Virgil: AENEID

Arma virumque canō, Trōiae quī prīmus ab ōrīs
Ītaliam, fātō profugus, Lāvīniaque vēnit
lītora, multum ille et terrīs iactātus et altō
vī superum saevae memorem Iūnōnis ob īram;
multa quoque et bellō passus, dum conderet urbem, 5
inferretque deōs Latiō, genus unde Latīnum,
Albānīque patrēs, atque altae moenia Rōmae.

I sing of arms and of the man, who first from the shores of Troy
to Italy, an exile by fate, and to the Lavinian shores came
much he tossed both on lands and on the deep
by the force of the supernal ones, on account of the mindful wrath of savage Juno;
much also having suffered in war, until he might found a city, 5
and bring the gods into Latium, whence the Latin race,
the Alban fathers, and the lofty walls of Rome.

Mūsa, mihī causās memorā, quō nūmine laesō,
quidve dolēns, rēgīna deum tot volvere cāsūs
īnsīgnem pietāte virum, tot adīre labōrēs 10
impulerit. Tantaene animīs caelestibus īrae?

Muse, recount to me the causes, by what divinity offended,
or grieving what, the queen of the gods forced to turn through so many misfortunes
a man distinguished by piety, to undergo so many labors 10
did she impel. So great a wrath in celestial minds?

Urbs antīqua fuit, Tyriī tenuēre colōnī,
Karthāgō, Ītaliam contrā Tiberīnaque longē
ōstia, dīves opum studiīsque asperrima bellī,
quam Iūnō fertur terrīs magis omnibus ūnam                           15
posthabitā coluisse Samō; hīc illius arma,
hīc currus fuit; hōc rēgnum dea gentibus esse,
sī quā Fāta sinant, iam tum tenditque fovetque.
Prōgeniem sed enim Trōiānō ā sanguine dūcī
audierat, Tyriās olim quae verteret arcēs;                                   20
hinc populum lātē regem bellōque superbum
ventūrum excidiō Libyae: sīc volvere Parcās.
Id metuēns, veterisque memor Sāturnia bellī,
prīma quod ad Trōiam prō cārīs gesserat Argīs—
necdum etiam causae īrārum saevīque dolōrēs                          25

An ancient city there was, Carthage, the Tyrian colonists held it,
opposite Italy and far from the Tiber’s mouths,
opulent in resources and most harsh in the pursuits of war,
which Juno is said—Samos being held after—to have cherished alone more than all lands; 15
here were her arms; here was her chariot; this city the goddess even then both aimed at and fostered to be a kingdom for the nations, if in any way the Fates should allow.
But indeed she had heard that a progeny from Trojan blood was being drawn out,
which someday would overturn the Tyrian citadels;
from this would come a people ruling widely and proud in war,
for the destruction of Libya: thus the Fates were rolling it.
Fearing this, and mindful of the ancient war,
since she first had waged it at Troy for her dear Argives—
and not yet even were the causes of her wraths and savage pains 25

exciderant animō: manet altā mente repostum
iūdicium Paridis sprētaeque iniūria fōrmae,
et genus invīsum, et raptī Ganymēdis honōrēs.
Hīs accēnsa super, iactātōs aequore tōtō
Trōas, rēliquiās Danaum atque immītis Achillī, 30
arcēbat longē Latiō, multōsque per annōs
errābant, āctī Fātīs, maria omnia circum.
Tantae mōlis erat Rōmānam condere gentem!

had not fallen from her mind: there remains reposed in her deep mind
the judgment of Paris and the injury of her spurned beauty,
and the hated race, and the honors of ravished Ganymede.
Inflamed by these besides, she kept far from Latium the Trojans—
the remnants of the Danaans and of pitiless Achilles—tossed on the whole sea; 30
and for many years
they wandered, driven by the Fates, around all the seas.
So great a toil it was to found the Roman nation!

Vix e conspectu Siculae telluris in altum
vela dabant laeti, et spumas salis aere ruebant, 35
cum Iuno, aeternum servans sub pectore volnus,
haec secum: 'Mene incepto desistere victam,
nec posse Italia Teucrorum avertere regem?
Quippe vetor fatis. Pallasne exurere classem
Argivom atque ipsos potuit submergere ponto, 40
unius ob noxam et furias Aiacis Oilei?

Hardly out of sight of Sicilian land they, joyful, were setting sail into the deep,
and with bronze were rushing through the foams of the salt, 35
when Juno, keeping an eternal wound beneath her breast,
[said] these things with herself: 'Am I, conquered, to desist from my undertaking,
and not to be able to turn the king of the Teucrians away from Italy?
Indeed I am forbidden by the Fates. Was Pallas able to burn up the Argive fleet
and to sink them themselves in the deep, on account of the fault and furies of one Ajax, son of Oileus? 40
on account of the wrongdoing and frenzies of one Ajax, Oileus’s?'

Ipsa, Iovis rapidum iaculata e nubibus ignem,
disiecitque rates evertitque aequora ventis,
illum expirantem transfixo pectore flammas
turbine corripuit scopuloque infixit acuto. 45

She herself, having hurled from the clouds Jove’s rapid fire,
both scattered the ships and upturned the seas with winds,
him, breathing out flames from his transfixed breast,
she snatched up in a whirlwind and infixed upon a sharp crag. 45

Ast ego, quae divom incedo regina, Iovisque
et soror et coniunx, una cum gente tot annos
bella gero! Et quisquam numen Iunonis adoret
praeterea, aut supplex aris imponet honorem?'

But I, who stride as queen of the gods, and both sister and consort of Jove,
with one race for so many years do I wage wars! And will anyone adore the numen of Juno
hereafter, or as a suppliant place honor upon her altars?'

Talia flammato secum dea corde volutans 50
nimborum in patriam, loca feta furentibus austris,
Aeoliam venit. Hic vasto rex Aeolus antro
luctantes ventos tempestatesque sonoras
imperio premit ac vinclis et carcere frenat.
Illi indignantes magno cum murmure montis 55
circum claustra fremunt; celsa sedet Aeolus arce
sceptra tenens, mollitque animos et temperat iras.

Such things the goddess, rolling with herself in her inflamed heart 50
came into the homeland of the rain-clouds, places teeming with raging south winds,
Aeolia. Here King Aeolus in a vast cavern
presses the struggling winds and the sonorous tempests
by his command and curbs them with chains and with prison.
They, indignant, with a great murmur of the mountain 55
roar around the barriers; on his lofty citadel Aeolus sits
holding the scepters, and he softens their spirits and tempers their wraths.

Ni faciat, maria ac terras caelumque profundum
quippe ferant rapidi secum verrantque per auras.
Sed pater omnipotens speluncis abdidit atris, 60

If he did not do it, the rapid ones would indeed bear with them the seas and the lands and the deep sky, and would sweep them through the airs.
But the omnipotent father hid them in dark caverns, 60

hoc metuens, molemque et montis insuper altos
imposuit, regemque dedit, qui foedere certo
et premere et laxas sciret dare iussus habenas.
Ad quem tum Iuno supplex his vocibus usa est:

fearing this, he imposed a mass and mountains above besides,
and he gave a king, who, by a fixed compact,
would know both to restrain and, when ordered, to give loose reins.
To whom then Juno, as a suppliant, used these words:

'Aeole, namque tibi divom pater atque hominum rex               65
et mulcere dedit fluctus et tollere vento,
gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navigat aequor,
Ilium in Italiam portans victosque Penates:
incute vim ventis submersasque obrue puppes,
aut age diversos et disiice corpora ponto.               70
Sunt mihi bis septem praestanti corpore nymphae,
quarum quae forma pulcherrima Deiopea,
conubio iungam stabili propriamque dicabo,
omnis ut tecum meritis pro talibus annos
exigat, et pulchra faciat te prole parentem.'               75

'Aeolus, for to you the father of the gods and king of men               65
has granted both to soothe the billows and to raise them by wind,
a race hostile to me sails the Tyrrhenian sea,
carrying Ilium into Italy and the conquered Penates:
strike force into the winds and submerge and overwhelm the ships,
or drive them asunder and scatter their bodies on the deep.               70
I have twice seven (14) nymphs of outstanding body,
of whom Deiopea, who is most beautiful in form,
I will join to you in stable connubium and will dedicate her as your own,
so that she may pass all her years with you for such deserts,
and may make you a parent with fair progeny.'               75

Aeolus haec contra: 'Tuus, O regina, quid optes
explorare labor; mihi iussa capessere fas est.
Tu mihi, quodcumque hoc regni, tu sceptra Iovemque
concilias, tu das epulis accumbere divom,
nimborumque facis tempestatumque potentem.' 80

Aeolus in reply: 'Your labor, O queen, is to explore what you desire;
for me it is lawful to undertake the orders.
You for me, whatever this is of realm, you the scepters and Jove
procure; you grant me to recline at the feasts of the gods,
and you make me potent of clouds and of storms.' 80

Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montem
impulit in latus: ac venti, velut agmine facto,
qua data porta, ruunt et terras turbine perflant.
Incubuere mari, totumque a sedibus imis
una Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellis 85
Africus, et vastos volvunt ad litora fluctus.
Insequitur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum.

When these things were said, he drove his turned spear-point into the side of the hollow mountain: and the winds, as if with a battle-line formed, by the gate that was given, rush forth and sweep through the lands with a whirlwind.
They settle upon the sea, and, from its deepest foundations, all together Eurus and Notus and Africus, thick with squalls 85
roll vast waves to the shores.
There follows the clamor of men and the screeching of ropes.

Eripiunt subito nubes caelumque diemque
Teucrorum ex oculis; ponto nox incubat atra.
Intonuere poli, et crebris micat ignibus aether, 90
praesentemque viris intentant omnia mortem.

Suddenly the clouds snatch away the sky and the day
from the eyes of the Teucrians; black night broods upon the sea.
The heavens thundered, and the aether flashes with frequent fires, 90
and all things threaten a present death to the men.

