Mars & Pallas, Joined in Battle *and* Origin Stories: Faustus Sabaeus

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Epigrams, book 1 p.61-2

Mars & Pallas

Over here, you see a woman

Wearing an aegis, a helmet, and a spear,

And over there, there’s a splendid looking youth in full armor.

One is the daughter of Jupiter,

The other is a son of Juno.

Both are warriors, and wage war effectively.

Both are around the same age,

But have different origin stories:

Mars doesn’t have a dad,

And Minerva doesn’t have a mom.

 

 

 

De Marte et Pallade

Gorgone munitam & galea quam cernis & hasta

tectum armis iuvenem conspicuum, atque trucem

Illa Jovis nata est, Junonis filius iste, 

Bella gerunt ambo, & strenue & arma movent.

Pene pares aetate ambo, sed dispare ab ortu

patre quidem Mavors, matre Minerva caret.

 

Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.

Found Family: Noemi & Ruth, Ruth 1:1-17

Where You Go, I Go: The Story of Ruth and Naomi

Citation:  Ruth 1:1 – 17

When judges ruled over Israel, there was a famine in the land.

One man from Bethlehem in Juda left to travel with his wife and two sons to the land of the Moabites.

This man was named Elimelech, and his wife was named Naomi. Their two kids were named Mahalon and Chelion, Ephrathites from Bethlehem.

They traveled to the land of the Moabites and dwelled there.

When Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, it was just her and her two sons.

Her sons married Moabite women; one was named Orpha and the other was named Ruth.

They lived there for ten years, but then both of her sons Mahalon and Chelion died. Now the poor woman was bereft of both her husband and her two sons.

She took it upon herself to travel back to her homeland with both of her daughters-in-law, for she had heard that theLord had protected His people, and had provided them with food.

She got up and left, and when she was about to travel, she told her daughters-in-law, “Go back home to the home of your mothers. May the Lord take pity on you, just as you have taken pity on both the dead [i.e., your husbands] as well as me. May he give you peace in the home of your husbands when you remarry.” And she kissed them.

They began to cry, and wept, saying, “We will go with you to your people.”

She responded to them, “My daughters, go back home. Why would you want to go with me? I don’t have any more children in my womb, so you can’t hope for future husbands from me. Go back home, my daughters, and leave me. I am worn out with old age, and too old to get married again. Even if I could conceive a child tonight, and give birth to sons, if you wanted to wait for them to get old enough to marry them, you’d be too old to marry them.”

I beg you, daughters, please don’t stay, for your difficulties weigh upon my heart more than my own, and the Lord has set His hand against me.”

They both wailed and began to weep. Orpha kissed her mother-in-law and left her. Ruth, however, clung to her mother-in-law. Naomi told her, “Go now, she’s travelling back to your kin, and your own gods. Go with her.”

Ruth responded, “Don’t keep me from you or make me leave. Wherever you will go, I will go. Wherever you will live, I will live there, too. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. The land that holds your tomb will also accept mine. May the Lord grant me these things, and add one more thing: that only death should ever separate you and me.”

  

Where You Go, I Go: The Story of Ruth and Naomi

In diebus unius iudicis, quando iudices praerant, facta est fames in terra. Abiitque homo de Bethlehem Iuda, ut peregrinaretur in regione Moabitide cum uxore sua ac duobus liberis. Ipse vocabatur Elimelech, et uxor eius Noemi: et duo filii, alter Mahalon, et alter Chelion, Ephrathei de Bethlehem Iuda. Ingressique regionem Moabitidem, morabantur ibi.

Et mortuus est Elimelech maritus Noemi: remansitque ipsa cum filiis qui acceperunt uxores Moabitidas, quarum una vocabatur Orpha, altera vero Ruth. Manseruntque ibi decem annis, et ambo mortui sunt, Mahalon videlicet et Chelion: remansitque mulier orbata duobus liberis ac marito.

Et surrexit ut in patriam pergeret cum utraque nuru sua de regione Moabitide: audierat enim quod respexisset Dominus populum suum, et dedisset eis escas.

