---
title: "Aeneid · Aeneis"
author: "Virgil"
translator: "Theodore C. Williams"
title_ru: "Энеида"
author_ru: "Вергилий"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 7 of 24
url: https://scriptura.si/works/virgil-aeneid/7/
cite: "Virgil, tr. Theodore C. Williams, Aeneid · Aeneis, section 7. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/virgil-aeneid/7/"
---

# Aeneid · Aeneis

*Virgil, tr. Theodore C. Williams*

Russian: Энеида, Вергилий

Aeneas flees burning Troy, loves and leaves Dido, goes down to the underworld and fights for a new home in Italy: Virgil’s Latin beside English verse.

> Latin: ed. J. B. Greenough, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0690.phi003, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Theodore C. Williams, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0690.phi003.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (line numbers), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 7. Book IV · lines 1–361

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/virgil-aeneid/7/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/virgil-aeneid/7/#p-N

[¶0] Now felt the Queen the sharp, slow-gathering pangs
of love; and out of every pulsing vein
nourished the wound and fed its viewless fire.
Her hero's virtues and his lordly line
keep calling to her soul; his words, his glance,
cling to her heart like lingering, barbed steel,
and rest and peace from her vexed body fly.
A new day's dawn with Phoebus' lamp divine
lit up all lands, and from the vaulted heaven
Aurora had dispelled the dark and dew;
when thus unto the ever-answering heart
of her dear sister spoke the stricken Queen:
“Anna, my sister, what disturbing dreams
perplex me and alarm? What guest is this
new-welcomed to our house? How proud his mien!
What dauntless courage and exploits of war!
Sooth, I receive it for no idle tale
that of the gods he sprang. 'T is cowardice
betrays the base-born soul. Ah me! How fate
has smitten him with storms! What dire extremes
of war and horror in his tale he told!
O, were it not immutably resolved
in my fixed heart, that to no shape of man
I would be wed again (since my first love
left me by death abandoned and betrayed);
loathed I not so the marriage torch and train,
I could—who knows?—to this one weakness yield.
Anna, I hide it not! But since the doom
of my ill-starred Sichaeus, when our shrines
were by a brother's murder dabbled o'er,
this man alone has moved me; he alone
has shaken my weak will. I seem to feel
the motions of love's lost, familiar fire.
But may the earth gape open where I tread,
and may almighty Jove with thunder-scourge
hurl me to Erebus' abysmal shade,
to pallid ghosts and midnight fathomless,
before, O Chastity! I shall offend
thy holy power, or cast thy bonds away!
He who first mingled his dear life with mine
took with him all my heart. 'T is his alone —
o, let it rest beside him in the grave!”
She spoke: the bursting tears her breast o'erflowed.

> Latin: At regina gravi iamdudum saucia cura
volnus alit venis, et caeco carpitur igni.
Multa viri virtus animo, multusque recursat
gentis honos: haerent infixi pectore voltus
verbaque, nec placidam membris dat cura quietem.
Postera Phoebea lustrabat lampade terras,
umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram,
cum sic unanimam adloquitur male sana sororem:
“Anna soror, quae me suspensam insomnia terrent!”
“Quis novus hic nostris successit sedibus hospes,”
“quem sese ore ferens, quam forti pectore et armis!”
“Credo equidem, nec vana fides, genus esse deorum.”
“Degeneres animos timor arguit: heu, quibus ille”
“iactatus fatis! Quae bella exhausta canebat!”
“Si mihi non animo fixum immotumque sederet,”
“ne cui me vinclo vellem sociare iugali,”
“postquam primus amor deceptam morte fefellit;”
“si non pertaesum thalami taedaeque fuisset,”
“huic uni forsan potui succumbere culpae.”
“Anna, fatebor enim, miseri post fata Sychaei”
“coniugis et sparsos fraterna caede Penatis,”
“solus hic inflexit sensus, animumque labantem”
“impulit: adgnosco veteris vestigia flammae.”
“Sed mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehiscat,”
“vel Pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad umbras,”
“pallentis umbras Erebi noctemque profundam,”
“ante, Pudor, quam te violo, aut tua iura resolvo.”
“Ille meos, primus qui me sibi iunxit, amores”
“abstulit; ille habeat secum servetque sepulchro.”
Sic effata sinum lacrimis implevit obortis.

[¶1] “O dearer to thy sister than her life,”
Anna replied, “wouldst thou in sorrow's weed
waste thy long youth alone, nor ever know
sweet babes at thine own breast, nor gifts of love?
Will dust and ashes, or a buried ghost
reck what we do? 'T is true thy grieving heart
was cold to earlier wooers, Libya's now,
and long ago in Tyre. Iarbas knew
thy scorn, and many a prince and captain bred
in Afric's land of glory. Why resist
a love that makes thee glad? Hast thou no care
what alien lands are these where thou dost reign?
Here are Gaetulia's cities and her tribes
unconquered ever; on thy borders rove
Numidia's uncurbed cavalry; here too
lies Syrtis' cruel shore, and regions wide
of thirsty desert, menaced everywhere
by the wild hordes of Barca. Shall I tell
of Tyre's hostilities, the threats and rage
of our own brother? Friendly gods, I bow,
wafted the Teucrian ships, with Juno's aid,
to these our shores. O sister, what a throne,
and what imperial city shall be thine,
if thus espoused! With Trojan arms allied
how far may not our Punic fame extend
in deeds of power? Call therefore on the gods
to favor thee; and, after omens fair,
give queenly welcome, and contrive excuse
to make him tarry, while yon wintry seas
are loud beneath Orion's stormful star,
and on his battered ships the season frowns.”

