Aeneid X.426-509

Pallas and Turnus come to blows, with lethal results.

But Lausus, a powerful force in the war, would not allow

his troops to be dismayed by the hero’s great slaughter:

first he killed Abas opposite, a knotty obstacle in the battle.

The youth of Arcadia fell, the Etruscans fell, and you,

O Trojans, men not even destroyed by the Greeks.

The armies met, equal in leadership and strength;

the rear and front closed ranks, and the crush prevented

weapons or hands from moving. Here Pallas pressed and urged,

there Lausus opposed him, not many years between them,

both of outstanding presence, but Fortune had denied them

a return to their country. Yet the king of great Olympus

did not allow them to meet face to face: their fate

was waiting for them soon, at the hand of a greater opponent.

Meanwhile Turnus’s gentle sister Juturna adjured him to help

Lausus, and he parted the ranks between in his swift chariot.

When he saw his comrades he cried: “It’s time to hold back

from the fight; it’s for me alone to attack Pallas, Pallas

is mine alone; I wish his father were here to see it.”

And his comrades drew back from the field as ordered.

When the Rutulians retired, then the youth, amazed at that proud

command, marvelled at Turnus, casting his eyes over

the mighty body, surveying all of him from the distance

with a fierce look, and answered the ruler’s words with these:

“I’ll soon be praised for taking rich spoils, or for a glorious death:

my father is equal to either fate for me. Away with your threats.”

So saying, he marched down the centre of the field:

the blood gathered, chill, in Arcadian hearts.

Turnus leapt from his chariot, preparing to close on foot,

and the sight of the advancing Turnus was no different

than that of a lion, seeing from a high point a bull far off

on the plain, contemplating battle, and rushing down.

But Pallas came forward first, when he thought Turnus might

be within spear-throw, so that chance might help him in venturing

his unequal strength, and so he spoke to the mighty heavens:

“I pray you, Hercules, by my father’s hospitality and the feast

to which you came as a stranger, assist my great enterprise.

Let me strip the blood-drenched armour from his dying limbs,

and let Turnus’s failing sight meet its conqueror.”

Hercules heard the youth, and stifled a heavy sigh

deep in his heart, and wept tears in vain.

Then Jupiter the father spoke to Hercules, his son,

with kindly words: “Every man has his day, the course

of life is brief and cannot be recalled; but virtue’s task

is this, to increase fame by deeds. So many sons of gods

fell beneath the high walls of Troy, yes, and my own son

Sarpedon among them:¹ fate calls even for Turnus,

and he too has reached the end of the years granted to him.”

So he spoke, and turned his eyes from the Rutulian fields.

Then Pallas threw his spear with all his might

and snatched his gleaming sword from its hollow sheath.

The shaft flew and struck Turnus where the top of the armour

laps the shoulder and, forcing a way through the rim

of his shield at last, even grazed his mighty frame.

At this, Turnus hurled his oak spear tipped

with sharp steel, long levelled at Pallas, saying:

“See if this weapon of mine isn’t of greater sharpness.”

The spear-head, with a quivering blow, tore through

the centre of his shield, passed through all the layers

of iron, of bronze, all the overlapping bull’s-hide,

piercing the breastplate and the mighty chest.

Vainly he pulled the hot spear from the wound:

blood and life followed, by one and the same path.

He fell in his own blood (his weapons clanged over him)

and he struck the hostile earth in death with gory lips.

Then Turnus, standing over him, cried out:

“Arcadians, take note, and carry these words of mine

to Evander: I return Pallas to him as he deserves.

I freely give whatever honours lie in a tomb, whatever

solace there is in burial. His hospitality to Aeneas

will cost him greatly.” So saying he planted his left foot on the corpse

and tore away the huge weight of Pallas’s belt, engraved

with the Danaids’ crime: that band of young men foully murdered

on the same wedding night, the blood-drenched marriage chambers,²

that Clonus son of Eurytus had richly chased in gold;

now Turnus exulted at the spoil and gloried in winning.

Oh, human mind, ignorant of fate or fortune to come

or of how to keep to the limits, exalted by favourable events!

The time will come for Turnus when he’d prefer to have bought

an untouched Pallas at great price, and will hate those spoils

and the day. So his friends crowded round Pallas with many

groans and tears, and carried him back lying on his shield.

O the great grief and glory in returning to your father:

that day first gave you to warfare, the same day took you from it,

while nevertheless you left behind vast heaps of Rutulian dead!