Egressa est itaque de loco peregrinationis suae, cum utraque nuru: et iam in via revertendi posita in terram Iuda. Dixit ad eas: “Ite in domum matris vestrae faciat vobiscum Dominus misericordiam, sicut fecistis cum mortuis et mecum. Det vobis invenire requiem in domibus virorum, quos sortiturae estis.” Et osculata est eas.

Quae elevata voce flere coeperunt, et dicere: “Tecum pergemus ad populum tuum.”

Quibus illa respondit: “Revertimini, filiae mea, cur venitis mecum? Num ultra habeo filios in utero meo, ut viros ex me sperare possitis? Revertimini, filiae meae, et abite: iam enim senectute confecta sum, nec apta vinculo coniugali: etiamsi possem hac nocte concipere, et parere filios, si eos expectare velitis donec crescant, et annos pubertais impleant, ante eritis vetulae quam nubatis.

 Nolite, quaeso, filiae meae: quia vestra angustia magis me premit, et egressa est manus Domini contra me.”

Elevata igitur voce, rursum flere coeperunt: Orpha osculata est socrum, ac reversa est.

Ruth adhaesit socrui suae, cui dixit Noemi: “En reversa est cognata tua ad populum suum, et ad deos suos, vade cum ea.”

Quae respondit: “Ne adverseris mihi, ut relinquam te, et abeam. Quocumque enim perrexeris, pergam, et ubi morata fueris, et ego pariter morabor. Populus tuus populus meus, et Deus tuus Deus meus. Quae te terra morientem susceperit, in ea moriar: ibique locum accipiam sepulturae. Haec mihi faciat Dominus, et haec addat, si non sola mors me et te separaverit.

W/W: Beloved by the Nymphs: Dryope, Antoninus Liberalis Met. 32

Name:  Antoninus Liberalis Date:  2nd – 3rd century CE Region:  Unknown Citation:    Metamorphoses 32

Unlike similar stories involving Artemis /Diana (including Callisto, Aura, Atalanta, etc.), this rape myth does not include any victim blaming or shaming. The hamadryads do not punish or shame Dryope for being attacked, but instead wait until her child is grown before transforming her into a nymph, allowing her to raise her child and experience motherhood.

Dryops (the son of the river god Sperchius and the Danaid Polydora) became ruler in Oeta. He had one daughter named Dryope, who took care of her father’s flocks.

The hamadryad nymphs loved her greatly. They made her their companion wherever they went, and taught her how to sing hymns to the gods, as well as lead the sacred dances.  

When Apollo spotted her, he burned for desire to sleep with her. He transformed himself into a turtle. Dryope picked it up and kept it as a pet. When she had put him in her lap, Apollo transformed from a turtle into a snake. This terrified the nymphs, and they fled, leaving Dryope to her fate. Apollo attacked her.

Terrified of what her father would think, Dryope fled home, but told him nothing about the attack. Later on, she was married to Andraemon (the son of Oxylus), but she had already conceived a child with Apollo. Her son, Amphissus, grew up a well-rounded young man. He established the city Oeta (named after the mountain) and ruled there. He created a temple to Apollo in Dryopis there.

When Dyrope went to the temple, the hamadryad nymphs took her with them, moved by their kind feelings for her.  They hid her in the forest, leaving a poplar tree in her place. In this way Dryope was transformed into a nymph.

Out of respect for the nymphs’ treatment of his mother, Amphissus created a temple for them, and established an annual footrace dedicated to them; these races occur even today. Women are banned from this place, since two maidens told the villagers of Dryope’s whereabouts. This angered the nymphs, and they transformed these maidens into pine trees.

