# The Aeneid, Book 12: The Broken Treaty, the Duel, and the Killing of Turnus

Aeneis · Publius Vergilius Maro · The War in Latium

Turnus agrees to single combat. The truce breaks. Aeneas wounds him, sees Pallas's belt, and kills him.

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/aeneid/12. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/aeneid/12.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/aeneid/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Turnus ut infractos adverso Marte Latinos  
When Turnus sees the Latins broken, with the war gone against them,

**2** defecisse videt, sua nunc promissa reposci,  
and giving way; that his own promises are now called in;

**3** se signari oculis, ultro implacabilis ardet  
that he is the one their eyes mark out; of himself he burns, not to be appeased,

**4** attollitque animos. Poenorum qualis in arvis  
and lifts his spirit. As in the fields of the Carthaginians

**5** saucius ille gravi venantum vulnere pectus  
a lion, wounded in the breast by a heavy blow of the hunters,

**6** tum demum movet arma leo gaudetque comantis  
rouses himself to fight only then, and rejoices as he shakes out

**7** excutiens cervice toros fixumque latronis  
the maned muscles of his neck, and unafraid snaps off the shaft

**8** inpavidus frangit telum et fremit ore cruento:  
the robber planted in him, and roars with a bloodied mouth:

**9** haud secus adcenso gliscit violentia Turno.  
no otherwise does the violence swell in Turnus, kindled.
> The same rare word again: violentia is used of nobody in the whole Aeneid except Turnus, and always at a point where he is being warned. It names force that is not guided by counsel, stronger and less controlled than plain anger.

**10** Tum sic adfatur regem atque ita turbidus infit:  
Then he addresses the king, and begins, stormy, like this:

**11** “Nulla mora in Turno; nihil est quod dicta retractent  
“There is no delay in Turnus; there is no cause for the cowardly

**12** ignavi Aeneadae, nec quae pepigere recusent.  
followers of Aeneas to take back their words, or refuse what they bargained for.

**13** Congredior, fer sacra, pater, et concipe foedus.  
I go to meet him. Bring the holy things, father, and draw up the treaty.

**14** Aut hac Dardanium dextra sub Tartara mittam,  
Either with this right hand I will send the Dardanian down below Tartarus,

**15** desertorem Asiae (sedeant spectentque Latini),  
Asia's deserter (let the Latins sit and look on),

**16** et solus ferro crimen commune refellam,  
and alone, with iron, refute the charge that is laid on us all;

**17** aut habeat victos, cedat Lavinia coniunx.”  
or let him hold us beaten, and let Lavinia go to him as wife.”

**18** Olli sedato respondit corde Latinus:  
To him Latinus answered with a settled heart:
> An old form of that man: olli is an archaic dative of ille, 'that man', kept alive in verse after it had dropped out of ordinary prose. Vergil uses it at formal moments, and here it marks Latinus' reply as a considered public statement.

**19** “O praestans animi iuvenis, quantum ipse feroci  
“Young man, outstanding in spirit: by however much you go beyond us

**20** virtute exsuperas, tanto me impensius aequum est  
in fierce courage, by so much the more is it right for me

**21** consulere atque omnis metuentem expendere casus.  
to take counsel, and in fear to weigh out every chance.

**22** Sunt tibi regna patris Dauni, sunt oppida capta  
You have the kingdom of your father Daunus, you have many towns

**23** multa manu, nec non aurumque animusque Latino est;  
taken by your own hand; and Latinus has gold too, and the will to give it.

**24** sunt aliae innuptae Latio et Laurentibus arvis,  
There are other unmarried girls in Latium and the Laurentine fields,

**25** nec genus indecores. Sine me haec haud mollia fatu  
and not of dishonorable stock. Let me open these things, not soft to say,
> A verbal noun after an adjective: fatu is a supine, a verbal noun form used after certain adjectives, here mollia, 'soft': literally 'not soft in the saying'. Latin uses this construction where English adds 'to say' after an adjective.

**26** sublatis aperire dolis, simul hoc animo hauri.  
with all deceit put aside; and drink this in with your mind as well.

**27** Me natam nulli veterum sociare procorum  
It was not lawful for me to join my daughter to any of the old suitors,

**28** fas erat, idque omnes divique hominesque canebant.  
and all of them, gods and men alike, kept singing it.

**29** Victus amore tui, cognato sanguine victus  
Beaten by love of you, beaten by the blood we share

**30** coniugis et maestae lacrumis, vincla omnia rupi:  
and by my grieving wife's tears, I broke every bond:

**31** promissam eripui genero, arma impia sumpsi.  
I tore the promised girl from her bridegroom, I took up unholy arms.
> The negation of dutiful: impius is pius with a negative prefix, naming the failure of duty owed to gods, family, and oath together. Latinus calls his own arms impia, applying the word to himself rather than to an enemy.

**32** Ex illo qui me casus, quae, Turne, sequantur  
From that day you see what disasters, what wars, Turnus,

**33** bella, vides, quantos primus patiare labores.  
follow me, and what labors you, first of all, endure.

**34** Bis magna victi pugna vix urbe tuemur  
Twice beaten in a great battle, we barely keep Italy's hopes

**35** spes Italas; recalent nostro Thybrina fluenta  
inside the city; the Tiber's waters are warm again

**36** sanguine adhuc campique ingentes ossibus albent.  
with our blood, and the enormous plains go white with bones.

**37** Quo referor totiens? Quae mentem insania mutat?  
Where am I carried back to, so often? What madness turns my mind?

**38** Si Turno exstincto socios sum adscire paratus,  
If I am ready to take them as allies once Turnus is dead,

**39** cur non incolumi potius certamina tollo?  
why do I not rather end the fighting while he is unharmed?

**40** Quid consanguinei Rutuli, quid cetera dicet  
What will your Rutulian kinsmen say, what will the rest of

**41** Italia, ad mortem si te—Fors dicta refutet!—  
Italy say, if I have handed you over to death (may chance make a lie of the words!)
> A formula to unsay bad words: Fors dicta refutet, 'may chance disprove the words', is a set phrase used to cancel an ill omened statement the instant it is spoken. Latinus breaks off his own sentence to say it before finishing the thought he fears.

**42** prodiderim, natam et conubia nostra petentem?  
you who were asking for my daughter and a marriage in my house?

**43** Respice res bello varias; miserere parentis  
Look at how war turns; have pity on a father

**44** longaevi, quem nunc maestum patria Ardea longe  
far on in years, whom his own Ardea now keeps apart from us,

**45** dividit.” Haudquaquam dictis violentia Turni  
grieving.” Not at all is the violence of Turnus

**46** flectitur: exsuperat magis aegrescitque medendo.  
bent by the words: it rises higher, and sickens under the cure.
> A gerund standing for a clause: medendo, 'by treating', is a gerund in the ablative doing the work of a whole clause: 'he grows sicker by being treated'. Turnus' anger is described as worsening under the very argument meant to calm it.

**47** Ut primum fari potuit, sic institit ore:  
As soon as he could speak, he pressed on so:

**48** “Quam pro me curam geris, hanc precor, optime, pro me  
“The care you carry for me, I beg you, best of men, for my sake

**49** deponas letumque sinas pro laude pacisci:  
lay it down, and let me bargain death away for glory.

**50** et nos tela, pater, ferrumque haud debile dextra  
I too scatter spears, father, and the iron in my right hand

**51** spargimus; et nostro sequitur de volnere sanguis.  
is not feeble; blood follows out of the wound we make as well.

**52** longe illi dea mater erit, quae nube fugacem  
His goddess mother will be far off then, who covers him as he runs

**53** feminea tegat et vanis sese occulat umbris.”  
in a woman's cloud and hides herself in empty shadows.”

**54** At regina, nova pugnae conterrita sorte,  
But the queen, terrified at the new turn the fighting had taken,

**55** flebat et ardentem generum moritura tenebat:  
wept, and held her burning son-in-law back, herself about to die:
> A future participle stated early: moritura, 'about to die', is the future participle of morior, 'to die', feminine nominative singular, describing Amata. It names an outcome that has not happened yet, hundreds of lines before her death occurs in the story.

**56** “Turne, per has ego te lacrimas, per siquis Amatae  
“Turnus, by these tears, by any regard for Amata

**57** tangit honos animum (spes tu nunc una, senectae  
that touches your mind (you are the one hope now, you the rest

**58** tu requies miserae, decus imperiumque Latini  
of my wretched old age; the honor and the rule of Latinus

**59** te penes, in te omnis domus inclinata recumbit).  
are in your keeping, and on you the whole leaning house rests).

**60** unum oro: desiste manum committere Teucris.  
one thing I beg: do not close hands with the Teucrians in battle.

**61** Qui te cumque manent isto certamine casus,  
Whatever chances wait for you in that contest,

**62** et me, Turne, manent: simul haec invisa relinquam  
wait for me too, Turnus: I will leave this hated light

**63** lumina nec generum Aenean captiva videbo.”  
at that same moment, and not see Aeneas as my son-in-law, a captive.”

**64** Accepit vocem lacrimis Lavinia matris  
Lavinia took in her mother's words, her burning cheeks

**65** flagrantis perfusa genas, quoi plurimus ignem  
drenched in tears; a deep blush had lit a fire

**66** subiecit rubor et calefacta per ora cucurrit.  
beneath them, and ran across her heated face.

**67** Indum sanguineo veluti violaverit ostro  
As if someone had stained Indian ivory with blood-red

**68** siquis ebur, aut mixta rubent ubi lilia multa  
purple, or as when white lilies blush, many of them

**69** alba rosa: talis virgo dabat ore colores.  
mixed in with a rose: such colors the girl gave from her face.

**70** Illum turbat amor, figitque in virgine voltus:  
Love troubles him, and he fixes his eyes on the girl;
> The one statement of his love: Illum turbat amor, 'love troubles him', is the only line in the poem where Vergil says directly that Turnus is in love with Lavinia. amor here is the subject of turbat, 'troubles', acting on Turnus rather than merely felt by him.

**71** ardet in arma magis paucisque adfatur Amatam.  
he burns for arms the more, and says a few words to Amata:

**72** “Ne, quaeso, ne me lacrimis neve omine tanto  
“Do not, I beg you, do not send me off with tears, nor with an omen

**73** prosequere in duri certamina Martis euntem,  
so heavy, as I go into the contests of hard war,

**74** O mater; neque enim Turno mora libera mortis.  
mother; Turnus is not free to put death off.

**75** Nuntius haec Idmon Phrygio mea dicta tyranno  
Idmon, herald, carry these words of mine to the Phrygian tyrant,

**76** haud placitura refer: cum primum crastina caelo  
they will not please him: as soon as tomorrow's Dawn

**77** puniceis invecta rotis Aurora rubebit,  
reddens in the sky, riding on her crimson wheels,

**78** non Teucros agat in Rutulos, Teucrum arma quiescant  
let him not drive Teucrians at Rutulians; let Teucrian arms rest

**79** et Rutuli; nostro dirimamus sanguine bellum,  
and Rutulian; with our own blood let us break the war off,

**80** illo quaeratur coniunx Lavinia campo.”  
on that field let Lavinia be sought as a wife.”

**81** Haec ubi dicta dedit rapidusque in tecta recessit.  
When he had given these words and withdrawn quickly indoors,

**82** poscit equos gaudetque tuens ante ora frementis,  
he calls for his horses, and rejoices to see them snorting before his face,

**83** Pilumno quos ipsa decus dedit Orithyia,  
the ones Orithyia herself gave to Pilumnus for his glory,

**84** qui candore nives anteirent, cursibus auras.  
which would go past snow for whiteness, and past the winds for running.

**85** Circumstant properi aurigae manibusque lacessunt  
The drivers stand round in a hurry and slap at their chests

**86** pectora plausa cavis et colla comantia pectunt.  
with cupped hands, and comb out the maned necks.

**87** Ipse dehinc auro squalentem alboque orichalco  
Then he himself puts round his shoulders the corselet stiff

**88** circumdat loricam umeris; simul aptat habendo  
with gold and white orichalc; and fits to his hand at the same time

**89** ensemque clipeumque et rubrae cornua cristae.  
sword and shield and the horns of his red crest.

**90** ensem, quem Dauno ignipotens deus ipse parenti  
the sword the god who is master of fire had made himself

**91** fecerat et Stygia candentem tinxerat unda.  
for his father Daunus, and dipped white-hot in the Stygian water.

**92** Exin quae mediis ingenti adnixa columnae  
Then the spear that stood leaning against a great column

**93** aedibus adstabat, validam vi corripit hastam,  
in the middle of the hall, he snatches up by main force,

**94** Actoris Aurunci spolium, quassatque trementem  
spoil of Actor the Auruncan, and shakes it till it shudders,

**95** vociferans: “Nunc, O numquam frustrata vocatus  
shouting: “Now, spear that has never failed me when I called,

**96** hasta meos, nunc tempus adest: te maximus Actor  
now the time is here. The great Actor carried you once;

**97** te Turni nunc dextra gerit. Da sternere corpus  
now the right hand of Turnus carries you. Grant me to lay out the body,

**98** loricamque manu valida lacerare revulsam  
to tear off the corselet with a strong hand and rip it open,

**99** semiviri Phrygis et foedare in pulvere crinis  
the corselet of the half-man Phrygian, and to foul in the dust the hair

**100** vibratos calido ferro murraque madentis.”  
he curls with a hot iron and soaks with myrrh.”

**101** His agitur furiis; totoque ardentis ab ore  
These are the furies that drive him; from his whole burning face

**102** scintillae absistunt, oculis micat acribus ignis:  
sparks jump away, and fire flashes in his keen eyes:

**103** mugitus veluti cum prima in proelia taurus  
as when a bull going into his first fight raises

**104** terrificos ciet atque irasci in cornua temptat,  
a terrifying bellowing, and tries to drive his anger into his horns,

**105** arboris obnixus trunco, ventosque lacessit  
shoving against a tree's trunk, and challenges the winds

**106** ictibus aut sparsa ad pugnam proludit harena.  
with his blows, or scatters the sand in rehearsal for the battle.

**107** Nec minus interea maternis saevos in armis  
No less meanwhile, savage in the arms his mother gave him,

**108** Aeneas acuit Martem et se suscitat ira,  
Aeneas whets his war and rouses himself with anger,

**109** oblato gaudens componi foedere bellum,  
glad that the war is being settled by the treaty offered him;

**110** tum socios maestique metum solatur Iuli,  
then he comforts his companions and the fear of grieving Iulus,

**111** fata docens, regique iubet responsa Latino  
teaching them the fates; and he orders men to carry a firm answer

**112** certa referre viros et pacis dicere leges.  
back to king Latinus and to state the terms of the peace.
> Terms, not law in the abstract: lex here means a clause or article of an agreement, not law as a general idea. pacis leges, 'the terms of the peace', names the specific wording of a settlement, the vocabulary of a Roman treaty being drawn up.

