Virgil: AENEID

Conticuere omnes intentique ora tenebant.
Inde toro pater Aeneas sic orsus ab alto: Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem,
Troianas ut opes et lamentabile regnum
eruerint Danai, quaeque ipse miserrima vidi 5
et quorum pars magna fui. quis talia fando
Myrmidonum Dolopumve aut duri miles Ulixi
temperet a lacrimis?

All fell silent, and intent they held their faces.
Then from the high couch father Aeneas thus began: Unspeakable, O queen, you bid me renew the grief,
how the Danaans overthrew the Trojan might and the lamentable kingdom,
and the most wretched things which I myself saw 5
and of which I was a great part. who, in telling such things
of the Myrmidons or of the Dolopians, or a soldier of harsh Ulysses,
could refrain from tears?

et iam nox umida caelo
praecipitat suadentque cadentia sidera somnos.
sed si tantus amor casus cognoscere nostros 10
et breviter Troiae supremum audire laborem,
quamquam animus meminisse horret luctuque refugit,
incipiam. fracti bello fatisque repulsi
ductores Danaum tot iam labentibus annis
instar montis equum divina Palladis arte 15

and now the dewy night precipitately descends from the sky
and the falling stars persuade to slumbers.
but if so great a love to come to know our disasters 10
and briefly to hear the final labor of Troy,
although my spirit shudders to remember and recoils with grief,
I will begin. broken in war and repulsed by the fates
the leaders of the Danaans, with so many years now slipping by,
a horse, in the likeness of a mountain, by the divine art of Pallas 15

aedificant, sectaque intexunt abiete costas;
votum pro reditu simulant; ea fama vagatur.
huc delecta virum sortiti corpora furtim
includunt caeco lateri penitusque cavernas
ingentis uterumque armato milite complent.               20
est in conspectu Tenedos, notissima fama
insula, dives opum Priami dum regna manebant,
nunc tantum sinus et statio male fida carinis:
huc se provecti deserto in litore condunt;
nos abiisse rati et vento petiisse Mycenas.               25
ergo omnis longo soluit se Teucria luctu;
panduntur portae, iuvat ire et Dorica castra
desertosque videre locos litusque relictum:
hic Dolopum manus, hic saevus tendebat Achilles;
classibus hic locus, hic acie certare solebant.               30

they build, and they interweave the ribs with fir cut;
they simulate a vow for a return; this rumor wanders abroad.
into it they, having by lot chosen picked bodies of men, stealthily
confine them in the blind flank, and deep within they fill the caverns
of the huge thing and its womb with armed soldiery.               20
there is in sight Tenedos, most renowned by report—
an island, rich in the resources of Priam while his realms remained,
now only a bay and an anchorage ill-trusty for keels:
thither, having carried themselves forward, they hide on the deserted shore;
we thinking that they had gone and had sought Mycenae with the wind.               25
therefore all Teucria released itself from long mourning;
the gates are flung open; it delights to go and to see the Doric camp
and the deserted places and the abandoned shore:
here the band of the Dolopians, here savage Achilles used to pitch;
here was a place for the fleets, here they were wont to contend in battle-line.               30

pars stupet innuptae donum exitiale Minervae
et molem mirantur equi; primusque Thymoetes
duci intra muros hortatur et arce locari,
sive dolo seu iam Troiae sic fata ferebant.
at Capys, et quorum melior sententia menti, 35
aut pelago Danaum insidias suspectaque dona
praecipitare iubent subiectisque urere flammis,
aut terebrare cavas uteri et temptare latebras.
scinditur incertum studia in contraria vulgus.

part stands amazed at the deadly gift of maiden Minerva
and they marvel at the mass of the horse; and Thymoetes first
urges that it be led within the walls and set on the citadel,
whether by guile or because already the fates of Troy were bearing it thus.
but Capys, and those whose counsel was better in mind, 35
bid that the treachery of the Danaans and the suspect gifts
be hurled into the sea, and to burn them with flames set beneath,
or to bore the hollow womb and probe the hiding-places.
the wavering crowd is split into opposing parties.

Primus ibi ante omnis magna comitante caterva 40
Laocoon ardens summa decurrit ab arce,
et procul 'o miseri, quae tanta insania, cives?
creditis avectos hostis? aut ulla putatis
dona carere dolis Danaum?

First there before all, with a great crowd accompanying 40
Laocoön, ardent, runs down from the topmost citadel,
and from afar: 'O wretched ones, what so great insanity, citizens?
do you believe the enemies have been carried away? or do you think that any
gifts of the Danaans are free from guile?'

sic notus Ulixes?
aut hoc inclusi ligno occultantur Achivi, 45
aut haec in nostros fabricata est machina muros,
inspectura domos venturaque desuper urbi,
aut aliquis latet error; equo ne credite, Teucri.
quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentis.'
sic fatus ualidis ingentem viribus hastam 50

Is Ulysses thus known?
or in this timber, enclosed, are the Achaeans hidden, 45
or this machine has been fabricated against our walls,
to inspect our homes and to come upon the city from above,
or some error lies hidden; do not trust the horse, Teucrians.
whatever it is, I fear the Danaans even bearing gifts.'
thus having spoken, with mighty strength the huge spear 50

in latus inque feri curvam compagibus alvum
contorsit. stetit illa tremens, uteroque recusso
insonuere cavae gemitumque dedere cavernae.
et, si fata deum, si mens non laeva fuisset,
impulerat ferro Argolicas foedare latebras, 55
Troiaque nunc staret, Priamique arx alta maneres.

into the side and into the belly of the beast, curved with fastenings,
he hurled it. it stood trembling, and with the womb jarred
the hollow cavities resounded and the caverns gave a groan.
and, if the fates of the gods, if the mind had not been left-handed (ill-omened),
he would have impelled us to defile with iron the Argolic hiding-places, 55
and Troy would now stand, and you, lofty citadel of Priam, would remain.

Ecce, manus iuvenem interea post terga revinctum
pastores magno ad regem clamore trahebant
Dardanidae, qui se ignotum venientibus ultro,
hoc ipsum ut strueret Troiamque aperiret Achivis, 60
obtulerat, fidens animi atque in utrumque paratus,
seu versare dolos seu certae occumbere morti.
undique visendi studio Troiana iuventus
circumfusa ruit certantque inludere capto.
accipe nunc Danaum insidias et crimine ab uno 65
disce omnis.

Behold, meanwhile a band of Dardanian shepherds, with great clamor, were dragging to the king a youth bound behind his back,
who, unknown to those coming upon him, had of his own accord offered himself, to contrive this very thing and to open Troy to the Achaeans, 60
trusting in spirit and prepared for either outcome,
whether to ply deceits or to meet certain death. On every side, eager to see, the Trojan youth
rushes thronging around and vie to mock the captive. Receive now the treacheries of the Danaans, and from one crime 65
learn all.

namque ut conspectu in medio turbatus, inermis
constitit atque oculis Phrygia agmina circumspexit,
'heu, quae nunc tellus,' inquit, 'quae me aequora possunt
accipere? aut quid iam misero mihi denique restat, 70

for indeed, when, thrown into confusion, unarmed,
he stood in the midst of their gaze and with his eyes surveyed the Phrygian ranks,
'alas, what land now,' he says, 'what seas can
receive me? or what at last now remains for wretched me, 70

cui neque apud Danaos usquam locus, et super ipsi
Dardanidae infensi poenas cum sanguine poscunt?'
quo gemitu conversi animi compressus et omnis
impetus. hortamur fari quo sanguine cretus,
quidve ferat; memoret quae sit fiducia capto. 75

“for whom there is nowhere any place among the Danaans, and, besides, the Dardanidae themselves, hostile, demand penalties in blood?”
With this groan their minds were turned, and every impulse was checked. We urge him to speak, of what blood he was begotten,
and what he bears; let him recount what assurance there is for a captive. 75

'Cuncta equidem tibi, rex, fuerit quodcumque, fatebor               77
vera,' inquit; 'neque me Argolica de gente negabo.
hoc primum; nec, si miserum Fortuna Sinonem
finxit, vanum etiam mendacemque improba finget.               80
fando aliquod si forte tuas pervenit ad auris
Belidae nomen Palamedis et incluta fama
gloria, quem falsa sub proditione Pelasgi
insontem infando indicio, quia bella vetabat,
demisere neci, nunc cassum lumine lugent:               85

'Indeed I will confess to you, king, whatever it may have been, all true,' he says;               77
'nor will I deny that I am from Argolic stock.
this first; and if Fortune has fashioned Sinon wretched,
neither will that shameless one fashion him also vain and mendacious.               80
if by chance in speaking some report has reached your ears
of the Belid Palamedes and his illustrious fame
and glory, whom, under a false treason-charge, the Pelasgians
innocent, by an unspeakable denunciation—because he was forbidding wars—
sent down to death, now they mourn him bereft of light:               85

illi me comitem et consanguinitate propinquum
pauper in arma pater primis huc misit ab annis.
dum stabat regno incolumis regumque vigebat
conciliis, et nos aliquod nomenque decusque
gessimus. invidia postquam pellacis Ulixi 90
(haud ignota loquor) superis concessit ab oris,
adflictus vitam in tenebris luctuque trahebam
et casum insontis mecum indignabar amici.

to him as a companion and a kinsman by consanguinity my father, poor, sent me here to arms from my earliest years.
while he stood unscathed in his rule and flourished in the councils of kings, we too bore some name and honor.
after by the envy of the pellacious Ulysses 90
(I speak of no unknown thing) he departed from the upper shores to the gods above,
afflicted, I dragged out my life in darkness and grief,
and I was indignant with myself at the downfall of my innocent friend.

nec tacui demens et me, fors si qua tulisset,
si patrios umquam remeassem victor ad Argos, 95
promisi ultorem et verbis odia aspera movi.
hinc mihi prima mali labes, hinc semper Ulixes
criminibus terrere novis, hinc spargere voces
in vulgum ambiguas et quaerere conscius arma.
nec requievit enim, donec Calchante ministro— 100

nor did I, out of my mind, keep silent; and, if any chance had borne me,
if ever I had returned as victor to ancestral Argos, 95
I promised myself an avenger and with words I stirred bitter hatreds.
hence for me the first stain of ill; hence always Ulysses
to terrify me with new accusations, hence to scatter voices
into the crowd, ambiguous, and, being privy, to seek weapons.
nor did he rest, until, with Calchas as his minister— 100

sed quid ego haec autem nequiquam ingrata revoluo,
quidue moror? si omnis uno ordine habetis Achivos,
idque audire sat est, iamdudum sumite poenas:
hoc Ithacus velit et magno mercentur Atridae.'

but why do I, however, in vain revolve these ungrateful things,
and why do I delay? If you hold all the Achaeans in one order,
and to hear that is enough, take punishments even now:
this would the Ithacan wish, and the Atridae would purchase it at a great price.'

