Bk. II
Lines 228-297
Lines 469-566
Lines 735-804
tum uero tremefacta nouus per pectora cunctis
insinuat pauor, et scelus expendisse merentem
Laocoonta ferunt, sacrum qui cuspide robur 230
laeserit et tergo sceleratam intorserit hastam.
ducendum ad sedes simulacrum orandaque diuae
numina conclamant.
diuidimus muros et moenia pandimus urbis.
accingunt omnes operi pedibusque rotarum 235
subiciunt lapsus, et stuppea uincula collo
intendunt; scandit fatalis machina muros
feta armis. pueri circum innuptaeque puellae
sacra canunt funemque manu contingere gaudent;
illa subit mediaeque minans inlabitur urbi. 240
Then indeed, a new terror winds in through the trembling hearts for all of us, and they say that Laocoon, deserving, had paid for his crime. He who had wounded the sacred oak with the tip, and he had twisted the criminal spear on the back. They shout that the likeness must be led to the seats and that the spirits of the goddess must be prayed to. We divide the walls and we make the walls of the city open. All girds themselves for the work and they place rollings of wheels under the feet, and they stretch ropes of flax from the neck; the fatal machine climbs the walls, pregnant with arms. The boys and the unmarried girls sing sacred things around, and they rejoice to touch the ropes with their hands; it goes under, and threatening, it goes under into the middle of the city.
o patria, o diuum domus Ilium et incluta bello
moenia Dardanidum! quater ipso in limine portae
substitit atque utero sonitum quater arma dedere;
instamus tamen immemores caecique furore
et monstrum infelix sacrata sistimus arce. 245
tunc etiam fatis aperit Cassandra futuris
ora dei iussu non umquam credita Teucris.
nos delubra deum miseri, quibus ultimus esset
ille dies, festa uelamus fronde per urbem.
Oh fatherland, oh Troy, the home of the gods and the city walls of the Dardanians [Trojans], renowned in war! Four times it stopped in the threshold itself of the gate and four times the arms gave a sound from the belly; we urge on however, unmindful, and blind to the fury and we stop the unlucky monster in the sacred citadel. Then even Cassandra opens her mouth to the future fates, never having been trusted by the Teucrians, by the order of the god. We miserable ones, for whom that day was our last, adorn the shrines of the gods, with festive foliage through the city.
Vertitur interea caelum et ruit Oceano nox 250
inuoluens umbra magna terramque polumque
Myrmidonumque dolos; fusi per moenia Teucri
conticuere; sopor fessos complectitur artus.
et iam Argiua phalanx instructis nauibus ibat
a Tenedo tacitae per amica silentia lunae 255
litora nota petens, flammas cum regia puppis
extulerat, fatisque deum defensus iniquis
inclusos utero Danaos et pinea furtim
laxat claustra Sinon.
Meanwhile, the sky is turned, and night rushes from the Ocean, wrapping the land and the sky and the deceit of the Myrmidons [Greeks] in a great shadow; the Trojans, having been poured throughout the city walls, became silent; sleep embraces their tired limbs. And now the Argive [Greek] phalanx, with the ships having been drawn up, was going from Tenedos by (/through) the friendly silence of the quiet moon seeking the known shores, when the chief ship had carried out the flames, and Sinon having been defended by the unequal fates of the gods furtively loosens the Danaans [Greeks] having been shut in the belly and the bolts of pine.
illos patefactus ad auras
reddit equus laetique cauo se robore promunt 260
Thessandrus Sthenelusque duces et dirus Vlixes,
demissum lapsi per funem, Acamasque Thoasque
Pelidesque Neoptolemus primusque Machaon
et Menelaus et ipse doli fabricator Epeos.
inuadunt urbem somno uinoque sepultam; 265
caeduntur uigiles, portisque patentibus omnis
accipiunt socios atque agmina conscia iungunt.
Tempus erat quo prima quies mortalibus aegris
incipit et dono diuum gratissima serpit.
in somnis, ecce, ante oculos maestissimus Hector 270
uisus adesse mihi largosque effundere fletus,
raptatus bigis ut quondam, aterque cruento
puluere perque pedes traiectus lora tumentis.
ei mihi, qualis erat, quantum mutatus ab illo
Hectore qui redit exuuias indutus Achilli 275
uel Danaum Phrygios iaculatus puppibus ignis!
