Aeneid X.308-425
The battle rages. Pallas proves himself.
But the long delay didn’t keep Turnus back: swiftly he moved
his whole front against the Trojans and stood against them on the shore.
The trumpets sounded. Aeneas first attacked the ranks
of farmers, as a sign of battle, and toppled the Latins,
killing Theron, noblest of men, who unprompted
sought out Aeneas. The sword drank from his side, pierced
through the bronze joints and the tunic scaled with gold.
Then he struck Lichas, who had been cut from the womb
of his dead mother and consecrated to you, Phoebus: why
was he allowed to evade the blade at birth? Soon after,
he toppled in death tough Cisseus and huge Gyas as they
laid men low with their clubs: Hercules’s weapons1
were no help, nor their stout hands, nor Melampus their father,
Hercules’s friend, while earth granted him heavy labours.
See, Aeneas hurled his javelin as Pharus uttered
words in vain, and planted it in his noisy gullet.
You too, unhappy Cydon, as you followed Clytius, your new
delight, his cheeks golden with youthful down, you too
would have fallen beneath the Trojan hand and lain there,
wretched, free of that love of youth that was ever yours,
had the massed ranks of your brothers not opposed him,
the children of Phorcus, seven in number, seven the spears
they threw; some glanced idly from helmet and shield,
some gentle Venus deflected so they only grazed
his body. Aeneas spoke to faithful Achates:
“Supply me with spears, those that lodged in the bodies
of Greeks on Ilium’s plain: my right hand won’t hurl
any at these Rutulians in vain.” Then he grasped a great javelin
and threw it: flying on, it crashed through the bronze
of Maeon’s shield, smashing breastplate and breast in one go.
His brother Alcanor was there, supporting his brother
with his right arm as he fell: piercing the arm, the spear
flew straight on, keeping its blood-wet course,
and the lifeless arm hung by the shoulder tendons.
Then Numitor, ripping the javelin from his brother’s body,
aimed at Aeneas: but he could not strike at him
in return, and grazed great Achates’s thigh.
Now Clausus of Cures approached, relying on his youthful
strength, and hit Dryopes under the chin from a distance away,
with his rigid spear driven with force, and, piercing his throat
as he spoke, took his voice and life together: he hit the ground
with his forehead and spewed thick blood from his mouth.
Clausus toppled, in various ways, three Thracians too,
of Boreas’s exalted race, and three whom Idas their father
and their native Ismarus sent out. Halaesus ran to join him,
and the Auruncan Band, and Messapus, Neptune’s scion,
with his glorious horses. Now one side, now the other strained
to push back the enemy: the struggle was at the very
threshold of Italy. As warring winds, equal in force
and purpose, rise to do battle in the vast heavens
and between them neither yield either clouds or sea:
the battle is long in doubt, all things stand locked in conflict:
so the ranks of Troy clashed with the Latin ranks,
foot against foot, man pressed hard against man.
But in another place, where a torrent had rolled and scattered
boulders with bushes torn from the banks far and wide,
Pallas, seeing his Arcadians, unused to charging in ranks
on foot, turning to run from the pursuing Latins, because
the nature of the ground, churned by water, had persuaded them to leave
their horses for once, now with prayers and now with bitter words,
the sole recourse in time of need, fired their courage:
“Friends, where are you running to? Don’t trust to flight,
by your brave deeds, by King Evander’s name,
and the wars you’ve won, and my hopes, now seeking
to emulate my father’s glory. We must hack a way through
the enemy with our swords. Your noble country calls you
and your leader Pallas to where the ranks of men are densest.
No gods attack us. We are mortals driven before a mortal foe;
we have as many lives, as many hands as they do.
Look, the ocean closes us in with a vast barrier of water,
there’s no land left to flee to: shall we seek the seas or Troy?’
He spoke, and rushed into the midst of the close-packed enemy.
Lagus met him first, drawn there by a hostile fate.
As he tore at a huge weight of stone, Pallas pierced him
where the spine parts the ribs in two, with the spear he hurled,
and plucked out the spear again as it lodged in the bone.
Nor did Hisbo surprise him from above, hopeful though he was;
since, as he rushed in, raging recklessly at his friend’s cruel death,
Pallas intercepted him first and buried his sword in his swollen chest.
