Aeneid VIII.520-625
Evander says a tearful goodbye to his son. Venus visits hers for five seconds to drop off his swag.
He had scarcely finished, and Aeneas Anchises’s son
and loyal Achates with eyes downcast were thinking
of many a difficulty, in their own sombre minds,
when Cytherea sent a sign from a cloudless sky.
For lightning came flashing unexpectedly from heaven
with thunder, and suddenly all seemed to quake,
and, through the air, a Tyrrhenian trumpet blast seemed to bray.
They looked upwards, a great crash sounded again and again.
In a calm region of the sky among the clouds they saw
weapons reddening in the bright air and heard the noise of blows.
The others were astounded, but the Trojan hero knew
the sounds as those of things which his mother had promised.
Then he cried: “My friend, indeed do not wonder, I beg you,
as to what these marvels might prophesy: I am called
by Olympus. The goddess who bore me foretold
she would send this sign if war was near, and bring
weapons from Vulcan through the air to aid me.
Alas, what slaughter awaits the wretched Laurentines!
What a price you’ll pay me, Turnus! What shields and helmets
and bodies of the brave you’ll roll beneath your waves,
father Tiber! Let them ask for battle and break their treaties.”
Having spoken, he raised himself from his high throne
and firstly revived the dormant altars with Herculean fire,
then gladly visited yesterday’s Lares and the humble
household gods. Evander and the Trojan warriors
equally sacrificed chosen ewes according to the rite.
Next he went to the ships and met again with his comrades,
choosing the most outstanding in courage to follow him
to war; the others slipped downstream, floating effortlessly
on the helpful current, carrying news to Ascanius
of his father and his fortunes. Horses were granted
to the Trojans who were to take the Tyrrhenian field;
they lead out a choice mount for Aeneas, clothed
in a tawny lion’s pelt with gleaming gilded claws.
A rumour suddenly flew through the little town, proclaiming
that horsemen were riding fast to the Tyrrhene king’s shores.
Mothers, in alarm, redoubled their prayers, and fear drew near
with danger, and now the war god’s image loomed larger.
Then old Evander, clasping his son’s hand as he departed,
clung to him weeping incessantly and spoke as follows:
“O, if Jupiter would bring back the years that have vanished,
I to be as I was when I felled the foremost ranks under Praeneste’s
very walls, and as victor heaped up the shields,
and sent King Erulus1 down to Tartarus, by this right hand,
he to whom at his birth his mother Feronia (strange to tell)
gave three lives, triple weapons to wield—to be three times
brought low in death; who at last in a moment this right hand
stripped of all his lives, and equally of all his weapons:
I would never be torn as now from your sweet embrace, my son,
never would Mezentius have poured insults on
this neighbour’s head, caused so many cruel deaths
with the sword, or widowed the city of so many of her sons.
But you, powers above, and you, Jupiter, mighty ruler of the gods,
take pity, I beg you, on this Arcadian king, and hear
a father’s prayer. If your will, and fate, keep my Pallas safe,
if I live to see him and be together with him, I ask for life,
I have the patience to endure any hardship.
But if you threaten any unbearable disaster, Fortune,
now, oh now, let me break the thread of cruel existence,
while fear hangs in doubt, while hope’s uncertain of the future,
while you, beloved boy, my late and only joy, are held
in my embrace, and let no evil news wound my ears.”
These were the words the father poured out at their last parting;
then his servants carried him, overcome, into the palace.
And now the horsemen had ridden from the opened gates,
Aeneas and loyal Achates among the first, then the other
princes of Troy; Pallas himself travelling mid-column,
notable in his cloak and engraved armour,
like the Morning-Star whom Venus loves above all
the other starry fires when, having bathed in Ocean’s wave,
he raises his sacred head in heaven and melts the dark.
Mothers stand fearfully on the battlements and with their eyes
follow the cloud of dust, the squadrons bright with bronze.
The armed men pass through the undergrowth where the route
is most direct; a shout rises, and they form column
and with the thunder of their hooves shake the broken ground.
There’s a large grove by the chilly stream of Caere2, held sacred
far and wide in ancestral reverence; the hollow hills enclose it
on all sides and surround the wood with dark fir trees.
The tale is that the ancient Pelasgians,3 who once held
the Latin borders, dedicated this wood and a festive day
to Silvanus, god of the fields and the herds.
Not far from here, Tarchon and the Tyrrhenians were camped
in a safe place, and now all their troops could be seen
from the high ground, scattered widely over the fields.
Aeneas the leader and the young men chosen for war
arrived, and refreshed their horses and their weary bodies.
Then Venus, bright goddess, came bearing gifts through
the ethereal clouds; and when she saw her son from far away,
who had retired in secret to the valley by the cool stream,
she went to him herself, unasked, and spoke these words:
“See the gifts brought to perfection by my husband’s
skill, as promised. You need not hesitate, my son, to quickly
challenge the proud Laurentines or fierce Turnus to battle.”
Cytherea spoke, and invited her son’s embrace, and placed
the shining weapons under an oak tree opposite.
He cannot have enough of turning his gaze over each item,
delighting in the goddess’s gift and so high an honour,
admiring and turning the helmet over with hands and arms,
with its fearsome crest and spouting flames,
and the fateful sword, the stiff breastplate of bronze,
dark-red and huge, like a bluish cloud when it’s lit
by the rays of the sun and glows from afar;
then the smooth greaves of electrum and refined gold,
the spear, and the shield’s indescribable detail.
