www.JohnCunyus.com
Translator, Publisher, Web Designer
The Latin Iliad
by Publius Baebius Italicus
translated by John Cunyus
All Rights to English Translation, Study Notes,
and Photographs Reserved.
No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Searchlight Press
Who are you looking for?
Publishers of thoughtful Christian books since 1994.
5634 Ledgestone Drive
Dallas, TX 75214-2026
214.662.5494
"Blessed are the peacemakers:
for they shall be called the children of God."
Matthew v.ix.
Ilias Latina (The Latin Iliad)
is a 1070 (or so) line poem in Latin,
written between 60 and 70 AD
***in Silver Age hexameter, for what that's worth***
by a Roman Senator, Publius Baebius Italicus,
during the reign of Nero.
It is an epitome, or a "condensed version"
of The Iliad, by the Greek poet Homer,
which is an account of a portion of the Trojan War.
The Iliad itself contains 15,693 lines.
Think of it as the "Reader's Digest" version of The Iliad, if you're old enough to remember such things. Otherwise, think of it as the "movie version" of a full-length novel. It was popular throughout the Middle Ages. For many centuries, Homer's works in their original language were lost in Western Europe. Ilias Latina was the only version available.
The Latin glides easily off the tongue, once learned. The oddity of word placement in the ancient poetry, at least from an English-speaker's perspective, is a useful way to reacquaint oneself with Latin grammar. The language itself is colorful, violent, graphic. This work is useful for someone who wants to study Latin, or who just wants to enjoy a new English version of a very old work.
The Latin edition is in the public domain (obviously!) and comes courtesy of The Latin Library, www.thelatinlibrary.com/ilias.html. The copyright applies only to the English translation and study notes.
Ilias Latin-English
1. 1Iram pande mihi Pelidae, Diva, superbi
Tell me, Goddess 2, the wrath of proud Pelides 3,
2. Tristia quae miseris iniecit funera Grais
that injected sorrowful deaths among the wretched Greeks,
3. Atque animas fortes heroum traditit Orco
and handed over souls of mighty heros to Orcus 4,
4. Latrantumque dedit rostris volucrumque trahendos
and gave to the mouths of dogs and birds to tear
5. Illorum exsangues, inhumatis ossibus, artus.
the bloodless limbs of their unburied bones.
6. Confiebat enim summi sententia regis,
For it confessed the sentence of the high King, 5
7. <Unde et> pertulerant discordia pectora pugnas,
from which also discordant hearts had carried on quarrels,
8. Sceptriger Atrides et bello clarus Achilles.
Scepter-bearing Atrides 6 and Achilles, famous in war 7.
9. Quis deus hos ira tristi contendere iussit?
Which god commanded to draw this sad wrath tight?
10. Latonae et magni proles Iovis. Ille Pelasgum
The Offspring of Leto and great Jove! 8 He sent
11. Infestam regi perstem in praecordia misit
the hostile persistence into the Pelasgian king’s heart
12. implicuitque gravi Danaorum corpora morbo.
and involved the Danaans’ bodies in grave distress.
13. Nam quondam Chryses, sollemni tempora vitta
For one day Chryses, his temples wrapped
14. implicitus, raptae flevit solacia natae
in solemn bands, wept, the solace of his daughter taken,
15. invisoque dies invisaque tempora noctis
days hateful and times of night hateful.
16. egit et assiduis implevit questibus auras.
He urged and unceasingly filled the breezes with complaints.
17. Postquam nulla dies animum maerore levabat
After no day lifted his soul from grief
18. nullaque lenibant patrios solacia fletus,
and no solaces eased the fathers’ tears,
19. castra petit Danaum, genibusque affusus Atridae
he aims at the Danaans’ camps and, prostrate on Atrides’ knees,
20. per superos regnique decus miserabilis orat
prays in misery, by the gods above and the kingdom’s glory,
21. ut sibi causa suae reddatur nata salutis.
that the daughter be returned to him for her safety’s sake.
22. Dona simul praefert. Vincuntur fletibus eius
He brings gifts at the same time. The Myrmidons are won over
23. Myrmidones reddique patri Chryseida censent.
by his tears, and recommend to return Chryseis to her father.
24. Sed negat Atrides Chrysenque excedere castris
Yet Atrides refuses, and commands Chryses to leave the camps,
25. despecta pietate iubet: ferus ossibus imis
piety despised: wild love clings to his innermost bones
26. haeret amor spernitque preces damnosa libido.
and for damnable lust he spurns prayers.
27. Contemptus repetit Phoebeis templa sacerdos
The priest, despised, returns to Phoebis’ 9 temple
28. squalidaque infestis maerens secat unguibus ora
and grieving, tears his dirty face with hostile nails;
29. dilaceratque comas annosaque tempora plangit.
and tearing hair, also strikes his ancient temples.
30. Mox ubi depositi gemitus lacrimaeque quierunt,
Next, when moans were laid down and tears are quiet,
31. Fatidici his sacras compellat uocibus aures:
he appeals to the sacred ears of the Fate-Teller by these words:
32. "Quid coluisse mihi tua numina, Delphice, prodest
“What benefit is it to me to have worshiped
your divinities, Delphic god,
33. aut castam uitam multos duxisse per annos?
or to have led a chaste life for many years?
34. Quidue iuuat sacros posuisse altaribus ignes,
What does it help to have placed sacred fires on altars,
35. si tuus externo iam spernor ab hoste sacerdos?
if already I, your priest, am scorned by a hostile enemy?
36. En, haec desertae redduntur dona senectae?
Look! Are these gifts returned to my deserted old age?
37. Si gratus tibi sum, sim te sub uindice tutus.
If I am pleasing to you, let me be upheld under your vindication.
38. Aut si qua, ut luerem sub acerbo crimine poenas,
Or if otherwise, that I atone for crime under bitter judgment,
39. inscius admisi, cur o tua dextera cessat?
I have admitted unknown, oh, why does your right arm stop?
40. Posce sacros arcus, in me tua derige tela:
Demand the sacred bow, aim your arrows against me:
41. auctor mortis erit certe deus. Ecce, merentem
the author of death will be a god, certainly.
Look! I am the deserving one!
42. fige patrem; cur nata luit peccata parentis
Pierce the father; why does the daughter atone for parental sin,
43. atque hostis duri patitur miseranda cubile?."
and suffer, miserable, the bed of a harsh enemy?”
44. Dixerat. Ille sui uatis prece motus acerbis
He finished speaking.
Apollo, moved by his bitter prayer of prophecy,
45. luctibus infestat Danaos pestemque per omnes
infects the Danaans with pestilence,
bringing grievous sufferings through all.
46. immittit populos: uulgus ruit undique Graium
He throws it in among the peoples:
a crowd of Greeks falls on every side,
47. uixque rogis superest tellus, uix ignibus aer,
and hardly ground remains for funeral pyres, hardly air for fires.
48. deerat ager tumulis. Iam noctis sidera nonae
The field lacks space for burials. Already, nine stars of night
49. transierant decimusque dies patefecerat orbem,
and a tenth day passing, had made the world known,
50. cum Danaum proceres in coetum clarus Achilles
when famous Achilles calls together the Danaans’ nobles
51. conuocat et causas hortatur pestis iniquae
in council, and urges Thestor’s sons to make evident
52. edere Thestoriden. Tunc Calchas numina diuum
the causes of the hostile plague.
Then Calchas consults the divinities of the gods,
53. consulit et causam pariter finemque malorum
and finds both cause and end together of the evils.
54. inuenit effarique uerens ope tutus Achillis
And fearing to speak, by aid of Achilles’ protection,
55. haec ait: "Infesti placemus numina Phoebi
he says this: “We must placate the divinities of hostile Phoebus,
56. reddamusque pio castam Chryseida patri,
and return chaste Chryseis to the pious father,
57. si uolumus, Danai, portus intrare salutis."
if we want, Danaans, to enter gates of health.”
58. Dixerat. Exarsit subito uiolentia regis:
He finished speaking. The King’s violence blazed up at once:
59. Thestoriden dictis primum compellat amaris
He addresses bitter words to Thestor’s son first
60. mendacemque uocat. Tum magnum incusat Achillem
and calls him a liar. Moreover, he accuses great Achilles
61. inque uicem ducis inuicti conuicia suffert.
and in turn he suffers the abuses of the unconquerable leader.
62. Confremuere omnes. Tandem clamore represso
All complain loudly. At length, the outcry repressed,
63. cogitur inuitos aeger dimittere amores
the sick man is forced against his will to give up sexual lusts,
64. intactamque pio reddit Chryseida patri
and returns Chryseis intact to the pious father
65. multaque dona super. Quam cunctis notus Vlixes
and many gifts above. Ulysses, whom all know,
66. impositam puppi patrias deuexit ad arces
placing her aboard ship, returned her by sail
to her homeland’s strongholds.
67. atque iterum ad classes Danaum sua uela retorsit.
and again turned his sail back to the Danaans’ bands.
68. Protinus infesti placantur numina Phoebi
Immediately, the divinities of hostile Phoebus are placated
69. et prope consumptae uires redduntur Achiuis.
and strengths, nearly consumed, are returned to the Achaeans.
70. Non tamen Atridae Chryseidis excidit ardor:
Nevertheless the ardor of Atrides for Chryseis
does not disappear:
71. maeret et amissos deceptus luget amores.
and, deceived by partings, he grieves and mourns lusts.
72. Mox rapta magnum Briseide priuat Achillem
Soon, he robs great Achilles, taking Briseis,
73. solaturque suos alienis ignibus ignes.
and lightens his fires by another’s fires.
74. At ferus Aeacides nudato protinus ense
But wild Aeacides 10 aims at Atrides
75. tendit in Atriden et, ni sibi reddat honestae
at once by naked sword and, unless he returns to him
76. munera militiae, letum crudele minatur,
the prizes of soldiery, he cruelly threatens death;
77. nec minus ille parat contra defendere se ense.
nor less the other prepares to defend himself by the sword.
78. Quod nisi casta manu Pallas tenuisset Achillem,
That unless chaste Pallas 11 had taken Achilles by hand,
79. turpem caecus amor famam liquisset in aeuum
blind lust would have bequeathed a shameful reputation
80. gentibus Argolicis. Contempta uoce minisque
to the Argive nations for all time.
And despising the threatening voice,
81. inuocat aequoreae Pelides numina matris
Pelides invokes the divinities of his sea-born mother
82. ne se Plistheniden contra patiatur inultum.
that she not suffer him to be unavenged against Plisthenides 12.
83. At Thetis audita nati prece deserit undas
But Thetis 13, hearing the son’s prayer, abandons the waves
84. castraque Myrmidonum iuxta petit et monet armis
and, beside the Myrmidons’ camps, she begs and warns of arms,
85. abstineat dextram ac congressibus; inde per auras
that he keep the right arm away from gatherings:
from there through breezes
86. emicat aetherias et in aurea sidera fertur.
she bolts up the skies and comes to splendid stars.
87. Tunc genibus regis sparsis affusa capillis:
Then, prostrating herself on the King’s 14 knees, hair scattered,
88. "Pro nato ueni genetrix en ad tua supplex
“I’ve come for my son. Look! A mother, suppliant to your
89. numina, summe parens; ulciscere meque meumque
divinities, highest parent: to avenge both me and my
90. corpus ab Atrida, quodsi permittitur illi
body from Atrides; if it is permitted him
91. ut flammas impune mei uiolarit Achillis,
that he violate unpunished the flames of my Achilles,
92. turpiter occiderit superata libidine uirtus."
and wickedly kill virtue by overweening lust.”
93. Iuppiter haec contra: "Tristes depone querelas,
Jupiter 15 answers this: “Put away sad complaints,
94. magni diua maris, mecum labor iste manebit.
goddess of the great sea. This labor will remain with me.
95. Tu solare tui maerentia pectora nati."
You console your son’s grieving heart.”
96. Dixit. At illa leues caeli delapsa per auras
He spoke. But she, gliding lightly down the sky by breezes
97. litus adit patrium gratasque sororibus undas.
comes to her father’s shore, and the waves pleasing to her sisters.
98. Offensa est Iuno: "Tantumque” ait, "optime coniunx,
Juno 16 was offended.
“And does the daughter of Doris 17 matter so much,
99. Doride nata ualet, tantum debetur Achilli,
“great husband?” she says. “Is so much owed Achilles,
100. ut mihi quae coniunx dicor tua quaeque sororis
that to me who am called your spouse, and likewise sister,
101. dulce fero nomen, dilectos fundere Achiuos
a name I bear sweetly, you crush the beloved Achaeans,
102. et Troum renouare uelis in proelia uires?
and renew the powers of the Trojans in battle?
103. Haec ita dona refers nobis? sic diligor a te?"
Do you, therefore, bring back these gifts to us?
Am I thus loved by you?”
104. Talibus incusat dictis irata Tonantem
By such angry words she accuses the Thunderer 18,
105. inque uicem summi patitur conuicia regis.
and in turn she suffers the high King’s abuses.
106. Tandem interposito lis Ignipotente resedit
At length, by the fire god’s 19 intervention,
the quarrel settles down
107. conciliumque simul genitor dimittit Olympi.
and the father of Olympus 20 at once dismisses the council.
108. Interea sol emenso decedit Olympo
Meanwhile the sun withdraws, passing through Olympus,
109. et dapibus diui curant sua corpora largis;
and the gods cure their bodies by great feasts:
110. inde petunt thalamos iucundaque dona quietis.
from there they ask bedchambers, and happy gifts of quiet.
111. Nox erat et toto fulgebant sidera mundo
It was night, and stars were shining on all the world.
112. humanumque genus requies diuumque tenebat,
The race of humans and gods had rest,
113. cum pater omnipotens Somnum uocat atque ita fatur:
when the omnipotent father calls Sleep, and so it is spoken:
114. "Vade age per tenues auras, lenissime diuum,
“Go! Work through slightest breezes, gentlest of gods,
115. Argolicique ducis celeri pete castra uolatu
and aim by rapid flight at the camps of the Argive commander.
116. dumque tuo premitur sopitus pondere dulci,
And when drowsiness is oppressing by your sweet weight,
117. haec illi mandata refer: cum crastina primum
refer this commandment to him: when at first light
118. extulerit Titana dies noctemque fugarit,
day will raise up the Titan 21 and drive out night,
119. cogat in arma uiros incautumque occupet hostem."
let him gather men in arms, and assault the incautious enemy.”
120. Nec mora: Somnus abit leuibusque per aera pennis
No delay: Sleep goes by light feathers through the air,
121. deuolat in thalamos Agamemnonis: ille sopore
flies down to Agamemnon’s bedchamber: he
122. corpus inundatum leni prostratus habebat.
had a body stretched out, overcome with gentle sleep.
123. Ad quem sic loquitur curarum operumque leuator:
To whom the lifter of works and cares speaks so:
124. "Rex Danaum, Atrida, uigila et mandata Tonantis
King of Danaans, son of Atreus, wake up, and receive
125. quae tibi iussa simul delatus ab aethere porto,
the Thunderer’s commandment,
which decree I bring you at once,
126. accipe: cum primum Titan se emerserit undis,
carried down from the
sky: when the Titan will arise from the waves,
127. fortibus arma iube socios aptare lacertis
command allies to put arms on mighty shoulders,
128. et petere Iliacos instructo milite campos."
and to attack the Ilians’ camps in military order.”
129. Dixit, et has repetit per quas modo uenerat auras.
He spoke, and seeks again these breezes by which he had come.
130. Interea lucem terris dedit ignea lampas.
While a fiery lamp gives light to the ground,
131. Conuocat attonitus iussis Pelopeius heros
the Pelopeian hero 22, astonished by the commandments,
132. in coetum proceres remque omnibus ordine pandit:
calls the nobles together in assembly,
and reveals the matter to all by rank:
133. cuncti promittunt socias in proelia uires
all promise sharing forces in battle
134. hortanturque ducem. Quorum rex fortia dictis
and they urge on the leader. The King, praising mighty hearts
135. pectora collaudans grates agit omnibus aequas.
by words, gives equal thanks to all.
136. Hic tunc Thersites, quo non deformior alter
This Thersites, then, than whom no other more deformed
137. uenerat ad Troiam nec lingua proteruior ulli,
came to Troy, nor any tongue bolder,
138. bella gerenda negat patriasque hortatur ad oras
refuses to wage war, and urges them to return again
139. uertere iter, quem consiliis illustris Vlixes
to the fatherlands’ shores. Ulysses of illustrious counsel
140. correptum dictis sceptro percussit eburno.
strikes him with an ivory staff, correcting his words.
141. Tum uero ardescit conceptis litibus ira:
Then fury truly rages, conceiving quarrels:
142. uix telis caruere manus, ad sidera clamor
hardly a hand lacks a spear, the clamor is taken
143. tollitur et cunctos pugnandi corripit ardor.
to the stars, and fire for fighting sweeps away all.
144. Tandem sollertis prudentia Nestoris aeuo
At length, by the cleverness of Nestor’s aged wisdom,
145. compressam miti sedauit pectore turbam
he settled the compressed crowd by a gentle heart,
146. admonuitque duces dictis responsa recordans
and admonished the leaders by words, remembering a response
147. temporis illius, quo uisus in Aulide serpens
of that time in Aulis when he had seen a serpent
148. consumpsit uolucrum bis quattuor arbore fetus
devour twice four bird chicks in a tree,
149. atque ipsam inualido pugnantem corpore contra
and it added the mother to the death of the chicks.
150. addidit extremo natorum funere matrem.
her fighting with weak body against him to the end.
151. Tunc "sic deinde" senex "moneo remoneboque, Achiui:
Then the old man said,
“Thus from there, I warn and will remind, Achaeans:
152. in decimo labor est, Calchas quem dixerat, anno,
the labor which Calchas spoke of is in the tenth year,
153. quo caderet Danaum uictricibus Ilion armis."
in which Ilion will fall by the victorious arms of the Danaans.
154. Assensere omnes, laudatur Nestoris aetas
All assenting, the long life of Nestor is praised,
155. conciliumque simul dimittitur. Arma parari
and the council at once is dismissed. The leader commands
156. dux iubet atque animos aptare et pectora pugnae.
arms to be readied, souls and hearts to prepare for battle.
157. Postera lux tacitas ut primum dispulit umbras
Next, as light had first dispelled silent shadows
158. et nitidum Titan radiis caput extulit undis,
and Titan had raised a shining head from the waves by rays,
159. protinus armari socios iubet acer Atrides
at once, bitter Atrides commands allies to be armed,
160. et petere Iliacos instructo milite campos.
and to attack the Ilian camps in military order.
161. Vos mihi nunc, Musae - quid enim non ordine nostis? -,
You Muses, bring back now to me
– for what do you not know in order? –
162. nomina clara ducum clarosque referte parentes
famous names of leaders and famous ancestors
163. et dulces patrias: nam sunt haec munera uestra.
and sweet fatherlands: for these are your gifts.
164. Dicamus quot quisque rates ad Pergama duxit
Let us say who led ships to Pergamam, and how many,
165. et coeptum peragamus opus, sitque auctor Apollo
and let us carry the work begun through to the end,
and may Apollo be the author,
166. aspiretque libens operi per singula nostro.
and, willing, breathe upon each work of ours.
167. Peneleos princeps et bello Leitus acer,
Prince Peneleos and Leitus sharp to war,
168. Arcesilaus atrox Prothoenorque Cloniusque
savage Arcesilaus, and Prothoenor, and Clonius
169. Boeoti decies quinas egere carinas
lead fifty ships of Boeotia,
170. et tumidos ualido pulsarunt remige fluctus.
and by strong rower beat the swelling waves.
171. Inde Mycenaeis Agamemnon moenibus ortus,
From there Agamemnon, rising from Mycenae’s fortifications,
172. quem sibi bellatrix delegit Graecia regem,
whom warlike Greece chose as king for itself,
173. centum egit plenas armato milite puppes;
led a hundred ships full of armed soldiery;
174. et bis tricenis Menelai nauibus ardor
and the ardor of Menelaus twice thirty ships
175. insequitur totidemque ferox Agapenoris ira;
follow, and fierce, angry Agapenoris the same;
176. quos iuxta fidus sollerti pectore Nestor
beside which, faithful Nestor of wise heart,
177. consilioque potens gemina cum prole suorum
and mighty in counsel, with his twin offspring,
178. it ter tricenis munitus in arma carinis.
comes fortified in thrice thirty armed keels.
179. At Schedius uirtute potens et Epistrophus ingens,
Then Schedius, mighty in power, and giant Epistrophus,
180. gloria Myrmidonum, saeui duo robora belli,
glory of the Myrmidons, two savages of strengths for war,
181. longa quaterdenis pulsarunt aequora proris
beat long waters with forty prows;
182. et bis uicenas Polypoetes atque Leonteus
and Polypoetes and Leonteus with twice twenty
183. instruxere rates ornatas milite forti.
decorated ships fit out by strong soldiery.
184. Euryalus Sthenelusque duces et fortis in armis
Leaders Euryalus and Sthenelus, and Tydides 23,
185. Tydides ualido pulsarunt remige pontum:
strong in arms, beat the sea by a mighty oar:
186. bis quadragenas onerarunt milite puppes;
twice forty ships were burdened by soldiery;
187. Ascalaphusque potens et Ialmenus, acer uterque,
Mighty Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, both severe,
188. ter denas ualido complerunt remige naues
furnished thrice ten ships by a mighty oar;
189. et bis uicenas Locrum fortissimus Aiax
and most mighty Ajax of Locrus prepared
190. instruxit puppes totidemque Euhaemone natus,
twice twenty ships, and Euhamone’s son the same,
191. quos iuxta Graium murus comitatur Achilles
which rest beside Achilles, wall of the Greeks,
192. cum quinquaginta materna per aequora uectus.
with fifty, borne by maternal waters.
193. Thessalici iuuenes Phidippus et Antiphus ibant
Phidippus and Antiphus, youths of Thessaly, came
194. altaque ter denis pulsarunt aequora proris
and beat the deep seas with thrice ten ships.
195. et tribus assumptis ratibus secat aequora Teucer
And taking up three ships, Teucer divides the seas;
196. Tlepolemusque nouem Rhodius, quos uiribus acer
Tlepomenus of Rhodius nine, whose severe strengths
197. Eumelus sequitur, minus una naue profectus
Eumelus follows, setting out in one less ship
198. quam duxit Telamone satus Salaminius Aiax.
than Ajax of Salaminius led, sprung of Telamon.
