Met. 12.580At deus, aequoreās quī cuspide temperat undās,
in volucrem corpus nātī Phaethontida versum
mente dolet patriā saevumque perōsus Achillem
exercet memorēs plūs quam cīvīliter īrās,
iamque ferē trāctō duo per quīnquennia bellō
585tālibus intōnsum conpellat Sminthea dictīs:
"Ō mihi dē frātris longē grātissime nātīs,
inrita quī mēcum posuistī moenia Troiae,
ecquid, ubi hās iamiam cāsūrās adspicis arcēs,
ingemis?But the god who governs the waves of the sea with his trident grieves with a father's heart for his son's body turned into Phaethon's bird, and, hating savage Achilles, nurses a resentful anger beyond what is civil; and now, when the war had been waged for nearly twice five years, he addresses unshorn Smintheus with words like these: 'O dearest by far to me of my brother's sons, who with me set up the walls of Troy in vain, do you not groan at all when you see these citadels on the very point of falling? Met. 12.589Aut ecquid tot dēfendentia mūrōs
590mīlia caesa dolēs?Or do you grieve at all for the many thousands slain defending the walls?
Met. 12.590Ecquid, nē persequar omnēs,
Hectoris umbra subit circum sua Pergama trāctī?Does the shade of Hector — not to go through them all — come into your mind, dragged around his own Pergamum? Met. 12.592cum tamen ille ferōx bellōque cruentior ipsō
vīvit adhūc, operis nostrī populātor, Achillēs.while that fierce man, bloodier than war itself, still lives, the destroyer of our work, Achilles. Met. 12.594Det mihi sē!Let him give himself to me! Met. 12.594faxō, triplicī quid cuspide possim,
595sentiat;I will make him feel what I can do with my triple spear; Met. 12.595at quoniam concurrere comminus hostī
nōn datur, occultā necopīnum perde sagittā!"but since it is not granted to meet the enemy face to face, destroy him unawares with a hidden arrow!' Met. 12.597Adnuit atque animō pariter patruīque suōque
Dēlius indulgēns nebulā vēlātus in agmen
pervēnit Īliacum mediāque in caede virōrum
600rāra per ignōtōs spargentem cernit Achīvōs
tēla Parim fassusque deum "Quid spīcula perdis
sanguine plēbis?"He nodded, and the Delian, indulging alike his uncle's feelings and his own, veiled in a cloud, reached the Trojan line, and in the midst of the slaughter of men sees Paris scattering his arrows sparsely among undistinguished Achaeans, and, declaring himself a god: 'Why do you waste your shafts on the blood of common folk?' Met. 12.602ait.he says.
Met. 12.602"Sīqua est tibi cūra tuōrum,
vertere in Aeacidēn caesōsque ulcīscere frātrēs!"'If you have any care for your own people, turn on the grandson of Aeacus and avenge your slain brothers!' Met. 12.604Dīxit et ostendēns sternentem Trōica ferrō
605corpora Pēlīdēn, arcūs obvertit in illum
certaque lētiferā dīrēxit spīcula dextrā.He spoke, and, pointing to the son of Peleus as he laid low Trojan bodies with the sword, he turned his bow towards him and guided the sure arrows with his deadly right hand. Met. 12.607Quod Priamus gaudēre senex post Hectora posset,
hoc fuit: ille igitur tantōrum victor, Achille,
victus es ā timidō Grāiae raptōre marītae!This was the one thing old Priam could rejoice in after Hector: so you, Achilles, conqueror of so many, have been conquered by the cowardly abductor of a Greek wife! Met. 12.610At sī fēmineō fuerat tibi Mārte cadendum,
Thermōdontiacā mālles cecidisse bipennī!But if you were fated to fall in a woman's warfare, you would rather have fallen by the Thermodontian axe! Met. 12.612Iam timor ille Phrygum, decus et tūtēla Pelasgī
nōminis, Aeacidēs, caput īnsuperābile bellō,
ārserat: armārat deus īdem īdemque cremābat;Now that terror of the Phrygians, the glory and defence of the Pelasgian name, the grandson of Aeacus, a head unconquerable in war, had burned: the same god had armed him and the same was burning him; Met. 12.615iam cinis est, et dē tam magnō restat Achille
nesciō quid parvam, quod nōn bene conpleat urnam:
at vīvit tōtum quae glōria conpleat orbem!now he is ash, and of Achilles, so great, there remains something or other that would scarcely fill a small urn: but his glory lives, which would fill the whole world!
Met. 12.618Haec illī mēnsūra virō respondet, et hāc est
pār sibi Pēlīdēs nec inānia Tartara sentit.This measure answers to the man, and in this the son of Peleus is equal to himself and does not feel empty Tartarus. Met. 12.620Ipse etiam, ut, cuius fuerit, cognōscere possēs
bella movet clipeus, dēque armīs arma feruntur.His very shield too, so that you might know whose it had been, stirs up war, and arms are taken up for arms. Met. 12.622Nōn ea Tȳdīdēs, nōn audet Oīleos Aiāx,
nōn minor Atrīdēs, nōn bellō maior et aevō
poscere, nōn aliī: sōlīs Telamōne creātō
625Lāertēque fuit tantae fīdūcia laudis.The son of Tydeus does not dare to claim them, nor Ajax son of Oileus, nor the younger son of Atreus, nor the one greater in war and age, nor the others: only the son of Telamon and the son of Laertes had confidence enough for so great a prize. Met. 12.626Ā sē Tantalidēs onus invidiamque remōvit
Argolicōsque ducēs mediīs cōnsīdere castrīs
iussit et arbitrium lītis trāiēcit in omnēs.The descendant of Tantalus removed the burden and the odium from himself, and ordered the Argive leaders to sit in the middle of the camp, and passed the judgement of the dispute on to them all.