Tum vero ardemus scitari et quaerere causas, 105
ignari scelerum tantorum artisque Pelasgae.
prosequitur pavitans et ficto pectore fatur:

Then indeed we burn to inquire and to seek the causes, 105
unaware of such great crimes and of Pelasgian art.
He continues, trembling, and with a feigned heart he utters:

'Saepe fugam Danai Troia cupiere relicta
moliri et longo fessi discedere bello;
fecissentque utinam! saepe illos aspera ponti 110
interclusit hiems et terruit Auster euntis.
praecipue cum iam hic trabibus contextus acernis
staret equus, toto sonuerunt aethere nimbi.

'Often the Danaans, with Troy abandoned, desired to set in motion flight
and, weary from the long war, to depart;
and would that they had! Often a harsh winter of the sea 110
shut them off and the Auster terrified them as they were going.
especially when now this horse, woven with maple beams,
stood, the storm-clouds resounded through the whole aether.

suspensi Eurypylum scitatum oracula Phoebi
mittimus, isque adytis haec tristia dicta reportat: 115
"sanguine placastis ventos et virgine caesa,
cum primum Iliacas, Danai, venistis ad oras;
sanguine quaerendi reditus animaque litandum
Argolica." vulgi quae uox ut venit ad auris,
obstipuere animi gelidusque per ima cucurrit 120

in suspense we send Eurypylus to inquire the oracles of Phoebus
we dispatch him, and he reports from the adyta these gloomy sayings: 115
"with blood you appeased the winds and a maiden cut down,
when first, Danaans, you came to the Iliac shores;
with blood must your returns be sought, and a soul must be expiated
Argolic." when this voice of the common crowd came to ears,
their spirits were astounded, and a gelid chill ran through their inmost parts 120

ossa tremor, cui fata parent, quem poscat Apollo.
hic Ithacus vatem magno Calchanta tumultu
protrahit in medios; quae sint ea numina divum
flagitat. et mihi iam multi crudele canebant
artificis scelus, et taciti ventura videbant. 125
bis quinos silet ille dies tectusque recusat
prodere voce sua quemquam aut opponere morti.

a tremor in the bones—for whom the Fates prepare, whom Apollo demands.
here the Ithacan, with great tumult, drags the seer Calchas into the midst,
demands what those divine powers of the gods are.
and already many to me were chanting the cruel crime of the artificer, and silent they saw the things to come. 125
he keeps silence for ten days, and, concealed, refuses
to disclose anyone by his own voice or to set him up to death.

vix tandem, magnis Ithaci clamoribus actus,
composito rumpit vocem et me destinat arae.
adsensere omnes et, quae sibi quisque timebat, 130
unius in miseri exitium conversa tulere.
iamque dies infanda aderat; mihi sacra parari
et salsae fruges et circum tempora vittae.

hardly at last, driven by the great shouts of the Ithacan,
he breaks his silence by prior arrangement and appoints me for the altar.
all assented, and what each man feared for himself, 130
turned, they brought to bear upon the ruin of one wretch.
and now the unspeakable day was at hand; for me the sacred rites were being prepared,
both salted grains and fillets around my temples.

eripui, fateor, leto me et vincula rupi,
limosoque lacu per noctem obscurus in ulva 135

I snatched myself, I confess, from death and I broke the bonds,
and in a muddy lake through the night, hidden in the sedge 135

delitui dum vela darent, si forte dedissent.
nec mihi iam patriam antiquam spes ulla videndi
nec dulcis natos exoptatumque parentem,
quos illi fors et poenas ob nostra reposcent
effugia, et culpam hanc miserorum morte piabunt. 140
quod te per superos et conscia numina veri,
per si qua est quae restet adhuc mortalibus usquam
intemerata fides, oro, miserere laborum
tantorum, miserere animi non digna ferentis.'

I lay hidden until they should set sail, if perchance they should have set them.
nor now is there any hope for me of seeing my ancient fatherland
nor my sweet sons and my much-desired father,
from whom they perhaps will exact penalties on account of my escapes,
and will expiate this fault by the death of the wretched. 140
wherefore I adjure you by the gods above and the numina conscious of truth,
by, if there is any which still remains anywhere to mortals,
unsullied good faith, I beg, pity such great labors,
pity a spirit bearing things not worthy.'

His lacrimis vitam damus et miserescimus ultro. 145
ipse viro primus manicas atque arta levari
vincla iubet Priamus dictisque ita fatur amicis:
'quisquis es, amissos hinc iam obliviscere Graios
(noster eris) mihique haec edissere vera roganti:
quo molem hanc immanis equi statuere? quis auctor? 150
quidve petunt? quae religio?

At these tears we grant life and we pity him unbidden. 145
Priam himself first orders the manacles and tight bonds to be lifted from the man, and with friendly words thus speaks:
'whoever you are, forget the lost Greeks from here now (you will be ours) and set forth these truths to me as I ask: for what end did they set up this mass of a monstrous horse? who is the author? 150
what do they seek? what religion?'

aut quae machina belli?'
dixerat. ille dolis instructus et arte Pelasga
sustulit exutas vinclis ad sidera palmas:
'vos, aeterni ignes, et non violabile vestrum
testor numen,' ait, 'vos arae ensesque nefandi, 155

'or what machine of war?' He had spoken. That man, equipped with deceits and with Pelasgian art,
raised his palms, freed from chains, to the stars:
'you, eternal fires, and your inviolable divinity I call to witness,' he says, 'you altars and accursed swords, 155

quos fugi, vittaeque deum, quas hostia gessi:
fas mihi Graiorum sacrata resolvere iura,
fas odisse viros atque omnia ferre sub auras,
si qua tegunt, teneor patriae nec legibus ullis.
tu modo promissis maneas servataque serves 160
Troia fidem, si vera feram, si magna rependam.
omnis spes Danaum et coepti fiducia belli
Palladis auxiliis semper stetit.

whom I fled, and the fillets of the gods, which as a sacrificial victim I wore:
it is lawful for me to unloose the consecrated laws of the Greeks,
it is lawful to hate the men and to bring everything into the open air,
if they hide anything, and I am held by no laws of my fatherland.
only remain by your promises and keep preserved the faith of Troy, 160
if I shall bear truths, if I shall repay great things.
all the hope of the Danaans and the confidence of the war undertaken
always stood upon the aid of Pallas.

impius ex quo
Tydides sed enim scelerumque inventor Ulixes,
fatale adgressi sacrato avellere templo 165
Palladium caesis summae custodibus arcis,
corripuere sacram effigiem manibusque cruentis
virgineas ausi divae contingere vittas,
ex illo fluere ac retro sublapsa referri
spes Danaum, fractae vires, aversa deae mens. 170

from the time when the impious
but indeed the son of Tydeus and Ulysses, inventor of crimes,
set upon tearing the fateful Palladium from the consecrated temple 165
with the guards of the high citadel slain,
they snatched the sacred effigy, and with blood-stained hands
dared to touch the maidenly fillets of the goddess,
from that time the hopes of the Danaans began to flow away and, slipping backward, to be carried back,
their forces broken, the goddess’s mind turned away. 170

nec dubiis ea signa dedit Tritonia monstris.
vix positum castris simulacrum: arsere coruscae
luminibus flammae arrectis, salsusque per artus
sudor iit, terque ipsa solo (mirabile dictu)
emicuit parmamque ferens hastamque trementem. 175
extemplo temptanda fuga canit aequora Calchas,
nec posse Argolicis exscindi Pergama telis
omina ni repetant Argis numenque reducant
quod pelago et curvis secum auexere carinis.
et nunc quod patrias vento petiere Mycenas, 180
arma deosque parant comites pelagoque remenso
improvisi aderunt; ita digerit omina Calchas.

nor did Tritonia give those signs by doubtful portents.
scarcely had the image been set in the camp: coruscant flames blazed from her upraised eyes, and salty sweat went through her limbs, and three times she herself from the ground (wonderful to say) sprang forth, bearing a shield and a trembling spear. 175
at once Calchas sings that the seas must be tried in flight,
and that Pergama cannot be razed by Argolic weapons
unless they repeat the omens at Argos and bring back the numen
which they carried off with them by sea and in their curved ships.
and now, because they have sought their fatherland, Mycenae, with the wind, 180
they prepare arms and the gods as companions, and with the sea re-traversed
they will come unexpected; thus Calchas parses the omens.

hanc pro Palladio moniti, pro numine laeso
effigiem statuere, nefas quae triste piaret.
hanc tamen immensam Calchas attollere molem 185

Admonished, in place of the Palladium, for the offended divinity,
they set up an effigy, which might expiate the grievous impiety.
nevertheless Calchas bids them to raise this immense mass 185

roboribus textis caeloque educere iussit,
ne recipi portis aut duci in moenia posset,
neu populum antiqua sub religione tueri.
nam si vestra manus violasset dona Minervae,
tum magnum exitium (quod di prius omen in ipsum 190
convertant!) Priami imperio Phrygibusque futurum;
sin manibus vestris vestram ascendisset in urbem,
ultro Asiam magno Pelopea ad moenia bello
venturam, et nostros ea fata manere nepotes.'

he ordered it to be wrought of oaken timbers interwoven and to be reared to the sky,
so that it could not be received by the gates nor led into the walls,
nor protect the people under the ancient religion.
for if your hand had violated Minerva’s gifts,
then there would be great destruction (which may the gods first turn this omen upon himself!) 190
for Priam’s rule and for the Phrygians;
but if by your hands it had climbed into your city,
then Asia of its own accord would come with great war to the Pelopian walls,
and those fates would await our descendants.'

Talibus insidiis periurique arte Sinonis 195
credita res, captique dolis lacrimisque coactis
quos neque Tydides nec Larisaeus Achilles,
non anni domuere decem, non mille carinae.

By such ambushes and by the perjured art of Sinon the affair was believed, 195
and, captured by stratagems and by forced tears,
we whom neither Tydides nor the Larisaean Achilles,
not ten years subdued, not a thousand keels.

