Arms and the man I sing, who first made way,predestined exile, from the Trojan shoreto Italy, the blest Lavinian strand.Smitten of storms he was on land and seaby violence of Heaven, to satisfystern Juno's sleepless wrath; and much in warhe suffered, seeking at the last to foundthe city, and bring o'er his fathers' godsto safe abode in Latium; whence arosethe Latin race, old Alba's reverend lords,and from her hills wide-walled, imperial Rome.
Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab orisItaliam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venitlitora, multum ille et terris iactatus et altovi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram;multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem,inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum,Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae.
O Muse, the causes tell! What sacrilege,or vengeful sorrow, moved the heavenly Queento thrust on dangers dark and endless toila man whose largest honor in men's eyeswas serving Heaven? Can gods such anger feel?
Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso,quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casusinsignem pietate virum, tot adire laboresimpulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?
In ages gone an ancient city stood—Carthage, a Tyrian seat, which from afarmade front on Italy and on the mouthsof Tiber's stream; its wealth and revenueswere vast, and ruthless was its quest of war.'T is said that Juno, of all lands she loved,most cherished this,—not Samos' self so dear.Here were her arms, her chariot; even thena throne of power o'er nations near and far,if Fate opposed not, 't was her darling hopeto 'stablish here; but anxiously she heardthat of the Trojan blood there was a breedthen rising, which upon the destined dayshould utterly o'erwhelm her Tyrian towers,a people of wide sway and conquest proudshould compass Libya's doom;—such was the webthe Fatal Sisters spun. Such was the fearof Saturn's daughter, who remembered wellwhat long and unavailing strife she wagedfor her loved Greeks at Troy. Nor did she failto meditate th' occasions of her rage,and cherish deep within her bosom proudits griefs and wrongs: the choice by Paris made;her scorned and slighted beauty; a whole racerebellious to her godhead; and Jove's smilethat beamed on eagle-ravished Ganymede.With all these thoughts infuriate, her powerpursued with tempests o'er the boundless mainthe Trojans, though by Grecian victor sparedand fierce Achilles; so she thrust them farfrom Latium; and they drifted, Heaven-impelled,year after year, o'er many an unknown sea—O labor vast, to found the Roman line!
Urbs antiqua fuit, Tyrii tenuere coloni,Karthago, Italiam contra Tiberinaque longeostia, dives opum studiisque asperrima belli;quam Iuno fertur terris magis omnibus unamposthabita coluisse Samo; hic illius arma,hic currus fuit; hoc regnum dea gentibus esse,si qua fata sinant, iam tum tenditque fovetque.Progeniem sed enim Troiano a sanguine duciaudierat, Tyrias olim quae verteret arces;hinc populum late regem belloque superbumventurum excidio Libyae: sic volvere Parcas.Id metuens, veterisque memor Saturnia belli,prima quod ad Troiam pro caris gesserat Argis—necdum etiam causae irarum saevique doloresexciderant animo: manet alta mente repostumiudicium Paridis spretaeque iniuria formae,et genus invisum, et rapti Ganymedis honores.His accensa super, iactatos aequore totoTroas, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli,arcebat longe Latio, multosque per annoserrabant, acti fatis, maria omnia circum.Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!
Below th' horizon the Sicilian islejust sank from view, as for the open seawith heart of hope they sailed, and every shipclove with its brazen beak the salt, white waves.But Juno of her everlasting woundknew no surcease, but from her heart of painthus darkly mused: “Must I, defeated, failof what I will, nor turn the Teucrian Kingfrom Italy away? Can Fate oppose?Had Pallas power to lay waste in flamethe Argive fleet and sink its mariners,revenging but the sacrilege obsceneby Ajax wrought, Oileus' desperate son?She, from the clouds, herself Jove's lightning threw,scattered the ships, and ploughed the sea with storms.Her foe, from his pierced breast out-breathing fire,in whirlwind on a deadly rock she flung.But I, who move among the gods a queen,Jove's sister and his spouse, with one weak tribemake war so long! Who now on Juno calls?What suppliant gifts henceforth her altars crown?”
Vix e conspectu Siculae telluris in altumvela dabant laeti, et spumas salis aere ruebant,cum Iuno, aeternum servans sub pectore volnus,haec secum: “Mene incepto desistere victam,”“nec posse Italia Teucrorum avertere regem?”“Quippe vetor fatis. Pallasne exurere classem”“Argivum atque ipsos potuit submergere ponto,”“unius ob noxam et furias Aiacis Oilei?”“Ipsa, Iovis rapidum iaculata e nubibus ignem,”“disiecitque rates evertitque aequora ventis,”“illum expirantem transfixo pectore flammas”“turbine corripuit scopuloque infixit acuto.”“Ast ego, quae divom incedo regina, Iovisque”“et soror et coniunx, una cum gente tot annos”“bella gero! Et quisquam numen Iunonis adoret”“praeterea, aut supplex aris imponet honorem?”
