§3.559hos Helenus scopulos, haec saxa horrenda canebat.
These were the cliffs, these the dreadful rocks Helenus was foretelling.
§3.560Eripite, O socii, pariterque insurgite remis! §3.561Haud minus ac iussi faciunt, primusque rudentem §3.562contorsit laevas proram Palinurus ad undas.
"Rescue yourselves, O comrades, and together rise upon your oars!" No less than commanded do they perform, and first Palinurus turned the groaning prow toward the left waves.
§3.563laevam cuncta cohors remis ventisque petivit.
All the cohort sought the left with oars and winds.
We are raised to the sky by the bending whirlpool, and again, the wave being withdrawn, we sank down to the lowest Manes.
§3.566Ter scopuli clamorem inter cava saxa dedere: §3.567ter spumam elisam et rorantia vidimus astra.
Thrice the cliffs gave a roar among the hollow rocks; thrice we saw the shattered foam and the dripping stars.
Meanwhile the wind with the sun left us weary, and ignorant of the way, we glide to the shores of the Cyclopes.
§3.570Portus ab accessu ventorum immotus et ingens §3.571ipse; sed horrificis iuxta tonat Aetna ruinis; §3.572interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem, §3.573turbine fumantem piceo et candente favilla, §3.574attollitque globos flammarum et sidera lambit; §3.575interdum scopulos avolsaque viscera montis §3.576erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras §3.577cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exaestuat imo.
The harbor itself is unmoved by the approach of the winds and is immense; but nearby Etna thunders with horrific ruins; and sometimes it erupts a black cloud to the sky, smoking with a pitch-black whirlwind and glowing ash, and raises globes of flames and licks the stars; sometimes eructating it raises the rocks and torn-out entrails of the mountain, and with a groan heaps up liquefied stones into the air, and boils from its lowest depth.
§3.578Fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpus §3.579urgueri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Aetnam §3.580impositam ruptis flammam exspirare caminis; §3.581et fessum quotiens mutet latus, intremere omnem §3.582murmure Trinacriam, et caelum subtexere fumo.
The story is that the body of Enceladus, half-burned by lightning, is pressed down by this mass, and that huge Etna placed over him breathes out flame from its ruptured furnaces; and as often as he changes his weary side, all Trinacria trembles with a rumble, and veils the sky with smoke.
§3.583Noctem illam tecti silvis immania monstra §3.584perferimus, nec quae sonitum det causa videmus.
That night, sheltered by the woods, we endure the monstrous portents, nor do we see what cause gives the sound.
§3.585Nam neque erant astrorum ignes, nec lucidus aethra §3.586siderea polus, obscuro sed nubila caelo, §3.587et lunam in nimbo nox intempesta tenebat.
For there were neither fires of stars, nor was the sky bright with starry ether, but there were clouds in a dark heaven, and dead of night held the moon in a rain-cloud.
§3.588Postera iamque dies primo surgebat Eoo, §3.589umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram: §3.590cum subito e silvis, macie confecta suprema, §3.591ignoti nova forma viri miserandaque cultu §3.592procedit, supplexque manus ad litora tendit.
And now the following day was rising with the first star of morning, and Aurora had removed the damp shadow from the sky: when suddenly from the woods, wasted by extreme hunger, a strange shape of an unknown man and pitiable in his plight comes forward, and stretches suppliant hands to the shores.
§3.593Respicimus: dira inluvies inmissaque barba, §3.594consertum tegumen spinis; at cetera Graius, §3.596Isque ubi Dardanios habitus et Troia vidit §3.597arma procul, paulum aspectu conterritus haesit, §3.598continuitque gradum; mox sese ad litora praeceps §3.599cum fletu precibusque tulit:
Per sidera testor, §3.600per superos atque hoc caeli spirabile lumen, §3.601tollite me, Teucri; quascumque abducite terras; §3.602hoc sat erit.
We look back: there was dreadful filth and a long-grown beard, his garment fastened with thorns; but in all else he was a Greek, And when he saw from afar the Dardanian dress and Trojan arms, terrified a little by the sight, he stood hesitant and stayed his step; soon he bore himself headlong to the shores with weeping and prayers: "By the stars I adjure you, by the gods above and this breathable light of heaven, take me away, O Trojans; carry me to whatever lands; this will be enough.
