“Another sight still comes before my eyes,the centaur Phaeocomes with his log.He wore six lion skins well wrapped aroundhis body, and with fixed connecting knotsthey covered him, both horse and man. He hurleda trunk two yokes of oxen scarce could moveand struck the hapless son of Olenusa crushing blow upon the head. The broadround dome was shattered, and his dying brainsoozed out through hollow nostrils, mouth, and ears,as curdled milk seeps down through oaken twigs;or other liquors, crushed out under weights,flow through a well-pierced sieve and, thick,squeeze out through numerous holes.As he beganto spoil his victim—and your father canaffirm the truth of this—I thrust my sworddeep in the wretch's groin. Chthonius, too,and Teleboas fell there by my sword.The former had a two-pronged stick as hissole weapon, and the other had a spear,with which the wounded me. You see the scar.The old scar still is surely visible!“Those were my days of youth and strength, and thenI ought to have warred against the citadelof Pergama. I could have checked, or evenvanquished, the arms of Hector: but, alas,Hector had not been born, or was perhapsa boy. Old age has dulled my youthful strength.What use is it, to speak of Periphas,who overcame Pyretus, double-formed?Why tell of Ampyx, who with pointless shaft,victorious thrust Echeclus through the face?Macareus, hurling a heavy crowbar piercedErigdupus and laid him low.A hunting spear that Nessus strongly hurled,was buried in the groin of Cymelus.Do not believe that Mopsus, son of Ampycus,was merely a prophet of events to come,he slew a daring two-formed monster there.Hodites tried in vain to speak, beforehis death, but could not, for his tongue was nailedagainst his chin, his chin against his throat.“Five of the centaurs Caeneus put to death:Styphelus, Bromus, and Antimachus,Elymus, and Pyracmos with his axe.I have forgot their wounds but noted welltheir names and number. Latreus, huge of limb,had killed and stripped Emathian Halesus.Now in his armor he came rushing out,in years he was between old age and youth;but he retained the vigor of his youth;his temples showed his hair was mixed with grey.Conspicuous for his Macedonian lanceand sword and shield, facing both sides—each way,he insolently clashed his arms; and whilehe rode poured out these words in empty air.“‘Shall I put up with one like you, O Caeneus?For you are still a woman in my sight.Have you forgot your birth or that disgraceby which you won reward—at what a priceyou got the false resemblance to a man?!Consider both your birth, and what you havesubmitted to! Take up a distaff, andwool basket! Twist your threads with practiced thumb!Leave warfare to your men!’“While puffed-up pridewas vaunting out such nonsense, Caeneus hurleda spear and pierced the stretched out running side,just where the man was joined upon the horse.“The Centaur, Latreus, raved with pain and struckwith his great pike, the face of Caeneus.His pike rebounded as the hail that slantsup from the roof; or as a pebble mightrebound from hollow drum. Then coming near,he tried to drive a sword into the hard sideof Caeneus, but it could not make a wound.‘Aha!’ he cried, ‘this will not get you off.The good edge of my sword will take your life,although the point is blunt!’ He turned the edgeagainst the flank of Caeneus and swung roundthe hero's loins with his long, curving arm.The flesh resounded like a marble block,the keen blade shattered on the unyielding skin.“And, after Caeneus had exposed his limbsunhurt to Latreus, who stood there amazed,‘Come now,’ he said, ‘and let us try my steelagainst your body!’ And, clear to the hilt,down through the monster's shoulder-blade he plungedhis deadly sword and, turning it again,deep in the Centaur's entrails, made new woundswithin his wound.“Then, quite beside themselves,the double-natured monsters rushed againstthat single-handed youth with huge uproar,and thrust and hurled their weapons all at him.Their blunted weapons fell and he remainedunharmed and without even a mark.”