No gods are they who bear us down; mortals, we feel
the pressure of a mortal foe; we have as many lives and hands as he.
the pressure of a mortal foe; we have as many lives and hands as he.
Virgil - Aeneid
Some
glance ineffectual from helmet and shield; [331-365]some Venus the
bountiful turned aside as they grazed his body. Aeneas calls to trusty
Achates: 'Give me store of weapons; none that hath been planted in
Grecian body on the plains of Ilium shall my hand hurl at Rutulian in
vain. ' Then he catches and throws his great spear; the spear flies
grinding through the brass of Maeon's shield, and breaks through corslet
and through breast. His brother Alcanor runs up and sustains with his
right arm his sinking brother; through his arm the spear passes speeding
straight on its message, and holds its bloody way, and the hand dangles
by the sinews lifeless from the shoulder. Then Numitor, seizing his dead
brother's javelin, aims at Aeneas, but might not fairly pierce him, and
grazed tall Achates on the thigh. Here Clausus of Cures comes confident
in his pride of strength, and with a long reach strikes Dryops under the
chin, and, urging the stiff spear-shaft home, stops the accents of his
speech and his life together, piercing the throat; but he strikes the
earth with his forehead, and vomits clots of blood. Three Thracians
likewise of Boreas' sovereign race, and three sent by their father Idas
from their native Ismarus, fall in divers wise before him. Halesus and
his Auruncan troops hasten thither; Messapus too, seed of Neptune, comes
up charioted. This side and that strive to hurl back the enemy, and
fight hard on the very edge of Ausonia. As when in the depth of air
adverse winds rise in battle with equal spirit and strength; not they,
not clouds nor sea, yield one to another; long the battle is doubtful;
all stands locked in counterpoise: even thus clash the ranks of Troy and
ranks of Latium, foot fast on foot, and man crowded up on man.
But in another quarter, where a torrent had driven a wide path of
rolling stones and bushes torn away from the banks, Pallas saw his
Arcadians, unaccustomed to move as infantry, giving back before the
Latin pursuit, when the [366-400]roughness of the ground bade them
dismount. This only was left in his strait, to kindle them to valour,
now by entreaties, now by taunts: 'Whither flee you, comrades? by your
deeds of bravery, by your leader Evander's name, by your triumphant
campaigns, and my hope that now rises to rival my father's honour, trust
not to flight. Our swords must hew a way through the enemy. Where yonder
mass of men presses thickest, there your proud country calls you with
Pallas at your head.
No gods are they who bear us down; mortals, we feel
the pressure of a mortal foe; we have as many lives and hands as he. Lo,
the deep shuts us in with vast sea barrier; even now land fails our
flight; shall we make ocean or Troy our goal? '
So speaks he, and bursts amid the serried foe. First Lagus meets him,
drawn thither by malign destiny; him, as he tugs at a ponderous stone,
hurling his spear where the spine ran dissevering the ribs, he pierces
and wrenches out the spear where it stuck fast in the bone. Nor does
Hisbo catch him stooping, for all that he hoped it; for Pallas, as he
rushes unguarded on, furious at his comrade's cruel death, receives him
on his sword and buries it in his distended lungs. Next he attacks
Sthenius, and Anchemolus of Rhoetus' ancient family, who dared to
violate the bridal chamber of his stepmother. You, too, the twins
Larides and Thymber, fell on the Rutulian fields, children of Daucus,
indistinguishable for likeness and a sweet perplexity to your parents.
But now Pallas made cruel difference between you; for thy head, Thymber,
is swept off by Evander's sword; thy right hand, Larides, severed, seeks
its master, and the dying fingers jerk and clutch at the sword. Fired by
his encouragement, and beholding his noble deeds, the Arcadians advance
in wrath and shame to meet the enemy in arms. Then Pallas pierces
Rhoeteus as he flies past in his chariot. This space, this
[401-435]much of respite was given to Ilus; for at Ilus he had aimed
the strong spear from afar, and Rhoeteus intercepts its passage, in
flight from thee, noble Teuthras and Tyres thy brother; he rolls from
the chariot in death, and his heels strike the Rutulian fields. And as
the shepherd, when summer winds have risen to his desire, kindles the
woods dispersedly; on a sudden the mid spaces catch, and a single
flickering line of fire spreads wide over the plain; he sits looking
down on his conquest and the revel of the flames; even so, Pallas, do
thy brave comrades gather close to sustain thee. But warrior Halesus
advances full on them, gathering himself behind his armour; he slays
Ladon, Pheres, Demodocus; his gleaming sword shears off Strymonius' hand
as it rises to his throat; he strikes Thoas on the face with a stone,
and drives the bones asunder in a shattered mass of blood and brains.
