Ilias Latina: ILIAS LATINA

Iram pande mihi Pelidae, Diua, superbi
Tristia quae miseris iniecit funera Grais
Atque animas fortes heroum tradidit Orco
Latrantumque dedit rostris uolucrumque trahendos
Illorum exsangues, inhumatis ossibus, artus.
Confiebat enim summi sententia regis,
protulerant* ex quo discordia pectora pugnas,
Sceptriger Atrides et bello clarus Achilles.
Quis deus hos ira tristi contendere iussit?

Unfold for me, Goddess, the anger of the proud Peleid,
which cast grim funerals upon the wretched Greeks
and handed over the brave souls of heroes to Orcus,
and gave to the jaws of barking dogs and to be dragged by birds
their bloodless limbs, with bones unburied.
For the sentence of the highest king was coming to pass,
ever since Discord had brought forth* battles from their hearts,
the scepter-bearing Atreid and Achilles renowned in war.
Which god ordered these men to contend in grim anger?

Latonae et magni proles Iouis. Ille Pelasgum
infestam regi pestem in praecordia misit
implicuitque graui Danaorum corpora morbo.
Nam quondam Chryses, sollemni tempora uitta
implicitus, raptae fleuit solacia natae
inuisosque dies inuisaque tempora noctis
egit et assiduis impleuit questibus auras.

The offspring of Latona and great Jove. He at the Pelasgian
king sent a hostile pest into the precords,
and entwined the bodies of the Danaans with a grave disease.
For once Chryses, his temples with a solemn fillet
entwined, wept for solace for his seized daughter,
and he passed hateful days and hateful times of night,
and with assiduous complaints he filled the breezes.

Postquam nulla dies animum maerore leuabat
nullaque lenibant patrios solacia fletus,
castra petit Danaum genibusque affusus Atridae
per superos regnique decus miserabilis orat,
ut sibi causa suae reddatur nata salutis.
Dona simul praefert. Vincuntur fletibus eius
Myrmidones reddique patri Chryseida censent.

After no day was alleviating his spirit from grief
and no solaces were lenifying his paternal tears,
he seeks the camp of the Danaans, and, prostrate at the knees of the Atreid,
piteously he implores by the gods above and the honor of the kingdom,
that his daughter, the cause of his own safety, be returned to him.
At the same time he proffers gifts. By his tears they are overcome;
the Myrmidons judge that Chryseis be returned to her father.

Sed negat Atrides Chrysenque excedere castris
despecta pietate iubet: ferus ossibus imis
haeret amor spernitque preces damnosa libido.
Contemptus repetit Phoebeia templa sacerdos
squalidaque infestis maerens secat unguibus ora
dilaceratque comas annosaque tempora plangit.
Mox ubi depositi gemitus lacrimaeque quierunt,
Fatidici his sacras compellat uocibus aures:
"Quid coluisse mihi tua numina, Delphice, prodest
aut castam uitam multos duxisse per annos?

But the son of Atreus refuses and orders Chryses to depart from the camp,
with piety despised: a wild love clings in his inmost bones,
and the ruinous libido spurns prayers.
The priest, scorned, returns to the Phoebian temples,
and, mourning, with hostile nails he cuts his squalid face,
and he tears his hair and beats his aged temples.
Soon, when his groans have been laid aside and his tears have grown quiet,
he addresses the sacred ears of the prophetic god with these words:
“What does it profit me, Delphic one, to have cultivated your numina,
or to have led a chaste life through many years?

Quidue iuuat sacros posuisse altaribus ignes,
si tuus externo iam spernor ab hoste sacerdos?
En, haec desertae redduntur dona senectae?
Si gratus tibi sum, sim te sub uindice tutus.

What does it avail to have set sacred fires upon the altars,
if your priest is now spurned by a foreign foe?
Lo, are these the gifts rendered to forsaken old age?
If I am pleasing to you, may I be safe beneath you as avenger.

Aut si qua, ut luerem sub acerbo crimine poenas,
inscius admisi, cur o tua dextera cessat?
Posce sacros arcus, in me tua derige tela:
auctor mortis erit certe deus. Ecce, merentem
fige patrem; cur nata luit peccata parentis
atque hostis duri patitur miseranda cubile?."
Dixerat.

"Or if I, unwitting, admitted anything, so that I might pay penalties under a bitter crime,
why, O, does your right hand stand idle?
Demand the sacred bows, direct your missiles at me:
the author of death will certainly be the god. Behold, strike the deserving
father; why does the daughter atone for the sins of the parent
and, pitiable, suffer the bed of a harsh enemy?."
He had spoken.

Ille sui uatis prece motus acerbis
luctibus infestat Danaos pestemque per omnes
immittit populos: uulgus ruit undique Graium
uixque rogis superest tellus, uix ignibus aer,
deerat ager tumulis. Iam noctis sidera nonae
transierant decimusque dies patefecerat orbem,
cum Danaum proceres in coetum clarus Achilles
conuocat et causas hortatur pestis iniquae
edere Thestoriden. Tunc Calchas numina diuum
consulit et causam pariter finemque malorum
inuenit effarique uerens ope tutus Achillis
haec ait: "Infesti placemus numina Phoebi
reddamusque pio castam Chryseida patri,
si uolumus, Danai, portus intrare salutis."
Dixerat.

He, moved by the prayer of his own seer, with bitter griefs
infests the Danaans and lets loose a pest through all the peoples:
the common crowd of the Greeks rushes in from every side,
and scarcely does earth suffice for pyres, scarcely air for the fires,
land was lacking for tombs. Already the stars of the ninth night
had passed, and the tenth day had laid open the world,
when renowned Achilles convokes the leaders of the Danaans into an assembly
and urges the Thestorid to set forth the causes of the unjust pest.
Then Calchas consults the numina of the gods, and both the cause and the end of the evils
he discovers; and fearing to speak out, yet safe by Achilles’s aid,
he says these things: “Let us appease the hostile divine power of Phoebus,
and let us give back chaste Chryseis to her pious father,
if we, Danaans, wish to enter the harbors of safety.”
He had spoken.

Exarsit subito uiolentia regis:
Thestoriden dictis primum compellat amaris
mendacemque uocat. Tum magnum incusat Achillem
inque uicem ducis inuicti conuicia suffert.
Confremuere omnes.

The violence of the king blazed up suddenly:
he first addresses Thestorides with bitter words
and calls him a liar. Then he accuses great Achilles
and in turn endures the insults of the unconquered leader.
All roared together.

Tandem clamore represso
cogitur inuitos aeger dimittere amores
intactamque pio reddit Chryseida patri
multaque dona super. Quam cunctis notus Vlixes
impositam puppi patrias deuexit ad arces
atque iterum ad classes Danaum sua uela retorsit.
Protinus infesti placantur numina Phoebi
et prope consumptae uires redduntur Achiuis.

At last, with the clamor checked,
he, heartsick, is compelled to dismiss unwilling loves,
and he returns Chryseis untouched to her pious father,
and many gifts besides. Her, Ulysses, known to all,
conveyed, placed upon the stern, to her father’s native citadels,
and again turned his own sails back to the fleets of the Danaans.
Protinus the hostile divinities of Phoebus are appeased,
and the well‑nigh exhausted forces are restored to the Achaeans.

Non tamen Atridae Chryseidis excidit ardor:
maeret et amissos deceptus luget amores.
Mox rapta magnum Briseide priuat Achillem
solaturque suos alienis ignibus ignes.
At ferus Aeacides nudato protinus ense
tendit in Atriden et, ni sibi reddat honestae
munera militiae, letum crudele minatur,
nec minus ille parat contra defendere se ense.

Yet the Atreid’s ardor for Chryseis does not fade:
he grieves and, deceived, laments his loves lost.
Soon, by snatching Briseis, he deprives great Achilles
and consoles his own fires with alien fires.
But the fierce Aeacid, his sword immediately bared,
moves against the Atreid and, unless he restore to him the gifts
of honorable military service, threatens cruel death,
and no less does that man prepare in turn to defend himself with the sword.

Quod nisi casta manu Pallas tenuisset Achillem,
turpem caecus amor famam liquisset in aeuum
gentibus Argolicis. Contempta uoce minisque
inuocat aequoreae Pelides numina matris
ne se Plistheniden contra patiatur inultum.
At Thetis audita nati prece deserit undas
castraque Myrmidonum iuxta petit et monet armis
abstineat dextram ac congressibus; inde per auras
emicat aetherias et in aurea sidera fertur.

But unless Pallas had restrained Achilles with a chaste hand,
blind love would have left a shameful fame forever to the Argolic peoples.
His voice and threats despised, the Pelides invokes the numina of his sea-born mother
that she not allow him to suffer unavenged against the Plisthenid.
But Thetis, the prayer of her son having been heard, quits the waves
and seeks near the camp of the Myrmidons and warns that he abstain his right hand
from arms and from encounters; then through the aetherial airs
she darts and is borne into the golden stars.

Tunc genibus regis sparsis affusa capillis:
"Pro nato ueni genetrix en ad tua supplex
numina, summe parens; ulciscere meque meumque
corpus ab Atrida, quodsi permittitur illi
ut flammas impune mei uiolarit Achillis,
turpiter occiderit superata libidine uirtus."
Iuppiter haec contra: "Tristes depone querelas,
magni diua maris, mecum labor iste manebit.
Tu solare tui maerentia pectora nati."
Dixit. At illa leues caeli delapsa per auras
litus adit patrium gratasque sororibus undas.

Then, upon the king’s knees, with hair strewn, she poured herself:
“For my son I, the genetrix, lo, come as a suppliant to your numina,
highest parent; avenge me and my person from the Atrid; and if it is permitted to him
to have violated with impunity the flames of my Achilles,
virtus, overcome by libido, will have fallen shamefully.”
Jupiter in reply: “Lay aside your sad querelae,
goddess of the great sea; that labor shall remain with me.
Do you console the grieving breast of your son.”
He spoke. But she, light, having glided down through the auras of the sky,
goes to her fatherland shore and to the waves welcome to her sisters.

Offensa est Iuno: "Tantum"que ait, "optime coniunx,
Doride nata ualet, tantum debetur Achilli,
ut mihi quae coniunx dicor tua quaeque sororis
dulce fero nomen, dilectos fundere Achiuos
et Troum renouare uelis in proelia uires?
Haec ita dona refers nobis? sic diligor a te?"
Talibus incusat dictis irata Tonantem
inque uicem summi patitur conuicia regis.

Juno was offended: "So much," she says, "best husband,
does the daughter of Doris prevail, so much is owed to Achilles,
that I, who am called your wife and who also bear the
sweet name of sister, you should wish the beloved Achaeans to be routed
and the Trojans’ strength to be renewed for battles?
Do you thus return such gifts to us? am I so beloved by you?"
With such words, in anger she accuses the Thunderer,
and in turn she suffers the invectives of the highest king.

Tandem interposito lis Ignipotente resedit
conciliumque simul genitor dimittit Olympi.
Interea sol emenso decedit Olympo
et dapibus diui curant sua corpora largis;
inde petunt thalamos iucundaque dona quietis.
Nox erat et toto fulgebant sidera mundo
humanumque genus requies diuumque tenebat,
cum pater omnipotens Somnum uocat atque ita fatur:
"Vade age per tenues auras, lenissime diuum,
Argolicique ducis celeri pete castra uolatu
dumque tuo premitur sopitus pondere dulci,
haec illi mandata refer: cum crastina primum
extulerit Titana dies noctemque fugarit,
cogat in arma uiros incautumque occupet hostem."
Nec mora: Somnus abit leuibusque per aera pennis
deuolat in thalamos Agamemnonis: ille sopore
corpus inundatum leni prostratus habebat.

At length, with the Ignipotent interposed, the quarrel subsided,
and at the same time the Father dismisses the council of Olympus.
Meanwhile the sun, having traversed Olympus, departs,
and the gods tend their bodies with lavish banquets;
then they seek their bedchambers and the pleasant gifts of rest.
Night it was, and the stars were shining through the whole world,
and repose held the human race and the gods,
when the all-powerful Father calls Sleep and thus speaks:
"Go now through the thin breezes, gentlest of the gods,
and with swift flight seek the camp of the Argolic leader,
and while he, lulled, is pressed by your sweet weight,
carry back to him these commands: when tomorrow’s day first
the Titan has raised and has put night to flight,
let him marshal the men to arms and seize the incautious enemy."
No delay: Sleep departs and on light wings through the air
flies down into Agamemnon’s bedchamber: he, with his body
inundated with gentle slumber, lay stretched out prostrate.

Ad quem sic loquitur curarum operumque leuator:
"Rex Danaum, Atrida, uigila et mandata Tonantis
quae tibi iussa simul delatus ab aethere porto,
accipe: cum primum Titan se emerserit undis,
fortibus arma iube socios aptare lacertis
et petere Iliacos instructo milite campos."
Dixit, et has repetit per quas modo uenerat auras.
Interea lucem terris dedit ignea lampas.
Conuocat attonitus iussis Pelopeius heros
in coetum proceres remque omnibus ordine pandit:
cuncti promittunt socias in proelia uires
hortanturque ducem.

To whom thus speaks the reliever of cares and toils:
“King of the Danaans, Atrides, keep watch, and receive the mandates of the Thunderer,
which, ordered for you, I, delivered from the aether, bring as well:
when first the Titan shall have risen out of the waves,
order your comrades to fit arms to their stout biceps
and to seek the Iliac fields with the soldiery drawn up.”
He spoke, and retraces the breezes by which he had just come. Meanwhile the fiery lamp gave light to the lands.
The Pelopid hero, astonished at the commands, summons the nobles into an assembly and lays out the matter to all in order:
all promise allied forces for the battles and encourage the leader.

