Aen. 3.613Sum patriā ex Ithacā, comes īnfēlīcis Ulixī,
nōmine Achaemenidēs, Troiam genitōre Adamastō
615paupere—mānsissetque utinam fortūna!—profectus.'I am from Ithaca, my homeland, a companion of unlucky Ulysses, Achaemenides by name, and I set out for Troy because my father Adamastus was poor — and would that I had stayed in that fortune! Aen. 3.616Hīc mē, dum trepidī crūdēlia līmina linquunt,
inmemorēs sociī vāstō Cyclōpis in antrō
dēseruēre.Here my comrades, as they fled in fear from the cruel threshold, forgot me and left me behind in the Cyclops' vast cave. Aen. 3.618Domus saniē dapibusque cruentīs,
intus opāca, ingēns;It is a house of gore and bloody feasts, dark within, huge; Aen. 3.619ipse arduus, altaque pulsat
620sīdera—Dī, tālem terrīs āvertite pestem!—
nec vīsū facilis nec dictū adfābilis ūllī.he himself is towering, and strikes the high stars — gods, keep such a plague from the earth! — not easy for anyone to look on, nor to address. Aen. 3.622Visceribus miserōrum et sanguine vēscitur ātrō.He feeds on the flesh and dark blood of wretched men.
Aen. 3.623Vīdī egomet, duo dē numerō cum corpora nostrō
prēnsa manū magnā, mediō resupīnus in antrō,
625frangeret ad saxum, saniēque aspersa natārent
līmina;I saw with my own eyes, when he seized two bodies of our number in his great hand and, lying back in the middle of the cave, smashed them on a rock, and the threshold, spattered, swam with gore; Aen. 3.626vīdī ātrō cum membra fluentia tābō
manderet, et tepidī tremerent sub dentibus artūs.I saw when he chewed limbs dripping with black blood, and the still-warm joints quivered beneath his teeth. Aen. 3.628Haud impūne quidem;Not unpunished, indeed; Aen. 3.628nec tālia passus Ulixēs,
oblītusve suī est Ithacus discrīmine tantō.Ulysses did not suffer such things, nor did the Ithacan forget himself in so great a crisis. Aen. 3.630Nam simul explētus dapibus vīnōque sepultus
cervīcem īnflexam posuit, iacuitque per antrum
immēnsus, saniem ērūctāns et frusta cruentō
per somnum commixta merō, nōs magna precātī
nūmina sortītīque vices, ūnā undique circum
635fundimur, et tēlō lūmen terebrāmus acūtō,—
ingēns, quod torvā sōlum sub fronte latēbat,
Argolicī clipeī aut Phoebēae lampadis īnstar,—
et tandem laetī sociōrum ulcīscimur umbrās.For as soon as, gorged with the feast and buried in wine, he laid down his drooping neck, and lay sprawling huge through the cave, belching gore and gobbets mixed with bloody wine in his sleep, we, having prayed to the great gods and drawn lots for our parts, pour round him together on all sides, and bore out his eye with a sharp weapon — huge, the single eye that lurked beneath his grim brow, like an Argive shield or the lamp of Phoebus — and at last we gladly avenge the shades of our comrades.
Aen. 3.639Sed fugite, Ō miserī, fugite, atque ab lītore fūnem
640rumpite.But flee, poor wretches, flee, and break your cable from the shore. Aen. 3.641Nam quālis quantusque cavō Polyphēmus in antrō
lānigerās claudit pecudēs atque ūbera pressat,
centum aliī curva haec habitant ad lītora volgō
īnfandī Cyclōpes, et altīs montibus errant.For of the same kind and size as Polyphemus, who pens his woolly flocks in his hollow cave and milks their udders, a hundred other unspeakable Cyclopes live all along these curving shores and roam the high mountains. Aen. 3.645Tertia iam lūnae sē cornua lūmine complent,
cum vītam in silvīs inter dēserta ferārum
lūstra domōsque trahō, vāstōsque ab rūpe Cyclōpas
prōspiciō, sonitumque pedum vōcemque tremēscō.Already the moon's horns have filled with light for the third time since I began to drag out my life in the woods among the deserted lairs and haunts of wild beasts, and to watch the vast Cyclopes from a rock, trembling at the sound of their feet and their voices. Aen. 3.649Vīctum īnfēlīcem, bācās lapidōsaque corna,
650dant rāmī et volsīs pāscunt rādīcibus herbae.A wretched diet, berries and stony cornels, the branches give me, and plants feed me with their torn-up roots.
Aen. 3.651Omnia conlūstrāns, hanc prīmum ad lītora classem
cōnspēxī venientem.Scanning everything, I caught sight of this fleet coming to the shore for the first time. Aen. 3.652Huic mē, quaecumque fuisset,
addīxī: satis est gentem effūgisse nefandam.To it, whatever it might be, I gave myself up: it is enough to have escaped that unspeakable race. Aen. 3.654Vōs animam hanc potius quōcumque absūmite lētō.Rather do you take this life of mine by any death you like.'