199. Ast Prothous Magnes Tenthredone natus et una
And yet Magnesian Prothous, son of Tenthredon
200. Euboeae magnis Elephenor finibus ortus
and Elephenor, sprung of the great borders of Euboea, one,
201. Dulichiusque Meges, animisque insignis et armis,
and Meges of Dulichius, conspicuous both in soul and arms,
202. Aetola de gente Thoas Andraemone natus,
of Aetolan nationality, Thoas, born of Andraemonus,
203. hi quadragenas omnes duxere carinas;
all these led forty keels;
204. et bis sex Ithaci naues sollertia duxit,
and the cunning one of Ithaca 24 led twice six ships,
205. quem sequitur totidem ratibus Telamonius Aiax,
whom Telamonian Ajax follows with the same number of ships,
206. egregia uirtute potens; simul horrida Guneus
mighty with terrific strength; likewise, terrifying Guneus
207. ire bis undenis temptabat in arma carinis.
attempted to go in arms in twice eleven keels.
208. Idomeneus et Meriones, Cretaeus uterque,
Idomeneus and Meriones, both of Crete,
209. bis quadragenis muniti nauibus ibant;
went in twice forty fortified ships;
210. et totidem puppes clara de gente Menestheus
and Menestheus the Athenian, of famous nation, led
211. duxit Athenaeus, quot uiribus ambit Achilles;
the same number of ships as Achilles solicited of forces;
212. Amphimachusque ferox et Thalpius, Elide nati,
and fierce Amphimachus and Thalpius, born of Elis,
213. et clara uirtute Polyxenus atque Diores,
and Polyxenus of famous strength, and Diores,
214. hi bis uicenas onerarunt milite puppes.
these weighed down twice twenty ships by soldiery.
215. Protesilaus agit totidem fortisque Podarces
Protesilaus leads the same number, and strong Podarces,
216. instructas puppes, quot duxit Oileos Aiax;
prepared ships, as many as Oileus Ajax led;
217. et septem Poeante satus tulit arma carinis,
and the one sprung of Poeas 25 took seven armed keels,
218. quem sequitur iuxta Podalirius atque Machaon,
whom Podalirius followed beside, and Machaon,
219. altaque ter denis sulcarunt aequora proris.
and they plowed the deep seas by twice ten prows.
220. His ducibus Graiae Troiana ad litora puppes
By these Greek leaders, ships came to Trojan shores:
221. bis septem uenere minus qam mille ducentae.
twice seven less than one thousand, two hundred.
222. Iamque citi appulerant classes camposque tenebant,
And already the ranks had driven quickly, and held the fields,
223. cum pater ad Priamum mittit Saturnius Irim,
when the Saturnian 26 father sends Iris to Priam,
224. quae doceat fortes uenisse ad bella Pelasgos.
who may show that the mighty Pelasgians to have come to war.
225. Nec mora: continuo iussu capit arma parentis
No delay: immediately by the father’s order,
226. Priamides Hector totamque in proelia pubem
Hector, son of Priam, takes arms
and all the young men into battle.
227. festinare iubet portisque agit agmen apertis.
He commands them to hurry,
and makes a battle line by the open gates.
228. Cui fulgens auro cassis iuuenile tegebat
The flashing of the youth’s golden helmet covered
229. omni parte caput, munibat pectora thorax
every part of the head, a breastplate fortified the chest,
230. et clipeus laeuam, dextram decorauerat hasta
and a shield decorated the left arm, a spear the right;
231. ornabatque latus mucro; simul alta nitentes
and he adorned the side by a sword, likewise shining brightly;
232. crura tegunt ocreae, quales decet Hectoris esse.
greaves cover legs, which are fitting for Hector to use.
233. Hunc sequitur forma melior, tunc fortis in armis,
A handsomer form, then, follows this man in mighty arms,
234. belli causa Paris, patriae funesta ruina,
Paris, cause of war, deadly ruin of his fatherland,
235. Deiphobusque Helenusque simul fortisque Polites
and Deiphobus and Helenus together and mighty Polites
236. et sacer Aeneas, Veneris certissima proles,
and holy Aeneas, most certain offspring of Venus 27,
237. Archelochusque Acamasque ferox Antenore creti;
and Archelochus and fierce Acamas, born of Antenor;
238. nec non et proles generosa Lycaonis ibat
and indeed the offspring of noble Lycaonia came,
239. Pandarus et magnae Glaucus uirtutis in armis
Pandarus and great Glaucus, mighty in arms,
240. Amphiusque et Adrastus et Asius atque Pylaeus.
and Amphius, and Adrastus, and Asius, and Pylaeus.
241. Ibat et Amphimachus Nastesque, insignis uterque,
Amphimachus also came, and Nastes, each notable,
242. magnanimique duces Odiusque et Epistrophus ingens
and the great leaders Odius and giant Epistrophus,
243. Euphemusque ferox clarusque aetate Pyraechmes,
and fierce Euphemus and Pyraechmes, famous at the time,
244. cum quibus et Mesthles atque Antiphus et bonus armis
with whom also were Mesthles and Antiphus, also good in arms;
245. Hippothous uenere Acamasque et Pirous una,
Hippothous and Acamas and Pirous came together;
246. Arsinooque sati Chromiusque atque Ennomus, ambo
Chromius and Ennomus, seed of Arsino, both
247. florentes aetate uiri, quos Phorcus et ingens
flourishing in powerful maturity, whom Phorcus and giant
248. Ascanius sequitur, simul et Iouis inclita proles
Ascanius follow, and likewise Jove’s famous offspring,
249. Sarpedon claraque satus tellure Coroebus.
Sarpedon, and Coroebus, sprung from famous ground.
250. His se defendit ducibus Neptunia Troia
By these leaders Neptunian 28 Troy defended itself
251. uicissetque dolos Danaum, ni fata fuissent.
and may conquer the Danaans’ deceits, were the fates not so.
252. Iamque duae stabant acies fulgentibus armis,
And already the two battle lines were standing in flashing arms
253. cum Paris, exitium Troiae funestaque flamma,
when Paris, destroyer of Troy and calamitous flame,
254. armatum aduerso Menelaum ex agmine cernit
perceives Menelaus armed, in the opposing battle line;
255. seque uelut uiso perterritus angue recepit
and he kept himself back
like one terrified by the sight of a snake,
256. ad socios amens. Quem postquam turpiter Hector
frantic before allies. Hector, after he sees him shamefully
257. confusum terrore uidet: "O dedecus - inquit -
overcome by terror, says: “O, shameful one,
258. "aeternum patriae generisque infamia nostri,
eternal shame of our fatherland and race,
259. terga refers? At non dubitabas hospitis olim
do you turn the back? But formerly, you didn’t hesitate
260. expugnare toros, cuius nunc defugis arma
to fight against the wedding bed
of the host whose arms you now flee,
261. uimque times. Vbi sunt uires, ubi cognita nobis
and you fear violence?
Where are the strengths, where is the recognition to us
262. ludorum quondam uaria in certamina uis est?
of the one-time force of various games in competition?
263. Hic animos ostende tuos: nihil adiuuat armis
Show your spirits here: nobility of form helps
264. nobilitas formae: duro Mars milite gaudet.
nothing in arms: Mars 29 rejoices in a harsh soldier.
265. Dum iaceas in amore tuo, nos bella geremus
While you lie down in your love, we wage war,
266. scilicet et nostrum fundemus in hoste cruorem.
and certainly will pour out our gore among the enemy.
267. Aequius aduersis tecum concurrat in armis
Let the energetic son of Atreus 30 come against you
268. impiger Atrides, spectet Danaumque Phrygumque
in equal arms; let the people of Danaans and Phrygians
269. depositis populus telis. Vos, foedere iuncto,
watch, putting away spears. You both, joined in a pact,
270. aduersas conferte manus, decernite ferro."
come together against each other by hand. Decide by iron!”
271. Dixit. Quem contra paucis Priameius heros:
He spoke.
Against whom the Priameic 31 hero spoke by few words
272. "Quid nimis indignis" - inquit - "me uocibus urges,
“Why do you urge me,” he said, “by too indignant words,
273. o patriae, germane, decus? Nam nec mihi coniunx
O brother, glory of the fatherland?
For a spouse and depraved luxury
274. prauaque luxuria est potior uirtutis honore
isn’t better to me than the honor of forces, either,
275. nec uires temptare uiri dextramque recuso,
nor do I refuse to test the strengths and right hand of the man,
276. dummodo uictorem coniunx cum pace sequatur."
provided that the spouse may follow the victor with peace.”
277. Dicta refert Hector: placuit sententia Grais.
Hector brings back the statement.
The sentence pleased the Greeks.
278. Protinus accitur Priamus sacrisque peractis
At once, Priam is summoned and, sacrifices carried through,
279. foedera iunguntur. Post haec discedit uterque
agreements are yoked. After this, each withdraws,
280. depositis populus telis campusque patescit.
the people laying down spears, and the plain lay empty.
281. Interea toto procedit ab agmine Troum
Meanwhile, beautiful Alexander comes out from the Trojan line,
282. pulcher Alexander, clipeoque insignis et hasta.
with a distinguished shield and spear.
283. Quem contra paribus fulgens Menelaus in armis
Against whom, bright Menelaus stood in equal arms,
284. constitit et: "Tecum mihi sint certamina - dixit -
and said, “Let the contests with you be with me,
285. "nec longum nostra laetabere coniuge, quae te
nor will you long enjoy our spouse, who soon
286. mox raptum ire gemet, tantummodo Iuppiter adsit."
will moan to see you taken away, if only Jupiter 32 be at hand.”
287. Dixit et aduersum se concitat acer in hostem.
He spoke and, bitter, throws himself against the enemy.
288. Ille uirum forti uenientem reppulit ictu
He repelled the man coming on by a strong blow
289. seque gradu celeri recipit longeque frementem
and withdraws himself by a quick step, and raging from afar,
290. hastam deinde iacit, quam deuitauit Atrides
throws the spear from there, which Atrides 33 avoided;
291. inque uicem misso fixisset corpora telo
and he in turn would have pierced the body
292. praedonis Phrygii, ni uastum ferrea pectus
of the Phrygian rapist by thrown javelin,
had not the vast chest of the man
293. texisset lorica uiri septemplice tergo.
been covered by a seven-layered coat of mail with iron behind.
294. Insequitur iuxta clamor; tum aduersus uterque
Clamor follows along: and then each adversary
295. constitit et galeam galea terit et pede plantam
stood, and helmet scrapes helmet and joins
296. coniungit stridetque mucro mucrone corusco;
sole to foot, and sword strikes flashing sword;
297. corpus collectum tegitur fulgentibus armis.
body covered by a collection of shining arms –
298. Non aliter fortes nitida de coniuge tauri
Not unlike strong bulls wage war for a bright mate
299. bella gerunt uastisque replent mugitibus auras.
and fill the breezes with vast moos.
300. Atque diu rigido captabant corpora ferro,
And for a long time they tried taking bodies by rigid iron,
301. cum memor Atrides raptae sibi coniugis instat
when Atrides, remembering to himself his stolen wife, presses
302. Dardaniumque premit iuuenem. Mox ense rigente
and overwhelms the Dardanian youth.
Then while he is falling backward
303. cedentem retro dum desuper appetit hostem,
he assails the enemy from above by a rigid blade,
304. splendidus extremas galeae percussus ad oras
a splendid blow to the outside edges of the helmet.
305. dissiluit mucro; gemuerunt agmina Graium.
His sword shattered; the line of Greeks moaned.
306. Tum uero ardescit, quamuis manus ense carebat,
Then indeed the hand blazes up, however much it lacked a blade,
307. et iuuenem arrepta prosternit casside uictor
and the victor strikes the youth down, grabbing the helmet,
308. ad socios traheretque, et, ni caligine caeca
and drags him to the allies,
and, if Cytherea 34 does not cover the man
309. texisset Cytherea uirum subiectaque mento
by the blindness of gloom, and had broken the strong chains,
310. fortia rupisset laxatis uincula nodis,
the chin subjected, and loosening the knots,
311. ultimus ille dies Paridi foret. Abstrahit auro
that day would have been the last of Paris.
Menelaus takes him away
312. fulgentem galeam secum Menelaus et ardens
with the shining golden helmet, and furious,
313. in medios mittit proceres rursumque recurrit
throws it among the nobles, and again runs back,
314. et magnam ualidis contorsit uiribus hastam
and hurled a great spear with mighty strengths
315. in cladem Phrygii, sua quem Venus eripit hosti
in the Phrygian’s defeat,
whom Venus snatches away from the enemy,
316. et secum in thalamos defert testudine cultos.
and carries back with her into cultic bedchambers of turtle-shell.
317. Ipsa dehinc Helenam muris accersit ab altis
Next, she fetches Helen 35 from the high walls
318. Dardanioque suos Paridi deducit amores.
and leads her down to her lusts for Dardanian Paris.
319. Quem tali postquam conspexit uoce locutast:
Whom, after she has seen such, she says by voice:
320. "Venisti mea flamma, Paris, superatus ab armis
“Have you come, my flame Paris, overwhelmed by the arms
321. coniugis antiqui? Vidi puduitque uidere,
of the former spouse? I saw, and it shamed me to see
322. arreptum cum te traheret uiolentus Atrides
you taken, when the violent Atrides dragged you,
323. Iliacoque tuos foedaret puluere crines.
and dirtied your hair by Ilian dust,
324. Nostraque - me miseram! - timui ne Doricus ensis
and ours – my misery! – I feared lest the Doric blade
325. oscula discuteret; totus mihi, mente reuincta,
had cut down kisses! All to me! Bound fast in mind,
326. fugerat ore color sanguisque reliquerat artus.
color fled my face and blood abandoned my limbs.
327. Quis te cum saeuo contendere suasit Atrida?
Who persuaded you to fight with the savage son of Atreus?
328. An nondum uaga fama tuas peruenit ad aures
Had no wandering rumor yet come through to your ears
329. de uirtute uiri? Moneo ne rursus inique
of the man’s strength? I warn you not to try again wickedly
330. illius tua fata uelis committere dextrae."
to commit your fate to his right arm.”
331. Dixit. Tum largis perfudit fletibus ora.
She spoke. Then she flooded his face with large tears.
332. Tristis Alexander: "Non me superauit Atrides,
Sorrowful Alexander 36: “Atrides didn’t overwhelm me,
333. o meus ardor" - ait - "sed castae Palladis ira.
O my love” – he said – “yet the wrath of chaste Pallas.
334. Mox illum nostris succumbere turpiter armis
Soon you will see him succumb shamefully to our arms,
335. aspicies aderitque meo Cytherea labori."
and Cytherea will be near to my labor.”
336. Post haec amplexus per mutua corpora iunctis
After this, embracing each other, bodies joined,
337. incubuit membris Cygneidos; illa soluto
he lay in the Swan-born’s 37 members; she, by opened vulva,
338. accepit flammas gremio Troiaeque suasque.
received the flames of both Troy and herself.
339. Interea toto Menelaus in agmine Troum
During all, Menelaus seeks Alexander
340. quaerit Alexandrum uictorque huc fertur et illuc.
in the Trojan battle line,
and the victor struts here and there.
341. Quem frater socias acuens in bella cateruas
His brother helps him, spurring on the allied troops in war,
342. adiuuat et forti pulsos Phrygas increpat ore
and rebukes the beaten Phrygians by a strong mouth,
343. seruarique iubet leges Helenamque reposcit.
and commands the laws to be observed,
and demands Helen back.
344. Dumque inter sese proceres certamen haberent,
And while the nobles were having a contest among themselves,
345. concilium omnipotens habuit regnator Olympi
the omnipotent ruler of Olympus had a council.
346. foederaque intento turbauit Pandarus arcu,
Pandarus troubled the truces, pointing a bow,
347. te, Menelae, petens; laterique uolatile telum
aiming at you, Menelaus; and the flying arrow cuts into the side
348. incidit et tunicam ferro squamisque rigentem
and penetrates the tunic, rigid with an iron plate.
349. dissecat. Excedit pugna gemebundus Atrides
Atrides, moaning, leaves the fight
350. castraque tuta petit, quem doctus ab arte paterna
and seeks the guarded camps, whom, treated by paternal art
351. Paeoniis curat iuuenis Podalirius herbis,
of Paeonian herbs, he is healed by the youth Podalirius.
352. itque iterum in caedes horrendaque proelia uictor.
And the victor goes again into slaughter and horrendous battle.
353. Armauit fortes Agamemnonis ira Pelasgos
Agamemnon’s fury arms the Pelasgians
354. et dolor in pugnam cunctos communis agebat.
and pain drove all together to fight.
355. Bellum ingens oritur multumque utrimque cruoris
Gigantic war is rising, and much gore is shed
356. funditur et totis sternuntur corpora campis
on both sides, and bodies are scattered over all the field,
357. inque uicem Troumque cadunt Danaumque cateruae
and in turn troops of Trojans and Danaans fall,
358. nec requies datur ulla uiris: sonat undique Mauors
nor is rest given to any man: Mars shouts on every side,
359. telorumque uolant cunctis e partibus imbres.
and showers of spears fly from all parts.
360. Occidit Antilochi rigido demersus in umbras
The son of Thalysias falls by the rigid blade of Antilochus,
361. ense Thalysiades optataque lumina linquit.
and, submerged in shadows, he abandons the longed-for lights.
362. Inde manu forti Graiorum terga prementem
From there, the backs of the Greeks pressed by a mighty hand,
363. occupat Anthemione satum Telamonius Aiax
Telamonian Ajax seizes a native of Anthemion,
364. et praedurato transfixit pectora telo:
and pierces the chest with a hardened spear:
365. purpuream uomit ille animam cum sanguine mixtam,
he vomits purple, soul mixed with blood;
366. ora rigat moriens. Tum magnis Antiphus hastam
he drenches the face, dying.
Then Antiphus hurls a spear by great
367. uiribus aduersum conatus corpore toto
strengths, the attempt of all the body,
368. torquet in Aeaciden; telumque errauit ab hoste
against Aeacides 38; and the spear erred from the enemy
369. inque hostem cecidit, transfixit et inguina Leucon:
and fell among the enemies, and pierced Leucon in the groin:
370. concidit infelix prostratus uulnere forti
the unhappy man falls, prostrate by a mighty wound
371. et carpit uirides moribundus dentibus herbas.
and dying, chews the green grass by teeth.
372. Impiger Atrides casu commotus amici
Energetic Atrides 39, moved by his friend’s fate,
373. Democoonta petit teloque aduersa trabali
aims against Democoon by a wooden spear,
374. tempora transadigit uaginaque horridus ensem
and pierces through the temples.
The grim man snatches away the sword
375. eripit; ille suis moriens resupinus in armis
from the scabbard; dying in arms, lying on the back,
376. concidit et terram moribundo uertice pulsat.
he beats and pulsates the earth by the crown of his dying head.
377. Iamque Amarynciden saxi deiecerat ictu
And already Pirous son of Imbrases had brought down
378. Pirous Imbrasides dederatque silentibus umbris;
the son of Amaryncius by the blow of a rock,
and given him to silent shadows;
379. dumque auidus praedae iuuenem spoliare parabat,
and while the man, avid for plunder, prepared to strip the youth,
380. desuper hasta uenit dextra librata Thoantis
a spear comes from above, hurled by the right hand of Thoas,
381. perque uiri scapulas animosaque pectora transit;
and passes through the man’s shoulders and courageous chest;
382. in uultus ruit ille suos calidumque cruorem
he fell on his face, and vomits hot blood
383. ore uomit stratusque super sua palpitat arma.
by mouth, and shudders, laid out over his weapons.
384. Sanguine Dardanii manabant undique campi,
The Dardan plains flowed with blood on every side,
385. manabant amnes passim. Pugnabat ubique
the streams flowed everywhere. Everywhere the armies
386. immixtis ardens amborum exercitus armis
of both fought burning with mixed arms,
387. et modo Troianis uirtus, modo crescit Achiuis
and now the strength of the Trojans,
now that of the Achaeans grows
388. laetaque per uarios petitur uictoria casus.
and joyous victory is sought by various chances.
389. Hic postquam Danaum longe cedentia uidit
Here, after Tydides 40 saw the Danaans’ front
390. agmina Tydides tumidumque increscere Martem,
retreating far, swollen Mars increasing,
391. in medias acies, qua plurimus imminet hostis,
he rushes in among the battle lines, where he threatens many
392. irruit et uersas prosternit caede phalangas;
of the enemy, and, opposing, cuts down formations by slaughter.
393. huc illuc ensemque ferox hastamque coruscat.
The fierce one flashes sword and spear here and there.
394. Bellica Pallas adest flagrantiaque ignibus arma
Warlike Pallas is present, and arms blazing in fires,
395. adiuuat atque animos iuueni uiresque ministrat.
she helps the youth’s spirits, and ministers forces.
396. Ille, boum ueluti uiso grege saeua leaena,
He, like a savage lioness seeing a herd of oxen
397. quam stimulat ieiuna fames, ruit agmina contra
who, famine-driven, fasting, rushes in against the line
398. et prostrata necat uesano corpora dente,
and kills by frenzied tooth the fallen bodies,
399. sic ruit in medios hostes Calydonius heros,
so the Calydonian hero rushes into the enemies’ midst
400. uirginis armigerae monitis et numine tutus.
admonished of the arms-bearing virgin and divine will.
401. Conuersi dant terga Phryges, fugientibus ille
Turning, the Phrygians give the backs, fleeing.
402. instat et exstructos morientum calcat aceruos.
He pursues and tramples piled up heaps of the dying.
403. Dumque ferit sternitque uiros, uidet ecce Daretis
And while he strikes and scatters men,
he sees, look! The sons of Dares
404. aduerso stantes furibundus in agmine natos,
standing opposite, raging in the battle line,
405. Phegeaque Idaeumque simul; quem cuspide Phegeus
Phegeus and Idaeus together; Phegeus attacks him first
406. occupat ante graui, sed uulnera depulit umbo
by a heavy lance, yet he drives away wounds by the shield
407. uitatumque solo ferrum stetit. Haud mora: totis
and avoided entirely, it stood only in the ground.
No delay: Tydides
408. ingentem torquet Tydides uiribus hastam
hurls a giant spear with all his strengths,
409. transadigitque uiri pectus: pars cuspidis ante
and pierces through the man’s chest:
part of the spear hangs out before
410. eminet et prodit scapulis pars altera fossis.
and the other part thrusts out the stabbed shoulders.
411. Hunc ubi fundentem calidum de pectore flumen
The brother saw where this man was,
pouring out a hot flow from his chest
412. uersantemque oculos animamque per ora uomentem
and rolling the eyes and vomiting the soul
out through the mouth.
413. conspexit frater, stricto celer aduolat ense
He flies quickly to close by sword
414. germanique cupit fatorum exsistere uindex.
and wants to be judge of his brother’s fates.
415. Sed neque uim saeui nec fortia sustinet arma
Yet neither savage force nor mighty arms sustain
416. Tydidae contraque tamen defendere temptat.
against Tydides, and nevertheless he tries to defend.
