Aeneid translation

1

Virgil : The Aeneid 2

Translated by A. S. Kline  2002 All Rights Reserved3

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Contents7

BkI:1-11 Invocation to the Muse 98

BkI:12-49 The Anger of Juno 99

BkI:50-80 Juno Asks Aeolus for Help 1010

BkI:81-123 Aeolus Raises the Storm 1111

BkI:124-156 Neptune Intervenes 1212

BkI:157-222 Shelter on the Libyan Coast 1313

BkI:223-256 Venus Intercedes with Jupiter 1514

BkI:257-296 Jupiter’s Prophecy 1615

BkI:297-371 Venus Speaks to Aeneas 1716

BkI:372-417 She Directs Him to Dido’s Palace 1917

BkI:418-463 The Temple of Juno 2118

BkI:464-493 The Frieze 2219

BkI:494-519 The Arrival of Queen Dido 2320

BkI:520-560 Ilioneus Asks Her Assistance 2421

BkI:561-585 Dido Welcomes the Trojans 2522

BkI:586-612 Aeneas Makes Himself Known 2623

BkI:613-656 Dido Receives Aeneas 2624

BkI:657-694 Cupid Impersonates Ascanius 2825

BkI:695-722 Cupid Deceives Dido 2926

BkI:723-756 Dido Asks for Aeneas’s Story 3027

BkII:1-56 The Trojan Horse: Laocoön’s Warning 3228

BkII:57-144 Sinon’s Tale 3329

BkII:145-194 Sinon Deludes the Trojans 3630

BkII:195-227 Laocoön and the Serpents 3731

BkII:228-253 The Horse Enters Troy 3832

BkII:254-297 The Greeks Take the City 3933

BkII:298-354 Aeneas Gathers his Comrades 4034

BkII:355-401 Aeneas and his Friends Resist 4235

BkII:402-437 Cassandra is Taken 4336

BkII:438-485 The Battle for the Palace 4437

BkII:486-558 Priam’s Fate 4538

BkII:559-587 Aeneas Sees Helen 4739

BkII:588-623 Aeneas is Visited by his Mother Venus 4840

BkII:624-670 Aeneas Finds his Family 4941

BkII:671-704 The Omen 5142

BkII:705-729 Aeneas and his Family Leave Troy 5243

BkII:730-795 The Loss of Creusa 5344

BkII:796-804 Aeneas Leaves Troy 5445

BkIII:1-18 Aeneas Sails to Thrace 5646

BkIII:19-68 The Grave of Polydorus 5647

BkIII:69-120 The Trojans Reach Delos 5848

BkIII:121-171 The Plague and a Vision 5949

BkIII:172-208 The Trojans Leave Crete for Italy 6150

BkIII:209-277 The Harpies 6251

BkIII:278-293 The Games at Actium 6452

BkIII:294-355 Andromache in Chaonia 6453

BkIII:356-462 The Prophecy of Helenus 6654

BkIII:463-505 The Departure from Chaonia 6955

BkIII:506-547 In Sight of Italy 7056

BkIII:548-587 The Approach to Sicily 7157

BkIII:588-654 Achaemenides 7258

BkIII:655-691 Polyphemus 7459

BkIII:692-718 The Death of Anchises 7560

BkIV:1-53 Dido and Anna Discuss Aeneas 7761

BkIV:54-89 Dido in Love 7862

BkIV:90-128 Juno and Venus 7963

BkIV:129-172 The Hunt and the Cave 8064

BkIV:173-197 Rumour Reaches Iarbas 8265

BkIV:198-218 Iarbas Prays to Jupiter 8266

BkIV:219-278 Jupiter Sends Mercury to Aeneas 8367

BkIV:279-330 Dido Accuses Aeneas 8568

BkIV:331-361 Aeneas Justifies Himself 8669

BkIV:362-392 Dido’s Reply 8770

BkIV:393-449 Aeneas Departs 8871

BkIV:450-503 Dido Resolves to Die 9072

BkIV:504-553 Dido Laments 9173

BkIV:554-583 Mercury Visits Aeneas Again 9374

BkIV:584-629 Dido’s Curse 9375

BkIV:630-705 The Death of Dido 9576

BkV:1-41 Aeneas Returns to Sicily 9877

BkV:42-103 Aeneas Declares the Games 9978

BkV:104-150 The Start of the Games 10179

BkV:151-243 The Boat Race 10280

BkV:244-285 The Prize-Giving for the Boat Race 10581

BkV:286-361 The Foot Race 10682

BkV:362-484 The Boxing Contest 10883

BkV:485-544 The Archery Contest 11184

BkV:545-603 The Exhibition of Horsemanship 11385

BkV:604-663 Juno sends Iris to Fire the Trojan Ships 11586

BkV:664-699 The Fleet is Saved 11687

BkV:700-745 Nautes’ Advice and Anchises’ Ghost 11788

BkV:746-778 Departure from Sicily 11989

BkV:779-834 Venus Seeks Neptune’s Help 12090

BkV:835-871 The Loss of Palinurus 12191

BkVI:1-55 The Temple at Cumae 12392

BkVI:56-97 The Sibyl’s Prophecy 12493

BkVI:98-155 Aeneas Asks Entry to Hades 12594

BkVI:156-182 The Finding of Misenus’s Body 12795

BkVI:183-235 The Funeral Pyre 12896

BkVI:236-263 The Sacrifice to Hecate 12997

BkVI:264-294 The Entrance to Hades 13098

BkVI:295-336 The Shores of Acheron 13199

BkVI:337-383 The Shade of Palinurus 132100

BkVI:384-416 Charon the Ferryman 134101

BkVI:417-439 Beyond the Acheron 135102

BkVI:440-476 The Shade of Dido 135103

BkVI:477-534 The Shade of Deiphobus 136104

BkVI:535-627 The Sibyl Describes Tartarus 138105

BkVI:628-678 The Fields of Elysium 141106

BkVI:679-702 The Meeting with Anchises 142107

BkVI:703-723 The Souls Due for Re-birth 143108

BkVI:724-751 The Transmigration of Souls 143109

BkVI:752-776 The Future Race – The Alban Kings 144110

BkVI:777-807 The Future Race – Romulus and the Caesars 145111

BkVI:808-853 The Future Race – Republic and Beyond 146112

BkVI:854-885 The Future Race – Marcellus 147113

BkVI:886-901 The Gates of Sleep 148114

BkVII:1-36 The Trojans Reach the Tiber 150115

BkVII:37-106 King Latinus and the Oracle 151116

BkVII:107-147 Fulfilment of A Prophecy 153117

BkVII:148-191 The Palace of Latinus 154118

BkVII:192-248 The Trojans Seek Alliance With Latinus 155119

BkVII:249-285 Latinus Offers Peace 157120

BkVII:286-341 Juno Summons Allecto 158121

BkVII:341-405 Allecto Maddens Queen Amata 159122

BkVII:406-474 Allecto Rouses Turnus 161123

BkVII:475-539 Allecto Among the Trojans 163124

BkVII:540-571 Allecto Returns to Hades 165125

BkVII:572-600 Latinus Abdicates 166126

BkVII:601-640 Latium Prepares for War 167127

BkVII:641-782 The Battle-List 168128

BkVII:783-817 Turnus and Camilla Complete the Array 172129

BkVIII:1-25 The Situation in Latium 174130

BkVIII:26-65 Aeneas’s Dream of Tiberinus 174131

BkVIII:66-101 Aeneas Sails to Pallanteum 177132

BkVIII:102-151 Aeneas Meets Evander 178133

BkVIII:152-183 Evander Offers Alliance 180134

BkVIII:184-305 The Tale of Hercules and Cacus 181135

BkVIII:306-369 Pallanteum – the Site of Rome 185136

BkVIII:370-406 Venus Seeks Weapons from Vulcan 187137

BkVIII:407-453 Vulcan’s Smithy 189138

BkVIII:454-519 Evander Proposes Assistance 190139

BkVIII:520-584 The Preliminary Alarms 193140

BkVIII:585-625 Venus’s Gift of Armour 195141

BkVIII:626-670 Vulcan’s Shield: Scenes of Early Rome 196142

BkVIII:671-713 Vulcan’s Shield: The Battle of Actium 198143

BkVIII:714-731 Vulcan’s Shield: Augustus’s Triple Triumph 199144

BkIX:1-24 Iris Urges Turnus to War 201145

BkIX:25-76 Turnus Attacks the Trojan Fleet 201146

BkIX:77-106 Cybele Makes a Plea to Jove 203147

BkIX:107-122 Cybele Transforms the Ships 204148

BkIX:123-167 Turnus Lays Siege to the Camp 205149

BkIX:168-223 Nisus and Euryalus: A Mission Proposed 206150

BkIX:224-313 Nisus and Euryalus: Aletes Consents 208151

BkIX:314-366 Nisus and Euryalus: The Raid 211152

BkIX:367-459 The Death of Euryalus and Nisus 213153

BkIX:460-524 Euryalus’s Mother Laments 216154

BkIX:525-589 Turnus in Battle 218155

BkIX:590-637 Ascanius (Iulus) in Battle 220156

BkIX:638-671 Apollo Speaks to Iulus 222157

BkIX:672-716 Turnus at the Trojan Gates 223158

BkIX:717-755 The Death of Pandarus 225159

BkIX:756-787 Turnus Slaughters the Trojans 226160

BkIX:788-818 Turnus Is Driven Off 227161

BkX:1-95 The Council of the Gods 229162

BkX:96-117 Jupiter Leaves the Outcome to Fate 231163

BkX:118-162 Aeneas Returns From Pallantium 232164

BkX:163-214 The Leaders of the Tuscan Fleet 233165

BkX:215-259 The Nymphs of Cybele 235166

BkX:260-307 Aeneas Reaches Land 236167

BkX:308-425 The Pitched Battle 237168

BkX:426-509 The Death of Pallas 240169

BkX:510-605 Aeneas Rages In Battle 243170

BkX:606-688 Juno Withdraws Turnus from the Fight 245171

BkX:689-754 Mezentius Rages in Battle 248172

BkX:755-832 The Death of Mezentius’s Son, Lausus 250173

BkX:833-908 The Death of Mezentius 252174

BkXI:1-99 Aeneas Mourns Pallas 255175

BkXI:100-138 Aeneas Offers Peace 257176

BkXI:139-181 Evander Mourns Pallas 258177

BkXI:182-224 The Funeral Pyres 260178

BkXI:225-295 An Answer From Arpi 261179

BkXI:296-335 Latinus’s Proposal 263180

BkXI:336-375 Drances Attacks Turnus Verbally 264181

BkXI:376-444 Turnus Replies 265182

BkXI:445-531 The Trojans Attack 267183

BkXI:532-596 Diana’s Concern For Camilla 269184

BkXI:597-647 The Armies Engage 271185

BkXI:648-724 Camilla In Action 273186

BkXI:725-767 Arruns Follows Her 275187

BkXI:768-835 The Death of Camilla 276188

BkXI:836-915 Opis Takes Revenge 278189

BkXII:1-53 Turnus Demands Marriage 281190

BkXII:54-80 He Proposes Single Combat 282191

BkXII:81-112 He Prepares For Battle 283192

BkXII:113-160 Juno Speaks to Juturna 284193

BkXII:161-215 Aeneas and Latinus Sacrifice 285194

BkXII:216-265 The Rutulians Break The Treaty 287195

BkXII:266-310 Renewed Fighting 288196

BkXII:311-382 Aeneas Wounded: Turnus Rampant 289197

BkXII:383-467 Venus Heals Aeneas 292198

BkXII:468-499 Juturna Foils Aeneas 294199

BkXII:500-553 Aeneas And Turnus Amongst The Slaughter 295200

BkXII:554-592 Aeneas Attacks The City 296201

BkXII:593-613 Queen Amata’s Suicide 298202

BkXII:614-696 Turnus Hears Of Amata’s Death 298203

BkXII:697-765 The Final Duel Begins 300204

BkXII:766-790 The Goddesses Intervene 302205

BkXII:791-842 Jupiter And Juno Decide The Future 303206

BkXII:843-886 Jupiter Sends Juturna A Sign 305207

BkXII:887-952 The Death Of Turnus 306208

BkI:1-11 Invocation to the Muse209

I sing of arms and the man, he who, exiled by fate,210

first came from the coast of Troy to Italy, and to211

Lavinian shores – hurled about endlessly by land and sea,212

by the will of the gods, by cruel Juno’s remorseless anger,213

long suffering also in war, until he founded a city214

and brought his gods to Latium: from that the Latin people215

came, the lords of Alba Longa, the walls of noble Rome.216

Muse, tell me the cause: how was she offended in her divinity,217

how was she grieved, the Queen of Heaven, to drive a man,218

noted for virtue, to endure such dangers, to face so many219

trials? Can there be such anger in the minds of the gods?220

BkI:12-49 The Anger of Juno221

There was an ancient city, Carthage (held by colonists from Tyre),222

opposite Italy, and the far-off mouths of the Tiber,223

rich in wealth, and very savage in pursuit of war.224

They say Juno loved this one land above all others,225

even neglecting Samos: here were her weapons226

and her chariot, even then the goddess worked at,227

and cherished, the idea that it should have supremacy228

over the nations, if only the fates allowed.229

Yet she’d heard of offspring, derived from Trojan blood,230

that would one day overthrow the Tyrian stronghold:231

that from them a people would come, wide-ruling, 232

and proud in war, to Libya’s ruin: so the Fates ordained.233

Fearing this, and remembering the ancient war234

she had fought before, at Troy, for her dear Argos,235

(and the cause of her anger and bitter sorrows236

had not yet passed from her mind: the distant judgement237

of Paris stayed deep in her heart, the injury to her scorned beauty,238

her hatred of the race, and abducted Ganymede’s honours)239

the daughter of Saturn, incited further by this,240

hurled the Trojans, the Greeks and pitiless Achilles had left, 241

round the whole ocean, keeping them far from Latium:242

they wandered for many years, driven by fate over all the seas.243

Such an effort it was to found the Roman people.244

They were hardly out of sight of Sicily’s isle, in deeper water,245

joyfully spreading sail, bronze keel ploughing the brine, 246

when Juno, nursing the eternal wound in her breast,247

spoke to herself: ‘Am I to abandon my purpose, conquered,248

unable to turn the Teucrian king away from Italy!249

Why, the fates forbid it. Wasn’t Pallas able to burn250

the Argive fleet, to sink it in the sea, because of the guilt251

and madness of one single man, Ajax, son of Oileus? 252

She herself hurled Jupiter’s swift fire from the clouds,253

scattered the ships, and made the sea boil with storms:254

She caught him up in a water-spout, as he breathed flame255

from his pierced chest, and pinned him to a sharp rock:256

yet I, who walk about as queen of the gods, wife257

and sister of Jove, wage war on a whole race, for so many years.258

Indeed, will anyone worship Juno’s power from now on,259

or place offerings, humbly, on her altars?’260

BkI:50-80 Juno Asks Aeolus for Help261

So debating with herself, her heart inflamed, the goddess262

came to Aeolia, to the country of storms, the place263

of wild gales. Here in his vast cave, King Aeolus,264

keeps the writhing winds, and the roaring tempests,265

under control, curbs them with chains and imprisonment.266

They moan angrily at the doors, with a mountain’s vast murmurs:267

Aeolus sits, holding his sceptre, in his high stronghold,268

softening their passions, tempering their rage: if not,269

they’d surely carry off seas and lands and the highest heavens, 270

with them, in rapid flight, and sweep them through the air.271

But the all-powerful Father, fearing this, hid them272

in dark caves, and piled a high mountain mass over them273

and gave them a king, who by fixed agreement, would know274

how to give the order to tighten or slacken the reins. 275

Juno now offered these words to him, humbly:276

‘Aeolus, since the Father of gods, and king of men,277

gave you the power to quell, and raise, the waves with the winds,278

there is a people I hate sailing the Tyrrhenian Sea,279

bringing Troy’s conquered gods to Italy:280

Add power to the winds, and sink their wrecked boats,281

or drive them apart, and scatter their bodies over the sea.282

I have fourteen Nymphs of outstanding beauty:283

of whom I’ll name Deiopea, the loveliest in looks,284

joined in eternal marriage, and yours for ever, so that, 285

for such service to me as yours, she’ll spend all her years286

with you, and make you the father of lovely children.’287

Aeolus replied: ‘Your task, O queen, is to decide288

what you wish: my duty is to fulfil your orders. 289

You brought about all this kingdom of mine, the sceptre,290

Jove’s favour, you gave me a seat at the feasts of the gods,291

and you made me lord of the storms and the tempests.’292

BkI:81-123 Aeolus Raises the Storm293

When he had spoken, he reversed his trident and struck294

the hollow mountain on the side: and the winds, formed ranks,295

rushed out by the door he’d made, and whirled across the earth.296

They settle on the sea, East and West wind, 297

and the wind from Africa, together, thick with storms, 298

stir it all from its furthest deeps, and roll vast waves to shore:299

follows a cry of men and a creaking of cables.300

Suddenly clouds take sky and day away301

from the Trojan’s eyes: dark night rests on the sea.302

It thunders from the pole, and the aether flashes thick fire,303

and all things threaten immediate death to men.304

Instantly Aeneas groans, his limbs slack with cold:305

stretching his two hands towards the heavens,306

he cries out in this voice: ‘Oh, three, four times fortunate307

were those who chanced to die in front of their father’s eyes308

under Troy’s high walls! O Diomede, son of Tydeus309

bravest of Greeks! Why could I not have fallen, at your hand, 310

in the fields of Ilium, and poured out my spirit, 311

where fierce Hector lies, beneath Achilles’s spear,312

and mighty Sarpedon: where Simois rolls, and sweeps away313

so many shields, helmets, brave bodies, of men, in its waves!’314

Hurling these words out, a howling blast from the north,315

strikes square on the sail, and lifts the seas to heaven:316

the oars break: then the prow swings round and offers317

the beam to the waves: a steep mountain of water follows in a mass.318

Some ships hang on the breaker’s crest: to others the yawning deep319

shows land between the waves: the surge rages with sand.320

The south wind catches three, and whirls them onto hidden rocks321

(rocks the Italians call the Altars, in mid-ocean,322

a vast reef on the surface of the sea) three the east wind drives323

from the deep, to the shallows and quick-sands (a pitiful sight),324

dashes them against the bottom, covers them with a gravel mound.325

A huge wave, toppling, strikes one astern, in front of his very eyes,326

one carrying faithful Orontes and the Lycians. 327

The steersman’s thrown out and hurled headlong, face down:328

but the sea turns the ship three times, driving her round,329

in place, and the swift vortex swallows her in the deep.330

Swimmers appear here and there in the vast waste,331

men’s weapons, planking, Trojan treasure in the waves.332

Now the storm conquers Iloneus’s tough ship, now Achates,333

now that in which Abas sailed, and old Aletes’s:334

their timbers sprung in their sides, all the ships335

let in the hostile tide, and split open at the seams.336

BkI:124-156 Neptune Intervenes337

Neptune, meanwhile, greatly troubled, saw that the sea338

was churned with vast murmur, and the storm was loose339

and the still waters welled from their deepest levels:340

he raised his calm face from the waves, gazing over the deep.341

He sees Aeneas’s fleet scattered all over the ocean,342

the Trojans crushed by the breakers, and the plummeting sky.343

And Juno’s anger, and her stratagems, do not escape her brother.344

He calls the East and West winds to him, and then says:345

‘Does confidence in your birth fill you so? Winds, do you dare,346

without my intent, to mix earth with sky, and cause such trouble,347

now? You whom I – ! But it’s better to calm the running waves:348

you’ll answer to me later for this misfortune, with a different punishment. Hurry, fly now, and say this to your king:349