Quorum rex fortia dictis
pectora collaudans grates agit omnibus aequas.
Hic tunc Thersites, quo non deformior alter
uenerat ad Troiam nec lingua proteruior ulli,
bella gerenda negat patriasque hortatur ad oras
uertere iter, quem consiliis illustris Vlixes
correptum dictis sceptro percussit eburno.
Tum uero ardescit conceptis litibus ira:
uix telis caruere manus, ad sidera clamor
tollitur et cunctos pugnandi corripit ardor.

Of whom the king, praising brave hearts with words,
gives equal thanks to all.
Here then Thersites, than whom no one more deformed
had come to Troy, nor anyone more insolent in tongue,
denies that wars are to be waged and urges to turn the course
to the fatherland’s shores, whom Ulysses, illustrious in counsels,
rebuked with words and struck with an eburnean scepter.
Then indeed anger blazes from conceived quarrels:
their hands scarcely kept clear of weapons, a clamor
is lifted to the stars and a zeal for fighting seizes all.

Tandem sollertis prudentia Nestoris aeuo
compressam miti sedauit pectore turbam
admonuitque duces dictis responsa recordans
temporis illius, quo uisus in Aulide serpens
consumpsit uolucrum bis quattuor arbore fetus
atque ipsam inualido pugnantem corpore contra
addidit extremo natorum funere matrem.
Tunc "sic deinde" senex "moneo remoneboque, Achiui:
in decimo labor est, Calchas quem dixerat, anno,
quo caderet Danaum uictricibus Ilion armis."
Assensere omnes, laudatur Nestoris aetas
conciliumque simul dimittitur. Arma parari
dux iubet atque animos aptare et pectora pugnae.

At last the skillful prudence of Nestor, with age,
with a gentle breast calmed the crowd compressed,
and he admonished the leaders, recalling with words the responses
of that time, when at Aulis a serpent was seen
to consume in the tree the twice four offspring of the birds
and, she herself fighting back with an infirm body,
at the end added the mother to the funeral of her children.
Then “thus thereafter,” the old man, “I advise and will advise, Achaeans:
in the tenth year is the toil which Calchas had said,
when Ilion would fall to the arms of the Danaans victorious.”
All assented; the age of Nestor is praised,
and the council at the same time is dismissed. The leader bids the arms
to be prepared, and the spirits and breasts to be fitted to the fight.

Postera lux tacitas ut primum dispulit umbras
et nitidum Titan radiis caput extulit undis,
protinus armari socios iubet acer Atrides
et petere Iliacos instructo milite campos.
Vos mihi nunc, Musae - quid enim non ordine nostis? -,
nomina clara ducum clarosque referte parentes
et dulces patrias: nam sunt haec munera uestra.

The next light, as soon as it first dispelled the silent shadows
and Titan lifted his gleaming head from the waves with rays,
straightway the keen Atrides bids his comrades be armed
and to seek the Iliac fields with the soldiery arrayed.
You now, Muses - for what indeed do you not know in order? -,
recount the famous names of the leaders and their illustrious parents
and their sweet fatherlands: for these are your gifts.

Dicamus quot quisque rates ad Pergama duxit
et coeptum peragamus opus, sitque auctor Apollo
aspiretque libens operi per singula nostro.
Peneleos princeps et bello Leitus acer,
Arcesilaus atrox Prothoenorque Cloniusque
Boeoti decies quinas egere carinas
et tumidos ualido pulsarunt remige fluctus.
Inde Mycenaeis Agamemnon moenibus ortus,
quem sibi bellatrix delegit Graecia regem,
centum egit plenas armato milite puppes;
et bis tricenis Menelai nauibus ardor
insequitur totidemque ferox Agapenoris ira;
quos iuxta fidus sollerti pectore Nestor
consilioque potens gemina cum prole suorum
it ter tricenis munitus in arma carinis.

Let us declare how many ships each led to Pergama,
and carry through the work begun, and let Apollo be the author
and, willing, breathe favor upon our work through each particular.
Peneleos the chief and Leitus keen in war,
Arcesilaus grim, Prothoenor and Clonius,
the Boeotians drove fifty keels
and beat the swollen billows with a strong oarsman.
Then Agamemnon, sprung from the Mycenaean walls,
whom warlike Greece chose for herself as king,
drove one hundred ships full of armed soldiery;
and with twice thirty ships follows the ardor of Menelaus,
and with as many the fierce wrath of Agapenor;
beside whom trusty Nestor, with a clever breast
and powerful in counsel, with the twin offspring of his own,
goes, equipped for war, with ninety keels.

At Schedius uirtute potens et Epistrophus ingens,
gloria Myrmidonum, saeui duo robora belli,
longa quaterdenis pulsarunt aequora proris
et bis uicenas Polypoetes atque Leonteus
instruxere rates ornatas milite forti.
Euryalus Sthenelusque duces et fortis in armis
Tydides ualido pulsarunt remige pontum:
bis quadragenas onerarunt milite puppes;
Ascalaphusque potens et Ialmenus, acer uterque,
ter denas ualido complerunt remige naues
et bis uicenas Locrum fortissimus Aiax
instruxit puppes totidemque Euhaemone natus,
quos iuxta Graium murus comitatur Achilles
cum quinquaginta materna per aequora uectus.
Thessalici iuuenes Phidippus et Antiphus ibant
altaque ter denis pulsarunt aequora proris
et tribus assumptis ratibus secat aequora Teucer
Tlepolemusque nouem Rhodius, quos uiribus acer
Eumelus sequitur, minus una naue profectus
quam duxit Telamone satus Salaminius Aiax.

But Schedius, potent in virtue, and Epistrophus huge,
the glory of the Myrmidons, two savage oaks of war,
beat the waters with long prows, fourteen in number,
and Polypoetes and Leonteus arrayed twice twenty ships
adorned with brave soldiery. Euryalus and Sthenelus, commanders, and Diomedes,
strong in arms, smote the sea with sturdy oarage:
they loaded with soldiers twice forty ships; and Ascalaphus mighty and Ialmenus,
each keen, filled three tens of ships with stout oarsmen,
and the strongest Ajax of the Locrians equipped twice twenty sterns,
and the son of Euaemon as many, beside whom the wall of the Greeks, Achilles,
accompanies, borne with fifty across his mother’s waters. The Thessalian youths Phidippus and Antiphus were going,
and they beat the deep with three tens of prows; and Teucer, having taken on three ships,
cuts the waters, and Tlepolemus the Rhodian with nine, whom the keen-in-strength
Eumelus follows, having set out with one ship fewer than the Salaminian Ajax, begotten of Telamon, led.

Ast Prothous Magnes Tenthredone natus et una
Euboeae magnis Elephenor finibus ortus
Dulichiusque Meges, animisque insignis et armis,
Aetola de gente Thoas Andraemone natus,
hi quadragenas omnes duxere carinas;
et bis sex Ithaci naues sollertia duxit,
quem sequitur totidem ratibus Telamonius Aiax,
egregia uirtute potens; simul horrida Guneus
ire bis undenis temptabat in arma carinis.
Idomeneus et Meriones, Cretaeus uterque,
bis quadragenis muniti nauibus ibant;
et totidem puppes clara de gente Menestheus
duxit Athenaeus, quot uiribus ambit Achilles;
Amphimachusque ferox et Thalpius, Elide nati,
et clara uirtute Polyxenus atque Diores,
hi bis uicenas onerarunt milite puppes.
Protesilaus agit totidem fortisque Podarces
instructas puppes, quot duxit Oileos Aiax;
et septem Poeante satus tulit arma carinis,
quem sequitur iuxta Podalirius atque Machaon,
altaque ter denis sulcarunt aequora proris.

But Prothous the Magnes, born at Tenthredon, and together Elephenor sprung from the great borders of Euboea, and Meges of Dulichium, distinguished in spirit and in arms, and Thoas of the Aetolian race, born of Andraemon, these all led forty keels;
and the Ithacan by his skill led twice six ships,
whom Telamonian Ajax follows with as many vessels,
mighty in outstanding valor; at the same time grim Guneus
was attempting to go to war in twice eleven keels.
Idomeneus and Meriones, each a Cretan,
went furnished with twice forty ships;
and Menestheus the Athenian, from a famous race, led as many sterns
as Achilles encompasses with his forces;
and ferocious Amphimachus and Thalpius, born in Elis,
and Polyxenus and Diores, of renowned valor,
these loaded twice twenty ships with soldiery.
Protesilaus and brave Podarces drive just as many
equipped ships as Ajax, son of Oileus, led;
and the son of Poeas bore arms in seven ships,
whom beside Podalirius and Machaon follow,
and with lofty prows they furrowed the deeps, thrice ten in number.

His ducibus Graiae Troiana ad litora puppes
bis septem uenere minus quam mille ducentae.
Iamque citi appulerant classes camposque tenebant,
cum pater ad Priamum mittit Saturnius Irim,
quae doceat fortes uenisse ad bella Pelasgos.
Nec mora: continuo iussu capit arma parentis
Priamides Hector totamque in proelia pubem
festinare iubet portisque agit agmen apertis.

Under these leaders the Greek ships to the Trojan shores came,
two times seven fewer than 1,200.
And now the swift fleets had made landfall and were holding the plains,
when the Father, the Saturnian, sends Iris to Priam,
to make known that the brave Pelasgians had come for war.
No delay: immediately, at the order of his parent,
the Priamid Hector takes up arms and bids all the youth to hasten into battle,
and he drives the column through the opened gates.

Cui fulgens auro cassis iuuenile tegebat
omni parte caput, munibat pectora thorax
et clipeus laeuam, dextram decorauerat hasta
ornabatque latus mucro; simul alta nitentes
crura tegunt ocreae, quales decet Hectoris esse.
Hunc sequitur forma melior, tunc fortis in armis,
belli causa Paris, patriae funesta ruina,
Deiphobusque Helenusque simul fortisque Polites
et sacer Aeneas, Veneris certissima proles,
Archelochusque Acamasque ferox Antenore creti;
nec non et proles generosa Lycaonis ibat
Pandarus et magnae Glaucus uirtutis in armis
Amphiusque et Adrastus et Asius atque Pylaeus.
Ibat et Amphimachus Nastesque, insignis uterque,
magnanimique duces Odiusque et Epistrophus ingens
Euphemusque ferox clarusque aetate Pyraechmes,
cum quibus et Mesthles atque Antiphus et bonus armis
Hippothous uenere Acamasque et Pirous una,
Arsinooque sati Chromiusque atque Ennomus, ambo
florentes aetate uiri, quos Phorcus et ingens
Ascanius sequitur, simul et Iouis inclita proles
Sarpedon claraque satus tellure Coroebus.

For whom a youthful helmet gleaming with gold was covering the head on every side,
and a thorax fortified the breast, and a clipeus the left hand, a hasta had adorned the right,
and a blade was adorning the side; at the same time high greaves cover the shining shins,
such as it befits Hector to have. Him there follows one better in form, then strong in arms,
Paris, the cause of the war, the ruin fatal to his fatherland, and Deiphobus and Helenus together,
and brave Polites and sacred Aeneas, the most certain progeny of Venus, and Archelochus and Acamas,
fierce, begotten from Antenor; and likewise there went the noble offspring of Lycaon, Pandarus,
and Glaucus of great virtue in arms, and Amphius and Adrastus and Asius and Pylaeus.
And Amphimachus too was going, and Nastes, each distinguished, and the magnanimous leaders
Odius and huge Epistrophus, and fierce Euphemus and Pyraechmes renowned for his age,
with whom also Mesthles and Antiphus and Hippothous good in arms came, and Acamas and Pirous together,
and Chromius begotten of Arsinoe and Ennomus, both men flourishing in age, whom Phorcus
and mighty Ascanius follow, and at the same time Sarpedon, illustrious offspring of Jove,
and Coroebus born of renowned soil.

His se defendit ducibus Neptunia Troia
uicissetque dolos Danaum, ni fata fuissent.
Iamque duae stabant acies fulgentibus armis,
cum Paris, exitium Troiae funestaque flamma,
armatum aduerso Menelaum ex agmine cernit
seque uelut uiso perterritus angue recepit
ad socios amens. Quem postquam turpiter Hector
confusum terrore uidet: "O dedecus - inquit -
"aeternum patriae generisque infamia nostri,
terga refers?

With these leaders Neptunian Troy defended herself
and would have overcome the wiles of the Danaans, if the Fates had not been.
And now the two battle-lines were standing with gleaming arms,
when Paris, the ruin of Troy and its doom-bringing flame,
espies Menelaus armed in the opposing column
and, as if terrified at the sight of a serpent, drew himself back
to his comrades, out of his senses. When Hector thereafter sees him
shamefully confounded by terror: "O disgrace" - he says -
"eternal to our fatherland and infamy of our lineage,
are you turning your back?

At non dubitabas hospitis olim
expugnare toros, cuius nunc defugis arma
uimque times. Vbi sunt uires, ubi cognita nobis
ludorum quondam uaria in certamina uis est?
Hic animos ostende tuos: nihil adiuuat armis
nobilitas formae: duro Mars milite gaudet.

But you did not hesitate once to storm the couches of your host,
whose arms you now flee, and you fear his force.
Where are the strengths, where is that force of the games,
once known to us in various contests?
Here show your spirit: nobility of form avails nothing in arms;
Mars rejoices in a tough soldier.

Dum iaceas in amore tuo, nos bella geremus
scilicet et nostrum fundemus in hoste cruorem.
Aequius aduersis tecum concurrat in armis
impiger Atrides, spectet Danaumque Phrygumque
depositis populus telis. Vos, foedere iuncto,
aduersas conferte manus, decernite ferro."
Dixit.

