544 - 558 The Death of Priam Translation

Question 1

sic fatus senior telumque imbelle sine ictu
coniecit, rauco quod protinus aere repulsum,
et summo clipei nequiquam umbone pependit.

Answer 1

The old man spoke thus and threw a feeble spear without any force [behind it], which was immediatly repelled by the harsh-sounding bronze and hung futilely from the surface of the boss of the shield.

Question 2

cui Pyrrhus: ‘referes ergo haec et nuntius ibis
Pelidae genitori. illi mea tristia facta
degeneremque Neoptolemum narrare memento.
nunc morere.’

Answer 2

Pyrrhus [said] to him,’You will relate these events, then, and will go as a messenger to my father, the son of Peleus. Remember to tell him about my cruel deeds and about Neoptolemus, unworthy of his parentage. Now die.’

Question 3

hoc dicens altaria ad ipsa trementem
taxit et in multo lapsantem sanguine nati,
implicuitque comam laeva, dextraque coruscum
extulit ac lateri capulo tenus abdidit ensem.

Answer 3

While he was saying this, he dragged to the very altar the trembling [Priam], slipping in the copious blood of his son, grasped his hair with his left hand, while with his right hand he lifted up his flashing sword and buried it up to the hilt in [Priam’s] side.

Question 4

haec finis Priami fatorum, hic exitus illum
sorte tulit Troiam incensam et prolapsa videntem
Pergama, tot quondam populis terrisque superbum
regnatorem Asiae.

Answer 4

This [was] the end of Priam’s fate, this death carried him off in accordance with destiny, as he saw Troy set on fire and the citadel fallen down, [a man who was] once the proud ruler of so many races and lands of Asia.

Question 5

iacet ingens litore truncus,

avulsumque umeris caput et sine nomine corpus.

Answer 5

He lies on the shore, a huge trunk, his head torn from his shoulders and a corpse without a name.