchus, the house dripping with slaughter!
allow the sea to defile you with a funeral,’                    275

expiet et referam lotos in templa dracones!'
sic medios egressa metus, facit ipse verendam
nam deus et flatu non inscia gliscit anhelo.
iamque senem tacitis saeva procul urbe remotum
occulerat silvis, ipsam sed conscius ausi 280
nocte dieque pavor fraudataque turbat Erinys.
non similes iam ferre choros (semel orgia fallunt)
audet, non paribus furiis accendere saltus,
et fuga diversas misero quaerenda per artes.

let the sea expiate, and I will carry back the washed dragons into the temples!'
thus, having gone forth through the midst of fears, the god himself makes her to be revered; for she, not unknowing, swells with panting breath.
and now she, savage, had hidden the old man, far removed from the silent city, in the woods, but fear, conscious of the daring, and the defrauded Erinys troubles her night and day. 280
she no longer dares to endure similar choruses (once the orgies betray),
nor to kindle the glades with equal furies,
and in flight diverse arts must be sought by the wretched one.

visa ratis saevae defecta laboribus undae 285
quam Thetidi longinqua dies Glaucoque repostam
solibus et canis urebat luna pruinis.
huc genitorem altae per opaca silentia noctis
praecipitem silvis rapit et sic maesta profatur:
'quam, genitor, patriam, quantas modo linquis inanes 290
pube domos! pro dira lues, pro noctis acerbae
exitium!

a ship appeared, worn out by the labors of the savage wave 285
which, consigned to Thetis and to Glaucus, the far-stretching day
was scorching with suns and dog-days, and the moon with hoarfrosts.
hither through the shadowy silences of deep night
she drags her father headlong through the woods and thus sadly speaks:
'what a fatherland, father, how many houses now you leave empty
of their youth! ah, dire pestilence, ah, destruction of the bitter night! 290
ruin!

talin possum te credere puppi,
care parens? possum tantis retinere periclis?
solvimus heu serum Furiis scelus.

can I entrust you to such a ship,
dear parent? can I retain you from such great perils?
we pay, alas, too late, the crime to the Furies.

adnue votis,
diva, soporiferas quae nunc trahis aequore bigas! 295

assent to the vows,
goddess, you who now draw over the sea your soporiferous two-horse chariot! 295

non populos, non dite solum, non ulla parenti
regna peto: patria liceat decedere terra.
quando ego servato mediam genitore per urbem
laeta ferar? quando hic lacrimas planctusque videbo?'
dixerat.

I do not seek peoples, not a rich soil, not any realms for my parent: let it be permitted to depart from the fatherland’s earth.
When shall I, with my father saved, be borne joyful through the midst of the city?
When here shall I see tears and laments?'
she had spoken.

ille procul trunca fugit anxius alno                    300
Taurorumque locos delubraque saeva Dianae
advenit. hic illum tristi, dea, praeficis arae
ense dato: mora nec terris tibi longa cruentis;
iam nemus Egeriae, iam te ciet altus ab Alba
Iuppiter et soli non mitis Aricia regi.                    305
      Arcem nata petit, quo iam manus horrida matrum
congruerat. rauco fremitu sedere parentum
natorumque locis vacuaeque in moenibus urbis
iura novant.

He far away flees, anxious, in a hewn alder-boat                    300
and he comes to the places of the Taurians and the savage shrines of Diana.
Here, goddess, you set him over the grim altar, once the sword has been given:
nor is the delay long for you in the blood-stained lands;
now the grove of Egeria, now high Jupiter from Alba calls you,
and Aricia, not gentle to the king alone.                    305
      The daughter seeks the citadel, whither already the horrid band of mothers
had gathered. With hoarse roar they sat in the places of parents
and of sons, and within the walls of the empty city
they renew the laws.

donant solio sceptrisque paternis
ut meritam redeunt<que> piae sua praemia menti. 310

they bestow the throne and the paternal scepters
and, as deserved, the pious mind’s own rewards return. 310

      Ecce procul validis Lemnon tendentia remis
arma notant, rapitur subito regina tumultu
conciliumque vocat. non illis obvia tela
ferre nec infestos derat furor improbus ignes,
ni Veneris saevas fregisset Mulciber iras.                    315
tunc etiam vates Phoebo dilecta Polyxo
(non patriam, non certa genus, sed maxima cete
Proteaque ambiguum Pharii se patris ab antris
huc rexisse vias iunctis super aequora phocis;
saepe imis se condit aquis cunctataque paulum                    320
surgit ut auditas referens in gurgite voces)
'portum demus' ait '< . . . > haec, credite, puppis
advenit et levior Lemno deus aequore flexit
huc Minyas. Venus ipsa volens dat tempore iungi,
dum vires utero maternaque sufficit aetas.'                    325

      Behold, from afar they mark armed men stretching with strong oars toward Lemnos,
the queen is suddenly seized by tumult and calls a council.
There was no lack for them of shameless fury to bear weapons to meet them and hostile fires,
if Mulciber had not broken the savage angers of Venus.                    315
then too Polyxo, a vates beloved by Phoebus
(neither fatherland nor fixed lineage [had she], but the greatest sea-monsters
and Proteus, the ambiguous one, from the caves of her Pharian father
she says had steered her paths hither over the waters with seals yoked;
often she hides herself in the deepest waters and, having waited a little,                    320
rises, reporting voices heard in the eddying flood),
‘let us grant port,’ she says, ‘< . . . > this ship, believe it, has arrived, and a god gentler
than the Lemnian sea has bent the Minyae hither. Venus herself, willing, grants to be joined in due time,
while strength in the womb and the maternal age suffices.’                    325

dicta placent portatque preces ad litora Grais
Iphinoe. nec turba nocens scelerisque recentis
signa movent tollitque loco Cytherea timorem.
protinus ingentem procerum dux nomine taurum
deicit, insuetis et iam pia munera templis 330
reddit et hac prima Veneris calet ara iuvenca.

