A Good Works Translation from the Latin

Book VI is the great Scythian war book of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica: Mars descends over Scythian tents, Perses musters Alans, Heniochi, Maeotians, Sarmatians, Iazyges, Arimaspians, Thyrsagetae, Caspians, and other northern peoples, and Medea first looks from the walls toward Jason.

The book belongs on the Scythian shelf because it gives Roman epic form to the Colchian and Maeotian frontier: tents, cavalry, wagons, scythed chariots, frozen rivers, Phasis, Caucasus, Aeetes, Perses, Absyrtus, and the war around the fleece.

The English below is a full prose Good Works Translation from the Latin source text held in the Scythian source archive.

Translation

Lines 1-30 -- Mars Wakes the Scythian Camp

Mars kept watch, burning with the same fury. His sharp heart swelled, and he could not decide what battle line, what camp, to follow. At last he resolved to go in person and look on, to see whether he might overthrow the Minyans, repay the king's bargains with great grief, and consume the Greek youth. From there he drove on his chariot, the unrecallable monster of war, and set it above the tents of Scythia.

At once sleep fled from the camp. Weapons were snatched up, and the shaken leaders gathered. A great rumor moved them further: the sacred ship had spread the report that Achaeans had come to reclaim the fleece of their Phrixus, men whom wicked Aeetes had deceived with hospitality and the right hand joined in covenant, and then had drawn into his own war.

Therefore, while the deep night was open for councils, they resolved that leaders should go as envoys. Perses taught them their instructions: they were to address the Minyans and warn them of the tyrant's fraud. What error had turned their minds from this? He himself, Perses said, had first urged that the fleece be restored to the Haemonian lands and that the spoils of the sacred ram be released. From that came hatred, and the beginnings of so great a war. Let the Minyans rather follow his right hand and his arms, or go home, for the promises and good faith of Aeetes were worth nothing. Let them abstain from the bloodshed of another's battle. They had not crossed such labors of the sea for this. What need was there to clash with men unknown and not hated?

While Perses gave these orders in the middle of the night, a golden redness flashed over the fields; arms and keen trumpets clashed of their own accord. Savage Mars cried from his high horses, "The enemy! Come, go, go, he is near!" At once he poured the Colchians one way and Perses toward the open ground. Then each nation joined battle with its own weapons, and the voice of the god was heard alike through all the fighting.

Lines 31-170 -- Perses' Northern Muster

Come now, Muse, tell what madness you saw in the Riphaean world, with what mass of power Perses stirred Scythia, trusting through war in horses and men. Yet I, even if I moved a thousand mouths, could not recount all by number or name. No region is richer in peoples. Though the Maeotian youth fall in everlasting war, that fat breast never fails to supply men enough to fill the twin Bears and the great Serpent. Therefore, goddesses, bring forward for me only the leaders and the nations.

Anausis sent the burning Alans and soon followed them himself, with the fierce Heniochi. He had long been angry because Medea had been promised as wife to an Albanian lord. Poor man, he did not know what a monster he had burned to take into his marriage chamber, nor what terror awaited Achaean cities from her. He himself was dearer to the gods and happier in a childless hall.

Next came the legion of the Bisaltae and its leader Colaxes, himself also of divine blood. On Scythian shores Jupiter had begotten him beside green Myrace and the mouths of Tibisena, captured, if it is right to believe it, by a half-wild body; nor did he shrink from the nymph's twin snakes. The whole phalanx bears the mark of Jupiter, and its carved shields carry fires scattered in three-pronged flames. Roman soldier, you were not the first to spread on shields the rays and red wings of the flashing thunderbolt. Colaxes himself wears golden serpents around his neck, a sign of his mother Hora. The snakes answer each other with their tongues on either side, and a serpent gives the wound of a rounded gem.

Third came Auchus with thousands of one mind, displaying Cimmerian wealth. Once white hair had been in him, the beauty of birth; longer age now gives him a majestic appearance. Running a triple knot around his temples, he lets fall two sacred bands from the top of his head. Daraps sent Datin to arms, heavier from a wound in Achaemenian battle, surrounded by the warlike line of the Gangaridae, by those whom the drunk Gerus raises with its water, and by those who have encircled Lake Byce. Anxur was not absent, nor Radalus with his brother Sydon, and Acesina moved the columns under the ill omen of Phrixus' prophetic hind. The hind herself, shining with bristles and golden horns, was carried before the line on the lift of a tall pole, sorrowing, never to return to the groves of savage Diana.

Perses also moved Syene with her suppliant people, showing the impious wounds of his brother. Nowhere does a denser or taller forest lift its beams, and the spent arrows returned sooner from it. Ciris, Titan's child, drove men from Hyrcanian caves to arms, and the Coelaletae drew all their bands to battle in wagons. There they have a stitched house, and a wife sitting beneath raw fleece, and a child hurling throwing-clubs from the front pole. Sheer Tyra, cut by the sea, is left behind; Mount Ambenus is left, and Ophiusa powerful with cold poisons. The degenerate Sindi rush down and mass their squadrons, still fearing the lashes earned by ancestral crime.

Above these Phalces drives a bronze cloud with a roar over the plain, and the close-packed Coralli raise their standards. Their signs are barbaric wheels and an iron shape on the back, their own emblem, and broken columns, images of Jupiter. They do not care to inflame battle with the hoarse horn. Rather, in ancestral rite, they sing the leaders born among them, the ancient deeds of their people, and the praises of old men, encouragements for heroes.

Where Aea draws the Sidonian foot between equal reins, she draws to herself the sworn Batarnian warriors, whom Teutagon commands. They are armed with the delay of raw bark, and with the rumpia, no shorter whether made of iron or of wood. Not far off, with twin clubs, one strikes whitening shields: the man who strips the backs of wintry Nova with his axe, and does not hear the Alazon along its whole bank. Taras came too, and Euarchus rich in snow-white swans. You also, mighty Ariasmenus, I would hand down to coming ages, carrying a mass of war far and wide, scythed chariots through deserted fields on every side.

The Drangean phalanx follows, and the Caspiadae poured out from their gates. At their trumpets a crowd of keen dogs leaps to battle no more slowly than men and enters its masters' wars. From this even an equal honor of death is theirs: received into tombs, they are placed among ancestors and men. For with iron bound upon their breasts and terrible manes, the black column rushes, sounding with barking as loud as the dreadful gate of Dis or Hecate's train when she comes into the upper air.

From the Hyrcanian woods the sacred seer Vanus leads his columns. A third age of Scythia had already seen him singing of the great-souled Minyans and the sails of Argo. At his warnings the rich Indians promised, and the hundred-gated fields of Lagean Thebes, and all Panchaia taken in a Riphaean triumph. Many-colored Iberia poured out spear-bearing squadrons led by Otaces, Latris, Neurus the ravisher of loves, and the Iazyges who do not know white-haired age. For when cold strength begins to reject them, when the bow is known no more and the spear begins to disdain its masters, they have a custom drawn from great-hearted ancestors: not to endure the sluggish laws of death, but to fall by the right hand of a dear child after the sword is given. Son and father break delay together, both marvelous in spirit and both in so brave an act.

Here too came the Cessaean bands breathing with perfumed hair, and you, innocent Arimaspian, who do not yet dig your fields for unknown metals, and Auchates, skilled at throwing wandering bonds in a wide circle and drawing in the last squadrons with nooses. I will not leave silent the Thyrsagetae, bearing drums in bloody wars, girded behind with wandering skins and making bound spears green with flowers. Fame says that Bacchus, leader from the blood of Jupiter and Cadmus, with this hand also scattered the incense-bearing Sabaeans, those happy kingdoms, and the Arabs; and that later, when he broke the shallows of Hebrus, he left the Thyrsagetae under the cold Bear. Among them still remains the whole order of the old ways, the sacred beat of bronze, and the eastern flute mindful of battle.

Emeda joins her resources, followed by her own standards: the Exomatae, the Toryni, and the Satarchae yellow-haired. Honey is the honor of the Toryni; their milk-pails enrich the Satarchae; hunting feeds the Exomatae, and no one has horses more famous under the Bear. They cross the Hypanis and its fragile water, fleeing with the cub of a tiger or fierce lioness, while the sad mother, suspicious, stands amazed on the high bank. Desire for Phrixus' fleece also drove the wavering Centorae and the dire Choatrae with magical terror. All of them hold savage honor toward the gods; all have monstrous arts, now to restrain the leaves in new spring, now suddenly to release Maeotis to frightened wagons. Greatest among them came Coastes with Stygian art. Love of Mars did not stir him, but the fame of the Cytaean maiden and Medea breathing equal poisons. The Avernian marsh rejoices, the ferryman now rejoices in the quiet night, and Latonia comes safely through the sky.

The Balloniti went, matching their wings with twin horns; Moesus, quick changer of his comrades' horses; and the Sarmatian controller of the huge pike. Not so many waves rise from the outer sea, nor does Boreas answer his brothers so from the opposite water, nor is there such a song of birds by rivers, as the harmony of trumpets then climbed into the sky and mingled maddened thousands, as many as the leaves and flowers with which the year begins. The field groaned under the blow of wheels, and the trembling earth shook with the pounding as when Jupiter with savage thunder shakes Phlegra and lashes Typhoeus in the lowest fields.

Lines 171-263 -- The First Shock of Battle

On that side Absyrtus held the first place in his father's arms, with the intended son-in-law and great kings among their thousands. Around the son of Aeson stood the Danaans and Pallas herself with the terrible aegis, which neither the goddess tires of carrying nor the father tires of seeing, bristling with snakes and fearful with the Gorgon's face. Yet the time did not allow them to show the half-dead locks, nor to begin the first clashes with them. Father Mars drove the armies against each other, and the evil Joys of death, and Tisiphone lifting her head through the clouds at the sound of the trumpet. Flight, not yet clear, sought minds into which she might throw herself in the midst of the deepest battle.