"While you lie in your love, we will wage wars,
of course, and we will pour out our blood upon the enemy.
More justly let the indefatigable Atrides clash with you in adverse arms,
and let the people of both the Danaans and the Phrygians, with weapons set down, look on.
You two, with a treaty joined, bring together your opposing hands; decide it by steel."
He spoke.

Quem contra paucis Priameius heros:
"Quid nimis indignis" - inquit - "me uocibus urges,
o patriae, germane, decus? Nam nec mihi coniunx
prauaque luxuria est potior uirtutis honore
nec uires temptare uiri dextramque recuso,
dummodo uictorem coniunx cum pace sequatur."
Dicta refert Hector: placuit sententia Grais.
Protinus accitur Priamus sacrisque peractis
foedera iunguntur.

To him in reply, in few words, the Priamian hero:
"Why with overly unworthy" - he says - "voices do you press me,
O brother, glory of the fatherland? For neither to me are spouse
and depraved luxury more weighty than the honor of virtue,
nor do I refuse to try the man’s strengths and right hand,
provided that the spouse follow the victor with peace."
Hector reports the words: the opinion pleased the Greeks.
Straightway Priam is summoned, and when the sacred rites were performed,
covenants are joined.

Post haec discedit uterque
depositis populus telis campusque patescit.
Interea toto procedit ab agmine Troum
pulcher Alexander, clipeoque insignis et hasta.
Quem contra paribus fulgens Menelaus in armis
constitit et: "Tecum mihi sint certamina - dixit -
"nec longum nostra laetabere coniuge, quae te
mox raptum ire gemet, tantummodo Iuppiter adsit."
Dixit et aduersum se concitat acer in hostem.

After these things each withdraws
the people having laid down their weapons and the plain lies open.
Meanwhile from the whole battle-line of the Trojans there proceeds
fair Alexander, distinguished by shield and spear.
Opposite him, gleaming in like arms, Menelaus took his stand and said:
"Let there be contest between you and me" - he said -
"nor for long will you rejoice in my consort, who will soon
lament that you go snatched away, only let Jupiter be present."
He spoke and, keen, he hurls himself against the foe opposite.

Ille uirum forti uenientem reppulit ictu
seque gradu celeri recipit longeque frementem
hastam deinde iacit, quam deuitauit Atrides
inque uicem misso fixisset corpora telo
praedonis Phrygii, ni uastum ferrea pectus
texisset lorica uiri septemplice tergo.
Insequitur iuxta clamor; tum aduersus uterque
constitit et galeam galea terit et pede plantam
coniungit stridetque mucro mucrone corusco;
corpus collectum tegitur fulgentibus armis.
Non aliter fortes nitida de coniuge tauri
bella gerunt uastisque replent mugitibus auras.

He repelled the man coming with a strong blow,
and he withdraws himself with a swift step and then hurls far a roaring
spear, which the Atrides avoided; and in turn, with his weapon sent, he would have fixed the body
of the Phrygian predator, had not an iron corselet covered the man’s vast chest
with sevenfold backing. Close at hand the clamor follows; then each stood facing,
and helmet rubs on helmet, and foot joins foot,
and point shrieks on coruscating point; the collected body
is covered with gleaming arms. Not otherwise do brave bulls over a shining consort
wage wars and fill the airs with vast bellowings.

Atque diu rigido captabant corpora ferro,
cum memor Atrides raptae sibi coniugis instat
Dardaniumque premit iuuenem. Mox ense rigente
cedentem retro dum desuper appetit hostem,
splendidus extremas galeae percussus ad oras
dissiluit mucro; gemuerunt agmina Graium.
Tum uero ardescit, quamuis manus ense carebat,
et iuuenem arrepta prosternit casside uictor
ad socios traheretque, et, ni caligine caeca
texisset Cytherea uirum subiectaque mento
fortia rupisset laxatis uincula nodis,
ultimus ille dies Paridi foret.

And for a long time they were assailing their bodies with rigid iron,
when the Atride, mindful of his spouse snatched from him, presses on
and bears down the Dardan youth. Soon, as with a stiffened sword
he attacks from above the foe retreating backward,
the gleaming point, struck against the farthest edges of the helmet,
sprang apart; the battle-lines of the Greeks groaned.
Then indeed he blazes, although his hand lacked a sword,
and, the victor, with the helmet seized, he throws the youth down
and would drag him to his comrades; and, had not Cytherea
shrouded the man in blind mist and, with the strong bonds set beneath
his chin loosened at their knots, broken the fastening,
that would have been the last day for Paris.

Abstrahit auro
fulgentem galeam secum Menelaus et ardens
in medios mittit proceres rursumque recurrit
et magnam ualidis contorsit uiribus hastam
in cladem Phrygii, sua quem Venus eripit hosti
et secum in thalamos defert testudine cultos.
Ipsa dehinc Helenam muris accersit ab altis
Dardanioque suos Paridi deducit amores.
Quem tali postquam conspexit uoce locutast:
"Venisti mea flamma, Paris, superatus ab armis
coniugis antiqui?

Menelaus tears away the helmet gleaming with gold with him, and, ardent, he sends it into the midst of the princes and runs back again, and he hurled a great spear with strong forces to the ruin of the Phrygian, whom his own Venus rescues from the foe and bears with her into bedchambers adorned with a vaulted ceiling.
She herself then summons Helen from the high walls and draws her affections down to Dardanian Paris.
Whom, after she beheld him, she spoke with such a voice:
"You have come, my flame, Paris, overcome by the arms of your former husband?

Vidi puduitque uidere,
arreptum cum te traheret uiolentus Atrides
Iliacoque tuos foedaret puluere crines.
Nostraque - me miseram! - timui ne Doricus ensis
oscula discuteret; totus mihi, mente reuincta,
fugerat ore color sanguisque reliquerat artus.

I saw, and it shamed me to see,
when the violent Atrides, having snatched you, was dragging you,
and was polluting your hair with Iliac dust.
And - wretched me! - I feared lest the Doric sword
scatter our kisses; and all of me, my mind bound,
the color had fled my face and the blood had left my limbs.

Quis te cum saeuo contendere suasit Atrida?
An nondum uaga fama tuas peruenit ad aures
de uirtute uiri? Moneo ne rursus inique
illius tua fata uelis committere dextrae."
Dixit.

"Who urged you to contend with the savage Atridan?
Or has the wandering rumor not yet reached your ears
about the valor of the man? I warn you not again unjustly
to wish to commit your fates to that man's right hand."
She spoke.

Tum largis perfudit fletibus ora.
Tristis Alexander: "Non me superauit Atrides,
o meus ardor" - ait - "sed castae Palladis ira.
Mox illum nostris succumbere turpiter armis
aspicies aderitque meo Cytherea labori."
Post haec amplexus per mutua corpora iunctis
incubuit membris Cygneidos; illa soluto
accepit flammas gremio Troiaeque suasque.

Then she drenched her face with copious tears.
Sorrowful Alexander: "The Atrides did not overcome me, O my ardor," - he said - "but the wrath of chaste Pallas. Soon you will see him shamefully succumb to our arms, and Cytherea will be present to my labor."
After this, in an embrace, with their bodies mutually joined, he lay upon the limbs of the Swan-born; she, with loosened bosom, received the flames in her lap, both of Troy and her own.

Interea toto Menelaus in agmine Troum
quaerit Alexandrum uictorque huc fertur et illuc.
Quem frater socias acuens in bella cateruas
adiuuat et forti pulsos Phrygas increpat ore
seruarique iubet leges Helenamque reposcit.
Dumque inter sese proceres certamen haberent,
concilium omnipotens habuit regnator Olympi
foederaque intento turbauit Pandarus arcu,
te, Menelae, petens; laterique uolatile telum
incidit et tunicam ferro squamisque rigentem
dissecat.

Meanwhile throughout the whole battle-line of the Trojans Menelaus seeks Alexander, and as victor he is borne here and there.
His brother aids him, sharpening the allied companies to wars, and with a stout mouth reproves the routed Phrygians, and orders the covenants to be observed and demands Helen back.
And while the chiefs were holding a contest among themselves, the almighty ruler of Olympus held a council and disturbed the treaties by Pandarus with his strained bow, aiming at you, Menelaus; and upon his side the winged missile fell and slashes the tunic stiff with iron and scales.

Excedit pugna gemebundus Atrides
castraque tuta petit, quem doctus ab arte paterna
Paeoniis curat iuuenis Podalirius herbis,
itque iterum in caedes horrendaque proelia uictor.
Armauit fortes Agamemnonis ira Pelasgos
et dolor in pugnam cunctos communis agebat.
Bellum ingens oritur multumque utrimque cruoris
funditur et totis sternuntur corpora campis
inque uicem Troumque cadunt Danaumque cateruae
nec requies datur ulla uiris: sonat undique Mauors
telorumque uolant cunctis e partibus imbres.

The Atrides departs from the fight, groaning,
and seeks the safe camp; him the youth Podalirius, learned in his paternal art,
tends with Paeonian herbs, and he goes again as victor into slaughters and horrendous battles.
The wrath of Agamemnon armed the brave Pelasgians,
and common grief was driving all into the fight.
A huge war arises, and much blood on both sides
is poured forth, and bodies are strewn over the whole fields,
and in turn the bands of the Trojans and of the Danaans fall,
nor is any respite given to the men: on every side Mavors resounds,
and showers of missiles fly from all quarters.

Occidit Antilochi rigido demersus in umbras
ense Thalysiades optataque lumina linquit.
Inde manu forti Graiorum terga prementem
occupat Anthemione satum Telamonius Aiax
et praedurato transfixit pectora telo:
purpuream uomit ille animam cum sanguine mixtam,
ora rigat moriens. Tum magnis Antiphus hastam
uiribus aduersum conatus corpore toto
torquet in Aeaciden; telumque errauit ab hoste
inque hostem cecidit, transfixit et inguina Leucon:
concidit infelix prostratus uulnere forti
et carpit uirides moribundus dentibus herbas.

Thalysiades falls, submerged into rigid shadows by Antilochus’s sword, and he leaves the longed-for lights.
Then the Telamonian Ajax seizes, with strong hand, the one pressing the backs of the Graians, born of Anthemion,
and pierced his breast with a pre-hardened weapon:
he vomits forth his purple breath, mingled with blood, and wets his face as he dies.
Then Antiphus, with great strength, striving with his whole body,
hurls a spear against the Aeacid; and the missile erred from its foe
and fell into a foe, and it pierced through Leucon’s groin:
the unlucky one sank down, laid low by a stout wound,
and, dying, he plucks the green grasses with his teeth.

Impiger Atrides casu commotus amici
Democoonta petit teloque aduersa trabali
tempora transadigit uaginaque horridus ensem
eripit; ille suis moriens resupinus in armis
concidit et terram moribundo uertice pulsat.
Iamque Amarynciden saxi deiecerat ictu
Pirous Imbrasides dederatque silentibus umbris;
dumque auidus praedae iuuenem spoliare parabat,
desuper hasta uenit dextra librata Thoantis
perque uiri scapulas animosaque pectora transit;
in uultus ruit ille suos calidumque cruorem
ore uomit stratusque super sua palpitat arma.
Sanguine Dardanii manabant undique campi,
manabant amnes passim.

The untiring Atrides, moved by the mishap of a friend,
seeks Democoön, and with a timber-spear drives through the opposing temples,
and, horrid, he snatches the sword from the sheath;
he, dying, falls backward upon his arms
and with his dying crown strikes the earth.
And now Pirous, the Imbrasid, had cast down the Amarynchian with a blow of a stone
and had given him to the silent shades;
and while, greedy for prey, he was preparing to despoil the youth,
from above there came a spear, poised by the right hand of Thoas,
and it passes through the man’s shoulder-blades and spirited breast;
he pitches onto his own face and vomits hot gore
from his mouth, and, stretched upon his own arms, he palpitates.
On every side the Dardanian fields were running with blood,
the rivers were running everywhere.

Pugnabat ubique
immixtis ardens amborum exercitus armis
et modo Troianis uirtus, modo crescit Achiuis
laetaque per uarios petitur uictoria casus.
Hic postquam Danaum longe cedentia uidit
agmina Tydides tumidumque increscere Martem,
in medias acies, qua plurimus imminet hostis,
irruit et uersas prosternit caede phalangas;
huc illuc ensemque ferox hastamque coruscat.
Bellica Pallas adest flagrantiaque ignibus arma
adiuuat atque animos iuueni uiresque ministrat.

Everywhere fought the army, ardent, the arms of both sides intermingled,
and now valor grows for the Trojans, now for the Achaeans,
and glad victory is sought through various chances.
Here, after Tydides saw the ranks of the Danaans giving ground far off
and swelling Mars increase,
into the middle battle-lines, where the foe presses most,
he rushes and lays low the turned phalanxes with slaughter;
here and there, fierce, he brandishes both sword and spear.
Warlike Pallas is present and aids the arms blazing with fires,
and she ministers spirit and strength to the youth.

Ille, boum ueluti uiso grege saeua leaena,
quam stimulat ieiuna fames, ruit agmina contra
et prostrata necat uesano corpora dente,
sic ruit in medios hostes Calydonius heros,
uirginis armigerae monitis et numine tutus.
Conuersi dant terga Phryges, fugientibus ille
instat et exstructos morientum calcat aceruos.
Dumque ferit sternitque uiros, uidet ecce Daretis
aduerso stantes furibundus in agmine natos,
Phegeaque Idaeumque simul; quem cuspide Phegeus
occupat ante graui, sed uulnera depulit umbo
uitatumque solo ferrum stetit.