“That strange sight left them speechless. ‘Oh what shame!’at length cried Monychus, ‘Our mighty host,—a nation of us, are defeated and defiedby one who hardly is a man. Althoughindeed, he is a man, and we have proved,by our weak actions, we are certainlywhat he was! Shame on us! Oh, what if wehave twofold strength, of what avail our hugeand mighty limbs, doubly united inthe strongest, hugest bodies in this world?And how can I believe that we were bornof any goddess? It is surely vainto claim descent of great Ixion, whohigh-souled, sought Juno for his mighty mate;imagine it, while we are conquered byan enemy, who is but half a man!Wake up! and let us heap tree-trunks and stonesand mountains on him! Crush his stubborn life!Let forests smother him to death! Their weightwill be as deadly as a hundred wounds!’“While he was raving, by some chance he founda tree thrown down there by the boisterous wind:example to the rest, he threw that treeagainst the powerful foe; and in short timeOthrys was bare of trees, and Pelion had no shade.Buried under that mountainous forest heap,Caeneus heaved up against the weight of oaksupon his brawny shoulders piled. But, asthe load increased above his face and head,he could not draw a breath. Gasping for life,he strove to lift his head into the air,and sometimes he convulsed the towering mass,as if great Ida, now before our eyes,should tremble with some heaving of the earth.“What happened to him could not well be known.Some thought his body was borne down by weightinto the vast expanse of Tartarus.The son of Ampycus did not agree,for from the middle of the pile we sawa bird with golden wings mount high in air.Before or since, I never saw the like.“When Mopsus was aware of that bird's flight—it circled round the camp on rustling wings—with eyes and mind he followed it and shouted aloud:‘Hail, glory of the Lapithaean race,their greatest hero, now a bird unique!’and we believed the verdict of the seer.“Our grief increased resentment, and we boreit with disgust that one was overwhelmedby such a multitude. Then in revengewe plied our swords, till half our foes were dead,and only flight and darkness saved the rest.”
Ante oculos stat et ille meos, qui sena leonumvinxerat inter se conexis vellera nodis,Phaeocomes, hominemque simul protectus equumque.Codice qui misso, quem vix iuga bina moverent,Tectaphon Oleniden a summo vertice fregit.Ast ego, dum parat hic armis nudare iacentem,(scit tuus hoc genitor) gladium spoliantis in imailia demisi. Chthonius quoque Teleboasqueense iacent nostro: ramum prior ille bifurcumgesserat, hic iaculum; iaculo mihi vulnera fecit:signa vides! adparet adhuc vetus inde cicatrix.Tunc ego debueram capienda ad Pergama mitti,tum poteram magni, si non superare, morariHectoris arma meis! Illo sed tempore nullus,aut puer Hector erat, nunc me mea deficit aetas.Quid tibi victorem gemini Periphanta Pyraethi,Ampyca quid referam, qui quadrupedantis Echeclifixit in adverso cornum sine cuspide vultu?Vecte Pelethronium Macareus in pectus adactostravit Erigdupum, memini et venabula condiinguine Nesseis manibus coniecta Cymeli.Nec tu credideris tantum cecinisse futuraAmpyciden Mopsum: Mopso iaculante biformisaccubuit frustraque loqui temptavit Hoditesad mentum lingua mentoque ad guttura fixo.Quinque neci Caeneus dederat, Styphelumque BromumqueAntimachumque Elymumque securiferumque Pyraechmen:vulnera non memini, numerum nomenque notavi.Provolat Emathii spoliis armatus Alesi,quem dederat leto, membris et corpore Latreusmaximus: huic aetas inter iuvenemque senemque,vis iuvenalis erat, variabant tempora cani.Qui clipeo gladioque Macedoniaque sarisaconspicuus faciemque obversus in agmen utrumquearmaque concussit certumque equitavit in orbemverbaque tot fudit vacuas animosus in auras:“Et te, Caeni, feram? Nam tu mihi femina semper,tu mihi Caenis eris. Nec te natalis origocommonuit, mentemque subit, quo praemia factoquaque viri falsam speciem mercede parasti?Quid sis nata, vide, vel quid sis passa, columque,i, cape cum calathis et stamina pollice torque:bella relinque viris.” Iactanti talia Caeneusextentum cursu missa latus eruit hasta,qua vir equo commissus erat. Furit ille dolorenudaque Phyllei iuvenis ferit ora sarisa.Non secus haec resilit, quam tecti a culmine grando,aut siquis parvo feriat cava tympana saxo.Comminus adgreditur laterique recondere duroluctatur gladium: gladio loca pervia non sunt.