So, in her fevered heart complaining still,unto the storm-cloud land the goddess came,a region with wild whirlwinds in its womb,Aeolia named, where royal Aeolusin a high-vaulted cavern keeps controlo'er warring winds and loud concourse of storms.There closely pent in chains and bastions strong,they, scornful, make the vacant mountain roar,chafing against their bonds. But from a throneof lofty crag, their king with sceptred handallays their fury and their rage confines.Did he not so, our ocean, earth, and skywere whirled before them through the vast inane.But over-ruling Jove, of this in fear,hid them in dungeon dark: then o'er them piledhuge mountains, and ordained a lawful kingto hold them in firm sway, or know what time,with Jove's consent, to loose them o'er the world.To him proud Juno thus made lowly plea:
Talia flammato secum dea corde volutansnimborum in patriam, loca feta furentibus austris,Aeoliam venit. Hic vasto rex Aeolus antroluctantes ventos tempestatesque sonorasimperio premit ac vinclis et carcere frenat.Illi indignantes magno cum murmure montiscircum claustra fremunt; celsa sedet Aeolus arcesceptra tenens, mollitque animos et temperat iras.Ni faciat, maria ac terras caelumque profundumquippe ferant rapidi secum verrantque per auras.Sed pater omnipotens speluncis abdidit atris,hoc metuens, molemque et montis insuper altosimposuit, regemque dedit, qui foedere certoet premere et laxas sciret dare iussus habenas.Ad quem tum Iuno supplex his vocibus usa est:
“Thou in whose hands the Father of all godsand Sovereign of mankind confides the powerto calm the waters or with winds upturn,great Aeolus! a race with me at warnow sails the Tuscan main towards Italy,bringing their Ilium and its vanquished powers.Uprouse thy gales. Strike that proud navy down!Hurl far and wide, and strew the waves with dead!Twice seven nymphs are mine, of rarest mould;of whom Deiopea, the most fair,I give thee in true wedlock for thine own,to mate thy noble worth; she at thy sideshall pass long, happy years, and fruitful bringher beauteous offspring unto thee their sire.”
“Aeole, namque tibi divom pater atque hominum rex”“et mulcere dedit fluctus et tollere vento”,“gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navigat aequor,”“Ilium in Italiam portans victosque Penates:”“incute vim ventis submersasque obrue puppes,”“aut age diversos et disiice corpora ponto.”“Sunt mihi bis septem praestanti corpore nymphae,”“quarum quae forma pulcherrima Deiopea,”“conubio iungam stabili propriamque dicabo,”“omnis ut tecum meritis pro talibus annos”“exigat, et pulchra faciat te prole parentem.”
Then Aeolus: “'T is thy sole task, O Queen,to weigh thy wish and will. My fealtythy high behest obeys. This humble throneis of thy gift. Thy smiles for me obtainauthority from Jove. Thy grace concedesmy station at your bright Olympian board,and gives me lordship of the darkening storm.”
Aeolus haec contra: “Tuus, O regina, quid optes”“explorare labor; mihi iussa capessere fas est.”“Tu mihi, quodcumque hoc regni, tu sceptra Iovemque”“concilias, tu das epulis accumbere divom,”“nimborumque facis tempestatumque potentem.”
Replying thus, he smote with spear reversedthe hollow mountain's wall; then rush the windsthrough that wide breach in long, embattled line,and sweep tumultuous from land to land:with brooding pinions o'er the waters spread,east wind and south, and boisterous Afric galeupturn the sea; vast billows shoreward roll;the shout of mariners, the creak of cordage,follow the shock; low-hanging clouds concealfrom Trojan eyes all sight of heaven and day;night o'er the ocean broods; from sky to skythe thunders roll, the ceaseless lightnings glare;and all things mean swift death for mortal man.Straightway Aeneas, shuddering with amaze,groaned loud, upraised both holy hands to Heaven,and thus did plead: “O thrice and four times blest,ye whom your sires and whom the walls of Troylooked on in your last hour! O bravest sonGreece ever bore, Tydides! O that Ihad fallen on Ilian fields, and given this lifestruck down by thy strong hand! where by the spearof great Achilles, fiery Hector fell,and huge Sarpedon; where the Simoisin furious flood engulfed and whirled awayso many helms and shields and heroes slain!”
Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montemimpulit in latus: ac venti, velut agmine facto,qua data porta, ruunt et terras turbine perflant.Incubuere mari, totumque a sedibus imisuna Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellisAfricus, et vastos volvunt ad litora fluctus.Insequitur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum.Eripiunt subito nubes caelumque diemqueTeucrorum ex oculis; ponto nox incubat atra.Intonuere poli, et crebris micat ignibus aether,praesentemque viris intentant omnia mortem.Extemplo Aeneae solvuntur frigore membra:ingemit, et duplicis tendens ad sidera palmastalia voce refert: “O terque quaterque beati,”“quis ante ora patrum Troiae sub moenibus altis”“contigit oppetere! O Danaum fortissime gentis”“Tydide! Mene Iliacis occumbere campis”“non potuisse, tuaque animam hanc effundere dextra,”“saevus ubi Aeacidae telo iacet Hector, ubi ingens”“Sarpedon, ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis”“scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volvit?”
