§3.638et tandem laeti sociorum ulciscimur umbras.
and at last, rejoicing, we avenge the shades of our companions.
But flee, O wretched ones, flee, and tear the rope from the shore.
§3.641Nam qualis quantusque cavo Polyphemus in antro §3.642lanigeras claudit pecudes atque ubera pressat, §3.643centum alii curva haec habitant ad litora volgo §3.644infandi Cyclopes, et altis montibus errant.
For such as and as great as Polyphemus in his hollow cave shuts up his fleecy flocks and squeezes their udders, a hundred other unspeakable Cyclopes commonly dwell along these curved shores, and wander on the high mountains.
§3.645Tertia iam lunae se cornua lumine complent, §3.646cum vitam in silvis inter deserta ferarum §3.647lustra domosque traho, vastosque ab rupe Cyclopas §3.648prospicio, sonitumque pedum vocemque tremesco.
Already the third horns of the moon are filling themselves with light, since I drag out my life in the woods among the deserted lairs and homes of wild beasts, and look out upon the vast Cyclopes from a rock, and tremble at the sound of their feet and their voice.
§3.649Victum infelicem, bacas lapidosaque corna, §3.650dant rami et volsis pascunt radicibus herbae.
Branches give a wretched sustenance, berries and stony cornels, and herbs feed me with torn-up roots.
Surveying all things, I first saw this fleet coming to the shores.
Huic me, quaecumque fuisset, §3.653addixi: satis est gentem effugisse nefandam.
To this, whatever it might have been, I surrendered myself: it is enough to have escaped the unspeakable race.
§3.654Vos animam hanc potius quocumque absumite leto.
Rather do you take away this life by whatever death.
§3.655Vix ea fatus erat, summo cum monte videmus §3.656ipsum inter pecudes vasta se mole moventem §3.657pastorem Polyphemum et litora nota petentem, §3.658monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum.
Scarcely had he spoken these words, when on the mountain top we see the shepherd Polyphemus himself moving with his vast bulk among his flocks and seeking the well-known shores, a monster horrific, misshapen, huge, from whom light was taken away.
§3.659Trunca manu pinus regit et vestigia firmat; §3.660lanigerae comitantur oves—ea sola voluptas §3.661solamenque mali.
A lopped pine in his hand guides him and steadies his steps; fleecy sheep accompany him—that is his sole pleasure and the solace of his misfortune.
§3.662Postquam altos tetigit fluctus et ad aequora venit, §3.663luminis effossi fluidum lavit inde cruorem, §3.664dentibus infrendens gemitu, graditurque per aequor §3.665iam medium, necdum fluctus latera ardua tinxit.
After he touched the deep waves and came to the sea, he washed from there the flowing gore of his dug-out eye, gnashing his teeth with a groan, and he strides through the sea now in the midst, nor yet did the wave wet his towering sides.
§3.666Nos procul inde fugam trepidi celerare, recepto §3.667supplice sic merito, tacitique incidere funem; §3.668vertimus et proni certantibus aequora remis.
We from there, trembling, hasten our flight far away, having received the suppliant who had so deserved it, and in silence cut the cable; and we bent forward and swept the sea with striving oars.
§3.669Sensit, et ad sonitum vocis vestigia torsit; §3.670verum ubi nulla datur dextra adfectare potestas, §3.671nec potis Ionios fluctus aequare sequendo, §3.672clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omnes §3.673contremuere undae, penitusque exterrita tellus §3.674Italiae, curvisque immugiit Aetna cavernis.
He perceived it, and turned his steps toward the sound of the voice; but when no power is given to reach us with his right hand, nor is he able to match the Ionian waves in pursuit, he raises an immense clamor, by which the sea and all the waves trembled, and the land of Italy was terrified deep within, and Etna bellowed in its curved caverns.
But the race of the Cyclopes, summoned from the woods and high mountains, rushes to the harbors and fills the shores.
