# The Aeneid, Book 9: The Camp Besieged: Nisus and Euryalus

Aeneis · Publius Vergilius Maro · The War in Latium

Turnus attacks the camp while Aeneas is away. Nisus and Euryalus die on a night raid. Turnus is trapped inside and fights his way out.

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/aeneid/9. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/aeneid/9.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/aeneid/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Atque ea diversa penitus dum parte geruntur,  
And while these things are being done in a quarter far away,
> A while clause for elsewhere: Dum with geruntur, present passive, gives 'while these things are being done', the ordinary way Latin marks one action running alongside another. Diversa penitus parte, 'in a wholly separate quarter', places that action far away, shifting the narrative to events happening somewhere else.

**2** Irim de caelo misit Saturnia Iuno  
Saturn's daughter Juno sent Iris down from the sky

**3** audacem ad Turnum. Luco tum forte parentis  
to bold Turnus. In the grove of his forefather

**4** Pilumni Turnus sacrata valle sedebat.  
Pilumnus, in a hallowed valley, Turnus happened then to be sitting.

**5** Ad quem sic roseo Thaumantias ore locuta est:  
To him the daughter of Thaumas spoke so, with rosy lips:

**6** “Turne, quod optanti divom promittere nemo  
“Turnus, what none of the gods would have dared to promise you

**7** auderet, volvenda dies en attulit ultro.  
for the asking, look, the rolling day has brought unasked.
> A gerundive used loosely: Volvenda is the gerundive of volvo, 'to roll', normally meaning 'needing to be rolled'. Here it describes dies, 'day', in a looser sense, 'the day that rolls round', an older use close to a middle voice rather than strict obligation.

**8** Aeneas urbe et sociis et classe relicta  
Aeneas has left city and comrades and fleet behind

**9** sceptra Palatini sedemque petit Euandri.  
and gone after the scepter and the seat of Palatine Evander.

**10** Nec satis: extremas Corythi penetravit ad urbes  
Nor is that enough: he has pushed on to the farthest towns of Corythus

**11** Lydorumque manum collectos armat agrestis.  
and is arming a Lydian company, farmhands mustered together.

**12** Quid dubitas? Nunc tempus equos, nunc poscere currus.  
Why hang back? Now is the time to call for horses, for chariots.

**13** Rumpe moras omnis et turbata arripe castra.”  
Break off every delay and snatch the camp while it is in confusion.”

**14** Dixit et in caelum paribus se sustulit alis  
She spoke, and lifted herself into the sky on level wings

**15** ingentemque fuga secuit sub nubibus arcum.  
and in her flight cut a huge bow beneath the clouds.
> The word for a rainbow: Arcus is 'bow', used here for the arc a rainbow traces, since Iris is the rainbow's messenger. Ingentem, 'huge', describes the shape she cuts through the sky as she flies beneath the clouds.

**16** Adgnovit iuvenis duplicisque ad sidera palmas  
The young man knew her, and raised both palms to the stars

**17** sustulit ac tali fugientem est voce secutus:  
and followed her going with a voice like this:

**18** “Iri, decus caeli, quis te mihi nubibus actam  
“Iris, glory of the sky, who has driven you through the clouds

**19** detulit in terras? Unde haec tam clara repente  
and brought you down to me on the earth? Where does this weather come from,

**20** tempestas? Medium video discedere caelum  
so suddenly bright? I see the middle sky part open

**21** palantisque polo stellas. Sequor omina tanta,  
and stars straying over the pole. I follow so great a sign,

**22** quisquis in arma vocas.” Et sic effatus ad undam  
whoever you are that call me to arms.” And so speaking he went forward

**23** processit summoque hausit de gurgite lymphas,  
to the water and drew up a handful from the top of the flood,

**24** multa deos orans, oneravitque aethera votis.  
praying much to the gods, and loaded the air with vows.

**25** Iamque omnis campis exercitus ibat apertis,  
And now the whole army was moving over the open fields,

**26** dives equum, dives pictaï vestis et auri;  
rich in horses, rich in embroidered cloth and in gold;
> An archaic genitive spelling: Pictaï is an old genitive singular of the first declension, three syllables where the classical form pictae has two. It agrees with vestis, 'of embroidered cloth', naming what is rich alongside the horses and gold.

**27** Messapus primas acies, postrema coercent  
Messapus holds the front ranks, the young sons of Tyrrhus

**28** Tyrrhidae iuvenes, medio dux agmine Turnus,  
the rear; in the middle of the column their leader Turnus,

**29** vertitur arma tenens et toto vertice supra est.  
moves under arms, and stands a whole head above them.

**30** Ceu septem surgens sedatis amnibus altus  
As when deep Ganges, swelling with his seven quieted streams,

**31** per tacitum Ganges aut pingui flumine Nilus  
goes on in silence, or the Nile, when with his rich flood he flows back

**32** cum refluit campis et iam se condidit alveo.  
off the fields and has already buried himself in his channel.

**33** Hic subitam nigro glomerari pulvere nubem  
Here the Teucrians look out and see a sudden cloud

**34** prospiciunt Teucri ac tenebras insurgere campis.  
balling up in black dust, and darkness rising over the plains.

**35** Primus ab adversa conclamat mole Caicus:  
Caicus first shouts out from the rampart that faces them:

**36** “Quis globus, o cives, caligine volvitur atra?  
“What mass is that, citizens, rolling in the black murk?

**37** Ferte citi ferrum, date tela, ascendite muros,  
Bring iron, quick; hand up the spears; climb the walls;

**38** hostis adest, heia!” Ingenti clamore per omnis  
the enemy is on us, up!” With a huge shout the Teucrians

**39** condunt se Teucri portas et moenia complent.  
pour in through every gate and fill the ramparts.

**40** Namque ita discedens praeceperat optumus armis  
For so, as he left, the best of men in arms, Aeneas,
> An old spelling with u: Optumus is an older spelling of optimus, 'best', with u where classical Latin later wrote i. It describes Aeneas, optumus armis, 'best in arms', as he gives orders before leaving.

**41** Aeneas: siqua interea fortuna fuisset,  
had ordered it: if anything should happen meanwhile,

**42** neu struere auderent aciem neu credere campo;  
they were not to dare draw up a line or trust the open field;

**43** castra modo et tutos servarent aggere muros.  
they were only to keep the camp and the walls safe behind the earthwork.

**44** Ergo etsi conferre manum pudor iraque monstrat,  
So, though shame and anger point them to close with him,

**45** obiciunt portas tamen et praecepta facessunt  
still they bar the gates and carry out the orders

**46** armatique cavis expectant turribus hostem.  
and wait for the enemy under arms in the hollow towers.

**47** Turnus ut ante volans tardum praecesserat agmen  
Turnus, flying ahead, had outrun the slow column

**48** viginti lectis equitum comitatus, et urbi  
with twenty picked horsemen for escort, and is at the town

**49** improvisus adest; maculis quem Thracius albis  
before anyone looks for him; a Thracian horse dappled white

**50** portat equus cristaque tegit galea aurea rubra.  
carries him, and a gold helmet with a red crest covers his head.

**51** “Ecquis erit, mecum, iuvenes, qui primus in hostem?  
“Is there a man of you, young men, to go first at the enemy with me?
> A question with no verb in it: Qui primus in hostem drops the verb of motion; Latin can omit ire, 'to go', when the direction is already stated. It is the first thing Turnus says in the book, a shout rather than a full sentence.

**52** En,” ait et iaculum attorquens emittit in auras,  
There,” he says, and, winding up, sends a javelin into the air,

**53** principium pugnae, et campo sese arduus infert.  
the opening of the fight, and carries himself high onto the field.

**54** Clamore excipiunt socii fremituque sequuntur  
His comrades take it up with a shout and follow him with a roar

**55** horrisono: Teucrum mirantur inertia corda,  
that raises the hair: they marvel at the Teucrians' listless hearts,

**56** non aequo dare se campo, non obvia ferre  
that these men do not put themselves on level ground, do not carry

**57** arma viros, sed castra fovere. Huc turbidus atque huc  
their arms out to meet them, but hug the camp. Wildly this way and that

**58** lustrat equo muros aditumque per avia quaerit.  
he rides round the walls and hunts for a way in where there is none.

**59** Ac veluti pleno lupus insidiatus ovili  
And as a wolf lying in wait at a full sheepfold

**60** cum fremit ad caulas, ventos perpessus et imbris,  
growls at the hurdles, having borne out the winds and the rain,

**61** nocte super media; tuti sub matribus agni  
past the middle of the night; the lambs, safe under their mothers,

**62** balatum exercent, ille asper et improbus ira  
keep up their bleating; he, savage and past shame with anger,

**63** saevit in absentis, collecta fatigat edendi  
rages at what he cannot reach; the long-gathered madness

**64** ex longo rabies et siccae sanguine fauces:  
for eating wears at him, and a throat dry of blood:

**65** haud aliter Rutulo muros et castra tuenti  
no otherwise, as the Rutulian looks at the walls and the camp,

**66** ignescunt irae, duris dolor ossibus ardet.  
his wrath takes fire, and the pain burns in his hard bones.
> A word for grief and pain: Dolor covers both grief and physical pain, and in this poem often names a wound to a person's standing that has not been repaid. Here it burns in Turnus' bones, duris ossibus, 'in his hard bones', alongside his rising anger.

**67** Qua temptet ratione aditus et quae via clausos  
By what method should he try for a way in, what road

**68** excutiat Teucros vallo atque effundat in aequum?  
shake the shut-in Teucrians out of the stockade and spill them onto level ground?

**69** Classem, quae lateri castrorum adiuncta latebat,  
The fleet, which lay hidden along the flank of the camp,

**70** aggeribus saeptam circum et fluvialibus undis,  
fenced round with earthworks and with the river's water,

**71** invadit sociosque incendia poscit ovantis  
he goes for; he calls for fire from his exulting comrades

**72** atque manum pinu flagranti fervidus implet.  
and fills his own hand, burning, with a blazing pine-brand.

**73** Tum vero incumbunt, urget praesentia Turni,  
Then indeed they bend to it, Turnus being there presses them,

**74** atque omnis facibus pubes accingitur atris.  
and all the young men gird themselves with black torches.

**75** Diripuere focos; piceum fert fumida lumen  
They stripped the hearths; the smoking splint of pine carries a pitchy

**76** taeda et commixtam Volcanus ad astra favillam.  
light, and Vulcan sends the ash up mingled with it to the stars.

**77** Quis deus, o musae, tam saeva incendia Teucris  
What god, Muses, turned so cruel a burning away

**78** avertit? Tantos ratibus quis depulit ignes?  
from the Teucrians? Who drove such fires off from the ships?

**79** Dicite. Prisca fides facto, sed fama perennis.  
Tell it. The warrant for the deed is old, but the story runs on forever.
> Old warrant, endless story: Prisca fides facto, sed fama perennis has no verb: 'the belief in the deed is old, but the story is everlasting'. Fides here means the credit given to a report, not personal trust, and fama is what keeps being told about it.

**80** Tempore quo primum Phrygia formabat in Ida  
At the time when Aeneas was first shaping his fleet

**81** Aeneas classem et pelagi petere alta parabat,  
on Phrygian Ida and making ready to seek the deep sea,

**82** ipsa deum fertur genetrix Berecyntia magnum  
the Berecyntian mother of the gods herself, they say, addressed

**83** vocibus his adfata Iovem: “Da, nate, petenti,  
great Jove in these words: “Grant, my son, what she asks

**84** quod tua cara parens domito te poscit Olympo.  
who is your dear mother, and asks it of you now Olympus is tamed.

**85** Pinea silva mihi, multos dilecta per annos  
I had a pine wood, loved through many years,

**86** lucus in arce fuit summa, quo sacra ferebant,  
a grove on the highest summit, where they brought me offerings,

**87** nigranti picea trabibusque obscurus acernis:  
dark with black spruce and with trunks of maple:

**88** has ego Dardanio iuveni, cum classis egeret,  
gladly I gave these to the Dardanian youth when he needed a fleet;

**89** laeta dedi; nunc sollicitam timor anxius angit.  
now an anxious fear grips me and will not let me rest.

**90** Solve metus atque hoc precibus sine posse parentem:  
Undo my fears; let a mother's prayers have this much power:

**91** ne cursu quassatae ullo neu turbine venti  
that no voyage may shake them to pieces, no whirl of wind

**92** vincantur, prosit nostris in montibus ortas.”  
beat them down. Let it profit them that they grew on my mountains.”

**93** Filius huic contra, torquet qui sidera mundi:  
Her son answered her, he who turns the stars of the world:

**94** “O genetrix, quo fata vocas, aut quid petis istis?  
“Mother, where are you calling the fates? What are you asking for these?

**95** Mortaline manu factae immortale carinae  
Are keels made by a mortal hand to have an immortal
> The particle ne asking a question: The suffix -ne on mortaline turns the sentence into a question, and the subjunctive habeant makes it deliberative, 'are keels to have as their due?' Jupiter asks whether ships built by mortal hands may claim an immortal nature.

**96** fas habeant certusque incerta pericula lustret  
right, and is Aeneas to go safe through dangers that are not safe?