**113** Postera vix summos spargebat lumine montis  
The next day, rising, had barely scattered its light on the mountain tops,

**114** orta dies, cum primum alto se gurgite tollunt  
at the hour when the horses of the Sun first lift themselves

**115** solis equi lucemque elatis naribus efflant:  
out of the deep swell and breathe daylight from their raised nostrils:

**116** campum ad certamen magnae sub moenibus urbis  
Rutulian men and Teucrian were measuring out the field

**117** dimensi Rutulique viri Teucrique parabant  
for the contest under the walls of the great city, and making ready

**118** in medioque focos et dis communibus aras  
in the middle of it hearths, and altars of turf for the gods

**119** gramineas. Alii fontemque ignemque ferebant,  
both peoples hold in common. Others were carrying spring water and fire,

**120** velati limo et verbena tempora vincti.  
aproned in linen, their temples bound with the holy branch.

**121** Procedit legio Ausonidum, pilataque plenis  
The levy of Ausonia's sons comes on, and the javelin-armed

**122** agmina se fundunt portis. Hinc Troïus omnis  
columns pour themselves out of the crowded gates. On this side the whole

**123** Tyrrhenusque ruit variis exercitus armis,  
Trojan and Tyrrhenian army rushes out in its various arms,

**124** haud secus instructi ferro, quam si aspera Martis  
equipped with iron no otherwise than if the harsh fighting

**125** pugna vocet; nec non mediis in milibus ipsi  
of war were calling them; and among the thousands the captains themselves

**126** ductores auro volitant ostroque decori,  
go flying, splendid in gold and purple:

**127** et genus Assaraci Mnestheus et fortis Asilas  
Mnestheus of the stock of Assaracus, and brave Asilas,

**128** et Messapus equum domitor, Neptunia proles.  
and Messapus, tamer of horses, Neptune's offspring.

**129** Utque dato signo spatia in sua quisque recessit,  
And when at the given signal each had drawn back into his own ground,

**130** defigunt tellure hastas et scuta reclinant.  
they fix their spears in the earth and lean their shields down.

**131** Tum studio effusae matres et volgus inermum  
Then mothers poured out in their eagerness, and the unarmed crowd,

**132** invalidique senes turris ac tecta domorum  
and old men with no strength left, and they took the towers

**133** obsedere, alii portis sublimibus adstant.  
and the roofs of the houses; others stand at the high gates.

**134** At Iuno e summo, qui nunc Albanus habetur,  
But Juno, from the top of the hill now reckoned the Alban,

**135** tum neque nomen erat nec honos aut gloria monti,  
then the mountain had no name, no honor, no fame,

**136** prospiciens tumulo campum aspectabat et ambas  
looked out from the mound and watched the plain, and both

**137** Laurentum Troumque acies urbemque Latini.  
battle lines, of Laurentines and of Trojans, and the city of Latinus.

**138** Extemplo Turni sic est adfata sororem  
At once, goddess to goddess, she spoke to the sister of Turnus,

**139** diva deam, stagnis quae fluminibusque sonoris  
who presides over standing pools and sounding rivers,

**140** praesidet (hunc illi rex aetheris altus honorem  
an honor which the high king of the upper air, Jupiter,

**141** Iuppiter erepta pro virginitate sacravit):  
made holy to her in payment for the virginity he took:

**142** “Nympha, decus fluviorum, animo gratissima nostro,  
“Nymph, glory of the rivers, dearest of all to my heart,

**143** scis ut te cunctis unam, quaecumque Latinae  
you know how I preferred you, you alone, above every Latin woman

**144** magnanimi Iovis ingratum ascendere cubile,  
who has climbed into great-hearted Jove's thankless bed,

**145** praetulerim caelique lubens in parte locarim:  
and gladly set you in a portion of the sky:

**146** disce tuum, ne me incuses, Iuturna, dolorem.  
learn what your grief is, Juturna, so that you do not charge me with it.

**147** Qua visa est Fortuna pati Parcaeque sinebant  
So far as Fortune seemed to permit, and the Fates were allowing

**148** cedere res Latio, Turnum et tua moenia texi:  
things to go Latium's way, I sheltered Turnus and your walls;

**149** nunc iuvenem imparibus video concurrere fatis,  
now I see the young man closing with fates that do not match him,
> Fates called unequal: impar means mismatched, an opponent out of the other's class. imparibus fatis, 'with unequal fates', states that the coming duel is not a fair contest, using a single adjective to say so before it happens.

**150** Parcarumque dies et vis inimica propinquat.  
and the day of the Fates and the enemy force come close.

**151** Non pugnam aspicere hanc oculis, non foedera possum.  
I cannot look at this fight with my eyes, nor at the treaty.

**152** Tu pro germano siquid praesentius audes,  
If you dare anything more direct on your brother's behalf,

**153** perge: decet. Forsan miseros meliora sequentur.”  
go on: it is right. Perhaps better things will follow the wretched.”

**154** Vix ea, cum lacrimas oculis Iuturna profudit  
She had scarcely said it when Juturna poured tears from her eyes

**155** terque quaterque manu pectus percussit honestum.  
and three times and four times struck her comely breast with her hand.

**156** “Non lacrumis hoc tempus,” ait Saturnia Iuno:  
“This is no time for tears,” says Saturn's daughter Juno.

**157** “Adcelera et fratrem, siquis modus, eripe morti,  
“Be quick, and if there is any way, snatch your brother out of death,

**158** aut tu bella cie conceptumque excute foedus:  
or else stir up war and shake off the treaty they have drawn.
> One verb, two directions: concipere, here as conceptum, 'drawn up', is the verb Turnus used earlier for making the treaty. Juno uses the same verb's object, foedus, 'treaty', when ordering it broken, so the making and the breaking share one word.

**159** auctor ego audendi.” Sic exhortata reliquit  
I stand behind the daring.” Having urged her so, she left her

**160** incertam et tristi turbatam volnere mentis.  
uncertain, and shaken by the grim wound in her mind.

**161** Interea reges, ingenti mole Latinus  
Meanwhile the kings come on: Latinus, an enormous bulk,

**162** quadriiugo vehitur curru, cui tempora circum  
is carried on a four-horse chariot, and around his temples

**163** aurati bis sex radii fulgentia cingunt,  
twice six gilded rays go circling and shining,

**164** Solis avi specimen; bigis it Turnus in albis,  
the token of the Sun his forebear; Turnus rides in a car of white pairs,

**165** bina manu lato crispans hastilia ferro;  
brandishing in his hand two shafts with broad iron heads;

**166** hinc pater Aeneas, Romanae stirpis origo,  
from the other side father Aeneas, the origin of the Roman stock,

**167** sidereo flagrans clipeo et caelestibus armis,  
blazing with his starry shield and his heavenly arms,

**168** et iuxta Ascanius, magnae spes altera Romae,  
and Ascanius beside him, the second hope of great Rome,

**169** procedunt castris, puraque in veste sacerdos  
come out of the camp; and a priest in a clean robe

**170** saetigeri fetum suis intonsamque bidentem  
brought the young of a bristled sow and an unshorn two-year sheep,

**171** adtulit admovitque pecus flagrantibus aris.  
and led the animals up to the blazing altars.

**172** Illi ad surgentem conversi lumina solem  
They, turning their eyes toward the rising sun,

**173** dant fruges manibus salsas et tempora ferro  
give the salted meal from their hands, and mark the tops

**174** summa notant pecudum paterisque altaria libant.  
of the beasts' foreheads with iron, and pour from bowls on the altars.

**175** Tum pius Aeneas stricto sic ense precatur:  
Then dutiful Aeneas prays like this, with his sword drawn:

**176** “Esto nunc Sol testis et haec mihi Terra vocanti,  
“Be witness to me now, Sun, and you, Earth, as I call on you,

**177** quam propter tantos potui perferre labores,  
for whose sake I have been able to carry through so many labors,

**178** et pater omnipotens et tu Saturnia coniunx,  
and the all-powerful father, and you, Saturn's daughter, his wife,

**179** iam melior, iam, diva, precor, tuque inclute Mavors,  
kinder now, now, goddess, I pray; and you, famed Mavors,
> The old name of Mars: Mavors is an archaic form of the war god's name, kept in prayer language and in verse after ordinary speech had shortened it to Mars. Aeneas addresses the god by this older name in a formal prayer.

**180** cuncta tuo qui bella, pater, sub numine torques;  
father, who turn every war beneath your power;

**181** fontisque fluviosque voco, quaeque aetheris alti  
and I call the springs and the rivers, and whatever holiness is in the high

**182** religio et quae caeruleo sunt numina ponto:  
air, and the powers there are in the blue sea:

**183** cesserit Ausonio si fors victoria Turno,  
if by chance the victory falls to Ausonian Turnus,

**184** convenit Evandri victos discedere ad urbem,  
it is agreed that the beaten withdraw to Evander's city;

**185** cedet Iulus agris, nec post arma ulla rebelles  
Iulus will quit these fields, and after that the followers of Aeneas

**186** Aeneadae referent ferrove haec regna lacessent,  
will bring back no arms in rebellion, nor trouble this kingdom with iron.

**187** sin nostrum adnuerit nobis Victoria Martem  
But if Victory grants our fighting the nod,

**188** (ut potius reor et potius di numine firment),  
(as I rather think, and may the gods rather make it firm by their power),

**189** non ego nec Teucris Italos parere iubebo  
I will not order Italians to obey Teucrians,

**190** nec mihi regna peto: paribus se legibus ambae  
nor do I seek a kingdom for myself: let both nations, unbeaten,

**191** invictae gentes aeterna in foedera mittant.  
enter on equal terms into a treaty that has no end.

**192** Sacra deosque dabo; socer arma Latinus habeto,  
I will give the rites and the gods; let Latinus my father-in-law hold the arms,
> The future imperative: habeto, not habe, is the future imperative form, an order used in Roman statutes and treaties to state what must hold from this point forward. Aeneas uses it for socer arma Latinus habeto, 'let Latinus my father in law hold the arms'.

**193** imperium sollemne socer; mihi moenia Teucri  
let my father-in-law hold the customary command; for me the Teucrians

**194** constituent, urbique dabit Lavinia nomen.”  
will set up walls, and Lavinia will give the city its name.”

**195** Sic prior Aeneas; sequitur sic deinde Latinus  
So Aeneas first; then Latinus follows so,

**196** suspiciens caelum tenditque ad sidera dextram:  
looking up at the sky and stretching his right hand to the stars:

**197** “Haec eadem, Aenea, terram mare sidera iuro  
“By these same things, Aeneas, I swear: by earth, sea, stars,

**198** Latonaeque genus duplex Ianumque bifrontem  
and by Latona's double offspring, and Janus of the two faces,

**199** vimque deum infernam et duri sacraria Ditis;  
and the power of the gods below, and the shrines of hard Dis;

**200** audiat haec genitor, qui foedera fulmine sancit.  
let the father hear this, who makes treaties holy with his bolt.

**201** Tango aras, medios ignis et numina testor:  
I touch the altars, I call the fires between us and the powers to witness:

**202** nulla dies pacem hanc Italis nec foedera rumpet,  
no day shall break this peace for the Italians, nor the treaty,

**203** quo res cumque cadent; nec me vis ulla volentem  
however things fall out; and no force shall turn me from my will,

**204** avertet, non, si tellurem effundat in undas  
none, not if it poured the land out into the waves,

**205** diluvio miscens caelumque in Tartara solvat;  
mixing it in a flood, and dissolved the sky into Tartarus;

**206** ut sceptrum hoc” (dextra sceptrum nam forte gerebat)  
as surely as this scepter” (for he happened to hold a scepter in his right hand)

**207** “numquam fronde levi fundet virgulta nec umbras,  
“will never put out shoots in light leaf, nor shade,

**208** cum semel in silvis imo de stirpe recisum  
now that it was once cut in the woods from the base of the stock,

**209** matre caret posuitque comas et bracchia ferro,  
and lost its mother, and laid down its hair and its arms to the iron:

**210** olim arbos, nunc artificis manus aere decoro  
once a tree, now a craftsman's hand has cased it in fine bronze

**211** inclusit patribusque dedit gestare Latinis.”  
and given it to the Latin fathers to carry.”

**212** Talibus inter se firmabant foedera dictis  
With such words they were making the treaty firm between them,

**213** conspectu in medio procerum. Tum rite sacratas  
in full view of the chiefs. Then, the beasts duly hallowed,

**214** in flammam iugulant pecudes et viscera vivis  
they cut their throats over the flame, and tear the inner parts

**215** eripiunt cumulantque oneratis lancibus aras.  
out of them living, and heap the altars with the loaded dishes.
> One noun for dish and scale: lanx, here in the ablative plural lancibus, means both a platter for an offering and the pan of a balance. The same word used here for the dish is the one used later in the poem for the pans of Jupiter's scales.

**216** At vero Rutulis inpar ea pugna videri  
But to the Rutulians the fight had long since been looking
> Bare infinitives as main verbs: videri, 'to seem', and misceri, 'to be mixed', are historic infinitives, present infinitives used as the main verbs of a sentence instead of a finite verb. Latin uses this construction for a rapid change moving through a crowd, without fixing a tense to it.

**217** iamdudum et vario misceri pectora motu;  
unequal, and their hearts were stirred this way and that;

**218** tum magis, ut propius cernunt non viribus aequis.  
the more so, as they see closer up that the strength is not matched.

**219** Adiuvat incessu tacito progressus et aram  
It adds to it that Turnus comes forward with a silent step and worships

**220** suppliciter venerans demisso lumine Turnus  
at the altar as a suppliant, with his eyes cast down,

**221** tabentesque genae et iuvenali in corpore pallor.  
and his wasted cheeks, and the pallor on a young body.

**222** Quem simul ac Iuturna soror crebrescere vidit  
As soon as his sister Juturna saw this talk thickening

**223** sermonem et volgi variare labantia corda,  
and the crowd's slipping hearts beginning to turn,

**224** in medias acies, formam adsimulata Camerti,  
into the middle of the ranks, with the shape of Camers put on,

**225** cui genus a proavis ingens clarumque paternae  
whose line from his forefathers was great, and whose name

**226** nomen erat virtutis, et ipse acerrimus armis,  
was famous for his father's courage, and he himself the keenest in arms,

**227** in medias dat sese acies haud nescia rerum  
into the middle of the ranks she puts herself, knowing well what she does,
> A phrase interrupted and restarted: The clause in medias acies dat sese, 'she puts herself into the middle of the ranks', begins at line 224, breaks off for three lines describing Camilla's disguise, then repeats itself to reach the verb. Latin marks a long parenthesis by restarting the interrupted phrase.

**228** rumoresque serit varios ac talia fatur:  
and sows rumors of every kind, and speaks like this:

**229** “Non pudet, O Rutuli, pro cunctis talibus unam  
“Are you not ashamed, Rutulians, to throw one life

**230** obiectare animam? Numerone an viribus aequi  
in front of so many like these? Are we not their equals

**231** non sumus? En omnes et Troes et Arcades hi sunt  
in numbers, or in strength? Look, Trojans and Arcadians, this is all of them,

**232** fatalesque manus, infensa Etruria Turno:  
and the companies that fate sent, and Etruria set against Turnus:

**233** vix hostem, alterni si congrediamur, habemus.  
if we went at them every second man, we should barely have an enemy each.