The horse having been made to lie open returns them to the airs, and they happily bring themselves forth from the hollow oak: Thessandrus and Sthenelus, the leaders, and harsh Ulysses [Odysseus], having slipped down the rope having been sent down, and Acamus and Thoas and the descendant of Peleus, and Neoptolemus, and noble Machaon, and Menelaus, and Epeos himself, the maker of the deceit.
[START QUIZ] They invade the city, having been buried in sleep and in wine; the watchmen are slaughtered, and with the gates lying open, they accept all their comrades and they join conscious (/confederate) battle lines. It was the time when the first quiet (/rest) begins for tired (/weak) mortals and it creeps most pleasing by the gift of the gods. In sleep (/dreams), look, before my eyes most sad Hector seemed to be present to me, and to pour out large weepings, having been snatched by the chariot as (he was) once, and black with bloody dust, and having been pierced through his swelling feet with a thong (/leather strap). Woe is me, what kind he was, and how much changed from that Hector who returns, having been dressed in the spoils of Achilles, or having thrown Phrygian [Trojan] fires on the decks (/ships) of the Danaans [Greeks]!
squalentem barbam et concretos sanguine crinis
uulneraque illa gerens, quae circum plurima muros
accepit patrios. ultro flens ipse uidebar
compellare uirum et maestas expromere uoces: 280
'o lux Dardaniae, spes o fidissima Teucrum,
quae tantae tenuere morae? quibus Hector ab oris
exspectate uenis? ut te post multa tuorum
funera, post uarios hominumque urbisque labores
defessi aspicimus! quae causa indigna serenos 285
foedauit uultus? aut cur haec uulnera cerno?'
The image, bearing a filthy beard, and locks (/tresses/hair) hardened with blood, and the wounds which he received very many of around the walls of the fatherland. Furthermore, I myself, weeping, seemed to address (/speak to) the man, and to express sad voices: "Oh light of Dardania [Troy], oh most faithful hope of the Teucrians [Trojans], what so great delays have held you? From what shores do you come, Hector having been expected? How tired we look upon you after many deaths of yours [of your men], after various labors of men and of the city! What unworthy reason has mangled (/defiled/fouled) your serene (/calm) face? Or why do I see these wounds?
ille nihil, nec me quaerentem uana moratur,
sed grauiter gemitus imo de pectore ducens,
'heu fuge, nate dea, teque his' ait 'eripe flammis.
hostis habet muros; ruit alto a culmine Troia. 290
sat patriae Priamoque datum: si Pergama dextra
defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent.
sacra suosque tibi commendat Troia penatis;
hos cape fatorum comites, his moenia quaere
magna pererrato statues quae denique ponto.' 295
sic ait et manibus uittas Vestamque potentem
aeternumque adytis effert penetralibus ignem.
He (says) nothing, nor does he heed me, seeking empty things, but leading groans heavily from his deep chest, he said, "Alas, flee, born from a goddess, and snatch yourself from these flames. The enemy has the walls; Troy rushes from its high peak. It has been given enough to the fatherland and to Priam: if Pergamum [Troy] were able to be defended by a right hand, it would have been defended even by this (right hand). Troy entrusts its sacred (things) and its household gods to you; take these comrades of the fates, and search for great city walls for these, which you will establish at last with the sea having been wandered through." He said thus and with his hands he carries out the garlands, and the powerful Vesta, and the eternal fire from the innermost shrines.
Vestibulum ante ipsum primoque in limine Pyrrhus
exsultat telis et luce coruscus aena: 470
qualis ubi in lucem coluber mala gramina pastus,
frigida sub terra tumidum quem bruma tegebat,
nunc, positis nouus exuuiis nitidusque iuuenta,
lubrica conuoluit sublato pectore terga
arduus ad solem, et linguis micat ore trisulcis. 475
una ingens Periphas et equorum agitator Achillis,
armiger Automedon, una omnis Scyria pubes
succedunt tecto et flammas ad culmina iactant.