Hic aliud maius miseris multoque tremendum
obicitur magis atque improvida pectora turbat.               200
Laocoon, ductus Neptuno sorte sacerdos,
sollemnis taurum ingentem mactabat ad aras.
ecce autem gemini a Tenedo tranquilla per alta
(horresco referens) immensis orbibus angues
incumbunt pelago pariterque ad litora tendunt;               205
pectora quorum inter fluctus arrecta iubaeque
sanguineae superant undas, pars cetera pontum
pone legit sinuatque immensa volumine terga.
fit sonitus spumante salo; iamque arva tenebant
ardentisque oculos suffecti sanguine et igni               210

Here another, greater for the wretched and by much more tremendous,
is thrown before them and disturbs improvident hearts. 200
Laocoon, drawn by lot as priest to Neptune,
was slaughtering a huge bull at the solemn altars.
Lo, however, twin serpents from Tenedos through the tranquil deep
(I shudder recounting it) with immense coils press upon the sea
and together make for the shores; whose chests, raised among the waves, and blood-red manes
surmount the waters; the rest of their length skims the sea behind
and they curve their immense backs in volumed coils.
A roaring arises with the brine foaming; and now they held the fields
and, their burning eyes suffused with blood and fire, 210

sibila lambebant linguis vibrantibus ora.
diffugimus visu exsangues. illi agmine certo
Laocoonta petunt; et primum parva duorum
corpora natorum serpens amplexus uterque
implicat et miseros morsu depascitur artus; 215
post ipsum auxilio subeuntem ac tela ferentem
corripiunt spirisque ligant ingentibus; et iam
bis medium amplexi, bis collo squamea circum
terga dati superant capite et cervicibus altis.

their hissing mouths were licking with quivering tongues.
we scatter, bloodless at the sight. they, in a sure column
make for Laocoon; and first, each serpent having embraced,
entwines the small bodies of the two sons and devours the wretched limbs with a bite; 215
thereafter they seize him himself as he comes up to give aid and bears weapons
and bind him with huge coils; and now,
twice having clasped his middle, twice, their scaly backs given around
his neck, they tower above with head and with lofty necks.

ille simul manibus tendit divellere nodos 220
perfusus sanie vittas atroque veneno,
clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit:
qualis mugitus, fugit cum saucius aram
taurus et incertam excussit cervice securim.
at gemini lapsu delubra ad summa dracones 225

he at once with his hands strives to tear apart the knots 220
his fillets drenched with gore and black venom,
at once he lifts horrendous shouts to the stars:
such as the bellowing, when a wounded bull flees the altar
and has shaken from its neck the uncertain axe.
but the twin dragons, with their glide, make for the highest shrines 225

effugiunt saevaeque petunt Tritonidis arcem,
sub pedibusque deae clipeique sub orbe teguntur.
tum vero tremefacta novus per pectora cunctis
insinuat pavor, et scelus expendisse merentem
Laocoonta ferunt, sacrum qui cuspide robur 230
laeserit et tergo sceleratam intorserit hastam.
ducendum ad sedes simulacrum orandaque divae
numina conclamant.

they escape and seek the citadel of cruel Tritonis,
and beneath the feet of the goddess and beneath the orb of her shield they are covered.
then indeed a fresh fear insinuates through the trembling breasts of all,
and they say that Laocoön deserved to have paid for his crime,
who with a spear-point had wounded the sacred oak-timber and had hurled the accursed spear into its back. 230
they cry aloud that the simulacrum must be led to the seats and the divine powers (numina) of the goddess be entreated.

dividimus muros et moenia pandimus urbis.
accingunt omnes operi pedibusque rotarum 235
subiciunt lapsus, et stuppea vincula collo
intendunt; scandit fatalis machina muros
feta armis. pueri circum innuptaeque puellae
sacra canunt funemque manu contingere gaudent;
illa subit mediaeque minans inlabitur urbi. 240

We divide the walls and throw open the ramparts of the city.
all gird themselves for the work, and beneath the feet of the wheels 235
they set rollers, and they stretch hempen bonds on the neck;
the fatal machine climbs the walls, teeming with arms. Boys around and unwed girls
sing sacred songs and rejoice to touch the rope with the hand;
it mounts and, menacing, glides into the middle of the city. 240

o patria, o divum domus Ilium et incluta bello
moenia Dardanidum! quater ipso in limine portae
substitit atque utero sonitum quater arma dedere;
instamus tamen immemores caecique furore
et monstrum infelix sacrata sistimus arce. 245
tunc etiam fatis aperit Cassandra futuris
ora dei iussu non umquam credita Teucris.
nos delubra deum miseri, quibus ultimus esset
ille dies, festa velamus fronde per urbem.

O fatherland, O Ilium, house of the gods, and the Dardanian walls illustrious in war!
four times on the very threshold of the gate it halted, and from the womb the arms gave sound four times;
we press on, however, unmindful and blind with frenzy,
and we set the ill-fated monster on the consecrated citadel. 245
then even Cassandra opens her lips on the future fates,
by the god’s command never believed by the Teucrians.
we, wretches we to whom that day would be the last,
veil the shrines of the gods with festal foliage throughout the city.

Vertitur interea caelum et ruit Oceano nox               250
involvens umbra magna terramque polumque
Myrmidonumque dolos; fusi per moenia Teucri
conticuere; sopor fessos complectitur artus.
et iam Argiua phalanx instructis navibus ibat
a Tenedo tacitae per amica silentia lunae               255
litora nota petens, flammas cum regia puppis
extulerat, fatisque deum defensus iniquis
inclusos utero Danaos et pinea furtim
laxat claustra Sinon. illos patefactus ad auras
reddit equus laetique cavo se robore promunt               260

Meanwhile the sky is turned and night rushes from Ocean               250
wrapping in a great shadow both the earth and the pole
and the wiles of the Myrmidons; the Teucrians, spread along the walls,
fell silent; sleep enfolds their weary limbs.
And now the Argive phalanx, with ships made ready, was going
from Tenedos through the friendly silences of the hushed moon,               255
seeking the well-known shores, when the royal ship had lifted flames,
and Sinon, defended by the gods’ unjust fates,
stealthily loosens the pine-wood bars and the Danaans enclosed
in the womb; the horse, laid open to the breezes,
gives them back, and joyful they bring themselves forth from the hollow timber.               260

Thessandrus Sthenelusque duces et dirus Ulixes,
demissum lapsi per funem, Acamasque Thoasque
Pelidesque Neoptolemus primusque Machaon
et Menelaus et ipse doli fabricator Epeos.
invadunt urbem somno vinoque sepultam; 265
caeduntur vigiles, portisque patentibus omnis
accipiunt socios atque agmina conscia iungunt.

Thessander and Sthenelus, leaders, and dire Ulysses,
having slipped down by a rope let down, and Acamas and Thoas,
and the Peleid Neoptolemus, and Machaon first,
and Menelaus and Epeus himself, the fabricator of the stratagem.
they invade the city buried in sleep and wine; 265
the sentries are cut down, and with the gates patent they
admit all their comrades and join the columns privy to the design.

Tempus erat quo prima quies mortalibus aegris
incipit et dono divum gratissima serpit.
in somnis, ecce, ante oculos maestissimus Hector 270
visus adesse mihi largosque effundere fletus,
raptatus bigis ut quondam, aterque cruento
pulvere perque pedes traiectus lora tumentis.
ei mihi, qualis erat, quantum mutatus ab illo
Hectore qui redit exuvias indutus Achilli 275
vel Danaum Phrygios iaculatus puppibus ignis!

It was the time when first repose for ailing mortals
begins, and by the gift of the gods most pleasingly creeps.
In sleep, behold, before my eyes most mournful Hector 270
seemed to be present to me and to pour forth copious tears,
dragged by a two-horse chariot as once, and black with bloody
dust, and with straps passed through his swelling feet.
Alas for me, how he was, how greatly changed from that
Hector who returns clad in Achilles’ spoils 275
or who hurled Phrygian fires at the ships of the Danaans!

squalentem barbam et concretos sanguine crinis
vulneraque illa gerens, quae circum plurima muros
accepit patrios. ultro flens ipse videbar
compellare virum et maestas expromere voces: 280

a squalid beard and locks concreted with blood,
and bearing those wounds, the very many which around the paternal walls
he received. Weeping, I myself seemed unbidden
to address the man and to express mournful words: 280

'o lux Dardaniae, spes o fidissima Teucrum,
quae tantae tenuere morae? quibus Hector ab oris
exspectate venis? ut te post multa tuorum
funera, post varios hominumque urbisque labores
defessi aspicimus!

'o light of Dardania, o most faithful hope of the Teucrians,
what so great delays have held you? from what shores,
Hector, long-expected, do you come? how, after many funerals
of your people, after various labors both of men and of the city,
we, wearied, behold you!

quae causa indigna serenos 285
foedavit vultus? aut cur haec vulnera cerno?'
ille nihil, nec me quaerentem uana moratur,
sed graviter gemitus imo de pectore ducens,
'heu fuge, nate dea, teque his' ait 'eripe flammis.
hostis habet muros; ruit alto a culmine Troia. 290
sat patriae Priamoque datum: si Pergama dextra
defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent.

what unworthy cause has defiled your serene features? or why do I discern these wounds?'
he says nothing, nor does he delay me, questioning in vain,
but heavily drawing groans from his inmost chest,
'alas, flee, goddess-born, and from these' he says 'rescue yourself from the flames.
the foe holds the walls; Troy rushes down from its high summit. 290
enough has been given to the fatherland and to Priam: if Pergama could be defended by a right hand,
even by this one it would have been defended.

sacra suosque tibi commendat Troia penatis;
hos cape fatorum comites, his moenia quaere
magna pererrato statues quae denique ponto.' 295

Troy commends to you her sacred rites and her own Penates;
take these as companions of your fates; for these, seek the walls
which you will at last set up, great, after the sea has been traversed.' 295

sic ait et manibus vittas Vestamque potentem
aeternumque adytis effert penetralibus ignem.

Thus he speaks, and with his hands he brings out the fillets and potent Vesta,
and the eternal fire from the inmost adyta.