Next Pallas attacked Sthenius and Anchemolus, of Rhoetus’s
ancient line, who had dared to violate his step-mother’s bed.
You, twin brothers, also fell in the Rutulian fields, Laridus
and Thymber, the sons of Daucus, so alike you were
indistinguishable to kin and a dear confusion to your parents:
but now Pallas has given you a cruel separateness.
For Evander’s sword swept off your head, Thymber,
while your right hand, Laridus, sought its owner,
and the dying fingers twitched and clutched again at the sword.
Fired by his rebuke and seeing his glorious deeds, a mixture
of remorse and pain roused the Arcadians against their enemy.
Then Pallas pierced Rhoetus as he shot past in his chariot.
Ilus gained that much time and that much respite,
since he had launched his solid spear at Ilus from far off,
which Rhoetus received as he fled from you, noble Teuthras
and your brother Tyres, and rolling from the chariot
he struck the Rutulian fields with his heels as he died.
As in summer, when a hoped-for wind has risen,
the shepherd sets scattered fires in the woods,
the spaces between catch light, and Vulcan’s bristling
ranks extend over the broad fields, while the shepherd sits
and gazes down in triumph over the joyful flames:
so all your comrades’ courage united as one
to aid you, Pallas. But Halaesus, fierce in war,
advanced against them and gathered himself behind his shield.
He killed Ladon, Pheres and Demodocus, struck off
Strymonius’s right hand, raised towards his throat,
with his shining sword, and smashed Thoas in the face
with a stone, scattering bone mixed with blood and brain.
Halaesus’s father, prescient of fate, had hidden him in the woods:
but when, in white-haired old age, the father closed his eyes in death,
the Fates laid their hands on Halaesus and doomed him
to Evander’s spear. Pallas attacked him, first praying:
“Grant luck to the spear I aim to throw, father Tiber,
and a path through sturdy Halaesus’s chest. Your oak
shall have the these weapons and the soldier’s spoils.”
The god heard his prayer; while Halaesus covered Imaon,
he sadly exposed his unshielded chest to the Arcadian spear.
Nec Turnum segnis retinet mora, sed rapit acer
totam aciem in Teucros et contra in litore sistit.
signa canunt. primus turmas invasit agrestis 310
Aeneas, omen pugnae, stravitque Latinos
occiso Therone, virum qui maximus ultro
Aenean petit. huic gladio perque aerea suta,
per tunicam squalentem auro latus haurit apertum.
inde Lichan ferit exsectum iam matre perempta 315
et tibi, Phoebe, sacrum: casus evadere ferri
quo licuit parvo? nec longe Cissea durum
immanemque Gyan sternentis agmina clava
deiecit leto; nihil illos Herculis arma
nec validae iuvere manus genitorque Melampus, 320
Alcidae comes usque gravis dum terra labores
praebuit. ecce Pharo, voces dum iactat inertis,
intorquens iaculum clamanti sistit in ore.
tu quoque, flaventem prima lanugine malas
dum sequeris Clytium infelix, nova gaudia, Cydon, 325
Dardania stratus dextra, securus amorum
qui iuvenum tibi semper erant, miserande iaceres,
ni fratrum stipata cohors foret obvia, Phorci
progenies, septem numero, septenaque tela
coniciunt; partim galea clipeoque resultant 330
inrita, deflexit partim stringentia corpus
alma Venus. fidum Aeneas adfatur Achaten:
'suggere tela mihi, non ullum dextera frustra
torserit in Rutulos, steterunt quae in corpore Graium
Iliacis campis.' tum magnam corripit hastam 335
et iacit: illa volans clipei transverberat aera
Maeonis et thoraca simul cum pectore rumpit.
huic frater subit Alcanor fratremque ruentem
sustentat dextra: traiecto missa lacerto
protinus hasta fugit servatque cruenta tenorem, 340
dexteraque ex umero nervis moribunda pependit.
tum Numitor iaculo fratris de corpore rapto
Aenean petiit: sed non et figere contra
est licitum, magnique femur perstrinxit Achatae.
