BOOK SIX OF STATIUS' THEBAID

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The messenger Rumor glides through the Danaan cities with a wide-ranging step, proclaiming that the Inachidae¹ are ordering solemn rites at a new tomb and in addition, an athletic meet, so that they may exercise and stimulate their martial courage in preparation for war.

¹This term means "the descendants of Inachus" or Argives. Inachus is the god of the river of the same name in Argos.

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This is a source of honor according to the custom of the Greeks. First through Pisan fields² pious Alcides³ contended with Pelops for this honor⁴ and wiped the dust from his hair with a wild olive;⁵ next the freedom of Phocis from the coils of the snake is celebrated,⁶ a battle won by the youthful Apollo's bow and arrows.

²Pisa (not the Italian town) was the district in the Peloponnesus where the Olympic games were held.
³i.e., Hercules.
⁴The honor of founding the Olympic Games. Legends connected both Hercules and Pelops with the founding of the games.
⁵i.e., wore the olive crown, a symbol of victory at the Olympic Games. His hair is dusty because of the dust raised by competition in the stadium.
⁶The snake is the Python, which Apollo killed with his bow and arrow, thereby "freeing" the area for the foundation of the oracle. This was the event that motivated the foundation of the Pythian Games in honor of the Python and Apollo at Delphi, which is located in Phocis.

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Soon around the sad altars of Palaemon the somber cult was preserved, as many times as spirited Leucothea resumes her mourning and comes to the friendly shores at festival time: both shores of the Isthmus cry out with mourning,⁷ Echionian⁸ Thebes answers with lamentation.

⁷ i.e., the Isthmian Games, the first celebration of which, according to legend, was as part of funeral rites for the child Melicertes, who was killed when his mother Ino, driven mad by Hera, jumped into the sea carrying the boy. They both became gods after death. In this new status Ino was called Leucothea and Melicertes, Palaemon.
⁸Echion is one of early kings of Thebes.

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And now the outstanding princes, through whom the foster-sons of Argos are related to the gods and whose heroic names the land of Aon and Tyrian⁹ mothers utter with a sigh, come together and employ their naked¹⁰ strength in athletic contests. Just as biremes, before daring to cross the unknown deep

^9.Both "the land of Aon" and Tyrian" refer to Thebes. Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, came from Tyre in Phoenicia, modern Lebanon.
¹⁰Greek athletes competed naked.

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or to challenge the Tuscan or the Aegean Sea in winter, first they try out in a tranquil lake their ship's tackle and helm and light oars and they learn about the actual dangers; but then with this experience, the crew was confident enough to go further out to sea and not keep within sight of land.

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Bright Tithonia¹¹ had brought out her laboring chariot from the sky and Night and Sleep with empty horn¹² were fleeing the wakeful¹³reins of the pale goddess. Now the roads are full of mournful sounds with loud lamentation and now the tear-filled palace resounds with moaning, which echoes far off in the pathless forest

¹¹ i.e., Dawn. Because Tithonus was her husband, she is sometimes called 'Tithonia'.
¹²Sleep (a god) poured slumber on earth from a horn.
¹³Because mortals awake at dawn.

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and multiplies the sounds. The father himself, seated, is not wearing his honorable fillets, his face is squalid and his unkempt beard is marked with funereal dust.¹⁴ Opposite him the bereaved mother, fiercer and having exceeded her husband's mourning, urges on her handmaidens by example and speech although they are willing,

¹⁴These are all signs of mourning.

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she is eager to prostrate herself on top of the wounded remains of her son and as often as she is pulled away, comes back. Even her husband himself keeps her away. Soon when the Inachian princes with their aristocratic bearing enter the mourning threshold, just as if the disaster had just happened and the infant had just

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been wounded or the lethal serpent were actually entering the atrium, thus do they, although their hearts are exhausted with grief, give forth one noisy shout after another and doors of the palace resound besieged by renewed noise: the Pelasgians¹⁵ felt their resentment¹⁶ and with welling tears try to excuse the crime.

¹⁵i.e., the Argives.
¹⁶The Nemeans resented the Argives because they blamed them for the death of Opheltes (also called Archemorus, 'the beginning of doom', i.e., for the Argives in their future attack on Thebes). They were only indirectly responsible. They had distracted Hypsipyle by asking her where they could find water.

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Adrastus himself, as soon as it was allowed and the tumult of the distraught house grew silent, takes the initiative in consoling the father, now mentioning fate and the harsh affairs of men and the inexorable spinning of the Fates, now the possibility of other offspring that would, with the favor of the gods, survive.

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But before he had a chance to finish, the laments returned. Also the father listens to this friendly address not more sympathetically than the madness of the savage Ionian sea listens to the shouting prayers of men on the sea or wandering lightning bolts care about thin clouds. Meanwhile the pyre

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destined for the flames and boy's bier are constructed with the sad branches of the young cypress:¹⁷ the lowest layers are green with wild growth; the next level is more ornate with grassy garlands, and the mound is sprinkled with flowers about to die; the third layer is a heap of Arabian spices,

¹⁷The cypress was associated with death.

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including Eastern wealth such as lumps of gray incense and cinnamon dating from the time of Belus.¹⁸ The highest part tinkles with gold, and a soft Tyrian purple drape-overhang is erected, from which on all sides smooth gems shed rays of light, in the midst of an acanthus border are depicted in embroidery Linus and

¹⁸The cinnamon was very old. Belus was a legendary king of Egypt and brother of Danaus, the founder of the Greek race.

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the death-bringing dogs:¹⁹ the amazing work²⁰ always aggravated the mother, who turned her eyes from the omen. In commemoration of the afflicted palace's past honor and glory, although mixed with evils, they surround the pyre with their ancestors' weapons and spoils as if an enormous body was being carried

¹⁹According to an Argive story Linus was the son of Psamathe, a princess of Argos. The child's father was Apollo. When he was born, his mother abandoned him and he was eaten by Crotopus' (the king, her father) dogs.
²⁰because it reminded her of her own child's death.

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in a funeral procession to the pyre, but empty and sterile glory nevertheless pleases the mourners, and the small corpse increases in size because of the impressive funeral rites. Then in tears there is huge honor and a pitiable pleasure, and gifts heavier than his years are carried into the ashes;

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for his father, impatient for his wish²¹ had given to him quivers and rather short spears and harmless arrows and jangling sword belts and and the noisy armor and arms destined for greater muscles, the hope of the father, apparel which the mother, not trusting in the name, ²²

²¹that his son grow up.
²²i.e., she wanted her son also to look like a crown prince besides having the title.

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eagerly insisted on, and the purple clothing, the insignia of kingship, and a smaller scepter, all these things his father himself fiercely condemns to the black fires along with his own armor, to see if he could satiate his rabid sorrow by loss.

In another area the army at the orders of the knowledgeable augur

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works steadily on the construction of a high pyre, made of tree-trunks felled in forest forests, the size of a mountain, in order to make expiatory offering for the crime of the slain snake²³ and for an ill-omened war. [These men have the job of cutting and casting down Nemea and the shady beautiful valley to the ground and to open up the forests to Phoebus.²⁴]

²³This is a second pyre to atone for the blood guilt incurred by the Argives in killing the snake that had caused the death of the child and that they were going to incur when they attacked Thebes. Apollo also to pay for killing the Python by going into exile for seven years.
²⁴i.e., the sun. The brackets indicate that the editor of the Latin text believes that the words contained therein are not the words of the author but a later addition to the text.

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Immediately the virgin forest, whose foliage had been untouched by the iron of an ax, is laid low, a forest than which no woods in Argos or Arcadia was taller or richer in shade: sacrosanct because of its age, it stands by the will of the gods, not only is it said to be older

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than human race but also surviving to have witnessed the  change of its Nymphs and herds of Fauni.²⁵ The forest suffered a wretched destruction: wild animals flee, birds fly away from their warm nests, driven by fear; the high beech tree and the oak grove and the cypress, unharmed by winter, fall,

²⁵Nymphs are female nature spirits who were either immortal or long-lived. Fauni were male forest divinities.

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the pitch-pines lie on the ground, food for funeral fires and so do the elms and the ilex trees and the yew-tree, feared because of its poisonous sap, and the ash tree about to drink the unspeakable blood of war²⁶ and the oak tree, which cannot be overcome by age. Next the bold²⁷ fir tree and the pine

²⁶because ash trees were used for spear-shafts.
²⁷The fir tree is 'bold'; (an example of hypallage or transferred epithet) because it is used to make ships that risk the dangers of the sea.

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is cut with an odorous wound, the alder, friendly to the sea,²⁸ and the elm, hospitable to vines, incline their unshorn crowns to the earth. The earth moans: not in this way is the forest of Ismarus said to be overturned when Boreas²⁹ puts forth his head from his broken-open cave, not more quickly did a nocturnal flame roar through a forest with the aid of the south wind.

²⁸. Alder wood was also used to build ships.
²⁹= the North Wind.

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White Pales, and Silvanus,³⁰ who presides over the shade of the glen and the band of demigods in tears abandon the beloved leisure of these places, the forest weeps because of their departure, and the Nymphs, embracing the oak trees, can't let go of them. As when a leader has given captured citadels to the eager victorious soldiers to plunder,

³⁰Two Roman forest deities. Statius is talking about a Greek forest but he, after all, is Roman.

