Latin poetry -- Adaptations; Virgil -- Adaptations
And now the night had fallen, and as Æneas sat at the helm, for care
suffered him not to sleep, lo! there appeared to him a troop of
Nymphs, which once had been his ships. And one of these, by name
Cymodocea, came behind and caught the stern of the ship with her right
hand, swimming meanwhile with the left. Then she spake, saying,
"Wakest thou, son of the goddess? We are pines of Mount Ida, once thy
ships, but now changed to Nymphs when Turnus would have burned us with
fire. Know that thy son is besieged in the camp. Arm thyself therefore
with the arms which Vulcan hath wrought for thee. To-morrow thou
shalt lay many Latins low in death." And as she spake she pushed the
ship with her hand, and it sped along through the waters and the rest
also with it.
And when the day was come, Æneas commanded that all should make them
ready for battle. And now the camp was in his sight, as he stood on
the stern and lifted in his left hand a flashing shield. Much did the
men of Troy rejoice to see that sight, and shouted amain. And Turnus
and his companions marvelled, till they looked behind them, and lo!
the sea was covered with ships, and in the midst was Æneas. And it was
as if a flame poured forth, from his helmet and his shield, bright as
is a comet when it shines in the night-time red as blood, or as the
Dog Star in the hot summer-tide with baleful light bringing fevers to
the race of men.
Yet did not Turnus lose heart, but would occupy the shore, and hinder
from landing those that came. Wherefore he cried, "Now have ye that
which ye wished for. Lo! the enemy hides not himself behind a wall,
but meets us face to face. Remember wife and child and home and the
great deeds of your fathers. Let us meet them on the shore ere yet
their footing is firm." And he thought within himself who should watch
the walls, and who should meet the enemy when he would gain the shore.
But in the meanwhile Æneas landed his men on gangways from the ships.
And some leapt on shore, having watched for the ebb of the waves, and
some ran along the oars. Tarchon also, the Etrurian, having spied a
place where the sea broke not in waves, commanded his men that they
should beach the ships. Which indeed they did without harm. Only the
ship of Tarchon himself was caught upon a ridge and the men thrown
therefrom. Yet these also, after a while, got safe to the shore.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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