Aeneid XI.597-724

It's Camilla time.

In the meantime the Trojan band, with the Etruscan

leaders and all the cavalry, approached the walls,

marshalled in squadrons troop by troop. Warhorses,

neighing, cavorted over the whole area, fighting the tight rein,

prancing this way and that: the field bristled far and wide

with the steel of spears, and the plain blazed with lifted weapons.

On the other side, also, Messapus and the swift Latins,

Coras with his brother, and virgin Camilla’s wing appeared,

opposing them on the plain, and drawing their right arms far back

they thrust their lances forward, the spear-points quivered:

the march of men and the neighing of horses increased.

And now both halted their advance within a spear’s throw:

they ran forward with a sudden shout and spurred on

their maddened horses, spears showered from all sides at once

as dense as snowflakes, and the sky was veiled in darkness.

Immediately Tyrrhenus and brave Aconteus charged

each other, with levelled spears, and were the first to fall

with a mighty crash, shattering their horses’ breastbones

as they collided; Aconteus, hurled like a thunderbolt

or a heavy stone shot from a catapult, was thrown

some distance, and wasted his breath of life on the air.

At once the ranks wavered, and the Latins slung their shields

behind them and turned their mounts towards the walls;

the Trojans pursued, Asilas their leader heading the squadrons.

Now they were nearing the gates when the Latins again

raised a shout and turned their horse’s responsive necks;

the Trojans now fled and retreated to a distance with loose reins,

like the sea running in with alternate waves,

now rushing to shore, dashing over the rocks

in a foaming flood, drenching the furthest sands

with its swell, now retreating quickly, sucking rolling

pebbles in its wash, leaving dry sand as the shallows ebbed:

twice the Tuscans drove the routed Rutulians to the city, twice,

repulsed, they looked behind, defending their backs with their shields.

But when they clashed in a third encounter, their lines

locked tight, and man marked man, then truly, the battle

swelled fiercely among the groans of the dying,

with weapons, bodies, and horses in their death-throes

in pools of blood, entangled with slaughtered riders.

Orsilochus hurled a lance at Remulus’s horse, fearing

to attack the man, and left the point embedded beneath its ear;

the rearing charger, maddened by the blow and unable to bear

the wound, lifted its chest, and thrashed high with its forelegs;

Remulus, thrown clear, rolled on the ground. Catillus

felled Iollas and Herminius, a giant in courage, a giant

in torso and limbs, tawny hair on his head, his shoulders bare,

for whom wounds held no terror; he spread so wide in his armour.

The driven spear passed quivering through his broad shoulders

and, piercing him, doubled him up with pain. Dark blood

streamed everywhere; clashing with swords, they dealt death

and sought a glorious ending through their wounds.

But an Amazon exulted in the midst of the slaughter

with one breast bared for battle: Camilla, armed with her quiver:

now she showered sturdy javelins, scattering them from her hands,

now she lifted a strong battle-axe in her unwearied grasp;

and Diana’s weapon, a golden bow, rattled on her shoulder.

Even when she retreated, attacked from behind,

she reversed her bow and fired arrows while fleeing.

And around her were chosen comrades, virgin Larina,

and Tulla, and Tarpeia wielding her axe of bronze,

the Italides, daughters of Italy, whom noble Camilla

chose herself as her glory, faithful servants in peace or war:

such were the Amazons of Thrace, treading Thermodon’s¹

streams and fighting with ornate weapons around

Hippolyte, or when Penthesilea returned in her chariot

and the ranks of women with crescent shields exulted.²

Whom did you strike first and last with your spear, fierce girl?

How many bodies did you spill over the earth?

Euneus, son of Clytius, was the first, whose exposed chest

she pierced with her long shaft of pine as he faced her.

He fell, spewing streams of blood, and bit

the gory dust, and, dying, writhed on his wound.

Then she killed Liris and Pagasus too, one gathering

the reins of his wounded horse as he rolled from it, the other

nearing to stretch out a defenceless hand to the falling man,

both flung headlong together. She added to them Amastrus,

son of Hippotas, and, leaning forward to throw, sent her spear

after Tereus, Harpalycus, Demophoon and Cromis;

and as many spears as the girl sent spinning from her hand,

so many Trojan warriors fell. The huntsman Ornytus

was riding far off in unfamiliar armour on his Iapygian

horse, the hide stripped from a bullock covering his broad

shoulders, his head protected by a wolf’s huge gaping mask

and white-toothed jaws, a rustic’s hunting-spear in his hand;

he moved along in the centre of the army, a full head

above the rest. Catching him, she struck him (no effort

in the routed ranks), then with pitiless heart spoke above him:

“Did you think you chased prey in the forest, Tuscan?

