Aeneid 11.532-594 Translation

Velocem interea superis in sedibus Opim,

unam ex virginibus sociis sacraque caterva,

compellabat et has tristis Latonia voces

ore dabat: ‘Graditur bellum ad crudele Camilla,

o virgo, et nostris nequiquam cingitur armis,

cara mihi ante alias. Neque enim novus iste Dianae

venit amor subitaque animum dulcedine movit.

Meanwhile the Latonian one was addressing swift Opis in her high seats, one from her maiden allies and her sacred band, and was giving with her mouth these voices sad[ly]: “O maiden, Camilla, dear to me before others, steps to cruel war, and she is being surrounded in vain with our weapons. For nor did that new love of Diana come and move her spirit with a sudden sweetness.

Pulsus ob invidiam regno viresque superbas

Priverno antiqua Metabus cum excederet urbe,

infantem fugiens media inter proelia belli

sustulit exsilio comitem, matrisque vocavit

nomine Casmillae mutata parte Camillam.

Ipse sinu prae se portans iuga longa petebat

solorum nemorum: tela undique saeva premebant

et circumfuso volitabant milite Volsci.

When Metabus, having been driven from his kingdom because of envy and proud strengths, was leaving from the ancient city of Privernum, he, fleeing among the middle of the battles of war, lifted his infant as a companion for his exile, and he called [her] Camilla by the name of her mother Casmilla, with a part having been changed. He himself, carrying [her] in his embrace before himself, was seeking the long ridges of the lonely groves: savage spears were pressing [him] on all sides, and the Volsci were flying about with the soldiers having been surrounded. 

Ecce fugae medio summis Amasenus abundans

spumabat ripis, tantus se nubibus imber

ruperat. Ille innare parans infantis amore

tardatur caroque oneri timet. Omnia secum

versanti subito vix haec sententia sedit:

telum immane manu valida quod forte gerebat

bellator, solidum nodis et robore cocto,

huic natam libro et silvestri subere clausam

implicat atque habilem mediae circumligat hastae;

Behold, the Amasenus, overflowing, was foaming over the top of its banks in the middle of his flight, so great a rainstorm had burst itself from the clouds. He, preparing to swim, is held back by the love for his infant, and he fears for his dear burden. Suddenly, this idea scarcely settled [for him], pondering all things with himself: a huge spear, which by chance the warrior was bearing with his powerful hand, solid with respect to knots and the oak hardened by heat, to this [spear], he entwines his daughter, having been enclosed with bark and woodland cork, and he binds [her], easy to handle, to the middle of the spear;

quam dextra ingenti librans ita ad aethera fatur:

“Alma, tibi hanc, nemorum cultrix, Latonia virgo,

ipse pater famulam voveo; tua prima per auras

tela tenens supplex hostem fugit. Accipe, testor,

diva tuam, quae nunc dubiis committitur auris.”

Dixit et adducto contortum hastile lacerto

immittit: sonuere undae, rapidum super amnem

infelix fugit in iaculo stridente Camilla.

Balancing that [spear] with his huge right [hand], thus he speaks to the upper airs: “nurturing dweller of the groves, Latonian maiden, I the father himself dedicate this [girl] to you as your attendant; she, holding your spears, first flees the enemy through the breezes as a suppliant. Receive [her], I testify as yours, goddess, whom now is entrusted to doubtful breezes.” He spoke, and with his upper arm having been drawn to his body, he sends the twisted spear: the waves resounded, over the rapid river, unlucky Camilla flees on the hissing javelin.

At Metabus magna propius iam urgente caterva

dat sese fluvio, atque hastam cum virgine victor

gramineo, donum Triviae, de caespite vellit.

Non illum tectis ullae, non moenibus urbes

accepere (neque ipse manus feritate dedisset),

pastorum et solis exegit montibus aevum.

But Metabus, with the great crowd now pressing closer, gives himself to the river, and he as victor, extracts the spear with the maiden from the grassy turf, the gift to Trivia. Not any cities received him in their roofs, not [any cities received him] in their walls (and he himself would not have given his hands because of his ferocity), and he spent his life in the lonely mountains of shepherds.

Hic natam in dumis interque horrentia lustra

armentalis equae mammis et lacte ferino

nutribat teneris immulgens ubera labris.

Utque pedum primis infans vestigia plantis

institerat, iaculo palmas armavit acuto

spiculaque ex umero parvae suspendit et arcum.

Pro crinali auro, pro longae tegmine pallae

tigridis exuviae per dorsum a vertice pendent.

Here he was nourishing his daughter in the briars and among the bristling wilds with the teats and wild milk of a herd mare, milking the teats into her tender lips. And as the infant had pressed her steps with the first soles of her feet, he armed her palms with a sharp javelin and hung arrows and a bow from the shoulder of the small [girl]. Instead of gold worn in her hair, instead of the covering of a long cloak, the skins of a tiger hang from her head through her back.

Tela manu iam tum tenera puerilia torsit

et fundam tereti circum caput egit habena

Strymoniamque gruem aut album deiecit olorem.

Multae illam frustra Tyrrhena per oppida matres

optavere nurum; sola contenta Diana

aeternum telorum et virginitatis amorem

intemerata colit. Vellem haud correpta fuisset

militia tali conata lacessere Teucros:

She hurled child-sized spears with her hand now then tender, and she drove her sling with a smooth strap around her head and shot down a Strymonian crane or a white swan. Many mothers through Tyrrhenian towns desired her as a daughter-in-law in vain; she, pure, content with Diana alone, cherishes the eternal love of weapons and virginity. I would wish that she had not been seized, having tried to challenge the Teucrians with such military service:

cara mihi comitumque foret nunc una mearum.

Verum age, quandoquidem fatis urgetur acerbis,

labere, nympha, polo finesque invise Latinos,

tristis ubi infausto committitur omine pugna.

Haec cape et ultricem pharetra deprome sagittam:

hac, quicumque sacrum violarit vulnere corpus,

Tros Italusque, mihi pariter det sanguine poenas.

Post ego nube cava miserandae corpus et arma

inspoliata feram tumulo patriaeque reponam.’

she would now be dear to me and one of my comrades. But come on, since she is urged by bitter fates, glide, nymph, from the sky and visit the Latin borders, where a sad battle is joined with an unlucky omen. Take these things and take out the avenging arrow from the quiver: with this [quiver], whoever will have violated her sacred body with a wound, let him, Trojan or Italian, pay to me equally penalties with blood. Afterward, I will bring the body and weapons, not plundered, [of her] to be pitied in a hollow cloud, to her tomb, and I will put [her] back to her fatherland.”