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almost immediately after the signal is heard, no city is left; they without restraint lead, cast down, drive away and carry off booty, the noise was less where they were waging wars. And now two altars of equal height had been constructed with equal labor, one for the sad shades,³¹ the other for the gods above,

³¹i.e., "the dear departed." 'Shades' = ghosts.

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when the crooked funereal horn bleated out a low note as a signal for mourning, the instrument that, according to the sad custom of the Phrygians, accompanies the funeral processions of the young. They say that Pelops originated a funeral rite and song appropriate for younger shades, to the accompaniment of which squalid Niobe, ruined by twin quivers,

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had escorted twelve urns to Sipylus.³² The Greek leaders carry offerings in honor of the dead and food dishes for burning, each leader piously bears witness to the achievements of his own family by commemorative tablets;³³ a long time afterwards upon the necks of young men (the leader had chosen them from the whole army.) comes

³²Niobe's twelve children were killed by the arrows of the divine twins, Apollo and Artemis. The gods changed her into a rock formation on Mount Sipylus in Lydia (modern Turkey).
³³on which details of a person's career are inscribed. This is actually a Roman, not a Greek, custom. The word 'piously'; refers to the Roman virtue of pietas, 'loyalty to one's country, gods and family'.

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the bier itself accompanied by wild noise. Lernaean nobles surrounded Lycurgus,³⁴ a more gentle crowd³⁵ surrounds the mother; nor does Hypsipyle approach with a scanty escort: the Argives, mindful of her difficult situation,³⁶ surround her, her sons support her livid³⁷ arms and allow their newly-discovered³⁸ mother to lament.

³⁴The father, king of Nemea.
³⁵i.e., consisting of women.
³⁶Of the resentment that the people of Nemea had toward her, for allowing the snake to kill their crown prince.
³⁷They are livid because she beat them as a sign of mourning.
³⁸They had been long separated from their mother and were just recently united with her. See the Background to Book Six (note 4) in the Introduction.

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As soon as Eurydice emerged from her unhappy home, she gives forth a cry of sorrow from her naked breast and after long ululations³⁹ she begins: "I did not hope to follow you, son, surrounded by this assembly of Argive mothers, nor did I, distraught and expecting nothing disastrous, imagine in my prayers such an infancy for you.

³⁹A low trilling sound still used today by women in the near and Middle East as an indication of extreme emotion.

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For in this extremity⁴⁰ of life how could I, ignorant of the future, fear that the war with Thebes would adversely affect you?⁴¹ To whom of the gods is it pleasing that we make war on people of our own race?⁴² who has prayed for this crime with weapons? but your house,

⁴⁰i.e., at the beginning of her child's life.
⁴¹The death of the child was interpreted as an omen of doom for the Argives in their war against Thebes.
⁴²Both the Argives and Thebans were Greeks.

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Cadmus, is not yet is mourned by the Tyrian crowd,⁴³ nor is an infant mourned. I endured the first fruits of tears and of bitter death, before the trumpets and the sword⁴⁴ while I carelessly relied on the nurse and I entrusted the nursing of the child to her. Why shouldn't I have? she told the story of a parent preserved by deceit

⁴³as it will be when Polynices and Eteocles kill each other in the war.
⁴⁴i.e., even before the war began.

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and innocent hands.⁴⁵ Look! There's the woman whom we think repudiated the funeral rites she had sworn to and alone had no share in Lemnos'  madness! This woman (Can you trust someone so unreliable?⁴⁶), this damned woman, outstanding in filial piety, impiously cast away not her king and lord - but someone else's offspring in lonely fields,

⁴⁵While all the other women on Lemnos had sworn to kill the men of their family and had done so, Hypsipyle spared the life of her father. See footnote 2 in the Introduction.
⁴⁶The thought here is not clear but it may mean: how can you trust a woman who went back on her oath?

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that's the only thing she did⁴⁷ and the disreputable woman abandoned him on a path in the forest, whom not the fierce snake (for why, alas, was there a need of this monstrous killer⁴⁸) but only a rather violent breeze of the sky, the leaves shaken by the south wind and empty fear would have been strong enough to kill.  Nor am I, alone in my grief, able to reproach you in my bereavement,

⁴⁷Meant sarcastically.
⁴⁸i.e., the snake who killed the child.

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the responsibility is mine alone for having chosen this nurse; †⁴⁹ nevertheless you, son, because you liked that woman better, knew her alone and responded only to her call and you were ignorant of me†. Your mother got no joy from you; that impious woman heard your wailing and tearful laughter

⁴⁹This symbol indicates that the Latin text is corrupt and unreliable.

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and heard your first word. She was mother to you while you were alive, now I am mother to you when you are dead. But now in my wretchedness I do not have the power to punish her although she deserves it! Why, chiefs, why do you carry these useless gifts, proper for pyres? Her (my dead son demands nothing further),

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her, I beg, offer as a sacrifice both to the ashes of my son and to his shattered mother, and I also ask, chiefs, in consideration of the war against Thebes for which I gave birth to him⁵⁰ thus let Theban mothers moan deaths equal to mine." She lets down her hair and repeats praying: "Sacrifice her, but don't call me cruel and eager for blood:

⁵⁰She believes the only reason for her son's existence was to die in atonement for the future war.

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I will die at the same time, provided that I, having satiated my eyes with her just wound,⁵¹ and she are thrown into the same fire." Shouting such things, from afar she recognizes Hypsipyle moaning in another area (for she is abusing her hair and breasts) and offended at their shared grief, says:

⁵¹of the sacrificial knife.

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"Prevent this at least, nobles, and you,⁵² for the benefit of whom the pledge of our marriage⁵³ as been killed:, take away this hated woman from these funeral rites. why does the fatal woman mingle with a parent and why is she herself present amidst our ruin?" [for whom does she mourn as she embraces her own sons?

⁵²Probably Adrastus, as leader of the Argives in their expedition against Thebes, who has benefited from the expiatory death of the child.
⁵³i.e., her child. A baby was viewed by the Romans as a validation of the marriage bond, therefore a 'pledge'.

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She finished speaking and suddenly sinks down to the ground and ceasing her complaints she fell silent.]

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Thus she spoke and ceasing her complaints she fell silent. Just as when a wild beast has taken or a shepherd has led away to the harsh altar a tottering bullock, which has been cheated out of its first milk and whose only nourishment is from the teat; the deprived mother rouses now the valley, now the rivers, now the herds with her wailing,

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and questions the empty fields; then she can't bear to go home, and she goes last of all out of the sad field and not hungry, she turns away from the grasses that are available to her. But the father with his own hand throws his splendid scepter and the symbols of Jupiter⁵⁴ the Thunderer on the pyre, and cuts with a knife his hair that pours over his back and chest

⁵⁴Kings were thought to derive their authority from Jupiter.

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and with these cut hairs covers over the small mouth of the boy lying [on his bier] and mixing such words with pious weeping: "in another manner⁵⁵ to you earlier, treacherous Jupiter, had I, in performance of a vow, dedicated this hair, in hopes that you in return would grant that I offer my son to you in the full blossom

⁵⁵i.e., not sadly.

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of his manhood at your temple; but the priest did not sanction the prayer, which was condemned to be unheard; let his shade which is worthier,⁵⁶ have these things." now with the application of a torch the fire crackles in the first branches; it's difficult to keep the crazed parents away. Some Danaans are ordered to stand around the pyre and with arms serving as a screen,

⁵⁶i.e., worthier of this gift than the treacherous Jupiter.

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they prevent those present from seeing the horrible sight. The flames are enriched; never before was there a richer ash; jewels crackle and an immense amount of silver liquefies and gold oozes out of the decorated garments; and the oak wood becomes oily with Assyrian juices,⁵⁷

⁵⁷From the burning spices that were sprinkled on the pyre.

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the burning honey hisses with pale saffron and the shallow saucers foaming with unmixed wine and also vessels of dark blood and milk most pleasing to the dead child are poured into the fire. Then the Greek princes themselves lead troops seven in number with one hundred knights in each troop with their insignia inverted

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and they themselves according to custom march counter-clockwise around the pyre in a purifying ceremony and they subdue the shooting flames with dust. Three times they march in a circle and one weapon striking on another makes noise, four times arms gave forth a horrible noise, four times the arms of the handmaidens gave forth a gentle slapping⁵⁸

⁵⁸of their breasts, a sign of mourning.

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The other fire receives half-alive herds and flocks still breathing; here the prophet orders them to banish grief, a portent of more death, although he feels that the omens are true: clockwise with waving spears they retrace their steps, and

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each one throws a offering from his own equipment, whether reins or sword-belts or a javelin or the crest of a helmet, into the flames. [the neighboring fields resonate loudly with strident music, and ears are assaulted everywhere with the piercing sound of trumpets. The forest is alarmed by the noise: in just this way trumpets cause the military standards to be pulled out of the ground,

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not yet is anger hot, nor has the sword grown red with blood, the first outward aspect of wars is given a beautiful appearance as a work of honor, Mars stands in a high cloud still uncertain which side he favors.⁵⁹]  Now the funeral was over, and tired Mulciber⁶⁰ now was ebbing into loose ashes;

⁵⁹This scene depicts a Roman army as it leaves its camp to go to war. Since the bloody work of battle has not yet begun, the army looks beautiful with its shiny armor and weapons.
⁶⁰i.e., Vulcan, who here by substitution stands for fire.