While thus he cried to Heaven, a shrieking blastsmote full upon the sail. Up surged the wavesto strike the very stars; in fragments flewthe shattered oars; the helpless vessel veeredand gave her broadside to the roaring flood,where watery mountains rose and burst and fell.Now high in air she hangs, then yawning gulfslay bare the shoals and sands o'er which she drives.Three ships a whirling south wind snatched and flungon hidden rocks,—altars of sacrificeItalians call them, which lie far from shorea vast ridge in the sea; three ships besidean east wind, blowing landward from the deep,drove on the shallows,—pitiable sight,—and girdled them in walls of drifting sand.That ship, which, with his friend Orontes, borethe Lycian mariners, a great, plunging wavestruck straight astern, before Aeneas' eyes.Forward the steersman rolled and o'er the sidefell headlong, while three times the circling floodspun the light bark through swift engulfing seas.Look, how the lonely swimmers breast the wave!And on the waste of waters wide are seenweapons of war, spars, planks, and treasures rare,once Ilium's boast, all mingled with the storm.Now o'er Achates and Ilioneus,now o'er the ship of Abas or Aletes,bursts the tempestuous shock; their loosened seamsyawn wide and yield the angry wave its will.
Talia iactanti stridens Aquilone procellavelum adversa ferit, fluctusque ad sidera tollit.Franguntur remi; tum prora avertit, et undisdat latus; insequitur cumulo praeruptus aquae mons.Hi summo in fluctu pendent; his unda dehiscensterram inter fluctus aperit; furit aestus harenis.Tris Notus abreptas in saxa latentia torquet—saxa vocant Itali mediis quae in fluctibus aras—dorsum immane mari summo; tris Eurus ab altoin brevia et Syrtis urguet, miserabile visu,inliditque vadis atque aggere cingit harenae.Unam, quae Lycios fidumque vehebat Oronten,ipsius ante oculos ingens a vertice pontusin puppim ferit: excutitur pronusque magistervolvitur in caput; ast illam ter fluctus ibidemtorquet agens circum, et rapidus vorat aequore vortex.Adparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto,arma virum, tabulaeque, et Troia gaza per undas.Iam validam Ilionei navem, iam fortis Achati,et qua vectus Abas, et qua grandaevus Aletes,vicit hiems; laxis laterum compagibus omnesaccipiunt inimicum imbrem, rimisque fatiscunt.
Meanwhile how all his smitten ocean moaned,and how the tempest's turbulent assaulthad vexed the stillness of his deepest cave,great Neptune knew; and with indignant mienuplifted o'er the sea his sovereign brow.He saw the Teucrian navy scattered faralong the waters; and Aeneas' meno'erwhelmed in mingling shock of wave and sky.Saturnian Juno's vengeful stratagemher brother's royal glance failed not to see;and loud to eastward and to westward calling,he voiced this word:
Interea magno misceri murmure pontum,emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus, et imisstagna refusa vadis, graviter commotus; et altoprospiciens, summa placidum caput extulit unda.Disiectam Aeneae, toto videt aequore classem,fluctibus oppressos Troas caelique ruina,nec latuere doli fratrem Iunonis et irae.Eurum ad se Zephyrumque vocat, dehinc talia fatur:
“What pride of birth or poweris yours, ye winds, that, reckless of my will,audacious thus, ye ride through earth and heaven,and stir these mountain waves? Such rebels I—nay, first I calm this tumult! But yourselvesby heavier chastisement shall expiatehereafter your bold trespass. Haste awayand bear your king this word! Not unto himdominion o'er the seas and trident dread,but unto me, Fate gives. Let him possesswild mountain crags, thy favored haunt and home,O Eurus! In his barbarous mansion there,let Aeolus look proud, and play the kingin yon close-bounded prison-house of storms!”
“Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia vestri?”“Iam caelum terramque meo sine numine, venti,”“miscere, et tantas audetis tollere moles?”“Quos ego—sed motos praestat componere fluctus.”“Post mihi non simili poena commissa luetis.”“Maturate fugam, regique haec dicite vestro:”“non illi imperium pelagi saevumque tridentem,”“sed mihi sorte datum. Tenet ille immania saxa,”“vestras, Eure, domos; illa se iactet in aula”“Aeolus, et clauso ventorum carcere regnet.”
He spoke, and swiftlier than his word subduedthe swelling of the floods; dispersed afarth' assembled clouds, and brought back light to heaven.Cymothoe then and Triton, with huge toil,thrust down the vessels from the sharp-edged reef;while, with the trident, the great god's own handassists the task; then, from the sand-strewn shoreout-ebbing far, he calms the whole wide sea,and glides light-wheeled along the crested foam.As when, with not unwonted tumult, roarsin some vast city a rebellious mob,and base-born passions in its bosom burn,till rocks and blazing torches fill the air(rage never lacks for arms)—if haply thensome wise man comes, whose reverend looks attesta life to duty given, swift silence falls;all ears are turned attentive; and he swayswith clear and soothing speech the people's will.So ceased the sea's uproar, when its grave Sirelooked o'er th' expanse, and, riding on in light,flung free rein to his winged obedient car.
