Euryalus’ Mother
read by Emma Kirkby
Virgil, Aeneid 9.481-497: Euryalus’ mother sees his head on an enemy spear and rushes out into the battle
‘Hunc ego tē, Euryale, aspiciō? tūne illa senectae
sēra meae requiēs, potuistī linquere sōlam,
crūdēlis? nec tē sub tanta perīcula missum
adfārī extrēmum miserae data cōpia mātrī?
heu, terrā ignōtā canibus data praeda Latīnīs
ālitibusque iacēs! nec tē tua fūnera māter
prōdūxī pressīve oculōs aut vulnera lāvī,
veste tegēns tibi quam noctēs festīna diēsque
urgēbam et tēlā cūrās sōlābar anīlīs.
quō sequar? aut quae nunc artūs āvulsaque membra
et fūnus lacerum tellūs habet? hocc mihi dē tē,
nāte, refers? hocc sum terrāque marīque secūta?
fīgite mē, sī qua est pietās, in mē omnia tēla
cōnicite, ō Rutulī, mē prīmam absūmite ferrō:
aut tū, magne pater dīvum, miserēre, tuōque
invīsum hocc dētrūde caput sub Tartara tēlō,
quandō aliter nequeō crūdēlem abrumpere vītam.’
“Is this you I see, Euryalus? Could you, the last comfort of my old age, leave me to face life alone? You heartless boy! Why was your poor mother not permitted to say farewell before you were sent on so dangerous a mission? Oh! You lie in a foreign land left as prey for the dogs and birds of Latium, and I your mother have not led your funeral or closed your eyes or washed your wounds. Nor have I wrapped you in the robe which I have been busily making night and day on the loom that consoles an old woman’s fretting. Where am I to turn? What land now keeps your dismembered limbs and body-parts and mutilated corpse? My son, is this all you bring back to me of yourself? Is this what I have followed on land and sea? Pierce me, Rutulians, if you have any decency! Hurl all your weapons at me and cut me down first! Or you, great father of the gods, take pity and with your bolt hurl this hateful being to Tartarus below, since I can find no other way to break off my cruel life.”
From ‘The Song of Arms and a Man’ by the Latin Qvarter.
Recording and translation: all rights reserved.