the words please, and Iphinoe carries prayers to the Greeks at the shore
nor do the guilty throng and the tokens of the recent crime stir them, and Cytherea lifts fear from its place.
straightway the leader of the nobles casts down a huge bull, and now he renders pious offerings to temples unaccustomed to them 330
he pays them back, and this altar of Venus first grows hot with a heifer.

      Ventum erat ad rupem, cuius pendentia nigris
fumant saxa iugis coquiturque vaporibus aer.
substitit Aesonides atque hic regina precari
hortatur causasque docens 'haec antra videtis                    335
Vulcanique' ait 'ecce domos: date vina precesque.
forsitan hoc factum taceat iam fulmen in antro;
nox dabit ipsa fidem, clausae cum murmura flammae,
hospes, et incussae sonitum mirabere massae.'
moenia tum viresque loci veteresque parentum                     340
iactat opes.

They had come to a crag, whose overhanging rocks smoke on black ridges,
and the air is seethed by vapors. The Aesonid halted, and here the queen urges
to pray and, teaching the reasons, says ‘you see these caves and—look—the homes of Vulcan:
offer wines and prayers. Perhaps, this thing done, the thunderbolt will now be silent in the cavern;
night itself will give assurance, when, guest, you will marvel at the murmurs of the enclosed flame, and at the sound of the struck mass.’
Then she vaunts the walls and the forces of the place and the ancient wealth of their ancestors. 340

mediis famulae convivia tectis
expediunt, Tyrio vibrat torus igneus ostro.
stat maerens atavos reges regesque maritos
Thressa manus, quaecumque faces timuisse iugales
credita nec dominae sanctum tetigisse cubile. 345

in the middle of the halls the handmaids make ready the banquets,
the couch, fiery with Tyrian purple, vibrates.
the Thracian band stands mourning their ancestral kings and royal husbands,
whoever were believed to have feared the nuptial torches and not to have touched their mistress’s sacred bed. 345

iam medio Aesonides, iam se regina locavit,
post alii proceres. sacris dum vincitur extis
prima fames circum pateris it Bacchus et omnis
aula silet. dapibus coeptis mox tempora fallunt
noctis et in seras durant sermonibus umbras 350
praecipueque ducis casus mirata requirit
Hypsipyle, quae fata trahant, quae regis agat vis
aut unde Haemoniae molem ratis.

now the Aesonid in the middle, now the queen placed herself,
after them the other nobles. While the first hunger is conquered by sacred entrails,
Bacchus goes around in bowls and the whole hall is silent. With the banquets begun they soon beguile
the times of night, and with conversations they prolong into the late shadows, 350
and especially Hypsipyle, marveling, inquires about the leader’s fortunes—
what fates draw him on, what force of a king drives him,
or whence the mass of the Haemonian ship.

unius haeret
adloquio et blandos paulatim colligit ignes,
iam non dura toris Veneri nec iniqua reversae 355
et deus ipse moras spatiumque indulget amori.
Pliada lege poli nimboso moverat astro
Iuppiter aeternum volvens opus et simul undis
cuncta ruunt unoque dei Pangaea sub ictu
Gargaraque et maesti steterant formidine luci. 360

she clings to the speech of one alone
and little by little gathers the coaxing fires,
now no longer hard to Venus on the couches nor unjust to the goddess returned 355
and the god himself indulges delays and space for love.
By the Pleiad’s law of the sky, with a clouded star,
Jupiter, rolling the eternal work, had set it in motion, and at once with the waves
all things rush down, and under a single stroke of the god Pangaea
and Gargara and the sorrowful groves had stood in dread. 360

saevior haud alio mortales tempore gentes
terror agit. tunc urget enim, tunc flagitat iras
in populos Astraea Iovem terrisque relictis
invocat adsiduo Saturnia sidera questu.
insequitur niger et magnis cum fratribus Eurus 365
intonat Aegaeo tenditque ad litora pontus.

at no other time do mortal peoples a more savage terror drive.
then indeed she presses, then Astraea demands wraths
from Jove against the peoples, and, the lands left behind,
she calls upon the Saturnian stars with incessant complaint.
the black East-wind follows, and with his mighty brothers Eurus 365
thunders on the Aegean, and the sea strains toward the shores.