Diverso interea miscentur moenia luctu,
et magis atque magis, quamquam secreta parentis
Anchisae domus arboribusque obtecta recessit,               300
clarescunt sonitus armorumque ingruit horror.
excutior somno et summi fastigia tecti
ascensu supero atque arrectis auribus asto:
in segetem veluti cum flamma furentibus Austris
incidit, aut rapidus montano flumine torrens               305
sternit agros, sternit sata laeta boumque labores
praecipitisque trahit silvas; stupet inscius alto
accipiens sonitum saxi de vertice pastor.
tum vero manifesta fides, Danaumque patescunt
insidiae. iam Deiphobi dedit ampla ruinam               310

Meanwhile, in different quarters the city-walls are mingled with lamentation,
and more and more, although my father Anchises’ house,
secluded and set back and covered by trees, stands withdrawn,               300
the noises grow clear, and the horror of arms rushes on.
I am shaken from sleep and, by climbing, I overtop the roof-ridges of the highest roof
and stand with ears pricked:
as when a flame falls into a standing crop with the South Winds raging,
or a swift torrent from a mountain river lays low the fields,               305
lays low the happy sown fields and the labors of oxen,
and drags the forests headlong; the shepherd, unaware, stands amazed,
catching the sound from the summit of a high rock.
Then indeed the proof is manifest, and the stratagems of the Danaans
stand revealed. Already Deiphobus’s spacious house has fallen in great ruin.               310

Volcano superante domus, iam proximus ardet
Ucalegon; Sigea igni freta lata relucent.
exoritur clamorque virum clangorque tubarum.
arma amens capio; nec sat rationis in armis,
sed glomerare manum bello et concurrere in arcem 315
cum sociis ardent animi; furor iraque mentem
praecipitat, pulchrumque mori succurrit in armis.

With Vulcan mastering the houses, now the next, Ucalegon, blazes; the Sigean wide straits shine back with fire.
There arises the clamor of men and the clangor of trumpets.
Mad, I seize arms; nor is there enough of reason in arms,
but our spirits burn to mass a band for war and to run together to the citadel with comrades 315
fury and wrath precipitate the mind headlong, and it comes to mind that it is beautiful to die in arms.

Ecce autem telis Panthus elapsus Achivum,
Panthus Othryades, arcis Phoebique sacerdos,
sacra manu victosque deos parvumque nepotem 320
ipse trahit cursuque amens ad limina tendit.
'quo res summa loco, Panthu? quam prendimus arcem?'
vix ea fatus eram gemitu cum talia reddit:
'venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus
Dardaniae.

Behold, however, Panthus, slipped from the Achaean missiles,
Panthus Othryades, priest of the citadel and of Phoebus,
himself draws in his hand the sacred things and the vanquished gods and his little grandson, 320
and, out of his mind, at a run makes for the thresholds.
“Panthus, in what place stands the sum of the matter? what citadel are we seizing?”
Scarcely had I spoken these when, with a groan, he returns such words:
“The utmost day and the ineluctable time of Dardania has come.

fuimus Troes, fuit Ilium et ingens 325
gloria Teucrorum; ferus omnia Iuppiter Argos
transtulit; incensa Danai dominantur in urbe.
arduus armatos mediis in moenibus astans
fundit equus victorque Sinon incendia miscet
insultans. portis alii bipatentibus adsunt, 330

we were Trojans; Ilium was, and the mighty 325
glory of the Teucrians; savage Jupiter has transferred everything to Argos;
the Danaans dominate in the city set ablaze.
the towering horse, standing in the middle of the walls, pours forth armed men,
and victorious Sinon, exulting, mingles fires
as he insults. Others are present at the gates thrown open in two leaves, 330

milia quot magnis umquam venere Mycenis;
obsedere alii telis angusta viarum
oppositis; stat ferri acies mucrone corusco
stricta, parata neci; vix primi proelia temptant
portarum vigiles et caeco Marte resistunt.'               335
talibus Othryadae dictis et numine divum
in flammas et in arma feror, quo tristis Erinys,
quo fremitus vocat et sublatus ad aethera clamor.
addunt se socios Rhipeus et maximus armis
Epytus, oblati per lunam, Hypanisque Dymasque               340
et lateri adglomerant nostro, iuvenisque Coroebus
Mygdonides—illis ad Troiam forte diebus
venerat insano Cassandrae incensus amore
et gener auxilium Priamo Phrygibusque ferebat,
infelix qui non sponsae praecepta furentis               345

as many thousands as ever came to great Mycenae;
others have beset with weapons the narrow places of the streets,
barriers opposed; the battle-line of steel stands with flashing point
drawn, prepared for slaughter; scarcely do the foremost sentries of the gates
attempt battle and with blind Mars they resist.'               335
with such words of the Othryad, and by the numen of the gods,
into flames and into arms I am borne, whither the grim Erinys,
whither the roaring calls and the cry lifted to the upper air.
Rhipeus and Epytus, greatest in arms, add themselves as comrades,
revealed by the moon, and Hypanis and Dymas               340
also mass to my flank, and the youth Coroebus,
the Mygdonian—during those days he had come to Troy,
inflamed by insane love of Cassandra, and as son-in-law he was bringing help
to Priam and the Phrygians, unhappy, because he did not heed the precepts
of his frenzied bride-to-be.               345

audierit!
quos ubi confertos ardere in proelia vidi,
incipio super his: 'iuvenes, fortissima frustra
pectora, si vobis audentem extrema cupido
certa sequi, quae sit rebus fortuna videtis: 350
excessere omnes adytis arisque relictis
di quibus imperium hoc steterat; succurritis urbi
incensae. moriamur et in media arma ruamus.

would have heard!
when I saw them crowded together, burning for battles,
I begin over these: 'young men, bravest hearts in vain,
if in you there is a desire to follow one daring the last extremities
to a sure end, you see what fortune there is for our affairs: 350
all the gods have withdrawn, their inner shrines and altars left behind—
the gods by whose imperium this had stood; you run to the aid of a city
set ablaze. Let us die and rush into the midst of arms.

una salus victis nullam sperare salutem.'
sic animis iuvenum furor additus. inde, lupi ceu 355
raptores atra in nebula, quos improba ventris
exegit caecos rabies catulique relicti
faucibus exspectant siccis, per tela, per hostis
vadimus haud dubiam in mortem mediaeque tenemus
urbis iter; nox atra cava circumvolat umbra. 360

'the one salvation for the conquered is to hope for no salvation.'
thus fury was added to the spirits of the youths. then, like wolves, marauders in a black fog, 355
whom the shameless rabies of the belly has driven forth blind, and whose whelps left behind
await with dry throats, through weapons, through enemies
we go into a not-at-all doubtful death, and we hold our course
through the midst of the city; black night flies around with a hollow shadow. 360

quis cladem illius noctis, quis funera fando
explicet aut possit lacrimis aequare labores?
urbs antiqua ruit multos dominata per annos;
plurima perque vias sternuntur inertia passim
corpora perque domos et religiosa deorum 365
limina. nec soli poenas dant sanguine Teucri;
quondam etiam victis redit in praecordia virtus
uictoresque cadunt Danai.

who could tell the calamity of that night, who could by speaking
expound the funerals or be able with tears to equal the labors?
the ancient city collapses, having dominated for many years;
very many lifeless bodies are strewn everywhere through the streets
and through the houses and the sacred thresholds of the gods 365
nor do the Teucrians alone pay penalties with blood;
sometimes even to the conquered valor returns into their inmost hearts,
and the victorious Danaans fall.

crudelis ubique
luctus, ubique pavor et plurima mortis imago.

cruel grief everywhere,
everywhere fear, and many an image of death.

Primus se Danaum magna comitante caterva 370
Androgeos offert nobis, socia agmina credens
inscius, atque ultro verbis compellat amicis:
'festinate, viri! nam quae tam sera moratur
segnities? alii rapiunt incensa feruntque
Pergama: vos celsis nunc primum a navibus itis?' 375
dixit, et extemplo (neque enim responsa dabantur
fida satis) sensit medios delapsus in hostis.

First Androgeos, with a great throng of the Danaans accompanying, 370
offers himself to us, believing us allied ranks,
unknowing, and of his own accord addresses us with friendly words:
'Hasten, men! For what sluggishness so late delays?
Others are snatching and bearing off blazing Pergamum:
are you now for the first time going from the lofty ships?' 375
he said, and straightway (for no answers sufficiently trustworthy
were being given) he realized he had slipped into the midst of enemies.

obstipuit retroque pedem cum voce repressit.
improvisum aspris veluti qui sentibus anguem
pressit humi nitens trepidusque repente refugit 380

he stood aghast and drew back his step and checked his voice.
like one who, upon rough brambles, has chanced upon a snake unlooked-for,
pressing it on the ground as he strains, and, trembling, suddenly flees back 380

attollentem iras et caerula colla tumentem,
haud secus Androgeos visu tremefactus abibat.
inruimus densis et circumfundimur armis,
ignarosque loci passim et formidine captos
sternimus; aspirat primo Fortuna labori. 385
atque hic successu exsultans animisque Coroebus
'o socii, qua prima' inquit 'Fortuna salutis
monstrat iter, quaque ostendit se dextra, sequamur:
mutemus clipeos Danaumque insignia nobis
aptemus. dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat? 390
arma dabunt ipsi.' sic fatus deinde comantem
Androgei galeam clipeique insigne decorum
induitur laterique Argiuum accommodat ensem.

lifting its angers and swelling its dark-blue neck,
just so Androgeos, shaken at the sight, was backing away.
we rush in with dense arms and pour around them,
and men unknowing of the place and seized by fear everywhere
we strew; Fortune breathes upon our first labor. 385
and here, exulting in success and in spirit, Coroebus
says: 'O comrades, where first Fortune of safety
points out a path, and where she shows herself as a right hand, let us follow:
let us change our shields and fit to ourselves the insignia of the Danaans.
Deceit or valor—who would inquire, when it is an enemy? 390
they themselves will give us arms.' so having spoken, then the plumed
helmet of Androgeos and the comely emblem of the shield
he puts on, and to his side fits the Argive sword.

hoc Rhipeus, hoc ipse Dymas omnisque iuventus
laeta facit: spoliis se quisque recentibus armat. 395

this Rhipeus, this Dymas himself, and all the youth
happy, do: each arms himself with recent spoils. 395

vadimus immixti Danais haud numine nostro
multaque per caecam congressi proelia noctem
conserimus, multos Danaum demittimus Orco.
diffugiunt alii ad navis et litora cursu
fida petunt; pars ingentem formidine turpi 400
scandunt rursus equum et nota conduntur in alvo.

we go, mingled with the Danaans, not under our own auspices,
and through the blind night we engage many battles,
we send many of the Danaans down to Orcus.
others scatter to the ships and seek the faithful shores at a run;
some, in shameful fear, climb the huge horse again 400
and hide themselves in the familiar belly.

