“O goddess-born, indubitably shinesthe blessing of great gods upon thy pathacross the sea; the heavenly King supremethy destiny ordains; 't is he unfoldsthe grand vicissitude, which now pursuesa course immutable. I will declareof thy large fate a certain bounded part;that fearless thou may'st view the friendly sea,and in Ausonia's haven at the lastfind thee a fixed abode. Than this no morethe Sister Fates to Helenus unveil,and Juno, Saturn's daughter, grants no more.First, that Italia (which nigh at handthou deemest, and wouldst fondly enter inby yonder neighboring bays) lies distant faro'er trackless course and long, with intervalof far-extended lands. Thine oars must plythe waves of Sicily; thy fleet must cleavethe large expanse of that Ausonian brine;the waters of Avernus thou shalt see,and that enchanted island where abidesAeaean Circe, ere on tranquil shorethou mayest plant thy nation. Lo! a signI tell thee; hide this wonder in thy heart:Beside a certain stream's sequestered wave,thy troubled eyes, in shadowy flex grovethat fringes on the river, shall descrya milk-white, monstrous sow, with teeming broodof thirty young, new littered, white like her,all clustering at her teats, as prone she lies.There is thy city's safe, predestined ground,and there thy labors' end. Vex not thy heartabout those ‘tables bitten’, for kind fatethy path will show, and Phoebus bless thy prayer.But from these lands and yon Italian shore,where from this sea of ours the tide sweeps in,escape and flee, for all its cities holdpernicious Greeks, thy foes: the Locri therehave builded walls; the wide Sallentine fieldsare filled with soldiers of Idomeneus;there Meliboean Philoctetes' town,petilia, towers above its little wall.Yea, even when thy fleet has crossed the main,and from new altars built along the shorethy vows to Heaven are paid, throw o'er thy heada purple mantle, veiling well thy brows,lest, while the sacrificial fire ascendsin offering to the gods, thine eye beholdsome face of foe, and every omen fail.Let all thy people keep this custom due,and thou thyself be faithful; let thy seedforever thus th' immaculate rite maintain.After departing hence, thou shalt be blowntoward Sicily, and strait Pelorus' boundswill open wide. Then take the leftward way:those leftward waters in long circuit sweep,far from that billowy coast, the opposing side.These regions, so they tell, in ages goneby huge and violent convulsion riven(Such mutability is wrought by time),sprang wide asunder; where the doubled strandsole and continuous lay, the sea's vast powerburst in between, and bade its waves divideHesperia's bosom from fair Sicily,while with a straitened firth it interflowedtheir fields and cities sundered shore from shore.The right side Scylla keeps; the left is givento pitiless Charybdis, who draws downto the wild whirling of her steep abyssthe monster waves, and ever and anonflings them at heaven, to lash the tranquil stars.But Scylla, prisoned in her eyeless cave,thrusts forth her face, and pulls upon the rocksship after ship; the parts that first be seenare human; a fair-breasted virgin she,down to the womb; but all that lurks belowis a huge-membered fish, where strangely jointhe flukes of dolphins and the paunch of wolves.Better by far to round the distant goalof the Trinacrian headlands, veering widefrom thy true course, than ever thou shouldst seethat shapeless Scylla in her vaulted cave,where grim rocks echo her dark sea-dogs' roar.Yea, more, if aught of prescience be bestowedon Helenus, if trusted prophet he,and Phoebus to his heart true voice have given,o goddess-born, one counsel chief of allI tell thee oft, and urge it o'er and o'er.To Juno's godhead lift thy Ioudest prayer;to Juno chant a fervent votive song,and with obedient offering persuadethat potent Queen. So shalt thou, triumphing,to Italy be sped, and leave behindTrinacria.