When they joined their roaring columns with weapons locked and man breathed upon man with helmets pressed together, at once death came on one side and the other: arms broken by slaughter, bodies, blood answering blood, ruin answering ruin. The field rolled helmets, and the breastplate raised bloody showers. On one side rose barbaric cries; on the other groans, and the lives of men mixed with dust.

The Caspian Moneses seized Aeaean hair and carried it off. Colchians and Greeks alike followed with missiles. He snatched death and left the prize; even his companions no longer cared for the man. Caresus struck down Dipsas and Strymon, who was scattering wounds with his dark sling. An Albanian himself falls by the spear of Chremedon and already lies hidden while chariots and squadrons pass over him.

Melas and Idasmenus advanced. Melas first begins with the spear, but the light shaft cheated both men. Then they rush together with swords. Melas strikes first at the lower bronze of the helmet; the neck is broken by the wound. Their courage dies mingled. Ocheus does not know to whom he owes his death, nor Tyres to whom he owes fate. While Iron looks back at the whistle of an Argive point, he receives a Pylian spear in the side.

Castor had seen Hyrcanian brothers racing with matched horses, sons whom a father rich in every herd had raised and marked out for hostile fates. Then more and more love burned in the son of Tyndareus when he saw the whiteness of the foot-soldier. At once, as the man came against him, Castor drove his spear into the facing breast and leapt onto the wing-footed horse when its leader had been thrown off. His father laughed from a high cloud and recognized the horseman by the reins he had seized.

But Medores, raging alike with grief and with what he saw, attacked the son of Tyndareus and prayed to the gods above: "Come, make me companion to my slaughtered brother too. But first let that impious horse fall by my spear, the horse who did not bring back the arms entrusted to my wretched father and now comes against me and lends his captive back." He spoke; but the spear of Actaean Phalerus struck him first. The swift horse escaped to the allied wings.

Who, Rhyndacus, could ever have feared that Amyclae and the Oebalian hand, divided by so many mountains and as many seas, would be fatal to you? Tages falls at once, active foster-child of famous Taulantis, pierced through the groin, born of a half-divine mother. His mother's sister keeps many watches for him in the woods and works at his cult. Thin cloths of shining linen do not help him, nor the cloak embroidered with gold, nor the yellow hair under his cap, nor trousers under painted fabric.

Now a new horseman moves through the astonished ranks of the central battle, scattering javelins with his crowded right hand and pouring out a lightning sword against men, now this way, now that. Then, fiercer, the Sarmatian youth and the bands of half-wild men came together with a roar. Their mail is stiff with soft chain, and the same covering is on the horses. The horse carries over shoulders and head a great fir spear into the enemy fields; braced on the knee, it goes by the force of the man and the force of the horse, trained to be drawn back and trained to be released and again to go, no higher, through the midst of the enemy.

Castor, with rapid circles and a soft bending of his lighter horse across the field, deceives these breathless men, forgetful of death. But the Colchians do not meet them with equal arts; they rush of their own accord into death. Campesus, struck by an oak between side and loins, is lifted up and, dying, sinks down to the middle of the spear. Oebasus, thinking he had escaped hostile Phalces by lowering his knee, is driven through the left circle of the eye; his tender cheeks are stained by the wound. Sibotes, trusting in twin breastplates, received a blow and with his sword struck at the very end of the weapon in vain. The point is already inside him; Ambenus cares nothing for the broken pieces and attacks Ocrea in the middle with the stump of wood. Taxes carries the half-dead Hypanis away and, fleeing, drags him behind relaxed, and shakes out the spear by running; while he gathers it and sets it again, the Laconian rushes upon him and attacks him, shaken and still unarmed.

Onchea's horse drove him headlong onto an opposing pike, as he vainly pulled back the shoulders with all his strength to the side. The horse comes on, and he himself comes on cold in death. His arms fall; the farthest point drips dew. He is like a bird trusting in the bonds of poplar shade when someone draws it down from the high air of the top branch by a silent hand, where many reeds have been prepared: caught by tricks and clinging birdlime, it begs the branches and beats useless wings.

Lines 265-385 -- Anausis, Gesander, Canthus, and the Women of Colchis

In another part, by chance in opposing arms, Styrus was present, and Anausis joyfully recognized the man. He spoke first: "Look, here is the man in whose marriage chamber the Aeetian maiden is said to wait, the victor who will carry off our loves. You shall not, though your father is unwilling, become his son-in-law." Then at the same moment they hurled opposing spears as their runs met. The Albanian fled with tightened reins, wounded; Anausis did not hope the man had been given to death and did not see it. But the dying Styrus, after driving in his weapon, said: "To your in-laws and the embraces of your promised wife you flee, Styrus, carrying a wound that Medea could not sustain with any song or lighten with any poison." He spoke, as the last wandering darkness seized his eyes, his voice was pressed down by cold, and the earth struck his head.

From here pain increased the spirits of the battle line, and Mars swept Gesander along in a great whirlwind of grief. He rebuked the Iazyges for delaying and pressed them with drawn sword: "Surely all your old men have fallen, surely every father was taken away before. What sudden, shameful old age has seized you, broken your spirits, and taken away your anger? Either come with me, young men, straight through the middle of the Argive band, or fall by your dear sons." He rushed in and fiercely called his ancestral shades to what he had begun: "Holy father Voraptus, breathe your breast now into your son and a spirit equal to yours, if I did not obey you too slowly when you hated slow fate and shameful delays, and if our little grandsons learned the same lesson." He said this and was heard by Erebus. Then, stormy and burning with ancestral furies, he seized his sword and shook his arms.

Aquites, sacred to the native waters and priest of great Phasis, was wandering in northern arms. Poplar leaves were his honor, and his visible temples were bound with a grey-green branch. He wanted to draw you, Cyrnus, forgetful of your father, away from hard battle. Already searching all the companies and different lines without harm, he sees you nowhere; as he enters again, shouting, and again traverses the different parts of war, his spear rushes and rattles around the blue-green bands. Gesander fiercely overwhelms him with loose reins. Trembling, Aquites stretched out his hand and his useless sacred things. "By this white hair, father, if it still remains to you," he said, "I beg you: restrain your threats, and somewhere spare my son." But the victor, driving in his sword, answered: "The father whom you think still endures for me in shameful old age preferred to fall by this right hand and of his own accord to break away the sluggish turning-posts. If you had a son's piety or a son's right hand, you would not now wear away the time of mid-battle with prayers, soon to be food for dogs. Every fortune is more beautiful for a young man: it is fitting both to have fought by hand and to have lacked a tomb." He spoke. Dying, Aquites prayed to the gods and sky that such a right hand might not meet his own wretched son.

You too, Canthus, Argo, not ignorant of your death, wept as she unwillingly saw you snatch weapons from her hull. You had already touched the Scythian bays, pitiable man, and the river Phasis; no long day remained before you might see the fleece taken and your father's fires on the Euboean mountains. When Gesander came upon him in unequal combat, he frightened him with these words: "Argive, you thought these homes were easy and human; here, wretched man, you see another year, nursing snow, and the swift weariness of life. We do not know how to set arms to light oars or to wait for carrying winds to do the work. We go by horses wherever the sea grows stiff even in its middle, or where the Hister roars with swollen water. Your walls do not please us. I am carried free now in northern fields, holding all things; all my love is with me, and the loss of a wagon is my only loss. You will not long possess this spoil as victor. Whatever cattle there are, whatever beasts, are our feasts. Send commands to Asia and to Argive settlers, telling them not to tremble. I will never leave these winters, these rocks, these fields of Mars, where by so savage a river we have hardened our offspring and our young sons, where there is such abundance of death for men. Thus it is pleasant to fight in our ancestral frosts and to plunder. Receive such a right hand as this."

He spoke and hurled a missile nurtured by Edonian winds. The deadly steel went through the middle of Canthus' breast and the bronze bristling in its fastening. Idas flew over in alarm, and at the same time the son of Oeneus, Menoetius, and the man who had returned victorious from the Bebrycian host. But Telamon from afar lifted his great shield and covered you, lifeless Canthus. Like a lion, hemmed in a narrow place, giving cubs behind his back, the son of Aeacus stood close at hand, held his step, and swung the sevenfold mass of his strong shield against the attack. No less from the other side the Scythian hand pressed on, each man seeking the arms of Canthus for himself and punishment from a Greek body.

Then the labor was steep, and battle was joined over the middle of the corpse. As when winds break themselves with a great whirlwind on the threshold of Aeolus himself, and the day cannot know which follows the rage of the sea, which the clouds, so the close battle of the men clung braced and could not be driven from the body it had seized. As when a man breaking in much olive oil the hide of an ox gives it to servants; they stretch it and by pulling in turn master the bull's back while the earth runs with rich oil: such was the labor on both sides, and the pitiable limbs of the man were dragged through the narrow way. These pull against those; those against these; neither right hand yields to the other. Telamon drags Canthus by the middle; Gesander holds the man's neck and the soft straps of the helmet, which clanged as it slipped to the ground and cheated his hand. Again he rams fiercely into the circle of the sevenfold shield, follows Canthus, and demands Canthus back. But hands from behind drag the companion away and, when he is recovered, place him in the chariot of the maiden Euryale.

She herself flies up, and at the same time all the Haemonian band goes against Gesander alone. When he sees the new battle line and the arms of the maiden, he says, "Shall we fight against these too? Shame!" Then he strikes Lyce at the border of the breast, then Thoe where her shield is open. He was already going against Harpe, who was hardly yet drawing the first horns with a light string, and Menippe, holding the reins of her slipping horse, when the queen, doubling a heavy axe with knots and gold, shattered part of his head and beast-skinned helmet. At the same time a huge mass of weapons went into one man. For a long time he held up under the thrown spears; indeed, heavier now and lacking the nod of life, he frightened Idas. Then he fell like the flank of a mountain or like the engine of a wall, which, long worn by rocks, beams, and flames, has at last fallen forward and driven a great city before it.