Dryops Sperchii fluvii Filius ex Polydora, una Danai filiarum, regnum obtinuit in Oeta: unicamque habuit filiam Dryopen, quae patris greges pascebat. Sed cum eam summo opere amarent Hamadryades nymphae, suorumque locorum sociam adscivisset, docuissentque carminibus deos celebrare, et choros ducere: Apollo ea visa, concubitus cum ea ardor ipsum incessit. Itaque primum se in testudinem convertis: quam cum, ut rem ludicram, Dryope Nymphaeque tractarent, Dryope eam etiam in sinum conderet, de testudine Apollo in anguem transiit: itaque eam Nymphae territae desuerunt, Apollo cum Dryopa rem habet. Ea autem metus plena in domum patris confugit, nihilque parentibus ea de re indicavit. Post cum eam Andraemon Oxyli filius duxisset, puerum ex Apolline conceptum parit, Amphissum. Hic cum virilem aetatem attigisset, omnibus praevaluit. urbemque ad Oetam condidit, monti isti cognominem, ibique regnavit. Posuit eta Apollini in Dryopide regione templum: in quod cum se contulisset Dryope, Hamadryades benevolentia impulsae ea rapuerunt, et in silva occultarunt, loco eius alno excitata, ac pone alnum fonte. At Dryope, naturae mutatione de mortali facta est nympha. Amphissus, pro meritis Nympharum in matrem, templum ipsis condidit, primusque cursus certamen confecit: quod incolae hoc quoque nostro tempore curant. Mulierem eo accedere nefas est, quod Dryopen a Nymphis sublatam duae virgines incolis indicarunt: quas indignatione motae Nymphae, in abietes mutarunt.

 Translated by Xylander 1832 (Greek text forthcoming) 

 

Antoninus Liberalis [2nd – 3rd century CE] Little is known about the life of the Greek author Antoninus Liberalis. His work, Metamorphoses, is similar to the works of Hyginus in that they provide brief summaries of Greek and Roman myths.

Philaenis, Adoption, and Motherhood

 According to Greek lore, Philaenis was a woman author who wrote a treatise on erotic arts. Because of this, the name Philaenis was used for a stock character of a woman who exceeded Greco-Roman gender roles. Whether she showed excessive lust, same-sex desire, or had children out of wedlock, the name Philaenis was used as an umbrella-term to cover these "unladylike" behaviors.  In these poems, the name Philaenis is used for a woman who adopts a child instead of birthing one. 

Philaenis gave birth to a daughter by herself, 

without Heliodorus. When he was upset at the child’s sex,

Six days later, she is said to have given him a son.

I guess we don’t need to worship fertility goddesses:

If everyone gives birth like her, what purpose will they serve?

οὐκ ἐν ῾γαστρὶ λαβοῦσα Φιλαίνιον Ἡλιοδώρῳ

θήλειαν τίκτει παῖδ᾽ ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου.

τοῦ δ᾽ ἐπὶ θηλείῃ λυπουμένου, ἓξ διαλείπει

ἤματα, καὶ τίκτειν ἄρσενα παῖδ᾽ ἔφατο.

οὕτως Βούβαστις καταλύεται: εἰ γὰρ ἑκάστη

τέξεται ὡς αὐτή, τίς θεοῦ ἐστι λόγος;

Non in ventre quae-conoeperat Philaenium Heliodoro

filiam peperit sponte fortuito.

Hoc autem de filia contristato, sex interponit

dies, et eniti se filium puerum dixit.

Sic Bubastis a-munere-solvitur: si enim quaeque

pariet ut illa, quid deae erit respectus?

--Nicharchus, Greek Anthology XI.18; Translated into Latin by Hugo Grotius

A Grieving Mother Dealing with Loss

Name:   Philippus of Thessolonica Date:      1st century CE Region:  Thessalonica [modern Greece] Citation: Greek Anthology 9.254

Every child that I have birthed—

Died.

I, Philaenis, a mother pregnant with grief

Who saw my third child buried,

Adopted another’s baby,

Hoping that a child I didn’t birth

Would live.

And so I adopted an unexpected child from a fertile mother.

But a demon wanted me

To not have the gift of another mother.

And now my adopted child has died!

I have become a source of grief

To even another’s mother.

 

ἡ πυρὶ πάντα τεκοῦσα Φιλαίνιον, ἡ βαρυπενθὴς μήτηρ, ἡ τέκνων τρισσὸν ἰδοῦσα τάφον, ἀλλοτρίαις ὠδῖσιν ἐφώρμισα: ἦ γὰρ ἐώλπειν πάντως μοι ζήσειν τοῦτον ὃν οὐκ ἔτεκον. ἡ δ᾽ εὔπαις θετὸν υἱὸν ἀνήγαγον ἀλλά με δαίμων. ἤθελε μηδ᾽ ἄλλης μητρὸς ἔχειν χάριτα. κληθεὶς ἡμέτερος γὰρ ἀπέφθιτο: νῦν δὲ τεκούσαις ἤδη καὶ λοιπαῖς πένθος ἐγὼ γέγονα.