“Nate dea,—nam te maioribus ire per altum”“auspiciis manifesta fides: sic fata deum rex”“sortitur, volvitque vices; is vertitur ordo—”“pauca tibi e multis, quo tutior hospita lustres”“aequora et Ausonio possis considere portu,”“expediam dictis; prohibent nam cetera Parcae”“scire Helenum farique vetat Saturnia Iuno.”“Principio Italiam, quam tu iam rere propinquam”“vicinosque, ignare, paras invadere portus,”“longa procul longis via dividit invia terris.”“Ante et Trinacria lentandus remus in unda,”“et salis Ausonii lustrandum navibus aequor,”“infernique lacus, Aeaeaeque insula Circae,”“quam tuta possis urbem componere terra:”“signa tibi dicam, tu condita mente teneto:”“cum tibi sollicito secreti ad fluminis undam”“litoreis ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus”“triginta capitum fetus enixa iacebit.”“alba, solo recubans, albi circum ubera nati,”“is locus urbis erit, requies ea certa laborum.”“Nec tu mensarum morsus horresce futuros:”“fata viam invenient, aderitque vocatus Apollo.”“Has autem terras, Italique hanc litoris oram,”“proxuma quae nostri perfunditur aequoris aestu,”“effuge; cuncta malis habitantur moenia Grais.”“Hic et Narycii posuerunt moenia Locri,”“et Sallentinos obsedit milite campos”“Lyctius Idomeneus; hic illa ducis Meliboei”“parva Philoctetae subnixa Petelia muro.”“Quin, ubi transmissae steterint trans aequora classes,”“et positis aris iam vota in litore solves,”“purpureo velare comas adopertus amictu,”“ne qua inter sanctos ignis in honore deorum”“hostilis facies occurrat et omina turbet.”“Hunc socii morem sacrorum, hunc ipse teneto:”“hac casti maneant in religione nepotes.”“Ast ubi digressum Siculae te admoverit orae”“ventus, et angusti rarescent claustra Pelori,”“laeva tibi tellus et longo laeva petantur”“aequora circuitu: dextrum fuge litus et undas.”“Haec loca vi quondam et vasta convolsa ruina—”“tantum aevi longinqua valet mutare vetustas—”“dissiluisse ferunt, cum protinus utraque tellus”“una foret; venit medio vi pontus et undis”“Hesperium Siculo latus abscidit, arvaque et urbes”“litore diductas angusto interluit aestu.”“Dextrum Scylla latus, laevum implacata Charybdis”“obsidet, atque imo barathri ter gurgite vastos”“sorbet in abruptum fluctus, rursusque sub auras”“erigit alternos et sidera verberat unda.”“At Scyllam caecis cohibet spelunca latebris,”“ora exsertantem et navis in saxa trahentem.”“Prima hominis facies et pulchro pectore virgo”“pube tenus, postrema immani corpore pristis,”“delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum.”“Praestat Trinacrii metas lustrare Pachyni”“cessantem, longos et circumflectere cursus,”“quam semel informem vasto vidisse sub antro”“Scyllam, et caeruleis canibus resonantia saxa.”“Praeterea, si qua est Heleno prudentia, vati”“si qua fides, animum si veris implet Apollo,”“unum illud tibi, nate dea, proque omnibus unum”“praedicam, et repetens iterumque iterumque monebo:”“Iunonis magnae primum prece numen adora;”“Iunoni cane vota libens, dominamque potentem”“supplicibus supera donis: sic denique victor”“Trinacria finis Italos mittere relicta.”
When wafted to that shore,repair to Cumae's hill, and to the LakeAvernus with its whispering grove divine.There shalt thou see a frenzied prophetess,who from beneath the hollow scarped cragsings oracles, or characters on leavesmysterious names. Whate'er the virgin writes,on leaves inscribing the portentous song,she sets in order, and conceals them wellin her deep cave, where they abide unchangedin due array. Yet not a care has she,if with some swinging hinge a breeze sweeps in,to catch them as they whirl: if open doordisperse them flutterlig through the hollow rock,she will not link their shifted sense anew,nor re-invent her fragmentary song.Oft her unanswered votaries depart,scorning the Sibyl's shrine. But deem not thouthy tarrying too Iong, whate'er thy stay.Though thy companions chide, though winds of powerinvite thy ship to sea, and well would speedthe swelling sail, yet to that Sibyl go.Pray that her own lips may sing forth for theethe oracles, uplifting her dread voicein willing prophecy. Her rede shall tellof Italy, its wars and tribes to be,and of what way each burden and each woemay be escaped, or borne. Her favoring aidwill grant swift, happy voyages to thy prayer.Such counsels Heaven to my lips allows.arise, begone! and by thy glorious deedsset Troy among the stars! “So spake the prophet with benignant voice.Then gifts he bade be brought of heavy goldand graven ivory, which to our shipshe bade us bear; each bark was Ioaded fullwith messy silver and Dodona's prideof brazen cauldrons; a cuirass he gaveof linked gold enwrought and triple chain;a noble helmet, too, with flaming crestand lofty cone, th' accoutrement erewhileof Neoptolemus. My father toohad fit gifts from the King; whose bounty thengave steeds and riders; and new gear was sentto every sea-worn ship, while he suppliedseafarers, kit to all my loyal crews.