> Latin: Anna refert: “O luce magis dilecta sorori,”
“solane perpetua maerens carpere iuventa,”
“nec dulcis natos, Veneris nec praemia noris?”
“Id cinerem aut Manis credis curare sepultos?”
“Esto: aegram nulli quondam flexere mariti,”
“non Libyae, non ante Tyro; despectus Iarbas”
“ductoresque alii, quos Africa terra triumphis”
“dives alit: placitone etiam pugnabis amori?”
“Nec venit in mentem, quorum consederis arvis?”
“Hinc Gaetulae urbes, genus insuperabile bello,”
“et Numidae infreni cingunt et inhospita Syrtis;”
“hinc deserta siti regio, lateque furentes”
“Barcaei. Quid bella Tyro surgentia dicam,”
“germanique minas?”
“Dis equidem auspicibus reor et Iunone secunda”
“hunc cursum Iliacas vento tenuisse carinas.”
“Quam tu urbem, soror, hanc cernes, quae surgere regna”
“coniugio tali! Teucrum comitantibus armis”
“Punica se quantis attollet gloria rebus!”
“Tu modo posce deos veniam, sacrisque litatis”
“indulge hospitio, causasque innecte morandi,”
“dum pelago desaevit hiemps et aquosus Orion,”
“quassataeque rates, dum non tractabile caelum.”

[¶2] So saying, she stirred a passion-burning breast
to Iove more madly still; her words infused
a doubting mind with hope, and bade the blush
of shame begone. First to the shrines they went
and sued for grace; performing sacrifice,
choosing an offering of unblemished ewes,
to law-bestowing Ceres, to the god
of light, to sire Lyeus, Iord of wine;
but chiefly unto Juno, patroness
of nuptial vows. There Dido, beauteous Queen
held forth in her right hand the sacred bowl
and poured it full between the lifted horns
of the white heifer; or on temple floors
she strode among the richly laden shrines,
the eyes of gods upon her, worshipping
with many a votive gift; or, peering deep
into the victims' cloven sides, she read
the fate-revealing tokens trembling there.
How blind the hearts of prophets be! Alas!
Of what avail be temples and fond prayers
to change a frenzied mind? Devouring ever,
love's fire burns inward to her bones; she feels
quick in her breast the viewless, voiceless wound.
Ill-fated Dido ranges up and down
the spaces of her city, desperate
her life one flame—like arrow-stricken doe
through Cretan forest rashly wandering,
pierced by a far-off shepherd, who pursues
with shafts, and leaves behind his light-winged steed,
not knowing; while she scours the dark ravines
of Dicte and its woodlands; at her heart
the mortal barb irrevocably clings.
around her city's battlements she guides
aeneas, to make show of Sidon's gold,
and what her realm can boast; full oft her voice
essays to speak and frembling dies away:
or, when the daylight fades, she spreads anew
a royal banquet, and once more will plead
mad that she is, to hear the Trojan sorrow;
and with oblivious ravishment once more
hangs on his lips who tells; or when her guests
are scattered, and the wan moon's fading horn
bedims its ray, while many a sinking star
invites to slumber, there she weeps alone
in the deserted hall, and casts her down
on the cold couch he pressed. Her love from far
beholds her vanished hero and receives
his voice upon her ears; or to her breast,
moved by a father's image in his child,
she clasps Ascanius, seeking to deceive
her unblest passion so. Her enterprise
of tower and rampart stops: her martial host
no Ionger she reviews, nor fashions now
defensive haven and defiant wall;
but idly all her half-built bastions frown,
and enginery of sieges, high as heaven.

> Latin: His dictis incensum animum inflammavit amore,
spemque dedit dubiae menti, solvitque pudorem.
Principio delubra adeunt, pacemque per aras
exquirunt; mactant lectas de more bidentis
legiferae Cereri Phoeboque patrique Lyaeo,
Iunoni ante omnis, cui vincla iugalia curae.
Ipsa, tenens dextra pateram, pulcherrima Dido
candentis vaccae media inter cornua fundit,
aut ante ora deum pinguis spatiatur ad aras,
instauratque diem donis, pecudumque reclusis
pectoribus inhians spirantia consulit exta.
Heu vatum ignarae mentes! quid vota furentem,
quid delubra iuvant? Est mollis flamma medullas
interea, et tacitum vivit sub pectore volnus.
Uritur infelix Dido, totaque vagatur
urbe furens, qualis coniecta cerva sagitta,
quam procul incautam nemora inter Cresia fixit
pastor agens telis, liquitque volatile ferrum
nescius; illa fuga silvas saltusque peragrat
Dictaeos; haeret lateri letalis arundo.
Nunc media Aenean secum per moenia ducit,
Sidoniasque ostentat opes urbemque paratam;
incipit effari, mediaque in voce resistit;
nunc eadem labente die convivia quaerit,
Iliacosque iterum demens audire labores
exposcit, pendetque iterum narrantis ab ore.
Post, ubi digressi, lumenque obscura vicissim
luna premit suadentque cadentia sidera somnos,
sola domo maeret vacua, stratisque relictis
incubat, illum absens absentem auditque videtque;
aut gremio Ascanium, genitoris imagine capta,
detinet, infandum si fallere possit amorem.
Non coeptae adsurgunt turres, non arma iuventus
exercet, portusve aut propugnacula bello
tuta parant; pendent opera interrupta, minaeque
murorum ingentes aequataque machina caelo.