“Haud tamen effugies! medio iugulaberis ense,quandoquidem mucro est hebes” inquit et in latus ensemobliquat longaque amplectitur ilia dextra.Plaga facit gemitus in corpore marmoris icti,fractaque dissiluit percusso lammina callo.Ut satis inlaesos miranti praebuit artus,“nunc age,” ait Caeneus, “nostro tua corpora ferrotemptemus!” capuloque tenus demisit in armosensem fatiferum caecumque in viscera movitversavitque manu vulnusque in vulnere fecit.Ecce ruunt vasto rabidi clamore bimembrestelaque in hunc omnes unum mittuntque feruntque.Tela retusa cadunt: manet inperfossus ab omniinque cruentatus Caeneus Elateius ictu.Fecerat attonitos nova res. “Heu dedecus ingens!”Monychus exclamat, “populus superamur ab unovixque viro: quamquam ille vir est, nos segnibus actisquod fuit ille, sumus! Quid membra inmania prosunt?Quid geminae vires et quod fortissima rerumin nobis duplex natura animalia iunxit?Nec nos matre dea, nec nos Ixione natosesse reor, qui tantus erat, Iunonis ut altaespem caperet: nos semimari superamur ab hoste!Saxa trabesque super totosque involvite montesvivacemque animam missis elidite silvis!silva premat fauces, et erit pro vulnere pondus.”Dixit et insanis deiectam viribus austriforte trabem nactus validum coniecit in hostemexemplumque fuit, parvoque in tempore nudusarboris Othrys erat, nec habebat Pelion umbras.Obrutus inmani tumulo sub pondere Caeneusaestuat arboreo congestaque robora durisfert umeris. Sed enim postquam super ora caputquecrevit onus neque habet, quas ducat, spiritus auras,deficit interdum, modo se super aera frustratollere conatur iactasque evolvere silvas,interdumque movet, veluti, quam cernimus, ecce,ardua si terrae quatiatur motibus Ide.Exitus in dubio est: alii sub inania corpusTartara detrusum silvarum mole ferebant;abnuit Ampycides medioque ex aggere fulvisvidit avem pennis liquidas exire sub auras,quae mihi tum primum, tunc est conspecta supremum.Hanc ubi lustrantem leni sua castra volatuMopsus et ingenti circum clangore sonantemadspexit pariterque animis oculisque secutus“o salve” dixit, “Lapithaeae gloria gentis,maxime vir quondam, sed nunc avis unica, Caeneu!”Credita res auctore suo est: dolor addidit iram,oppressumque aegre tulimus tot ab hostibus unum;nec prius abstitimus ferro exercere dolorem,quam data pars leto, partem fuga noxque removit.”
Nestor had hardly told this marvellous taleof bitter strife betwixt the Lapithaeand those half-human, vanquished Centaurs, whenTlepolemus, incensed because no wordof praise was given to Hercules, repliedin this way; “Old sir, it is very strange,you have neglected to say one good wordin praise of Hercules. My father toldme often, that he overcame in battlethose cloud born centaurs.”Nestor, very loth,replied, “Why force me to recall old wrongs,to uncover sorrow buried by the years,that made me hate your father? It is truehis deeds were wonderful beyond belief,heaven knows, and filled the earth with well earned praisewhich I should rather wish might be denied.Deiphobus, the wise Polydamas, and evengreat Hector get no praise from me.Your father, I recall once overthrewMessene's walls and with no cause destroyedElis and Pylos and with fire and swordruined my own loved home. I cannot nameall whom he killed. But there were twelve of us,the sons of Neleus and all warrior youths,and all those twelve but me alone he killed.Ten of them met the common fate of war,but sadder was the death of Periclymenus.“Neptune, the founder of my family,had granted him a power to assumewhatever shape he chose, and when he wishedto lay that shape aside. When he, in vain,had been transformed to many other shapeshe turned into the form of that bird, whichis wont to carry in his crooked talonsthe forked lightnings, favorite bird of Jove.With wings and crooked bill and sharp-hooked talons,he assailed and tore the face of Hercules.But, when he soared away on eagle wingsup to the clouds and hovered, poised in air,that hero aimed his too unerring bowand hit him where the new wing joined his side.The wound was not large, but his sinews cutfailed to uphold him, and denied his wingstheir strength and motion. He fell down to earth;his weakened pinions could not catch the air.And the sharp arrow, which had lightly piercedthe wing, was driven upward through the sideinto the left part of my brother's neck.“O noble leader of the Rhodian fleet,why should I sing the praise of Hercules?But for my brothers I take no revengeexcept withholding praise of his great deeds.With you, my friendship will remain secure.”When Nestor with his honied tongue had toldthese tales of old, they all took wine againand they arose and gave the night to sleep.
