Valerius Flaccus: ARGONAVTICA

At vigil isdem ardet furiis Gradivus et acri
corde tumet nec quas acies, quae castra sequatur
invenit. ire placet tandem[que] praesensque tueri,
sternere si Minyas magnoque rependere luctu
regis pacta queat Graiamque absumere pubem. 5
impulit hinc currus monstrum inrevocabile belli
concutiens Scythiaeque super tentoria sistit.
protinus e castris fugit sopor: excita tela,
turbati coiere duces.

But wakeful Gradivus burns with the same furies and swells in his keen heart, nor does he find which battle-lines, which camp to follow.
It pleases him at last to go and to be present to watch, whether he can lay low the Minyae and repay with great mourning the king’s pacts, and to consume the Greek youth. 5
from here he drove his chariot, the irrevocable monster of war, shaking it, and he takes his stand above the tents of Scythia.
straightway sleep flees from the camp: the weapons are awakened,
the alarmed leaders assemble.

hos insuper ingens
fama movet, rate quae sacra vulgabat Achivos                    10
advenisse sui repe<te>nte<s> vellera Phrixi,
quos malus hospitio iunctaque ad foedera dextra
luserit Aeetes atque in sua traxerit arma.
      Ergo consiliis dum nox vacat alta movendis
legatos placet ire duces mandataque Perses                    15

these, moreover, a huge
rumor stirs, which was broadcasting that the Achaeans had come in the sacred ship                    10
to retrieve the fleece of their own Phrixus,
whom Aeetes, an evil host, and with right hand joined to treaties,
had tricked and had dragged into his own arms (war).
      Therefore, while deep night is free for setting counsels in motion,
it is decided that leaders go as envoys, and Perses issues the mandates                    15

edocet, adfari Minyas fraudemque tyranni
ut moneant. quinam hinc animos averterit error?
se primum Haemoniis hortatum ea vellera terris
reddere et exuvias pecudis dimittere sacrae:
hinc odium et tanti venisse exordia belli. 20
quin potius dextramque suam suaque arma sequantur
aut remeent (neque enim Aeetae promissa fidemque
esse loco). abstineant alienae sanguine pugnae.

he instructs them to address the Minyae and to warn them of the tyrant’s fraud.
what error has from here turned their spirits aside?
that he was the first in Haemonian lands to exhort that that fleece
be restored and that the spoils of the sacred sheep be dismissed:
from this have come hatred and the beginnings of so great a war. 20
why not rather follow his right hand and his arms,
or return (for Aeetes’ promises and pledged faith
are not in force). let them abstain from the blood of another’s fight.

non illos ideo tanti venisse labores
per maris. ignotis quid opus concurrere nec quos 25
oderis? haec medio Perses dum tempore mandat,
aureus effulsit campis rubor armaque et acres
sponte sua strepuere tubae.

not for this had they come through such great labors
across the sea. what need to run together against the unknown, and whom would you hate? 25
oderis? while Perses in the meantime gives these commands,
a golden flush flashed over the fields, and arms, and the shrill
trumpets rattled of their own accord.

Mars saevus ab altis
'hostis io,' conclamat equis 'agite ite [ite], propinquat!'
ac simul hinc Colchos, hinc fundit in aequora Persen. 30

Savage Mars from his lofty steeds
'ho, the enemy!' he cries, 'come on, go, go [go], he draws near!'
and at once on this side the Colchians, on that he pours Perses into the plains. 30

[tum gens quaeque suis commisit proelia telis
voxque dei pariter pugnas audita per omnes.]
      Hinc age Rhipaeo quos videris orbe furores,
Musa, mone, quanto Scythiam molimine Perses
concierit, quis fretus equis per bella virisque.                    35
verum ego nec numero memorem nec nomine cunctos
mille vel ora movens. neque enim plaga gentibus ulla
ditior: aeterno quamquam Maeotia pubes
Marte cadat, pingui numquam tamen ubere defit
quod geminas Arctos magnumque quod impleat Anguem                    40
ergo duces solasque, deae, mihi promite gentes.
      Miserat ardentes mox ipsa secutus Alanos
Heniochosque truces iam pridem infensus Anausis,
pacta quod Albano coniunx Medea tyranno,
nescius heu quanti thalamos ascendere monstri                    45

[then each nation committed battles with its own weapons,
and the voice of the god was heard equally throughout all the fights.]
      From here, come, the Rhipaean world’s furies which you have seen,
Muse, warn, with how great a exertion Perses
has stirred Scythia, trusting in horses for wars and in men.                    35
but I will recall neither all by number nor by name,
even if moving a thousand mouths. For no region is richer
in peoples: although the Maeotian youth fall by eternal Mars,
yet it never lacks a rich udder—what might fill
the twin Bears and what might fill the great Serpent.                    40
therefore, goddess, bring forth for me the leaders and the nations alone.
      He had sent the blazing Alans, and soon himself following,
and the grim Heniochi—Anausis, long since hostile,
because Medea, as spouse, had been pledged to the Alban tyrant,
unknowing, alas, of how costly a monster’s bridal-bed he was ascending.                    45

arserit atque urbes maneat qui terror Achaeas,
gratior ipse deis orbaque beatior aula.
proxima Bisaltae legio ductorque Colaxes,
sanguis et ipse deum, Scythicis quem Iuppiter oris
progenuit viridem Myracen Tibisenaque iuxta 50
ostia, semifero--dignum si credere--captus
corpore, nec nymphae geminos exhorruit angues.
cuncta phalanx insigne Iovis caelataque gestat
tegmina dispersos trifidis ardoribus ignes;
nec primus radios, miles Romane, corusci 55
fulminis et rutilas scutis diffuderis alas.

may he have blazed, and may the terror that remains upon the Achaean cities—
he himself more pleasing to the gods, and the hall happier when bereft.
next, the Bisaltan legion and its leader Colaxes,
himself blood of the gods, whom Jupiter begot on Scythian shores,
the green Myrace and the mouths of the Tibisena nearby, 50
having been taken in a half‑beast body—if it be worthy to believe—and the nymph did not shudder
at the twin serpents. the whole phalanx bears the badge of Jove and embossed
coverings, fires scattered in three‑forked blazes;
nor were you first, Roman soldier, to have spread the rays
of the flashing thunderbolt and the ruddy wings upon your shields. 55

insuper auratos collo gerit ipse dracones,
matris Horae specimen, linguisque adversus utrimque
congruit et tereti serpens dat vulnere gemmae.
tertius unanimis veniens cum milibus Auchus 60

moreover he himself wears golden dragons on his neck,
a likeness of his mother, a Hora, and with tongues opposed on both sides
it matches, and the serpent gives a smooth wound to the gem.
the third, Auchus, coming with like-minded thousands 60

Cimmerias ostentat opes, cui candidus olim
crinis inest, natale decus; dat longior aetas
iam speciem; triplici percurrens tempora nodo
demittit sacro geminas a vertice vittas.
Datin Achaemeniae gravior de vulnere pugnae 65
misit in arma Daraps, acies quem Martia circum
Gangaridum potaque Gerus quos efferat unda
quique lacum cinxere Bycen. non defuit Anxur,
non Radalo cum fratre Sydon, Acesinaque laevo
omine fatidicae ~Phrixus~ movet agmina cervae. 70
ipsa comes saetis fulgens et cornibus aureis
ante aciem celsi vehitur gestamine conti
maesta nec in saevae lucos reditura Dianae.

He displays Cimmerian wealth, he to whom once a bright
hair belongs, a natal adornment; a longer age now gives
him aspect; running his temples with a triple knot
he lets down twin fillets from his crown in sacred fashion.
Daraps sent Datin, heavier from a wound of Achaemenian battle, 65
into arms, around whom the martial battle-line
of the Gangaridae, and those whom the quaffed wave of the Gerus carries forth,
and those who encircled the lake Byce. Anxur was not lacking,
nor Sydon with his brother Radalo, and Phrixus stirs the ranks
of the Acesina at the left omen of the fatidic hind. 70
The hind itself, companion, gleaming with bristles and with golden horns,
is borne before the battle-line on the bearing of a lofty pole,
sad, nor to return to the groves of savage Diana.

movit et Hylaea supplex cum gente Syenen
impia germani praetentans vulnera Perses. 75

He also moved Hylaea, and Syene as a suppliant with her people, the Persian holding forth the impious wounds of his brother. 75

densior haud usquam nec celsior extulit ullas
silva trabes fessaeque prius rediere sagittae
<. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .>
quin et ab Hyrcanis Titanius expulit antris
Ciris in arma viros plaustrisque ad proelia cunctas 80
Coelaletae traxere manus. ibi sutilis illis
est domus et crudo residens sub vellere coniunx
et puer e primo torquens temone cateias.
linquitur abruptus pelago Tyra, linquitur et mons
Ambenus et gelidis pollens Ophiusa venenis 85
degeneresque ruunt Sindi glomerantque paterno
crimine nunc etiam metuentes verbera turmas.