417. Vt uolucris, discerpta sui cum corpora nati
As a bird, when the body of her chick is torn apart,
418. accipitrem laniare uidet nec tendere contra,
she sees the hawk mangle, yet she can neither attempt against it
419. auxilium neque ferre suo ualet anxia nato
nor bring help, anxious for the chick,
420. quodque potest, leuibus plaudit sua pectora pennis,
and what she can do, she beats her breast with light feathers,
421. sic hostem Idaeus germani caede superbum
so Idaeus sees the proud enemy,
bloody by the killing of his brother
422. spectat atrox miseroque nequit succurrere fratri
nor is he able to run to the wretched brother’s aid
423. et, nisi cessisset, dextra cecidisset eadem.
and, unless he had stopped,
he would have fallen by the same right hand.
424. Nec minus in Teucros armis furit alter Atrides
Nor less the other son of Atreus 41
rages in arms against the Teucros
425. insequiturque acies et ferro funera miscet.
and the battle line follows, and he mixes deaths with iron.
426. Obuius huic fatis occurrit ductus iniquis
And leading the way, unhappy Odius meets
427. infelix Odius, quem uastae cuspidis ictu
this dismal fate; by the blow of a vast lance,
428. sternit et ingenti scapulas transuerberat hasta.
Menelaus lays him out
and pierces through the giant shoulders by spear.
429. Hinc petit Idomeneus aduersa parte ruentem
Here Idomeneus seeks Phaestus of Maeonidus,
430. Maeoniden Phaestum, cuius post funera laetus
rushing in on the opposing part, after whose death, happy,
431. et Strophio genitum Stygias demittit ad umbras.
he also sends the son of Strophius down to Stygian shadows.
432. Meriones Phereclum librata percutit hasta
Meriones strikes Phereclus by a hurled spear
433. Pedaeumque Meges. Tum uastis horridus armis
and Meges kills Pedaeum. Then, grim by vast arms,
434. Eurypylus gladio uenientem Hypsenora fundit
Eurypylus lays advancing Hypsenora low by sword,
435. et pariter uita iuuenem spoliauit et armis.
and he plundered the youth of both life and arms.
436. Parte alia uolitat sinuoso Pandarus arcu
In another part, Pandarus flies over by bending bow
437. Tydidenque oculis immensa per agmina quaerit;
and seeks Tydides through the battle line with intense eye.
438. quem postquam Troum sternentem corpora uidit,
After he sees him scattering the Trojans’ bodies,
439. horrida contento derexit spicula cornu
he directed grim arrows by a stretched bow,
440. et summas umeri destringit acumine partes.
and strips off the topmost part of his shoulder
by sharpened arrow.
441. Tum uero ardescit iuuenis Calydonius ira
Then indeed, the Calydonian youth burns with anger,
442. in mediasque acies animosi more leonis
and throws himself into the midst of the line like an angry lion,
443. fertur et Astynoum, magnum quoque Hypirona fundit,
and cuts down Astynous and great Hypiron also;
444. comminus hunc gladio, iaculo ferit eminus illum;
this one close by he strikes by sword; him at a distance by spear;
445. inde premit Polyidon Abantaque cuspide forti
from there he presses Polyidus and Abanta by a mighty lance,
446. et notum bello Xanthum uastumque Thoonem.
and Xanthus, noted in war, and vast Thoones.
447. Post hos infestus Chromiumque et Echemmona telo
After these, the hostile man drives away
both Chromius and Echemmona
448. proturbat celeri pariterque ad Tartara mittit.
by arrow, and sends both rapidly to Tartarus 42.
449. Tu quoque Tydidae prostratus, Pandare, dextra
You likewise, Pandarus, prostrate by the right hand of Tydides
450. occidis, infelix, accepto uulnere tristi,
killed, unhappy man, receiving a sad wound,
451. dextera qua naris fronti coniungitur imae;
where the right side of the nose is joined to the lower forehead;
452. dissipat et cerebrum galeae cum parte reuulsum
and he splatters the brain, torn away with part of the helmet;
453. ossaque confossa spargit Tydideus ensis.
and Tydides’ sword scatters the stabbed-through bones.
454. Iamque manum Aeneas simul et Calydonius heros
And now Aeneas and the Calydonian hero had brought
455. contulerant, iactis inter se comminus hastis;
hand together, throwing spears between themselves
at close quarters;
456. undique rimabant inimico corpora ferro,
and on all sides they sought the bodies by hostile iron,
457. et modo cedebant retro, modo deinde coibant.
and now moved back, now from there came together.
458. Postquam utrique diu steterant nec uulnera magnus
And at length after both stood, nor did great Tydides
459. qua daret infesto Tydides ense uidebat,
see where he could give a wound by hostile sword,
460. saxum ingens medio quod forte iacebat in agro,
he took up a giant stone which lay
by chance in the middle of the field
461. bis seni quod uix iuuenes tellure mouerent,
which hardly twice six youths could move from the ground,
462. sustulit et magno conamine misit in hostem.
and threw it by great effort at the enemy.
463. Ille ruit prostratus humi cum fortibus armis,
He fell prostrate on the ground with mighty arms,
464. quem Venus aetherias genetrix delapsa per auras
whom mother Venus coming down through the skies’ breezes
465. accipit et nigra corpus caligine condit.
takes, and hides the body in a black darkness.
466. Non tulit Oenides animo nebulasque per ipsas
Oenides 43 did not take this agreeably, and threw himself
467. fertur et in Venerem flagrantibus irruit armis,
through the very clouds,
and intrudes against Venus with flagrant arms,
468. et neque quem demens ferro petat inspicit aruis
and frenzied, he sees no one on the field whom he may attack
469. caelestemque manum mortali uulnerat hasta.
and a mortal’s spear wounds a divine hand.
470. Icta petit caelum terris Cytherea relictis
Wounded, leaving earth behind, Cytherea aims at the sky
471. atque ibi sidereae queritur sua uulnera matri.
and there complains of her wounds to her starry mother 44.
472. Dardanium Aenean seruat Troianus Apollo
Trojan Apollo saves Dardanian Aeneas
473. accenditque animos iterumque ad bella reducit.
and inflames his spirits, and brings him back again to war.
474. Vndique consurgunt acies et puluere caelum
On all sides the lines surge and the sky is concealed
475. conditur horrendisque sonat clamoribus aether.
by dust, and heaven sounds with horrendous cries.
476. Hic alius rapido deiectus in aequora curru
Here, one is thrown down to the plains in a swift chariot
477. proteritur pedibusque simul calcatur equorum
and crushed and trampled at once by the hooves of horses,
478. atque alius uolucri traiectus corpora telo
and another, body pierced through by a flying spear
479. quadrupedis tergo pronus ruit; illius ense
fell prone on his back from the horse; one whose head
480. deiectum longe caput a ceruice cucurrit;
rolled on, thrown far from the neck by a sword;
481. hic iacet exanimis fuso super arma cerebro:
this one falls dead, brain splattered over arms;
482. sanguine manat humus, campi sudore madescunt.
the soil flows with blood, fields wet with sweat.
483. Emicat interea Veneris pulcherrima proles
Meanwhile, the offspring
of most beautiful Venus 45 appears suddenly
484. densaque Graiorum premit agmina nudaque late
and presses the Greeks’ dense lines, and mows wide
485. terga metit gladio funestaque proelia miscet.
naked backs by the sword, and mixes deadly battle.
486. Nec cessat spes una Phrygum fortissimus Hector
Nor does mightiest Hector, one hope of the Phrygians, cease
487. sternere caede uiros atque agmina uertere Graium.
to scatter men cut down, and overturn the Greeks’ battle lines.
488. Vt lupus in campis pecudes cum uidit apertis
As a wolf in a field when he sees sheep exposed
489. (non actor gregis ipse, comes non horrida terret
(he fears neither the flock’s shepherd, nor the agitated crowd
490. turba canum), fremit esuriens et neglegit omnes
of dogs), he rages, hungry, and ignores all,
491. in mediosque greges auidus ruit, haut secus Hector
and rushes insatiable among the flocks,
by no means different, Hector
492. inuadit Danaos et territat ense cruento.
attacks the Danaans and terrifies by a wounding sword.
493. Deficiunt Graiorum acies, Phryges acrius instant
The Greek lines falter, the Phrygians push forward sharply
494. attolluntque animos: geminat uictoria uires.
and lift spirits: victory doubles forces.
495. Vt uidit socios infesto cedere Marte,
As he sees allies fall by hostile Mars,
496. rex Danaum sublimis equo uolat agmina circum
the Danaan king, high on horseback, flies around the battle lines
497. hortaturque duces animosque in proelia firmat.
and urges on the leaders, and strengthens souls in battle.
498. Mox ipse in medios audax se proripit hostes
Soon, the courageous King throws himself among the enemies
499. oppositasque acies stricto diuerberat ense.
and divides the opposing lines by drawn sword.
500. Vt Libycus cum forte leo procul agmina uidit
As when a Libyan lion by chance sees far off lines
501. laeta boum passim uirides errare per herbas,
of happy cattle to wander here and there through green grasses,
502. attollit ceruice iubas sitiensque cruoris
he lifts up the mane by neck and, thirsty for gore,
503. in mediam erecto contendit pectore turbam,
he contends by erect chest among the herd,
504. sic ferus Atrides aduersos fertur in hostes
so fierce Atrides carries himself across into the enemies,
505. infestasque Phrygum proturbat cuspide turmas.
and drives away by lance the hostile Phrygian columns.
506. Virtus clara ducis uires accendit Achiuum
His famous strength kindles the forces of the Achaean leaders
507. et spes exacuit languentia militis arma:
and hope makes sharp the listlessness of the soldiery’s arms:
508. funduntur Teucri, Danai laetantur ouantes.
the Teucri are poured out, the Danaans, rejoicing, are happy.
509. Tandem hic Aenean immisso tendere curru
At length, this son of Atreus sees Aeneas
510. conspicit Atrides: stricto concurrere ferro
try to charge by an attacking chariot, iron drawn,
511. comparat et iaculum, quantum furor ipse mouebat,
and he prepares a spear. So much his fury moved,
512. uiribus intorquet, quod detulit error ab illo
he hurls it by strengths; which falling astray from him
513. pectus in aurigae stomachoque infigitur alto;
is fastened in the chest and stomach of the high charioteer;
514. ille ruens ictu media inter lora rotasque
he, falling in the middle by the blow,
rolls between whips and wheels
515. uoluitur et uitam calido cum sanguine fundit.
and pours out the life with hot blood.
516. Ingemit Aeneas curruque animosus ab alto
Furious Aeneas moans and jumps down from the high chariot,
517. desilit et ualido Crethona<que> comminus ictu
and by a mighty blow in close quarters
518. Orsilochumque ferit, quorum post funera uictus
carries off Orilochus and Chrethon, after whose deaths, defeated,
519. Paphlagonum ductor Menelai concidit armis,
he cuts down Paphlagonus, leader of Menelaus’s arms,
520. Antilochique Mydon. Post hos Iouis inclita proles
and Antilochus kills Mydon.
After these, the famous offspring of Jove
521. Sarpedon bellum funestaque proelia miscet.
Sarpedon mixes war and deadly battle.
522. Quem contra infelix non aequis dimicat armis
Against him, unhappy Tlepolemus, son of great Hercules,
523. Tlepolemus magno satus Hercule, sed neque uires
does not divide arms equally, yet neither the strengths
524. hunc seruare patris nec tot potuere labores,
nor all the labors of the father can save him,
525. quin caderet tenuemque daret de corpore uitam.
so that he falls and gives the feeble life from the body.
526. Saucius egreditur medio certamine belli
Wounded, Sarpedon goes out from the middle of the battle-front,
527. Sarpedon fraudisque subit commentor Vlixes
and Ulysses deviser of trickery goes up
528. et septem iuuenum fortissima corpora fundit.
and pours out seven youths of mightiest bodies.
529. Hinc pugnat patriae columen Mauortius Hector,
Here, Mars-like Hector fights, ridge-pole of the fatherland,
530. illinc Tydides: sternuntur utrimque uirorum
there Tydides: and they scatter the bodies of men on either side
531. corpora per campos et sanguine prata rigantur.
through the fields, and the meadows are moistened by blood.
532. Pugnat bellipotens casta cum Pallade Mauors
Mighty-in-war Mars fights with chaste Pallas
533. ingentemque mouet clipeum, quem sancta uirago
and shakes his giant shield, whom the holy warlike female
534. egit et extrema percussum cuspide caedit
drove at, and she strikes a blow by the tip of a lance
535. attonitumque simul caelum petere ipsa coegit.
and forces him to aim at the sky at once, astonished.
536. Hic ille aetherio queritur sua uulnera regi
There on high he shows the King 46 his wounds
537. saucius et magni genitoris iurgia suffert.
and, injured, endures the abuses of the great father.
538. Interea magnis Acamantem uiribus Aiax
Meanwhile, Ajax kills Acamantes by great strengths
539. interimit uastumque capit Menelaus Adrastum
and Menelaus captures vast Adrastus
540. et rapit ad classes manibus post terga reuinctis,
and takes him to the ships, hands tied behind the back
541. ut ui deducat laetos ex hoste triumphos.
that he may lead him back by force
from the enemy to joyful triumphs.
542. Incumbunt Danai, cedit Troiana iuuentus
The Danaans attack, the Trojan youth falls
543. tergaque nuda tegit. Sensit Mauortius Hector
and covers the naked backs. Mars-like Hector senses
544. pro Danais pugnare deos ualidasque suorum
the gods fighting for the Danaans, and his men’s strengths
545. uirginis armigerae subduci numine uires
carried way by the divine will of the warlike virgin 47,
546. continuoque petit muros Hecubamque uocari
and immediately seeks the walls
and commands Hecuba 48 be called.
547. imperat et diuae placari numina suadet.
He urges the divinities of the goddess be placated.
548. Protinus armatas innuptae Palladis arces
At once the unwed women of Ilias climb up
549. Iliades subeunt: festis altaria sertis
the citadels of armed Pallas:
they furnish the altars with woven flowers
550. exornant caeduntque sacras ex more bidentes.
and kill sacred offerings in the customary manner.
551. Dumque preces Hecube supplex ad templa Mineruae
And while suppliant Hecuba
pours out prayers at Minerva’s temple,
552. pro caris genetrix natis et coniuge fundit,
a mother for beloved children and husband,
553. interea Glaucus stricto decernere ferro
meanwhile Glaucus prepares to decide by drawn iron
554. cum Diomede parat nomenque genusque roganti
with Diomedes, and asking name and ancestry,
555. qui sit et unde ferat, magnis cum uiribus hastam
who he may be and where he came from,
he attempts to throw a spear
556. mittere temptabat; temptanti Aetolius heros:
with great forces; the Aetolian hero 49 urging,
557. "Quo ruis?" - exclamat - "quae te, scelerate, furentem
“Where are you rushing?” – he cries out –
“what raging mind, criminal,
558. mens agit imparibus mecum concurrere telis?
drives you to fight me with unequal arms?
559. Hospitis arma uides, Veneris qui uulnere dextram
You see the arms of a host, who struck the right hand of Venus
560. perculit et summo pupugit certamine Martem.
a wound, and stabbed Mars in high battle.
561. Pone truces animos infestaque tela coerce."
Set down your wild spirits and restrain hostile weapons.’
562. Post haec inter se posito certamine pugnae
After this, setting aside between themselves
the contest of fighting,
563. commutant clipeos inimicaque proelia linquunt.
they exchange shields, and forsake harmful battle.
564. Colloquium petit interea fidissima coniunx
Meanwhile, Andromache, most faithful spouse of Hector,
565. Hectoris Andromache paruumque ad pectora natum
asks for a conversation, and at her breasts
566. Astyanacta tenet, cuius dum maximus heros
she holds their little child, Astyanax. While the great hero asks
567. oscula parua petit, subito perterritus infans
his little kisses, the infant, suddenly terrified,
568. conuertit timidos materna ad pectora uultus
turns his timid face to the mother’s breasts,
569. terribilemque fugit galeam cristamque comantem.
and flees the terrible helmet and plumed crest.
570. Vtque caput iuuenis posito detexerat aere,
And as the young man uncovered his head,
laying aside the bronze,
571. protinus infantem geminis amplectitur ulnis
he at once embraces the infant with both arms,
572. attollensque manus: "Precor, o pater optime" - dixit -
and lifting hands: “I pray, O noblest father” – he said –
573. "ut meus hic, pro quo tua numina, natus, adoro,
“that my child here, for whom I worship your divinities,
574. uirtutes patrias primis imitetur ab annis."
“may imitate the fathers’ virtues from his first years.”
575. Haec ait et portis acies petit acer apertis,
He said these things, and the gates opened,
he seeks the bitter battle line,
576. una deinde Paris. Postquam in certamina uentumst,
with Paris together next. After they come into the struggle
577. protinus in medium procedit maximus Hector
great Hector at once proceeds into the midst
578. Graiorumque duces inuictis prouocat armis.
and provokes the Greek leaders by unbeaten arms.
579. Nec mora: continuo fraudis commentor Vlixes
No delay: at once Ulysses, deviser of trickery,
580. et ferus Idomeneus et notus gente paterna
and fierce Idomeneus, and Meriones,
renowned of paternal nation,
581. Meriones Graiumque simul dux acer Atrides
and at the same time Atrides, sharp leader of the Greeks
582. Aiacesque duo <et> claris speciosus in armis
and the two Ajax, handsome in famous arms,
583. Eurypylus magnoque Thoas Andraemone natus
Eurypylus, and Thoas, born of great Andraecom
584. quique manum Veneris uiolauit uulnere tristi
and he who wounded the hand of sad Venus 50
585. procedunt; aberat nam Troum terror Achilles
advance; for Achilles, terror of Troy, wasn’t there,
586. et cithara dulci durum lenibat amorem.
and was easing harsh love by sweet guitar.
587. Ergo ubi deiectis auratam regis Atridae
Therefore, when lots were cast in the golden helmet
588. sortibus in galeam magnus processerat Aiax,
of King Atrides, great Ajax had come forward.
589. principio iactis committunt proelia telis:
First they commit to battle, throwing spears;
590. mox rigidos stringunt enses et fortibus armis
next they draw rigid blades and by mighty arms
591. decernunt partesque oculis rimantur apertas
decide, and search by eyes for open places
592. et modo terga petunt, duros modo fortibus ictus
and now they aim at backs, now repel harsh blows
593. depellunt clipeis; ingens ad sidera clamor
by mighty shields; the giant clamor is taken
594. tollitur et uastis impletur uocibus aer.
to the stars, and the air is filled with vast shouts.
595. Non sic saetigeri exacuunt feruoribus iras
Not thus bristly boars make sharp angers by furies,
596. pectoribusque petunt uastis, modo dentibus uncis
and they aim for vast chests now by barbed teeth,
597. alterni librant gladios et uulnera miscent.
the opponents free swords, and mix wounds.
598. fortia terga premunt spumantque per ora uicissim;
They press mighty backs, and each foam at the mouth:
599. fumiferae nubes concretaque fulgura et ignes
clouds of smoke and mixed lightnings and fires
600. iactantur magnoque implentur murmure siluae.
blaze up, and fill the woods by great complaint.
601. Tales Priamides ardorque Aiacis in armis
And such is the ardor of Priamides 51 and Ajax in arms.
602. Tandem animis teloque furens Telamonius Aiax
At length, Telamonian Ajax, furious in spirits and weapons,
603. insignem bello petit Hectora, quaque patebat
aims at Hector, conspicuous in war, and steers the shining sword
604. nuda uiri ceruix, fulgentem derigit ensem.
where the man’s naked neck lay open.
605. Ille ictum celeri praeuidit callidus astu
The cunning man sees the blow in advance by quick wit
606. tergaque summisit ferrumque umbone repellit.
and raises the backs, and repels the iron by shield,
607. Sed leuis extremas clipei perlabitur oras
Yet he lightly passes over the extreme edge of the shield
608. ensis et exiguo ceruicem uulnere libat.
by the sword, and grazes the neck by a small wound.
609. Acrius impugnans rursus consurgit in hostem
Fighting bitterly again, he surges into the enemy.
610. Priamides nec iam ferro Telamone creatum,
Priamides not now by iron yet by the cast of a great stone
611. sed magno saxi iactu petit. At ferus Aiax
aims at the offspring of Telamon. And fierce Ajax
612. ingentem clipeo septemplice reppulit ictum
repels the giant blow by a seven-fold shield,
613. et iuuenem saxo percussum sternit eodem.
and lays the youth out, struck the same by stone.
614. Quem leuat exceptum Grais inimicus Apollo
Apollo, enemy of the Greeks, lifts him up
615. integratque animum; iam rursus ad arma coibant
and makes his soul whole:
already again they come together in arms
616. stringebantque iterum gladios, cum fessus in undas
and drew again swords, when the tired Titan
617. coeperat igniferos Titan immergere currus
began to submerge the fire-bearing chariots in the waves
618. noxque subire polum: iuxta mittuntur, utrosque
and night to rise a little: they send men beside
619. qui dirimant a caede uiros, nec segnius illi
who break up the slaughter from each side, nor sluggish, they
620. deponunt animos. Tunc bello maximus Hector:
lay down spirits. Then Hector, great in war:
621. "Quae te terra uirum, qui te genuere parentes?
“What land birthed you,
and who are the parents who produced you?
622. Viribus es proles generosa atque inclita" - dixit.
You are the offspring of
generous and celebrated strengths,” he said.
623. At contra se ferre parat Telamonius Aiax:
And across, Telamonian Ajax prepares himself to speak:
624. "Hesiona de matre uides Telamone creatum,
“You see one sired by Telamon, of mother Hesiona,
625. nobilis est domus et fama generosa propago."
The house is noble, and the race of generous fame.”
626. Hector, ut Hesionae nomen casusque recordans:
As Hector, remembering the name and case of Hesiona,
627. "Absistamus" - ait - "sanguis communis utriquest",
said, “Let us withdraw. Common blood is on both sides,”
628. et prior Aeaciden aurato munerat ense
and first, he makes Aeacides 52 a gift of his golden sword
629. inque uicem, quo se bellator cinxerat Aiax,
and in turn, receives the notable belt, variously carved,
630. accipit insignem uario caelamine balteum.
by which warlike Ajax girded himself.
631. Post haec extemplo Graium Troumque cateruae
Immediately after this, the ranks of Greeks and Trojans
632. discedunt caelumque tegit nox atra tenebris.
withdraw, and night covers the sky with black shadows.
633. Implentur dapibus largis Bacchique liquore
They are filled with large meals and the liquor of Bacchus 53,
634. atque auidi placido tradunt sua corpora somno.
and hand over their bodies avidly to peaceful sleep.