[¶3] But soon the chosen spouse of Jove perceived
the Queen's infection; and because the voice
of honor to such frenzy spoke not, she,
daughter of Saturn, unto Venus turned
and counselled thus: “How noble is the praise,
how glorious the spoils of victory,
for thee and for thy boy! Your names should be
in lasting, vast renown—that by the snare
of two great gods in league one woman fell!
it 'scapes me not that my protected realms
have ever been thy fear, and the proud halls
of Carthage thy vexation and annoy.
Why further go? Prithee, what useful end
has our long war? Why not from this day forth
perpetual peace and nuptial amity?
Hast thou not worked thy will? Behold and see
how Iove-sick Dido burns, and all her flesh
'The madness feels! So let our common grace
smile on a mingled people! Let her serve
a Phrygian husband, while thy hands receive
her Tyrian subjects for the bridal dower!”

> Latin: Quam simul ac tali persensit peste teneri
cara Iovis coniunx, nec famam obstare furori,
talibus adgreditur Venerem Saturnia dictis:
“Egregiam vero laudem et spolia ampla refertis”
“tuque puerque tuus, magnum et memorabile numen,”
“una dolo divom si femina victa duorum est!”
“Nec me adeo fallit veritam te moenia nostra”
“suspectas habuisse domos Karthaginis altae.”
“Sed quis erit modus, aut quo nunc certamine tanto?”
“Quin potius pacem aeternam pactosque hymenaeos”
“exercemus? Habes, tota quod mente petisti:”
“ardet amans Dido, traxitque per ossa furorem.”
“Communem hunc ergo populum paribusque regamus”
“auspiciis; liceat Phrygio servire marito,”
“dotalisque tuae Tyrios permittere dextrae.”

[¶4] In answer (reading the dissembler's mind
which unto Libyan shores were fain to shift
italia's future throne) thus Venus spoke:
“'T were mad to spurn such favor, or by choice
be numbered with thy foes. But can it be
that fortune on thy noble counsel smiles?
To me Fate shows but dimly whether Jove
unto the Trojan wanderers ordains
a common city with the sons of Tyre,
with mingling blood and sworn, perpetual peace.
His wife thou art; it is thy rightful due
to plead to know his mind. Go, ask him, then!
For humbly I obey!” With instant word
Juno the Queen replied: “Leave that to me!
But in what wise our urgent task and grave
may soon be sped, I will in brief unfold
to thine attending ear. A royal hunt
in sylvan shades unhappy Dido gives
for her Aeneas, when to-morrow's dawn
uplifts its earliest ray and Titan's beam
shall first unveil the world. But I will pour
black storm-clouds with a burst of heavy hail
along their way; and as the huntsmen speed
to hem the wood with snares, I will arouse
all heaven with thunder. The attending train
shall scatter and be veiled in blinding dark,
while Dido and her hero out of Troy
to the same cavern fly. My auspices
I will declare—if thou alike wilt bless;
and yield her in true wedlock for his bride.
Such shall their spousal be!” To Juno's will
Cythera's Queen inclined assenting brow,
and laughed such guile to see.

> Latin: Olli—sensit enim simulata mente locutam,
quo regnum Italiae Libycas averteret oras—
sic contra est ingressa Venus: “Quis talia demens”
“abnuat, aut tecum malit contendere bello,”
“si modo, quod memoras, factum fortuna sequatur.”
“Sed fatis incerta feror, si Iuppiter unam”
“esse velit Tyriis urbem Troiaque profectis,”
“miscerive probet populos, aut foedera iungi.”
“Tu coniunx tibi fas animum temptare precando.”
“Perge; sequar”. Tum sic excepit regia Iuno:
“Mecum erit iste labor: nunc qua ratione, quod instat”
“confieri possit, paucis, adverte, docebo.”
“Venatum Aeneas unaque miserrima Dido”
“in nemus ire parant, ubi primos crastinus ortus”
“extulerit Titan, radiisque retexerit orbem.”
“His ego nigrantem commixta grandine nimbum,”
“dum trepidant alae, saltusque indagine cingunt,”
“desuper infundam, et tonitru caelum omne ciebo.”
“Diffugient comites et nocte tegentur opaca:”
“speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem”
“devenient; adero, et, tua si mihi certa voluntas,”
“[conubio iungam stabili propriamque dicabo,]”
“hic hymenaeus erit.”—Non adversata petenti
adnuit, atque dolis risit Cytherea repertis.