Nowhere has a forest lifted any beams denser nor loftier, and the arrows, weary before, came back
<. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .>
indeed even from Hyrcanian caverns the Titanian Cyrus drove men into arms, and to battles with wagons the Coelaletae drew all their bands. 80
there for them the house is stitched, and the wife sits beneath raw fleece,
and the boy, from the foremost pole, whirling cateiae.
the Tyra, sheer to the sea, is left; the mountain Ambenus too is left,
and Ophiusa abounding in icy poisons; 85
and the degenerate Sindi rush, and they mass their troops,
even now fearing lashes on account of the paternal crime.

hos super aeratam Phalces agit aequore nubem
cum fremitu densique levant vexilla Coralli,
barbaricae quis signa rotae ferrataque dorso 90

over these Phalces drives a brazen cloud across the level plain
with a roar, and in dense array the Coralli lift their standards,
for whom the barbaric emblems are a wheel and an iron-clad back 90

forma suum truncaeque, Iovis simulacra, columnae.
proelia nec rauco curant incendere cornu
indigenas sed rite duces et prisca suorum
facta canunt veterumque, viris hortamina, laudes.
ast ubi Sidonicas inter pedes aequat habenas 95
illinc iuratos in se trahit Aea Batarnas,
quos duce Teutagono crudi mora corticis armat
aequaque nec ferro brevior nec rumpia ligno.

and columns, truncated—simulacra of Jove—have their own form.
nor do they care to kindle battles with the raucous horn,
but duly they sing indigenous leaders and the pristine deeds
of their own, and the lauds of the ancients—hortations for men.
but when, on foot, he matches the Sidonian reins, 95
from there Aea draws to him the Batarns sworn to himself,
whom, under leader Teutagonus, the delaying-guard of raw bark arms,
and the rumpia, equal in both, is neither shorter in iron nor in wood.

nec procul albentes gemina ferit aclyde parmas
hiberni qui terga Novae gelidumque securi                    100
eruit et tota non audit Alazona ripa.
<. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .>                    101a
quosque Taras niveumque ferax Euarchus olorum.
te quoque venturis, ingens Ariasmene, saeclis
tradiderim, molem belli lateque ferentem
undique falcatos deserta per aequora currus.                    105

nor far off he strikes the whitening bucklers with twin aclydes,
he who, in winter-quarters at Novae and, with an axe, careless of the cold,                    100
hews out hides and the frost, and the whole Alazonian bank gives no ear.
<. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .>                    101a
and those whom Taras and Euarchus, fertile in snowy swans, [bring forth].
you too, vast Ariasmene, to coming ages I would hand down,
bearing a mass of war and far and wide conveying
on every side scythed chariots across the desert levels.                    105

insequitur Drangea phalanx claustrisque profusi
Caspiadae, quis turba canum non segnius acres
exsilit ad lituos pugnasque capessit eriles.
inde etiam par mortis honos tumulisque recepti
inter avos positusque virum. nam pectora ferro 110
terribilesque innexa iubas ruit agmine nigro
latratu<que> cohors quanto sonat horrida Ditis
ianua vel superas Hecates comitatus in auras.

the Drangian phalanx follows, and the Caspians, poured out from their barriers,
for whom a pack of dogs, no less keen, leaps out at the trumpets and takes up their masters’ battles.
then too there is equal honor in death, and they are received into the barrows,
placed among the ancestors of men. For, with chests in iron and terrifying manes entwined, 110
the cohort rushes in a black column with barking, as loud as the dreadful door of Dis
resounds, or as Hecate’s retinue into the upper airs.

ducit ab Hyrcanis vates sacer agmina lucis
Vanus, eum Scythiae iam tertia viderat aetas 115
magnanimos Minyas Argoaque vela canentem.
illius et dites monitis spondentibus Indi
et centumgeminae Lagea novalia Thebes
totaque Rhipaeo Panchaia rapta triumpho.
discolor hastatas effudit Hiberia turmas, 120

he leads from the Hyrcanians the columns of light, a sacred seer—
Vanus, whom already a third age of Scythia had seen singing of the great‑souled Minyae and the sails of the Argo. 115
of him too the wealthy Indians, at his pledging counsels, make pledges,
and the hundred‑gated Lagean Thebes its new‑ploughed fields,
and all Panchaia, snatched in a Rhipaean triumph.
variegated Hiberia poured forth spear‑bearing squadrons, 120

quas Otaces, quas Latris agunt, et raptor amorum
Neurus et expertes canentis Iazyges aevi.
namque ubi iam vires gelidae notusque refutat
arcus et inceptus iam lancea temnit eriles
magnanimis mos ductus avis haud segnia mortis                    125
iura pati, dextra sed carae occumbere prolis
ense dato, rumpuntque moras natusque parensque,
ambo animis, ambo miri tam fortibus actis.
hic et odorato spirantes crine ~Mycael~
Cessaeaeque manus et qui tua iugera nondum                    130
eruis, ignotis insons Arimaspe metallis,
doctus et Auchates patulo vaga vincula gyro
spargere et extremas laqueis adducere turmas.
non ego sanguineis gestantem tympana bellis
Thyrsaget<en> cinctumque vagis post terga silebo                    135

whom Otaces, whom Latris drive, and Neurus, ravisher of loves, and the Iazyges exempt from a hoary age.
for when now the icy bow refutes their strength, and the spear, once taken up, now disdains masters’ commands,
a custom drawn from magnanimous grandsires is to endure not sluggish rights of death, 125
but to fall by the right hand of one’s dear offspring, with the sword given; and both son and parent break delays,
both in spirit, both with deeds so wondrously stout.
here too Mycael, breathing with fragrant hair,
and the Cessaean bands, and you, guiltless Arimaspus, who do not yet excavate your acres
for unknown metals, and Auchates skilled to scatter roaming bonds with a wide circle
and to draw the farthest squadrons by snares.
nor will I be silent of the Thyrsagetes bearing drums in sanguine wars
and girt with wandering gear behind the back. 135

pellibus et nexas viridantem floribus hastas.
fama ducem Iovis et Cadmi de sanguine Bacchum
hac quoque turiferos, felicia regna, Sabaeos,
hac Arabas fudisse manu, mox rumperet Hebri
cum vada Thyrsagetas gelida liquisse sub Arcto. 140
illis omnis adhuc veterum tenor et sacer aeris
pulsus et eoae memoratrix tibia pugnae.
iungit opes Emeda suas, sua signa secuti
Exomatae Torynique et flavi crine Satarchae.

with skins and spears greening with flowers entwined.
rumor that the leader Bacchus, from the blood of Jove and Cadmus,
with this hand too had routed the incense-bearing, fortunate realms, the Sabaeans,
with this the Arabs, and that soon as he shattered the shallows of the Hebrus
the Thyrsagetae had left the icy regions beneath the Arctic. 140
among them even now is the entire strain of the ancients and the sacred beating of bronze
and the pipe memorializing the eastern battle.
Emeda adds his resources; following their own standards
the Exomatae and the Toryni and the Satarchae, yellow-haired.

mellis honor Torynis, ditant sua mulctra Satarchen, 145
Exomatas venatus alit nec clarior ullis
Arctos equis. abeunt Hypanin fragilemque per undam
tigridis aut saevae profugi cum prole leaenae
maestaque suspectae mater stupet aggere ripae.
impulit et dubios Phrixei velleris ardor 150

the honor of honey belongs to the Toryni, their own milk-pails enrich Satarches, 145
the Exomatae venery sustains, nor is Arctos more illustrious in any
horses. They go across the Hypanis and through the brittle wave,
fugitives, with the brood of a tigress or of a savage lioness,
and the sorrowful mother stands astonished at the embankment of the mistrusted bank.
and the ardor of Phrixus’s fleece drove on the wavering as well 150

Centoras et diros magico terrore Choatras.
omnibus in superos saevus honor, omnibus artes
monstrificae, nunc vere novo compescere frondes,
nunc subitam trepidis Maeotin solvere plaustris.
maximus hos inter Stygia venit arte Coastes. 155
sollicitat nec Martis amor, sed fama Cytaeae
virginis et paribus spirans Medea venenis.

Centoras and the dire Choatras, with magical terror.
for all, a savage honor toward the supernal ones; for all, monstrous arts:
now to restrain the leaves in new spring,
now suddenly to loosen the Maeotis for trembling wagons.
greatest among these came Coastes with Stygian art. 155
he is stirred not by love of Mars, but by the fame of the Cytaean
maiden and by Medea breathing poisons to match.

gaudet Averna palus, gaudet iam nocte quieta
portitor et tuto veniens Latonia caelo.
ibant et geminis aequantes cornibus alas 160
Balloniti comitumque celer mutator equorum
Moesus et ingentis frenator Sarmata conti.
nec tot ab extremo fluctus agit aequore nec sic
fratribus adversa Boreas respondet ab unda
aut is apud fluvios volucrum canor, aethera quantus 165

the Avernian marsh rejoices, the ferryman rejoices now that the night is quiet,
and the Latonian, coming safely in the sky.
and they were going, matching their wings with twin horns 160
the Moesian, the swift changer of the horses of Ballonitus and his companions,
and the Sarmatian, reiner of the huge contus.
nor does the North wind drive so many waves from the far sea, nor thus
does Boreas answer his brothers from the opposing wave,
or that song of birds by the rivers, as great to the upper air as... 165

tunc lituum concentus adit lymphataque miscet
milia, quot foliis, quot floribus incipit annus.
ipse rotis gemit ictus ager tremibundaque pulsu
nutat humus, quatit ut saevo cum fulmine Phlegram
Iuppiter atque imis Typhoea verberat arvis.                    170
      Prima tenent illinc patriis Absyrtus in armis
et gener ingentesque inter sua milia reges.
at circa Aesoniden Danaum manus ipsaque Pallas
aegide terrifica, quam nec dea lassat habendo
nec pater horrentem colubris vultuque tremendam                    175
Gorgoneo.

then the concert approaches the trumpet and, frenzied, it mingles
thousands, as many as with leaves, as many as with flowers the year begins.
the field itself, struck by wheels, groans, and the ground nods trembling with the beat,
as when with cruel thunderbolt Jupiter shakes Phlegra
and lashes Typhoeus in the deepest fields.                    170
      First from that side hold the front, in ancestral arms, Absyrtus,
and the son-in-law, and mighty kings amid their thousands.
but around the Aesonid, the band of Danaans—and Pallas herself
with her terrifying aegis, which neither the goddess wearies of bearing
nor the Father, it bristling with snakes and dreadful with a Gorgonian visage—                    175

nec semineces ostendere crines
tempus adhuc primasque sinit concurrere pugnas.
impulit hos contra Mavors pater et mala leti
Gaudia Tisiphoneque caput per nubila tollens
ad sonitum litui mediaque altissima pugna 180

nor does time as yet allow the half-dead to display their locks
and the first battles to clash.
the father Mavors drove these against them, and the baleful Joys of death,
and Tisiphone, lifting her head through the clouds,
at the sound of the trumpet and in the very loftiest midst of the fight 180

necdum clara quibus sese Fuga mentibus addat.
Illi ubi consertis iunxere frementia telis
agmina virque virum galeis adflavit adactis
continuo hinc obitus perfractaque caedibus arma
corporaque, alternus cruor alternaeque ruinae. 185
volvit ager galeas et thorax erigit imbres
sanguineos. hinc barbarici glomerantur ovatus,
hinc gemitus mixtaeque virum cum pulvere vitae.

nor yet is it clear to whose minds Flight should attach herself.
Those men, when with interlocked weapons they joined the roaring ranks,
and man breathed upon man with helmets driven home,
straightway from this side deaths, and arms broken in slaughters,
and bodies—alternate gore and reciprocal downfalls. 185
the field rolls helmets, and the cuirass raises showers
of blood. On this side the barbarian ovations are massed,
on that, the groans—and the lives of men mingled with dust.