Before the vestibule itself in the first threshold Pyrrus leaps forward with his spears and shining with bronze lights just as when a snake having fed on bad grass under the cold ground which the winter covered, swollen now, new with its skin have been shed and sleek with youth it coils its slippery back into the light with its chest having been raised, lofty to the sun, and it sparkles with its three pronged tongue in its mouth. together huge Periphas and the driver of the horses’ of Achilles, Automedon, the armsbearer, and together all the youth of Scyria they approach the roof and they throw flames to the tops.
ipse inter primos correpta dura bipenni
limina perrumpit postisque a cardine uellit 480
aeratos; iamque excisa trabe firma cauauit
robora et ingentem lato dedit ore fenestram.
apparet domus intus et atria longa patescunt;
apparent Priami et ueterum penetralia regum,
armatosque uident stantis in limine primo. 485
at domus interior gemitu miseroque tumultu
miscetur, penitusque cauae plangoribus aedes
femineis ululant; ferit aurea sidera clamor.
tum pauidae tectis matres ingentibus errant
amplexaeque tenent postis atque oscula figunt. 490
instat ui patria Pyrrhus; nec claustra nec ipsi
custodes sufferre ualent; labat ariete crebro
ianua, et emoti procumbunt cardine postes.
fit uia ui; rumpunt aditus primosque trucidant
immissi Danai et late loca milite complent. 495
He, himself, among the first, he burst through the strong thresholds with a double ax having been snatched and he tears the bronze posts from the hinge and now he made a hole in the firm oak with a beam having been cut out and he gave a huge window with a wide mouth. The home within appears and the long atria lie open; the inner rooms of Priam and the old kings appear they see armed men standing in the first threshold but the interior home is confused with a groan and a miserable uproar the hollow house within howls with womanly wailings a shout strikes the golden stars. Then the terrified mothers wander in the huge house and having embraces them they hold the posts and they fasten kisses Pyrrhus urges on with the strength of his father; neither the bolts nor the guards themselves are strong enough to bear him, the door shakes with frequent battering, and the posts having moved away they fall forward from their hinge a way happens with strength the Greeks having been sent in burst the entryways and they slaughter the first men and they fill the places widely with soliders.
non sic, aggeribus ruptis cum spumeus amnis
exiit oppositasque euicit gurgite moles,
fertur in arua furens cumulo camposque per omnis
cum stabulis armenta trahit. uidi ipse furentem
caede Neoptolemum geminosque in limine Atridas, 500
uidi Hecubam centumque nurus Priamumque per aras
sanguine foedantem quos ipse sacrauerat ignis.
quinquaginta illi thalami, spes tanta nepotum,
barbarico postes auro spoliisque superbi
procubuere; tenent Danai qua deficit ignis. 505
Not thus, when a foaming river with its banks having been broken went out and overcame the masses opposite with a whirlpool, it is carried into the fields raging in a heap and it drags the flocks with the stables through all of the fields. I myself saw Neoptolomus [Pyhrrus] raging with slaughter, and the twin sons of Atreus in the threshold, I saw Hecuba and her hundred daughters, and Priam through the altars staining with his blood the fire which he himself had christened (/made sacred). Those fifty marriage chambers, such great hope of grandsons, the posts, proud with barbaric gold and spoils, fell forward; the Danaans [Greeks] hold where the fire fails.
Forsitan et Priami fuerint quae fata requiras.
urbis uti captae casum conuulsaque uidit
limina tectorum et medium in penetralibus hostem,
arma diu senior desueta trementibus aeuo
circumdat nequiquam umeris et inutile ferrum 510
cingitur, ac densos fertur moriturus in hostis.
aedibus in mediis nudoque sub aetheris axe
ingens ara fuit iuxtaque ueterrima laurus
incumbens arae atque umbra complexa penatis.
hic Hecuba et natae nequiquam altaria circum, 515
praecipites atra ceu tempestate columbae,
condensae et diuum amplexae simulacra sedebant.