635. Postera cum primum stellas Aurora fugarat,
Afterwards, when Aurora had first driven out the stars,
636. in coetum uenere Phryges. Tunc maximus Hector
the Phrygians come to council. Then, great Hector
637. cum sociis memorans hesternae funera caedis
remembering with allies the deaths of yesterday’s slaughter
638. suadet ut inuictis Helene reddatur Achiuis
urges that Helen be return to the unconquered Achaeans.
639. praedaque quae duros Menelai mulceat ignes
and plunder that might soothe Menelaus’s harsh fires,
640. idque placet cunctis. Tunc saeuo missus Atridae
and it pleases all. Then Idaeus brought the message
641. pertulit Idaeus Troum mandata; neque ille
of the Trojan mandate to savage Atrides 54; he accommodates
642. aut animum praedae aut dictis accommodat aures,
neither the soul to the plunder nor the ears to the words,
643. ultro etiam castris Idaeum excedere iussit.
and commands Idaeus to go out beyond the camps.
644. Paruit is monitis iterumque ad castra reuersus
Admonished, he obeys and despised, turning back again
645. Troiae contemptum duro se reddit ab hoste.
to the Trojans’ camps,
he brings himself back from the harsh enemy.
646. Interea Danai confusi caede suorum
Meanwhile the Danaans, disordered
by the slaughter of their own,
647. ingentes struxere pyras collectaque passim
build giant funeral pyres and, gathering from everywhere,
648. fortia tradiderunt sociorum corpora flammis.
hand over the mighty bodies of their allies to flames.
649. Tum renouant fossas et uallum robore cingunt.
Afterwards, they repair the trenches,
and surround the palisade with oak.
650. Vt nitidum Titan radiis patefecerat orbem,
As the Titan brought the shining world to light by its rays,
651. conuocat in coetum superos Iouis et monet, armis
Jove gathers those above in council, and warns
652. ne contra sua dicta uelint contendere diui.
that the gods not contend in arms against his word.
653. Ipse per aetherias caeli delabitur auras
He glides down from the sky through heavenly breezes
654. umbrosisque simul consedit montibus Idae.
and sits at once on Ida’s shady mountains.
655. Inde acies uidet Iliacas dextraque potenti
From there he sees the Ilian battle lines,
and by potent right hand
656. sustinet auratas aequato pondere lances
holds up the golden scales of equal plates,
657. fataque dura Phrygum casusque expendit Achiuum
and weighs out the Phrygians’ harsh fate and the Achaeans’ lot,
658. et Graium clades grauibus praeponderat armis.
and disaster for the Greeks weighs down by grave arms.
659. Interea Danaos ingenti concitus ira
Meanwhile, Priamides, stirred up by giant anger,
660. Priamides agit et totis grauis imminet armis
drives the Danaans, and threatens every part by heavy arms,
661. unum quippe decus Phrygiae. Turbantur Achiui
one indeed, glory of Phrygia. The Achaeans are troubled
662. Doricaque ingenti complentur castra tumultu.
and the Dorian camps are filled by giant tumult.
663. Hortatur socios muris inclusus Atrides
Atrides 55, shut in by walls, encourages allies
664. languentesque animos iuuenum in certamina firmat.
and strengthens the youths’ wavering spirits in the struggle.
665. Princeps Tydides fulgens ardentibus armis
First Tydides, shining by burning arms,
666. per medios hostes immani pondere fertur.
wins by inhuman weight through the enemies’ midst.
667. Hic illi occurrit fatis Agelaus iniquis,
Here Agelaus of ill fate meets him
668. telum immane manu quatiens, quem maximus heros
shaking a spear by inhuman hand, whom the great hero
669. occupat et duro medium transuerberat ense.
seizes and stabs through the middle by harsh sword.
670. Hinc Phrygas Aiacis uastis protectus in armis
Then Teucer, protected by Ajax in vast arms,
671. Teucer agit spargitque leues in terga sagittas.
attacks the Phrygians and scatters light arrows in their backs.
672. Gorgythiona ferum letali uulnere fundit;
He pours out fierce Gorgythion by a lethal wound;
673. mox alias acies petit aurigamque superbi
Then he aims at another line, and kills the charioteer
674. Hectoris obtruncat, quem saxo Troius heros
of proud Hector. The Trojan hero attacks him by a stone
675. occupat excussoque incautum proterit arcu.
and crushes the incautious man by thrown down bow.
676. Ast illum fidi rapiunt de caede sodales
But faithful companions take him away from the slaughter
677. prostratumque leuant. Ruit undique turbidus Hector
and lift up the prostrate body.
Stormy Hector destroys from every side
678. aduersasque acies infesta cuspide terret.
and terrorizes the opposing lines by hostile lance.
679. Se rursus Danai turbati caede suorum
The Danaan troops in turn, troubled by their slaughter,
680. conuertunt iterumque leues in castra cateruae
turn themselves back again, and flee quickly into the camps
681. confugiunt portasque obiecto robore firmant.
and make firm the gates by an oaken beam.
682. At Phryges obsidunt inclusos aggere Graios
Then the Phrygians besiege the Greeks enclosed by the wall
683. excubituque premunt muros flammisque coronant.
and keeping watch, they press and crown the walls by flames.
684. Cetera per campos sternunt sua corpora pubes
Other young men stretch out their bodies through the fields
685. indulgentque mero curas<que> animosque resoluunt.
and indulge cares by wine and resolve their spirits.
686. Attoniti Danaum proceres discrimine tanto
The Danaan nobles, astonished by such a crisis,
687. nec dapibus releuant animos nec corpora curant,
neither ease souls by meals nor care for bodies,
688. sed miseri sua fata gemunt. Mox Nestore pulsi
yet moan their miserable fates. Then, pushed by Nestor,
689. legatos mittunt dextramque hortantur Achillis,
they send emissaries and exhort the right hand of Achilles,
690. ut ferat auxilium miseris. Thetideius heros
that he bring aid to miseries. The hero son of Thetis
691. nec Danaum capit aure preces nec munera regis
neither receives the Danaans’ prayers by ear, nor wants any
692. ulla referre cupit; non illum redditus ignis
of the king’s gifts brought back: neither the return of fire
693. aut intacta suo Briseis corpore mouit.
nor the intact body of his Briseis moves him.
694. Irrita legati referunt responsa Pelasgis
The emissaries bring back responses in vain to the Pelasgians,
695. et dapibus curant animos lenique sopore.
and care for the souls by meals and gentle sleep.
695. Alterius tenebrae tarde labentibus astris
The second part of night, the stars sliding slowly by,
696. restabatque super tacitae pars tertia noctis,
a third part of the night also remained over the silence,
697. cum Danaum iussu castris Aetolius heros
when the Aetolian hero goes out by command,
698. egreditur sociumque sibi delegit Vlixem,
from the Danaans’ camp, and selects Ulysses as ally for himself
699. qui secum tacitae sublustri noctis in umbra
who goes with him in the faintly-lit shadows of silent night
700. scrutetur studio quae sit fiducia Troum
that he may search out by study what the Trojans’ faith may be,
701. quidue agitent quantasue parent in proelia uires.
what they are doing,
and how many forces they prepare for battle.
702. Dumque iter horrendum loca pernoctata pauentes
And while they pursued the dreadful journey,
fearing places through the night,
703. carpebant, uenit ecce Dolon, quem Troia pubes
Look! Dolon comes, whom the Trojan young man
704. miserat, ut Danaum sollerti pectore uires
had sent, that he might observe
by skillful heart the Danaans’ forces,
705. perspiceret sensusque ducum plebisque referret.
and bring back a sense to the leaders and people.
706. Quem procul ut uidit socius Diomedis Vlixes,
As Ulysses, ally of Diomedes, sees him far off,
707. abdiderant occultantes sua corpora furtim
they had hidden, concealing their bodies stealthily
708. post densos frutices, dum spe percussus inani
behind dense bushes, while the Trojan, son of Eumedia,
709. Tros Eumediades cursu praecederet illos,
struck by small hope, was going before them at a run,
710. ne facile oppressus gressum in sua castra referret.
that he not, easily subdued, bring the steps back into his camps.
711. Post, ubi transierat fidens animoque manuque,
After, when he had passed, trusting both soul and hand,
712. prosiluere uiri iuuenemque euadere cursu
the men jump out and take the youth, he trying
713. conantem capiunt ferroque manuque minantur.
to escape at a run, and they threaten him with iron and hand.
714. Ille timore pauens: "Vitam concedite" - dixit -,
Shaking with fear, he said, “Grant life,
715. "hoc unum satis est; quodsi perstatis in ira,
this one is enough; that if you stand firm in anger,
716. quanta ex morte mea capietis praemia laudis?
how many rewards of praise will you capture from my death?
717. At si cur ueniam tacitis exquiritis umbris:
And if you ask why I come in silent shadows:
718. maxima Troia mihi currum promisit Achillis
great Troy promised me Achilles’ chariot
719. si uestras cepisset opes. Haec dona secutus
if she captures your riches. Pursuing these gifts,
720. in dubios casus, coram quod cernitis ipsi,
in doubtful fortunes, before which you yourselves discern,
721. infelix cecidi. Nunc uos per numina diuum,
I have fallen, unhappy.
Now I implore you, by the gods’ divinities,
722. per mare, per Ditis fluctus obtestor opaci,
by the sea, by the dark flood of Dis,
723. ne rapere hanc animam crudeli caede uelitis.
that you not take away this soul by cruel slaughter!
724. Haec pro concessa referetis dona salute:
You will bring back these gifts for the concession of safety:
725. consilium Priami regis remque ordine gentis
I will make known to you King Priam’s counsel
726. expediam Phrygiae." Postquam quid Troia pararet
and the affair of the Phrygian nation by order.”
After the men learned
727. cognouere uiri, fauces mucrone recluso
what Troy had prepared, they cut the youth’s throat
728. detrudunt iuuenis. Post haec tentoria Rhesi
by open sword. After this, they enter
729. intrant atque ipsum somno uinoque sepultum
the tents of Rhesus, and kill him, buried
730. obtruncant spoliantque uirum fusosque per herbam
in sleep and wine, and they plunder the man, and deprive of life
731. exanimant socios. Tum tristi caede peracta
the allies scattered over the grass.
Then, the sad slaughter carried through,
732. praeda umeros onerant, multo et candore nitentes
they carry plunder on shoulders, much and brightly shining.
733. Thracas equos rapiunt, quos nec praecederet Eurus
They take away Thracian horses,
which not even Eurus can outrun
734. nec posset uolucri cursu superare sagitta.
nor can a flying arrow overcome by speed.
735. Inde iterum Argolicas primae sub tempore lucis
From there, they return again to the Argive ships
736. ad classes redeunt, quos Nestoris accipit aetas
before the time of first light, whom the age of Nestor receives
737. ac recipit portis. Postquam sua castra tenebant,
and opens the gates. After they obtained the camps,
738. facta duci referunt: laudat Pelopeius heros,
they bring back the facts to the leader: the Pelopeian hero praises
739. fessaque iucundae tradunt sua membra quieti.
and, exhausted, they hand their members over to happy quiet.
740. Lux exorta uiros in pristina bella remisit,
Light risen has sent men back into the former war,
741. instaurantque animos recreato milite pugnae
and restores the fighting spirits
of Dardanian and Danaan leaders,
742. Dardanidum Danaumque duces: uolat undique nubes
by refreshed soldiery; a cloud of spears flies on every side,
743. telorum et ferro ferrum sonat, undique mixtis
and iron sounds on iron. Mixed on every side,
744. inter se strident mucronibus: instat utrimque
they struggle among themselves by sword, and a dense line
745. densa acies mixtusque fluit cum sanguine sudor.
presses each side, and sweat flows mixed with blood.
746. Tandem feruenti Danaum rex concitus ira
At length, the Danaans’ king, stirred by boiling rage,
747. Antiphon ingenti prostratum uulnere fundit
pours out Antiphon, laid low by a giant wound,
748. Pisandrumque simul fratremque ad bella ruentem
and Pisandrus likewise, and Hippolochus his brother,
749. Hippolochum; post hos gladio petit Iphidamanta.
rushing to war; after these, he aims at Iphidamas by sword.
750. Hic frater dextram iaculo ferit; ille dolore
This brother strikes the king’s right hand by spear;
751. acrior accepto fugientem Antenore natum
taken by pain, he bitterly pursues Antenor’s fleeing son
752. persequitur traxitque ferox cum uulnere poenas.
and, furious with the wound, drags punishments.
753. Hector tunc pugnae subit acri concitus ira
Then Hector, Priam’s son, stirred by rage,
goes up bitterly to fight
754. Priamides et percussos agit undique Graios;
and presses the stricken Greeks on every side;
755. nec Paris hostiles cessat prosternere turmas
nor does Paris cease to lay low hostile troops,
756. Eurypylique femur contento uulnerat arcu.
and wounds Eurypylus’s thigh by stretched bow.
757. Incumbunt Troes, fugiunt in castra Pelasgi
The Trojans press in, the Pelasgians flee into the camps,
758. uiribus exhaustis et uastis undique firmant
forces exhausted, and strengthen the walls on all sides
759. obicibus muros. Tum saxo Martius Hector
by vast bars. Then Mars-like Hector breaches
760. perfringit portas ferrataque robora laxat.
the gates by a stone, and loosens the iron-covered oak.
761. Irrumpunt aditus Phryges atque in limine primo
Having approached, the Phrygians break in and scatter
762. restantes sternunt Graios ualloque cateruas
the resisting Greeks on the threshold, and overthrow the troops
763. deturbant, alii scalas in moenia poscunt
by the palisade; others demand ladders against the fortifications
764. et iaciunt ignes: auget uictoria uires.
and cast fires; victory augments forces.
765. De muris pugnant Danai turresque per altas.
The Danaans fight from the walls and towers from the heights.
766. Saxa uolant, subeunt acta testudine Troes
Stones fly, the Trojans climb up, under locked shields,
767. ascenduntque aditus et portis uiribus instant.
and, having approached, mount up,
and press the gates by forces.
768. Turbati fugiunt omnes iam castra Pelasgi
Troubled, all flee already the Pelasgian camps,
769. et scandunt puppes. Vrget Troiana iuuentus
and climb the ships. The Trojan youth urges
770. telaque crebra iacit: resonat clamoribus aether.
and casts close-packed spears:
the sky resounds with the outcries.
771. Neptunus uires Danais animumque ministrat:
Neptune helps the Danaans’ forces and spirit:
772. pugna ingens oritur, furit istinc hostis et illinc.
giant battle arises, the enemy rages from here and from there.
773. Idomenei dextra cadit Asius; Hector atrocem
Asius falls at Idomeneus’s right hand. Hector kills
774. Amphimachum obtruncat nec non occumbit in armis
bloody Amphimachus, nor does Alcathous, son of Anchises
775. Anchisae gener Alcathous, quem fuderat ense
not meet death in arms, whom the noble in spirit leader
776. magnanimus ductor Rhytieus. Tunc feruidus hasta
Rhytieus pours out by sword. Then angry Deiphobus
777. Deiphobus ferit Ascalaphum mergitque sub undas.
strikes Ascalaphus by spear, and he sinks under the waves.
778. Hector ubique ferus uiolento pectore saeuit,
Fierce Hector rages on all sides by violent heart
779. quem saxo ingenti percussum maximus Aiax
whom, struck by a giant stone, great Ajax
780. depulit et toto prostratum corpore fudit.
drove away, and poured out all the body prostrate.
781. Concurrit Troiana manus iuuenemque uomentem
The Trojans’ hand runs together to wash the youth,
782. sanguineos fluctus Xanthi lauere fluentis.
vomiting flowing blood, in the flood of Xanthus.
783. Inde iterum ad pugnam redeunt; fit maxima caedes
They return again from there to the fight;
let great slaughters happen
784. amborum et manat tellus infecta cruore.
of both sides, and the ground flows with hostile gore.
785. Polydamas ualido Prothoenora percutit ictu,
Polydamas strikes Prothoenor by a mighty blow,
786. Archelochumque Antenoriden Telamonius Aiax,
Telamonian Ajax kills Archelochus of Antenor,
787. Boeotumque Acamas Promachum, quem sternit atrocis
and Acamas kills Promachus of Boeotia,
whom he scatters viciously.
788. Penelei dextra; inde cadit Priameia pubes
of Peneleos’s right hand;
from there Priam’s young man falls back.
789. acrius insurgunt Troes ad Achaica bella
The Trojans surge forward bitterly against the Achaeans
790. <>
791. pulsa metu uallumque et muros aggere saeptos
pushed by fear of wars, and they leap across the threshold
792. transiliunt, alii fossas uoluuntur in ipsas.
and the piled up walls around;
others return to the trenches in them.
793. Aduolat interea Danaum metus impiger Hector:
Meanwhile impatient Hector,
dread of the Danaans, flies forward:
794. confugiunt iterum ad classes Agamemnonis alae
the wings of Agamemnon flee together again to the ships
795. atque inde aduersis propellunt uiribus hostem.
and from there they push forward
against the enemy by strengths.
796. Fit pugna ante rates, saeuit Mauortius Hector
Let the fight happen before the vessels! Mars-like Hector rages,
797. et poscit flammas totamque incendere classem
and demands flames, and prepares to burn all the ships.
798. apparat. Huic ualidis obsistit uiribus Aiax,
Ajax opposes him by mighty strengths,
799. stans prima in puppi, clipeoque incendia saeua
standing in the first ship, and sustains savage fire
800. sustinet et solus defendit mille carinas.
by shield, and alone defends a thousand keels.
801. Hinc iaciunt Danai robustae cuspidis hastas,
On this side, Danaans cast spears of oaken points,
802. illinc ardentes taedas Phryges undique iactant;
on that side Phrygians throw burning pines from every side;
803. per uastos sudor pugnantum defluit artus.
sweat flows from the warriors’ vast limbs.
804. Non ualet ulterius cladem spectare suorum
Patroclus cannot bear to see their defeat again
805. Patroclus subitoque armis munitus Achillis
and, quickly fortified by Achilles’ arms,
806. prouolat et falsa conterret imagine Troas.
flies forward and terrifies the Trojans together by a false image.
807. Qui modo turbabant Danaos animoque fremebant,
Those who just now troubled the Danaans and raged in spirit,
808. nunc trepidi fugiunt, fugientibus imminet ille
now flee, fearful; he threatens the fleeing
809. perturbatque ferox acies uastumque per agmen
and, fierce, disturbs the front,
scatters them through the vast battle line,
810. sternit et ingenti Sarpedona uulnere fundit
and pours out Sarpedon by a giant wound.
811. et nunc hos cursu nunc illos praeterit ardens
And burning, now he passes these, now those, in course,
812. proeliaque horrendi sub imagine uersat Achillis.
and turns the battle under the image of horrid Achilles.
813. Quem postquam socias miscentem caede cateruas
Whom, after mixing the allied ranks by slaughter
814. turbantemque acies respexit feruidus Hector,
and troubling the front, fiery Hector looked back on.
815. tollit atrox animos uastisque immanis in armis
The bloody man takes heart and, vast in inhuman arms,
816. occurrit contra magnoque hunc increpat ore:
runs against him, and rebukes him by great mouth:
817. "Huc, age, huc conuerte gradum, fortissime Achilles:
“Attack here, turn your steps here, mightiest Achilles:
818. iam nosces ultrix quid Troica dextera possit
even now you will know what vengeance
a Trojan right hand may work,
819. et quantum bello ualeat fortissimus Hector.
and how much mightiest Hector may prevail by war.
820. Nam licet ipse suis Mauors te protegat armis,
For it is lawful that Mars himself protect you by his arms;
821. inuito tamen haec perimet te dextera Marte."
nevertheless, this right hand will kill you,
though Mars be unwilling”
822. Ille silet spernitque minas animosaque dicta,
He keeps silent, and spurns the threats and bold words,
823. ut quem mentitur uerus credatur Achilles.
that he may be believed the true Achilles, whom he pretended.
824. Tunc prior intorquet collectis uiribus hastam
Then, the Dardanian first hurls a spear by gathered forces,
825. Dardanides, quam prolapsam celeri excipit ictu
which blow, fallen short, Patroclus quickly picks up
826. Patroclus redditque uices et, mutua dona,
and returns the changes and, in return of gifts,
827. quod clipeo excussum uiridi tellure resedit.
that, striking the shield, it settles to the green earth.
828. Tunc rigidos stringunt enses et comminus armis
Then, they draw rigid blades and mix together
829. inter se miscent, donec Troianus Apollo
in close quarters by arms, until the Trojan’s Apollo
830. mentitos uultus simulati pandit Achillis
reveals the lying face of the pretended Achilles,
831. denudatque uirum, quem bello maximus Hector
and strips the man, whom fighting by deceit,
832. pugnantem falsis postquam deprendit in armis,
great at war Hector afterwards seizes in arms,
833. irruit et iuuenem nudato pectore ferro
rushes, and by naked iron pierces the youth
834. traicit et uictor Vulcania detrahit arma.
in the chest, and the victor strips off the Vulcanian arms.
835. Vindicat exstincti corpus Telamonius Aiax
Telamonian Ajax claims the dead body,
836. oppositoque tegit clipeo. Priameia pubes
and covers it by an opposing shield. Priam’s young man
837. laetitia exsultat, Danai sua uulnera maerent.
exults with joy, the Danaans grieve their wound.
838. Interea iuuenis tristi cum pube suorum
Meanwhile, Nestor’s sons with their men carry
839. Nestorides in castra ferunt miserabile corpus.
the miserable body of the sad youth into the camps
840. Tunc ut Pelidae aures diuerberat horror,
Then, as the horror strikes the ears of Pelides,
841. palluit infelix iuuenis, calor ossa reliquit;
unhappy, he grows pale about the youth, heat leaves the bones;
842. membra simul lacrimans materno innectit amictu,
members likewise weeping, he ties on the mother’s cloak.
843. deflens Aeacides tristi de caede sodalis;
Wailing openly from sadness
about the slaughter of his intimate companion;
844. unguibus ora secat comptosque in puluere crines
Aeacides 56 cuts his face by nails. He deforms adorned hair
845. deformat, scindit firmo de pectore uestes
in dust. He tears the clothing from his firm chest
846. et super exstincti prostratus membra sodalis
and, prostrate over the dead members
of his intimate companion,
847. crudeles fundit questus atque oscula figit.
pours out cruel questions, and affixes kisses.
848. Mox ubi depositi gemitus lacrimaeque quierunt:
Then where he was placed, they quiet moaning and tears
849. "Non impune mei laetabere caede sodalis,
“You, Hector, will not rejoice unpunished
at my companion’s slaughter,”
850. Hector" - ait - "magnoque meo, uiolente, dolori
he said – “Violent one, you will pay the penalties
851. persolues poenas atque istis uictor in armis,
of my great sadness, as victor in these arms
852. in quibus exsultas, fuso moriere cruore."
in which you exult, gore poured out to die!”
