Met. 12.146Hic labor, haec requiem multōrum pugna diērum
attulit, et positīs pars utraque substitit armīs.This toil, this fight brought a rest of many days, and both sides laid down their arms and held off. Met. 12.148Dumque vigil Phrygiōs servat custōdia mūrōs
et vigil Argolicās servat custōdia fossās,
150fēsta diēs aderat, quā Cygnī victor Achillēs
Pallada mactātae plācābat sanguine vaccae.And while watchful guards keep the Phrygian walls and watchful guards keep the Argive trenches, a feast day had come, on which Achilles, victor over Cygnus, was appeasing Pallas with the blood of a slaughtered heifer. Met. 12.152Cuius ut inposuit prōsecta calentibus ārīs
et dīs acceptus penetrāvit in aethera nīdor,
sacra tulēre suam, pars est data cētera mēnsīs.When he had laid its entrails on the warm altars and the savour, welcome to the gods, had made its way into the upper air, the rites took their share; the rest was given to the tables. Met. 12.155Discubuēre torīs procerēs et corpora tostā
carne replent vīnōque levant cūrāsque sitimque.The chieftains reclined on couches and fill their bodies with roasted meat and relieve both their cares and their thirst with wine.
Met. 12.157Nōn illōs citharae, nōn illōs carmina vōcum
longave multiforī dēlectat tībia buxī,
sed noctem sermōne trahunt, virtūsque loquendī
160māteria est: pugnās referunt hostisque suāsque,
inque vices adita atque exhausta perīcula saepe
commemorāre iuvat,— quid enim loquerētur Achillēs,
aut quid apud magnum potius loquerentur Achillem?Not lyres, not songs of voices, not the long pipe of many-holed boxwood delights them, but they draw out the night in talk, and valour is the matter of their speaking: they recount their enemies' battles and their own, and it pleases them to recall, by turns and often, dangers met and endured — for what would Achilles talk of, or what would they rather talk of in the presence of great Achilles? Met. 12.164Proxima praecipuē domitō victōria Cygnō
165in sermōne fuit.Above all, the recent victory over the conquered Cygnus was in their talk. Met. 12.165Vīsum mīrābile cūnctīs,
quod iuvenis corpus nūllō penetrābile tēlō
invictumque ā vulnere erat ferrumque terēbat.It seemed a marvel to all that the young man's body could be pierced by no weapon, was unconquerable by wounds and wore down the iron.
Met. 12.168Hoc ipse Aeacidēs, hoc mīrābantur Achīvī,
cum sīc Nestor ait: "Vestrō fuit ūnicus aevō
170contemptor ferrī nūllōque forābilis ictū
Cygnus.This the grandson of Aeacus himself, this the Achaeans were marvelling at, when Nestor speaks thus: 'In your age there has been only one who scorned iron and could be pierced by no blow, Cygnus. Met. 12.171At ipse ōlim patientem vulnera mīlle
corpore nōn laesō Perrhaebum Caenea vīdī,
Caenea Perrhaebum, quī factīs inclitus Othryn
incoluit;But I myself once saw Perrhaebian Caeneus endure a thousand wounds with his body unharmed, Caeneus the Perrhaebian, who, famous for his deeds, dwelt on Othrys; Met. 12.174quoque id mīrum magis esset in illō,
175fēmina nātus erat."and, to make this more marvellous in him, he had been born a woman.' Met. 12.175Mōnstrī novitāte feruntur
quisquis adest, narretque rogant.All who are present are struck by the strangeness of the prodigy, and ask him to tell the tale. Met. 12.176Quōs inter Achillēs:
"Dīc age!Among them Achilles: 'Come, tell us! Met. 12.177nam cūnctīs eadem est audīre voluntās,
ō fācunde senex, aevī prūdentia nostrī,
quis fuerit Caeneus, cūr in contrāria versus,
180quā tibi mīlitiā, cuius certāmine pugnae
cognitus, ā quō sit victus, sī victus ab ūllō est."for all of us have the same wish to hear, eloquent old man, wisdom of our age: who Caeneus was, why he was turned into the opposite sex, in what campaign, in the struggle of what battle you came to know him, by whom he was conquered, if he was conquered by anyone.' Met. 12.182Tum senior: "Quamvīs obstet mihi tarda vetustās,
multaque mē fugiant prīmīs spectāta sub annīs,
plūra tamen meminī.Then the old man: 'Though slow old age hinders me, and many things seen in my early years escape me, yet I remember more.
Met. 12.184Nec, quae magis haereat ūlla
185pectore rēs nostrō est inter bellīque domīque
ācta tot.Nor, among so many deeds of war and of peace, is there anything that clings more firmly in my breast. Met. 12.186Ac sīquem potuit spatiōsa senectūs
spectātōrem operum multōrum reddere, vīxī
annōs bis centum;And if long old age could make anyone a spectator of many deeds, I have lived two hundred years; Met. 12.188nunc tertia vīvitur aetās.now I am living my third age. Met. 12.189Clāra decōre fuit prōlēs Elatēia Caenis,
190Thessalidum virgō pulcherrima, perque propinquās
perque tuās urbēs (tibi enim populāris, Achille),
multōrum frūstrā vōtīs optāta procōrum.Caenis, the child of Elatus, was famous for her beauty, the loveliest maiden among the Thessalian women, and through the neighbouring cities and through your cities (for she was of your people, Achilles) she was longed for, in vain, in the prayers of many suitors. Met. 12.193Temptāsset Pēleus thalamōs quoque forsitan illōs,
sed iam aut contigerant illī cōnūbia mātris,
195aut fuerant prōmissa, tuae.Peleus too might perhaps have sought that marriage, but already marriage with your mother had either fallen to him or been promised.
Met. 12.195Nec Caenis in ūllōs
dēnūpsit thalamōs sēcrētaque lītora carpēns
aequoreī vim passa deī est (ita fāma ferēbat),
utque novae Veneris Neptūnus gaudia cēpit,
"sint tua vōta licet" dīxit "sēcūra repulsae:
200ēlige, quid voveās!"Caenis did not enter into any marriage, and as she walked along a lonely shore she suffered violence from the god of the sea (so rumour said), and when Neptune had taken the joys of his new love, he said: 'Your prayers may be sure of no refusal: choose what you will pray for!' Met. 12.200(eadem hoc quoque fāma ferēbat).(this too the same rumour reported). Met. 12.201"Magnum" Caenis ait "facit haec iniūria vōtum;'This wrong,' says Caenis, 'makes my prayer a great one: Met. 12.202tāle patī iam posse nihil;that I may never again be able to suffer such a thing; Met. 12.202dā, fēmina nē sim:
omnia praestiteris."grant that I be not a woman: you will have granted everything.' Met. 12.203Graviōre novissima dīxit
verba sonō, poteratque virī vōx illa vidērī,
205sīcut erat;She spoke the last words in a deeper tone, and that voice could seem a man's, as indeed it was; Met. 12.205nam iam vōtō deus aequoris altī
adnuerat dederatque super, nē saucius ūllīs
vulneribus fierī ferrōve occumbere posset.for already the god of the deep sea had assented to the prayer, and had granted besides that he could not be wounded by any blows or fall by the sword.
Met. 12.208Mūnere laetus abit studiīsque virīlibus aevum
exigit Atracidēs Pēnēiaque arva pererrat.Glad at the gift, the Atracian goes off and spends his life in manly pursuits and roams the fields of the Peneus.