Thestorides Vincemus' ait, 'gaudete, Pelasgi:
Troja cadet; sed erit nostri mora longa laboris ;
atque novem volucres in belli digerit annos.
ille, ut erat, virides amplexus in arbore ramos
fit lapis, et superat serpentis imagine saxum.
Permanet Aoniis Nereus violentus in undis,
bellaque non transfert; et sunt, qui parcere Trojae
Neptunum credant, quia moenia fecerat urbi.
at non Thestorides: nec enim nescitve tacetve,
sanguine virgineo placandam virginis iram
esse deae. Postquam pietatem publica causa,
rexque patrem vicit, castumque datura cruorem
flentibus ante aram stetit Iphigenia ministris,
victa dea est, nubemque oculis objecit, et inter
officium turbamque sacri vocesque precantum
subposita fertur mutasse Mycenida cerva.
ergo ubi, qua decuit, lenita est caede Diana,
et pariter Phoebes, pariter maris ira recessit;
accipiunt ventos a tergo mille carinae,
multaque perpessae Phrygia potiuntur arena:
Orbe locus medio est inter terrasque fretumque
caelestesque plagas, triplicis confinia mundi :
unde quod est usquam, quamvis regionibus absit,
inspicitur, penetratque cavas vox omnis ad aures.
Fama tenet, summaque domum sibi legit in arce;
innumerosque aditus ac mille foramina tectis
addidit, et nullis inclusit limina portis:
nocte dieque patet: tota est ex aere sonanti;
tota fremit, vocesque refert, iteratque quod audit;
nulla quies intus, nullaque silentia parte.
nec tamen est clamor, sed parvae murmura vocis : qualia de pelagi, si quis procul audiat, undis
esse solent; qualemve sonum, cum Juppiter atras
increpuit nubes, extrema tonitrua reddunt.
atria turba tenet: veniunt leve vulgus, euntque;
mixtaque cum veris passim commenta vagantur
milia rumorum, confusaque verba volutant.
e quibus hi vacuas implent sermonibus aures,
hi narrata ferunt alio, mensuraque ficti
crescit, et auditis aliquid novus adicit auctor.
illic Credulitas, illic temerarius Error,
vanaque Laetitia est, consternatique Timores,
Seditioque recens, dubioque auctore Susurri.
ipsa quid in caelo rerum pelagoque geratur
et tellure, videt, totumque inquirit in orbem.
Fecerat haec notum, Graias cum milite forti adventare rates; neque inexspectatus in armis hostis adest. Prohibent aditus, litusque tuentur Troës; et Hectorea primus fataliter hasta, Protesilaë, cadis, commissaque proelia magno stant Danaïs, fortisque animae nece cognitus Hector. nec Phryges exiguo, quid Achaïca dextera posset, sanguine senserunt. Et jam Sigea rubebant litora; jam leto proles Neptunia, Cygnus
mille viros dederat ; jam curru instabat Achilles,
totaque Peliacae sternebat cuspidis ictu
agmina, perque acies aut Cygnum aut Hectora quaerens Congreditur Cygno: decimum dilatus in annum Tum colla jugo candentia pressos
exhortatus equos, currum direxit in hostem,
concutiensque suis vibrantia tela lacertis,
'Quisquis es, O juvenis,' dixit 'solamen habeto
mortis, ab Haemonio quod sis jugulatus Achille.'
hactenus Aeacides: vocem gravis hasta secuta est.
sed quamquam certa nullus fuit error in hasta,
nil tamen emissi profecit acumine ferri,
utque hebeti pectus tantummodo contudit ictu.
'Nate dea, nam te fama praenovimus,' inquit
ille, 'quid a nobis vulnus miraris abesse?'-
mirabatur enim - 'Non haec, quam cernis, equinis
fulva jubis cassis, neque onus cava parma sinistrae
auxilio mihi sunt: decor est quaesitus ab istis ;
Mars quoque ob hoc capere arma solet. Removebitur
hujus
tegminis officium: tamen indestrictus abibo.
est aliquid, non esse satum Nereïde, sed qui
Nereaque et natas et totum temperet aequor.'
Dixit, et haesurum clipei curvamine telum
misit in Aeaciden, quod et aes et proxima rupit
terga novena boum, decimo tamen orbe moratum est.
excutit hoc heros, rursusque trementia forti
tela manu torsit: rursus sine vulnere corpus
sincerumque fuit; nec tertia cuspis apertum
et se praebentem valuit destringere Cygnum.
haud secus exarsit, quam circo taurus aperto,
cum sua terribili petit irritamina cornu,
poeniceas vestes, elusaque vulnera sensit.