“Huc ubi delatus Cumaeam accesseris urbem,”“divinosque lacus, et Averna sonantia silvis,”“insanam vatem aspicies, quae rupe sub ima”“fata canit, foliisque notas et nomina mandat.”“Quaecumque in foliis descripsit carmina virgo,”“digerit in numerum, atque antro seclusa relinquit.”“Illa manent immota locis, neque ab ordine cedunt;”“verum eadem, verso tenuis cum cardine ventus”“impulit et teneras turbavit ianua frondes,”“numquam deinde cavo volitantia prendere saxo,”“nec revocare situs aut iungere carmina curat:”“inconsulti abeunt, sedemque odere Sibyllae.”“Hic tibi ne qua morae fuerint dispendia tanti,—”“quamvis increpitent socii, et vi cursus in altum”“vela vocet, possisque sinus implere secundos,—”“quin adeas vatem precibusque oracula poscas”“ipsa canat, vocemque volens atque ora resolvat.”“Illa tibi Italiae populos venturaque bella,”“et quo quemque modo fugiasque ferasque laborem”“expediet, cursusque dabit venerata secundos.”“Haec sunt, quae nostra liceat te voce moneri.”“Vade age, et ingentem factis fer ad aethera Troiam.”Quae postquam vates sic ore effatus amico est,dona dehinc auro gravia sectoque elephantoimperat ad navis ferri, stipatque carinisingens argentum, Dodonaeosque lebetas,loricam consertam hamis auroque trilicem,et conum insignis galeae cristasque comantis,arma Neoptolemi; sunt et sua dona parenti.Addit equos, additque duces;remigium supplet; socios simul instruit armis.
Anchises bade us speedily set sail,nor lose a wind so fair; and answering him,Apollo's priest made reverent adieu:“Anchises, honored by the love sublimeof Venus, self and twice in safety bornefrom falling Troy, chief care of kindly Heaven,th' Ausonian shore is thine. Sail thitherward!For thou art pre-ordained to travel faro'er yonder seas; far in the distance liesthat region of Ausonia, Phoebus' voiceto thee made promise of. Onward, I say,o blest in the exceeding loyal loveof thy dear son! Why keep thee longer now?Why should my words yon gathering winds detain?”Likewise Andromache in mournful guisetook last farewell, bringing embroidered robesof golden woof; a princely Phrygian cloakshe gave Ascanius, vying with the Kingin gifts of honor; and threw o'er the boythe labors of her loom, with words like these:“Accept these gifts, sweet youth, memorialsof me and my poor handicraft, to proveth' undying friendship of Andromache,once Hector's wife. Take these last offeringsof those who are thy kin—O thou that artof my Astyanax in all this worldthe only image! His thy lovely eyes!Thy hands, thy lips, are even what he bore,and like thy own his youthful bloom would be.”Thus I made answer, turning to departwith rising tears: “Live on, and be ye blessed,whose greatness is accomplished! As for me,from change to change Fate summons, and I go;but ye have won repose. No leagues of seaawait your cleaving keel. Not yours the questof fading Italy's delusive shore.Here a new Xanthus and a second Troyyour labor fashioned and your eyes may see—more blest, I trust, less tempting to our foes!If e'er on Tiber and its bordering valesI safely enter, and these eyes beholdour destined walls, then in fraternal bondlet our two nations live, whose mutual boastis one Dardanian blood, one common story.Epirus with Hesperia shall beone Troy in heart and soul. But this remainsfor our sons' sons the happy task and care.”
Interea classem velis aptare iubebatAnchises, fieret vento mora ne qua ferenti.Quem Phoebi interpres multo compellat honore:“Coniugio, Anchise, Veneris dignate superbo,”“cura deum, bis Pergameis erepte ruinis,”“ecce tibi Ausoniae tellus; hanc arripe velis.”“Et tamen hanc pelago praeterlabare necesse est;”“Ausoniae pars illa procul, quam pandit Apollo.”“Vade” ait “O felix nati pietate. Quid ultra”“provehor, et fando surgentis demoror austros?”Nec minus Andromache digressu maesta supremofert picturatas auri subtemine vesteset Phrygiam Ascanio chlamydem (nec cedit honore),textilibusque onerat donis, ac talia fatur:“Accipe et haec, manuum tibi quae monumenta mearum”“sint, puer, et longum Andromachae testentur amorem,”“coniugis Hectoreae. Cape dona extrema tuorum,”“O mihi sola mei super Astyanactis imago:”“sic oculos, sic ille manus, sic ora ferebat;”“et nunc aequali tecum pubesceret aevo.”Hos ego digrediens lacrimis adfabar obortis:“Vivite felices, quibus est fortuna peracta”“iam sua; nos alia ex aliis in fata vocamur.”“Vobis parta quies; nullum maris aequor arandum,”“arva neque Ausoniae semper cedentia retro”“quaerenda. Effigiem Xanthi Troiamque videtis”“quam vestrae fecere manus, melioribus, opto,”“auspiciis, et quae fuerit minus obvia Graiis.”“Si quando Thybrim vicinaque Thybridis arva”“intraro, gentique meae data moenia cernam,”“cognatas urbes olim populosque propinquos,”“Epiro, Hesperia, quibus idem Dardanus auctor”“atque idem casus, unam faciemus utramque”“Troiam animis; maneat nostros ea cura nepotes.”