Heu nihil inuitis fas quemquam fidere divis!
ecce trahebatur passis Priameia virgo
crinibus a templo Cassandra adytisque Minervae
ad caelum tendens ardentia lumina frustra, 405
lumina, nam teneras arcebant vincula palmas.
non tulit hanc speciem furiata mente Coroebus
et sese medium iniecit periturus in agmen;
consequimur cuncti et densis incurrimus armis.

Alas, it is not lawful for anyone to trust in gods unwilling!
behold, the Priamian maiden, Cassandra, was being dragged, with hair outspread,
from the temple and the adyts of Minerva, to heaven stretching her ardent eyes in vain, 405
eyes—for fetters were restraining her tender palms.
Coroebus, with a maddened mind, did not bear this sight,
and, doomed to perish, hurled himself into the midst of the column;
we all follow and charge in with close‑packed arms.

hic primum ex alto delubri culmine telis 410
nostrorum obruimur oriturque miserrima caedes
armorum facie et Graiarum errore iubarum.
tum Danai gemitu atque ereptae virginis ira
undique collecti invadunt, acerrimus Aiax
et gemini Atridae Dolopumque exercitus omnis: 415

here first from the high summit of the shrine we are overwhelmed by missiles 410
from our own men, and a most wretched slaughter arises
through the appearance of our arms and the error of the Graian crests.
then the Danaans, gathered from every side by the groan and the wrath for the snatched-away maiden,
attack—Ajax most fierce,
and the twin Atridae, and the whole army of the Dolopes: 415

adversi rupto ceu quondam turbine venti
confligunt, Zephyrusque Notusque et laetus Eois
Eurus equis; stridunt silvae saevitque tridenti
spumeus atque imo Nereus ciet aequora fundo.
illi etiam, si quos obscura nocte per umbram               420
fudimus insidiis totaque agitavimus urbe,
apparent; primi clipeos mentitaque tela
agnoscunt atque ora sono discordia signant.
ilicet obruimur numero, primusque Coroebus
Penelei dextra divae armipotentis ad aram               425
procumbit; cadit et Rhipeus, iustissimus unus
qui fuit in Teucris et servantissimus aequi
(dis aliter visum); pereunt Hypanisque Dymasque
confixi a sociis; nec te tua plurima, Panthu,
labentem pietas nec Apollinis infula texit.               430

opposed, as at times when the whirlwind is broken, the winds clash, both Zephyrus and Notus and Eurus glad with his Eastern steeds; the forests shriek and foamy Nereus rages with his trident and from the lowest depth stirs the seas.
they too, even those whom in the dark night through the shadow we routed by ambush and drove through the whole city, appear;               420
first they recognize the shields and the pretended weapons and mark our mouths discordant in sound.
straightway we are overwhelmed by number, and first Coroebus falls by Peneleus’s right hand at the altar of the war-mighty goddess;               425
and Rhipeus falls too, the one most just who was among the Teucrians and most observant of equity (it seemed otherwise to the gods); Hypanis and Dymas perish, pierced by comrades; nor did your very abundant piety, Panthus, nor the fillet of Apollo protect you as you were slipping.               430

Iliaci cineres et flamma extrema meorum,
testor, in occasu vestro nec tela nec ullas
vitavisse vices Danaum et, si fata fuissent
ut caderem, meruisse manu. divellimur inde,
Iphitus et Pelias mecum (quorum Iphitus aevo 435
iam gravior, Pelias et vulnere tardus Ulixi),
protinus ad sedes Priami clamore vocati.
hic vero ingentem pugnam, ceu cetera nusquam
bella forent, nulli tota morerentur in urbe,
sic Martem indomitum Danaosque ad tecta ruentis 440
cernimus obsessumque acta testudine limen.

Ashes of Ilium and the final flame of my people,
I call you to witness, that at your downfall I shunned neither the weapons nor any encounters
of the Danaans—and, had the fates been that I should fall,
I had deserved it by my hand. From there we are torn apart,
Iphitus and Pelias with me (of whom Iphitus, now heavier with age, 435
Pelias too slowed by a wound from Ulysses),
straightway summoned by the clamor to the halls of Priam.
Here indeed we behold a vast battle, as if the other
wars were nowhere and none elsewhere in the whole city delayed;
so we discern unbridled Mars and the Danaans rushing to the roofs, 440
and the threshold besieged, the tortoise-formation driven up.

haerent parietibus scalae postisque sub ipsos
nituntur gradibus clipeosque ad tela sinistris
protecti obiciunt, prensant fastigia dextris.
Dardanidae contra turris ac tota domorum 445

ladders cling to the walls and beneath the very doorposts;
they press up the rungs, and, protected, with their left hands they throw up shields against the missiles,
they grasp the gable-tops with their right hands. Dardanidae, in reply, from the towers and the whole roofs of the houses 445

culmina convellunt; his se, quando ultima cernunt,
extrema iam in morte parant defendere telis,
auratasque trabes, veterum decora alta parentum,
devolvunt; alii strictis mucronibus imas
obsedere fores, has servant agmine denso. 450
instaurati animi regis succurrere tectis
auxilioque levare viros uimque addere victis.

they tear away the roof-branches; with these, since they perceive the last things,
already at the extreme in death they prepare to defend themselves with weapons,
and they roll down the gilded beams, the lofty adornments of their ancient forefathers;
others, with drawn sword-points, have beset the lowest doors; these they guard with a dense column. 450
our spirits renewed, we hasten to succor the king’s roofs,
and to relieve the men with aid and to add force to the vanquished.

Limen erat caecaeque fores et pervius usus
tectorum inter se Priami, postesque relicti
a tergo, infelix qua se, dum regna manebant,               455
saepius Andromache ferre incomitata solebat
ad soceros et auo puerum Astyanacta trahebat.
evado ad summi fastigia culminis, unde
tela manu miseri iactabant inrita Teucri.
turrim in praecipiti stantem summisque sub astra               460
eductam tectis, unde omnis Troia videri
et Danaum solitae naves et Achaica castra,
adgressi ferro circum, qua summa labantis
iuncturas tabulata dabant, convellimus altis
sedibus impulimusque; ea lapsa repente ruinam               465

There was a threshold and blind doors and a through-passage giving access between Priam’s roofs, and doorposts left at the back, by which unhappy Andromache, while the realm yet stood, was wont more often to carry herself unattended to her parents-in-law and would draw the boy Astyanax to his grandfather. 455
I get out to the ridges of the highest roof, whence the wretched Teucrians were hurling with the hand their ineffectual missiles.
a tower standing on a steep brink and raised from the topmost roofs up beneath the stars, from where all Troy could be seen and the ships of the Danaans and the Achaean camp,
having approached it with iron all around, where the highest stories, wavering, presented their joints, we tear it from its lofty seats and drive it; it, having slipped, suddenly brought ruin. 465

cum sonitu trahit et Danaum super agmina late
incidit. ast alii subeunt, nec saxa nec ullum
telorum interea cessat genus.

with a crash it drags down and falls far and wide upon the ranks of the Danaans.
But others come up, nor meanwhile do stones nor any kind of missiles cease.

Vestibulum ante ipsum primoque in limine Pyrrhus
exsultat telis et luce coruscus aena:               470
qualis ubi in lucem coluber mala gramina pastus,
frigida sub terra tumidum quem bruma tegebat,
nunc, positis novus exuviis nitidusque iuventa,
lubrica convoluit sublato pectore terga
arduus ad solem, et linguis micat ore trisulcis.               475
una ingens Periphas et equorum agitator Achillis,
armiger Automedon, una omnis Scyria pubes
succedunt tecto et flammas ad culmina iactant.
ipse inter primos correpta dura bipenni
limina perrumpit postisque a cardine vellit               480

At the vestibule itself and on the very foremost threshold Pyrrhus
exults, coruscant with weapons and with bronze light:               470
just as when into the light a serpent, fed on noxious grasses,
whom the cold winter beneath the earth had covered, swollen,
now, its sloughed exuviae laid aside, new and shining with youth,
coils its slippery backs with breast uplifted,
towering toward the sun, and in its mouth it flickers with three-forked tongues.               475
together the huge Periphas and the driver of Achilles’ horses,
Automedon the armiger, together the whole Scyrian youth
advance to the roof and hurl flames to the gables.
he himself among the foremost, having snatched a hard bipennis,
breaks through the thresholds and wrenches the doorposts from the hinge.               480

aeratos; iamque excisa trabe firma cavavit
robora et ingentem lato dedit ore fenestram.
apparet domus intus et atria longa patescunt;
apparent Priami et veterum penetralia regum,
armatosque vident stantis in limine primo. 485
at domus interior gemitu miseroque tumultu
miscetur, penitusque cavae plangoribus aedes
femineis ululant; ferit aurea sidera clamor.
tum pavidae tectis matres ingentibus errant
amplexaeque tenent postis atque oscula figunt. 490
instat vi patria Pyrrhus; nec claustra nec ipsi
custodes sufferre valent; labat ariete crebro
ianua, et emoti procumbunt cardine postes.

bronze-plated; and now, with the beam cut out, he hollowed the solid oaks and gave a huge window with a wide mouth.
the house appears within and the long atria lie open;
the inner sancta of Priam and of the ancient kings appear,
and they see armed men standing on the very first threshold. 485
but the inner house is mingled with groaning and wretched tumult,
and deep within the hollow halls ululate with feminine beatings;
the clamor strikes the golden stars.
then the fearful mothers wander through the vast roofs
and, embracing, they hold the doorposts and plant kisses. 490
Pyrrhus presses on with his paternal force; neither the bars nor the guards
themselves are able to withstand; the door totters under the frequent battering-ram,
and the posts, wrenched from the hinge, come crashing down.

fit via vi; rumpunt aditus primosque trucidant
immissi Danai et late loca milite complent. 495

a way is made by force; they break the entrances and slaughter the foremost
admitted, the Danaans far and wide fill the places with soldiery. 495

non sic, aggeribus ruptis cum spumeus amnis
exiit oppositasque evicit gurgite moles,
fertur in arva furens cumulo camposque per omnis
cum stabulis armenta trahit. vidi ipse furentem
caede Neoptolemum geminosque in limine Atridas, 500
vidi Hecubam centumque nurus Priamumque per aras
sanguine foedantem quos ipse sacraverat ignis.
quinquaginta illi thalami, spes tanta nepotum,
barbarico postes auro spoliisque superbi
procubuere; tenent Danai qua deficit ignis. 505

not thus, when, the embankments having been broken, a foaming river
has gone out and has overcome with its surge the opposing masses,
is it borne raging into the fields in a swell and through all the plains
drags the herds with their stalls. I myself saw Neoptolemus raging
with slaughter and the twin Atridae on the threshold, 500
I saw Hecuba and the hundred daughters-in-law, and Priam at the altars
defiling with blood the fires which he himself had consecrated.
those fifty bedchambers, so great a hope of grandsons,
the doorposts proud with barbaric gold and with spoils,
have sunk down; the Danaans hold where the fire fails. 505

Forsitan et Priami fuerint quae fata requiras.
urbis uti captae casum convulsaque vidit
limina tectorum et medium in penetralibus hostem,
arma diu senior desueta trementibus aevo
circumdat nequiquam umeris et inutile ferrum 510
cingitur, ac densos fertur moriturus in hostis.
aedibus in mediis nudoque sub aetheris axe
ingens ara fuit iuxtaque veterrima laurus
incumbens arae atque umbra complexa penatis.

