Met. 14.772Proximus Ausoniās iniūstī mīles Amūlī
rēxit opēs, Numitorque senex āmissa nepōtis
mūnere regna capit, fēstīsque Palīlibus urbis
775moenia conduntur, Tatiusque patrēsque Sabīnī
bella gerunt, arcisque viā Tarpēia reclūsā
dignam animam poenā congestīs exuit armīs.Next the soldiery of unjust Amulius ruled the Ausonian realm, and old Numitor, by his grandson's gift, takes back the kingdom he had lost, and at the festival of Pales the walls of the city are founded; and Tatius and the Sabine fathers wage war, and Tarpeia, having opened the way to the citadel, was stripped of her life, deserving its penalty, beneath heaped arms. Met. 14.778Inde satī Curibus tacitōrum mōre lupōrum
ōre premunt vōcēs et corpora victa sopōre
780invādunt portāsque petunt, quās obice firmō
clauserat Īliadēs: ūnam tamen ipsa reclūsit
nec strepitum versō Sāturnia cardine fēcit.Then the men born at Cures, like silent wolves, suppress their voices and attack bodies overcome by sleep and make for the gates, which the son of Ilia had closed with a firm bar: yet Saturn's daughter herself opened one, and made no noise as she turned the hinge.
Met. 14.783Sōla Venus portae cecidisse repāgula sēnsit
et clausūra fuit, nisi quod rescindere numquam
785dīs licet ācta deum.Venus alone perceived that the bars of the gate had fallen, and she would have closed it, except that gods may never undo the acts of gods. Met. 14.785Iānō loca iūncta tenēbant
nāides Ausoniae gelidō rōrantia fonte:
hās rogat auxilium, nec nymphae iūsta petentem
sustinuēre deam vēnāsque et flūmina fontis
ēlicuēre suī;Ausonian naiads held a spot adjoining Janus' shrine, wet with a cold spring: she asks them for help, nor did the nymphs withstand the goddess's just request, and they drew forth the veins and streams of their fountain; Met. 14.789nōndum tamen invia Iānī
790ōra patentis erant, neque iter praeclūserat unda:
lūrida suppōnunt fēcundō sulphura fontī
incenduntque cavās fūmante bitūmine vēnās.yet the gates of open Janus were not yet impassable, nor had the water blocked the way: they put yellowish sulphur beneath the abundant spring and set the hollow veins on fire with smoking pitch. Met. 14.793Vīribus hīs aliīsque vapor penetrāvit ad īma
fontis, et Alpīnō modo quae certāre rigōrī
795audēbātis aquae, nōn cēditis ignibus ipsīs!By these and other forces the heat penetrated to the depths of the spring, and you waters, who only lately dared to rival the Alpine cold, you yield not even to fire itself!
Met. 14.796Flammiferā geminī fūmant adspergine postēs,
portaque, nēquīquam rigidīs prōmissa Sabīnīs,
fonte fuit praestrūcta novō, dum Mārtius arma
indueret mīles;The twin doorposts smoke with the fiery spray, and the gate, promised in vain to the hard Sabines, was blocked by the new spring, until the soldiers of Mars could put on their arms; Met. 14.799quae postquam Rōmulus ultrō
800obtulit, et strāta est tellūs Rōmāna Sabīnīs
corporibus strāta estque suīs, generīque cruōrem
sanguine cum socerī permiscuit impius ēnsis,
pāce tamen sistī bellum nec in ultima tantum
dēcertāre placet Tatiumque accēdere regnō.after Romulus had offered battle of his own accord, and the Roman earth had been strewn with Sabine bodies and strewn with its own, and the impious sword had mixed the blood of son-in-law with the blood of father-in-law, they resolved nevertheless that the war be ended with peace and not fought out to the last, and that Tatius should share the kingdom. Met. 14.805Occiderat Tatius, populīsque aequāta duōbus,
Rōmule, iūra dabās, positā cum casside Māvors
tālibus adfātur Dīvumque hominumque parentem:
"Tempus adest, genitor, quoniam fundāmine magnō
rēs Rōmāna valet et praeside pendet ab ūnō,
810praemia (sunt prōmissa mihi dignōque nepōtī!)
solvere et ablātum terrīs impōnere caelō.Tatius had died, and you, Romulus, were giving laws equally to both peoples, when Mars, laying aside his helmet, addresses the father of gods and men in these words: 'The time has come, father, since the Roman state is strong on a great foundation and depends on a single guardian, to pay the reward (it was promised to me and to your worthy grandson!) and to take him from the earth and set him in heaven.
