non secus ac nervo per nubem impulsa sagitta, 860 865 870 unguibus ora soror foedans et pectora pugnis : "quid nunc te tua, Turne, potest germana iuvare? aut quid iam durae superat mihi? qua tibi lucem arte morer? talin possum me opponére monstro? iam iam linquo acies. ne me terrete timentem, 875 obscenae volucres: alarum verbera nosco letalemque sonum, nec fallunt iussa superba magnanimi Iovis. haec pro virginitate reponit? quo vitam dedit aeternam ? cur mortis adempta est condicio possem tantos finire dolores nunc certe, et misero fratri comes ire per umbras! immortalis ego? aut quicquam mihi dulce meorum te sine, frater, erit? o quae satis ima dehiscat 862 subito P. conversa M: coniecto P: coniecta y1. 880 as an arrow, shot from string through a cloud, which, armed with gall of fell poison, a Parthian— a Parthian or a Cydonian-has launched, a shaft beyond all cure; whizzing, it leaps through the swift shadows, known of none: so sped the child of Night, and sought the earth. Soon as she sees the Ilian ranks and Turnus' troops, suddenly shrinking to the shape of that small bird which oft, perched at night on tombs or deserted roofs, chants her late, ill-omened lay amid the shadows, so changed in form before the face of Turnus the fiend flits screaming to and fro, and wildly beats his buckler with her wings. A strange numbness unknits his limbs with dread; his hair stood up in terror and the voice clave to his throat. 869 But when from afar Juturna knew the Dread One's whizzing wings, she rends, hapless one, her loosened tresses, marring, in sisterly grief, her face with nails and her breast with clenched hands: "What now, my Turnus, can thy sister avail thee? Or what more awaits me, that have endured so much? With what art may I prolong thy day? Can I face such a portent? Now, now I quit the field. Affright not my fluttering soul, ye ill-boding birds! I know your beating wings, and their dreadful sound, nor fail I to mark the haughty mandates of high-hearted Jove. Is this his requital for my maidenhood? Wherefore gave he me life eternal? Why of the law of death am I bereaved? Now surely could I end such anguish, and pass at my poor brother's side amid the shadows! I immortal! Nay, will aught of mine be sweet to me without thee, my brother? O what deepest earth can gape enough terra mihi Manisque deam demittat ad imos? tantum effata caput glauco contexit amictu, multa gemens, et se fluvio dea condidit alto. Aeneas instat contra telumque coruscat ingens arboreum et saevo sic pectore fatur : "quae nunc deinde mora est? aut quid iam, Turne, retractas? 66 885 non cursu, saevis certandum est comminus armis. 890 verte omnis tete in facies et contrahe, quidquid sive animis sive arte vales; opta ardua pinnis astra sequi clausumque cava te condere terra." ille caput quassans non me tua fervida terrent dicta, ferox: di me terrent et Iuppiter hostis.” nec plura effatus saxum circumspicit ingens, saxum antiquum, ingens, campo quod forte iacebat, limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis ; vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent, 895 qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus: 900 ille manu raptum trepida torquebat in hostem, altior insurgens et cursu concitus heros. sed neque currentem se nec cognoscit euntem tollentemve manus saxumve immane moventem; genua labant, gelidus concrevit frigore sanguis. 905 tum lapis ipse viri, vacuum per inane volutus, nec spatium evasit totum neque pertulit ictum. ac velut in somnis, oculos ubi languida pressit nocte quies, nequiquam avidos extendere cursus velle videmur et in mediis conatibus aegri succidimus; non lingua valet, non corpore notae sufficiunt vires, nec vox aut verba sequuntur : sic Turno, quacumque viam virtute petivit, 360 884 demittit P1. 893 clausumque MRy: clausumve inferior MSS. 904 tollentemque My1. 913 quamcumque P1 manu Py2. saxumque yc. 910 for me, and send me down, a goddess, to the nethermost shades?" So saying, she veiled her head in mantle of grey and with many a moan plunged into the deep river. 887 Aeneas presses on against the foe, brandishing his massy, tree-like spear, and, in wrathful spirit, thus cries: "What more delay is there now? or why, Turnus, dost thou yet draw back? Not with swift foot, but hand to hand in fierce arms, must we contend. Change thyself into all shapes, yea, muster all thy powers of courage or of skill; wing thy flight, if thou wilt, to the stars aloft, or hide thee within earth's hollow prison!" The other, shaking his head: "Thy fiery words, fierce one, daunt me not; 'tis the gods daunt me, and the enmity of Jove.' No more he speaks, then glancing round, espies a giant stone, a giant stone and ancient, which haply lay upon the plain, set for a landmark, to ward dispute from the fields. This scarce twice six chosen men could uplift upon their shoulders, men of such frames as earth now begets: but the hero, with hurried grasp, seized and hurled it at his foe, rising to his height and at swiftest speed. But he knows not himself as he runs, nor as he moves, as he raises his hands, or throws the mighty stone; his knees totter, his blood is frozen cold. Yea, the hero's stone itself, whirled through the empty void, traversed not all the space, nor carried home its blow. And as in dreams of night, when languorous sleep has weighed down our eyes, we seem to strive vainly to press on our eager course, and in mid effort sink helpless: our tongue lacks power, our wonted strength fails our limbs, nor voice nor words ensue : Turnus, howsoe'er by valour he sought to win his so to successum dea dira negat. tum pectore sensus nec quo se eripiat, nec qua vi tendat in hostem, cantem 915 920 925 930 protendens "equidem merui, nec deprecor," inquit: "utere sorte tua. miseri te si qua parentis tangere cura potest, oro (fuit et tibi talis Anchises genitor), Dauni miserere senectae et me, seu corpus spoliatum lumine mavis, redde meis. vicisti et victum tendere palmas Ausonii videre; tua est Lavinia coniunx: ulterius ne tende odiis." stetit acer in armis 935 MP Aeneas, volvens oculos, dextramque repressit; et iam iamque magis cunctantem flectere sermo 940 coeperat, infelix umero cum apparuit alto balteus et notis fulserunt cingula bullis 916 letumque P. 918 -ve] -que Ry. |