853. Post haec accensus furiis decurrit ad aequor
After this, ignited by furies, he rushes to the sea;
854. fortiaque arma Thetin supplex rogat: illa relictis
suppliant, he prays Thetis for mighty arms; she, leaving
855. fluctibus auxilium Vulcani protinus orat.
the waves, at once begs Vulcan’s help.
856. Excitat Aetnaeos calidis fornacibus ignes
Mulciber 57 stirs up the Aetnaeans’ 58 fires to blazing furnaces
857. Mulciber et ualidis fuluum domat ictibus aurum.
and by mighty blows masters yellow gold.
858. Mox effecta refert diuinis artibus arma.
Then, he brings back complete arms of divine makings.
859. Euolat inde Thetis; quae postquam magnus Achilles
Thetis flies back from there; in which, after great Achilles
860. induit, in clipeum uultus conuertit atroces.
puts them on, he turns his terrifying face to the shield.
861. Illic Ignipotens mundi caelauerat arcem
There, the Fire-Mighty engraved an elegant citadel,
862. sideraque et liquidis redimitas undique nymphis
and stars, and garlanded sea nymphs on every side,
863. Oceani terras et cinctum Nerea circum
the lands of Ocean, and Nerea bound around,
864. astrorumque uices dimensaque tempora noctis,
changes of stars, and measures of the four watches of night,
865. quattuor et mundi partes, quantum Arctos ab Austro
and parts of the world, as far as the Arctics from the South,
866. et quantum occasus roseo distaret ab ortu,
and as far as of sunset stands from the rosy dawn,
867. Lucifer unde suis, unde Hesperus unus uterque
from where Light-Bearer and Hesperus, one no matter which,
868. exoreretur equis, et quantum in orbe mearet
shine forth by horses, and as far as the hollow Moon wanders
869. Luna caua et nitida lustraret lampade caelum;
in the sphere and, shining, purifies the sky by its lamp:
870. addideratque fretis sua numina: Nerea magnum
and he added their divinities of sea: great Nereus
871. Oceanumque senem nec eundem Protea semper,
and old Ocean, and Proteus always changing,
872. Tritonasque feros et amantem Dorida fluctus;
fierce Tritons, and the floods beloved of Doris;
873. fecerat et liquidas mira Nereidas arte.
and he made by marvelous art liquid-seeming Nereids.
874. Terra gerit siluas horrendaque monstra ferarum
Earth bears woods and horrid wild monsters,
875. fluminaque et montes cumque altis oppida muris,
rivers and mountains, and towns of high walls,
876. in quibus exercent leges annosaque iura
in which contending peoples exercise ancient laws
877. certantes populi; sedet illic aequus utrisque
and customs; there sits a judge impartial
878. iudex et litem discernit fronte serena.
to each side, and he decides quarrels with a serene face.
879. Parte alia castae resonant Paeana puellae
In another part, chaste girls resound hymns to Apollo
880. dantque choros molles et tympana dextera pulsat;
and give soft choruses, and right hands strum tympanies;
881. ille lyrae graciles extenso pollice chordas
Apollo plays the chords of a graceful lyre by extended thumb,
882. percurrit septemque modos modulatur auenis:
and now modulates the seven notes by reeds;
883. carmina componunt mundi resonantia motum.
they compose songs, resounding the movement of the world.
884. Rura colunt alii, sulcant grauia arua iuuenci
Others cultivate farms, plow grave furrows by oxen,
885. maturasque metit robustus messor aristas
and the mighty one, the harvester of grains, reaps mature crops;
886. et gaudet pressis immundus uinitor uuis;
and a vintner rejoices, unclean from pressed grapes;
887. tondent prata greges, pendent in rupe capellae.
flocks clips meadows, goats hang in the rocks.
888. Haec inter mediis stabat Mars aureus armis,
Here among all Mars was standing in golden arms,
889. quem diua poesis reliquae* circaque sedebant
whom the goddess of poetry abandoned 59, gloomy Chlotho,
890. anguineis maestae Clotho Lachesisque capillis.
and Lachesis of snake-like hairs were sitting nearby.
891. Talibus ornatus donis Thetideius heros
Adorned by such gifts, the hero son of Thetis,
892. in medias acies immani turbine fertur,
throws himself by an inhuman whirlwind among the battle lines,
893. cui uires praebet casta cum Pallade Iuno
to whom Juno with chaste Pallas provides forces,
894. dantque animos iuueni. Vidit Cythereius heros
and they give spirits to the youth. The Cytherian hero 60 sees
895. occurritque uiro, sed non cum uiribus aequis
and opposes the man, yet not with equal arms,
896. Aeacidae nec compar erat, tamen ira coegit
nor was he equal to Aeacides, yet wrath drives
897. conferre inuictis iuuenem cum uiribus arma.
the youth to match himself
with the unconquered one by armed forces.
898. Quem nisi seruasset magnarum rector aquarum,
Unless the ruler of great waters 61 had saved him,
899. ut profugus laetis Troiam repararet in aruis
that as a refugee he replant Troy in happy fields,
900. Augustumque genus claris submitteret astris,
and raise up the famous race of Augustus to the stars,
901. non clarae gentis nobis mansisset origo.
the origin of a famous race would not have continued to us. 62
902. Inde agit Aeacides infesta cuspide Teucros
From there Aeacides attacks the Teucrons by hostile lance
903. ingentemque modum prosternit caede uirorum,
and lays low a giant measure of men by slaughter,
904. sanguinis Hectorei sitiens. At Dardana pubes
thirsting for Hector’s blood. The Dardan young man
905. confugit ad Xanthi rapidos perterrita fluctus
flees, terrified, to the rapid floods of Xanthus
906. auxiliumque petit diuini fluminis; ille
and begs divine aid of the river; He
907. instat et in mediis pugnatur gurgitis undis.
presses, and fights in the middle of raging waves.
908. Ira dabat uires; stringuntur sanguine ripae
Anger was giving strengths;
the banks were stretched tight by blood,
909. sparsaque per totos uoluuntur corpora fluctus.
and bodies float, scattered along all the floods.
910. At Venus et Phrygiae gentis tutator Apollo
Both Venus and Apollo, protector of the Phrygian nation,
911. cogunt in Danaos Xanthi consurgere fluctus,
compel the flood of Xanthus to surge among the Danaans.
912. ut fera terribili miscentem proelia dextra
that, mixing in wild battle by its terrible right hand,
913. obruat Aeaciden; qui protinus undique totis
it may cover Aeacides;
the River all at once wanders headlong from its course
914. exspatiatur aquis et uasto gurgite praeceps
on every side, by all waters and vast whirlpools,
915. uoluitur atque uirum torrentibus impedit undis
and turns the man back by torrents, impedes him by waves,
916. praetardatque gradus. Ille omni corpore saeuas
and hinders his steps. Raging with the whole body,
917. contra pugnat aquas aduersaque flumina rumpit
he fights against the waters,
and breaks through the opposing floods;
918. et modo disiectos umeris modo pectore uasto
and now breaking them in half by arms, now by vast chest,
919. propellit fluctus. Quem longe prouida Iuno
he drives the flood. Juno, seeing him from far off, helps
920. asseruit, rapidae quia cederet, ignibus, undae,
by fires, because he began falling under the rapid waves,
921. sanctaque pugnarunt inter se numina diuum.
and the holy divinities of the gods fight among themselves.
922. Rursus agit Phrygias ingenti caede cateruas
Horrid Aeacides again attacks the Phrygian troops
923. horridus Aeacides bellique ardore resumpto
with giant slaughter and, having resumed warlike ardor,
924. funereas acies horrendaque proelia miscet.
mixes deadly battle lines and horrendous battle.
925. Non illum uis ulla mouet, non saeua fatigant
No force moves him, nor do his savage sentiments
926. pectora bellando; uires successus adauget.
tire of war-making; success augments strengths.
927. Percussi dubitant trepida formidine Troes
Struck by trembling fear, the Trojans began doubting
928. atque intra muros exhausta paene salute
and, exhausted, barely flee to safety inside
929. confugiunt portasque obiecto robore firmant.
the walls, and shut the gates by oaken bar.
930. Vnus tota salus in quo Troiana manebat
One safety remained in which all the Trojans hoped:
931. Hector adest, quem non durae timor undique mortis,
Hector is here, whom neither fear of harsh death on every side,
932. non patriae tenuere preces, quin obuius iret
nor the father’s prayers to hold back,
so that he might go out to meet
933. et contra magnum contendere uellet Achillem.
and wishes to contend against great Achilles.
934. Quem procul ut uidit tectum caelestibus armis,
As he sees him far off, covered by celestial arms,
935. ante oculos subito uisa est Tritonia Pallas
Tritonian Pallas appeared suddenly before his eyes,
936. pertimuit clausisque fugit sua moenia circum
and he was terrified.
He flees, unhappy, around his fortification,
937. infelix portis, sequitur Nereius heros:
the gates closed; the Nereian hero 63 follows:
938. in somnis ueluti, cum pectora terruit ira,
as if in dreams, when anger terrified the heart,
939. hic cursu super insequitur, fugere ille uidetur,
this one follows by course above, that one seems to flee,
940. festinantque ambo, gressum labor ipse moratur,
and both hurry. Labor itself delays steps,
941. alternis poterant insistere coepta periclis,
they can by turns insist, the trial begun,
942. nec requies aderat, timor undique concitat iras.
nor is rest at hand. Fear stirs up rages from every side.
943. Spectant de muris miseri sua fata parentes
The miserable parents watch his destinies from the walls,
944. pallentemque uident supremo tempore natum
and see their son growing pale at the last moment,
945. quem iam summa dies suprema luce premebat.
whom already now the last day presses by its final light.
946. Huic subito ante oculos similis Tritonia fratri
To him suddenly before his eyes Tritonia 64, meeting the youth
947. occurrens iuuenem simulato decipit ore;
in the likeness of his brother, deceiving by pretended face;
948. nam cum Deiphobi tutum se credidit armis,
(for he believes himself safe in arms with Deiphobus,)
949. transtulit ad Danaos iterum sua numina Pallas.
Pallas again transfers her divinities to the Danaans.
950. Concurrunt iactis inter se comminus hastis
The unconquered youths run together, throwing spears
951. inuicti iuuenes: hic uastis intonat armis,
between themselves at close quarters:
this one intones by vast arms,
952. ille hostem ualidum nequiquam umbone repellit
that one repels the mighty enemy in vain by shield
953. alternisque ferox mutat congressibus ictus.
and, fierce, changes blows in turn by grapplings.
954. Sudor agit riuos, ensem terit horridus ensis
Sweat makes streams, horrid blade wears out blade,
955. collatusque haeret pede pes et dextera dextrae.
joined in battle, foot clings to foot, and right hand to right hand.
956. Hastam iam manibus saeuus librabat Achilles
Savage Achilles already now was hurling a spear by hands,
957. inque uirum magnis emissam uiribus egit,
and drives it at the man, sent out by great strengths,
958. quam praeterlapsam uitauit callidus Hector.
which gliding past, cunning Hector avoids.
959. Exclamant Danai. Contra Priameius heros
The Danaans shout out. In answer, the hero Priamides
960. uibratum iaculum Vulcania torquet in arma.
hurls a vibrating javelin against the Vulcanian arms.
961. Nec successus adest: nam duro inflectitur auro
Nor is success near: for it is bent by hard gold
962. dissiluitque mucro. Gemuerunt agmina Troum.
and the sharp point shattered. The Trojan battle lines groan.
963. Concurrunt iterum collatis fortiter armis
They run together mightily again, by gathered arms,
964. inque uicem duros euitant comminus enses.
and in turn avoid at close quarters the harsh sword.
965. Nec sufferre ualet ultra sortemque supremam
Nor does Hector, with failing strengths, prevail to resist further
966. stantemque Aeaciden defectis uiribus Hector.
the ultimate fate, and Aeacides standing.
967. Dumque retro cedit fraternaque rebus in artis
And while he falls backward, and looks for his brother’s help
968. respicit auxilia et nullam uidet esse salutem,
by crafty causes, and sees no safety to be there,
969. sensit adesse dolos. Quid agat? quae numina supplex
he senses deceits at hand. What can he do? What divinities
970. inuocet? et toto languescunt corpore uires
can he invoke, suppliant? And all the body’s strengths languish
971. auxiliumque negant; retinet uix dextera ferrum,
and they deny help; the right hand hardly retains iron,
972. nox oculos inimica tegit nec subuenit ullum
hostile night covers the eyes, nor does any rescue come,
973. defesso auxilium; pugnat moriturus et alto
wearied of help; the dying one fights, and presses down
974. corde premit gemitus. Instat Nereius heros
a groan by high heart. The Nerean hero presses in,
975. turbatumque premit procul undique; tunc iacit hastam
and from afar attacks the troubled man from all sides.
Then he throws a spear
976. et medias rigida transfixit cuspide fauces.
and pierces through the middle of his guts by rigid lance.
977. Exsultant Danai, Troes sua uulnera deflent.
The Danaans exult, the Trojans bewail his wound.
978. Tunc sic amissis infelix uiribus Hector:
Then wretched Hector, parting so from strengths:
979. "En concede meos miseris genitoribus artus,
“Look, concede my body to my miserable parents,
980. quos pater infelix multo mercabitur auro:
which the unhappy father will buy with much gold:
981. dona feres uictor. Priami nunc filius orat,
you, victor, will carry off gifts. Now Priam’s son prays,
982. te Priamus, dux ille ducum, quem Graecia solum
Priam prays you, that leader of leaders, whom Greece alone
983. pertimuit: si, nec precibus nec munere uictus,
has feared; if, won neither by prayers nor by gift,
984. nec lacrimis miseri nec clara gente moueris,
you are moved neither by miserable tears nor famous nation
985. afflicti miserere patris: moueat tua Peleus
to have mercy on the afflicted father: may Peleus move
986. pectora pro Priamo, pro nostro corpore Pyrrhus."
your heart for Priam, Pyrrhus 65 for our body.”
987. Talia Priamides. Quem contra durus Achilles:
Such Priamides. Against him, harsh Achilles:
988. "Quid mea supplicibus temptas inflectere dictis
“Why do you try by suppliant words to bend
989. pectora, quem possem direptum more ferarum,
my heart, I who can tear you apart like wild beasts,
990. si sineret natura, meis absumere malis?
if nature allowed, to consume you by my jaws?
991. Te uero tristesque ferae cunctaeque uolucres
Truly, sad beasts and all the birds will tear you
992. diripient, auidosque canes tua uiscera pascent.
apart, and hungry dogs will feed on your insides.
993. Haec ex te capient Patrocli gaudia manes,
These will seize you, to the joy of Patroclus’s ghost,
994. si sapiunt umbrae." Dum talia magnus Achilles
if shadows know.” While great Achilles in this manner
995. ore truci iactat, uitam miserabilis Hector
threw insults by savage mouth, Hector gave back
996. reddidit. Hunc animi nondum satiatus Achilles
his miserable life. Achilles, not yet satisfied in soul,
997. deligat ad currum pedibusque exsanguia membra
ties him to the chariot by the feet, and the victor
998. ter circum muros uictor trahit; altius ipsos
dragged the bloodless members three times around the walls;
999. fert domini successus equos. Tum maximus heros
the master’s success brings the horses themselves pride.
Then the great hero
1000. detulit ad Danaos foedatum puluere corpus.
brought the body, defiled by dust, back to the Danaans.
1001. Laetantur Danai, plangunt sua uulnera Troes
The Danaans rejoice, the Trojans grieve their wound,
1002. et pariter captos deflent cum funere muros.
and bewail the captured walls as well with his death.
1003. Interea uictor defleti corpus amici
Meanwhile, Aeacides the victor, bewailing his friend’s body
1004. funerat Aeacides pompasque ad funera ducit.
makes a funeral, and leads processions to the solemn rites.
1005. Tum circa tumulum miseros rapit Hectoris artus
Then he drags Hector’s miserable limbs around the mound,
1006. et uapido cineri ludorum indicit honores.
and publicly declares the honors of games to the lifeless ashes.
1007. Tydides*tyrsin* cursu pedibusque ferocem
And Tydides overcomes fierce Meriones in the footrace.
1008. Merionem superat; luctando uincitur Aiax
Ajax is overcome wrestling,
1009. cuius decepit uires Laertius astu;
whose strengths the son of Laertes 66 deceives by cleverness;
1010. caestibus aduersis cunctos superauit Epeos
Epeos overcomes against all in boxing;
1011. et disco forti Polypoetes depulit omnes
and mighty Polypoetes defeats all in discus,
1012. Merionesque arcu. Tandem certamine misso
and Meriones wins by bow. At length, the contest closed,
1013. in sua castra redit turbis comitatus Achilles.
Achilles, surrounded by crowds, returns to his camps.
1014. Flent miseri amissum Phryges Hectora totaque maesto
The miserable Phrygians weep Hector lost, and all Troy
1015. Troia sonat planctu; fundit miseranda querelas
sounds with mournful wailing;
unhappy Hecuba, who must be pitied,
1016. infelix Hecube saeuisque arat unguibus ora
pours out laments, and plows the face with savage nails.
1017. Andromacheque suas scindit de pectore uestes,
And Andromache tears her clothes from the breast,
1018. heu tanto spoliata uiro. Ruit omnis in uno
Alas! Plundered of such a husband! All the Phrygian cause
1019. Hectore causa Phrygum, ruit hoc defensa senectus
falls in one Hector, the defense falls of the extreme age
1020. afflicti miseranda patris, quem nec sua coniunx
of an afflicted father who must be pitied, whom neither his wife
1021. turbaque natorum nec magni gloria regni
and crowd of children, nor the glory of a great kingdom
1022. oblitum tenuit uitae, quin iret inermis
held him, forgetful of life, so that he goes unarmed
1023. et solum inuicti castris se redderet hostis.
and alone to the camps returned to by undefeated foes.
1024. Mirantur Danaum proceres, miratur et ipse
The Danaans’ nobles watch, and Aeacides himself watches
1025. Aeacides animum miseri senis; ille trementes
the soul of the miserable old man; he, trembling,
1026. affusus genibus tendens ad sidera palmas
prostrate on his knees, holding palms up to the stars,
1027. haec ait: "O Graiae gentis fortissime Achilles,
says this: “O Achilles, mightiest of the Greek nation,
1028. o regnis inimice meis, te Dardana solum
O my kingdom’s enemy, you alone the young man
1029. uicta tremit pubes, te sensit nostra senectus
of conquered Dardana fears; our old age senses
1030. crudelem nimium. Nunc sis mitissimus oro
your overwhelming cruelty.
Now, may you be most gentle, I pray,
1031. et patris afflicti genibus miserere precantis
and have mercy on an afflicted father, praying on his knees,
1032. donaque quae porto miseri pro corpore nati
and accept gifts which I bring for my son’s miserable body;
1033. accipias; si nec precibus nec flecteris auro,
if you may be turned neither by prayers nor by gold,
1034. in senis extremis tua dextera saeuiat annis:
let your right hand rage in an old man’s extreme years:
1035. saltem saeua pater comitabor funera nati!
at least a father may join a son’s savage death!
1036. Nec uitam mihi nec magnos *concedere* honores,
Concede neither life nor great honors to me,
1037. sed funus crudele meum! Miserere parentis
yet my cruel burial! Have mercy on parents,
1038. et pater esse meo mitis de corpore disce.
and learn by my body to be a gentle father.
1039. Hectoris interitu uicisti Dardana regna,
You’ve conquered the Dardan kingdom by Hector’s death,
1040. uicisti Priamum: sortis reminiscere uictor
you’ve conquered Priam: be mindful, victor, of human fate,
1041. humanae uariosque ducum tu respice casus."
and you look on the various fortunes of leaders.”
1042. His tandem precibus grandaeuum motus Achilles
Achilles, moved at length by these prayers, lifted up
1043. alleuat a terra corpusque exsangue parenti
the old man from the ground,
and returned the bloodless body of Hector
1044. reddidit Hectoreum. Post haec sua dona reportat
to his father. After this, Priam took back his gifts
1045. in patriam Priamus tristesque ex more suorum
into the fatherland, and in their sorrowful manner
1046. apparat exsequias extremaque funera ducit.
he organizes eulogies and leads last funeral rites.
1047. Tum pyra construitur, qua bis sex corpora Graium
Then a funeral pyre is constructed,
to which twice six Greek bodies
1048. quadrupedesque adduntur equi currusque tubaeque
and four-legged horses, and chariots, and trumpets,
1049. et clipei galeaeque cauae argutaque tela.
and shields, and helmets,
and clear-sounding hollow arrows, are added.
1050. Haec super ingenti gemitu componitur Hector:
Hector is laid out over these with giant moan:
1051. stant circum Iliades matres manibusque decoros
the Ilian mothers stand around, and tear by hands
1052. abrumpunt crines laniataque pectora plangunt:
decorated hair, and strike torn breasts:
1053. illo namque rogo natorum funera cernunt.
for at that funeral pyre they discern the deaths of their children.
1054. Tollitur et iuuenum magno cum murmure clamor
And a cry rises from the youth with a great, tearful roar:
1055. flebilis: ardebat flamma namque Ilion illa.
for Ilion’s flame burns there also.
1056. Inter quos gemitus laniato pectore coniunx
Among those lamentations, Andromache the wife, breast torn,
1057. prouolat Andromache mediosque immittere in ignes
flies forward, and wants to throw herself
into the midst of the fires,
1058. se cupit Astyanacta tenens, quam iussa suarum
holding Astyanax; the crowd of hers takes her away
1059. turba rapit. Contra tamen omnibus usque resistit,
by command. Nevertheless, she resists against all continuously,
1060. donec collapsae ceciderunt robora flammae
until the collapsing flames fall, of strength,
1061. inque leues abiit tantus dux ille fauillas.
and he, so great a leader, departed into light ashes.
1062. 67Sed iam siste gradum finemque impone labori,
Yet already now stop the step and put an end to labor,
1063. Calliope, uatisque tui moderare carinam,
Calliope 68, to moderate the ship of your prophecy,
1064. Remis quem cernis stringentem litora paucis,
which you see ashore, stretched out by light oars
1065. Iamque tenet portum metamque potentis Homeri.
And already it has the port and goal of mighty Homer 69.
1066. Pieridum comitata cohors, summitte rudentes
Cohort of gathered Pieridan muses, put forth shouts!
1067. Sanctaque uirgineos lauro redimita capillos
And holy one, virgin hair wrapped around by laurel
1068. Ipsa tuas depone lyras. Ades, inclita Pallas,
you yourself put down lyres. Be near, celebrated Pallas,
1069. Tuque faue cursu uatis iam, Phoebe, peracto.
And you, Phoebus, favor a prophet’s course now finished.