Met. 14.812Tū mihi conciliō quondam praesente deōrum
(nam memorō memorīque animō pia verba notāvī)
"ūnus erit, quem tū tollēs in caerula caelī"
815dīxistī: rata sit verbōrum summa tuōrum!"You once said to me, with the council of the gods present (for I remember, and I noted the dutiful words in my mindful heart), "There will be one whom you shall raise to the blue of heaven": let the sum of your words be fulfilled!' Met. 14.816Adnuit omnipotēns et nūbibus āera caecīs
occuluit tonitrūque et fulgure terruit orbem:
quae sibi prōmissae sēnsit rata signa rapīnae
innīxusque hastae pressōs tēmōne cruentō
820impavidus cōnscendit equōs Grādīvus et ictū
verberis increpuit prōnusque per āera lapsus
cōnstitit in summō nemorōsī colle Palātī
reddentemque suō nōn rēgia iūra Quirītī
abstulit Īliadēn: corpus mortāle per aurās
825dīlāpsum tenuēs, ceu lātā plumbea fundā
missa solet mediō glāns intābēscere caelō.The almighty nodded and hid the air in dark clouds and terrified the world with thunder and lightning: Gradivus knew these for sure signs of the abduction promised him, and, leaning on his spear, fearless, he mounted his horses, which strained at the bloodstained pole, and cracked the lash of his whip, and, gliding headlong through the air, halted on the top of the wooded Palatine hill and carried off the son of Ilia as he was giving laws, not as a tyrant, to his Quirites: his mortal body dissolved through the thin air, as a leaden ball flung from a broad sling usually melts away in mid-sky.
Met. 14.827Pulchra subit faciēs et pulvīnāribus altīs
dignior, est quālis trabeātī fōrma Quirīnī.A beautiful form comes over him, more worthy of the lofty couches of the gods, such as is the form of Quirinus in his robe of state. Met. 14.829Flēbat ut āmissum coniūnx, cum rēgia Iūnō
830Īrin ad Hersiliam dēscendere līmite curvō
imperat et vacuae sua sīc mandāta referre:
"Ō et dē Latiō, ō et dē gente Sabīnā
praecipuum, mātrona, decus, dignissima tantī
ante fuisse virī, coniūnx nunc esse Quirīnī,
835siste tuōs flētūs et, sī tibi cūra videndī
coniugis est, duce mē lūcum pete, colle Quirīnī
quī viret et templum Rōmānī rēgis obumbrat."His wife was weeping for him as lost, when royal Juno orders Iris to descend to Hersilia along her curving path and to bring her message thus to the widow: 'O matron, chief glory of Latium and of the Sabine race, most worthy to have been before the wife of so great a man, and now of Quirinus, cease your weeping, and, if you have a longing to see your husband, with me as guide make for the grove that grows green on Quirinus' hill and shades the temple of the Roman king.' Met. 14.838Pāret et in terram pictōs dēlapsa per arcūs
Hersiliēn iussīs compellat vōcibus Īris.Iris obeys and, gliding down to earth along her painted arc, addresses Hersilia with the words she was bidden.
Met. 14.840Illa verēcundō vix tollēns lūmina vultū
"ō, dea, namque mihi nec, quae sīs, dīcere promptum est,
et liquet esse deam, dūc, ō dūc" inquit "et offer
coniugis ōra mihi, quem sī modo posse vidēre
fāta semel dederint, caelum accēpisse fatēbor."She, scarcely raising her eyes with modest face, said, 'O goddess (for it is not easy for me to say which goddess you are, yet it is clear that you are a goddess), lead me, O lead me, and show me my husband's face; if the fates grant that I may see him just once, I shall confess that I have received heaven.' Met. 14.845Nec mora, Rōmuleōs cum virgine Thaumantēā
ingreditur collēs: ibi sīdus ab aethere lapsum
dēcidit in terrās, ā cuius lūmine flagrāns
Hersiliē crīnēs cum sīdere cessit in aurās.Without delay, she enters the hills of Romulus with the maiden daughter of Thaumas: there a star, gliding from the heavens, fell to the earth, and, her hair blazing from its light, Hersilia departed with the star into the air. Met. 14.849Hanc manibus notīs Rōmānae conditor urbis
850excipit et prīscum pariter cum corpore nōmen
mūtat Horamque vocat, quae nunc dea iūncta Quirīnō est.The founder of the Roman city receives her with familiar hands and changes her old name along with her body and calls her Hora, who is now a goddess joined to Quirinus.