et lunam quarto densam videt imbribus ortu
Thespiades, longus coeptis et fluctibus arcet
qui metus. usque novos divae melioris ad ignes
urbe sedent laeti Minyae viduisque vacantes 370
indulgent thalamis nimbosque educere luxu
nec iam velle vias Zephyrosque audire vocantes
dissimulant, donet resides Tirynthius heros
non tulit ipse rati invigilans atque integer urbis:
invidisse deos tantum maris aequor adortis 375

and he sees the moon at its fourth rising, dense with rains,
the Thespiad; and the long-standing fear which keeps them from their projects and from the billows.
Right up to the new fires of a better goddess
the Minyae sit joyful in the city, and, free for widowed bridal-chambers, 370
they indulge the beds and prolong the storm-clouds with luxury;
nor do they now even pretend to want the roads and to hear the Zephyrs calling,
provided the Tirynthian hero grant them to be idle. He himself did not bear it,
keeping vigil over the ship and untouched by the city—
that the gods had begrudged so much of the sea to men who had set upon it. 375

desertasque domos fraudataque tempore segni
vota patrum; quid et ipse viris cunctantibus adsit?
'o miseri quicumque tuis accessimus actis!
Phasin et Aeeten Scythicique pericula ponti
redde,' ait, 'Aesonide!

and the deserted homes and the fathers’ vows defrauded by sluggish time;
what help is he himself to men who are delaying?
'O wretched we, whoever have acceded to your acts!
Restore the Phasis and Aeetes and the perils of the Scythic sea,'
he says, 'Aesonid!'

me tecum solus in aequor                    380
rerum traxit amor, dum spes mihi sistere montes
Cyaneos vigilemque alium spoliare draconem.
si sedet Aegaei scopulos habitare profundi,
hoc mecum Telamon peraget meus.' haec ubi dicta
haud secus Aesonides monitis accensus amaris                    385
quam bellator equus, longa quem frigida pace
terra iuvat--vix in laevos piger angitur orbes--,
frena tamen dominumque velit si Martius aures
clamor et obliti rursus fragor impleat aeris.
tunc Argum Tiphynque vocat pelagoque parari                    390

love of the enterprise drew me with you alone onto the sea                    380
while hope was mine to halt the Cyanean mountains
and to despoil another vigilant dragon.
if it is resolved to dwell on the crags of the Aegean deep,
this my Telamon will accomplish with me.' When these things were said,
the Aesonid was kindled by the bitter admonitions no otherwise                    385
than a warlike horse, whom the cold long peace
of the land pleases—scarcely, sluggish, is he driven into leftward circles—,
yet he would want the reins and his master, if a martial
clamor and the crash of bronze, once forgotten, should fill his ears again.
then he calls Argo and Tiphys and that they be prepared for the sea.                    390

praecipitat. petit ingenti clamore magister
arma viros pariter sparsosque in litore remos.
Exoritur novus urbe dolor planctusque per omnes
et facies antiqua domos: sibi moenia linqui
en iterum et quando natorum tempora, gentem 395
qui recolant, qui sceptra gerant?

he rushes headlong. The master with immense clamor calls for arms, the men alike, and the oars scattered on the shore.
A new grief arises in the city and wailing through all,
and the ancient aspect in the homes: that the walls are being left
lo, again—and when will there be the time of sons, who shall renew the nation, who shall bear the scepters? 395

nunc triste nefandae
noctis opus, vidui nunc illa silentia tecti
saeva ma<gis>, thalamos excussaque vincla quod ausae
induere atque iterum tales admittere curas.
ipsa quoque Hypsipyle, subitos per litora cursus 400
ut vidit totaque viros decedere Lemno,
ingemit et tali compellat Iasona questu:
'iamne placet primo deducere vela sereno,
carius o mihi patre caput? modo saeva quierunt
aequora.

now the sad work of the unspeakable
night, now those silences of the widowed house
more savage, because they dared to enter the bridal chambers and to put on the bonds cast off,
and to admit such cares again.
Hypsipyle herself too, the sudden courses along the shores 400
when she saw, and the men departing wholly from Lemnos,
groans and addresses Jason with such a lament:
'Does it already please you to draw down the sails at the first clear weather,
O head dearer to me than my father? Just now the savage have grown quiet
seas.

sic portus fugeret ratis, aspera si te 405

thus would the ship flee the harbors, if rough to you 405

Plias in adversae tenuisset litore Thraces.
ergo moras caelo cursumque tenentibus undis
debuimus?' dixit lacrimans haesuraque caro
dona duci promit chlamydem textosque labores.
illic servati genitoris conscia sacra 410
pressit acu currusque pios: stant saeva paventum
agmina dantque locum; viridi circum horrida tela
silva tremit; mediis refugit pater anxius umbris.

Plias had held the Thracians on the opposite shore.
therefore did we owe delays to the sky and to waves holding the course?'
she said, weeping, and she promises to the leader gifts that will cling to the flesh—
a cloak and woven works.
there she embroidered with the needle rites privy to her saved sire 410
and pious chariots: the savage ranks of the fearful stand and give place;
the green wood trembles around with bristling weapons;
the anxious father flees back into the midmost shades.

pars et frondosae raptus expresserat Idae
inlustremque fugam pueri, mox aethere laetus 415
adstabat mensis, quin et Iovis armiger ipse
accipit a Phrygio iam pocula blanda ministro.
tunc ensem notumque ferens insigne Thoantis
'accipe,' ait 'bellis mediaeque ut pulvere pugnae
sim comes, Aetnaei genitor quae flammea gessit 420

a portion too had pressed out from leafy Ida the abduction
and the illustrious flight of the boy, soon, happy in the aether, 415
he stood by the tables; nay even Jove’s armiger himself
receives now the coaxing cups from the Phrygian minister.
then, bearing the sword and the well-known insignia of Thoas,
“receive,” he says, “that I may be a comrade in wars and in the dust
of mid-battle, the fiery things which the Aetnaean sire wore.” 420

dona dei, nunc digna tuis adiungier armis.
i, memor i terrae, quae vos amplexa quieto
prima sinu, refer et domitis a Colchidos oris
vela per hunc utero quem linquis Iasona nostro.'
sic ait Haemonii labens in colla mariti                    425
nec minus Orphea tristis cervice tuaque,
Aeacide, et gemino coniunx a Castore pendet.
      Has inter lacrimas legitur piger uncus harenis,
iam remi rapuere ratem, iam flamina portant;
spumea subsequitur fugientis semita clavi.                    430
tunc tenuis Lemnos transitque Electria tellus
Threiciis arcana sacris.