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they turn their attention to the flames and put the pyre to sleep with much rain water, until when the sun had set their labors were completed; their labor scarcely yielded to the late darkness. Already nine times Lucifer⁶¹ had dismissed the dewy stars from the heaven and just as many times at night

⁶¹i.e., the morning star ('light-bearer). The following lines indicates in poetic language the passage of nine days and nights.

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with changed horse⁶² had anticipated the fires of the Moon (nor does he deceive the knowing stars and is understood to be one star rising alternately.⁶³) You can't imagine how fast that wonderful work was completed! The stony mass stands, a huge temple for the dead child, and a bas-relief narrates events⁶⁴ sequentially in stone:

⁶²The sun, moon, dawn, morning and evening stars were all thought to ride in chariots pulled by horses.
⁶³Despite the different names (Lucifer and Vesper), it was known that the morning and evening star were really one and the same.
⁶⁴that led up to the funeral.

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here Hypsipyle shows rivers to the tired Greeks, here the tearful infant crawls, here he lies, around the edge of the mound the scaly one makes his rough circle; the snake looks so real that you would expect bloody hissing from his mouth as he dies, so moves the snake with a sinuous motion around the marble spear. And now the crowd is eager to see the battles without weapons⁶⁵

⁶⁵i.e., athletic contests.

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(word of mouth summons all); convoked from their fields and cities they are present; those also to whom the horror of war is still unknown, whom old age and extreme youth has left at home meet: great crowds of people never made such noise on the Ephyrean shore or at the circus⁶⁶ of Oenomaus.⁶⁷

⁶⁶Statius is thinking here of the Roman circus, "a circular or oval space in which games, esp. chariot races, are held" (as defined by the Oxford Latin Dictionary).
⁶⁷i.e., at the Isthmian and Olympic games.

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Surrounded by a green circlet of curved hills the valley is situated in the embrace of forests; rough ridges stand on all sides and a mound situated opposite twin projecting pieces of land prevents the field from extending out. The field is level with a long path and its grassy surface,

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soft with live turf, rises with a gentle slope. There the crowd is dense in numbers, now with the fields growing red with the sun, the warriors sat down; there amidst the gathered crowd the heroes enjoy looking over the crowd, the faces and apparel of their colleagues. The confident expectation of the contests delights them. there they drag

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a hundred slow-moving black bulls, strength of the herd, and an equal number of cows of the same color and their heifers not yet with a half-moon⁶⁸ on their forehead. Next, an ancient line of heroic ancestors is carried in, brought to life by excellent sculptured likenesses.⁶⁹

⁶⁸i.e., their horns. These are sacrificial animals (cattle)
⁶⁹i.e., statues. This too is a Roman, rather than a Greek, custom.

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First the Tirynthian⁷⁰ throttling the panting lion with a harsh embrace of the breast turns it into a pile of broken bones.⁷¹ The Argives look at him not without fear even though he was made of bronze and their own glory. In sequence

⁷⁰i.e., Hercules.
⁷¹This Herculean labor, in which the hero killed the Nemean lion, is presented first because the games that are about to begin are the first celebration of the Nemean games.

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can be seen father Inachus on the left, reclining on top of a mound of the reedy bank, and attending to the urn as it drains.⁷² Io, now prone and a source of pain to her father⁷³ looks at multi-eyed, ever watchful Argus behind her back. But a better Jupiter had raised her up⁷⁴ in Egyptian fields and already then Aurora⁷⁵ as a host was cultivating her friendship.

⁷²Perhaps this is a depiction of Inachus, an Argive river god, providing water for his river.
⁷³Having been turned into a heifer as a result of Jupiter's intervention, she is "prone" because her head is turned toward the ground. In this form she was watched over by the hundred-eyed monster Argus until he was killed by Mercury.
⁷⁴i.e., given her back her upright human form.
⁷⁵A daughter of Danaus.

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Next, father Tantalus, not the one who hangs over the deceiving waters or grabs the sterile air of the evasive branch⁷⁶ but the pious guest of the great Thunderer is carried in. In another area, the victor Pelops in his chariot stretches his Neptunian reins, and the charioteer Myrtilus clutches at the wavering wheels and

⁷⁶Tantalus was originally a favorite of the gods but, because of a crime against the gods, was punished after death by being deprived of food (fruit hanging from a tree branch that was always out of his reach) and water, which receded every time he tried to drink. He was "tantalized' by the gods.

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watches the flying chariot gradually disappear in the distance⁷⁷ And somber Acrisius⁷⁸ and the horrible appearance of Coroebus and Danae blamed for having had sex and the sad Amymone in the discovered brook⁷⁹ and Alcmena takes pride in a little Hercules wearing on her hair a triple crescent.⁸⁰

⁷⁷Pelops won his bride by defeating her father in a chariot race. He accomplished this by bribing the father's charioteer, Myrtilus, to sabotage the chariot. Pelops later murdered Myrtilus by throwing him from his chariot over a cliff into the sea.
⁷⁸Because of a prophecy that his grandson would kill him, he locked up his daughter Danae in a tower, but Jupiter, taking the form of a golden shower, impregnated her. Acrisius put Danae and her son Perseus out to sea in a box. They both survived and later Perseus accidentally killed Acrisius.
⁷⁹One of Danaus' fifty daughters, sent by her father to find water in the Argolid, which had been dried up by Poseidon because he was not made the patron of Argos, was saved from rape by Poseidon and rewarded with the creation by the god of a new spring (Lerna).
⁸⁰A reference to the three nights that Jupiter ('triple crescent' = 3 nights), in the form of her husband, spent with her when he made her pregnant with Hercules.

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The brothers,⁸¹ sons of Belus, join their disharmonious right hands in an unfriendly treaty⁸² but Aegyptus stands gentler in expression; it is easy to recognize in the feigned expression of Danaus, the marks of a bad peace and of a future night.   Next a thousand sights. Finally their pleasure is satiated

⁸¹Danaus and Aegyptus were the sons of Belus, king of an area that extended from the near east to the middle east and included Egypt. Danaus became the founder of the Greek race (cf. Danaans).
⁸²"Unfriendly" because Danaus suspected that Aegyptus wanted to deprive him of his kingdom. When the fifty sons of Aegyptus insisted on marrying Danaus' fifty daughters, Danaus agreed but told his daughters to kill their husbands on their wedding night. Forty-nine of them did.

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and the test of their manhood summons the outstanding men to its prizes. First there is the sweat of horses.⁸³ Tell me, Phoebus Apollo, the famous names of the charioteers, tell me about the horses themselves; for never has there been ever brought together a more noble line-up of horses, just as when dense flocks of birds vie in swift course or

⁸³i.e., the chariot race.

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Aeolus⁸⁴ on one shore establishes a contest for his ferocious winds. First Arion conspicuous with a fiery red crest is led in. Neptune is the horse's father, if the report of prior men is reliable; he⁸⁵ is said to be the first to have caused pain to the mouth of the young horse with a jagged-tooth bit and to have tamed him on the sand of the seashore,

⁸⁴The king of the winds.
⁸⁵i.e., Neptune.

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sparing the lash. For the horse was insatiably eager to run and he had the unpredictability of the winter sea. Often yoked with sea-going horses he was accustomed to go through the Ionian and Libyan seas and to carry the sea-blue father⁸⁶ into all shores;

⁸⁶Neptune again, whose complexion is the same color as the sea.

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clouds left behind were amazed, and the East and the South winds struggling to keep up with him lagged behind. And not slower on land, he had led the son of Amphitryon⁸⁷ waging Eurysthean wars⁸⁸ in a deep furrow through the grasses. Hercules also found Arion was wild and difficult to control. Soon the gods, deeming him worthy

⁸⁷i.e., Hercules.
⁸⁸i.e. the Herculean labors ordered by Eurystheus.

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of Adrastus' commands, gave him as a gift to the king and in the intervening years the horse had become very tame. Then the ruler gave him to his son-in-law Polynices to be driven, along with much advice on how to soothe the horse when he is in a wild mood, not to use a harsh hand, not to give him free rein. "Urge on other horses with goads and threats." he said,

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"He will go faster than you would want." Just as when the Sun was giving the fiery reins to his son⁸⁹ and was placing him on the rapid chariot, crying⁹⁰ he taught the happy boy the insidious stars and the zones unwilling to be traversed and the atmospheric conditions between the poles: the boy indeed is respectful and sensibly cautious,

⁸⁹The Sun god allowed his inexperienced son to drive his chariot, a disastrous mistake that ended in his death.
⁹⁰Because the Sun is a god, he knew the disaster his son would suffer.

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but the harsh Fates prohibited the young man from learning. The next favorite, Amphiaraus, riding high in his chariot, drives Oebalian⁹¹ horses; these are your offspring, Cyllarus,⁹² born of a secret sexual union while far away near the mouth of the Scythian sea Castor exchanges Amyclean reins for an oar.⁹³

⁹¹i.e., Spartan.
⁹²Cyllarus was a famous horse, who belonged to Castor and Pollux, brothers of Helen.
⁹³Castor, a celebrated horseman, at this time was not riding Cyllarus but sailing on the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece.