§3.677Cernimus adstantis nequiquam lumine torvo §3.678Aetnaeos fratres, caelo capita alta ferentis, §3.679concilium horrendum: quales cum vertice celso §3.680aeriae quercus, aut coniferae cyparissi §3.681constiterunt, silva alta Iovis, lucusve Dianae.
We see the Etnean brothers standing in vain with grim eye, bearing their high heads to heaven, a horrific assembly: just as when on a high peak towering oaks or cone-bearing cypresses stand together, the high forest of Jupiter or the grove of Diana.
§3.682Praecipites metus acer agit quocumque rudentis §3.683excutere, et ventis intendere vela secundis.
Sharp fear drives us headlong to shake out the cables for any course, and to stretch our sails to the favoring winds.
§3.684Contra iussa monent Heleni Scyllam atque Charybdin §3.685inter, utramque viam leti discrimine parvo, §3.686ni teneant cursus; certum est dare lintea retro.
On the other hand, the commands of Helenus warn not to hold their course between Scylla and Charybdis, either path being a small distance from death; it is resolved to give the sails backward.
But behold, Boreas, sent from the narrow seat of Pelorus, is present.
Vivo praetervehor ostia saxo §3.689Pantagiae Megarosque sinus Thapsumque iacentem.
I sail past the mouth of Pantagia with its living rock, and the Megarian bays, and low-lying Thapsus.
Such shores Achaemenides, the companion of unhappy Ulysses, was pointing out, retracing his wanderings backward.
§3.692Sicanio praetenta sinu iacet insula contra §3.693Plemyrium undosum; nomen dixere priores §3.694Ortygiam.
Stretched before the Sicanian bay lies an island opposite wavy Plemyrium; those of old called its name Ortygia.
Alpheum fama est huc Elidis amnem §3.695occultas egisse vias subter mare; qui nunc §3.696ore, Arethusa, tuo Siculis confunditur undis.
The story is that Alpheus, the river of Elis, has driven hidden paths here beneath the sea; which now by your mouth, Arethusa, is mingled with the Sicilian waves.
Commanded, we revere the great divinities of the place; and from there I pass by the very fertile soil of stagnant Helorus.
§3.699Hinc altas cautes proiectaque saxa Pachyni §3.700radimus, et fatis numquam concessa moveri §3.701adparet Camerina procul campique Geloi, §3.702immanisque Gela fluvii cognomine dicta.
From here we graze the high cliffs and projecting rocks of Pachynus, and Camerina appears far off, never allowed by the fates to be moved, and the Geloan plains, and immense Gela, called by the name of its river.
§3.703Arduus inde Acragas ostentat maxuma longe §3.704moenia, magnanimum quondam generator equorum; §3.705teque datis linquo ventis, palmosa Selinus, §3.706et vada dura lego saxis Lilybeia caecis.
Then towering Acragas shows from afar its very great walls, once the breeder of high-spirited horses; and you, palm-clad Selinus, I leave with the winds given, and coast along the Lilybeian shallows, dangerous with hidden rocks.
From here the harbor of Drepanum and its joyless shore receives me.
Hic, pelagi tot tempestatibus actis, §3.709heu genitorem, omnis curae casusque levamen, §3.710amitto Anchisen: hic me, pater optume, fessum §3.711deseris, heu, tantis nequiquam erepte periclis!
Here, after so many tempests of the sea were driven through, alas, I lose my father Anchises, the solace of every care and misfortune; here, O best of fathers, you desert me, weary, alas, rescued in vain from so great dangers!
§3.712Nec vates Helenus, cum multa horrenda moneret, §3.713hos mihi praedixit luctus, non dira Celaeno.
Neither did the prophet Helenus, though he warned of many horrific things, foretell these griefs to me, nor did the dread Celaeno.
§3.714Hic labor extremus, longarum haec meta viarum.
This was my last labor, this the goal of my long ways.
§3.715Hinc me digressum vestris deus adpulit oris.
Departing from here, a god drove me to your shores.
Thus father Aeneas, while all were intent, alone was recounting the fates of the gods, and teaching his courses.
§3.718Conticuit tandem, factoque hic fine quievit.
At last he fell silent, and having made an end here, he rested.