[¶5] Aurora rose,
and left the ocean's rim. The city's gates
pour forth to greet the morn a gallant train
of huntsmen, bearing many a woven snare
and steel-tipped javelin; while to and fro
run the keen-scented dogs and Libyan squires.
The Queen still keeps her chamber; at her doors
the Punic lords await; her palfrey, brave
in gold and purple housing, paws the ground
and fiercely champs the foam-flecked bridle-rein.
At last, with numerous escort, forth she shines:
her Tyrian pall is bordered in bright hues,
her quiver, gold; her tresses are confined
only with gold; her robes of purple rare
meet in a golden clasp. To greet her come
the noble Phrygian guests; among them smiles
the boy Iulus; and in fair array
Aeneas, goodliest of all his train.
In such a guise Apollo (when he leaves
cold Lycian hills and Xanthus' frosty stream
to visit Delos to Latona dear)
ordains the song, while round his altars cry
the choirs of many islands, with the pied,
fantastic Agathyrsi; soon the god
moves o'er the Cynthian steep; his flowing hair
he binds with laurel garland and bright gold;
upon his shining shoulder as he goes
the arrows ring:—not less uplifted mien
aeneas wore; from his illustrious brow
such beauty shone. Soon to the mountains tall
the cavalcade comes nigh, to pathless haunts
of woodland creatures; the wild goats are seen,
from pointed crag descending leap by leap
down the steep ridges; in the vales below
are routed deer, that scour the spreading plain,
and mass their dust-blown squadrons in wild flight,
far from the mountain's bound. Ascanius
flushed with the sport, spurs on a mettled steed
from vale to vale, and many a flying herd
his chase outspeeds; but in his heart he prays
among these tame things suddenly to see
a tusky boar, or, leaping from the hills,
a growling mountain-lion, golden-maned.

> Latin: Oceanum interea surgens Aurora reliquit.
It portis iubare exorto delecta iuventus;
retia rara, plagae, lato venabula ferro,
Massylique ruunt equites et odora canum vis.
Reginam thalamo cunctantem ad limina primi
Poenorum exspectant, ostroque insignis et auro
stat sonipes, ac frena ferox spumantia mandit.
Tandem progreditur, magna stipante caterva,
Sidoniam picto chlamydem circumdata limbo.
Cui pharetra ex auro, crines nodantur in aurum,
aurea purpuream subnectit fibula vestem.
Nec non et Phrygii comites et laetus Iulus
incedunt. Ipse ante alios pulcherrimus omnis
infert se socium Aeneas atque agmina iungit.
Qualis ubi hibernam Lyciam Xanthique fluenta
deserit ac Delum maternam invisit Apollo,
instauratque choros, mixtique altaria circum
Cretesque Dryopesque fremunt pictique Agathyrsi;
ipse iugis Cynthi graditur, mollique fluentem
fronde premit crinem fingens atque implicat auro;
tela sonant umeris: haud illo segnior ibat
Aeneas; tantum egregio decus enitet ore.
Postquam altos ventum in montis atque invia lustra,
ecce ferae, saxi deiectae vertice, caprae
decurrere iugis; alia de parte patentis
transmittunt cursu campos atque agmina cervi
pulverulenta fuga glomerant montisque relinquunt.
At puer Ascanius mediis in vallibus acri
gaudet equo, iamque hos cursu, iam praeterit illos,
spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis
optat aprum, aut fulvum descendere monte leonem.

[¶6] Meanwhile low thunders in the distant sky
mutter confusedly; soon bursts in full
the storm-cloud and the hail. The Tyrian troop
is scattered wide; the chivalry of Troy,
with the young heir of Dardan's kingly line,
of Venus sprung, seek shelter where they may,
with sudden terror; down the deep ravines
the swollen torrents roar. In that same hour
Queen Dido and her hero out of Troy
to the same cavern fly. Old Mother-Earth
and wedlock-keeping Juno gave the sign;
the flash of lightnings on the conscious air
were torches to the bridal; from the hills
the wailing wood-nymphs sobbed a wedding song.
Such was that day of death, the source and spring
of many a woe. For Dido took no heed
of honor and good-name; nor did she mean
her loves to hide; but called the lawlessness
a marriage, and with phrases veiled her shame.

> Latin: Interea magno misceri murmure caelum
incipit; insequitur commixta grandine nimbus;
et Tyrii comites passim et Troiana iuventus
Dardaniusque nepos Veneris diversa per agros
tecta metu petiere; ruunt de montibus amnes.
Speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem
deveniunt: prima et Tellus et pronuba Iuno
dant signum; fulsere ignes et conscius aether
conubiis, summoque ulularunt vertice nymphae.
Ille dies primus leti primusque malorum
causa fuit; neque enim specie famave movetur,
nec iam furtivum Dido meditatur amorem:
coniugium vocat; hoc praetexit nomine culpam.

