Aeneid Books I and IV

8/6/2019 Aeneid Books I and IV

1/73

I sing arms and a man, [he] who first from the shores of Troy

came to Italy, an exile because of fate, and to the Lavinian

shores that man tossed much on both the lands and the deep

because of the force of the gods, on account of the mindful angerof savage Juno,

also having endured many things in war, until he might establisha city (5)

and bring the gods to Latium, from which source the Latin race

and the Alban fathers and the walls of lofty Rome.

Muse, relate the reasons to me, with which divinity having beeninjured,

or suffering what the queen of the gods drove

a man marked by piety to undergo so many misfortunes, toapproach so many labors. (10)

Do the divine spirits have so great angers? There was an ancient city (Tyrian colonists held it)

Carthage, opposite Italy and the Tiberian shores by far,

rich in resources and most fierce in pursuits of war,

which [city] alone Juno is said to have cherished more than allthe lands, (15)

with Samos having been esteemed less: here [were] the arms of that goddess,

here was the chariot; even at that time the goddess both tendedto and cherished


2/73

this [place] to be the kingdom for the nations, if the fates allow itin any way.

But in deed she had heard that an offspring was produced fromTrojan blood

who at one time might overturn the Tyrian citadels; (20)

hence would come a people ruling widely and proud in war

for the destruction of Libya: thus the fates unroll.

Fearing this and mindful of the ancient war, the daughter of Saturn

which she as leader had waged near Troy for her dear Argives

and not yet had the causes of her angers and the savage griefs(25)

fallen from her spirit; the judgement of Paris remains stored upin her deep mind

and the insult of her rejected beauty

and the hated race and the honors of snatched up Ganymedes)

inflamed by these things in addition she was keeping off theTrojans having been tossed

on the whole sea, the remnants of the Greeks and of cruelAchilles, (30)

far off from Latium, and through many years

they were wandering around all the seas, driven by the fates.

Of so great a burden it was to establish the Roman race.

Scarcely out of sight of the Sicilian land the happy men


3/73

were letting go their sails into the deep and were plowing spraysof salt with their bronze, (35)

When Juno guarding the eternal wound under her chest

[said] these things with herself: Am I, conquered, to desist frommy undertaking,

nor am I able to turn away the king of the Trojans from Italy?

Indeed I am forbidden by the fates. Was not Pallas able to burnup the Greek fleet

and to drown them in the sea (40)

on account of the crime of one man and the madness of Ajax,son of Oileus?

She herself having thrown the swift fire of Jupiter from the clouds

both scattered the ships and overturned the seas with winds,

she snatched up that man breathing flames from his piercedchest with a whirlwind

and impaled him on a sharp rock; (45)

but I, who stride as queen of the gods

and both sister and wife of Jupiter, wage wars with one race forso many years.

And does anyone adore the divinity of Juno

moreover or humble place honor on her altars? The goddess, revolving such things with herself in her inflamedheart, (50)

came into the fatherland of the clouds, places teeming with theraging winds,


4/73

Aeolia. Here in a vast cave, king Aeolus represses

the wrestling winds and the roaring storms

with his power and he restrains them with chains and a prison.

Those angry [winds] roar with a great murmur (55)

around the barriers of the mountain; Aeolus sits in his loftycitadel

holding his scepters and he soothes their spirits and he calmstheir angers;

if he should not do it, indeed the swift [winds] would bear theseas

and the lands and the high heaven with them and the wouldsweep through the breezes.

But the almighty father hid [them] in black caves, (60)

fearing this, and placed a mass and the high mountains above,

and gave a king who by fixed agreement knows both to control [them] and, having been ordered, to giveloose reins.

To him then Juno, humble, used these words:

Aeolus, for the father of gods and king of men (65)

has given to you both to sooth the waves and to raise them with

the wind, a race hostile to me sails the Tyrrhenian sea

carrying Troy and its conquered gods into Italy:

strike force into the winds and crush the sunken sterns,


5/73

or drive the scattered men an scatter their bodies on the sea.(70)

I have twice seven nymphs of outstanding body,

of whom, Deiopea, who is most beautiful of shape,

I will join in a lasting marriage and I will say permanent,

in order that she may pass all the years with you for so greatmerits

and make you a parent with a beautiful offspring. (75)

Aeolus [said]these things in return: [It is] your labor, o queen,to examine

what you desire; for me it is right to undertake the orderedthings.

You won over for me whatever this is of a kingdom, you wonover the scepters and Jupiter,

you give [for me] to recline at the feasts of the gods

and you make [me] powerful of both the clouds and the storms. (80)

When these things were said, with a reversed spear he struck thehollow mountain

into the side: and the winds, just as a column was made,

where a gate was given, rush forth and blow over the lands in a

whirlwind. They have fallen upon the sea and from their deepest seats

at the same time both the East wind and the South wind rushforth and the crowded (85)


6/73

with gusts Southwest wind and they roll vast waves to theshores:

both the cry of men and the creaking of the ropes follow.