Quae flammae cuncta peperi Philaenium, quae gravem mater, quae puerorum ternum vidi sepulcrum, luctum in-alienis partibus acquievi: sane enim speraveram fore ut omnino mihi viveret hic quem non pepereram. Ego tot-liberorum-mater subditum educabam. Sed me daemon voluit ne alius quidem matris habere donum. Daimon Vocatus enim noster periit. Nunc vero matribus iam et reliquis luctus ego facta-sum. Translated into Latin by Johann Friedrich Duebner

Philippus of Thessalonica [Philippus Epigrammaticus; 1st century CE] wrote Greek poetry during the first century CE, but is famous for creating a new, expanded edition of the Greek Anthology.

Challenging Gender Roles: One Proud Olympic Mama! Pausanias, Desc. Gr. V.vi.7-8

 On the road to Olympia, on your way to Scillus and before you cross the Alpheius, there is a really tall mountain with jagged rocks called Typaeon. According to the law of Elis, women who were caught at the Olympic Games on days when women were forbidden* (even women who were on the other side of the Alpheius) would be thrown from this mountain to their deaths**. But nobody was ever caught or punished, except Callipateira [although some say it was Pherenice, not Callipateira, who was caught].

The widow Callipateira dressed as a trainer and brought her son Pisirodus to Olympia to participate in the games. When he won, she leapt out of the dugout*** and her disguise was revealed. Outed as a woman, she nevertheless was freed of any charge out of respect to her father, her brothers, and her son (for all of them were Olympic victors). But they made the law that from then on, even the trainers had to be nude in the Olympics.

* Portions of the Olympic games were segregated by gender, but there were several documented women Olympic victors (including Cynisca and Bilistiche, both for chariot racing).  

**There are numerous examples of gender-exclusive rites in ancient Greek and Roman religion being profaned by intruders, including Alcibiades' intrusion of the Eleusinian Mysteries in 415 BCE and Clodius' intrusion of the Bona Dea Scandal in 62 BCE. 

*** A sectioned-off portion specifically for coaches and trainers

In via quae Olympiam ducit cis Alpheum, Scillunte venienti, celsa crepidine praeruptus mons occurrit: Typaeum illum appellant. Hinc de saxo feminas deiicere Eleorum lex iubet, quae ad Olympicos ludos penetrasse deprehensae fuerint, vel quae omnino Alphaeum transmiserint, quibus est eis interdictum diebus. Non tamen deprehensam esse ullam perhibent praeter unam Callipatriam, quam alii Pherenicen nominant. Haec viro mortuo, cum virili ornatu exercitationum se magistrum simulans, Pisidorum filium in certamen deduxit: iamque eo vincente sepimentum id quo magistros seclusos habent, transiluit veste posita. Feminam tamen agnitam, omni crimine liberarunt. datum hoc ex iudicium aequitate, patris, fratrum, & filii gloriae, qui omnes ex Olympcis ludis victores abierant. Ex eo lege sancitum, ut nudati adessent ad ludicrum ipsi etiam magrstri.

κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν ὁδόν, πρὶν ἢ διαβῆναι τὸν Ἀλφειόν, ἔστιν ὄρος ἐκ Σκιλλοῦντος ἐρχομένῳ πέτραις ὑψηλαῖς ἀπότομον: ὀνομάζεται δὲ Τυπαῖον τὸ ὄρος. κατὰ τούτου τὰς γυναῖκας Ἠλείοις ἐστὶν ὠθεῖν νόμος, ἢν φωραθῶσιν ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐλθοῦσαι τὸν Ὀλυμπικὸν ἢ καὶ ὅλως ἐν ταῖς ἀπειρημέναις σφίσιν ἡμέραις διαβᾶσαι τὸν Ἀλφειόν. οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ἁλῶναι λέγουσιν οὐδεμίαν, ὅτι μὴ Καλλιπάτειραν μόνην: εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ τὴν αὐτὴν ταύτην Φερενίκην καὶ οὐ Καλλιπάτειραν καλοῦσιν.