Lines 386-425 -- Ariasmenus and the Scythed Chariots

Now Ariasmenus judged this the place and time, and thought his own battles also were demanded. He drove in the scythed axles and immediately spread the cruel yokes of his allies, about to sweep away all Greeks and all Colchians with the blade. As if Jupiter, hating the race of Pyrrha, should again pour out the seas and loose every bridle of the rivers, so that the high ridges of Parnassus lay hidden, pine-bearing Othrys withdrew, and the Alps shrank as their rocks were drowned: with such a flood and such destruction Ariasmenus pressed on, his chariots carrying off men without distinction.

Then for the first time the maiden Pallas lifted the aegis and the coil of Medusa, rough with three hundred savage hydras. You alone, horses, saw it. Great terror seized the men; hurled backward, they turned the dreadful plague unwillingly against their own companions. Then discord entangled and tore apart the frightened chariots with hooked swords. As when most savage Tisiphone stirs Roman legions and kings whose columns on both sides flash with javelins and eagles, while the same parents till the same fields and unhappy Tiber has sent men chosen from all lands not to such battles: so those who had just been united and sought foreign deaths were seized by Palladian fear, and, turned toward their own destruction, the chariots collided while their masters called them back.

Not so foul an army of men was cast out by the south winds on Laurentian lands, nor such an image on the Libyan shore when the sea rolls broken ships together. Here two-horse teams, there limbs of their masters are stretched out, cut by spokes and reins; the chariot, wet with slaughter, both drags and is dragged, and in the black dust the entrails of kings cling now to one, now to another car. The spirits of the Colchians do not bind their weapons in this ruin, but stab those entangled and fastened in their wretched plague. No other shape of death rises than when a hunter finds stags not pursued by an Umbrian hound or feathers, but clinging by their high antlers and bound by blind rage.

Bold Ariasmenus himself, after gathering his arms again, leapt down. The line of his curved scythe cut him everywhere, divided him among the wheels, and then, dragged onto his maddened yokes, he touched the Circaean fields no more.

Lines 427-485 -- Juno Seeks Medea Through Venus

Such deaths the Minyans and the scattered Cytaeans mingled in rivalry on the fields and pressed down Scythia. But Juno, seeing that this was not the road for the son of Aeson to the fleece, nor that the queen's returns were to be prepared in this way, set in motion her last aid before the faithless king opened his deadly counsels and savage anger. Sad with late complaints, she rebuked Vulcan, whose fire-bearing bulls she saw among the royal pastures breathing Tartarean night from their breasts. She feared that, after the war was finished, Aeetes would not think it enough to order the Minyans to yoke these monsters before their time, along with the teeth of the Cadmean serpent, and she searched around for many arts.

Medea alone entered her mind. All her thought was in one maiden, than whom none was stronger at night altars. At her breath and at the juices scattered through pathless places the fixed stars tremble and the wandering path of the Sun stands amazed. She changes fields and rivers from their ways; she binds fire; she recalls parents weary with age and gives them other threads without law. Great Circe marveled at her terrifying ways; the foreign Phrixus marveled at her, though he knew that the moon foamed under Atracian poison and shades were driven by Haemonian songs. Therefore Juno sought to join as companion to the Achaean leader a woman terrible in magical powers and virginity. She saw no other equal to the bulls and the rising armed men, no other who could stand in the middle of the column of flame, with no wickedness frightening the mind, no visions frightening the eyes. What if blind love and savage fire were added?

From there she went to the bridal chambers of Venus and to the house always fresh under garlands. The goddess, having seen her long ago, sprang from the high couches, and all the army of Loves as birds rose with her. Saturn's daughter first approached her, a suppliant with gentle words, fearing to reveal her true fears. "All our hope and all power is now in your hands," she said. "Grant this even more because I confess the truth. Since the harsh Tirynthian is exiled from Argive shores, I do not have the same mind as Jupiter or a friendly will; there is no honor for the marriage bed or for earlier flames in the night. Give, I beg, the flattering breaths of artful beauty and your adornments powerful on earth and in heaven."

The goddess sensed the trick; she had already of her own accord been seeking Colchis and the whole race of hated Phoebus to cut it off. Then indeed she obtained what she desired. Not allowing Juno to beg further, she gave the keen beauty and the belt fruitful in monsters, where there is no piety or guard of reputation, no shame, but instead light and hasty desire, the sweet address of evil, sweet error for the tottering, fear, and mad care for another's danger. "All command," she said, "and all the arms of my sons I have given. Shake whatever minds you please."

Saturn's daughter, glad, girded herself with secret poisons and came from there to the inner rooms of the maiden's dwelling, imitating Chalciope, Medea's sister, in sound and form. The divine power shone from afar against her will; immediately fear struck Medea's limbs, and a great horror overwhelmed the daughter of Aeetes. "So, sister," Juno said, "do you alone not know that the Minyans have come here over unknown waves, nor that hands have been joined not only against our father? The rest of the crowd holds the walls and enjoys the heavenly arms of the men. You sit idle in the marriage chamber, you alone fixed in your father's house. When will you see such kings?"

Medea answered nothing. The goddess did not allow it, but twined her hand with Medea's and carried the wondering girl away with rapid steps.

Lines 490-585 -- Medea Sees Jason from the Walls

The unlucky virgin was led to the highest walls, not knowing the future evil, entrusted to a false sister. She was like white lilies shining among spring colors, in whom life is brief and all their honor blooms only for a little while, while the South Wind already threatens with dark wings. Hecate, daughter of Perses, sitting in high woods, wept for her and brought these words from the depth of her breast: "Alas, you leave our grove and the companies of your equals, wretched girl, so that unwillingly you may wander to Greek cities. Yet I will not leave you hated or alone, my care. You will give great monuments of flight, and nowhere as a captive will you scorn me or a lying husband. He will feel that I was your teacher and that I grieved at the shameful carrying off of my servant."

She had spoken. The women reached the edge of the walls and, fixed there, shuddered at the crash of men and trumpets, like sad birds when the cold of storms threatens, slipping beneath branches and clinging there in fear.

Already the Getae, already every Iberian, and the dense Drangean legion were falling with great slaughter and being stretched across the broad fields. Half-dead, doubled among their own weapons and horses, they turned over the savage heap in wretched struggle and filled the fields with long gasps. Opposite them, the victorious Geloni doubled their ancestral paean; soon the same joys returned to the defeated, where the god looked back and a better form of war.

Tell, Muse, who gave such deaths, who did such deeds; remember the savage madness. Absyrtus, flashing with the rays of his shield and the chariot of his grandfather the Sun, whose spear brandished at close hand and whose threatening helmet the nations could not look upon, drives his weight into the columns and lays bodies low with black horses, pressing down the groans of the breathing heap. No lighter is Aron who accompanies him, over whose bristling, many-colored arms and bronze-roughened shoulders a barbaric cloak burns with needlework; shaken by the wind, it fills his horse like Lucifer moving on rosy wings, whom Venus rejoices to bring forth in the bright sky.

Not far from there Rambelus and fierce Otaxes had driven apart the Colchians, and with them Armis, inglorious, used to ravaging stables and herds with new fraud and unavenged thefts. He had increased his forehead with horns, hidden under the terror of the Lycaean god, rough-haired; with this appearance he had stunned enemies. When Aron saw him moving war under a known form of fear, he said: "Do you now think you have sought timid masters and stupid cattle? Here there is no pasture, no ox for you. Put away those images of nocturnal Pan and do not feign a god for me. Even a god must join right hand with right hand." He spoke, set his foot firmly, aimed the missile, and when the skins slipped away the wounds lay open.

The Aeolian child of Aeetian Phrixus is carried on, himself also raging, and shows himself now gladly to the Cytaean columns, now to his kin the Achaeans. When Jason saw him in the midst of the hard crisis of war, rejoicing in these praises and among the deeds themselves, he said, "Well done, my race and now certain offspring of the Aeolian house, not unexpected. I carry rewards great enough for my labors; I repay everything with this sight." He spoke and flashed against Suetes and the fate of great Ceramnus. Whirling his shield, he throws one down with the knee cut, and opens the other in a wide gash through the breast. Argus stretches Zacorus and Phalces from their horses on the great plain. Amastris, foot against foot, drains the foot-soldier. The barbarian carries clots of blood and spilled entrails and slips down with empty, hissing anger.

Calais gives Barisantes to death, the man who always followed the near Rhiphaean battles for purchased blood. The fighter had bargained for a hundred choice bodies of cattle and a hundred horses. Trusting these, he paid back breath and light; but at last, now cheated, he looked back to the sweet air, and to heaven, which no treasure can restore.

Peucon slips down, blue hair twisted around his temples, even then veiled with his mother's reed. His mother, Maeotis, from her deepest caverns filled the lake with lament and called her son no longer flying along the banks, no longer through the curving pools, no longer cutting stags in the middle of the water. Eurytus drives the Exomatae across the field. Young Helix dies upon Nestor's spear, not restored as dear nourishment to his father, snatched away in brief years. Daraps pursues Latagus and Zetes; one the spear drives out of life, the other flees when he sees the huge wave of sudden blood and the breast shining at the tip of the iron.

Now Medea, sitting on her father's walls, was looking over each contest of the great war. Far off through the dense mist, with Juno as teacher, she recognized these kings and sought others. She saw the head of the son of Aeson at a distance and at once brought eyes, senses, and a favoring mind back to him. She saw in advance now where he would carry himself, now where he would turn aside and go, how many horses he alone would pour down, how many weapons, how many wandering men he would halt with crowded spears. Wherever she again scattered her restless eyes in a silent face, whether seeking her brother or the arms of her promised husband, savage Jason alone met the wretched girl.