**97** Aeneas? Cui tanta deo permissa potestas?  
What god has ever been allowed so much power?

**98** Immo ubi defunctae finem portusque tenebunt  
No: rather, when they are done with the sea and hold at last

**99** Ausonios olim, quaecumque evaserit undis  
their end and the Ausonian harbors, whichever has come through the waves

**100** Dardaniumque ducem Laurentia vexerit arva,  
and carried the Dardanian leader to Laurentian fields,

**101** mortalem eripiam formam magnique iubebo  
I will take her mortal shape away, and order her to be a goddess

**102** aequoris esse deas, qualis Nereia Doto  
of the great water, as Doto the daughter of Nereus

**103** et Galatea secant spumantem pectore pontum.”  
and Galatea cut the foaming sea with their breasts.”

**104** Dixerat idque ratum Stygii per flumina fratris,  
He had spoken; and he made it binding by the rivers of his Stygian brother,

**105** per pice torrentis atraque voragine ripas  
by the banks that boil with pitch and by the black chasm,

**106** adnuit et totum nutu tremefecit Olympum.  
he nodded, and with the nod made the whole of Olympus tremble.

**107** Ergo aderat promissa dies et tempora Parcae  
So the promised day was here, and the Fates had filled out

**108** debita complerant, cum Turni iniuria Matrem  
the time that was owed, when Turnus' outrage warned the Mother

**109** admonuit ratibus sacris depellere taedas.  
to drive the torches away from her sacred ships.

**110** Hic primum nova lux oculis offulsit et ingens  
Here first a strange light flashed on their eyes, and a huge cloud
> Novus meaning strange, not new: Novus usually means 'new', but here with lux it carries the sense 'strange, unprecedented', a light like nothing seen before. The same phrase, nova lux, returns at line 731, when Turnus appears inside the camp.

**111** visus ab Aurora caelum transcurrere nimbus  
was seen running across the sky from the quarter of Dawn,

**112** Idaeique chori; tum vox horrenda per auras  
and the dancers of Ida with it; then a dreadful voice fell

**113** excidit et Troum Rutulorumque agmina complet:  
through the air and filled the columns of Trojans and Rutulians:

**114** “Ne trepidate meas, Teucri, defendere navis  
“Do not rush to the defense of my ships, Teucrians,

**115** neve armate manus: maria ante exurere Turno  
and do not arm your hands: Turnus will be given the sea

**116** quam sacras dabitur pinus. Vos ite solutae,  
to burn before he is given my holy pines. You, go free,
> A future passive with no subject: Dabitur is an impersonal future passive, 'it will be granted', with no expressed subject: 'it will be granted to Turnus to burn'. The clause names the seas before the sacras pinus, 'the sacred pines', reversing the order of what is actually wanted.

**117** ite deae pelagi: genetrix iubet.” Et sua quaeque  
go, goddesses of the water: your mother orders it.” And at once

**118** continuo puppes abrumpunt vincula ripis  
each ship breaks her own cables from the bank

**119** delphinumque modo demersis aequora rostris  
and, dolphin-fashion, plunges her beak and makes for the lowest

**120** ima petunt. Hinc virgineae (mirabile monstrum)  
floor of the sea. Then, in a girl's shape (a wonder to tell)
> Monstrum as a sign shown: Monstrum comes from moneo, 'to warn', something shown as a sign, only later 'monster' in English. Vergil uses the word both for the sea serpents at Troy and here, for a fleet of ships turning into girls.

**121** quot prius aeratae steterant ad litora prorae  
as many faces come back as there were bronze prows standing

**122** reddunt se totidem facies pontoque feruntur.  
before at the shore, and they are carried out over the deep.

**123** Obstipuere animis Rutuli, conterritus ipse  
The Rutulians stood stunned; Messapus himself was in terror,

**124** turbatis Messapus equis, cunctatur et amnis  
his horses in panic; and the river checks, harsh-sounding,

**125** rauca sonans revocatque pedem Tiberinus ab alto.  
and Tiberinus draws his foot back from the deep.

**126** At non audaci Turno fiducia cessit;  
But confidence did not fail bold Turnus;

**127** ultro animos tollit dictis atque increpat ultro:  
unasked he lifts their spirits with words, unasked he rebukes them:
> Unasked, twice: Ultro, 'unasked, of his own accord', opens and closes the line: ultro tollit, 'unasked he lifts', and increpat ultro, 'unasked he rebukes'. Nobody has asked Turnus for either the encouragement or the scolding he gives here.

**128** “Troianos haec monstra petunt, his Iuppiter ipse  
“These portents are aimed at the Trojans; Jupiter himself

**129** auxilium solitum eripuit, non tela neque ignes  
has torn from them the help they always had, the ships did not wait

**130** exspectans Rutulos. Ergo maria invia Teucris  
for Rutulian spears or fire. So the seas are closed to the Teucrians,

**131** nec spes ulla fugae: rerum pars altera adempta est.  
and no hope of flight is left: half the world has been taken from them.

**132** Terra autem in nostris manibus, tot milia gentes  
The land, though, is in our hands; so many thousand Italian peoples

**133** arma ferunt Italae. Nil me fatalia terrent,  
are carrying arms. Whatever answers of the gods the Phrygians

**134** siqua Phryges prae se iactant, responsa deorum:  
brandish in front of themselves, they do not frighten me at all:

**135** sat fatis Venerique datum, tetigere quod arva  
enough has been given to the fates and to Venus: the Trojans have touched

**136** fertilis Ausoniae Troes. Sunt et mea contra  
the fields of fertile Ausonia. I have fates of my own,

**137** fata mihi, ferro sceleratam exscindere gentem,  
set against theirs: to cut a criminal race out with iron
> Fates of his own: Fata are the things that have been spoken, the settled order the gods have declared, most often the fate that assigns Italy to the Trojans. Turnus answers with sunt et mea fata mihi, 'I too have fates of my own', claiming an equal set.

**138** coniuge praerepta: nec solos tangit Atridas  
for stealing my bride. That pain does not touch the sons of Atreus

**139** iste dolor solisque licet capere arma Mycenis.  
alone, and Mycenae alone is not the only city allowed to take up arms.

**140** Sed periisse semel satis est: peccare fuisset  
‘But to have perished once is enough.’ To have sinned once before
> A hard three lines: This sentence is compressed enough that editors disagree on its sense. The likeliest reading: it was enough for the Trojans to have sinned once, over one stolen woman. We translate that sense and mark the difficulty rather than smoothing it over.

**141** ante satis penitus modo non genus omne perosos  
should have been enough, for men who all but utterly loathe

**142** femineum. Quibus haec medii fiducia valli  
the whole race of women. Men to whom this trust in the rampart between us,

**143** fossarumque morae, leti discrimina parva,  
and the ditches' delay, thin margins against death,

**144** dant animos. At non viderunt moenia Troiae  
give courage. But did they not see the walls of Troy,

**145** Neptuni fabricata manu considere in ignis?  
made by Neptune's own hand, go down into the fire?

**146** “Sed vos, o lecti, ferro qui scindere vallum  
But you, my chosen men, which of you is ready to cut the stockade open
> Plural address, singular verbs: Turnus addresses o lecti, 'chosen men', a plural noun, but continues with singular verbs, apparat and invadit. The grammar shifts mid-sentence, a construction called anacoluthon; some editors mark a gap in the text here, and we keep the shift as Vergil left it.

**147** apparat et mecum invadit trepidantia castra.”  
with iron and rush that shaking camp at my side?

**148** Non armis mihi Volcani, non mille carinis  
I have no need of Vulcan's armor against the Teucrians,

**149** est opus in Teucros; addant se protinus omnes  
nor of a thousand keels; let every Etruscan join himself

**150** Etrusci socios, tenebras et inertia furta  
to them as an ally this minute. Let them fear no darkness, no coward's

**151** Palladii caesis summae custodibus arcis  
theft of the Palladium with the citadel's high guards cut down;

**152** ne timeant, nec equi caeca condemur in alvo:  
nor shall we be shut away in the blind belly of a horse:

**153** luce palam certum est igni circumdare muros.  
it is settled: openly, in daylight, to put fire round their walls.

**154** Haud sibi cum Danais rem faxo et pube Pelasga  
I will see to it that they do not say they have Danaans to deal with,
> An archaic future perfect: Faxo is an old future perfect of facio, 'I will have done', kept alive in comedy and oaths after ordinary prose dropped it. Vergil puts it only here in Turnus' mouth, where it carries a more swaggering certainty than the regular fecero.

**155** esse ferant, decumum quos distulit Hector in annum.  
or Pelasgian boys, whom Hector held off to the tenth year.

**156** Nunc adeo, melior quoniam pars acta diei,  
Now then, since the better part of the day is spent,

**157** quod superest, laeti bene gestis corpora rebus  
for what is left of it, men, be glad, the work has gone well,

**158** procurate, viri, et pugnam sperate parari.”  
and see to your bodies, and look for the battle to be made ready.”

**159** Interea vigilum excubiis obsidere portas  
Meanwhile the charge of blockading the gates with sentry-watches

**160** cura datur Messapo et moenia cingere flammis.  
is given to Messapus, and of ringing the walls with fires.

**161** Bis septem Rutuli, muros qui milite servent,  
Twice seven Rutulians are picked to hold the walls with soldiers,

**162** delecti; ast illos centeni quemque sequuntur  
and a hundred young men follow each of them,

**163** purpurei cristis iuvenes auroque corusci.  
crimson with crests and glittering with gold.

**164** Discurrunt variantque vices fusique per herbam  
They run to and fro and change turns, and sprawled through the grass

**165** indulgent vino et vertunt crateras aenos.  
they give themselves to wine and tip up the bronze bowls.

**166** Conlucent ignes, noctem custodia ducit  
The fires blaze together; the guard draws the night out
> An unfinished line: The line stops here, halfway through the hexameter. About fifty verses in the poem break off like this because Vergil died before finishing his revision; ancient editors called them tibicines, 'props', holding a wall up until the real one is built.

**167** insomnem ludo.  
sleepless, in play.

**168** Haec super e vallo prospectant Troes et armis  
The Trojans look out on this from the rampart above, and hold

**169** alta tenent, nec non trepidi formidine portas  
the heights under arms; anxious with dread, they try the gates

**170** explorant pontisque et propugnacula iungunt,  
and lash the gangways to the breastworks,

**171** tela gerunt. Instat Mnestheus acerque Serestus,  
and carry up weapons. Mnestheus drives them on, and keen Serestus,

**172** quos pater Aeneas, siquando adversa vocarent,  
whom father Aeneas had appointed, if trouble should ever call,
> Pater as a title, not a name: Pater, 'father', names Aeneas' standing over the people who follow him, not a trait of character, unlike pius, 'dutiful'. Here it marks that Mnestheus and Serestus hold their command from him while he is away.

**173** rectores iuvenum et rerum dedit esse magistros.  
to be governors of the young men and masters of affairs.

**174** Omnis per muros legio, sortita periclum,  
The whole force along the walls, having drawn the danger by lot,

**175** excubat exercetque vices, quod cuique tuendum est.  
keeps watch and works its turns, each at what he has to guard.

**176** Nisus erat portae custos, acerrimus armis,  
Nisus was the guard of a gate, keenest of men in arms,

**177** Hyrtacides, comitem Aeneae quem miserat Ida  
the son of Hyrtacus, whom Ida the huntress had sent to be

**178** venatrix iaculo celerem levibusque sagittis;  
Aeneas' companion, quick with the javelin and with light arrows;

**179** it iuxta comes Euryalus, quo pulchrior alter  
beside him goes his comrade Euryalus, than whom no one

**180** non fuit Aeneadum Troiana neque induit arma,  
among the followers of Aeneas was handsomer, or put on Trojan arms,

**181** ora puer prima signans intonsa iuventa.  
a boy marking his unshaven face with the first of manhood.
> The first beard: Signans, 'marking', is used as a seal marks wax: the first down is only beginning to print itself on Euryalus' cheeks, intonsa, 'unshaven'. Roman men cut this first growth in a formal ceremony and dedicated it, a rite he has not yet reached.

**182** His amor unus erat, pariterque in bella ruebant:  
These two had one love between them, and they charged into battle side by side:

**183** tum quoque communi portam statione tenebant.  
then too they were holding the gate on a watch they shared.

**184** Nisus ait: “Dine hunc ardorem mentibus addunt,  
Nisus says: “Is it the gods who put this fire in our minds,

**185** Euryale, an sua cuique deus fit dira cupido?  
Euryalus, or does each man's own fierce longing become his god?

**186** Aut pugnam aut aliquid iamdudum invadere magnum  
For a long while now my mind has been driving me at a fight,

**187** mens agitat mihi nec placida contenta quietest.  
or at something great, and it is not content with quiet and rest.
> Two words fused into one: Quietest is quiete est run together, the ablative quiete plus the verb est, a written crasis. Latin verse fuses words this way when the meter needs one syllable count, and scribes kept the spelling rather than separating it.