ipsum autem sumptis Priamum iuuenalibus armis
ut uidit, 'quae mens tam dira, miserrime coniunx,
impulit his cingi telis? aut quo ruis?' inquit. 520
By chance you should even ask what the fates of Priam were. How he saw the misfortune of his captured city, and the threshold of the roofs having been torn apart, and the enemy in the middle of the inner chambers, although rather old, he gives his arms (/weapons), unused for a long time, around his shoulders, trembling with age, in vain, and he is girded with respect to the useless iron, and he is carried, about to die, into the dense enemy. In the middle of the house, under the bare axis of the sky, there was a huge altar, and next to it, a very old laurel tree, leaning over the altar, and having embraced the penates with its shadow. Here Hecuba and daughters, in vain were sitting around the altars, just as doves headlong in a dark storm, crowded and having embraced the images of the household gods. As she saw Priam himself, however, with his youthful arms having been taken up, she said, "What mind so dire (/terrible), most miserable spouse, has driven (you) to be girded with these spears? Or where do you rush?"
'non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis
tempus eget; non, si ipse meus nunc adforet Hector.
huc tandem concede; haec ara tuebitur omnis,
aut moriere simul.' sic ore effata recepit
ad sese et sacra longaeuum in sede locauit. 525
Ecce autem elapsus Pyrrhi de caede Polites,
unus natorum Priami, per tela, per hostis
porticibus longis fugit et uacua atria lustrat
saucius. illum ardens infesto uulnere Pyrrhus
insequitur, iam iamque manu tenet et premit hasta. 530
ut tandem ante oculos euasit et ora parentum,
concidit ac multo uitam cum sanguine fudit.
The time does not require such help, nor those defenses of yours; not if my Hector himself were present now. At last, yield, to here; this altar will protect all (of us), or you will die at the same time." Having spoken thus with her mouth, she received him to herself, and she placed him, long in age, in the sacred seat.
But look, Polites, one of the sons of Priam, having slipped away from the slaughter of Pyrrhus, through the spears, through the enemy, he flees from the long porticos[indoor halls], and wounded, he traverses the vacant halls [plural atrium is atria, so say halls]. Pyrrhus, burning with the fatal wound, follows him, now now, he holds (him) with his hand, and presses with the spear. As, at last, he evaded, before the eyes and the faces of his parents, he fell down, and he poured his life with much blood.
concidit ac multo uitam cum sanguine fudit.
hic Priamus, quamquam in media iam morte tenetur,
non tamen abstinuit nec uoci iraeque pepercit:
'at tibi pro scelere,' exclamat, 'pro talibus ausis 535
di, si qua est caelo pietas quae talia curet,
persoluant grates dignas et praemia reddant
debita, qui nati coram me cernere letum
fecisti et patrios foedasti funere uultus.
at non ille, satum quo te mentiris, Achilles 540
talis in hoste fuit Priamo; sed iura fidemque
supplicis erubuit corpusque exsangue sepulcro
reddidit Hectoreum meque in mea regna remisit.'
sic fatus senior telumque imbelle sine ictu
coniecit, rauco quod protinus aere repulsum, 545
et summo clipei nequiquam umbone pependit.
Here Priam, although he is held now in the middle of death. However, he did not refrain (/hold back), nor did he spare his voice and his anger: "But for you, for your crime," he shouts, "For such daring deeds, may the gods, if there is any piety in the heaven which may care for such things, may they pay the worthy thanks, and give back the rewards having been owed, (for you) who made me to see the death of my son openly, and have defiled my fatherly face with death. But that Achilles, from whom you lie (/say falsely) that you were born, was not such against his enemy Priam; but he blushed at the laws and faith of the suppliant, and he returned the bloodless body of Hector for the tomb, and he sent me back into my kingdom.(") Thus the older man spoke, and he threw his unwarlike spear, without a hit (/blow), which was driven back at once by the loud bronze, and it hung in vain from the highest bolt (/knob) of the shield.
cui Pyrrhus: 'referes ergo haec et nuntius ibis
Pelidae genitori. illi mea tristia facta
degeneremque Neoptolemum narrare memento.
nunc morere.' hoc dicens altaria ad ipsa trementem 550
traxit et in multo lapsantem sanguine nati,
implicuitque comam laeua, dextraque coruscum
extulit ac lateri capulo tenus abdidit ensem.
haec finis Priami fatorum, hic exitus illum
sorte tulit Troiam incensam et prolapsa uidentem 555
Pergama, tot quondam populis terrisque superbum
regnatorem Asiae. iacet ingens litore truncus,
auulsumque umeris caput et sine nomine corpus.