Perhaps you also ask what fates befell Priam.
when he saw the fall of the captured city and the thresholds of the dwellings torn away and the enemy in the midst within the inner chambers,
the old man, long unaccustomed to arms, in vain puts around his shoulders, trembling with age, the long-disused arms and girds himself with the useless iron 510
and is borne, doomed to die, into the dense ranks of the enemy.
in the middle of the house and beneath the naked vault of the aether
there was a huge altar, and next to it a most ancient laurel
leaning over the altar and with its shade embracing the Penates.

hic Hecuba et natae nequiquam altaria circum, 515
praecipites atra ceu tempestate columbae,
condensae et divum amplexae simulacra sedebant.
ipsum autem sumptis Priamum iuvenalibus armis
ut vidit, 'quae mens tam dira, miserrime coniunx,
impulit his cingi telis? aut quo ruis?' inquit. 520

Here Hecuba and her daughters, in vain, around the altars, 515
headlong like doves in a black tempest,
crowded together and embracing the simulacra of the gods, were sitting. But when she saw Priam himself
with youthful arms taken up, she said, "what purpose so dire, most wretched husband,
has driven you to be girded with these weapons? Or where do you rush?" 520

'non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis
tempus eget; non, si ipse meus nunc adforet Hector.
huc tandem concede; haec ara tuebitur omnis,
aut moriere simul.' sic ore effata recepit
ad sese et sacra longaeuum in sede locavit. 525

'not by such aid nor by those defenders
does the time have need; not even if my Hector himself were now here.
come hither at last; this altar will protect all,
or you will die together.' thus, having spoken with her mouth, she received
him to herself and placed the long-aged man on the sacred seat. 525

Ecce autem elapsus Pyrrhi de caede Polites,
unus natorum Priami, per tela, per hostis
porticibus longis fugit et vacua atria lustrat
saucius. illum ardens infesto vulnere Pyrrhus
insequitur, iam iamque manu tenet et premit hasta. 530
ut tandem ante oculos evasit et ora parentum,
concidit ac multo vitam cum sanguine fudit.
hic Priamus, quamquam in media iam morte tenetur,
non tamen abstinuit nec voci iraeque pepercit:
'at tibi pro scelere,' exclamat, 'pro talibus ausis 535
di, si qua est caelo pietas quae talia curet,
persolvant grates dignas et praemia reddant
debita, qui nati coram me cernere letum
fecisti et patrios foedasti funere vultus.

Behold, however, Polites, escaped from Pyrrhus’s slaughter,
one of Priam’s sons, through weapons, through enemies,
flees along the long porticoes and traverses the empty atria,
wounded. Him Pyrrhus, burning, with hostile wound intent,
pursues—now now he holds him with his hand and presses with his spear. 530
when at last he escaped before the eyes and faces of his parents,
he fell, and with much blood poured out his life.
then Priam, although he is now held in the midst of death,
did not, however, refrain nor spare his voice and his wrath:
'But to you, in return for your crime,' he cries, 'for such daring, 535
may the gods, if there is any piety in heaven which cares for such things,
pay fitting thanks and render the due rewards—
you who have made me behold the death of my son before my face
and have befouled a father’s countenance with death.

at non ille, satum quo te mentiris, Achilles 540

But not such was that Achilles, by whom you claim yourself to be begotten 540

talis in hoste fuit Priamo; sed iura fidemque
supplicis erubuit corpusque exsangue sepulcro
reddidit Hectoreum meque in mea regna remisit.'
sic fatus senior telumque imbelle sine ictu
coniecit, rauco quod protinus aere repulsum, 545
et summo clipei nequiquam umbone pependit.
cui Pyrrhus: 'referes ergo haec et nuntius ibis
Pelidae genitori. illi mea tristia facta
degeneremque Neoptolemum narrare memento.

such toward an enemy was he to Priam; but he blushed at the laws and the faith of a suppliant and gave back the bloodless body of Hector to the sepulcher and sent me back into my realms.'
thus spoke the elder, and he cast a weapon unwarlike, without a blow,
which, straightway repelled by the raucous bronze, 545
hung in vain from the topmost boss of the shield.
to him Pyrrhus: 'you will carry back these things then and go as a messenger
to the Pelides, my begetter. to him remember to narrate my sad deeds
and that Neoptolemus is degenerate.'

nunc morere.' hoc dicens altaria ad ipsa trementem 550
traxit et in multo lapsantem sanguine nati,
implicuitque comam laeva, dextraque coruscum
extulit ac lateri capulo tenus abdidit ensem.
haec finis Priami fatorum, hic exitus illum
sorte tulit Troiam incensam et prolapsa videntem 555

"Now die." Saying this, he dragged him, trembling, to the very altars, 550
and, slipping in the copious blood of his son,
he entwined his hair with his left hand, and with his right he drew forth the flashing
sword and buried it in his side up to the hilt. This was the end of Priam’s fates; this exit
by lot carried him off, seeing Troy ablaze and the citadel collapsed. 555

Pergama, tot quondam populis terrisque superbum
regnatorem Asiae. iacet ingens litore truncus,
avulsumque umeris caput et sine nomine corpus.

Pergama, once proud with so many peoples and lands
the ruler of Asia. a huge trunk lies on the shore,
the head avulsed from the shoulders, and a body without a name.

At me tum primum saevus circumstetit horror.
obstipui; subiit cari genitoris imago, 560
ut regem aequaeuum crudeli vulnere vidi
vitam exhalantem, subiit deserta Creusa
et direpta domus et parvi casus Iuli.
respicio et quae sit me circum copia lustro.

But then for me, for the first time, a savage horror surrounded me.
I was stunned; the image of my dear father rose up, 560
as I saw a king of equal age breathing out life from a cruel wound,
there rose up my deserted Creusa and the plundered house and the fate of little Iulus.
I look back and survey what force there is around me.

deseruere omnes defessi, et corpora saltu 565
ad terram misere aut ignibus aegra dedere.

All, exhausted, deserted, and their bodies with a leap 565
they sent to the earth, or gave, ailing, to the fires.

[Iamque adeo super unus eram, cum limina Vestae
servantem et tacitam secreta in sede latentem
Tyndarida aspicio; dant claram incendia lucem
erranti passimque oculos per cuncta ferenti. 570
illa sibi infestos eversa ob Pergama Teucros
et Danaum poenam et deserti coniugis iras
praemetuens, Troiae et patriae communis Erinys,
abdiderat sese atque aris invisa sedebat.
exarsere ignes animo; subit ira cadentem 575
ulcisci patriam et sceleratas sumere poenas.
'scilicet haec Spartam incolumis patriasque Mycenas
aspiciet, partoque ibit regina triumpho?

[And by now indeed I alone was left, when I espy the Tyndarid, guarding the thresholds of Vesta and, silent, lurking in a secret seat; the conflagrations give clear light to me as I wander and as I carry my eyes everywhere through all things. 570
she, pre-dreading for herself the Teucrians hostile on account of Pergama overthrown, and the penalty of the Danaans and the wraths of the deserted husband, the common Erinys of Troy and of her fatherland, had hidden herself and, hateful, was sitting at the altars. fires blazed in my spirit; anger comes upon me to avenge the falling fatherland and to exact criminal penalties.
'surely this woman, unharmed, will look upon Sparta and her Mycenae of her fathers, and, with a triumph won, will the queen go?

coniugiumque domumque patris natosque videbit
Iliadum turba et Phrygiis comitata ministris? 580

and will she behold her husband and her father’s house and her sons,
attended by a throng of Ilian women and Phrygian handmaids? 580

occiderit ferro Priamus? Troia arserit igni?
Dardanium totiens sudarit sanguine litus?

Has Priam fallen by iron? Has Troy burned with fire?
Has the Dardanian shore so often sweated with blood?

non ita. namque etsi nullum memorabile nomen
feminea in poena est, habet haec victoria laudem;
exstinxisse nefas tamen et sumpsisse merentis 585
laudabor poenas, animumque explesse iuvabit
ultricis flammae et cineres satiasse meorum.'
talia iactabam et furiata mente ferebar,]
cum mihi se, non ante oculis tam clara, videndam
obtulit et pura per noctem in luce refulsit 590
alma parens, confessa deam qualisque videri
caelicolis et quanta solet, dextraque prehensum
continuit roseoque haec insuper addidit ore:
'nate, quis indomitas tantus dolor excitat iras?
quid furis?

not so. for although there is no memorable name
in a feminine punishment, this victory has praise;
nevertheless I shall be praised to have extinguished the nefarious thing and to have exacted the penalties from the deserving, 585
and it will please to have filled my spirit with avenging flame and to have sated the ashes of my own.'
such things I was tossing and I was being borne with a frenzied mind,]
when my kindly parent offered herself to me to be seen, not before so clear to my eyes,
and through the night she flashed in pure light, 590
confessing herself a goddess and such as she is wont to be seen
by the heaven-dwellers and in her full greatness, and with her right hand she held me, seized,
and added these things besides from her rosy mouth:
'Son, what so great a sorrow excites such indomitable angers?
why do you rage?