**234** Ille quidem ad superos, quorum se devovet aris,  
He, for his part, will go up to the gods at whose altars he vows himself,

**235** succedet fama vivusque per ora feretur:  
in fame, and be carried alive on men's lips;

**236** nos patria amissa dominis parere superbis  
we shall be forced, our country lost, to obey proud masters,

**237** cogemur, qui nunc lenti consedimus arvis.”  
we who now sit slack in the fields.”

**238** Talibus incensa est iuvenum sententia dictis  
By words like these the young men's judgment was set alight,

**239** iam magis atque magis, serpitque per agmina murmur;  
more and more, and a muttering creeps along the ranks;

**240** ipsi Laurentes mutati ipsique Latini.  
the Laurentines themselves are changed, the Latins themselves.

**241** Qui sibi iam requiem pugnae rebusque salutem  
Those who had been hoping for a rest from the fighting and for safety

**242** sperabant, nunc arma volunt foedusque precantur  
now want arms, and pray that the treaty be undone,

**243** infectum et Turni sortem miserantur iniquam.  
and pity the unjust lot of Turnus.

**244** His aliud maius Iuturna adiungit et alto  
To these Juturna adds something greater, and gives a sign

**245** dat signum caelo, quo non praesentius ullum  
high in the sky, no sign ever worked more strongly

**246** turbavit mentes Italas monstroque fefellit.  
to unsettle Italian minds, or cheated them with a better portent.
> A false omen, named as false: monstrum is a sign shown by the gods, and fallere, here fefellit, means to deceive. The line states plainly that this omen is a forgery, so the Rutulians read a sign that is not genuine.

**247** Namque volans rubra fulvus Iovis ales in aethra  
For the tawny bird of Jove, flying in the reddened air,

**248** litoreas agitabat aves turbamque sonantem  
was driving shore birds and the loud crowd

**249** agminis aligeri, subito cum lapsus ad undas  
of a winged column, when suddenly, dropping to the water,

**250** cycnum excellentem pedibus rapit improbus uncis.  
the shameless thing seized a splendid swan in its hooked feet.

**251** Adrexere animos Itali, cunctaeque volucres  
The Italians lifted their spirits; and every bird of them

**252** convertunt clamore fugam, mirabile visu,  
turns its flight about with a scream, a wonder to see,

**253** aetheraque obscurant pennis hostemque per auras  
and they darken the air with their wings, and press the enemy through the sky

**254** facta nube premunt, donec vi victus et ipso  
in a cloud they have made of themselves, until, beaten by force and by the sheer

**255** pondere defecit, praedamque ex unguibus ales  
weight of them, he gave way, and the bird threw the prey from its claws

**256** proiecit fluvio penitusque in nubila fugit.  
into the river, and fled far off into the clouds.

**257** Tum vero augurium Rutuli clamore salutant  
Then indeed the Rutulians salute the augury with a shout

**258** expediuntque manus; primusque Tolumnius augur  
and free their hands; and Tolumnius the augur first of all

**259** “Hoc erat, hoc, votis,” inquit, “quod saepe petivi.  
“This was it, this,” he says, “that I so often asked for in my prayers.

**260** Adcipio adgnoscoque deos; me, me duce ferrum  
I take it, I acknowledge the gods in it. With me, me for your leader, snatch up

**261** corripite, O miseri, quos improbus advena bello  
the iron, poor men, whom a shameless newcomer terrifies

**262** territat invalidas ut aves et litora vestra  
with war as if you were helpless birds, and lays your shores waste

**263** vi populat: petet ille fugam penitusque profundo  
by force. He will make for flight and give his sails far out

**264** vela dabit. Vos unanimi densete catervas  
over the deep. With one mind, close your companies up

**265** et regem vobis pugna defendite raptum.”  
and defend in battle the king who has been taken from you.”

**266** Dixit et adversos telum contorsit in hostis  
He spoke, and running out hurled his spear at the enemy

**267** procurrens: sonitum dat stridula cornus et auras  
opposite: the whistling cornel gives its sound
> Named for its wood: cornus, 'cornel tree', names the spear by the wood its shaft is made from, a hard, heavy timber standard for the purpose. Latin poetry often names a weapon this way, by material rather than by its own word.

**268** certa secat. Simul hoc, simul ingens clamor et omnes  
and cuts the air unerring. With that, at once, a huge shout,

**269** turbati cunei calefactaque corda tumultu.  
and every wedge in confusion, and hearts heated by the uproar.

**270** Hasta volans, ut forte novem pulcherrima fratrum  
The flying spear, since nine brothers, bodies of the greatest beauty,

**271** corpora constiterant contra, quos fida crearat  
happened to be standing opposite, whom one faithful wife,

**272** una tot Arcadio coniunx Tyrrhena Gylippo,  
a Tyrrhenian, had borne, all of them, to Arcadian Gylippus,

**273** horum unum ad medium, teritur qua sutilis alvo  
took one of these through the middle, where the stitched belt chafes
> The belt, introduced early: balteus is the sword belt that crosses a soldier's body. The first man killed after the truce breaks is struck exactly where it crosses him; the same word returns for the belt Aeneas sees stripped from a dead man at the poem's end.

**274** balteus et laterum iuncturas fibula mordet  
at the belly, and the clasp bites the joining of the sides,

**275** egregium forma iuvenem et fulgentibus armis  
a young man of outstanding beauty, in flashing armor,

**276** transadigit costas fulvaque effundit harena.  
and drove through his ribs and poured him out on the yellow sand.

**277** At fratres, animosa phalanx accensaque luctu,  
But the brothers, a spirited company set alight by grief,

**278** pars, gladios stringunt manibus, pars missile ferrum  
some of them draw swords in their hands, some snatch up

**279** corripiunt caecique ruunt. Quos agmina contra  
the throwing iron, and rush on blind. Against them the columns

**280** procurrunt Laurentum, hinc densi rursus inundant  
of the Laurentines run out; from this side the Trojans flood back thick,

**281** Troes Agyllinique et pictis Arcades armis:  
and the men of Agylla, and Arcadians in painted armor:

**282** sic omnis amor unus habet decernere ferro.  
so one desire holds them all, to settle it with iron.

**283** Diripuere aras, it toto turbida caelo  
They tore the altars apart; a wild storm of spears goes

**284** tempestas telorum ac ferreus ingruit imber,  
over the whole sky, and a rain of iron comes down,

**285** craterasque focosque ferunt. Fugit ipse Latinus  
and they carry off the mixing bowls and the hearths. Latinus himself flees,

**286** pulsatos referens infecto foedere divos.  
carrying back his gods, struck aside, the treaty unmade.
> Gods described as jostled: pulsare means to knock or strike, ordinarily used of a door or a body. pulsatos divos, 'gods that have been struck', describes the images Latinus carries as physically jostled in the scramble, not merely disturbed in spirit.

**287** Infrenant alii currus aut corpora saltu  
Others bridle chariots, or throw their bodies with a leap

**288** subiciunt in equos et strictis ensibus adsunt.  
onto horses, and are there with their swords out.

**289** Messapus regem regisque insigne gerentem,  
Messapus, hungry to wreck the treaty, drives his horse straight

**290** Tyrrhenum Aulesten, avidus confundere foedus,  
at Aulestes the Tyrrhenian, a king and wearing a king's badge,

**291** adverso proterret equo: ruit ille recedens  
and terrifies him back: he falls as he gives ground

**292** et miser oppositis a tergo involvitur aris  
and the poor man is rolled over the altars set behind him,

**293** in caput inque umeros. At fervidus advolat hasta  
head first, and shoulders. But burning Messapus flies in with his spear

**294** Messapus teloque orantem multa trabali  
and, while the man begs him hard, with a beam of a weapon

**295** desuper altus equo graviter ferit atque ita fatur:  
strikes him heavily from high on his horse, and speaks so:

**296** “Hoc habet, haec melior magnis data victima divis.”  
“He has it. Here is a better victim given to the great gods.”
> A phrase from the arena: Hoc habet, 'he has it', is what spectators shouted at Roman gladiatorial games when a fighter was hit. Messapus uses it here after killing a king across an altar, applying the crowd's phrase for the games to this killing.

**297** Concurrunt Itali spoliantque calentia membra.  
The Italians run in together and strip the limbs while they are warm.

**298** Obvius ambustum torrem Corynaeus ab ara  
Corynaeus, meeting him, snatches a charred brand from the altar,

**299** corripit et venienti Ebuso plagamque ferenti  
and as Ebusus comes at him bringing a blow

**300** occupat os flammis: olli ingens barba reluxit  
gets in first at his face with the flame: the huge beard flared up

**301** nidoremque ambusta dedit. Super ipse secutus  
and, scorched, gave off its stench. He himself follows it up,

**302** caesariem laeva turbati corripit hostis  
grips the hair of his shaken enemy in his left hand,

**303** inpressoque genu nitens terrae adplicat ipsum:  
and, leaning with a knee driven in, forces him down to the ground:

**304** sic rigido latus ense ferit. Podalirius Alsum  
so he strikes his side with the stiff sword. Podalirius,

**305** pastorem primaque acie per tela ruentem,  
chasing Alsus the shepherd, who was rushing through the spears

**306** ense sequens nudo superimminet: ille securi  
in the front rank, hangs over him with a naked sword; but the other,

**307** adversi frontem mediam mentumque reducta  
swinging an axe back, splits the middle of his forehead as he comes on,

**308** disicit et sparso late rigat arma cruore.  
and the chin, and soaks his armor with blood thrown wide.

**309** Olli dura quies oculos et ferreus urget  
A hard rest and an iron sleep press down on the man's eyes,

**310** somnus, in aeternam conduntur lumina noctem.  
and they are buried away in an everlasting night.

**311** At pius Aeneas dextram tendebat inermem  
But dutiful Aeneas was holding out an unarmed right hand,
> The epithet, right on time: pius names Aeneas as the one keeping faith with the oath, and dextram inermem, 'an unarmed right hand', shows him doing it without a weapon. Both terms appear at the moment he is acting on them, just before he is struck.

**312** nudato capite atque suos clamore vocabat:  
his head bare, and calling out to his own men with a shout:

**313** “Quo ruitis? Quaeve ista repens discordia surgit?  
“Where are you rushing? What is this quarrel rising up so suddenly?

**314** O cohibete iras! Ictum iam foedus et omnes  
Hold your anger in! The treaty is struck already, and every clause

**315** compositae leges; mihi ius concurrere soli;  
settled; the right to fight is mine and mine alone.

**316** me sinite atque auferte metus; ego foedera faxo  
Let me go, and take your fears away; I will make the treaty
> An old future tense form: faxo is an archaic sigmatic future of facere, 'to do' or 'to make', kept in verse and in legal formulas long after ordinary prose stopped using it. Aeneas uses it here while promising to make the treaty hold.

**317** firma manu; Turnum debent haec iam mihi sacra.”  
firm with my own hand; these rites owe me Turnus now.”

**318** Has inter voces, media inter talia verba  
In the middle of these cries, in the middle of such words,

**319** ecce viro stridens alis adlapsa sagitta est  
look, an arrow came whirring on its feathers to the man,

**320** incertum qua pulsa manu, quo turbine adacta,  
and it is not known by what hand it was driven, by what whirl sent home,

**321** quis tantam Rutulis laudem, casusne deusne,  
who brought the Rutulians so much credit, chance or a god:

**322** adtulerit: pressa est insignis gloria facti.  
the great glory of the deed was pressed out of sight,

**323** nec sese Aeneae iactavit vulnere quisquam.  
and no man boasted of the wound he had given Aeneas.

**324** Turnus ut Aenean cedentem ex agmine vidit  
When Turnus saw Aeneas going back out of the line

**325** turbatosque duces, subita spe fervidus ardet:  
and the captains in disorder, he burns, hot with sudden hope:

**326** poscit equos atque arma simul saltuque superbus  
he calls for horses and arms together, and proud in his leap

**327** emicat in currum et manibus molitur habenas.  
flashes up into the chariot and handles the reins.

**328** Multa virum volitans dat fortia corpora Leto,  
Flying on, he gives many brave bodies of men to Death,

**329** semineces volvit multos aut agmina curru  
rolls many over half-alive, or tramples whole ranks with the chariot,

**330** proterit aut raptas fugientibus ingerit hastas.  
or snatches up spears and heaps them on the men as they run.

**331** Qualis apud gelidi cum flumina concitus Hebri  
As by the streams of the cold Hebrus, when Mavors, stirred up

**332** sanguineus Mavors clipeo increpat atque furentis  
and blood-red, clashes on his shield, and setting wars

**333** bella movens immittit equos; illi aequore aperto  
in motion gives his raging horses their heads; over open country

**334** ante Notos Zephyrumque volant; gemit ultima pulsu  
they run ahead of the South Winds and the West; farthest Thrace groans

**335** Thraca pedum; circumque atrae Formidinis ora  
under the beat of their feet, and round him the faces of black Terror,

**336** Iraeque Insidiaeque, dei comitatus, aguntur:  
and Angers and Ambushes, the god's escort, are driven along:

**337** talis equos alacer media inter proelia Turnus  
so Turnus, quick among the battles, lashes his horses

**338** fumantis sudore quatit, miserabile caesis  
steaming with sweat, trampling pitiably on the enemies

**339** hostibus insultans; spargit rapida ungula rores  
he has cut down; the racing hoof scatters a dew of

**340** sanguineos, mixtaque cruor calcatur harena.  
blood, and gore is trodden into the mingled sand.

**341** Iamque neci Sthenelumque dedit Thamyrumque Pholumque,  
And now he has given Sthenelus to slaughter, and Thamyrus and Pholus,

**342** hunc congressus et hunc, illum eminus; eminus ambo  
these two at close quarters, that one at range; at range both
> A term for a kill's range: Latin has a fixed pair of adverbs for how a man is killed: comminus, hand to hand, and eminus, from a distance. The list of dead here uses both terms within half a line to classify each kill.

**343** Imbrasidas, Glaucum atque Laden, quos Imbrasus ipse  
sons of Imbrasus, Glaucus and Lades, whom Imbrasus himself

**344** nutrierat Lycia paribusque ornaverat armis,  
had reared in Lycia and fitted out with matching arms,

**345** vel conferre manum vel equo praevertere ventos.  
either to close hand to hand or to beat the winds on horseback.

**346** Parte alia media Eumedes in proelia fertur,  
In another quarter Eumedes is carried into the middle of the fighting,

**347** antiqui proles bello praeclara Dolonis,  
child of old Dolon, who was famous in war,

**348** nomine avum referens, animo manibusque parentem,  
carrying his grandfather's name, his father's spirit and hands,

**349** qui quondam, castra ut Danaum speculator adiret,  
the man who once, to go as a spy to the Danaan camp,

**350** ausus Pelidae pretium sibi poscere currus;  
dared to demand the chariot of Peleus' son as his price;

**351** illum Tydides alio pro talibus ausis  
for such daring the son of Tydeus paid him in a different
> Payment named by its own word: pretium means a price or fee, the word Dolon used when demanding one. alio pretio, 'with another price', answers his demand for payment with the same noun, letting the reader supply what the payment actually was.

**352** adfecit pretio, nec equis adspirat Achillis.  
coin; and he does not aspire to Achilles' horses.

**353** Hunc procul ut campo Turnus prospexit aperto,  
When Turnus caught sight of him far off on the open field,

**354** ante levi iaculo longum per inane secutus  
he first followed him with a light javelin across the long emptiness,

**355** sistit equos biiugis et curru desilit atque  
then halts his pair of horses and jumps down from the chariot

**356** semianimi lapsoque supervenit et pede collo  
and comes on him fallen and half alive, and setting a foot on his neck

**357** impresso dextrae mucronem extorquet et alto  
twists the blade out of his right hand and dips it, shining,

**358** fulgentem tinguit iugulo atque haec insuper addit:  
deep in his throat, and adds these words on top of it:

**359** “En agros et quam bello, Troiane, petisti,  
“Look at the fields, Trojan, and the Hesperia you came for

**360** Hesperiam metire iacens: haec praemia qui me  
in war: measure it out lying down. These are the prizes

**361** ferro ausi temptare ferunt, sic moenia condunt.”  
they carry off who dare to try me with iron; this is how they found walls.”