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Amphiaraus himself is wearing snowy white clothing, a snowy team of horses offer their necks to the yoke, his helmet and fillet is of a color similar to his white crest. And also prosperous Admetus from Thessalian shores scarcely restrains the sterile mares, the story is that they are descended from the Centaurs:⁹⁴ I believe it, so do they resent their sex and all

⁹⁴Centaurs were half-human and half-horse.

335

of their sexual attraction is converted into strength;⁹⁵ the white mares with black spots interspersed imitate night and day: so striking are both colors that you could believe that they belonged to that herd, which was joyfully astonished at the hissing of the Castalian reed and scorned eating once Apollo had been heard.⁹⁶

⁹⁵They reject their female gender and try to be as masculine as possible.
⁹⁶Apollo spent a year in Thessaly taking care of Admetus' horses and occupied his time with playing the aulos ("hissing of the Castalian reed;" the aulos was an oboe-like instrument).

340

Look! Also the young sons of Jason, the new⁹⁷ glory of the mother Hypsipyle, mounted their separate chariots, Thoas, his family name from his grandfather and Euneos so-called because of the Argo's omen.⁹⁸ The twins are alike in many ways: face, chariot, horses, clothing, and they both wanted the same thing,

⁹⁷In that they had just been reunited with their mother.
⁹⁸In Greek, Euneos means "good ship." The Argo is the ship that the Greeks, led by Jason, sailed on to get the golden fleece.

345

each one wishes either to win or to be defeated by his brother. Chromis and Hippodamus are next, the former, the descendant of great Hercules, the latter, of Oenomaus:⁹⁹ you would be hard pressed to decide which one drives more recklessly. The former's team is made up of Thracian Diomedes' horses¹⁰⁰ but the latter has the yoke of his Pisaean father. both chariots are adorned with cruel

⁹⁹The king who was defeated and killed by Pelops.
¹⁰⁰He inherited these man-eating horses from his father Hercules, who killed Diomedes and took his horses.

350

spoils and gruesome blood. On one end of the track an oak tree with naked strength, once upon a time denuded of its foliage, on the other end a stony projection, an arbiter for farmers, served as a turning posts; between both boundaries there lies such a distance as you would traverse with a four javelin throws or with three arrow shots.

355

Meanwhile Apollo, soothing the noble council of the Muses with song and having placed his hands on the cithara was looking at the earth from the top of Parnassus.

357a

...¹⁰¹

He sings of deeds of the gods, for often he loyally had sung of Jove and Phlegra and his victory over the snake¹⁰² and his brothers' glory.¹⁰³

¹⁰¹There is a gap in the Latin text, which I have filled in with the conjectural "He sings of."
¹⁰²i.e., the Python.
¹⁰³He sings "loyally' because the Olympian gods are all his relatives. Phlegra is the name of the area where the gods, led by Jupiter, fought against the giants. His brothers are gods like Hermes and Dionysus.

360

then in his song he reveals who throws the lightning bolt, what spirit inspires the stars, whence is the wildness of streams, what food is there for the winds¹⁰⁴ from what source the immense sea arises, what path of the sun makes night fall, what extends it, whether the earth is the lowest or in the middle of the universe and again encircled by another invisible world.

¹⁰⁴i.e., the sources that feed winds.

365

He finished. He puts off his sisters,¹⁰⁵ who are eager to hear him, and while he binds with laurel his lyre and his famous woven crown and removes from his breast his belt with a painted border.  Attracted by the clamor, he sees Herculean¹⁰⁶ Nemea not at all far away and the huge spectacle there

¹⁰⁵His sisters are the Muses, who themselves are excellent singers.
¹⁰⁶Nemea is called "Herculean" because of the hero's defeat of the lion there.

370

of a four-horse chariot contest. He recognizes all the contestants and by chance Admetus and Amphiaraus stood in a neighboring field. Then he¹⁰⁷ said to himself: "for who is that god, who joined these two kings, names most loyal to Phoebus, as rivals in a contest? Both are loyal, both are dear. I would not be able to say which one was prior in my affections.

¹⁰⁷i.e., Apollo.

375

when I was a slave in Pelian fields (thus the commands of Jupiter and the dark sisters¹⁰⁸ decreed) Admetus used to burn incense to me although I was a slave nor did he dare to think me less than himself; but Amphiaraus is a comrade of tripods¹⁰⁹ and devoted student of the heavenly art.¹¹⁰ Admetus nevertheless is superior in merits,

¹⁰⁸"The dark sisters" are the Fates.
¹⁰⁹Tripods were associated with prophecy, the art of Apollo. Amphiaraus was a prophet.
¹¹⁰i.e., the art of prophecy.

380

but the threads on the distaff of Amphiaraus are now at an end;¹¹¹ Admetus is granted old age and the privilege of dying late;¹¹² but no joys are left to you, Amphiaraus, for Thebes is nearby and the dark chasm. Pitiably, you know your destiny and my birds have already sung your fate." He finished speaking and with his tear-stained face, which is usually immune to sorrow,

¹¹¹i.e., the thread of his life had come to an end; he was going to die soon. Amphiaraus died in the war against Thebes, swallowed up in a hole in the earth. The three Fates were pictured as women producing thread, a typical occupation for women. One fate spun the thread, another measured it, and the last one cut it (=death).
¹¹²Because Admetus had treated Apollo well during the year that Apollo had spent taking care of his horses, the god helped Admetus avoid an early death by enabling him to find a substitute to die for him.

385

immediately with a brilliant jump through the air he comes to Nemea more quickly than his father's fire¹¹³ and his own arrows. Even after he was already for a long time on earth, his footsteps remain in the sky and yet still a clear path shines through the zephyrs. And now Prothous had shaken the lots in a bronze

¹¹³i.e., Jupiter's lightning bolt.

390

helmet, and now each one has his place and a starting order. The heroes and the yoked teams, equally great sources of honor to their homelands, and descended from the gods, stand restrained by the starting barrier and at the same time they experience hope and fear combined with boldness and confidence mixed with anxiety. No one emotion is fixed in their hearts: they want to go but they are afraid;

395

a shiver of courage runs together into their extremities. The horses have the same eagerness as their masters; their eyes coruscate with flame, they champ at the bit and the iron is corroded by foam and blood; the posts of the starting enclosure under pressure are hard pressed to resist the pressure of the horses, and the breathing of suppressed anger is transformed into steamy vapor.

400

So wretched a thing it is for the horses to stand still, a thousand steps perish before the race, as if they were already racing across the fields. Loyal friends stand around, and they disengage the tangles of the manes and they shore up their spirits and give much advice. On the opposite side the trumpet sounds and all

405

leapt forth from the starting gate. What sails fly on the sea in such a way, what spears fly in war in such a way, what clouds in heaven? Winter streams move less rapidly, also fire, the stars fall more slowly, rain storms gather more slowly, more slowly rivers run down from the top of the mountain.

410

The Greeks saw and recognized them as they shot forward and lose sight of them now as they are shrouded by the impenetrable dust, all together they are hidden in a cloud, and with the cloud of dust obscuring their faces they barely identify each other by the shouting of names. Some chariots begin to spread out from the densely massed group and separate from each other by a space proportionate to their speed.

415

On their second lap the wheels obliterate their previous ruts, now the horses, leaning forward eagerly touch the yoke, now they are bent over with straining knee and taut reins. Their shaggy necks swell with muscles, the breeze combs back the standing manes, the dry ground absorbs the white clouds of sweat and foam.

420

The deafening sound of feet and the thin sound of wheels can be heard. There is no rest for the hand, the air hisses with repeated blows of the whip; hail does not issue forth more densely from the cold North, nor does rain fall more densely from so many Olenian vessels.¹¹⁴ Perceptive Arion, after he felt the whip, had realized that there was a different

¹¹⁴This is a reference to the star Capella, identified by Roman poets with Aege, the daughter of Olenos.

425

charioteer in the chariot. Guiltless,¹¹⁵ he dreaded the harsh son of Oedipus; right from the starting line he is reluctant and more ferocious than usual, he resents his burden The Argives believe that he is motivated by desire for glory; but he is really trying to escape from the charioteer; in a frenzy he wildly threatens the charioteer,

¹¹⁵The innocent horse was frightened by the guilt of Polynices (the son of Oedipus), who was going to attack his own city in order to wrest the kingship from his brother.

430

and looks around for his real master¹¹⁶ over the whole field. Amphiaraus, a distant second, nevertheless is in front of all the rest, except for the Thessalian Admetus, who equals him in pace; next the twins, now Euneos is ahead and now Thoas is ahead, one passes and then the other, nor ever does

¹¹⁶i.e., Adrastus.

435

ambitious glory bring the pious brothers into conflict. Bringing up the rear were  Chromis and  Hippodamus, both impetuous, both not unskilled, but they are held back by the weight of their horn-footed horses; ahead, Hippodamus feels the presence of Chromis' horses close behind him and hears their grunts, and feels their copious hot breath on his shoulders.

