Togail na Tebe = The Thebiad of Statius : the Irish text

;THE THEBAIDa horrible baleful serpent came towards him.That serpent wassuch that very large dark-green eyes were in its head with a foamof poison.The muzzle of its gullet was with three fiery tonguesgleaming about its lower jaw, and three rows of crooked, hardand sharp teeth in its head. That serpent was sacred to Joveand there it used to sleep at times round about those beautifulconsecrated temples that were near it.And it used to move thehuge oaks from their place and position and the firm stonesfrom their earth -fastnesses when it arose. And it came forwardin search of water keenly madly with its hideous gullet openedwide, at one time sucking in a breeze of air, at another howevereating the grass and oats to quench its thirst.to it,And, all unknownit struck that young boy with a stroke of its tail, and lefthim lifeless.Now when Hypsipyle heard the scream of the dying boy, shearose to seek him, and continued to call him.Since she did notfind him but saw the serpent, she shrieked and cried till all theGreeks heard the maiden's weeping. Then the young king ofArcadia, to wit, Parthenopaeus, urged his horses towards the cry,after he had been told by Adrastus the high-king. And whenhe had heard the reason for the lamentation, he told the othersand when he had done so, lofty splendid Hippomedon took a wellproportionedclose-grained stone from its earth-fastnesses, andmade a cast of a throw at the serpent.start.Yet that only caused it toBut after that Capaneus came to encounter it with a thongedwell-casting spear in his hand, and said to it ": The cast just nowwill not be similar," said he. "The gods of heaven cannot preventmy slaying thee." And he hurled the javelin at it after that, sothat the dart struck it and pierced its breast and entrails, andit fell dead and lifeless.Jove, however, was wroth at that thing,to wit, that the serpent was slain by Capaneus, and he madeready to launch a fiery thunderbolt at him there, and yet againin turn he restrained himself from that.133