Then Juno, as if ignorant, approached the sister with these words: "Who, I pray, is this man whom I have long watched blazing over the whole field, whom you too see? For I think you also are stunned by such courage." Harsh Juno answers in return, driving her with goads and pressing with dire frauds: "Sister, you see the son of Aeson himself, who over so great a field is reclaiming the fleece owed to his kinsman Phrixus. No one now is before him in glory of race or blood. Do you see how he shines among the Minyans and the Cytaean nobles, and over what heaps he leaps? Soon he will give the sails, soon he will leave our shores, seeking the riches of happy Thessaly and the lands beloved by Phrixus. Let him go, and may he overcome the labors!"

After speaking only this, Juno urged her to look more closely over the fields while there was time and to run over the burning battles of the man. At the same time the goddess drove her with words, and drove him with favorable war, sending new strength under his breast.

Lines 604-657 -- Jason's Fury and the Death of Colaxes

The savage face beneath the high crest of Jason's helmet had long been flashing, and in his rush the plume blazed, a star of no joy to you, Perses, nor to you, Achaean maiden, fierce as the dog of autumn or as comets summoned by angry Jupiter as fatal signs for unjust kingdoms. Nor did the goddess hide her power from the son of Cretheus. He felt fresh force driven through his limbs and lifted himself above the columns, vast as Caucasus itself when it has grown white with deep frost and great rain and has passed winter-high into the utmost Bears.

Then indeed, as a lion rages in rich folds, wantoning as he scatters famine and changes one blood for another, so Jason, fierce, does not delay in one place or at one slaughter. Storming, he rages against all alike, and now by his savage sword, now by his threatening spear, the battles thin. He strikes Hebrus, whose terrifying hair streams, and Getic Prion; he tears away the head of Auchus and sends it rolling through the vast sands.

But Colaxes, begotten of Jupiter, had fulfilled his fate, and already his father saddened the stars with a sorrowing face, moving his sick heart with vain cares: "Alas, if I try to withdraw my son from harsh fortune and dare trust in my own realms, my brother still mourns the death of Amycus, and the whole crowd of gods murmurs, all whose sons have fallen and will fall. Let each man have his day. I will deny to all what I deny to myself." Thus saying the last honors over the wretched man, he heaps courage into one who is about to die.

Colaxes flies over the fields and mixes immense deaths among the wedges, as a winter rainstorm, burst from its arch, drives rocks and the ruin of woods and works, until, after raging from the huge top of a mountain, it is broken and slowly fails into a new river. So the offspring of Jupiter flashes at the end of his life, now whirling great-hearted Hypetaon and Gessithous, now Arines and Olbus. Already wounded and deserted by his horse, he meets on foot with his spear Apre and Thydrus the Phasiad, a keeper of his father's herd, born by Caucasus beside the first waves of Phasis. From this the boy had his name, and his parents vainly carried him as servant of Phasis with uncut hair.

Already Colaxes was pressing fiercely upon others when the unjust goddess broke his last threads and victorious Jason came up. Colaxes received him with a savage voice: "Have you come here, wretches, to feed the dogs and birds of Scythia?" He seized a rock, a burden fit for his right hand and his age, and worked it loose from the shaken ground. Royal Juno bent it toward an unknown head, Moneses, who was not mourned. He fell headlong. Jupiter did not turn blows from his son, but the fatal wound of the Aesonian spear passed through shield and breast. Bloody, Jason flew upon the fallen man and made his death more bitter. From there the tale spreads, already known to the wretched Alans.

Lines 658-760 -- Medea's Wound, Perses' Lament, and Night

But the queen pursued the man, for the god did not remove the fire. She searched him with burning eyes and clung there. Already she took less joy in the present image of battle; she rebuked her fears and the cares she nourished without knowing them, looking back to see whether the sister was real and not daring to believe the savage face false. Again she slips into the same joys and is drawn by the sweetness of the cruel flame. As a light South Wind first plays gently over the hair and highest tops of a forest, but soon wretched ships feel him monstrous, so Medea is driven to her farthest madness.

At times she handles the necklaces torn from the flattering goddess and fits the blazing ornaments to her unhappy neck. Wherever the maddening gold passes over her tender limbs, she fails. The virgin gives back the goddess's ornaments not troubled by gems or light metal, but by torches and by the weight of the god whom she now holds in her whole breast. Her last modesty wanders over her rosy face. First she says, "Do you believe, sister, that father will give his promises to a guest from Argos who has come by better gods? Or how much of bitter war is now left? Alas, to what dangers he exposes himself for an unknown race!" In the middle of this speech Juno left her, already mistress of what she had begun and secure in her fraud.

The shameless virgin leans more boldly from the high walls and neither follows nor seeks the sister taken away. As often as the hard force of leaders and a sudden crowd of men pressed the son of Aeson, and as often as every shower of weapons went into one man, so often she was beaten by stones and spears. She first shuddered at the bow of hostile Lexanor; but the tall reed passed over Aeson's son's head and sought you, Caicus. A pitiable wife is left to Caicus, and a house unfinished after its first marriage bed.

Myraces, a royal interpreter from the eastern shores, had come so that he might join Colchians and Aeetian treaties with the Parthians from far away, not vainly, with gold given. Then the Fates held the youth in Cytaean lands, and love of sudden Mars. With him went an armed servant, neither fully man nor boy, carrying an unripe and barren youth. Myraces himself, sitting at the reins on embroidered rugs, now lightly runs into the lines in a hostile chariot, now, by feigning flight, scatters arrows turned backward. Around the end of his neck he fastens his ancestral tiara, green with gems and thread of the eastern forest, splendid with sleeves, splendid with the scimitar in his right hand; shameless coverings run over his barbaric feet.

Those spoils did not long escape savage Syene. Through the light tiger skin stained with much purple, the hurried spear passed. The wounded tiger gaped sudden blood from its mouth and poured out its master's life. The boy himself bends his falling head into the broken bow. Then the fiery cloak, the face, and the heavy hair, which his parent had nourished with Sabaean flower and marked with liquid gold, were wet with black blood. As if someone raises an olive tree with waters and the richness of fertile earth, fills it with happy winds, and neither constant labor nor hope deceives the one who nurtures it; he now sees the first leaf from the tender top, when suddenly a northern winter comes headlong with storms let loose and stretches it torn up in the black sand. Just so Myraces falls before the city and before the very face of the maiden. Yet she is not moved more by fear for one man than when she sees you, Meleager, raging, or Talaus, or marvels at the battles of Acastus.

The nations themselves and the fields had seen enough of these men bearing down on routed squadrons with equal tempest. Before their eyes went the shameful flight of leaders, generous blood of the fallen, and chariots deprived of mighty masters.

Perses could not bear these groans and the disaster of his men, nor their backs turned. He filled the sky with these complaints: "Why, gods above, did you mock me, already driven from my father's seats, with empty augury, so that I would arrange these battles and move Scythia into war? Why, Jupiter, did omens then promise me the deserved punishments of my brother? Clearly you were preparing Argonautic help for me and joining such forces. Cruel indeed is the delay of light for wretched men. Yet, I pray, let the fates give me that one day that may deceive the Achaeans, so that I may see that son of Aeson, proud even of deserved courage, weeping such great labors without honor." He spoke these things, struck his breast with his own arms, and filled his helmet with tears and sobs.

He was going headlong into the fires of the middle battle, if Pallas had not first seen him from the opposing arms and said within herself: "Look, fierce Perses rushes into death, the man whom his father has already decided to set over Colchis and upon his brother's throne. I fear that, if he is killed by my trick, Jupiter may rebuke me and repay this fault with great terror." Saying this, she spread a cloud with her dark mantle and turned aside the whistling spears around the man's head. He is lifted over the allied nations by a gentle whirlwind and, carried a little in the light air, is at last set down at the far edges of the fight, where by chance the late Iberian and the Issedonian phalanxes have no share in Mars and help the column only with shouting.

At the same time welcome Night brings forth her star-bearing shadows, and at once the crash of war falls. The girl, sick from long fear, withdraws from the walls. As savage Thyiads stand still a little through the rites of Nyctelius, then the god seizes them and they are ready for whatever comes, Medea returns with no other tumult. Between the Greek lines and her father's phalanxes, with cares never satisfied, she always recognizes Jason: his arms, and what face remains above the hollow helmet.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from the Latin text of Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, Book VI, preserved in the local Scythian source archive.

The English translation is independently derived from the Latin. No modern English translation was used as the base text.

