Procedit, supplexqué manus ad litora tendit.
Respicimus. Dira inluvies immissaque barba,
Consertum tegumen spinis; at cetera Graius,
Et quondam patriis ad Troiam missus in armis.
Isque ubi Dardanios habitus et Troïa vidit
Arma procul, paulum aspectu conterritus haesit,
Continuitque gradum; mox sese ad litora praeceps
Cum fletu precibusque tulit: Per sidera testor,
Per superos atque hoc caeli spirabile lumen,
Tollite me, Teucri; quascumque abducite terras;
Hoc sat erit. Scio me Danais e classibus unum,
Et bello Iliacos fateor petiisse Penates.
Pro quo, si sceleris tanta est iniuria nostri,
Spargite me in fluctus, vastoque immergite ponto.
Si pereo, hominum manibus periisse iuvabit.
Dixerat, et genua amplexus genibusque volutans
Haerebat. Qui sit, fari, quo sanguine cretus,
Hortamur; quae deinde agitet fortuna, fateri.
Ipse pater dextram Anchises, haud multa moratus,
Dat iuveni, atque animum praesenti pignore firmat.
Ille haec, deposita tandem formidine, fatur:
Sum patria ex Ithaca, comes infelicis Ulixi,
Nomine Achemenides, Troiam genitore Adamasto
594. Spenser (F. Q. I. IX. 36) thus dresses Despair:
612. Vergil, in repeating this line from II. 76, evidently has in mind the
His garments, nought but many ragged earlier passage. clouts,
614. Achemenides. In Homer's
With thornes together pind and patched story, this incident is not found. Other
The which his naked sides he wrapt abouts.
602. Compare this confession with that of Sinon (II. 76 seq.).
wise Vergil follows, with more or less exactness, Homer's account of the Cyclops (Od. Bk. IX.).
594. Cetera, 114.-601. Terras, 121.
Paupere -mansissetque utinam fortuna ! - profectus.
Hic me, dum trepidi crudelia limina linquunt,
Immemores socii vasto Cyclopis in antro
Deseruere. Domus sanie dapibusque cruentis,
Intus opaca, ingens. Ipse arduus, altaque pulsat
Sidera Dî, talem terris avertite pestem! -
Nec visu facilis nec dictu adfabilis ulli.
Visceribus miserorum et sanguine vescitur atro.
Vidi egomet, duo de numero cum corpora nostro
Prensa manu magna medio resupinus in antro
Frangeret ad saxum, sanieque exspersa natarent
Limina; vidi atro cum membra fluentia tabo
Manderet, et tepidi tremerent sub dentibus artus.
Haud impune quidem; nec talia passus Ulixes,
Oblitusve sui est Ithacus discrimine tanto.
Nam simul expletus dapibus vinoque sepultus
Cervicem inflexam posuit, iacuitque per antrum
Immensus, saniem eructans et frusta cruento
Per somnum commixta mero, nos, magna precati
Numina sortitique vices, una undique circum
Fundimur, et telo lumen terebramus acuto,
Ingens, quod torva solum sub fronte latebat,
Argolici clipei aut Phoebeae lampadis instar,
Et tandem laeti sociorum ulciscimur umbras.
Sed fugite, o miseri, fugite, atque ab litore funem
Rumpite.
636-7. Cf. Ovid, Met. XIII. 851 :
Unum est in media lumen mihi fronte,
Ingentis clipei. Quid? non haec omnia
Sol videt e caelo? Soli tamen unicus orbis.
615. Mansisset, 207. - 623. De numero, 135.625. Frangeret, 181.- 629. Sui, 88.
Nam qualis quantusque cavo Polyphemus in antro
Lanigeras claudit pecudes atque ubera pressat,
Centum alii curva haec habitant ad litora vulgo
Infandi Cyclopes et altis montibus errant.
Tertia iam Lunae se cornua lumine complent,
Cum vitam in silvis inter deserta ferarum
Lustra domosque traho, vastosque ab rupe Cyclopas
Prospicio, sonitumque pedum vocemque tremesco.
Victum infelicem, bacas lapidosaque corna,
Dant rami, et vulsis pascunt radicibus herbae.
Omnia collustrans, hanc primum ad litora classem
Conspexi venientem. Huic me, quaecumque fuisset,
Addixi: satis est gentem effugisse nefandam.
Vos animam hanc potius quocumque absumite leto.
Vix ea fatus erat, summo cum monte videmus
Ipsum inter pecudes vasta se mole moventem
Pastorem Polyphemum et litora nota petentem,
Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum.