**188** Cernis, quae Rutulos habeat fiducia rerum.  
You see what confidence the Rutulians have in how things stand.

**189** Lumina rara micant; somno vinoque soluti  
Their lights flicker far apart; loosened with sleep and with wine

**190** procubuere; silent late loca: percipe porro,  
they have gone down flat; the places are silent far around. Take in now

**191** quid dubitem et quae nunc animo sententia surgat.  
what I am turning over, and what plan is rising in my mind.

**192** Aenean acciri omnes, populusque patresque,  
That Aeneas be sent for, everyone demands it, the people and the fathers,

**193** exposcunt mittique viros, qui certa reportent.  
and that men be sent who can bring back something certain.

**194** Si tibi quae posco promittunt (nam mihi facti  
If they promise you what I ask for you (for as for me,

**195** fama sat est), tumulo videor reperire sub illo  
the fame of the deed is enough), then under that mound
> Fama as a hero's afterlife: Fama is what gets said about a man afterward, the only survival a Homeric hero counts on. Nisus gives up the reward and asks only that mihi facti fama sat est, 'the fame of the deed is enough for me', a promise the poem keeps at line 446.

**196** posse viam ad muros et moenia Pallantea.”  
I think I can find a way to the walls and the town of Pallanteum.”

**197** Obstipuit magno laudum percussus amore  
Euryalus stood amazed, struck through with a great love of praise,

**198** Euryalus; simul his ardentem adfatur amicum:  
and speaks at once to his burning friend in these words:

**199** “Mene igitur socium summis adiungere rebus,  
“Do you shrink, then, from taking me on as your partner

**200** Nise, fugis? Solum te in tanta pericula mittam?  
in the highest business, Nisus? Am I to send you alone into such dangers?

**201** Non ita me genitor, bellis adsuetus Opheltes,  
That is not how my father Opheltes, hardened to wars,

**202** Argolicum terrorem inter Troiaeque labores  
brought me up and schooled me, through the Argive terror

**203** sublatum erudiit, nec tecum talia gessi,  
and the labors of Troy, and I have not borne myself so with you,

**204** magnanimum Aenean et fata extrema secutus:  
following great-hearted Aeneas and his fate to the last:

**205** est hic, est animus lucis contemptor et istum  
there is here, here is a spirit that despises the light and reckons
> A spirit that despises the light: Lux means both 'daylight' and 'life' itself, so animus lucis contemptor is 'a spirit that holds daylight cheap' and also 'a spirit that holds life cheap'. Euryalus uses the phrase about himself to argue he is old enough for the night raid.

**206** qui vita bene credat emi, quo tendis, honorem.”  
that honor you are making for well bought with a life.”

**207** Nisus ad haec: “Equidem de te nil tale verebar  
Nisus to this: “I feared nothing of the kind about you,

**208** nec fas, non, ita me referat tibi magnus ovantem  
and it would be wrong to; no, so may great Jupiter bring me back

**209** Iuppiter aut quicumque oculis haec aspicit aequis.  
to you in triumph, or whoever it is that looks on this with fair eyes.

**210** Sed siquis, quae multa vides discrimine tali,  
But if someone, and in a hazard like this you see how many things,

**211** siquis in adversum rapiat casusve deusve,  
if some chance or some god should carry me the wrong way,

**212** te superesse velim; tua vita dignior aetas.  
I would want you to be left alive; your years deserve life more.

**213** Sit qui me raptum pugna pretiove redemptum  
Let there be a man to give me back to the earth, snatched out of the fighting

**214** mandet humo solita aut siqua id Fortuna vetabit,  
or ransomed for a price, in the customary way; or if some Fortune forbids it,

**215** absenti ferat inferias decoretque sepulchro.  
to bring the offerings for one who is not there, and honor him with a tomb.

**216** Neu matri miserae tanti sim causa doloris,  
And let me not be the cause of so much grief to your poor mother,

**217** quae te sola, puer, multis e matribus ausa  
who alone out of many mothers dared to follow you, boy,

**218** persequitur magni nec moenia curat Acestae,”  
and who has no care for the walls of great Acestes.”

**219** Ille autem: “Causas nequiquam nectis inanis,  
But he: “You are knotting up empty reasons for nothing,

**220** nec mea iam mutata loco sententia cedit:  
and my mind is not changed now, and does not give ground:

**221** adceleremus,” ait. Vigiles simul excitat, illi  
let us hurry,” he says. He wakes the watch at the same time; they

**222** succedunt servantque vices: statione relicta  
come up and keep their turns; leaving the post,

**223** ipse comes Niso graditur, regemque requirunt.  
he walks at Nisus' side, and they go looking for the prince.

**224** Cetera per terras omnis animalia somno  
All other living things over all the earth were letting their cares

**225** laxabant curas et corda oblita laborum:  
go slack in sleep, their hearts forgetful of what they had toiled at:

**226** ductores Teucrum primi et delecta iuventus  
the chief captains of the Teucrians and the picked young men

**227** consilium summis regni de rebus habebant,  
were holding council on the highest business of the realm,

**228** quid facerent quisve Aeneae iam nuntius esset.  
what they should do, and who by now should be the messenger to Aeneas.

**229** Stant longis adnixi hastis, et scuta tenentes,  
They stand leaning on long spears and holding their shields,

**230** castrorum et campi medio. Tum Nisus et una  
in the middle of the camp and the field. Then Nisus, and with him

**231** Euryalus confestim alacres admittier orant:  
Euryalus, eager, ask at once to be let in:
> An archaic passive infinitive: Admittier is an archaic present passive infinitive ending in -ier, the regular form in early Latin and kept later by poets for weight. It means the same as the ordinary admitti, 'to be let in', only spelled two centuries older.

**232** rem magnam, pretiumque morae fore. Primus Iulus  
the matter is great, and worth the delay. Iulus was the first

**233** accepit trepidos ac Nisum dicere iussit.  
to take them, on edge as they were, and he told Nisus to speak.

**234** Tum sic Hyrtacides: “Audite O mentibus aequis,  
Then the son of Hyrtacus, so: “Hear us with fair minds,

**235** Aeneadae, neve haec nostris spectentur ab annis,  
followers of Aeneas, and do not judge by our years

**236** quae ferimus. Rutuli somno vinoque soluti  
what we bring you. The Rutulians, loosened with sleep and wine,

**237** conticuere; locum insidiis conspeximus ipsi,  
have gone quiet; we have seen for ourselves a place for an ambush,

**238** qui patet in bivio portae, quae proxuma ponto;  
which lies open at the fork of the road by the gate nearest the sea;
> Bivium, where a road forks: Bivium names a point where a road splits into two. Nisus uses it to describe a gap in the watch at the gate nearest the sea, quae proxuma ponto, where the road forks.

**239** interrupti ignes, aterque ad sidera fumus  
the fires are broken there, and black smoke stands up

**240** erigitur: si fortuna permittitis uti  
to the stars. If you let us use this luck

**241** quaesitum Aenean et moenia Pallantea,  
to go looking for Aeneas and the town of Pallanteum,

**242** mox hic cum spoliis ingenti caede peracta  
you will see us here soon with spoils, and a great slaughter

**243** adfore cernetis. Nec nos via fallit euntis:  
done. The road does not mislead us as we go:

**244** vidimus obscuris primam sub vallibus urbem  
hunting there without a break, we have seen the near edge of the city

**245** venatu adsiduo et totum cognovimus amnem.”  
under the dark valleys, and we have learned the whole river.”

**246** Hic annis gravis atque animi maturus Aletes:  
Here Aletes, heavy with years and ripe in judgment:

**247** “Di patrii, quorum semper sub numine Troia est,  
“Gods of our fathers, under whose power Troy always stands,

**248** non tamen omnino Teucros delere paratis,  
you are not after all making ready to destroy the Teucrians outright,

**249** cum talis animos iuvenum et tam certa tulistis  
since you have brought us young men with spirit like this and hearts

**250** pectora.” Sic memorans umeros dextrasque tenebat  
so sure.” So saying, he held the shoulders and the right hands

**251** amborum et voltum lacrimis atque ora rigabat.  
of them both, and drenched his face and his mouth with tears.

**252** “Quae vobis, quae digna, viri, pro laudibus istis  
“What rewards, men, what rewards worthy of praise like this,

**253** praemia posse rear solvi? Pulcherrima primum  
could I think it possible to pay you? The finest of all,

**254** di moresque dabunt vestri; tum cetera reddet  
the gods and your own character will pay first; the rest

**255** actutum pius Aeneas atque integer aevi  
dutiful Aeneas will settle at once, and Ascanius,
> One epithet, always dutiful: Pietas is duty owed at once to gods, father, children and country, and we render pius as 'dutiful' throughout. The epithet is applied to Aeneas here by another speaker, Aletes, while Aeneas himself is away from the camp.

**256** Ascanius, meriti tanti non immemor umquam.”  
untouched by age, who will never forget so great a service.”

**257** “Immo ego vos, cui sola salus genitore reducto,”  
“No, it is I,” Ascanius takes it up, “who have no safety at all

**258** excipit Ascanius, “per magnos, Nise, penatis  
unless my father is brought back. Nisus, by the great household gods,

**259** Assaracique larem et canae penetralia Vestae  
by the hearth-spirit of Assaracus and the inner shrine of white-haired

**260** obtestor; quaecumque mihi fortuna fidesque est,  
Vesta, I call them to witness: whatever fortune and whatever faith is mine

**261** in vestris pono gremiis: revocate parentem,  
I lay in your laps. Call my father back to me,

**262** reddite conspectum; nihil illo triste recepto.  
give me the sight of him; with him recovered nothing is sad.

**263** Bina dabo argento perfecta atque aspera signis  
I will give a pair of cups finished in silver and rough with figures,

**264** pocula, devicta genitor quae cepit Arisba,  
which my father took when Arisba was beaten down,

**265** et tripodas geminos, auri duo magna talenta,  
and two tripods, and two great talents of gold,

**266** cratera antiquum, quem dat Sidonia Dido.  
and an ancient mixing-bowl that Sidonian Dido gives.

**267** Si vero capere Italiam sceptrisque potiri  
But if it falls to us as victors to take Italy

**268** contigerit victori et praedae dicere sortem,  
and hold the scepter and assign the lots of the plunder,

**269** vidisti quo Turnus equo, quibus ibat in armis  
you saw what horse Turnus rode, in what armor he went,

**270** aureus: ipsum illum, clipeum cristasque rubentis  
all gold: that very horse, and the shield, and the reddening crest,

**271** excipiam sorti, iam nunc tua praemia, Nise.  
I keep out of the drawing; from this moment they are your prize, Nisus.

**272** Praeterea bis sex genitor lectissima matrum  
Besides, my father will give twelve women, the choicest of them,

**273** corpora captivosque dabit suaque omnibus arma,  
and captive men, and every one of them with his own armor,

**274** insuper his campi quod rex habet ipse Latinus.  
and over and above these, the land king Latinus holds himself.

**275** Te vero, mea quem spatiis propioribus aetas  
But you, whom my own age follows at a shorter distance,

**276** insequitur, venerande puer, iam pectore toto  
boy to be honored, I take you now with my whole heart

**277** accipio et comitem casus complector in omnis.  
and hold you close, my companion in every turn that comes.

**278** Nulla meis sine te quaeretur gloria rebus;  
No glory will be looked for in anything I do without you;

**279** seu pacem seu bella geram, tibi maxima rerum  
whether I make peace or war, my greatest faith in deeds

**280** verborumque fides.” Contra quem talia fatur  
and in words shall be in you.” Euryalus answers him

**281** Euryalus: “Me nulla dies tam fortibus ausis  
so: “No day shall convict me of falling short

**282** dissimilem arguerit; tantum, fortuna secunda  
of ventures as brave as these; only let fortune fall

**283** aut adversa cadat. Sed te super omnia dona  
well or badly. But past all your gifts I ask you

**284** unum oro, genetrix Priami de gente vetusta  
one thing. I have a mother, of Priam's ancient line,

**285** est mihi, quam miseram tenuit non Ilia tellus  
and the poor woman was not held back by the land of Ilium

**286** mecum excedentem, non moenia regis Acestae.  
when she came away with me, nor by king Acestes' walls.

**287** Hanc ego nunc ignaram huius quodcumque pericli est  
Her I am leaving now, knowing nothing of this danger, whatever it is,

**288** inque salutatam linquo: nox et tua testis  
and with no goodbye said: night is my witness, and your
> Tmesis splitting one word in two: The word is insalutatam, 'ungreeted', but Latin verse can split a compound and insert another word inside it, here que. Inque salutatam is that same word cut apart, with the -que doing the work of 'and' in the middle.

**289** dextera, quod nequeam lacrumas perferre parentis  
right hand, that I could not carry a mother's tears.

**290** at tu, oro, solare inopem et succurre relictae.  
But you, I beg, comfort her want and stand by her when she is left.

