§7.487Adsuetum imperiis soror omni Silvia cura §7.488mollibus intexens ornabat cornua sertis §7.489pectebatque ferum puroque in fonte lavabat. §7.490Ille, manum patiens mensaeque adsuetus erili, §7.491errabat silvis rursusque ad limina nota §7.492ipse domum sera quamvis se nocte ferebat. §7.493Hunc procul errantem rabidae venantis Iuli §7.494commovere canes, fluvio cum forte secundo §7.495deflueret ripaque aestus viridante levaret. §7.496Ipse etiam, eximiae laudis succensus amore, §7.497Ascanius curvo direxit spicula cornu; §7.498nec dextrae erranti deus afuit, actaque multo §7.499perque uterum sonitu perque ilia venit harundo. §7.500Saucius at quadrupes nota intra tecta refugit §7.501successitque gemens stabulis questuque cruentus §7.502atque imploranti similis tectum omne replebat. §7.503Silvia prima soror, palmis percussa lacertos, §7.504auxilium vocat et duros conclamat agrestis. §7.505Olli, pestis enim tacitis latet aspera silvis, §7.506inprovisi adsunt, hic torre armatus obusto, §7.507stipitis hic gravidi nodis: quod cuique repertum §7.508rimanti, telum ira facit.
Accustomed to her commands, her sister Silvia, with all her care, decorated its horns, weaving them with soft garlands, and combed the wild beast and washed it in the pure spring. It, enduring a hand and accustomed to its master’s table, wandered in the woods, and again to the well-known threshold of its home it would betake itself, however late at night. As it wandered far, the rabid dogs of the hunting Iulus startled it, when by chance down the stream it was floating and relieving the heat on the green bank. Ascanius himself also, inflamed with love for outstanding praise, aimed his arrows from his curved bow; nor was a god absent from his hand, which might have erred, and driven with a great sound, the reed came through both its belly and its flanks. But the wounded four-footed beast fled back within the familiar house, and groaning entered the stalls, and bloody with lament, and like one imploring, filled the whole house. Silvia, its sister, first, beating her arms with her palms, calls for help and summons the hardy rustics. They—for the fierce pestilence lurks in the silent woods— appear unexpectedly, one armed with a burnt brand, another with the knots of a heavy club; what was found by each as he searched, anger makes a weapon.
Vocat agmina Tyrrhus, §7.509quadrifidam quercum cuneis ut forte coactis §7.510scindebat, rapta spirans immane securi. §7.511At saeva e speculis tempus dea nacta nocendi §7.512ardua tecta petit stabuli et de culmine summo §7.513pastorale canit signum cornuque recurvo §7.514Tartaream intendit vocem, qua protinus omne §7.515contremuit nemus et silvae insonuere profundae; §7.516audiit et Triviae longe lacus, audiit amnis §7.517sulfurea Nar albus aqua fontesque Velini, §7.518et trepidae matres pressere ad pectora natos. §7.519Tum vero ad vocem celeres, qua bucina signum §7.520dira dedit, raptis concurrunt undique telis §7.521indomiti agricolae; nec non et Troïa pubes §7.522Ascanio auxilium castris effundit apertis.
Tyrrhus calls his bands, just as by chance he was splitting a four-cleft oak with wedges driven in, snatching his axe and breathing terrible rage. But the cruel goddess, having found from her watch-tower the time for harming, seeks the steep roof of the stall, and from the highest summit sounds the pastoral signal, and on her curved horn stretches her Tartarean voice, at which immediately the whole forest trembled and the deep woods re-echoed; the lake of Trivia heard it far off, the river Nar with its white sulfurous water heard it, and the springs of Velinus, and trembling mothers pressed their children to their breasts. Then indeed, swift at the sound where the dread trumpet gave the signal, the untamed husbandmen run together from all sides with snatched weapons; and no less do the Trojan youth pour forth help to Ascanius from the opened camp. They drew up their lines.
