§457et dubia parent montis Idaei iuga; §458et iam, quod unum pervicax acies videt, §459Iliacus atra fumus apparot nota.
And the doubtful peaks of Mount Ida appear; and now, which is the only thing a persistent eye sees, the Trojan smoke appears with its black mark.
Now Titan was already releasing his weary neck from the yoke, now the light was sloping toward the stars, now the day was headlong.
§462exigua nubes sordido crescens globo §463nitidum cadentis inquinat Phoebi iubar; §464suspecta rarius occideris fecit freta.
A tiny cloud, growing in a dark globe, stains the bright rays of the setting Phoebus; the setting sun made the seas more suspicious.
The first night had scattered the sky with stars; the sails lay deserted by the wind.
tum murmur grave, §467maiora minitans, collibus summis cadit §468tractuque longo litus ac petrae gemunt: §469agitata ventis unda Venturis tumet: §470cum subito luna conditur, stellae latent, §471in astra pontus tollitur, caelum perit §472nec una nox est: densa tenebras obruit §473caligo et omni luce subducta fretum §474caelumque miscet, undique incumbunt simul §475rapiuntque pelagus infimo eversum solo §476adversus Euro Zephyros et Boreae Notus: §477sua quisque mittit tela et infesti fretum §478emoliuntur, turbo convolvit mare: §479Strymonius altas Aquilo contorquet nives §480Libycusque harenas Auster ac Syrtes agit; §482imbre auget undas, Eurus orientem movet §483Nabataea quatiens regna et Eoos sinus.
Then a heavy murmur, threatening greater things, falls from the highest hills, and with a long stretch the shore and rocks groan: the wave, agitated by the winds to come, swells: when suddenly the moon is hidden, the stars are concealed, the sea is raised to the stars, the sky perishes, and it is not a single night: a dense darkness overwhelms the shadows, and with all light withdrawn, mixes the sea and the sky; from all sides they bear down together and seize the sea overturned from its lowest bottom, Zephyrus against Eurus, and Notus against Boreas: each sends his own weapons, and hostile they harass the sea, the whirlwind rolls the ocean: the Strymonian Aquilo twists the high snows, and the Libyan Auster drives the sands and the Syrtes; the rain increases the waves, Eurus moves the rising sun, shaking the Nabataean realms and the eastern bays.
§484quid rabidus ora Corus oceano exerens?
What of the raging Corus, raising his face from the ocean?
§485mundum revelli sedibus totum suis §486ipsosque rupto crederes caelo deos §487decidere et atrum rebus induci chaos.
You would believe the whole world was torn from its seats, and the gods themselves, the sky being ruptured, were falling down and black chaos was being brought upon things.
§488vento resistit aestus et ventus retro §489aestum revolvit; non capit sese mare §490undasque miscent imber et fluctus suas.
The tide resists the wind, and the wind backwards rolls the tide; the sea does not contain itself, and the rain and the wave mix their waters.
§491nec hoc levamen denique aerumnis datur, §492videre saltem et nosse quo pereant malo: §493premunt tenebrae lumina et dirae Stygis §494inferna nox est.
Nor is this relief finally given to their miseries, at least to see and know by what evil they perish: darkness presses their eyes, and it is the infernal night of dire Styx.
excidunt ignes tamen §495et nube dirum fulmen elisa micat, §496miserisque lucis tanta dulcedo est malae: §497hoc lumen optant.
Yet fires fall out, and a terrible lightning flashes, squeezed from the cloud, and to the miserable there is such great sweetness in that bad light: they wish for this light.
ipsa se classis premit §498et prora prorae nocuit et lateri latus,
The fleet itself presses upon itself, and prow has harmed prow, and side has harmed side.
§499illam dehiscens pontus in praeceps rapit §500hauritque et alto redditam revomit mari; §501haec onere sidit, illa convulsum latus §502submittit undis, fluctus hanc decimus tegit; §503haec lacera et omni decore populato levis §504fluitat nec illi vela nec tonsae manent §505nec rectus altas malus antemnas ferens, §506sed trunca toto puppis Icario natat,
The gaping sea snatches one ship into the abyss, and swallows it, and vomits it out again returned to the deep sea; this one sinks with its weight, that one submits its shattered side to the waves, the tenth wave covers this one; this one, shattered and light with all its beauty plundered, floats, and neither sails nor oars remain for it, nor the straight mast bearing the high yards, but the truncated stern swims on the whole Icarian sea.
§507nil ratio et usus audet: ars cessit malis; §508tenet horror artus, omnis officio stupet §509navita relicto, remus effugit manus,
Reason and experience dare nothing: art has yielded to evils; horror holds their limbs, every sailor is stunned, his duty abandoned, the oar escapes his hands.
The ultimate fear forces the miserable into vows, and Trojans and Greeks ask the same of the gods above.
§512i quid fata possunt! invidet Pyrrhus patri,
Ah, what fates can do!
§513Aiaci Vlixes, Hectori Atrides minor, §514Agamemno Priamo; quisquis ad Troiam iacet §515felix vocatur, cadere qui meruit gradu, §516quem fama servat, victa quem tellus tegit,
Pyrrhus envies his father, Ulysses envies Ajax, the younger son of Atreus envies Hector, Agamemnon envies Priam; whoever lies dead at Troy is called happy, he who deserved to fall in his rank, whom fame preserves, whom the conquered earth covers.
§517'nil nobile ausos pontus atque undae ferunt?
"Do the sea and the waves bear those who dared nothing noble?
§518ignava fortes fata consument viros?
Shall a cowardly fate consume brave men?
§519perdenda mors est? quisquis es nondum malis
Is death to be wasted?
§520satiate tantis caelitum, tandem tuum §521numen serena: cladibus nostris daret §522vel Troia lacrimas, odia si durant tua §523placetque mitti Doricum exitio genus, §524quid hos simul perire nobiscum iuvat,
Whoever you are of the gods not yet satisfied with such great evils, at last serene your deity: at our disasters even Troy would give tears, if your hatred lasts and it pleases you that the Doric race be sent to destruction, why does it please you that these perish together with us, by whom you destroy us?
§525quibus perimas? sistito infestum mare: §526vehit ista Danaos classis, et Troas venit. ' §527nec plura possunt: occupat vocem mare.
Stay the hostile sea: that fleet carries Greeks, and Trojans are coming." Nor can they say more: the sea occupies their voice.
§528Ecce alia clades, fulmine irati Iovis §529armata Pallas quicquid haut hasta minax, §530haut aegide, haut furore Gorgoneo potest, §531at igne patrio temptat, et caelo novae §532spirant procellae, solus invictus malis §533luctatur Aiax.
Behold another disaster: Pallas, armed with the lightning of angry Jupiter, whatever she cannot do with her threatening spear, nor with her aegis, nor with her Gorgonian fury, attempts with her father's fire, and new storms blow from heaven; Ajax alone, unconquered by evils, struggles.
vela cogentem hunc sua §534tento rudente flamma praestrinxit cadens, §535libratur aliud fulmen: hoc toto impetu §536certum reducta Pallas excussit manu, §537imitata patrem, transit Aiacem et ratem §538ratisque partem secum et Aiacem tulit,
As he was drawing in his sails with a taut rope, the falling flame grazed him, another lightning is balanced: this, with all her force, Pallas shook out with her drawn-back hand, certain of her aim, having imitated her father; it passed through Ajax and the ship, and carried away a part of the ship and Ajax with it.
§539nil ille motus, ardua ut cautes, salo
He, not at all moved, like a steep rock in the sea...