Metamorphoses XIV.483-608
The Rutuli are denied Aetolian assistance in their war with Aeneas; Turnus sets fire to Aeneas' ships, angering Venus. Venus washes away Aeneas' mortality.
‘Ultima iam passi comites belloque fretoque
deficiunt finemque rogant erroris, at Acmon
fervidus ingenio, tum vero et cladibus asper, 485
“quid superest, quod iam patientia vestra recuset
ferre, viri?” dixit “quid habet Cytherea, quod ultra,
velle puta, faciat? nam dum peiora timentur,
est in vota locus: sors autem ubi pessima rerum,
sub pedibus timor est securaque summa malorum. 490
audiat ipsa licet, licet, ut facit, oderit omnes
sub Diomede viros, odium tamen illius omnes
spernimus: haud magno stat magna potentia nobis.”
talibus inritans Venerem Pleuronius Acmon
instimulat verbis veteremque resuscitat iram. 495
dicta placent paucis, numeri maioris amici
Acmona conripimus; cui respondere volenti
vox pariter vocisque via est tenuata, comaeque
in plumas abeunt, plumis nova colla teguntur
pectoraque et tergum, maiores bracchia pennas 500
accipiunt, cubitique leves sinuantur in alas;
magna pedis digitos pars occupat, oraque cornu
indurata rigent finemque in acumine ponunt.
hunc Lycus, hunc Idas et cum Rhexenore Nycteus,
hunc miratur Abas, et dum mirantur, eandem 505
accipiunt faciem, numerusque ex agmine maior
subvolat et remos plausis circumvolat alis:
si volucrum quae sit subitarum forma requiris,
ut non cycnorum, sic albis proxima cygnis.
vix equidem has sedes et Iapygis arida Dauni 510
arva gener teneo minima cum parte meorum.’
Hactenus Oenides, Venulus Calydonia regna
Peucetiosque sinus Messapiaque arva relinquit.
in quibus antra videt, quae, multa nubila silva
et levibus cannis latitantia semicaper Pan 515
nunc tenet, at quodam tenuerunt tempore nymphae.
Apulus has illa pastor regione fugatas
terruit et primo subita formidine movit,
mox, ubi mens rediit et contempsere sequentem,
ad numerum motis pedibus duxere choreas; 520
inprobat has pastor saltuque imitatus agresti
addidit obscenis convicia rustica dictis,
nec prius os tacuit, quam guttura condidit arbor:
arbor enim est, sucoque licet cognoscere mores.
quippe notam linguae bacis oleaster amaris 525
exhibet: asperitas verborum cessit in illa.
Hinc ubi legati rediere, negata ferentes
arma Aetola sibi, Rutuli sine viribus illis
bella instructa gerunt, multumque ab utraque cruoris
parte datur; fert ecce avidas in pinea Turnus 530
texta faces, ignesque timent, quibus unda pepercit.
iamque picem et ceras alimentaque cetera flammae
Mulciber urebat perque altum ad carbasa malum
ibat, et incurvae fumabant transtra carinae,
cum memor has pinus Idaeo vertice caesas 535
sancta deum genetrix tinnitibus aera pulsi
aeris et inflati conplevit murmure buxi
perque leves domitis invecta leonibus auras
‘inrita sacrilega iactas incendia dextra,
Turne!’ ait. ‘eripiam: nec me patiente cremabit 540
ignis edax nemorum partes et membra meorum.’
intonuit dicente dea, tonitrumque secuti
cum saliente graves ceciderunt grandine nimbi,
aeraque et tumidum subitis concursibus aequor
Astraei turbant et eunt in proelia fratres. 545
e quibus alma parens unius viribus usa
stuppea praerupit Phrygiae retinacula classis,
fertque rates pronas medioque sub aequore mergit;
robore mollito lignoque in corpora verso
in capitum faciem puppes mutantur aduncae, 550
in digitos abeunt et crura natantia remi,
quodque prius fuerat, latus est, mediisque carina
subdita navigiis spinae mutatur in usum,
lina comae molles, antemnae bracchia fiunt,
caerulus, ut fuerat, color est; quasque ante timebant, 555
illas virgineis exercent lusibus undas
Naides aequoreae durisque in montibus ortae
molle fretum celebrant nec eas sua tangit origo;
non tamen oblitae, quam multa pericula saepe
pertulerint pelago, iactatis saepe carinis 560
subposuere manus, nisi siqua vehebat Achivos:
cladis adhuc Phrygiae memores odere Pelasgos
Neritiaeque ratis viderunt fragmina laetis
vultibus et laetis videre rigescere puppim
vultibus Alcinoi saxumque increscere ligno. 565
Spes erat, in nymphas animata classe marinas
posse metu monstri Rutulum desistere bello:
perstat, habetque deos pars utraque, quodque deorum est
instar, habent animos; nec iam dotalia regna,
nec sceptrum soceri, nec te, Lavinia virgo, 570
sed vicisse petunt deponendique pudore
bella gerunt, tandemque Venus victricia nati
arma videt, Turnusque cadit: cadit Ardea, Turno
sospite dicta potens; quam postquam barbarus ignis
abstulit et tepida latuerunt tecta favilla, 575
congerie e media tum primum cognita praepes
subvolat et cineres plausis everberat alis.