the gifts of the god, now worthy to be joined to your arms.
go, mindful, go of the land which first embraced you in a quiet bosom,
and bring back your sails from the tamed shores of Colchis, by this Jason whom you leave in our womb.'
so she speaks, slipping upon the neck of her Haemonian husband,                    425
nor less does the sad wife hang from Orpheus’s neck, and from yours, Aeacid, and from twin Castor.
      Among these tears the sluggish hook is gathered from the sands,
now the oars have snatched the ship, now the breezes bear it;
a foamy track follows the fleeing helm.                    430
then slender Lemnos is crossed, and the Electrian land,
arcane with Thracian rites.

hic numinis ingens
horror et incautis decreta piacula linguis.
hanc demissa Iovi non umquam laedere fluctu
audet hiems, sponte ipse deus tunc asperat undas 435

here the vast awe of the numen,
and piacula decreed for incautious tongues.
This, once consigned to Jove, winter never dares to wound with wave;
of his own accord the god himself then roughens the waters 435

cum vetat infidos sua litora tangere nautas.
obvius at Minyas terris adytisque sacerdos
excipit hospitibus reserans secreta Thyotes.
hactenus in populos vati, Samothraca, diem<que>
missa mane sacrisque metum servemus opertis. 440
illi sole novo laeti plenique deorum
considunt transtris.

when he forbids the faithless sailors to touch his own shores.
but a priest, coming to meet the Minyae on the land and at the adyta,
Thyotes receives them as guests, unbarring the secrets.
thus far, Samothrace, for the peoples and for the bard, and the day
with morning dismissed, and let us keep the awe with the sacred things covered. 440
they, at the new sun, joyful and full of the gods,
sit down upon the thwarts.

iam quas praeviderat urbes
navita condebat proraeque accesserat Imbros
et sol aetherias medius conscenderat arces.
Thessala Dardaniis tunc primum puppis harenis 445
adpulit et fatis Sigeo litore sedit.
desiliunt, pars hinc levibus candentia velis
castra levat, tracto pars frangit adorea saxo
farra, citum strictis alius de cautibus ignem
obtendit foliis et sulphure pascit amico. 450

Now the mariner was burying out of sight the cities he had foreseen,
and Imbros had drawn near to the prow,
and the sun mid-sky had ascended the aetherial citadels.
The Thessalian stern then for the first time on Dardanian sands 445
made landfall and, by the fates, settled on the Sigean shore.
They leap down; one party here raises a camp, gleaming with light sails;
another crushes spelt, with a dragged stone drawn along;
another swiftly draws fire from struck rocks,
applies leaves and feeds it with friendly sulphur. 450

Alcides Telamonque comes dum litora blando
anfractu sinuosa legunt, vox accidit aures
flebile succedens cum fracta remurmurat unda.
attoniti pressere gradum vacuumque sequuntur
vocis iter. iam certa sonat desertaque durae 455
virgo neci quem non hominum superumque vocabat?

Alcides and Telamon, his companion, while they coast the shores sinuous with a charming bend,
a voice befalls their ears, plaintive, coming in as the broken wave re-murmurs.
Astounded, they checked their step and follow the empty track of the voice.
Now it sounds sure, and a maiden abandoned to harsh death— 455
whom, of men and of the gods, did she not call?

acrius hoc instare viri succurrere certi,
qualiter, implevit gemitu cum taurus acerbo
avia frangentem morsu super alta leonem
terga ferens, coit e sparso concita mapali 460
agrestum manus et caeco clamore coloni.
constitit Alcides visuque enisus in alta
rupe truces manicas defectaque virginis ora
cernit et ad primos surgentia lumina fluctus,
exanimum veluti multa tamen arte coactum 465

more sharply at this the men press on, determined to succor;
just as, when a bull, filled with bitter groan,
bearing a lion that with bite is breaking upon his high back
through the pathless, from the scattered byre the concited band 460
of rustics gathers and the blind clamor of the farmers.
Alcides halted and, straining his sight, on a high
crag he beholds the savage manacles and the maiden’s spent face,
and her eyes lifting toward the first-surging waves,
as of one lifeless, yet by much art constrained. 465

maeret ebur, Pariusve notas et nomina sumit
cum lapis aut liquidi referunt miranda colores.
ductor ait: 'quod, virgo, tibi nomenque genusque,
quae sors ista, doce, tendunt cur vincula palmas?'
illa tremens tristique oculos deiecta pudore 470
'non ego digna malis.' inquit. 'suprema parentum
dona vides ostro scopulos auroque frequentes.

the ivory laments, or Parian stone takes on marks and names,
when stone or liquid colors reproduce marvels.
the leader says: 'what, maiden, is your name and lineage,
what lot is this? teach us—why do bonds stretch your palms?'
she, trembling, and with eyes cast down by sad modesty, 470
says, 'I am not deserving of these evils. You see the last gifts of my parents—
crags crowded with purple and with gold.'

