435 constitit in digitos extemplo arrectus uterque bracchiaque ad superas interritus extulit auras. abduxere retro longe capita ardua ab ictu immiscentque manus manibus pugnamque lacessunt, ille pedum melior motu fretusque iuventa, 430 hic membris et mole valens; sed tarda trementi genua labant, vastos quatit aeger anhelitus artus. multa viri nequiquam inter se volnera iactant, multa cavo lateri ingeminant et pectora vastos dant sonitus, erratque auris et tempora circum crebra manus, duro crepitant sub volnere malae. stat gravis Entellus nisuque immotus eodem, corpore tela modo atque oculis vigilantibus exit. ille, velut celsam oppugnat qui molibus urbem aut montana sedet circum castella sub armis, nunc hos, nunc illos aditus omnemque pererrat arte locum et variis adsultibus inritus urget. ostendit dextram insurgens Entellus et alte extulit; ille ictum venientem a vertice velox praevidit celerique elapsus corpore cessit; Entellus viris in ventum effudit et ultro ipse gravis graviterque ad terram pondere vasto concidit, ut quondam cava concidit aut Erymantho 440 445 MPRV aut lda in magna radicibus eruta pinus. 435 sonitum P. 446 effundit P1. 450 455 each took his stand, poised on tiptoe, and, undaunted, lifted his arms high in air. Raising their heads high and drawing them far back from blows, they spar, hand with hand, and provoke the fray, the one nimbler of foot and confident in his youth, the other mighty in massive limbs; yet his slow knees totter and tremble and a painful gasping shakes his huge frame. Many hard blows they launch at each other idly, many they rain on hollow flank, while their chests ring loudly; hands play oft about ears and brows, and cheeks rattle under the hard strokes. Solidly stands Entellus, motionless, unmoved, with selfsame poise, shunning blows with body and watchful eyes alone. The other, like one who assails with siege-works some high city or besets a mountain stronghold in arms, tries this entrance and now that, skilfully ranges over all the ground, and presses with varied but vain assaults. Then Entellus, rising, put forth his right, lifted high; the other speedily foresaw the down-coming blow and, slipping aside with nimble body, foiled it. Entellus spent his strength on air, yea, and in his huge bulk this mighty man fell in his might to earth, as at times falls on Erymanthus or mighty Ida a hollow pine, uptorn by the roots! Eagerly the Teucrians and men of Sicily rise up; a shout mounts to heaven, and first Acestes runs forward, and in pity raises his aged friend from the ground. But neither downcast nor dismayed by the fall, the hero returns keener to the fray, and rouses violence with wrath, Shame, too, and conscious valour kindle his strength, and in fury he drives Dares headlong over the whole arena, redoubling his blows, now with the right hand, and now, lo! with the left. No stint, no stay is there— 460 465 nec mora, nec requies; quam multa grandine nimbi culminibus crepitant, sic densis ictibus heros creber utraque manu pulsat versatque Dareta. Tum pater Aeneas procedere longius iras et saevire animis Entellum haud passus acerbis, sed finem imposuit pugnae fessumque Dareta eripuit, mulcens dictis, ac talia fatur: "infelix, quae tanta animum dementia cepit? non viris alias conversaque numina sentis? cede deo." dixitque et proelia voce diremit. ast illum fidi aequales, genua aegra trahentem iactantemque utroque caput crassumque cruorem ore eiectantem mixtosque in sanguine dentes, ducunt ad navis; galeamque ensemque vocati accipiunt, palmam Entello taurumque relinquunt. hic victor, superans animis tauroque superbus, 470 "nate dea vosque haec," inquit, "cognoscite, Teucri, et mihi quae fuerint iuvenali in corpore vires, et qua servetis revocatum a morte Dareta." dixit et adversi contra stetit ora iuvenci, 475 480 qui donum adstabat pugnae, durosque reducta libravit dextra media inter cornua caestus, arduus, effractoque inlisit in ossa cerebro: sternitur exanimisque tremens procumbit humi bos. ille super talis effundit pectore voces: "hanc tibi, Eryx, meliorem animam pro morte Daretis persolvo; hic victor caestus artemque repono." Protinus Aeneas celeri certare sagitta invitat qui forte velint et praemia ponit ingentique manu malum de nave Seresti 470 ore eiectantem Py1 ore iectantem M: : tem R: ore reiectantem 2. 477 aversi P. 473 animo V. 485 ore iactan 480 in omitted R. thick as the hail when storm-clouds rattle on the roof, so thick are the blows from either hand as the hero oft beats and batters Dares. 461 Then father Aeneas suffered not their fury to go farther, nor Entellus to rage in bitterness of soul, but set an end to the fray and rescued the sore-spent Dares, speaking thus in soothing words: "Unhappy man! How could such frenzy seize thy mind? Seest thou not the strength is another's and the gods are changed? Yield to heaven!" He spoke, and with his voice broke off the fight. But Dares his loyal mates lead to the ships, his feeble knees trailing, his head swaying from side to side, while he spat from his mouth clotted gore and teeth mingled with the blood. At summons, they receive the helmet and the sword; the palm and the bull they leave to Entellus. Thereat the victor, triumphant in spirit and glorying in the bull, cries: "O Goddess-born and ye, O Trojans, learn what strength I had in my youthful frame, and from what a death ye recall and rescue Dares." He spoke, and set himself in face of the confronting steer as it stood by, the prize of battle; then drew back his right hand and, at full height, swung the hard gauntlet just between the horns, and broke into the skull, scattering the brains. Out stretched and lifeless, the bull falls quivering on the ground. Above it he pours forth from his breast these words: "This better life I offer thee, Eryx, due for death of Dares; here victorious I lay down the gauntlet and my art!" 485 Straightway Aeneas invites all, who may so wish, to contend with swift arrows, and sets forth the prizes. With a large throng 1 he raises the mast from 1 So taken by Servius, who explains the phrase by magna multitudine. Editors commonly render, " with his own mighty hand," as if Aeneas were an Homeric hero. erigit et volucrem traiecto in fune columbam, 490 495 MPR 505 510 pro se quisque viri et depromunt tela pharetris, 501 primaque per caelum nervo stridente sagitta Hyrtacidae iuvenis volucris diverberat auras, et venit adversique infigitur arbore mali. intremuit malus, timuitque exterrita pinnis ales, et ingenti sonuerunt omnia plausu. post acer Mnestheus adducto constitit arcu, alta petens, pariterque oculos telumque tetendit. ast ipsam miserandus avem contingere ferro non valuit; nodos et vincula linea rupit, quis innexa pedem malo pendebat ab alto; illa Notos atque atra volans in nubila fugit. tum rapidus, iamdudum arcu contenta parato tela tenens, fratrem Eurytion in vota vocavit, iam vacuo laetam caelo speculatus, et alis plaudentem nigra figit sub nube columbam. decidit exanimis vitamque reliquit in astris aetheriis fixamque refert delapsa sagittam. amissa solus palma superabat Acestes; 515 |