control of the ocean, and the fierce trident, were given to me,350

by lot, and not to him. He owns the wild rocks, home to you,351

and yours, East Wind: let Aeolus officiate in his palace,352

and be king in the closed prison of the winds.’353

So he speaks, and swifter than his speech, he calms the swollen sea,354

scatters the gathered cloud, and brings back the sun.355

Cymothoë and Triton, working together, thrust the ships356

from the sharp reef: Neptune himself raises them with his trident,357

parts the vast quicksand, tempers the flood,358

and glides on weightless wheels, over the tops of the waves.359

As often, when rebellion breaks out in a great nation,360

and the common rabble rage with passion, and soon stones361

and fiery torches fly (frenzy supplying weapons),362

if they then see a man of great virtue, and weighty service,363

they are silent, and stand there listening attentively:364

he sways their passions with his words and soothes their hearts:365

so all the uproar of the ocean died, as soon as their father,366

gazing over the water, carried through the clear sky, wheeled367

his horses, and gave them their head, flying behind in his chariot.368

BkI:157-222 Shelter on the Libyan Coast369

The weary followers of Aeneas made efforts to set a course370

for the nearest land, and tacked towards the Libyan coast.371

There is a place there in a deep inlet: an island forms a harbour372

with the barrier of its bulk, on which every wave from the deep373

breaks, and divides into diminishing ripples.374

On this side and that, vast cliffs and twin crags loom in the sky,375

under whose summits the whole sea is calm, far and wide:376

then, above that, is a scene of glittering woods, 377

and a dark grove overhangs the water, with leafy shade:378

under the headland opposite is a cave, curtained with rock,379

inside it, fresh water, and seats of natural stone,380

the home of Nymphs. No hawsers moor the weary ships381

here, no anchor, with its hooked flukes, fastens them.382

Aeneas takes shelter here with seven ships gathered383

from the fleet, and the Trojans, with a passion for dry land,384

disembarking, take possession of the sands they longed for, 385

and stretch their brine-caked bodies on the shore.386

At once Achates strikes a spark from his flint,387

catches the fire in the leaves, places dry fuel round it,388

and quickly has flames among the kindling.389

Then, wearied by events, they take out wheat, damaged390

by the sea, and implements of Ceres, and prepare to parch391

the grain over the flames, and grind it on stone.392

Aeneas climbs a crag meanwhile, and searches the whole prospect393

far and wide over the sea, looking if he can see anything394

of Antheus and his storm-tossed Phrygian galleys,395

or Capys, or Caicus’s arms blazoned on a high stern. 396

There’s no ship in sight: he sees three stags wandering397

on the shore: whole herds of deer follow at their back,398

and graze in long lines along the valley.399

He halts at this, and grasps in his hand his bow 400

and swift arrows, shafts that loyal Achates carries,401

and first he shoots the leaders themselves, their heads,402

with branching antlers, held high, then the mass, with his shafts,403

and drives the whole crowd in confusion among the leaves:404

The conqueror does not stop until he’s scattered seven huge405

carcasses on the ground, equal in number to his ships.406

Then he seeks the harbour, and divides them among all his friends.407

Next he shares out the wine that the good Acestes had stowed408

in jars, on the Trinacrian coast, and that hero had given them409

on leaving: and speaking to them, calmed their sad hearts:410

‘O friends (well, we were not unknown to trouble before)411

O you who’ve endured worse, the god will grant an end to this too.412

You’ve faced rabid Scylla, and her deep-sounding cliffs:413

and you’ve experienced the Cyclopes’s rocks:414

remember your courage and chase away gloomy fears:415

perhaps one day you’ll even delight in remembering this.416

Through all these misfortunes, these dangerous times,417

we head for Latium, where the fates hold peaceful lives418

for us: there Troy’s kingdom can rise again. Endure,419

and preserve yourselves for happier days.’420

So his voice utters, and sick with the weight of care, he pretends421

hope, in his look, and stifles the pain deep in his heart.422

They make ready the game, and the future feast:423

they flay the hides from the ribs and lay the flesh bare:424

some cut it in pieces, quivering, and fix it on spits,425

others place cauldrons on the beach, and feed them with flames.426

Then they revive their strength with food, stretched on the grass,427

and fill themselves with rich venison and old wine.428

When hunger is quenched by the feast, and the remnants cleared,429

deep in conversation, they discuss their missing friends, 430

and, between hope and fear, question whether they live,431

or whether they’ve suffered death and no longer hear their name.432

Aeneas, the virtuous, above all mourns the lot of fierce Orontes,433

then that of Amycus, together with Lycus’s cruel fate, 434

and those of brave Gyus, and brave Cloanthus.435

BkI:223-256 Venus Intercedes with Jupiter436

Now, all was complete, when Jupiter, from the heights of the air,437

looked down on the sea with its flying sails, and the broad lands,438

and the coasts, and the people far and wide, and paused, 439

at the summit of heaven, and fixed his eyes on the Libyan kingdom.440

And as he weighed such cares as he had in his heart, Venus spoke441

to him, sadder still, her bright eyes brimming with tears:442

‘Oh you who rule things human, and divine, with eternal law,443

and who terrify them all with your lightning-bolt,444

what can my Aeneas have done to you that’s so serious,445

what have the Trojans done, who’ve suffered so much destruction,446

to whom the whole world’s closed, because of the Italian lands?447

Surely you promised that at some point, as the years rolled by,448

the Romans would rise from them, leaders would rise,449

restored from Teucer’s blood, who would hold power450

over the sea, and all the lands. Father, what thought has changed451

your mind? It consoled me for the fall of Troy, and its sad ruin,452

weighing one destiny, indeed, against opposing destinies:453

now the same misfortune follows these men driven on by such454

disasters. Great king, what end to their efforts will you give?455

Antenor could escape through the thick of the Greek army,456

and safely enter the Illyrian gulfs, and deep into the realms457

of the Liburnians, and pass the founts of Timavus,458

from which the river bursts, with a huge mountainous roar,459

through nine mouths, and buries the fields under its noisy flood.460

Here, nonetheless, he sited the city of Padua, and homes461

for Teucrians, and gave the people a name, and hung up462

the arms of Troy: now he’s calmly settled, in tranquil peace.463

But we, your race, to whom you permit the heights of heaven,464

lose our ships (shameful!), betrayed, because of one person’s anger,465

and kept far away from the shores of Italy.466

Is this the prize for virtue? Is this how you restore our rule?467

The father of men and gods, smiled at her with that look468

with which he clears the sky of storms,469

kissed his daughter’s lips, and then said this:470

BkI:257-296 Jupiter’s Prophecy471

‘Don’t be afraid, Cytherea, your child’s fate remains unaltered:472

You’ll see the city of Lavinium, and the walls I promised,473

and you’ll raise great-hearted Aeneas high, to the starry sky:474

No thought has changed my mind. This son of yours475

(since this trouble gnaws at my heart, I’ll speak,476

and unroll the secret scroll of destiny)477

will wage a mighty war in Italy, destroy proud peoples,478

and establish laws, and city walls, for his warriors,479

until a third summer sees his reign in Latium, and 480

three winter camps pass since the Rutulians were beaten.481

But the boy Ascanius, surnamed Iulus now (He was Ilus482

while the Ilian kingdom was a reality) will imperially483

complete thirty great circles of the turning months,484

and transfer his throne from its site at Lavinium,485

and mighty in power, will build the walls of Alba Longa.486

Here kings of Hector’s race will reign now 487

for three hundred years complete, until a royal priestess,488

Ilia, heavy with child, shall bear Mars twins.489

Then Romulus will further the race, proud in his nurse490

the she-wolf’s tawny pelt, and found the walls of Mars,491

and call the people Romans, from his own name.492

I’ve fixed no limits or duration to their possessions:493

I’ve given them empire without end. Why, harsh Juno494

who now torments land, and sea and sky with fear,495

will respond to better judgement, and favour the Romans,496

masters of the world, and people of the toga, with me.497

So it is decreed. A time will come, as the years glide by,498

when the Trojan house of Assaracus will force Phthia499

into slavery, and be lords of beaten Argos. 500

From this glorious source a Trojan Caesar will be born,501

who will bound the empire with Ocean, his fame with the stars,502

Augustus, a Julius, his name descended from the great Iulus.503

You, no longer anxious, will receive him one day in heaven,504

burdened with Eastern spoils: he’ll be called to in prayer.505

Then with wars abandoned, the harsh ages will grow mild:506

White haired Trust, and Vesta, Quirinus with his brother Remus507

will make the laws: the gates of War, grim with iron, 508

and narrowed by bars, will be closed: inside impious Rage will roar509

frighteningly from blood-stained mouth, seated on savage weapons,510

hands tied behind his back, with a hundred knots of bronze.’511

BkI:297-371 Venus Speaks to Aeneas512

Saying this, he sends Mercury, Maia’s son, down from heaven,513

so that the country and strongholds of this new Carthage 514

would open to the Trojans, as guests, and Dido, unaware of fate, 515

would not keep them from her territory. He flies through the air516

with a beating of mighty wings and quickly lands on Libyan shore.517

And soon does as commanded, and the Phoenicians set aside518

their savage instincts, by the god’s will: the queen above all 519

adopts calm feelings, and kind thoughts, towards the Trojans.520

But Aeneas, the virtuous, turning things over all night,521

decides, as soon as kindly dawn appears, to go out522

and explore the place, to find what shores he has reached,523

on the wind, who owns them (since he sees desert) 524

man or beast, and bring back the details to his friends. 525

He conceals the boats in over-hanging woods526

under an arching cliff, enclosed by trees527

and leafy shadows: accompanied only by Achetes,528

he goes, swinging two broad-bladed spears in his hand.529

His mother met him herself, among the trees, with the face530

and appearance of a virgin, and a virgin’s weapons,531

a Spartan girl, or such as Harpalyce of Thrace, 532

who wearies horses, and outdoes winged Hebrus in flight.533

For she’d slung her bow from her shoulders, at the ready,534

like a huntress, and loosed her hair for the wind to scatter,535

her knees bare, and her flowing tunic gathered up in a knot.536

And she cried first: ‘Hello, you young men, tell me, 537

if you’ve seen my sister wandering here by any chance,538

wearing a quiver, and the hide of a dappled lynx,539

or shouting, hot on the track of a slavering boar?’540

So Venus: and so Venus’s son began in answer:541

‘I’ve not seen or heard any of your sisters, O Virgin –542

or how should I name you? Since your looks are not mortal543

and your voice is more than human: oh, a goddess for certain!544

Or Phoebus’s sister? Or one of the race of Nymphs?545

Be kind, whoever you may be, and lighten our labour,546

and tell us only what sky we’re under, and what shores547

we’ve landed on: we’re adrift here, driven by wind and vast seas,548

knowing nothing of the people or the country:549

many a sacrifice to you will fall at the altars, under our hand.’550

Then Venus said: ‘I don’t think myself worthy of such honours:551

it’s the custom of Tyrian girls to carry a quiver, 552

and lace our calves high up, over red hunting boots. 553

You see the kingdom of Carthage, Tyrians, Agenor’s city:554

but bordered by Libyans, a people formidable in war.555

Dido rules this empire, having set out from Tyre,556

fleeing her brother. It’s a long tale of wrong, with many557

windings: but I’ll trace the main chapters of the story.558

Sychaeus was her husband, wealthiest, in land, of Phoenicians559

and loved with a great love by the wretched girl, 560

whose father gave her as a virgin to him, and wed them561

with great solemnity. But her brother Pygmalion, savage562

in wickedness beyond all others, held the kingdom of Tyre. 563

Madness came between them. The king, blinded by greed for gold,564

killed the unwary Sychaeus, secretly, with a knife, impiously,565

in front of the altars, indifferent to his sister’s affections. 566

He concealed his actions for a while, deceived the lovesick girl,567

with empty hopes, and many evil pretences.568

But the ghost of her unburied husband came to her in dream:569

lifting his pale head in a strange manner, he laid bare the cruelty570

at the altars, and his heart pierced by the knife,571

and unveiled all the secret wickedness of that house.572

Then he urged her to leave quickly and abandon her country,573

and, to help her journey, revealed an ancient treasure574

under the earth, an unknown weight of gold and silver.575

Shaken by all this, Dido prepared her flight and her friends.576

Those who had fierce hatred of the tyrant or bitter fear,577

gathered together: they seized some ships that by chance578

were ready, and loaded the gold: greedy Pygmalion’s riches579

are carried overseas: a woman leads the enterprise.580

The came to this place, and bought land, where you now see581

the vast walls, and resurgent stronghold, of new Carthage,582

as much as they could enclose with the strips of hide583

from a single bull, and from that they called it Byrsa.584

But who then are you? What shores do you come from?585

What course do you take?’ He sighed as she questioned him,586

and drawing the words from deep in his heart he replied:587

BkI:372-417 She Directs Him to Dido’s Palace588

‘O goddess, if I were to start my tale at the very beginning, 589

and you had time to hear the story of our misfortunes,590

Vesper would have shut day away in the closed heavens.591

A storm drove us at whim to Libya’s shores, 592

sailing the many seas from ancient Troy, 593

if by chance the name of Troy has come to your hearing.594

I am that Aeneas, the virtuous, who carries my household gods595

in my ship with me, having snatched them from the enemy, 596

my name is known beyond the sky.597

I seek my country Italy, and a people born of Jupiter on high.598

I embarked on the Phrygian sea with twenty ships,599

following my given fate, my mother, a goddess, showing the way:600

barely seven are left, wrenched from the wind and waves.601

I myself wander, destitute and unknown, in the Libyan desert,602

driven from Europe and Asia.’ Venus did not wait603

for further complaint but broke in on his lament like this:604

‘Whoever you are I don’t think you draw the breath of life605

while hated by the gods, you who’ve reached a city of Tyre.606

Only go on from here, and take yourself to the queen’s threshold,607

since I bring you news that your friends are restored,608

and your ships recalled, driven to safety by the shifting winds,609

unless my parents taught me false prophecies, in vain.610

See, those twelve swans in exultant line, that an eagle,611

Jupiter’s bird, swooping from the heavens,612

was troubling in the clear sky: now, in a long file, they seem613

to have settled, or be gazing down now at those who already have.614

As, returning, their wings beat in play, and they circle the zenith615

in a crowd, and give their cry, so your ships and your people616

are in harbour, or near its entrance under full sail.617

Only go on, turn your steps where the path takes you.’618

She spoke, and turning away she reflected the light 619

from her rose-tinted neck, and breathed a divine perfume620

from her ambrosial hair: her robes trailed down to her feet,621

and, in her step, showed her a true goddess. He recognised622

his mother, and as she vanished followed her with his voice:623

‘You too are cruel, why do you taunt your son with false624

phantoms? Why am I not allowed to join hand625

with hand, and speak and hear true words?’626

So he accuses her, and turns his steps towards the city.627

But Venus veiled them with a dark mist as they walked,628

and, as a goddess, spread a thick covering of cloud around them,629

so that no one could see them, or touch them,630

or cause them delay, or ask them where they were going.631

She herself soars high in the air, to Paphos, and returns to her home632

with delight, where her temple and its hundred altars 633

steam with Sabean incense, fragrant with fresh garlands.634

BkI:418-463 The Temple of Juno635

Meanwhile they’ve tackled the route the path revealed.636

And soon they climbed the hill that looms high over the city,637

and looks down from above on the towers that face it.638

Aeneas marvels at the mass of buildings, once huts,639

marvels at the gates, the noise, the paved roads.640

The eager Tyrians are busy, some building walls,641

and raising the citadel, rolling up stones by hand,642

some choosing the site for a house, and marking a furrow:643

they make magistrates and laws, and a sacred senate:644

here some are digging a harbour: others lay down 645

the deep foundations of a theatre, and carve huge columns646

from the cliff, tall adornments for the future stage.647

Just as bees in early summer carry out their tasks 648

among the flowery fields, in the sun, when they lead out649

the adolescent young of their race, or cram the cells650

with liquid honey, and swell them with sweet nectar,651

or receive the incoming burdens, or forming lines652

drive the lazy herd of drones from their hives:653

the work glows, and the fragrant honey’s sweet with thyme.654

‘O fortunate those whose walls already rise!’655

Aeneas cries, and admires the summits of the city.656

He enters among them, veiled in mist (marvellous to tell)657

and mingles with the people seen by no one.658

There was a grove in the centre of the city, delightful659

with shade, where the wave and storm-tossed Phoenicians660

first uncovered the head of a fierce horse, that regal Juno661

showed them: so the race would be noted in war, 662

and rich in substance throughout the ages.663

Here Sidonian Dido was establishing a great temple664

to Juno, rich with gifts and divine presence,665

with bronze entrances rising from stairways, and beams666

jointed with bronze, and hinges creaking on bronze doors.667

Here in the grove something new appeared that calmed his fears668

for the first time, here for the first time Aeneas dared to hope669

for safety, and to put greater trust in his afflicted fortunes.670

While, waiting for the queen, in the vast temple, he looks671

at each thing: while he marvels at the city’s wealth,672

the skill of their artistry, and the products of their labours,673

he sees the battles at Troy in their correct order,674

the War, known through its fame to the whole world,675

the sons of Atreus, of Priam, and Achilles angered with both.676

He halted, and said, with tears: ‘What place is there,677

Achates, what region of earth not full of our hardships?678

See, Priam! Here too virtue has its rewards, here too679

there are tears for events, and mortal things touch the heart.680

Lose your fears: this fame will bring you benefit.’681

BkI:464-493 The Frieze682

So he speaks, and feeds his spirit with the insubstantial frieze,683

sighing often, and his face wet with the streaming tears.684

For he saw how, here, the Greeks fled, as they fought round Troy,685

chased by the Trojan youth, and, there, the Trojans fled,686

with plumed Achilles pressing them close in his chariot.687

Not far away, through his tears, he recognises Rhesus’s688

white-canvassed tents, that blood-stained Diomede, Tydeus’s son,689

laid waste with great slaughter, betrayed in their first sleep,690

diverting the fiery horses to his camp, before they could eat691

Trojan fodder, or drink from the river Xanthus.692

Elsewhere Troilus, his weapons discarded in flight,693

unhappy boy, unequally matched in his battle with Achilles,694

is dragged by his horses, clinging face-up to the empty chariot,695

still clutching the reins: his neck and hair trailing696

on the ground, and his spear reversed furrowing the dust.697

Meanwhile the Trojan women with loose hair, walked698

to unjust Pallas’s temple carrying the sacred robe,699

mourning humbly, and beating their breasts with their hands.700

The goddess was turned away, her eyes fixed on the ground.701

Three times had Achilles dragged Hector round the walls of Troy,702

and now was selling the lifeless corpse for gold.703

Then Aeneas truly heaves a deep sigh, from the depths of his heart,704

as he views the spoils, the chariot, the very body of his friend,705

and Priam stretching out his unwarlike hands.706

He recognised himself as well, fighting the Greek princes,707

and the Ethiopian ranks and black Memnon’s armour.708

Raging Penthesilea leads the file of Amazons, 709

with crescent shields, and shines out among her thousands, 710

her golden girdle fastened beneath her exposed breasts,711

a virgin warrior daring to fight with men. 712

BkI:494-519 The Arrival of Queen Dido713

While these wonderful sights are viewed by Trojan Aeneas,714

while amazed he hangs there, rapt, with fixed gaze,715

Queen Dido, of loveliest form, reached the temple,716

with a great crowd of youths accompanying her.717

Just as Diana leads her dancing throng on Eurotas’s banks,718

or along the ridges of Cynthus, and, following her,719

a thousand mountain-nymphs gather on either side:720

and she carries a quiver on her shoulder, and overtops721

all the other goddesses as she walks: and delight722

seizes her mother Latona’s silent heart:723

such was Dido, so she carried herself, joyfully,724

amongst them, furthering the work, and her rising kingdom.725

Then, fenced with weapons, and resting on a high throne,726

she took her seat, at the goddess’s doorway, under the central vault.727

She was giving out laws and statutes to the people, and sharing728

the workers labour out in fair proportions, or assigning it by lot:729

when Aeneas suddenly saw Antheus, and Sergestus, 730

and brave Cloanthus, approaching, among a large crowd,731

with others of the Trojans whom the black storm-clouds732

had scattered over the sea and carried far off to other shores. 733

He was stunned, and Achates was stunned as well734

with joy and fear: they burned with eagerness to clasp hands,735

but the unexpected event confused their minds.736

They stay concealed and, veiled in the deep mist, they watch737

to see what happens to their friends, what shore they have left 738

the fleet on, and why they are here: the elect of every ship came739

begging favour, and made for the temple among the shouting. 740

BkI:520-560 Ilioneus Asks Her Assistance741

When they’d entered, and freedom to speak in person742

had been granted, Ilioneus, the eldest, began calmly:743

‘O queen, whom Jupiter grants the right to found744

a new city, and curb proud tribes with your justice, 745

we unlucky Trojans, driven by the winds over every sea,746

pray to you: keep the terror of fire away from our ships,747

spare a virtuous race and look more kindly on our fate.748

We have not come to despoil Libyan homes with the sword,749

or to carry off stolen plunder to the shore: that violence750

is not in our minds, the conquered have not such pride.751

There’s a place called Hesperia by the Greeks,752

an ancient land, strong in men, with a rich soil:753

There the Oenotrians lived: now rumour has it 754

that a later people has called it Italy, after their leader.755

We had set our course there when stormy Orion,756

rising with the tide, carried us onto hidden shoals,757

and fierce winds scattered us far, with the overwhelming surge,758

over the waves among uninhabitable rocks:759

we few have drifted here to your shores.760

What race of men is this? What land is so barbaric as to allow761

this custom, that we’re denied the hospitality of the sands?762

They stir up war, and prevent us setting foot on dry land.763

If you despise the human race and mortal weapons,764

still trust that the gods remember right and wrong.765

Aeneas was our king, no one more just than him766

in his duty, or greater in war and weaponry.767

If fate still protects the man, if he still enjoys the ethereal air,768

if he doesn’t yet rest among the cruel shades, there’s nothing769

to fear, and you’d not repent of vying with him first in kindness.770

Then there are cities and fields too in the region of Sicily, 771

and famous Acestes, of Trojan blood. Allow us772

to beach our fleet, damaged by the storms,773

and cut planks from trees, and shape oars,774

so if our king’s restored and our friends are found775

we can head for Italy, gladly seek Italy and Latium:776

and if our saviour’s lost, and the Libyan seas hold you,777

Troy’s most virtuous father, if no hope now remains from Iulus,778

let us seek the Sicilian straits, from which we were driven,779

and the home prepared for us, and a king, Acestes.’780

So Ilioneus spoke: and the Trojans all shouted with one voice. 781

BkI:561-585 Dido Welcomes the Trojans782

Then, Dido, spoke briefly, with lowered eyes:783

‘Trojans, free your hearts of fear: dispel your cares.784

Harsh events and the newness of the kingdom force me to effect785

such things, and protect my borders with guards on all sides.786

Who doesn’t know of Aeneas’s race, and the city of Troy,787

the bravery, the men, or so great a blaze of warfare,788

indeed, we Phoenicians don’t possess unfeeling hearts,789

the sun doesn’t harness his horses that far from this Tyrian city.790

Whether you opt for mighty Hesperia, and Saturn’s fields,791

or the summit of Eryx, and Acestes for king,792

I’ll see you safely escorted, and help you with my wealth.793

Or do you wish to settle here with me, as equals in my kingdom?794

The city I build is yours: beach your ships:795

Trojans and Tyrians will be treated by me without distinction.796

I wish your king Aeneas himself were here, driven797

by that same storm! Indeed, I’ll send reliable men798

along the coast, and order them to travel the length of Libya,799

in case he’s driven aground, and wandering the woods and towns.’800

Brave Achetes, and our forefather Aeneas, their spirits raised801

by these words, had been burning to break free of the mist.802

Achates was first to speak, saying to Aeneas: ‘Son of the goddess,803

what intention springs to your mind? You see all’s safe,804

the fleet and our friends have been restored to us.805

Only one is missing, whom we saw plunged in the waves:806

all else is in accord with your mother’s words.’807

BkI:586-612 Aeneas Makes Himself Known808

He’d scarcely spoken when the mist surrounding them809

suddenly parted, and vanished in the clear air.810

Aeneas stood there, shining in the bright daylight,811

like a god in shoulders and face: since his mother812

had herself imparted to her son beauty to his hair,813

a glow of youth, and a joyful charm to his eyes:814

like the glory art can give to ivory, or as when silver,815

or Parian marble, is surrounded by gold.816

Then he addressed the queen, suddenly, surprising them all,817

saying: ‘I am here in person, Aeneas the Trojan,818

him whom you seek, saved from the Libyan waves. 819

O Dido, it is not in our power, nor those of our Trojan race,820

wherever they may be, scattered through the wide world,821

to pay you sufficient thanks, you who alone have pitied822

Troy’s unspeakable miseries, and share your city and home823

with us, the remnant left by the Greeks, wearied824

by every mischance, on land and sea, and lacking everything.825

May the gods, and the mind itself conscious of right,826

bring you a just reward, if the gods respect the virtuous,827

if there is justice anywhere. What happy age gave birth828

to you? What parents produced such a child?829

Your honour, name and praise will endure forever,830

whatever lands may summon me, while rivers run831

to the sea, while shadows cross mountain slopes, 832

while the sky nourishes the stars.’ So saying he grasps833

his friend Iloneus by the right hand, Serestus with the left,834

then others, brave Gyus and brave Cloanthus.835

BkI:613-656 Dido Receives Aeneas836

Sidonian Dido was first amazed at the hero’s looks837

then at his great misfortunes, and she spoke, saying:838

‘Son of a goddess, what fate pursues you through all839

these dangers? What force drives you to these barbarous shores?840

Are you truly that Aeneas whom kindly Venus bore841

to Trojan Anchises, by the waters of Phrygian Simois?842

Indeed, I myself remember Teucer coming to Sidon,843

exiled from his country’s borders, seeking a new kingdom844

with Belus’s help: Belus, my father, was laying waste845

rich Cyprus, and, as victor, held it by his authority.846

Since then the fall of the Trojan city is known to me,847

and your name, and those of the Greek kings.848

Even their enemy granted the Teucrians high praise,849

maintaining they were born of the ancient Teucrian stock.850

So come, young lords, and enter our palace.851

Fortune, pursuing me too, through many similar troubles,852

willed that I would find peace at last in this land.853

Not being unknown to evil, I’ve learned to aid the unhappy.’854

So she speaks, and leads Aeneas into the royal house,855

and proclaims, as well, offerings at the god’s temples.856

She sends no less than twenty bulls to his friends857

on the shore, and a hundred of her largest pigs with 858

bristling backs, a hundred fat lambs with the ewes,859

and joyful gifts of wine, but the interior of the palace860

is laid out with royal luxury, and they prepare861

a feast in the centre of the palace: covers worked862

skilfully in princely purple, massive silverware863

on the tables, and her forefathers’ heroic deeds864

engraved in gold, a long series of exploits traced865

through many heroes, since the ancient origins of her people. 866

Aeneas quickly sends Achates to the ships867

to carry the news to Ascanius (since a father’s love868

won’t let his mind rest) and bring him to the city:869

on Ascanius all the care of a fond parent is fixed.870

He commands him to bring gifts too, snatched871

from the ruins of Troy, a figured robe stiff with gold,872

and a cloak fringed with yellow acanthus,873

worn by Helen of Argos, brought from Mycenae874

when she sailed to Troy and her unlawful marriage,875

a wonderful gift from her mother Leda:876

and the sceptre that Ilione, Priam’s eldest daughter,877

once carried, and a necklace of pearls, and a double-coronet878

of jewels and gold. Achates, hastening to fulfil879

these commands, took his way towards the ships.880

BkI:657-694 Cupid Impersonates Ascanius881

But Venus was planning new wiles and stratagems882

in her heart: how Cupid, altered in looks, might arrive883

in place of sweet Ascanius, and arouse the passionate queen884

by his gifts, and entwine the fire in her bones: truly she fears885

the unreliability of this house, and the duplicitous Tyrians:886

unyielding Juno angers her, and her worries increase with nightfall.887

So she speaks these words to winged Cupid:888

‘My son, you who alone are my great strength, my power, 889

a son who scorns mighty Jupiter’s Typhoean thunderbolts,890

I ask your help, and humbly call on your divine will.891

It’s known to you how Aeneas, your brother, is driven892

over the sea, round all the shores, by bitter Juno’s hatred,893

and you have often grieved with my grief.894

Phoenician Dido holds him there, delaying him with flattery, 895

and I fear what may come of Juno’s hospitality: 896

at such a critical turn of events she’ll not be idle.897

So I intend to deceive the queen with guile, and encircle898

her with passion, so that no divine will can rescue her,899

but she’ll be seized, with me, by deep love for Aeneas.900

Now listen to my thoughts on how you can achieve this.901

Summoned by his dear father, the royal child, 902

my greatest concern, prepares to go to the Sidonian city,903

carrying gifts that survived the sea, and the flames of Troy.904

I’ll lull him to sleep and hide him in my sacred shrine905

on the heights of Cythera or Idalium, so he can know906

nothing of my deceptions, or interrupt them mid-way.907

For no more than a single night imitate his looks by art,908

and, a boy yourself, take on the known face of a boy,909

so that when Dido takes you to her breast, joyfully,910

amongst the royal feast, and the flowing wine,911

when she embraces you, and plants sweet kisses on you,912

you’ll breathe hidden fire into her, deceive her with your poison.’913

Cupid obeys his dear mother’s words, sets aside his wings,914

and laughingly trips along with Iulus’s step.915

But Venus pours gentle sleep over Ascanius’s limbs,916

and warming him in her breast, carries him, with divine power,917

to Idalia’s high groves, where soft marjoram smothers him918

in flowers, and the breath of its sweet shade.919

BkI:695-722 Cupid Deceives Dido920

Now, obedient to her orders, delighting in Achetes as guide,921

Cupid goes off carrying royal gifts for the Tyrians.922

When he arrives the queen has already settled herself923

in the centre, on her golden couch under royal canopies.924

Now our forefather Aeneas and the youth of Troy925

gather there, and recline on cloths of purple.926

Servants pour water over their hands: serve bread 927

from baskets: and bring napkins of smooth cloth.928

Inside there are fifty female servants, in a long line,929

whose task it is to prepare the meal, and tend the hearth fires:930

a hundred more, and as many pages of like age,931

to load the tables with food, and fill the cups.932

And the Tyrians too are gathered in crowds through the festive933

halls, summoned to recline on the embroidered couches.934

They marvel at Aeneas’s gifts, marvel at Iulus,935

the god’s brilliant appearance, and deceptive words,936

at the robe, and the cloak embroidered with yellow acanthus.937

The unfortunate Phoenician above all, doomed to future ruin,938

cannot pacify her feelings, and catches fire with gazing,939

stirred equally by the child and by the gifts.940

He, having hung in an embrace round Aeneas’s neck,941

and sated the deceived father’s great love,942

seeks out the queen. Dido, clings to him with her eyes943

and with her heart, taking him now and then on her lap, 944

unaware how great a god is entering her, to her sorrow.945

But he, remembering his Cyprian mother’s wishes,946

begins gradually to erase all thought of Sychaeus, 947

and works at seducing her mind, so long unstirred,948

and her heart unused to love, with living passion.949

BkI:723-756 Dido Asks for Aeneas’s Story950

At the first lull in the feasting, the tables were cleared,951

and they set out vast bowls, and wreathed the wine with garlands.952

Noise filled the palace, and voices rolled out across the wide halls:953

bright lamps hung from the golden ceilings,954

and blazing candles dispelled the night.955

Then the queen asked for a drinking-cup, heavy956

with gold and jewels, that Belus and all Belus’s line957

were accustomed to use, and filled it958

with wine. Then the halls were silent. She spoke:959

‘Jupiter, since they say you’re the one who creates960

the laws of hospitality, let this be a happy day961

for the Tyrians and those from Troy,962

and let it be remembered by our children.963

Let Bacchus, the joy-bringer, and kind Juno be present,964

and you, O Phoenicians, make this gathering festive.’965

She spoke and poured an offering of wine onto the table,966

and after the libation was the first to touch the bowl to her lips,967

then she gave it to Bitias, challenging him: he briskly drained968

the brimming cup, drenching himself in its golden fullness, 969

then other princes drank. Iolas, the long-haired, made 970

his golden lyre resound, he whom great Atlas taught.971

He sang of the wandering moon and the sun’s labours,972

where men and beasts came from, and rain and fire,973

of Arcturus, the rainy Hyades, the two Bears:974

why the winter suns rush to dip themselves in the sea,975

and what delay makes the slow nights linger.976

The Tyrians redoubled their applause, the Trojans too.977

And unfortunate Dido, she too spent the night978

in conversation, and drank deep of her passion,979

asking endlessly about Priam and Hector:980

now about the armour that Memnon, son of the Dawn,981

came with to Troy, what kind were Diomed’s horses,982

how great was Achilles. ‘But come, my guest, tell us983

from the start all the Greek trickery, your men’s mishaps,984

and your wanderings: since it’s the seventh summer now985

that brings you here, in your journey, over every land and sea.’986

BkII:1-56 The Trojan Horse: Laocoön’s Warning987

They were all silent, and turned their faces towards him intently.988

Then from his high couch our forefather Aeneas began:989

‘O queen, you command me to renew unspeakable grief,990

how the Greeks destroyed the riches of Troy, 991

and the sorrowful kingdom, miseries I saw myself,992

and in which I played a great part. What Myrmidon,993

or Dolopian, or warrior of fierce Ulysses, could keep994

from tears in telling such a story? Now the dew-filled night995

is dropping from the sky, and the setting stars urge sleep.996

But if you have such desire to learn of our misfortunes,997

and briefly hear of Troy’s last agonies, though my mind998

shudders at the memory, and recoils in sorrow, I’ll begin.999

‘After many years have slipped by, the leaders of the Greeks,1000

opposed by the Fates, and damaged by the war, 1001

build a horse of mountainous size, through Pallas’s divine art,1002

and weave planks of fir over its ribs:1003

they pretend it’s a votive offering: this rumour spreads.1004

They secretly hide a picked body of men, chosen by lot,1005

there, in the dark body, filling the belly and the huge1006

cavernous insides with armed warriors. 1007

Tenedos is within sight, an island known to fame,1008

rich in wealth when Priam’s kingdom remained,1009

now just a bay and an unsafe anchorage for boats:1010

they sail there, and hide themselves, on the lonely shore.1011

We thought they had gone, and were seeking Mycenae1012

with the wind. So all the Trojan land was free of its long sorrow.1013

The gates were opened: it was a joy to go and see the Greek camp,1014

the deserted site and the abandoned shore.1015

Here the Dolopians stayed, here cruel Achilles,1016

here lay the fleet, here they used to meet us in battle.1017

Some were amazed at virgin Minerva’s fatal gift,1018

and marvel at the horse’s size: and at first Thymoetes, 1019

whether through treachery, or because Troy’s fate was certain,1020

urged that it be dragged inside the walls and placed on the citadel.1021

But Capys, and those of wiser judgement, commanded us1022

to either hurl this deceit of the Greeks, this suspect gift,1023

into the sea, or set fire to it from beneath,1024

or pierce its hollow belly, and probe for hiding places.1025

The crowd, uncertain, was split by opposing opinions.1026

Then Laocoön rushes down eagerly from the heights1027

of the citadel, to confront them all, a large crowd with him,1028

and shouts from far off: ‘O unhappy citizens, what madness?1029

Do you think the enemy’s sailed away? Or do you think1030

any Greek gift’s free of treachery? Is that Ulysses’s reputation?1031

Either there are Greeks in hiding, concealed by the wood,1032

or it’s been built as a machine to use against our walls,1033

or spy on our homes, or fall on the city from above,1034

or it hides some other trick: Trojans, don’t trust this horse.1035

Whatever it is, I’m afraid of Greeks even those bearing gifts.’1036

So saying he hurled his great spear, with extreme force,1037

at the creature’s side, and into the frame of the curved belly.1038

The spear stuck quivering, and at the womb’s reverberation1039

the cavity rang hollow and gave out a groan.1040

And if the gods’ fate, if our minds, had not been ill-omened,1041

he’d have incited us to mar the Greeks hiding-place with steel: 1042

Troy would still stand: and you, high tower of Priam would remain.1043

BkII:57-144 Sinon’s Tale1044

See, meanwhile, some Trojan shepherds, shouting loudly, 1045

dragging a youth, his hands tied behind his back, to the king. 1046

In order to contrive this, and lay Troy open to the Greeks,1047

he had placed himself in their path, calm in mind, and ready1048

for either course: to engage in deception, or find certain death. 1049

The Trojan youth run, crowding round, from all sides,1050

to see him, and compete in mocking the captive.1051

Listen now to Greek treachery, and learn of all their crimes1052

from just this one. Since, as he stood, looking troubled, 1053

unarmed, amongst the gazing crowd, 1054

and cast his eyes around the Phrygian ranks,1055

he said: ‘Ah! What land, what seas would accept me now?1056

What’s left for me at the last in my misery, I who have1057

no place among the Greeks, when the hostile Trojans,1058

themselves, demand my punishment and my blood?1059

At this the mood changed and all violence was checked.1060

We urged him to say what blood he was sprung from,1061

and why he suffered: and tell us what trust could be placed1062

in him as a captive. Setting fear aside at last he speaks:1063

“O king, I’ll tell you the whole truth, whatever happens,1064

and indeed I’ll not deny that I’m of Argive birth:1065

this first of all: if Fortune has made me wretched,1066

she’ll not also wrongly make me false and a liar.1067

If by any chance some mention of Palamedes’s name1068

has reached your ears, son of Belus, and talk1069

of his glorious fame, he whom the Pelasgians,1070

on false charges of treason, by atrocious perjury,1071

because he opposed the war, sent innocent to his death,1072

and who they mourn, now he’s taken from the light:1073

well my father, being poor, sent me here to the war1074

when I was young, as his friend, as we were blood relatives.1075

While Palamades was safe in power, and prospered1076

in the kings’ council, I also had some name and respect.1077

But when he passed from this world above, through1078

the jealousy of plausible Ulysses (the tale’s not unknown)1079

I was ruined, and spent my life in obscurity and grief,1080

inwardly angry at the fate of my innocent friend.1081

Maddened I could not be silent, and I promised, if chance allowed,1082

and if I ever returned as a victor to my native Argos, 1083

to avenge him, and with my words stirred bitter hatred.1084

The first hint of trouble came to me from this, because of it1085

Ulysses was always frightening me with new accusations,1086

spreading veiled rumours among the people, and guiltily1087

seeking to defend himself. He would not rest till, with Calchas1088

as his instrument – but why I do unfold this unwelcome story?1089

Why hinder you? If you consider all Greeks the same,1090

and that’s sufficient, take your vengeance now: that’s what1091

the Ithacan wants, and the sons of Atreus would pay dearly for.”1092

Then indeed we were on fire to ask, and seek the cause,1093

ignorant of such wickedness and Pelasgian trickery.1094

Trembling with fictitious feelings he continued, saying:1095

“The Greeks, weary with the long war, often longed1096

to leave Troy and execute a retreat: if only they had! 1097

Often a fierce storm from the sea land-locked them,1098

and the gale terrified them from leaving:1099

once that horse, made of maple-beams, stood there,1100

especially then, storm-clouds thundered in the sky. 1101

Anxious, we send Eurypylus to consult Phoebus’s oracle,1102

and he brings back these dark words from the sanctuary:1103

‘With blood, and a virgin sacrifice, you calmed the winds,1104

O Greeks, when you first came to these Trojan shores, seek your1105

return in blood, and the well-omened sacrifice of an Argive life.’1106

When this reached the ears of the crowd, their minds were stunned,1107

and an icy shudder ran to their deepest marrow:1108

who readies this fate, whom does Apollo choose? 1109

At this the Ithacan thrust the seer, Calchas, into their midst,1110

demanding to know what the god’s will might be,1111

among the uproar. Many were already cruelly prophesying 1112

that ingenious man’s wickedness towards me, and silently saw1113

what was coming. For ten days the seer kept silence, refusing1114

to reveal the secret by his words, or condemn anyone to death.1115

But at last, urged on by Ulysses’s loud clamour, he broke1116

into speech as agreed, and doomed me to the altar.1117

All acclaimed it, and what each feared himself, they endured1118

when directed, alas, towards one man’s destruction.1119

Now the terrible day arrived, the rites were being prepared1120

for me, the salted grain, and the headbands for my forehead.1121

I confess I saved myself from death, burst my bonds,1122

and all that night hid by a muddy lake among the reeds,1123

till they set sail, if as it happened they did.1124

And now I’ve no hope of seeing my old country again,1125

or my sweet children or the father I long for:1126

perhaps they’ll seek to punish them for my flight,1127

and avenge my crime through the death of these unfortunates.1128

But I beg you, by the gods, by divine power that knows the truth,1129

by whatever honour anywhere remains pure among men, have pity1130

on such troubles, pity the soul that endures undeserved suffering.” 1131

BkII:145-194 Sinon Deludes the Trojans1132

With these tears we grant him his life, and also pity him.1133

Priam himself is the first to order his manacles and tight bonds1134

removed, and speaks these words of kindness to him:1135

“From now on, whoever you are, forget the Greeks, lost to you:1136

you’ll be one of us. And explain to me truly what I ask: 1137

Why have they built this huge hulk of a horse? Who created it?1138

What do they aim at? What religious object or war machine is it?”1139

He spoke: the other, schooled in Pelasgian art and trickery,1140

raised his unbound palms towards the stars, saying:1141

“You, eternal fires, in your invulnerable power, be witness, 1142

you altars and impious swords I escaped,1143

you sacrificial ribbons of the gods that I wore as victim:1144

with right I break the Greek’s solemn oaths,1145

with right I hate them, and if things are hidden1146

bring them to light: I’m bound by no laws of their country.1147

Only, Troy, maintain your assurances, if I speak truth, if I repay1148

you handsomely: kept intact yourself, keep your promises intact.1149

All the hopes of the Greeks and their confidence to begin the war1150

always depended on Pallas’s aid. But from that moment1151

when the impious son of Tydeus, Diomede, and Ulysses1152

inventor of wickedness, approached the fateful Palladium to snatch1153

it from its sacred temple, killing the guards on the citadel’s heights,1154

and dared to seize the holy statue, and touch the sacred ribbons1155

of the goddess with blood-soaked hands: from that moment1156

the hopes of the Greeks receded, and slipping backwards ebbed:1157

their power fragmented, and the mind of the goddess opposed them.1158

Pallas gave sign of this, and not with dubious portents,1159

for scarcely was the statue set up in camp, when glittering flames1160

shone from the upturned eyes, a salt sweat ran over its limbs, 1161

and (wonderful to tell) she herself darted from the ground1162

with shield on her arm, and spear quivering. 1163

Calchas immediately proclaimed that the flight by sea must be1164

attempted, and that Troy cannot be uprooted by Argive weapons,1165

unless they renew the omens at Argos, and take the goddess home,1166

whom they have indeed taken by sea in their curved ships.1167

And now they are heading for their native Mycenae with the wind,1168

obtaining weapons and the friendship of the gods, re-crossing 1169

the sea to arrive unexpectedly, So Calchas reads the omens. 1170

Warned by him, they’ve set up this statue of a horse1171

for the wounded goddess, instead of the Palladium,1172

to atone severely for their sin. And Calchas ordered them1173

to raise the huge mass of woven timbers, raised to the sky,1174

so the gates would not take it, nor could it be dragged1175

inside the walls, or watch over the people in their ancient rites.1176

Since if your hands violated Minerva’s gift,1177

then utter ruin (may the gods first turn that prediction1178

on themselves!) would come to Priam and the Trojans:1179

yet if it ascended into your citadel, dragged by your hands,1180

Asia would come to the very walls of Pelops, in mighty war,1181

and a like fate would await our children.”1182

BkII:195-227 Laocoön and the Serpents1183

Through these tricks and the skill of perjured Sinon, the thing was1184

credited, and we were trapped, by his wiliness, and false tears,1185

we, who were not conquered by Diomede, or Larissan Achilles,1186

nor by the ten years of war, nor those thousand ships.1187

Then something greater and more terrible befalls1188

us wretches, and stirs our unsuspecting souls.1189

Laocoön, chosen by lot as priest of Neptune,1190

was sacrificing a huge bull at the customary altar.1191

See, a pair of serpents with huge coils, snaking over the sea1192

from Tenedos through the tranquil deep (I shudder to tell it),1193

and heading for the shore side by side: their fronts lift high1194

over the tide, and their blood-red crests top the waves,1195

the rest of their body slides through the ocean behind, 1196

and their huge backs arch in voluminous folds.1197

There’s a roar from the foaming sea: now they reach the shore,1198

and with burning eyes suffused with blood and fire,1199

lick at their hissing jaws with flickering tongues.1200

Blanching at the sight we scatter. They move1201

on a set course towards Laocoön: and first each serpent 1202

entwines the slender bodies of his two sons,1203

and biting at them, devours their wretched limbs:1204

then as he comes to their aid, weapons in hand, they seize him too,1205

and wreathe him in massive coils: now encircling his waist twice,1206

twice winding their scaly folds around his throat, 1207

their high necks and heads tower above him.1208

He strains to burst the knots with his hands,1209

his sacred headband drenched in blood and dark venom,1210

while he sends terrible shouts up to the heavens,1211

like the bellowing of a bull that has fled wounded,1212

from the altar, shaking the useless axe from its neck.1213

But the serpent pair escape, slithering away to the high temple,1214

and seek the stronghold of fierce Pallas, to hide there1215

under the goddess’s feet, and the circle of her shield.1216

BkII:228-253 The Horse Enters Troy1217

Then in truth a strange terror steals through each shuddering heart,1218

and they say that Laocoön has justly suffered for his crime1219

in wounding the sacred oak-tree with his spear,1220

by hurling its wicked shaft into the trunk.1221

“Pull the statue to her house”, they shout,1222

“and offer prayers to the goddess’s divinity.”1223

We breached the wall, and opened up the defences of the city.1224

All prepare themselves for the work and they set up wheels1225

allowing movement under its feet, and stretch hemp ropes1226

round its neck. That engine of fate mounts our walls1227

pregnant with armed men. Around it boys, and virgin girls,1228

sing sacred songs, and delight in touching their hands to the ropes:1229

Up it glides and rolls threateningly into the midst of the city.1230

O my country, O Ilium house of the gods, and you,1231

Trojan walls famous in war! Four times it sticks at the threshold1232

of the gates, and four times the weapons clash in its belly:1233

yet we press on regardless, blind with frenzy,1234

and site the accursed creature on top of our sacred citadel.1235

Even then Cassandra, who, by the god’s decree, is never 1236

to be believed by Trojans, reveals our future fate with her lips.1237

We unfortunate ones, for whom that day is our last, 1238

clothe the gods’ temples, throughout the city, with festive branches.1239

Meanwhile the heavens turn, and night rushes from the Ocean,1240

wrapping the earth, and sky, and the Myrmidons’ tricks, 1241

in its vast shadow: through the city the Trojans1242

fall silent: sleep enfolds their weary limbs.1243

BkII:254-297 The Greeks Take the City1244

And now the Greek phalanx of battle-ready ships sailed1245

from Tenedos, in the benign stillness of the silent moon,1246

seeking the known shore, when the royal galley raised1247

a torch, and Sinon, protected by the gods’ unjust doom,1248

sets free the Greeks imprisoned by planks of pine,1249

in the horses’ belly. Opened, it releases them to the air,1250

and sliding down a lowered rope, Thessandrus, and Sthenelus,1251

the leaders, and fatal Ulysses, emerge joyfully1252

from their wooden cave, with Acamas, Thoas, 1253

Peleus’s son Neoptolemus, the noble Machaon,1254

Menelaus, and Epeus who himself devised this trick.1255

They invade the city that’s drowned in sleep and wine,1256

kill the watchmen, welcome their comrades1257

at the open gates, and link their clandestine ranks.1258

It was the hour when first sleep begins for weary mortals,1259

and steals over them as the sweetest gift of the gods.1260

See, in dream, before my eyes, Hector seemed to stand there,1261

saddest of all and pouring out great tears,1262

torn by the chariot, as once he was, black with bloody dust,1263

and his swollen feet pierced by the thongs. 1264

Ah, how he looked! How changed he was 1265

from that Hector who returned wearing Achilles’s armour,1266

or who set Trojan flames to the Greek ships! His beard was ragged,1267

his hair matted with blood, bearing those many wounds he received1268

dragged around the walls of his city.1269

And I seemed to weep myself, calling out to him,1270

and speaking to him in words of sorrow:1271

“Oh light of the Troad, surest hope of the Trojans,1272

what has so delayed you? What shore do you come from1273

Hector, the long-awaited? Weary from the many troubles1274

of our people and our city I see you, oh, after the death1275

of so many of your kin! What shameful events have marred1276

that clear face? And why do I see these wounds?’1277

He does not reply, nor does he wait on my idle questions,1278

but dragging heavy sighs from the depths of his heart, he says:1279

“Ah! Son of the goddess, fly, tear yourself from the flames.1280

The enemy has taken the walls: Troy falls from her high place.1281

Enough has been given to Priam and your country: if Pergama1282

could be saved by any hand, it would have been saved by this.1283

Troy entrusts her sacred relics and household gods to you:1284

take them as friends of your fate, seek mighty walls for them,1285

those you will found at last when you have wandered the seas.”1286

So he speaks, and brings the sacred headbands in his hands1287

from the innermost shrine, potent Vesta, and the undying flame.1288

BkII:298-354 Aeneas Gathers his Comrades1289

Meanwhile the city is confused with grief, on every side,1290

and though my father Anchises’s house is remote, secluded1291

and hidden by trees, the sounds grow clearer and clearer,1292

and the terror of war sweeps upon it.1293

I shake off sleep, and climb to the highest roof-top,1294

and stand there with ears strained:1295

as when fire attacks a wheat-field when the south-wind rages,1296

or the rushing torrent from a mountain stream covers the fields,1297

drowns the ripe crops, the labour of oxen, 1298

and brings down the trees headlong, and the dazed shepherd,1299

unaware, hears the echo from a high rocky peak.1300

Now the truth is obvious, and the Greek plot revealed.1301

Now the vast hall of Deiphobus is given to ruin1302

the fire over it: now Ucalegon’s nearby blazes:1303

the wide Sigean straits throw back the glare.1304

Then the clamour of men and the blare of trumpets rises.1305

Frantically I seize weapons: not because there is much use1306

for weapons, but my spirit burns to gather men for battle1307

and race to the citadel with my friends: madness and anger1308

hurl my mind headlong, and I think it beautiful to die fighting.1309

Now, see, Panthus escaping the Greek spears,1310

Panthus, son of Othrys, Apollo’s priest on the citadel,1311

dragging along with his own hands the sacred relics,1312

the conquered gods, his little grandchild, running frantically1313

to my door: “Where’s the best advantage, Panthus, what position1314

should we take?” I’d barely spoken, when he answered1315

with a groan: “The last day comes, Troy’s inescapable hour.1316

Troy is past, Ilium is past, and the great glory of the Trojans:1317

Jupiter carries all to Argos: the Greeks are lords of the burning city. 1318

The horse, standing high on the ramparts, pours out warriors,1319

and Sinon the conqueror exultantly stirs the flames.1320

Others are at the wide-open gates, as many thousands1321

as ever came from great Mycenae: more have blocked1322

the narrow streets with hostile weapons:1323

a line of standing steel with naked flickering blades1324

is ready for the slaughter: barely the first few guards1325

at the gates attempt to fight, and they resist in blind conflict.”1326

By these words from Othrys’ son, and divine will, I’m thrust1327

amongst the weapons and the flames, where the dismal Fury1328

sounds, and the roar, and the clamour rising to the sky.1329

Friends joined me, visible in the moonlight, Ripheus,1330

and Epytus, mighty in battle, Hypanis and Dymas, 1331

gathered to my side, and young Coroebus, Mygdon’s son:1332

by chance he’d arrived in Troy at that time,1333

burning with mad love for Cassandra, and brought help,1334

as a potential son-in-law, to Priam, and the Trojans,1335

unlucky man, who didn’t listen to the prophecy1336

of his frenzied bride! When I saw them crowded there1337

eager for battle, I began as follows: “Warriors, bravest1338

of frustrated spirits, if your ardent desire is fixed1339

on following me to the end, you can see our cause’s fate.1340

All the gods by whom this empire was supported1341

have departed, leaving behind their temples and their altars:1342

you aid a burning city: let us die and rush into battle.1343

The beaten have one refuge, to have no hope of refuge.”1344

BkII:355-401 Aeneas and his Friends Resist1345

So their young spirits were roused to fury. Then, like ravaging1346

wolves in a dark mist, driven blindly by the cruel rage 1347

of their bellies, leaving their young waiting with thirsty jaws, 1348

we pass through our enemies, to certain death, and make our way1349

to the heart of the city: dark night envelops us in deep shadow.1350

Who could tell of that destruction in words, or equal our pain1351

with tears? The ancient city falls, she who ruled for so many years:1352

crowds of dead bodies lie here and there in the streets,1353

among the houses, and on the sacred thresholds of the gods.1354

Nor is it Trojans alone who pay the penalty with their blood:1355

courage returns at times to the hearts of the defeated1356

and the Greek conquerors die. Cruel mourning is everywhere,1357

everywhere there is panic, and many a form of death. 1358

First, Androgeos, meets us, with a great crowd of Greeks1359

around him, unknowingly thinking us allied troops,1360

and calls to us in friendly speech as well:1361

“Hurry, men! What sluggishness makes you delay so?1362

The others are raping and plundering burning Troy:1363

are you only now arriving from the tall ships?”1364

He spoke, and straight away (since no reply given was1365

credible enough) he knew he’d fallen into the enemy fold.1366

He was stunned, drew back, and stifled his voice.1367

Like a man who unexpectedly treads on a snake in rough briars, 1368

as he strides over the ground, and shrinks back in sudden fear1369

as it rears in anger and swells its dark-green neck,1370

so Androgeos, shuddering at the sight of us, drew back.1371

We charge forward and surround them closely with weapons,1372

and ignorant of the place, seized by terror, as they are, we slaughter1373

them wholesale. Fortune favours our first efforts.1374

And at this Coroebus, exultant with courage and success, cries:1375

“Oh my friends, where fortune first points out the path to safety,1376

and shows herself a friend, let us follow. Let’s change our shields1377

adopt Greek emblems. Courage or deceit: who’ll question it in war?1378

They’ll arm us themselves.” With these words, he takes up Androgeos’s plumed helmet, his shield with its noble markings,1379