He, like a savage lioness at the sight of a herd of cattle,
whom hungry hunger goads, rushes against the battle-lines
and slays the prostrate bodies with a mad tooth;
thus the Calydonian hero rushes into the midst of the foes,
safe by the monitions and numen of the armigerous maiden.
The Phrygians, turned, give their backs; upon the fleeing he
presses and treads the piled-up heaps of the dying.
And while he strikes and lays men low, behold, raging he sees the sons
of Dares standing in the adverse battle-line,
Phegeus and Idaeus together; whom Phegeus first engages
with a heavy spear-point, but the boss drove off the wounds,
and the avoided iron stood in the soil.

Haud mora: totis
ingentem torquet Tydides uiribus hastam
transadigitque uiri pectus: pars cuspidis ante
eminet et prodit scapulis pars altera fossis.
Hunc ubi fundentem calidum de pectore flumen
uersantemque oculos animamque per ora uomentem
conspexit frater, stricto celer aduolat ense
germanique cupit fatorum exsistere uindex.
Sed neque uim saeui nec fortia sustinet arma
Tydidae contraque tamen defendere temptat.

No delay: with all his strength Tydeides hurls the huge spear
and drives it through the man’s breast: part of the spearhead in front
projects, and the other part comes out through his hollowed shoulders.
When his brother saw him pouring a hot river from his chest,
rolling his eyes and vomiting his life through his mouth,
he rushes swiftly with drawn sword and longs to become
the avenger of his brother’s fates.
But he can neither withstand the force of the savage Tydeides
nor his stout arms, and yet he tries to defend himself against him.

Vt uolucris, discerpta sui cum corpora nati
accipitrem laniare uidet nec tendere contra,
auxilium neque ferre suo ualet anxia nato
quodque potest, leuibus plaudit sua pectora pennis,
sic hostem Idaeus germani caede superbum
spectat atrox miseroque nequit succurrere fratri
et, nisi cessisset, dextra cecidisset eadem.
Nec minus in Teucros armis furit alter Atrides
insequiturque acies et ferro funera miscet.
Obuius huic fatis occurrit ductus iniquis
infelix Odius, quem uastae cuspidis ictu
sternit et ingenti scapulas transuerberat hasta.

As a bird, when she sees a hawk mangling the torn bodies of her own chick,
and cannot press against it, nor is the anxious mother able to bring help to her own nestling,
and what she can do, she beats her own breast with light pinions,
so the Idaean, grim, beholds the foe proud with his brother’s slaughter,
and cannot succor his wretched brother, and, had he not yielded, he would have fallen by the same right hand.
No less does the other son of Atreus rage against the Teucrians in arms,
and he pursues the battle-lines and mingles funerals with iron.
Meeting him face to face, led on by unfriendly fates,
the unhappy Odius runs upon him, whom with the blow of a vast spear-point he lays low
and with a mighty spear transfixes through the shoulder-blades.

Hinc petit Idomeneus aduersa parte ruentem
Maeoniden Phaestum, cuius post funera laetus
et Strophio genitum Stygias demittit ad umbras.
Meriones Phereclum librata percutit hasta
Pedaeumque Meges. Tum uastis horridus armis
Eurypylus gladio uenientem Hypsenora fundit
et pariter uita iuuenem spoliauit et armis.

Hence Idomeneus assails Phaestus the Maeonian, rushing from the opposing side,
and, glad after his death, sends down to the Stygian shades also the one begotten of Strophius.
Meriones strikes Phereclus with a well‑balanced spear,
and Meges [strikes] Pedaeus. Then Eurypylus, horrid in his vast arms,
with the sword lays low Hypsenor as he came,
and alike despoiled the youth of life and of arms.

Parte alia uolitat sinuoso Pandarus arcu
Tydidenque oculis immensa per agmina quaerit;
quem postquam Troum sternentem corpora uidit,
horrida contento derexit spicula cornu
et summas umeri destringit acumine partes.
Tum uero ardescit iuuenis Calydonius ira
in mediasque acies animosi more leonis
fertur et Astynoum, magnum quoque Hypirona fundit,
comminus hunc gladio, iaculo ferit eminus illum;
inde premit Polyidon Abantaque cuspide forti
et notum bello Xanthum uastumque Thoonem.
Post hos infestus Chromiumque et Echemmona telo
proturbat celeri pariterque ad Tartara mittit.

In another part Pandarus flits with his sinuous bow
and with his eyes seeks Tydides through the immense battle-lines;
when after he saw him laying low the bodies of the Trojans,
he directed bristling darts from the taut horn
and with the point grazes the topmost parts of his shoulder.
Then indeed the Calydonian youth blazes with wrath
and, in the manner of a high-spirited lion, is borne into the midst of the ranks
and he lays low Astynous, and mighty Hypiron as well,
this man at close quarters with the sword, that man from afar he strikes with the javelin;
then he presses Polyidus and Abas with a strong spear-point
and Xanthus, well-known in war, and huge Thoon.
After these, relentless, he drives Chromius and Echemon with his swift weapon
and sends them alike to Tartarus.

Tu quoque Tydidae prostratus, Pandare, dextra
occidis, infelix, accepto uulnere tristi,
dextera qua naris fronti coniungitur imae;
dissipat et cerebrum galeae cum parte reuulsum
ossaque confossa spargit Tydideus ensis.
Iamque manum Aeneas simul et Calydonius heros
contulerant, iactis inter se comminus hastis;
undique rimabant inimico corpora ferro,
et modo cedebant retro, modo deinde coibant.
Postquam utrique diu steterant nec uulnera magnus
qua daret infesto Tydides ense uidebat,
saxum ingens medio quod forte iacebat in agro,
bis seni quod uix iuuenes tellure mouerent,
sustulit et magno conamine misit in hostem.

You too, Pandarus, laid low by the right hand of the son of Tydeus, you fall,
unhappy, having received a grim wound,
on the right where the nostril joins the low forehead;
he scatters the brain torn away with a part of the helmet,
and the pierced bones the Tydean sword strews.
And now Aeneas and the Calydonian hero together
had joined combat, their spears cast at close quarters between them;
on every side they were probing bodies with hostile iron,
and now they yielded back, now then they closed.
After both had long stood and the great son of Tydeus
did not see where he might deal wounds with his hostile sword,
a huge stone, which by chance lay in the middle of the field,
which twelve youths could scarcely move from the earth,
he lifted and with great effort sent it against the foe.

Ille ruit prostratus humi cum fortibus armis,
quem Venus aetherias genetrix delapsa per auras
accipit et nigra corpus caligine condit.
Non tulit Oenides animo nebulasque per ipsas
fertur et in Venerem flagrantibus irruit armis,
et neque quem demens ferro petat inspicit aruis
caelestemque manum mortali uulnerat hasta.
Icta petit caelum terris Cytherea relictis
atque ibi sidereae queritur sua uulnera matri.

He collapses, laid low on the ground with his stout weapons,
whom Venus, the mother, descending through the ethereal airs,
receives and hides his body in black murk. Then indeed the Oenid did not bear it in spirit,
and through the mists themselves he is borne and rushes upon Venus with blazing arms,
and, out of his mind, he does not see whom with iron he seeks on the fields,
and he wounds the celestial hand with a mortal spear. Struck, the Cytherean seeks the sky, the lands left behind,
and there she laments her wounds to her sidereal mother.

Dardanium Aenean seruat Troianus Apollo
accenditque animos iterumque ad bella reducit.
Vndique consurgunt acies et puluere caelum
conditur horrendisque sonat clamoribus aether.
Hic alius rapido deiectus in aequora curru
proteritur pedibusque simul calcatur equorum
atque alius uolucri traiectus corpora telo
quadrupedis tergo pronus ruit; illius ense
deiectum longe caput a ceruice cucurrit;
hic iacet exanimis fuso super arma cerebro:
sanguine manat humus, campi sudore madescunt.

Dardanian Aeneas is preserved by Trojan Apollo
and he kindles their spirits and leads them back again to wars.
On every side the battle-lines rise up and with dust the sky
is veiled, and the aether resounds with horrendous clamors.
Here one, cast down onto the level plains from his rapid chariot,
is run over and at once is trampled by the feet of the horses,
and another, his body transfixed by a winged weapon,
from the back of his quadruped falls prone; by the sword his head,
cast down far, ran from his neck; here lies lifeless with his brain poured out over his arms:
the ground flows with blood, the fields are drenched with sweat.

Emicat interea Veneris pulcherrima proles
densaque Graiorum premit agmina nudaque late
terga metit gladio funestaque proelia miscet.
Nec cessat spes una Phrygum fortissimus Hector
sternere caede uiros atque agmina uertere Graium.
Vt lupus in campis pecudes cum uidit apertis
(non actor gregis ipse, comes non horrida terret
turba canum), fremit esuriens et neglegit omnes
in mediosque greges auidus ruit, haut secus Hector
inuadit Danaos et territat ense cruento.

Meanwhile the most beautiful offspring of Venus darts forth
and presses the dense ranks of the Greeks, and far and wide
reaps their naked backs with the sword and mingles deadly battle.
Nor does Hector, bravest, the single hope of the Phrygians,
cease to strew men in slaughter and to turn the ranks of the Greeks.
As a wolf, when he has seen the sheep in the open fields
(neither the herdsman of the flock himself, nor the rough company
of dogs as companions, frightens him), he growls, famished, and disregards them all,
and eager he rushes into the midst of the flocks; just so Hector
attacks the Danaans and terrifies them with his blood-stained sword.

Deficiunt Graiorum acies, Phryges acrius instant
attolluntque animos: geminat uictoria uires.
Vt uidit socios infesto cedere Marte,
rex Danaum sublimis equo uolat agmina circum
hortaturque duces animosque in proelia firmat.
Mox ipse in medios audax se proripit hostes
oppositasque acies stricto diuerberat ense.

The battle-lines of the Graians fail, the Phrygians press on more keenly
and lift their spirits: victory doubles their strength.
When he saw his allies giving way in hostile Mars,
the king of the Danaans, lofty on his horse, flies around the ranks
and encourages the leaders and steels their spirits for the battles.
Soon he himself, bold, hurls himself into the midst of the enemies
and with a drawn sword he cleaves the opposing battle-lines.

Vt Libycus cum forte leo procul agmina uidit
laeta boum passim uirides errare per herbas,
attollit ceruice iubas sitiensque cruoris
in mediam erecto contendit pectore turbam,
sic ferus Atrides aduersos fertur in hostes
infestasque Phrygum proturbat cuspide turmas.
Virtus clara ducis uires accendit Achiuum
et spes exacuit languentia militis arma:
funduntur Teucri, Danai laetantur ouantes.
Tandem hic Aenean immisso tendere curru
conspicit Atrides: stricto concurrere ferro
comparat et iaculum, quantum furor ipse mouebat,
uiribus intorquet, quod detulit error ab illo
pectus in aurigae stomachoque infigitur alto;
ille ruens ictu media inter lora rotasque
uoluitur et uitam calido cum sanguine fundit.

As when a Libyan lion by chance has seen from afar the glad herds of oxen wandering here and there through the green grasses,
he uplifts his mane at the neck, and, thirsting for gore, with chest erect presses into the midst of the crowd;
so the fierce Atrides is borne against the opposing enemies and scatters with his spear-point the hostile squadrons of the Phrygians.
The renowned valor of the leader kindles the strength of the Achaeans,
and hope sharpens the languishing weapons of the soldier: the Teucrians are routed, the Danaans rejoice exulting.
At length here Atrides espies Aeneas driving on with his chariot at full speed;
he prepares to clash with drawn steel, and he whirls the javelin, with as much force as frenzy itself impelled,
which a swerve carried off from him, and it is fixed in the charioteer’s breast and deep belly;
he, reeling from the stroke, is rolled in the midst between reins and wheels,
and pours out his life together with warm blood.

Ingemit Aeneas curruque animosus ab alto
desilit et ualido Crethona<que> comminus ictu
Orsilochumque ferit, quorum post funera uictus
Paphlagonum ductor Menelai concidit armis,
Antilochique Mydon. Post hos Iouis inclita proles
Sarpedon bellum funestaque proelia miscet.
Quem contra infelix non aequis dimicat armis
Tlepolemus magno satus Hercule, sed neque uires
hunc seruare patris nec tot potuere labores,
quin caderet tenuemque daret de corpore uitam.

Aeneas groans, and, high-spirited, from the lofty chariot he leaps down,
and with a strong blow at close quarters he strikes Crethon
and Orsilochus; after whose deaths, the defeated
leader of the Paphlagonians fell by Menelaus’s arms,
and Mydon by those of Antilochus. After these, the famed offspring of Jove,
Sarpedon, stirs up war and death-bringing battles.
Against him unlucky Tlepolemus, begotten of great Hercules,
fights with unequal arms; but neither his father’s strength
nor so many labors could preserve him from falling and giving forth the slender life from his body.

Saucius egreditur medio certamine belli
Sarpedon fraudisque subit commentor Vlixes
et septem iuuenum fortissima corpora fundit.
Hinc pugnat patriae columen Mauortius Hector,
illinc Tydides: sternuntur utrimque uirorum
corpora per campos et sanguine prata rigantur.
Pugnat bellipotens casta cum Pallade Mauors
ingentemque mouet clipeum, quem sancta uirago
egit et extrema percussum cuspide caedit
attonitumque simul caelum petere ipsa coegit.

Wounded, Sarpedon goes forth from the midst of the contest of war
and the contriver of fraud, Ulysses, moves in,
and he pours out the very stalwart bodies of seven youths.
Here Mars-like Hector, the column of his fatherland, fights,
there the Tydides: on both sides the bodies of men
are strewn across the fields, and the meadows are irrigated with blood.
War-potent Mavors fights with chaste Pallas
and she moves the enormous shield, which the holy virago
has driven and smites, struck with the extreme point of the spear,
and she herself at once compelled the thunderstruck one to seek the sky.