Sic ait, et dicto citius tumida aequora placat,collectasque fugat nubes, solemque reducit.Cymothoe simul et Triton adnixus acutodetrudunt navis scopulo; levat ipse tridenti;et vastas aperit syrtis, et temperat aequor,atque rotis summas levibus perlabitur undas.Ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta estseditio, saevitque animis ignobile volgus,iamque faces et saxa volant—furor arma ministrat;tum, pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quemconspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus adstant;ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet,—sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor, aequora postquamprospiciens genitor caeloque invectus apertoflectit equos, curruque volans dat lora secundo.
Aeneas' wave-worn crew now landward made,and took the nearest passage, whither laythe coast of Libya. A haven therewalled in by bold sides of a rocky isle,offers a spacious and secure retreat,where every billow from the distant mainbreaks, and in many a rippling curve retires.Huge crags and two confronted promontoriesfrown heaven-high, beneath whose brows outspreadthe silent, sheltered waters; on the heightsthe bright and glimmering foliage seems to showa woodland amphitheatre; and yet higherrises a straight-stemmed grove of dense, dark shade.Fronting on these a grotto may be seen,o'erhung by steep cliffs; from its inmost wallclear springs gush out; and shelving seats it hasof unhewn stone, a place the wood-nymphs love.In such a port, a weary ship rides freeof weight of firm-fluked anchor or strong chain.
Defessi Aeneadae, quae proxima litora, cursucontendunt petere, et Libyae vertuntur ad oras.Est in secessu longo locus: insula portumefficit obiectu laterum, quibus omnis ab altofrangitur inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos.Hinc atque hinc vastae rupes geminique minanturin caelum scopuli, quorum sub vertice lateaequora tuta silent; tum silvis scaena coruscisdesuper horrentique atrum nemus imminet umbra.Fronte sub adversa scopulis pendentibus antrum,intus aquae dulces vivoque sedilia saxo,nympharum domus: hic fessas non vincula navisulla tenent, unco non alligat ancora morsu.Huc septem Aeneas collectis navibus omniex numero subit; ac magno telluris amoreegressi optata potiuntur Troes harena,et sale tabentis artus in litore ponunt.Ac primum silici scintillam excudit Achates,succepitque ignem foliis, atque arida circumnutrimenta dedit, rapuitque in fomite flammam.Tum Cererem corruptam undis Cerealiaque armaexpediunt fessi rerum, frugesque receptaset torrere parant flammis et frangere saxo.
Hither Aeneas of his scattered fleetsaving but seven, into harbor sailed;with passionate longing for the touch of land,forth leap the Trojans to the welcome shore,and fling their dripping limbs along the ground.Then good Achates smote a flinty stone,secured a flashing spark, heaped on light leaves,and with dry branches nursed the mounting flame.Then Ceres' gift from the corrupting seathey bring away; and wearied utterlyply Ceres' cunning on the rescued corn,and parch in flames, and mill 'twixt two smooth stones.Aeneas meanwhile climbed the cliffs, and searchedthe wide sea-prospect; haply Antheus there,storm-buffeted, might sail within his ken,with biremes, and his Phrygian mariners,or Capys or Caicus armor-clad,upon a towering deck. No ship is seen;but while he looks, three stags along the shorecome straying by, and close behind them comesthe whole herd, browsing through the lowland valein one long line. Aeneas stopped and seizedhis bow and swift-winged arrows, which his friend,trusty Achates, close beside him bore.His first shafts brought to earth the lordly headsof the high-antlered chiefs; his next assailedthe general herd, and drove them one and allin panic through the leafy wood, nor ceasedthe victory of his bow, till on the groundlay seven huge forms, one gift for every ship.Then back to shore he sped, and to his friendsdistributed the spoil, with that rare winewhich good Acestes while in Sicilyhad stored in jars, and prince-like sent awaywith his Ioved guest;—this too Aeneas gave;and with these words their mournful mood consoled.
Aeneas scopulum interea conscendit, et omnemprospectum late pelago petit, Anthea si quemiactatum vento videat Phrygiasque biremis,aut Capyn, aut celsis in puppibus arma Caici.Navem in conspectu nullam, tris litore cervosprospicit errantis; hos tota armenta sequuntura tergo, et longum per vallis pascitur agmen.Constitit hic, arcumque manu celerisque sagittascorripuit, fidus quae tela gerebat Achates;ductoresque ipsos primum, capita alta ferentiscornibus arboreis, sternit, tum volgus, et omnemmiscet agens telis nemora inter frondea turbam;nec prius absistit, quam septem ingentia victorcorpora fundat humi, et numerum cum navibus aequet.Hinc portum petit, et socios partitur in omnes.Vina bonus quae deinde cadis onerarat Acesteslitore Trinacrio dederatque abeuntibus heros,dividit, et dictis maerentia pectora mulcet:
“Companions mine, we have not failed to feelcalamity till now. O, ye have bornefar heavier sorrow: Jove will make an endalso of this. Ye sailed a course hard byinfuriate Scylla's howling cliffs and caves.Ye knew the Cyclops' crags. Lift up your hearts!No more complaint and fear! It well may besome happier hour will find this memory fair.Through chance and change and hazard without end,our goal is Latium; where our destiniesbeckon to blest abodes, and have ordainedthat Troy shall rise new-born! Have patience all!And bide expectantly that golden day.”