and straps the Greek’s sword to his side. Ripheus does likewise,1380

Dymas too, and all the warriors delight in it. Each man1381

arms himself with the fresh spoils. We pass on1382

mingling with the Greeks, with gods that are not our known,1383

and clash, in many an armed encounter, in the blind night,1384

and we send many a Greek down to Orcus.1385

Some scatter to the ships, and run for safer shores,1386

some, in humiliated terror, climb the vast horse again1387

and hide in the womb they know. 1388

BkII:402-437 Cassandra is Taken1389

“Ah, put no faith in anything the will of the gods opposes!1390

See, Priam’s virgin daughter dragged, with streaming hair,1391

from the sanctuary and temple of Minerva,1392

lifting her burning eyes to heaven in vain:1393

her eyes, since cords restrained her gentle hands.1394

Coroebus could not stand the sight, maddened in mind,1395

and hurled himself among the ranks, seeking death.1396

We follow him, and, weapons locked, charge together.1397

Here, at first, we were overwhelmed by Trojan spears,1398

hurled from the high summit of the temple,1399

and wretched slaughter was caused by the look of our armour,1400

and the confusion arising from our Greek crests.1401

Then the Danaans, gathering from all sides, groaning with anger1402

at the girl being pulled away from them, rush us, 1403

Ajax the fiercest, the two Atrides, all the Greek host:1404

just as, at the onset of a tempest, conflicting winds clash, the west,1405

the south, and the east that joys in the horses of dawn:1406

the forest roars, brine-wet Nereus rages with his trident,1407

and stirs the waters from their lowest depths.1408

Even those we have scattered by a ruse, in the dark of night,1409

and driven right through the city, re-appear: for the first time1410

they recognise our shields and deceitful weapons,1411

and realise our speech differs in sound to theirs.1412

In a moment we’re overwhelmed by weight of numbers:1413

first Coroebus falls, by the armed goddess’s altar, at the hands1414

of Peneleus: and Ripheus, who was the most just of all the Trojans,1415

and keenest for what was right (the gods’ vision was otherwise):1416

Hypanis and Dymas die at the hands of allies:1417

and your great piety, Panthus, and Apollo’s sacred headband1418

can not defend you in your downfall.1419

Ashes of Ilium, death flames of my people, be witness1420

that, at your ruin, I did not evade the Danaan weapons,1421

nor the risks, and, if it had been my fate to die,1422

I earned it with my sword. Then we are separated,1423

Iphitus and Pelias with me, Iphitus weighed down by the years,1424

and Pelias, slow-footed, wounded by Ulysses:1425

immediately we’re summoned to Priam’s palace by the clamour.1426

BkII:438-485 The Battle for the Palace1427

Here’s a great battle indeed, as if the rest of the war were nothing,1428

as if others were not dying throughout the whole city,1429

so we see wild War and the Greeks rushing to the palace,1430

and the entrance filled with a press of shields.1431

Ladders cling to the walls: men climb the stairs under the very1432

doorposts, with their left hands holding defensive shields1433

against the spears, grasping the sloping stone with their right.1434

In turn, the Trojans pull down the turrets and roof-tiles1435

of the halls, prepared to defend themselves even in death,1436

seeing the end near them, with these as weapons:1437

and send the gilded roof-beams down, the glory1438

of their ancient fathers. Others with naked swords block1439

the inner doors: these they defend in massed ranks.1440

Our spirits were reinspired, to bring help to the king’s palace,1441

to relieve our warriors with our aid, and add power to the beaten.1442

There was an entrance with hidden doors, and a passage in use1443

between Priam’s halls, and a secluded gateway beyond,1444

which the unfortunate Andromache, while the kingdom stood,1445

often used to traverse, going, unattended, to her husband’s parents,1446

taking the little Astyanax to his grandfather.1447

I reached the topmost heights of the pediment from which1448

the wretched Trojans were hurling their missiles in vain.1449

A turret standing on the sloping edge, and rising from the roof1450

to the sky, was one from which all Troy could be seen,1451

the Danaan ships, and the Greek camp: and attacking its edges1452

with our swords, where the upper levels offered weaker mortar,1453

we wrenched it from its high place, and sent it flying:1454

falling suddenly it dragged all to ruin with a roar,1455

and shattered far and wide over the Greek ranks.1456

But more arrived, and meanwhile neither the stones1457

nor any of the various missiles ceased to fly. 1458

In front of the courtyard itself, in the very doorway of the palace,1459

Pyrrhus exults, glittering with the sheen of bronze:1460

like a snake, fed on poisonous herbs, in the light, 1461

that cold winter has held, swollen, under the ground,1462

and now, gleaming with youth, its skin sloughed,1463

ripples its slimy back, lifts its front high towards the sun,1464

and darts its triple-forked tongue from its jaws. 1465

Huge Periphas, and Automedon the armour-bearer,1466

driver of Achilles’s team, and all the Scyrian youths,1467

advance on the palace together and hurl firebrands onto the roof.1468

Pyrrhus himself among the front ranks, clutching a double-axe,1469

breaks through the stubborn gate, and pulls the bronze doors1470

from their hinges: and now, hewing out the timber, he breaches1471

the solid oak and opens a huge window with a gaping mouth.1472

The palace within appears, and the long halls are revealed:1473

the inner sanctums of Priam, and the ancient kings, appear,1474

and armed men are seen standing on the very threshold.1475

BkII:486-558 Priam’s Fate1476

But, inside the palace, groans mingle with sad confusion,1477

and, deep within, the hollow halls howl1478

with women’s cries: the clamour strikes the golden stars.1479

Trembling mothers wander the vast building, clasping 1480

the doorposts, and placing kisses on them. Pyrrhus drives forward,1481

with his father Achilles’s strength, no barricades nor the guards1482

themselves can stop him: the door collapses under the ram’s blows,1483

and the posts collapse, wrenched from their sockets.1484

Strength makes a road: the Greeks, pour through, force a passage,1485

slaughter the front ranks, and fill the wide space with their men.1486

A foaming river is not so furious, when it floods, 1487

bursting its banks, overwhelms the barriers against it,1488

and rages in a mass through the fields, sweeping cattle and stables1489

across the whole plain. I saw Pyrrhus myself, on the threshold,1490

mad with slaughter, and the two sons of Atreus:1491

I saw Hecuba, her hundred women, and Priam at the altars,1492

polluting with blood the flames that he himself had sanctified.1493

Those fifty chambers, the promise of so many offspring,1494

the doorposts, rich with spoils of barbarian gold,1495

crash down: the Greeks possess what the fire spares. 1496

And maybe you ask, what was Priam’s fate.1497

When he saw the end of the captive city, the palace doors1498

wrenched away, and the enemy among the inner rooms,1499

the aged man clasped his long-neglected armour1500

on his old, trembling shoulders, and fastened on his useless sword, 1501

and hurried into the thick of the enemy seeking death.1502

In the centre of the halls, and under the sky’s naked arch,1503

was a large altar, with an ancient laurel nearby, that leant1504

on the altar, and clothed the household gods with shade.1505

Here Hecuba, and her daughters, like doves driven1506

by a dark storm, crouched uselessly by the shrines,1507

huddled together, clutching at the statues of the gods.1508

And when she saw Priam himself dressed in youthful armour1509

she cried: “What mad thought, poor husband, urges you1510

to fasten on these weapons? Where do you run? 1511

The hour demands no such help, nor defences such as these,1512

not if my own Hector were here himself. Here, I beg you,1513

this altar will protect us all or we’ll die together.” 1514

So she spoke and drew the old man towards her,1515

and set him down on the sacred steps.1516

See, Polites, one of Priam’s sons, escaping Pyrrhus’s slaughter,1517

runs down the long hallways, through enemies and spears,1518

and, wounded, crosses the empty courts.1519

Pyrrhus chases after him, eager to strike him,1520

and grasps at him now, and now, with his hand, at spear-point.1521

When finally he reached the eyes and gaze of his parents,1522

he fell, and poured out his life in a river of blood.1523

Priam, though even now in death’s clutches,1524

did not spare his voice at this, or hold back his anger:1525

“If there is any justice in heaven, that cares about such things,1526

may the gods repay you with fit thanks, and due reward1527

for your wickedness, for such acts, you who have1528

made me see my own son’s death in front of my face, 1529

and defiled a father’s sight with murder. 1530

Yet Achilles, whose son you falsely claim to be, was no1531

such enemy to Priam: he respected the suppliant’s rights, 1532

and honour, and returned Hector’s bloodless corpse 1533

to its sepulchre, and sent me home to my kingdom.”1534

So the old man spoke, and threw his ineffectual spear1535

without strength, which immediately spun from the clanging bronze1536

and hung uselessly from the centre of the shield’s boss. 1537

Pyrrhus spoke to him: “Then you can be messenger, carry1538

the news to my father, to Peleus’s son: remember to tell him1539

of degenerate Pyrrhus, and of my sad actions:1540

now die.” Saying this he dragged him, trembling, 1541

and slithering in the pool of his son’s blood, to the very altar,1542

and twined his left hand in his hair, raised the glittering sword1543

in his right, and buried it to the hilt in his side.1544

This was the end of Priam’s life: this was the death that fell to him1545

by lot, seeing Troy ablaze and its citadel toppled, he who was1546

once the magnificent ruler of so many Asian lands and peoples.1547

A once mighty body lies on the shore, the head1548

shorn from its shoulders, a corpse without a name.1549

BkII:559-587 Aeneas Sees Helen1550

Then for the first time a wild terror gripped me. 1551

I stood amazed: my dear father’s image rose before me1552

as I saw a king, of like age, with a cruel wound,1553

breathing his life away: and my Creusa, forlorn, 1554

and the ransacked house, and the fate of little Iulus.1555

I looked back, and considered the troops that were round me.1556

They had all left me, wearied, and hurled their bodies to earth,1557

or sick with misery dropped into the flames.1558

So I was alone now, when I saw the daughter of Tyndareus,1559

Helen, close to Vesta’s portal, hiding silently1560

in the secret shrine: the bright flames gave me light,1561

as I wandered, gazing everywhere, randomly.1562

Afraid of Trojans angered at the fall of Troy, 1563

Greek vengeance, and the fury of a husband she deserted,1564

she, the mutual curse of Troy and her own country,1565

had concealed herself and crouched, a hated thing, by the altars.1566

Fire blazed in my spirit: anger rose to avenge my fallen land,1567

and to exact the punishment for her wickedness.1568

“Shall she, unharmed, see Sparta again and her native Mycenae,1569

and see her house and husband, parents and children,1570

and go in the triumphant role of a queen,1571

attended by a crowd of Trojan women and Phrygian servants?1572

When Priam has been put to the sword? Troy consumed with fire?1573

The Dardanian shore soaked again and again with blood?1574

No. Though there’s no great glory in a woman’s punishment,1575

and such a conquest wins no praise, still I will be praised1576

for extinguishing wickedness and exacting well-earned1577

punishment, and I’ll delight in having filled my soul1578

with the flame of revenge, and appeased my people’s ashes.”1579

BkII:588-623 Aeneas is Visited by his Mother Venus1580

I blurted out these words, and was rushing on with raging mind,1581

when my dear mother came to my vision, never before so bright1582

to my eyes, shining with pure light in the night,1583

goddess for sure, such as she may be seen by the gods,1584

and taking me by the right hand, stopped me, and, then,1585

imparted these words to me from her rose-tinted lips:1586

“My son, what pain stirs such uncontrollable anger?1587

Why this rage? Where has your care for what is ours vanished?1588

First will you not see whether Creusa, your wife, and your child1589

Ascanius still live, and where you have left your father Anchises1590

worn-out with age? The Greek ranks surround them on all sides,1591

and if my love did not protect them, the flames would have caught1592

them before now, and the enemy swords drunk of their blood.1593

You do not hate the face of the Spartan daughter of Tyndareus,1594

nor is Paris to blame: the ruthlessness of the gods, of the gods,1595

brought down this power, and toppled Troy from its heights.1596

See (for I’ll tear away all the mist that now, shrouding your sight,1597

dims your mortal vision, and darkens everything with moisture:1598

don’t be afraid of what your mother commands, or refuse to obey1599

her wisdom): here, where you see shattered heaps of stone1600

torn from stone, and smoke billowing mixed with dust,1601

Neptune is shaking the walls, and the foundations, stirred1602

by his mighty trident, and tearing the whole city up by it roots.1603

There, Juno, the fiercest, is first to take the Scaean Gate, and,1604

sword at her side, calls on her troops from the ships, in rage.1605

Now, see, Tritonian Pallas, standing on the highest towers,1606

sending lightning from the storm-cloud, and her grim Gorgon1607

breastplate. Father Jupiter himself supplies the Greeks with1608

courage, and fortunate strength, himself excites the gods against1609

the Trojan army. Hurry your departure, son, and put an end 1610

to your efforts. I will not leave you, and I will place you1611

safe at your father’s door.” She spoke, and hid herself1612

in the dense shadows of night. Dreadful shapes appeared,1613

and the vast powers of gods opposed to Troy.1614

BkII:624-670 Aeneas Finds his Family1615

Then in truth all Ilium seemed to me to sink in flames,1616

and Neptune’s Troy was toppled from her base:1617

just as when foresters on the mountain heights1618

compete to uproot an ancient ash tree, struck1619

time and again by axe and blade, it threatens continually1620

to fall, with trembling foliage and shivering crown,1621

till gradually vanquished by the blows it groans at last,1622

and torn from the ridge, crashes down in ruin.1623

I descend, and, led by a goddess, am freed from flames1624

and enemies: the spears give way, and the flames recede.1625

And now, when I reached the threshold of my father’s house,1626

and my former home, my father, whom it was my first desire 1627

to carry into the high mountains, and whom I first sought out,1628

refused to extend his life or endure exile, since Troy had fallen.1629

“Oh, you,” he cried, “whose blood has the vigour of youth,1630

and whose power is unimpaired in its force, it’s for you1631

to take flight. As for me, if the gods had wished to lengthen1632

the thread of my life, they’d have spared my house. It is1633

more than enough that I saw one destruction, and survived1634

one taking of the city. Depart, saying farewell to my body1635

lying here so, yes so. I shall find death with my own hand:1636

the enemy will pity me, and look for plunder. The loss1637

of my burial is nothing. Clinging to old age for so long,1638

I am useless, and hated by the gods, ever since1639

the father of the gods and ruler of men breathed the winds 1640

of his lightning-bolt onto me, and touched me with fire.”1641

So he persisted in saying, and remained adamant.1642

We, on our side, Creusa, my wife, and Ascanius, all our household,1643

weeping bitterly, determined that he should not destroy everything1644

along with himself, and crush us by urging our doom.1645

He refused and clung to his place and his purpose.1646

I hurried to my weapons again, and, miserably, longed for death,1647

since what tactic or opportunity was open to us now?1648

“ Did you think I could leave you, father, and depart?1649

Did such sinful words fall from your lips?1650

If it pleases the gods to leave nothing of our great city standing,1651

if this is set in your mind, if it delights you to add yourself1652

and all that’s yours to the ruins of Troy, the door is open1653

to that death: soon Pyrrhus comes, drenched in Priam’s blood,1654

he who butchers the son in front of the father, the father at the altar. 1655

Kind mother, did you rescue me from fire and sword1656

for this, to see the enemy in the depths of my house, 1657

and Ascanius, and my father, and Creusa, slaughtered, 1658

thrown together in a heap, in one another’s blood?1659

Weapons men, bring weapons: the last day calls to the defeated.1660

Lead me to the Greeks again: let me revisit the battle anew.1661

This day we shall not all perish unavenged.”1662

BkII:671-704 The Omen1663

So, again, I fasten on my sword, slip my left arm1664

into the shield’s strap, adjust it, and rush from the house.1665

But see, my wife clings to the threshold, clasps my foot,1666

and holds little Iulus up towards his father:1667

“If you go to die, take us with you too, at all costs: but if1668

as you’ve proved you trust in the weapons you wear,1669

defend this house first. To whom do you abandon little Iulus,1670

and your father, and me, I who was once spoken of as your wife?”1671

Crying out like this she filled the whole house with her groans,1672

when suddenly a wonder, marvellous to speak of, occurred.1673

See, between the hands and faces of his grieving parents,1674

a gentle light seemed to shine from the crown1675

of Iulus’s head, and a soft flame, harmless in its touch, 1676

licked at his hair, and grazed his forehead. 1677

Trembling with fear, we hurry to flick away the blazing strands,1678

and extinguish the sacred fires with water.1679

But Anchises, my father, lifts his eyes to the heavens, in delight,1680

and raises his hands and voice to the sky:1681

“All-powerful Jupiter, if you’re moved by any prayers,1682

see us, and, grant but this: if we are worthy through our virtue,1683

show us a sign of it, Father, and confirm your omen.”1684

The old man had barely spoken when, with a sudden crash, 1685

it thundered on the left, and a star, through the darkness, 1686

slid from the sky, and flew, trailing fire, in a burst of light.1687

We watched it glide over the highest rooftops,1688

and bury its brightness, and the sign of its passage,1689

in the forests of Mount Ida: then the furrow of its long track1690

gave out a glow, and, all around, the place smoked with sulphur.1691

At this my father, truly overcome, raised himself towards the sky,1692

and spoke to the gods, and proclaimed the sacred star.1693

“Now no delay: I follow, and where you lead, there am I.1694

Gods of my fathers, save my line, save my grandson.1695

This omen is yours, and Troy is in your divine power.1696

I accept, my son, and I will not refuse to go with you.”1697

BkII:705-729 Aeneas and his Family Leave Troy1698

He speaks, and now the fire is more audible,1699

through the city, and the blaze rolls its tide nearer.1700

“Come then, dear father, clasp my neck: I will1701

carry you on my shoulders: that task won’t weigh on me.1702

Whatever may happen, it will be for us both, the same shared risk,1703

and the same salvation. Let little Iulus come with me,1704

and let my wife follow our footsteps at a distance.1705

You servants, give your attention to what I’m saying.1706

At the entrance to the city there’s a mound, an ancient temple1707

of forsaken Ceres, and a venerable cypress nearby,1708

protected through the years by the reverence of our fathers:1709

let’s head to that one place by diverse paths.1710

You, father, take the sacred objects, and our country’s gods,1711

in your hands: until I’ve washed in running water,1712

it would be a sin for me, coming from such fighting 1713

and recent slaughter, to touch them.” So saying, bowing my neck,1714

I spread a cloak made of a tawny lion’s hide over my broad shoulders, and bend to the task: little Iulus clasps his hand1715

