Nisus and Euryalus part 4 (367-445)

Question 1

interea praemissi equites ex urbe Latina,

cetera dum legio campis instructa moratur,

ibant et Turno regi responsa ferebat,

ter centum, scutati omnes, Volcente magistro.

Answer 1

Meanwhile the horsemen which had been sent ahead from the city of the Latins,

while the rest of the army had been drawn up and was waiting on the plains,

were going and were bringing replies to king Turnus,

three hundred, all of them equipped with shields, with Volcens as their leader.

Question 2

iamque propinquabant castris murosque subibant

cum procul hos laevo flectenis limite cernunt,

et galea Euryalum sublustri noctis in umbra

prodidit immemorem radiisque adversa refulsit.

Answer 2

And now they were approaching the camp and coming up to the walls

when they saw them in the distance on the path to the left,

and the helmet in the glimmering shadow of the night betrayed

Euryalus who had forgotten he was wearing it and facing the moon’s rays it flashed them back.

Question 3

haud temere est visum. conclamat ab agmine volcens:

‘state, viri. quae causa viae? quive estis in armis?

quove tenetis iter?’ nihil illi tendere contra,

sed celerare fugam in silvas et fidere nocti.

Answer 3

What had been seen was not ignored. Volcens cried out from the group:

Halt, you men. What is the reason for your journey? Or who are you, armed as you are?

Or where are you holding your journey to? They offered nothing in reply,

But speeded up their flight into the woods and put their trust in the night.

Question 4

obiciunt equites sese ad divortia nota

hinc atque hinc, omnemque aditum custode coronant.

Answer 4

The horsemen took up their positions at the crossroads that they knew

here and there, and surrounded every access point with a guard.

Question 5

silva fuit late dumis atque ilice nigra

horrida, quam densi complerant undique sentes;

rara per occultos lucebat semita callis.

Answer 5

The wood was bristling far and wide with thickets and black oak,

which dense thorns had filled on all sides;

here and there the path was shining through the hidden tracks.

Question 6

Euryalum tenebrae ramorum onerosaque praeda

impediunt, fallitque timor regione viarum.

Answer 6

The darkness of the branches and the burdensome plunder

was slowing Euryalus up, and fear made him go wrong in the direction of the paths.

Question 7

Nisus abit; iamque imprudens evaserat hostis

atque locos qui post Albae de nomine dicti

Albani (tum rex stabula alta Latinus habebat),

ut stetit et frustra absentem respexit amicum:

Answer 7

Nisus went off; and now without realising it he had got away from the enemy

and the places which afterwards were called Alban from the name of Alba

(At that time king Latinus had his cattle enclosures there),

when he stopped and looked around in vain for his missing friend:

Question 8

‘Euryale infelix, qua te regione reliqui?

quave sequar?’ rursus perplexum iter omne revolvens

fallacis silvae simul et vestigia retro

observata legit dumisque silentibus errat.

Answer 8

“Unlucky Euryalus, in what area did I leave you behind?

Or where shall I go after you?” Threading his way again along the confusing path

of the deceitful forest at the same time and observing the footprints

he traced them back and wandered the silent thickets.

Question 9

audit equos, audit strepitus et signa sequentem;

nec longum in medio tempus, cum clamor ad auris

pervenit ac videt Euryalum, quem iam manus omnis

fraude loci et noctis, subito turbante tumultu,

opressum rapit et conantem plurima frustra.

Answer 9

He heard horses, he heard noises and the signals of men following him;

and no long time had passed, when a shouting came to his ears

and he saw Euryalus, whom now every hand

when he was overwhelmed by the trickery of the place and of the night, by the sudden confusing uproar,

was seizing, and he was resisting strongly in vain.

Question 10

quid faciat? qua vi iuvenem, quibus audeat armis

eripere? an sese medios moriturus in enses

inferat et pulchram properet per vulnera mortem?

Answer 10

What should he do? With what violence, with what arm should he dare

to rescue the young man? Or should he intending to die throw himself into the middle of their swords

and hasten his beautiful death through wounds?

Question 11

ocius adducto torquet hastile lacerto

suspiciens altam Lunam et sic voce precatur:

Answer 11

Quickly having drawn back his arm he hurled his spear

looking up at the Moon on high and prayed with his voice like this.

Question 12

‘tu, dea, tu praesens nostro sucurre labori,

astrorum decus et nemorum Latonia custos

si qua tuis umquam pro me pater Hytacus aris

dona tulit, si qua ipse meis venatis auxi

suspendive tholo aut sacra ad fastigia fixi,

hunc sine me turbare globum et rege tela per auras.’