 αὕτη προαποθανόντος αὐτῇ τοῦ ἀνδρός, ἐξεικάσασα αὑτὴν τὰ πάντα ἀνδρὶ γυμναστῇ, ἤγαγεν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν τὸν υἱὸν μαχούμενον: νικῶντος δὲ τοῦ Πεισιρόδου, τὸ ἔρυμα ἐν ᾧ τοὺς γυμναστὰς ἔχουσιν ἀπειλημμένους, τοῦτο ὑπερπηδῶσα ἡ Καλλιπάτειρα ἐγυμνώθη. φωραθείσης δὲ ὅτι εἴη γυνή, ταύτην ἀφιᾶσιν ἀζήμιον καὶ τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ἀδελφοῖς αὐτῆς καὶ τῷ παιδὶ αἰδῶ νέμοντες—ὑπῆρχον δὴ ἅπασιν αὐτοῖς Ὀλυμπικαὶ νῖκαι—, ἐποίησαν δὲ νόμον ἐς τὸ ἔπειτα ἐπὶ τοῖς γυμνασταῖς γυμνοὺς σφᾶς ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐσέρχεσθαι.

--Pausanias, Description of Greece V.iv.7-8; Translated into Latin by Romulus Amaseus (1696)

Pausanias was a Greek writer who lived during the era of the “Five Good Emperors.” His work, the Description of Greece, is an important source for geographical, historical, archaeological, and cultural information about ancient Greece. 

Love in Action Mode: Pliny, Hist. Nat. 7.36.121

Name: Pliny the Elder Date: 23 – 79 CE Region:  Como [modern Italy]; Rome [modern Italy] Citation:  Natural History, 7.121-122

Love comes in many forms, and this description of pietas [duty towards those you love, including the gods] shows examples of love and duty towards one's parent, spouse, sibling, as well as people not defined as family members by society.

There are countless examples of love throughout the globe, but the rest cannot compare to what happened in Rome.

·                     There once was a poor plebeian woman who had recently given birth. She obtained a visit with her incarcerated mother. Even though she was always searched so that she wouldn’t give her mother any food, she was caught feeding her mother with her breastmilk. Because of this act of love, her mother was freed and both women were given state benefits for life. In 150 BCE [the year that Caius Quinctius and Marcus Acilius were consuls], this location was then consecrated to the Goddess; the prison was torn down and a Temple of Piety was erected. [This is now where the Theater of Marcellus is located].

·                     The father of the Gracchi brothers once caught two snakes inside his house. When he was told that he would live if he killed the female snake, he replied, “No way! Kill mine, then. Cornelia is young and is still fertile.” What he meant was to spare his wife and respect the republic’s wishes; he soon perished.

·                     Marcus Lepidus pined to death after divorcing his wife Apuleia.

·                     When Publius Rutilius was a bit sick and he found out that his brother lost the candidacy for consulship, he died of shock.

·                     Publius Catiennus Philotimus loved his patron so much that, even though he was the sole beneficiary of the man’s will, he tossed himself onto the man’s pyre.

Love In Action Mode

Pietatis exempla infinita quidem toto orbe extitere, sed Romae unum cui comparari cuncta non possint.

·                     Humilis in plebe et ideo ignobilis puerpera, supplicii causa carcere inclusa matre cum impetrasset aditum, a ianitore semper excussa ante ne quid inferret cibi, deprehensa est uberibus suis alens eam. Quo miraculo matris salus donata filiae pietati est ambaeque perpetuis alimentis, et locus ille eidem consecratus deae, C. Quinctio M. Acilio coss. Templo Pietatis extructo in illius carceris sede, ubi nunc Marcelli theatrum est.

·                     Gracchorum pater anguibus prehensis in domo, cum responderetur ipsum victurum alterius sexus interempto: “Immo vero,” inquit, “meum necate, Cornelia enim iuvenis est et parere adhuc potest.” Hoc erat uxori parcere et rei publicae consulere; idque mox consecutum est.

·                     M. Lepidus Apuleiae uxoris caritate post repudium obiit.

·                     P. Rutilius morbo levi impeditus nuntiata fratris repulsa in consulatus petitione ilico expiravit.