Trunca manu pinus regit et vestigia firmat;
Lanigerae comitantur oves; ea sola voluptas
658. The frequent elisions and the prevalence of spondees in this line impart a ponderous, halting sound, admirably in keeping with the movements of the blinded giant as he labors heavily and slowly down to the beach, groping| his way by the aid of his huge pine-tree
As an example of the strange uses to which Vergil's lines may be put, cf. Browning, Waring, IV.:
As long I dwell on some stupendous
And tremendous (Heaven defend us!)
Monstr'-inform, - ingens - horrend
Demoniaco seraphic
Penman's latest piece of graphic.
659. Pinus. Cf. Milton (P. L. I. 284 seq.):
His spear, to equal which the tallest pine
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of some great admiral, were but a wand
He walked with, to support uneasy steps
Over the burning marl.
Ovid strikingly describes the giant Polyphemus in love (Met. XIII. 762-769).
652. Fuisset, 180.656. Mole, 140.655–659. 246.
Postquam altos tetigit fluctus et ad aequora venit,
Luminis effossi fluidum lavit inde cruorem,
Dentibus infrendens gemitu, graditurque per aequor
Iam medium, necdum fluctus latera ardua tinxit.
Nos procul inde fugam trepidi celerare, recepto
Supplice sic merito, tacitique incidere funem ;
Verrimus et proni certantibus aequora remis.
Sensit, et ad sonitum vocis vestigia torsit.
Verum ubi nulla datur dextra adfectare potestas,
Nec potis Ionios fluctus aequare sequendo,
Clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omnes
Contremuere undae, penitusque exterrita tellus
Italiae, curvisque immugiit Aetna cavernis.
At genus e silvis Cyclopum et montibus altis.
Excitum ruit ad portus et litora complent.
Cernimus astantes nequiquam lumine torvo
Aetnaeos fratres, caelo capita alta ferentes,
Concilium horrendum: quales cum vertice celso
Aëriae quercus, aut coniferae cyparissi
Constiterunt, silva alta Iovis, lucusve Dianae.
Praecipites metus acer agit quocumque rudentes
Excutere, et ventis intendere vela secundis.
Contra iussa monent Heleni, Scyllam atque Charybdim
Inter, utramque viam leti discrimine parvo,
Ni teneant cursus; certum est dare lintea retro.
Ecce autem Boreas angusta ab sede Pelori
Missus adest. Vivo praetervehor ostia saxo
Pantagiae Megarosque sinus Thapsumque iacentem.
Talia monstrabat relegens errata retrorsus
Litora Achemenides, comes infelicis Ulixi.
662. 231.670. Adfectare, 163. -686. Teneant, 169.
Sicanio praetenta sinu iacet insula contra
Plemyrium undosum; nomen dixere priores
Ortygiam. Alpheum fama est huc Elidis amnem
Occultas egisse vias subter mare; qui nunc
Ore, Arethusa, tuo Siculis confunditur undis.
Iussi numina magna loci veneramur; et inde
Exsupero praepingue solum stagnantis Helori.
Hinc altas cautes proiectaque saxa Pachyni
Radimus, et fatis numquam concessa moveri
Apparet Camarina procul campique Geloi,
Immanisque Gela fluvii cognomine dicta.
Arduus inde Acragas ostentat maxima longe
Moenia, magnanimûm quondam generator equorum;
Teque datis linquo ventis, palmosa Selinus,
694. Alpheum. Cf. Statius, Thebard (Pope's Trans.):
Where first Alpheus hides His wandering stream, and through the briny tides
Unmixed to his Sicilian river glides.
696. Arethusa. The legend goes that Alpheus, the river god of Elis, was in love with the nymph Arethusa; that she, fleeing from him, was changed by Diana into a stream which disappeared in the earth, and emerged, after passing under the Ocean, in Ortygia; and that Alpheus, following her, mingled his waters with hers in the fountain in Or tygia named from the nymph.
For the story of Arethusa, cf. Ovid (Met. V. 577-641). This beautiful romance of mythology has been pleasingly told by Shelley (Arethusa), ending thus:
And now from their fountains
In Enna's mountains,
They ply their watery tasks.
At sunrise they leap
From their cradles steep
In the cave of the shelving hill;
At noontide they flow
Through the woods below
And the meadows of asphodel;
And at night they sleep
In the rocking deep
Beneath the Ortygian shore; -
Like spirits that lie
In the azure sky
When they love but live no more.
700. Numquam concessa moveri. Camarina was a swamp or marshy lake which bred pestilence to the neighboring inhabitants. When they asked the oracle of Apollo whether they should drain the swamp, the god forbade them to do so, saving, Μὴ κίνει Καμάριναν, ἀκίνητος γὰρ άueivov. They, however, disregarded the oracle, and drained the marsh; but in so
Down one vale where the morning basks, doing, laid open their city to the attacks
705. Palmosa Selinus. This region
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