Haec inter Lapithas et semihomines Centaurosproelia Tlepolemus Pylio referente dolorempraeteriti Alcidae tacito non pertulit oreatque ait: “Herculeae mirum est oblivia laudisacta tibi, senior! Certe mihi saepe referrenubigenas domitos a se pater esse solebat.”Tristis ad haec Pylius: “Quid me meminisse malorumcogis et obductos oculis rescindere luctusinque tuum genitorem odium offensasque fateri?Ille quidem maiora fide, di! gessit et orbeminplevit meritis, quod mallem posse negare:sed neque Deiphobum nec Polydamanta nec ipsumHectora laudamus—quis enim laudaverit hostem?Ille tuus genitor Messenia moenia quondamstravit et inmeritas urbes Elimque Pylumquediruit inque meos ferrum flammamque penatisinpulit, utque alios taceam, quos ille peremit,bis sex Nelidae fuimus, conspecta iuventus:bis sex Herculeis ceciderunt me minus unoviribus; atque alios vinci potuisse ferendum est:mira Periclymeni mors est, cui posse figurassumere, quas vellet, rursusque reponere sumptasNeptunus dederat, Nelei sanguinis auctor.Hic ubi nequiquam est formas variatus in omnes,vertitur in faciem volucris, quae fulmina curvisferre solet pedibus divum gratissima regi;Viribus usus avis pennis rostroque reduncohamatisque viri laniaverat unguibus ora:tendit in hunc nimium certos Tirynthius arcusatque inter nubes sublimia membra ferentempendentemque ferit, lateri qua iungitur ala;nec grave vulnus erat sed rupti vulnere nervideficiunt motumque negant viresque volandi.Decidit in terram, non concipientibus aurasinfirmis pennis, et qua levis haeserat alae,corporis adfixi pressa est gravitate sagittaperque latus summum iugulo est exacta sinistro.Nunc videor debere tui praeconia rebusHerculis, o Rhodiae rector pulcherrime classis?Nec tamen ulterius, quam fortia facta silendoulciscor fratres: solida est mihi gratia tecum.”Haec postquam dulci Neleius edidit ore,a sermone senis repetito munere Bacchisurrexere toris: nox est data cetera somno.
