Aeneid 2.479-517

ipse inter primos correpta dura bipenni limina perrumpit

Pyrrhus himself among the foremost seized a double-headed axe and with it smashed at the hard stone of the threshold

postisque a cardine vellit aeratos;

and tried to wrench the bronze-plated doorposts from their sockets;

iamque excisa trabe firma cavavit robora

and now, having cut out a beam, he hollowed out the strong timber

et ingentem lato dedit ore fenestram.

and gave it a huge window with gaping mouth.

apparet domus intus

The palace within appears,

et atria longa patescunt;

and the long halls are revealed:

apparent Priami et veterum penetralia regum,

There the inner quarters of Priam and of ancient kings appeared,

armatosque videt stantes in limine primo.

and he [Pyrrhus] saw armed men standing on the edge of the threshold.

at domus interior gemitu miseroque tumultu miscetur;

But the heart of the home was engulfed by groaning and the commotion of wretchedness;

penitusque cavae plangoribus aedes femineis ululant;

and deep within the hollow chambers rang with the wailing of women;

ferit aurea sidera clamor.

their cries struck the golden stars.

tum pavidae tectis matres ingentibus errant

Then in alarm mothers were wandering through the huge buildings,

amplexaeque tenent postes atque oscula figunt.

and, embracing the doorposts, they clung to them and imprinted them with kisses.

instat vi patria Pyrrhus;

But Pyrrhus pressed on with all the violence of his father Achilles;

nec claustra nec ipsi custodes sufferre valent;

neither bolts nor the guards themselves were strong enough to hold him back;

labat ariete crebro ianua,

under repeated battering the door buckled

et emoti procumbunt cardine postes.

and, dislodged from their sockets, the doorposts collapsed.

fit via vi;

A breach was made by brute force;

rumpunt aditus primosque trucidant immissi Danai

the Greeks broke down the entrance and, flooding in, butchered those in the front line,

et late loca milite complent.

and they filled the whole place far and wide with soldiers.

non sic, aggeribus ruptis cum spumeus amnis exiit

Not like this - when, with banks burst, a foaming river has left its course

oppositasque evicit gurgite moles,

and has overwhelmed its retaining banks in full spate

fertur in arva furens cumulo

does it rush rampantly in a cresting wave upon the fields

camposque per omnes cum stabulis armenta trahit.

and over the whole plain wash away the flocks, pens and all. 

vidi ipse furentem caede Neoptolemum geminosque in limine Atridas,

I myself saw Neoptolemus rampant in his slaughter and both the sons of Atreus on the threshold,

vidi Hecubam centumque nurus Priamumque per aras

I saw Hecuba and her hundred daughters/-in-law and Priam among the altars

sanguine foedantem quos ipse sacraverat ignes.

befouling with his blood the fires which he himself had sanctified. 

quinquaginta illi thalami,

Down fell those fifty bedchambers,

spes tanta nepotum,

the great hope for grandsons yet to come,

barbarico postes auro spoliisque superbi procubuere;

doorposts proud with their spoils of oriental gold.

tenent Danai qua deficit ignis.

the Greeks held where the fire was lacking.

forsitan et Priami fuerint quae fata requiras.

You may perhaps ask also what was Priam's fate.

urbis uti captae casum convulsaque vidit limina tectorum

When he saw the fall of his captured city and the entrance to his palace all torn up

et medium in penetralibus hostem,

and the enemy right in the middle of the inner rooms,

arma diu senior desueta trementibus aevo circumdat nequiquam umeris

he put on those shoulders, shaking with age, his long unused armour in vain

et inutile ferrum cingitur,

and he fastened round him the sword which he could no longer manage,

ac densos fertur moriturus in hostes.

and moved towards the thick of the enemy to meet death.

aedibus in mediis nudoque sub aetheris axe ingens ara fuit

In the middle of the palace, under the open vault of heaven, there was a huge altar

iuxtaque veterrima laurus incumbens arae

and, nearby, a baytree of very great age leaning over the altar

atque umbra complexa penates.

and embracing the household gods in its shade.

hic Hecuba et natae nequiquam altaria circum,

Here Hecuba and her daughters were sitting around the altar in vain,

praecipites atra ceu tempestate columbae,

like doves driven headlong by a black storm

condensae et divum amplexae simulacra sedebant.

huddled together and clutching the images of the gods in their embrace.