Tum quoque Cephenum post regem primus Hodites
ense iacet Clymeni, Prothoenora percutit Hypseus,
Hypsea Lyncides. fuit et grandaevus in illis
Emathion, aequi cultor timidusque deorum, 100
qui, quoniam prohibent anni bellare, loquendo
pugnat et incessit scelerataque devovet arma;
huic Chromis amplexo tremulis altaria palmis
decutit ense caput, quod protinus incidit arae
atque ibi semianimi verba exsecrantia lingua 105
edidit et medios animam exspiravit in ignes.
Hinc gemini fratres Broteasque et caestibus Ammon
invicti, vinci si possent caestibus enses,
Phinea cecidere manu Cererisque sacerdos
Ampycus albenti velatus tempora vitta, 110
tu quoque, Lampetide, non hos adhibendus ad usus,
sed qui, pacis opus, citharam cum voce moveres;
iussus eras celebrare dapes festumque canendo.
quem procul adstantem plectrumque inbelle tenentem
Pedasus inridens ‘Stygiis cane cetera’ dixit 115
‘manibus!’ et laevo mucronem tempore fixit;
concidit et digitis morientibus ille retemptat
fila lyrae, casuque ferit miserabile carmen.
nec sinit hunc inpune ferox cecidisse Lycormas
raptaque de dextro robusta repagula posti 120
ossibus inlisit mediae cervicis, at ille
procubuit terrae mactati more iuvenci.
demere temptabat laevi quoque robora postis
Cinyphius Pelates; temptanti dextera fixa est
cuspide Marmaridae Corythi lignoque cohaesit; 125
haerenti latus hausit Abas, nec corruit ille,
sed retinente manum moriens e poste pependit.
sternitur et Melaneus, Perseia castra secutus,
et Nasamoniaci Dorylas ditissimus agri,
dives agri Dorylas, quo non possederat alter 130
latius aut totidem tollebat turis acervos.
huius in obliquo missum stetit inguine ferrum:
letifer ille locus. quem postquam vulneris auctor
singultantem animam et versantem lumina vidit
Bactrius Halcyoneus, ‘hoc, quod premis,’ inquit ‘habeto 135
de tot agris terrae!’ corpusque exsangue reliquit.
torquet in hunc hastam calido de vulnere raptam
ultor Abantiades; media quae nare recepta
cervice exacta est in partesque eminet ambas;
dumque manum Fortuna iuvat, Clytiumque Claninque, 140
matre satos una, diverso vulnere fudit:
nam Clytii per utrumque gravi librata lacerto
fraxinus acta femur, iaculum Clanis ore momordit.
occidit et Celadon Mendesius, occidit Astreus
matre Palaestina dubio genitore creatus, 145
Aethionque sagax quondam ventura videre,
tunc ave deceptus falsa, regisque Thoactes
armiger et caeso genitore infamis Agyrtes.
Plus tamen exhausto superest; namque omnibus unum
opprimere est animus, coniurata undique pugnant 150
agmina pro causa meritum inpugnante fidemque;
hac pro parte socer frustra pius et nova coniunx
cum genetrice favent ululatuque atria conplent,
sed sonus armorum superat gemitusque cadentum,
pollutosque simul multo Bellona penates 155
sanguine perfundit renovataque proelia miscet.
Circueunt unum Phineus et mille secuti
Phinea: tela volant hiberna grandine plura
praeter utrumque latus praeterque et lumen et aures.
adplicat hic umeros ad magnae saxa columnae 160
tutaque terga gerens adversaque in agmina versus
sustinet instantes: instabat parte sinistra
Chaonius Molpeus, dextra Nabataeus Ethemon.
tigris ut auditis diversa valle duorum
exstimulata fame mugitibus armentorum 165
nescit, utro potius ruat, et ruere ardet utroque,
sic dubius Perseus, dextra laevane feratur,
Molpea traiecti submovit vulnere cruris
contentusque fuga est; neque enim dat tempus Ethemon,
sed furit et cupiens alto dare vulnera collo 170
non circumspectis exactum viribus ensem
fregit, in extrema percussae parte columnae:
lamina dissiluit dominique in gutture fixa est.
non tamen ad letum causas satis illa valentes
plaga dedit; trepidum Perseus et inermia frustra 175
bracchia tendentem Cyllenide confodit harpe.
Verum ubi virtutem turbae succumbere vidit,
‘auxilium’ Perseus, ‘quoniam sic cogitis ipsi,’
dixit ‘ab hoste petam: vultus avertite vestros,
si quis amicus adest!’ et Gorgonis extulit ora. 180
‘quaere alium, tua quem moveant miracula’ dixit
Thescelus; utque manu iaculum fatale parabat
mittere, in hoc haesit signum de marmore gestu.
proximus huic Ampyx animi plenissima magni
pectora Lyncidae gladio petit: inque petendo 185
dextera diriguit nec citra mota nec ultra est.
at Nileus, qui se genitum septemplice Nilo
ementitus erat, clipeo quoque flumina septem
argento partim, partim caelaverat auro,
‘adspice’ ait ‘Perseu, nostrae primordia gentis: 190
magna feres tacitas solacia mortis ad umbras,
a tanto cecidisse viro’; pars ultima vocis
in medio suppressa sono est, adapertaque velle
ora loqui credas, nec sunt ea pervia verbis.
increpat hos ‘vitio’ que ‘animi, non viribus’ inquit 195
‘Gorgoneis torpetis’ Eryx. ‘incurrite mecum
et prosternite humi iuvenem magica arma moventem!’
incursurus erat: tenuit vestigia tellus,
inmotusque silex armataque mansit imago.