      Caspius Aeaeum correpto crine Monesen
abstulit; hinc pariter Colchi Graique sequuntur                    190
missilibus; rapit ille necem praedamque relinquit
nec sociis iam cura viri. Dipsanta Caresus
Strymonaque obscura spargentem vulnera funda
deicit. Albani cadit ipse Chremedoni[di]s hasta
iamque latet currusque super turmaeque feruntur.                    195

      Caspius, having seized Monesus the Aeaean by the hair, carried him off;
from here alike the Colchians and the Greeks pursue with missiles;                    190
he snatches away death and relinquishes the prey, nor now is there concern for the man among his comrades.
Caresus casts down Dipsantus and Strymon, scattering wounds with a dusky sling;
he himself falls by the spear of Chremedonides the Alban,
and now he lies hidden, and over him both chariot and squadrons are borne.                    195

processere Melas et Idasmenus. incipit hasta
ante Melas, levis ast abies elusit utrumque.
ensibus inde ruunt.

forward advanced Melas and Idasmenus. The spear begins
before Melas; but the light fir-wood eluded them both.
thence they rush with swords.

prior occupat aere citato
cassidis ima Melas, infracta est vulnere cervix.
mixta perit virtus: nescit cui debeat Ocheus 200
aut cui fata Tyres. dum sibila respicit Iron
cuspidis Argivae, Pyliam latere accipit hastam.

first Melas with quickened bronze seizes the lowest part of the helmet,
the neck is broken by the wound. mingled valor perishes: Ocheus does not know to whom he owes it 200
nor to whom Tyres owes his fates. while Iron looks back at the hissing of the Argive spear-point,
he receives the Pylian spear in his side.

      Viderat Hyrcanos paribus discurrere fratres
Castor equis, pater armento quos dives ab omni
nutrierat fatisque viam monstra<ra>t iniquis.                    205
tum magis atque magis peditem candore notato
Tyndariden incendit amor. simul obvius hastam
pectus in adversum ~gleacit~ alipedemque
insilit excusso victor duce. risit ab alta
nube pater prensisque equitem cognovit habenis.                    210

Castor had seen the Hyrcanians, the brothers, run about on equal horses; their father, rich with every herd, had nourished them and had shown a way to unjust fates. 205
then more and more love inflamed the Tyndarid, a foot-soldier marked by brightness.
at once, meeting him, he throws his chest against the opposing spear, and he leaps upon the wing‑footed steed, the leader shaken off, as victor. he laughed from a high cloud, the father, and by the grasped reins recognized the horseman. 210

at pariter luctuque furens visuque Medores
Tyndariden petit et superos sic voce precatur:
'hunc age vel caeso comitem me reddite fratri!
primus at hic nostra sonipes cadat impius hasta
credita qui misero non rettulit arma parenti                     215
meque venit contra captivaque terga ministrat.'
dixerat, Actaei sed eum prior hasta Phaleri
deicit; ad socias sonipes citus effugit alas.
      Quis tibi fatales umquam metuisset Amyclas
Oebaliamque manum, tot, Rhyndace, montibus inter                    220
diviso totidemque fretis?

but Medores, equally raging with grief and at the sight, seeks the Tyndarid and thus with his voice prays to the gods above:
‘Come, either grant me this man, or, with my brother slain, restore me to my brother as a companion!
but let this impious horseman fall first by our spear—he who did not return the entrusted arms to the wretched parent— 215
and he comes against me and presents the backs of captives.’
He had spoken, but the spear of Actaean Phalerus hurled him down first; the steed swiftly fled to the friendly wings.
Who would ever have feared for you the fateful Amyclae and the Oebalian hand, Rhyndacus, divided among so many mountains 220
and just as many straits?

cadit impiger una
inguine transfosso clari Taulantis alumnus
semidea genetrice Tages, cui plurima silvis
pervigilat materna soror cultusque laborat.
tenuia non illum candentis carbasa lini, 225

falls too, unwearied,
with his groin pierced through, the nursling of renowned Taulant,
Tages, with a demi-goddess as genetrix, for whom in the woods
his maternal aunt keeps much vigil and toils at his nurture.
the thin linens of gleaming flax do not clothe him, 225

non auro depicta chlamys, non flava galeri
caesaries pictoque iuvant subtegmine bracae.
iamque novus mediae stupefacta per agmina pugnae
vadit eques densa spargens hastilia dextra
fulmineumque viris profundens ingerit ensem                    230
huc alternus et huc, cum saevior ecce iuventus
Sarmaticae coiere manus fremitusque virorum
semiferi. riget his molli lorica catena,
id quoque tegmen equis; at equi porrecta per armos
et caput ingentem campis hostilibus umbram                    235
fert abies obnixa genu vaditque virum vi,
vadit equum, docilis relegi docilisque relinqui
atque iterum medios non altior ire per hostes.
orbibus hos rapidis mollique per aequora Castor
anfractu levioris equi deludit anhelos                    240

not a cloak embroidered with gold, not the blond crest of the helmet,
nor trousers with pictorial underweave give advantage.
And now a new horseman, through the ranks stunned in the midst of the fight,
goes, scattering thick javelins with his right hand
and, pouring forth a lightning sword among the men, drives it in now this way and now that, 230
when—behold—a fiercer youth, the Sarmatian bands,
have gathered, and the roar of half-wild men.
On them a cuirass stiffens with soft chain,
that covering too for the horses; and the horses, with it stretched over shoulders
and head, cast a vast shadow on hostile fields; the fir-wood lance, braced by the knee,
goes with force at the man, goes at the horse, the mount tractable to be reined back and tractable to be let go,
and then again to pass through the midst of the foes no higher.
With swift circles and with the smooth turn over the plains, Castor
deludes these panting men by means of his lighter horse. 240

immemoresque mori; sed non isdem artibus aeque
concurrunt ultroque ruunt in funera Colchi.
Campesus impacta latus inter et ilia quercu
tollitur ac mediam moriens descendit in hastam.
Oebasus infestum summisso poplite Phalcen 245
evasisse ratus laevum per luminis orbem
transigitur; tenerae tinguuntur vulnere malae.

and unmindful of dying; but they do not clash with equal arts by the same means,
and the Colchians rush of their own accord into funerals.
Campesus, with an oak driven in between flank and entrails,
is lifted up and, dying, sinks down upon the middle of a spear.
Oebasus, thinking he had escaped hostile Phalces with knee lowered, 245
is transfixed through the left orb of light;
his tender cheeks are stained with the wound.

contra autem geminis fidens thoracibus ictum
sustulit et gladio Sibotes ferit ultima teli
nequiquam. iam cuspis inest nec fragmina curat 250
Ambenus et trunco medium subit Ocrea ligno.
seminecem Taxes Hypanin vehit atque remissum
pone trahit fugiens et cursibus exuit hastam
dumque recollectam rursus locat, inruit ultro
turbatumque Lacon et adhuc invadit inermem. 255

But, on the contrary, trusting in twin cuirasses, he sustained the blow
and Sibotes with his sword strikes the far end of the weapon in vain.
Now the spearpoint is lodged, and Ambenus does not care about the fragments 250
and Ocrea goes into the midst with the truncated wood.
Taxes conveys Hypanis half-dead and, slackened,
fleeing he drags him behind, and by his running shakes out the spear,
and while he sets it again re-collected, a Lacon charges unprovoked
and attacks him, disordered and still unarmed. 255

impulit adverso praeceps equus Onchea conto
nequiquam totis revocantem viribus armos
in latus. accedit sonipes, accedit et ipse
frigidus. arma cadunt, rorat procul ultima cuspis.

the headlong horse impelled Oncheus onto an opposing spear
vainly, with all his strength, drawing back the shoulders
into his flank. The steed draws near, and he himself draws near
frigid. Arms fall; afar the ultimate cusp drips.

qualem populeae fidentem nexibus umbrae                    260
siquis avem summi deducat ab aere rami
ante manu tacita cui plurima crevit harundo;
illa dolis viscoque super correpta sequaci
implorat ramos atque inrita concitat alas.
      Parte alia infestis (nam fors ita iunxit) in armis                    265
Styrus adest laetusque virum cognoscit Anausis
et prior 'en cuius thalamis Aeetia virgo
dicta manet nostrosque feret qui victor amores.
non' ait 'invitoque gener mutabere patri.'
tum simul adversas conlatis cursibus hastas                     270

such as, trusting in the meshes of a poplar’s shade,                    260
if someone should draw a bird down from the upper air of a topmost branch,
before, on whose silent hand, very many a reed has grown;
she, snatched from above by tricks and the clinging, pursuing birdlime,
implores the branches and flutters her ineffectual wings.
      In another quarter with hostile arms (for chance so joined them)                    265
Styrus is at hand, and Anausis gladly recognizes the man,
and first: 'Lo, he in whose marriage-chamber the Aeetian maiden
is said to remain, and who, as victor, will bear away our loves.
'No,' he says, 'nor as a son-in-law will you be changed to an unwilling father.'
then at once, with their courses brought together, they set the opposing spears                    270

coniciunt, fugit adductis Albanus habenis
saucius atque datum leto non sperat Anausin
nec videt. ille autem telo moribundus adacto
'ad soceros pactaeque sinus en coniugis,' inquit
'Styre, fugis vulnus referens, quod carmine nullo 275
sustineat nullisque levet Medea venenis.'
dixerat, extremus cum lumina corripit error
voxque repressa gelu percussaque vertice tellus.
Hinc animos acies auget magnoque doloris
turbine Gesandrum Mavors rapit.

they hurl; Albanus flees with the reins drawn tight,
wounded, and he does not suppose nor see Anausis given over to death.
But he, dying with the weapon driven in, says:
'lo, to the fathers-in-law and to the bosom of the betrothed spouse,' he says,
'Styrus, you flee, carrying back a wound which by no chant 275
can Medea sustain, nor by any poisons alleviate.'
He had spoken, when the final error seizes his lights,
and his voice is repressed by frost, and the earth is smitten by his head.
Hence the battle-line increases its spirits, and with a great whirlwind of grief
Mavors snatches Gesander.