The day is here that proves your words wrong with

a woman’s weapons. But you’ll carry no small fame

to your father’s shades: you fell to Camilla’s spear.”

Then she killed Orsilochus and Butes, two of the largest Trojans,

Butes she fixed with a spear in the back, between

breastplate and helmet, where the rider’s neck

gleams and the shield hangs from the left arm;

while fleeing from Orsilochus, chased in a wide circle,

she eluded him, wheeling inside, pursuing the pursuer;

then, lifting herself higher, drove her strong axe, again and again,

through armour and bone, as he begged and prayed desperately,

the wounds staining his face with warm brain-matter.

Now the warrior son of Aunus met her and suddenly

halted, terrified at the sight, he a man of the Apennines,

not the least of the lying Ligurians while fate allowed it.

When he saw he couldn’t escape a fight by a turn of speed

or divert the queen from her attack, he tried to devise

a stratagem with wit and cunning, as follows:

“What’s so great about relying on a strong horse, woman?

Forget flight, and trust yourself to fighting me

on level ground, equip yourself to battle on foot:

you’ll soon know whose windy boasting’s an illusion.”

He spoke, and she, raging and burning with bitter resentment,

handed her horse to a friend and faced him with equal weapons,

on foot and unafraid, with naked sword and plain shield.

But the youth, sure he had won by guile, sped off

(instantly), flicking his reins, took to flight,

pricking his horse to a gallop with spurs of steel.

The girl shouted: “Stupid Ligurian, uselessly vaunting

your boastful spirit, you’ve tried your slippery native wiles

in vain, and cunning won’t carry you back to Aunus unharmed.”

And like lightening she intercepted the horse’s path on swift feet

and, seizing the reins from in front, tackled him and took vengeance

on the blood she hated: as light as a falcon, Apollo’s sacred bird,

swooping from a tall rock, overtaking a dove in flight in the high cloud,

holding her in its talons, and tearing her heart out with its curved talons,

while blood and torn feathers shower from the sky.

---

At manus interea muris Troiana propinquat,

Etruscique duces equitumque exercitus omnis

compositi numero in turmas. fremit aequore toto

insultans sonipes et pressis pugnat habenis               600

huc conversus et huc; tum late ferreus hastis

horret ager campique armis sublimibus ardent.

nec non Messapus contra celeresque Latini

et cum fratre Coras et virginis ala Camillae

adversi campo apparent, hastasque reductis               605

protendunt longe dextris et spicula vibrant,

adventusque virum fremitusque ardescit equorum.

iamque intra iactum teli progressus uterque

substiterat: subito erumpunt clamore furentisque

exhortantur equos, fundunt simul undique tela               610

crebra nivis ritu, caelumque obtexitur umbra.

continuo adversis Tyrrhenus et acer Aconteus

conixi incurrunt hastis primique ruinam

dant sonitu ingenti perfractaque quadripedantum

pectora pectoribus rumpunt; excussus Aconteus               615

fulminis in morem aut tormento ponderis acti

praecipitat longe et vitam dispergit in auras.

Extemplo turbatae acies, versique Latini

reiciunt parmas et equos ad moenia vertunt;

Troes agunt, princeps turmas inducit Asilas.               620

iamque propinquabant portis rursusque Latini

clamorem tollunt et mollia colla reflectunt;

hi fugiunt penitusque datis referuntur habenis.

qualis ubi alterno procurrens gurgite pontus

nunc ruit ad terram scopulosque superiacit unda               625

spumeus extremamque sinu perfundit harenam,

nunc rapidus retro atque aestu revoluta resorbens

saxa fugit litusque vado labente relinquit:

bis Tusci Rutulos egere ad moenia versos,

bis reiecti armis respectant terga tegentes.               630

tertia sed postquam congressi in proelia totas

implicuere inter se acies legitque virum vir,

tum vero et gemitus morientum et sanguine in alto

armaque corporaque et permixti caede virorum

semianimes volvuntur equi, pugna aspera surgit.               635

Orsilochus Remuli, quando ipsum horrebat adire,

hastam intorsit equo ferrumque sub aure reliquit;

quo sonipes ictu furit arduus altaque iactat

vulneris impatiens arrecto pectore crura,

volvitur ille excussus humi. Catillus Iollan               640

ingentemque animis, ingentem corpore et armis

deicit Herminium, nudo cui vertice fulva

caesaries nudique umeri nec vulnera terrent;

tantus in arma patet. latos huic hasta per armos

acta tremit duplicatque virum transfixa dolore.               645

funditur ater ubique cruor; dant funera ferro

certantes pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem.