Scio me Danais e classibus unum, §3.603et bello Iliacos fateor petiisse Penatis; §3.604pro quo, si sceleris tanta est iniuria nostri, §3.605spargite me in fluctus, vastoque inmergite ponto.
I know myself to be one of the Greek fleet, and I confess that I attacked the Trojan Penates in war; for which, if the injury of our crime is so great, scatter me into the waves and drown me in the vast sea.
§3.606Si pereo, hominum manibus periisse iuvabit. §3.607Dixerat, et genua amplexus genibusque volutans §3.608haerebat.
If I perish, it will be a pleasure to have perished by the hands of men." He had spoken, and clasping our knees and rolling at our knees, he clung.
Qui sit, fari, quo sanguine cretus, §3.609hortamur; quae deinde agitet fortuna, fateri.
To speak who he is, from what blood sprung, we urge him, and then to confess what fortune harasses him.
§3.610Ipse pater dextram Anchises, haud multa moratus, §3.611dat iuveni, atque animum praesenti pignore firmat.
Father Anchises himself, having delayed not much, gives his right hand to the youth, and reassures his mind with the immediate pledge.
§3.612Ille haec, deposita tandem formidine, fatur: §3.613Sum patria ex Ithaca, comes infelicis Ulixi, §3.614nomine Achaemenides, Troiam genitore Adamasto §3.615paupere—mansissetque utinam fortuna!—profectus.
He speaks these words, his fear at last laid aside: "I am from the homeland Ithaca, a companion of unhappy Ulysses, Achaemenides by name, having set out for Troy, my father Adamastus being poor—and would that that fortune had remained!
§3.616Hic me, dum trepidi crudelia limina linquunt, §3.617inmemores socii vasto Cyclopis in antro §3.618deseruere.
Here my companions, unmindful, left me in the vast cave of the Cyclops, while they left the cruel thresholds in trembling.
Domus sanie dapibusque cruentis, §3.619intus opaca, ingens; ipse arduus, altaque pulsat §3.620sidera—Di, talem terris avertite pestem!— §3.621nec visu facilis nec dictu adfabilis ulli.
It is a house of gore and bloody feasts, dark within, and huge; he himself is towering, and strikes the high stars—O gods, avert such a plague from the earth!— nor easy to be looked upon, nor affable in speech to anyone.
§3.622Visceribus miserorum et sanguine vescitur atro.
He feeds on the entrails of the wretched and on dark blood.
§3.623Vidi egomet, duo de numero cum corpora nostro §3.624prensa manu magna, medio resupinus in antro, §3.625frangeret ad saxum, sanieque aspersa natarent §3.626limina; vidi atro cum membra fluentia tabo §3.627manderet, et tepidi tremerent sub dentibus artus.
I myself saw, when he broke two bodies from our number, grasped in his huge hand, lying back in the middle of the cave, against a rock, and the thresholds swam, splashed with gore; I saw when he chewed the limbs dripping with black blood, and the warm limbs trembled under his teeth.
§3.628Haud impune quidem; nec talia passus Ulixes, §3.629oblitusve sui est Ithacus discrimine tanto.
Not with impunity, indeed; nor did Ulysses suffer such things, nor did the Ithacan forget himself in so great a crisis.
§3.630Nam simul expletus dapibus vinoque sepultus §3.631cervicem inflexam posuit, iacuitque per antrum §3.632immensus, saniem eructans et frusta cruento §3.633per somnum commixta mero, nos magna precati §3.634numina sortitique vices, una undique circum §3.635fundimur, et telo lumen terebramus acuto,— §3.636ingens, quod torva solum sub fronte latebat, §3.637Argolici clipei aut Phoebeae lampadis instar,—
For as soon as, filled with food and buried in wine, he rested his bent neck, and lay through the cave immense, vomiting gore and pieces mixed with bloody wine in his sleep, we, having prayed to the great divinities and distributed our parts by lot, poured around him from all sides at once, and with a sharp weapon bored his eye, huge, which lay solitary under his grim brow, like an Argolic shield or the lamp of Phoebus."