[Titan]

What a very odd and interesting topic.

L 250: Final Project
Book XII: 783-799

[roboris Aeneas]. dum nititur acer et instat,
rursus in aurigae faciem mutata Metisci
procurrit fratrique ensem dea Daunia reddit.***** **785
quod Venus audaci nymphae indignata licere
accessit telumque alta ab radice revellit.
olli sublimes armis animisque refecti,
hic gladio fidens, hic acer et arduus hasta,
adsistunt contra certamina Martis anheli.***** 790*********
Iunonem interea rex omnipotentis Olympi
adloquitur fulva pugnas de nube tuentem:
'quae iam finis erit, coniunx? quid denique restat?
indigetem Aenean scis ipsa et scire fateris
deberi caelo fatisque ad sidera tolli.************** 795
quid struis? aut qua spe gelidis in nubibus haeres?
mortalin decuit violari vulnere divum?
aut ensem (quid enim sine te Iuturna valeret?)
ereptum reddi Turno et vim crescere victis?

While he was pursuing and straining, vigilant, the goddess of Daunus, having turned back into Metiscus the charioteer, ran ahead and returned the sword to her brother. Venus, having been indignant that the nymph was permitted to be bold, pulled out the weapon from the deep root. These exalted, with their arms and spirits restored, this one trusting in a sword, this one fierce and tall with a spear, the panting ones stand nearby face to face in the rivalries of war. Meanwhile, the king of omnipotent Olympus addresses Juno, watching the fights from a golden cloud. “What will now be the end, wife? What at last is left? You yourself know, and will admit to know native Aeneas ought to be raised to the stars by heaven and fate. What are you contriving? Or with what hope do you cling to the chilly cloud? Was it proper that a god be violated by a mortal wound? Or for the sword (for truly what could Juturna have been capable of without you?) having been seized, to be returned to Turnus and power to be bestowed upon he having been conquered?”

Perpetuated Pique

As the vigiligant, straining Aeneas pursued,
The goddess of Daunus, assuming the form of Metiscus, changed into the charioteer.
She ran forth and put the sword back into the hands of her brother.
Venus then went forth and pulled Aeneas’s spear from the clutches of the tree,
For she was enraged at the nymph’s audacity.
The exalted ones, panting with arms and airs restored,
This one with a trusty sword,
This one with a tall spear,
Stood by face to face, fighting as rivals in war.
The king of omnipotent Olympus,
Meanwhile, addressed Juno, watching the fight from a golden cloud.
“When will you stop?
What will be left?
Indeed wife, you know, and will admit that you know,
That it is right for Aeneas to ascend to the stars by the heavens and fate.
What are you scheming?
What hope is left clinging in your cold heart?
Was it right to use a mortal wound to harm a god?
Was it right to return power and the sword to the conquered Turnus?
For truly, what could Juturna have done without your interferring?

For this poem, I used an inbetween measure of being liberal with the slow pace of some lines, due to spondees outweighing dactyls slightly overall (45 to 57 by my calculations). I lengthened some lines out, and at the same time, for some shorter or more blunt lines, pinpointed them and made them shorter in my translation to allow a bit of skipping from one line to the next. This also had the effect of making the poem physically longer, but not very long overall. There were some lines that I bisected for certain reasons, like 793, in order to make the points quick and abrupt. But for the most part I tried to make it sound elaborate and drawn out as if I was about to end a long tale, because these events are leading up to Juno finally giving up her grudge.
I made sure to echo as many of the slower lines as I could, such as for 785, I embellished a bit: “She ran forth and put the sword back into the hands of her brother.” I also made sure to pinpoint the two fastest lines, which according to my scanning, were the only two with dactyls outweighing spondees, lines 791 and 793. In order to repeat the small alliteration ending line 784 with mutata Metisci, in my poem I put Metiscus first and ended the sentence with “changed into the charioteer.” I also used alliterations from 788 and 790. Line 791 also had a small alliteration, and I think that worked out well along with making 791 and 793 abrupt. And after finding so many little alliterations, I made one for my title.
Since line 789 was equal in spondees and dactyls, I decided to use my artistic right and make them a little quicker and shorter in order to presuppose the two quick lines (791 and 793) that follow, and in order to highlight the anaphora caused by the two “hics.” I also separated the two halves into separate lines because I felt it helped to call attention to this. I didn’t find a whole lot of metaphors and similes, except for line 791 where I singled out “The king of omnipotent Olympus” as it’s own line which helped bring out the fact that it’s an implied comparison.
Also, I didn’t find much in the way of personifications or polysendetons, which I had expected to find because they seem to be at least somewhat common. I thought there might be a bit of personification in “chilly cloud,” used as a transferred epithet to kind of reflect Juno’s demeanor. I thought that may be the case anyway since it seemed more appropriate to comment on Juno being cold than the cloud. I did pull out an asyndeton from 789, since I’m pretty sure the “et” was used to describe “fierce and tall” and fails to link the two halves of the line together. I thought I noticed a prolepsis, which I thought was a very interesting concept, in line 797 with “violated by a mortal wound.” But I was interpreting “violated” to mean “harmed” (he would have been harmed by the sword, not the wound, so in that way I saw it as anticipation) but I think Vergil probably just meant he was “shamed” by the wound. Regardless, I pulled something out of that anyway and said “use a mortal wound to harm a god,” using the word “harm” to reflect what I figured was “shame.” So that ended up being kind of interesting anyway. I left the “and” in with heavens and fate in line 795, supposing a possible hendiadys, and I translated lines 797 and 798 similarly to 795 because I liked the added reflexivity. I used that same idea in what I translated for 785 and 787. I also used a zeugma in my translation of 799 because I thought it fit well enough with the Latin. Lastly, I switched the syntax of the last line from how I had it in my grammatical translation. I did this in order to use the example of Juno aiding Juturna to make it clear the fact that Juno is the integral reason that the overall conflict has continued for so long.