Then also Hodites, first of the Ethiopians after the king, fell by the sword of Ciymenus; Hypseus smote Prothoenor; Lyncides, Hypseus. Amid the throng was one old man, Emathion, who loved justice and revered the gods. He, since his years forbade warfare, fought with the tongue, and strode forward and cursed their impious arms. As he clung to the altar-horns with age-enfeebled hands Chromis struck off his head with his sword: the head fell straight on the altar, and there the still half-conscious tongue kept up its execrations and the life was breathed out in the midst of the altar-fires.
Next fell two brothers by Phineus’ hand, Broteas and Amnion, invincible with gauntlets, if gauntlets could but contend with swords; and Ampycus, Ceres’ priest, his temples wreathed with white fillets. You, too, Lampetides, not intended for such a scene as this, but for a peaceful task, to ply lute and voice: you had been bidden to grace the feast and sing the festal song. To him standing apart and holding his peaceful quill, Pettalus mocking cried: “Go sing the rest of your song to the Stygian shades,” and pierced the left temple with his steel. He fell, and with dying fingers again essays the strings, and as he fell there was a lamentable sound. Nor did Lycormas, maddened at the sight, suffer him to perish unavenged; but, tearing out a stout bar from the door-post on the right, he broke the murderer’s neck with a crashing blow. And Pettalus fell to the earth like a slaughtered bull. Cinyphian Pelates essayed to tear away another bar from the left post, but in the act his right hand was pierced by the spear of Corythus of Marmarida, and pinned to the wood. There fastened, Abas thrust him through the side; nor did lie fall, but, dying, hung down from the post to which his hand was nailed. Melaneus, too, was slain, one of Perseus’ side and— the richest man in land, than whom none held a wider domain, none heaped so many piles of spices. Into his groin a spear hurled from the side struck; that place is fatal. When Bactrian Halcyoneus, who hurled the spear, beheld him gasping out his life and rolling his eyes in death, he said: “This land alone on which you lie of all your lands shall you possess,” and left the lifeless body. Against him Perseus, swift to avenge, hurled the spear snatched from the warm wound, which, striking the nose, was driven through the neck, and stuck out on both sides. And, while fortune favoured him, he slew also Clytius and Clanis, both born of one mother, but each with a different wound. For through both thighs of Clytius went the ashen spear, hurled by his mighty arm; the other dart Clanis crunched with his jaw. There fell also Mendesian Celadon; Astreus, too, whose mother was a Syrian, and his father unknown; Aethion, once wise to see what is to come, but now tricked by a false omen; Thoactes, armour-bearer of the king; Agyrtes, infamous for that he had slain his sire.
Yet more remains, faint with toil though he is; for all are bent on crushing him alone. On all sides the banded lines assail him, in a cause that repudiated merit and plighted word. On his side his father-in-law with useless loyalty and his bride and her mother range themselves, and fill all the hall with their shrieks. But their cries are drowned in the clash of arms and the groans of dying men; while Bellona drenches and pollutes with blood the sacred home, and ever renews the strife.
Now he stands alone where Phineus and a thousand followers close round him. Thicker than winter hail fly the spears, past right side and left, past eyes and ears. He stands with his back against a great stone column and, so protected in the rear, faces the opposing crowds and their impetuous attack. The attack is made on the left by Chaonian Molpeus, and by Arabian Ethemon on the right. Just as a tigress, pricked by hunger, that hears the bellowing of two herds in two several valleys, knows not which to rush upon, but burns to rush on both; so Perseus hesitates whether to smite on right or left; he stops Molpeus with a wound through the leg and was content to let him go; but Ethemon gives him no time, and comes rushing on, eager to wound him in the neck, and drives his sword with mighty power but careless aim, and breaks it on the edge of the great stone column: the blade flies off and sticks in its owner’s throat. The stroke indeed is not deep enough for death; but as he stands there trembling and stretching out his empty hands (but all in vain), Perseus thrusts him through with Mercury’s hooked sword.
But when Perseus saw his own strength was no match for the superior numbers of his foes, he exclaimed: “Since you yourselves force me to it, I shall seek aid from my own enemy. Turn away your faces, if any friend be here.” So saying, he raised on high the Gorgon’s head. “Seek someone else to frighten with your magic arts,” cried Thescelus, and raised his deadly javelin in act to throw; but in that very act he stood immovable, a marble statue. Next after him Ampyx thrust his sword full at the heart of the great-souled Perseus; but in that thrust his right hand stiffened and moved neither this way nor that. But Nileus, who falsely claimed that he was sprung from the sevenfold Nile, and who had on his shield engraved the image of the stream’s seven mouths, part silver and part gold, cried: “See, O Perseus, the source whence I have sprung. Surely a great consolation for your death will you carry to the silent shades, that you have fallen by so great a man”—his last words were cut off mid-speech; you would suppose his open lips still strove to speak but they no longer gave passage to his words. These two Eryx rebuked, saying: “’Tis from defect of courage, not from any power of the Gorgon’s head, that you stand rigid. Rush in with me and hurl to the earth this fellow and his magic arms!” He had begun the rush, but the floor held his feet fast and there he stayed, a motionless rock, an image in full armour.