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.

1. sea nymphs (the daughters of Nereus)

2. a primordial sea god

3. another sea nymph

4. god of harbors

5. A young Trojan boy, Ganymede was abducted by Jupiter for his beauty and became the cupbearer of the gods.

6. we’re back to Aeneas now

7. a Greek who fought at Troy

8. Acarnarnia and Arcadia were both Greek regions; Tegea was a town in Arcadia.