Hic ille aetherio queritur sua uulnera regi
saucius et magni genitoris iurgia suffert.
Interea magnis Acamantem uiribus Aiax
interimit uastumque capit Menelaus Adrastum
et rapit ad classes manibus post terga reuinctis,
ut ui deducat laetos ex hoste triumphos.
Incumbunt Danai, cedit Troiana iuuentus
tergaque nuda tegit.

Here that one, wounded, laments his wounds to the ethereal king,
and endures the reproaches of his great begetter.
Meanwhile Ajax with great strength slays Acamas,
and Menelaus seizes the vast Adrastus
and drags him to the fleets with his hands bound behind his back,
that by force he may lead joyful triumphs from the foe.
The Danaans press on, the Trojan youth gives way
and covers their bare backs.

Sensit Mauortius Hector
pro Danais pugnare deos ualidasque suorum
uirginis armigerae subduci numine uires
continuoque petit muros Hecubamque uocari
imperat et diuae placari numina suadet.
Protinus armatas innuptae Palladis arces
Iliades subeunt: festis altaria sertis
exornant caeduntque sacras ex more bidentes.
Dumque preces Hecube supplex ad templa Mineruae
pro caris genetrix natis et coniuge fundit,
interea Glaucus stricto decernere ferro
cum Diomede parat nomenque genusque roganti
qui sit et unde ferat, magnis cum uiribus hastam
mittere temptabat; temptanti Aetolius heros:
"Quo ruis?" - exclamat - "quae te, scelerate, furentem
mens agit imparibus mecum concurrere telis?

Mavortian Hector perceived
that the gods were fighting for the Danaans, and that by the numen of the arms-bearing maiden
the strong forces of his own were being drawn off;
straightway he makes for the walls and orders Hecuba to be called,
and he urges that the numina of the goddess be appeased.
Forthwith the Ilian women go up to the armed citadels
of unmarried Pallas: they adorn the altars with festal garlands
and, according to custom, slay the sacred bidentes.
And while Hecuba, a suppliant, as a mother pours prayers at the temples of Minerva
for her dear sons and husband,
meanwhile Glaucus prepares to decide with drawn steel
against Diomedes, and as he asks the name and lineage—
who he is and whence he hails—he was trying to send the spear
with great force; to the one attempting it, the Aetolian hero:
"Where are you rushing?" — he cries — "what mind drives you, wretch, in your frenzy,
to clash with me with unequal weapons?"

Hospitis arma uides, Veneris qui uulnere dextram
perculit et summo pupugit certamine Martem.
Pone truces animos infestaque tela coerce."
Post haec inter se posito certamine pugnae
commutant clipeos inimicaque proelia linquunt.
Colloquium petit interea fidissima coniunx
Hectoris Andromache paruumque ad pectora natum
Astyanacta tenet, cuius dum maximus heros
oscula parua petit, subito perterritus infans
conuertit timidos materna ad pectora uultus
terribilemque fugit galeam cristamque comantem.

"You see the arms of a guest-friend, who smote the right hand of Venus with a wound
and in the highest contest pierced Mars.
Put down savage spirits and restrain your hostile weapons."
After these things, with the contest of battle set aside between them,
they exchange shields and leave hostile combats.
Meanwhile the most faithful consort
of Hector, Andromache, seeks a colloquy and holds to her breast the little son
Astyanax, of whom while the greatest hero
asks for small kisses, suddenly the terrified infant
turns his timid looks to his mother's breast
and flees the terrible helmet and the hair-plumed crest.

Vtque caput iuuenis posito detexerat aere,
protinus infantem geminis amplectitur ulnis
attollensque manus: "Precor, o pater optime" - dixit -
"ut meus hic, pro quo tua numina, natus, adoro,
uirtutes patrias primis imitetur ab annis."
Haec ait et portis acies petit acer apertis,
una deinde Paris. Postquam in certamina uentumst,
protinus in medium procedit maximus Hector
Graiorumque duces inuictis prouocat armis.
Nec mora: continuo fraudis commentor Vlixes
et ferus Idomeneus et notus gente paterna
Meriones Graiumque simul dux acer Atrides
Aiacesque duo <et> claris speciosus in armis
Eurypylus magnoque Thoas Andraemone natus
quique manum Veneris uiolauit uulnere tristi
procedunt; aberat nam Troum terror Achilles
et cithara dulci durum lenibat amorem.

And when the youth had uncovered his head, the bronze set aside,
straightway he embraces the infant with twin forearms
and, lifting his hands: "I pray, O best father," — he said —
"that this son of mine, for whom I adore your divine powers, may
imitate his paternal virtues from his earliest years."
He says this, and, the gates being opened, the keen one seeks the battle-lines,
then Paris together with him. After it had come to the combats,
straightway into the midst advances greatest Hector
and with unconquered arms he challenges the leaders of the Greeks.
No delay: immediately Ulysses, contriver of fraud,
and fierce Idomeneus, and Meriones, known by his paternal lineage,
and together the keen leader of the Greeks, the Atrides,
and the two Ajaxes <and> Eurypylus, fair in renowned arms,
and great Thoas, son of Andraemon, and he who violated the hand of Venus with a grim wound,
advance; for Achilles, the terror of the Trojans, was absent,
and with the sweet cithara he was softening his hard love.

Ergo ubi deiectis auratam regis Atridae
sortibus in galeam magnus processerat Aiax,
principio iactis committunt proelia telis:
mox rigidos stringunt enses et fortibus armis
decernunt partesque oculis rimantur apertas
et modo terga petunt, duros modo fortibus ictus
depellunt clipeis; ingens ad sidera clamor
tollitur et uastis impletur uocibus aer.
Non sic saetigeri exacuunt feruoribus iras
pectoribusque petunt uastis, modo dentibus uncis
alterni librant gladios et uulnera miscent.
fortia terga premunt spumantque per ora uicissim;
fumiferae nubes concretaque fulgura et ignes
iactantur magnoque implentur murmure siluae.

Therefore, when, the lots having been cast down into the gilded helmet of King Atrides,
the great Ajax had advanced, at the outset, with missiles hurled, they commit battle:
soon they draw their rigid swords and with stout arms
they decide it, and with their eyes they scrutinize the open parts,
and now they seek the backs, now they ward off hard blows with strong
shields; an immense clamor is raised to the stars and the vast air is filled with voices.
Not thus do the bristle-bearing boars whet their angers with fervors
and with their massive chests make for each other; now with hooked teeth
by turns they poise blades and mingle wounds. In turn they press mighty backs
and foam through their mouths; smoke-bearing clouds and concreted lightnings and fires
are hurled, and the woods are filled with a great murmur.

Tales Priamides ardorque Aiacis in armis
Tandem animis teloque furens Telamonius Aiax
insignem bello petit Hectora, quaque patebat
nuda uiri ceruix, fulgentem derigit ensem.
Ille ictum celeri praeuidit callidus astu
tergaque summisit ferrumque umbone repellit.
Sed leuis extremas clipei perlabitur oras
ensis et exiguo ceruicem uulnere libat.

Such the Priamids and the ardor of Ajax in arms
At last, raging in spirit and with his weapon, Telamonian Ajax
seeks Hector, renowned in war, and where there lay open
the man’s neck bare, he directs the gleaming sword.
He, clever in swift stratagem, foresees the stroke
and lowers his back and with the umbo repels the iron.
But the light sword glides along the outermost edges
of the shield and with a slight wound grazes the neck.

Acrius impugnans rursus consurgit in hostem
Priamides nec iam ferro Telamone creatum,
sed magno saxi iactu petit. At ferus Aiax
ingentem clipeo septemplice reppulit ictum
et iuuenem saxo percussum sternit eodem.
Quem leuat exceptum Grais inimicus Apollo
integratque animum; iam rursus ad arma coibant
stringebantque iterum gladios, cum fessus in undas
coeperat igniferos Titan immergere currus
noxque subire polum: iuxta mittuntur, utrosque
qui dirimant a caede uiros, nec segnius illi
deponunt animos.

More keenly assailing, the Priamid rises again against the enemy,
and now not with iron does he attack the one begotten of Telamon,
but with a great hurl of a stone. But fierce Ajax
with his sevenfold shield repelled the huge blow
and lays low the youth, struck by the same stone.
Him, having caught him up, Apollo, hostile to the Greeks, lifts
and restores his spirit; now again they were coming together to arms
and were again unsheathing their swords, when the weary Titan
had begun to plunge his fire-bearing chariots into the waves,
and Night to climb the pole: forthwith there are sent men to separate
both parties from slaughter, nor less swiftly do they
lay down their spirits.

Tunc bello maximus Hector:
"Quae te terra uirum, qui te genuere parentes?
Viribus es proles generosa atque inclita" - dixit.
At contra se ferre parat Telamonius Aiax:
"Hesiona de matre uides Telamone creatum,
nobilis est domus et fama generosa propago."
Hector, ut Hesionae nomen casusque recordans:
"Absistamus" - ait - "sanguis communis utriquest",
et prior Aeaciden aurato munerat ense
inque uicem, quo se bellator cinxerat Aiax,
accipit insignem uario caelamine balteum.

Then Hector, greatest in war:
"What land bore you a man, what parents begot you?
By your strengths you are a noble and illustrious progeny," - he said.
But in reply the Telamonian Ajax prepares to answer:
"You see one begotten by Telamon, from mother Hesione,
the house is noble and the lineage generous in fame."
Hector, recalling the name and fortunes of Hesione:
"Let us desist" - he says - "the blood is common to us both,"
and first he presents the Aeacid with a gilded sword
and in return, with which the warrior Ajax had girded himself,
he receives a distinguished baldric with varied chasing.

Post haec extemplo Graium Troumque cateruae
discedunt caelumque tegit nox atra tenebris.
Implentur dapibus largis Bacchique liquore
atque auidi placido tradunt sua corpora somno.
Postera cum primum stellas Aurora fugarat,
in coetum uenere Phryges.

After these things, at once the bands of the Greeks and of the Trojans
depart, and black night covers the sky with shadows.
They are filled with lavish banquets and the liquor of Bacchus
and, eager, they hand over their bodies to placid sleep.
When next Aurora had first put the stars to flight,
the Phrygians came into assembly.

Tunc maximus Hector
cum sociis memorans hesternae funera caedis
suadet ut inuictis Helene reddatur Achiuis
praedaque quae duros Menelai mulceat ignes
idque placet cunctis. Tunc saeuo missus Atridae
pertulit Idaeus Troum mandata; neque ille
aut animum praedae aut dictis accommodat aures,
ultro etiam castris Idaeum excedere iussit.
Paruit is monitis iterumque ad castra reuersus
Troiae contemptum duro se reddit ab hoste.

Then the very great Hector,
recalling with his companions the funerals of yesterday’s slaughter,
advises that Helen be returned to the unconquered Achaeans,
and that booty be given which might mollify the harsh fires of Menelaus—
and this pleases all. Then Idaeus, sent to the savage son of Atreus,
carried the Trojans’ mandates; but he
neither lends his mind to the booty nor his ears to the words,
and moreover even ordered Idaeus to depart from the camp.
He obeyed the instructions, and, returned again to the camp,
he reports the contempt of Troy by the hard enemy.

Interea Danai confusi caede suorum
ingentes struxere pyras collectaque passim
fortia tradiderunt sociorum corpora flammis.
Tum renouant fossas et uallum robore cingunt.
Vt nitidum Titan radiis patefecerat orbem,
conuocat in coetum superos Iouis et monet, armis
ne contra sua dicta uelint contendere diui.

Meanwhile the Danaans, confounded by the slaughter of their own,
raised enormous pyres and, gathered far and wide,
they consigned the brave bodies of their comrades to the flames.
Then they renew the ditches and gird the rampart with stout timber.
When Titan had laid bare the shining orb with his rays,
Jove calls the gods above into assembly and warns that, with arms,
the divinities should not wish to contend against his decrees.

Ipse per aetherias caeli delabitur auras
umbrosisque simul consedit montibus Idae.
Inde acies uidet Iliacas dextraque potenti
sustinet auratas aequato pondere lances
fataque dura Phrygum casusque expendit Achiuum
et Graium clades grauibus praeponderat armis.
Interea Danaos ingenti concitus ira
Priamides agit et totis grauis imminet armis
unum quippe decus Phrygiae.

He himself glides down through the ethereal airs of heaven
and at once takes seat on the shadowy mountains of Ida.
Thence he sees the Iliac battle-lines, and with his potent right hand
he holds aloft the aurate scales with balanced weight,
and he weighs out the hard fates of the Phrygians and the downfalls of the Achaean,
and the disasters of the Greeks preponderate with heavy weights.
Meanwhile, stirred with vast wrath, the son of Priam drives the Danaans,
and, weighty, he looms over them with all his arms—
for indeed the single glory of Phrygia.

Turbantur Achiui
Doricaque ingenti complentur castra tumultu.
Hortatur socios muris inclusus Atrides
languentesque animos iuuenum in certamina firmat.
Princeps Tydides fulgens ardentibus armis
per medios hostes immani pondere fertur.

The Achaeans are thrown into turmoil
and the Dorian camp is filled with immense tumult.
The Atrides, enclosed within the walls, exhorts his comrades
and strengthens the languishing spirits of the youths for contests.
The chieftain Tydides, shining in blazing arms,
is borne through the midst of the enemies with monstrous weight.

