Aeneid V.201-314
The boat race finishes in a buzzer-beater. Preparations begin for the footrace.
Chance brings the men the glory that they long for:
when Sergestus, his spirit raging, forces his bows
on the inside towards the rocks and enters
dangerous water, unhappily he strikes the jutting reef.
The cliff shakes, the oars jam against them and snap
on the sharp edges of stone, and the prow hangs there, snagged.
The sailors leap up, and, shouting aloud at the delay,
gather iron-tipped poles and sharply-pointed boathooks
and rescue their smashed oars from the water.
But Mnestheus, delighted and made eager by his success,
with a swift play of oars and a prayer to the winds,
heads for home waters and courses the open sea.
As a dove, whose nest and sweet chicks are hidden
among the rocks, suddenly startled from some hollow,
takes flight for the fields, frightened from her cover,
and beats her wings loudly, but soon gliding in still air
skims her clear path, barely moving her swift pinions:
in this way Mnestheus and the Sea-Dragon herself furrow
the final stretch of water in flight, and her impetus
alone carries her on her winged path. Firstly
he leaves Segestus behind struggling on the raised rock
then in shoal water, calling vainly for help,
and learning how to race with shattered oars.
Then he overhauls Gyas and the Chimaera’s huge bulk:
which, deprived of her helmsman now, gives way.
Now Cloanthus alone is left ahead, near to the finish,
Mnestheus heads for him and chases closely,
exerting all his powers. Then indeed the shouts redouble,
and together all enthusiastically urge on the pursuer.
The former crew are unhappy lest they fail to keep
the honour that is theirs and the glory already
in their possession, and would sell their lives for fame;
the latter feed on success: they can because they think they can.
And with their prow alongside they might have snatched the prize,
if Cloanthus had not stretched out his hands over the sea
and poured out his prayers and called to the gods in longing:
“Gods, whose empire is the ocean, whose waters I course,
on shore, I will gladly set a snow-white bull
before your altars, in payment of my vows,
throw the entrails into the saltwater, and pour out pure wine.”
He spoke, and all the Nereids1, Phorcus’s2 choir, and virgin Panopea3
heard him in the wave’s depths, and father Portunus4 drove him
on his track with his great hand: the ship ran to shore, swifter
than south wind or flying arrow, and plunged into the deep harbour.
Then Anchises’s son, calling them all together as is fitting,
by the herald’s loud cry declares Cloanthus the winner
and wreathes his forehead with green laurel, and tells him
to choose three bullocks, and wine, and a large talent of silver
as gifts for the ships. He adds special honours for the captains:
a cloak worked in gold for the victor, edged
with Meliboean deep purple in a double meandering line,
Ganymede the boy-prince woven on it, as if breathless
with eagerness, running with his javelin, chasing the swift stags
on leafy Ida: whom Jupiter’s eagle, carrier of the lightning-bolt,
has now snatched up into the air, from Ida, with taloned feet:
his aged guards stretch their hands to the sky in vain,
and the barking dogs snap at the air.5 He6 gives to the warrior
who took second place by his prowess a coat of mail for his own,
with polished hooks, in triple woven gold, a beautiful thing
and a defence in battle, that he himself as victor had taken
from Demoleus7, by the swift Simois, below the heights of Ilium.
Phegeus and Sagaris, his servants, can barely carry its folds,
on straining shoulders: though, wearing it, Demoleus
used to drive the scattered Trojans at a run.
He grants the third prize of a pair of bronze cauldrons
and bowls made of silver with designs in bold relief.
Now they have all received their gifts and are walking off,
foreheads tied with scarlet ribbons, proud of their new wealth,
when Segestus, who showing much skill has with difficulty
got clear of the cruel rock, oars missing and one tier useless,
brings in his boat, to mockery and no glory.
As a snake, that a bronze-rimmed wheel has crossed obliquely,
is often caught on the curb of a road, or like one that a passer-by
has crushed with a heavy blow from a stone and left half-dead,
writhes its long coils, trying in vain to escape, part aggressive,
with blazing eyes and hissing, its neck raised high in the air,
part held back by the constraint of its wounds, struggling
to follow with its coils and twining back on its own length:
so the ship moves slowly on with wrecked oars:
nevertheless she makes sail, and under full sail reaches harbour.
