Euryalumque Elymus sequitur; quo deinde sub ipso 325 335 Fusus humum viridesque super madefecerat herbas. 330 Certa manent, pueri; et palmam movet ordine nemo: 340 345 350 Sic fatus, tergum Getuli immane leonis Dat Salio, villis onerosum atque unguibus aureis. Hic Nisus, Si tanta, inquit, sunt præmia victis, 355 339. Palma. The prize of victory is here put for the conqueror himself. 340. Caveae. The area of the Roman theatre was called cavea, because it was considerably lower than the other parts. Here the people had their seats. 346. Praemia ultima. The first three were each to have a prize. ver. 308. 355. Laude. Laus here signifies virtue or merit, as Aen. i. 461. with some space left between them; and Elymus follows Euryalus; close by whose side, lo! next Diores flies, and now jostles heel with heel, pressing on his shoulder; and, had more stages remained, he had skipped away before him, or left the victory dubious. And now they were almost in the outmost bound, and, breathless, were approaching towards the very goal; when unhappy Nisus slides in a slippery puddle of blood, as by chance it had been shed on the ground from victims slain, and soaked the verdant grass. Here the youth, already flushed with the joy of victory, could not support his tottering steps on the ground he trod, but fell headlong amidst the noisome filth and sacred gore. But he was not then forgetful of Euryalus, or of their mutual loves; for, as he rose from the slippery mire, he opposed himself to Salius: he again, tumbling backward, lay at his length on the tough clammy sand. Euryalus springs forward, and, victorious by the kindness of his friend, holds the foremost place, and flies with favouring applause and acclamation. Elymus comes in next; and Diores, now entitled to the third prize. Here Salius deafens the whole assembly of the ample pit, and the fronting fathers, with loud expostulations, and demands the prize to be given to himself, from whom it was snatched away by unfair means. The favour of the spectators befriends Euryalus, and his graceful tears, and virtue that appears more lovely in so comely a person. Diores aids him, and exclaims with bawling voice; who succeeded to a prize, and had a claim to the last reward in vain, if the first honours be given to Salius. Then father Æneas said, Your rewards, brave youths, stand fixed, and none shall turn the prize out of its due course: give me leave to compassionate the disaster of my innocent friend. This said, he gives to Salius the huge hide of a Getulian lion, ponderous with shaggy fur and gilt claws. Upon this Nisus says, If to the vanquished such rewards be given, and your pity be extended to those that fell, what gifts are due to Nisus? to me who by my merit won the first prize, had not the same unkind fortune which bore Ni me, quæ Salium, fortuna inimica tulisset. Bebryciâ veniens Amyci de gente ferebat, Perculit, et fulvâ moribundum extendit arenâ. 360 365 370 375 380 385 390 360. Neptuni sacro. Helenns might have received this buckler from Pyrrhus, and afterwards presented it to Aeneas. -de poste. It was usual to fix arms won from the enemy on the door-posts of the temples, as offerings to the gods. 373. Bebrycia. The original name of Bithynia. Salius down overpowered me. And with these words he at the same time shewed his face and limbs smeared with oozy filth. The best of princes smiled upon him, and ordered the buckler to be produced, Didymaon's ingenious work, which had been torn down by the Greeks from the sacred posts of Neptune's temple. With this signal present he rewards the illustrious youth. Next, when the race was finished, and the prizes were distributed; Now, says he, whoever he may be in whose breast courage and resolution dwell, let him stand forth, and raise aloft his arms, having his hands with gauntlets bound. He said, and proposes a double prize for the combat; to the conqueror a bullock decked with gold and fillets; a sword and shining helmet, the solace of the vanquished. Without delay, Dares shews his face and strength prodigious, and rears himself amidst the loud murmurs of the spectators; he who alone was wont to enter the lists with Paris; the same, at the tomb where mighty Hector lies, struck down victorious Butes of gigantic make, who boasted his descent from the race of Amycus, king of Bebrycia, and stretched him gasping on the yellow sand. Such Dares uprears his lofty head first in the lists, and presents his broad shoulders, and in alternate throws brandishes his arms around, and beats the air with his fists. For him a match is sought; nor dares one of all that numerous crowd look him in the face, and draw the gauntlets on his hands. Flushed therefore with joy, and imagining that all had quitted pretension to the prize, he stood before Æneas' feet; and then, without farther delay, with his left hand he seizes the bull by the horn, and thus speaks: Goddess-born, if no one will venture himself to the combat, where will be the end of thus hanging on? how long must I be detained? Order the presents to be brought. At the same time all the Trojans murmured their consent, and ordered the promised prizes to be delivered to him. Then venerable Acestes thus chides Entellus, as he sat beside him on the verdant grassy couch: Entellus, in vain reputed the stoutest of champions once, will you then suffer D Dona sines? ubi nunc nobis Deus ille, magister Tum satus Anchisà cæstus pater extulit æquos, 395 400 405 410 415 420 401. Caestus. A leathern guard for the hands, composed of thongs, and commonly filled with lead or iron to add weight to the blow. 406. Longe has here the force of valde. 415. Aemula senectus. Envious of the vigour of youth, and of the enjoyment of life, which its evils and infirmities preclude. |