ille morantes 280
increpat et stricto sic urget Iazygas ense:
'nempe omnes cecidere senes, nempe omnis ademptus
ante pater. quae vos subito tam foeda senectus
corripuit fregitque animos atque abstulit iras?
aut mecum mediam, iuvenes, agite ite per urbem 285

he rebukes the laggards 280
and with a drawn sword thus presses the Iazyges:
'surely all the old men have fallen, surely every father
was taken away before. What so foul a senescence
has seized you suddenly and has broken your spirits and removed your wraths?
or with me, young men, come, go through the midst of the city 285

Argolicamque manum aut caris occumbite natis.'
inruit et patrias coeptis ferus advocat umbras:
'sancte mihi Vorapte pater, tua pectora nato
suggere nunc animamque parem, si fata peroso
tarda tibi turpesque moras non segnius ipsi 290
paruimus parvique ea<de>m didicere nepotes.'
haec ait auditusque Erebo. tunc corripit ensem
turbidus et furiis ardens quatit arma paternis.
indigenis sacratus aquis magnique sacerdos
Phasidis Arctois Aquites errabat in armis 295
(populeus cui frondis honor conspectaque glauco
tempora nectuntur ramo) te, Cyrne, parentis
immemorem durae cupiens abducere pugnae.

and at the Argolic band—or fall for your dear sons.'
he rushes in, and, fierce in his undertakings, he calls upon the ancestral shades:
'hallowed to me, father Voraptes, supply now from your breast to your son
a kindred spirit, if, you loathing the slow and shameful delays
of fate, we ourselves have not obeyed more sluggishly, and your little grandsons have learned the same.' 290
He spoke these things, and was heard in Erebus. Then he snatches up his sword,
troubled and burning with furies, and he shakes the paternal arms.
consecrated by indigenous waters and high priest of the great
Phasis, Aquites was roaming in Arctic arms
(whose honor is of poplar foliage, and his temples are bound with a glaucous
branch), you, Cyrne, wishing to draw away, unmindful of your parent, from the harsh fight. 295

iamque omnes impune globos diversaque lustrans
agmina non usquam videt utque iterum intrat < . . . > 300

and now, surveying with impunity all the clusters and the diverse columns
he sees nothing anywhere, and as he again enters < . . . > 300

vociferans, iterum belli diversa peragrat,
lancea caeruleas circum strepit incita vittas.
opprimit admissis ferus hinc Gesander habenis.
ille manum trepidans atque inrita sacra tetendit
'te' que 'per hanc, genitor,' inquit 'tibi si manet, oro 305
canitiem, compesce minas et sicubi nato
parce meo!' dixit.

crying aloud, again he traverses the diverse quarters of war,
the lance, urged on, rattles around the cerulean fillets.
from here the fierce Gesander, with the reins loosed, bears down.
he, trembling, stretched out his hand and his ineffectual sacra,
'you' and 'by this, father,' he says, 'by this gray hair, if it remains to you, I beg, 305
restrain your threats and, if anywhere, spare my son!' he said.

contra sic victor adacto
ense refert: 'genitor, turpi durare senecta
quem mihi reris adhuc, ipse hac occumbere dextra
maluit atque ultro segnes abrumpere metas. 310
et tibi si pietas nati, si dextra fuisset,
haud medii precibus tereres nunc tempora belli,
praeda future canum. iuveni sors pulchrior omnis:
et certasse manu decet et caruisse sepulchro.'
dixerat. ille deos moriens caelumque precatur, 315

on the contrary thus the victor, with the sword driven, replies: 'Sire, the one whom you suppose still to endure in shameful senectitude for me, he himself preferred to meet death by this right hand and, of his own accord, to break off his sluggish metes. 310
and if there had been to you a son's pietas, if there had been a right hand,
you would not now be wearing away the mid-times of war with prayers,
future prey of dogs. For a youth every lot is fairer:
both to have contended by hand is fitting and to have lacked a sepulchre.'
he had spoken. he, dying, prays to the gods and to the heaven, 315

dextera ne misero talis foret obvia nato.
Te quoque, Canthe, tui non inscia funeris Argo
flevit ab invita rapientem tela carina.
iam Scythicos miserande sinus, iam Phasidis amnem
contigeras nec longa dies, ut capta videres 320
vellera et Euboicis patrios de montibus ignes.

lest such a right hand should be encountered by his wretched son.
You too, Canthe, the Argo, not unknowing of your funeral,
wept, as you, snatching up your weapons, from the unwilling keel.
already, pitiable one, the Scythian bays, already the river of Phasis
you had reached; nor was a long day remaining, that you might see the captured 320
fleece and the ancestral fires from the Euboean mountains.

illum ubi congressu subiit Gesander iniquo
territat his: 'tu qui faciles hominumque putasti
has, Argive, domos, alium hic miser aspicis annum
altricemque nivem festinaque taedia vitae. 325
non nos aut levibus componere bracchia remis
novimus aut ventos opus exspectare ferentes:
imus equis qua vel medio riget aequore pontus
vel tumida fremit Hister aqua. nec moenia nobis
vestra placent: feror Arctois nunc liber in arvis 330

when Gesander met him in an unequal encounter
he cowed him with these words: 'you, Argive, who supposed
these to be easy homes of men, here, wretch, you look upon another kind of year
and fostering snow and the hastening wearinesses of life. 325
we do not know either to set our arms to light oars
or to await winds favorable to our work:
we go on horses where even in the mid plain the sea is rigid,
or the Hister roars with swollen water. nor do your walls
please us: I am borne free now in Arctian fields. 330

cuncta tenens; mecum omnis amor iacturaque plaustri
sola nec hac longum victor potiere rapina.
ast epulae quodcumque pecus, quaecumque ferarum.
mitte Asiae, mitte Argolicis mandata colonis,
ne trepident.

holding all things; with me is every beloved possession and the sole jettison is of the wagon;
nor will you, as victor, for long possess this rapine.
but for banquets, whatever herd, whatever of wild beasts.
send mandates to Asia, send mandates to the Argolic colonists,
lest they tremble.

numquam has hiemes, haec saxa relinquam, 335
Martis agros, ubi tam saevo duravimus amne
progeniem natosque rudes, ubi copia leti
tanta viris. sic in patriis bellare pruinis
praedarique iuvat talemque hanc accipe dextram!'
dixit et Edonis nutritum missile ventis 340
concitat. it medium per pectus et horrida nexu
letifer aera chalybs.

I will never relinquish these winters, these rocks, 335
the fields of Mars, where by so savage a river we have hardened
our progeny and raw-born sons, where there is such an abundance of death
for men. Thus it pleases to war in our native frosts
and to plunder; and take such a right hand as this!'
he said, and he launches a missile nourished by Edonian winds, 340
it goes through the middle of his breast, and the lethal steel
through the bronze, bristling with linkage.

trepidus super advolat Idas
ac simul Oenides pariterque Menoetius et qui
Bebrycio ~propius~ remeavit ab hospite victor.
at vero ingentem Telamon procul extulit orbem 345

Idas, alarmed, flies in above;
and at the same time the Oenid, and likewise Menoetius, and he who
returned from his Bebrycian host ~closer~, a victor.
but indeed Telamon from afar raised aloft a huge orb 345

exanimem te, Canthe, tegens. ceu saeptus in arto
dat catulos post terga leo, sic comminus astat
Aeacides gressumque tenet contraque ruentem
septeno validam circumfert tegmine molem.
nec minus hinc urget Scythiae manus armaque Canthi 350
quisque sibi et Graio poenam de corpore poscens.

covering you lifeless, Canthus. As, fenced in a narrow place,
a lion sets its whelps behind his back, so at close quarters stands
the Aeacid and holds his step, and against the one rushing
he bears around the strong mass with sevenfold covering.
and no less from this side presses the band of Scythia, and for Canthus’s arms, 350
each man demanding a penalty from the body for himself and for the Greek.

arduus inde labos medioque in corpore pugna
conseritur. magno veluti cum turbine sese
ipsius Aeoliae frangunt in limine venti,
quem pelagi rabies, quem nubila quemque sequatur 355
ille dies, obnixa virum sic comminus haeret
pugna nec arrepto pelli de corpore possunt.
ut bovis exuvias multo qui frangit olivo
dat famulis, tendunt illi tractuque vicissim
taurea terga domant, pingui fluit unguine tellus. 360

thence arduous labor, and in the main body battle is joined
just as, with a great turbine, the winds themselves of Aeolia shatter on the very threshold,
which the rage of the sea, which the clouds, and which the day itself follows, 355
so at close quarters the struggle of men thus clings,
nor, once a hold has been seized, can they be driven off from the body.
as he who with much olive-oil breaks in the hide of an ox
gives it to his servants; they stretch it, and in turn by traction
they tame the taurine backs, and the earth flows with rich grease. 360

talis utrimque labos raptataque limite in arto
membra viri miseranda meant. hi tendere contra,
hi contra alternaeque virum non cedere dextrae.
hinc medium Telamon Canthum rapit, hinc tenet ardens
colla viri et molles galeae Gesander habenas, 365
insonuit quae lapsa solo dextramque fefellit.