The End
Table of Contents
1. Tell me, Goddess 70, the wrath of proud Pelides 71,
2. that injected sorrowful deaths among the wretched Greeks,
3. and handed over souls of mighty heros to Orcus 72,
4. and gave to the mouths of dogs and birds to tear
5. the bloodless limbs of their unburied bones.
6. For it confessed the sentence of the high King, 73
7. from which also discordant hearts had carried on quarrels,
8. Scepter-bearing Atrides 74 and Achilles, famous in war 75.
9. Which god commanded to draw this sad wrath tight?
10. The Offspring of Leto and great Jove! 76 He sent
11. the hostile persistence into the Pelasgian king’s heart,
12. and involved the Danaans’ bodies in grave distress.
13. For one day Chryses, his temples wrapped
14. in solemn bands, wept, the solace of his daughter taken,
15. days hateful and times of night hateful.
16. He urged and unceasingly filled the breezes with complaints.
17. After no day lifted his soul from grief,
18. and no solaces eased the fathers’ tears,
19. he aims at the Danaans’ camps
and, prostrate on Atrides’ knees,
20. prays in misery, by the gods above and the kingdom’s glory,
21. that the daughter be returned to him for her safety’s sake.
22. He brings gifts at the same time.
The Myrmidons are won over
23. by his tears, and recommend to return Chryseis to her father.
24. Yet Atrides refuses,
and commands Chryses to leave the camps,
25. piety despised: wild love clings to his innermost bones,
26. and for damnable lust he spurns prayers.
27. The priest, despised, returns to Phoebis’ 77 temple
28. and, grieving, tears his dirty face with hostile nails;
29. and tearing hair, also strikes his ancient temples.
30. Next, when moans were laid down and tears are quiet,
31. he appeals to the sacred ears of the Fate-Teller
by these words:
32. “What benefit is it to me
to have worshiped your divinities, Delphic god,
33. or to have led a chaste life for many years?
34. What does it help to have placed sacred fires on altars,
35. if already I, your priest, am scorned by a hostile enemy?
36. Look! Are these gifts returned to my deserted old age?
37. If I am pleasing to you,
let me be upheld under your vindication.
38. Or if otherwise,
that I atone for crime under bitter judgment,
39. I have admitted unknown, oh, why does your right arm stop?
40. Demand the sacred bow, aim your arrows against me:
41. the author of death will be a god, certainly.
Look! I am the deserving one!
42. Pierce the father;
why does the daughter atone for parental sin,
43. and suffer, miserable, the bed of a harsh enemy?”
44. He finished speaking.
Apollo, moved by his bitter prayer of prophecy,
45. infects the Danaans with pestilence,
bringing grievous sufferings through all.
46. He throws it in among the peoples:
a crowd of Greeks falls on every side,
47. and hardly ground remains for funeral pyres,
hardly air for fires.
48. The field lacks space for burials. Already, nine stars of night
49. and a tenth day passing, had made the world known,
50. when famous Achilles calls together the Danaans’ nobles
51. in council, and urges Thestor’s sons to make evident
52. the causes of the hostile plague.
Then Calchas consults the divinities of the gods,
53. and finds both cause and end together of the evils.
54. And fearing to speak, by aid of Achilles’ protection,
55. he says this: “We must placate
the divinities of hostile Phoebus,
56. and return chaste Chryseis to the pious father,
57. if we want, Danaans, to enter gates of health.”
58. He finished speaking. The King’s violence blazed up at once:
59. He addresses bitter words to Thestor’s son first
60. and calls him a liar. Moreover, he accuses great Achilles
61. and in turn he suffers the abuses of the unconquerable leader.
62. All complain loudly. At length, the outcry repressed,
63. the sick man is forced against his will to give up sexual lusts,
64. and returns Chryseis intact to the pious father
65. and many gifts above. Ulysses, whom all know,
66. placing her aboard ship, returned her
by sail to her homeland’s strongholds.
67. and again turned his sail back to the Danaans’ bands.
68. Immediately, the divinities of hostile Phoebus are placated
69. and strengths, nearly consumed,
are returned to the Achaeans.
70. Nevertheless the ardor of Atrides for
Chryseis does not disappear:
71. and, deceived by partings, he grieves and mourns lusts.
72. Soon, he robs great Achilles, taking Briseis,
73. and lightens his fires by another’s fires.
74. But wild Aeacides 78 aims at Atrides
75. at once by naked sword and, unless he returns to him
76. the prizes of soldiery, he cruelly threatens death;
77. nor less the other prepares to defend himself by the sword.
78. That unless chaste Pallas 79 had taken Achilles by hand,
79. blind lust would have bequeathed a shameful reputation
80. to the Argive nations for all time.
And despising the threatening voice,
81. Pelides invokes the divinities of his sea-born mother
82. that she not suffer him
to be unavenged against Plisthenides 80.
83. But Thetis 81, hearing the son’s prayer, abandons the waves
84. and, beside the Myrmidons’ camps,
she begs and warns of arms,
85. that he keep the right arm away from gatherings:
from there through breezes
86. she bolts up the skies and comes to splendid stars.
87. Then, prostrating herself
on the King’s 82 knees, hair scattered,
88. “I’ve come for my son. Look! A mother, suppliant to your
89. divinities, highest parent: to avenge both me and my
90. body from Atrides; if it is permitted him
91. that he violate unpunished the flames of my Achilles,
92. and wickedly kill virtue by overweening lust.”
93. Jupiter 83 answers this: “Put away sad complaints,
94. goddess of the great sea. This labor will remain with me.
95. You console your son’s grieving heart.”
96. He spoke. But she, gliding lightly down the sky by breezes
97. comes to her father’s shore,
and the waves pleasing to her sisters.
98. Juno 84 was offended.
“And does the daughter of Doris 85 matter so much,
99. “great husband?” she says. “Is so much owed Achilles,
100. that to me who am called your spouse, and likewise sister,
101. a name I bear sweetly, you crush the beloved Achaeans,
102. and renew the powers of the Trojans in battle?
103. Do you, therefore, bring back these gifts to us?
Am I thus loved by you?”
104. By such angry words she accuses the Thunderer 86,
105. and in turn she suffers the high King’s abuses.
106. At length, by the fire god’s 87 intervention,
the quarrel settles down
107. and the father of Olympus 88 at once dismisses the council.
108. Meanwhile the sun withdraws, passing through Olympus,
109. and the gods cure their bodies by great feasts:
110. from there they ask bedchambers, and happy gifts of quiet.
111. It was night, and stars were shining on all the world.
112. The race of humans and gods had rest,
113. when the omnipotent father calls Sleep, and so it is spoken:
114. “Go! Work through slightest breezes, gentlest of gods,
115. and aim by rapid flight
at the camps of the Argive commander.
116. And when drowsiness is oppressing by your sweet weight,
117. refer this commandment to him: when at first light
118. day will raise up the Titan 89 and drive out night,
119. let him gather men in arms,
and assault the incautious enemy.”
120. No delay: Sleep goes by light feathers through the air,
121. flies down to Agamemnon’s bedchamber: he
122. had a body stretched out, overcome with gentle sleep.
123. To whom the lifter of works and cares speaks so:
124. "King of Danaans, son of Atreus, wake up, and receive
125. the Thunderer’s commandment,
which decree I bring you at once,
126. carried down from the sky:
when the Titan will arise from the waves,
127. command allies to put arms on mighty shoulders,
128. and to attack the Ilians’ camps in military order.”
129. He spoke, and seeks again these breezes
by which he had come.
130. While a fiery lamp gives light to the ground,
131. the Pelopeian hero 90, astonished by the commandments,
132. calls the nobles together in assembly,
and reveals the matter to all by rank:
133. all promise sharing forces in battle
134. and they urge on the leader. The King, praising mighty hearts
135. by words, gives equal thanks to all.
136. This Thersites, then, than whom no other more deformed
137. came to Troy, nor any tongue bolder,
138. refuses to wage war, and urges them to return again
139. to the fatherlands’ shores. Ulysses of illustrious counsel
140. strikes him with an ivory staff, correcting his words.
141. Then fury truly rages, conceiving quarrels:
142. hardly a hand lacks a spear, the clamor is taken
143. to the stars, and fire for fighting sweeps away all.
144. At length, by the cleverness of Nestor’s aged wisdom,
145. he settled the compressed crowd by a gentle heart,
146. and admonished the leaders by words,
remembering a response
147. of that time in Aulis when he had seen a serpent
148. devour twice four bird chicks in a tree,
149. and it added the mother to the death of the chicks,
150. her fighting with weak body against him to the end.
151. Then the old man said,
“Thus from there, I warn and will remind, Achaeans:
152. the labor which Calchas spoke of is in the tenth year,
153. in which Ilion will fall
by the victorious arms of the Danaans.
154. All assenting, the long life of Nestor is praised,
155. and the council at once is dismissed. The leader commands
156. arms to be readied, souls and hearts to prepare for battle.
157. Next, as light had first dispelled silent shadows
158. and Titan had raised a shining head from the waves by rays,
159. at once, bitter Atrides commands allies to be armed,
160. and to attack the Ilian camps in military order.
161. You Muses, bring back now to me
– for what do you not know in order? –
162. famous names of leaders and famous ancestors
163. and sweet fatherlands: for these are your gifts.
164. Let us say who led ships to Pergamam, and how many,
165. and let us carry the work begun through to the end,
and may Apollo be the author,
166. and, willing, breathe upon each work of ours.
167. Prince Peneleos and Leitus sharp to war,
168. savage Arcesilaus, and Prothoenor, and Clonius
169. lead fifty ships of Boeotia,
170. and by strong rower beat the swelling waves.
171. From there Agamemnon,
rising from Mycenae’s fortifications,
172. whom warlike Greece chose as king for itself,
173. led a hundred ships full of armed soldiery;
174. and the ardor of Menelaus twice thirty ships
175. follow, and fierce, angry Agapenoris the same;
176. beside which, faithful Nestor of wise heart,
177. and mighty in counsel, with his twin offspring,
178. comes fortified in thrice thirty armed keels.
179. Then Schedius, mighty in power, and giant Epistrophus,
180. glory of the Myrmidons, two savages of strengths for war,
181. beat long waters with forty prows;
182. and Polypoetes and Leonteus with twice twenty
183. decorated ships fit out by strong soldiery.
184. Leaders Euryalus and Sthenelus, and Tydides 91,
185. strong in arms, beat the sea by a mighty oar:
186. twice forty ships were burdened by soldiery;
187. Mighty Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, both severe,
188. furnished thrice ten ships by a mighty oar;
189. and most mighty Ajax of Locrus prepared
190. twice twenty ships, and Euhamone’s son the same,
191. which rest beside Achilles, wall of the Greeks,
192. with fifty, borne by maternal waters.
193. Phidippus and Antiphus, youths of Thessaly, came
194. and beat the deep seas with thrice ten ships.
195. And taking up three ships, Teucer divides the seas;
196. Tlepomenus of Rhodius nine, whose severe strengths
197. Eumelus follows, setting out in one less ship
198. than Ajax of Salaminius led, sprung of Telamon.
199. And yet Magnesian Prothous, son of Tenthredon
200. and Elephenor, sprung of the great borders of Euboea, one,
201. and Meges of Dulichius, conspicuous both in soul and arms,
202. of Aetolan nationality, Thoas, born of Andraemonus,
203. all these led forty keels;
204. and the cunning one of Ithaca 92 led twice six ships,
205. whom Telamonian Ajax follows
with the same number of ships,
206. mighty with terrific strength; likewise, terrifying Guneus
207. attempted to go in arms in twice eleven keels.
208. Idomeneus and Meriones, both of Crete,
209. went in twice forty fortified ships;
210. and Menestheus the Athenian, of famous nation, led
211. the same number of ships as Achilles solicited of forces;
212. and fierce Amphimachus and Thalpius, born of Elis,
213. and Polyxenus of famous strength, and Diores,
214. these weighed down twice twenty ships by soldiery.
215. Protesilaus leads the same number, and strong Podarces,
216. prepared ships, as many as Oileus Ajax led;
217. and the one sprung of Poeas 93 took seven armed keels,
218. whom Podalirius followed beside, and Machaon,
219. and they plowed the deep seas by twice ten prows.
220. By these Greek leaders, ships came to Trojan shores:
221. twice seven less than one thousand, two hundred.
222. And already the ranks had driven quickly,
and held the fields,
223. when the Saturnian 94 father sends Iris to Priam,
224. who may show that the mighty Pelasgians
to have come to war.
225. No delay: immediately by the father’s order,
226. Hector, son of Priam, takes arms
and all the young men into battle.
227. He commands them to hurry,
and makes a battle line by the open gates.
228. The flashing of the youth’s golden helmet covered
229. every part of the head, a breastplate fortified the chest,
230. and a shield decorated the left arm, a spear the right;
231. and he adorned the side by a sword,
likewise shining brightly;
232. greaves cover legs, which are fitting for Hector to use.
233. A handsomer form, then, follows this man in mighty arms,
234. Paris, cause of war, deadly ruin of his fatherland,
235. and Deiphobus and Helenus together and mighty Polites
236. and holy Aeneas, most certain offspring of Venus 95,
237. and Archelochus and fierce Acamas, born of Antenor;
238. and indeed the offspring of noble Lycaonia came,
239. Pandarus and great Glaucus, mighty in arms,
240. and Amphius, and Adrastus, and Asius, and Pylaeus.
241. Amphimachus also came, and Nastes, each notable,
242. and the great leaders Odius and giant Epistrophus,
243. and fierce Euphemus and Pyraechmes, famous at the time,
244. with whom also were Mesthles and Antiphus,
also good in arms;
245. Hippothous and Acamas and Pirous came together;
246. Chromius and Ennomus, seed of Arsino, both
247. flourishing in powerful maturity, whom Phorcus and giant
248. Ascanius follow, and likewise Jove’s famous offspring,
249. Sarpedon, and Coroebus, sprung from famous ground.
250. By these leaders Neptunian 96 Troy defended itself
251. and may conquer the Danaans’ deceits, were the fates not so.
252. And already the two battle lines
were standing in flashing arms
253. when Paris, destroyer of Troy and calamitous flame,
254. perceives Menelaus armed, in the opposing battle line;
255. and he kept himself back
like one terrified by the sight of a snake,
256. frantic before allies. Hector, after he sees him shamefully
257. overcome by terror, says: “O, shameful one,
258. eternal shame of our fatherland and race,
259. do you turn the back? But formerly, you didn’t hesitate
260. to fight against the wedding bed
of the host whose arms you now flee,
261. and you fear violence?
Where are the strengths, where is the recognition to us
262. of the one-time force of various games in competition?
263. Show your spirits here: nobility of form helps
264. nothing in arms: Mars 97 rejoices in a harsh soldier.
265. While you lie down in your love, we wage war,
266. and certainly will pour out our gore among the enemy.
267. Let the energetic son of Atreus 98 come against you
268. in equal arms; let the people of Danaans and Phrygians
269. watch, putting away spears. You both, joined in a pact,
270. come together against each other by hand. Decide by iron!”
271. He spoke. Against whom the Priameic 99 hero
spoke by few words
272. “Why do you urge me,” he said, “by too indignant words,
273. O brother, glory of the fatherland?
For a spouse and depraved luxury
274. isn’t better to me than the honor of forces, either,
275. nor do I refuse to test
the strengths and right hand of the man,
276. provided that the spouse may follow the victor with peace.”
277. Hector brings back the statement.
The sentence pleased the Greeks.
278. At once, Priam is summoned
and, sacrifices carried through,
279. agreements are yoked. After this, each withdraws,
280. the people laying down spears, and the plain lay empty.
281. Meanwhile, beautiful Alexander
comes out from the Trojan line,
282. with a distinguished shield and spear.
283. Against whom, bright Menelaus stood in equal arms,
284. and said, “Let the contests with you be with me,
285. nor will you long enjoy our spouse, who soon
286. will moan to see you taken away,
if only Jupiter 100 be at hand.”
287. He spoke and, bitter, throws himself against the enemy.
288. He repelled the man coming on by a strong blow
289. and withdraws himself by a quick step,
and raging from afar,
290. throws the spear from there, which Atrides 101 avoided;
291. and he in turn would have pierced the body
292. of the Phrygian rapist by thrown javelin,
had not the vast chest of the man
293. been covered by a seven-layered coat of mail
with iron behind.
294. Clamor follows along: and then each adversary
295. stood, and helmet scrapes helmet and sole joins
296. to foot, and sword strikes flashing sword;
297. body covered by a collection of shining arms –
298. Not unlike strong bulls wage war for a bright mate
299. and fill the breezes with vast moos.
300. And for a long time they tried taking bodies by rigid iron,
301. when Atrides, remembering to himself
his stolen wife, presses
302. and overwhelms the Dardanian youth.
Then while he is falling backward
303. he assails the enemy from above by a rigid blade,
304. a splendid blow to the outside edges of the helmet.
305. His sword shattered; the line of Greeks moaned.
306. Then indeed the hand blazes up,
however much it lacked a blade,
307. and the victor strikes the youth down, grabbing the helmet,
308. and drags him to the allies,
and, if Cytherea 102 does not cover the man
309. by the blindness of gloom,
and had broken the strong chains,
310. the chin subjected, and loosening the knots,
311. that day would have been the last of Paris.
Menelaus takes him away
312. with the shining golden helmet, and furious,
313. throws it among the nobles, and again runs back,
314. and hurled a great spear with mighty strengths
315. in the Phrygian’s defeat,
whom Venus snatches away from the enemy,
316. and carries back with her
into cultic bedchambers of turtle-shell.
317. Next, she fetches Helen 103 from the high walls
318. and leads her down to her lusts for Dardanian Paris.
319. Whom, after she has seen such, she says by voice:
320. “Have you come, my flame Paris, overwhelmed by the arms
321. of the former spouse? I saw, and it shamed me to see
322. you taken, when the violent Atrides dragged you,
323. and dirtied your hair by Ilian dust,
324. and ours – my misery! – I feared lest the Doric blade
325. had cut down kisses! All to me! Bound fast in mind,
326. color fled my face and blood abandoned my limbs.
327. Who persuaded you to fight with the savage son of Atreus?
328. Had no wandering rumor yet come through to your ears
329. of the man’s strength? I warn you not to try again wickedly
330. to commit your fate to his right arm.”
331. She spoke. Then she flooded his face with large tears.
332. Sorrowful Alexander 104: “Atrides didn’t overwhelm me,
333. O my love” – he said – “yet the wrath of chaste Pallas.
334. Soon you will see him succumb shamefully to our arms,
335. and Cytherea will be near to my labor.”
336. After this, embracing each other, bodies joined,
337. he lay in the Swan-born’s 105 members;
she, by opened vulva,
338. received the flames of both Troy and herself.
339. During all, Menelaus seeks Alexander
340. in the Trojan battle line,
and the victor struts here and there.
341. His brother helps him, spurring on the allied troops in war,
342. and rebukes the beaten Phrygians by a strong mouth,
343. and commands the laws to be observed,
and demands Helen back.
344. And while the nobles
were having a contest among themselves,
345. the omnipotent ruler of Olympus had a council.
346. Pandarus troubled the truces, pointing a bow,
347. aiming at you, Menelaus;
and the flying arrow cuts into the side
348. and penetrates the tunic, rigid with an iron plate.
349. Atrides, moaning, leaves the fight
350. and seeks the guarded camps, whom, treated by paternal art
351. of Paeonian herbs, he is healed by the youth Podalirius.
352. And the victor goes again
into slaughter and horrendous battle.
353. Agamemnon’s fury arms the Pelasgians
354. and pain drove all together to fight.
355. Gigantic war is rising, and much gore is shed
356. on both sides, and bodies are scattered over all the field,
357. and in turn troops of Trojans and Danaans fall,
358. nor is rest given to any man: Mars shouts on every side,
359. and showers of spears fly from all parts.
360. The son of Thalysias falls by the rigid blade of Antilochus,
361. and, submerged in shadows,
he abandons the longed-for lights.
362. From there, the backs of the Greeks
pressed by a mighty hand,
363. Telamonian Ajax seizes a native of Anthemion,
364. and pierces the chest with a hardened spear:
365. he vomits purple, soul mixed with blood;
366. he drenches the face, dying.
Then Antiphus hurls a spear by great
367. strengths, the attempt of all the body,
368. against Aeacides 106; and the spear erred from the enemy
369. and fell among the enemies,
and pierced Leucon in the groin:
370. the unhappy man falls, prostrate by a mighty wound
371. and dying, chews the green grass by teeth.
372. Energetic Atrides 107, moved by his friend’s fate,
373. aims against Democoon by a wooden spear,
374. and pierces through the temples.
The grim man snatches away the sword
375. from the scabbard; dying in arms, lying on the back,
376. he beats and pulsates the earth
by the crown of his dying head.
377. And already Pirous son of Imbrases had brought down
378. the son of Amaryncius by the blow of a rock,
and given him to silent shadows;
379. and while the man, avid for plunder,
prepared to strip the youth,
380. a spear comes from above,
hurled by the right hand of Thoas,
381. and passes through the man’s
shoulders and courageous chest;
382. he fell on his face, and vomits hot blood
383. by mouth, and shudders, laid out over his weapons.
384. The Dardan plains flowed with blood on every side,
385. the streams flowed everywhere. Everywhere the armies
386. of both fought burning with mixed arms,
387. and now the strength of the Trojans,
now that of the Achaeans grows
388. and joyous victory is sought by various chances.
389. Here, after Tydides 108 saw the Danaans’ front
390. retreating far, swollen Mars increasing,
391. he rushes in among the battle lines,
where he threatens many
392. of the enemy, and, opposing,
cuts down formations by slaughter.
393. The fierce one flashes sword and spear here and there.
394. Warlike Pallas is present, and arms blazing in fires,
395. she helps the youth’s spirits, and ministers forces.
396. He, like a savage lioness seeing a herd of oxen
397. who, famine-driven, fasting, rushes in against the line
398. and kills by frenzied tooth the fallen bodies,
399. so the Calydonian hero rushes into the enemies’ midst
400. admonished of the arms-bearing virgin and divine will.
401. Turning, the Phrygians give the backs, fleeing.
402. He pursues and tramples piled up heaps of the dying.
403. And while he strikes and scatters men,
he sees, look! The sons of Dares
404. standing opposite, raging in the battle line,
405. Phegeus and Idaeus together; Phegeus attacks him first
406. by a heavy lance, yet he drives away wounds by the shield
407. and avoided entirely, it stood only in the ground.
No delay: Tydides
408. hurls a giant spear with all his strengths,
409. and pierces through the man’s chest:
part of the spear hangs out before
410. and the other part thrusts out the stabbed shoulders.
411. The brother saw where this man was,
pouring out a hot flow from his chest
412. and rolling the eyes
and vomiting the soul out through the mouth.
413. He flies quickly to close by sword
414. and wants to be judge of his brother’s fates.