nos Ili felix quondam genus, invida donec
Laomedonteos fugeret fortuna penates.
principio morbi caeloque exacta sereno 475
temperies, arsere rogis certantibus agri,
tum subitus fragor et fluctus Idaea moventes
cum stabulis nemora. ecce repens consurgere ponto
belua, monstrum ingens.

we, the race of Ilium, once happy, until envious
Fortune fled the Laomedontian household gods.
at the beginning, a plague, and temperateness driven from the serene sky, 475
the fields blazed with vying pyres;
then a sudden crash, and waves moving the Idaean groves
together with the stalls. behold, unexpected, to rise from the sea
a beast, a huge monster.

hanc tu nec montibus ullis
nec nostro metire mari. primaeva furenti 480

Do not measure this one by any mountains
nor by our sea. Primeval, raging 480

huic manus amplexus inter planctusque parentum
deditur. hoc sortes, hoc corniger imperat Hammon
virgineam damnare animam sortitaque Lethen
corpora. crudelis scopulis me destinat urna.

to her the hand and the embrace is given amid the lamentations of her parents.
this the lots command, this horn-bearing Hammon orders:
to condemn the virginal soul and the bodies allotted to Lethe.
the cruel urn assigns me to the crags.

verum o iam redeunt Phrygibus si numina tuque                    485
ille ades, auguriis promisse et sorte deorum,
iam cui candentes votivo in gramine pascit
cornipedes genitor, nostrae stata dona salutis,
adnue meque, precor, defectaque Pergama monstris
eripe, namque potes. neque enim tam lata videbam                    490
pectora, Neptunus muros cum iungeret astris,
nec tales umeros pharetramque gerebat Apollo.'
auxerat haec locus et facies maestissima capti
litoris et tumuli caelumque quod incubat urbi,
quale laborantis Nemees iter aut Erymanthi                    495

but O, if now the divine powers return to the Phrygians, and do you too— 485
that one promised by auguries and by the lot of the gods— be present; already for whom my father pastures on votive grass the gleaming hoof-steeds, the fixed gifts of our salvation; assent, I pray, and snatch me and Pergama, exhausted by monsters, away, for you can. For I did not see so broad a chest when Neptune was yoking the walls to the stars,
nor did Apollo bear such shoulders and quiver.'
These things the place had amplified, and the most mournful aspect of the captive
shore, and the burial-mounds, and the sky that broods over the city,
such as the path of toiling Nemea or of Erymanthus. 495

vidit et infectae miseratus flumina Lernae.
Dat procul interea signum Neptunus et una
monstriferi mugire sinus Sigeaque pestis
adglomerare fretum, cuius stellantia glauca
lumina nube tremunt atque ordine curva trisulco 500
fulmineus quatit ora fragor pelagoque remenso
cauda redit passosque sinus rapit ardua cervix.
illam incumbentem per mille volumina pontus
prosequitur lateri adsultans trepidisque ruentem
litoribus sua cogit hiems.

he saw, too, and pitied the rivers of tainted Lerna.
Meanwhile from afar Neptune gives the signal, and at once
the monster-bearing inlets bellow, and the Sigean pest
to mass upon the strait, whose starry gray-green
eyes tremble under a cloud, and, in triple-furrowed, curved array, 500
a lightning-like crash shakes the mouths; and, the sea re-traversed,
the tail returns and the lofty neck snatches up the loosened bays.
Her, as she leans with a thousand coils, the sea pursues,
leaping at her flank, and, rushing upon trembling
shores, its own storm drives her.

non fluctibus aequis 505
nubiferi venit unda Noti, non Africus alto
tantus ovat patriisque manus cum plenus habenis
Orion bipedum flatu mare tollit equorum.
ecce ducem placitae furiis crudescere pugnae
surgentemque toris stupet immanemque paratu 510

not with even waves 505
does the wave of the cloud-bearing Notus come, nor does the Africus so greatly
exult upon the deep, when Orion, with his native reins full in hand,
lifts the sea with the blast of the two-footed horses.
look—he is astonished that the leader of the agreed battle grows cruel with furies
and, rising from the couches, is immense in preparation. 510

Aeacides pulsentque graves ut terga pharetrae.
ille patrem pelagique deos suaque arma precatus
insiluit scopulo motumque e sedibus aequor
horruit et celsi spatiosa volumina monstri,
qualis ubi a gelidi Boreas convallibus Hebri 515
tollitur et volucres Rhipaea per ardua nubes
praecipitat. piceo nox tum tenet omnia caelo.

the Aeacid—as heavy quivers thump the backs.
he, having prayed to his father and the gods of the sea and to his own arms,
leapt onto a crag, and the sea, moved from its seats,
shuddered, and the spacious coils of the towering monster,
just as when Boreas from the glens of the icy Hebrus 515
is lifted and hurls headlong the winged clouds over the steep Rhipaean heights.
then night holds all things in a pitch-black sky.

illa simul molem horrificam scopulosaque terga
promovet ingentique umbra subit, intremere Ide
inlidique ~ates~ pronaeque resurgere turres. 520
occupat Alcides arcu totaque pharetrae
nube premit. non illa magis quam sede movetur
magnus Eryx, deferre velint quem vallibus imbres.
iam brevis et telo volucri non utilis aer,
tum vero fremitus vanique insania coepti 525