Hic illi occurrit fatis Agelaus iniquis,
telum immane manu quatiens, quem maximus heros
occupat et duro medium transuerberat ense.
Hinc Phrygas Aiacis uastis protectus in armis
Teucer agit spargitque leues in terga sagittas.
Gorgythiona ferum letali uulnere fundit;
mox alias acies petit aurigamque superbi
Hectoris obtruncat, quem saxo Troius heros
occupat excussoque incautum proterit arcu.

Here Agelaus, with iniquitous fates, runs to meet him,
brandishing an immense missile in his hand; whom the greatest hero
preempts and transfixes through the middle with a hard sword.
Thence Teucer, protected by the vast arms of Ajax,
drives the Phrygians and scatters light arrows into their backs.
He spills fierce Gorgythion with a lethal wound;
soon he seeks other battle-lines and hews down the charioteer of proud
Hector—whom the Trojan hero forestalls with a rock and, his bow shaken off,
tramples the incautious one.

Ast illum fidi rapiunt de caede sodales
prostratumque leuant. Ruit undique turbidus Hector
aduersasque acies infesta cuspide terret.
Se rursus Danai turbati caede suorum
conuertunt iterumque leues in castra cateruae
confugiunt portasque obiecto robore firmant.

But his faithful comrades snatch him from the slaughter
and lift him up, laid low. From every side turbulent Hector rushes
and frightens the opposing battle-lines with a hostile spear-point.
The Danaans, in turn, disturbed by the slaughter of their own,
turn back, and again the light bands take refuge into the camp,
and they make the gates firm with timber set before them as a bar.

At Phryges obsidunt inclusos aggere Graios
excubituque premunt muros flammisque coronant.
Cetera per campos sternunt sua corpora pubes
indulgentque mero curas<que> animosque resoluunt.
Attoniti Danaum proceres discrimine tanto
nec dapibus releuant animos nec corpora curant,
sed miseri sua fata gemunt.

But the Phrygians besiege the Greeks, shut in, with a rampart,
and with a watch they press the walls and crown them with flames.
The rest of the youth strew their own bodies over the plains
and, indulging in unmixed wine, loosen cares and spirits.
Thunderstruck, the princes of the Danaans at so great a crisis
neither with banquets relieve their spirits nor tend their bodies,
but, wretched, they lament their fates.

Mox Nestore pulsi
legatos mittunt dextramque hortantur Achillis,
ut ferat auxilium miseris. Thetideius heros
nec Danaum capit aure preces nec munera regis
ulla referre cupit; non illum redditus ignis
aut intacta suo Briseis corpore mouit.
Irrita legati referunt responsa Pelasgis
et dapibus curant animos lenique sopore.

Soon, driven back by Nestor,
they send legates and urge the right hand of Achilles,
that he bear aid to the wretched. The Thetidean hero
neither takes into his ear the prayers of the Danaans nor desires to accept
any gifts of the king; neither the return of the fire
nor Briseis untouched in her own person moved him.
The envoys report ineffectual answers to the Pelasgians,
and with banquets they tend their spirits and with gentle sopor.

Alterius tenebrae tarde labentibus astris
restabatque super tacitae pars tertia noctis,
cum Danaum iussu castris Aetolius heros
egreditur sociumque sibi delegit Vlixem,
qui secum tacitae sublustri noctis in umbra
scrutetur studio quae sit fiducia Troum
quidue agitent quantasue parent in proelia uires.
Dumque iter horrendum loca pernoctata pauentes
carpebant, uenit ecce Dolon, quem Troia pubes
miserat, ut Danaum sollerti pectore uires
perspiceret sensusque ducum plebisque referret.
Quem procul ut uidit socius Diomedis Vlixes,
abdiderant occultantes sua corpora furtim
post densos frutices, dum spe percussus inani
Tros Eumediades cursu praecederet illos,
ne facile oppressus gressum in sua castra referret.

The darkness of another watch, with the stars gliding slowly,
and the third part of the silent night still remained above,
when, by the command of the Danaans, the Aetolian hero
goes out from the camp and chooses Ulysses as companion for himself,
to scrutinize with zeal with him, in the shadow of the faint-glimmering silent night,
what confidence the Trojans have,
and what they are agitating and what forces they prepare for battles.
And while, fearful, they were making their way through the night-haunted places,
lo, Dolon comes, whom the Trojan youth
had sent, to inspect with a skillful mind the forces of the Danaans
and to report the sentiments of the leaders and the common folk.
When Ulysses, comrade of Diomedes, saw him from afar,
they had hidden, stealthily concealing their bodies
behind thick shrubs, while the Trojan, smitten by empty hope,
the son of Eumedes, would run on ahead of them,
lest, if easily overborne, he should turn his step back into his own camp.

Post, ubi transierat fidens animoque manuque,
prosiluere uiri iuuenemque euadere cursu
conantem capiunt ferroque manuque minantur.
Ille timore pauens: "Vitam concedite" - dixit -,
"hoc unum satis est; quodsi perstatis in ira,
quanta ex morte mea capietis praemia laudis?
At si cur ueniam tacitis exquiritis umbris:
maxima Troia mihi currum promisit Achillis
si uestras cepisset opes.

Afterwards, when he had gone past, confident in mind and in hand,
the men leapt forth and seize the youth, trying to escape at a run,
and they threaten with iron and with hand.
He, quaking with fear: "Grant life" - he said -,
"this one thing is enough; but if you persist in wrath,
what prizes of praise will you take from my death?
But if you are inquiring in the silent shades why I come:
mighty Troy promised me the chariot of Achilles
if it should seize your power.

Haec dona secutus
in dubios casus, coram quod cernitis ipsi,
infelix cecidi. Nunc uos per numina diuum,
per mare, per Ditis fluctus obtestor opaci,
ne rapere hanc animam crudeli caede uelitis.
Haec pro concessa referetis dona salute:
consilium Priami regis remque ordine gentis
expediam Phrygiae." Postquam quid Troia pararet
cognouere uiri, fauces mucrone recluso
detrudunt iuuenis.

Having pursued these gifts into dubious hazards, as you yourselves see before your eyes, unhappy I have fallen. Now I implore you by the numina of the gods, by the sea, by the billows of shadowy Dis, do not wish to snatch away this soul by cruel slaughter. These in return for granted safety you shall take as gifts: I will set forth the counsel of King Priam and the state of the Phrygian nation in due order." After the men learned what Troy was preparing, with the point laid bare they force open the youth’s throat.

Post haec tentoria Rhesi
intrant atque ipsum somno uinoque sepultum
obtruncant spoliantque uirum fusosque per herbam
exanimant socios. Tum tristi caede peracta
praeda umeros onerant, multo et candore nitentes
Thracas equos rapiunt, quos nec praecederet Eurus
nec posset uolucri cursu superare sagitta.
Inde iterum Argolicas primae sub tempore lucis
ad classes redeunt, quos Nestoris accipit aetas
ac recipit portis.

After these things they enter the tents of Rhesus,
and the man himself, buried in sleep and wine,
they cut down and despoil, and his comrades, sprawled over the grass,
they make lifeless. Then, the grim slaughter completed,
they load their shoulders with prey, and they seize the Thracian horses,
shining with much brilliance and whiteness, which neither the East Wind could outstrip
nor could an arrow with winged course overtake.
Thence again, at the time of first light,
they return to the Argolic fleets, and Nestor’s old age receives them
and admits them at the gates.

Postquam sua castra tenebant,
facta duci referunt: laudat Pelopeius heros,
fessaque iucundae tradunt sua membra quieti.
Lux exorta uiros in pristina bella remisit,
instaurantque animos recreato milite pugnae
Dardanidum Danaumque duces: uolat undique nubes
telorum et ferro ferrum sonat, undique mixtis
inter se strident mucronibus: instat utrimque
densa acies mixtusque fluit cum sanguine sudor.
Tandem feruenti Danaum rex concitus ira
Antiphon ingenti prostratum uulnere fundit
Pisandrumque simul fratremque ad bella ruentem
Hippolochum; post hos gladio petit Iphidamanta.

After they held their own camp,
they report their deeds to the leader: the Pelopid hero praises,
and they entrust their weary limbs to welcome rest.
The risen light sent the men back into their former wars,
and, with the soldiery refreshed, the leaders of the Dardanids and the Danaans
restore their spirits for battle: on every side a cloud
of missiles flies and iron resounds on iron; on every side, with
their points mingled, the blades hiss against one another: on both sides the
dense battle-line presses, and sweat mixed with blood flows.
At last, the king of the Danaans, stirred by seething anger,
slays Antiphon, laid low by a huge wound,
and at the same time Pisander and his brother Hippolochus,
rushing to the wars; after these, with his sword he attacks Iphidamas.

Hic frater dextram iaculo ferit; ille dolore
acrior accepto fugientem Antenore natum
persequitur traxitque ferox cum uulnere poenas.
Hector tunc pugnae subit acri concitus ira
Priamides et percussos agit undique Graios;
nec Paris hostiles cessat prosternere turmas
Eurypylique femur contento uulnerat arcu.
Incumbunt Troes, fugiunt in castra Pelasgi
uiribus exhaustis et uastis undique firmant
obicibus muros.

Here the brother strikes the right hand with a javelin; that one, made keener by the pain received,
pursues the fleeing son of Antenor and, fierce, exacts punishment with a wound.
Hector then enters the battle, stirred by keen wrath,
the son of Priam, and drives the smitten Greeks on every side;
nor does Paris cease to prostrate hostile troops,
and he wounds Eurypylus’s thigh with the bow drawn taut.
The Trojans press on, the Pelasgians flee into the camp
their forces exhausted, and on every side they strengthen
the walls with vast barriers.

Tum saxo Martius Hector
perfringit portas ferrataque robora laxat.
Irrumpunt aditus Phryges atque in limine primo
restantes sternunt Graios ualloque cateruas
deturbant, alii scalas in moenia poscunt
et iaciunt ignes: auget uictoria uires.
De muris pugnant Danai turresque per altas.

Then with a stone martial Hector
breaks through the gates and loosens the iron‑clad timbers.
The Phrygians burst through the entrances and on the very threshold
they lay low the Graians who stand their ground and from the rampart drive down the bands;
others call for ladders onto the walls
and cast fires: victory augments their strength.
From the walls the Danaans fight, and along the high towers.

Saxa uolant, subeunt acta testudine Troes
ascenduntque aditus et portis uiribus instant.
Turbati fugiunt omnes iam castra Pelasgi
et scandunt puppes. Vrget Troiana iuuentus
telaque crebra iacit: resonat clamoribus aether.

Stones fly, the Trojans advance with the testudo formed
and they mount the approaches and press upon the gates with their strength.
Dismayed, all the Pelasgians now flee the camp
and climb aboard the ships. The Trojan youth presses hard
and hurls thick missiles: the aether resounds with shouts.

Neptunus uires Danais animumque ministrat:
pugna ingens oritur, furit istinc hostis et illinc.
Idomenei dextra cadit Asius; Hector atrocem
Amphimachum obtruncat nec non occumbit in armis
Anchisae gener Alcathous, quem fuderat ense
magnanimus ductor Rhytieus. Tunc feruidus hasta
Deiphobus ferit Ascalaphum mergitque sub undas.

Neptune ministers strength and spirit to the Danaans:
a huge battle arises; the foe rages on this side and on that.
By Idomeneus’s right hand Asius falls; Hector hews down fierce
Amphimachus; and likewise in arms succumbs Alcathous, son-in-law of
Anchises, whom the magnanimous leader Rhytieus had routed with the sword.
Then, fervid with his spear, Deiphobus strikes Ascalaphus and submerges him beneath the waves.

Hector ubique ferus uiolento pectore saeuit,
quem saxo ingenti percussum maximus Aiax
depulit et toto prostratum corpore fudit.
Concurrit Troiana manus iuuenemque uomentem
sanguineos fluctus Xanthi lauere fluentis.
Inde iterum ad pugnam redeunt; fit maxima caedes
amborum et manat tellus infecta cruore.

Hector everywhere, fierce, rages with a violent breast,
whom, struck with a huge rock, the Greater Ajax
drove back and felled, poured out prostrate with his whole body.
The Trojan band runs together, and the youth, vomiting
bloody surges, they washed in the flowing streams of Xanthus.
Thence again they return to the fight; the greatest slaughter
of both sides takes place, and the earth, stained with gore, oozes.

Polydamas ualido Prothoenora percutit ictu,
Archelochumque Antenoriden Telamonius Aiax,
Boeotumque Acamas Promachum, quem sternit atrocis
Penelei dextra; inde cadit Priameia pubes
acrius insurgunt Troes ad Achaica bella
<>
pulsa metu uallumque et muros aggere saeptos
transiliunt, alii fossas uoluuntur in ipsas.
Aduolat interea Danaum metus impiger Hector:
confugiunt iterum ad classes Agamemnonis alae
atque inde aduersis propellunt uiribus hostem.
Fit pugna ante rates, saeuit Mauortius Hector
et poscit flammas totamque incendere classem
apparat.

Polydamas strikes Prothoenor with a strong blow,
and Telamonian Ajax strikes Archelochus, son of Antenor,
and Acamas strikes the Boeotian Promachus—him the right hand of fierce Peneleus lays low;
then the Priamian youth falls; the Trojans rise up more keenly to the Achaean wars
<>
driven by fear they leap over the rampart and the walls enclosed with a mound,
others roll headlong into the very ditches. Meanwhile Hector, the untiring terror of the Danaans, flies in:
the wings take refuge again to the ships of Agamemnon
and from there drive back the enemy with opposing forces.
Battle is joined before the ships; Mavortian Hector rages
and calls for flames and prepares to set the whole fleet on fire.