415. Yet neither savage force nor mighty arms sustain
416. against Tydides, and nevertheless he tries to defend.
417. As a bird, when the body of her chick is torn apart,
418. she sees the hawk mangle,
yet she can neither attempt against it
419. nor bring help, anxious for the chick,
420. and what she can do,
she beats her breast with light feathers,
421. so Idaeus sees the proud enemy,
bloody by the killing of his brother
422. nor is he able to run to the wretched brother’s aid
423. and, unless he had stopped,
he would have fallen by the same right hand.
424. Nor less the other son of Atreus 109
rages in arms against the Teucros
425. and the battle line follows, and he mixes deaths with iron.
426. And leading the way, unhappy Odius meets
427. this dismal fate; by the blow of a vast lance,
428. Menelaus lays him out
and pierces through the giant shoulders by spear.
429. Here Idomeneus seeks Phaestus of Maeonidus,
430. rushing in on the opposing part, after whose death, happy,
431. he also sends the son of Strophius down to Stygian shadows.
432. Meriones strikes Phereclus by a hurled spear
433. and Meges kills Pedaeum. Then, grim by vast arms,
434. Eurypylus lays advancing Hypsenora low by sword,
435. and he plundered the youth of both life and arms.
436. In another part, Pandarus flies over by bending bow
437. and seeks Tydides through the battle line with intense eye.
438. After he sees him scattering the Trojans’ bodies,
439. he directed grim arrows by a stretched bow,
440. and strips off the topmost part
of his shoulder by sharpened arrow.
441. Then indeed, the Calydonian youth burns with anger,
442. and throws himself
into the midst of the line like an angry lion,
443. and cuts down Astynous and great Hypiron also;
444. this one close by he strikes by sword;
him at a distance by spear;
445. from there he presses Polyidus and Abanta
by a mighty lance,
446. and Xanthus, noted in war, and vast Thoones.
447. After these, the hostile man drives away
both Chromius and Echemmona
448. by arrow, and sends both rapidly to Tartarus 110.
449. You likewise, Pandarus,
prostrate by the right hand of Tydides
450. killed, unhappy man, receiving a sad wound,
451. where the right side of the nose
is joined to the lower forehead;
452. and he splatters the brain,
torn away with part of the helmet;
453. and Tydides’ sword scatters the stabbed-through bones.
454. And now Aeneas and the Calydonian hero had brought
455. hand together, throwing spears
between themselves at close quarters;
456. and on all sides they sought the bodies by hostile iron,
457. and now moved back, now from there came together.
458. And at length after both stood, nor did great Tydides
459. see where he could give a wound by hostile sword,
460. he took up a giant stone which lay
by chance in the middle of the field,
461. which hardly twice six youths could move from the ground,
462. and threw it by great effort at the enemy.
463. He fell prostrate on the ground with mighty arms,
464. whom mother Venus
coming down through the skies’ breezes
465. takes, and hides the body in a black darkness.
466. Oenides 111 did not take this agreeably,
and threw himself
467. through the very clouds,
and intrudes against Venus with flagrant arms,
468. and frenzied, he sees
no one on the field whom he may attack
469. and a mortal’s spear wounds a divine hand.
470. Wounded, leaving earth behind, Cytherea aims at the sky
471. and there complains of her wounds to her starry mother 112.
472. Trojan Apollo saves Dardanian Aeneas
473. and inflames his spirits, and brings him back again to war.
474. On all sides the lines surge and the sky is concealed
475. by dust, and heaven sounds with horrendous cries.
476. Here, one is thrown down to the plains in a swift chariot
477. and crushed and trampled at once by the hooves of horses,
478. and another, body pierced through by a flying spear
479. fell prone on his back from the horse; one whose head
480. rolled on, thrown far from the neck by a sword;
481. this one falls dead, brain splattered over arms;
482. the soil flows with blood, fields wet with sweat.
483. Meanwhile, the offspring
of most beautiful Venus 113 appears suddenly
484. and presses the Greeks’ dense lines, and mows wide
485. naked backs by the sword, and mixes deadly battle.
486. Nor does mightiest Hector, one hope of the Phrygians, cease
487. to scatter men cut down,
and overturn the Greeks’ battle lines.
488. As a wolf in a field when he sees sheep exposed
489. (he fears neither the flock’s shepherd,
nor the agitated crowd
490. of dogs), he rages, hungry, and ignores all,
491. and rushes insatiable among the flocks,
by no means different, Hector
492. attacks the Danaans and terrifies by a wounding sword.
493. The Greek lines falter, the Phrygians push forward sharply
494. and lift spirits: victory doubles forces.
495. As he sees allies fall by hostile Mars,
496. the Danaan king, high on horseback,
flies around the battle lines
497. and urges on the leaders, and strengthens souls in battle.
498. Soon, the courageous King
throws himself among the enemies
499. and divides the opposing lines by drawn sword.
500. As when a Libyan lion by chance sees far off lines
501. of happy cattle to wander
here and there through green grasses,
502. he lifts up the mane by neck and, thirsty for gore,
503. he contends by erect chest among the herd,
504. so fierce Atrides carries himself across into the enemies,
505. and drives away by lance the hostile Phrygian columns.
506. His famous strength kindles
the forces of the Achaean leaders
507. and hope makes sharp
the listlessness of the soldiery’s arms:
508. the Teucri are poured out,
the Danaans, rejoicing, are happy.
509. At length, this son of Atreus sees Aeneas
510. try to charge by an attacking chariot, iron drawn,
511. and he prepares a spear. So much his fury moved,
512. he hurls it by strengths; which falling astray from him
513. is fastened in the chest and stomach of the high charioteer;
514. he, falling in the middle by the blow,
rolls between whips and wheels
515. and pours out the life with hot blood.
516. Furious Aeneas moans
and jumps down from the high chariot,
517. and by a mighty blow in close quarters
518. carries off Orilochus and Chrethon,
after whose deaths, defeated,
519. he cuts down Paphlagonus, leader of Menelaus’s arms,
520. and Antilochus kills Mydon.
After these, the famous offspring of Jove
521. Sarpedon mixes war and deadly battle.
522. Against him, unhappy Tlepolemus, son of great Hercules,
523. does not divide arms equally, yet neither the strengths
524. nor all the labors of the father can save him,
525. so that he falls and gives the feeble life from the body.
526. Wounded, Sarpedon goes out
from the middle of the battle-front,
527. and Ulysses deviser of trickery goes up
528. and pours out seven youths of mightiest bodies.
529. Here, Mars-like Hector fights, ridge-pole of the fatherland,
530. there Tydides: and they scatter
the bodies of men on either side
531. through the fields,
and the meadows are moistened by blood.
532. Mighty-in-war Mars fights with chaste Pallas
533. and shakes his giant shield, whom the holy warlike female
534. drove at, and she strikes a blow by the tip of a lance
535. and forces him to aim at the sky at once, astonished.
536. There on high he shows the King 114 his wounds
537. and, injured, endures the abuses of the great father.
538. Meanwhile, Ajax kills Acamantes by great strengths
539. and Menelaus captures vast Adrastus
540. and takes him to the ships, hands tied behind the back
541. that he may lead him back by force
from the enemy to joyful triumphs.
542. The Danaans attack, the Trojan youth falls
543. and covers the naked backs. Mars-like Hector senses
544. the gods fighting for the Danaans, and his men’s strengths
545. carried way by the divine will of the warlike virgin 115,
546. and immediately seeks the walls
and commands Hecuba 116 be called.
547. He urges the divinities of the goddess be placated.
548. At once the unwed women of Ilias climb up
549. the citadels of armed Pallas:
they furnish the altars with woven flowers
550. and kill sacred offerings in the customary manner.
551. And while suppliant Hecuba
pours out prayers at Minerva’s temple,
552. a mother for beloved children and husband,
553. meanwhile Glaucus prepares to decide by drawn iron
554. with Diomedes, and asking name and ancestry,
555. who he may be and where he came from,
he attempts to throw a spear
556. with great forces; the Aetolian hero 117 urging,
557. “Where are you rushing?” – he cries out –
“what raging mind, criminal,
558. drives you to fight me with unequal arms?
559. You see the arms of a host,
who struck the right hand of Venus
560. a wound, and stabbed Mars in high battle.
561. Set down your wild spirits and restrain hostile weapons.’
562. After this, setting aside between themselves
the contest of fighting,
563. they exchange shields, and forsake harmful battle.
564. Meanwhile, Andromache, most faithful spouse of Hector,
565. asks for a conversation, and at her breasts
566. she holds their little child, Astyanax.
While the great hero asks
567. his little kisses, the infant, suddenly terrified,
568. turns his timid face to the mother’s breasts,
569. and flees the terrible helmet and plumed crest.
570. And as the young man uncovered his head,
laying aside the bronze,
571. he at once embraces the infant with both arms,
572. and lifting hands: “I pray, O noblest father” – he said –
573. “that my child here, for whom I worship your divinities,
574. “may imitate the fathers’ virtues from his first years.”
575. He said these things, and the gates opened,
he seeks the bitter battle line,
576. with Paris together next. After they come into the struggle
577. great Hector at once proceeds into the midst
578. and provokes the Greek leaders by unbeaten arms.
579. No delay: at once Ulysses, deviser of trickery,
580. and fierce Idomeneus, and Meriones,
renowned of paternal nation,
581. and at the same time Atrides, sharp leader of the Greeks
582. and the two Ajax, handsome in famous arms,
583. Eurypylus, and Thoas, born of great Andraecom
584. and he who wounded the hand of sad Venus 118
585. advance; for Achilles, terror of Troy, wasn’t there,
586. and was easing harsh love by sweet guitar.
587. Therefore, when lots were cast in the golden helmet
588. of King Atrides, great Ajax had come forward.
589. First they commit to battle, throwing spears;
590. next they draw rigid blades and by mighty arms
591. decide, and search by eyes for open places
592. and now they aim at backs, now repel harsh blows
593. by mighty shields; the giant clamor is taken
594. to the stars, and the air is filled with vast shouts.
595. Not thus bristly boars make sharp angers by furies,
596. and they aim for vast chests now by barbed teeth,
597. the opponents free swords, and mix wounds.
598. They press mighty backs, and each foam at the mouth:
599. clouds of smoke and mixed lightnings and fires
600. blaze up, and fill the woods by great complaint.
601. And such is the ardor of Priamides 119 and Ajax in arms.
602. At length, Telamonian Ajax, furious in spirits and weapons,
603. aims at Hector, conspicuous in war,
and steers the shining sword
604. where the man’s naked neck lay open.
605. The cunning man sees the blow in advance by quick wit
606. and raises the backs, and repels the iron by shield,
607. Yet he lightly passes over the extreme edge of the shield
608. by the sword, and grazes the neck by a small wound.
609. Fighting bitterly again, he surges into the enemy.
610. Priamides not now by iron yet by the cast of a great stone
611. aims at the offspring of Telamon. And fierce Ajax
612. repels the giant blow by a seven-fold shield,
613. and lays the youth out, struck the same by stone.
614. Apollo, enemy of the Greeks, lifts him up
615. and makes his soul whole:
already again they come together in arms
616. and drew again swords, when the tired Titan
617. began to submerge the fire-bearing chariots in the waves
618. and night to rise a little: they send men beside
619. who break up the slaughter from each side,
nor sluggish, they
620. lay down spirits. Then Hector, great in war:
621. “What land birthed you,
and who are the parents who produced you?
622. You are the offspring of generous
and celebrated strengths,” he said.
623. And across, Telamonian Ajax prepares himself to speak:
624. “You see one sired by Telamon, of mother Hesiona,
625. The house is noble, and the race of generous fame.”
626. As Hector, remembering the name and case of Hesiona,
627. said, “Let us withdraw. Common blood is on both sides,”
628. and first, he makes Aeacides 120 a gift of his golden sword
629. and in turn, receives the notable belt, variously carved,
630. by which warlike Ajax girded himself.
631. Immediately after this, the ranks of Greeks and Trojans
632. withdraw, and night covers the sky with black shadows.
633. They are filled with large meals
and the liquor of Bacchus 121,
634. and hand over their bodies avidly to peaceful sleep.
635. Afterwards, when Aurora had first driven out the stars,
636. the Phrygians come to council. Then, great Hector
637. remembering with allies the deaths of yesterday’s slaughter
638. urges that Helen be return to the unconquered Achaeans.
639. and plunder that might soothe Menelaus’s harsh fires,
640. and it pleases all. Then Idaeus brought the message
641. of the Trojan mandate to savage Atrides 122;
he accommodates
642. neither the soul to the plunder nor the ears to the words,
643. and commands Idaeus to go out beyond the camps.
644. Admonished, he obeys and despised, turning back again
645. to the Trojans’ camps,
he brings himself back from the harsh enemy.
646. Meanwhile the Danaans,
disordered by the slaughter of their own,
647. build giant funeral pyres and, gathering from everywhere,
648. hand over the mighty bodies of their allies to flames.
649. Afterwards, they repair the trenches,
and surround the palisade with oak.
650. As the Titan brought the shining world to light by its rays,
651. Jove gathers those above in council, and warns
652. that the gods not contend in arms against his word.
653. He glides down from the sky through heavenly breezes
654. and sits at once on Ida’s shady mountains.
655. From there he sees the Ilian battle lines,
and by potent right hand
656. holds up the golden scales of equal plates,
657. and weighs out the Phrygians’ harsh fate
and the Achaeans’ lot,
658. and disaster for the Greeks weighs down by grave arms.
659. Meanwhile, Priamides, stirred up by giant anger,
660. drives the Danaans,
and threatens every part by heavy arms,
661. one indeed, glory of Phrygia. The Achaeans are troubled
662. and the Dorian camps are filled by giant tumult.
663. Atrides 123, shut in by walls, encourages allies
664. and strengthens the youths’ wavering spirits in the struggle.
665. First Tydides, shining by burning arms,
666. wins by inhuman weight through the enemies’ midst.
667. Here Agelaus of ill fate meets him
668. shaking a spear by inhuman hand, whom the great hero
669. seizes and stabs through the middle by harsh sword.
670. Then Teucer, protected by Ajax in vast arms,
671. attacks the Phrygians
and scatters light arrows in their backs.
672. He pours out fierce Gorgythion by a lethal wound;
673. Then he aims at another line, and kills the charioteer
674. of proud Hector. The Trojan hero attacks him by a stone
675. and crushes the incautious man by thrown down bow.
676. But faithful companions take him away from the slaughter
677. and lift up the prostrate body.
Stormy Hector destroys from every side
678. and terrorizes the opposing lines by hostile lance.
679. The Danaan troops in turn, troubled by their slaughter,
680. turn themselves back again, and flee quickly into the camps
681. and make firm the gates by an oaken beam.
682. Then the Phrygians besiege the Greeks enclosed by the wall
683. and keeping watch,
they press and crown the walls by flames.
684. Other young men stretch out their bodies through the fields
685. and indulge cares by wine and resolve their spirits.
686. The Danaan nobles, astonished by such a crisis,
687. neither ease souls by meals nor care for bodies,
688. yet moan their miserable fates. Then, pushed by Nestor,
689. they send emissaries and exhort the right hand of Achilles,
690. that he bring aid to miseries. The hero son of Thetis
691. neither receives the Danaans’ prayers by ear, nor wants any
692. of the king’s gifts brought back: neither the return of fire
693. nor the intact body of his Briseis moves him.
694. The emissaries bring back responses
in vain to the Pelasgians,
695. and care for the souls by meals and gentle sleep.
695. The second part of night, the stars sliding slowly by,
696. a third part of the night also remained over the silence,
697. when the Aetolian hero goes out by command,
698. from the Danaans’ camp,
and selects Ulysses as ally for himself
699. who goes with him in the faintly-lit shadows of silent night
700. that he may search out by study
what the Trojans’ faith may be,
701. what they are doing,
and how many forces they prepare for battle.
702. And while they pursued the dreadful journey,
fearing places through the night,
703. Look! Dolon comes, whom the Trojan young man
704. had sent, that he might observe
by skillful heart the Danaans’ forces,
705. and bring back a sense to the leaders and people.
706. As Ulysses, ally of Diomedes, sees him far off,
707. they had hidden, concealing their bodies stealthily
708. behind dense bushes, while the Trojan, son of Eumedia,
709. struck by small hope, was going before them at a run,
710. that he not, easily subdued,
bring the steps back into his camps.
711. After, when he had passed, trusting both soul and hand,
712. the men jump out and take the youth, he trying
713. to escape at a run,
and they threaten him with iron and hand.
714. Shaking with fear, he said, “Grant life,
715. this one is enough; that if you stand firm in anger,
716. how many rewards of praise
will you capture from my death?
717. And if you ask why I come in silent shadows:
718. great Troy promised me Achilles’ chariot
719. if she captures your riches. Pursuing these gifts,
720. in doubtful fortunes, before which you yourselves discern,
721. I have fallen, unhappy.
Now I implore you, by the gods’ divinities,
722. by the sea, by the dark flood of Dis,
723. that you not take away this soul by cruel slaughter!
724. You will bring back these gifts for the concession of safety:
725. I will make known to you King Priam’s counsel
726. and the affair of the Phrygian nation by order.”
After the men learned
727. what Troy had prepared, they cut the youth’s throat
728. by open sword. After this, they enter
729. the tents of Rhesus, and kill him, buried
730. in sleep and wine,
and they plunder the man, and deprive of life
731. the allies scattered over the grass.
Then, the sad slaughter carried through,
732. they carry plunder on shoulders, much and brightly shining.
733. They take away Thracian horses,
which not even Eurus can outrun
734. nor can a flying arrow overcome by speed.
735. From there, they return again to the Argive ships
736. before the time of first light,
whom the age of Nestor receives
737. and opens the gates. After they obtained the camps,
738. they bring back the facts
to the leader: the Pelopeian hero praises
739. and, exhausted,
they hand their members over to happy quiet.
740. Light risen has sent men back into the former war,
741. and restores the fighting spirits
of Dardanian and Danaan leaders,
742. by refreshed soldiery; a cloud of spears flies on every side,
743. and iron sounds on iron. Mixed on every side,
744. they struggle among themselves by sword, and a dense line
745. presses each side, and sweat flows mixed with blood.
746. At length, the Danaans’ king, stirred by boiling rage,
747. pours out Antiphon, laid low by a giant wound,
748. and Pisandrus likewise, and Hippolochus his brother,
749. rushing to war; after these, he aims at Iphidamas by sword.
750. This brother strikes the king’s right hand by spear;
751. taken by pain, he bitterly pursues Antenor’s fleeing son
752. and, furious with the wound, drags punishments.
753. Then Hector, Priam’s son, stirred by rage,
goes up bitterly to fight
754. and presses the stricken Greeks on every side;
755. nor does Paris cease to lay low hostile troops,
756. and wounds Eurypylus’s thigh by stretched bow.
757. The Trojans press in, the Pelasgians flee into the camps,
758. forces exhausted, and strengthen the walls on all sides
759. by vast bars. Then Mars-like Hector breaches
760. the gates by a stone, and loosens the iron-covered oak.
761. Having approached, the Phrygians break in and scatter
762. the resisting Greeks on the threshold,
and overthrow the troops
763. by the palisade; others demand ladders
against the fortifications
764. and cast fires; victory augments forces.
765. The Danaans fight from the walls and towers
from the heights.
766. Stones fly, the Trojans climb up, under locked shields,
767. and, having approached, mount up,
and press the gates by forces.
768. Troubled, all flee already the Pelasgian camps,
769. and climb the ships. The Trojan youth urges
770. and casts close-packed spears:
the sky resounds with the outcries.
771. Neptune helps the Danaans’ forces and spirit:
772. giant battle arises,
the enemy rages from here and from there.
773. Asius falls at Idomeneus’s right hand. Hector kills
774. bloody Amphimachus, nor does Alcathous, son of Anchises
775. not meet death in arms, whom the noble in spirit leader
776. Rhytieus pours out by sword. Then angry Deiphobus
777. strikes Ascalaphus by spear, and he sinks under the waves.
778. Fierce Hector rages on all sides by violent heart
779. whom, struck by a giant stone, great Ajax
780. drove away, and poured out all the body prostrate.
781. The Trojans’ hand runs together to wash the youth,
782. vomiting flowing blood, in the flood of Xanthus.
783. They return again from there to the fight;
let great slaughters happen
784. of both sides, and the ground flows with hostile gore.
785. Polydamas strikes Prothoenor by a mighty blow,
786. Telamonian Ajax kills Archelochus of Antenor,
787. and Acamas kills Promachus of Boeotia,
whom he scatters viciously.
788. of Peneleos’s right hand;
from there Priam’s young man falls back.
789. The Trojans surge forward bitterly against the Achaeans
790. <>
791. pushed by fear of wars, and they leap across the threshold
792. and the piled up walls around;
others return to the trenches in them.
793. Meanwhile impatient Hector,
dread of the Danaans, flies forward:
794. the wings of Agamemnon flee together again to the ships
795. and from there they push forward
against the enemy by strengths.
796. Let the fight happen before the vessels!
Mars-like Hector rages,
797. and demands flames, and prepares to burn all the ships.
798. Ajax opposes him by mighty strengths,
799. standing in the first ship, and sustains savage fire
800. by shield, and alone defends a thousand keels.
801. On this side, Danaans cast spears of oaken points,
802. on that side Phrygians throw burning pines from every side;
803. sweat flows from the warriors’ vast limbs.
804. Patroclus cannot bear to see their defeat again
805. and, quickly fortified by Achilles’ arms,
806. flies forward and terrifies the Trojans together
by a false image.
807. Those who just now troubled the Danaans
and raged in spirit,
808. now flee, fearful; he threatens the fleeing
809. and, fierce, disturbs the front,
scatters them through the vast battle line,
810. and pours out Sarpedon by a giant wound.
811. And burning, now he passes these, now those, in course,
812. and turns the battle under the image of horrid Achilles.
813. Whom, after mixing the allied ranks by slaughter
814. and troubling the front, fiery Hector looked back on.
815. The bloody man takes heart and, vast in inhuman arms,
816. runs against him, and rebukes him by great mouth:
817. “Attack here, turn your steps here, mightiest Achilles:
818. even now you will know what vengeance
a Trojan right hand may work,
819. and how much mightiest Hector may prevail by war.
820. For it is lawful that Mars himself protect you by his arms;
821. nevertheless, this right hand will kill you,
though Mars be unwilling”
822. He keeps silent, and spurns the threats and bold words,
823. that he may be believed the true Achilles,
whom he pretended.
824. Then, the Dardanian first hurls a spear by gathered forces,
825. which blow, fallen short, Patroclus quickly picks up
826. and returns the changes and, in return of gifts,
827. that, striking the shield, it settles to the green earth.