Suddenly the clouds snatch both the sky and the day

from the eyes of the Trojans; black night lies upon the sea.

The heavens thundered and the sky flashes with frequent fires(90)

and all things threaten present death for the men.

At once the limbs of Aeneas are lossened by the cold;

he groans and stretching both hands to the stars

he reports such things with his voice: O both three and fourtimes-blessed [are those],

to whom it befell to encounter death before the faces of theirfathers under (95)

the lofty walls of Troy! O most brave of the race of the Greeks, Son of Tydeus [Diomedes]! That I could not have fallen in theTrojan fields

and could not have poured out this spirit by your right hand,

where savage Hector lies by the weapon of the descendant of Aeacus [Achilles], where huge

Sarpedon, where under her waves the Simois rolls so manysnatched up (100)

Shields of men and helmets and brave bodies!

To the disadvantage of the man uttering such thins, a gale,roaring with the North wind,


7/73

opposite, strikes the sail, and raises waves to the stars.

The oars are broken, then the prow turns and

gives the side to the waves, a towering mountain of water followsin a heap. (105)

These hang on the top of the wave; for these a wave, gaping,

exposes the land between the waves; the tide rages on thesands.

The South wind twists three snatche away[ships] into the lurkingrocks

(the Italians call the rocks which are in the middle of the sea, theAltars,

an enourmous reef on the top of the sea), the East wind from thedeep (110)

drives three [ships] into the shallows and sand bars, miserable tosee,

and dashes them into the shallows and encircles [them] with amound of sand.

As for the one, which was carrying the Lycians and braveOrontes,

before the eys of the [Aeneas] himself, a huge wave from top

strikes into the ster: he is cast out and the pilot, leaning-forward,rolls (115)

headlong; but thrice the wave twists that [ship] in the sameplace

driving [it] around and the swift whirlpool swallops it in the sea.

Scattered men, swimming, in the vast whirlpool,


8/73

the arms of men and the planks and the Trojan treasure appearthrough the waves.

Now the storm conqueres the strong ship of Ilineus, now [that]of brave Achates, (120)

and [the one] by which Abas was carried, and [the one] by whichaged Aletes;

when the seams of the side have been loosened, all

receive the hostile water and they gape with cracks.

Meanwhile Nepune perceived that the sea was mixed with a greatmurmur

and that a storm had been sent foth and that from the deepest(125)

depths the waters had been poured back, seriously disturbed;and looking out from

the deep, he raised his calm head from the top of the wave.

He sees the fleet of Aeneas scattered on the whole sea, the Trojans overwhelmed by the waves and by the ruin of theheaven.

And the tricks of Juno and the angers did not escape the noticeof her brother. (130)

He calls the East wind and the West wind to him, then he sayssuch things:

Did so great confidence of your race hold you?

Do you now dare to mix the heaven and the land with out mydivine will,

winds, and to raise so great masses?


9/73


10/73

they are silent and they stand with ears pricked;

that man rules their spirits with words and he soothes theirhearts:

thus all the uproar of the sea subsided, after, the father lookingout over the seas

and having been conveyed in the open sky (155)

turns the horses and flying, gives reins to his obedient chariot.

The tired followers of Aeneas hasten to seek [those] shoreswhich [are] nearest

with their course, and they are turned to the shores of Libya.

There is a place in a long inlet: an island makes a port

by the barrier of its sides, by which every wave from the deep(160)

is broken and splits itself into the led-back bays.

From this place and hence vast cliffs and twin rocks tower into the heaven, under whose summit far and wide

the safe seas are silent; then from above a background of flashing forests,

and a black grove threatens with its bristling shadow; (165)

under the opposite face, a cave of hanging rocks,

within, sweet waters and seats of living rock,

a home of the nymphs. Here not any chains holds the tired ships,

an anchor does not hold them with its hooked bite.


11/73


12/73

and first he lays low the leaders themselves bearing heads high

with treelike horns, then the crowd and, (190)

driving with his weapons, he confuses the whole crowd amongthe leafy groves;

and he did not stop before as a victor he pour seven huge

bodies on the ground and he equals the number with the ships.

From this place he seeks the port and he divides [it] among allthe allies.

Then he divides the wines, which good Acestes had loaded in jars(195)

on the Sicilian shore and the hero had given to the departingmen,

and he soothes their grieving hearts with his words.

O allies (for we are not ignorant of evils before),

O men having endured more serious things, god will also give anend for these.

You approached both the fury of Scyllean rage and within theresonding (200)

rocks, and you have tried the Cyclopian rocks:

recall your spirits and send forth your sad fear;

perchance it will also please to remember these things at sometime.

Through various misfortunes, through so many dangers of matters

we stretch [our course] into Latium, where the fates show quiet


13/73

seats; (205)

there it is right for the kingdoms of Troy to rise again.

Endure, and preserve yourselves for favorable matters.

He reports such things with his voice and sick with huge cares

he feigns hope with his face, he represses the deep sadness inhis heart.