in mine, and follows his father’s longer strides. 1716

My wife walks behind. We walk on through the shadows1717

of places, and I whom till then no shower of spears, 1718

nor crowd of Greeks in hostile array, could move, 1719

now I’m terrified by every breeze, and startled by every noise,1720

anxious, and fearful equally for my companion and my burden.1721

BkII:730-795 The Loss of Creusa1722

And now I was near the gates, and thought I had completed 1723

my journey, when suddenly the sound of approaching feet1724

filled my hearing, and, peering through the darkness,1725

my father cried: “My son, run my son, they are near us:1726

I see their glittering shields and gleaming bronze.”1727

Some hostile power, at this, scattered my muddled wits.1728

for while I was following alleyways, and straying 1729

from the region of streets we knew, did my wife Creusa halt,1730

snatched away from me by wretched fate?1731

Or did she wander from the path or collapse with weariness?1732

Who knows? She was never restored to our sight,1733

nor did I look back for my lost one, or cast a thought behind me,1734

until we came to the mound, and ancient Ceres’s sacred place.1735

Here when all were gathered together at last, one was missing,1736

and had escaped the notice of friends, child and husband.1737

What man or god did I not accuse in my madness:1738

what did I know of in the city’s fall crueller than this?1739

I place Ascanius, and my father Anchises, and the gods of Troy,1740

in my companions’ care, and conceal them in a winding valley:1741

I myself seek the city once more, and take up my shining armour.1742

I’m determined to incur every risk again, and retrace1743

all Troy, and once more expose my life to danger.1744

First I look for the wall, and the dark threshold of the gate1745

from which my path led, and I retrace the landmarks1746

of my course in the night, scanning them with my eye. 1747

Everywhere the terror in my heart, and the silence itself, 1748

dismay me. Then I take myself homewards, in case 1749

by chance, by some chance, she has made her way there. 1750

The Greeks have invaded, and occupied, the whole house.1751

Suddenly eager fire, rolls over the rooftop, in the wind:1752

the flames take hold, the blaze rages to the heavens.1753

I pass by and see again Priam’s palace and the citadel.1754

Now Phoenix, and fatal Ulysses, the chosen guards, watch over1755

the spoils, in the empty courts of Juno’s sanctuary.1756

Here the Trojan treasures are gathered from every part,1757

ripped from the blazing shrines, tables of the gods,1758

solid gold bowls, and plundered robes. 1759

Mothers and trembling sons stand round in long ranks.1760

I even dared to hurl my shouts through the shadows,1761

filling the streets with my clamour, and in my misery, 1762

redoubling my useless cries, again and again.1763

Searching, and raging endlessly among the city roofs,1764

the unhappy ghost and true shadow of Creusa1765

appeared before my eyes, in a form greater than I’d known.1766

I was dumbfounded, my hair stood on end, and my voice1767

stuck in my throat. Then she spoke and with these words1768

mitigated my distress: “Oh sweet husband, what use is it 1769

to indulge in such mad grief? This has not happened1770

without the divine will: neither its laws nor the ruler1771

of great Olympus let you take Creusa with you,1772

away from here. Yours is long exile, you must plough1773

a vast reach of sea: and you will come to Hesperia’s land,1774

where Lydian Tiber flows in gentle course among the farmers’ 1775

rich fields. There, happiness, kingship and a royal wife 1776

will be yours. Banish these tears for your beloved Creusa.1777

I, a Trojan woman, and daughter-in-law to divine Venus,1778

shall never see the noble halls of the Dolopians,1779

or Myrmidons, or go as slave to some Greek wife:1780

instead the great mother of the gods keeps me on this shore.1781

Now farewell, and preserve your love for the son we share.”1782

When she had spoken these words, leaving me weeping1783

and wanting to say so many things, she faded into thin air.1784

Three times I tried to throw my arms about her neck:1785

three times her form fled my hands, clasped in vain,1786

like the light breeze, most of all like a winged dream.1787

So at last when night was done, I returned to my friends.1788

BkII:796-804 Aeneas Leaves Troy1789

And here, amazed, I found that a great number of new1790

companions had streamed in, women and men, 1791

a crowd gathering for exile, a wretched throng.1792

They had come from all sides, ready, with courage and wealth,1793

for whatever land I wished to lead them to, across the seas.1794

And now Lucifer was rising above the heights of Ida,1795

bringing the dawn, and the Greeks held the barricaded1796

entrances to the gates, nor was there any hope of rescue.1797

I desisted, and, carrying my father, took to the hills.1798

BkIII:1-18 Aeneas Sails to Thrace1799

After the gods had seen fit to destroy Asia’s power1800

and Priam’s innocent people, and proud Ilium had fallen,1801

and all of Neptune’s Troy breathed smoke from the soil,1802

we were driven by the gods’ prophecies to search out1803

distant exile, and deserted lands, and we built a fleet1804

below Antandros and the peaks of Phrygian Ida, unsure 1805

where fate would carry us, or where we’d be allowed to settle, 1806

and we gathered our forces together. Summer had barely begun, 1807

when Anchises, my father, ordered us to set sail with destiny:1808

I left my native shore with tears, the harbour and the fields1809

where Troy once stood. I travelled the deep, an exile,1810

with my friends and my son, and the great gods of our house.1811

Far off is a land of vast plains where Mars is worshipped1812

(worked by the Thracians) once ruled by fierce Lycurgus,1813

a friend of Troy in the past, and with gods who were allies,1814

while fortune lasted. I went there, and founded my first city1815

named Aeneadae from my name, on the shore1816

in the curving bay, beginning it despite fate’s adversity.1817

BkIII:19-68 The Grave of Polydorus1818

I was making a sacrifice to the gods, and my mother Venus, 1819

Dione’s daughter, with auspices for the work begun, and had killed1820

a fine bull on the shore, for the supreme king of the sky-lords.1821

By chance, there was a mound nearby, crowned with cornel1822

bushes, and bristling with dense spikes of myrtle.1823

I went near, and trying to tear up green wood from the soil1824

to decorate the altar with leafy branches, I saw1825

a wonder, dreadful and marvellous to tell of.1826

From the first bush, its broken roots torn from the ground,1827

drops of dark blood dripped, and stained the earth with fluid.1828

An icy shiver gripped my limbs, and my blood chilled with terror.1829

Again I went on to pluck a stubborn shoot from another,1830

probing the hidden cause within: and dark blood1831

flowed from the bark of the second. Troubled greatly1832

in spirit, I prayed to the Nymphs of the wild,1833

and father Gradivus, who rules the Thracian fields,1834

to look with due kindness on this vision, and lessen1835

its significance. But when I attacked the third1836

with greater effort, straining with my knees against the sand1837

(to speak or be silent?), a mournful groan was audible1838

from deep in the mound, and a voice came to my ears: 1839

“Why do you wound a poor wretch, Aeneas? Spare me now1840

in my tomb, don’t stain your virtuous hands, Troy bore me,1841

who am no stranger to you, nor does this blood flow from 1842

some dull block. Oh, leave this cruel land: leave this shore1843

of greed. For I am Polydorus. Here a crop of iron spears1844

carpeted my transfixed corpse, and has ripened into sharp spines.”1845

Then truly I was stunned, my mind crushed by anxious dread,1846

my hair stood up on end, and my voice stuck in my throat. 1847

Priam, the unfortunate, seeing the city encircled by the siege, 1848

and despairing of Trojan arms, once sent this Polydorus, secretly, 1849

with a great weight of gold, to be raised, by the Thracian king.1850

When the power of Troy was broken, and her fortunes ebbed,1851

the Thracian broke every divine law, to follow Agamemnon’s1852

cause, and his victorious army, murders Polydorus, and takes1853

the gold by force. Accursed hunger for gold, to what do you 1854

not drive human hearts! When terror had left my bones1855

I referred this divine vision to the people’s appointed leaders,1856

my father above all, and asked them what they thought.1857

All were of one mind, to leave this wicked land, and depart1858

a place of hospitality defiled, and sail our fleet before the wind.1859

So we renewed the funeral rites for Polydorus, and piled1860

the earth high on his barrow: sad altars were raised1861

to the Shades, with dark sacred ribbons and black cypress, 1862

the Trojan women around, hair streaming, 1863

as is the custom: we offered foaming bowls of warm milk,1864

and dishes of sacrificial blood, and bound the spirit1865

to its tomb, and raised a loud shout of farewell. 1866

BkIII:69-120 The Trojans Reach Delos1867

Then as soon as we’ve confidence in the waves, and the winds1868

grant us calm seas, and the soft whispering breeze calls to the deep,1869

my companions float the ships and crowd to the shore.1870

We set out from harbour, and lands and cities recede.1871

In the depths of the sea lies a sacred island, dearest of all1872

to the mother of the Nereids, and Aegean Neptune,1873

that wandered by coasts and shores, until Apollo,1874

affectionately, tied it to high Myconos, and Gyaros,1875

making it fixed and inhabitable, scorning the storms.1876

I sail there: it welcomes us peacefully, weary as we are,1877

to its safe harbour. Landing, we do homage to Apollo’s city.1878

King Anius, both king of the people and high-priest of Apollo,1879

his forehead crowned with the sacred headband and holy laurel,1880

meets us, and recognises an old friend in Anchises:1881

we clasp hands in greeting and enter his house.1882

I paid homage to the god’s temple of ancient stone:1883

“Grant us a true home, Apollo, grant a weary people walls, 1884

and a race, and a city that will endure: protect this second1885

citadel of Troy, that survives the Greeks and pitiless Achilles.1886

Whom should we follow? Where do you command us to go? 1887

Where should we settle? Grant us an omen, father, to stir our hearts.1888

I had scarcely spoken: suddenly everything seemed to tremble,1889

the god’s thresholds and his laurel crowns, and the whole hill1890

round us moved, and the tripod groaned as the shrine split open.1891

Humbly we seek the earth, and a voice comes to our ears:1892

“Enduring Trojans, the land which first bore you from its1893

parent stock, that same shall welcome you, restored, to its1894

fertile breast. Search out your ancient mother.1895

There the house of Aeneas shall rule all shores,1896

his children’s children, and those that are born to them.”1897

So Phoebus spoke: and there was a great shout of joy mixed1898

with confusion, and all asked what walls those were, and where1899

it is Phoebus calls the wanderers to, commanding them to return.1900

Then my father, thinking of the records of the ancients, said:1901

“Listen, O princes, and learn what you may hope for.1902

Crete lies in the midst of the sea, the island of mighty Jove,1903

where Mount Ida is, the cradle of our race.1904

They inhabit a hundred great cities, in the richest of kingdoms,1905

from which our earliest ancestor, Teucer, if I remember the tale1906

rightly, first sailed to Trojan shores, and chose a site1907

for his royal capital. Until then Ilium and the towers of the citadel1908

did not stand there: men lived in the depths of the valleys.1909

The Mother who inhabits Cybele is Cretan, and the cymbals1910

of the Corybantes, and the grove of Ida: from Crete came1911

the faithful silence of her rites, and the yoked lions1912

drawing the lady’s chariot. So come, and let us follow1913

where the god’s command may lead, let us placate1914

the winds, and seek out the Cretan kingdom. 1915

It is no long journey away: if only Jupiter is with us,1916

the third dawn will find our fleet on the Cretan shores.”1917

So saying, he sacrificed the due offerings at the altars,1918

a bull to Neptune, a bull to you, glorious Apollo, a black sheep1919

to the Storm god, a white to the auspicious Westerlies.1920

BkIII:121-171 The Plague and a Vision1921

A rumour spread that Prince Idomeneus had been driven1922

from his father’s kingdom, and the Cretan shores were deserted,1923

her houses emptied of enemies, and the abandoned homes1924

waiting for us. We left Ortygia’s harbour, and sped over the sea,1925

threading the foaming straits thick with islands, Naxos1926

with its Bacchic worship in the hills, green Donysa, Olearos,1927

snow-white Paros, and the Cyclades, scattered over the waters.1928

The sailors’ cries rose, as they competed in their various tasks:1929

the crew shouted: “We’re headed for Crete, and our ancestors.”1930

A wind rising astern sent us on our way, and at last 1931

we glided by the ancient shores of the Curetes.1932

Then I worked eagerly on the walls of our chosen city, and called1933

it Pergamum, and exhorted my people, delighting in the name, 1934

to show love for their homes, and build a covered fortress.1935

Now the ships were usually beached on the dry sand:1936

the young men were busy with weddings and their fresh fields:1937

I was deciding on laws and homesteads: suddenly, 1938

from some infected region of the sky, came a wretched plague,1939

corrupting bodies, trees, and crops, and a season of death.1940

They relinquished sweet life, or dragged their sick limbs1941

around: then Sirius blazed over barren fields:1942

the grass withered, and the sickly harvest denied its fruits.1943

My father urged us to retrace the waves, and revisit1944

the oracle of Apollo at Delos, and beg for protection,1945

ask where the end might be to our weary fate, where he commands1946

that we seek help for our trouble, where to set our course.1947

It was night, and sleep had charge of earth’s creatures:1948

The sacred statues of the gods, the Phrygian Penates,1949

that I had carried with me from Troy, out of the burning city,1950

seemed to stand there before my eyes, as I lay in sleep,1951

perfectly clear in the light, where the full moon1952

streamed through the window casements: then they spoke1953

to me and with their words dispelled my cares:1954

“Apollo speaks here what he would say to you, on reaching Delos,1955

and sends us besides, as you see, to your threshold.1956

When Try burned we followed you and your weapons,1957

we crossed the swelling seas with you on your ships,1958

we too shall raise your descendants yet to be, to the stars,1959

and grant empire to your city. Build great walls for the great,1960

and do not shrink from the long labour of exile.1961

Change your country. These are not the shores that Delian1962

Apollo urged on you, he did not order you to settle in Crete.1963

There is a place the Greeks call Hesperia by name,1964

an ancient land powerful in arms and in richness of the soil:1965

There the Oenotrians lived: now the rumour is that1966

a younger race has named it Italy after their leader.1967

That is our true home, Dardanus and father Iasius, 1968

from whom our race first came, sprang from there.1969

Come, bear these words of truth joyfully to your old father,1970

that he might seek Corythus and Ausonia’s lands:1971

Jupiter denies the fields of Dicte to you.”1972

BkIII:172-208 The Trojans Leave Crete for Italy1973

Amazed by such a vision, and the voices of the gods,1974

(it was not a dream, but I seemed to recognise their expression,1975

before me, their wreathed hair, their living faces:1976

then a cold sweat bathed all my limbs)1977

my body leapt from the bed, and I lifted my voice1978

and upturned palms to heaven, and offered pure 1979

gifts on the hearth-fire. The rite completed, with joy1980

I told Anchises of this revelation, revealing it all in order.1981

He understood about the ambiguity in our origins, and the dual1982

descent, and that he had been deceived by a fresh error, 1983

about our ancient country. Then he spoke: “My son, troubled 1984

by Troy’s fate, Only Cassandra prophesied such an outcome.1985

Now I remember her foretelling that this was destined for our race,1986

and often spoke of Hesperia, and the Italian kingdom.1987

Who’d believe that Trojans would travel to Hesperia’s shores?1988

Who’d have been moved by Cassandra, the prophetess, then? 1989

Let’s trust to Apollo, and, warned by him, take the better course.”1990

So he spoke, and we were delighted to obey his every word.1991

We departed this home as well, and, leaving some people behind,1992

set sail, and ran through the vast ocean in our hollow ships.1993

When the fleet had reached the high seas and the land1994

was no longer seen, sky and ocean on all sides, then 1995

a dark-blue rain cloud settled overhead, bringing1996

night and storm, and the waves bristled with shadows.1997

Immediately the winds rolled over the water and great seas rose:1998

we were scattered here and there in the vast abyss.1999

Storm-clouds shrouded the day, and the night mists2000

hid the sky: lightning flashed again from the torn clouds.2001

We were thrown off course, and wandered the blind waves.2002

Palinurus himself was unable to tell night from day in the sky,2003

and could not determine his path among the waves.2004

So for three days, and as many starless nights, 2005

we wandered uncertainly, in a dark fog, over the sea.2006

At last, on the fourth day, land was first seen to rise,2007

revealing far off mountains and rolling smoke.2008

The sails fell, we stood to the oars: without pause, the sailors, 2009

at full stretch, churned the foam, and swept the blue sea.2010

BkIII:209-277 The Harpies2011

Free of the waves I’m welcomed first by the shores2012

of the Strophades, the Clashing Islands. The Strophades2013

are fixed now in the great Ionian Sea, but are called2014

by the Greek name. There dread Celaeno and the rest2015

of the Harpies live, since Phineus’s house was denied them,2016

and they left his tables where they fed, in fear.2017

No worse monsters than these, no crueller plague,2018

ever rose from the waters of Styx, at the gods’ anger.2019

These birds have the faces of virgin girls,2020

foulest excrement flowing from their bellies, 2021

clawed hands, and faces always thin with hunger.2022

Now when, arriving here, we enter port,2023

we see fat herds of cattle scattered over the plains,2024

and flocks of goats, unguarded, in the meadows.2025

We rush at them with our swords, calling on Jove himself2026

and the gods to join us in our plunder: then we build2027

seats on the curving beach, and feast on the rich meats.2028

But suddenly the Harpies arrive, in a fearsome swoop2029

from the hills, flapping their wings with a huge noise,2030

snatching at the food, and fouling everything with their2031

filthy touch: then there’s a deadly shriek amongst the foul stench.2032

We set out the tables again, and relight the altar fires,2033

in a deep recess under an overhanging rock,2034

closed off by trees and trembling shadows:2035

again from another part of the sky, some hidden lair,2036

the noisy crowd hovers, with taloned feet around their prey,2037

polluting the food with their mouths. Then I order my friends2038

to take up their weapons and make war on that dreadful race.2039

They do exactly that, obeying orders, placing hidden swords2040

in the grass, and burying their shields out of sight.2041

Then when the birds swoop, screaming, along the curved beach,2042

Misenus, from his high lookout, gives the signal on hollow bronze.2043

My friends charge, and, in a new kind of battle, attempt2044

to wound these foul ocean birds with their swords.2045

But they don’t register the blows to their plumage, or the wounds2046

to their backs, they flee quickly, soaring beneath the heavens, 2047

leaving behind half-eaten food, and the traces of their filth.2048

Only Celaeno, ominous prophetess, settles on a high cliff, 2049

and bursts out with this sound from her breast:2050

“Are you ready to bring war to us, sons of Laomedon, is it war, 2051

for the cows you killed, the bullocks you slaughtered,2052

driving the innocent Harpies from their father’s country?2053

Take these words of mine to your hearts then, and set them there.2054

I, the eldest of the Furies, reveal to you what the all-powerful2055

Father prophesied to Apollo, and Phoebus Apollo to me.2056

Italy is the path you take, and, invoking the winds,2057

you shall go to Italy, and enter her harbours freely:2058

but you will not surround the city granted you with walls2059

until dire hunger, and the sin of striking at us, force you2060

to consume your very tables with devouring jaws.”2061

She spoke, and fled back to the forest borne by her wings.2062

But my companions’ chill blood froze with sudden fear:2063

their courage dropped, and they told me to beg for peace,2064

with vows and prayers, forgoing weapons,2065

no matter if these were goddesses or fatal, vile birds.2066

And my father Anchises, with outstretched hands, on the shore,2067

called to the great gods and declared the due sacrifice:2068

“Gods, avert these threats, gods, prevent these acts,2069

and, in peace, protect the virtuous!” Then he ordered us2070

to haul in the cables from the shore, unfurl and spread the sails.2071

South winds stretched the canvas: we coursed over foaming seas,2072

wherever the winds and the helmsman dictated our course.2073

Now wooded Zacynthus appeared amongst the waves,2074

Dulichium, Same and Neritos’s steep cliffs.2075

We ran past Laertes’s kingdom, Ithacas’s reefs,2076

and cursed the land that reared cruel Ulysses.2077

Soon the cloudy heights of Mount Leucata were revealed,2078

as well, and Apollo’s headland, feared by sailors.2079

We headed wearily for it, and approached the little town:2080

the anchor was thrown from the prow, the stern rested on the beach.2081

BkIII:278-293 The Games at Actium2082

So, beyond hope, achieving land at last, we purify2083

ourselves for Jove, and light offerings on the altars, 2084

and celebrate Trojan games on the shore of Actium.2085

My naked companions, slippery with oil,2086

indulge in the wrestling-bouts of their homeland:2087

it’s good to have slipped past so many Greek cities2088

and held our course in flight through the midst of the enemy.2089

Meanwhile the sun rolls through the long year2090

and icy winter stirs the waves with northerly gales:2091

I fix a shield of hollow bronze, once carried by mighty Abas,2092

on the entrance pillars, and mark the event with a verse:2093

AENEAS OFFERS THIS ARMOUR FROM CONQUERING GREEKS2094

then I order them to man the benches and leave harbour:2095

in rivalry, my friends strike the sea and sweep the waves.2096

We soon leave behind the windblown heights of Phaeacia,2097

pass the shores of Epirus, enter Chaonia’s harbour2098

and approach the lofty city of Buthrotum. 2099

BkIII:294-355 Andromache in Chaonia2100

Here a rumour of something unbelievable greeted our ears:2101

Priam’s son, Helenus, reigning over Greek cities,2102

having won the wife and kingdom of Pyrrhus, Aeacus’s scion, 2103

Andromache being given again to a husband of her race.2104

I was astounded, and my heart burned with an amazing passion2105

to speak to the man, and learn of such events.2106

I walked from the harbour, leaving the fleet and the shore,2107

when, by chance, in a sacred grove near the city, by a false Simois,2108

Andromache was making an annual offering, sad gifts,2109

to Hector’s ashes, and calling his spirit to the tomb,2110

an empty mound of green turf, and twin altars, she had sanctified,2111

a place for tears. When she saw me approaching and recognised,2112

with amazement, Trojan weapons round her, she froze as she gazed,2113

terrified by these great wonders, and the heat left her limbs.2114

She half-fell and after a long while, scarcely able to, said:2115

“Are you a real person, a real messenger come here to me,2116

son of the goddess? Are you alive? Or if the kindly light has faded,2117

where then is Hector?” She spoke, and poured out her tears,2118

and filled the whole place with her weeping. Given her frenzy,2119

I barely replied with a few words, and, moved, I spoke disjointedly:2120

“Surely, I live, and lead a life full of extremes: don’t be unsure,2121

for you see truly. Ah! What fate has overtaken you, fallen2122

from so great a husband? Or has good fortune worthy enough2123

for Hector’s Andromache, visited you again? Are you still2124

Pyrrhus’s wife?” She lowered her eyes and spoke quietly:2125

“O happy beyond all others was that virgin daughter2126

of Priam, commanded to die beside an enemy tomb, 2127

under Troy’s high walls, who never suffered fate’s lottery, 2128

or, as a prisoner, reached her victorious master’s bed!2129

Carried over distant seas, my country set afire, I endured2130

the scorn of Achilles’s son, and his youthful arrogance,2131

giving birth as a slave: he, who then, pursuing Hermione,2132

Helen’s daughter, and a Spartan marriage, transferred me2133

to Helenus’s keeping, a servant to a servant. 2134

But Orestes, inflamed by great love for his stolen bride, 2135

and driven by the Furies for his crime, caught him,2136

unawares, and killed him by his father’s altar.2137

At Pyrrhus’s death a part of the kingdom passed, by right2138

to Helenus, who named the Chaonian fields, and all2139

Chaonia, after Chaon of Troy, and built a Pergamus,2140

and this fortress of Ilium, on the mountain ridge. 2141

But what winds, what fates, set your course for you?2142

Or what god drives you, unknowingly, to our shores?2143

What of the child, Ascanius? Does he live, and graze on air,2144

he whom Creusa bore to you in vanished Troy?2145

Has he any love still for his lost mother? 2146

Have his father Aeneas and his uncle Hector roused2147

in him any of their ancient courage or virile spirit?”2148

Weeping, she poured out these words, and was starting2149

a long vain lament, when heroic Helenus, Priam’s son,2150

approached from the city, with a large retinue,2151

and recognised us as his own, and lead us, joyfully,2152

to the gates, and poured out tears freely at every word.2153

I walked on, and saw a little Troy, and a copy of the great2154

citadel, and a dry stream, named after the Xanthus,2155

and embraced the doorposts of a Scaean Gate.2156

My Trojans enjoyed the friendly city with me no less.2157

The king received them in a broad colonnade:2158

they poured out cups of wine in the centre of a courtyard,2159

and held out their dishes while food was served on gold.2160

BkIII:356-462 The Prophecy of Helenus2161

Now day after day has gone by, and the breezes call2162

to the sails, and the canvas swells with a rising Southerly:2163

I go to Helenus, the seer, with these words and ask:2164

“Trojan-born, agent of the gods, you who know Apollo’s will,2165

the tripods, the laurels at Claros, the stars, the language2166

of birds, and the omens of their wings in flight,2167

come, speak (since a favourable oracle told me 2168

all my route, and all the gods in their divinity urged me2169

to seek Italy, and explore the furthest lands:2170

only the Harpy, Celaeno, predicts fresh portents, 2171

evil to tell of, and threatens bitter anger2172

and vile famine) first, what dangers shall I avoid?2173

Following what course can I overcome such troubles?”2174

Helenus, first sacrificing bullocks according to the ritual,2175

obtained the gods’ grace, then loosened the headband2176

from his holy brow, and led me, anxious at so much2177

divine power, with his own hand, to your threshold Apollo,2178

and then the priest prophesied this, from the divine mouth:2179

“Son of the goddess, since the truth is clear, that you sail2180

the deep blessed by the higher powers (so the king of the gods2181

allots our fates, and rolls the changes, so the order alters),2182

I’ll explain a few things of many, in my words to you,2183

so you may travel foreign seas more safely, and can find2184

rest in an Italian haven: for the Fates forbid Helenus2185

to know further, and Saturnian Juno denies him speech.2186

Firstly, a long pathless path, by long coastlines, separates2187

you from that far-off Italy, whose neighbouring port 2188

you intend to enter, unknowingly thinking it nearby. 2189

Before you can build your city in a safe land,2190

you must bend the oar in Sicilian waters,2191

and pass the levels of the Italian seas, in your ships,2192

the infernal lakes, and Aeaean Circe’s island.2193

I’ll tell you of signs: keep them stored in your memory.2194

When, in your distress, you find a huge sow lying on the shore,2195

by the waters of a remote river, under the oak trees,2196

that has farrowed a litter of thirty young, a white sow,2197

lying on the ground, with white piglets round her teats,2198

that place shall be your city, there’s true rest from your labours.2199

And do not dread that gnawing of tables, in your future:2200

the fates will find a way, Apollo will be there at your call.2201

But avoid these lands, and this nearer coastline2202

of the Italian shore, washed by our own2203

ocean tide: hostile Greeks inhabit every town.2204

The Narycian Locri have built a city here,2205

and Lyctian Idomeneus has filled the plain 2206

with soldiers: here is that little Petelia, of Philoctetes, 2207

leader of the Meliboeans, relying on its walls.2208

Then when your fleet has crossed the sea, and anchored2209

and the altars are raised for your offerings on the shore,2210

veil your hair, clothed in your purple robes, so that2211

in worshipping the gods no hostile face may intrude2212

among the sacred flames, and disturb the omens.2213

Let your friends adopt this mode of sacrifice, and yourself:2214

and let your descendants remain pure in this religion.2215

But when the wind carries you, on leaving, to the Sicilian shore,2216

and the barriers of narrow Pelorus open ahead, 2217

make for the seas and land to port, in a long circuit: 2218

avoid the shore and waters on the starboard side.2219

They say, when the two were one continuous stretch of land,2220

they one day broke apart, torn by the force of a vast upheaval2221

(time’s remote antiquity enables such great changes).2222

The sea flowed between them with force, and severed2223

the Italian from the Sicilian coast, and a narrow tideway2224

washes the cities and fields on separate shores.2225

Scylla holds the right side, implacable Charybdis the left,2226

who, in the depths of the abyss, swallows the vast flood2227

three times into the downward gulf and alternately lifts2228

it to the air, and lashes the heavens with her waves.2229

But a cave surrounds Scylla with dark hiding-places,2230

and she thrusts her mouths out, and drags ships onto the rocks.2231

Above she has human shape, and is a girl, with lovely breasts,2232

a girl, down to her sex, below it she is a sea-monster of huge size,2233

with dolphins’ tails joined to a belly formed of wolves. 2234

It is better to round the point of Pachynus,2235

lingering, and circling Sicily on a long course,2236

than to once catch sight of hideous Scylla in her vast cave2237

and the rocks that echo to her sea-dark hounds.2238

Beyond this, if Helenus has any knowledge, if the seer2239

can be believed, if Apollo fills his spirit with truth,2240

son of the goddess, I will say this one thing, this one thing2241

that is worth all, and I’ll repeat the warning again and again,2242

honour great Juno’s divinity above all, with prayer, and recite 2243

your vows to Juno freely, and win over that powerful lady2244

with humble gifts: so at last you’ll leave Sicily behind2245

and reach the coast of Italy, victorious. 2246

Once brought there, approach the city of Cumae,2247

the ghostly lakes, and Avernus, with its whispering groves,2248

gaze on the raving prophetess, who sings the fates2249

deep in the rock, and commits names and signs to leaves.2250

Whatever verses the virgin writes on the leaves,2251

she arranges in order, and stores them high up in her cave.2252

They stay in place, motionless, and keep in rank:2253

but once a light breeze ruffles them, at the turn of a hinge,2254

and the opening door disturbs the delicate leaves, she never 2255

thinks to retrieve them, as they flutter through the rocky cave, 2256

or to return them to their places, or reconstitute the prophecies:2257

men go away unanswered, and detest the Sibyl’s lair.2258

Though your friends complain, and though your course2259

calls your sails urgently to the deep, and a following wind2260

might fill the canvas, don’t overvalue the loss in any delay,2261

but visit the prophetess, and beg her with prayers to speak2262

the oracle herself, and loose her voice through willing lips.2263

She will rehearse the peoples of Italy, the wars to come,2264

and how you might evade or endure each trial,2265

and, shown respect, she’ll grant you a favourable journey.2266

These are the things you can be warned of by my voice.2267

Go now, and by your actions raise great Troy to the stars.”2268

BkIII:463-505 The Departure from Chaonia2269

After the seer had spoken these words with benign lips,2270

he ordered heavy gifts of gold and carved ivory2271