Such on both sides is the labor, and along the narrow boundary, dragged in the tight space, the pitiable limbs of the man go.
These strain against, those against in turn, and the alternating right hands do not yield the man.
On this side Telamon seizes Canthus mid-body, on that side ardent
Gesander grips the man’s neck and the soft reins of the helmet, 365
which, slipping to the ground, resounded and deceived the right hand.

ille iterum in clipei septemplicis improbus orbem
arietat et Canthum sequitur Canthumque reposcit,
quem manus a tergo socium rapit atque receptum
virginis Euryales curru locat. advolat ipsa 370
ac simul Haemonidae Gesandrumque omnis in unum
it manus. ille novas acies et virginis arma
ut videt 'has etiam contra bellabimus?' inquit
'heu pudor!' inde Lycen ferit ad confine papillae,
inde Thoen, qua pelta vacat iamque ibat in Harpen 375

He again, shameless, rams at the circle of the sevenfold shield,
and follows Canthus and calls for Canthus back,
whom a band from behind snatches away, their comrade, and, once received,
sets on the chariot of the maiden Euryale. She herself flies up, 370
and at the same time the whole band goes as one against the Haemonids
and Gesander. He, when he sees the new battle-lines and the maiden’s arms,
says, "Shall we even wage war against these? Alas, shame!"
then he strikes Lyce at the border of the breast,
then Thoe, where the pelta is open, and now he was going at Harpe 375

vixdum prima levi ducentem cornua nervo
et labentis equi tendentem frena Menippen,
cum regina gravem nodis auroque securem
congeminans partem capitis galeaeque ferinae
dissipat. hic pariter telorum immanis in unum 380
it globus. ille diu coniectis sufficit hastis--
quin [etiam] gravior nutuque carens exterruit Idan--,
tunc ruit ut montis latus aut ut machina muri,
quae scopulis trabibusque diu confectaque flammis
procubuit tandem atque ingentem propulit urbem.

scarcely yet Menippus drawing the first “horns” with the light sinew of the bow
and, as his horse was slipping, tightening the reins,
when the queen, doubling her heavy axe weighted with knobs and with gold,
scatters a portion of his head and of his wild-beast helmet.
here at once a monstrous mass of missiles all converges upon one 380
it goes as a globe. she for a long time holds out against the spears that have been hurled—
indeed [even], more formidable and without so much as a nod, she terrified Idas—,
then she rushes like the flank of a mountain or like a wall’s machine,
which, long worn down by rocks and beams and by flames,
has at last fallen forward and has thrust down a mighty city.

                    385
      Ecce locum tempusque ratus iamque et sua posci
proelia falcatos infert Ariasmenus axes
saevaque diffundit socium iuga protinus omnes
Graiugenas, omnes rapturus acumine Colchos.
qualiter exosus Pyrrhae genus aequora rursus                    390

                    385
      Behold, thinking the place and the time, and now that his own battles were being summoned,
Ariasmenus brings in scythed axles,
and forthwith he spreads the savage yokes of his allies,
about to snatch with the edge all the Greek-born, all the Colchians.
just as, loathing the race of Pyrrha, the seas again                    390

Iuppiter atque omnes fluvium si fundat habenas,
ardua Parnasi lateant iuga, cesserit Othrys
piniger et mersis decrescant rupibus Alpes:
diluvio tali paribusque Ariasmenus urget
excidiis nullo rapiens discrimine currus. 395
aegida tum primum virgo spiramque Medusae
ter centum saevis squalentem sustulit hydris,
quam soli vidistis, equi. pavor occupat ingens
excussis in terga viris diramque retorquent
in socios non sponte luem. tunc ensibus uncis 400
implicat et trepidos lacerat discordia currus.

If Jupiter and all the rivers should loose the reins of the flood,
let the steep ridges of Parnassus lie hidden, let pine-bearing Othrys yield,
and let the Alps diminish with their cliffs submerged:
with such a deluge and equal destructions Ariasmenus presses on,
sweeping up chariots with no distinction. 395
then for the first time the maiden raised the aegis and Medusa’s coil,
bristling with three hundred savage serpents,
which you alone saw, horses. A vast panic seizes them;
with the men shaken off onto their backs, they turn the dread plague back
upon their comrades not by their own will. Then discord, with hooked swords, 400
entangles and tears the panicked chariots.

Romanas veluti saevissima cum legiones
Tisiphone regesque movet, quorum agmina pilis,
quorum aquilis utrimque micant eademque parentes
rura colunt, idem lectos ex omnibus agris 405

Just as, when most savage Tisiphone sets in motion Roman legions
and kings, whose battle-lines with javelins, whose eagles on both sides
flash, and the same parents till the fields, the same men chosen
from all the fields, 405

miserat infelix non haec ad proelia Thybris:
sic modo concordes externaque fata petentes
Palladii rapuere metus, sic in sua versi
funera concurrunt dominis revocantibus axes.
non tam foeda virum Laurentibus agmina terris                    410
eiecere Noti, Libyco nec talis imago
litore cum fractas involvunt aequora puppes.
hinc biiuges, illinc artus tenduntur eriles
quos radii, quos frena secant trahiturque trahitque
currus caede madens atroque in pulvere regum                     415
viscera nunc aliis, aliis nunc curribus haerent.
haud usquam Colchorum animi ~neque in peste revinctos~
tela, sed implicitos miseraque in peste revinctos
confodiunt ac forma necis non altera surgit
quam cervos ubi non Umbro venator edaci,                    420

The unhappy Tiber had not sent these to such battles:
thus, just now concordant and seeking external fates,
the dread of the Palladium snatched them; thus, turned to their own
funerals they rush together, their masters recalling the axles.
Not so foul did the South Winds cast forth the ranks of men upon the Laurentian lands,                    410
nor such an image on the Libyan shore
when the waters roll the shattered sterns.
Here the teams-of-two, there the masters’ limbs are stretched—
which the spokes, which the reins cut—and the chariot, dripping with slaughter,
both is dragged and drags; and in the black dust the viscera of kings                    415
now cling to these, now to those chariots.
Nowhere the spirits of the Colchians ~nor bound in pestilence~
do the spears pierce, but they stab men entangled and bound in wretched pestilence,
and no other form of death rises
than deer, when not an Umbrian hunter with ravening,                    420

non penna petit, haerentes sed cornibus altis
invenit et caeca constrictos occupat ira.
ipse recollectis audax Ariasmenus armis
desilit. illum acies curvae secat undique falcis
partiturque rotis atque inde furentia raptus 425
in iuga Circaeos tetigit non amplius agros.

he does not seek with the feathered shaft, but finds them clinging by their high horns
and seizes them, bound, with blind rage.
he himself, bold Ariasmenus, with his weapons gathered up,
leaps down. The edge of the curved sickle cuts him on every side
and partitions him with the wheels, and, snatched thence onto the raging yokes, 425
he touched the Circaean fields no more.

      Talia certatim Minyae sparsique Cytaei
funera miscebant campis Scythiamque premebant.
cum Iuno Aesonidae non hanc ad vellera cernens
esse viam nec sic reditus regina parandos                    430
extremam molitur opem, funesta priusquam
consilia ac saevas aperit rex perfidus iras.
increpat et seris Vulcanum maesta querellis,
cuius flammiferos videt inter regia tauros
pascua Tartaream proflantes pectore noctem.                    435

      Such things, in rivalry, the Minyans and the scattered Cytaians
were mixing funerals on the plains and were pressing Scythia.
when Juno, seeing that this was not the way to the fleeces for the Aesonid,
nor were the returns to be prepared thus, the queen contrives final aid,                    430
before the treacherous king lays bare funereal counsels and savage wraths.
she upbraids Vulcan too with belated complaints, sorrowing,
whose fire-bearing bulls she sees amid the royal pastures
blowing forth from their breast Tartarean night.                    435

haec etenim Minyas ne iungere Marte peracto
monstra satis iubeat Cadmei dentibus hydri
ante diem, timet et varias circumspicit artes.
sola animo Medea subit, mens omnis in una
virgine, nocturnis qua nulla potentior aris. 440
illius adflatus sparsosque per avia sucos
sidera fixa pavent et avi stupet orbita Solis.
mutat agros fluviumque vias, ~suus~ alligat ignis
~cuncta sopor~ recolit fessos aetate parentes
datque alias sine lege colus.

for indeed she fears lest he bid the monsters sown from the teeth of the Cadmean hydra to join battle with the Minyans, and the war to be finished before its day, and she looks around for various arts. Medea alone rises in her mind, all her thought in one maiden, than whom none is more potent at nocturnal altars. 440
at her breaths and the juices scattered through pathless places the fixed stars tremble and the orbit of her grandsire the Sun stands amazed. she changes fields and the courses of a river, ~her own~ fire binds, ~sleep everything~ renews parents wearied with age, and the distaff gives other laws without law.

hanc maxima Circe 445
terrificis mirata modis, hanc advena Phrixus
quamvis Atracio lunam spumare veneno
sciret et Haemoniis agitari cantibus umbras.
ergo opibus magicis et virginitate tremendam
Iuno duci sociam coniungere quaerit Achivo. 450

this one the greatest Circe 445
marveled at for her terrifying methods; this one the newcomer Phrixus,
although he knew the moon to foam with Atracian venom
and the shades to be driven by Haemonian chants.
therefore, dreadful for her magic resources and her virginity,
Juno seeks to join her as a companion to the Achaean leader. 450

non aliam tauris videt et nascentibus armis
quippe parem nec quae medio stet in agmine flammae,
nullum mente nefas, nullos horrescere visus:
quid si caecus amor saevusque accesserit ignis?
hinc Veneris thalamos semperque recentia sertis 455
tecta petit. visa iamdudum prosilit altis
diva toris volucrumque exercitus omnis Amorum.

she sees no other equal to the bulls and to the arms as they are being born,
indeed nor one who would stand in the midst of the battle-line of flame,
no impiety in her mind, to shudder at no sights:
what if blind Love and savage fire should be added besides?
hence she seeks the bedchambers of Venus and the roofs ever fresh with garlands 455
the goddess, long since seen, leaps forth from her lofty couches,
and the whole winged army of the Cupids.

ac prior hanc placidis supplex Saturnia dictis
adgreditur veros metuens aperire timores.
'in manibus spes nostra tuis omnisque potestas 460
nunc.' ait 'hoc etiam magis adnue vera fatenti.
durus ut Argolicis Tirynthius exsulat oris
mens mihi non eadem Iovis atque adversa voluntas,
nullus honor thalamis flammaeve in nocte priores.

and first Saturnia approaches her as a suppliant with placid words,
fearing to lay open her true fears. 'In your hands is our hope and all power 460
now,' she says; 'assent all the more to one confessing the truth.
as the Tirynthian is in harsh exile from Argolic shores,
my mind is not the same as Jove’s, and his will is adverse,
there is no honor for the marriage-chambers nor the earlier flames in the night.

da, precor, artificis blanda adspiramina formae 465

grant, I pray, the charming inspirations to the artificer’s form 465

ornatusque tuos terra caeloque potentes!'
sensit diva dolos iam pridem sponte requirens
Colchida et invisi genus omne exscindere Phoebi.
tum vero optatis potitur nec passa precari
ulterius dedit acre decus fecundaque monstris 470
cingula, non pietas quibus aut custodia famae,
non pudor, at contra levis et festina cupido
adfatusque mali dulcisque labantibus error
et metus et demens alieni cura pericli.
'omne' ait 'imperium natorumque arma meorum 475
cuncta dedi.

