160 165 170 Et nunc Pristis habet, nunc victam præterit ingens Hortatur Mnestheus: Nunc, nunc insurgite remis, 175 180 157. Junctis frontibus. i. e. Neither gaining way of the other. 163. Palmula. The blade of the oar, from a slight resemblance to the palm of a man's hand, palma. 170. Interior. In the inside, i. e. between Gyas' ship and the goal, which was on the left hand of him who steered the vessel. 184. Mnesthei. The Greek dative. to gain the foremost place. And now the Pristis has the advantage, now the huge Centaur gets before her vanquished antagonist: anon both advance together with united fronts, and with their long keels plough the briny waves. And now they approached the rock, and had reached the goal, when Gyas, the foremost, and hitherto victorious, thus in mid-sea accosts Mencetes, the pilot of his ship: Whither are you going so far to the right? this way steer your course; keep to the shore, and let the oar graze upon the rock to the left: let others stand out to sea. He said: but Mencetes, dreading the latent rocks, turns out his prow towards the waves. Gyas with raised voice called to him again, Mencetes, whither are you steering so opposite? once more, I say, keep to the rocks: And lo he espies Cloanthus pressing on his rear, and fetching a nearer compass. He, between Gyas' ship and the roaring rocks, brushes along the left-hand path on the inside, and suddenly gets a-head of him who was before, and, leaving the goal, gains the safe seas. Then indeed the soul of the youth was inflamed with severe anguish; nor were his cheeks free from tears; and, regardless both of his own dignity and the safety of his friends, he hurls dastardly Mencetes headlong from the lofty stern into the sea. Himself succeeds to the helm both as pilot and commander; encourages his men, and turns his rudder to the shore. But when encumbered Mencetes with difficulty at length had risen from the deep bottom, as being now in years, and languid by reason of his wet garments, he crawls up to the summit of the rock, and sat down on the dry cliff. The Trojans laughed both to see him fall, and to see him swimming; and they renew their laughter when from his breast he vomits up the briny wave. Here Sergestus and Mnestheus, the two last, were fired with joyous hope, to outstrip Gyas lagging behind. Sergestus gets the start; and makes up to the rock, nor yet had he the advantage by the whole length of the ship, only by a part: the rival Pristis partly presses him with her beak. But Mnestheus on the mid-deck walking among his crew animates them : C Hectorei socii, Trojæ quos sorte supremâ 190 Non jam prima peto Mnestheus, neque vincere certo: Quanquam ô! sed superent, quibus hoc, Neptune, dedisti: Extremos pudeat rediisse. Hoc vincite, cives, 195 Obnixi crepuere, illisaque prora pependit. Consurgunt nautæ, et magno clamore morantur; 210 Fertur in arva volans, plausumque exterrita pennis 215 Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas: 190. Hectorei. He calls them " valiant as Hector," to encourage them. 193. Maleae. A promontory of Laconia, near which sailing was so dangerous that it became a proverb. 199. Solum. Whatever is spread under a thing, as its support or foundation, is called solum; as the sea is to a ship, and the air to a bird. 203. Spatio iniquo. He had not left himself room enough to steer between Mnestheus and the goal. My Hectorean bands, whom I chose associates in Troy's last fatal hour, now, now with keenness ply your oars; now exert that vigour, now that greatness of soul of which you were masters in the quicksands of Getulia, in the Ionian sea, and on Malea's coast, where waves succeeding waves pursued us. Your Mnestheus aspires not now to the foremost place, nor contends for the victory: though would to heaven! but may those conquer to whom thou, O Neptune, hast given that honour. Let us be ashamed to come in the last. Surmount, my countrymen, and repel that criminal disgrace. They bend to the oar with the greatest ardour; the brazenbeaked galley trembles with the vast strokes, and the watery surface flies from under them. Then thick panting shakes their limbs and parched jaws: sweat flows from every pore in rivulets. Mere chance procured them the wished-for honour: for while Sergestus, between Mnestheus and the goal, in his furious career, is pressing up the head of the ship to the rocks, and steers in a disadvantageous place, he unluckily stuck among the jutting rocks. The cliffs receive a violent shock, and among the sharp craggy points the labouring oars with a crack were shivered, and the prow dashed against the rocks stood suspended. The mariners arise together, and with great clamour desist; and apply booms shod with iron, and poles with sharpened points, and gather up their shattered oars on the stream. Meanwhile Mnestheus, flushed with joy, and more animated by this same success, with the nimble impulse of the oars, and winds called to his aid, cuts the easy waves, and scuds away on the open sea. As a pigeon, whose nest and darling young are in some harbouring rock, suddenly roused from her covert, flies away into the fields, and, starting in a fright, gives a loud clap with her wings against the nest; then, shooting through the calm still air, skims along the liquid way, nor once moves her nimble pinions: thus Mnestheus, thus the Pristis herself in her career, cuts the utmost boundary of the watery plain; thus the mere vehemence of her motion carries 220 225 230 Et primum in scopulo luctantem deserit alto 236 240 245 Victori chlamydem auratam, quam plurima circum 250 Purpura Maandro duplici Meliboea cucurrit: 232. Aequatis rostris. By coming in both together. 237. Voti reus signifies, one who has undertaken a vow on a certain condition; and when that condition is fulfilled, he is damnatus voti, or votis, i. e. The gods sentence him to perform his vow, |