440

The Phoebean augur¹¹⁷ had hoped by manipulation of the reins to be in first place taking the short way close around the turning post; and to be sure the Thessalian hero Admetus has good reason for optimism, while Arion, with his master not there to restrain him, moves erratically and wanders to the right.¹¹⁸

¹¹⁷i.e., Amphiaraus.
¹¹⁸The turn around the post was always to the left.

445

Now Oeclides¹¹⁹ is first and now Admetus was in second place, when the Neptunian horse,¹²⁰ finally led back from his loose turn presses them for the lead and passes them short-lived in their lead. The noise reaches the stars and the sky begins to tremble, and the agitated crowd rises to its feet

¹¹⁹i.e., Amphiaraus.
¹²⁰i.e., Arion.

450

but the descendant of Labdacus,¹²¹ pale, neither controls the reins nor dares to use the whip; just as a pilot of a ship having exhausted all the tricks of his trade, rushes into waves and into rocks nor then does he look for the stars anymore, and no longer employing skill, trusts his luck. Again headlong the competitors move off to the right wandering off the track and try to keep in a straight line.

¹²¹i.e., Polynices.

455

Again axles are dashed against axles, wheels, against spokes; there is no peace and trust. You would believe that wars, horrid wars, are waged with sword less intensely; such is their mad desire for glory. Alternately they are timid and threaten death, and many a hoof is made blunt as they traverse the fields.

460

Now neither goads nor blows are sufficient; Admetus urges on Pholoe and Iris and the trace-horse Thoe by shouting their names, and the Danaan augur¹²² reproaching Aschetos and Cycnus, who well deserves his name.¹²³ Strymon too hears the son of Hercules,¹²⁴ the fiery Aetion hears Euneos.

¹²²i.e., Amphiaraus.
¹²³Because Cycnus means "swan" and is a white horse.
¹²⁴i.e., Chromis.

465

Hippodamus rouses the slow Cydon, and Thoas asks the piebald Podarces to go faster. Echionides¹²⁵ with his chariot wandering off the straight and narrow, alone keeps a sad silence because he is afraid to reveal his problem by evident consternation in his voice.

¹²⁵i.e., Polynices.

470

Yet the real work for the horses was hardly begun and they now begin the fourth lap and now their limbs, covered with warm sweat, are exhausted and the inflamed thirst of the horses draws in and ejects a dense vapor, nor do they run at a constant rate of speed and long breaths make their flanks heave. Here Fortune, doubtful for a long time, arrives and

475

dares to be decisive. Thoas, as he eagerly threatens to pass Haemonian Admetus, falls from his chariot, nor did his brother offer any aid. Euneos indeed would wish to help, but Hippodamus, descendant of Mars, got in his way with his chariot. Soon Chromis, on the inside position next to the pole, calling upon all the strength and

480

power of his father Hercules, impedes Hippodamus, by interfering with his axle; Hippodamus' horses struggle in vain to escape and stretch the reins and their rigid necks, just as when the raging sea holds Sicilian rafts and a huge south wind drives them, the swelling sails stand still in the middle of the sea.

485

then Chromis topples Hippodamus from his broken chariot and Chromis would have gone ahead of him; but when the Thracian horses saw Hippodamus lying on the ground, that hunger for human flesh returned and now they would have shared him as he trembled with rage, unless the Tirynthian hero,¹²⁶ forgetful of victory,

¹²⁶i.e., Chromis.

490

had pulled back the reins and restrained his neighing horses and had withdrawn, beaten but praised. But for a long time Phoebus has been desiring honors promised to you, Amphiaraus. Finally having reckoned the time suitable for favor, Apollo comes into the rugged spaces of the dusty circus, when now the race is almost over and for the last time victory in doubt.

495

Apollo raises to the stars a snaky-haired image of a monster with a face most savage to look at, whether he brought it from Erebus¹²⁷ or cunningly fashioned it in on the spur of the moment, endowed with innumerable fear-producing aspects. The fearless doorman¹²⁸ of black Lethe would not be able to have looked at it nor the

¹²⁷i.e., the underworld.
¹²⁸Probably Cerberus, the three-headed dog, who guarded the entrance to the underworld.

500

Eumenides¹²⁹ themselves without deep horror, it would have disturbed the moving horses of the Sun and the team of Mars. For when golden Arion saw it, his mane stood straight up and he rears and suspends high in the air along with himself his comrade of the yoke and the horses on both sides, comrades of labor.

¹²⁹Eumenides ("the kindly ones") is a euphemistic name for the Furies, who themselves had a horrible appearance.

505

The Aonian exile¹³⁰ immediately tumbles backward to the ground and rolling head-over-heels divests himself of the reins: the chariot, free from restraint, hurries away but as they passed by Polynices lying on the loose earth, the Taenarian chariots and the Thessalian chariot and Lemnian hero¹³¹ as much as was possible, avoided him by moving off to the side.

¹³⁰i.e., Polynices.
¹³¹i.e., Amphiaraus, Admetus, and Thoas.

510

Finally at the fast approach of his comrades he¹³² raises up his head covered in a cloud of dust and lifts his exhausted body from the ground and returns in a condition not at all hoped for by his father-in-law Adrastus. What a good opportunity this would have been for you to die, Theban,¹³³ had not Tisiphone¹³⁴ been kind, how great a war you would have been able to avoid!¹³⁵

¹³²i.e., Polynices.
¹³³i.e., Polynices.
¹³⁴One of the Furies.
¹³⁵If you were dead.

515

Thebe¹³⁶ would have mourned for you and so would your brother, but only on the surface;¹³⁷ Argos, Nemea all would have lamented for you, for you Lerna and the suppliant Larisa would have cut their hair;¹³⁸ you would have been honored with a tomb greater than that of Archemorus. Then indeed the son of Oecleus,¹³⁹ although he was assured of first prize despite his second place position,¹⁴⁰

¹³⁶A nymph after whom Thebes was named.
¹³⁷Because Polynices was trying to take away the kingship from his brother.
¹³⁸Argos, Nemea, Lerna and Larisa are all place names. Cutting the hair is a sign of mourning.
¹³⁹i.e., Amphiaraus.
¹⁴⁰Arion without his charioteer was still in the lead, but, of course, was disqualified for having lost his charioteer.

520

is still eager to pass even an empty chariot. The god rekindles his strength and give him more in addition; Amphiaraus flies swifter than the East wind, just as if he were just released from the opened starting barriers onto the track, and he assails his horses' manes with blows and backs with the reins, crying out the name of nimble Aschetos and snowy-white Cycnus.

525

Now, at least while no one is ahead, the fiery chariot wheels forward at breakneck speed and the loose sand is thrown far and wide. The earth gives a moan and already then savagely threatens revenge.¹⁴¹  Perhaps Cycnus would have gone ahead and passed Arion but the sea-father Neptune did not allow him to be beaten: as a result, in a fair exchange

¹⁴¹The Earth as a goddess is imagined as having human feelings.

530

the horse got the glory of finishing first but the prophet was granted victory. Two young men brought a Herculean mixing bowl for Amphiaraus as the reward of victory: once upon a time the Tirynthian¹⁴² was accustomed to carry it in one hand alone and to pour a foaming drink from it, whether he had defeated a monster or was a victor in war.

¹⁴²i.e., Hercules.

535

On the mixing bowl are skillfully depicted ferocious Centaurs and frightening images in gold: here amidst the confused slaughter of Lapiths, boulders, torches and again and again other¹⁴³ mixing bowls are thrown as missiles; everywhere are the huge wraths of dying men; Hercules himself holds the raging centaur Hylaeus by his curly beard and wields his club.

¹⁴³i.e., not the one on which these pictures are depicted.

540

But for you, Admetus, in return for your merits, is brought a cloak edged with a Maeonian border and dyed a deep purple: on the cloak is pictured a Greek youth named Leander, who scoffed at the dangers of the Hellespont, swims and dark blue he shines through the painted wave; he seems to move his hands sideways with alternate movement of the arms

545

and you would believe that the cloth-figure's hair was wet. On the opposite shore, however, in a very high tower sits the Sestian girl,¹⁴⁴ anxiously looking for him in vain.¹⁴⁵ Nearby the fire,¹⁴⁶ conscious of her plight, is dying. Adrastus commands that these rich rewards go as a gift for the first and second place finishers; he consoles his son-in-law¹⁴⁷ with an Achaean handmaiden.

¹⁴⁴i.e., Hero (a girl's name).
¹⁴⁵ccording to the legend, Leander drowned before he reached the opposite shore.
¹⁴⁶which Hero had lit as a guide to Leander.
¹⁴⁷i.e., Polynices.

550

Then he summons the swiftest men to ample prizes in the foot race: it is a pursuit requiring agility and very little courage, a work of peace, when sacred rites¹⁴⁸ summon, nor is it useless in warfare, if one's courage should fail. Idas, recently having his temples shaded with Olympian branches,¹⁴⁹

¹⁴⁸i.e. religious ceremonies like the Olympic games and other athletic festivals. In historical Greece, athletic contests were almost always a part of a religious festivals.
¹⁴⁹i.e., the Olympic olive crown, which were awarded to victors at Olympia. The four main athletic festivals of the Greeks (Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian and Nemean) gave only crowns as prizes to victors.