Huic ualidis obsistit uiribus Aiax,
stans prima in puppi, clipeoque incendia saeua
sustinet et solus defendit mille carinas.
Hinc iaciunt Danai robustae cuspidis hastas,
illinc ardentes taedas Phryges undique iactant;
per uastos sudor pugnantum defluit artus.
Non ualet ulterius cladem spectare suorum
Patroclus subitoque armis munitus Achillis
prouolat et falsa conterret imagine Troas.

Against him Ajax with mighty forces stands opposed,
standing foremost at the stern, and with his shield he withstands the savage fires
and alone defends a thousand ships.
From here the Danaans hurl spears of robust point,
from there the Phrygians on every side fling blazing torches;
down their vast limbs the sweat of the fighters flows.
He is not able any further to behold the slaughter of his own,
and Patroclus, suddenly fortified with the arms of Achilles,
dashes forth and with the false image frightens the Trojans.

Qui modo turbabant Danaos animoque fremebant,
nunc trepidi fugiunt, fugientibus imminet ille
perturbatque ferox acies uastumque per agmen
sternit et ingenti Sarpedona uulnere fundit
et nunc hos cursu nunc illos praeterit ardens
proeliaque horrendi sub imagine uersat Achillis.
Quem postquam socias miscentem caede cateruas
turbantemque acies respexit feruidus Hector,
tollit atrox animos uastisque immanis in armis
occurrit contra magnoque hunc increpat ore:
"Huc, age, huc conuerte gradum, fortissime Achilles:
iam nosces ultrix quid Troica dextera possit
et quantum bello ualeat fortissimus Hector.
Nam licet ipse suis Mauors te protegat armis,
inuito tamen haec perimet te dextera Marte."
Ille silet spernitque minas animosaque dicta,
ut quem mentitur uerus credatur Achilles.

They who just now were throwing the Danaans into turmoil and roaring in spirit,
now, alarmed, flee; he hangs over the fugitives
and, fierce, perturbs the battle-lines and through the vast column
lays them low, and with an enormous wound fells Sarpedon,
and now these, now those he overtakes at a run, ardent,
and he turns the battles under the dread image of Achilles.
Whom, after hot-blooded Hector looked back and saw him mixing allied bands with slaughter
and disturbing the ranks, he lifts his spirit grimly and, monstrous in vast armor,
runs to meet him and upbraids him with a mighty voice:
“Here, come, here turn your step, bravest Achilles:
now you shall learn what the avenging Trojan right hand can do
and how much in war the most valiant Hector avails.
For though Mavors himself may protect you with his own arms,
yet this right hand will slay you, even with Mars unwilling in the fray.”
He is silent and scorns the threats and spirited words,
so that the true Achilles whom he counterfeits may be believed.

Tunc prior intorquet collectis uiribus hastam
Dardanides, quam prolapsam celeri excipit ictu
Patroclus redditque uices et, mutua dona,
quod clipeo excussum uiridi tellure resedit.
Tunc rigidos stringunt enses et comminus armis
inter se miscent, donec Troianus Apollo
mentitos uultus simulati pandit Achillis
denudatque uirum, quem bello maximus Hector
pugnantem falsis postquam deprendit in armis,
irruit et iuuenem nudato pectore ferro
traicit et uictor Vulcania detrahit arma.
Vindicat exstincti corpus Telamonius Aiax
oppositoque tegit clipeo.

Then the Dardanid first hurls the spear with gathered forces,
which, slipping down, Patroclus catches with a swift blow
and pays back in turn, and, as mutual gifts,
it, shaken from the shield, settled on the green earth.
Then they draw their rigid swords and at close quarters with arms
they mingle hand-to-hand, until Trojan Apollo
discloses the feigned features of the simulated Achilles
and lays the man bare; whom, after greatest Hector
catches fighting in false arms in war,
he rushes upon and with iron pierces the youth in his bared breast
and, the victor, strips off the Vulcanian arms.
The Telamonian Ajax claims the body of the slain
and with his shield set opposite covers it.

Priameia pubes
laetitia exsultat, Danai sua uulnera maerent.
Interea iuuenis tristi cum pube suorum
Nestorides in castra ferunt miserabile corpus.
Tunc ut Pelidae aures diuerberat horror,
palluit infelix iuuenis, calor ossa reliquit;
membra simul lacrimans materno innectit amictu,
deflens Aeacides tristi de caede sodalis;
unguibus ora secat comptosque in puluere crines
deformat, scindit firmo de pectore uestes
et super exstincti prostratus membra sodalis
crudeles fundit questus atque oscula figit.

The Priamian youth exults with joy, the Danaans mourn their own wounds.
Meanwhile, with the sad youth of his own, the son of Nestor bears into the camp the miserable body of the young man.
Then, as the horror strikes the ears of the son of Peleus,
the unhappy youth grew pale, the warmth left his bones;
at once weeping he entwines his limbs in a maternal mantle,
the Aeacid lamenting the sad slaughter of his comrade;
with his nails he cuts his face and deforms his coiffed hair in the dust,
he rends the garments from his stout breast,
and, prostrate over the limbs of his extinct comrade,
he pours out cruel laments and plants kisses.

Mox ubi depositi gemitus lacrimaeque quierunt:
"Non impune mei laetabere caede sodalis,
Hector" - ait - "magnoque meo, uiolente, dolori
persolues poenas atque istis uictor in armis,
in quibus exsultas, fuso moriere cruore."
Post haec accensus furiis decurrit ad aequor
fortiaque arma Thetin supplex rogat: illa relictis
fluctibus auxilium Vulcani protinus orat.
Excitat Aetnaeos calidis fornacibus ignes
Mulciber et ualidis fuluum domat ictibus aurum.
Mox effecta refert diuinis artibus arma.

Soon, when his groans and tears, laid aside, had grown quiet:
"You will not with impunity rejoice at the slaughter of my comrade,
Hector," he said, "and to my great grief, violent one, you shall pay penalties,
and as victor in those arms in which you exult,
you will die, your blood poured out."
After these things, inflamed with furies, he runs down to the sea
and as a suppliant asks Thetis for stout arms: she, having left
the waves, straightway begs aid of Vulcan.
He kindles Aetnaean fires in the hot furnaces,
Mulciber, and with strong blows subdues tawny gold.
Soon he brings back arms wrought by divine arts.

Euolat inde Thetis; quae postquam magnus Achilles
induit, in clipeum uultus conuertit atroces.
Illic Ignipotens mundi caelauerat arcem
sideraque et liquidis redimitas undique nymphis
Oceani terras et cinctum Nerea circum
astrorumque uices dimensaque tempora noctis,
quattuor et mundi partes, quantum Arctos ab Austro
et quantum occasus roseo distaret ab ortu,
Lucifer unde suis, unde Hesperus unus uterque
exoreretur equis, et quantum in orbe mearet
Luna caua et nitida lustraret lampade caelum;
addideratque fretis sua numina: Nerea magnum
Oceanumque senem nec eundem Protea semper,
Tritonasque feros et amantem Dorida fluctus;
fecerat et liquidas mira Nereidas arte.
Terra gerit siluas horrendaque monstra ferarum
fluminaque et montes cumque altis oppida muris,
in quibus exercent leges annosaque iura
certantes populi; sedet illic aequus utrisque
iudex et litem discernit fronte serena.

Thence Thetis flies away; and after the great Achilles
has put it on, he turns his fierce countenance toward the shield.
There the Fire‑Powerful had chased the citadel of the world
and the stars, and the lands of Ocean garlanded on every side with liquid nymphs,
and (it) girdled all around by Nereus, and the cycles of the stars
and the meted times of night,
and the four parts of the world, how far the Arctos from the South,
and how far the setting was distant from the rosy rising,
whence Lucifer with his own horses, whence Hesperus—one and the same—each
would rise, and how far in the orb the hollow Moon would go
and with shining lamp would illumine the heaven;
and he had added to the seas their own divinities: Nereus, great
Ocean, the old man, and Proteus, not ever the same,
and the savage Tritons and Doris, lover of the waves;
and with wondrous art he had fashioned the liquid Nereids.
The Earth bears forests and the dreadful monsters of wild beasts,
and rivers and mountains, and towns with high walls,
in which rival peoples exercise laws and age‑old rights;
there sits a judge, fair to both, and with serene brow he decides the suit.

Parte alia castae resonant Paeana puellae
dantque choros molles et tympana dextera pulsat;
ille lyrae graciles extenso pollice chordas
percurrit septemque modos modulatur auenis:
carmina componunt mundi resonantia motum.
Rura colunt alii, sulcant grauia arua iuuenci
maturasque metit robustus messor aristas
et gaudet pressis immundus uinitor uuis;
tondent prata greges, pendent in rupe capellae.
Haec inter mediis stabat Mars aureus armis,
quem diua poesis reliquae* circaque sedebant
anguineis maestae Clotho Lachesisque capillis.

In another part the chaste maidens resound the Paean
and they give soft choruses, and the right hand beats the tympana;
he runs through the slender strings of the lyre with outstretched thumb
and modulates the seven modes on the reeds:
they compose songs resonant with the motion of the world.
Others till the countryside; young bulls furrow the heavy fields,
and the robust reaper harvests ripe ears of grain,
and the foul-stained vintner rejoices in pressed grapes;
flocks crop the meadows, she-goats hang on the cliff.
Amid these, in the midst, golden Mars stood in arms,
around whom divine poesy and the rest* were sitting,
and sad Clotho and Lachesis with snaky hair.

Talibus ornatus donis Thetideius heros
in medias acies immani turbine fertur,
cui uires praebet casta cum Pallade Iuno
dantque animos iuueni. Vidit Cythereius heros
occurritque uiro, sed non cum uiribus aequis
Aeacidae nec compar erat, tamen ira coegit
conferre inuictis iuuenem cum uiribus arma.
Quem nisi seruasset magnarum rector aquarum,
ut profugus laetis Troiam repararet in aruis
Augustumque genus claris submitteret astris,
non clarae gentis nobis mansisset origo.

Adorned with such gifts, the Thetidean hero is borne into the midst of the battle-lines in an immense whirlwind,
to whom chaste Pallas together with Juno supplies strength and they give spirit to the youth.
The Cytherean hero saw and ran to meet the man, but he was not with equal forces to the Aeacid nor was he a match; nevertheless anger compelled
the youth to bring arms together with invincible strength.
Whom, unless the ruler of the great waters had saved,
so that, as an exile, he might restore Troy in happy fields
and might set the Augustan race beneath the bright stars,
the origin of our illustrious nation would not have remained for us.

Inde agit Aeacides infesta cuspide Teucros
ingentemque modum prosternit caede uirorum,
sanguinis Hectorei sitiens. At Dardana pubes
confugit ad Xanthi rapidos perterrita fluctus
auxiliumque petit diuini fluminis; ille
instat et in mediis pugnatur gurgitis undis.
Ira dabat uires; stringuntur sanguine ripae
sparsaque per totos uoluuntur corpora fluctus.

Thence the Aeacid drives the Teucrians with a hostile spear-point,
and lays low a vast measure with the slaughter of men,
thirsting for the blood of Hector. But the Dardanian youth
flees in terror to the rapid waves of Xanthus
and seeks the aid of the divine river; he presses on,
and battle is waged amid the waves of the whirlpool.
Ire was giving strength; the banks are streaked with blood,
and scattered bodies are rolled through the entire flood.

At Venus et Phrygiae gentis tutator Apollo
cogunt in Danaos Xanthi consurgere fluctus,
ut fera terribili miscentem proelia dextra
obruat Aeaciden; qui protinus undique totis
exspatiatur aquis et uasto gurgite praeceps
uoluitur atque uirum torrentibus impedit undis
praetardatque gradus. Ille omni corpore saeuas
contra pugnat aquas aduersaque flumina rumpit
et modo disiectos umeris modo pectore uasto
propellit fluctus. Quem longe prouida Iuno
asseruit, rapidae quia cederet, ignibus, undae,
sanctaque pugnarunt inter se numina diuum.

But Venus and Apollo, the guardian of the Phrygian nation,
compel the waves of Xanthus to rise up against the Danaans,
so that it may overwhelm the Aeacid, who with his terrible right hand
is fiercely mixing the battles. And straightway it spreads out
on every side with all its waters and, headlong in a vast whirlpool,
is rolled and with torrenting waves hampers the man
and retards his steps. He with his whole body fights
against the savage waters and breaks through the opposing streams,
and now with his shoulders, now with his vast chest,
he drives the scattered waves forward. Him far off provident Juno
rescued, since the rushing wave would yield to fires, and the holy
numina of the gods fought among themselves.

Rursus agit Phrygias ingenti caede cateruas
horridus Aeacides bellique ardore resumpto
funereas acies horrendaque proelia miscet.
Non illum uis ulla mouet, non saeua fatigant
pectora bellando; uires successus adauget.
Percussi dubitant trepida formidine Troes
atque intra muros exhausta paene salute
confugiunt portasque obiecto robore firmant.

Again he drives the Phrygian cohorts with immense slaughter,
the grim Aeacid, and with the ardor of war resumed
he mingles funereal battle-lines and horrendous combats.
No force moves him, nor does fighting fatigue his savage
breast; success augments his strength.
Struck, the Trojans hesitate in trembling fear
and, with safety almost exhausted, within the walls
they take refuge and strengthen the gates with oak set before as a brace.

Vnus tota salus in quo Troiana manebat
Hector adest, quem non durae timor undique mortis,
non patriae tenuere preces, quin obuius iret
et contra magnum contendere uellet Achillem.
Quem procul ut uidit tectum caelestibus armis,
ante oculos subito uisa est Tritonia Pallas
pertimuit clausisque fugit sua moenia circum
infelix portis, sequitur Nereius heros:
in somnis ueluti, cum pectora terruit ira,
hic cursu super insequitur, fugere ille uidetur,
festinantque ambo, gressum labor ipse moratur,
alternis poterant insistere coepta periclis,
nec requies aderat, timor undique concitat iras.
Spectant de muris miseri sua fata parentes
pallentemque uident supremo tempore natum
quem iam summa dies suprema luce premebat.