“O socii—neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum—”“O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem.”“Vos et Scyllaeam rabiem penitusque sonantis”“accestis scopulos, vos et Cyclopea saxa”“experti: revocate animos, maestumque timorem”“mittite: forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.”“Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum”“tendimus in Latium; sedes ubi fata quietas”“ostendunt; illic fas regna resurgere Troiae.”“Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis.”
Such was his word, but vexed with grief and care,feigned hopes upon his forehead firm he wore,and locked within his heart a hero's pain.Now round the welcome trophies of his chasethey gather for a feast. Some flay the ribsand bare the flesh below; some slice with knives,and on keen prongs the quivering strips impale,place cauldrons on the shore, and fan the fires.Then, stretched at ease on couch of simple green,they rally their lost powers, and feast them wellon seasoned wine and succulent haunch of game.But hunger banished and the banquet done,in long discourse of their lost mates they tell,'twixt hopes and fears divided; for who knowswhether the lost ones live, or strive with death,or heed no more whatever voice may call?Chiefly Aeneas now bewails his friends,Orontes brave and fallen Amycus,or mourns with grief untold the untimely doomof bold young Gyas and Cloanthus bold.
Talia voce refert, curisque ingentibus aegerspem voltu simulat, premit altum corde dolorem.Illi se praedae accingunt, dapibusque futuris;tergora deripiunt costis et viscera nudant;pars in frusta secant veribusque trementia figunt;litore aena locant alii, flammasque ministrant.Tum victu revocant vires, fusique per herbamimplentur veteris Bacchi pinguisque ferinae.Postquam exempta fames epulis mensaeque remotae,amissos longo socios sermone requirunt,spemque metumque inter dubii, seu vivere credant,sive extrema pati nec iam exaudire vocatos.Praecipue pius Aeneas nunc acris Oronti,nunc Amyci casum gemit et crudelia secumfata Lyci, fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cloanthum.
After these things were past, exalted Jove,from his ethereal sky surveying clearthe seas all winged with sails, lands widely spread,and nations populous from shore to shore,paused on the peak of heaven, and fixed his gazeon Libya. But while he anxious mused,near him, her radiant eyes all dim with tears,nor smiling any more, Venus approached,and thus complained: “O thou who dost controlthings human and divine by changeless laws,enthroned in awful thunder! What huge wrongcould my Aeneas and his Trojans fewachieve against thy power? For they have borneunnumbered deaths, and, failing Italy,the gates of all the world against them close.Hast thou not given us thy covenantthat hence the Romans when the rolling yearshave come full cycle, shall arise to powerfrom Troy's regenerate seed, and rule supremethe unresisted lords of land and sea?O Sire, what swerves thy will? How oft have Iin Troy's most lamentable wreck and woeconsoled my heart with this, and balanced oftour destined good against our destined ill!But the same stormful fortune still pursuesmy band of heroes on their perilous way.When shall these labors cease, O glorious King?Antenor, though th' Achaeans pressed him sore,found his way forth, and entered unassailedIllyria's haven, and the guarded landof the Liburni. Straight up stream he sailedwhere like a swollen sea Timavus poursa nine-fold flood from roaring mountain gorge,and whelms with voiceful wave the fields below.He built Patavium there, and fixed abodesfor Troy's far-exiled sons; he gave a nameto a new land and race; the Trojan armswere hung on temple walls; and, to this day,lying in perfect peace, the hero sleeps.But we of thine own seed, to whom thou dosta station in the arch of heaven assign,behold our navy vilely wrecked, becausea single god is angry; we endurethis treachery and violence, wherebywide seas divide us from th' Hesperian shore.Is this what piety receives? Or thusdoth Heaven's decree restore our fallen thrones?”
Et iam finis erat, cum Iuppiter aethere summodespiciens mare velivolum terrasque iacentislitoraque et latos populos, sic vertice caeliconstitit, et Libyae defixit lumina regnis.Atque illum talis iactantem pectore curastristior et lacrimis oculos suffusa nitentisadloquitur Venus: “O qui res hominumque deumque”“aeternis regis imperiis, et fulmine terres,”“quid meus Aeneas in te committere tantum,”“quid Troes potuere, quibus, tot funera passis,”“cunctus ob Italiam terrarum clauditur orbis?”“Certe hinc Romanos olim, volventibus annis,”“hinc fore ductores, revocato a sanguine Teucri,”“qui mare, qui terras omni dicione tenerent,”“pollicitus, quae te, genitor, sententia vertit?”“Hoc equidem occasum Troiae tristisque ruinas”“solabar, fatis contraria fata rependens;”“nunc eadem fortuna viros tot casibus actos”“insequitur. Quem das finem, rex magne, laborum?”“Antenor potuit, mediis elapsus Achivis,”“Illyricos penetrare sinus, atque intima tutus”“regna Liburnorum, et fontem superare Timavi,”“unde per ora novem vasto cum murmure montis”“it mare proruptum et pelago premit arva sonanti.”“Hic tamen ille urbem Patavi sedesque locavit”“Teucrorum, et genti nomen dedit, armaque fixit”“Troia; nunc placida compostus pace quiescit:”“nos, tua progenies, caeli quibus adnuis arcem,”“navibus (infandum!) amissis, unius ob iram”“prodimur atque Italis longe disiungimur oris.”“Hic pietatis honos? Sic nos in sceptra reponis?”
