§1.65.1Αἰνείου δʼ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων μεταστάντος ἑβδόμῳ μάλιστα ἔτει μετὰ τὴν Ἰλίου ἅλωσιν Εὐρυλέων παρέλαβε τὴν Λατίνων ἡγεμονίαν ὁ μετονομασθεὶς Ἀσκάνιος ἐν τῇ φυγῇ.
After Aeneas had departed from among men, in about the seventh year after the taking of Ilium, Euryleon, who had been renamed Ascanius during the flight, took over the leadership of the Latins.
ἦσαν δὲ τειχήρεις οἱ Τρῶες ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ τούτῳ, καὶ τοῖς μὲν πολεμίοις ἀεὶ προσῄει δύναμις, αἱ δὲ τῶν Λατίνων ἀδύνατοι ἦσαν τοῖς ἐν τῷ Λαουϊνίῳ πολιορκουμένοις ἐπικουρεῖν.
During this time the Trojans were shut up within their walls, and reinforcement was constantly joining the enemy, while the cities of the Latins were unable to succor those besieged in Lavinium.
§1.65.2τὸ μὲν δὴ πρῶτον εἰς φιλίαν τε καὶ συνθήκας μετρίας προὐκαλοῦντο τοὺς πολεμίους οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀσκάνιον· ὡς δʼ οὐδὲν προσεῖχον αὐτοῖς, ἐπιτρέπειν ἐκείνοις ἠναγκάζοντο καταλύσασθαι τὸν πόλεμον ἐφʼ οἷς ἂν αὐτοὶ δικαιῶσι.
At first, indeed, those around Ascanius invited the enemy to friendship and moderate terms of treaty; but since they paid no attention to them, they were forced to permit them to end the war on whatever terms they themselves should think fit.
τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως τῶν Τυρρηνῶν τά τε ἄλλα ὡς δεδουλωμένοις ἀφόρητα ἐπιτάσσοντος καὶ τὸν οἶνον ὅσον ἂν ἡ Λατίνων γῆ φέρῃ Τυρρηνοῖς ἀπάγειν ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος, οὐκ ἀνασχετὸν ἡγησάμενοι τὸ πρᾶγμα τῆς μὲν ἀμπέλου τὸν καρπὸν ἱερὸν ἐψηφίσαντο τοῦ Διὸς εἶναι γνώμην ἀγορεύσαντος Ἀσκανίου, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἀλλήλοις παρακελευσάμενοι προθύμοις ἀγωνισταῖς γενέσθαι καὶ θεοὺς αἰτησάμενοι συλλαβέσθαι τοῦ κινδυνεύματος ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως φυλάξαντες νύκτʼ ἀσέληνον.
But when the king of the Tyrrhenians, besides imposing other conditions insupportable to them as if they had been enslaved, commanded them to bring to the Tyrrhenians every year all the wine that the land of the Latins should produce, they, considering this thing intolerable, voted that the fruit of the vine should be sacred to Zeus, Ascanius having delivered this opinion; and having exhorted one another to be courageous combatants and having entreated the gods to assist them in their perilous undertaking, they marched out of the city, having watched for a moonless night.
§1.65.3εὐθὺς δὲ προσβαλόντες τῷ χάρακι τῶν πολεμίων, ὃς ἐγγυτάτω τῆς πόλεως ἔκειτο καὶ ἦν προτείχισμα τῆς ἄλλης δυνάμεως ἐν ἐρυμνῷ τε κατεσκευασμένος χωρίῳ καὶ τὴν κρατίστην νεότητα Τυρρηνῶν ἔχων, ἧς ἡγεῖτο Μεσεντίου παῖς Λαῦσος ὄνομα, οὐδενὸς προιδομένου τὴν ἔφοδον αἱροῦσιν εὐπετῶς τὸ ὀχύρωμα.
And immediately attacking the rampart of the enemy, which lay nearest to the city and was an outpost of the rest of their force, being constructed in a strong place and containing the choicest youth of the Tyrrhenians, whom Mezentius' son, Lausus by name, commanded, they easily took the fortification, as no one foresaw their attack.