aut quonam nostri tibi cura recessit? 595

or to what place has your care for us receded? 595

non prius aspicies ubi fessum aetate parentem
liqueris Anchisen, superet coniunxne Creusa
Ascaniusque puer? quos omnis undique Graiae
circum errant acies et, ni mea cura resistat,
iam flammae tulerint inimicus et hauserit ensis.               600
non tibi Tyndaridis facies invisa Lacaenae
culpatusue Paris, divum inclementia, divum
has evertit opes sternitque a culmine Troiam.
aspice (namque omnem, quae nunc obducta tuenti
mortalis hebetat visus tibi et umida circum               605
caligat, nubem eripiam; tu ne qua parentis
iussa time neu praeceptis parere recusa):
hic, ubi disiectas moles avulsaque saxis
saxa vides, mixtoque undantem pulvere fumum,
Neptunus muros magnoque emota tridenti               610

will you not first look where you have left your father Anchises, wearied with age, whether your wife Creusa and the boy Ascanius survive? around whom on all sides the Greek battle-lines wander, and, unless my care withstand, by now the flames would have carried them off and the hostile sword would have drunk them. 600
not for you is it the hated face of the Laconian Tyndarid nor Paris, blamed; the inclemency of the gods, of the gods overturns these resources and lays Troy low from its pinnacle.
look (for every cloud which now, drawn over as you gaze, dulls mortal sight for you and, moist, darkens around, I shall snatch away; do not fear any commands of a parent nor refuse to obey the precepts):
here, where you see masses scattered and rocks torn from rocks, and smoke billowing with mingled dust,
Neptune the walls and, the foundations upheaved by his great trident, 610

fundamenta quatit totamque a sedibus urbem
eruit. hic Iuno Scaeas saevissima portas
prima tenet sociumque furens a navibus agmen
ferro accincta vocat.
iam summas arces Tritonia, respice, Pallas 615
insedit nimbo effulgens et Gorgone saeva.

he shakes the foundations and tears the whole city from its seats.
here Juno, most savage, first holds the Scaean gates, and, raging, girded with steel, calls the allied column from the ships.
now upon the highest citadels the Tritonian Pallas—look back—has taken her seat, effulgent in a cloud and with the savage Gorgon. 615
has settled, effulgent in a cloud and with the savage Gorgon.

ipse pater Danais animos virisque secundas
sufficit, ipse deos in Dardana suscitat arma.
eripe, nate, fugam finemque impone labori;
nusquam abero et tutum patrio te limine sistam.' 620
dixerat et spissis noctis se condidit umbris.
apparent dirae facies inimicaque Troiae
numina magna deum.

the father himself supplies to the Danaans courage and favorable forces,
he himself rouses the gods against Dardan arms.
seize flight, my son, and set an end to the toil;
I will be nowhere absent and I will set you safe at your paternal threshold.' 620
she had spoken and hid herself in the thick shadows of night.
dire faces appear and, hostile to Troy,
the great numina of the gods.

Tum vero omne mihi visum considere in ignis
Ilium et ex imo verti Neptunia Troia: 625
ac veluti summis antiquam in montibus ornum
cum ferro accisam crebrisque bipennibus instant
eruere agricolae certatim, illa usque minatur
et tremefacta comam concusso vertice nutat,
vulneribus donec paulatim evicta supremum 630
congemuit traxitque iugis avulsa ruinam.
descendo ac ducente deo flammam inter et hostis
expedior: dant tela locum flammaeque recedunt.

Then indeed all of Ilium seemed to me to settle into fires,
and Neptunian Troy to be overturned from its deepest foundations: 625
and just as on the highest mountains an ancient ash tree,
when cut down with iron and the farmers, with frequent two-edged axes,
press to uproot it in rivalry, it still threatens
and, its foliage trembling, nods with its shaken crown,
until, gradually overcome by wounds, it groaned its last 630
and, torn from the ridges, dragged down its ruin.
I descend and, with a god leading, I make my way between flame and enemies:
the missiles give place and the flames recede.

Atque ubi iam patriae perventum ad limina sedis
antiquasque domos, genitor, quem tollere in altos 635
optabam primum montis primumque petebam,
abnegat excisa vitam producere Troia
exsiliumque pati. 'vos o, quibus integer aevi
sanguis,' ait, 'solidaeque suo stant robore vires,
vos agitate fugam. 640
me si caelicolae voluissent ducere vitam,
has mihi servassent sedes. satis una superque
vidimus excidia et captae superavimus urbi.

And when now we had come to the thresholds of the ancestral seat
and the ancient homes, my father, whom I was longing first to lift to the high 635
mountains, and was first making for them,
he refuses to prolong life with Troy cut down and to suffer exile. ‘You, O you, in whom the blood of your age is whole,’ he says, ‘and whose powers stand solid in their own strength,
you hasten your flight. 640
If the heaven-dwellers had willed me to lead life,
they would have saved these seats for me. Enough and more than enough destructions we have seen, and we have outlived the captured city.

sic o sic positum adfati discedite corpus.
ipse manu mortem inveniam; miserebitur hostis 645

thus, O thus, having addressed the body as it lies, depart.
I myself will find death by my own hand; the enemy will take pity 645

exuviasque petet. facilis iactura sepulcri.
iam pridem invisus divis et inutilis annos
demoror, ex quo me divum pater atque hominum rex
fulminis adflavit ventis et contigit igni.'

and will seek the spoils. An easy forfeiture of a sepulcher.
for a long time now, hateful to the gods and useless, I drag out the years,
since the father of the gods and the king of men breathed upon me with the winds of the thunderbolt
and touched me with fire.

Talia perstabat memorans fixusque manebat. 650
nos contra effusi lacrimis coniunxque Creusa
Ascaniusque omnisque domus, ne vertere secum
cuncta pater fatoque urgenti incumbere vellet.
abnegat inceptoque et sedibus haeret in isdem.
rursus in arma feror mortemque miserrimus opto. 655
nam quod consilium aut quae iam fortuna dabatur?

He persisted recounting such things and remained fixed. 650
we, on the contrary, poured out in tears—my wife Creusa,
and Ascanius, and the whole household—[begged] that father not wish to turn
everything with him and to bear down upon the pressing fate.
he refuses, and to his undertaking and to the same seats he clings fast.
again I am borne to arms, and, most miserable, I choose death. 655
for what counsel, or what fortune now, was being offered?

'mene efferre pedem, genitor, te posse relicto
sperasti tantumque nefas patrio excidit ore?
si nihil ex tanta superis placet urbe relinqui,
et sedet hoc animo perituraeque addere Troiae 660

'Did you hope that I would step forth, father, with you left behind,
and has so nefarious a thing fallen from a father's mouth?
if it pleases the supernal ones that nothing be left of so great a city,
and if this sits settled in your mind—to add yourself to perishing Troy 660

teque tuosque iuvat, patet isti ianua leto,
iamque aderit multo Priami de sanguine Pyrrhus,
natum ante ora patris, patrem qui obtruncat ad aras.
hoc erat, alma parens, quod me per tela, per ignis
eripis, ut mediis hostem in penetralibus utque 665
Ascanium patremque meum iuxtaque Creusam
alterum in alterius mactatos sanguine cernam?
arma, viri, ferte arma; vocat lux ultima victos.

and it pleases you and your own; the doorway lies open to that death,
and now Pyrrhus will be here, dripping with much blood of Priam,
he who butchers the son before his father’s face, the father at the altars.
was it for this, nurturing mother, that you snatch me through weapons, through fires,
that I should see the enemy in the very inner chambers, and both 665
Ascanius and my father and Creusa beside,
each immolated in the other’s blood?
arms, men, bring arms; the final light calls the conquered.

reddite me Danais; sinite instaurata revisam
proelia. numquam omnes hodie moriemur inulti.' 670

give me back to the Danaans; allow me to revisit the renewed battles.
we shall not all die unavenged today.' 670

Hinc ferro accingor rursus clipeoque sinistram
insertabam aptans meque extra tecta ferebam.
ecce autem complexa pedes in limine coniunx
haerebat, parvumque patri tendebat Iulum:
'si periturus abis, et nos rape in omnia tecum; 675
sin aliquam expertus sumptis spem ponis in armis,
hanc primum tutare domum. cui parvus Iulus,
cui pater et coniunx quondam tua dicta relinquor?'

Hence I gird myself again with iron, and into my left I kept inserting the shield, fitting it, and I was bearing myself outside the roofs.
But behold, my consort, having clasped my feet, clung on the threshold, and was stretching little Iulus to his father:
'If you go away about to perish, then carry us with you into everything; 675
but if, having made trial, you place any hope in arms you have assumed,
guard this house first. To whom am I left—little Iulus, to whom your father, and I, your spouse once so called?'

Talia vociferans gemitu tectum omne replebat,
cum subitum dictuque oritur mirabile monstrum.               680
namque manus inter maestorumque ora parentum
ecce levis summo de vertice visus Iuli
fundere lumen apex, tactuque innoxia mollis
lambere flamma comas et circum tempora pasci.
nos pavidi trepidare metu crinemque flagrantem               685
excutere et sanctos restinguere fontibus ignis.
at pater Anchises oculos ad sidera laetus
extulit et caelo palmas cum voce tetendit:
'Iuppiter omnipotens, precibus si flecteris ullis,
aspice nos, hoc tantum, et si pietate meremur,               690

Shouting such things she was filling the whole roof with groaning,
when suddenly there rises a prodigy, marvelous to tell.               680
for behold, amid the hands and faces of the mournful parents,
a light, a gentle flame-crest, was seen from the very crown of Iulus
to pour forth radiance, and a flame, soft and harmless to the touch,
to lick his locks and to feed around his temples.
we, panic-struck, tremble with fear and try to shake off the blazing hair               685
and to quench the holy fires with springs.
but father Anchises, joyful, lifted his eyes to the stars
and stretched his palms to the sky with his voice, saying:
‘Jupiter Omnipotent, if by any prayers you are bent,
look upon us—this only—and if by piety we deserve,               690

da deinde auxilium, pater, atque haec omina firma.'

'then grant aid, Father, and confirm these omens.'

Vix ea fatus erat senior, subitoque fragore
intonuit laevum, et de caelo lapsa per umbras
stella facem ducens multa cum luce cucurrit.
illam summa super labentem culmina tecti 695
cernimus Idaea claram se condere silva
signantemque vias; tum longo limite sulcus
dat lucem et late circum loca sulphure fumant.
hic vero victus genitor se tollit ad auras
adfaturque deos et sanctum sidus adorat. 700
'iam iam nulla mora est; sequor et qua ducitis adsum,
di patrii; servate domum, servate nepotem.

