670

Tum gemini fratres Tiburtia moenia linquunt, fratris Tiburti dictam cognomine gentem, Catillusque acerque Coras, Argiva iuventus, et primam ante aciem densa inter tela feruntur : ceu duo nubigenae cum vertice montis ab alto descendunt Centauri Homolen Othrymque nivalem linquentes cursu rapido; dat euntibus ingens silva locum et magno cedunt virgulta fragore. Nec Praenestinae fundator defuit urbis, Volcano genitum pecora inter agrestia regem 680 inventumque focis omnis quem credidit aetas, Caeculus. hunc legio late comitatur agrestis: quique altum Praeneste viri quique arva Gabinae Iunonis gelidumque Anienem et roscida rivis Hernica saxa colunt, quos dives Anagnia pascit, quos, Amasene pater. non illis omnibus arma nec clipei currusve sonant; pars maxima glandes liventis plumbi spargit, pars spicula gestat bina manu, fulvosque lupi de pelle galeros tegmen habent capiti; vestigia nuda sinistri 690 instituere pedis, crudus tegit altera pero.

At Messapus, equum domitor, Neptunia proles, quem neque fas igni cuiquam nec sternere ferro, iam pridem resides populos desuetaque bello agmina in arma vocat subito ferrumque retractat. hi Fescenninas acies aequosque Faliscos,

hi Soractis habent arces Flaviniaque arva
et Cimini cum monte lacum lucosque Capenos.

Then brethren twain from Tibur's hold, a folk Called from their brother's name Tiburtus, come, Catillus and keen Coras, Argive youths.

First of the foremost, on they press, where darts Throng thickest : as when from some tall mountain-top Descend two cloud-born Centaurs, Homole

Or snow-capped Othrys quitting with swift stride; The mighty forest as they go gives place,

And with loud crash the thickets yield them way. Nor lacked the founder of Praeneste's town,

King sprung from Vulcan 'mid the pasturing herds,
And by the fireside found, as every age

Hath deemed him-Caeculus. A rustic band
Spread wide attends him, those that dwell on steep
Praeneste's height, or Gabian Juno's fields,
Chill Anio, or the stream-dewed Hernic rocks;
Whom rich Anagnia nurtures, or whom thou,
Sire Amasenus. Arms they have not all,

Nor shield, nor sounding chariot. The more part
Sling bullets of blue lead. Some javelins twain
Brandish in hand, with tawny wolfskin cap
For head-gear: the left foot bare-soled they plant;
The other a raw bull's hide sandal sheathes.

Messapus, the steed-tamer, Neptune's child,
Whom none with fire, nor yet with steel, may quell,
Tribes long inert and ranks to battle strange
Calls suddenly to arms, grasps sword once more.
These have Fescennine warriors in their host,

And Aequi of Falerium; these hold high
Soracte and Flavinian fields, the lake
And hill of Ciminus, and Capena's groves.

ibant aequati numero regemque canebant: ceu quondam nivei liquida inter nubila cycni 700 cum sese e pastu referunt et longa canoros

dant per colla modos, sonat amnis et Asia longe
pulsa palus.

[nec quisquam aeratas acies ex agmine tanto misceri putet, aëriam sed gurgite ab alto urgeri volucrum raucarum ad litora nubem.] Ecce Sabinorum prisco de sanguine magnum agmen agens Clausus magnique ipse agminis instar, Claudia nunc a quo diffunditur et tribus et gens per Latium, postquam in partem data Roma Sabinis 710 una ingens Amiterna cohors priscique Quirites, Ereti manus omnis oliviferaeque Mutuscae; qui Nomentum urbem, qui Rosea rura Velini, que Tetricae horrentis rupes montemque Severum Casperiamque colunt Forulosque et flumen Himellae, qui Tiberim Fabarimque bibunt, quos frigida misit Nursia, et Ortinae classes populique Latini, quosque secans infaustum interluit Allia nomen : quam multi Libyco volvuntur marmore fluctus saevus ubi Orion hibernis conditur undis, 720 vel cum sole novo densae torrentur aristae aut Hermi campo aut Lyciae flaventibus arvis. scuta sonant pulsuque pedum conterrita tellus.

In measured time they march and chant their king: As snow-white swans that, through the liquid clouds From food returning, utter forth their full

Long-throated strains. The stream and Asia's fen
Afar ring smitten. [Nor had one deemed them there
A mail-clad army blent in vast array,

But rather of hoarse birds an airy cloud,
That from the deep mid-ocean shoreward ply.]
Lo! Clausus of old Sabine blood, who leads

A mighty host, himself a host in might !

From whom the Claudian tribe and clan to-day,
Since Rome was with the Sabine shared, spreads wide
Through Latium: and along with them the vast
Cohort of Amiternum and old-world
Quirites, all Eretum's folk, and they
Of olive-rife Mutusca; men who throng
Nomentum's city and the Rosean plain
Hard by Velinus: who the rugged rocks
Of Tetrica, and Mount Severus hold,
Casperia's town, and Foruli, and where flows
Himella's stream; who drink of Tiber's wave
And Fabaris, or whom chilly Nursia sends,
With Horta's squadrons and the Latian tribes,
And they whom Allia, evil-boding name,
Parts with dividing current: numberless
As billows that on Libya's sea-floor roll,
When fierce Orion sets in wintry wave,
Or thick as clustering corn-ears, that beneath
The young sun ripen, or on Hermus' plain,
Or Lycia's yellowing fields. Their bucklers clang,
And the earth quakes for terror as they tread.

Hinc Agamemnonius, Troiani nominis hostis, curru iungit Halaesus equos Turnoque ferocis mille rapit populos, vertunt felicia Baccho Massica qui rastris, et quos de collibus altis Aurunci misere patres Sidicinaque iuxta

aequora, quique Cales linquunt amnisque vadosi
accola Volturni, pariterque Saticulus asper
73o Oscorumque manus. teretes sunt aclydes illis
tela, sed haec lento mos est aptare flagello.
laevas caetra tegit, falcati comminus enses.
Nec tu carminibus nostris indictus abibis,
Oebale, quem generasse Telon Sebethide nympha
fertur, Teleboum Capreas cum regna teneret,

iam senior; patriis sed non et filius arvis
contentus late iam tum dicione tenebat

Sarrastis populos et quae rigat aequora Sarnus,

quique Rufras Batulumque tenent atque arva Celemnae 740 et quos maliferae despectant moenia Abellae,

Teutonico ritu soliti torquere cateias;

tegmina quis capitum raptus de subere cortex
aerataeque micant peltae, micat aereus ensis

Et te montosae misere in proelia Nersae,