Aeneid 12.500–528

Aen. 12.500Quis mihi nunc tot acerba deus, quis carmine caedēs
dīversās obitumque ducum, quōs aequore tōtō
inque vicem nunc Turnus agit, nunc Trōius hērōs,
expediat?

What god could now unfold for me so many bitter things, who could tell in song the different slaughters and the deaths of the leaders, whom now Turnus, now the Trojan hero drives in turn across the whole plain?

Note. The poet's question to the Muse: Quis … deus … expediat? 'what god could unfold?' (potential subjunctive). tot acerba: 'so many bitter things'. inque vicem: 'and in turn'. Trōius hērōs: Aeneas.

Aen. 12.503Tantōn placuit concurrere mōtū,
Iuppiter, aeternā gentīs in pāce futūrās?

Was it your will, Jupiter, that nations who would live in eternal peace should clash in so great an upheaval?

Note. Tantōn = tantōne, 'with so great …?' A rare direct challenge to Jupiter. gentīs … futūrās: 'peoples who were going to be', an accusative and infinitive with placuit: Trojans and Latins will become one people in peace.

Aen. 12.505Aenēās Rutulum Sucrōnem, ea prīma ruentīs
pugna locō statuit Teucrōs, haud multa morantem
excipit in latus et, quā fāta celerrima, crūdum
trānsadigit costās et crātīs pectoris ēnsem.

Aeneas meets the Rutulian Sucro (that fight first made the charging Trojans stand their ground), and with little delay catches him in the side and, where death comes swiftest, drives the cruel sword through his ribs and the cage of his chest.

Note. The parenthesis ea prīma … statuit Teucrōs explains that this fight first made the charging Trojans stand firm. haud multa morantem: 'not delaying much'. quā fāta celerrima: 'where death is swiftest' (est understood). crūdum … ēnsem: 'the cruel sword'. crātīs pectoris: 'the cage of the chest', the ribs.

Aen. 12.509Turnus equō dēiectum Amycum frātremque Diōrēn,
510congressus pedes, hunc venientem cuspide longā,
hunc mūcrōne ferit currūque abscīsa duōrum
suspendit capita et rōrantia sanguine portat.

Turnus, fighting on foot, meets Amycus, thrown from his horse, and his brother Diores, and strikes one with the long spear as he comes on, the other with the sword point, and hangs their two severed heads from his chariot and carries them dripping with blood.

Note. pedes: 'on foot', a noun in apposition to Turnus. hunc … hunc: 'one … the other'. Hanging enemies' heads from the chariot is one of Turnus' savage touches.

Aen. 12.513Ille Talon Tanaimque necī fortemque Cethēgum,
trīs ūnō congressū, et maestum mittit Onītēn,
515nōmen Echīonium mātrisque genus Peridiae,
hic frātrēs Lyciā missōs et Apollinis agrīs
et iuvenem exōsum nēquīquam bella Menoetēn,
Arcada, piscōsae cui circum flūmina Lernae
ars fuerat pauperque domus nec nōta potentum
520mūnera conductāque pater tellūre serēbat.

Aeneas sends to death Talos and Tanais and brave Cethegus, three in one encounter, and gloomy Onites, of Theban name, whose mother was Peridia; Turnus kills the brothers sent from Lycia and Apollo's fields, and Menoetes, a young man who hated war in vain, an Arcadian, whose craft and poor home had been around the streams of fish-filled Lerna, who knew nothing of the rewards of the powerful, and whose father sowed on rented land.

Note. Ille: Aeneas; hīc: Turnus (in the next part of the sentence). nex, 'death', in the dative: 'sends to death'. trīs = trēs. nōmen Echīonium: 'of a Theban name' (Echion was one of the founders of Thebes). Arcada: Greek accusative of Arcas, 'an Arcadian'. Menoetes is a quiet, sympathetic portrait: a poor fisherman's son who hated war.

Aen. 12.521Ac velut immissī dīversīs partibus ignēs
ārentem in silvam et virgulta sonantia laurō,
aut ubi dēcursū rapidō dē montibus altīs
dant sonitum spūmōsī amnēs et in aequora currunt
525quisque suum populātus iter: nōn segnius ambō
Aenēās Turnusque ruunt per proelia;

And like fires let loose from different sides into a dry forest and thickets of crackling laurel, or as when foaming rivers plunge from high mountains, roaring, and run to the sea, each having laid waste its own path: no less fiercely do both Aeneas and Turnus rush through the battle;

Note. Two similes for the two heroes: fires in a dry wood, and torrents rushing to the sea. sonantia laurō: 'crackling with laurel'. quisque suum populātus iter: 'each having laid waste its own path'. nōn segnius: 'not more slowly', i.e. just as fiercely.

Aen. 12.526nunc nunc
flūctuat īra intus, rumpuntur nescia vincī
pectora, nunc tōtīs in volnera vīribus itur.

now, now anger surges within them, hearts that know not how to be beaten are bursting, now they go at the wounding with all their strength.

Note. nescia vincī: 'not knowing how to be conquered'. in vulnera … ītur: impersonal passive, 'they go for wounds', i.e. strike to kill.