Smiling reply, the Sire of gods and men,with such a look as clears the skies of stormchastely his daughter kissed, and thus spake on:“Let Cytherea cast her fears away!Irrevocably blest the fortunes beof thee and thine. Nor shalt thou fail to seethat City, and the proud predestined wallencompassing Lavinium. Thyselfshall starward to the heights of heaven bearAeneas the great-hearted. Nothing swervesmy will once uttered. Since such carking caresconsume thee, I this hour speak freely forth,and leaf by leaf the book of fate unfold.Thy son in Italy shall wage vast warand, quell its nations wild; his city-walland sacred laws shall be a mighty bondabout his gathered people. Summers threeshall Latium call him king; and three times passthe winter o'er Rutulia's vanquished hills.His heir, Ascanius, now Iulus called(Ilus it was while Ilium's kingdom stood),full thirty months shall reign, then move the thronefrom the Lavinian citadel, and buildfor Alba Longa its well-bastioned wall.
Olli subridens hominum sator atque deorum,voltu, quo caelum tempestatesque serenat,oscula libavit natae, dehinc talia fatur:“Parce metu, Cytherea: manent immota tuorum”“fata tibi; cernes urbem et promissa Lavini”“moenia, sublimemque feres ad sidera caeli”“magnanimum Aenean; neque me sententia vertit.”“Hic tibi (fabor enim, quando haec te cura remordet,”“longius et volvens fatorum arcana movebo)”“bellum ingens geret Italia, populosque feroces”“contundet, moresque viris et moenia ponet,”“tertia dum Latio regnantem viderit aestas,”“ternaque transierint Rutulis hiberna subactis.”“At puer Ascanius, cui nunc cognomen Iulo”“additur,—Ilus erat, dum res stetit Ilia regno,—”“triginta magnos volvendis mensibus orbis”“imperio explebit, regnumque ab sede Lavini”“transferet, et longam multa vi muniet Albam.”
Here three full centuries shall Hector's racehave kingly power; till a priestess queen,by Mars conceiving, her twin offspring bear;then Romulus, wolf-nursed and proudly cladin tawny wolf-skin mantle, shall receivethe sceptre of his race. He shall uprearand on his Romans his own name bestow.To these I give no bounded times or power,but empire without end. Yea, even my Queen,Juno, who now chastiseth land and seawith her dread frown, will find a wiser way,and at my sovereign side protect and blessthe Romans, masters of the whole round world,who, clad in peaceful toga, judge mankind.Such my decree! In lapse of seasons due,the heirs of Ilium's kings shall bind in chainsMycenae's glory and Achilles' towers,and over prostrate Argos sit supreme.Of Trojan stock illustriously sprung,lo, Caesar comes! whose power the ocean bounds,whose fame, the skies. He shall receive the nameIulus nobly bore, great Julius, he.Him to the skies, in Orient trophies dress,thou shalt with smiles receive; and he, like us,shall hear at his own shrines the suppliant vow.Then will the world grow mild; the battle-soundwill be forgot; for olden Honor then,with spotless Vesta, and the brothers twain,Remus and Romulus, at strife no more,will publish sacred laws. The dreadful gateswhence issueth war, shall with close-jointed steelbe barred impregnably; and prisoned therethe heaven-offending Fury, throned on swords,and fettered by a hundred brazen chains,shall belch vain curses from his lips of gore.”
“Hic iam ter centum totos regnabitur annos”“gente sub Hectorea, donec regina sacerdos,”“Marte gravis, geminam partu dabit Ilia prolem.”“Inde lupae fulvo nutricis tegmine laetus”“Romulus excipiet gentem, et Mavortia condet”“moenia, Romanosque suo de nomine dicet.”“His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono;”“imperium sine fine dedi. Quin aspera Iuno,”“quae mare nunc terrasque metu caelumque fatigat,”“consilia in melius referet, mecumque fovebit”“Romanos rerum dominos gentemque togatam:”“sic placitum. Veniet lustris labentibus aetas,”“cum domus Assaraci Phthiam clarasque Mycenas”“servitio premet, ac victis dominabitur Argis.”“Nascetur pulchra Troianus origine Caesar,”“imperium oceano, famam qui terminet astris,—”“Iulius, a magno demissum nomen Iulo.”“Hunc tu olim caelo, spoliis Orientis onustum,”“accipies secura; vocabitur hic quoque votis.”“Aspera tum positis mitescent saecula bellis;”“cana Fides, et Vesta, Remo cum fratre Quirinus,”“iura dabunt; dirae ferro et compagibus artis”“claudentur Belli portae; Furor impius intus,”“saeva sedens super arma, et centum vinctus aenis”“post tergum nodis, fremet horridus ore cruento.”