[¶7] Swift through the Libyan cities Rumor sped.
Rumor! What evil can surpass her speed?
In movement she grows mighty, and achieves
strength and dominion as she swifter flies.
small first, because afraid, she soon exalts
her stature skyward, stalking through the lands
and mantling in the clouds her baleful brow.
The womb of Earth, in anger at high Heaven,
bore her, they say, last of the Titan spawn,
sister to Coeus and Enceladus.
Feet swift to run and pinions like the wind
the dreadful monster wears; her carcase huge
is feathered, and at root of every plume
a peering eye abides; and, strange to tell,
an equal number of vociferous tongues,
foul, whispering lips, and ears, that catch at all.
At night she spreads midway 'twixt earth and heaven
her pinions in the darkness, hissing loud,
nor e'er to happy slumber gives her eyes:
but with the morn she takes her watchful throne
high on the housetops or on lofty towers,
to terrify the nations. She can cling
to vile invention and malignant wrong,
or mingle with her word some tidings true.
She now with changeful story filled men's ears,
exultant, whether false or true she sung:
how, Trojan-born Aeneas having come,
Dido, the lovely widow, Iooked his way,
deigning to wed; how all the winter long
they passed in revel and voluptuous ease,
to dalliance given o'er; naught heeding now
of crown or kingdom—shameless! lust-enslaved!
Such tidings broadcast on the lips of men
the filthy goddess spread; and soon she hied
to King Iarbas, where her hateful song
to newly-swollen wrath his heart inflamed.

> Latin: Extemplo Libyae magnas it Fama per urbes—
Fama, malum qua non aliud velocius ullum;
mobilitate viget, viresque adquirit eundo,
parva metu primo, mox sese attollit in auras,
ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit.
Illam Terra parens, ira inritata deorum,
extremam (ut perhibent) Coeo Enceladoque sororem
progenuit, pedibus celerem et pernicibus alis,
monstrum horrendum, ingens, cui, quot sunt corpore plumae
tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu,
tot linguae, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit aures.
Nocte volat caeli medio terraeque per umbram,
stridens, nec dulci declinat lumina somno;
luce sedet custos aut summi culmine tecti,
turribus aut altis, et magnas territat urbes;
tam ficti pravique tenax, quam nuntia veri.
Haec tum multiplici populos sermone replebat
gaudens, et pariter facta atque infecta canebat:
venisse Aenean, Troiano sanguine cretum,
cui se pulchra viro dignetur iungere Dido;
nunc hiemem inter se luxu, quam longa, fovere
regnorum immemores turpique cupidine captos.
Haec passim dea foeda virum diffundit in ora.
Protinus ad regem cursus detorquet Iarban,
incenditque animum dictis atque aggerat iras.

[¶8] Him the god Ammon got by forced embrace
upon a Libyan nymph; his kingdoms wide
possessed a hundred ample shrines to Jove,
a hundred altars whence ascended ever
the fires of sacrifice, perpetual seats
for a great god's abode, where flowing blood
enriched the ground, and on the portals hung
garlands of every flower. The angered King,
half-maddened by malignant Rumor's voice,
unto his favored altars came, and there,
surrounded by the effluence divine,
upraised in prayer to Jove his suppliant hands.
“Almighty Jupiter, to whom each day,
at banquet on the painted couch reclined,
Numidia pours libation! Do thine eyes
behold us? Or when out of yonder heaven,
o sire, thou launchest the swift thunderbolt,
is it for naught we fear thee? Do the clouds
shoot forth blind fire to terrify the soul
with wild, unmeaning roar? O, Iook upon
that woman, who was homeless in our realm,
and bargained where to build her paltry town,
receiving fertile coastland for her farms,
by hospitable grant! She dares disdain
our proffered nuptial vow. She has proclaimed
Aeneas partner of her bed and throne.
And now that Paris, with his eunuch crew,
beneath his chin and fragrant, oozy hair
ties the soft Lydian bonnet, boasting well
his stolen prize. But we to all these fanes,
though they be thine, a fruitless offering bring,
and feed on empty tales our trust in thee.”

> Latin: Hic Hammone satus, rapta Garamantide Nympha,
templa Iovi centum latis immania regnis,
centum aras posuit, vigilemque sacraverat ignem,
excubias divom aeternas, pecudumque cruore
pingue solum et variis florentia limina sertis.
Isque amens animi et rumore accensus amaro
dicitur ante aras media inter numina divom
multa Iovem manibus supplex orasse supinis:
“Iuppiter omnipotens, cui nunc Maurusia pictis”
“gens epulata toris Lenaeum libat honorem,”
“aspicis haec, an te, genitor, cum fulmina torques,”
“nequiquam horremus, caecique in nubibus ignes”
“terrificant animos et inania murmura miscent?”
“Femina, quae nostris errans in finibus urbem”
“exiguam pretio posuit, cui litus arandum”
“cuique loci leges dedimus, conubia nostra”
“reppulit, ac dominum Aenean in regna recepit.”
“Et nunc ille Paris cum semiviro comitatu,”
“Maeonia mentum mitra crinemque madentem”
“subnexus, rapto potitur: nos munera templis”
“quippe tuis ferimus, famamque fovemus inanem.”