**291** Hanc sine me spem ferre tui: audentior ibo  
Let me take this hope of you away with me: I will go bolder

**292** in casus omnis.” Percussa mente dedere  
into everything that comes.” Struck to the heart, the sons of Dardanus

**293** Dardanidae lacrimas; ante omnis pulcher Iulus,  
gave way to tears; beautiful Iulus before them all,

**294** atque animum patriae strinxit pietatis imago.  
and the picture of a son's duty to a father wrung him.
> Stringo as a tightening pull: Stringo means 'to graze' or 'to draw tight', not simply 'to move'. Patriae pietatis imago, 'the image of duty to a father', pulls at Iulus in this sense, tightening on him rather than merely affecting him.

**295** Tum sic effatur:  
Then he speaks so:

**296** “Sponde digna tuis ingentibus omnia coeptis.  
“Promise yourself everything worthy of the huge thing you begin.

**297** Namque erit ista mihi genetrix nomenque Creusae  
For she shall be a mother to me, and only the name of Creusa

**298** solum defuerit, nec partum gratia talem  
will be missing, and no small gratitude waits on the bearing

**299** parva manet. Casus factum quicumque sequentur,  
of such a son. Whatever turns follow on the deed,

**300** per caput hoc iuro, per quod pater ante solebat:  
I swear by this head, by which my father used to swear before me:

**301** quae tibi polliceor reduci rebusque secundis,  
what I promise you for your coming back and for a good end,

**302** haec eadem matrique tuae generique manebunt.”  
these same things shall stand for your mother and for your house.”

**303** Sic ait inlacrimans; umero simul exuit ensem  
So he says, in tears; and at the same time he lifts from his shoulder

**304** auratum, mira quem fecerat arte Lycaon  
the gilded sword that Lycaon of Cnossos had made with wonderful

**305** Gnosius atque habilem vagina aptarat eburna.  
skill and fitted, easy to the hand, in an ivory sheath.

**306** Dat Niso Mnestheus pellem horrentisque leonis  
Mnestheus gives Nisus a hide, the stripped skin of a bristling

**307** exuvias; galeam fidus permutat Aletes.  
lion; loyal Aletes changes helmets with him.

**308** Protinus armati incedunt; quos omnis euntis  
They move off armed at once; and as they go, the whole company

**309** primorum manus ad portas iuvenumque senumque  
of the chief men, young and old, sees them to the gates

**310** prosequitur votis. Nec non et pulcher Iulus,  
with prayers. And beautiful Iulus too,

**311** ante annos animumque gerens curamque virilem,  
carrying a man's mind and a man's care before his years,

**312** multa patri mandata dabat portanda: sed aurae  
kept giving them charges to take to his father: but the winds

**313** omnia discerpunt et nubibus inrita donant.  
tear them all up and hand them, void, to the clouds.
> The winds tear up the messages: Inritus is a legal word for a contract made void or an act rescinded. The line says the winds tear the shouted messages apart, aurae discerpunt, and hand them, void, inrita donant, to the clouds instead of to their target.

**314** Egressi superant fossas noctisque per umbram  
Once out, they get over the ditches, and through the shadow of night

**315** castra inimica petunt, multis tamen ante futuri  
make for the enemy camp, though they will be the death of many

**316** exitio. Passim somno vinoque per herbam  
before that. Everywhere they see bodies sprawled through the grass

**317** corpora fusa vident, arrectos litore currus,  
in sleep and wine, chariots tilted up on the shore,

**318** inter lora rotasque viros, simul arma iacere,  
men in among the reins and the wheels, and weapons lying there,

**319** vina simul. Prior Hyrtacides sic ore locutus:  
and wine. The son of Hyrtacus spoke first, so:

**320** “Euryale, audendum dextra; nunc ipsa vocat res.  
“Euryalus, the hand has to dare now; the thing itself is calling.

**321** Hac iter est. Tu, ne qua manus se attollere nobis  
The road runs this way. You watch, and look a long way off,

**322** a tergo possit, custodi et consule longe;  
so that no force can lift itself at our backs;

**323** haec ego vasta dabo et lato te limite ducam.”  
I will make a waste of this and lead you along a broad track.”

**324** Sic memorat vocemque premit; simul ense superbum  
So he says, and shuts his voice down; at the same moment he goes with the sword

**325** Rhamnetem adgreditur, qui forte tapetibus altis  
at proud Rhamnes, who happened to be piled high on rugs

**326** exstructus toto proflabat pectore somnum.  
and was blowing out sleep with the whole of his chest.

**327** Rex idem et regi Turno gratissimus augur,  
He was a king himself, and the augur dearest to king Turnus,

**328** sed non augurio potuit depellere pestem.  
but he could not drive the ruin off by augury.

**329** Tris iuxta famulos temere inter tela iacentis  
Three servants lying anyhow among the weapons beside him

**330** armigerumque Remi premit aurigamque sub ipsis  
he crushes, and Remus' armor-bearer, and his driver, caught

**331** nanctus equis ferroque secat pendentia colla;  
right under the horses, and cuts their hanging necks with iron;

**332** tum caput ipsi aufert domino truncumque relinquit  
then he takes the head from the master himself and leaves the trunk

**333** sanguine singultantem; atro tepefacta cruore  
sobbing blood; the ground and the couches are soaked

**334** terra torique madent. Nec non Lamyrumque Lamumque  
and warm with black gore. And Lamyrus too, and Lamus,

**335** et iuvenem Serranum, illa qui plurima nocte  
and young Serranus, who had played very deep into that night,

**336** luserat, insignis facie, multoque iacebat  
a marked man for his looks, and lay with his limbs

**337** membra deo victus: felix, si protinus illum  
beaten by too much of the god: lucky, if he had gone on
> Beaten by the god: Deo here stands for wine, Bacchus present in the body rather than named directly. Multo membra deo victus means 'his limbs overcome by much of the god', describing Serranus overpowered by drink before the attack.

**338** aequasset nocti ludum in lucemque tulisset.  
and matched his play to the night and carried it through to daylight.

**339** Impastus ceu plena leo per ovilia turbans  
As an unfed lion ravaging through a full sheepfold,

**340** (suadet enim vesana fames) manditque trahitque  
(for a mad hunger drives him) chews and drags

**341** molle pecus mutumque metu, fremit ore cruento:  
the soft flock, dumb with terror, and growls with a bloody mouth:

**342** nec minor Euryali caedes; incensus et ipse  
the killing Euryalus does is no less; he too catches fire

**343** perfurit ac multam in medio sine nomine plebem,  
and rages through a great nameless crowd in the middle of it,
> A crowd with no names: Plebs names the common people, as opposed to those given names and titles elsewhere in the passage. Sine nomine, 'without a name', states directly that most of the dead in this crowd will not be listed by name.

**344** Fadumque Herbesumque subit Rhoetumque Abarimque,  
and comes on Fadus and Herbesus and Rhoetus and Abaris,

**345** ignaros, Rhoetum vigilantem et cuncta videntem,  
who knew nothing, Rhoetus awake and seeing it all,

**346** sed magnum metuens se post cratera tegebat;  
but afraid, and hiding himself behind a great bowl;

**347** pectore in adverso totum cui comminus ensem  
as he rose to meet it, Euryalus drove the whole sword, close in,

**348** condidit adsurgenti et multa morte recepit.  
into his chest, and drew it back full of death.

**349** Purpuream vomit ille animam et cum sanguine mixta  
He vomits up a crimson life and, dying, brings back wine

**350** vina refert moriens; hic furto fervidus instat.  
mixed with blood; the other presses on, hot at his stealing work.

**351** Iamque ad Messapi socios tendebat; ibi ignem  
And now he was making for Messapus' men; there he could see

**352** deficere extremum et religatos rite videbat  
the last of the fire failing, and the horses, tethered in order,

**353** carpere gramen equos: breviter cum talia Nisus.  
cropping the grass. Then Nisus, briefly, in these words.

**354** sensit enim nimia caede atque cupidine ferri:  
for he felt that he was being carried away by too much killing and by hunger for it:

**355** “Absistamus,” ait, “nam lux inimica propinquat.  
“Let us break off,” he says; “the daylight is coming, and it is no friend.

**356** Poenarum exhaustum satis est, via facta per hostis.”  
Enough has been drained out in payment; a way has been made through them.”
> Poena as a debt drained dry: Poena is the price paid to settle a wrong, and exhaurio means to drain a vessel dry. Poenarum exhaustum satis est, 'enough of the payment has been drained out', treats the killing as a debt now paid in full.

**357** Multa virum solido argento perfecta relinquunt  
Much gear of men, worked in solid silver, they leave behind,

**358** armaque craterasque simul pulchrosque tapetas.  
armor and mixing-bowls together, and beautiful rugs.

**359** Euryalus phaleras Rhamnetis et aurea bullis  
Euryalus takes Rhamnes' harness-plates and a sword-belt

**360** cingula, Tiburti Remulo ditissimus olim  
studded with gold, which the very rich Caedicus once

**361** quae mittit dona hospitio cum iungeret absens  
sent as a gift to Remulus of Tibur, to bind them as guest-friends

**362** Caedicus, ille suo moriens dat habere nepoti,  
though the two never met; Remulus dying gave it to his grandson to keep;

**363** post mortem bello Rutuli pugnaque potiti  
after his death the Rutulians got it in war and in battle.

**364** haec rapit atque umeris nequiquam fortibus aptat.  
These he snatches up and fits, for nothing, to brave shoulders.

**365** Tum galeam Messapi habilem cristisque decoram  
Then he puts on Messapus' helmet, easy to wear and handsome

**366** induit. Excedunt castris et tuta capessunt.  
with its crest. They leave the camp and make for safe ground.

**367** Interea praemissi equites ex urbe Latina,  
Meanwhile horsemen sent on ahead from the Latin city,

**368** cetera dum legio campis instructa moratur,  
while the rest of the force waited drawn up on the plains,

**369** ibant et Turno regi responsa ferebant,  
were coming, and carrying answers to king Turnus,

**370** tercentum, scutati omnes, Volcente magistro.  
three hundred, all with shields, and Volcens their captain.

**371** Iamque propinquabant castris murosque subibant,  
And now they were nearing the camp and coming up under the walls

**372** cum procul hos laevo flectentis limite cernunt  
when they catch sight of the two far off, turning down a path to the left;

**373** et galea Euryalum sublustri noctis in umbra  
and the helmet gave Euryalus away in the half-lit shadow

**374** prodidit immemorem radiisque adversa refulsit.  
of night (he had forgotten it) and flashed back at the beams.

**375** Haud temere est visum. Conclamat ab agmine Volcens  
It was not seen for nothing. Volcens shouts from the column:
> Litotes, saying no to say yes: Haud temere est visum uses litotes, negating the opposite to make a stronger claim: 'it was not seen idly' means 'it was seen, and it mattered'. Volcens shouts immediately after, alerted by exactly what was seen.

**376** “State, viri. Quae causa viae? Quive estis in armis?  
“Halt, men. What is your business on this road? Who are you, under arms?

**377** Quove tenetis iter?” Nihil illi tendere contra,  
Where are you holding your way?” They offered nothing back at all,

**378** sed celerare fugam in silvas et fidere nocti.  
but quickened their flight into the woods and put their trust in the night.

**379** Obiciunt equites sese ad divortia nota  
The horsemen throw themselves across the crossings they know,

**380** hinc atque hinc omnemque abitum custode coronant.  
here and here, and ring every way out with a guard.

**381** Silva fuit late dumis atque ilice nigra  
There was a wood, bristling far and wide with thicket

**382** horrida, quam densi complerant undique sentes;  
and black holm-oak, which thick briars had filled from every side;

**383** rara per occultos lucebat semita calles.  
a thin track shone here and there among the hidden ways.

**384** Euryalum tenebrae ramorum onerosaque praeda  
The dark of the branches and the weight of his plunder

**385** impediunt fallitque timor regione viarum;  
hold Euryalus back, and fear misleads him about the lie of the paths;

**386** Nisus abit, iamque imprudens evaserat hostis  
Nisus goes on, and had already come clear of the enemy without knowing it,

**387** atque locos, qui post Albae de nomine dicti  
and of the place afterwards called Alban, from Alba's name,

**388** Albani, tum rex stabula alta Latinus habebat,  
king Latinus kept high stalls there in those days,

**389** ut stetit et frustra absentem respexit amicum.  
when he stopped and looked back for the friend who was not there.

**390** “Euryale infelix, qua te regione reliqui?  
“Euryalus, unlucky boy, in what part of the wood did I leave you?
> A word marking the doomed: Infelix literally means 'unfruitful', and Vergil applies it elsewhere to Dido and to Troy. Nisus calls Euryalus infelix here, before he knows what has happened, and the same word is the last one applied to him at line 430.

**391** Quave sequar, rursus perplexum iter omne revolvens  
Or where am I to follow, unrolling again the whole tangled road

**392** fallacis silvae?” Simul et vestigia retro  
of a wood that lies?” And at the same time he picks up the footprints

**393** observata legit dumisque silentibus errat.  
he had noted, going back, and wanders in the silent thickets.

**394** Audit equos, audit strepitus et signa sequentum.  
He hears horses, hears the racket and the calls of men coming after.