Extemplo Aeneae solvuntur frigore membra:
ingemit, et duplicis tendens ad sidera palmas
talia voce refert: 'O terque quaterque beati,
quis ante ora patrum Troiae sub moenibus altis 95
contigit oppetere! O Danaum fortissime gentis
Tydide! Mene Iliacis occumbere campis
non potuisse, tuaque animam hanc effundere dextra,
saevus ubi Aeacidae telo iacet Hector, ubi ingens
Sarpedon, ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis 100
scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volvit?'

At once Aeneas’s limbs are loosened with frigidity:
he groans, and stretching his two palms to the stars
he speaks such words aloud: 'O thrice and four times blessed
they to whom it befell to meet death before their fathers’ faces beneath Troy’s lofty walls! 95
O Tydides, bravest of the race of the Danaans! Could I not have fallen on the Iliac fields,
and have poured out this spirit by your right hand,
where savage Hector lies by the weapon of the Aeacid, where mighty
Sarpedon lies, where the Simois has rolled beneath its waves so many
shields of men and helmets and brave bodies?' 100

Talia iactanti stridens Aquilone procella
velum adversa ferit, fluctusque ad sidera tollit.
Franguntur remi; tum prora avertit, et undis
dat latus; insequitur cumulo praeruptus aquae mons. 105
Hi summo in fluctu pendent; his unda dehiscens
terram inter fluctus aperit; furit aestus harenis.
Tris Notus abreptas in saxa latentia torquet—
saxa vocant Itali mediis quae in fluctibus aras—
dorsum immane mari summo; tris Eurus ab alto 110
in brevia et Syrtis urget, miserabile visu,
inliditque vadis atque aggere cingit harenae.

As he was tossing such words, a shrieking squall from the North Wind
strikes the sail head-on, and lifts the billows to the stars.
The oars are broken; then the prow turns aside, and to the waves
gives her flank; a sheer mountain of water follows in a heap. 105
Some hang on the crest of the surge; for others the wave, yawning,
opens the land between the swells; the surge rages with the sands.
The South Wind whirls three, snatched away, onto hidden rocks—
rocks which the Italians call altars in the midst of the waves—
a monstrous ridge on the sea’s surface; three the East Wind from the deep 110
drives into shoals and the Syrtes, pitiable to see,
and dashes them on the shallows and encircles them with a rampart of sand.

Unam, quae Lycios fidumque vehebat Oronten,
ipsius ante oculos ingens a vertice pontus
in puppim ferit: excutitur pronusque magister 115

One, which was carrying the Lycians and faithful Orontes,
before his very eyes a huge sea from its crest strikes into the stern:
the master is shaken out, and headlong 115

volvitur in caput; ast illam ter fluctus ibidem
torquet agens circum, et rapidus vorat aequore vortex.
Adparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto,
arma virum, tabulaeque, et Troia gaza per undas.
Iam validam Ilionei navem, iam fortis Achati, 120
et qua vectus Abas, et qua grandaevus Aletes,
vicit hiems; laxis laterum compagibus omnes
accipiunt inimicum imbrem, rimisque fatiscunt.

is rolled onto his head; but that one the wave three times in the same place
twists, driving it around, and the swift vortex in the sea devours it.
A few swimmers appear in the vast gulf,
the arms of men, and planks, and Trojan treasure through the waves.
Now the stout ship of Ilioneus, now that of brave Achates, 120
and the one on which Abas was borne, and that on which aged Aletes,
the storm has conquered; with the fastenings of their sides loosened they all
admit the hostile rain, and gape with fissures.

Interea magno misceri murmure pontum,
emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus, et imis 125
stagna refusa vadis, graviter commotus; et alto
prospiciens, summa placidum caput extulit unda.
Disiectam Aeneae, toto videt aequore classem,
fluctibus oppressos Troas caelique ruina,
nec latuere doli fratrem Iunonis et irae. 130
Eurum ad se Zephyrumque vocat, dehinc talia fatur:

Meanwhile Neptune sensed the sea being mingled with a great murmur,
and that a storm had been emitted, and that the still waters were poured back from the deepest 125
shoals, gravely moved; and, looking out from the deep,
he raised his placid head above the crest of the wave.
He sees Aeneas’s fleet disjected over the whole sea,
the Trojans oppressed by the waves and by the ruin of the sky,
nor did the wiles and wraths of Juno escape her brother’s notice. 130
He calls Eurus and Zephyrus to himself, then speaks such words:

'Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia vestri?
Iam caelum terramque meo sine numine, venti,
miscere, et tantas audetis tollere moles?
Quos ego—sed motos praestat componere fluctus. 135
Post mihi non simili poena commissa luetis.

'Has so great a confidence of your own lineage held you?
Now heaven and earth without my nod, winds,
to commingle, and do you dare to raise such masses?
You whom I— but it is better to compose the moved waves. 135
Afterward you will atone to me for your offenses with not a similar penalty.

Maturate fugam, regique haec dicite vestro:
non illi imperium pelagi saevumque tridentem,
sed mihi sorte datum. Tenet ille immania saxa,
vestras, Eure, domos; illa se iactet in aula 140
Aeolus, et clauso ventorum carcere regnet.'

Hasten your flight, and say this to your king:
not to him were the dominion of the sea and the savage trident
given, but to me by lot. He holds the immense rocks,
your homes, Eurus; in that hall let Aeolus vaunt himself, 140
and let him reign in the enclosed prison of the winds.'

Sic ait, et dicto citius tumida aequora placat,
collectasque fugat nubes, solemque reducit.
Cymothoe simul et Triton adnixus acuto
detrudunt navis scopulo; levat ipse tridenti;               145
et vastas aperit syrtis, et temperat aequor,
atque rotis summas levibus perlabitur undas.
Ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est
seditio, saevitque animis ignobile volgus,
iamque faces et saxa volant—furor arma ministrat;               150
tum, pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem
conspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus adstant;
ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet,—
sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor, aequora postquam
prospiciens genitor caeloque invectus aperto               155

Thus he speaks, and, quicker than the word, he calms the swollen seas,
puts to flight the gathered clouds, and brings back the sun.
Cymothoe at once and Triton, striving, shove the ships from the sharp
crag; he himself lifts them with his trident;               145
and he opens the vast sandbars, and tempers the sea,
and with light wheels he glides over the tops of the waves.
And just as, when in a great populace a sedition has often arisen,
and the ignoble mob rages in their spirits,
and now torches and stones fly—fury furnishes arms—;               150
then, if by chance they have caught sight of some man weighty with piety and with merits,
they fall silent, and stand with ears pricked;
he rules their minds with words, and soothes their hearts,—
so all the crash of the sea has fallen, after the father,
looking out and borne in the open sky,               155

flectit equos, curruque volans dat lora secundo.

he turns the horses, and, flying in his favorable chariot, gives the reins.

Defessi Aeneadae, quae proxima litora, cursu
contendunt petere, et Libyae vertuntur ad oras.
Est in secessu longo locus: insula portum
efficit obiectu laterum, quibus omnis ab alto 160
frangitur inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos.
Hinc atque hinc vastae rupes geminique minantur
in caelum scopuli, quorum sub vertice late
aequora tuta silent; tum silvis scaena coruscis
desuper horrentique atrum nemus imminet umbra. 165
Fronte sub adversa scopulis pendentibus antrum,
intus aquae dulces vivoque sedilia saxo,
nympharum domus: hic fessas non vincula navis
ulla tenent, unco non alligat ancora morsu.

The wearied Aeneads strive to seek the nearest shores at speed,
and are turned toward the coasts of Libya.
There is a place in a long recess: an island by the projection of its flanks
makes a harbor, by which every wave from the deep is broken and splits itself into receding bays. 160
On this side and that vast cliffs and twin crags threaten
into the sky, beneath whose summit far and wide
the safe waters are silent; then a scene with quivering woods
from above, and a black grove looms with bristling shade. 165
Beneath the face opposite, a cavern with overhanging rocks,
within, fresh waters and benches from living rock—
a home of nymphs: here no cables hold the weary ships,
no anchor with hooked bite ties them fast.

Huc septem Aeneas collectis navibus omni 170

Hither Aeneas, with seven ships collected, all 170

ex numero subit; ac magno telluris amore
egressi optata potiuntur Troes harena,
et sale tabentis artus in litore ponunt.
Ac primum silici scintillam excudit Achates,
succepitque ignem foliis, atque arida circum 175
nutrimenta dedit, rapuitque in fomite flammam.
Tum Cererem corruptam undis Cerealiaque arma
expediunt fessi rerum, frugesque receptas
et torrere parant flammis et frangere saxo.

out of the number he puts in; and with a great love for the land
having disembarked, the Trojans gain the longed-for sand,
and they lay their limbs, dripping with salt, upon the shore.
And first Achates struck out a spark from flint,
and caught the fire with leaves, and dry around 175
nourishment he gave, and snatched up the flame in tinder.
Then Ceres, spoiled by the waves, and the Cereal arms
they bring forth, weary of misfortunes, and the recovered grains
they prepare both to parch with flames and to break with stone.