Aeneas presents Sergestus with the reward he promised,
happy that the ship is saved and the crew rescued.
He is granted a Cretan born slave-girl, Pholoe, not unskilled
in the arts of Minerva, nursing twin boys at her breast.
Once this race was done Aeneas headed for a grassy space,
circled round about by curving wooded hillsides,
forming an amphitheatre at the valley’s centre;
the hero took himself there in the midst of the throng
many thousands strong, and occupied a raised throne.
Here, if any by chance wanted to compete in the footrace,
he tempted their minds with the reward, and set the prizes.
Trojans and Sicilians gathered together from all sides,
Nisus and Euryalus the foremost among them,
Euryalus famed for his beauty and in the flower of youth,
Nisus famed for his devoted affection for the lad: next
came princely Diores, of Priam’s royal blood,
then Salius and Patron together, one an Acarnanian,
the other of Arcadian blood and Tegean race;8
then two young Sicilians, Helymus and Panopes,
used to the forests, companions of old Acestes:
and many others too, whose fame is lost in obscurity.
Then Aeneas amongst them spoke as follows:
“Take these words to heart, and give pleasurable attention.
None of your number will go away without a reward from me.
I’ll give two Cretan arrows, shining with polished steel,
for each man to take away, and a double-headed axe chased
with silver; all who are present will receive the same honour.
The first three will share prizes, and their heads will be crowned
with pale-green olive. Let the first as winner take a horse
decorated with trappings; the second an Amazonian quiver,
filled with Thracian arrows, looped with a broad belt of gold
and fastened by a clasp with a polished gem;
let the third leave content with this Argive helmet.”
attulit ipse viris optatum casus honorem:
namque furens animi dum proram ad saxa suburget
interior spatioque subit Sergestus iniquo,
infelix saxis in procurrentibus haesit.
concussae cautes et acuto in murice remi 205
obnixi crepuere inlisaque prora pependit.
consurgunt nautae et magno clamore morantur
ferratasque trudes et acuta cuspide contos
expediunt fractosque legunt in gurgite remos.
at laetus Mnestheus successuque acrior ipso 210
agmine remorum celeri ventisque vocatis
prona petit maria et pelago decurrit aperto.
qualis spelunca subito commota columba,
cui domus et dulces latebroso in pumice nidi,
fertur in arva volans plausumque exterrita pennis 215
dat tecto ingentem, mox aere lapsa quieto
radit iter liquidum celeris neque commovet alas:
sic Mnestheus, sic ipsa fuga secat ultima Pristis
aequora, sic illam fert impetus ipse volantem.
et primum in scopulo luctantem deserit alto 220
Sergestum brevibusque vadis frustraque vocantem
auxilia et fractis discentem currere remis.
inde Gyan ipsamque ingenti mole Chimaeram
consequitur; cedit, quoniam spoliata magistro est.
solus iamque ipso superest in fine Cloanthus, 225
quem petit et summis adnixus viribus urget.
Tum vero ingeminat clamor cunctique sequentem
instigant studiis, resonatque fragoribus aether.
hi proprium decus et partum indignantur honorem
ni teneant, vitamque volunt pro laude pacisci; 230
hos successus alit: possunt, quia posse videntur.
et fors aequatis cepissent praemia rostris,
ni palmas ponto tendens utrasque Cloanthus
fudissetque preces divosque in vota vocasset:
'di, quibus imperium est pelagi, quorum aequora curro, 235
vobis laetus ego hoc candentem in litore taurum
constituam ante aras voti reus, extaque salsos
proiciam in fluctus et vina liquentia fundam.'
dixit, eumque imis sub fluctibus audiit omnis
Nereidum Phorcique chorus Panopeaque virgo, 240
et pater ipse manu magna Portunus euntem
impulit: illa Noto citius volucrique sagitta
ad terram fugit et portu se condidit alto.