**395** Nec longum in medio tempus, cum clamor ad auris  
The time between was not long, and a shout came to his ears,

**396** pervenit ac videt Euryalum, quem iam manus omnis  
and he sees Euryalus, whom the whole troop already,

**397** fraude loci et noctis, subito turbante tumultu,  
by the trickery of the ground and the night, in the sudden uproar,

**398** oppressum rapit et conantem plurima frustra.  
has borne down and is hauling away, trying everything, for nothing.

**399** Quid faciat? Qua vi iuvenem, quibus audeat armis  
What is he to do? With what strength, with what weapons, is he to dare

**400** eripere? An sese medios moriturus in enses  
to tear the boy free? Or shall he throw himself, to die,

**401** inferat et pulchram properet per volnera mortem?  
into the middle of the swords, and hurry a beautiful death through wounds?

**402** Ocius adducto torquens hastile lacerto,  
Quickly, drawing his arm back and swinging the shaft round,

**403** suspiciens altam Lunam sic voce precatur:  
looking up at the high Moon, he prays aloud like this:

**404** “Tu, dea, tu praesens nostro succurre labori,  
“You, goddess, you, be here, and help us in our work,

**405** astrorum decus et nemorum Latonia custos.  
glory of the stars, Latona's daughter, keeper of the woods.

**406** Siqua tuis umquam pro me pater Hyrtacus aris  
If ever my father Hyrtacus carried gifts to your altars

**407** dona tulit, siqua ipse meis venatibus auxi  
for me, if ever I added to them myself out of my own hunting

**408** suspendive tholo aut sacra ad fastigia fixi:  
or hung them in your dome or nailed them to your holy gable:

**409** hunc sine me turbare globum et rege tela per auras.”  
let me break that pack apart, and steer my weapons through the air.”

**410** Dixerat, et toto conixus corpore ferrum  
He had spoken; and straining with his whole body he throws

**411** conicit: hasta volans noctis diverberat umbras  
the iron: the flying spear beats the shadows of night apart

**412** et venit aversi in tergum Sulmonis ibique  
and comes into the back of Sulmo, who is turned away, and there

**413** frangitur ac fisso transit praecordia ligno.  
it snaps, and the split wood goes on through his midriff.

**414** Volvitur ille vomens calidum de pectore flumen  
He rolls over, vomiting a hot river out of his chest,

**415** frigidus et longis singultibus ilia pulsat.  
and cold now, beats his sides with long sobbing.
> An adjective where English wants an adverb: Frigidus, 'cold', agrees with the man himself rather than describing how he acts: 'cold, he beats his sides' instead of 'he beats his sides, going cold'. Vergil uses this construction often in his description of dying men.

**416** Diversi circumspiciunt. Hoc acrior idem  
They look around them every way. All the keener for it,

**417** ecce aliud summa telum librabat ab aure.  
see, the same man was balancing another shaft level with his ear.

**418** Dum trepidant, it hasta Tago per tempus utrumque  
While they are still in a panic, the spear goes through both of Tagus' temples,

**419** stridens traiectoque haesit tepefacta cerebro.  
whistling, and stuck fast, warmed by the brain it had passed through.

**420** Saevit atrox Volcens nec teli conspicit usquam  
Volcens rages, savage, and can see nowhere the man who made

**421** auctorem nec quo se ardens inmittere possit.  
the throw, nor anything to hurl himself against, on fire as he is.

**422** “Tu tamen interea calido mihi sanguine poenas  
“You, though, in the meantime, you will pay me the price for both

**423** persolves amborum, inquit; simul ense recluso  
in warm blood,” he says; and at once, with the sword bared,

**424** ibat in Euryalum. Tum vero exterritus, amens  
he was going at Euryalus. Then indeed, terrified, out of his mind,

**425** conclamat Nisus, nec se celare tenebris  
Nisus cries out, and could hide himself no longer

**426** amplius aut tantum potuit perferre dolorem.  
in the darkness, or carry so much pain.

**427** Me me, adsum qui feci, in me convertite ferrum,  
“Me, me, I am here, I did it, turn the iron on me,
> A line built from pronouns: This line is built out of pronouns and monosyllables, with me repeated three times in five words: me me, adsum qui feci, in me. Nisus names himself as the one responsible and offers himself in his companion's place.

**428** O Rutuli, mea fraus omnis; nihil iste nec ausus  
Rutulians; the whole trick is mine; that one dared nothing

**429** nec potuit, caelum hoc et conscia sidera testor,  
and could do nothing, I call this sky and the stars that know it to witness,

**430** tantum infelicem nimium dilexit amicum.”  
he only loved an unlucky friend too much.”
> Loved too much: Diligo names a deliberate, chosen love, of a friend or a country, as distinct from amo. Nimium, 'too much', is the word Nisus adds to it, calling his own love for Euryalus excessive as he faces the men who killed them both.

**431** Talia dicta dabat; sed viribus ensis adactus  
Such were the words he was giving; but the sword, driven with force,

**432** transabiit costas et candida pectora rumpit.  
had gone right through the ribs and breaks the white chest.
> The white chest: Candidus names a bright, clean whiteness, the word Latin poetry uses for youth and beauty. Vergil applies it here to Euryalus' pectora, 'chest', at the same moment the sword goes through it.

**433** Volvitur Euryalus leto, pulchrosque per artus  
Euryalus rolls over into death, and the blood runs

**434** it cruor, inque umeros cervix conlapsa recumbit:  
down his beautiful limbs, and his neck gives way and lies back on his shoulders:

**435** purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro  
as when a crimson flower, cut through by the plough,

**436** languescit moriens lassove papavera collo  
faints and dies, or poppies let their heads down on a tired

**437** demisere caput, pluvia cum forte gravantur.  
stalk when the rain happens to weigh them.

**438** At Nisus ruit in medios solumque per omnis  
But Nisus rushes into the middle of them, and through them all

**439** Volcentem petit in solo Volcente moratur.  
makes for Volcens alone, halts at Volcens alone.
> Volcens twice, alone twice: Volcentem and Volcente are the same name in two different cases, accusative and ablative, repeated within one line. Vergil uses this doubling elsewhere too; here it names Nisus' one target twice, petit and moratur, seeking him out and stopping only at him.

**440** Quem circum glomerati hostes hinc comminus atque hinc  
The enemy ball up around him and beat him back, hand to hand,

**441** proturbant. Instat non setius ac rotat ensem  
from this side and that. He presses on none the less and whirls

**442** fulmineum, donec Rutuli clamantis in ore  
his lightning sword, until he buried it full in the mouth

**443** condidit adverso et moriens animam abstulit hosti.  
of the shouting Rutulian, and dying took his enemy's life away.

**444** Tum super exanimum sese proiecit amicum  
Then he threw himself down over his lifeless friend,

**445** confossus placidaque ibi demum morte quievit.  
run through, and there at last found rest in a quiet death.
> A quiet death: Quiesco means 'to rest', the verb Latin uses of sleepers and of the dead alike. Placida morte quievit, 'he found rest in a peaceful death', describes Nisus falling still after being run through.

**446** Fortunati ambo! Siquid mea carmina possunt,  
Fortunate both of you! If my songs have any power,

**447** nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,  
no day will ever take you out of an age that remembers,

**448** dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum  
while the house of Aeneas lives beside the unmoved rock

**449** accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.  
of the Capitol, and a Roman father holds the empire.

**450** Victores praeda Rutuli spoliisque potiti  
The Rutulians, winners, in possession of the plunder and the spoils,

**451** Volcentem exanimum flentes in castra ferebant.  
were carrying Volcens' dead body back to camp, weeping.

**452** Nec minor in castris luctus Rhamnete reperto  
There was no less mourning in the camp when Rhamnes was found

**453** exsangui et primis una tot caede peremptis,  
drained of blood, and so many chief men killed at one slaughter,

**454** Serranoque Numaque. Ingens concursus ad ipsa  
and Serranus and Numa. A huge crowd runs together to the bodies

**455** corpora seminecisque viros tepidaque recentem  
themselves, to the half-dead men, to the ground still warm

**456** caede locum et plenos spumanti sanguine rivos.  
with fresh killing, and the runnels full of frothing blood.

**457** Agnoscunt spolia inter se galeamque nitentem  
Among themselves they identify the spoils, and Messapus' shining

**458** Messapi et multo phaleras sudore receptas.  
helmet, and the harness-plates got back with so much sweat.

**459** Et iam prima novo spargebat lumine terras  
And already the first light was being scattered new over the lands

**460** Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile:  
by Dawn, leaving Tithonus' saffron bed:

**461** iam sole infuso, iam rebus luce retectis  
now with the sun poured in, now with things uncovered by the light,

**462** Turnus in arma viros, armis circumdatus ipse,  
Turnus, himself already ringed in his armor, rouses the men

**463** suscitat, aeratasque acies in proelia cogit  
to arms, and drives his bronze-clad ranks into battle,

**464** quisque suas variisque acuunt rumoribus iras.  
each his own, and they whet their angers on all kinds of rumor.

**465** Quin ipsa arrectis (visu miserabile) in hastis  
More than that (pitiable to see) they fix on upright spears

**466** praefigunt capita et multo clamore sequuntur  
the heads themselves, and follow them with a great shouting,

**467** Euryali et Nisi.  
the heads of Euryalus and Nisus.

**468** Aeneadae duri murorum in parte sinistra  
The hardened followers of Aeneas set their line against them

**469** opposuere aciem, nam dextera cingitur amni,  
on the left-hand stretch of the walls, the right is ringed by the river,

**470** ingentisque tenent fossas et turribus altis  
and they hold the huge ditches and stand grieving

**471** stant maesti; simul ora virum praefixa movebant,  
on the high towers; and the men's faces, fixed on the spears, kept moving them,

**472** nota nimis miseris atroque fluentia tabo.  
known far too well by wretched men, and running with black rot.

**473** Interea pavidam volitans pennata per urbem  
Meanwhile winged Rumor, flying through the frightened town,

**474** nuntia Fama ruit matrisque adlabitur auris  
the messenger, rushes on and glides to the ears of Euryalus'

**475** Euryali. At subitus miserae calor ossa reliquit,  
mother. All at once the warmth left the poor woman's bones,

**476** excussi manibus radii revolutaque pensa.  
the shuttle was struck out of her hands and the wool unrolled.
> Radii and pensa, loom terms: Radii is the shuttle of a loom, and pensa is the measured portion of wool set out for a day's spinning. Euryalus' mother drops both from her hands here; twelve lines later the cloth she was making turns out to be his shroud.

**477** Evolat infelix et femineo ululatu,  
She flies out, unlucky woman, and with a woman's wailing,

**478** scissa comam, muros amens atque agmina cursu  
her hair torn, out of her mind, she runs for the walls

**479** prima petit, non illa virum, non illa pericli  
and the front ranks, with no thought of the men, no thought

**480** telorumque memor; caelum dehinc questibus implet:  
of the danger or the weapons; then she fills the sky with her cry:

**481** “Hunc ego te, Euryale, aspicio? Tune illa senectae  
“Is it you I am looking at, Euryalus? You, that late
> Two accusatives for one boy: Hunc, 'this thing', and te, 'you', are both accusative objects of one verb, aspicio. The mother names what she sees as an object, hunc, and then as her son, te, without one word to link them.

**482** sera meae requies, potuisti linquere solam,  
rest of my old age, could you leave me alone,

**483** crudelis? Nec te, sub tanta pericula missum,  
cruel boy? And when you were sent out under such dangers, was there

**484** adfari extremum miserae data copia matri?  
no chance given your poor mother to speak to you one last time?

**485** Heu, terra ignota canibus data praeda Latinis  
Oh, you lie in a land you never knew, given as prey

**486** alitibusque iaces, nec te, tua funera mater  
to Latin dogs and to birds; and I, your mother, did not lead

**487** produxi pressive oculos aut volnera lavi,  
your funeral out, or close your eyes, or wash your wounds,

**488** veste tegens, tibi quam noctes festina diesque  
covering you with the cloth I hurried at nights and days,

**489** urgebam et tela curas solabar anilis.  
pressing on at the loom and easing an old woman's cares.

**490** Quo sequar, aut quae nunc artus avolsaque membra  
Where am I to follow? What ground has your body now,

**491** et funus lacerum tellus habet? Hoc mihi de te,  
the limbs torn away, the mangled corpse? Is this what you bring me

**492** nate, refers? Hoc sum terraque marique secuta?  
back of yourself, son? Is this what I followed over land and sea?

**493** Figite me, siqua est pietas, in me omnia tela  
Stab me, Rutulians, if there is any duty in you; throw every weapon
> Duty, asked of the enemy: Pietas is the poem's word for duty owed to gods, parents, children and country, and elsewhere it defines Aeneas himself. Here Euryalus' mother appeals to it in her son's killers, siqua est pietas, 'if there is any duty in you', asking them to kill her too.

**494** conicite, o Rutuli, me primam absumite ferro:  
of yours at me; make an end of me first with the iron;

**495** aut tu, magne pater divom, miserere tuoque  
or you, great father of the gods, have pity, and with your own

**496** invisum hoc detrude caput sub Tartara telo,  
spear thrust this hated head down under Tartarus,

**497** quando aliter nequeo crudelem abrumpere vitam.”  
since I have no other way to break off a cruel life.”

**498** Hoc fletu concussi animi, maestusque per omnis  
Their spirits were shaken by this weeping, and a groan of grief

**499** it gemitus: torpent infractae ad proelia vires.  
goes through them all: their strength for the fight is broken and numb.