828. Then, they draw rigid blades and mix together
829. in close quarters by arms, until the Trojan’s Apollo
830. reveals the lying face of the pretended Achilles,
831. and strips the man, whom fighting by deceit,
832. great at war Hector afterwards seizes in arms,
833. rushes, and by naked iron pierces the youth
834. in the chest, and the victor strips off the Vulcanian arms.
835. Telamonian Ajax claims the dead body,
836. and covers it by an opposing shield. Priam’s young man
837. exults with joy, the Danaans grieve their wound.
838. Meanwhile, Nestor’s sons with their men carry
839. the miserable body of the sad youth into the camps
840. Then, as the horror strikes the ears of Pelides,
841. unhappy, he grows pale about the youth,
heat leaves the bones;
842. members likewise weeping, he ties on the mother’s cloak.
843. Wailing openly from sadness
about the slaughter of his intimate companion;
844. Aeacides 124 cuts his face by nails. He deforms adorned hair
845. in dust. He tears the clothing from his firm chest
846. and, prostrate over the dead members
of his intimate companion,
847. pours out cruel questions, and affixes kisses.
848. Then where he was placed, they quiet moaning and tears
849. “You, Hector, will not rejoice unpunished
at my companion’s slaughter,”
850. he said – “Violent one, you will pay the penalties
851. of my great sadness, as victor in these arms
852. in which you exult, gore poured out to die!”
853. After this, ignited by furies, he rushes to the sea;
854. suppliant, he prays Thetis for mighty arms; she, leaving
855. the waves, at once begs Vulcan’s help.
856. Mulciber 125 stirs up the Aetnaeans’ 126 fires
to blazing furnaces
857. and by mighty blows masters yellow gold.
858. Then, he brings back complete arms of divine makings.
859. Thetis flies back from there; in which, after great Achilles
860. puts them on, he turns his terrifying face to the shield.
861. There, the Fire-Mighty engraved an elegant citadel,
862. and stars, and garlanded sea nymphs on every side,
863. the lands of Ocean, and Nerea bound around,
864. changes of stars, and measures of the four watches of night,
865. and parts of the world, as far as the Arctics from the South,
866. and as far as of sunset stands from the rosy dawn,
867. from where Light-Bearer and Hesperus,
one no matter which,
868. shine forth by horses,
and as far as the hollow Moon wanders
869. in the sphere and, shining, purifies the sky by its lamp:
870. and he added their divinities of sea: great Nereus
871. and old Ocean, and Proteus always changing,
872. fierce Tritons, and the floods beloved of Doris;
873. and he made by marvelous art liquid-seeming Nereids.
874. Earth bears woods and horrid wild monsters,
875. rivers and mountains, and towns of high walls,
876. in which contending peoples exercise ancient laws
877. and customs; there sits a judge impartial
878. to each side, and he decides quarrels with a serene face.
879. In another part, chaste girls resound hymns to Apollo
880. and give soft choruses, and right hands strum tympanies;
881. Apollo plays the chords of a graceful lyre
by extended thumb,
882. and now modulates the seven notes by reeds;
883. they compose songs,
resounding the movement of the world.
884. Others cultivate farms, plow grave furrows by oxen,
885. and the mighty one, the harvester of grains,
reaps mature crops;
886. and a vintner rejoices, unclean from pressed grapes;
887. flocks clips meadows, goats hang in the rocks.
888. Here among all Mars was standing in golden arms,
889. whom the goddess of poetry abandoned 127,
gloomy Chlotho,
890. and Lachesis of snake-like hairs were sitting nearby.
Book Nineteen
891. Adorned by such gifts, the hero son of Thetis,
892. throws himself by an inhuman whirlwind
among the battle lines,
893. to whom Juno with chaste Pallas provides forces,
894. and they give spirits to the youth.
The Cytherian hero 128 sees
895. and opposes the man, yet not with equal arms,
896. nor was he equal to Aeacides, yet wrath drives
897. the youth to match himself
with the unconquered one by armed forces.
898. Unless the ruler of great waters 129 had saved him,
899. that as a refugee he replant Troy in happy fields,
900. and raise up the famous race of Augustus to the stars,
901. the origin of a famous race
would not have continued to us. 130
902. From there Aeacides attacks the Teucrons by hostile lance
903. and lays low a giant measure of men by slaughter,
904. thirsting for Hector’s blood. The Dardan young man
905. flees, terrified, to the rapid floods of Xanthus
906. and begs divine aid of the river; He
907. presses, and fights in the middle of raging waves.
908. Anger was giving strengths;
the banks were stretched tight by blood,
909. and bodies float, scattered along all the floods.
910. Both Venus and Apollo, protector of the Phrygian nation,
911. compel the flood of Xanthus to surge among the Danaans.
912. that, mixing in wild battle by its terrible right hand,
913. it may cover Aeacides;
the River all at once wanders headlong from its course
914. on every side, by all waters and vast whirlpools,
915. and turns the man back by torrents, impedes him by waves,
916. and hinders his steps. Raging with the whole body,
917. he fights against the waters,
and breaks through the opposing floods;
918. and now breaking them in half by arms, now by vast chest,
919. he drives the flood. Juno, seeing him from far off, helps
920. by fires, because he began falling under the rapid waves,
921. and the holy divinities of the gods fight among themselves.
922. Horrid Aeacides again attacks the Phrygian troops
923. with giant slaughter and, having resumed warlike ardor,
924. mixes deadly battle lines and horrendous battle.
925. No force moves him, nor do his savage sentiments
926. tire of war-making; success augments strengths.
927. Struck by trembling fear, the Trojans began doubting
928. and, exhausted, barely flee to safety inside
929. the walls, and shut the gates by oaken bar.
930. One safety remained in which all the Trojans hoped:
931. Hector is here,
whom neither fear of harsh death on every side,
932. nor the father’s prayers to hold back,
so that he might go out to meet
933. and wishes to contend against great Achilles.
934. As he sees him far off, covered by celestial arms,
935. Tritonian Pallas appeared suddenly before his eyes,
936. and he was terrified. He flees, unhappy,
around his fortification,
937. the gates closed; the Nereian hero 131 follows:
938. as if in dreams, when anger terrified the heart,
939. this one follows by course above, that one seems to flee,
940. and both hurry. Labor itself delays steps,
941. they can by turns insist, the trial begun,
942. nor is rest at hand. Fear stirs up rages from every side.
943. The miserable parents watch his destinies from the walls,
944. and see their son growing pale at the last moment,
945. whom already now the last day presses by its final light.
946. To him suddenly before his eyes Tritonia 132,
meeting the youth
947. in the likeness of his brother, deceiving by pretended face;
948. (for he believes himself safe in arms with Deiphobus,)
949. Pallas again transfers her divinities to the Danaans.
950. The unconquered youths run together, throwing spears
951. between themselves at close quarters:
this one intones by vast arms,
952. that one repels the mighty enemy in vain by shield
953. and, fierce, changes blows in turn by grapplings.
954. Sweat makes streams, horrid blade wears out blade,
955. joined in battle, foot clings to foot,
and right hand to right hand.
956. Savage Achilles already now was hurling a spear by hands,
957. and drives it at the man, sent out by great strengths,
958. which gliding past, cunning Hector avoids.
959. The Danaans shout out. In answer, the hero Priamides
960. hurls a vibrating javelin against the Vulcanian arms.
961. Nor is success near: for it is bent by hard gold
962. and the sharp point shattered. The Trojan battle lines groan.
963. They run together mightily again, by gathered arms,
964. and in turn avoid at close quarters the harsh sword.
965. Nor does Hector, with failing strengths,
prevail to resist further
966. the ultimate fate, and Aeacides standing.
967. And while he falls backward, and looks for his brother’s help
968. by crafty causes, and sees no safety to be there,
969. he senses deceits at hand. What can he do? What divinities
970. can he invoke, suppliant?
And all the body’s strengths languish
971. and they deny help; the right hand hardly retains iron,
972. hostile night covers the eyes, nor does any rescue come,
973. wearied of help; the dying one fights, and presses down
974. a groan by high heart. The Nerean hero presses in,
975. and from afar attacks the troubled man from all sides.
Then he throws a spear
976. and pierces through the middle of his guts by rigid lance.
977. The Danaans exult, the Trojans bewail his wound.
978. Then wretched Hector, parting so from strengths:
979. “Look, concede my body to my miserable parents,
980. which the unhappy father will buy with much gold:
981. you, victor, will carry off gifts. Now Priam’s son prays,
982. Priam prays you, that leader of leaders, whom Greece alone
983. has feared; if, won neither by prayers nor by gift,
984. you are moved
neither by miserable tears nor famous nation
985. to have mercy on the afflicted father: may Peleus move
986. your heart for Priam, Pyrrhus 133 for our body.”
987. Such Priamides. Against him, harsh Achilles:
988. “Why do you try by suppliant words to bend
989. my heart, I who can tear you apart like wild beasts,
990. if nature allowed, to consume you by my jaws?
991. Truly, sad beasts and all the birds will tear you
992. apart, and hungry dogs will feed on your insides.
993. These will seize you, to the joy of Patroclus’s ghost,
994. if shadows know.” While great Achilles in this manner
995. threw insults by savage mouth, Hector gave back
996. his miserable life. Achilles, not yet satisfied in soul,
997. ties him to the chariot by the feet, and the victor
998. dragged the bloodless members
three times around the walls;
999. the master’s success
brings the horses themselves pride.
Then the great hero
1000. brought the body, defiled by dust, back to the Danaans.
1001. The Danaans rejoice, the Trojans grieve their wound,
1002. and bewail the captured walls as well with his death.
1003. Meanwhile, Aeacides the victor, bewailing his friend’s body
1004. makes a funeral, and leads processions to the solemn rites.
1005. Then he drags Hector’s miserable limbs
around the mound,
1006. and publicly declares the honors of games
to the lifeless ashes.
1007. And Tydides overcomes fierce Meriones in the footrace.
1008. Ajax is overcome wrestling,
1009. whose strengths
the son of Laertes 134 deceives by cleverness;
1010. Epeos overcomes against all in boxing;
1011. and mighty Polypoetes defeats all in discus,
1012. and Meriones wins by bow. At length, the contest closed,
1013. Achilles, surrounded by crowds, returns to his camps.
1014. The miserable Phrygians weep Hector lost, and all Troy
1015. sounds with mournful wailing;
unhappy Hecuba, who must be pitied,
1016. pours out laments, and plows the face with savage nails.
1017. And Andromache tears her clothes from the breast,
1018. Alas! Plundered of such a husband! All the Phrygian cause
1019. falls in one Hector, the defense falls of the extreme age
1020. of an afflicted father who must be pitied,
whom neither his wife
1021. and crowd of children, nor the glory of a great kingdom
1022. held him, forgetful of life, so that he goes unarmed
1023. and alone to the camps returned to by undefeated foes.
1024. The Danaans’ nobles watch, and Aeacides himself watches
1025. the soul of the miserable old man; he, trembling,
1026. prostrate on his knees, holding palms up to the stars,
1027. says this: “O Achilles, mightiest of the Greek nation,
1028. O my kingdom’s enemy, you alone the young man
1029. of conquered Dardana fears; our old age senses
1030. your overwhelming cruelty.
Now, may you be most gentle, I pray,
1031. and have mercy on an afflicted father,
praying on his knees,
1032. and accept gifts which I bring for my son’s miserable body;
1033. if you may be turned neither by prayers nor by gold,
1034. let your right hand rage in an old man’s extreme years:
1035. at least a father may join a son’s savage death!
1036. Concede neither life nor great honors to me,
1037. yet my cruel burial! Have mercy on parents,
1038. and learn by my body to be a gentle father.
1039. You’ve conquered the Dardan kingdom by Hector’s death,
1040. you’ve conquered Priam: be mindful, victor, of human fate,
1041. and you look on the various fortunes of leaders.”
1042. Achilles, moved at length by these prayers, lifted up
1043. the old man from the ground,
and returned the bloodless body of Hector
1044. to his father. After this, Priam took back his gifts
1045. into the fatherland, and in their sorrowful manner
1046. he organizes eulogies and leads last funeral rites.
1047. Then a funeral pyre is constructed,
to which twice six Greek bodies
1048. and four-legged horses, and chariots, and trumpets,
1049. and shields, and helmets,
and clear-sounding hollow arrows, are added.
1050. Hector is laid out over these with giant moan:
1051. the Ilian mothers stand around, and tear by hands
1052. decorated hair, and strike torn breasts:
1053. for at that funeral pyre
they discern the deaths of their children.
1054. And a cry rises from the youth with a great, tearful roar:
1055. for Ilion’s flame burns there also.
1056. Among those lamentations,
Andromache the wife, breast torn,
1057. flies forward,
and wants to throw herself into the midst of the fires,
1058. holding Astyanax; the crowd of hers takes her away
1059. by command. Nevertheless,
she resists against all continuously,
1060. until the collapsing flames fall, of strength,
1061. and he, so great a leader, departed into light ashes.
1062. 135Yet already now stop the step and put an end to labor,
1063. Calliope 136, to moderate the ship of your prophecy,
1064. which you see ashore, stretched out by light oars
1065. And already it has the port and goal of mighty Homer 137.
1066. Cohort of gathered Pieridan muses, put forth shouts!
1067. And holy one, virgin hair wrapped around by laurel
1068. you yourself put down lyres. Be near, celebrated Pallas,
1069. and you, Phoebus, favor a prophet’s course now finished!
The End
The first letters of the eight verses of the Prologue spell “Italicus”, the name of the author, Baebius Italicus. The first letter of the seven verses of the Postsript spell “scripsit”, meaning “has written. Taken together Italicus scripsit, “Italicus has written”, is the author’s signature on the work. Publius Baebius Italicus, a Roman Senator, wrote this work between 60-70 AD, during the reign of the Emperor Nero. The events the author summarized took place twelve hundred years earlier. The work he summarized was The Iliad, written by the Greek epic poet Homer some nine hundred years earlier.
The goddess addressed is Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry.
Pelides, “of Peleus”, is Achilles. Peleus was Achilles' father.
Orcus is a god of the underworld.
Zeus, Jove, Jupiter, king of the gods.
Atrides, “of Atreus”, is used here of Agamemnon, as it is in all but a handful of instances in the work. It is less frequently used to refer to Agamemnon’s brother, Menelaus. Atreus fathered both Agamemnon and Menelaus.
The Trojan War was fought between the Greeks, also called Pelasgians, Danaans, Achaeans, and Argives, against the Trojans, known also as Ilians, Teucrons, and Dardanians.
Apollo.
Another name for Apollo.
Aeacides, “of Aecus”, is a frequent title for Achilles. It is also used on occasion of Telamonian Ajax. Aeacus was grandfather to both.
Pallas refers to the goddess Minerva, “Athena” in Greek.
Plisthenides is yet another name for Agamemnon, drawing from an alternative genealogy.
Thetis, daughter of Nereus and Doris, was the leader of fifty sea-nymphs, all her sisters.
Jove.
Jupiter is another name for Jove.
Juno is Jove’s wife, as well as his sister.
Doris, wife of Nereus, was a goddess of the sea, mother of Thetis and the sea-nymphs.
Thunderer is used frequently as a title for Jove.
The “fire god” is Vulcan, Hephaestus among the Greeks.
Olympus is the dwelling place of the gods.
The Titan here is the Sun.
Agamemnon, referenced by his descent from his ancestor, Pelops.
Tydides, “of Tydeus”, is Diomedes.
Ulysses, Odysseus in Greek.
Philoctetes.
Saturn, a Titan, was father of Jove, Juno, Neptune, and Pluto. Saturn and his Titan brothers were overthrown by Jove and the rest of the gods.
Venus, goddess of love, Aphrodite among the Greeks, gave birth to Aeneas by the mortal Anchises.
Neptune, god of the sea, Poseidon in Greek, was brother to Jove and Pluto.
Mars, Ares in Greek, was the god of war.
Here, “son of Atreus” refers to Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon.
“Priameic” means “of Priam”. Priam, King of Troy, fathered fifty sons.
Jupiter is another name of Jove, the King of the gods.
Atrides here too refers to Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon.
Cytherea is another name for Venus, goddess of love.
Helen, lover of Paris, had formerly been the wife of Menelaus. Paris took Helen from Menelaus, triggering the war between the Greeks and Trojans.
Alexander is another name of Paris.
Jove, taking the form of a swan to conceal himself from his wife Juno, raped Helen’s mother Leda. Thus, Helen is the “Swan-born”.
Aeacides here refers to Ajax of Telamon.
Atrides here again refers to Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, and elected King of the Greek bands.
Diomedes.
Here, Menelaus.
Tarturus is the ultimate depth of the underworld, where the darkest forces are imprisoned.
Oenides here is another name for Diomedes.
Dione is the mother of Venus in this account. An alternate story of her birth is much more disturbing.
The “offspring of most beautiful Venus” referred to here is Aeneas.
The King is Jove, father of Mars by Juno.
The “warlike virgin” is Minerva, also called Pallas.
Hecuba, wife of King Priam, is Hector’s mother.
The “Aetolian hero” is Diomedes.
Diomedes.
Priamides, “of Priam”, refers to Hector.
Aeacides here refers to Ajax of Telamon, also “of Aeacus” and therefore a relative of Achilles, to whom the name Aeacides usually refers.
Bacchus was the god of wine.
Menelaus.
Agamemnon.
Aeacides once again refers to Achilles.
Mulciber is another name of Vulcan.
The Aetnaeans were divinities living inside volcanic Mount Aetna, in Sicily. Vulcan was believed to use the mountain as his workshop.
The “goddess of poetry abandoned” refers to Atropos, who together with her sisters Chlotho and Lachesis, were the fates, who held the destiny of all in their hands.
Aeneas.
Neptune.
According the Roman poet Virgil’s great work, The Aeneid, Aeneas escaped Troy’s final destruction and, after many troubles, founded the city of Rome.
Achilles, grandson of the sea god Nereus.
Pallas Minerva.
Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, had not yet arrived in Troy.
The “son of Laertes” is Ulysses, Odysseus in Greek.
The first letter of the seven verses of the Postsript spell “scripsit”, meaning “has written. The first letters of the eight verses of the Prologue spell “Italicus”, the name of the author, Baebius Italics. Taken together Italicus scripsit, “Italicus has written”, is the author’s signature on the work.
Calliope was the muse of epic poetry. The muses were minor goddesses.
Homer, the great Greek epic poet, wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey. This work is a condensed version, or an epitome, of The Iliad.
The goddess addressed is Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry.
Pelides, “of Peleus”, is Achilles.
Orcus is a god of the underworld.
Zeus, Jove, Jupiter, king of the gods.
Atrides, “of Atreus”, is used here of Agamemnon, as it is in all but a handful of instances in the work. It is less frequently used to refer to Agamemnon’s brother, Menelaus.
The Trojan War was fought between the Greeks, also called Pelasgians, Danaans, Achaeans, and Argives, against the Trojans, known also as Ilians, Teucrons, and Dardanians.
Apollo.
Another name for Apollo.
Aeacides, “of Aecus”, is a frequent title for Achilles. It is also used on occasion of Telamonian Ajax.
Pallas refers to the goddess Minerva, “Athena” in Greek.
Plisthenides is yet another name for Agamemnon, drawing from an alternative genealogy.
Thetis, daughter of Nereus and Doris, was the leader of fifty sea-nymphs, all her sisters.
Jove.
Jupiter is another name for Jove.
Juno is Jove’s wife, as well as his sister.
Doris, wife of Nereus, was a goddess of the sea, mother of Thetis and the sea-nymphs.
Thunderer is used frequently as a title for Jove.
The “fire god” is Vulcan, Hephaestus among the Greeks.
Olympus is the dwelling place of the gods.
The Titan here is the Sun.
Agamemnon, referenced by his descent from his ancestor, Pelops.
Tydides, “of Tydeus”, is Diomedes.
Ulysses, Odysseus in Greek.
Philoctetes.
Saturn, a Titan, was father of Jove, Juno, Neptune, and Pluto. Saturn and his Titan brothers were overthrown by Jove and the rest of the gods.
Venus, goddess of love, Aphrodite among the Greeks, gave birth to Aeneas by the mortal Anchises.
Neptune, god of the sea, Poseidon in Greek, was brother to Jove and Pluto.
Mars, Ares in Greek, was the god of war.
Here, “son of Atreus” refers to Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon.
“Priameic” means “of Priam”. Priam, King of Troy, fathered fifty sons.
Jupiter is another name of Jove, the King of the gods.
Atrides here too refers to Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon.
Cytherea is another name for Venus, goddess of love.
Helen, lover of Paris, had formerly been the wife of Menelaus. Paris took Helen from Menelaus, triggering the war between the Greeks and Trojans.
Alexander is another name of Paris.
Jove, taking the form of a swan to conceal himself from his wife Juno, raped Helen’s mother Leda. Thus, Helen is the “Swan-born”.
Aeacides here refers to Ajax of Telamon.
Atrides here again refers to Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, and elected King of the Greek bands.
Diomedes.
Here, Menelaus.
Tarturus is the ultimate depth of the underworld, where the darkest forces are imprisoned.
Oenides here is another name for Diomedes.
Dione is the mother of Venus in this account. An alternate story of her birth is much more disturbing.
The “offspring of most beautiful Venus” referred to here is Aeneas.
The King is Jove, father of Mars by Juno.
The “warlike virgin” is Minerva, also called Pallas.
Hecuba, wife of King Priam, is Hector’s mother.
The “Aetolian hero” is Diomedes.
Diomedes.
Priamides, “of Priam”, refers to Hector.
Aeacides here refers to Ajax of Telamon, also “of Aeacus” and therefore a relative of Achilles, to whom the name Aeacides usually refers.
Bacchus was the god of wine.
Here, Menelaus.
Here again, Agamemnon.
Aeacides once again refers to Achilles.
Mulciber is another name of Vulcan.
The Aetnaeans were divinities living inside volcanic Mount Aetna, in Sicily. Vulcan was believed to use the mountain as his workshop.
The “goddess of poetry abandoned” refers to Atropos, who together with her sisters Chlotho and Lachesis, were the fates, who held the destiny of all in their hands.
Aeneas.
Neptune.
According the Roman poet Virgil’s great work, The Aeneid, Aeneas escaped Troy’s final destruction and, after many troubles, founded the city of Rome.
Achilles, grandson of the sea god Nereus.
Pallas Minerva.
Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, had not yet arrived in Troy.
The “son of Laertes” is Ulysses, Odysseus in Greek.
The first letter of the seven verses of the Postsript spell “scripsit”, meaning “has written. The first letters of the eight verses of the Prologue spell “Italicus”, the name of the author, Baebius Italics. Taken together Italicus scripsit, “Italicus has written”, is the author’s signature on the work.
Calliope was the muse of epic poetry. The muses were minor goddesses.
Homer, the great Greek epic poet, wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey. This work is a condensed version, or an epitome, of The Iliad.