Certantes, pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem. 650 655 660 665 Quem telo primum, quem postremum, aspera virgo, Dum subit, ac dextram labenti tendit inertem, 676 Tereaque, Harpalycumque, et Demophöonta Chrominque: supra est. 680 649. Unum exserta, etc. Her right side was naked and disengaged for action, whereas her left was encumbered with her bow or half-moon shield. Or, cxserta pugnae, exposed to the foe. 677. Armis ignotis. Arms that were strange and unusual to him. the Amazon Camilla, armed with a quiver, proudly prances over the field, with one breast bared for the fight; and now with her hand in showers tough javelins she throws, now with unwearied arm she snatches her sturdy halberd. From her shoulder rattles her golden bow, and the arms of Diana resound. Even if at any time repulsed she gave ground, still from her bow turned against the foe she aimed the winged shafts. Around her rode her select retinue, the virgin Larina, Tulla, and Tarpeia brandishing her brazen axe, Italian nymphs; whom sacred Camilla herself had chosen for her ornament, and as faithful ministers in war and auspicious peace: like Thracian Amazons, when they beat the banks of Thermodoön, and war with particoloured arms, either round their queen Hippolyte, or about Penthesilea, when that martial queen in her chariot returns; and with loud yelling uproar the female troops with half-moon shields exult. Whom first, whom last, didst thou, fierce virgin, with thy shafts overthrow? or how many bodies didst thou stretch gasping on the ground? First Eumenius, the son of Clytius, whose exposed breast, as he stood right against her, she transfixes with the long spear of fir. He, vomiting up torrents of blood, falls and bites the bloody ground, and dying writhes himself on his wound. Then she slew Liris and Pagasus besides; of whom the one tumbling backward from his horse wounded under him while he gathers up the reins, the other, as he comes up, and reaches his unavailing hand to his falling friend, both headlong and at once, rush to the ground. To these she joins Amastrus, the son of Hippotas; and at distance keenly plying with darts pursues Tereas, Harpalycus, Demophoon, and Chromis; and as many shafts as shot from her hand the virgin hurled, so many Trojan heroes fell. Afar the hunter Ornytus in strange arms rides on his Apulian steed; his broad shoulders a hide torn from a fierce bullock overspreads; his head a wolf's vast yawning mouth and jaws with white grinning teeth cover, and a rustic lance arms his hand. In the midst of the troops he moves about, and overtops the rest by Hunc illa exceptum (neque enim labor agmine verso) Verba redarguerit: nomen tamen haud leve patrum 685 Protinus Orsilochum et Buten, duo maxima Teucrûm 690 Lucent, et lævo dependet parma lacerto : Orsilochum fugiens magnumque agitata per orbem, Eludit gyro interior, sequiturque sequentem. 695 Tum validam perque arma viro, perque ossa securim, Altior insurgens, orante et multa precanti, Congeminat: vulnus calido rigat ora cerebro. Incidit huic, subitoque aspectu territus hæsit, Apenninicolæ bellator filius Auni 700 Haud Ligurum extremus, dum fallere fata sinebant. Incipit hæc: Quid tam egregium, si femina forti 705 710 (Haud mora), conversisque fugax aufertur habenis, 695. Gyro interior. In a shorter compass, as in Horace, II. Sat. vi. 26. 706. Dimitte fugam. Dismiss your flight, i. e. your steed which enables you to fly. 711. Pura parma. Her shield had no impress upon it. the whole head. Him intercepted (nor hard was the task, now that she had put his troop to flight) she transfixes, and over him these words with spiteful heart pronounces: Tuscan, didst thou fancy that thou wast hunting beasts of chase in the woods? The day is come, that by a female arm confutes your vaunts: yet to the manes of thy fathers this no inconsiderable honour shalt thou bear, that thou didst fall by the weapon of Camilla. In order next Orsilochus and Butes, the two most bulky bodies of the Trojans, she assaults: but Butes right against her with the pointed lance she transfixes, between the corslet and the helmet, where, as he sits upon the horse, the shining neck appears, and where down from his left arm the buckler hangs: Orsilochus she mocks with dissembled flight, and wheeling round in a spacious orb, turns short upon him in a narrower circle, and pursues the pursuer. Then rising high with redoubled strokes, she drives her sturdy axe through his arms, and through his bones, while he prays and earnestly begs his life: with his warm brains the wound besmears his face. The warrior son of Aunus, the Appennine mountaineer, casually encountered her, and startled with the sudden sight stopped short; not the last of the Ligurians, while the fates suffered him to practise fraud. Soon as he perceives that now by no flight he can evade the combat, nor avert the queen who presses him close, with policy and craft attempting to execute his wishes, he thus begins: What mighty courage, female, can you boast, if on a warlike steed you rely? but throw away the means of flight, and trust thyself with me hand to hand on fair equal ground, and prepare for the combat on foot: soon shalt thou know which of us shall smart for this vainglorious boasting. He said: but she, breathing fury, and stung with fierce resentment, delivers her steed to an attendant, and confronts him in equal arms with the naked sword on foot, and with her maiden shield undaunted. But the youth presuming that he had now overcome his foe by artifice, instantly flies off, and, turning about his horse's head, is borne away with precipitation, ліз Quadrupedemque citum ferratâ calce fatigat. 715 720 At non hæc nullis hominum sator atque Deorum 725 Nomine quemque vocans; reficitque in proelia pulsos. Femina palantes agit, atque hæc agmina vertit? 730 Quò ferrum? quidve hæc gerimus tela irrita dextris? 735 Hic amor, hoc studium, dum sacra secundus aruspex 740 745 719. Transit equum. This action of Camilla would appear incredible, had we not been prepared for it. Aen. vii, 808. |