Forth o'er the seas we sped and kept our coursenigh the Ceraunian headland, where beginsthe short sea-passage unto Italy.Soon sank the sun, while down the shadowed hillsstole deeper gloom; then making shore, we flungour bodies on a dry, sea-bordering sand,couched on earth's welcome breast; the oars were rangedin order due; the tides of slumber darko'erflowed our lives. But scarce the chariotof Night, on wings of swift, obedient Hours,had touched the middle sky, when wakeful spranggood Palinurus from his pillowed stone:with hand at ear he caught each airy gustand questioned of the winds; the gliding starshe called by name, as onward they advancedthrough the still heaven; Arcturus he beheld,the Hyades, rain-bringers, the twin Bears,and vast Orion girt in golden arms.He blew a trumpet from his ship; our campstirred to the signal for embarking; soonwe rode the seas once more with swelling sail.
Provehimur pelago vicina Ceraunia iuxta,unde iter Italiam cursusque brevissimus undis.Sol ruit interea et montes umbrantur opaci;sternimur optatae gremio telluris ad undam,sortiti remos, passimque in litore siccocorpora curamus; fessos sopor inrigat artus.Necdum orbem medium Nox horis acta subibat:haud segnis strato surgit Palinurus et omnisexplorat ventos, atque auribus aera captat;sidera cuncta notat tacito labentia caelo,Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Triones,armatumque auro circumspicit Oriona.Postquam cuncta videt caelo constare sereno,dat clarum e puppi signum; nos castra movemus,temptamusque viam et velorum pandimus alas.
Scarce had Aurora's purple from the skywarned off the stars, when Iying very lowalong th' horizon, the dimmed hills we sawof Italy; Achates first gave cry“Italia!” with answering shouts of joy,my comrades' voices cried, “Italia, hail!”Anchises, then, wreathed a great bowl with flowersand filled with wine, invoking Heaven to bless,and thus he prayed from our ship's lofty stern:“O Iords of land and sea and every storm!Breathe favoring breezes for our onward way!”Fresh blew the prayed-for winds. A haven fairsoon widened near us; and its heights were crownedby a Greek fane to Pallas. Yet my menfurled sail and shoreward veered the pointing prow.the port receding from the orient waveis curved into a bow; on either sidethe jutting headlands toss the salt sea-foamand hide the bay itself. Like double wallthe towered crags send down protecting arms,while distant from the shore the temple stands.Here on a green sward, the first omen given,I saw four horses grazing through the field,each white as snow. Father Anchises cried:“Is war thy gift, O new and alien land?Horses make war; of war these creatures bode.Yet oft before the chariot of peacetheir swift hoofs go, and on their necks they bearth' obedient yoke and rein. Therefore a hopeof peace is also ours.” Then we imploredMinerva's mercy, at her sacred shrine,the mail-clad goddess who gave welcome there;and at an altar, mantling well our browsthe Phrygian way, as Helenus ordained,we paid the honors his chief counsel urged,with blameless rite, to Juno, Argive Queen.
Iamque rubescebat stellis Aurora fugatis,cum procul obscuros collis humilemque videmusItaliam. “Italiam” primus conclamat Achates,“Italiam” laeto socii clamore salutant.Tum pater Anchises magnum cratera coronainduit, implevitque mero, divosque vocavitstans celsa in puppi:“Di maris et terrae tempestatumque potentes,”“ferte viam vento facilem et spirate secundi.”Crebrescunt optatae aurae portusque patescitiam propior, templumque adparet in arce Minervae.Vela legunt socii et proras ad litora torquent.Portus ab Euroo fluctu curvatus in arcum,obiectae salsa spumant aspargine cautes;ipse latet; gemino demittunt bracchia muroturriti scopuli, refugitque ab litore templum.Quattuor hic, primum omen, equos in gramine viditondentis campum late, candore nivali.Et pater Anchises: “Bellum, O terra hospita, portas”“bello armantur equi, bellum haec armenta minantur.”“Sed tamen idem olim curru succedere sueti”“quadrupedes, et frena iugo concordia ferre;”“spes et pacis” ait. Tum numina sancta precamurPalladis armisonae, quae prima accepit ovantis,et capita ante aras Phrygio velamur amictu;praeceptisque Heleni, dederat quae maxima, riteIunoni Argivae iussos adolemus honores.