**362** Huic comitem Asbyten coniecta cuspide mittit.  
He sends Asbytes after him for company with a thrown point,

**363** Chloreaque Sybarimque Daretaque Thersilochumque  
and Chloreus and Sybaris and Dares and Thersilochus,

**364** et sternacis equi lapsum cervice Thymoeten.  
and Thymoetes, thrown from the neck of a horse that pitched him off.
> A word Vergil invents: sternax, built from sternere, 'to lay flat', means a horse in the habit of throwing its rider. It is Vergil's own coinage, made because no existing Latin word named exactly this, and it does not appear again in the language.

**365** Ac velut Edoni Boreae cum spiritus alto  
And as when the breath of the Edonian North Wind sounds

**366** insonat Aegaeo sequiturque ad litora fluctus,  
over the deep Aegean and drives the swell to the shore,

**367** qua venti incubuere, fugam dant nubila caelo:  
the clouds run in flight from the sky wherever the winds lie on it:

**368** sic Turno, quacumque viam secat, agmina cedunt  
so for Turnus, wherever he cuts his road, the columns give way

**369** conversaeque ruunt acies; fert impetus ipsum,  
and the ranks turn and run; his own rush carries him,

**370** et cristam adverso curru quatit aura volantem.  
and the wind against the chariot shakes his flying crest.

**371** Non tulit instantem Phegeus animisque frementem:  
Phegeus could not bear him pressing on and roaring in his spirit:

**372** obiecit sese ad currum et spumantia frenis  
he threw himself in the chariot's way and with his right hand

**373** ora citatorum dextra detorsit equorum.  
wrenched round the mouths of the driven horses, foaming at the bits.

**374** Dum trahitur pendetque iugis, hunc lata retectum  
While he is dragged and hangs from the yoke, the broad lance

**375** lancea consequitur rumpitque infixa bilicem  
reaches him where he is uncovered, and, driven in, breaks the double-linked
> The armor, named by its weave: bilix means woven of two threads, here describing lorica, the corselet, as made of two courses of mail rings. The line names the specific construction of the armor at the moment the spear breaks through it.

**376** loricam et summum degustat volnere corpus.  
corselet, and just tastes the surface of the body with a wound.

**377** Ille tamen clipeo obiecto conversus in hostem  
Still he turned on his enemy with his shield out in front

**378** ibat et auxilium ducto mucrone petebat:  
and kept coming, and with his sword drawn was looking for help:

**379** cum rota praecipitem et procursu concitus axis  
when the wheel and the axle, driven on by the rush,

**380** impulit effunditque solo, Turnusque secutus  
knocked him headlong and spilled him on the ground; and Turnus, following,

**381** imam inter galeam summi thoracis et oras  
between the bottom of the helmet and the top edge of the breastplate,

**382** abstulit ense caput truncumque reliquit harenae.  
took the head off with his sword and left the trunk in the sand.

**383** Atque ea dum campis victor dat funera Turnus,  
And while Turnus in victory is dealing these deaths on the plain,

**384** interea Aenean Mnestheus et fidus Achates  
meanwhile Mnestheus and faithful Achates,

**385** Ascaniusque comes castris statuere cruentum,  
and Ascanius with them, had set Aeneas bleeding in the camp,

**386** alternos longa nitentem cuspide gressus.  
leaning on his long spear at every second step.
> Every other step named: alternos gressus, 'alternate steps', states that the man leans on his spear for every second pace, one leg working and one supported. Three words describe exactly what a man walks like with an arrow through one thigh.

**387** Saevit et infracta luctatur arundine telum  
He rages, and struggles, the shaft snapped off, to drag the weapon

**388** eripere auxilioque viam, quae proxima, poscit  
out, and demands the nearest way of helping him:

**389** ense secent lato vulnus telique latebram  
let them cut the wound with a broad sword, and slit right open

**390** rescindant penitus seseque in bella remittant.  
the arrow's hiding-place, and send him back into the war.

**391** Iamque aderat Phoebo ante alios dilectus Iapyx  
And now Iapyx was there, loved by Phoebus beyond the rest,

**392** Iasides, acri quondam cui captus amore  
the son of Iasus; once, caught by a keen love of him,

**393** ipse suas artes, sua munera, laetus Apollo  
Apollo was glad to offer his own arts, his own gifts,

**394** augurium citharamque dabat celerisque sagittas.  
augury, the lyre, and the swift arrows.

**395** Ille ut depositi proferret fata parentis,  
But he, to put off the fated hour of a father given up for lost,

**396** scire potestates herbarum usumque medendi  
chose rather to know the powers of herbs and the practice of healing,

**397** maluit et mutas agitare inglorius artes.  
and to work at silent arts with no fame in them.

**398** Stabat acerba fremens, ingentem nixus in hastam  
Aeneas stood raging bitterly, propped on his huge spear,

**399** Aeneas magno iuvenum et maerentis Iuli  
in a great press of young men and of grieving Iulus,

**400** concursu, lacrimis immobilis. Ille retorto  
unmoved by their tears. The old man, his cloak turned back
> Two words closing a long sentence: lacrimis immobilis, 'unmoved by tears', are the two words that finally close a sentence that has been running for three lines. Aeneas stands in a crowd of weeping men without responding to them; the same phrase returns later, at the point he does hesitate.

**401** Paeonium in morem senior succinctus amictu  
and belted up in the Healer's fashion,

**402** multa manu medica Phoebique potentibus herbis  
with much of his doctoring hand and Phoebus' strong herbs,

**403** nequiquam trepidat, nequiquam spicula dextra  
hurries for nothing; for nothing his right hand works at the barb

**404** sollicitat prensatque tenaci forcipe ferrum.  
and clutches the iron with the gripping forceps.

**405** Nulla viam Fortuna regit, nihil auctor Apollo  
No Fortune steers the way, no help comes from Apollo

**406** subvenit; et saevus campis magis ac magis horror  
his master; and out on the plain the savage terror grows

**407** crebrescit propiusque malum est. Iam pulvere caelum  
thicker and thicker, and the evil is closer. Now they see the sky

**408** stare vident: subeunt equites, et spicula castris  
standing in dust; horsemen come up, and thick arrows

**409** densa cadunt mediis. It tristis ad aethera clamor  
fall in the middle of the camp. A grim shout goes up to the air

**410** bellantum iuvenum et duro sub Marte cadentum.  
from young men fighting and falling under hard war.

**411** Hic Venus, indigno nati concussa dolore,  
Here Venus, shaken by her son's undeserved pain,
> Pain called unearned: indignus describes what has not been earned or deserved, not size or intensity. indigno dolore, 'with undeserved pain', names the arrow wound as pain Aeneas has not brought on himself, stated from Venus' point of view.

**412** dictamnum genetrix Cretaea carpit ab Ida,  
his mother, plucks dittany from Cretan Ida,

**413** puberibus caulem foliis et flore comantem  
a stalk with downy leaves and a head of purple

**414** purpureo; non illa feris incognita capris  
flower; that herb is not unknown to the wild goats

**415** gramina, cum tergo volucres haesere sagittae:  
when winged arrows have stuck in their backs.

**416** hoc Venus, obscuro faciem circumdata nimbo,  
This Venus brought down, her face wrapped round

**417** detulit; hoc fusum labris splendentibus amnem  
in a dark mist; with this she steeps the water poured

**418** inficit occulte medicans spargitque salubris  
into the shining basins, doctoring it in secret, and sprinkles in

**419** ambrosiae sucos et odoriferam panaceam.  
the healing juices of ambrosia and sweet-smelling cure-all.
> A Greek name for a cure-all: panacea is a Greek loanword meaning a cure for everything, kept in Latin as the technical name of a legendary healing herb. Venus adds it, along with ambrosia, the food of the gods, to an ordinary medicine.

**420** Fovit ea volnus lympha longaevus Iapyx  
With that water long-lived Iapyx bathed the wound,

**421** ignorans, subitoque omnis de corpore fugit  
knowing nothing of it; and suddenly all the pain fled

**422** quippe dolor, omnis stetit imo volnere sanguis;  
out of the body, and all the blood stood still deep in the wound;

**423** iamque secuta manum nullo cogente sagitta  
and now the arrow, following his hand with nothing forcing it,

**424** excidit, atque novae rediere in pristina vires.  
fell out, and new strength came back to what it had been.

**425** “Arma citi properate viro! Quid statis?” Iapyx  
“Arms, quickly, get the man his arms! Why are you standing there?” Iapyx

**426** conclamat primusque animos adcendit in hostem.  
calls out, and is the first to fire their spirits against the enemy.

**427** “Non haec humanis opibus, non arte magistra  
“These things do not come out of human means, nor from an art

**428** proveniunt neque te, Aenea, mea dextera servat:  
with a master in it, and it is not my right hand that saves you, Aeneas:

**429** maior agit deus atque opera ad maiora remittit.”  
a greater god is at work, and sends you back to greater work.”

**430** Ille avidus pugnae suras incluserat auro  
He, hungry for the fight, had shut his calves in gold

**431** hinc atque hinc oditque moras hastamque coruscat.  
on this side and that; he hates the delay, and makes his spear flash.

**432** Postquam habilis lateri clipeus loricaque tergo est,  
Once the shield sits well at his side and the corselet on his back,

**433** Ascanium fusis circum complectitur armis  
he throws his arms round Ascanius and holds him,

**434** summaque per galeam delibans oscula fatur:  
and, barely touching a kiss through the helmet, says:

**435** “Disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque laborem,  
“Learn courage from me, boy, and what real labor is;

**436** fortunam ex aliis. Nunc te mea dextera bello  
good fortune from other men. Now my own right hand will give you

**437** defensum dabit et magna inter praemia ducet.  
cover in the war, and lead you among great prizes.

**438** Tu facito, mox cum matura adoleverit aetas,  
See to it, when your years have ripened soon into manhood,

**439** sis memor, et te animo repetentem exempla tuorum  
that you remember; and as you go back over your own people's examples

**440** et pater Aeneas et avunculus excitet Hector.”  
let both your father Aeneas and your uncle Hector rouse you.”

**441** Haec ubi dicta dedit, portis sese extulit ingens,  
When he had given these words, he carried himself huge out through the gates,

**442** telum immane manu quatiens; simul agmine denso  
shaking a monstrous spear in his hand; and in a thick column

**443** Antheusque Mnestheusque ruunt omnisque relictis  
Antheus and Mnestheus rush with him, and the whole crowd

**444** turba fluit castris: tum caeco pulvere campus  
flows out of the camp they leave; then the field is churned

**445** miscetur pulsuque pedum tremit excita tellus.  
with blinding dust, and the earth, stirred, shakes at the beat of feet.

**446** Vidit ab adverso venientis aggere Turnus,  
Turnus saw them coming from the rampart opposite,

**447** videre Ausonii, gelidusque per ima cucurrit  
the Ausonians saw, and a cold shuddering ran through the deep

**448** ossa tremor: prima ante omnis Iuturna Latinos  
of their bones; before all the Latins Juturna

**449** audiit adgnovitque sonum et tremefacta refugit.  
heard and knew the sound, and fled back trembling.

**450** Ille volat campoque atrum rapit agmen aperto.  
He flies, and drives his black column over the open plain.

**451** Qualis ubi ad terras abrupto sidere nimbus  
As when a storm cloud, the weather broken, goes toward land

**452** it mare per medium; miseris heu praescia longe  
across the middle of the sea; ah, from far off the knowing hearts

**453** horrescunt corda agricolis, dabit ille ruinas  
of the poor farmers shudder: that one will bring the trees

**454** arboribus stragemque satis, ruet omnia late;  
down and flatten the crops, and lay everything waste far and wide;

**455** ante volant sonitumque ferunt ad litora venti:  
the winds fly ahead and carry the sound of it to the shore:

**456** talis in adversos ductor Rhoeteius hostis  
so the Rhoetean leader drives his column against the enemy
> Named by place, not name: Rhoeteum is a headland on the Trojan coast, and ductor Rhoeteius, 'the Rhoetean leader', names Aeneas by that place instead of by his own name. Vergil uses this kind of naming in similes, where the man's origin matters more than his name.

**457** agmen agit, densi cuneis se quisque coactis  
facing him; each man packs himself into the tightened wedges,

**458** adglomerant. Ferit ense gravem Thymbraeus Osirim,  
close-massed. Thymbraeus strikes heavy Osiris with his sword,

**459** Archetium Mnestheus, Epulonem obtruncat Achates  
Mnestheus strikes Archetius, Achates cuts down Epulo,

**460** Ufentemque Gyas; cadit ipse Tolumnius augur,  
and Gyas Ufens; Tolumnius the augur himself falls,

**461** primus in adversos telum qui torserat hostis.  
who had been the first to hurl a spear at the enemy facing him.

**462** Tollitur in caelum clamor, versique vicissim  
A shout is lifted to the sky, and the Rutulians in their turn

**463** pulverulenta fuga Rutuli dant terga per agros.  
are turned, and give their backs in a dusty flight across the fields.

**464** Ipse neque aversos dignatur sternere Morti  
He himself does not stoop to lay out for Death the men with their backs turned,

**465** nec pede congressos aequo nec tela ferentis  
nor does he chase those meeting him on level footing, nor those carrying

**466** insequitur: solum densa in caligine Turnum  
spears: Turnus alone he tracks, scanning the thick murk,

**467** vestigat lustrans, solum in certamina poscit.  
Turnus alone he calls out to the fight.

**468** Hoc concussa metu mentem Iuturna virago  
Struck in her mind by this fear, Juturna the war-maiden
> A word for a fighting woman: virago is built from vir, 'man', and describes a woman who fights or acts as a man does; Vergil also applies it to Athena. Here it names Juturna, and it is the only time the word appears in the whole poem.

**469** aurigam Turni media inter lora Metiscum  
throws Metiscus, Turnus' driver, out from the middle of his reins

**470** excutit et longe lapsum temone relinquit:  
and leaves him fallen far behind the chariot-pole:

**471** ipsa subit manibusque undantis flectit habenas,  
she takes his place, and bends the rippling reins in her hands,

**472** cuncta gerens, vocemque et corpus et arma Metisci.  
carrying all of it, the voice and body and arms of Metiscus.

**473** Nigra velut magnas domini cum divitis aedes  
As when a black swallow flies through the great house

**474** pervolat et pennis alta atria lustrat hirundo,  
of a rich master, and goes round the high halls on her wings,

**475** pabula parva legens nidisque loquacibus escas,  
picking up small feed and scraps for her chattering nest,

**476** et nunc porticibus vacuis, nunc umida circum  
and now in the empty colonnades, now around the damp

**477** stagna sonat: similis medios Iuturna per hostis  
pools, is heard: like her, Juturna through the middle of the enemy

**478** fertur equis rapidoque volans obit omnia curru  
is carried by her horses, and flying goes over everything in the racing car,

**479** iamque hic germanum iamque hic ostentat ovantem  
and shows her brother in triumph now here, now here,

**480** nec conferre manum patitur, volat avia longe.  
and will not let him close hands, but flies far off out of the way.