Halesus had his father the soothsayer kept hidden in the woodland: when
the old man's glazing eyes sank to death, the Fates laid hand on him and
devoted him to the arms of Evander. Pallas aims at him, first praying
thus: 'Grant now, lord Tiber, to the steel I poise and hurl, a
prosperous way through brawny Halesus' breast; thine oak shall bear
these arms and the dress he wore. ' The god heard it; while Halesus
covers Imaon, he leaves, alas!
glance ineffectual from helmet and shield; [331-365]some Venus the
bountiful turned aside as they grazed his body. Aeneas calls to trusty
Achates: 'Give me store of weapons; none that hath been planted in
Grecian body on the plains of Ilium shall my hand hurl at Rutulian in
vain. ' Then he catches and throws his great spear; the spear flies
grinding through the brass of Maeon's shield, and breaks through corslet
and through breast. His brother Alcanor runs up and sustains with his
right arm his sinking brother; through his arm the spear passes speeding
straight on its message, and holds its bloody way, and the hand dangles
by the sinews lifeless from the shoulder. Then Numitor, seizing his dead
brother's javelin, aims at Aeneas, but might not fairly pierce him, and
grazed tall Achates on the thigh. Here Clausus of Cures comes confident
in his pride of strength, and with a long reach strikes Dryops under the
chin, and, urging the stiff spear-shaft home, stops the accents of his
speech and his life together, piercing the throat; but he strikes the
earth with his forehead, and vomits clots of blood. Three Thracians
likewise of Boreas' sovereign race, and three sent by their father Idas
from their native Ismarus, fall in divers wise before him. Halesus and
his Auruncan troops hasten thither; Messapus too, seed of Neptune, comes
up charioted. This side and that strive to hurl back the enemy, and
fight hard on the very edge of Ausonia. As when in the depth of air
adverse winds rise in battle with equal spirit and strength; not they,
not clouds nor sea, yield one to another; long the battle is doubtful;
all stands locked in counterpoise: even thus clash the ranks of Troy and
ranks of Latium, foot fast on foot, and man crowded up on man.
But in another quarter, where a torrent had driven a wide path of
rolling stones and bushes torn away from the banks, Pallas saw his
Arcadians, unaccustomed to move as infantry, giving back before the
Latin pursuit, when the [366-400]roughness of the ground bade them
dismount. This only was left in his strait, to kindle them to valour,
now by entreaties, now by taunts: 'Whither flee you, comrades? by your
deeds of bravery, by your leader Evander's name, by your triumphant
campaigns, and my hope that now rises to rival my father's honour, trust
not to flight. Our swords must hew a way through the enemy. Where yonder
mass of men presses thickest, there your proud country calls you with
Pallas at your head.
No gods are they who bear us down; mortals, we feel
the pressure of a mortal foe; we have as many lives and hands as he. Lo,
the deep shuts us in with vast sea barrier; even now land fails our
flight; shall we make ocean or Troy our goal? '
So speaks he, and bursts amid the serried foe. First Lagus meets him,
drawn thither by malign destiny; him, as he tugs at a ponderous stone,
hurling his spear where the spine ran dissevering the ribs, he pierces
and wrenches out the spear where it stuck fast in the bone. Nor does
Hisbo catch him stooping, for all that he hoped it; for Pallas, as he
rushes unguarded on, furious at his comrade's cruel death, receives him
on his sword and buries it in his distended lungs. Next he attacks
Sthenius, and Anchemolus of Rhoetus' ancient family, who dared to
violate the bridal chamber of his stepmother. You, too, the twins
Larides and Thymber, fell on the Rutulian fields, children of Daucus,
indistinguishable for likeness and a sweet perplexity to your parents.
But now Pallas made cruel difference between you; for thy head, Thymber,
is swept off by Evander's sword; thy right hand, Larides, severed, seeks
its master, and the dying fingers jerk and clutch at the sword. Fired by
his encouragement, and beholding his noble deeds, the Arcadians advance
in wrath and shame to meet the enemy in arms. Then Pallas pierces
Rhoeteus as he flies past in his chariot. This space, this
[401-435]much of respite was given to Ilus; for at Ilus he had aimed
the strong spear from afar, and Rhoeteus intercepts its passage, in
flight from thee, noble Teuthras and Tyres thy brother; he rolls from
the chariot in death, and his heels strike the Rutulian fields. And as
the shepherd, when summer winds have risen to his desire, kindles the
woods dispersedly; on a sudden the mid spaces catch, and a single
flickering line of fire spreads wide over the plain; he sits looking
down on his conquest and the revel of the flames; even so, Pallas, do
thy brave comrades gather close to sustain thee. But warrior Halesus
advances full on them, gathering himself behind his armour; he slays
Ladon, Pheres, Demodocus; his gleaming sword shears off Strymonius' hand
as it rises to his throat; he strikes Thoas on the face with a stone,
and drives the bones asunder in a shattered mass of blood and brains.
Halesus had his father the soothsayer kept hidden in the woodland: when
the old man's glazing eyes sank to death, the Fates laid hand on him and
devoted him to the arms of Evander. Pallas aims at him, first praying
thus: 'Grant now, lord Tiber, to the steel I poise and hurl, a
prosperous way through brawny Halesus' breast; thine oak shall bear
these arms and the dress he wore. ' The god heard it; while Halesus
covers Imaon, he leaves, alas!