Hardly had the elder spoken these things, and with a sudden crash
it thundered on the left, and from the sky, slipping down through the shadows,
a star, leading a torch with much light, ran.
that one, gliding above the highest roof-ridges of the house, 695
we behold to hide itself, bright, in the Idaean wood,
and marking out its paths; then along a long track the furrow
gives light, and far and wide the places around smoke with sulphur.
here indeed, overcome, my father lifts himself to the airs
and addresses the gods and adores the holy star. 700
'Now, now there is no delay; I follow, and where you lead I am present,
ancestral gods; preserve the house, preserve the grandson.

vestrum hoc augurium, vestroque in numine Troia est.
cedo equidem nec, nate, tibi comes ire recuso.'
dixerat ille, et iam per moenia clarior ignis 705

This is your augury, and under your divinity is Troy.
I yield indeed, nor, my son, do I refuse to go as your companion.'
He had spoken, and now through the walls the fire was brighter 705

auditur, propiusque aestus incendia volvunt.
'ergo age, care pater, cervici imponere nostrae;
ipse subibo umeris nec me labor iste gravabit;
quo res cumque cadent, unum et commune periclum,
una salus ambobus erit. mihi parvus Iulus 710
sit comes, et longe servet vestigia coniunx.

it is heard, and the heat rolls the conflagrations nearer.
'Therefore come, dear father, place yourself upon my neck;
I myself will bear you on my shoulders, nor will that labor weigh me down;
however things may fall, one and a common peril,
one salvation will be for both. Let little Iulus 710
be my companion, and let my consort keep the footsteps from afar.

vos, famuli, quae dicam animis advertite vestris.
est urbe egressis tumulus templumque vetustum
desertae Cereris, iuxtaque antiqua cupressus
religione patrum multos servata per annos; 715
hanc ex diverso sedem veniemus in unam.
tu, genitor, cape sacra manu patriosque penatis;
me bello e tanto digressum et caede recenti
attrectare nefas, donec me flumine vivo
abluero.' 720

you, attendants, turn your minds to what I say.
there is, for those gone out of the city, a mound and an ancient temple
of deserted Ceres, and close by an ancient cypress,
preserved by the religion of the fathers for many years; 715
to this seat from different directions we shall come into one.
you, father, take in hand the sacred things and the ancestral Penates;
for me, having withdrawn from so great a war and from recent slaughter,
it is impious to handle them, until with a living river
I have washed myself.' 720

haec fatus latos umeros subiectaque colla
veste super fulvique insternor pelle leonis,
succedoque oneri; dextrae se parvus Iulus
implicuit sequiturque patrem non passibus aequis;
pone subit coniunx. ferimur per opaca locorum, 725
et me, quem dudum non ulla iniecta movebant
tela neque adverso glomerati examine Grai,
nunc omnes terrent aurae, sonus excitat omnis
suspensum et pariter comitique onerique timentem.
iamque propinquabam portis omnemque videbar 730
evasisse viam, subito cum creber ad auris
visus adesse pedum sonitus, genitorque per umbram
prospiciens 'nate,' exclamat, 'fuge, nate; propinquant.

having said these things, I am covered over my broad shoulders and bent neck with a garment on top and with the tawny hide of a lion, and I take up the burden; little Iulus twined himself to my right hand and follows his father with steps not equal; behind, my wife comes up. we are borne through the dark places of the quarters, 725
and I—whom a little before no hurled missiles were moving, nor the Greeks massed in a hostile swarm—now every breeze terrifies, every sound rouses me, on edge and fearing alike for both companion and burden. and now I was drawing near the gates and seemed to have cleared the whole way, when suddenly to my ears a crowded sound of feet seemed to be at hand, and my father, looking ahead through the shadow, cries out, ‘son, flee, son; they are drawing near.

ardentis clipeos atque aera micantia cerno.'
hic mihi nescio quod trepido male numen amicum 735

‘I see blazing shields and flashing bronzes.’
Here to me—trembling—I know not what numen, ill-friendly 735

confusam eripuit mentem. namque avia cursu
dum sequor et nota excedo regione viarum,
heu misero coniunx fatone erepta Creusa
substitit, erravitne via seu lapsa resedit,
incertum; nec post oculis est reddita nostris. 740
nec prius amissam respexi animumue reflexi
quam tumulum antiquae Cereris sedemque sacratam
venimus: hic demum collectis omnibus una
defuit, et comites natumque virumque fefellit.
quem non incusavi amens hominumque deorumque, 745
aut quid in eversa vidi crudelius urbe?

it snatched away my confused mind. for while I follow trackless places at a run and exceed the known region of the roads,
alas—from wretched me—was my wife Creusa by fate snatched away, did she halt, or wander from the way, or slip and sit down—
uncertain; nor thereafter was she restored to our eyes. 740
nor before did I look back upon the one lost or bend back my mind
until we came to the mound of ancient Ceres and her sacred seat:
here at last, when all were gathered, one was missing, and she deceived
both companions and son and husband. whom did I not accuse, out of my mind, both of men and of gods, 745
or what did I see more cruel in the overturned city?

Ascanium Anchisenque patrem Teucrosque penatis
commendo sociis et curva valle recondo;
ipse urbem repeto et cingor fulgentibus armis.
stat casus renovare omnis omnemque reverti 750

I commend Ascanius and my father Anchises and the Teucrian Penates to my comrades and hide them in a curved valley;
I myself return to the city and gird myself with gleaming arms.
it stands fixed to renew all hazards and to revert wholly 750

per Troiam et rursus caput obiectare periclis.
principio muros obscuraque limina portae,
qua gressum extuleram, repeto et vestigia retro
observata sequor per noctem et lumine lustro:
horror ubique animo, simul ipsa silentia terrent. 755
inde domum, si forte pedem, si forte tulisset,
me refero: inruerant Danai et tectum omne tenebant.
ilicet ignis edax summa ad fastigia vento
voluitur; exsuperant flammae, furit aestus ad auras.

through Troy and again to expose my head to perils.
first I seek again the walls and the dark thresholds of the gate,
by which I had borne forth my step, and I follow back the footprints
that I had observed through the night and I survey by light:
everywhere horror upon my mind, and the very silences at once terrify. 755
then to the house, in case by chance she had set her foot there, by chance had made her way,
I return: the Danaans had rushed in and held the whole dwelling.
straightway the devouring fire rolls to the topmost gables with the wind;
the flames overtop; the heat rages up to the airs.

procedo et Priami sedes arcemque reviso: 760
et iam porticibus vacuis Iunonis asylo
custodes lecti Phoenix et dirus Ulixes
praedam adservabant. huc undique Troia gaza
incensis erepta adytis, mensaeque deorum
crateresque auro solidi, captivaque vestis 765

I proceed and revisit Priam’s seats and the citadel: 760
and now in the empty porticoes, in Juno’s asylum
the chosen guardians Phoenix and dire Ulysses
were guarding the plunder. Hither from all sides Trojan treasure
snatched from the burned inner sanctuaries, and the tables of the gods,
and mixing-bowls solid with gold, and captive garments 765

congeritur. pueri et pavidae longo ordine matres
stant circum.
ausus quin etiam voces iactare per umbram
implevi clamore vias, maestusque Creusam
nequiquam ingeminans iterumque iterumque vocavi. 770
quaerenti et tectis urbis sine fine ruenti
infelix simulacrum atque ipsius umbra Creusae
visa mihi ante oculos et nota maior imago.

It is heaped together. Boys and timorous mothers in a long order
stand around.
Nay, having even dared to hurl voices through the shadow,
I filled the ways with clamor, and, sorrowful, Creusa
repeating in vain, again and again I called. 770
As I searched and rushed without end through the roofs of the city,
the unhappy simulacrum and the very shade of Creusa herself
appeared to me before my eyes, and an image familiar yet greater.

obstipui, steteruntque comae et uox faucibus haesit.
tum sic adfari et curas his demere dictis: 775
'quid tantum insano iuvat indulgere dolori,
o dulcis coniunx? non haec sine numine divum
eveniunt; nec te comitem hinc portare Creusam
fas, aut ille sinit superi regnator Olympi.

i was astonished, and my hair stood on end and my voice stuck in my throat.
then thus she addressed me and with these words took away my cares: 775
'why is it so pleasing to indulge so greatly in mad grief,
o sweet spouse? these things do not happen without the numen of the gods;
nor is it right by divine law to carry Creusa hence as your companion,
nor does that ruler of Olympus on high permit it.

longa tibi exsilia et vastum maris aequor arandum, 780

long exiles await you, and the vast level of the sea must be ploughed, 780

et terram Hesperiam venies, ubi Lydius arva
inter opima virum leni fluit agmine Thybris.
illic res laetae regnumque et regia coniunx
parta tibi; lacrimas dilectae pelle Creusae.
non ego Myrmidonum sedes Dolopumue superbas 785
aspiciam aut Grais servitum matribus ibo,
Dardanis et divae Veneris nurus;
sed me magna deum genetrix his detinet oris.

and you will come to the Hesperian land, where the Lydian Tiber flows with gentle course between fields rich in men.
there happy fortunes and a kingdom and a royal consort have been prepared for you; drive away the tears for your beloved Creusa.
I shall not behold the proud seats of the Myrmidons or of the Dolopians 785
nor shall I go to be in servitude to Greek matrons, I, a Dardanian and daughter-in-law of divine Venus;
but the great Mother of the gods detains me on these shores.

iamque vale et nati serva communis amorem.'
haec ubi dicta dedit, lacrimantem et multa volentem 790
dicere deseruit, tenuisque recessit in auras.
ter conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum;
ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago,
par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno.
sic demum socios consumpta nocte reviso. 795

and now farewell and guard the love of our shared son.'
when she had given these words, she left me, weeping and wishing 790
to say many things, and withdrew into the tenuous airs.
three times I tried there to put my arms around her neck;
three times the image, grasped in vain, escaped my hands,
equal to light winds and most similar to winged sleep.
thus at last, the night consumed, I revisit my companions. 795

Atque hic ingentem comitum adfluxisse novorum
invenio admirans numerum, matresque virosque,
collectam exsilio pubem, miserabile vulgus.
undique convenere animis opibusque parati
in quascumque velim pelago deducere terras. 800
iamque iugis summae surgebat Lucifer Idae
ducebatque diem, Danaique obsessa tenebant
limina portarum, nec spes opis ulla dabatur.
cessi et sublato montis genitore petivi.

And here I, marveling, find that a huge number of new companions has flowed together, both mothers and men,
a youth gathered for exile, a pitiable multitude.
from all sides they came together, prepared in spirit and in resources
to lead out over the sea into whatever lands I might wish. 800
And now on the ridges of highest Ida Lucifer was rising
and was leading the day, and the Danaans were holding the besieged
thresholds of the gates, nor was any hope of aid being given.
I yielded and, my father lifted, I sought the mountain.