Compiled for the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

🌲

Source Text: Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica Book VI

Latin source text presented for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

### Liber VI

At vigil isdem ardet furiis Gradivus et acri
corde tumet nec quas acies, quae castra sequatur
invenit. ire placet tandem[que] praesensque tueri,
sternere si Minyas magnoque rependere luctu
regis pacta queat Graiamque absumere pubem. 5
impulit hinc currus monstrum inrevocabile belli
concutiens Scythiaeque super tentoria sistit.
protinus e castris fugit sopor: excita tela,
turbati coiere duces. hos insuper ingens
fama movet, rate quae sacra vulgabat Achivos 10
advenisse sui repe<te>nte<s> vellera Phrixi,
quos malus hospitio iunctaque ad foedera dextra
luserit Aeetes atque in sua traxerit arma.
Ergo consiliis dum nox vacat alta movendis
legatos placet ire duces mandataque Perses 15
edocet, adfari Minyas fraudemque tyranni
ut moneant. quinam hinc animos averterit error?
se primum Haemoniis hortatum ea vellera terris
reddere et exuvias pecudis dimittere sacrae:
hinc odium et tanti venisse exordia belli. 20
quin potius dextramque suam suaque arma sequantur
aut remeent (neque enim Aeetae promissa fidemque
esse loco). abstineant alienae sanguine pugnae.
non illos ideo tanti venisse labores
per maris. ignotis quid opus concurrere nec quos 25
oderis? haec medio Perses dum tempore mandat,
aureus effulsit campis rubor armaque et acres
sponte sua strepuere tubae. Mars saevus ab altis
'hostis io,' conclamat equis 'agite ite [ite], propinquat!'
ac simul hinc Colchos, hinc fundit in aequora Persen. 30
[tum gens quaeque suis commisit proelia telis
voxque dei pariter pugnas audita per omnes.]
Hinc age Rhipaeo quos videris orbe furores,
Musa, mone, quanto Scythiam molimine Perses
concierit, quis fretus equis per bella virisque. 35
verum ego nec numero memorem nec nomine cunctos
mille vel ora movens. neque enim plaga gentibus ulla
ditior: aeterno quamquam Maeotia pubes
Marte cadat, pingui numquam tamen ubere defit
quod geminas Arctos magnumque quod impleat Anguem 40
ergo duces solasque, deae, mihi promite gentes.
Miserat ardentes mox ipsa secutus Alanos
Heniochosque truces iam pridem infensus Anausis,
pacta quod Albano coniunx Medea tyranno,
nescius heu quanti thalamos ascendere monstri 45
arserit atque urbes maneat qui terror Achaeas,
gratior ipse deis orbaque beatior aula.
proxima Bisaltae legio ductorque Colaxes,
sanguis et ipse deum, Scythicis quem Iuppiter oris
progenuit viridem Myracen Tibisenaque iuxta 50
ostia, semifero--dignum si credere--captus
corpore, nec nymphae geminos exhorruit angues.
cuncta phalanx insigne Iovis caelataque gestat
tegmina dispersos trifidis ardoribus ignes;
nec primus radios, miles Romane, corusci 55
fulminis et rutilas scutis diffuderis alas.
insuper auratos collo gerit ipse dracones,
matris Horae specimen, linguisque adversus utrimque
congruit et tereti serpens dat vulnere gemmae.
tertius unanimis veniens cum milibus Auchus 60
Cimmerias ostentat opes, cui candidus olim
crinis inest, natale decus; dat longior aetas
iam speciem; triplici percurrens tempora nodo
demittit sacro geminas a vertice vittas.
Datin Achaemeniae gravior de vulnere pugnae 65
misit in arma Daraps, acies quem Martia circum
Gangaridum potaque Gerus quos efferat unda
quique lacum cinxere Bycen. non defuit Anxur,
non Radalo cum fratre Sydon, Acesinaque laevo
omine fatidicae ~Phrixus~ movet agmina cervae. 70
ipsa comes saetis fulgens et cornibus aureis
ante aciem celsi vehitur gestamine conti
maesta nec in saevae lucos reditura Dianae.
movit et Hylaea supplex cum gente Syenen
impia germani praetentans vulnera Perses. 75
densior haud usquam nec celsior extulit ullas
silva trabes fessaeque prius rediere sagittae
<. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .>
quin et ab Hyrcanis Titanius expulit antris
Ciris in arma viros plaustrisque ad proelia cunctas 80
Coelaletae traxere manus. ibi sutilis illis
est domus et crudo residens sub vellere coniunx
et puer e primo torquens temone cateias.
linquitur abruptus pelago Tyra, linquitur et mons
Ambenus et gelidis pollens Ophiusa venenis 85
degeneresque ruunt Sindi glomerantque paterno
crimine nunc etiam metuentes verbera turmas.
hos super aeratam Phalces agit aequore nubem
cum fremitu densique levant vexilla Coralli,
barbaricae quis signa rotae ferrataque dorso 90
forma suum truncaeque, Iovis simulacra, columnae.
proelia nec rauco curant incendere cornu
indigenas sed rite duces et prisca suorum
facta canunt veterumque, viris hortamina, laudes.
ast ubi Sidonicas inter pedes aequat habenas 95
illinc iuratos in se trahit Aea Batarnas,
quos duce Teutagono crudi mora corticis armat
aequaque nec ferro brevior nec rumpia ligno.
nec procul albentes gemina ferit aclyde parmas
hiberni qui terga Novae gelidumque securi 100
eruit et tota non audit Alazona ripa.
<. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .> 101a
quosque Taras niveumque ferax Euarchus olorum.
te quoque venturis, ingens Ariasmene, saeclis
tradiderim, molem belli lateque ferentem
undique falcatos deserta per aequora currus. 105
insequitur Drangea phalanx claustrisque profusi
Caspiadae, quis turba canum non segnius acres
exsilit ad lituos pugnasque capessit eriles.
inde etiam par mortis honos tumulisque recepti
inter avos positusque virum. nam pectora ferro 110
terribilesque innexa iubas ruit agmine nigro
latratu<que> cohors quanto sonat horrida Ditis
ianua vel superas Hecates comitatus in auras.
ducit ab Hyrcanis vates sacer agmina lucis
Vanus, eum Scythiae iam tertia viderat aetas 115
magnanimos Minyas Argoaque vela canentem.
illius et dites monitis spondentibus Indi
et centumgeminae Lagea novalia Thebes
totaque Rhipaeo Panchaia rapta triumpho.
discolor hastatas effudit Hiberia turmas, 120
quas Otaces, quas Latris agunt, et raptor amorum
Neurus et expertes canentis Iazyges aevi.
namque ubi iam vires gelidae notusque refutat
arcus et inceptus iam lancea temnit eriles
magnanimis mos ductus avis haud segnia mortis 125
iura pati, dextra sed carae occumbere prolis
ense dato, rumpuntque moras natusque parensque,
ambo animis, ambo miri tam fortibus actis.
hic et odorato spirantes crine ~Mycael~
Cessaeaeque manus et qui tua iugera nondum 130
eruis, ignotis insons Arimaspe metallis,
doctus et Auchates patulo vaga vincula gyro
spargere et extremas laqueis adducere turmas.
non ego sanguineis gestantem tympana bellis
Thyrsaget<en> cinctumque vagis post terga silebo 135
pellibus et nexas viridantem floribus hastas.
fama ducem Iovis et Cadmi de sanguine Bacchum
hac quoque turiferos, felicia regna, Sabaeos,
hac Arabas fudisse manu, mox rumperet Hebri
cum vada Thyrsagetas gelida liquisse sub Arcto. 140
illis omnis adhuc veterum tenor et sacer aeris
pulsus et eoae memoratrix tibia pugnae.
iungit opes Emeda suas, sua signa secuti
Exomatae Torynique et flavi crine Satarchae.
mellis honor Torynis, ditant sua mulctra Satarchen, 145
Exomatas venatus alit nec clarior ullis
Arctos equis. abeunt Hypanin fragilemque per undam
tigridis aut saevae profugi cum prole leaenae
maestaque suspectae mater stupet aggere ripae.
impulit et dubios Phrixei velleris ardor 150
Centoras et diros magico terrore Choatras.
omnibus in superos saevus honor, omnibus artes
monstrificae, nunc vere novo compescere frondes,
nunc subitam trepidis Maeotin solvere plaustris.
maximus hos inter Stygia venit arte Coastes. 155
sollicitat nec Martis amor, sed fama Cytaeae
virginis et paribus spirans Medea venenis.
gaudet Averna palus, gaudet iam nocte quieta
portitor et tuto veniens Latonia caelo.
ibant et geminis aequantes cornibus alas 160
Balloniti comitumque celer mutator equorum
Moesus et ingentis frenator Sarmata conti.
nec tot ab extremo fluctus agit aequore nec sic
fratribus adversa Boreas respondet ab unda
aut is apud fluvios volucrum canor, aethera quantus 165
tunc lituum concentus adit lymphataque miscet
milia, quot foliis, quot floribus incipit annus.
ipse rotis gemit ictus ager tremibundaque pulsu
nutat humus, quatit ut saevo cum fulmine Phlegram
Iuppiter atque imis Typhoea verberat arvis. 170
Prima tenent illinc patriis Absyrtus in armis
et gener ingentesque inter sua milia reges.
at circa Aesoniden Danaum manus ipsaque Pallas
aegide terrifica, quam nec dea lassat habendo
nec pater horrentem colubris vultuque tremendam 175
Gorgoneo. nec semineces ostendere crines
tempus adhuc primasque sinit concurrere pugnas.
impulit hos contra Mavors pater et mala leti
Gaudia Tisiphoneque caput per nubila tollens
ad sonitum litui mediaque altissima pugna 180
necdum clara quibus sese Fuga mentibus addat.
Illi ubi consertis iunxere frementia telis
agmina virque virum galeis adflavit adactis
continuo hinc obitus perfractaque caedibus arma
corporaque, alternus cruor alternaeque ruinae. 185
volvit ager galeas et thorax erigit imbres
sanguineos. hinc barbarici glomerantur ovatus,