Those men gird themselves for the booty and the future feasts:(210)

they tear the hides from the ribs and the lay bare the flesh;

part divides [it] into pieces and they pierce the trembling [flesh]with spits,

others place the bronzes on the shore and they tend to theflames.

Then they call back their strength with the food, and pouredthrough the grass

they are filled with old Bacchus and rich venison. (215)

Afterward, with their hunger taken away by the feast and thetables removed,

they seek their lost allies in a long speech

wavering between both hope and fear, whether they believe that[they] live

or have suffered the final fates and do not now hear themselvescalled.

Especially pius Aeneas now laments the misfortune of fierceOrtontes (220)


14/73

now of Amycus and the cruel fates of Lycus with himself

and brave Gyas and brave Cloanthus.

And now was the end, when Jupiter looking down from the top of the sky

on the sea winged with sails and the lands lying

and the shores and the broad peoples, thus in the summit of theheaven (225)

he stood and fixed his lights upon the kingdoms of Libya.

And more sad and filled with respect to her shining eyes withtears

Venus addresses that man tossing such cares in his heart:

O you who rule the matters of both men and the gods

with your eternal commands and you terrify with the thunderbolt,(230)

what so great thing was my Aeneas able to commit against you, what were the Trojans [able to commit], for whom havingendured so many disasters

the whole circle of the lands is closed off on account of Italy?

Certainly you promised hence [they would be] Romans at sometime with the revolving of

the years, hence they would be leaders, from the recalled bloodof Teucer, (235)

who might hold the sea, who might hold all the lands with theirpower.

What opinion changes you, father?


15/73

Indeed I was finding consolation for the fall of Troy and the sadruins because of this,

balancing contrary fates with the fates

now the same fortune follows the men having been driven by somany misfortunes. (240)

What end of labors do you give, great king?

Antenor was able, having slipped out from the middle of theGreeks,

to penetrate the Illyrian bays and, safe, the inmost

kingdoms of the Liburnians and to pass beyond the source of theTimavus,

whence through nine mouths with a vast roar of the mountain(245)

it goes forth as a raging sea and presses the fields with itsresounding flood.

Here, however, that man established the city of Patavium andthe seats

of the Trojans and he gave his name to the people and he fixedhis Trojan arms,

now, composed, he rests in calm peace:

we, your offspring, to whom you promised the citadel of theheaven, (250)

with our ships having been lost ([it is] unspeakable) on accountof the anger of one

we are betrayed and we are separated by far from the Italianshores.


16/73

This [is] the reward of piety? Thus you restore us into ourkingdoms? You are here

The begetter of men and of gods, smiling at that [goddess]with his face,

with which he calms the heaven and the storms, (255)

gave kisses to his daughter, then he says such things:

Spare your fear, Cytherea, the fates of your men remainunmoved

for you; you will discern the city and the promised walls of Lavinium

and you will bear great spirited Aeneas on high to the stars of theheaven;

and an opinion does not turn me. (260)

This man [who is of interest] to you (for I will say, since this caregnaws at you,

and unrolling farther the secrets of the fates, I shall move them)

will wage a huge war in Italy and will crush fierce peoples

and will place customs for men and walls,

until a third summer will see him ruling in Latium, (265)

and a third winter will have passed with the Rutulians havingbeen subdued.

But the boy, Ascanius, to whom now the cognomen Iulus

is added (he was Ilus, while Ilian state stood in his rule),

will fill out thirty great revolutions with their rolling months

with his control, and will transfer the kindom from the seat of


17/73

Lavinium, (270)

and will fortify Alba Longa with much force.

Here finally for three hundred entire years it will be ruled

under the race of Hector, until the queen, a priestess,

pregnant by Mars, Ilia will give twin offspring by birth.

Thence, Romulus, happy in the tawny hide of his nurse-maid, awolf, (275)

will receive the race and will build the Martian

walls and will call [them] Romans from his own name.

For these men I place neither limits of matters nor times:

I give power without limit. Nay even harsh Juno,

who now wearies the sea and the lands with fear and theheaven, (280)

will return her plans for the better, and she will favor with me

the Romans, masters of matters and the toga-clad race.

Thus [it is] acceptable. With the five year sacred seasons slippingby, an age will come

when the house of Assaracus will press in servitude Phthia andfamous Mycenae

and will rule over the conquered Argos. (285) Trojan Caesar will be born of beautiful origin,

who will bound his power with the Ocean, who [will bound] hisreputation wit the stars,


18/73

Julius, the name having been sent down from great Iulus.

You, untroubled, will receive this man at some time in theheaven, burdened with the spoils of

the Orient; this man will also be called with prayers. (290)

Then the rough generations will become mild with wars havingbeen set aside;

Gray Faith and Vesta, Quirinus with his brother Remus

will give laws; the gates of War, harsh with iron and close-fitting joints

will be closed; impius Madness

sitting within above the savage arms and bound by one hundredbronze (295)

knots behind his back, bristling, will roar with his bloody mouth.