555

is the first to leap forward; the youth of Pisa and the Elean crowd¹⁵⁰ receive him with applause. Alcon of Sicyon follows and Phaedimus, twice acclaimed victor in the Isthmian sand¹⁵¹ and Dymas, earlier in his life had outstripped the flight of wing-footed horses but now slowed down by age, he was too slow for such a feat.

¹⁵⁰Both Pisa and Elis were adjacent to the site of Olympia.
¹⁵¹i.e., in the Isthmian games.

560

and many runners, whom the fickle crowd ignores in silence, approach from here and there. but the fickle murmurs of the crowded circus summon by name the Arcadian Parthenopaeus. His mother is known for running; who would not know about the outstanding brilliance of Atalanta¹⁵² daughter of Maenalus, and her footsteps that cannot be overtaken by any suitor?

¹⁵²Atalanta, a great runner who was determined to remain a virgin, challenged her suitors to a foot race. Marriage was the prize for the victorious suitor but death awaited all the losers. Eventually a suitor won through trickery and she was forced to marry.

565

the fame of his mother is a burden to the son and he himself, already widely famed, is said to catch peaceful hinds on foot amidst the open spaces of Mt. Lycaeus and to overtake a thrown spear by running. Long-awaited he finally flashes forth above the throng with a flying leap and

570

undoes the golden clasp of his cloak. His limbs shone forth, and the excellent condition of his members is evident, his  shoulders are outstanding, nor is his breast worse than his smooth cheeks, and his face was overshadowed in beauty by his body. He himself nevertheless spurns praise of his beauty and wards off

575

admirers; then, not ignorant of Pallas' liquid¹⁵³ he reclines and darkens his skin with a rich olive oil. In this way Idas, Dymas, and others shine with oil. Just as when the stars shine on the silent sea and the reflection of the starry sky shimmers on the water,

¹⁵³i.e., olive oil, the chief product of Athens, the city dedicated to Pallas Athene. Greek athletes oiled their bodies before competition.

580

all stars shine brightly but Hesperus brighter than any star gives forth its rays, equally bright on the blue waters as in the high air. Idas is next in beauty and not much slower in running and a little older; but for him already

585

the oil of the palaestra¹⁵⁴ brought on a thin growth of beard and the soft down of adolescence crept down his cheeks and did not reveal its presence under the cloud of unshorn hair. Then they carefully check out and speed up their quick steps and with various exercises they ply their idle limbs with purposeful exertions;

¹⁵⁴An area for wrestling and other track and field sports.

590

now they do deep-knee bends, now they strike their oiled breasts with strong slaps, now they raise their fiery legs and running in short spurts, make sudden stops. As soon as the bar fell and produced a fair start, they run swiftly, and the naked group of runners shone brightly on the field;

595

recently the speeding horses seem to have gone more slowly on the same fields; you would believe that just as many arrows had jumped forth from Cydonian youth¹⁵⁵ and from fleeing Parthians.¹⁵⁶ Just as quick deer run through the Hyrcanian byways when from afar they heard the roar of a hungry lion

¹⁵⁵Cydon was on the north coast of Crete, which was famous for its archers.
¹⁵⁶One trick of the Parthian (Parthia = modern Iran) army was to pretend to flee and then turn around in the saddle to shoot their arrows at the pursuing army.

600

or think they did, blind panic seizes the astonished deer and fear gathers them together, and their horns knocking together give out noise for a long time. Maenalian Parthenopaeus, quicker than the rapid air, outruns the ability of the eye to see,¹⁵⁷ on whose heels grim Idas then follows hard and breathes on his shoulder, and

¹⁵⁷Hyperbole (exaggeration).

605

presses hard upon Parthenopaeus' back with his breath and the shadow of his chest. After them at close quarters run Phaedimus and Dymas, quick Alcon is just behind them. Blond hair was hanging from the unshorn head of the Arcadian Parthenopaeus; from his first years he let his hair grow as a gift for Trivia¹⁵⁸ and had boldly vowed it in vain to his homeland's altars,¹⁵⁹

¹⁵⁸i.e., Diana.
¹⁵⁹It was a custom of young Greek men to cut their hair and give it as an offering to their local gods. Parthenopaeus' promise was in vain because he was killed at Thebes.

610

when he should return as a victor from the war with Thebes. Then his hair, free from its binding and whipping loose behind him, in the face of the west wind flies backward and at the same time impedes him and flying spreads out in the face of his rival Idas. Parthenopaeus' hair gave Idas an idea and he sensed that

615

it was the right time for trickery and deceit; now near the goal, while Parthenopaeus is about to cross the finish line as victor, Idas seizes his hair and pulls him back and, and is the first to go through the entrance of the goal. The Arcadians call for arms, they call out to defend their prince with arms, unless the stolen glory and deserved honors are restored,

620

they rush forward and prepare to descend on the whole circus; there are also those to whom the trick of Idas is pleasing. Parthenopaeus himself collapses on the dug-up ground and covers his face and his wet eyes; the grace of tears was added to his beauty. Grieving, he scratches with bloody fingernails now his breast, now his face¹⁶⁰ unworthy of this treatment

¹⁶⁰These are gestures of sorrow.

625

and his deserving hair;¹⁶¹ on all sides dissonant noise rages, and the advice of the old man Adrastus hesitates because of doubt. Finally he says: "Stop the dispute, boys! Your manhood must be tested again; but don't run on one track, this side belongs to Idas,

¹⁶¹Because it was the source of his problem.

630

you keep to a different path; let every trick be absent from this race. They listened and abide by his word. Soon the Tegaean Parthenopaeus as a suppliant makes a quiet prayer: "Powerful goddess of the forests¹⁶² (for to you this hair is owed as an honor, and this injustice was the result of my vow to you),¹⁶³

¹⁶²i.e., Diana.
¹⁶³He had let his hair grow long so that he could cut it for Diana but its length made it easy for Idas to grab.

635

if my mother has deserved well of you, if I myself have deserved well of you because of my hunting,¹⁶⁴ do not, I beseech, allow me to go to Thebes with this omen¹⁶⁵ nor to have deserved so much shame in Arcadia."  There is clear evidence that his prayer was heard: scarcely did the field feel him as he ran, and there was continually a small space between the soles of his feet and the ground.

¹⁶⁴His mother Atalanta was devoted to virginity and Diana is the goddess of chastity. Diana is also the goddess of the hunt.
¹⁶⁵In his mind a loss might foreshadow disaster for him in the war against Thebes.

640

Widely-spaced footsteps are suspended over the unbroken dust. With a shout he reaches the finish line and again a with shout he runs before king Adrastus and grabbing the palm of victory he cherishes the achievement of his desire. The race is over, and at hand are the prizes, visible tokens of deeds. The Arcadian leads away a horse as a gift, the brazen Idas carries off a shield;

645

the rest of the youth goes content with Lycian quivers. Then Adrastus summons those energetic men who want to compete by displaying their proud strength in the discus-throw. Pterelas, having been summoned comes and, bent over with the weight, is scarcely able

650

to lower the heavy and slippery bronze discus nearby; quietly the Argives look at it and estimate the effort involved in throwing it.  Soon a crowd of competitors rushes forward: two Achaeans, three Corinthians, one born in Pisa, the seventh, an Acarnanian; and a desire for glory would have stirred more to enter the competition, had not tall Hippomedon, with the spectators urging him on, come

655

into their midst and carrying under his right arm another discus, said: "Young men, you who have come on this expedition to break walls with rocks and to pull down the Tyrian citadel,¹⁶⁶ see if you can pick up this discus: anybody can throw that other discus" and he took hold of it and threw it off to the side with no exertion of strength.

¹⁶⁶These are foreshadowings of the future war against Thebes.

660

Astonished, most withdraw and admit defeat; only the peerless Phlegyas and fierce Menestheus were willing to compete (they were motivated by a sense of shame and their great ancestors). All the other youths yielded willingly and shaking their heads at the size of the discus, left ingloriously.

665

Just in this way a shield of Mars in Bistonian fields strikes Pangaion with its malevolent light and in its brightness terrifies the sun and struck by the god's spear, reverberates loudly. Pisaean Phlegyas is the first competitor and at the same time causes the eyes of all to be focused on himself: just one look at his body indicated his excellence as an athlete.

670

And as soon as he roughens the discus and his hand with earth,¹⁶⁷ then shaking off the dust he, proficient in the technique of the sport, keeps turning the discus to see which side suits his fingers, which more comfortably fits in the crook of his arm. This sport was always his favorite, not only when he attended his own country's athletic festival,¹⁶⁸

¹⁶⁷Like a baseball pitcher using resin.
¹⁶⁸i.e., the Olympic Games.

675

but he was accustomed to measure both sides of the Alpheus¹⁶⁹ from both banks and where they are most widely distant, to throw across the river with the discus never sinking into the water. Therefore immediately he, confident of his ability, measures not the rough acres of the fields, but he gauges the sky with his right hand and,

¹⁶⁹A river located at the site of the Olympic Games.

680

with both knees bent toward the ground and with his strength gathered, he himself wheels the discus above himself and makes it disappear into the clouds. The discus quickly reaches a great height and, similar to a falling object, slows down and finally rather slowly returns to earth from the sky and sinks into the field.