To whom Pyrrhus (said): "You will carry these things back therefore, and you will go as a messenger to my father, the son of Peleus. Remember to tell my sad deeds to him, and (about) degenerate Neoptolemus. Now die." Saying this, he dragged him trembling to the altars themselves and slipping in much blood of his son, and he entwined his hair in his left hand, and he brought out his shining sword in his right hand, and buried it in his side up to the hilt. This was the end of the fates of Priam, this exit brought him by fate (/chance), seeing burned Troy, and Pergamum [Troy] having slipped forward (/collapsed), once the ruler of Asia, proud with so many peoples and lands. His huge trunk (/body) lies on the shore, the head having been torn from the shoulders and a body without a name.
At me tum primum saeuus circumstetit horror.
obstipui; subiit cari genitoris imago, 560
ut regem aequaeuum crudeli uulnere uidi
uitam exhalantem, subiit deserta Creusa
et direpta domus et parui casus Iuli.
respicio et quae sit me circum copia lustro.
deseruere omnes defessi, et corpora saltu 565
ad terram misere aut ignibus aegra dedere.
But then first a savage horror stood around me. I stood agape; the image of my dear father went under, as I saw the equal aged king exhaling his life with a cruel wound, Creusa having been deserted went under, and the home having been snatched (/plundered/ravaged), and the misfortune of small Iulus. I look back and I survey what force is around me. All, tired, deserted, and they sent their bodies to the ground with a leap or they gave their weak (bodies) to the fires.
hic mihi nescio quod trepido male numen amicum 735
confusam eripuit mentem. namque auia cursu
dum sequor et nota excedo regione uiarum,
heu misero coniunx fatone erepta Creusa
substitit, errauitne uia seu lapsa resedit,
incertum; nec post oculis est reddita nostris. 740
nec prius amissam respexi animumue reflexi
quam tumulum antiquae Cereris sedemque sacratam
uenimus: hic demum collectis omnibus una
defuit, et comites natumque uirumque fefellit.
Here, I don't know what unfriendly divine spirit snatched my confused mind away from trembling me. For while I was following wayless course, and I was leaving from the known region the roads, alas, my spouse Creusa, having been snatched away by miserable fate, she stopped. Whether she wandered from the street, or whether she having slipped sat back down, it is uncertain, and she was not returned to our eyes afterwards. And I did not look back at her having been lost (/sent away), nor did I turn back my mind before we came to the mound and the sacred seat of old Ceres: here at last, with all having been gathered, only she was absent (/failed/was lacking), and she baffled (/escaped the notice of) her comrades and her son and her husband.
quem non incusaui amens hominumque deorumque, 745
aut quid in euersa uidi crudelius urbe?
Ascanium Anchisenque patrem Teucrosque penatis
commendo sociis et curua ualle recondo;
ipse urbem repeto et cingor fulgentibus armis.
stat casus renouare omnis omnemque reuerti 750
per Troiam et rursus caput obiectare periclis.
principio muros obscuraque limina portae,
qua gressum extuleram, repeto et uestigia retro
obseruata sequor per noctem et lumine lustro:
horror ubique animo, simul ipsa silentia terrent. 755
inde domum, si forte pedem, si forte tulisset,
me refero: inruerant Danai et tectum omne tenebant.
ilicet ignis edax summa ad fastigia uento
uoluitur; exsuperant flammae, furit aestus ad auras.