He says these things, and he sends the [god] begetted from Maiafrom on high,

in order that the lands and the new citadels of Karthage may lieopen

in hospitality to the Trojnans, lest Dido, unknowing of fate,

might keep [them] off from her territory. That [god] flies throughthe great air

by means of the oarage of his wings and, swift, stood on the

shores of Libya. (300) And now he does the orders, and the Phoenicians place asidetheir fierce

hearts with the god willing; among the first the queen receives acalm


19/73


20/73

folds with a knot. (320)

And first she says, Hey, young men, show me

if, by chance, you have seen any of my sisters wandering here,

girded with a quiver and the hide of a spotted lynx,

or pressing the course of a foaming boar with their shout.

Thus Venus [speaks]; and in return the son of Venus thus began:(325)

No one of your sisters has been heard by me nor seen,

O how shall I address you, maiden? For you do not have the face

of a mortal, nor does your voice sound human; O, surely agoddess

(Whether a sister of Apollo? Or one of the blood of the nymphs?),

may you be happy and may you lighten our labor, whoever youare, (330)

and may you teach us at length under which heaven, in whichshores of the world

we are tossed; unknowing of both the men and the places

we wander driven to here by the wind and the vast waves:

much sacrifice will fall for you before the altars by our righthand.

Then Venus [replied]: not indeed do I deem myself worth of such an honor; (335)

it is the custom of Tyrian maidens to wear the quiver

and to bind highly their calfs with a purple high boot.


21/73

You see the Punic kingdoms, the Tyrians and the city of Agenor;

but Libyan territory, a race intractable in war.

Dido rules the dominion, having set out from the Tyrian city,(340)

fleeing her brother. Long is the wrong, long

the twistings; but I will follow the highest points of the matters.

This woman had Sychaeus as a husband, a man most wealthy of gold

of the Phoenicians, and loved with a great love by the wretchedwoman,

to whom her father had given her untouched and had joined(345)

under the first omens. But her brother held the kingdoms of Tyre,

Pygmalion, more monstrous before all others with respect to

crime. Amongst whom a madness came in the middle. That impius mansecretly kills

Sychaeus, unsuspecting, with iron before the altars and blindwith love for gold,

careless of the loves of his sister; (350)

and he hid the deed for a long time and the evil man feigning many things mocked the sick lover with empty hope.

But the likness itself of her unburied husband came in dreams

raising its pale faces in amazing manners;


22/73


23/73

and it should be at leisure [for you] to hear the annals of ourlabors,

the Evening Star will settle the day sooner with Olympus havingbeen closed.

A storm drove us from old Troy, if by chance the name of Troygoes (375)

through your ears, bourn through diverse seas

by its chance to the shores of Libya.

I am pious Aeneas, who bear the Penates snatched from theenemy

with me by means of my fleet, known beyond the heavens withrespect to my fame.

I seek the country, Italy, and a race [descended] from highestJupiter. (380)

I embarked upon the Phrygian sea wit twice ten ships,

with my mother, a goddess, showing the way, having followedthe given fates;

scarcely seven, having been shattered by the waves and the Eastwind, remain.

I myself unknown, lacking, wander through the deserts of Libya,

driven from Europe and Asia. And not having endured the manlamenting more things, (385)

Venus thus interrupted in the middle of his grief:

Whoever you are, you do not, I believe, consume the breezes of life

odious to the gods, you who have come to the Tyrian city.


24/73

Continue now and from this place bring yourself to the thresholdsof the queen.

For I announce to you that your allies [are] restored and yourfleet has been brought back (390)

and has been driven into safety after the North wind was routed,

if my false parents did not teach me the augury in vain.

See twice six swans rejoicing in a column,

whom the bird of Jupiter having slipped from the regions of theupper air

was disturbing in the open sky; they are seen either now to seizethe lands in a long line (395)

or now to look down on the seized [lands]:

as those restored [swans] play with hissing wings

and they gird the sky with their flock and gave songs,

not otherwise do your sterns and the youth of your men either hold the harbor or approach the mouths with full sail.(400)

Continue now and, where the path leads you, direct your step.

She spoke and turning gleamed with her rosy neck,

and her ambrosial hairs breathed a divine odor from her head;

her garment flowed down to the bottom of her feet;

and the true goddess revealed herself by her walk. That man,when he recognized (405)

his mother, followed the fleeing [goddess] with such a voice:


25/73

Why, so often, you [are] also cruel, do you mock your son

with false images? Why is it not given to join the right hand tothe right hand

and to hear and to return true voices?

He chides with such [words] and he extends his step to the walls.(410)

But Venus enclosed the walking [men] with a dark mist,

and the goddess poured out around with the great wrap of acloud,

lest anyone might be able to discern them or lest anyone be ableto touch

or to effect a delay or to demand the reasons of coming.

She herself, on high, goes away to Paphos and, happy, revisitsher seats, (415)

where that [goddess has] a temple, and one hundred altars

burn with Sabaean incense and are fragrant with fresh garlands.

