Aeneid IX.314-409

Boys' night goes well until it doesn't.

Leaving, they crossed the ditches, seeking the enemy camp

in the shadow of night, destined yet to first bring many deaths.

They saw bodies in drunken sleep stretched here and there

on the grass, chariots tilted upwards on the shore, men among

wheels and harness, and weapons and wine-cups lying about.

Nisus, Hyrtacus’s son, spoke first, saying:

“Euryalus, now the occasion truly calls for a daring

right hand. This is our road. You must see that no arm’s

raised against us at our back, and keep watch carefully:

I’ll deal destruction here and cut you a wide path.”

So he spoke, and checked his speech, and at once

drove his sword at proud Rhamnes, who chanced to be

breathing deeply in sleep, piled with thick coverlets.

He was King Turnus’s best-beloved augur, and a king

himself, but he could not avert destruction with augury.

Nisus killed three of his servants nearby, lying careless

among their weapons, and Remus’s armour bearer, and his charioteer,

found at the horses’ feet: he severed lolling necks with his sword.

Then he struck off the head of their lord himself and left

the trunk spurting blood, the ground and the bed drenched

with dark warm blood. And Lamyrus too, and Lamum,

and young Serranus, noted for his beauty, who had sported

much that night, and lay there limbs drowned by much wine—

happy if he’d carried on his game all night till dawn:

so a starving lion churning through a full sheepfold (driven

by its raging hunger) gnaws and tears at the feeble flock

mute with fear, and roars from its bloodstained mouth.

Nor was Euryalus’s slaughter any less; he too raged, ablaze,

and among the nameless crowd he attacked Fadus

and Herbesus and Abaris while they were unconscious;

and Rhoetus, but Rhoetus was awake and saw it all,

but crouched in fear behind a huge wine-bowl. As he rose,

in close encounter, Euryalus plunged his whole blade

into Rhoetus’s chest and withdrew it red with death. Rhoetus

choked out his life in dark blood and, dying, brought up wine

mixed with gore: the other pressed on fervently and stealthily.

Now he approached Messapus’s followers; there he saw

the outermost fires flickering and the horses, duly tethered,

cropping the grass. Nisus (seeing him carried away

by slaughter and love of the sword’s power) said briefly:

“Let’s go, since unhelpful dawn is near. Enough: vengeance

has been satisfied, a path has been made through the enemy.”

They left behind many of the men’s weapons

fashioned from solid silver, and wine-bowls and splendid hangings.

Euryalus snatched Rhamnes’s trappings and gold-studded

sword-belt, gifts that wealthy Caedicus had once sent to Remulus

of Tibur, expressing friendship in absence; he when dying

gave them to his grandson as his own, and after his death in turn

the Rutulians captured them during the war in battle: now

Euryalus fitted them over his brave shoulders, though in vain.

Then he put on Messapus’s excellent helmet with its handsome

plumes. They left the camp and headed for safety.

Meanwhile riders arrived, sent out from the Latin city,

while the rest of the army waited in readiness

on the plain, bringing a reply for King Turnus:

three hundred, carrying shields, led by Volcens.

They were already near the camp and below the walls

when they saw the two men turning down a path on the left:

his helmet, gleaming in the shadow of night, betrayed

the unthinking Euryalus and reflected back the rays.

It was not seen in vain. Volcens shouted from his column:

“You men, halt, what’s the reason for your journey? Who are you,

you’re armed? Where are you off to?” They offered no response,

but hastened their flight to the woods, trusting to the dark.

The riders closed off the known junctions on every side

and surrounded each exit route with guards.

The forest spread out widely, thick with brambles

and holm-oaks, the dense thorns filling it on every side;

there the path glinted through the secret glades.

Euryalus was hampered by shadowy branches and the weight

of his plunder, and his fear confused the path’s direction.

Nisus was clear; and already unaware had escaped the enemy,

and was at the place later called Alba from Alba Longa

(at that time King Latinus had his noble stalls there)

when he stopped and looked back vainly for his missing friend:

“Euryalus, unhappy boy, where did I separate from you?¹

Which way shall I go?” he said, considering all the tangled tracks

of the deceptive wood, and at the same time scanning

the backward traces he could see criss-crossing the silent thickets.

He heard horses, heard the cries and signals of pursuit;

and it was no great time before a shout reached his ears

and he saw Euryalus, betrayed by the ground and the night,

confused by the sudden tumult, whom the whole troop

were dragging away, overpowered, struggling violently in vain.

What can he do? With what force or weapons can he dare

to rescue the youth? Should he hurl himself to his death among

the swords, and by his wounds hasten to a glorious end?

He swiftly drew back his spear arm and, gazing upwards

at the moon above, prayed with these words:

“O you, goddess, O you, Latona’s daughter, glory of the stars

and keeper of the woods, be here and help us in our trouble.

If ever my father, Hyrtacus, brought offerings on my behalf

to your altars, if ever I added to them from my own hunting,

hung them beneath your dome, or fixed them to the sacred eaves,

let me throw their troop into confusion, guide my spear through the air.”