685

In such a way the dark sister of the Sun¹⁷⁰ falls, whenever she is plucked from the astonished stars, from afar people make noise with bronze implements as a antidote and they fear in vain, but the victorious Thessalian witch laughs at the puffing team of horses compelled by her incantation.¹⁷¹ The Danaans praise his effort - but you look grim,

¹⁷⁰i.e., the moon.
¹⁷¹Statius is talking about an eclipse of the moon, often the cause of superstitious fear. It was popularly believed that Thessalian witches caused eclipses of the moon and that noise-making could bring the moon back. "The puffing team" consists of horses pulling the chariot of the Moon.

690

Hippomedon, - and Phlegyas hopes for a better throw across the level plain.¹⁷² And immediately to him comes bad Fortune, to whom it is sweet to destroy extravagant hopes. Why does man contend against the gods? Now he was getting ready to throw the discus for an immense distance, now he turned his neck back, now his whole side was coming around;

¹⁷²The first attempt was a practice throw up into the air, rather than level with the plain.

695

the heavy discus slipped out of his hand, falling before his feet and frustrated his effort and sent his empty hand swinging forward in vain. All moaned, but a few were pleased. As a result Menestheus with cautious calculation approached the trial and, praying much to you, Mercury,¹⁷³ the son of Maia,

¹⁷³Mercury (= Greek Hermes) was a patron of athletes.

700

with dust eliminates the slipperiness of that very massive discus. The discus flies forward with great force much more happily, nor did it come to rest having traversed only a small part of the circus. The throw is greeted with applause and the earth is marked with a arrow. Third, Hippomedon

705

directs his slow steps to the contest of strength; for what happened to Phlegyas and the better fortune of Menestheus causes him to give the matter careful thought.  He raises the accustomed burden of the right hand, and lifting it high he tests his rigid side and strong muscles and twists himself with a vast circular motion, and

710

follows through. The discus flies forward with an awesome leap through the empty air and now from afar remembers the right hand¹⁷⁴ and keeps its course, nor did it go beyond the beaten Menestheus by a doubtful or even a merely close distance; it came to rest far beyond the rival marker and it made the green shoulders and shady summit of the viewing area

¹⁷⁴i.e., the spin which the right hand had put on it.

715

tremble just as if there were a massive collapse of the region. Just like the rock that blind Polyphemus threw from vaporous Aetna but, employing his sense of hearing was still able to come close to hitting his enemy, Ulysses.¹⁷⁵  Thus also the sons of Aloeus, Otus and Ephialtes,¹⁷⁶ when rigid Ossa was treading

¹⁷⁵The Cyclops Polyphemus had been blinded by Ulysses. Aetna is a still active volcano in Sicily.
¹⁷⁶The giants who tried to assault the Olympian gods in their sky-home by piling up three mountains (Ossa, Olympus and Pelion), one on top of another.

720

on top of Olympus, were carrying glacial Pelion itself and were hoping to join it to the trembling sky. Then Adrastus, the son of Talaus, bids a tiger skin to go as a prize to the victor. The skin gleamed with a yellow border and its claws had tips of gold.

725

Menestheus gets a Cnossian bow and roaming arrows. "but to you, Phlegyas," he said, "frustrated by an unlucky chance, we give this sword as a prize, once upon a time our glory and the help of Pelasgus,¹⁷⁷ neither will Hippomedon be envious. Now there is need for courage: raise up the hostile boxing gloves

¹⁷⁷An early king of Argos.

730

in close combat; boxing is the best preparation for warfare and swordplay. The Argive Capaneus stood up, immense in appearance and producing immense fear, and while he puts on the rough cow-hide black with lead¹⁷⁸ and he, with muscles just as hard, said "let one of so many thousands of young men come forward

¹⁷⁸Statius is describing the caestus, a glove with lead or iron weights, used by boxers in Roman times.

735

and let my rival come from Theban stock, whom it is right to kill¹⁷⁹ and let not my courage be stained by a fellow-citizen's blood." Their minds were stupefied, and terror produced silence.

¹⁷⁹since the Thebans will soon will be their opponents in battle.

740

Finally Alcidamas unexpectedly springs forward from the naked crowd of Spartans: the troops of the Doric¹⁸⁰ princes marvel at him, but his comrades knew that he was relying on Pollux as a teacher and had grown up among holy¹⁸¹ palaestras. The god himself¹⁸² positioned his hands and trained him in the use of his arms (the god was motivated by love for the art of boxing); then he placed the young man

¹⁸⁰The Spartans were Dorians, one of the three divisions of the Greek race.
¹⁸¹Because they were dedicated to various gods.
¹⁸²Pollux, a famous boxer, became a god after his death.

745

in close combat with himself and marveling at him as he stood in an attitude of anger similar to his own, in exultation he raised him up and pressed him naked to his breast. Capaneus was angry at Alcidamas and with mock pity laughs at him for challenging him, and demands another rival; and finally he was forced to stop¹⁸³ and now his languid neck began to swell with goads of anger.

¹⁸³because no one else accepted the challenge.

750

On their toes they lifted up their hands; their faces are far apart in the safe recess of their shoulders on the look-out for blows, and access to their faces is closed to wounds. The height that Tityus would exhibit rising from Stygian fields, if the savage birds would allow,¹⁸⁴ this wild man¹⁸⁵ reveals just as much size from every point of view

¹⁸⁴Tityus was a giant, whose punishment in the underworld was to have vultures eat his liver as he lay stretched out on the ground.
¹⁸⁵i.e., Capaneus.

755

and stands out with enormous bones. His rival Alcidamas was recently a mere boy, but his strength is more mature than his age, and his youthful impulse to violence promises a mighty maturity. No one at all would want him to lose or to be sprinkled with cruel blood, and everybody would fear the spectacle, praying anxiously that he would win.

760

When they measured each other with their eyes and both hoped to attack first, not immediately were there angry blows: there was a little fear on each side and prudence mixed with rage; they lower their opposing arms only when they throw punches and put their gloves to the test and wear them down by rubbing.¹⁸⁶

¹⁸⁶Against their opponent's gloves.

765

The more experienced boxer¹⁸⁷ postpones emotion and prudently saves his strength by delaying but his rival, wasteful of effort in his attempt to harm his opponent and without a thought of protecting himself, goes all out and uses both hands without restraint and rising up from a crouch position gnashes his teeth in vain and does himself no good. But careful with cunning and

¹⁸⁷i.e., Alcidamas.

770

watchful in the manner of his countrymen, the Spartan parries some blows and ducks under others; sometimes untouched because of an accommodating nod of his quick head, now dispelling the opposing blows with his hand, he presses on with his step but leans back with his head:

775

such is the vigor of his intelligence, so great is the experience of his right hand that he, bold in spirit, united in a contest with an enemy superior in strength, often purposefully comes close and covers his opponent with his shadow and makes a sudden attack him from above. Just as water in a mass leaps headlong into jutting rocks and returns churned up, thus Alcidamas like a besieging army circles his raging opponent; look! He holds up his hand and for a long time makes feints

780

against his side and against his eyes; he distracts Capaneus who is on the look-out for Alcidamas' rock-hard weapons and cleverly inserts a sudden blow with his hands and marks the middle of the forehead with a wound. Now there is blood and his temples are marked with a lukewarm stream of blood. Capaneus still does not realize that he is bleeding and wonders at a sudden murmur from the crowd;

785

but when by chance he drew back his tired hand over his face and saw stains on the surface of the cow-hide, neither a lion nor a tiger wounded with a spear was as angry as he; seething with rage Capaneus drives Alcidamas retreating over the whole field and drives him backwards and almost puts him on his back, making a horrible noise with his teeth,

790

and throws multiple roundhouse punches. Some are complete misses, others land on the gloves; the Spartan with crisp movement and the help of his feet avoids a thousand deaths¹⁸⁸ that zip around his temples, but nevertheless, employing his boxing skills,

¹⁸⁸i.e. punches that could cause death.

795

while facing his opponent he backpedals and though backpedaling still blocks his opponent's blows. And now the great effort and labored breathing tires both boxers: Capaneus presses more slowly, nor now is Alcidamas quick to move out of the way; both were weak in the knees and at the same time took a rest, just as when the boundless sea tires out wandering sailors

800

and when a sign is given from the deck, they stretch out their arms a little. But the rest period has hardly begun when someone calls for the oars. Look! Again Alcidamas eludes Capaneus as he attacks recklessly and Alcidamas purposely with rapid movement and lowered shoulders gets out of the way; Capaneus is thrown on his head and as he rises up again the relentless boy strikes him with another blow

805

and himself paled with the favorable outcome.¹⁸⁹  The Argives raise a shout, louder than the shores and the forests have ever heard. When Adrastus saw him¹⁹⁰ struggling to rise from the ground and raising his hands and preparing to accomplish appalling revenge, he said: "Go, I beg, companions, he is mad, go, prevent him from fighting,

¹⁸⁹He was probably afraid of the rage that this second blow would inspire in Capaneus.
¹⁹⁰i.e., Capaneus.

810

hurry, he is mad, and bring the palm and the prizes! I know that he will not stop until he cracks Alcidamas' skull: take away the Spartan, who will be killed."¹⁹¹ Right away Tydeus approaches, nor does Hippomedon disobey Adrastus' orders. Then both are scarcely able to restrain Capaneus' hands

¹⁹¹If Capaneus is allowed to fight in his frenzied state of mind.