Meanwhile they seized upon their way, where the path shows.

And now they were climbing the hill, which with imposing sizeoverhangs the city

and faces the opposite citadels from above. (420)

Aeneas wonders a the mass, at one time huts, he wonders at the gates and the noise and the beds of the roads.

The burning Tyrians press on: part leads on the walls

and makes the citadel and rolls up rocks with their hands,


26/73

part chooses a place for the roof and encloses [it] with a trench;(425)

they choose laws, and the magistrates, and the holy senate.

Here some dig out the harbors; here others place the lofty

foundations for theatres, and they cut out huge columns

from the cliffs, lofty ornaments for future stages.

As labor busies bees in the new summer through the flowerycountry sides (430)

under the son, when the offspring lead forth the adults of therace,

or when they stow the liquid honeys

and stretch the storerooms with sweet nectar,

or the receive the burdens of [those] coming, or after a columnhas been made

they keep of the lazy herd, the drones, from the hives; (435) the work boils and the fragrant honeys smell of thyme.

O fortunate men, whose walls now rise!

Aeneas says and he looks up at the summits of the city.

He bears himself enclosed with a cloud ([it is] amazing to say)

through the midst of the men, and mixes with the men and is notdiscerned by anyone. (440)

There was a grove in the middle of the city, most happy of shade,

in which place the Phoenicians, having been tossed by waves and


27/73

a whirlpool, first

dug up the sign, which royal Juno

was showing, the head of a spirited horse; for thus their racewould be

distinguished in war and easy to live through the generations.(445)

Here Sidonian Dido was building a huge temple for Juno,

rich in gifts and in the divinity of the goddess,

on the steps of which bronze thresholds were rising and

planks bound with bronze, the hinge was creaking on the bronzedoors.

In this grove for the first time a new matter having beenpresented (450)

soothed his fear, here for the first time Aeneas dared to hope forsafety

and to trust better his shattered affairs.

For while he surveys the separate things under the huge temple

awaiting the queen, while he admires what the fortune the cityhas

and the hands of the artisans amonst themselves and the laborof the works, (455)

he sees the Trojan battles in order

and the wars now made known by fame through the whole world,

the sons of Atreus and Priam and Achlles avage to both.


28/73

He stood and crying said, What now [is] the place, Achates,

what region in the lands [is] not full of our labor? (460)

Behold Priam. Even here praise has its rewards;

[here] are the tears for matters and mortal things touch themind.

Release your fears; this fame will bring some safety for you.

Thus he says and he feeds his spirit upon this empty painting

lamenting many things, and he moistens his face with a largeriver. (465)

For he was seeing how here the Greeks fighting aroundPergamum were fleeing,

the Trojan young men were pressing,

here the Phrygians [were fleeing], plumed Achilles was pressingon in his chariot.

And not far from this place, he recognized, crying, the tents of white canvases of Rhesus,

which having been betrayed at first sleep (470)

the cruel son of Tydeus was ravaging with much slaughter,

and he turned away the burning horses in the camp before

they had tasted the fodder of Troy and had drunk the Xanthus.

On another part, Troilus fleeing after his arms had been lost,

the unlucky boy and ill-matched, having fought with Achilles,(475)

is borne by his horses and supine clings to the empty chariot,


29/73

holding the reins, however; to the disadvantage of this [boy]both his neck and his hair

are dragged through the earth, and the dust is marked by theinverted spear.

Meanwhile the Trojan women with hair disheveled were going tothe temple of not

impartial Pallas and were bearing humbly the robe, (480)

sad and having beaten their chests with their palms;

the goddess, having averted her eyes, was holding [them] fixedupon the ground.

Thrice Achilles had dragged Hector around the Trojan walls

and he was selling the lifeless body for gold.

Then indeed he gives a huge groan from his deepest chest, (485)

as he caught sight of the spoils, as [he caught sight of] thechariots, and as [he

caught sight of] the body itself of his friend and Priam extendinghis unarmed hands.

He also recognized himself mixed amongst the Achaenan leaders,

and the eastern battle lines and the weapons of black Memnon.

Penthesilea leads the columns of the Amazons with crescentlight-shields, (490)

raging, and burns in the middle of the thousands,

fastening her golden belts beneath her exposed breast

a female warrior, and the maiden dares to fight with the men.


30/73


31/73

and others of the Trojans approach in a great throng, whom theblack whirlwind

had scattered on the sea and had borne away deep within othershores.

He himself stood agape at the same time, at the same timeAchates struck

by both happiness and fear; eager they were burning to join righthands;

but the unknown matter was disturbing their spirits. (515)

They hide and wrapped by the hollow cloud they watch

what the fortune [is] for the men, on what shore they abandonthe fleet,

why they come; for they, having been chosen from all of theships, were setting out

praying for indulgence and were seeking the temple with theirshout.

4.1-251

But the queen long since wounded with a seriouscare

nourishes the wound in her veins and is consumedby a blind fire.

