Aeneid V.816-871
Neptune's prophecy comes true.
When he had soothed the goddess’s heart, she joying at his words,
Father Neptune yoked his wild horses with gold, set the bits
in their foaming mouths, and, with both hands, gave them free rein.
He sped lightly over the ocean in his sea-green chariot;
the waves subsided and the expanse of swollen waters
grew calm under the thunderous axle:
the storm-clouds vanished from the open sky.
Then came his multi-formed followers, great whales,
Glaucus’s aged band, Palaemon Ino’s son,
the swift Tritons and all of Phorcus’s host:
the left hand taken by Thetis, Melite and virgin Panopea,
Nesaea and Spio, Thalia and Cymodoce.1
At this, soothing joy in turn pervaded father Aeneas’s
anxious mind; he ordered all to raise their masts
quickly, and the sails to be unfurled from the yard-arms.
Together they hauled on the ropes and let out the canvas as one,
now to port and now to starboard; together they swung
the high yards about; benign winds drove the fleet along.
Palinurus, first of them all, led the close convoy;
the rest were ordered to set their course by his.
And now dew-wet Night had just reached her zenith
in the sky: the sailors relaxed their limbs in quiet rest
stretched out on the hard benches beneath the oars,
when Sleep, gliding lightly down from the heavenly stars,
parted the gloomy air and scattered the shadows,
seeking you, bringing you dark dreams, Palinurus,
though you were innocent; the god settled on the high stern,
appearing as Phorbas, and poured these words from his mouth:
“Palinurus, son of Iasus, the seas themselves steer the fleet,
the breezes blow steadily, this hour is granted for rest.
Lay down your head and rob your weary eyes of labour.
For a little while, I myself will take on your duty for you.”
Palinurus, barely lifting his gaze, spoke to him:
“Do you tell me to trust the sea’s placid face,
the calm waves? Shall I set my faith on this monster?
Why should I entrust Aeneas to the deceptive breeze,
I whom a clear sky has deceived so often?”
So he spoke and clinging hard to the tiller
never relaxed his hold, and held his sight on the stars.
Behold, despite his caution, the god shook a branch,
wet with Lethe’s dew, soporific with Styx’s power,2
over his brow, and set free his swimming eyes.
The first sudden drowse had barely relaxed his limbs,
when Sleep leant above him and threw him headlong
into the clear waters, tearing away the tiller
and part of the stern, he calling to his friends often in vain;
while the god raised his wings in flight into the empty air.
The fleet sailed on its way over the sea as safely as before,
gliding on, unaware, as father Neptune had promised.
And now drawn onwards it was close to the Sirens’s cliffs, tricky
of old and white with the bones of many men, (now the rocks,
far off, boomed loud with the unending breakers) when the leader
realised his ship was wallowing adrift, her helmsman lost,
and he himself steered her through the midnight waters,
sighing deeply and shocked at heart by his friend’s fate:
“Oh, far too trustful of the calm sea and the sky,
you’ll lie naked, Palinurus, on an unknown shore.”3
his ubi laeta deae permulsit pectora dictis,
iungit equos auro genitor, spumantiaque addit
frena feris manibusque omnis effundit habenas.
caeruleo per summa levis volat aequora curru;
subsidunt undae tumidumque sub axe tonanti 820
sternitur aequor aquis, fugiunt vasto aethere nimbi.
tum variae comitum facies, immania cete,
et senior Glauci chorus Inousque Palaemon
Tritonesque citi Phorcique exercitus omnis;
laeva tenet Thetis et Melite Panopeaque virgo, 825
Nisaee Spioque Thaliaque Cymodoceque.
Hic patris Aeneae suspensam blanda vicissim
gaudia pertemptant mentem; iubet ocius omnis
attolli malos, intendi bracchia velis.
una omnes fecere pedem pariterque sinistros, 830
nunc dextros solvere sinus; una ardua torquent
cornua detorquentque; ferunt sua flamina classem.
princeps ante omnis densum Palinurus agebat
agmen; ad hunc alii cursum contendere iussi.
iamque fere mediam caeli Nox umida metam 835
contigerat, placida laxabant membra quiete
sub remis fusi per dura sedilia nautae,
cum levis aetheriis delapsus Somnus ab astris
aera dimovit tenebrosum et dispulit umbras,
te, Palinure, petens, tibi somnia tristia portans 840
insonti; puppique deus consedit in alta
Phorbanti similis funditque has ore loquelas:
'Iaside Palinure, ferunt ipsa aequora classem,
aequatae spirant aurae, datur hora quieti.
pone caput fessosque oculos furare labori. 845
ipse ego paulisper pro te tua munera inibo.'
cui vix attollens Palinurus lumina fatur:
'mene salis placidi vultum fluctusque quietos
ignorare iubes? mene huic confidere monstro?
Aenean credam (quid enim?) fallacibus auris 850
et caeli totiens deceptus fraude sereni?'
talia dicta dabat, clavumque adfixus et haerens
nusquam amittebat oculosque sub astra tenebat.
ecce deus ramum Lethaeo rore madentem
vique soporatum Stygia super utraque quassat 855
tempora, cunctantique natantia lumina solvit.
vix primos inopina quies laxaverat artus,
et super incumbens cum puppis parte revulsa
cumque gubernaclo liquidas proiecit in undas
praecipitem ac socios nequiquam saepe vocantem; 860
ipse volans tenuis se sustulit ales ad auras.
currit iter tutum non setius aequore classis
promissisque patris Neptuni interrita fertur.
iamque adeo scopulos Sirenum advecta subibat,
difficilis quondam multorumque ossibus albos 865
(tum rauca adsiduo longe sale saxa sonabant),
cum pater amisso fluitantem errare magistro
sensit, et ipse ratem nocturnis rexit in undis
multa gemens casuque animum concussus amici:
'o nimium caelo et pelago confise sereno, 870
nudus in ignota, Palinure, iacebis harena.'
Find the glossary for Aeneid Daily here; subscribe to receive daily posts.
Glaucus, Palaemon, Triton, and Phorcus were all minor sea-gods; the others are all Nereids, most famously Thetis, mother of Achilles.
The Lethe and Styx were both rivers of the Underworld; the former had the power to make one forget their life.
cf: Yep! It’s the Pompey line again!