·                     P. Catienus Philotimus patronum adeo dilexit ut heres omnibus bonis institutus in rogum eius se iaceret.

 

Pliny the Elder [Gaius Plinius Secundus; 23 – 79 CE, modern Italy] was an Italian-born Roman statesman and author who lived during the reigns of the early Roman emperors. He spent most of his life in service of his country; he ultimately gave his life in arranging the evacuation of the regions devastated by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. His work, the Natural History, is a 37-volume collection of art, history, and science of the ancient world.

M/M: Nisus & Euryalus: Part 2 (Vergil, Aen 9.184-223)

Nisus and Euryalus: No Day Shall Erase You From the Memory of Time

Name:  Vergil Date:  70 – 19 BCE Region:  Mantua [modern northern Italy] Citation:  Aeneid 9.176-223, 384-413, 416-418,420-449

On duty that night at the fortress' gates was Nisus, the valiant son of Hyrtacus, whom the huntress Ida had trained in hunting and sent off to accompany Aeneas.
Standing beside him was his companion Euryalus, a teenager who surpassed all Trojans in beauty. He was born too young to earn his armor at Troy; his first touch of adulthood was blossoming on his chin.
They shared one love; they fought side-by-side. Both stood on duty at the gate.

Nisus said “Do the gods inspire you to seek glory, or does your own desire drive you? For I need to fight—or do some big gesture—I’m not content to just sit around here. You know how cocky our Rutulian enemy is. Their watch fires are scattered, sputtering out, and their watchmen are sleeping or drunk. They're not vigilant at all.

“Look at how confident I am in this plan, and what I've devised based on these facts. Everyone (the Trojan leaders and menfolk alike) is clamoring for Aeneas to return. They're looking for volunteers to come fetch him, even offering a reward. I think I can find a way to him through that heap of enemies, and find a path to our ally Pallas’ city walls.”

Euryalus, inspired by a love of praise, spoke to his companion, “Nisus, do you shirk from letting me join you on the most important time of all? Will I send you off alone into such danger? Listen, I no longer have a father. My dad Opheletes fell by the Greeks in Troy's fateful struggle. But he raised me better than that! And Aeneas, the man I followed to our ultimate destiny; he raised me better than this, too! I didn't come all this way, doing all these adventures with you otherwise. What life is there for me, if I only had life, and not honor?”

Nisus responded: “No, it isn't right. I would never think that of you. But Jupiter, I pray to god (or whatever god it is), look on me with kindness, to bring me back to you,

while you're there, waiting to cheer me on from the sidelines. You see how the situation is. If some enemy or act of god should take me away from you, I want you to live on. You're too young to die. Let it be you who brings my body back from the battlefield and lays it to rest in my tomb. Or, if Fortune does not permit even that, honor me with an empty grave. I do not want to break your mother's heart. Of all the Trojan women, she alone left the safety of Acestes’ walls to follow you here.”

Euryalus said, “Stop being such a worrywart! My mind is made up. Come on, let’s go.”

Together, they woke up the next shift of watchmen. They leave their posts in the hands of competent replacements, and together with his companion Nisus, they head for the king's headquarters.

 

While on a secret mission, Nisus and Euryalus are detected by Rutulian scouts. They flee, but are separated from each other:
          Euryalus, overcome by brambles and fear, is trapped!

 

But Nisus already fled. By dumb luck, he escaped the enemy through the territory that will later be named “Alba.” He looks around and cannot find his companion. He calls, “Unlucky Euryalus, where are you? Did I leave you behind? Where can I follow you?”

He goes in circles through the forest, looking for traces of his friend in the underbrush. Then he hears hoofbeats; he hears the riders approach. Soon after he hears a shout and sees Euryalus surrounded by a band of Rutulians but vainly trying to defend himself.

What should Nisus do? What resources does he have to rescue the youth from his attackers? Should he jump into the fight, rushing to his own doom, to endure an “honorable” death?

Aiming his weapon, Nisus catches sight of the moon and voices this prayer:  “Divine daughter of Leto, glory of the stars and protector of this grove, help me in my task! If my father Hyrtacus’ offerings to you ever meant something, if my thanksgiving offerings from my hunting trips ever meant anything to you, if my offerings of incense or other holy offerings ever touched you, please, allow me to take on these men and send this spear through the air towards them!”