The much virtue of the man and the abundant honorof his race run back

in her mind: his aspects remain fixed in her chest

and his words, and care does not give quiet rest to


32/73


33/73

to this sin alone, by chance, I was able to yield.

Anna, for I shall confess, that after the fates of wretched Sychaeus, (20)

my husband, and the household gods were sprinkledwith fraternal slaughter,

this man alone has bent my senses and touched mywavering spirit.

I recognize the traces of an old flame.

But I should wish for me either the deepest earthgape open

or the all-powerful father should drive me away withhis thunderbolt to the shades, (25)

the pale shades in Hades and the profound night,

before, Chastity, before I violate you or I loosen yourlaws.

That man, who first joined me to him, has stolen myloves;

let that man hold [them] with him and let him guard[them] in the tomb.

Having spoken thus, she filled her bosom with hertears which had arisen. (30)

Anna responds: O one more beloved than light byyour sister,


34/73


35/73

Indeed, I reckon that Trojan keels have held thiscourse with the wind (45)

since the gods are guides and Juno is favorable.

What a city, sister, you will see this to be, whatkingdoms will rise

from such a marriage! With the arms of the Trojansaccompanying [us],

Punic glory will lift itself to how great heights!

You now demand the gods for their favor, and afterthe sacred things have been sacrificed, (50)

indulge in hospitality and weave causes for delaying,

while winter and stormy Orion rages on the sea,

and the ships are shattered, while the sky is not

favorable.With these words [Anna] inflamed her mind with avast love

and gave hope to her wavering mind and loosenedher chastity. (55)

First they approach the shrines and seek peacethrough the altars;

they sacrifice two-toothed sheep having been chosenby custom

to law-bringing Ceres and Phoebus and father


36/73

Lyaeus,

to Juno before all, who has the concerns of themarriage bonds.

Most beautiful Dido herself, holding the bowl with herright hand, (60)

pours [it] between the middle of the horns of a whitecow,

or walks to the fat altars before the aspects of the

gods,and renews the day with gifts, and, gaping,

she consults the breathing entrails after the chests of the animals have been opened.

Alas, the unknowing minds of the seers! What dovows, (65)

what do shrines help the raging woman? Meanwhilea flame eats her soft marrows

and the silent wound lives under her chest.

Unhappy Dido is burned and wanders in the whole

city, raging, as a deer, after an arrow has been shot,

whom unsuspecting from afar among the Cretangroves (70)

a shepherd has pierced, driving with weapons andunaware has abandoned the winged iron:


37/73

that deer wanders through the woods and forests of Dicte in flight;

the deadly reed clings in her side.

Now she leads Aeneas with her through the middle of the walls

and she displays the wealth of Sidon and theprepared city, (75)

she begins to speak and stops in middle voice;

now with the day waning she seeks the same feasts,

and mad she demands to hear the Trojan laborsagain

and she hangs again from the face of the speakingman.

Afterwards, when they have departed, and the darkmoon represses (80)

its light in turn and the falling stars urge sleep,

alone she grieves because of the empty home andreclines on the

abandoned couches. Absent, she both hears andsees him, absent,

or she holds back Ascanius in her lap, captured bythe likeness of his father,

if she should be able to deceive an unspeakable love.


38/73

(85)

The towers which have been begun do not rise, theyouth do not exercise arms

or do they prepare ports or ramparts safe for war:the works hang, interrupted,

and the enormous threats of the walls and themachinery which was matched with the sky.

As soon as the dear wife of Jupiter, Saturnia,

perceived that [Dido] was held (90)by such a plague and that her reputation did notoppose the madness,

he attacks Venus with such words:

You indeed bring back remarkable praise and amplespoils,

both you and your boy (a great and memorabledivinity),

if one woman was conquered by the deceit of twogods. (95)

And it does not escape my notice to such an extentthat you, fearing our walls,

have regarded the houses of lofty Karthage assuspect.

But what will be the limit, or whither [do weproceed] by so great a contest?


39/73


40/73


41/73

cave.

I shall be present and, if your will is certain to me,(125)

I shall join [them] in a lasting marriage, and I shallsay her as his own.

This will be the wedding hymn. Not opposed to theseeking goddess,

Cytherea assented and laughed since the tricks had

been found out.Meanwhile rising Aurora abandoned the ocean.

When sunlight has arisen, selected youth go fromthe gates, (130)

wide-meshed nets, nets, hunting spears of broadiron [go forth],

and the Massylian horsemen and keen-scented forceof dogs rush forth.

The leaders of the Phoenicians await the queendelaying in her bed chamber

before the threshold, and the prancing steed standsmarked with purple and gold

and, spirited, chews on the foaming bridles. (135)

Finally she advances with a great thronging crowd

having encircled herself with a Sidonian cloak with


42/73


43/73


44/73


45/73


46/73

rejoicing, and she was singing equally facts andfictions: (190)

that Aeneas had come, who had been born of Trojanblood,

to whom, as a husband, beautiful Dido deems itworthy to join herself;

that they were now caressing one another in luxuryduring the winter, however long it may be,

unmindful of the their kingdoms and captured by ashameful desire.