But Neptune, who commands the ocean waves,lamented with a father's grief his son,whose person he had changed into a bird—the swan of Phaethon, and towards Achilles,grim victor in the fight, his lasting hatemade him pursue resentment far beyondthe ordinary manner of the gods.After nine years of war he spoke these words,addressing long haired Sminthean Apollo:“O nephew the most dear to me of allmy brother's sons, with me you built in vainthe walls of Troy: you must be lost in grief,when you look on those towers so soon to fall?Or do you not lament the multitudesslain in defence of them—To name but one:“Does not the ghost of Hector, dragged aroundhis Pergama, appear to you? And yetthe fierce Achilles, who is bloodstained morethan slaughtering war, lives on this earth,for the destruction of our toil. Let himonce get into my power, and I will makehim feel the action of my triple spear.But, since I may not meet him face to face,do you with sudden arrow give him death.”The Delian god, Apollo, gave assent,both for his own hate and his uncle's rage.Veiled in a cloud, he found the Trojan hostand, there, while bloody strife went on, he sawthe hero Paris shoot at intervalshis arrows at the nameless host of Greeks.Revealing his divinity, he said:“Why spend your arrows on the common menif you would serve your people, take good aimat great Achilles and at last avengeyour hapless brothers whom he gave to death.”He pointed out Achilles—laying lowthe Trojan warriors with his mighty spear.On him he turned the Trojan's willing bowand guided with his hand the fatal shaft.It was the first joy that old Priam knewsince Hector's death. So then Achilles you,who overcame the mighty, were subduedby a coward who seduced a Grecian wife!Ah, if you could not die by manly hands,your choice had been the axe.Now that great terror of the Trojan race,the glory and defence of the Pelasgians,Achilles, first in war, lay on the pyre.The god of Fire first armed, then burned, his limbs.And now he is but ashes; and of him, so great,renowned and mighty, but a pitifulhandful of small dust insufficient fora little urn! But all his glory livesenough to fill the world—a great reward.And in that glory is his real life:in a true sense he will never know the voidof Tartarus.But soon his very shield—that men might know to whom it had belonged—brings war, and arms are taken for his arms.Neither Diomed nor Ajax called the lessventured to claim the hero's mighty shield.Menelaus and other warlike chiefs,even Agamemnon, all withdrew their claims.Only the greater Ajax and Ulysseshad such assurance that they dared contestfor that great prize. Then Agamemnon choseto avoid the odium of preferring one.He bade the Argolic chieftains take their seatswithin the camp and left to all of themthe hearing and decision of the cause.
At deus, aequoreas qui cuspide temperat undas,in volucrem corpus nati Phaethontida versummente dolet patria saevumque perosus Achillemexercet memores plus quam civiliter iras,iamque fere tracto duo per quinquennia bellotalibus intonsum conpellat Sminthea dictis:“O mihi de fratris longe gratissime natis,inrita qui mecum posuisti moenia Troiae,ecquid, ubi has iamiam casuras adspicis arces,ingemis? Aut ecquid tot defendentia murosmilia caesa doles? Ecquid, ne persequar omnes,Hectoris umbra subit circum sua Pergama tracti?cum tamen ille ferox belloque cruentior ipsovivit adhuc, operis nostri populator, Achilles.Det mihi se! faxo, triplici quid cuspide possim,sentiat; at quoniam concurrere comminus hostinon datur, occulta necopinum perde sagitta!”Adnuit atque animo pariter patruique suoqueDelius indulgens nebula velatus in agmenpervenit Iliacum mediaque in caede virorumrara per ignotos spargentem cernit Achivostela Parim fassusque deum “Quid spicula perdissanguine plebis?” ait. “Siqua est tibi cura tuorum,vertere in Aeaciden caesosque ulciscere fratres!”Dixit et ostendens sternentem Troica ferrocorpora Peliden, arcus obvertit in illumcertaque letifera direxit spicula dextra.Quod Priamus gaudere senex post Hectora posset,hoc fuit: ille igitur tantorum victor, Achille,victus es a timido Graiae raptore maritae!At si femineo fuerat tibi Marte cadendum,Thermodontiaca malles cecidisse bipenni!Iam timor ille Phrygum, decus et tutela Pelasginominis, Aeacides, caput insuperabile bello,arserat: armarat deus idem idemque cremabat;iam cinis est, et de tam magno restat Achillenescio quid parvam, quod non bene conpleat urnam:at vivit totum quae gloria conpleat orbem!Haec illi mensura viro respondet, et hac estpar sibi Pelides nec inania Tartara sentit.Ipse etiam, ut, cuius fuerit, cognoscere possesbella movet clipeus, deque armis arma feruntur.Non ea Tydides, non audet Oileos Aiax,non minor Atrides, non bello maior et aevoposcere, non alii: solis Telamone creatoLaerteque fuit tantae fiducia laudis.A se Tantalides onus invidiamque removitArgolicosque duces mediis considere castrisiussit et arbitrium litis traiecit in omnes.