hinc gemitus mixtaeque virum cum pulvere vitae.
Caspius Aeaeum correpto crine Monesen
abstulit; hinc pariter Colchi Graique sequuntur 190
missilibus; rapit ille necem praedamque relinquit
nec sociis iam cura viri. Dipsanta Caresus
Strymonaque obscura spargentem vulnera funda
deicit. Albani cadit ipse Chremedoni[di]s hasta
iamque latet currusque super turmaeque feruntur. 195
processere Melas et Idasmenus. incipit hasta
ante Melas, levis ast abies elusit utrumque.
ensibus inde ruunt. prior occupat aere citato
cassidis ima Melas, infracta est vulnere cervix.
mixta perit virtus: nescit cui debeat Ocheus 200
aut cui fata Tyres. dum sibila respicit Iron
cuspidis Argivae, Pyliam latere accipit hastam.
Viderat Hyrcanos paribus discurrere fratres
Castor equis, pater armento quos dives ab omni
nutrierat fatisque viam monstra<ra>t iniquis. 205
tum magis atque magis peditem candore notato
Tyndariden incendit amor. simul obvius hastam
pectus in adversum ~gleacit~ alipedemque
insilit excusso victor duce. risit ab alta
nube pater prensisque equitem cognovit habenis. 210
at pariter luctuque furens visuque Medores
Tyndariden petit et superos sic voce precatur:
'hunc age vel caeso comitem me reddite fratri!
primus at hic nostra sonipes cadat impius hasta
credita qui misero non rettulit arma parenti 215
meque venit contra captivaque terga ministrat.'
dixerat, Actaei sed eum prior hasta Phaleri
deicit; ad socias sonipes citus effugit alas.
Quis tibi fatales umquam metuisset Amyclas
Oebaliamque manum, tot, Rhyndace, montibus inter 220
diviso totidemque fretis? cadit impiger una
inguine transfosso clari Taulantis alumnus
semidea genetrice Tages, cui plurima silvis
pervigilat materna soror cultusque laborat.
tenuia non illum candentis carbasa lini, 225
non auro depicta chlamys, non flava galeri
caesaries pictoque iuvant subtegmine bracae.
iamque novus mediae stupefacta per agmina pugnae
vadit eques densa spargens hastilia dextra
fulmineumque viris profundens ingerit ensem 230
huc alternus et huc, cum saevior ecce iuventus
Sarmaticae coiere manus fremitusque virorum
semiferi. riget his molli lorica catena,
id quoque tegmen equis; at equi porrecta per armos
et caput ingentem campis hostilibus umbram 235
fert abies obnixa genu vaditque virum vi,
vadit equum, docilis relegi docilisque relinqui
atque iterum medios non altior ire per hostes.
orbibus hos rapidis mollique per aequora Castor
anfractu levioris equi deludit anhelos 240
immemoresque mori; sed non isdem artibus aeque
concurrunt ultroque ruunt in funera Colchi.
Campesus impacta latus inter et ilia quercu
tollitur ac mediam moriens descendit in hastam.
Oebasus infestum summisso poplite Phalcen 245
evasisse ratus laevum per luminis orbem
transigitur; tenerae tinguuntur vulnere malae.
contra autem geminis fidens thoracibus ictum
sustulit et gladio Sibotes ferit ultima teli
nequiquam. iam cuspis inest nec fragmina curat 250
Ambenus et trunco medium subit Ocrea ligno.
seminecem Taxes Hypanin vehit atque remissum
pone trahit fugiens et cursibus exuit hastam
dumque recollectam rursus locat, inruit ultro
turbatumque Lacon et adhuc invadit inermem. 255
impulit adverso praeceps equus Onchea conto
nequiquam totis revocantem viribus armos
in latus. accedit sonipes, accedit et ipse
frigidus. arma cadunt, rorat procul ultima cuspis.
qualem populeae fidentem nexibus umbrae 260
siquis avem summi deducat ab aere rami
ante manu tacita cui plurima crevit harundo;
illa dolis viscoque super correpta sequaci
implorat ramos atque inrita concitat alas.
Parte alia infestis (nam fors ita iunxit) in armis 265
Styrus adest laetusque virum cognoscit Anausis
et prior 'en cuius thalamis Aeetia virgo
dicta manet nostrosque feret qui victor amores.
non' ait 'invitoque gener mutabere patri.'
tum simul adversas conlatis cursibus hastas 270
coniciunt, fugit adductis Albanus habenis
saucius atque datum leto non sperat Anausin
nec videt. ille autem telo moribundus adacto
'ad soceros pactaeque sinus en coniugis,' inquit
'Styre, fugis vulnus referens, quod carmine nullo 275
sustineat nullisque levet Medea venenis.'
dixerat, extremus cum lumina corripit error
voxque repressa gelu percussaque vertice tellus.
Hinc animos acies auget magnoque doloris
turbine Gesandrum Mavors rapit. ille morantes 280
increpat et stricto sic urget Iazygas ense:
'nempe omnes cecidere senes, nempe omnis ademptus
ante pater. quae vos subito tam foeda senectus
corripuit fregitque animos atque abstulit iras?
aut mecum mediam, iuvenes, agite ite per urbem 285
Argolicamque manum aut caris occumbite natis.'
inruit et patrias coeptis ferus advocat umbras:
'sancte mihi Vorapte pater, tua pectora nato
suggere nunc animamque parem, si fata peroso
tarda tibi turpesque moras non segnius ipsi 290
paruimus parvique ea<de>m didicere nepotes.'
haec ait auditusque Erebo. tunc corripit ensem
turbidus et furiis ardens quatit arma paternis.
indigenis sacratus aquis magnique sacerdos
Phasidis Arctois Aquites errabat in armis 295
(populeus cui frondis honor conspectaque glauco
tempora nectuntur ramo) te, Cyrne, parentis
immemorem durae cupiens abducere pugnae.
iamque omnes impune globos diversaque lustrans
agmina non usquam videt utque iterum intrat < . . . > 300
vociferans, iterum belli diversa peragrat,
lancea caeruleas circum strepit incita vittas.
opprimit admissis ferus hinc Gesander habenis.
ille manum trepidans atque inrita sacra tetendit
'te' que 'per hanc, genitor,' inquit 'tibi si manet, oro 305
canitiem, compesce minas et sicubi nato
parce meo!' dixit. contra sic victor adacto
ense refert: 'genitor, turpi durare senecta
quem mihi reris adhuc, ipse hac occumbere dextra
maluit atque ultro segnes abrumpere metas. 310
et tibi si pietas nati, si dextra fuisset,
haud medii precibus tereres nunc tempora belli,
praeda future canum. iuveni sors pulchrior omnis:
et certasse manu decet et caruisse sepulchro.'
dixerat. ille deos moriens caelumque precatur, 315
dextera ne misero talis foret obvia nato.
Te quoque, Canthe, tui non inscia funeris Argo
flevit ab invita rapientem tela carina.
iam Scythicos miserande sinus, iam Phasidis amnem
contigeras nec longa dies, ut capta videres 320
vellera et Euboicis patrios de montibus ignes.
illum ubi congressu subiit Gesander iniquo
territat his: 'tu qui faciles hominumque putasti
has, Argive, domos, alium hic miser aspicis annum
altricemque nivem festinaque taedia vitae. 325
non nos aut levibus componere bracchia remis
novimus aut ventos opus exspectare ferentes:
imus equis qua vel medio riget aequore pontus
vel tumida fremit Hister aqua. nec moenia nobis
vestra placent: feror Arctois nunc liber in arvis 330
cuncta tenens; mecum omnis amor iacturaque plaustri
sola nec hac longum victor potiere rapina.
ast epulae quodcumque pecus, quaecumque ferarum.
mitte Asiae, mitte Argolicis mandata colonis,
ne trepident. numquam has hiemes, haec saxa relinquam, 335
Martis agros, ubi tam saevo duravimus amne
progeniem natosque rudes, ubi copia leti
tanta viris. sic in patriis bellare pruinis
praedarique iuvat talemque hanc accipe dextram!'
dixit et Edonis nutritum missile ventis 340
concitat. it medium per pectus et horrida nexu
letifer aera chalybs. trepidus super advolat Idas
ac simul Oenides pariterque Menoetius et qui
Bebrycio ~propius~ remeavit ab hospite victor.
at vero ingentem Telamon procul extulit orbem 345
exanimem te, Canthe, tegens. ceu saeptus in arto
dat catulos post terga leo, sic comminus astat
Aeacides gressumque tenet contraque ruentem
septeno validam circumfert tegmine molem.
nec minus hinc urget Scythiae manus armaque Canthi 350
quisque sibi et Graio poenam de corpore poscens.
arduus inde labos medioque in corpore pugna
conseritur. magno veluti cum turbine sese
ipsius Aeoliae frangunt in limine venti,
quem pelagi rabies, quem nubila quemque sequatur 355
ille dies, obnixa virum sic comminus haeret
pugna nec arrepto pelli de corpore possunt.
ut bovis exuvias multo qui frangit olivo
dat famulis, tendunt illi tractuque vicissim
taurea terga domant, pingui fluit unguine tellus. 360
talis utrimque labos raptataque limite in arto
membra viri miseranda meant. hi tendere contra,
hi contra alternaeque virum non cedere dextrae.
hinc medium Telamon Canthum rapit, hinc tenet ardens
colla viri et molles galeae Gesander habenas, 365
insonuit quae lapsa solo dextramque fefellit.
ille iterum in clipei septemplicis improbus orbem
arietat et Canthum sequitur Canthumque reposcit,
quem manus a tergo socium rapit atque receptum
virginis Euryales curru locat. advolat ipsa 370
ac simul Haemonidae Gesandrumque omnis in unum
it manus. ille novas acies et virginis arma
ut videt 'has etiam contra bellabimus?' inquit
'heu pudor!' inde Lycen ferit ad confine papillae,
inde Thoen, qua pelta vacat iamque ibat in Harpen 375
vixdum prima levi ducentem cornua nervo
et labentis equi tendentem frena Menippen,
cum regina gravem nodis auroque securem
congeminans partem capitis galeaeque ferinae