et sonus et macies et pallor et omnia, captam
quae deceant urbem, nomen quoque mansit in illa
urbis, et ipsa suis deplangitur Ardea pennis. 580
Iamque deos omnes ipsamque Aeneia virtus
Iunonem veteres finire coegerat iras,
cum, bene fundatis opibus crescentis Iuli,
tempestivus erat caelo Cythereius heros.
ambieratque Venus superos colloque parentis 585
circumfusa sui ‘numquam mihi’ dixerat ‘ullo
tempore dure pater, nunc sis mitissimus, opto,
Aeneaeque meo, qui te de sanguine nostro
fecit avum, quamvis parvum des, optime, numen,
dummodo des aliquod! satis est inamabile regnum 590
adspexisse semel, Stygios semel isse per amnes.’
adsensere dei, nec coniunx regia vultus
inmotos tenuit placatoque adnuit ore;
tum pater ‘estis’ ait ‘caelesti munere digni,
quaeque petis pro quoque petis: cape, nata, quod optas!’ 595
fatus erat: gaudet gratesque agit illa parenti
perque leves auras iunctis invecta columbis
litus adit Laurens, ubi tectus harundine serpit
in freta flumineis vicina Numicius undis.
hunc iubet Aeneae, quaecumque obnoxia morti, 600
abluere et tacito deferre sub aequora cursu;
corniger exsequitur Veneris mandata suisque,
quicquid in Aenea fuerat mortale, repurgat
et respersit aquis; pars optima restitit illi.
lustratum genetrix divino corpus odore 605
unxit et ambrosia cum dulci nectare mixta
contigit os fecitque deum, quem turba Quirini
nuncupat Indigetem temploque arisque recepit.
“And now my companions, having endured the uttermost in war and sea, became disheartened and begged me to make an end of wandering. But Acmon, who was naturally hot-headed and who was at times especially intractable because of our sufferings, exclaimed: ‘What is there left, men, for your long-suffering to refuse to bear? What is there left for Venus to do further, supposing she wishes it? For, while we fear worse fortunes, we may be tempted to prayer; but when the worst possible lot has fallen, then is fear beneath our feet and the utmost misfortune can bring us no further care. Though she herself should hear and, as indeed she does, should hate all those who follow Diomede, nevertheless we all scorn her hatred; great power counts not greatly in our eyes.’ With such insulting words did Pleuronian Acmon rouse Venus and revive her former anger. But few approved his words. We, the greater number of his friends, upbraided Acmon; and when he would have replied, his voice and throat together grew thin; his hair was changed to feathers, and feathers clothed a new-formed neck and breast and back. His arms acquired large pinion-feathers and his elbows curved into nimble wings; his toes were replaced by webbed feet and his face grew stiff and horny, ending in a sharp-pointed beak. Lycus viewed him in wonder, so also Idas, Rhexenor and Nycteus and Abas too; and, while they wondered, they became of the same form. The greater number flew up in a flock and circled round the rowers with flapping wings. If you ask the shape of these birds so swiftly formed, while they were not swans, they were very like snowy swans. And now, as son-in-law of Iapygian Daunus, I have hard work to hold this settlement and this parched countryside with but a pitiful remnant of my friends.”
So spoke the grandson of Oeneus. And Venulus departed from the Calydonian realm, passing the Peucetian bay and the regions of Messapia. Here he saw a cavern, dark with forest shades and hidden by a growth of waving reeds. The half-goat Pan now claims the place, but at one time the nymphs dwelt there. An Apulian shepherd of that region caused them to run away in terror, filling them at first with sudden fear. But soon, when their courage returned and they saw with scorn who was pursuing them, they returned to their choral dancing again with nimble feet. Still did the shepherd mock them, imitating their dance with his clownish steps, adding to this boorish insults and vulgar words. Nor did he cease speaking until the rising wood covered his mouth. For now he is a tree. You could tell its kind from the savour of its fruit; for the wild olive bears the traces of his tongue in its bitter berries. The sharpness of his words has passed to them.