She at once pushes forward her horrific mass and rocky backs
and advances beneath a vast shadow; Ida quakes,
and the ~ates~ are dashed, and the leaning towers rise again. 520
Alcides takes up his bow and presses with a whole cloud
of the quiver. She is no more moved from her seat
than great Eryx, whom the rains would wish to carry down into the valleys.
Now the space is short and the air not useful for the winged missile,
then indeed a roar, and the madness of a vain undertaking. 525

et tacitus pudor et rursus pallescere virgo.
proicit arma manu, scopulos vicinaque saxa
respicit et quantum ventis adiuta vetustas
impulerat po[te]ntive fragor, tantum abscidit imi
concutiens a sede maris. iamque agmine toto 530
pistris adest miseraeque inhiat iam proxima praedae.

and silent modesty, and the maiden grows pale again.
he casts the weapons from his hand, looks back at the crags and neighboring rocks,
and as much as age, aided by the winds, had driven, or the mighty crash,
so much he cuts away from the deep, wrenching it from its seat of the sea. And now with its whole column 530
the sea-monster is at hand and gapes at the wretched girl, already closest to its prey.

stat mediis elatus aquis recipitque ruentem
Alcides saxoque prior surgentia colla
obruit. hinc vastos nodosi roboris ictus
congeminat. fluctus < % > defertur in imos 535
iam totis resoluta vadis.

he stands uplifted in the midst of the waters and catches the rushing one;
Alcides, and with a stone, beforehand he overwhelms the rising necks.
then he redoubles vast blows of knotted oak.
the monster is borne into the lowest billows < % >, now loosened in all the shallows. 535

Idaeaque mater
et chorus et summis ulularunt collibus Amnes.
protinus e scopulis et opaca valle resurgunt
pastores magnisque petunt clamoribus urbem.
nuntius hinc socios Telamon vocat ac simul ipsi 540
horrescunt subitoque vident in sanguine puppem.

and the Idaean Mother
and the chorus, and the streams ululated on the highest hills.
straightway from the crags and the shadowy valley the shepherds rise up
and with great shouts make for the city.
from here a messenger calls the comrades and Telamon, and at the same time they themselves 540
shudder, and suddenly they see the stern in blood.

nec minus in scopulos crudique cacumina saxi
emicat Alcides vinclisque tenentibus aufert
virgineas de rupe manus aptatque superbis
arma umeris. regem inde petens superabat ovanti 545

no less does Alcides dart onto the rocks and the raw peaks of the crag,
and, the fetters still gripping, he carries off the maidenly hands from the cliff
and fits the arms upon his proud shoulders. Thence, seeking the king,
he was surpassing, exultant. 545

litora tuta gradu, qualis per pascua victor
ingreditur, tum colla tumens, tum celsior armis
taurus, ubi adsueti pecoris stabula alta revisit
et patrium nemus et bello quos ultus amores.
Obvia cui contra longis emissa tenebris 550
turba Phrygum parvumque trahens cum coniuge natum
Laomedon. iam maestus equos, iam debita posci
dona gemit.

the safe shores with his step, like a victor through the pastures
he advances, now swelling in neck, now loftier in his arms,
a bull, when he revisits the high stalls of the accustomed herd
and his ancestral grove, and the loves whom he has avenged in war.
To meet him, sent forth from the long darkness 550
a crowd of Phrygians—and Laomedon, dragging his small son
with his wife. Already, sorrowful, he groans that the horses,
already that the owed gifts are being demanded.

pars aerii fastigia muri
cingit et ignotis iuvenem miratur in armis.
illum torva tuens atque acri lubricus astu 555
rex subit et patrio fatur male laetus amore.
'maxime Graiugenum, quem non Sigea petentem
litora nec nostrae miserantem funera Troiae
adpulit his Fors ipsa locis, si vera parentem
fama Iovem summique tibi genus esse Tonantis, 560

a part encircles the fastigia of the airy wall,
and marvels at the youth in unknown arms.
him, staring grimly and slippery with keen craft, 555
the king approaches and speaks, ill-glad with a fatherly love.
'greatest of the Graian-born, whom, not seeking the Sigean
shores nor pitying the funerals of our Troy,
Fortune herself has driven to these places, if true is the report
that your parent is Jove and that your stock is of the Highest Thunderer,' 560

noster ades iunctisque venis. sator unus et idem
stirpis honos, quamquam longis disiungimur oris.
quot mihi post lacrimas, post quanta piacula patrum
serus ades, quam parva tuis iam gloria factis!

be present, ours, kinsman by joined veins. begetter and one and the same honor of the stock,
although we are separated by long shores.
after how many tears for me, after how many piacula of the fathers
you arrive late, how small now the glory to your deeds!

verum age nunc socios fraternis moenibus infer,                    565
ut tibi, servata statui quae munera prole,                    565a
crastina lux biiuges stabulis ostendat apertis.'
dixerat haec tacitusque dolos dirumque volutat
corde nefas, clausum ut thalamis somnoque gravatum
immolet ereptaque luat responsa pharetra.
namque bis Herculeis deberi Pergama telis                     570
audierat. Priami sed quis iam vertere regnis
fata queat?