He finished praying, and hurled his spear with all his might. It flies through the night and arrives in Sulmo’s chest...

The Rutulians looks around, alert. Nisus aims another spear and sends it into their midst. It shoots through the air and pierces Tagus’ temples; his brains spurt from the wound.

The Rutulian leader Volcens roars in anger. He cannot see who threw the spear, so he takes out his anger on Euryalus. “You shall pay the penalty for both of these men…in blood!” Volcens said, attacking the Trojan youth with his sword.

Then, terrified, Nisus shouted from the distance, betraying his hiding-place, trying to stop his greatest nightmare from happening, “It was me! It was me! I did it! Stab me instead, oh Rutulians! This was my fault, it wasn’t him! I swear by the heavens, and the stars are my witness! The only thing he did wrong was love his cursed companion too much!”

So Nisus spoke, but a sword pierces his friend’s chest, crushing Euryalus’ delicate ribcage.

Euryalus swoons in death, and gore spreads across the lad’s pretty limbs.  His head flops forward, just like when a purple flower dies, cut by a tractor’s plow, or when a poppy droops when it is weighed down by heavy raindrops.

But Nisus rushes into the midst of the enemy, seeking vengeance upon Volcens. Volcens alone is his goal.

Although surrounded, Nisus puts up a good fight. His sword gleams in the starlight as he slashes against his foe, and it plunges into his enemy’s shrieking face, killing the man who stabs him in return.

Then, dying, Nisus threw himself atop his slain friend and succumbed to dreamless sleep.

Fortunate pair! If my epic means anything, no day shall ever erase you from history, as long as Aeneas’ Capitol still stands, as long as father Rome reigns supreme.

 

Nisus and Euryalus: No Day Shall Erase You From the Memory of Time

Nisus erat portae custos, acerrimus armis,
Hyrtacides, comitem Aeneae quem miserat Ida
venatrix iaculo celerem levibusque sagittis,
et iuxta comes Euryalus, quo pulchrior alter
non fuit Aeneadum Troiana neque induit arma,
ora puer prima signans intonsa iuventa.
His amor unus erat pariterque in bella ruebant;
tum quoque communi portam statione tenebant.
Nisus ait: “Dine hunc ardorem mentibus addunt,
Euryale, an sua cuique deus fit dira cupido?
Aut pugnam aut aliquid iamdudum invadere magnum
mens agitat mihi, nec placida contenta quiete est.

Cernis quae Rutulos habeat fiducia rerum:
lumina rara micant, somno vinoque soluti
procubuere, silent late loca. Percipe porro
quid dubitem et quae nunc animo sententia surgat.
Aenean acciri omnes, populusque patresque,
exposcunt, mittique viros qui certa reportent.
Si tibi quae posco promittunt (nam mihi facti
fama sat est), tumulo videor reperire sub illo    
posse viam ad muros et moenia Pallantea.”
Obstipuit magno laudum percussus amore
Euryalus, simul his ardentem adfatur amicum:
“Mene igitur socium summis adiungere rebus,
Nise, fugis? Solum te in tanta pericula mittam?
Non ita me genitor, bellis adsuetus Opheltes,
Argolicum terrorem inter Troiaeque labores
sublatum erudiit, nec tecum talia gessi
magnanimum Aenean et fata extrema secutus:
est hic, est animus lucis contemptor et istum 
qui vita bene credat emi, quo tendis, honorem.”
Nisus ad haec: “Equidem de te nil tale verebar,
nec fas; non ita me referat tibi magnus ovantem
Juppiter aut quicumque oculis haec aspicit aequis.
Sed si quis (quae multa vides discrimine tali)
si quis in adversum rapiat casusve deusve,
te superesse velim, tua vita dignior aetas.

Sit qui me raptum pugna pretiove redemptum
mandet humo, solita aut si qua id Fortuna vetabit,
absenti ferat inferias decoretque sepulcro.
Neu matri miserae tanti sim causa doloris,
quae te sola, puer, multis e matribus ausa
persequitur, magni nec moenia curat Acestae.”
Ille autem: “Causas nequiquam nectis inanis
nec mea iam mutata loco sententia cedit.
Acceleremus” ait, vigiles simul excitat. Illi
succedunt servantque vices; statione relicta
ipse comes Niso graditur regemque requirunt.