dissipat. hic pariter telorum immanis in unum 380
it globus. ille diu coniectis sufficit hastis--
quin [etiam] gravior nutuque carens exterruit Idan--,
tunc ruit ut montis latus aut ut machina muri,
quae scopulis trabibusque diu confectaque flammis
procubuit tandem atque ingentem propulit urbem. 385
Ecce locum tempusque ratus iamque et sua posci
proelia falcatos infert Ariasmenus axes
saevaque diffundit socium iuga protinus omnes
Graiugenas, omnes rapturus acumine Colchos.
qualiter exosus Pyrrhae genus aequora rursus 390
Iuppiter atque omnes fluvium si fundat habenas,
ardua Parnasi lateant iuga, cesserit Othrys
piniger et mersis decrescant rupibus Alpes:
diluvio tali paribusque Ariasmenus urget
excidiis nullo rapiens discrimine currus. 395
aegida tum primum virgo spiramque Medusae
ter centum saevis squalentem sustulit hydris,
quam soli vidistis, equi. pavor occupat ingens
excussis in terga viris diramque retorquent
in socios non sponte luem. tunc ensibus uncis 400
implicat et trepidos lacerat discordia currus.
Romanas veluti saevissima cum legiones
Tisiphone regesque movet, quorum agmina pilis,
quorum aquilis utrimque micant eademque parentes
rura colunt, idem lectos ex omnibus agris 405
miserat infelix non haec ad proelia Thybris:
sic modo concordes externaque fata petentes
Palladii rapuere metus, sic in sua versi
funera concurrunt dominis revocantibus axes.
non tam foeda virum Laurentibus agmina terris 410
eiecere Noti, Libyco nec talis imago
litore cum fractas involvunt aequora puppes.
hinc biiuges, illinc artus tenduntur eriles
quos radii, quos frena secant trahiturque trahitque
currus caede madens atroque in pulvere regum 415
viscera nunc aliis, aliis nunc curribus haerent.
haud usquam Colchorum animi ~neque in peste revinctos~
tela, sed implicitos miseraque in peste revinctos
confodiunt ac forma necis non altera surgit
quam cervos ubi non Umbro venator edaci, 420
non penna petit, haerentes sed cornibus altis
invenit et caeca constrictos occupat ira.
ipse recollectis audax Ariasmenus armis
desilit. illum acies curvae secat undique falcis
partiturque rotis atque inde furentia raptus 425
in iuga Circaeos tetigit non amplius agros.
Talia certatim Minyae sparsique Cytaei
funera miscebant campis Scythiamque premebant.
cum Iuno Aesonidae non hanc ad vellera cernens
esse viam nec sic reditus regina parandos 430
extremam molitur opem, funesta priusquam
consilia ac saevas aperit rex perfidus iras.
increpat et seris Vulcanum maesta querellis,
cuius flammiferos videt inter regia tauros
pascua Tartaream proflantes pectore noctem. 435
haec etenim Minyas ne iungere Marte peracto
monstra satis iubeat Cadmei dentibus hydri
ante diem, timet et varias circumspicit artes.
sola animo Medea subit, mens omnis in una
virgine, nocturnis qua nulla potentior aris. 440
illius adflatus sparsosque per avia sucos
sidera fixa pavent et avi stupet orbita Solis.
mutat agros fluviumque vias, ~suus~ alligat ignis
~cuncta sopor~ recolit fessos aetate parentes
datque alias sine lege colus. hanc maxima Circe 445
terrificis mirata modis, hanc advena Phrixus
quamvis Atracio lunam spumare veneno
sciret et Haemoniis agitari cantibus umbras.
ergo opibus magicis et virginitate tremendam
Iuno duci sociam coniungere quaerit Achivo. 450
non aliam tauris videt et nascentibus armis
quippe parem nec quae medio stet in agmine flammae,
nullum mente nefas, nullos horrescere visus:
quid si caecus amor saevusque accesserit ignis?
hinc Veneris thalamos semperque recentia sertis 455
tecta petit. visa iamdudum prosilit altis
diva toris volucrumque exercitus omnis Amorum.
ac prior hanc placidis supplex Saturnia dictis
adgreditur veros metuens aperire timores.
'in manibus spes nostra tuis omnisque potestas 460
nunc.' ait 'hoc etiam magis adnue vera fatenti.
durus ut Argolicis Tirynthius exsulat oris
mens mihi non eadem Iovis atque adversa voluntas,
nullus honor thalamis flammaeve in nocte priores.
da, precor, artificis blanda adspiramina formae 465
ornatusque tuos terra caeloque potentes!'
sensit diva dolos iam pridem sponte requirens
Colchida et invisi genus omne exscindere Phoebi.
tum vero optatis potitur nec passa precari
ulterius dedit acre decus fecundaque monstris 470
cingula, non pietas quibus aut custodia famae,
non pudor, at contra levis et festina cupido
adfatusque mali dulcisque labantibus error
et metus et demens alieni cura pericli.
'omne' ait 'imperium natorumque arma meorum 475
cuncta dedi. quascumque libet nunc concute mentes.'
Cingitur arcanis Saturnia laeta venenis
atque hinc virgineae venit ad penetralia sedis
Chalciopen imitata sono formaque sororem.
fulsit ab invita numen procul et pavor artus 480
protinus atque ingens Aeetida perculit horror.
'ergo nec ignotis Minyas huc fluctibus' inquit
'advenisse, soror, nec nostro sola parenti
scis socias iunxisse manus? at cetera muros
turba tenet fruiturque virum caelestibus armis. 485
tu thalamis ignava sedes, tu sola paterna
fixa domo, tales quando tibi cernere reges?'
illa nihil contra. nec enim dea passa manumque
implicat et rapidis mirantem passibus aufert.
ducitur infelix ad moenia summa futuri 490
nescia virgo mali et falsae commissa sorori,
lilia per vernos lucent velut alba colores
praecipue, quis vita brevis totusque parumper
floret honor, fuscis et iam Notus imminet alis.
hanc residens altis Hecate Perseia lucis 495
flebat et has imo referebat pectore voces:
'deseris heu nostrum nemus aequalesque catervas,
a misera, ut Graias haud sponte vageris ad urbes.
non invisa tamen neque te, mea cura, relinquam.
magna fugae monumenta dabis, spernere nec usquam 500
mendaci captiva viro meque ille magistram
sentiet et raptu famulae doluisse pudendo.'
dixerat. ast illae murorum extrema capessunt
defixaeque virum lituumque fragoribus horrent,
quales instanti nimborum frigore maestae 505
succedunt ramis haerent<que> pavore volucres.
Iamque Getae iamque omnis Hiber Drangeaque densa
strage cadit legio et latis prosternitur arvis.
semineces duplicesque inter sua tela suosque
inter equos saevam misero luctamine versant 510
congeriem et longis campos singultibus implent.
victores patrium contra paeana Geloni
congeminant, eadem redeunt mox gaudia victis
qua deus et melior belli respexit imago.
Quis tales obitus dederit, quis talia facta 515
dic age tuque feri reminiscere, Musa, furoris.
Absyrtus clipei radiis curruque coruscus
Solis avi (cuius vibrantem comminus hastam
cernere nec galeam gentes potuere minantem,
sed trepidae redeunt et verso vulnera tergo 520
accipiunt magnisque fugam clamoribus augent)
proterit impulsu gravis agmina corporaque atris
sternit equis gemitusque premit spirantis acervi.
nec levior comitatur Aron, horrentia cuius
discolor arma super squalentesque aere lacertos 525
barbarica chlamys ardet acu tremefactaque vento
implet equum, qualis roseis it Lucifer alis,
quem Venus inlustri gaudet producere caelo.
at non inde procul Rambelus et acer Otaxes
dispulerant Colchos pariterque inglorius Armis, 530
fraude nova stabula et furtis adsuetus inultis
depopulare greges frontem cum cornibus auxit
hispidus inque dei latuit terrore Lycaei;
hac tunc attonitos facie defixerat hostes.
quem simul ac nota formidine bella moventem 535
vidit Aron, 'pavidos te' inquit 'nunc rere magistros
et stolidum petiisse pecus? non pascua nec bos
hic tibi: nocturni mitte haec simulamina Panis
neve deum mihi finge. deus quoque consere dextram.'
sic ait intentaque adiutum missile planta 540
derigit et lapsis patuerunt vulnera villis.
nec minus Aeolii proles Aeetia Phrixi
fertur et ipsa furens ac se modo laeta Cytaeis
agminibus, modo cognatis ostentat Achivis.
atque hos in medio duri discrimine belli 545
laudibus inque ipsis gaudens ubi vidit Iason
'macte' ait 'o nostrum genus et iam certa propago
Aeoliae nec opina domus. sat magna laborum
dona fero, satis hoc visu quaecumque rependo.'
dixit et in Sueten magnique in fata Ceramni 550
emicuit clipeumque rotans hunc poplite caeso
deicit, illum aperit lato per pectus hiatu.
Argus utrumque ab equis ingenti porrigit arvo
et Zacorum et Phalcen, peditem pedes haurit Amastrin.
sanguinis ille globos effusaque viscera gestat 555
barbarus et cassa <st>ridens sublabitur ira.
dat Calais Barisanta neci semperque propinquas
Riphea venali comitantem sanguine pugnas.
centum lecta boum bellator corpora, centum
pactus equos; his ille animam lucemque rependit 560
credulus; at tandem dulces iam cassus in auras
respicit ac nulla caelum reparabile gaza.
labitur intortos per tempora caerula crines
tunc quoque materna velatus harundine Peucon.
at genetrix imis pariter Maeotis ab antris 565
implevit plangore lacus natumque vocavit
iam non per ripas, iam non per curva volantem
stagna nec in medio truncantem marmore cervos.
Eurytus Exomatas agit aequore. Nestoris hastae
immoritur primaevus Helix nec reddita caro 570
nutrimenta patri, brevibus ereptus in annis.
at Latagum Zetemque Daraps, illum exigit hasta,
hic fugit, ingentem subiti cum sanguinis undam