Vix ea fatus erat, defixique ora tenebant 520
Aeneas Anchisiades et fidus Achates,
multaque dura suo tristi cum corde putabant,
ni signum caelo Cytherea dedisset aperto.
namque improviso vibratus ab aethere fulgor
cum sonitu venit et ruere omnia visa repente, 525
Tyrrhenusque tubae mugire per aethera clangor.
suspiciunt, iterum atque iterum fragor increpat ingens.
arma inter nubem caeli in regione serena
per sudum rutilare vident et pulsa tonare.
obstipuere animis alii, sed Troius heros 530
agnovit sonitum et divae promissa parentis.
tum memorat: 'ne vero, hospes, ne quaere profecto
quem casum portenta ferant: ego poscor Olympo.
hoc signum cecinit missuram diva creatrix,
si bellum ingrueret, Volcaniaque arma per auras 535
laturam auxilio.
heu quantae miseris caedes Laurentibus instant!
quas poenas mihi, Turne, dabis! quam multa sub undas
scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volves,
Thybri pater! poscant acies et foedera rumpant.' 540
Haec ubi dicta dedit, solio se tollit ab alto
et primum Herculeis sopitas ignibus aras
excitat, hesternumque larem parvosque penatis
laetus adit; mactat lectas de more bidentis
Evandrus pariter, pariter Troiana iuventus. 545
post hinc ad navis graditur sociosque revisit,
quorum de numero qui sese in bella sequantur
praestantis virtute legit; pars cetera prona
fertur aqua segnisque secundo defluit amni,
nuntia ventura Ascanio rerumque patrisque. 550
dantur equi Teucris Tyrrhena petentibus arva;
ducunt exsortem Aeneae, quem fulva leonis
pellis obit totum praefulgens unguibus aureis.
Fama volat paruam subito vulgata per urbem
ocius ire equites Tyrrheni ad limina regis. 555
vota metu duplicant matres, propiusque periclo
it timor et maior Martis iam apparet imago.
tum pater Evandrus dextram complexus euntis
haeret inexpletus lacrimans ac talia fatur:
'o mihi praeteritos referat si Iuppiter annos, 560
qualis eram cum primam aciem Praeneste sub ipsa
stravi scutorumque incendi victor acervos
et regem hac Erulum dextra sub Tartara misi,
nascenti cui tris animas Feronia mater
(horrendum dictu) dederat, terna arma movenda— 565
ter leto sternendus erat; cui tunc tamen omnis
abstulit haec animas dextra et totidem exuit armis:
non ego nunc dulci amplexu divellerer usquam,
nate, tuo, neque finitimo Mezentius umquam
huic capiti insultans tot ferro saeva dedisset 570
funera, tam multis viduasset civibus urbem.
at vos, o superi, et divum tu maxime rector
Iuppiter, Arcadii, quaeso, miserescite regis
et patrias audite preces. si numina vestra
incolumem Pallanta mihi, si fata reservant, 575
si visurus eum vivo et venturus in unum,
vitam oro, patior quemvis durare laborem.
sin aliquem infandum casum, Fortuna, minaris,
nunc, nunc o liceat crudelem abrumpere vitam,
dum curae ambiguae, dum spes incerta futuri, 580
dum te, care puer, mea sola et sera voluptas,
complexu teneo, gravior neu nuntius auris
vulneret.' haec genitor digressu dicta supremo
fundebat; famuli conlapsum in tecta ferebant.
Iamque adeo exierat portis equitatus apertis 585
Aeneas inter primos et fidus Achates,
inde alii Troiae proceres; ipse agmine Pallas
it medio chlamyde et pictis conspectus in armis,
qualis ubi Oceani perfusus Lucifer unda,
quem Venus ante alios astrorum diligit ignis, 590
extulit os sacrum caelo tenebrasque resolvit.
stant pavidae in muris matres oculisque sequuntur
pulveream nubem et fulgentis aere catervas.
olli per dumos, qua proxima meta viarum,
armati tendunt; it clamor, et agmine facto 595
quadripedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.
est ingens gelidum lucus prope Caeritis amnem,
religione patrum late sacer; undique colles
inclusere cavi et nigra nemus abiete cingunt.
Silvano fama est veteres sacrasse Pelasgos, 600
arvorum pecorisque deo, lucumque diemque,
qui primi finis aliquando habuere Latinos.
haud procul hinc Tarcho et Tyrrheni tuta tenebant
castra locis, celsoque omnis de colle videri
iam poterat legio et latis tendebat in arvis. 605
huc pater Aeneas et bello lecta iuventus
succedunt, fessique et equos et corpora curant.
At Venus aetherios inter dea candida nimbos
dona ferens aderat; natumque in valle reducta
ut procul egelido secretum flumine vidit, 610
talibus adfata est dictis seque obtulit ultro:
'en perfecta mei promissa coniugis arte
munera. ne mox aut Laurentis, nate, superbos
aut acrem dubites in proelia poscere Turnum.'
dixit, et amplexus nati Cytherea petivit, 615
arma sub adversa posuit radiantia quercu.
ille deae donis et tanto laetus honore
expleri nequit atque oculos per singula voluit,
miraturque interque manus et bracchia versat
terribilem cristis galeam flammasque vomentem, 620
fatiferumque ensem, loricam ex aere rigentem,
sanguineam, ingentem, qualis cum caerula nubes
solis inardescit radiis longeque refulget;
tum levis ocreas electro auroque recocto,
hastamque et clipei non enarrabile textum. 625
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king of Praeneste
an Etrurian city
earliest inhabitants of Greece