**481** Haud minus Aeneas tortos legit obvius orbes  
No less does Aeneas, coming to meet them, pick up the twisted circles
> One verb for two meanings: legere means both to gather or pick out and to read; orbes, 'circles', are the loops a chariot's track cuts into the ground. Aeneas is legit, 'reading', the shape of the track to follow it, both senses of the verb active at once.

**482** vestigatque virum et disiecta per agmina magna  
and track the man, and through the scattered ranks with a great

**483** voce vocat. Quotiens oculos coniecit in hostem  
voice he calls him. As often as he set his eyes on the enemy

**484** alipedumque fugam cursu temptavit equorum,  
and tried at a run for the flight of the wing-footed horses,

**485** aversos totiens currus Iuturna retorsit.  
so often Juturna wrenched the chariot round and away.

**486** Heu quid agat? Vario nequiquam fluctuat aestu,  
Ah, what is he to do? He rolls, for nothing, on a shifting tide,

**487** diversaeque vocant animum in contraria curae.  
and cares pulling different ways call his mind two directions at once.

**488** Huic Messapus, uti laeva duo forte gerebat  
Against him Messapus, since he happened to carry in his left hand

**489** lenta levis cursu praefixa hastilia ferro,  
two tough shafts tipped with iron, light on the throw,

**490** horum unum certo contorquens dirigit ictu.  
whirls one of them and lays it in with a sure stroke.

**491** Substitit Aeneas et se collegit in arma,  
Aeneas stopped short and gathered himself behind his arms,

**492** poplite subsidens; apicem tamen incita summum  
sinking on one knee; still the driven spear carried away

**493** hasta tulit summasque excussit vertice cristas.  
the top of the helmet's peak and struck the crest from its crown.

**494** Tum vero adsurgunt irae; insidiisque subactus,  
Then indeed his anger rises up; driven to it by the trickery,

**495** diversos ubi sensit equos currumque referri,  
when he felt the horses turned away and the chariot carried off,

**496** multa Iovem et laesi testatus foederis aras  
calling Jupiter again and again to witness, and the altars of the injured treaty,

**497** iam tandem invadit medios et Marte secundo  
at long last he goes in among them, and with the war running his way,

**498** terribilis saevam nullo discrimine caedem  
terrible, he raises a savage killing with no distinction drawn,

**499** suscitat irarumque omnis effundit habenas.  
and lets go every rein of his angers.

**500** Quis mihi nunc tot acerba deus, quis carmine caedes  
What god will now unfold for me in song so many bitter things,

**501** diversas obitumque ducum, quos aequore toto  
what god the killings scattered everywhere, and the death of captains,

**502** inque vicem nunc Turnus agit, nunc Troius heros,  
whom over the whole plain now Turnus drives, now the Trojan hero,

**503** expediat? Tanton placuit concurrere motu,  
each in his turn? Did it please you, Jupiter, that nations

**504** Iuppiter, aeterna gentis in pace futuras?  
who would be at peace for ever should crash together in such a shock?

**505** Aeneas Rutulum Sucronem, ea prima ruentis  
Aeneas takes Sucro the Rutulian, that fight was the first

**506** pugna loco statuit Teucros, haud multa morantem  
to hold the Teucrians on their ground as they gave way,

**507** excipit in latus et, qua fata celerrima, crudum  
in the side, without much delaying, and where the fates come quickest
> Fate named as the fastest point: fata, the poem's word for what is decreed, is applied here to the fastest place to kill a man, qua fata celerrima, 'where the fates are quickest'. The phrase treats death as having a set route through the body.

**508** transadigit costas et cratis pectoris ensem.  
he drives the raw sword through the ribs and the cage of the chest.

**509** Turnus equo deiectum Amycum fratremque Dioren,  
Turnus, on foot, meets Amycus thrown from his horse, and his brother

**510** congressus pedes, hunc venientem cuspide longa,  
Diores: he strikes the one coming at him with a long point,

**511** hunc mucrone ferit curruque abscisa duorum  
the other with the blade, and hangs the two heads he has cut off

**512** suspendit capita et rorantia sanguine portat.  
on the chariot, and carries them dripping blood.

**513** Ille Talon Tanaimque neci fortemque Cethegum,  
The other sends Talos and Tanais and brave Cethegus

**514** tris uno congressu, et maestum mittit Oniten,  
to slaughter, three in one meeting, and grieving Onites,

**515** nomen Echionium matrisque genus Peridiae,  
an Echionian name, and his mother's line from Peridia;

**516** hic fratres Lycia missos et Apollinis agris  
this one the brothers sent from Lycia and Apollo's fields,

**517** et iuvenem exosum nequiquam bella Menoeten,  
and Menoetes, a young man who hated war and got nothing by hating it,

**518** Arcada, piscosae cui circum flumina Lernae  
an Arcadian; his trade had been around the streams of fish-thick Lerna,

**519** ars fuerat pauperque domus nec nota potentum  
and his house was poor, and the gifts of the powerful unknown to him,

**520** munera conductaque pater tellure serebat.  
and his father sowed on rented ground.

**521** Ac velut immissi diversis partibus ignes  
And as when fires are let loose from different quarters

**522** arentem in silvam et virgulta sonantia lauro,  
into a dry wood and thickets loud with laurel,

**523** aut ubi decursu rapido de montibus altis  
or where, coming down at a rush from the high mountains,

**524** dant sonitum spumosi amnes et in aequora currunt  
foaming rivers give out their noise and run to the sea,

**525** quisque suum populatus iter: non segnius ambo  
each having laid waste its own road: no more slowly do both,

**526** Aeneas Turnusque ruunt per proelia; nunc nunc  
Aeneas and Turnus, rush through the fighting; now, now

**527** fluctuat ira intus, rumpuntur nescia vinci  
the anger surges inside, and hearts that know nothing of being beaten
> An adjective governing an infinitive: nescia, 'not knowing', takes vinci, a passive infinitive, 'to be conquered', as its complement: literally 'hearts not knowing how to be conquered'. An adjective with a dependent infinitive like this is a Greek pattern Vergil brings into Latin.

**528** pectora, nunc totis in volnera viribus itur.  
burst, and now they go at the wounding with all their strength.

**529** Murranum hic, atavos et avorum antiqua sonantem  
Murranus, sounding off his forefathers and the ancient names

**530** nomina per regesque actum genus omne Latinos,  
of his grandfathers, his whole line run back through Latin kings,

**531** praecipitem scopulo atque ingentis turbine saxi  
this one he knocks headlong with a crag, with the whirl of an enormous

**532** excutit effunditque solo: hunc lora et iuga subter  
stone, and spills him on the ground: under the reins and the yoke

**533** provolvere rotae, crebro super ungula pulsu  
the wheels rolled him along, and over him, with beat on beat,

**534** incita nec domini memorum proculcat equorum.  
the racing hoof of horses that do not remember their master tramples him down.
> A negated word, given to horses: memor, 'remembering', is negated here, nec memorum, 'not remembering', and applied to equorum, 'of the horses', not to a person. The same word memor named Juno's anger in the poem's opening lines; here it describes animals that remember nothing.

**535** Ille ruenti Hyllo animisque immane frementi  
The other meets Hyllus as he charges, roaring monstrously

**536** occurrit telumque aurata ad tempora torquet:  
in his spirit, and hurls his weapon at the gilded temples:

**537** olli per galeam fixo stetit hasta cerebro.  
the spear went through the helmet and stood fixed in his brain.

**538** Dextera nec tua te, Graium fortissime Cretheu  
And your right hand did not tear you from Turnus, Cretheus,

**539** eripuit Turno. Nec di texere Cupencum  
bravest of the Greeks. Nor did his own gods cover Cupencus

**540** Aenea veniente sui: dedit obvia ferro  
when Aeneas came: he gave his chest to the iron in its way,

**541** pectora, nec misero clipei mora profuit aerei.  
and the delay of the bronze shield did the poor man no good.

**542** Te quoque Laurentes viderunt, Aeole, campi  
You too, Aeolus, the Laurentine fields saw go down

**543** oppetere et late terram consternere tergo.  
to meet death, and cover the ground far and wide with your back.

**544** Occidis, Argivae quem non potuere phalanges  
You fall, you whom the Argive phalanxes could not

**545** sternere nec Priami regnorum eversor Achilles;  
lay out, nor Achilles, who overthrew Priam's kingdom;

**546** hic tibi mortis erant metae: domus alta sub Ida,  
here were the turning posts of your death: a high house under Ida,
> Death called a turning post: meta is the post a chariot rounds at the end of a lap. mortis metae, 'the turning posts of death', names the places in the man's life, Ida, Lyrnesus, Laurentum, where the course of it ends.

**547** Lyrnesi domus alta, solo Laurente sepulchrum.  
a high house at Lyrnesus, a grave in Laurentine ground.

**548** Totae adeo conversae acies, omnesque Latini,  
So the whole lines are turned on each other, all the Latins,

**549** omnes Dardanidae, Mnestheus acerque Serestus  
all the sons of Dardanus: Mnestheus and keen Serestus

**550** et Messapus equum domitor et fortis Asilas  
and Messapus, tamer of horses, and brave Asilas

**551** Tuscorumque phalanx Evandrique Arcades alae,  
and the Tuscan phalanx and Evander's Arcadian squadrons,

**552** pro se quisque viri summa nituntur opum vi:  
each man for himself strains with the whole force of his powers:

**553** nec mora nec requies, vasto certamine tendunt.  
no pause, no rest; they strain in an enormous contest.

**554** Hic mentem Aeneae genetrix pulcherrima misit,  
Here his most beautiful mother put a thought into Aeneas' mind:

**555** iret ut ad muros urbique adverteret agmen  
that he should go to the walls and turn his column on the city

**556** ocius et subita turbaret clade Latinos.  
quickly, and throw the Latins into panic with a sudden blow.

**557** Ille ut vestigans diversa per agmina Turnum  
As he, tracking Turnus through the scattered ranks,

**558** huc atque huc acies circumtulit, aspicit urbem  
carried his eyes this way and that, he catches sight of the city

**559** immunem tanti belli atque impune quietam.  
untouched by so great a war, and quiet, and unpunished.
> Two words for owing nothing: immunis names someone exempt from a duty they owe, and impune means getting away with something unpunished. Placed together, immunem ... impune says the city has taken no part in the war and paid no price for it yet.

**560** Continuo pugnae adcendit maioris imago:  
At once the picture of a greater battle takes fire in him:

**561** Mnesthea Sergestumque vocat fortemque Serestum  
he calls Mnestheus and Sergestus and brave Serestus,

**562** ductores tumulumque capit, quo cetera Teucrum  
his captains, and takes a rise of ground, where the rest of the Teucrian

**563** concurrit legio nec scuta aut spicula densi  
levy runs together and, packed close, does not lay down

**564** deponunt. Celso medius stans aggere fatur:  
shield or spear. Standing among them on the high mound he speaks:

**565** “Nequa meis esto dictis mora; Iuppiter hac stat,  
“Let there be no delay to my words. Jupiter stands on this side.
> A god placed in the line: Iuppiter hac stat, 'Jupiter stands on this side', places the god physically in the battle line, on one wing rather than the other. It is the shortest sentence Aeneas speaks in this book, and he gives it as his reason for attacking.

**566** neu quis ob inceptum subitum mihi segnior ito.  
And let nobody go slower for me because the plan is sudden.

**567** Urbem hodie, causam belli, regna ipsa Latini,  
Today the city, the cause of the war, the very kingdom of Latinus,

**568** ni frenum accipere et victi parere fatentur,  
unless they admit they will take the bit and obey as beaten men,
> An idiom drawn from horse-breaking: frenum accipere, 'to accept the bit', is the standard Latin idiom for surrendering, drawn from breaking a horse to the rein. Aeneas demands that Latium accipere frenum, accept this subjection, or continue fighting.

**569** eruam et aequa solo fumantia culmina ponam.  
I will tear up, and lay its smoking roofs level with the ground.

**570** Scilicet exspectem, libeat dum proelia Turno  
Am I to wait, of course, until it suits Turnus to take

**571** nostra pati rursusque velit concurrere victus?  
our fighting, and he chooses, beaten, to close with me again?

**572** Hoc caput, O cives, haec belli summa nefandi:  
This is the head of it, citizens, this the whole sum of an unspeakable war:

**573** ferte faces propere foedusque reposcite flammis.”  
bring torches quickly, and demand the treaty back with fire.”
> Legal language used for arson: reposcere is what a creditor uses for demanding back what is owed, and foedus is a legal treaty. Aeneas orders foedus reposcite flammis, 'demand the treaty back with fire', pairing the legal verb with fire as the means of collecting it.

**574** Dixerat, atque animis pariter certantibus omnes  
He had spoken; and all of them, their spirits striving alike,

**575** dant cuneum densaque ad muros mole feruntur.  
form a wedge and are carried in a thick mass to the walls.

**576** Scalae improviso subitusque apparuit ignis.  
Ladders appeared without warning, and sudden fire.

**577** Discurrunt alii ad portas primosque trucidant,  
Some run to the gates and butcher the first men there,

**578** ferrum alii torquent et obumbrant aethera telis.  
others hurl iron and shadow the sky over with spears.

**579** Ipse inter primos dextram sub moenia tendit  
Aeneas himself, among the first, stretches his right hand out beneath the walls

**580** Aeneas magnaque incusat voce Latinum  
and arraigns Latinus in a great voice,

**581** testaturque deos, iterum se ad proelia cogi,  
and calls the gods to witness that he is forced into the fighting again,

**582** bis iam Italos hostis, haec altera foedera rumpi.  
that the Italians are twice now his enemies, that this is a second treaty broken.

**583** Exoritur trepidos inter discordia civis:  
Discord rises among the frightened citizens:

**584** urbem alii reserare iubent et pandere portas  
some order the city unbarred and the gates thrown wide

**585** Dardanidis ipsumque trahunt in moenia regem,  
to the sons of Dardanus, and they drag the king himself to the walls;

**586** arma ferunt alii et pergunt defendere muros.  
others bring arms and go on defending the ramparts.

**587** Inclusas ut cum latebroso in pumice pastor  
As when a shepherd has tracked down bees shut away

**588** vestigavit apes fumoque implevit amaro:  
in a honeycombed rock, and filled it with bitter smoke:

**589** illae intus trepidae rerum per cerea castra  
inside, in a panic about their affairs, they run about

**590** discurrunt magnisque acuunt stridoribus iras;  
through their waxen camp and sharpen their angers with loud shrilling;

**591** volvitur ater odor tectis, tum murmure caeco  
a black smell rolls through their house; then with a blind humming

**592** intus saxa sonant, vacuas it fumus ad auras.  
the stone sounds within, and the smoke goes out into the empty air.

