Aeneid II.402–452: Vergil

Abstract

Aeneid II.402–452Vergil Translated by Nick Moschovakis (bio) No one has human rights when gods decide we don’t There was Cassandra for example—Priam’s daughterThey dragged her from Athena’s temple sanctuaryI remember her hair flying—her shining eyessearching for something higher up that wasn’t—justher eyes and not her princess hands—I saw those tiedwith rope Too much for her fiancé and my friendCoroebus to take I guess He lost his headwent straight into the crowd of Greeks to die fighting We ran after him and the cutting closed us in First there was friendly fire from Trojans on the roofwho thought our undercover gear—Greek swords—Greek helmetsmeant we were Greeks So plenty of us Greeks got killed But the real Greeks were hammered and on top of thatsaw us win back Cassandra—then they lost it Theirwhole force—manic Ajax—the Atreides brothers—the Thessaly contingent—crushed us on all sideslike winds all mashed together in a hurricanewith Zephyrus and Notus—and Eurus ridingat daybreak—tree-trunks milling loud—Nereus wave-breakertrident-shaker letting loose churning the depths [End Page 41] And then the ones we frightened off the night beforethrough the whole city started to regroup They werethe first to put it all together—how we woreGreek shields and used Greek weapons but we talked all wrong A lot of them came at us then Coroebus got itfirst—mowed down by Peneleus at the altarof Athena the war-god Rhipeus fell toowho did the right thing more than any other Trojanand cared the most for justice—though as it turned outthe gods themselves could care less Hypanis and Dymaswere shot dead by their own side Panthus, when you fellthe ribbons in your hair that showed you were Apollo’spriest couldn’t save you Neither could your decencyBut I swear on the ashes and the fire itselfthat ended Trojan history—I didn’t runfrom Greek weapons—from fights with Greeks And if it weremy turn to die my hand would have done something worthdying for As things were—we got split up I waswith Iphitus and Pelias—and it was heavygoing with Iphitus—he was an older manAnd Pelias was slowed down by a wound Ulyssesgave him [End Page 42] Still—we all heard the sounds from Priam’s house The fighting there made all the other fighting looklike nothing—as if no one anywhere in Troywas dying except here—just here Mars was that farout of hand there We saw the Greeks gaining the rooftopfast—swarming the main gate with their shields overtheir heads—ladders against our walls—they climbed up rungby rung—up one that leaned right up against the gate—shielded from weapons on their left and grabbing onto the roof on their right Trojans fought back with piecesof the housetop—bastions, all of it—they pulled it downwhen the end came in sight to use in their defensewhile they all died Their ancestors had laid gold leaftastefully on the same high housebeams that were beinglogrolled down Other Trojans circled the doorshuddled together—swords out Then we had to savethe king’s house—to give comfort to those men—to bringrelief—to add our strength to them in their defeat [End Page 43] Nick Moschovakis nick moschovakis has taught literature in the United States and France and works regularly as an editor, writer, and professional writing instructor. His scholarly essays have appeared in journals including Shakespeare Quarterly and Milton Quarterly, and in edited volumes, most recently Shakespeare and Virtue: A Handbook (forthcoming from Cambridge). He is co-editor, with Sean Keilen, of The Routledge Research Companion to Shakespeare and Classical Literature and the entry “Classics and Shakespeare” (Oxford Bibliographies). The previous issue of Arion contained selections from his translation of The Glorious Stone, by the contemporary Greek writer Stamatis Polenakis. Copyright © 2022 Trustees of Boston University