Hic Curibus fidens primaevo corpore Clausus 345
advenit et rigida Dryopem ferit eminus hasta
sub mentum graviter pressa, pariterque loquentis
vocem animamque rapit traiecto gutture; at ille
fronte ferit terram et crassum vomit ore cruorem.
tris quoque Threicios Boreae de gente suprema 350
et tris quos Idas pater et patria Ismara mittit,
per varios sternit casus. accurrit Halaesus
Auruncaeque manus, subit et Neptunia proles,
insignis Messapus equis. expellere tendunt
nunc hi, nunc illi: certatur limine in ipso 355
Ausoniae. magno discordes aethere venti
proelia ceu tollunt animis et viribus aequis;
non ipsi inter se, non nubila, non mare cedit;
anceps pugna diu, stant obnixa omnia contra:
haud aliter Troianae acies aciesque Latinae 360
concurrunt, haeret pede pes densusque viro vir.
At parte ex alia, qua saxa rotantia late
intulerat torrens arbustaque diruta ripis,
Arcadas insuetos acies inferre pedestris
ut vidit Pallas Latio dare terga sequaci, 365
aspera aquis natura loci dimittere quando
suasit equos, unum quod rebus restat egenis,
nunc prece, nunc dictis virtutem accendit amaris;
'quo fugitis, socii? per vos et fortia facta,
per ducis Evandri nomen devictaque bella 370
spemque meam, patriae quae nunc subit aemula laudi,
fidite ne pedibus. ferro rumpenda per hostis
est via. qua globus ille virum densissimus urget,
hac vos et Pallanta ducem patria alta reposcit.
numina nulla premunt, mortali urgemur ab hoste 375
mortales; totidem nobis animaeque manusque.
ecce maris magna claudit nos obice pontus,
deest iam terra fugae: pelagus Troiamne petamus?'
haec ait, et medius densos prorumpit in hostis.
Obvius huic primum fatis adductus iniquis 380
fit Lagus. hunc, vellit magno dum pondere saxum,
intorto figit telo, discrimina costis
per medium qua spina dabat, hastamque receptat
ossibus haerentem. quem non super occupat Hisbo,
ille quidem hoc sperans; nam Pallas ante ruentem, 385
dum furit, incautum crudeli morte sodalis
excipit atque ensem tumido in pulmone recondit.
hinc Sthenium petit et Rhoeti de gente vetusta
Anchemolum thalamos ausum incestare novercae.
vos etiam, gemini, Rutulis cecidistis in arvis, 390
Daucia, Laride Thymberque, simillima proles,
indiscreta suis gratusque parentibus error;
at nunc dura dedit vobis discrimina Pallas.
nam tibi, Thymbre, caput Evandrius abstulit ensis;
te decisa suum, Laride, dextera quaerit 395
semianimesque micant digiti ferrumque retractant.
Arcadas accensos monitu et praeclara tuentis
facta viri mixtus dolor et pudor armat in hostis.
Tum Pallas biiugis fugientem Rhoetea praeter
traicit. hoc spatium tantumque morae fuit Ilo; 400
Ilo namque procul validam derexerat hastam,
quam medius Rhoeteus intercipit, optime Teuthra,
te fugiens fratremque Tyren, curruque volutus
caedit semianimis Rutulorum calcibus arva.
ac velut optato ventis aestate coortis 405
dispersa immittit silvis incendia pastor,
correptis subito mediis extenditur una
horrida per latos acies Volcania campos,
ille sedens victor flammas despectat ovantis:
non aliter socium virtus coit omnis in unum 410
teque iuvat, Palla. sed bellis acer Halaesus
tendit in adversos seque in sua colligit arma.
hic mactat Ladona Pheretaque Demodocumque,
Strymonio dextram fulgenti deripit ense
elatam in iugulum, saxo ferit ora Thoantis 415
ossaque dispersit cerebro permixta cruento.
fata canens silvis genitor celarat Halaesum;
ut senior leto canentia lumina solvit,
iniecere manum Parcae telisque sacrarunt
Evandri. quem sic Pallas petit ante precatus: 420
'da nunc, Thybri pater, ferro, quod missile libro,
fortunam atque viam duri per pectus Halaesi.
haec arma exuviasque viri tua quercus habebit.'
audiit illa deus; dum texit Imaona Halaesus,
Arcadio infelix telo dat pectus inermum. 425
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Hercules was associated with the club.