**593** Accidit haec fessis etiam fortuna Latinis,  
This piece of fortune came to the exhausted Latins as well,

**594** quae totam luctu concussit funditus urbem.  
and it shook the whole city to the roots with grief.

**595** Regina ut tectis venientem prospicit hostem,  
When the queen from the palace looks out and sees the enemy coming,

**596** incessi muros, ignis ad tecta volare,  
the walls attacked, fire flying at the roofs,

**597** nusquam acies contra Rutulas, nulla agmina Turni:  
no Rutulian line anywhere against them, no columns of Turnus:

**598** infelix pugnae iuvenem in certamine credit  
the unlucky woman believes the young man has been killed

**599** exstinctum et, subito mentem turbata dolore,  
in the fighting, and, her mind thrown into confusion by a sudden

**600** se causam clamat crimenque caputque malorum,  
grief, cries out that she is the cause, the guilt, the head of the evils,
> Three nouns without a conjunction: causam, crimen, and caput, 'cause', 'charge', and 'head', are listed one after another with no conjunction joining them until the last pair. Amata names herself with all three nouns, indicting herself in a single list.

**601** multaque per maestum demens effata furorem  
and saying much, out of her wits, in a grieving madness,

**602** purpureos moritura manu discindit amictus  
she tears her purple robes apart with her hand, about to die,
> The same participle returning: moritura, 'about to die', is the same future participle attached to Amata at line 55, now returning at the act it named. The word had already stated the outcome hundreds of lines before this moment.

**603** et nodum informis leti trabe nectit ab alta.  
and knots a noose of shapeless death from a high beam.

**604** Quam cladem miserae postquam accepere Latinae,  
After the wretched Latin women had taken in this disaster,

**605** filia prima manu flavos Lavinia crinis  
her daughter Lavinia first, tearing her yellow hair with her hand

**606** et roseas laniata genas, tum cetera circum  
and her rose-colored cheeks, then the rest of the crowd

**607** turba furit: resonant late plangoribus aedes.  
around her rages: the house rings far with the beating of breasts.

**608** Hinc totam infelix volgatur fama per urbem.  
From here the unlucky news is spread through the whole city.

**609** Demittunt mentes; it scissa veste Latinus,  
Their spirits go down; Latinus walks with his clothing torn,

**610** coniugis attonitus fatis urbisque ruina,  
thunderstruck at his wife's fate and the ruin of his city,

**611** canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans.  
fouling his white hair, poured over with filthy dust.

**612** Multaque se incusat, qui non acceperit ante  
And he accuses himself much, for not having received

**613** Dardanium Aenean generumque adsciverit ultro.  
Dardanian Aeneas earlier, and taken him for a son-in-law of his own accord.

**614** Interea extremo bellator in aequore Turnus  
Meanwhile Turnus the fighter, at the far edge of the plain,

**615** palantis sequitur paucos iam segnior atque  
chases a few stragglers, slower now, and now

**616** iam minus atque minus successu laetus equorum  
less and less glad of what his horses are doing.

**617** attulit hunc illi caecis terroribus aura  
The air brought him this shouting, mixed with blind

**618** commixtum clamorem adrectasque impulit aures  
terrors, and struck his pricked-up ears:

**619** confusae sonus urbis et inlaetabile murmur.  
the sound of a city in confusion, and a joyless muttering.
> A rare word for joyless: inlaetabilis negates laetus, 'glad', and means more than sad: incapable of gladness. inlaetabile murmur, 'a joyless murmur', is the sound Turnus hears of the city's grief, before he yet knows the cause of it.

**620** “Ei mihi! Quid tanto turbantur moenia luctu?  
“Ah, me! Why are the walls shaken with such grief?

**621** Quisve ruit tantus diversa clamor ab urbe?”  
What is this great shouting that comes rushing from the far side of the city?”

**622** Sic ait adductisque amens subsistit habenis.  
So he says, and pulls in the reins and halts, out of his mind.
> A word for a stalled mind: amens is built from a-, 'without', and mens, 'mind': literally 'mindless'. Vergil applies this same word to Turnus here and at two later points in the book, each time he loses the ability to reason.

**623** Atque huic, in faciem soror ut conversa Metisci  
And his sister, turned into the face of the driver

**624** aurigae currumque et equos et lora regebat,  
Metiscus, steering chariot and horses and reins,

**625** talibus occurrit dictis: “Hac, Turne, sequamur  
met him with words like these: “This way, Turnus, let us chase

**626** Troiugenas, qua prima viam victoria pandit;  
the Trojan-born, where victory first opens a road;

**627** sunt alii, qui tecta manu defendere possint.  
there are others who can defend the houses with their hands.

**628** Ingruit Aeneas Italis et proelia miscet:  
Aeneas is falling on the Italians and stirring up fights:

**629** et nos saeva manu mittamus funera Teucris.  
let us too send savage deaths to the Teucrians with our hand.

**630** Nec numero inferior pugnae nec honore recedes.”  
You will come away no lower in the reckoning of the fight, nor in honor.”

**631** Turnus ad haec:  
Turnus to this:

**632** “O soror, et dudum adgnovi, cum prima per artem  
“Sister, I knew you long ago, when you first by your craft

**633** foedera turbasti teque haec in bella dedisti,  
wrecked the treaty and gave yourself into this war,

**634** et nunc nequiquam fallis dea. Sed quis Olympo  
and now, goddess, you deceive me for nothing. But who has willed you,

**635** demissam tantos voluit te ferre labores?  
sent down from Olympus, to carry such labors?

**636** An fratris miseri letum ut crudele videres?  
So that you could watch a poor brother's cruel death?

**637** Nam quid ago? Aut quae iam spondet Fortuna salutem?  
For what am I doing? What Fortune stands surety for safety now?

**638** Vidi oculos ante ipse meos me voce vocantem  
I saw with my own eyes before me Murranus calling me

**639** Murranum, quo non superat mihi carior alter,  
by name, no other man is left dearer to me,

**640** oppetere ingentem atque ingenti volnere victum.  
go down, a huge man, beaten by a huge wound.

**641** Occidit infelix nostrum ne dedecus Ufens  
Unlucky Ufens fell so that he should not look at our disgrace;

**642** adspiceret; Teucri potiuntur corpore et armis.  
the Teucrians have taken his body and his arms.

**643** Exscindine domos (id rebus defuit unum)  
Shall I bear it that our houses be cut down (the one thing

**644** perpetiar, dextra nec Drancis dicta refellam?  
still wanting) and not refute Drances' words with my right hand?

**645** Terga dabo et Turnum fugientem haec terra videbit?  
Shall I give them my back, and this land see Turnus running?

**646** Usque adeone mori miserum est? Vos O mihi Manes  
Is it so wretched a thing, after all, to die? You Shades, be

**647** este boni, quoniam superis aversa voluntas!  
good to me, since the will of the gods above is turned away.

**648** Sancta ad vos anima atque istius nescia culpae  
I shall come down to you a clean spirit, one that knows nothing

**649** descendam, magnorum haud umquam indignus avorum.”  
of that guilt, and never unworthy of my great forefathers.”

**650** Vix ea fatus erat: medios volat ecce per hostis  
He had barely spoken: look, through the middle of the enemy

**651** vectus equo spumante Saces, adversa sagitta  
Saces comes flying on a foaming horse, wounded in the face

**652** saucius ora, ruitque implorans nomine Turnum:  
by an arrow head-on, and rushes up begging Turnus by name:

**653** “Turne, in te suprema salus: miserere tuorum.  
“Turnus, in you is the last safety: pity your own people.

**654** Fulminat Aeneas armis summasque minatur  
Aeneas is lightning in his arms, and threatens to throw down

**655** deiecturum arces Italum exscidioque daturum;  
the highest citadels of the Italians and give them over to destruction;

**656** iamque faces ad tecta volant. In te ora Latini,  
and now torches are flying at the roofs. On you the Latins turn

**657** in te oculos referunt; mussat rex ipse Latinus,  
their faces, on you their eyes; king Latinus himself mutters,

**658** quos generos vocet aut quae sese ad foedera flectat.  
asking whom to call his sons-in-law, or to what treaty he should bend.

**659** Praeterea regina, tui fidissima, dextra  
Besides, the queen, who was most faithful to you, has fallen

**660** occidit ipsa sua lucemque exterrita fugit.  
by her own right hand, and in terror has fled the light.

**661** Soli pro portis Messapus et acer Atinas  
Messapus alone and keen Atinas hold the line up

**662** sustentant aciem. Circum hos utrimque phalanges  
before the gates. Around them on either hand the companies

**663** stant densae, strictisque seges mucronibus horret  
stand thick, and an iron crop bristles with drawn

**664** ferrea: tu currum deserto in gramine versas.”  
sword-points: and you are wheeling a chariot about on empty grass.”

**665** Obstipuit varia confusus imagine rerum  
Turnus was struck dumb, confused by the shifting picture

**666** Turnus et obtutu tacito stetit. Aestuat ingens  
of things, and stood staring in silence. A huge shame

**667** uno in corde pudor mixtoque insania luctu  
boils up in one heart, and madness mixed with grief,
> Four states named in one heart: uno in corde, 'in one heart', introduces a list: pudor, 'shame', insania mixed with luctus, 'madness with grief', and other named states, all placed in a single heart across two lines. Vergil lists Turnus' feelings by name rather than describing his thoughts directly.

**668** et furiis agitatus amor et conscia virtus.  
and a love driven by the Furies, and a courage that knows itself.

**669** Ut primum discussae umbrae et lux reddita menti,  
As soon as the shadows were scattered and light given back to his mind,

**670** ardentis oculorum orbes ad moenia torsit  
he turned the burning globes of his eyes toward the walls,

**671** turbidus eque rotis magnam respexit ad urbem.  
stormy, and from the wheels looked back at the great city.

**672** Ecce autem flammis inter tabulata volutus  
And look: a whirl of flame, rolling up between the floors,

**673** ad caelum undabat vortex turrimque tenebat,  
was surging to the sky and had taken hold of the tower,

**674** turrim, compactis trabibus quam eduxerat ipse  
the tower he had built up himself out of jointed beams,

**675** subdideratque rotas pontisque instraverat altos.  
and set wheels under, and laid high gangways across.

**676** “Iam iam fata, soror, superant; absiste morari;  
“Now, now, sister, the fates are winning; stop holding me back;

**677** quo deus et quo dura vocat Fortuna, sequamur.  
let us follow where the god and where hard Fortune call.

**678** Stat conferre manum Aeneae, stat quidquid acerbi est  
It stands fixed that I close hands with Aeneas, fixed that I bear

**679** morte pati; neque me indecorem, germana, videbis  
whatever bitterness there is in dying; you will not see me

**680** amplius. Hunc, oro, sine me furere ante furorem.”  
shamed any longer, sister. Let me rage this rage out first, I beg you.”
> A verb taking its own noun: furere, 'to rage', takes furorem, 'rage', as its object, a cognate accusative, the same pattern as English 'to live a life'. Turnus asks to furere furorem, rage out this one rage, treating it as a bounded thing rather than an ongoing state.

**681** Dixit et e curru saltum dedit ocius arvis  
He spoke, and gave a leap from the chariot down to the fields,

**682** perque hostis, per tela ruit maestamque sororem  
and rushes through enemies, through spears, and leaves his grieving

**683** deserit ac rapido cursu media agmina rumpit.  
sister behind, and breaks the middle ranks apart at a run.

**684** Ac veluti montis saxum de vertice praeceps  
And as when a boulder comes headlong down from a mountain's crest,

**685** cum ruit avulsum vento, seu turbidus imber  
torn loose by the wind, or a wild rainstorm has washed it out,

**686** proluit aut annis solvit sublapsa vetustas;  
or old age creeping under the years has loosened it;

**687** fertur in abruptum magno mons improbus actu  
the wicked mass is carried into the sheer drop with a great motion,

**688** exsultatque solo, silvas armenta virosque  
and leaps off the ground, rolling woods and herds and men

**689** involvens secum: disiecta per agmina Turnus  
along with it: so, through the scattered columns, Turnus

**690** sic urbis ruit ad muros, ubi plurima fuso  
rushes to the city walls, where the ground is soaked deepest

**691** sanguine terra madet striduntque hastilibus aurae,  
with spilled blood, and the air whistles with spear-shafts,

**692** significatque manu et magno simul incipit ore:  
and he signals with his hand, and at once begins in a great voice:

**693** “Parcite iam, Rutuli, et vos tela inhibete, Latini;  
“Hold now, Rutulians, and you Latins, hold your spears back;

**694** quaecumque est Fortuna, mea est: me verius unum  
whatever the Fortune is, it is mine. It is more right that I alone

**695** pro vobis foedus luere et decernere ferro.”  
pay for the treaty on your behalf, and settle it with iron.”
> Debt language for a duel: luere means to discharge a debt or pay a penalty. foedus luere, 'to pay for the treaty', has Turnus offer to settle the broken treaty's account with his own body, rather than to avenge or restore it.

**696** Discessere omnes medii spatiumque dedere.  
They all withdrew from the middle and gave the space.

**697** At pater Aeneas audito nomine Turni  
But father Aeneas, hearing the name of Turnus,

**698** deserit et muros et summas deserit arces  
leaves the walls, and leaves the high citadels,

**699** praecipitatque moras omnis, opera omnia rumpit,  
throws every delay headlong, breaks off all the works,

**700** laetitia exsultans, horrendumque intonat armis;  
leaping with gladness, and thunders horribly in his arms:
> Delight stated outright: laetitia exsultans, 'leaping with joy', states directly that Aeneas is glad to hear Turnus is coming to fight. The phrase appears in the same passage as pater, 'father', the epithet naming his responsibility for his people.

**701** quantus Athos aut quantus Eryx aut ipse coruscis  
as great as Athos, or as great as Eryx, or as great as father

**702** cum fremit ilicibus quantus gaudetque nivali  
Apennine himself, when he roars with his glittering holm-oaks

**703** vertice se attollens pater Appenninus ad auras.  
and rejoices, lifting himself with his snowy peak into the air.

**704** Iam vero et Rutuli certatim et Troes et omnes  
And now Rutulians and Trojans alike, and all the Italians,

**705** convertere oculos Itali, quique alta tenebant  
turned their eyes, each outdoing the other, those who held the high

**706** moenia quique imos pulsabant ariete muros,  
walls and those who were battering the wall's base with the ram,

**707** armaque deposuere umeris. Stupet ipse Latinus  
and took the armor down from their shoulders. Latinus himself stands amazed

**708** ingentis, genitos diversis partibus orbis,  
that two huge men, born in opposite quarters of the world,

**709** inter se coiisse viros et cernere ferro.  
have come together, and are settling it with iron.

**710** Atque illi, ut vacuo patuerunt aequore campi,  
And they, as soon as the fields lay open in empty level,

**711** procursu rapido, coniectis eminus hastis,  
run swiftly out, throw their spears from a distance,

**712** invadunt Martem clipeis atque aere sonoro.  
and go into the war with shields and ringing bronze.

**713** Dat gemitum tellus; tum crebros ensibus ictus  
The earth gives a groan; then they double blow on blow

**714** congeminant: fors et virtus miscentur in unum.  
with their swords: chance and courage are mixed into one thing.
> Skill and luck named together: virtus is what a fighter brings to a duel, and fors is what happens to him by chance. miscentur in unum, 'are mixed into one', states that at close range the two are no longer separable in the outcome.

