From The Song of Arms and a Man
The warrior girl Camilla is mortally wounded
Read by Marina Garanin and Matthew Hargreaves
English by George Sharpley
Aulos played by Callum Armstrong
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‘Hāctenus, Acca soror, potuī: nunc vulnus acerbum
cōnficit, et tenebrīs nīgrēscunt omnia circum.
effuge et haec Turnō mandāta novissima perfer:
succēdat pugnae Trōiānōsque arceat urbe.
iamque valē.’ simul hīs dictīs linquēbat habēnās
ad terram nōn sponte fluēns. tum frīgida tōtō
paulātim exsolvit sē corpore, lentaque colla
et captum lētō posuit caput, arma relinquēns,
vītaque cum gemitū fugit indīgnāta sub umbrās.
‘Acca, sister, thus far I’ve been at full strength. Now, a bitter wound is my undoing, and all around darkens with shadows. Get away and take these final instructions to Turnus: he is to join the fight and keep the Trojans from the city. And now, farewell.’ So saying, she let go the reins and slid helplessly to the ground. Then, turning cold, she loosened herself little by little from the entire length of her body, and with a drooping neck bowed her head in the grip of death. She dropped her weapons, and with a groan her life fled protesting to the shadows below.