This foul goddess pours everywhere into the mouthsof men. (195)

Immediately she turns her courses to king Iarbas

and she inflames his spirit with words and sheincreases his angers.

This man, begotten from Jupiter Ammon by aravished nymph of the Garamantes,

placed a hundred huge temples of Jupiter in hisbroad kingdoms,

a hundred altars, and he had consecrated thewatchful flame, (200)

the eternal sentinels of the gods, and the ground,rich with the blood

of animals and the thresholds flowering with varied


47/73

garlands.

He, both mad of spirit and inflamed by the bitterrumor

is said, before the altars among the middle of thedivinities of the gods,

humble, to have beseeched Jupiter for many thingswith upturned hands: (205)

All powerful Jupiter, for whom the Maurusian

people, having feasted, now pours outa Bacchic honor from the embroidered couches,

do you see these things? Or, father, do we shudderat you in vain

when you twist the thunderbolts, and do blind firesin the clouds

terrify our spirits and mix empty rumblings? (210)

A woman, who wandering in our territory hasestablished a small city

for a price, to whom we gave a shore to be plowed

and to whom we gave the laws of the place, hasrejected our marriage [proposals]

and has received into her kingdoms Aeneas as amaster.

And now that Paris with his effeminate retinue, (215)


48/73


49/73


50/73

the pale souls from Orcus,

others he sends under sad Tartarus,

he gives dreams and he takes them away, and hecloses the eyes at death.

Relying on that wand, he leads the winds and swimsacross the stormy (245)

clouds. And now, flying, he discerns the peak andlofty sides

of stern Atlas who supports the heaven with hissummit,

of Atlas, for whom his pine-bearing head, encircledconstantly by black clouds

is struck by both the wind and hail

snow, having been poured on, covers his shoulders,then rivers (250)

fall head-long from the chin of the old god, and hisbristling beard becomes rigid with ice.


51/73


52/73


53/73

Here, first, the Cyllenian one, striving with equalwings

halted: from here he sent himself headlong with hisentire body to the waves

similar to a bird, who flies around the shores, around

fishy rocks, low, near the seas. (255)

Not otherwise the Cyllenian offspring was flyingbetween the lands and the heaven

to the sandy shore of Libya, and he was cutting thewinds,

coming from his maternal grandfather.

As soon as he touched the huts with his wingedheels,

he sees Aeneas building the citadels and renewingthe roofs. (260)

And that man had a sword starred with tawny jasper

and a mantle of Tyrian purple, having been loweredfrom his shoulders

was glowing, which gifts wealthy Dido

had made, and had separated the threads with finegold.

At once he attacks: Do you now place thefoundations of lofty Carthage(265)


54/73


55/73


56/73

does not know and does not expect that so greatloves are broken,

will try the approaches and those times which aremost mild for speaking,

which method [is] right for matters. All the men,happy, obey rather swiftly

order and fulfill the commands. (295)

But the queen perceived the tricks (who can deceive

one loving?),and first understood their future movements

fearing all safe things. The same impious Rumorreported to the raging woman

that a fleet was being equipped and that a voyagewas being prepared.

She rages, bereft of reason and inflamed she rusheswildly through the city, (300)

as if a bacchante, excited when the sacred rites hadbeen set in motion,

when the triennial orgies spur [her on] after Bacchus has been heard

and nocturnal Mt. Cithaeron calls with a shout.

At length she accosts Aeneas spontaneously withthese words.


57/73


58/73

for you, pity the falling homes and,

I beg, if [there is] any place still for [my] entreaties,put off that plan of yours.

account of you, the Libyan nations and the tyrants of the Numidians (320)

hate [me], the Tyrians [are] hostile; on account of you also

my chastity has been destroyed and, that by which

alone I was approaching the stars,my former reputation. For whom do you forsake meabout to die, my guest

(since this name alone remains from [the name], my husband)?

Why do I delay? Is it until my brother, Pygmalion,destroys my walls (325)

or Gaetulian Iarbas leads me away captured /

At least if I had had some offspring who had beenbegetted by you

before your flight, if some very small Aeneas wereplaying in the palace for me,

who, however, was recording you with his face,

indeed I would not be seeming completely capturedand deserted. (330)


59/73


60/73


61/73


62/73

Surely, conquered, he did not give tears or pity theloving woman? (370)

What shall I prefer to what? Now, now, neithergreatest Juno

nor the father, the son of Saturn, look at thesematters with equal eyes.

Nowhere [is] faith safe. I received him having beencast out on the shore, lacking

and, mad, I placed him in a share of my kingdom.I restored the fleet which had been lost, hiscompanions from death (375)

(alas, inflamed, I am carried by the Furies!): now theaugur Apollo,

now the lycian lots, and now the messenger of thegods having been sent by Jupiter himself

bears horrible orders through the breezes.