and your ornaments, potent on earth and in sky!'
the goddess sensed the deceits, long since of her own accord seeking
to root out the Colchian girl and the whole race of detested Phoebus.
then indeed she gains the things desired, and not suffering her to pray
further, she gave the sharp glamour and the girdles fruitful in monsters, 470
in which there is not piety nor guardianship of reputation,
not modesty, but on the contrary a light and hasty desire,
an address of evil, and a sweet error for the wavering,
and fear, and a mad concern for another’s peril.
'all' she says 'dominion and the arms of my sons—475
the whole—have I given.'

quascumque libet nunc concute mentes.'
Cingitur arcanis Saturnia laeta venenis
atque hinc virgineae venit ad penetralia sedis
Chalciopen imitata sono formaque sororem.
fulsit ab invita numen procul et pavor artus 480

now shake whatever minds you please.'
Saturnia, glad, girds herself with arcane venoms
and from here comes to the virginal seat’s inner penetralia,
having imitated her sister Chalciope in sound and in form.
the numen flashed from afar from the unwilling one, and terror [shook] her limbs 480

protinus atque ingens Aeetida perculit horror.
'ergo nec ignotis Minyas huc fluctibus' inquit
'advenisse, soror, nec nostro sola parenti
scis socias iunxisse manus? at cetera muros
turba tenet fruiturque virum caelestibus armis. 485
tu thalamis ignava sedes, tu sola paterna
fixa domo, tales quando tibi cernere reges?'
illa nihil contra.

at once an immense horror struck the Aeetian maiden.
'so then the Minyae have not come hither on unknown waves,' she says,
'sister, nor do you know that they have joined allied hands not with our father alone?
but the rest of the throng holds the walls and enjoys the men’s celestial arms. 485
you sit idle in your bridal chambers, you alone fixed in your paternal
house—when will you behold such kings?'
she said nothing in reply.

nec enim dea passa manumque
implicat et rapidis mirantem passibus aufert.
ducitur infelix ad moenia summa futuri 490
nescia virgo mali et falsae commissa sorori,
lilia per vernos lucent velut alba colores
praecipue, quis vita brevis totusque parumper
floret honor, fuscis et iam Notus imminet alis.
hanc residens altis Hecate Perseia lucis 495

for the goddess did not allow, and she entwines her hand
and carries off the amazed girl with rapid steps.
she is led, ill-fated, to the topmost walls, a maiden ignorant of the evil to come 490
and entrusted to a false sister,
like white lilies shine amid the vernal colors,
especially those whose life is brief and whose whole honor blooms for a short while,
and already Notus hangs imminent with dusky wings.
her, sitting in lofty groves, Persean Hecate 495

flebat et has imo referebat pectore voces:
'deseris heu nostrum nemus aequalesque catervas,
a misera, ut Graias haud sponte vageris ad urbes.
non invisa tamen neque te, mea cura, relinquam.
magna fugae monumenta dabis, spernere nec usquam 500
mendaci captiva viro meque ille magistram
sentiet et raptu famulae doluisse pudendo.'
dixerat.

she wept and from her inmost breast was uttering these words:
'alas, you are deserting our grove and the cohorts of your equals,
ah wretched one, how you will wander to Greek cities not of your own will.
yet not hated, nor you, my care, will I leave behind.
you will give great monuments of your flight, nor anywhere 500
as a captive will you spurn your lying husband; and he will feel me
as mistress and that I have grieved at the shameful rape of my handmaid.'
she had spoken.

ast illae murorum extrema capessunt
defixaeque virum lituumque fragoribus horrent,
quales instanti nimborum frigore maestae                    505
succedunt ramis haerent<que> pavore volucres.
      Iamque Getae iamque omnis Hiber Drangeaque densa
strage cadit legio et latis prosternitur arvis.
semineces duplicesque inter sua tela suosque
inter equos saevam misero luctamine versant                    510

but they take to the farthest edges of the walls
and, rooted, shudder at the men and at the trumpet with its crashes,
such as, with the chill of storm-clouds pressing near, the sad birds                    505
withdraw beneath the branches and cling in fear.
      And now the Getae, and now every Iberian, and the Drangian legion
falls in dense slaughter and is laid low over the broad fields.
half-dead and doubled together, amid their own missiles and their own
horses they churn a savage wrestle in wretched plight.                    510

congeriem et longis campos singultibus implent.
victores patrium contra paeana Geloni
congeminant, eadem redeunt mox gaudia victis
qua deus et melior belli respexit imago.
Quis tales obitus dederit, quis talia facta 515
dic age tuque feri reminiscere, Musa, furoris.

they fill the fields with a heap and with long sobs.
the Geloni, victors, in turn redouble the native paean,
and soon the same joys return to the vanquished, when the god and a better image of war has looked back.
Who has dealt such deaths, who such deeds 515
come, say, and you too recall, Muse, the fierce furor.

Absyrtus clipei radiis curruque coruscus
Solis avi (cuius vibrantem comminus hastam
cernere nec galeam gentes potuere minantem,
sed trepidae redeunt et verso vulnera tergo 520
accipiunt magnisque fugam clamoribus augent)
proterit impulsu gravis agmina corporaque atris
sternit equis gemitusque premit spirantis acervi.
nec levior comitatur Aron, horrentia cuius
discolor arma super squalentesque aere lacertos 525

Absyrtus, glittering with the rays of his shield and with the chariot of his grandsire the Sun (whose brandished spear at close quarters and threatening helmet the nations could not behold, but, panic‑stricken, they turn back and receive wounds in their turned backs, and with great clamors they augment their flight), rides down, heavy in his onrush, the ranks and strews bodies with his black horses, and he presses down the groans of the breathing heap.
nor is Aron a lesser companion, whose bristling, varicolored arms above, and shoulders squalid with bronze, 525

barbarica chlamys ardet acu tremefactaque vento
implet equum, qualis roseis it Lucifer alis,
quem Venus inlustri gaudet producere caelo.
at non inde procul Rambelus et acer Otaxes
dispulerant Colchos pariterque inglorius Armis, 530
fraude nova stabula et furtis adsuetus inultis
depopulare greges frontem cum cornibus auxit
hispidus inque dei latuit terrore Lycaei;
hac tunc attonitos facie defixerat hostes.
quem simul ac nota formidine bella moventem 535
vidit Aron, 'pavidos te' inquit 'nunc rere magistros
et stolidum petiisse pecus?

the barbaric chlamys blazes with needlework, and, trembled by the wind,
it fills out the horse, just as Lucifer goes with rosy wings,
whom Venus rejoices to bring forth into the illustrious heaven.
but not far from there Rambelus and keen Otaxes
had scattered the Colchians, and, likewise, one inglorious in arms, 530
by new fraud and accustomed to unavenged thefts
to depredate the herds, rough, augmented his brow with horns
and lay hidden in the terror of the Lycaean god;
with this look he had then fixed the thunderstruck foes.
whom, as soon as he saw stirring wars with a familiar dread, 535
Aron said, 'do you now suppose your masters to be timid,
and that you have sought a stolid herd?

non pascua nec bos
hic tibi: nocturni mitte haec simulamina Panis
neve deum mihi finge. deus quoque consere dextram.'
sic ait intentaque adiutum missile planta 540

not pastures nor an ox are here for you: put away these simulacra of nocturnal Pan,
nor feign a god for me. A god too—join your right hand.'
thus he spoke, and, with his sole braced for the cast, he poised a missile for aid 540

derigit et lapsis patuerunt vulnera villis.
nec minus Aeolii proles Aeetia Phrixi
fertur et ipsa furens ac se modo laeta Cytaeis
agminibus, modo cognatis ostentat Achivis.
atque hos in medio duri discrimine belli 545
laudibus inque ipsis gaudens ubi vidit Iason
'macte' ait 'o nostrum genus et iam certa propago
Aeoliae nec opina domus.

he directs it, and with the shaggy hairs fallen aside the wounds lay open.
no less, the Aeetian offspring of Aeolian Phrixus
is borne along, she herself raging, and now she, glad, displays herself to the Cytaean
ranks, now to her kindred Achaeans.
and these, in the very midst of the harsh crisis of war, 545
when Jason saw, rejoicing even in their praises, he said: ‘Well done,
O our stock, and now a sure scion
of the Aeolian house, no unforeseen one.

sat magna laborum
dona fero, satis hoc visu quaecumque rependo.'
dixit et in Sueten magnique in fata Ceramni 550
emicuit clipeumque rotans hunc poplite caeso
deicit, illum aperit lato per pectus hiatu.
Argus utrumque ab equis ingenti porrigit arvo
et Zacorum et Phalcen, peditem pedes haurit Amastrin.
sanguinis ille globos effusaque viscera gestat 555

'enough great gifts of labors I bring; by this sight I sufficiently recompense whatever.'
he said, and he flashed out at Suetes and to the fates of great Ceramnis 550
and, whirling his shield, he throws this one down with his hamstring cut,
that one he opens with a broad gape through the breast.
Argus stretches both from their horses upon the immense plain,
both Zacorus and Phalces; a foot-soldier, on foot, drains Amastrys the foot-soldier.
that one bears clots of blood and poured-out viscera 555

barbarus et cassa <st>ridens sublabitur ira.
dat Calais Barisanta neci semperque propinquas
Riphea venali comitantem sanguine pugnas.
centum lecta boum bellator corpora, centum
pactus equos; his ille animam lucemque rependit 560
credulus; at tandem dulces iam cassus in auras
respicit ac nulla caelum reparabile gaza.

the barbarian too, hissing with hollow anger, slips down.
Calais gives Barisantus to death, who always, with venal blood, attended the neighboring Riphaean battles.
a hundred chosen bodies of cattle the warrior had bargained, a hundred horses; for these he credulously repaid his soul and his light 560
but at last, now bereft of the sweet breezes, he looks back, and no treasure can make the sky reparable.

labitur intortos per tempora caerula crines
tunc quoque materna velatus harundine Peucon.
at genetrix imis pariter Maeotis ab antris 565
implevit plangore lacus natumque vocavit
iam non per ripas, iam non per curva volantem
stagna nec in medio truncantem marmore cervos.
Eurytus Exomatas agit aequore.

his cerulean locks glide, twisted, over his temples
then too Peucon, veiled with his mother's reed.
but Mother Maeotis likewise from her deepest caverns 565
filled the lakes with plangent lamentation and called her son,
now no longer flying along the banks, now no longer over the curving
pools, nor cutting down stags in the midst of the marble.
Eurytus drives Exomatas over the level plain.