At medias inter caedes exsultat Amazon

unum exserta latus pugnae, pharetrata Camilla,

et nunc lenta manu spargens hastilia denset,               650

nunc validam dextra rapit indefessa bipennem;

aureus ex umero sonat arcus et arma Dianae.

illa etiam, si quando in tergum pulsa recessit,

spicula converso fugientia derigit arcu.

at circum lectae comites, Larinaque virgo               655

Tullaque et aeratam quatiens Tarpeia securim,

Italides, quas ipsa decus sibi dia Camilla

delegit pacisque bonas bellique ministras:

quales Threiciae cum flumina Thermodontis

pulsant et pictis bellantur Amazones armis,               660

seu circum Hippolyten seu cum se Martia curru

Penthesilea refert, magnoque ululante tumultu

feminea exsultant lunatis agmina peltis.

Quem telo primum, quem postremum, aspera virgo,

deicis? aut quot humi morientia corpora fundis?               665

Eunaeum Clytio primum patre, cuius apertum

adversi longa transverberat abiete pectus.

sanguinis ille vomens rivos cadit atque cruentam

mandit humum moriensque suo se in vulnere versat.

tum Lirim Pagasumque super, quorum alter habenas               670

suffuso revolutus equo dum colligit, alter

dum subit ac dextram labenti tendit inermem,

praecipites pariterque ruunt. his addit Amastrum

Hippotaden, sequiturque incumbens eminus hasta

Tereaque Harpalycumque et Demophoonta Chromimque;               675

quotque emissa manu contorsit spicula virgo,

tot Phrygii cecidere viri. procul Ornytus armis

ignotis et equo venator Iapyge fertur,

cui pellis latos umeros erepta iuvenco

pugnatori operit, caput ingens oris hiatus               680

et malae texere lupi cum dentibus albis,

agrestisque manus armat sparus; ipse catervis

vertitur in mediis et toto vertice supra est.

hunc illa exceptum (neque enim labor agmine verso)

traicit et super haec inimico pectore fatur:               685

'silvis te, Tyrrhene, feras agitare putasti?

advenit qui vestra dies muliebribus armis

verba redargueret. nomen tamen haud leve patrum

manibus hoc referes, telo cecidisse Camillae.'

Protinus Orsilochum et Buten, duo maxima Teucrum                690

corpora, sed Buten aversum cuspide fixit

loricam galeamque inter, qua colla sedentis

lucent et laevo dependet parma lacerto;

Orsilochum fugiens magnumque agitata per orbem

eludit gyro interior sequiturque sequentem;               695

tum validam perque arma viro perque ossa securim

altior exsurgens oranti et multa precanti

congeminat; vulnus calido rigat ora cerebro.

incidit huic subitoque aspectu territus haesit

Appenninicolae bellator filius Auni,               700

haud Ligurum extremus, dum fallere fata sinebant.

isque ubi se nullo iam cursu evadere pugnae

posse neque instantem reginam avertere cernit,

consilio versare dolos ingressus et astu

incipit haec: 'quid tam egregium, si femina forti               705

fidis equo? dimitte fugam et te comminus aequo

mecum crede solo pugnaeque accinge pedestri:

iam nosces ventosa ferat cui gloria fraudem.'

dixit, at illa furens acrique accensa dolore

tradit equum comiti paribusque resistit in armis               710

ense pedes nudo puraque interrita parma.

at iuvenis vicisse dolo ratus avolat ipse

(haud mora), conversisque fugax aufertur habenis

quadripedemque citum ferrata calce fatigat.

'vane Ligus frustraque animis elate superbis,               715

nequiquam patrias temptasti lubricus artis,

nec fraus te incolumem fallaci perferet Auno.'

haec fatur virgo, et pernicibus ignea plantis

transit equum cursu frenisque adversa prehensis

congreditur poenasque inimico ex sanguine sumit:               720

quam facile accipiter saxo sacer ales ab alto

consequitur pennis sublimem in nube columbam

comprensamque tenet pedibusque eviscerat uncis;

tum cruor et vulsae labuntur ab aethere plumae.

---

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

1. a river near the Black Sea

2. Both women mentioned are famous Amazons; Hippolyta eventually became the wife of Theseus, while Penthesilea was killed by Achilles in the Trojan War, a war that totally isn’t being rerun right now.