No tarrying now, but after sacrificewe twirled the sailyards and shook out all sail,leaving the cities of the sons of Greeceand that distrusted land. Tarentum's baysoon smiled before us, town of Hercules,if fame be true; opposing it uptowersLacinia's headland unto Juno dear,the heights of Caulon, and that sailors' bane,ship-shattering Scylaceum. Thence half seen,trinacrian Aetna cleaves th' horizon line;we hear from far the crash of shouting seas,where lifted billows leap the tide-swept sand.Father Anchises cried: “'T is none but she—Charybdis! Helenus this reef foretold,and rocks of dreadful name. O, fly, my men!Rise like one man with long, strong sweep of oars!”Not unobedient they! First Palinureveered to the leftward wave the willing keel,and sails and oars together leftward strove.We shot to skyward on the arching surge,then, as she sank, dropped deeper than the grave;thrice bellowed the vast cliffs from vaulted wall;thrice saw we spouted foam and showers of stars.After these things both wind and sun did fail;and weary, worn, not witting of our way,we drifted shoreward to the Cyclops' land.
Haud mora, continuo perfectis ordine votis,cornua velatarum obvertimus antemarum,Graiugenumque domos suspectaque linquimus arva.Hinc sinus Herculei (si vera est fama) Tarenticernitur; attollit se diva Lacinia contra,Caulonisque arces et navifragum Scylaceum.Tum procul e fluctu Trinacria cernitur Aetna,et gemitum ingentem pelagi pulsataque saxaaudimus longe fractasque ad litora voces,exsultantque vada, atque aestu miscentur harenae.Et pater Anchises: “Nimirum haec illa Charybdis:”“hos Helenus scopulos, haec saxa horrenda canebat.”“Eripite, O socii, pariterque insurgite remis!”Haud minus ac iussi faciunt, primusque rudentemcontorsit laevas proram Palinurus ad undas.laevam cuncta cohors remis ventisque petivit.Tollimur in caelum curvato gurgite, et idemsubducta ad Manis imos desedimus unda.Ter scopuli clamorem inter cava saxa dedere:ter spumam elisam et rorantia vidimus astra.Interea fessos ventus cum sole reliquit,ignarique viae Cyclopum adlabimur oris.
A spreading bay is there, impregnableto all invading storms; and Aetna's throatwith roar of frightful ruin thunders nigh.Now to the realm of light it lifts a cloudof pitch-black, whirling smoke, and fiery dust,shooting out globes of flame, with monster tonguesthat lick the stars; now huge crags of itself,out of the bowels of the mountain torn,its maw disgorges, while the molten rockrolls screaming skyward; from the nether deepthe fathomless abyss makes ebb and flow.Enceladus, his body lightning-scarred,lies prisoned under all, so runs the tale:o'er him gigantic Aetna breathes in firefrom crack and seam; and if he haply turnto change his wearied side, Trinacria's isletrembles and moans, and thick fumes mantle heaven.That night in screen and covert of a grovewe bore the dire convulsion, unawarewhence the loud horror came. For not a starits lamp allowed, nor burned in upper skythe constellated fires, but all was gloom,and frowning night confined the moon in cloud.
Portus ab accessu ventorum immotus et ingensipse; sed horrificis iuxta tonat Aetna ruinis;interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem,turbine fumantem piceo et candente favilla,attollitque globos flammarum et sidera lambit;interdum scopulos avolsaque viscera montiserigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub aurascum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exaestuat imo.Fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpusurgueri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Aetnamimpositam ruptis flammam exspirare caminis;et fessum quotiens mutet latus, intremere omnemmurmure Trinacriam, et caelum subtexere fumo.Noctem illam tecti silvis immania monstraperferimus, nec quae sonitum det causa videmus.Nam neque erant astrorum ignes, nec lucidus aethrasiderea polus, obscuro sed nubila caelo,et lunam in nimbo nox intempesta tenebat.
