Aeneid XII.411-528
Venus puts her action figure back on the battlefield, where he and Turnus get busy killing.
At this Aeneas’s mother, Venus, shaken by her son’s
cruel pain, culled a dittany plant from Cretan Ida,
with downy leaves and purple flowers; a herb
not unknown to the wild goats when winged
arrows have fixed themselves in their sides.
This Venus brought, her face veiled in dark mist,
this, with its hidden curative powers, she steeped
in river water, poured into a glittering basin, and sprinkled
there healing ambrosial juice and fragrant panacea.
Aged Iapyx bathed the wound with this liquid,
not knowing its effect, and indeed all pain fled
from Aeneas’s body, all the flow of blood ceased deep
in the wound. Now, without force, the arrowhead
slipped from the wound, following the motion of his hand,
and fresh strength returned to Aeneas, such as before.
Iapyx cried: “Quickly, bring our hero weapons. Why are you
standing there?” and was first to excite their courage against
the enemy. “Aeneas, this cure does not come by human aid,
nor guiding art, it is not my hand that saved you: a god,
a greater one, worked this, and sends you out again to glorious deeds.”
Aeneas, eager for battle, had sheathed his legs in gold,
left and right, and, scornful of delay, brandished his spear.
As soon as his shield was fixed at his side, the chain mail
to his back, he clasped Ascanius in his armed embrace,
and, kissing his lips lightly through the helmet, said:
“My son, learn courage from me and true labour:
good fortune learn from others. Now my hand will protect you
in war and lead you to great rewards. Make sure later,
when your years have reached maturity, that you remember:
let your father Aeneas and your uncle Hector
inspire your soul by recalling their example.”
When he spoken these words, he rushed out through the gate
in all his strength, brandishing a great spear in his hand,
Antheus and Mnestheus with him, and their massed ranks, and all
the army streamed from the camp. Then the plain was a chaos
of blinding dust, and the quaking earth shook under the tramp of feet.
Turnus saw them advance from the rampart opposite:
the Ausonians saw, and a cold tremor ran to the marrow
of their bones; Juturna was the first of all the Latins
to hear and recognise the sound, and she fled in fear.
Aeneas flew ahead, racing his dark ranks over the open plain.
As when the weather breaks and a storm cloud moves towards
land over the deep ocean (ah, the hearts of wretched farmers
know it from far off, and shudder: it brings ruin to trees
and havoc to harvests, everything far and wide is destroyed),
the gales run before it and carry their roar to the shore:
so the Trojan leader drove his ranks against the foe,
thickly they all gathered to him in dense columns.
Thymbreus struck mighty Osiris with his sword,
Mnestheus killed Arcetius, Achates killed Epulo,
Gyas killed Ufens; even Tolumnius the augur fell,
first to hurl his spear straight at the enemy.
A shout rose to heaven, and in turn the routed Rutulians
turned their backs in a cloud of dust, fleeing over the field.
Aeneas himself did not deign to send the fugitives to their death,
nor did he attack the foot-soldiers, cavalry, or those hurling
missiles: he tracked only Turnus, searching through
the dense gloom, Turnus alone he summoned to combat.
Juturna, the warrior maiden, her mind stricken with fear,
knocked Turnus’s charioteer, Metiscus, from the reins at this,
so that he slipped from the beam, and left him far behind;
she herself took his place and guided the flowing reins
with her hands, assuming Metiscus’s voice, form, weapons, all.
As when a dark swallow flies through the great house
of some rich lord, winging her way through lofty halls
gathering tiny crumbs and scraps of food for her noisy young,
now twittering in the empty courtyards, now by the damp ponds:
so Juturna was drawn by the horses through the enemy centre
and, flying in her swift chariot, criss-crossed the whole plain,
now here, now there, she gives evidence of her triumphant brother,
not allowing him close combat, flying far away.
Nevertheless Aeneas traversed her winding course to meet him,
tracking him, calling him loudly among the ranks.
As often as he set eyes on his enemy and tried to match
the flight of the swift horses in his course, as often
Juturna turned and wheeled the chariot.
Ah, what to do? Vainly he fluctuated on the shifting tide,
and diverse concerns called his thoughts away.