Aeneas scopulum interea conscendit, et omnem               180
prospectum late pelago petit, Anthea si quem
iactatum vento videat Phrygiasque biremis,
aut Capyn, aut celsis in puppibus arma Caici.
Navem in conspectu nullam, tris litore cervos
prospicit errantis; hos tota armenta sequuntur               185
a tergo, et longum per vallis pascitur agmen.
Constitit hic, arcumque manu celerisque sagittas
corripuit, fidus quae tela gerebat Achates;
ductoresque ipsos primum, capita alta ferentis
cornibus arboreis, sternit, tum volgus, et omnem               190

Aeneas meanwhile climbs a crag, and seeks a full prospect far and wide over the sea,               180
if he might see any of Antheus tossed by the wind and the Phrygian biremes,
or Capys, or the arms of Caicus on the lofty sterns.
No ship in sight; three stags on the shore
he espies wandering; these the whole herds follow from behind, and a long column grazes through the valleys.               185
Here he halted, and with his hand snatched up the bow and swift arrows,
the weapons which faithful Achates was bearing; and first the leaders themselves, bearing their heads high
with tree-like antlers, he lays low, then the crowd, and all               190

miscet agens telis nemora inter frondea turbam;
nec prius absistit, quam septem ingentia victor
corpora fundat humi, et numerum cum navibus aequet.
Hinc portum petit, et socios partitur in omnes.
Vina bonus quae deinde cadis onerarat Acestes 195
litore Trinacrio dederatque abeuntibus heros,
dividit, et dictis maerentia pectora mulcet:

driving with missiles, he throws the herd into confusion amid the leafy woods;
nor does he desist before, as victor, he casts seven mighty bodies to the ground, and matches the number with the ships.
From here he makes for the harbor, and apportions them among all his comrades.
The wines which good Acestes had then loaded in casks 195
on the Trinacrian shore, and which the hero had given to those departing,
he divides, and with words he soothes their grieving hearts:

'O socii—neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum—
O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem.
Vos et Scyllaeam rabiem penitusque sonantis 200
accestis scopulos, vos et Cyclopea saxa
experti: revocate animos, maestumque timorem
mittite: forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.
Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum
tendimus in Latium; sedes ubi fata quietas 205
ostendunt; illic fas regna resurgere Troiae.

'O comrades—for neither are we unacquainted with evils before—
O you who have suffered graver things, a god will give an end to these as well.
You have approached the Scyllaean rage and the cliffs resounding deep within 200
and you have experienced the Cyclopean rocks: recall your spirits, and dismiss
gloomy fear: perhaps even these things one day it will help to remember.
Through various chances, through so many crises of affairs
we strive toward Latium; where the Fates show peaceful seats; 205
there it is right that the realms of Troy rise again.

Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis.'

Endure, and preserve yourselves for favorable affairs.'

Talia voce refert, curisque ingentibus aeger
spem voltu simulat, premit altum corde dolorem.
Illi se praedae accingunt, dapibusque futuris; 210
tergora deripiunt costis et viscera nudant;
pars in frusta secant veribusque trementia figunt;
litore aena locant alii, flammasque ministrant.
Tum victu revocant vires, fusique per herbam
implentur veteris Bacchi pinguisque ferinae. 215
Postquam exempta fames epulis mensaeque remotae,
amissos longo socios sermone requirunt,
spemque metumque inter dubii, seu vivere credant,
sive extrema pati nec iam exaudire vocatos.

He speaks such things aloud, and, sick with huge cares, simulates hope with his visage, and presses deep grief in his heart. They gird themselves for the prey and for the future feasts; 210
they strip the hides from the ribs and lay bare the entrails; part cut into pieces and fix the quivering bits on spits; others set bronze cauldrons on the shore and minister the flames. Then with victual they recall their strength, and, poured out along the grass, they are filled with old Bacchus and with rich venison. 215
After hunger has been taken away by the feasts and the tables removed, they inquire after their lost comrades in long discourse, wavering between hope and fear, whether they should believe them to live, or that they are suffering their last and now no longer hear when called.

Praecipue pius Aeneas nunc acris Oronti, 220

Especially pious Aeneas now of fierce Orontes, 220

nunc Amyci casum gemit et crudelia secum
fata Lyci, fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cloanthum.

now he laments the fall of Amycus and to himself the cruel fates of Lycus,
and brave Gyas, and brave Cloanthus.

Et iam finis erat, cum Iuppiter aethere summo
despiciens mare velivolum terrasque iacentis
litoraque et latos populos, sic vertice caeli               225
constitit, et Libyae defixit lumina regnis.
Atque illum talis iactantem pectore curas
tristior et lacrimis oculos suffusa nitentis
adloquitur Venus: 'O qui res hominumque deumque
aeternis regis imperiis, et fulmine terres,               230
quid meus Aeneas in te committere tantum,
quid Troes potuere, quibus, tot funera passis,
cunctus ob Italiam terrarum clauditur orbis?
Certe hinc Romanos olim, volventibus annis,
hinc fore ductores, revocato a sanguine Teucri,               235

And now there was an end, when Jupiter from the highest aether,
looking down upon the sail-flying sea and the lands lying low,
and the shores and the wide-spread peoples, thus on the summit of the sky               225
stood fast, and fixed his lights on the realms of Libya.
And as he was tossing such cares in his breast,
Venus, sadder and with tears suffused over her shining eyes,
addresses him: 'O you who rule the affairs of men and of gods
by eternal imperiums, and with your thunderbolt you terrify,               230
what so great could my Aeneas have committed against you,
what could the Trojans have done, for whom, after so many funerals endured,
the whole circle of lands is closed on account of Italy?
Surely from here, the Romans someday, as the years roll,
from here leaders, from the recalled blood of Teucer,               235

qui mare, qui terras omni dicione tenerent,
pollicitus, quae te, genitor, sententia vertit?
Hoc equidem occasum Troiae tristisque ruinas
solabar, fatis contraria fata rependens;
nunc eadem fortuna viros tot casibus actos 240
insequitur. Quem das finem, rex magne, laborum?

who would hold the sea, who the lands, under universal dominion,
you promised—what judgment, father, has changed your mind?
This, indeed, I used to solace the downfall of Troy and its sad ruins,
weighing out fates contrary to the fates;
now the same Fortune pursues the men, driven by so many mishaps 240
What end, great king, do you grant to the labors?

Antenor potuit, mediis elapsus Achivis,
Illyricos penetrare sinus, atque intima tutus
regna Liburnorum, et fontem superare Timavi,
unde per ora novem vasto cum murmure montis 245
it mare proruptum et pelago premit arva sonanti.
Hic tamen ille urbem Patavi sedesque locavit
Teucrorum, et genti nomen dedit, armaque fixit
Troia; nunc placida compostus pace quiescit:
nos, tua progenies, caeli quibus adnuis arcem, 250

Antenor was able, having slipped from the midst of the Achaeans,
to penetrate the Illyrian bays, and, safe, the inmost
realms of the Liburnians, and to overpass the source of the Timavus,
whence through nine mouths, with the vast murmuring of the mountain 245
the sea bursts forth and with the resounding deep presses the fields.
Here nevertheless that man established the city of Patavium and the seats
of the Teucrians, and gave a name to the nation, and fixed
Trojan arms; now, composed in placid peace, he rests:
we, your progeny, to whom you nod the citadel of heaven, 250

navibus (infandum!) amissis, unius ob iram
prodimur atque Italis longe disiungimur oris.
Hic pietatis honos? Sic nos in sceptra reponis?'

with the ships (unspeakable!) lost, on account of the wrath of one
we are betrayed and are far sundered from the Italian shores.
Is this the honor of piety? Thus do you restore us to scepters?'

Olli subridens hominum sator atque deorum,
voltu, quo caelum tempestatesque serenat,               255
oscula libavit natae, dehinc talia fatur:
'Parce metu, Cytherea: manent immota tuorum
fata tibi; cernes urbem et promissa Lavini
moenia, sublimemque feres ad sidera caeli
magnanimum Aenean; neque me sententia vertit.               260
Hic tibi (fabor enim, quando haec te cura remordet,
longius et volvens fatorum arcana movebo)
bellum ingens geret Italia, populosque feroces
contundet, moresque viris et moenia ponet,
tertia dum Latio regnantem viderit aestas,               265

To her, smiling, the begetter of men and of gods,
with the countenance by which he makes serene the heaven and the tempests,               255
he touched kisses to his daughter, then speaks such words:
‘Spare fear, Cytherea: the fates of your own remain unmoved for you;
you will behold the city and the promised walls of Lavinium,
and you will bear the lofty, great‑souled Aeneas to the stars of heaven;
nor does my resolve turn me.               260
This man for you (for I will speak, since this care gnaws at you,
and, rolling it out farther, I will set in motion the arcana of the fates)
will wage a vast war in Italy, and he will crush fierce peoples,
and he will establish customs for men and walls,
until a third summer shall have seen him ruling in Latium,               265

ternaque transierint Rutulis hiberna subactis.
At puer Ascanius, cui nunc cognomen Iulo
additur,—Ilus erat, dum res stetit Ilia regno,—
triginta magnos volvendis mensibus orbis
imperio explebit, regnumque ab sede Lavini 270
transferet, et longam multa vi muniet Albam.
Hic iam ter centum totos regnabitur annos
gente sub Hectorea, donec regina sacerdos,
Marte gravis, geminam partu dabit Ilia prolem.

and thrice the winters shall have passed, with the Rutulians subdued.
But the boy Ascanius, to whom now the cognomen Iulus
is added—he was Ilus, while the Iliac state stood in sovereignty—
will fulfill thirty great cycles as the months roll in his dominion,
and will transfer the realm from the seat of Lavinium, 270
and with much force will fortify Alba Longa.
Here already for a full three hundred years there shall be reigning
under the Hectorean race, until a queen-priestess,
Ilia, heavy with Mars, shall give twin progeny in childbirth.