ἐν ᾧ δὲ τὸ χωρίον τοῦτο ἡλίσκετο, φῶς τε ἄκαιρον ὁρῶντες οἱ ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις ἐστρατοπεδευκότες καὶ βοὴν τῶν ἀπολλυμένων ἀκούοντες ἔφευγον ἐκλιπόντες τοὺς πεδινοὺς τόπους ἐπὶ τὰ §1.65.4ὄρη.
While this place was being taken, those who were encamped in the plains, seeing an untimely light and hearing the shouting of those who were perishing, fled, leaving the plains for the mountains.
ἐν δὲ τούτῳ πολλὴ ἐγένετο ταραχὴ καὶ θόρυβος, οἷα ἐν νυκτὶ κινουμένης στρατιᾶς, ὡς αὐτίκα μάλα τῶν πολεμίων σφίσιν ἐπιθησομένων οὐ σὺν κόσμῳ οὐδὲ κατὰ τέλη τὴν ἔλασιν ποιουμένοις· οἱ δὲ Λατῖνοι, ἐπειδὴ τό τε φρούριον ἐξ ἐφόδου κατειλήφεσαν καὶ τὸ ἄλλο στράτευμα ἔμαθον τεταραγμένον, ἐπέκειντο αὐτοῖς κτείνοντες καὶ διώκοντες.
In the meantime there arose great confusion and tumult, such as is natural when an army is in motion by night, as they expected that the enemy would immediately fall upon them while they were marching without order and not by companies; and the Latins, having taken the fort by storm and having learned that the rest of the army was in confusion, pressed upon them, killing and pursuing.
τῶν δʼ οὐχ ὅπως τις πρὸς ἀλκὴν τραπέσθαι ἐπεχείρησεν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ μαθεῖν ἐν οἷς ἦσαν κακοῖς ἠδύνατο· ὑπὸ δὲ θορύβου καὶ ἀμηχανίας οἱ μὲν κατὰ κρημνῶν φερόμενοι διεφθείροντο, οἱ δʼ εἰς φάραγγας ἀνεξόδους ἐμπίπτοντες ἡλίσκοντο, οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι ἀγνοήσαντες ἀλλήλους ἀνὰ τὸ σκότος ὅσα πολεμίους διέθεσαν, καὶ ὁ πλεῖστος αὐτῶν φθόρος ἀλληλοκτόνος ἐγίνετο.
Not only did none of them attempt to turn and resist, but they were not even able to know in what distress they were; and by reason of the tumult and helplessness, some, being carried down precipices, perished, and others, falling into ravines from which there was no outlet, were taken, but most of them, not recognizing one another in the darkness, treated each other as enemies, and the greatest part of their destruction was by mutual slaughter.
Μεσέντιος δὲ σὺν ὀλίγοις λόφον τινὰ καταλαβών, ἐπειδὴ τοῦ παιδὸς τὸν μόρον ἐπύθετο καὶ ὅσος αὐτῷ στρατὸς διέφθαρτο ἐν οἵῳ τε χωρίῳ κατακεκλεικὼς ἑαυτὸν ἦν, §1.65.5ὡς ὢν ἐν ἀπορίᾳ χρήματος, ἔπεμψε κήρυκας εἰς τὸ Λαουΐνιον περὶ φιλίας διαλεξομένους, Ἀσκανίου δὲ τοῖς Λατίνοις ταμιεύεσθαι τὴν τύχην συμβουλεύοντος ἄδειαν εὑρόμενος ἀπῆλθεν ὑπόσπονδος μεθʼ ὅσης εἶχε δυνάμεως καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦδε χρόνον ἅπαντα διαλυσάμενος τὴν ἔχθραν πρὸς τοὺς Λατίνους βέβαιος φίλος ἦν.
Mezentius, having occupied a certain hill with a few men, when he learned of his son's fate and how much of his army had perished and in what kind of place he had shut himself up, being in utter helplessness, sent heralds to Lavinium to treat for peace; and since Ascanius advised the Latins to husband their good fortune, he obtained a safe-conduct and departed under a truce with what force he had, and from that time, having put an end to his enmity, he was a firm friend to the Latins.