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.
[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.