Inde lupae fulvo nutricis tegmine laetus 275
Romulus excipiet gentem, et Mavortia condet
moenia, Romanosque suo de nomine dicet.
His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono;
imperium sine fine dedi. Quin aspera Iuno,
quae mare nunc terrasque metu caelumque fatigat, 280

Then, happy under the tawny covering of the she-wolf his nurse, 275
Romulus will take up the nation, and will found the walls of Mars,
and will name the Romans from his own name.
For these I set neither bounds of things nor times;
I have given empire without end. Indeed harsh Juno,
who now wearies the sea and the lands and the sky with fear, 280

consilia in melius referet, mecumque fovebit
Romanos rerum dominos gentemque togatam:
sic placitum. Veniet lustris labentibus aetas,
cum domus Assaraci Phthiam clarasque Mycenas
servitio premet, ac victis dominabitur Argis.               285
Nascetur pulchra Troianus origine Caesar,
imperium oceano, famam qui terminet astris,—
Iulius, a magno demissum nomen Iulo.
Hunc tu olim caelo, spoliis Orientis onustum,
accipies secura; vocabitur hic quoque votis.               290
Aspera tum positis mitescent saecula bellis;
cana Fides, et Vesta, Remo cum fratre Quirinus,
iura dabunt; dirae ferro et compagibus artis
claudentur Belli portae; Furor impius intus,
saeva sedens super arma, et centum vinctus aenis               295

she will carry back her counsels to the better, and with me will cherish
the Romans, lords of affairs, and the toga-clad race:
thus it has been decreed. An age will come as five-year lustrums glide,
when the house of Assaracus will press Phthia and bright Mycenae
into servitude, and will lord it over conquered Argos.               285
A Caesar of Trojan origin, fair, will be born,
who will bound his empire by Ocean, his fame by the stars—
Julius, a name descended from great Iulus.
Him you will sometime receive into heaven, laden with the spoils of the East,
secure; he too shall be invoked with vows.               290
Then the ages will grow mild, wars laid aside;
hoary Faith, and Vesta, and Quirinus with his brother Remus,
will give laws; the dread gates of War will be shut with iron and with tight-wrought joints;
impious Fury within, sitting upon savage arms, and bound with a hundred
bronze fetters,               295

post tergum nodis, fremet horridus ore cruento.'

behind the back with knots, he will roar, horrid, with a bloody mouth.'

Haec ait, et Maia genitum demittit ab alto,
ut terrae, utque novae pateant Karthaginis arces
hospitio Teucris, ne fati nescia Dido
finibus arceret: volat ille per aera magnum 300
remigio alarum, ac Libyae citus adstitit oris.
Et iam iussa facit, ponuntque ferocia Poeni
corda volente deo; in primis regina quietum
accipit in Teucros animum mentemque benignam.

She says these things, and sends down from on high the one born of Maia,
so that the lands and the new citadels of Carthage may lie open
with hospitality to the Teucrians, lest Dido, unknowing of fate,
keep them from her borders: he flies through the great air 300
with the oarage of his wings, and swiftly stood upon the shores of Libya.
And now he does the orders, and the Poeni lay down their fierce
hearts by the god’s will; before all, the queen receives a quiet
spirit and a benign mind toward the Teucrians.

At pius Aeneas, per noctem plurima volvens, 305
ut primum lux alma data est, exire locosque
explorare novos, quas vento accesserit oras,
qui teneant, nam inculta videt, hominesne feraene,
quaerere constituit, sociisque exacta referre
Classem in convexo nemorum sub rupe cavata 310
arboribus clausam circum atque horrentibus umbris
occulit; ipse uno graditur comitatus Achate,
bina manu lato crispans hastilia ferro.

But dutiful Aeneas, rolling very many things through the night, 305
as soon as kindly light was given, resolves to go out and to explore new places,
what shores he has reached by the wind,
who holds them—for he sees them uncultivated—whether men or wild beasts,
and to inquire, and to report the ascertained facts to his companions.
He hides the fleet in the concavity of the groves beneath a hollowed rock, 310
shut in around by trees and bristling shadows;
he himself strides, accompanied by Achates alone,
brandishing in his hand two spears with broad iron.

Cui mater media sese tulit obvia silva,
virginis os habitumque gerens, et virginis arma 315
Spartanae, vel qualis equos Threissa fatigat
Harpalyce, volucremque fuga praevertitur Hebrum.
Namque umeris de more habilem suspenderat arcum
venatrix, dederatque comam diffundere ventis,
nuda genu, nodoque sinus collecta fluentis. 320
Ac prior, 'Heus' inquit 'iuvenes, monstrate mearum
vidistis si quam hic errantem forte sororum,
succinctam pharetra et maculosae tegmine lyncis,
aut spumantis apri cursum clamore prementem.'

To him his mother bore herself to meet in the middle of the woods,
bearing the face and habit of a virgin, and the arms 315
of a Spartan maiden, or such as the Thracian Harpalyce tires
the horses, and by her flight outstrips the winged-swift Hebrus.
For the huntress had on her shoulders, according to custom, hung a handy bow,
and had given her hair to spread to the winds,
bare at the knee, and with the flowing folds gathered in a knot. 320
And first, “Hey,” she says, “youths, show me if you have seen here
by chance any of my sisters wandering, girt with a quiver and with the spotted hide of a lynx,
or pressing with shouts the course of a foaming boar.”

Sic Venus; et Veneris contra sic filius orsus: 325
'Nulla tuarum audita mihi neque visa sororum—
O quam te memorem, virgo? Namque haud tibi voltus
mortalis, nec vox hominem sonat: O, dea certe—
an Phoebi soror? an nympharum sanguinis una?—
sis felix, nostrumque leves, quaecumque, laborem, 330
et, quo sub caelo tandem, quibus orbis in oris
iactemur, doceas.

Thus Venus; and in reply to Venus thus her son began: 325
'None of your sisters has been heard by me nor seen—
O how am I to remember/name you, maiden? For neither is your face
mortal, nor does your voice sound human: O, a goddess surely—
or the sister of Phoebus? or one of the blood of the nymphs?—
be fortunate, and lighten, whatever you are, our labor, 330
and teach us under what sky at last, on what shores of the world
we are being tossed.

Ignari hominumque locorumque
erramus, vento huc vastis et fluctibus acti:
multa tibi ante aras nostra cadet hostia dextra.'

Ignorant of both men and places
we wander, driven hither by the wind and by vast waves:
many a victim shall fall to you before the altars by our right hand.'

Tum Venus: 'Haud equidem tali me dignor honore; 335
virginibus Tyriis mos est gestare pharetram,
purpureoque alte suras vincire cothurno.
Punica regna vides, Tyrios et Agenoris urbem;
sed fines Libyci, genus intractabile bello.
Imperium Dido Tyria regit urbe profecta, 340
germanum fugiens.

Then Venus: 'I indeed do not deem myself worthy of such honor; 335
it is the custom for Tyrian maidens to bear a quiver,
and to bind the calves high with the purple buskin.
You see the Punic realms, the Tyrians and the city of Agenor;
but the borders are Libyan, a race intractable in war.
Dido rules the dominion, having set out from the Tyrian city, 340
fleeing her brother.

Longa est iniuria, longae
ambages; sed summa sequar fastigia rerum.

The injury is long, the circumlocutions long;
but I will follow the chief summits of the matter.

'Huic coniunx Sychaeus erat, ditissimus agri
Phoenicum, et magno miserae dilectus amore,
cui pater intactam dederat, primisque iugarat 345
ominibus. Sed regna Tyri germanus habebat
Pygmalion, scelere ante alios immanior omnes.
Quos inter medius venit furor.

'To her Sychaeus was husband, richest in land of the Phoenicians, and by great love beloved of the wretched one,
to whom her father had given her untouched, and had yoked them with the first omens 345
omens. But the realms of Tyre her brother held
Pygmalion, more monstrous than all others in crime.
Between whom, in the midst, came Fury.

Ille Sychaeum
impius ante aras, atque auri caecus amore,
clam ferro incautum superat, securus amorum 350
germanae; factumque diu celavit, et aegram,
multa malus simulans, vana spe lusit amantem.
Ipsa sed in somnis inhumati venit imago
coniugis, ora modis attollens pallida miris,
crudeles aras traiectaque pectora ferro 355

He, impious, before the altars, and blind with love of gold,
secretly with iron overcomes the unwary Sychaeus, heedless of his sister’s loves; 350
and the deed he long concealed, and the ailing, loving woman,
wicked, feigning many things, he cheated with empty hope. But she herself in sleep the image
of her unburied husband came, raising his face pale in wondrous ways,
the cruel altars and his breast transfixed with iron 355

nudavit, caecumque domus scelus omne retexit.
Tum celerare fugam patriaque excedere suadet,
auxiliumque viae veteres tellure recludit
thesauros, ignotum argenti pondus et auri.
His commota fugam Dido sociosque parabat: 360
conveniunt, quibus aut odium crudele tyranni
aut metus acer erat; navis, quae forte paratae,
corripiunt, onerantque auro: portantur avari
Pygmalionis opes pelago; dux femina facti.

he laid it bare, and un-wove all the hidden crime of the house.
Then he urges her to hasten flight and to depart from the fatherland,
and for aid to the journey he unseals in the earth old
treasures, an unknown weight of silver and of gold. By these moved Dido was preparing flight and comrades: 360
they gather, those for whom either a cruel hatred of the tyrant
or a sharp fear existed; the ships, which by chance were ready,
they seize, and load with gold: the opulence of avaricious
Pygmalion is carried over the sea; a woman, leader of the deed.

Devenere locos, ubi nunc ingentia cernis 365
moenia surgentemque novae Karthaginis arcem,
mercatique solum, facti de nomine Byrsam,
taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo.
Sed vos qui tandem, quibus aut venistis ab oris,
quove tenetis iter? 'Quaerenti talibus ille 370

They reached the places where now you discern the mighty walls 365
and the citadel rising of new Carthage,
and they purchased the soil, called Byrsa from the deed,
as much as they could encircle with a bull’s hide.
But you—who then are you, from what shores have you come,
or whither do you hold your course? 'To one inquiring such things, he 370

suspirans, imoque trahens a pectore vocem:

sighing, and drawing a voice from the depths of his breast:

'O dea, si prima repetens ab origine pergam,
et vacet annalis nostrorum audire laborum,
ante diem clauso componat Vesper Olympo.
Nos Troia antiqua, si vestras forte per auris 375
Troiae nomen iit, diversa per aequora vectos
forte sua Libycis tempestas adpulit oris.
Sum pius Aeneas, raptos qui ex hoste Penates
classe veho mecum, fama super aethera notus.