Of course the gods have this labor, this care disturbsthe serene ones.

I neither hold you nor do I refute your words: (380)

Go, pursue Italy with the winds, seek the kingdomsthrough the waves.

I hope, indeed, that you will drink in punishments inthe middle of the rocks,


63/73

if the pious gods are able [to do] anything, and youwill often call

Dido by name. I, absent, shall pursue with black fires

and, when cold death will have separated my limbsfrom my spirit, (385)

I, a shade, shall be present in all places. You willpay, o wicked man, the penalties.

I shall hear and this rumor will come to me under

the deepest shades. With these words, she breaks off in the middle of herspeech and, sick,

flees from the breezes and turns and removesherself from his eyes,

leaving him delaying to say many things because of fear and preparing to say (390)

many things. Her maids take [her], and bring hercollapsed limbs

to her marble bedchamber and place her on thepillows.

But pious Aeneas, although he desires to soothe thegrieving woman

by consoling [her] and to turn away her concernswith words,

lamenting many things and having been shaken in


64/73

spirit by his great love, (395)

nevertheless follows the orders of the gods andreturns to the fleet.

Then indeed the Trojans urge on [the work] and theylaunch their lofty ships

on the whole shore. The calked keel floats,

and they bear leafy oars and unfashioned oak fromthe woods

in their zeal for flight. (400)

You may discern the departing men rushing from thewhole city.

And just as ants when they plunder a huge pile of grain,

mindful of winter, and they deposit it in their home,the black column goes in the fields and carry theirbooty through the grasses

in a narrow path: part push the large grains (405)

having pushed with their shoulders, part drives thecolumns

and they punish delays, all of the path boils with thework.

What feeling then, Dido, did you have, discerningsuch things,


65/73


66/73


67/73

until my fortune teaches me, conquered, to grieve.

I pray for this last favor (pity your sister), (435)

which, when he will have given it to me, I shallrepay, having been piled on high, at my death.

She was beseeching with such words, and her mostwretched sister both

reports and relates such laments. But that man ismoved

by no laments, or, gentle, does he hear any voices;

the fates stand in the way, and the god blocks thecalm ears of the man. (440)

And, just as when the Alpine North Winds striveamongst themselves

to uproot an oak strong with aged strength nowhither now thither

with their blasts; a noise goes, and the lofty leaves

strew the earth when the trunk has been shaken;

the [tree] itself clings to the rocks and by as muchas it extends with its peak into the airy breezes,(445)

by so much it extends with its root into Tartarus:

not otherwise the hero is assailed from here andfrom here with unceasing voices,


68/73

and he feels the cares in his great heart;

his mind remains unmoved, useless tears are rolled.

4.642-705

But Dido, trembling and wild because of theenormous things which had been undertaken,

rolling her bloody line-of-sight, and having suffusedher trembling cheeks

with stains and pale because of the about to bedeath,

breaks into the inner thresholds of the house and(645)

climbs the high steps, frenzied, and unsheathes theTrojan

sword, a gift which was not sought for theseservices.

Here, after she caught sight of the Trojan garmentsand the familiar bed,

she delayed a little because of her tears and hermind,

and lay upon the bed and said these final words:(650)

Sweet spoils, while the fates and god were allowing,

receive this soul and release me from these cares.


69/73


70/73

halls: Rumor rages through the having been shakencity.

The roofs roar with lamentations and a groan and afeminine wail,

the sky resounds with great wailing,

not otherwise than if all of Carthage falls after theenemy has been sent in

or ancient Tyre, and raging flames (670)

are rolled both across the roofs of men and acrossthe roofs of the gods.

Her sister, breathless, heard, and frightened, rushesin the midst of the people

with a trembling course, defiling her face with hernails and her chest with her fists,

and she calls the dying woman by name:

This was that [which you were planning], sister?Were you asking me with deceit? (675)

That pyre of yours, the fires, and the altars werepreparing this, this for me?

What should I, abandoned, bewail first? Dying youscorned your sister

as a comrade? Would that you had called me to thesame fates:


71/73

Would that the same grief and the same hour hadborne us both by the sword.

Did I even build [the pyre] with these hands and didI call the paternal gods (680)

with my voice, that I was absent from you, cruelone, thus having been placed upon [it]?

You have destroyed, sister, yourself and me, andyour people, and the Sidonian fathers

and your city. Give, I shall wash off the wounds withwaters

and, in addition, if any last breath wanders,

I shall catch it with my mouth. Having spoken thus,she had passed over the high steps, (685)

and, having embraced her sister, was cherishing thehalf-dead woman in her lap

with a groan and was drying the black blood with hergarment.

That woman, having tried to lift her heavy eyesagain,

fails; the wound, having been pierced under herchest, gurgles.

Thrice lifting and having leaned on her elbow sheraised herself, (690)

thrice she was rolled over on the bed and with her


72/73


73/73

Documents

Aeneid Books I and IV