to be carried to our ships, and stored massive silverware2272

in the holds, cauldrons from Dodona, a hooked breastplate2273

woven with triple-linked gold, and a fine conical helmet2274

with a crest of horse-hair, Pyrrhus’s armour. 2275

There were gifts of his own for my father too.2276

Helenus added horses and sea-pilots: he manned2277

our oars: he also equipped my friends with weapons.2278

Meanwhile Anchises ordered us to rig sails on the ships,2279

so the rushing wind would not be lost, by our delay.2280

Apollo’s agent spoke to him with great respect:2281

“Anchises, worthy of proud marriage with Venus,2282

cared for by the gods, twice saved from the ruins of Troy,2283

behold your land of Italy: sail and take it.2284

But still you must slide past it on the seas:2285

the part of Italy that Apollo named is far away.2286

Go onward, happy in your son’s love. Why should I say more,2287

and delay your catching the rising wind?”2288

Andromache also, grieved at this final parting, brought robes2289

embroidered with gold weave, and a Phrygian cloak2290

for Ascanius, nor did she fail to honour him, 2291

and loaded him down with gifts of cloth, and said:2292

“Take these as well, my child, remembrances for you2293

from my hand, and witness of the lasting love of Andromache,2294

Hector’s wife. Take these last gifts from your kin,2295

O you, the sole image left to me of my Astyanax.2296

He had the same eyes, the same hands, the same lips:2297

and now he would be growing up like you, equal in age.”2298

My tears welled as I spoke these parting words:2299

“Live happily, you whose fortunes are already determined:2300

we are summoned onwards from destiny to destiny.2301

For you, peace is achieved: you’ve no need to plough the levels2302

of the sea, you’ve no need to seek Italy’s ever-receding fields.2303

I wish that you might gaze at your likeness of Xanthus,2304

and a Troy built by your own hands, under happier auspices,2305

one which might be less exposed to the Greeks.2306

If I ever reach the Tiber, and the Tiber’s neighbouring fields,2307

and gaze on city walls granted to my people, we’ll one day2308

make one Troy, in spirit, from each of our kindred cities2309

and allied peoples, in Epirus, in Italy, who have the same Dardanus2310

for ancestor, the same history: let it be left to our descendants care.”2311

BkIII:506-547 In Sight of Italy2312

We sail on over the sea, close to the Ceraunian cliffs nearby,2313

on course for Italy, and the shortest path over the waves.2314

Meanwhile the sun is setting and the darkened hills are in shadow.2315

Having shared oars, we stretch out, near the waves, on the surface2316

of the long-desired land, and, scattered across the dry beach,2317

we rest our bodies: sleep refreshes our weary limbs.2318

Night, lead by the Hours, is not yet in mid-course:2319

Palinurus rises alertly from his couch, tests all 2320

the winds, and listens to the breeze: he notes2321

all the stars gliding through the silent sky,2322

Arcturus, the rainy Pleiades, both the Bears,2323

and surveys Orion, armed with gold. When he sees 2324

that all tallies, and the sky is calm, he sounds2325

a loud call from the ship’s stern: we break camp, 2326

attempt our route, and spread the winged sails.2327

And now Dawn blushes as she puts the stars to flight,2328

when we see, far off, dark hills and low-lying Italy.2329

First Achates proclaims Italy, then my companions2330

hail Italy with a joyful shout. Then my father Anchises2331

took up a large bowl, filled it with wine,2332

and standing in the high stern, called to the heavens:2333

“You gods, lords of the sea and earth and storms, carry us 2334

onward on a gentle breeze, and breathe on us with kindness!”2335

The wind we longed-for rises, now as we near, a harbour opens,2336

and a temple is visible on Minerva’s Height.2337

My companions furl the sails and turn the prows to shore.2338

The harbour is carved in an arc by the eastern tides:2339

its jutting rocks boil with salt spray, so that it itself is hidden:2340

towering cliffs extend their arms in a twin wall,2341

and the temple lies back from the shore.2342

Here I see four horses in the long grass, white as snow, 2343

grazing widely over the plain, our first omen.2344

And my father Anchises cries: “O foreign land, you bring us war:2345

horses are armed for war, war is what this herd threatens.2346

Yet those same creatures one day can be yoked to a chariot,2347

and once yoked will suffer the bridle in harmony:2348

there’s also hope of peace.” Then we pray to the sacred power2349

of Pallas, of the clashing weapons, first to receive our cheers,2350

and clothed in Phrygian robes we veiled our heads before the altar,2351

and following the urgent command Helenus had given,2352

we duly made burnt offerings to Argive Juno as ordered. 2353

BkIII:548-587 The Approach to Sicily2354

Without delay, as soon as our vows are fully paid,2355

we haul on the ends of our canvas-shrouded yard-arms,2356

and leave the home of the Greek race, and the fields we mistrust.2357

Then Tarentum’s bay is seen, Hercules’s city if the tale is true:2358

Lacinian Juno’s temple rises against it, Caulon’s fortress,2359

and Scylaceum’s shore of shipwreck.2360

Then far off Sicilian Etna appears from the waves,2361

and we hear the loud roar of the sea, and the distant2362

tremor of the rocks, and the broken murmurs of the shore,2363

the shallows boil, and sand mixes with the flood.2364

Then my father, Anchises, said: “This must be Charybdis:2365

these are the cliffs, these are the horrendous rocks Helenus foretold.2366

Pull away, O comrades, and stand to the oars together.”2367

They do no less than they’re asked, and Palinurus is the first2368

to heave his groaning ship into the portside waves:2369

all our company seek port with oars and sail.2370

We climb to heaven on the curving flood, and again2371

sink down with the withdrawing waves to the depths of Hades.2372

The cliffs boom three times in their rocky caves,2373

three times we see the spray burst, and the dripping stars.2374

Then the wind and sunlight desert weary men,2375

and not knowing the way we drift to the Cyclopes’s shore.2376

There’s a harbour, itself large and untroubled by the passing winds,2377

but Etna rumbles nearby with fearsome avalanches,2378

now it spews black clouds into the sky, smoking,2379

with pitch-black turbulence, and glowing ashes,2380

and throws up balls of flame, licking the stars:2381

now it hurls high the rocks it vomits, and the mountain’s 2382

torn entrails, and gathers molten lava together in the air2383

with a roar, boiling from its lowest depths.2384

The tale is that Enceladus’s body, scorched by the lightning-bolt,2385

is buried by that mass, and piled above him, mighty Etna2386

breathes flames from its riven furnaces,2387

and as often as he turns his weary flank, all Sicily2388

quakes and rumbles, and clouds the sky with smoke.2389

That night we hide in the woods, enduring the dreadful shocks,2390

unable to see what the cause of the sound is,2391

since there are no heavenly fires, no bright pole2392

in the starry firmament, but clouds in a darkened sky,2393

and the dead of night holds the moon in shroud.2394

BkIII:588-654 Achaemenides2395

Now the next day was breaking with the first light of dawn,2396

and Aurora had dispersed the moist shadows from the sky,2397

when suddenly the strange form of an unknown man came out2398

of the woods, exhausted by the last pangs of hunger, 2399

pitifully dressed, and stretched his hands in supplication 2400

towards the shore. We looked back. Vile with filth, his beard uncut,2401

his clothing fastened together with thorns: but otherwise a Greek,2402

once sent to Troy in his country’s armour.2403

When he saw the Dardan clothes and Trojan weapons, far off,2404

he hesitated a moment, frightened at the sight, 2405

and checked his steps: then ran headlong to the beach, 2406

with tears and prayers: “The stars be my witness,2407

the gods, the light in the life-giving sky, Trojans, 2408

take me with you: carry me to any country whatsoever,2409

that will be fine by me. I know I’m from one of the Greek ships,2410

and I confess that I made war against Trojan gods,2411

if my crime is so great an injury to you, scatter me2412

over the waves for it, or drown me in the vast ocean:2413

if I die I’ll delight in dying at the hands of men.”2414

He spoke and clung to my knees, embracing them 2415

and grovelling there. We urged him to say who he was,2416

born of what blood, then to say what fate pursued him.2417

Without much delay, my father Anchises himself gave2418

the young man his hand, lifting his spirits by this ready trust.2419

At last he set his fears aside and told us:2420

“I’m from the land of Ithaca, a companion of unlucky Ulysses,2421

Achaemenides by name, and, my father Adamastus being poor,2422

(I wish fate had kept me so!) I set out for Troy.2423

My comrades left me here in the Cyclops’ vast cave,2424

forgetting me, as they hurriedly left that grim2425

threshold. It’s a house of blood and gory feasts,2426

vast and dark inside. He himself is gigantic, striking against2427

the high stars – gods, remove plagues like that from the earth! –2428

not pleasant to look at, affable to no one.2429

He eats the dark blood and flesh of wretched men.2430

I saw myself how he seized two of our number in his huge hands,2431

and reclining in the centre of the cave, broke them2432

on the rock, so the threshold, drenched, swam with blood:2433

I saw how he gnawed their limbs, dripping with dark clots2434

of gore, and the still-warm bodies quivered in his jaws.2435

Yet he did not go unpunished: Ulysses didn’t suffer it,2436

nor did the Ithacan forget himself in a crisis. 2437

As soon as the Cyclops, full of flesh and sated with wine,2438

relaxed his neck, and lay, huge in size, across the cave,2439

drooling gore and blood and wine-drenched fragments 2440

in his sleep, we prayed to the great gods, and our roles fixed,2441

surrounded him on all sides, and stabbed his one huge eye,2442

solitary, and half-hidden under his savage brow,2443

like a round Greek shield, or the sun-disc of Phoebus,2444

with a sharpened stake: and so we joyfully avenged2445

the spirits of our friends. But fly from here, wretched men,2446

and cut your mooring ropes. Since, like Polyphemus, who pens2447

woolly flocks in the rocky cave, and milks their udders, there are2448

a hundred other appalling Cyclopes, the same in shape and size,2449

everywhere inhabiting the curved bay, and wandering the hills.2450

The moon’s horns have filled with light three times now, while I2451

have been dragging my life out in the woods, among the lairs 2452

and secret haunts of wild creatures, watching the huge Cyclopes2453

from the cliffs, trembling at their voices and the sound of their feet. 2454

The branches yield a miserable supply of fruits and stony cornelian2455

cherries, and the grasses, torn up by their roots, feed me.2456

Watching for everything, I saw, for the first time, this fleet 2457

approaching shore. Whatever might happen, I surrendered myself2458

to you: it’s enough for me to have escaped that wicked people.2459

I’d rather you took this life of mine by any death whatsoever.”2460

BkIII:655-691 Polyphemus2461

He’d barely spoken, when we saw the shepherd Polyphemus2462

himself, moving his mountainous bulk on the hillside2463

among the flocks, and heading for the familiar shore,2464

a fearful monster, vast and shapeless, robbed of the light.2465

A lopped pine-trunk in his hand steadied and guided2466

his steps: his fleecy sheep accompanied him: 2467

his sole delight and the solace for his evils. 2468

As soon as he came to the sea and reached the deep water,2469

he washed away the blood oozing from the gouged eye-socket,2470

groaning and gnashing his teeth. Then he walked through2471

the depths of the waves, without the tide wetting his vast thighs.2472

Anxiously we hurried our departure from there, accepting 2473

the worthy suppliant on board, and cutting the cable in silence:2474

then leaning into our oars, we vied in sweeping the sea.2475

He heard, and bent his course towards the sound of splashing.2476

But when he was denied the power to set hands on us,2477

and unable to counter the force of the Ionian waves, in pursuit,2478

he raised a mighty shout, at which the sea and all the waves2479

shook, and the land of Italy was frightened far inland,2480

and Etna bellowed from its winding caverns, but the tribe2481

of Cyclopes, roused from their woods and high mountains, 2482

rushed to the harbour, and crowded the shore.2483

We saw them standing there, impotently, wild-eyed,2484

the Aetnean brotherhood, heads towering into the sky,2485

a fearsome gathering: like tall oaks rooted on a summit,2486

or cone-bearing cypresses, in Jove’s high wood or Diana’s grove.2487

Acute fear drove us on to pay out the ropes on whatever tack2488

and spread our sails to any favourable wind. 2489

Helenus’s orders warned against taking a course between2490

Scylla and Charybdis, a hair’s breadth from death2491

on either side: we decided to beat back again.2492

When, behold, a northerly arrived from the narrow2493

headland of Pelorus: I sailed past the natural rock mouth2494

of the Pantagias, Megara’s bay, and low-lying Thapsus.2495

Such were the shores Achaemenides, the friend of unlucky Ulysses,2496

showed me, sailing his wandering journey again, in reverse.2497

BkIII:692-718 The Death of Anchises2498

An island lies over against wave-washed Plemyrium,2499

stretched across a Sicilian bay: named Ortygia by men of old.2500

The story goes that Alpheus, a river of Elis, forced2501

a hidden path here under the sea, and merges 2502

with the Sicilian waters of your fountain Arethusa.2503

As commanded we worshipped the great gods of this land,2504

and from there I passed marshy Helorus’s marvellously rich soil.2505

Next we passed the tall reefs and jutting rocks of Pachynus,2506

and Camerina appeared in the distance, granted2507

immoveable, by prophecy, and the Geloan plains, 2508

and Gela named after its savage river.2509

Then steep Acragas, once the breeder of brave horses,2510

showed its mighty ramparts in the distance:2511

and granted the wind, I left palmy Selinus, and passed2512

the tricky shallows of Lilybaeum with their blind reefs.2513

Next the harbour of Drepanum, and its joyless shore,2514

received me. Here, alas, I lost my father, Anchises, 2515

my comfort in every trouble and misfortune, I, who’d2516

been driven by so many ocean storms: here you left me, 2517

weary, best of fathers, saved from so many dangers in vain!2518

Helenus, the seer, did not prophesy this grief of mine,2519

when he warned me of many horrors, nor did grim Celaeno.2520

This was my last trouble, this the end of my long journey:2521

leaving there, the god drove me to your shores.’2522

So our ancestor Aeneas, as all listened to one man,2523

recounted divine fate, and described his journey.2524

At last he stopped, and making an end here, rested.2525

BkIV:1-53 Dido and Anna Discuss Aeneas2526

But the queen, wounded long since by intense love, 2527

feeds the hurt with her life-blood, weakened by hidden fire.2528

The hero’s courage often returns to mind, and the nobility2529

of his race: his features and his words cling fixedly to her heart,2530

and love will not grant restful calm to her body.2531

The new day’s Dawn was lighting the earth with Phoebus’s2532

brightness, and dispelling the dew-wet shadows from the sky,2533

when she spoke ecstatically to her sister, her kindred spirit:2534

“Anna, sister, how my dreams terrify me with anxieties!2535

Who is this strange guest who has entered our house,2536

with what boldness he speaks, how resolute in mind and warfare!2537

Truly I think – and it’s no idle saying – that he’s born of a goddess.2538

Fear reveals the ignoble spirit. Alas! What misfortunes test him!2539

What battles he spoke of, that he has undergone!2540

If my mind was not set, fixedly and immovably,2541

never to join myself with any man in the bonds of marriage,2542

because first-love betrayed me, cheated me through dying:2543

if I were not wearied by marriage and bridal-beds,2544

perhaps I might succumb to this one temptation.2545

Anna, yes I confess, since my poor husband Sychaeus’s death 2546

when the altars were blood-stained by my murderous brother,2547

he’s the only man who’s stirred my senses, troubled my2548

wavering mind. I know the traces of the ancient flame.2549

But I pray rather that earth might gape wide for me, to its depths,2550

or the all-powerful father hurl me with his lightning-bolt2551

down to the shadows, to the pale ghosts, and deepest night2552

of Erebus, before I violate you, Honour, or break your laws.2553

He who first took me to himself has stolen my love:2554

let him keep it with him, and guard it in his grave.”2555

So saying her breast swelled with her rising tears.2556

Anna replied: “O you, who are more beloved to your sister2557

than the light, will you wear your whole youth away 2558

in loneliness and grief, and not know Venus’s sweet gifts2559

or her children? Do you think that ashes or sepulchral spirits care?2560

Granted that in Libya or Tyre before it, no suitor ever2561

dissuaded you from sorrowing: and Iarbas and the other lords 2562

whom the African soil, rich in fame, bears, were scorned:2563

will you still struggle against a love that pleases?2564

Do you not recall to mind in whose fields you settled?2565

Here Gaetulian cities, a people unsurpassed in battle,2566

unbridled Numidians, and inhospitable Syrtis, surround you:2567

there, a region of dry desert, with Barcaeans raging around.2568

And what of your brother’s threats, and war with Tyre imminent?2569

The Trojan ships made their way here with the wind,2570

with gods indeed helping them I think, and with Juno’s favour.2571

What a city you’ll see here, sister, what a kingdom rise,2572

with such a husband! With a Trojan army marching with us,2573

with what great actions Punic glory will soar!2574

Only ask the gods for their help, and, propitiating them2575

with sacrifice, indulge your guest, spin reasons for delay,2576

while winter, and stormy Orion, rage at sea, 2577

while the ships are damaged, and the skies are hostile.”2578

BkIV:54-89 Dido in Love2579

By saying this she inflames the queen’s burning heart with love2580

and raises hopes in her anxious mind, and weakens her sense2581

of shame. First they visit the shrines and ask for grace at the altars:2582

they sacrifice chosen animals according to the rites,2583

to Ceres, the law-maker, and Phoebus, and father Lycaeus,2584

and to Juno above all, in whose care are the marriage ties:2585

Dido herself, supremely lovely, holding the cup in her hand,2586

pours the libation between the horns of a white heifer2587

or walks to the rich altars, before the face of the gods,2588

celebrates the day with gifts, and gazes into the opened2589

chests of victims, and reads the living entrails.2590

Ah, the unknowing minds of seers! What use are prayers2591

or shrines to the impassioned? Meanwhile her tender marrow 2592

is aflame, and a silent wound is alive in her breast.2593

Wretched Dido burns, and wanders frenzied through the city,2594

like an unwary deer struck by an arrow, that a shepherd hunting2595

with his bow has fired at from a distance, in the Cretan woods,2596

leaving the winged steel in her, without knowing.2597

She runs through the woods and glades of Dicte:2598

the lethal shaft hangs in her side.2599

Now she leads Aeneas with her round the walls2600

showing her Sidonian wealth and the city she’s built:2601

she begins to speak, and stops in mid-flow:2602

now she longs for the banquet again as day wanes,2603

yearning madly to hear about the Trojan adventures once more2604

and hangs once more on the speaker’s lips.2605

Then when they have departed, and the moon in turn2606

has quenched her light and the setting constellations urge sleep,2607

she grieves, alone in the empty hall, and lies on the couch2608

he left. Absent she hears him absent, sees him,2609

or hugs Ascanius on her lap, taken with this image2610

of his father, so as to deceive her silent passion.2611

The towers she started no longer rise, the young men no longer2612

carry out their drill, or work on the harbour and the battlements2613

for defence in war: the interrupted work is left hanging,2614

the huge threatening walls, the sky-reaching cranes.2615

BkIV:90-128 Juno and Venus2616

As soon as Juno, Jupiter’s beloved wife, saw clearly that Dido2617

was gripped by such heart-sickness, and her reputation2618

no obstacle to love, she spoke to Venus in these words:2619

“You and that son of yours, certainly take the prize, and plenty2620

of spoils: a great and memorable show of divine power,2621

whereby one woman’s trapped by the tricks of two gods.2622

But the truth’s not escaped me, you’ve always held the halls2623

of high Carthage under suspicion, afraid of my city’s defences.2624

But where can that end? Why such rivalry, now?2625

Why don’t we work on eternal peace instead, and a wedding pact?2626

You’ve achieved all that your mind was set on:2627

Dido’s burning with passion, and she’s drawn the madness2628

into her very bones. Let’s rule these people together 2629

with equal sway: let her be slave to a Trojan husband,2630

and entrust her Tyrians to your hand, as the dowry.”2631

Venus began the reply to her like this (since she knew2632

she’d spoken with deceit in her mind to divert the empire2633

from Italy’s shores to Libya’s): “Who’d be mad enough2634

to refuse such an offer or choose to make war on you,2635

so long as fate follows up what you say with action?2636

But fortune makes me uncertain, as to whether Jupiter wants2637

a single city for Tyrians and Trojan exiles, and approves2638

the mixing of races and their joining in league together.2639

You’re his wife: you can test his intent by asking.2640

Do it: I’ll follow.” Then royal Juno replied like this:2641

“That task’s mine. Now listen and I’ll tell you briefly2642

how the purpose at hand can be achieved. 2643

Aeneas and poor Dido plan to go hunting together 2644

in the woods, when the sun first shows tomorrow’s2645

dawn, and reveals the world in his rays.2646

While the lines are beating, and closing the thickets with nets,2647

I’ll pour down dark rain mixed with hail from the sky,2648

and rouse the whole heavens with my thunder.2649

They’ll scatter, and be lost in the dark of night:2650

Dido and the Trojan leader will reach the same cave.2651

I’ll be there, and if I’m assured of your good will,2652

I’ll join them firmly in marriage, and speak for her as his own:2653

this will be their wedding-night.” Not opposed to what she wanted,2654

Venus agreed, and smiled to herself at the deceit she’d found.2655

BkIV:129-172 The Hunt and the Cave2656

Meanwhile Dawn surges up and leaves the ocean.2657

Once she has risen, the chosen men pour from the gates:2658

Massylian horsemen ride out, with wide-meshed nets, 2659

snares, broad-headed hunting spears, and a pack 2660

of keen-scented hounds. The queen lingers in her rooms,2661

while Punic princes wait at the threshold: her horse stands there,2662

bright in purple and gold, and champs fiercely at the foaming bit.2663

At last she appears, with a great crowd around her,2664

dressed in a Sidonian robe with an embroidered hem.2665

Her quiver’s of gold, her hair knotted with gold,2666

a golden brooch fastens her purple tunic.2667

Her Trojan friends and joyful Iulus are with her:2668

Aeneas himself, the most handsome of them all, 2669

moves forward and joins his friendly troop with hers.2670

Like Apollo, leaving behind the Lycian winter, 2671

and the streams of Xanthus, and visiting his mother’s Delos,2672

to renew the dancing, Cretans and Dryopes and painted2673

Agathyrsians, mingling around his altars, shouting:2674

he himself striding over the ridges of Cynthus,2675

his hair dressed with tender leaves, and clasped with gold,2676

the weapons rattling on his shoulder: so Aeneas walks,2677

as lightly, beauty like the god’s shining from his noble face.2678

When they reach the mountain heights and pathless haunts,2679

see the wild goats, disturbed on their stony summits,2680

course down the slopes: in another place deer speed 2681

over the open field, massing together in a fleeing herd 2682

among clouds of dust, leaving the hillsides behind.2683

But the young Ascanius among the valleys, delights2684

in his fiery horse, passing this rider and that at a gallop, hoping2685

that amongst these harmless creatures a boar, with foaming mouth,2686

might answer his prayers, or a tawny lion, down from the mountain.2687

Meanwhile the sky becomes filled with a great rumbling:2688

rain mixed with hail follows, and the Tyrian company2689

and the Trojan men, with Venus’s Dardan grandson, 2690

scatter here and there through the fields, in their fear, 2691

seeking shelter: torrents stream down from the hills.2692

Dido and the Trojan leader reach the very same cave.2693

Primeval Earth and Juno of the Nuptials give their signal:2694

lightning flashes, the heavens are party to their union,2695

and the Nymphs howl on the mountain heights.2696

That first day is the source of misfortune and death.2697

Dido’s no longer troubled by appearances or reputation,2698

she no longer thinks of a secret affair: she calls it marriage:2699

and with that name disguises her sin.2700

BkIV:173-197 Rumour Reaches Iarbas2701

Rumour raced at once through Libya’s great cities,2702

Rumour, compared with whom no other is as swift.2703

She flourishes by speed, and gains strength as she goes:2704

first limited by fear, she soon reaches into the sky,2705

walks on the ground, and hides her head in the clouds.2706

Earth, incited to anger against the gods, so they say,2707

bore her last, a monster, vast and terrible, fleet-winged2708

and swift-footed, sister to Coeus and Enceladus,2709

who for every feather on her body has as many2710

watchful eyes below (marvellous to tell), as many2711

tongues speaking, as many listening ears. 2712

She flies, screeching, by night through the shadows2713

between earth and sky, never closing her eyelids2714

in sweet sleep: by day she sits on guard on tall roof-tops2715

or high towers, and scares great cities, as tenacious2716

of lies and evil, as she is messenger of truth.2717

Now in delight she filled the ears of the nations2718

with endless gossip, singing fact and fiction alike:2719

Aeneas has come, born of Trojan blood, a man whom2720

lovely Dido deigns to unite with: now they’re spending2721

the whole winter together in indulgence, forgetting2722

their royalty, trapped by shameless passion.2723

The vile goddess spread this here and there on men’s lips.2724

Immediately she slanted her course towards King Iarbas2725

and inflamed his mind with words and fuelled his anger.2726

BkIV:198-218 Iarbas Prays to Jupiter2727

He, a son of Jupiter Ammon, by a raped Garamantian Nymph,2728

had set up a hundred great temples, a hundred altars, to the god,2729

in his broad kingdom, and sanctified ever-living fires, the gods’2730

eternal guardians: the floors were soaked with sacrificial blood,2731

and the thresholds flowery with mingled garlands.2732

They say he often begged Jove humbly with upraised hands,2733

in front of the altars, among the divine powers,2734

maddened in spirit and set on fire by bitter rumour:2735

“All-powerful Jupiter, to whom the Moors, on their embroidered2736

divans, banqueting, now pour a Bacchic offering,2737

do you see this? Do we shudder in vain when you hurl 2738

your lightning bolts, father, and are those idle fires in the clouds2739

that terrify our minds, and flash among the empty rumblings?2740

A woman, wandering within my borders, who paid to found 2741

a little town, and to whom we granted coastal lands 2742

to plough, to hold in tenure, scorns marriage with me,2743

and takes Aeneas into her country as its lord. 2744

And now like some Paris, with his pack of eunuchs,2745

a Phrygian cap, tied under his chin, on his greasy hair,2746

he’s master of what he’s snatched: while I bring gifts indeed 2747

to temples, said to be yours, and cherish your empty reputation.2748

BkIV:219-278 Jupiter Sends Mercury to Aeneas2749

As he gripped the altar, and prayed in this way, 2750

the All-powerful one listened, and turned his gaze towards2751

the royal city, and the lovers forgetful of their true reputation.2752

Then he spoke to Mercury and commanded him so:2753

“Off you go, my son, call the winds and glide on your wings,2754

and talk to the Trojan leader who malingers in Tyrian Carthage2755

now, and gives no thought to the cities the fates will grant him,2756

and carry my words there on the quick breeze.2757

This is not what his loveliest of mothers suggested to me, 2758

nor why she rescued him twice from Greek armies:2759

he was to be one who’d rule Italy, pregnant with empire,2760

and crying out for war, he’d produce a people of Teucer’s 2761

high blood, and bring the whole world under the rule of law.2762

If the glory of such things doesn’t inflame him,2763

and he doesn’t exert himself for his own honour,2764

does he begrudge the citadels of Rome to Ascanius?2765

What does he plan? With what hopes does he stay2766

among alien people, forgetting Ausonia and the Lavinian fields?2767

Let him sail: that’s it in total, let that be my message.”2768

He finished speaking. The god prepared to obey his great 2769

father’s order, and first fastened the golden sandals to his feet2770

that carry him high on the wing over land and sea, like the storm.2771

Then he took up his wand: he calls pale ghosts from Orcus2772

with it, sending others down to grim Tartarus,2773

gives and takes away sleep, and opens the eyes of the dead.2774

Relying on it, he drove the winds, and flew through2775

the stormy clouds. Now in his flight he saw the steep flanks2776

and the summit of strong Atlas, who holds the heavens2777

on his head, Atlas, whose pine-covered crown is always wreathed2778

in dark clouds and lashed by the wind and rain:2779

fallen snow clothes his shoulders: while rivers fall2780

from his ancient chin, and his rough beard bristles with ice.2781

There Cyllenian Mercury first halted, balanced on level wings:2782

from there, he threw his whole body headlong 2783

towards the waves, like a bird that flies low close 2784

to the sea, round the coasts and the rocks rich in fish.2785

So the Cyllenian-born flew between heaven and earth2786

to Libya’s sandy shore, cutting the winds, coming2787

from Atlas, his mother Maia’s father.2788

As soon as he reached the builders’ huts, on his winged feet,2789

he saw Aeneas establishing towers and altering roofs.2790

His sword was starred with tawny jasper, 2791

and the cloak that hung from his shoulder blazed2792

with Tyrian purple, a gift that rich Dido had made,2793

weaving the cloth with golden thread.2794

Mercury challenged him at once: “For love of a wife 2795

are you now building the foundations of high Carthage2796

and a pleasing city? Alas, forgetful of your kingdom and fate!2797

The king of the gods himself, who bends heaven and earth2798

to his will, has sent me down to you from bright Olympus:2799

he commanded me himself to carry these words through2800

the swift breezes. What do you plan? With what hopes2801

do you waste idle hours in Libya’s lands? If you’re not stirred2802

by the glory of destiny, and won’t exert yourself for your own2803

fame, think of your growing Ascanius, and the expectations2804

of him, as Iulus your heir, to whom will be owed the kingdom 2805

of Italy, and the Roman lands.” So Mercury spoke,2806

and, while speaking, vanished from mortal eyes,2807

and melted into thin air far from their sight.2808

BkIV:279-330 Dido Accuses Aeneas2809

Aeneas, stupefied at the vision, was struck dumb,2810

and his hair rose in terror, and his voice stuck in his throat.2811

He was eager to be gone, in flight, and leave that sweet land,2812

shocked by the warning and the divine command.2813

Alas! What to do? With what speech dare he tackle 2814

the love-sick queen? What opening words should he choose?2815

And he cast his mind back and forth swiftly, 2816

considered the issue from every aspect, and turned it every way.2817

This seemed the best decision, given the alternatives:2818

he called Mnestheus, Sergestus and brave Serestus,2819

telling them to fit out the fleet in silence, gather the men2820

on the shore, ready the ships’ tackle, and hide the reason2821

for these changes of plan. He in the meantime, since 2822

the excellent Dido knew nothing, and would not expect2823

the breaking off of such a love, would seek an approach,2824

the tenderest moment to speak, and a favourable means.2825

They all gladly obeyed his command at once, and did his bidding.2826

But the queen sensed his tricks (who can deceive a lover?)2827

and was first to anticipate future events, fearful even of safety.2828

That same impious Rumour brought her madness:2829

they are fitting out the fleet, and planning a journey.2830

Her mind weakened, she raves, and, on fire, runs wild2831

through the city: like a Maenad, thrilled by the shaken emblems2832

of the god, when the biennial festival rouses her, and, hearing the Bacchic cry, Mount Cithaeron summons her by night with its noise.2833