[¶9] As thus he prayed and to the altars clung,
th' Omnipotent gave ear, and turned his gaze
upon the royal dwelling, where for love
the amorous pair forgot their place and name.
Then thus to Mercury he gave command:
“Haste thee, my son, upon the Zephyrs call,
and take thy winged way! My mandate bear
unto that prince of Troy who tarries now
in Tyrian Carthage, heedless utterly
of empire Heaven-bestowed. On winged winds
hasten with my decrees. Not such the man
his beauteous mother promised; not for this
twice did she shield him from the Greeks in arms:
but that he might rule Italy, a land
pregnant with thrones and echoing with war;
that he of Teucer's seed a race should sire,
and bring beneath its law the whole wide world.
If such a glory and event supreme
enkindle not his bosom; if such task
to his own honor speak not; can the sire
begrudge Ascanius the heritage
of the proud name of Rome? What plans he now?
What mad hope bids him linger in the lap
of enemies, considering no more
the land Lavinian and Ausonia's sons.
Let him to sea! Be this our final word:
this message let our herald faithful bear.”

> Latin: Talibus orantem dictis arasque tenentem
audiit omnipotens, oculosque ad moenia torsit
regia et oblitos famae melioris amantes.
Tum sic Mercurium adloquitur ac talia mandat:
“Vade age, nate, voca Zephyros et labere pennis,”
“Dardaniumque ducem, Tyria Karthagine qui nunc”
“exspectat, fatisque datas non respicit urbes,”
“adloquere, et celeris defer mea dicta per auras.”
“Non illum nobis genetrix pulcherrima talem”
“promisit, Graiumque ideo bis vindicat armis;”
“sed fore, qui gravidam imperiis belloque frementem”
“Italiam regeret, genus alto a sanguine Teucri”
“proderet, ac totum sub leges mitteret orbem.”
“Si nulla accendit tantarum gloria rerum,”
“nec super ipse sua molitur laude laborem,”
“Ascanione pater Romanas invidet arces?”
“Quid struit, aut qua spe inimica in gente moratur,”
“nec prolem Ausoniam et Lavinia respicit arva?”
“Naviget: haec summa est; hic nostri nuntius esto.”

[¶10] He spoke. The god a prompt obedience gave
to his great sire's command. He fastened first
those sandals of bright gold, which carry him
aloft o'er land or sea, with airy wings
that race the fleeting wind; then lifted he
his wand, wherewith he summons from the grave
pale-featured ghosts, or, if he will, consigns
to doleful Tartarus; or by its power
gives slumber or dispels; or quite unseals
the eyelids of the dead: on this relying,
he routs the winds or cleaves th' obscurity
of stormful clouds. Soon from his flight he spied
the summit and the sides precipitous
of stubborn Atlas, whose star-pointing peak
props heaven; of Atlas, whose pine-wreathed brow
is girdled evermore with misty gloom
and lashed of wind and rain; a cloak of snow
melts on his shoulder; from his aged chin
drop rivers, and ensheathed in stiffening ice
glitters his great grim beard. Here first was stayed
the speed of Mercury's well-poising wing;
here making pause, from hence he headlong flung
his body to the sea; in motion like
some sea-bird's, which along the levelled shore
or round tall crags where rove the swarming fish,
flies Iow along the waves: o'er-hovering so
between the earth and skies, Cyllene's god
flew downward from his mother's mountain-sire,
parted the winds and skimmed the sandy merge
of Libya. When first his winged feet
came nigh the clay-built Punic huts, he saw
Aeneas building at a citadel,
and founding walls and towers; at his side
was girt a blade with yellow jaspers starred,
his mantle with the stain of Tyrian shell
flowed purple from his shoulder, broidered fair
by opulent Dido with fine threads of gold,
her gift of love; straightway the god began:
“Dost thou for lofty Carthage toil, to build
foundations strong? Dost thou, a wife's weak thrall,
build her proud city? Hast thou, shameful loss!
Forgot thy kingdom and thy task sublime?
From bright Olympus, I. He who commands
all gods, and by his sovran deity
moves earth and heaven—he it was who bade
me bear on winged winds his high decree.
What plan is thine? By what mad hope dost thou
linger so Iong in lap of Libyan land?
If the proud reward of thy destined way
move not thy heart, if all the arduous toil
to thine own honor speak not, Iook upon
Iulus in his bloom, thy hope and heir
Ascanius. It is his rightful due
in Italy o'er Roman lands to reign.”
After such word Cyllene's winged god
vanished, and e'er his accents died away,
dissolved in air before the mortal's eyes.