**715** Ac velut ingenti Sila summove Taburno  
And as on the huge Sila, or on the top of Taburnus,

**716** cum duo conversis inimica in proelia tauri  
when two bulls run at each other, foreheads turned

**717** frontibus incurrunt; pavidi cessere magistri,  
for a fight to the death; the herdsmen have given ground in fear,

**718** stat pecus omne metu mutum mussantque iuvencae,  
the whole herd stands dumb with fright, and the heifers mutter

**719** quis nemori imperitet, quem tota armenta sequantur;  
which is to rule the wood, which all the cattle are to follow;

**720** illi inter sese multa vi volnera miscent  
they trade wounds between them with great force,

**721** cornuaque obnixi infigunt et sanguine largo  
and shoving hard drive their horns in, and wash necks and shoulders

**722** colla armosque lavant; gemitu nemus omne remugit:  
in running blood; the whole wood bellows the groaning back:

**723** non aliter Tros Aeneas et Daunius heros  
no otherwise do Trojan Aeneas and the Daunian hero

**724** concurrunt clipeis; ingens fragor aethera complet.  
clash with their shields; a huge crash fills the upper air.

**725** Iuppiter ipse duas aequato examine lances  
Jupiter himself holds up two scale-pans with the beam made level,

**726** sustinet et fata imponit diversa duorum,  
and sets in them the differing fates of the two,

**727** quem damnet labor et quo vergat pondere letum;  
asking whom the struggle condemns, and with what weight death sinks down.
> A courtroom verb for a battle: damnare, here damnet, means to condemn, the verb used for a legal verdict against a defendant, not an ordinary word for battle. Jupiter's scales are read here as delivering a judgment rather than simply deciding an outcome.

**728** Emicat hic, impune putans, et corpore toto  
Here Turnus darts out, thinking it will cost him nothing, and rises

**729** alte sublatum consurgit Turnus in ensem  
with his whole body into the sword lifted high,

**730** et ferit: exclamant Troes trepidique Latini,  
and strikes. The Trojans cry out, and the Latins in their fear,

**731** arrectaeque amborum acies. At perfidus ensis  
and both lines strain forward. But the treacherous sword
> An insult attached to an object: perfidus, 'faithless', is the word Italians and Trojans use of each other throughout the poem for breaking an oath. Here perfidus ensis, 'the faithless sword', applies it to a piece of metal instead of to a person, at the moment the sword breaks.

**732** frangitur in medioque ardentem deserit ictu  
breaks, and leaves him in the middle of the burning stroke,

**733** ni fuga subsidio subeat. Fugit ocior euro,  
unless flight comes to his rescue. He runs, faster than the east wind,

**734** ut capulum ignotum dextramque aspexit inermem.  
the instant he saw the hilt was strange and his right hand bare.

**735** Fama est praecipitem, cum prima in proelia iunctos  
The story goes that in his haste, as he was mounting his yoked horses

**736** conscendebat equos, patrio mucrone relicto,  
for the first fighting, he left his father's blade behind

**737** dum trepidat, ferrum aurigae rapuisse Metisci.  
and, hurrying, snatched up the iron of his driver Metiscus.

**738** Idque diu, dum terga dabant palantia Teucri,  
And for a long time, while the Teucrians were giving ground and scattering,

**739** suffecit: postquam arma dei ad Volcania ventumst,  
it served: after it came up against the god Vulcan's armor,

**740** mortalis mucro glacies ceu futilis ictu  
the mortal blade flew apart at the stroke like brittle

**741** dissiluit; fulva resplendent fragmina harena.  
ice; the fragments glitter on the yellow sand.

**742** Ergo amens diversa fuga petit aequora Turnus  
So Turnus, out of his mind, makes for the open in scattering flight,

**743** et nunc huc, inde huc incertos implicat orbes  
and winds uncertain circles now this way, now that;

**744** undique enim densa Teucri inclusere corona,  
for the Teucrians have shut him in with a thick ring on every side,

**745** atque hinc vasta palus, hinc ardua moenia cingunt.  
and on this hand a huge marsh, on that hand steep walls, hem him about.

**746** Nec minus Aeneas, quamquam tardata sagitta  
No less does Aeneas follow, though the knees the arrow slowed

**747** interdum genua impediunt cursumque recusant,  
hinder him at times and refuse the running,

**748** insequitur trepidique pedem pede fervidus urget:  
and burning he presses foot on the foot of the frightened man:

**749** inclusum veluti siquando flumine nanctus  
as when a hunting hound has come on a stag shut in

**750** cervum aut puniceae saeptum formidine pinnae  
by a river, or hedged by the terror of the crimson feather,

**751** venator cursu canis et latratibus instat;  
and presses on it with running and with barking;

**752** ille autem, insidiis et ripa territus alta,  
but the stag, terrified by the trap and by the high bank,

**753** mille fugit refugitque vias; at vividus Umber  
runs and runs back a thousand ways; but the lively Umbrian

**754** haeret hians, iam iamque tenet similisque tenenti  
hangs on with open jaws, and now, now has him, and as if he had him

**755** increpuit malis morsuque elusus inani est.  
his teeth snap, and he is cheated with an empty bite.

**756** Tum vero exoritur clamor, ripaeque lacusque  
Then indeed a shout goes up, and the banks and the pools

**757** responsant circa et caelum tonat omne tumultu.  
answer round about, and the whole sky thunders with the uproar.

**758** Ille simul fugiens Rutulos simul increpat omnis,  
He, running, shouts at all the Rutulians at once,

**759** nomine quemque vocans, notumque efflagitat ensem.  
calling each one by name, and demands the sword he knows.

**760** Aeneas mortem contra praesensque minatur  
Aeneas against that threatens death and destruction

**761** exitium, si quisquam adeat, terretque trementis  
on the spot for anyone who comes near, and terrifies them, shaking,

**762** excisurum urbem minitans et saucius instat.  
with a threat to cut the city down; and wounded, he presses on.

**763** Quinque orbis explent cursu totidemque retexunt  
Five circles they complete at a run, and unwind as many

**764** huc illuc; neque enim levia aut ludicra petuntur  
this way and that; for it is no light prize, no prize of the games,

**765** praemia, sed Turni de vita et sanguine certant.  
that is sought here: they are contending for the life and blood of Turnus.

**766** Forte sacer Fauno foliis oleaster amaris  
It happened that a wild olive with bitter leaves, sacred to Faunus,

**767** hic steterat, nautis olim venerabile lignum,  
had stood here, a timber the sailors once held in awe,

**768** servati ex undis ubi figere dona solebant  
where men saved from the waves used to fasten their offerings

**769** Laurenti divo et votas suspendere vestes,  
to the Laurentine god, and hang up the clothes they had vowed;

**770** sed stirpem Teucri nullo discrimine sacrum  
but the Teucrians had taken the sacred stock away

**771** sustulerant, puro ut possent concurrere campo.  
without making any distinction, so that they could fight on a clear field.

**772** Hic hasta Aeneae stabat, huc impetus illam  
Here Aeneas' spear was standing; the throw had carried it

**773** detulerat fixam et lenta in radice tenebat.  
down to this place and fixed it, and the tough root held it.

**774** Incubuit voluitque manu convellere ferrum  
The son of Dardanus leaned on it and wanted to wrench the iron out

**775** Dardanides teloque sequi, quem prendere cursu  
with his hand, and to chase with a weapon the man he could not

**776** non poterat. Tum vero amens formidine Turnus  
catch by running. Then Turnus, out of his mind with terror,

**777** “Faune, precor, miserere,” inquit, “tuque optima ferrum  
“Faunus, I beg you, have pity,” he says, “and you, best Earth,

**778** terra tene, colui vestros si semper honores,  
hold the iron, if I always kept your honors,

**779** quos contra Aeneadae bello fecere profanos.”  
which the followers of Aeneas have made unholy by war.”

**780** Dixit opemque dei non cassa in vota vocavit.  
He spoke, and called the god's help into prayers that were not empty.

**781** Namque diu luctans lentoque in stirpe moratus  
For struggling a long time, held up in the tough stock,

**782** viribus haud ullis valuit discludere morsus  
Aeneas had no strength enough to force apart the bite

**783** roboris Aeneas. Dum nititur acer et instat,  
of the wood. While he strains keenly and presses at it,

**784** rursus in aurigae faciem mutata Metisci  
the Daunian goddess, changed once more into the face

**785** procurrit fratrique ensem dea Daunia reddit.  
of the driver Metiscus, runs out and gives her brother back his sword.

**786** Quod Venus audaci nymphae indignata licere  
Venus, indignant that so bold a nymph should be allowed this,

**787** adcessit telumque alta ab radice revellit.  
came up and tore the weapon out of the deep root.

**788** Olli sublimes armis animisque refecti,  
They, lifted up, restored in their arms and in their spirits,

**789** hic gladio fidens, hic acer et arduus hasta,  
the one trusting his sword, the other keen and towering with his spear,

**790** adsistunt contra certamina Martis anheli.  
stand facing each other for the contests of panting war.

**791** Iunonem interea rex omnipotentis Olympi  
Meanwhile the king of all-powerful Olympus speaks to Juno

**792** adloquitur fulva pugnas de nube tuentem:  
as she watches the fighting from a tawny cloud:

**793** “Qua iam finis erit, coniunx? Quid denique restat?  
“What end will there be now, wife? What is left at the last?

**794** Indigetem Aenean scis ipsa et scire fateris  
You know yourself, and admit you know, that Aeneas as a god of this soil
> A title for a local god: The di indigetes were Rome's own native gods, and Aeneas was worshipped under this title as Iuppiter Indiges at Lavinium. Jupiter uses this name to tell Juno that Aeneas already counts as one of Italy's own gods.

**795** deberi caelo fatisque ad sidera tolli.  
is owed to heaven, and is being lifted by the fates to the stars.

**796** Quid struis, aut qua spe gelidis in nubibus haeres?  
What are you building? On what hope do you hang in the cold clouds?

**797** Mortalin decuit violari volnere divom,  
Was it fitting that a god be violated by a mortal wound,

**798** aut ensem (quid enim sine te Iuturna valeret?)  
or that a sword (for what could Juturna do without you?)

**799** ereptum reddi Turno et vim crescere victis?  
be given back to Turnus once lost, and force grow in the beaten?

**800** Desine iam tandem precibusque inflectere nostris,  
Stop now, at last, and be bent by our prayers;
> A disputed reading: The manuscript can be read as ne, 'so that not', giving a negative purpose, stop so that grief will not consume you, or as ni, 'unless', giving a harsher alternative. The sequence of subjunctives favors ne, the reading generally followed, but the text itself is disputed.

**801** ni te tantus edit tacitam dolor et mihi curae  
so that so great a grief may not eat you in silence, and so that sad cares

**802** saepe tuo dulci tristes ex ore recursent,  
may not keep coming back to me, over and over, out of your sweet mouth.

**803** ventum ad supremum est. Terris agitare vel undis  
The last point has been reached. You have had it in your power to harry

**804** Troianos potuisti, infandum adcendere bellum,  
the Trojans over land or over water, to kindle an unspeakable war,

**805** deformare domum et luctu miscere hymenaeos:  
to disfigure a house, and to mix a wedding with mourning:

**806** ulterius temptare veto.” Sic Iuppiter orsus;  
I forbid you to try further.” So Jupiter began;

**807** sic dea submisso contra Saturnia voltu:  
and so Saturn's daughter answered, with her face lowered:

**808** “Ista quidem quia nota mihi tua, magne, voluntas,  
“Because that will of yours was known to me, great

**809** Iuppiter, et Turnum et terras invita reliqui;  
Jupiter, I left both Turnus and the earth, unwilling as I was;

**810** nec tu me aeria solam nunc sede videres  
and you would not be seeing me now alone in a seat of air,

**811** digna indigna pati, sed flammis cincta sub ipsa  
bearing what is deserved and undeserved, but I would be standing
> Two opposites with no conjunction: digna and indigna, 'deserved' and 'undeserved', are placed side by side with no conjunction between them, a pattern borrowed from Greek. The phrase means 'whatever comes, earned or not', said without judging which it will be.

**812** starem acie traheremque inimica in proelia Teucros.  
in the battle line itself, ringed in flames, and dragging Teucrians into a fight they would hate.

**813** Iuturnam misero, fateor, succurrere fratri  
I persuaded Juturna, I confess it, to run to her poor brother's help,

**814** suasi et pro vita maiora audere probavi,  
and I approved her daring greater things for his life,

**815** non ut tela tamen, non ut contenderet arcum:  
but not that she should send a weapon, not that she should bend a bow:

**816** adiuro Stygii caput implacabile fontis,  
I swear it by the implacable head of the Stygian spring,

**817** una superstitio superis quae reddita divis.  
the one dread that has been given to the gods above.

**818** Et nunc cedo equidem pugnasque exosa relinquo.  
And now I give way, for my part, and leave the fighting, hating it.

**819** Illud te, nulla fati quod lege tenetur,  
This one thing, which is held by no law of fate, I ask of you
> A request fate leaves open: nulla fati lege tenetur, 'held by no law of fate', marks the one thing Juno is about to ask for as not already fixed by fate. She asks only for what remains open, not for the outcome itself, which is already decided.

**820** pro Latio obtestor, pro maiestate tuorum:  
for the sake of Latium, for the standing of your own people:

**821** cum iam conubis pacem felicibus, esto,  
when they settle the peace at last with lucky marriages, so be it,

**822** component, cum iam leges et foedera iungent,  
when they are already joining laws and treaties together,

**823** ne vetus indigenas nomen mutare Latinos  
do not order the native Latins to change their ancient name,

**824** neu Troas fieri iubeas Teucrosque vocari  
or to become Trojans and be called Teucrians,

**825** aut vocem mutare viros aut vertere vestem.  
or the men to change their speech, or to turn their dress.

**826** Sit Latium, sint Albani per saecula reges,  
Let there be Latium, let there be Alban kings down the ages,

**827** sit Romana potens Itala virtute propago:  
let the Roman stock be strong in Italian courage:

**828** occidit, occideritque sinas cum nomine Troia.”  
Troy has fallen; let it stay fallen, and its name with it.”
> One verb in two tenses: occidit, 'it has fallen', a plain perfect, is followed by occiderit, a perfect subjunctive used as a command, 'let it have fallen'. Juno demands not that Troy be destroyed, which has already happened, but that it never exist again.

**829** Olli subridens hominum rerumque repertor  
Smiling at her, the finder of men and of things said:

**830** “Es germana Iovis Saturnique altera proles:  
“You are Jove's own sister, and Saturn's other child:

**831** irarum tantos volvis sub pectore fluctus.  
such waves of anger do you roll beneath your breast.
> Anger described as waves: irarum fluctus, 'waves of anger', joins ira, 'anger', to the same sea imagery used for Juno's storm against the Trojans in the poem's opening lines. Jupiter uses the same pairing of words to name the anger still inside her at the poem's end.

**832** Verum age et inceptum frustra submitte furorem  
But come, put down the madness you began for nothing:

**833** do quod vis, et me victusque volensque remitto.  
I grant what you want, and give in, beaten, and willing at once.
> Two participles joined equally: victus, 'beaten', and volens, 'willing', are joined by two -que endings, so neither is grammatically subordinate to the other. Jupiter states both as true of himself in the same breath, conceding to Juno and calling it his own choice at once.

**834** Sermonem Ausonii patrium moresque tenebunt,  
The Ausonians will keep their fathers' speech and their customs,

**835** utque est nomen erit; commixti corpore tantum  
and their name will stand as it is; mixed only in the body,
> A word for settling like sediment: subsidere means to sink down or settle, the word used for a sediment at the bottom of a liquid. commixti corpore tantum, 'mixed only in body', states that the Trojans contribute only blood to the new people, nothing else.