Answer 12

“You, goddess, you be at hand to help our time of difficulty,

glory of the stars and guardian of the groves daughter of Latona.

If my father Hyrtacus ever brought any gifts to your altars

for me, if I myself have increased them in any way with my hunting

or I have hung them from the dome or fixed them to the holy gable,

allow me to throw this mob into confusion and direct my weapons through the breezes.”

Question 13

dixerat et toto conixus corpore ferrum

conicit. hasta volans noctis diverberat umbras

et venit aversi in tergum Sulmonis ibique

frangitur, ac fisso transit praecordia ligno.

Answer 13

He had said this and having strained with his whole body

he threw the iron. The spear flying split apart the shadows of the night

and went into Sulmo’s back which was turned towards him and there

it broke, and as the wood split went through his heart.

Question 14

volvitur ille vomens calidum de pectore flumen

frigidus et longis singultibus ilia pulsat.

Answer 14

He rolled over vomiting a hot river from his chest

cold and beats his sides in long gasps.

Question 15

diversi circumspiciunt. hoc acrior idem

ecce aliud summa telum librabat ab aure.

Answer 15

In different directions they looked around. Made braver by this, the same man

look, he was poising another weapon high up by his ear.

Question 16

dum trepidant, it hasta Tago per tempus utrumque

stridens traiectoque haesit tepefacta cerebro.

Answer 16

While they were trembling, the spear went to Tagus through both his temples

and whirring stuck fast, growing warm from the brain it had passed through.

Question 17

saevit atrox Volcens nec teli conspicit usquam

auctorem nec quo se ardens immittere possit.

Answer 17

Fierce Volcens went wild and he did not spot anywhere the origin of the weapon

nor where in his burning rage he could hurl himself.

Question 18

‘tu tamen interea calido mihi sanguine poenas

persolves amborum’ inquit; simul ense recluso

ibat in Euryalum.

Answer 18

“You however in the meantime will pay me with your hot blood the penalty

for both” he said; at the same time drawing his sword

he began to go towards Euryalus.

Question 19

tum verro exterritus, amens,

conclamat Nisus nec se celare tenebris

amplius aut tantum potuit perferre dolorem:

Answer 19

Then indeed terrified, out of his mind,

Nisus cried out and was not able to hide himself in the shadows

any longer or bear such great grief:

Question 20

‘me, me, adsum qui feci, in me convertite ferrum,

o Rutuli! mea fraus omnis, nihil iste nec ausas

nec potuit; caelum hoc et conscia sidera testor;

tantum infelicem nimium dilexit amicum.’

Answer 20

“It was me, it was me, I am here, the one who did it, turn your iron onto me,

Rutulians! All the trick was mine, that man dared nothing

nor could he; I call to witness this the sky and the stars which know the truth;

he only loved his unhappy friend too much.”

Question 21

talia dicta dabat, sed viribus ensis adactus

transadigit costas et candida pectora rumpit.

Answer 21

He was giving such words, but the sword driven with strength

drove through his ribs and burst his white chest.

Question 22

volvitur Euryalus leto, pulchrosque per artus

it cruor inque umeros cervix conlapsa recumbit:

purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro

languescit moriens, lassove papavera collo

demisere caput pluvia cum forte gravantur.

Answer 22

Euryalus rolled over in death, and through his beautiful limbs

came gore and his neck sinking onto his shoulders fell back:

it was just like when a purple flower cut down by a plough

droops dying, or a poppies with weary neck

drop their head when by chance they are weighted down by the rain.

Question 23

at Nisus ruit in medios solumque per omnis

Volcentem petit, in solo Volcente moratur.

Answer 23

But Nisus rushed into their midst and headed through them all

for Volcens alone, on Volcens alone he fixed his attention.

Question 24

quem circum glomerati hostes hinc comminus atque hinc

proturbant.

Answer 24

The enemy massing around him fighting hand to hand here and there

drove him back.

Question 25

instat non setius ac rotat ensem

fulmineum, donec Rutuli clamantis in ore

condidit adverso et moriens animam abstulit hosti.

Answer 25

Just as fiercely he pressed on and whirled his sword

like lightning, until as the Rutulian was shouting he buried it

full in his mouth and dying took the life from his enemy.

Question 26

tum super exanimum sese proiecit amicum

confossus, placidaque ibi demum morte quievit.

Answer 26

Then over his lifeless friend he threw himself forward

pierced through, and there he finally grew still in the calm of death.

The End.