Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. The brothers Pandarus and Bitias,
  2. of whom Alcanor was the famous sire,
  3. on Ida born, and whom Iaera bred
  4. in sacred wood of Jove, an oread she,
  5. twin warriors, like their native hills and trees
  6. of stature proud, now burst those portals wide
  7. to them in ward consigned, and sword in hand
  8. challenge the foe to enter. Side by side,
  9. steel-clad, their tall heads in bright crested helms,
  10. to left and right, like towers, the champions stand
  11. as when to skyward, by the gliding waves
  12. of gentle Athesis or Padus wide,
  13. a pair of oaks uprise, and lift in air
  14. their shaggy brows and nodding crests sublime.
  15. In burst the Rutules where the onward way
  16. seemed open wide; Quercens no tarrying knows,
  17. nor proud Aquiculus in well-wrought arms;
  18. Tmarus sweeps on impetuous, and the host
  19. of Haemon, child of Mars. Some routed fly;
  20. some lay their lives-down at the gate. Wild rage
  21. o'erflows each martial breast, and gathered fast
  22. the Trojans rally to one point, and dare
  23. close conflict, or long sallies o'er the plain.
  1. To Turnus, who upon a distant field
  2. was storming with huge havoc, came the news
  3. that now his foe, before a gate thrown wide,
  4. was red with slaughter. His own fight he stays,
  5. and speeds him, by enormous rage thrust on,
  6. to those proud brethren at the Dardan wall.
  7. There first Antiphates, who made his war
  8. far in the van (a Theban captive's child
  9. to great Sarpedon out of wedlock born),
  10. he felled to earth with whirling javelin:
  11. th' Italic shaft of cornel lightly flew
  12. along the yielding air, and through his throat
  13. pierced deep into the breast; a gaping wound
  14. gushed blood; the hot shaft to his bosom clung.
  15. Then Erymas and Merops his strong hand
  16. laid low: Aphidnus next, then came the turn
  17. of Bitias, fiery-hearted, furious-eyed:
  18. but not by javelin,—such cannot fall
  19. by flying javelin,—the ponderous beam
  20. of a phalaric spear, with mighty roar,
  21. like thunderbolt upon him fell; such shock
  22. neither the bull's-hides of his double shield
  23. nor twofold corselet's golden scales could stay
  24. but all his towering frame in ruin fell.
  25. Earth groaned, and o'er him rang his ample shield.
  26. so crashes down from Baiae's storied shore
  27. a rock-built mole, whose mighty masonry,
  28. piled up with care, men cast into the sea;
  29. it trails its wreckage far, and fathoms down
  30. lies broken in the shallows, while the waves
  31. whirl every way, and showers of black sand
  32. are scattered on the air: with thunder-sound
  33. steep Prochyta is shaken, and that bed
  34. of cruel stone, Inarime, which lies
  35. heaped o'er Typhoeus by revenge of Jove.