**836** subsident Teucri. Morem ritusque sacrorum  
the Teucrians will settle among them. I will add the observance

**837** adiciam faciamque omnis uno ore Latinos.  
and the rites of worship, and make them all Latins with one mouth.

**838** Hinc genus Ausonio mixtum quod sanguine surget,  
The race that will rise from here, mixed with Ausonian blood,

**839** supra homines, supra ire deos pietate videbis,  
you will see go past men, past gods, in duty,
> A quality given to a people: pietas, duty to gods, family, and country, was named as Aeneas' defining quality near the poem's start. Here Jupiter applies the same word, pietate, to the future Roman people as a whole, rather than to Aeneas alone.

**840** nec gens ulla tuos aeque celebrabit honores.”  
and no nation will keep your honors as well as this one.”

**841** Adnuit his Iuno et mentem laetata retorsit.  
Juno nodded to this, and gladdened, turned her mind about;
> A verb reused from elsewhere: retorquere, 'to twist back', here retorsit, is the same verb used earlier in the book for Juturna wrenching a chariot around. Juno's change of mind is described with the identical verb used there for a physical reversal in direction.

**842** Interea excedit caelo nubemque relinquit.  
and meanwhile she goes out of the sky and leaves her cloud.

**843** His actis aliud genitor secum ipse volutat  
These things done, the father turns another over in himself,

**844** Iuturnamque parat fratris dimittere ab armis.  
and prepares to send Juturna away from her brother's arms.

**845** Dicuntur geminae pestes cognomine Dirae,  
There are two plagues called by the name of the Dirae,

**846** quas et Tartaream Nox intempesta Megaeram  
whom untimely Night bore, and Megaera of Tartarus with them,

**847** uno eodemque tulit partu paribusque revinxit  
at one and the same birth, and wound about them equally

**848** serpentum spiris ventosasque addidit alas.  
the coils of serpents, and added wings of wind.

**849** Hae Iovis ad solium saevique in limine regis  
These appear at Jove's throne and on the threshold of the savage

**850** adparent acuuntque metum mortalibus aegris,  
king, and sharpen the fear of sick mortals,

**851** siquando letum horrificum morbosque deum rex  
whenever the king of the gods sets a horrible death or diseases in motion,

**852** molitur meritas aut bello territat urbes.  
or terrifies with war the cities that have earned it.

**853** Harum unam celerem demisit ab aethere summo  
One of these, the swift one, Jupiter sent down from the top of the air

**854** Iuppiter inque omen Iuturnae occurrere iussit.  
and ordered her to go and meet Juturna, and be a sign.

**855** Illa volat celerique ad terram turbine fertur.  
She flies, and is carried to the ground in a fast whirlwind.

**856** Non secus ac nervo per nubem impulsa sagitta,  
Just as an arrow driven from a bowstring through a cloud,

**857** armatam saevi Parthus quam felle veneni,  
which a Parthian has armed with the gall of a savage poison,

**858** Parthus sive Cydon, telum immedicabile, torsit,  
a Parthian, or a Cydonian, and hurled, a weapon past curing,

**859** stridens et celeris incognita transilit umbras:  
and it leaps whistling and unseen through the quick shadows:

**860** talis se sata Nocte tulit terrasque petivit.  
so the daughter of Night carried herself, and made for the earth.

**861** Postquam acies videt Iliacas atque agmina Turni,  
When she sees the Ilian lines and the columns of Turnus,

**862** alitis in parvae subitam conlecta figuram,  
she is suddenly shrunk into the shape of a small bird,

**863** quae quondam in bustis aut culminibus desertis  
the kind that sometimes sits at night on tombs or on abandoned

**864** nocte sedens serum canit importuna per umbras,  
roof ridges, and sings late through the dark, unwelcome:

**865** hanc versa in faciem Turni se pestis ob ora  
turned into this shape, the plague carries herself before Turnus'

**866** fertque refertque sonans clipeumque everberat alis.  
face, back and forth, sounding, and beats his shield with her wings.

**867** Olli membra novus solvit formidine torpor,  
A strange numbness loosened his limbs with terror,
> A phrase that returns later: membra solvit, 'loosened his limbs', names cold or fear taking the strength from a body. The same verb and noun return in the poem's final lines, describing Turnus' limbs loosened again, that time by death.

**868** adrectaeque horrore comae, et vox faucibus haesit.  
his hair stood up in a shudder, and his voice stuck in his throat.

**869** At procul ut Dirae stridorem adgnovit et alas,  
But when from far off Juturna knew the Dira's screech and her wings,

**870** infelix crinis scindit Iuturna solutos,  
the unlucky one tears at her loosened hair,

**871** unguibus ora soror foedans et pectora pugnis:  
the sister, fouling her face with her nails and her breast with her fists:

**872** “Quid nunc te tua, Turne, potest germana iuvare?  
“What can your own sister do for you now, Turnus?

**873** Aut quid iam durae superat mihi? Qua tibi lucem  
Or what is left over for me, hardened as I am? By what art

**874** arte morer? Talin possum me opponere monstro?  
can I hold the daylight for you? Can I set myself against a thing like that?

**875** Iam iam linquo acies. Ne me terrete timentem,  
Now, now I leave the lines. Do not frighten me, I am afraid already,

**876** obscenae volucres: alarum verbera nosco  
you birds of ill omen: I know the beating of those wings

**877** letalemque sonum, nec fallunt iussa superba  
and the deadly sound, and the proud orders of great-hearted

**878** magnanimi Iovis. Haec pro virginitate reponit?  
Jove do not escape me. Is this what he pays me back for my virginity?

**879** Quo vitam dedit aeternam? Cur mortis ademptast  
To what end did he give me a life without end? Why has the right

**880** condicio? Possem tantos finire dolores  
of dying been taken from me? Now, certainly, I could make an end

**881** nunc certe et misero fratri comes ire per umbras!  
of such great pain, and go as my poor brother's companion through the shades!

**882** Immortalis ego? Aut quicquam mihi dulce meorum  
Immortal, I? Or will anything of mine be sweet to me

**883** te sine, frater, erit? O quae satis ima dehiscet  
without you, brother? Oh, what earth will gape deep enough

**884** terra mihi Manisque deam demittet ad imos?”  
for me, and send a goddess down to the lowest Shades?”

**885** Tantum effata caput glauco contexit amictu  
Having said only this, she covered her head with a blue-grey cloak,

**886** multa gemens et se fluvio dea condidit alto.  
groaning much, and the goddess hid herself deep in her river.

**887** Aeneas instat contra telumque coruscat  
Aeneas presses on against him and makes his spear flash,

**888** ingens arboreum et saevo sic pectore fatur:  
huge, a tree of a thing, and speaks so out of a savage heart:

**889** “Quae nunc deinde mora est? Aut quid iam, Turne, retractas?  
“What is the delay now, after all this? Why do you draw back, Turnus?
> One word, first line to last: mora, 'delay', is the word Turnus used of himself in the book's opening lines, saying there is no delay in him. Aeneas repeats the same word back to him here, near the end of the fight.

**890** Non cursu, saevis certandum est comminus armis.  
It is not to be settled by running, but hand to hand, with savage arms.

**891** Verte omnis tete in facies et contrahe quidquid  
Turn yourself into every shape, and gather whatever you can do

**892** sive animis sive arte vales; opta ardua pennis  
by courage or by craft; choose to follow the steep stars

**893** astra sequi clausumve cava te condere terra.”  
on wings, or to shut yourself away in the hollow earth.”

**894** Ille caput quassans “Non me tua fervida terrent  
He, shaking his head: “Your burning words do not frighten me,

**895** dicta, ferox: di me terrent et Iuppiter hostis.”  
savage as you are: the gods frighten me, and Jupiter my enemy.”

**896** Nec plura effatus saxum circumspicit ingens,  
He said no more, but looks around for an enormous stone,

**897** saxum antiquum ingens, campo quod forte iacebat,  
an ancient enormous stone that happened to be lying on the plain,

**898** limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis.  
set as a boundary mark, to settle a dispute over the ploughland.

**899** Vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent,  
Twice six picked men could hardly get their necks under it,

**900** qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus:  
of the sort of bodies the earth brings forth now:

**901** ille manu raptum trepida torquebat in hostem  
he snatched it up in a shaking hand and was hurling it at his enemy,

**902** altior insurgens et cursu concitus heros.  
the hero, rising to his full height and driven on by his run.

**903** Sed neque currentem se nec cognoscit euntem  
But he does not know himself running, nor going forward,

**904** tollentemve manus saxumve immane moventem;  
nor lifting his hands, nor shifting the monstrous stone;

**905** genua labant, gelidus concrevit frigore sanguis.  
his knees give way, his blood has thickened with cold.

**906** Tum lapis ipse viri, vacuum per inane volutus,  
Then the man's stone itself, rolled through the empty void,

**907** nec spatium evasit totum neque pertulit ictum.  
neither crossed the whole distance nor carried its blow home.

**908** Ac velut in somnis, oculos ubi languida pressit  
And as in dreams, when at night a heavy rest has pressed

**909** nocte quies, nequiquam avidos extendere cursus  
our eyes down, we seem to want to stretch out an eager run

**910** velle videmur et in mediis conatibus aegri  
and cannot, and in the middle of the trying we sink down

**911** succidimus, non lingua valet, non corpore notae  
sick; the tongue has no power, the strength we know in the body

**912** sufficiunt vires, nec vox aut verba sequuntur:  
is not there, and neither voice nor words will follow:

**913** sic Turno, quacumque viam virtute petivit,  
so for Turnus, by whatever courage he looked for a way,

**914** successum dea dira negat. Tum pectore sensus  
the dread goddess refuses the outcome. Then in his breast

**915** vertuntur varii. Rutulos aspectat et urbem  
his feelings turn every way. He looks at the Rutulians and the city,

**916** cunctaturque metu letumque instare tremescit;  
and hangs back in fear, and trembles at the death standing over him;

**917** nec quo se eripiat, nec qua vi tendat in hostem,  
and he sees nowhere to break away to, no force to drive at his enemy,

**918** nec currus usquam videt aurigamve sororem.  
nor the chariot anywhere, nor his sister the driver.

**919** Cunctanti telum Aeneas fatale coruscat,  
As he hangs back, Aeneas makes the fated spear flash,

**920** sortitus fortunam oculis, et corpore toto  
picking his chance with his eyes, and with his whole body behind it
> Choosing described as drawing lots: sortiri means to draw lots, normally for chance selection. sortitus fortunam oculis, 'having drawn his fortune with his eyes', describes Aeneas choosing where to strike, using the verb for casting lots rather than the ordinary word for aiming.

**921** eminus intorquet. Murali concita numquam  
hurls it from a distance. Stones driven from a siege engine

**922** tormento sic saxa fremunt, nec fulmine tanti  
against a wall never roar so, nor do crashes so great leap out

**923** dissultant crepitus. Volat atri turbinis instar  
from a thunderbolt. The spear flies, the likeness of a black whirlwind,

**924** exitium dirum hasta ferens orasque recludit  
carrying dread destruction, and lays open the edges

**925** loricae et clipei extremos septemplicis orbes.  
of the corselet and the outermost circles of the sevenfold shield.

**926** Per medium stridens transit femur. Incidit ictus  
It goes whistling through the middle of the thigh. Struck by the blow,

**927** ingens ad terram duplicato poplite Turnus.  
huge Turnus goes down to the ground with his knee doubled under him.

**928** Consurgunt gemitu Rutuli, totusque remugit  
The Rutulians rise up with a groan, and the whole mountain

**929** mons circum, et vocem late nemora alta remittunt.  
bellows around, and the high woods send the sound back far.

**930** Ille humilis supplexque oculos, dextramque precantem  
He, low and a suppliant, holding out his eyes and his right hand

**931** protendens, “Equidem merui nec deprecor,” inquit:  
in prayer, “I have earned it, and I do not ask to be let off,” he says:

**932** “utere sorte tua. Miseri te siqua parentis  
“use your fortune. If any care for a wretched father

**933** tangere cura potest, oro (fuit et tibi talis  
can touch you, I beg you (and you had such a father too,

**934** Anchises genitor), Dauni miserere senectae  
Anchises), pity the old age of Daunus,

**935** et me seu corpus spoliatum lumine mavis  
and give me back to my own people, or, if you would rather, my body

**936** redde meis. Vicisti, et victum tendere palmas  
with the light taken out of it. You have won, and the Ausonians

**937** Ausonii videre; tua est Lavinia coniunx:  
have seen a beaten man stretch out his palms; Lavinia is your wife;

**938** ulterius ne tende odiis.” Stetit acer in armis  
do not reach out further in hatred.” Aeneas stood, keen

**939** Aeneas, volvens oculos, dextramque repressit;  
in his arms, rolling his eyes, and held his right hand back;
> The hand that swore treaties, checked: dextram, 'right hand', is the hand used earlier in the poem to swear the treaty and to offer peace unarmed. repressit, 'he held back', stops that same hand in mid motion, held there while a speech is made to him.

**940** et iam iamque magis cunctantem flectere sermo  
and now, more and more, the words had begun to bend him

**941** coeperat, infelix umero cum apparuit alto  
as he hesitated, when high on the shoulder the unlucky sword-belt

**942** balteus et notis fulserunt cingula bullis  
came into sight, and the straps shone with the studs he knew,

**943** Pallantis pueri, victum quem volnere Turnus  
of the boy Pallas, whom Turnus had beaten with a wound

**944** straverat atque umeris inimicum insigne gerebat.  
and laid low, and whose badge he was wearing on his shoulders as an enemy's.

**945** Ille, oculis postquam saevi monimenta doloris  
When he had drunk in with his eyes the reminders of a savage grief

**946** exuviasque hausit, furiis accensus et ira  
and the spoils, kindled by furies and terrible in his

**947** terribilis, “Tune hinc spoliis indute meorum  
anger, he says: “Are you, dressed in the plunder of my own people,

**948** eripiare mihi? Pallas te hoc volnere, Pallas  
to be torn from me now? Pallas, Pallas with this wound

**949** immolat et poenam scelerato ex sanguine sumit,”  
makes a sacrifice of you, and takes his penalty out of your guilty blood,”
> The verb for a sacrifice: immolat, 'sacrifices', is the verb for killing a victim at an altar, the same rite performed earlier to seal the treaty. Aeneas is described as saying that Pallas immolat, sacrifices, Turnus, rather than that Aeneas himself kills him.

**950** hoc dicens ferrum adverso sub pectore condit  
and saying this he buries the iron in the chest facing him,

**951** fervidus. Ast illi solvuntur frigore membra  
burning. But the other's limbs are loosened with cold,

**952** vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.  
and with a groan the life fled, resentful, under the shades.
> The poem's final word: indignata, 'refusing to accept it', is a participle describing the life leaving the body still in protest. It is the same word Vergil used at Camilla's death, and it is also the last word of the entire poem.

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Source text: public domain (Vergil, Aeneid, ed. J. B. Greenough, Boston: Ginn and Company, 1900), as encoded in the Perseus Digital Library canonical-latinLit TEI, CC BY-SA 4.0. English translation and notes: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC, line for line. Narration: read by Malone (LibriVox, 2012), public domain.