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At non caede viri tanta perterrita Lausus,

pars ingens belli, sinit agmina: primus Abantem

oppositum interimit, pugnae nodumque moramque.

sternitur Arcadiae proles, sternuntur Etrusci

et vos, o Grais imperdita corpora, Teucri.                430

agmina concurrunt ducibusque et viribus aequis;

extremi addensent acies nec turba moveri

tela manusque sinit. hinc Pallas instat et urget,

hinc contra Lausus, nec multum discrepat aetas,

egregii forma, sed quis Fortuna negarat               435

in patriam reditus. ipsos concurrere passus

haud tamen inter se magni regnator Olympi;

mox illos sua fata manent maiore sub hoste.

Interea soror alma monet succedere Lauso

Turnum, qui volucri curru medium secat agmen.               440

ut vidit socios: 'tempus desistere pugnae;

solus ego in Pallanta feror, soli mihi Pallas

debetur; cuperem ipse parens spectator adesset.'

haec ait, et socii cesserunt aequore iusso.

at Rutulum abscessu iuvenis tum iussa superba               445

miratus stupet in Turno corpusque per ingens

lumina voluit obitque truci procul omnia visu,

talibus et dictis it contra dicta tyranni:

'aut spoliis ego iam raptis laudabor opimis

aut leto insigni: sorti pater aequus utrique est.               450

tolle minas.' fatus medium procedit in aequor;

frigidus Arcadibus coit in praecordia sanguis.

desiluit Turnus biiugis, pedes apparat ire

comminus; utque leo, specula cum vidit ab alta

stare procul campis meditantem in proelia taurum,               455

advolat, haud alia est Turni venientis imago.

hunc ubi contiguum missae fore credidit hastae,

ire prior Pallas, si qua fors adiuvet ausum

viribus imparibus, magnumque ita ad aethera fatur:

'per patris hospitium et mensas, quas advena adisti,               460

te precor, Alcide, coeptis ingentibus adsis.

cernat semineci sibi me rapere arma cruenta

victoremque ferant morientia lumina Turni.'

audiit Alcides iuvenem magnumque sub imo

corde premit gemitum lacrimasque effundit inanis.               465

tum genitor natum dictis adfatur amicis:

'stat sua cuique dies, breve et inreparabile tempus

omnibus est vitae; sed famam extendere factis,

hoc virtutis opus. Troiae sub moenibus altis

tot gnati cecidere deum, quin occidit una               470

Sarpedon, mea progenies; etiam sua Turnum

fata vocant metasque dati pervenit ad aevi.'

sic ait, atque oculos Rutulorum reicit arvis.

At Pallas magnis emittit viribus hastam

vaginaque cava fulgentem deripit ensem.               475

illa volans umeri surgunt qua tegmina summa

incidit, atque viam clipei molita per oras

tandem etiam magno strinxit de corpore Turni.

hic Turnus ferro praefixum robur acuto

in Pallanta diu librans iacit atque ita fatur:               480

'aspice num mage sit nostrum penetrabile telum.'

dixerat; at clipeum, tot ferri terga, tot aeris,

quem pellis totiens obeat circumdata tauri,

vibranti cuspis medium transverberat ictu

loricaeque moras et pectus perforat ingens.               485

ille rapit calidum frustra de vulnere telum:

una eademque via sanguis animusque sequuntur.

corruit in vulnus (sonitum super arma dedere)

et terram hostilem moriens petit ore cruento.

quem Turnus super adsistens:               490

'Arcades, haec' inquit 'memores mea dicta referte

Evandro: qualem meruit, Pallanta remitto.

quisquis honos tumuli, quidquid solamen humandi est,

largior. haud illi stabunt Aeneia parvo

hospitia.' et laevo pressit pede talia fatus               495

exanimem rapiens immania pondera baltei

impressumque nefas: una sub nocte iugali

caesa manus iuvenum foede thalamique cruenti,

quae Clonus Eurytides multo caelaverat auro;

quo nunc Turnus ovat spolio gaudetque potitus.               500

nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurae

et servare modum rebus sublata secundis!

Turno tempus erit magno cum optaverit emptum

intactum Pallanta, et cum spolia ista diemque

oderit. at socii multo gemitu lacrimisque               505

impositum scuto referunt Pallanta frequentes.

o dolor atque decus magnum rediture parenti,

haec te prima dies bello dedit, haec eadem aufert,

cum tamen ingentis Rutulorum linquis acervos!

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Find the glossary for Aeneid Daily here; subscribe to receive daily posts.

1. Sarpedon narrowly escaped death a few times in the Trojan war before his eventual death in Iliad 16, at Patroclus’s hands.

2. The fifty daughters of Danaus were meant to marry the fifty sons of their uncle Aegyptus; all but one murdered their husbands on their wedding night.