vidit et extremo lucentia pectora ferro.
Ecce autem muris residens Medea paternis 575
singula dum magni lustrat certamina belli
atque hos ipsa procul densa in caligine reges
agnoscit quaeritque alios Iunone magistra,
conspicit Aesonium longe caput ac simul acres
huc oculos sensusque refert animumque faventem, 580
nunc quo se raperet, nunc quo diversus abiret
ante videns, quotque unus equos, quot funderet arma
errantesque viros quam densis sisteret hastis.
quaque iterum tacito sparsit vaga lumina vultu
aut fratris quaerens aut pacti coniugis arma, 585
saevus ibi miserae solusque occurrit Iason.
tunc his germanam adgreditur ceu nescia dictis:
'quis precor hic toto iamdudum fervere campo
quem tueor quemque ipsa vides? nam te quoque tali
attonitam virtute reor.' contra aspera Iuno 590
reddit agens stimulis ac diris fraudibus urget.
'ipsum' ait 'Aesoniden cernis, soror, aequore tanto
debita cognati repetit qui vellera Phrixi
nec nunc laude prior generis nec sanguine quisquam.
aspicis ut Minyas inter proceresque Cytaeos 595
emicet effulgens quantisque insultet acervis?
et iam vela dabit, iam litora nostra relinquet
Thessaliae felicis opes dilectaque Phrixo
rura petens. eat atque utinam superetque labores!'
tantum effata magis campis intendere suadet 600
dum datur ardentesque viri percurrere pugnas,
ac simul hanc dictis, illum dea Marte secundo
impulit atque novas egit sub pectora vires.
ora sub excelso iamdudum vertice coni
saeva micant cursuque ardescit nec tibi, Perse, 605
nec tibi, virgo, iubae laetabile sidus Achivae,
acer ut autumni canis iratoque vocati
ab Iove fatales ad regna iniusta cometae.
nec sua Crethiden latuit dea vimque recentem
sentit agi membris ac se super agmina tollit, 610
quantus ubi ipse gelu magnoque incanuit imbre
Caucasus et summas abiit hibernus in Arctos.
tunc vero, stabulis qualis leo saevit opimis
luxurians spargitque famem mutatque cruores,
sic neque parte ferox nec caede moratur in una 615
turbidus inque omnes pariter furit ac modo saevo
ense, modo infesta rarescunt cuspide pugnae.
tunc et terrificis undantem crinibus Hebrum
et Geticum Priona ferit, caput eripit Auchi
~bracchiaque~ et vastis volvendum mittit harenis. 620
At genitus Iove complerat sua fata Colaxes
iamque pater maesto contristat sidera vultu
talibus aegra movens nequiquam pectora curis:
'ei mihi, si durae natum subducere sorti
moliar atque meis ausim confidere regnis, 625
frater adhuc Amyci maeret nece cunctaque divum
turba fremunt quorum nati cecidere cadentque.
quin habeat sua quemque dies cunctisque negabo
quae mihi.' supremos misero sic fatus honores
congerit atque animis moriturum ingentibus implet. 630
ille volat campis immensaque funera miscet
per cuneos, velut hiberno proruptus ab arcu
imber agens scopulos nemorumque operumque ruinas,
donec ab ingenti bacchatus vertice montis
frangitur inque novum paulatim deficit amnem. 635
talis in extremo proles Iovis emicat aevo
et nunc magnanimos Hypetaona Gessithoumque
nunc Arinen Olbumque rotat. iam saucius Aprem
et desertus equo Thydrum pedes excipit hasta
Phasiaden, pecoris custos de more paterni 640
Caucasus ad primas genuit quem Phasidis undas.
hinc puero cognomen erat famulumque ferebant
Phasidis intonso nequiquam crine parentes.
iamque aliis instabat atrox cum diva supremas
rumpit iniqua colus victorque advenit Iason. 645
excipit hunc saeva sic fatus voce Colaxes:
'vos Scythiae saturare canes Scythiaeque volucres
huc miseri venis<tis>?' ait saxumque prehensum,
illius et dextrae gestamen et illius aevi,
concussa molitur humo, quod regia Iuno 650
flexit ad ignotum caput infletumque Monesi.
praeceps ille ruit. nato non depulit ictus
Iuppiter, Aesoniae vulnus fatale sed hastae
per clipeum, per pectus abit lapsoque cruentus
advolat Aesonides mortemque cadentis acerbat. 655
spargitur hinc miserisque venit iam notus Alanis.
At regina virum (neque enim deus amovet ignem)
persequitur lustrans oculisque ardentibus haeret.
et iam laeta minus praesentis imagine pugnae
castigatque metus et quas alit inscia curas 660
respiciens an vera soror nec credere falsos
audet atrox vultus eademque in gaudia rursus
labitur et saevae trahitur dulcedine flammae.
ac velut ante comas ac summa cacumina silvae
lenibus adludit flabris levis Auster, at illum 665
protinus immanem miserae <sensere> carinae,
talis ad extremos agitur Medea furores.
interdum blandae derepta monilia divae
contrectat miseroque aptat flagrantia collo,
quaque dedit teneros aurum furiale per artus, 670
deficit; ac sua virgo deae gestamina reddit
non gemmis, non illa levi turbata metallo,
sed facibus, sed mole dei, quem pectore toto
iam tenet. extremus roseo pudor errat in ore.
ac prior his: 'credisne patrem promissa daturum, 675
o soror, Argolicus cui dis melioribus hospes
contigit? aut belli quantum iam restat acerbi?
heu quibus ignota sese pro gente periclis
obicit!' haec fantem medio in sermone reliquit
incepti iam Iuno potens securaque fraudis. 680
imminet e celsis audentius improba muris
virgo nec ablatam sequitur quaeritve sororem.
at quotiens vis dura ducum densique repente
Aesoniden pressere viri cumque omnis in unum
imber iit, totiens saxis pulsatur et hastis. 685
primaque ad infesti Lexanoris horruit arcus,
alta sed Aesonium supra caput exit harundo
teque, Caice, petit. coniunx miseranda Caico
linquitur et primo domus imperfecta cubili.
Regius Eois Myraces interpres ab oris 690
venerat ut Colchos procul atque Aeetia Parthis
foedera donato non inrita iungeret auro.
tum iuvenem terris Parcae tenuere Cytaeis
ac subiti Mavortis amor: simul armiger ibat
semivir impubemque gerens sterilemque iuventam. 695
ipse ~pharetratis~ residens ad frena tapetis
nunc levis infesto procurrit in agmina curru,
nunc fuga conversas spargit mentita sagittas.
at viridem gemmis et eoae stamine silvae
subligat extrema patrium cervice tiaran 700
insignis manicis, insignis acinace dextro;
improba barbaricae procurrunt tegmina plantae.
nec latuere diu saevum spolia illa Syenen
perque levem et multo maculatam murice tigrin
concita cuspis abit. subitos ex ore cruores 705
saucia tigris hiat vitamque effundit erilem.
ipse puer fracto pronum caput implicat arcu.
sanguine tunc atro chlamys ignea, sanguine vultus
et gravidae maduere comae, quas flore Sabaeo
nutrierat liquidoque parens signaverat auro. 710
qualem siquis aquis et fertilis ubere terrae
educat ac ventis oleam felicibus implet
nec labor adsiduus nec spes sua fallit alentem
iamque videt primam tenero de vertice frondem,
cum subito immissis praeceps Aquilonia nimbis 715
venit hiems nigraque evulsam tendit harena:
haud secus ante urbem Myraces atque ipsius ante
virginis ora cadit. sed non magis illa movetur
unius aegra metu quam te, Meleagre, furentem,
quam Talaum videt aut pugnas miratur Acasti. 720
at satis hos ipsae gentes campique videbant
tempestate pari versis incumbere turmis.
ante oculos fuga foeda ducum largusque cadentum
it cruor et currus dominis ingentibus orbi.
Non tulit hos Perses gemitus clademque suorum 725
tergaque versa tuens his caelum questibus implet:
'quid me iam patriis eiectum sedibus istas
ut struerem pugnas Scythiamque in bella moverem
vos superi, vos augurio lusistis inani?
quid fratris meritas tum, Iuppiter, omina poenas 730
promisere mihi? nobis Argoa parabas
scilicet auxilia et tantas coniungere vires.
saeva quidem lucis miseris mora, dent tamen oro
unum illum mihi fata diem, qui fallat Achivos
sic meritos quoque hunc videam virtute superbum 735
Aesoniden tantos flentem sine honore labores!'
dixerat haec pectusque suis everberat armis
et galeam fletu, galeam singultibus implet.
ibat et in medii praeceps incendia belli,
ni prior adversis Pallas vidisset ab armis 740
et secum: 'ruit ecce ferox in funera Perses,
quem genitor Colchis solioque imponere fratris
iam statuit. nostra vereor ne fraude peremptum
increpet et culpam hanc magno terrore rependat.'
haec dicens atro nebulam diffundit amictu 745
striden<te>sque viri circum caput amovet hastas.
ille super socias clementi turbine gentes
erigitur paulum<que> levi raptatus in aethra
iam tandem extremas pugnae defertur in oras,
forte ubi serus Hiber Issedoniaeque phalanges 750
Marte carent solisque iuvant clamoribus agmen.
Nox simul astriferas profert optabilis umbras
et cadit extemplo belli fragor aegraque muris
digreditur longum virgo perpessa timorem.
ut fera Nyctelii paulum per sacra resistunt, 755
mox rapuere deum iamiam <in> quodcumque paratae
Thyiades, haud alio remeat Medea tumultu
atque inter Graiumque acies patriasque phalangas
semper inexpletis agnoscit Iasona curis
armaque quique cava superest de casside vultus.

Source Colophon

The Latin source body was extracted from the local Valerius Flaccus Book VI source file and copied for this translation pass at Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/valerius_flaccus_argonautica_book6_latin_source_manual71.txt.

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