When from the eastern waves the light of mornbegan to peer, and from the upper skyAurora flamed away the dark and dew,out of the forest sprang a startling shapeof hunger-wasted misery; a manin wretched guise, who shoreward came with handsoutstretched in supplication. We turned backand scanned him well. All grime and foulness he,with long and tangled beard, his savage garbfastened with thorns; but in all else he seemeda Greek, and in his country's league of armssent to the seige of Troy. Then he beheldthe Dardan habit, and our Trojan steel,he somewhat paused, as if in dread dismaysuch sight to see, and falteringly moved;but soon with headlong steps he sought the shore,ejaculating broken sobs and prayers:“By stars above! By gods on high! O, hear!By this bright heavenly air we mortals breathe,save me, sweet Trojans! Carry me awayunto what land ye will! I ask no more.I came, I know it, in the ships of Greece;and I did war, 't is true, with Ilium's gods.O, if the crime deserve it, fling my corseon yonder waves, and in the boundless brinesink me forever! Give me in my deaththe comfort that by human hands I die.”He clasped our knees, and writhing on his ownclung fast. We bid him tell his race and name,and by what fate pursued. Anchises gavehis own right hand in swift and generous aid,and by prompt token cheered the exile's heart,who, banishing his fears, poured forth this tale:—“My home was Ithaca, and I partookthe fortunes of Ulysses evil-starred.My name is Achemenides, my sirewas Adamastus, and I sailed for Troy,being so poor,—O, that I ne'er had changethe lot I bore! In yon vast Cyclops' cavemy comrades, flying from its gruesome door,left me behind, forgotten. 'T is a houseof gory feasts of flesh, 't is deep and dark,and vaulted high. He looms as high as heaven;I pray the blessed gods to rid the earthof the vile monster! None can look on him,none speak with him. He feeds on clotted goreof disembowelled men. These very eyessaw him seize two of our own company,and, as he lolled back in the cave, he clutchedand dashed them on the stones, fouling the floorwith torrent of their blood; myself I saw himcrunch with his teeth the dripping, bloody limbsstill hot and pulsing on his hungry jaw.But not without reward! For such a sightUlysses would not brook, and Ithacaforgot not in such strait the name he bore.For soon as, gorged with feasting and o'ercomewith drunken slumber, the foul giant laysprawled through the cave, his head dropped helpless down,disgorging as he slept thick drool of goreand gobbets drenched with bloody wine; then we,calling on Heaven and taking place by lot,drew round him like one man, and with a beamsharpened at end bored out that monster eye,which, huge and sole, lay under the grim brow,round as an Argive shield or Phoebus' star.Thus took we joyful vengeance for the shadesof our lost mates. But, O ill-fated men!Fly, I implore, and cut the cables freealong the beach! For in the land abide,like Polyphemus, who in hollow cavekept fleecy sheep, and milked his fruitful ewes,a hundred other, huge as he, who rovewide o'er this winding shore and mountains fair:Cyclops accursed, bestial! Thrice the moonhas filled her horns with light, while here I dwellin lonely woods and lairs of creatures wild;or from tall cliffs out-peering I discernthe Cyclops, and shrink shuddering from the soundof their vast step and cry. My sorry fareis berries and hard corners dropped from trees,or herb-roots torn out from the niggard ground.Though watching the whole sea, only todayHave I had sight of ships. To you I fled.Whate'er ye be, it was my only prayerto 'scape that monster brood. I ask no more.O, set me free by any death ye will!”
