Aeneid

Virgil

Vergil. The Aeneid of Virgil. Williams, Theodore, C, translator. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1910.

  1. Thus Mars relentless holds in equal scale
  2. slaughters reciprocal and mutual woe;
  3. the victors and the vanquished kill or fall
  4. in equal measure; neither knows the way
  5. to yield or fly. Th' Olympians Iook down
  6. out of Jove's house, and pity as they see
  7. the unavailing wrath of either foe,
  8. and burdens measureless on mortals laid.
  9. Lo! Venus here, Saturnian Juno yon,
  10. in anxious watch; while pale Tisiphone
  11. moves on infuriate through the battling lines.
  12. On strode Mezentius o'er the gory plain,
  13. and swollen with rage waved wide-his awful spear.
  14. Like tall Orion when on foot he goes
  15. trough the deep sea and lifts his shoulders high
  16. above the waves; or when he takes his path
  17. along the mountain-tops, and has for staff
  18. an aged ash-tree, as he fixes firm
  19. his feet in earth and hides his brows in cloud;—
  20. so Ioomed Mezentius with his ponderous arms.
  1. To match him now, Aeneas, Iooking down
  2. the long array of war, came forth in arms
  3. to challenge and defy. But quailing not,
  4. a mass immovable, the other stood
  5. waiting his noble foe, and with a glance
  6. measured to cast his spear the space between.
  7. “May this right hand“, he said, “and this swift spear
  8. which here I poise, be favoring gods for me!
  9. The spoils from yonder robber's carcase stripped
  10. I vow to hang on thee, my Lausus, thou
  11. shalt stand for trophy of Aeneas slain.”
  12. He said, and hurled from far the roaring spear,
  13. which from the shield glanced off, and speeding still
  14. smote famed Antores 'twixt the loin and side—
  15. antores, friend of Hercules, who came
  16. from Argos, and had joined Evander's cause,
  17. abiding in Italia. Lo, a wound
  18. meant for another pierced him, and he lay,
  19. ill-fated! Iooking upward to the light,
  20. and dreaming of dear Argos as he died.
  21. Then good Aeneas hurled his spear; it passed
  22. through hollow orb of triple bronze, and through
  23. layers of flax and triple-twisted hides;
  24. then in the lower groin it lodged, but left
  25. its work undone. Aeneas, not ill-pleased
  26. to see the Tuscan wounded, swiftly drew
  27. the falchion from his thigh, and hotly pressed
  28. his startled foe. But Lausus at the sight
  29. groaned loud, so much he loved his father dear,
  30. and tears his cheek bedewed. O storied youth!
  31. If olden worth may win believing ear,
  32. let not my song now fail of thee to sing,
  33. thy noble deeds, thy doom of death and pain!
  34. Mezentius, now encumbered and undone,
  35. fell backward, trailing from the broken shield
  36. his foeman's spear. His son leaped wildly forth
  37. to join the fray; and where Aeneas' hand
  38. lifted to strike, he faced the thrusting sword
  39. and gave the hero pause. His comrades raised
  40. applauding cries, as shielded by his son
  41. the father made retreat; their darts they hurl,
  42. and vex with flying spears the distant foe:
  43. Aeneas, wrathful, stands beneath his shield.
  44. As when the storm-clouds break in pelting hail,
  45. the swains and ploughmen from the furrows fly,
  46. and every traveller cowers in sure defence
  47. of river-bank or lofty shelving crag,
  48. while far and wide it pours; and by and by,
  49. each, when the sun returns, his task pursues:
  50. so great Aeneas, by assault o'erwhelmed,
  51. endured the cloud of battle, till its rage
  52. thundered no more; then with a warning word
  53. to Lausus with upbraiding voice he called:
  54. “Why, O death-doomed, rush on to deeds too high
  55. for strength like thine. Thou art betrayed, rash boy,
  56. by thine own loyal heart!” But none the less
  57. the youth made mad defence; while fiercer burned
  58. the Trojan's anger; and of Lausus' days
  59. the loom of Fate spun forth the last thin thread;
  60. for now Aeneas thrust his potent blade
  61. deep through the stripling's breast and out of sight;
  62. through the light shield it passed—a frail defence
  63. to threaten with!—and through the tunic fine
  64. his mother's hand had wrought with softest gold:
  65. blood filled his bosom, and on path of air
  66. down to the shades the mournful soul withdrew,
  67. its body quitting. As Anchises' son
  68. beheld the agonizing lips and brow
  69. so wondrous white in death, he groaned aloud
  70. in pity, and reached o'er him his right hand,
  71. touched to the heart such likeness to behold
  72. of his own filial love. “Unhappy boy!
  73. What reward worthy of heroic deeds
  74. can I award thee now? Wear still those arms
  75. so proudly worn! And I will send thee home
  76. (Perhaps thou carest!) to the kindred shades
  77. and ashes of thy sires. But let it be
  78. some solace in thy pitiable doom
  79. that none but great Aeneas wrought thy fall.”
  80. Then to the stripling's tardy followers
  81. he sternly called, and lifted from the earth
  82. with his own hand the fallen foe: dark blood
  83. defiled those princely tresses braided fair.