Nestoris hastae
immoritur primaevus Helix nec reddita caro 570

To Nestor’s spear
the youthful Helix dies, and his flesh not restored 570

nutrimenta patri, brevibus ereptus in annis.
at Latagum Zetemque Daraps, illum exigit hasta,
hic fugit, ingentem subiti cum sanguinis undam
vidit et extremo lucentia pectora ferro.
      Ecce autem muris residens Medea paternis                    575
singula dum magni lustrat certamina belli
atque hos ipsa procul densa in caligine reges
agnoscit quaeritque alios Iunone magistra,
conspicit Aesonium longe caput ac simul acres
huc oculos sensusque refert animumque faventem,                    580
nunc quo se raperet, nunc quo diversus abiret
ante videns, quotque unus equos, quot funderet arma
errantesque viros quam densis sisteret hastis.
quaque iterum tacito sparsit vaga lumina vultu
aut fratris quaerens aut pacti coniugis arma,                    585

the sustenance to his father, snatched away in brief years.
but Latagus and Zetes Daraps—him he drives out with a spear,
this one flees, when he saw a huge surge of sudden blood
and breasts gleaming with the steel at the tip.
      But behold, Medea, sitting on her father’s walls,                    575
while she surveys singly the combats of the great war
and she herself from afar in the dense mist recognizes these kings
and seeks others, with Juno as her teacher,
she spies the Aesonian head from far, and at once
turns her keen eyes and senses hither, and her favoring spirit,                    580
now foreseeing whither he would rush, now whither, turned aside, he would go,
and how many horses one man would rout, how much arms he would pour forth,
and how he would halt wandering men with thick-packed spears.
and wherever again with silent countenance she scattered her roving lights,
either seeking the arms of her brother or of her pledged husband,                    585

saevus ibi miserae solusque occurrit Iason.
tunc his germanam adgreditur ceu nescia dictis:
'quis precor hic toto iamdudum fervere campo
quem tueor quemque ipsa vides? nam te quoque tali
attonitam virtute reor.' contra aspera Iuno 590
reddit agens stimulis ac diris fraudibus urget.

savage there Jason alone meets the wretched girl.
then with these words she addresses her sister as if unknowing: 'who, I pray, is this that has been seething for so long now over the whole field, whom I watch and whom you yourself see? for I think you too are thunderstruck by such manly-valor.' in reply harsh Juno answers, and, driving her on, urges with goads and dire deceits. 590

'ipsum' ait 'Aesoniden cernis, soror, aequore tanto
debita cognati repetit qui vellera Phrixi
nec nunc laude prior generis nec sanguine quisquam.
aspicis ut Minyas inter proceresque Cytaeos 595
emicet effulgens quantisque insultet acervis?
et iam vela dabit, iam litora nostra relinquet
Thessaliae felicis opes dilectaque Phrixo
rura petens.

'the very Aesonid' she says 'you see, sister, upon so great a sea
he who seeks again the due fleece of his kinsman Phrixus,
nor now is anyone prior in the praise of lineage nor in blood.
do you see how among the Minyans and the Cytaean nobles 595
he flashes forth, effulgent, and how he tramples upon such great mounds?
and now he will set sail, now he will leave our shores,
making for the wealth of fortunate Thessaly and the fields beloved by Phrixus.

eat atque utinam superetque labores!'
tantum effata magis campis intendere suadet 600

let him go, and may he even overcome the labors!'
having spoken only this, she urges to attend more closely to the fields 600

dum datur ardentesque viri percurrere pugnas,
ac simul hanc dictis, illum dea Marte secundo
impulit atque novas egit sub pectora vires.
ora sub excelso iamdudum vertice coni
saeva micant cursuque ardescit nec tibi, Perse,                    605
nec tibi, virgo, iubae laetabile sidus Achivae,
acer ut autumni canis iratoque vocati
ab Iove fatales ad regna iniusta cometae.
nec sua Crethiden latuit dea vimque recentem
sentit agi membris ac se super agmina tollit,                    610
quantus ubi ipse gelu magnoque incanuit imbre
Caucasus et summas abiit hibernus in Arctos.
tunc vero, stabulis qualis leo saevit opimis
luxurians spargitque famem mutatque cruores,
sic neque parte ferox nec caede moratur in una                    615

while it is granted, and the men run through ardent battles,
and at once the goddess impelled this one with words, that one with Mars auspicious,
and drove new forces beneath his breast.
faces beneath the lofty peak of the cone already for long
gleam savage, and he blazes in his course; nor for you, Perse, 605
nor for you, maiden, is the gladsome star of the Achaean crest,
keen as the Dog of autumn and the fatal comets, summoned
by angry Jove, to unjust realms.
nor did it escape the goddess, her own Cretheid, and he feels fresh force
driven through his limbs, and she lifts herself above the battle-lines, 610
as great as when Caucasus himself has grown hoary with frost and with great rain,
and wintry weather has gone up into the highest Bears.
then indeed, as a lion rages in rich stalls,
luxuriating, and scatters hunger and shifts his gore,
so, fierce, he delays neither in one quarter nor at one slaughter.

turbidus inque omnes pariter furit ac modo saevo
ense, modo infesta rarescunt cuspide pugnae.
tunc et terrificis undantem crinibus Hebrum
et Geticum Priona ferit, caput eripit Auchi
~bracchiaque~ et vastis volvendum mittit harenis.                    620
      At genitus Iove complerat sua fata Colaxes
iamque pater maesto contristat sidera vultu
talibus aegra movens nequiquam pectora curis:
'ei mihi, si durae natum subducere sorti
moliar atque meis ausim confidere regnis,                    625
frater adhuc Amyci maeret nece cunctaque divum
turba fremunt quorum nati cecidere cadentque.
quin habeat sua quemque dies cunctisque negabo
quae mihi.' supremos misero sic fatus honores
congerit atque animis moriturum ingentibus implet.                    630

turbid, and he rages equally against all, and now with a savage
sword, now the battles grow rarefied by his hostile spear.
then too he smites Hebrus with terrifying streaming locks
and Getic Prion; he tears off Auchus’s head
~and arms~ and sends it to be rolled through the vast sands.                    620
      But Colaxes, begotten of Jove, had fulfilled his fates,
and now the father, with a mournful countenance, saddens the stars,
stirring in vain his sick heart with such cares:
“ah me, if I should strive to withdraw my son from hard fate
and should dare to trust in my own realms,                    625
the brother still mourns Amycus’s death, and the whole throng
of the gods roars, whose sons have fallen and will fall.
nay rather let each have his own day, and I will withhold from all
those prerogatives that are mine.” Thus having spoken, he heaps upon the wretch
the last honors and fills him with mighty spirits for dying.                    630

ille volat campis immensaque funera miscet
per cuneos, velut hiberno proruptus ab arcu
imber agens scopulos nemorumque operumque ruinas,
donec ab ingenti bacchatus vertice montis
frangitur inque novum paulatim deficit amnem. 635
talis in extremo proles Iovis emicat aevo
et nunc magnanimos Hypetaona Gessithoumque
nunc Arinen Olbumque rotat. iam saucius Aprem
et desertus equo Thydrum pedes excipit hasta
Phasiaden, pecoris custos de more paterni 640
Caucasus ad primas genuit quem Phasidis undas.
hinc puero cognomen erat famulumque ferebant
Phasidis intonso nequiquam crine parentes.

he flies over the plains and mingles vast slaughters through the wedges,
like a wintry downpour burst forth from the arch,
driving the wreck of rocks and of forests and of works,
until, raving from the huge summit of the mountain,
it is broken and by degrees fails into a new river. 635
such, at the last extremity of his span, the offspring of Jove flashes forth,
and now he whirls the magnanimous Hypetaon and Gessithous,
now Arine and Olbus. Already he, wounded, [smites] Apres,
and Thydrus, deserted by his horse, he catches on foot with his spear,
a Phasiad, a guardian of flocks by his father’s wont; the Caucasus begot him at the first waves of the Phasis. 640
hence the boy had a cognomen, and his parents used to call him
a servitor of the Phasis, with unshorn hair—vainly.

iamque aliis instabat atrox cum diva supremas
rumpit iniqua colus victorque advenit Iason. 645

and now he, atrocious, was pressing upon others, when the unjust goddess breaks the final threads of the distaff
and Jason the victor arrives. 645

excipit hunc saeva sic fatus voce Colaxes:
'vos Scythiae saturare canes Scythiaeque volucres
huc miseri venis<tis>?' ait saxumque prehensum,
illius et dextrae gestamen et illius aevi,
concussa molitur humo, quod regia Iuno 650
flexit ad ignotum caput infletumque Monesi.
praeceps ille ruit. nato non depulit ictus
Iuppiter, Aesoniae vulnus fatale sed hastae
per clipeum, per pectus abit lapsoque cruentus
advolat Aesonides mortemque cadentis acerbat. 655
spargitur hinc miserisque venit iam notus Alanis.

Colaxes takes him up, having spoken thus with a savage voice:
'have you wretches come here to sate the dogs of Scythia and the birds of Scythia?' he says, and a rock he had grasped,
a weapon of that right hand and of that age,
he heaves from the shaken ground, which royal Juno 650
bent toward the unknown and unvaunted head of Monesus.
headlong he rushes. Jupiter did not beat back the blows from his son,
but the fatal wound of the Aesonian spear goes through shield and through breast,
and the Aesonid, bloodstained, flies to the one slipping and aggravates the death of the falling man. 655
from here the report is scattered and now comes well-known to the wretched Alans.