These words he gave, and summoned Maia's son,the herald Mercury, who earthward flying,should bid the Tyrian realms and new-built towerswelcome the Trojan waifs; lest Dido, blindto Fate's decree, should thrust them from the land.He takes his flight, with rhythmic stroke of wing,across th' abyss of air, and soon draws nearunto the Libyan mainland. He fulfilshis heavenly task; the Punic hearts of stonegrow soft beneath the effluence divine;and, most of all, the Queen, with heart at easeawaits benignantly her guests from Troy.
Haec ait, et Maia genitum demittit ab alto,ut terrae, utque novae pateant Karthaginis arceshospitio Teucris, ne fati nescia Didofinibus arceret: volat ille per aera magnumremigio alarum, ac Libyae citus adstitit oris.Et iam iussa facit, ponuntque ferocia Poenicorda volente deo; in primis regina quietumaccipit in Teucros animum mentemque benignam.
But good Aeneas, pondering all night longhis many cares, when first the cheerful dawnupon him broke, resolved to take surveyof this strange country whither wind and wavehad driven him,—for desert land it seemed,—to learn what tribes of man or beast possessa place so wild, and careful tidings bringback to his friends. His fleet of ships the while,where dense, dark groves o'er-arch a hollowed crag,he left encircled in far-branching shade.Then with no followers save his trusty friendAchates, he went forth upon his way,two broad-tipped javelins poising in his hand.Deep to the midmost wood he went, and therehis Mother in his path uprose; she seemedin garb and countenance a maid, and bore,like Spartan maids, a weapon; in such guiseHarpalyce the Thracian urges onher panting coursers and in wild careeroutstrips impetuous Hebrus as it flows.Over her lovely shoulders was a bow,slender and light, as fits a huntress fair;her golden tresses without wimple movedin every wind, and girded in a knother undulant vesture bared her marble knees.She hailed them thus: “Ho, sirs, I pray you tellif haply ye have noted, as ye came,one of my sisters in this wood astray?She bore a quiver, and a lynx's hideher spotted mantle was; perchance she rousedsome foaming boar, and chased with loud halloo.”
At pius Aeneas, per noctem plurima volvens,ut primum lux alma data est, exire locosqueexplorare novos, quas vento accesserit oras,qui teneant, nam inculta videt, hominesne feraene,quaerere constituit, sociisque exacta referreClassem in convexo nemorum sub rupe cavataarboribus clausam circum atque horrentibus umbrisocculit; ipse uno graditur comitatus Achate,bina manu lato crispans hastilia ferro.Cui mater media sese tulit obvia silva,virginis os habitumque gerens, et virginis armaSpartanae, vel qualis equos Threissa fatigatHarpalyce, volucremque fuga praevertitur Hebrum.Namque umeris de more habilem suspenderat arcumvenatrix, dederatque comam diffundere ventis,nuda genu, nodoque sinus collecta fluentis.Ac prior, “Heus” inquit “iuvenes, monstrate mearum”“vidistis si quam hic errantem forte sororum,”“succinctam pharetra et maculosae tegmine lyncis,”“aut spumantis apri cursum clamore prementem.”
So Venus spoke, and Venus' son replied:“No voice or vision of thy sister fairhas crossed my path, thou maid without a name!Thy beauty seems not of terrestrial mould,nor is thy music mortal! Tell me, goddess,art thou bright Phoebus' sister? Or some nymph,the daughter of a god? Whate'er thou art,thy favor we implore, and potent aidin our vast toil. Instruct us of what skies,or what world's end, our storm-swept lives have found!Strange are these lands and people where we rove,compelled by wind and wave. Lo, this right handshall many a victim on thine altar slay!”
Sic Venus; et Veneris contra sic filius orsus:“Nulla tuarum audita mihi neque visa sororum—”“O quam te memorem, virgo? Namque haud tibi voltus”“mortalis, nec vox hominem sonat: O, dea certe—”“an Phoebi soror? an nympharum sanguinis una?—”“sis felix, nostrumque leves, quaecumque, laborem,”“et, quo sub caelo tandem, quibus orbis in oris”“iactemur, doceas. Ignari hominumque locorumque”“erramus, vento huc vastis et fluctibus acti:”“multa tibi ante aras nostra cadet hostia dextra.”