But come now, bring your comrades within a brother’s walls,                    565
so that for you, the gifts which I have resolved, with offspring preserved,                    565a
tomorrow’s light may show a pair-yoked team with the stables thrown open.'
He had said these things, and silently he turns over in his heart stratagems and a dreadful impiety,
that he might sacrifice him, shut within the bedchambers and weighed down by sleep, and pay off the responses snatched from the quiver.
for he had heard that Pergama was owed twice to the Herculean weapons,                     570
but who now could turn the fates for the realms of Priam?

manet immotis nox duria lustris
et genus Aeneadum et Troiae melioris honores.
'nos' ait 'ad Scythici' Tirynthius 'ostia ponti
raptat iter. mox huc vestras revehemur ad oras 575
donaque dicta feram.' tum vero plura vocatis
adnuit ille deis.

a harsh night remains, with the lustrations unmoved,
and the race of the Aeneadae and the honors of a better Troy.
‘us,’ says the Tirynthian, ‘to the mouths of the Scythian sea
our path hurries. Soon hither to your shores we shall be carried back, 575
and I will bear the gifts that were promised.’ Then indeed to more,
with the gods invoked, he nodded assent.

promissa infida tyranni
iam Phryges et miserae flebant discrimina Troiae.
Panditur hinc totis in noctem carbasus alis
litoraque et veteris tumulos praelabitur Ili 580

the faithless promises of the tyrant
already the Phrygians were weeping and the wretched crises of Troy.
From here the canvas is spread with all its wings into the night
and it glides past the shores and the tumuli of ancient Ilium 580

Dardaniumque patrem: vigili simul omnia ludo
festa vident. hinc unda, sacris hic ignibus Ide
vibrat et horrisonae respondent Gargara buxo.
inde ubi iam medii tenuere silentia ponti
stridentesque iuvant aurae, Phrixea subibant 585
aequora et angustas quondam sine nomine fauces.

Dardanian father as well: at once, in a wakeful revel
they behold all things festive. From here the wave quivers, here Ida with sacred fires
flickers, and the harsh-resounding Gargara respond with boxwood.
Thence, when now they had reached the silences of the mid-sea
and the hissing breezes please, they were approaching the Phrixean 585
waters and the narrow straits once without a name.

ecce autem prima volucrem sub luce dehiscens
terruit unda ratem vittataque constitit Helle,
iam Panopes Thetidisque soror iamque aurea laeva
sceptra tenens, dum sternit aquas proceresque ducemque 590
aspicit et placidis compellat Iasona dictis:
'te quoque ab Haemoniae ignota per aequora terris
regna infesta domus fatisque simillima nostris
fata ferunt. iterum Aeolios fortuna nepotes
spargit et infelix Scythicum gens quaeritis amnem. 595

Behold, however, as the wave, gaping under the first winged light,
frightened the ship, and filleted Helle took her stand,
now Panopê and the sister of Thetis, and now, with golden left hand
holding scepters, while she smooths the waters and looks upon the nobles and the leader, 590
she addresses Jason with placid words:
'You too, from the Haemonian lands, the fates bear through seas unknown
to realms hostile, a house at enmity, and destinies very similar to ours.
Again does Fortune scatter the Aeolian descendants,
and, ill-fated race, you seek the Scythian river.' 595

vasta super tellus, longum (ne defice coeptis!)
aequor et ipse procul, verum dabit ostia, Phasis.
hic nemus arcanum geminaeque virentibus arae
stant tumulis, hic prima pia sollemnia Phrixo
ferte manu cinerique, precor, mea reddite dicta: 600
"non ego per Stygiae, quod rere, silentia ripae,
frater, agor. frustra vacui scrutaris Averni,
care, vias neque enim scopulis me et fluctibus actam
frangit hiems.

a vast land beyond, a long (do not fail in your undertakings!)
sea, and the Phasis itself far away; yet it will grant its mouths.
here a secret grove and twin verdant altars
stand on mounds; here bring with your hand the first pious solemnities
for Phrixus, and to his ash, I pray, render my words: 600
"I am not, through the silences of the Stygian bank, as you suppose,
brother, being driven. In vain you scrutinize the ways of empty Avernus,
dear one; for nor does winter shatter me, driven upon rocks and waves,
by breakers.

celeri extemplo subiere ruentem
Cymothoe Glaucusque manu. pater ipse profundi 605
has etiam sedes, haec numine tradidit aequo
regna nec Inois noster sinus invidet undis."'
dixerat et maestos tranquilla sub aequora vultus
cum gemitu tulit, ut patrii rediere dolores.
tum pelago vina invergens dux talibus infit: 610

at once with swift hand Cymothoe and Glaucus lifted the one rushing down. the father himself of the deep 605
has even granted these seats, these realms, with an even numen; nor does our bay begrudge the waves of Ino."'
she had spoken and with a sigh bore her mournful looks beneath the tranquil waters, when her native sorrows returned.
then the leader, pouring wines upon the sea, begins thus to speak: 610

'undarum decus et gentis, Cretheia virgo,
pande viam cursuque tuos age, diva, secundo!'
immittitque ratem mediasque intervolat urbes
qua brevibus furit aestus aquis Asiamque prementem
effugit abruptis Europa immanior oris.                    615
has etiam terras consertaque gentibus arva
sic pelago pulsante, reor, Neptunia quondam
cuspis et adversi longus labor abscidit aevi
ut Siculum Libycumque latus, stupuitque fragore
Ianus et occiduis regnator montibus Atlans.                    620
iam iuga Percotes Pariumque infame fragosis
exsuperant Pityamque vadis transmissaque puppi
Lampsacus, Ogygii quam nec trieterica Bacchi
sacra neque arcanis Phrygius furor invehit antris,
sed suus in Venerem raptat deus. illius aras                    625