Messapus, who happened to be carrying two strong spears
tipped with steel, advanced lightly towards him,
levelled one, and hurled it with unerring aim.
Aeneas stopped and gathered himself behind his shield,
sinking on one knee; the swift spear still took off the tip
of his helmet and knocked the plumes from the crest.
Then his anger truly surged and, incited by all this treachery,
seeing his enemy’s chariot and horses driven far off,
calling loudly on Jove and the altars of the broken treaty
as witness, he plunged at last into the fray
and, aided by Mars, he awoke dreadful, savage,
indiscriminate slaughter and gave full rein to his wrath.
What god can now relate for me such bitter things as these,
who can tell of such varied slaughter, the deaths of generals,
whom Turnus now, and now the Trojan hero, drove in turn
over the field? Jupiter, was it your will that races who would live
together in everlasting peace should meet in so great a conflict?
Aeneas meeting Rutulian Sucro (in the first battle
that brought the Trojan attack to a halt) quickly struck him
in the side and drove the cruel steel through the ribs
that protect the heart, where death come fastest.
Turnus threw Amycus from his horse, and Diores his brother,
attacking them on foot, striking one with the long lance
as he advanced, the other with his sword, then, hanging both
their severed heads from his chariot, carried them away
dripping with blood. Aeneas sent Talos and Tanais
and brave Cethegus to death, three in one attack,
and sad Onites of Theban name, whose mother was Peridia;
Turnus killed the brothers sent from Lycia, Apollo’s fields,
and Menoetes of Arcadia, who had hated war, but in vain:
his humble home and his living were round Lerna’s
fish-filled streams, never knowing the patronage
of the great, and his father farmed rented land.
Like fires set burning from opposite sides of a dry forest
into the thickets of crackling laurel, or foaming rivers
falling swiftly from the mountain heights, roaring
and racing seawards, each leaving its path of destruction,
so Aeneas and Turnus with no less fury swept through the battle;
now anger surged within: now their hearts which knew no defeat
were bursting: now with all their strength they set out to do harm.
Hic Venus indigno nati concussa dolore
dictamnum genetrix Cretaea carpit ab Ida,
puberibus caulem foliis et flore comantem
purpureo; non illa feris incognita capris
gramina, cum tergo volucres haesere sagittae. 415
hoc Venus obscuro faciem circumdata nimbo
detulit, hoc fusum labris splendentibus amnem
inficit occulte medicans, spargitque salubris
ambrosiae sucos et odoriferam panaceam.
fovit ea vulnus lympha longaevus Iapyx 420
ignorans, subitoque omnis de corpore fugit
quippe dolor, omnis stetit imo vulnere sanguis.
iamque secuta manum nullo cogente sagitta
excidit, atque novae rediere in pristina vires.
'arma citi properate viro! quid statis?' Iapyx 425
conclamat primusque animos accendit in hostem.
'non haec humanis opibus, non arte magistra
proveniunt, neque te, Aenea, mea dextera servat:
maior agit deus atque opera ad maiora remittit.'
ille avidus pugnae suras incluserat auro 430
hinc atque hinc oditque moras hastamque coruscat.
postquam habilis lateri clipeus loricaque tergo est,
Ascanium fusis circum complectitur armis
summaque per galeam delibans oscula fatur:
'disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque laborem, 435
fortunam ex aliis. nunc te mea dextera bello
defensum dabit et magna inter praemia ducet.
tu facito, mox cum matura adoleverit aetas,
sis memor et te animo repetentem exempla tuorum
et pater Aeneas et avunculus excitet Hector.' 440
Haec ubi dicta dedit, portis sese extulit ingens
telum immane manu quatiens; simul agmine denso
Antheusque Mnestheusque ruunt, omnisque relictis
turba fluit castris. tum caeco pulvere campus
miscetur pulsuque pedum tremit excita tellus. 445
vidit ab adverso venientis aggere Turnus,
videre Ausonii, gelidusque per ima cucurrit
ossa tremor; prima ante omnis Iuturna Latinos
audiit agnovitque sonum et tremefacta refugit.