§7.523Direxere acies. Non iam certamine agresti, §7.524stipitibus duris agitur sudibusve praeustis, §7.525sed ferro ancipiti decernunt atraque late §7.526horrescit strictis seges ensibus aeraque fulgent §7.527sole lacessita et lucem sub nubila iactant: §7.528fluctus uti primo coepit cum albescere vento, §7.529paulatim sese tollit mare et altius undas §7.530erigit, inde imo consurgit ad aethera fundo. §7.531Hic iuvenis primam ante aciem stridente sagitta, §7.532natorum Tyrrhi fuerat qui maximus, Almo, §7.533sternitur; haesit enim sub gutture volnus et udae §7.534vocis iter tenuemque inclusit sanguine vitam. §7.535Corpora multa virum circa seniorque Galaesus, §7.536dum paci medium se offert, iustissimus unus §7.537qui fuit Ausoniisque olim ditissimus arvis: §7.538quinque greges illi balantum, quina redibant §7.539armenta, et terram centum vertebat aratris. §7.540Atque ea per campos aequo dum Marte geruntur, §7.541promissi dea facta potens, ubi sanguine bellum §7.542imbuit et primae commisit funera pugnae, §7.543deserit Hesperiam et caeli convexa per auras §7.544Iunonem victrix adfatur voce superba: §7.545En, perfecta tibi bello discordia tristi: §7.546dic in amicitiam coeant et foedera iungant. §7.547Quando quidem Ausonio respersi sanguine Teucros, §7.548hoc etiam his addam, tua si mihi certa voluntas: §7.549finitimas in bella feram rumoribus urbes §7.550accendamque animos insani Martis amore, §7.551undique ut auxilio veniunt; spargam arma per agros. §7.552Tum contra Iuno; Terrorum et fraudis abunde est; §7.553stant belli causae, pugnatur comminus armis, §7.554quae fors prima dedit sanguis novus imbuit arma. §7.555Talia coniugia et talis celebrent hymenaeos §7.556egregium Veneris genus et rex ipse Latinus. §7.557Te super aetherias errare licentius auras §7.558haud pater ille velit, summi regnator Olympi: §7.559cede locis; ego, siqua super fortuna laborum est, §7.560ipsa regam. Talis dederat Saturnia voces. §7.561Illa autem attollit stridentis anguibus alas §7.562Cocytique petit sedem, supera ardua linquens. §7.563Est locus Italiae medio sub montibus altis, §7.564nobilis et fama multis memoratus in oris, §7.565Amsancti valles: densis hunc frondibus atrum §7.566urguet utrimque latus nemoris, medioque fragosus §7.567dat sonitum saxis et torto vertice torrens.
No longer is it waged in rustic combat with hard clubs or burnt stakes, but with two-edged iron they decide, and a dark harvest of drawn swords bristles far and wide, and the bronzes gleam, struck by the sun, and cast their light beneath the clouds: just as when a wave begins to whiten at the first wind, the sea gradually raises itself and lifts its waves higher, and then rises from its lowest depths to the heavens. Here, before the front line, by a whizzing arrow, the young Almo, who had been the eldest of Tyrrhus’ sons, is laid low; for the wound stuck fast beneath his throat, and blocked the path of his moist voice and his thin life with blood. Many bodies of men fall around him, and the aged Galaesus, while he offers himself as a mediator for peace, who was once the most just and wealthiest in the Ausonian fields: five flocks of bleating sheep were his, five herds of cattle returned to him, and he turned the earth with a hundred plows. And while these things are done through the plains in equal battle, the goddess, having made herself master of her promise, when she has stained the war with blood and brought death in the first fight, leaves Hesperia and, flying through the air of the vault of heaven, addresses Juno as a victress with proud voice: 'Behold, discord is perfected for you in grim war: tell them to come into friendship and join alliances! Since indeed I have sprinkled the Trojans with Ausonian blood, I will add this also to these things, if your will is certain to me: I will lead the neighboring cities into wars with rumors and inflame their minds with the love of mad war, so that they come from all sides for help; I will scatter arms through the fields.' Then Juno in reply: 'Of terrors and fraud there is enough; the causes of war stand, they fight hand-to-hand with weapons, and the arms which chance first gave, new blood has stained. Let the outstanding offspring of Venus and king Latinus himself celebrate such marriages and such hymeneals. That father, the ruler of highest Olympus, would not wish you to wander too freely in the upper air; depart from these places; I, if any fortune of labors remains, will manage it myself.' Such words the daughter of Saturn had given. But she raises her wings, hissing with snakes, and seeks the home of Cocytus, leaving the high heights above. There is a place in the middle of Italy under high mountains, noble and celebrated by fame in many lands, the valleys of Amsanctus: a side of the forest, dark with dense foliage, hems it in on both sides, and in the middle a roaring torrent gives a sound with rocks and a twisting whirlpool.