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4.45

450

Ut vidit socios: Tempus desistere pugnæ:
Solus ego in Pallanta feror; soli mihi Pallas
Debetur: cuperem ipse parens spectator adesset.
Hæc ait; et socii cesserunt æquore jusso.
At Rutulûm abscessu juvenis, tum jussa superba
Miratus, stupet in Turno; corpusque per ingens
Lumina volvit, obitque truci procul omnia visu.
Talibus et dictis it contra dicta tyranni:
Aut spoliis ego jam raptis laudabor opimis,
Aut letho insigni. Sorti pa er æquus utrique est.
Tolle minas. Fatus medium procedit in æquor.
Frigidus Arcadibus coit in præcordia sanguis.
Desiluit Turnus bijugis; pedes apparat ire
Cominus. Utque leo, speculâ cum vidit ab altâ
Stare procul campis meditantem prælia taurum,
Advolat; haud alia est Turni venientis imago.
Hunc ubi contiguum missæ fore credidit hastæ,
1re prior Pallas, si qua fors adjuvet ausum,
Viribus imparibus; magnumque ita ad æthera fatur:
Per patris hospitium, et mensas quas advena adîsti, 460
Te precor, Alcide, cœptis ingentibus adsis:
Cernat semineci sibi me rapere arma cruenta,
Victoremque ferant morientia lumina Turni.
Audiit Alcides juvenem, magnumque sub imo

455

Corde premit gemitum, lacrymasque effudit inanes. 465
Tum genitor natum dietis affatur amicis:

Stat sua cuique dies: breve et irreparabile tempus
Omnibus est vitæ ; sed famam extendere factis,
Hoc virtutis opus. Trojæ sub moenibus altis
Tot nati cecidere Deûm: quin occidit unà
Sarpedon, mea progenies: etiam sua Turnum
Fata vocant, metasque dati pervenit ad ævi.

470

482. Tol ferri terga. Literally, so many hides of iron; because the bulls' hides were stuck full of iron or brass nails.

:

to fly to Lausus' relief. Soon as his friends he viewed, he exclaimed, It is time for others from battle to desist : against Pallas I alone am bound; to me alone is Pallas doomed would to heaven his sire himself were spectator of the combat. He said; and from the plain the troops at his command retired. But the youth, struck with the retreat of the Rutulians, and such imperious orders, on Turnus gazes with astonishment; over his huge body he rolls his eyes, and with ferocious aspect all the man aloof surveys. Then with these words in return to the tyrant's speech moves up: Now, or by bearing away triumphal spoils, or by illustrious death, shall I be signalized. For either chance my sire is equally fortified. Away then with your vain-glorious threats. This said, he advances into the middle of the plain. Round the Arcadian hearts the cold blood congeals. Down from his chariot Turnus sprang; on foot prepares to meet him hand to hand. And as a lion, when from his lofty watch-tower he hath espied a bull standing on the plains aloof, meditating the fight, to him flies up; such is the image of Turnus rushing to the combat. Soon as Pallas supposed him to be within reach of the darted lance, he makes the first advance, with strength unequal, trying if fortune by any means will aid his bold enterprise; and thus to the lofty heavens himself addresses: By my father's hospitality, and those boards which thou his guest didst visit, Alcides, aid, I thee implore, my arduous attempt: may Turnus in the pangs of death behold me strip him of his bloody armour, and let his dying eyes endure the painful sight of a victorious foe, Alcides heard the youth, and deep in the bottom of his heart a heavy groan suppresses, and pours forth unavailing tears. Then the almighty sire with these kind words his son bespeaks: To every one his day is fixed: a short and irretrievable term of life is given to all; but by great actions to lengthen out fame, this is virtue's task. Under the lofty walls of Troy so many sons of gods have fallen: with them even Sarpedon, my own offspring fell: Turnus too his destiny calls, and

Sic ait, atque oculos Rutulorum rejicit arvis,
At Pallas magnis emittit viribus hastam,
Vaginâque cavâ fulgentem deripit ensem.
Illa volans, humeri surgunt quà tegmina summa,
Incidit, atque viam clypei molita per oras,
Tandem etiam magno strinxit de corpore Turni.
Hic Turnus ferro præfixum robur acuto

475

In Pallanta diu librans jacit, atque ita fatur;
Aspice, num magè sit nostrum penetrabile telum.
Dixerat: at clypeum, tot ferri terga, tot æris,
Cùm pellis toties obeat circumdata tauri,

480

Vibranti cuspis medium transverberat ictu,
Loricæque moras, et pectus perforat ingens.
Ille rapit calidum frustrà de vulnere telum :

485

Unâ eademque viâ sanguisque animusque sequuntur.

Corruit in vulnus: sonitum super arma dedere;

Et terram hostilem moriens petit ore cruento.