Num tamen exciderit ferrum, considerat, hastae: 105 haerebat ligno. Manus est mea debilis ergo,
quasque' aitante habuit vires, effudit in uno?
nam certe valui, vel cum Lyrnesia primus.
moenia dejeci, vel cum Tenedonque suoque
Eëtioneas implevi sanguine Thebas ;
vel cum purpureus populari caede Caïcus
fluxit, opusque meae bis sensit Telephus hastae.
hic quoque tot caesis, quorum per litus acervos
et feci, et video, valuit mea dextra valetque.'
Dixit, et, ante actis veluti male crederet, hastam
misit in adversum Lycia de plebe Menoeten,
loricamque simul subjectaque pectora rupit.
quo plangente gravem moribundo vertice terram,
extrahit illud idem calido de vulnere telum,
atque ait: 'Haec manus est, haec, qua modo vicimus,
utar in hoc isdem : sit in hoc precor exitus idem.'
sic fatur, Cygnumque petit ; nec fraxinus errat,
inque umero sonuit non evitata sinistro:
inde velut muro solidaque a caute repulsa est.
qua tamen ictus erat, signatum sanguine Cygnum
viderat, et frustra fuerat gavisus Achilles.
vulnus erat nullum : sanguis erat ille Menoetae.
Tum vero praeceps curru fremebundus ab alto
desilit, et nitido securum cominus hostem
ense petens, parmam gladio galeamque cavari
cernit, at in duro laedi quoque corpore ferrum.
haud tulit ulterius, clipeoque adversa retecto
ter quater ora viri et capulo cava tempora pulsat;
cedentique sequens instat, turbatque, ruitque,
attonitoque negat requiem. Pavor occupat illum :
ante oculosque natant tenebrae, retroque ferenti
aversos passus medio lapis obstitit arvo.
quem super impulsum resupino pectore Cygnum
vi multa vertit, terraeque adflixit Achilles.
tum clipeo genibusque premens praecordia duris,
vincla trahit galeae, quae presso subdita mento
elidunt fauces, et respiramen iterque
eripiunt animae. Victum spoliare parabat :
arma relicta videt; corpus deus aequoris albam
contulit in volucrem, cujus modo nomen habebat.
XXVIII. THE TALE OF GALATEA.
[As the chiefs marvel at this prodigy, Nestor relates of Cæneus, once a maiden (Cænis), but made into an invulnerable man, who was present when the nuptial feast of Pirithous and Hippodamia was disturbed by the battle of the Lapitha and the Centaurs. For the Centaurs, monsters of vast strength and fury, half-man, halfhorse, had attempted to steal away the bride. And Cæneus, remaining unhurt through the fight, was at length overwhelmed with vast piles of trees, and transformed by Neptune to an eagle (XII. 146-535). The son of Hercules, Tlepolemus, tells also of Periclymenus, slain by Hercules as he flew against him in the form of an eagle (536-579). At the request of Neptune, whose son Cygnus had been slain, Apollo guides the arrow of Paris to the vulnerable heel of Achilles; so that he dies, and a strife arises among the other chiefs who shall receive his armor, the rival claimants being Ajax and Ulysses (580-628).
Ajax maintains his claim, before the assembled chiefs, first as of nobler descent, and then by his martial exploits, chiefly the defence of the Grecian fleet; at the same time scorning the strategy of Ulysses, and asserting that he himself alone has might to wield the immortal armor (XIII. 1–122). To which Ulysses replies, that his own counsel had been most effective in the siege, and his own acts most essential, especially in the night attack of the tents of Rhesus, and the carrying away of the Palladium (123-381). To him the victory is adjudged; and Ajax, in ungovernable wrath, slays himself with his own sword, - the flower hyacinth springing from his blood (382-398).
During the return of the chiefs from Troy, Hecuba, having plucked out the eyes of Polymestor, king of Thrace, who had murdered her son Polydorus, is changed to a dog (399-575). Aurora, mourning for her son Memnon, slain by Achilles, obtains that his ashes shall become birds, while her tears are changed to dew (576-622). Eneas at Delphi is told by Anius, priest of Apollo, of his daughters' transformation into doves while fleeing from the power of Agamemnon (623-674); and at his departing
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