'O goddess, if, repeating from the first origin, I should go on,
and if there be leisure to hear the annals of our labors,
before day Vesper, with Olympus closed, would lay it to rest.
We from ancient Troy—if by chance through your ears 375
the name of Troy has gone—carried over diverse seas
by chance a tempest has driven us to Libyan shores.
I am pious Aeneas, who the Penates snatched from the foe
in my fleet I carry with me, known by fame above the aether.

Italiam quaero patriam et genus ab Iove summo. 380
Bis denis Phrygium conscendi navibus aequor,
matre dea monstrante viam, data fata secutus;
vix septem convolsae undis Euroque supersunt.
Ipse ignotus, egens, Libyae deserta peragro,
Europa atque Asia pulsus.' Nec plura querentem 385

I seek Italy as fatherland and a race from highest Jove. 380
With twenty ships I boarded the Phrygian sea,
my mother the goddess showing the way, following the fates given;
scarcely seven, shattered by the waves and by Eurus, survive.
I myself, unknown, in need, traverse the deserts of Libya,
driven from Europe and Asia.' Nor, as he complained further 385

passa Venus medio sic interfata dolore est:

Venus, having endured it, thus, breaking in amid the grief, spoke:

'Quisquis es, haud, credo, invisus caelestibus auras
vitalis carpis, Tyriam qui adveneris urbem.
Perge modo, atque hinc te reginae ad limina perfer,
Namque tibi reduces socios classemque relatam               390
nuntio, et in tutum versis aquilonibus actam,
ni frustra augurium vani docuere parentes.
Aspice bis senos laetantis agmine cycnos,
aetheria quos lapsa plaga Iovis ales aperto
turbabat caelo; nunc terras ordine longo               395
aut capere, aut captas iam despectare videntur:
ut reduces illi ludunt stridentibus alis,
et coetu cinxere polum, cantusque dedere,
haud aliter puppesque tuae pubesque tuorum
aut portum tenet aut pleno subit ostia velo.               400

'Whoever you are, you are not, I believe, hateful to the celestials, you who breathe the vital airs, who have come to the Tyrian city.
Go on only, and from here carry yourself to the queen’s thresholds,
for I announce to you your comrades restored and your fleet brought back,               390
and driven into safety with the north winds turned,
unless my parents taught augury in vain.
Look at twice six swans rejoicing in a marching line,
whom Jove’s bird, having glided down from the aetherial quarter, was disturbing in the open
sky; now they seem either to be taking the lands in a long order               395
or to be looking down upon the lands now taken:
as, returned, they sport with strident wings,
and in a company have encircled the pole, and have given song,
not otherwise your ships and the youth of your men
either hold the port or enter the harbor mouths with full sail.               400

Perge modo, et, qua te ducit via, dirige gressum.'

Just proceed, and, where the way leads you, direct your step.'

Dixit, et avertens rosea cervice refulsit,
ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem
spiravere, pedes vestis defluxit ad imos,
et vera incessu patuit dea. Ille ubi matrem 405
adgnovit, tali fugientem est voce secutus:
'Quid natum totiens, crudelis tu quoque, falsis
ludis imaginibus? Cur dextrae iungere dextram
non datur, ac veras audire et reddere voces?'

She spoke, and turning away she gleamed with her rosy neck,
and her ambrosial hair breathed from her crown a divine odor,
and her garment flowed down to her very feet,
and by her gait the true goddess stood revealed. He, when he recognized his mother, 405
followed her as she fled with such a voice:
'Why do you too, cruel one, so often play with your son by false images?
Why is it not granted to join right hand to right,
and to hear and to render true voices?'

Talibus incusat, gressumque ad moenia tendit: 410
at Venus obscuro gradientes aere saepsit,
et multo nebulae circum dea fudit amictu,
cernere ne quis eos, neu quis contingere posset,
molirive moram, aut veniendi poscere causas.
Ipsa Paphum sublimis abit, sedesque revisit 415
laeta suas, ubi templum illi, centumque Sabaeo
ture calent arae, sertisque recentibus halant.

With such words he accuses, and he directs his step toward the walls: 410
but Venus hedged them in with obscure air as they advanced,
and the goddess poured around them with a great cloak of cloud,
so that no one might see them, nor might anyone touch them,
or contrive a delay, or demand the causes of their coming.
She herself goes aloft to Paphos, and, joyful, revisits her seats 415
her own, where a temple is for her, and a hundred altars glow with Sabaean
incense, and exhale with fresh garlands.

Corripuere viam interea, qua semita monstrat.
Iamque ascendebant collem, qui plurimus urbi
imminet, adversasque adspectat desuper arces. 420
Miratur molem Aeneas, magalia quondam,
miratur portas strepitumque et strata viarum.
Instant ardentes Tyrii pars ducere muros,
molirique arcem et manibus subvolvere saxa,
pars optare locum tecto et concludere sulco. 425
[Iura magistratusque legunt sanctumque senatum;]
hic portus alii effodiunt; hic alta theatris
fundamenta locant alii, immanisque columnas
rupibus excidunt, scaenis decora alta futuris.

Meanwhile they seized the road, where the footpath points out.
And now they were ascending the hill, which, very great, overhangs the city
and looks upon the opposite citadels from above. 420
Aeneas marvels at the mass—once mere huts—
he marvels at the gates and the din and the pavings of the roads.
The ardent Tyrians press on: part to raise the walls,
and to toil at the citadel and to roll up stones with their hands,
part to choose a place for a dwelling and to enclose it with a furrow. 425
[They choose laws and magistrates and a sacred senate;]
here some dig out harbors; here others set deep foundations
for theaters, and cut out immense columns from the cliffs,
lofty adornments for stages yet to be.

Qualis apes aestate nova per florea rura 430

Such as bees in new summer through flowery fields 430

exercet sub sole labor, cum gentis adultos
educunt fetus, aut cum liquentia mella
stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas,
aut onera accipiunt venientum, aut agmine facto
ignavom fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent: 435
fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella.
'O fortunati, quorum iam moenia surgunt!'
Aeneas ait, et fastigia suspicit urbis.
Infert se saeptus nebula, mirabile dictu,
per medios, miscetque viris, neque cernitur ulli. 440

their labor is plied beneath the sun, when they lead out the grown offspring of the tribe,
or when they press the flowing honeys
and distend the cells with sweet nectar,
or take up the burdens of those coming in, or, a column formed,
they keep the drones, a slothful herd, away from the hives: 435
the work seethes, and the fragrant honeys are redolent of thyme.
'O fortunate ones, whose walls already are rising!'
Aeneas says, and looks up at the summits of the city.
He bears himself within, enclosed by a cloud, marvelous to tell,
through their midst, and he mingles with the men, nor is he seen by anyone. 440

Lucus in urbe fuit media, laetissimus umbra,
quo primum iactati undis et turbine Poeni
effodere loco signum, quod regia Iuno
monstrarat, caput acris equi; sic nam fore bello
egregiam et facilem victu per saecula gentem.               445
Hic templum Iunoni ingens Sidonia Dido
condebat, donis opulentum et numine divae,
aerea cui gradibus surgebant limina, nexaeque
aere trabes, foribus cardo stridebat aenis.
Hoc primum in luco nova res oblata timorem               450
leniit, hic primum Aeneas sperare salutem
ausus, et adflictis melius confidere rebus.
Namque sub ingenti lustrat dum singula templo,
reginam opperiens, dum, quae fortuna sit urbi,
artificumque manus inter se operumque laborem               455

There was a grove in the middle of the city, most luxuriant with shade,
where first the Phoenicians, tossed by waves and by a whirlwind,
dug up in that place a sign which regal Juno
had shown, the head of a fierce horse; for thus there would be in war
an excellent nation, and easy in sustenance through the ages.               445
Here Sidonian Dido was founding a vast temple to Juno,
opulent with gifts and with the numen of the goddess,
whose bronze thresholds were rising upon steps, and the beams were bound
with bronze; on the bronze doors the hinge creaked.
Here first in the grove the new thing, presented, softened his fear,               450
here first Aeneas dared to hope for safety,
and to trust better in his afflicted affairs.
For while beneath the mighty temple he surveys each thing,
awaiting the queen, while what fortune the city has,
and the craftsmen’s hands among themselves and the labor of the works               455

miratur, videt Iliacas ex ordine pugnas,
bellaque iam fama totum volgata per orbem,
Atridas, Priamumque, et saevum ambobus Achillem.
Constitit, et lacrimans, 'Quis iam locus' inquit 'Achate,
quae regio in terris nostri non plena laboris? 460
En Priamus! Sunt hic etiam sua praemia laudi;
sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt.

he marvels, he sees the Iliac battles in order,
and the wars already by fame spread through the whole orb,
the Atreidae, and Priam, and Achilles savage to both.
He halted, and weeping, he says, 'What place now,' says he, 'Achates,
what region on earth is not full of our labor? 460
Lo, Priam! Here too there are its own rewards for praise;
there are tears of things, and mortal matters touch the mind.