Quem Turnus super assistens,

490

Arcades, hæc, inquit, memores mea dicta referte

Evandro: qualem meruit, Pallanta remitto.

Quisquis honos tumuli, quicquid solamen humandi est,

Largior. Haud illi stabunt Eneïa parvo

Hospitia. Et lævo pressit pede, talia fatus,

495

Exanimum, rapiens immania pondera baltei,
Impressumque nefas (unâ sub nocte jugali
Casa manus juvenum fœdè, thalamique cruenti),
Quæ bonus Eurytion multo cælaverat auro;
Quo nunc Turnus ovat spolio, gaudetque potitus.
Nescia mens hominum fati, sortisque futuræ,
Et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis !
Turno tempus erit, magno cum optaverit emtum
Intactum Pallanta, et cum spolia ista diemque
Oderit. At socii multo gemitu lacrymisque
Impositum scuto referunt Pallanta frequentes.

500

505

497. Una sub n. etc. The story of the fifty Danaids who mur

dered their husbands the first night after their marriage.

to the utmost verge of life he is arrived. He said; and from the fields of the Rutulians he averts his eyes.

But Pallas with vast force hurls a spear, and from the hollow scabbard tears his shining blade. The weapon flying lighted where the high armour rises on the shoulders, and, opening its way through the extremity of the shield, at length too on the great body of Turnus grazed. At this Turnus, long poising a javelin tipped with sharpened steel, darts it at Pallas, and thus speaks: See whether ours be not the more penetrating dart. He said: and with a quivering stroke the steely point pierces through the mid-shield, through so many plates of iron, so many of brass, while the bull's hide so many times encompasses it, and through the corslet's cumbrous folds transfixes his breast with a hideous gash. He in vain wrenches out the reeking weapon from the wound: at one and the same passage the blood and soul issue forth. Down on his wound he rushes: over him his armour gave a clang; and in death with bloody jaws he bites the hostile ground. Whom Turnus bestriding, says, Ye Arcadians, to Evander faithfully these my words record: in such plight as he deserved I send his Pallas back, Whatever honour is in a tomb, whatever solace in interment, I freely give him. His league of friendship with Eneas shall cost him not a little. And thus having spoken, he pressed with his left foot the breathless corpse, tearing away his belt's enormous weight, and the horrid story with which it was embossed (in one nuptial night a band of youths barbarously murdered, and their bridal beds bathed in blood), which the ingenious Eurytion had carved in copious gold; in which spoil Turnus now triumphs, and exults in the possession. How blind are the minds of men to fate and future events! how unwilling to practise moderation, and still with prosperity elated! The time will come when Turnus shall wish with all his soul that Pallas by him had not been touched, and when these spoils and this day he shall detest. But Pallas, stretched on his shield, a numerous retinue of his friends with many a groan and tear back to the

O dolor, atque decus magnum rediture parenti!
Hæc te prima dies bello dedit, hæc eadem aufert;
Cum tamen ingentes Rutulorum linquis acervos.

Nec jam fama mali tanti, sed certior auctor
Advolat Æneæ; tenui discrimine lethi
Esse suos; tempus versis succurrere Teucris.
Proxima quæque metit gladio, latumque per agmen
Ardens limitem agit ferro, te, Turne, superbum
Cæde novâ, quærens. Pallas, Evander, in ipsis
Omnia sunt oculis; mensæ, quas advena primas
Tunc adiit, dextræque datæ. Sulmone creatos
Quatuor hic juvenes, totidem quos educat Ufens,
Viventes rapit; inferias quos immolet umbris,
Captivoque rogi perfundat sanguine flammas.
Inde Mago procul infensam cum tenderet hastam,
Ille astu subit, ac tremebunda supervolat hasta ;
Et genua amplectens, effatur talia supplex:
Per patrios manes, et spes surgentis lüli,

510

515

520

Te precor hanc animam serves natoque patrique,
Est domus alta; jacent penitus defossa talenta
Cælati argenti: sunt auri pondera facti

525

Infectique mihi: non hìc victoria Teucrâm

Vertitur: haud anima una dabit discrimina tanta.
Dixerat: Æneas contra cui talia reddit:

530

Argenti atque auri memoras quæ multa talenta,
Natis parce tuis: belli commercia Turnus
Sustulit ista prior, jam tum Pallante peremto.
Hoc patris Anchisa manes, hoc sentit Iülus.
Sic fatus, galeam lævâ tenet, atque reflexâ
Cervice orantis capulo tenus abdidit ensem.
Nec procul Emonides, Phoebi Triviæque sacerdos,
Infula cui sacrâ redimibat tempora vittâ,

535

527. Auri facti. Gold wrought into statues, vases, etc. Infecti is bullion.

538. Infula vitta. The infula was a sort of diadem worn by priests and illustrious persons; the vitta was the label or fillet that hung down from it on each side.

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