When the ambassadors returned with the news that Aetolian help had been refused them, the Rutuli without that help went on with the war they had begun; and much blood was spilled on both sides. But lo, Turnus brought devouring torches against the pine fabric of the ships, and what the waves had spared feared the flames. And now Mulciber was burning the pitchy, resinous mass and other rich food for flames, and was spreading even to the tall masts and sails, while the cross-banks of the curving hulls were smoking; when the holy mother of the gods, mindful that these pines were felled on Ida’s top, filled the air with the harsh beat of brazen cymbals and the shrill music of the boxwood flute. Then, borne by her tamed lions through the yielding air, she cried: “Vainly, O Turnus, with impious hand you hurl those brands. For I shall rescue the burning ships, nor with my consent shall the greedy flames devour what was once part and parcel of my sacred woods.” While yet the goddess spoke it thundered and, following the thunder, a heavy shower of rain began to fall, mingled with leaping hail, and the winds, Astraean brothers, wrought wild confusion in the air and on the waves, swollen by the sudden rush of waters, and mingled in the fray. The all-fostering mother, with the help of one of these, broke the hempen fastenings of the Phrygian ships and, forcing them head down, plunged them beneath the water. Straightway the wood softened and turned to flesh, the ships’ curved prows changed to heads, the oars to toes and swimming legs; what had been body before remained as body and the deep-laid keel was changed into a spine; cordage became soft hair, and sail-yards, arms; the sea-green colour was unchanged. And now, as water-nymphs, with maiden glee they sport in the waters which they feared before. Though born on the rough mountain-tops, they now throng the yielding waves and no trace of their first state troubles them. And yet, remembering the many perils they have often suffered on the deep, they often place helping hands beneath storm-tossed barques, except such as carried Greeks. Remembering still the Phrygian calamity, they hated the Pelasgian race and they rejoiced to see the broken timbers of Ulysses’ ship, rejoiced to see the vessel of Alcinoüs grow stiff and its wood turn to stone.
After the fleet had been changed to living water-nymphs, there was hope that the Rutuli, in awe of the portent, would desist from war. But the war went on and both sides had their gods to aid them, and, what is as good as gods, they had courage too. And now neither a kingdom given in dowry, nor the sceptre of a father-in-law, nor you, Lavinian maiden, did they seek, but only victory, and they kept on warring through sheer shame of giving up. At length Venus saw her son’s arms victorious and Turnus fell. Ardea fell, counted a powerful city in Turnus’ lifetime. But after the outlander’s flames destroyed it and warm ashes hid its ruins, from the confused mass a bird flew forth of a kind never seen before, and beat the ashes with its flapping wings. Its sound, its meagre look, its deathly paleness, all things which become a captured city, yes, even the city’s name remained in the bird;1 and Ardea’s self is beaten in lamentation by its wings.
Now had Aeneas’ courageous soul moved all the gods and even Juno to lay aside their ancient anger, and, since the fortunes of the budding Iülus were well established, the heroic son of Cytherea was ripe for heaven. Venus had approached the heavenly gods and, throwing her arms around her father’s neck, had said: “O father, who hast never at any time been harsh to me, now be most kind, I pray. To my Aeneas, who is thy grandson and of our blood, grant him, O most excellent, some divinity, however small I care not, if only thou grant any. It is enough once to have looked upon the unlovely kingdom, once to have crossed the Stygian stream.” The gods all gave assent; nor did the queen-consort keep an unyielding face, but peacefully consented. Then Father Jove declared: “You are both worthy of this heavenly boon, both thou who prayest and he for whom thou prayest. Have then, my daughter, what thou dost desire.” He spoke, and Venus, rejoicing, gave her father thanks. Then, borne aloft through the yielding air by her harnessed doves, she came to the Laurentian coast, where the river Numicius, winding through beds of sheltering reeds, pours its fresh waters into the neighbouring sea. She bade the river-god wash away from Aeneas all his mortal part and carry it down in his silent stream into the ocean depths. The horned god obeyed Venus’ command and in his waters cleansed and washed quite away whatever was mortal in Aeneas. His best part remained to him. His mother sprinkled his body and anointed it with divine perfume, touched his lips with ambrosia and sweet nectar mixed, and so made him a god, whom the Roman populace styled Indiges and honoured with temple and with sacrifice.
i.e. Ardea, a heron.