**500** Illam incendentem luctus Idaeus et Actor  
Idaeus and Actor, on Ilioneus' word and with Iulus

**501** Illionei monitu et multum lacrimantis Iuli  
weeping hard, catch hold of her while she sets the mourning alight,

**502** corripiunt interque manus sub tecta reponunt.  
and carry her between their hands and lay her back under a roof.

**503** At tuba terribilem sonitum procul aere canoro  
But far off the trumpet let out its terrible sound

**504** increpuit; sequitur clamor caelumque remugit.  
from the singing bronze; a shout follows, and the sky bellows back.

**505** Adcelerant acta pariter testudine Volsci  
The Volscians come on fast with the tortoise formed level

**506** et fossas implere parant ac vellere vallum.  
and make ready to fill the ditches and pull the stockade out.

**507** Quaerunt pars aditum et scalis ascendere muros,  
Some of them look for a way in and for ladders to climb the walls,

**508** qua rara est acies interlucetque corona  
where the line is thin and the ring of men lets light through,

**509** non tam spissa viris. Telorum effundere contra  
not so packed with soldiers. Against them the Teucrians pour out

**510** omne genus Teucri ac duris detrudere contis,  
weapons of every kind and shove them off with hard poles,

**511** adsueti longo muros defendere bello.  
schooled by a long war in the defending of walls.

**512** Saxa quoque infesto volvebant pondere, siqua  
They rolled rocks down too, with a deadly weight, to see whether they could

**513** possent tectam aciem perrumpere: cum tamen omnis  
break the roofed line open: though under the packed tortoise

**514** ferre iuvat subter densa testudine casus;  
it is glad to bear whatever comes;

**515** nec iam sufficiunt. Nam qua globus imminet ingens,  
and now that is not enough. For where the huge mass presses in,

**516** immanem Teucri molem volvuntque ruuntque,  
the Teucrians roll a monstrous block and topple it over,

**517** quae stravit Rutulos late armorumque resolvit  
and it laid the Rutulians flat far and wide and broke apart

**518** tegmina. Nec curant caeco contendere Marte  
the shelter of their armor. Nor do the bold Rutulians care any longer

**519** amplius audaces Rutuli, sed pellere vallo  
to fight it out under a blind war-god, but strive to clear the rampart

**520** missilibus certant.  
with missiles.

**521** Parte alia horrendus visu quassabat Etruscam  
In another quarter Mezentius, horrible to look at, was shaking

**522** pinum et fumiferos infert Mezentius ignis;  
an Etruscan pine and bringing smoking fires up;

**523** at Messapus equum domitor, Neptunia proles,  
But Messapus, tamer of horses, the offspring of Neptune,

**524** rescindit vallum et scalas in moenia poscit.  
cuts the stockade open and calls for ladders to the walls.

**525** Vos, o Calliope, precor, adspirate canenti,  
You, Calliope, I pray you, breathe on me while I sing

**526** quas ibi tum ferro strages, quae funera Turnus  
what slaughter Turnus dealt out with the sword that day, what deaths,

**527** ediderit, quem quisque virum demiserit Orco;  
and whom each man sent down to Orcus;

**528** et mecum ingentis oras evolvite belli,  
and unroll with me the huge margins of the war,

**529** et meministis enim, divae, et memorare potestis.  
For you remember it, goddesses, and you can call it to mind;

**530** Turris erat vasto suspectu et pontibus altis,  
There was a tower, huge to look up at, with high gangways,

**531** opportuna loco, summis quam viribus omnes  
well placed, and all the Italians were straining with their utmost

**532** expugnare Itali summaque evertere opum vi  
strength to storm it and to bring it down with all the force they had,

**533** certabant, Troes contra defendere saxis  
while the Trojans on the other side defended it with stones

**534** perque cavas densi tela intorquere fenestras.  
and, packed close, hurled weapons out through the hollow windows.

**535** Princeps ardentem coniecit lampada Turnus  
Turnus first threw a burning brand

**536** et flammam adfixit lateri, quae plurima vento  
and fastened the flame to its side; it spread wide on the wind,

**537** corripuit tabulas et postibus haesit adesis.  
caught the planking and clung to the doorposts as it ate them.

**538** Turbati trepidare intus frustraque malorum  
Inside, in confusion, they panicked, and wanted, uselessly,

**539** velle fugam. Dum se glomerant retroque residunt  
to escape their troubles. While they crowd together and fall back

**540** in partem, quae peste caret, tum pondere turris  
into the part clear of the ruin, then all at once the tower

**541** procubuit subito et caelum tonat omne fragore.  
went down under the weight, and the whole sky thunders with the crash.

**542** Semineces ad terram, immani mole secuta,  
They come to the ground half dead, the monstrous mass after them,

**543** confixique suis telis et pectora duro  
pinned through by their own weapons, their chests run through

**544** transfossi ligno veniunt. Vix unus Helenor  
by hard timber. Helenor alone barely slipped clear,

**545** et Lycus elapsi. Quorum primaevus Helenor,  
and Lycus. Of these Helenor, in the first of his youth,

**546** Maeonio regi quem serva Licymnia furtim  
whom the slave Licymnia had borne in secret to the Maeonian king

**547** sustulerat vetitisque ad Troiam miserat armis,  
and reared, and sent to Troy with arms he was forbidden,

**548** ense levis nudo parmaque inglorius alba;  
light with a bare sword and inglorious with a plain white shield;

**549** isque ubi se Turni media inter milia vidit,  
and when he saw himself in the middle of Turnus' thousands,

**550** hinc acies atque hinc acies adstare Latinas:  
with Latin lines standing on this side and Latin lines on that:

**551** ut fera, quae densa venantum saepta corona  
as a wild beast, fenced in by a close ring of hunters,

**552** contra tela furit seseque haud nescia morti  
rages at the spears and throws itself, not ignorant of it,

**553** inicit et saltu supra venabula fertur,  
on death, and is carried in one leap over the hunting-spears,

**554** haud aliter iuvenis medios moriturus in hostis  
no otherwise the young man goes charging in to die

**555** inruit et, qua tela videt densissima, tendit.  
among the enemy, and makes for where he sees the weapons thickest.

**556** At pedibus longe melior Lycus inter et hostis  
But Lycus, far the better runner, keeps to the walls, slipping

**557** inter et arma fuga muros tenet altaque certat  
between the enemy and between their weapons, and struggles

**558** prendere tecta manu sociumque attingere dextras.  
to catch the high parapet by hand and reach his comrades' right hands.

**559** Quem Turnus, pariter cursu teloque secutus,  
Turnus, who had chased him with foot and spear together,

**560** increpat his victor: “Nostrasne evadere, demens,  
jeers at him as he wins: “Did you hope, you madman, that you could get

**561** sperasti te posse manus?” Simul adripit ipsum  
clear of our hands?” And at the same moment he seizes him

**562** pendentem et magna muri cum parte revellit.  
hanging there and tears him down with a great piece of the wall.

**563** Qualis ubi aut leporem aut candenti corpore cycnum  
As when Jove's armor-bearer, making for the heights, has caught up

**564** sustulit alta petens pedibus Iovis armiger uncis  
in his hooked claws either a hare or a swan of shining body,

**565** quaesitum aut matri multis balatibus agnum  
or the wolf of Mars has snatched from the folds a lamb

**566** Martius a stabulis rapuit lupus. Undique clamor  
whose mother looks for it with much bleating. A shout goes up

**567** tollitur: invadunt et fossas aggere complent;  
on every side: they attack and fill the ditches with earth;
> An earthwork against the wall: Agger is an earthwork or rampart, and aggere here is its ablative, naming the means: they fill the ditches with the spoil they have dug. The mound this makes lets the attackers reach the base of the wall.

**568** ardentis taedas alii ad fastigia iactant.  
others fling burning brands up at the gables.

**569** Ilioneus saxo atque ingenti fragmine montis  
Ilioneus lays Lucetius out with a rock, a huge broken piece of mountain,

**570** Lucetium portae subeuntem ignisque ferentem,  
as he came up under the gate carrying fire;

**571** Emathiona Liger, Corynaeum sternit Asilas,  
Liger lays out Emathion, Asilas Corynaeus,

**572** hic iaculo bonus, hic longe fallente sagitta,  
the one good with the javelin, the other with the arrow that cheats from far off;
> The arrow that cheats: Fallo means 'to deceive' or 'to slip past unnoticed'. Longe fallente sagitta, 'the arrow that deceives from far off', describes the bowman's weapon as one that arrives unseen, set beside the javelin thrower named in the same line.

**573** Ortygium Caeneus, victorem Caenea Turnus,  
Caeneus kills Ortygius, and Turnus the winner Caeneus,

**574** Turnus Ityn Cloniumque, Dioxippum Promolumque  
Turnus kills Itys and Clonius, Dioxippus and Promolus

**575** et Sagarim et summis stantem pro turribus Idan,  
and Sagaris, and Idas standing out before the highest towers,

**576** Privernum Capys. Hunc primo levis hasta Themillae  
Capys kills Privernus. Themillas' light spear had first

**577** strinxerat: ille manum proiecto tegmine demens  
grazed him: like a fool he threw his shield away and carried

**578** ad volnus tulit; ergo alis adlapsa sagitta  
his hand to the wound; so an arrow came gliding on its wings

**579** et laevo infixa est lateri manus abditaque intus  
and was driven into his left side, and the hand with it, and buried deep

**580** spiramenta animae letali volnere rupit.  
it broke the breathing-passages of his life with a mortal wound.

**581** Stabat in egregiis Arcentis filius armis,  
The son of Arcens stood there in splendid armor,

**582** pictus acu chlamydem et ferrugine clarus Hibera,  
his cloak embroidered with the needle, bright with Spanish dark red,
> Spanish dark red: Ferrugo names the color of iron rust, a dark purplish red, and Hibera marks the dye as Spanish, an expensive import. The phrase describes the cloak's color and its costliness together.

**583** insignis facie, genitor quem miserat Arcens,  
a marked man for his face, whom his father Arcens had sent,

**584** eductum Matris luco Symaethia circum  
reared in the Mother's grove beside the waters of the Symaethus,

**585** flumina, pinguis ubi et placabilis ara Palici:  
where the altar of Palicus is rich and easily appeased:

**586** stridentem fundam positis Mezentius hastis  
Mezentius laid his spears down and drove the whistling sling

**587** ipse ter adducta circum caput egit habena  
three times about his own head, drawing the thong,

**588** et media adversi liquefacto tempora plumbo  
and split the temples of the man facing him down the middle

**589** diffidit ac multa porrectum extendit harena.  
with molten lead, and stretched him out at full length on the sand.

**590** Tum primum bello celerem intendisse sagittam  
Then for the first time in war, they say, Ascanius bent a swift arrow,

**591** dicitur ante feras solitus terrere fugaces  
he who had only ever been used to frighten running game,

**592** Ascanius fortemque manu fudisse Numanum,  
and by his own hand laid brave Numanus low,

**593** cui Remulo cognomen erat, Turnique minorem  
whose added name was Remulus, and who had lately taken

**594** germanam nuper thalamo sociatus habebat.  
Turnus' younger sister as a bride into his chamber.

**595** Is primam ante aciem digna atque indigna relatu  
He walked out in front of the first rank, shouting things fit

**596** vociferans tumidusque novo praecordia regno  
and unfit to repeat, swollen at heart with his new royalty,
> Accusative of respect: Praecordia, 'the parts around the heart', stands in the accusative to say where a condition is located: tumidus praecordia, 'swollen as to the heart'. Latin borrows this construction from Greek, and Vergil favors it in his battle scenes.

**597** ibat et ingentem sese clamore ferebat:  
and carried himself along, huge, on his own noise:

**598** “Non pudet obsidione iterum valloque teneri,  
“Are you not ashamed to be penned again by a siege and a stockade,

**599** bis capti Phryges, et morti praetendere muros?  
twice-taken Phrygians, and to hold walls out in front of death?
> Phrygian, as an insult: Phryx, 'Phrygian', names a place but also carries scorn in Roman ears, as the byword for soft eastern luxury. Bis capti, 'twice captured', refers to Hercules taking Troy once and the Greeks taking it again, a historical fact Numanus uses as an insult.

**600** En qui nostra sibi bello conubia poscunt!  
There they are: the men who demand our marriages of us by war!

**601** Quis deus Italiam, quae vos dementia adegit  
What god drove you to Italy? What madness drove you?

**602** Non hic Atridae nec fandi fictor Ulixes:  
There are no sons of Atreus here, no Ulysses to make up a speech.

**603** durum a stirpe genus natos ad flumina primum  
We are a hard stock from the root: we carry our sons down to the rivers

**604** deferimus saevoque gelu duramus et undis,  
at birth and toughen them in the cruel ice and the water,

**605** venatu invigilant pueri silvasque fatigant,  
our boys go sleepless at the hunt and wear the woods out,

**606** flectere ludus equos et spicula tendere cornu.  
their play is to wheel horses and draw arrows on a horn bow.

**607** At patiens operum parvoque adsueta iuventus  
Our young men, patient of work and used to little,

**608** aut rastris terram domat aut quatit oppida bello.  
either break the earth with the mattock or shake towns with war.