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Egressi superant fossas noctisque per umbram

castra inimica petunt, multis tamen ante futuri               315

exitio. passim somno vinoque per herbam

corpora fusa vident, arrectos litore currus,

inter lora rotasque viros, simul arma iacere,

vina simul. prior Hyrtacides sic ore locutus:

'Euryale, audendum dextra: nunc ipsa vocat res.               320

hac iter est. tu, ne qua manus se attollere nobis

a tergo possit, custodi et consule longe;

haec ego vasta dabo et lato te limite ducam.'

sic memorat vocemque premit, simul ense superbum

Rhamnetem adgreditur, qui forte tapetibus altis               325

exstructus toto proflabat pectore somnum,

rex idem et regi Turno gratissimus augur,

sed non augurio potuit depellere pestem.

tris iuxta famulos temere inter tela iacentis

armigerumque Remi premit aurigamque sub ipsis               330

nactus equis ferroque secat pendentia colla.

tum caput ipsi aufert domino truncumque relinquit

sanguine singultantem; atro tepefacta cruore

terra torique madent. nec non Lamyrumque Lamumque

et iuvenem Serranum, illa qui plurima nocte               335

luserat, insignis facie, multoque iacebat

membra deo victus—felix, si protinus illum

aequasset nocti ludum in lucemque tulisset:

impastus ceu plena leo per ovilia turbans

(suadet enim vesana fames) manditque trahitque               340

molle pecus mutumque metu, fremit ore cruento.

nec minor Euryali caedes; incensus et ipse

perfurit ac multam in medio sine nomine plebem,

Fadumque Herbesumque subit Rhoetumque Abarimque

ignaros; Rhoetum vigilantem et cuncta videntem,               345

sed magnum metuens se post cratera tegebat.

pectore in adverso totum cui comminus ensem

condidit adsurgenti et multa morte recepit.

purpuream vomit ille animam et cum sanguine mixta

vina refert moriens, hic furto fervidus instat.               350

iamque ad Messapi socios tendebat; ibi ignem

deficere extremum et religatos rite videbat

carpere gramen equos, breviter cum talia Nisus

(sensit enim nimia caede atque cupidine ferri)

'absistamus' ait, 'nam lux inimica propinquat.               355

poenarum exhaustum satis est, via facta per hostis.'

multa virum solido argento perfecta relinquunt

armaque craterasque simul pulchrosque tapetas.

Euryalus phaleras Rhamnetis et aurea bullis

cingula, Tiburti Remulo ditissimus olim               360

quae mittit dona, hospitio cum iungeret absens,

Caedicus; ille suo moriens dat habere nepoti;

post mortem bello Rutuli pugnaque potiti:

haec rapit atque umeris nequiquam fortibus aptat.

tum galeam Messapi habilem cristisque decoram               365

induit. excedunt castris et tuta capessunt.

Interea praemissi equites ex urbe Latina,

cetera dum legio campis instructa moratur,

ibant et Turno regi responsa ferebant,

ter centum, scutati omnes, Volcente magistro.                370

iamque propinquabant castris murosque subibant

cum procul hos laevo flectentis limite cernunt,

et galea Euryalum sublustri noctis in umbra

prodidit immemorem radiisque adversa refulsit.

haud temere est visum. conclamat ab agmine Volcens:               375

'state, viri. quae causa viae? quive estis in armis?

quove tenetis iter?' nihil illi tendere contra,

sed celerare fugam in silvas et fidere nocti.

obiciunt equites sese ad divortia nota

hinc atque hinc, omnemque aditum custode coronant.               380

silva fuit late dumis atque ilice nigra

horrida, quam densi complerant undique sentes;

rara per occultos lucebat semita callis.

Euryalum tenebrae ramorum onerosaque praeda

impediunt, fallitque timor regione viarum.               385

Nisus abit; iamque imprudens evaserat hostis

atque locos qui post Albae de nomine dicti

Albani (tum rex stabula alta Latinus habebat),

ut stetit et frustra absentem respexit amicum:

'Euryale infelix, qua te regione reliqui?               390

quave sequar?' rursus perplexum iter omne revolvens

fallacis silvae simul et vestigia retro

observata legit dumisque silentibus errat.

audit equos, audit strepitus et signa sequentum;

nec longum in medio tempus, cum clamor ad auris               395

pervenit ac videt Euryalum, quem iam manus omnis

fraude loci et noctis, subito turbante tumultu,

oppressum rapit et conantem plurima frustra.

quid faciat? qua vi iuvenem, quibus audeat armis

eripere? an sese medios moriturus in enses               400

inferat et pulchram properet per vulnera mortem?

ocius adducto torquet hastile lacerto

suspiciens altam Lunam et sic voce precatur:

'tu, dea, tu praesens nostro succurre labori,

astrorum decus et nemorum Latonia custos.               405

si qua tuis umquam pro me pater Hyrtacus aris

dona tulit, si qua ipse meis venatibus auxi

suspendive tholo aut sacra ad fastigia fixi,

hunc sine me turbare globum et rege tela per auras.'

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1. cf. Aeneas and Creusa