At regina virum (neque enim deus amovet ignem)
persequitur lustrans oculisque ardentibus haeret.
et iam laeta minus praesentis imagine pugnae
castigatque metus et quas alit inscia curas 660

But the queen the man (for indeed the god does not remove the fire)
pursues, surveying, and with ardent eyes she clings.
and now less glad at the image of the present battle
she also castigates her fears and the cares which, unknowing, she nourishes 660

respiciens an vera soror nec credere falsos
audet atrox vultus eademque in gaudia rursus
labitur et saevae trahitur dulcedine flammae.
ac velut ante comas ac summa cacumina silvae
lenibus adludit flabris levis Auster, at illum 665
protinus immanem miserae <sensere> carinae,
talis ad extremos agitur Medea furores.
interdum blandae derepta monilia divae
contrectat miseroque aptat flagrantia collo,
quaque dedit teneros aurum furiale per artus, 670
deficit; ac sua virgo deae gestamina reddit
non gemmis, non illa levi turbata metallo,
sed facibus, sed mole dei, quem pectore toto
iam tenet.

looking back to see whether it is a true sister, nor does she dare to believe the grim visages false, and into the same joys again she slips and is drawn by the sweetness of the savage flame.
and just as, before the tresses and topmost peaks of the forest, the light South Wind plays with gentle breaths, but him straightway the wretched keels immense, 665
so is Medea driven to extreme furies.
sometimes she handles the necklaces torn from the coaxing goddess and fits the blazing things to her wretched neck, and wherever the furial gold has been given along her tender limbs, 670
she fails; and the maiden gives back the goddess’s ornaments, disturbed not by the gems, not by that light metal, but by the torches, by the mass of the god, whom with her whole breast she now holds.

extremus roseo pudor errat in ore.
ac prior his: 'credisne patrem promissa daturum, 675

the last blush strays over her rosy face.
and first before these: 'do you believe the father will give the promises, 675

o soror, Argolicus cui dis melioribus hospes
contigit? aut belli quantum iam restat acerbi?
heu quibus ignota sese pro gente periclis
obicit!' haec fantem medio in sermone reliquit
incepti iam Iuno potens securaque fraudis. 680
imminet e celsis audentius improba muris
virgo nec ablatam sequitur quaeritve sororem.

o sister, to whom has an Argolic guest with better gods come? or how much of bitter war now remains?
alas, to what dangers, unknown to herself, she exposes herself for her people!' She left him saying these things in mid-speech, Juno now powerful in the undertaking and secure in her fraud. 680
she, a shameless maiden, looms more boldly from the lofty walls, nor does she follow or seek her stolen-away sister.

at quotiens vis dura ducum densique repente
Aesoniden pressere viri cumque omnis in unum
imber iit, totiens saxis pulsatur et hastis. 685
primaque ad infesti Lexanoris horruit arcus,
alta sed Aesonium supra caput exit harundo
teque, Caice, petit. coniunx miseranda Caico
linquitur et primo domus imperfecta cubili.
Regius Eois Myraces interpres ab oris 690

but as often as the hard force of the leaders and the men thick-packed suddenly
pressed the Aesonid, and when the whole downpour went all at once into one,
so often is he battered by stones and spears. 685
and first the bow of hostile Lexanor shuddered at him,
but the tall reed passes above the Aesonian’s head
and seeks you, Caicus. A pitiable consort for Caicus
is left behind, and a house unfinished at its first bridal bed.
Myraces, the royal interpreter from the Eoan shores 690

venerat ut Colchos procul atque Aeetia Parthis
foedera donato non inrita iungeret auro.
tum iuvenem terris Parcae tenuere Cytaeis
ac subiti Mavortis amor: simul armiger ibat
semivir impubemque gerens sterilemque iuventam. 695
ipse ~pharetratis~ residens ad frena tapetis
nunc levis infesto procurrit in agmina curru,
nunc fuga conversas spargit mentita sagittas.
at viridem gemmis et eoae stamine silvae
subligat extrema patrium cervice tiaran 700
insignis manicis, insignis acinace dextro;
improba barbaricae procurrunt tegmina plantae.

he had come so that, far off, to the Colchians and to the Aeëtian Parthians
he might join covenants not ineffectual, with gold bestowed.
then the Fates held the youth in the Scythian lands
and a sudden love of Mars: at the same time his armor‑bearer went,
a half‑man, bearing an unbearded and sterile youthhood. 695
he himself, sitting at the reins on quiver‑patterned carpets,
now nimble, runs forward with a hostile chariot into the battle‑lines,
now, in flight, he scatters feigned arrows shot backward.
but he binds beneath the nape his native tiara, green as a forest,
with gems and an Eoan thread, marked by sleeves, marked by an acinaces at his right; 700
shameless coverings of the barbarian sole run projecting.

nec latuere diu saevum spolia illa Syenen
perque levem et multo maculatam murice tigrin
concita cuspis abit. subitos ex ore cruores 705

nor did those spoils long escape the savage Syenes
and through the light tigress-skin maculated with much murex
the hurled spear-point goes. sudden gouts of gore from his mouth 705

saucia tigris hiat vitamque effundit erilem.
ipse puer fracto pronum caput implicat arcu.
sanguine tunc atro chlamys ignea, sanguine vultus
et gravidae maduere comae, quas flore Sabaeo
nutrierat liquidoque parens signaverat auro. 710
qualem siquis aquis et fertilis ubere terrae
educat ac ventis oleam felicibus implet
nec labor adsiduus nec spes sua fallit alentem
iamque videt primam tenero de vertice frondem,
cum subito immissis praeceps Aquilonia nimbis 715
venit hiems nigraque evulsam tendit harena:
haud secus ante urbem Myraces atque ipsius ante
virginis ora cadit.

smitten, the tigress gapes and pours out her master’s life.
the boy himself entangles his bowed head in the broken bow.
then with black blood his fiery cloak, with blood his face,
and his heavy locks were soaked—locks which his parent had nourished with Sabaean blossom
and had stamped with liquid gold. 710
such as when someone rears an olive with waters and the fertile udder of the earth
and fills it with favorable winds, and neither constant labor nor his hope deceives the nourisher,
and already he sees the first leafage from the tender crown,
when suddenly, with Aquilonian rainclouds let loose, headlong
comes winter and stretches it, torn up, on the black sand: 715
just so, before the city Myraces falls, and before the maiden’s very
face.

sed non magis illa movetur
unius aegra metu quam te, Meleagre, furentem,
quam Talaum videt aut pugnas miratur Acasti. 720

but she is not more moved,
sick at the fear of any one, than at you, Meleager, raging,
than when she sees Talaus or marvels at the combats of Acastus. 720

at satis hos ipsae gentes campique videbant
tempestate pari versis incumbere turmis.
ante oculos fuga foeda ducum largusque cadentum
it cruor et currus dominis ingentibus orbi.
Non tulit hos Perses gemitus clademque suorum 725
tergaque versa tuens his caelum questibus implet:
'quid me iam patriis eiectum sedibus istas
ut struerem pugnas Scythiamque in bella moverem
vos superi, vos augurio lusistis inani?

but the peoples themselves and the plains saw well enough
the wheeling squadrons bear down with an equal tempest.
before their eyes runs the foul rout of leaders and the copious blood of the falling,
and chariots bereft of their mighty lords.
Perses did not endure these groans and the ruin of his own 725
and, watching their turned backs, he fills the sky with these complaints:
‘why me, now cast out from my ancestral seats, that I should arrange these battles
and move Scythia to war—was it you, you gods above, you played with an empty augury?’

quid fratris meritas tum, Iuppiter, omina poenas 730
promisere mihi? nobis Argoa parabas
scilicet auxilia et tantas coniungere vires.
saeva quidem lucis miseris mora, dent tamen oro
unum illum mihi fata diem, qui fallat Achivos
sic meritos quoque hunc videam virtute superbum 735

what punishments, Jupiter, did my brother’s well‑merited omens then promise to me? 730
for me, no doubt, you were preparing Argive auxiliaries and to conjoin such great forces.
indeed, the delay of the light is savage for the wretched; yet, I pray, let the fates grant me that one day,
which shall deceive the Achaeans—so may I behold this man too, though deserving, vaunting in prowess 735

Aesoniden tantos flentem sine honore labores!'
dixerat haec pectusque suis everberat armis
et galeam fletu, galeam singultibus implet.
ibat et in medii praeceps incendia belli,
ni prior adversis Pallas vidisset ab armis 740
et secum: 'ruit ecce ferox in funera Perses,
quem genitor Colchis solioque imponere fratris
iam statuit. nostra vereor ne fraude peremptum
increpet et culpam hanc magno terrore rependat.'
haec dicens atro nebulam diffundit amictu 745
striden<te>sque viri circum caput amovet hastas.

'the Aesonid, weeping over such labors without honor!'
he had said these things and beats his breast with his own arms
and he fills his helmet with weeping, his helmet with sobs.
he was going headlong into the blazes of the middle of war,
if Pallas had not first seen him from the opposing arms, 740
and to herself: 'look, fierce Perses rushes to his death,
whom his father has now resolved to set upon the Colchian
throne of his brother. I fear lest he, as slain by our fraud,
reproach it and repay this fault with great terror.'
saying these things she spreads a cloud as a black cloak 745
and removes the striden<te>spears from around the man’s head.

ille super socias clementi turbine gentes
erigitur paulum<que> levi raptatus in aethra
iam tandem extremas pugnae defertur in oras,
forte ubi serus Hiber Issedoniaeque phalanges 750

he is raised above the allied peoples by a gentle whirlwind
and, a little, lightly snatched into the aether,
now at last he is borne to the farthest borders of the battle,
by chance where the tardy Iberian and Issedonian phalanxes 750

Marte carent solisque iuvant clamoribus agmen.
Nox simul astriferas profert optabilis umbras
et cadit extemplo belli fragor aegraque muris
digreditur longum virgo perpessa timorem.
ut fera Nyctelii paulum per sacra resistunt, 755
mox rapuere deum iamiam <in> quodcumque paratae
Thyiades, haud alio remeat Medea tumultu
atque inter Graiumque acies patriasque phalangas
semper inexpletis agnoscit Iasona curis
armaque quique cava superest de casside vultus.

They lack Mars, and with only shouts they help the column.
Night at once brings forth the astriferous, longed-for shades,
and straightway the din of war falls, and the maiden, sick, departs from the walls,
having long endured fear. Just as the wild Thyiads of Nyctelius pause a little amid the sacred rites, 755
soon the Thyiads, now ready for anything, snatch the god;
Medea returns in no different tumult,
and between the Greek battle-lines and her homeland’s phalanxes
she ever recognizes Jason with unsated cares,
and his arms and whatever of his face protrudes from the hollow helmet.