The one single salvation in whom the Trojan cause remained,
Hector is here, whom neither the fear of harsh death on every side,
nor the prayers of his fatherland held back, from going to meet
and wishing to contend against great Achilles.
Whom, when he saw from afar, clothed in celestial arms,
before his eyes suddenly Tritonian Pallas was seen;
he grew very afraid and fled around his own walls,
unhappy, with the gates shut; the Nereian hero pursues:
as in dreams, when wrath has terrified the heart,
this one in running overtakes while pursuing, that one seems to flee,
and both make haste, but toil itself delays their step;
by turns they could persist in the perils undertaken,
nor was rest at hand; fear on every side incites their angers.
From the walls the wretched parents behold their fate,
and see their son pale at his last hour,
whom now his utmost day was pressing with final light.

Huic subito ante oculos similis Tritonia fratri
occurrens iuuenem simulato decipit ore;
nam cum Deiphobi tutum se credidit armis,
transtulit ad Danaos iterum sua numina Pallas.
Concurrunt iactis inter se comminus hastis
inuicti iuuenes: hic uastis intonat armis,
ille hostem ualidum nequiquam umbone repellit
alternisque ferox mutat congressibus ictus.
Sudor agit riuos, ensem terit horridus ensis
collatusque haeret pede pes et dextera dextrae.

To him suddenly before his eyes Tritonia, like to his brother,
meeting him deceives the youth with a feigned face;
for since he believed himself safe by the arms of Deiphobus,
Pallas transferred her divine powers again to the Danaans.
They run together at close quarters, their spears having been hurled between them,
the unconquered youths: this one thunders with his vast arms,
that one in vain repels the stalwart foe with his shield-boss,
and, fierce, he trades blows in alternate encounters.
Sweat drives streams, grim sword wears down sword,
and, joined, foot clings to foot and right hand to right hand.

Hastam iam manibus saeuus librabat Achilles
inque uirum magnis emissam uiribus egit,
quam praeterlapsam uitauit callidus Hector.
Exclamant Danai. Contra Priameius heros
uibratum iaculum Vulcania torquet in arma.

Savage Achilles now was poising the spear in his hands
and drove it, launched with great force, against the man,
which, slipping past, cunning Hector avoided.
The Danaans cry out. In reply, the Priamian hero
hurls the brandished javelin at the Vulcanian arms.

Nec successus adest: nam duro inflectitur auro
dissiluitque mucro. Gemuerunt agmina Troum.
Concurrunt iterum collatis fortiter armis
inque uicem duros euitant comminus enses.

Nor does success attend: for on the hard gold it is bent, and the point split apart. The battalions of the Trojans groaned.
They converge again with their arms brought together bravely,
and in turn at close quarters they evade the hard swords.

Nec sufferre ualet ultra sortemque supremam
stantemque Aeaciden defectis uiribus Hector.
Dumque retro cedit fraternaque rebus in artis
respicit auxilia et nullam uidet esse salutem,
sensit adesse dolos. Quid agat?

Nor can Hector any longer suffer his final lot, with his strength failing, and the Aeacid standing there.
And while he gives ground and, in his straits, looks back for fraternal aid and sees that there is no salvation,
he perceived guile to be at hand. What should he do?

quae numina supplex
inuocet? et toto languescunt corpore uires
auxiliumque negant; retinet uix dextera ferrum,
nox oculos inimica tegit nec subuenit ullum
defesso auxilium; pugnat moriturus et alto
corde premit gemitus. Instat Nereius heros
turbatumque premit procul undique; tunc iacit hastam
et medias rigida transfixit cuspide fauces.

what divinities should he, a suppliant, invoke?
and through his whole body his forces grow languid
and refuse assistance; his right hand scarcely holds the steel,
inimical night veils his eyes, nor does any help come
to the exhausted man; doomed to die he fights and in his deep
heart suppresses groans. The Nereid-born hero presses on
and bears down on the shaken man from all sides, at a distance; then he hurls the spear
and with a rigid point transfixed the throat through the very midst.

Exsultant Danai, Troes sua uulnera deflent.
Tunc sic amissis infelix uiribus Hector:
"En concede meos miseris genitoribus artus,
quos pater infelix multo mercabitur auro:
dona feres uictor. Priami nunc filius orat,
te Priamus, dux ille ducum, quem Graecia solum
pertimuit: si, nec precibus nec munere uictus,
nec lacrimis miseri nec clara gente moueris,
afflicti miserere patris: moueat tua Peleus
pectora pro Priamo, pro nostro corpore Pyrrhus."
Talia Priamides.

The Danaans exult, the Trojans bewail their wounds.
Then thus, with his forces lost, ill-fated Hector:
"Lo, grant my limbs to my wretched parents,
which my unhappy father will ransom with much gold:
you, as victor, will bear the gifts. Now the son of Priam prays,
Priam begs you, that leader of leaders, whom alone Greece feared:
if you are conquered neither by prayers nor by a gift,
nor moved by the tears of the wretched nor by illustrious lineage,
pity the afflicted father: let Peleus move your breast for Priam,
and Pyrrhus for my body."
Such words the son of Priam.

Quem contra durus Achilles:
"Quid mea supplicibus temptas inflectere dictis
pectora, quem possem direptum more ferarum,
si sineret natura, meis absumere malis?
Te uero tristesque ferae cunctaeque uolucres
diripient, auidosque canes tua uiscera pascent.
Haec ex te capient Patrocli gaudia manes,
si sapiunt umbrae." Dum talia magnus Achilles
ore truci iactat, uitam miserabilis Hector
reddidit.

Whom in reply the harsh Achilles:
"Why do you try to bend my breast with suppliant words—one who could, you torn to pieces after the manner of wild beasts,
if nature allowed, consume with my own evils?
But you—grim beasts and all the birds
shall tear you, and eager dogs shall feed on your entrails.
These joys the Manes of Patroclus shall take from you,
if the shades have sense." While great Achilles flings such things with a truculent mouth,
miserable Hector gave back his life.

Hunc animi nondum satiatus Achilles
deligat ad currum pedibusque exsanguia membra
ter circum muros uictor trahit; altius ipsos
fert domini successus equos. Tum maximus heros
detulit ad Danaos foedatum puluere corpus.
Laetantur Danai, plangunt sua uulnera Troes
et pariter captos deflent cum funere muros.

Him, Achilles, not yet sated in spirit,
binds to the chariot, and by the feet the bloodless limbs
the victor drags three times around the walls; higher the very horses
are borne by their master’s success. Then the greatest hero
brought down to the Danai the body defiled with dust.
The Danai rejoice, the Trojans beat their breasts for their wounds,
and equally they weep for the captured walls along with the funeral.

Interea uictor defleti corpus amici
funerat Aeacides pompasque ad funera ducit.
Tum circa tumulum miseros rapit Hectoris artus
et uapido cineri ludorum indicit honores.
Tydides *tyrsin* cursu pedibusque ferocem
Merionem superat; luctando uincitur Aiax
cuius decepit uires Laertius astu;
caestibus aduersis cunctos superauit Epeos
et disco forti Polypoetes depulit omnes
Merionesque arcu.

Meanwhile the Aeacid, the victor, funerates the body of his wept‑over friend and leads the pomps to the funeral.
Then around the tumulus he drags the wretched limbs of Hector and proclaims honors of games to the vapid ash.
The Tydides in the *tyrsin* race and with his fierce feet surpasses Meriones; in wrestling Ajax is conquered, whose strength the Laertian deceived by craft;
in opposing boxing Epeos overcame all,
and with the stout discus Polypoetes drove off all, and Meriones with the bow.

Tandem certamine misso
in sua castra redit turbis comitatus Achilles.
Flent miseri amissum Phryges Hectora totaque maesto
Troia sonat planctu; fundit miseranda querelas
infelix Hecube saeuisque arat unguibus ora
Andromacheque suas scindit de pectore uestes,
heu tanto spoliata uiro. Ruit omnis in uno
Hectore causa Phrygum, ruit hoc defensa senectus
afflicti miseranda patris, quem nec sua coniunx
turbaque natorum nec magni gloria regni
oblitum tenuit uitae, quin iret inermis
et solum inuicti castris se redderet hostis.

At last, the contest dismissed,
Achilles returns to his own camp, accompanied by throngs.
The wretched Phrygians weep for lost Hector, and all
Troy resounds with mournful plaint; pitiable Hecuba pours forth
her laments and with savage nails furrows her face,
and Andromache tears her garments from her breast,
alas, despoiled of so great a husband. Upon the one
Hector the whole cause of the Phrygians collapses; with this falls the protected old age
of the afflicted, pitiable father, whom neither his own wife
and the throng of sons nor the glory of a great kingdom
kept—forgetful of life—from going unarmed
and giving himself over to the camp of the sole unconquered foe.

Mirantur Danaum proceres, miratur et ipse
Aeacides animum miseri senis; ille trementes
affusus genibus tendens ad sidera palmas
haec ait: "O Graiae gentis fortissime Achilles,
o regnis inimice meis, te Dardana solum
uicta tremit pubes, te sensit nostra senectus
crudelem nimium. Nunc sis mitissimus oro
et patris afflicti genibus miserere precantis
donaque quae porto miseri pro corpore nati
accipias; si nec precibus nec flecteris auro,
in senis extremis tua dextera saeuiat annis:
saltem saeua pater comitabor funera nati!
Nec uitam mihi nec magnos *concedere* honores,
sed funus crudele meum!

The princes of the Danaans marvel, and the Aeacid himself marvels at the spirit of the wretched old man; he, poured at his knees and stretching his palms to the stars,
speaks these words: "O Achilles, bravest of the Greek race,
O enemy to my realms, it is you alone that the Dardanian youth,
conquered, trembles at; our old age has felt you too cruel.
Now be most mild, I beg, and have pity on the father afflicted,
praying at your knees, and accept the gifts which I bear
for the body of my wretched son; if you are bent neither by prayers
nor by gold, let your right hand rage against the last years of the old man:
at least as a father I will accompany the savage funeral of my son!
I ask neither life for myself nor *to grant* great honors,
but my cruel funeral!

Miserere parentis
et pater esse meo mitis de corpore disce.
Hectoris interitu uicisti Dardana regna,
uicisti Priamum: sortis reminiscere uictor
humanae uariosque ducum tu respice casus."
His tandem precibus grandaeuum motus Achilles
alleuat a terra corpusque exsangue parenti
reddidit Hectoreum. Post haec sua dona reportat
in patriam Priamus tristesque ex more suorum
apparat exsequias extremaque funera ducit.

Pity a parent
and learn to be gentle as a father to the body sprung from me.
By Hector’s death you have conquered the Dardan realms,
you have conquered Priam: as victor, remember the lot of humankind
and look upon the various chances of leaders."
Moved at last by these prayers, Achilles
lifts the aged man from the earth and to the parent gave back
the bloodless Hectorean body. After this Priam carries back
his gifts to his fatherland and, according to the custom of his people,
prepares the sad obsequies and conducts the final funeral rites.

Tum pyra construitur, qua bis sex corpora Graium
quadrupedesque adduntur equi currusque tubaeque
et clipei galeaeque cauae argutaque tela.
Haec super ingenti gemitu componitur Hector:
stant circum Iliades matres manibusque decoros
abrumpunt crines laniataque pectora plangunt:
illo namque rogo natorum funera cernunt.
Tollitur et iuuenum magno cum murmure clamor
flebilis: ardebat flamma namque Ilion illa.

Then a pyre is constructed, on which twelve bodies of the Greeks
and four-footed horses are added, and chariots and trumpets,
and shields and hollow helmets and shrill-sounding weapons.
Upon these, with a vast groan, Hector is laid out:
the Trojan mothers stand around and with their hands their comely
tresses they tear, and they beat their lacerated breasts:
for on that pyre they behold the funerals of their sons.
And the clamor of the youths is lifted with a great murmur,
lamentable: for that flame was burning Ilion.

Inter quos gemitus laniato pectore coniunx
prouolat Andromache mediosque immittere in ignes
se cupit Astyanacta tenens, quam iussa suarum
turba rapit. Contra tamen omnibus usque resistit,
donec collapsae ceciderunt robora flammae
inque leues abiit tantus dux ille fauillas.
Sed iam siste gradum finemque impone labori,
Calliope, uatisque tui moderare carinam,
Remis quem cernis stringentem litora paucis,
Iamque tenet portum metamque potentis Homeri.

Among these groans, with breast torn, the spouse Andromache
flies forth and wishes to send herself into the midst of the fires,
holding Astyanax, whom the throng of her ordered attendants
snatches away. Nevertheless she keeps resisting all continually,
until the stout timbers, having collapsed, fell,
and that so great leader went away into light ashes.
But now halt your step and impose an end to the labor,
Calliope, and moderate the keel of your bard,
whom you see grazing the shores with a few oars,
and now he holds the port and the goal of mighty Homer.

Pieridum comitata cohors, summitte rudentes
Sanctaque uirgineos lauro redimita capillos
Ipsa tuas depone lyras. Ades, inclita Pallas,
Tuque faue cursu uatis iam, Phoebe, peracto.

Attended cohort of the Pierides, lower the rigging;
and you, holy one, your maiden locks wreathed with laurel,
lay down your lyres yourself. Be present, renowned Pallas,
and you, Phoebus, now favor the course of the bard, completed.