Postera iamque dies primo surgebat Eoo,umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram:cum subito e silvis, macie confecta suprema,ignoti nova forma viri miserandaque cultuprocedit, supplexque manus ad litora tendit.Respicimus: dira inluvies inmissaque barba,consertum tegumen spinis; at cetera Graius,[et quondam patriis ad Troiam missus in armis.]Isque ubi Dardanios habitus et Troia viditarma procul, paulum aspectu conterritus haesit,continuitque gradum; mox sese ad litora praecepscum fletu precibusque tulit: “Per sidera testor,”“per superos atque hoc caeli spirabile lumen,”“tollite me, Teucri; quascumque abducite terras;”“hoc sat erit. Scio me Danais e classibus unum,”“et bello Iliacos fateor petiisse Penatis;”“pro quo, si sceleris tanta est iniuria nostri,”“spargite me in fluctus, vastoque inmergite ponto.”“Si pereo, hominum manibus periisse iuvabit.”Dixerat, et genua amplexus genibusque volutanshaerebat. Qui sit, fari, quo sanguine cretus,hortamur; quae deinde agitet fortuna, fateri.Ipse pater dextram Anchises, haud multa moratus,dat iuveni, atque animum praesenti pignore firmat.Ille haec, deposita tandem formidine, fatur:“Sum patria ex Ithaca, comes infelicis Ulixi,”“nomine Achaemenides, Troiam genitore Adamasto”“paupere—mansissetque utinam fortuna!—profectus.”“Hic me, dum trepidi crudelia limina linquunt,”“inmemores socii vasto Cyclopis in antro”“deseruere. Domus sanie dapibusque cruentis,”“intus opaca, ingens; ipse arduus, altaque pulsat”“sidera—Di, talem terris avertite pestem!—”“nec visu facilis nec dictu adfabilis ulli.”“Visceribus miserorum et sanguine vescitur atro.”“Vidi egomet, duo de numero cum corpora nostro”“prensa manu magna, medio resupinus in antro,”“frangeret ad saxum, sanieque aspersa natarent”“limina; vidi atro cum membra fluentia tabo”“manderet, et tepidi tremerent sub dentibus artus.”“Haud impune quidem; nec talia passus Ulixes,”“oblitusve sui est Ithacus discrimine tanto.”“Nam simul expletus dapibus vinoque sepultus”“cervicem inflexam posuit, iacuitque per antrum”“immensus, saniem eructans et frusta cruento”“per somnum commixta mero, nos magna precati”“numina sortitique vices, una undique circum”“fundimur, et telo lumen terebramus acuto,—”“ingens, quod torva solum sub fronte latebat,”“Argolici clipei aut Phoebeae lampadis instar,—”“et tandem laeti sociorum ulciscimur umbras.”“Sed fugite, O miseri, fugite, atque ab litore funem”“rumpite.”“Nam qualis quantusque cavo Polyphemus in antro”“lanigeras claudit pecudes atque ubera pressat,”“centum alii curva haec habitant ad litora volgo”“infandi Cyclopes, et altis montibus errant.”“Tertia iam lunae se cornua lumine complent,”“cum vitam in silvis inter deserta ferarum”“lustra domosque traho, vastosque ab rupe Cyclopas”“prospicio, sonitumque pedum vocemque tremesco.”“Victum infelicem, bacas lapidosaque corna,”“dant rami et volsis pascunt radicibus herbae.”“Omnia conlustrans, hanc primum ad litora classem”“conspexi venientem. Huic me, quaecumque fuisset,”“addixi: satis est gentem effugisse nefandam.”“Vos animam hanc potius quocumque absumite leto.”
He scarce had said, when moving o'er the crestof a high hill a giant shape we saw:that shepherd Polyphemus, with his flocksdown-wending to the well-known water-side;huge, shapeless, horrible, with blinded eye,bearing a lopped pine for a staff, he madehis footing sure, while the white, fleecy sheep,sole pleasure now, and solace of his woes,ran huddling at his side.Soon to the vast flood of the level brinehe came, and washed the flowing gore awayfrom that out-hollowed eye; he gnashed his teeth,groaning, and deep into the watery waystalked on, his tall bulk wet by scarce a wave.We fled in haste, though far, and with us borethe truthful suppliant; cut silentlythe anchor-ropes, and, bending to the oar,swept on with eager strokes clean out to sea.Aware he was, and toward our loud halloowhirled sudden round; but when no power had heto seize or harm, nor could his fierce pursuito'ertake the Ionian surges as they rolled,he raised a cry incredible; the seawith all its billows trembled; the wide shoreof Italy from glens and gorges moaned,and Aetna roared from every vaulted cave.
Vix ea fatus erat, summo cum monte videmusipsum inter pecudes vasta se mole moventempastorem Polyphemum et litora nota petentem,monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum.Trunca manu pinus regit et vestigia firmat;lanigerae comitantur oves—ea sola voluptassolamenque mali.Postquam altos tetigit fluctus et ad aequora venit,luminis effossi fluidum lavit inde cruorem,dentibus infrendens gemitu, graditurque per aequoriam medium, necdum fluctus latera ardua tinxit.Nos procul inde fugam trepidi celerare, receptosupplice sic merito, tacitique incidere funem;vertimus et proni certantibus aequora remis.Sensit, et ad sonitum vocis vestigia torsit;verum ubi nulla datur dextra adfectare potestas,nec potis Ionios fluctus aequare sequendo,clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omnescontremuere undae, penitusque exterrita tellusItaliae, curvisque immugiit Aetna cavernis.