Whom of men and of gods did I not accuse, out of my mind, or what did I see more cruel in the city having been overturned? I entrust Ascanius and my father Anchises and the Teucrian penates to my friends, and I hide them in a curved valley; I myself seek the city again, and I am girded with shining arms. It stands (for me) to renew all the misfortunes, and to turn back through all Troy, and to subject my head to dangers again. First I seek again the walls and the hidden (/dark) thresholds of the gate, where I had carried out my step, and I follow the footsteps having been observed in reverse through the night, and I survey with my light (/eyes): there is horror everywhere in my soul, at the same time the silences themselves terrify. Then I carry myself back home, if by chance, if by chance she had carried her foot (there): the Danaans [Greeks] had rushed in and they were holding the whole roof (/house). At once the devouring fire is rolled to the highest tips by the wind; the flames surmount, and the heat rages to the airs (/breezes).
procedo et Priami sedes arcemque reuiso: 760
et iam porticibus uacuis Iunonis asylo
custodes lecti Phoenix et dirus Vlixes
praedam adseruabant. huc undique Troia gaza
incensis erepta adytis, mensaeque deorum
crateresque auro solidi, captiuaque uestis 765
congeritur. pueri et pauidae longo ordine matres
stant circum.
ausus quin etiam uoces iactare per umbram
impleui clamore uias, maestusque Creusam
nequiquam ingeminans iterumque iterumque uocaui. 770
I proceed and I revisit the seats and the citadel of Priam, and now in the empty porticoes, the refuge of Juno, Pheonix and dire Ulysses, having been chosen as guardians, were guarding the booty. Hither, from all sides, the wealth of Troy, having been snatched away from the shrines having been set on fire, and the tables of the gods and the bowls solid with gold, and the captive clothing is piled together. The boys and the terrified mothers stand around in a long line. I, nay even, having dared to throw voices through the shadow, I filled the streets with a shout, groaning over Creusa in vain, and again and again, I called. The unlucky image and the shadow of Creusa herself was seen to me, seeking, and rushing in the roofs of the city without end, before my eyes and an image greater than the known (one).
obstipui, steteruntque comae et uox faucibus haesit.
tum sic adfari et curas his demere dictis: 775
'quid tantum insano iuuat indulgere dolori,
o dulcis coniunx? non haec sine numine diuum
eueniunt; nec te comitem hinc portare Creusam
fas, aut ille sinit superi regnator Olympi.
longa tibi exsilia et uastum maris aequor arandum, 780
et terram Hesperiam uenies, ubi Lydius arua
inter opima uirum leni fluit agmine Thybris.
illic res laetae regnumque et regia coniunx
parta tibi; lacrimas dilectae pelle Creusae.
I stood agape, and my hair stood, and my voice sclung to my jaws. Then (Creusa seemed) to speak thus, and to take away my cares with these words: "Why does it please (you) so much to indulge in this insane suffering, oh sweet spouse? These things do not happen without the spirit of the gods; nor is it right that you carry Creusa hence as a companion, or that ruler of the high ones of Olympus allows (it). Long exiles and the vast water of the sea must be plowed by you, and you will come to the land of Hesperia, where the Lydian Tiber flows among the fields rich of men in a gentle battle line. There happy things and a kingdom and a regal wife will be produced for you; drive (away) your tears for Creusa having been loved.
non ego Myrmidonum sedes Dolopumue superbas 785
aspiciam aut Grais seruitum matribus ibo,
Dardanis et diuae Veneris nurus;
sed me magna deum genetrix his detinet oris.
iamque uale et nati serua communis amorem.'
haec ubi dicta dedit, lacrimantem et multa uolentem 790
dicere deseruit, tenuisque recessit in auras.
ter conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum;
ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago,
par leuibus uentis uolucrique simillima somno.
sic demum socios consumpta nocte reuiso. 795
I will not look at the proud seats of the Myrmidons and the Dolopes, nor will I go to the Greek mothers to be a slave, a Dardanian woman, and the daughter-in-law of the goddess Venus. But the great mother of the gods [Cybele] keeps me on these shores. And now goodbye, and save (/guard) the love of our shared son." When she gave these words, she deserted (me), crying, and wanting to say much (/many things), and she receded into the thin breezes. Thrice there I tried to give my arms around her neck; and thrice, her image, having been grasped
in vain, fled from my hands, equal to the light winds and most like a quick sleep. Thus at last, I revisit my friends with the night having been consumed.