Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. What warrior first, whom last, did thy strong spear,
  2. fierce virgin, earthward fling? Or what thy tale
  3. of prostrate foes laid gasping on the ground?
  4. Eunaeus first, the child of Clytius' Ioins,
  5. whose bared breast, as he faced his foe, she pierced
  6. with fir-tree javelin; from his lips outpoured
  7. the blood-stream as he fell; and as he bit
  8. the gory dust, he clutched his mortal wound.
  9. Then Liris, and upon him Pagasus
  10. she slew: the one clung closer to the reins
  11. of his stabbed horse, and rolled off on the ground;
  12. the other, flying to his fallen friend,
  13. reached out a helpless hand; so both of these
  14. fell on swift death together. Next in line
  15. she smote Amastrus, son of Hippotas;
  16. then, swift-pursuing, pierced with far-flung spear
  17. Tereus, Harpalycus, Demophoon,
  18. and Chromis; every shaft the virgin threw
  19. laid low its Phrygian warrior. From afar
  20. rode Ornytus on his Apulian steed,
  21. bearing a hunter's uncouth arms; for cloak
  22. he wore upon his shoulders broad a hide
  23. from some wild bull stripped off; his helmet was
  24. a wolf's great, gaping mouth, with either jaw
  25. full of white teeth; the weapon in his hand,
  26. a farmer's pole. He strode into the throng,
  27. head taller than them all. But him she seized
  28. and clove him through (his panic-stricken troop
  29. gave her advantage), and with wrathful heart
  30. she taunted thus the fallen: “Didst thou deem
  31. this was a merry hunting in the wood
  32. in chase of game? Behold, thy fatal day
  33. befalls thee at a woman's hand, and thus
  34. thy boasting answers. No small glory thou
  35. unto the ghosts of thy dead sires wilt tell,
  36. that 't was Camilla's javelin struck thee down.”