Of her own accord she finally reproaches Aeneas in these words:2834

“Faithless one, did you really think you could hide2835

such wickedness, and vanish from my land in silence?2836

Will my love not hold you, nor the pledge I once gave you,2837

nor the promise that Dido will die a cruel death? 2838

Even in winter do you labour over your ships, cruel one,2839

so as to sail the high seas at the height of the northern gales?2840

Why? If you were not seeking foreign lands and unknown2841

settlements, but ancient Troy still stood, would Troy2842

be sought out by your ships in wave-torn seas? 2843

Is it me you run from? I beg you, by these tears, by your own2844

right hand (since I’ve left myself no other recourse in my misery),2845

by our union, by the marriage we have begun,2846

if ever I deserved well of you, or anything of me 2847

was sweet to you, pity this ruined house, and if 2848

there is any room left for prayer, change your mind. 2849

The Libyan peoples and Numidian rulers hate me because of you:2850

my Tyrians are hostile: because of you all shame too is lost,2851

the reputation I had, by which alone I might reach the stars.2852

My guest, since that’s all that is left me from the name of husband,2853

to whom do you relinquish me, a dying woman?2854

Why do I stay? Until Pygmalion, my brother, destroys2855

the city, or Iarbas the Gaetulian takes me captive?2856

If I’d at least conceived a child of yours2857

before you fled, if a little Aeneas were playing 2858

about my halls, whose face might still recall yours, 2859

I’d not feel myself so utterly deceived and forsaken.”2860

BkIV:331-361 Aeneas Justifies Himself2861

She had spoken. He set his gaze firmly on Jupiter’s2862

warnings, and hid his pain steadfastly in his heart.2863

He replied briefly at last: “O queen, I will never deny2864

that you deserve the most that can be spelt out in speech,2865

nor will I regret my thoughts of you, Elissa,2866

while memory itself is mine, and breath controls these limbs.2867

I’ll speak about the reality a little. I did not expect to conceal2868

my departure by stealth (don’t think that), nor have I ever2869

held the marriage torch, or entered into that pact. 2870

If the fates had allowed me to live my life under my own2871

auspices, and attend to my own concerns as I wished,2872

I should first have cared for the city of Troy and the sweet relics2873

of my family, Priam’s high roofs would remain, and I’d have 2874

recreated Pergama, with my own hands, for the defeated. 2875

But now it is Italy that Apollo of Grynium, 2876

Italy, that the Lycian oracles, order me to take:2877

that is my desire, that is my country. If the turrets of Carthage2878

and the sight of your Libyan city occupy you, a Phoenician,2879

why then begrudge the Trojans their settling of Ausonia’s lands?2880

It is right for us too to search out a foreign kingdom.2881

As often as night cloaks the earth with dew-wet shadows,2882

as often as the burning constellations rise, the troubled image2883

of my father Anchises warns and terrifies me in dream:2884

about my son Ascanius and the wrong to so dear a person,2885

whom I cheat of a Hesperian kingdom, and pre-destined fields.2886

Now even the messenger of the gods, sent by Jupiter himself,2887

(I swear it on both our heads), has brought the command2888

on the swift breeze: I saw the god himself in broad daylight2889

enter the city and these very ears drank of his words.2890

Stop rousing yourself and me with your complaints.2891

I do not take course for Italy of my own free will.”2892

BkIV:362-392 Dido’s Reply2893

As he was speaking she gazed at him with hostility,2894

casting her eyes here and there, considering the whole man2895

with a silent stare, and then, incensed, she spoke:2896

“Deceiver, your mother was no goddess, nor was Dardanus2897

the father of your race: harsh Caucasus engendered you2898

on the rough crags, and Hyrcanian tigers nursed you.2899

Why pretend now, or restrain myself waiting for something worse?2900

Did he groan at my weeping? Did he look at me?2901

Did he shed tears in defeat, or pity his lover?2902

What is there to say after this? Now neither greatest Juno, indeed,2903

nor Jupiter, son of Saturn, are gazing at this with friendly eyes.2904

Nowhere is truth safe. I welcomed him as a castaway on the shore,2905

a beggar, and foolishly gave away a part of my kingdom:2906

I saved his lost fleet, and his friends from death.2907

Ah! Driven by the Furies, I burn: now prophetic Apollo,2908

now the Lycian oracles, now even a divine messenger sent2909

by Jove himself carries his orders through the air.2910

This is the work of the gods indeed, this is a concern to trouble2911

their calm. I do not hold you back, or refute your words:2912

go, seek Italy on the winds, find your kingdom over the waves.2913

Yet if the virtuous gods have power, I hope that you2914

will drain the cup of suffering among the reefs, and call out Dido’s2915

name again and again. Absent, I’ll follow you with dark fires, 2916

and when icy death has divided my soul and body, my ghost2917

will be present everywhere. Cruel one, you’ll be punished.2918

I’ll hear of it: that news will reach me in the depths of Hades.”2919

Saying this, she broke off her speech mid-flight, and fled2920

the light in pain, turning from his eyes, and going,2921

leaving him fearful and hesitant, ready to say more.2922

Her servants received her and carried her failing body 2923

to her marble chamber, and laid her on her bed.2924

BkIV:393-449 Aeneas Departs2925

But dutiful Aeneas, though he desired to ease her sadness2926

by comforting her and to turn aside pain with words, still, 2927

with much sighing, and a heart shaken by the strength of her love,2928

followed the divine command, and returned to the fleet.2929

Then the Trojans truly set to work and launched the tall ships2930

all along the shore. They floated the resinous keels,2931

and ready for flight, they brought leafy branches2932

and untrimmed trunks, from the woods, as oars.2933

You could see them hurrying and moving from every part2934

of the city. Like ants that plunder a vast heap of grain,2935

and store it in their nest, mindful of winter: a dark column2936

goes through the fields, and they carry their spoils2937

along a narrow track through the grass: some heave2938

with their shoulders against a large seed, and push, others tighten2939

the ranks and punish delay, the whole path’s alive with work.2940

What were your feelings Dido at such sights, what sighs2941

did you give, watching the shore from the heights 2942

of the citadel, everywhere alive, and seeing the whole 2943

sea, before your eyes, confused with such cries!2944

Cruel Love, to what do you not drive the human heart:2945

to burst into tears once more, to see once more if he can2946

be compelled by prayers, to humbly submit to love,2947

lest she leave anything untried, dying in vain.2948

“Anna, you see them scurrying all round the shore:2949

they’ve come from everywhere: the canvas already invites2950

the breeze, and the sailors, delighted, have set garlands2951

on the sterns. If I was able to foresee this great grief,2952

sister, then I’ll be able to endure it too. Yet still do one thing2953

for me in my misery, Anna: since the deceiver cultivated2954

only you, even trusting you with his private thoughts:2955

and only you know the time to approach the man easily.2956

Go, sister, and speak humbly to my proud enemy.2957

I never took the oath, with the Greeks at Aulis,2958

to destroy the Trojan race, or sent a fleet to Pergama,2959

or disturbed the ashes and ghost of his father Anchises:2960

why does he pitilessly deny my words access to his hearing?2961

Where does he run to? Let him give his poor lover this last gift:2962

let him wait for an easy voyage and favourable winds.2963

I don’t beg now for our former tie, that he has betrayed,2964

nor that he give up his beautiful Latium, and abandon2965

his kingdom: I ask for insubstantial time: peace and space2966

for my passion, while fate teaches my beaten spirit to grieve.2967

I beg for this last favour (pity your sister):2968

when he has granted it me, I’ll repay all by dying.”2969

Such are the prayers she made, and such are those2970

her unhappy sister carried and re-carried. But he was not2971

moved by tears, and listened to no words receptively:2972

Fate barred the way, and a god sealed the hero’s gentle hearing.2973

As when northerly blasts from the Alps blowing here and there2974

vie together to uproot an oak tree, tough with the strength of years:2975

there’s a creak, and the trunk quivers and the topmost leaves2976

strew the ground: but it clings to the rocks, and its roots2977

stretch as far down to Tartarus as its crown does towards2978

the heavens: so the hero was buffeted by endless pleas 2979

from this side and that, and felt the pain in his noble heart. 2980

His purpose remained fixed: tears fell uselessly.2981

BkIV:450-503 Dido Resolves to Die2982

Then the unhappy Dido, truly appalled by her fate, 2983

prayed for death: she was weary of gazing at the vault of heaven.2984

And that she might complete her purpose, and relinquish the light2985

more readily, when she placed her offerings on the altar alight2986

with incense, she saw (terrible to speak of!) the holy water blacken,2987

and the wine she had poured change to vile blood.2988

She spoke of this vision to no one, not even her sister.2989

There was a marble shrine to her former husband in the palace,2990

that she’d decked out, also, with marvellous beauty,2991

with snow-white fleeces, and festive greenery:2992

from it she seemed to hear voices and her husband’s words2993

calling her, when dark night gripped the earth:2994

and the lonely owl on the roofs often grieved2995

with ill-omened cries, drawing out its long call in a lament:2996

and many a prophecy of the ancient seers terrified her2997

with its dreadful warning. Harsh Aeneas himself persecuted2998

her, in her crazed sleep: always she was forsaken, alone with2999

herself, always she seemed to be travelling companionless on some3000

long journey, seeking her Tyrian people in a deserted landscape:3001

like Pentheus, deranged, seeing the Furies file past,3002

and twin suns and a twin Thebes revealed to view,3003

or like Agamemnon’s son Orestes driven across the stage when he3004

flees his mother’s ghost armed with firebrands and black snakes,3005

while the avenging Furies crouch on the threshold.3006

So that when, overcome by anguish, she harboured the madness,3007

and determined on death, she debated with herself over the time3008

and the method, and going to her sorrowful sister with a face 3009

that concealed her intent, calm, with hope on her brow, said:3010

“Sister, I’ve found a way (rejoice with your sister)3011

that will return him to me, or free me from loving him.3012

Near the ends of the Ocean and where the sun sets3013

Ethiopia lies, the furthest of lands, where Atlas, 3014

mightiest of all, turns the sky set with shining stars:3015

I’ve been told of a priestess, of Massylian race, there, 3016

a keeper of the temple of the Hesperides, who gave3017

the dragon its food, and guarded the holy branches of the tree,3018

scattering the honeydew and sleep-inducing poppies.3019

With her incantations she promises to set free 3020

what hearts she wishes, but bring cruel pain to others:3021

to stop the rivers flowing, and turn back the stars:3022

she wakes nocturnal Spirits: you’ll see earth yawn3023

under your feet, and the ash trees march from the hills.3024

You, and the gods, and your sweet life, are witness,3025

dear sister, that I arm myself with magic arts unwillingly.3026

Build a pyre, secretly, in an inner courtyard, open to the sky, 3027

and place the weapons on it which that impious man left 3028

hanging in my room, and the clothes, and the bridal bed 3029

that undid me: I want to destroy all memories3030

of that wicked man, and the priestess commends it.”3031

Saying this she fell silent: at the same time a pallor spread3032

over her face. Anna did not yet realise that her sister 3033

was disguising her own funeral with these strange rites,3034

her mind could not conceive of such intensity, 3035

and she feared nothing more serious than when 3036

Sychaeus died. So she prepared what was demanded.3037

BkIV:504-553 Dido Laments3038

But when the pyre of cut pine and oak was raised high, 3039

in an innermost court open to the sky, the queen3040

hung the place with garlands, and wreathed it 3041

with funereal foliage: she laid his sword and clothes3042

and picture on the bed, not unmindful of the ending.3043

Altars stand round about, and the priestess, with loosened hair,3044

intoned the names of three hundred gods, of Erebus, Chaos,3045

and the triple Hecate, the three faces of virgin Diana.3046

And she sprinkled water signifying the founts of Avernus:3047

there were herbs too acquired by moonlight, cut3048

with a bronze sickle, moist with the milk of dark venom:3049

and a caul acquired by tearing it from a newborn colt’s brow,3050

forestalling the mother’s love. She herself, near the altars,3051

with sacred grain in purified hands, one foot free of constraint,3052

her clothing loosened, called on the gods to witness3053

her coming death, and on the stars conscious of fate: 3054

then she prayed to whatever just and attentive power 3055

there might be, that cares for unrequited lovers.3056

It was night, and everywhere weary creatures were enjoying3057

peaceful sleep, the woods and the savage waves were resting, 3058

while stars wheeled midway in their gliding orbit,3059

while all the fields were still, and beasts and colourful birds,3060

those that live on wide scattered lakes, and those that live3061

in rough country among the thorn-bushes, were sunk in sleep3062

in the silent night. But not the Phoenician, unhappy in spirit, 3063

she did not relax in sleep, or receive the darkness into her eyes3064

and breast: her cares redoubled, and passion, alive once more, 3065

raged, and she swelled with a great tide of anger.3066

So she began in this way turning it over alone in her heart:3067

“See, what can I do? Be mocked trying my former suitors,3068

seeking marriage humbly with Numidians whom I 3069

have already disdained so many times as husbands?3070

Shall I follow the Trojan fleet then and that Teucrian’s3071

every whim? Because they might delight in having been3072

helped by my previous aid, or because gratitude 3073

for past deeds might remain truly fixed in their memories?3074

Indeed who, given I wanted to, would let me, or would take3075

one they hate on board their proud ships? Ah, lost girl,3076

do you not know or feel yet the treachery of Laomedon’s race?3077

What then? Shall I go alone, accompanying triumphant sailors?3078

Or with all my band of Tyrians clustered round me?3079

Shall I again drive my men to sea in pursuit, those3080

whom I could barely tear away from their Sidonian city,3081

and order them to spread their sails to the wind? 3082

Rather die, as you deserve, and turn away sorrow with steel.3083

You, my sister, conquered by my tears, in my madness, you 3084

first burdened me with these ills, and exposed me to my enemy.3085

I was not allowed to pass my life without blame, free of marriage, 3086

in the manner of some wild creature, never knowing such pain:3087

I have not kept the vow I made to Sychaeus’s ashes.”3088

Such was the lament that burst from her heart.3089

BkIV:554-583 Mercury Visits Aeneas Again3090

Now that everything was ready, and he was resolved on going,3091

Aeneas was snatching some sleep, on the ship’s high stern.3092

That vision appeared again in dream admonishing him,3093

similar to Mercury in every way, voice and colouring,3094

golden hair, and youth’s graceful limbs:3095

“Son of the Goddess, can you consider sleep in this disaster,3096

can’t you see the danger of it that surrounds you, madman3097

or hear the favourable west winds blowing?3098

Determined to die, she broods on mortal deceit and sin,3099

and is tossed about on anger’s volatile flood.3100

Won’t you flee from here, in haste, while you can hasten?3101

Soon you’ll see the water crowded with ships, 3102

cruel firebrands burning, soon the shore will rage with flame,3103

if the Dawn finds you lingering in these lands. Come, now,3104

end your delay! Woman is ever fickle and changeable.” 3105

So he spoke, and blended with night’s darkness. 3106

Then Aeneas, terrified indeed by the sudden apparition,3107

roused his body from sleep, and called to his friends:3108

“ Quick, men, awake, and man the rowing-benches: run 3109

and loosen the sails. Know that a god, sent from the heavens,3110

urges us again to speed our flight, and cut the twisted hawsers. 3111

We follow you, whoever you may be, sacred among the gods,3112

and gladly obey your commands once more. Oh, be with us, 3113

calm one, help us, and show stars favourable to us in the sky.” 3114

He spoke, and snatched his shining sword from its sheath,3115

and struck the cable with the naked blade. All were possessed3116

at once with the same ardour: They snatched up their goods,3117

and ran: abandoning the shore: the water was clothed with ships:3118

setting to, they churned the foam and swept the blue waves.3119

BkIV:584-629 Dido’s Curse3120

And now, at dawn, Aurora, leaving Tithonus’s saffron bed,3121

was scattering fresh daylight over the earth.3122

As soon as the queen saw the day whiten, from her tower, 3123

and the fleet sailing off under full canvas, and realised 3124

the shore and harbour were empty of oarsmen, she3125

struck her lovely breast three or four times with her hand,3126

and tearing at her golden hair, said: “Ah, Jupiter, is he to leave,3127

is a foreigner to pour scorn on our kingdom? Shall my Tyrians3128

ready their armour, and follow them out of the city, and others drag3129

our ships from their docks? Go, bring fire quickly, hand out the3130

weapons, drive the oars! What am I saying? Where am I?3131

What madness twists my thoughts? Wretched Dido, is it now3132

that your impious actions hurt you? The right time was then, 3133

when you gave him the crown. So this is the word and loyalty3134

of the man whom they say bears his father’s gods around,3135

of the man who carried his age-worn father on his shoulders? 3136

Couldn’t I have seized hold of him, torn his body apart,3137

and scattered him on the waves? And put his friends to the sword,3138

and Ascanius even, to feast on, as a course at his father’s table?3139

True the fortunes of war are uncertain. Let them be so:3140

as one about to die, whom had I to fear? I should have set fire3141

to his camp, filled the decks with flames, and extinguishing3142

father and son, and their whole race, given up my own life as well.3143

O Sun, you who illuminate all the works of this world,3144

and you Juno, interpreter and knower of all my pain,3145

and Hecate howled to, in cities, at midnight crossroads,3146

you, avenging Furies, and you, gods of dying Elissa,3147

acknowledge this, direct your righteous will to my troubles,3148

and hear my prayer. If it must be that the accursed one3149

should reach the harbour, and sail to the shore: 3150

if Jove’s destiny for him requires it, there his goal:3151

still, troubled in war by the armies of a proud race, 3152

exiled from his territories, torn from Iulus’s embrace,3153

let him beg help, and watch the shameful death of his people: 3154

then, when he has surrendered, to a peace without justice, 3155

may he not enjoy his kingdom or the days he longed for,3156

but let him die before his time, and lie unburied on the sand.3157

This I pray, these last words I pour out with my blood.3158

Then, O Tyrians, pursue my hatred against his whole line3159

and the race to come, and offer it as a tribute to my ashes. 3160

Let there be no love or treaties between our peoples.3161

Rise, some unknown avenger, from my dust, who will pursue3162

the Trojan colonists with fire and sword, now, or in time3163

to come, whenever the strength is granted him.3164

I pray that shore be opposed to shore, water to wave,3165

weapon to weapon: let them fight, them and their descendants.”3166

BkIV:630-705 The Death of Dido3167

She spoke, and turned her thoughts this way and that,3168

considering how to destroy her hateful life.3169

Then she spoke briefly to Barce, Sychaeus’s nurse,3170

since dark ashes concealed her own, in her former country:3171

“Dear nurse, bring my sister Anna here: tell her3172

to hurry, and sprinkle herself with water from the river,3173

and bring the sacrificial victims and noble offerings.3174

Let her come, and you yourself veil your brow with sacred ribbons.3175

My purpose is to complete the rites of Stygian Jupiter,3176

that I commanded, and have duly begun, and put an end3177

to sorrow, and entrust the pyre of that Trojan leader to the flames.”3178

So she said. The old woman zealously hastened her steps.3179

But Dido restless, wild with desperate purpose,3180

rolling her bloodshot eyes, her trembling cheeks3181

stained with red flushes, yet pallid at approaching death,3182

rushed into the house through its inner threshold, furiously 3183

climbed the tall funeral pyre, and unsheathed 3184

a Trojan sword, a gift that was never acquired to this end.3185

Then as she saw the Ilian clothing and the familiar couch,3186

she lingered a while, in tears and thought, then 3187

cast herself on the bed, and spoke her last words:3188

“Reminders, sweet while fate and the god allowed it,3189

accept this soul, and loose me from my sorrows.3190

I have lived, and I have completed the course that Fortune granted,3191

and now my noble spirit will pass beneath the earth.3192

I have built a bright city: I have seen its battlements,3193

avenging a husband I have exacted punishment3194

on a hostile brother, happy, ah, happy indeed 3195

if Trojan keels had never touched my shores!”3196

She spoke, and buried her face in the couch. 3197

“I shall die un-avenged, but let me die,” she cried.3198

“So, so I joy in travelling into the shadows.3199

Let the cruel Trojan’s eyes drink in this fire, on the deep,3200

and bear with him the evil omen of my death.”3201

She had spoken, and in the midst of these words, 3202

her servants saw she had fallen on the blade, 3203

the sword frothed with blood, and her hands were stained.3204

A cry rose to the high ceiling: Rumour, run riot, struck the city.3205

The houses sounded with weeping and sighs and women’s cries,3206

the sky echoed with a mighty lamentation,3207

as if all Carthage or ancient Tyre were falling 3208

to the invading enemy, and raging flames were rolling3209

over the roofs of men and gods.3210

Her sister, terrified, heard it, and rushed through the crowd,3211

tearing her cheeks with her nails, and beating her breast,3212

and called out to the dying woman in accusation:3213

“So this was the meaning of it, sister? Did you aim to cheat me?3214

This pyre of yours, this fire and altar were prepared for my sake?3215

What shall I grieve for first in my abandonment? Did you scorn3216

your sister’s company in dying? You should have summoned me3217

to the same fate: the same hour the same sword’s hurt should have3218

taken us both. I even built your pyre with these hands, 3219

and was I calling aloud on our father’s gods, 3220

so that I would be absent, cruel one, as you lay here?3221

You have extinguished yourself and me, sister: your people,3222

your Sidonian ancestors, and your city. I should bathe3223

your wounds with water and catch with my lips 3224

whatever dying breath still hovers.” So saying she climbed3225

the high levels, and clasped her dying sister to her breast,3226

sighing, and stemming the dark blood with her dress.3227

Dido tried to lift her heavy eyelids again, but failed:3228

and the deep wound hissed in her breast.3229

Lifting herself three times, she struggled to rise on her elbow: 3230

three times she fell back onto the bed, searching for light in 3231

the depths of heaven, with wandering eyes, and, finding it, sighed.3232

Then all-powerful Juno, pitying the long suffering 3233

of her difficult death, sent Iris from Olympus, to release 3234

the struggling spirit, and captive body. For since3235

she had not died through fate, or by a well-earned death, 3236

but wretchedly, before her time, inflamed with sudden madness, 3237

Proserpine had not yet taken a lock of golden hair 3238

from her head, or condemned her soul to Stygian Orcus. 3239

So dew-wet Iris flew down through the sky, on saffron wings,3240

trailing a thousand shifting colours across the sun,3241

and hovered over her head. “ I take this offering, sacred to Dis,3242

as commanded, and release you from the body that was yours.”3243

So she spoke, and cut the lock of hair with her right hand.3244

All the warmth ebbed at once, and life vanished on the breeze.3245

BkV:1-41 Aeneas Returns to Sicily3246

Meanwhile Aeneas with the fleet was holding a fixed course3247

now in the midst of the sea, cutting the waves, dark in a northerly3248

wind, looking back at the city walls that were glowing now with3249

unhappy Dido’s funeral flames. The reason that such a fire had3250

been lit was unknown: but the cruel pain when a great love is3251

profaned, and the knowledge of what a frenzied woman might do,3252

drove the minds of the Trojans to sombre forebodings.3253

When the ships reached deep water and land was no longer3254

in sight, but everywhere was sea, and sky was everywhere,3255

then a dark-blue rain cloud hung overhead, bringing3256

night and storm, and the waves bristled with shadows.3257

Palinurus the helmsman himself from the high stern cried:3258

‘Ah! Why have such storm clouds shrouded the sky?3259

What do you intend, father Neptune?’ So saying, next3260

he ordered them to shorten sail, and bend to the heavy oars,3261

then tacked against the wind, and spoke as follows:3262

‘Brave Aeneas, I would not expect to make Italy3263

with this sky, though guardian Jupiter promised it.3264

The winds, rising from the darkened west, have shifted 3265

and roar across our path, and the air thickens for a storm.3266

We cannot stand against it, or labour enough to weather it.3267

Since Fortune overcomes us, let’s go with her, 3268

and set our course wherever she calls. I think your brother Eryx’s3269

friendly shores are not far off, and the harbours of Sicily,3270

if I only remember the stars I observed rightly.’3271

Then virtuous Aeneas replied: ‘For my part I’ve seen for some time3272

that the winds required it, and you’re steering into them in vain.3273

Alter the course we sail. Is any land more welcome to me,3274

any to which I’d prefer to steer my weary fleet,3275

than that which protects my Trojan friend Acestes,3276

and holds the bones of my father Anchises to its breast?”3277

Having said this they searched out the port, and following winds3278

filled their sails: the ships sailed swiftly on the flood,3279

and they turned at last in delight towards known shores.3280

But Alcestes, on a high hill in the distance, wondered at the arrival3281

of friendly vessels, and met them, armed with javelins,3282

in his Libyan she-bear’s pelt: he whom a Trojan3283

mother bore, conceived of the river-god Crinisius. 3284

Not neglectful of his ancient lineage he rejoiced3285

at their return, entertained them gladly with his rural riches,3286

and comforted the weary with the assistance of a friend.3287

BkV:42-103 Aeneas Declares the Games3288

When, in the following Dawn, bright day had put the stars3289

to flight, Aeneas called his companions together, 3290

from the whole shore, and spoke from a high mound:3291

“Noble Trojans, people of the high lineage of the gods,3292

the year’s cycle is complete to the very month 3293

when we laid the bones, all that was left of my divine father, 3294

in the earth, and dedicated the sad altars. And now3295

the day is here (that the gods willed) if I am not wrong, 3296

which I will always hold as bitter, always honoured.3297

If I were keeping it, exiled in Gaetulian Syrtes,3298

or caught on the Argive seas, or in Mycenae’s city,3299

I’d still conduct the yearly rite, and line of solemn3300

procession, and heap up the due offerings on the altar.3301

Now we even stand by the ashes and bones of my father3302

(not for my part I think without the will and power of the gods)3303

and carried to this place we have entered a friendly harbour.3304

So come and let us all celebrate the sacrifice with joy:3305

let us pray for a wind, and may he will me to offer these rites 3306

each year when my city is founded, in temples that are his.3307

Acestes, a Trojan born, gives you two head of oxen 3308

for every ship: Invite the household gods to our feast, 3309

our own and those whom Acestes our host worships.3310

Also, when the ninth Dawn raises high the kindly light3311

for mortal men, and reveals the world in her rays,3312

I will declare a Trojan Games: first a race between the swift ships:3313

then those with ability in running, and those, daring in strength,3314

who step forward, who are superior with javelin and slight arrows,3315

or trust themselves to fight with rawhide gloves:3316

let everyone be there and hope for the prize of a well-deserved3317

palm branch. All be silent now, and wreathe your brows.”3318

So saying he veiled his forehead with his mother’s myrtle.3319

Helymus did likewise, Acestes of mature years, the boy3320

Ascanius, and the rest of the people followed.3321

Then he went with many thousands, from the gathering3322

to the grave-mound, in the midst of the vast accompanying throng.3323

Here with due offering he poured two bowls of pure wine3324

onto the ground, two of fresh milk, two of sacrificial blood,3325

and, scattering bright petals, he spoke as follows:3326

“Once more, hail, my sacred father: hail, spirit,3327

ghost, ashes of my father, whom I rescued in vain.3328

I was not allowed to search, with you, for Italy’s borders,3329

our destined fields, or Ausonia’s Tiber, wherever it might be.”3330

He had just finished speaking when a shining snake unwound 3331

each of its seven coils from the base of the shrine,3332

in seven large loops, placidly encircling the mound, and gliding3333

among the altars, its back mottled with blue-green markings,3334

and its scales burning with a golden sheen, as a rainbow forms3335

a thousand varied colours in clouds opposite the sun.3336

Aeneas was stunned by the sight. Finally, with a long glide3337

among the bowls and polished drinking cups, the serpent 3338

tasted the food, and, having fed, departed the altar, 3339

retreating harmlessly again into the depths of the tomb. 3340

Aeneas returned more eagerly to the tribute to his father, 3341

uncertain whether to treat the snake as the guardian of the place, 3342

or as his father’s attendant spirit: he killed two sheep as customary,3343

two pigs, and as many black-backed heifers:3344

and poured wine from the bowls, and called on the spirit3345

and shadow of great Anchises, released from Acheron.3346

And his companions as well, brought gifts gladly, of which3347

each had a store, piling high the altars, sacrificing bullocks:3348

others set out rows of cauldrons, and scattered among the grass,3349

placed live coals under the spits, and roasted the meat. 3350

BkV:104-150 The Start of the Games3351

The eagerly-awaited day had arrived, and now 3352

Phaethon’s horses brought a ninth dawn of cloudless light,3353

and Acestes’s name and reputation had roused the countryside:3354

they thronged the shore, a joyous crowd,3355

some to see Aeneas and his men, others to compete.3356

First the prizes were set out for them to see in the centre3357

of the circuit, sacred tripods, green crowns and palms,3358

rewards for the winners, armour, and clothes dyed with purple, 3359

and talents of silver and gold: and a trumpet sang out, 3360

from a central mound, that the games had begun. 3361

Four well-matched ships with heavy oars 3362

were chosen from the fleet for the first event.3363

Mnesthus, soon to be Mnesthus of Italy from whom 3364

the Memmian people are named, captains the Sea-Serpent, 3365

with its eager crew: Gyas, the vast Chimaera of huge bulk,3366

a floating city, rowed by the Trojan men 3367

on three decks, with the oars raised in triple rows:3368

Sergestus, from whom the house of Sergia gets its name,3369

sails in the great Centaur, and Cloanthus from whom 3370

your family derives, Cluentius of Rome, in the sea-green Scylla.3371

There’s a rock far out at sea opposite the foaming shore,3372

which, lashed by the swollen waves, is sometimes drowned,3373

when wintry north-westerlies hide the stars: 3374

it is quiet in calm weather and flat ground is raised above3375

the motionless water, a welcome haunt for sun-loving sea-birds.3376

Here our ancestor Aeneas set up a leafy oak-trunk3377

as a mark, as a sign for the sailors to know where 3378

to turn back, and circle round the long course. 3379

Then they chose places by lot, and the captains themselves, on 3380

the sterns, gleamed from a distance, resplendent in purple and gold:3381

the rest of the men were crowned with poplar leaves,3382

and their naked shoulders glistened, shining with oil.3383

They manned the benches, arms ready at the oars:3384

readied for action they waited for the signal, and pounding fear,3385

and the desire aroused for glory, devoured their leaping hearts.3386

Then when the clear trumpet gave the signal, all immediately3387

shot forward from the starting line, the sailor’s shouts3388

struck the heavens, as arms were plied the waters turned to foam.3389

they cut the furrows together, and the whole surface 3390

gaped wide, ploughed by the oars and the three-pronged beaks.3391

The speed is not as great when the two horse chariots 3392

hit the field in their race, shooting from their stalls:3393

and the charioteers shake the rippling reins over their3394

galloping team, straining forward to the lash.3395

So the whole woodland echoes with applause, the shouts3396

of men, and the partisanship of their supporters,3397

the sheltered beach concentrates the sound 3398

and the hills, reverberating, return the clamour.3399

BkV:151-243 The Boat Race3400

Gyas runs before the pack, and glides forward on the waves,3401

amongst the noise and confusion: Cloanthus follows next,3402

his ship better manned, but held back by its weight.3403

After them separated equally the Sea-Serpent 3404

and the Centaur strain to win a lead:3405

now the Sea-Serpent has it, now the huge Centaur wins in front,3406

now both sweep on together their bows level,3407

their long keels ploughing the salt sea.3408

Now they near the rock and are close to the marker,3409

when Gyas, the leader, winning at the half-way point,3410

calls out loudly to his pilot Menoetes:3411

“Why so far adrift to starboard? Steer her course this way:3412

hug the shore and graze the crags to port, oars raised:3413

let others keep to deep water.” He spoke, but Menoetes3414

fearing unseen reefs wrenched the prow towards the open sea.3415

“Why so far adrift?” again, “Head for the rocks, Menoetes!”3416

he shouts to him forcefully, and behold, he sees Cloanthus3417

right at his back and taking the riskier course.3418

He squeezed a path between Gyas’s ship and the booming rocks3419

inside to starboard, suddenly passing the leader,3420

and, leaving the marker behind, reached safe water.3421

Then indeed great indignation burned in the young man’s marrow,3422

and there were tears on his cheeks, and forgetting his own pride3423

and his crew’s safety he heaved the timid Menoetes3424

headlong into the sea from the high stern:3425

he stood to the helm, himself captain and steersman,3426

urged on his men, and turned for the shore.3427

But when Menoetes old as he was, clawed his way back heavily3428

and with difficulty at last from the sea floor, he climbed to the top3429

of the crag and sat down on the dry rock dripping, in his wet3430

clothing. The Trojans laughed as he fell, and swam3431

and laughed as he vomited the seawater from his chest.3432

At this a joyful hope of passing Gyas, as he stalled,3433

is aroused in Sergestus and Mnestheus, the two behind,3434

Sergestus takes the leading place and nears the rock,3435

still he’s not a full ship’s length in front, only part:3436

the rival Sea-Serpent closes on him with her prow.3437

Then, Mnesthus walking among his crew amidships3438

exhorted them: “Now, now rise to the oars, comrades3439

of Hector, you whom I chose as companions at Troy’s3440

last fatal hour: now, exert all that strength, 3441

that spirit you showed in the Gaetulian shoals, 3442

the Ionian Sea, and Cape Malea’s pursuing waves.3443

Now I, Mnesthus, do not seek to be first or try to win –3444

let those conquer whom you have granted to do so, Neptune –3445

but oh, it would be shameful to return last: achieve this for us,3446

countrymen, and prevent our disgrace.” They bend to it 3447

with fierce rivalry: the bronze stern shudders at their powerful3448

strokes: and the sea-floor drops away beneath them: 3449

then shallow breathing makes limbs and parched lips quiver.3450

and their sweat runs down in streams. 3451

Chance brings the men the glory that they long for.3452

When Segestus, his spirit raging, forces his bows, 3453

on the inside, towards the rocks, and enters3454

dangerous water, unhappily he strikes the jutting reef.3455

The cliff shakes, the oars jam against them, and snap3456

on the sharp edges of stone, and the prow hangs there, snagged.3457

The sailors leap up, and, shouting aloud at the delay,3458

gather iron-tipped poles and sharply-pointed boathooks,3459

and rescue their smashed oars from the water.3460

But Mnesthus, delighted, and made eager by his success,3461

with a swift play of oars, and a prayer to the winds.3462

heads for home waters and courses the open sea,3463

as a dove, whose nest and sweet chicks are hidden 3464

among the rocks, suddenly startled from some hollow,3465

takes flight for the fields, frightened from her cover,3466

and beats her wings loudly, but soon gliding in still air3467

skims her clear path, barely moving her swift pinions:3468

in this way Mnestheus and the Sea-Dragon herself furrow 3469

the final stretch of water in flight, and her impetus3470

alone, carries her on her winged path. Firstly3471

he leaves Segestus behind struggling on the raised rock3472

then in shoal water, calling vainly for help,3473

and learning how to race with shattered oars.3474

Then he overhauls Gyas and the Chimaera’s huge bulk:3475

which, deprived of her helmsman now, gives way.3476

Now Cloanthus alone is left ahead, near to the finish,3477

Mnestheus heads for him and chases closely3478

exerting all his powers. Then indeed the shouts redouble,3479

and together all enthusiastically urge on the pursuer.3480

The former crew are unhappy lest they fail to keep3481

the honour that is theirs and the glory already 3482

in their possession, and would sell their lives for fame.3483

the latter feed on success: they can because they think they can.3484

And with their prow alongside they might have snatched the prize,3485

if Cleanthus had not stretched out his hands over the sea3486

and poured out his prayers, and called to the gods in longing.3487

“Gods, whose empire is the ocean, whose waters I course,3488

On shore, I will gladly set a snow-white bull 3489

before your altars, in payment of my vows, 3490

throw the entrailsinto the saltwater, and pour out pure wine.” 3491

He spoke, and all the Nereids, Phorcus’s choir, and virgin Panopea,3492

heard him in the wave’s depths, and father Portunus drove him3493

on his track, with his great hand: the ship ran to shore, swifter3494

than south wind or flying arrow, and plunged into the deep harbour.3495

BkV:244-285 The Prize-Giving for the Boat Race3496

Then Anchises’s son, calling them all together as is fitting,3497

by the herald’s loud cry declares Cloanthus the winner,3498

and wreathes his forehead with green laurel, and tells him3499

to choose three bullocks, and wine, and a large talent of silver3500

as gifts for the ships. He adds special honours for the captains:3501

a cloak worked in gold for the victor, edged 3502

with Meliboean deep purple in a double meandering line,3503

Ganymede the boy-prince woven on it, as if breathless 3504

with eagerness, running with his javelin, chasing the swift stags3505

on leafy Ida: whom Jupiter’s eagle, carrier of the lightning-bolt,3506

has now snatched up into the air, from Ida, with taloned feet:3507

his aged guards stretch their hands to the sky in vain,3508

and the barking dogs snap at the air. He gives to the warrior, 3509

who took second place by his prowess, a coat of mail for his own,3510

with polished hooks, in triple woven gold, a beautiful thing3511

and a defence in battle, that he himself as victor had taken3512

from Demoleos, by the swift Simois, below the heights of Ilium.3513

Phegeus and Sagaris, his servants, can barely carry its folds,3514

on straining shoulders: though, wearing it, Demoleus 3515

used to drive the scattered Trojans at a run. 3516

He grants the third prize of a pair of bronze cauldrons3517

and bowls made of silver with designs in bold relief.3518

Now they have all received their gifts and are walking off,3519

foreheads tied with scarlet ribbons, proud of their new wealth,3520

when Segestus, who showing much skill has with difficulty3521

got clear of the cruel rock, oars missing and one tier useless,3522

brings in his boat, to mockery and no glory. 3523

As a snake, that a bronze-rimmed wheel has crossed obliquely,3524

is often caught on the curb of a road, or like one that a passer-by3525

has crushed with a heavy blow from a stone and left half-dead, 3526

writhes its long coils, trying in vain to escape, part aggressive, 3527

with blazing eyes, and hissing, its neck raised high in the air,3528

part held back by the constraint of its wounds, struggling3529

to follow with its coils, and twining back on its own length:3530

so the ship moves slowly on with wrecked oars:3531

nevertheless she makes sail, and under full sail reaches harbour.3532

Aeneas presents Sergestus with the reward he promised,3533

happy that the ship is saved, and the crew rescued.3534

He is granted a Cretan born slave-girl, Pholoe, not unskilled3535

in the arts of Minerva, nursing twin boys at her breast.3536

BkV:286-361 The Foot Race3537

Once this race was done Aeneas headed for a grassy space,3538

circled round about by curving wooded hillsides,3539

forming an amphitheatre at the valley’s centre: 3540

the hero took himself there in the midst of the throng 3541

many thousands strong, and occupied a raised throne. 3542

Here if any by chance wanted to compete in the footrace3543

he tempted their minds with the reward, and set the prizes.3544

Trojans and Sicilians gathered together from all sides,3545

Nisus and Euryalus the foremost among them,3546

Euryalus famed for his beauty, and in the flower of youth,3547

Nisus famed for his devoted affection for the lad: next3548

came princely Diores, of Priam’s royal blood,3549

then Salius and Patron together, one an Arcanian,3550

the other of Arcadian blood and Tegean race:3551

then two young Sicilians, Helymus and Panopes,3552

used to the forests, companions of old Acestes:3553

and many others too, whose fame is lost in obscurity.3554

Then Aeneas amongst them spoke as follows:3555

“Take these words to heart, and give pleasurable attention.3556

None of your number will go away without a reward from me.3557

I’ll give two Cretan arrows, shining with polished steel, 3558

for each man, to take away, and a double-headed axe chased 3559

with silver: all who are present will receive the same honour. 3560

The first three will share prizes, and their heads will be crowned3561

with pale-green olive: let the first as winner take a horse3562

decorated with trappings: the second an Amazonian quiver,3563

filled with Thracian arrows, looped with a broad belt of gold3564

and fastened by a clasp with a polished gem:3565

let the third leave content with this Argive helmet.”3566

When he had finished they took their places and, suddenly,3567

on hearing the signal, they left the barrier and shot onto the course,3568

streaming out like a storm cloud, gaze fixed on the goal.3569

Nisus was off first, and darted away, ahead of all the others,3570

faster than the wind or the winged lightning-bolt:3571

Salius followed behind him, but a long way behind:3572

then after a space Euryalus was third: Helymus 3573

pursued Euryalus, and there was Diores speeding near him,3574

now touching foot to foot, leaning at his shoulder: 3575

if the course had been longer he’d have 3576

slipped past him, and left the outcome in doubt.3577

Now, wearied, almost at the end of the track, 3578

they neared the winning post itself, when the unlucky Nisus3579

fell in some slippery blood, which when the bullocks were killed3580

had chanced to drench the ground and the green grass. 3581

Here the youth, already rejoicing at winning, failed to keep3582

his sliding feet on the ground, but fell flat, 3583

straight in the slimy dirt and sacred blood. 3584

But he didn’t forget Euryalus even then, nor his love:3585

but, picking himself up out of the wet, obstructed Salius,3586

who fell head over heels onto the thick sand.3587

Euryalus sped by and, darting onwards to applause and the shouts3588

of his supporters, took first place, winning with his friend’s help.3589

Helymus came in behind him, then Diores, now in third place.3590

At this Salius filled the whole vast amphitheatre, and the faces3591

of the foremost elders, with his loud clamour,3592

demanding to be given the prize stolen from him by a trick.3593

His popularity protects Euryalus, and fitting tears,3594

and ability is more pleasing in a beautiful body.3595

Diores encourages him, and protests in a loud voice,3596

having reached the palm, but claiming the last prize in vain,3597

if the highest honour goes to Salius.3598

Then Aeneas the leader said, “Your prizes are still yours,3599

lads, and no one is altering the order of attainment:3600

but allow me to take pity on an unfortunate friend’s fate.”3601

So saying he gives Salius the huge pelt of a Gaetulian lion,3602

heavy with shaggy fur, its claws gilded.3603

At this Nisus comments: “If these are the prizes for losing,3604

and you pity the fallen, what fitting gift will you grant to Nisus,3605

who would have earned first place through merit3606

if ill luck had not dogged me, as it did Salius?”3607

And with that he shows his face and limbs drenched3608

with foul mud. The best of leaders smiles at him,3609

and orders a shield to be brought, the work of Didymaon,3610

once unpinned by the Greeks from Neptune’s sacred threshold:3611

this outstanding prize he gives to the noble youth.3612

BkV:362-484 The Boxing Contest3613

When the races were done and the gifts allotted,3614

Aeneas cried: “Now, he who has skill and courage in his heart,3615

let him stand here and raise his arms, his fists bound in hide.”3616

So saying he set out the double prize for the boxing,3617

a bullock for the winner, dressed with gold and sacred ribbons,3618

and a sword and a noble helmet to console the defeated.3619

Without delay Dares, hugely strong, raised his face3620

and rose, to a great murmur from the crowd,3621

he who alone used to compete with Paris,3622

and by that same mound where mighty Hector lies3623

he struck the victorious Butes, borne of the Bebrycian3624

race of Amycus, as he came forward, vast in bulk,3625

and stretched him dying on the yellow sand. 3626

Such was Dares who lifted his head up for the bout at once,3627

showed his broad shoulders, stretched his arms out, sparring3628

to right and left, and threw punches at the air.3629

A contestant was sought for him, but no one from all that crowd3630

dared face the man, or pull the gloves on his hands.3631

So, cheerfully thinking they had all conceded the prize, he stands3632

before Aeneas, and without more delay holds the bullock’s horn 3633

in his left hand and says: “Son of the goddess, if no one dare3634

commit himself to fight, when will my standing here end? 3635

How long is it right for me to be kept waiting? Order me to lead3636

your gift away.” All the Trojans together shout their approval, 3637

and demand that what was promised be granted him.3638

At this Entellus upbraids Acestes, sitting next to him 3639

on a stretch of green grass, with grave words:3640

“Entellus, once the bravest of heroes, was it all in vain,3641

will you let so great a prize be carried off without a struggle,3642

and so tamely? Where’s our divine master, Eryx, now,3643

famous to no purpose? Where’s your name throughout Sicily,3644

and why are those spoils of battle hanging in your house?”3645

To this Entellus replies: “It’s not that quelled by fear, pride or love3646

of fame has died: but my chill blood is dull with age’s sluggishness,3647

and the vigour in my body is lifeless and exhausted.3648

If I had what I once had, which that boaster enjoys 3649

and relies on, if that youthfulness were mine now, 3650

then I’d certainly have stepped forward, but not seduced3651

by prizes or handsome bullocks: I don’t care about gifts.”3652

Having spoken he throws a pair of gloves of immense weight3653

which fierce Eryx, binding the tough hide onto his hands, 3654

used to fight in, into the middle of the ring. Their minds 3655

are stunned: huge pieces of hide from seven massive oxen 3656

are stiff with the iron and lead sewn into them. Above all 3657

Dares himself is astonished, and declines the bout from a distance,3658

and Anchises’s noble son turns the huge volume 3659

and weight of the gloves backwards and forwards.3660

Then the older man speaks like this, from his heart:3661

“What if you’d seen the arms and gloves of Hercules 3662

himself, and the fierce fight on this very shore?3663

Your brother Eryx once wore these (you see that3664

they’re still stained with blood and brain matter)3665

He faced great Hercules in them: I used to fight in them3666

when more vigorous blood granted me strength,3667

and envious age had not yet sprinkled my brow with snow.3668

But if a Trojan, Dares, shrinks from these gloves of ours,3669

and good Aeneas accepts it, and Acestes my sponsor agrees,3670

let’s level the odds. I’ll forgo the gloves of Eryx 3671

(banish your fears): you, throw off your Trojan ones.”3672

So speaking he flings his double-sided cloak from his shoulders,3673

baring the massive muscles of his limbs, his thighs3674

with their huge bones, and stands, a giant, in the centre of the arena.3675

Then our ancestor, Anchises’s son, lifts up a like pair of gloves,3676

and protects the hands of both contestants equally.3677

Immediately each takes up his stance, poised on his toes,3678

and fearlessly raises his arms high in front of him.3679

Keeping their heads up and well away from the blows3680

they begin to spar, fist to fist, and provoke a battle,3681

the one better at moving his feet, relying on his youth,3682

the other powerful in limbs and bulk: but his slower legs quiver,3683

his knees are unsteady, and painful gasps shake his huge body. 3684

They throw many hard punches at each other but in vain,3685

they land many on their curved flanks, or their chests 3686

are thumped loudly, gloves often stray to ears3687

and brows, and jaws rattle under the harsh blows.3688

Entellus stands solidly, not moving, in the same stance,3689

avoiding the blows with his watchful eyes and body alone.3690

Dares, like someone who lays siege to a towering city,3691

or surrounds a mountain fortress with weapons,3692

tries this opening and that, seeking everywhere, with his art, 3693

and presses hard with varied but useless assaults.3694

Then Entellus standing up to him, extends his raised right:3695

the other, foreseeing the downward angle of the imminent blow,3696

slides his nimble body aside, and retreats:3697

Entellus wastes his effort on the air and the heavy man3698

falls to the ground heavily, with his whole weight,3699

as a hollow pine-tree, torn up by its roots, sometimes falls3700

on Mount Erymanthus or mighty Mount Ida.3701

The Trojans and the Sicilan youths leap up eagerly:3702

a shout lifts to the sky, and Acestes is the first to run forward3703

and with sympathy raises his old friend from the ground.3704

But that hero, not slowed or deterred by his fall,3705

returns more eagerly to the fight, and generates power from anger.3706

Then shame and knowledge of his own ability revive his strength,3707

and he drives Dares in fury headlong across the whole arena,3708

doubling his punches now, to right and left. No pause, or rest:3709

like the storm clouds rattling their dense hailstones on the roof,3710

as heavy are the blows from either hand, as the hero3711

continually batters at Dares and destroys him.3712

Then Aeneas, their leader, would not allow the wrath to continue3713

longer, nor Entellus to rage with such bitterness of spirit,3714

but put an end to the contest, and rescued the weary Dares,3715

speaking gently to him with these words:3716

“Unlucky man, why let such savagery depress your spirits?3717

Don’t you see another has the power: the gods have changed sides?3718

Yield to the gods.” He spoke and, speaking, broke up the fight.3719

But Dare’s loyal friends led him away to the ships, 3720

his weakened knees collapsing, his head swaying from side to side,3721

spitting out clots of blood from his mouth, teeth amongst them.3722

Called back they accept the helmet and sword, 3723

leaving the winner’s palm and the bullock for Entellus.3724

At this the victor exultant in spirit and glorying in the bullock,3725

said: “Son of the Goddess, and all you Trojans, 3726

know now what physical strength I had in my youth, 3727

and from what fate you’ve recalled and rescued Dares.” 3728

He spoke and planted himself opposite the bullock,3729

still standing there as prize for the bout, then, drawing back 3730

his right fist, aimed the hard glove between the horns3731

and broke its skull scattering the brains: the ox3732

fell quivering to the ground, stretched out lifeless.3733

Standing over it he poured these words from his chest:3734

“Eryx, I offer you this, the better animal, for Dares’s life:3735

the winner here, I relinquish the gloves and my art.”3736

BkV:485-544 The Archery Contest3737

Immediately Aeneas invites together all who might wish 3738

to compete with their swift arrows, and sets out the prizes.3739

With a large company he raises a mast from Serestus’s ship,3740

and ties a fluttering dove, at which they can aim3741

their shafts, to a cord piercing the high mast. 3742

The men gather and a bronze helmet receives the lots3743

tossed into it: the first of them all to be drawn,3744

to cheers of support, is Hippocoon son of Hyrtaces,3745

followed by Mnestheus, the winner of the boat race 3746

a while ago: Mnestheus crowned with green olive.3747

Eurytion’s the third, your brother, O famous Pandorus,3748

who, ordered to wreck the treaty, in the past,3749

was the first to hurl his spear amongst the Greeks.3750

Acestes is the last name out from the depths of the helmet,3751

daring to try his own hand at the youthful contest.3752

Then they take arrows from their quivers, and, each man3753

for himself, with vigorous strength, bends the bow into an arc,3754

and first through the air from the twanging string3755

the son of Hyrcanus’s shaft, cutting the swift breeze,3756

reaches the mark, and strikes deep into the mast.3757

The mast quivered, the bird fluttered its wings in fear,3758

and there was loud applause from all sides.3759

Then Mnestheus eagerly took his stand with bent bow,3760

aiming high, his arrow notched level with his eyes.3761

But to his dismay he was not able to hit the bird 3762

herself with the shaft, but broke the knots of hemp cord3763

that tied her foot as it hung from the mast:3764

she fled to the north wind and the dark clouds, in flight.3765

Then Eurytion who had been holding his bow ready, with drawn3766

arrow for some time, called on his brother to note his vow,3767

quickly eyed the dove, enjoying the freedom of the skies, 3768

and transfixed her, as she beat her wings beneath a dark cloud. 3769

She dropped lifeless, leaving her spirit with the starry heavens,3770

and, falling, brought back to earth the shaft that pierced her.3771

Acestes alone remained: the prize was lost:3772

yet he still shot his arrow high into the air,3773

showing an older man’s skill, the bow twanging. Then 3774

a sudden wonder appeared before their eyes, destined to be3775

of great meaning: the time to come unveiled its crucial outcome,3776

and great seers of the future celebrated it as an omen.3777

The arrow, flying through the passing clouds, caught fire3778

marked out its path with flames, then vanished into thin air,3779

as shooting stars, loosed from heaven often transit3780

the sky, drawing their tresses after them. Astonished,3781

the Trinacrians and Trojans stood rooted to the spot, 3782

praying to the gods: nor did their great leader Aeneas3783

reject the sign, but embracing the joyful Acestes,3784

loaded him with handsome gifts and spoke as follows:3785

“Take these, old man: since the high king of Olympus shows,3786

by these omens, that he wishes you to take extraordinary honours.3787

You shall have this gift, owned by aged Anchises himself, 3788

a bowl engraved with figures, that Cisseus of Thrace3789

once long ago gave Anchises my father as a memento3790

of himself, and as a pledge of his friendship.”3791

So saying he wreathed his brow with green laurel3792

and proclaimed Acestes the highest victor among them all.3793

Nor did good Eurytion begrudge the special prize,3794

though he alone brought the bird down from the sky.3795

Next he who cut the cord stepped forward for his reward,3796

and lastly he who’s swift shaft had transfixed the mast.3797

BkV:545-603 The Exhibition of Horsemanship 3798

But before the match is complete Aeneas the leader3799

calls Epytides to him, companion and guardian 3800

of young Iulus, and speaks into his loyal ear:3801

“Off! Go! Tell Ascanius, if he has his troop of boys3802

ready with him, and is prepared for the horse-riding3803

to show himself with his weapons, and lead them out3804

in honour of his grandfather.” He himself orders the whole 3805

crowd of people to leave the lengthy circuit, emptying the field. 3806

The boys arrive, and glitter together on their bridled horses3807

under their fathers’ gaze, and the men of Troy 3808

and Sicily murmur in admiration as they go by.3809

They all have their hair properly circled by a cut garland:3810

they each carry two cornel-wood spears tipped with steel,3811

some have shining quivers on their shoulders: a flexible3812

torque of twisted gold sits high on their chests around the neck.3813

The troops of horse are three in number, and three leaders3814

ride ahead: two groups of six boys follow each,3815

commanded alike and set out in gleaming ranks.3816

One line of youths is led joyfully by little Priam,3817

recalling his grandfather’s name, your noble child,3818

Polites, seed of the Italians: whom a piebald 3819

Thracian horse carries, showing white pasterns3820

as it steps, and a high white forehead. 3821

Next is Atys, from whom the Latin Atii trace their line,3822

little Atys, a boy loved by the boy Iulus.3823

Last, and most handsome of all in appearance,3824

Iulus himself rides a Sidonian horse, that radiant Dido3825

had given him as a remembrance of herself, 3826

and a token of her love. The rest of the youths3827

ride the Sicilian horses of old Acestes.3828

The Trojans greet the shy lads with applause, and delight3829

in gazing at them, seeing their ancient families in their faces.3830

When they have ridden happily round the whole assembly 3831

under the eyes of their kin, Epytides with a prolonged cry3832

gives the agreed signal and cracks his whip.3833

They gallop apart in two equal detachments, the three3834

groups parting company, and dissolving their columns,3835

then, recalled, they wheel round, and charge with level lances.3836

Then they perform other figures and counter-figures3837

in opposing ranks, and weave in circles inside counter-circles,3838

and perform a simulated battle with weapons.3839

Now their backs are exposed in flight, now they turn3840

their spears to charge, now ride side by side in peace.3841

Like the Labyrinth in mountainous Crete, they say, 3842

that contained a path winding between blind walls,3843

wandering with guile through a thousand turnings,3844

so that undetected and irretraceable errors 3845

might foil any guidelines that might be followed:3846

so the Trojan children twine their steps in just such a pattern,3847

weaving battle and flight, in their display, like dolphins3848

swimming through the ocean streams, cutting the Carpathian3849

and Lybian waters, and playing among the waves.3850

Ascanius first revived this kind of riding, and this contest,3851

when he encircled Alba Longa with walls, and taught the Early3852

Latins to celebrate it in the way he and the Trojan youth 3853

had done together: the Albans taught their children: mighty Rome3854

received it from them in turn, and preserved the ancestral rite:3855

and today the boys are called ‘Troy’ and their procession ‘Trojan’.3856

So the games are completed celebrating Aeneas’s sacred father.3857

BkV:604-663 Juno sends Iris to Fire the Trojan Ships3858

Here Fortune first alters, switching loyalties. While they, 3859

with their various games, are paying due honours to the tomb,3860

Saturnian Juno sends Iris down from the sky to the Trojan fleet,3861

breathing out a breeze for her passage, thinking deeply3862

about her ancient grievance which is yet unsatisfied.3863

Iris, hurrying on her way along a rainbow’s thousand colours3864

speeds swiftly down her track, a girl unseen.3865

She views the great crowd, and scans the shore,3866

sees the harbour deserted, and the ships abandoned.3867

But far away on the lonely sands the Trojan women3868

are weeping Anchises’s loss, and all, weeping, gaze3869

at the deep ocean. “Ah, what waves and seas are still left3870

for weary folk!” They are all of one voice. They pray for 3871

a city: they tire of enduring suffering on the waves.3872

So Iris, not ignorant of mischief, darts among them,3873

setting aside the appearance and robes of a goddess:3874

becoming Beroe, the old wife of Tmarian Doryclus,3875

who had once had family, sons, and a famous name. 3876

and as such moves among the Trojan mothers, saying:3877

“O wretched ones, whom Greek hands failed to drag3878

to death in the war beneath our native walls! 3879

O unhappy people what fate does Fortune reserve for you?3880

The seventh summer is on the turn since Troy’s destruction,3881

and we endure the crossing of every sea and shore, so many inhospitable stones and stars, while we chase over the vast sea 3882