815

and they give very much advice: "You win, go away; it is a beautiful thing to grant life to a smaller man. This man is one of ours and a comrade of war." Not at all is the hero deterred, and he rejects the palm-branch and the breastplate, shouting: "Get out of my way! am I not to befoul

820

these cheeks of that fairy with thick dust and gore, because of which that creep has attracted the attention gand am I not to send his ugly body to the grave and am I not to grant his Spartan teacher the privilege of mourning?" This is what he says; but his comrades turn him away swelling with anger and denying that he has won, on the other hand the Spartans praise the foster- son

825

of famous Taygetus¹⁹² and from afar laugh at the threats of Capaneus. For a long time now various praiseworthy deeds¹⁹³ and knowledge of his own excellence torment high-spirited Tydeus with urgent incentives. He is indeed good at the discus and at foot racing, not inferior at boxing, but in his heart

¹⁹²i.e., Alcidamas. Taygetus is a mountain between Laconia and Messenia.
¹⁹³Accomplished by other athletes in the previous contests.

830

he preferred oiled wrestling over all other sports. He was accustomed to spend lulls in warfare in that activity and to relax his military anger against huge men around Acheloian¹⁹⁴ shores, benefiting from lessons in wrestling taught by a god. Therefore when the spirited glory of wrestling summoned young men,

¹⁹⁴Adjectival form of Achelous, a river between Arcanania and Aetolia.

835

the Aetolian¹⁹⁵ took off from his shoulders the terrible covering of the ancestral boar-skin.¹⁹⁶ Agylleus, the boaster of Cleonean¹⁹⁷ origin lifts his limbs high in opposition, nor is he less than Herculean size, thus the rogue rising with his great shoulders on high exceeds the height of a normal human being.

¹⁹⁵i.e., Tydeus.
¹⁹⁶The skin of the boar that was killed in the famous Calydonian hunting expedition ordered by his father Oeneus.
¹⁹⁷Adjectival form of Cleonae, a city near Nemea, where Hercules killed the Nemean lion.

840

But he did not inherit his father's bodily hardness and strength: his limbs are out of shape and, sprawling with slack strength, are unstable. This is why the son of Oeneus¹⁹⁸ was so boldly confident that he could defeat his fellow warrior. Although he himself seemed small, nevertheless his bones were heavy and his muscles formidable with sinews.

¹⁹⁸i.e., Tydeus.

845

Never has nature dared to enclose such spirit and great strength in a smaller body. After their skin rejoiced in the oil, both run to the middle of the plain and dust themselves with scooped up sand. Then they dry their bodies dripping with oil with an alternate application of dust,

850

they lower their necks into their shoulders and hold arms stretching outwards widely. Then Tydeus with his back sloped downward and with his knees near to the sand cleverly draws tall Agylleus down and bends him forward to his level. That one, however, just as the cypress,

855

the queen of the Alpine summit, inclines its branches to the buffeting southwest winds, and scarcely holding onto the ground with its roots, approaches the earth, for a long time waiting to return to its original position under the airy breezes: not otherwise does tall Agylleus voluntarily hunch his huge limbs and grunting is doubled over against a small opponent,

860

alternate hands strike the forehead and shoulders and side and neck and breast and legs trying to avoid the blows. and occasionally supported for a long time by their each other's arms they hang on each other, now they savagely break the clasp of their fingers. Not in this way¹⁹⁹ do the twin bulls, the leaders of the herd

¹⁹⁹i.e., less savagely.

865

engage in horrible wars; in the middle of the meadow stands the white future wife²⁰⁰ waiting for a winner, while raging the bulls tear asunder each other's unyielding chests, love supplies the motivation and heals the wounds: thus boars fight with their destructive tusks, thus ugly bears with their shaggy embraces enter bristly battles.

²⁰⁰i.e. a cow.

870

The son of Oeneus has the same kind of force; nor do his tired limbs waver because of the dust or the sun, his tight skin is rigid and tightly drawn by the hard muscles created by labors. On the other side Agylleus' breathing is labored and, weakened by improper breathing, he gets rid of the caked sand in a flood of sweat

875

and secretly supports himself by grabbing the ground. Tydeus driving presses on and, feinting against his neck, goes under his legs; but his hands frustrated by their smallness were not able to accomplish what he had begun, Agylleus at his full height coming from above him

880

fell on top of Tydeus, burying him with his huge weight. Not at all otherwise a miner in the hills of the Hiberus,²⁰¹ when he has entered a mine and left light and life far away, if the suspended field has trembled and the burst open earth has given a sudden noise, he lies hidden inside, overwhelmed by the loosened mountain, and inside his broken and crushed corpse did not give back its

²⁰¹A river in Spain.

885

angry soul to the stars.²⁰² Tydeus is fiercer than this man, and is superior in spirit and courage. Immediately, when he, having escaped from his opponent's hold and unequal burden, surrounds his wavering opponent and suddenly clings to his back, soon he quickly entangles his side and flanks in a firm embrace,

²⁰²Probably a reference to the Stoic belief that the soul originated in the divine fire which surrounded the universe and after death returned to its source.

890

then pressing Agylleus' knees between his thighs, relentlessly raised him, a weight marvelous and horrible to see, as he attempted to escape the hold in vain and to position his right hand on his side. Thus there is story that earth-born Libyan²⁰³ grasped by Herculean muscles had sweated, when, Hercules having discovered the trick,

²⁰³i.e., Antaeus, who could not be defeated in wrestling as long as his feet remained in contact with his mother, Earth. When Hercules realized this, he easily defeated him by lifting him off the ground.

895

lifted him up in the air, nor now was there any hope of falling nor is it possible to touch his mother with the soles of his feet There is a shout and the spectators raise applaud joyfully. Then balancing him in the air he purposefully threw him suddenly back and sent him sideways, and having followed him lying on the ground, at the same time he

900

wrapped his right hand around his neck, and his feet around his groin. Choked he begins to faint and fights back only out of shame. Finally he is prostrate with his chest and belly on the ground, and after a long time he sadly rises, leaving shameful marks pressed in the earth.

905

Tydeus, carrying the palm in his right hand and shining arms as a gift in his left, said: " what if the Dircaean²⁰⁴ field had no small part of my blood (as you know), where these wounds represented an attempt at a treaty with Thebes?²⁰⁵ After displaying both of these desired rewards of glory

²⁰⁴i.e., Theban.
²⁰⁵Tydeus had gone to Thebes to negotiate a compromise but failed. He also competed in athletic contests there. He was so successful that out of the jealousy fifty Thebans ambushed him on his way back to his army. Tydeus killed all the ambushers but one. He means here: "Agylleus is lucky that I'm in a weakened condition from the ambush. Otherwise it would have been no contest.

910

he gives them to his comrades, a neglected breastplate goes to Agylleus. There are also those who approach to compete with the naked sword: and now were present, outfitted in arms, the Epidaurian Agreus and the Dircaean exile²⁰⁶ not yet undone by the fates. The leader, descendant of Iasius²⁰⁷ forbids. "Many deaths await us,

²⁰⁶i.e., Polynices.
²⁰⁷i.e., Adrastus.

915

young men! Save your courage and your eager madness for your enemy's blood. and you, on account of whom we have forsaken our ancestral land and beloved cities,²⁰⁸ do not, I beg, allow so great an act of justice to chance and (may the gods prevent this) to your brother's prayers²⁰⁹ before the war."

²⁰⁸The Argives left their homes and cities to help Polynices overthrow his brother.
²⁰⁹Polynices' brother, Eteocles, was no doubt praying that something would happen to prevent Polynices from attacking Thebes.

920

Thus he spoke and enriches both with a gold-plated helmet. then he orders his son-in-law, lest he be lacking in glory, to bind his high temples with a garland and be proclaimed as a victor over Thebes with a loud voice: the harsh fates held back the omens.²¹⁰ The nobles urge Adrastus to deem the festive contests

²¹⁰i.e., refused to confirm Polynices' victory with good omens.

925

worthy of his own labor and to add this last honor to the tomb [of Archemorus] and lest one victory be lacking to the number of leaders, they ask him either to shoot Cretan arrows from his bow, or that he pierce the clouds with a thin spear. Rejoicing he obeys and he descends from the green mound onto the level field

930

accompanied by greatest of the young men; but the arms-carrier having been ordered walks behind him carrying a light quiver and a bow: he resolves to make a long shot across the huge circus and to give a wound to a prescribed ash tree. Who would deny that omens flow from hidden causes?

935

The fates lie open for man, but he is loathe to pay attention to them, and indications of future events are wasted: thus we make omens chance, and Fortune exhausts her strength in doing harm. The fateful arrow having quickly measured the field hits the tree and returned through the breezes through which it had flown,

940

a sight horrible to see, and completing its return course, swiftly arrives near the mouth of the well-known quiver. The leaders spread many erroneous reports: some say that the clouds and high south winds had blown it back, others, that the arrow bounced back from its contact with the tree. Within this omen a huge catastrophe and evident evil lies hidden:

945

for the leader alone the arrow promised a war from which there is a return, but a return that is sad.²¹¹

²¹¹i.e., only Adrastus will return from the war. 

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