tum satus Anchisa cunctis ex more vocatis
victorem magna praeconis voce Cloanthum 245
declarat viridique advelat tempora lauro,
muneraque in navis ternos optare iuvencos
vinaque et argenti magnum dat ferre talentum.
ipsis praecipuos ductoribus addit honores:
victori chlamydem auratam, quam plurima circum 250
purpura maeandro duplici Meliboea cucurrit,
intextusque puer frondosa regius Ida
velocis iaculo cervos cursuque fatigat
acer, anhelanti similis, quem praepes ab Ida
sublimem pedibus rapuit Iovis armiger uncis; 255
longaevi palmas nequiquam ad sidera tendunt
custodes, saevitque canum latratus in auras.
at qui deinde locum tenuit virtute secundum,
levibus huic hamis consertam auroque trilicem
loricam, quam Demoleo detraxerat ipse 260
victor apud rapidum Simoenta sub Ilio alto,
donat habere, viro decus et tutamen in armis.
vix illam famuli Phegeus Sagarisque ferebant
multiplicem conixi umeris; indutus at olim
Demoleos cursu palantis Troas agebat. 265
tertia dona facit geminos ex aere lebetas
cymbiaque argento perfecta atque aspera signis.
iamque adeo donati omnes opibusque superbi
puniceis ibant evincti tempora taenis,
cum saevo e scopulo multa vix arte revulsus 270
amissis remis atque ordine debilis uno
inrisam sine honore ratem Sergestus agebat.
qualis saepe viae deprensus in aggere serpens,
aerea quem obliquum rota transiit aut gravis ictu
seminecem liquit saxo lacerumque viator; 275
nequiquam longos fugiens dat corpore tortus
parte ferox ardensque oculis et sibila colla
arduus attollens; pars vulnere clauda retentat
nexantem nodis seque in sua membra plicantem:
tali remigio navis se tarda movebat; 280
vela facit tamen et velis subit ostia plenis.
Sergestum Aeneas promisso munere donat
servatam ob navem laetus sociosque reductos.
olli serva datur operum haud ignara Minervae,
Cressa genus, Pholoe, geminique sub ubere nati. 285
Hoc pius Aeneas misso certamine tendit
gramineum in campum, quem collibus undique curvis
cingebant silvae, mediaque in valle theatri
circus erat; quo se multis cum milibus heros
consessu medium tulit exstructoque resedit. 290
hic, qui forte velint rapido contendere cursu,
invitat pretiis animos, et praemia ponit.
undique conveniunt Teucri mixtique Sicani,
Nisus et Euryalus primi,
Euryalus forma insignis viridique iuventa, 295
Nisus amore pio pueri; quos deinde secutus
regius egregia Priami de stirpe Diores;
hunc Salius simul et Patron, quorum alter Acarnan,
alter ab Arcadio Tegeaeae sanguine gentis;
tum duo Trinacrii iuvenes, Helymus Panopesque 300
adsueti silvis, comites senioris Acestae;
multi praeterea, quos fama obscura recondit.
Aeneas quibus in mediis sic deinde locutus:
'accipite haec animis laetasque advertite mentes.
nemo ex hoc numero mihi non donatus abibit. 305
Cnosia bina dabo leuato lucida ferro
spicula caelatamque argento ferre bipennem;
omnibus hic erit unus honos. tres praemia primi
accipient flavaque caput nectentur oliva.
primus equum phaleris insignem victor habeto; 310
alter Amazoniam pharetram plenamque sagittis
Threiciis, lato quam circum amplectitur auro
balteus et tereti subnectit fibula gemma;
tertius Argolica hac galea contentus abito.'
Find the glossary for Aeneid Daily here; subscribe to receive daily posts.
sea nymphs (the daughters of Nereus)
another sea nymph
god of harbors
A young Trojan boy, Ganymede was abducted by Jupiter for his beauty and became the cupbearer of the gods.
we’re back to Aeneas now
a Greek who fought at Troy
Acarnarnia and Arcadia were both Greek regions; Tegea was a town in Arcadia.
catilina's ghost clinging to the wreck of the ship of state like. hehe