after an Italy that flees from us, tossing upon the waves.3883

Here are the borders of our brother Eryx and our host Acestes:3884

what stops us building walls and granting our citizens a city?3885

O fatherland, O gods of our houses, rescued from the enemy 3886

in vain, will no city now be called Troy? Shall I see3887

nowhere a Xanthus or a Simois, Hector’s rivers?3888

Come now, and burn these accursed ships with me.3889

For the ghost of Cassandra, the prophetess, seemed to hand me3890

burning torches in dream: ‘Seek Troy here: here is 3891

your home’ she said. Now is the time for deeds, 3892

not delay, given such portents. See, four altars to Neptune:3893

the god himself lends us fire and the courage.”3894

So saying she first of all firmly seizes the dangerous flame3895

and, straining to lift it high, brandishes it, and hurls it.3896

The minds of the Trojan women are startled, and their wits3897

stunned. Here, one of the crowd, Pyrgo, the eldest,3898

the royal nurse of so many of Priam’s sons, says:3899

“This is not Beroe, you women, this is no wife3900

of Rhoetitian Doryclus: look at the signs of divine beauty3901

and the burning eyes, the spirit she possesses,3902

her form, the sound of her voice, her footsteps as she moves.3903

Just now I myself left Beroe, sick and unhappy, that she alone3904

was missing so important a rite and could not pay Anchises 3905

the offerings due to him.” So she speaks. At first the women3906

gaze in uncertainty at the ships, with angry glances, 3907

torn between a wretched yearning for the land 3908

they have reached, and the kingdom fate calls them to,3909

when the goddess, climbs the sky on soaring wings,3910

cutting a giant rainbow in her flight through the clouds.3911

Then truly amazed at the wonder, and driven by madness,3912

they cry out and some snatch fire from the innermost hearths,3913

others strip the altars, and throw on leaves and twigs 3914

and burning brands. Fire rages unchecked among 3915

the benches, and oars, and the hulls of painted pine.3916

BkV:664-699 The Fleet is Saved3917

Eumelus carries the news of the burning ships to Anchises’s tomb3918

and the ranks of the ampitheatre, and looking behind them3919

they themselves see dark ash floating upwards in a cloud.3920

Ascanius is first to turn his horse eagerly towards the troubled3921

encampment, as joyfully as he led his galloping troop,3922

and his breathless guardians cannot reign him back.3923

“What new madness is this? He cries. “What now, what do you 3924

aim at, wretched women? You’re burning your own hopes3925

not the enemy, nor a hostile Greek camp. See I am3926

your Ascanius!” And he flung his empty helmet in front of his feet,3927

that he’d worn as he’d inspired his pretence of battle in play.3928

Aeneas hurries there too, and the Trojan companies.3929

But the women scatter in fear here and there along the shore,3930

and stealthily head for the woods and any cavernous rocks:3931

they hate what they’ve done and the light, with sober minds3932

they recognise their kin, and Juno is driven from their hearts.3933

But the roaring flames don’t lose their indomitable fury3934

just for that: the pitch is alight under the wet timbers,3935

slowly belching smoke, the keel is gradually burned,3936

and the pestilence sinks through a whole hull,3937

nor are heroic strength or floods of water any use.3938

Then virtuous Aeneas tears the clothes from his chest,3939

and calls on the gods for help, lifting his hands:3940

“All-powerful Jupiter, if you don’t hate the Trojans3941

to a man, if your former affection has regard 3942

for human suffering, let the fleet escape the flames now,3943

Father, and save our slender Trojan hopes from ruin:3944

or if I deserve this, send what is left of us to death with your3945

angry lightning-bolt, and overwhelm us with your hand.”3946

He had barely spoken, when a dark storm with pouring rain3947

rages without check and the high hills and plains 3948

quake with thunder: a murky downpour falls 3949

from the whole sky, the blackest of heavy southerlies,3950

and the ships are brimming, the half-burnt timbers soaked,3951

until all the heat is quenched, and all the hulls3952

except four, are saved from the pestilence.3953

BkV:700-745 Nautes’ Advice and Anchises’ Ghost 3954

But Aeneas, the leader, stunned by the bitter blow,3955

pondered his great worries, turning them this way3956

and that in his mind. Should he settle in Sicily’s fields,3957

forgetting his destiny, or strike out for Italian shores?3958

Then old Nautes, whom alone Tritonian Pallas had taught,3959

and rendered famous for his great skill (she gave him 3960

answers, telling what the great gods’ anger portended, 3961

or what the course of destiny demanded),3962

began to solace Aeneas with these words:3963

“Son of the Goddess, let us follow wherever fate ebbs or flows,3964

whatever comes, every fortune may be conquered by endurance.3965

You have Trojan Acestes of the line of the gods:3966

let him share your decisions and be a willing partner,3967

entrust to him those who remain from the lost ships, 3968

and those tired of your great venture and your affairs:3969

Select also aged men and women exhausted by the sea,3970

and anyone with you who is frail, or afraid of danger,3971

and let the weary have their city in this land:3972

and if agreed they will call it by Acestes’s name.”3973

Then roused by such words from an aged friend,3974

Aeneas’s heart was truly torn between so many cares. 3975

And now black Night in her chariot, borne upwards,3976

occupied the heavens: and the likeness of his father Anchises3977

seemed to glide down from the sky, and speak so:3978

“Son, dearer to me than life, when life remained, 3979

my son, troubled by Troy’s fate, I come here 3980

at Jove’s command, he who drove the fire from the ships, 3981

and at last takes pity on you from high heaven.3982

Follow the handsome advice that old Nautus gives:3983

take chosen youth, and the bravest hearts, to Italy.3984

In Latium you must subdue a tough race, harshly trained. 3985

Yet, first, go to the infernal halls of Dis, and in deep 3986

Avernus seek a meeting with me, my son. For impious3987

Tartarus, with its sad shades, does not hold me, 3988

I live in Elysium, and the lovely gatherings of the blessed.3989

Here the chaste Sibyl will bring you, with much blood of3990

black sheep. Then you’ll learn all about your race, 3991

and the city granted you. Now: farewell. Dew-wet Night3992

turns mid-course, and cruel Morning, with panting steeds,3993

breathes on me.” He spoke and fled like smoke into thin air.3994

“Where are you rushing to? Aeneas cried, “Where are you3995

hurrying? Who do you flee? Who bars you from my embrace?”3996

So saying he revived the embers of the slumbering fires, and 3997

paid reverence, humbly, with sacred grain and a full censer, 3998

to the Trojan Lar, and the inner shrine of white-haired Vesta.3999

BkV:746-778 Departure from Sicily4000

Immediately he summoned his companions, Acestes first of all,4001

and told them of Jove’s command, and his dear father’s counsel,4002

and the decision he had reached in his mind. There was little delay4003

in their discussions, and Acestes did not refuse to accept his orders.4004

They transferred the women to the new city’s roll, and settled4005

there those who wished, spirits with no desire for great glory.4006

They themselves, thinned in their numbers, but with manhood4007

fully alive to war, renewed the rowing benches, and replaced4008

the timbers of the ships burnt by fire, and fitted oars and rigging.4009

Meanwhile Aeneas marked out the city limits with a plough4010

and allocated houses: he declared that this was Ilium 4011

and this place Troy. Acestes the Trojan revelled in his kingdom,4012

appointed a court, and gave out laws to the assembled senate.4013

Then a shrine of Venus of Idalia was dedicated,4014

close to the stars, on the tip of Eryx, and they added4015

a stretch of sacred grove, and a priest, to Anchises’s tomb.4016

When all the people had feasted for nine days, and offerings4017

had been made at the altars, gentle winds calmed the waves4018

and a strong Southerly called them again to sea.4019

A great weeping rose along the curving shore:4020

a day and a night they clung together in delay.4021

Now the women themselves, to whom the face of the ocean4022

had once seemed cruel, and its name intolerable,4023

wish to go and suffer all the toils of exile.4024

Good Aeneas comforts them with kind words4025

and commends them to his kinsman Acestes with tears.4026

Then he orders three calves to be sacrificed to Eryx,4027

a lamb to the Storm-gods, and for the hawsers to be duly freed.4028

He himself, standing some way off on the prow, his brow4029

wreathed with leaves of cut olive, holds a cup, throws the entrails4030

into the salt waves, and pours out the clear wine.4031

A wind, rising astern, follows their departure: his friends4032

in rivalry, strike the waves, and sweep the waters.4033

BkV:779-834 Venus Seeks Neptune’s Help4034

But meanwhile Venus, tormented by anxiety speaks4035

to Neptune, and pours out her complaints in this manner:4036

“O Neptune, Juno’s heavy anger, and her implacable4037

heart, force me to descend to every kind of prayer,4038

she whom no length of time nor any piety can move,4039

nor does she rest, unwearied by fate or Jove’s commands.4040

It’s not enough that in her wicked hatred she’s consumed a city, 4041

at the heart of Phrygia, and dragged the survivors of Troy 4042

through extremes of punishment: she pursues the bones and ashes4043

of the slaughtered. She alone knows the reason for such fury.4044

You yourself are witness to the trouble she stirred lately4045

in Libyan waters: she confused the whole sea4046

with the sky, daring to do this within your realm,4047

relying vainly on Aeolus’s violent storm-winds.4048

See, how, rousing the Trojan women, in her wickedness,4049

and disgracefully, she has burnt their fleet, and, with ships lost,4050

to leave their friends behind on an unknown shore.4051

I beg you to let the rest sail safely through your seas, 4052

let them reach Laurentine Tiber, if I ask4053

what is allowed, if the Fates grant them their city.”4054

Then the son of Saturn, the master of the deep oceans,4055

said this: “You’ve every right to trust in my realms, Cytherea, 4056

from which you draw your own origin. Also I’ve earned it:4057

I’ve often controlled the rage and fury of sea and sky.4058

Nor has my concern been less for your Aeneas on land4059

(I call Xanthus and Simois as witnesses). When Achilles4060

chased the Trojan ranks, in their panic, forcing them to the wall,4061

and sent many thousands to death, and the rivers choked and4062

groaned, and Xanthus could not find his course 4063

or roll down to the sea, then it was I who caught up Aeneas4064

in a thick mist, as he met that brave son of Peleus,4065

when neither the gods nor his own strength favoured him,4066

though I longed to destroy the walls of lying Troy,4067

that my hands had built, from the ground up.4068

Now also my mind remains the same: dispel your fears.4069

He will reach the harbours of Avernus, safely, as you ask.4070

There will only be one, lost in the waves, whom you 4071

will look for: one life that will be given for the many.”4072

When he had soothed the goddess’s heart, she joying at his words,4073

Father Neptune yoked his wild horses with gold, set the bits4074

in their foaming mouths, and, with both hands, gave them free rein.4075

He sped lightly over the ocean in his sea-green chariot,4076

the waves subsided and the expanse of swollen waters4077

grew calm under the thunderous axle:4078

the storm-clouds vanished from the open sky. 4079

Then came his multi-formed followers, great whales,4080

Glaucus’s aged band, Palaemon Ino’s son,4081

the swift Tritons, and all of Phorcus’s host:4082

the left hand taken by Thetis, Melite and virgin Panopea,4083

Nesaea, and Spio, Thalia, and Cymodoce.4084

At this, soothing joy in turn pervaded father Aeneas’s 4085

anxious mind: he ordered all to raise their masts4086

quickly, and the sails to be unfurled from the yard-arms.4087

Together they hauled on the ropes and let out the canvas as one,4088

now to port and now to starboard: together they swung 4089

the high yards about: benign winds drove the fleet along.4090

Palinurus, first of them all, led the close convoy:4091

the rest were ordered to set their course by his.4092

BkV:835-871 The Loss of Palinurus4093

And now dew-wet Night had just reached her zenith4094

in the sky: the sailors relaxed their limbs in quiet rest4095

stretched out on the hard benches beneath the oars:4096

when Sleep, gliding lightly down from the heavenly stars,4097

parted the gloomy air, and scattered the shadows, 4098

seeking you, bringing you dark dreams, Palinurus, 4099

though you were innocent: the god settled on the high stern,4100

appearing as Phorbas, and poured these words from his mouth:4101

“Palinurus, son of Iasus, the seas themselves steer the fleet,4102

the breezes blow steadily, this hour is granted for rest.4103

Lay down your head and rob your weary eyes of labour.4104

For a little while, I myself will take on your duty for you.”4105

Palinurus, barely lifting his gaze, spoke to him:4106

“Do you tell me to trust the sea’s placid face, 4107

the calm waves? Shall I set my faith on this monster?4108

Why should I entrust Aeneas to the deceptive breeze,4109

I whom a clear sky has deceived so often?”4110

So he spoke and clinging hard to the tiller4111

never relaxed his hold, and held his sight on the stars.4112

Behold, despite his caution, the god shook a branch, 4113

wet with Lethe’s dew, soporific with Styx’s power, 4114

over his brow, and set free his swimming eyes.4115

The first sudden drowse had barely relaxed his limbs,4116

when Sleep leant above him and threw him headlong4117

into the clear waters, tearing away the tiller 4118

and part of the stern, he calling to his friends often, in vain:4119

while the god raised his wings in flight into the empty air.4120

The fleet sailed on its way over the sea, as safely as before,4121

gliding on, unaware, as father Neptune had promised.4122

And now drawn onwards it was close to the Sirens’s cliffs, tricky4123

of old, and white with the bones of many men, (now the rocks, 4124

far off, boomed loud with the unending breakers) when the leader4125

realised his ship was wallowing adrift, her helmsman lost, 4126

and he himself steered her through the midnight waters, 4127

sighing deeply, and shocked at heart by his friend’s fate:4128

“Oh, far too trustful of the calm sea, and the sky,4129

you’ll lie naked, Palinurus, on an unknown shore.”4130

BkVI:1-55 The Temple at Cumae4131

So Aeneas spoke, weeping, gave his fleet full rein, and glided4132

at last to the shores of Euboean Cumae. They turned4133

their prows to the sea, secured the ships’ anchors,4134

by the grip of their flukes, and the curved boats 4135

lined the beach. The youthful band leapt eagerly4136

to the Hesperian shore: some sought the means of fire4137

contained in veins of flint, some raided the woods4138

the dense coverts of game, pointing out streams they found.4139

But pious Aeneas sought the summits, where Apollo 4140

rules on high, and the vast cavern nearby, the secret place 4141

of the terrifying Sibyl, in whom the Delian prophet 4142

inspires greatness of mind and spirit, and reveals the future.4143

Soon they entered the grove of Diana, and the golden house.4144

Daedalus, so the story goes, fleeing from Minos’s kingdom,4145

dared to trust himself to the air on swift wings,4146

and, gliding on unknown paths to the frozen North,4147

hovered lightly at last above the Chalcidian hill.4148

First returning to earth here, he dedicated his oar-like wings4149

to you Phoebus, and built a gigantic temple.4150

On the doors the Death of Androgeos: then the Athenians,4151

Crecrops’s descendants, commanded, sadly, to pay annual tribute4152

of seven of their sons: there the urn stands with the lots drawn.4153

Facing it, rising from the sea, the Cretan land is depicted:4154

and here the bull’s savage passion, Pasiphae’s 4155

secret union, and the Minotaur, hybrid offspring,4156

that mixture of species, proof of unnatural relations:4157

the artwork here is that palace, and its inextricable maze:4158

and yet Daedalus himself, pitying the noble princess4159

Ariadne’s love, unravelled the deceptive tangle of corridors,4160

guiding Theseus’s blind footsteps with the clue of thread.4161

You’d have shared largely in such a work, Icarus, if grief 4162

had allowed, he’d twice attempted to fashion your fate4163

in gold, twice your father’s hands fell. Eyes would have read4164

the whole continuously, if Achetes had not arrived 4165

from his errand, with Deiophobe, Glaucus’s daughter,4166

the priestess of Phoebus and Diana, who spoke to the leader:4167

‘This moment doesn’t require your sightseeing: it would4168

be better to sacrifice seven bullocks from a virgin herd, 4169

and as many carefully chosen two-year old sheep.’4170

Having spoken to Aeneas in this way (without delay they sacrificed4171

as ordered) the priestess called the Trojans to her high shrine.4172

The vast flank of the Euboean cliff is pitted with caves,4173

from which a hundred wide tunnels, a hundred mouths lead,4174

from which as many voices rush: the Sibyl’s replies.4175

They had come to the threshold, when the virgin cried out:4176

‘It is time to question the Oracle, behold, the god, the god!’4177

As she so spoke in front of the doors, suddenly neither her face4178

nor colour were the same, nor did her hair remain bound, 4179

but her chest heaved, her heart swelled with wild frenzy,4180

she seemed taller, and sounded not-human, for now4181

the power of the god is closer. ‘Are you slow with your4182

vows and prayers, Aeneas of Troy, are you slow?’ 4183

she cried. ‘The great lips of the House of Inspiration 4184

will not open without.’ And so saying she fell silent. 4185

An icy shudder ran to the Trojans’ very spines,4186

and their leader poured out heartfelt prayers:4187

BkVI:56-97 The Sibyl’s Prophecy4188

‘Phoebus, you who always pitied Troy’s intense suffering,4189

who guided the hand of Paris, and the Dardan arrow,4190

against Achilles’s body, with you as leader I entered4191

all those seas, encircling vast lands, and penetrated 4192

the remote Massilian tribes and the fields edged by Syrtes:4193

now at last we have the coast of elusive Italy in our grasp:4194

Troy’s ill fortune only followed us as far as here.4195

You too with justice can spare the Trojan race, and all you gods4196

and goddesses to whom the great glory of Ilium and Dardania 4197

was an offence. O most sacred of prophetesses, 4198

you who see the future, (I ask for no lands not owed me4199

by my destiny) grant that we Trojans may settle Latium,4200

with the exiled gods and storm-tossed powers of Troy.4201

Then I’ll dedicate a temple of solid marble to Phoebus4202

and Diana Trivia, and sacred days in Phoebus’s name.4203

A noble inner shrine waits for you too in our kingdom.4204

There, gracious one, I will place your oracles, and mystic4205

utterances spoken to my people, and consecrate picked men.4206

Only do not write your verses on the leaves, lest they fly,4207

disordered playthings of the rushing winds: chant them 4208

from your own mouth.’ He put an end to his mouth’s speaking.4209

But the wild prophetess raged in her cavern, not yet4210

submitting to Phoebus, as if she might shake the great god 4211

from her spirit: yet he exhausted her raving mouth 4212

all the more, taming her wild heart, shaping her by constraint.4213

And now the shrine’s hundred mighty lips have opened4214

of themselves, and carry the seer’s answer through the air:4215

‘Oh, you who are done with all the perils of the sea,4216

(yet greater await you on land) the Trojans will come4217

to the realm of Lavinium (put that care from your heart):4218

but will not enjoy their coming. War, fierce war,4219

I see: and the Tiber foaming with much blood.4220

You will not lack a Simois, a Xanthus, a Greek camp:4221

even now another Achilles is born in Latium,4222

he too the son of a goddess: nor will Juno, the Trojans’ bane,4223

be ever far away, while you, humbled and destitute,4224

what races and cities of Italy will you not beg in!4225

Once again a foreign bride is the cause of all 4226

these Trojan ills, once more an alien marriage.4227

Do not give way to misfortunes, meet them more bravely,4228

as your destiny allows. The path of safety will open up4229

for you from where you least imagine it, a Greek city.’4230

BkVI:98-155 Aeneas Asks Entry to Hades4231

With such words, the Sibyl of Cumae chants fearful enigmas, 4232

from her shrine, echoing from the cave,4233

tangling truths and mysteries: as she raves, Apollo4234

thrashes the reins, and twists the spur under her breast.4235

When the frenzy quietens, and the mad mouth hushes,4236

Aeneas, the Hero, begins: ‘O Virgin, no new, unexpected4237

kind of suffering appears: I’ve foreseen them all4238

and travelled them before, in my own spirit.4239

One thing I ask: for they say the gate of the King of Darkness4240

is here, and the shadowy marsh, Acheron’s overflow:4241

let me have sight of my dear father, his face: show me the way, 4242

open wide the sacred doors. I saved him, brought him4243

out from the thick of the enemy, through the flames, 4244

on these shoulders, with a thousand spears behind me:4245

companion on my journey, he endured with me4246

all the seas, all the threats of sky and ocean, weak, 4247

beyond his power, and his allotted span of old age.4248

He ordered me, with prayers, to seek you out, humbly, 4249

and approach your threshold: I ask you, kindly one,4250

pity both father and son: since you are all power, not for4251

nothing has Hecate set you to rule the groves of Avernus.4252

If Orpheus could summon the shade of his wife,4253

relying on his Thracian lyre, its melodious strings:4254

if Pollux, crossing that way, and returning, so often, 4255

could redeem his brother by dying in turn – and great Theseus,4256

what of him, or Hercules? – well, my race too is Jupiter’s on high.’4257

With these words he prayed, and grasped the altar,4258

as the priestess began to speak: ‘Trojan son of Anchises,4259

sprung from the blood of the gods, the path to hell is easy:4260

black Dis’s door is open night and day:4261

but to retrace your steps, and go out to the air above,4262

that is work, that is the task. Some sons of the gods have done it,4263

whom favouring Jupiter loved, or whom burning virtue4264

lifted to heaven. Woods cover all the middle part,4265

and Cocytus is round it, sliding in dark coils.4266

But if such desire is in your mind, such a longing4267

to sail the Stygian lake twice, and twice see Tartarus,4268

and if it delights you to indulge in insane effort,4269

listen to what you must first undertake. Hidden in a dark tree4270

is a golden bough, golden in leaves and pliant stem,4271

sacred to Persephone, the underworld’s Juno, all the groves4272

shroud it, and shadows enclose the secret valleys.4273

But only one who’s taken a gold-leaved fruit from the tree4274

is allowed to enter earth’s hidden places.4275

This lovely Proserpine has commanded to be brought to her4276

as a gift: a second fruit of gold never fails to appear 4277

when the first one’s picked, the twig’s leafed with the same metal.4278

So look for it up high, and when you’ve found it with your eyes,4279

take it, of right, in your hand: since, if the Fates have chosen you,4280

it will come away easily, freely of itself: otherwise you 4281

won’t conquer it by any force, or cut it with the sharpest steel.4282

And the inanimate body of your friend lies there4283

(Ah! You do not know) and taints your whole fleet with death,4284

while you seek advice and hang about our threshold.4285

Carry him first to his place and bury him in the tomb.4286

Lead black cattle there: let those be your first offerings of atonement.4287

Only then can you look on the Stygian groves, and the realms 4288

forbidden to the living.’ She spoke and with closed lips fell silent.4289

BkVI:156-182 The Finding of Misenus’s Body4290

Leaving the cave, Aeneas walked away, 4291

with sad face and downcast eyes, turning their dark fate4292

over in his mind. Loyal Achates walked at his side 4293

and fashioned his steps with similar concern. 4294

They engaged in intricate discussion between them,4295

as to who the dead friend, the body to be interred, was,4296

whom the priestess spoke of. And as they passed along4297

they saw Misenus, ruined by shameful death, on the dry sand,4298

Misenus, son of Aeolus, than whom none was more outstanding4299

in rousing men with the war-trumpet, kindling conflict with music.4300

He was great Hector’s friend: with Hector 4301

he went to battle, distinguished by his spear and trumpet.4302

When victorious Achilles despoiled Hector of life,4303

this most courageous hero joined the company4304

of Trojan Aeneas, serving no lesser a man. But when, 4305

by chance, he foolishly made the ocean sound4306

to a hollow conch-shell, and called gods to compete4307

in playing, if the tale can be believed, Triton overheard him4308

and drowned him in the foaming waves among the rocks.4309

So, with pious Aeneas to the fore, they all mourned 4310

round the body with loud clamour. Then, without delay, weeping,4311

they hurried to carry out the Sibyl’s orders, and laboured to pile4312

tree-trunks as a funeral pyre, raising it to the heavens.4313

They enter the ancient wood, the deep coverts of wild creatures: 4314

the pine-trees fell, the oaks rang to the blows of the axe,4315

ash trunks and fissile oak were split with wedges, 4316

and they rolled large rowan trees down from the hills.4317

BkVI:183-235 The Funeral Pyre4318

Aeneas was no less active in such efforts, encouraging4319

his companions, and employing similar tools.4320

And he turned things over in his own saddened mind,4321

gazing at the immense forest, and by chance prayed so:4322

‘If only that golden bough would show itself to us4323

now, on some such tree, among the woods! For the prophetess4324

spoke truly of you Misenus, alas, only too truly.’4325

He had barely spoken when by chance a pair of doves 4326

came flying down from the sky, beneath his very eyes,4327

and settled on the green grass. Then the great hero knew 4328

they were his mother’s birds, and prayed in his joy:4329

‘O be my guides, if there is some way, and steer a course4330

through the air, to that grove where the rich branch4331

casts its shadow on fertile soil. And you mother, O goddess,4332

don’t fail me in time of doubt.’ So saying he halted his footsteps,4333

observing what signs the doves might give, and which direction4334

they might take. As they fed they went forward in flight4335

just as far as, following, his eyes could keep them in sight.4336

Then, when they reached the foul jaws of stinking Avernus,4337

they quickly rose and, gliding through the clear air,4338

perched on the longed-for dual-natured tree, from which4339

the alien gleam of gold shone out, among the branches.4340

Just as mistletoe, that does not form a tree of its own,4341

grows in the woods in the cold of winter, with a foreign leaf, 4342

and surrounds a smooth trunk with yellow berries:4343

such was the vision of this leafy gold in the dark4344

oak-tree, so the foil tinkled in the light breeze.4345

Aeneas immediately plucked it, eagerly breaking the tough4346

bough, and carried it to the cave of the Sibylline prophetess.4347

Meanwhile, on the shore, the Trojans were weeping bitterly 4348

for Misenus and paying their last respects to his senseless ashes.4349

First they raised a huge pyre, heavy with cut oak and pine,4350

weaving the sides with dark foliage, set funereal cypress in front,4351

and decorated it above with shining weapons.4352

Some heated water, making the cauldrons boil on the flames,4353

and washed and anointed the chill corpse. They made lament.4354

Then, having wept, they placed his limbs on the couch,4355

and threw purple robes over them, his usual dress.4356

Some raised the great bier, a sad duty,4357

and, with averted faces, set a torch below, 4358

in ancestral fashion. Gifts were heaped on the flames,4359

of incense, foodstuffs, bowls brimming with olive-oil.4360

When the ashes collapsed, and the blaze died, they washed4361

the remains of the parched bones in wine, and Corynaeus,4362

collecting the fragments, closed them in a bronze urn.4363

Also he circled his comrades three times with pure water4364

to purify them, sprinkling fine dew from a full olive branch,4365

and spoke the words of parting. And virtuous Aeneas4366

heaped up a great mound for his tomb, with the hero’s4367

own weapons, his trumpet and oar, beneath a high mountain4368

which is called Misenus now after him, and preserves4369

his ever-living name throughout the ages.4370

BkVI:236-263 The Sacrifice to Hecate4371

This done, he quickly carried out the Sibyl’s orders.4372

There was a deep stony cave, huge and gaping wide,4373

sheltered by a dark lake and shadowy woods,4374

over which nothing could extend its wings in safe flight,4375

since such a breath flowed from those black jaws, 4376

and was carried to the over-arching sky, that the Greeks 4377

called it by the name Aornos, that is Avernus, or the Bird-less.4378

Here the priestess first of all tethered four black heifers,4379

poured wine over their foreheads, and placed 4380

the topmost bristles that she plucked, growing4381

between their horns, in the sacred fire, as a first offering,4382

calling aloud to Hecate, powerful in Heaven and Hell.4383

Others slit the victim’s throats and caught the warm blood4384

in bowls. Aeneas himself sacrificed a black-fleeced lamb4385

to Night, mother of the Furies, and Earth, her mighty sister,4386

and a barren heifer to you, Persephone.4387

Then he kindled the midnight altars for the Stygian King,4388

and placed whole carcasses of bulls on the flames,4389

pouring rich oil over the blazing entrails.4390

See now, at the dawn light of the rising sun,4391

the ground bellowed under their feet, the wooded hills began4392

to move, and, at the coming of the Goddess, dogs seemed to howl4393

in the shadows. ‘Away, stand far away, O you profane ones,’4394

the priestess cried, ‘absent yourselves from all this grove:4395

and you now, Aeneas, be on your way, and tear your sword4396

from the sheathe: you need courage, and a firm mind, now.’4397

So saying, she plunged wildly into the open cave:4398

he, fearlessly, kept pace with his vanishing guide.4399

BkVI:264-294 The Entrance to Hades4400

You gods, whose is the realm of spirits, and you, dumb shadows,4401

and Chaos, Phlegethon, wide silent places of the night, 4402

let me tell what I have heard: by your power, let me 4403

reveal things buried in the deep earth, and the darkness.4404

On they went, hidden in solitary night, through gloom,4405

through Dis’s empty halls, and insubstantial kingdom,4406

like a path through a wood, in the faint light 4407

under a wavering moon, when Jupiter has buried the sky4408

in shadow, and black night has stolen the colour from things.4409

Right before the entrance, in the very jaws of Orcus,4410

Grief and vengeful Care have made their beds,4411

and pallid Sickness lives there, and sad Old Age,4412

and Fear, and persuasive Hunger, and vile Need,4413

forms terrible to look on, and Death and Pain:4414

then Death’s brother Sleep, and Evil Pleasure of the mind,4415

and, on the threshold opposite, death-dealing War,4416

and the steel chambers of the Furies, and mad Discord,4417

her snaky hair entwined with blood-wet ribbons.4418

In the centre a vast shadowy elm spreads its aged trunks4419

and branches: the seat, they say, that false Dreams hold,4420

thronging, clinging beneath every leaf.4421

And many other monstrous shapes of varied creatures,4422

are stabled by the doors, Centaurs and bi-formed Scylla,4423

and hundred-armed Briareus, and the Lernean Hydra,4424

hissing fiercely, and the Chimaera armed with flame,4425

Gorgons, and Harpies, and the triple bodied shade, Geryon.4426

At this, trembling suddenly with terror, Aeneas grasped 4427

his sword, and set the naked blade against their approach:4428

and, if his knowing companion had not warned him4429

that these were tenuous bodiless lives flitting about4430

with a hollow semblance of form, he would have rushed at them,4431

and hacked at the shadows uselessly with his sword.4432

BkVI:295-336 The Shores of Acheron4433

From here there is a road that leads to the waters 4434

of Tartarean Acheron. Here thick with mud a whirlpool seethes 4435

in the vast depths, and spews all its sands into Cocytus.4436

A grim ferryman watches over the rivers and streams,4437

Charon, dreadful in his squalor, with a mass of unkempt4438

white hair straggling from his chin: flames glow in his eyes,4439

a dirty garment hangs, knotted from his shoulders.4440

He poles the boat and trims the sails himself,4441

and ferries the dead in his dark skiff,4442

old now, but a god’s old age is fresh and green.4443

Here all the crowd streams, hurrying to the shores,4444

women and men, the lifeless bodies of noble heroes,4445

boys and unmarried girls, sons laid on the pyre4446

in front of their father’s eyes: as many as the leaves that fall4447

in the woods at the first frost of autumn, as many as the birds4448

that flock to land from ocean deeps, when the cold of the year4449

drives them abroad and despatches them to sunnier countries.4450

They stood there, pleading to be first to make the crossing,4451

stretching out their hands in longing for the far shore.4452

But the dismal boatman accepts now these, now those,4453

but driving others away, keeps them far from the sand.4454

Then Aeneas, stirred and astonished at the tumult, said: 4455

‘O virgin, tell me, what does this crowding to the river mean?4456

What do the souls want? And by what criterion do these leave4457

the bank, and those sweep off with the oars on the leaden stream?4458

The ancient priestess spoke briefly to him, so:4459

‘Son of Anchises, true child of the gods, you see 4460

the deep pools of Cocytus, and the Marsh of Styx,4461

by whose name the gods fear to swear falsely.4462

All this crowd, you see, were destitute and unburied:4463

that ferryman is Charon: those the waves carry were buried:4464

he may not carry them from the fearful shore on the harsh waters4465

before their bones are at rest in the earth. They roam4466

for a hundred years and flit around these shores: only then4467

are they admitted, and revisit the pools they long for.’4468

The son of Anchises halted, and checked his footsteps,4469

thinking deeply, and pitying their sad fate in his heart.4470

He saw Leucaspis and Orontes, captain of the Lycian fleet,4471

there, grieving and lacking honour in death, whom a Southerly4472

overwhelmed, as they sailed together from Troy on the windswept 4473

waters, engulfing both the ship and crew in the waves.4474

BkVI:337-383 The Shade of Palinurus4475

Behold, there came the helmsman, Palinurus, 4476

who fell from the stern on the Libyan passage,4477

flung into the midst of the waves, as he watched the stars.4478

When Aeneas had recognised him with difficulty4479

sorrowing among the deep shadows, he spoke first, saying:4480

‘What god tore you from us, Palinurus, and drowned you 4481

mid-ocean? For in this one prophecy Apollo has misled me,4482

he whom I never found false before, he said that you would be safe4483

at sea and reach Ausonia’s shores. Is this the truth of his promise?’ 4484

But he replied: ‘Phoebus’s tripod did not fail you, Anchises,4485

my captain, nor did a god drown me in the deep.4486

By chance the helm was torn from me with violence,4487

as I clung there, on duty as ordered, steering our course,4488

and I dragged it headlong with me. I swear by the cruel sea4489

that I feared less for myself than for your ship,4490

lest robbed of its gear, and cleared of its helmsman,4491

it might founder among such surging waves.4492

The Southerly drove me violently through the vast seas4493

for three stormy nights: high on the crest of a wave,4494

in the fourth dawn, I could just make out Italy.4495

Gradually I swam to shore: grasped now at safety,4496

but as I caught at the sharp tips of the rocks, weighed down4497

by my water-soaked clothes, the savage people4498

attacked me with knives, ignorantly thinking me a prize.4499

Now the waves have me, and the winds roll me along the shore.4500

Unconquered one, I beg you, by the sweet light and air of heaven,4501

by your father, and your hopes in Iulus to come,4502

save me from this evil: either find Velia’s harbour again4503

(for you can) and sprinkle earth on me, or if there is some way,4504

if your divine mother shows you one (since you’d not attempt to sail4505

such waters, and the Stygian marsh, without a god’s will, I think)4506

then give this wretch your hand and take me with you through the waves4507

that at least I might rest in some quiet place in death.’4508

So he spoke, and the priestess began to reply like this:4509

‘Where does this dire longing of yours come from, O Palinurus?4510

Can you see the Stygian waters, unburied, or the grim 4511

river of the Furies, Cocytus, or come unasked to the shore?4512

Cease to hope that divine fate can be tempered by prayer.4513

But hold my words in your memory, as a comfort in your hardship: 4514

the nearby peoples, from cities far and wide, will be moved 4515

by divine omens to worship your bones, and build a tomb, 4516

and send offerings to the tomb, and the place will have4517

Palinurus as its everlasting name.’ His anxiety was quelled 4518

by her words, and, for a little while, grief was banished 4519

from his sad heart: he delighted in the land being so named.4520

BkVI:384-416 Charon the Ferryman4521

So they pursued their former journey, and drew near the river.4522

Now when the Boatman saw them from the Stygian wave4523

walking through the silent wood, and directing their footsteps4524

towards its bank, he attacked them verbally, first, and unprompted,4525

rebuking them: ‘Whoever you are, who come armed to my river,4526

tell me, from over there, why you’re here, and halt your steps.4527

This is a place of shadows, of Sleep and drowsy Night:4528

I’m not allowed to carry living bodies in the Stygian boat.4529

Truly it was no pleasure for me to take Hercules on his journey4530

over the lake, nor Theseus and Pirithous, though they may4531

have been children of gods, unrivalled in strength.4532

The first came for Cerberus the watchdog of Tartarus,4533

and dragged him away quivering from under the king’s throne:4534

the others were after snatching our Queen from Dis’s chamber.’4535

To this the prophetess of Amphrysian Apollo briefly answered:4536

‘There’s no such trickery here (don’t be disturbed),4537

our weapons offer no affront: your huge guard-dog 4538

can terrify the bloodless shades with his eternal howling:4539

chaste Proserpine can keep to her uncle’s threshold.4540

Aeneas the Trojan, renowned in piety and warfare,4541

goes down to the deepest shadows of Erebus, to his father.4542

If the idea of such affection does not move you, still you 4543

must recognise this bough.’ (She showed the branch, hidden 4544

in her robes.) Then the anger in his swollen breast subsided. 4545

No more was said. Marvelling at the revered offering,4546

of fateful twigs, seen again after so long, he turned the stern4547

of the dark skiff towards them and neared the bank. 4548

Then he turned off the other souls who sat on the long benches,4549

cleared the gangways: and received mighty Aeneas 4550

on board. The seamed skiff groaned with the weight4551

and let in quantities of marsh-water through the chinks.4552

At last, the river crossed, he landed the prophetess and the hero4553

safe, on the unstable mud, among the blue-grey sedge.4554

BkVI:417-439 Beyond the Acheron4555

Huge Cerberus sets these regions echoing with his triple-throated 4556

howling, crouching monstrously in a cave opposite.4557

Seeing the snakes rearing round his neck, the prophetess4558

threw him a pellet, a soporific of honey and drugged wheat.4559

Opening his three throats, in rabid hunger, he seized 4560

what she threw and, flexing his massive spine, sank to earth 4561

spreading his giant bulk over the whole cave-floor.4562

With the guard unconscious Aeneas won to the entrance,4563

and quickly escaped the bank of the river of no return.4564

Immediately a loud crying of voices was heard, the spirits4565

of weeping infants, whom a dark day stole at the first4566

threshold of this sweet life, those chosen to be torn 4567

from the breast, and drowned in bitter death.4568

Nearby are those condemned to die on false charges.4569

Yet their place is not ordained without the allotted jury:4570

Minos, the judge, shakes the urn: he convenes the voiceless court,4571

and hears their lives and sins. Then the next place 4572

is held by those gloomy spirits who, innocent of crime, 4573

died by their own hand, and, hating the light, threw away4574

their lives. How willingly now they’d endure4575

poverty and harsh suffering, in the air above!4576

Divine Law prevents it, and the sad marsh and its hateful4577

waters binds them, and nine-fold Styx confines them.4578

BkVI:440-476 The Shade of Dido4579

Not far from there the Fields of Mourning are revealed,4580

spread out on all sides: so they name them.4581

There, those whom harsh love devours with cruel pining4582

are concealed in secret walkways, encircled by a myrtle grove:4583

even in death their troubles do not leave them.4584

Here Aeneas saw Phaedra, and Procris, and sad Eriphyle,4585

displaying the wounds made by her cruel son,4586

Evadne, and Pasiphae: with them walked Laodamia,4587

and Caeneus, now a woman, once a young man,4588

returned by her fate to her own form again.4589

Among them Phoenician Dido wandered, in the great wood,4590

her wound still fresh. As soon as the Trojan hero stood near her4591

and knew her, shadowy among the shadows, like a man who sees,4592

or thinks he sees, the new moon rising through a cloud, as its month 4593

begins, he wept tears and spoke to her with tender affection:4594

‘Dido, unhappy spirit, was the news, that came to me 4595

of your death, true then, taking your life with a blade? 4596

Alas, was I the cause of your dying? I swear by the stars, 4597

by the gods above, by whatever truth may be in the depths4598

of the earth, I left your shores unwillingly, my queen.4599

I was commanded by gods, who drove me by their decrees,4600

that now force me to go among the shades, through places4601

thorny with neglect, and deepest night: nor did I think 4602

my leaving there would ever bring such grief to you.4603

Halt your footsteps and do not take yourself from my sight. 4604

What do you flee? This is the last speech with you that fate allows.’4605

With such words Aeneas would have calmed4606

her fiery spirit and wild looks, and provoked her tears.4607

She turned away, her eyes fixed on the ground,4608

no more altered in expression by the speech he had begun4609

than if hard flint stood there, or a cliff of Parian marble.4610

At the last she tore herself away, and, hostile to him,4611

fled to the shadowy grove where Sychaeus, her husband4612

in former times, responded to her suffering, and gave her4613

love for love. Aeneas, no less shaken by the injustice of fate,4614

followed her, far off, with his tears, and pitied her as she went.4615

BkVI:477-534 The Shade of Deiphobus4616

From there he laboured on the way that was granted them. 4617

And soon they reached the most distant fields,4618

the remote places where those famous in war4619

crowd together. Here Tydeus met him, Parthenopaeus4620

glorious in arms, and the pale form of Adrastus:4621

here were the Trojans, wept for deeply above, fallen in war,4622

whom, seeing them all in their long ranks, he groaned at,4623

Glaucus, Medon and Thersilochus, the three sons of Antenor,4624

Polyboetes, the priest of Ceres, and Idaeus4625

still with his chariot, and his weapons. 4626

The spirits stand there in crowds to left and right.4627

They are not satisfied with seeing him only once:4628

they delight in lingering on, walking beside him,4629

and learning the reason for his coming.4630

But the Greek princes and Agamemnon’s phalanxes,4631

trembled with great fear, when they saw the hero,4632

and his gleaming weapons, among the shades:4633

some turned to run, as they once sought their ships: some raised4634

a faint cry, the noise they made belying their gaping mouths.4635

And he saw Deiphobus there, Priam’s son, his whole body4636

mutilated, his face brutally torn, his face and hands both, the ears4637

ripped from his ruined head, his nostrils sheared by an ugly wound.4638

Indeed Aeneas barely recognised the quivering form, hiding its dire4639

punishment, even as he called to him, unprompted, in familiar tones: 4640

‘Deiphobus, powerful in war, born of Teucer’s noble blood,4641

who chose to work such brutal punishment on you?4642

Who was allowed to treat you so? Rumour has it 4643

that on that final night, wearied by endless killing of Greeks,4644

you sank down on a pile of the slaughtered.4645

Then I set up an empty tomb on the Rhoetean shore,4646

and called on your spirit three times in a loud voice.4647

Your name and weapons watch over the site: I could not 4648

see you, friend, to set you, as I left, in your native soil.’4649

To this Priam’s son replied: ‘O my friend, you’ve neglected4650

nothing: you’ve paid all that’s due to Deiophobus4651

and a dead man’s spirit. My own destiny, 4652

and that Spartan woman’s deadly crime, drowned me4653

in these sorrows: she left me these memorials.4654

You know how we passed that last night in illusory joy:4655

and you must remember it only too well.4656

When the fateful Horse came leaping the walls of Troy,4657

pregnant with the armed warriors it carried in its womb,4658

she led the Trojan women about, wailing in dance,4659

aping the Bacchic rites: she held a huge torch in their midst,4660

signalling to the Greeks from the heights of the citadel.4661

I was then in our unlucky marriage-chamber, worn out with care,4662

and heavy with sleep, a sweet deep slumber weighing on me4663

as I lay there, the very semblance of peaceful death.4664

Meanwhile that illustrious wife of mine removed every weapon4665

from the house, even stealing my faithful sword from under my head:4666

she calls Menelaus into the house and throws open the doors,4667

hoping I suppose it would prove a great gift for her lover,4668

and in that way the infamy of her past sins might be erased.4669

Why drag out the tale? They burst into the room, and with them4670

Ulysses the Aeolid, their co-inciter to wickedness. Gods, so repay4671

the Greeks, if these lips I pray for vengeance with are virtuous. 4672

But you, in turn, tell what fate has brought you here, living.4673

Do you come here, driven by your wandering on the sea,4674

or exhorted by the gods? If not, what misfortune torments you,4675

that you enter these sad sunless houses, this troubled place?’4676

BkVI:535-627 The Sibyl Describes Tartarus4677

While they spoke Aurora and her rosy chariot had passed 4678

the zenith of her ethereal path, and they might perhaps4679

have spent all the time allowed in such talk, but the Sibyl,4680

his companion, warned him briefly saying: 4681

‘Night approaches, Aeneas: we waste the hours with weeping.4682

This is the place where the path splits itself in two:4683

there on the right is our road to Elysium, that runs beneath4684

the walls of mighty Dis: but the left works punishment4685

on the wicked, and sends them on to godless Tartarus.’4686

Deiophobus replied: ‘Do not be angry, great priestess:4687

I will leave: I will make up the numbers, and return to the darkness.4688

Go now glory of our race: enjoy a better fate.’4689

So he spoke, and in speaking turned away.4690

Aeneas suddenly looked back, and, below the left hand cliff,4691

he saw wide battlements, surrounded by a triple wall,4692

and encircled by a swift river of red-hot flames,4693

the Tartarean Phlegethon, churning with echoing rocks.4694

A gate fronts it, vast, with pillars of solid steel,4695

that no human force, not the heavenly gods themselves,4696

can overturn by war: an iron tower rises into the air,4697

and seated before it, Tisiphone, clothed in a blood-wet dress,4698

keeps guard of the doorway, sleeplessly, night and day.4699

Groans came from there, and the cruel sound of the lash,4700

then the clank of iron, and dragging chains.4701

Aeneas halted, and stood rooted, terrified by the noise.4702

‘What evil is practised here? O Virgin, tell me: by what torments4703

are they oppressed? Why are there such sounds in the air?’4704

Then the prophetess began to speak as follows: ‘Famous leader4705

of the Trojans, it is forbidden for the pure to cross the evil threshold:4706

but when Hecate appointed me to the wood of Avernus,4707

she taught me the divine torments, and guided me through them all.4708

Cretan Rhadamanthus rules this harshest of kingdoms,4709

and hears their guilt, extracts confessions, and punishes 4710

whoever has deferred atonement for their sins too long4711

till death, delighting in useless concealment, in the world above.4712

Tisiphone the avenger, armed with her whip, leaps on the guilty immediately, lashes them, and threatening them with the fierce4713

