Virgil – Polyphemus
Aeneid 3.655-674
vix ea fātus erat, summō cum monte vidēmus 655
ipsum inter pecudēs vastā sē mōle moventem
pastōrem Polyphēmum et lītora nōta petentem,
monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cuī lūmen ademptum.
trunca manū pīnus regit et vestigia firmat;
lānigerae comitantur ovēs—ea sōla voluptas 660
sōlamenque malī.
postquam altōs tetigit fluctūs et ad aequora vēnit,
lūminis effossī fluidum lavit inde cruōrem,
dentibus infrendēns gemitū, graditurque per aequor
iam medium, necdum fluctus latera ardua tinxit. 665
nōs procul inde fugam trepidī celerāre, receptō
supplice sīc meritō, tacitīque incīdere fūnem;
vertimus et prōnī certantibus aequora rēmīs.
sēnsit, et ad sonitum vōcis vestigia torsit;
vērum ubi nulla datur dextrā adfectāre potestās, 670
nec potis Īoniōs fluctūs aequāre sequendō,
clāmōrem immēnsum tollit, quō pontus et omnēs
contremuēre undae, penitusque exterrita tellūs
Ītaliae, curvīsque immūgiit Aetna cavernīs.
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Notes
Aeneas and his men have landed in the land of the Cyclopes, where they find one of Ulysses’ men, accidentally left behind on the island. After the man has told the story of his ordeal, Polyphemus appears on the scene.
Meter: dactylic hexameters
655 fātus erat: “he had said”; cum is the conjunction = “when”656 sē moventem literally = “moving himself”, i.e., moving vastā mōle = “with his huge mass”657 nōtus, -a, -um: “known, familiar”; lītora < lītus petentem = “seeking, heading for”658 informis, -e (adj.): “ugly, hideous’ cuī lūmen (est) ademptum: lūmen is the light of sight, i.e., the eye; ademptum = “taken away”; the dative here = “from whom”659 truncus, -a, -um = “cut, lopped”; a trunca pīnus is lopped off pine tree, i.e., a pine trunk vestigia is the object of both regit and firmat: “guides and steadies his …”660 lāniger, -a, -um: “wool-bearing” comitantur = “follow along”661 sōlamen, –minis, n.: “consolation, comfort”662 altōs fluctūs = “deep water”; the aequora here are the open sea (see aequor)663 effossus, -a, -um: “dug out, gouged out” fluidus, -a, -um: “liquid, ”664 infrendēns = “gnashing”; gemitū = “with a groan” dēns, dentis, m.: ”tooth” graditur = “he steps” tinxit: see tingō666 nōs … celerāre: the infinitive is used in place of a conjugated verb (the so-called historical infinitive): “we hastened” celerō, celerāre = “to quicken, hasten, accelerate”; fugam is the object of celerāre receptō supplice literally = “with the supplicant having been welcomed”; the supplicant is Ulysses’s crewman; he is sīc meritus because, though an enemy, he clearly deserves pity667 incīdo, incīdere = “to cut”; incīdere is another historical infinitive668 certantibus aequora rēmīs literally = “with oars combating the seas” prōnī = “headlong”, i.e., straining with the effort of rowing669 torsit from torqueō670 nūlla potestās datur (passive voice) literally = “no power is given” dextrā (understand manū) adflectāre = “to reach with his (right) hand”671 nec potis (understand erat) = et nōn poterat; potis, -e (adj.) = “able” aequāre = “to match”; sequendō = “by following” Īoniōs: “Ionian”, referring to the Ionian sea672 immēnsus, -a, -um: “boundless, immeasurable, immense” quō is an instrumental ablative: “with which”673 contremuēre = contremuērunt, “trembled” exterritus, -a, -um = “terrified”674 immūgiō, immūgīre, immūgīvī or immūgiī = “bellow inwardly, bellow within” curvus, -a, -um = “hollow” caverna, -ae, f. = “cavern, cavity”