Then rallied from the grove-clad, Iofty islethe Cyclops' clan, and lined the beach and bay.We saw each lonely eyeball glare in vain,as side by side those brothers Aetna-bornstood towering high, a conclave dark and dire:as when, far up some mountain's famous crest,wind-fronting oaks or cone-clad cypresseshave made assembling in the solemn hills,Jove's giant wood or Dian's sacred grove.We, terror-struck, would fly we knew not where,with loosened sheet and canvas swelling strongbefore a welcome wind; but Helenusbade us both Scylla and Charybdis fear,where 'twixt the twain death straitly hems the way;and so the counsel was to veer our barkthe course it came. But lo! a northern galeburst o'er us from Pelorus' narrowed side,and on we rode far past Pantagia's bayof unhewn rock, and past the haven strongof Megara, and Thapsus Iying low.Such were the names retold, and such the shoresshown us by Achemenides, whose fatemade him familiar there, for he had sailedwith evil-starred Ulysses o'er that sea.
At genus e silvis Cyclopum et montibus altisexcitum ruit ad portus et litora complent.Cernimus adstantis nequiquam lumine torvoAetnaeos fratres, caelo capita alta ferentis,concilium horrendum: quales cum vertice celsoaeriae quercus, aut coniferae cyparissiconstiterunt, silva alta Iovis, lucusve Dianae.Praecipites metus acer agit quocumque rudentisexcutere, et ventis intendere vela secundis.Contra iussa monent Heleni Scyllam atque Charybdininter, utramque viam leti discrimine parvo,ni teneant cursus; certum est dare lintea retro.Ecce autem Boreas angusta ab sede Pelorimissus adest. Vivo praetervehor ostia saxoPantagiae Megarosque sinus Thapsumque iacentem.Talia monstrabat relegens errata retrorsuslitora Achaemenides; comes infelicis Ulixi.
Off the Sicilian shore an island lies,wave-washed Plemmyrium, called in olden daysOrtygia; here Alpheus, river-god,from Elis flowed by secret sluice, they say,beneath the sea, and mingles at thy mouth,fair Arethusa! with Sicilian waves.Our voices hailed the great gods of the landwith reverent prayer; then skirted we the shore,where smooth Helorus floods the fruitful plain.Under Pachynus' beetling precipicewe kept our course; then Camarina rosein distant view, firm-seated evermoreby Fate's decree; and that far-spreading valeof Gela, with the name of power it takesfrom its wide river; and, uptowering far,the ramparts of proud Acragas appeared,where fiery steeds were bred in days of old.Borne by the winds, along thy coast I fled,Selinus, green with palm! and past the shoreof Lilybaeum with its treacherous reef;till at the last the port of Drepanumreceived me to its melancholy strand.Here, woe is me I outworn by stormful seas,my sire, sole comfort of my grievous doom,Anchises ceased to be. O best of sires!Here didst thou leave me in the weary way;through all our perils—O the bitter loss! —borne safely, but in vain. King Helenus,whose prophet-tongue of dark events foretold,spoke not this woe; nor did Celeno's curseof this forebode. Such my last loss and pain;such, of my weary way, the destined goal.From thence departing, the divine behestimpelled me to thy shores, O listening queen!
Sicanio praetenta sinu iacet insula contraPlemyrium undosum; nomen dixere prioresOrtygiam. Alpheum fama est huc Elidis amnemoccultas egisse vias subter mare; qui nuncore, Arethusa, tuo Siculis confunditur undis.Iussi numina magna loci veneramur; et indeexsupero praepingue solum stagnantis Helori.Hinc altas cautes proiectaque saxa Pachyniradimus, et fatis numquam concessa moveriadparet Camerina procul campique Geloi,immanisque Gela fluvii cognomine dicta.Arduus inde Acragas ostentat maxuma longemoenia, magnanimum quondam generator equorum;teque datis linquo ventis, palmosa Selinus,et vada dura lego saxis Lilybeia caecis.Hinc Drepani me portus et inlaetabilis oraaccipit. Hic, pelagi tot tempestatibus actis,heu genitorem, omnis curae casusque levamen,amitto Anchisen: hic me, pater optume, fessumdeseris, heu, tantis nequiquam erepte periclis!Nec vates Helenus, cum multa horrenda moneret,hos mihi praedixit luctus, non dira Celaeno.Hic labor extremus, longarum haec meta viarum.Hinc me digressum vestris deus adpulit oris.
Such was, while all gave ear, the tale sublimefather Aeneas, none but he, set forthof wanderings and of dark decrees divine:silent at last, he ceased, and took repose.
Sic pater Aeneas intentis omnibus unusfata renarrabat divom, cursusque docebat.Conticuit tandem, factoque hic fine quievit.