Solve metus; feret haec aliquam tibi fama salutem.'
Sic ait, atque animum pictura pascit inani,
multa gemens, largoque umectat flumine voltum. 465

‘Lay aside fear; this fame will bring you some safety.’
Thus he speaks, and feeds his spirit with the inane picture,
lamenting much, and with a copious river he moistens his countenance. 465

Namque videbat, uti bellantes Pergama circum
hac fugerent Graii, premeret Troiana iuventus,
hac Phryges, instaret curru cristatus Achilles.
Nec procul hinc Rhesi niveis tentoria velis
adgnoscit lacrimans, primo quae prodita somno               470
Tydides multa vastabat caede cruentus,
ardentisque avertit equos in castra, prius quam
pabula gustassent Troiae Xanthumque bibissent.
Parte alia fugiens amissis Troilus armis,
infelix puer atque impar congressus Achilli,               475
fertur equis, curruque haeret resupinus inani,
lora tenens tamen; huic cervixque comaeque trahuntur
per terram, et versa pulvis inscribitur hasta.
Interea ad templum non aequae Palladis ibant
crinibus Iliades passis peplumque ferebant,               480

For he saw how, fighting around Pergama, on this side the Greeks fled, the Trojan youth pressed, on that side the Phrygians, and crested Achilles pressed on with his chariot.
Not far from here he recognizes, weeping, the tents of Rhesus with snowy sails, which, betrayed in first sleep,               470
the Tydides, bloodied, was devastating with much slaughter, and he turned the blazing horses away into the camp, before they had tasted the fodder of Troy and had drunk the Xanthus.
In another part, Troilus, fleeing with his arms lost, an unlucky boy and ill-matched having met Achilles,               475
is borne by the horses, and on an empty chariot he hangs supine, yet holding the reins; for him both neck and hair are dragged through the earth, and with the spear reversed the dust is inscribed.
Meanwhile to the temple of not-fair Pallas the Trojan women were going with hair disheveled and were bearing the peplos,               480

suppliciter tristes et tunsae pectora palmis;
diva solo fixos oculos aversa tenebat.
Ter circum Iliacos raptaverat Hectora muros,
exanimumque auro corpus vendebat Achilles.
Tum vero ingentem gemitum dat pectore ab imo, 485
ut spolia, ut currus, utque ipsum corpus amici,
tendentemque manus Priamum conspexit inermis.

suppliantly, sad, and their breasts beaten with palms;
the goddess, turned away, kept her eyes fixed on the soil.
Three times around the Iliac walls he had dragged Hector,
and Achilles was selling the lifeless body for gold.
Then indeed he gives a vast groan from the depth of his breast, 485
how the spoils, how the chariot, and the very body of his friend,
and Priam unarmed, stretching forth his hands, he beheld.

Se quoque principibus permixtum adgnovit Achivis,
Eoasque acies et nigri Memnonis arma.
Ducit Amazonidum lunatis agmina peltis 490
Penthesilea furens, mediisque in milibus ardet,
aurea subnectens exsertae cingula mammae,
bellatrix, audetque viris concurrere virgo.

He also recognized himself mingled among the Achaean princes,
and the Eoan battle-lines and the arms of black Memnon.
Penthesilea, raging, leads the ranks of the Amazons with crescent shields 490
and burns amid the thousands, fastening the golden girdle beneath her bared breast,
a woman-warrior, and, a maiden, she dares to clash with men.

Haec dum Dardanio Aeneae miranda videntur,
dum stupet, obtutuque haeret defixus in uno,               495
regina ad templum, forma pulcherrima Dido,
incessit magna iuvenum stipante caterva.
Qualis in Eurotae ripis aut per iuga Cynthi
exercet Diana choros, quam mille secutae
hinc atque hinc glomerantur oreades; illa pharetram               500
fert umero, gradiensque deas supereminet omnis:
Latonae tacitum pertemptant gaudia pectus:
talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat
per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris.
Tum foribus divae, media testudine templi,               505

While these things seem wondrous to Dardanian Aeneas,
while he stands agape, and fixed clings in a single gaze,               495
the queen to the temple—Dido, most beautiful in form—
advanced, with a great throng of youths pressing around.
Just as on the banks of the Eurotas or over the ridges of Cynthus
Diana exercises her choruses, whom a thousand, following,
on this side and that the Oreads are massed; she bears a quiver               500
on her shoulder, and as she steps she towers over all the goddesses:
joys thrill the silent breast of Latona:
such was Dido; such, rejoicing, she bore herself
through their midst, pressing on the work and on the kingdoms to come.
Then at the goddess’s doors, beneath the central vault of the temple,               505

saepta armis, solioque alte subnixa resedit.
Iura dabat legesque viris, operumque laborem
partibus aequabat iustis, aut sorte trahebat:
cum subito Aeneas concursu accedere magno
Anthea Sergestumque videt fortemque Cloanthum, 510
Teucrorumque alios, ater quos aequore turbo
dispulerat penitusque alias avexerat oras.
Obstipuit simul ipse simul perculsus Achates
laetitiaque metuque; avidi coniungere dextras
ardebant; sed res animos incognita turbat. 515
Dissimulant, et nube cava speculantur amicti,
quae fortuna viris, classem quo litore linquant,
quid veniant; cunctis nam lecti navibus ibant,
orantes veniam, et templum clamore petebant.

enclosed with arms, and high resting upon the throne she sat down.
She was giving rights and laws to the men, and she was equalizing the labor of works into just portions, or assigning it by lot:
when suddenly Aeneas sees approaching in a great concourse
Antheus and Sergestus and brave Cloanthus, 510
and others of the Teucrians, whom a black whirlwind on the sea
had scattered and had borne away far to other shores.
He himself stood amazed, and Achates as well, struck at once
with joy and with fear; eager they were burning to join right hands,
but the unknown situation disturbs their spirits. 515
They conceal it, and, wrapped in a hollow cloud, they watch
what fortune the men have, on what shore they leave the fleet,
for what they come; for chosen from all the ships they were going,
begging pardon, and with shouting they were making for the temple.

Postquam introgressi et coram data copia fandi,               520
maximus Ilioneus placido sic pectore coepit:
'O Regina, novam cui condere Iuppiter urbem
iustitiaque dedit gentis frenare superbas,
Troes te miseri, ventis maria omnia vecti,
oramus, prohibe infandos a navibus ignis,               525
parce pio generi, et propius res aspice nostras.
Non nos aut ferro Libycos populare Penatis
venimus, aut raptas ad litora vertere praedas;
non ea vis animo, nec tanta superbia victis.
Est locus, Hesperiam Grai cognomine dicunt,               530

After they had entered and, face to face, leave for speaking was given,               520
the eldest Ilioneus thus began with a placid heart:
'O Queen, to whom Jupiter has granted to found a new city
and with justice to bridle proud peoples,
we Trojans in misery, borne by the winds over all the seas,
beseech you: keep unspeakable fires away from our ships,               525
spare a pious race, and look more closely upon our affairs.
We have not come either to ravage with iron the Libyan Penates (households),
or to turn seized spoils toward the shores;
no such violence is in our spirit, nor so great arrogance for the conquered.
There is a place which the Greeks by cognomen call Hesperia,               530

terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glaebae;
Oenotri coluere viri; nunc fama minores
Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem.
Hic cursus fuit:
cum subito adsurgens fluctu nimbosus Orion 535
in vada caeca tulit, penitusque procacibus austris
perque undas, superante salo, perque invia saxa
dispulit; huc pauci vestris adnavimus oris.
Quod genus hoc hominum?

an ancient land, potent in arms and in the richness of the glebe;
Oenotrian men cultivated it; now rumor says the descendants
have called the nation Italy from the leader’s name.
Here was our course:
when suddenly stormy Orion, rising in the swell, 535
bore us into blind shoals, and, deep within, with insolent south winds,
both through the waves, the brine prevailing, and through pathless rocks,
scattered us; hither we few have sailed to your shores.
What kind of race of men is this?

Quaeve hunc tam barbara morem
permittit patria? Hospitio prohibemur harenae; 540
bella cient, primaque vetant consistere terra.
Si genus humanum et mortalia temnitis arma
at sperate deos memores fandi atque nefandi.

And what fatherland permits so barbarous a custom?
We are barred from the hospitality of the sand; 540
they stir wars, and forbid us even to stand upon the first land.
If you scorn the human race and mortal arms,
yet hope that the gods are mindful of the lawful and the nefarious.

'Rex erat Aeneas nobis, quo iustior alter,
nec pietate fuit, nec bello maior et armis.               545
Quem si fata virum servant, si vescitur aura
aetheria, neque adhuc crudelibus occubat umbris,
non metus; officio nec te certasse priorem
poeniteat. Sunt et Siculis regionibus urbes
armaque, Troianoque a sanguine clarus Acestes.               550
Quassatam ventis liceat subducere classem,
et silvis aptare trabes et stringere remos:
si datur Italiam, sociis et rege recepto,
tendere, ut Italiam laeti Latiumque petamus;
sin absumpta salus, et te, pater optime Teucrum,               555

'Aeneas was our king, than whom no other was more just, nor in piety, nor greater in war and in arms.               545
If the fates preserve that man, if he feeds upon aetherial air, and does not yet lie in the cruel shades,
there is no fear; nor let it repent you to have contended to be prior in duty.
There are in the Sicilian regions both cities and arms, and Acestes, renowned from Trojan blood.               550
Let it be permitted to haul up our fleet, shaken by the winds,
and in the woods to fit beams and to trim the oars:
if it is granted, with our comrades and king recovered,
to stretch toward Italy, that we may gladly seek Italy and Latium;
but if salvation is spent, and you, best father of the Teucrians,               555

pontus habet Libyae, nec spes iam restat Iuli,
at freta Sicaniae saltem sedesque paratas,
unde huc advecti, regemque petamus Acesten.'

the sea of Libya holds [you], nor does hope of Iulus now remain, but at least let us seek the straits of Sicily and the prepared seats, whence we were borne hither, and King Acestes.'

Talibus Ilioneus; cuncti simul ore fremebant
Dardanidae. 560

With such words Ilioneus; at once all the Dardanians murmured with one voice.
560

Tum breviter Dido, voltum demissa, profatur:
'Solvite corde metum, Teucri, secludite curas.
Res dura et regni novitas me talia cogunt
moliri, et late finis custode tueri.
Quis genus Aeneadum, quis Troiae nesciat urbem, 565
virtutesque virosque, aut tanti incendia belli?

Then briefly Dido, with face cast down, speaks forth:
'Loosen fear from your heart, Teucrians, seclude your cares.
A hard condition and the newness of the kingdom compel me to contrive such things
and to defend far and wide the borders with a guardian.
Who does not know the race of the Aeneads, who the city of Troy, 565
and its virtues and men, or the conflagrations of so great a war?'

Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora Poeni,
nec tam aversus equos Tyria Sol iungit ab urbe.
Seu vos Hesperiam magnam Saturniaque arva,
sive Erycis finis regemque optatis Acesten, 570
auxilio tutos dimittam, opibusque iuvabo.
Voltis et his mecum pariter considere regnis;
urbem quam statuo vestra est, subducite navis;
Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur.

Not so blunted do we Phoenicians bear our hearts,
nor does Sol so turned away yoke his horses from the Tyrian city.
Whether you desire great Hesperia and the Saturnian fields,
or the borders of Eryx and king Acestes, I will send you off safe with aid, and I will help with resources. 570
Or do you wish likewise to settle with me in these realms;
the city which I am founding is yours; draw up your ships;
Trojan and Tyrian alike shall be treated by me with no discrimination.

Atque utinam rex ipse Noto compulsus eodem 575

And would that the king himself, driven by the same Notus 575

adforet Aeneas! Equidem per litora certos
dimittam et Libyae lustrare extrema iubebo,
si quibus eiectus silvis aut urbibus errat.'

would that Aeneas were present! Indeed I will send out trusty men along the shores and will order them to survey the extremes of Libya,
if he, ejected, wanders in any forests or cities.'

His animum arrecti dictis et fortis Achates
et pater Aeneas iamdudum erumpere nubem 580
ardebant. Prior Aenean compellat Achates:
'Nate dea, quae nunc animo sententia surgit?
omnia tuta vides, classem sociosque receptos.

By these words their spirit uplifted, both brave Achates
and father Aeneas had long been burning to burst forth from the cloud 580
Achates first addresses Aeneas:
"Born of a goddess, what plan now rises in your mind?
you see all things secure, the fleet and comrades recovered."

Unus abest, medio in fluctu quem vidimus ipsi
submersum; dictis respondent cetera matris.' 585

One is absent, whom we ourselves saw submerged in mid-surge;
the rest respond to the mother's words.' 585

Vix ea fatus erat, cum circumfusa repente
scindit se nubes et in aethera purgat apertum.
Restitit Aeneas claraque in luce refulsit,
os umerosque deo similis; namque ipsa decoram
caesariem nato genetrix lumenque iuventae 590
purpureum et laetos oculis adflarat honores:
quale manus addunt ebori decus, aut ubi flavo
argentum Pariusve lapis circumdatur auro.

Hardly had he spoken these things, when the cloud, poured around, suddenly
splits itself and purges into the open aether.
Aeneas stood fast and in the bright light he flashed,
his face and shoulders like to a god; for the mother herself had breathed upon
her son handsome tresses and the purple radiance of youth, 590
and glad honors upon his eyes: such grace as hands add to ivory,
or when silver or Parian stone is surrounded with yellow gold.

Tum sic reginam adloquitur, cunctisque repente
improvisus ait: 'Coram, quem quaeritis, adsum,               595
Troius Aeneas, Libycis ereptus ab undis.
O sola infandos Troiae miserata labores,
quae nos, reliquias Danaum, terraeque marisque
omnibus exhaustos iam casibus, omnium egenos,
urbe, domo, socias, grates persolvere dignas               600
non opis est nostrae, Dido, nec quicquid ubique est
gentis Dardaniae, magnum quae sparsa per orbem.
Di tibi, si qua pios respectant numina, si quid
usquam iustitia est et mens sibi conscia recti,
praemia digna ferant. Quae te tam laeta tulerunt               605

T hen thus he addresses the queen, and to all suddenly, unlooked-for, he says: ‘In person, whom you seek, I am here,               595
Trojan Aeneas, snatched from the Libyan waves.
O you alone who have pitied the unspeakable labors of Troy,
you who join us—the relics of the Danaans—worn out already by all
chances of land and sea, destitute of everything, to city and home,
to render thanks worthy of you is not within our power,               600
Dido, nor within that of whatever there is anywhere of the Dardanian race, great though it be, scattered over the world.
May the gods, if any divinities regard the pious, if anywhere
there is justice and a mind conscious to itself of right,
bring you worthy rewards. What so joyful fortunes have borne you               605

saecula? Qui tanti talem genuere parentes?
In freta dum fluvii current, dum montibus umbrae
lustrabunt convexa, polus dum sidera pascet,
semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt,
quae me cumque vocant terrae.' Sic fatus, amicum 610
Ilionea petit dextra, laevaque Serestum,
post alios, fortemque Gyan fortemque Cloanthum.

ages? What parents of such worth begot such a one?
While the rivers run into the seas, while on the mountains the shadows
will traverse the convex slopes, while the pole of heaven feeds the stars,
ever your honor and name and praises will abide,
to whatever lands call me.' Thus having spoken, his friend 610
Ilioneus he reaches with his right hand, and with his left Serestus,
after the others, and brave Gyas and brave Cloanthus.

Obstipuit primo aspectu Sidonia Dido,
casu deinde viri tanto, et sic ore locuta est:
'Quis te, nate dea, per tanta pericula casus 615
insequitur? Quae vis immanibus applicat oris?
Tune ille Aeneas, quem Dardanio Anchisae
alma Venus Phrygii genuit Simoentis ad undam?

Sidonian Dido was astonished at the first sight,
then at so great a mischance of the man, and thus with her mouth she spoke:
'What chance, son of a goddess, through such great perils 615
pursues you? What force drives you to monstrous shores?
Are you that Aeneas, whom nurturing Venus bore to Dardanian Anchises
by the wave of the Phrygian Simois?

Atque equidem Teucrum memini Sidona venire
finibus expulsum patriis, nova regna petentem 620
auxilio Beli; genitor tum Belus opimam
vastabat Cyprum, et victor dicione tenebat.
Tempore iam ex illo casus mihi cognitus urbis
Troianae nomenque tuum regesque Pelasgi.
Ipse hostis Teucros insigni laude ferebat, 625

And indeed I remember Teucer coming to Sidon,
driven out from his fatherland’s borders, seeking new realms with the aid of Belus; 620
my sire then, Belus, was laying waste to opulent Cyprus, and as victor held it in dominion.
From that time already the fall of the Trojan city and your name and the Pelasgian kings have been known to me.
He himself, though an enemy, was bearing the Teucrians in distinguished praise, 625

seque ortum antiqua Teucrorum ab stirpe volebat.
Quare agite, O tectis, iuvenes, succedite nostris.
Me quoque per multos similis fortuna labores
iactatam hac demum voluit consistere terra.

and he claimed himself sprung from the ancient stock of the Teucrians.
Wherefore, come, O youths, enter beneath our roofs.
A similar fortune, through many labors, has willed that I too, tossed about, should settle on this land at last.

Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco.' 630

Not ignorant of misfortune, I learn to succor the wretched.' 630

Sic memorat; simul Aenean in regia ducit
tecta, simul divom templis indicit honorem.
Nec minus interea sociis ad litora mittit
viginti tauros, magnorum horrentia centum
terga suum, pinguis centum cum matribus agnos, 635
munera laetitiamque dii.

Thus she speaks; at once she leads Aeneas into the royal roofs,
at once she proclaims honor to the temples of the gods.
No less meanwhile she sends to the companions at the shores
twenty bulls, a hundred bristling backs of great
swine, a hundred fat lambs with their mothers, 635
gifts and joy to the gods.

At domus interior regali splendida luxu
instruitur, mediisque parant convivia tectis:
arte laboratae vestes ostroque superbo,
ingens argentum mensis, caelataque in auro 640
fortia facta patrum, series longissima rerum
per tot ducta viros antiqua ab origine gentis.

But the inner house, splendid with regal luxury,
is furnished, and in the central halls they prepare banquets:
garments wrought with art and with proud purple,
immense silver on the tables, and engraved in gold 640
the brave deeds of the fathers, a very long series of events
drawn through so many men from the ancient origin of the race.

Aeneas (neque enim patrius consistere mentem
passus amor) rapidum ad navis praemittit Achaten,
Ascanio ferat haec, ipsumque ad moenia ducat;               645
omnis in Ascanio cari stat cura parentis.
Munera praeterea, Iliacis erepta ruinis,
ferre iubet, pallam signis auroque rigentem,
et circumtextum croceo velamen acantho,
ornatus Argivae Helenae, quos illa Mycenis,               650
Pergama cum peteret inconcessosque hymenaeos,
extulerat, matris Ledae mirabile donum:
praeterea sceptrum, Ilione quod gesserat olim,
maxima natarum Priami, colloque monile
bacatum, et duplicem gemmis auroque coronam.               655

Aeneas (for a paternal love did not allow his mind to stand fast) sends swift Achates ahead to the ships, that he might bear these things to Ascanius, and lead him himself to the walls;               645
all the care of the dear parent stands upon Ascanius.
Gifts besides, snatched from the Iliac ruins,
he bids to be carried: a mantle stiff with figures and with gold,
and a veil woven round with saffron acanthus,
the adornments of Argive Helen, which she from Mycenae,               650
when she was seeking Pergamum and unpermitted nuptials,
had brought out, a wondrous gift of her mother Leda:
moreover a scepter, which Ilione once had borne,
the greatest of Priam’s daughters, and for the neck a beaded necklace,
and a double crown with gems and with gold.               655

Haec celerans ita ad naves tendebat Achates.

Speeding these matters thus, Achates made for the ships.