> Latin: Dixerat. Ille patris magni parere parabat
imperio; et primum pedibus talaria nectit
aurea, quae sublimem alis sive aequora supra
seu terram rapido pariter cum flamine portant;
tum virgam capit: hac animas ille evocat Orco
pallentis, alias sub Tartara tristia mittit,
dat somnos adimitque, et lumina morte resignat.
Illa fretus agit ventos, et turbida tranat
nubila; iamque volans apicem et latera ardua cernit
Atlantis duri, caelum qui vertice fulcit,
Atlantis, cinctum adsidue cui nubibus atris
piniferum caput et vento pulsatur et imbri;
nix umeros infusa tegit; tum flumina mento
praecipitant senis, et glacie riget horrida barba.
Hic primum paribus nitens Cyllenius alis
constitit; hinc toto praeceps se corpore ad undas
misit, avi similis, quae circum litora, circum
piscosos scopulos humilis volat aequora iuxta.
Haud aliter terras inter caelumque volabat,
litus harenosum Libyae ventosque secabat
materno veniens ab avo Cyllenia proles.
Ut primum alatis tetigit magalia plantis,
Aenean fundantem arces ac tecta novantem
conspicit; atque illi stellatus iaspide fulva
ensis erat, Tyrioque ardebat murice laena
demissa ex umeris, dives quae munera Dido
fecerat, et tenui telas discreverat auro.
Continuo invadit: “Tu nunc Karthaginis altae”
“fundamenta locas, pulchramque uxorius urbem”
“exstruis, heu regni rerumque oblite tuarum?”
“Ipse deum tibi me claro demittit Olympo”
“regnator, caelum ac terras qui numine torquet;”
“ipse haec ferre iubet celeris mandata per auras:”
“quid struis, aut qua spe Libycis teris otia terris?”
“Si te nulla movet tantarum gloria rerum,”
“[nec super ipse tua moliris laude laborem,]”
“Ascanium surgentem et spes heredis Iuli”
“respice, cui regnum Italiae Romanaque tellus”
“debentur.” Tali Cyllenius ore locutus
mortalis visus medio sermone reliquit,
et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram.

[¶11] Aeneas at the sight stood terror-dumb
with choking voice and horror-rising hair.
He fain would fly at once and get him gone
from that voluptuous land, much wondering
at Heaven's wrathful word. Alas! how stir?
What cunning argument can plead his cause
before th' infuriate Queen? How break such news?
Flashing this way and that, his startled mind
makes many a project and surveys them all.
But, pondering well, his final counsel stopped
at this resolve: he summoned to his side
Mnestheus, Sergestus, and Serestus bold,
and bade them fit the fleet, all silently
gathering the sailors and collecting gear,
but carefully dissembling what emprise
such novel stir intends: himself the while
(Since high-born Dido dreamed not love so fond
could have an end) would seek an audience,
at some indulgent time, and try what shift
such matters may require. With joy they heard,
and wrought, assiduous, at their prince's plan.

> Latin: At vero Aeneas aspectu obmutuit amens,
arrectaeque horrore comae, et vox faucibus haesit.
Ardet abire fuga dulcisque relinquere terras,
attonitus tanto monitu imperioque deorum.
Heu quid agat? Quo nunc reginam ambire furentem
audeat adfatu? Quae prima exordia sumat?
Atque animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc,
in partisque rapit varias perque omnia versat.
Haec alternanti potior sententia visa est:
Mnesthea Sergestumque vocat fortemque Serestum,
classem aptent taciti sociosque ad litora cogant,
arma parent, et quae rebus sit causa novandis
dissimulent; sese interea, quando optuma Dido
nesciat et tantos rumpi non speret amores,
temptaturum aditus, et quae mollissima fandi
tempora, quis rebus dexter modus. Ocius omnes
imperio laeti parent ac iussa facessunt.

[¶12] But what can cheat true love? The Queen foreknew
his stratagem, and all the coming change
perceived ere it began. Her jealous fear
counted no hour secure. That unclean tongue
of Rumor told her fevered heart the fleet
was fitting forth, and hastening to be gone.
Distractedly she raved, and passion-tossed
roamed through her city, like a Maenad roused
by the wild rout of Bacchus, when are heard
the third year's orgies, and the midnight scream
to cold Cithaeron calls the frenzied crew.
Finding Aeneas, thus her plaint she poured:
“Didst hope to hide it, false one, that such crime
was in thy heart,—to steal without farewell
out of my kingdom? Did our mutual joy
not move thee; nor thine own true promise given
once on a time? Nor Dido, who will die
a death of sorrow? Why compel thy ships
to brave the winter stars? Why off to sea
so fast through stormy skies? O, cruelty!
If Troy still stood, and if thou wert not bound
for alien shore unknown, wouldst steer for Troy
through yonder waste of waves? Is it from me
thou takest flight? O, by these flowing tears,
by thine own plighted word (for nothing more
my weakness left to miserable me),
by our poor marriage of imperfect vow,
if aught to me thou owest, if aught in me
ever have pleased thee—O, be merciful
to my low-fallen fortunes! I implore,
if place be left for prayer, thy purpose change!
Because of thee yon Libyan savages
and nomad chiefs are grown implacable,
and my own Tyrians hate me. Yes, for thee
my chastity was slain and honor fair,
by which alone to glory I aspired,
in former days. To whom dost thou in death
abandon me? my guest!—since but this name
is left me of a husband! Shall I wait
till fell Pygmalion, my brother, raze
my city walls? Or the Gaetulian king,
Iarbas, chain me captive to his car?.
O, if, ere thou hadst fled, I might but bear
some pledge of love to thee, and in these halls
watch some sweet babe Aeneas at his play,
whose face should be the memory of thine own —
I were not so forsaken, Iost, undone!”