'glory of the waves and of the clan, maiden Cretheia,
lay open the way and, goddess, drive your courses with a favoring run!'
and he lets the ship go, and it flies between the cities
where the tide rages with shallow waters, and Europe, more immense,
flees, with torn-off shores, from Asia pressing upon her.                    615
these lands too, and fields interwoven with peoples,
thus, as the sea beats, I reckon, the Neptunian spear
and the long toil of an adverse age once cut apart—
so that the Sicilian and the Libyan flank—and Janus stood amazed at the crash,
and Atlas, ruler of the occident mountains.                    620
now they overtop the ridges of Percote and Parium, ill-famed for craggy
Pitya, and with shoals, and Lampsacus, passed by the stern—
which neither the trieteric rites of Ogygian Bacchus
nor Phrygian frenzy carries into arcane caverns,
but its own god snatches it into Venus. its altars                    625

urbe super celsique vident velamina templi.
Rarior hinc tellus atque ingens undique caelum
rursus et incipiens alium prospectus in orbem.
terra sinu medio Pontum iacet inter et Hellen
ceu fundo prolata maris.

above the city they behold the hangings of the high temple.
From here the land is rarer, and the sky immense on every side,
and again a prospect beginning onto another orb.
the land lies, in a middle bay, between Pontus and Hellas,
as if drawn out from the sea’s bottom.

namque improba caecis 630
intulit arva vadis longoque sub aequora dorso
litus agit, tenet hinc veterem confinibus oris
pars Phrygiam, pars discreti iuga pinea montis.
nec procul ad tenuis surgit confinia ponti
urbs placidis demissa iugis. rex divitis agri 635
Cyzicus.

for indeed the unruly has thrust fields into the blind shallows, and with a long back beneath the waters 630
it drives a shore; on this side, within the borders of the coast, one part holds ancient Phrygia, another the piney ridges of a separate mountain.
and not far off, toward the narrow confines of the sea, rises a city set down on peaceful slopes. the king of the wealthy land—
Cyzicus. 635

Haemoniae qui tum nova signa carinae
ut videt, ipse ultro primas procurrit ad undas
miraturque viros dextramque amplexus et haerens
incipit: 'o terris nunc primum cognita nostris
Emathiae manus et fama mihi maior imago, 640

He who then, as he sees the fresh insignia of the Haemonian keel,
of his own accord runs forward to the foremost waves,
and he marvels at the men and, embracing the right hand and clinging,
begins: 'o band of Emathia now for the first time known to our lands,
and to me an image greater than the fame, 640

non tamen haec adeo semota neque ardua tellus
~longaque~ iam populis impervia lucis eoae,
cum tales intrasse duces, tot robora cerno.
nam licet hinc saevas tellus alat horrida gentes
meque fremens tumido circumfluat ore Propontis, 645
vestra fides ritus<que> pares et mitia cultu
his etiam mihi corda locis. procul effera virtus
Bebrycis et Scythici procul inclementia sacri.'
sic memorat laetosque rapit, simul hospita pandi
tecta iubet templisque sacros largitur honores. 650
stant gemmis auroque tori mensaeque paratu
regifico centumque pares primaeva ministri
corpora; pars epulas manibus, pars aurea gestant
pocula bellorum casus expressa recentum.

not, however, is this land so far-removed nor arduous, ~long~ now pathless to the peoples of the Eoan light,
since such leaders have entered, I discern so many strengths.
for although from here the land nourishes savage, dread peoples, and the roaring Propontis with swollen mouth flows around me, 645
your faith and kindred rites<and> and hearts mild by cultivation are mine even in these places.
far away the wild prowess of the Bebryx, and far away the inclemency of Scythian sacred-ritual.'
thus he speaks and hurries them, joyful; at once he bids the guest roofs be opened
and he bestows sacred honors upon the temples. 650
couches stand with gems and gold, and tables with regal array,
and a hundred ministers, equal, with prime bodies; part bear the feasts in their hands, part carry golden
cups embossed with the fortunes of recent wars.

atque ea prima duci porgens carchesia Graio 655

and she, first, proffering to the Greek leader the carchesia 655

Cyzicus 'hic portus' inquit 'mihi territat hostis,
has acies sub nocte refert, haec versa Pelasgum
terga vides, meus hic ratibus qui pascitur ignis.'
subicit Aesonides: 'utinam nunc ira Pelasgos
adferat et solitis temptet concurrere furtis 660
cunctaque se ratibus fundat manus. arma videbis
hospita nec post hanc ultra tibi proelia noctem.'
sic ait hasque inter variis nox plurima dictis
rapta vices nec non simili lux postera tractu.

Cyzicus says, 'In this harbor an enemy terrifies me,
he brings back these battle-lines under night; these turned
backs of the Pelasgians you see; here is my fire that feeds on ships.'
Aesonides adds: 'Would that now anger would bring the Pelasgians
and try to clash with their wonted stealth-raids, 660
and let the whole band pour itself upon the ships. You will see
hospitable arms, and after this night no battles for you beyond it.'
Thus he speaks, and amid these various sayings the very long night
snatched away their exchanges, and the next daylight likewise with a similar dragging on.