Then Venus: “Nay, I boast not to receivehonors divine. We Tyrian virgins oftbear bow and quiver, and our ankles whitelace up in purple buskin. Yonder liesthe Punic power, where Tyrian masters holdAgenor's town; but on its borders dwellthe Libyans, by battles unsubdued.Upon the throne is Dido, exiled therefrom Tyre, to flee th' unnatural enmityof her own brother. 'T was an ancient wrong;too Iong the dark and tangled tale would be;I trace the larger outline of her story:Sichreus was her spouse, whose acres broadno Tyrian lord could match, and he was-blessedby his ill-fated lady's fondest love,whose father gave him her first virgin bloomin youthful marriage. But the kingly poweramong the Tyrians to her brother came,Pygmalion, none deeper dyed in crimein all that land. Betwixt these twain there rosea deadly hatred,—and the impious wretch,blinded by greed, and reckless utterlyof his fond sister's joy, did murder foulupon defenceless and unarmed Sichaeus,and at the very altar hewed him down.Long did he hide the deed, and guilefullydeceived with false hopes, and empty words,her grief and stricken love. But as she slept,her husband's tombless ghost before her came,with face all wondrous pale, and he laid barehis heart with dagger pierced, disclosing sothe blood-stained altar and the infamythat darkened now their house. His counsel wasto fly, self-banished, from her ruined land,and for her journey's aid, he whispered wherehis buried treasure lay, a weight unknownof silver and of gold. Thus onward urged,Dido, assembling her few trusted friends,prepared her flight. There rallied to her causeall who did hate and scorn the tyrant king,or feared his cruelty. They seized his ships,which haply rode at anchor in the bay,and loaded them with gold; the hoarded wealthof vile and covetous Pygmalionthey took to sea. A woman wrought this deed.Then came they to these lands where now thine eyesbehold yon walls and yonder citadelof newly rising Carthage. For a pricethey measured round so much of Afric soilas one bull's hide encircles, and the spotreceived its name, the Byrsa. But, I pray,what men are ye? from what far land arrived,and whither going?” When she questioned thus,her son, with sighs that rose from his heart's depths,this answer gave:
Tum Venus: “Haud equidem tali me dignor honore;”“virginibus Tyriis mos est gestare pharetram,”“purpureoque alte suras vincire cothurno.”“Punica regna vides, Tyrios et Agenoris urbem;”“sed fines Libyci, genus intractabile bello.”“Imperium Dido Tyria regit urbe profecta,”“germanum fugiens. Longa est iniuria, longae”“ambages; sed summa sequar fastigia rerum.”“Huic coniunx Sychaeus erat, ditissimus agri”“Phoenicum, et magno miserae dilectus amore,”“cui pater intactam dederat, primisque iugarat”“ominibus. Sed regna Tyri germanus habebat”“Pygmalion, scelere ante alios immanior omnes.”“Quos inter medius venit furor. Ille Sychaeum”“impius ante aras, atque auri caecus amore,”“clam ferro incautum superat, securus amorum”“germanae; factumque diu celavit, et aegram,”“multa malus simulans, vana spe lusit amantem.”“Ipsa sed in somnis inhumati venit imago”“coniugis, ora modis attollens pallida miris,”“crudeles aras traiectaque pectora ferro”“nudavit, caecumque domus scelus omne retexit.”“Tum celerare fugam patriaque excedere suadet,”“auxiliumque viae veteres tellure recludit”“thesauros, ignotum argenti pondus et auri.”“His commota fugam Dido sociosque parabat:”“conveniunt, quibus aut odium crudele tyranni”“aut metus acer erat; navis, quae forte paratae,”“corripiunt, onerantque auro: portantur avari”“Pygmalionis opes pelago; dux femina facti.”“Devenere locos, ubi nunc ingentia cernis”“moenia surgentemque novae Karthaginis arcem,”“mercatique solum, facti de nomine Byrsam,”“taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo.”“Sed vos qui tandem, quibus aut venistis ab oris,”“quove tenetis iter?” Quaerenti talibus illesuspirans, imoque trahens a pectore vocem:
“Divine one, if I tellmy woes and burdens all, and thou could'st pauseto heed the tale, first would the vesper starth' Olympian portals close, and bid the dayin slumber lie. Of ancient Troy are we—if aught of Troy thou knowest! As we rovedfrom sea to sea, the hazard of the stormcast us up hither on this Libyan coast.I am Aeneas, faithful evermoreto Heaven's command; and in my ships I bearmy gods ancestral, which I snatched awayfrom peril of the foe. My fame is knownabove the stars. I travel on in questof Italy, my true home-land, and Ifrom Jove himself may trace my birth divine.With twice ten ships upon the Phryglan mainI launched away. My mother from the skiesgave guidance, and I wrought what Fate ordained.Yet now scarce seven shattered ships survivethe shock of wind and wave; and I myselffriendless, bereft, am wandering up and downthis Libyan wilderness! Behold me here,from Europe and from Asia exiled still!”But Venus could not let him longer plain,and stopped his grief midway:
“O dea, si prima repetens ab origine pergam,”“et vacet annalis nostrorum audire laborum,”“ante diem clauso componat Vesper Olympo.”“Nos Troia antiqua, si vestras forte per auris”“Troiae nomen iit, diversa per aequora vectos”“forte sua Libycis tempestas adpulit oris.”“Sum pius Aeneas, raptos qui ex hoste Penates”“classe veho mecum, fama super aethera notus.”“Italiam quaero patriam et genus ab Iove summo.”“Bis denis Phrygium conscendi navibus aequor,”“matre dea monstrante viam, data fata secutus;”“vix septem convolsae undis Euroque supersunt.”“Ipse ignotus, egens, Libyae deserta peragro,”“Europa atque Asia pulsus.” Nec plura querentempassa Venus medio sic interfata dolore est: