Vegius: LIBRI XII AENEIDOX SVPPLEMENTVM MAPHAEI VEGII

Turnus ut extremo uitam sub Marte profudit
Subdunt se Rutuli Aeneae, Troiana sequentes
Agmina; dehinc superis meriti redduntur honores.
Congaudet nato ac sociis, memor ante malorum
Actorum pater Aeneas. Turni inde Latinus
Morte dolet.

As Turnus at the end poured forth his life under Mars,
the Rutulians submit themselves to Aeneas, following the Trojan
ranks; thereafter the honors deserved are rendered to the gods above.
He rejoices together with his son and comrades, father Aeneas, mindful of the evils
formerly endured. Then Latinus grieves at Turnus’s death.

Patriae miseranda incendia Daunus
Euersae, et cari deflet pia funera nati.
Connubium instaurat natae laetosque hymenaeos
Rex socer Aeneae genero; gens utraque pacto
Foedere pacis ouat; tum nomine coniugis urbem 10
Instruit, et tandem placida sub pace regentem
Transtulit Aeneam Uenus astra in summa beatum.

Daunus weeps for the pitiable conflagrations of his overthrown fatherland,
and piously laments the funerals of his dear son.
He renews for his daughter the matrimony and the joyful hymeneals,
the king, Aeneas’s father-in-law, for his son-in-law; both peoples, by a pledged
pact, a treaty of peace, exult; then, with the name of his consort, the city 10
he founds; and at last, beneath tranquil peace, Venus transferred Aeneas,
blessed as he reigned, to the highest stars.

Turnus ut extremo deuictus Marte profudit
Effugientem animam, medioque sub agmine uictor
Magnanimus stetit Aeneas, Mauortius heros,
Obstupuere omnes, gemitumque dedere Latini,
Et durum ex alto reuomentes corde dolorem,
Concussis cecidere animis; ceu frondibus ingens
Silua dolet lapsis boreali impulsa tumultu.
Tum tela infigunt terrae, et mucronibus haerent:
Scutaque deponunt humeris, et proelia damnant,
Insanumque horrent optati Martis amorem:               10
Nec frenum, nec colla pati captiua recusant,
Et ueniam orare et requiem finemque malorum
Sicut acerba duo quando in certamina tauri
Concurrunt, largo miscentes sanguine pugnam,
Cuique suum pecus inclinat: sin cesserit uni
Palma duci, mox quae uicto pecora ante fauebant
Nunc sese imperio subdunt uictoris, et ultro
Quanquam animum dolor altus habet, parere fatentur:
Non aliter Rutuli, licet ingens maeror adhausit
Pectora pulsa metu caesi ducis, incluta malunt               20
Arma sequi et Phrygium Aenean, foedusque precari
Pacis, et aeternam rebus belloque quietem.
      Tunc Turnum super adsistens placido ore profatur
Aeneas "Quae tanta animo dementia creuit,
Ut Teucros superum monitis, summique tonantis
Imperio huc uectos, patereris, Daunia proles,
Italia et pactis nequicquam expellere tectis?

When Turnus, conquered in the final Mars, poured out his fleeing life,
and, victor, in the midst of the battle-line, magnanimous Aeneas, the Mavortian hero, stood,
all were astonished, and the Latins gave a groan,
and, bringing back up from the deep heart their hard grief,
with their spirits shaken they sank; as a huge forest grieves with its leaves fallen, driven by a northern tumult.
Then they fix their weapons in the earth, and they stick by their points:
and they set down their shields from their shoulders, and condemn battles,
and shudder at the insane love of Mars once desired:               10
Nor do the captives refuse the bit, nor to submit their necks,
and to beg for pardon and a respite and an end of evils.
Just as when two bulls run together into bitter contests,
mingling the fight with copious blood, for each its own herd inclines:
but if the palm of leadership has fallen to one,
soon the herds which before favored the vanquished
now submit themselves to the victor’s rule, and, moreover,
although deep grief holds their spirit, they confess to obey:
not otherwise the Rutulians, although a huge sorrow has drained
their breasts, smitten by fear at their slain leader, choose rather               20
to follow renowned arms and Phrygian Aeneas, and to pray for a treaty
of peace, and eternal quiet for their affairs and in war.
      Then Aeneas, standing over Turnus, with a placid countenance, speaks forth:
“What so great a madness has grown in your spirit,
that you would allow the Teucrians, brought hither by the counsels of the gods and by the command of the highest Thunderer, O Daunian offspring,
to try in vain to drive them from Italy and from roofs agreed by pact?

Disce Iouem reuereri et iussa facessere diuum.
Magnum etiam capit ira Iouem, memoresque malorum
Sollicitat uindicta deos; en ultima tanti 30

Learn to revere Jove and to fulfill the behests of the gods.
Great wrath too seizes Jove, and vengeance, mindful of wrongs,
Solicits the gods; lo, the ultimate consequences of so great a thing 30

Meta furoris adest, quo contra iura fidemque
Iliacam rupto turbasti foedere gentem.
Ecce suprema dies, aliis exempla sub aeuum
Uenturum missura; Iouem ne temnere frustra
Fas sit, et indignos bellorum accendere motus.
Nunc armis laetare tuis, heu, nobile corpus,
Turne iaces: at non tibi erit Lauinia paruo,
Nec dextra tamen Aeneae cecidisse pudebit!

The limit of frenzy is at hand, whereby, against law and good faith,
you, with the covenant broken, threw the Iliac nation into turmoil.
Behold the final day, destined to send for others examples down to the age to come,
that it be not right to scorn Jove in vain, and to kindle unworthy motions of wars.
Now exult in your arms—alas, noble body—
Turnus, you lie: but Lavinia will not be to you for a small price,
nor, however, will it shame you to have fallen by Aeneas’s right hand!

Nunc, Rutuli, hinc auferte ducem uestrum, arma uirumque
Largior, atque omnem deflendae mortis honorem.               40
Sed quae Pallantis fuerant ingentia baltei
Pondera, transmittam Euandro, ut solacia caeso
Haud leuia hoste ferat, Turnoque exsultet adempto.
Uos memores tamen, Ausonii, melioribus uti
Discite bellorum auspiciis: ego sidera iuro,
Nunquam acies, nunquam arma libens in proelia moui:
Sed uestris actus furiis defendere toto
Optaui et licuit Troianas robore partes."
      Nec fatus plura Aeneas; se laetus ad altos
Uertebat muros, et Troia tecta petebat.               50
Una ipsum Teucrorum omnis conuersa iuuentus
Exsultans sequitur, uolucresque per arua pedum ui
Quadrupedes citat, incusans acri ore Latinos,
Ignauosque uocans: strepit altus plausibus aether.
Et quamuis inhumata rogis dare corpora surgat
Ingens cura animo, sociosque imponere flammis,
Maius opus tamen Aeneas sub pectore uoluens,
Primum aris meritos superum mandabat honores.

Now, Rutulians, from here carry off your leader; I lavish the arms and the man, and every honor of a death to be bewailed. 40
But the mighty weight of the belt that had been Pallas’s I will send across to Evander, that he may bear not light consolations for the foe cut down, and exult with Turnus taken away.
You, however, be mindful, Ausonians, learn to use better auspices of wars: I swear by the stars, never did I willingly move battle-lines, never arms into battles:
But driven by your furies I desired, and it was permitted, to defend with might the Trojan side throughout."
And Aeneas, having spoken no more, joyful, turned himself toward the lofty walls and made for the Trojan roofs. 50
As one, the whole youth of the Teucrians, turned, follows him exulting, and by the force of their feet urges the swift as if winged quadrupeds across the fields, accusing the Latins with a keen mouth and calling them cowards: the high aether resounds with applause.
And although a vast care rises in his mind to give the unburied bodies to the pyres and to place comrades upon the flames, yet, revolving a greater work beneath his breast, Aeneas was entrusting first upon the altars the deserved honors of the gods above.

Tum pingues patrio iugulant ex more iuuencos,
Immittuntque sues, niueasque in templa bidentes, 60

Then, according to ancestral custom, they slaughter fat young bullocks,
and they send into the temples swine and snow-white two-toothed sheep, 60

Purpuream effuso pulsantes sanguine terram.
Uiscera diripiunt, et caesim in frusta trucidant,
Denudantque gregem, et flammis uerubusque remittunt.
Tum uina effundunt pateris, et dona Lyaei
Accumulant; plenis uenerantur lancibus aras;
Tura ignes adolent; onerata altaria fumant.

They beat the purple earth with blood poured out.
They tear out the entrails, and hack them into pieces with cutting blows,
and strip the herd, and consign it to flames and spits.
Then they pour wines with libation-bowls, and the gifts of Lyaeus
they heap up; with full platters they venerate the altars;
they burn frankincense on the fires; the laden altars smoke.

      Tum plausus per tecta mouent, magumque tonantem
Extollunt, Ueneremque, et te, Saturnia Iuno,
Iam placidam, et meliorem ingenti laude fatentur,
Mauortemque ipsum: tum cetera turba deorum               70
In medium effertur, summis cum uocibus altos
Perlata ad caelos: ante omnes gratior unus
Aeneas duplices mittebat ad aethera palmas,
Et puerum pauca ore dabat complexus Iulum:
"Nate, in quo spes una patris, per tanta laborum
Quem uariis actus fatis discrimina duxi,
Ecce inuenta quies; ecce illa extrema malorum,
Aerumnis factura modum acceptissima semper,
Atque optata dies, quam dura in bella uocatus,
Saepe tibi dis auspicibus meminisse futuram               80
Iam memini: nunc te, cum primum Aurora rubebit
Crastina, sublimen Rutulorum ad moenia mittam."
Dehinc sese ad gentem Iliacam uoluebat, et alto
Pectore uerba trahens, blando sic ore locutus:
      "O socii, per dura ac densa pericula uecti,
Per tantos bellorum aestus, duplicesque furores
Armorum, per totque hiemes, per quicquid acerbum
Horrendum, graue, triste, ingens, per quicquid iniquum
Infaustum, et crudele foret, conuertite mentem
In melius: iam finis adest: hic meta malorum               90

      Then they set applause in motion through the roofs, and they exalt the great Thunderer
and Venus, and you, Saturnian Juno,
now placid and more favorable they confess with huge praise,
and Mavors himself: then the rest of the crowd of gods               70
is brought into the midst, with the highest voices carried
up to the lofty heavens: before all, Aeneas, more grateful than any,
was sending his double palms to the aether,
and, having embraced the boy Iulus, he uttered a few words with his mouth:
“Son, in whom is your father’s single hope, through such great labors
whose dangers, driven by various fates, I have led you through,
behold, rest found; behold that furthest end of evils,
most welcome always, that will set a bound to hardships,
and the longed-for day, which, called to harsh wars,
I already recall that, with the gods as auspices, I told you you would often remember;               80
now, as soon as tomorrow’s Dawn reddens,
I will send you on high to the walls of the Rutulians.”
Then he turned himself to the Ilian people, and, drawing words
from his deep breast, spoke thus with a soothing voice:
      “O comrades, borne through hard and dense perils,
through such great heats of wars, and the double furies
of arms, through so many winters, through whatever bitter,
horrendous, weighty, sad, huge; through whatever unjust,
ill-omened, and cruel there might be, turn your mind
to better things: now the end is at hand: here is the limit of evils               90

Stabit, et optatam Latia cum gente quietem
Iungemus:dabit inde mihi Lauinia coniunx
Bello acri defensa, Italo cum sanguine mixtam
Troianam transferre aeterna in saecula gentem.
Unum oro, socii, Ausonios communiter aequo
Ferte animo, et uosmet socero obseruate Latino.
Sceptrum idem sublime geret: sententia mentem
Haec habet: at bello uos, et praestantibus armis
Discite me et pietate sequi: quae gloria nobis
Cesserit, in promptu est; sed caelum, et sidera testor,               100
Qui uos tantorum eripui de clade malorum,
Idem ego sub maiora potens uos praemia ducam."
      Talibus orabat, uariosque in pectore casus
Praeteritos uoluens, partamque labore quietem
Haud paruo: nimium ardenti exundabat amore
In Teucros, grauibus tandem euasisse periclis
Exsultans: uelut exiguis cum ex aethere gyrans
Incubuit pullis, et magno turbine miluus
Insiliens auido ore furit, stragemque minatur;
Tum cristata ales perculso pectore mater               110
Consurgit, misero natorum exterrita casu,
Rostrum acuit, totisque petit conatibus hostem,
Et multa expulsum ui tandem cedere cogit;
Dehinc perturbatos crocitans exquirit, et omnes
Attonitos cogit, pro caris anxia natis,
Et tanto ereptos gaudet superesse periclo.

It shall stand, and with the Latian nation we shall join the longed-for quiet; from there my spouse Lavinia, defended in sharp war, shall grant to transfer the Trojan people, mingled with Italian blood, into eternal ages. One thing I beg, comrades: bear the Ausonians together with even mind, and do you yourselves observe my father-in-law Latinus. The same lofty scepter he will bear; this resolve holds my mind: but in war, and with preeminent arms, learn to follow me also in piety: what glory shall fall to us is manifest; but I call heaven and the stars to witness, 100
I who have snatched you from the massacre of such great evils, I, the same, mighty, will lead you to greater rewards."
With such words he was pleading, and in his breast revolving the various past chances and the rest won by no small toil: he was overflowing with too ardent love for the Teucrians, exulting that at last they had escaped grave dangers: as when, wheeling down from the aether, a kite has brooded over tiny chicks, and, leaping with a great whirlwind, rages with greedy mouth and threatens slaughter; then the crested bird, the mother, with stricken breast rises up, terrified at the wretched plight of her young, sharpens her beak, and with all efforts seeks the foe, and by much force compels him, driven off, at last to yield; thereafter, cackling, she seeks the scattered ones, and gathers all the astonished, anxious for her dear offspring, and rejoices that they have survived, snatched from so great a peril. 110

Non secus Anchisa genitus mulcebat amicis
Troianos dictis, antiquum corde timorem
Flagrantesque agitans curas, et gaudia longis
Tandem parta malis, et quae perferre molestum 120

Not otherwise did the son of Anchises soothe the Trojans with friendly words,
stirring in his heart the ancient fear and the flaming cares,
and the joys at last gained through long evils,
and the things which are burdensome to endure. 120

Ante fuit, meminisse iuuat: uerum altior idem
Ingenti et clara Aeneas supereminet omnes
Uirtute excellens, et pro tot numina donis
Exorat, summisque Iouemcum laudibus effert.
      Interea Rutuli magnum et miserabile funus,
Exanimumque ducem tulerant sub tecta frequentes,
Correpti maerore animos, largumque pluentes
Imbrem oculis, et iam lato clamore Latinum
Defessum, et uarios agitantem pectore casus
Complerant; qui postquam altos crebrescere questus,               130
Et Turnum ingenti confossum uulnere uidit,
Haud tenuit lacrimas; dehinc maestum leniter agmen
Corripuit, manibus uerbisque silentia ponens.
Ceu spumantis apri quando per uiscera dentes
Fulmineos canis excepit praestantior omni
Ex numero, tunc infausto perterrita casu
Cetera turba fugit latrantum, atque ore magistrum
Circumstans querulo pauitat, magnoque ululatu
Infremit; at commota manu, dominique iubentis
Ore silet, gemitumque premit, seseque coercet.               140
Haud aliter Rutuli suppressa uoce quierunt.

Before it was so, it delights to remember: but the same Aeneas, loftier,
immense and illustrious, supereminent above all,
excellent in virtue, and for so many gifts he propitiates the deities,
and with highest praises he exalts Jove.
      Meanwhile the Rutulians, a great and pitiable funeral,
and their lifeless leader, had borne beneath their roofs in throngs,
their spirits seized by grief, and pouring a copious
shower from their eyes; and now with broad clamor they had filled Latinus,
wearied, and turning over various chances in his breast;
who, after he saw the lofty laments grow frequent,               130
and Turnus pierced through with a huge wound,
did not hold back tears; then he gently checked the sad column,
imposing silence with hands and words.
Just as when, of a foaming boar, through the guts the lightning-like teeth
a dog, more outstanding than every one
of the pack, has received; then, terrified by the ill-starred event,
the rest of the barking troop flees, and, standing round the master
with a whining mouth, it quails, and with great ululation
it roars; but, at a motion of the hand and the bidding mouth
of the lord, it is silent, suppresses its groan, and restrains itself.               140
Not otherwise did the Rutulians grow quiet with voice suppressed.

Tunc sic illacrimans rex alto corde Latinus
Uerba dabat: "Quantos humana negotia motus,
Alternasque uices miscent! Quo turbine fertur
Uita hominum! O fragilis damnosa superbia sceptri!

Then thus weeping King Latinus, from his deep heart, was giving words: "How great commotions do human affairs mingle, and alternating vicissitudes! By what whirlwind the life of men is borne! O fragile, ruinous pride of the scepter!

O furor, O nimium dominandi innata cupido,
Mortales quo caeca uehis? Quo gloria tantis
Inflatos transfers animos quaesita periclis?
Quot tecum insidias, quot mortes, quanta malorum
Magnorum tormenta geris, quot tela, quot enses 150

O fury, O inborn desire for domination too excessive,
whither do you carry mortals blind? Whither does glory
transfer spirits inflated, sought through dangers? How many
snares with you, how many deaths, how great the torments of great
evils do you bear, how many missiles, how many swords 150

Ante oculos, si cernis, habes! Heu dulce uenenum,
Et mundi letalis honos! Heu tristia regni
Munera, quae haud paruo constent, et grandia rerum
Pondera, quae nunquam placidam permittere pacem,
Nec requiem conferre queant!

Before your eyes, if you perceive, you have it! Alas, sweet poison,
and the lethal honor of the world! Alas, the sad gifts of rule,
which do not cost a little, and the great weights of affairs
which never allow placid peace,
nor can they confer repose!

Heu sortis acerbae
Et miserae regale decus, magnoque timori
Suppositos regum casus, pacisque negatos!
Quid, Turne, ingenti Ausoniam mouisse tumultu,
Et dura Aeneadas turbasse in bella coactos,
Quid iuuat, et uiolasse sacrae promissa quietis 160
Pignora, quae tibi tanta animo impatientia uenit?
Ut Martem cum gente deum iussuque tonantis
Huc uecta gereres, et nostris pellere tectis
Ultro instans uelles, nataeque abrumpere foedus
Pollicitae genero Aeneae, et me bella negante
Dura mouere manu?

Alas for the bitter lot
and the wretched royal splendor, and the fortunes of kings subjected to great fear,
and denied peace!
What, Turnus, does it profit to have stirred Ausonia to immense tumult,
and to have thrown the Aeneads, compelled, into harsh wars,
and to have violated the pledges of sacred quiet 160
pledges—what so great an impatience came upon your spirit?
That you would wage war against a people borne hither by the bidding of the gods and of the Thunderer,
and, pressing on unprovoked, would wish to drive them from our roofs,
and to break the pact of your daughter promised to Aeneas as son-in-law,
and, though I forbid war,
to set hard wars in motion by your hand?

Quae tanta insania mentem
Implicuit? Quoties te in saeui Martis euntem
Agmina, sublimemque in equo et radiantibus armis
Tentaui reuocare, et iter suspendere coeptum?
Corripui et pauitans cedentem in limine frustra? 170
Inde ego quanta tuli, testantur moenia tectis
Semirutis, magnique albentes ossibus agri,
Et Latium toto uacuatum robore, et ingens
Exitium, fluuiique humana caede rubentes,
Et longi, trepidique metus, durique labores,
Quos toties senior per tanta pericula cepi.

What so great insanity has entangled your mind?
How many times, as you were going into the ranks of savage Mars,
lofty on your horse and in radiant arms,
did I try to call you back, and to suspend the journey you had begun?
I seized you too, and, trembling, as you yielded at the threshold, in vain? 170
From that point how great things I endured, the walls with half-ruined roofs
bear witness, and the great fields whitening with bones,
and Latium emptied of all strength, and vast
destruction, and rivers reddening with human slaughter,
and long and trembling fears, and harsh labors,
which so often I, an elder, undertook through such great perils.

At nunc, Turne, iaces: ubinam generosa iuuentae
Gloria, et excellens animus, quo splendidus altae
Frontis honos, quonam illa decens it frontis imago?
Ah! quantas Dauno lacrimas, acresque dolores, 180

But now, Turnus, you lie: where now is the generous glory
of youth, and the excellent spirit—where is the splendid honor of the high
brow, whither goes that becoming image of the brow?
Ah! how many tears for Daunus, and sharp pains, 180

Turne, dabis, quanto circumfluet Ardea fletu!
Sed non degeneri et pudibundo uulnere fossum
Aspiciet: saltem hoc miserae solamen habebit
Mortis, ut Aeneae Troiani exceperis ensem."
Haec fatus, lacrimisque genas impleuit obortis.
Tum sese ad turbam uoluens, miserabile corpus
Attolli, et caram maesti genitoris ad urbem
Deferri, atque pios fieri mandabat honores.

Turnus, you will pay; with how much weeping will Ardea overflow!
But it will not behold you pierced by a degenerate and shameful wound:
at least it will have this solace of your wretched death,
that you received the sword of Trojan Aeneas."
Having spoken these things, he filled his cheeks with tears that had sprung up.
Then, turning himself toward the crowd, he commanded that the pitiable body
be lifted, and be borne to the dear city of his sorrowing father,
and that pious honors be performed.

Mox circumfusi Rutuli toto agmine caesum
Sublimen ingenti iuuenem posuere feretro, 190
Multa super Teucrum raptorum insignia secum,
Et galeas, et equos, ensesque et tela ferentes.
Post currus Phrygia sudantes caede sequuntur.
It lacrimans, et ducit equum docta arte Metiscus
Rorantem et fletu madidum, qui uexerat ante
Uictorem Turnum, atque hostili strage furentem.

Soon the Rutulians, thronging around with the whole column, placed the slain youth aloft upon a huge bier, 190
bringing with them many insignia of Teucrians seized as spoils,
and helmets, and horses, and swords and missiles.
Behind the chariots Phrygians, sweating with slaughter, follow.
He goes weeping, and Metiscus with practiced art leads the horse
dripping and soaked with tears, the one who had borne before
victorious Turnus, and raging with hostile carnage.

Hinc alii uersa arma gerunt; tum extera pubes
Flens sequitur, largisque humectat pectora guttis.
Et iam fessi ibant per muta silentia noctis
Caedentes sese; gressumque in tecta Latinus 200
Flexerat, ingenti turbatus funere mentem.
Una omnes lacrimas matres, puerique senesque
Fundebant, maestam implentes mugitibus urbem,
Inscius at tantos Daunus superesse dolores,
Et natum extremo consumptum Marte superbam
Effundisse animam, largisque ad moenia duci
Cum lacrimis, alios gemitus curasque fouebat.

From here others bear reversed arms; then the foreign youth
follows weeping, and with copious drops moistens their breasts.
And now, wearied, they were going through the mute silences of night
beating themselves; and Latinus had bent his step toward his roofs 200
his mind troubled by the immense funeral.
Together all—mothers, boys, and old men—were pouring tears,
filling the mournful city with bellowings,
but Daunus, unaware that such great sorrows remained,
and that his son, consumed in the utmost War, had poured out his proud
soul, and was being led to the walls with copious tears,
was nursing other groans and cares.

Namque ex diuersa caderent dum parte Latini,
Et calido Turnus foedaret sanguine terram,
Urbem ingens flamma, et muros inuaserat altos; 210

For while the Latins were falling in a different quarter,
and Turnus was defiling the earth with hot blood,
a vast flame had invaded the city and the lofty walls; 210

Fumabatque rutis miseri patris Ardea tectis
Et tota in cinerem uergebat, et astra fauillae
Altiuolae implebant, nec spes plus ulla salutis.
Siue quidem sic dis placitum est, seu praescia Turni
Signum ut fata darent horrendo Marte perempti.
Extemplo concussi animos, turbataque ciues
Pectora caedentes, miserandae sortis iniquum
Deflebant casum, longoque ex ordine matres
Atque auidos totis fugiebant uiribus ignes.

And Ardea was smoking from the shattered roofs of the wretched father,
and the whole was turning into ash, and high-flying cinders
were filling the stars, nor was there any hope any more of safety.
Whether indeed thus it was pleasing to the gods, or, foreknowing Turnus,
the fates gave a sign that he had been slain in horrendous war.
At once the citizens, their spirits shaken, beating their troubled
breasts, were bewailing the unjust fall of a pitiable lot, and in long array the mothers
were fleeing with all their strength the ravenous fires.

Ac ueluti cum nigra cohors posuere sub alta 220
Arbore, et infixa radice cubilia longo
Formicae instantes operi, sidura securis
Incumbat, uersoque infringat culmine paruas
Saeua casas, mox certatim sese agmine sparso
Corripiunt, maestaeque fuga trepidaeque feruntur:
Et uelut ignitum testudo euersa calorem
Cum sensit, luctata diu, pedibusque renitens,
Caudam agitansque caput, magna ui cedere tentat,
Aestuat, et multo insudans conamina miscet:
Haud aliter miseri per tanta pericula ciues 230
Iactabant sese, et turbata mente ferebant.
Ante omnes senio confectus ad aethera uoces
Fundebat querulas Daunus, superosque uocabat.
Tum uero e mediis uisa est consurgere flammis,
Percussisque ales uolitare per aera pennis,
Indicium nomenque urbis uersae Ardea seruans;
Et cui sublimes stabant in moenibus arces,
Mutata effusis nunc circumlabitur alis.

And just as when a black cohort has set their lodgings beneath a tall
tree, and their nests fixed by a long root—ants, pressing on their work—
when the cleaving axe bears down, and, the summit turned, shatters
their little huts, soon they, vying with one another, with the column scattered,
snatch themselves up, and are carried in flight, sad and trembling:
and as, when an overturned tortoise has felt the fiery heat,
long struggling, resisting with its feet, wagging tail and head,
she tries with great force to yield, seethes, and, sweating much, mingles her endeavors:
not otherwise did the wretched citizens amid such great perils 230
toss themselves and were borne with a mind confounded.
Before all, Daunus, worn out with senility, to the aether poured
querulous voices, and called upon the gods above. Then indeed from the midst
of the flames there seemed to rise a bird, and to flit through the air with its smitten wings,
preserving the token and the name of the overturned city, Ardea;
and the lofty citadels which had stood upon its walls—she, changed,
now glides around with outspread wings.

Attoniti nouitate omnes, monitisque deorum
Haud paruis confusi, humeros atque ora tenebant. 240

All, astonished at the novelty, and confounded by no small monitions of the gods,
were holding their shoulders and faces covered. 240

At Daunus, patriae ardenti concussus amore
Euersae, duros gemitus sub corde premebat.
Haec inter magno uolitans praenuntia motu
Fama ruit, latisque animos clamoribus implet,
Aduentare nouum multo cum milite funus,
Et Turnum exanimem, et letali uulnere uictum.
Mox turbati omnes nigras duxere frequentes
Incensas ex more faces: ardentibus agri
Collucent flammis: dehinc se uenientibus addunt.

But Daunus, shaken by ardent love of his overthrown fatherland,
was pressing hard groans beneath his heart. Meanwhile, Rumor, the foretelling one,
flitting with great commotion, rushes, and with broad clamors fills their minds,
that a new funeral was approaching with much soldiery,
and Turnus lifeless, and conquered by a lethal wound. Soon all, troubled,
in throngs led black torches kindled according to custom: with the fires blazing the fields
shine bright: then they join themselves to those who are coming.

Quos postquam toto uidere ex agmine matres,               250
Percussis uocem palmis ad sidera tollunt.
      At Daunus, cari ut patuerunt funera nati,
Substitit, et demum ingenti correpta dolore
Ora mouens, medium sese furibundus in agmen
Proripuit, Turnumque super prostratus et haerens,
Cum primum fari potuit, sic edidit ore:
      "Nate, patris dolor, et fessae miseranda senectae
Rupta quies, quo me tantis iactate periclis
Duxisti, et saeuis tandem deuicte sub armis?
Quo tua me praestans animi constantia uexit?               260
Hic clarae uirtutis honos, et gloria sceptri?

After the mothers saw them from the entire column,               250
with palms smitten they lift their voice to the stars.
      But Daunus, when the funeral of his dear son lay open,
he halted, and at last, seized by immense grief,
moving his lips, frenzied he rushed himself into the midst of the throng,
and, thrown prostrate upon Turnus and clinging,
when first he could speak, he uttered thus from his mouth:
      "Son, the pain of your father, and the pitiable broken repose
of a weary old age—whither, you tossed by such great perils,
have you led me, and you at last overcome beneath cruel arms?
Whither has your outstanding constancy of spirit carried me?               260
Is this the honor of illustrious virtue, and the glory of the scepter?"

Hoc magni decus imperii, talesne triumphos,
Nate, refers? Haec illa quies promissa parenti
Afflicto toties, haec meta optata laborum?
Heu miserum!

Is this the glory of the great empire, such triumphs,
Son, do you bring back? Is this that rest promised to your parent
so often afflicted, is this the goal desired of labors?
Alas, wretched!

quam praecipites labentia casus
Saecla agitant, quanto uoluuntur fata tumultu!
Qui iam sublimes referebas clarus honores,
Et magnus toto in Latio, quem Troes in armis
Horrendum, et trepidi toties sensere furentem,
Nunc, mi Turne, iaces, miserandum et flebile corpus; 270

how headlong the lapsing ages are driven by mischance,
with what tumult the fates are whirled!
You who already on high were bearing back illustrious honors,
and great throughout all Latium, whom the Trojans in arms
felt as horrendous, and so often, trembling, felt you raging,
now, my Turnus, you lie, a pitiable and lamentable body; 270

Iam mutum et sine uoce caput: quo pulchrior alter
Non fuit in tota Ausonia, nec gratior ullus
Eloquio, nec quis positis ingentior armis.
Nate, ubi forma nitens, niueaque in fronte serenus
Ille decor, dulcisque oculorum aspectus, et altae
Sidereus ceruicis honos? His gloria Martis
Contigit auspiciis: tali rediture paratu
Discedens uoluisti auidis te credere bellis?

Now the head mute and without voice: than whom no other was more beautiful in all Ausonia, nor anyone more pleasing in eloquence, nor anyone greater with arms laid aside.
Son, where is the shining form, and on the snow-white brow that serene grace, and the sweet aspect of the eyes, and the starry honor of the lofty neck?
Under these auspices the glory of Mars befell: departing, you, to return with such array, did you wish to entrust yourself to greedy wars?

Heu mortem inuisam, quae sola ultricibus armis
Elatos frenas animos, communia toti 280
Genti sceptra tenens, aeternaque foedera seruans;
Quae magnos, paruosque teris, quae fortibus aequas
Imbelles, populisque duces, seniumque iuuentae.
Heu mortem obscuram, quae causa indignacoegit
Eripere, atque meum crudeli uulnere natum
Aflicere? O felix tam grato caedis Amata
Successu laetare tuae: quae tanta dolorum
Fugisti monumenta, grauisque immania casus
Pondera!

Alas for hateful Death, who alone with avenging arms
reins in exalted spirits, holding the scepters common to the whole 280
race, and keeping eternal covenants;
who grind down great and small, who make the unwarlike equal
to the brave, and peoples to their leaders, and old age to youth.
Alas for dark Death, what unworthy cause has compelled you
to snatch away, and to afflict my son with a cruel wound?
O happy Amata, rejoice in so welcome a success of your slaughter:
you have escaped such monuments of sorrows, and the immense burdens
of grievous disasters!

Quid misero genitori plura paratis,
O superi? Natum rapuistis, et Ardea flammis 290
Consumpta in cinerem uersa est: nunc aethera pennis
Uerberat: ah me, Turne, tua plus caede cruenta.
Deerat adhuc sors ista patris suprema senectae.

What more are you preparing for the wretched father, O gods above?
You have snatched my son, and Ardea, consumed by flames, 290
has been turned into ash: now it lashes the ether with wings:
ah me, Turnus, made the more blood-stained by your slaughter.
This lot was still lacking to a father’s utmost old age.

At uero tali se res cum foedere uersant
Ut quem infesta furens miserum fortuna moratur,
Ilium omni petat infrendens, et turbine cogat."
Dixerat: et multa illacrimans largo ora rigabat
Imbre, trah ens duros gemitus, rapidosque dolores:
Qualis ubi incubuit ualidis Iouis unguibus ales,
Et paruum effuso diuulsit sanguine foetum, 300

But indeed under such a covenant the affairs turn themselves
that whomever hostile, raging Fortune keeps in wretchedness,
at him she, gnashing, attacks with all her might, and with a whirlwind compels."
He had spoken: and weeping much, he was bathing his face with a copious
shower, drawing hard groans and swift pains:
such as when the bird has settled with the strong talons of Jove,
and has torn apart the little offspring with blood poured forth, 300

Cerua uidens miseri turbatur funere nati.
      Postera lux latum splendore impleuerat orbem:
Tunc pater infractos fatali Marte Latinus
Defecisse uidens Italos, totamque potenti
Cedere fortunam Aeneae, bellique tumultum,
Ingentesque animo curas, et foedera uoluens
Connubii promissa, suae nataeque hymenaeos,
Praestantes uocat electos ex agmine toto
Mille uiros, qui Dardanium comitentur ad urbem
Spectatum uirtute ducem; iungitque togatos               310
Multa oratores memorans: et euntibus ultro
Imperat, ut quando auspiciis, monitisque deorum
Troianam miscere Italo cum sanguine gentem
Expediat, placido intersint animoque reuisant,
Aeneadasque uehant alta intra moenia laeti.
      Interea ipse urbem labefactam, et uulgus inerme
Componit, solidatque animos, requiemque futuram
Spondet, et aeternam uentura in saecula pacem.

The hind, seeing the funeral of her wretched offspring, is thrown into turmoil.
      The next light had filled the broad orb with splendor:
Then father Latinus, seeing the Italians broken by fatal Mars
had failed, and all fortune yield to puissant Aeneas, and the tumult of war,
turning over in mind great cares and the treaties,
the promised covenant of wedlock, the hymenaeals of himself and his daughter,
he calls outstanding men, chosen from the whole battle-line,
a thousand men, to accompany the Dardan leader to the city,
to behold the leader for his valor; and he adds toga-wearers,               310
orators, recounting many matters: and to those going he further
commands, that since by the auspices and warnings of the gods
it is expedient to mix the Trojan nation with Italian blood,
they should attend with placid spirit and revisit,
and, rejoicing, convey the Aeneads within the lofty walls.
      Meanwhile he himself sets in order the shaken city and the unarmed crowd,
and he strengthens their spirits, and he pledges the rest to come
and a peace everlasting for ages to come.

Inde iubet meritos turba plaudente triumphos,
Sublimesque domus fieri regalis honores; 320
Atque alacris monet, unanimes ut fronte serena
Occurrant genero uenienti, et pectore toto
Excipiant gentem Iliacam, magnisque receptent
Plausibus, optataeque effundant pacis amores.
Iamque instructa cohors. Teucrorum castra subibat,
Cincta comas ramis oleae, pacemque rogabat:
Quam bonus Aeneas ad se intra regia duci
Tecta iubet, causamque uiae placido ore requirit.

Thence he orders the deserved triumphs, with the crowd applauding,
and that exalted honors of the royal house be established; 320
and, elated, he urges that, unanimous with serene brow,
they go to meet the coming son-in-law, and with their whole heart
receive the Iliac nation, and with great applauses welcome them,
and pour out the loves of the longed-for peace. And now the marshaled cohort
was approaching the Teucrians’ camp, their locks encircled with branches of olive,
and they were asking for peace: which good Aeneas orders to be led to him within the royal halls,
and with placid countenance he inquires the cause of the journey.

Tunc senior sic incipiens ardentia Drances
Uerba mouet, nimium erepti pro funere Turni 330

Then the elder Drances, beginning thus, moves ardent words,
excessively for the funeral of snatched‑away Turnus. 330

Exsultans: "O Troianae dux inclute gentis,
Gloria spesque Phrygum, quo nec pietate nec armis
Maior in orbe fuit: uicti obtestamur, et omnes
Iuramus deosque deasque, inuitus in unum
Conflatum uidit Latium, et temerata Latinus
Foedera: nec Phrygios umquam turbauit honores.
Quin natae, quando superum sic uota ferebant,
Connubia, et generum magno te optabat amore.
Sed quicquid tanto armorum flagrante tumultu,
Tantorum furiisque operum, atque laboribus actum est; 340
Id rabidus Turni, et stimulis incensus iniquis,
Confectusque odiis furor attulit; ille, negantes
Inuitasque, dedit Latias in proelia gentes.

Exulting: "O leader illustrious of the Trojan nation,
the glory and hope of the Phrygians, than whom in the world there has been none greater either in piety or in arms:
we the conquered adjure, and we all
swear, by the gods and the goddesses, that, unwilling, he saw Latium fused into one,
and that Latinus’s treaties were violated: nor did he ever disturb the Phrygian honors.
Nay rather, for his daughter, since thus the vows of the gods were tending,
he was desiring marriage, and with great love was choosing you as son-in-law.
But whatever, amid so great a blazing tumult of arms,
and by the frenzies of such deeds and toils, was done; 340
that the frenzy of Turnus, inflamed by unjust spurs
and consumed with hatreds, brought about; he drove the Latin peoples, refusing
and unwilling, into battles.

Illum omnis conuersa cohors poscebat, ut armis
Cederet, et magnum sineret succedere pactis
Connubiis Anchisiaden: inde optimus ambas
Iungebat palmas defessa aetate Latinus
Infractus, nimioque ardentem Marte rogabat.
Nec nostrae potuere preces inflectere durum,
Nec diuum portenta animum; quin acrius ignem 350
Spumabat ferus ore uomens, bellumque ciebat.
At uero dignum inuenit pro talibus ausis
Exitium; qui te tandem uictore momordit
Nigrantem prostratus humum: nunc improbus aedes
Tartareas uisurus eat, quaeratque sub imo
Nunc alias Acheronte acies, aliosque hymenaeos.

Him the whole cohort, turned as one, demanded to yield in arms,
and to allow the great son of Anchises to succeed to the pledged
nuptials: then the excellent Latinus, unbroken and in age outworn,
was joining both palms and entreating the one blazing with excessive Mars.
Neither could our prayers bend his hard spirit,
nor the portents of the gods; rather, more keenly he foamed with fire 350
spewing from his mouth, and he stirred up war.
But indeed he found a doom worthy for such ventures—
he who, you at last the victor, bit the blackening ground,
prostrate: now let the wicked man go to behold the Tartarean halls,
and under lowest Acheron let him now seek other battle-lines,
and other hymenaeals.

Tu melior succede bonis Laurentibus haeres.
In te omnis domus, et fessi inclinata Latini
Spes iacet: unum omnes Itali super aurea mittunt
Sidera, et ingentem bello, et caelestibus armis 360

You, the better man, succeed as heir to the Laurentine goods.
In you lies the whole house, and the hope of weary, bowed Latinus
rests: as one, all Italians raise you above the golden
stars, and mighty in war, and in celestial arms 360

Extollunt, et uera canunt praeconia uoces.
Te grauium ueneranda patrum, consultaque turba,
Inualidique aetate senes; te laeta iuuentus,
Et cupidae matres, pueri, innuptaeque puellae,
Unanimes aequo ore uolunt; Turnumque sub armis
Exsultant cecidisse tuis: te tota precatur
Ausonia, et claris praestantem laudibus effert:
In te unum conuersi oculi: pater ipse Latinus
lam senior sola haec longaeuae munera uitae,
Qui natam tibi iungat, habet: generique nepotes 370
Troianos Italo admixtos in saecula mittat.
Ergo age, magne ueni Teucrorum ductor, et altos
Ingredere et celebres cape quos spondemus honores."
Finierat: cunctique eadem simul ore fremebant.

They exalt, and voices sing true panegyrics.
You the venerable body of weighty fathers, and the deliberative throng,
and elders invalid with age; you the joyful youth,
and eager mothers, boys, and unwed maidens,
with one mind, with even voice, they desire; and they exult
that Turnus has fallen beneath your arms: you all Ausonia beseeches,
and lifts up as excelling with illustrious praises:
to you alone are eyes turned: father Latinus himself,
now aged, has these the sole gifts of a long life—
that he join his daughter to you, and that to his son-in-law he may send grandsons,370
Trojans admixt with Italian, for ages.
Therefore come, great leader of the Teucrians, and enter
and take the lofty and renowned honors which we pledge."
He had finished: and all together were murmuring the same with one voice.

Quos pius Aeneas hilari cum fronte receptos
Prosequitur paucis, et amico pectore fatur:
      "Nec uos, nec placida solitum sub pace Latinum
Arguerim: uerum infesti uiolentia Turni
Tantum opus, haud dubito, et tanti discrimina Martis
Conciuit, iuuenilis enim plus laudis amore:               380
Quicquid id est tamen, Ausonii, nil pacta recuso
Connubia, et sanctam aeterno cum foedere pacem
Iungere: rex idem imperium, et ueneranda tenebit
Sceptra socer, statuentque mei mihi moenia Teucri,
Et nomen natae urbis erit, sociosque penates
Adiciam: uos communes in saecula leges,
Concordesque ingenti animo mittetis amores.
Interea, quod restat adhuc, imponite flammis
Corpora, quae duri miserandi insania belli
Arripuit: dehinc nos cum primum crastina surget               390

Whom pious Aeneas, having welcomed with a cheerful brow,
accompanies with a few words, and from a friendly heart he speaks:
      "Neither you, nor Latinus, accustomed to placid peace,
would I accuse: rather, the violence of hostile Turnus
has, I do not doubt, stirred up so great a task and such perils of Mars,
out of a youthful love of praise;                380
Whatever it is, nevertheless, Ausonians, I refuse nothing of the pledged
marriages, and to join sacred peace with an eternal covenant:
the king—the same, my father-in-law—shall hold the command
and the venerable scepters; and my Teucrians will set up walls for me,
and the name of the city shall be from the daughter, and I will add allied household gods;
you will establish common laws for the ages,
and with a mighty spirit you will send forth concordant affections.
Meanwhile, what still remains, lay upon the flames
the bodies which the madness of harsh and pitiable war
has seized: thereafter, when first tomorrow rises we               390

Clara dies, laeti Laurentia tecta petamus."
      Dixerat: et tanto affatu conuersa tenebat
Ora simul, stupefacti omnes, et apertius ingens
Mirantes pietatis opus; mox robore toto
Congestas statuere pyras, ignemque repostis
Ciuibus immisere: altumque sub aethera fumus
Euolat, atque atris caelum sublime tenebris
Conditur, innumeras ex omni rure bidentes,
Glandilegosque sues iugulant, pinguesque iuuencos,
Immittuntque rogis: latos incendia campos               400
Enudant; fremit impulsus clamoribus aer.
      Iamque sequens clarum extulerat lux aurea Phoebum
Tunc Teucri Ausonuque omnes, mixto agmine, laeti
Consedere in equis, et gressum ad tecta mouebant
Laurenti, atque altis erectam moenibus urbem:
Ante omnes pius Aeneas, post ordine Drances
Multa duci senior memorans; dehinc unica proles
Ascanius, multumque animi maturus Aletes,
Et grauis Ilioneus, Mnestheusque, acerque Serestus
Sergestus, fortisque Gyas, fortisque Cloanthus:               410
Post alii mixtimque Itali Teucrique sequuntur.
Interea effusi stabant per moenia ciues;
Sublimesque alta statuebant laude triumphos,
Troianam cupido expectantes pectore turbam.

“The day is bright; let us gladly seek the Laurentian roofs.”
      He had spoken: and by so great an address he held
faces all at once turned, all amazed, and more openly the vast
work of piety they marveled at; soon with all their strength
they set up the piled pyres, and, their fellow citizens laid out,
they sent in the fire: and the smoke flies up high beneath the aether,
and the lofty heaven is veiled in black darkness;
from every countryside they slaughter numberless bident sheep,
and acorn-gathering swine, and fat young bulls,
and they send them onto the pyres: the fires strip bare the broad fields,               400
the air, driven by shouts, roars.
      And now the following golden light had lifted up bright Phoebus:
then the Teucrians and all the Ausonians, in a mixed column, joyful,
sat their horses, and were moving their step toward the roofs
of Laurentum, and the city raised with high walls:
before all, pious Aeneas; after him in order Drances,
the elder, recounting many things to the leader; then the only offspring,
Ascanius, and Aletes, much mature in spirit,
and weighty Ilioneus, and Mnestheus, and keen Serestus,
Sergestus, and brave Gyas, and brave Cloanthus:               410
afterward the others follow, mixed, both Italians and Teucrians.
Meanwhile the citizens were standing poured out along the walls;
and they were setting up triumphs lofty with high praise,
awaiting with eager breast the Trojan throng.

Et iam aduentabant: quos laeta fronte Latinus
Occurrens magna excepit comitante caterua.
At postquam medio uenientem ex agmine uidit
Dardanium Aeneam, haud uera illusit imago:
Namque omnes super excellens, atque altior ibat,
Et late regalem oculis spargebat honorem 420

And now they were approaching: whom Latinus, with a joyful brow,
meeting, received with a great accompanying crowd.
But after he saw Dardanian Aeneas coming from the midst of the column,
no unreal image deluded him:
For towering above all, and going loftier, he was moving,
and far and wide he was scattering to the eyes a regal honor 420

Sidereis. Tunc cum primum data copia fandi est
Et uoces capere, atque optatas iungere dextras,
Incipit, et prior affatur placido ore Latinus:
"Uenisti tandem, cupidum nec fixa fefellit
Spes animum, lux Troianae clarissima gentis,
Magnorum quem iussa deum tot casibus actum
Italia, et nostris uoluerunt sistere tectis:
Quamquam humana furens nimis ausa licentia sanctas
Turbarit leges, et diuum exciuerit iras;
Quin etiam inuitum totiens, meque arma negantem 430
Tradiderit duri perferre pericula Martis.
Factum etenim, sed nec paruo stat; numina iustas
Indignata animis misere ultricia poenas.

With starry eyes. Then, when first an opportunity of speaking was given
and to find their voices, and to join the desired right hands,
he begins, and first Latinus addresses with a placid face:
"You have come at last, nor has the fixed hope deceived
my eager spirit, brightest light of the Trojan nation,
whom the injunctions of the great gods, driven through so many misfortunes,
have willed to halt in Italy and beneath our roofs:
although human license, raging too much, has disturbed the sacred
laws, and has called forth the wraths of the gods;
nay even has delivered me, so often unwilling, and me denying arms, 430
to endure the perils of harsh Mars.
The deed indeed was done, but it does not stand at a small price; the divinities,
indignant in their minds, have sent avenging, just penalties.

Nunc age, magne Phrygum ductor, quando omnis origo
Seditionis abest, et tanti criminis auctor,
Connubus succede, et promissis hymenaeis.
Sunt mihi regna, iacent ereptis oppida muris:
Sola autem fessae spes unica nata senectae:
Te generum et natum tempus complector in omne."
      Quem contra bonus Aeneas: "Rex maxime, nullam               440
Inte horum causam armorum, tantique tumultus
Crediderim, placidae assueto sub tempore pacis;
Et si qua est, pone hanc curam, pater optime, quaeso.
Nunc adsum, et patrem, et socerum te laetus in omnes
Accipio casus; magni mihi surgit imago
Anchisae et rursum ardebo genitoris amore."
      Talibus orabant inter se, et tecta subibant
Regia, cum studio effusae matresque nurusque,
Longaeuique patres stabant, iuuenumque cohortes,
Pulchra reuisentes Troianae corpora gentis.               450

Now come, great leader of the Phrygians, since every source
of Sedition is absent, and the author of so great a crime,
enter the marriage-bonds and the promised Hymenaeals.
I have realms; the towns lie, their walls snatched away:
but the only hope, the single daughter, of my weary old age:
you as son-in-law and as son I embrace for all time."
      To him in reply good Aeneas: "O greatest king, no               440
cause of these arms, and of so great a tumult, would I believe to be in you,
accustomed as you are to the time of placid peace;
and if there is any, set aside this care, best father, I beg.
Now I am here, and I gladly receive you as both father and father-in-law
for every fortune; the image of great Anchises rises for me,
and once more I shall burn with love for my sire."
      With such words they were entreating each other, and they were going beneath
the royal roofs, when, pouring out in eagerness, both matrons and brides,
and the long-lived fathers were standing, and the cohorts of youths,
gazing again upon the beautiful bodies of the Trojan race.               450

Ante omnes magnum Aenean, cupidoque notabant
Altum animo genus, et praestantem frontis honorem,
Quaesitamque alacres pacemque optata quietis
Munera laudabant; ceu quando longus et ingens
Agricolas tenuit resolutis nubibus imber
Suspensos, curuumque diu requieuit aratrum:
Tunc si clarus equos spatioso limine Titan
Laxet, et aurato caelum splendore serenet,
Laetitia exundant et sese hortantur agrestes,
Non secus Ausonii tam laeto in tempore rerum               460
Composuere animos; et iam rex alta Latinus
Atria, regalesque aditus intrarat, et una
Optimus Aeneas, sequitur quem pulcher Iulus;
Dehine Itali, mixtique Phryges, tum splendida lato
Applausu, et magno completur regia coetu.
Haec inter, matrum innumera nuruumque caterua
In medium comitata uenit Lauinia uirgo
Sidereos deiecta oculos; quam Troius heros
Uirtute et forma ingentem, mirabile dictu
Ut uidit, primo aspectu stupefactus inhaesit;               470
Et secum Turni casus miseratus acerbos
Qui haud parua spe ductus ouans in proelia tantos
Ciuisset motus, durisque arsisset in armis.
Tum uero aeterno iunguntur foedera nexu
Connubii, multaque canunt cum laude hymenaeum:
Dehinc plausus fremitusque altum super aera mittunt,
Et laetam uocem per regia tecta uolutant.
      At fidum interea Aeneas affatur Achaten,
Uadat et Andromachae quondam data munera, uestes
Intextas auro ferat, et, quod saepe solebat               480

Before all they marked great Aeneas, and with eager mind they noted
his high-born lineage and the outstanding honor of his brow,
and, eager, they were praising the peace that had been sought and the gifts
of longed-for quiet; as when a long and mighty shower,
the clouds unloosed, has held the farmers in suspense,
and the curved plough has long rested:
then, if bright Titan lets loose his horses from the spacious threshold
and makes serene the sky with gilded splendor,
the countryfolk overflow with joy and urge themselves on;
no otherwise did the Ausonians, at so glad a time of affairs,               460
compose their spirits; and now King Latinus had entered
the lofty halls and the royal approaches, and together
with him the excellent Aeneas, whom fair Iulus follows;
then the Italians, and the mingled Phrygians; then the palace is filled
with splendid wide applause, and with a great assembly.
Amid these things, an innumerable throng of mothers and daughters-in-law
attending, the maiden Lavinia came into the midst,
her starry eyes cast down; whom the Trojan hero,
vast in virtue and in beauty—marvelous to say—
when he saw, at the first sight, thunderstruck he was fixed;               470
and in his heart he pitied the bitter fortunes of Turnus,
who, led by no small hope, exulting into such battles,
had stirred up such commotions and had burned in harsh arms.
Then indeed treaties are joined with the eternal bond
of wedlock, and they sing the hymenaeal with much praise;
then they send applause and a roar high over the air,
and roll the glad voice through the royal roofs.
      But meanwhile Aeneas addresses faithful Achates,
that he go and bring the gifts once given by Andromache—garments
woven with gold—and what he was often wont               480

Dum res Troianae stabant, circumdare collo
Auratum, gemmis circumseptumque monile:
Praeterea magnum cratera in pignus amoris
Quem Priamus patri Anchisae donauerat olim.
Nec mora, iussa sequens pulcherrima portat Achates
Munera: tunc socer ingentem cratera Latinus
Donatum capit; ac coniunx Lauinia uestes
Atque monile decens: placido dehinc pectore sese
Demulcent, uariisque trahunt sermonibus horas.
Et iam tarda epulas fugientis tempora lucis 490
Poscebant; mox regali conuiuia luxu
Effundunt, latosque alta intra tecta paratus.

While Trojan affairs stood, to put around the neck
a golden necklace, encircled with gems:
furthermore a great crater as a pledge of love,
which Priam had once donated to father Anchises.
No delay: following the orders, Achates carries the most beautiful
gifts: then the father-in-law Latinus takes the huge crater,
the gift; and his spouse Lavinia the garments
and the becoming necklace: thereafter with a placid breast they
soothe themselves, and draw out the hours with varied speeches.
And now the slow hours of the fleeing light were calling for feasts, 490
soon they pour forth banquets with regal luxury,
and broad preparations within the lofty halls.

Conuenere omnes, strato discumbere in ostro
Deliciis iussi, et dapibus se inferre futuris.
Dat manibus crystallus aquas, mensisque reponunt
Flauentem Cererem: tum laeta fronte ministri
Innumeri magno distinguunt ordine curas.
Pars dapibus reficit mensas, pars pocula miscet,
Craterasque replet: nunc hac, nunc uoluitur illac
Turba frequens; uarios miscentque per atria motus. 500
At puerum pater immotis spectabat Iulum
Luminibus, uultum admirans, moresque Latinus,
Et grauiter puerili ex ore cadentia uerba
Maturumque animum ante annos; et multa rogabat
Permixtas referens uoces: dehinc oscula figens
Dulcia, complexum manibus iunctumque fouebat;
Et nimium exsultans felicem, et munere diuum
Donatum Aenean pro tali prole ferebat.

All assembled, bidden in delights to recline on spread purple,
and to betake themselves to the coming banquets.
The crystal gives water for the hands, and they set upon the tables
the golden Ceres; then with cheerful brow the attendants
innumerable distribute their cares in great order.
One part renews the tables with courses, another mixes the cups,
and fills the kraters: now here, now there the crowded throng rolls,
and they mingle diverse movements through the halls. 500
But the father Latinus was gazing at the boy Iulus
with unmoving eyes, admiring his face and his manners,
and the words falling gravely from his boyish mouth
and a mind mature before his years; and he asked many things,
uttering mingled words: then planting sweet kisses,
he cherished him clasped and joined in his embrace;
and, exulting exceedingly, he declared Aeneas happy and endowed
by the gift of the gods for such progeny.

Postquam epulis compressa fames, traducere longam
Incipiunt fando, et labentem fallere noctem: 510

After hunger had been compressed by banquets, they begin to conduct across the long
night by speaking, and to deceive it as it glides away: 510

Nunc duros Troiae casus, gentesque Pelasgas;
Nunc fera Laurentis memorantes proelia pugnae;
Quo primum diffusae acies; quo tela uicissim
Pulsa loco; qui primus ouans inuaserit agmen
Fulmineumque ardens in equo madefecerit ensem.
Praecipue Tros Aeneas, seniorque Latinus,
Magnorum heroum Latiique antiqua potentis
Gesta recensebant, fugientemque horrida nati
Arma sui Saturnum Italis latuisse sub oris:
Hinc Latium dixisse, genusque in montibus altis               520
Composuisse uagum, legesque et iura dedisse
Et Bacchi, et frugum cultus; dehinc tecta secutum
Esse paterna Iouem utque Electra Atlantide cretus
Iasio Idaeas caeso Phrygiae isset ad urbes
Dardanus, ex Corytho multa cum gente profectus;
Utque insignem aquilam dono et Ioue patre superbus,
Hectoreae gentis signum, illustresque tulisset
Primus auum titulos, Troianae stirpis origo.
      Talibus atque alus, inter se longa trahebant
Tempora; tum fremitus, laetaeque per atria uoces               530
Alta uolant, strepitu ingenti tectum omne repletur
Dant lucem flammae, et lato splendore coruscant.

Now the hard fortunes of Troy, and the Pelasgian peoples;
Now recounting the fierce battles of the Laurentian fight;
Where first the battle-lines were spread; where the missiles in turn
were driven from their place; who first, exultant, charged the column
and, blazing on his thunder-like horse, made his sword wet.
Above all the Trojan Aeneas, and aged Latinus,
were recounting the deeds of great heroes and of ancient, potent Latium,
and that Saturn, fleeing the horrid arms of his own son,
had lain hidden beneath Italian shores:
Hence he named it Latium, and set in order the wandering race in the high mountains               520
and gave laws and rights, and the cults of Bacchus and of crops;
thereafter that Jove pursued his father’s roofs; and that, born of Electra the Atlantid,
by Iasius, Dardanus had gone to the Idaean cities of Phrygia,
having set out from Corythus with a great company;
and that, proud of the conspicuous eagle as a gift and of Jove as father,
the emblem of the Hectorean race, he first bore the illustrious titles
of his grandsire, the origin of the Trojan stock.
      With such and other matters, they were drawing out long spans
of time among themselves; then a murmuring, and glad voices through the halls               530
soar on high; with huge din the whole roof is filled;
the flames give light, and they flash with broad brilliance.

Consurgunt Phryges, et cithara resonante sequuntur
Ausonii, et plausum ingeminant, seque agmine toto
Permiscent, uariantque pedes, raptimque feruntur.
Et iam festa nouem largo connubia luxu
Attigerant celebrata dies: tum maximus heros
Aeneas urbem curuo signabat aratro,
Fundabantque domos, et amictas aggere fossas.
Ecce autem fatum haud paruum: diffundere flammam 540

The Phrygians rise up, and the Ausonians follow while the cithara resounds,
and they redouble the applause, and mingle themselves with the whole array,
and vary their steps, and are borne swiftly along.
And now nine festive days of connubial celebration,
celebrated with ample luxury, had been reached: then the greatest hero
Aeneas was marking out the city with a curved plough,
and they were founding homes, and ditches cloaked with an embankment.
But behold, a not small fate: to spread the flame 540

Ingentem, et fulgore leuem, et se nubibus altis
Miscentem summo Lauinia uertice uisa est.
Obstipuit pater Aeneas, duplicesque tetendit
Ad caelum cum uoce manus: "Si, Iupiter, umquam
Gens monitis Troiana tuis terraque, marique
Paruit imperiisque libens, sinumina, uestras
Si metui coluique aras, per si quid agendum est,
Quod restat, placidam felici afferte quietem
Augurio, et firmate, malisque imponite finem."
Talia iactantem circumstetit aurea mater 550
Se Uenerem confessa, almo et sic edidit ore:
"Nate, animo pone hanc curam, et meliora capesse
Signa deum, gaudensque bonis succede futuris.
Nunc tibi parta quies, nunc meta extrema malorum:
Nunc tandem optatam componunt saecula pacem.

Immense, and light with brightness, and mingling itself with the high clouds,
was seen on the Lavinian summit. Father Aeneas was astonished, and he stretched
both hands to heaven with his voice: "If, Jupiter, ever the Trojan race
has obeyed your counsels, on land and on sea, and gladly your commands; if, O divinities,
I have feared and cherished your altars, then, by whatever must yet be done,
bring calm repose with happy augury for what remains, and make it firm, and set an end to the evils."
While he was tossing forth such words, his golden mother surrounded him,550
avowing herself to be Venus, and with a life-giving mouth thus uttered:
"Son, lay aside this care in your spirit, and take up better signs of the gods,
and, rejoicing, enter upon the goods to come. Now rest has been won for you,
now the farthest goal of your sufferings: now at last the ages compose the longed-for peace.

Nec flammam ad caelos perlatam e uertice carae
Coniugis horresce; at constantem dirige mentem.
Namque erit illa, tuum celebri quae sanguine nomen,
Troianosque auctura duces ad sidera mittat.
Haec tibi magnanimos sublimi prole nepotes 560
Conferet, egregiis totum qui laudibus orbem
Complebunt, totumque sua uirtute potentes,
Sub iuga, uictoresque trahent: quos gloria summo
Oceanum transgressa ingens aequabit Olympo:
Quos tandem innumera ardens post illustria rerum
Gesta deos factura uehet super aethera uirtus.

Nor shudder at the flame carried to the heavens from the crown of your dear consort;
but direct your mind steadfast.
For it will be she who, augmenting your name with illustrious blood,
and the Trojan leaders, will send them to the stars.
This one will confer on you grandsons magnanimous by sublime progeny 560
who will fill the whole orb with outstanding praises,
and, powerful by their own virtue, will drag the whole beneath the yoke, and as victors;
whom vast glory, having crossed Ocean, will make equal to highest Olympus:
whom at last, after innumerable illustrious illustrious deeds, ardent virtue—making them gods—will carry above the upper ether.

Hanc flammam uentura tuae praeconia gentis
Designant; hoc omnipotens e culmine signum
Sidereo dedit: at tantarum in munera laudum,
Quam statuis, dicas a nomine coniugis urbem. 570

This flame designates the coming proclamations of your race;
this sidereal sign the Omnipotent has given from the summit:
but as a gift for such great praises,
call the city which you establish from your consort’s name. 570

Praeterea sacros Troia ex ardente penates
Ereptos compone noua intra moenia, et altos
Infer ad aeternum mansuros tempus honores.
Hi, tibi mira feram, tanto urbis amore trahentur,
Ut uecti ad sedes alias, loca prima Latini
Sponte sua repetent, iterumque iterumque reuersi.
O felix, quem tanta manent, dehinc pace tenebis
Sub placida gentem Iliacam: post, fessus et aeuo
Confectus tandem Elysias socer ibit ad umbras;
Succedes sceptro, atque Italis dominabere, leges 580
Communes Teucrisque ferens: tum laetus ad altum
Te mittes caelum: sic stat sententia diuum."
Dixit: et inde leues fugiens se uexit ad auras.

Moreover, set the sacred Penates, snatched from burning Troy,
within the new walls, and bring lofty honors
to endure for eternal time. These, I shall tell you marvels, by so great love of the city will be drawn,
that, borne to other seats, they will of their own accord seek again Latium’s prime places,
and, turned back again and again, return. O happy one, whom such things await, thereafter you will hold
the Iliac nation under placid peace: after that, your father-in-law, weary and worn out with age,
at last will go to the Elysian shades; you will succeed to the scepter, and you will rule the Italians, bringing 580
common laws for both Teucrians and Italians: then happily to the high
heaven you will send yourself: thus stands the judgment of the gods."
He spoke; and then, fleeing, he bore himself to the light breezes.

      Aeneas tanto stupefactam numine mentem
Percussus, diuae peragit mandata parentis:
Et iam compositos felici in pace regebat
Dardanidas; et iam decedens sceptra Latinus
Liquerat; et pius Aeneas successerat, omnem
Ausoniam lataque potens dicione tenebat.
Iam paribus Phryges atque Itali se moribus ultro,               590
Et socia ingenti firmabant pectora amore;
Concordique aequas miscebant foedere leges.
Tum medio Uenus exsultans se immisit Olympo
Ante Iouem; et complexa pedes, sic ore locuta est:
      "Omnipotens genitor, qui solus ab aethere summo
Cuncta moues, qui res hominum, curasque recenses;
Dum Teucros traheret fortuna inimica, recordor,
Spondebas finem aerumnis, rebusque salutem.

      Aeneas, smitten, his mind stunned by so great a numen,
carries out the commands of his divine mother;
and now he was ruling the Dardanians, settled in happy peace;
and now Latinus, departing, had left the scepters;
and pious Aeneas had succeeded, he held all Ausonia
and, mighty, under broad dominion. Now the Phrygians and the Italians of their own accord with equal customs,               590
and with a shared, vast love they were strengthening their hearts;
and with a concordant treaty they were mingling equal laws.
Then Venus, exulting, plunged herself into mid Olympus
before Jove; and, clasping his feet, thus she spoke with her mouth:
      "Omnipotent father, who alone from the highest aether
movest all things, who takest account of the affairs and cares of men;
while hostile fortune was dragging the Teucrians, I recall,
you were pledging an end to their toils, and safety to their affairs.

Nec tua te promissa, pater, sententia fallit;
Namque omnes gaudere sacra tres pace per annos 600

Nor do your promises, father, your decree, mislead you;
for all rejoice in sacred peace for three years 600

Uiderunt Italae nullo discrimine partes;
Uerum ad siderei missurum culmina caeli
Pollicitus magnum Aenean, meritumque ferebas
Illaturum astris: quid nunc sub pectore uersas?
Iamque optat matura polos Aeneia uirtus."
Olli hominum pater atque deum dedit oscula, ab alto
Pectore uerba ferens: "Quantum, Cytherea, potentem
Aeneam Aeneadasque omnes, infessus amaui,
Et terra et pelago et per tanta pericula uectos,
Nosti: et saepe equidem indolui commotus amore, 610
Nata, tuo: tandemque malis, Iunone secunda,
Imposui finem: nunc stat sententia menti,
Qua ductorem alto Phrygium succedere caelo
Institui, et firma est; numeroque inferre deorum
Constat, et id concedo libens. Tu, si quid in ipso
Mortale est, adime, atque astris ingentibus adde.

The Italian sides have seen no discrimination;
but that you would send great Aeneas to the summits of the sidereal sky
you promised, and you were declaring that, as meriting it, he would be brought into the stars: what now do you revolve beneath your breast?
And already Aenean virtue, ripe, longs for the poles."
To her the father of men and of gods gave kisses, bearing words from his deep
breast: "How greatly, Cytherea, I have loved powerful Aeneas and all the Aeneadae, unwearied,
both on land and on the sea and borne through such great dangers,
you know: and indeed I have often grieved, moved by your love, 610
daughter; and at last to the evils, with Juno favorable,
I have set an end: now a settled resolve stands in my mind,
by which I have determined that the Phrygian leader should ascend to high heaven,
and it is firm; and it is agreed to enroll him in the number of the gods,
and this I grant gladly. You, if anything in him
is mortal, remove it, and add him to the mighty stars.

Quin si alios sua habet uirtus, qui laude perenni
Accingant sese, gestis praestantibus orbem
Exornent, illos rursum super aethera mittam."
Assensere omnes superi, nec regia Iuno               620
Abnuit; at magnum Aenean suadebat ad altum
Efferri caelum, et uoces addebat amicas.
      Tum Uenus aerias descendit lapsa per auras,
Laurentumque petit: uicina Numicius undis
Flumineis ubi currit in aequora harundine tectus.
Tunc corpus nati abluere, et deferre sub undas
Quicquid erat mortale iubet: dehinc laeta recentem,
Felicemque animam secum super aera duxit:
Immisitque Aeneam astris, quem Iulia proles
Indigetem appellat, templisque imponit honores.               630

Nay, if virtue has others who, with perennial praise,
gird themselves, and with outstanding deeds adorn the world-orb,
I will send them again above the aether."
They all the gods assented, nor did queenly Juno               620
refuse; but she was urging that great Aeneas be borne up to the high
heaven, and was adding friendly words.
      Then Venus, having slipped down through the airy breezes,
seeks Laurentum: where the Numicius, near to the river-waves,
runs into the level sea, covered with reed.
Then she orders the body of her son to be washed, and that whatever
was mortal be carried down beneath the waves: thereafter, rejoicing, she led the fresh,
happy spirit with her above the air:
and she sent Aeneas into the stars; him the Julian offspring
calls the Indigete, and she imposes honors upon him in temples.               630