snakes in her left hand, calls to her savage troop of sisters.4714

Then at last the accursed doors open, screeching on jarring hinges. 4715

You comprehend what guardian sits at the door, what shape watches 4716

the threshold? Well still fiercer is the monstrous Hydra inside, 4717

with her fifty black gaping jaws. There Tartarus itself 4718

falls sheer, and stretches down into the darkness:4719

twice as far as we gaze upwards to heavenly Olympus.4720

Here the Titanic race, the ancient sons of Earth,4721

hurled down by the lightning-bolt, writhe in the depths.4722

And here I saw the two sons of Aloeus, giant forms,4723

who tried to tear down the heavens with their hands,4724

and topple Jupiter from his high kingdom.4725

And I saw Salmoneus paying a savage penalty4726

for imitating Jove’s lightning, and the Olympian thunder.4727

Brandishing a torch, and drawn by four horses4728

he rode in triumph among the Greeks, through Elis’s city,4729

claiming the gods’ honours as his own, a fool,4730

who mimicked the storm-clouds and the inimitable thunderbolt4731

with bronze cymbals and the sound of horses’ hoof-beats.4732

But the all-powerful father hurled his lighting from dense cloud,4733

not for him fiery torches, or pine-branches’ smoky light4734

and drove him headlong with the mighty whirlwind.4735

And Tityus was to be seen as well, the foster-child4736

of Earth, our universal mother, whose body stretches4737

over nine acres, and a great vulture with hooked beak4738

feeds on his indestructible liver, and his entrails ripe4739

for punishment, lodged deep inside the chest, groping 4740

for his feast, no respite given to the ever-renewing tissue.4741

Shall I speak of the Lapiths, Ixion, Pirithous,4742

over whom hangs a dark crag that seems to slip and fall?4743

High couches for their feast gleam with golden frames,4744

and a banquet of royal luxury is spread before their eyes: 4745

nearby the eldest Fury, crouching, prevents their fingers touching4746

the table: rising up, and brandishing her torch, with a voice of thunder.4747

Here are those who hated their brothers, in life, 4748

or struck a parent, or contrived to defraud a client, 4749

or who crouched alone over the riches they’d made,4750

without setting any aside for their kin (their crowd is largest),4751

those who were killed for adultery, or pursued civil war,4752

not fearing to break their pledges to their masters:4753

shut in they see their punishment. Don’t ask to know4754

that punishment, or what kind of suffering drowns them.4755

Some roll huge stones, or hang spread-eagled 4756

on wheel-spokes: wretched Theseus sits still, and will sit4757

for eternity: Phlegyas, the most unfortunate, warns them all4758

and bears witness in a loud voice among the shades:4759

“Learn justice: be warned, and don’t despise the gods.”4760

Here’s one who sold his country for gold, and set up4761

a despotic lord: this one made law and remade it for a price:4762

he entered his daughter’s bed and a forbidden marriage:4763

all of them dared monstrous sin, and did what they dared.4764

Not if I had a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths,4765

a voice of iron, could I tell all the forms of wickedness4766

or spell out the names of every torment.’4767

BkVI:628-678 The Fields of Elysium4768

When she had spoken of this, the aged priestess of Apollo said:4769

‘But come now, travel the road, and complete the task set for you:4770

let us hurry, I see the battlements that were forged 4771

in the Cyclopean fires, and the gates in the arch opposite us4772

where we are told to set down the gifts as ordered.’4773

She spoke and keeping step they hastened along the dark path4774

crossing the space between and arriving near the doors.4775

Aeneas gained the entrance, sprinkled fresh water4776

over his body, and set up the branch on the threshold before him.4777

Having at last achieved this, the goddess’s task fulfilled,4778

they came to the pleasant places, the delightful grassy turf4779

of the Fortunate Groves, and the homes of the blessed.4780

Here freer air and radiant light clothe the plain,4781

and these have their own sun, and their own stars.4782

Some exercise their bodies in a grassy gymnasium,4783

compete in sports and wrestle on the yellow sand:4784

others tread out the steps of a dance, and sing songs.4785

There Orpheus too, the long-robed priest of Thrace,4786

accompanies their voices with the seven-note scale,4787

playing now with fingers, now with the ivory quill.4788

Here are Teucer’s ancient people, loveliest of children,4789

great-hearted heroes, born in happier years,4790

Ilus, Assaracus, and Dardanus founder of Troy.4791

Aeneas marvels from a distance at their idle chariots4792

and their weapons: their spears fixed in the ground,4793

and their horses scattered freely browsing over the plain:4794

the pleasure they took in chariots and armour while alive,4795

the care in tending shining horses, follows them below the earth.4796

Look, he sees others on the grass to right and left, feasting, 4797

and singing a joyful paean in chorus, among the fragrant 4798

groves of laurel, out of which the Eridanus’s broad river 4799

flows through the woodlands to the world above.4800

Here is the company of those who suffered wounds fighting4801

for their country: and those who were pure priests, while they lived, 4802

and those who were faithful poets, singers worthy of Apollo, 4803

and those who improved life, with discoveries in Art or Science,4804

and those who by merit caused others to remember them:4805

the brows of all these were bound with white headbands.4806

As they crowded round, the Sibyl addressed them,4807

Musaeus above all: since he holds the centre of the vast crowd, 4808

all looking up to him, his tall shoulders towering above:4809

‘Blessed spirits, and you, greatest of Poets, 4810

say what region or place contains Anchises. We have 4811

come here, crossing the great rivers of Erebus, for him.’4812

And the hero replied to her briefly in these words:4813

‘None of us have a fixed abode: we live in the shadowy woods,4814

and make couches of river-banks, and inhabit fresh-water meadows.4815

But climb this ridge, if your hearts-wish so inclines,4816

and I will soon set you on an easy path.’4817

He spoke and went on before them, and showed them4818

the bright plains below: then they left the mountain heights.4819

BkVI:679-702 The Meeting with Anchises4820

But deep in a green valley his father Anchises 4821

was surveying the spirits enclosed there, destined4822

for the light above, thinking carefully, and was reviewing4823

as it chanced the numbers of his own folk, his dear grandsons,4824

and their fate and fortunes as men, and their ways and works.4825

And when he saw Aeneas heading towards him over the grass4826

he stretched out both his hands eagerly, his face4827

streaming with tears, and a cry issued from his lips:4828

‘Have you come at last, and has the loyalty your father expected4829

conquered the harsh road? Is it granted me to see your face, 4830

my son, and hear and speak in familiar tones?4831

I calculated it in my mind, and thought it would be so,4832

counting off the hours, nor has my trouble failed me.4833

From travel over what lands and seas, do I receive you!4834

What dangers have hurled you about, my son!4835

How I feared the realms of Libya might harm you!’4836

He answered: ‘Father, your image, yours, appearing to me4837

so often, drove me to reach this threshold:4838

My ships ride the Etruscan waves. Father, let me clasp4839

your hand, let me, and do not draw away from my embrace.’4840

So speaking, his face was also drowned in a flood of tears.4841

Three times he tries to throw his arms round his father’s neck,4842

three times, clasped in vain, that semblance slips though his hands,4843

like the light breeze, most of all like a winged dream.4844

BkVI:703-723 The Souls Due for Re-birth4845

And now Aeneas saw a secluded grove 4846

in a receding valley, with rustling woodland thickets,4847

and the river of Lethe gliding past those peaceful places.4848

Innumerable tribes and peoples hovered round it:4849

just as, in the meadows, on a cloudless summer’s day, 4850

the bees settle on the multifarious flowers, and stream4851

round the bright lilies, and all the fields hum with their buzzing.4852

Aeneas was thrilled by the sudden sight, and, in ignorance,4853

asked the cause: what the river is in the distance,4854

who the men are crowding the banks in such numbers.4855

Then his father Anchises answered: ‘They are spirits, 4856

owed a second body by destiny, and they drink4857

the happy waters, and a last forgetting, at Lethe’s stream.4858

Indeed, for a long time I’ve wished to tell you of them,4859

and show you them face to face, to enumerate my children’s4860

descendants, so you might joy with me more at finding Italy.’4861

‘O father, is it to be thought that any spirits go from here4862

to the sky above, returning again to dull matter?’4863

‘Indeed I’ll tell you, son, not keep you in doubt,’4864

Anchises answered, and revealed each thing in order.4865

BkVI:724-751 The Transmigration of Souls4866

‘Firstly, a spirit within them nourishes the sky and earth,4867

the watery plains, the shining orb of the moon, 4868

and Titan’s star, and Mind, flowing through matter,4869

vivifies the whole mass, and mingles with its vast frame.4870

From it come the species of man and beast, and winged lives,4871

and the monsters the sea contains beneath its marbled waves.4872

The power of those seeds is fiery, and their origin divine,4873

so long as harmful matter doesn’t impede them4874

and terrestrial bodies and mortal limbs don’t dull them.4875

Through those they fear and desire, and grieve and joy,4876

and enclosed in night and a dark dungeon, can’t see the light.4877

Why, when life leaves them at the final hour,4878

still all of the evil, all the plagues of the flesh, alas,4879

have not completely vanished, and many things, long hardened4880

deep within, must of necessity be ingrained, in strange ways.4881

So they are scourged by torments, and pay the price 4882

for former sins: some are hung, stretched out, 4883

to the hollow winds, the taint of wickedness is cleansed4884

for others in vast gulfs, or burned away with fire:4885

each spirit suffers its own: then we are sent4886

through wide Elysium, and we few stay in the joyous fields,4887

for a length of days, till the cycle of time, 4888

complete, removes the hardened stain, and leaves 4889

pure ethereal thought, and the brightness of natural air.4890

All these others the god calls in a great crowd to the river Lethe,4891

after they have turned the wheel for a thousand years, 4892

so that, truly forgetting, they can revisit the vault above,4893

and begin with a desire to return to the flesh.’4894

BkVI:752-776 The Future Race – The Alban Kings4895

Anchises had spoken, and he drew the Sibyl and his son, both4896

together, into the middle of the gathering and the murmuring crowd,4897

and chose a hill from which he could see all the long ranks 4898

opposite, and watch their faces as they came by him.4899

‘Come, I will now explain what glory will pursue the children4900

of Dardanus, what descendants await you of the Italian race,4901

illustrious spirits to march onwards in our name, and I will teach4902

you your destiny. See that boy, who leans on a headless spear,4903

he is fated to hold a place nearest the light, first to rise 4904

to the upper air, sharing Italian blood, Silvius, of Alban name,4905

your last-born son, who your wife Lavinia, late in your old age,4906

will give birth to in the wood, a king and the father of kings,4907

through whom our race will rule in Alba Longa.4908

Next to him is Procas, glory of the Trojan people,4909

and Capys and Numitor, and he who’ll revive your name,4910

Silvius Aeneas, outstanding like you in virtue and arms,4911

if he might at last achieve the Alban throne. 4912

What men! See what authority they display, 4913

their foreheads shaded by the civic oak-leaf crown!4914

They will build Nomentum, Gabii, and Fidenae’s city:4915

Collatia’s fortress in the hills, Pometii 4916

and the Fort of Inus, and Bola, and Cora.4917

Those will be names that are now nameless land.4918

BkVI:777-807 The Future Race – Romulus and the Caesars4919

Yes, and a child of Mars will join his grandfather to accompany him,4920

Romulus, whom his mother Ilia will bear, of Assaracus’s line. 4921

See how Mars’s twin plumes stand on his crest, and his father 4922

marks him out for the world above with his own emblems?4923

Behold, my son, under his command glorious Rome 4924

will match earth’s power and heaven’s will, and encircle 4925

seven hills with a single wall, happy in her race of men: 4926

as Cybele, the Berecynthian ‘Great Mother’, crowned 4927

with turrets, rides through the Phrygian cities, delighting4928

in her divine children, clasping a hundred descendants, 4929

all gods, all dwelling in the heights above.4930

Now direct your eyes here, gaze at this people,4931

your own Romans. Here is Caesar, and all the offspring4932

of Iulus destined to live under the pole of heaven.4933

This is the man, this is him, whom you so often hear4934

promised you, Augustus Caesar, son of the Deified, 4935

who will make a Golden Age again in the fields4936

where Saturn once reigned, and extend the empire beyond4937

the Libyans and the Indians (to a land that lies outside the zodiac’s belt,4938

beyond the sun’s ecliptic and the year’s, where sky-carrying Atlas4939

turns the sphere, inset with gleaming stars, on his shoulders):4940

Even now the Caspian realms, and Maeotian earth, 4941

tremble at divine prophecies of his coming, and 4942

the restless mouths of the seven-branched Nile are troubled.4943

Truly, Hercules never crossed so much of the earth,4944

though he shot the bronze-footed Arcadian deer, brought peace4945

to the woods of Erymanthus, made Lerna tremble at his bow:4946

nor did Bacchus, who steers his chariot, in triumph, with reins 4947

made of vines, guiding his tigers down from Nysa’s high peak.4948

Do we really hesitate still to extend our power by our actions,4949

and does fear prevent us settling the Italian lands? 4950

BkVI:808-853 The Future Race – Republic and Beyond4951

Who is he, though, over there, distinguished by his olive branches,4952

carrying offerings? I know the hair and the white-bearded chin4953

of a king of Rome, Numa, called to supreme authority 4954

from little Cures’s poverty-stricken earth, who will secure4955

our first city under the rule of law. Then Tullus 4956

will succeed him who will shatter the country’s peace, 4957

and call to arms sedentary men, ranks now unused to triumphs.4958

The over-boastful Ancus follows him closely, 4959

delighting too much even now in the people’s opinion.4960

Will you look too at Tarquin’s dynasty, and the proud spirit4961

of Brutus the avenger, the rods of office reclaimed?4962

He’ll be the first to win a consul’s powers and the savage axes,4963

and when the sons foment a new civil war, the father4964

will call them to account, for lovely freedom’s sake:4965

ah, to be pitied, whatever posterity says of his actions:4966

his love of country will prevail, and great appetite for glory. 4967

Ah, see over there, the Decii and Drusi, and Torquatus4968

brutal with the axe, and Camillus rescuing the standards.4969

But those others, you can discern, shining in matching armour,4970

souls in harmony now, while they are cloaked in darkness,4971

ah, if they reach the light of the living, what civil war4972

what battle and slaughter, they’ll cause, Julius Caesar,4973

the father-in-law, down from the Alpine ramparts, from the fortress4974

of Monoecus: Pompey, the son-in-law, opposing with Eastern forces.4975

My sons, don’t inure your spirits to such wars,4976

never turn the powerful forces of your country on itself:4977

You be the first to halt, you, who derive your race from heaven:4978

hurl the sword from your hand, who are of my blood!4979

There’s Mummius: triumphing over Corinth, he’ll drive his chariot,4980

victorious, to the high Capitol, famed for the Greeks he’s killed:4981

and Aemilius Paulus, who, avenging his Trojan ancestors, and Minerva’s4982

desecrated shrine, will destroy Agamemnon’s Mycenae, and Argos, 4983

and Perseus the Aeacid himself, descendant of war-mighty Achilles.4984

Who would pass over you in silence, great Cato, or you Cossus,4985

or the Gracchus’s race, or the two Scipios, war’s lightning bolts,4986

the scourges of Libya, or you Fabricius, powerful in poverty,4987

or you, Regulus Serranus, sowing your furrow with seed?4988

Fabii, where do you hurry my weary steps? You, Fabius 4989

Maximus, the Delayer, are he who alone renew our State.4990

Others (I can well believe) will hammer out bronze that breathes4991

with more delicacy than us, draw out living features 4992

from the marble: plead their causes better, trace with instruments4993

the movement of the skies, and tell the rising of the constellations:4994

remember, Roman, it is for you to rule the nations with your power,4995

(that will be your skill) to crown peace with law,4996

to spare the conquered, and subdue the proud.’4997

BkVI:854-885 The Future Race – Marcellus4998

So father Anchises spoke, and while they marvelled, added:4999

‘See, how Claudius Marcellus, distinguished by the Supreme Prize,5000

comes forward, and towers, victorious, over other men.5001

As a knight, he’ll support the Roman State, turbulent5002

with fierce confusion, strike the Cathaginians and rebellious Gauls,5003

and dedicate captured weapons, a third time, to father Quirinus.’5004

And, at this, Aeneas said (since he saw a youth of outstanding5005

beauty with shining armour, walking with Marcellus,5006

but his face lacking in joy, and his eyes downcast):5007

‘Father, who is this who accompanies him on his way?5008

His son: or another of his long line of descendants?5009

What murmuring round them! What presence he has!5010

But dark night, with its sad shadows, hovers round his head.’5011

Then his father Aeneas, with welling tears, replied:5012

‘O, do not ask about your people’s great sorrow, my son.5013

The Fates will only show him to the world, not allow him5014

to stay longer. The Roman people would seem5015

too powerful to you gods, if this gift were lasting.5016

What mourning from mankind that Field of Mars will 5017

deliver to the mighty city! And what funeral processions5018

you, Tiber, will see, as you glide past his new-made tomb!5019

No boy of the line of Ilius shall so exalt his Latin 5020

ancestors by his show of promise, nor will Romulus’s5021

land ever take more pride in one of its sons.5022

Alas for virtue, alas for the honour of ancient times, 5023

and a hand invincible in war! No one might have attacked him5024

safely when armed, whether he met the enemy on foot,5025

or dug his spurs into the flank of his foaming charger.5026

Ah, boy to be pitied, if only you may shatter harsh fate,5027

you’ll be a Marcellus! Give me handfuls of white lilies,5028

let me scatter radiant flowers, let me load my scion’s spirit5029

with those gifts at least, in discharging that poor duty.’5030

BkVI:886-901 The Gates of Sleep5031

So they wander here and there through the whole region,5032

over the wide airy plain, and gaze at everything.5033

And when Anchises has led his son through each place,5034

and inflamed his spirit with love of the glory that is to come,5035

he tells him then of the wars he must soon fight,5036

and teaches him about the Laurentine peoples,5037

and the city of Latinus, and how to avoid or face each trial.5038

There are two gates of Sleep: one of which is said to be of horn,5039

through which an easy passage is given to true shades, the other5040

gleams with the whiteness of polished ivory, but through it5041

the Gods of the Dead send false dreams to the world above.5042

After his words, Anchises accompanies his son there, and,5043

frees him, together with the Sibyl, through the ivory gate.5044

Aeneas makes his way to the ships and rejoins his friends:5045

then coasts straight to Caieta’s harbour along the shore.5046

The anchors are thrown from the prows: on the shore the sterns rest. 5047

BkVII:1-36 The Trojans Reach the Tiber5048

Caieta, Aeneas’s nurse, you too have granted 5049

eternal fame to our shores in dying: 5050

tributes still protect your grave, and your name5051

marks your bones in great Hesperia, if that is glory.5052

Now, as soon as the open sea was calm, having paid 5053

the last rites due to custom, and raised a funeral mound,5054

Aeneas the good left the harbour and sailed on his way.5055

The breezes blew through the night, and a radiant moon was no5056

inhibitor to their voyage, the sea gleaming in the tremulous light.5057

The next shores they touched were Circe’s lands,5058

where that rich daughter of the sun makes the hidden groves5059

echo with continual chanting, and burns fragrant cedar5060

for nocturnal light in her proud palace, as she sets5061

her melodious shuttle running through the fine warp.5062

From there the angry roar of lions could be heard,5063

chafing at their ropes, and sounding late into the night,5064

and the rage of bristling wild-boars, and caged bears,5065

and the howling shapes of huge wolves,5066

whom Circe, cruel goddess, had altered from human appearance 5067

to the features and forms of creatures, using powerful herbs.5068

But Neptune filled their sails with following winds, so that5069

Troy’s virtuous race should not suffer so monstrous a fate5070

entering the harbour, and disembarking on that fatal shore,5071

and carried them past the boiling shallows, granting them escape.5072

Now the sea was reddening with the sun’s rays, and saffron Aurora5073

in her rose-coloured chariot, shone from the heights of heaven,5074

when the winds dropped and every breeze suddenly fell away,5075

and the oars laboured slowly in the water. At this moment,5076

gazing from the sea, Aeneas saw a vast forest. Through it 5077

the Tiber’s lovely river, with swirling eddies full of golden sand,5078

bursts to the ocean. Countless birds, around and above,5079

that haunt the banks and streams, were delighting 5080

the heavens with their song and flying through the groves.5081

He ordered his friends to change course and turn their prows5082

towards land, and joyfully entered the shaded river.5083

BkVII:37-106 King Latinus and the Oracle5084

Come now, Erato, and I’ll tell of the kings, the times, 5085

the state of ancient Latium, when that foreign5086

troop first landed on Ausonia’s shores, and I’ll recall5087

the first fighting from its very beginning. You goddess, 5088

you must prompt your poet. I’ll tell of brutal war,5089

I’ll tell of battle action, and princes driven to death 5090

by their courage, of Trojan armies, and all of Hesperia5091

forced to take up arms. A greater order of things5092

is being born, greater is the work that I attempt.5093

King Latinus, now old in years, ruled fields5094

and towns, in the tranquillity of lasting peace.5095

We hear he was the child of Faunus and the Laurentine5096

nymph, Marica. Faunus’s father was Pictus, and he boasts5097

you, Saturn, as his, you the first founder of the line.5098

By divine decree, Latinus had no male heir, his son 5099

having been snatched from him in the dawn of first youth.5100

There was only a daughter to keep house in so noble a palace,5101

now ready for a husband, now old enough to be a bride.5102

Many sought her hand, from wide Latium and all Ausonia,5103

Turnus above all, the most handsome, of powerful ancestry,5104

whom the queen hastened to link to her as her son-in-law5105

with wonderful affection. But divine omens, with their many5106

terrors, prevented it. There was a laurel, with sacred leaves, 5107

in the high inner court in the middle of the palace, 5108

that had been guarded with reverence for many years.5109

It was said that Lord Latinus himself had discovered it,5110

when he first built his fortress, and dedicated it to Apollo,5111

and from it had named the settlers Laurentines.5112

A dense cloud of bees (marvellous to tell) borne5113

through the clear air, with a mighty humming,5114

settled in the very top of the tree, and hung there,5115

their feet all tangled together, in a sudden swarm.5116

Immediately the prophet cried: ‘I see a foreign hero,5117

approaching, and, from a like direction, an army5118

seeks this same place, to rule from the high citadel.’5119

Then as he lit the altars with fresh pine torches,5120

as virgin Lavinia stood there next to her father5121

she seemed (horror!) to catch the fire in her long tresses,5122

and all her finery to burn in crackling flame, her royally5123

dressed tresses set alight, her crown alight, remarkable5124

for its jewels: then wreathed in smoke and yellow light,5125

she seemed to scatter sparks through all the palace.5126

Truly it was talked of as a shocking and miraculous sight:5127

for they foretold she would be bright with fame and fortune,5128

but it signified a great war for her people.5129

Then the king, troubled by the wonder, visited the oracle5130

of Faunus, his far-speaking father, and consulted the groves5131

below high Albunea, mightiest of forests, that echoed5132

with the sacred fountain, and breathed a deadly vapour from the dark.5133

The people of Italy, and all the Oenotrian lands, sought answers5134

to their doubts, from that place: when the priest brought5135

offerings there, and, found sleep, in the silent night, lying5136

on spread fleeces of sacrificed sheep, he saw there many ghosts5137

flitting in marvellous forms, and heard various voices, had speech5138

with the gods, and talked with Acheron, in the depths of Avernus.5139

And here the king, Latinus, himself seeking an answer,5140

slaughtered a hundred woolly sheep according to the rite,5141

and lay there supported by their skins and woolly fleeces:5142

Suddenly a voice emerged from the deep wood:5143

‘O my son, don’t try to ally your daughter in a Latin marriage,5144

don’t place your faith in the intended wedding:5145

strangers will come to be your kin, who’ll lift our name5146

to the stars by their blood, and the children 5147

of whose race shall see all, where the circling sun5148

views both oceans, turning obediently beneath their feet.’5149

Latinus failed to keep this reply of his Father’s quiet,5150

this warning given in the silent night, and already5151

Rumour flying far and wide had carried it through5152

the Ausonian cities, when the children of Laomedon 5153

came to moor their ships by the river’s grassy banks.5154

BkVII:107-147 Fulfilment of A Prophecy5155

Aeneas, handsome Iulus, and the foremost leaders,5156

settled their limbs under the branches of a tall tree,5157

and spread a meal: they set wheat cakes for a base5158

under the food (as Jupiter himself inspired them) 5159

and added wild fruits to these tables of Ceres.5160

When the poor fare drove them to set their teeth5161

into the thin discs, the rest being eaten, and to break 5162

the fateful circles of bread boldly with hands and jaws,5163

not sparing the quartered cakes, Iulus, jokingly,5164

said no more than: ‘Ha! Are we eating the tables too?’5165

That voice on first being heard brought them to the end5166

of their labours, and his father, as the words fell 5167

from the speaker’s lips, caught them up 5168

and stopped him, awestruck at the divine will. 5169

Immediately he said: ‘Hail, land destined to me5170

by fate, and hail to you, O faithful gods of Troy:5171

here is our home, here is our country. For my father5172

Anchises (now I remember) left this secret of fate with me:5173

‘Son, when you’re carried to an unknown shore, food is lacking, 5174

and you’re forced to eat the tables, then look for a home5175

in your weariness: and remember first thing to set your hand5176

on a site there, and build your houses behind a rampart.’ 5177

This was the hunger he prophesied, the last thing remaining,5178

to set a limit to our ruin…come then,5179

and with the sun’s dawn light let’s cheerfully discover5180

what place this is, what men live here, where this people’s city is,5181

and let’s explore from the harbour in all directions.5182

Now pour libations to Jove and call, with prayer, 5183

on my father Anchises, then set out the wine once more.5184

So saying he wreathed his forehead with a leafy spray,5185

and prayed to the spirit of the place, and to Earth the oldest5186

of goddesses, and to the Nymphs, and the yet unknown rivers:5187

then he invoked Night and Night’s rising constellations,5188

and Idaean Jove, and the Phrygian Mother, in order,5189

and his two parents, one in heaven, one in Erebus.5190

At this the all-powerful Father thundered three times5191

from the clear sky, and revealed a cloud in the ether,5192

bright with rays of golden light, shaking it with his own hand.5193

Then the word ran suddenly through the Trojan lines5194

that the day had come to found their destined city.5195

They rivalled each other in celebration of the feast, and delighted5196

by the fine omen, set out the bowls and crowned the wine-cups.5197

BkVII:148-191 The Palace of Latinus5198

Next day when sunrise lit the earth with her first flames,5199

they variously discovered the city, shores and limits 5200

of this nation: here was the pool of Numicius’s fountain,5201

this was the River Tiber, here the brave Latins lived.5202

Then Anchises’s son ordered a hundred envoys, chosen5203

from every rank, all veiled in Pallas’s olive leaves5204

to go to the king’s noble fortress, carrying gifts 5205

for a hero, and requesting peace towards the Trojans. 5206

Without delay, they hastened as ordered, travelling 5207

at a swift pace. He himself marked out walls with a shallow ditch,5208

toiled at the site, and surrounded the first settlement on those shores5209

with a rampart and battlement, in the style of a fortified camp.5210

And now his men had pursued their journey and they saw5211

Latinus’s turrets and high roofs, and arrived beneath the walls.5212

Boys, and men in the flower of youth, were practising5213

horsemanship outside the city, breaking in their mounts 5214

in clouds of dust, or bending taut bows, or hurling firm spears 5215

with their arms, challenging each other to race or box:5216

when a messenger, racing ahead on his horse, reported5217

to the ears of the aged king that powerful warriors in unknown5218

dress had arrived. The king ordered them to be summoned5219

to the palace, and took his seat, in the centre, on his ancestral throne.5220

Huge and magnificent, raised on a hundred columns, 5221

his roof was the city’s summit, the palace of Laurentian Picus,5222

sanctified by its grove and the worship of generations.5223

It was auspicious for a king to receive the sceptre here and first lift5224

the fasces, the rods of office: this shrine was their curia,5225

their senate house, the place of their sacred feasts, here the elders,5226

after lambs were sacrificed, sat down at an endless line of tables.5227

There standing in ranks at the entrance were the statues of ancestors 5228

of old, in ancient cedar-wood, Italus, and father Sabinus, the vine-grower,5229

depicted guarding a curved pruning-hook, and aged Saturn, 5230

and the image of Janus bi-face, and other kings from the beginning, 5231

and heroes wounded in battle, fighting for their country.5232

Many weapons too hung on the sacred doorposts,5233

captive chariots, curved axes, helmet crests, the massive bars5234

of city gates, spears, shields and the ends of prows torn from ships.5235

There Picus, the Horse-Tamer, sat, holding the lituus, the augur’s5236

Quirinal staff, and clothed in the trabea, the purple-striped toga,5237

and carrying the ancile, the sacred shield, in his left hand,5238

he, whom his lover, Circe, captivated by desire, struck 5239

with her golden rod: changed him with magic drugs5240

to a woodpecker, and speckled his wings with colour.5241

BkVII:192-248 The Trojans Seek Alliance With Latinus 5242

Such was the temple of the gods in which Latinus, seated5243

on the ancestral throne, called the Trojans to him in the palace,5244

and as they entered spoke first, with a calm expression:5245

‘Sons of Dardanus (for your city and people are not unknown5246

to us, and we heard of your journey towards us on the seas),5247

what do you wish? What reason, what need has brought 5248

your ships to Ausonian shores, over so many azure waves?5249

Whether you have entered the river mouth, and lie in harbour,5250

after straying from your course, or driven here by storms,5251

such things as sailors endure on the deep ocean,5252

don’t shun our hospitality, and don’t neglect the fact5253

that the Latins are Saturn’s people, just, not through constraint or law,5254

but of our own free will, holding to the ways of the ancient god.5255

And I remember in truth (though the tale is obscured by time)5256

that the Auruncan elders told how Dardanus, sprung 5257

from these shores, penetrated the cities of Phrygian Ida,5258

and Thracian Samos, that is now called Samothrace.5259

Setting out from here, from his Etruscan home, Corythus,5260

now the golden palace of the starlit sky grants him a throne,5261

and he increases the number of divine altars.’5262

He finished speaking, and Ilioneus, following, answered so:5263

‘King, illustrious son of Faunus, no dark tempest, driving5264

us though the waves, forced us onto your shores,5265

no star or coastline deceived us in our course:5266

we travelled to this city by design, and with willing hearts,5267

exiled from our kingdom, that was once the greatest5268

that the sun gazed on, as he travelled from the edge of heaven.5269

The founder of our race is Jove, the sons of Dardanus enjoy5270

Jove as their ancestor, our king himself is of Jove’s high race:5271

Trojan, Aeneas, sends us to your threshold.5272

The fury of the storm that poured from fierce Mycenae,5273

and crossed the plains of Ida, and how the two worlds of Europe5274

and Asia clashed, driven by fate, has been heard by those whom5275

the most distant lands banish to where Ocean circles back,5276

and those whom the zone of excessive heat, stretched 5277

between the other four, separates from us. 5278

Sailing out of that deluge, over many wastes of sea,5279

we ask a humble home for our country’s gods, and a harmless5280

stretch of shore, and air and water accessible to all.5281

We’ll be no disgrace to the kingdom, nor will your reputation5282

be spoken of lightly, nor gratitude for such an action fade,5283

nor Ausonia regret taking Troy to her breast.5284

I swear by the destiny of Aeneas, and the power of his right hand,5285

whether proven by any man in loyalty, or war and weapons,5286

many are the peoples, many are the nations (do not scorn us5287

because we offer peace-ribbons, and words of prayer, unasked)5288

who themselves sought us and wished to join with us:5289

but through divine destiny we sought out your shores5290

to carry out its commands. Dardanus sprang from here,5291

Apollo recalls us to this place, and, with weighty orders, drives us5292

to Tuscan Tiber, and the sacred waters of the Numician fount. 5293

Moreover our king offers you these small tokens of his5294

former fortune, relics snatched from burning Troy.5295

His father Anchises poured libations at the altar from this gold,5296

this was Priam’s burden when by custom he made laws5297

for the assembled people, the sceptre, and sacred turban,5298

and the clothes, laboured on by the daughters of Ilium.’5299

BkVII:249-285 Latinus Offers Peace5300

At Ilioneus’s words Latinus kept his face set firmly5301

downward, fixed motionless towards the ground, moving his eyes5302

alone intently. It is not the embroidered purple that moves5303

the king nor Priam’s sceptre, so much as his dwelling5304

on his daughter’s marriage and her bridal-bed,5305

and he turns over in his mind old Faunus’s oracle:5306

this must be the man, from a foreign house, prophesied5307

by the fates as my son-in-law, and summoned to reign5308

with equal powers, whose descendants will be illustrious5309

in virtue, and whose might will take possession of all the world.5310

At last he spoke, joyfully: ‘May the gods favour this beginning,5311

and their prophecy. Trojan, what you wish shall be granted.5312

I do not reject your gifts: you will not lack the wealth5313

of fertile fields, or Troy’s wealth, while Latinus is king.5314

Only, if Aeneas has such longing for us, if he is eager5315

to join us in friendship and be called our ally, let him come5316

himself and not be afraid of a friendly face: it will be5317

part of the pact, to me, to have touched your leader’s hand.5318

Now you in turn take my reply to the king:5319

I have a daughter whom the oracles from my father’s shrine,5320

and many omens from heaven, will not allow to unite5321

with a husband of our race: sons will come from foreign shores,5322

whose blood will raise our name to the stars: this they prophesy5323

is in store for Latium,. I both think and, if my mind foresees 5324

the truth, I hope that this is the man destiny demands.’5325

So saying the king selected stallions from his whole stable5326

(three hundred stood there sleekly in their high stalls):5327

immediately he ordered one to be led to each Trojan by rank,5328

caparisoned in purple, swift-footed, with embroidered housings5329

(gold collars hung low over their chests, covered in gold,5330

they even champed bits of yellow gold between their teeth),5331

and for the absent Aeneas there was a chariot, with twin horses,5332

of heaven’s line, blowing fire from their nostrils,5333

bastards of that breed of her father’s, the Sun, that cunning5334

Circe had produced, by mating them with a mortal mare.5335

The sons of Aeneas, mounting the horses, rode back5336

with these words and gifts of Latinus, bearing peace.5337

BkVII:286-341 Juno Summons Allecto5338

But behold, the ferocious wife of Jove returning 5339

from Inachus’s Argos, winging her airy way,5340

saw the delighted Aeneas and his Trojan fleet,5341

from the distant sky, beyond Sicilian Pachynus.5342

She gazed at them, already building houses, already confident5343

in their land, the ships deserted: she halted pierced by a bitter pang.5344

Then shaking her head, she poured these words from her breast:5345

‘Ah loathsome tribe, and Trojan destiny, opposed to my5346

own destiny! Could they not have fallen on the Sigean plains,5347

could they not have been held as captives? Could burning Troy5348

not have consumed these men? They find a way through 5349

the heart of armies and flames. And I think my powers must5350

be exhausted at last, or I have come to rest, my anger sated.5351

Why, when they were thrown out of their country I ventured5352

to follow hotly through the waves, and challenge them on every ocean.5353

The forces of sea and sky have been wasted on these Trojans.5354

What use have the Syrtes been to me, or Scylla, or gaping5355

Charybdis? They take refuge in their longed-for Tiber’s channel,5356

indifferent to the sea and to me. Mars had the power 5357

to destroy the Lapiths’ vast race, the father of the gods himself5358

conceded ancient Calydon, given Diana’s anger, 5359

and for what sin did the Lapiths or Calydon, deserve all that?5360

But I, Jove’s great Queen, who in my wretchedness had the power5361

to leave nothing untried, who have turned myself to every means,5362

am conquered by Aeneas. But if my divine strength is not 5363

enough, I won’t hesitate to seek help wherever it might be:5364

if I cannot sway the gods, I’ll stir the Acheron.5365

I accept it’s not granted to me to withhold the Latin kingdom,5366

and by destiny Lavinia will still, unalterably, be his bride:5367

but I can draw such things out and add delays,5368

and I can destroy the people of these two kings.5369

Let father and son-in-law unite at the cost of their nations’ lives:5370

virgin, your dowry will be Rutulian and Trojan blood,5371

and Bellona, the goddess of war, waits to attend your marriage.5372

Nor was it Hecuba, Cisseus’s daughter, alone who was pregnant5373

with a fire-brand, or gave birth to nuptial flames.5374

Why, Venus is alike in her child, another Paris,5375

another funeral torch for a resurrected Troy.’5376

When she had spoken these words, fearsome, she sought the earth:5377

and summoned Allecto, the grief-bringer, from the house 5378

of the Fatal Furies, from the infernal shadows: in whose5379

mind are sad wars, angers and deceits, and guilty crimes.5380

A monster, hated by her own father Pluto, hateful 5381

to her Tartarean sisters: she assumes so many forms,5382

her features are so savage, she sports so many black vipers.5383

Juno roused her with these words, saying:5384

‘Grant me a favour of my own, virgin daughter of Night,5385

this service, so that my honour and glory are not weakened,5386

and give way, and the people of Aeneas cannot woo5387

Latinus with intermarriage, or fill the bounds of Italy.5388

You’ve the power to rouse brothers, who are one, to conflict, 5389

and overturn homes with hatred: you bring the scourge5390

and the funeral torch into the house: you’ve a thousand names,5391

and a thousand noxious arts. Search your fertile breast,5392

shatter the peace accord, sow accusations of war:5393

let men in a moment need, demand and seize their weapons.’5394

BkVII:341-405 Allecto Maddens Queen Amata5395

So Allecto, steeped in the Gorgon’s poison, first searches out5396

Latium and the high halls of the Laurentine king,5397

and sits at the silent threshold of Queen Amata, whom5398

concerns and angers have troubled, with a woman’s passion,5399

concerning the Trojan’s arrival, and Turnus’s marriage. 5400

The goddess flings a snake at her from her dark locks,5401

and plunges it into the breast, to her innermost heart, so that5402

maddened by the creature, she might trouble the whole palace.5403

Sliding between her clothing, and her polished breast,5404

it winds itself unfelt and unknown to the frenzied woman,5405

breathing its viperous breath: the powerful snake becomes her5406

twisted necklace of gold, becomes the loop of her long ribbon,5407

knots itself in her hair, and roves slithering down her limbs.5408

And while at first the sickness, sinking within as liquid venom,5409

pervades her senses, and clasps her bones with fire,5410

and before her mind has felt the flame through all its thoughts,5411

she speaks, softly, and in a mother’s usual manner, 5412

weeping greatly over the marriage of her daughter to the Trojan:5413

‘O, have you her father no pity for your daughter or yourself?5414

Have you no pity for her mother, when the faithless seducer5415

will leave with the first north-wind, seeking the deep, with the girl5416

as prize? Wasn’t it so when Paris, that Phrygian shepherd,5417

entered Sparta, and snatched Leda’s Helen off to the Trojan cities?5418

What of your sacred pledge? What of your former care for your own5419

people, and your right hand given so often to your kinsman Turnus?5420

If a son-in-law from a foreign tribe is sought for the Latins,5421

and it’s settled, and your father Faunus’s command weighs on you,5422

then I myself think that every land free of our rule 5423

that is distant, is foreign: and so the gods declare. 5424

And if the first origins of his house are traced, Inachus 5425

and Acrisius are ancestors of Turnus, and Mycenae his heartland.’5426

When, though trying in vain with words, she sees Latinus5427

stand firm against her, and when the snake’s maddening venom5428

has seeped deep into her flesh, and permeated throughout,5429

then, truly, the unhappy queen, goaded by monstrous horrors,5430

rages madly unrestrainedly through the vast city.5431

As a spinning-top, sometimes, that boys intent on play thrash 5432

in a circle round an empty courtyard, turns under the whirling lash,5433

- driven with the whip it moves in curving tracks: and the childish crowd5434

marvel over it in innocence, gazing at the twirling boxwood:5435

and the blows grant it life: so she is driven through the heart5436

of cities and proud peoples, on a course that is no less swift.5437

Moreover, she runs to the woods, pretending Bacchic possession,5438

setting out on a greater sin, and creating a wider frenzy,5439

and hides her daughter among the leafy mountains,5440

to rob the Trojans of their wedding and delay the nuptials,5441

shrieking ‘Euhoe’ to Bacchus, crying ‘You alone are worthy5442

of this virgin: it’s for you in truth she lifts the soft thyrsus,5443

you she circles in the dance, for you she grows her sacred hair.’5444

Rumour travels: and the same frenzy drives all the women, 5445

inflamed, with madness in their hearts, to seek strange shelter.5446

They leave their homes, and bare their head and neck to the winds:5447

while others are already filling the air with vibrant howling5448

carrying vine-wrapped spears, and clothed in fawn-skins.5449

The wild Queen herself brandishes a blazing pine-branch 5450

in their midst, turning her bloodshot gaze on them, and sings5451

the wedding-song for Turnus and her daughter, and, suddenly5452

fierce, cries out: ‘O, women of Latium, wherever you are, hear me: 5453

if you still have regard for unhappy Amata in your pious hearts, 5454

if you’re stung with concern for a mother’s rights,5455

loose the ties from your hair, join the rites with me.’5456

So Allecto drives the Queen with Bacchic goad, far and wide,5457

through the woods, among the wild creatures’ lairs.5458

BkVII:406-474 Allecto Rouses Turnus5459

When she saw she had stirred these first frenzies enough,5460

and had disturbed Latinus’s plans, and his whole household,5461

the grim goddess was carried from there, at once, on dark wings,5462

to the walls of Turnus, the brave Rutulian, the city they say5463

that Danae, blown there by a violent southerly, built5464

with her Acrisian colonists. The place was once called Ardea5465

by our ancestors, and Ardea still remains as a great name,5466

its good-fortune past. Here, in the dark of night, 5467

Turnus was now in a deep sleep, in his high palace.5468

Allecto changed her fierce appearance and fearful shape,5469

transformed her looks into those of an old woman,5470

furrowed her ominous brow with wrinkles, assumed5471

white hair and sacred ribbon, then twined an olive spray there:5472

she became Calybe, Juno’s old servant, and priestess of her temple,5473

and offered herself to the young man’s eyes with these words:5474

‘Turnus, will you see all your efforts wasted in vain,5475

and your sceptre handed over to Trojan settlers?5476

The king denies you your bride and the dowry looked for5477

by your race, and a stranger is sought as heir to the throne.5478

Go then, be despised, offer yourself, un-thanked, to danger:5479

go, cut down the Tuscan ranks, protect the Latins with peace!5480

This that I now say to you, as you lie there in the calm of night,5481

Saturn’s all-powerful daughter herself ordered me to speak openly.5482

So rise, and ready your men, gladly, to arm and march 5483

from the gates to the fields, and set fire to the painted ships5484

anchored in our noble river, and the Trojan leaders with them.5485

The vast power of the gods demands it. Let King Latinus 5486

himself feel it, unless he agrees to keep his word and give you5487

your bride, and let him at last experience Turnus armed.’5488

At this the warrior, mocking the priestess, opened his mouth in turn:5489

‘The news that a fleet has entered Tiber’s waters 5490

has not escaped my notice, as you think: 5491

don’t imagine it’s so great a fear to me. 5492

Nor is Queen Juno unmindful of me.5493

But you, O mother, old age, conquered by weakness5494

and devoid of truth, troubles with idle cares, and mocks5495

a prophetess, amidst the wars of kings, with imaginary terrors.5496

Your duty’s to guard the gods’ statues and their temples:5497

men will make war and peace, by whom war’s to be made.’ 5498

Allecto blazed with anger at these words.5499

And, as the young man spoke, a sudden tremor seized his body,5500

and his eyes became fixed, the Fury hissed with so many snakes,5501

such a form revealed itself: then turning her fiery gaze on him,5502

she pushed him away as he hesitated, trying to say more,5503

and raised up a pair of serpents amidst her hair,5504

and cracked her whip, and added this through rabid lips:5505

‘See me, conquered by weakness, whom old age, devoid of truth,5506

mocks with imaginary terrors amongst the wars of kings.5507

Look on this: I am here from the house of the Fatal Sisters,5508

and I bring war and death in my hand.’5509

So saying, she flung a burning branch at the youth,5510

and planted the brand, smoking with murky light, in his chest.5511

An immense terror shattered his sleep, and sweat, pouring 5512

from his whole body drenched flesh and bone.5513

Frantic, he shouted for weapons, looked for weapons by the bedside,5514

and through the palace: desire for the sword raged in him, 5515

and the accursed madness of war, anger above all: 5516

as when burning sticks are heaped, with a fierce crackling,5517

under the belly of a raging cauldron, and the depths5518

dance with the heat, the smoking mixture seethes inside,5519

the water bubbles high with foam, the liquid can no longer5520

contain itself, and dark vapour rises into the air.5521

So, violating the peace, he commanded his young leaders5522

to march against King Latinus, and ordered the troops to be readied,5523

to defend Italy, to drive the enemy from her borders:5524

his approach itself would be enough for both Trojans and Latins.5525

When he gave the word, and called the gods to witness his vows,5526

the Rutuli vied in urging each other to arm. 5527

This man is moved by Turnus’s youth and outstanding nobility5528

of form, that by his royal line, this one again by his glorious deeds.5529

BkVII:475-539 Allecto Among the Trojans5530

While Turnus was rousing the Rutulians with fiery courage,5531

Allecto hurled herself towards the Trojans, on Stygian wings,5532

spying out, with fresh cunning, the place on the shore5533

where handsome Iulus was hunting wild beasts on foot with nets.5534

Hades’s Virgin drove his hounds to sudden frenzy,5535

touching their muzzles with a familiar scent, 5536

so that they eagerly chased down a stag: this was a prime5537

cause of trouble, rousing the spirits of the countrymen to war.5538

There was a stag of outstanding beauty, with huge antlers,5539

that, torn from its mother’s teats, Tyrrhus and his sons had raised, 5540

the father being the man to whom the king’s herds submitted,5541

and who was trusted with managing his lands far and wide.5542

Silvia, their sister, training it to her commands with great care,5543

adorned its antlers, twining them with soft garlands, grooming 5544

the wild creature, and bathing it in a clear spring. Tame to the hand, 5545

and used to food from the master’s table, it wandered the woods, 5546

and returned to the familiar threshold, by itself, however late at night.5547

Now while it strayed far a-field, Iulus the huntsman’s5548

frenzied hounds started it, by chance, as it moved 5549

downstream, escaping the heat by the grassy banks. 5550

Iulus himself inflamed also with desire for high5551

honours, aimed an arrow from his curved bow,5552

the goddess unfailingly guiding his errant hand, 5553

and the shaft, flying with a loud hiss, pierced flank and belly.5554

But the wounded creature fleeing to its familiar home, 5555

dragged itself groaning to its stall, and, bleeding, filled5556

the house with its cries, like a person begging for help.5557

Silvia, the sister, beating her arms with her hands in distress, was5558

the first to call for help, summoning the tough countrymen.5559

They arrived quickly (since a savage beast haunted the silent woods)5560

one with a fire-hardened stake, one with a heavy knotted staff:5561

anger made a weapon of whatever each man found 5562

as he searched around. Tyrrhus called out his men:5563

since by chance he was quartering an oak by driving5564

wedges, he seized his axe, breathing savagely.5565

Then the cruel goddess, seeing the moment to do harm,5566

found the stable’s steep roof, and sounded the herdsmen’s5567

call, sending a voice from Tartarus through the twisted horn,5568

so that each grove shivered, and the deep woods echoed:5569

Diana’s distant lake at Nemi heard it: white Nar’s river, 5570

with its sulphurous waters, heard: and the fountains of Velinus:5571

while anxious mothers clasped their children to their breasts.5572

Then the rough countrymen snatching up their weapons, gathered 5573

more quickly, and from every side, to the noise with which5574

that dread trumpet sounded the call, nor were the Trojan5575

youth slow to open their camp, and send out help to Ascanius.5576

The lines were deployed. They no longer competed5577

with solid staffs, and fire-hardened stakes, in a rustic quarrel,5578

but fought it out with double-edged blades, and a dark crop5579

of naked swords bristled far and wide: bronze shone 5580

struck by the sun, and hurled its light up to the clouds:5581

as when a wave begins to whiten at the wind’s first breath,5582

and the sea swells little by little, and raises higher waves,5583

then surges to heaven out of its profoundest depths.5584

Here young Almo, in the front ranks, the eldest 5585

of Tyrrhus’s sons, was downed by a hissing arrow:5586

the wound opened beneath his throat, choking the passage5587

of liquid speech, and failing breath, with blood.5588

The bodies of many men were round him, old Galaesus5589

among them, killed in the midst of offering peace, who was5590

one of the most just of men, and the wealthiest in Ausonian land:5591

five flocks bleated for him, five herds returned 5592

from his fields, and a hundred ploughs furrowed the soil.5593

BkVII:540-571 Allecto Returns to Hades5594

While they fought over the plain, in an equally-matched contest,5595

the goddess, having, by her actions, succeeded in what she’d promised,5596

having steeped the battle in blood, and brought death in the first skirmish,5597

left Hesperia, and wheeling through the air of heaven5598

spoke to Juno, in victory, in a proud voice:5599

‘Behold, for you, discord is completed with sad war:5600

tell them now to unite as friends, or join in alliance.5601

Since I’ve sprinkled the Trojans with Ausonian blood,5602

I’ll even add this to it, if I’m assured that it’s your wish 5603

I’ll bring neighbouring cities into the war, with rumour,5604

inflaming their minds with love of war’s madness, so that they come5605

with aid from every side: I’ll sow the fields with weapons.’5606

Then Juno answered: ‘That’s more than enough terror and treachery:5607

the reasons for war are there: armed, they fight hand to hand,5608

and the weapons that chance first offered are stained with fresh blood.5609

Such be the marriage, such be the wedding-rites that this 5610

illustrious son of Venus, and King Latinus himself, celebrate.5611

The Father, the ruler of high Olympus, does not wish you5612

to wander too freely in the ethereal heavens.5613

Leave this place. Whatever chance for trouble remains5614

I will handle.’ So spoke Saturn’s daughter:5615

Now, the Fury raised her wings, hissing with serpents,5616

and sought her home in Cocytus, leaving the heights above.5617

There’s a place in Italy, at the foot of high mountains,5618

famous, and mentioned by tradition, in many lands,5619

the valley of Amsanctus: woods thick with leaves hem it in,5620

darkly, on both sides, and in the centre a roaring torrent5621

makes the rocks echo, and coils in whirlpools.5622

There a fearful cavern, a breathing-hole for cruel Dis,5623

is shown, and a vast abyss, out of which Acheron bursts,5624

holds open its baleful jaws, into which the Fury, 5625

that hated goddess, plunged, freeing earth and sky.5626

BkVII:572-600 Latinus Abdicates5627

Meanwhile Saturn’s royal daughter was no less active, 5628

setting a final touch to the war. The whole band of herdsmen5629

rushed into the city from the battle, bringing back the dead,5630

the boy Almo, and Galaesus, with a mangled face,5631

and invoking the gods, and entreating Latinus.5632

Turnus was there, and ,at the heart of the outcry,5633

he redoubled their terror of fire and slaughter:5634

‘Trojans are called upon to reign: Phrygian stock5635

mixes with ours: I am thrust from the door.’5636

Then those whose women, inspired by Bacchus, pranced about5637

in the pathless woods, in the god’s dance (for Amata’s name is not trivial),5638

drawing together from every side, gathered to make their appeal to Mars.5639

Immediately, with perverse wills, all clamoured for war’s 5640

atrocities, despite the omens, despite the god’s decrees,.5641

They vied together in surrounding King Latinus’s palace:5642

like an immoveable rock in the ocean, he stood firm,5643

like a rock in the ocean, when a huge breaker falls, 5644

holding solid amongst a multitude of howling waves,5645

while round about the cliffs and foaming reefs roar, in vain,5646

and seaweed, hurled against its sides, is washed back again.5647

As no power was really granted him to conquer5648

their blind will, and events moved to cruel Juno’s orders, 5649

with many appeals to the gods and the helpless winds,5650

the old man cried: ‘Alas, we are broken by fate, and swept away5651

by the storm! Oh, wretched people, you’ll pay the price yourselves5652

for this, with sacrilegious blood. You, Turnus, your crime and its punishment await you, and too late you’ll entreat the gods with prayers.5653

My share is rest, yet at the entrance to the harbour5654

I’m robbed of all contentment in dying.’ Speaking no more5655

he shut himself in the palace, and let fall the reins of power.5656

BkVII:601-640 Latium Prepares for War5657

There was a custom in Hesperian Latium, which 5658

the Alban cities always held sacred, as great Rome 5659

does now, when they first rouse Mars to battle, 5660

whether they prepare to take sad war in their hands 5661

to the Getae, the Hyrcanians, or the Arabs, or to head East5662

pursuing the Dawn, to reclaim their standards from Parthia:5663

there are twin gates of War (so they are named),5664

sanctified by religion, and by dread of fierce Mars:5665

a hundred bars of bronze, and iron’s eternal strength,5666

lock them, and Janus the guardian never leaves the threshold.5667

When the final decision of the city fathers is for battle, 5668

the Consul himself, dressed in the Quirine toga, folded5669

in the Gabine manner, unbars these groaning doors, himself,5670

and himself invokes the battle: then the rest of the men 5671

do so too, and bronze horns breathe their hoarse assent.5672

Latinus was also commanded to declare war in this way 5673

on Aeneas’s people, and unbolt the sad gates, 5674

but the old man held back his hand, and shrank 5675

from the vile duty, hiding himself in dark shadows. 5676

Then the Queen of the gods, gliding from the sky,5677

set the reluctant doors in motion, with her own hand:5678

Saturn’s daughter forced open the iron gates of War5679

on their hinges. Italy, once peaceful and immoveable, was alight.5680

Some prepared to cross the plains on foot, others stirred 5681

the deep dust on noble horses: all demanded weapons.5682

Others polished smooth shields, and bright javelins,5683

with thick grease, and sharpened axes on grindstones:5684

they delighted in carrying standards and hearing the trumpet call.5685

So five great cities set up anvils and forged 5686

new weapons: powerful Atina, proud Tibur, 5687

Ardea, Crustumeri, and towered Antemnae.5688

They beat out helmets to protect their heads, and wove5689

wickerwork frames for shields: others hammered5690

breastplates of bronze, and shiny greaves of malleable silver:5691

to this they yielded pride in the share’s blade and the sickle, all their 5692

passion for the plough: they recast their