> Latin: At regina dolos—quis fallere possit amantem?
praesensit, motusque excepit prima futuros,
omnia tuta timens. Eadem impia Fama furenti
detulit armari classem cursumque parari.
Saevit inops animi, totamque incensa per urbem
bacchatur, qualis commotis excita sacris
Thyias, ubi audito stimulant trieterica Baccho
orgia, nocturnusque vocat clamore Cithaeron.
Tandem his Aenean compellat vocibus ultro:
“Dissimulare etiam sperasti, perfide, tantum”
“posse nefas, tacitusque mea decedere terra?”
“Nec te noster amor, nec te data dextera quondam,”
“nec moritura tenet crudeli funere Dido?”
“Quin etiam hiberno moliris sidere classem,”
“et mediis properas aquilonibus ire per altum,”
“crudelis? Quid, si non arva aliena domosque”
“ignotas peteres, sed Troia antiqua maneret,”
“Troia per undosum peteretur classibus aequor”
“Mene fugis? Per ego has lacrimas dextramque tuam te”
“(quando aliud mihi iam miserae nihil ipsa reliqui)”
“per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos,”
“si bene quid de te merui, fuit aut tibi quicquam”
“dulce meum, miserere domus labentis, et istam—”
“oro, si quis adhuc precibus locus—exue mentem.”
“Te propter Libycae gentes Nomadumque tyranni”
“odere, infensi Tyrii; te propter eundem”
“exstinctus pudor, et, qua sola sidera adibam,”
“fama prior. Cui me moribundam deseris, hospes?”
“Hoc solum nomen quoniam de coniuge restat.”
“Quid moror? An mea Pygmalion dum moenia frater”
“destruat, aut captam ducat Gaetulus Iarbas?”
“Saltem si qua mihi de te suscepta fuisset”
“ante fugam suboles, si quis mihi parvulus aula”
“luderet Aeneas, qui te tamen ore referret,”
“non equidem omnino capta ac deserta viderer.”

[¶13] She said. But he, obeying Jove's decree,
gazed steadfastly away; and in his heart
with strong repression crushed his cruel pain;
then thus the silence broke: “O Queen, not one
of my unnumbered debts so strongly urged
would I gainsay. Elissa's memory
will be my treasure Iong as memory holds,
or breath of life is mine. Hear my brief plea!
'T was not my hope to hide this flight I take,
as thou hast dreamed. Nay, I did never light
a bridegroom's torch, nor gave I thee the vow
of marriage. Had my destiny decreed,
that I should shape life to my heart's desire,
and at my own will put away the weight
of foil and pain, my place would now be found
in Troy, among the cherished sepulchres
of my own kin, and Priam's mansion proud
were standing still; or these my loyal hands
had rebuilt Ilium for her vanquished sons.
But now to Italy Apollo's power
commands me forth; his Lycian oracles
are loud for Italy. My heart is there,
and there my fatherland. If now the towers
of Carthage and thy Libyan colony
delight thy Tyrian eyes; wilt thou refuse
to Trojan exiles their Ausonian shore?
I too by Fate was driven, not less than thou,
to wander far a foreign throne to find.
Oft when in dewy dark night hides the world,
and flaming stars arise, Anchises' shade
looks on me in my dreams with angered brow.
I think of my Ascanius, and the wrong
to that dear heart, from whom I steal away
Hesperia, his destined home and throne.
But now the winged messenger of Heaven,
sent down by Jove (I swear by thee and me!),
has brought on winged winds his sire's command.
My own eyes with unclouded vision saw
the god within these walls; I have received
with my own ears his word. No more inflame
with lamentation fond thy heart and mine.
'T is not my own free act seeks Italy.”

> Latin: Dixerat. Ille Iovis monitis immota tenebat
lumina, et obnixus curam sub corde premebat.
Tandem pauca refert: “Ego te, quae plurima fando”
“enumerare vales, numquam, regina, negabo”
“promeritam; nec me meminisse pigebit Elissae,”
“dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus.”
“Pro re pauca loquar. Neque ego hanc abscondere furto”
“speravi—ne finge—fugam, nec coniugis umquam”
“praetendi taedas, aut haec in foedera veni.”
“Me si fata meis paterentur ducere vitam”
“auspiciis et sponte mea componere curas,”
“urbem Troianam primum dulcisque meorum”
“reliquias colerem, Priami tecta alta manerent,”
“et recidiva manu posuissem Pergama victis.”
“Sed nunc Italiam magnam Gryneus Apollo,”
“Italiam Lyciae iussere capessere sortes:”
“hic amor, haec patria est. Si te Karthaginis arces,”
“Phoenissam, Libycaeque aspectus detinet urbis,”
“quae tandem, Ausonia Teucros considere terra,”
“invidia est? Et nos fas extera quaerere regna.”
“Me patris Anchisae, quotiens umentibus umbris”
“nox operit terras, quotiens astra ignea surgunt,”
“admonet in somnis et turbida terret imago;”
“me puer Ascanius capitisque iniuria cari,”
“quem regno Hesperiae fraudo et fatalibus arvis.”
“Nunc etiam interpres divom, Iove missus ab ipso—”
“testor utrumque caput—celeris mandata per auras”
“detulit; ipse deum manifesto in lumine vidi”
“intrantem muros, vocemque his auribus hausi.”
“Desine meque tuis incendere teque querelis:”
“Italiam non sponte sequor.”