At Cytherea novas artes, nova pectore versat
Consilia, ut faciem mutatus et ora Cupido
pro dulci Ascanio veniat, donisque furentem
incendat reginam, atque ossibus implicet ignem; 660
quippe domum timet ambiguam Tyriosque bilinguis;
urit atrox Iuno, et sub noctem cura recursat.
Ergo his aligerum dictis adfatur Amorem:

But Cytherea turns over new arts, new counsels in her breast,
how Cupid, with face and features changed, might come in place of sweet Ascanius,
and with the gifts set the queen ablaze in fury,
and entwine fire in her bones; 660
for indeed she fears the ambiguous house and the double-tongued Tyrians;
ruthless Juno burns, and toward night the care returns.
Therefore with these words she addresses winged Love:

'Nate, meae vires, mea magna potentia solus,
nate, patris summi qui tela Typhoia temnis, 665
ad te confugio et supplex tua numina posco.
Frater ut Aeneas pelago tuus omnia circum
litora iactetur odiis Iunonis iniquae,
nota tibi, et nostro doluisti saepe dolore.
Hunc Phoenissa tenet Dido blandisque moratur 670
vocibus; et vereor, quo se Iunonia vertant
hospitia; haud tanto cessabit cardine rerum.

'Son, my strength, my great potency alone,
son, who scorn the Typhoean missiles of the highest Father, 665
to you I flee and as a suppliant I ask your divinities.
That your brother Aeneas is tossed upon the sea around all
the shores by the hatreds of unjust Juno
is known to you, and you have often grieved at our pain.
Him the Phoenician Dido holds and with coaxing voices delays, 670
and I fear to what end Juno-like hospitalities may turn;
she will not cease with the hinge of affairs so great.

Quocirca capere ante dolis et cingere flamma
reginam meditor, ne quo se numine mutet,
sed magno Aeneae mecum teneatur amore. 675

Wherefore I plan beforehand to capture the queen with wiles and to gird her with flame,
lest she change herself by any divinity,
but that, with me, she be held by a great love for Aeneas. 675

Qua facere id possis, nostram nunc accipe mentem.
Regius accitu cari genitoris ad urbem
Sidoniam puer ire parat, mea maxima cura,
dona ferens, pelago et flammis restantia Troiae:
hunc ego sopitum somno super alta Cythera 680
aut super Idalium sacrata sede recondam,
ne qua scire dolos mediusve occurrere possit.
Tu faciem illius noctem non amplius unam
falle dolo, et notos pueri puer indue voltus,
ut, cum te gremio accipiet laetissima Dido 685
regalis inter mensas laticemque Lyaeum,
cum dabit amplexus atque oscula dulcia figet,
occultum inspires ignem fallasque veneno.'

By which you may do this, now receive my plan.
At the summons of his dear begetter, the royal boy prepares to go to the
Sidonian city—my greatest care—bearing gifts, surviving the sea and the flames of Troy:
this one, lulled to sleep, I will hide above lofty Cythera 680
or above Idalium in its sacred seat,
so that he may not by any means know the stratagems nor happen upon them in the midst.
You, for no more than a single night, counterfeit his appearance with guile,
and as a boy put on the well-known features of the boy,
so that, when most joyful Dido receives you in her lap 685
amid royal tables and Lyaean liquor,
when she gives embraces and plants sweet kisses,
you may breathe into her a hidden fire and beguile her with your poison.'

Paret Amor dictis carae genetricis, et alas
exuit, et gressu gaudens incedit Iuli. 690
At Venus Ascanio placidam per membra quietem
inrigat, et fotum gremio dea tollit in altos
Idaliae lucos, ubi mollis amaracus illum
floribus et dulci adspirans complectitur umbra.

Love obeys the words of his dear mother, and sheds his wings,
and, rejoicing, strides with the gait of Iulus. 690
But Venus instills a placid quiet through Ascanius’s limbs,
and the goddess, having cherished him in her lap, carries him into the high
groves of Idalia, where soft marjoram embraces him
with its blossoms and with sweet-breathing shade.

Iamque ibat dicto parens et dona Cupido 695
regia portabat Tyriis, duce laetus Achate.
Cum venit, aulaeis iam se regina superbis
aurea composuit sponda mediamque locavit.
Iam pater Aeneas et iam Troiana iuventus
conveniunt, stratoque super discumbitur ostro. 700
Dant famuli manibus lymphas, Cereremque canistris
expediunt, tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis.

And now, obeying the word, he was going, and Cupid was carrying royal gifts for the Tyrians, 695
rejoicing with Achates as guide. When he came, the queen already had settled herself on a golden couch with proud hangings, and placed herself in the middle. Now father Aeneas and now the Trojan youth assemble, and they recline upon the spread purple. 700
The attendants give water for the hands, and they set out Ceres in baskets, and carry napkins with shorn pile.

Quinquaginta intus famulae, quibus ordine longam
cura penum struere, et flammis adolere Penatis;
centum aliae totidemque pares aetate ministri, 705

Fifty maidservants within, whose care it is, in order, to arrange the long store of provisions, and to kindle the Household Gods with flames;
a hundred others, and just as many attendants equal in age, 705

qui dapibus mensas onerent et pocula ponant.
Nec non et Tyrii per limina laeta frequentes
convenere, toris iussi discumbere pictis.
Mirantur dona Aeneae, mirantur Iulum
flagrantisque dei voltus simulataque verba, 710
[pallamque et pictum croceo velamen acantho.]
Praecipue infelix, pesti devota futurae,
expleri mentem nequit ardescitque tuendo
Phoenissa, et pariter puero donisque movetur.

who load the tables with feasts and set down goblets.
And likewise the Tyrians in throng gathered through the joyful thresholds,
bidden to recline on the painted couches.
They marvel at Aeneas’s gifts, they marvel at Iulus,
and at the blazing god’s visage and the feigned words, 710
[and the mantle and the garment pictured with saffron acanthus.]
Especially the unfortunate one, devoted to the pest to come,
cannot sate her mind and burns by gazing,
the Phoenician woman, and alike is moved by the boy and by the gifts.

Ille ubi complexu Aeneae colloque pependit 715
et magnum falsi implevit genitoris amorem,
reginam petit haec oculis, haec pectore toto
haeret et interdum gremio fovet, inscia Dido,
insidat quantus miserae deus; at memor ille
matris Acidaliae paulatim abolere Sychaeum 720

He, when he hung from Aeneas’s embrace and neck 715
and filled up the great love of the false begetter,
he makes for the queen; with her eyes, with all her breast she clings,
and at times she cherishes him in her lap—Dido unknowing,
how great a god settles upon the wretched woman; but he, mindful
of his Acidalian mother, little by little to efface Sychaeus. 720

incipit, et vivo temptat praevertere amore
iam pridem resides animos desuetaque corda.

he begins, and with living love he tries to preoccupy
the long-since idle spirits and the hearts unaccustomed.

Postquam prima quies epulis, mensaeque remotae,
crateras magnos statuunt et vina coronant.
Fit strepitus tectis, vocemque per ampla volutant 725
atria; dependent lychni laquearibus aureis
incensi, et noctem flammis funalia vincunt.
Hic regina gravem gemmis auroque poposcit
implevitque mero pateram, quam Belus et omnes
a Belo soliti; tum facta silentia tectis: 730
'Iuppiter, hospitibus nam te dare iura loquuntur,
hunc laetum Tyriisque diem Troiaque profectis
esse velis, nostrosque huius meminisse minores.

After the first quiet from the banquets, and the tables removed,
they set up great mixing-bowls and crown the wines.
A clamor arises in the halls, and through the ample atria they roll the voice 725
lamps, lit, hang from the gilded coffers,
and torches with their flames overcome the night.
Here the queen called for a weighty bowl with gems and gold
and filled the patera with unmixed wine, which Belus and all
descended from Belus were accustomed [to use]; then silence was made in the halls: 730
'Jupiter—for they say you grant laws to guests—
may you will that this day be joyful for the Tyrians and for those who have set out from Troy,
and that our descendants remember this one.

Adsit laetitiae Bacchus dator, et bona Iuno;
et vos, O, coetum, Tyrii, celebrate faventes.' 735

Let Bacchus, giver of gladness, be present, and good Juno;
and you, O, Tyrians, celebrate the assembly with favor. 735

Dixit, et in mensam laticum libavit honorem,
primaque, libato, summo tenus attigit ore,
tum Bitiae dedit increpitans; ille impiger hausit
spumantem pateram, et pleno se proluit auro
post alii proceres. Cithara crinitus Iopas 740
personat aurata, docuit quem maximus Atlas.
Hic canit errantem lunam solisque labores;
unde hominum genus et pecudes; unde imber et ignes;
Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Triones;
quid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles 745
hiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet.

She spoke, and upon the table poured a libation-honor of the liquors,
and first, the libation having been made, she touched it only at the surface with her lips,
then, calling out, she gave it to Bitias; he, unwearied, drained
the foaming bowl, and bathed himself with the brimming gold;
afterwards the other nobles. Long-haired Iopas resounds with a gilded cithara, 740
whom greatest Atlas taught.
Here he sings the wandering moon and the labors of the sun;
whence the race of men and of flocks; whence rain and fires;
Arcturus and the rainy Hyades and the twin Triones;
why the winter suns hasten so greatly to dip themselves in Ocean, 745
or what delay stands against the tardy nights.

Ingeminant plausu Tyrii, Troesque sequuntur.
Nec non et vario noctem sermone trahebat
infelix Dido, longumque bibebat amorem,
multa super Priamo rogitans, super Hectore multa; 750

They redouble with applause, the Tyrians, and the Trojans follow.
And indeed ill-fated Dido too was drawing out the night with various discourse,
and was quaffing a long draught of love,
asking many things about Priam, many about Hector; 750

nunc quibus Aurorae venisset filius armis,
nunc quales Diomedis equi, nunc quantus Achilles.
'Immo age, et a prima dic, hospes, origine nobis
insidias,' inquit, 'Danaum, casusque tuorum,
erroresque tuos; nam te iam septima portat 755
omnibus errantem terris et fluctibus aestas.'

now with what arms the son of Aurora had come,
now of what sort the horses of Diomedes, now how great Achilles.
'Nay rather, come, and from the first origin tell us, guest,
the insidious stratagems of the Danaans, and the misfortunes of your people,
and your own wanderings; for now the seventh summer bears you, 755
wandering over all lands and waves.'