...

Euryalum tenebrae ramorum onerosaque praeda
impediunt, fallitque timor regione viarum.
Nisus abit; iamque imprudens evaserat hostis
atque locos qui post Albae de nomine dicti
Albani (tum rex stabula alta Latinus habebat),
ut stetit et frustra absentem respexit amicum:

“Euryale infelix, qua te regione reliqui?
Quave sequar?” Rursus perplexum iter omne revolvens
fallacis silvae simul et vestigia retro
observata legit dumisque silentibus errat.
Audit equos, audit strepitus et signa sequentum;
nec longum in medio tempus, cum clamor ad auris
pervenit ac videt Euryalum, quem iam manus omnis
fraude loci et noctis, subito turbante tumultu,
oppressum rapit et conantem plurima frustra.
Quid faciat? Qua vi iuvenem, quibus audeat armis
eripere? An sese medios moriturus in enses
inferat et pulchram properet per vulnera mortem?
Ocius adducto torquet hastile lacerto
suspiciens altam Lunam et sic voce precatur:
“Tu, dea, tu praesens nostro succurre labori,
astrorum decus et nemorum Latonia custos.
Si qua tuis umquam pro me pater Hyrtacus aris
dona tulit, si qua ipse meis venatibus auxi
suspendive tholo aut sacra ad fastigia fixi,
hunc sine me turbare globum et rege tela per auras.”

Dixerat et toto conixus corpore ferrum
conicit. Hasta volans noctis diverberat umbras
et venit aversi in tergum Sulmonis ibique
frangitur, ac fisso transit praecordia ligno...[1]
Diversi circumspiciunt. Hoc acrior idem
ecce aliud summa telum librabat ab aure.
Dum trepidant, it hasta Tago per tempus utrumque...[2]
Saevit atrox Volcens nec teli conspicit usquam
auctorem nec quo se ardens immittere possit.
“Tu tamen interea calido mihi sanguine poenas
persolves amborum” inquit; simul ense recluso
ibat in Euryalum. Tum vero exterritus, amens,
conclamat Nisus nec se celare tenebris
amplius aut tantum potuit perferre dolorem:
“Me, me, adsum qui feci, in me convertite ferrum,
o Rutuli! Mea fraus omnis, nihil iste nec ausus
nec potuit; caelum hoc et conscia sidera testor;

tantum infelicem nimium dilexit amicum.”  
Talia dicta dabat, sed viribus ensis adactus
transadigit costas et candida pectora rumpit.
Volvitur Euryalus leto, pulchrosque per artus
it cruor inque umeros cervix conlapsa recumbit:
purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro 
languescit moriens, lassove papavera collo
demisere caput pluvia cum forte gravantur.
At Nisus ruit in medios solumque per omnis
Volcentem petit, in solo Volcente moratur.
Quem circum glomerati hostes hinc comminus atque hinc 
proturbant. Instat non setius ac rotat ensem
fulmineum, donec Rutuli clamantis in ore
condidit adverso et moriens animam abstulit hosti.
Tum super exanimum sese proiecit amicum
confossus, placidaque ibi demum morte quievit.
Fortunati ambo! Si quid mea carmina possunt,
nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,
dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.

Vergil, also known as Virgil, [Publius Vergilius Maro; 70 – 19 BCE, modern Italy] was born in Mantua, Cisalpine Gaul, and lived during the tumultuous transition of Roman government from republic to monarchy. His writing talent earned him a place of honor among Maecenas’ fellow authors under Augustan rule. He was friends with numerous famous authors of the time period, including Horace and Asinius Pollio. His former slave Alexander was the most influential romantic partner in his life, and the poet memorialized his love for him under the pseudonym “Alexis” in Eclogue 2. His masterpiece, the Aeneid, tells the story of Aeneas’ migration from Troy to Italy; it was used for centuries as the pinnacle of Roman literature.

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[1] The graphic description of Sulmo’s wound will not be published here.

[2] The graphic description of Tagus’ wound will not be published here.