Aeneid 12.746–765

Aen. 12.746Nec minus Aenēās, quamquam tardāta sagittā
interdum genua impediunt cursumque recūsant,
īnsequitur trepidīque pedem pede fervidus urget:
inclūsum velutī sīquandō flūmine nānctus
750cervum aut pūniceae saeptum formīdine pinnae
vēnātor cursū canis et lātrātibus īnstat;

Aeneas no less, although his knees, slowed by the arrow, sometimes hamper him and refuse to run, pursues and presses hotly foot to foot on his frightened enemy: as when a hunting hound has caught a stag hemmed in by a river or penned in by the terror of crimson feathers, and presses on it running and barking;

Note. tardāta sagittā … genua: Aeneas was wounded by an arrow earlier in the book (12.319) and healed by Venus, but is still slow. inclūsum veluti sīquandō …: another simile, the hunting dog and the stag: cervum is the object of nānctus and īnstat; venātor … canis is the subject, 'a hunting dog'. pūniceae … formīdine pinnae: hunters strung lines of red feathers to scare game into nets; the 'scare' (formīdō) is the feather line itself.

Aen. 12.752ille autem, īnsidiīs et rīpā territus altā,
mīlle fugit refugitque viās;

the stag, terrified by the snares and the high bank, flees and flees back by a thousand ways;

Note. ille: the stag. fugit refugitque: 'flees and flees back', running to and fro.

Aen. 12.753at vīvidus Umber
haeret hiāns, iam iamque tenet similisque tenentī
755increpuit mālīs morsūque ēlūsus inānī est.

but the lively Umbrian hound clings to him open-mouthed, now, now he has him, and as if he had him he snaps his jaws and is cheated by an empty bite.

Note. Umber: an Umbrian hound, a famous breed. iam iamque tenet: 'now, now he has him'. similisque tenentī: 'and like one holding (him)'. increpuit mālīs: 'snapped his jaws'.

Aen. 12.756Tum vērō exorītur clāmor, rīpaeque lacūsque
respōnsant circā et caelum tonat omne tumultū.

Then indeed a shout goes up, and the banks and the lake echo all round, and the whole sky thunders with the uproar.

Note. lacūs: the lake or marsh mentioned in sentence 19. tonat omne: omne agrees with caelum, 'the whole sky thunders'.

Aen. 12.758Ille simul fugiēns Rutulōs simul increpat omnīs,
nōmine quemque vocāns, nōtumque efflāgitat ēnsem.

Turnus, as he flees, rebukes all the Rutulians, calling each by name, and demands his own familiar sword.

Note. Turnus calls by name for his own sword (nōtum … ēnsem), which Juturna will bring him.

Aen. 12.760Aenēās mortem contrā praesēnsque minātur
exitium, sī quisquam adeat, terretque trementīs
excīsūrum urbem minitāns et saucius īnstat.

Aeneas on the other side threatens death and instant ruin if anyone approaches, and terrifies the trembling men, threatening to destroy their city, and, though wounded, presses on.

Note. excīsūrum (esse): future infinitive in indirect statement after minitāns, 'threatening that he will destroy the city'. saucius: Aeneas is still wounded.

Aen. 12.763Quīnque orbīs explent cursū totidemque retexunt
hūc illūc;

Five circles they complete at a run, and unwind as many, this way and that;

Note. Quīnque orbīs = orbēs: they run five circles and 'unweave' (retexunt) as many, running back the other way.

Aen. 12.764neque enim levia aut lūdicra petuntur
765praemia, sed Turnī dē vītā et sanguine certant.

for it is no light prize or prize of a game that is sought, but they fight for the life and blood of Turnus.

Note. An echo of Homer's Iliad 22, where Achilles and Hector run not for a sacrificial animal or an ox-hide but for Hector's life. lūdicra … praemia: prizes of the games.