ille volat campoque atrum rapit agmen aperto. 450
qualis ubi ad terras abrupto sidere nimbus
it mare per medium (miseris, heu, praescia longe
horrescunt corda agricolis: dabit ille ruinas
arboribus stragemque satis, ruet omnia late),
ante volant sonitumque ferunt ad litora venti: 455
talis in adversos ductor Rhoeteius hostis
agmen agit, densi cuneis se quisque coactis
adglomerant. ferit ense gravem Thymbraeus Osirim,
Arcetium Mnestheus, Epulonem obtruncat Achates
Ufentemque Gyas; cadit ipse Tolumnius augur, 460
primus in adversos telum qui torserat hostis.
tollitur in caelum clamor, versique vicissim
pulverulenta fuga Rutuli dant terga per agros.
ipse neque aversos dignatur sternere morti
nec pede congressos aequo nec tela ferentis 465
insequitur: solum densa in caligine Turnum
vestigat lustrans, solum in certamina poscit.
Hoc concussa metu mentem Iuturna virago
aurigam Turni media inter lora Metiscum
excutit et longe lapsum temone reliquit; 470
ipsa subit manibusque undantis flectit habenas
cuncta gerens, vocemque et corpus et arma Metisci.
nigra velut magnas domini cum divitis aedes
pervolat et pennis alta atria lustrat hirundo
pabula parva legens nidisque loquacibus escas, 475
et nunc porticibus vacuis, nunc umida circum
stagna sonat: similis medios Iuturna per hostis
fertur equis rapidoque volans obit omnia curru,
iamque hic germanum iamque hic ostentat ovantem
nec conferre manum patitur, volat avia longe. 480
haud minus Aeneas tortos legit obvius orbis,
vestigatque virum et disiecta per agmina magna
voce vocat. quotiens oculos coniecit in hostem
alipedumque fugam cursu temptavit equorum,
aversos totiens currus Iuturna retorsit. 485
heu, quid agat? vario nequiquam fluctuat aestu,
diversaeque vocant animum in contraria curae.
huic Messapus, uti laeva duo forte gerebat
lenta, levis cursu, praefixa hastilia ferro,
horum unum certo contorquens derigit ictu. 490
substitit Aeneas et se collegit in arma
poplite subsidens; apicem tamen incita summum
hasta tulit summasque excussit vertice cristas.
tum vero adsurgunt irae, insidiisque subactus,
diversos ubi sensit equos currumque referri, 495
multa Iovem et laesi testatus foederis aras
iam tandem invadit medios et Marte secundo
terribilis saevam nullo discrimine caedem
suscitat, irarumque omnis effundit habenas.
Quis mihi nunc tot acerba deus, quis carmine caedes 500
diversas obitumque ducum, quos aequore toto
inque vicem nunc Turnus agit, nunc Troius heros,
expediat? tanton placuit concurrere motu,
Iuppiter, aeterna gentis in pace futuras?
Aeneas Rutulum Sucronem (ea prima ruentis 505
pugna loco statuit Teucros) haud multa morantem
excipit in latus et, qua fata celerrima, crudum
transadigit costas et cratis pectoris ensem.
Turnus equo deiectum Amycum fratremque Dioren,
congressus pedes, hunc venientem cuspide longa, 510
hunc mucrone ferit, curruque abscisa duorum
suspendit capita et rorantia sanguine portat.
ille Talon Tanaimque neci fortemque Cethegum,
tris uno congressu, et maestum mittit Oniten,
nomen Echionium matrisque genus Peridiae; 515
hic fratres Lycia missos et Apollinis agris
et iuvenem exosum nequiquam bella Menoeten,
Arcada, piscosae cui circum flumina Lernae
ars fuerat pauperque domus nec nota potentum
munera, conductaque pater tellure serebat. 520
ac velut immissi diversis partibus ignes
arentem in silvam et virgulta sonantia lauro,
aut ubi decursu rapido de montibus altis
dant sonitum spumosi amnes et in aequora currunt
quisque suum populatus iter: non segnius ambo 525
Aeneas Turnusque ruunt per proelia; nunc, nunc
fluctuat ira intus, rumpuntur nescia vinci
pectora, nunc totis in vulnera viribus itur.
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