**609** Omne aevum ferro teritur, versaque iuvencum  
Our whole life is worn away with iron, and we tire the backs

**610** terga fatigamus hasta; nec tarda senectus  
of our bullocks with a reversed spear; and slow old age

**611** debilitat vires animi mutatque vigorem:  
does not weaken the strength of our minds or change our vigor:

**612** canitiem galea premimus, semperque recentis  
we press a helmet down on our grey hair, and it is always our joy

**613** comportare iuvat praedas et vivere rapto.  
to carry in fresh plunder and to live off what we take.

**614** Vobis picta croco et fulgenti murice vestis,  
You have clothes dyed with saffron and shining purple,

**615** desidiae cordi, iuvat indulgere choreis,  
idleness is what you love, dancing is your delight,

**616** et tunicae manicas et habent redimicula mitrae.  
and your tunics have sleeves and your bonnets have ribbons.

**617** O vere Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges, ite per alta  
Truly Phrygian women, for Phrygian men you are not, go up

**618** Dindyma ubi adsuetis biforem dat tibia cantum!  
over high Dindyma, where the pipe gives its two-toned song to ears that know it!

**619** Tympana vos buxusque vocat Berecyntia Matris  
The drums are calling you, and the boxwood of the Berecyntian Mother

**620** Idaeae sinite arma viris et cedite ferro.”  
of Ida. Leave weapons to men, and give way before iron.”

**621** Talia iactantem dictis ac dira canentem  
Ascanius could not bear him throwing such things about

**622** non tulit Ascanius nervoque obversus equino  
and chanting curses; he faced him, drew the string of horsehair,

**623** contendit telum diversaque bracchia ducens  
stretched the shaft, and, pulling his arms apart,

**624** constitit, ante Iovem supplex per vota precatus:  
stood still, and first prayed to Jove as a suppliant with vows:

**625** “Iuppiter omnipotens, audacibus adnue coeptis.  
“Jupiter almighty, nod to a bold beginning.

**626** Ipse tibi ad tua templa feram sollemnia dona  
I will bring solemn gifts to your temples myself

**627** et statuam ante aras aurata fronte iuvencum  
and set before your altars a bullock with gilded forehead,

**628** candentem pariterque caput cum matre ferentem,  
white, carrying his head as high as his mother's,

**629** iam cornu petat et pedibus qui spargat harenam.”  
one that already butts with the horn and scatters sand with his feet.”

**630** Audiit et caeli Genitor de parte serena  
The Father heard him, and from a clear quarter of the sky

**631** intonuit laevum, sonat una fatifer arcus:  
thundered on the left; the death-bringing bow sounds with it:

**632** effugit horrendum stridens adducta sagitta  
the drawn arrow leaps away with a horrible whistling

**633** perque caput Remuli venit et cava tempora ferro  
and comes through Remulus' head, and the iron runs the hollow

**634** traicit. “I, verbis virtutem inlude superbis!  
temples through. “Go, mock courage with proud words!

**635** Bis capti Phryges haec Rutulis responsa remittunt.”  
This is the answer twice-taken Phrygians send back to the Rutulians.”
> A doubtful word in the text: The manuscripts here print his capti Phryges, which duplicates the nearby haec and makes poor sense; other witnesses read bis capti, 'twice captured'. That reading echoes Numanus' own words at line 599, and we translate it as the echo.

**636** Hoc tantum Ascanius. Teucri clamore sequuntur  
Only this from Ascanius. The Teucrians follow it with a shout

**637** laetitiaque fremunt animosque ad sidera tollunt.  
and roar with joy and lift their spirits to the stars.

**638** Aetheria tum forte plaga crinitus Apollo  
Just then, from a tract of the upper air, long-haired Apollo

**639** desuper Ausonias acies urbemque videbat,  
was watching the Ausonian ranks and the town from above,

**640** nube sedens, atque his victorem adfatur Iulum:  
sitting on a cloud, and he addresses Iulus in his victory:

**641** “Macte nova virtute, puer: sic itur ad astra,  
“Blessing on your new-found courage, boy: that is the way to the stars,

**642** dis genite et geniture deos. Iure omnia bella  
child of gods and father of gods to come. By right, all the wars
> Born of gods, to father gods: Genite and geniture are two participles from the same verb: genite is perfect passive, 'having been born', and geniture is future active, 'about to father'. Apollo addresses Ascanius with both in one phrase, naming his ancestry and his future together.

**643** gente sub Assaraci fato ventura resident,  
that fate is bringing will settle at last under Assaracus' line,

**644** nec te Troia capit.” Simul haec effatus ab alto  
and Troy is not big enough to hold you.” Saying this, at once
> Troy is not big enough: Capio means 'to hold' or 'to contain'. Nec te Troia capit, 'Troy does not contain you', says literally that the city is too small to hold Ascanius, using a physical verb for a statement about his future scope.

**645** aethere se misit, spirantis dimovet auras  
he threw himself down out of the high air, parts the breathing winds

**646** Ascaniumque petit. Forma tum vertitur oris  
and makes for Ascanius. Then the shape of his face is turned

**647** antiquum in Buten; hic Dardanio Anchisae  
into old Butes; he had been armor-bearer once to Dardanian

**648** armiger ante fuit fidusque ad limina custos,  
Anchises and a faithful guard at his door,

**649** tum comitem Ascanio pater addidit. Ibat Apollo  
and then the father gave him to Ascanius as attendant. Apollo went

**650** omnia longaevo similis, vocemque coloremque  
like the old man in everything, in voice and complexion

**651** et crinis albos et saeva sonoribus arma,  
and white hair and weapons harsh with their clashing,

**652** atque his ardentem dictis adfatur Iulum:  
and speaks to burning Iulus in these words:

**653** “Sit satis, Aenide, telis impune Numanum  
“Let it be enough, son of Aeneas, that Numanus went down

**654** oppetiisse tuis; primam hanc tibi magnus, Apollo  
to your arrows and you were not made to pay; great Apollo grants you

**655** concedit laudem et paribus non invidet armis:  
this first glory and does not grudge a weapon the match of his own:

**656** cetera parce, puer, bello.” Sic orsus Apollo  
for the rest, boy, keep out of the war.” So Apollo began,

**657** mortalis medio aspectus sermone reliquit  
and in the middle of his speech he left the sight of mortals

**658** et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram.  
and far off vanished out of their eyes into thin air.

**659** Agnovere deum proceres divinaque tela  
The chief men knew the god and knew the divine weapons,

**660** Dardanidae pharetramque fuga sensere sonantem.  
and the sons of Dardanus heard the quiver ringing as he went.

**661** Ergo avidum pugnae dictis ac numine Phoebi  
So by the words and the will of Phoebus they hold Ascanius back,

**662** Ascanium prohibent, ipsi in certamina rursus  
hungry as he is for the fight; they themselves go down again

**663** succedunt animasque in aperta pericula mittunt.  
into the struggle and send their lives into open danger.

**664** It clamor totis per propugnacula muris,  
The shout runs along the breastworks the whole length of the walls,

**665** intendunt acris arcus amentaque torquent.  
they bend their keen bows and whirl the throwing-thongs.

**666** Sternitur omne solum telis, tum scuta cavaeque  
The whole ground is strewn with weapons; then shields and hollow

**667** dant sonitum flictu galeae, pugna aspera surgit:  
helmets ring under the battering, and a harsh fight rises:

**668** quantus ab occasu veniens pluvialibus Haedis  
as heavy as the rain that comes out of the west when the Kids bring

**669** verberat imber humum, quam multa grandine nimbi  
wet weather and it lashes the ground, as thick as the hail

**670** in vada praecipitant, cum Iuppiter horridus austris  
the storm-clouds hurl into the shallows, when Jupiter, bristling

**671** torquet aquosam hiemem et caelo cava nubila rumpit.  
with south winds, twists up a watery tempest and bursts the hollow clouds.

**672** Pandarus et Bitias, Idaeo Alcanore creti,  
Pandarus and Bitias, sprung from Alcanor of Ida,

**673** quos Iovis eduxit luco silvestris Iaera  
whom Iaera of the woods raised in the grove of Jupiter,

**674** abietibus iuvenes patriis et montibus aequos,  
young men matched with their native firs and their mountains,

**675** portam, quae ducis imperio commissa, recludunt,  
throw open the gate their commander's order had entrusted to them,

**676** freti animis, ultroque invitant moenibus hostem.  
trusting their own courage, and invite the enemy inside the walls.

**677** Ipsi intus dextra ac laeva pro turribus adstant,  
They themselves stand within, right and left, in front of the towers,

**678** armati ferro et cristis capita alta corusci:  
armed with iron and flashing at their high heads with crests:

**679** quales aëriae liquentia flumina circum,  
as, high in the air about the flowing rivers,

**680** sive Padi ripis Athesim seu propter amoenum,  
whether on the banks of the Po or beside the pleasant Athesis,

**681** consurgunt geminae quercus intonsaque caelo  
twin oaks rise together and lift their unshorn heads

**682** attollunt capita et sublimi vertice nutant.  
to the sky and nod at their lofty crowns.

**683** inrumpunt aditus Rutuli ut videre patentis  
The Rutulians burst into the entrance as soon as they saw it open,

**684** continuo Quercens et pulcher Aquiculus armis  
at once Quercens, and Aquiculus handsome in his armor,

**685** et praeceps animi Tmarus et Mavortius Haemon  
and headlong-hearted Tmarus and Haemon of Mars,

**686** agminibus totis: at versi terga dedere  
with all their columns: but they were turned and gave their backs,

**687** aut ipso portae posuere in limine vitam.  
or laid their lives down on the very threshold of the gate.

**688** Tum magis increscunt animis discordibus irae;  
Then the angers swell higher in hearts set against each other;

**689** et iam collecti Troes glomerantur eodem  
and now the Trojans, drawn together, ball up at the one place

**690** et conferre manum et procurrere longius audent.  
and dare to close hand to hand and to run out further.

**691** Ductori Turno diversa in parte furenti  
Word is brought to the commander Turnus, raging in another quarter

**692** turbantique viros perfertur nuntius, hostem  
and throwing men into confusion, that the enemy is hot

**693** fervere caede nova et portas praebere patentis.  
with fresh killing and is offering his gates standing open.

**694** Deserit inceptum atque immani concitus ira  
He drops what he had begun and, driven by a monstrous anger,

**695** Dardaniam ruit ad portam fratresque superbos.  
rushes for the Dardanian gate and the arrogant brothers.

**696** Et primum Antiphaten, is enim se primus agebat,  
And first he lays out Antiphates, he was pushing to the front,

**697** Thebana de matre nothum Sarpedonis alti,  
the bastard son of tall Sarpedon by a Theban mother,

**698** coniecto sternit iaculo; volat Itala cornus  
with a thrown javelin; the Italian cornel-wood flies

**699** aëra per tenerum stomachoque infixa sub altum  
through the soft air, and fixed in his gullet goes down

**700** pectus abit: reddit specus atri volneris undam  
under the deep chest: the cave of the black wound gives back

**701** spumantem, et fixo ferrum in pulmone tepescit.  
a foaming wave, and the iron warms in the pierced lung.

**702** Tum Meropem atque Erymanta manu, tum sternit Aphidnum,  
Then Merops and Erymas by hand, then he lays out Aphidnus,

**703** tum Bitian ardentem oculis animisque frementem  
then Bitias, blazing in the eyes and roaring in his spirit,

**704** non iaculo, neque enim iaculo vitam ille dedisset,  
not by a javelin, for he would never have given up his life to a javelin,

**705** sed magnum stridens contorta phalarica venit,  
but a whistling pike came, hurled hard,
> A heavy siege weapon: A phalarica is a heavy pike used in siege warfare, sometimes wrapped with burning tow, and thrown from walls or engines rather than by hand. It is a different, heavier class of weapon than an ordinary javelin.

**706** fulminis acta modo, quam nec duo taurea terga  
driven like a thunderbolt, which neither two bull's hides

**707** nec duplici squama lorica fidelis et auro  
nor the trusty corselet with its double scale of gold

**708** sustinuit: conlapsa ruunt immania membra.  
could hold off: the monstrous limbs give way and go down.

**709** Dat tellus gemitum, et clipeum super intonat ingens.  
The earth groans, and the huge shield thunders on top of him.

**710** Talis in Euboico Baiarum litore quondam  
So on the Euboean shore at Baiae a pier of stone

**711** saxea pila cadit, magnis quam molibus ante  
falls sometimes, which they build first out of great blocks

**712** constructam ponto iaciunt; sic illa ruinam  
and then cast into the sea; so it drags its wreck down

**713** prona trahit penitusque vadis inlisa recumbit:  
headlong and, smashed into the shallows, settles deep:

**714** miscent se maria, et nigrae attolluntur harenae;  
the waters churn together and the black sand is lifted;

**715** tum sonitu Prochyta alta tremit durumque cubile  
then high Prochyta shakes at the noise, and the hard bed

**716** Inarime Iovis imperiis imposta Typhoeo.  
of Inarime, laid on Typhoeus by Jove's orders.

**717** Hic Mars armipotens animum viresque Latinis  
Here Mars, mighty in arms, added spirit and strength

**718** addidit et stimulos acris sub pectore vertit  
to the Latins and turned keen goads under their breasts,

**719** immisitque Fugam Teucris atrumque Timorem.  
and sent Flight in among the Teucrians, and black Fear.

**720** Undique conveniunt, quoniam data copia pugnae  
They come together from every side, since a chance to fight is given

**721** bellatorque animo deus incidit.  
and the warrior god has fallen on their spirit.

**722** Pandarus ut fuso germanum corpore cernit  
When Pandarus sees his brother's body spread on the ground,

**723** et quo sit fortuna loco, qui casus agat res,  
and how the luck now stands, and what chance is driving things,

**724** portam vi magna converso cardine torquet,  
he swings the gate round on its hinge with great force,

**725** obnixus latis umeris, multosque suorum  
straining with his broad shoulders, and leaves many of his own men

**726** moenibus exclusos duro in certamine linquit;  
shut out of the walls in the hard fighting;

**727** ast alios secum includit recipitque ruentis,  
but he shuts others in with him and takes them as they come pouring back,

**728** demens, qui Rutulum in medio non agmine regem  
out of his mind, a man who did not see the Rutulian king

**729** viderit inrumpentem ultroque incluserit urbi,  
breaking in among the ranks, and shut him inside the town himself,

**730** immanem veluti pecora inter inertia tigrim.  
the way a huge tiger is shut in among dull cattle.

**731** Continuo nova lux oculis effulsit, et arma  
At once a strange light flashed on their eyes, and the armor
> The strange light, a second time: Nova lux oculis, 'a strange light upon their eyes', repeats the phrase from line 110, where Cybele appeared to save the ships. Here Continuo replaces Hic primum and effulsit replaces offulsit, the same words reused with small variation for Turnus' appearance inside the camp.

**732** horrendum sonuere; tremunt in vertice cristae  
rang horribly; the blood-red crests shake on his head,

**733** sanguineae, clipeoque micantia fulmina mittit:  
and he sends flashing lightning off his shield:

**734** agnoscunt faciem invisam atque immania membra  
the followers of Aeneas know the hated face and the monstrous

**735** turbati subito Aeneadae. Tum Pandarus ingens  
limbs, thrown into sudden confusion. Then huge Pandarus

**736** emicat et mortis fraternae fervidus ira  
darts out, hot with anger at his brother's death,

**737** effatur: “Non haec dotalis regia Amatae,  
and speaks: “This is not Amata's palace that came with her dowry,

**738** nec muris cohibet patriis media Ardea Turnum.  
and Ardea does not hold Turnus in the middle of his father's walls.

**739** Castra inimica vides; nulla hinc exire potestas.”  
You are looking at an enemy camp; there is no power to get out of it.”

**740** Olli subridens sedato pectore Turnus:  
Turnus, smiling back at him with a settled heart:
> An archaic dative form: Olli is an archaic dative of ille, 'to him', a form Vergil keeps for introducing a reply. It means the same as the ordinary illi, only spelled in an older way.

**741** “Incipe, siqua animo virtus, et consere dextram:  
“Begin, if there is any courage in your spirit, and join right hands:

**742** hic etiam inventum Priamo narrabis Achillem.”  
you will tell Priam that an Achilles was found here too.”

**743** Dixerat. Ille rudem nodis et cortice crudo  
He had spoken. The other, straining with all his strength,

**744** intorquet summis adnixus viribus hastam:  
hurls a spear still rough with knots and raw bark:

**745** excepere aurae volnus; Saturnia Iuno  
the winds took the wound; Saturn's daughter Juno

**746** detorsit veniens, portaeque infigitur hasta.  
came and turned it aside, and the spear is planted in the gate.

**747** “At non hoc telum, mea quod vi dextera versat,  
“But this weapon, that my right hand handles by main strength,

**748** effugies; neque enim is teli nec volneris auctor.”  
you will not escape; the man who deals this shaft and this wound is another.”

**749** Sic ait et sublatum alte consurgit in ensem  
So he says, and rises up into the sword he has raised high

**750** et mediam ferro gemina inter tempora frontem  
and splits the forehead down the middle with the iron,

**751** dividit inpubesque immani volnere malas.  
between the two temples, and the beardless cheeks, with a monstrous wound.
> Beardless cheeks: Impubis means 'not yet grown up', describing malas, 'cheeks', that have no beard yet. The same attention to age marks Euryalus' first down at line 181, naming how young this soldier is as well.

**752** Fit sonus, ingenti concussa est pondere tellus:  
There is a sound; the earth was shaken by the huge weight:

**753** conlapsos artus atque arma cruenta cerebro  
dying, he lays his fallen limbs along the ground and his armor

**754** sternit humi moriens, atque illi partibus aequis  
bloodied with brain, and the head hung in equal halves,

**755** huc caput atque illuc umero ex utroque pependit.  
this way and that, from each of his two shoulders.

**756** Diffugiunt versi trepida formidine Troes:  
The Trojans turn and scatter in shaking terror:

**757** et si continuo victorem ea cura subisset,  
and if the thought had come to the winner then and there
> A condition contrary to fact: Subisset and fuisset are both pluperfect subjunctive, forming a condition contrary to fact: 'if the thought had come to him, it would have been'. Neither happened. Epic poetry often uses this construction, 'and now they would have, had not', at turning points in the story.

**758** rumpere claustra manu sociosque immittere portis,  
to break the bars with his hand and let his comrades in at the gates,

**759** ultimus ille dies bello gentique fuisset;  
that would have been the last day of the war and of the race;

**760** sed furor ardentem caedisque insana cupido  
but fury and an insane hunger for killing drove him, burning,

**761** egit in adversos.  
at the men in front of him.

**762** Principio Phalerim et succiso poplite Gygen  
First he takes Phaleris, and Gyges with his hamstring cut;

**763** excipit; hinc raptas fugientibus ingerit hastas  
then he snatches up their spears and piles them into the backs

**764** in tergum, Iuno vires animumque ministrat;  
of the running men; Juno supplies the strength and the spirit;

**765** addit Halym comitem et confixa Phegea parma,  
he adds Halys to their company, and Phegeus, pinned through his shield,

**766** ignaros deinde in muris Martemque cientis  
then men on the walls who knew nothing and were rousing the war-god,

**767** Alcandrumque Haliumque Noemonaque Prytanimque.  
Alcander and Halius and Noemon and Prytanis.

**768** Lyncea tendentem contra sociosque vocantem  
Lynceus, coming at him and calling his comrades,

**769** vibranti gladio conixus ab aggere dexter  
he catches, straining from the earthwork on the right

**770** occupat; huic uno desectum comminus ictu  
with a shivering blade; the head, cut off at close quarters

**771** cum galea longe iacuit caput. Inde ferarum  
by one stroke, lay far away with the helmet still on it. Then

**772** vastatorem Amycum, quo non felicior alter  
Amycus, waster of wild beasts, than whom no one was luckier

**773** ungere tela manu ferrumque armare veneno,  
at smearing weapons by hand and arming iron with poison,

**774** et Clytium Aeoliden et amicum Crethea Musis,  
and Clytius son of Aeolus, and Cretheus, friend of the Muses,

**775** Crethea Musarum comitem, cui carmina semper  
Cretheus, companion of the Muses, whose delight was always

**776** et citharae cordi numerosque intendere nervis.  
songs and the lyre and the setting of measures to the strings.

**777** Semper equos atque arma virum pugnasque canebat.  
He was always singing of horses and men's arms and of battles.

**778** Tandem ductores audita caede suorum  
At last, hearing of the killing of their own, the Teucrian captains

**779** conveniunt Teucri, Mnestheus acerque Serestus,  
come together, Mnestheus and keen Serestus,

**780** palantisque vident socios hostemque receptum.  
and see their comrades straggling and the enemy let in.

**781** Et Mnestheus: “Quo deinde fugam, quo tenditis?” inquit.  
And Mnestheus: “Where next? Where are you running to?” he says.

**782** “Quos alios muros, quae iam ultra moenia habetis?  
“What other walls, what defenses have you left beyond these?

**783** Unus homo et vestris, o cives, undique saeptus  
Shall one man, citizens, fenced in on every side by your own

**784** aggeribus tantas strages inpune per urbem  
earthworks, have dealt such slaughter through the town unpunished

**785** ediderit, iuvenum primos tot miserit Orco?  
and sent so many of the first of the young men down to Orcus?

**786** Non infelicis patriae veterumque deorum  
Have you no pity, no shame, you sluggards, for an unlucky country,

**787** et magni Aeneae, segnes, miseretque pudetque?”  
for the old gods, and for great Aeneas?”
> Impersonal verbs with the genitive: Miseret and pudet are impersonal verbs with no subject: Latin says 'it pities' and 'it shames', naming the person affected in the accusative and the cause in the genitive. Here three genitives, country, the old gods, and Aeneas, give the cause.

**788** Talibus accensi firmantur et agmine denso  
Fired by such words they steady themselves and take their stand

**789** consistunt. Turnus paulatim excedere pugna  
in a packed column. Turnus little by little draws out of the fight

**790** et fluvium petere ac partem, quae cingitur unda;  
and makes for the river and the quarter that the water rings;

**791** acrius hoc Teucri clamore incumbere magno  
the Teucrians press him harder for it, with a great shouting,

**792** et glomerare manum. Ceu saevum turba leonem  
and close their force around him. As when a crowd presses

**793** cum telis premit infensis, at territus ille,  
a savage lion with weapons leveled, and he, frightened,

**794** asper, acerba tuens, retro redit, et neque terga  
rough, with a bitter look, goes backwards, and neither his anger

**795** ira dare aut virtus patitur, nec tendere contra  
nor his courage lets him turn his back, nor can he push forward

**796** ille quidem hoc cupiens potis est per tela virosque:  
against them, much as he wants to, through the weapons and the men:

**797** haud aliter retro dubius vestigia Turnus  
no otherwise Turnus, in two minds, carries his steps back

**798** improperata refert, et mens exaestuat ira.  
without hurrying, and his mind boils over with anger.

**799** Quin etiam bis tum medios invaserat hostis,  
Twice, even then, he had charged into the middle of the enemy,
> Twice, and twice: Bis, 'twice', opens two successive clauses here, a formal epic figure marking a repeated effort. Turnus charges into the enemy twice in this passage, each time without breaking through.

**800** bis confusa fuga per muros agmina vertit;  
twice he turned their columns in confused flight along the walls;

**801** sed manus e castris propere coit omnis in unum,  
but the whole force from the camp gathers quickly into one,

**802** nec contra vires audet Saturnia Iuno  
and Saturn's daughter Juno does not dare supply him strength

**803** sufficere, aëriam caelo nam Iuppiter Irim  
against them, for Jupiter sent Iris down through the air

**804** demisit germanae haud mollia iussa ferentem,  
out of heaven, carrying his sister no soft orders,

**805** ni Turnus cedat Teucrorum moenibus altis.  
if Turnus did not give way from the high walls of the Teucrians.

**806** Ergo nec clipeo iuvenis subsistere tantum  
So the young man is not strong enough to hold on with his shield

**807** nec dextra valet: iniectis sic undique telis  
or with his right hand: he is buried under weapons thrown

**808** obruitur. Strepit adsiduo cava tempora circum  
from every side. The helmet rattles with a ceaseless ringing

**809** tinnitu galea, et saxis solida aera fatiscunt,  
about his hollow temples, and the solid bronze splits under stones,
> The bronze giving way: Fatisco means 'to gape open with cracks', the verb used elsewhere of dried wood or cracked ground. Here it describes solida aera, 'solid bronze', splitting under the impact of thrown stones.

**810** discussaeque iubae capiti, nec sufficit umbo  
and the plumes are shaken off his head; and the boss does not hold

**811** ictibus: ingeminant hastis et Troes et ipse  
against the blows: the Trojans double their spear-strokes, and Mnestheus

**812** fulmineus Mnestheus. Tum toto corpore sudor  
himself, like lightning. Then sweat runs over his whole body

**813** liquitur et piceum, nec respirare potestas,  
and drives a pitch-black river, there is no power left to breathe,

**814** flumen agit; fessos quatit aeger anhelitus artus.  
and a sick panting shakes his worn-out limbs.

**815** Tum demum praeceps saltu sese omnibus armis  
Then at last, headlong, at a leap, he gave himself with all his armor

**816** in fluvium dedit: ille suo cum gurgite flavo  
into the river: and it took him as he came, in its own yellow flood,

**817** accepit venientem ac mollibus extulit undis  
and lifted him out on gentle waves

**818** et laetum sociis abluta caede remisit.  
and gave him back, the killing washed off him, glad, to his companions.

---

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.